Can I root this "thing?"

[hiredgun]

First let me say I hate to make my first post a question, but I have been looking all over the web for an answer to this question and since I haven't been able to find one I joined the forum to see if I could get some help. Hopefully I will be able to help out around here in the near future and give back! What I want to root is the Zipy Smart Fun 4.3, and it's certainly not a phone, nor really a tablet, I think it's billed as an mp5 officially, but it runs Android gingerbread 2.3 The reason I want to root it is that it runs kind of slow, only has ARM 9 Dual Core 660 processor, so I installed one of those Ram booster apps. What I found out when I run that app is that as soon as the thing is on 16 apps start up in the background!!! No wonder the thing is sluggish!! The ram booster app says it kills them, but who knows, which is why I thought if I could root this "thing" it might run half way decently! But seeing as it's not a phone, which is what people normally root I have no idea if I can root this. Any help would be appreciated, I didn't put a link to the product because every forum has different rules on Spam, but it's easy to Google, and once again, the product in question is the Zipy Smart Fun 4,3! Thanks in advance, any help would be greatly appreciated, Vin.

 

[mikedt]

Hello Vin welcome to Android Forums.

First of all this is a very cheap device. If you could root it remove some of the cruft and bloat might improve things somewhat. So called RAM boosters and task killers can actually make things worse, Although this is a Gingerbread device, memory management is better in later versions of Android. It's not a cellphone and it's not large enough to be a tablet. It's really what the iPod Touch is to the iPhone. "MP5" is just a euphemism used in Chinese marketing for media player type devices. there's no such thing as MP5. As for rooting it, can't really find anything on it.

You could try some of the generic rooting tools, but bare in mind if things go wrong, could irreparably brick it. Use at your own risk!

 

[hiredgun]

Thanks a lot Mike, I appreciate your answer. It sounds like I'm out of luck because you seem to think it could be bricked and even though it runs slow now at least it runs, lol. But that still leaves me with 16 programs running in the background as soon as I turn it on, not even counting the one's I want to use. I have read a lot about task killers making things worse, but isn't that at least ONE decent app that could help me manage all these other apps running in the background chewing up all the memory? Thanks, Vin.

 

[funkylogik]

Even on gingerbread, android was pretty good at handling memory and will kill any non-essential task when it needs to free RAM for something else (android has its own integrated task manager better than any app).
What are the apps? using an app to kill them then having android start them up again is inefficient.
Sorry to say mate but i think its always just gona be a slow device
What you could try is an app cache cleaner app (i use "App Cache Cleaner")

 

[hiredgun]

Even on gingerbread, android was pretty good at handling memory and will kill any non-essential task when it needs to free RAM for something else (android has its own integrated task manager better than any app).
What are the apps? using an app to kill them then having android start them up again is inefficient.
Sorry to say mate but i think its always just gona be a slow device
What you could try is an app cache cleaner app (i use "App Cache Cleaner")

I think you are right mate, it's going to be slow no matter what I do, it's certainly not "high end" for sure! I got it mostly because I wanted a kind of "mini-tablet" as it were, something you could carry around on the go without it being too bulky, and this was advertised as that kind of product. I'll try that cache cleaner and see if it frees up any more ram. Thanks for the tip, Vin.

 

[funkylogik]

No problem man. I dont think it will free up ram but i find that it helps with lag. For a cheap small tab i recommend the 1st gen 2012 Nexus 7 while stocks last :thumbup:

 

[nickdalzell]

Some of these cheap things are pre-rooted. My Mach Speed Trio 4.3 was, essentially the same thing as an Emerson or Polaroid of the same type, and I managed to get Play Store to work with it. I wanted to try a recovery and ROM but never got around to it.

 

[hiredgun]

Tried the Cache cleaner today and it got rid of quite a bit of junk and seemed to go a bit smoother, but maybe that's just because I so wanted it to, lol. I'll have to do more testing, but I wanted something "pocket sized" like the Zipy or the Mach Speed Trio 4.3 that Nick mentioned. I know there are plenty of phones around with that would do a lot better job than these smaller "tablets," but I already have a phone, which is why I wanted something different! Appreciate everyone's input, Vin.

 

[nickdalzell]

try downloading root checker from either a website or whatever market it comes with (more likely it comes with either SlideME or 1Mobile) and if it says 'you have root!' you're set. now getting an upgraded version is more complicated but a custom recovery, the first step after verifying root, is not that hard. however, i suggest doing some homework. I have forced some ROMs to run on devices not intended to run them but they are not exactly stable... if the device only has 512MB or less RAM, i wouldn't run anything other than Gingerbread on it, because later versions are stuttery and laggy messes. KitKat struggles on my Kindle fire which has 512MB of RAM.

 

[boathead]

you don't mention what the processor is. if a mediatek, you might google for mtktoolkit or something like that...i think that is it. if it is a rockfish, google "finless". for rooting, i mean.

nonetheless, if you really want a simple wifi media player type device, you can buy some rather good cell phones on the cheap and simply don't activate it. i just got a lumia 520 for 49 bucks for just that purpose. i also have a galaxy nexus that has never had cell coverage, i've simply used it for reading, music, movies etc. same with a galaxy s. instead of tossing it in a drawer, my 4 year old does his best to destroy it while learning his abc's.

and last but not least, i spent quite a pretty penny on a galaxy player....which is one of those mp5 devices i guess. it was costly, with half the performance of even an entry level cell phone. that is where i got the idea of getting a cell phone as a media player.

 

[nickdalzell]

i've thought of getting a cheap Windows Phone but just can't find a particular use that would warrant the purchase. but you know me, i try out everything once. I also pondered getting a Galaxy Player but was happy to have waited to get the S3 instead. so far the S3 is the only Android phone i have held on for as long as i've had it. got it in July 2013, so it's so far been the longest-activated phone daily driver for me. it's an excellent device.

 

[hiredgun]

The more I read the stuff you guys are posting the more I am convinced that I will probably wreck the thing if I try to root it. It's pretty "low end" as we've mentioned, here are the specs, certainly nothing to write home about.

• Flash memory 4 GB + Micro SD slot : up to 32 GB
• Screen LCD TFT 4.3 inch. Resistive Touch Pad multi touch 2 points
• Android OS 4.0
• Single-core, MIPS 1Ghz , DDR III 512MB

Although I noticed and have confirmed that the Android got bumped up from Gingerbread to 4.0 in the later models which I have!! But the processor is obviously what is holding this thing back. If they can get a quad core in a phone you would think they would put one in one of these mini-tabs! Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind spending the money, this is cheap device because it's what I could find here. I wouldn't mind spending the money on something decent if it were what I was looking for. I have a 7 and a ten inch tablet, and they are anything BUT "pocet sized" and there are times when I just don't feel like carrying a phone around. I am going to look at that Polaroid that Nick mentioned, but the problem would be getting it send here to Spain. Thanks again for all the input, this is a very friendly place, Vin.