Reboot in Safe mode

When having problems with a device and you want to boot up without any apps starting.

Reboot to safe mode

Long press your power button until the shut down menu appears
On the popup where you can power off or reboot you can long press ‘power off’. It will ask to boot in safe mode. When you do this the device will boot normally but won’t auto start any apps.
Keep in mind: Not all devices have this feature. The manufacturer decides.

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Channel Knob Selection

Another great tip by @Phil NR001
(Only applicable for devices with a indefinite rotating channel knob selector who run a PRO version of Button Mapper & Google Play Store)

This configuration enables you to use an indefinite channel knob to browse trough your numbered channels.
For me this is a great added feature because now I can safely browse channels when I’m driving in my car. Most of my frequently used channels are assigned to the program buttons, but now you have a more extended channel list at your finger tips.

Example on an Inrico TM-7 plus
  1. Add numbering to your channels/contacts: 01 Channel 01, 02 Channel 02, 03 Mom, …
  2. Add the rotate left & rotate right button in Button Mapper
    1. (“Add Buttons” or sometimes they are already added)
  3. For the Left Button: Select “Broadcast Intent” and add the following line to the field “Action“: com.zello.intent.channelDown
    • Do this for “Single”, “Double” and “Long Press”
  4. For the Right Button: Select “Broadcast Intent” and add the following line to the field “Action“: com.zello.intent.channelUp
    • Do this for “Single”, “Double” and “Long Press” and mind the capitals!

This should work with most indefinite rotating channel knob selectors. If you find a Network radio that doesn’t support this, let us know!
(We know about the Telo TE-390 already)

TM-7 (Plus) WiFi issues

Had some issues lately with my TM-7 plus who disconnected often from my wifi network. It happens on irregular basis and sometimes during conversations, what makes it very irritating obviously. I thought the problem was located in my mesh network, that the network was too advanced for the Android 4.4 versionof my TM-7 plus. We discussed it on the Zello Radio Benelux Channel and apparently it’s a know issue for the TM-7 (Plus). I got the suggestion to install “Best Wifi Keeper” That seems to resolve that issue.

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ROM – Updates

Our good friend and ROM GURU, NR001 – Phil, has released the latest firmwares updates of his debloated ROMS. See below for the list!

Telo TE580:
Phil’s_debloated_TE580_stock_ROM_v.3_COMMS_NR001.zip
http://bit.ly/te580_3

Telo TE590
Phil’s_debloated_TE590_stock_ROM_v.2_COMMS_NR001.zip
http://bit.ly/te590_2

Inrico T320:
Phil’s_debloated_T320_stock_ROM_v.7_IMEI-5_COMMS_NR001.zip (works for both old and new IMEI’s)
http://bit.ly/t320_7

Continue reading “ROM – Updates”

How to change the volume settings on a TM-7 plus

The Inrico TM-7 plus has a lot of advantages and for me it’s probably one of the best mobile devices out there for the moment. But is has one big issue and that is the total useless volume knob. If you dial the knob to change the volume, it just starts a life on its own. The volume flies to on end of the spectrum to the other… really awful and even dangerous in the car.
Luckily there is a work around for it.

The first solution is just uninstall Button Mapper, because this is causing the issue.
The second solution is by configuring the navigation buttons (Up & Down) as volume buttons via Button Mapper. (Oh the irony!)

In Button Mapper, go to option “+ add more buttons
Press the “up key” on the right next to your display and confirm that you want to add it.
Then select customise.
The 3 button actions become active (single, double & long press)
Assign to all 3 buttons actions the same Action: “Volume +”
Do the same for for the “Down Key” with the Action: “Volume –
and you’re good to go…
Now you can adjust the volume settings with the up and down key.

Alternative Contacts & Dialer

Some (crazy) people (like me) still use their Network Radio as a regular telephone:
use the dial pad to give mom a call or in my case I leave my smartphone at home during hikes and just take the radio with me and use it as and emergency backup if necessary.

Or hide contacts away from apps stealing your contacts information
Even though we are not having any problem sharing our mobile number with all third parties, people in our phone book might have.

On my Inrico T320 the dialpad is still active, so when I press “4” on my keypad, the dialer opens and displays “4”. Pretty annoying. especially because this often happens by accident.

There’s a work around for both problems listed above:

1. Disable your phone Dialer (Contacts & Messaging)

Settings –> apps –> show system apps –>Phone –> disable

2. Install Open Contacts:

the APK can be found here.
After installing you wil be ask to grant permission for app overlay 2 times, just accept it.
In my case the connection with Vysor disconnected, but was resored after a USB reconnect.

Manually add your contacts or import from vCard files.

Open Contacts – Developer Description
Hide contacts away from apps stealing your contacts information
Even though we are not having any problem sharing our mobile number with all third parties, people in our phone book might have. We should not be sharing their contact information online. So, keep your contacts safe in a different database. This app saves contacts in its own database seperate from android contacts. This way no other app would be able to access contacts. Can be used in place of your default phone(dialer) app. It can import contacts from vCard files. So we can export Android contacts and import into this app. Maintains call log as well coz Android call log app would not be able to show name of contact. Also shows the person’s name upon recieving call

Error on Idle time – on T199 – FIXED

We encounterd a small issue with the Inrico T199 (and probably other screenless devices)

When your screenless device is powered on but idle it might happen that when you push the PTT button nothing happens or if you configured it like below you will hear 3 beeps (meaning error). That’s because Zello changed from specific channel to a default mode. The only thing you have to do is turn your channel knob back and forward to your chosen channel and it wil work again. We are looking for a permanent solution but this is a nice quick fix.

I’ve update this in the manual section “How to configure a screenless device”.