The Microsoft Surface Duo is now available for pre-order for $1400 and up, and while that’s a steep price to pay for a phone with mediocre specs, there are number of things that make the Surface Duo an interesting phone. It’s Microsoft’s first phone since the company gave up on Windows Mobile. The Android-powered phone […]
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You can unlock the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K bootloader (but it’s not easy)
The Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K is a $50 media streamer that comes with an Alexa-enabled voice remote, support for 4K HDR playback, and the ability to stream videos and music from most popular sources (including the recently re-added YouTube). But that’s not good enough for some folks — so xda-developers member k4y0z has posted […]
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Amazon Fire tablet hacks: Google Play, Root, Recovery, and ROMs
Amazon’s Fire tablets are arguably some of the best cheap tablets worth buying, thanks to a combination of decent displays, specs, and performance and low starting prices (which are even lower on Prime Day or during other sales). The Amazon Fire 7 has a list price of $50, but you can pick one up for […]
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Amazon Fire HD 10 (2017) hack: bootloader unlock, root, and recovery tools
It’s been a busy few months for Amazon Fire tablet hackers. After discovering a vulnerability affecting a group of MediaTek processors, independent developers figured out how to unlock the bootloader and root the latest Amazon Fire HD 8 and Fire 7 tablets… and then the 2nd-gen Amazon Fire TV Stick for good measure. Now it’s […]
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New Fire HD 8 bootloader unlock method doesn’t require opening the case
It’s been possible to unlock the bootloader and root the latest Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet since January. But up until recently the only known method for doing that involved prying open the tablet’s case, identifying points on the motherboard, and shorting them to enter bootrom mode. But now there’s an easier way. Xda-developers forum […]
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2nd-gen Amazon Fire TV Stick hack: Unlock the bootloader, install custom recovery
Amazon’s 2nd-gen Fire TV Stick (the 1080p model that has a list price of $40) is powered by a MediaTek processor, much like Amazon’s Fire tablets. So it should come as no surprise that the same exploit that hackers have been using to unlock the bootloaders and root the latest 7 inch and 8 inch […]
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Bootloader unlock and root for Amazon Fire 7 tablets (5th-gen and 7th-gen)
Less than a month after hackers figured out how to unlock the bootloader and root the 8th-gen Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet (the 2018 model), there’s now a method for doing that with Amazon’s cheaper 7 inch tablets. Xda-developers forum member k4y0z has posted instructions for unlocking the 5th-gen and 7th-gen Amazon Fire tablets (the […]
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Amazon Fire HD 8 (2018): You can root it and unlock the bootloader
Amazon’s 2018 Fire HD 8 tablet offers pretty good bang for the buck. The $80 tablet has an 8 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel IPS display, a 1.3 GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage plus a microSD card reader. You can pay a bit more for a 32GB model, or you […]
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Xiaomi is positioning the Pocophone F1 as a hacker-friendly device
Xiaomi’s Pocophone F1 will be the cheapest phone with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor when it goes on sale for $300 in India next week. The phone has made headlines for offering high-end specs at a mid-range price, but that’s not the only thing that makes it unusual for a smartphone in 2018. Xiaomi is […]
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Oneplus to roll out fix for OnePlus 6 bootloader bypass vulnerability
If you’re the sort of person that likes to load custom ROMs on your smartphone, the ability to load system software without unlocking the bootloader might sound like a good thing. But it also means that anyone with physical access to your device might also be able to load malware. So when OnePlus was alerted […]