Display Covers for movies in Android Gallery
One of the biggest annoyances I have with Android is the limited display functionality of the Android Gallery. While it works great in making all your visual media easily accessible, for movies, it generates a random thumbnail image for each video.
The 3D-ish view of Gallery on the Xoom looks cool, but without at least some control over what it actually displays, its functionality is too limited to be of much use for frequent movie-watchers. With 6 Star Wars movies, it basically requires you to either look at the info for each movie (the i at the top right) or to simply test-play each one to figure out which is the one you actually want to watch.
Because Gallery's capability of displaying folders and images as well as thumbnails for movies, it is possible to make Gallery display cover-art (as well as names) for movies:
Here is how to do it:
The trick here is that Gallery places the newest files on top. While you can of course add the image files in the movie folders before you copy them over, more than likely some cover images will be copied over before the actual movie is copied, placing a newer time-stamp on the movie. If this happens, the movie will actually appear on top of the cover-image, ruining the look you are trying to achieve. By copying the images afterwards, the image ends up being newer and thus it appears on top.
When all done, your movie folder on the Xoom should be organized like this:
And if we look in one of the folders:
Note that the date/time stamp of the image is a few minutes newer than that of the actual video file. This is why it ends up being displayed on top.
The 3D-ish view of Gallery on the Xoom looks cool, but without at least some control over what it actually displays, its functionality is too limited to be of much use for frequent movie-watchers. With 6 Star Wars movies, it basically requires you to either look at the info for each movie (the i at the top right) or to simply test-play each one to figure out which is the one you actually want to watch.
Because Gallery's capability of displaying folders and images as well as thumbnails for movies, it is possible to make Gallery display cover-art (as well as names) for movies:
Here is how to do it:
- You start by organizing your movies on your computer in folders. Put one movie in a folder, and name the folder what you want to be displayed underneath the image in Gallery.
- With all your movies in individual folders, copy the folders over to the "Movies" folder on your Xoom/Android device.
- Now, add the cover image you want to display in Gallery for each movie in the movie folders you added on your Xoom/Android device.
The trick here is that Gallery places the newest files on top. While you can of course add the image files in the movie folders before you copy them over, more than likely some cover images will be copied over before the actual movie is copied, placing a newer time-stamp on the movie. If this happens, the movie will actually appear on top of the cover-image, ruining the look you are trying to achieve. By copying the images afterwards, the image ends up being newer and thus it appears on top.
When all done, your movie folder on the Xoom should be organized like this:
And if we look in one of the folders:
Note that the date/time stamp of the image is a few minutes newer than that of the actual video file. This is why it ends up being displayed on top.
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WiFi Only Rooting and CPU Overclock
Well, as my first post on this blog, it only seems fitting that I post about one of the first things I did with my WiFi Xoom, rooting.
Being brand new to Android, I was cautiously excited to unlock the potential of my new toy. I spent tons of time in the first few days of ownership reading anything and everything I could about Android, the Xoom, and rooting. The first day of the WiFi's release, the devs had an adb root release. A few days after that, a one-click root was released. Being new to Android, I was also new to the adb method of communicating with any device, and I was worried. Naturally, I thought the one-click method was going to be the best for me due to my lack of experience. I spent a couple more days reading about the one-click method and realized that the one-click for the WiFi Xoom was not working as expected. At first, I wanted to wait until the one-click method was stable. However, my excitement got the best of me. I really wanted a boot animation and I decided to jump the gun and see what kind of skills I really have.
First things first, setup. I had a pretty good handle on what I needed. I used the links in the threads I read and downloaded SDK and Moto drivers. During install, SDK pushed me to download Java. Once Java was done, SDK continued its install. In my case, SDK installed into Program Files on the C drive, you want to move SDK to the root of the C drive. Then, I located the proper WiFi root files, downloaded them, and moved them to platform-tools in SDK. I used the Tiamat 1.1.6 kernel. With all of the setup out of the way, I was ready to get moving.
SDK on the C: Drive with Windows XP
Like I said, being new to Android, I was full of anxiety. I read and re-read the instructions and watched a video on how to run it all. After working up the courage, I entered Debug mode, connected my Xoom, and typed in the first command line. Then the second, then the third. Boom, unlocked, awesome. At this point, a lot of my worries had been washed away with excitement; everything had gone to plan so far. Then I remembered I cleared all of my data with the first three lines. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable. I am glad I rooted early on, before I had spent hours customizing my home screens and collecting free apps.
Yay for our Debug friend!
After the ups and downs of unlocking and losing all of the stored data, it was time for the real challenge, rooting. I brought the site back up and, one by one, copied the lines of code into the cmd prompt. With every line, I was holding my breath until the cmd prompt was ready for the next input. Being the nervous wreck that I am, I was trying to follow the video at the same time as rooting. Unfortunately for me, my laptop is 6 years old and decided to bog down on me in the middle of rooting process. No effect on the cmd prompt and pushing files, just took a few years off my own life as I continued on. After what seemed like forever, I finally made it to the last line, "adb shell". I took a ginormous breath, typed it in, and hit enter. All the cmd prompt outputted was "#". I had no idea what to expect, I couldn't watch the video, and I didn't read up on what would happen at the end of the process, I was clueless. I made a huge assumption and guessed that it worked, I disconnected my Xoom and looked for Super User. Sure enough, it was there, what a joyous occasion! We have root! Finally my stomach felt like it was back in the correct place.
My Precious!
Since my driving force for rooting was changing the boot animation, that was the very first thing I did. I quickly downloaded a file browser and dropped the new animation into system/media. Shut her down, fired her up, and voila! No more lame honeycomb boot animation. After trying another one, I finally settled on the retro BIOS boot animation.
Big thanks to ihtfp69 over at XDA for the awesome animation.
From there, overclock time. I downloaded the overclock app of my choice and opened it up. For a while I sat there thinking to myself, "Do I really want to OC? Is this safe?". In the end, I didn't overclock that night. After reading more the following day, I came home and took the plunge. I maxed out the overclock at 1.504 GHz and I couldn't be happier. This thing is a beast overclocked and I am very happy I did.
Just slide the bar to the right, could it get any easier?
Over the next few hours I watched my battery temps like a hawk. I knew what they were before overclocking and was expecting to see them climb well above the stock levels. After some thorough abuse from browsing, I was pleasantly surprised to see the temps maxing out in the low to mid 80s F.
Why can't it be that temp outside?
In the end, everything was a whole lot easier than I was expecting. It was a roller coaster for sure but I wouldn't have it any other way. I am very happy that I took the "long" adb route of unlocking and rooting over the one-click method. I now have hands on experience with pushing files and, as far as I am concerned, that is invaluable information. If I have any future issues, I have the knowledge to push the stock files back over and start from the beginning. I highly recommend that anyone considering rooting their Xoom, use the adb method over one-click.
Bringing my baby home, isn't she beautiful?
Being brand new to Android, I was cautiously excited to unlock the potential of my new toy. I spent tons of time in the first few days of ownership reading anything and everything I could about Android, the Xoom, and rooting. The first day of the WiFi's release, the devs had an adb root release. A few days after that, a one-click root was released. Being new to Android, I was also new to the adb method of communicating with any device, and I was worried. Naturally, I thought the one-click method was going to be the best for me due to my lack of experience. I spent a couple more days reading about the one-click method and realized that the one-click for the WiFi Xoom was not working as expected. At first, I wanted to wait until the one-click method was stable. However, my excitement got the best of me. I really wanted a boot animation and I decided to jump the gun and see what kind of skills I really have.
First things first, setup. I had a pretty good handle on what I needed. I used the links in the threads I read and downloaded SDK and Moto drivers. During install, SDK pushed me to download Java. Once Java was done, SDK continued its install. In my case, SDK installed into Program Files on the C drive, you want to move SDK to the root of the C drive. Then, I located the proper WiFi root files, downloaded them, and moved them to platform-tools in SDK. I used the Tiamat 1.1.6 kernel. With all of the setup out of the way, I was ready to get moving.
SDK on the C: Drive with Windows XP
Like I said, being new to Android, I was full of anxiety. I read and re-read the instructions and watched a video on how to run it all. After working up the courage, I entered Debug mode, connected my Xoom, and typed in the first command line. Then the second, then the third. Boom, unlocked, awesome. At this point, a lot of my worries had been washed away with excitement; everything had gone to plan so far. Then I remembered I cleared all of my data with the first three lines. Unfortunately, this is unavoidable. I am glad I rooted early on, before I had spent hours customizing my home screens and collecting free apps.
Yay for our Debug friend!
After the ups and downs of unlocking and losing all of the stored data, it was time for the real challenge, rooting. I brought the site back up and, one by one, copied the lines of code into the cmd prompt. With every line, I was holding my breath until the cmd prompt was ready for the next input. Being the nervous wreck that I am, I was trying to follow the video at the same time as rooting. Unfortunately for me, my laptop is 6 years old and decided to bog down on me in the middle of rooting process. No effect on the cmd prompt and pushing files, just took a few years off my own life as I continued on. After what seemed like forever, I finally made it to the last line, "adb shell". I took a ginormous breath, typed it in, and hit enter. All the cmd prompt outputted was "#". I had no idea what to expect, I couldn't watch the video, and I didn't read up on what would happen at the end of the process, I was clueless. I made a huge assumption and guessed that it worked, I disconnected my Xoom and looked for Super User. Sure enough, it was there, what a joyous occasion! We have root! Finally my stomach felt like it was back in the correct place.
My Precious!
Since my driving force for rooting was changing the boot animation, that was the very first thing I did. I quickly downloaded a file browser and dropped the new animation into system/media. Shut her down, fired her up, and voila! No more lame honeycomb boot animation. After trying another one, I finally settled on the retro BIOS boot animation.
Big thanks to ihtfp69 over at XDA for the awesome animation.
From there, overclock time. I downloaded the overclock app of my choice and opened it up. For a while I sat there thinking to myself, "Do I really want to OC? Is this safe?". In the end, I didn't overclock that night. After reading more the following day, I came home and took the plunge. I maxed out the overclock at 1.504 GHz and I couldn't be happier. This thing is a beast overclocked and I am very happy I did.
Just slide the bar to the right, could it get any easier?
Over the next few hours I watched my battery temps like a hawk. I knew what they were before overclocking and was expecting to see them climb well above the stock levels. After some thorough abuse from browsing, I was pleasantly surprised to see the temps maxing out in the low to mid 80s F.
Why can't it be that temp outside?
In the end, everything was a whole lot easier than I was expecting. It was a roller coaster for sure but I wouldn't have it any other way. I am very happy that I took the "long" adb route of unlocking and rooting over the one-click method. I now have hands on experience with pushing files and, as far as I am concerned, that is invaluable information. If I have any future issues, I have the knowledge to push the stock files back over and start from the beginning. I highly recommend that anyone considering rooting their Xoom, use the adb method over one-click.
HD boot animations added
Cheap way to take care of Fingerprints
I posted this on Twitter on April first and a few folks thought I was joking but I am 100% serious. Using Rain-X Original Glass Treatment
on your Xoom will cut your fingerprints and smears down a bunch. Will it "get rid of" a tablet screen with grimy fingerprints all over it? NO, but it will cut down on them a lot. I was more impressed how it cleaned up my Droid X. Not sure if it is because it just has a smaller screen but I HIGHLY recommend doing this if you do not have a screen protector on your Xoom and other devices.As a side note: I swear by this stuff on my vehicle glass. When most people are driving around with their wipers on full blast I still have mine on intermittent.
Make phone apps go Full Screen
Tired of your phone apps not using all of the available space on you Xoom? Well it is a pretty easy fix. Here you go.
Removing "Bloat"
Hate those unwanted apps on you Xoom? Me too! I put up a new page that will tell you how to get rid of Cordy, Dungeon Defenders, etc.
New Xoom Boot Animations. No root needed
Overclocking your Xoom
I am showing you a screenshot of a non over-clocked (stock) Xoom using Android System Info.
As you see a stock Xoom does not spend a lot of time at "full speed", or anywhere near it for that matter, so I am not sure that forcing one speed or another when XYZ is true (AKA profile) is really behoving you too much. Some folks are anal about setting CPU profiles but I have never found running profiles on my phone to be that helpful If you want to I am not going to debate it ;). However, I do believe in over-clocking the Xoom and know what is going on in regard to temperature using a tool like Droid Overclock The best thing about Droid over clock it has a widget that will tell you whats going on. As an added bonus... it knows you have a Xoom:
This widget does NOT overclock your Xoom, if you are looking for instructions on how to over clock your Xoom I used the Tiamat build that also has the USB modifications and a few other goodies in it. If you rooted your Xoom you can do this. It is easy. Enjoy!
As you see a stock Xoom does not spend a lot of time at "full speed", or anywhere near it for that matter, so I am not sure that forcing one speed or another when XYZ is true (AKA profile) is really behoving you too much. Some folks are anal about setting CPU profiles but I have never found running profiles on my phone to be that helpful If you want to I am not going to debate it ;). However, I do believe in over-clocking the Xoom and know what is going on in regard to temperature using a tool like Droid Overclock The best thing about Droid over clock it has a widget that will tell you whats going on. As an added bonus... it knows you have a Xoom:
This widget does NOT overclock your Xoom, if you are looking for instructions on how to over clock your Xoom I used the Tiamat build that also has the USB modifications and a few other goodies in it. If you rooted your Xoom you can do this. It is easy. Enjoy!
Boot Animations page updated
3.01 Update is out
As you may have heard by now the 1st Honeycomb upgrade is out. The new version is 3.0.1. There are (2) ways to get this upgrade for you Xoom:
Note: If you lose root after the upgrade. In the terminal type
- If you are not rooted simply go to About > Tablet and hit 'System Upgrades'
- If you are rooted, like myself, Koush was nice enough to make an update.zip file that I have tested and these instructions work
Note: If you lose root after the upgrade. In the terminal type
- adb remount
- adb shell chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
Tired of Xoom boot animation?
I was tired of the "lame" looking boot up animations on my Zoom. Found a few new ones and if you have root it is not that hard to do. Copy one file. Change permissions. Done. See this page on the FAQ.
Slow Xoom Browser?
For those folks complaining about a slow or lagging Xoom browser experience try this:
Open up your browser and in the address bar type about:debug (nothing noticeable will happen) Then go to your Browser Settings > Debug and turn OFF (uncheck) 'Enable OpenGL Rendering' You can now also change your browser UAstring (how web servers see your tablet) to "Desktop" for a full web experience. Enjoy!
Open up your browser and in the address bar type about:debug (nothing noticeable will happen) Then go to your Browser Settings > Debug and turn OFF (uncheck) 'Enable OpenGL Rendering' You can now also change your browser UAstring (how web servers see your tablet) to "Desktop" for a full web experience. Enjoy!
Get back to stock Xoom
Well, you may be getting ready to ship your Xoom off to Verizon for an upgrade or you are just tired of (name your ROM here). Who know? Who Cares? You want to go back to stock. Well... the way to do it has been added to the Xoom Hacks page.
Xoom Helper App from Moto
Want Xoom Help right from the "horse's mouth"? Go to www.motorola.com/xoomhelp on your Xoom and Download the app. Be sure to allow "Unknown Sources". Not sure why it is not on the Market.
[HowTo] Video Rooting your Xoom
I was honestly going to wait to root my Xoom since there was no reason I wanted to do it right now. I do not need to over-clock it and I am satisfied with it as it sits today. I then remembered I had loyal followers just hoping I would...do it first! So, I recorded the whole thing as I did it. Deleted most of the boring parts. Then uploaded it to YouTube. Now you folks have a video walk-thru on how to root your Xoom. Instructions and video on Hacks page of the Xoom FAQ.
If you just want to see the video:
If you just want to see the video:
Xoom bluetooth tether
My wife wanted to borrow the Xoom yesterday to take to work. I am currently not paying for a data plan so the Xoom is WiFi only. Her work has no Wifi or any kind not even internet, for that matter. I did not have time to root her phone (Droid X) and set up wireless for Root as I was already late for work myself. I remember reading somewhere that the Bluetooth tethering works so I hand her the Xoom and tell her it "should work". Surprisingly easy since she did not even call me with a question.
- Put both devices in "Discovery" mode
- Let them "Pair"
- Connect you Xoom to the Droid based phone
- DONE
Converting iTunes Movies
I do not have many iTunes Movies purchased from Apple but I saw a few folks saying how hard it is to get these converted and on the Xoom. While I could not find a "free" way to do it there is a program that makes it pretty easy and will even convert iTunes rentals. Enjoy the Simplicity.
