Hi,
I am extremely frustrated with the blinkup for my Android Phone. I have an Android Samsung SCH-S738C that runs os 4.01. I tried all debugging tricks and nothing worked.
I bought the April and the imp001 from Digikey.
I think Electric Imp needs to fix this issue or say exactly which specs of Android work or dont. This looks like a lingering issue from long ago.
I am at a point that I may suggest a another solution for a high volume app.
Also, I dont want to try the I-phone solution. That is an insult to Android Users.
Steve Faris
Is this your first Imp? If so, describe what your blink-up process is. You’ve created your account, attempted the blink-up, and actually logged into the IDE to verify that your imp was never installed?
Thanks for listening.
Yes, this is my first imp. I am totally impressed with the concept.
My blinkup process is:
- I created an account on line.
- Dowloaded the IMP App.
- Purchased the IMP001 and April board from Digikey
- When I received the IMP, I first connected it to my usb port on my PC.
It did not work and just blinked red. Then I read that the power source on
the USB may not provide enough current, so I used a USB power source that had
2000ma @5v DC. I was looking for green but it never happened, - I logged into my IMP account. I assume that if blinkup worked I would see the device
name entered. I checked status and it said operational. Does that mean it worked but the got the green.
Steve
imp001 production ceased a while back, and the impOS version on there is pretty old (like, over 2 years in some cases) - and does not deal with the instability in frame rates that every android phone suffers from, to some extent. The best results were with using “legacy mode”.
Later impOS versions improved the ability to deal with android’s inconsistencies, and imps will auto-upgrade… the problem is, you need to get them online first. If your phone is not working in legacy mode (and it looks a bit like the galaxy mini, which has a bad LCD and a frame rate of almost 80Hz as I remember), then your only option is to blink up with another device once, so the imp can upgrade itself. The mainline Galaxy S3/S4/S5 phones are a lot better, or the Nexus branded ones, or any iOS device (iOS can maintain stable framerates on any device).
Once the OS is updated, you should be able to use your phone (not in legacy mode) to reconfigure when required.
None of this affects commercial products built, because their OSes get upgraded at the factory before they get to end users.
Thanks Hugo for a very clear explanation. I will use my sons I-phone to blink-up.
Steve Faris
Steve, also know that you can use an iPad mini too. I’ve blinked up just fine using the iPad mini. When on the IDE, it’s a bit tricky to figure out that you need to select which imp to look at, since you could have several of them. In your case, it’s one imp, but you have to pick it.
You are fine using a basic USB (cell phone charger) to power the April board. That would be 5VDC. The extra current would be to provide power for the external electronic devices you have with the april board … assuming you probably also have a breadboard or something to play around with components. Try to stay away from the 3.3V pins if you can. If you accidentally apply higher voltage to that, bad things can happen.