Pixel 3a XL experience
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I flashed another Pixel 3a XL this morning for a friend that I got interested in this, cause flashing misery loves company right? LOL He tried for two days but could not get Google Play Services to flash the phone back to 9.0.0 (PQ3B.190801.002, Aug 2019). I tried this morning and couldn't get it to work either, so I resorted to doing it manually and it went off without a hitch. Here is what I did. And just for the record, I'm on Linux, Ubuntu to be exact. You should have ADB and fastboot installed on your computer.
Go to the Google play services site and instead of "Flash" click on "Link" next to the 9.0.0 (PQ3B.190801.002, Aug 2019) image. It will download the zip. Unzip it and cd into it in a terminal.
Start with the phone unlocked and on in a regular operational state with developer mode and USB debugging enabled. Bounce (turn off and on) USB debugging so you get the pop-up to always allow from this computer.
In the terminal and run "adb devices" to make sure you can see it. then run "adb reboot-bootloader" which will take you to the fastboot screen.
The "Flash-all.sh" script from the zip you downloaded will fail, at least it always did for me, due to the "if" statement at the beginning. Instead, cat the script and just run the fastboot commands in it manually. There are only a few to run and remember you have to be in the directory these files are in to run the commands. This worked on two phones so far. I then ran the 0.8.8 installer and like magic, it was done. Like anything else in Linux, there are several ways to do anything and you never know when you might have to do something different for some unknown reason. I believe in picking up these referb phones, there is just no telling the how's or why's in which they were wiped and what it will take to get them to flash. But here's yet another way.
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Hello. Upon first porting my Pixel 3a XL to Ubuntu Touch, it recognized my SIM. I could make calls, and I did, to both my brother and mother a few times. However, when attempting to send a text, it would continue to load until eventually failing to send altogether. Then, after restarting the device, cellular service would be marked as searching before quickly being marked as "Denied" entirely, as stated in the pull-down menu. This whole cycle was replicated upon resetting, as well as when porting back to Android and again to Ubuntu Touch. I also tried installing the rc release instead of Ubuntu Touch instead of the stable release. I even tried installing the "nuntium 8" MMS patch to see if it would fix the issue (the forum said that it was the only patch listed that would do anything for the Pixel 3a), but it didn't seem to help any.For cellular service, I'm located in the US and use StraightTalk, an MVNO of Verizon. This is the only issue keeping me from making Ubuntu Touch on the Pixel 3a XL my daily driver phone, so I would really appreciate any and all help I can get in resolving this.
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@jackharness Verizon is polling for VoLTE. If it does not find it, it will block your device, thus the denied. VoLTE is coming but who knows when. So, an alternative if you must use Verizon is to use a non-verizon owned, but verizon based, MVNO and a sip service for calls.
But, the fact you could make calls says you are on a GSM sim. Verizon is troublesome, so I'd suggest using another MVNO such as US Mobile
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@rocket2nfinity Thank you very much! I had seen some threads regarding this following my post, and I was afraid this might have been the case. I suppose that I'll just have to switch back to Android for now, and wait until VoLTE support comes to Ubuntu Touch in a year or so. Network support is very hit-or-miss out here unless you go with Verizon, and I honestly couldn't be bothered with the switch. Keeping a number while switching plans is a hassle, and keeping my number is important to me. I'll definitely keep my eye out for VoLTE support, though.
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Hello,
Sorry if this is mentioned in the thread already, but I couldn't find it.What is the deal with "oem unlock" / unlocking the bootloader?
I bought a device off ebay and it oem unlock was greyed out and said connect to the internet to unlock. In the end I couldn't do it, so i returned the device
Since then I've been asking sellers if the bootloader can be unlocked on 3a xl or 3a, and they are all saying "NO" . So, which ones can be unlocked or how do you do it?
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@joe im only familiar with US models, which you would want the G020G; sellers advertise that their device is G020G but then they send out whatever. For the US the one you want to avoid is the verizon version G020E which is not unlockable. I had better luck on swappa than ebay
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@dieharddan said in Pixel 3a XL experience:
G020G
Thank you for the advice. I have had good experiences with swappa in the US as well, but now I'm in Canada, and there doesn't seem to be a good service like that.
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@jackharness You could also try Droidian. It does have VoLTE support
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@joe XDA-developers forum is the best place to see which of the Verizon models can be unlocked. There are active exploits for a few models (pixel 2), but it's hit or miss at best and better to just keep returning until you get an unlockable model.
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@jackharness said in Pixel 3a XL experience:
Network support is very hit-or-miss out here unless you go with Verizon, and I honestly couldn't be bothered with the switch. Keeping a number while switching plans is a hassle, and keeping my number is important to me. I'll definitely keep my eye out for VoLTE support, though.
Yes, unfortunately several parts of the US are only covered decently by Verizon. VoLTE support would be a big win. As noted, Droidian may be worth trying, but you won't have the UT / Lomiri goodness there yet.
