Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

Is the phone on now?

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

Sorry just seen this. Not sure why you're asking but it's never off.

The GFirewall app suddenly reappeared (after over a week) along with GSearch yesterday at 7pm. Quite by chance I discovered this about 15 mins later. I immediately checked the dubious Playstore app and found that it had no extra data stored at that point. In the past I've noticed that when the apps have reappeared the 'playstore' app seems to acquire data even though it's disabled. Guess I'm going to have to live with this...

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

Oops! i meant to type is the phone OK now? lol.... must be because i did it on the tablet.

Are you still getting those full screen ads? If not then live with it or possibly just do that simple phone reset, although those ads may come back if they're built into the dodgy Chinese firmware.

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

The ads stop when the 2 apps are removed but reappear shortly after they do.

http://www.bloglovin.com/viewer?post...click=0&user=0

Done a bit more searching and eventually found a few things of interest which seem to indicate these apps are associated with:

http://www.pandawillforum.com/showth...tphone-MTK6582

http://chinamobilemag.com/android-tr...ular-expected/

and this:

http://securelist.com/blog/virus-wat...pre-installed/

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

Interesting links Osem. Seems that these built in apps are rife on Chinese mobiles. At least your's seem to be benign compared to some of the pre-installed apps out there.

Just a random thought but I wonder if an advert blocker would do anything to help.

http://getandroidstuff.com/5-best-ad...p-for-android/

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

Yes it looks like it. I'm hoping the intimate details of my boring life will soon cause the eavesdroppers to commit suicide. :)

Might try an adblocker when I get time. TVM

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

Can't you root it and then permanently remove these apps?

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

I'm curious as to how much the chinese phones cost, The best value phone from the branded makes is the motorola G which you can pick up for around £120. I have one myself and can attest to its quality.

Unless the Chinese phones are like £50 or something I don't see the pint in getting, especially as the build quality & indeed the components within are likely to be, well... crap really.

Add to that they deliberately load as part of the ROM itself. Malware apps, and you really do need to be asking yourself why you'd want to walk that road.

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

@ Bubblegum - I have no idea how to root a phone and would be concerned about bricking it.

@ Techguyone. Mine was around £80, 5.5 inch screen, dual sim, quad core and unlocked. I like the phone very much just not the 'freeware' it came with which of course I didn't know about at the time. lol

When I was looking, I checked out the Moto G and it was much more expensive, didn't have an SD card and wasn't dual sim both of which were features I wanted. Users were also reporting problems with their batteries after the 4.4 update which was the final straw.

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

Well this is a Chinese phone for £229:
http://oneplus.net/uk/one#overview

Yet it has comparable specs to current £500+ 'name brand' models.

It's not about being cheap, it's about value for money.

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

Just a thought... I have Lookout AV on my phone and I appreciate it can't do anything about what was loaded onto the phone back in China but it scans and accepts GSearch & GFirewall as safe even though we know they are some form of pernicious 'unwantedware' and they almost certainly contain permissions which could easily be abused in all sorts of ways and therefore represent a threat. That being the case, it seems to me that AV has a gaping hole in it. :confused:

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

Rooting and flashing new ROMs are quite easy tasks. I think people are just put off by things they don't recognize. I'm not sure if rooting alone would rid you of this bloatware as its likely it's been implemented in the manufacturers version of the OS, quite like when you buy locked phones from British companies. With that said it's pretty likely that factory resetting the device will simply just reinstall the craps at some point. Rooting may provide a half fix otherwise. Flashing a new ROM would provide a full fix. Never dabbled with these phones so unaware if popular ROMs like CM 10.2/11 are available.

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

If it gives you any reassurance about how doable it is Osem then I installed cyanogenmod on my phone last year.

There are vids on YouTube that show you how to do it and the cyanogenmod site has really detailed instructions and a forum that is only to happy to help you. The only thing I will admit was keeping my eyes closed at the end whilst I waited for the new ROM to finalise. :D

Installer

Installer forum area

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

Re-flashing anything be it phone, router, BIOS or smart TV is always something of a buttock clenching moment. Just make sure that the power can't go absent during or it'll likely be bricked.

Depending on how the original software writers set up the boot loader program you may get a second chance.

Re: Annoying Android adverts
 

I must say I've never been into flashing. Far too risky... :D