Mate 10, four basic root questions - Huawei Mate 10 Questions & Answers

Hi, I used to jailbreak every Apple product because without JB they are junk.
However since moving to Android I've not needed to root as it's so cool anyway. However I may have to root my Mate 10 to get over the awful widget updating issue. I can either do that or return it.
So I want to ask
1) Is one root better than another? People are talking about having fixed the widget update issue using a magisk root. Are there better roots out there?
2) Apart from Titanium and developer type apps, I can't see an awful lot of reason for rooting for me other than sorting out Huawei's widget bug. Are there other cool reasons? For example... I'd love to be able to record phonecalls - will there be root-only apps that allow me to do this (only for recording me taking the piss out of scammers!).
3) Mine is a Chinese Mate 10 which has had its ROM changed to ALP-L29 C636... the palce I bought it from said it shouldn't matter with a root but I just want ot check that if I root it, it won't somehow get rid of the ROM and make it Chinese again?
4) Lastly... I've read abotu cyanogenmod (meybe there are better ones now). Am I right in thinking though that if I run something like that then I will lose all the camera benefits like the wide aperture post processing, the huawei speed thing where the phone gets faster with use (it actually works- my old Mate 9 is faster now than it was at start, amazing!) etc...
Many thanks in advance to anyone who can help with any of the above.

Related

First impression Xperia X10 mini pro+Questions

Hi everybody. First of all I did not know where to put this thread so I decided to stick it in General, I hope no one minds.
Well I just got my Xperia X10 mini pro yesterday, it came from Spain as I bought it of ebay and locked to Vodafone Spain.
As a long Windows Mobile user, I am used to have to flash a ROM in my native language (PT or SK) as soon as I get the phone, because it's not like in the old days with the Nokias where you would just go to the definitions and change the language to whatever you wanted.
But apparently android is like that too. When I turned on the phone for the first time, I got a lot of language options to choose from. I selected Portuguese and it the phone had all the options in that language. That is why I wanted to ask besides de branding it, what are the advantages of flashing a ROM from a different country?
And now for the hard questions.
I ran the phone without a SIM card in it, but I want to ask. Every time I turn on the phone I get the language options to choose, no matter how many times I choose Portuguese, it just fails to remember it. Is that normal (remember I am running the phone without a SIM card in it, just for testing)?
Is there a way to hard reset the phone? (this expression I got from WM, I hope it's the same for the Android) And if yes, how? (always good to know)
This is an observation.
The phone could not see my WIFI connection, because it was on channel 13, I had to change it to 9 to be sure he would see it and connect to it. After that everything worked . (I hope new radios are on the way)
Overall I did not have much time to test the phone, but I did some web surfing, I went on youtube and it was not bad, considering the screen size (it is even smaller than HTCs Diamond I), and the keyboard made the experience much better.
The phone feels so light, it almost looks like a toy. If you don't know anything about it, you can easily think it's one of those low cost messaging phones, with no actual OS (it's a metaphor, as I do not consider some firmwares that come on phones actual OS).
But I hope it's one of those gadgets that everyone can use
Thanks for bearing with me, and please if you know answer, if not you can always comment, hehe
Johev said:
But apparently android is like that too. When I turned on the phone for the first time, I got a lot of language options to choose from. I selected Portuguese and it the phone had all the options in that language. That is why I wanted to ask besides de branding it, what are the advantages of flashing a ROM from a different country?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No advantage as far as I know, may be you will get a different set of bloatware depending on the region. but at the end, they all are crap and you will end up uninstalling (Or at least wanting to..) all of them.
Johev said:
I ran the phone without a SIM card in it, but I want to ask. Every time I turn on the phone I get the language options to choose, no matter how many times I choose Portuguese, it just fails to remember it. Is that normal (remember I am running the phone without a SIM card in it, just for testing)?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it asks you just once for the language, as it stores the language preference in an XML file. try using it with a sim and see if it asks you again..
Johev said:
Is there a way to hard reset the phone? (this expression I got from WM, I hope it's the same for the Android) And if yes, how? (always good to know)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can factory reset the phone, I'm not aware of any method that allows you to hard reset your phone. Although you can reflash it with SEUS, that will reset your phone to orginal form.
Johev said:
The phone feels so light, it almost looks like a toy. If you don't know anything about it, you can easily think it's one of those low cost messaging phones, with no actual OS (it's a metaphor, as I do not consider some firmwares that come on phones actual OS).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I beg to differ, Android is built on linux kernel, and you can use plenty of linux command on it, so I consider it as an actual operating system..
Besides, whats an actual OS?
The definition of an Os is - An operating system (OS) is an interface between hardware and user, which is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the resources of a device, that acts as a host for applications run on the machine.
According to that definition, android (or other mobile/handheld OS) falls well within actual OSes
li_boud said:
I beg to differ, Android is built on linux kernel, and you can use plenty of linux command on it, so I consider it as an actual operating system..
Besides, whats an actual OS?
The definition of an Os is - An operating system (OS) is an interface between hardware and user, which is responsible for the management and coordination of activities and the sharing of the resources of a device, that acts as a host for applications run on the machine.
According to that definition, android (or other mobile/handheld OS) falls well within actual OSes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you misread or misunderstood what I have said. I agree with you about Android. That is why I have bought it, even though it's for my wife
I said, or at least the message that I wanted to spread was that if you do not know anything about the phone, you can easily and mistakenly confuse it with some low end keyboard phones (and those ones do not have an actual OS), that are marketed like messaging phones and do not measure up to this one.
I hope now I am a bit clearer.
Johev said:
I think you misread or misunderstood what I have said. I agree with you about Android. That is why I have bought it, even though it's for my wife
I said, or at least the message that I wanted to spread was that if you do not know anything about the phone, you can easily and mistakenly confuse it with some low end keyboard phones (and those ones do not have an actual OS), that are marketed like messaging phones and do not measure up to this one.
I hope now I am a bit clearer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha. Technically, all phones have an operating system, otherwise they're just a pretty, shiny paperweight. I think you mean smartphone
Yeah, I get that a lot, but I'm still proud of my phone!
Johev said:
I think you misread or misunderstood what I have said. I agree with you about Android. That is why I have bought it, even though it's for my wife
I said, or at least the message that I wanted to spread was that if you do not know anything about the phone, you can easily and mistakenly confuse it with some low end keyboard phones (and those ones do not have an actual OS), that are marketed like messaging phones and do not measure up to this one.
I hope now I am a bit clearer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My mistake, yeah I misread your statement.. Sorry about that.
Yes you can easily mistake it as a toy , almost like the samsung corby series ( google if you dont know the mobile ) , but anything that runs Android quite doesn't feel like a toy because it Linux , its powerful , smart and the best OS around..atleast for mobile
siddharthsai said:
Yes you can easily mistake it as a toy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I bought X10 mini pro, I showed it to my friend, who happen to be a Nokia X6 user (8 GB) and a big huge Symbian fan. At the first sight, he wasn't impressed, said I wasted the money since I could have bought a Nokia X6 for lesser price. He said its just another fancy toy from SE, just like Xperia pureness (X5).
The next day, I rooted the phone, removed all the bloatware, installed useful apps and widgets, and last but not the least, installed ADW launcher. Customized it, and then showed him again, and he was blown away!!
All of a sudden Symbian looks like an OS from last century to him. Now he wants an Android phone.
li_boud said:
When I bought X10 mini pro, I showed it to my friend, who happen to be a Nokia X6 user (8 GB) and a big huge Symbian fan. At the first sight, he wasn't impressed, said I wasted the money since I could have bought a Nokia X6 for lesser price. He said its just another fancy toy from SE, just like Xperia pureness (X5).
The next day, I rooted the phone, removed all the bloatware, installed useful apps and widgets, and last but not the least, installed ADW launcher. Customized it, and then showed him again, and he was blown away!!
All of a sudden Symbian looks like an OS from last century to him. Now he wants an Android phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is exactly what I want to do to this one. I still need to get some reading first, as I am not sure how to remove all the stuff that Vodafone puts in it.
I lack the knowledge of Android, so I am not sure if you go to android market and download the things for free, or if you get it here and just install it on the phone (I sure hope that Android uses some kind of a cab file, that will let me easily install things on it).
So far, from my reading I figured I need to change the SMS application and the answering call one (as I read many people were complaining about those), and I need to get the task killing application so that I can save some battery life.
I was not able to find an explorer on the phone, so I have no access to my SD card (which was strange for me, as WM has it easy).
For rooting I will probably use the one click root (I hope it works for this phone).
If you could point me to the right directions, with the names and a place I can get the 101 applications from, I would be grateful, as my wife needs an END product, and not something like:
"Hunny here is your nice phone, have fun rooting it and customizing it to your needs."
Thanks a lot
PS: I have been looking for some examples of what I wanted the phone to look like, and feel like and I have found this on youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpEbYiTiFdw&feature=related
I like how it looks and feels, and the only thing I would probably not want there is the last left widget with the stock market. Other than that I think it's almost perfect for such a small device.
Let me know what you think

Help!! I want to buy Xperia mini pro

hi guyz i want to buy this xperia mini pro soon, could you give me some feedbacks? the quality, speed, performance, camera, & problem etc.
if i want to purchase what should I check it? and how to check/test it (basically i check wifi,sms/call,camera/video ) what i mean is for the speed, performance, etc that can i locate the problem or defect..
And...This phone can play actually in facebook games like holdempoker, tetris?(which i mean support flash 10.3?) , and for the updates, is this possible can upgrade 2.3.4 soon?
it is true that Manufacturing dates affected in xperia mini pro regarding noise background, camera blurred, annoying screen when slide keyboard
(you can check under your battery for the build date of your device)
Here are the list affected:
* 11W28
* 11W29
* 11W30
* 11W31
Is this true?
and do you have own 11W32 manufacturing dates which has no defect like issue above?
I bought this phone and had used it for a month and I have no regrets. Its fast and awesome. I couldn't believe sony would make such a great phone at this price. Its almost equal to the big 'Xperia's.
I would definitely recommend this one.
There are certain problems, of course. I'm not on facebook, but yes it supports flash player 10.3. Calls are normal, messaging app is simple(no prob for me). But you can always use 3rd party apps.
Camera is not that good for still shots. I've used nokia phones n95, n97mini and they are way better. Video camera is the best Ive seen(that's because this is the only camera with hd recording that I've seen). I've heard of the noise problem too but I didn't care. It doesn't happen everytime you use the camera. About the battery problem, I'll check later. There's no annoying screen( I don't know what you mean) when you slide keyboard or use autorotate. But the space key is very annoying. You might want to check that before buying. I have to press it two to three times for it to work. Maybe I got a defective product, but anyway its the thing I hate the most out of this phone. And yes, it can be upgraded to 2.3.4 coming this october I think.
Feel free to ask more...
Titan Nettix said:
I bought this phone and had used it for a month and I have no regrets. Its fast and awesome. I couldn't believe sony would make such a great phone at this price. Its almost equal to the big 'Xperia's.
I would definitely recommend this one.
There are certain problems, of course. I'm not on facebook, but yes it supports flash player 10.3. Calls are normal, messaging app is simple(no prob for me). But you can always use 3rd party apps.
Camera is not that good for still shots. I've used nokia phones n95, n97mini and they are way better. Video camera is the best Ive seen(that's because this is the only camera with hd recording that I've seen). I've heard of the noise problem too but I didn't care. It doesn't happen everytime you use the camera. About the battery problem, I'll check later. There's no annoying screen( I don't know what you mean) when you slide keyboard or use autorotate. But the space key is very annoying. You might want to check that before buying. I have to press it two to three times for it to work. Maybe I got a defective product, but anyway its the thing I hate the most out of this phone. And yes, it can be upgraded to 2.3.4 coming this october I think.
Feel free to ask more...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow thxs for your great informative response.. If i download 3d games like asphalt 6 or battlefield etc it required to root it first?.. and it is recommend to root new phones like 1 week old (i know it will void warrantly, but how about the other disadvantage in rooting?)
for android os, the spec shows that 2.3 but all users has 2.3.3 . I am little confusing about this, is they manual flash to get 2.3.3 or if I buy it actually 2.3.3 already?
for the annoying screen while slide keyboard check this youtube and forward @13:11 and i have found out other user crossed this issues but i lost that link but it is similar to these. . .
youtube.com/watch?v=y-q525gHrxA&feature=relmfu
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is already at version 2.3.3 when I bought it. So no flashing needed.
I'm on slow gprs internet right now so I'll watch the video later. I forgot to tell you that an annoying colourful screen appears sometimes when I open many apps and games at the same time and then pressing the home key to go there. Not that the screen stays like that, but it happens very fast but you will notice it. I happen to see pink and green lines. You might have seen such a thing on PCs(it happened on mine). It freaks me out so I never did that again. I used taskmanagers for switching.
If you buy licensed games, I don't think rooting is needed. I haven't thought of buying just yet, and don't intend to root my phone till my warranty runs out. I'll have to study more about rooting before doing it as I'm new to android OS. I'm satisfied with playstation games at the moment.
Titan Nettix said:
Mine is already at version 2.3.3 when I bought it. So no flashing needed.
I'm on slow gprs internet right now so I'll watch the video later. I forgot to tell you that an annoying colourful screen appears sometimes when I open many apps and games at the same time and then pressing the home key to go there. Not that the screen stays like that, but it happens very fast but you will notice it. I happen to see pink and green lines. You might have seen such a thing on PCs(it happened on mine). It freaks me out so I never did that again. I used taskmanagers for switching.
If you buy licensed games, I don't think rooting is needed. I haven't thought of buying just yet, and don't intend to root my phone till my warranty runs out. I'll have to study more about rooting before doing it as I'm new to android OS. I'm satisfied with playstation games at the moment.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ahh okay.. I am also new in android OS. So I will wait couple of months before proceed in rooting. (seriously I'm scared when attempting to root especially when they warn you like "rooting procedure incorrectly may have brick your phone" LOL. For the wifi did you check it before you purchase? it seems few users also encounter in wifi which unable to connect. . Maybe when I purchase this phone I know what you mean in taskmanager
rooting itself will not void your warrenty, as it can easily be undone as if you never tampered with the device. However, there is no easy way to root the phone (as in superoneclick or gingerbreak) and requires unlocking the bootloader which will void your warrenty.
I've heard that rooting can be undone, but is it a simple process or does it involve flashing a rom? I'm scared of flashing my phone. I've never done it even with my previous windows mobile and symbian phones.
And delmarz, about the wifi thing, I never checked 'cause I know I won't be needing it. But I've tried wifi tethering with my xperia and other phones which connected from mine ran with the same speed as in mine(alone). (...but seriously, I don't know which phone gets the credit in this case)
Titan Nettix said:
I've heard that rooting can be undone, but is it a simple process or does it involve flashing a rom? I'm scared of flashing my phone. I've never done it even with my previous windows mobile and symbian phones.
And delmarz, about the wifi thing, I never checked 'cause I know I won't be needing it. But I've tried wifi tethering with my xperia and other phones which connected from mine ran with the same speed as in mine(alone). (...but seriously, I don't know which phone gets the credit in this case)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All you need to do to unroot your phone is to click on the restore or repair button in the Sony Ericsson pc suite.
Sent from my SK17i using xda premium
Titan Nettix said:
I bought this phone and had used it for a month and I have no regrets. Its fast and awesome. I couldn't believe sony would make such a great phone at this price. Its almost equal to the big 'Xperia's.
I would definitely recommend this one.
There are certain problems, of course. I'm not on facebook, but yes it supports flash player 10.3. Calls are normal, messaging app is simple(no prob for me). But you can always use 3rd party apps.
Camera is not that good for still shots. I've used nokia phones n95, n97mini and they are way better. Video camera is the best Ive seen(that's because this is the only camera with hd recording that I've seen). I've heard of the noise problem too but I didn't care. It doesn't happen everytime you use the camera. About the battery problem, I'll check later. There's no annoying screen( I don't know what you mean) when you slide keyboard or use autorotate. But the space key is very annoying. You might want to check that before buying. I have to press it two to three times for it to work. Maybe I got a defective product, but anyway its the thing I hate the most out of this phone. And yes, it can be upgraded to 2.3.4 coming this october I think.
Feel free to ask more...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 thumb up!
prinzhernan said:
All you need to do to unroot your phone is to click on the restore or repair button in the Sony Ericsson pc suite.
Sent from my SK17i using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh okay. Still, I will root it when my warranty runs out.
Titan Nettix said:
Oh okay. Still, I will root it when my warranty runs out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hahahaha... me too I'm afraid that mini pro gets lag/hang, touchscreen no response, etc after rooting ...
QUESTION FOR ALL:
can you give me the direct point of why we should root this phone? and what is the main advantage of rooted phone and its disadvantage (except can void your warranty)
delmarz said:
hahahaha... me too I'm afraid that mini pro gets lag/hang, touchscreen no response, etc after rooting ...
QUESTION FOR ALL:
can you give me the direct point of why we should root this phone? and what is the main advantage of rooted phone and its disadvantage (except can void your warranty)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, I always thought its JUST to have full control of your android system.
delmarz said:
hahahaha... me too I'm afraid that mini pro gets lag/hang, touchscreen no response, etc after rooting ...
QUESTION FOR ALL:
can you give me the direct point of why we should root this phone? and what is the main advantage of rooted phone and its disadvantage (except can void your warranty)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root itself lets you have total control over the android system. I haven't rooted mine because I dont see the need to. Everything runs perfectly.
Sent from my SK17i using xda premium
Not rooting ya android phone is like having a pretty young GF and not boning it every night.
It lets you install some very useful apps, get rid of the horrible bloatware crap networks install, and gives you full control of your device.
delmarz said:
QUESTION FOR ALL:
can you give me the direct point of why we should root this phone? and what is the main advantage of rooted phone and its disadvantage (except can void your warranty)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One really useful thing is that it is possible to take a backup of all the program's setting, game acheivements etc. This is not possible with a non rooted phone. The backup programs can't access the app db if not rooted.
If you need to reset your phone for some reason, at least your work and progress isn't spoiled.
thank you for your reponse I bought my xperia mini pro today ...but help i downloaded the NFS(games) in pc my question where do I paste it?... usually i paste it in Phone Card (E but when I browse in phones i did not locate my NFS installer ..help me
delmarz said:
thank you for your reponse I bought my xperia mini pro today ...but help i downloaded the NFS(games) in pc my question where do I paste it?... usually i paste it in Phone Card (E but when I browse in phones i did not locate my NFS installer ..help me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congrats, welcome to the family.
You downloaded the .apk file or the 'sdcard' data? For sdcard data, you can google where to put it (plus there should be an info from the site you downloaded). For installer (apk file), keep it anywhere. Try refreshing your folders or close the window and open again(if you're searching from pc). There should be no problem locating from the phone itself with any file manager.
Otherwise, use application installer from menu. It will automatically search for it. Careful though, nfs shift is the app that started the 'annoying screen' in my phone. I downloaded the installer and installed it, then started it, while downloading its data, I pressed home and then whoosh the pink-green-blah blah blah screen came in a flash. Most android users will try nfs first, don't worry.
Hello!
Advantage from rooting:
Full control over the device.
Disadvantage from rooting:
Losing capability of DRM reproduction and the trackid feature/app
Sent from my SK17i using XDA App
Get astro file manager from market, put .apk files into a folder, browse to folder with astro and you can install them.
tigger69 said:
Get astro file manager from market, put .apk files into a folder, browse to folder with astro and you can install them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't really need that. Just open application installer from the app drawer and if you really did copy to your phone, then it will be shown there.

Help to make the right choice

Hi guys.
First of all, I have searched the forum, and also used google, but most of info is not fresh and is not really complete. So please excuse me in advance if I"m asking a question that is partially asked before.
And Please before you reply, I ask you even, I beg you please only reply if you have a constructive informative things to say. Please dont come with sarcasm etc... This is a very serious thing for me.
My project :
Have a android phone for only 1 APP and with Only VPN / TOR connection. So Basicly imagine a android phone that has only 1 app. When that app is in use, communicating it comunicates true vpn maybe TOR.
This phone will not be used for anything alse. Only 1 APP. The APP is a VOIP app, so it will make calls true a external server. The internet will be on the simcard, simcard will be used wich has no Telephony services but only internet services on it. So it must be really basic, not to cheap not to expensive. No other apps will be used. Actually if possible all apps will be removed. and will be locked down, so you can only start, unlock, start app call / recieve calls. turn of.
Now, the Questions
1. What is the most Secure Android ROM, that would work on most / many android phones.
1.1. I want to LOCK the rom / android completely after install and setup settings, sothat nobody can install anything anymore.
1.2. The rom must be light, sothat it's fast and also not to heavy on the battery.
1.3. Posibilities to add extra options like self distruct if 3 times wrong unlock code is entered, like Iphone.
2. What phone would you recommend to do this job, Please keep in mind, it should be not to small, sothat it's nice to use. sits nice in the hand of a grownup person.
Nobody ?
So... No reply at all ))
I did a little research, found out i can strip down the firmware, just build it / rebuild it from source or just make some edition, I'd still like to hear / read some advice about wich phone model to take.
If you are gonna build from source then your best option is a nexus. Other wise you will end up having issues with device trees and kernel source.
As for locking it down well that's another matter. As long as they could get access to the device there is more way to stop them completely.
zelendel said:
If you are gonna build from source then your best option is a nexus. Other wise you will end up having issues with device trees and kernel source.
As for locking it down well that's another matter. As long as they could get access to the device there is more way to stop them completely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply / info.
for the lockdown, it's more like anti kids lockdown, sothat users cannot install just what ever they want. But I think it will be more advanced than that.
I'm planing to make a clean, light, firmwar that will :
1. have only 2 ways of comunicated. 1. Secure VOIP 2. secure chat system like tox or something.
2. will comunicate only true VPN or TOR
3. Will be locked down after initial setup. meanin will not be possible to install anything, just set options like wifi etc... no apstores.
4. Will have self distruct software, that counts how many times wron pin / screen unlock is done, if more then 2-3 will completely wipe itself to empty device.
5. by default camera, gps, proximity, will be absent, so will be removed in ROM, so will be really not functional.
sofar
tomorrow will search for a nexus.
thanks for your advice again.
zelendel said:
If you are gonna build from source then your best option is a nexus. Other wise you will end up having issues with device trees and kernel source.
As for locking it down well that's another matter. As long as they could get access to the device there is more way to stop them completely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nexus, like any nexus ? cause there are many, lg nexus, samsung nexus, etc...
turalo said:
Nexus, like any nexus ? cause there are many, lg nexus, samsung nexus, etc...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that depends on where you want to start. You can get an older nexus where all the code is pretty much there for stuff and learn that way. Or get a newer one where things are still being changed around. Let me give you one warning. With ever yearly android release you pretty much have to rebate everything you did and start from square one.
zelendel said:
Well that depends on where you want to start. You can get an older nexus where all the code is pretty much there for stuff and learn that way. Or get a newer one where things are still being changed around. Let me give you one warning. With ever yearly android release you pretty much have to rebate everything you did and start from square one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for all advise, info.
I have done first tests, went with basic samsungs. s4 mini, have installed edited cyanogen, all tests went well, now testing self distruct mechanism.

Could this watch be broken?

Hi there
Recently, I saw a Zenwatch 2 at a good price on ebay, and, well, I bought it! It was a weird impulse, but I have been curious about the whole smartwatch thing for a while. I've also never had an Asus mobile product, so it seemed to be a good way of killing two things with one missile.
So far, I have to say I'm very disappointed. The watch runs very slowly and is buggy imo. I have owned a phone with the same processor for years, and know it's capable of more (running 8.1.1.-based ROMs, at least). Despite being described as brand new when I bought it, its transitions are appalling, for example. Only about 400MB of the storage is taken up - yet I can't uninstall apps properly.
The two biggest issues, however, are that Remote Camera and the "forgot my phone" features in ZW Manager aren't working. I haven't found anything to suggest that they don't work on the newer versions of AW/Wear OS anywhere. Currently, it's on Android Wear 2 (7.1.1.) and won't upgrade past that. On that note, the watch will only download over BT - which is slow as hell - despite having successfully connected it to Wifi. So basically, it doesn't do much besides change watch faces and show notifications at this point. I've tried resetting it and reinstalling all its apps on the phone (a Oneplus 3), but nothing.
I'm incredibly disappointed at this stage, and kind of wish I'd gone with a Ticwatch (even with the greater expense) instead. OTOH, I do like the look of the watch (looks better than an Apple Watch imo) and want to give it another chance. Is there any way of fixing its issues? I'd install webwear, but have read that it kills the battery. Anything else? or is that my only option :/
Gigarant said:
Hi there
Recently, I saw a Zenwatch 2 at a good price on ebay, and, well, I bought it! It was a weird impulse, but I have been curious about the whole smartwatch thing for a while. I've also never had an Asus mobile product, so it seemed to be a good way of killing two things with one missile.
So far, I have to say I'm very disappointed. The watch runs very slowly and is buggy imo. I have owned a phone with the same processor for years, and know it's capable of more (running 8.1.1.-based ROMs, at least). Despite being described as brand new when I bought it, its transitions are appalling, for example. Only about 400MB of the storage is taken up - yet I can't uninstall apps properly.
The two biggest issues, however, are that Remote Camera and the "forgot my phone" features in ZW Manager aren't working. I haven't found anything to suggest that they don't work on the newer versions of AW/Wear OS anywhere. Currently, it's on Android Wear 2 (7.1.1.) and won't upgrade past that. On that note, the watch will only download over BT - which is slow as hell - despite having successfully connected it to Wifi. So basically, it doesn't do much besides change watch faces and show notifications at this point. I've tried resetting it and reinstalling all its apps on the phone (a Oneplus 3), but nothing.
I'm incredibly disappointed at this stage, and kind of wish I'd gone with a Ticwatch (even with the greater expense) instead. OTOH, I do like the look of the watch (looks better than an Apple Watch imo) and want to give it another chance. Is there any way of fixing its issues? I'd install webwear, but have read that it kills the battery. Anything else? or is that my only option :/
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Hi Gigarant,
I'd reccomend this watch if you are looking for anything that gets the job done. If you are wanting more performance and stuff, get a different watch while you can, cause this watch has been discontinued in the long run. So no further updates will be made and your essentially stuck. Hope this helps!
mcbeat257 said:
Hi Gigarant,
I'd reccomend this watch if you are looking for anything that gets the job done. If you are wanting more performance and stuff, get a different watch while you can, cause this watch has been discontinued in the long run. So no further updates will be made and your essentially stuck. Hope this helps!
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Yeah, I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep it. Thanks anyway though
Also, there's no fix for the Remote Camera issue then? <=[
Gigarant said:
Yeah, I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep it. Thanks anyway though
Also, there's no fix for the Remote Camera issue then? <=[
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Not that i'm aware of.
Root the watch and enable all 4 cores, the watch will be extremly fast after that (without using more battery)

A few various questions for current active modders of the V30 ... Aka: "Help, I'm a noob again"

Quick preamble note: This is a long read, but it's because it's been a long time since I touched a V30. So it's hard for me to put a TLDR synopsis at the bottom like I would normally do.
Hey all. It's been a while since Ive been in this part of the cell-iverse and I'm hoping you current V30 users can catch me up , please and thanks!
So a few days ago, one of my old posts in here got a little traction and it made me nostalgic, so I busted out the old v30 and started playing around with it. And if it were still 3 years ago, I could do no wrong to my trusty V30. Brick it? NBD! I can fix it... But a pandemic and few phones later I'm rusty and behind with all things Root / Magisk etc and even having a tough time remembering why I installed X module or disabled Y module and so on.
Maybe you're wondering, why bother messing with your old device? Well I had forgotten how many features Google had blocked between ol Android 8 and 13, and it turns out I really missed some of those and want to mess around with them. But, since updating or installing anything current could mean death for my 30, I'm hoping I can post my current Magisk config here and some kind folks will alert me as to what I should and shouldn't do / update / upgrade.
Specs:
Sprint (not currently connected to any network, and disabled anything I could think of to avoid getting hit by a TMo or Google Update)
LG-LS998
Android 8.0
security patch January 1 2019
build # OPR1.170623.026
SW: LS99827a
If anyone has a suggestion for what I need to disable to be sure it won't shadily get nerfed by Google, please let me know (auto updates/ota updates should be disabled still, but only by whatever standard we were using 3 years ago)
So first biggie is: Can I update Magisk? Currently I'm running 23.0 and its recommending an update to 25.2
Anyone know if this is going to be a compatibility issue?
As it stands, my Magisk Hide ft. seems to be working for everything i had it set up before. But I did install an old copy of an old APK and hide it, and Play is kinda having a fit about it and sending me notifications even after hiding it. (I dont think Im allowed to use the name of the app here, so I guess all I can say is Google has always tried to ban it and it's the same version as before but now they can see its installed somehow)
Ok, so let's talk modules....
Currently only looking at one possible update. That's for the dialer framework for the Google Phone. Now I know Google has opened up availability to their dialer to most phones now, maybe all of them. But I don't know if it's backwards compatible all the way to 8. I also don't know if updating the dialer framework will actually make it work. So any advice there is welcome.
Modules loaded & their status :
Abd & fastboot for Android NDK. Enabled.
Seems to be working fine. Or at least not causing an issue. I haven't run any log cats yet though. (Prob should , will do soon)
Anxious V30 v324 / Disabled.
I do remember I loved her mods that she was putting out. And then I remember a bunch of people giving her a hard time and she stopped releasing them which was a shame. But I don't remember why I disabled it so for now it's staying disabled unless someone has some info for me.
App systemizer (terminal emulator) / enabled
Seems to be running fine, but I completely forget how to actually use it and I'm going to have to read up on that again. But if anyone has any notes for me like that it doesn't work anymore please feel free to give me a heads up.
******
Okay well I just realized there's like 19 more of these and this is already so long I don't know if anyone's going to care to read it LOL... So I'm just going to stop here for now and see if this post gets any kind of traction or if anyone has any kind of insight before I take the time of writing out the rest of these. Or at least wait to edit this till I'm on a computer and not just my phone. But a definitely need some info on things like APP OPS, which is no longer working for me, & things like Riru & SUI which I just read up on a little but am not sure will work on OS 8.
But for now any insights anybody has are welcome. Would love to hear from any of you that have been active in the last few years to now.
Personal Throwback Note: I love that all of my wifi scanners actually work now, I can review and diagnose my own network and the apps on my own phone and what their sending and where.. And that I can share files, cast, beam, and just about send anything anywhere I want, like the old days.
It's amazing how badly Google nerfed all of these things since back then.
Are you planning on connecting this to a carrier, or just using it on Wifi or something?
Generally speaking, I would recommend moving to the latest US998 ROM, as it seems to be the most cross-compatible and capable. UNLESS you're going to put it on a carrier, like VZW, in which case you would want the VZW ROM instead, to allow VOLTE/VOWIFI to work. I think other carriers may not be as tricky about these, which is why US998 should work, but I'm not sure myself (I'm a VZW MVNO user).
As for Magisk, the last I heard was that you can update it after you've installed it. In other words, you can't install newer versions via TWRP, but if you install 18.x (whichever it was - I forget, check the WTF thread) then you can let the Android manager update it. Last I think I did was to 22 or something. Basically, give it a try and see what happens - worst case, drop back into TWRP, use the Magisk remover, and then reinstall the old 18.x... it should recover with that.
I'm not sure of modules. I didn't use too many... I found Magisk modules to cause lots of problems, so I stopped using them. That may be why you disabled Anxious' module... because it's out of date now anyway.
I'm curious, what are you "missing" from the newer Android versions? I'm curious... because I don't mind it much. Things have moved. Some things have been "automated"... but that happens with every OS... change is part of the game.
schwinn8 said:
Are you planning on connecting this to a carrier, or just using it on Wifi or something?
Generally speaking, I would recommend moving to the latest US998 ROM, as it seems to be the most cross-compatible and capable. UNLESS you're going to put it on a carrier, like VZW, in which case you would want the VZW ROM instead, to allow VOLTE/VOWIFI to work. I think other carriers may not be as tricky about these, which is why US998 should work, but I'm not sure myself (I'm a VZW MVNO user).
As for Magisk, the last I heard was that you can update it after you've installed it. In other words, you can't install newer versions via TWRP, but if you install 18.x (whichever it was - I forget, check the WTF thread) then you can let the Android manager update it. Last I think I did was to 22 or something. Basically, give it a try and see what happens - worst case, drop back into TWRP, use the Magisk remover, and then reinstall the old 18.x... it should recover with that.
I'm not sure of modules. I didn't use too many... I found Magisk modules to cause lots of problems, so I stopped using them. That may be why you disabled Anxious' module... because it's out of date now anyway.
I'm curious, what are you "missing" from the newer Android versions? I'm curious... because I don't mind it much. Things have moved. Some things have been "automated"... but that happens with every OS... change is part of the game.
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Thank you for the info! This will definitely give me a starting point Tomorrow as I will be attempting to reload my most recent back up and get back up and running. (Yes, I have been smited by the update gods)
I was planning to keep it as a network testing device and not activate on a carrier. But that was a shortlived dream.
As for what's missing since the older versions, I can only give vague examples due to my own level of non-expertise in these areas... But the short answer is connections, ports and just overall access and compatibility within the devices itself and with other products. My current device (Samsung s22 ultra) can barely cast to my tv. While my V30 when it was working well, could basically cast or connect to any device in my home. Plus full dlna access. I could also use the old versions of my network apps to see every piece of data coming and going on my network. (This is possible today with apps that do so by acting as a VPN, but back in 2019 it was accessable by any app that could put out a "get" command). And there was more customizable settings for things like GPS (remember when we could choose between 3 different versions of location access?)
I should also say that I prob misspoke by blaming the os versions. After having my V30 nerfed out of root in under 2 hrs of usage, I'm now pretty sure the features I was referring to have been removed with security updates and not full os updates.
I tried, unsuccessfully, to block play services from installing a 550mb "security "update that they claimed was going to ensure my VOLTE would work after January 1st 2022. (Even though my VOLTE was already enabled and working fine as far back as 2019). I took a screenshot that I need to get off the device before re flash. I was trying to pull the update file so I could dig through it, but not install. Things went poorly lol.
But anyway, stay tuned, as I know that was a half ass answer and poor explanation, but when I have some time tomorrow, I'm going to reply here with a full write up on the differences, screenshots, and whatever else I can come up with.
I'm sure this will prob only be interesting to about 4 of us, so this is mostly going to be for my own curiosity and I don't expect to really achieve much, but please feel free to jump in with any questions or comments or point out anything I get wrong, as I'm happy to have company on my tinkering through tech time journey.
I have an S10+ now... and I'm quite happy with it. The key is that I gave up root to be on this... I had root on the V30. I know many complain about losing root, and I get it... I'd certainly prefer to have it. However, fact is, I really don't miss it. Yes, things are different without root, but you can do most things without it. But, that's just my take on it...
Without a carrier, I'd say do US998. I forgot to mention, I would recommend sticking to a non-Pie version of the OS as well. Pie was released on these phones, but it wasn't reliable from what I heard. I never went to it, and stuck with Oreo. The version numbers would be 20-ish for Oreo, and 30-ish for Pie. I did see that the US998 might be a bit better on Pie, but I knew VS996 (VZW ROM) was not great, which is why I stayed off it.
Yes, various things were removed with app updates and Google services updates. For example, call recording is being blocked these days, from what I've been reading. That's partly why I have not updated my S10+ either... it's on Android 11. I still use the same old app I used ages ago on my V30 and it works great, so why bother, you know?
I expect OTA OS updates are gone... and being off a carrier you won't get them anyway. So I don't think you need to worry about that specifically, but app updates will happen, of course... potentially. Just remember that with root you can uninstall the update and push an older version (from APKpure, for example) so I'm not sure I'd worry about that so much?
My V30 is using US998 as its base on Android Pie. US998 runs VoWifi and VoLTE well.
I'm still running Magisk 22.1 on mine. You only really need to update Magisk if you're using a newer Android version. I only run three modules: ACC, Systemless Hosts and Systemless TZData.
On the Google side, disable Play Store and uninstall all Google Play Services updates. Then run Aurora Store as its replacement. That way, Play Store will not auto-update Play Services.
aospray said:
My V30 is using US998 as its base on Android Pie. US998 runs VoWifi and VoLTE well.
I'm still running Magisk 22.1 on mine. You only really need to update Magisk if you're using a newer Android version. I only run three modules: ACC, Systemless Hosts and Systemless TZData.
On the Google side, disable Play Store and uninstall all Google Play Services updates. Then run Aurora Store as its replacement. That way, Play Store will not auto-update Play Services.
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I'm curious what carrier do you use, where you are getting VoWIFI and VoLTE on stock US998 firmware? Originally T-mobile (and their MVNOs) allowed VoWIFI on US998, but with carrier system updates post-Sprint merger that reportedly went away. First with newer SIM cards and then even for those who stubbornly stayed on older SIM cards, by carrier side server changes.
ChazzMatt said:
I'm curious what carrier do you use, where you are getting VoWIFI and VoLTE on stock US998 firmware?
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Oh, I should have mentioned I'm in Canada. Currently on Freedom Mobile. I made a post about this here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/...unctional-and-available.3834267/post-87838705. Forgot that the mobile situation in the US is different
Greetings all.
Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah, and so on to everyone. Apologies on my delay, my timeline was interrupted by the obligatory holiday errands and what not. Hoping to have some time tomorrow to finally post some screen grabs and a write up over the next day or two.
Have a great weekend everyone!
I hate being the guy that doesn't follow through with his plans/posts, but I definitely overestimated my free time around this time of year (I work in the entertainment industry and in the tech industry simultaneously, so end of year is a bit double down crazy for me) So I still haven't had a chance to boot up my V30 again since that first day I used it and lost root (somehow OTA) in a matter of hours.
But that's said, all of this has created a new interest for me, and it will prob turn into a post elsewhere in the forum down the road, but for now I'll expand on it here since it's mildly related and stemmed from my curiosity about features being lost over time...
I've been noticing, almost daily, that Google is restricting more and more parts of the Android OS. Curious if the rest of you have noticed this as well.
On my current device, an update from this past week, restricted general access to the Android > Data folder.
Now I'm all for better security on our devices, but a change that big out of the blue has major effects on the average user.
My personal example: an app I use for songs and separate app that I use for video, both got firewalled with this change. They can both still operate and save files to their default locations inside the data folder. But now I cannot reach it through a file manager, or the app I was using to sort media on my device. That app now cannot see any media that isn't in the general download, music, video, or documents folders.
But the real problem is neither can my video or audio players.
The newest security does allow the "Data" folders to be accessed when done so through a computer. But what a hassle that is. Especially if you're like me and have always cheaped out and bought the smaller storage option devices. Back when expandle storage worked properly that was an easy fix, and after that and until now its always been fairly easy to push excess files to a cloud drive. But with this new change, making files invisible to file managers, you can literally fill your whole phone with media without realizing it's hidden somewhere and the only way to find what's taking up space now is to connect to a computer, or to open individual apps and check their own defined storage. App by app. Ughh.
I know this complaining is a bit off topic, but TBH I wouldn't even know where to start a post about general annoyances with over zealous security policies. I'm sure some of the devs here will be posting about it in their app threads soon if not already. And I have already seen a couple apps on my device update with half way work arounds to combat these changes. But, if this is the direction things are going, it's only a matter of time before any loophole is closed and that's no longer an option for devs. Personally, I'm planning to root my current device as soon as I have an hour or two, and will prob only be purchasing devices I know can be rooted going forward. I just refuse to wait around while the growing pains associated with this big of a change ripple through each app and developer, and everyone finally sorts out their stuff.
This is just another example of Google cutting off access to parts of the device I paid for and was using, ota, with no choice in the matter.
I know I prob sound like a lunatic, but it's lunacy to me how often and how many of these kind of changes have happened in just the last few months, especially after just starting this thread and airing out similar concerns.
And don't even get me started on the whole "tv play store app policies" vs "regular app store apps policies" and all the changes happening there (they crippled live channels + and I now have to purchase some apps twice to use it on my phone & tv!?!?)
(Btw if anyone, member or mod, has a suggestion on where I can start a thread about this just to discuss it, please let me know. As this issue is spreading and even if it hasn't been noticed by everyone yet, it's sure to affect everyone in some way soon. I.e. apps, particularly, paid apps, that no longer function and essentially won't be able to function. Google just made 1000s of apps worthless, with no recourse for the developers or the users who paid their hard earned money for them).
Interesting side note: I did find a hidden developer menu on my current samsung device that grants access to some of what was taken away from "wif related" apps. I had assumed the functionality was removed altogether but then was surprised to see the OS can still pull up a lot of what was banned from apps. For anyone interested, I'll be making a post on the Samsung forum later and will post an updated link to it here.

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