"Demo Purpose Only" ... Please Help !

[SuperAndroider]

Hi all you guys !...

I just got this 7" Android Tablet from eBay with the following info:

Model name: MID (M 70003)
the following is from the settings section "About Device":
Firmware Version: 1.6
Kernel version: 2.6.29-00236-g4f8dbbb-dirty ... (??!)
Build number: 1.7.2

The device seems to work ok but the thing is that it displays on the top left screen's corner in red color the phrase "Demo Purpose Only" ... (which drives me mad since it's in all screens ! ... everywhere, always on, no matter what screen I look at !) and I really need to get rid of it).

Does anyone know how can I do that ? ... i.e. could I flash again Android's previous version 1.5 (instead of the 1.7 it now has in) as it looks like something is going on with its "licenses validation", will this solve the problem or is there another much easier way ? Could I also upgrade to the latest Android versions beyond 2.0 ?

Many thanks in advance you guys !

 

[Yenzehn]

Congratulations on your grand new iPed.

IPed - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I am afraid it sounds like you have been sold a device that has been used to display the product in stores.

The device is basically a (cheap!) Chinese knockoff the iPad but with Android 1.6, it is unlikely to get an official update.

Hell other users mention problems using the market: http://www.slatedroid.com/vbulletin...-...-no-marketplace-.....-appreciate-any-help which may be because it is either blocked in China, or not registered on the Android market.

I suggest you return it, like the guy in the linked forum did.

 

[SuperAndroider]

well, thank you very much Yenzehn for your quick input !

The device comes actually with USB cable and microSD slot so I hope there must be a way (using either USB or SD) for someone to re-flash an earlier Android version or a newer version ?

I've played around with it for over 1 hour, played with all the settings, clicked everywhere 1,000's of times, that thing in red "Demo Purpose Only" is still there in the top left corner ...

I've sent an email to the eBay seller in Hong Kong asking them if they know a way to get rid of the message, waiting for them to get back to me. Otherwise everything else seems to be working OK, WiFi and everything, ok there's an issue with the AppStore (it's not the Android Market one) and has fewer apps and many are in Chinese too. But I guess I can always pass some free apps (some games I like, etc) through the USB or the SD method as raw ".apk" files, no ? (haven't tried this yet)

But if finally there's really NO way to get rid of that red message I will return it, I won't tolerate this anymore, that message really drives me mad ...

Any other suggestions anybody guys ??

 

[Yenzehn]

The problem is that a version of android needs to be made for the specific device because it needs to be compatible with the components of the machine, but since this product is mainly targeted at China and fairly obscure, it is unlikely to be jailbroken and have a custom ROM made.

You can probably use .apk files, and you could also try installing SlideME which is an alternative market app (albeit with lesser apps and no auto updates).

SlideME | Android Community and Application Marketplace

I would still be apprehensive about getting an electronics device not released widely in the west because of things such as the nationalized and limited nature of the Chinese Android/("OPhone") devices.

There are android tablets rumored to be coming soon, and there is already the Archos 7 tablet: ARCHOS

 

[pooh62]

I have the same model and the same problem as you but I can't even get mine to down load from the USB....can you tell me how you managed that?