It's time we band together to file some neccessary complaints against Samsung until they either:
1. Give us a full refund so we can buy an out-of-contract smart phone through our provider.
2. Provide us with the same phone or a software update IMMEDIATELY that makes GPS work
There are no other options. What Samsung is doing is fraudulent and illegal. You cannot advertise a product with a feature it does not have. We were lied to and charged for a device under false pretenses. It's completely illegal and there should be some sort of restitution. It's not like we're asking for something it didn't have or we're asking for better performance...we're simply asking for a major major feature that is on most/all high-end phones and, more importantly, a feature it's advertised to have...
So we ALL need to take 15 - 20 minutes out of day to file complaints until someone takes notice.
1. The Better Business Bureau - http://www.bbb.org/us/ Go through the process, choose the HQ in Texas with the COMPLAINT in the title.
2. Samsung directly - This seems to fall on deaf ears but I think if a few hundred or a thousand people keep complaining...someone will notice a pattern.
3. The FTC - https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
4. The Attorney General of Texas (HQ for Samsung) - https://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/complain.shtml
5. AT&T or your provider - File on site and over the phone
6. Submit it to CNN - http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form11b.html and any other news site that will listen.
I'm not trying to be some complaining jerk but it's been months since this issue has been known about and we still have no fix. I am pissed because I use GPS all the time and I now have to carry a 2nd device...my 2-year old G1 or a dedicated device. LUDICROUS.
There is strength in numbers so please file some complaints...we paid for these phones and we deserve a fully functional device.
/drama
You might be ok getting ripped off. I'm not. And if you are ok with it, I've got a bunch of stuff I'd like to sell you. You can buy my Audi A8, it doesn't have an engine but I still want full asking price as if it had an engine. I've got a rolex I'll sell ya for $5k, except it's a fake and it doesn't keep the correct time...but I still want the price as if it worked.
I'm not ok with getting lied to, indirectly, or buying a broken product. It's not like it's $10 shirt I can return because it's missing a button (although, if you couldn't return a new shirt because it was damaged...I bet you'd be upset about that, no?)...it's a $400++ phone that does not work.
What functions would you be ok with not working? What if the wifi didn't work? Then complain? No?
It's a broken product, bottom line.
Did you do your research about the phone before you bought it? Did you not read that there were GPS issues? Did you buy it anyway?
Yes, you did buy it, and probaby didn't do the research. A company's worst nightmare is an educated consumer. Someone that they can't rip off. You fell into Samsungs trap and now you feel unhappy and lied to. When I got this phone I knew the GPS didn't work. I did my research. But it wasn't a deal breaker for me. I have GPS built in to my car, and I have a few other Garmin Nuvi's laying around the house.
Don't complain about the phone, just sell it, try and get some of your money back, and buy something that works for you. There are plenty of options out there. Just don't come in the forums and try to bash a phone that many of us love.
I just sent Samsung an e-mail through their web form. Jerks.
miztaken1312 said:
Did you do your research about the phone before you bought it? Did you not read that there were GPS issues? Did you buy it anyway?
Yes, you did buy it, and probaby didn't do the research. A company's worst nightmare is an educated consumer. Someone that they can't rip off. You fell into Samsungs trap and now you feel unhappy and lied to. When I got this phone I knew the GPS didn't work. I did my research. But it wasn't a deal breaker for me. I have GPS built in to my car, and I have a few other Garmin Nuvi's laying around the house.
Don't complain about the phone, just sell it, try and get some of your money back, and buy something that works for you. There are plenty of options out there. Just don't come in the forums and try to bash a phone that many of us love.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol. So wait, you paid full price for a phone with a "feature" that you knew didn't work? And that makes you educated? Wat.
I have NO CLUE why you're OK with a company advertising a feature that does not exist...yet you still bought it. http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SGH-I897ZKAATT-features Check the list...GPS...does it have GPS? No.
I did research on it, but, like everyone else, figured it would be fixed quickly with a software fix since I couldn't fathom a company as large as Samsung advertising something that blatantly didn't work.
Bottom line is the phone is great but it does NOT HAVE GPS...like it's advertised to have. Therefore, I cannot use MyTracks, GPS, Google Maps, Waze or any other feature that requires GPS. Therefore, I should get a refund for a full new phone out of contract.
I still can't believe you're OK with buying a separate device for something your phone is supposed to have...lol...yea corporate America...we're so insecure that we don't mind getting ripped off anymore.
USA! USA! USA! lulz.
I Agree
Drew489 said:
It's time we band together to file some neccessary complaints against Samsung until they either:
1. Give us a full refund so we can buy an out-of-contract smart phone through our provider.
2. Provide us with the same phone or a software update IMMEDIATELY that makes GPS work
There are no other options. What Samsung is doing is fraudulent and illegal. You cannot advertise a product with a feature it does not have. We were lied to and charged for a device under false pretenses. It's completely illegal and there should be some sort of restitution. It's not like we're asking for something it didn't have or we're asking for better performance...we're simply asking for a major major feature that is on most/all high-end phones and, more importantly, a feature it's advertised to have...
So we ALL need to take 15 - 20 minutes out of day to file complaints until someone takes notice.
1. The Better Business Bureau - http://www.bbb.org/us/ Go through the process, choose the HQ in Texas with the COMPLAINT in the title.
2. Samsung directly - This seems to fall on deaf ears but I think if a few hundred or a thousand people keep complaining...someone will notice a pattern.
3. The FTC - https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/FTC_Wizard.aspx?Lang=en
4. The Attorney General of Texas (HQ for Samsung) - https://www.oag.state.tx.us/consumer/complain.shtml
5. AT&T or your provider - File on site and over the phone
6. Submit it to CNN - http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form11b.html and any other news site that will listen.
I'm not trying to be some complaining jerk but it's been months since this issue has been known about and we still have no fix. I am pissed because I use GPS all the time and I now have to carry a 2nd device...my 2-year old G1 or a dedicated device. LUDICROUS.
There is strength in numbers so please file some complaints...we paid for these phones and we deserve a fully functional device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree and I will do "ALL" i can to help in this sure to be LONG TRUDGE - If you are not in agreement or satisfied with a half working product then play with your phone and STOP mouthing off about how satisfied you are or about what this forum is for or about because you are not in agreement _ Just Play With Your Phone and K.I.M.
Keep It Movin!
miztaken1312 said:
Did you do your research about the phone before you bought it? Did you not read that there were GPS issues? Did you buy it anyway?
Yes, you did buy it, and probaby didn't do the research. A company's worst nightmare is an educated consumer. Someone that they can't rip off. You fell into Samsungs trap and now you feel unhappy and lied to. When I got this phone I knew the GPS didn't work. I did my research. But it wasn't a deal breaker for me. I have GPS built in to my car, and I have a few other Garmin Nuvi's laying around the house.
Don't complain about the phone, just sell it, try and get some of your money back, and buy something that works for you. There are plenty of options out there. Just don't come in the forums and try to bash a phone that many of us love.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand that we should all educate ourselves before buying a product. I bought my captivate on launch day and had done as much research until then about the phone, mostly because I had been long debating getting a N1. However, seeing as I did buy my phone on launch day I had no idea the GPS didnt work. Frustrating yes, dealbreaker no. Guess Ive learned not to buy first run products.
p4ranoid4ndroid said:
I understand that we should all educate ourselves before buying a product. I bought my captivate on launch day and had done as much research until then about the phone, mostly because I had been long debating getting a N1. However, seeing as I did buy my phone on launch day I had no idea the GPS didnt work. Frustrating yes, dealbreaker no. Guess Ive learned not to buy first run products.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've never been one to buy something on launch day (aside from maybe an video game). iPhone4 users learned that the hard way. Educating yourself as much as you can before you buy something is the best thing you can do for yourself. It's not like you'd go out and buy a Ford Pinto these days without researching it first. Everyone knows they were crappy cars.
Drew489 said:
You might be ok getting ripped off. I'm not. And if you are ok with it, I've got a bunch of stuff I'd like to sell you. You can buy my Audi A8, it doesn't have an engine but I still want full asking price as if it had an engine. I've got a rolex I'll sell ya for $5k, except it's a fake and it doesn't keep the correct time...but I still want the price as if it worked.
I'm not ok with getting lied to, indirectly, or buying a broken product. It's not like it's $10 shirt I can return because it's missing a button (although, if you couldn't return a new shirt because it was damaged...I bet you'd be upset about that, no?)...it's a $400++ phone that does not work.
What functions would you be ok with not working? What if the wifi didn't work? Then complain? No?
It's a broken product, bottom line.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My GPS has worked perfectly from day one. I bought my captivate on launch day and have nothing to complain about. Sorry to hear you have had issues with your device. Perhaps you should try to trade it in under your retailers return policy? Just a suggestion.
Shovelhead84 said:
My GPS has worked perfectly from day one. I bought my captivate on launch day and have nothing to complain about. Sorry to hear you have had issues with your device. Perhaps you should try to trade it in under your retailers return policy? Just a suggestion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No offense Shovelhead, but the GPS functionality for many of us is extremely spotty. Even after several returns. Usually the AT&T folks tried to discourage me by saying it is just a software problem that will soon be fixed. Experience has shown me that a working GPS is a rare beast (at least one that works after a few days/weeks of use).
I have had 3 phones with GPS, one Samsung Blackjack and two BB. All have performed admirably with quick (less than 10-20 s) locks and excellent accuracy as seen on Google Maps and GARMIN Windows mapping products. I KNOW that phones are very capable of decent GPS performance. So far this is a gaping hole in my Captivate experience.
My speculation is that this is a combination software/HW problem. I am guessing that there may have been a batch of sub par GPS chips as well as poor driver interaction with the OS.
Shovelhead84 said:
My GPS has worked perfectly from day one. I bought my captivate on launch day and have nothing to complain about. Sorry to hear you have had issues with your device. Perhaps you should try to trade it in under your retailers return policy? Just a suggestion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought my GPS was working fine as well. Until I tried My Tracks in the market. It's clearly wrong. It's got your general location, but on the highway, it's saying I cross over east/west bound highways. And veers me off the road.
stuff said:
I thought my GPS was working fine as well. Until I tried My Tracks in the market. It's clearly wrong. It's got your general location, but on the highway, it's saying I cross over east/west bound highways. And veers me off the road.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I feel your pain but when your GPS locks what is the accuracy? Best mine gets is about 15m. That could easily put you on either side of the road.
stuff said:
I thought my GPS was working fine as well. Until I tried My Tracks in the market. It's clearly wrong. It's got your general location, but on the highway, it's saying I cross over east/west bound highways. And veers me off the road.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now I do have a working GPS on my phone since I upgraded to the leaked Froyo. But it is not by any means dead-on accurate. Now of course the day I tested it, it was sitting in my cup holder with a straight view of the sky via my sun roof, but it was also cloudy and rainy. For the most part, it followed me exactly, but there were some spots where it did go off. When I use it now I put it on my dashboard and it works better.
Now in my belief, a device like a phone which does multiple functions, does none of them well because you have to have some kind of compromise internally either with hardware, software, or coding. I would never use my phone as a GPS when I'm in dire need to go somewhere, for instance if I need to find my way to the nearest hospital ASAP. I'd use a real GPS like a Garmin or TomTom because that's what they are dedicated to doing. Now I realize that now they add other features to GPS devices like bluetooth and music players and whatever, but those are added after the GPS has been written, tested, guaranteed to work as advertised.
cappysw10 said:
I feel your pain but when your GPS locks what is the accuracy? Best mine gets is about 15m. That could easily put you on either side of the road.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe mine is similar. If i'm walking, or just using GPS for the fun of it (not driving) it's got me. But when I'm moving, it's not the best. I still think it is a software problems, but meh... I really don't know.
I haven't tried tweaking with any settings though.
I agree totally and will be filing complaints, we should have a sticky how to jump throught all the paper work.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Also, I've got a buddy in europe with the i9000. He said the 2.2 update fixed the GPS. But, cog2.2/COE beta 4 "fixed" it as well. It just didn't give you the most accurate fix. It's 10-20meters in variance.
When I had my 3gs, I could turn on maps, and watch the little blue dot follow me whereever I went. I got rid of my first captivate bacause of the GPS and I got my second cause I love the phone...and 2.2 was leaked...lol
Anyway, I agree with the OP about Samsung being douches about GPS. It sucks. I've had 3 other Samsung phones and all worked without a hitch. I get this one, and GPS tells me to kiss its ass. My GPS hasent made a lock in 2 days. I don't want to take it back cause I really do love the phone, and I can live without GPS, but Samsung did advertise GPS and its not there. Wether we did research or not about the phone, it still doesn't change the fact that Samsung sold, and is still selling, a phone not as advertised and that is wrong.
What really makes people mad is that Samsung hasent addressed it yet. I think there hoping we forget about it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
mmarquis said:
No offense Shovelhead, but the GPS functionality for many of us is extremely spotty. Even after several returns. Usually the AT&T folks tried to discourage me by saying it is just a software problem that will soon be fixed. Experience has shown me that a working GPS is a rare beast (at least one that works after a few days/weeks of use).
I have had 3 phones with GPS, one Samsung Blackjack and two BB. All have performed admirably with quick (less than 10-20 s) locks and excellent accuracy as seen on Google Maps and GARMIN Windows mapping products. I KNOW that phones are very capable of decent GPS performance. So far this is a gaping hole in my Captivate experience.
My speculation is that this is a combination software/HW problem. I am guessing that there may have been a batch of sub par GPS chips as well as poor driver interaction with the OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah however their has been a fix for this for awhile now.
Here is a good thread for this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=732030
The GPS is there it just has a software issue right now however i did hear that 2.2 fixed this.
you work for samsung i bet...
lordstrife said:
Yeah however their has been a fix for this for awhile now.
Here is a good thread for this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=732030
The GPS is there it just has a software issue right now however i did hear that 2.2 fixed this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People we all know about the fixes and so called tweaks to date. No bueno.
There are two questions (at the moment) that I'd like to be answered if possible.
1. How much would be needed to pay a manufacturer to create one?
High end internals, without a camera or a micro SD slot.
2. How can I get into contact with those that want one?
There are three reasons why I'm in the process of making one.
Variety of camera-less "smart phones" are shrinking. It's good to have choice
There is no one else doing it (so far, I think).
There is enough of a demand for others to have one.
Currently, there is a Shenzhen based manufacturer that gave me a positive reply regarding this matter so I still believe that there is some hope.
mononymous said:
There are two questions (at the moment) that I'd like to be answered if possible.
1. How much would be needed to pay a manufacturer to create one?
High end internals, without a camera or a micro SD slot.
2. How can I get into contact with those that want one?
There are three reasons why I'm in the process of making one.
Variety of camera-less "smart phones" are shrinking. It's good to have choice
There is no one else doing it (so far, I think).
There is enough of a demand for others to have one.
Currently, there is a Shenzhen based manufacturer that gave me a positive reply regarding this matter so I still believe that there is some hope.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think people will look for a specific phone without cam. I mean, of course they may not care if its 2MP or 8MP. If 1 such phone is released, it'll be immediately be bombarded with people who won't mind having an extra feature i.e cam. Do you think people who don't use cam much will NOT buy a smartphone because it has got a camera, although vice-versa seems possible.
there is a market...
lamborg said:
I don't think people will look for a specific phone without cam. I mean, of course they may not care if its 2MP or 8MP. If 1 such phone is released, it'll be immediately be bombarded with people who won't mind having an extra feature i.e cam. Do you think people who don't use cam much will NOT buy a smartphone because it has got a camera, although vice-versa seems possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The target market are not the general consumers, it never was in this case which is why I brought up this small project of mine. The phone is aimed at people who due to their work have restrictions on what they can bring. For instance, officially I am not allowed to have a camera phone which has an expandable storage. Every once in a while, I see posts on various forums and blogs about a non-camera smartphone. Even here, there were others who were in the exact situation. The difference between them and myself is that for them, they at least had a choice in buying a phone that accomplished such goals.
You say that the phone will be bombarded by people who want it without a camera, I would disagree. As, there are plenty of other options form reputable manufacturer that would fit the bill. Since, from the start I am not planning to create a product that would compete with them since I am at a disadvantage, not only in terms of so called "features" but brand, support, availability.
I'm trying to target a niche that would exist for the foreseeable future and that is why I created this thread.
Although the subject is rather troll like I hope I can do it in a non troll way.
There's a number of things that are really hacking me off about phones these days. I thought I'd have a major slam out to let off steam with the off-chance that someone might say "Ah but if you try X you can avoid that".
...some of the challenges in the mobile phone area these days...
1) Battery capacities aren't good enough as we all know. Getting through a single day is really the basics for me. Why not have hot swappable batteries? For me I expect to be able to go for 3-4 days. I don't know why... I just kind of expect that kind of efficiency.
2) Samsung Galaxy series... seems amazing but the batteries overheat, no?
3) So many people are ignorant of security to the point that most people are walking around with devices and apps that can just completely own you. Yeah there's sandboxing but it doesn't really work, it's been sidestepped. The iPhone just hides what's going on, rarely fixing the issues.
4) Licensing, all that stuff. Companies reinventing the wheel, fighting, all the rest. You can't buy a phone that does X and Y because company X won't license tech X to company Y
5) Trying to get everything perfect in one device... it's a bit of an ask but needed for portability. If things were separate we could have the better of most worlds, but that doesn't seem possible
6) Closed source. Just a bit irritating to see the inefficiency of it all in general. Bit of a hash moan but for those who can imagine better it seems like the dark ages in some areas still.
7) Closed source binary blobs. See Replicant on Samsung phones as the best we can do... the modem is arranged such messily and it's just not true a solution because of that. Kind of irritates me that there is no phone that can really guarantee it's not recording my phone numbers, conversations and credit cards because it's fully open source. Certainly an issue for companies. Companies in general are happy to rely on the word of Blackberry for thier integrity but for those of us who can imagine a solution that is secure by design it's not the best.
8) App whitelisting. Similar to the reactive rather than proactive security we tend to see as the trend in general. Manually checking all apps in the app store, trying to block and check them all.... doesn't seem the best. We've also had censorship. There are alternative stores, that's good.
9) Wakelocks. The Dalvik VM not managing or helping us track them down. Further, it's hard to tell if the app that you want to use is going to shaft your battery... once installed it's hard to tell if the app is ruining your battery too. It's messy.
10) IMEI security is a pain in the butt. It slows down the criminals but it also slows down everyone more so. In the case of Turkey it's another way to screw people with tax. Again, imperfect design.
11) As a man, if you have a phone at waist level that reduces your sperm count. Almost nobody notices or cares.
12) Just the usual society things... people looking at phones rather than each other. Can't really complain about that... the interface of looking at a screen is a bit basic. I've had speech recognition available to me... but I don't use it because there's always people around me and I'd rather be quiet... just one of those funny inventions
13) Screen don't work in bright sunlight still. We've got Motheye coming though which is great but we've had eink for ages and still no eink phone. Further, it can't be hacked onto an existing phone. Some of us aren't interested in games and movies and are focussed on getting stuff done. I feel Mirasol & PixelQi are being blocked or delayed as they try to slow things down until the point we've run out of ideas to make things better so only then does that tech get deployed.
14) Networks interfering with phones. I always go prepay because it's cheaper if you do the maths in many countries and also it allows for freer trade. Networks are always trying to get thier fingers into the mobile phone pies. Thank you Samsung for helping get against that, and also custom ROMs.
15) Apple are great but it's not clear what's going on behind the scenes.
16) eink displays would help battery life. A NookTouch can last for a month. How much would that help a phone on standby? Yet no eink display or anything like that.
17) Great to see the back of proprietary connectors but they still come back sometimes.
18) I hate the way things are made to break. Watch out for this. There's usually one thing on a phone that is designed to break. Sometimes it's a moveable part, like a ribbon cable in a slide phone. Sometimes its the USB connector. You can't buy port savers. When they fail you're screwed. Mitigate against this if you can. Try to figure out what the weak spot on your phone is.
19) Lock in software. I have an old backup phone... but I still have to keep the sync software... bit annoying. One day it probably won't work on Windows9 or whatever. People say throw it away but that's just it, throw away society. No, fix it, get it to work and be in control.
All of these things can be mitigated against. But you have to think about these things when you select your new phone.
If the commercialisation of the industry, cut throat tactics and so on aren't good enough as they are for me one thing you can do is buy a slightly older, but popular phone. In my case I never buy a new phone and instead go for something that I already know is popular with the hacking community. I know you guys can give me an insight into what I'm really looking for in life. As an example my last phone was a Galaxy S i9000. Way out of date in a sense. That's the way I find the best way to go. Go with something popular. That way you have some real support like a real man able to handle things yourself, not AppleCare and a 1 year limit. A philosophy for life. You can't have it all but with a bit of thought you can do a lot to get a bit closer to it all.
I need away to gain root privileges for the purposes of recovering deleted data. Unless there is another way to go about it? There are 3 phones involved all At&T carrier, Burner 1 is a Samsung S9 Plus (1st sp) , 2nd Burner is a Samsung Note 10 Plus and her everyday phone is a Apple 11 Max Pro. Apparently file recovery software is very limited without root access. When I read the guides it appears to root it is to lose everything. Is that true? Plus I dont really understand what I am reading most of the time.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am being gaslighted to the point I had a psychotic break, and even now everyday is a struggle to exist. May pride be her fall, she is very proud of herself. she whispered in my ear "i already won, you will look crazy. I have seen to that". Help me take her down a notch. I am also willing to pay if it is allowed on this board. I need to prove she has done some this to our kids too. She would rather them think they saw or heard something incorrectly than be found out. Evil. But I digress, Sorry for airing my dirty laundry, but I am desperate.
I am open to any and all suggestions. to include recommendations for hiring someone/a company.
All 3 phones are legally mine. The 1st 2 are my old phones that were supposedly discarded and the iPhone 11 is on my account, under my name and the loan related to the phone is in my name too. I could provide AT&T documentation as proof of ownership to prove legitimacy .
Thanks
Steven Beau ********
you say you want to retrieve data on the phones but what exactly are you trying to get back (calls/txts or photos/videos) ???
Xceeder said:
you say you want to retrieve data on the phones but what exactly are you trying to get back (calls/txts or photos/videos) ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All of the above. I am really hoping she discussed the various ways she duped us. For example my 6 year old saw her do this: I could not find my phone I checked a 1k times in my car. She recorded herself ( at a strange angle i might add) hiding it in my car but my little one in his stealth like ninjas ways, saw what she actually did. She used her free hand and pulled it out and placed it in my passenger seat in plain view as she panned from the floorboard to the seat and low and behold there was the phone. She then spent the next hour screaming and telling me I was crazy and losing my mind again. Once she figured out I was on to her, her phone use went from a few k with of texts and 20 plus GB of data used a month down to 4-500 text 1.5GB used. She saw I was researching spyware via my browser history and told me to research commsec, though I thought she said commsex. I was expecting to find some freaky alternative lifestyle, unfortunately is was just a security term the military uses,. Its crazy this woman is using these type of terms. Anyway
I want to capture as much as I can,
If you want to find out the truth, sometimes your only choice is to spy on someone. If they’re lying to you or keeping the truth from you in some way, spying on their phone activity can help you discover critical information.
What you need is a way to spy on the target phone without them knowning. That way, the chances of you getting caught are nonexistent. Also, it’s much more convenient to spy on them remotely.
Is there a way to spy on someone’s phone remotely? You just need to use a spy app that works without target phone! It’s fast, safe, and easy, in case you’re wondering.
Many Android Spy apps exist. GIYF ...
Phone: Samsung S20 5G FE
Just to set a tone, this phone 'disappeared' from a hotel room occupied by an organizer of the 2022 Ottawa Canada protests, after the room was combed over by Police/RCMP, as well as other devices and documents. The phone was later 'found' back in the room and started behaving strangely with other people's photos and messages appearing randomly.
The owner of the phone contacted me and asked if I could help, but I'm not knowledgeable enough about this stuff and simply told them it would be best to reset the device and stop using it. They did that, then bought a new phone and gave this one to me, telling me "you can have it, do what ever you want, sell it or try to fix it, its yours".
Obviously I haven't used it for anything.
I would like to at least know if it is compromised and if there is any way to 'fix' it. I don't want to waste money paying to have the bootloader unlocked on it if rom flashing won't clean it. Or if I wouldn't even be able to tell.
Anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.
Reflash it to the original rom. Change Google and any other applicable account passwords.
Done.
Ok, I'll go through the unlocking process and flash a new rom to it.
Out of curiosity would this remove anything they could have used on it? Even if it was something like Pegasus? I would assume it would but I'm not sure if they have anything that works on a lower level.
Sorry if that might sound like I'm over thinking, but they spent a lot of time and money trying to track the people organizing the protests and anything is on the table. Some of the stuff I've heard about that wasn't public knowledge is pretty unbelievable.
MrCool00236 said:
Ok, I'll go through the unlocking process and flash a new rom to it.
Out of curiosity would this remove anything they could have used on it? Even if it was something like Pegasus? I would assume it would but I'm not sure if they have anything that works on a lower level.
Sorry if that might sound like I'm over thinking, but they spent a lot of time and money trying to track the people organizing the protests and anything is on the table. Some of the stuff I've heard about that wasn't public knowledge is pretty unbelievable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Toss the device if really concerned.
If the DOD, FBI, etc are surveilling you in earnest, you likely won't pick off all their tiers of surveillance.
They aren't watching me, honestly, I was never involved in, at, or around any of the events, just distant buddies with one of the guys. I just have this phone, it's practically brand new, and feel it would be such a waste to toss it, I mean I could sell it I suppose.
I just, as anyone even mildly concerned about privacy, would rather not have anyone much less government officials snooping on everything I do. It would make a great phone for those rare times I need to install some scummy app to set up a device from aliexpress or otherwise. Or other similar tasks. Just rather know I cleaned it up before I go ahead and connect it to the same network as every other device in my house.
As an aside, I do see this as a good leaning opportunity. No matter how small I never pass those up. Just hope I'm not coming off as someone who's completely tinfoil hat, or hell bent on saving a device.
Rule #1- physical security is the only real security!