Database Users

Getting a G3 Model

OK, sorry for being a total n00b, but such is life.
I've decided to get a totally new phone, and HTC wizard seems like the one for me.
From reading around, it seems G4 models are much harder to mod, and i'd really love to mod the hell out of it (especially by making the move up to Windows Mobile 6).
So i want to try and ensure i get a G3 model. I understand that there is no visible difference, but are there any companies that never shipped G4 models? I don't care who it's from because i want to unlock and use on orange whatever.
Cheers

companys dont even know what models they send.. i remember reading somewhere that even htc didnt know what a g3/g4 wizard was.. i think g3/g4 term is only used online for us nerds.. g4s are easy to flash.. u just have to use shelltool

Your best bet would be to ask around on eBay or something. Send a message to the person telling them to look for the difference.

Knockoff Phones

Firstly, this disclaimer is for the unintelligent
I DO NOT KNOW HOW LEGITIMATE THIS WEBSITE IS, DO NOT THINK I AM PROMOTING IT
Anyways, how are phones like these, does anyone know better sites?
http://www.dhgate.com/wholesale/sea...tory=&searchkey=android+phone&catalog=#search
I assume these are just chinese knockoff phones. Most seem to model off the s3 but....how are the phones? If there specs don't lie, they seem like very nice pieces of tech for the price! I have my anciet evo 4g because I misplaced my s2 and don't want to pay $600 for a new phone.
If these phones are indeed half way decent, what do I need to look for to obtain a phone compatible with sprint? From what I see nothing advertises wimax, which, I would be slightly sad to lose, but if everything else works on these things just find, I won't mind losing the wimax.
If this topic has been covered, or you have a simple link to address, please just post the link and don't tell me to look harder. I have looked and nothing seemed to fit for a good answer.
Thank you for the help!

Well, I have found this phone so far
http://android-sale.com/star-lt29i-4-5-inch-qhd-1ghz-dual-core-mt6577-5mp-camera-android-phone.html
and it looks like it's the best from what I've poked around....Would this work with Sprint? I will go in there soon and ask their policy on these kinds of phones. It says it supports WCDMA, and I think sprint uses CDMA, and I have no idea how the two related and the internet doesn't seem to help on informing me if sprint could use the device.
Lastly, where would I go for help/tools to root and ROM the device?I assume something like superone click may work, but if I do end up getting one of these phones, I'll ask more about rooting and whatnot in the android section.

Personally, I think they're poor value even if you but one from a maker who isn't lying about the hardware specs.
You're almost certainly not going to be getting any kind of custom development - the sources are most likely not even there to work from and the devices aren't popular enough for it to happen.
You can get something similar when buying a legitimate phone that's popular overseas - development is possible there, but you'd have to look into it.
The lack of support and potential to get something other than puts me off buying such a device - you know how you can buy an SD card that says "32Gb" on it and it's only like 5Mb or whatever ? Think about that - your phone might say it has 32Gb internal memory but you might really have 2Gb or less and you might get 254 or 512 RAM. You might be able to root, might not.
As for network compatibility, just look up what bands Sprint uses, compare, and hope the information is correct.
You might find a "good" clone with good reviews, but you lose the "value" that is development and support. What is that worth in dollars ?
Personally, I'd rather just get a used S2 or something. You can get a used S3 for $400-ish if you're lucky, S2 is $200-ish, I think. I'd go for something like that - something that was popular and had good development and support in its day and likely continues to have some even now. I can't put a cash value on that.

Pennycake said:
Personally, I think they're poor value even if you but one from a maker who isn't lying about the hardware specs.
You're almost certainly not going to be getting any kind of custom development - the sources are most likely not even there to work from and the devices aren't popular enough for it to happen.
You can get something similar when buying a legitimate phone that's popular overseas - development is possible there, but you'd have to look into it.
The lack of support and potential to get something other than puts me off buying such a device - you know how you can buy an SD card that says "32Gb" on it and it's only like 5Mb or whatever ? Think about that - your phone might say it has 32Gb internal memory but you might really have 2Gb or less and you might get 254 or 512 RAM. You might be able to root, might not.
As for network compatibility, just look up what bands Sprint uses, compare, and hope the information is correct.
You might find a "good" clone with good reviews, but you lose the "value" that is development and support. What is that worth in dollars ?
Personally, I'd rather just get a used S2 or something. You can get a used S3 for $400-ish if you're lucky, S2 is $200-ish, I think. I'd go for something like that - something that was popular and had good development and support in its day and likely continues to have some even now. I can't put a cash value on that.
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Do you have any suggestions on a good place to get a used s2? Actually, i may get my old s2 back soon.... Which would be lovely and solve my issues. I am curious though. Maybe later this year I will check some of the knockoff phones, just to test them and review them. I see your point, and it was my concern as well. I've always disliked phone companies and their support, and I assumed I could easily get some working rom and root, but tinkering with experimental builds for daily use is enough risk for me already. Adding a phone with a possibility to fail on me at any moment, probably isn't a good idea. These devices have too little real info sadly
Sent from my KFOT using xda app-developers app

The thing is, even if Samsung isn't giving updates, they've still released enough of their source for people to work with to develop custom ROMs. The companies that sell the clone phones and such don't do this, so making a custom ROM isn't possible. Developers tend to like to either work on projects for their own devices, or ones that will get a large audience for their work, so even if there was material to work from, these wouldn't be very attractive targets for development. Most US phone customers still get their phones from their service providers, for better or worse.
Anyway - eBay, Craigslist, or one of hose sites for specifically selling mobile devices. I think you said you're with Sprint? You have to make sure the ESN is good in that case, is the biggest concern. I've never had to do this since I'm with T-Mobile (uses SIM cards, not ESN), but I'm sure there's advice out there on how to avoid being scammed.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Which S4 to buy in the USA?

I was wondering if the community could help me make a decision as to which model S4 would be best suited for me for primary use in the USA with very light travel abroad. I’ve done my research on XDA and would like to hear some opinions of USA users of the S4.
I will outline some of my usage profile to help guide suggestions (this is not in order of importance).
• Primarily use data over Wi-Fi.
• Would like to root the phone.
• Telephone Voice Recording (my job description often requires taking directions over the phone)
• Wi-Fi calling would be great but not a must.
• I like to jump between AT&T and T-Mobile so I need to have that flexibility. Mostly for the prepaid services.
• I would prefer a very responsive device.
• A lot of voice communication over the phone primarily using a Bluetooth headset.
• 4G would be nice but 3G is more than adequate for my data needs.
• Fastest camera load times as well as picture quality is important to me.
• The phone will be purchased without a contract.
• I know what KNOX is but not sure how that would apply to which model to get if I want to root the phone.
Here are the options (if I leave something out please mention). If I state something incorrect please correct me.
i9500 - this is an eight core model, my understanding is that only four cores running at time anyway so there really is no advantage there. This is the first version of the S4.
i9505 - probably the one with the most development options as well as custom ROMs.
i9006 - probably the best performing version. Can it be rooted? KNOX workaround?
SGH-M919 - this is the T-Mobile version. My understanding is that it’s similar to the 9505 in terms of hardware performance and has LTE capability on the T-Mobile network. This will work also on PC Metro along with Wi-Fi calling on both T-Mobile and PC Metro.
What is the warranty situation on each of those for the USA (the T-Mobile one would be bought unlocked brand-new).
So based on my description of usage what do you guys recommend?
I like to thank everyone who contributes to helping me.

It depends on which operator you use?
9500 is dual-quad core, but there seems rumor in next version of Android update will make it octa core online at same time
9506 , best for performance, rooting yes but KNOX ,I think it comes out with 4.3 so already included KNOX bootloader in factory.
If you don't wanna 4G and need some flashing, 9500 or 9505 , no flashing? 9506
But if you want 4G, take M919
9505 and 919 are hardware identical except radio frequency (although some of them coincided, but I think 9505 may not work on T-Mobile, but I don't know for sure )

qtwrk said:
It depends on which operator you use?
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Click to collapse
I’m going to jump from AT&T to T-Mobile. Primarily the prepaid variance. The reason being is I travel for work and certain areas get better coverage than others so I constantly flip back and forth.
qtwrk said:
9500 is dual-quad core, but there seems rumor in next version of Android update will make it octa core online at same time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn’t aware of this. But honestly by the time this rolls around I will probably be moving on to the next device.
qtwrk said:
9506 , best for performance, rooting yes but KNOX ,I think it comes out with 4.3 so already included KNOX bootloader in factory.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if I just want to root the phone will this affect KNOX on this model. And is there a workaround for this?
qtwrk said:
If you don't wanna 4G and need some flashing, 9500 or 9505 , no flashing? 9506
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don’t really care that much about 4G. If I have it it’s nice, 3G will suit me more than enough. When you talk about flashing your talking about putting custom ROMs? That has nothing to do with rooting? And I am assuming you say that because the 9506 lacks in development because most people are going to wait for the S5, which is basically going to be the 9506 but waterproof.
Can you root the 9506?
Is there a big difference between the 9506 and 9505 in terms of performance? If you have to take a guess is it a 10% increase 30% increase?
Thank you for your response.

Knight_Droid said:
I’m going to jump from AT&T to T-Mobile. Primarily the prepaid variance. The reason being is I travel for work and certain areas get better coverage than others so I constantly flip back and forth.
I wasn’t aware of this. But honestly by the time this rolls around I will probably be moving on to the next device.
So if I just want to root the phone will this affect KNOX on this model. And is there a workaround for this?
Probably rooting without trigger KNOX, but I am not sure
I don’t really care that much about 4G. If I have it it’s nice, 3G will suit me more than enough. When you talk about flashing your talking about putting custom ROMs? That has nothing to do with rooting? And I am assuming you say that because the 9506 lacks in development because most people are going to wait for the S5, which is basically going to be the 9506 but waterproof.
Yes, 9506 is in the middle of very embarrassing position
Can you root the 9506?
Yes, there is way to root it in forum.
Is there a big difference between the 9506 and 9505 in terms of performance? If you have to take a guess is it a 10% increase 30% increase?
Personally I'd say 9506 is about 40% over 9505 on performance, but it's all kinda over-performance for normal usage. It's like you have a car can run at 200 km/h and other one on 300 km/h where your highway is only allowed at 150 km/h ... that's what I think about it, I had 9506 once and turn back just because of lack of development
Thank you for your response.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for answer like this, tapatalk isn't good when reply it, I will try to answer your further question anyway I can.
Either, I think you should consult the operator if 9500/9505 works well on certain radio frequency before you buy it

qtwrk said:
Sorry for answer like this, tapatalk isn't good when reply it, I will try to answer your further question anyway I can.
Either, I think you should consult the operator if 9500/9505 works well on certain radio frequency before you buy it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thank you.

A very odd question about modding

I have scoured the internet looking for an answer to this question but no such luck. Nobody seems to have ever asked/wondered about it. I've seen the guide here about modding the sgs5 to work with virtually any carrier but I assume that applies to US phones. So my question is, could it theoretically be possible to mod a Japanese S5 to work on a US carrier like Verizon, etc? If so, would it work the same way as modding a US one? The problem I see is that the Japanese S5 has a completely different model number than a US S5 but I don't know if that means the tech is different or not.
The reason I ask is because I moved to the US and still have my Japanese phone, but I want to change to a US carrier. The thing is, I have a lot of apps that I paid for and would like to keep them if I can and they aren't available from the US app store nor compatible with US phones. If this is completely impossible I'll take the loss but I thought I'd ask first. :3
I could break down and switch to apple as it's not region specific but I loathe that idea. DX

which model number of the s8 active can i purchase that is easy to root?

can someone provide me iwth a model number i can google nad hopefully purchase/ i am upgrading from the gs5. apparently they have made these things impossible to root now but i want an s8 active model specifically for its battery life.

zetsui said:
can someone provide me iwth a model number i can google nad hopefully purchase/ i am upgrading from the gs5. apparently they have made these things impossible to root now but i want an s8 active model specifically for its battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A u model is the easiest i guess still kinda having issues with all of them. I would look for a diffrent device for rooting not much we can do other than a few mods and audio. A few root apps. No major major roms no twrp

TheMadScientist said:
A u model is the easiest i guess still kinda having issues with all of them. I would look for a diffrent device for rooting not much we can do other than a few mods and audio. A few root apps. No major major roms no twrp
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Click to collapse
which manufacturers are the best for the unlocked bootloaders? This ****ing sucks! When I was doing my GS5 it was beginnning to get tricky with Samsung and Motorola was the worst, now it seems like they are all doing it. It's also not clear where I can get the international versions or even their model numbers online, if they are unlocked bootloaders or the same wavelengths (GSM etc)

zetsui said:
which manufacturers are the best for the unlocked bootloaders? This ****ing sucks! When I was doing my GS5 it was beginnning to get tricky with Samsung and Motorola was the worst, now it seems like they are all doing it. It's also not clear where I can get the international versions or even their model numbers online, if they are unlocked bootloaders or the same wavelengths (GSM etc)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The s8 g950f is unlockable bootloader and will work gsm here state side. Have to get em online.