Category Archives: Android

EE

As you’re probably aware, I love to tinker with phones, especially Android ones, having been able to root several:

  • HTC Wildfire
  • HTC Sensation
  • Asus Transformer TF101
  • Samsung Galaxy S5

However, when trying to tinker with my dad’s S5, some really weird behaviour occurred. I first unlocked it using a SIM unlock code, and it started to randomly reboot. Regardless of whether or not you use an EE SIM or not (we tried EE, Virgin and Three SIMs — all were subject to the rebooting behaviour). So, I decided to take a change and rooted it and flashed Bobcat ROM (a ROM which I was running successfully on my own S5, which is the same model as my dad’s with the only difference being the network provider — I’m on Three, he’s on EE.)

The phone still randomly rebooted, so I turned on Logcat and tried to see if it recorded anything. No such luck.

So I tried a few different ROMs — Stock Samsung (Lollipop), Bobcat ROM, and Phoenix ROM. All still rebooted. So I took it to Samsung for their opinion. They said they couldn’t flash it because Knox was void (Knox is a warranty flag on Samsung devices which indicates whether you have custom flashed the device or not — I obviously have.) But they were nice enough to tell me that the behaviour described usually indicates the Firmware is wrong (which is something I didn’t flash).

So, since this behaviour started before I even did a deep-level tinker with the device (before I flashed anything), I can only assume EE either flashed an incorrect firmware, or did not flash the correct firmware – or maybe did not flash the firmware properly. I now need to find an S5 firmware to flash onto the device. Since my own S5 is working, I can check that firmware and try to find the same one.

Google won’t fix a security bug that’s in almost a billion Android phones

..it seems that Jelly Bean devices are simply too old to support — supporting old software versions is fairly unusual, after all. But in this case, he asks Google to reconsider, due to the wider consequences this security flaw could potentially unravel. Until then, however, it might be a good idea to upgrade to Android 4.4, or perhaps get a new phone altogether.

Google won’t fix a security bug that’s in almost a billion Android phones.

Steam

With my new laptop up and running, I am happily playing several Steam-based games:

Dust (I am pretty impressed by this. It is a platformer, side-scrolling game with really nice visuals, voice-acting and insane combo options)
Dungeon Defenders (yet to start this under Steam, but played it extensively under Android)
Dota (downloading)
Wakfu (played on my old 32-bit box, but Steam refuses to start the game if you are running 32-bit arch. With a 64-bit arch, it will start)

I also have some extra games that I’m not playing or stopped playing:
Bastion (tried it and it is interesting, but I’m finding it really difficult to get into
Dungeon Hearts (slow and laggy)
Ravensword: Shadowlands (an interesting 3D, but very little customisation options)
Toribash (Appeal wore off very quickly)

I am also playing two non-Steam-based games

World of Warcraft
League of Legends

Although, I have them tied into the Steam framework so I can start them up via Steam and grab screenshots, etc.

I have also looked at Fraps and Kazam — two screen recorders (Fraps for Windows, Kazam for Linux) and both perform pretty well. Fraps performs great, I got smooth high-quality video out of WoW. Kazam, I am tweaking settings. It also generates good-quality video, but I need to play with the framerate and encoding settings. Look out for some uploads at some point in the future.

Dungeon Defenders II hands-on preview – free-to-play done right?

I was fortunate enough to play Dungeon Defenders I on Android via both Google Play (before Trendy took it down) and Humble Bundle, and loved it. I’m itching to try DDII when it becomes available. With my new higher-spec laptop currently happily playing both League of Legends and World of Warcraft, I’ve become more active on Steam, and found that DDII is now available as an Early Access on there. So if you’re keen for your DD fix, take a look there. Currently Windows-only, though. :(

Legion of Heroes

wpid-screenshot_2014-11-11-06-55-09.png

Gotten into a new freemium game called Legion of Heroes. It’s a cross between a 3D MMORPG with a Final Fantasy Tactics style battle. There’s gorgeous graphics, decent cutscenes, and voice-acting that isn’t too cringe-worthy. Yes, it is freemium, and it does push selling items at you repeatedly, which is damn frustrating, but my only gripe so far.

It is a demanding game, and it shows by its lack of compatibility with older devices. Both my asus Transformer TF101 and my HTC Sensation Std are not compatible with this game,

You can have several heroes on your team, with one your main character. I picked the magic user, because I have a thing for magic users and Elves, and she was both. Surprising, it was a good choice – she’s a decent damage dealer, and doubles up as a healer, with her healing also giving a ATK+ bonus). Unfortunately, we can be either a damage dealer or a healer, and not both, as her mode is dictated by the weapon she wields (staff for damage, or tome for healing – she was wielding a staff in the picture below). Fortunately, as I progressed into the story, I met two healers (both on the back row of my team). One heals an entire row by a certain amount, and the other heals only one, but gives a regeneration bonus on that person so they auto-heal for two turns.


 wpid-2014-11-10-07.40.58.png.png

When a character performs a special move, such as healing, or casting a spell, you get a short cut like this. It is possible, when in auto-battle, to have several characters perform special moves one after the other. It’s quite amusing to watch four specials all targetted at one boss.

Specials are paid for by Fury, which is gathered during attacks by your characters, and by being attacked by opponent monsters. So it is possible to throw many specials during the course of a battle. Some moves are low-cost such as the single-person heal. Others, such as my main character’s special costs more, because it deals damage to more enemies.

wpid-screenshot_2014-11-09-20-40-05.png

Rainbowmon

After a lot of fighting, I got my first Rainbowmon loot. This monster is unique in that it is not designed to be used to fight with, it is meant to be sacrificed to give EXP to other monsters. Find these monsters, and you can fast-track the levels on your team.

Screenshot_2014-10-07-19-54-20

Summoner’s War

I’ve been introduced to a new Android game. Summoner’s War. It’s a free-to-play game, with optional IAP. Freemium, I guess.

You are a summoner and you take monsters into battle, following a storyline, with rare monsters available if you hunt for them. It’s a generally good time-waster.

Yes, you can pay money for speeding up the levelling, but you don’t have to, and there’s little push for it. You can have many monsters on your team, and include some from your friends.

There is also an Arena (this is the core of the game) where you can battle other players in PvP – but the players are not “live”. The players setup a defending team and when you battle them, that is the team that you face.

Screenshot_2014-10-06-17-51-03

I’ve also just discovered the dungeons feature, where you can search for parts to Awaken monsters, where you upgrade your monster, causing it to change appearance and name, and gain better stats and a new skill. Another feature is Evolving monsters, where you increase your monster’s number of stars, resetting them to level 1 and return them to base stats, but their base stats are more powerful that the previous star level. I haven’t evolved any of my characters yet, although I do now have one eligible for it (my Vagabond, at L15) – not in any of these pictures. Evolution requires several monsters of the same star level to be sacrified. So, for example, my Vagabond is 2 stars, so I need 2x 2 star monsters. A three star monster need 3x 3 star monsters instead.

Screenshot_2014-10-06-17-45-05

Related articles

Shellshock, the Bashdoor Bug – Computerphile – YouTube

Computerphile explains Shellshock

ROM Reflash – Cyanogenmod 11 (Flemmard) – Part 3

I am not impressed. After flashing and restoring my applications, the phone seems extra sluggish and seems to have locked me out of recovery mode. When I tried to set my alarm for weekdays, I was fighting the phone to click the days of the week. I was pressing Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, then the phone took several seconds before showing up the change, then unticking them, and ticking them back on again.

I reflashed my recovery from 4EXT, since I could still get into the main OS, and now I’m reflashing from my image back to my albinoman build. This Flemmard build is going on my “do not use” list.