直讀中文 cBook

I remember with fondness Ian Wong's 直讀中文 cBook app.

There used to be a time when I read a lot of ebooks and this is one of the apps that I regularly use.

I hear you asking, if it's just ebooks, why not just use Moon+ Reader or Google Play Books or a physical ebook reader like Kobo or Kindle?

The unique thing about cBook is that it can only render Chinese ebooks. Kobos and Kindles can also handle Chinese epubs and AZW/AZW3, but cBook presents the text the correct way - right to left and top to bottom.

Another interesting thing about cBook: it can only open ebooks from HaoDoo using the pdb and updb formats.

So I got a new tablet and installed the latest version of cBook from the Play Store - 4.0.0Beta5. The ebook download function doesn't seem to work anymore, so I had to manually copy over my old pdb/updb files to /cBook folder. The app seems to be able to locate the folder, but it's saying there are zero files within.

Went to Ian Wong's personal website to download old APKs of the app, but the Dropbox links are not working anymore. After a bit of searching, I found a copy of version 3.2.0. Installed that and it was actually able to see the ebooks.

After some testing, it turns out that cBook needs permission to "Files and Media", but doesn't ask for it. Once I granted the permission, cBook 4.0.0beta5 now works as expected.

Flashing the Samsung SM-S9260

Wife was gifted a Samsung Galaxy S24+ phone bought from China.

Now I know that phones sold in China don't support Google services or apps. But when I checked the phone, it does have the Google Play Store installed. I didn't even bother installing more Google apps or testing if they work or not. I've had an S9+ bought in China before. Google apps install fine, but they don't really work 100%. Best thing to do is to replace the firmware with something else ASAP.

For the specific SM-S9260 model, you have a choice of firmware for China, Taiwan or Hong Kong. For guaranteed Google compatibility, I chose TGY (Hong Kong). It is possible to flash firmware from other regions (CSC), but there could be complications if the firmware if not meant for the hardware.

Two options to download the latest firmware:

1. from SamFW, which is the successor of SamMobile
2. or via Frija, which downloads directly from Samsung FUS (Firmware Update Server) for fastest throughput

Frija has an auto mode, which detects your phone's model and CSC and downloads the latest compatible firmware. You can also use manual mode, where you enter the phone's model, CSC, and SN/IMEI, and it will present the latest firmware for it.

Once all the files have been downloaded, run Odin and load the binaries to their corresponding fields.

Power off the S24+ by pressing Vol Down + Power buttons.

Connect the S24+ to a computer using a USB cable, then power up the phone into download mode by pressing both Vol buttons + Power button.

Flash the firmware binaries using Odin. Phone will auto-reboot after success flashing.