Upgrade to ICS on your Hipstreet Vektor

Get ICS and Google Play on your HipStreet Vektor (or Nova 2, or LY-F1 - whatever you want to call it)


We saw a Groupon for an Android tablet, and pounced as it was only £100 (about $159).  I waited with baited breath (some might say halitosis) for 5 weeks until it FINALLY got here!! - then disappointment.  The screen was … OK, performance was acceptable, but I found, much to my chagrin, that it was running Gingerbread with NO upgrade path from the vendor (support told me I could upgrade it, but that would "void the warranty" - I told t hem I'd rather have a fully functional device than a warranty, but now I believed it was at least possible).  Added bonus: this particular device ISN'T COMPATIBLE WITH GOOGLE PLAY, a double whammy which kind of pissed me off…


So - the adventure began.  After spending some time digging around Google and the XDA Developer website, and trying to figure out just EXACTLY what the hell this thing is, I discovered two useful bits of information:
1. The Hipstreet Vektor appears to be identical to their Nova 2 that they sold in Canada (which is a clear "name FAIL" for Spanish-speaking countries, hence I suspect the need for a name change for Europe).
2. It is just an OEM re-brand of the LY-F1 Chinese Tablet from PandaWill (http://www.pandawill.com/lyf1-lite-tablet-pc-7-inch-android-23-new-12ghz-cpu-4gb-2160p-hdmi-black-p54046.html )


The process:
**Standard disclaimer - I have no relationship to/with HipStreet, and I am not offering official support.  You do this at your own risk, so don't whine to me if it doesn’t work, or you brick your tablet.  I merely wanted to share a process that worked for me, and made my crappy tired tablet of disappointment [apparently] fully useable.**


Warning: most of the places you go to get the software for this process seem a little shady (download mirrors, pop-ups, etc.).  I would recommend using a throw-away Windows machine (or your buddy's computer) for this process versus using your primary workstation if you can.


1. Get "LiveSuit"
• This wasn't too hard to find, and there are a lot of links out there. 1.09 was current when I was working on this.
• Not an intuitive application, and most of the English is a little awkward - It didn’t have a "setup.exe", so I clicked on "LiveSuit.exe", and got an error about drivers not installing/installed; when I launched "LiveSuitPack_version_1.09_20111101.exe", it installed them, then the LiveSuit executable worked fine.  Who knows how pwned I am now… 

2. Get a ROM Image. I used the June 26 release at this URL (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1572425 )
• I went to the mirrorcreator link, and then tried different mirror links until I finally found a site that allowed me to just download the file instead of installing some BS downloader - (FileFlyer - was at the bottom of the page, and eventually just gave me a link to a 7z file which worked perfectly)
• Expect tons of popups; if you can do this in a disposable VM, you are probably better off…
3. Backup any data you might want to keep
4. *Make sure LiveSuit is running*
5. Shut down the tablet
6. Hold down the volume rocker button on the "-" side (left side if holding the tablet)
7. Connect the USB cable
8. Tap the power button
• I read "10 or 15 times", but I'm not sure what the magic number is; you will hear Windows recognize your device with a "bah-dink?"
• And then LiveSuit will pop up a dialogue box (video example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2QAyVX1CQw )
9. Select "Yes" twice
10. Double fist pump - enjoy a fully functional tablet running ICS 4.0.3


About 5 minutes later, LiveSuit said "successful upgrade", and the table rebooted.  It sat for a LONG time at this screen with a shimmering android robot, and I worried that it had failed, but eventually, it came up all the way, and so far - everything is working perfectly (including Google Play - YAY! We win!!).