[Android General] SomeOneX:
Here are tips and tricks to root and speed up the cheap and beautiful low budget

Elephone A4

phone. :D

I bought it as a second phone. ;)

1.0 Flashing the Firmware (because we will need the correct boot.img file later)

Download the firmware Elephone_A4_MT6739_20180530.zip

Download latest SP Flash Tool

Download latest Windows driver

Download latest PdaNet+ Version 5.10

Windows 10 enforces driver signatures by default. This can be disabled to install drivers that are not digitally signed. Use the following steps to disable driver signature enforcement. Start Windows. Then you can get to the “Advanced Options” menu quickly by just holding down the Shift key while clicking the “Restart” option. When you do this, your PC doesn’t immediately restart. Instead, it shows you a menu that lets you continue in your Windows session, access troubleshooting tools, or turn off your PC. Click the “Troubleshoot” button. On the “Troubleshoot” screen, click the “Advanced Options” button. And, finally, you’ll arrive at the “Advanced Options” menu. Then click Startup Settings, Restart and "F7".

Now install the drivers! (and PdaNet+)

Decompress the Elephone firmware, open the SP Flash Tool, click scatter-loading button. Find the MT6582_Android_scatter.txt and open it. Turn off the phone. Choose "Format All + Download" and click the Download Button. Then connect your phone with USB wire. When everything is done you will see a green tick.

2.0 Write back the IMEI

Download the tool Maui Meta

Unzip Maui META, install it on the PC and run as Administrator. Click Reconnect at the top-right corner. Switch off the phone and connect it to the PC without holding any button on the phone. The phone should boot up and then get stuck at boot animation. Not to worry, it's in META mode. The circle should now be yellow, indicating that the phone has been successfully detected. Click on the dropdown at the top left corner and select IMEI download. The IMEI Download box should pop up. Click on "Change NVRAM Database File". In the window that pops up, navigate to the location of the Elephone firmware and select the file "MDDB_InfoCustomAppSrcP_MT6739_S00_MOLY_LR12A_R2_MP_V28_1_1_ulwtg_n.EDB". You should see the path to the DB file under NVRAM Database file. Now, enter the first 14 digits of the IMEI you wish to write. The digit entered in the CheckSum box will be the 15th digit of the IMEI. If done, click "Download To Flash". Once the IMEI has been successfully written to the selected SIM slot on the phone, you should see a message at the bottom saying Download IMEI to flash successfully.

3.0 ROOT the Elephone A4

3.1 Install the Update

Once you’ve powered up your device, you’ll be greeted with a series of set-up chores. When you're done, wait for the firmware update: Elephone_A4_20180625_20180625-2126.

3.2 Unlock the Bootloader

Download the tool Minimal ADB and Fastboot

Enable USB debugging: go to Settings > About > Build number > Keep tapping Build number till you see a prompt saying "Congratulations, you are now a developer". Now navigate to Settings > Developer options > Tick / Enable USB debugging. Also enable OEM unlock option!

Unzip "Minimal ADB and Fastboot", open a command prompt and navigate to the "Minimal ADB and Fastboot" directory. Connect the phone to PC while ON; then run the command: adb devices. If you've setup everything right, the device should get detected under List of devices attached. Run the command adb reboot-bootloader to get the phone into Bootloader (fastboot). The phone should now boot into fastboot. Then run the following command to unlock Bootloader: fastboot oem unlock

Finally press the Volume UP Button on the phone.

3.3 Root the phone

Once you’ve powered up your device, you’ll be greeted with a series of set-up chores. When you're done, enable USB debugging again.

Download and install the app Magisk Manager 6.0

Download the Elephone_A4_20180625_20180625-2126 update file

Unzip the update file and copy the boot.img file to your phone.

Launch Magisk Manager app. Select Install > Install > Patch Boot Image File. Navigate to the location of the stock boot.img and select it. Magisk Manager should begin downloading the magisk zip file used for patching. Once download is complete, MagiskManager will automatically patch the boot file.

Copy the patched_boot.img file to the "Minimal ADB and Fastboot" diretory on your PC.

Open a command prompt on your PC and navigate to the "Minimal ADB and Fastboot" directory. Connect the phone to PC while ON; then run the command adb reboot-bootloader to get the phone into Bootloader (fastboot). The phone should now boot into fastboot. Then run the following command to root: fastboot flash boot patched_boot.img

Finally run the command: adb reboot

4.0 Performance Tips and Tweaks

4.1 Uninstall useless apps

Download and install the Root Uninstaller

Uninstall: Browser, Google Duo, Play Music and Movies, Elephone Service App and Talkback

Also uninstall GBoard. But install before Hacker's Keyboard

4.2 Developer options

Find the settings for animations in the Developer options. Turn off the animations. (Window animation scale, Transition animation scale and Animator duration scale).

4.3 Performance App

Download and install BusyBox

Now download and install the app L Speed. Use the Performance Profil!

4.4 Magisk Modules

GPU Turbo Boost - This module allows GPU Turbo tweak to increase the phone's GPU power up to 75%

Init.d Injector - Adds init.d support

Greenify4Magisk - to make Greenify work as a privileged App

Things that do not work yet: :(

TWRP

Camera2Api

Do you have any more ideas to speed up the MTK 6739? :D