Database Users

[Q] Thing to do when getting a fresh Galaxy S I9000

Hi,
I'm a new Android user and I'm getting the Galaxy S I9000 tomorrow.
I would like to know the tasks to perform to have a "nice" phone aka:
- which firmware to upload (where to get it if its not on the official samsung site)
- which fixes to run (lagfix app isnt needed if proper firmware is applied right?)
- which apps to install if necessary (not gadgets but the ones that are mostly imperative to get a good experience)
- which other steps to take (eg format the phone to another file system?)
- gps fixes (?)
thanks a lot

Depends if you want to void your warranty on the first day or not.
First thing would be to update to the latest official firmware with KIES (if you can get the damn thing to recognise your phone, mine doesn't anymore...) and see if you have any problems with lag or whatever. My phone didn't have any lag once I used a 3rd party task manager. Now I have installed loads of widgets and clocks and crap like that, my phone does lag quite often, but I don't let it bother me as much as with other people.
For me, rooting isn't something I would want to do with such a new phone, I would rather wait for the official FROYO 2.2 update, if that doesn't fix the niggles I have, then I will consider it.

i dont mind the warranty but as far as i could ready going froyo isn't especially a good idea right now if i want it to be sort of stable

I mean JH2(?) or whatever the latest official one you get from KIES, not the leaked FROYO builds from samsungfirmwares. You might want to wait a month before rooting or whatever anyway just in case there's any hardware problems that might not be apparent. Things like screen issues, bluetooth, etc. You don't want to discover a dodgy bluetooth module or something like that just after you have rooted/flashed it and can't claim on the warranty.

Tachikoma_kun said:
I mean JH2(?) or whatever the latest official one you get from KIES, not the leaked FROYO builds from samsungfirmwares. You might want to wait a month before rooting or whatever anyway just in case there's any hardware problems that might not be apparent. Things like screen issues, bluetooth, etc. You don't want to discover a dodgy bluetooth module or something like that just after you have rooted/flashed it and can't claim on the warranty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea but even if he roots.. unrooting it (especially with the one click app) is extremely easy/safe.

Well as far as I could gather, hackeclair seems to be a nice rom with most things fixed inside.
I wonder still how i switch the whole phone from vfat to ext4 (if that's possible) and how to backup the original firmware (yeah forum + search = sucks, results are never what you want lol)

bilboa1 said:
Well as far as I could gather, hackeclair seems to be a nice rom with most things fixed inside.
I wonder still how i switch the whole phone from vfat to ext4 (if that's possible) and how to backup the original firmware (yeah forum + search = sucks, results are never what you want lol)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
the latest factory ROM JH2 has everything working properly, unlike what you read on the rest of the forum.

AllGamer said:
the latest factory ROM JH2 has everything working properly, unlike what you read on the rest of the forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks
the phone still use vfat tho right?
I'm a linux user, and i'm wondering why it's not on ext ,i'd fear data corruption and poorer performance
i know.. not much of android, learning every minute lol. Suppose will be easier when i get the actual phone tomorrow

bilboa1 said:
thanks
the phone still use vfat tho right?
I'm a linux user, and i'm wondering why it's not on ext ,i'd fear data corruption and poorer performance
i know.. not much of android, learning every minute lol. Suppose will be easier when i get the actual phone tomorrow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no exactly, it uses linux format, well at least if you are using the Performance hack dubbed as "one click lag fix"
but for people without lag to begin with, it's just a performance boost

As far as I understood the lag fix, its putting critical files into a ext3 ("linux format") image and leaves the rest on vFat, which fixes the lag, but it's hackish, and slower than if the whole phone was ext3 or ext4. also more corruption prone
I don't know how difficult it is to build a "own" rom, since switching to full ext3/4 would mean wiping the phone

I have never experienced this so called "lag" on my phone, and I have been using it for over a month. Makes me wonder just what exactly are they trying to do on their phones...

Tachikoma_kun said:
Depends if you want to void your warranty on the first day or not..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With all due respect, this is actually questionable. I haven't seen Samsung ever officially say that rooting or installing custom firmware voids the warranty, so any chance of showing where they say that?
For rooting, they are unlikely to care, because the change is quite basic. Generally, you can simply flash an official firmware before sending to a service centre anyway. Be aware that often companies charge if problems are caused by corrupt (or beta) firmware though, or there are signs of abuse. But this is generally the same with any media player company.. If you do hand them a phone which uses I9000M firmware, not I9000 though, they probably wont be impressed
Also, if the CPU is burnt out and there is evidence of overclocking, they may possibly be reluctant to accept it under warranty.
If Samsung were TRULY concerned though, they wouldn't have allowed access to USB debugging (which is a feature used only by people messing around, and developers). It is a grey area, and obviously, it makes sense to assume they will void your warranty. HOWEVER, the phones have no way of letting anyone know if they have been rooted before and tech support has better things to do than slow down their queue to aggrevate customers for something which rarely causes an issue.
Do keep in mind though, you can't trust every rom (some may be compromised), and if you don't need root, there probably isn't much sense rooting your phone.

Well i don't mind rooting it anyways
I'll probably need it at some point to toy with it too

bilboa1 said:
Well i don't mind rooting it anyways
I'll probably need it at some point to toy with it too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yup, you will find a lot of cool software will not work if not rooted, for even something as simple as a backup program.

andrewluecke said:
With all due respect, this is actually questionable. I haven't seen Samsung ever officially say that rooting or installing custom firmware voids the warranty, so any chance of showing where they say that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From the email I sent them regarding removing the stock apps:
Please note that this e-mail has come from an outbound response system.
Any direct response to this e-mail will not reach the customer care
inbox. If you do need to contact us again please click on the 'contact
us' link located at the bottom of the email or copy the following into
your Browser:
http://erms.samsungelectronics.com/customer/form/contact/contact_uk.html
Dear XXXX XXXX
Customer Reference: XXXXXXXX
Thank you for contacting Samsung Electronics regarding your mobile phone.
Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in responding to your enquiry.
With regard to your e-mail, you can remove the Samsung Apps from the screen; however you will not be able to remove them fromthe phone without voiding your warranty. To remove them from the front screen, please press the application and drag it to the bottom of the screen.
I hope this has been of some assistance to you. If you do have any
further queries, please do not hesitate to contact us quoting your 210-
reference number.
Kind Regards
Ana
Samsung Electronics UK
Customer Communication Centre
Tel.: 0845 726 7864 (All calls charged at Local Rate)
Homepage: www.samsung.com/uk
[Product] GT-I9000
I mentioned the apps can be removed by rooting the device, and asked if there was a way to remove them without rooting the phone.

Interesting, but in Apple resellers, they seem to officially say the same thing (but from what I've seen, it was never enforced).

well ive got the phone now (woohoo)
i flashed it to JH2 and it's better indeed but it's the wrong model (no big deal it just works)
i got some issues with flashing, have to use a short usb cable without an possible interference else it just fail in the middle.. the phone doesnt get bricked tho, even with bad flash u can still go in download mode and flash with odin.
then i flashed with the newest froyo, and i didn't find any bug, im not sure which bugs are being talked about with it.
moreover I tested the GPS before upgrading and it sucked. I tested it after upgrade and it was perfect accuracy and much faster lock, so it looks like this firmware also fixes gps somehow
That's it for now ;p

Avoid JI6 update.

From what I gather from trolling on both XDA and the Tmo forums this update is bricking phones regardless of root, voodoo, ocfl, kernel perhaps people should avoid the update pending a more in depth investigation of what exactly is going on. If gps is needed flash the JI2 files found here and that should hold you over for now. This is a worse problem than the ones that came in the captivate and the sprint galaxy s.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I updated manually through odin and it worked just fine. I first went back to stock and started fresh. Gps test found six birds and locked on four thats the best I ever had sitting in front of my doorstep in a heavily wooded area. It would usually find at the most two and would not lock to any. So far so good.

Only speaking for myself.... I flashed it and it's fine. I hope this isn't just a bunch of people freaking out that phone stays at the Galaxy S splash screen for a while and remove the battery or something, thereby f*cking up something. But I don't doubt you.

How to fix your phone and apply the update:http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=803492

My concern comes from the overwhelming amount of people that seem to have that problem I for one I'm going to play it safe and wait til a stable rom based on this release is well released.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Bernardos70 said:
Only speaking for myself.... I flashed it and it's fine. I hope this isn't just a bunch of people freaking out that phone stays at the Galaxy S splash screen for a while and remove the battery or something, thereby f*cking up something. But I don't doubt you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It wasn't hanging on the Galaxy S splash screen. It was hanging at the Vibrant screen. The logcat clearly shows an endlessly looping segfault.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8525623#post8525623
I have an excerpt of the log, which is similar to another user who had the same issue.
Points of commonality so far with another user who had stock + root + brick is we both disabled the boot sounds + titanium backup + rom manager.

yespinosa said:
My concern comes from the overwhelming amount of people that seem to have that problem I for one I'm going to play it safe and wait til a stable rom based on this release is well released.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Considering that the people who contribute to the XDA and T-mobile forums represent a fraction of the installed base, "overwhelming" may be an overstatement.
"Lots" of people also report successful installs.

i flashed through odin, so did my roomie, and his friend got the ota. everything went smoothly. i think that we are not hearing nearly as many people that the update went well compared to those who have had issues. we all had root, blackbar mod, mobile ap, captivate camera, and i had gps from ji5. no problems. do a nandroid and put it in a safe place then go for it.

Worked fine for me as well.

yespinosa said:
From what I gather from trolling on both XDA and the Tmo forums this update is bricking phones regardless of root, voodoo, ocfl, kernel perhaps people should avoid the update pending a more in depth investigation of what exactly is going on. If gps is needed flash the JI2 files found here and that should hold you over for now. This is a worse problem than the ones that came in the captivate and the sprint galaxy s.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The only people who should probably avoid the JI6 OTA, are people who fail to understand they have a responsibility for their own potential grief when they mod their phones in ways T-Mobile and Samsung cannot easily account for.
Granted we should hold T-Mobile's butt to the fire if their OTA is indeed soft bricking or hard bricking bone stock unmodified phones, but I don't see any clear evidence of this at all. And it's not too surprising either, as very few people who come here have bone stock devices, and fewer still are willing to revert to bone stock simply to test.
Rather what I see are people utilizing these wonderful forums to do wonderful things to their phones without having to have developed anything remotely approaching a keen understanding of what they've actually done. It's ridiculously easy to mod these phones without having the first clue what you're doing. This leads to many mis-perceptions which easily turn into noise.
There is a level of responsibility you have to take upon yourself if you're going to participate actively in modifying your device. For some it's just easier to deny this responsibility and quest for someone to blame. That may not always be the case, but it's clearly taking place with some few people over this OTA.

Agreed. We are an incredibly tiny segment of the universe of smartphone users out there. The vast majority of people buy an iPhone or Android make calls, sync their contacts and calendar, surf the web, email and text. If you started talking about rooting or jailbreaking they'd look at you like you're insane. The people rooting and modding their phones are a tiny minority, and we assume all the risk when we do it because this is not normal and customary use of the phone. Most people use their phones stock, and people who don't are assuming the risk of things going bad.
I'm fairly convinced after the Captivate OTA fiasco that you put your phone at real risk of not being able to get successful OTAs if you flash custom ROMs or kernels. The deepest I'm willing to go is rooting and lagfixing, but even then I know I'm playing with uncertainty.

masterotaku said:
The only people who should probably avoid the JI6 OTA, are people who fail to understand they have a responsibility for their own potential grief when they mod their phones in ways T-Mobile and Samsung cannot easily account for.
Granted we should hold T-Mobile's butt to the fire if their OTA is indeed soft bricking or hard bricking bone stock unmodified phones, but I don't see any clear evidence of this at all. And it's not too surprising either, as very few people who come here have bone stock devices, and fewer still are willing to revert to bone stock simply to test.
Rather what I see are people utilizing these wonderful forums to do wonderful things to their phones without having to have developed anything remotely approaching a keen understanding of what they've actually done. It's ridiculously easy to mod these phones without having the first clue what you're doing. This leads to many mis-perceptions which easily turn into noise.
There is a level of responsibility you have to take upon yourself if you're going to participate actively in modifying your device. For some it's just easier to deny this responsibility and quest for someone to blame. That may not always be the case, but it's clearly taking place with some few people over this OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 to one of the most cogent comments I have ever seen here.
One footnote about the risks for ordinary end users: If T-Mobile's OTA process bricks a stock phone, apparently the carrier's typical procedure is to replace the phone. If the phone is not stock, the customer is probably on his own for a remedy. Pottery Barn rules are real. Smarphones are not cheap, and having your phone number tied to this handheld computer (or at least the carrier) by contract makes device failure harder to cope with.

Kubernetes said:
Agreed. We are an incredibly tiny segment of the universe of smartphone users out there. The vast majority of people buy an iPhone or Android make calls, sync their contacts and calendar, surf the web, email and text. If you started talking about rooting or jailbreaking they'd look at you like you're insane. The people rooting and modding their phones are a tiny minority, and we assume all the risk when we do it because this is not normal and customary use of the phone. Most people use their phones stock, and people who don't are assuming the risk of things going bad.
I'm fairly convinced after the Captivate OTA fiasco that you put your phone at real risk of not being able to get successful OTAs if you flash custom ROMs or kernels. The deepest I'm willing to go is rooting and lagfixing, but even then I know I'm playing with uncertainty.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've flashed this phone more times than I can count at this point. Soft bricked it at least a dozen times. But all that self imposed grief has got me to where I am now, where I can (hopefully) reliably recover from just about anything. I still cross my fingers every time I crank up Odin3 v1.3, but I no longer visibly sweat!
We're fortunate in that these phones are surprisingly difficult to hard brick for the most part, and that given a bit of legwork one can recover from nearly any bad scenario.

It's better to flash stock ROM and then JI6 ROM manually like me and it works for me like a charm !

d01100100 said:
It wasn't hanging on the Galaxy S splash screen. It was hanging at the Vibrant screen. The logcat clearly shows an endlessly looping segfault.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=8525623#post8525623
I have an excerpt of the log, which is similar to another user who had the same issue.
Points of commonality so far with another user who had stock + root + brick is we both disabled the boot sounds + titanium backup + rom manager.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then I don't know if what I'm about to tell you or not, but I have and use Titanium Backup and ROM Manager. Odin went through smoothly. That leaves the boot sound as the culprit. Had a couple of things metamorphed as well as mobile AP and the GPS files from JI2 installed, if that helps.

Bernardos70 said:
Then I don't know if what I'm about to tell you or not, but I have and use Titanium Backup and ROM Manager. Odin went through smoothly. That leaves the boot sound as the culprit. Had a couple of things metamorphed as well as mobile AP and the GPS files from JI2 installed, if that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even though you installed ROM manager, have you used it to install Recovery? Did you have a current ROM backup update.zip file created on your internal sdcard?

I'm just gonna throw my 2 cents in here...i did the update over an edge network and everything was fine..I have rooted then unroot and the ocl
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

My 1st gen Vibrant, advice

Hello,
I really love the screen on this phone, the hardware capabilities (720p rec, etc.) and although newer and better processors in phones are coming out I like this 1 enough to hold me over for a long time.
so here is my issue:
I purchased my vibrant about 2 weeks after came out, and the biggest problem I faced initially was the problem with the gps. At this point I have not even use gps is the first month I bought it, instead I just use google maps in follow the directions it gives me.
Since that time, I have rooted my phone. I was really happy to get the first update that was rolled out, even though it was rooted. I have heard of all the difference solutions to fix the gps but is it really worth the effort to practically void my warranty even further than rooting it by opening it up and trying to solder whatever antenna is in there.
Now I know my phone is covered under samsung warranty. I should also mention the other big problem I have with it is the battery life. If I can fix these 2 issues I would love the phone forever.
here's my question:
is it feasible and worth the effort to get my phone returned back to samsung so that the battery and gps are of the newest generation?
does anyone have experience doing this and how willing is samsung to work with me?
Finally if I do end up getting a replacement then I know I will have to un root my phone before I send it to samsung. I'm not stupid but I just haven't flashed any roms before. if I did get my phone back to stock settings, then would I lose all of the applications and I paid for and all the customization I have done to the phone (contacts, accounts, data)?
also just curious but I haven't received the 2.2 over the air update yet am I even going to get it since my phone is rooted? I figure I may as well try 2.2 before I actually send in the phone.
I know these are a lot of questions but I really like this phone and I want to get it to work.
thank you and I appreciate any suggestions or advice for me.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

New and old Vibrants alike have GPS problem.
I don't have an answer to all your questions, but what I can tell you is that you should not wait for your phone to update to 2.2 because it is an over-the-air update.
Follow these instructions if you want to update your phone:
http://forums.t-mobile.com/t5/Samsu...-upgrade-to-Android-2-2-Froyo-now/td-p/678871

As far as I've heard the newer ones after 10/10 don't seem to have the same problem. It may be worth it to take it to the store and show them how bad the GPS is. They may exchange it for you. I'd unroot and go back to stock first.
That won't address the battery issue, but that's generic to most of these newer phones. You can do tweaks to get more life out of them, but that seems to be about it.

if I unroot and go back to stock is it going to erase my applications and contacts, and settings?
I bought it online so I would have to send it back to letstalk.com, I'll have to check out the return policy.
thanks for the replies.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

You will not lose your paid apps, they are tied to your google account. Use titanium backup before you unroot your phone to backup all your data, including app data. When you get your new phone, you will have to reroot and then you can restore everything from titanium.
You can try to get a warrantly replacement from Samsung rather than using letstalk, I think it's a pain to exchange with them, but I'm not sure.

As said above, Titanium backup will handle it. I have my phone from someone on this board, so I had to go directly with Samsung. Once I could get the tech support person to understand the phone just didn't work it was easier. Don't know how that would go with the GPS. Mine was for the phone not working as a phone, ie, no connection to the network.

zharptitza said:
As far as I've heard the newer ones after 10/10 don't seem to have the same problem. It may be worth it to take it to the store and show them how bad the GPS is. They may exchange it for you. I'd unroot and go back to stock first.
That won't address the battery issue, but that's generic to most of these newer phones. You can do tweaks to get more life out of them, but that seems to be about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I find that to be incorrect. My Vibrant has a 11.01 (2011 January) build date on it and the gps is horrible. I've tried every rom, but I do notice the gps being a little more better with certain roms.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Here is my story:
I phone up t-mobile and say my GPS doesn't work. They made me go through a four day dance trying stuff, but if it doesn't work, it doesn't work.
They then replaced it with a brand new phone.
And they charged me $10 shipping & handling for the new phone.
Before the phone never could reliably get and hold on to a GPS lock; afterwards it locks in seconds and never drops.

Hmm, threads I had seen were saying it was better. I have an older one that I just fixed myself. I was hoping they'd gotten their act together and fixed their antenna construction. Its such a simple thing to fix, you'd think they'd do it at the plant.

False
zharptitza said:
As far as I've heard the newer ones after 10/10 don't seem to have the same problem. It may be worth it to take it to the store and show them how bad the GPS is. They may exchange it for you. I'd unroot and go back to stock first.
That won't address the battery issue, but that's generic to most of these newer phones. You can do tweaks to get more life out of them, but that seems to be about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
False, I've personally used Vibrants made after 10/10 and the GPS is no better than ones produced earlier.
There is no change in hardware, and it has never been proven that a hardware revision on the GPS was made on phones manufactured after 10/10. Just speculation and rumor.

SamsungVibrant said:
False, I've personally used Vibrants made after 10/10 and the GPS is no better than ones produced earlier.
There is no change in hardware, and it has never been proven that a hardware revision on the GPS was made on phones manufactured after 10/10. Just speculation and rumor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I think I've got to agree on this one.
In the gps case, I really think it is really a hit or miss issue. My gps works pretty decently but my hubby's doesn't work at all. Even when we were both stock, I could lock on some birds but his was never able to. On top of that, when I flashed Nero onto my phone, my gps got even better. Granted, I don't think it would ever see a thing if it was working on standalone; but with wireless networks on, this thing would (and has) pinpoint(ed) me on a moving train accurately.
Aside from firmwares (now), the only difference between them was the build dates: his - 07/10, mine - 09/10.

Kindle Fire OTA software update coming in less than two weeks

In the wake of many user complaints about web browsing speeds and other performance issues, Amazon has told the New York Times that it will be releasing a software update for the Kindle Fire "in less than two weeks." That timeframe would put this new software update about a month after the 6.2 update released at the end of November.
http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/11/...ta-software-update-coming-less-than-two-weeks

Oh God lol, now I have to root again....
Sent from my Kindle Fire using xda premium

Well hopefully this time it will be at least a worthwhile update. instead of a no visible difference update like the last one or take away a feature like the one before that.
Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk

Let's hope the Development get a solid kernel and Rom by then...I don't want to be stock when they update the bootloader and lock it down after all the returned rooted and bricked fires due to people testing kernels that didn't know what they were doing and then returning them.....
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

Lets hope some concrete updates...... But wht about some hardware issues......
http://mirolta.com/2011/12/12/amazo...for-kindle-fire-to-encounter-critical-issues/

The OTA will be a non-issue as much as the 6.2 update was. Sure you might have to reroot but Big Deal! That took all of a 30 seconds to do again.
Stuff about Amazon changing to a locked bootloader ignores the fact that most people never root or modify their device. The ones that do are a very miniscule minority of the total users that have the unit. Besides, has any device manufacturer locked a bootloader for a device that was originally released as unlocked? I don't think so.
I bet a lot more units are returned due to some malfunction than due to some someone screwing up their unit trying to modify it.
My wife has her unit stock... no mods, no tweaks, just uses it the way it came. I have mine rooted, different launcher and tons of apps that I have loaded from Android Market or side loaded via other means. I think the device is great for the price.
People who use forums like this have a very skewed idea of how many people actually modify their devices... most never do, never know about it and don't even know forums like this.

krelvinaz said:
The OTA will be a non-issue as much as the 6.2 update was. Sure you might have to reroot but Big Deal! That took all of a 30 seconds to do again.
Stuff about Amazon changing to a locked bootloader ignores the fact that most people never root or modify their device. The ones that do are a very miniscule minority of the total users that have the unit. Besides, has any device manufacturer locked a bootloader for a device that was originally released as unlocked? I don't think so.
I bet a lot more units are returned due to some malfunction than due to some someone screwing up their unit trying to modify it.
My wife has her unit stock... no mods, no tweaks, just uses it the way it came. I have mine rooted, different launcher and tons of apps that I have loaded from Android Market or side loaded via other means. I think the device is great for the price.
People who use forums like this have a very skewed idea of how many people actually modify their devices... most never do, never know about it and don't even know forums like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly ... That's a well explained post

Yeah, companies lock bootloaders for concrete reasons. They are not going to all of a sudden lock the device down a month after it was released just to mess with modders. Because that is literally the only thing it would do.
The Nook Tablet, for instance... I believe the reason the bootloader is locked is because they had to as part of an agreement with Netflix to provide higher quality streaming to the device. B&N decided that annoying the tiny minority of modders was worth it in exchange for high quality Netflix streaming - something that a much larger percentage of users can benefit from and of course an extra marketing bullet point for them to use.
I'm fine with them updating the device. Look at all the Android phones that don't get regular updates. All people do is whine about NOT getting updated! The KF is some great hardware for the price but it still has issues. Touchscreen responsiveness still needs to be improved, battery life REALLY needs to be improved, and they have to fix the sleep of death as well. I will GLADLY go through the hassle of re-rooting and re-installing the market if these things are fixed.
Of course I'd prefer to have a custom ROM so I can get updates without having to redo all that stuff, but it's only a matter of time.

please, dear god, let non-rooted users change the lockscreen wallpaper

Is there a way yet to block OTA updates (that is also easy to reverse)?
Don't want to be caught with my pants down by this update if it does more than anticipated ....

andTab said:
Is there a way yet to block OTA updates (that is also easy to reverse)?
Don't want to be caught with my pants down by this update if it does more than anticipated ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't read through it, but this post seems to cover it.

ryanlbowen said:
please, dear god, let non-rooted users change the lockscreen wallpaper
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This. 10char

Also hoping for a clean re-root-only response to this update... I have it stowed away as a gift for my wife, and take it out at night to perform nerd-surgery. It would be great to not have issues right before holiday, as it's going to be enough fun explaining the different launchers, etc.

ReverseWolf said:
Also hoping for a clean re-root-only response to this update... I have it stowed away as a gift for my wife, and take it out at night to perform nerd-surgery. It would be great to not have issues right before holiday, as it's going to be enough fun explaining the different launchers, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have nothing to contribute to this, just lmfao at your analogy of what you do late at night. ;-)
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

andTab said:
Is there a way yet to block OTA updates (that is also easy to reverse)?
Don't want to be caught with my pants down by this update if it does more than anticipated ....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not the best solution, but it's easy: turn off wireless.
You don't need a widget for this, but it's nice. I recently installed a power control widget ( I used Widgetsoid ) to allow me to turn off wireless ( as well as adjust brightness, volume, toggle USB, and turn off GPS ).
Since I'm mostly content with my setup for now, I leave the wireless turned off to conserve battery and avoid the next update. I'd rather wait until I hear from the good folks here that the next update is OKAY before I turn on wireless and let it update. In the meantime, if I need wireless, I can check here just to be sure there is no update waiting to be pushed, flip on the wireless, do what I need, then turn it back off.
Like I said, it's not the best solution, but it works for me, and it's really simple.

ReverseWolf said:
Also hoping for a clean re-root-only response to this update... I have it stowed away as a gift for my wife, and take it out at night to perform nerd-surgery. It would be great to not have issues right before holiday, as it's going to be enough fun explaining the different launchers, etc.
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Let me ask you something- same situation here.. My wife's just came in the mail today. I'd like to know more about device setup before said "nerd surgery" as I want to do a similar thing.. Did you login with your own amazon account or hers? If I login w/ hers I don't want her to get a "Congrats on your Kindle registration" type of email- as this is a surprise after all.. But- I'm also thinking that if I go ahead and login w/ mine- anything I do as far as loading apps, etc will be wiped out when she has to login w/ hers?
Sorry to be long winded- overall my main question is- Whats the best way to tinker/root/play with this thing w/o giving away any surprises or having to re-do work?

I'd leave it in the box. When my wife's came, she wanted it right away. It auto registered to MY account, not hers. Didn't add anything to it, it just happened.
I had to deregister it and then reregister it to her account. Doing so is like a default reset.
Also, it is going to auto update at least once as they come with 6.1 and 6.2 is the current. Might even be 6.3 or whatever the new OTA is by the time she opens it.

Do you remember if she got an email when you deregistered and assigned it to her account?

Dont recall. I don't read her email so I don't know and I did a quick check of my email and don't see anything either...

I definitely got an email when I registered mine.
Sent from my BAMForever Thunderbolt

Is this phone worth it?

I just received this phone a week ago, and all it's nasty pimples are starting to show. Bluetooth, wifi, texts won't send or receive randomly, charger makes static "clicking" sounds when quick charging, random freezes and overheating...
I bought this phone through Swappa. The guy who sold it sent it to me in pristine condition, because he was selling it as soon as he received the replacement. I ended up getting it for $240, but with all the issues and really lack of a solid custom​ ROM or safe way to root, has just lost all it's value to me. Even at $240, which should've been a steal of a price.
I tried doing ZTE warranty, and even though they said I could use it initially, after they finally had parts they told me it would have to be sent to the original owners address (the address the have on file for the last replacement).
Now though, even if I was able to do it, idk if I could have kept this phone, or gone through with the hassle. With Swappa rules, he has to take it back since it's defective, but I sure feel bad about it. He says he had no idea it had issues, and he used for a week (he says).
What do you think? In my situation would you have kept it? Would you buy this phone again if you could go back in time? The only thing I really loved about this phone are the speakers. That alone was almost worth it to me to put up with all the problems, almost...

Yes.
Haven't experienced the issues you're unfortunately plagued with.
The way you phrased your post, you've made your mind up. Sounds like you bought a lemon and you're hoping the myriad of issues sorts itself out which is probably not worth all the disappointment you're clearly experiencing lol. It also tends to be a red flag if the device is plagued with issues even after a servicing.
Plus, why should you feel bad if Swappa has explicit policies protecting you from buying said lemons. He can say whatever to convince you to keep the device. ?

I'm running stock. Rooted and custom recovery with no issue. Have had my phone for 7 + months. Unfortunately, custom ROMs are a bit buggy but not awful. The issues you describe sounds like defects not experienced by most. Not sure if swappa will guarantee your purchase?

JoRocker said:
Bluetooth, wifi, texts won't send or receive randomly, charger makes static "clicking" sounds when quick charging, random freezes and overheating...
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Click to collapse
Almost all of the problems that you described seem to be software-wise. Why don't you try to update the phone? Or downgrade-upgrade? This way you can reinstall the system without trouble with the warranty. I've been telling everyone to downgrade to Marshmallow then upgrade to Nougat since it might seem that the M zip wipes everything before installing.
Well if you want to do this:
Search for an official marshmallow update zip. You can use this one:
https://www.gizrom.com/install-marshmallow-on-zte-axon-7-from-nougat/
Download this file, rename to update.zip, throw it in the root of the SD card, go to settings --> Updates, touch on the file that appears.
After it gets back to the system again delete the file from the internal storage and go to Updates again. If OTAs are working then you should get an update to Nougat. Otherwise you can either search for an official B25 update zip on Google or XDA or go to https://www.zteusa.com/support_page/ , enter the phone's data (Smart phones, Unlocked i guess, ZTE Axon 7, leave the name or model blank) then get to Software Updates, and download B19 update package. After it is downloaded you might need to unzip the file, just open it with any zipping program and look if there's another zip inside called update
zip. In that case extract it and throw it in the root of the internal, system -> updates, update again. If you do this you can try updating by OTA later

azpatterson3 said:
I'm running stock. Rooted and custom recovery with no issue. Have had my phone for 7 + months. Unfortunately, custom ROMs are a bit buggy but not awful. The issues you describe sounds like defects not experienced by most. Not sure if swappa will guarantee your purchase?
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It's Swappa rules to take back a defective phone. Seller already okayed it. Just upset this happened is all. I'm about to box it up and send it back. Bye bye :crying: