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Android Hacking 101 Ep1

Submitted by tsgadmin on Sat, 11/28/2009 - 23:04
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Episode Number: 
1
Video for iPhone and iPad: 

480p H.264

Show Links: 

Show Notes:

Full Guide on installing the Alternate OS:

Downgrading to RC29 (US) or RC7 (Europe)

There is a security loop-hole in the RC29 / RC7 Bluetooth module that is exploited in the next step. This loop-hole has been fixed in more recent releases, so you must downgrade to RC29 / RC7.

WARNING: This process will remove all existing applications, data, and phone configurations. Reseting the phone back to 'base' settings. There is no going back once you load this image.

  1. Backup any files on your SD card that are valuable to you (you can copy them to your PC's hard drive)
  2. Format your SD card to FAT32
    • If you have Android 1.6, you must format the SD from the phone settings
    • Windows: Right-click on SD icon and select format
    • Mac users: Use Disk Utility and click Erase and then select MS-DOS FAT (FAT32 is simply known as FAT in Mac OS X)
    • Linux: Use gparted (it's in the repositories of your favorite distro)
  3. Download the RC29 / RC7 dreaimg.nbh file (don't rename it or your phone won't recognize it)
  4. Put the file you just downloaded onto your freshly formatted SD card.
  5. Turn your phone off.
  6. Hold down the Camera button, and press the Power button to enter the bootloader.
  7. Follow the on-screen instructions to flash the image. On some G1s it may require pressing the action button (trackball), while on others it may require pressing the power button.
  8. When it's done, press the trackball.
  9. Press the Call, Menu, and End buttons at the same time to reboot. You may need to unplug your phone for this to work.

Rooting the phone

You need to have root (or 'admin') access to the phone so that you can install whatever software you want and not just what your provider gives you. This is where you will exploit the hole in the Bluetooth. This is not the same as unlocking your phone.

  1. Finish booting up your phone, and sign-in to your Google account. Follow this guide to sign-in via wifi if you don't have access to a 3G network.
  2. Once you're at the Home screen, open the keyboard, and press the Enter (Return) button twice.
  3. Type telnetd [enter]
    • Typing will bring up the Contacts screen, but you can just ignore that.
    • There will be no indication to let you know you did it right. Just continue on to the next step.
    • If you get an error when trying to connect (step 5), try pressing Enter twice and type "telnetd" and press Enter again
  4. Open the Android Market, and install Android Telnet Client (by Koushik Dutta)
  5. Open Android Telnet Client, enter "localhost" in the large text box and press connect. (You may have to enter "23" in the smaller text box on the right)

Cyanogen Recovery Image

Now you need to replace the standard Recovery Image with a customized Recovery Image based off the Recovery Image Google's Engineers use. This will allow you to do things like make a backup of your phone, and recover from a crash. Most importantly, however, this will give you the physical ability to install a custom ROM.

  1. Download the latest Cyanogen Recovery Image (1.4)
  2. Move the Image File to your SD card
    • You may need to unplug/unmount your phone so the phone can access the SD card
  3. Open Android Telnet Client and type flash_image recovery /sdcard/cm-recovery-1.4.img [enter]
  4. If done correctly you will see # # appear on your screen. If you get the "permission denied" message, type "su" (without quotes), press enter and repeat the previous step.
  5. Press Home key and proceed to next step.

 File Download

Due to recent events, CyanogenMod can no longer distribute Google specific apps with his ROMS. The way around this is to download and install the legal Google apps and then install CyanogenMod on top of those apps. The good news is that it works, the bad news is that it requires an extra step or two in the install process.

  1. Download the Android 1.6 Recovery Image (it has "-ota-" in the filename):
  2. Download the latest CyanogenMod ROM for your device:
  3. Put both of these files on your SD card (in zip format)

Flash Android 1.6 & CyanogenMod 4.2.5/4.1.9999

You will now install the actual OS of the phone. First you will install the legal Google apps, and then you will install CyanogenMod on top of those apps.

  1. Turn your phone off.
  2. Hold the Home button while booting to get to Recovery mode.
  3. If you wish to have an option to return to your factory settings, select nandroid backup now. If not, continue.
  4. Press Alt-W (or select "wipe data/factory reset")Press home to confirm
  5. Press Alt-A (or select "apply any zip from sd")
  6. Press home to confirm and let installation complete
  7. STOP - DO NOT REBOOT YOUR PHONE
  8. Once again, press Alt-A (or select "apply any zip from sd")
  9. Press home to confirm and let installation complete
  10. When this is complete, reboot your phone by pressing Home & Back.
  11. Wait. Your phone will say writing radio image and then reboot. This will take a couple of minutes. Be patient!
  12. If the phone enters Recovery mode after rebooting, press Home & Back again to reboot it once more. You should see the blue CyanogenMod Android logo this time.


If that's all you wanted to do, you're done! You should now have a fully functional phone.


Go to google market place and download the new google maps app and show off Turn by turn NAV!