Asus PADPHONE 2

[coyote]

Kitkat 4.4 is released for the padfone2

grab it now

Tablets & Mobile - PadFone 2 - ASUS


for you can wait for the OTA.

How do I do manual update of firmware? I could not find info online. Can share the link of the guide?

 

[Aimevous]

How do I do manual update of firmware? I could not find info online. Can share the link of the guide?

Content / How To / Padfone 2 Firmwares (Files and How to install) - Padfone Club

How to install?
First, make sure you have the firmware (*.zip) file in the root of your Padfone's flash memory.
Also, make sure that the Padfone is fully charged, and connected to a power source.
If you're downgrading or changing the firmware region by using a full firmware package, we would recommend using the wipe feature before you apply the update.

1. Undock the Padfone.
2. Power off the Padfone.
3. Hold down the volume down button, keep holding it, and press the power button. Now you will enter the first menu.
4. Press the power button to enter "Recovery mode".
5. Select the second option to install from an external SD card.
6. Wait for the installation to complete, depending on the update, your device will reboot automatically, or you
have to select the reboot option manually when it appears.

--


it will reboot a few times, dont worry. let it do its thing while you go watch tv or something. come back to a better looking padfone 2!

 

[coyote]

Content / How To / Padfone 2 Firmwares (Files and How to install) - Padfone Club

How to install?
First, make sure you have the firmware (*.zip) file in the root of your Padfone's flash memory.
Also, make sure that the Padfone is fully charged, and connected to a power source.
If you're downgrading or changing the firmware region by using a full firmware package, we would recommend using the wipe feature before you apply the update.

1. Undock the Padfone.
2. Power off the Padfone.
3. Hold down the volume down button, keep holding it, and press the power button. Now you will enter the first menu.
4. Press the power button to enter "Recovery mode".
5. Select the second option to install from an external SD card.
6. Wait for the installation to complete, depending on the update, your device will reboot automatically, or you
have to select the reboot option manually when it appears.

--


it will reboot a few times, dont worry. let it do its thing while you go watch tv or something. come back to a better looking padfone 2!

Thanks. Apparently, I must undock the padfone2 from the station before upgrade. Question, after I updated the padfone2 to 4.4 kitkat, will I still be able to use it with the station? Have anyone confirm there is nothing to upgrade on the station to be compatible with the 4.4 kitkat padfone?

Asking cos previously the staff at Tai seng service center told me they need to upgrade both the padfone & the tablet station to be used together.

 

[benthian89]

Thanks. Apparently, I must undock the padfone2 from the station before upgrade. Question, after I updated the padfone2 to 4.4 kitkat, will I still be able to use it with the station? Have anyone confirm there is nothing to upgrade on the station to be compatible with the 4.4 kitkat padfone?

Asking cos previously the staff at Tai seng service center told me they need to upgrade both the padfone & the tablet station to be used together.

After you update the padfone, put it in the tablet station then it will prompt to update the station as well.

 

[coyote]

After you update the padfone, put it in the tablet station then it will prompt to update the station as well.

Thanks & for the last question, have you updated to 4.4 kit kat & everything working fine?

 

[sprentliegen]

I just tried to flash using WWE but can't seem to work

on a side note, anyone tried to root your pf2 using Framaroot?

The update notes state that the .zip files cannot be used for changing SKU. So only updates labeled STARHUB can be flashed to STARHUB units.

Funny thing is, when I brought my PF2 into the ASUS Service Center about a year ago after the last OTA screwed up my phone's compass calibration (it just always pointed North), they took it to the back room and somehow changed the firmware from STARHUB to WWE (they also did a complete wipe, so...)
So if you want WWE, maybe try taking it in for servicing?

To answer your second question, Framaroot works, but only for firmwares before the KitKat update.

 

[sprentliegen]

First Impressions on 4.4.2 KitKat Update

Flashed the KitKat update 2 days ago. It's mostly OK and working, with the following notes:

Bugs

1. The backup tool in ASUS PC Tool (the one recommended by Asus in its Upgrade SOP) will screw up your app settings. It also doesn't restore WhatsApp messages. I don't recommend it, and I suggest instead manually backing up everything using third-party apps, such as SMS Backup and Restore, iCal Import/Export, Google Contacts, and Google's built-in app settings restore function.
2. Battery life appears to have dropped by a lot, for some reason.
   • UPDATE (2014 JUL 08): After 8 days of use, battery life still seems to deplete faster than before.
   • UPDATE (2014 JUL 21): Battery rundown test from 100% with screen on, brightness set at minimum, YouTube playing 10 hour video gives the following results (NB: Battery capacity on my device is estimated via charging-current measurements to be ~1500mAh due to age):
     • Wifi: 5h 45m
     • HSPA(+): 2h 55m
     • Device was also significantly hotter during HSPA rundown
3. There is weird screen tearing when scrolling through lists. I thought KitKat was supposed to be less resource-intensive
   • UPDATE (2014 JUL 21): This issue has been reseolved in the latest (11.8.4.6) firmware.
   • UPDATE (2014 JUL 08): benthian89 suggests that this may be fixed by enabling "Force GPU rendering" in the Developer Settings menu. Thanks, benthian89!
4. The automatic brightness feature has a weird bug where the contrast ratio drops whenever it adjusts (grays become white and blacks become gray). This can be temporarily fixed by manually adjusting the brightness.
5. Camera app is slow to start up from lockscreen.

UI Changes + Added Features

1. Asus ZenUI (their new look + launcher) is very much like LG's new look (found on the G3) or Google's Material Design.
2. The built-in apps (Messaging, Phone, Email, Weather) have also been redesigned, and match the new style.
   Here's a few notes for the ones I've actually used:
   • The Clock app is now actually useful, with world time, stopwatch and timer functions.
   • The Weather app now has much more information available (UV, Sunrise and Sunset, etc.)
     • The Weather widget no longer tries to imitate HTC's realistic weather look, using simple icons instead.
3. Camera app UI has been completely changed, for better or worse.
4. Quick Settings toggles has been moved to another pane, and now has HUGE icons. I personally don't like the change.
5. Lockscreen has been changed a lot:
   • There are now three (optional) Quick Access icons for Phone, Messaging and Camera on the lockscreen.
     Unfortunately, you cannot customize these.
     • UPDATE (2014 JUL 08): kennethtbh points out that the icons can be customized by clicking on the "Quick Access" menu entry (not the on-off toggle). Thanks, kennethtbh!
6. Lockscreen widgets can be enabled in Settings. Haven't used this feature.
7. You now have to swipe in from the right edge in order to access the camera.
8. The message tones and notification tones have been replaced with new ones.

Missing Features

1. A lot of the more annoying/useless apps now cannot be disabled. There is one in particular (Do It Later, a to-do app) that constantly bugs you to allow it to access your Google Tasks, unless you uncheck the "Sync 'Tasks'" option in your Google Accounts.
2. They've removed the Asus Day Scene Live Wallpaper (which I quite liked), and trying to sideload it causes force-closes and reboots.
3. They've removed the World Clock widget and replaced it with several Clock widgets that just waste space (they are 4 squares large but only use 2 squares for useful information).
4. UPDATE (2014 JUL 08): App Backup has been removed from the update, possibly so users will switch to using Asus PC Tool for backups.
5. Polaris Office is no longer installed, so you'll have to find another Office app.
   • UPDATE (2014 JUL 08): With the new OTA (11.8.4.6), Polaris Office 5 is included once more.
   • UPDATE (2014 JUL 08): benthian89 makes the following suggestions:
     • Office Mobile, from Microsoft:
       https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.officehub&hl=en
     • Quickoffice, from Google (going to be taken off soon, to be replaced by the apps below):
       https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quickoffice.android&hl=en
     • Google Docs, Sheets & Slides:
       https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.docs&hl=en
       https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets&hl=en
       https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.slides&hl=en
6. You cannot root the device using Framaroot, so any root apps are unusable.
   • UPDATE (2014 JUL 08): I have managed to get root via Geohot's Towelroot tool. As always, rooting is risky, so be careful, and don't blame me if you brick your phone.

 

[binkaz]

How do we do a printscreen after the kit kat update?

 

[sprentliegen]

How do we do a printscreen after the kit kat update?

Power + Vol Down (the standard Android screenshot key combo), or you can set the Recent Apps button to take screenshots upon tapping and holding it (just like on previous versions) in the "Asus customized settings" submenu in Settings.

 

[coyote]

Hi all.

My set is starhub set & I put the file

STARHUB_PadFone2_user_11_8_3_3_UpdateLauncher.zip

in the sdcard0 directory

But when I flash it, it gives me this:

Do I need to rename the file to shorter filename like update.zip or does that mean my file is corrupted when downloaded to the phone via wifi?

 

[coyote]

Lol. Answering my own question.
Apparently, need to upzip one time to

STARHUB_A68-11.8.3.3-0-ota-user.zip

before update....

Also at 953.9MB, this is the biggest Android rom I've seen so far.

Hi all.

My set is starhub set & I put the file

STARHUB_PadFone2_user_11_8_3_3_UpdateLauncher.zip

in the sdcard0 directory

But when I flash it, it gives me this:

Do I need to rename the file to shorter filename like update.zip or does that mean my file is corrupted when downloaded to the phone via wifi?

 

[coyote]

 

[binkaz]

Power + Vol Down (the standard Android screenshot key combo), or you can set the Recent Apps button to take screenshots upon tapping and holding it (just like on previous versions) in the "Asus customized settings" submenu in Settings.

Thanks! hahaha

 

[benthian89]

Flashed the KitKat update 2 days ago. It's mostly OK and working, with the following notes:

Bugs
The backup tool in ASUS PC Tool (the one recommended by Asus in its Upgrade SOP) will screw up your app settings. It also doesn't restore WhatsApp messages. I don't recommend it, and I suggest instead manually backing up everything using third-party apps, such as SMS Backup and Restore, iCal Import/Export, Google Contacts, and Google's built-in app settings restore function.

It is difficult to backup app data properly since the default Android ADB backup is also not working properly. (all backup apps like helium use the same raw ADB commands underneath, thats why you need to enable usb debugging for the ADB commands to work)

Btw, there is a built-in app called "app backup" that functions like helium. Works fine. Can just backup the data only to save space. (the app can just download from play store then restore back the app data)

For info, whatsapp messages are stored locally on the phone's external storage. When you connect your phone to your com, you can see a whatsapp folder, inside there is a folder called database. whatsapp auto backup your messages everyday at 4am up to 7 days. The backup programs only backup app data, which is the app's internal storage and doesn't care about the phone's external storage. (I am very familiar with Android internals and app development so i know)

Battery life appears to have dropped by a lot, for some reason.

Just after you update, it is natural for high battery consumption as the phone is syncing a lot of stuff. For example, if you enable google+ photo backup (and never tick Wifi only or charging only) then it will sync all your photos in the background. Wait till everything has sync-ed finish then start to measure battery life.

Also, if possible, go through all the apps settings and also android system settings to disable any sync-ing if not needed.
For example, if you don't want whatsapp to wake your phone up at 4am to backup messages, you have to force stop it, too bad whatsapp don't provide other backup options

There is weird screen tearing when scrolling through lists. I thought KitKat was supposed to be less resource-intensive

Tearing is always GPU's problem. Try enabling force GPU rendering in developer options.

But I think it may be your device's issue only.

Missing Features
Polaris Office is no longer installed, so you'll have to find another Office app.

Why care about Polaris when you have free Office Mobile directly from Microsoft.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.officehub&hl=en

Not to mention Quickoffice (going to be taken off) and its replacement coming in 3 different google apps, Docs, Sheets & Slides
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quickoffice.android&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.docs&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.slides&hl=en

 

[sprentliegen]

Thanks for the input, benthian89! It was quite helpful.

My aim in writing my previous comment was to catalogue the changes that I've noticed on my device after upgrading, with the intention of giving users who have not yet upgraded a list of the changes between the old and new firmwares. As such, it should not be taken as complaints about the firmware.

Of course, the comment was only my experiences on my device, so as always YMMV.

It is difficult to backup app data properly since the default Android ADB backup is also not working properly. (all backup apps like helium use the same raw ADB commands underneath, thats why you need to enable usb debugging for the ADB commands to work)

I agree that backup using the built-in Android function (whether it's with Asus' tool or with Helium) is still in a very incomplete state. Therefore, I feel that it is important to warn all users not to rely entirely on such tools, even if they come from the phone manufacturer. As my experience shows, it can lead to data loss or incomplete restores.

Btw, there is a built-in app called "app backup" that functions like helium. Works fine. Can just backup the data only to save space. (the app can just download from play store then restore back the app data)

App Backup was removed from the KitKat firmware, and even on JB its instructions stated that it was unable to restore data from apps that required user account authentication (such as Gmail, Dropbox, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, etc.).

For info, whatsapp messages are stored locally on the phone's external storage. When you connect your phone to your com, you can see a whatsapp folder, inside there is a folder called database. whatsapp auto backup your messages everyday at 4am up to 7 days. The backup programs only backup app data, which is the app's internal storage and doesn't care about the phone's external storage. (I am very familiar with Android internals and app development so i know)

Just so you know, Asus PC Tool also backs up and restores the /sdcard folder on the phone (i.e. the "external storage"). Having restored WhatsApp messages on my phone before, I made sure that the entire WhatsApp folder was copied in the process. Unfortunately, in my case WhatsApp somehow did not recognize the backed-up database file (msgstore.db.crypt7) on the first run (where it usually asks if you want to restore messages) and created a blank file overwriting the backup, resulting in the loss of one day's worth of messages.

Just after you update, it is natural for high battery consumption as the phone is syncing a lot of stuff. For example, if you enable google+ photo backup (and never tick Wifi only or charging only) then it will sync all your photos in the background. Wait till everything has sync-ed finish then start to measure battery life.

As of today, 7 days after installation, I can state that battery consumption on the new firmware is definitely higher than on 4.1.2, with the same apps syncing in the background to the same schedule. I have not yet been able to pinpoint the cause of this, but I suspect it's due to Asus' ZenUI enhancements.

Tearing is always GPU's problem. Try enabling force GPU rendering in developer options.

But I think it may be your device's issue only.

Enabling Developer Options and forcing GPU Acceleration did not stop the screen tearing, even after a restart. As you say, it may just be a problem with my device. Anyway, it's not a major issue.

Maybe it's wrong to call it "screen tearing", as the effect is more minor; there is a small horizontal section of the scrolling list that looks squashed when I scroll. This section "ripples" up and down the screen, and is especially noticeable in apps where there are a lot of graphics on the screen.

Why care about Polaris when you have free Office Mobile directly from Microsoft.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.microsoft.office.officehub&hl=en

Not to mention Quickoffice (going to be taken off) and its replacement coming in 3 different google apps, Docs, Sheets & Slides
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quickoffice.android&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.docs&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.sheets&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs.editors.slides&hl=en

As I said, my notes were made with the intention of informing users who have not yet upgraded of the changes between firmwares. Since Polaris Office is a built-in app that I found quite useful, I made the note that it was removed, and also pointed out that third-party office apps were available.

 

[coyote]

One advantage of Android Kit Kat 4.4... my IT support finally managed to installed the MDM AirWatch Agent & MDM AirWatch Inbox such that I can access my company's email in a secured manner. According to my IT guy, he said it was not possible previously with 4.1.1 for some whatever reasons....

Finally it breaths new life to my 1 year old Pad Fone 2...

 

[kennethtbh]

Flashed the KitKat update 2 days ago. It's mostly OK and working, with the following notes:

.
.
.
There are now three (optional) Quick Access icons for Phone, Messaging and Camera on the lockscreen.
Unfortunately, you cannot customize these.

the 3 quick access icons can be changed. i managed to change it to whatsapp etc which i use more frequently. go to settings -> lock screen -> quick access (tap on the left side where the word is, not the on/off side) then click on any of the phone, messaging etc to change to other apps.

 

[sprentliegen]

Geohot's Towelroot works on KitKat update

Someone on the Padfone Club forums said that Geohot's Towelroot tool works for rooting the Padfone 2 after applying the KitKat update.
(Link to post)

I can confirm that it worked on my device, i.e. I now have root. Everything appears to be working normally so far.

Do note that you'll need to install a Superuser manager app (like Clockworkmod Superuser, SuperSU) yourself after rooting.

DISCLAIMER: This post is not meant as an endorsement of rooting, nor an invitation for you to root your phone. Understand that rooting involves unauthorized modification of your device, and as such always carries risks including but not limited to loss of data, negatively affected performance or temporary or permanent inoperability of your device.

 

[coyote]

Very impressed with the new kit kat 4.4.2 on the padfone2. Despite some said battery life degraded with the new firmware.

Take note of the time & the battery remained... I disconnected the charger at around 8.00am leaving for work, used my phone quite intensively today plus my company's push mail is pushing email relentlessly into my phone... yet the battery is so strong, that's after a full year of charging & recharging daily! Impressive.

LTE speed is so fast now, when I enter a new url & press return, the network already moved to the new site but waiting for the browser to refresh with the new display at the new site. It seemed the cpu became the bottleneck of speed browsing now.

Thanks to the more compliant 4.4.2 core, you can see I can enabled AirWatch secured email client from my office. Something previously not possible with 4.1.1.

Also, no more dropped 3G voice call when the in 4G mode.

Kit kat really made Padfone2 perfect.

Anyone wants to sell me his Padfone2? Please PM me.

 

[sprentliegen]

New OTA update 11.8.4.6

There's a new OTA (11.8.4.6) for KitKat out. I've just flashed it, and it seems to be running normally, with the following notes:

• Rooting using Towelroot is still possible (again, rooting is dangerous, I'm not recommending it, etc.)
• Polaris Office 5 is now bundled (for the people who were missing it - myself included)
• The screen tearing I observed on the 11.8.3.3 firmware appears to have been addressed here; smooth scrolling overall.