About 24 hours after Google released the source to “Jelly Bean” Android(tm) (v4.1.1_r1), I was able to get a usable build running for the Kindle Fire! (technically available a week before the Nexus 7′s were shipped)
Mostly, this was possible because of the development state that the device is in. We have a stable 3.x kernel and updated drivers which were nearly JB compatible out of the box. And the Kindle Fire has a great community of developers working on custom ROMs and users who are willing to try them! I think this is important as developing for a device which no one is interested in, is really just a waste of time. [Update as of 07/20: Bit.ly stats show that Jelly Bean AOSP for the Kindle Fire has been downloaded over 7,000 times in about 8 days!]
Want Jelly Bean on your Kindle Fire?
This requires the following setup:
- First, you need to root the current Amazon operating system that you’re running
- Install a custom recovery (TWRP 2.2 or a compatible ClockworkMod Recovery)
- You probably should be running FIREFIREFIRE (v1.4a) bootloader as this allows easy access to recovery
- Grab the AOSP Jelly Bean build here
- And away you go w/ the latest greatest Android operating system
Want more detailed information on all of the above? Head over to XDA in the Kindle Fire Development section and get all of the information you need before attempting any of the above
Where does this end with the Kindle Fire?
It doesn’t! I love working on the Kindle Fire and proving everyone wrong about how great a 512MB RAM device can perform. I can’t think of a better device to play with. Get one as a birthday gift or for <insert random holiday>? Buy one cheap on eBay for $100? Sure it has deficiencies in the touch screen (2 touchpoints?! ugh) and could have probably used 16GB internal space.. but seriously, it performs as well as many tablets on the market today and it just gets better and better.
My current plans are:
- Fix the charging notification issues
- Fix the MIC input for voice recognition for a better GoogleNow experience
- Enable OTG support for as many devices as possible
- Keep updating the kernel for graphics and wlan drivers which support many new features in the Android OS.
- Crank up nightlies for CM10 on rombot.droidhive.com
Enjoy
