I've got one of those gross "Welcome" branded phones. What can I do for a root method?

[starfoxdot64]

Some basic information, my dad wanted to upgrade our phones (we currently have Galaxy S9s) to something within the Samsung ecosystem, but didn't want to pay big bucks for it. As a result, he looked to eBay. I suggest the OnePlus 6T since we aren't looking to break the bank, and he buys one phone from what he thought was a reputable listing.

Enter: The Welcome S20+ Pro. (you probably knew where this was going.)

He showed me the listing after buying and I had to break the news. He was mad, it was understandable - I was too. We got it a month later (2 days ago, to be exact), and whaddya know? It comes with a 256GB SD card, tooootally not fake, and a cheap egg bag with the phone in it.

Long story short, this phone advertises itself as an S20+ Pro, Android 10, 512GB of storage, 16GB of RAM, 4 cameras, a pinhole camera and an in-display fingerprint reader. In reality, it's a "Mediatek S20+ Pro", Android 6, 16GB or storage, no ram listed (just 1GB swap on the main nand), 3 dummy cameras, 2 low-res, low-FPS cameras (one on the front and back) and the most amazing fingerprint sensor you've ever seen (joking, of course - it's a gimmick too).

I'm trying to make this phone "safe" by flashing something else on it. The bootloader is unlockable, and it's running a Mediatek 658x processor. My dad shows no signs of wanting to dispute or send it back, so it's the best I can do.

The rooting question is because I don't want to end up with no backup in the event of a bad flash, and I need to make a scatter file for the thing.

 

[hallux]

Rather than futzing around with an old device running such an old version of Android - why not explore the eBay dispute system? If the phone was listed with different specs than it was delivered with and you can provide proof of such then you have a strong case for eBay to rule in your favor and refund your money. Some sellers would actually rather refund your money than have you go that route so it might just take an email to the seller threatening that and they will work something out with you. Dispute resolution with eBay puts them on a naughty list with eBay and might cause them some trouble but if they handle you before getting to that point then they can avoid that and have an opportunity to pull the same scam with someone else.

OK, you did answer my question, but I really think that's the best course of action. Android 6 is OLD, you're going backwards in OS versions from your S9, beyond the version those S9's were released with! Accepting the phones as they are and doing nothing about it does nothing except give these scammers some satisfaction that they were successful when they really need to be taken down a notch and shown that they can't fool people.

I found one active listing on eBay for an S20+ Pro, it mentioned nothing about Android 10 and mentioned 12 GB of RAM.

 

[B. Diddy]

Welcome to Android Central! Ugh, Welcome phones, the scourge of the Wish shopping site.:-\ I don't have a good answer for you, but for interesting (and entertaining) videos about these phones, check out Smoorez's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXL7BeoLvnObB0riYv5qwSg

 

[starfoxdot64]

Don't worry too much, I know the channel far too well. I've actually found some more information - Obviously it's a fake device, but they don't want people pulling data from the phone. They wiped /proc/mtd, which is in charge of holding Mediatek scatter file information. While I have information on the actual mount data and partition data, I don't have the information to put it together.

 

[Kizzy Catwoman]

I would dispute it through ebay and get a refund. There is no point doing anything with a welcome phone.

 

[starfoxdot64]

I would dispute it through ebay and get a refund. There is no point doing anything with a welcome phone.

I'm in the process of it, although I'm planning to keep it as a backup of sorts in the event that any of my family's phones go kaput. I did some digging and found that I might actually be able to get treble support on it, since the partitions are free reign after unlocking the bootloader.

While there might not be a point in doing anything with a welcome phone, there is a point in using the hardware at least, even if it's a bit... dull.