Related
To get to the point, people DON'T UPDATE YOUR VIBRANTS and T-MOBILE HANDLES THE ISSUE HORRIBLY! Obviously this is not a universal problem, but if you do happen to be one of the lucky ones that bricks their phone with the update there is no saving it (at least with the help of T-mobile).
I just got off of the phone with tech support and they were less than helpful. After the regular punching in numbers, talking to two different people, and trying to re-boots that everyone with half a brain have tried, they informed me that they would replace the phone but I had to PAY for shipping. While I realize this is a normal policy when it comes to random malfunctions, which may or may not have been the users fault, this is absolutely ridiculous when the problem is 100% their fault. Seriously, T-mobile ships a top of the line phone that has some major flaws and inactivated software (media hub), then breaks the phone with it's official update, and somehow this is MY responsibility to pay to get fixed? The rep even asked if I at this point wanted to add insurance so next time I wouldn't have to pay for shipping and if I wanted to pay extra for expedited shipping! They were trying to make an add-on sale while fixing an issue THEY caused!
That's not even the end of it, because I was so irritated they sent me to a "loyalty specialist" (who sounded like a used car salesman). He rambled on about how he would waive the shipping fee (he made it sound like he just saved my first born child). I told him I appreciated that but it didn't fix the fact that T-Mobile was not handling the issue well. When a large number of phones break from an issue originating from the provider they should either 1) have re-furbished phones (or even set aside new phones if necessary) to replace these broken phones as they come up or 2) offer free over night shipping of the replacement phone. He told me that these options were too expensive for T-Mobile, and that if I like I could sign up for either of their two insurance plans, as they would allow me to do an in-store replacement (he later noted that one of them was only available within the first 14 days of owning the phone...). I couldn't believe they were trying to another add-on sale! The best part being, I later called around to all my local T-Mobile owned stores and none of them have the Vibrant available for in-store replacement (and never have).
So the Cliff-Notes of my rant:
1) DON'T UPDATE YOUR VIBRANT
2) If you did brick your phone, make sure to complain and they should refund the ridiculous shipping charge
3) If you don't own a Vibrant and are thinking about it consider the following (Don't let it stop you, just consider it):
- Still on 2.1, when Nexus One has been on 2.2 for months (and the Galaxy S 2.2 official ROM has been leaked so it does exist in some form.) => Meaning updates are super scarce and extremely late.
- T-Mobile is selling a good phone with many flaws, and their first attempt to fix it bricked many phones (do a google search I am not the only one).
- While it may be better than other companies, T-Mobiles customer service is FAR from flawless
P.S. My phone was completely stock (so please don't mention how I did this with a lag fix, etc.). I waited at least 15 mins before I pulled the battery, before which I had noted the T-Mobile sound starting without the animation (seems like a timing issue or something). And finally, I realize this is a duplicate post to many others but I want people to find this info (not be at the bottom of a really long thread) to get the word out how T-Mobile deals with their errors.
I hate when people mess with their phones then get angry at a company for "breaking" their phone. Im running stock rom with root and also got bricked, but, I manned up and knew I was in the wrong and accepted what happened. I didn't put the blame on TMo, because completely untouched vibrants that I was aware of had no issues with this OTA. If you added functionality to it after the fact that it wasn't originally on there before when you initially purchased it; then its YOUR fault that it bricked, NOT T-mobiles. Take some responsibility and stop crying.
Had the same problem but this is a pretty fix using Odin.
If you install an update from an OTA T-Mobile should be held responsible
I don't know about you guys but when you have been a customer for 10+ years, T-Mobile will pretty much suck your balls.
Either way, if you guys rooted it, then that takes the fault from T-Mobile to you. You changed the phone. The update was designed for a pristine un-edited Samsung Vibrant, if you changed anything in the system by rooting or flashing it is your fault for changing the equation. T-Mobile is NOT at fault for your actions.
Yeah why warranty the phone when you can just ODIN and fix it yourself? Do a xda search. If you're gonna use xda to complain at least use it to solve your own problems as well. Unless your phone is hardware locked it is 100 % fixable.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
starkiller86 said:
I hate when people mess with their phones then get angry at a company for "breaking" their phone. Im running stock rom with root and also got bricked, but, I manned up and knew I was in the wrong and accepted what happened. I didn't put the blame on TMo, because completely untouched vibrants that I was aware of had no issues with this OTA. If you added functionality to it after the fact that it wasn't originally on there before when you initially purchased it; then its YOUR fault that it bricked, NOT T-mobiles. Take some responsibility and stop crying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
P.S. My phone was completely stock (so please don't mention how I did this with a lag fix, etc.). I waited at least 15 mins before I pulled the battery, before which I had noted the T-Mobile sound starting without the animation (seems like a timing issue or something). And finally, I realize this is a duplicate post to many others but I want people to find this info (not be at the bottom of a really long thread) to get the word out how T-Mobile deals with their errors
Did you not read that part?
I bricked two stock Vibrants with the update. The second one failed during Mini-Kies update and was hardware locked.
It is a known issue according to the Tech guy that I spoke to while getting my replacement.
First phone wouldn't power on after failure, second phone was hardware locked so un-fixable.
No, no.
This happened to me, I had a rooted phone I had uninstalled the inflight internet, etc on it and hadn't overclocked or anything like that. Phone kills itself. I went to the tmo store and they only make you pay for shipping if you take the overnight option.
PROTIP - DON'T ASK FOR EXTRA SPEEDY SHIPPING AND THEY'LL PAY FOR IT.
so i guess we are just SOL for the data on the phone? I just lost an entire vacation of pictures. I had not had a chance to root this phone either. this is ****ing awesome.
dechire said:
so i guess we are just SOL for the data on the phone? I just lost an entire vacation of pictures. I had not had a chance to root this phone either. this is ****ing awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess this is just an example of "store your pictures on the external SD card"
Then if you brick it you can still get your pictures back ....
watcher64 said:
I guess this is just an example of "store your pictures on the external SD card"
Then if you brick it you can still get your pictures back ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Word. That's one of the first things I did when I got the phone and was playing with the features. Switched it from phone storage to memory card.
Sorry to hear you lost photos.
Protip: Pay the damn overnight shipping fee...it'll be deducted from your bill (flex pay) which makes it free: )
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Here is the business side
If I am T mobile every time some person has a problem and I offered free shipping, the Every moron would be shipping the device back for Any problem. Way way costly, so that is not going to happen. If you Really believe the phone is factory defective then, pay the shipping and move on. If you messed with it at all then the burden to resolve is yours and be honest about that. Remember the reason people are in here is to customize the phone and improve it. Like the XDA mantra sez.......... It is not just the result... but the journey....
Like one of the other posts stated:
If you rooted it, then that takes the fault from T-Mobile to you. You changed the phone. The update was designed for a pristine un-edited Samsung Vibrant, if you changed anything in the system by rooting or flashing it is your fault for changing the equation. T-Mobile is NOT at fault for your actions.
Gr8gorilla said:
First phone wouldn't power on after failure, second phone was hardware locked so un-fixable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a hardware lock fix now, you really should flash that before you do anything else. Yeah, you run the risk of bricking with the hardware unlock, but it's probably a safer bet than flashing away.
dechire said:
so i guess we are just SOL for the data on the phone? I just lost an entire vacation of pictures. I had not had a chance to root this phone either. this is ****ing awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you Odin it with the JI6 update, you might still be able to get a working system out of it. Worth a shot to see if you can get it without having to flash to stock first (which will wipe).
With all the time you spent with tech support, you could have found the thread that delineates how to fix your phone and update through odin. Its very easy and, frankly why be on a developers forum when you are not willing to tinker around a bit.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
dechire said:
so i guess we are just SOL for the data on the phone? I just lost an entire vacation of pictures. I had not had a chance to root this phone either. this is ****ing awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as the phone still powers on you can still use ADB Pull and save the data from the /sdcard folder. This update isn't a totally bricking the phone (at least it didn't mine) just making the display and inputs not work. To quote Billy Crystal: "He's only MOSTLY dead"
Odin was really simple to reflash the stock ROM and then I was able to do a nandroid restore from there.
The T-Mobile OTA update left my phone only booting to the vibrant screen, but it was a pretty simple fix with Odin. The hardest part was getting the proper drivers installed in windows!
Mini kies wouldnt even let me update,so I rooted and flashed bionix 1.8,works great.**** tmo.
Fyi to the people with hardware lock. I did the update on my gf's phone which was hardware locked and it failed. The phone would only boot to the vibrant screen. The good news is the ota update unlocks the hardware because her phone is able to get into recovery and download mode even thought the update failed. The point is don't worry if ota fail on you because you can just use odin to fix it since it unlocks the download mode.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
mr2t32 said:
Fyi to the people with hardware lock. I did the update on my gf's phone which was hardware locked and it failed. The phone would only boot to the vibrant screen. The good news is the ota update unlocks the hardware because her phone is able to get into recovery and download mode even thought the update failed. The point is don't worry if ota fail on you because you can just use odin to fix it since it unlocks the download mode.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the update even gets that far...
Just wanted to drop a line as a new Motorola Photon owner.
I have been an XDA member for years and owned multiple devices. The Photon is replacing a HTC Shift. I additionally own a Sony S tablet.
Enjoying this new device!
dtaylorr said:
Just wanted to drop a line as a new Motorola Photon owner.
I have been an XDA member for years and owned multiple devices. The Photon is replacing a HTC Shift. I additionally own a Sony S tablet.
Enjoying this new device!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to the Photon community!
Yea, welcome to the Family!
Welcome! I'm new too. Long time lurker, brand new poster. I have the Motorola Electrify, which is basically the same as the photon with some slightly different software, and no 4G =(. If you see people saying things like "Will you make an Electrify Version?" or "Does this work on Electrify?" That's just because the Photon and Electrify are so similar that making two forums is kind of silly. Unfortunately for me, my BL is locked, but I believe all versions of the Photon can be unlocked, so if Custom ROMs tickle your fancy, you're in luck!
Iorchova said:
Unfortunately for me, my BL is locked, but I believe all versions of the Photon can be unlocked, so if Custom ROMs tickle your fancy, you're in luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would not say unfortunate, I was unlocked and custom for months. 2/15/2012 I went bone stock and never looked back!!! MotoBLUR is not the best, but play with it long enough and you get things where you want them, you become confortable? Matter fact, if you put 10 photons side-by-side, I could pick mine on the first try!
dsims7_2000 said:
I would not say unfortunate, I was unlocked and custom for months. 2/15/2012 I went bone stock and never looked back!!! MotoBLUR is not the best, but play with it long enough and you get things where you want them, you become confortable? Matter fact, if you put 10 photons side-by-side, I could pick mine on the first try!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I'm mostly fine with stock. I love it honestly. I just want to remove anything that's tracking me (a root should probably help with that) and to replace webtop with Ubuntop or Webtop+ (I'm still researching this.). I wouldn't mind switching to a custom rom if it still offered the full encryption, improved Exchange connectivity and the ability to get a real read on my extended battery.
I don't mean to hijack the thread, I just finally found a post with someone that likes stock and may know enough to be able to compare both or at least help me out in my searching.
srkelley said:
I don't mean to hijack the thread, I just finally found a post with someone that likes stock and may know enough to be able to compare both or at least help me out in my searching.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see it as jacking, I see it as a "one shop stop" for a new member and bring them up to speed on a few items/post that may interest them.
The encryption/tracking issue has been around for some time. Personally, I dont care. I go to work, home, maybe the grocery store, mall sometimes, and law enforcement is not looking for me (I dont think). secondly, once all carriers ditch CarrierIQ (is that the company that did their tracking?, that pretty much eased some mines. Personally, my GPS and WiFi (unless I need it) are off, you may get close off cell phone tower, but exactly where I am...............
As for Stock, ROM's gave me a headache. One day the phone worked, next it did not, would get home and it was working again? When I finally decided to put it back, I made a serious effort to see what stock had to offer, 2 days later I was happy and decided to dig deeper. Yes, I have a lot of bloatware, I just don't use it! Matter fact, I really don't hit the "App's" icon. Everything I do on a normal is on one of the Panels that I can find easily. But since I use the phone so much, if I'm in e-mail and I want to chack my bank, I just press and hold the home button and the last 10 current apps come up anyway, then I open the bank.
Thanks everyone.
I am a heavy modder, and spent 5 hours the first night I had my Photon downloading apps and setting up everything the way I like.
dtaylorr said:
Thanks everyone.
I am a heavy modder, and spent 5 hours the first night I had my Photon downloading apps and setting up everything the way I like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
F.Y.I., downloading apps and setting everything up and modding are apples and oranges. Like srkelley and I, I have downloading apps and set everything up, stock! (matter fact, at one point I had 230+ apps, broke that down to less than 60!
Modding = Rooting (gaining Admin Rights to root directory) and unlocking (kicking Sprint to the door and taking control of your phone to do anything you damm well please, Like blowing away SprintNSCAR and installing whatever you want!)
dsims7_2000 said:
I don't see it as jacking, I see it as a "one shop stop" for a new member and bring them up to speed on a few items/post that may interest them.
The encryption/tracking issue has been around for some time. Personally, I dont care. I go to work, home, maybe the grocery store, mall sometimes, and law enforcement is not looking for me (I dont think). secondly, once all carriers ditch CarrierIQ (is that the company that did their tracking?, that pretty much eased some mines. Personally, my GPS and WiFi (unless I need it) are off, you may get close off cell phone tower, but exactly where I am...............
As for Stock, ROM's gave me a headache. One day the phone worked, next it did not, would get home and it was working again? When I finally decided to put it back, I made a serious effort to see what stock had to offer, 2 days later I was happy and decided to dig deeper. Yes, I have a lot of bloatware, I just don't use it! Matter fact, I really don't hit the "App's" icon. Everything I do on a normal is on one of the Panels that I can find easily. But since I use the phone so much, if I'm in e-mail and I want to chack my bank, I just press and hold the home button and the last 10 current apps come up anyway, then I open the bank.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you.
I'm too boring for big brother, but if anything were to ever occur then I'd like to make things as difficult as possible for them legally. I just don't like people going through my stuff but pretty much have to accept that it happens in our lives now. Not without a fight and exercising all of my rights though!
I'm probably going to back up stock and try something else for a while. I honestly don't feel limited in stock, just in Webtop. If I'm going to really go through with modifying anything then I may try underclocking the processor to see if I can get better battery life without losing performance in regular use. I don't do anything too taxing on the phone so it's power is mostly wasted on me outside of keeping things smooth.
hello
Welcome,have you unlocked and rooted?
Hi,
I also bought it few days back and I have rooted it and installed CWM too. My photon is unlocked meaning I can put any operators sim and use it. I am now in India and using it with Tata Docomo.
If I change the rom, do I have to unlock it again or it will stay unlocked forever ?
Thanks.
kikloo said:
Hi,
I also bought it few days back and I have rooted it and installed CWM too. My photon is unlocked meaning I can put any operators sim and use it. I am now in India and using it with Tata Docomo.
If I change the rom, do I have to unlock it again or it will stay unlocked forever ?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You've unlocked the bootloader, so you can install custom ROMs, kernels, etc.
GSM isn't locked unless you are in the US, its a world phone.
Another Electrify user here, but I'm neither new here, nor new to the device. I've had it for a little over 4 months now. And I will never go back to stock. Screw that. The closest I will consider going is CM7.2. CyanogenMod+Gingerbread. I really don't want to downgrade from ICS, though. It's too nice. I will admit part of the thrill is having something most others (93% of Android users!) do not, but I genuinely like it on its own as well. I just got a huge performance increase going from stock to Joker's CM9, and ICS requires more resources than Gingerbread. Yet the phone runs faster? How does THAT work? It's because of bloatware. And Blur is just terribad. I imagine CM7.2 would be pretty slick since it doesn't require the power of ICS and has all the crap from Blur removed.
kikloo said:
If I change the rom, do I have to unlock it again or it will stay unlocked forever ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope! If you unlock the bootloader, it's unlocked. Flashing ROMs doesn't touch the bootloader. To re-lock the bootloader you would have to flash a locked bootloader. I haven't heard of anybody doing that, though.
Hello. So I have an interesting question that's slowly formed in my head. It started out with wanting to use a hotspot but the option is gone from my phone. Oh, I have a galaxy S3 on virgin mobile. Anyways, my last phone I had for the past 2 years was able to be used as a WiFi hotspot. And believe me I used it a lot. And I made sure that id still have that with this phone, but sadly its gone on this phone. The option isn't just missing from the menu, the function is off because any apps I try to run say that a hotspot function isn't available. And it gets me upset because on virgin mobiles website they even have a step by step page to turning on the hotspot for this phone. Is that completely f2f also advertising or what!? Lol anyways I can still use usb teathering, but I'd really like to get my wifi hotspot running again.
So all this has one limit, I paid 400 dollars for this phone and I want to at least use the 1 year warranty before I mess anything up because I'm in school and I drive about a hundred bucks in gas per week, so keeping in mind that I work at a grocery store I can't buy a new phone for a while.
So lets get down to the idea here. Theres a menu you can access from the off position by pressing the down and menu button from what I remember. If thats not right then i forgot. Nevertheless while I was in the menu I couldn't help but wonder if it was possible to save your Rom from there without rooting your phone. So with that being said heres the big question; can I save the stock rom (unrooted) as a backup for warrenty purposes as a failsafe, and then install another rom like cyogenmod that I can root?
Thanks for your answers!
Ps: typos are due to the auto correct on this phone. Ill be turning that off moments after I post this.
I lucked into a sale on a HUAWEI Y538 smartphone at Best Buy the other day, knowing we have no Boost Network around here for the cellphone service. Perfect!
I just wanted it as a nice little media player and access to my LAN, like my KitKat tablet. Nothing terribly fancy. I rooted it with Kingo, hoping to remove that nag cellphone activation every startup. I have to press Accept, then Self Service comes in and I click the no button. In addition as many of you know, Lollipop has a lot of unwanted background apps running . I spent a whole day trying to tame this and the only good news is that I worked out the factory reset.
My real question is if it's possible to remove that startup nag entirely, but either way, to ask if it's possible to downgrade to KitKat or something else? As a WiFi-only media player Lollipop would seem to be quite awful.
I've been on computers for decades but no experience with Android except my happy KitKat tablet. If some kind soul could be persuaded to help me out, well that'd be really cool.
JoeyTablet said:
I lucked into a sale on a HUAWEI Y538 smartphone at Best Buy the other day, knowing we have no Boost Network around here for the cellphone service. Perfect!
I just wanted it as a nice little media player and access to my LAN, like my KitKat tablet. Nothing terribly fancy. I rooted it with Kingo, hoping to remove that nag cellphone activation every startup. I have to press Accept, then Self Service comes in and I click the no button. In addition as many of you know, Lollipop has a lot of unwanted background apps running . I spent a whole day trying to tame this and the only good news is that I worked out the factory reset.
My real question is if it's possible to remove that startup nag entirely, but either way, to ask if it's possible to downgrade to KitKat or something else? As a WiFi-only media player Lollipop would seem to be quite awful.
I've been on computers for decades but no experience with Android except my happy KitKat tablet. If some kind soul could be persuaded to help me out, well that'd be really cool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://www.techmesto.com/unlock-bootloader-huawei-honor/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/and...how-to-data-off-shell-command-tasker-t3370783
Well I can't thank you enough for trying, but it seems Huawei changed their procedure. I got the 4 informations required and registered with Huawei. Going to the unlock page changes to Chinese and says too much traffic for servers in English. So I emailed Huawei Mobile support and got the following reply:
Dear User,
Huawei Customer Service is pleasure to be at your service,sorry to bring you the trouble,if you want to unlock your phone, you should meet these conditions as follow:
1.Please register your Huawei ID in our official website http://huawei.com/en/ on your phone.
2.Log in your Huawei ID for continuously 14 days.
3.Each Huawei ID should not apply for the unlock code more than twice within half years.If you meet the information,please go to http://emui.huawei.com/en/ and click the 'download'button to login your Huawei ID other than any other third party ID to apply for the unlock code.Please contact us by mail or local service hotline as following if error message appears.
TEL: http://consumer.huawei.com/en/contact-us/index.htm?tag=hotline
Mail: http://consumer.huawei.com/en/contact-us/index.htm?tag=email
Please submit your mobile model, SN, IMEI/MEID and erro message in your e-mail.We also need to know that your phone is rooted, it can be out of the best working state and part of functions may not be able to work normally. In additon, the system is vulnerable to be invaded by viruses once your phone is permitted to unlock. What's more, for the lacking of fully tested, the third party software will not be compatible with your phone. Unlocking will bring unexpected negative impacts and the device will be not normal, and can not be restored, Huawei after-sales service office will not provide warranty service for your rooted phone, and you may bear the cost. So we strongly advise you to think it twice.
If you have any other problems, please send your feedback to us. We will be at your service to help you to solve your problems.
Once again thank you for contacting Huawei device.
Best Regards.
Huawei Device Customer Care Team 3206
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I 'm reading that right they want me to log in every day for 14 days, which is kind of nuts.
To be fair the phone may possibly be rooted using Kingo (fast boot showed an "unlocked" message which I don't know if that means rooted but probably not boot unlocked), and for all I know that changes some of the information.
So I'm just replying FYI so you know how it went. Maybe I should do factory reset and try again?
Long day I'll go crash and see how it looks in the morning. Thanks for trying!
Joey
Happy here to report a partial solution, 1/2 way there!
If you take out the SIM card inside the phone it only nags once and saves probably 30 seconds of boot-up time. It's a great improvement!
bg260 said:
https://www.techmesto.com/unlock-bootloader-huawei-honor/
http://forum.xda-developers.com/and...how-to-data-off-shell-command-tasker-t3370783
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought the same phone at BB ($10 on sale) to use like you do (unactivated). What you're trying to do is actually super simple. Merely put the device in Airplane mode, then turn back on the wifi (and GPS if you like). You will not be prompted to activate your device. You actually should be doing this anyway as it saves your battery by not having the cell radio constantly trying to talk to the tower.
In case you missed it, there is a firmware update to the phone that can be downloaded via the Emui app on the phone. I'm not sure what all the update affects, but it doesn't impact your ability to use the procedure I described to avoid the constant activation reminder.
I believe this was in response to your question @JoeyTablet
bg260 said:
I believe this was in response to your question @JoeyTablet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oops, sorry, yes it was meant for @JoeyTablet
zerozed99 said:
I bought the same phone at BB ($10 on sale) to use like you do (unactivated). What you're trying to do is actually super simple. Merely put the device in Airplane mode, then turn back on the wifi (and GPS if you like). You will not be prompted to activate your device. You actually should be doing this anyway as it saves your battery by not having the cell radio constantly trying to talk to the tower.
In case you missed it, there is a firmware update to the phone that can be downloaded via the Emui app on the phone. I'm not sure what all the update affects, but it doesn't impact your ability to use the procedure I described to avoid the constant activation reminder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe this was in response to your question @JoeyTablet
Remember, quote or mention the member if you want them to be notified.
zerozed99 said:
I bought the same phone at BB ($10 on sale) to use like you do (unactivated). What you're trying to do is actually super simple. Merely put the device in Airplane mode, then turn back on the wifi (and GPS if you like). You will not be prompted to activate your device. You actually should be doing this anyway as it saves your battery by not having the cell radio constantly trying to talk to the tower.
In case you missed it, there is a firmware update to the phone that can be downloaded via the Emui app on the phone. I'm not sure what all the update affects, but it doesn't impact your ability to use the procedure I described to avoid the constant activation reminder.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
COOL! Perfect it boots and no need to click anything further - and besides it's less stray microwaves. Also to report Huawei replied and said they accept bootloader code requests at: consumer (at) huawei.com. They say to include IMEI and serial numbers in the email. Both can be found in Settings >> about phone or underneath the back cover.
Where to go from here, I'd also like to disable sneaky RAM-stealing apps like Sprint cellphone and some apps I'll never use, such as most Google Play. Add decent firewall and decent media player, and have a good time!
Recommend root method I'm good to go.
JoeyTablet said:
COOL! Perfect it boots and no need to click anything further - and besides it's less stray microwaves. Also to report Huawei replied and said they accept bootloader code requests at: consumer (at) huawei.com. They say to include IMEI and serial numbers in the email. Both can be found in Settings >> about phone or underneath the back cover.
Where to go from here, I'd also like to disable sneaky RAM-stealing apps like Sprint cellphone and some apps I'll never use, such as most Google Play. Add decent firewall and decent media player, and have a good time!
Recommend root method I'm good to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've read elsewhere (here on XDA) that folks have gotten root using Kingo root (mostly tethered to a Windows PC and not the app version). Note that this root method often requires you to run the rooting program multiple times before it is successful. I'm not a fan of Kingo after being forced to use it to re-root another device (it took well over a dozen times before root took). Also, Kingo doesn't use SuperSu, it installs a Kingo version of SuperSu which CAN be removed (not exactly easily) but users of the Huawei Y538 Union have gotten bootloops trying to remove Kingo's proprietary SuperSu, so not advisable at this time. Even after rooted you are not able to remove the pre-installed bloatware because of the locked bootloader (which is different than the carrier unlock). To be honest, I've pretty much decided to just not root this device and just install an SD card if I need the space...I'd rather do that than risk bricking the device when (for me) there's really no need. I'm going to wait it out and see if anybody can figure a reliable way to deal with the device without bricking before I do anything else.
If you do root using Kingo, you might be able to "freeze" the background apps you don't want using Titanium Backup. I've read that folks haven't had any luck using TB to uninstall the bloatware, but if you're just trying to free ram it *might* work. I believe the risk would be the device expecting certain apps to run, and if unable it might bootloop/brick. Without a custom recovery allowing a nand backup bricking seems like a real possibility.
Please post your results if you unlock your bootloader. It surprises me that they're offering this, as I thought they only supported carrier unlocking. If you're able to figure out how to trim down the bloat please share.
I'm currently using Google's Play Music app for music/podcasts since I've already got 20,000 song's uploaded and since I can't delete that app anyway. Otherwise I'd just use Doubletwist for offline listening.
In case you, or anyone else with this phone is interested, I ended up purchasing a cheap ($5 delivered) case for this thing. Overall I like the case, but if you have any questions about that, let me know.
Yeah that case is perfect. I might have found the same on eBay searching " Huawei Union Y538 Case Innovaa".
As for Kingo ROOT, I have one hit and one miss to report. The KitKAt tablet it worked and I un-rooted after I got my business done. But the Lollipop phone is another story. I run a really tight ship on the Windows end, and Kingo rooted Lollipop, I got some functions involving root accomplished, but it ended at some point (completely offline except for USB tether to PC).
I factory reset the phone and tried again. Kingo downloaded more stuff and my firewall asked for access to PCAccelerator and acdsee.. The former is considered a virus and the second an image viewing app, which I don't use (maybe it's payloaded who knows).
I don't wish to scare anyone nor besmirch Kingo ROOT's reputation if it's a wholesome rooting app, but advise great caution and use a firewall that notifies things like this (I use NetLimiter on PC).
So I await the boot-unlock code and hope I live to tell about it Thanks a million zerozed99! That case is icing on the cake.
For what it's worth, no reply from Hauwei, and yesterday I sent another SOS asking, if not for boot unlock code, even just a stock KitKat ROM for the Y538. We know that model ran KitKat as well as Lollipop.
It just kills me to see this cute little quadcore wasted with all the bloatware taking up valuable RAM and battery power as well.
Ladies & Gentlemen, distinguished colleagues at xda-developers... Please bear with me.
I started coding on Macs in 1981(1981!). I later went on to 5 years formal education in Computer Science at a decent University, and spent the better part of 2 decades volunteering for low and no income people- those were the best years of my life!
Now I'm on the old side, with some heart disease that has four stents in my heart and the no-fun life expectancy that goes with it.
Now, being a reasonably informed geek, I'm seeing some disturbing things I want to air out in "public" if you'll so allow me.
The idea Hauwei will send you a boot unlock code, I don't think it's true. They make it easy to fill out a form with at least four identifying informations, but I have YET to see anyone receive their code! In my case the form advances to a page written in Chinese! I believe this is a spy device and priced to spy on a certain demographic. The almost perfect unlockability and easy bootlock application with no one reporting being sent a code.... there's a reason.
Granted one thing: I've never owned a cellphone nor did I even want cell access from this. Maybe you've noticed the same thing(s) years ago. I just wanted a little quadcore computer to play around with, to access my LAN and play media, and this has me worried the kind of entities that design such forced options.
Oh well, no luck. anyone else going to wait a bit or should I trash this?
Can't tell you how much I'd like Marshmallow and the evil bootloader out of there for something else.
Lollipop is not so bad IMHO except for the lack of privs to access our own SD cards.
If you hold down the volume-down button and press the power button until the phone starts up you can boot into fastboot mode. I've read here in XDA someplace that there are 2 available builds of TWRP custom recovery for the y6, both work on our phone, tho only one of the builds works fully. I have not tried to install either on my y538 yet, but I will, and I'll let you know what I find out.
If you can get the bootloader unlocked, you should be able to flash SuperSU from TWRP.
I suggest you google the xda guide to fastboot. It is not very complicated.
I doubt we can locate any custom ROM for this device. However, if we can get rooted we can backup stock and then remove all the bloatware. ES File Explorer is great in root mode for managing the SD card.
More useful info: I pulled my SIM out before I fired up the phone for the first time, and when I turned on the phone it didn't download any of the extra crapware from Sprint! I have the Virgin version, and I expected all that stuff to download, but it did not. Also, if you look in the App Manager settings, you will see a few apps which shipped on your phone in the Disabled state!! You may wish to enable Lookout or others of the stock disabled apps. Also, without root, you can remove the Sprint ID app here, and disable any of the Google spots you don't want, like Play News or Play Movies.
This is my first Huawei device, though it's my twenty-somethingh Android, and so far I am very pleased with the layout of the settings and of the notifications tray. This is way liveable, and they allow us to disable most of the bloat.
Good luck!
I cannot even find any information on this device let alone a root method. Apparently from my searches methods for the zenphone may work but im not sure if I want to risk bricking this device, but verizon would just replace it anyway. I guess its fairly new? It came with MM and already has an OTA which i keep putting off while I am going to try out various methods to get this one rooted and unleashed since one verizon store essentially scammed me over my new s7 edge so another store refunded everything for me. Now I got this 4g tablet I want to fasten in my car and it would be nice to root or unlock and put some custom vehicle firmware on it or something like that.
I have the same issue with my new Zenpad 3 8.0 . KingRoot and some other rooting apps didn't work for me.
At least someone finally replies.... I am still stuck trying to root this thing. I've tried nearly everything to no success. Even the temporary cwm wouldn't work for me
Same here buddy. Why did ASUS remove such features as App to SD and multi user support?
Anyone found anything? I have the tablet too...
Well damn this sux, Verizon stuck me with another unrootable device, at least I can say I got my pixel in time to unlock the bootloader and route it but not much activity for it since decided to lock them down. I thought I learned with my G4 that's why I got the pixel got home just to find out they're going to be locked down too lol Oh God how I loath Verizon
dadrumgod said:
Well damn this sux, Verizon stuck me with another unrootable device, at least I can say I got my pixel in time to unlock the bootloader and route it but not much activity for it since decided to lock them down. I thought I learned with my G4 that's why I got the pixel got home just to find out they're going to be locked down too lol Oh God how I loath Verizon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hear ya. I have this tablet too: Asus Verizon Zenpad Z8 ZT581KL with V.3.4.23. Despite my best efforts, the damn system update notification keeps coming up telling me to update to Android 7--which I DO NOT want to do since doing that very well could kill any small hope I have on rooting the device. Since this is a Verizon branded tablet, they made an agreement with Asus to lock it down like Gitmo, so any official bootloader unlocker will not work with Verizon. Maybe one day when Verizon get's their head out of their ass and understands that people have the right to screw with their phones, they will allow unlocking options--though I doubt it.
This would be a great little tablet, if Verizon gave us more control over it--Jesus Christ, you're still getting $$ from me on your non-unlimited data. Bunch of ****-tards---I used to work for them back in the day at one of their corporate locations in Folsom, CA. Sadly, I think it's that prison mentality (Folsom Prison) that must have been carried in the air a few miles to the Verizon offices there. That was WDTS (Wireless Data Tech Support)....I was there right when EVDO just came out/expanding (Before Iphones...closest thing would have been a BES-Enabled Blackberry, or a fancy PDA)--oh those were the days...
There are rooting options available if you understand Chinese--but even its for older software versions 3.3.x, etc, and from what I can understand, the flash might actually take (hackers take note: if the flash can take..maybe we can piece together a flash with proper rooted versions)...but since this is a Sim/LTE tablet by doing that it will screw up the radio (Cellular) and recovery partitions. But maybe something round-about could be done that does that, then reflashes modified signed firmware to root it--I dunno.
My google-fu is pretty good and I came across some cached, or snippet that said SRSroot might root 6.0.1 on the ZT581KL, but not sure now legit it is.
Unless more people get this tablet/devs play with it, I don't think we will get root/bootloader/recovery anytime soon. I wish I lived in a country that allowed multiple wifes, because I would do a bounty for root on this devices and give away one of my wives for payment.
I used the tablet mostly for navigation, but I want root/twrp for backup purposes, if I need to wipe the device crossing the border since police now wanting to look at peoples phones/tablets. I love using Waze since I'll be driving down the road with a FAT blunt smoking away, so it's good to know if cops are around.
Zenpad z8 running on Fi
I also have this pad. I bought it from Verizon because it's USB-C and I loathe micro USB and even more so because the helpful sales guy at Verizon let me try my Google Fi data only sim...and sure enough it works awesome after setting h2g2 as the apn. Would love to root it though I hate how I can only have one user account on this for now.
Kind of off-topic, but I can't find any clear answer to my question about the Z8 and Z8s. I'm considering buying one, but I do not want a data-plan. Do these tablets work without a SIM in them, or will I be stuck at a home screen that says "Insert SIM..."?
_HighVoltage_ said:
Kind of off-topic, but I can't find any clear answer to my question about the Z8 and Z8s. I'm considering buying one, but I do not want a data-plan. Do these tablets work without a SIM in them, or will I be stuck at a home screen that says "Insert SIM..."?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course you can use it without a SIM.
I just ordered this tablet. I'm sad I can't root it, but I mainly use root for adblocking. I will have to use DNS66 or BlockThis instead.
This method doesn't work?
https://neopodapsi.com/how-to-root-asus-zenpad-z8/
replica9000 said:
This method doesn't work?
Nope, just a scam to fill out never ending surveys
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Zenpad P008 Verizon root - no luck
I just tried One Click Root and that didn't work either. Upon chatting with support they were stymied by the lack of an 'OEM Override' debug mode setting.
Can anybody help, I'm new at this stuff. Plus I'm teaching myself. I've rooted some devices. Did some firmware jobs, kinda' familiar with Odin. But I've tried everything from KingRoot PC to adb tryna' root this thing (P008). Between this thing and that Knox MDM shizzle. Man!, Anybody got anything on these topics......
Anyone try Magisk?? I also want to root this thing. Cannot get a usb gaming controller to recognize either.