[zedbg]

Is there a reason your new DAP to use operating system that is not upgraded with years ? And to use some shady 3rd party download services which can be easily used to serve malware ?

 

[ahmonge]

Forget about loading apps from GP. Install your own ones for playing music and it's done. a DAP must be a DAP and not something else.

 

[QuadraKev]

I don't suppose updating firmware to run the latest version of Android is a possibility?

 

[Chris Matchett]

Forget about loading apps from GP. Install your own ones for playing music and it's done. a DAP must be a DAP and not something else.

Okay. How does that work for apps like Rocket Player and iSyncr which add the ability to sync with iTunes and read/write song ratings to control smart playlists? The paid version of those requires either Play or Amazon. Sideloading won't work. That's not going beyond a DAP at all.

 

[WitzyZed]

Just read up on the issue FiiO is up against. So yeah. In April of last year, Google closed GMS Certification for new devices running Nougat 7.0, and at the end of last year Google closed GMS Certification for new devices running Android 8.0.

If they want paid applications that may use license checks through the google app store + wifi, building a device capable of Android 9.0 is the only way to go.

If streaming apps with sideloadable apk's are what your customer's desire, a third party app store is feasible but just an unneeded layer of abstraction. The news of this GMS Certification bottleneck was made public in June of last year, 9 months ago. This should not be something you're looking for a fix for in March 2019.

 

[SSThing]

Apkpure is a gateway to a whole lot of trouble for the less technically minded among us. Yes, you can get perfectly good apps on there but it's also a minefield of fakes and rewritten apps full of all sorts of nasties.
Bad idea!
Especially bad if someone uses a PRE-INSTALLED Apkpure that then installs an app that either damages the FiiO or (even worse) mines all their info and uses it nefariously.

 

[TheoS53]

@FiiO , if updating the M11 to Android 9 is not a possibility before releasing it to the market, then I would suggest that you perhaps test and whitelist specific APKs and host them on your site (just to ensure that users are installing the correct app and not a fraudulent one). Perhaps on the device you can have an app that'll allow users to submit a request for certain apps.

 

[thatonenoob]

Looks like time to hire some firmware people to move to latest android.

 

[FiiO]

Thank you all for the kind suggestions. Since any development for the M11 should be based on the SoC used--Samsung 7872 and its Software Development Kit (SDK). But unfortunately, the supplier can only provide it in Android 7.0. So we can’t find a solution to upgrade to higher version while bypassing the provided SDK. Hope you can kindly understand.

 

[misteral201103]

Wow, this is a big problem...
If I have this right, you have no option for Google accounts and no Play Store. On top of that, either the Play Store will be blocked from access to their servers, or downloaded apps from there will be blocked. Is that correct?
Sideloading PS would not be an option, since it would be blocked due to a lack of certification anyway. And that's ignoring the lack of Google account, which would make the Play Store pointless anyway.

This means no option for adding paid apps, or apps which work on subscription verified via the Play Store.
Surely that means no Spotify or Tidal...no?

First option I can think of is to reach out to devs on XDA and ask if anyone would be willing to approach this issue, either by making 9 run on the new player or circumventing the blockages. But I'm not sure the circumvention would be feasible - plus it would put you in Google's bad books. And from your post above it seems that your software development would have to go back to square one to run on 9.

Second option is to reach out to Google and see if ANYTHING can be done. But I doubt you'd have much luck there.

Third option would be to approach it on an app by app basis and work with the devs to find an alternative form of secure authentication for subscriptions and verification of purchase. Some of the smaller teams might be up for this (UAPP for example, might be) but the big boys probably won't. It's not in their interests, they won't be making additional income.


It's pointless to say "you should have just updated to 9". If the player has been in development for 2 years, you wouldn't have known in advance about Google's plans to shut down the certification channel. Once a project goes past a certain point in development, you can only go forwards with what you have. And to update to 9 at this point and reconfigure/rewrite the bulk of your software would delay release to a point where the product loses its place and relevancy in the market.
Talking of market, of course China will be a large focus for you and here the Play Store is not even a consideration since all Google services are blocked. Outside of China though, this is a strike against an Android based player.

People will see this as Fiio's problem, but I think it is Google's. More and more they are moving away from what made Android such a popular a widespread platform, and edging towards a more Apple-esque vision in terms of control and restriction.

@FiiO - I think trying to establish a line of communication with Google to seek a solution which can be put in place for your company (not just this one device) is probably your best choice of action to solve this. I don't know if you would be successful, but the real issue is that you currently do not have a route to certification, and that lies with them.

I'll be buying the DAP anyway - though it will be a shame to not have access to some other apps, I am first and foremost looking for a device to play my music collection on, and it will do this.

Good luck!!!

 

[mclaudio]

No news on having uapp on m9?