I made good on the first of my New Year’s resolutions by overcoming my Android Thriftiness Syndrome and splurging for the Archos 7o Internet Tablet. As soon as I powered it on, it was clear my investment (about $270) had almost paid off.
I watched as the 1 GHz Cortex A8 processor and graphics accelerator made the grass in the default wallpaper gently sway in the virtual breeze. Everything else was equally fluid: WiFi, keyboard, and gesturing. And then with an over-the-air firmware update, I finally was able to enjoy the stabler Froyo (Android 2.2).
I was ready to download a SIP client app, preferably cSipSimple, which I had written about before. Unfortunately, Android Market is not available with the Archos tablets.
Darn.
I had known this before the purchase, but didn’t realize how limited Archos’s own “AppsLib” was. Less choices, and more importantly the CSipSimple version I installed on my Archos 7 was not the same as the Market one.
Overall, Archos with Android 2.2 is less shaky than my earlier tablet experiments, Yixin and eCruz Reader, where apps would unexpectedly force-close at the slightest provocation. This doesn’t happen as frequently with 2.2 on the Archos 7o: the sailing was choppy but manageable.
I tried, really tried, getting CSipSimple to register with my onSIP virtual PBX, but no luck. It’s possible I misconfigured, but in the end I took this to be a sign to try another SIP client, the open-source Sipdroid, which I had been eying from a distance.
So how to you get a Android app onto your tablet without an embedded Market? It’s not that hard. Honestly.
To do this you need to get direct access to the application’s Android distribution format or .apk file. For example, on the web, you can browse for .apk’s in AndroidPit. I found Sipdroid quickly enough, downloading it to my MacBook.
From the MacBook to the Archos 7o, you have a few options. Once the USB cable is connected and the file system mounted, you should, in theory, be able to copy an .apk and then install it using an Android file browser.
I instead chose to use the Android Debug Bridge (or adb) that is part of Google’s App Inventor environment (see references). I know it may seem as I’m moving far afield, but I have some app ambitions of my own (I’m sure you do as well), and decided to bite the bullet, and download the App Inventor files, which includes the Bridge.
Install .apk’s with ADB.
Found under the commands-for-Appinventor sub-folder, adb is simply a debugging and development aid with basic commands—diagnostics, remote shell, etc. There are some gotchas—see the Archos references at the end—but assuming you have the debug environment enabled on your Android, issuing “-d install” command to adb with the correct path to your .apk file will load a new app.
Which is what I did.
So how is Sipdroid on the Archos? A tentative, “just alright.” I was able to register with my OnSIP PBX account without too much difficulty. (Note: remember that your Sipdroid user name and OnSIP account name must match for presence to be detected.)
Some annoyances: I’m having trouble using the session slider to accept and disconnect calls. Another OS 2.2 glitch? No sure.
There are workarounds: setting auto-answer in use (see the Call Options menu) and pressing the disconnect icon, located in the settings menu.
More madding is the lack of a virtual keyboard. Maybe I need to study the settings menu more closely.
I’ll have more on Sipdroid, as well as App Inventor, in future posts.
By the way, Happy 2011!
Related articles
- SIP on Android (technoverseblog.com)
- Sipdroid (sipdroid.org)
- Google App Inventor Setup (googlelabs.com)
- Android Debug Bridge (developer.android.com)
- ADB for Archos Tablets (archos.com)
- AndroidPit
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