Database Info

Professional advice Pls!!

Hello World!
My beloved friends, i am looking for someone who can recommend me a good awesome chines brand Global version Unlocked Smartphone with 6" + 1080-4k Full HD display that is both root' erble and will allow me to install custom apps and beautiful custom roms that many of hard working XDA developers have developed.
I have been thinking to get a one+ T6, or a Oppo Find X and a Xiaomi mi Mix 3 ram from 8-10 and storage 128-256GB.
Since many of the Umidigi customers been screwed over few times by the Umidigi company, and as their customer my self we all had difficulties with both updates and encrypted boot on the devices that forced us to use UmiOS that was their own custom made rip off Android OS.
The phone never got a stable update version and many time the Umidigi support did not answer our question, many got angry and said foul language out of frustration, and they ware told to shut up or Umidigi would ban them to write on the forum ever again.
So i am looking for a android enthusiast who know a good stable smartphone and awesome support, no way to brick and can easily be flashed back to the stock rom.
So please, anyone out there that owns a killer flagship unlocked Global version smartphone with awesome battery that keep the phone alive, with a price tag from 300-600 Euro that works smoothly without any crashing apps and annoying boot wait time and impossible fastboot that keeps the device locked in from the great options that there is out there.
Please write me your recommendation and tell me why you recommended me that specific phone. and why you disagree with me to get a one+ T6, or a Oppo Find X, Xiaomi mi Mix 3.
thank you very much for your efforts!

A shortlist for my next phone, and two questions

Hey there,
I recently posted here about looking for a new phone on a budget. I'm happy to say that after a few weeks I've narrowed down my options to a shortlist of 10, using gsmarena to compare specs. I'm now at a point where I need to fill in the final gaps, but I'm unable to do so without an intimate knowledge of the devices, Android or the Android rooting scene, none of which I have, so so am at the mercy of the community for any further help.
I need to know whether each of the below phones satisfies two specific criteria.
These are the phones that I'm looking at:
- Honor 8
- Honor 8X
- Honor 9 Lite
- Honor 9
- Honor Play
- Huawei P20 Lite
- Motorola Moto G6
- Moto G6 Play
- Motorola Moto G5S
- Xiaomi Mi A2 Lite
For each of them, I'd like to know...
1. Whether it supports split-screen multitasking. Odd as it sounds, one of my biggest reasons for moving to Android is the ability to use YouTube while using other apps, so the phone I buy needs to support it. Based on my research, I have a feeling this is entirely independent of hardware, and that all of these phones should support a high enough Android version to use split-screen, but I'd like to confirm this.
2. The state of the modding/rooting community for the device; how much the phone supports modding and how active the community around it is. The other reason for moving to Android is the ability to customise things to my heart's content, based on the criteria outlined here. Does the phone in question support Magisk, TWRP, Treble, ElementalX? Are there any modding-related that I should know about it?
Once in again, thanks to anyone who's read through this properly and can answer these questions, it's much appreciated.
Thanks

If you want a rootable phone, drop all Huawei phones from your list

LineageOS

Hello,
I wanted to see if anyone made LineageOS work on the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra SM-N986U1. I would consider it a nice replacement phone for the ZTE Axon 7 I have currently but I can't find anything so I am posting here. I currently have the DooGee S95 Pro that I am trying to get the LineageOS GSI of LineageOS 18.1 running but it won't boot.
Thanks!

Good question, wrong thread man

Oh sorry what place should I post it then?

Don't get this phone if you want custom ROMs. I couldn't get Lineage GSI to work but if you can then it's not going to be as good as Lineage built for the specific device.
OnePlus 9 Pro or even literally anything else would be a better choice.

Hello,
Hardware is better than the DooGee S95 Pro by a lot, I can get the GSI to load on the DooGee S95 Pro and wanted this phone because the bootloader is unlockable and we can then have custom rom. I like this phone because 5G, SD card slot, Note series with Stylus, wireless charging at 15w, NFC, and really nice screen. Any recommendation on a better phone then? I am running LineageOS on the ZTE Axon 7 and havent found anything better... sadly.

Apparently the OnePlus 9 Pro doesn't have an SD card slot, the Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra 5G has pretty much every great hardware feature I could want ( no mention of a notification LED but yea ) but no mention of good software like LineageOS on it... Q_Q

So nobody's going to port over LineageOS? Too bad.

get a xiaomi if you want custom roms man,.i had plenty on k20pro

I was working on it for a bit but i cant get 18.1 android 11 to boot. it goes straight to bastboot. ive spent hours on it but no luck. 17.1 i got going but ril is all borked, no wolte (which i guess is a samsung wide thing with LOS so i dont know if it is even fixable) no 5g and because lte doesnt work phone calls drop to 3g AND SMS only works on EDGE connections lol. then i got bored and have been playing with smart home crap but thats a story for another day lol. its sad but i think the custom rom scene is dying. its a shame really. all us developers made imprvements and then the big companies copied them and now no one except the REAL nerd hard core users feel the need to root or flash a custom rom on their phone. years ago it was almost a requirement to have a good experience on the device. hell los invented the notification quick tiles.. anyways i had 1 to many beers and went on a tandget there sorry, i'm going to bed now.
if anyone feels like it my WIP tests are on my github
github.com/Albinoman887
its a huge mess with many branches for each repo that are just tests or crap or dont even compile with non descriptive names for comits and stuff but there things that are worthy. (DUB3 kernel merge comes to mind)

I truly like LOS. If some developer could get a stable 18.1 version for the Exynos Variant, I would unlock my phone, and change the OS to LOS

marcusah123 said:
Oh sorry what place should I post it then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just found the thread by accident and moved it to the Q&A section. If you realise that you've posted in the wrong section just hit the report button to alert the moderators team.
Regards
Your friendly neighbourhood watch.

Hello,
What's required to make LineageOS actually work? What help is needed? I'm not an android developer but it would be nice to know what I can do to help.
Thanks
P.S. I also have experience installing GSIs on phones and in my experience the GSIs won't load on Android 11 if it's either the wrong partition type OR for the Android 9 device I have it wouldn't load 11 if the bootloader code had been modified with Magisks and I had to put the boot code back to stock and then it booted so it might be something like that.
Hope that's a little helpful. I know this thread is getting old though...

Where to buy "already" rooted phone?

Hi, I am just not getting it. Spent money on two phones to see if I can unlock and root them, and it is not my forte! Don't even know where to start because there is just too much information out there when I search online.
Is there anywhere I can just buy a rooted device, or pay someone to do it. Since every search on the Internet leads back to this site I thought I should ask it here. If I am in wrong section please let me know.
Thank you

As you want to root your phone, I'm assuming you know how a phone works and how to differentiate models and variants!
You can't buy an already rooted phone, as none come with it. If you want a phone that is easy to root but still good for a daily driver, you have to know the following criteria:
- Very popular brand (Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo)
- Has to have a Snapdragon processor (mediatek phones are harder to root)
- The specific device should be popular on XDA (examples include Redmi Note 8 Pro, Poco X3 Pro, most samsung S devices that have Snapdragon processors)
- Samsung S (s22, s20, s8, etc) only have Snapdragon CPUs in countries like the USA and I think China

google pixel or oneplus are great

MirageSteezyBoi said:
google pixel or oneplus are great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, but if you buy a oneplus don't get anything above the 8 lineup as they just get worse from there
and if you get a pixel 6 series i can't guarantee anything about that tensor chip being even bootloader unlockable

burned4l said:
Hi, I am just not getting it. Spent money on two phones to see if I can unlock and root them, and it is not my forte! Don't even know where to start because there is just too much information out there when I search online.
Is there anywhere I can just buy a rooted device, or pay someone to do it. Since every search on the Internet leads back to this site I thought I should ask it here. If I am in wrong section please let me know.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Search for "rooted android phone" on Ebay. Do your research and make sure you know what your are buying, though. Also check the vendor ratings of the seller.

dcarvil said:
Search for "rooted android phone" on Ebay. Do your research and make sure you know what your are buying, though. Also check the vendor ratings of the seller.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
recipy for DISASTER. don't buy a pre rooted phone, who knows what keyloggers and spyware can be put alongside that root? i wouldn't risk it at all, in fact i wouldn't buy any daily driver thing from ebay outside of like a phone case

Thank you for the replies. I will keep reading and researching. I bought a Motorola G Stylus (2021) just now, and gave up on the Samsung s10e. So far I have been able to get adb and fastboot working. Reading on XDA to figure the rest out.

Very popular brands (Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Huawei, etc) tend to lock down their devices entirely. one can't just unlock bootloader from fastboot. beware of random guides, they often outdated or too broad.
before buying a device
- get confirmation that bootloader actually is unlockable (with regards to android version/carrier/branding etc)
- check community development is active (TWRP available? custom ROMs?)
you can do so by reading the proper section to device model on xda-developers
(if you can't find it, don't buy it)
Samsung Galaxy S10
Samsung's flagship for 2019, the Galaxy S10, is a 6.1" device, with a curved edge display, and a resolution of 1440x3040. It's powered by either the Exynos 9820 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset, which is paired with 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 512GB of storage. The main camera is comprised...
forum.xda-developers.com
Moto G Stylus (2021)
The Moto G Stylus is a 6.8" phone with a 1080x2400p resolution display. The Qualcomm SDM678 Snapdragon 678 chipset is paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The main camera is 48+8+2+2MP and the selfie camera is 16MP. The battery has a 4000mAh capacity.
forum.xda-developers.com

aIecxs said:
Very popular brands (Samsung, Xiaomi, Oppo, Huawei, etc) tend to lock down their devices entirely. one can't just unlock bootloader from fastboot. beware of random guides, they often outdated or too broad.
before buying a device
- get confirmation that bootloader actually is unlockable (with regards to android version/carrier/branding etc)
- check community development is active (TWRP available? custom ROMs?)
you can do so by reading the proper section to device model on xda-developers
(if you can't find it, don't buy it)
Samsung Galaxy S10
Samsung's flagship for 2019, the Galaxy S10, is a 6.1" device, with a curved edge display, and a resolution of 1440x3040. It's powered by either the Exynos 9820 or Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset, which is paired with 8GB of RAM and either 128GB or 512GB of storage. The main camera is comprised...
forum.xda-developers.com
Moto G Stylus (2021)
The Moto G Stylus is a 6.8" phone with a 1080x2400p resolution display. The Qualcomm SDM678 Snapdragon 678 chipset is paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The main camera is 48+8+2+2MP and the selfie camera is 16MP. The battery has a 4000mAh capacity.
forum.xda-developers.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
about every phone is on xda, just that many don't have populated Roms and Kernels sections (ie: huaweis) so make sure it has 7-10.000 messages at least if you want a really good starting point

Nobody should buy an already rooted phone.
You should ever re-flash the full stock, format data and then, re-root the phone by YOURSELF.

151kmh said:
about every phone is on xda, just that many don't have populated Roms and Kernels sections (ie: huaweis) so make sure it has 7-10.000 messages at least if you want a really good starting point
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, do you have any specific model you can suggest? Considering the following:
I want to buy an android that I can root for sure, no matter how old it is as long as it runs Android 6 at least, I need it to be as cheap as possible, and I want to buy it in USA, compatible with T-Mobile carrier which is the one I use
I bought this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B3F9BRF9 and it was compatible with TMobile but there's no TWRP or info on how to root it, so I'm seeking for some old phone that actually works and is rooteable. I want to run some experiments but I need root access.
Thanks in advance!
Edit: I found several Samsung S7 on Ebay that could work, do you think it's a good match for rooting?

burned4l said:
Hi, I am just not getting it. Spent money on two phones to see if I can unlock and root them, and it is not my forte! Don't even know where to start because there is just too much information out there when I search online.
Is there anywhere I can just buy a rooted device, or pay someone to do it. Since every search on the Internet leads back to this site I thought I should ask it here. If I am in wrong section please let me know.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most easy to root phone ar
realme, samsung, oneplus
Buy one of this and follow the tutorial
From youtube make sure android version are matched with the tutorial

samsung what? lol read post #8

aIecxs said:
samsung what? lol read post #8
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is a method for samsung update androids works on 9|10|11|12|13
incase u dont know

samsujjamanrifat said:
there is a method for samsung update androids works on 9|10|11|12|13
incase u dont know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you mean the video "How To Root Any Samsung Phone Complete Guide Easy Method 2023"?
Have you tried with each of the 182 Samsung phones?

ze7zez said:
Do you mean the video "How To Root Any Samsung Phone Complete Guide Easy Method 2023"?
Have you tried with each of the 182 Samsung phones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im a technician almost tried 40
even s22 ultra
the video is worthless

samsujjamanrifat said:
there is a method for samsung update androids works on 9|10|11|12|13
incase u dont know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I don't. I only know that OnePlus Oppo Realme devices belong to bbk and are hard to unlock with fastboot disabled.
https://forum.xda-
developers.com/t/decision-by-oppo-no-bootloader-fastboot-access-for-oppo-phones-starting-2016.3348114
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...ut-unlocking-fastboot-on-oppo-devices.4490041
Xiaomi devices are still unlockable, but you have to follow special procedure, and it doesn't work for blacklisted devices.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/which-tool-to-unlock-bootloader-poco-m5.4535015
what I have heared about Samsung, unlocking is not officially supported for US/Canada devices. also branded devices like cricket, verizon, etc aren't unlockable
aIecxs said:
"Verizon, for example, likes to prevent bootloader unlocking altogether, making it impossible to root your phone. Sometimes, though, people find unofficial workarounds, and we’ll let you know if any are found."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you're willing to pay hundreds of dollars for unlocking, visit this thread
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...-unlock-for-samsung-us-canada-devices.4215101
@samsujjamanrifat But if you know how to unlock Samsung, you may help out this guy with unlocking
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/samsung-a03s-roo-issues.4532585

ze7zez said:
Do you mean the video "How To Root Any Samsung Phone Complete Guide Easy Method 2023"?
Have you tried with each of the 182 Samsung phones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
download your phone firmware using same binaries
found it on download mode
extract on pc
copy the ap file to the phone u wanted to root
download magisk apk
click install magisk
select the ap file
wait
then there will be patched ap file
move it to the pc
flash it with odin
after flash install magisk
your phone now rooted

There are channels to buy pre-rooted phones, but I assume that we are not supposed to publish these things on XDA.

Question POCO X5 5G

Maybe i should

I want one too, just seems like no one has been interested in developing after the Poco x3 pro was dropped, being to do with the SoCs being used or something. I don't want to be forced to use garbage miui :'( or whatever the Poco reskin is called.

LaikaTheBigRedDoggo said:
I want one too, just seems like no one has been interested in developing after the Poco x3 pro was dropped, being to do with the SoCs being used or something. I don't want to be forced to use garbage miui :'( or whatever the Poco reskin is called.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so there will be no custom roms for x5?

Would help if Xda opened a sub forum for the non pro model.

Yeah. I know this device just launched 5 weeks ago, but if I'd suspected the X5 5G would get so little love here at XDA, I might've gotten the X4 Pro instead...
I'm actually looking into compiling my own TWRP recovery for it, and an AOSP ROM when I've learned enough about custom ROM development.

Is there any way to request XDA consider opening a forum for a particular phone?

Spaceboy60 said:
Is there any way to request XDA consider opening a forum for a particular phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I guess you could PM one of the admins/mods, but final decision would be up to their goodwill (or lack thereof), evidently.
It would make a lot of sense to create a dedicated forum though, as the X5 is powered by the Snapdragon695 and not a 7xx series as the X5 Pro is, which *probably* means that ROMs for the latter wouldn't be flashable on the former -not without incurring risks anyway...

Snakeforhire said:
Well I guess you could PM one of the admins/mods, but final decision would be up to their goodwill (or lack thereof), evidently.
It would make a lot of sense to create a dedicated forum though, as the X5 is powered by the Snapdragon695 and not a 7xx series as the X5 Pro is, which *probably* means that ROMs for the latter wouldn't be flashable on the former -not without incurring risks anyway...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't the Poco X4 Pro and Poco X5 5G use the same ROMs as both have same CPU, GPU, chipset, architecture, flops etc?

chrome99 said:
Can't the Poco X4 Pro and Poco X5 5G use the same ROMs as both have same CPU, GPU, chipset, architecture, flops etc?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's usually a firmware, boot and vendor img difference which does make it incompatible, in most cases, and would need some tweaking to make it work right. But you're welcome to give it a test run, learn from experience. There are times with OEMs are lazy and it does actually work.

EricEsq said:
There's usually a firmware, boot and vendor img difference which does make it incompatible, in most cases, and would need some tweaking to make it work right. But you're welcome to give it a test run, learn from experience. There are times with OEMs are lazy and it does actually work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
even for custom ROMs? Incase the X5 does't gain popularity (which seems to be the way it's going), I was wondering if we could use custom ROMs for X4 pro in the future.

chrome99 said:
even for custom ROMs? Incase the X5 does't gain popularity (which seems to be the way it's going), I was wondering if we could use custom ROMs for X4 pro in the future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. It's uncommon to be able to use a different device's ROM even when the specs are similar. Unless you're using a gsi. It takes a while before custom roms start appearing after a phones release. Debloat and use as is would be my recommendation till then, if you already bought the phone. The Pro version is also likely to be more popular, among the enthusiast community, from what I can see.
So there's likely to be some trickle down effect of roms from the Pro versions to the non-pro

EricEsq said:
Yep. It's uncommon to be able to use a different device's ROM even when the specs are similar. Unless you're using a gsi. It takes a while before custom roms start appearing after a phones release. Debloat and use as is would be my recommendation till then, if you already bought the phone. The Pro version is also likely to be more popular, among the enthusiast community, from what I can see.
So there's likely to be some trickle down effect of roms from the Pro versions to the non-pro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which is ironic, because the X5p does not have any kind of possibility of storage expansion by SDcard (while the vanilla X5 does provide a shared SIM/SD slot), making even the 256Gb version utterly useless for my use cases...

Snakeforhire said:
Which is ironic, because the X5p does not have any kind of storage expansion by SDcard possibility (while the vanilla X5 does provide a sgaredl SIM/SD slot), making even the 256Gb version utterly useless for my use cases...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be fair, it's been a while since I've seen anything that has the 7 series chipsets to have a hybrid or dedicated SD slot. Just how the market playing field is, once you enter the mid-high range. Not great for the customer but that's capitalism for ya.

The Poco X5 5G may not be as popular as the Pro, but it's actually a very smooth phone if you don't play demanding games. Just received Android 13 update last night. My biggest gripe is the MIUI, which I don't like. After installing Nova7, the user interface is a lot more familiar and better.

priority1 said:
The Poco X5 5G may not be as popular as the Pro, but it's actually a very smooth phone if you don't play demanding games. Just received Android 13 update last night. My biggest gripe is the MIUI, which I don't like. After installing Nova7, the user interface is a lot more familiar and better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For daily use, it is quite smooth, the camera performance is trash though. GCam fixes most of it but the videos are still grainy. The X5 might be catching on now as it has received a big discount on an e-commerce platform recently. Nova or Lawnchair makes the experience pleasing but you miss out the gesture navigation which is a bummer.

Hello!
Is it possible to turn off the images of the camera settings in the Portrait mode of the Poco X5 5G/Poco X5 Pro 5G?
If possible, then it would be possible to shoot video in video bokeh mode.

My phone turned itself off today. Has anyone had this issue before?

priority1 said:
The Poco X5 5G may not be as popular as the Pro, but it's actually a very smooth phone if you don't play demanding games. Just received Android 13 update last night. My biggest gripe is the MIUI, which I don't like. After installing Nova7, the user interface is a lot more familiar and better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seconded !
I've used the Microsoft Launcher for a long while before I bought the X5 5G a week after its global launchdate, but in the long run on MIUI 13 it turned out to be just too goddamn much of a battery hog...
So upon reading a comment from another member here that he was very satisfied with Nova I decided to give it a try, and felt so at ease with it that barely 20mins passed before I bought the Premium version. xD
But I do sorely miss the MS launcher's leftmost pane tho (the one where you can take quick notes and display your Outlook calendar, which is what I used it most for). :/

priority1 said:
My phone turned itself off today. Has anyone had this issue before?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup. I traced it down to a dirty fingerprint sensor : some oil or grease traces would make it wrongly detect a long press or multiple short presses and trigger a shutdown.
A good, energetic cleaning with a rubbing alcohol-imbibed tissue then a thorough drying fixed it right up!

Any new news on custom roms? I want to get the phone on sale but I dread using MIUI