Asus Transformer Pad Infinity
Upgrading to CM-10.1.3

I initially set up the TF700T with CyanogenMod 10.1.0-RC5. Now I have some time to put into I.T. maintenance, and I have upgraded both my Android devices to version 10.1.3. This is the final version for 10.1.x based on Android 4.2, and the developers will now turn to CyanogenMod 10.2 based on Android 4.3 Hyper Jelly Bean. The next major release will be CyanogenMod 11 based on Android 4.4 KitKat.

Here is the announcement of the general release for CM-10.1.3 posted 2013-09-23 by CyanogenMod. Comment poster Blaise Petric asks, do I have to do a full factory reset, from CM10? Kelly Cook replies: CM10 didn't have the builtin updater so you can't use that. But you don't need to wipe everything. Save the 10.1.3 zip and 10.1 gapps (http://goo.im/gapps) (2013-08-23 I think). Boot to recovery and install both zip files. Settings will be saved.

This point is reiterated in this forum post on updating: Between the same major version, e.g. CM-7.1 to CM-7.2, you do not need to wipe anything (e.g. Dalvik cache and/or cache partition). You do need the right gapps package, for Android 4.2/CM-10.1 The Android 4.1 gapps won't work in 4.2. See http://goo.im/gapps/gapps-jb-20130812-signed.zip.

Posted comments do not suggest any nasty hidden dragons in this upgrade, except for one set of complaints about 10.1.3-RC1 and RC2. In this forum thread about CM-10.1.3-RC2, all comments dated around 2013-09-05, DaRealDJHeat tried 10.1.3-RC1 and RC2 and "Google Services" eats battery. HaPel replies: purchase the app "Autostarts". In "After Start" find "Google Services Framework", and within that, disable com.google.android.gfs.update.SystemUpdateService$Receiver . With this fix his Galaxy S3 uses 3% battery per 10 hours (!) Guywmustang says, foce stop Google Services Framework once, and it will cure the problem permanently. Ruben Schmitt-Fels has the same issue on Asus TF700T.

Procedure for Upgrade

• Review the procedure for initially installing CyanogenMod.

• Jacinth did not have the Android SDK, so I downloaded and installed it (see above page for the link). I actually downloaded the ADT bundle that includes Eclipse. 475Mb compressed, 702Mb uncompressed, SDK alone is 101Mb compressed. ADB is tested and works.

• Backups. ADB has a new (to me) feature: backups. Command line (one hyphen per option):

  adb backup -f ./mica-bku-20130929.ab -apk -obb -all -system

  This gets you a combined file in a proprietary format. Optionally it could be encrypted, if you have sensitive data and will store it in the cloud. With these command line arguments you get all your apps, including system apps (those in /system/apk), and for each one, its user data, the code itself, and the binary libraries. For my machine it took 8.2 minutes and the resulting file was only 238Mb; speed was about 5.8Mbyte/sec. When you start ADB, an app opens on the device and you need to confirm allowing your data to be read, and you could also give an encryption password.

  You can also specify the -shared option which will also dump directories on the SD card. I don't know if this means the entire SD card, or only directories known to belong to apps being dumped; probably the latter. In any case, the resulting file was 1.51Gb and took 45 minutes.

  You use ADB to restore this type of backup. Now, can you restore only particular apps, excluding ones likely to give trouble like Phone? After a major version upgrade will correct or consistent UID:GIDs be assigned, or is this like Titanium Backup that just restores exactly what was saved? It would be a really good idea to check on these points before relying on this backup for the jump to KitKat.

• I used the builtin updater to download the new CM-10.1.3 image, but I declined to install it. To find the updater: Settings - About Phone - CyanogenMod Updates - Refresh (if necessary) - click on the row for the version you want.

• I downloaded Google Apps to the internal SD card; see above for the version required for Android-4.2. 96Mb compressed. Google Apps for Android-4.1 will not work in 4.2.

• Check the battery. 50% should be plenty, but for paranoia I charged for an hour.

• Now I returned to the builtin updater and clicked on the row for CM-10.1.3. It offered to install and I said yes. It rebooted directly into Recovery and installed the requested file. Takes about 3 minutes. Then it rebooted automatically. It needed to recompile 137 apps, so the reboot took about 3 minutes, vs. normally 50 seconds.

• You end up in the CyanogenMod setup screen. Set language; create or use existing CyanogenMod account (for what?); permit or decline location reporting; set the date and timezone. The clock was cleared to 0 and the default timezone was Midway Island; ClockSync promptly fixed the clock, and in setup I changed to Pacific time.

• Very quick checkout, avoiding back-version Google Apps, which will croak: UI, Wi-Fi, Jota+, Firefox, Amazon Kindle all seem to be working.

• Boot into Recovery and install Google Apps. Choose it from the internal SD card, which in Recovery is /emmc/0. Use arrow keys or swipe on the screen to scroll on the list, assuming you have the touch version of Koush's ClockworkMod Recovery. Installation takes about 1 minute; content is labelled Google Apps for Android 4.2.2. On the reboot out of Recovery it only recompiled 4 apps. Major apps in this package include:

  • FaceLock.apk
  • Gmail.apk
  • GoogleBackupTransport.apk
  • GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter.apk
  • GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.apk
  • GooglePlus.apk
  • GoogleTTS.apk
  • GoogleServicesFramework.apk
  • NetworkLocation.apk
  • Phonesky.apk
  • TalkBack.apk -- This is a screen reader for blind people.
  • (I think of these I only use NetworkLocation.apk)

Application Checkout

• Night clock -- OK
• Jota+ -- OK
• Kitchen Timer -- OK
• Amazon Kindle -- OK
• Clock Sync -- OK
• Science Magazine -- OK
• Google Maps -- OK including GPS
• Firefox -- OK
• Battery status -- 7 seconds on battery?? Broken.
• WiFi Analyzer -- Works, but the currently locked channel signal strength is -100dBm (effectively no signal).
• StrongSwan -- OK (talking from wild side via Selen AP)
• Dropbear -- OK including key agent.
• VX ConnectBot -- OK
• AndroidVNC -- OK
• Xabber -- Password prompt is lameass, need to open notification area to bring it to foreground. Once that's done, connects.
• Skype -- Authenticates but hangs while signing in. I never got it to work, though I eventually succeeded on Selen.
• CIFSManager -- test later.
• Google Search -- OK
• Play Store -- OK
• People -- OK (very few contacts on this machine)
• GPS Status -- OK. 0 lux brightness? Correct, it's dark in here, min is 8 lux.
• ES File Explorer -- OK
• Kingsoft Office -- OK (very wimpy test)
• Calendar -- OK
• RealCalc -- OK
• Gallery -- OK
• Camera -- OK (very wimpy test)
• Barcode Scanner -- OK
• Apollo -- OK
• Phone tester -- OK (sensors)

So this upgrade appears to be successful.