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My rant about At&t and I why I am angry with them about my predicament with my s7.
PLEASE READ DISCLAIMER AT THE BOTTOM AND ALL ASTRICKED ITEMS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
I will say how disappointed in at&t I am; it should be illegal to lock phones like this. The last samsung galaxy able to be rooted was the s4 and note 2 (don't quote me on that is was guestimation). But like all the idiots caught up in the buzz of owning the newest device, I got burned by the note 4. Fool me once shame on you, but fool me twice shame on me. I got burned again on the s7, and developers on here have basically given up rooting anything else (since the note 4 crisis there's a large bounty for whomever get the first permaroot) . Maybe if millions of us write to samsung about how at&t is ruining their products, they could do something about this travesty. <b>
Well if could some root required apps to work on my phone I would be much happier. I can't even use the current version of lucky patcher, how stupid is that. <b>
If your phone isn't rooted or have never felt the joy of a rooted phone (it is like endless possibilities all in the palm of your hand), and if you don't know what rooting is, get a clue, (Google it). Beg, barrow, steal one from a guy the next County over, forge one, trade for one, find one, save up for 3 months to buy one on eBay, I don't care how you get a clue, but you need one. The ability to Root our phone should be a fundamental right. (particularly with what went on with Apple and the FBI in California) We buy the phone, pay for it's service, then you treat us like we somehow don't know something has changed. (All the sudden "security updates that happen right after finding root for other devices and then people update their devices and it is gone back to square one.) Who is going to be responsible for all the millions of phones that are going to be trash because of this?
(because now on certain devices it softbricks the phone, sure it roots it, but what good is a rooted phone when you can't use it? (I relate it to something close to ransomware, on a computer, where software hold it (the computer) hostage until you meet the criminal's demands (usually money), so that you can get your computer back, and then sometimes they just leave it in place. (nasty crap fun to get rid of without reinstalling the OS) In this case it holds your phone hostage until you meet at&t's demands of "removing non at&t software", and until such time that the software is removed it remains bricked. If you have this issue, which I have only seen it mentioned a handful of time, and happen to have a Samsung device (with or without warranty) they will fix for free and even pay shipping both ways (now that's how you keep customers happy) I still have this issue as I have not sent my phone in yet and if someone knows how to fix it I would like to know. It goes from the ransom page with the padlock unlocked and warnings from at&t, then it goes to a second page saying that I have a Reactivation Lock in place. I have tried everything stated on the forum about RL, but my case is unique because of my stupid idea of seeing if king root had figured out how to root note 4 at&t sm-N910A version. To answer your question did it work, yes and no. Read the bricking bit above.)
Surely not your loyal customers, surely not the one who actually make and put their name on the phone, no I blame the cell phone companies. They have gotten to big for their own shoes on this one, they stepped in a giant pile of it. How many millions of customers have you lost at&t? Hmmm? Answer that one. Maybe I'll be the next to jump ship, sprint has a great plan, half the price, and they'll pay our way out of the eta( early termination fee(s) ln case you didn't know) up to 600 USD on each line. Sounds good to where do I sign, oh you need to take my piece of it phone and trade it for one the COMES with an unlocked bootloader. Take it I never wanted this piece of it to begin with. Bye At&t, you had a good ride with most of us for longer than a decade, but you done shot yourself in the foot on this one. You should have never changed your name and started in the cell phone business. South Western Bell is dead, and this monstrosity that has been created is nothing more than a shell of its former company, what a bunch of sell outs. I hope you sleep good at night knowing how many people are cursing your name from every roof top and highest building. You don't play with other people's it. It isn't proper nor is it called for. Some customers will be loyal to the end, but I am sick of all the red tape and garbage we have to put up with. Higher rates for the same service? Do you think we are stupid?
DISCLAIMER
*PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS MY OWN OPINIONS. IT IS AIMED AT AT&T, AND THEIR INABILITY TO LEAVE A GOOD THING ALONE. IT IS NOT MEANT TO OFFEND US NORMAL FOLK THAT PAY RIDICULOUS PHONE BILLS EVERY MONTH. IF YOU ARE ONE OF THESE PEOPLE AND YOU FIND THIS OFFENSIVE I AM SORRY. I NEVER CUSSED OR SAID ANYTHING OFFENSIVE ABOUT OR TO AN INDIVIDUAL. *
*ANY INSTANCES OF "IT" THAT ARE EXTRAGRAMMATIC ARE A CUSS WORD IN DISGUISE AND IS SELF EXPLANATORY*
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT WITH YOUR OWN OPINIONS THIS A JUDGEMENT FREE ZONE, SO PUT SOME FEELING IN IT. OCCASIONAL SWEARING IS TO BE EXPECTED (AS LONG AS IT IS OK WITHIN THE POLICIES OF XDA IF DOUBT DON'T DO IT.).
ANY HELP WITH ABOVE STATED ISSUE PLEASE LINK BELOW SO THE POST ENDS UP IN THE PROPER SECTION (TROUBLESHOOTING AND WHATNOT).
ANYTHING FOUND IN PARENTHESES WAS ADDED FOR CLARIFICATION PURPOSES, AND NOT MEANT TO DEMEAN ANYONE. THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO DO NOT KNOW THE TERM OF KNOWLEDGY.
IF ANYTHING IN THIS RANT HAS BEEN MISREPRESENTED OR IS INCORRECT PLEASE BRING TO MY ATTENTION.
THANK YOU TO ANYONE WHO ACTUALLY READ ALL THIS.
God bless and peace out,
Kelentaria
I switched to AT&T because of direcTV unlimited (saves me 15 bucks a month from what I was paying). I don't really care much about having root access, but I do care about being able to erase the bloat on the phone. Bloat should be optional software, not burned into the OS. Look at Windows for a PC. If you don't want an app that came preloaded, you simply uninstall it. How is that even legal to have software stuck on your phone, which you have no idea what it is doing in the background and also claim you have 32gigs of storage, but you actually only have 19?
I see some of your points, but the whole rooting thing will be an uphill battle. Each company is required by law to patch exploits that allow the system to be compromised. Unless Google makes root access standard (meaning easily unlocked with an app etc) you won't see it again , and if you do, rarely.
I could forgive them for the root issue, but not for the bloat, lack of WiFi calling on android devices, etc.
Your points and opinion is well taken here as a fellow ATT user. We won't even get Samsung to move on rooting and bootloader unlocking since they're path is the business level users. That's mostly to do with all of us modder folks being in the small minority when it comes to purchasing their phones. There should be an option to unlock the bootloader from them directly. Basically them allowing us to either choose to void our warranty to unlock the bootloader which relieves them of the responsibility of folks blaming them for their choice of modding the phone. Similar to the HTC process. But again this is my opinion. ATT on the other hand has been a constant pain with not being consumer friendly for the last 4 years from my guestimation.
psufan5 said:
I switched to AT&T because of direcTV unlimited (saves me 15 bucks a month from what I was paying). I don't really care much about having root access, but I do care about being able to erase the bloat on the phone. Bloat should be optional software, not burned into the OS. Look at Windows for a PC. If you don't want an app that came preloaded, you simply uninstall it. How is that even legal to have software stuck on your phone, which you have no idea what it is doing in the background and also claim you have 32gigs of storage, but you actually only have 19?
I see some of your points, but the whole rooting thing will be an uphill battle. Each company is required by law to patch exploits that allow the system to be compromised. Unless Google makes root access standard (meaning easily unlocked with an app etc) you won't see it again , and if you do, rarely.
I could forgive them for the root issue, but not for the bloat, lack of WiFi calling on android devices, etc.
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I suggest you try Package Disabler Pro, its a small price to pay but it works perfectly disabling bloat from Samsung devices. It is not root but at the very least it helps make touchwiz bearable.
---------- Post added at 02:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:54 PM ----------
I don't think there is a single ATT user that doesn't share your opinion but nowadays we all know what we are getting into with them. Only the Nexus line remains untouched but with the recent surge in mobile payment use the manufacturers are locking down phones harder than eve, one the plus side it helps maintain security and protect your hard earned money but sadly some sacrifices must be made. My only wish is that Samsung would finally see the light and at the very least give us the option of stock android in their devices, a tall order I know but one that would be met with enthusiasm.
glm0025 said:
I suggest you try Package Disabler Pro, its a small price to pay but it works perfectly disabling bloat from Samsung devices. It is not root but at the very least it helps make touchwiz bearable.
---------- Post added at 02:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:54 PM ----------
I don't think there is a single ATT user that doesn't share your opinion but nowadays we all know what we are getting into with them. Only the Nexus line remains untouched but with the recent surge in mobile payment use the manufacturers are locking down phones harder than eve, one the plus side it helps maintain security and protect your hard earned money but sadly some sacrifices must be made. My only wish is that Samsung would finally see the light and at the very least give us the option of stock android in their devices, a tall order I know but one that would be met with enthusiasm.
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Ive done that, but the bloat still takes up a huge chunk of space - the APKs are just disabled
there hasn't been a bootloader unlocked at&t galaxy since the S3. The S4 was bootloader locked, but anyone with AMDL firmware (the second OTA) could bypass the bootloader and load ROMs that way. Anyone that updated past that was stuck with bootstrapped ROMs. The S4 was never bootloader unlocked ever.
psufan5 said:
Ive done that, but the bloat still takes up a huge chunk of space - the APKs are just disabled
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Rooted or not, you wouldn't get that space back. The pre-installed crud is installed on the system partition which is a separate space from where user apps (and all data) are stored. If you rooted and deleted those apps, the space would just go unused. (And really, those apps don't take up much space in storage.)
On the other hand, there are things in the AT&T preload that can't be disabled. Some might be daemons that load before (and outside the scope of) android, and others are embedded deep into the existing modules (such as systemUI.) For example, AT&T still uses a variation of carrier IQ software for analytics.
However, even if you had root, you couldn't easily get rid of those things without completely changing the firmware to something else. Once you did that, you'd also lose AT&T variant specific things such as AT&T's implementation of VoLTE, video calling, etc. (Just because other firmware might support features by the same name, it doesn't mean that they'll work on AT&T's network.)
My biggest complaint these days with AT&T variants is that AT&T blocks important system updates. Even VERIZON has become better about releasing firmware updates and upgrades for android phones when compared to AT&T. (Verizon used to hold the crown of being the absolute LAST carrier to update their phones... but no more. Now AT&T clearly owns it.)
Here's the funny thing: AT&T claims that they are locking down bootloaders and such in order to have a higher level of security for business customers. Yet, by taking MONTHS longer to release firmware updates, AT&T phones are often vulnerable to malicious exploits long after those exploits have been fixed by Samsung/HTC/etc.
garyd9 said:
Rooted or not, you wouldn't get that space back. The pre-installed crud is installed on the system partition which is a separate space from where user apps (and all data) are stored. If you rooted and deleted those apps, the space would just go unused. (And really, those apps don't take up much space in storage.)
On the other hand, there are things in the AT&T preload that can't be disabled. Some might be daemons that load before (and outside the scope of) android, and others are embedded deep into the existing modules (such as systemUI.) For example, AT&T still uses a variation of carrier IQ software for analytics.
However, even if you had root, you couldn't easily get rid of those things without completely changing the firmware to something else. Once you did that, you'd also lose AT&T variant specific things such as AT&T's implementation of VoLTE, video calling, etc. (Just because other firmware might support features by the same name, it doesn't mean that they'll work on AT&T's network.)
My biggest complaint these days with AT&T variants is that AT&T blocks important system updates. Even VERIZON has become better about releasing firmware updates and upgrades for android phones when compared to AT&T. (Verizon used to hold the crown of being the absolute LAST carrier to update their phones... but no more. Now AT&T clearly owns it.)
Here's the funny thing: AT&T claims that they are locking down bootloaders and such in order to have a higher level of security for business customers. Yet, by taking MONTHS longer to release firmware updates, AT&T phones are often vulnerable to malicious exploits long after those exploits have been fixed by Samsung/HTC/etc.
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Bootloader is locked down for one reason - stop tethering on unlimited plans.
Thats about it.
psufan5 said:
Bootloader is locked down for one reason - stop tethering on unlimited plans.
Thats about it.
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You are misinformed.
I completely agree that the situation sucks. I know that this will fall over into the Note 6, and that saddens me. That is why I set up camp on the Apple side of the fence. They are always hacking into ios somehow (no fragmentation i guess?), and the OS, while still not as open as Android has matured a little. I do miss Android, but Samsung was my home, and it isn't easy switching to another OEM when their hardware designs are so different (no physical home button).
I happen to work for Sprint (for the time being), and the prices are better, but our systems suck, and our business practices are kind of shady. Hopefully I don't get into any trouble for this, but customers deserve to know the whole story. Example: a gentleman came in to get a new sim card for his S4 Mini. Now with at&t, you just go get a sim card, and all you have to worry about is standard/micro/nano. With Sprint, however, each size sim card has a wide variety of skus (barcodes), and we use a tool to see which ones are compatible with the device in question. In this guy's case, Sprint had discontinued the only sim card that would work with his phone.
To put it plainly, we force ultimatums on our customers; buy another phone, or do without. I'm actually ashamed to work for this company.
What sickens me is that they disable perfectly fine features to replace them with their crapware. I like their network coverage, but I'm really doubtful if I would/should stay with At&t anymore. I personally don't care much about the bootloader, but the fact that they are doing this sort of thing without facing any sort of push-back, is what annoys me.
sireniankyle said:
I completely agree that the situation sucks. I know that this will fall over into the Note 6, and that saddens me. That is why I set up camp on the Apple side of the fence. They are always hacking into ios somehow (no fragmentation i guess?), and the OS, while still not as open as Android has matured a little. I do miss Android, but Samsung was my home, and it isn't easy switching to another OEM when their hardware designs are so different (no physical home button).
I happen to work for Sprint (for the time being), and the prices are better, but our systems suck, and our business practices are kind of shady. Hopefully I don't get into any trouble for this, but customers deserve to know the whole story. Example: a gentleman came in to get a new sim card for his S4 Mini. Now with at&t, you just go get a sim card, and all you have to worry about is standard/micro/nano. With Sprint, however, each size sim card has a wide variety of skus (barcodes), and we use a tool to see which ones are compatible with the device in question. In this guy's case, Sprint had discontinued the only sim card that would work with his phone.
To put it plainly, we force ultimatums on our customers; buy another phone, or do without. I'm actually ashamed to work for this company.
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I get what you are saying 100% but the only problem for me is that a locked down Android device does more than a jailbreaked iPhone any day of the week.,at the end of the day Android is still more open than IOS. As of right now Marshmallow has proven good enough for me that I'm not missing root or custom roms, that I would root and unlock if I had the chance you better believe it but even 6.0 Touchwiz is bearable right now.
glm0025 said:
I get what you are saying 100% but the only problem for me is that a locked down Android device does more than a jailbreaked iPhone any day of the week.,at the end of the day Android is still more open than IOS. As of right now Marshmallow has proven good enough for me that I'm not missing root or custom roms, that I would root and unlock if I had the chance you better believe it but even 6.0 Touchwiz is bearable right now.
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It heavily depends on how well you know Cydia. . You can change everything about the layout in an iphone through winterboard or dreamboard. You can customize power options, and assign on screen and button shortcuts no matter where you are on the device (app, home screen, locked). Ad blocker, free spotify premium, a youtube downloader built into youtube, custom carrier logos, system wide night mode, keyboard sub symbols, finger print locked apps, remove the media cap in imessage or text messages, enable zedge ringtone downloads, kill all background apps, pop out video for any app, and custom folder sizes.
I can agree that a few of those are just catching up with Android, but a system wide on or off wifi ad blocker is something that only root can do. There are some things, like the no media cap in messages, that even a rooted android device can't technically do (depends on the carrier I suppose), because they don't go through Apple servers.
This isn't me crapping on Android. I love Android. I just needed a place to hold up until Samsung gets it together. I refuse to buy their locked up garbage anymore. The htc 10 is looking pretty good, too, but I was hoping for something with amoled.
Just so everyone is clear, we dont discuss piracy or fraud or such on XDA.
App developers work hard for their money, trust me it is hard to earn a living at 99cents a pop. Lets support our developers instead of supporting theft.
You're dumb. You're *****ing about a $600 term fee which is impossible for a single line. Buy your phone international or unlocked if this is such an issue for you and stop whining. The ATT model of phones are NOT for power users. Plain and simple. I'm surprised so many people are taking the time to read you *****ing.
This post is so funny...
You are all over the place with your words, your thoughts and your anger.
Why would you purchase the S7 on AT&T if you already knew all of this?
Especially if this has already happened to you with your Note 4?
End of the day, most of the customers who use AT&T have no idea about root. They have no care or concern about these things.
People like us, on XDA, who love to root and customize our phones have to understand that there is a paradigm shift in Android (particularly in regards to Samsung devices) that focuses on security rather than customization. Especially when dealing with Carrier phones. The bloat, the locked bootloader, the restrictions all have their reasons for existing.
Especially when Samsung is amidst a global (albeit slow) roll out of Samsung Pay. Trying to align themselves ever so closely with Apple in terms of quality and brand recognition.
Samsung Pay will NEVER work on a rooted phone, EVER! Doesn't matter if you restore stock firmware etc...
Carriers also have their reasons as well...
There are plenty of reasons why they both do it, most of which I don't want to sit here and write out one by one. Like you said in your post... Google it.
End of the day, if you want to root or customize your device then you should do your research before dropping $700+ on a phone.
Plenty of bloat free, bootloader unlocked, international and non carrier phones available for you to achieve root and enjoy Android.
Coming on here and posting a wall of whine just makes you look silly and childish.
Yes, it sucks... I share your annoyance as I'm sure many other AT&T/XDA members do as well - for years now.
End of the day, these mega corporations don't care about you or what makes you happy. It's a business, their business, deal with it. We all have to... If you want to protest, protest with your wallet.
HNIC215 said:
Samsung Pay will NEVER work on a rooted phone, EVER! Doesn't matter if you restore stock firmware etc...
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While I tend to agree with the majority of your post, I think this one statement I quoted might be a bit too absolute.
My understanding of SPay is that it relies on the KNOX fuse to determine if a phone is modified. If true, then if an exploit is discovered and implemented which grants root without tripping KNOX, then SPay could possibly work on a rooted device. (Hiding root is doable, and supersu has been playing the cat/mouse game with Android Pay for several months on this...)
The galaxy S6 was rootable without tripping KNOX when it was initially released...
Of course, it's possible that there's something in the samsung firmware that will immediately trip KNOX if root is even detected. If so, it's something new that hasn't been there before. Previously, tripping KNOX required an action at the bootloader level - and usually occurred when an image not signed by samsung was flashed via ODIN.
Moving slightly off topic...
The problem, in my opinion, isn't that root can't be gained. There are plenty of exploits for gaining privileges that either Samsung takes too long to patch, or that the carriers (specifically AT&T) take too long to release the patches for. (AT&T is already 2 months behind on the S7's security patches. Those are patches for security concerns that are now publicly announced and should be easily exploited by reverse engineering the fixes that google publishes.)
The real problem is that people who would develop and publish a root method for hobbyists don't care anymore. Those people aren't going to buy a bootloader locked S7. Either they'll buy a different phone entirely (from a manufacturer that's more dev friendly), or they'll buy a non-carrier model that isn't bootloader locked. (Actually, there's another group, but it's very small: Industry insiders who are constrained by legal agreements (such as NDA's) preventing them from releasing anything they might come up with.)
garyd9 said:
While I tend to agree with the majority of your post, I think this one statement I quoted might be a bit too absolute.
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That's what a Samsung Rep told me when I had the international Note 5 and wanted to know if I would be able to use Samsung Pay here in the states.
First, they said Samsung Pay would have to be available in the device's country of origin.
Second, they said the device can NEVER be rooted. If the device is rooted, it will NEVER be able to run Samsung Pay on it for the remainder of its life. Regardless if you restore with stock firmware and unroot.
Which makes sense actually when you think about it.
Apple is and has been synonymous with security and safety - in general but especially in regards to Apple Pay.
Samsung has always been considered the "Apple" or "iPhone" of the Android world - this statement holds true now more than ever before.
With Samsung Pay being released globally (slowly but surely)... Samsung will not risk the security of their platform by any means at all.
Letting users gain root access to their devices can potentially expose parts of their secure Samsung Pay platform and risk a major security or privacy incident that would lead to global fallout regardless of where the incident took place.
They will never allow this - especially with the progress they have made over the years to build a premium brand.
With the S7 and S7 Edge - they further that tradition and bring more security than ever.
Don't take my word for it...
Samsung Knox recognised as the strongest mobile security platform
Samsung has received strongest ratings for its mobile security platform Knox in areas including authentication methods, encryption management, jailbreak or root protection and application vetting.
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The latest version of Knox is currently available for Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge and optimised for Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
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According to a report, Mobile Device Security: A comparison of Platforms by renowned market analyst firm Gartner, Samsung's latest security platform Knox version 2.6 got the most strong ratings for any mobile security platform. The firm analysed the core OS security features built into a total of 12 mobile device platforms as well as enterprise management capabilities. Samsung also managed to gain leadership in mobile security market though Knox, coupled with Samsung Pay.
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Source:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/samsung-knox-recognised-strongest-mobile-security-platform-1554836
HNIC215 said:
That's what a Samsung Rep told me when I had the international Note 5 and wanted to know if I would be able to use Samsung Pay here in the states.
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Okay.. I wonder if he's related to one of the "samsung reps" that work in Best Buy stores.... or the ones that come visit AT&T stores on occasion. For the most part, they are really good in reciting the marketing material, but when it comes to details, they are clueless. In fact, at least as bad as Radio Shack sales people.
"KNOX" is a confusing term.
First, there's "KNOX" as a software security suite that is very closely related to what google calls "Android for Work." Both are basically a "secure" and private container/sandbox. The idea is that you take a personal smartphone to work and can run "work" apps that are completely sandboxes from personal apps. This has nothing whatsoever to do with SPay. SPay doesn't make use of this element of KNOX.
KNOX is also the name of a fuse in the device (which is likely a qualcomm "qfuse" in the SD820 S7's) that trips when the bootloader detects an unsigned kernel/recovery. _THIS_ is the KNOX that relates to SPay. Real human beings (not samsung sales or support reps) have confirmed that once the KNOX fuse is tripped, it prevents SPay from working. (It also prevents KNOX, the software suite mentioned above, from working.)
Now I need to express things in strange ways, and I hope you'll forgive the odd phrasing:
As far as devs on XDA and other sites similar to XDA have been able to determine, "root" does not prevent SPay from functioning. In fact, my understanding is that there are people who rooted their Galaxy S6 without tripping the KNOX fuse, later reverted to factory firmware, allowed the phone to OTA to newer firmware that included SPay, and SPay worked fine. However, there are others who have tripped the KNOX fuse while rooted who can no longer use SPay. The key here is that KNOX fuse...
I can say with a very large degree of confidence that SPay will work just fine if you happened to had a device that somehow had a working "su" binary in the path AND KNOX wasn't tripped. That might happen if the bootloader was designed to not trip KNOX... such as someone who developed software for preloads might have on a test device. Based only on information in the public domain, it might also happen if an exploit was found that didn't require flashing a custom kernel, recovery, etc.
It's POSSIBLE, and I actually don't know this, that the firmware released on these devices publicly has code to force tripping the KNOX fuse if root is detected. The galaxy S6 did NOT have this mechanism when towel root (or whatever root method it was) worked on it. I somehow doubt that samsung would have added this to the firmware, as there's too great a chance for a false positive, and tripping that KNOX flag is permanent.
In android user terms, a "rooted" device is merely a device that has a working suid "su" binary in the path owned by the 'root' user. (Later versions of android also require some sepolicy changes, but that's outside the scope of this thread.) That binary might be on /system or it might be in the kernel partition. However, neither is a permanent change to the device, and therefore it can be removed with no trace.
garyd9 said:
Okay.. I wonder if he's related to one of the "samsung reps" that work in Best Buy stores.... or the ones that come visit AT&T stores on occasion. For the most part, they are really good in reciting the marketing material, but when it comes to details, they are clueless. In fact, at least as bad as Radio Shack sales people.
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No this wasn't in person... Nor was it someone from the states (from what I could tell).
It was with a technician over the phone because the first customer service rep had no idea - so she transferred me to a technician.
Regardless, there is no point in discussing this endlessly.
There are already plenty of folks out there who are trying to solve this issue, only time will tell if they can succeed.
Let's see what happens.
Due to a little frustration I decided to create a whole thread for this.
I suck at computers and I have no idea what I am doing so I ended up bricking my device lmao.
In theory, the thought of rooting your device, and installing a custom OS sounds great! (Like communism) but when put in practice never really works out. The reason for that (I think) is because there are so many different versions, models, and brands. I end up spending all my time trying to refine my search to the right software and versions, and then when I do, I am stuck with some stupid site like (every damn rom site) with a 20kb/s download rate, and a page full of ads! Why? Because they are storing like 2 billion different 2GB roms. In my opinion paying for faster download speed from these websites is ridiculous. I don't even know why they offer (you would have to be stupid(like me)).
(tl;dr: Android SUCKS)
So, now to my actual question...
With the release of the Librem 5 phone, there really is not going to be a point to rooting phones anymore, because google with already be decimated from it... But that comes out in April/May and I still need a phone in the meantime.
So.. Are there any cheap phones ($500+/-), that are not a pain in the ass to root? And one that the developers actually care about to actively develop. All I wan't is a phone I can install stock android with root, and that can be installed without google or gapps. Also I live in Canada, which is another reason why it's a pain in the ass to find a decent phone because all our carriers deadbolt their firmware, and bootloaders like their storing the coordinates to some secret location with a pot of gold.
starscrpt said:
Due to a little frustration I decided to create a whole thread for this.
I suck at computers and I have no idea what I am doing so I ended up bricking my device lmao.
In theory, the thought of rooting your device, and installing a custom OS sounds great! (Like communism) but when put in practice never really works out. The reason for that (I think) is because there are so many different versions, models, and brands. I end up spending all my time trying to refine my search to the right software and versions, and then when I do, I am stuck with some stupid site like (every damn rom site) with a 20kb/s download rate, and a page full of ads! Why? Because they are storing like 2 billion different 2GB roms. In my opinion paying for faster download speed from these websites is ridiculous. I don't even know why they offer (you would have to be stupid(like me)).
(tl;dr: Android SUCKS)
So, now to my actual question...
With the release of the Librem 5 phone, there really is not going to be a point to rooting phones anymore, because google with already be decimated from it... But that comes out in April/May and I still need a phone in the meantime.
So.. Are there any cheap phones ($500+/-), that are not a pain in the ass to root? And one that the developers actually care about to actively develop. All I wan't is a phone I can install stock android with root, and that can be installed without google or gapps. Also I live in Canada, which is another reason why it's a pain in the ass to find a decent phone because all our carriers deadbolt their firmware, and bootloaders like their storing the coordinates to some secret location with a pot of gold.
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Try Mediatek phones, they are cheap, easy to unlock and root.
However, you will have to search whether they have a custom ROM since Mediatek never releases their source.
HIT THANKS IF FOUND USEFUL
Hey Mate 20 Pro owners - just trying to understand what the Mate 20 Pro owners are planning on at the moment in the wake of Google/android services ban etc.,
I am also a proud owner of Mate 20 Pro for the last six months and I absolutely love this device.
Are you guys trying to selling it off before the value drops too low?
Or, hoping the situation will reverse and fix itself?
I am hoping it will all be okay in the next two months? What do you guys advise?
I'm sticking with it as this Google business isn't a major problem for me
Same here, i'll stay with my mate 20 pro.
i really think it's a great phone, so i see no reason to sell it.
About the problems with Google, we still have 3 months before the ban really starts, so i think it's just a pressure method from Trump to get the trade deal with China.
And even if it's not and they still ban it i will stay with Huawei, i have to say i'm really curious about Hongmeng OS that they'll launch in fall.
I only consider price and value before and at the time of buying. Once I make a decision, the price is no longer a factor for me. I only bought the phone recently because my previous phone was no longer usable. As long as my current gapps remain usable on this phone, I don't necessarily care about future updates that much. I buy a phone based on it's performance at the time of purchase. When I was buying this phone, I wanted a flagship phone for a non-flagship price, I refuse to spend a $1000 for a phone. After considering many, it came down to this phone because it was a flagship phone that had a non-flagship price.
It's bad when a phone loses it's upgrade path, it's always better to have a phone from a brand that's not in the news for all the wrong reasons. However, all the good reasons I bought this phone for to begin with still stand. I'm in the USA, I buy my phones outright and just put them on my basic plan without subsidy because it saves me money in the long run. I wanted a good phone, I got a good phone. I take care of it, I got a case that protects it's front and back, it should last long enough to justify it's investment. With each transaction, be it a car, a house or a phone, you lose money (especially with sales tax) so the solution is to buy smart and minimize the number of transactions as much as possible. I would love to unlock the bootloader and root it, I would love it if Huawei bans are reversed but even if not, what I have is still a great phone to keep for the foreseeable future.
From now on, I'll keep it. It doesn't a matter if we can't upgrade to Android Q. But I must keep using Android Suite, because I'm using it for work. And I'm also using Android Auto.
Don't worry, if you need gaps you have various ways to install them. Besides, I can't wait to see what will that new OS will be!
Jovan.Sulic said:
Don't worry, if you need gaps you have various ways to install them. Besides, I can't wait to see what will that new OS will be!
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can you please elaborate? I'm also curious if there's alternative non offical way to keep the os and apps as is in a functional way.
Existing Huawei devices will keep access to gapps, even after if and when the ban is permanently enforced. If there is no positive solution for Huawei, their future phones will not be able to access gapps. Sideloading gapps to future devices after the ban is official just won't work without changing the device ID, google servers (play store, gmail, gmaps, etc, etc) will deny access to future identified Huawei phones. For example, Mate 30 Pro will likely launch in November, the current 90 day extension expires in August. If the ban is still in place (I doubt it) at the time the Mate 30 Pro launches, then it will be denied access to gaaps, if it's identified as a Huawei device that was launched after the ban became official.
Personally I think it's just politics and leveraging for a position in the trade war negotiations. Huawei's growth is a concern to others, they surpassed others in the 5G infrastructure tech and the USA and it's allies don't want the traffic to go through tech they don't have control over. The reason they are leaving Xiaomi or 1+ alone is they don't make the infrastructure behind 5G. I think it's not about China spying through Huawei, rather about them not being able to spy through Huawei equipment.
I'm definitely keeping mine for another year, the resell value is so minuscule now that it's not worth upgrading after just a year. This is still a great device and on par with all the newest flagships.
I don't care if EMUI 10/Android Q eventually arrives without any Google services, I'll simply use Gmail through the native EMUI email app and download my apps through Aurora store. Aurora allows you to login with your Google account even without Play services and download paid apps you've purchased. For YouTube I'll use Vanced, it has no ads and no need for Google services.
mcjordan92 said:
can you please elaborate? I'm also curious if there's alternative non offical way to keep the os and apps as is in a functional way.
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Someone has already mentioned that the ban does not apply to existing phones. The xda forum has instructions on how to install gaps. after all, Huawei announced that the existing phones will send security patches
I just googled this thread. But if you ever instaled custom ROM you know what I mean.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-pro/help/google-play-store-chinese-variant-t3861639
When the ban hits and I'm focked by Trump I'll buy a bootloader unlock code and install LineageOS. Hopefully by then the camera functions are supported sufficiently to use the camera properly as that's what made me upgrade from the Mate 9, to 10 pro to 20 pro...
blackspp said:
When the ban hits and I'm focked by Trump I'll buy a bootloader unlock code and install LineageOS. Hopefully by then the camera functions are supported sufficiently to use the camera properly as that's what made me upgrade from the Mate 9, to 10 pro to 20 pro...
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Click to collapse
You can do that right now, but I will wait for that new huawei OS and see what will Huawei bring to us
Jovan.Sulic said:
Someone has already mentioned that the ban does not apply to existing phones. The xda forum has instructions on how to install gaps. after all, Huawei announced that the existing phones will send security patches
I just googled this thread. But if you ever instaled custom ROM you know what I mean.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-pro/help/google-play-store-chinese-variant-t3861639
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The ban does apply to existing phones. They will be able to continue using existing software but there will be no more updates.
Installing custom ROMs is impossible on international phones since the bootloader is locked.
darkoroje said:
The ban does apply to existing phones. They will be able to continue using existing software but there will be no more updates.
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Yes and no. My understanding is that current Huawei phones will get official Google security updates, but no OS updates.
charliebigpot said:
Yes and no. My understanding is that current Huawei phones will get official Google security updates, but no OS updates.
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Click to collapse
No. Existing phones can continue to use Google play protect and the play store but Huawei cannot release any updates including security updates after August.
Huawei will obviously focus their attention on the new os which will replace android so chances on getting much support on our phones is quite low. Which is why the resale value of the phone has collapsed.
https://www.techradar.com/news/huaweis-os-to-be-rolled-out-next-month
Interesting stuff
Lets not forget people have bought the Chinese models which aren't official Android (not supported) and had no issues, the media are just blowing the whole thing up
---------- Post added at 02:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:45 PM ----------
darkoroje said:
Huawei cannot release any updates including security updates after August.
.
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Not what I've been reading or seen on Youtube, security updates will continue and they could release unsupported updates of the OS like in China
---------- Post added at 02:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:47 PM ----------
blackspp said:
When the ban hits and I'm focked by Trump I'll buy a bootloader unlock code and install LineageOS. Hopefully by then the camera functions are supported sufficiently to use the camera properly as that's what made me upgrade from the Mate 9, to 10 pro to 20 pro...
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Click to collapse
I doubt the camera app will take full advantage of it
They cannot release unsupported updates of android because Google play services would stop working which would make it unusable.
darkoroje said:
They cannot release unsupported updates of android because Google play services would stop working which would make it unusable.
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So how do the Chinese version do it, don't they just install Google Services separately, even if that didn't work nothing stopping them using the Hisuit to do it
Shipoftheline said:
So how do the Chinese version do it, don't they just install Google Services separately, even if that didn't work nothing stopping them using the Hisuit to do it
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Chinese versions do not have access to Google services as far as I know. Google services are banned by law in China.
Hi, I am thinking to buy the Mi A3, since it got android one, OLED and much more. But I want to know, does the device standard on what it promises, so I want your opinion. Should I buy it or just go for other device.
riyan65 said:
Hi, I am thinking to buy the Mi A3, since it got android one, OLED and much more. But I want to know, does the device standard on what it promises, so I want your opinion. Should I buy it or just go for other device.
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The Android one project is really a scam at this point its may and still have a very buggy version of Android 10 that way delivered in April, the OLED is a good pannel but the resolution isn't the best ,the battery is good tho, I would recommend you to look for another device.
For the bad, honestly, it's the bugs. If you don't mind the bugs, most of them can be worked around without root. But the android 10 update has solved quite a few of them.
The fingerprint scanner can be really annoying sometimes, but it requires muscle memory. Push harder than the fingerprint you recorded and it won't recognize it.
The screen is OK. I don't really care for the dpi. It's perfectly sharp for average use.
Now the good.
Battery life is AMAZING. I consistently get over 12 hours of SOT, rarely less than 10.
The camera is very, very, very good. Pictures are just incredibly nice for this price range.
And the price. Really.
If you want an amazing battery life, buy it. No other phone I know in this price range has this battery life.
If you have ~160€ I think this is the best you can find for that price. If you don't have more money to spare, sure go for it. And know you'll have to workaround some bugs.
If you can get a little more money, get other phone.
If you don't wanna workaround the bugs, maybe check the Redmi note 8, but know the battery life ain't as good.
riyan65 said:
Hi, I am thinking to buy the Mi A3, since it got android one, OLED and much more. But I want to know, does the device standard on what it promises, so I want your opinion. Should I buy it or just go for other device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only thing that I have been bothering me it is the amount of bugs with Android 10, Xiaomi solved one of them, but for me it is really anoying.
I was prefer wait three or four months more for Android 10, but without bugs.
No.
It is a great phone overall. What are the other alternatives? I got mine on nice sale. I personally wanted these specifications, so i got it.
NFC was maybe the only compromise. What else you can get?
- Huawei nova 5t? it may be better, was not released when i bought my phone, ot it was pricier, not sure. + have NFC
- Samsung Galaxy a30s- my girlfriend have that, the camera is not better, i even think it is worse, the battery may be better, her phone can hold some juice for a long time, like 2 days+, but you can do it with mi a3 also, the display is the same, exactly the same, but my fingerprint is faster( you does not need to hold it long or to press hard like that guy told you, even sometimes it is that fast, when i am lifting it from table or take it out of my pocket and slightly touching the sensor area it just unlock), also you can't find really that much customisation. But you will have NFC.
Don't buy Xioami, to be honest, their customer service is so bad it's remarkable they are still in business. Get out the no account authorization issue they have, you have to buy black-market support to fix any issue. 0/10 for support, stay far.
mobile_fan_2k5 said:
Don't buy Xioami, to be honest, their customer service is so bad it's remarkable they are still in business. Get out the no account authorization issue they have, you have to buy black-market support to fix any issue. 0/10 for support, stay far.
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So it's better to play "black market" to be able to unlock your bootloader (Nokia) or that you can't unblock it at all (Huawei) or that it screws up your phone (Sony DRM, Samsung KNOX)? Don't be ridiculous, playing with bootloader and system has some risks, if you're not ready to eventually pay for your mistakes, keep your phone in stock state. Phone manufacturer has nothing to do with it.
mobile_fan_2k5 said:
Don't buy Xioami, to be honest, their customer service is so bad it's remarkable they are still in business. Get out the no account authorization issue they have, you have to buy black-market support to fix any issue. 0/10 for support, stay far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as i see you had a problem with the phone and you ended in a bootloop, that you had a problem it's your fault, in fact, if I'm not mistaken, they are the only company that allows unlocking, that's why there are so many developers..
That's one of the cheapest phones for the specs!
_mysiak_ said:
So it's better to play "black market" to be able to unlock your bootloader (Nokia) or that you can't unblock it at all (Huawei) or that it screws up your phone (Sony DRM, Samsung KNOX)? Don't be ridiculous, playing with bootloader and system has some risks, if you're not ready to eventually pay for your mistakes, keep your phone in stock state. Phone manufacturer has nothing to do with it.
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Hi _mysiak_ Please read what I said :
I just said I am not a modder, I just ran an OTA and it's been dead since, and that's 5 months ago. The phone was stock, vanilla. I don't hack/mod phones I don't have the time.
Xiaomi forces us to go to the black market because they refuse to offer the correct support to customers
Again, I am not a modder/ hacker I did not mod my device. I did an OTA update and it went into boot loop ever since.
Check the MI forums this is not an edge case, Xiaomi have buggy OS updates that will kill your device (eg. Just like mine, check MI website hundreds, if not thousands of people have this issue and the only fix is to fly to China)
Check this official XDA post :
https://www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-edl-unbrick-authorized-mi-accounts/
Overall I would not buy, nor recommend a Xiaomi, I don't trust the brand. But hey that's my opinion, You had a better experience so at least you're lucky.
mobile_fan_2k5 said:
Hi _mysiak_ Please read what I said :
I just said I am not a modder, I just ran an OTA and it's been dead since, and that's 5 months ago. The phone was stock, vanilla. I don't hack/mod phones I don't have the time.
Xiaomi forces us to go to the black market because they refuse to offer the correct support to customers
Again, I am not a modder/ hacker I did not mod my device. I did an OTA update and it went into boot loop ever since.
Check the MI forums this is not an edge case, Xiaomi have buggy OS updates that will kill your device (eg. Just like mine, check MI website hundreds, if not thousands of people have this issue and the only fix is to fly to China)
Check this official XDA post :
https://www.xda-developers.com/xiaomi-edl-unbrick-authorized-mi-accounts/
Overall I would not buy, nor recommend a Xiaomi, I don't trust the brand. But hey that's my opinion, You had a better experience so at least you're lucky.
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Sorry, misunderstood your post. If it's still in stock state, you should apply for a warranty repair. Or pay a small fee for a 3rd party service and they'll do it remotely. In both cases I don't understand why you waited 5 months.. [emoji846] These things are unfortunate, but they happen sometimes, just like HW failures.
alexandarpb said:
As far as i see you had a problem with the phone and you ended in a bootloop, that you had a problem it's your fault, in fact, if I'm not mistaken, they are the only company that allows unlocking, that's why there are so many developers..
That's one of the cheapest phones for the specs!
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Click to collapse
Yes, they are cheap and other offer unlocking also, I m just giving a review of my experience. I am not a modder, I don't unlock or mod, root anything last time I did so was LG G4. I just a vanilla android phone user that ACCEPTED an official OTA update and ever since I haven't gotten to use the device and I was told support to fix is only in China.
Again that's my experience if you had a better one congrats.
---------- Post added at 01:49 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:45 PM ----------
_mysiak_ said:
Sorry, misunderstood your post. If it's still in stock state, you should apply for a warranty repair. Or pay a small fee for a 3rd party service and they'll do it remotely. In both cases I don't understand why you waited 5 months.. [emoji846] These things are unfortunate, but they happen sometimes, just like HW failures.
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Click to collapse
Yes, I tried to fix it from day one but ran into the no authorization issue. I bought off Amazon where they said the warranty has passed. I will decide soon enough if I should fix, either way, I have moved.
After seeing this amount of negative reviews, I am just going to pass this device. Maybe I will go for Motorola, since they provide update regularly and bootloader unlock is available too. So I will go for Motorola. Thank you all, for let me know your suggestions.
I remember that at the time of the galaxy s every day I was always trying some new ROM now it seems dead more than ever?
A lot of ROM devs were in America and American Samsung devices have been locked down tight starting with the S4 which drove devs to other devices. Also, it's just simply not necessary for a lot of people anymore. The things that required root are either no longer needed or can be worked around and custom ROMs haven't been as popular ever since manufacturers started making stock software worth having plus they tend to make stock features that custom ROMs couldn't easily copy and integrate (like HTC, Google, and Samsung blocking off higher radio functions to their own ROMs, killing support for things like VoLTE, 5G, or eSIM on custom ROMs).
EtherealRemnant said:
A lot of ROM devs were in America and American Samsung devices have been locked down tight starting with the S4 which drove devs to other devices. Also, it's just simply not necessary for a lot of people anymore. The things that required root are either no longer needed or can be worked around and custom ROMs haven't been as popular ever since manufacturers started making stock software worth having plus they tend to make stock features that custom ROMs couldn't easily copy and integrate (like HTC, Google, and Samsung blocking off higher radio functions to their own ROMs, killing support for things like VoLTE, 5G, or eSIM on custom ROMs).
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On the top of that we got knox, when we unlock bootloader warranty is over...
Not sure how you feel with it, but I had to send my previous S21U for repair 3 times, if I root it it warranty would be rejected -.-
Joloxx9 said:
On the top of that we got knox, when we unlock bootloader warranty is over...
Not sure how you feel with it, but I had to send my previous S21U for repair 3 times, if I root it it warranty would be rejected -.-
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Ah yes, the whole "warranty is good if you pay us $400 to replace the board even though replacing it isn't necessary to fix your issue but we won't fix it if you don't pay" garbage. I forgot about that but yeah, that's definitely not helping matters. I stuck with HTC devices for so long because S-OFF allowed me to revert the device to out of the box factory locked status with no trace of tampering and it definitely put me off Samsung when I found out my Note5 was no longer going to have a warranty OR Samsung Pay.
Joloxx9 said:
On the top of that we got knox, when we unlock bootloader warranty is over...
Not sure how you feel with it, but I had to send my previous S21U for repair 3 times, if I root it it warranty would be rejected -.-
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Click to collapse
You're in the UK, under EU law (translated into UK law) Samsung can't deny warranty because you unlock the bootloader.
Good job the retained EU law bill will never pass
Thanks to all the answers even though I feel sad about all this I traded my iphone 14 pro max for this galaxy s23 ultra because I had broken up with jailbreak without a jailbreak but I see that on android we are not so well with modding