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I know its probably a "no no" to post HOW to SIM unlock this phone but I just want to know if there is a way to unlock it for free without calling t-mobile...i'm NOT asking for a how-to, i'm just asking if this information is out there somewhere...a how-to would be GREAT but totally understandable if it can't be posted...i just don't want to be out there on a wild goose chase trying to unlock this thing without having to pay $38 or calling t-mobile...
i saw an application in another subforum on this site but it says it is for PPC only and this is a smartphone so i don't think that'll work...
There's no free unlocker at the moment. My guess is someone will come up with a way to do it but I wouldn't hold my breath for it. If you are going to be using this phone, I suggest you pony up the cash for it.
You can't call T-Mo if you aren't a subscriber. If you are a subscriber, there's no problem in getting the unlock code, I got it within a week.
monakh, can you please provide more info about getting the unlock code from T-Mo? Did you purchase the phone from T-Mo? It surprises me that they would be willing to do this.
hassan-dash said:
I know its probably a "no no" to post HOW to SIM unlock this phone but I just want to know if there is a way to unlock it for free without calling t-mobile...i'm NOT asking for a how-to, i'm just asking if this information is out there somewhere...a how-to would be GREAT but totally understandable if it can't be posted...i just don't want to be out there on a wild goose chase trying to unlock this thing without having to pay $38 or calling t-mobile...
i saw an application in another subforum on this site but it says it is for PPC only and this is a smartphone so i don't think that'll work...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is wrong with paying $38 to get the phone SIM unlocked as well as CID unlocked (T-Mobile won't CID unlock the phone for you). The phone is useless unless you do it. I did mine through IMEI-CHECK and it took 2 minutes and I was up and running. It was well worth the $38
Dan, I think for most people not having the phone CID-unlocked is not a huge deal so I disagree with you that the phone is 'useless' without it. Very few people go through with the tinkering the way you and I do. Frankly, so far I have not come up against this limitation and I have tweaked the phone to my satisfaction.
Someone mentioned that there's a way to downgrade the bootloader to install (at least) the new HTC test ROM that's been mentioned lately in this forum. I am not sure how true that is but if it is, then CID unlock is unnecessary at the moment. I do agree though, that $38 is a small price to pay to be able to have the freedom to do as you like with your phone. I keep wondering how IMEI-check does it. I have a feeling they have someone working with them over at HTC to make this work. It's not technical ability, it may be something else. They had an unlocker within a day or two of the Dash release. Corporate espionage or internal collusion or technical expertise, I am not sure what it is but somehow I don't think this has anything to do with the technology. We saw similar behavior with the Universal unlock application earlier this year.
maddog, it's a well known/enforced T-Mo policy that if you have been a customer in good standing with them for 90 days and have not made a similar request in that period (this is my 7th year with them), they will handily supply you with an unlock code upon request. For most people it's not a problem but if you are switching to T-Mo just to get a phone then you will obviously have to wait. I have had several phones unlocked through them since Y2K and have never had a problem.
monakh said:
Dan, I think for most people not having the phone CID-unlocked is not a huge deal so I disagree with you that the phone is 'useless' without it. Very few people go through with the tinkering the way you and I do. Frankly, so far I have not come up against this limitation and I have tweaked the phone to my satisfaction.
Someone mentioned that there's a way to downgrade the bootloader to install (at least) the new HTC test ROM that's been mentioned lately in this forum. I am not sure how true that is but if it is, then CID unlock is unnecessary at the moment. I do agree though, that $38 is a small price to pay to be able to have the freedom to do as you like with your phone. I keep wondering how IMEI-check does it. I have a feeling they have someone working with them over at HTC to make this work. It's not technical ability, it may be something else. They had an unlocker within a day or two of the Dash release. Corporate espionage or internal collusion or technical expertise, I am not sure what it is but somehow I don't think this has anything to do with the technology. We saw similar behavior with the Universal unlock application earlier this year.
maddog, it's a well known/enforced T-Mo policy that if you have been a customer in good standing with them for 90 days and have not made a similar request in that period (this is my 7th year with them), they will handily supply you with an unlock code upon request. For most people it's not a problem but if you are switching to T-Mo just to get a phone then you will obviously have to wait. I have had several phones unlocked through them since Y2K and have never had a problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are on this forum you are probably interested in changing ROMs and modifying your Excalibur. I'm just dumbfounded that people are willing to buy this phone and then have it just sit there and not work because its not SIM unlocked and they don't want to pay an extra $38 to have it unlocked.
You still need to have your Dash CID unlocked to install the test ROM from HTC.
monakh said:
Someone mentioned that there's a way to downgrade the bootloader to install (at least) the new HTC test ROM that's been mentioned lately in this forum. I am not sure how true that is but if it is, then CID unlock is unnecessary at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right, if you flash the bootloader (SPL-1.11) published here, you will be able to flash any ROM without CID checking, so you don't need to CID-Unlock your device.
monakh said:
I keep wondering how IMEI-check does it. I have a feeling they have someone working with them over at HTC to make this work. It's not technical ability, it may be something else. They had an unlocker within a day or two of the Dash release. Corporate espionage or internal collusion or technical expertise, I am not sure what it is but somehow I don't think this has anything to do with the technology.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They buy preproduction units to start investigation earlier, disassemble them, take all the flash chips out, read them... and I'm sure they kill several devices before they can release an unlocker.
DanITman said:
You still need to have your Dash CID unlocked to install the test ROM from HTC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, you just need to flash the RUU_Excalibur_SPL-1.11_UpgradeOnly.exe first, no need to CID-Unlock, really!
Wow, great info, thanks pof.
Dan, I think one year ago you could have said that 'if you are on this forum, you are tinkering with ROMs and the like' but I daresay this is no longer true. Nowadays (thanks to Google and word of mouth), you will see many a newbie coming here looking for free unlockers and hoping for a silver bullet to solve all their problems. Just look at some of the posts in the newer device forums from people who *just* signed up and you will know what I am talking about. I think it would be fair to say that this site is no longer limited to incredibly hard-core geeks the way it was 12-18 months ago which is a lifetime in Internet time. That's probably a good thing and a bad thing. It's good because it drives traffic to this site and keeps them afloat but it's bad in the same a small mom & pop shop grows to the size of a Walmart losing the focus on the individual.
It's just the nature of the beast.
monakh said:
" I keep wondering how IMEI-check does it. I have a feeling they have someone working with them over at HTC to make this work. It's not technical ability, it may be something else. They had an unlocker within a day or two of the Dash release. Corporate espionage or internal collusion or technical expertise, I am not sure what it is but somehow I don't think this has anything to do with the technology. We saw similar behavior with the Universal unlock application earlier this year."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Almost all of your unlocking software is conducted by using an a pattern matching check sum. If you are a programmer of any sorts and understand how a GUID data type is constructed then the concept of unlocking is similar. A GUID is a data type that is a globally or guaranteed unique identifiable value that can be traced down to the exact machine, date and time the value was created. This is done be cause of an algorithm that uses the date time, machine name and computes a value.
SIM Unlock apps do the same thing, it uses the IMEI number as part of it's alogrithm. There have been documents published on how Motorola does it's sequencing for Locking and Unlocking devices. Once you have that pattern it is just a matter of knowing where in the ROM's flash memory the check sum value is stored, with that the IMEI number and the pattern algorithm you should be able to unlock your phone.
Why do you suppose IMEI-CHECK was able to produce an unlocker only two days after the Excaliburs Release?, and not only for the Excalibur, but simular phones from the same manufacture? like the T-Mobile MDA and SDA?
RazrV3 said:
SIM Unlock apps do the same thing, it uses the IMEI number as part of it's alogrithm. There have been documents published on how Motorola does it's sequencing for Locking and Unlocking devices. Once you have that pattern it is just a matter of knowing where in the ROM's flash memory the check sum value is stored, with that the IMEI number and the pattern algorithm you should be able to unlock your phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That might be true for Motorola, but it's completely different in HTC phones.
HTC phones are NetLocked and SimLocked using vendor specific AT command "[email protected]". The MSL code is a 8 digits string and has nothing to do with the phone's IMEI. If your phone is unlocked you can lock it to any MSL using this [email protected] command through the GSM AT command debugger ('rtask 7' or 'rtask b' bootloader command depending on which HTC device you're using).
imei-check only requests your imei to make sure you don't use their unlocker with other devices, but that's it, it is not used for computing the unlock code nor the radio patch.
Read here if you want understand it more deeply:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=280819&p=1046444
This was a great thread. Thanks pof for re-educating those that need it--not even a "thank you" from them. Especially those in denial of spending or "wasting" $38. I got my FREE unlock code from TMO (took about 5 business days) and have no problems with CID checks for at least the current HTC Excalibur ROM. Hopefully, the same will be case with future ROMs.
pof said:
That's right, if you flash the bootloader (SPL-1.11) published here, you will be able to flash any ROM without CID checking, so you don't need to CID-Unlock your device.
They buy preproduction units to start investigation earlier, disassemble them, take all the flash chips out, read them... and I'm sure they kill several devices before they can release an unlocker.
No, you just need to flash the RUU_Excalibur_SPL-1.11_UpgradeOnly.exe first, no need to CID-Unlock, really!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think so. My Dopod c720w is the Excalibur, as you all know, but I still can't downgrade my bootloader. It says : Invalid Model ID.
And by the way, my dopod is not SIM Locked. I don't know if it is CID Locked or not.
Any one have ideas?
If flashtool can flash stock roms with a locked bootloader, why not the custom ones? I was thinking, what if you could fool the phone into thinking the software is stock when it's really not?
Also, regarding fastboot, if it's possible to remotely access a dongle, shouldn't it be possible to write a script that does the same thing as the dongle itself? I'd be willing to donate and start a bounty for any dev up to the task.
Another thing I thought of is this: if a hole in adb allows us to root, can it not be applied to do other things as well? If you can push system files through adb for themes, I see no reason why installing a recovery would be impossible.
Bear in mind that although I'm not a noob, I'm sure as hell not an expert or developer (though eventually in the future I want to develop) so if there are limitations preventing these things please explain what they are instead of calling me a fool.
Also, on a side note, just how difficult is the script work for Android apps? My previous coding experience is with a game server program called eAthena, if anyone is familiar and can use that for comparison.
Sent from the best phone ever
Nice ideas but i'm now about to disapoint you lol
1) The roms we flash with flashtool are signed by sony, if we was to try to flash an u unsigned rom, with a locked bootloader, s1 boot would politely tell us to F-off, flashtool or not ......
2) The dongle you are on about is used in conjunction with setool, afaik the dongle just contains account info but maybe im wrong. Eitherway its setool that does the hard work not the dongle.
3) This is not a new idea, i have had devices beofre where you could use adb/terminal to push a recovery image..... But we have no acess to /boot/ partition while device is booted and thus no way to replace kernel.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk
So basically, we need someone to write a program similar to setool, but one that doesn't need credits, in order to unlock fastboot, correct?
Surely someone around here would have the knowledge to do it. Freedom to customize should be available to all, not just people who can buy credits, imo.
Personally, I'm poor and could only get the phone caused I saved money for 2 months and signed a contact. Surely I'm not the only user with a tight wallet.
I say we put up a bounty to encourage the developers around here. I would much rather donate some cash towards the development of a free tool for everyone, as opposed to a single unlock just for myself.
Sent from the best phone ever
captain67 said:
So basically, we need someone to write a program similar to setool, but one that doesn't need credits, in order to unlock fastboot, correct?
Surely someone around here would have the knowledge to do it. Freedom to customize should be available to all, not just people who can buy credits, imo.
Personally, I'm poor and could only get the phone caused I saved money for 2 months and signed a contact. Surely I'm not the only user with a tight wallet.
I say we put up a bounty to encourage the developers around here. I would much rather donate some cash towards the development of a free tool for everyone, as opposed to a single unlock just for myself.
Sent from the best phone ever
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
blagus and the omnius team have to ability to write such a tool, as they already have with omnius, that can also unlock bootloaders, but i doubt they would be intrested as that would take away there business
Yeah I knew about them already.. I meant someone else.. Lol
Also, I don't suppose it'd be possible to spoof a ROM so s1 boot thinks it's signed, is it? (I suspect that would be illegal, and therefore not something done on these forums)
Sent from the best phone ever
captain67 said:
Yeah I knew about them already.. I meant someone else.. Lol
Also, I don't suppose it'd be possible to spoof a ROM so s1 boot thinks it's signed, is it? (I suspect that would be illegal, and therefore not something done on these forums)
Sent from the best phone ever
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think it's illegal to do that, but i do think it's impossible. Otherwise someone would of done it by now.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk
AndroHero said:
I don't think it's illegal to do that, but i do think it's impossible. Otherwise someone would of done it by now.
Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not illegal but when a TFT is "Signed" it simply isn't a bit that's turned on or something, it's actually a pretty large encrypted section of code. You'd have to decrypt it which would take freaking forever if at all possible. When I had my Atrix before we got the BL unlocked we tried to decrypt the code (Which was worse than the play probably) and someone figured out how long it would take to manually decrypt it. Something like 120 years running 24/7 on an i7 (I'm not kidding it was mathematically figured to be somewhere around that). If course you could get lucky and get it tomorrow but you'd have better odds winning the lottery and getting struck by lightning on a sunny day at the same time.
If there's one thing I learned from these forums it's saying something is impossible one day,and BAM it's there the next day,no big deal...
So what I'm trying to say is,there is always a workaround,but we need someone to find it...
And by the way,cant the signature just be copied? I mean if hundreds of people downloaded and used the same .ftf file...it doesn't seem unique,or that the phone has something to compare it to...
The stupidity of my posts increase over time
Read up on signing and PKI here: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Code_signing
This post also has a good explanation on encrypted bootloaders (different device, same theory): http://androidforums.com/droid-x-all-things-root/113171-official-droid-x-encrypted-bootloader-efuse-thread-13.html#post1455071
The short answer is that it's theoretically possible that there could be an exploit, than would allow you to bypass and flash unsigned firmware. However, the fact that you can do it without this (via paid methods) means that it's unlikely anyone would spend so much time investigating.
Ok so my new Nexus is coming tomorrow I sold my AT&T note to get it. This is my first time getting a unlocked phone. Anything I shouldn't do upon setting it up. Or things I should do. I've been reading a so far in here for the last few days. Just wanna make sure everything goes smooth
Put your SIM card in. Put the Battery in.
Root & unlock bootloader right away. That way you don't waste all that time setting up your phone just to have to redo it.
Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE Galaxy Nexus.
martonikaj said:
Put your SIM card in. Put the Battery in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously, it's that simple.
Actually, if I may add a couple:
~Make sure it's free of defects - I don't want to worry you but it's something you want to address quickly for something not officially available in the U.S.
~Since you're on AT&T, set up your data usage limits.
Ok cool. Just wanted to make sure, illmprob root and such right away as mentioned. So I guess I have to call AT&T and tell them I'm using a "android" data plan correct? Being I used a spare iPhone 4 I had laying around while waiting for my nexus to Come in.
Vcolassi said:
Ok cool. Just wanted to make sure, illmprob root and such right away as mentioned. So I guess I have to call AT&T and tell them I'm using a "android" data plan correct? Being I used a spare iPhone 4 I had laying around while waiting for my nexus to Come in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're using an iPhone 4 the data plan should work fine (but some ppl are saying you can get a nice CS rep to put you on a "4G" data plan to get better speeds).
Also, you'll need a SIM adapter if you're gonna stick with the iPhone's Micro SIM.
I can prob just go in and ask them to give me a sim for my galaxy note. I got a sim before I believe with just giving them my number.
luftrofl said:
Seriously, it's that simple.
Actually, if I may add a couple:
~Make sure it's free of defects - I don't want to worry you but it's something you want to address quickly for something not officially available in the U.S.
~Since you're on AT&T, set up your data usage limits.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I would check for defects first to make sure you don't waste time doing anything else.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Unlock, but don't root until you know what you want/need root for.
root is the same as the admin account on a windows machine. it does not introduce changes or risks just because it's there. there are a million reasons to do it, though. obvious reasons like safety and choice. it would be unthinkable for a laptop to be delivered without admin account, but here they shrunk the casing to an minimum, it's still a computer, but now it's oooohhhh, oooonlllyyyy if u knowwww whut ure doingggg. come on man, really. root on android is way more easy, transparent and intuitive to use than on a windows pc so what's the big deal.
molesarecoming said:
root is the same as the admin account on a windows machine. it does not introduce changes or risks just because it's there. there are a million reasons to do it, though. obvious reasons like safety and choice. it would be unthinkable for a laptop to be delivered without admin account, but here they shrunk the casing to an minimum, it's still a computer, but now it's oooohhhh, oooonlllyyyy if u knowwww whut ure doingggg. come on man, really. root on android is way more easy, transparent and intuitive to use than on a windows pc so what's the big deal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are, in fact, wrong.
Android becomes a lot more vulnerable if you have SU/root installed. Just as it enables you to have root access on the system, it enables potential malware to have the same level of access and there are exploits in the wild utilizing this.
Android OS is also designed in a way that you don't need root access for almost anything the average user would possibly want to do with the device.
If you ever dig around the *#*#4636#*#* menu don't change or press anything next to SMSC otherwise you'll screw up your SMS's
Zengster6474 said:
If you ever dig around the *#*#4636#*#* menu don't change or press anything next to SMSC otherwise you'll screw up your SMS's
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i did that lol
and i had to use my old old dumb phone (se s500i) to set up smsc again, it is one thing dumb phone is smarter than a smart phone
another way is to translate the smsc number in a website which is troublesome
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk
Valynor said:
You are, in fact, wrong.
Android becomes a lot more vulnerable if you have SU/root installed. Just as it enables you to have root access on the system, it enables potential malware to have the same level of access and there are exploits in the wild utilizing this.
Android OS is also designed in a way that you don't need root access for almost anything the average user would possibly want to do with the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As you probably already know there Roms like CM9 that protect against this. And more development teams are implementing the same safeguards.
Also rooting gives you the ability of adding apps like Cerberus and Avast to the system folder, making them very hard to remove.
Since he is a member of XDA, and asking about which pitfalls to avoid, you could assume he has ambitions to tinker and customize. So its not a question of if he should root, its a question of when.
But you know what they say when you assume..
Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE Galaxy Nexus.
Do: Everything.
Don't: Not do everything.
Simple.
Sent from the future.
Valynor said:
You are, in fact, wrong.
Android becomes a lot more vulnerable if you have SU/root installed. Just as it enables you to have root access on the system, it enables potential malware to have the same level of access and there are exploits in the wild utilizing this.
Android OS is also designed in a way that you don't need root access for almost anything the average user would possibly want to do with the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
say what? what kind of root did you install on your phone man. root changes nothing, an app can do the same stuff it could before and not an iota more. if it wants to it has to explicitly apply for that right and you have to give your allowance. Android is designed to be open, you either use that possibility or you don't but you don't run around freaking people out that root on Linux is something evil or abnormal which is it not, it's a plain normal admin account and nothing more and Android profits from it in the same way every other os in the whole wide world profits.
ps. that stuff about the "average user" is pure bs. average users do not complain about root on win7 or osx, why would they complain on android where it's even easier to operate. customizations aside, you're living dangerous, one bad crash and your phone is ****ed, a bit of bad luck and it gets stolen and you'll not see it again. both becomes virtually impossible with root since you have real backups and real security suites.
Unlocking the boot loader and rooting an android phone definitely opens it up to exploits, if you don't know that I wouldn't Root
Saying that, only way to run a smooth Nexus is to run Codename Android 1.6.0 with standard launcher and franco kernel. I've tried them all and this is the ONLY way to get nexus running smooth with limited lag.
Let's return to the topic:
You probably should unlock your bootloader immediately BECAUSE bootloader unlock wipes the phone. If you encounter a situation later on that requires an unlocked bootloader, you would loose all your data during the unlock process. I'd advise you to do it immediately before you set up your phone.
Rooting is different. Once your bootloader is unlocked, you can root your phone at any time without loosing anything. If you don't require a root right now, don't bother with it. Should you require it later, rooting is very easy and doesn't affect your data/settings IF (VERY BIG IF) your bootloader is unlocked.
I don't understand the concern about having root. Any app that attempts to gain root access is blocked and a pop up from super user asks if you want to grant access to said app.
Anyway I root but stay stock, because root is about having admin rights to do things, not necessarily flashing roms etc. Example I wanted to make my bar transparent, so u could do that when rooted even though I was on stock rom.
Anyway just pop in your sim is all you have to do. You don't have to change any data plans or have to even tell ATT anything.
Vcolassi said:
Ok so my new Nexus is coming tomorrow I sold my AT&T note to get it. This is my first time getting a unlocked phone. Anything I shouldn't do upon setting it up. Or things I should do. I've been reading a so far in here for the last few days. Just wanna make sure everything goes smooth
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why did you sell your note? i am planning to buy new phone im confused between note and nexus... hope u can help coz u used them both... my first choice was nexus...
I know all of this has been covered but when searching all the threads I found were from last year at some point so I figured I would see if there was any new news that I just wasn't finding with my search terms. I apologize in advance if I put this thread in the wrong place or didn't follow the forum format in some way.
Basically, is the Verizon version of the Xperia Play, R800x with 2.3.3 still locked and there is no way to root this phone now? Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought the Supreme Court or something had ruled that we were legally able to do what we wanted with devices we owned? Does that not apply here or am I crazy? Let me guess, I inadvertently signed all my rights away by clicking something that automatically means I agree with whatever restrictions they wish to put on me, am I getting warm? Lol.
I knew I should have done this earlier but I honestly wanted to give my phone a good run stock before tinkering with it. Now that I am having to delete just about every app I have downloaded on my phone, including games I paid good money for, just so I don't get continuous memory warnings mostly due to updates for the preinstalled software that I never use that Verizon saw fit to saddle me with, I decided to look into rooting it only to find that this is no longer an option. Honestly, I am fed up with this phone, Verizon, the whole nine yards. Excuse me while I rant a bit but I wish I have never upgraded to a "smart" phone and I am seriously considering dropping back to a normal plan without all the data and use my old, reliable Samsung Flipshot. It was a phone and a camera and it did both very well. My Play is supposed to do all sorts of things but it does nothing well and even when I am inclined to surf the 'Net or play a typical game or even txt I am constantly bombarded with the popup that the app has stopped responding and do I want to Wait or Force Close. It honestly smacks of the Windows 95 and 98 days when nothing seemed to work right and the BSOD was a common, everyday thing. Ok, rant over, I apologize.
Seriously though, is there anything I can do to stop the slow, inevitable death of my phone? I have uninstalled the largest of the updates for most of the programs I don't use like the Kindle app, some sort of "office" app and a few other updates that were over the 10mb mark but is this a viable solution? Are these apps just going to update again later or harass me with notifications to update? What the hell happened to the 250mb of extra space I had before and why can't I get it back by deleting the apps I downloaded myself? When my phone was new I had all kinds of room to do stuff and had many apps installed that I rarely used but were very handy when I needed them, now I find that I have to delete anything non-essential just to get my phone to operate on a somewhat normal level. Is there anything I can do to fight this and get back enough memory to make my phone fun and somewhat useful again? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
I guess I am just very disappointed with my first foray into the "smartphone" world. I honestly feel they are pushing the technology too far to fast since it seems almost like your phone is only something cool when it's new sitting on a shelf, then when you get it home and use it, it turns to crap in you hand. I suppose I am just angry over the whole situation and I feel sort of cheated. Maybe I misunderstood something somewhere but I thought these cool little gadgets were supposed to make life better and actually be useful. Then again, maybe I am just getting old.
So is there any hope or am I stuck with this for the time being or as long as I am stuck with Verizon in my rather remote area?
Read my sticky thread on "R800x Users: You've got Custom ROM questions? I've got answers." It still applies, at least until May 1st when you get an update.
In short: you can root your phone. There is something else called a bootloader that remains locked that controls whether you can use certain custom ROMs and kernels. There is a paid way to unlock it which gives you more access. There are quite a few custom ROMs you can use with a locked bootloader that will improve your phone's performance, and even more if you unlock the bootloader.
About the locked bootloader thing, Verizon can do that because they subsidize the cost of the phone in your contract. So, technically, they "own" the phone for the contract period and can dictate what you can do to said hardware.
You need to do a bit more digging. You can do a LOT more than stock.
Sent from my R800x using xda premium
Thanks for the info. I skimmed through the thread but I wondered if it still applied, good to know that it does so I'll go back and read it in detail. I guess I understand the Verizon thing. This is the real cost of buying my phone for a penny off Amazon, lol. Again, thanks for the info and I will definitely check out the info on rooting my phone, even if it's not totally unlocked. As long as I can get rid of most of the bloatware, I will be satisfied with that. Not really looking to make my phone do anything more than it does now, but improving it's performance and storage is definitely my motivation so hopefully something along those lines is still possible. Thanks again!
netizenmt said:
About the locked bootloader thing, Verizon can do that because they subsidize the cost of the phone in your contract. So, technically, they "own" the phone for the contract period and can dictate what you can do to said hardware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I paid the unsubsidized price for my Play (~$500 if I recall) so I wouldn't have to sign a contract, and they still won't let me unlock it, not that that stopped me...
Mogul345 said:
Well, I paid the unsubsidized price for my Play (~$500 if I recall) so I wouldn't have to sign a contract, and they still won't let me unlock it, not that that stopped me...
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Technically you pay for the device but Sony holds the rights to what is contained within. You don't own EVERYTHING in the phone. Just the right to use it. Sure its in the Terms and Conditions
Sent from my R800i using xda premium
Well even with Verizon's meddling I was able to root my phone even without unlocking the boot loader. I got Titanium Backup installed and was able to remove a lot of the bloatware on my phone and free up a lot of memory. I wasn't able to delete all that I wanted but I was able to get back about 100mb of phone memory with just the things I did delete and that is good enough for me. The phone is acting normal so I guess I did everything right and didn't do any damage and I got the space I needed so I am pleased. Maybe down the road I will want to do more to the phone and workarounds will exist then but for now I am happy with what I have achieved.
Thanks again to Netizenmt and all the people who posted the information listed in your sticky. It was a great help once I calmed down, dug below the surface and did some more research.
I am having an issue where my phone cannot do Wifi calling, or Samsung Visual Voicemail. So I did some digging and found out that my gf's phone (which I flashed unlocked U1 firmware on) now has the service provider software information (SPS) of AIO/AIO/XAA, even though when I got her phone, it was designated to T-Mobile. However, for MY phone, even though I used the same exact firmware flash, my SPS is VZW/VZW/VZW.
Could this be the cause of my issue? Is there anyway to fix this? I flashed the phone using this firmware: https://samfw.com/firmware/SM-G986U1/XAA/G986U1UES2DUD4
I will provide more info if anyone asks for it, I just don't know what other info to provide as of now.
Here is one thing I know for certain, Verizon's Wifi calling uses an IPSEC tunnel that connects to them when turned on from your phone.
From this we can possibly assume that wifi calling is carrier specific. I am sure voicemail is the same.
So if your phone is technically on one carrier but the firmware thinks it's another, it would be mismatched so to speak.
I know this does not solve your issue but it might explain why those things do not work.
DarkQuark said:
Here is one thing I know for certain, Verizon's Wifi calling uses an IPSEC tunnel that connects to them when turned on from your phone.
From this we can possibly assume that wifi calling is carrier specific. I am sure voicemail is the same.
So if your phone is technically on one carrier but the firmware thinks it's another, it would be mismatched so to speak.
I know this does not solve your issue but it might explain why those things do not work.
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Right, I figured it would be something like that. The problem, at least I think, is that the phone still thinks it's a Verizon phone, even though it has U1 firmware. I tried flashing the firmware again, and putting in the SIM after I factory reset it, and nothing changed. I truly do need to change the SPS. I'm not sure if that's possible, but hopefully someone can shed more light on this problem.
guyguyguy1 said:
Right, I figured it would be something like that. The problem, at least I think, is that the phone still thinks it's a Verizon phone, even though it has U1 firmware. I tried flashing the firmware again, and putting in the SIM after I factory reset it, and nothing changed. I truly do need to change the SPS. I'm not sure if that's possible, but hopefully someone can shed more light on this problem.
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Here is just my 2 cents on it. For years I used to buy unlocked phones specifically so I could put custom firmwares on them. I had 3 reasons for doing so at the time. Get rid of the trash, custom firmwares were often updated more frequently and longer than manufacturer "official", and for root.
As it sits today, root is handy but not required like it used to be. Manufacturers now update their firmware FAR better and there are ways to debloat an official phone.
What I am getting at is this. Dinking with the firmware (IE changing away from official) is not worth it in my opinion today for most folks. Especially if you really depend on your device,, as I do for work.
However with all that said, if I did not depend on mine for work I would customize it anyway because while the processes for doing so are tedious, I find them fun.
Just my take on it. I wish you luck with your issue.
DarkQuark said:
Here is just my 2 cents on it. For years I used to buy unlocked phones specifically so I could put custom firmwares on them. I had 3 reasons for doing so at the time. Get rid of the trash, custom firmwares were often updated more frequently and longer than manufacturer "official", and for root.
As it sits today, root is handy but not required like it used to be. Manufacturers now update their firmware FAR better and there are ways to debloat an official phone.
What I am getting at is this. Dinking with the firmware (IE changing away from official) is not worth it in my opinion today for most folks. Especially if you really depend on your device,, as I do for work.
However with all that said, if I did not depend on mine for work I would customize it anyway because while the processes for doing so are tedious, I find them fun.
Just my take on it. I wish you luck with your issue.
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Thank you! My understanding is that if your phone is protected by Knox, if you root the phone, it would break the chip on the logic board, and it would either brick the phone, or totally disable all protections on the phone, so you would HAVE to do custom firmware and security. Which simply isn't worth it to me. I just think it's annoying that a phone that SHOULD have the built in compatibility, just simply doesn't because the company that commissioned the phone felt like being a ****. Worst case scenario, I just suck it up and deal with it, it's not a huge deal. But, if someone eventually comes along and offers a fix for it, I'll jump on it!