Related
First things first:
By reading and following this guide,
you accept *ANY* and *ALL* responsibility
for the possible damage, loss of data and/or other
consequences to your device which may follow.
All the following procedures have been tested on a US Motorola Xoom Wifi only. They *might* (and probably do) work on other devices, including the 3G, Euro, etc., but are not guaranteed to do so.
Now that we're straight, let's get to the point.
Foreword:
Once I had this problem of accessing my brother's MAC filtered access point. I had my notebook MAC added to the access list, whilst my Xoom was left out. Of course, my brother was out and I didn't know the AP credentials. It was then, when the idea of a MAC change came to me.
During my brief "on the spot" research I discovered a file named 'bcm4329.cal' residing at '/system/etc/wifi/'. It has a line, notably 'macaddr=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx'. Changing the contents, however, did not yield any changes to my MAC address. That time, I left the issue unsolved, but later, tinkering with my Huawei U8500, I discovered something that helped solve my Xoom MAC issue.
The solution was quite straightforward, but involved a kernel recompile. So, here I am, offering several kernel modules (drivers) - for the stock 3.2 kernel and for the Tiamat 2.0.0-2.2.0 kernels.
Prerequisites:
a stock 3.2, Tiamat 2.0.0 Katana, Tiamat 2.1.0 Tachi or Tiamat 2.2.0 Odachi running Motorola Xoom Wifi
ClockworkMod Recovery installed (author uses ClockworkMod 3.2.0.0 R4c by solarnz)
Procedure:
The procedure involves changing the appropriate wifi kernel module to a 'patched' one which allows MAC change through the 'bcm4329.cal' file. All this will be done in ClockworkMod Recovery.
1. Download one of the attached files (according to your running kernel version which you will find in Settings -> About tablet -> Kernel version)
2. Place the appropriate file on your SD card
3. Boot into Recovery by rebooting, waiting until the Motorola logo appears, count to 3, press the Volume down button, then the Volume up button
4. Select 'install zip from sdcard'
5. Select 'choose zip from sdcard'
6. Browse to your 'mac_change_mod_xxx.zip' (steps 1 and 2)
7. Select 'Yes - Install mac_change_mod_xxx.zip'
8. After its done it's job, reboot by returning to the main menu and choosing 'reboot system now'
Voila! You now have a Xoom with a custom MAC address. You can change it by editing the 'macaddr=...' line in the '/system/etc/wifi/bcm4329.cal' file. The author uses Root Explorer for this.
NOTE: The kernel module will probably be removed when installing a new kernel, so the procedure should be repeated.
Great work!!
LOL, I love it. I just changed my MAC address to look like an Apple Laptop. Even shows up that way on scanners that resolve the OUI to the manufacture. Now I'm stealthy!
Did I mention I luv it. Maybe tomorrow I will look like a Commodore 64!
is purpose just for personal preference? What would be the benefit of changing it?
One of the possible uses of MAC changing is described in the head of this thread. IMHO it's the most useful one. Other purposes may not be so legit, but the author takes no responsibility ;-)
tdaliviu said:
One of the possible uses of MAC changing is described in the head of this thread. IMHO it's the most useful one. Other purposes may not be so legit, but the author takes no responsibility ;-)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol I guess I was too dumb to understand what you did in the op, but I will still put this on my sd card just in case I find a use or need it
Purpose for MAC change
Maybe I did explain myself in a little too a technical language The basic idea is that if you have a wireless access point (i.e. a router) that accepts only one of your devices (i.e. your notebook), but does not accept your Xoom, you can try and change the Xoom's MAC address to mimic the notebook. The only thing to remember is that you can not use two devices with the same MAC on a network at once. If you follow that rule, you're golden.
P.S. Ah, and forgot to mention that this update will not work on the 3.2.2 for 4G Xooms.
tdaliviu,
Question for you. Since I applied this update I have noticed that my "WiFi Disconnect Policy" keeps reverting back to "When Screen Turns Off" no matter what I change it to.
I am not saying this patch is the cause, but what do you think are the possibilities? Again, I love the capability, and will live with the issue even it turns out to because of this patch, but I just wanted to check your thoughts on it, or see if you thought it might be something to do with the Tiamat ROM.
Thanks for looking at this.
UPDATE: Well I may have gfinally gotten the disconnect settings to stick. Instead of just changing it, letting it sit and coming back later to find out that it didn't, I changed it to the setting I wanted, then immediatley rebooted. Now it seems to be holding the setting. I will let go for a while and see what it does. Will provide an update either way. Thanks again.
For those wondering what this MOD might be good for, there are multiple things. Some ethical and some not so ethical. For instance, as "tdaliviu" mention, if you are trying to simply get around a MAC address problem, you might need to change it. If you were into hacking/cracking or just sniffing around wireless nets that weren’t yours and you didn't want to be discovered or tracked via your MAC. If you just want anonymity. I like it from this standpoint and that of security.
For instance, assume you are sitting in an Airport with your Xoom WiFi up and running, and someone is scanning the airwaves for likely targets to hack. If they seem your MAC address, they will know you are coming from a Motorola device, and might even be able to tell it is a Xoom. If there are any known security flaws, they automatically know which exploits to use against you to gain access. Just being a Xoom might make you a more attractive target. Who knows. But, if you can change your MAC address so that it appears as belonging to a different kind of system, say a "network device" like a wireless repeater, wireless AP, or some other boring target then not only would the attacker not know what exploits to run, but they would most likely just leave you alone without any further investigation or possible portscans.
And of course if you want real anonymity, you might consider changing the name your Xoom provides to DHCP servers when requesting an IP Address. Right now it uses "android_xxxxxxxxxx" with the x's being some number that is specific to your Xoom. I believe that could be used to track back your identity as well. I found several threads and ideas on how to do this. I used the one at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=760314.
Anyway, thanks again for the MOD!
Quite a strange issue there, Krpto1973. At a loss to what might be the problem. I myself am running Moray, so will do some testing...
Well like I said, I may have gotten it taken care of. It's been holding steady since I set it and immedialty rebooted. It probably had nothing at all to do with your MOD. If anything changes I will let you know.
Guess I spoke too soon. After it sat idle for quite a couple hours, I came back and found it with "No Internet Connection". Once it fully woke up(just a second or so) it immedialty reconnected but when I checked the WiFi Disconnect Policy settings, it was back at "When Screen Turns Off".
Any thoughts?
Sorry, tested on my side. No such problem... Did you do a wipe when you switched to Tiamat's ROM? Maybe there are some leftovers from Stock? I am almost outruling a module problem since it's compiled from Tiamat's source using Tiamat's config.
Krpto1973 said:
For those wondering what this MOD might be good for, there are multiple things. Some ethical and some not so ethical. For instance, as "tdaliviu" mention, if you are trying to simply get around a MAC address problem, you might need to change it. If you were into hacking/cracking or just sniffing around wireless nets that weren’t yours and you didn't want to be discovered or tracked via your MAC. If you just want anonymity. I like it from this standpoint and that of security.
For instance, assume you are sitting in an Airport with your Xoom WiFi up and running, and someone is scanning the airwaves for likely targets to hack. If they seem your MAC address, they will know you are coming from a Motorola device, and might even be able to tell it is a Xoom. If there are any known security flaws, they automatically know which exploits to use against you to gain access. Just being a Xoom might make you a more attractive target. Who knows. But, if you can change your MAC address so that it appears as belonging to a different kind of system, say a "network device" like a wireless repeater, wireless AP, or some other boring target then not only would the attacker not know what exploits to run, but they would most likely just leave you alone without any further investigation or possible portscans.
And of course if you want real anonymity, you might consider changing the name your Xoom provides to DHCP servers when requesting an IP Address. Right now it uses "android_xxxxxxxxxx" with the x's being some number that is specific to your Xoom. I believe that could be used to track back your identity as well. I found several threads and ideas on how to do this. I used the one at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=760314.
Anyway, thanks again for the MOD!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fantastically stated there, sir. I wasn't aware of the DHCP request issue. You've successfully made me that much more paranoid.
Hmm this mod doesn't seem to work on 3.2.1 (breaks wifi functionality). Planning on updating by any chance?
Sorry, but I'm on Tiamat's Moray ROM right now, which is based on the 3.2 kernel. I certainly plan on an update when Tiamat releases a ROM based off 3.2.1 (or 3.2.2 for that matter).
If you attach a patch ill add it to the repo and give you bunches of credits
Oh, didn't quite expect such a turn of events One patch coming up...
mac_change_mod patch
Here's the patch. It's quite obvious, though took some time to figure it out. It's against the stock Makefile, but as I understood, there were no changes to the WiFi module from Team Tiamat.
Is it going to make it to a future release of Tiamat ROM/Kernel or will it live only as a patch file in the repo?
Code:
--- /home/liviu/Desktop/Xoom/Makefile 2011-08-03 09:27:45.000000000 +0300
+++ /home/liviu/Desktop/Xoom/stock/drivers/net/wireless/bcm4329/Makefile 2011-08-01 21:27:35.395212384 +0300
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
-Wall -Wstrict-prototypes -Werror -DOOB_INTR_ONLY -DCUSTOMER_HW2 \
-DDHD_USE_STATIC_BUF -DMMC_SDIO_ABORT -DDHD_DEBUG_TRAP -DSOFTAP \
-DEMBEDDED_PLATFORM -DARP_OFFLOAD_SUPPORT -DPKT_FILTER_SUPPORT \
- -DGET_CUSTOM_MAC_ENABLE -DSET_RANDOM_MAC_SOFTAP -DCSCAN -DHW_OOB \
+ -DSET_RANDOM_MAC_SOFTAP -DCSCAN -DHW_OOB \
-DKEEP_ALIVE -DPNO_SUPPORT \
-Idrivers/net/wireless/bcm4329 -Idrivers/net/wireless/bcm4329/include
Sweet. Cooking and testing. I don't see why this cant make a release. We gotta play with it a bit, but I like this mod. Goes nice with the BT5 concept too
Hey guys,
I apologize if this has been asked but I couldn't find it on any particular thread. About 10 days ago I started getting T-Mobile's upsell for tethering that I'd (thanks to the awesome developers) been able to successfully evade for over a year. Is there any fix for this? I'm (now) running Lollipop but it happened before upgrading so it seems unrelated. Thanks in advance!
tonesofheresy said:
Hey guys,
I apologize if this has been asked but I couldn't find it on any particular thread. About 10 days ago I started getting T-Mobile's upsell for tethering that I'd (thanks to the awesome developers) been able to successfully evade for over a year. Is there any fix for this? I'm (now) running Lollipop but it happened before upgrading so it seems unrelated. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's only one solution working for me right now, but you'll have to buy this app: Wifi Tether Router
Go into /system and make a copy of your build.prop
Open your build.prop with a text editor and add this line all the way at the bottom:
net.tethering.noprovisioning=true
Save the file and reboot your device
Open the wifi tether router app and go to "configure wifi router." At the bottom of the page, there's a button to visit the site for device config settings. Scroll down that page to find settings for Note 3.
Once you're all set up, you should be good to go. Only thing you have to do is use a UserAgent switching app on your browser to make it think you're on a mobile device. I'm using User-Agent Switcher (with the blue globe icon) for Google Chrome.
Hope that helps.
Justinchi said:
There's only one solution working for me right now, but you'll have to buy this app: Wifi Tether Router
Go into /system and make a copy of your build.prop
Open your build.prop with a text editor and add this line all the way at the bottom:
net.tethering.noprovisioning=true
Save the file and reboot your device
Open the wifi tether router app and go to "configure wifi router." At the bottom of the page, there's a button to visit the site for device config settings. Scroll down that page to find settings for Note 3.
Once you're all set up, you should be good to go. Only thing you have to do is use a UserAgent switching app on your browser to make it think you're on a mobile device. I'm using User-Agent Switcher (with the blue globe icon) for Google Chrome.
Hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, thanks for your quick reply, but with a user-agent switcher, everything works even now. I was hoping to avoid changing my headers because certain sites won't be served to a "mobile" device. Luckily, my internet tv apparently doesn't send any headers because I can still tether unlimited...ly with that, but it's definitely frustrating getting mobile versions of sites on my laptop. I have observed a somewhat strange behavior that I wonder if we can exploit. It's somewhat finicky, but I've noticed that if I Google the name of a site I want to access (still via the address bar, though), the search results come up without TMO nagging me about a hotspot and oftentimes the link from the search results takes me to the site. I can't make sense of it, but as an example, if you try www.yahoo.com, you'll get the hotspot page, but if you google "yahoo" and click the first result, you get taken to the site. *shrug* I'm not smart enough to figure it out, but perhaps this observation will help someone else solve the problem
tonesofheresy said:
Hey, thanks for your quick reply, but with a user-agent switcher, everything works even now. I was hoping to avoid changing my headers because certain sites won't be served to a "mobile" device. Luckily, my internet tv apparently doesn't send any headers because I can still tether unlimited...ly with that, but it's definitely frustrating getting mobile versions of sites on my laptop. I have observed a somewhat strange behavior that I wonder if we can exploit. It's somewhat finicky, but I've noticed that if I Google the name of a site I want to access (still via the address bar, though), the search results come up without TMO nagging me about a hotspot and oftentimes the link from the search results takes me to the site. I can't make sense of it, but as an example, if you try www.yahoo.com, you'll get the hotspot page, but if you google "yahoo" and click the first result, you get taken to the site. *shrug* I'm not smart enough to figure it out, but perhaps this observation will help someone else solve the problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Glad you got it working! Yeah, idk about the Google Search trick, but I'll try it out sometime.
Have the Xiaomi Mi 10T 5G, which comes with Android 10 / MIUI 12 [Sort of combination of them i think], and i wanna install an older version of android only, lower than 10 [Preferably 7.0], is it possible to do at all? If so, then how exactly can i do that? if possible with exact instruction or guide to it..
Thanks ahead..
PEACE AND LOVE!
Not possible. I am really curious why would you even want that.
_mysiak_ said:
Not possible. I am really curious why would you even want that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For many reasons.. They changed it in some very bad way for my opinion.. like the auto turning on WiFi by some apps, like some apps that don't have widgets, the call recording issue and many more very annoying unreasonable changes they did on A10 on.. saw also they only allow FBE encryption instead of FDE which is much better [That i can see for huge 128, 256 or maybe 512 Gigs Storages but still it should be up to the user decision not forcing]
So you say it's completely impossible? even if flash universal / rooted ROM? no way at all?! cause man those are really annoying stuff especially to the tech Pros and/or savvy's like us, and i know that since i saw many threads and posts in other forums about those issues too.. Maybe some giving up or thinking it's advancements, but really, maybe big money involved, espionage, and many more possible reasons they doing it.. It's bad, really bad..
* BTW sorry for the multiplication threads didn't knew it's SPAMing and not very involved it forums world..
Thank ahead.
Jeff1976A1 said:
For many reasons.. They changed it in some very bad way for my opinion.. like the auto turning on WiFi by some apps, like some apps that don't have widgets, the call recording issue and many more very annoying unreasonable changes they did on A10 on.. saw also they only allow FBE encryption instead of FDE which is much better [That i can see for huge 128, 256 or maybe 512 Gigs Storages but still it should be up to the user decision not forcing]
So you say it's completely impossible? even if flash universal / rooted ROM? no way at all?! cause man those are really annoying stuff especially to the tech Pros and/or savvy's like us, and i know that since i saw many threads and posts in other forums about those issues too.. Maybe some giving up or thinking it's advancements, but really, maybe big money involved, espionage, and many more possible reasons they doing it.. It's bad, really bad..
* BTW sorry for the multiplication threads didn't knew it's SPAMing and not very involved it forums world..
Thank ahead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest I don't understand none of your points.
1. Wifi can be still turned on by apps, you just need to enable the permission (allow always vs. allow only when app is running in foreground).
2. Call recording is working in regions where it's not forbidden by privacy laws.
3. FBE is much better because it allows you to start the phone with basic service without using the password. Not sure why do you consider FDE to be superior.
4. Well, you can try to build your own Android 7 ROM from old sources, but you're going to have a fun time adapting to vendor partition/proprietary files created for Android 10 or 11. Also using several years old code which is not supported or patched anymore is quite interesting approach to security.
_mysiak_ said:
To be honest I don't understand none of your points.
1. Wifi can be still turned on by apps, you just need to enable the permission (allow always vs. allow only when app is running in foreground).
2. Call recording is working in regions where it's not forbidden by privacy laws.
3. FBE is much better because it allows you to start the phone with basic service without using the password. Not sure why do you consider FDE to be superior.
4. Well, you can try to build your own Android 7 ROM from old sources, but you're going to have a fun time adapting to vendor partition/proprietary files created for Android 10 or 11. Also using several years old code which is not supported or patched anymore is quite interesting approach to security.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe it's regional or SROMs based issue, but the vendor of the app said it's not allowed on Android 10 and on, and i did confirmed the permission to turn on WiFi automatically, but maybe there's some other settings that i missed and that guy was wrong, i'd love if you can show how to enable it globally and/or to just the auto file sync i use, cause i tried many times even with manual syncing [by clicking the Sync button when WiFi is off, it started and turn it off automatically on Android 7.0.. Of course also for time interval based sync]..
Jeff1976A1 said:
Maybe it's regional or SROMs based issue, but the vendor of the app said it's not allowed on Android 10 and on, and i did confirmed the permission to turn on WiFi automatically, but maybe there's some other settings that i missed and that guy was wrong, i'd love if you can show how to enable it globally and/or to just the auto file sync i use, cause i tried many times even with manual syncing [by clicking the Sync button when WiFi is off, it started and turn it off automatically on Android 7.0.. Of course also for time interval based sync]..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
App info, permissions.
_mysiak_ said:
App info, permissions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi.. Thanks for your reply.. i did that already before, but still it doesn't work.. i use FolderSync, that currently in my old Android 7.0 device, does syncing when i click Sync from within the app, while i was totally offline [Data and Wifi] so it turned on the Wifi connection [Specific home network], and also on Scheduled i inserted the Allowed Networks SSID [Which BTW when i turn on WiFi manually and it does sync it with GDrive, it say on top 'Unknown SSID' for case it matters {Had the feeling that it very much does}], I also switced it on in Data and WiFI limit it does on that Security app, which i guess is kind of firewall, and BTW i remember like 5-6 years ago i had the Lenovo A8 "Golden Worrier" has that same kind of Security app built in with firewall and all that, but still manually at least, as i checked, it doesn't turn on the Wifi via FolderSync app.. Got a strong feeling it's due to that Unknown SSID stuff or that Security app.. Could it be?..
Jeff1976A1 said:
Hi.. Thanks for your reply.. i did that already before, but still it doesn't work.. i use FolderSync, that currently in my old Android 7.0 device, does syncing when i click Sync from within the app, while i was totally offline [Data and Wifi] so it turned on the Wifi connection [Specific home network], and also on Scheduled i inserted the Allowed Networks SSID [Which BTW when i turn on WiFi manually and it does sync it with GDrive, it say on top 'Unknown SSID' for case it matters {Had the feeling that it very much does}], I also switced it on in Data and WiFI limit it does on that Security app, which i guess is kind of firewall, and BTW i remember like 5-6 years ago i had the Lenovo A8 "Golden Worrier" has that same kind of Security app built in with firewall and all that, but still manually at least, as i checked, it doesn't turn on the Wifi via FolderSync app.. Got a strong feeling it's due to that Unknown SSID stuff or that Security app.. Could it be?..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FolderSync doesn't turn Wifi On automatically, this feature seems to be missing in the app. But I've just tested with Tasker and it is able to turn Wifi On and Off, so it's not a problem of Android version.
For Allowed SSID feature in FolderSync you must enable permanent location access.
Btw. I see no point in turning Wifi Off at any point, it uses so little power that there is next to none benefit in doing it. If you insist on some kind of automation, use Tasker in a fully controlled manner.
_mysiak_ said:
FolderSync doesn't turn Wifi On automatically, this feature seems to be missing in the app. But I've just tested with Tasker and it is able to turn Wifi On and Off, so it's not a problem of Android version.
For Allowed SSID feature in FolderSync you must enable permanent location access.
Btw. I see no point in turning Wifi Off at any point, it uses so little power that there is next to none benefit in doing it. If you insist on some kind of automation, use Tasker in a fully controlled manner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well your first argument is actually not tru, FolderSync does turns on Wifi automatically as i do for like 4 years with my older Galaxy s6 [Great dev BTW, Samsung's first 64 bit device i thinks] running now Android 7.0, and also the other day and im sure if ill try this right now it will actually turning on WiFi from off mode and also automatically closed it when done syncing, but no matter what i did it doesn't doing it on the XM10T5G, and it both updated to the latest FolderSync version the one with those tiles.. so it must be something with the operation system.. again it's some kind of Andro/MIUI OS so it has to do with one of them..
About the SSID, i did confirmed the location access all the time [not just when it's used] on the Security app, is there any other place that i should enable location or any other settings that may be relating to this?..
And really? you don't see the point in using Wifi? It's much more faster, secure, and reliable than data.. of course i don't care if it'll be 4G or 5G even better to sync, but obviously not any connection, but thanks for the Tasker Tip, i'll try that.. i've heared that somewhere i think from the gut of FolderSync..
And BTW, the call recording is legal in my country, so i did also many years but here only after trying several apps i found Cube ACR working good.. And also, some apps ask you if you confirm that Call recording is legal in your country but of course if you flash custom or different ROM, the system obviously can never tell..
Peace..
Jeff1976A1 said:
Well your first argument is actually not tru, FolderSync does turns on Wifi automatically as i do for like 4 years with my older Galaxy s6 [Great dev BTW, Samsung's first 64 bit device i thinks] running now Android 7.0, and also the other day and im sure if ill try this right now it will actually turning on WiFi from off mode and also automatically closed it when done syncing, but no matter what i did it doesn't doing it on the XM10T5G, and it both updated to the latest FolderSync version the one with those tiles.. so it must be something with the operation system.. again it's some kind of Andro/MIUI OS so it has to do with one of them..
About the SSID, i did confirmed the location access all the time [not just when it's used] on the Security app, is there any other place that i should enable location or any other settings that may be relating to this?..
And really? you don't see the point in using Wifi? It's much more faster, secure, and reliable than data.. of course i don't care if it'll be 4G or 5G even better to sync, but obviously not any connection, but thanks for the Tasker Tip, i'll try that.. i've heared that somewhere i think from the gut of FolderSync..
And BTW, the call recording is legal in my country, so i did also many years but here only after trying several apps i found Cube ACR working good.. And also, some apps ask you if you confirm that Call recording is legal in your country but of course if you flash custom or different ROM, the system obviously can never tell..
Peace..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see no point in turning wifi OFF.
Anyway, good luck finding/building your perfect Andoid 7 ROM.
_mysiak_ said:
I see no point in turning wifi OFF.
Anyway, good luck finding/building your perfect Andoid 7 ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again security and energy reasons.. Think about it..
Anyway i barely know how to flash ROM, so i'm very far from building a custom one.. But at start you said it's impossible to install / flash an older Android ROM to it [XM10T5G], so you say it's possible with custom ROM?
Jeff1976A1 said:
Again security and energy reasons.. Think about it..
Anyway i barely know how to flash ROM, so i'm very far from building a custom one.. But at start you said it's impossible to install / flash an older Android ROM to it [XM10T5G], so you say it's possible with custom ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again - not possible, such ROM doesn't exist.
I have a few questions regarding the new update.
1. Does region matter?
I have a RETEU device, is there a reason why flashing the RETBR wouldnt work?
2. Is it worh it? Are the features (mostly design and privacy interest me) Android 12 promised there and functional?
3. How is the battery life on it?
I would love if you guys could help me out since i am very exited about the new features!
Also is there a Third Party Android 12 ROM, or GSI or something, any of you guys have used and recommend that is somewhat functional as a daily driver?
Thanks and much love!
No harm in waiting... 12 is a mess across all devices.
I bailed with Adroid 10 and don't regret spurning 11 and up one bit. CPU cycle sucking scoped storage became mandatory with 11; 12 is likely worse. I would research this first.
KAN7A said:
I have a few questions regarding the new update.
1. Does region matter?
I have a RETEU device, is there a reason why flashing the RETBR wouldnt work?
2. Is it worh it? Are the features (mostly design and privacy interest me) Android 12 promised there and functional?
3. How is the battery life on it?
I would love if you guys could help me out since i am very exited about the new features!
Also is there a Third Party Android 12 ROM, or GSI or something, any of you guys have used and recommend that is somewhat functional as a daily driver?
Thanks and much love!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
short feedback from my experiences since upgrading to Android 12 in Germany.
1. Sorry, no idea.
2. Privacy features seam to work fine. Only problems I experienced are the following.
- You can now deny new / formerly hidden permissions. Denying them can brick apps. (example denying the "alarm / reminder" permission bricks the app "Notebook" until permission is granted again).
- All quick access setting have to be sorted again.
- new "deny all microphone access" in quick setting does what it should. For me it did it's job too literally. My interpretation "deny all apps except calling" but all MEANS all (yeah I know obvious... duh....).
3. Haven't performed any special comparisons but it feels same or maybe even a bit longer.
blackhawk said:
No harm in waiting... 12 is a mess across all devices.
I bailed with Adroid 10 and don't regret spurning 11 and up one bit. CPU cycle sucking scoped storage became mandatory with 11; 12 is likely worse. I would research this first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
to be honest, I have no idea what you mean. I guess I'm too much of a noob regarding Android internals. I mean no offense. Would you be so kind to briefly explain this? Thanks
--------
Some of my own experiences / questions.
Background:
I'm using my device with the work profile to keep annoying apps at bay.
Using "Shelter" app.
Using "Aurora Store" in work profile to install apps.
No factory reset was performed since upgrade.
Not rooted.
Problem:
Since the upgrade to Android 12 I'm experiencing an quite annoying bug. Using the "phone" app (private profile) I have no sound and microphone sometimes. So I can't hear and can't be heard. If I'm activating the work profile and use the "phone" app (again from private profile) I suddenly have sound and microphone.
Fix / workaround:
Another way to "fix" this problem is to reboot the phone. After reboot it works for an undefined time. I haven't tested if the problem starts after using work profile and deactivating it again. I'm testing it and I'll try to not forget to post an update for others.
FYI:
BTW if sound from other apps does work, wasn't tested until now. If you need to call you normally have no time for testing, so reboot it was for me.
Tested solutions:
Tested some general "solutions" from REDDIT & Co.
Editing settings in "Sound & vibration" -> "Audio effects": recommended "activate Dolby ATMOS". Phone doesn't have that so i resetted the setting (after tapping "Audio effects" tap "Settings" at the bottom then tap 3 dot menu and tap "Reset")
- DIDN'T WORK
Suggestion it's a carrier problem
Set network selection to manual and select your corresponding network.
- DIDN'T WORK
Deactivate or activate "Wi-Fi calling". (mine was activated so I deactivated it)
- DIDN'T WORK
Enable or disable "VoLTE". (mine was activated so I deactivated it)
- DIDN'T WORK
My questions:
Is anyone else experiencing this problem?
Has anyone found a solution?
The_Naudiz said:
Hey,
short feedback from my experiences since upgrading to Android 12 in Germany.
1. Sorry, no idea.
2. Privacy features seam to work fine. Only problems I experienced are the following.
- You can now deny new / formerly hidden permissions. Denying them can brick apps. (example denying the "alarm / reminder" permission bricks the app "Notebook" until permission is granted again).
- All quick access setting have to be sorted again.
- new "deny all microphone access" in quick setting does what it should. For me it did it's job too literally. My interpretation "deny all apps except calling" but all MEANS all (yeah I know obvious... duh....).
3. Haven't performed any special comparisons but it feels same or maybe even a bit longer.
Hi,
to be honest, I have no idea what you mean. I guess I'm too much of a noob regarding Android internals. I mean no offense. Would you be so kind to briefly explain this? Thanks
--------
Some of my own experiences / questions.
Background:
I'm using my device with the work profile to keep annoying apps at bay.
Using "Shelter" app.
Using "Aurora Store" in work profile to install apps.
No factory reset was performed since upgrade.
Not rooted.
Problem:
Since the upgrade to Android 12 I'm experiencing an quite annoying bug. Using the "phone" app (private profile) I have no sound and microphone sometimes. So I can't hear and can't be heard. If I'm activating the work profile and use the "phone" app (again from private profile) I suddenly have sound and microphone.
Fix / workaround:
Another way to "fix" this problem is to reboot the phone. After reboot it works for an undefined time. I haven't tested if the problem starts after using work profile and deactivating it again. I'm testing it and I'll try to not forget to post an update for others.
FYI:
BTW if sound from other apps does work, wasn't tested until now. If you need to call you normally have no time for testing, so reboot it was for me.
Tested solutions:
Tested some general "solutions" from REDDIT & Co.
Editing settings in "Sound & vibration" -> "Audio effects": recommended "activate Dolby ATMOS". Phone doesn't have that so i resetted the setting (after tapping "Audio effects" tap "Settings" at the bottom then tap 3 dot menu and tap "Reset")
- DIDN'T WORK
Suggestion it's a carrier problem
Set network selection to manual and select your corresponding network.
- DIDN'T WORK
Deactivate or activate "Wi-Fi calling". (mine was activated so I deactivated it)
- DIDN'T WORK
Enable or disable "VoLTE". (mine was activated so I deactivated it)
- DIDN'T WORK
My questions:
Is anyone else experiencing this problem?
Has anyone found a solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great formating and great feedback! Thanks so much!
The first point seems irrelevant anyways since the update is now for RETEU too.
I might try to upgrade tonight but i might wait a bit since i try and degoogle my phone as much as i can so i will probably soft brick it once or twice.
If I run into any of the issues you have i will come back with more feedback!
Regarding what BlackHawk said, from my understanding somehow the new scoped storage feature ( that allows apps to have access to only selected files and folders instead of device wide storage access) somehow messes with the CPU.
He most likely knows more but thats just my basic understanding and interpretation of what he said.
Thanks again and have a great day!
So, I had the Pixel Watch working just fantastic on the Pixel 6. Now I've upgraded to the Pixel 7 Pro. I read somewhere that I had to reset the watch for it to work, and yes, that was necessary, so I did it.
Now I'm in the process of completely setting up the watch again and I'm almost done.
The one thing that is still insoluble for me is the "Maps" app. When it was set up in the Pixel 6, my home address was showing on the watch screen, on the top where it says "Home" - now, with the Pixel 7 Pro, it does not. I have set everything else exactly the same way as before - but this one setting eludes me. I can't find a way to do this in the phone app, or in the watch - somehow, I think is was kinda automatic with the Pixel 6, but I don't really remember (old guy here - 73, but I think my memory is pretty good...I could be wrong).
Everything is updated to hell and back and somehow I'm missing something.
Can anyone help?
BTW, I'm loving the 7 Pro.
Thanks for any help.
Well, I kinda figured it out - I had to use the Maps app on the phone and that updated itself, and then updated the watch. The whole Pixel 7 Pro setup was a tiny bit weird. For example, I could see the watch was connected to Bluetooth, but setting up some parts of the watch would keep saying "can't connect".
A very odd experience.
All is OK now.
Oh, you got it working??? It is a known issue that for some users (me!) the watch will not update or populate home/work (I'm retired so work is HOME ). I have the 6 Pro. I just got it in the Spring so not yet ready to jump aboard another upgrade. I might try to update Maps on the phone but I expect it will not work.
Interesting. I had the Pixel 6 (non pro) when I first got the watch and it worked right the very first time.
This time I used a brand new Pixel 7 Pro, fresh out of the box, and reset the watch. I realized that I had not yet used Google Maps on the phone, so I did and the watch updated at that time.
Like you, I'm retired and needed "home".
Pixel 7 Pro + Pixel watch: Not working for me.
Everything is updated, work + home is defined on the phone, watch refuses to accept any of it.
respinK said:
Pixel 7 Pro + Pixel watch: Not working for me.
Everything is updated, work + home is defined on the phone, watch refuses to accept any of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Updated, rolled back, rebooted. NOTHING has worked.
I wish I could help you guys, but all I did is set "Home" on Google Maps on my phone.
Maybe deleting the Maps from the watch and starting again? I know fred2546 rebooted and all, but honestly all I did is define "Home" in the phone. Probably doesn't mean much but I have the Pixel 7 Pro.
Pixel 6 Pro.
Now I had defined home but I don''t work so did not define my home a second time. But I will also admit that I do not allow Google to track me in my everyday pursuits and movements. I do not have location history enabled or whatever that setting might be.
I sort of agree about not wanting to be tracked, but some time ago I decided I didn't really care. I'm old (73), retired, and live with my cat - they can send me ads, notifications, and whatnot until the end of time - I will never buy anything that's emailed, or a phone call, to me as an offer, and I block a whole lot of calls - I love playing with them.
But, fred2546, did you get it to work?
LordP666 said:
I sort of agree about not wanting to be tracked, but some time ago I decided I didn't really care. I'm old (73), retired, and live with my cat - they can send me ads, notifications, and whatnot until the end of time - I will never buy anything that's emailed, or a phone call, to me as an offer, and I block a whole lot of calls - I love playing with them.
But, fred2546, did you get it to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It did not work. Yesterday I was on my way out to a bike ride and on the watch did a search. First, it opened with Home/Work which remain undefined. But I put a local sushi joint in the search. It came up with the name and then suggested I see the PHONE. Since I needed to meet the bike riding friend I did not follow up.
Obviously, Google knows quite a bit anyway. I use Google Fi as my carrier and I did use Google Maps while touring around Iceland in Sept.
And I've got a few years on you but no cat!
Get a cat from a shelter and you will be handsomely rewarded by its lunatic personality. I love my Mr. PoopiHead, he's very affectionate and a complete loon.
I am not a cat person. I do on occasion feed friends' cats - more than enough for me!