phone provider oddities

Phone company interaction has become complex, at least at T-Mobile. However, outside of the idiosyncracies below, 5G reception is better than 4G (eg, inside buildings) and 5G hotspotting carries good speed, eg 6-7Mb/sec during software updates (pacman). There are some idiosyncracies...

1. unlock - hard 40 days

It's necessary to use an unlocked phone if traveling overseas and wanting to purchase a SIM for local service. IME, especially if planning for a trip, buy any new devices 2 months ahead of trip. New devices have a hard 40 day hold (postpaid plans - see below) before T-Mobile will unlock the phone.

Secondly, probably because I purchased my device on EBay, there was no T-Mobile unlock application any longer in the device apps. This means a call was necessary to T-Mobile to accomplish unlocking. Have the IMEI and an email address handy. They will ask "Why? International? Leaving T-Mobile?"; it's almost as bad as KYC in banking. The agent notes unlocking takes 72 hours and that an email will be generated once complete. So 40+3 = 43 days from purchase, best case.

2. misc

• call/chat - chat is preferable. Calls are recorded, but there's nothing in writing and no way to attach screenshots. Talking also means KYC questions "do you plan to travel?"
• prepaid, postpaid plan - postpaid plans require credit checks and report to credit agencies, so this is higher level account. Prepaid plans are lower end and have overage charges. For best service, get all account numbers postpaid, since pre/post can vary by the number on the same account.
• unlock phones - postpaid account: 40 days on the network. Prepaid accounts: 365 days on the network. Website declaring a device is "eligible" for unlock and/or being purchased independently is irrelevant.
• temporary and permanent phone unlock: which is which and why?
• gigabyte accounting: extrememly liberal. I'd wager T-Mobile tallies Gb usage at 1.5:1 or greater. Eg, 1Gb actual usage will be declared as 1.5Gb. Also there's delayed accounting -- account might show 3Gb immediately after use and gradually rise to 4.5 over the next 12 hours of non-use.
• throttling/overage. device dependent. On my dedicated hotspot, I get throttled back to 126 K. On my phone account, I get throttled to 56K. Does the account automatically add gigabytes of data for some charge.
• sim swap - there's typically some network confusion or throttling with a recently swapped SIM or a new SIM. Usually apps will require a new login for an "unrecognized device" when the SIM changes. Google apps can work without the SIM if Wi-Fi is available.

3. usage

Day to day use -- emails and so on, blogging, browsing, is about 1Gb per day, maybe 2 if several videos (typically 360p in phone). Some problems:

• Surfline (app): no way to adjust/lower quality. Immense AJAX and ads. Seems to use 500Mb each time opened, up to 1GB if on there 4 mins.
• NFL GamePass (hotspot): no way to adjust/lower quality . Apparently, server takes over and streams at 1080 or greater. This means a game is is 15Gb, or about 3.5 per quarter of a full replay.
• Criterion Channel (hotspot): about 3-5Gb per film, 520-720p, adjustable.

4. phone app

Say a person has unlimited 5G phone and 40G hotspot. When they look on the T-Mobile app, they see screenshot below. Turns-out 17.6Gb at the top would be the combined number of both phone data and hotspotting usage.

5G - OnePlus Nord200 - Oppo N1 - DE2118

Links: Wiki page

model

Like all smartphones, manufacturing is murky and obsfucated, and can best be determined by its USB VID

$ lsusb
22d9:2765 OPPO Electronics Corp. Oppo N1

"22d9" is Oppo Electronics, so that's our real indicator. Interestingly, the OS is Cyanogen Mod, which they call Oxygen. $125 refurb off EBay. For travel it's GSM and

phone history

The best I've had was the LG-D520, best text feel, fast, least distracting

5G Nord N200 2022/08	$125 Refurb unlocked Ebay, originally on T-Mobile. Android 12, upgraded from original Android 11/Oxygen. Type C USB cable
4G Droid Turbo 2 2020/05	$50 XT 1585 Refurb unlocked from Verizon. Android 7 (Nougat) Reliable Motorola phone. Could not achieve VoLTE after 5G upgrade due to Verizon firmware. Type B ("micro usb") USB cable. Battery about 45 minute turnaround. Keep unrooted as a good cam phone.
3G Optimus F3Q 2015/05	$50 LG-D520. Refurb unlocked from T-Mobile. Android 4.4 (KitKat) Easy battery swap. This phone has slightly better-yet touch for texting than the G1. The G1 was good for texting. The LG-P659 was as smaller, glass screen (non-slider) version.
3G LG C195N 2012	$100 new. T-Mobile. Slider. Android 1.5 (Cupcake). Great texting touch and pocket and hand feel. Wide enough not to slip out of pocket. Simple, reliable, great battery life. GSM. Might still be good for Europe. SMS/MMS, no Internet.
3G LG G1 2010	$100 new. T-Mobile. Slider. Android 1.5 (Cupcake). Slider has good touch for texting. Stolen at work.
2G Moto. Razr V3 2006	$? T-Mobile. Favorite phone. Black metal case, reliable, battery features, easy to use, heft even better than Nokia, easy battery.
2G Nokia E.6010 2002	$? Cingular. Candy bar, GSM 850/1900. Also called NPM-10. Superb heft and single hand key access. Easy battery (NK3310), dedicated charger. FCC:GMLNPM-10X
Gx Alcatel 2002	$30,new. Price part of a Deutsche-Telocom package which included a number of minutes and other features.

Settings

Android 12. One of the key things to do is disable "Quick Device Connect", a persistent problematic app that will ask for one's location. Settings -> Apps -> App management -> (three dots in upper R) -> Quick Device Connect. Force stop and turn off all notifications.

• awake: double tap, then swipe up.
• usb setup: Settings -> System settings -> Developer options -> Select USB configuration
• nav bar / 3 buttons: there's no back button in the Chrome browser, so the buttons are helpful; triangle is a back button. Settings -> System settings -> System navigation select buttons or gestures (gestures has Navigation Bar).
• screen timeout: Settings -> Display & brightness -> Auto screen off (set mine to 1 min)
• notifications: apps like Uber, EBay often interrupt with announcements. Settings -> Notifications & Status bar -> Apps are in a column; toggle the notifications on/off as desired for each app.

Glass/LCD Replacement ($38) and Battery ($18)

Had the phone a couple months and then was at a meeting with some guys and dropped it on concrete. First time broken screen experience. For this phone a significant job no matter glass or glass+frame. Why not also replace (LiPo) battery since it has to be removed to do the glass. Comments on that a little further down.

Replacing only the glass is easiest fix, but requires bending-out the frame to remove the glass. I considered a smooth press-fit would be more durable and stock-appearing, so I purchased a frame/glass combo. An extra $6. Another $5 for the toolset with B-7000 glue. With tax, call it $38 for all of this, non-OEM. I also read the seller's customer feedback comments for additional tips from buyers. Delicate job and, again, not OEM.

Beyond this, having or jerry-rigging a heat-pad or gun, and clamps for re-gluing, are all required. This is true also for a straight battery job. The video below has the "with-frame" process I did, but can do just the glass, as noted above, after battery step. See video commenets.

Screen w/frame replace (17:09) Geardo, 2022. Latter half of video -- reassembly portion -- valuable to watch prior to initial disassembly. Comments valuable.

The battery was an extra $18 incl. tax. I got a LiPo version, like the OEM. Li-Ion requires an overcharge protection circuit that's likely not in the phone since it's LiPo OEM. I don't want the phone burning up on the charger.

4G -> 5G WTF

NB: The least expensive (T-Mobile) 5G entry with enough features (Android 11, Snapdragon 480 vs. Snapdragon 805 and Android 7 in my 2015 Droid2), is probably the Nord N200 5G. ~$200, or about $140 (including tax) refurbished.

Links: EBay.com :: New in box older phones :: T-Mobile

---

5G is definitely here and governments are rejoicing (all digital! AI packet inspection!). But as part of this rollout, providers began shutting down 3G networks. This meant the new fallback for voice calls became digital 4G, no more analog 3G. Also, different providers use different frequencies.

1. VoLTE functions (15:54) Telecom Tutorial info, 2018. Pre-5G video provides history of 2G, 3G, 4G and thorough description of VoLTE services including important note that the provider may not enable VoLTE on all handsets. 11:00 particularly applied to me.
2. VoLTE functions turn/on off (6:52) Make Knowledge Free, 2021. Thorough description of ways to enable VoLTE, assuming provider, handset, SIM, and handset firmware are provisioned to do so.

part 1 - 4G begins to malfunction

I have a reliable 4G phone. In March, a T-Mobile store checked the device and said, "it will work after the July 5G rollout". In August however, 4G data was reliable, but the phone dropped voice calls. Obviously, the phone was attempting to switch voice traffic to analog 3G, which no longer existed.

1st diagnostic

I checked several screens, but will only repeat the most relevant one below

analysis

1. 4G data is not a problem in this phone. The 4G icon is illuminated in the upper right, and there had been no interruptions to texts or internet.
2. my device is probably white-listed by T-Mobile, just as the store clerk said.
3. Hardware is provisioned for VoLTE or the greyed out "VoLTE provisioned" switch would not be present

Given 1-3, the disfunction must either be the device's firmware, or the device's SIM card. If it's the SIM, T-Mobile can send me a VoLTE provisioned SIM. If it's firmware... I'm out of luck and will have to purchase a new device. The phone (though reliable) is an unlocked former Verizon phone with Verizon firmware. Verizon firmware is impossible to update through T-Mobile.

2nd diagnostic - t-mobile

I recorded the IMEI of the phone but, as we can see from the screenshot above, SIM numbers were not provided to the user in Android 7. I physically pulled the SIM to record the ICCID number. With the ICCID and IMEI, I opened a laptop, went to the T-Mobile website and intiated a text chat with a tech. He took the numbers and determined the problem was likely SIM provisioning. He orded a new SIM overnighted to me. It arrived 2 days later.

3rd diagnostic - SIM install

After installing the new SIM (see below), there's a 2 hour delay for T-Mobile to fully detect and provision it.

I waited 3 hours and resarted the phone twice, however the VoLTE option was still greyed-out as previously. Verified also that voice calls were dropping. SIM was no solution. Failure.

2nd analysis

The remaining unverified problem was firmware. We can see from the phone info that both baseband and system firmware are Verizon. If I'd had unlimited patience, I might have written Verizon to see if they had a more recent version that was VoLTE enabled -- there was nothing on their website which looked like a solution.

conclusion

Appears I need to purchase a 5G phone; the Verizon firmware limitation cannot apparently be remedied. Lesson: if buying a cheap unlocked phone, it's smart to purchase a device which was previously used on my current provider's network. Accordingly, I found a 5G OnePlus Nord 200 on Ebay for $130, unlocked from T-Mobile.

---

part 2 - related notes

Home: SIM installation (T-Mobile)

Home installation relies partly on one's online T-Mobile account. The old SIM needs to be operating to log-in (2FA) to that account, and a person must complete the SIM swap before the online account times-out. There's no way to 2FA back into the online account without the new SIM being registered. Here's what I needed:

• paper; copy down the new SIM number from the package
• a tool to quickly pop the SIM from the phone
• laptop to get on the T-Mobile website

1. login to T-Mobile. T-Mobile sends a 2FA text to my phone
2. Go to Account->Lines and Devices ->Change SIM.
3. Work fast before you're logged out.
   • turn-off the phone
   • pop-out old SIM and put in new SIM
   • power-on the phone (all kinds of error messages will appear -- disregard them)
4. enter the new SIM number in the box for it on website (laptop) and then "continue"
5. completion message appears
   
6. After about 20 minutes of the phone being inoperable, a text from T-Mobile arrived asking for new SIM verification.
7. re-establish accounts in phone. Most accounts (google play, voice, phone) are tied to a SIM card, not to a phone, so all of these accounts logged out and needed to be re-established.

Vendor: possible store visit

SIM config can only be done by the provider, so if the phone is still not properly registering in the network, take it to the provider. More about it here. Also the phone probably has to be registered for IMS, unlike 3G. And if a person has a perfectly configured 4G phone, the provider might also be banning that device model from the 5G network. With so many variables, it's good to be patient with oneself if a person eventually must visit the vendor shop.

VoLTE functions (23:15) Telecom Tutorial info, 2018. Pre-5G video provides in-depth PowerPoint of how 4G VoLTE connects from User Equipment(UE) with voice in an IP Multimedia System (IMS). Covers congested network scenarios also.

cell - motorola droid turbo2 - xt1585 4G

2024 Note: These can be used as WiFi Cams for video production. G Pure (xt2163) and G Play (xt2093) are updated versions of this phone with slightly stronger performance, but still without 5G; only VoLTE is available. Further, providers are no longer supporting these phones.

Need a new phone and not in the income category of an investment banker or a first responder? T-Mobile traditionally uses SIM cards (GSM)

These 2015 phones run about $60 on Ebay and have 32GB of storage for apps and storage, plus a person could add an SD storage card.The SD card goes in next to the SIM. The camera creates JPG pics, and handles low light reasonably well.

• outward facing phone: 5344 x 3006 (5M per pic)
• self-facing phone: is 2592x1458 (1.1M per pic)
• video: 1920x1080, h264 high, 17,000kbs. (1M per second).
• processor: Snapdragon 805, Krait 450 chipset
• battery: a 3550 mAh lithium-poly battery (see below).

Battery FB55

tools: spudger and micro spudgers, torx t3

The phone seems to go about 2 years on a battery. Replacement battery is $10 delivered. They're not easy to access. It's about a one hour job, at a slow pace. Seventeen micro TORX screws. That's 17 chances to strip one. Keep downward pressure on the tool.

The little ribbon cable on the lower right is key. Some I've ordered arrive *without* enough length on that connector and are thus worthless.

Battery Replacement (2:12) Wit Rigs, 2016. by far the best video. All others go unnecessarily further. It's bad enough: the 17 x T3 screws cannot be avoided.

VoLTE status

We want to use the phone in LTE mode for fastest data and solid voice connection. The phone will otherwise default to GSM voice and EDGE data. This way we can talk on 3G and still text on EDGE simultaneously. But these are 3G type functions, so once providers sunset 3G in 2022, their will be no way to use voice and data at the same time, or GSM voice at all. We need LTE. How to ensure the phone is set for it?

I installed the Hidden Android Settings app. It doesn't require root b/c it doesn't have special functions. What it does is give quick access to functions which typically require menu after to menu to locate.

For LTE, I went into RadioInfo, then found the screen you see below. Although it appears relevant, just ignore the "Volte Provisioned" slider. Go instead to the drop-down arrow. There's 20+ options. I selected "LTE/CDMA/UMTS auto (PRL)". As you can see this resulted in both my Voice and Data Network types switching to LTE. For me, this is good enough

old cell phones for webcams (usb, wifi)

Links: Android Partitions :: Arch Android tools :: xda F3Q
xda xiaomi redmi2 :: xiaomi community :: more flashboot commands

NB: check out updated 2022 version

---

Overview

Two main layers of software function:

• system video is of course displayed on a laptop or screen. Several layers of internal software must accomodate webcams.
  1. The kernel should detect the video source
  2. software like V4L2 should be able to transport detected video.
  3. software like ffplay or OBS with ftl can then display transported video.
• phone configuration software, typically fastboot, usually has many poorly documented model-specific functions. Still, it's a necessary step because the phone webcam is not a stand-alone camera, but functioning within phone firmware.

The handshake is the trickier, more time-consuming project. Yet the handshake tends to be low maintenance, once established. When configured properly, the phone cam should be detected like any other cam by the kernel. We'll start with USB access into the phone to configure it; following configuration, the phone cam can connect via WiFi or via USB.

phone powerup

Rooting a phone typically compromises its camera commands and degrades resolution. To avoid rooting the phone, we want to set Android into developer mode with USB bugging turned-on. Then we can connect via USB and authorize an ADB program. Once that's in, we can get to the phone's cam.

Most Androids can initialize in several modes. We want them in either ADB mode or Fastboot mode. Another site about this. The F3 and one of the F3Q's powered into fastboot mode (more fastboot commands), and still did not boot after a hardware reset. Good article here and it's important to know the Android partion names.

Even with correct fastboot syntatx....

# pacman -Syu android-tools
# fastboot oem unlock
OKAY [ 0.291s]
Finished. Total time: 0.291s
# fastboot erase boot
Erasing 'boot' FAILED (remote: 'failed to erase partition')
fastboot: error: Command failed
# fastboot format boot
fastboot: error: Formatting is not supported for file system with type ''.

It was a weekend long process to simply boot one of these phones into operation as a webcam

Note also that the adb commands were inoperative with all the phones, eg # adb devices produced nothing. Eventually, adb kill-server was run. Back to flashboot and determining the proper flags for it.

xioami tools

All three devices have Xiaomi inside. There's a good Xiaomi tool, xiaomi-adb-fastboot-tools, in the AUR. It runs on Java and needs the JRE...

$ yay -S xiaomi-adb-fastboot-tools

Sometimes this worked, but it failed to compile on boxes with the newest version of Java. On systems which it did compile, I couldn't find the executable.

$ which xioami*

...returned nothing. A Redditor helped me out...

$ pacman -Qql "$pkg_name" | while read fn; do [[ -x $fn && -f $fn ]] && echo "$fn"; done

...which returned...

Phones

One LG F3 and two LG F3Q's were available. All 3 were Jellybean (4.12), with 5MP cameras.

BTW, no idea why these 2 fastbooted, I hadn't tried to root or tamper with the devices. The 3rd phone booted normally, but since I had moved my SIM into my active phone, I could only connect by WiFi without Google Play store. How then to download webcam apps? Ultimately, without being able to boot the phone nor get access to Google Play, the unfortunate reality seemed rooting the two unbootables. They may also have had some sort of Factory Reset Protection (FRP), not sure.

Xiaomi sidenote

Xiaomi is the phone's cell xponder manf. It's actually a Qualcomm SnapDragon 410E. The phones I used were all Redmi 2, presumably with wt88047 hardware. When a phone powers into fastboot, lsusb provides the phone's internal manufacturer ID instead of the LG phone ID. For example, below you'll see the bootable F3Q displayed a charging identifier, but the F3Q that powered into fastboot displayed the 18d1:d00d Xiaomi Redmi 2 hardware identifier. Xiaomi itself produces some ROM's; their site is worthy of research also.

LG Optimus F3Q D520 (lg-d520)

$ lsusb
1004:6300 LG Electronics, Inc. G2/Optimus Android Phone [Charge mode]
1004:632c LG Electronics, Inc. LGE Android Phone [MTP files]
1004:631e LG Electronics, Inc. LM-X420xxx/G2/Optimus Android Phone (PTP/camera mode)
18d1:d00d Google Inc. Xiaomi Mi/Redmi 2 (fastboot)

5MP HDMI autofocus, Snapdragon 400, Android 4.12 (Jellybean). Only 1.3GB internal but takes a 32GB microSD

files
stock for the F3Q (d520) D52010c_00.kdz	factory firmware (ZIP or KDZ), flashed to "boot". aka ROM.
stock for the F3 (p659) P65910b_05.kdz	factory firmware (ZIP or KDZ), flashed to "boot". aka ROM.
structure/workflow	factory image (always IMG) for the device
color balance	application (always APK) to root
crossfade	slideshow complex! use a GUI app
de-interlace	watermark
gif

LG Optimus F3 (lg-p659)

$ lsusb
18d1:d00d Google Inc. Xiaomi Mi/Redmi 2 (fastboot)

5MP HDMI autofocus, Snapdragon 400, Android 4.12 (Jellybean). Only 1.3GB internal but takes a 32GB microSD

Fastboot Process

YES

fastboot oem device-info
fastboot getvar product
    product: FX3Q_TMO_US
    product: FX3_TMUS
fastboot continue

NOPE

fastboot erase boot
fastboot flashing unlock_critical

failed f3q hard reset

The first pass at restoring factory failed with the message...

Secure booting error!
Cause: boot certificate verify

errors

• partion table doesn't exist :: command: fastboot erase data Valuable response also helping with directory names.
• Error2: Failure sending erase group start command to the card (RCA:2) :: command: fastboot erase recovery

Card RCA:2

This card was nearly continually in failures

# fastboot continue
[phone] Error No. 2: Failure sending read command to the Card (RCA:2)

One site had a theory about why recovery writes fail having to do with multiple bootloader slots. My phones though....

# fastboot --set-active=a
fastboot: error: Device does not support slots
# fastboot getvar slot-count
slot-count:

ADB Process

ADB mode is less important than Fastboot mode, but problems in Fastboot can sometimes be solved by having a proper ADB capability. So it can be worth it. The commands are different from Fastboot. Also, you might even have to manually make Plugdev rules for the damned thing. If you can see it in lsusb, you have a chance.

YES

adb start-server
adb kill-server
adb logcat
adb devices
fastboot continue

NOPE

fastboot erase boot
fastboot flashing unlock_critical

failed f3q hard reset

The first pass at restoring factory failed with the message...

Secure booting error!
Cause: boot certificate verify

errors

• partion table doesn't exist :: command: fastboot erase data Valuable response also helping with directory names.
• Error2: Failure sending erase group start command to the card (RCA:2) :: command: fastboot erase recovery

plugdev group

I want to add a system group

# groupadd -r plugdev

, add myself to it, and then also of course make a rule...

# nano /etc/udev/rules.d/51-android.rules

. The rule is described well here.

SD/USB boot

Site describes how to unbrick using the EMMC method, special software. It appears however this method requires also converting the KDZ file into BIN files for the software. A pain.

A33 Unbrick with SD Card (8:09) Kiko Dog, 2015. Requires special program to burn the OS onto the SD card.

mods and apps on an old F3/F3Q

$40-55 (+16 hrs if unfamiliar with concepts below)

This year, first-responders begin receiving ATT cellular devices operating on the FirstNet secure, priority, communication network, and all for free. The average citizen brings home several times less than first-responders, and can expect to pay $300-400 (and up), for a phone, as well as another $70 per month for an unsecured, questionably reliable service plan. If a citizen is lower-income, say an educator or a student, elderly fixed income, etc, even the device price becomes out of reach, not to mention phone plans. This post suggests one workaround for the device price, though it requires some work, perhaps 8 hrs worth. The service plan issue cannot be solved without massive PUC intervention. Good luck on that.

---

As I write (2018), excellent condition, legally unlocked, T-Mobile LG F3 and F3Q Android phones can be purchased for $40. The phones operate NFC, Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS. Screen size is 800x480 WVGA, and it records in HD 1280x720. F3/F3Q's contain a 3.5mm headphone jack and natively play MP3's.

Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) phones such as the F3 or F3Q, or later, accommodate micro memory cards (SDHC's) up to 32GB(29.7 usable). 32GB U1 micro-SDHC's run ~ $11 (2018)¹. If we root the phone, we can configure the memory card to reliably run all recent apps (Uber, Slack, whatever). So far, we're at $51, and there's an additional $4 app below, though a person can also get-by with the free version. They also might have a spare micro-SDHC available, keeping the cost to just the unlocked phone.

root and mod (20 mins to root)

Rooting doesn't unlock a phone, yet a phone must be unlocked to properly root it. Accordingly, I purchase unlocked phones or take them to my service plan provider to unlock. Once unlocked, the rooting process will provide much greater freedom inside the phone's Android OS. For example, rooting give apps such as Apps2SDPro ($4)² the authority to move other apps onto the micro-SDHC card. This frees up memory inside the phone. Further efficiency can be gained by modding or replacing the Android OS itself. A stock-based, or custom ROM is needed. Modding has benefits and drawbacks (see below), whereas rooting the phone is entirely positive.

For the phone here (F3/F3Q), two types of root software can be used: earlier release F3's have a software version prior to "c", and can be rooted with motochopper or Saferoot. Software version "c" or later phones can be rooted with Saferoot (installs a free version of SuperSu ADB). Again, Phones are not unlocked by simple rooting.

Here were the Linux rooting steps I used (Note: Windows users can Google and install the saferoot EXE; the second and third bullet points below still apply):

• install/verify lib32-ncurses, since older ncurses5 emulation is required for these rooting programs from 2014. You might need the PGP key from here.

  # pacman-key --populate archlinux
  # pacman -S multilib-devel lib32-glibc
  $ yaourt lib32-ncurses5-compat-lib

  It still barked at me about keyring, so I knew gpg (runs at user level) was hung and I just did a # pacman -U [localfile and location] on the file made by yaourt.
• in the phone, verify USB debugging is on (Settings -> Developer Options)
• connect phone via USB
• in the phone, cd to saferoot directory containing install.sh, or motochopper directory containing run.sh. Verify the files, along with any associated BAT, ADB, PWN, etc. files, all have 755 permissions.
• from the PC,

  $ ./install.sh

• I answered "y" to installing BusyBox during the root process. It's an old small version.
• reboot phone and look for SuperSu app in Apps

troubleshoot/saferoot
If the the PWN binary fails (the actual rooting portion), yet the phone reboots OK and you see a Superuser app, then saferoot (or motochopper) and your USB configuration are working well and haven't damaged the phone. The PWN binary is likely outdated. Remove the Superuser app and run a newer version of Saferoot. This Saferoot post includes a phone compatibility list.

Nota bene: Rooting should, should provide no risk of losing MMS, phone, contacts, etc. Saferoot went smoothly and I was also able to quickly install Apps2SDPro from the Google store and move bulky app, including their data and libraries, to the microSD card. A mod/ROM, however, is a further step than a root; it's an actual OS modification. Before a person tries a ROM, they'll likely want the capacity to bring the phone back to factory specs if things go haywire. OK, on with the post-root work.

phone apps

I considered these 3 the core rooting apps, and didn't move them to the SDHC. Around 40Mb total, and used concurrently, they provide the ability to free 100's of MB's used by other apps. All are available in the Google Play Store.

Apps2SDPro (28Mb)	$4	Allows partitioning and automatically sets-up 2nd partition for extra system memory for linking moving. Don't link/move the ADB app (eg. SuperSu), but most others can link or move. Trial and error.
SuperSu (7Mb)	--	Free version runs a sufficient ADB, but can pay $2 for one with a few more features. Saferoot installed an older version via the USB cable, then it easily upgraded via Google Play
Trimmer (5Mb)	--	Free, works quickly on the NAND to delete orphans. Very useful and no ads or nags.

making memory space (5 mins)

Using Apps2SD, I planned to reserve 20GB for Android space (apps) and retain 9GB for photo files, etc. Files storage is VFAT, and I've read that Android uses ext4. During the Apps2SD setup (left, click to enlarge), I learned the 2nd partition would automatically be formatted ext4 and mounted as phone memory. I used the blue slider to select about 9GB of FAT32 for photos/files, entered 800MB for swap, and hit the thumbs-up for the partitions to be created. All three virtual drives were created smoothly.³

custom ROM

I have had such good results with rooting and three apps above, that I'm not sure I'll ever mod the OS until entirely bored. Modding runs risks for losing the phone's "data connection" (necessary for MMS pic send/receive), phone quality, and battery life. Modified stock ROMs, as opposed to full custom ROM's, usually have better camera quality. There's some talk about that here. Also discussed is the need for running Trimmer as all these customs apparently begin to lose speed. However, if I do ever mod the phone, I will finish this portion of the post, or do a new post on the topic.

---

¹ The phone's highest video recording resolution is 16:9 HD:1280x720, so this is the reason we can get away with less expensive U1-SDHC's. Incidentally, the phone records at 1280x720, but the screen is 5:3 WVGA -- 800x480. That means video playback on the device, YouTube/Netflix are at 480p, small but clear.
² Apps2SDPro is an entire suite of tools, for example it includes a partition manager for setting up the SDHC card.
³ If the card is removed, can it be re-linked to the apps? Complex unmounting/remounting steps might be necessary if one removes the micro-SD from the phone.

ffmpeg - phone size

Links: volume post   general howto   random settings  

---

Mp4's and flv's are our friends, cell-phone sized (320x240 generic, 432x320 iPhone) viewables. Trick with ffmpeg is getting them there without pixellation and the right volume settings. This entry is just a collection of transcoding settings I've played with. There are plenty of good howto's out there forum information.

audio :: volume and sync

Sometimes .flv files are the correct size but with sync or volume inconsistencies. Resampling to keep volume the same is done by leaving off volume settings, or using the default setting of -vol 256. Going to 512 will double it, and I've found that 768 works well if the original sound is faint. So, to resample with an increase in volume:

$ ffmpeg -i somefile.flv -vol 512 -acodec libfaac someout.flv

I find specifying "libfaac" avoids libmp3 and its playback oddities. Increases the output file size by maybe 10 percent, say from 5.8M to 5.9M, but stable playback.

video :: pixellation

I think the pixellation that occurs shrinking videos is if the pixel size stays the same size as it was for the larger version. Also, 2 pass encoding is probably the best, sending the first pass to null, and turning off the audio ("an") and video (-y /dev/null)

$ ffmpeg somefile.avi -pass 1 -f rawvideo -y /dev/null -an

moto V3 - linux

Links:  p2kmoto source      moto4lin source

---

My old HTC G1 was recently ripped-off at work and I didn't want to purchase a G2X, so it had me thinking. First I thought I'd pay the $120 insurance deductible and get a replacement G1 to take me to whenever I made a decision. Second though, I had an old V3 (device code ID 22b8:4901) sitting in a drawer -- why not activate it and see if I could live with WAP and a non-QWERTY keypad until I decided? Meanwhile, see if 2011 Linux access was enough to save contacts and photos.

activation - 10 minutes plus driving time

My G1 was T-Mobile, and I had served the two year plan. The V3 was a Cingular phone and I had also served the Cingular contract prior to switching to T-Mobile G1 in 2008. Before I switched to T-Mobile, I went to the Cingular store (by then, AT&T) and they gave me the unlock code for the V3. I never used the code, so I brought it with me to the T-Mobile store last week with the old V3. At the T-Mobile store, a dude put in a new SIM and entered the code. The V3 fired right up. He switched the V3 onto the plan I had for the G1, and away I went. I sat in the parking lot and messed with the text and the WAP for awhile, and it seemed to work. It was a blast from the past.

PC connection - a few hours

The part of the experiment Googling around for Linux access to Motorolas was uninspiring. It appeared the likely candidates were p2kmoto and moto4linux. These two pieces work together. Available at the links at the top of the page.

Compile and install p2kmoto, which puts in libp2kmoto, and the CLI executable p2ktest. Then, hook-up the phone (it takes a micro-USB cable) and run # p2ktest to see if it's connecting in the right ways. I first ran # udevmonitor to be sure that HAL was doing the right things with the phone; also double-checked with # lsusb. All was good.

Next compile and install moto4linux. The moto4linux is run simply as user, but it won't find the phone. So the order is:

# p2ktest
$ moto4linux

The above two commands are all that are needed to manage phone access and files. P2ktest apparently finds and opens the phone for access; moto4linux then does the file management. It (moto4linux) opens a GUI, so it's cut and pasty.

WAP access - ongoing

spring 2011 - celly status

I ultimately grabbed a T-Mobile G1 around the time I wrote a cell status blog entry in 2008. I've been very happy with the phone and service. Currently, the plan's been paid since October of last year. T-Mobile unlocked the G1 and I've been considering a newer phone recently. I like T-Mobile service.

But since 2008, I'm amazed at how significantly the landscape for considering a phone and service plan has changed. Stated simply, the Android G1 was a huge financial success and I hope Google can weather all of the lawsuits that appear to come with success in America these days.

In my view, the success of Android/G1 was that it combined good HTC hardware with an excellent software scenario (for a 2008 phone). Android had some lockdowns, but compared to the garbage software in Windows phones, it was a different universe. The G1's only real competitor was the iPhone and, in that contest, the G1 also arguably carried an advantage. The Apple iPhone has proprietary lockdowns on its software and charged for most applications. Conversely, the G1/Android allowed open-source Android application development. This meant random developers created thousands of apps, many of them free. One could download these directly through the Google Market. Android continues to grow in relevance and anyone, eg you, can create an Android application.

Below are my upgrade considerations of provider and hardware/software, but I'll also skip to the chase here and note that the T-Mobile G2 is my decision. Here is a reasonable video review of the phone. (11:44)

provider

I consider T-Mobile a customer-friendly and fair-priced cell service. Also T-Mobile is one of the two major US providers (T-Mobile, ATT) who's cell technology is moving from WCMDA to HSPA+. Phones with the WCDMA (legacy GSM) protocol can also be used in Europe. When traveling to Europe, just purchase a plan and a SIM upon arrival - no need to purchase another phone. That said, in the longer run, it appears both the US and Europe will eventually migrate to LTE, and this will likely be a standard across all of the big 4 carriers (Sprint, Verizon, ATT, T-Mobile).

provider legal
ATT :: ATT is the licensed US provider of the iPhone. They must have noted that many potential iPhone/ATT customers turned instead to the reasonable pricing and customer service package of G1/T-Mobile. In response, ATT has apparently been unable or unwilling to compete. Instead, ATT appears poised to buy T-Mobile. Following the purchase, ATT can simply raise the lower rates of T-Mobile customers to ATT rates, and needn't improve ATT customer-service or service plans. Very discouraging, and I hope this purchase does not pass FCC/DoJ muster. ATT would have both iPhone and Android phone accounts, as well as any WCDMA phone, and all without competition in pricing.

hardware/software

Looking at Android phones, currently, the interesting processors are the Qualcomm Snapdragon and the Hummingbird, both of which are ARM Cortex A8 cores. The Hummingbird is faster, but HTC chose to produce the G2 with the 800 MHz Snapdragon. However, even though Hummingbird would have been preferable, the G2 runs Android OS 2.2 Froyo, which is optimized. In benchmarks, the G2 running the Snapdragon with Froyo appears to be faster than other phones running the Hummingbird. This may be in part to the G2's GPU. Whatever the reason for its performance, I'm pleased with the G2's second generation.

The G2 ships with about 1.2GB available internal memory, and an 8GB SD card (can take up to a 32GB sd card). Since it's running 2.2, applications can be saved to the SD card. There's a 5 megapixel camera, and it takes 720P video.

hardware/software legal
Oracle :: Following Google/Android's success, Oracle decided to buy Sun-Java in 2010. Initially, this seemed odd, since it only seemed to provide Oracle with some relatively unprofitable IP rights to Java, Open-Office, and MySQL. It turns out that the Android OS arguably uses a portion of Java not perfectly protected by Google's previous release agreement with Sun-Java. Oracle was thereby immediately able to sue Google for remedies ($$$) under US software patent laws. Little need to wonder why Oracle purchased Sun-Java.

Microsoft :: Current US software patent law also apparently allows preemptive coercive strikes. Microsoft attorneys recently found a way to make the G1's hardware manufacturer, HTC, pay licensing fees to Microsoft. This was so that HTC, which uses no Microsoft software, could continue to build Google's phones without risking legal harrassment from Microsoft. Microsoft seems to argue these days that the entirety of open-source software is ultimately based on Microsoft's code. This has never been proven anywhere, but who can afford to take on Microsoft legal gunslingers? Cheaper to just pay the license.

Apple :: Apple simply decided the best strategy was to sue HTC. Apple appears to claim G1 technology really belongs to Apple. Give me a break.

summary

Taken together then, HTC is being sued (by Apple) for what it does produce, and being legally pressured for what it doesn't produce (by Microsoft). Meanwhile, Oracle is suing Google, and ATT is attempting to buy out T-Mobile. God help organizations that attempt to innovate and produce a successful product in today's America. I will buy the G2 just to help HTC and Google's legal defense funds, if for no other reason. The G1 was a great phone and the litigation is about greed, not about commonly held views of justice.

fall 2008 - celly status

I've waited a while for new cell service. For several years I've run a Motorola V3 on Cingular -> SBC -> ATT service. In other words, I've used a basic second generation (2G) cellphone with 2G service. When I selected a 2G provider several years ago, I selected the GSM (ATT) version of 2G over the CDMA (eg. Metro PCS/Verizon) version of 2G because GSM is prevalent in Europe. When visiting Europe, I use my Motorola V3 relatively cheaply by purchasing a European plan with a SIM and swapping out my US SIM. Further, in the US, GSM phones hold about 75% of the market share.

3G

Last year, the iPhone debuted, the first interesting third generation (3G) device, at least in my opinion. I've since watched the developments around 3G data/voice with the idea of jumping-in at the right moment. The types of service are somewhat complex and I made a little chart (click to enlarge) for this blog entry, simplifying what I understood about these services:

I assume like most people, the reason I'm migrating to 3G is web and phone access in a single device. Until the iPhone, a person needed a (bulky) laptop for that level of service. I considered an iPhone when they first appeared last year but the iPhone seemed too outrageously priced for the product and services package. More recently, I noticed Sprint "Wi-Max" (CDMA-2000 service) was scheduled for availability in August of 2008 on Nokia phones. That was interesting but, upon researching further, WCDMA devices look like a better choice than Wi-Max devices. WCDMA succeeds GSM (see chart above) and accordingly are backwards-compatible with GSM. That plays a role when traveling to Europe where cell phone service exists at different stages of development in different regions. Having a phone that is backwards-compatibile with European (2G GSM) networks makes it possible to travel there with less phone hassles. I set my mind to finding WCDMA service.

3G drawbacks

As seen in the chart above, there are two versions of 3G, WCDMA (formerly GSM) and CDMA-2000 (formerly CDMA). If I understand correctly, geo-locating in the CDMA branch used GPS from the start. GSM users, on the other hand, turned-off their phone to have locational privacy, and had to be triangulated via cell towers when their phones were turned-on. Stated otherwise, it's beneficial for security agencies if the public migrates to CDMA. Luckily for them, the data transfer requirements of 3G require the transmission style of CDMA. Accordingly, as GSM providers attempt to provide 3G on previous GSM networks, GSM phones will have to morph into a version of CDMA phones for 3G availability. This means a degree of privacy reduction for GSM users. Secondly, although CDMA has a single advantage - it can manage more users - battery life suffers for managing this transmission methodology. Finally, Qualcomm holds the patents for both forms of 3G (WCDMA and CDMA-2000). Qualcomm is an American company, and we may assume their chips integrate CALEA backdoors or other monitoring options. Any backdoor is subject to exploits and so can be considered a privacy drop. All told, our initial 3G phones would appear to suggest decreased privacy in at least two ways, and decreased battery life.

TMobile

TMobile, the American wing of Deutsche Telekom, is of interest to me as a 3G provider. They currently sell both 2G GSM and 3G WCDMA service in the US, and are rolling out WCDMA in more and more cities. In the Bay Area, TMobile already (10/2008) has 3G, The phone which interests me, the G1 phone, uses a SIM and is backwards-compatible to 2G GSM networks. According to one or two sites I've seen, the price is $199 via a pre-order that arrives Fed Ex by Nov 10. It requires a 2 year contract that appears to be $89 a month for 3G voice and data service. If that's correct, it's a significant improvement over iPhone prices plus G1 software (Android OS) is supposedly open-source in cooperation with Google. Pre-order link: http://www.t-mobileg1.com/