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Rooting QMobile A4 Bolt October 14, 2013

Posted by akbani in Android, Tech Stuff.
Tags: , , , , , , ,
11 comments

I am greatly disappointed at the out-of-the-box performance of the QMobile A4. Having used a Samsung mobile with similar specs I knew it would not acing any benchmarks , but this was horrible; It had too much bloatware and unnecessary “system apps” . I finally reached a point where I would rather brick/destroy it, rather than use it in its condition. So I set off trying to root it. Got dissapointed again as the methods listed just led to failure after failure. After a lot of luck and finally rooting it, I thought I should share the method online.

NOTE: I do not claim that the process will work for you. It may actually brick your phone. Based on previous experience, I just thought the steps I was taking made sense. So if you decide to proceed with following the steps you alone are responsible:

Steps:

  1. On mobile go to Settings –> Applications and activate “Unknown Sources”. Then go to Settings–> Applications –> Activate “USB Debugging”
  2. Download and install Moborobo (http://www.moborobo.com/)
  3. Connect you phone using USB and make sure that you are connecting using data option in USB settings
  4. wait for Moborobo to completely connect to it. It may take a few minutes so be patient.
  5. When connected, it should recognize your phone as “Qmobile A4”
  6. Use Moborobo to take a backup of your contacts, messages etc. You may use any other software you prefer to take backups also
  7. Download and install SRSRoot (http://www.srsroot.com/)
  8. Most tutorials stated that Moborobo should be exited (not just minimized) before any rooting process but when I tried rooting using SRS it just gave me a “ADB error” and could not find the device
  9. So I turned on Moborobo, connected it completely and then tried using “Smart Root” option on the SRSRoot app and it gave me a “Rooting Successful” message
  10. Close both applications, eject from PC and restart the phone.
  11. If all went well, you should have a “superuser” application on your phone and you can use Moborobo to uninstall the bloatware.

Personally I have uninstalled all

  • QApps (including skype and facebook)
  • the Live Wallpapers (Dessert, Music Visualization etc.)
  • Color memo, digital clock, file explorer
  • Maps and GTalk

Uninstalling the maximum pre-loaded apps allows you to later install better apps with similar features. I’ve not yet touched the LauncherS3 as I’m not sure what havoc it may play on the mobile. So far I’ve got a lot more free RAM (40 – 55 MB) and more internal memory (50MB).

If anyone does try this method, or any other rooting method, do share your experience in the comments. Also if you’ve removed LauncherS3 I would like to know how the phone behaves afterwards.

Update: Removing S3 without another launcher will make the phone unusable. I would suggest trying ”Smart Launcher 2″ since its fast, light and can be moved to system partition. I would also suggest moving the new launcher to system partition before removing S3 so that you do not brick your phone after factory reset

Once again: FOLLOW THE METHOD ABOVE AT YOUR OWN RISK. ROOTING VOID WARRANTY AND YOU MAY PERMANENTLY DESTROY YOUR PHONE.

 

Good luck