Database Info

[Android] Motorola Backflip - DON'T BUY, HERE'S WHY!

OK, so I've been using a Kaiser/Tilt with Eclair on it for awhile. I've spent countless hours drooling after the Nexus One. When AT&T finally got the "Backflip" from Motorola, I just couldn't resist. I took the plunge.
I should've known better. I have plenty of AT&T horror stories, and this is the same carrier that wont allow you to tell your Java apps NOT to ask for permission more than once (making Opera mini a PITA but the only usable browser for non-smart-phones).
There is NO option to install applications from untrusted sources. This means anything on your SD card, downloaded from the web or over your wifi at home WILL NOT WORK. Naturally, you also cannot use the "su" command in terminal.
Motoblur is nice I guess, but the uninstallable AT&T paid apps, the limitations of 1.5 firmware (ie: no google navigator, no voice search) and the locked-to-yahoo-search-bar are enough to get me to say NO to any further AT&T abuse.
With the Kaiser's bloatware, they removed/hid apps from you so you wouldn't try to use them and replaced them with their crapware.
AT&T does not know the meaning of "open" and they do not understand Android. You are not buying an Android phone when you buy from AT&T.
You are buying a device LOCKED to a market with a smaller number of applications than the iPhone (I don't use Apple products either ) forced to use a lesser search engine for your most convenient option and subject to losing any application that was once on the market but then removed. You can't install your own apps or even test them on your device. Period.
Also on my first day of using it I got a number of "Force Close" messages including on the built-in applications (ie: Motorola's flavor of the desk clock).
It's decent hardware, it feels pretty zippy to me, but this is exactly why I WONT buy an iPhone.
Screw you, AT&T. I will make sure that everyone I know is properly informed about this crippled device that is nothing like the Android experience is supposed to (expected to!) be.
/endrant phew, going to go breathe for awhile.
EDIT: I will add:
- Set "orientation" on this phone when you tilt it and somehow it gets stuck in one orientation or the other (who knows maybe this one is just me, not seen any other backflips) if you set it back to just when you open/close it it's fine again though
- The desk clock can't be launched manually and is tricky to get to appear trying to get the phone in that perfect angle to display it
- I don't have a separate camera on me right now to show you the menu but to back up with sources:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/1910...n_atandt_not_the_full_android_experience.html
https://supportforums.motorola.com/message/121849
Don't buy this phone. Stay away from AT&T, stay away from Motorola (IMO or at least the motorola backflip).

This is pretty horrible.
I have two questions, though.
1) Can you take a screen cap of the Settings > Applications screen so we can see the lack of Unknown Sources option? That'd really help people see the validity of this issue.
2) I hope you have some kind of 30-day money-back guarantee when buying a handset from AT&T like Sprint offers. Otherwise, ouch =/

I haven't tried to install an apk from astro or anything, but i have pushed a few with ADB which seems to work fine. It kinda sucks, but I really hope that we can figure out root access soon! I don't care for blur, but I like android. Hopefully we don't have to wait to long. Here is an ADB guide http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=643866

I wonder if Apple suddenly took over AT&T because this kind of behaviour is more common to them

... It's not only AT&T who manages to confuse their customers about an OSS... Don't forget who decided to lock down an open software system boot-loader for everyone *cough*Motorola*cough*

Apple made them an offer they could not refuse!
nuff said

I spent some time with one yesterday.
Ouch, even my Fuze running eclair is faster.
They really broke this machine.
I am worried about other att phones!

My hope for an even somewhat open x10 on AT&T is starting to dwindle.

HushH said:
My hope for an even somewhat open x10 on AT&T is starting to dwindle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mines as well. i hope they dont. i know its off topic but is there an officail release date for the x10 on att? i hear it may be april/may

Someone more familiar than I needs to figure out the proper java system call to enable unknown/untrusted sources and then post on this thread the proper at command to execute it via CLI. You wouldn't even need root to do this.

IConrad01 said:
Someone more familiar than I needs to figure out the proper java system call to enable unknown/untrusted sources and then post on this thread the proper at command to execute it via CLI. You wouldn't even need root to do this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Assuming the software running on the Backflip is the same software they released the source to on opensource.motorola.com, there may be hope of that. I'll dig into it when I get time.

Wow. I am surprised that this was picked up by Gizmodo. Do we have anyone corroborating this? Doesn't this somehow violate Google's terms of service?

HushH said:
My hope for an even somewhat open x10 on AT&T is starting to dwindle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine too! Just means to spend the couple extra hundred dollars and get an unlocked unbranded one.
I got the Backflip just because I am moving on from my jailbroken iPhone and I wanted something neat and shiny.
I can say that there is a lot of smack talk here, but give these guys a chance here to root the phone and get some things working on it.
It's been two days since the release and I can already say, that I like the phone a hell of a lot more today then I did on Sunday. I've been able to install untrusted sources using the Droid Explorer, a bit of a pain in the ass, but it's okay, considering that if I want Android, then this is the only way to go for now.
But I have faith in someone out there... Someone will figure this out.
I just hope it's within my 30 day return policy.
EDIT: I Installed "GDE" on my device and I am able to use the Google search widget... So that issue is sort of solved...

This may just be my unit but the A2DP doesn't work right, it starts playing music then begins to fast forward whatever you are watching or listening to. Did a hard reset, no luck. Looks like I already need a replacement lol.

Squeaky369 said:
EDIT: I Installed "GDE" on my device and I am able to use the Google search widget... So that issue is sort of solved...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you please explain how you got the google search widget working?

nutcake852 said:
Can you please explain how you got the google search widget working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh; fail on my part. It's mostly a cosmetic fix. I didn't actually test it, but when you click on it, it changes to "Yahoo".
So my bad on that one.
God, I hate Yahoo. Ever since that stupid ass cowboy did that commercial, it's ate away at my soul...

I don't know why...
To think we were all worried about how Verizon was going to cripple android only to have ATT do it instead. At first I was amazed and then I realized that any android phone would have outshown their prized phone...oh well one more reason to love being on T-Mobile. ;-)

I played with a Backflip. My god it's a horrid phone. And yeah, Android is completely locked down, with no way to delete those AT&T apps and no installing off-Market Android Apps out of the box.
I was going to wait to see what AT&T was going to bring to the table, but I'm not holding my breath.
Btw, I noticed that AT&T trained to sell the Backflip pretty hard. Like, seriously, I was looking at phones today, and every other word out of the rep's mouth was that I should buy the Backflip. Thankfully I'm more informed than that. I walked out with an iPhone instead. (Don't grill me, I use a Touch Pro2, I just needed a good phone for my work line >_<)

Help i ****ed up my phone
So i just rooted my g1 to get the nexus one features to it and now all it is doing is foreclosing instead of going to the home screen if anyone can help can you please email me at [email protected] thank you

Xodium said:
I played with a Backflip. My god it's a horrid phone. And yeah, Android is completely locked down, with no way to delete those AT&T apps and no installing off-Market Android Apps out of the box.
I was going to wait to see what AT&T was going to bring to the table, but I'm not holding my breath.
Btw, I noticed that AT&T trained to sell the Backflip pretty hard. Like, seriously, I was looking at phones today, and every other word out of the rep's mouth was that I should buy the Backflip. Thankfully I'm more informed than that. I walked out with an iPhone instead. (Don't grill me, I use a Touch Pro2, I just needed a good phone for my work line >_<)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really do think though that this is going to end up to be a decent phone.
I know I am a little pro for that comment, just because I bought one. But lets look at every phone that ever comes out. There is always some sort of challenge that we have to overcome.
And; with all the threads I've been reading about this; it looks like it was BOTH AT&T and Motorola that are to blame for locking this phone down. ATT cause they don't want us to install from anything but an "App Store" and Motorola because they don't want their devices used for what "there were not intended to be used for," is the wording I've seen floating around the internet.
But in all seriousness. I am coming from an iPhone 3GS which I had jailbroken. So I am coming from a phone that I had everything and anything on to this, and I am, overall, happy with it. Although it's only been 5 days, I can say I don't think I'll change my mind in the next 25 days.
But that's just my two-cents.

I emailed Samsung about a few things, here is the response

Thought I'd share this with you guys. I recommend sending out a similar email so that they know that there are serious concerns about the phone. I did it online at the Contact Us page on the Samsung website.
Here's what I wrote:
Hello,
I recently purchased a Samsung Captivate. Overall, I am quite pleased with the device. However, there are a few things that irritate me about it that I was hoping you could comment on:
1.) There is a serious lag issue. Do a quick google search and you'll find that this is a universal problem with the phone.
2.) The GPS does not work. Also a universal issue.
3.) No 2.2 Froyo.
4.) No last.fm scrobbling support for the default music player (which I love by the way!)
5.) Drivers for Windows 7 x64 do not work well. After a lot of trial and error, I finally got it. Again, a universal issue.
A lot of people complain about the TouchWiz UI, but I personally enjoy it, as long as the lag issue is taken care of. Also I'm pleased with the phone call quality, and almost all other aspects of the phone.
I appreciate your time, and hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you,
[thecoolestcow]
Here is the response:
Dear [thecoolestcow],
Thank you for your inquiry.
Regarding the GPS on the phone, Samsung Mobile is aware that under certain conditions, the GPS on our U.S. Galaxy S devices may not be meeting performance expectations. We are diligently evaluating the situation and will provide an update as soon as possible.
We advise you to use assisted GPS powered by your service provider.
We still don't have any update regarding the release of the Android 2.2 for the Captivate and the drivers that will be compatible with Windows 7 64bit.
We will forward your report of this behavior along to the appropriate parties for additional review and consideration.
We are unable to speculate when/if this software revision might be available due to the fact that this might lead to inaccurate information and confusion.
Should this become available, it will be posted on our website in the Samsung Download Center.
Please feel free to check back with us periodically for updates.
Should you desire additional assistance resolving this, we invite you to call Samsung Customer Support by phone at our toll free number 1-888-987-4357 between the hours 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday, Central Standard Time.
Thank you for choosing Samsung.
Sincerely,
Technical Support

thecoolestcow said:
Thought I'd share this with you guys. I recommend sending out a similar email so that they know that there are serious concerns about the phone. I did it online at the Contact Us page on the Samsung website.
Here's what I wrote:
Hello,
I recently purchased a Samsung Captivate. Overall, I am quite pleased with the device. However, there are a few things that irritate me about it that I was hoping you could comment on:
1.) There is a serious lag issue. Do a quick google search and you'll find that this is a universal problem with the phone.
2.) The GPS does not work. Also a universal issue.
3.) No 2.2 Froyo.
4.) No last.fm scrobbling support for the default music player (which I love by the way!)
5.) Drivers for Windows 7 x64 do not work well. After a lot of trial and error, I finally got it. Again, a universal issue.
A lot of people complain about the TouchWiz UI, but I personally enjoy it, as long as the lag issue is taken care of. Also I'm pleased with the phone call quality, and almost all other aspects of the phone.
I appreciate your time, and hope to hear from you soon.
Thank you,
[thecoolestcow]
Here is the response:
Dear [thecoolestcow],
Thank you for your inquiry.
Regarding the GPS on the phone, Samsung Mobile is aware that under certain conditions, the GPS on our U.S. Galaxy S devices may not be meeting performance expectations. We are diligently evaluating the situation and will provide an update as soon as possible.
We advise you to use assisted GPS powered by your service provider.
We still don't have any update regarding the release of the Android 2.2 for the Captivate and the drivers that will be compatible with Windows 7 64bit.
We will forward your report of this behavior along to the appropriate parties for additional review and consideration.
We are unable to speculate when/if this software revision might be available due to the fact that this might lead to inaccurate information and confusion.
Should this become available, it will be posted on our website in the Samsung Download Center.
Please feel free to check back with us periodically for updates.
Should you desire additional assistance resolving this, we invite you to call Samsung Customer Support by phone at our toll free number 1-888-987-4357 between the hours 7:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday, Central Standard Time.
Thank you for choosing Samsung.
Sincerely,
Technical Support
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
man I just dont see this lag yall are talking about... Had the phone since day 1, no lag fix and its fast as my n1 on 2.2. about.. Wierd...
Also GPS does work, just not reliably all the time, some works fine, others not, others sometimes.. So saying it dont work is exadurating. I just dont want people that dont have one think that the GPS dont work. It does and I use it everyday without issue. No fixes or anything, mine and some others works...
2.2 froyo will be here soon. Hold your horses on and it will be here next month I will bet...

I didn't see the lag either for a while, but I see it in most of the Samsung native apps, like Messaging and the screen unlock.
GPS also used to work amazingly. It just stopped completely now for me.
It's good though that they acknowledged in the email that they were going to release a fix for it.

thecoolestcow said:
I didn't see the lag either for a while, but I see it in most of the Samsung native apps, like Messaging and the screen unlock.
GPS also used to work amazingly. It just stopped completely now for me.
It's good though that they acknowledged in the email that they were going to release a fix for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, Well Im certain it will be fixed. The samsung epic 4g is rumored to have a working GPS (more testing needs done for me to believe it for sure) and if we have the same hardware gps wise as the Epic 4g we should definatly see a fix...

Nice, Engadget confirms.
engadget.com/2010/08/18/samsung-says-gps-is-tested-and-validated-on-epic-4g-our-testi/

There is most certainly lag. Like you guys, it wasn't a big deal until I saw the lag fix.
Long story short, I've been running the lag fix about a week, then borked my phone with another tweak and had to revert back to stock. HOLY COW was that thing slow... I never really knew any different until I had seen greener pastures
I will say I don't think the DEFAULT lag is worse than any other phone on the market. But it is capable of much, much faster.

Also you forgot to include the complaint that MMS doesn't work on EDGE, only 3G.

TexUs said:
There is most certainly lag. Like you guys, it wasn't a big deal until I saw the lag fix.
Long story short, I've been running the lag fix about a week, then borked my phone with another tweak and had to revert back to stock. HOLY COW was that thing slow... I never really knew any different until I had seen greener pastures
I will say I don't think the DEFAULT lag is worse than any other phone on the market. But it is capable of much, much faster.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which lag fix did you use? I saw several. I haven't rooted my device yet because I'm a little girl. I'm trying to gather as much info as possible first.

thecoolestcow said:
Which lag fix did you use? I saw several. I haven't rooted my device yet because I'm a little girl. I'm trying to gather as much info as possible first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I did all my tweaks manually the first time. However when I borked and started over I used this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=751934
That will do all necessary tweaks at once. Just download the update.zip file to the root of your INTERNAL card, reboot into recovery mode (ask if you don't know how... easiest way is to use ADB), and select "reinstall packages" and you're done.
Just check the post I linked to, but it'll remove all the ATT crapware, remove the loud startup sounds, install root, block ads, etc.
After it's ran you then can go into the app it adds and run the lag fix... After you run that script it needs a reboot... And then you've got a lag fixed phone that runs twice as fast. ROM Manager, for instance, takes like a whole freaking minute it seems to open un-lag-fixed. Lag-fixed it takes several seconds max.

TexUs said:
Well I did all my tweaks manually the first time. However when I borked and started over I used this: forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=751934
That will do all necessary tweaks at once. Just download the update.zip file to the root of your INTERNAL card, reboot into recovery mode (ask if you don't know how... easiest way is to use ADB), and select "reinstall packages" and you're done.
Just check the post I linked to, but it'll remove all the ATT crapware, remove the loud startup sounds, install root, block ads, etc.
After it's ran you then can go into the app it adds and run the lag fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Holy crap, how did I miss that one? Excellent, thank you. I will likely be doing that in the near future!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

thecoolestcow said:
Holy crap, how did I miss that one? Excellent, thank you. I will likely be doing that in the near future!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NP.
I'm happy with 2.1 right now... I mean the Captivate at 2.1 runs faster than anything else on the market, including the N1 2.2......
So I can live with 2.1 until Samsung releases 2.2
Once you see how much faster it is with the lag fix, you'll start to wonder how much faster 2.2 will be. The Captivate will be untouchable.

There is definitely significant lag on the stock firmware - most notably for me with the marketplace but s also for some other apps when they are loading data. I haven't applied any fixes yet as I'm waiting for a decent firmware update before I do too much with my phone.
JH2/3 are looking like good bets, but I would suspect that an official firmware is right around the corner given the few changes between JH2 and JH3.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Why wait? It takes 5 minutes to vastly improve the usability of your phone.

And worst comes to worst, you use the Odin3 one-click to restore it to stock. Seems pretty awesome. I'll probably be "super-rooting" tonight!

Also to note you should only be doing that super-rooting from stock to start with... It's the most reliable method anyway. You can try it from what you've got but- if there's issues you just need to do it from stock.

Hm. And there's no way to back up my apps/data right?

thecoolestcow said:
Hm. And there's no way to back up my apps/data right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, download ROM Manager but you need to be rooted first I think... So you can root your phone only (same process but it just does rooting: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=725555), download/install ROM Manager (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734163). Then when you reboot into the ROM Manager recovery screen there's nandroid backup utility that'll back up everything.
If you like selective backups of stuff you can also use Titanium Backup (also requires root).

smashpunks said:
man I just dont see this lag yall are talking about... Had the phone since day 1, no lag fix and its fast as my n1 on 2.2. about.. Wierd...
Also GPS does work, just not reliably all the time, some works fine, others not, others sometimes.. So saying it dont work is exadurating. I just dont want people that dont have one think that the GPS dont work. It does and I use it everyday without issue. No fixes or anything, mine and some others works...
2.2 froyo will be here soon. Hold your horses on and it will be here next month I will bet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPS does NOT work. It barely functions, so it does not work. Anybody that says it does is just trying fool themselves into thinking they didnt make a mistake. GPS absolutely does not work. Its been documented by numerous sources and tens of thousands (or more) vibrant and captivate users here in the US. For Christ's sake, even Samsung has admitted that it doesnt work. They've used incorrect drivers from Broadcom, so it can't possibly work.
Samsung may release Froyo to the carriers toward the end of next month, but it'll be quite a while before AT&T releases it to us. They have to go through and add all their crapware and remove any functionality that's in the stock rom that they can charge money for (this really pisses me off I REALLY, want that wifi hotspot functionality!!!) and they have to cripple the kernel and radio so there'll be no HSUPA.

derek4484 said:
GPS does NOT work. It barely functions, so it does not work. Anybody that says it does is just trying fool themselves into thinking they didnt make a mistake. GPS absolutely does not work. Its been documented by numerous sources and tens of thousands (or more) vibrant and captivate users here in the US. For Christ's sake, even Samsung has admitted that it doesnt work. They've used incorrect drivers from Broadcom, so it can't possibly work.
Samsung may release Froyo to the carriers toward the end of next month, but it'll be quite a while before AT&T releases it to us. They have to go through and add all their crapware and remove any functionality that's in the stock rom that they can charge money for (this really pisses me off I REALLY, want that wifi hotspot functionality!!!) and they have to cripple the kernel and radio so there'll be no HSUPA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We're about a month after release and have Vanilla Android 2.1 ROMs, so chill out. Have some patience, I'm sure we'll see them for 2.2 as well.

derek4484 said:
GPS does NOT work. It barely functions, so it does not work. Anybody that says it does is just trying fool themselves into thinking they didnt make a mistake. GPS absolutely does not work. Its been documented by numerous sources and tens of thousands (or more) vibrant and captivate users here in the US. For Christ's sake, even Samsung has admitted that it doesnt work. They've used incorrect drivers from Broadcom, so it can't possibly work.
Samsung may release Froyo to the carriers toward the end of next month, but it'll be quite a while before AT&T releases it to us. They have to go through and add all their crapware and remove any functionality that's in the stock rom that they can charge money for (this really pisses me off I REALLY, want that wifi hotspot functionality!!!) and they have to cripple the kernel and radio so there'll be no HSUPA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine works and so do others in those thousands of people threads. If you would like I can copy n paste them for ya...
Its directed me to many places perfectly so it works, its just unreliable and not the best, hence needs to be optimized ...
now post a link where samsung admitted using incorrect drivers? I've never saw that...

[Q] Skytex Primer Pocket

So I have a Skytex Primer Pocket, little 4.3" thing running Android 2.2. No market, no official Google apps, and, above all, no mention of it anywhere except for brief reviews. So I'm looking into rooting it, or just getting the Market onto it (and maybe the Gmail app). It comes with GetJar, which, as I've just learned, is a ****ty alternative app store full of spam and ads. I'm also learning that if you wanna have a half way decent experience you NEED the Market, which this doesn't have. I've had very little experience with Android (never owned an Android device before this), so please bear with me if I say or said something stupid. What would yall smart people suggest?

Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
Moving to Q&A

oops! sorry

I just got a pocket primer for my three year old to play with (navigates my EVO 4G better than my wife). In it's stock form he can play videos and basic angry birds but even he will get frustrated if I can't get the same apps on that thing as the rest of his family has,......and he beats me.

haha wow i'd given up on this thread. I've actually pretty much given up on my device entirely and use it almost exclusively as an mp3 player. The browser doesn't open anymore (it displays a message stating that it crashed whenever I open it), the wifi doesn't turn on and it's just a ****ing piece of ****.

thefinn93 said:
haha wow i'd given up on this thread. I've actually pretty much given up on my device entirely and use it almost exclusively as an mp3 player. The browser doesn't open anymore (it displays a message stating that it crashed whenever I open it), the wifi doesn't turn on and it's just a ****ing piece of ****.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problems you are having can most likely be resolved by hitting the reset button, as I have had to do once or twice. Also, if you wanted it to have all the things you mentioned, why did you buy this device? The ad states pretty clearly that the apps market that this device uses is Getjar. And, once again, you get what you pay for. BTW, there are many apps on the Amazon Apps Market that work just fine.

You can also download 1 Mobile Market as a good alternative, much better than Getjar...

warneso said:
The problems you are having can most likely be resolved by hitting the reset button, as I have had to do once or twice. Also, if you wanted it to have all the things you mentioned, why did you buy this device? The ad states pretty clearly that the apps market that this device uses is Getjar. And, once again, you get what you pay for. BTW, there are many apps on the Amazon Apps Market that work just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I had mine given to me and wasn't really sure what to expect, but wasn't terribly impressed. It makes an OK media player. And yes, I ended up resetting it and getting the browser back.
As for 1 Mobile Market, good to know, will try it. Thanks. For everyone who has it: is it "pre rooted"? like, when you connect with ADB do you get a root shell, or do i have a weird one?

hmmm I wonder if SlideMe market would work as well, I think all skytex devices come with root already its one of there monkiers, I just wish the dev community would pick a couple up and throw ROM's at em cheap devices that work well as gifts but have crappy stock roms
right now my daughter is using one as mp3 player and using amazon market on it but she calls me everyday and I have to tell her reset, Im just going to start answering the phone, "reset it"

I have tried myself with the Gapps and i managed to install them by installing the market vending. Youtube doesnt work, and by that I mean that the video doesnt play. Which I cant understand because mobile youtube can play just fine. Plus from what I can remember it disables its own lockscreen and the home button ceases to work and a factory reset is the only answer. Defiantly a unique situation and ridiculous as well. How does all that happen from just installing the market? A clusterf**k of BS is all I can say about it. These low grade tablets are mostly hopeless to get properly suited with G apps so Im at a loss for anything else to do.

[Q] downgrade to HTC sense 4

Hello Everybody,
Im having a very frustrating experience. I just had my htc one x replaced by at&t after damaging the screen. I actually bought a new screen to put it on myself but when I was expressing nervousness about installing it (despite doing it fine before on a previous device) somebody else in my family called at&t and bought me a $99 replacement using the replacement plan as a present and a favor. It's the same exact physical phone as my old one, but things are different on it, and I don't like it. I figured out the issue is that the phone came shipped with HTC sense version of atleast 5 (found this by googling pics) while my old phone had 4. I like 4.. not 5.
Don't even get me started on why. Biggest thing is changing from 5 or 6 home pages to scroll through to only 3. I loved having the space. I never even used the app menu, haha.
Of course, looking it up now this seems to be a pain. Ive been sitting here for hours and this data is so hard to get through because of HTCs airheaded desicion to have 6 different phones with the same name. I feel like im going insane with contradictory info and google just not delivering due to the confusing names. I keep getting info for the desire x, too.
My main question is: I have an at&t htc one x and I need to downgrade to sense version 4. How do i do it, and can somebody point me to the correct video (preferred) or thread for this task for my phone? I don't care how much of a pain it is I will figure it out. I'm also terrified I can't do it because I've been hearing rubbish about the at&t version of this phone...
Im so frustrated. Isn't android based on linux? So why is everything so closed and proprietary? Open source being used to make money and force people to have one version of a program? Not having control over what I have on my device and being able to customize it how I choose to the point where I am forced into a new version of software I don't like? Oh and not to mention that I can't uninstall facebook and twitter which I don't use. I hate this. I loved my phone but this is making me so angry. This is the exact thing I HATE about certain electronics. I want to have things how I want them, it's mine. I'm picky. I like customizing all my things and having them to suit me. I'm a control freak with computers.... end rant.
Thank you very much for any help,
Nichyun
*flower bouquets for helpers*

Nichyun said:
Hello Everybody,
Im having a very frustrating experience. I just had my htc one x replaced by at&t after damaging the screen. I actually bought a new screen to put it on myself but when I was expressing nervousness about installing it (despite doing it fine before on a previous device) somebody else in my family called at&t and bought me a $99 replacement using the replacement plan as a present and a favor. It's the same exact physical phone as my old one, but things are different on it, and I don't like it. I figured out the issue is that the phone came shipped with HTC sense version of atleast 5 (found this by googling pics) while my old phone had 4. I like 4.. not 5.
Don't even get me started on why. Biggest thing is changing from 5 or 6 home pages to scroll through to only 3. I loved having the space. I never even used the app menu, haha.
Of course, looking it up now this seems to be a pain. Ive been sitting here for hours and this data is so hard to get through because of HTCs airheaded desicion to have 6 different phones with the same name. I feel like im going insane with contradictory info and google just not delivering due to the confusing names. I keep getting info for the desire x, too.
My main question is: I have an at&t htc one x and I need to downgrade to sense version 4. How do i do it, and can somebody point me to the correct video (preferred) or thread for this task for my phone? I don't care how much of a pain it is I will figure it out. I'm also terrified I can't do it because I've been hearing rubbish about the at&t version of this phone...
Im so frustrated. Isn't android based on linux? So why is everything so closed and proprietary? Open source being used to make money and force people to have one version of a program? Not having control over what I have on my device and being able to customize it how I choose to the point where I am forced into a new version of software I don't like? Oh and not to mention that I can't uninstall facebook and twitter which I don't use. I hate this. I loved my phone but this is making me so angry. This is the exact thing I HATE about certain electronics. I want to have things how I want them, it's mine. I'm picky. I like customizing all my things and having them to suit me. I'm a control freak with computers.... end rant.
Thank you very much for any help,
Nichyun
*flower bouquets for helpers*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont think you quite understand how android works. You dont need to use the Sense homescreen if you dont want to. Install Nova Launcher (or any launcher) from the Play Store and you can customize it however you want. Theres no way to downgrade Sense without rooting. As for uninstalling Facebook and Twitter, you should be able to "disable" them in Settings>Apps. If you truly want an open experience with Android, you will have to root and install CyanogenMod, PA, SlimKat or one of the many other custom ROMs available. However, it is not something you can just follow a simple video to do. I'm not even sure the latest AT&T software is rootable. Someone else will have to chime in there.

ThisWasATriumph said:
I dont think you quite understand how android works. You dont need to use the Sense homescreen if you dont want to. Install Nova Launcher (or any launcher) from the Play Store and you can customize it however you want. Theres no way to downgrade Sense without rooting. As for uninstalling Facebook and Twitter, you should be able to "disable" them in Settings>Apps. If you truly want an open experience with Android, you will have to root and install CyanogenMod, PA, SlimKat or one of the many other custom ROMs available. However, it is not something you can just follow a simple video to do. I'm not even sure the latest AT&T software is rootable. Someone else will have to chime in there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really dont get it, I guess thats why i posted here, ill admit that. Thanks for the info... I'll look into all of that. I don't want to try to root the phone though, I' rather get used to it, I suppose. I dont want to mess it up, not worth it. It is frustrating to me that I cant delete certain apps because they're really big and there is no sd card slot in this phone so I run out of memory. I feel like facebook and twitter is everywhere it pushes itself on people which bothers me...
I guess this question could be considered answered because I figured out I dont want to do it any more.

Nichyun said:
I really dont get it, I guess thats why i posted here, ill admit that. Thanks for the info... I'll look into all of that. I don't want to try to root the phone though, I' rather get used to it, I suppose. I dont want to mess it up, not worth it. It is frustrating to me that I cant delete certain apps because they're really big and there is no sd card slot in this phone so I run out of memory. I feel like facebook and twitter is everywhere it pushes itself on people which bothers me...
I guess this question could be considered answered because I figured out I dont want to do it any more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apps installed on the phone do not take up your main phone storage. There are two separate disk partitions. The first one is ~2GB and holds your OS and applications. The second is ~10GB and holds your pictures, videos, external app data etc. Thats what an SD card would add on to if we had one. Installing more apps (that don't have extra parts, games often do for example) won't take up anymore of that space though. (however it is possible to install apps to the SD card) Anyways, like I said you can go into settings and "disable" any apps you don't want to show up in the app drawer anymore.

Who else is ready to return the phone if we can't root?

I'm a little conflicted with this as I actually like the v20. Who else is going to be returning the phone if we can't get a root method? I've tried to consider keeping it, even without, but I absolutely hate ads.
For those in the know, how is it looking? What are the prospects? I've kept up with the dev threads and I'm not sure how to judge this. I'm new to the LG dev scene.

codman2728 said:
I'm a little conflicted with this as I actually like the v20. Who else is going to be returning the phone if we can't get a root method? I've tried to consider keeping it, even without, but I absolutely hate ads.
For those in the know, how is it looking? What are the prospects? I've kept up with the dev threads and I'm not sure how to judge this. I'm new to the LG dev scene.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with you bro....

Thanks
netgar said:
I'm with you bro....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's even worse is that if there is something discovered it seems it will be very close or after the return period in my case. But I guess those are the cards!

the phone hasn't even been officially released yet. honestly you just need to relax a little. we know the bootloader can be unlocked on the t-mobile variant. so hopefully root will soon follow. but seriously you just need to give the devs some time to spend some time with the phone. with that being said even if they aren't able to get root i am still keeping my v20. i love it. way better than when i had the note 7

probablecauzdnb said:
the phone hasn't even been officially released yet. honestly you just need to relax a little. we know the bootloader can be unlocked on the t-mobile variant. so hopefully root will soon follow. but seriously you just need to give the devs some time to spend some time with the phone. with that being said even if they aren't able to get root i am still keeping my v20. i love it. way better than when i had the note 7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not worked up. They have all the time in the world to work on it, no rush. I'm the one who is rushed. And I don't expect them to go any faster than they can. I'd be just fine in going back to my Note 5, but I'd rather not if I don't have to. It's nice to have a change. If I could help the devs I would.

Even if it doesnt get rooted, i will keep it, at least for 8 month or more. On ther other hand, i truly hope they manage to root not only Tmobile's variant (I own the tmobile's variant), but also at least 3 or 4 of the other variants. That way we can have more devs interested and joining the LG V20 Wagon . When a device's bootloader is unlocked only for 1 variant and locked for the others and if root is not achieved in the locked variants, then there are significantly less development on the phone, since only the variant able to be rooted will be truely open for developments, and the other devs in other variants would say "Meh" i skip it.

I would love root as well, I've been rooting my phones since the HTC 3G slide days. And along the way I've accumulated many apps that are a must have for me. That said, I think the features and functionality of this phone outweighs those must have apps. I could 'enjoy' this phone without root.
As far as if root with for sure be coming to this device? That's anyone's guess, it could take as long as a few months to acquire a real solution to root. There is also the development aspect of this to consider as well. While we will have people devoted to getting root and attempting to make ROM's/mods, Android N is brand new.
It's a toss up if we'll see root, than it's a question of how much development we'll see once a root solution has been found. So basically one need to ask themselves if attaining root solution is really necessary in keeping this phone. I personally see stock LG very pleasant to play with.

joseguillen1994 said:
Even if it doesnt get rooted, i will keep it, at least for 8 month or more. On ther other hand, i truly hope they manage to root not only Tmobile's variant (I own the tmobile's variant), but also at least 3 or 4 of the other variants. That way we can have more devs interested and joining the LG V20 Wagon . When a device's bootloader is unlocked only for 1 variant and locked for the others and if root is not achieved in the locked variants, then there are significantly less development on the phone, since only the variant able to be rooted will be truely open for developments, and the other devs in other variants would say "Meh" i skip it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, I would love to see an unlocked bootloader for all carriers. That is the primary reason I am with Tmobile. I can't stand being deprived simple filesystem access to my own device. But in this case, I'd be just fine with just root if the devs don't jump on board. I mean I love flashing custom roms, but this stock rom is great (for once). I just want adaway!!!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the Pixel has been rooted yet either. And since there are only two devices out now that have shipped with both Nougat, and the duplicated system partition for background updates, there remains quite of but of work to get SuperSU working.

aaldiar said:
I would love root as well, I've been rooting my phones since the HTC 3G slide days. And along the way I've accumulated many apps that are a must have for me. That said, I think the features and functionality of this phone outweighs those must have apps. I could 'enjoy' this phone without root.
As far as if root with for sure be coming to this device? That's anyone's guess, it could take as long as a few months to acquire a real solution to root. There is also the development aspect of this to consider as well. While we will have people devoted to getting root and attempting to make ROM's/mods, Android N is brand new.
It's a toss up if we'll see root, than it's a question of how much development we'll see once a root solution has been found. So basically one need to ask themselves if attaining root solution is really necessary in keeping this phone. I personally see stock LG very pleasant to play with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a little later than that. I think my first root was the HTC Evo. I agree that for once the stock experience here is pretty satisfying. I could deal with it, if I could only get rid of all those ads. I just can't do it. Pop ups and junk everywhere throughout the whole OS. I haven't seen an ad is so long I'm a little shell shocked.
I expected it to be a toss up with Android N. I knew this might happen, but we always hope for the best.

codman2728 said:
I agree, I would love to see an unlocked bootloader for all carriers. That is the primary reason I am with Tmobile. I can't stand being deprived simple filesystem access to my own device. But in this case, I'd be just fine with just root if the devs don't jump on board. I mean I love flashing custom roms, but this stock rom is great (for once). I just want adaway!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heck yeah!! I need adaway! And slim pie, and greenify, and TITANIUM BACKUP (GOD! ) , and a couple of things more. also, i would love for lg to create many themes and then they can keep updating them and make them compatible with future devices so that it doesnt stop just in few months. Also to add more options to the second screen such as display notifications entirely one by one. I wonder if LG has a page to send suggestions and feeback . I would make LG V20 the greatest device ever LOL!

NotATreoFan said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the Pixel has been rooted yet either. And since there are only two devices out now that have shipped with both Nougat, and the duplicated system partition for background updates, there remains quite of but of work to get SuperSU working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are the days I wish I was an Android dev. This is the kind of challenge in programming that is usually fun. Brand new territory.

codman2728 said:
I'm a little conflicted with this as I actually like the v20. Who else is going to be returning the phone if we can't get a root method? I've tried to consider keeping it, even without, but I absolutely hate ads.
For those in the know, how is it looking? What are the prospects? I've kept up with the dev threads and I'm not sure how to judge this. I'm new to the LG dev scene.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you going to get if this isn't able to be rooted? The options are few.

joseguillen1994 said:
Heck yeah!! I need adaway! And slim pie, and greenify, and TITANIUM BACKUP (GOD! ) , and a couple of things more. also, i would love for lg to create many themes and then they can keep updating them and make them compatible with future devices so that it doesnt stop just in few months. Also to add more options to the second screen such as display notifications entirely one by one. I wonder if LG has a page to send suggestions and feeback . I would make LG V20 the greatest device ever LOL!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah Titanium Backup would have been extremely helpful! I find that I didn't install half the backed up apps though, so that's something. I guess I didn't need a lot of that junk. LOL I'm usually first in on Viper4Android as well, but for once I don't think that it is a necessity. I haven't even played with themes yet. Thanks for reminding me. Second screen is surprisingly useful. I love flipping through songs on spotify with the screen off. I also love how you can see the full notification text there sometimes, instead of it being broken up line by line. I do find myself trying to pull down the drawer from there though, even when the phone is in landscape!

douger1957 said:
What are you going to get if this isn't able to be rooted? The options are few.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll probably just crawl back to my Note 5. The s-pen gets stuck sometimes, and the charge port is wonky, but it's like an old friend. The dev community for it seems to have dried up a bit though. But I'm ok using a solid daily driver rom with adaway and viper4android on that phone. I don't need to be a flashaholic anymore.

codman2728 said:
Yeah Titanium Backup would have been extremely helpful! I find that I didn't install half the backed up apps though, so that's something. I guess I didn't need a lot of that junk. LOL I'm usually first in on Viper4Android as well, but for once I don't think that it is a necessity. I haven't even played with themes yet. Thanks for reminding me. Second screen is surprisingly useful. I love flipping through songs on spotify with the screen off. I also love how you can see the full notification text there sometimes, instead of it being broken up line by line. I do find myself trying to pull down the drawer from there though, even when the phone is in landscape!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldnt install about 15 apps that required root, now i only have 35 apps (my apps, the others are system apps) Which is why my battery drain seems reasonable LOL i mean, im surprissed it last more than a day given the fact that many of my apps are constantly synchronizing and i leave gps on and do some camera shots and videos, and also am constantly turning it on and off to see notifications and all that, and play music. Today i did all that. And my battery is in 68% . I bet greenify could make it even better. BUT I NEED ADAWAY! Everytime i go to Chrome and go to some website that has many ads and pop-ups it annoys me that much. Im about to download another browser, I think firefox has the ability of addons in android . Also, there are some apps with ads too.

joseguillen1994 said:
I couldnt install about 15 apps that required root, now i only have 35 apps (my apps, the others are system apps) Which is why my battery drain seems reasonable LOL i mean, im surprissed it last more than a day given the fact that many of my apps are constantly synchronizing and i leave gps on and do some camera shots and videos, and also am constantly turning it on and off to see notifications and all that, and play music. Today i did all that. And my battery is in 68% . I bet greenify could make it even better. BUT I NEED ADAWAY! Everytime i go to Chrome and go to some website that has many ads and pop-ups it annoys me that much. Im about to download another browser, I think firefox has the ability of addons in android . Also, there are some apps with ads too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Firefox now myself. It does support several ad blocking addons and seems to work pretty well.

NotATreoFan said:
I'm using Firefox now myself. It does support several ad blocking addons and seems to work pretty well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for confirming that. The sad part is that i cannot import all my information from chrome to mozilla. But well.. As a temporary measure, it is great! :good:

joseguillen1994 said:
I couldnt install about 15 apps that required root, now i only have 35 apps (my apps, the others are system apps) Which is why my battery drain seems reasonable LOL i mean, im surprissed it last more than a day given the fact that many of my apps are constantly synchronizing and i leave gps on and do some camera shots and videos, and also am constantly turning it on and off to see notifications and all that, and play music. Today i did all that. And my battery is in 68% . I bet greenify could make it even better. BUT I NEED ADAWAY! Everytime i go to Chrome and go to some website that has many ads and pop-ups it annoys me that much. Im about to download another browser, I think firefox has the ability of addons in android . Also, there are some apps with ads too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to count. But with more than a dozen albums downloaded from Spotify, all my apps and media, my storage space is great with the stock 64GB and no SD. It's kind of mind blowing. Same here with the battery as well. I've been using it all day, listening to music, surfing the web, texting, youtube, etc. I'm still at 72 percent. It beats the Note 5 for sure.

NotATreoFan said:
I'm using Firefox now myself. It does support several ad blocking addons and seems to work pretty well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With not being able to block them system wide I'll have to start looking into things like this more. I love Firefox. It's all I use on PC. Great suggestion. Thanks!