FRUSTRATION
I'm working through
some Android native development labs and such.
One of the steps is to install the Android USB Device driver for your
phone. Normally, you had over to http://developer.android.com/tools/extras/oem-usb.html
, find your phone in the list, and away you go.
The USB
drivers installed to support the Android Debug Bridge - http://developer.android.com/tools/help/adb.html. The ADB enables you to debug directly against
a device instead of the emulator. They also allow normal things like browsing to the phone via File Explorer on a Windows computer.
My little Android
phone is quite nice. $170, no contract required, off off amazon type
thing. The BLU VIVO AIR ( http://amzn.to/1TH9tai
) , running Android 4.4.2 / kernel 3.4.67 Build:
BLUE_D980I_V11_GENERIC 12-02-2015 09:14.
http://www.bluproducts.com/index.php/vivo-air
.
So naturally, I
assume, "Oh my, Google left out BLU from their OEM" list. So I call BLU. http://bluproducts.com/index.php/contact-service#sales
. BLU responds and says drivers are not
available. WTH. They told me to dig around in http://www.bluphoneparts.com/blu-vivo-air-iv-4-3-4-65-4-8/
. Bunch of screens and such, but no USB
drivers.
So I take it to
twitter to try and get something. Direct message and public message to https://twitter.com/BLU_Products
. No response.
Then I post them on
Facebook - direct message. https://www.facebook.com/BLU.Products . No response.
RESIGNATION
This is annoying on
so many levels. First, as a dev, this
means I cannot debug directly to the device.
I also cannot browse to the phone using File Explorer without the USB
driver. Bad BLU! I still like the phones though.
EXPLORATION
There has got to be a solution somewhere. So I dig in.
I could install the
drivers from androidxda. But I really
don’t know who posted them or if they contain some kind of internal nastiness -
http://androidxda.com/download-blu-usb-drivers
. Use at your own risk.
BLU VIVO AIR has the MediaTek chipset - http://www.bluproducts.com/index.php/vivo-air -
Processor Mediatek 1.7 GHz Octa Core with ARM MALI-450 GPU . So I tried installing their Android USB drivers for MediaTek from http://online.mediatek.com/Public%20Documents/MTK_Android_USB_Driver.zip
The MediaTek drivers did not work either.
Next up was to install the Google Generic USB driver. This worked. Note it took me 2 reboots as well before it recognized the device. Not the most straight forward process either, so below will share how to get the driver going.
SOLUTION
Use a USB cable to connect the Windows PC and your phone .
Open up Device manager. You'll see the BLU VIVO AIR show up in "Other Devices" as unavailable.
Download and install the Google Generic USB Driver from http://developer.android.com/sdk/win-usb.html#top .
Note down and remember the location where you install the google driver to.
Right mouse the BLU VIVO AIR, select Update Driver Software…
Select "Browse for driver software on your computer"
Navigate to where you installed the Google USB Driver software
Select "Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer"
Select "Show all devices"
Select "Have Disk"
Navigate to where you installed the Google USB driver, select the android_winusb.inf file
In the Update Driver Software - VIVO AIR dialog select "Android ADB Interface"
Ignore the "Update Driver Warning" message.
You will now see the Android Device -> Android ADB Interface in Device Manager, and VIVO AIR will be gone from "Other Devices".
You should now also be able to turn on things like USB/Mass Storage Mode on the phone so you can view files from Windows Explorer as well as debug to the device.
This cost me some serious time. I hope it saves you the time. Frustrating. I love my BLU phones, but their level of support on this was horrible.
“Hate lawyers all you want. Unlike you, we'll never be replaced with robots. Case closed!” ― Amanda Mosher - Better to be loved than lovable ....