Trouble with Solo App and Solex on Kindle Fire

jxo · Nov 16, 2017

Amazon was very helpful. I just concluded it would take too long to find the right people to determine if there was a fix. I didn't want to waste hours of my life on this little detour. From searching the forum, there seem to be several people with Solex operating fine on Kindle 8s (albeit the screen my not be bright enough under certain conditions). I need a new Kindle anyway, so its a low cost investment/risk to see if one Kindle may work with Solex and put off the investment in a new android device for a while. I will report back.

jxo · Nov 16, 2017

The Kindle Fire 8 that would replace the 7 is also a 7th generation and would appear to run the same OS as the 7 I just returned. It also has the same processor. All that is meaningfully different is the greater screen resolution of the 8 which would not immediately appear to affect the running of an app like Solex. If this is the case, I don't see why a new Kindle Fire 8 HD would handle Solex any differently.

jxo · Nov 16, 2017

tpsharkey said:
It is Fire OS 5.6.0.0.

I tried one last time. I reset the Fire upgraded to 5.6.0.0 slogged through the APK files reinstalled Solex and got the same result. Towel has been thrown in.

Pls recommend a decent alternative tablet. Thanks.

carpy · Nov 17, 2017

jxo said:
I tried one last time. I reset the Fire upgraded to 5.6.0.0 slogged through the APK files reinstalled Solex and got the same result. Towel has been thrown in.

Pls recommend a decent alternative tablet. Thanks.

Head over to eBay and bid for a NVIDIA Shield K1 or Nexus 7 (2013) and you will be a happy boy. A Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8" works good too.

jxo · Nov 17, 2017

carpy said:
Head over to eBay and bid for a NVIDIA Shield K1 or Nexus 7 (2013) and you will be a happy boy. A Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8" works good too.

thanks.

soon to be...

7 or 8 inch is the best size?

carpy · Nov 17, 2017

jxo said:
thanks. soon to be...

7 or 8 inch is the best size?

Kind of depends how much and what kind of flying you plan on doing. Any mapping stuff, IMHO an 8" is better (but usually heavier) so it's a little bit of a trade-off. Either is good--the resolution is probably more important.

jxo · Nov 17, 2017

The NVIDIA and Nexus devices are a little old. The Samsung will be easier for me to pick up. Is this Samsung (I read there are some issues with Samsung devices) model a decent choice? Samsung Galaxy Tab A Tablet 8 Screen 1.5GB Memory 16GB Storage Android 5.0 Lollipop Smoky Titanium by Office Depot & OfficeMax

rikracer · Nov 17, 2017

I think Sam's has that one on sale today for 119.00, just sayin"
Rick

jxo · Nov 17, 2017

rikracer said:
I think Sam's has that one on sale today for 119.00, just sayin"
Rick

nice. how does this compare to the Nexus 7 2013 for Solex purposes only?

rikracer · Nov 17, 2017

Don't have a Nexus, but this tablet works great
Rick

clarkaw1 · Nov 18, 2017

After I installed the 4 APK files in order to get the Google Play Apps to work, mine works. I have a new Fire HD 8 (7th generation) , not Fire 7.
The only function I still can't get to work is the "Add Location." I'm recording at 1080p and camera set to Medium width.

carpy · Nov 18, 2017

clarkaw1 said:
After I installed the 4 APK files in order to get the Google Play Apps to work, mine works. I have a new Fire HD 8 (7th generation) , not Fire 7.
The only function I still can't get to work is the "Add Location." I'm recording at 1080p and camera set to Medium width.

I would imagine that's because the Fire HD's don't have a GPS and use location services instead.

clarkaw1 · Nov 18, 2017

You're right. As a workaround, before leaving home, I pan to and zoom around the area where I'll be flying. Somehow the App caches the imagery for the area. I'm unsure how it decides how long or how much to keep, or if it just wipes the cache and starts over... Some previously cached areas seem to stay, while others go away.

Rsn · Nov 18, 2017

I have a Fire 8HD also. Currently OS ver 5.6.0.0. It just installed on Nov 17th. I never had any problems with prior OS's. I haven't flown in a while, so if it's not working now it's probably because Amazon did something on their end. If you did the 4 APK files and got Google Play Store on your tablet, it's no use calling support for help as you found out. That's like jailbreaking an iphone...lol. You hacked their device...lol.
Definitely let us know if you find out what the problem is...

carpy · Nov 18, 2017

clarkaw1 said:
You're right. As a workaround, before leaving home, I pan to and zoom around the area where I'll be flying. Somehow the App caches the imagery for the area. I'm unsure how it decides how long or how much to keep, or if it just wipes the cache and starts over... Some previously cached areas seem to stay, while others go away.

I think it's 30 days. Go to Google Maps | Offline maps.
Solo, Tower and Solex all use the Google Maps API. Tower for sure (I can't look at Solo and Solex code to verify but I'm pretty sure.).

vegaslightsss · Nov 18, 2017

jxo said:
thanks. Can you confirm the Fire 7's generation and OS? I have tried reinstalling. I did a factory reset and reinstalled the 4 APK files making sure they were the most recent versions.

I use both CM11 ROM after rooting and now I'm currently using a Nexus ROM on my 7-inch HD had the newest firmware on it I was able to read it it took somebody a day to figure it out but it works perfectly now there is an app called Flashfire 11 that you can download as an APK file you want to do that after you manage to root it I used kingroot and SuperSU to root it after that use Flashfire to load RON's easy no PC needed

Bigdustyman · Apr 20, 2018

I managed to get playstore on my fire 8 HD and all seems well solo app and solex app

Rsn · Apr 21, 2018

Good deal...

vegaslightsss · Apr 22, 2018

vegaslightsss said:
I use both CM11 ROM after rooting and now I'm currently using a Nexus ROM on my 7-inch HD had the newest firmware on it I was able to read it it took somebody a day to figure it out but it works perfectly now there is an app called Flashfire 11 that you can download as an APK file you want to do that after you manage to root it I used kingroot and SuperSU to root it after that use Flashfire to load RON's easy no PC needed

vegaslightsss · Apr 22, 2018

One thing I didn't mention with my kindle that is rooted , I don't have camera control , options are greyed out , I have tried hero 3+ and hero 4 both black, 1080 works fine but can't control flight modes through the tablet , or even start and stop records. I can view the record counter and telemetry is viewable, I am using micro HDMI cable from controller to tablet not sure how you are doing it but functions are somewhat limited.