I actually didn't have any plans to buy a new tablet; I have a ZTE Light v9 Phablet (Phone+tablet) running on Android Froyo (2.2) which I actually don't use much because I am better off using my phone, which is a Lenovo P700i running on Android ICS (4.0). However I wanted to buy a tablet case with an external keyboard for my tablet so I can use it for e-mail, documents, etc. without having to bring my laptop.
For a few months already, I've been shopping around for that tablet case+keyboard combination for my tablet, and I found one in CDR-King. Three weeks ago, when I had the money, I finally bought it, excited that I would finally be able to use my tablet again with an external keyboard. I really find it hard to type on the touch screen, and since I'm a touch typist, I really feel working fast when I'm typing on my keyboard (I'm averaging 100 words per minute in typing tests.)
But being a natural... er, impulse buyer (hehe), I suddenly went to a mall and looked for an available stock of that case+keyboard, and I forgot to bring the tablet (well, not that I actually forgot--I never planned to buy the case during that time so I didn't bring it). I rushed through a CDR-King outlet in Victory Mall in Libertad Pasay and for P280.00, I went home so excited...
... only to find out that the keyboard doesn't work on the tablet! I thought it's just a defective keyboard (common with CDR-King merchandise) but when I found out that it worked on my housemate's phone, I did a research and the keyboard I bought can only be used on an Android device which has a USB On-The-Go (OTG) interface. The ZTE Light v9 does not have a USB OTG interface, thus external mini-USB keyboards will never work on that device. All the excitement I had flushed down and were replaced with disappointment like a pail of cold water (with ice) being poured down on my head (ouch!):
And I know I couldn't return that casing with keyboard because it was never defective. I couldn't sleep well because of that disappointment that I've decided--to buy a new tablet that will fit the keyboard and case!
And so, as soon as I get some money and some free time, I went to stores in Trinoma (it could have been any mall, it just so happened that I'm meeting someone there so I just made use of my free time). I looked for different tablets that has that USB OTG feature, but either they're too expensive, or they don't sell it on credit cards.
While looking for tablets during that time, I found out that newer tablets have HDMI cables, which gave me an idea--I could buy a tablet which I can use for presentations. And so I narrowed my search for cheap tablets with USB OTG and an HDMI port. That's when I found the Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt.
Again, I forgot to bring the case+keyboard I bought from CDR-King, but I was kinda confident that any USB OTG device will work on my keyboard, so I swiped in my card for P4,100.00, and when I went home.... my moment of success has arrived!
Since then, I became obsessed with my new "toy", looking for ways to boost up the performance, which I didn't fail--I came across a blog where it posted latest firmwares for the Fusion Bolt (at http://calcunico.blogspot.com/2013/04/latest-firmwares-for-cherry-mobile.html) and started downloading and flashing my tablet.
Of course, before I flashed my tablet, I made sure that I made a backup of the existing firmware. I've got to have insurance that my warranty won't be void when I return this tablet for repairs during the warranty period, by ensuring that I can return back to my original firmware and ROM if I had to. For those who would like to see my Stock ROM for Fusion Bolt, check it out at:
I was able to locate the latest firmware, but I didn't like the logo of the latest firmware. The Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt was actually a re-branding of the Ainol Novo 7 Venus Lite tablet, and the firmware from Ainol contained a lot of Chinese apps which I never understood. So, I spent almost a week tweaking and studying how Android ROMs work, and patience, perseverance and coffee (hehe), I was able to copy the Cherry Mobile logo, wallpapers, ring tones and even some vendor-supplied apps from my Stock ROM to the new Ainol firmware. I even changed the tablet info so you would see Cherry Mobile Fusion Bolt instead of Ainol Novo 7 Venus on the device info.... with that, it looked like an upgraded Stock ROM! ;-)
Maybe you're using Fusion Bolt too, and you want to try out the ROM I experimented on--here's the Fusion Bolt ROM based on Ainol's Venus 523 firmware:
Of course, I won't be putting the instructions on how to flash them--there are already lots of information about that elsewhere on the net. Check out Nico's blog (see first link above) for more information.
Some screenshots for your viewing pleasure:
See the screenshots of the modified Ainol 523 ROM (can you still tell if it's the Ainol ROM? hehe)
