Downloading apps from PC then copying to phone?

[Lasagna Devil]

Hey there! Total Android/Smartphone experience beginner here. After tinkering for a couple days with my SG2, I'm still wanting to download a ton apps and stuff... but I've figured that it's better to use my faster broadband connection, and it would also save me from spending my phone's battery. So far, though, the Market's page says 'this will be downloaded to your phone soon' or sumthin' like that. I don't really get the logic behind that: if I wanted that I'd have browsed from my phone, not my PC! So, here's the deal: I want to download the app data to easily copy it via USB to my phone, and THEN install the apps. I'm not talking warez or anything of the sorts, I want legit stuff. I've searched the web and haven't found an easy solution... but it's something so basic I'm dumbfounded to believe it can't be done. Thus, here I've registered and invoke yer help, oh droid masters! Please heed my prayer for help! xD

 

[jefboyardee]

Well, even if you could download it to your PC first, you’d still have to get it from there to your droid, so ultimately the whole thing would have to take even longer. And besides, the Market’s gotta a see a specific droid before it releases an app -- that’s just a Google Law.

 

[Lasagna Devil]

First of all, thanks for your reply! The great G already knows what my device is, I've registered it, etc. But I dunno why it must that device itself which makes the DL? The matter is that wireless download speeds here suck, so that actually makes a HUGE difference (also battery usage). If I can DL via PC I can leave it downloading a gazillion apps (via download managers, etc.) overnight, then copy the files to my phone in the morning via a USB cable, which is waaaay faster and much easier on the phone itself. Is my idea/situation so unusual?

 

[pawdog]

Most people here when at home connect via wifi through our home connection. Do you not have wifi at home?

 

[Lasagna Devil]

Nope, living in a small town in a thirld world country sucks. Just got a wired connection (and not a really fast one, but it's waaaay faster and cheaper than spending my data plan on apps). :/

 

[pawdog]

Are you using windows 7? And does your computer have wifi capability?

 

[chanchan05]

Are you using windows 7? And does your computer have wifi capability?

If you are thinking of making the computer into a wifi hotspot for the phone to connect to (vista and XP also has that feature), it wont work. Windows creates an adhoc network which Android does not recognize out of the box.

Also the direct to phone download is one of those initial anti piracy measures for some developers.

 

[EarlyMon]

Try getjar.com - apps there are legal, and I _think_ you can download them to your PC first.

Move to SD card and install using Astro File Manager.

 

[chrstdvd]

The only way to download apps from the Market to your phone is to use the Android SDK's emulator. There is a steep learning curve but once you get how to do it, you are on your way.

The other thing you can do is search the web for a particular application. I have been able to get several apps by going to Android Freeware: List of all Free Android Applications
and downloading to the computer then moving to the phone.

I wrote a batch file that will install apk files from the computer to the phone via USB cable. It is called AstroInstall and is available in the attachment section of my profile. You can open the batch file AstroInstall.bat by right clicking the file and choose Edit. The file will open in a text editor and you find the line that says:
adb install ASTRO_File_Manager_2.5.2.apk and place the name of any apk file there.
Don't forget to "save" the change.

Or you can do it yourself in the command window:
adb devices ----> verify your phone is there
adb install xxxx.apk

If successful you will be informed.

 

[pawdog]

If you are thinking of making the computer into a wifi hotspot for the phone to connect to (vista and XP also has that feature), it wont work. Windows creates an adhoc network which Android does not recognize out of the box.

Also the direct to phone download is one of those initial anti piracy measures for some developers.

I was going to suggest a program called Connectify that turns your Windows 7 computers into a fully functional hotspot. It's free and works great but only on Windows 7.

 

[Lasagna Devil]

Whoa, so there's no easy way for this! I'm astonished.

Tried getting into GetJar, they work pretty much the same as the Android Market- that is, they force you to DL via phone.

I already got the SDK, but I'm still amazed I have to resort to something that complicated. I could pull this one off rather easily with my very old Rokr E2 dumbphone... and Debian and many other Linux Repository-Centered distros offer the chance to download huge chunks of app data to your PC and then selectively install stuff from there, instead of forcing your hand to only download-on-demand every single app (what is this? IOs? ).

Picture a scenario where someone's headed to a place with no internet at all- how could she get access to install new apps if not via a media where she's saved them previously?

I haven't even checked, but I'm quite certain there are rogue sites which host apps in an 'installable' file type (I'd rather not get into those even to get the legally free apps, since I don't want my phone to be filled with malware)- but this just seems to be one of those sad cases where the legit bussiness model seems to be insufficient.

I even wrote to the people @ the Market website, let's see if they can help me out on this one.

I'll keep posting here on how I do with the SDK and the Market's technicians respose.

Thanks everyone for your replies!

 

[chrstdvd]

Well , I hate to say this but I just gave up for the day trying to install the market app on my emulator. I have tried every method the searches had to offer. most are two years old and they worked with Android 1.x but they do not work with 2.3 or 2.3.
about the only thing I accomplished was installing Astro and ask installer on my emulator. I can not install any app that has to go into /system/app. actually I can install them but once the emulator is restarted they are gone.

I love a challenge so I will piddle with this till I get it done or say "to heck with it." I did somewhere where U can root the emulator and I am thinking about doing that. then I should be able to push system files ti /system/app. Lots of people say Google has fixed it so U can not.root the emulator tho.

A few years ago people really wanted to have the market on emulator, but does not seem there is much interest by the real hackers anymore. Just boot camps like myself. Ha!

 

[chrstdvd]

Links you will need:
The best tutorial I could find.
How Do I Install the Android Market on Android SDK - Tech-Recipes

System image file with Market and GoogleServicesFramework installed
system.img

Just read the first link to get a general feel for what is going on. Even try it if you want too, but I tried several times with 2.2, 2.3, and 4.0 and the Market app was not there in the end.

Finally I decided to read the comments and found the link to the system image file (second link). With it you only need to create an emulator in the avd manager and then go in username/.android/avd/whatever you named it and paste the system image file into it. Then run the launch the emulator normally.

The kicker is that the version of the Market in the image file is limited and will not download.

I got the Vending.apk off my phone and sent it to the computer and placed it into my sdk/tools folder. I typed the following commands into the command prompt.

emulator -avd Market2 -partition-size 200 (Market2 being the name of my avd)
(this will launch your emulator, just wait until it is fully loaded and you can look in app drawer and verify the Market it there)

Then back in the Command window, type the following.

adb shell "mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock0 /system"

adb shell "chmod 777 /system/app"

adb push Vending.apk /system/app/. (wait till you see Success)

Go back to the emulator and bring up the market and sigh in etc. Still not great selection, but you can get some apps and actually download and install them.

Here is the problem. After you close the emulator down, it reverts back to the system image file with the original vending apk installed. Jerked my chain, but this is no different than following all the instructions and finding on relaunch the Market is not there.

So what I did was write a batch file to do all this stuff so I would not have to use the command prompt and type it all in every time I wanted to use it.

Copy the following into a notepad file and edit it for your machine and avd then save it to your desktop as a .bat file. It will launch everything and will have the working market Vendor app there. Do not close the command window that is generated, just minimize it while you are using the emulator,
------------------------------------------------------------------------
cd C:\android\tools
emulator -avd Market2 -partition-size 200
pause
adb shell "mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock0 /system"
adb shell "chmod 777 /system/app"
adb push Vending.apk /system/app/.
pause
--------------------------------------------------------------------------The first line changes your command window to your Android\tools folder is where you will have the updated Vending.apk

The pause instructions will place command window in a wait stage until you hit a key. Do not hit a key until the emulator is fully loaded.

The next 3 lines get you into read/write mode for /system/app and get the permissions set, then pushes the Vending file in to the /system/app.

Do not do anything until you see "success" and then minimize the command window.

Go back to the emulator and do what ever you want in the Market.

Note you can install all apps that are not System apps. Like I placed Astro File Manager, apkinstaller, and Gmail into my /tools folder and from the command prompt typed adb install Gmail.apk. They all installed and were in there the next time I loaded the emulator.

I hope I got it all. This has been a frustrating project for a Boot Camp like me.

 

[chrstdvd]

I posted a vid and links to an avd I created that is rooted and has the Market in it from the boot up of the AVD no more tweaking to get root or refreshing Market.

I am putting a tutorial together but it will take time, as I have tons of notes to go through to make it clear step by step.

Here is link to Vid and files if you want to download and in stall this one for now.

http://androidforums.com/android-applications/487006-rooted-market-avd-emulator.html