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SBrick Android App

  • April 23, 2015 1:36 PM CEST

    @Zsolt

    I have installed the 1.2 V today and still have the same problems as before. If I select the menu item "Manage bricks" are both "SBricks" is displayed. If I select one of the two bricks, it takes about 5 seconds and the
    Program is terminated.

    Am I doing something wrong?

    • 3 posts
    April 23, 2015 1:28 PM CEST

    @Matthew

    I followed your steps and indeed the light turned on and een after several tries, whenever the power button is on the light turns on too. No longer need for updates.

    Unfortunately the profile problem is also replicated.

    Still, thanks for the tip ;)

    Hoping the team works this out soon, quite anxious to test the SBrick properly.

    • 9 posts
    April 23, 2015 12:33 PM CEST

    Well I have good news, and I have bad news.

    The Good News is that I was able to upgrade the firmware on my SBrick using my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (running stock Android 4.3) with the new 1.2 app

    The Bad News is that after trying for about 10 minutes, I cannot get a profile to save against a MOC.
    Which means I can not setup any controls for the MOC, All I am able to do is use the port testing

     

    The process I used to upgrade firmware on the SBrick (exactly as i did it the time It worked)

    1) I used a Power Functions Battery Box with 6x AA Batteries (normal Alkaline Batteries)
        20cm Power Functions Cable to connect the battery box to the SBrick
        I had NOTHING ELSE CONNECTED to the SBrick
        I turned the battery box on by sliding the switch AWAY FROM THE CABLE

    2) I plugged my charger into my phone (using a wall socket - 240v)
        I set my phone to turn the screen off after 10 minutes of inactivity.

    3) I opened the SBrick App on my phone (version 1.2)

    4) Went to Manage Bricks

    5) Touched Yes when it asked me if i wanted to turn on Blue Tooth

    6) Touched on the SBrick when it appeared at the top of the screen

    7) Touched on Yes i want to upgrade the firmware

    8) Waited for the firmware update to complete (takes about 5 minutes for the progress bar to go across the screen)

    At this point when the "Connecting to SBrick" screen came up, just before it says "Firmware update completed" the light on the SBrick turned on.

     

    Now my SBRick's light is always turned on, and I no longer get asked to update it.

     

     


    This post was edited by Matthew Boehm at April 23, 2015 12:47 PM CEST
  • April 23, 2015 11:42 AM CEST

    [blockquote]Matthew Boehm said:

    I just tried again with the new 1.2 app, I have my screen set to a 10 minute timeout, so it did not turn off

    I also waited about 3 or 4 minutes before I restarted bluetooth.

    Still the update did not work. :-(

    [/blockquote]

    Sbrick v1.2, Android 5.0.2

    Every time I open the OTA window I can re-install the firmware update. When it is finished is says successfully updated. But, if entering the OTA window again I can redo the update process. Come on. Is it really so difficult to read out the current firmware and eventually display a message that everything is up-to-date and closing the OTA?

    May I suggest to implement a message or a function that really checks if the firmware update was successful installed prior to starting the OTA? I believe that this would help a lot to cancel this problem, as many users are unsure if the update already worked or not. Or why not displaying the current firmware in the sbrick setup window.

    Keep on the progress,

    • 9 posts
    April 23, 2015 11:05 AM CEST

    I just tried again with the new 1.2 app, I have my screen set to a 10 minute timeout, so it did not turn off

    I also waited about 3 or 4 minutes before I restarted bluetooth.

    Still the update did not work. :-(

    • 28 posts
    April 23, 2015 10:59 AM CEST

    @Fernando: Waiting before switching of bluetooth does not work. :/

    @ Zsolt: It seems there is a lock for the screen not go off. It doesent turn off for the whole duration that I am in the OTA screen.

     

    Can we please have step-by-step "For dummies" instrunctions for the OTA procedure? I want to make sure that I am doing everything correctly. I.e. turn off and on the bluetooth before pressing ok at the update succesful message or after? Is the LED meant to stay on after the update to indicate that the new fw is installed?

    • 34 posts
    April 23, 2015 10:40 AM CEST

    Thank you for your feedbacks, @Fernando the known faults list is a good idea, we'll make it.

    Sad to hear that the OTA still doesn't work to everybody, we'll make some additional fine-tuning.

    I have a tip why the OTA fails for some people: did the phone's display sleeps after some minutes during OTA? It may corrupt the process.

    • 57 posts
    April 23, 2015 10:18 AM CEST

    [blockquote]Antonis Minas said:

    Is there a "best practises" that need to be followed in order to successfully upgrade the firmware?

    [/blockquote]

     

    Don't know whether it helps or not, but I remember that after experiencing the same fw upgrade problem for several days I finally succeeded. At that time I tried to git it a longer time between switching smartphone BT off and on again. Waited something like 1 min.

    Give it a try and tell us. At least I could have a confirmation if it was it or not.

    Using SG Note Edge with 4.4.4

    • 28 posts
    April 23, 2015 8:48 AM CEST

    Hello,

    I have upgrated to v1.2 and I still cannot update the sbrick. Same behaviour as with 1.1. Connect to sbrick > get notified about the firmware update > update > firmware update completed > get promped for an update again. 

    Is there a "best practises" that need to be followed in order to successfully upgrade the firmware?

    I have been following this thread since I got my sbrick four months ago but its getting tyring to read through every single post in order to find the information you need :/

    I am using a Nexus 4 running stock 5.0.1

    • 99 posts
    April 23, 2015 6:37 AM CEST

    [blockquote]Denis H said:

    Tested the new 1.2 version of the app in my Samsung Galaxy S3

    [...}

    Now the app crash with any custom profile i use.

     

    [/blockquote]

     

    Updated to 1.2 app. Did not try yet to create a brand new profile, but did not experiment any regression so far. But did not see any improvement neither, I have one Sbrick only...

    Still the same display issues, especially visible on the large screen of a tablet.

     

    Marc

    • 3 posts
    April 23, 2015 4:28 AM CEST

    @Matthew

    I did forget to mention I'm using the 1.2 Android version.

    It does the update but keeps asking to update again. Out of curiosity tried it on a Motorola Moto E but result was the same as it installed immediately 1.2. No iPhones to try.

    • 9 posts
    April 23, 2015 3:48 AM CEST

    @Hugo

    That is the same problem I have.

    With version 0.8 of the SBrick app off the Play Store, the brick worked but had some problems (control lag, etc)

    When I installed the 1.1 APK the brick needs to be updated and continally fails. But you cannot use the brick on Android untill it is updated.

    I haven't tried the 1.2 Android version yet (I will in a few hours when I get home) but so far I cannot get my SBrick to update after trying a number of different phones (Galaxy Note 2, iPhone6, iPhone4S)

    • 3 posts
    April 23, 2015 3:30 AM CEST

    Hello there, I'm brand new to the SBrick community as I got my SBrick some hours ago.

    Been playing a bit with it out of the box then got an update for the Android version. After update, had to update the SBrick itself which seemed quite normal.

    But since then I can't use it. If I check it on "Manage Bricks" it insists in updating it again. When I try to simply use my creation the app crashes. Tried using other profile and kept happening.

    This happens both with my Samsung Galaxy S5 and Huawei Media Pad M1 8.

    • 41 posts
    April 23, 2015 1:46 AM CEST

    Tested the new 1.2 version of the app in my Samsung Galaxy S3

    - In the "What's new" says: oval joystick on some devices fixed and joystick profile fixed. BUT in the S3 the joystick profile make the app crash every time....tested also with a joystick custom profile and also crash.

    - The app still crash time to time in differents menus.

    - The app crash in custom profiles using custom backgrounds image (i use a png image).

    - The app crash in custom profiles when width is changed in the sliders other than default.

    - Sorry.....i have to correct the above....now the app crash with any custom profile i use.

     


    This post was edited by Denis H at April 23, 2015 2:35 AM CEST
    • 57 posts
    April 22, 2015 11:57 PM CEST

    Very good and much appreciated progess with multi SBrick support for Android app!

    Kudos to the Android development team!

    Like Frederic I also found that 1-function/2-ports only working when the 2 ports used are from different bricks. A very good progress anyway.

    App didn't crash oftenly, although I didn't played as much as before.  Still crashes with profiles that seem somehow corrupted resulting from problems previously described.

     

    Some of the previous problems still present:

    - Bad memory handling of the state from last profile downloaded via market.

    - LED Id function still misbehaving with alternate messages on screen not suitable anymore.

    - Still can't rename bricks (although it seems a not yet implemented feature).

    - Joystick, toggle and close button circles, still shown as ovals and at least in some cases also misplaced.

     

    Didn't play with multiple custom profiles downloaded and rotated controls, as I believe the same errors persist given the other and more fundamental errors still present.

    Didn't want to take hours and hours of frustration and trial and error to find what was already described, given it was not declared as fixed.

     

    It would be of great convenience for everyone (you and us), if you provide an updated known faults list, wiht each new SW release also wih indication of the presumably fixed previous reported errors.

    It would avoid many hours testing on hour side, just to find wheather you tried to fix something or not. ;)

    • 95 posts
    April 22, 2015 8:54 PM CEST

    Same behavior with my asus memopad 7 :-(

    • 95 posts
    April 22, 2015 8:20 PM CEST
    On my S4 (I need to test it on my tablet) 1 function 2 ports works only when the motors are connected on 2 sbricks

    This can be usefull in some cases but this feature should also works on the same sbrick
    • 34 posts
    April 22, 2015 7:37 PM CEST

    Android has technical differences that results you can't use the old firmware's control method.

    We made this firmware change, to solve this android problem, however the iOS works fine with the old one also.

    The battery charged? I'll make some tests tomorrow with iOS devices.

     

    We just submitted the new Android app (1.2) to the Google Play, a few hours and it will be available.

    • 9 posts
    April 22, 2015 11:34 AM CEST

    @Zsolt

    I tried to update the firmware with the Android 1.1 App as well at with the iOS version which is currently on the apple app store.

    for Android i tried using my Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (Android 4.3)

    for iPhone i tried both a iPhone6 and a iPhone4S both with the latest version of iOS.
    When trying to update with the iPhones i had the exact same problem that Allan talks about in the iphone thread (I also posted in there)

    All of them say that the update is succesful but as soon as i restart the app and try to connect to the brick, it says it needs to update the firmware.

     

    I have tried everything I can think of in the Android App, but I cannot seem to find a way to use the brick without updating it, is that correct?

    In the iPhone app on my friends phone, i could still control the brick on a MOC with the old firmware.

  • April 22, 2015 11:02 AM CEST

    @Matthew:
    thx for the info
    currently there is no plan to control MOCs,but you can use all 4 channels of a SBrick simultanously selecting the same SBrick for each slider.

    @Zsolt:
    Does the led-button work without disconnects? (please try many on off on off on off.....)

    • 34 posts
    April 22, 2015 10:07 AM CEST

    @Philipp connecting works, but when I want to send the first packet to control characteristic works fine (with slider move), but 1-2 second later it disconnects, and have to disconnect-connect again.

     

    @Matthew sounds weird, nobody reported ota problems on iOS devices yet. Which app version are you tried with?

    • 9 posts
    April 22, 2015 6:58 AM CEST

    @Philipp - Is there a way in your app to control a MOC? or is there only the 1 screen for testing the channels on the SBricks?

    Would be cool if you could make a simple control screen with some sliders, even it it was only for a single SBrick.

    • 9 posts
    April 22, 2015 6:55 AM CEST

    I tried my friends iPhone6 today, Firmware update _failed_ a few times (says completed succesfully but wants to do it again)

    And when I connect it to my android phone, it still says the firmware is old.

     

    I was able to get my MOC working using the iPhone6 and the SBrick with the Old Firmware.

     

    I cannot get the Android App to control the SBrick at all, the only thing it lets me do is upgrade the firmware, which always says "Success" but doesn't actually work.

     

    I tried Philipp's app on my Galaxy Note 2, and it connected fine and controlled the 2 motors I had on the SBrick.

     

    I will try with an iPhone4S tonight and see how that goes

  • April 21, 2015 10:18 PM CEST

    @Zsolt:
    Thx for the response.
    Ok, so connecting works fine, just using the sliders do not work?
    Did you connect to just one SBrick or more?
    Did you use a SBrick with new FW?
    As i did not update FW: did the api changes?
    Which Android-Version?


    This post was edited by Philipp Kaufmann at April 21, 2015 10:26 PM CEST
    • 34 posts
    April 21, 2015 7:04 PM CEST

    @Philipp I Tested your app on a galaxy S4, but it disconnects from the brick when I move the slider.

    @Matthew The iPhone's bluetooth chip is far better than the Android's, so you could try with that. We'll made some improvements around the OTA, maybe these fixes solves your problem also.

     

    We finished the more sbrick support (currently tested with 3), and the "one function two ports" feature, we'll make some additional bugfixes tomorrow, and you'll get a new android version.