RE: This device is not eligible for actvation on the Cricket network

Jake Thoughts — 10 Feb 2022 23:52:04 -0500

I am less angry now.

Going phoneless was not an option, I suppose, since family members need to be able to contact me 'at all times'.

I've received a Samsung Galaxy A02S which I do not recommend anyone to buy. I hate Samsung now. I was indifferent but now I hate them.

One of the apps that Samsung preinstalled, literally not a joke, had 'The Great Reset' logo as its icon. I cannot 'disable' the 'Galaxy Store.' I've 'disabled' every Google App that I could and uninstalled the two that I was allowed to uninstall. (To my surprise, I was allow to use the phone without being forced to make a Google account or a Samsung account, however, Samsung did force me to agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy just to even use the phone.)

But this is not why I hate Samsung. They've, or perhaps Cricket, removed the OEM unlock toggle so I cannot unlock the bootloader and root the device. I don't know who made this decision but I assign the blame to Samsung but I also hate Cricket too for forcing me to """"""upgrade"""""". ... There really was nothing wrong with the One Plus 6.

So, I am thinking about how to use my old phone without using the new phone and I've come up with a dumb solution. Really, the only thing I 'need' from the A02S is phone calling and texting (SMS, since Americans don't use instant chat apps, unless you count Apple's Messager app which confused my dad because he thought that you can send 'text' on Wifi and was surprised that Android couldn't and presumably now thinks Androids aren't as advanced as iPhone when it comes to messaging. Actually, most iPhone users I know don't know that Apple made their Messager app an Instant Chat which is why they always have their Wifi/Data turned on otherwise they will never receive 'texts' from iPhone users) and optionally when not at my house, data.

So when I'm out and about I will enable hotspot and use my old phone. When people text/call my 'new phone'..... IF the app exists, I will try to have it forward it to my old phone. If it doesn't ... hmm. Maybe I can write the app myself, can't be that hard? I know Perl so I'm probably already an expert in Java. If I end up writing it, I'll release it under a freedom respecting license and make it available to f-droid. In other words, you will not be forced to have a google account to download and use the app.

Honestly, A02S in every technical aspect, is worse than the One Plus 6, which is almost not an exaggeration except that the A02S has HD VOICE COMPATIBLE WITH CRICKET NETWORK. Is there even a good phone service provider out there that doesn't fugg their customers?

Disclaimer (aka: don't sue me, Cricket or Samsung): this blog post is an opinion and should not be used as authoritative fact on this topic.

Other thoughts

Jake on 2022-02-11,20:23:24 said:
bruh this new phone doesn't have a turn off 'data button' so i had to do it in the settings menu.
Ryan on 2022-02-14,15:19:16 said:
My samsung has so few buttons that even taking a screenshot is a pain. And now you have to use the screen for thumbprint, instead of the bottom or the back. Lots of basic things not in the drop-down system menu...
Jake on 2022-02-15,01:41:32 said:
Yeah, screenshotting is a pita. But not the worst.
No thumbprint, which I guess I am ok with; they won't get a chance to send it somewhere, no NOTIFICATION LIGHT. And as you mentioned, such a horrible lack of things in the drop-down menu, including the mobile data button (when you manually turn if off, in the settings, the phone makes a notification about it - that you can't even hide or remove :)
jim on 2022-02-28,13:51:24 said:
cant you just change your network provider and keep the old number by doing some weird stuff to it (something about a PAC code) then you can literally use the same number and the good ol' one plus 6, but just not use cricket or whatever the weird freakin name is

i mean i would try to recommend networks but ive never heard of cricket so you wont know what im on about
Jake on 2022-02-28,15:24:25 said:
but that family plan though.... and the pricing..... tfw
Evergreen on 2022-04-22,09:50:41 said:
Check out "universal android debloater" to get rid of any OEM crap without having to root/unlock the bootloader.
Jake on 2022-04-23,14:26:47 said:
Evergreen, thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out

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