Database Info

YouMail Sleep issues

I have been using YouMail's service on my phones for quite some time and was excited to see there was an app for Android, but after 2+ months of use (and several versions of the .apk, including the most recent Beta) I am still experiencing 100% awake time when the app is running.
If I kill it my phone will immedietly because to sleep normally. But each time I receive a phone call or open the app it will keep the phone from sleeping again.
I have been in contact with their support (which is how I received the Beta version) and have been sending Dumps their way, but was wondering if anyone else is experiencing this issue.
Info: Running Fresh 1.1 on a newly 1.56 RUU'ed hero.

crunchybutternut said:
I have been using YouMail's service on my phones for quite some time and was excited to see there was an app for Android, but after 2+ months of use (and several versions of the .apk, including the most recent Beta) I am still experiencing 100% awake time when the app is running.
If I kill it my phone will immedietly because to sleep normally. But each time I receive a phone call or open the app it will keep the phone from sleeping again.
I have been in contact with their support (which is how I received the Beta version) and have been sending Dumps their way, but was wondering if anyone else is experiencing this issue.
Info: Running Fresh 1.1 on a newly 1.56 RUU'ed hero.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I stopped using the app because of this. I tried contacting support and was brushed off. I love the app but not the lack letting my phone sleep.

I am working with a developer of the app to fix the problem and have tested several versions. Will keep you updated of the progress.

crunchybutternut said:
I am working with a developer of the app to fix the problem and have tested several versions. Will keep you updated of the progress.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be great. Thanks for helping him out with this as I would love to use the app.

I don't mean to thread jack this, but.
Whats the difference in YouMail and our Sprint Visual Voice Mail? I have never used youMail.

Kcarpenter said:
I don't mean to thread jack this, but.
Whats the difference in YouMail and our Sprint Visual Voice Mail? I have never used youMail.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YouMail http://www.youmail.com/home/index.do is a service that replaces Sprint's (or any other provider) voice mail service with their own. It allows you to set custom "smart" greetings for each caller in your contacts, among other things. Check out the site for more info.

Here is the latest response from the developer I have been working with.
Hi [Name],
I did some more research and can confirm that I see the same behavior as you when I run the YouMail app ('active' @ 100%)
I'm not exactly sure what the cause is, as the application is indeed going to sleep when it has nothing to do. The problem also seems to be quite widespread, affecting what seems to be "most" applications that loiter around in the background doing nothing for most of the time.
Since you use 'Spare Parts' you should notice that in there is a way of viewing the 'Partial Wake Lock' usage of a given application. According to the Android developer documentation this is the ONLY way an application can keep the phone "awake" other than 'prodding' it every 30 seconds or so (and you'd notice that 'coz the screen would never go off).
As long as that "Partial Wake Lock" value is low (and it should be unless you're constantly hitting "Menu -> Poll") it means the application is indeed behaving correctly.
All I can offer is that we develop a new feature into the app so that you can tell it to automatically exit when all of the automatic polling settings are disabled - that way the phone would literally shut down the app "sometime" after you back out of the message list. Do you think that's worth it? Or should we wait for HTC/T-Mobile to fix the root cause of the problem?
Doug
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And my response:
Do you mind if I share some of our conversation with a community forum? It might help get others involved and more feedback for you to use in further development.
As far as other apps loitering in the background, my understanding is that Android (using the same process as other Linux distros) keeps recently used applications in RAM to make them more quickly accessible to the user, and will clear them as the RAM is needed by other apps.
I have seen this issue in the past with other apps (i.e. the HTC messaging app locking the dialer and maintaining 100% awake time) but has all been resolved by updates to the apps themselves.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lastly, his response:
Feel free, I don't think I said anything bad
I we get enough requests from "the community" I'll be given time to add the 'exit when done' option (basically it'll become a "dumb" app that only checks for messages when you start it up instead of waking up every so often to check [like after you miss a call])
And yes, Android is a little stranger than normal in that it tends to leave applications running for an unspecified time after you "close" them. (basically until it needs to run something else, or it runs out of memory, or .....)
The YouMail app is a little different in that it runs as a background service and schedules the phone to wake it up whenever "events of interest" occur (you get a TXT, your phone rings, it needs to poll, etc) - so even if the OS does close the app because you logged onto "hugebitmaps.com" and the phone ran out of memory, it'll start it up again as soon as it can.
I suspect the HERO OS is not allowing the phone to sleep, even though the application is literally doing nothing. I don't recall this problem on my trusty G1 when it had Android 1.5, so maybe some of HTC's customizations have broken something
Doug
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can post more of the conversation history if it would help. Anyone have any ideas what might be causing this beyond coding issues?
If anyone wants to send their YouMail log for inspection just enter this code in the dialer *#*#963867#*#* (*#*#YMDUMP#*#*) and it will let you send an email with the log's text.

Tried in 2.1 beta
"I suspect the HERO OS is not allowing the phone to sleep, even though the application is literally doing nothing. I don't recall this problem on my trusty G1 when it had Android 1.5, so maybe some of HTC's customizations have broken something "
I also tried using this app on the 2.1 ROM that Flipz and company have been working on, and had the same issue. I do not know enough programing to determine if this is a problem with OS or the app. I can only give you my experience and try other stuff out to see what the results are. I hope this helps.
Kevin

Hi, Doug from YouMail here.
Just noticed my words and thought I'd give an update - although not much good news.
I basically spent the last 2 days completely reworking the YouMail app's back end code so that anything and everything that could possibly be shut down when it isn't actually doing anything is indeed shut down.
When it came time to test it out -- 100% awake time again (although I stand by my earlier comments that "its not just us").
If I run the same app on a HTC G1 the phone will last a good 2 days (maybe more) without battery issues. If I uninstall the app the difference is minor.
This information, added to all the discussion on the Sprint forums about how the HTC "extras" that this phone comes bundled with have caused the same problem leads me to think that there is something in the Hero that's not behaving properly.
I see other comments like "It does the same on my <insert phone model here>" - well, we don't have unlimited resources, so if you can put the small amount of effort in to dial the 'dump' code mentioned above (*#*#963867#*#*) then maybe we can start to find a pattern here (maybe it's all the Android 1.5 based devices for example).
I'd also like to thank crunchybutternut for all of his assistance and time in trying to sort this issue out.
Doug

superman.namrepus said:
I also tried using this app on the 2.1 ROM that Flipz and company have been working on, and had the same issue. I do not know enough programing to determine if this is a problem with OS or the app. I can only give you my experience and try other stuff out to see what the results are. I hope this helps.
Kevin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I can get in touch with someone who has access to the "guts" of the device and that can help me determine whats going wrong then that would be great. Neither the Android developer list nor the HTC forums are particularly helpful when it comes to tricky problems.

Bump
Anyone have some insight on this?

Ok - If someone working on one of these custom builds is prepared to lend a little assistance I'm willing to put a custom build on my phone and try to debug this a little deeper. However, with the number of hours that I get to work on this app.... and all the "fun" blocks that Google have been putting in our way w.r.t Android 2.x, I may not get much more time to work this problem.
That being said, I'm going to try experimenting with a new test app that just adds (one at a time) the raw features of the YouMail app in the hope that a single change triggers this wonderful problem you guys have. If that's the case then I'll put on my Sherlock Holmes hat and try to work around whatever is causing it.
Doug

Any news ?

soundmind said:
Any news ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got this from ymDoug:
No progress as yet - not seen anything from xda folks either.
I've made *massive* changes to ensure the app is shutting down absolutely everything it can when it has nothing to do - still no joy.
I've even gone through a lot of the Android source code and can't find anything that would indicate I'm doing anything wrong. There is one debugging method I'd dearly love to call inside the Google Android code (it dumps out a list of who is keeping the phone awake at any point in time) but the method is only accessible to (a) Google, and (b) People who cook their own ROMs. The official Android people are doing their usual stand-up job of ignoring the difficult questions
I am still making the odd change here and there, and my test app doesn't seem to be having the same problems (of course)
Regardless, there will be an updated version on the web site in the next day or so - I'll need to ensure my changes haven't completely screwed things up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Doug has made some changes, does not seem to completely resolve the sleep issue though.
Here's the link to the change log:
http://forums.youmail.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=18
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FYI: The version in the market is several revisions behind.

Samsung releases GPS "fix" in Market

Samsung just tweeted this:
http://ars.samsung.com/customer/usa...ID=2&PROD_SUB_ID=557&PROD_ID=558&AT_ID=310271
Basically search market for GPSRestore
No idea more then you....
Maybe not really a fix. Who knows.
EDIT - seems to restore to factory default and write to system file. Maybe a stepping stone to other fixes later?

As you said, search for GPSRestore. Don't follow the wonderful advice in the link and search for GPSSamsungRestore, like I did.

Weird - it doesn't even change your supl settings. It left mine pointing at google's server. All it did was change it to Standalone mode.

This doesn't even work. Samsung can't get a Position fix. HAHAHAAHAHAHAHAH

Removed because skinien and Radukk have all the answers
And no sense of humor

Errrrr..
If you read the description you would see that it RESTORES your lbstestmode settings back to FACTORY settings. So how the MOD EDIT does that fix anything again? The factory settings are what sucked from the start.
You guys are hyping up something that is literally 100% worthless.

This really is embarrassing
The galaxy s line was supposed to be samsung's fresh start and chance to redeem themselves and shed their bad reputation with regards to mobile device support. Having watched the debacle this GPS situation and the update situation has become, I think the verdict is in. I really couldn't recommend any samsung mobile device in good conscience.

cappysw10 said:
"During online surveillance, there is an abundance of GPS tweaks that impair GPS performance. Often times, no backup is performed to restore values prior to modifications. Samsung has released an application that restores GPS settings to recommended factory defaults for optinum performance."
Lets break this down:
"During online surveillance" => We don't have a clue how to fix it so we're looking for help from the community
"there is an abundance of GPS tweaks that impair GPS performance" => Apparently they haven't tested any of them because some of the tweaks work.
"Samsung has released an application that restores GPS settings to recommended factory defaults for optinum performance." => Their mispelling. Apparently they are still so convoluted as to think that factory defaults work at all!
Samsung, get your head out of your collective [email protected]@es. We do have to give them a bit of slack though. Being a Korean company we can't expect them to get everything right. Look at how they, South Korea, are handling the current situation with the North.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's break this down:
"During online surveillance" => We don't have a clue how to fix it so we're looking for help from the community
Or, they go online to research issues with the phone to try to fix them. It could be that they can't fix it because it's a hardware issue. Considering that the community doesn't have the driver source, I doubt that they are looking for the community for help.
"there is an abundance of GPS tweaks that impair GPS performance" => Apparently they haven't tested any of them because some of the tweaks work.
I'm sure you've read a lot of the GPS posts. People have mixed results with ALL of the tweaks. Apparently, they are changing the application settings back to standalone. I'm wondering if using MS-Based/Assisted is causing the bad tracking issues. Their app changed the mode back to standalone but left the google supl settings and I still got a fast lock. I'm not sure if I've ever tried navigation with google's supl and standalone mode.
"Samsung has released an application that restores GPS settings to recommended factory defaults for optinum performance." => Their mispelling. Apparently they are still so convoluted as to think that factory defaults work at all!
Your misspelling.
Samsung, get your head out of your collective [email protected]@es. We do have to give them a bit of slack though. Being a Korean company we can't expect them to get everything right. Look at how they, South Korea, are handling the current situation with the North.
Has nothing to do with Android. Save this for another forum.

cappysw10 said:
Samsung, get your head out of your collective [email protected]@es. We do have to give them a bit of slack though. Being a Korean company we can't expect them to get everything right. Look at how they, South Korea, are handling the current situation with the North.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you expect South Korea Companies should handle military issues? That is not related unless you want make this as racism blaiming all Koreans.
Anyway this app keep failing on last stage saying get on the clear sky even I am on, full HSPA signal. JM9 modem fix might be help to me.

GalaxySsupport ATTN #CAPTIVATE users: We've created an app to help optimize GPS. Go to the Android Market & search "GPSRestore Samsung" http://ow.ly/3hEpr
LOL they are getting spammed back from everyone saying it doesn't work on Twitter

I think they are trying to create a way to establish a baseline... so if you walk into AT&T and say your GPS doesn't work, they now have a way to "test" it.
"Oh look it got a lock; thanks! Buh bye"

This isn't going to fix anything, huh? I'll give it a shot anyway, I suppose. If it doesn't work, @GalaxySsupport deserves to be spammed!

stuff said:
Errrrr..
If you read the description you would see that it RESTORES your lbstestmode settings back to FACTORY settings. So how the MOD EDIT does that fix anything again? The factory settings are what sucked from the start.
You guys are hyping up something that is literally 100% worthless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hope you don't mind, but I just posted this quote on samsungs twitter page. I agree 100%! Well said.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

the app download page in the market has the developer phone number and email.....
just saying .........

On a completely different note:
If you look at those GPS coordinates from the app screenshots posted on Samsung's site, it's clear that the "fix" came from Samsung, Korea
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&sou...27.063665&sspn=0.026336,0.043559&ie=UTF8&z=17

i've installed the app and my Captivate is locking on to satellites instantly. I have it running GPS Test and the accuracy is about the same as my Tab on this rainy day on the MS coast. I hope it continues to stay like this and not flake out in a couple days.

Funny that they have the time and manpower to put forth effort into making an app that restores tweaked gps settings to their factory settings but apparently none to put towards admitting there's a problem with said settings or doing anything productive to fix them.
For my next business venture, I'm going to sell condemned houses as "new" and then offer people a visit from a wrecking crew to restore their house back to a demolished state should they try and rebuild it themselves...

mr. haison said:
i've installed the app and my Captivate is locking on to satellites instantly. I have it running GPS Test and the accuracy is about the same as my Tab on this rainy day on the MS coast. I hope it continues to stay like this and not flake out in a couple days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm rooted and running Cog.v2.3b6 and my GPS has been working pretty damn well for a while. I'm interested in running this new app just for s&g's to see if it can improve it anymore. Will being rooted and running that version of Cog hinder my ability for this "fix" to work??

Check out this video, the Samsung Continuum has great GPS performance (accuracy anyway).
The video compares the Samsung EPIC 4G, Captivate (before and after this GPS Restore), and Continuum. There is definately some issue with the Captivate/Vibrant compared to their CDMA cousins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piTGDFeerv8&feature=player_embedded#!

GPSRestore did NOT switch to Standalone for me!?!
After reading here how the only thing the GPSRestore did for some was to change the Operation Mode to Standalone, I thought I would try Standalone mode by itself. I made the change and then got distracted and came back and downloaded GPSRestore and ran it. Then I went outside and tried to acquire a lock. FAIL.
Then I went and changed the Operation Mode back to MS-Based and got a lock within 10-15 s. This is about what I was getting prior to messing around, although the accuracy is subpar (16.4 - 32.8 feet). With a Bluetooth GPS receiver I can consistently get ridiculous accuracies (2.7 feet) that appear real on Google Maps/Nav.
Just for grins I ran GPSRestore again and it got a lock about as quickly, but when I examined the Operation Mode is was still at MS-Based! It did NOT change it to Standalone as someone else observed (not questioning their observation, just listing mine).

[MOD] Enable "Phone" Features on T-Mobile T869

To give you a little context, I came over to the T869 from the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, which is basically the WiFi-only sibling of the "Plus" T869 that T-Mobile now sells. Being a WiFi only device, it had the "phone" parts of the GUI disabled, like the Phone and Messaging apps won't show up or run and you can't sync BlueTooth headsets. The T869 has the MMS app enabled, but no phone, so the same mod I did on the P3113 is useful on this one.
Thankfully, even though it seems fairly arcane, Wes Foster made a nice utility to make this much easier (and more n00b friendly) to do.
To do this (and other framework mods), first you should pull the framework-res.apk file out of the ROM.zip file you're using. Open the zip and go into /system/framework. In there you'll find framework-res.apk, which you should extract.
Drop that file into the "place-framework-res-here" folder within the Mod tool, then run the tool and enter option 1.
This will unpack the files to the "files-to-edit" folder.
Inside there you'll need to go to \framework-res.apk\res\values\
You'll need to modify the file bools.xml. Find this line and change "false" to "true":
Code:
[B]<bool name="config_voice_capable">false</bool>[/B]
Once you make that change, you're all set to "enable" phone features. You can also make other changes as desired.
Here's a partial guide: http://www.igottadroid.com/ModMarket/Listings/Darkside Agent1621289.html
Once you're done modifying the file, save it, and then run through options 2, 3, and 4 on the mod tool.
Once its done, you'll have a flashable ZIP file named "update.zip" inside the final-zip-file folder.
For extra safety, I reccomend making a copy of the update.zip called revert_framework.zip.
Open this copy in 7-Zip, go into the /system/framework folder, and delete the framework-res.apk file there. Replace it with the unmodified one from your ROM, then close 7-Zip. Now you have a second "flashable" ZIP that will put the untouched framework back onto your tablet, which comes in handy if you managed to break something and cannot boot
I did not make the tool, and found it in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1823701
I am simply reposting it over here since I found it very helpful

I stumbled across this thread when I was about to ask about the international version...is there any chance you could post a video of this in action? Not that I don't believe this works, but I remember following a thread for the T-Mobile Springboard where a few people said a certain update would allow for phone/SMS, but then others who actively tried were unable to do so because of how T-Mobile picks up the IMEI (and doesn't let you use a phone SIM with a tablet).
If this works (and if it also keeps T-Mobile 4G), then this would be a MUCH better solution than buying an international 7.0 Plus (which is not only ~$200 more expensive on average but would only work on 2G on T-Mobile US).

Well, the T869 has SMS enabled natively. I got a "data only" pay-as-you-go plan for a 4G / WiFi hotspot earlier this year, and recently got the T869 with a contact. Both of these came with a 10 digit phone number for administrative purposes, and even the hotspot had the ability to receive SMS.
This particular trick doesn't do anything to the back end services themselves, so its not like you magically get phone service just by doing this.
I use a combination of SIP and Google Voice to do phone-type stuff without a phone.
I prefer this hack because it enables the native dialer, and pretty much all the good softphone solutions allow you to "integrate" with the native call log & dialer setup, so you just go to the normal "People" app and click someone's phone # and are then given an option to call them.
Without this hack, you must go into whatever 3rd party app you're using and initiate phone calls from there.
Remember, I initially started doing this on my WiFi Only GT-P3113 (which is basically a T869 without 4G or vibration).
I was never able to get the "Native" messaging app to behave quite right. There's a Google Voice SMS Integration app, and it can sync your GV texting into the native SMS app's text history, but it can't (or couldn't) trigger native SMS notifications correctly.
I am kinda over texting in general, as I have it piped through GoogleTalk. I receive SMS at my GoogleVoice phone #, and they are automatically forwarded to GoogleTalk via a third party web service called GVMax, which is free. GV Max is basically a GoogleVoice to XMPP bridge. After federating in my other IM accounts, GoogleTalk is now my one-stop-shop for textual communications.
Just my $0.02.
Isn't the "International" version so-called because its got a quad band radio that works on like any carrier?
Also, I have heard (though this is not confirmed) that the "International" edition doesn't come with an IR blaster, whereas the T869 does. I dunno if that's true or something you'd care about, but food for thought
magus57 said:
I stumbled across this thread when I was about to ask about the international version...is there any chance you could post a video of this in action? Not that I don't believe this works, but I remember following a thread for the T-Mobile Springboard where a few people said a certain update would allow for phone/SMS, but then others who actively tried were unable to do so because of how T-Mobile picks up the IMEI (and doesn't let you use a phone SIM with a tablet).
If this works (and if it also keeps T-Mobile 4G), then this would be a MUCH better solution than buying an international 7.0 Plus (which is not only ~$200 more expensive on average but would only work on 2G on T-Mobile US).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Well from what I remember, the reviews I read about the 7.0 Plus were regarding the international version and all of them mentioned an IR blaster - but regardless, that'd be one of my least-used features of the tablet. Kinda disappointed that it'd still only be calls over data - I think I'd pay the extra $200 and suffer 2G speeds (at least until T-Mobile 1900Mhz roll-out comes to Chicago) for GSM calls alone, as I'd rather not deal with a separate data plan or tethering data off my phone to get calls.

magus57 said:
Well from what I remember, the reviews I read about the 7.0 Plus were regarding the international version and all of them mentioned an IR blaster - but regardless, that'd be one of my least-used features of the tablet. Kinda disappointed that it'd still only be calls over data - I think I'd pay the extra $200 and suffer 2G speeds (at least until T-Mobile 1900Mhz roll-out comes to Chicago) for GSM calls alone, as I'd rather not deal with a separate data plan or tethering data off my phone to get calls.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that's kindof a deal breaker. Out here in Portland OR we have 4G in most places, and I'm either at work (in an office) or at home 90% of the time, where I have a high speed WiFi hookup, AND I almost never talk on the phone, so the data-only setup is perfect for guys like me.
GSM only would pretty much make that a dealbreaker, since I suspect the audio quality would be pretty terrible.

DivinityCycle said:
Yeah that's kindof a deal breaker. Out here in Portland OR we have 4G in most places, and I'm either at work (in an office) or at home 90% of the time, where I have a high speed WiFi hookup, AND I almost never talk on the phone, so the data-only setup is perfect for guys like me.
GSM only would pretty much make that a dealbreaker, since I suspect the audio quality would be pretty terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I do have a pretty stable 4G connection wherever I go (except for my brother's apartment, where ALL reception is horrible) or have access to my home's faster Wifi connection, and I don't talk much, I still get much better GSM service everywhere and can still get calls when I have to turn off data to save battery (since I use the data connection quite a bit when I'm away from a charger). And I haven't really had complaints with GSM audio or found voice over 4G/Wifi to be much clearer especially when the person on the other end is usually using GSM too..

I mean if you were doing some sorta data-only internet phone setup like SIP or GrooveIP or something. That's what I am using, and for it to sound alright you need decent bandwidth. Actually I ought to test out my stuff on a 2G connection and see how bad it is Should be interesting!

will this trick work on stock ICS build?

Galaxy t869
Does anyone know if this will allow making "regular" calls using my "regular" SIM CARD?
Thanks,
Jonathan

jon5407 said:
Does anyone know if this will allow making "regular" calls using my "regular" SIM CARD?
Thanks,
Jonathan
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I seriously doubt it, no way to be truly sure without trying it though.

T869UVLG7 ICS phone call hack
Hey I'm one the noobs mentioned in your post. I'm living in the Bahamas and a proud owner of the T869.First I have no idea what the ROM.zip is and whether this is supposed to be done on a desktop or the tab itself.I am rooted but running UVLG7 ICS UPDATE.It'd be awesome if I could get this working .My sim card is data and 3g/4g ready.Could you please /anyone inform. Thanks to u guys with your mod skills they're mad skills.Thanks man

Thanks mate~~
I did this on the T869 originally locked to T-Mobile, and it worked without a problem~!!!!
PS: >>> Be sure to first wipe cache. I skipped that the first time and i almost created an atomic bomb
PPS: >>> Also, the backup revert.zip is a brilliant idea, it's what i used when i messed up the first time!

Hey mate!
thanks again for the tutorial!
I have followed it to completion.
I however, can only do simple things like loading airtime [our networks are prepaid] and check balance,
but I can't seem to be able to make calls
I have an unlocked T869
---------- Post added at 06:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:33 PM ----------
dubblecup said:
Hey I'm one the noobs mentioned in your post. I'm living in the Bahamas and a proud owner of the T869.First I have no idea what the ROM.zip is and whether this is supposed to be done on a desktop or the tab itself.I am rooted but running UVLG7 ICS UPDATE.It'd be awesome if I could get this working .My sim card is data and 3g/4g ready.Could you please /anyone inform. Thanks to u guys with your mod skills they're mad skills.Thanks man
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey,
are you trying to follow the tutorial and are having problems???
Please be a little more clear where you're stuck so we can help

-accidental double post-

Read the thread.
To quote myself: "This particular trick doesn't do anything to the back end services themselves, so its not like you magically get phone service just by doing this."
Also I have upgraded a couple of times since I posted about this crap and no longer use my Samsung (now using a Nexus 7 2013 which is way better)

NEC Terrain Rooting and Flashing Guide

I am starting this thread to be a place for Terrain owners to come for the latest info on how to root and flash their phones. The Terrain is one of the best "rugged" phones on the market, but it has been abandoned by it's manufacturer, leaving owners to find their own solutions to problems and upgrades. This is actually a good thing price wise as you can now buy a brand new Terrain for less then $85. The Terrain has about as of hardware specs as any other ruggedized smartphone on the market currently, but at one third or a 1/4 of the cost. This makes this phone a huge attraction to anyone who is looking for a rugged waterproof phone on a budget and is why this guide is essential for users.
The NEC Terrain still has plenty of life left and this is why we need to come together and find solutions for it. Please feel free to post you success stories in rooting and flashing your terrain to this thread for the benefit of all. Hopefully, will be able to form a complete guide from all the information that get's posted here.
Thanks.

Hi!
I myself just today recieved this phone, and it would be great at least to debloat it.
Previous threads on XDA, just for reference:
NEC Terrain: ADB/CDC Serial Driver, 3e Recovery Password, and Root
[Q] Rooting NEC Terrain
[Q] Unlocking of NEC Terrain SIM/Root

gamerka said:
Hi!
I myself just today recieved this phone, and it would be great at least to debloat it.
Previous threads on XDA, just for reference:
NEC Terrain: ADB/CDC Serial Driver, 3e Recovery Password, and Root
[Q] Rooting NEC Terrain
[Q] Unlocking of NEC Terrain SIM/Root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the post and the links. It appreas that much of the information on these links are still a work in progress. Hopefully this work will continue and we can create a How To guide from this.
For those that may be interested. You can buy the NEC Terrain Unlock on Amazon for $79.99. Here is the link.
http://www.amazon.com/NEC-Terrain-UNLOCKED-WaterProof-DustProof/dp/B00KZPI04S/ref=sr_1_1?s=wireless&ie=UTF8&qid=1405614968&sr=1-1&keywords=nec+terrain
For full specs on this great phone you can go here.
http://www.gsmarena.com/nec_terrain-5553.php

Well, I almost bricked it few days ago. :good:
I read a thread about a patch to unlock GSM in CDMA phones and saw there a code to enter some hidden menu. I entered that menu and messed a little with band settings (wanted to get LTE to work with my operator). Next thing I know Terrain stopped receiving any GSM signal and for next hour I tried to fix it. Factory reset got me 2G signal and that's all.
It turned out that the only way to fully fix it is to re-flash firmware or radio module and as we know that can't be done.

Well, this is not about unlocking or flashing, but it is a solution to another problem I and many other have been having with the predictive text bar blocking critical function keys from being accessed. The predictive txt bar is a function of the Adaptxt keyboard app and disabling it does remove that bar, but the keyboard also loses all special character function, upper case letters and numbers. After trying more then a dozen keyboard apps to replace adaptxt, I found one that works and brings back all keyboard functions without the stupid predictive text bar. It is called TouchPal.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.cootek.smartinputv5&hl=en

Forgive me for this slight OT-posting, but it's not that easy to find people with this device - let alone an unlocked one. I'm located in Germany and the device runs just fine - except for the fact that Tethering does not work - neither USB nor WIFI. The PC can connect to the phone, however the connection in Windows 7 always is shown as being limited (no internet access), while internet on the phone works fine.
GMail - as well as some other functions of google also rarely sync and basically just do so on request, while they sync just fine when being connected to Wifi. And no, background data are not restricted in the settings.
Has anyone experienced something similar?

laserdrome said:
device runs just fine - except for the fact that Tethering does not work - neither USB nor WIFI.
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I have the same problem! After few minutes of "thinking" phone reports "There is a temporary nework problem... bla, bla, bla"
Is there any suggestions how to fix it?

iDomino said:
I have the same problem! After few minutes of "thinking" phone reports "There is a temporary nework problem... bla, bla, bla"
Is there any suggestions how to fix it?
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Well actually I know that message as well. For me changing the APN helped. You could also try to restart the phone. I just remember I also had this problem sometimes. But like I said - even without that particular message I would not get tethering to work.
iDomino: Do you also experience the problem with syncing that I had?

That's funny, actually I haven't noticed syncing problems untill I read your posts. I myself have all the same problems that you mention.
Even more of that, Terrain has some silly feature that TURNS OFF WI-FI if it thinks that that hotspot has no internet connection. It is massively annoying and can drain all your data traffic. The only solution that I found is to install the app "Smart Wi-Fi Toggler", it constantly turns wi-fi on if terrain turns it off, but only in places where I turned wi-fi on myself (like home and work).

It's a pity the phone has so many flaws and due to its tight security and the locked down NEC mobile devision no one can do anything about it. I wonder if this just affects the users who use an unlocked phone outside the US or if people in the US have similar problems. I have tried contacting NEC about this - actually about providing us with some kind of unlock mechanism - but all I got was this:
"Dear Sir,
Thank you for inquiry.
We, however, regret to inform you that our phone is not available about your request.
If you have any issue, would you try to contact the company or shop where you have purchased this model, who might be of help to you.
Thanks and Best Regards,
Fujii /NEC"
By the way, I discovered a new bug: When Roaming the actually used Network-Provider is not shown and I also didn't find a way to choose one...

Do you also experience the problem with syncing that I had?
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I had some sync problems and I don't know working methods to fix it.
First time I solved it this way:
turning off apps sync -> open Gmail app -> it will show notification offering to enable synchronization -> use it -> sync works.
But this solution worked just once. (
Other time sync turns on by itself after one day disabled.
P.S. My Nec reboots while connecting via USB to ubuntu laptop.

Battery life
Can someone tell me how your Terrains battery hold up charge? Because mine discharges completely in about 10 hours (without using phone at all). I think it's wakelock problem.
iDomino said:
P.S. My Nec reboots while connecting via USB to ubuntu laptop.
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Does it crashes once or infinite loop begins? I had infinite loop problem while connecting NEC Terrain to Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Debian or CentOS. Removing "ModemManager" package solved it.

FFDA said:
Can someone tell me how your Terrains battery hold up charge? Because mine discharges completely in about 10 hours (without using phone at all). I think it's wakelock problem.
Does it crashes once or infinite loop begins? I had infinite loop problem while connecting NEC Terrain to Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Debian or CentOS. Removing "ModemManager" package solved it.
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My phone works about 25-30 hours (30 min. calls, 5-10 sms, 30 min. messaging, 2 hours e-mail, internet & other applications. No video/gaming/music at all).
Infinite loop. Removing "modemmanager" helps! Thank you! :laugh:
Also got spontaneous rebooting after installing FTP Client made by Zifero. :silly: Removing app solved the problem.
Dreaming about root and working wi-fi tethering.

Who have usb driver of nec terrain? I need it, thanks

zolahn said:
Who have usb driver of nec terrain? I need it, thanks
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Maybe this topic will help.
Cpu-z shows only 665MB RAM on device... Where are another 335MB???

Lets continue discussion in one thread!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=59514154#post59514154
I created a GitHub repo to collect information, also on how to disable apps (since thats as good as it gets for now).

Another Terrain user here!
Hi guys!
i am Kharl
i am another Nec Terrain user here!
due my lifestyle, i needed a phone which could gives me reliability and power under ANY circunstance, that could be done by any rugged phone, BUT i needed querty keyboard, fm radio, gps, gyroscope, accelerometer, loud speakers, that could work worldwide and touchscreen... the only one with those features was the Terrain... and with the extra, that it is amazingly cool, i dont know opther but i find this phone really cute, very sober and elegant design.
well, i live outside USA so, for me, to work it couldnt be locked to ATT, so i was able to get one unlocked.
my phone has almost all the problems you mentioned, althught i am still happy with it and i am not going to change it because its problems does nto interfere a lot with me, BUT of course id like to get those problems sovled.
trying to solve the problem i bough three of thes phones and all the three had the same problems
the first one was by mistake, locked to att, but it had the same problems, random restart and locked hotspot, i sold it, i got a second one, works with any sim, everything fines, but with the same problem, random restart and no hotspot, i bought a third one to see if the problem was with my particular phone... and n luck the same problems.
it has some other minors problems, like no stereo audio recording despite it has two mics and IT STATES IT CAN record in stereo, but thats not a problem, i can deal with that, and sometimes the people at the other side (while in a call) says my voice sounds like from within a box (lack of trebble or too much bass) and when i press the check too much to the phone boddy there is also clarity sound problem.... but thats ok....
regarding the two main problems
random reboot and hotspot
many of us suspect what the cause is
for the random reboot many could think it is a installe app which is causing it... NO, because it does it at factory state, to solve that i dotn think root is needed, there is a certain factory process that is causin to reboot, the reboot is VERY random, could doit threee times in a day or could happen only three times in a week, what i have notice is that it happe lessoften in cold weather.
the hotspot problem IT IS cause because att locked that function, even when the phone is ulocked, that part remain locked because ATT.
what about you guys?

u can try hard reset for begging

UK- Sky Go app

Since getting the XZ my Sky Go app does not work anymore. I have spoke to the sky tech department said they did not know why, probably that the app is incompatible with the XZ. If anyone else has it working please let me know so I can confirm this.
Sky also said that they would not look into making it compatible unless 5 other users complained. So if you would like to raise the issue with them please call their troubleshooting department and tell them it does not work.
The issue is that when I try and watch any channel I get the buffering screen and then the following error message
A technical problem occurred - please try again later. The media source open timed out.
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The direct number to call from within the UK is 03442411531
F8331, 6.0.1, .213 build. Stock. Provider is '3'

Just installed & tested it over WiFi and mobile (EE)
Same device as yours.
Works here dude

dillalade said:
Just installed & tested it over WiFi and mobile (EE)
Same device as yours.
Works here dude
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Cheers, but thats not the issue. The app loads for me as well, and it plays the ads and sky news. Its every other channel that does not work. The ads and sky news are available even for non sky subscribers.
Try going to the 'on now' section and watching a channel from there. You need a sky subscription, but its that which is not working.
Thanks for trying though

Cool, first time I've used the app (never had a need for it as I use my Slingbox for superior playback & controls.)
However just tried On Now > Gold > Open all hours.
(WiFi and mobile EE)
Phone purchased from Clove hence no network bloatware as such.
Maybe that the difference in our phones or try your phone with somebody's EE SIM if your phone is unlocked, see what happens.
It worked for me

dillalade said:
Cool, first time I've used the app (never had a need for it as I use my Slingbox for superior playback & controls.)
However just tried On Now > Gold > Open all hours.
(WiFi and mobile EE)
Phone purchased from Clove hence no network bloatware as such.
Maybe that the difference in our phones or try your phone with somebody's EE SIM if your phone is unlocked, see what happens.
It worked for me
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Thanks, that confirms for me that the app is compatible with our phones and sky are talking tosh!
I will get back in touch with them and see what happens.

Through inference I assume you bought your phone through your carrie hence the difference is either your SIM. Try another SIM. Or it's your branded EE phone is preventing sky go.

dillalade said:
Through inference I assume you bought your phone through your carrie hence the difference is either your SIM. Try another SIM. Or it's your branded EE phone is preventing sky go.
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Yes, I got it through my carrier, but its 3 not ee.
All 3 phones come unlocked so I could try another sim, but I cannot imagine why 3 would block it, and sky didn't say anything about it being an issue.... And that would not make a difference on wifi anyway.

I resolved this issue by doing a factory reset. I didn't want to do this as I had used my google backup to set up the phone in the initial setup. It seems something from that backup meant that the app wouldn't load the media stream. What I did notice was that vodafonewifi was included in my saved networks and I could not delete it, there was no option to forget it like with other saved networks. After doing the factory reset and restoring everything else other than saved networks it worked.
A right PITA that transferring data from my Z3 to the XZ meant an app couldn't work and that I had to do it all manually....
Thanks for the help anyway

Folks,
I use SkyGo on the Xperia XZ. I have not had any problems whatsoever.
If you have issues, can you send me a DM.
Thanks :laugh:
---------- Post added at 08:56 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:49 AM ----------
gregbradley said:
I resolved this issue by doing a factory reset. I didn't want to do this as I had used my google backup to set up the phone in the initial setup. It seems something from that backup meant that the app wouldn't load the media stream. What I did notice was that vodafonewifi was included in my saved networks and I could not delete it, there was no option to forget it like with other saved networks. After doing the factory reset and restoring everything else other than saved networks it worked.
A right PITA that transferring data from my Z3 to the XZ meant an app couldn't work and that I had to do it all manually....
Thanks for the help anyway
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Aha. I think I know what happened:
When you use SkyGo, there are device specific bits of information stored onto your phone. They are unique to you phone. If you moved these bits of info from a previous phone, you will confuse the SkyGo app (specifically it's content protection systems).