Hello, my name is Benjamin, currently a undergraduate student that has gotten very interested in electronics the past couple of months. 21 years of age.
I don't have excessive amounts of money to buy nice toys with or to experiment with, but I was hoping that I could gather wealth and buy an unlocked smart-phone, cheap.
I don't have extensive experience, but I really want to learn from this awesome community. I have been skimming threads and reading, researching and, finally I decided to stop lurking and come out in the clear and introduce myself. I admire the hard work of the seniors, veterans, juniors, semi-pros and other awesome people that think around problems on this board. Thank you already.
I have started hobby-programing python and perl, I have an unreasonable fear of Java, but will hopefully be able to start playing with it if I eventually do get that smart-phone.
So my problem right now is that I don't have a fun little device to play with, could anyone recommend a device that is:
Not crazy expensive
Will be able to connect to Wi-fi network
Will be able to run GV to be used as a VOIP phone
Unlocked and ready to be changed
Easy to access and play around with
Simply, I don't necessarily need it to keep a constant connectivity, just a small computer to toy with.
There are many approaches to the smart-phone idea right now, and your board has been very helpful, I just need a last nudge.
Sorry for the lengthy post, just wanted to introduce myself, and not be lurking anymore. I will try to keep annoying questions to a minimum.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
<3
cheap smartphone(thats actually worth somthing) translates to hd2 on xda ... they go from $200-220 on ebay , good cond . anything lesser of a price ull only get 600mhz , non-cortex phones(garbage) it has wp7 android ubuntu one day maybe meego for it
Hello XDA, it's been a long time since I was truly active in these or any forums because life and reality provided an unintended distraction and then the pandemic. I find myself with a bit more time where I need a necessary diversion from reality and this forum has always provided this nerd with a world-wide community of nerds who really and truly know their ****. I have social networking friends that I follow, that I met through here and other technology forums that I have been friends with now for almost twenty years. I'm sure that how we met is irrelevant to many of them since we interact more about our day to day lives then the nerding out we did here in the forums. See, as a nerd, making real world friends was always difficult, but here, at XDA with my G1000 from Hitachi, one of the first-ever smart-phone, with a keyboard and a screen running Windows Mobile. I came here looking for a way to back-up my sms and call log to Microsoft Outlook and some genius had figured out a way to do it. I then had three different HTC Windows Mobile devices and XDA let me do amazing things with them.
Then, because I got suckered in to Sprint!, I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy SII Touch or something ridiculous like that and it had so many issues out if the box but 2ss an amazing device. XDA was like High School and this is where you went from teen hacker wannabe to legit 1337 skills by rooting and then installing custom roms. The addiction to that thrill of knowing that a mistake, zigging when you're supposed to zag or skipping a step, rushing and missing something could spell disaster. I dropped a phone while installing a rom and the device boot-looped hard. Not to worry, XDA was here and someone else had done something similar, there was an entire forum thread devoted to all the people who had face-planted the rooting, rom or other process and lobotomized their Android device.
I still occasionally peruse the forums, lurking and liking and once in a while, replying. I just wanted to stop by and thank you for what seems like 17 or 18 years if amazing things. By you, I mean the people who run the forums behind the scenes at all levels and the moderators that keep the law and order necessary to thrive and function and you the users who's knowledge and other contributions are why we are here in these forums, from the creators to their guinea pigs to every other lurker like me. Thanks.
Blu3Fr0g said:
Hello XDA, it's been a long time since I was truly active in these or any forums because life and reality provided an unintended distraction and then the pandemic. I find myself with a bit more time where I need a necessary diversion from reality and this forum has always provided this nerd with a world-wide community of nerds who really and truly know their ****. I have social networking friends that I follow, that I met through here and other technology forums that I have been friends with now for almost twenty years. I'm sure that how we met is irrelevant to many of them since we interact more about our day to day lives then the nerding out we did here in the forums. See, as a nerd, making real world friends was always difficult, but here, at XDA with my G1000 from Hitachi, one of the first-ever smart-phone, with a keyboard and a screen running Windows Mobile. I came here looking for a way to back-up my sms and call log to Microsoft Outlook and some genius had figured out a way to do it. I then had three different HTC Windows Mobile devices and XDA let me do amazing things with them.
Then, because I got suckered in to Sprint!, I upgraded to a Samsung Galaxy SII Touch or something ridiculous like that and it had so many issues out if the box but 2ss an amazing device. XDA was like High School and this is where you went from teen hacker wannabe to legit 1337 skills by rooting and then installing custom roms. The addiction to that thrill of knowing that a mistake, zigging when you're supposed to zag or skipping a step, rushing and missing something could spell disaster. I dropped a phone while installing a rom and the device boot-looped hard. Not to worry, XDA was here and someone else had done something similar, there was an entire forum thread devoted to all the people who had face-planted the rooting, rom or other process and lobotomized their Android device.
I still occasionally peruse the forums, lurking and liking and once in a while, replying. I just wanted to stop by and thank you for what seems like 17 or 18 years if amazing things. By you, I mean the people who run the forums behind the scenes at all levels and the moderators that keep the law and order necessary to thrive and function and you the users who's knowledge and other contributions are why we are here in these forums, from the creators to their guinea pigs to every other lurker like me. Thanks.
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Glad to see an old timer around!
HTC was my fav brand for many many years....
Hope to see ya around.
Cheers!
Hey there! I'm krassygnoll and I've been lurking for a little over a decade. As someone who tends to stay pretty private, I try to not make too much noise online. With that said, after attending some cybersec conferences and working in the business world it came to my attention that I need to socialize a bit more. So, after reading up on how to root my old kindle 3rd gen, I realized I needed to finally make an account to get the right tooling.
In high school iPhones were starting to get popular as well as phones like the original RAZR or Juke. I learned about this site from friends of mine who were trying real hard to theme their phones and brag about free apps they found. I instead spent my time breaking Windows and learning Ubuntu. As a tech enthusiast I tend to get excited and hack on or break anything new that I get my hands on, which lends well to my current goal of developing more secure IOT products (because most are terrible).
With that said, I have a rooted LG V30 I use as my daily driver, but it is starting to get long in the tooth. Looking at the f(x)tec Pro 1-X for a replacement, but trying to hold off for now. I've rooted some Shield TV's, an HTC Desire Eye (old phone), and some other basic phones for friends and family. I couldn't have done any of it without this forum, so thank you all so much.
With all that said, I'm happy to be here and will try to stay out in the sun instead of retreating back under my bridge.
I think I lurked XDA for 3 years before finally joining in on the conversation. Welcome!
I've been following the guides on here off and on since the Galaxy S3. A long time. Only recently though, I've gotten much deeper into Linux and foss, and I'm really humbled by it all. One year ago I switched fully to Linux on the PC, and in the initial excitement I decided to get into custom Roms again. The details aren't that interesting, I'm sure plenty out there can relate. It was so frustrating at times that I'm surprised I stuck with it, because after I made it over enough hurdles, there was no way I could give up on open source. This site is now one of the places I check before buying hardware.
But more importantly than gadgets, I've often seen a spirit of collaboration and unselfishness in communities like this one that just don't see that much man. And if you'd only kind of dipped your toes in and out of tech the way I have these last ten years, you'd know that the changes and improvements in open source are shocking. I am writing this on a 6 year old tablet that works better than my new one does on stock. This last year I finally noticed how much time and effort some you must be putting into this. I swear, some of these devices are getting better, more consistent support here, in their individual forums, than what massive company phone banks could ever provide. Again, thank you for everything. I know I can get kind of long winded.
I wish I could list even one awesome coding skill to contribute to XDA, but the truth is the other way around - it's the developers here who've been contributing to me for the past several years as I've struggled to navigate the ever-winding road of Android. I came here completely green, not a single line of code to call mine, and had to look up every other word in the posts, only to have to look up the words in the definitions as well.
I remember that time very well, as I was armed with the new Nexus 5 Hammerhead running KitKat 4.4.4, and all I wanted to do more than anything in the world was this really cool thing I'd heard about called 'rooting.' Didn't even know what I could do with a rooted phone back then, especially since it was my very first smartphone. And somehow, some way, with the help of the posts here on XDA, I managed to gain root privileges on my first try. Bragging rights? Nah. Not until it's revealed that it only took me 3 weeks of delving my phone's deepest corners before finally discovering this amazing secret where anything I deleted instead got doubled, which allowed me to finally achieve the world record of filling up a phone's memory with useless data faster than The Competitor could get hit with planned obsolescence lawsuits. Now that's fast, indeed.
On a more serious note, there has actually been one question I've seen posted recently that I realized I could have easily helped someone with, had I an account here. Thus, what you see before you. Of course it will probably turn out to be the only question I'll come across here that I can answer, but someone needs me the way I've needed you and if I could help even just one person, then here I go...
XDA-Padawan said:
I wish I could list even one awesome coding skill to contribute to XDA, but the truth is the other way around - it's the developers here who've been contributing to me for the past several years as I've struggled to navigate the ever-winding road of Android. I came here completely green, not a single line of code to call mine, and had to look up every other word in the posts, only to have to look up the words in the definitions as well.
I remember that time very well, as I was armed with the new Nexus 5 Hammerhead running KitKat 4.4.4, and all I wanted to do more than anything in the world was this really cool thing I'd heard about called 'rooting.' Didn't even know what I could do with a rooted phone back then, especially since it was my very first smartphone. And somehow, some way, with the help of the posts here on XDA, I managed to gain root privileges on my first try. Bragging rights? Nah. Not until it's revealed that it only took me 3 weeks of delving my phone's deepest corners before finally discovering this amazing secret where anything I deleted instead got doubled, which allowed me to finally achieve the world record of filling up a phone's memory with useless data faster than The Competitor could get hit with planned obsolescence lawsuits. Now that's fast, indeed.
On a more serious note, there has actually been one question I've seen posted recently that I realized I could have easily helped someone with, had I an account here. Thus, what you see before you. Of course it will probably turn out to be the only question I'll come across here that I can answer, but someone needs me the way I've needed you and if I could help even just one person, then here I go...
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Nice intro!
welcome to XDA
Thank you, I mean it. (Bashfully looks down, hands clasped behind back, toeing ground...) This is the first time in my life I've ever signed up to be a part of something bigger than myself, there isn't a lot out there that can really keep drawing me back, time and time again. Now if I can just find that Thanks button I just read about, I won't have to take up so much space on the servers each time I want to show my gratitude.....
XDA-Padawan said:
I wish I could list even one awesome coding skill to contribute to XDA, but the truth is the other way around - it's the developers here who've been contributing to me for the past several years as I've struggled to navigate the ever-winding road of Android. I came here completely green, not a single line of code to call mine, and had to look up every other word in the posts, only to have to look up the words in the definitions as well.
I remember that time very well, as I was armed with the new Nexus 5 Hammerhead running KitKat 4.4.4, and all I wanted to do more than anything in the world was this really cool thing I'd heard about called 'rooting.' Didn't even know what I could do with a rooted phone back then, especially since it was my very first smartphone. And somehow, some way, with the help of the posts here on XDA, I managed to gain root privileges on my first try. Bragging rights? Nah. Not until it's revealed that it only took me 3 weeks of delving my phone's deepest corners before finally discovering this amazing secret where anything I deleted instead got doubled, which allowed me to finally achieve the world record of filling up a phone's memory with useless data faster than The Competitor could get hit with planned obsolescence lawsuits. Now that's fast, indeed.
On a more serious note, there has actually been one question I've seen posted recently that I realized I could have easily helped someone with, had I an account here. Thus, what you see before you. Of course it will probably turn out to be the only question I'll come across here that I can answer, but someone needs me the way I've needed you and if I could help even just one person, then here I go...
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Click to collapse
what a great intro, welcome to eh world of "rooting" which in australia, means..... well, il let you look that up lol (i had fun over there when i explained to people i "rooted" my phone,)
we all have to start somewhere, like that advert on tv the woman asks "how do i hdmi a pdf" rofl , youve come to the right place to want to learn, im no expert but if you ever need a hand with anything your more than welcome to hmu
gav83collins said:
what a great intro, welcome to eh world of "rooting" which in australia, means..... well, il let you look that up lol (i had fun over there when i explained to people i "rooted" my phone,)
we all have to start somewhere, like that advert on tv the woman asks "how do i hdmi a pdf" rofl , youve come to the right place to want to learn, im no expert but if you ever need a hand with anything your more than welcome to hmu
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You actually made me laugh out loud with that one. Thanks I needed that! I'll certainly consider hitting you up the next time I need help, which is, on average, every 6.2 seconds. Now if that lady does ever figure out how to hdmi a pdf, she would be a Jedi Master, indeed, and we may both end up learning at her feet. Thanks again and likewise if you want to holler and maybe learn how to brick any device at all, I'm available. Brick master extraordinaire, that's me.
XDA-Padawan said:
You actually made me laugh out loud with that one. Thanks I needed that! I'll certainly consider hitting you up the next time I need help, which is, on average, every 6.2 seconds. Now if that lady does ever figure out how to hdmi a pdf, she would be a Jedi Master, indeed, and we may both end up learning at her feet. Thanks again and likewise if you want to holler and maybe learn how to brick any device at all, I'm available. Brick master extraordinaire, that's me.
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thats an acheibvment you reall do have to french connection uk, up nowadays to brick a device lol, thanks, so what phone ar you running now ? is it rooted ?
gav83collins said:
thats an acheibvment you reall do have to french connection uk, up nowadays to brick a device lol, thanks, so what phone ar you running now ? is it rooted ?
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My apologies for the late reply, and thank you for your offer, I'll probably be messaging you on my next project. The phone I'm using right now is an unrooted Motorola One 5G Ace, and it's lightning fast. But that's about where any good review ends for me. I should root it, but my screen is so cracked I may as well get a new phone.
However! I am the proud owner of a fully rooted Motorola e4 Plus, as well as a fully rooted Samsung Galaxy S5 - the AT&T kind, which is the only version that's untouchable by Developer Geohot's brainchild, Towel Root. (By the way, excellent work on that, Geohot. You are a legend among my circle.)
So, in short, I've got 2 rooted phones, neither with service, but still fun to poke around the older OS versions and see what's under the hood.
I'm tempted to grab a Galaxy S22 Ultra, but only if it's rootable, Samsung being synonymous with bloatware/trashware/dataware.
What kind of phone are you yourself working with?