Computers & Electronics

Why many google apps are not compatible with the new Acer Iconia 7 tablet?

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  • Dec 21st, 2015 3:08 pm
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Deal Addict
Aug 30, 2007
2002 posts
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Why many google apps are not compatible with the new Acer Iconia 7 tablet?

It was an unpleasant surprise: just bought two Acer Iconia One 7 (B1-770) tablets for my kids as Xmas presents, plus two google play giftcards, just to discover that "the device is not compatible" on play.google for the games they wanted (like Minecraft Pocket Edition and Five Nights at Freddy's - both paid apps.) I don't think it makes sense - the same apps show as compatible with all my devices, including the ancient Kobo Vox, when accessed from my google account. So this rules out "not compatible because of the home country" restriction. I can't see how the decently-spec'ed (1GB RAM, 4-core CPU) Acer can be incompatible while Kobo Vox is (0.5GB of RAM) from the technical spec perspective.

I just added my Paypal account to one of the kids accounts as a payment method, so a lack of a in-app ability for payment is not an issue.

What else can be at play here? How can one see the reason the app is being refused? Apparently as recently as 2 years ago the web-based google playground would have an "+" sign next the the "not compatible" statement, which would show you the reason when clicked. Apparently not anymore.
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Jul 3, 2002
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GTA
What version of Android is it running? It's also on an Intel processor, not ARM - have run into a few app compatibility issues with this on our old Dell Venue 7.
Rock it.
Deal Addict
Aug 30, 2007
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chdude3 wrote: What version of Android is it running? It's also on an Intel processor, not ARM - have run into a few app compatibility issues with this on our old Dell Venue 7.
It's 5.0. Can it actually be the reason? Perhaps 5.0 is still too new for many apps? In terms of cpu, its has an ARM processor (MT8127: ARMv7 1.3 GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7; Mali-450 MP4 GPU).

I am checking other apps, and it looks like most of them are incompatible - that's a disaster.

EDIT: I think I see a trend here. Every time the game has "This app has an in-app purchase" line, it is listed as not compatible. I believe I disabled the game purchase functionality on my kids tablets when I was setting them up - perhaps that's what makes the apps incompatible, despite me adding Paypal as the payment option in the web interface?

I think I'll have to unwrap the tablets to investigate this further.

EDIT2: Or may be not. I found one app with in-app purchase which does show as compatible (https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ycrushsaga)
Deal Addict
Aug 30, 2007
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I managed to install one of the games they wanted - Minecraft Story Mod. It is listed as "in-app purchase". So the problem with other games is either some technical incompatibility (unlikely), or Android 5.0 being unsupported (more likely).

Again - it would be great to see the reason why an app is deemed to be not compatible. Anyone knows where to find such information?
Deal Guru
Dec 10, 2004
13194 posts
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Kanata
No Idea. I sold my Nexus 7 to someone who had an Asus with the intel chip and he said the same thing. Was some common app as well available in the play store that said it was incompatible.
Deal Expert
Aug 22, 2006
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It's a pain, but you can just side load.

You'll have to root both tablets (and whatever other device you use) and install something like Titanium Backup on all 3.
Once that's done just download the app on your device, move the backup to the other devices and restore.
I've had to do this a few times for a few apps. Although some apps just plain refuse to work (eg Here on my N9) due to other checks but most of them do.
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Dec 12, 2009
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I have a Dell venue 7 which has an Intel chip, likewise the zenfone 2. I don't seem to have any issues with app compatibility.
Deal Addict
Aug 30, 2007
2002 posts
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Mine has MT8127, which is Mediatek (ARM), not Intel, so cpu-wise it should be okay.

My only likely explanation is that the B1-770 is so new that many app designers haven't added it to the supported devices list. It is not listed in the official Google Playground list of supported devices (it lists Acer Iconia One up to B1-750). I have sent an email to Minecraft designers asking for an explanation; hopefully they will get back soon.
Deal Addict
Aug 30, 2007
2002 posts
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A successful resolution: I unwrapped the tablets, did a factory reset, and then all these apps showed up as compatible, and I managed to purchase and install one of the games. So this was the case of me changing some parental control options on the device rendering many apps as "not compatible with your device". Honestly, not a very good design - go figure what exactly makes your device not compatible.

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