I just got an old-but-unused Fire HD 6 tablet and I need to convert it to something more like an actual usable thing. However, I am not really interested in going all OCD on Android stuff for a year just so I can decipher the mountain of buzzword bingo in every XDA ‘howto’ guide. I only need to do this once, not interested in bleeding-edge updates twice a week and trying every custom ROM out there. I just want it to be a tablet.
It’s got OS 5.0.1 on it, developer options enabled, and I have all the ADB stuff working as far as I know. Anybody recommend a solid, reliable ROM and a guide that normal humans can figure out?
Thanks, that’s a great example of what I’m talking about. Lots and lots of ‘if/then’ in there that only makes sense to someone who already understands it all.
My from-the-hip shot is this: there are two paths where you might think there is only one. The path you know of is “find a good ROM” - that’s fine and I generally look to see if there’s a stable port of Cyanogenmod. Just because it’s not sanctioned and on the Cyanogenmod website doesn’t mean you won’t find a stable, functional port on XDA Developers (see this thread). The other option is to keep the Amazon ROM, root the device, disable updates, install gapps, and swap out the launcher (desktop) for something less Amazon-ey. This may be all you need and all the hardware will continue to work.
Bluetooth is the one thing that absolutely positively must work 100%, or it’s useless to me. I could do without wifi before I’d give up bluetooth. This is what I bought it for—> DIY DRO Project | Yuriy's Toys
I haven’t given it access to my router yet, no reason to. And there’s no way in hell I’ll ever use it to access any sort of Amazon services. I have an account, but only buy from them maybe twice a year.
I would love a plain generic Android UI. CM11 is a non-starter. Is that ‘blue shade’ thing just a tarted-up reskin of the Amazon OS? Are there any ROMs that will work on this thing?
Oh, and if I wasn’t confused enough already, I’m pretty sure ‘Kindle Fire HD 6’ is a completely different device from my ‘Fire HD 6’. Makes googling SO much fun! grrr…
That would be step 2. Be sure you know which Fire you have. Amazon’s naming is almost intentionally confusing.
Did you take a look at the which kindle fire do I have thread? Fire Index: Which Amazon Fire Do I have? | XDA Forums I’m not seeing a 2nd 6” Fire HD on the list. Though, helpfully some don’t list the the screen sizes. 8-|
~ edit ~
Going through these ones with unlisted screen sizes:
“Amazon Fire 5th gen 2015” is 7in (I have one of those)
“Kindle Fire HD 2013” is 7in
“Kindle Fire 2 2012” is 7in
“Amazon Kindle Fire 1st Gen 2011” is 7in
So there appears to be only a single 6 inch Fire.
And this matches what you have, correct?
And for you, I think step 3 would be to make sure there is a rom with working bluetooth, since it’s a deal breaker for you. I see no BT in CM-11.
But I’ll always know the ads - er, sorry, I mean Special Offers! - are in there and if one of them comes out, I will have to kill it. I will kill it and cut it into little pieces and burn the pieces and then dump the ashes on a fire ant mound.
I know that on some amazon Fires the ads can be removed. It’s fairly easy on the Fire 7” 2015. Though I didn’t look into what’s possible on a 5.0.1 fire 6 HD.
Been reading through some xda threads.
First, be aware that Fire OS 5.0.1 seems to be also known as “5.2.2u2”. So any mention of either 5.0.1 or “5.2.2u2” should apply to you.
Here is a download link for the kingroot app and here is the kingroot xda thread. They say you may have to try kingroot “several times”. Once you are rooted you should be able to kill silent updates, kill ads, de-bloat.
I… all I can come up with is that everything Android-related has somehow turned into a big stinking hot mess. Every single device has to have its own customized install of everything? OS, bootloaders, recovery are all separate, and every one of them has some conflict somewhere with at least one of the others?? There’s no such thing as security patches, you just have to wait until a complete OS bundle with the fixes inside is released? Flashing apps from a command line over USB? Christ onna stick. That mountain’s way too steep for me to climb.
I do hate how difficult things are with phone and tablets. Some of it is the device manufacturer’s fault imo. They believe you should not own the device you have paid for. So they lock it down and you have hack you own device just to remove bloatware.
But for you Fire 6 HD it doesn’t seem too hard. Download and run the kingroot app I linked to.
OK. What could possibly go wrong, granting permission for unspecified persons install an unknown bootloader from ‘the cloud’ (insert stock footage of a comic book super-villain in a hardened bunker inside an extinct volcano). Sounds like fun.
