Locked bootloader tips and tricks

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maly82

Senior Member
Nov 4, 2014
63
17
Hi my xperia play was locked to carier netowork (o2 UK).
I use the phone as a gaming device, so phone capability is no matter to me. However my device's bootloader can't be unlocked. I also can't obtain root access.

So I gathered some solutions that can make my device more manageable. My device's internal memory is very limited - around 320MB after factory reset - so first thing i did was to setup it to install all apps to SD card. To do that I needed to have access to adb command either on Windows or any Linux distribution - even live cd will do.
My software version is 4.0.2.A.0.69

There are plenty tutorials how to do it - here is one:

http://www.howtogeek.com/125769/how-to-install-and-use-abd-the-android-debug-bridge-utility/

After this I go to my device Settings>Applications and mark "Unknown sources" and pres "OK"
Then choose Development and mark "USB debugging" and press "OK" again.
Now I go to Settings>Sony Ericsson>Connectivity and unmark "Install PC Companion"
In "USB connection mode" I select Media transfer mode (MTP) - this is important because I will install app from my pc that I backup previously. If I don't mark this option my apps will still install in internal memory as sdcard will be mounted in my system.

Now I can connect my phone to pc with usb cable.

From here i go to command line to do all the magic:

adb devices - to see if my device is properly connected
then
adb shell
from here I write:
pm getInstallLocation - which will give me option 0(auto) - this command is just inform me what is setup as main storage for apps
pm setInstallLocation 2 - this option changes my main storage to sdcardI
pm getInstallLocation - should come with 2(sdcard) this time i just check if changes has been applied
exit - to close adb shell
then I navigate to my apk files and in command line write:
adb install [name of the app].apk - for each of the apps
it takes a while but after all my apps are shown as installed in sdcard in Settings>Applications>Manage applications>On SD card

From here I login to Google Market app.
I let it update. After short while I have updated Play Store and Google Play Services - second one is installed on SD card as well.

Some of my apps require Play Store verification so I start each one of them to not run into troubles later.

A word of advice:
Google Play Services operate in background and take some of internal storage it's a good Idea to clear data of it once in a while as it will make my device slow and render internal storage to run out.

To get more storage i uninstall Play Store updates after installing and running all of my apps as well as Google Play Services. It gives me about 100MB of internal storage back.

I set my device to airplane mode to save some battery life.

All of my games are running very well on this setup. I use 32GB Sandisk micro SDcard class 10.

Hope this helps some who has same problem with Your device.
 

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