Android Upgrade Lifecycle and root options

[bigwigs]

Hi,
Can someone please shed some light on Android upgrade lifecycle for Boox products?
They seem to release new product versions/iterations very often.
Do they support at least 1 major version upgrade of Android?
How easy is it to root the products?

Thanks!

[Renate]

Hi

Onyx Boox has a release rate that drives us all batty. New models pop up with astounding rapidity and apparently minor changes.

They have released major Android updates for some of the older products recently. I think they make an effort to have uniform software across the product line. There are frequent updates. Many have been full updates, although there have been incremental updates too.

They have been until now (knock on wood) very easily rootable. But that depends on either finding a Firehose loader for the SoC or waiting until a software update is released. If they make a change in any of this I will be the first to jump ship.

The ereader user is an astoundly persnickety creature with everybody having very particular tastes. For instance, I want my Bluetooth clicker to flip pages when I depress the button, not when I release it. To do this I have to modify the stock software. Without this ability I wouldn't touch Onyx.

That being said, as a fan of 6" 300 DPI readers, I love my Poke5.

[bigwigs]

Thanks, Renate!
This sounds good. Any recommendations to read pdfs , notes n highlighting?

[Renate]

That's a good question. I don't read PDFs that much and when I do it's on a desktop. Notes and highlights are not something I do either. That being said, there are many here who do a lot of all of this and are particular about organizing and backing up notes/highlights. In any case, with PDFs bigger is always better.

As high tech as I am I still rely on my dollar store "college ruled" one subject notebook.

[Aleron Ives]

Originally Posted by Renate

They have released major Android updates for some of the older products recently. I think they make an effort to have uniform software across the product line. There are frequent updates.

When you say Android updates, you mean the Boox software, don't you? I was under the impression that Onyx never updates the Android version of any device, because there are licensing requirements tied to the hardware: if a device ships with Android version x, it will stay on that version forever, although you'll still get frequent updates to the Boox software. Boox devices usually ship 1-3 Android versions out of date, but it's really only a problem if you're trying to run the latest apps, which isn't too likely if you're in the market for one of these devices.

[Renate]

I thought that some older models went from Android 6 to 9 recently?

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by Renate

I thought that some older models went from Android 6 to 9 recently?

The reason was only the introduction of split screen from Android 7, which is important for large screens - the update was not available on the 6 inch devices.

[bigwigs]

Originally Posted by Aleron Ives

When you say Android updates, you mean the Boox software, don't you? I was under the impression that Onyx never updates the Android version of any device, because there are licensing requirements tied to the hardware: if a device ships with Android version x, it will stay on that version forever, although you'll still get frequent updates to the Boox software. Boox devices usually ship 1-3 Android versions out of date, but it's really only a problem if you're trying to run the latest apps, which isn't too likely if you're in the market for one of these devices.

Thanks for clarification.
As long as Android version is post project treble(Android) there is opportunity to create gsi rom depending on processor used and if device is supporting the same.

[bigwigs]

Project treble support can be checked using following:
adb shell
getprop ro.treble.enabled

If u return value is true then device supports it.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by bigwigs

getprop ro.treble.enabled

Both Poke3 and Poke5 say "true".

[bigwigs]

Originally Posted by Renate

Both Poke3 and Poke5 say "true".

Guess depending on which processor they have u can look lineage gsi image