Root No More! - Motorola Photon 4G

Well, it's lunch time so I thought I would take a minute to update everyone on my thread "I F'ed Up!' thread in Q&A. The Photon is back to purely stock, no root, no unlock, notta. I got most of my app's back (I will explain that later!).
Several months ago, I rooted and unlocked the Photon. Over that time, I have had several issues, off and on, that required reboots, battery removal, freezing, ect. that required me to come here for advice and help. After watching several of QBKINGS videos, I decided to go with CW7 and see what all the hype was about.
Things went terribley wrong!!!! (Thanks to all that helped me fix it, you will hear from me soon!) After 1.5 days without a phone, and knowing every which way exactly HOW to fix it, I was sitting down last night and give this one more go. Looking around, I noticed (as I did the first time?), some of the links don't work, some of the videos I had no clue WHAT page I was actually looking at, just said scroll down (Nice videos, I just did not get it?), some were re-directed to other sites. I work in IT, been doing it since 1983. I'm all for Development and embrace progress. Then it hit me? "Why do you want to root, unlock, flash anyway?" Really?
I started planning on this phone 2 months before it came out. It was, and still is, the best "Business" phone on the market just like it is. I use my phone for too much sh*t as it is (too long to list) and 30 minutes without it, expecially job wise, is a riks I cannot take again. So I choose to leave it stock and get back to the basics (Planning on getting a Samsung Galaxy Note anyway)
As I was putting all my app's back, a few things I noticed that may be of help to some of you. #1 and the biggest of all, some of the apps were no longer support on my phone, which likely caused most of my issues anyway. Putting my Apps back, 85% of that sh*t I used ONCE and forgot I had it. I got it because someone else thought it was cool for THEIR needs.
#2. (and I know I will hear an earfull on this), The phone is perfect just the way it is, functionally wise? You want your phone to look different, get another wallpaper! You want unlocked bootloader, Motorola never promised us one! Everyone wants ICS, They never promised you that either, we purchased it that way. We complain about the camera, 8MP is, more or less, Studio quality unless your a Pro and want to blow it up! If so, get a Digital SLR (hell, I was happy with my 3MP HTC Fuze!)I love the 2 threads where Sprint cancelled their contract over Data, then they admitted downloading Torrants. READ THE CONTRACT!!! 4G? I have used it twice in the 1.5 years its been out, 3G loads my web pages OK, every now and then YouTube sputters, so what, so does my laptop!
Personally, Photon is running better than it has in months! So, I'm going to leave it how it is, and better understand and work the functions it already has! He**, even my BT's are working better with Pandora not dropping and me able to answer calls. The only other money I'm spending (and I really don't need it!) is the SanDisk Mobile Ultra 64Gb Micro SDHC I!
I will still be here with jokes and to get knowledge, but not touching "Neo" until a month after Note comes out, then I will pack him up for good!

dsims7_2000 said:
Well, it's lunch time so I thought I would take a minute to update everyone on my thread "I F'ed Up!' thread in Q&A. The Photon is back to purely stock, no root, no unlock, notta. I got most of my app's back (I will explain that later!).
Several months ago, I rooted and unlocked the Photon. Over that time, I have had several issues, off and on, that required reboots, battery removal, freezing, ect. that required me to come here for advice and help. After watching several of QBKINGS videos, I decided to go with CW7 and see what all the hype was about.
Things went terribley wrong!!!! (Thanks to all that helped me fix it, you will hear from me soon!) After 1.5 days without a phone, and knowing every which way exactly HOW to fix it, I was sitting down last night and give this one more go. Looking around, I noticed (as I did the first time?), some of the links don't work, some of the videos I had no clue WHAT page I was actually looking at, just said scroll down (Nice videos, I just did not get it?), some were re-directed to other sites. I work in IT, been doing it since 1983. I'm all for Development and embrace progress. Then it hit me? "Why do you want to root, unlock, flash anyway?" Really?
I started planning on this phone 2 months before it came out. It was, and still is, the best "Business" phone on the market just like it is. I use my phone for too much sh*t as it is (too long to list) and 30 minutes without it, expecially job wise, is a riks I cannot take again. So I choose to leave it stock and get back to the basics (Planning on getting a Samsung Galaxy Note anyway)
As I was putting all my app's back, a few things I noticed that may be of help to some of you. #1 and the biggest of all, some of the apps were no longer support on my phone, which likely caused most of my issues anyway. Putting my Apps back, 85% of that sh*t I used ONCE and forgot I had it. I got it because someone else thought it was cool for THEIR needs.
#2. (and I know I will hear an earfull on this), The phone is perfect just the way it is, functionally wise? You want your phone to look different, get another wallpaper! You want unlocked bootloader, Motorola never promised us one! Everyone wants ICS, They never promised you that either, we purchased it that way. We complain about the camera, 8MP is, more or less, Studio quality unless your a Pro and want to blow it up! If so, get a Digital SLR (hell, I was happy with my 3MP HTC Fuze!)I love the 2 threads where Sprint cancelled their contract over Data, then they admitted downloading Torrants. READ THE CONTRACT!!! 4G? I have used it twice in the 1.5 years its been out, 3G loads my web pages OK, every now and then YouTube sputters, so what, so does my laptop!
Personally, Photon is running better than it has in months! So, I'm going to leave it how it is, and better understand and work the functions it already has! He**, even my BT's are working better with Pandora not dropping and me able to answer calls. The only other money I'm spending (and I really don't need it!) is the SanDisk Mobile Ultra 64Gb Micro SDHC I!
I will still be here with jokes and to get knowledge, but not touching "Neo" until a month after Note comes out, then I will pack him up for good!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congrats?

My phone works great with 7.2 put it on the day i got it the next day i was skeptical and went back to stock was there for 2/3 of the day and went back to rocco then 7.2 after last update really havent had any problems except for zumocast for some reason.

grdead25 said:
My phone works great with 7.2 put it on the day i got it the next day i was skeptical and went back to stock was there for 2/3 of the day and went back to rocco then 7.2 after last update really havent had any problems except for zumocast for some reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny you mention ZumoCast, FIRST thing I went for when I got back. It was offline, went on computer, logged off/on, back to Photon, Online! All my music, movies, documents...........Nice! The only thing bad about ZumoCast, at this time, it only supports music playlist in iTunes (odd to me?) BUT...........Google Music, with its 20,000 limit, does support Playlist! Checked this AM and I had moved 12,000 of the 14,500 I requested. I have well over 130Gb of music and did not want to press my limit, so I picked my fav's and will shuffel them as time goes!.

dsims7_2000 said:
The only other money I'm spending (and I really don't need it!) is the SanDisk Mobile Ultra 64Gb Micro SDHC I!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know what your buying SD card for, assuming a cell phone.. But the Photon(and most others i think) wont support anything over a 32gig. Just a FYI. Glad you got your phone up and running again!

I came from the Evo and the Photon is by far a superior phone. My Photon is rooted, themed, and backed up using bootstrap. I've removed some of the Motorola junk and I experience no force closes or random reboots. I also don't have alot of useless apps running in the background either.
What you do with, and to your phone is directly related to how it works.
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium

w0lf215 said:
Don't know what your buying SD card for, assuming a cell phone.. But the Photon(and most others i think) wont support anything over a 32gig. Just a FYI. Glad you got your phone up and running again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had my doubts also but link has pictures. You have to format to slower FAT32 (Or NTFS) which is 7Mb compared to exFAT claimed 30.........Check out second link, post #12!
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Mobil...UTF8&coliid=ILKNEJIM6E46D&colid=3EHUWCW36Z6IQ
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1473010&highlight=64gb&page=2

dsims7_2000 said:
I had my doubts also but link has pictures. You have to format to slower FAT32 (Or NTFS) which is 7Mb compared to exFAT claimed 30.........Check out second link, post #12!
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Mobil...UTF8&coliid=ILKNEJIM6E46D&colid=3EHUWCW36Z6IQ
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1473010&highlight=64gb&page=2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well i stand corrected, learn new things everyday lol cool find!

w0lf215 said:
Well i stand corrected, learn new things everyday lol cool find!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You? Do you know how much reading I did only to come back here to get shot down? (Several times at that?)Trust me, I got a lesson!

Related

Sprint Official update problem

First of all, I will start by mentioning that this is my third Touch Pro from Sprint and I just want to confirm something before I take back to the store.
Is there anyone else who updated to the newest official firmware and have problems with your video playback from your albums. I had some videos stored from my old phone on a sd, and when I try to play it on this phone, it would cause a lot of jagging, freezes, audio playing while video is not. I then recorded a video with the camcorder and when I went to play back, it did the same thing. The settings I have it in is in
-CIF 352x288
-MPEG4
If its the phone, then I'm glad because I can go get myself the Touch Pro 2 at the store for free.
Things to note,
-had no problem like this on the 2nd phone
-upgraded the firmware as soon as I got home with this phone
-been like this for a while, just never cared to get an answer until now
Any feedback to a similar problem or non-exsisting problem would be greatly appreciated.
Look, if your ultimate goal is to get a free TP2, then just tell them that the phone gets unholy hot or some defect from the phone itself (battery lasting less than half a day with moderate use, etc). Believe me that the TP from Sprint has a bunch of those... If you start going by software, believe me that they will find a way to either fix it or convince you that it can be fixed with an update...
were you getting a free tp2 due to these issues?? Because im having the same issues as well including that my battery gets extremely hot and will not charge
Gxtsoldier said:
were you getting a free tp2 due to these issues?? Because im having the same issues as well including that my battery gets extremely hot and will not charge
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious about this myself. I was gonna get a Hero in a couple of months when my contract is up, but if I get a TP2, I might hold out for a little while.
There is a list somewhere that after a certain date, if your phone is with in the manufacture warranty of 1 year, and you have insurance of both types with sprint, you can switch out the phone to a list of 10 other phones, the TP2 and the hero being among those.
Still a sure answer on this would be great. Thanks egz on some insight. And gxt, you mean you are having problems with video playback too?
So I think I'll be going to the sprint store tomorrow, I'll let you guys know how it goes, unless I don't go that is.
Happy man said:
So I think I'll be going to the sprint store tomorrow, I'll let you guys know how it goes, unless I don't go that is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
im guessing you didnt go...?
Happy man said:
There is a list somewhere that after a certain date, if your phone is with in the manufacture warranty of 1 year, and you have insurance of both types with sprint, you can switch out the phone to a list of 10 other phones, the TP2 and the hero being among those.
Still a sure answer on this would be great. Thanks egz on some insight. And gxt, you mean you are having problems with video playback too?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What insurance do you have to have? Where is this list?
My 2nd tp just crapped out on me and insurance just sent me a "new" one.
sherm420 said:
What insurance do you have to have? Where is this list?
My 2nd tp just crapped out on me and insurance just sent me a "new" one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to answer my own question...
http://slumz.boxden.com/f244/sprint-now-replacing-touch-pro-touch-pro-2-a-1295800/
im going to give this a shot.
Hello everybody(insert simpsons joke here), it looks like i finally went to the sprint store. After what seems like a lifetime ago, i told them the problems I had, they said they would do a hard reset, and to come back in an hour. An hour and a half later and I will be getting mnyself a touch pro 2 soon. Now the only bad part is that i need to call this store to find out when they would have any touch pro 2's in their warehouses. So at least for now, I am assed out, oh and forgive me if this comes off as bad grammer, I am typing this from my touch pro 1, the screen is too small.

[Q] How do I unroot my Photon?

I need instructions on how to use adb to unroot my Photon. I rooted it without the dock per this forum's instructions. And yes, I'm still a noob so I don't know what sbf is. But I can follow instructions very well, at least to a certain point.
I need help because I am returning my Photon tomorrow because I can't stand using the camera and the screen. It bothers me too much. Worse yet, I use my phone as a mp3 player and it seems to be very slow at that. With the screen off and using headset controls, it doesn't respond as fast if at all like my Optimus V or Motorola Triumph does. I'm pretty disappointed with the Tegra 2, seems almost as if it was overrated to begin with. I probably had set my expectations too high from the beginning.
I'm not much of a gamer, so graphics that the Tegra 2 is suppose to be able to put out doesn't bother me too much. I just prefer the snapdragons because they seem to work better for my needs.
And the screen. It looks great when I'm watching an mkv movie, but that's it. It doesn't do other things well enough for me. My pictures all look too grainy and pixelated. At times, when looking at skin tones, all i see are the square blotches and no smooth pictures, even hd pictures don't look right.
The camera is too slow to respond and to be honest, my Motorola Triumph takes better pictures and seems to work faster at it than the Photon.
overthatscreen said:
I need instructions on how to use adb to unroot my Photon. I rooted it without the dock per this forum's instructions. And yes, I'm still a noob so I don't know what sbf is. But I can follow instructions very well, at least to a certain point.
I need help because I am returning my Photon tomorrow because I can't stand using the camera and the screen. It bothers me too much. Worse yet, I use my phone as a mp3 player and it seems to be very slow at that. With the screen off and using headset controls, it doesn't respond as fast if at all like my Optimus V or Motorola Triumph does. I'm pretty disappointed with the Tegra 2, seems almost as if it was overrated to begin with. I probably had set my expectations too high from the beginning.
I'm not much of a gamer, so graphics that the Tegra 2 is suppose to be able to put out doesn't bother me too much. I just prefer the snapdragons because they seem to work better for my needs.
And the screen. It looks great when I'm watching an mkv movie, but that's it. It doesn't do other things well enough for me. My pictures all look too grainy and pixelated. At times, when looking at skin tones, all i see are the square blotches and no smooth pictures, even hd pictures don't look right.
The camera is too slow to respond and to be honest, my Motorola Triumph takes better pictures and seems to work faster at it than the Photon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i doubt they will know its rooted and they probably wont care if it is....just dont say anything, but if you want to appear un rooted just delet all root user apps i.e. file explorer, wifi tether,root checker and anything that would suggest that its rooted, but it isnt really that big of a deal.
its shady....you should have root access to all your devices. Computers allow root access why not phones?
I just got rid of my 3d. Dont waste your time if you think this phone has problems the 3d is a nightmare... trust me i had mine for 3 weeks. A couple problems i had was camera sticks to 3d in 2d mode after a couple hours of use screen turns black and you have to pull battery at least twice a day battery goes from hero to zero in 2 hours with moderate use i thought the camera app was kinda weak the whole phone lags when you open app draw, browsing the market, while your on the web browser, the list just goes on and on... trust me you'll thank me later
.
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
I actually like the 3D more than the Photon. The wife has one and everything seems to work very well on it. I'm not into taking 3D pics, I just prefer the new Evo to the old one.
So anyways.. All I have to do is remove all the root apps and that's it? No going back in and removing the torpedo stuff?
I don't think it matters if it is rooted or not, but you can use this thread to go back to a stock un-rooted Moto rom.
overthatscreen said:
I actually like the 3D more than the Photon. The wife has one and everything seems to work very well on it. I'm not into taking 3D pics, I just prefer the new Evo to the old one.
So anyways.. All I have to do is remove all the root apps and that's it? No going back in and removing the torpedo stuff?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think twice before getting rid of a photon for a 3d. I had my 3d for 2 months and was in the sprint store atleast once a week wither verified problems. Enough so that even tho I was over my 30 days they still gave me a photon.
Sent from my Motorola Photon using Tapatalk
ooxcfhxoo said:
i doubt they will know its rooted and they probably wont care if it is....just dont say anything, but if you want to appear un rooted just delet all root user apps i.e. file explorer, wifi tether,root checker and anything that would suggest that its rooted, but it isnt really that big of a deal.
its shady....you should have root access to all your devices. Computers allow root access why not phones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hate to say it, but yes, we (Sprint retail corporate stores) do check Android devices for rooting prior to exchange/return and on exchanges/returns, you may also be liable for a restocking fee of $35. Our S&R technicians taught each of us how to verify rooting.
wireless.praying.mantis said:
I hate to say it, but yes, we (Sprint retail corporate stores) do check Android devices for rooting prior to exchange/return and on exchanges/returns, you may also be liable for a restocking fee of $35. Our S&R technicians taught each of us how to verify rooting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even when there is a internal notice saying that service can be performed on rooted phones, you saying that I could still be liable for the restocking fee?
Sprint service and repair facts
TS
wireless.praying.mantis said:
I hate to say it, but yes, we (Sprint retail corporate stores) do check Android devices for rooting prior to exchange/return and on exchanges/returns, you may also be liable for a restocking fee of $35. Our S&R technicians taught each of us how to verify rooting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I turned in my rooted EVO 3d last week. I was 3 weeks past my 30 days, the manager and the head tech were super cool about it. I even offered to unroot it but they said it didn't matter. The tech was even questioning me about how I liked the rom.
Sent from my Motorola Photon using Tapatalk
I think 1/2 the members of this forum has returned/exchanged a rooted phone...I know for sure I have. Back when I got into the whole rooting thing, I used to be paranoid whenever I took my phone in; now THATS the least of my concerns.
People need to stop slinging all that nonsense of voided warranties & restocking fees. If Sprint's good with it....so am I.
I've also returned a rooted phone and Sprint had no issues with it at all.
twospirits said:
Even when there is a internal notice saying that service can be performed on rooted phones, you saying that I could still be liable for the restocking fee?
Sprint service and repair facts
TS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a restocking fee to return a phone period, it doesn't matter if it's rooted or not. Exchanging for the same phone because it's allegedly defective is free, changing models comes with a restocking charge. And going from the photon to the evo is a huge step backwards.... Everyone except 1 person I know with the 3d switched or is planning on switching to the photon.
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
wireless.praying.mantis said:
I hate to say it, but yes, we (Sprint retail corporate stores) do check Android devices for rooting prior to exchange/return and on exchanges/returns, you may also be liable for a restocking fee of $35. Our S&R technicians taught each of us how to verify rooting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am sure there are some employees that know how to check to see if a phone is rooted or not, but it is by no means the standard. As countless people have said in various threads, I have returned and had work performed on rooted phones.
I have come across so many sales associates that don't even know phone details/specs. I doubt they know how to check to see if a phone is rooted or not.
so is there a way to unroot or not? I need to return my phone for repairs. I already updated to the final build, so should I just do that again to unroot it even though it hasn't been released yet?
unroot for return or exchange
SIMPLE SINCE U HAVE to manually install superuser from market to gain root anyways,unlike normal method where it installs right from a rooting program,just go to application manage delete superuser,delete all trace of apps that use root or better yet do a factory reset.. superuser should uninstall, really seeing superuser on screen is the most common sign of rooted phone.
You could try the terminal emulator root method but instead of typing the last prompt as install.so-sh type uninstall
Just an idea! Also I know flashing sbf file with rsdlite looses root with no signs of ever being flashed
Good Luck
Not exactly true...
codee said:
There is a restocking fee to return a phone period, it doesn't matter if it's rooted or not. Exchanging for the same phone because it's allegedly defective is free, changing models comes with a restocking charge. And going from the photon to the evo is a huge step backwards.... Everyone except 1 person I know with the 3d switched or is planning on switching to the photon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
codee said:
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm returning the Photon within my first 30 days of being a new sprint customer, and exchanging for a Samsung Galaxy II (EPIC 2 4G) with no restocking fee . The photon truly is a piece of $h1t that was not ready for release, not to mention the Idiots who designed it, approved the design, tested it after build to realize that when it is in kickstand mode, you can't charge the P.O.S. lol and out of the box, it won't play most videos that you put on it, even MP4's . Plus the amount of battery pulls is ridiculous. Trying to assign certain ringtone MP3's causes it to ring but lock up, and these are the same small 128k MP3s that all my old phones used, including my G1, MyTouch 3G, and Samsung Galaxy (ALL TMO phones). All of them can play all my videos, but the photon stutters and loses sync, etc. this is a "Not Ready for Prime Time" release just to get something out there. Shame too because I really liked the feel.. And the speakerphone is the loudest I've heard in ages... At least on a smartphone...
Right there with you bud.. I was sold on the photon by overhearing one on speakerphone, but didn't get a close look at it. I bought it online. What a dismal piece of hardware. Out of the box, it could not and would not play any of the MP4's, mkv's or FLV's that my TMO myTouch and Vibrant played. When playing a video with the kickstand open, you can't charge it. As a nightstand clock? HA The A-Hole who designed that should be fired. Sure, we all want a smartphone that can't be charged overnight while using as an alarm clock (with the kickstand) or while watching videos... Haa.. Add to that the frequent lockups when trying to play any of my MP3s (which all ringtones on my other phones) , which requires pulling the battery to get it to shut up... The lousy slow and sluggish interface and the gallery is a nightmare compared to Samsung's UI... No thanks MoPho... Back you go. Your only feature that is any good is the speakerphone, and I just don't use it often enough to put up with such a terribly pixelated screen. This is NOTHING like the SAMOLED.... qHD? I think not. Save the marketing terms... Build a good phone we can buy and enjoy.
The kickstand works both ways. Flip the phone over 180 degrees. It will stand that way too. Then you can charge at the same time.
It actually stands upright too, just not as stable.
So back to topic please...
I'm trying to sale my Photon to get the SGS 2 and I need to un root it.
Can someone please provide a step by step on how to un root this phone thanks in advance
Sent from my MB855 using xda premium

Worst phone I've had

I got a new rezound 2 years ago and after a month it stopped working. I got 3 replacements, all did not work. Got a Galaxy Nexus instead. . Just got the HTC One M8 on my new contract. I was afraid to get another HTC, but it's been great!
-touche- said:
I got a new rezound 2 years ago and after a month it stopped working. I got 3 replacements, all did not work. Got a Galaxy Nexus instead. . Just got the HTC One M8 on my new contract. I was afraid to get another HTC, but it's been great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got the Rezound shortly after it came out and used the hell out of it for nearly 3 years until a partition got corrupted and it ceased charging, at which point I ante'd up for an M8. The M8 is far and away the best phone I've ever owned, but the Rezound faithfully held it's own all the way up through Android 4.4.4. The Rezound was my third HTC after the original Incredible and the Thunderbolt. The
Rezound was better than both of those by a wide margin. The Incredible simply devoured it's battery to the point I broke down and bought a massive extended battery. The Thunderbolt really did need that, too, but given that the Thunderbolt was a beast in every regard, I didn't think it needed to be even more heavy and unwieldy to haul about. After those two devices, the Rezound struck me as the phone HTC had been trying to build for years. That said, the M8 is truly a different kind of beast. Aside from being a physically gorgeous phone, it's extremely capable, too. It makes an SGS5 feel cheap and flimsy, and it's faster, too. Let me say that again.... The M8 is FASTER than an SGS5, bone stock device compared to bone stock device. Think about that for a second. A phone running HTC's 600 pound gorilla of a user interface called Sense 6.0 is actually faster than an SGS5. That is nothing short of amazing. I love the M8 because it runs Sense faster and smoother than the Rezound ran CM11 while overclocked to 1.72 GHz. If you would have said HTC would make a phone like that 3 or 4 years ago people would have laughed in your face.
I got my very first cell phone last Thanksgiving, a cheapy mediatek. Within a few weeks of having it, I stumbled across an article about rooting somewhere. To make a long story shorter, a week after that and ty to finding this forum + Kingo I had that cheapy China phone rooted lol(and it still sucked). A month after that I got nokia lumina 525, on x-mas, which was a notch better, but yet worse haha. I quickly learned that MS's play store just sucks. -.-
TYG soon after that a friend gave me their old phone. A very well taken care of, almost pristine mint Rezzie. I had greatly abused and put it thru hell while I learned what I can do to it + fell in love with it at the sametime. When my Rezzie isn't happy, believe me, it makes damn sure I realize it isn't. The past few months I believed it has been happy for the most part. Now finally and very belatedly I have begun to realize it never was happy since the day I got it till just the other day ROFL.
I found a new interesting app to try on it, \play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=artur.m3rv.myszka.speedupswap and 1 nano second later and ever since I swear my poor 5+yr old rezzie is now as fast or even faster + smoother than all my friend's great new phones are.
Plus the history here on this very forum + the story behind the making of them is in the least is interesting if not downright engrossing.
ATM, I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my otw eBay order... a dead Rezzie lol. Seller said it won't do nothing, no boot, but it's LCD light lites when charged. It's been in a box since 2012/13 supposedly after 6ish months of light use. :drooling: As I'm typing this on my non-OCed S-on rezzie.
Yea you can call me a belated fan of them I suppose. I wish I could turn back time and was given a chance to change your bad experience. -sigh-
sent with Huggzzz from my heavily modded, 349+ Apps installed, very fast running ADR6425LVM on CyanogenMod 11 20150225 Rom with Tapatalk
I didn't notice initially how old this thread was till after I posted the above...ooops
Anyways to follow up on my post above...
I received that "dead Rezzie" that I had ordered off of eBay.
Within 5minutes of opening it, I not only had it booting up just fine as can be.
It's almost foreign to me Sense interface was eagerly asking me to draw a pattern.
With in my 3rd to fourth try....the phone unlocked! Rofl
Seriously it just flew open and it was the same as it was on the very last day it's owner had last used it.
ummmm....it was still checking all her email accts and fb acct, play for updates, etc u get the picture. It's previous owner is a professional dog trainer who I believe has recently moved out of the country. I understand from reading a few of the texts on it, etc. Anyways she has tons of stuff on it, pictures, texts + accounts which the phone can still access.
I ran it's MEID and it comes up clean as a bell.
I thanked the seller via eBay's feedback A+++'ed him and said it worxs great tyvm! loool
I also sent an eMail to it's previous owner, telling her this very story on how I ended up with it.
I asked her if she would like any of the stuff thats on it before I reset it.
I literally have the last 3yrs of this unknown girl's life in the palm of my hand.
Now re-read that last sentence 5 more times.
Her emails, her text and she texted very often...must be thousands of them sheeze. I know she has 2 dogs and even that they have their own bedroom upstairs somewhere and each their own bed, which they are "tucked" nightly into with their daily laundered fleece blankets. (gawd i envy them) I know that she likes to drink "bubblely" after work on most days + when she is working out.....
Oh yea I can probably even go on a eBay shopping spree on her dime now + on other major online sites too. :tempting:
:angel: nah , I'm not like that though :angel:
She still hasn't replied to my email and it's been about a week.
I think maybe what had happened was she had taken her rezzie in for a trade-in on a new phone. Either she couldn't get it to boot either or just wanted a new one.
Then the place she traded it in at inspected it and couldn't get it going, then tried selling it on eBay to part buyers. Then I came along via eBay looking for a new battery for my Rezzie and Bam it came up along with the batteries in my search.
I spotted it and remember thinking well it's not much more $$'s then a battery and it comes with one....
If I can get it going I'll have an extra Rezzie to play around with or to keep has an extra or to re-sell right back on eBay for 4-5x's more then what I paid for it easily. In the least I would have another battery and an extra phone for parts if I couldn't get it working. Sooo lol I bought that instead of a battery. Hoping it wouldn't be as tedious as fixing a broken screen is to fix.
You see, I began to notice in my own Rezzie sometimes after a bad crash, usually a real niice bad one, like a niice bad one from my must-have + fav, chrome browser, it boots differently.
Lol that eBay Rezzie just needed someone who understood how to boot it is all.
:laugh: and that was what I was hoping for to begin with on it :laugh: There was nothing ever wrong with it actually
Yep, i love these things
Moral of my story: BE extremely CareFul of what you do with your old "dead" phones...it may just end up on eBay and get a buyer that is not as honest as I am.
I'm sure there are those out there, that earn a living off of the info they get from such phones.
Hugz
That's a good warning to users, you should share a shorter version of it on the social media sites... The warning is probably not as relevant here as most of our users have slightly above average knowledge, but the "normal" user has no idea about this stuff.
Thanks for your story.
Sent from my MotoG3 using Tapatalk
That's a great idea!
Lol, I've been warning people I know on an individual basis.
sent with Huggzzz from my modded, non-OC'ed, very fast running S-Off ADR6425LVM on CyanogenMod 11 20150805 Rom with Tapatalk
lol.. this was not a bad phone at all. Only thing I hated was the battery life. It came with a very poor 1600mah battery and you couldnt get much more than 2 1/2 hours of screen on time. I never did buy a better battery, it was already a bit old by the time I thought of it. The ICS update made everything about Sense twice as slow. It SUCKED! I went from a fast ohone to one that lagged everywhere from Sense to the choppy scrolling in the browsers. Firefox was the only fast browser that didnt lag. Eventually.. I had broken the screen (lol dont ask how) .. and after I put in a new digitizer, it worked for awhile then slowly started messing up because the digitizer/lcd assy kept pushing up a tiny bit due to the lcd ribbon cable not pushing back far enough behind it. Now.. the touchscreen is hit or miss where it actually will touch. And the soft keys stopped working completely. (Yay ) id still like to restore it. My S4 has been good, but the screen is NO WHERE near as bright as the Rezound is.
I ended up trading that eBay Rezzie in at Verizon. Verizon gave me $300 for it, on this past Christmas.
The owner never did reply to my emails.
I still have my original Rezzie. It's still running like a champ while being chocked full of apps that are beyond it's time.
I will keep it forever, being the foolishly sentimental person that I am.
Now-a-daze when I pick up my old Rezzie(still on my nightstand + charged), I smile and I wonder at how much it had taught me + I realize how much older it now suddenly seems to be to me x.x
....just a month ago it was the bestest phone I ever had had.
sent on Tapatalk with Hugz from my new fully stock, non-rooted VZW LG V10 VS990 which an old faithful still working Rezound helped me to afford to get

OCD over my phones looks..am I alone?

Seriously, I obsess over it. Like every 10 minutes I'm changing a wallpaper, icons or downloading a new launcher. How far the icons are from the sides or bottom of the screen bugs me etc..just a million small things and I literally spend over half my day rearranging everything lol. Am I the only one? It's even somewhat become a problem between me and my fiance. She hates how I'm always staring at my phone and when I finally put it down she always says "are you SURE your done?" Lol. It's funny but I hope I'm not alone on this
No. It's just you.
^ Agreed
I've come to that conclusion. I have bad ADD and it causes me to find one thing to focus on and once I do, I don't concentrate on anything else lol. It's a horrible curse.
I used to be that bad, when I got my first Android 6 or so years ago. My wife used to get mad at me for living on my phone, then I got her one and she does the same thing.
ryant35 said:
I used to be that bad, when I got my first Android 6 or so years ago. My wife used to get mad at me for living on my phone, then I got her one and she does the same thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really think lollipop will put an end to my obsession. It's well polished and nicely laid put. I'm am so ready to see how Touchwiz lollipop will look
Take up motorsports. Far more exhilarating than messing with wallpapers
In some ways in glad I moved on from galaxy nexus I used to Rom almost daily. Sometimes I would even load roms at work. I think if I had a nexus device again it would stay stock except for tether and launcher. I like the speed and layout of stock android. I spend more time using my phone now instead of tweaking useless things. I've even considered going back to dumb phone but really don't want to give up unlimited data as I could never get it back.
gpz1100 said:
Take up motorsports. Far more exhilarating than messing with wallpapers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just not into that sort of stuff. I'ma tech junkie lol. Never once has anyone ever showed me anything and I've never been to school for it, but I've been able to completely tear down a computer and put it back together since I was like 11. I've brought cell phones and computers completely back from the dead. I don't have much knowledge on building/development but I can sure fix something that's broken. But then again maybe if I wasn't so broke I'd have more hobbies lol. Just about any tech gadgets I have I got as payment for fixing someone else's tech gadgets.
tshelby73 said:
In some ways in glad I moved on from galaxy nexus I used to Rom almost daily. Sometimes I would even load roms at work. I think if I had a nexus device again it would stay stock except for tether and launcher. I like the speed and layout of stock android. I spend more time using my phone now instead of tweaking useless things. I've even considered going back to dumb phone but really don't want to give up unlimited data as I could never get it back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get a crappy Motorola phone. You'll only want to use it when you have to lol. I had the RAZR M and I hated flashing roms on it. Nothing could take away the fact that, that phone sucked lol
Yes I know believe me I had a Motorola droid x2. It was my first smart phone and never got unlocked. I thought it would be great since it was the first dual core but was I wrong most laggy phone ever.

[Q] Anyone interested in LG Tribute development?

I just picked one of these up yesterday, the LG Tribute, the Sprint version which is model LS660P (same hardware with the Virgin Mobile version). It's a Snapdragon 400 SoC quad core powered smartphone - it's basically a mix of features between a 1st gen Moto G LTE (the SoC) and the Moto E (removable battery and microSD slot) - it's a CDMA/LTE device only so it's more akin to the Sprint/Boost/Cricket versions of the Moto G I suppose - it does have a SIM card slot but since there's no GSM radio I suppose that's a dead end. It has Sprint LTE support for LTE bands 25, 26, and 41 - it's Spark-enabled as well.
So far in using it I've been extremely pleased with the performance overall considering it's $39.99 right now at many retailers like Fry's and Best Buy (retail is $79.99).
The biggest downside is the 800x480 display resolution but honestly I could care less these days. I just owned an LG G2 and loved it but I had to sell it to cover some bills, and when I saw the Tribute specs and that low price I figured it couldn't hurt to mess around with it a bit.
But in terms of getting it up and running, the first time I powered it up I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this on the Apps screen:
Just that, and nothing else - this thing has zero Sprint bloatware on it, absolutely nothing, and nothing from LG either. Yes it just has 4GB of internal storage leaving about 1.45GB for the user but it's got the microSD slot for storage. I've done all the requisite Google stock apps updates and installed all the apps I've purchased and the free ones I regularly use and I still have 435MB left so I'm good to go. Put my 32GB microSD card in it with 6GB of Opus-encoded audio files, a couple of movies and TV shows, and so far it's been fantastic.
Current battery is showing 37% left from a 100% charge, 12 hours and 3 minutes on, 5 hours and 14 minutes of screen on time so far (and still going because I'm watching Captain America: The Winter Soldier on it and there's 1 hour and 45 mins left in the movie), Wi-Fi has been on the entire time (it's in Airplane mode, however), screen brightness using MX Player is set at 12 (of 15), volume at 15. I use Google Hangouts with Google Voice to make "phone calls" using Wi-Fi so it's in Airplane mode most of the time when I'm at home.
I expect to hit the 7 hours of SOT and this is the first full charge on the device so, consider me a very happy camper.
I know requests have been put into place for Stumproot support so a root could be possible on this device, and I know that LG has posted the 4.4.2 ROM and kernel source code (I grabbed that last night). So here's my question:
Is there anyone out there that might be interested in attempting to develop any recovery for this (assuming we get root at some point), and then perhaps developing some custom ROM for it - seems like it should be a relatively easy thing considering a) we have the full ROM and kernel source even though it's just 4.4.2 at the moment (I would guess LG has no intentions of boosting this to 5.0 so that'll most likely never happen) and b) it's so close to the architecture of the CMDA/LTE version of the Moto G LTE that some kind of port might be possible towards Lollipop if and when that happens...?
Long sentence, sorry about that, I get wordy at times.
But I just figured I'd ask if there's any interest at all. Yes, it's weak on the resolution, yes, it's not a powerhouse device, yes, it's fairly cheap but it's functional and could be an awesome little smartphone with a little "help" thrown its way like a potential for a custom kernel as well to get the quad core and the governor a bit more under control.
I fully suspect this device is easily capable of 7 hours of SOT with such "upgrades" if anyone is interested. I lack the technical know-how and skills to get buried in ROM development much less kernels, so I figured I would toss the question out considering it shares so much common with the Moto G LTE variant + the Moto E's microSD slot potential.
Just curious... any responses are welcome and appreciated, thanks.
Update:
It's even better than I'd hoped...
Almost 8 hours of screen on time - that was a full movie (2 hours 15 minutes long and I let it play the entire thing, first frame to final), 4 TV shows (about 42-45 minutes long each), music playback for almost 1 hour, a few Wi-Fi phone calls using Google Hangouts/Voice, and some web surfing using the stock browser.
$40... absolutely amazing.
I'm just concerned about the amount of CPU time the Android OS shows there - it apparently used as much battery as the screen being on for 7 hours and 38 minutes did so there's something amiss hiding inside. Will be using Wakelock Detector to see if I can detect anything I can disable on the next go considering this was the first full 100% charge and battery test. Just for the record, the Keep Awake time listed on the Android OS battery usage page is 11 hours so it's not idle, there's something going on in there that's using the battery, now I just have to find out what it is. The CPU total time was 4 hours 17 minutes for Android OS.
I'm pretty satisfied, now I wonder what this thing could really be capable of in terms of battery life with a proper custom kernel and ROM. I wonder...
I've been waiting for something to pop up for this phone. I've had it for 2 weeks now. Its great. I agree the battery life is awesome on this thing.
I have the VM version and would be willing to test if someone came up with something.
sigh
Coming from an iPhone so I'm totally new to the android platform but the storage in this thing is severely lacking. I got a micro sd for it, but barely can even get any apps to download due to lack of space. I'm assuming something like this would be helped by a root. It's driving me bananas and making me yearn for my Apple days
Tribute
I also just switched to a Tribute, with KitKat. Was incredibly pissed off to find that Android had crippled the external SD's role. I mean, WTF guys? So now I am on a mission. Every day I scour the interwebs looking for hope that someone has figured out a root exploit for this. I would even settle for being able to flash a custom ROM like Cyanogen. Just so long as I can get PodKicker to save 'casts to the friggin SD card. Is that too much to ask? Anyway, nothing i have attempted so far has worked at all.
Oh, and you got lucky with the no bloatware thing. I got mine through Boost Mobile, and they clotted this damned thing chock full of B.S. To the point that OUT OF THE BOX I couldn't install apps from Playstore without uninstalling previous updates to all the big Google apps. And without Root, I can't get rid of this BoostZone ****e.
I have my doubts as to whether or not this device will get any support here at all at this point (yes I know it's just been a day or so since I made this thread). I didn't even know about the LG L90 till earlier today and when I checked out the specs I realized that it's a better device overall than the Tribute, of course the price reflects the differences as well (larger higher resolution screen, just qHD 960x540 but still it's larger at 4.7" also), with NFC support (I actually make use of that myself), the removable battery/microSD slot, and it's got support here with its own subforum now with a lot of activity (well, a lot for it I suppose) and it even has an IR port for QuickRemote too which is pretty awesome: my Wife is deaf so anytime we go someplace like a Doctor's office or hospital with TVs on, if the captions aren't enabled I turn 'em on with the smartphone. Used to do that with my Galaxy S4 Active in the past, nice to see LG and some other companies are hopping on the "remote control" bandwagon now too.
There's root available and also a bootloader unlock apparently, source code is out and there's work being done so... I wish I had known that before yesterday basically. Fry's, where I got this Tribute, won't do a return on it because I opened the box (and obviously I've done more since I got it too) so that's a wash I suppose. It's still a damned fine little device for $40.
The L90 is "on sale" through T-Mobile's website for $100 with a coupon code right now, I would have grabbed that if I had known about it and the development in progress. Guess I'll have to keep my eyes out next time, might find one used on craigslist soon so we'll see what happens.
I'll keep the Tribute, of course, and keep hoping for a root at some point. I did ask in the Stumproot thread for someone to take a look at it and see what might be possible so, let's keep our fingers crossed.
As for the bloat, I had someone at HowardForums tell me if I activate the phone with Sprint (which I haven't done) that'll install all the Sprint bloatware so, fat chance of that happening I guess. I'll keep it as is and hope for the best.
Anyone working on this? I tried stump, and there are a ton of requests, but no one has said a word about it.
Thanks!
Still hoping but no progress has been reported. It's common knowledge these days that root on newer devices is going to continue to get more and more difficult with the potential that someday we're just not going to be able to do it on most anything. The low price of this one and lack of the high end specs makes most devs (at least in my opinion) not even give a crap about it so, if someone does and we benefit from it, that's awesome.
If nothing happens, it wasn't a complete waste, it's a fine little device with decent processing power and damned great battery life as noted so, $40 was nothing I guess.
Still looking
Still looking for root to the LG Tribute and nothing works. Has anyone heard anything new about it???
Just bumping this to revive interest.
sweetbsting said:
Coming from an iPhone so I'm totally new to the android platform but the storage in this thing is severely lacking. I got a micro sd for it, but barely can even get any apps to download due to lack of space. I'm assuming something like this would be helped by a root. It's driving me bananas and making me yearn for my Apple days
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You so realize you bought a low to mid range prepaid phone right?
I realize that but there has been quite a bit of interest in the model on the internets so unless you have something helpful to add, kindly ignore my post. Thanks.
aburn95 said:
You so realize you bought a low to mid range prepaid phone right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You do understand that your comment takes away from the actual thread content, right?
Here is more information about the phone for anyone interested in development:
LG LS660 (LG Tribute) Virgin Mobile.
http://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-LS660-Virgin-Mobile-tribute
Should I buy this phone and wait for a root?
Or are there other similar price and spec phones that are easier to root?
Do some phones never get rooted?
-snip-
br0adband said:
There's root available and also a bootloader unlock apparently, source code is out and there's work being done so... I wish I had known that before yesterday basically. Fry's, where I got this Tribute, won't do a return on it because I opened the box (and obviously I've done more since I got it too) so that's a wash I suppose. It's still a damned fine little device for $40.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you inform us where you found root & bootloader unlock? I've been on Android for years, but am relatively new to the root/mod side of things.
LiquidRabbit said:
Where did you download this? I am pretty curious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't own the LG Tribute any longer but the source code was at LG's open source repository for the LS660P (the Sprint variant, but it should be identical to the others I would guess):
https://www.lg.com/global/support/opensource/opensourceList?types=NAME&search=ls660p
emarkp said:
Can you inform us where you found root & bootloader unlock? I've been on Android for years, but am relatively new to the root/mod side of things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly I can't even remember now, I saw some post at one of the other forums (AndroidPolice maybe) that said someone had discovered a working bootloader unlock, I could be wrong in that but honestly I can't recall the specifics at the momemt. As stated, I no longer own a Tribute (nothing at the moment, my sig always reflects what I own at any given time, for the record).
Good luck... it's really a fantastic smartphone for the $40 I paid for it (and Fry's still sells it for that price). I wish there was a GSM model 'cause I'd be all over it in a second flat; can't do much of anything with the CDMA model in terms of getting service here in my area. I won't deal with Sprint for service, and Boost/Virgin Mobile/etc don't have plans that come anywhere near what the $30/month T-Mobile plan does so...
For $35 a month, you get unlimited everything on Virgin Mobile...
For $20, you get 300 minutes and unlimited everything. I stuck with the $20 plan at unlimited everything as I was grandfathered in many, many years ago.
Possible root method?
Hello! I have been using android for a while and just got this phone (LG Tribute, Virgin Mobile). I was researching rooting this, and I found this: youtube.com/watch?v=ZBdrVa_bo5o
It seems to be advertising legit software, etc, but I wonder if this successfully roots the Tribute. On their website (androidphonetransfer_DOTCOM) ,they have a free trial for the software.
I'd like to try it, but I'm not sure if it would mess up my device or not (I'm new to rooting). anyone want to give this a try?
It does not work.
I am also interested. I was looking for a android phone with at least 4.5 inch screen to act as a dedicated gps navigator. LG Tribute fit the bill perfectly. Quad core processor is fast, would be nice to get rid of Sprint activation and clean the device up with a root.
I'm surprised there is not more interest in this phone. The sale price of $40 happens pretty regularly, which IMO is a great deal for this phone.

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