Driver Sanity in Windows, Restoring IMEI to Lenovo A820

Driver Sanity in Windows, wrt Restoring IMEI

This guide contains a lot of pictures and checksums, but also a lot of text. If you can't understand something or have any doubts don't do it, I take no responsibility for relaying my experiences here.

I have countless drivers for my Lenovo A820. I collect them. At times I cull them, and keep what I need in 7zip archives.

When I get a new MTK phone, the instructions for that don't consider I might already have drivers installed. This can lead to driver conflicts. Another thing you should beware of before asking for help is that you don't have devices flagged in Device Manager. If your Device Manager looks as flat as this:

Then this isn't a problem for you and you can continue to the Out With the Old (Unseen Driver Conflicts) section.

Install Missing Manufacturer / OEM (eg Dell, HP, Acer etc) Drivers

For years I put up with an unidentified, but disabled "Simple PCI communication interface" or "Simple PCI communication controller". Only after struggling to connect my phone on a VCOM/COM port did I decide keeping this motherboard device deactivated might be a bad idea. I dug out my original factory "drivers and apps" disk and put it in the DVD drive. About 3 minutes later it loaded :)

It wasn't necessary to use the manufacturer's installer. I activated the offending hardware from device manager and either uninstalled it first or just showed it to my DVD drive (more on this process in just a moment, it is this process that is the crux of this document). Windows very efficiently installed just the driver and none of the bloat, it was a minor device I might have lived without.

Out With the Old (Unseen Driver Conflicts)

Infrared taught me a very important lesson in driver management, which essentially saved me having to reinstall Windows or find another, cleaner installation.

Consider the following:

 
The highlighted "Lenovo Composite ADB Interface" is not actually what Infrared used in his pdf tutorial, so obviously there is some flexibility, or his guide may, in my case, have been slightly off. Actually, for the purposes of restoring IMEI, I don't find this entry particularly useful; it only appears when Android is running and hence is not seen by low level tools like SN Station and "IMEI and SN Writer" that saved my IMEI.

I would not have been confident to delete all the drivers without Infrared's guidance and Windows would just install them again after each uninstallation.

Then delete the software which Windows will invariably have "kept safe" to "simplify" future installations.

 
You may have previous installations cached allowing Windows to automagikly reinstall the device. Every time this happens repeat the above procedure to arrive at a "clean" installation w.r.t. this particular driver. Awesome!

I stress this is only for third party drivers, things Windows or your OEM may have preinstalled, may be harder to find better/correct drivers for.

When Window's cache of drivers is empty it will either ask you for one or list it in Device Manager with an exclamation mark nest to it. Job done.

I can't tell you which driver you need for your procedure, its very likely device and possibly ROM specific.

Restoring IMEI

You'll notice in previous screenshots the "Ports (COM & LPT)" entry is displayed in Device Manager. This is because I had my modem in. It helped direct me where I needed to look to find the COM port for the phone. This was, for a long time, only visible fleetingly the instant a connection was made with the powered down phone. Device Manager would flicker once, display the entry for a second, then flicker twice more removing all mention of "Ports (COM & LPT)". You have just a second to right click an offending driver. Once right clicked the clock stops and you can carefully click uninstall. Then tab away and check the instructions. If you have to open the "Ports (COM & LPT)" you'll almost certainly miss it and get frustrated fast. If you have something else there, that's one less click you need in that second.

This driver is essential for META mode to connect your phone with the low level MTK tools. The correct driver will maintain an entry in "Ports (COM & LPT)" all the while the phone is connected in META mode. My driver, from previous ROM upgrades and subsequent phone purchases proved incorrect.

This is the correct one, the incorrect one could well appear identical (mine had a much lower COM number (about 6)). To be sure you must uninstall all previous drivers as outlined in the Out With the Old (Unseen Driver Conflicts) section above. To know when Windows is ready for the correct driver watch for an exclamation mark on the entry, in the case of this particular device the entry will read, "MT65xx Preloader".

At this point you can install the new driver(s). The file I was given (from dropbox) was DriverInstall_v5.14.53_WinXP_Win7.exe,

MD5: aefe6fc53400b8f9a313cbacd4a4f50b,
SHA1: 2f12e07f5785defb81e9f8ab7e501b5d951c8c0f

published my MediaTek. When I go to install it Windows warns that the publisher is unknown. Continue as any other installation. When you are asked (in red!) to install an unsigned driver, go for it, four times! I think this is just MediaTek being cheap not getting MicroSoft to sign and test their drivers. MicroSoft's high false positive rate causes users to blithely dismiss all sorts of security warnings. I don't guarantee these drivers, I use them as do many others.

I'd actually just dismissed exactly four of these warnings installing for my other phone's ROM, with an entirely different installer, a script, so I "knew" what was happening. It would install the unsigned drivers first then install the signed ones over the top. Often signed drivers don't work so I was happy  to try unsigned.

With just these drivers installed they should be sufficient to enter META mode. I'd never before been asked to install four consecutive unsigned drivers in a row, MLais publish a how-to telling me to do this, so now I do.

ADB Drivers

You may want to install an ADB driver just in case, while the phone is running. I have not attempted IMEI restoration without. In all likelihood it will never show up in device manager during the process.

Infrared has sp_drivers_v1.5_lenovo.zip:

MD5: 2e9d1ca627056703f471f2bbe1b199ea
SHA1: 79bbc822e6af5d394ccabe229a8a2640bf146848

I instead used SP_Drivers_EXE_v1.6 from Pakyto's "RESTAURAR IMEI.zip"

MD5: 0be4b2fb53c18d9bc392e5e4cc6f6972
SHA1: d483be492df8785efe00b4416e5f7ba9229895e8

Purely because the zip came with the apdb_modemdb_A820 folder which I could not find from infrared. This folder contains the AP Database and Modem Database essential to all good IMEI recovery tools. With these files there is no need for an image of NVRAM.img (5Mb) as convenient as it may be to rely on software for it.

It's likely in your search for SN_Station and IMEI tools you will be asked to download other drivers. YMMV and I can't provide an optimal solution for all cases, just my experience. Installing drivers by force is often expedient.

I don't see the necessity of these drivers but for completeness I will repeat what Infrared has said, and leave the proof as an exercise for later.

SN_Station / SN_Write_Station_Tool

Infrared's guide to using SN_Station / SN_Write_Station_Tool concurs with at least two other sources I have seen (by Pakyto and BalcanGSM). BalcanGSM lead me to another solution, which I present later.

For completeness I'll outline the process. I didn't ultimately use Pakyto's  apdb_modemdb_A820 because the name of his Modem Database differed to that in Infrared's screenshot.

(from Pakyto)
BPLGUInfoCustomAppSrcP_MT6589_S00_P780_V23

MD5: 0f244cd43a65b9aee65a31b73cbcc00c
SHA1: c6a5a4102c77fbb2493323bc7c9ae9f458a506a7

APDB_MT6589_S01_MAIN2.1_W10.24

MD5: 80a45a9bb5bd5416692901de6974d871
SHA1: 76638fb9cd4234437a5c64f149134b9cb81bcae8

(from https://yadi.sk/d/ylJyJbDjZWm7k, from http://www.mcrf.ru/forum/archive/index.php/t-36527.html)
apdb_modemdb_A820.7z

MD5: f770b3e08a5ec076b592493b38591d44
SHA1: 062578a596b90d05b1cf6a2c37bff324740cc3d6

BPLGUInfoCustomAppSrcP_MT6589_S00_A820_V16

MD5: f5a6a5a28ee227533ccb41c35e7155db
SHA1: 8d41e8d604cc9c4a750b7eb9305f641746d2691f

APDB_MT6589_S01_MAIN2.1_W10.24

MD5: 80a45a9bb5bd5416692901de6974d871
SHA1: 76638fb9cd4234437a5c64f149134b9cb81bcae8

I could not find Infrared's but they are specific to device and come with "original" / "stock" ROMs. I didn't find any with them but the stock S139 on NeedRom should contain them, many others don't. If Pakyto says BPLGUInfoCustomAppSrcP works on the A820, that's good enough for me, but I have only tested BPLGUInfoCustomAppSrcP_MT6589_S00_A820_V16 and am still readjusting to having my IMEI's back.

Pakyto said that the hardest part of using this tool was getting the right drivers. I hope this is clarified in the preceding sections. I found just getting it to install at all was hard, rather than click anything with "msi" in you must click the smaller "setup.exe".

The tool has a one page interface with a slightly strange UI after:

•    Power off disconnected phone.
•    Set everything up as above then click start. (In IMEI Options Pakyto advises using Check Sum, infrared says not, same with function select and 4in1 or IMEI).
•    You will be asked for your serial number, IMEI1, IMEI2 (probably first + 1), BT and WiFi numbers. Once an entry is made for each number the tool continues and can't be revised, which surprised me for a while.

When all data is entered and the log updates as shown below, connect phone:

>>Step: Meta Disconnect with target.
>>Step: Enter func_imei_meta_hdlr_smart_phone_modem();
Write IMEI to smartphone modem nvram
>>—————————————————<<
>>Step1: Start to Connect with target…
COM port searching and preloader handshake…

>>>>>>plug in here<<<<<
<<<<<<phone now shows meta mode>>>>>>

COM port searching and preloader handshake ok
COM port searching and Kernel handshake…

<<<<<<nothing for 5 mins>>>>>>>
<<<<<<eventually SN Station times out>>>>>>

If I connect when already in META mode I don't even pass the preloader handshake. If I connect when the phone is totally off I pass the preloader handshake but hang waiting for the kernel handshake, as shown above. I tried with "official" (quotes because I can't find them from Lenovo anymore) S139 and S147 ROMs, I know the S139 was rooted but I don't understand why the kernel handshake failed.

I used SN_Writer_2.1324.0:

 it was the highest version available and came bundled with Pakyto's "RESTAURAR IMEI.zip" described above. There are many options which may have needed tweaking.

Now, apparently your phone is fixed. I hear this is only a suitable restore procedure from extra virgin stock ROMs. (i.e. format, then downloaded with SP Flash Tools, then use SN_Station.) I'm not 100% convinced because it is long winded and I couldn't restore my IMEI at all using SN_Station. I've seen more concise guides neglecting to mention the formatting and stock ROM download, I suspect it is superfluous caution but often that setup can at least bring phones to a common state.

From links at http://en.miui.com/thread-10061-1-1.html I also picked up
SN_Write_tool_exe_v2.1132.0.rar

MD5: a79a4f4296ce6c3f807180ebed5ea0ff
SHA1: 0aaa640af00d3a663d42f68f88422bfddb88562c

and

SN_Write_tool_exe_v2.1228.0 as part of
Android imei tool.rar

MD5: 15840d67eb37b1ac67aa92d21228887e
SHA1: 6aa6746f6fb8cc26db50cd4a13575d3c67f6d9d3

but that wouldn't install because it was missing "DistFile.cab".

From androidurdu.net I found

SN_Write_tool_v2.1124.1.zip

MD5: 3d51ba55e724ce5e9a5dd908fce63b81
SHA1: 7d49de3cdfd2f3626d157c550193813cd0d9cf10

After many hours I gave up and from somewhere I found

imei&sn writer v1.5.3.rar

MD5: 52f43ae9e73b2279493977ad4f9b68ac
SHA1: f15224419dd9bc440bc006ff53d5efef53fefed5

which contains the 2012 tool IMEI&SN Writer.exe

IMEI&SN Writer

This uses exactly the same files as SN_Station above. I don't know why it doesn't get more love, it saved my phone.

It reported a success when I just flashed the IMEI, far more success than I had with SN_Station.

Success, but I was too tired to remember to what extent. In any case it wasn't acceptable so I repeated with all the fields filled in and it fixed it.

For step 3, Select DB, use exactly the same database files described in the section on SN_Station, or google "apdb_modemdb_A820" and see my checksums. Or try the following (verified).

IMEI&SN Writer V1.5.3.7z (3.25Mb)
MD5: 955fc522fd47376e6f7e3c6e3b1b9fc0
SHA1: dd6e0c0a80a57502c6d8fe2436dd6fc6a19e8798

apdb_modemdb_A820_20150729.7z (5.34Mb)
MD5: 6e6ee6541b5800e8386da1ba7436a9da
SHA1: e80700159bc31ba2d94cdfbfeb351b023e581e2f

Lenovo A820 Teardown

Follow this guide if you're worried about replacing your screen or something.

Remove tight rear cover to expose six screws, shown in yellow, the middle right one had a protective 's' security sticker over it.

Don't try and separate the plastics, the separation is performed at the screen junction with the black plastic. The screen is plastic but heavy and transparent. Slide a finger nail in somewhere and slowly work it around, hearing a click as each catch pops.

You are greeted with the backs of two PCBs. I've tip-exed out my identifying codes. The bottom PCB can be prised off but is connected at its top edge by some flat cable connector I didn't proceed to investigate further, there was little electronics of interest there and the PCB itself is paper thin.

The top PCB is much thicker and held in place by 2 very loose and obvious screws and three cable connectors.

This shows the connectors undone. Use soft plastic like a toothpick. The top one has a catch opposite the cable that flicks up. The aerial connector at the bottom left is removed with by pulling with your finger nails. The bottom right one lifts straight up. You will need to lever the PCB out of its housing. A plastic blade would be ideal, again the toothpick and metal blade would do in a pinch.

After breaking the friction with the casing movement stops after a few mm. Their is no connector for the volume rocker. The volume rocker is flexible and must be prised from the casing using a sharp knife to break the adhesive. A few mm more and some tape is found to connect a heatsink / shield on the opposite face to the SIM connectors to another "silver box" remaining with the screen part of the phone. If I had a cracked screen I should have looked further. It's very sticky tape and I removed more than I would have liked. There is one more hidden connection. Use a toothpick to prise it from the PCB as you pull it up. The connection is to the flat cable running along the battery compartment to the mic and screen connections.

This is the new face the PCB reveals, when almost completely detached (vestiges of tape remain).

On the other side of the tape are more markings.

And finally the chips, in case we're compiling our own Android and want more details.

The MediaTek markings were obscured by a pink heat sink sponge thing and this made photographing difficult. I should have tried harder to read but this is my best photo, and with reference to others I believe the markings are (lines are duplicated where there is doubt):

MEDIATEK
ARM                    APM
MT6589 W MT6589 WVK MT6589 WMK
1309-ATA 1309-ATAH
DTNFU?29 DTNFU

As usual assembly is the reverse of removal. I used a smooth plasic spatula, yeah, a toothpick, to help reattach most of the very sticky silver tape. I also wedged it under the hidden connector to increase its reactive force as I pressed the PCB down on to it.

M52 Red Note ROM Updation and Modding

MLais obviate the ROM scene with their clean ROM. Taking out the trash is much easier. There are many bloatware lists already online, just Google, "safe to delete apk files", or "BLOATWARE LISTS". Few pertain to this year, MediaTek, or Lollipop. I probably just lack imagination, or sleep, to create an original post tonight. Enough waffle:

Full name	Display name	Purpose	Size (Mb)	Confi- dence (<10)	Effect of removal
/system/res	Sound and Audio Tests	Test data	10	9	None
/system/app/MtkWeatherProvider	Unseen	Reads tea leaves	0.3	9	None
/system/app/MtkWeatherWidget	Unseen	Rolls bone dice	9	9	None
com.android.deskclock	Clock	Widget. inferior alarm	2	9	None
com.agold.launcher.wallpaper	System Wallpaper	Default MTK wallpaper	10	9	Features FC if accessed
com.android.wallpaper	Live (wallpaper)	Default android wallpaper	2	8	None
com.google.android.marvin-talkback	Talk	Screen reader	1.5	4	No reader
AgingTest.apk	Unseen	Factory test for battery, not trojan	11	8	None
agold.AgoldFactoryTest.apk	Unseen	Factory test for QA	9	9	?

Anything else, LEAVE ALONE! These are only my opinions, think of them as mini reviews. Perhaps I can add another column for more phones once the porting scene develops.

Another refinement for rooted users is moving favoured apps to the /system partition. One advantage is they become both privileged (in apps-priv folder) and protected. Immediately removing root access promotes this protection. System apps update themselves outside of the system partition which exposes them to at least the danger of accidental erasure (rolling back) when a factory reset is performed. Most factory resetting here is done when I mess up something with my tinkering

1) Add favoured apps. File explorers, alarm clocks, music and browsers, of permanent utility.
2) Move them with another app, from /data/app to /system/app.
3) Delete default system apps that have been superseded by new system apps. HINT, most likely the /system/priv-apps. @cough@ AOSP keyboard @cough@4) Write down what gets changed so it can be repeated if disaster strikes
5) Beware of modifying /system/build.props. The trivial mods I made the 20150526 killed its successor. Even tweaking a single line cause an intermittent fault screen fault.

update 3/10/2015

I've since modified build.props, it's not having much effect though- couldn't rename the device in wifi and bluetoot. com.agold.launcher.wallpaper was rev-enged and deflated to allow wallpaper theming, it appears to have worked but did complain initially.

I'll be upgrading before I do any more modding. Whatever bugs I come up against can be dismissed by Google because my device is already "broken" once rooted. Google is slowly starting to toe the security industry's party line; support for rooted devices is not a given. eFuses and SE Linux are meant to support consumer services to rival Apple, time will tell how well this direction will integrate Android's dev community.

[Review] On Buying the MLais M52 Red Note, the MT6752 and Screen Size

Size

5.5" is a bit big, for comfy, one handed, back on bed reading. It's also tricky for one handed reading when propped vertically. One quickly adapts but anyone with girl sized hands should think twice. Returning to my decrepit 4.5" device illustrates that even there both hands come into play and the thumb must stretch. Developers cater to this by concentrating functionality vertically at the bottom so that the hardest part is not in-app navigating but comfortably balancing the device for long periods. The balance is way different on a 5.5" but totally worth it to preserve healthy vision; even if you have little girl hands the tablet alternative presents the same problem.

Choice

There are many great 5 and 5.5 inch phones. The Elephone P6000 is probably the best value 2Gb phone right now, for a £7.50 saving it sheds just a half inch inter alia. Whilst Elephone has a better logo and more phones this year, MLais are not as new as one could surmise. There is a rumour they have long been manufacturing unbranded phones under their MStar OEM label for third parties to brand and market[1]. (MStar is now largely owned by MediaTek[2][3]).

Attracted by the big screen, big brand, my first choice was initially the Lenovo Golden Warrior A936 (also called the Note 8). At six inches and with solid Lenovo branding it is a direct contender for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 (5.7") crown. Entry to this division requires mention of "Note" somewhere in the title and a 5+" screen; a typical "phablet". Lenovo is the third biggest SmartPhone manufacturer worldwide since at least 2012

Period	Samsung	Apple	Lenovo*	Huawei	LG Electronics	Others
Q1 2015	24.6%	18.3%	5.6%	5.2%	4.6%	41.7%
Q1 2014	30.7%	15.2%	6.6%	4.7%	4.3%	38.6%
Q1 2013	31.5%	16.9%	4.7%	4.2%	4.7%	38.1%
Q1 2012	28.9%	22.9%	5.0%	3.4%	3.2%	36.6%

Source: IDC, May 2015
* Motorola figures have been captured under Lenovo
www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-market-share.jsp

The A936 Note 8, at around a third the price of the Galaxy equivalent, was still over priced compared to other Chinese phones, like the MLais.

At about 6 times the price Samsung would be in trouble had they not plenty more fingers in other pies. Samsung does a lot for Android which gives smaller Chinese manufacturers a bit of a free ride (and savvy consumers, a bargain). They've invested in the software, still supply much of the hardware to their rivals and probably treat their workers better. Notwithstanding that conditions have since ostensibly improved all phones source at least some of their manufacturing from factories like the Foxconn ones that made headlines with a spate of employee suicides in 2012 [4][5].

Samsung's Galaxy Note might appeal with it's pen or pulse rate features. Subjectively, these might be seen as gimmicks but their reputation and customer service is worth something, just not 600% to anyone even remotely tech savvy.

See my earlier post What's To Like About MediaTek and Their GPL Compliance for more about the benefits of MediaTek hardware.

CPU

Octa core doesn't make any difference in day to day use, unless you want to multiply clock speed by number of cores and come up with a ridiculous claim of 16GHz[6]. You're getting a 1.7GHz phone. I've underclocked it to 1.3GHz and was surprised at the difference in response times a few hundred MHz makes. When it comes to saving juice I'd happily disable half the cores before underclocking[7]

Most of the same considerations apply as when 64 bit came to the desktop, to wit 64 bit addressing impacts code density when less than 4Gb is addressed[8]. ARM has introduced new instructions to recoup this code density, to wit Advanced SIMD (NEON), but operating in 64 bit mode they lose access to THUMB instructions which use 16 bit instructions to double code density from 32 bit mode.

Windows 7 in 64 bit effectively forked the code so while it was nice to upgrade to Windows 7 x64 to access more RAM, many programs were still operating in legacy 32 bit mode as their 64 bit versions were not robustly established as reliable. A smooth transition from 16 to 32 bit was before my time but I started programming C++ as 16 bit console applications using DJ Delorie's DJGPP, simply because it was more freely (as in "free", and widely) supported. With phones supplied as proverbial "black boxes" freedom yields to Lollipop's 64 bit designs.

Camera

The camera is actually 8 mega pixels, not the 13 claimed. This is alright for me because it is the sensor size that matters[9] and I had no expectations to dash there. MLais's stock ROM is preconfigured to shoot 8MP now, 13MP is just interpolation (like DVD upscaling). The picture is actually very good and I'm 90% convinced that it is a Sony lens of one quarter inch size. The 13MP device originally planned, according to the boffins was a whopping one third inch (the same as the iPhone 5S)!

The quality is amazing, on an overcast day like today I have an incredible photo I'm saving for later. Who wants to see other peoples snaps anyway, the hardware tells the story.

Software

As other reviews mentioned, I've read too many to revisit them here, the device ships with near stock AOSP.

What is AOSP?

AOSP, the Android Open Source Project, is a good thing. It takes the free and open source parts of Android and attempts to port them to myriad phones. The success of this depends on manufacturers releasing proprietary drivers for inclusion with the open source Linux kernel and Android ecosystem.

Unfortunately, in the context of "shipping with near stock AOSP" this means a bit of a raw deal as we are denied the proprietary Android software that Google has forked from open source. Hangouts, Google + (who cares?), Gmail, the Play Store (worry not), Play Services, etc.

But this means a lighter weight Android we are free to customise.

To a degree, yes. The unfortunate part is that proprietary software is not so easy to replace once it is gone. AOSP antecedents are like distant poor relations to the software Google has developed independently. It is very easy to live without Google's "improvements", especially if Big Data (Big Brother) scares you. A full and recent breakdown of the differences between AOSP and Google apps can be found on the second page of the last link.

I had an AHO (Android Handset Alliance) approved phone before this and was a bewildered by all the new apps Google added with KitKat, I never used any as the phone was hamstrung at the hardware level, something that cannot be said of the M52.

But it has the Play Store right?

Yes, while I believe this is part of GMS, and don't understand how it got there in the absence of the rest of the Google eco system it is there. The familiar favourites, Maps, Calendar, Gallery and Gmail are included, albeit in AOSP earlier incarnations. The Play Store has really been developing fast recently, I elect not to avail myself of it at present so cannot comment on whether all the new features, mostly related to payment and gaming are compatible with the phone.

The play store gives you a choice of app to replace what Google would have installed by default and not let you remove.

The software is clean, I will attempt to tidy it up some more, as I never liked the stock (AOSP, not Chrome) browser. The stock browser in this one is identical to JellyBean's, so no big learning curve. Obviously having 2Gb on tap, and 1GB free makes it an absolute dream for multi-tabbed browsing.

Most of the apps I have sideloaded onto it so far were faultless. A lot of older apps, particular those requiring root access don't play nicely with this newer, more secure, Lollipop edition of Android. Most I updated, others I simply uninstalled.

Battery

I've had this phone "off the wall" by now, playing MegaTramp with periods of idleness (50%) while my moves restored. 6 hours (lol) of this dropped 35% of charge. This morning I had a couple of hours screen on time and am confident there are 6 hours of juice for a low brightness display.

Conclusion

By underclocking to resemble the P6000 and measuring responsivity as best I could I am pleased to have the faster processor. I've got over the sheer bulk of 5.5 inch display after a couple of days use. I am even glad it retains a bezel as this greatly adds to comfort in holding without "touching". The bezelless design just screams "valuable", while a big screen is more a symbol of one's manhood.

I received no commission to write this. The phone cost around £85 in the UK from Gearbest's UK warehouse and was delivered next day so obviously I am grateful! If anyone wants to send me a phone, I can review that. Thanks to everyone whose pages I've referenced and the whole XDA community. I needed to write this to condense the pages of user experiences I'd observed on there. I've compiled Linux kernels before, not Android, great fun, but not very productive as our glorious Gideon might say. This phone deserves a large user base, with that will follow updates.

To buy this phone from Gearbest, for under $129 from the EU/UK or China warehouse, and hopefully gain me their recognition, please click, www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_155030.html.

Media

I won't bore you with a bunch of photos, any seller will be replete with these, here are a few that weren't obvious, taken from my unboxing video, at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm41jYmbz6I, just before my old phone died!

Antutu

I know I said no photos but Antutu seemed de rigueur with new reviews. I get Antutu scores of between 45500 and 48600 (fresh out the box).

 

 

Footnotes

1. There's a dearth of evidence to support this but see the MStar S100 for proof they share designs (the S100 is a 1Gb, 8Gb, quad core version of the M52)
2. http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/27/us-mediatek-mstar-merger-idUSBRE97Q0G420130827
3. http://www.mediatek.com/en/news-events/mediatek-news/mediatek-inc-and-mstar-semiconductor-inc-announce-merger-agreement/
4. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/9006988/Mass-suicide-protest-at-Apple-manufacturer-Foxconn-factory.html
5. http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/aug/05/woman-nearly-died-making-ipad
6. MediaTek touted the 6752 as 2GHz, eg http://www.mediatek.com/en/news-events/mediatek-news/mediatek-launches-mt6752-a-64-bit-octa-core-lte-soc-latest-lte-product-to-enable-super-mid-market/, also Chinese marketing is notoriously open to artistic license.
7. It turns out disabling half the cores is ARM's "big.LITTLE" industry standard (since the Galaxy S4). It needn't apply to our "puny" A53's (of which we have 8), but typically these slower coresare paired with A57's or otherwise faster cores. In this strategy only 4 cores are ever active at a time, adding weight to my argument that 4 is plenty. http://www.neowin.net/news/the-qualcomm-reign-on-smartphones-and-tablets-is-almost-over-all-hail-mediatek claims MediaTek uses all 8 cores. I've also read that MediaTek's powering each core, rather than cluster of 4 is more efficient.
8. The MT6752's A53 cores use 32 bit physcial addressing, saving silicon estate, while "absolute" virtual addresses are 48 bit. The A57 based Opteron A1100 only uses 128GB, overkill for today's sub 4Gb phones.
9. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_sensor_format