No Widevine L1 Support - ZTE Axon 7 Questions & Answers

I guess at this late date, ZTE has no intention of getting L1 support. What this means is that HDX movies you own in Vudu for example, can only be seen in SD on this device. This is a shame for a phone touted as a multimedia device. You can download DRM Info from the Play Store and it will show you the status. Every other phone I own, LG, Samsung, HTC have L1 certification. It was obviously a cost cutting measure.
Sent from my HTC U11 using Tapatalk

Related

[Q] Purchasing Videos\ Movies

I am looking for a good website to legally purchase digital copies of movies and tv shows to put on my tab. I have had problems getting amazon unbox to work. Thank you in advance.
hrivner said:
I am looking for a good website to legally purchase digital copies of movies and tv shows to put on my tab. I have had problems getting amazon unbox to work. Thank you in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apart from optical discs, I've not really heard of any DRM protected video content. No legal website would offer downloadable video without DRM so I think this pretty much rules out legally downloadable videos. Another online streaming service you could try is www.lovefilm.com. It's a UK based company but they may offer a streaming/online package only if you're outside of UK.

Buying a nexus 4 when its not supported in my country?

So what are the downsides of buying a nexus 4 when its not supported in my country? Will there be problems about updating OS or about the guarantee? (I think it should be okay with the guarantee since there are LG places anywhere?) Or am i just not gonna be able to use some of googles apps like google's music stream?
What country are you from? Is it a matter of the phone not working with the cell phone providers in your country?
But, seriously talking, the best solution is to emigrate out of there, to a country that Google endorses. Google's going to end up being a global Superpower anyway, so it's good to be under a country that Google is chill with, getting that nationwide Wi-Fi and access to Google water all that fun stuff.
By unsupported do you just mean Google didn't put it up for sale? Or does the Nexus 4 not work with your mobile carrier i.e. is it a CDMA carrier?
If it's the first case then you're fine. Updates should come just like normal as the builds/updates are run by Google. You might not get all the features that come with Android/Google Play; it depends on whether they're enabled in your country (e.g. Music, Movies, Magazines, Books etc.). Warranty on the other hand might be a PITA depending on LG's warranty policy. They may or may not honour the warranty and I believe they don't have international warranty. Even if they have LG offices in your county, it doesn't mean that the warranty is applicable. You might have to send it back to the country you bought it from or if you're going through a grey importer, you'll have to ask them.
If it's the second case, you really shouldn't buy the Nexus 4 unless you want a really expensive paperweight or intend to change carriers.

Dont unlock your phone

Well starting Saturday its illegal to network unlock your phone.
And since unlocking our boot loader also unlocks the network we can't do that anymore unless they find a way to unlock the boot loader w/o the network unlock
I think this is bull but at least I got mine unlocked before this time
Anyways post your comments about this matter
Here is where I found it out : unlocking is now illegal
And here is the link to a petition to sign to make it legal
And I suggest everyone signing the patition so we can unlock again
sent from my Sony Ericsson Xperia Play™(r800x) Running Slimbean 3.0 using Tapatalk 2™
What are they going to do? Send the FBI?
Sent from my Nexus 7
Leraeniesh said:
What are they going to do? Send the FBI?
Sent from my Nexus 7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahahahhaha yea I bet they will
sent from my Sony Ericsson Xperia Play™(r800x) Running Slimbean 3.0 using Tapatalk 2™
There are lots of sites that tries to sensationalize this (which is why I avoid them all). The better explanation is by Android Central.
I wouldn't worry too much about it. I think the worse they would try to do is force a hefty fee for unlocking without carrier permission, like etf, but this would just cause backlash and they would lose customer. You can always tell your carrier to give you an unlock code and give a reason.
Just another reason why I recommend Nexus and prepaid.
Sent from my R800i
Unlocking bootloader is LEGAL, unlocking bootloader doesn't unlock the phone.
Good thing I already unlocked my phone but they can't really do much about it anyway like leraeniesh said lol
sent from r800x using turbo kernel with jellyzeus ROM
nickholtus said:
Unlocking bootloader is LEGAL, unlocking bootloader doesn't unlock the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes that is true but WHEN you unlock the boot loader the phone's network also gets unlocked so you can't unlock the BL without unlocking the network which is illegal
sent from my Sony Ericsson Xperia Play™(r800x) Running Slimbean 3.0 using Tapatalk 2™
crazymonkey05 said:
Yes that is true but WHEN you unlock the boot loader the phone's network also gets unlocked so you can't unlock the BL without unlocking the network which is illegal
sent from my Sony Ericsson Xperia Play™(r800x) Running Slimbean 3.0 using Tapatalk 2™
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That only applies when using the test point method on GSM R800 phones.
Sent from my Nexus 7
crazymonkey05 said:
Yes that is true but WHEN you unlock the boot loader the phone's network also gets unlocked so you can't unlock the BL without unlocking the network which is illegal
sent from my Sony Ericsson Xperia Play™(r800x) Running Slimbean 3.0 using Tapatalk 2™
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope
It might be illegal and it already had a thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2117969
216Monster said:
It might be illegal and it already had a thread here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2117969
Doesn't matter though, their not going to come out and put you in the slammer. I have had about 10 different locks/unlocks/IMEI changes/Ta flashes done in the past few days.. They can make it illegal, it's still going to happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly its just like the war on drugs, copyright bull**** etc etc it happens every minute of every day. It can't be stopped
Sent from the scary door.....
I'm pretty sure this only applies to phones you have under contract. Once the contract expires/is paid in full, you're free to unlock.
You forgot to point that it became illegal on the US only.
I think it's a step back on freedom.
Here in Brazil it is illegal for the carriers to LOCK the phones they sell.
It's understood that the contract alone is enough to force ppl to pay what they get with carriers discount.
If one should not pay, carriers can always seek it legally trough the Court if necessary, but can't force you to use only their services on the phone due to customer freedom.
I bet ppl will win this new battle if they want, just as SOPA went down.
From here, I just can wish you luck and that, again people demonstrate that laws are made FROM the people and not TO the people.
Sent from my R800i using xda app-developers app
crazymonkey05 said:
Well starting Saturday its illegal to network unlock your phone.
And since unlocking our boot loader also unlocks the network we can't do that anymore unless they find a way to unlock the boot loader w/o the network unlock
I think this is bull but at least I got mine unlocked before this time
Anyways post your comments about this matter
Here is where I found it out : unlocking is now illegal
And here is the link to a petition to sign to make it legal
And I suggest everyone signing the patition so we can unlock again
sent from my Sony Ericsson Xperia Play™(r800x) Running Slimbean 3.0 using Tapatalk 2™
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's illegal now?
O well just another reason to do it.
Sent from my R800x using xda app-developers app
You still can unlock your phone when your contract time is over.
There is a free tool for that, btw.
http://forum.gsmhosting.com/vbb/f77...ed-exclusive-1612826/index15.html#post9188223
Damn, sucks to be in America.
As for IMEI changing, that is extremely illegal and you shouldn't openly admit it! Its as illegal as scratching a serial number off a firearm and would put anti-terrorist strikefource against you man, jeez! Think about it!
In Australia the MINIMUM charge for IMEI tampering is $55,000 and six months in prison.
Sent from Xperia Play (R800a) with Tapatalk
Sorry to bring a dead thread but I received a reply to my vote:
It's Time to Legalize Cell Phone Unlocking
By R. David Edelman, Senior Advisor for Internet, Innovation, & Privacy
Thank you for sharing your views on cell phone unlocking with us through your petition on our We the People platform. Last week the White House brought together experts from across government who work on telecommunications, technology, and copyright policy, and we're pleased to offer our response.
The White House agrees with the 114,000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties. In fact, we believe the same principle should also apply to tablets, which are increasingly similar to smart phones. And if you have paid for your mobile device, and aren't bound by a service agreement or other obligation, you should be able to use it on another network. It's common sense, crucial for protecting consumer choice, and important for ensuring we continue to have the vibrant, competitive wireless market that delivers innovative products and solid service to meet consumers' needs.
This is particularly important for secondhand or other mobile devices that you might buy or receive as a gift, and want to activate on the wireless network that meets your needs -- even if it isn't the one on which the device was first activated. All consumers deserve that flexibility.
The White House's position detailed in this response builds on some critical thinking done by the President's chief advisory Agency on these matters: the Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). For more context and information on the technical aspects of the issue, you can review the NTIA's letter to the Library of Congress' Register of Copyrights (.pdf), voicing strong support for maintaining the previous exception to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) for cell phone carrier unlocking.
Contrary to the NTIA's recommendation, the Librarian of Congress ruled that phones purchased after January of this year would no longer be exempted from the DMCA. The law gives the Librarian the authority to establish or eliminate exceptions -- and we respect that process. But it is also worth noting the statement the Library of Congress released today on the broader public policy concerns of the issue. Clearly the White House and Library of Congress agree that the DMCA exception process is a rigid and imperfect fit for this telecommunications issue, and we want to ensure this particular challenge for mobile competition is solved.
So where do we go from here?
The Obama Administration would support a range of approaches to addressing this issue, including narrow legislative fixes in the telecommunications space that make it clear: neither criminal law nor technological locks should prevent consumers from switching carriers when they are no longer bound by a service agreement or other obligation.
We also believe the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), with its responsibility for promoting mobile competition and innovation, has an important role to play here. FCC Chairman Genachowski today voiced his concern about mobile phone unlocking (.pdf), and to complement his efforts, NTIA will be formally engaging with the FCC as it addresses this urgent issue.
Finally, we would encourage mobile providers to consider what steps they as businesses can take to ensure that their customers can fully reap the benefits and features they expect when purchasing their devices.
We look forward to continuing to work with Congress, the wireless and mobile phone industries, and most importantly you -- the everyday consumers who stand to benefit from this greater flexibility -- to ensure our laws keep pace with changing technology, protect the economic competitiveness that has led to such innovation in this space, and offer consumers the flexibility and freedoms they deserve.
Yup same email here bro
sent from my Sony Ericsson Xperia Play™(r800x) Running Slimbean 3.0 using Tapatalk 2™

Should I take a gamble and buy the Amazon version and hope bootloader gets unlocked?

On the verge of getting a new phone. I can deal with 2GB of ram if the cost of a phone is 180, and maybe even 240 for the 4gb version. Once I get up to spending 230 for 2gb and 300 for 4gb, I think there are better phones that arent too far away in terms of cost.
Does this phone look like its getting the bootloader of the prime version unlocked? Im on the fence on which one to order, or if I should just spend more and get either the OP5 for $480 or the S8 for 525 with a trade in. Ive heard rumors, but not too sure if they were true.
It's all personal choice. It may be unlocked tomorrow, it may never be unlocked....
lourivellini said:
On the verge of getting a new phone. I can deal with 2GB of ram if the cost of a phone is 180, and maybe even 240 for the 4gb version. Once I get up to spending 230 for 2gb and 300 for 4gb, I think there are better phones that arent too far away in terms of cost.
Does this phone look like its getting the bootloader of the prime version unlocked? Im on the fence on which one to order, or if I should just spend more and get either the OP5 for $480 or the S8 for 525 with a trade in. Ive heard rumors, but not too sure if they were true.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are in the US you could try what someone else did in another thread and go to your local Best Buy and try to do a price match. I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it myself. Otherwise I'd stick to non-Amazon. The price difference is not worth the hassle.
I've not seen a 'hack' here that unlocks the normal bootloader; afaik everyone has to get the code from Motorola. So it's very unlikely you'll see a hack that unlocks the Amazon phones. Just my amateur opinion though.
So the Amazon version bootloaders can be unlocked with Motorola codes? -- I read "no" elsewhere. Of no, Amazon is as bad as Verizon.
I want a $200-300 good phone I can root and play with custom Roms that everything works on Verizon and it seems the G family phones do this best from what I can tell. I have no issues voiding a warranty on $200-300 which is less than half the cost of a flagship device which cost so much for features and technology I neither use nor can notice. I'm pretty much done with overpriced flagships. any opinions on best non-flagship Verizon phone with unlockable bootloader? (nexus 6p is a bit too old of a device for me).
kb1afu said:
So the Amazon version bootloaders can be unlocked with Motorola codes? -- I read "no" elsewhere. Of no, Amazon is as bad as Verizon.
I want a $200-300 good phone I can root and play with custom Roms that everything works on Verizon and it seems the G family phones do this best from what I can tell. I have no issues voiding a warranty on $200-300 which is less than half the cost of a flagship device which cost so much for features and technology I neither use nor can notice. I'm pretty much done with overpriced flagships. any opinions on best non-flagship Verizon phone with unlockable bootloader? (nexus 6p is a bit too old of a device for me).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So technically both the Amazon and non-Amazon version come locked. The difference is that with the non-Amazon version, you can get the unlock code directly from Motorola's site. The Amazon ones could technically be unlocked if Motorola provided the unlock code, but as per their agreement with Amazon, they will not.
It is possible that this will change in the future (likely not until the next version comes out), but I wouldn't really bet on it. What is still unclear is whether getting the Amazon version and then paying to have the ads removed will ever allow you to unlock the bootloader. Currently I don't believe it will, but in reality all Amazon would have to do is provide the IDs to Motorola of which phones had paid for this service. I don't see Amazon in a rush to do this though.
willclein said:
So technically both the Amazon and non-Amazon version come locked. The difference is that with the non-Amazon version, you can get the unlock code directly from Motorola's site. The Amazon ones could technically be unlocked if Motorola provided the unlock code, but as per their agreement with Amazon, they will not.
It is possible that this will change in the future (likely not until the next version comes out), but I wouldn't really bet on it. What is still unclear is whether getting the Amazon version and then paying to have the ads removed will ever allow you to unlock the bootloader. Currently I don't believe it will, but in reality all Amazon would have to do is provide the IDs to Motorola of which phones had paid for this service. I don't see Amazon in a rush to do this though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK thanks for the info...I figured as much. I will just avoid the Amazon versions.
kb1afu said:
So the Amazon version bootloaders can be unlocked with Motorola codes? -- I read "no" elsewhere. Of no, Amazon is as bad as Verizon.
I want a $200-300 good phone I can root and play with custom Roms that everything works on Verizon and it seems the G family phones do this best from what I can tell. I have no issues voiding a warranty on $200-300 which is less than half the cost of a flagship device which cost so much for features and technology I neither use nor can notice. I'm pretty much done with overpriced flagships. any opinions on best non-flagship Verizon phone with unlockable bootloader? (nexus 6p is a bit too old of a device for me).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't understand why everyone thinks unlocking bootloader automatically voids the warranty...
Motorola will honor any hardware defect, despite an unlocked bootloader. Anything software related it's not covered after an unlock.
1. This is a law
2. Motorola has stated this.
3. Google search shows previous devices were still fixed or replaced, due to 1. and 2.
JoRocker said:
I don't understand why everyone thinks unlocking bootloader automatically voids the warranty...
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably because it is all over the interwebz that rooting and unlocking BL triggers tamper flags and voids the warranty with most manufacturers, or perhaps maybe people are concerned about the software somehow affecting the warranty if they send it back to Moto as bricked or with some half-baked ROM on it. Because you know, many folks go and root but don't know how to unroot or reset tamper flags, so they become confused or worried about warranty status on their $700 - $1000 device. LOL, I don't know what the big deal is either..... but anyway, on a sub-$300 mid-range phone I'm not buying it for the warranty.
For anyone landing here with the Amazon Ads inquiry... there exists a thread on how to remove amazon ads with varying results and conditions - knock yourself out.
For Black Friday 2017 - the Moto website had 64/4 version for $225 and then Moto direct and Target had the 32/2 version at $169 which was cheaper than amazon version. I jumped on the 64/4 direct from Moto $225.
Yeah, it took me a few months to pull the trigger, but I am glad I was patient. The G5+ IPS is good enough, and I never used NFC anyway, and once I saw 64bit ROMS working on G5+ and then at this price, it was a no-brainer for me.
JoRocker said:
I don't understand why everyone thinks unlocking bootloader automatically voids the warranty...
Motorola will honor any hardware defect, despite an unlocked bootloader. Anything software related it's not covered after an unlock.
1. This is a law
2. Motorola has stated this.
3. Google search shows previous devices were still fixed or replaced, due to 1. and 2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. This depends where you live... the only place I know of that has this "law" is the EU
2. Only for areas where the law requires it, otherwise look at: Legal Terms for bootloader unlocking on Moto's global support site, it is quite clear and unmistakable that just obtaining a lock code, even if never used, voids the warranty for the entire device, hardware and software.
3. Again, see #1
(EDIT: Sorry, I see someone else dug up this old thread after I posted this... Sorry, wasn't trying to rehash an old subject)

Which G6 is Amazon Prime offering? Missing any features?

I'm sure by now anyone with an Amazon Prime account has seen the advertisements for the $399.99 LG G6 and G6+ which is a great deal, and it's enough of one that I'm getting ready to retire my iPhone SE and make the switch over...especially since I can lengthen the warranty to two years total. What I cannot find out is which version Amazon is selling when it's released November 9th, 2017 and if T-Mobile and/or AT&T users will still have the normal functions like WiFi calling (which I rely upon) and VoLTE on each respective carrier. I'd rather not buy a Prime device only to discover that it doesn't have the same features as a carrier-specific device has and this has me worried. Buying a brand new unlocked G6 would give me the two years of full warranty on the device and hopefully all of the T-Mobile features offered on the carrier-specific model even if the bootloader isn't unlocked. Heck, I'd attempt a FlashFire to get new firmware onto the phone if it were made possible just to regain WiFi Calling/VoLTE but wanted input from others before I decide to go this route. I'm also not opposed to grabbing something like the LG V20 from BHPhotoVideo as well since this is the route I want to go. If you guys have any knowledge that I haven't been able to figure out in the last week of research I'd appreciate it very much. Cheers.
They go in depth with this story,not sure if it helps at all.
That's one of the articles I managed to find, and it did help out in figuring out which phone I wanted to invest in but I didn't get much more info on the device itself. Because it's an Amazon device we already know that it's not going to be able to have an unlocked bootloader which really stinks but that's the cost of buying a subsidized phone through Amazon. I considered just buying the LG V20 through BHPhotoVideo for cheaper so there are no integrated Amazon advertisements and it has a better internal camera (as far as specs go) but having 12MP+12MP vs 16MP is a little too close of a call to make any kind of speculation, although having 64GB of storage with the V20 would be nicer than the included 32GB in the LG G6. At least we have a micro-SD slot to have more storage in both models, which means that if we can get the phone rooted then App2SD won't be a problem.
I just know I'm ready to retire and sell this crappy iPhone SE and move away from the insane Apple prices to get a better device with a less restrictive environment. My only hope is that the LG G6 has the same characteristics as my iPhone SE, such as WiFi calling and VoLTE. I know it has all of the right LTE bands so that won't be an issue, and later on I'll probably just give Amazon more money to ditch the advertisements. I just wish that I could find a $450 LG G6 brand new that I could unlock the bootloader on, and that's my conundrum. It seems that if you want the subsized Prime version it's only $399 but if you want an subside-free G6 you still have to shell out $200 more.
P.S. Thanks for the quick response.
im already planning on getting this but i wont be able till at least black friday at the earliest. it fills all my needs now that the U11+ wont be available in the US. the model number for the 6+ is LGUS997U so im hoping that rooting will be possible along with custom ROMs. l hope someone else takes the plunge first.
droidbot1337 said:
im already planning on getting this but i wont be able till at least black friday at the earliest. it fills all my needs now that the U11+ wont be available in the US. the model number for the 6+ is LGUS997U so im hoping that rooting will be possible along with custom ROMs. l hope someone else takes the plunge first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm taking the plunge and it'll be here the day of release. Knowing Amazon's history with locking bootloaders it's already pretty apparent that unlocking it will not be a possibility but will still check irregardless in hopes that I'm wrong. At least I hope it can be rooted some how and figure out how to ditch all of the bogus Amazon advertisements without paying them another $50 to remove them from my device, and will report all of that information that I can find out on my own as well. The LG V20 directly from T-Mobile was my original go-to replacement but for the same amount of money I'd rather have the slightly faster LG G6 even if it is hampered by Amazon's crap. Considering I'm moving up from an iPhone SE this thing is going to be a massive upgrade.
EDIT: I've independently confirmed it will indeed have T-Mobile WiFi calling and VoLTE built into the firmware because Amazon did the same thing with the Moto G5s firmware that they molested. They might have injected it with Amazon bloatware but they did also include WiFi calling and VoLTE from each of the providers so there's a very strong chance anyone who uses this device on their home network will still have those features included with the LG line of phones.
bmurphr1 said:
I'm taking the plunge and it'll be here the day of release...........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YES!!!! im so envious of you!! i hope that they can be unlocked as the price is just far too tempting. im going to try and contact LG USA and see what i can get from them. good luck and please keep us informed, cheers!!
I'm looking at the LG G6 also. I've been a Nexus user and am still using the N5X. Now that Google has went overboard with their pricing and are no longer making any devices that are good values, I'm looking elsewhere. I've always been an LG fan. I'm looking at the LG G6 as the price on it is excellent. There are a good number of carrier unlocked devices available for just over $400 and I think we will see some good sales between Black Friday and New Year's.
I was also considering the Amazon version but I'm not sure how difficult it will be to get rid of them afterwards.
gorilla p said:
....I was also considering the Amazon version but I'm not sure how difficult it will be to get rid of them afterwards.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
?? all it has is a few bloat apps but all you would need to do is flash another ROM. thats considering it can be rooted. im still debating on the 6+ or waiting for the HTC U12 which should be better than the U11+ or at least i hope.
Phone has arrived, is model US966, and even though is the international model still has VoLTE and WiFi Calling baked into the ROM. I've verified that it does indeed work as it should for T-Mobile as I have the Hanset + WiFi logo in my top left notification tray. So far it seems Amazon really did make this device into the most universal of all of the LG G6 devices that exist (aside from being unable to unlock the bootloader.
Amazon really put this firmware through the ringer..it does have mountains of bloatware that we can work around, but it works with T-Mobile WiFi Calling, VoLTE, and HD Voice (all confirmed by moving a dead zone in my house where I received full WiFI but could not obtain any indoor signal of any kind. I had several conversations that all sounded like I was standing right next to the person, and I had no cellular service at the time the call was made. Just as I suspected, they molested the G6 just like they did the Moto G5s into forcing it to support T-Mobile's feature sets and most likely the same for the other three providers as well.
bmurphr1 said:
Phone has arrived, is model US966, and even though is the international model still has VoLTE and WiFi Calling baked into the ROM. I've verified that it does indeed work as it should for T-Mobile as I have the Hanset + WiFi logo in my top left notification tray. So far it seems Amazon really did make this device into the most universal of all of the LG G6 devices that exist (aside from being unable to unlock the bootloader.
Amazon really put this firmware through the ringer..it does have mountains of bloatware that we can work around, but it works with T-Mobile WiFi Calling, VoLTE, and HD Voice (all confirmed by moving a dead zone in my house where I received full WiFI but could not obtain any indoor signal of any kind. I had several conversations that all sounded like I was standing right next to the person, and I had no cellular service at the time the call was made. Just as I suspected, they molested the G6 just like they did the Moto G5s into forcing it to support T-Mobile's feature sets and most likely the same for the other three providers as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know if it's possible to pay to remove the lockscreen ads? Also, are the ads just on the lockscreen or do they show up in other places?
I know you can pay to remove Kindle ads at https://www.amazon.com/mn/dcw/myx.html
Joe USer said:
Do you know if it's possible to pay to remove the lockscreen ads? Also, are the ads just on the lockscreen or do they show up in other places?
I know you can pay to remove Kindle ads at https://www.amazon.com/mn/dcw/myx.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ads are on lockscreen and on the desktop, but the desktop widget no problem. When you unlock the device using your fingerprint though you never see the advertisements so it's not bothering me that much. I have yet to figure out if we can purchase the removal of advertisements though as I've only had these few short hours with the device, but every T-Mo function that you'd find on a carrier-branded device works on the Amazon Prime variant. If I can pay an extra $50 or so to get rid of the advertisements I probably will do just that.
In the mean time I tried to sign up for the second year of the LG G6 free warranty program, and since the phone is a US996 model device you can't complete the registration page. I e-mailed the help desk to see if we'll be able to register for the free second year of service as an Amazon agent said that there should be no reason that it shouldn't work. I will respond back once I get word from the LG team regarding the additional free year of warranty coverage.
EDIT: You can legitimately remove ads from the phone through Amazon but they want an extra $100 to just remove them. I'll wait on someone else to figure out how to hack the ads away from the firmware. I dig the LG interface though as it's similar to the iPhone layout and makes it easier for me to understand rather than having an app drawer like my Fire tablet does. The phone is definitely worth $399...not $499 though once you buy the removal of advertisements.
congrats @bmurphr1!! im happy it works well since like you i too am a tmo user. also, the model number is listed as 997U but you said its US996, is that right? anyway, i hope the bootloader can soon be unlocked because that would make this phone an amazing device.
droidbot1337 said:
congrats @bmurphr1!! im happy it works well since like you i too am a tmo user. also, the model number is listed as 997U but you said its US996, is that right? anyway, i hope the bootloader can soon be unlocked because that would make this phone an amazing device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did, but it's actually US997 according to what I'm looking at right now on the Hardware info screen. My initial statement was a typo because I was in a rush to get this phone up and running since I'm moving over from the iOS world. Model number is confirmed US997 and the bootloader from what I've been able to ascertain so far is that LG is not unlocking the bootloader for the phone because they were strong-armed by Amazon to lock it down so that it couldn't be altered in any way - thus making people pay the $100 just to have advertisements removed from the device.
bmurphr1 said:
I did, but it's actually US997 according to what I'm looking at right now on the Hardware info screen. My initial statement was a typo because I was in a rush to get this phone up and running since I'm moving over from the iOS world. Model number is confirmed US997 and the bootloader from what I've been able to ascertain so far is that LG is not unlocking the bootloader for the phone because they were strong-armed by Amazon to lock it down so that it couldn't be altered in any way - thus making people pay the $100 just to have advertisements removed from the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ugh!!... so its useless for those of us that want custom ROMs then? that sucks! i really hope someone finds a way to unlock it. i might just wait to see what the HTC u12 looks like. thanks for the info.
Just figured out how Amazon neutered this phone from being tampered with by individuals like us...they went and jacked around with the bootloader so that it freezes as soon as you boot into it. I'm very experienced when it comes to using fastboot on Android devices and I can tell you this bootloader has been tampered with. What happens is when you run "adb reboot bootloader" it reboots into the neutered bootloader and just freezes so that no commands can be sent or received from the device. If we could get the device-id then we could put it through the LG database, but Amazon found a way to mess with it just enough so that it crashes every single time you try to boot into it using the Android debugging bridge. That's how they crippled this phone so that no one would be able to flash new firmwares to the device or jack with it and remove their new found glory in LG devices. I'd love to be able to flash a non-Amazon bootloader only over to this phone to see if I could unlock it and catch on to something new but I'm too afraid to jeopardize my only working cell phone at the moment so I'd be worried about doing that. If the bootloader would unfreeze though and give us the code for a full bootloader unlock we could say byebye to the entire firmware OS and switch over to something like Lineage or better...assuming somebody has a kitchen that would work on an Amazon-molested US997 LG G6.
droidbot1337 said:
ugh!!... so its useless for those of us that want custom ROMs then? that sucks! i really hope someone finds a way to unlock it. i might just wait to see what the HTC u12 looks like. thanks for the info.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw this on the latest Amazon Fire tablet and that's why I returned it. Now you see why I was hesitant.
I'm having a hard time deciding now, but I'm going there will be some solid $399 deals between Black Friday and Christmas. Otherwise, I might just get a OnePlus 3T.
gorilla p said:
I saw this on the latest Amazon Fire tablet and that's why I returned it. Now you see why I was hesitant.
I'm having a hard time deciding now, but I'm going there will be some solid $399 deals between Black Friday and Christmas. Otherwise, I might just get a OnePlus 3T.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Amazon got smart and neutered all of their Prime-branded devices so that they can't be bootloader unlocked any longer. The only hope we have of actually achieving custom firmware on this device is by using something like FlashFire to perform a hot-flash on the device to move it to a non-Amazon firmware, which is what I did on my Fire 2015 (Ford) tablet that I still use occasionally at the gym to watch Netflix and YouTube when I steal their WiFi. If you wanted to buy the phone just to unlock the bootloader unfortunately you're SOL, but there's still a chance something could be in the works for this device.
Honestly, I'd rather see either a complete removal of the advertisements from the stock US997 Amazon Prime G6 or someone who was able to successfully flash a ZIP file using FlashFire to the G6 without completely killing it along with WiFi Calling/VoLTE/HD Voice. The first one isn't out of the realm of possibility, but the second one is just a pipe dream since I essentially require WiFi calling and VoLTE. We're gonna need to find a way to root this firmware and I haven't found a way to do so as of yet, though it is running Nougat 7.0 with the September security update.
gorilla p said:
I saw this on the latest Amazon Fire tablet and that's why I returned it. Now you see why I was hesitant.
I'm having a hard time deciding now, but I'm going there will be some solid $399 deals between Black Friday and Christmas. Otherwise, I might just get a OnePlus 3T.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why the 3T and not the 5T? my brother has the 5 and loves it. i refuse to buy a device without expandable storage so that leaves me with few options....... well, few good options. im just gonna wait till leaks of the HTC U12 start to circulate. if that sucks ill just buy the regular G6.
droidbot1337 said:
why the 3T and not the 5T? my brother has the 5 and loves it. i refuse to buy a device without expandable storage so that leaves me with few options....... well, few good options. im just gonna wait till leaks of the HTC U12 start to circulate. if that sucks ill just buy the regular G6.
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Click to collapse
Just the cost. OnePlus is upping the price with every release and I don't think the OP5 is that much better than the OP3T. Especially since I don't use my phone for anything crazy. My N5X still performs more than good enough for me. I have the GPU underclock and touchboost disabled to improve battery and still no lag at all. I really wish there was another affordable Nexus device. They should've come out with an Android One premium line featuring The 820 or 822 chipset.
I also received my Amazon us997 G6 yesterday. As mentioned earlier, the lock screen ads aren't very intrusive unless there are no other notifications at the time. If there are personal notifications like email, text message, missed phone call, etc. then the Amazon ad takes up about 15% of the lock screen. If no notifications are present, the entire lock screen is an ad. However, also as mentioned before, the double press of the finger print button makes the ads visible for the amount of time it takes to double press.
I run nova launcher and have not been bothered with any ads either.
Coming from big red on their lg g4 and having that special old plan, I did a SIM card chop with some cutlery scissors and made it a nano. Without getting too involved, an app like Foxfi is not needed on this phone. I will be keeping this phone primarily because of this. The price point, limited intrusive ads, 2 year warranty and not needing a special app previously mentioned have made this my newest phone.
Now i just hope lg has rid themselves of the nightmare Bootloop plague that has hit every lg phone that my family has owned.

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