Android with Play Store/Services (Royole Flexpai)

This entry was posted on June 6, 2019. Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment

It is not possible to install a fully working Play Store/Services/Framework on the Royole Flexpai at this time. As a result the following software restrictions would be in place:

  • Downloading apps must be via other means (APKPure, etc);
  • APPs requiring on-device Google account login will not work (GMail, Maps, youtube etc);
  • Apps requiring Google Play Services/Framework will not work (Pushover);

However all is not lost, a lot of the above issues can be worked around (not all). Here is a summary of my learning’s as I try to adopt the World’s first Foldable Tablet into my daily flow:

APKPure is a huge help – it will effectively serve as a replacement for Google Play store (for free apps);

Microsoft Apps work really well – Outlook, Launcher, Bing, OneNote and Cortana all work for me.

  • Outlook is a great alternative to GMail;

MapQuest is a great alternative to Google Maps;

The youtube video app from Amazon App store is a nice alternative to youtube;

Chrome works (as long as you don’t sign in to sync bookmarks). From Chrome one can use the Web based version of the Google Apps (as they use Cloud based Google sign-in, not on-device login). As a result, youtube, photos, drive work as web apps in Chrome. Use the Chrome Bookmarks Widget for fast access from Home Screens.

Sirius app works (by installing the Play Services APK in the XDA post below);

Flipboard works by logging in with email (not Google accounts);

Apps that don’t work for me:

  • Pushover (I use my own, customized, app and SMS as a workaround);
  • Paid Android Apps (like PocketCast) – I haven’t even tried to load as I want to respect the developers (Spotify works and is a possible podcast alternative but it is not as feature rich as PocketCast);
  • Android Wear, Focals (Smart Glass), Feedly, Duo, TextNow – all seem to be tightly coupled with Google Play Services;
  • Netflix;

Apps that do work for me:

  • TweetCaster
  • NY Times, Globe and Mail,
  • LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, Whatsapp (including notifications); Amazon Prime Video;
  • Sonos, Spotify, Apple Music
  • XDA
  • Microsoft Outlook, Launcher, Cortana, OneNote, Powerpoint, Word, OneDrive, Edge (including bookmark syncing)
  • Tripit
  • Kindle
  • Tesla (except for notifications, sharing locations to Tesla apps works nicely though from Mapquest)
  • Blackvue (but not notifications)
  • MyRogers

Check out this XDA post for more info.

 

 

Leave a comment