So I recently bought a Protab 3XXL from vendor Point of View, and I noticed there wasn't much information to find on the internet for this tablet. So I had to figure out by myself how to get things done, and as an android beginner, that wasn't very easy. That's why I wanna create this guide for all you people who bought the same tablet and want to do the following things with it:
1. Upgrade to new firmware release
2. Root the tablet so you can uninstall bloatware and install some advanced apps
3. Save battery, make the tablet go faster and smoother.
1. Upgrade the tablet to new firmware release
When I initially bought the tablet, the firmware that was installed was buggy as hell, so the first thing I did was install the new updated firmware from the Point of View download site. This made my tablet go a bit faster and save a bit more battery life. The manual on the site though doesn't give a great explanation on how to install new firmware. Here's how to do it easily:Beware: upgrading your tablet will result in loosing all your data! Make sure you took backups before continuing! Also, make sure you got over 50% of battery life so the tablet doesn't die in the middle of the upgrading process.
- Go to http://ow.ly/lSuza and download the latest firmware release (get the one with the latest date in the filename, do not install v1.1 as wifi doesn't work on that one, don't know why) and extract it.
- For upgrading your tablet to a new release, you need your tablet to boot into flash mode. This is done by switching off your tablet, wait a few seconds, press the VOLUME UP button and (while still pressing that button) connecting your tablet to your pc. Windows will tell you it failed to install the drivers as none were found, that's because you have to manually point windows where to find the drivers. To install the drivers, follow the steps written in the manual (page 2-6) found on the same site as the firmware update.
- Open up rkbatchtool.exe which is in the extracted folder from step 1. If all went well, you should see a green rectangle which means your tablet is correctly connected in flash mode. If this rectangle is pink or no color at all, connect your tablet again holding the volume up button.
- Once you got the green light on rkbatchtool.exe, you're good to go and you can follow the steps written in the manual!
I tested this procedure on Windows 7, but I guess it should be about the same on any other Windows version. Just use the appropriate drivers as described in the manual :) That should be about it, if you have any further questions, feel free to ask!
2. Rooting the tablet
Rooting the tablet is even easier than upgrading it! Here's how to do it:- Go to www.moborobo.com. Download and install moborobo as this app will automatically search for the right drivers (other ones than the ones used to upgrade the device) when you connnect your tablet to your pc.
- Make sure you got USB debugging enabled on your tablet (settings -> developers options -> usb debugging)
- Open up Moborobo, connect your tablet the normal way (so without pushing the volume button) and let moborobo do the rest. If Moborobo doesn't do anything when connecting the device, click on 'refresh devices'. Installing the drivers may take a long time so be patiently (it took about 15 minutes on my laptop).
- When the correct drivers are installed, download the tool to root your device from here: http://ow.ly/lSZtT
- Don't worry, it's malware free and safe :)
- Extract the zip and fire up SuperOneClick.exe.
- Click on 'root'. Everytime a dialog comes up, press 'yes' or 'ok' a few times untill it says your device is rooted.
- Disconnect your tablet and check if superuser is installed, that's it :)
3. Some battery advice
All Android tablets last about a day and have to be plugged in by the evening, and the Protab is no exception for that! These are some tips to make your battery last longer (most tips are for rooted devices, so make sure you root your tablet first!)- Greenify is a great app to save some battery. Watch what it does and how to use it over here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW81YJME69U. This saved my battery a lot!Download it in the playstore!
- Android tablets still have some leftovers from their sibling phones, and that's causing TONS of battery drain. To get rid of the phone functions and a better explanation head over to this guide (very easy to follow): http://ow.ly/lT0ZV
- There are a bunch of better home screen launchers out there which are less battery-consuming than the stock android launcher (which the Protab has). My advice is Smart Launcher (or the pro version). This launcher is really smooth, fast and has a clean minimalistic look! Get it at the Playstore: http://ow.ly/lT1yX
- Rom Toolbox by jrummy is a great app to execute some root tasks like uninstalling bloatware (software installed by Point of View like their useless keyboard). Head over to the Playstore to download it! Beware of what you're uninstalling, if you uninstall core android apps, it could mess up your system! If this happened, flash your device again as explained in the beginning of this thread.
- I use my tablet a lot for reading pdf-files for school. As most pdf-readers have a white background, this drains a lot of battery (the lighter the colors on your screen, the more battery it drains). Moon Reader has an option to read pdf's in night mode (turns the background dark and the words white). This saves a lot of battery and is way easier to read! Head over to the playstore to download it.
- As I already said in my previous tip: white colors drain a lot of battery. Therefore, use a dark wallpaper on your home screen!
- Always use the lightest apps possible for a task. For example: Chrome browser for Android is a very heavy app which can be perfectly substituted by Boat Browser Mini (a lightweight browser that works blazingly fast). Try and google 'lightweight ........... for android' to see what the best alternatives for a heavy app are!
If someone has other tips for conserving some battery life, be sure to write it in the comments, I'll include it in this list!
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