AT&T, Atrix and the Amazon Appstore

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Amazon launched their own Android AppStore on April 22^nd and most AT&T Android users found themselves missing out on the promotional Premium App-of-the-day being given away free. Other than ease of use, there is no reason to wait for AT&T (or whoever is ultimately able) to fix it and miss out on the freebees, just follow the step by step guide below.

1)     To install apps from sources other than Android Market without ‘rooting’ your phone, get a copy of Android Central Sideload Wonder Machine. You can get all the details and download this wonder machine from the Android Central Forum Post. Download the AC-swm-v10.zip file. Note: you must be signed in to see the download links. [Update: version 1.1 is released, it allows updates.]

2)     Unzip the file into its own directory – and remember its location. [Update: 1.1 must be in c:\]

3)     Next, go to Amazon.com and click on the Get Started section and have them get the app to you via email. You can get it on the phone too, but that will make the 1^st step a little more involved.

4)     Download the .apk file and make a note of where you save it.

5)     Next connect your phone to the PC using the USB cable and in the USB connection dialog select ‘None’. Your PC should install drivers off the phone, if not visit the Motorola Atrix ADB drivers site, download and install the drivers before re-connecting the phone.

6)     On the phone go to SettingsàApplicationsàDevelopment and then select the USB Debugging option.

7)     Now go to the directory where you installed the Sideload Wonder Machine and locate the program: AndroidCentral-SWM.exe and run it. You should see the following application screens Version 1 followed by Version 1.1 (notice the update check box):

8)     Click the “Choose ...” button, navigate to the location where you saved the .apk file, select it and you’ll be instructed to click the Go button in the above dialog.

9)     When you click Go, a command prompt box will open and you will be asked to hit any key to continue after you read some status messages. Following installation if you see the words “Success” you are all set.

Download the apps of your choice from Amazon using the Amazon Appstore App. Once you have done that, you’ll be presented with an Android Security Warning and all you’ll be able to do is OK it. To install the app, locate the .apk files on the phone’s internal memory and follow the steps below:

1.     Connect the phone using the USB and this time, select the USB Mass Storage option.

2.     Use the windows explorer to navigate to:

[driveletter]:\Android\data\com.amazon.venezia\cache\

The .apk files should all be waiting there with cryptic filenames beginning with the letters ‘vnz’.

3.     Copy these off the phone to a known location on the PC – then repeat steps 5 onward above and you are off to the races!

I am hoping this long winded method will be short lived and AT&T will restore Android’s freedom like it was meant to be - before updates begin to show up!

Enjoy!

[Soapbox: Finally! I'm back from the dark side! Refreshing to leave iJail. Shout out to nVidia Tegra 2! Check out the Atrix on Amazon Click: Motorola Atrix 4G Android Phone (AT&T)]