4 ms·

Where do you get them for $5? Cheapest I can find is around £8 (11 USD), and it’s not clear if they have this chip.

haunter 1y ago
Yeah you won't find them for $5 unless you buy in bulk on Alibaba Aliexpress has this as the best selling one though the chipset is not confirmed https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006924641101.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006924641101.html Well I take my gamble, wait 2 weeks and see what I'll get
- mrandish 1y ago
  Just fyi, the device at that link is currently showing $9.62 for a single unit, once logged in and the one-time-only "Welcome deals" are eliminated. But AliExpress pricing can vary hour by hour based on seller, inventory, algorithm, RNG.
  - fivestones 1y ago
    I just bought one for $1.07 US with free shipping. I was buying with a new account so I probably got that discount. But even so, before buying I got $2.99 the first time I loaded the page, then $9.89 or thereabouts, and finally $0.99 (which I bought, it had an additional $0.08 in fees for $1.07 total). We’ll see if it shows up and is hackable, but at that price it feels too good to pass up the chance.
    - fivestones 1y ago
      Just wanted to update that I got this in the mail today. Not bad—6 days from order to delivery, all for just over a dollar. I haven’t tried to hack it at all yet. Here are photos: https://imgur.com/a/J7S8rEW https://imgur.com/a/J7S8rEW
      - fivestones 1y ago
        One more update: it’s a UZ801, with the Qualcomm MSM8916 chipset (according to `adb shell getprop ro.product.model` etc, and the fact that openstick works). I got it running Debian without much trouble, and it’s working great. I followed the tutorial for openstick at https://wthoog.nl/openstick/ https://wthoog.nl/openstick/ (which seems to be down for me now). I got the one that’s white with a bit of red near/under the cap. One other thing that took me a bit to figure out: after removing the cap, the entire back of the device slides off (kind of like a battery cover in a remote) and there is a spot to put a SIM card beneath. Supposedly this does GPS too but I haven’t figured out how yet.
  - krackers 1y ago
    I've noticed the wild fluctuations in price as well (by $10), is there some trick to timing the RNG right? I'm guessing it's intentional to get you to keep refreshing.
- stavros 1y ago
  Which one did you buy, the red one or the white one? I do want a device that runs openstick, but I don't want more ewaste if it's the wrong one. EDIT: According to this post[1] above, this listing[2] should be the real thing, as the red variant does say SSID 4G-UFI-XX under the cap. [1] https://wvthoog.nl/openstick/ https://wvthoog.nl/openstick/ [2] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006860833351.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006860833351.html
  - haunter 1y ago
    Looks like both those are the same, judging by the review pictures too https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006924641101.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006924641101.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006860833351.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006860833351.html
    - SXX 1y ago
      They basically all come in 4-6 designs, but only difference is how easy it to get to edl / adb. On some of them you just load debug webpage and on others you might need to ground some pins.
SXX 1y ago
Well, I guess my post was slightly misguided on price because I bought them in South East Asia and they look a bit more pricey in EU / US now. Might be some tariff price changes played the role IDK. As for the chip basically almost all USB+LTE+WIFI sticks on Chinese marketplaces using it. They all have slightly different way to get adb / edl and flash, but all seems somewhat open.

Yeah you won't find them for $5 unless you buy in bulk on Alibaba Aliexpress has this as the best selling one though the chipset is not confirmed https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006924641101.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006924641101.html Well I take my gamble, wait 2 weeks and see what I'll get

mrandish 1y ago
Just fyi, the device at that link is currently showing $9.62 for a single unit, once logged in and the one-time-only "Welcome deals" are eliminated. But AliExpress pricing can vary hour by hour based on seller, inventory, algorithm, RNG.
- fivestones 1y ago
  I just bought one for $1.07 US with free shipping. I was buying with a new account so I probably got that discount. But even so, before buying I got $2.99 the first time I loaded the page, then $9.89 or thereabouts, and finally $0.99 (which I bought, it had an additional $0.08 in fees for $1.07 total). We’ll see if it shows up and is hackable, but at that price it feels too good to pass up the chance.
  - fivestones 1y ago
    Just wanted to update that I got this in the mail today. Not bad—6 days from order to delivery, all for just over a dollar. I haven’t tried to hack it at all yet. Here are photos: https://imgur.com/a/J7S8rEW https://imgur.com/a/J7S8rEW
    - fivestones 1y ago
      One more update: it’s a UZ801, with the Qualcomm MSM8916 chipset (according to `adb shell getprop ro.product.model` etc, and the fact that openstick works). I got it running Debian without much trouble, and it’s working great. I followed the tutorial for openstick at https://wthoog.nl/openstick/ https://wthoog.nl/openstick/ (which seems to be down for me now). I got the one that’s white with a bit of red near/under the cap. One other thing that took me a bit to figure out: after removing the cap, the entire back of the device slides off (kind of like a battery cover in a remote) and there is a spot to put a SIM card beneath. Supposedly this does GPS too but I haven’t figured out how yet.
- krackers 1y ago
  I've noticed the wild fluctuations in price as well (by $10), is there some trick to timing the RNG right? I'm guessing it's intentional to get you to keep refreshing.
stavros 1y ago
Which one did you buy, the red one or the white one? I do want a device that runs openstick, but I don't want more ewaste if it's the wrong one. EDIT: According to this post[1] above, this listing[2] should be the real thing, as the red variant does say SSID 4G-UFI-XX under the cap. [1] https://wvthoog.nl/openstick/ https://wvthoog.nl/openstick/ [2] https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006860833351.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006860833351.html
- haunter 1y ago
  Looks like both those are the same, judging by the review pictures too https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006924641101.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006924641101.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006860833351.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006860833351.html
  - SXX 1y ago
    They basically all come in 4-6 designs, but only difference is how easy it to get to edl / adb. On some of them you just load debug webpage and on others you might need to ground some pins.

SXX 1y ago

Well, I guess my post was slightly misguided on price because I bought them in South East Asia and they look a bit more pricey in EU / US now. Might be some tariff price changes played the role IDK. As for the chip basically almost all USB+LTE+WIFI sticks on Chinese marketplaces using it. They all have slightly different way to get adb / edl and flash, but all seems somewhat open.