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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
So, I have the sch-i545 with the me7 update. It was preinstalled on my replacement phone so there was nothing I could do to prevent this predicament(other than not breaking my phone and needing a replacement in the first place...boo) Anyways, I have been considering replacing this phone one way or another and I was looking for any advice from the community here at XDA on a suitable replacement. I love the seemingly endless power of this device and don't really want anything less. I have heard a few things about the Note 3 but I was wondering if that would even be worth getting due to the way Samsung and Verizon are cracking down on locking their bootloaders. Will the Note 3 have this same problem? Are there any similarly powered phones comparable to the s4? Money is definitely an object for this endeavor so keep that in mind. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Sucks to hear you had me7 pre-installed. The only suggestion I can make is do an insurance claim and said you lost the device. When you get a replacement, if the replacement has the mdk firmware, root it fast and set it up. Then say a good samaritan returned your phone. This will at least allow for you to have a clean esn and you can sell the phone if you don't want it.
Rooted S4
I've got no suggestions for a phone that's out right now that is better.
If root and recovery are attainable on the Note 3 I will be buying it when it comes out. No reason for me to get a phone I can't build things for. But the note 3 sounds like it's going to be disgustingly fast and perfect in every way... unless it never gets root and recovery. :good:
I'd like an unlocked bootloader but that alone won't stop me from buying it.
Customs roms are cool and all. But when I had my gs3 root was enough for me. I didnt even run a custom launcher because Tw was responsive enough imo and had basically every feature I wanted in a launcher, about the only thing I wanted was the ability to create folders in the app drawer. I had ran the phone stock rooted for close to a year before installing synergy on it, then my wife got it when I upgraded to the gs4. I know this probably isnt an answer you wanted to read but I wanted to throw in my .02 about only having root.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 2
Root alone is alright with me for now but I really would like to run a custom recovery on my phone so I can get back on the Hyperdrive ROM. Call it laziness but there are some mods that I really don't enjoy going through all the work of manually applying them when flashing is so much easier/quicker. I have been researching the Ubuntu Edge which looks promising. The Note 3 looks incredible and if I can find a buyer for my s4 I will likely be switching regardless of the bootloader/recovery situation.
I am currently fully rooted, running the latest jasmineRom. I liked the stock based kernal, had some nice features like tap to turn on, etc, and haven't dabbled in other roms such as CMMod, LiquidSmooth etc on the G3. Honestly I don't know if they have some of the features for waking the screen by tapping it that make the G3 usable without any front buttons, and changing roms and recustomizing / installing everything is a bit of a bear, so I haven't experimented with it.
My phone has the 5.1.1 update downloaded, keeps wanting to schedule it. (It actually tried to install itself, but I think TWRP prevented it from working). So now I am faced with the question of, what to do?
Do I let 5.1.1 install, and thereby gain Android Pay, which I did like, but lose root, which I enjoy for letting me debloat my phone? (Also G3 tweeksbox) Those are really the only things I've used root for. Do I experiment with other roms? (And then, how do I return to stock? Does TWRP prevent me from doing so, or would it get taken out in the update? I honestly don't know and have yet to find that information). I have read the Flash back to Stock using the KDZ method, which is actually how I rooted my phone to begin with, but it seems that is under the assumption I am running a stock rom / bootloader to begin with.
Just trying to get some input from people far more familier with this than I. If there is a way back to stock, including bootloader, what ROM would you recommend I try?
Thanks in advance!
Hi! Questions go in Q&A.
Be aware that if you take 5.1.1 that so far you *can't* root even if you want to, and you also can't currently downgrade.
If you're looking to return to completely stock including the recovery, so that you can take OTAs in the future, then flash the 24B KDZ with LG Flash Tool 2014. If you want to be rooted but be able to turn root off and on, you can do that with any, although I think Pay only works with stock. Another user on here just found out that merely temporarily deactivating root allowed him to use Pay just fine. Probably have to reboot in between turning it on and off - not sure.
Here are my thoughts on the subject: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=63191071&postcount=135
Personally, I like rooting and twrp b/c of nandoid backups, debloating, removing ads and using titanium backup. I would feel truly lost without these options (and, to be perfectly honest, I love tinkering with electronics). If you decide to pass on the update for now, freeze system update using titanium backup, then wipe cache and that should remove the downloaded update in memory prior to installation . It's really a personal choice, but for me, I will likely stay where I am now rather than give up root.
The only reason I really rooted this phone was to get rid of bloat and fix the weak notification volume. I've never been one to jump aboard new updates as soon as they're released. Gonna wait it out and see if something happens with the root situation.
Decided I might as well try a custom rom, never used a custom rom on a phone, only tablets. Titanium backup and custom recovery are valuable tools, and decided it was worth the risk.
Went with Liquid Smooth, which I think has auto-updates ala CM Mod. So I get the benefits of 5.1.1, without the hassle of Verizon. Going to see what I think.
Thanks for the replies!
The update deactivates wireless charging. That was the deal breaker for me.
Edit: Turns out my wife and I both had a bad update. I used repair assistant and wireless charging is working again.
a2597 said:
Decided I might as well try a custom rom, never used a custom rom on a phone, only tablets. Titanium backup and custom recovery are valuable tools, and decided it was worth the risk.
Went with Liquid Smooth, which I think has auto-updates ala CM Mod. So I get the benefits of 5.1.1, without the hassle of Verizon. Going to see what I think.
Thanks for the replies!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive been running a CM12 based ROM for months now, it fixes almost everything wrong with the 5.0.2 update and with this update blocking root and downgrading, it seems CM12 based ROMS are the best choice for now.
timboger said:
The update deactivates wireless charging. That was the deal breaker for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you hear that? A web search shows inconsistent functionality starting with v5.0 with various carriers, including one report of someone who tried everything to get it to work and couldn't, so he reassembled his phone and tossed it on the charger, and it started working.
DeanGibson said:
Where did you hear that? A web search shows inconsistent functionality starting with v5.0 with various carriers, including one report of someone who tried everything to get it to work and couldn't, so he reassembled his phone and tossed it on the charger, and it started working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I should of been clearer. The update to 35b, 5.1.1, will render wireless charging useless. It can not be rooted. If you decide to update then you will loose root until the devs can figure it out. That will have to wait until the kdz is available. I have been wireless charging since I got the phone and bought the new back from ebay. It has worked without fail until the latest update.
Clarification requested
timboger said:
Sorry, I should of been clearer.
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Click to collapse
I should have been clearer as well. I take it that you are saying that wireless charging stopped working on your VS985 phones when you upgraded to v5.1.1. That's distinct from saying that wireless charging no longer works when anyone upgrades the LG G3 to v5.1.1.
Certainly your one two data points are significant, but I'd like to know if it's confirmed that it won't work on other VS985 phones that upgrade to v5.1.1 (35B).
I'm tempted to go buy one of the charging backs and pads. Where did you get yours? I seriously considered it a year ago when I bought the phone, but the lack of a nice belt clip deterred me. How are you carrying the phone (eg, belt clip or what)?
Edit: I was told that the charging back made the phone thicker. However, a little research seems to suggest that's only true for Verizon's "Circle case" (eg, a combined front and back), which I don't need. Someone even reported that they just cut off the front case, and then it fit their belt clip holder. Also, another reporter said that it charged much slower. Comments on all of this?
DeanGibson said:
I should have been clearer as well. I take it that you are saying that wireless charging stopped working on your VS985 phones when you upgraded to v5.1.1. That's distinct from saying that wireless charging no longer works when anyone upgrades the LG G3 to v5.1.1.
Certainly your one two data points are significant, but I'd like to know if it's confirmed that it won't work on other VS985 phones that upgrade.
I'm tempted to go buy one of the charging backs and pads. Where did you get yours? I seriously considered it a year ago when I bought the phone, but the lack of a nice belt clip deterred me. How are you carrying the phone (eg, belt clip or what)?
Edit: I was told that the charging back made the phone thicker. However, a little research seems to suggest that's only true for Verizon's "Circle case" (eg, a combined front and back), which I don't need. Someone even reported that they just cut off the front case, and then it fit their belt clip holder. Also, another reporter said that it charged much slower. Comments on all of this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the vs985 on verizon, purchased about 1 week after it's release. It is rooted since stump and I have run either Jasmine or skydragon (currently sd5.0/4.2 kernel) . I purchased the charging sticker (available on ebay at the time). I was able to put the sticker onto the original back of the phone and wirelessly charge it both with a circle case (US lgg3) and without. I also bought a Korean circle case that had a charging sticker built into it. I removed the european charging sticker and replaced that one with one of the ones that I purchased on ebay (again, for US, wireless charging) and that worked as well (did not need the original oem back in this situation as the circle case back served as phone back, again this worked on a US wireless charger perfectly (I have a tylt). Never used a belt clip, but hope that this provides you with some useful information. Charging was complete and never slow.
a2597 said:
I am currently fully rooted, running the latest jasmineRom. I liked the stock based kernal, had some nice features like tap to turn on, etc, and haven't dabbled in other roms such as CMMod, LiquidSmooth etc on the G3. Honestly I don't know if they have some of the features for waking the screen by tapping it that make the G3 usable without any front buttons, and changing roms and recustomizing / installing everything is a bit of a bear, so I haven't experimented with it.
My phone has the 5.1.1 update downloaded, keeps wanting to schedule it. (It actually tried to install itself, but I think TWRP prevented it from working). So now I am faced with the question of, what to do?
Do I let 5.1.1 install, and thereby gain Android Pay, which I did like, but lose root, which I enjoy for letting me debloat my phone? (Also G3 tweeksbox) Those are really the only things I've used root for. Do I experiment with other roms? (And then, how do I return to stock? Does TWRP prevent me from doing so, or would it get taken out in the update? I honestly don't know and have yet to find that information). I have read the Flash back to Stock using the KDZ method, which is actually how I rooted my phone to begin with, but it seems that is under the assumption I am running a stock rom / bootloader to begin with.
Just trying to get some input from people far more familier with this than I. If there is a way back to stock, including bootloader, what ROM would you recommend I try?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand the issue.
I have an LG G3 with TWRP, Xposed and root; I can use Android Pay.
I had to jump through hoops but I can use it. Adding cards is a pain, but I can do that too.
To get it working you have to temp-unroot.
Install and configure Pay.
Re-enable root.
You will need to install Xposed and the module that provides cloaking for root, for Pay called -> No Device Check http://repo.xposed.info/module/com.pyler.nodevicecheck
Now you should be able to use Android Pay.
Jasmine 9.0 is out. I'd try that out. Its 5.1.1 with root
xdabbeb has the 35b bootstack that can be flashed to get advanced calling features working. Read about it.
tl;dr ...HTC EVO LTE unlocked via HTCdev and running CM11 needs to be activated on another Sprint subscriber's account. What should I do to make sure that goes smoothly in the next few hours?
long version:
Good friend of mine just got back from a trip to SE Asia and lost her phone. She's back in good 'ol murica now and needs a handset pronto, but miraculously she's taking my advice and holding off on walking into Sprint and leaving with whatever is there, so she can shop around online and find a better deal.
I currently have an HTC Hero, HTC Evo LTE, and LG G3 that are just backup devices to screw around with, so I can lend one to the cause. The Hero just ain't gonna fly, and the G3 is my primary backup and would rather not lend her that one if possible. That leaves Jewel. Mine is unlocked via HTC Dev and currently running CM. I called up the store we'd be going to just to make sure they didn't get weird about the fact that the bootloader is unlocked for whatever reason, to which they replied that as long as it was originally a Sprint phone (check) and still had its SIM card (check), then they'd be fine with trying to activate it. The fella was more worried about being able to successfully activate it than anything else.
This brings me to my question: has anyone done something similar? Ideally, I'd just do a full wipe and bring it in ready to go, but I'm curious about possible technical issues with the fact it is running CM. Should I flash a ROM based on the latest version of Sense or is that unnecessary? What other things might I keep in mind? I want her to be able to have a phone for a week or however long it takes her to get a good one, then deactivate it so I can resume using it as a project device. It'd be great to just restore a TWRP backup after I get the phone back and be right where I left off.
Usually I find these things aren't as simple though. I don't know when sleeping beauty is going to wake up from jetlag hell since on her schedule it feels like 4am right now (its almost 2pm CST at time of posting), but I'm hoping to get some advice on how to properly proceed in the next few hours here.
I'm just spit balling but I would imagine it would have to be a stock Sprint rom in order for them to be able to activate it.
Sloth said:
I'm just spit balling but I would imagine it would have to be a stock Sprint rom in order for them to be able to activate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup....
I should be more than a bit embarrassed right now, but given how ludicrous the whole situation was a few minutes ago in the store, now it's just funny. Suffice to say, my friend is still without a phone. Silver lining is that I can see the path out and think I can deliver on this as soon as I get home and get some time. Will update later of course!
Hey everybody. Just getting my new 2021 G Play up and running. For some reason, it seems slow as hell. Specs wise, it should be significantly faster than it is. I'm experiencing delays when typing, changing apps, and just the lag time from when you click a button until the screen changes and you can go onto the next task sucks.
Anybody have any tips? What might be causing the issue? I got the 3 gig RAM version, which should still be plenty. I feel like it's being artificially slowed by software and it would be nice to fix that problem.
kendogg41 said:
Hey everybody. Just getting my new 2021 G Play up and running. For some reason, it seems slow as hell. Specs wise, it should be significantly faster than it is. I'm experiencing delays when typing, changing apps, and just the lag time from when you click a button until the screen changes and you can go onto the next task sucks.
Anybody have any tips? What might be causing the issue? I got the 3 gig RAM version, which should still be plenty. I feel like it's being artificially slowed by software and it would be nice to fix that problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do a factory reset; then unlock your bootloader; then flash the retail US rom (retus) ; then root it with magisk; then de crapify til your heart is content...
or at the very least factory reset, and uninstall facebook
tbirdguy said:
do a factory reset; then unlock your bootloader; then flash the retail US rom (retus) ; then root it with magisk; then de crapify til your heart is content...
or at the very least factory reset, and uninstall facebook
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have facebook or anything else thats a big resource hog.
I bought mine unlocked directly from Motorola a few weeks ago, I assume it should have the retail US rom?
kendogg41 said:
I don't have facebook or anything else thats a big resource hog.
I bought mine unlocked directly from Motorola a few weeks ago, I assume it should have the retail US rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, it's the retail rom. I am in the exact same boat as you, bought it a few weeks ago from Target US since I needed a decent unlocked phone to use with a high data prepaid sim. So far this thing is the best phone I've ever had. I'll share a few things I've learned/done since I've unlocked and rooted mine if you would like.
My device was reasonably quick out of the box and I noticed little if any lag. But I usually buy 50 dollar phones from walmart so I might not have the most reliable opinion about that. By the way the Facebook APK and a few facebook services reside on the phone, and I can't recall but they might even be installed out of the box but just deactivated. You'd be surprised how much crap is on this thing that sits idly by waiting for a compatible carrier SIM to give the phone the Go-Ahead to install.
So yeah, the tip I would suggest is to unlock the bootloader, install magisk and get root, then use some magisk modules and ADB scripts to start cleaning out the stuff you don't want. You'll be glad you did. I stripped out a lot of verizon installed services, amazon/facebook APKs, and all the motorola OEM apps I wasn't interested in, which was basically all of them. The phone is butter smooth. I have cloudflare DNS and ad aware installed, in addition to a couple of other modules.
I used to root devices years ago and took a break from around 2015 till now. Magisk is a slightly different experience than the way it used to be but for the most part it's dead simple and very flexible. On top of that, with the right flash tools and a copy of your firmware these devices seem nearly unbrickable. I've already soft bricked the thing a couple of times and it was just a matter of a quick magisk reflash and finangling some settings. Kept the same OS install, didn't lose anything.
Good luck! Let me know if you need any help.
Well this is good info, thanks. To be fair, this is about the slowest phone I've ever had. I'm coming from a OnePlus 6 thats been a constant headache too for the past couple years (everytime I wanted to make an outbound call I had to reboot the POS). I picked up the OnePlus second hand. I just can't stomach these $1k phone prices, and this has nearly the same specs as most of the $500 phones.
yeah, for me it was getting rid of the facebook.apk that came packaged. As soon as I did that it was a new phone. Didn't even need to bother with magisk this go around.
foxheadmat said:
yeah, for me it was getting rid of the facebook.apk that came packaged. As soon as I did that it was a new phone. Didn't even need to bother with magisk this go around.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Disabling the 3 Facebook system apps also works.