I need to know if I can use an Android phone JUST for the PDA functionality - It would be used on WiFi only, and never for phone calls.
I know the simple answer seems to be 'yes', but has anyone actually done it? I'm worried that some phones might require activation before even getting into the phone (like my Fascinate did.) I know you can dial a keypad combination in the dialer to override that, but this is going to be for my 68 year old father who just wants the advanced GPS functionality (logging, geotagging photos) for use with offline GPS programs like CoPilot or Sygic, along with whatever other non-internet-connected apps he might want to use.
Furthermore, I've heard that AT&T & TMo phones will display an error about a missing or inactive SIM, but I've not heard whether you can move past that and just use the device as a mini-tablet.... I've been a VZW victim since the Droid's hit the market, so I don't know if this is a concern or not.
So, bottom line, my question is this - if I buy a no-contract phone (even [gasp] one with a bad ESN from eBay) and never activate it with the cell provider, can I use the device as just a PDA, and are there any special considerations I've overlooked?
Thanks to all who offer help!!!
lenknermj said:
I need to know if I can use an Android phone JUST for the PDA functionality - It would be used on WiFi only, and never for phone calls.
I know the simple answer seems to be 'yes', but has anyone actually done it? I'm worried that some phones might require activation before even getting into the phone (like my Fascinate did.) I know you can dial a keypad combination in the dialer to override that, but this is going to be for my 68 year old father who just wants the advanced GPS functionality (logging, geotagging photos) for use with offline GPS programs like CoPilot or Sygic, along with whatever other non-internet-connected apps he might want to use.
Furthermore, I've heard that AT&T & TMo phones will display an error about a missing or inactive SIM, but I've not heard whether you can move past that and just use the device as a mini-tablet.... I've been a VZW victim since the Droid's hit the market, so I don't know if this is a concern or not.
So, bottom line, my question is this - if I buy a no-contract phone (even [gasp] one with a bad ESN from eBay) and never activate it with the cell provider, can I use the device as just a PDA, and are there any special considerations I've overlooked?
Thanks to all who offer help!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an att Captivate NO SIM that I play with all the time. I even use GrooveIP to make phone calls via wifi over Google Voice! You dont HAVE to have a SIM in the phone for it to function!
Ok I am an android Newbie coming from symbian ^3.. and here are a few things that are annoying me and i have searched high and low and cannot seem to find any satisfactory answers. I have two phones., HTC Sensation 4G and Tmobile G2x by LG both running their latest software versions. Here are the Qs..
1. Niether of these two phones send ringtones to my bluetooth headset. The same headset rings the ringtones when connected to my N8. Is this an android issue ?
2. Is there no way to wake up the screen from locked / sleeping mode by just tapping ? Its extremely hard to press the power button while driving with one hand.
3. Is there a way to assign different proxies to different Wifi access points ? Actually I dont even see this as a feature on G2x and on sensation it assigns a single proxy to all my Wifi access points. I want to be able to assign different proxies or no proxy to a particular APN.
Thoughts / apps / suggestions or general guidance is highly appreciated.
shreesathe said:
Ok I am an android Newbie coming from symbian ^3.. and here are a few things that are annoying me and i have searched high and low and cannot seem to find any satisfactory answers. I have two phones., HTC Sensation 4G and Tmobile G2x by LG both running their latest software versions. Here are the Qs..
1. Niether of these two phones send ringtones to my bluetooth headset. The same headset rings the ringtones when connected to my N8. Is this an android issue ?
Answer: its not an issue, as long as you hear a call coming in through the headset i dont see the problem...
2. Is there no way to wake up the screen from locked / sleeping mode by just tapping ? Its extremely hard to press the power button while driving with one hand.
Answer: just goes to show that you shouldnt be driving and using your phone, your going to kill someone....
3. Is there a way to assign different proxies to different Wifi access points ? Actually I dont even see this as a feature on G2x and on sensation it assigns a single proxy to all my Wifi access points. I want to be able to assign different proxies or no proxy to a particular APN.
Answer: maybe android is not the device for you? looks like symbian made you happy, you should go back to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. I wouldn't know. I have never used any Bluetooth devices with Android.
2. I don't exactly agree with the whole "driving with 1 hand" thing. But the double-tap to wake up should be incorporated in the next major release of Android. That would be a nice option.
3. Again, that would be a nice option for Android. Just goes to show you despite what people say about Symbian, it's still pretty versatile
Sent from my LG-P999
rvdangel630 said:
shreesathe said:
Ok I am an android Newbie coming from symbian ^3.. and here are a few things that are annoying me and i have searched high and low and cannot seem to find any satisfactory answers. I have two phones., HTC Sensation 4G and Tmobile G2x by LG both running their latest software versions. Here are the Qs..
1. Niether of these two phones send ringtones to my bluetooth headset. The same headset rings the ringtones when connected to my N8. Is this an android issue ?
Answer: its not an issue, as long as you hear a call coming in through the headset i dont see the problem...
It is an issue if you want to screen the calls when the phone is in your pocket? I have ringtones assigned to friends and family and I would like to choose when to talk to them. Especially when I lay my phone down and am doing something in the other part of the house, wearing the bluetooth, I dont really want to dash back to the phone just to see who is calling!
2. Is there no way to wake up the screen from locked / sleeping mode by just tapping ? Its extremely hard to press the power button while driving with one hand.
Answer: just goes to show that you shouldnt be driving and using your phone, your going to kill someone....
It is not just during driving. Even getting the phone out of your pocket while walking down a road while holding a cuppa coffee in the other hand?? Or doesnt anyone else think this is a silly thing ?
3. Is there a way to assign different proxies to different Wifi access points ? Actually I dont even see this as a feature on G2x and on sensation it assigns a single proxy to all my Wifi access points. I want to be able to assign different proxies or no proxy to a particular APN.
Answer: maybe android is not the device for you? looks like symbian made you happy, you should go back to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I was / am extremely happy with the Symbian except for one and only one thing. My carrier offers Wifi calling which is essential for where I live for good reception and they refuse to allow that feature to be available freely on other devices not sold through or branded for them. Else I would have stayed back with my trusted N8. It might be less intuitive than Android and require multiple clicks but it does everything that one would want it to do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a samsung focus s unlocked that i am using with family mobile whish is powered by t mobile. Everthing works fine and I only get edge speeds. Its my girlfriends phone and she really loves it except one problem she can send or receive Picture messages. Is there anything I can do to get it to work? I have searched everything I can find and nothing works. If someone could help me figure this out I would happy to send them $20 paypal. Thanks for any help
Is it that you have tried and were not able to send, or you did not know how to send?
If it is the latter, then this might help.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsphone/en-us/howto/wp7/people/share-a-picture-in-a-text-message.aspx
Sorry if that was not what you were searching for. Good luck.
Samsung has a network configuration app in their section of the Marketplace. Actually, I think they have two, one for second-gen phones (like your girlfriend's) and one for gen1 phones. If you use the app, it should be possible to configure your phone's MMS APN (which is often different from the data APN) using that. I know that Simple Mobile is in the list for the equivalent HTC app...
If that doesn't work, it *is* possible to change the configuration manually, but it will require some hackery. Has the phone been interop-unlocked (using WindowBreak, most likely)? I don't know what the correct provisioning info for Simple Mobile is, but I could probably pull it out of my HD7 if I had to.
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)
Let me first start off by saying that I just signed up here as it looked like a good forum to be a part of for mobile device mods, etc. Also I hope that I'm not coming off on the wrong foot by immediately seeking help and info for my device.
The above being said I'm looking for a bit of input and knowledge as to how I could go about converting my Korean model Samsung Galaxy s8+ to be more like the standard common US model? Some things that are bundled or part of the phone is strictly Korean only one of these things being the web browser and also a few other things.
Also because of this being a Korean Korea Telcom model s8 it gets weather via my sim or service provider. I tried to change / add my current location to get weather for my current location but it was a no go. Also the phone is unlocked though at times I occasionally get the no service icon pop up in which I'm unable to make or receive calls. And if this is a help my current wireless carrier is AT&T.
Any and all help and info would be greatly appreciated regarding how I can go about converting or making this device as close to possible as the US model.