Author Topic: Fire Tablet 9th Generation  (Read 5455 times)

TerryED

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Fire Tablet 9th Generation
« on: November 22, 2019, 21:55:08 »
Hi, Before I buy lots of Fire Tablets in the Amazon Black Friday Sale has anyone managed to sideload BridgePal app onto the new 7" Fire Tablet 9th generation software version 6.3.1.2 ?

TonyF

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Re: Fire Tablet 9th Generation
« Reply #1 on: November 23, 2019, 08:52:12 »
Hi Terry,

          Try a direct download - side loading probably will work but it's a bit of a faff... I've used the apkpure website for all my apps. Sideloading can be used if you do not want to register the Kindles or access the Internet directly. I have no experience of using the latest Kindles  - maybe buy one and try it out either way. Direct access to the Internet exposes the tablets to possible virus attack. So great care is needed. Once the app apps have been downloaded and installed there is no further need to connect to the Internet. All tablets will only access your local router used as the server.

Tony

johng

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Re: Fire Tablet 9th Generation
« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2019, 09:53:25 »
Hi Terry,

You don't need to use a third party website, you can just download the app from our BridgePal website at this link - https://mirgo2.co.uk/bridgepal/index.php?section=23. Use Version 1.5.5 (the first button on the page). You can either download it directly to the tablet via the tablet browser (which of course requires an internet connection), or you can copy it to device memory from the PC via a usb cable. In either case you will need to install it by tapping on the filename in the device's file manager (if you use the usb method), or by tapping on the download notification in the status bar (if you download via the browser). In either case you will get a prompt telling you that you need to enable "allow installation from unknown sources" in order to do this operation, and it will probably take you to the device settings screen in order to do this.

The above applies to earlier versions of the Fire tablet, but as it happens we are getting one of the new 9th generation 7" Fire tablets today, so we should be able to confirm later today that this procedure works.

fyi - I seem to remember TonyF posted some instructions somewhere on the forum for setting up the Fire tablet for BridgePal use. If you can't find them perhaps you could email TonyF directly via the forum.

John

Mirna

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Re: Fire Tablet 9th Generation
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2019, 11:33:43 »
Hi Terry,

I have setup our new fire 9th generation and BridgePal works fine.
I have downloaded BridgePal and Caffeine apps from BridgePal website, BridgeSolver app from APKpure, and copied them to the Kindle via usb.
I installed ES file manager before I could install the apps.

Tested BridgePal and it works fine. I now want to find out how to get rid of all icons on the home screen except the ones I want. TonyF has published something here, will have a look to start with.

Mirna

TerryED

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Re: Fire Tablet 9th Generation
« Reply #4 on: November 23, 2019, 12:46:13 »
Hi All,
Thank you for your replies. I did not want to buy 14 of the Fire Tablets to find they did not work. I'm in Tenerife at the moment and won't be back until 2nd December, so I need to get family to order the Tablets before I can check this version of the Fire tablets can run BridgePal. The next best Tablet Lenovo Tab3 7" is ?10 more expensive in the Black Friday sale.

Mirna

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Re: Fire Tablet 9th Generation
« Reply #5 on: November 23, 2019, 22:06:58 »
I followed the instructions in a couple of youtube videos - this one (to install Google Play Store) and this one (towards the end of the video) to install the Nova Launcher and The Launcher Hijack. As a result I now have a Kindle device with no ads and just one app - Bridgepal - on the home screen. I installed BridgePal and Bridge Solver from the Google Play Store and Caffeine from the BridgePal website. I set Caffeine so that screen dims after one minute. Need to test battery in the club.
The device automatically re-connects to wifi like any other Android.

UPDATE:
I used it now in 3 sessions without recharging (battery down to 14%). In the third session the screen went into Low Power mode when battery was at 20%. I didn't like this as the display turns darker. However there is a setting to switch the Low Power mode off. I have done this now and it should not bother me in the next recharge cycle.
« Last Edit: December 08, 2019, 16:02:30 by Mirna »

weetich

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Re: Fire Tablet 9th Generation
« Reply #6 on: November 28, 2019, 15:42:56 »
Have bought a set of 9th generation tablets, configured and run a 7 table hesitation Mitchell simulation with 24 boards in play.
Bridgepal and Caffeine were sideloaded onto Kindles.
Pesky amazon adverts only appear when the tablet is first switched on.
Using different timeouts on the kindles, the loss of battery was between 20 and 28 percentage points.

Issue I have noted is that the Kindles are losing 1 percentage point of battery power per hour when switched off ?!  Any clues would be appreciated.

johng

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Re: Fire Tablet 9th Generation
« Reply #7 on: November 28, 2019, 16:14:53 »
Do you mean they lose 1% when they are powered off, or when they are on on but the screen is off ?

If they are losing charge at that rate after the unit has been powered down then that doesn't sound right. The Fire tablet has a Li-ion battery - I found the following information from a google search about the expected self-discharge rate of such batteries:

"Li-ion self-discharges about 5 percent in the first 24 hours and then loses 1?2 percent per month; the protection circuit adds another 3 percent per month"

On the other hand, if you mean they lose 1% per hour when the unit is powered up but the screen is off then that is not surprising (the processor is still running, wifi is still connected).

weetich

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Re: Fire Tablet 9th Generation
« Reply #8 on: November 28, 2019, 16:59:04 »
All the Kindles concerned were operating on their first cycle of charge.

Bridgepal was running as an application controlled by Caffeine.
At the end of the session, Bridgepal was exited (back triangle at bottom left of screen) and 'yes' to confirmation prompt.  Kindle was manually switched off with the on/off button at top of machine.   Router had been left on accidently for just over 12 hours thereafter.

So, in my terminology. power was off and screen was off.

johng

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Re: Fire Tablet 9th Generation
« Reply #9 on: November 28, 2019, 17:12:33 »
Sorry to labour the point, but when you say it was manually switched off with the on/off button did you do a long press on this button so that the tablet presented a list of options including power off, and restart ? If you do a short press on this button you won't see any options - the screen will turn off but the unit remains powered on.

I'm asking because it seems unlikely that the battery discharges at the rate you say unless the unit is still on. I could imagine you might have one unit with a dud battery, but it seems unlikely that they are all faulty.

If you are certain that the units were powered off did you measure the 1% per hour discharge rate over several hours ? It's likely that the battery will show a slightly lower percentage after it is switched on because the boot process uses power, also the battery is probably at a lower temperature after it has been off for a while which may affect the reading.

weetich

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Re: Fire Tablet 9th Generation
« Reply #10 on: November 28, 2019, 17:20:38 »
Oops.

I only did a simple depression of the on/off button.  so, it looks like user error.
Off to switch them all off properly this time.

Thanks John

Vince