Training details / ZTE Speed confirmed

[ctaranto]

Thanks. TomEng was pretty clear earlier that the robot side would be phone sized and the user control would be tablet sized.

[NoahAndrews]

That was my understanding as well. I'd love for that to be the case, but it appears that their plans changed.

[Tom Eng]

ctaranto - our hope was to have the robot side be a phone device and the driver station a tablet-sized, but we were unable to find a reliable, affordable tablet-sized device and opted for the more reliable (albeit smaller) ZTE Speed for both sides.

[ctaranto]

Thanks for the quick updates! Great to hear that things are progressing.

Can you comment on whether the FTC-sourced ZTE Speed is identical to a retail version? In other words, can we buy them now or is it advisable to wait?

Thanks again...

-Craig

[Tom Eng]

Tom,

Since we will be buying these phones from FIRST's designated vendor, not from a wireless carrier, please answer these questions about the software provided on these phones, or released to us as APIs for development purposes:
What Android release will those phones contain?
To what Android API level must we compile the code which we will develop?

Thanks!

Hi AlanG,

The ZTE Speeds are equipped with Android 4.4 (Kit Kat). We recommend Android 4.4 for use with the FTC SDK. Kit Kat has good support for WiFi Direct (better than Jelly Bean). Lollipop is not yet recommended because there is a USB driver issue with Android 5.0 and 5.1 that prevent the device from working properly with the Modern Robotics modules (and with other USB-enabled devices).

Tom

[Tom Eng]

Thanks for the quick updates! Great to hear that things are progressing.

Can you comment on whether the FTC-sourced ZTE Speed is identical to a retail version? In other words, can we buy them now or is it advisable to wait?

Thanks again...

-Craig

The ZTE Speed phones in the kits from FIRST will be identical to the commercial ones available in stores. ZTE was adamant about only providing commercial items to us. Note that I believe that for teams in the US the kits available from FIRST will include a pair of ZTE phones.

[ctaranto]

The ZTE Speed phones in the kits from FIRST will be identical to the commercial ones available in stores. ZTE was adamant about only providing commercial items to us. Note that I believe that for teams in the US the kits available from FIRST will include a pair of ZTE phones.

Thanks, Tom. When you say "kits", what else besides the phone would be a part of that? Also, is there an estimate of when this will be available (in the US)? I hope this wasn't already answered and I'm asking again...

-Craig

[FTC5501]

Tom you are saying a pair of phones. I thought the robot would have a phone and the drive station would have a tablet. Could you clarify this?

[JimInNJ]

Tom you are saying a pair of phones. I thought the robot would have a phone and the drive station would have a tablet. Could you clarify this?

See post #13 above.

[FTC5501]

Thanks Jim! I try to stay up to date on all of these new posts but missed it.