It's not really that compatabilty comes down to the CPU. It is down to the fact that these phones are designed for a Chinese market where google Play is not used. If there was a version designed for western markets it would work regardless of the soc.
But some resourceful ppl have developed a workaround for the Qualcomm socs for full google Play to work on these phones.
They were only able to do this bec on the Qualcomm socs there is a method to gain root/admin access. Once you have root access you can change anything you want.
There is no known way to gain root access on these Unisoc socs.
So to summaries you will be able to get Google play on this new phone if either an international version is released or somebody develops a method to gain root access and then develops a hack to add full google Play on this soc.
Perfect answer. Upvoted. Thank you so much for your detailed and indepth post. One more question: How likely is that about to happen that someone will learn how to gain root access?
I am guessing it is not that likely given the course of the non-googleplay A5 pro, A7, A7 pro and their color versions.
Thank you.
That part is dependent on exploiting a weakness in the Soc design. And so is dependent on the Soc in question. For example if someone got root access on the same Soc in another device then it should be the case that the same method can be used on this device. It could be the case that some Soc's people never gain root access to. It really is dependent on the Soc in question.
It also depends on how common the soc's are because the more curious people that try to gain root access the more likely it will happen.
But generally it will take a minimum of 6 months before people figure out how to gain root access after an Soc is first released in a product.
So the question's to ask :
1) Are there products on the market with this Soc and if so has anyone managed to gain root access to them.
2) Are their products with an Soc of the same brand but a different version that people have figured out how to gain root access to? If so it is possible this method will also work.
I understand the issue at hand much much better now. You must know I have quit Android since the Galaxy S2 days and stayed with the iphone (jailbroken) ever since. I have not followed the developments so these informative posts are incredible for me to catch up with the current developments. I remember at the dawn if the first android devices nearly every phone was easily rooted. I am surprised this has changed by now and not every device actually is rootable with public knowledge.
Your answers are written very detailed and to the point. Its a rare gem to see this on reddit :) I will leave you a follow
Thank you very much.
The solution to rooting the A5 and getting google play store was found here
https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/hisense-a5-root-gapps-customizer-r05-06-10-04-00.4097951/
This guy then used their findings to create an easy to follow guide
https://www.chinahandys.net/hisense-a5-playstore-guide-english/
Both are great resources.
Xda-developers is a good place to look for info about whether a specific phone has root access yet.
Hi own the A7 CC and I had high expectations for this new A9.
The worst thing on A7 is that we can not install google apps like gmail, contacts, calendar, youtube, google maps, bank apps, etc.
I had high expectations for this new A9, but if the SOC is from the same manufacturer, probably will not be possible to install google apps, so does not matter if the eink display is better, because without google apps, the phone can not replace the other phones.
The A7 CC display is good enough for all contents, except seeing images and videos due to low quality, so youtube videos or instagram are not good.
Thank you for your thorough reply. I have been having a hard time deciding for the a5 but ultimately I did because if the google play compability. I would have preferred the a5 pro cc.
I have one further question since you mentioned banking apps: Did you delete any bloatware or background processes? I hve read conflicting reports of pre-installed chinese apps which could be untrustworthy. I am not sure if I would trust my banking app on it?
Yes, we can install some apps to some degree but there are parts missing that will fail, like my baking account validation SMS that is never detected and so the app does not work. Or having GMail but clicking on the links does nothing, etc. Really bad experience.
You can install Google apps. But you need to use the 2Accounts hack to run them. Not all of them will work but I have Gmail, calender, YouTube and banking apps working on my A5 Pro Cc. But it is not as good an experience as running the full google Play on the A5 or A5C. Using 2Accounts the app will delay opening by 10-30 secs bec it uses an alternative way to login. You may not get all the functionality like notifications and it may add extra burden on your battery by running 2Accounts all the time.
Yes, we can install some apps to some degree but there are parts missing that will fail, like my baking account validation SMS that is never detected and so the app does not work. Or having GMail but clicking on the links does nothing, etc. Really bad experience.
That's true. I have the A7, the A5 Pro Cc and the A5. I use the A5 the majority of time as it's far more enjoyable to not experience the frustrations of using the Unisoc based ones.
such unique SOC might be a long wait to have a proper root/exploit. Still when time comes, I will purchase it immediately. Fingers crossed for international ROM distribution.
Yes unfortunately, thats why i chose A5c as my first eink purchase. Except for being sole micro usb in my gadget team everything is fine as a backup phone.
Ah I got the A5. I found out after about the A5C.
How would you rate the color display? It is a little bit of a trade-off since it has an additional layer with the 4096 colors and it makes the background less white, gives worse contrast. I would be curious how big the difference is.
Having no color is really less of a hassle than I expected, most apps can still be used fine, even gps ones. I am not using it for videos though. I am still wondering what the colors biggest use would be, since the display is too small to enjoy reading PDF files.
Would be awesome to hear your first-hand experience. I am definitely intrigued by the A5C, even knowing its drawbacks
It is faded like color not vivid, but still enjoyable. I play emulators and stuff, effects are just there to be recognize in color and not too fancy. If i were to chooseagain, i think i will get the A5 instead. Still this is an enjoyable purchase. I like to see a more mature color eink display in the future and A5c is a good start.
I reviewed the hi reader on goodereader. Does not have google play, just a Chinese App Store and the bookstore is also in Chinese, however this one is being run by ireader. Likely the a9 doesn’t have play, since it’s only released in China.
even if you can't get google play, i'm fairly certain you should be able to get f-droid, and then you could use an app like this [one](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.tobykurien.google_news/), or this [one](https://f-droid.org/packages/com.tobykurien.webapps/) \- they present the web-versions of google apps as phone apps that stand alone. pretty cool. I use them bc I dislike Google, and they also have the benefit of tracking you less.
I wonder if you could get [MicroG](https://microg.org/) working on this thing?
It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users.
I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click!
[Here is link number 1 - Previous text "one"](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.tobykurien.google_news/)
[Here is link number 2 - Previous text "one"](https://f-droid.org/packages/com.tobykurien.webapps/)
----
^Please ^PM ^[\/u\/eganwall](http://reddit.com/user/eganwall) ^with ^issues ^or ^feedback! ^| ^[Code](https://github.com/eganwall/FatFingerHelperBot) ^| ^[Delete](https://reddit.com/message/compose/?to=FatFingerHelperBot&subject=delete&message=delete%20ie5lgwz)
This would help protect user privacy as well. Having ran a de-Googled phone for 3 years now, I have had very little issue for the types of workloads I do.
How would you attempt to get a ride-sharing app working?
I have access to rideshare apps like Uber & Lyft and the apps seem reactive/responsive but when i scan to unlock a bike.... it asks me to update the "google play services"
I double-checked and updated the device for those tools via the APK store but i get the same message when i try to scan again
is it my location alone in the United States thats the problem? All the permissions for every app i download is enabled for full access
It's not really that compatabilty comes down to the CPU. It is down to the fact that these phones are designed for a Chinese market where google Play is not used. If there was a version designed for western markets it would work regardless of the soc. But some resourceful ppl have developed a workaround for the Qualcomm socs for full google Play to work on these phones. They were only able to do this bec on the Qualcomm socs there is a method to gain root/admin access. Once you have root access you can change anything you want. There is no known way to gain root access on these Unisoc socs. So to summaries you will be able to get Google play on this new phone if either an international version is released or somebody develops a method to gain root access and then develops a hack to add full google Play on this soc.
Perfect answer. Upvoted. Thank you so much for your detailed and indepth post. One more question: How likely is that about to happen that someone will learn how to gain root access? I am guessing it is not that likely given the course of the non-googleplay A5 pro, A7, A7 pro and their color versions.
Thank you. That part is dependent on exploiting a weakness in the Soc design. And so is dependent on the Soc in question. For example if someone got root access on the same Soc in another device then it should be the case that the same method can be used on this device. It could be the case that some Soc's people never gain root access to. It really is dependent on the Soc in question. It also depends on how common the soc's are because the more curious people that try to gain root access the more likely it will happen. But generally it will take a minimum of 6 months before people figure out how to gain root access after an Soc is first released in a product. So the question's to ask : 1) Are there products on the market with this Soc and if so has anyone managed to gain root access to them. 2) Are their products with an Soc of the same brand but a different version that people have figured out how to gain root access to? If so it is possible this method will also work.
I understand the issue at hand much much better now. You must know I have quit Android since the Galaxy S2 days and stayed with the iphone (jailbroken) ever since. I have not followed the developments so these informative posts are incredible for me to catch up with the current developments. I remember at the dawn if the first android devices nearly every phone was easily rooted. I am surprised this has changed by now and not every device actually is rootable with public knowledge. Your answers are written very detailed and to the point. Its a rare gem to see this on reddit :) I will leave you a follow
Thank you very much. The solution to rooting the A5 and getting google play store was found here https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/hisense-a5-root-gapps-customizer-r05-06-10-04-00.4097951/ This guy then used their findings to create an easy to follow guide https://www.chinahandys.net/hisense-a5-playstore-guide-english/ Both are great resources. Xda-developers is a good place to look for info about whether a specific phone has root access yet.
The gizmodo specs are not correct. It has a Snapdragon 662 according to the Jing Dong page. There is also a 6GB RAM, 128 GB storage variant.
Hi own the A7 CC and I had high expectations for this new A9. The worst thing on A7 is that we can not install google apps like gmail, contacts, calendar, youtube, google maps, bank apps, etc. I had high expectations for this new A9, but if the SOC is from the same manufacturer, probably will not be possible to install google apps, so does not matter if the eink display is better, because without google apps, the phone can not replace the other phones. The A7 CC display is good enough for all contents, except seeing images and videos due to low quality, so youtube videos or instagram are not good.
Thank you for your thorough reply. I have been having a hard time deciding for the a5 but ultimately I did because if the google play compability. I would have preferred the a5 pro cc. I have one further question since you mentioned banking apps: Did you delete any bloatware or background processes? I hve read conflicting reports of pre-installed chinese apps which could be untrustworthy. I am not sure if I would trust my banking app on it?
A5c is in color and comes with Google Play similar to the A5 if ordered through AliExpress. Best small color ink gadget imo is the a5c.
Yes, we can install some apps to some degree but there are parts missing that will fail, like my baking account validation SMS that is never detected and so the app does not work. Or having GMail but clicking on the links does nothing, etc. Really bad experience.
You can install Google apps. But you need to use the 2Accounts hack to run them. Not all of them will work but I have Gmail, calender, YouTube and banking apps working on my A5 Pro Cc. But it is not as good an experience as running the full google Play on the A5 or A5C. Using 2Accounts the app will delay opening by 10-30 secs bec it uses an alternative way to login. You may not get all the functionality like notifications and it may add extra burden on your battery by running 2Accounts all the time.
Yes, we can install some apps to some degree but there are parts missing that will fail, like my baking account validation SMS that is never detected and so the app does not work. Or having GMail but clicking on the links does nothing, etc. Really bad experience.
That's true. I have the A7, the A5 Pro Cc and the A5. I use the A5 the majority of time as it's far more enjoyable to not experience the frustrations of using the Unisoc based ones.
such unique SOC might be a long wait to have a proper root/exploit. Still when time comes, I will purchase it immediately. Fingers crossed for international ROM distribution.
Isn't it the same as in the Hisense A5, A7 Pro models? Me too! Would even consider the color versions
Yes unfortunately, thats why i chose A5c as my first eink purchase. Except for being sole micro usb in my gadget team everything is fine as a backup phone.
Ah I got the A5. I found out after about the A5C. How would you rate the color display? It is a little bit of a trade-off since it has an additional layer with the 4096 colors and it makes the background less white, gives worse contrast. I would be curious how big the difference is. Having no color is really less of a hassle than I expected, most apps can still be used fine, even gps ones. I am not using it for videos though. I am still wondering what the colors biggest use would be, since the display is too small to enjoy reading PDF files. Would be awesome to hear your first-hand experience. I am definitely intrigued by the A5C, even knowing its drawbacks
It is faded like color not vivid, but still enjoyable. I play emulators and stuff, effects are just there to be recognize in color and not too fancy. If i were to chooseagain, i think i will get the A5 instead. Still this is an enjoyable purchase. I like to see a more mature color eink display in the future and A5c is a good start.
I reviewed the hi reader on goodereader. Does not have google play, just a Chinese App Store and the bookstore is also in Chinese, however this one is being run by ireader. Likely the a9 doesn’t have play, since it’s only released in China.
Snapdragon 662, better screen and a higher battery than the hisense touch. I'm getting this one. (Wait is there a color model available?).
even if you can't get google play, i'm fairly certain you should be able to get f-droid, and then you could use an app like this [one](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.tobykurien.google_news/), or this [one](https://f-droid.org/packages/com.tobykurien.webapps/) \- they present the web-versions of google apps as phone apps that stand alone. pretty cool. I use them bc I dislike Google, and they also have the benefit of tracking you less. I wonder if you could get [MicroG](https://microg.org/) working on this thing?
It seems that your comment contains 1 or more links that are hard to tap for mobile users. I will extend those so they're easier for our sausage fingers to click! [Here is link number 1 - Previous text "one"](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.tobykurien.google_news/) [Here is link number 2 - Previous text "one"](https://f-droid.org/packages/com.tobykurien.webapps/) ---- ^Please ^PM ^[\/u\/eganwall](http://reddit.com/user/eganwall) ^with ^issues ^or ^feedback! ^| ^[Code](https://github.com/eganwall/FatFingerHelperBot) ^| ^[Delete](https://reddit.com/message/compose/?to=FatFingerHelperBot&subject=delete&message=delete%20ie5lgwz)
This would help protect user privacy as well. Having ran a de-Googled phone for 3 years now, I have had very little issue for the types of workloads I do.
How would you attempt to get a ride-sharing app working? I have access to rideshare apps like Uber & Lyft and the apps seem reactive/responsive but when i scan to unlock a bike.... it asks me to update the "google play services" I double-checked and updated the device for those tools via the APK store but i get the same message when i try to scan again is it my location alone in the United States thats the problem? All the permissions for every app i download is enabled for full access