Android....The Good News

[boudicca]

What works

* Okay using the windows tool provided burn the img file as bootable to microsd card and boot it. (take a good 5mins the first time. Don't use Linux DD. Its a Fail....

* Once booted you limited on what's available as there is no Play Store. (Asus come on...deffo please saves the following legwork.

* On my Tablet using APK File Exporter, at one at a time. I exported Netflix / Iplayer / Sys Info / ESFileExplorer and most importantly SPMC 16.5.5 for Android 32bit (Note not the current 16.6.0 which has dropped support for RK3288

* Using a FireTV Adb tool called AdbFire (I use on Linux) which sideloads apk's nicely onto the the Tinkerboard Android.
* Its Rooted so you can do as you please.

Out of the box the following are tested and work at 1080p

SPMC-16.5.5-spmc-972797d-armeabi-v7a.apk
Netflix
Iplayer
ESFileExplorer
System Info

What wouldnt install

Youtube
Google Playstore
Google Play Services
Plex Client
Chrome
BT Sport
Sky Go

On SPMC all x264 and x265 files I tried played. at 1080p
I have a sample of Deadpool x264 4k and that played also.
The 4k sample of Big Buck Bunny stuttered at 30fps and 60fps

Audio for SPMC was only stereo downmix sadly, turning on dts/ac3 passthrough, just didnt work (digital hiss). I know it works for my firetv..which is the same version of SPMC.

Still good news ?

[Perus]

I got some more "good" news

Asus recommendation of a good SD-card is _very_ important, also don't forget to format an already used SC-card with SDFormatter and size adjust option on.

Also, another way to install your APK's is to copy them within Android from an USB-stick to download location and then just install them

/Per

[digi999]

Brilliant info thanks Boudicca ! Had a look and wasn't overly impressed but it fantastic to see the board being supported so well by Asus.

[Mikerr]

First boot is a looong time, with no user feedback that anything is happening (3 mins on black screen and no led flashes) then a further 2 mins on static android logo..

Second and subsequent bootup are much faster - 20 seconds to bootup :





Happily surprised to find the included file explorer app reads ntfs formatted usb flash drives with no problems
you can install apk's directly from there with no other software needed.

A video of my first play including installing netflix:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPGjwfLdk8U

I have managed to install chrome too ( filename com.android.chrome_58.0.3029.83-302908301_minAPI21(armeabi-v7a)(nodpi) )

[Igonjo]

@Boudicca
I have tested SPMC 16.5.5 with good results but I prefer FTMC for support.

FTMC is a fork for Kodi and provides hardware acceleration and more features on rockchip mainstream chips(rk3228 ASUS TINKER BOARD, rk3229, rk3229h, rk3288, rk3368, rk3399) and most android version(Android4.4, 5.x, 6.x). In the case of hardware allowed, FTMC supports 4K2K、4K2K 10bit(H264,HEVC),MVC 3D (bluray & mkv), high profile audio passthrough. And also maintain Android 4.4 support for older devices, also maintain a better support for Amlogic S9xx Chips, and preserving the amlogic AMCODEC (only on Android version from 4.4 to 6.x, since in 7.x amlogic removed the support for it)

FTMC, here http://freak-tab.de/luis/Ftmc/FTMC-16.1-...ersion.apk

On the Tinkerboard HD seems to be working a lot smoother with OpenGL ES 3.2

FTMC Thread special thanks SuperCeleron
http://freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-supp...75588-ftmc

[boudicca]

@Boudicca
I have tested SPMC 16.5.5 with good results but I prefer FTMC for support.

FTMC is a fork for Kodi and provides hardware acceleration and more features on rockchip mainstream chips(rk3228 ASUS TINKER BOARD, rk3229, rk3229h, rk3288, rk3368, rk3399) and most android version(Android4.4, 5.x, 6.x). In the case of hardware allowed, FTMC supports 4K2K、4K2K 10bit(H264,HEVC),MVC 3D (bluray & mkv), high profile audio passthrough. And also maintain Android 4.4 support for older devices, also maintain a better support for Amlogic S9xx Chips, and preserving the amlogic AMCODEC (only on Android version from 4.4 to 6.x, since in 7.x amlogic removed the support for it)

FTMC, here http://freak-tab.de/luis/Ftmc/FTMC-16.1-...ersion.apk

On the Tinkerboard HD seems to be working a lot smoother with OpenGL ES 3.2

FTMC Thread special thanks SuperCeleron
http://freaktab.com/forum/tv-player-supp...75588-ftmc

Good to know. I have a NanoPi K2 on its way, so nice to know S9xx Chips are supported...

[frakka]

I had no issue to flash the SD card using dd from Linux... Why you area saying that "dd is a fail"?