Database Info

Clone phone - capable of running Android??

Hope I've posted this in the right place, If not I apologise.
A friend of mine gave me his "Galaxy S4" to look at for him as (and I quote) "it doesn't look right"
He is well aware he has purchased a clone phone and the fact that it has 2 different IMEI numbers (one for a galaxy Note and one for a SE W595) is a dead giveaway. He has asked me though if it is possible to install android on the device. My gut feeling is no and I'll explain why:
IT IS NOT RUNNING ANDROID NOW!!
It is running an OS I have NEVER seen before. The menu's are bizarre and the settings menu looks nothing like anything i have seen before. I managed to find out the system info and this is what I have:
SPREADTURM Soft Ver:6530_12B
SPREADTURM HW Ver:SC6530
Ver:0x6a
UsrId:0
Os:MTK_SPD6530
OSVern:6530_12B
Model:6501
Company:Z347
Width:272;Height:480
MaxRam:716800
Kbd:0
Touchscreen:1
Cap:0x40019
Macro: __ZMAEE_APP_KEYPAD_LOCK__
UI=0 3109 0
FAE Name: zhangaidi
Build Time: 20130920
The information above was gotten through dialling *#0* in the dialler and selecting "SSC Info"
Anyone know if my gut feeling is right or not??

lembi2001 said:
Anyone know if my gut feeling is right or not??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, Its for sure a clone, but it's running android. There aren't many mobile operating systems, other than tizen os, ios, windows mobile and firefox os. Of course its not running ubuntu os. So the only way to tell is to install apk (android app) and see if it will install. You can download one from xda or Google play - and if the phone has google play its for sure android.
Its probably another generic chinese ripoff. Most likely the bizarreness you found is just a theme, alot of manufactures them android.
Can you post a screenshot of os or a pic of the phone

It is not running on android, the "Google Play Store" and "Samsung Apps" Apps are just webpages. The Pre-installed games Angry birds and Fruit Ninja appear to be flash based only.
Not sure that this will ever run android. Giving it back to him tomorrow,

[Q] Running old Facebook Messenger with SMS in KitKat

Hello!
For ages, I held on to the old version of Facebook's messenger in order to retain the SMS chat head functionality. However, this was always a finicky feature as it would disappear depending on the model of phone and OS version detected.
When I loaded the APK onto my newly 4.4-flashed phone (CM11 based), it no longer gave the option to use SMS. With the advent of the default SMS app system in 4.4, I worry that the app wouldn't work at all, even if I fooled it into revealing the option to toggle SMS on.
Are there suggestions? If I modified the contents of the manifest to work with my phone and android version, would the archaic SMS handling system even work under 4.4?
Cheers, all

Sad, four-day bump.

Bump....please help. I need FB SMS on KitKat.

I have been searching for this as well.. Hope someone can let us know how to get this to work. Thanks!

bump.. same problem here

Biggest of bumps. I've been at this for quite a long time, but still no info. The lat stable rom for my GT-i9300 can only be KitKat based. Though I don't think that Lollipop would be any different regarding this issue. And I reeeeally don't want to get back to JellyBean. Anyone found out anything?

Android security from a newbie

I'm a recent convert that left the iOS world and went with Android (Pixel 2 XL). Amazing phone & loving it.
But my question, which has probably been asked 100's of times: just how safe is Android? I ask because shortly after I went with Android the whole thing came out about Chrome automatically signing me into their browser when I use my laptop and Chrome didn;t bother to tell anyone or has addressed the issue, as far as I know.
So in 2018, exactly how safe is this device and the Android platform?

[Q] WhatsApp for Android 2.3 Gingerbread??

Hi!
I recently bought an Samsung Glaxy Y Pro (GT-B5510) which runs Android 2.3.6, tried to install whatsapp from both play store and whatsapp.com/android (which says that it's the minimum required version) but no luck, it doesn't install. Throws "invalid package".
The WApp support page says that Android 2.3.3 is the minimum, but i've decoded the apk using apktool and the AndroidMainifest.xml's minSdk is 15 (4.0).
Is possible to install WhatsApp on a Android 2.3.6 device?

Honestly, I don't know which Android version should be the minimal to install WhatsApp...
Why don't you try to install an alternative version like GBWhatsApp or YoWhatsApp to see if one of those is compatible with your device?
Sent from my Redmi 5 Plus using Tapatalk

xddd00 said:
Honestly, I don't know which Android version should be the minimal to install WhatsApp...
Why don't you try to install an alternative version like GBWhatsApp or YoWhatsApp to see if one of those is compatible with your device?
Sent from my Redmi 5 Plus using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Effectively, those alt versions requires 4.0 as minimum, like the original WhatsApp APK does.
Check https://whatsapp.com/android to see the minimum required version.

A bit of a late reply, but I've been looking into getting Whatsapp for Android 2.3.4. I did get it working by downloading an older version of Whatsapp from the APK Mirror website. It's a pretty useful site as they seem to archive all the updated versions of Whatsapp (and other apps).
Unfortunately Whatsapp have stated that they intend on ending support for 2.3 firmware at the end of the year. This sucks as I've been using an old Xperia Mini Pro phone which is difficult to update its firmware. I use the phone because I think it's a beaut of a phone, even though it's old and under powered.
I've been looking into Whatsapp alternatives like YoWhatsapp and GBWhatsapp, and others. I can't seem to get any of them to work on Android 2.3, even if it states that it's compatible. It's a shame because I would really like to keep using Whatsapp to stay in touch with people, but it seems like Whatsapp is making it incredibly difficult.

BebopSnek said:
A bit of a late reply, but I've been looking into getting Whatsapp for Android 2.3.4. I did get it working by downloading an older version of Whatsapp from the APK Mirror website. It's a pretty useful site as they seem to archive all the updated versions of Whatsapp (and other apps).
Unfortunately Whatsapp have stated that they intend on ending support for 2.3 firmware at the end of the year. This sucks as I've been using an old Xperia Mini Pro phone which is difficult to update its firmware. I use the phone because I think it's a beaut of a phone, even though it's old and under powered.
I've been looking into Whatsapp alternatives like YoWhatsapp and GBWhatsapp, and others. I can't seem to get any of them to work on Android 2.3, even if it states that it's compatible. It's a shame because I would really like to keep using Whatsapp to stay in touch with people, but it seems like Whatsapp is making it incredibly difficult.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just like with any operating system, at some point old versions are no longer supported and newer programs and apps no longer work. One reason is security, 2.3.4 is not as secure as newer versions. Another reason is because very few people are still using gingerbread, they've all had the good sense to upgrade to keep from being left behind. Dropping support for older versions that are virtually no longer in use saves a lot of work when creating new developments. Why should they put all that hard work into supporting an operating system that is no longer viable?
This scenario can be compared to using a PC with Windows 95, ME or XP. Those are too old and insecure, using them leaves you open to a lot of vulnerabilities and hacks.
Do the smart thing, upgrade to something with a newer, safer, more supported operating system. You'll be much better off if you do.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

We talked about WhatsApp on my updated Rom for the Galaxy Ace / Android 2.3
Starts from post #8

Nokia 8.3 5G downgrade from Android 12 to stock Android 10

Good morning, dear respective XDA community members!
Yesterday I have encountered with complete misfortune. I really hope on your expertise and expert knowledge in that issue. Appreciate your help and thank you very much in advance!
I have a Nokia 8.3 5G as my main working smartphone which I cherish as the apple of one's eye. I have headaches from PWM and can't use Samsung phones because of PWM and I need Android 10 as I have some work related apps which works only with Android 10.
So from the date of purchase my phone was complete brand new with Android 10 (Build number 00WW_1_110_RU) and (Android security patch level September 1, 2020) out of the box. I did not done any manual downloads and update of Android security patch level and neither Android updates to 11, 12. But last few months I started to receive irritating splashing system window with following text “Your system is out of date for 273 days, update & restart now”. While launching Opera browser the click on it's icon matched with the time of appearing that update window and phone pushed “restarting now” text with rotating circle. I fully understood that I was done here and started to press and hold power button to somehow block the execution of update but phone displayed standard boot up logo "Powered by Android" with green Android logo instead of standard white. I hold power button again and phone switched off. On the next attempt to boot it the "Powered by Android" logo remained with green Android. I understood that I now can't influence on it's update process. Now my phone with Android 12 (Build number 00WW_3_380_RU) and (Android security patch level: April 1, 2022).
I totally dislike Android 12, interface design not suits me, performance of the phone drastically decreased. And those specific software which I used for work only works on Android 10, developer of them would not make it to work with Android 12 due to platform limitations.
I never done any manual updates of Android, and Android security patch levels, strange that security patch updated by itself without my command.
There are no any information in the internet regarding of downgrading the Nokia 8.3 5G from Android 12 to Android 10. The only information I was able to find is how to downgrade Nokia 2.2 from Android 10 to Android 9, using boot slot change method, available here: https://www.techmesto.com/downgrade-nokia-2-2-from-android-10-to-android-9-pie/ I am not sure whether this tutorial applicable for Nokia 8.3 5G. I did not tried anything yet as now I am afraid to get a brick.
I consider actions of Nokia by rolling such splashing window with update without confirmation mechanism as criminal. Every person encountered with that must make Nokia liable and get case to court. Last time I encountered with such nasty situation was with iPad, I do not remember which generation it was as it happened while ago, but same situation with splashing update window happened when I tried to open Safari browser. And I was not able to get downgrade as Apple stopped signing iOS I needed.
Such actions are illegal as those Android updates are completely affects the performance. On Android 10 I had about 5.2 GB after boot and about 3.2 - 3.5 GB during work of free RAM. Now I have 4.2 GB of RAM after boot and only 2.2 GB during work. That's horrible as I lost of 1.3 GB of RAM, Android 12 decreased performance of my phone completely. Apple does same with their new iOS for older devices.
Even Samsung does not do such illegal actions, my father have old Samsung Galaxy S8 with stock Android 8 for years, he accidentally clicks every time on some system settings and asks me to revert them, but even there Samsung not uses any splash window with update, only Android update message I see from his phone is in notifications, but you have need to pass good amount of windows with confirmations in order to get Android update, so even unexperienced users are safe from accidental Android update.
It's a shame for Nokia. I would never buy anything from them again. Such technique with splash window is done by fake hacker apps and their swindler developers, every time you see some commercial such windows are appearing "Do you want to close advertisement?", but instead of closing it forces to redirect on downloading link of some virus APK or opening Google Play with malicious application.
Could you please say what I must do in order to safely downgrade my phone back to Android 10. I do not need the Root as I need to use NFC payment options of Google Wallet.
I can’t work now as applications I used for work only works with Android 10.
Thank you very much in advance for your expertise in this issue! Appreciate and grateful for your help.

For Nokia 8.3, if you want to downgrade the phone back to Android 10, then you must unlock the bootloader as well after sideloading android 10 full OTA.