How can I upgrade an old device?

[A2Steve]

Hi,
I found an old device in the bottom of a drawer (Polaroid PMID702C). It has Android 4.0. I see that upgrade support has ended a few months ago. Can I upgrade this somehow?

 

[Mike Dee]

I would think support stopped a long time ago since it's 4.0

 

[me just saying]

there is already another thread where someone tried to install an unsupported android version in a note tablet from 2014 and there are all sorts of problems with it now. imo, the same will happen to you if you tried to upgrade to something that is not supported.

 

[A2Steve]

I think I found that old thread.
https://forums.androidcentral.com/general-help-how/403911-how-upgrade-android-4-0-3-4-4-4-5-a.html

I'm not worried about ruining the device. It would be good experiment experience for me. So I am trying to figure out the best way to proceed. The thing came with Amazon Apps but I wonder if can get a newer Google Play Store on it.

Would I have to "root" the device? Would I have to find a ROM? (what's a ROM?) I just like to experiment. I download Linux ISO's and install in virtual machines so I'm somewhat savvy. The device makes a good experiment at this point.

 

[B. Diddy]

The best thing to do would be to check out the forums at XDA-Developers.com to see if anyone has developed a custom ROM for that exact device. It's unlikely, but if there's one out there, XDA is where you'd probably find it.

 

[A2Steve]

Thanks

 

[Rukbat]

I'm not worried about ruining the device. It would be good experiment experience for me.

It would be "ruined" to the point that you'd never get it working again.

But ...

The only way to flash a ROM (more later) to that tablet is with LiveSuit, and that will only flash an .img file, so you'd have to find an .img file for the PMID702C later than the one you have in there, and the latest one is 4.0v3.

So I am trying to figure out the best way to proceed.

The best way - is to learn programming, learn the tablet, download a later version of AOSP (the open source Android project), make the vendor modifications for that tablet, convert it into an .img file and flash it.

The next best way is to use it as it is.

Finding some Android ROM that comes in an .img format and flashing it is ... just send the tablet to me if you're going to turn it into garbage, because that's what you'll do. Totally unrecoverable garbage.

The thing came with Amazon Apps but I wonder if can get a newer Google Play Store on it.

Sure - install GApps. The smallest package, the 4.4, is probably best. It may run, it may not. 4.1 is JellyBean - the tablet is running Ice Cream Sandwich, 4.0.

Would I have to "root" the device?

No, and you probably can't.

Would I have to find a ROM?

That's what you should do - but I doubt that anyone ever wrote even a 4.2 ROM for it.

(what's a ROM?)

The entire firmware package in the tablet - recovery, Android, the kernel (Linux), everything.

I just like to experiment.

But you don't drive cars into deep rivers "just to experiment", do you?

I download Linux ISO's and install in virtual machines so I'm somewhat savvy.

Then install a terminal app, and you'll find familiar territory - you'll be in a Linux terminal, in a shell.

The device makes a good experiment at this point.

To play around with Linux, yes. To flash firmware that will turn it into a useless plastic rectangle? I don't think so. (Assuming that the bootloader is part of the SoC [the system chip], you might be able to flash the stock ROM back after you've messed it up. But if the bootloader is part of the ROM, and you mess that up, the device is a paper weight.)

See https://southerntelecom.com/polaroidsupport/firmware/firmware_guide_pmid702C.html if you just want the experience of flashing a ROM to it.

You may also want to check out https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1740073 It's for 4.1, but it may run in 4.0. (If not, you can just uninstall it.)

There's nothing at XDA but a suggestion to root with Magisk. I've rooted a lot of phones, using a lot of different methods. Magisk if by far the best, the most universal and the easiest - if you can unlock the bootloader, and if the device is running Android 6.0 or later. Since there's most likely no boot.img file in this one, you probably can't install Magisk. (And while flashing a device using a program you'll never use for any other device may be fun, it's not going to teach you much.)