yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PN04:
I work from home/am self employed so most of the time so my phone doesn't get outside except for a few occasions a week otherwise it's usually connected to the home wifi so that I don't waste data. But this weekend I had to run a few errands and in a single hour outing using mobile data, I force quit the file manager maybe 26 times as opposed to 5 - 8 times just connected to wifi so I feel like it's constantly trying to ping servers unless you restrict it to mobile data. I also noticed that number dropped by half to maybe 3 or 4 times in the house when I had a few apps like AIMP or one of the games I do play on it to pass time idling in the background. As I said before I did cancel every permission I could find for it and it still manages to crawl out of the grave every so often but maybe those apps had a high enough priority level so having them active an in memory pushes it down the list.... Literally while typing this just now I was charging the phone and got the signal that the battery was full, woke it up to check if file Manager was running, saw nothing on the lock screen, unplugged it and File manager popped up again.

This update is a cancer. I haven't had to restart yet, but I've definitely noticed a few more app crashes. The loss of Fastboot might explain why my first attempt to hide the offenders with ADB failed. after installing every thing , switching to developer mode and connecting it to my computer the phone just refused to show up in the program (again, this might still be a computer issue because I've had trouble with minor developer tools in the past). I may not be an Android developer like some people on this side but feel like I fiollowed the instructions correctly. I get the feeling this is bad news. We might not be able to even get a different rom installed on it at this point.

Is it possible someone has an older version of the firmware that can be reinstalled over top of this some how? ugh, I really can't afford to have to buy a new phone right now.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] nyh:
I agree. People, please try to avoid this update. If you can find a way to stop the "update" process from notifying you, great, if you don't, learn to leave with them - it's better than doing the update.

After another day experience with this update, I figured out that:

1. The "Google Play Services" processes takes 30% of the CPU all the time, and causes my battery to run out after 6 or so hours. This was not the case before the update. I can't figure out what is calling the "Google Play Services". I see the evil "File Manager" running, but it's not taking up CPU, and nothing else takes CPU except the "Google Play Services".

2. Every once in a while - several times each day (!) - something "hangs" in the OS, and applications start to hang: sometimes they can't start, sometimes they can't read their data (!?), sometimes they can't connect to the network (!?), and other bizarre phenomena. Rebooting the phone solves the problem, and I've been doing this several times each day now. Before that I rarely had to reboot the phone (maybe once a week).

Avoid this update. Like the plague. Shame on Alcatel / TCL.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] nyh:
Doesn't work for me:

pm uninstall --user 0 com.jrdcom.filemanager

Error: java.lang.SecurityException: Package null does not belong to 10096
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] loopmanusa:
Dont update

I did the update and end up buying a new phone. ALL MALWARE!

Alcatel will never have a dollar or a good word said from me. They get advertising dollars so I guess they don't need customers.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] nyh:
The situation described above lasted about two whole days, through several dozens reboots and various attempts to fix it: Google Play Services continuously used 30% of the CPU and depleted my battery in about 5 hours, with no apparent reason, and everything stopped working (requiring a reboot) about once an hour. However, two days later, things suddenly became better - Google Play Services continues to use CPU once in a while, but not all the time, I still need to reboot my phone but "only" about once a day not once an hour. My phone is almost back to being usable... I have no idea what changed. I suspect that Alcatel had some sort of evil plan (maybe to send all the data on my phone to them?) and after two days of work, the evil plan is complete. Of course, this sounds like a ridiculous conspiracy theory, but at this point I simply wouldn't put anything past Alcatel, and I don't trust them at all. What they did in the last year with their evil updates completely undermined any sort of trust or respect I had for them.

I keep waiting every day for some TCL executive to announce that a mental-hospital escapee took over their software team, and now that they realized this, they fired him and fixed their software and will be releasing an Android update tomorrow to make everything go back to normal. But unfortunately, this announcement doesn't seem to be coming.

P.S. I changed my Alcatel Idol 3 reviews (of the 4.7" and 5.5" models) on Amazon from 5 stars I had previously to 1 star. I see more people are doing the same, but perhaps Alcatel don't actually care because they went on to seel Idol 4 and 5. I wonder if they are pulling the same crap also on Idol 4 and 5...
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mankann:
Sorry for late response.

Just tried from Terminal Emulator: it does not work too. Tried using adb shell: it works!
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] nyh:
There's a way to stop the pre-update phone from popping up requests to update all the time. It was suggested above, and I just tested it on one of the phones I didn't update, and it does work:

In the "apps" setting menu, find the "Updates" app, and restore it to the original version (since this is a built-in app, you can't remove it, but you *can* undo all the updates to it).

Then, *quickly*, run the "Updates" application, and in the settings, ask it not to look or notify (and definitely not download) new updates.

While the updated "Updates" application nags forever about installing new updates, the original one did not. So you can continue to use your phone forever without updating it, and without constant reminders to do so.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] zxcvb2:
out of curiosity, if anyone has replaced their idol3 with a new phone or is thinking about it,

what new phone(s) did you get/or what phone(s) are you considering?

i think this relates to the topic, since stock people can't update safely (i dunno if there are many on this forum, but i have never messed around with rooting/changing roms/etc)
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PN04:
I've been looking at unlocked offerings from Motorola. A friend bought a G4 plus (xt1775) for his mother as a gift from B&H and says it seems pretty good (paid just under 200), a clean version of Android 7 (I think) with no ads and virtually no bloatware to speak of (I think he said there might have been one Moto branded app but I have to double check). On the plus side it has a processor that looks to be just as strong, has better battery, better T-mobile compatibility and more on board storage... But I'm not sure I can drop 200 right now. So I've also been looking at the Moto G4 (xt1625) instead, but I keep seeing people on Amazon talk about how theirs came with ads to lower the cost, and that version is even cheaper at B&H so I was literally just now checking reviews on their site and want to my hands on a floor model first before I make a decision.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] stodgydodge:
Replaced my one touch with an Idol3 5.5 and have been mostly happy with it until 01/15/18 when without thinking about it accepted the adware update.

Done with Alcatel now and will be replacing it. In my humble opinion, the most bang for the buck at this time is the Motorola G5sPlus. The G5Plus came out early 2017, the G5sPlus came out just before 2018. It seems to spec just below the top of the line phones. Camera they say is not excellent but acceptable. No NFC in U.S. and I like the IPS screen vs amoled as the battery lasts longer. Two versions 4GB/64MB and 3GB/32MB discounted on Motorola website right now for $299 and $239? respectively.

Just FYI, Motorola offers a 15% discount if purchase through Unidays, so if you are a student or somehow acquire a student account on Unidays that would make the 4GB version about $250.

Yes, im sure there will be disagreement with my thoughts on phones....but those are my thoughts on replacing the Alcatel at the moment.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PN04:
I feel your pain, I chose the 5.5 idol3 because the spec were great at the time and I thought it would have a long lifespan. The only reason I haven't hit it with a hammer after that update is because I need a functioning phone. Sure it still works but my faith in the company that made it is gone and I've been looking for a decent replacement since I discovered I couldnt use ADB to clean it up. Motorola is looking like the next best thing but I'm not quite confident in their build quality, It might just be a few random occurrences but the trend of complaints so far has been a little too consistent, so it might be worth a little more research and comparison shopping before committing.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] stodgydodge:
The sad thing is...Alcatel just lost most of their customers. Even if they were to obtain a moment of clarity and realize the huge mistake they have made and reverse their actions, well no one has their updates turned on anymore.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] nyh:
I am considering now the Xiaomi A1, because it is said to have a loud speaker (the reason I bought the Alcatel Idol 3 in the first place), and 100% Android-only software (close to what Alcatel Idol had when I got it, but they changed their philosophy, obviously...). It also has much more storage than my Alcatel Idol 3 (4GB RAM, 64 GB flash). However, one thing which bothers me is that it's physically big - similar to the 5.5" Alcatel Idol 3 (just a bit heavier) - and I actually prefer the 4.7" Alcatel Idol 3. I can't seem to find a good phone with the physical size of the 4.7" Idol. Any suggestions?
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PN04:
I've moved away from potentially picking up the Moto phones I mentioned earlier. Most every phone seems to be missing something that I got from the Idol 3. Even if it's better in some way like having more RAM or storage or when I think I can live without something like a 1080p screen or notification LED, there's something missing like gyroscope or having worse LTE band coverage on T-Mobile (idol 3 wasnt the best but it was at least doing okay), and some of the Chinese brands keep tripping alarms about spyware, because apparently china either wants to know my personal nuclear missile codes or when I order pizza? I dunno, after this anything even remotely sketchy makes me hesitant now. Honestly, if your only problem is that it's a little big, consider yourself lucky. Besides it's hard to find anything under 5 inches that manages to still be considered a mid-range smartphone now.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] sloshnmosh:
Acatel SUCKS

You may be able to block the Joy Launcher and other Alcatel related adware from communicating with their servers by appending the "hosts" file in the /etc folder.

This would require a rooted device to be able to make the system files writable.

There are ways to get "systemless" root on some of the Android 6.0 Alcatels discussed on the XDA forums.

You can download this file and append it to the /etc/hosts file to block access to the apps servers.

As root run the command: "mount -orw,remount /system" (without the qoutes) to make the system files writable.

Then you can append the hosts file with: "cat /sdcard/Download/NoJoy >> /etc/hosts" (without the qoutes).if the file is located in your Download folder.

Then run: "mount -oro,remount /system" (without the qoutes) to make the system read-only again for security purposes and reboot.

A word of caution: This may have adverse affects on any other app that uses the same servers.

Feel free to add or modify this hosts file.

File is located here:

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/c87babe6c353bdc73557a9346d8dd51b

What this does is make all the IP addresses resolve back to Local so they can't communicate with the outside world.

(But I HIGHLY suggest if you know how to root then you should flash to a completely different OS such as Lineage)
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ecozturk:
Hi,

Can you still root since this unfamous update ?
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PN04:
I think that's part of the problem after the update fastboot is gone which seems to result in no longer being able to use developer tools. If the device was still rootable this whole thing would be much less of an issue. You could hide or freeze the apps or possibly even install a different rom but that's not possible.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ecozturk:
I am currently trying the process explained in this post and strange things are happening.

Well i am quite a newbie so...
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] sloshnmosh:
I do not know if this new "update" has stopped users from rooting or not.

I was running the stock MM when the adware/spyware updates appeared overnight.

I followed the instructions on this forum on how to gain "systemless" root and regain the use of Fastboot and then flashed the device with the Lineage OS and never looked back.

This was BEFORE the infamous "update" had been pushed but AFTER Alcatel started pushing the tainted "Joy Launcher" "File Manager" and other adware/data mining apps.

Has anyone that received the malicious update been successful at rooting?
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PN04:
My first attempt at rooting failed, the program that was supposed to respond when I plugged in my USB cable on my PC couldn't recognize the phone despite loading the drivers and setting the phone to developer mode. I've seen several methods that have claimed to offer the ability to fix the phone but seeing as I've never tried, never HAD to try, to do it I'm waiting to hear more success stories first because it sounds like most people here were already rooted or only installed the applications from Google play rather than the OTA update which makes it a lot easier to escape.

Recently, I went to check the Google play store reviews for the file manager app. Alcatel looks to be faking it's way out of trouble now, they're bloating their score with fake five star reviews now to counter the wave of one star reviews this update has caused. I had dropped as low as 3.7 back when this started and now has jumped to 3.9 I can't see any real people thinking this is a good thing. Sure there might be a few people fooled into thinking the old file deletion and claims that it speeds up the software might be true just based on it being an "official" app but just a few minutes of the behavior of this program should tell even the least experienced user that something is wrong which makes it clear to me that many of the reviews must be fakes that they've paid for to fix their score.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] sloshnmosh:
I don't know if you tried this already but whenever my device isn't recognized by PC...

#1. Make sure that your phone file transfer mode is set to MTP mode.(somtimes I have to switch it to a different transfer mode and then back to MTP before it will recognize.)

#2. Sometimes I have to clear the debugging credentials by clicking on "Revoke USB debugging authorizations" in "Developer options", unplug the USB and plug it back. You will see a pop-up on your phone screen that you will have to accept to authorize the PC for ADB or any of these tools to work.

You should be able to see the device in Windows file explorer and/or the Windows device manager before you try using any flashing tools to make sure the drivers are installed correctly.

"I went to check the Google play store reviews for the file manager app. Alcatel looks to be faking it's way out of trouble now, they're bloating their score with fake five star reviews now to counter the wave of one star reviews this update has caused."

I saw that too. Doesn't suprise me in the least. Scammers will do anything to get users to install their crapware so they can sell your data to the highest bidder.

It is one thing to trick users on the Play Store, it is entirely different when the app is a SYSTEM app that cannot be removed!

I have seen apps that automatically give a 5 star rating by using the users Google access tokens by abusing the "GET_ACCOUNTS" permission in the Android Manifest.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PN04:
Thanks, I'll give this another try this weekend and let you know if I get any different results. I'm pretty sure I could still transfer files so I know the computer could at least see the phone, but even switching some of the options on and off thinking maybe I did something wrong I still didn't see a change. Maybe I missed something, though.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] sloshnmosh:
Has anyone been able to root after this update?
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] sloshnmosh:
That comment was both funny and sad but also very true!

It seems the US government is banning some Chinese mobile devices now as well:

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/02/08/us_congress_huawei_zte/

They should add Alcatel to the list after these latest "updates".
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PN04:
Some people want to ban them, mostly because we're starting to get pulled back into a mini-coldwar, but the way Trump does business it's unlikely to get signed into law.

Funny thing: Blu, an American company based in Florida got bounced from Amazon.com for a while because they use rebranded Chinese phones that had software from a Chinese company who was busted for data mining for no good reason. An article I read about it actually named Alcatel as a "reliable" alternative to Chinese made smartphones in the wake of that event! Frankly, the longer I have to deal with this garbage with Alcatel, the more Huawei starts to feels safer to me because they actually let you delete some of their bloatware straight away. I've been researching replacement phones for weeks now in the event that I can't fix my Idol3, and if it weren't for the $200 price tag I'd have ordered an Honor 7x already just to be rid of this thing.

It's so frustrating! I honestly don't see the point of China buggin' regular everyday mid range cell phones or collecting our data (unless they're just selling it back to people in the US who are already collecting our data). Anyone in high positions in the government, or even just in business can afford a super high end $1000 phone that couldn't be hacked by the Chinese in the first place, and any of the tech-minded people in the world like the ones on this forum who figure out how to unlock boot loaders, create new ROMs, or understand the complexities of the hardware just by looking at the board inside should be capable of telling if there was anything in Chinese phones that is really dangerous. Why take the chance?
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] sloshnmosh:
I agree 100% with (almost) everything you said.

I too believe it is BS for the government to try and single out a company like Huawei because they are not alone in the data mining/spying.

I have an ancient Samsung S2 that was given to me years ago that has a stock ROM from T-Mobile and it's riddled with data slurp.

The one comment I do not agree with is that someone with a $1000.00 device is somehow immune from anything.

A users device is only secure as the apps that are installed.

I have found that almost every single app on the Play store has some type of data mining built in and some of the worst offenders of user privacy are the apps users install to protect themselves.

All these "cleaner, battery saver, antivirus, anti-hacking" apps are stealing more private information from the users devices than any malware can ever do.

That's why I was so angry to find that my phone manufacturer (Alcatel) had silently installed the same crap that I had been warning others about.

Even flashing a custom ROM can't protect you if the hardware is hacked.

I'll post a hex dump of the Idol 3's modem one of these days.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PN04:
Oh that's fair, you're totally right. I meant it more along the lines that they seemed to be blaming mid range budget phones for security problems. Like one article basically said if you want to avoid Chinese data mining then somehow expensive phones from "reputable" companies rather than the small or lesser known names was the way to go. So they're saying I have to by a 400-800 dollar phone to be safe. Safe from what? It's not like I have a secret recipe, I'm a nobody, that's WHY I'm buying a 150 dollar phone! If anything the expensive phones should be the ones that you expect to get juicy secret data from!
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] sloshnmosh:
I don't believe for one minute that all this data mining is all about advertisers wanting to know what you're interested in purchasing, although there is some truth to that.

I think the REAL reason why companies create all these super profile graphs on users (such as the Facebook Graph API that is inside every single one of the "cleaner, antivirus, battery saver" apps including the newly updated Alcatel apps) can be gleaned by doing a little research on who uses the data that is grabbed from users devices.

Here's a few links to mull over:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Analytica

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/mar/04/cambridge-analytics-data-brexit-trump

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/17/us_military_spying_archive_exposed/

Take the antivirus/security company: Avast for instance, according to their official website:

https://www.avast.com/en-us/history

"For our 25th anniversary, Avast acquires Jumpshot, a big data and advanced marketing analytics platform designed to provide insights into people’s online behavior.

And, with an increasing need for security in social media, Avast acquires secure.me, a Facebook security scanning tool allowing Avast to offer users more layers of protection."

Things that make you go "hmmmmm?"
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PN04:
So, what you're saying is they do it just to know what antivirus companies to buy? Here, I'll make it easy for them: the least expensive unobtrusive virus protection, that doesn't steal resources or crash my devices randomly, and that I can shut off when I feel like it. Make that and you corner the market.

There, I'll even waive my consulting fee.

When you boil it down it all just people trying to make more money by complicating things that don't need to be complicated which sucks for the regular person just trying to get by.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] sloshnmosh:
Hmmm, I guess something got lost in the translation somewhere.

What I was suggesting was that perhaps some of this data that is being collected was being used for purposes other than "advertising".

As in the case of Cambridge Analytica (allegedly) using the data to influence peoples decisions even at the voting booth.

I also suggested that some of the bogus "antivirus,cleaner" apps are collecting more user data rather than protecting the user.

That is why I found it interesting that Avast had purchased a data mining company.
[Onetouch Idol 3 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] PN04:
Oh yeah, that's right. I did see that part and I understood where you were going with it, I think I might have self edited to keep the thread from getting too political. I want to believe people are better than that, like the kind of influence they're peddling only effects the most shallow portion of the population, it's unfortunate how much of the total population that seems to be these days.