Develop Bugs

[Q] So how do we unlock now..?

I have read at least 50 disinformation type posts on this site about unlocking a branded Xperia (Verizion in my case) they all seem to be wanting me to pay money to Alejandrissimo or Jinx13 but when I click on those hyperlinks they are all "Invalid post" so what am I supposed to be finding here that I missed?
There is not any topic stickied that is describing how to unlock the thing & every article / forum post / google search I find is another disinformation post with no real evidence.
I know how to flash ROM's onto android using recovery loaders.
I know how to access the program menu's in various phones
I know what the CDMA spectrum is.
I'm not some newb making this post because I need my hand held step by step to do something.
I just need some real information
If anyone has a link to a real method or anything helpful please let me know
I have researched (and watched the welcome video) on this site to find an answer and I haven't found anything.
Thanks
-Jon

Ok, so the links to the unlockers in my thread are broken. Does it mean that my post has "disinformation"? Is there any other way to unlock the bootloaders? No to both, as far as I know. I'll try to fix the links, but seriously...
About why my post (or any other helpful resource about the matter) is not stickied, I don't know nor do I care. No one reads stickies anyway.

Logseman said:
Ok, so the links to the unlockers in my thread are broken. Does it mean that my post has "disinformation"? Is there any other way to unlock the bootloaders? No to both, as far as I know. I'll try to fix the links, but seriously...
About why my post (or any other helpful resource about the matter) is not stickied, I don't know nor do I care. No one reads stickies anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By disinformation it would seem that some exists.
droid-life reported 4 months ago ashergray(XDA) found a method to unlock the bootloader.
Why none of the methods being released or talked about is beyond me.
Also I'm confused why the method is being charged for by others but not officially it would seem.
You have to pm users on the forum to arrange a sale. Why does a topic not exist for this purpose?
All this confusing data is leading to a big headache right now. I was hoping for answers and all I find is rabbit holes on this elusive topic.
Thanks for the reply tho.

Ashergray's method was dried out (it exploited a flaw, and the flaw was fixed).I mention ashergray in the thread, as it is only fitting, in the thanks part.
About why they ask to be contacted privately or publicly, it's their business... Is there something that should be cleared in my thread, aside of the links of course? I mean, I can try to rebuild the first post if necessary.

Logseman said:
Ashergray's method was dried out (it exploited a flaw, and the flaw was fixed).I mention ashergray in the thread, as it is only fitting, in the thanks part.
About why they ask to be contacted privately or publicly, it's their business... Is there something that should be cleared in my thread, aside of the links of course? I mean, I can try to rebuild the first post if necessary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could start off by explaining why in 7 months time the boot loader is sill locked.
Or why your links to the unlock threads are dead. Both of them.
Or how I'm supposed to unlock the bootloader if these users can't provide that service any longer.
Also you could mention why Sony. being developer and hacker supportive hasn't assisted in taking Verizon's clutch off the bootloader
It is rather annoying coming from Droid x where the device is locked down with a fuse but yet a wide array of custom roms exist that bypass the locked bootloader and then coming to this phone that appears to have not progressed beyond hello world.
So you tell me where to look for an unlock because I'm fresh out of searches and ideas.
Thanks
-jon
P.s I also wonder if the exploit you speak of was patched. Why not just flash to an earlier rom with the problem still existing.

You could start off by explaining why in 7 months time the boot loader is sill locked.
Or why your links to the unlock threads are dead. Both of them.
Or how I'm supposed to unlock the bootloader if these users can't provide that service any longer.
Also you could mention why Sony. being developer and hacker supportive hasn't assisted in taking Verizon's clutch off the bootloader
It is rather annoying coming from Droid x where the device is locked down with a fuse but yet a wide array of custom roms exist that bypass the locked bootloader and then coming to this phone that appears to have not progressed beyond hello world.
So you tell me where to look for an unlock because I'm fresh out of searches and ideas.
Thanks
-jon
P.s I also wonder if the exploit you speak of was patched. Why not just flash to an earlier rom with the problem still existing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) I kindly would like to ask how I'm supposed to know why the bootloader is locked. It's a corporate decision by carriers and Sony Ericsson in which neither I, nor anyone in this forum, have any input. If I had any hard data about why Sony Ericsson doesn't cooperate in the issue, I'd say it. However, I just don't know why, and I prefer not to speak of what I don't know.
2) It seems that both threads have been wiped out of existence (which I didn't know until right now), and I see that a new site appears in Alejandrissimo's signature (http://unlock-bootloader.com/) where he's promoting his services externally (not only the unlocking, but the TA fix and hard-brick fix too). I'd guess that somebody complained about these people making business inside XDA, but then I question the idea of wiping their threads like... months afterwards. At any rate, don't worry, you still can unlock your bootloader with Alejandrissimo's help.
3) On Droid X the bootloader was bypassed because Motorola wouldn't ever unlock it. The FreeXperia team, who had bypassed older Xperia models' bootloaders, decided against it as they saw the new policy of Sony Ericsson's (unlocking phones which didn't come with carrier subsidy). I could unlock my bootloader from day one, and I'm happy to say I've helped devs here therethrough.
4) The exploit was related to the website where you could unlock R800i models. In order to unlock your bootloader, you need to give your IMEI number (an ID code for GSM phones). Ashergray could convert MEID numbers used by CDMA phones into bogus IMEI numbers, which could be used to unlock the devices. Sony Ericsson patched the website so ashergray's trick didn't work anymore.
5) My thread is a "how-to", do you really expect me to add points 1), 3) and 4) to it?
4 months is an eternity for this kind of business. Exploits get fixed (look at the PSXperia case), policies change (like HTC's and Motorola's) and threads are wiped on short or no notice.

Logseman said:
1) I kindly would like to ask how I'm supposed to know why the bootloader is locked. It's a corporate decision by carriers and Sony Ericsson in which neither I, nor anyone in this forum, have any input. If I had any hard data about why Sony Ericsson doesn't cooperate in the issue, I'd say it. However, I just don't know why, and I prefer not to speak of what I don't know.
2) It seems that both threads have been wiped out of existence (which I didn't know until right now), and I see that a new site appears in Alejandrissimo's signature where he's promoting his services externally (not only the unlocking, but the TA fix and hard-brick fix too). I'd guess that somebody complained about these people making business inside XDA, but then I question the idea of wiping their threads like... months afterwards. At any rate, don't worry, you still can unlock your bootloader with Alejandrissimo's help.
3) On Droid X the bootloader was bypassed because Motorola wouldn't ever unlock it. The FreeXperia team, who had bypassed older Xperia models' bootloaders, decided against it as they saw the new policy of Sony Ericsson's (unlocking phones which didn't come with carrier subsidy). I could unlock my bootloader from day one, and I'm happy to say I've helped devs here therethrough.
4) The exploit was related to the website where you could unlock R800i models. In order to unlock your bootloader, you need to give your IMEI number (an ID code for GSM phones). Ashergray could convert MEID numbers used by CDMA phones into bogus IMEI numbers, which could be used to unlock the devices. Sony Ericsson patched the website so ashergray's trick didn't work anymore.
5) My thread is a "how-to", do you really expect me to add points 1), 3) and 4) to it?
4 months is an eternity for this kind of business. Exploits get fixed (look at the PSXperia case), policies change (like HTC's and Motorola's) and threads are wiped on short or no notice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've sent you some PM's to remove spam / offtopic / rant from the board.
Thanks for the information tho. I wasn't aware of any of that.
It seems that the name FreeXperia is a bit of a misnomer because my Xperia is going to be locked unless I pay 25$ apparently and thats sad when I only paid 90$ for the phone used. Could have been cheaper if I had bought bad ESN(I probably should have tried)
Imagine my surprise coming from Droid X to this phone where droid X has heaps of ROM's available to everyone for free and now I have to worry about getting this device to function at the same level as my old DX with Gummy JAR rom.
I Just wish the spirit of opensource would be in this sub-forum so we could have some real development in terms of flavors of roms and such.
Do you think their is any reason the developers are all charging fee's to show the method through team viewer? I thought it could have something to do with leaking the method and then it could be fixed in later updates. but then again maybe I'm wrong.

It's not that they "show" you the method. They "perform" the method for you. I'm not sure if you can do it with Omnius as well... but if you can, it will be marginally cheaper (unlocking credits are needed anyway!) and you have no assistance.
And about the old "why charge for open source software" dead horse, which is pointless here because there is no open source software involved (the bootloaders are closed-source, SETool is closed-source, and so on):
The Free Software Foundation said:
“Free software” does not mean “noncommercial.”
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Additionally, as I said before, the FreeXperia team has this policy: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15253598&postcount=217

Logseman said:
It's not that they "show" you the method. They "perform" the method for you. I'm not sure if you can do it with Omnius as well... but if you can, it will be marginally cheaper (unlocking credits are needed anyway!) and you have no assistance.
And about the old "why charge for open source software" dead horse, which is pointless here because there is no open source software involved (the bootloaders are closed-source, SETool is closed-source, and so on):
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right on. I'm following you thus far.
Question tho. I read that sony was the best company for hackers and developers right now because they actually are allowing people to get access to the bootloaders. If all this is true why are they not assisting in the unlock of branded phones?
I might be wrong on this but aren't most peoples phones branded anyways through buying a contract?
and that leads to why FreeXperia didn't realize that and find an exploit / workaround for the bootloader being locked on branded phones.
If Setool and Omnius (or whatever it's called) are able to unlock the phones then why was sony. the engineer of the device not able to perform this same task?
Also I thought locking the bootloader violates the FCC regulation. open access provision so why didn't Sony assist the FCC to bypass Verizon.

God another douche, you pay 90 bucks for your phone and you think this community owes you something. Go complain to sony.

What do you mean, Sony can't do it? Of course they can. But they have chosen to do so only with R800i non-branded phones. Considering that they locked bootloaders without any official way to unlock them on previous Xperia models, that's a big step forward. That's as far as Sony Ericsson can go: on branded phones, they must obey what the carriers want.
Please do read Bin4ry's statement:
Now think about, if we would try to hack and bypass devices what will happen with future phones? In our opinion future phones will be locked down again like X10 was, eventually even more.
So why don't use the possibilties which are give by SE? Stick to their rules and hope for more support and maybe even nicer implementations (for example a accessable bootpartition from recovery).
We like SE devices, so we don't want to hijack this (i call it) "test" which SE drives with us?
I can fully understand that U.S. users which cannot unlock are quite unhappy with the actual situation, but sorry we will NOT work on anything else than development for officially unlocked devices! That was a team decision.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Note that this is costing them a lot of flak because they don't use R800x models for testing purposes either, and CM7 has many issues in R800x phones.
Also I thought locking the bootloader violates the FCC regulation. open access provision so why didn't Sony assist the FCC to bypass Verizon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If this is correct, sue. I'm sure you'll have backing from everyone here.

Logseman said:
What do you mean, Sony can't do it? Of course they can. But they have chosen to do so only with R800i non-branded phones. Considering that they locked bootloaders without any official way to unlock them on previous Xperia models, that's a big step forward. That's as far as Sony Ericsson can go: on branded phones, they must obey what the carriers want.
Please do read Bin4ry's statement:
Note that this is costing them a lot of flak because they don't use R800x models for testing purposes either, and CM7 has many issues in R800x phones.
If this is correct, sue. I'm sure you'll have backing from everyone here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So what your saying is that CM7 is not even worth flashing even if i was unlocked?
I would be better off to root / Titanium backup / delete bloat and be done with it?
Its a shame that they are forcing most people to stay stock SE/Verizon ROM because they are scared of the repercussions of angering SE. I think even if they stay inert that SE will eventually add more DRM to "protect" the devices.
About the lawsuit. I don't believe I'm the first person to mention it. Verizon has already been sued for 25 Million i believe on another occasion and it's been said by others that they are breaking FCC Regulation. The problem would be to get something done about it and I wouldn't have those resources.

The reason for the charge is very simple. In order to unlock our version of the Play (R800x), it takes a hardware dongle and the purchase of credits to allow the software to work. All you are paying Al or whoever for is the cost of the number of credits necessary to unlock your phone. They aren't getting rich off anyone.
If there was another way to unlock the Verizon version, someone would have posted it by now. There isn't, and that's just how it is.
There is a good spirit of free info sharing on this site. You might have to do a little digging but it's there. For example, how to unroot the R800x without having an unlocked bootloader. Takes about a whole 5 minutes to do.
EDIT: I do have to say that after digging around a bit more, I don't blame you for being perturbed. While no one owes us Verizon Play owners anything, there could have been something posted and sticky to make it a bit easier to find out what is going on. And perhaps have had a bit less condescension toward us as well. Must be that UK mentality toward us Colonists!

Re: Droid X vs XPlay development -
Different phones from different brands on different carriers require entirely new learning to develop for, not to mention owning a device to work on. I'd say there's probably only about a dozen people worldwide putting in serious work on this phone.
That's not a lot. If you want more options, you may have to do it yourself.

Giving 5 Nokia Lumia 800 to homebrew devs who need them!

Hi folks,
I'm giving away 5 WP7 Nokia Lumia 800 carrier unlocked devices to homebrew devs who need them.
My goal is to give this hardware out to devs who will use it for either:
Port existing homebrew apps/features/hacks to Nokia Lumia 800.
Create new Nokia Lumia specific homebrew apps/features/hacks.
Anything else that you can convince me makes sense.
"I want one of these free phones, what's next?"
Respond to this forum post with the following information:
What will you use the Nokia Lumia 800 for? The more specific the better. (see the aforementioned list of goals)
Up to 3 links (+ explanation) showing that you have the previous experience required to meet your development goal.
Anything else you think will help you get one of the Lumia 800 phones.
More details and fine print
I'm the one giving away phones, not any previous or future employer of mine.
I'll choose who gets the phones and I'll do so at my own discretion. I'm under no obligation to anyone about anything. It's mine, my own, my precious.
Twitter proof this is a Justin Angel Genuine Offer™ @ https://twitter.com/#!/JustinAngel/status/146662884024385537
Picture of the fabled phones @ http://twitpic.com/7r1731 (The 6th phone in this picture is now my personal phone and it's awesome)
Recipients of this give-away will be announced on this forum, and via private message asking for contact details.
The giveaway ends when submissions have tapered off. At minimum that'll be on 23/12/2011.
If giving you a 700$ phone isn't OK under your local laws (e.g. government employees) please don't submit your name.
This giveaway is available world-wide. However if you live outside the USA, I'll need to figure out how to ship the phones to you, so it'll take a little longer.
My definition of homebrew is "stuff that can't be shipped on the WP7 Marketlpace within the limitations of the current mango application framework".
If you can't comment on this forum due to the 10+ minimum posts, you can email your details to me directly at [email protected].
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Nice!
Challange Accepted!

JustinAngel said:
I'm the one giving away phones, not any previous or future employer of mine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So this is your way of saying that your current employer, Nokia, is paying for this? Afterall, it is kind of suspicious that you visit their HQ and suddenly possess all those Lumia's ;-)
Cool thing, though!

1. Research of undocumented OS capabilities - I know it's quite general, but that's what I do a lot anyway. Examples include:
attempts to access more phone capabilities through AT commands
try to access the app:// URI scheme from third-party apps and the browser
telnet into the phone
research OS vulnerabilities
access external hardware (read: microcontrollers) from the phone, directly or through a client-server link
2.
How to access blacklisted apps in the Windows Phone emulator ROM (with the locked BIN image) - how to access locked applications in the emulator even though those are not listed in any menus.
How to trick Windows Phone OS into believing your app is the YouTube app - how to hook to the OS and handle YouTube requests with your own app.
Sending text messages from a Dell Venue Pro. Directly from the app and without SmsComposerTask. - self-expalantory. Using AT commands to send SMS messages from a Dell Venue Pro without an explicit prompt. Using native capabilities (interop).
Reading the registry on a Dell Venue Pro. No Dell COM DLL, no ID_CAP_INTEROPSERVICES
3. More work I wrote about available here and here.

Er, why'd you post this in the Windows 8 section instead of the WP7 one?

Arktronic said:
Er, why'd you post this in the Windows 8 section instead of the WP7 one?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Snap, good point. Computers are hard. If a mod can move this to WP7 Dev & Hacking that'll be awesome.

I should probably enter this giveaway. I haven't had a Nokia device in quite a while (see my sig).
1. I'll use it to test my various hacks, especially to compare my current 1st gen's performance to the Nokia.
2a. Don't want to link publicly yet, but I DM'd you about it yesterday. Performance with that project will be a very important factor.
2b. Hacks such as RingRing7 (which I've been meaning to update for Mango), a project like that is still useful for creating your own ringtones instead of just DLing others' stuff
2c. Just as as reference for stuff I've done, ArkSwitch was a pretty damn popular WM6x task manager
3. As a leader/cofounder of my local ALT.NET group, I'm always be showing off my cool gadgets - publicity
Thanks!

JustinAngel said:
Snap, good point. Computers are hard. If a mod can move this to WP7 Dev & Hacking that'll be awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I reported the thread for moving, should be done as soon as a mod sees it.

1. I've been at this stuff for a while. Here's my first thread on XDA... an app I wrote for WinMo 5 over 5yrs ago. Wow... can't believe it's been that long. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=263051
2. I've got experience with interop on WP7 (although I haven't been able to bust into the Mango stuff yet) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=914055
3. I like to share what I've learned. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1147933
4. I've been working on WP7 since before WP7 was even out and sharing my findings http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=7190440#post7190440
Ok so that's four links but you said anything else that would help us get one . I could go on but hopefully that's enough.
I'm currently working on getting com interop unlock working on the HTC Mango devices. Would love to get it working on everything. From there, who knows what's possible? Depends on what Nokia put in their drivers. An actual flashlight app will likely be first on the list since it's easy and really handy.
Oh and one of those should go to heathcliff. Pretty sure he could get some good use out of one.

JustinAngel said:
Hi folks,
I'm giving away 5 WP7 Nokia Lumia 800 carrier unlocked devices to homebrew devs who need them.
My goal is to give this hardware out to devs who will use it for either:
Port existing homebrew apps/features/hacks to Nokia Lumia 800.
Create new Nokia Lumia specific homebrew apps/features/hacks.
Anything else that you can convince me makes sense.
"I want one of these free phones, what's next?"
Respond to this forum post with the following information:
What will you use the Nokia Lumia 800 for? (see the aforementioned list of goals)
Up to 3 links (+ explanation) showing that you have the previous experience required to meet your development goal.
Anything else you think will help you get one of the Lumia 800 phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, nice initiative! Here's my two cents.
1) I would use the Nokia Lumia 800 for further development with WindowsPhoneHacker, not only including development of our current homebrew applications, but serious research on native code, interop, and exploits (we've got some processes in queue, trust me)
2) Some of my work (I'm sure most of you are well aware of what I've been up to): http://windowsphonehacker.com/articles/themes_for_windows_phone_first_release-12-12-11
http://windowsphonehacker.com/articles/folders_for_windows_phone_mango_first_release-10-27-11
http://windowsphonehacker.com/articles/exclusive_instant_resuming_on_windows_phone_7_hack-03-19-11 (old gold)
and most everything else on the WPH site.
We're currently in the process of doing something I can't really talk about, but it involves interop, and freedom, and the suffix "break", and in order to expand this research to all OEMs and users, we would need to add Nokia to that portfolio
3) I believe in freedom. I understand Microsoft's security and limitations, and it makes sense for the end user. But I believe all WP users should have a choice on what they want for their device, whether it be a homebrew application, or a method of unlocking the phone to it's full potential. That's the goal in mind, and I ensure you I'll have some seriously neat stuff to share in the near future, and with a Nokia device, we'll have one more OEM we can get it ported to.
Edit: Thought I'd throw this in there: I'm a student, and thus my ability to purchase new phones is fairly limited. Everything I do is volunteer and free, for the good of the community.
Edit 2:
Here's the project I mentioned but wasn't ready to disclose yet. I'm working on Nokia specifically, because it seems like the easiest to crack open if I can get around the whitelist. My major goal, if I get a device, would be to get this working, along with interop, and then see about registry/file system access. It's a start
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=20616855#post20616855

My Entry for the Contest to win a Lumia 800
What I will use the Nokia Lumia 800 for:
I am a current Windows Phone Developer. I would use the Lumia 800 to further my knowledge of Windows Phone Developement. I was inspired by your Metro Pandora to try and see what hacks/homebrew possibilities are out there. I am currently working on one, and would love the opportunity to realease it on the homebrew front just for the Lumia 800, Beauty on Beauty!!! I feel that any app, tile, image that touches the Lumia should match the beauty of the lumia's style and personality.
Links to prove my worthyness:
Link to my Windows Phone Apps: Windows Phone Market
Link to My Website: http://www.b-techlabs.com/
Extra That I think will help:
I think the Lumia 800 is the most beautiful phone ever created!!! (Wish Verizon would get it!) I always stive to make my apps not only functional, and as bug free as possible at launch, but beautiful And just a stab at convincing you that I need one, I need one!!!!!! Since the first videos of them I have dreamt of them, I have tweeted of them, I have drove my wife nuts about them (she can verify), my favorite online statement for it is:
if( (verizon + lumia800 + 4GLTE) == "soon") {string me = "Driving my wife completely nuts for one";}
Windows Phone is AWESOME!!!!!! add in a Dash of Nokia with a few cups of Style and you get the NOKIA LUMIA 800!!!!!!
----------------------------------------------------------------
Good Luck to all!! These Phones are beautiful!

If possible can we nominate a few people
I think fiinix, jaxtbot, heathcliff, cotulla come to the top of my head re: developers who may need the lumias for the community as a whole.
Do the chevron guys have it too?
edit

I would use it to port my GPS logger and navigation software from Windows Mobile to Windows Phone. My software was never successful on Windows Mobile mostly because of no easy way of selling it. Windows Phone and the marketplace has opened up new possibilities which would be nice to try.
1. http://download.heime.org/GPSlogger_Smartphone_setup.CAB The Windows Mobile application
2. http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1036&message=34138345 A post in the dpreview forum. My application is most suited for photo tagging and is made to be fast and easy to use without the need to mess around in a lot of menus only for starting the logger.
3. http://no.linkedin.com/pub/stig-vidar-hovland/42/598/751 My linkedin profile.
My application for Windows Mobile was using very little power and was able to run for hours on the phones battery. I haven't found any application on the Windows Phone Marketplace which has a strong focus on low power and long running times and be easy to use. A Lumia 800 would make it possible to try to make a long running gps logger for Windows Phone.

I would also recommend Heathcliff74 to the list of possible candidates. So far the list seems very much complete

Hi Justin,
Really cool of you to do this. I appreciate all efforts to boost homebrew-development! And I won't hide that I totally want one of those NOKIA's
Even though I don't own a NOKIA Lumia, I already started hacking it (link 1 and link 2). The first thing that is required for most (not all) other hacks to work is Interop Unlock. I would love to continue that work with a hands-on NOKIA device. I also created WP7 Root Tools and I'm working hard to support other brands too. It would be great to add NOKIA to the supported devices. All my apps and hacks have always been free of charge.
I've always been impressed by the new security mechanisms that Microsoft has implemented for WP7. Their policy engine is a great challenge for me. Although I understand their angle on security for most users, I'm interested in unlocking the devices to their full potential for tweakers like us on XDA. I've done quite some research already (link 1, link2 and link 3). But my best is yet to come
Thanks!
Heathcliff74

I agree, Heathcliff74 & cotulla/DFT should be at the top of the list if you want Interop Unlock/HSPL/Custom ROMs plus Heathcliff's Root Tool. Oh, & xboxmod would be another suggestion as well as fiinix.

I totally agree with drkfngthdragnlrd.

1. mwang/Cotulla/DFT - for their XSPL, XAPinstall, etc.
2. Heathcliff74 - for their Interop-unlocking, WP Root Tools, etc.
3. zyxer_raffy - for having nothing and really want to have Nokia Lumia 800 - LOL!
4.
5.

drkfngthdragnlrd said:
I agree, Heathcliff74 & cotulla/DFT should be at the top of the list if you want Interop Unlock/HSPL/Custom ROMs plus Heathcliff's Root Tool. Oh, & xboxmod would be another suggestion as well as fiinix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This -^
Heathcliff74, cotulla, xboxmod, fiinix, and Jaxbot have my vote as they have by far done the most for wp7 homebrew.

1. Heathcliff74
2. Cotulla
3. fiinix
4. xboxmod
5. ....
I would left open the 5th slot because in my opinion there are some members I would give a lumia....
Sent from my OMNIA7 using XDA Windows Phone 7 App

Hacking WP7 - any REAL beginner guides?

Hi
I'm pretty sure this hasn't been covered off already - well - not to the level of detail I need anyway.
I came to the xda forums after a friend of mine suggested that there were hacks available.
It's clear that 'something' is available, but what I am not finding is:
A) A SIMPLE guide that shows us people totally new to phone 'hacking' how to do it, from start to finish, with minimal lingo and acronyms.
B) An clear and simple explanation on the different 'hacking' options available
C) The reason you would want to do it? From what I can see, the only benefit seems to be a few pointless homebrew apps that you can download - and for the risk involved...why would you chance it?
Don't get me wrong, tinkering in itself is the reason you would want to do it - it's fun - but I can't help thinking that the WP7 side of 'hacking' doesn't offer much reward.
Would really appreciate any advice/help/links with my questions.
Thanks

Did not know whether to bother answering or not but okay. First welcome to XDA, uhhh in easy laymens terms hacking is not for the inexperienced and it is not totally idiot proof so you should have some fair knowledge of the systems and what they do. Don't hack if you need a kindergarten book to explain it all out for ya simple as that. WP is closer too iOS than Android main point being it is the most secure as far as I personally care of the 3, and the system is just as smooth and fluid as iOS. No there are not alot of Homebrew available at the moment, but if you happen to have a phone able to be fully unlocked then you have the option to use many functions that were not available before.
Device specific is where you should such that search block is your best friend, nobody here is going to write a full guide to the whole forum section for every single new hack and crack that comes out. If you want to you are more than welcome.

Thanks pal
I'm ok with the concepts of hacking, just not specifically this OS.
I'm technically minded and do a lot of similar stuff elsewhere, but when it comes to the phone that I use daily, and comntracted for another 12 months with and have no experience with tinkering WP7 - Im slightly more nervous.
I guess my main issue was the d&h forum for WP7. Every sticky/thread is far too long and they all contain a lot of acryonyms that a new WP7 hacker wouldn't understand. So my forum instinct is to look for the sticky that says "start here - everything explained" - but there isn't one?!
It's almost like "where do people start if there is no starting point"?

As far as covering a good amount of info, this post is a good one:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1299134
Don't really think there is a way to avoid all the jargon though, if there is something that isn't explained well it should be simple to find information to fill in the gaps. The terms used are very specific to the environment, so anything returned in a search would probably be relevant.
The most common homebrew option is Interop Unlock, Samsung models of phone are the easiest to unlock. This allows you to use native code that has not been wrapped in a tidy c# class.
The benefit of all this is that your phone is a full fledged computer that by default is locked down like an appliance. Developing additional homebrew apps allow you to get further phone customization out of your device, and therefore the most value out of your purchase.

I for myself thought about unlocking my device considering the risks involve. but I weighed the consequences. Thus, I end up now, having a fully unlocked HTC 7 Mozart with a custom rom. I am happier with my device now, I can do BT transfers, explore the folders within my device, install more applications than the usual apps/games from the marketplace, and tweak my device. One more thing, when my device was still running on stock rom, battery life is shorter, now I have 1.5x the battery life.
MY CONCLUSION: unlock your device's potential
as for the guides, yes it is not really like spoon feeding, but contents of the guides/tutorials are somehow progressive. one can learn from them, so that on the next development, we can do the "hacking" easier since we understood how the process goes. This is why it is called development. Cheers!

before i can give you advice on what hack that you can use, what is the name your device that way there are more specific hacks that we can talk about.

Hi
Thanks for the helpful replies.
I have a HTC Trophy. I'm doing the SD card upgrade next week to start with, so I can finally put all my music on it, so thought i'd look at hacking it at the same time.
Cheers
Sent from my 7 Trophy using Board Express

look at the HTC part of this guide, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1271963

lovenokia said:
look at the HTC part of this guide, http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1271963
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like a good guide but how am I meant to know if I have a first or second gen phone....there's no definitive list?! And I can't remember what updates I have.
This is a nightmare - I'll give it a miss

check your processor, as far as i know, if your phone has 1.5GHz then it's a gen2, otherwise, it's just gen1

Let me at least give the "legitimate" talk about unlocking your phone:
For $99/year, sign up for a developers account with Microsoft (create.msdn.com). You can unlock up to 3 separate devices officially for app development. Then you can build and deploy all kinds of .xaps to your phone. To top it off, you can get the betas and early OS upgrades (had Mango almost 6 months before my friend got it from his vendor). Ultimately, you can even release your own apps to the marketplace for sale or for free.
sounds like, since this is a phone you use every day, this might be an investment worth considering. Its an easy and legitimate way for someone not too experienced with the phone's innards to get it unlocked and get exposed to how things work. Plus if you back up your phone vefore you unlock it, and something goes wrong, you haven't done anything thats voided a warranty. If the OS crashes, try returning to the "pre-unlocked" backup and bring it back to the store saying it crashed. They'll replace it. Nice deal, considering most Windows phones run around $500 to replace.
Now as for unlocking it via other means: maybe you dont want to sell apps. Maybe you dont really want to give microsoft a credit card for $100 every year. Maybe you want to just do more than a developer unlock will get you - like load a whole new aspect of the operating system. Or maybe you just dont want to pay to unlock your phone. Understandable, i suppose (though for MOST people, a developer unlock is more than sufficient). There are options, but they will require a lot of time and investigation (maybe even translation) to get it right, because the WP7 is new. The devices are many - its not like having a single hardware baseline to crack - like the iPhone. And to throw another monkey in the wrench, they did a full-fledged update to the OS not 6 months ago. So - no - not a a lot of "beginners" guides out there. Even for experienced people, an unofficial unlock is still a tricky feat. Take a look at the number of posts that have to do with phones randomly "re-locking" themsleves. Hell, I'm a legit developer and my phone "re-locked" itself last night. (turns out MS has a "lease" on deve unlocks that you need to physically update every year by un-registering and re-registering the device)
hope this was informative and helps.

I found exactly the same problem. Today I saw this post in the HTC Titan forum which helped me understand all the different unlocks that you hear mentioned on the web.
Hope this helped

MediaTek driver sourcecode (want custom ROMs? read this!)

Even though it was said that the Fairphone will be completely open, the sourcecode of the MediaTek chip (MT6589M) is still not available (update: that was true for the time of writing. Luckily as of now, sourcecode is available and a custom ROM is in the making, see Developtment and Original Development Subforums). The link to the linux sourcecode except for the MediaTek part is here:
joemier said:
Here's our next step in providing developer resources. Happy to present to XDA: Fairphone OS Linux kernel source code package. Please let us know issues, problems, questions!
We've put together this package with all our downloads of Fairphone OS and stock Android 4.2.2.
We're eager to see what you all can do with it. Thanks for your patience as we got it up. Enjoy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great to see that. However, we need MediaTek sourcecode for custom ROMs if we don't want to reverse engineer (which is a lot of hard work and may even be considered a gray area on legality, I think)
Thanks to @dbrgn for bringing this up:
dbrgn said:
@joemier any plans to release the mediatek sources? Without them, not much will happen here...
If I'm not mistaken the mediatek kernel modules were written explicitly for Linux/Android. In which case, according to Linus Torvalds, they would have to be licensed under the GPL license:
That doesn't mean that I would accept just any kind of binary-only module: there are cases where something would be so obviously Linux-specific that it simply wouldn't make sense without the Linux kernel. In those cases, it would also obviously be a derived work, and as such the above excuses don't really apply any more, and it falls under the GPL license.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(source linuxmafia.com/faq/Kernel/proprietary-kernel-modules.html)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So
Petition for MediaTek to release the sourcecode
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/aosp-support-for-mediatek-devices/
Does anyone know if it's possible to persuade MediaTek to release the code, because they use Linux (GPL)?
Why don't they release the code? Can it be exploited or do they think there is a risk this can be used against them by other companies? Or do they just not care to do a little work?
Sony has managed to release the sourcecode of the MediaTek inside the Xperia C
http://developer.sonymobile.com/dow...es/open-source-archive-for-build-16-0-a-0-36/
So we and Fairphone can do it too!
(Mistake by me, it's just the kernel. Thanks chrmhoffmann for pointing it out)

Yes, we definitely need the full sources. One of the reasons why I bought the Fairphone was its alleged openness. If we can't get the Mediatek sources, the promise of a "completely open phone" is nothing but empty words.

That Sony code is just the kernel. It's clearly stated on that page you link to.
Chris
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

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More threads about this:
Operation RMD - To Support & Reward our MTK SoC Developers: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2164959
OmniROM For MTK Devices: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2483238
MTK 6577 Sources [Complete]: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2560714
MediaTek Contact URL: http://www.mediatek.com/_en/08_info/03_contactUS.php

You guys have to remember any device out of China is not going to be held to the GPL.
Bat cave One

dbrgn said:
Yes, we definitely need the full sources. One of the reasons why I bought the Fairphone was its alleged openness. If we can't get the Mediatek sources, the promise of a "completely open phone" is nothing but empty words.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Promising openness and choosing an MTK chip are completely conflicting right now.
MTK is one of the least open source friendly chipset providers out there.
1) Their kernel is often full of binary blob modules. Sadly, in many cases, blob modules ARE legal. See the infamous Samsung FSR driver on the GalaxyS family.
2) Their kernel source code is a disorganized mess
3) If you have a friendly OEM that will leak MTK's complete Android build tree to you:
a) They will only build as-is with an oddball and VASTLY outdated Ubuntu configuration
b) They're an even more disorganized mess than the kernel sources and will cause severe brain damage if you try to read/understand them without taking breaks to work with a less screwed up source tree
c) Even their OEMs only get statically linked binaries for many components. For example their hwcomposer "source" is just a wrapper around a blob
d) They have yet to support an Android release newer than 4.2 - partly because it looks like they initially wrote stuff for Android 1.x and have never updated their sources properly to fit in with newer versions of Android. (They have been hacking Android sources to be compatible with their junk instead of the other way around). For example, they still don't use device trees.
Even with an OEM that is cooperating significantly with developers (like Oppo), working with MTK devices is slow and extremely agonizing.

Kernel Source ??
Good day everyone,
I was looking around for useful information and I stumbled over this -> https://github.com/varunchitre15/MT6589_kernel_source
Maybe I'm wrong but isn't that what everyone is looking for?
If not... well I'm sorry about pointing out the wrong stuff
Cheers,

ancdix said:
Good day everyone,
I was looking around for useful information and I stumbled over this -> https://github.com/varunchitre15/MT6589_kernel_source
Maybe I'm wrong but isn't that what everyone is looking for?
If not... well I'm sorry about pointing out the wrong stuff
Cheers,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no
Seriously, did you even bother to read the earlier posts in this thread?

Thank you very much for your kind response.
Anyone wants a Fairphone? Gonna sell mine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And it's gone Nexus 5 here I come.

There are new sources posted on the Fairphone website. See the thread with technical details.
Hope it is complete now, as the first compilation attempt failed...

FlamingoKid said:
There are new sources posted on the Fairphone website. See the thread with technical details.
Hope it is complete now, as the first compilation attempt failed...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kernel source is better than many MTK OEMs, but it'll still at best get you custom kernels. AOSP-derivative builds (CM, Omni, etc.) are right now far away.
(In case you haven't figured out - some of the Omni developers have a "complete" MT6589 source tree. I use "complete" in quotes because while it will build 4.2 on a properly configured machine, it is a mix and match of tons of blobs and all sorts of horrible hacks that result in it being a nightmare to integrate into any 4.3/4.4 AOSP-based project. Yes, even with an OEM giving us everything they have access to we're barely able to get 4.4 to boot on MT6589.)
https://gerrit.omnirom.org/#/q/status:open+branch:android-4.4+topic:mt6589,n,z for an example of the terribad hacks required to get it even to boot

Entropy512 said:
...
(In case you haven't figured out - some of the Omni developers have a "complete" MT6589 source tree. I use "complete" in quotes because while it will build 4.2 on a properly configured machine, it is a mix and match of tons of blobs and all sorts of horrible hacks that result in it being a nightmare to integrate into any 4.3/4.4 AOSP-based project. Yes, even with an OEM giving us everything they have access to we're barely able to get 4.4 to boot on MT6589.)
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah, so this is more a Mediatek issue (provided with full 'sources' it still is a lot of work)? I'm an enterprise developer (JEE) so kerneldeveloping is new to me. Will check the links in your signature though :good:

Sigh. I think that also the new kernel sources don't work. I can't get it to boot. http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=4bv6fyWw
The ringbuffer and/or ram console are quite small, so I don't really get much output. Looks like some problem with the dsi/display.
ARRGGHHH...
Chris

I just don't understand the ChiCom's thinking here .... You have a small army of intelligent motivated developers willing and able to extend your code AND your hardware for free ..... and you just sh-- all over them? There is nothing going on inside a Mediatek processor that's unique, groundbreaking or proprietary that's worth protecting. I say that as someone who has been in the field of Industrial and Commercial Process Controls since 1997
It's like they don't really want to make money and I'm afraid they've picked up a bad habit that's plagued the US business community for decades
Penny wise and Dollar foolish .... Save a couple of pennies now and throw way several dollars in the future (For instance it is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS cheaper to mitigate Pollution at the source than it is to clean up the environmental and health degradation it causes, I've yet to find a single exception to this Rule and the ChiComs are going to learn it real quick the hard way in the very near future)
Can't they see why the Nexus 7 was such a hit? Can't they see how Google took a device that's Margin was so low it was obviously never meant to make real money but since it was so Open it was embraced by the WORLDWIDE community and became a money making best seller. Cripes the biggest downside to a Nexus 7 is that there are so many ROMs and Kernels out there it's hard to choose and takes a week or more of research to cull your way through them
My only conclusion that they are Thieves at heart and thus think everyone else is out to steal from them like the steal from others .... Another bad habit they picked up from US "Corporate-think" .... Or maybe they do such shoddy coding that they are embarrassed to have anyone see it ... nothing pisses off a so-called Professional more than a bunch of 'amateurs' laughing at them and showing them up ....
Plus like any Corporation it's not the better educated engineers and scientists that call the shots but the poorly educated MBA's who don't know a resistor from a capacitor and couldn't even fix a broken flashlight or change their own oil ....

longjohn119 said:
I just don't understand the ChiCom's thinking here .... You have a small army of intelligent motivated developers willing and able to extend your code AND your hardware for free ..... and you just sh-- all over them? There is nothing going on inside a Mediatek processor that's unique, groundbreaking or proprietary that's worth protecting. I say that as someone who has been in the field of Industrial and Commercial Process Controls since 1997
It's like they don't really want to make money and I'm afraid they've picked up a bad habit that's plagued the US business community for decades
Penny wise and Dollar foolish .... Save a couple of pennies now and throw way several dollars in the future (For instance it is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS cheaper to mitigate Pollution at the source than it is to clean up the environmental and health degradation it causes, I've yet to find a single exception to this Rule and the ChiComs are going to learn it real quick the hard way in the very near future)
Can't they see why the Nexus 7 was such a hit? Can't they see how Google took a device that's Margin was so low it was obviously never meant to make real money but since it was so Open it was embraced by the WORLDWIDE community and became a money making best seller. Cripes the biggest downside to a Nexus 7 is that there are so many ROMs and Kernels out there it's hard to choose and takes a week or more of research to cull your way through them
My only conclusion that they are Thieves at heart and thus think everyone else is out to steal from them like the steal from others .... Another bad habit they picked up from US "Corporate-think" .... Or maybe they do such shoddy coding that they are embarrassed to have anyone see it ... nothing pisses off a so-called Professional more than a bunch of 'amateurs' laughing at them and showing them up ....
Plus like any Corporation it's not the better educated engineers and scientists that call the shots but the poorly educated MBA's who don't know a resistor from a capacitor and couldn't even fix a broken flashlight or change their own oil ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. This is why Oppo has done so well in the West compared to other Chinese manufacturers despite almost no international marketing efforts outside of social media - Instead of crapping on community developers, they embraced them and we became their evangelists.

A little bit desappointed
My first fairphone is about to arrive and I've been looking for sofware news for weeks. Disappointedly, I've found FairphoneOS is not being Open Source and customizable... Is it true my research conclusion?
Thanks in advance
Lupin

Ubuntu Phone and Fairphone
If have read this article on omgubuntu.co.uk http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2014/02/bq-aquaris-ubuntu-phone-specs and if i read this correctly, the Ubuntu Phone by manufacturer bq will use a MT6589 (without M). This is essentially the same chipset as the fairphone but with a higher clocked gpu. This should ease porting ubuntu for phones to Fairphone i guess. It will be interessting how (and if) Canonical publishes Ubuntufor that phone. It might actually include sources to help porting Ubuntu to Fairphone.
What do you think?

Well, and what do you think about Neo900: http://neo900.org/#features
Yes, I consider this could be considered spam; sorry for that.

Hi all,
anybody seen/tried this: gizmochina.com/2014/03/10/finally-android-4-4-kitkat-is-available-for-mediatek-mt6589-chipset
Could that be good news?

supersn0b said:
Hi all,
anybody seen/tried this: gizmochina.com/2014/03/10/finally-android-4-4-kitkat-is-available-for-mediatek-mt6589-chipset
Could that be good news?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's new?
Search right here on xda.
There are currently two cyanogenmod builds (CM 10.2 - jb 4.3) and (CM11 - KK 4.4) for the wiko stairway MT6589.
Check the miscellaneous android development forums
Regards

Petition posted to Change.org to unlock the bootloader.

I figured there was already a petition to unlock the bootloader, but I didn't find one.
So, I made a petition.
You can find it here:
https://www.change.org/p/amazon-com...re-phone-to-allow-custom-roms-to-be-installed
Please vote!

XR01 said:
I figured there was already a petition to unlock the bootloader, but I didn't find one.
So, I made a petition.
You can find it here:
https://www.change.org/p/amazon-com...re-phone-to-allow-custom-roms-to-be-installed
Please vote!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the support! There are 65 signatures so far. I am going to re-write the petition to make it more organized, clearer, and more convincing. If anyone has recommendations on what to include, please let me know. I will take out the criticism of the Fire Phone, and move it toward opening the Fire Phone to the opportunity for an extended life and appreciation. Also, I will add the email of the Project Manager of Amazon devices to the petition.
I've thought of giving a brief history of the phone and adding more info about HTC's successful unlock program, and the longevity of the HP TouchPad which had a similar situation in which WebOS hampered excellent hardware due to limited applications available and later became the 2nd most popular tablet of 2011 after a fire sale and bootloader unlock.

Signed. I hope they will see it and they eventually come around. Thanks for taking the time to set the petition up.

signed !

Signed!

Thank you. I signed it.

Almost to 100
Less than 10 signatures left to reach 100!!
I have a lot of good comments on there, thanks!
I provided more details and links in the petition description, and also directed it to the CEO and Project Manager. Hopefully we get a definitive answer soon.

Signed.

I signed.

yup
XR01 said:
I figured there was already a petition to unlock the bootloader, but I didn't find one.
So, I made a petition.
You can find it here:
https://www.change.org/p/amazon-com...re-phone-to-allow-custom-roms-to-be-installed
Please vote!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
whatever you can do to entice them toward their "brand and identity value" vs. resale or obsolescence cycle would be great.

Just done it.

Signed !

me too!
signed!

I would LOVE to have an unlocked bootloader. I don't know enough about delving into the specifics of the programming, but every single phone I've had I've unlocked and loaded something on it, even if I turned it back to stock later (MyTouch 3G comes to mind...). I don't want this phone to end up like all the other phones sitting in my drawer taking up space after a little while, I'd love to keep using this beautiful hardware for at least another year!

signed, but i do not believe, Amazon will be moved. They made the phone to hook people on to their services' eco system. Unlocking will counter that and they really don't care about money, any phone sold but operating without their eco system is anyways loss to them..

Singed.

Singd. Plz Jeff Beezös, giv bootloedr and pliz gib moniiz so i can bui iPhöne 6 Pluzz.
(I didn't actually sign it, because: reality...)

up to 512
Signed:good:

Excellent idea! Of course I signed it!

I signed it too, but he could just not care at all and keep it locked.