MT6572 Obscure (mediatek-mt6572obscure)

ALPS Mediatek Obscure Device (MT6572)
	; MT6572 Obscure
Manufacturer	ALPS
Name	Mediatek Obscure Device (MT6572)
Codename	mediatek-mt6572obscure
Released	2014
Hardware
Chipset	MediaTek MT6572
CPU	2x 1.2 GHz Cortex-A7
GPU	Mali-400
Display	480x854
Storage	512 MB
Memory	256 MB
Architecture	armv7
Software
Original software	Android
Original version	4.2.2
postmarketOS
Category	testing
Pre-built images	no
Mainline	no

Why this?

This phone is a counterfeit Samsung S4 Mini clone produced in 2014 by ALPS. I got scammed while buying this counterfeit product but hey hackers (or wannabes like me) still can see an opportunity in this thing right? It's very low end phone with 256MB ram with 512MB NAND storage. This project is a learning experience for me and don't expect a working thing soon.

Phone Info (according to Android's "About This Device" )

Hardware : MT6572
Model : GT-I9190
Build number : ALPS.JB3.MP.V1
Build date UTC : 20140825-084936
Android v : 4.2.2 *(found also a version running Android 5.0 in USA ROMS)*
Baseband v: MOLY.WR8.W1315.MD.WG.MP.V1.P1, 2013/09/24 12:14
Kernel v : 3.4.5 (sw07@server5) (gcc version 4.6.x-google 20120106 (prerelease) (GCC) ) #1 SMP Mon Aug 25 16:48:30 CST 2014
Uboot build v : -----
LCD Driver IC : 1-nt35512_fwvga_dsi_vdo_auo

Partitions

shell@android:/ # cat /proc/mtd
dev:    size   erasesize  name
mtd0: 00100000 00040000 "preloader"
mtd1: 00100000 00040000 "pro_info"
mtd2: 00300000 00040000 "nvram"
mtd3: 00300000 00040000 "protect_f"
mtd4: 00300000 00040000 "protect_s"
mtd5: 00040000 00040000 "seccnfg"
mtd6: 00080000 00040000 "uboot"
mtd7: 00600000 00040000 "boot"
mtd8: 00600000 00040000 "recovery"
mtd9: 00040000 00040000 "secstatic"
mtd10: 000c0000 00040000 "misc"
mtd11: 00100000 00040000 "logo"
mtd12: 00200000 00040000 "expdb"
mtd13: 01400000 00040000 "fat"
mtd14: 0f000000 00040000 "system"
mtd15: 00700000 00040000 "cache"
mtd16: 0cec0000 00040000 "userdata"

shell@android:/ # df
Filesystem             Size   Used   Free   Blksize
/dev                   112M    52K   112M   4096
/mnt/secure            112M     0K   112M   4096
/mnt/asec              112M     0K   112M   4096
/mnt/obb               112M     0K   112M   4096
/system                213M   179M    34M   4096
/data                  183M   143M    39M   4096
/fat                    13M     9M     3M   4096
/protect_f               3M     1M     1M   4096
/protect_s               3M     1M     1M   4096
/mnt/cd-rom              1M     1M     0K   2048
/storage/sdcard0        12M     1M    10M   4096
/mnt/secure/asec        12M     1M    10M   4096

shell@android:/ # cat /proc/partitions
major minor  #blocks  name

   7        0       1254 loop0
   7        1      12476 loop1
 253        0     196608 zram0
  31        0       1024 mtdblock0
  31        1       1024 mtdblock1
  31        2       3072 mtdblock2
  31        3       3072 mtdblock3
  31        4       3072 mtdblock4
  31        5        256 mtdblock5
  31        6        512 mtdblock6
  31        7       6144 mtdblock7
  31        8       6144 mtdblock8
  31        9        256 mtdblock9
  31       10        768 mtdblock10
  31       11       1024 mtdblock11
  31       12       2048 mtdblock12
  31       13      20480 mtdblock13
  31       14     245760 mtdblock14
  31       15       7168 mtdblock15
  31       16     211712 mtdblock16

Serial Connection (UART Debug)

How to Prepare Mtk Debug Cable
You can see UART messages on serial monitor with 115200 baudrate but after the kernel booted no message is shown.
fastboot oem p2u on
fastboot oem p2u 1
codes entered in fastboot but no luck. This problem needs to be solved.
Here is the uart output: READY Uncompressing Linux... done, booting the kernel.

Memory Info

shell@android:/proc # cat /proc/meminfo
MemTotal:         230124 kB
MemFree:            5144 kB
Buffers:               8 kB
Cached:            36788 kB
SwapCached:         2208 kB
Active:            68648 kB
Inactive:          64156 kB
Active(anon):      49888 kB
Inactive(anon):    47452 kB
Active(file):      18760 kB
Inactive(file):    16704 kB
Unevictable:        1292 kB
Mlocked:               0 kB
HighTotal:             0 kB
HighFree:              0 kB
LowTotal:         230124 kB
LowFree:            5144 kB
SwapTotal:        196604 kB
SwapFree:         127640 kB
Dirty:                 0 kB
Writeback:             0 kB
AnonPages:         96724 kB
Mapped:            41440 kB
Shmem:                40 kB
Slab:              13348 kB
SReclaimable:       4428 kB
SUnreclaim:         8920 kB
KernelStack:        4464 kB
PageTables:         4848 kB
NFS_Unstable:          0 kB
Bounce:                0 kB
WritebackTmp:          0 kB
CommitLimit:      311664 kB
Committed_AS:    2063136 kB
VmallocTotal:     778240 kB
VmallocUsed:       97476 kB
VmallocChunk:     411652 kB

CPU

shell@android:/proc # cat /proc/cpuinfo
Processor	: ARMv7 Processor rev 3 (v7l)
processor	: 0
BogoMIPS	: 1993.93

Features	: swp half thumb fastmult vfp edsp thumbee neon vfpv3 tls vfpv4 idiva idivt 
CPU implementer	: 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant	: 0x0
CPU part	: 0xc07
CPU revision	: 3

Hardware	: MT6572
Revision	: 0000
Serial		: 0000000000000000

How to enter flash mode

Take out the battery. Open SP Flash Tool program. Insert micro usb cable to the phone and then insert the battery.

What works

Nothing works

What does not work

Everything

Contributors

echza

Maintainer(s)

echza