[Q] Rooting/Flashing Chinese Android phones. ups downs do's dont's ? - General Questions and Answers

Hi,
So I want to dump my WP7 phone (i will say no more) and go back to the tinkering world of Android. I am a budget minded shopper who likes the look of all those super cheap Android phones that float around. But going to one of these phones would of course be pointless if I am as stuck with the basic software as I am with WP7.
There are already a few threads on weather it is possible to root these phones, as the general answer seems to be either buy one that is confirmed to work with one of the universal tools... or buy and hope.
There is a thread on the ability to flash but I cant seem to open it, just loads forever, so I hope this isn't too much of a dupe.
Anyway, I am aware roms depend on memory, cpu type, and other internals, but can you match the important specs to the closest western equivalent and then use these roms or is the danger of bricking your phone just too great?
If there is a reasonable chance based on the above thinking, I am thinking along the lines of investing in a sub £100 phone and swallowing the brick i create if it doesn't work out. But if the chances are stupidly small then it is obviously best worth avoiding.
Just looking for some sensible advice on the matter really? Putting the potential quality issues of chinese phones aside for a second is it worth a shot?

Nothing on this?

q+a forum the right place for this?

Related

Question: Would you still buy HTC phones if they were largely Android-based?

Reason for my question? This: http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/22/htc-adopting-android-on-50-of-its-handsets-in-2010/
Going to quite a few iPhone topics here (and made one myself), I know that a lot of you guys here seem to love WinMo (at least more than OSX), so seeing this piece of news was kind of interesting.
As we all know and as the article reiterates, the vast majority of current HTC phones are WinMo-based. The rumor is that it's eventually going to go down to 50%-based with the other 50% being Android. Of course, it's a rumor, but the articles states that HTC is already on the way to being 30% Android-based, so how unlikely is it really?
Now let me go a bit further: As it is, HTC is currently 90% WinMo-based. With the speed at which they seem to be moving (2% to 50% Android-based in one year?), who is to say they won't eventually be 90% Android-based? If this does happen, though, as we see now, XDA could easily simply add the Android-based phones with little issue. On the other hand, as we also see now with Android-based phones, the design may become more limited instead of the numerous designs available for WinMo-based phones.
But...would you guys continue to purchase HTC phones? Is your love of HTC phones all dependent upon the support of XDA-developers or can you simply not switch from WinMo?
Personally, I am pretty OS independent. I can work with any phone. However, if I do have to switch from WinMo, then I would prefer to switch to either iPhone (yeah, yeah, I know) or the Palm Pre (WebOS' increasing popularity and great usability). As it is, I'm not very interested in Android, and Google...has done/say a few things in the past to make me doubt if they'll give proper support to Android. So personally, if HTC does switch to being almost completely Android-based, then truthfully, I probably would not continue purchasing HTC.
ofcourse.
however, i am not "loyal" to any OS or company. whoever makes the best device that suits my needs gets the money.
Well
They would increase their Android models but WM will still be there, so it´s just another option to stay with HTC
Personally I think Android can be good in the future, when they achieve a more mature and solid OS, meantime I´m with WM and of course HTC
crazy talk said:
ofcourse.
however, i am not "loyal" to any OS or company. whoever makes the best device that suits my needs gets the money.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I wasn't referring to company/OS loyalty; my apology if I gave that impression. What I really meant was a question of how much one likes using Windows Mobile vs how much one likes XDA support.
As I said, I'm presuming there's a certain number of people here who likes WinMo, so I'm trying to gauge how many people would stick with HTC in the case of such a large move. From your post, I'm assuming you'll go with the best device regardless of OS or XDA support, though?
orb3000 said:
They would increase their Android models but WM will still be there, so it´s just another option to stay with HTC
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, but I'm guessing one's choices may also become a bit more limited if HTC's Android support increases even further. Look at HTC's list of Android-based phones now. If you happen to not like any of the *three* choices, whether it be due to design, specs, or whatever other reason, then you're pretty much out of luck, aren't you?
On the other hand, if you don't like one HTC WinMo-based phone, you literally have a dozen other choices in various designs and specs to fit your desire.
My Understanding is that MS doesn’t work and listen well with the manufacturer. There are many complains on current WinMo capabilities and how time consuming it is to write application for it. Furthermore complains also go in to the development speed of the WM7 which no one knows anything about it. Therefore some HTC press release could be aiming of putting serious pressure to MS. Furthermore been only on WinMo leads HTC very depended on MS. I believe that is very important point by certain negotiations between HTC and MS.
Therefore it is only understandable that HTC starting put more weight on a second pillar. Besides developing own OS the Android is the best option for HTC for shaping and driving an Operation Platform for their Devices.
Anyhow that Large Companies like HTC, Samsung and some others paying serious attention to Android indicating very bright future for Android. It is most likely now that those companies will speed up the process growing young OS to maturate. WinMo and MS is really under pressure now, if Wm7 doesn’t bring the expected wowww change then it will no other way then to say... Good bye WinMo
Not sure if I really need another OS in the mix. I wouldn't mind a device that can do both Android and WinMo but only Android ... probably not. Then I might as well make the jump to the iPhone.
I certainly wouldn't rule out Android. As somebody who uses a lot of Google's webservices, Android has a definite appeal. There's a few WM-specific apps I'd miss, but the app ecosystem for Android will only improve as time goes one.
However, I've been pretty darn happy with Microsoft's direction lately (Win 7, Zune, and the Xbox 360 are all great products). I wouldn't buy another WM6 device, but I'm definitely going to be following WM7 closely.
I still think HTC has some of the best ID guys in the business (aesthetically I prefer the TD2 and TP2 to anything on the market) and they're very talented and making software tweaks, but they really need to raise the bar for hardware specs and quality if they want me to keep buying HTC devices, regardless of the OS.
edit: And agreeing with coolVariable, I'd love a device that could easily be configured to run either natively. That would be an instant sale from me. I have a feeling MS's licensing wouldn't make it easy, though.
I'd switch in a heartbeat to anything different from HTC/WinMo as long as it's available on my Sprint SERO plan.
Bulldog said:
My Understanding is that MS doesn’t work and listen well with the manufacturer. There are many complains on current WinMo capabilities and how time consuming it is to write application for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, if this is the case, it may explain partly why HTC is betting so much on Android so suddenly. To be honest, if it is the case, I wouldn't be surprised either. I've seen similar techniques employed by other companies in other industries recently too.
Still, corporate shenanigans or not, 50% still seems like a massive shift to me, but I'm guessing the plan might change if their 2009 30% path becomes bumpy.
coolVariable said:
Not sure if I really need another OS in the mix. I wouldn't mind a device that can do both Android and WinMo but only Android ... probably not. Then I might as well make the jump to the iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both Android and WinMo? You mean sort of a dual boot deal or simply a device that can install either Android or WinMo roms? That would be fantastic; I think we can all agree on that. I think we can all agree too that it's unlikely.
8525Smart said:
True, but I'm guessing one's choices may also become a bit more limited if HTC's Android support increases even further. Look at HTC's list of Android-based phones now. If you happen to not like any of the *three* choices, whether it be due to design, specs, or whatever other reason, then you're pretty much out of luck, aren't you?
On the other hand, if you don't like one HTC WinMo-based phone, you literally have a dozen other choices in various designs and specs to fit your desire.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don´t think so, there are so many models with WM to choose from, and there will be more coming.
The actual number of Andorid models is low, and as you said, it will increase, but that is good so more options will be available.
As I said, I´ll stick to HTC WM models, at least in following 2 years...Then we can see what is Android doing and perhaps I can consider...
Great thread!
I think I will continue buying HTC phones even if there was a large Android base, even more than 50%. I like Android and all, and maybe in the future I may even take one myself, but WM is so customizable and i have it just the way i like it and wouldnt change it for anything (except for a newer more powerful device maybe tegra/snapdragon which im holding out for)
I have to give credit where credit is due: if it wasn't for this site, my tp may have been my first and last winmo phone. I wouldnt have the functionality and great experience that i do now without the help of the folks here.
BTW, I think this thread would benefit greatly from a poll, as many dont have the time to post, but everyone has time to vote.
orb3000 said:
I don´t think so, there are so many models with WM to choose from, and there will be more coming.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, currently, but if HTC does shift to majority Android-based phones, then the number of WinMo-based models will inevitably go down (in favor of Android-based models instead), which will then result in a lack of choices.
Nonetheless, I do agree with you. If Android eventually shows more promise, I would reconsider too, but at this point, I still prefer to switch to OSX/WebOS if I have to leave WinMo.
euphoria47 said:
BTW, I think this thread would benefit greatly from a poll, as many dont have the time to post, but everyone has time to vote.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, you're right. I don't know how I missed that simple bit of fact. Unfortunately, I think it's a bit late for me to make a poll now.
P.S. Thank you for the compliment.
8525Smart said:
Well, I wasn't referring to company/OS loyalty; my apology if I gave that impression. What I really meant was a question of how much one likes using Windows Mobile vs how much one likes XDA support.
As I said, I'm presuming there's a certain number of people here who likes WinMo, so I'm trying to gauge how many people would stick with HTC in the case of such a large move. From your post, I'm assuming you'll go with the best device regardless of OS or XDA support, though?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i knew what you were asking. and you are correct. i'll go with the best device regardless of OS or XDA support right now.
i mean, right now im using an IPhone because it was the best for me at the time. and now i want to switch to the Tp2. saying "i won't buy XXXX device because it is made by XXXX company and runs XXXX Operating system severely limits choices.
Why of course!!!!

T-Mobile sneaks "rootkit" into G2 phones - reinstalls locked-down OS after root

T-Mobile sneaks "rootkit" into G2 phones - reinstalls locked-down OS after root
Not that there haven't been preventative measures before, but it looks like the G2 will be "unrootable" to start. Might be something to consider before jumping in with the G2. Very sad as this phone looks like a winner in all other ways.
Here is the original article on BoingBoing.
Hmmm... I'd be interested to know where the original OS ROM is stored, as that would take up a lot of space...
If it's true, then we next find how it "decides" it's rooted, and look at fooling that. If not, look at changing the image to be flashed with a custom ROM or dummy one.
Still failing that, perhaps looking into what calls this chip, and if boot process could be made to skip this.
Something seems strange about this, though I've not researched it properly yet... anyone seen it reported on other sources yet?
pulser_g2 said:
anyone seen it reported on other sources yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://gizmodo.com/5656921/t+mobiles-g2-rootkit-will-reinstall-stock-android-after-a-jailbreak
Master™ said:
http://gizmodo.com/5656921/t+mobiles-g2-rootkit-will-reinstall-stock-android-after-a-jailbreak
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, that links back to XDA, so I had a quick read of the latest... I was considering buying the G2/whatever it's called, but I have now changed my mind.
Yes folks, I just made a purchasing decision based on some silly little security chip, and I encourage others to do likewise. I am sure the security will be broken on it, at which point (if it's a permanent root/custom flash) I would re-consider my position, but as it stands, I refuse to buy it.
I have no idea who decided this was needed, but I certainly will not be buying from them in future. If it's T-Mobile, I will switch network (despite the fact they're a good network in the UK), if HTC I will look to other manufacturers.
[/rant
It's not that much different to what Motorola is doing with the Droid X, Droid 2 and Milestone, where if it detects any meddling it will brick the phone.
But in the long term, it's OUR phones, we can do whatever we please. Trust me it will be bypassed, if a lock can be made by a human, it can be BROKEN by a human. Look at the Desire for example.
They should do what they did with the N1, if the user unlocks the bootloader, and meddles with it until they bugger the phone, and they try sending it back for warranty, it's the users fault.
Just_s said:
Not that there haven't been preventative measures before, but it looks like the G2 will be "unrootable" to start. Might be something to consider before jumping in with the G2. Very sad as this phone looks like a winner in all other ways.
Here is the original article on BoingBoing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Explain to me how write protection == rootkit. In fact, it's quite the opposite - a rootkit (of sorts) allows us to exploit our way into a rootshell and install su to /system/bin/. This is nothing more than clever write-protection in the mmc.
And as usual, HTC is late on delivering the kernel source so we can really see what's up...
pulser_g2 said:
Yes folks, I just made a purchasing decision based on some silly little security chip, and I encourage others to do likewise. I am sure the security will be broken on it, at which point (if it's a permanent root/custom flash) I would re-consider my position, but as it stands, I refuse to buy it.
I have no idea who decided this was needed, but I certainly will not be buying from them in future. If it's T-Mobile, I will switch network (despite the fact they're a good network in the UK), if HTC I will look to other manufacturers.
[/rant
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would HTC look to other carriers?
I ranted about this back in the WinMo days, but XDA is essentially picking up the slack for manufacturer/carrier actions. You said so yourself; you're not considering the G2 for a purchase anymore....until XDA or another dev forum finds a way around the security measure. And you will not buy from them...so long as HTC doesn't work with the carrier anymore, but if sales remain the same, they'll have no reason to stop.
So manufacturers/carriers don't need to change the way they implement security measures, they just need to keep making desirable phones and so long as others pick up the slack, they'll be able to capture the sales of the userbase that likes rooting their phones. This is going to continue being the case -- Android manufacturers will create phones and users will buy the phones on the promise that forums like XDA will make it better.
For real change to occur, sales have to be greatly affected.
Looks like the anti-root movement is beginning to snowball into a full fledged avalanche. I currently have a Droid X and it seems its locked bootloader has cause many devs to give up. Sure we have root and a few roms and themes to get rid of bloatware, but it isn't as great as a full unlock, not to mention lack of a true SBF for OTA 2.2 users.
HTC was going to be my next choice after I got bored with my X in about a year or so (more like 6 months). But it seems now that they've developed this tech for the G2, I'm sure all other carriers will want it on all future HTC devices. As soon a Samsung steps it up and creates their own locked bootloader, we'll all be SOL. What's left? Dell? Sony Ericsson?
Seems like all carriers will only be selling phones with locked bootloaders. I thought HTC was on our side, but the G2 is proof of the contrary. We need a manufacturer that embraces devs. With the recent bootloader unlocking failures seen with the Droid X and the difficulty seen with the Milestone, does anyone here think the development community can overcome the bootloader challenge?
HTC response to G2 complaint
emailed HTC to voice my displeasure. rather than ignoring my email, they felt compelled to reply with some low level, non-commital, and utterly moronic dribble especially in light of t-mobile already having released its lame-o statement. i also find it rather questionable that google had any part in this. too bad that HTC is following the Motorola model of duping folks into thinking they bought a device when all that money actually just buys time-limited, pre-defined functionality.
Without root Android wont be the same, looks like I'll be going back to Winders if this is the direction they are going to take it. They are taking all the fun out of it.

[Q] Kids Rom

I have seen some threads for kids apps. I am interested in finding/building a kids ROM.
My child has a prepaid SIM card and RAZR to be used for certain situations. I would want to be able to let my child carry the phone all the time but restrict what numbers could be called.
So my idea, which can't be an original one, is leverage Android power to install a rooted ROM but run in user mode when I give it to my child. User mode could restrict calling to the phone book only or restrict wi-fi/data access; basically anything that you wanted to restrict or remove. Maybe there could be a ROM builder.
I have many scenarios in mind but maybe they could all be solved by software apps instead of getting into a custom ROM? I'm tech savvy, but haven't ever done a ROM. If the answer is to develop a custom ROM, what device should I choose that would get the most community support? I figure it would be a low end phone, since the point is to make a children's rom.
May I ask how old is your child?
[Sig] dId you know? If you Insert a Coin on your Desire, then it levels up to HD, Z or S :[/Sig]
i was thinking of my son when you mentioned this, it is a great i dea, and i also thought if the original att kid's phone that was out a few years back. it was revamped and it sucked. but good luck on either building one or have some one make one ( put a bounty on it?)
Phones and ROMs
My child is 8 years old. I figure in a few years that it would be fine, but it seems like there would be more of a market for this.
I would put up a bounty for it but I'd prefer to make this a community effort too.
So I will change tack here and ask what the best ROM might be for me to start with and what phones might be recommended? I'm figuring that CM would be easiest to start with, generically?
Thoughts?
I think that is a very good idea.
A good part of that could be accoimplished with a kids theme on an existing ROM.
im sorry but the RAZR is a dumb-phone! it doesnt support 3rd party modding. im afraid you are mistaking the word 'ROM' and actually don't know what it means! You will have no luck finding such ROM for the RAZR... A bootloader of any sort does not exist!
You need a smartphone if you want such a job done, but it requires a investment into a smartphone which are generally more expensive and not intended for 'kids'
I understand...
@olyloh6696: Thanks for looking in on the thread!
You misunderstood what I was explaining. She _currently_ has a RAZR. I want to figure out what the best GSM _android_ phone would be to do the project I'm describing would be. I would of course have to get the new phone; I do understand that the RAZR does not support android (dumbphone).
Any thoughts on phone model or something out there like this already?
rykerwilliams said:
@olyloh6696: Thanks for looking in on the thread!
You misunderstood what I was explaining. She _currently_ has a RAZR. I want to figure out what the best GSM _android_ phone would be to do the project I'm describing would be. I would of course have to get the new phone; I do understand that the RAZR does not support android (dumbphone).
Any thoughts on phone model or something out there like this already?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi
well i guess the best option for a relatively cheap phone (that has android) is the zte blade (in my sig) it is a british phone, but gsm, so i think it should work in the us. if you read reviews for it, it has specs of the desire, nexus one, etc in a cheap budget range. read some revies on it! it also cost £100. Not sure what your budget is though. before you set out to buy the phone, you may need to look up a rom that supports the requirements you want, or you could request one/build your own.
good luck
Unrelated, but the RAZR does support modding lol. Back in the day, pre-Android, I used to hack the hell out of my Razr. There's even a hidden feature called Club Lights that uses the phone's microphone to detect music and make the lights on the phone go with the beat. Youtube it.
That's a great idea... it would be great on a tablet too.
I'm always worried that my son is going to click around in the market and download tons of apps without know it.
Remove Dialer.app, replace with custom Dialer.app
Is the source for the Dialer.app known, i.e. part of the main trunk of the Android sources? I was just thinking that it might not be too hard to just modify that original source to limit it only to the "contacts" tab, that way you can only call the contacts tab.
Another feature I thought of is using some kind of Dynamic DNS client to be able to dial in to the phone.
I was thinking that there could be a "phone home" app that would call home and report the currently used minutes and GPS coordinates, or similar.
Just trying to get the features set worked out and find out if there is existing apps that do this stuff.
2018, quick google search for Kids Custom ROM.... dead thread no progress. There is definitely a market for this, since it's easy to shove a phone into an OtterBox like case and let them have at it with safe guards. My kid has had an Ipad since age 2 without issue. Now she asks for my phone on occasion (years later). It would be easier to just take a custom ROM shove it on a cheap device and give it to her.
Sure, I am a minority, definitely but I can't consider myself the only person who would want to do this.
This is what I'm looking for my child. I'm a software engeneer but I've never works on Android. I think it's not a great works for an Android developer.
I'll follow this post for news.
digging this one up again. anyway to take something like at Nexux 5x and put a totally stripped down version of android on it to achieve something like the lightphone?
nvrpunk said:
2018, quick google search for Kids Custom ROM.... dead thread no progress. There is definitely a market for this, since it's easy to shove a phone into an OtterBox like case and let them have at it with safe guards. My kid has had an Ipad since age 2 without issue. Now she asks for my phone on occasion (years later). It would be easier to just take a custom ROM shove it on a cheap device and give it to her.
Sure, I am a minority, definitely but I can't consider myself the only person who would want to do this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Per capita, there are very few people that actually root or flash custom ROMs, the number of kids that could/would use such a ROM is even less than that, this means it is not worth a developers time and hard work to build a ROM for this purpose, especially considering the plethora of different devices out there in the world. There would not be enough kids using "this" or "that" device with "this" or "that" custom ROM. To be as convenient for kids as what you are asking about, there would have to be a "kids ROM" for a large number of devices. This is not a reasonable expectation by any standard.
Add to that, the fact that rooting devices and flashing ROMs can quickly go bad if the user is not familiar with certain aspects of using a device that is rooted or flashed with a custom ROM, this makes for some rather difficult issues to solve due to user error, ignorance and inexperience of the user.
If you want a "safe" or "basic" ROM for a device, you'll have to learn how to build it yourself because I can promise you that no developer is willing to put that much time and effort into building ROMs that will only be used by a small number of users.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

Sensation XE Lite.. to buy or not to buy..?

Firstly I'm new to Android Smartphones (had nothing worth mentioning since the original Iphone) so please go easy on the tech speak & I apologise if anything I'm asking is blatantly obvious.
I've got approx £300 to spend, and after reading quite a few reviews/comparisons of similarly priced devices this particular one seems to stack up quite well.
I can find almost nothing about about it though on specific phone forums such as this, will you be able to root, install custom roms & overclock this device..? and could anyone that knows point out the good/bad points of it.
Any contributions would be appreciated.
Thanks.
miseryguts said:
Firstly I'm new to Android Smartphones (had nothing worth mentioning since the original Iphone) so please go easy on the tech speak & I apologise if anything I'm asking is blatantly obvious.
I've got approx £300 to spend, and after reading quite a few reviews/comparisons of similarly priced devices this particular one seems to stack up quite well.
I can find almost nothing about about it though on specific phone forums such as this, will you be able to root, install custom roms & overclock this device..? and could anyone that knows point out the good/bad points of it.
Any contributions would be appreciated.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Sensation is a great phone, I love mine. Great dev support, lots of ROMs and kernels to choose from. It can be overclocked. I am sticking with it and not going to the HTC One series since imho they have made a foolish decision to remove the SD slot and seal the battery in so it cannot be replaced.

root-friendly devices; used and/or cheap sources ??

Speaking as an aspiring tinkerer with a practically non-existent budget, I would like to ask:
Are there any tricks/tips/pointers that anyone is willing to share for finding devices that are root-friendly AND maximally affordable ??
What I seek need not be new, can have an older OS like 4.x, and really all I care about is that it remains fully functional and not broken/beaten badly.
I have visited Swappa a bunch of times and see that most unlocked devices there are in the over $100 range.
For this old guy, even $50 is a stretch - and the device would have to be a very good one for even that much to be spent.
In a perfect world I'd love to get my hands on a GSM phone device with a 4" screen that is unlocked (or AT&T friendly) and rootable so that I can use it with my cheapie phone service and also via Wifi at home.
In the real world I will be very happy with even a carrier-locked CDMA device which can be rooted - but has a 4" screen.
There must be devices like these around, given how many are replaced daily by folks who NEED to have the newest of everything ?!?
I will very much appreciate any helpful info that anyone is willing to share.
Thanks.
vtsnaab said:
I hope this is an OK query for here...
Speaking as an aspiring tinkerer with a practically non-existent budget, I would like to ask:
Are there any tricks/tips/pointers that anyone is willing to share for finding devices that are root-friendly AND maximally affordable ??
I have visited Swappa a bunch of times and see that most unlocked devices are up in the over $100 range.
For this old guy, even $50 is a stretch - and the device would have to be a very good one for even that much to be spent.
In a perfect world I'd love to get my hands on a GSM phone device with a 4" screen that is unlocked (or AT&T friendly) and rootable so that I can use it with my cheapie phone service and also via Wifi at home.
I will very much appreciate any info that anyone is willing to share.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are not going to get anything "very good" for $50, or $100, for that matter.
maybe could get some off brand junk for that price.
if thats all you are willing to spend, and expect it to be good, smart phones probably arent for you.
Hmmm...
Fascinating reply:
bweN diorD said:
you are not going to get anything "very good" for $50, or $100, for that matter.
maybe could get some off brand junk for that price.
if thats all you are willing to spend, and expect it to be good, smart phones probably arent for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have multiple LG devices - none of which cost over $20 and they are quite satisfactory EXCEPT that they have screens too small for my comfort - and squinting at tiny screens is unpleasant.
The Alcatel device I just bought was even cheaper - and has a very nice 4" screen - but thus far there is no working method to root it to be found.
For someone on a very limited budget there is a simple key that I have seen to work very well:
Most folks are quite overcome with some NEED for the latest & greatest stuff; this results in the 'older' stuff (like v4.x devices) being put out at fire sale prices.
The Alcatel phone I just got was marked down from $70 to a mere $5 simply because it has the 'old' v4.x in it.
Referring to my OP - I did ask for pointers, yes - but I did not ask to be publicly criticized due to my age or financial (in-)abilities.
Thus far I am doing quite well with my tinkering efforts and it is a very pleasant little hobby for me; I am fine with things like older OSes and have no desire to have the fanciest, or newest stuff - I just want stuff that works fully.
This (IMO) means that any Android device I have needs to be rooted - and as such:
My 'ancient', $20 LG-L38C with v 2.3.6 can do some nifty tricks that its newer cousin with v 4.x cannot do a'tall.
Good thing I'm not allergic to cheap, old stuff, yes ??
Thanks.
PS:
By 'very good' I mean used is OK - but beaten to death is not OK; this was not meant to imply anything fancy or super-duper.
vtsnaab said:
Fascinating reply:
I have multiple LG devices - none of which cost over $20 and they are quite satisfactory EXCEPT that they have screens too small for my comfort - and squinting at tiny screens is unpleasant.
The Alcatel device I just bought was even cheaper - and has a very nice 4" screen - but thus far there is no working method to root it to be found.
For someone on a very limited budget there is a simple key that I have seen to work very well:
Most folks are quite overcome with some NEED for the latest & greatest stuff; this results in the 'older' stuff (like v4.x devices) being put out at fire sale prices.
The Alcatel phone I just got was marked down from $70 to a mere $5 simply because it has the 'old' v4.x in it.
Referring to my OP - I did ask for pointers, yes - but I did not ask to be publicly criticized due to my age or financial (in-)abilities.
Thus far I am doing quite well with my tinkering efforts and it is a very pleasant little hobby for me; I am fine with things like older OSes and have no desire to have the fanciest, or newest stuff - I just want stuff that works fully.
This (IMO) means that any Android device I have needs to be rooted - and as such:
My 'ancient', $20 LG-L38C with v 2.3.6 can do some nifty tricks that its newer cousin with v 4.x cannot do a'tall.
Good thing I'm not allergic to cheap, old stuff, yes ??
Thanks.
PS:
By 'very good' I mean used is OK - but beaten to death is not OK; this was not meant to imply anything fancy or super-duper.
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lol,
good luck with your search.
if you get your panties in a bunch over some constructive criticism, you can probably add xda to the list of things not for you.
btw, the phones you mentioned were junk new, and that hasn't changed now that there not.
perhaps your query should have been something to the effect of, looking for a cheap low end device that can be rooted. that would have been more consistent of what you are trying to find.
either way, if you continue to post that you want something very good, and post a price expectation of $50, you are unlikely to get any constructive responses.
Title & OP edited to reflect a more exacting query as suggested.
Bunched panties are for younger folks who have things to prove or that perhaps enjoy arguments;
Some of us older folks just want to have a happy life & to leave that stuff alone.

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