Google Pixel
The Google Pixel smartphone is made by a Chinese company called Huawei - the same Chinese company that the United States Government is investigating for spying for the Chinese government.
The Google Pixel first generation phone or known as the Pixel One is offered in two sizes
- Pixel
- Pixel XL
Contents
Google New Interface
The main interface controls are now very abstract and look like 1980s VCR buttons, except the play button is facing the wrong way.
- backwards triangle (bottom left) - equivalent to "escape" or go back one step
- VCR record circle (bottom center) - equivalent to "home" this used to be a meaningful house icon
- VCR stop square (bottom right) - equivalent to "menu" or something like that, you get some menu icons and open tasks to select from
Millennials love meaningless and confusing abstract symbols which are counter-intuitive to every generation before them. Why did Google devs use VCR symbols for the new Android desktop? They've never seen a VCR before, they didn't even realize.
Pre- Crack / Root Basics
To quickly get to the settings menu
- Press SQUARE and the SETTINGS GEAR which is a white gear image in a blue circle at the bottom right of the screen.
To allow file copy via USB cable
- In Settings choose "Connected Devices" then "USB" to control what the phone does when connected to the computer.
Bootloader / Fast Boot Mode
USES VOLUME DOWN AND POWER BUTTON ONLY
- make sure phone is turned off
- press and hold the Volume Down button for a couple seconds then keep holding and press the power button
- while in bootloader mode navigate with the volume up and down, and use the power button to Enter/Select
Successful when you see an image of a little green android robot on its back with a service panel open. There is also the text in a green arrow reading START near the power button, and in white text some general information about the device.
Root
Android Version 9
Patch June 5 2019
Developer Options and USB Debugging
OEM unlocking
If you have a Verizon phone or a Pixel One that an OTA update has disabled your ability to activate OEM Unlocking, at of June 2019 (or perhaps in the future) it is still possible to crack the system and enable OEM unlocking, but it is a little tricky and takes patience. In fact, I had to repeat the entire process because the first time it failed to work, and the second time it finally worked and worked very well.
(soon a guide here, for now check out...)
- Enable OEM Unlocking https://www.androidauthority.com/unlock-verizon-pixel-bootloader-870589/
When you boot your Pixel phone and see the following error message briefly displayed in orange text:
Your device cant be checked for corruption. Please lock the bootloader.
You did it! That is a good error message, it means they are not happy that you cracked YOUR phone that YOU own and THEY are trying to control. You now have your rights back!
Unlock the bootloader
(soon a guide here, for now check out...)
- Unlock bootloader
installing tools for backup and root
There are a number of guides online many of which offer downloads for the necessary tools including TWRP and Magisk. They often offer them from unknown or their own server and they are often outdated versions. Do yourself a favor and get the latest versions from the developer sites.
- TWRP is at https://twrp.me/Devices/Google/ and save this file to the bottom most directory of the PHONE
- Magisk Manager is at https://magiskmanager.com/ and save this file to the working directory of the COMPUTER (where ADB is)
TWRP 3.0.2 custom recovery https://www.teamandroid.com/2016/12/13/install-twrp-3-0-2-recovery-on-google-pixel-complete-guide/
download TWRP from https://twrp.me/Devices/Google/ choose Google Pixel (sailfish) -> https://dl.twrp.me/sailfish/ yields -> Download twrp-pixel-installer-sailfish-3.3.0-0.zip
download MagiskManager-v7.2.0.apk from https://magiskmanager.com/
error: /snap/core/xxxx read-only filesystem error
- on phone goto settings -> connected devices -> USB
- set to USB controlled by [x] this device
- set to Use USB for [x] File Transfer
You will copy TWRP to a directory that appears something like this in your file manager
- /run/user/1000/gvfs/mtp:host=%5Busb%3xxxxxxxxxx/Internal shared storage
I used SpaceFM file manager to copy the file from the computer to the Android phone. The read-only error was resolved by ensuring that the USB settings on the phone were set to "Use USB for File Transfer"
Keywords: Android
