Kindle Fire: "sideloading" Google apps

In my previous post, I mentioned sideloading. In the case of the Kindle Fire, this means locating the .apk file for the app you want, putting that file on a PC, transferring to the Fire via USB cable, and then installing the file. Yup, it's a hassle, but for apps that are not available from the Amazon Appstore, this is the easiest way (of which I'm aware) to get the apps installed.

Get the install files: For the Google apps, the first thing you need to do is get the Android install files. Thankfully, these have been posted already. Download gapps.rar from http://www.multiupload.com/DGMBZZNOXM ...You'll need WinZip (there's a free eval version) or a similar program to extract the .apk files (the Android app install files) from the .rar file. I suggest extracting the files to an easy-to-remember location. Maybe create a folder called "Google Android Apps" on your desktop.

FYI, here's the Google files that are included in that .rar:

• com.google.android.apps.books-1.apk


• com.google.android.apps.maps-1.apk


• com.google.android.apps.plus-1.apk


• com.google.android.apps.reader-1.apk


• com.google.android.gm-2.apk


• com.google.android.gsf-2.apk    << That's the same as GoogleServicesFramework.apk


• com.google.android.street-1.apk


• com.google.android.talk-1.apk


• com.google.android.youtube-2.apk


• GoogleServicesFramework.apk    << That's the same as com.google.android.gsf-2.apk

Grab a couple of free utility apps for the Kindle: From your Kindle Fire, go to the Amazon Appstore and get the free ES File Explorer app and the free Easy Installer app and install them on the Fire.

Copy the Google files to the Kindle Fire: Connect your Kindle Fire to your Windows PC with a USB cable. After a moment or two, you should see the Kindle appear as a drive available from File Manager. Select the Google files from your PC folder and drag/drop to copy them to the download folder on your Fire. Once the files are copied, you can disconnect the devices; press the Disconnect button on the Kindle and remove the USB cable.

Install the apps on the Fire: Remember the Easy Installer that you snagged from the Appstore and installed on the Kindle? Open that app. It will list the apps that are available in your downloads folder. IMPORTANT:  Before you install any other apps, first install the Google Services Framework. Locate that file in the listing showing in Easy Installer, press to place a green checkmark at the right of the filename, and then press the Install Selected Apps at the bottom of the screen. Once that install is done, you can go back and select any of the other apps you want to install, and click the Install button for those as well. If you've selected multiple apps, as each one finishes installing, click Done; if you click Open, you'll be popped into the just-loaded app and will have to go back to Easy Installer and again select /install the other desired apps.

What about other apps, like Listen? Just as with the Google apps that were included in the .rar file linked above, you need to have the .apk install file for your desired app. In my case, since I already had the Listen app on my Android phone (an HTC Incredible), I used the free ASTRO File Manager to backup the install file, and then sideloaded that file from the phone - to the PC - to the Fire, and then again used Easy Installer to install the app. To back up an app, open ASTRO and press Application Backup. Select the app(s) you wish to back up and press Backup. This places the appropriate .apk file(s) in the /mnt/sdcard/apps folder (on my phone, anyway), which appears simply as the apps folder when connected to the PC with a USB cable and browsing the files via Windows File Manager.

  

After the files are all sideloaded and installed, I have a Kindle Fire with a sweet suite of apps :)

So why did I suggest that you load the ES File Explorer app on the Fire? Well, there's been a time or two when .apk files I've sideloaded do not show up in Easy Installer. No worries! You just open ES File Explorer, open the download folder, and tap the icon for the desired app to install it :)

Disclaimer: I had previously rooted my Fire whilst doing other things, and had installed most of these apps while it was rooted. To test things tonight, I uninstalled all of those apps, and with the Kindle Fire not rooted, I sideloaded and installed the apps and took the screenshots seen here. Please comment if you try these steps and they do not work for you.

Kindle Fire: Is this the droid you’ve been looking for?

As much as I hate ending a sentence with a preposition, I make an exception here, and offer my answer to the question: Yes for me; maybe for you.

My pre-ordered Kindle Fire arrived last week on Wednesday, 16 Nov. After sideloading several apps, doing a temporary root to load more apps, then unrooting the device once the desired app were running (video streaming does not work if the device is rooted) …I now have what I have looked for in a tablet. Total cost was $200 for the tablet, and about $10 for a couple needed apps (described below). Oh, and I'm using a cover that my son gave me.

Kindle Fire without modifications: The Fire is about the same size as the Kindle 3, and slightly heavier (I measured the difference at 4.4 ounces). As a short gent (5’4”) with small hands, I like that I can hold either device quite comfortably in one hand. The display on the Fire is brilliantly crisp and clear. But although I keep the brightness turned down to less than half when inside, even with the brightness cranked all the way up, the Kindle Fire is not as easy to read outside as the Kindle 2.

This pic shows the 'regular' Kindle outside. Very easy to read!

Here's the Kindle Fire, brightness up all the way, reading the same book at the same outside location. As you can see, the screen is quite reflective. I can absolutely read this, but the standard Kindle is definitely easier to read outside.

The Fire includes a link to the Amazon Appstore. Here’s what’s disappointing:  the Android Market offers over 250,000 apps; the Amazon Appstore – if you access it from an Android phone or your PC – has 4,000 apps (maybe more, but significantly less vs the Android Market). From the Fire, the Amazon Appstore only makes some of those 4,000 apps available, and it seemed that several of the apps I wanted were not available. By the way, I was rather appalled to read multiple online articles and posts mentioning the "must have" apps for the Fire and offering reviews of the device …when it is now obvious to me that these authors did not have the actual device! The articles described apps that are not available for the Fire, and ignored some of what I consider to be very nice included apps. The authors had erroneously assumed that anything available from the Appstore from a phone or PC would be available from the Fire. Wrong!

I’ve tested reading books and magazines on the Fire and I like the experience. That is, for the content I could load. Books and magazines purchased from Amazon for my prior Kindles all downloaded fine and the experience is quite nice, especially for content that normally includes color photos or charts (which render in grayscale on the earlier Kindles). Gaining access to the digital versions of some other periodicals was more challenging and required sideloading the Zinio app.

Video streaming on the Fire via Amazon Prime is amazing. I’ve tested a few videos now (tried a couple of TV shows and a movie) and in all cases the video and sound played just as smoothly and clearly as if watching content via normal TV.

Apps included with the Fire allow you to access your email, read books / periodicals, listen to music, read/post to Facebook and Twitter and other sites, and browse the web.

I was not familiar with Pulse, and this has been a happy discovery among the pre-loaded apps on the Kindle Fire. I am slowly getting this content aggregator configured and tuned and find it more useful each day.

So why would I want to modify things?

Swype: I have a droid phone for work and a droid phone for personal use and I use Swype on both of those (allows me to very quickly drag my finger from letter to letter, ‘stringing’ words together. I refuse to be limited to pecking out text a character at a time. You can “sideload” Swype on the Fire, and it will happily install – but it is not available as a text input option, so you are still left with the sole input option of the Kindle Fire soft keyboard.

Google apps: Gmail is my personal mail provider, and I am quite accustomed to running the Gmail app on my phones; Gmail is not among the available apps from the appstore on the Fire. I also use Google Maps and Google+. I have no idea why Amazon and Google aren’t playing nice here. Android comes from Google, and the Fire runs a modified version of Android.

A better web browser: The Fire comes with a browser, but I don’t care for it. This definitely comes down to personal preference, but now that I’ve modified the Fire and am running the Dolphin Mini browser, I like the web experience much more.

I would not want the Kindle Fire if I were not willing to do some tweaking. And I am willing to do some tweaking (my personal phone is rooted; heck the night I brought my brand new car home a few years ago, I tore off the front bumper assembly and other parts to do various upgrades). This is much easier than tearing into a car!

Here’s the approximate process I followed (I researched and experimented a bit, so this is not necessarily the exact and complete description of my fumbling)...Post a comment or email me if more details are needed.

1. Grabbed my HTC Incredible (my personal Android phone), and used Astro File Manager to backup some apps (the associated .apk files were stored in the Apps folder on my phone's SD card). Among the apps I grabbed were Zinio reader, FiOS Remote (let's me manage my Verizon FiOS DVR), Swype, ...basically anything I had on the phone that I might want on the Fire.


2. Using the phone, bought SQLite Editor ($2.99 and only needed if you want Swype) and Root Explorer (File Manager) ($3.99 and worth every penny). Backed these apps up using Astro File Manager once the apps were installed on the phone.


3. Connected the phone to my PC via USB cable (most of my machines are linux, but I have one desktop with a Windows partition), and copied those saved .apk files to a folder on the PC.


4. From Amazon Appstore, installed Easy Installer on the Fire


5. Followed the instructions in these articles to root the Kindle, sideload the desired apps (including various Google apps and the Android Market):
   
   
   1. Root the Kindle
   
   
   2. Getting the Android Market (and other apps) working on the Fire
   
   
   3. Getting Swype to work
   
   
   4. MarketOpener app ...This simply puts an icon among the apps on your Fire - to let you easily get to the Android Market once you have the Market loaded.
   
   
   5. UN-root the Kindle Fire (instructions are in the "Root the Kindle" article linked above). This step is required in order to allow content to stream from Amazon.
   
   

Rooting requires that you have the Android developer kit loaded (instructions are in those linked articles) and that requires a Windows machine with Java. All the instructions are in the articles, and if you don't have Java yet, the Android dev kit installer will detect that and help you.

Do read all of the text of all of those posts / articles before you start messing with your Kindle. Bear in mind that you do risk bricking your device, so care is needed. BUT, if you prepare carefully, and give yourself the time to enjoy the process, you can - as I have - end up with a wonderful tablet and reading device for only $200!

I am happy.

Asylum done, 1st eye surgery done, new low weight...

Finished the 30-day Asylum workout routine on Monday 26Sep. On Tuesday 27Sep had surgery on the lower eyelids to correct "ectropion" ...basically, they were sagging, exposing too much of the cornea. The bugger is that I'm not allowed to workout - at ALL - for 10 days. So I've been watching the WeightWatcher points, and staying a few below the daily allotment most days, given the lack of activity.

This morning was weekly weigh-in day for me, and I've hit a new low of 132.4. This is a bit of a milestone for me, since I'd been holding at a very steady 163 for much of our time in Florida. My high weight was 172, so I'm down about 40 pounds from that, down 30 from the 'steady' weight I'd held most of the past 7 years, and down 20 since we started WeightWatchers Online in late May.

My guess is about 5 pounds of fat to go. Next weekend when I can workout again, I'll start 10 days of an Asylum / P90X hybrid workout. And then it will be time for the 2nd eye surgery, to fix the heavily drooping upper eyelids and restore peripheral vision to what it should be. After another 10 day period of no working out, I'll be ready to dive back in and get back into a regular routine!

And with that...my coffee is ready :)

Two days of Asylum left..Closer to goal...

Bottom line: Lost 1.4 pounds this week

Weight/bodyfat this morning: 133.0 pounds, 14.7% fat
Weight/bodyfat last week:      134.4 pounds, 15.5% fat

Doing the math on that means that I lost 1.3 pounds of fat, and 0.1 pounds of lean mass. So this does tell me that putting more protein in the diet (all vegan, of course) and doing 5 small meals a day has been a good thing.

The math also shows that to hit my goal of 12% bodyfat, if I lose only fat, my target weight would be 127 pounds, assuming I have no change in lean mass. My God, that sounds like a featherweight, but I'm only 5' 4", so I guess that's reasonable.

These last bits of fat are not easy to lose! I've been doing the Asylum workouts in the mornings and doing 3 miles on the treadmill in the evening, rarely going beyond the 29 daily WeightWatchers points. Total calories burned from workouts is typically around 800/day, and has been as high as 1200. So even with a butt-load of activity and light, healthy eating, it is a s-l-o-w process!! But it's a steady process.

And that's the key. Now where's my coffee?

One week of Asylum left..weight & Bodyfat slowly going down

It definitely gets harder to lose pounds and bodyfat percentage as the amount left to lose diminishes. This week I did Asylum in the mornings and treadmill 5k in the evenings, stuck to the points plan (OK, I went over 1 point once, but was under on other days) ...and the results are that over the past TWO weeks I've lost a pound. But I'll take it.

Started WeightWatchers online on 21 May 2011 at 152.0 pounds. Today (17 Sep 2011) I weighed in at 134.4 pounds and show 15.5% fat. Goal is 12% (or less) of bodyfat, so that means if I gain no muscle and lose only fat, I have 5 pounds to go (for years I held steady at 163 lbs; highest was 172 a few yrs ago at annual physical, so down close to 40 pounds from the high).

We know what THAT means: HELL WEEK! Gonna be doubles again this week, and refine the diet a little more: higher caloric load in the morning and decreasing during the day (smallest meal at dinner). LOTS of water. Proper sleep. No alcohol (which has been pretty light anyway). So we shall see.

Goal for this coming week: Drop 2 pounds of fat. We shall see. For now, I do believe a man needs coffee!