Sunday, September 14, 2014

Unlimited for only $30/mon

Harbor is selling unlimited service for only $30 per month.

  • No activation fee and you can even activate your own t-mobile SIM cards.
  • Use any GSM and LTE phones.
  • Unlimited voice, SMS and data. First 1GB is LTE and reduced to 2G-3G afterward.
  • Unlimited SMS and data in 120+ countries including China.
  • Free WiFi calling to all countries.
  • Streaming music does not count as data usage.
Click on above link for more details. This is great for overseas, but T-Mobile signal is not so great in the states especially within malls.


Miix 2 8 touch failure and fix

I had seen such reports from the very beginning and finally mine started too after the summer heat. The symptom is obvious: touch no longer work. Sometimes it comes back to normal after a reboot. When this happens, you see yellow marks about your tablet and i2c:


A quick fix is to press down the upper right corner area, then disable and enable the i2c. A long term fix is to open the back door with a guitar pick (don't cut into the seam at the bottom!!!), unplug the cables, replug them and attach a piece of foam with double-side tape:


[Lenovo Miix 2 8]

Friday, September 12, 2014

LG L70 Blotware Removal

As with any Android phones, the first thing is to root and remove garbage. Root for LG L70 is extremely easy, just install TowerRoot and SuperSU and run them in turn.

Then install ES File Explorer, enable its Root Explorer function and, in the Mount R/W menu, mount /system as R/W. Then you may cut some useless apk and odex files under /system/app and/or /system/priv-app, and paste them to sdcard.


Warning: before you touch the /system folder, make sure you already have a stock ROM that you flash to the phone for total recovery. If you remove a necessary system file, you'll brick your phone and the only way to bring it back is to flash a stock ROM.

That said, this is a list of files I removed from my L70, about 160MB.

Books.apk
Books.odex
ChromeWithBrowser.apk
ChromeWithBrowser.odex
CloudPrint.apk
CloudPrint.odex
GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter.apk
GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter.odex
GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.apk
GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.odex
GoogleDrive.apk
GoogleDrive.odex
Hangouts.apk
Hangouts.odex
LGDefaultAccount.apk
LGDefaultAccount.odex
LGEasySettings.apk
LGEasySettings.odex
LGFOTA.apk
LGFOTA.odex
LGMemoWidget.apk
LGMemoWidget.odex
LGSearchWidgetProvider.apk
LGSearchWidgetProvider.odex
LGSetupWizardApp.apk
LGSetupWizardApp.odex
LGWeather.apk
LGWeather.odex
LGWeatherTheme.apk
LGWeatherTheme.odex
Magazines.apk
Magazines.odex
PlayGames.apk
PlayGames.odex
PlusOne.apk
PlusOne.odex
PrintSpooler.apk
PrintSpooler.odex
Upsell.apk
Upsell.odex
WifiCall.apk
WifiCall.odex


The procedure is similar to all phones, just the rooting method and the file list vary with phones and personal needs.

For comparison, this is a list of removed from LG G2, see how much more you paid for:

app:

AAT.apk
AmazonAudible.apk
AmazonIMDb.apk
AmazonKindle.apk
AmazonMobile.apk
AmazonMP3.apk
AmazonWidget.apk
BaSyncClient.apk
BaSyncClient.odex
Books.apk
Books.odex
Chrome.apk
Chrome.odex
CloudPrint.apk
CloudPrint.odex
GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter.apk
GoogleCalendarSyncAdapter.odex
GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.apk
GoogleContactsSyncAdapter.odex
GoogleDrive.apk
GoogleDrive.odex
Hangouts.apk
Hangouts.odex
HotspotProvision.apk
HotspotProvision.odex
LGCarHome.apk
LGCarHome.odex
LGCMAS.apk
LGCMAS.odex
LGEasySettings.apk
LGEasySettings.odex
LGFOTA.apk
LGFOTA.odex
LGLIA.apk
LGLIA.odex
LGLifeStream.apk
LGLifeStream.odex
LGLW_Feather.apk
LGLW_Feather.odex
LGLW_PolarBear.apk
LGLW_PolarBear.odex
LGLW_Prince.apk
LGLW_Prince.odex
LGMemoWidget.apk
LGMemoWidget.odex
LGMobilePrint.apk
LGMobilePrint.odex
LGNotebook.apk
LGNotebook.odex
LGQRemote.apk
LGQRemote.odex
LGQTranslator.apk
LGQTranslator.odex
LGSearchWidgetProvider.apk
LGSearchWidgetProvider.odex
LGTangibleIO.apk
LGTangibleIO.odex
LGTaskManager.apk
LGTaskManager.odex
LGTextLink.apk
LGTextLink.odex
LGTextLinkAgent.apk
LGTextLinkAgent.odex
LGTextLinkEngine.apk
LGTextLinkEngine.odex
LGTextTranslator.apk
LGTextTranslator.odex
LGVZWAppSetupWizard_JB.apk
LGVZWAppSetupWizard_JB.odex
LGVZWHelp.apk
LGVZWHelp.odex
LGVZWSetupWizard_JB.apk
LGVZWSetupWizard_JB.odex
LGWeather.apk
LGWeather.odex
LGWeatherTheme.apk
LGWeatherTheme.odex
LGWorldClockWidget.apk
LGWorldClockWidget.odex
Magazines.apk
Magazines.odex
Music2.apk
Music2.odex
PlayGames.apk
PlayGames.odex
PlusOne.apk
PlusOne.odex
PrintSpooler.apk
PrintSpooler.odex
QuicksetSDK.apk
SmartShare.apk
SmartShare.odex
SmartShareProvider.apk
SmartShareProvider.odex
Street.apk
Street.odex
TagGoogle.apk
TagGoogle.odex
talkback.apk
talkback.odex
Videos.apk
Videos.odex
VMwareReady.apk
VMwareReady.odex
VpnClient_2.6.1_LG.apk
VpnClient_2.6.1_LG.odex


priv-app:

AmazonAppstore.apk
BaSyncService.apk
BaSyncService.odex
com.gotv.nflgamecenter.us.lite.apk
GamePortal.apk
ISISWallet.apk
LGClockWidget.apk
LGClockWidget.odex
LGConnectionWizard.apk
LGConnectionWizard.odex
LGEmail.apk
LGEmail.odex
LGFavoriteContactsWidget.apk
LGFavoriteContactsWidget.odex
LGGestureAnswering.apk
LGGestureAnswering.odex
LGLW_MultiPhoto.apk
LGLW_MultiPhoto.odex
LGMediaInOne.apk
LGMediaInOne.odex
LGMemo.apk
LGMemo.odex
LGMusic.apk
LGMusic.odex
LGMusicWidget.apk
LGMusicWidget.odex
LGQMemo.apk
LGQMemo.odex
LGQVoice.apk
LGQVoice.odex
LGSlideAside.apk
LGSlideAside.odex
LGVoiceCommand.apk
LGVoiceCommand.odex
LGVoiceCommandService.apk
LGVoiceCommandService.odex
LGVuTalk.apk
LocationAgent.apk
Maluuba_QVoice.apk
Maluuba_QVoice.odex
MyInfozone.apk
MyVerizon.apk
SetupWizard.apk
SetupWizard.odex
SlackerRadio.apk
SmartShareBeam.apk
SmartShareBeam.odex
SSO_P3.apk
Velvet.apk
Velvet.odex
VZAccessories.apk
VZCloud.apk
VZMobileSecurity.apk
VZNavigator.apk
VZTones.apk
WapService.apk
WapService.odex
LGLifeStreamLogManager.apk
LGLifeStreamLogManager.odex

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Google has done voice, finally!

How many years since Google bought the GrandCentral and renamed it to Google Voice?  But the great news is: the new Hangouts Dialer released just today now let you place and receive calls with your GV #.



You also need to install or update Hangouts to the latest version 2.1.2, released just today too. Furthermore, you also need to install or update Google Play Services to the latest version 4.4.52.

If you have multiple GV accounts, you may add them all to your phone. Then you can pick any one of them at anytime for calling out, just like what you do with multiple GMail accounts.

Receiving calls is not enabled by default, you need to enable it if you want that for your account(s). So is SMS.

Call quality is very good over a 3G (Sprint EVDO) connection, sounds like GSM codec to me (not so sure).

To make this matter even sweeter: International calling rate is lowered down from $0.02/min to $0.01/min for some countries including China.

If you still need Google Voice in an alternative and more versatile way, consider KoT VOIP.

[update] Hangouts turns out to be not dependable, suffering from the same problem like Acrobits and Talkatone:

http://kingoftweaks.blogspot.com/2014/10/hanghouts-voice-is-not-dependable.html