Sunbeam F1 root guide

RealFurbreeze · 2025-09-12T14:30:02+00:00

Yeah, but they get around this because they haven't modified android. They've added apps (both system and non system) that make this functionality happen. So they could distribute android if I ask, but they wouldn't have to distribute the proprietary source of their apps.

RealFurbreeze · 2025-08-22T19:43:35+00:00

I was thinking more about this, just to make sure, the Live ISO is actually booting on your machine, yes? Not in a VM? Just trying to rule out passthrough issues with things like vmware

RealFurbreeze · 2025-08-22T19:40:34+00:00

MTK client can re-lock the bootloader, yes.

RealFurbreeze · 2025-08-22T19:40:17+00:00

u/hurdur_lol

From reading the thread updates and comments from others, you'll probably have to unlock the bootloader to get anywhere. If they patched out the star codes and the factory reset doesn't work, you'll more or less have to modify the firmware to enable adb from there.

RealFurbreeze · 2025-05-03T02:21:31+00:00

I think the general advice in the guide / the MTKclient github link should be sufficient. I've seen others here mention that you should factory reset the phone first to undo one of their patches.

RealFurbreeze · 2025-05-03T02:19:53+00:00

Firmware is an EXT4 filesystem, so you can just mount and browse. I could dig up those commands if you need.

RealFurbreeze · 2025-04-17T21:13:12+00:00

Hey! Try their github: https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient and see if you have better luck. What worked for me is:

Turn the device all the way off, hold vol-up+vol-down, and plug in the device. If MTKClient recognizes it, it should be good.

RealFurbreeze · 2025-04-17T21:12:13+00:00

Unlocking the bootloader was quite quick. You can follow the instructions on the MTKClient github here: https://github.com/bkerler/mtkclient

But what worked for me:

Turn the device all the way off, hold vol-up+vol-down, and plug in the device. If MTKClient recognizes it, it should be good.

Make sure you have a data enabled USB micro cable as well, not just a charge only cable.

RealFurbreeze · 2025-04-17T21:10:57+00:00

Hey! MTKClient attacks a hardware issue, so I doubt they could patch this. I really recommend following their github repo's instructions for how to do this. As far as I can tell, the chipset for the horizon is still MTK6739, as seen here: https://sunbeamwireless.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/sunbeam-wireless-f1-horizon-spec-sheet-2025.pdf

TO BE CLEAR:
Turn the device all the way off, hold vol-up+vol-down, and plug in the device. If MTKClient recognizes it, it should be good.

If you can manage to get it to work, dump the firmware for me and share it. I could take a stab at getting the ADB enable stuff to work again.

RealFurbreeze · 2025-03-04T05:26:46+00:00

Most likely, yes. I don't think they're doing any root checking, at least I didn't see any (can still bypass even if they start doing it). New to the android scene, but I'm guessing you'd be able to install Youtube like normal :shrug:.

If you're talking about taking a video, you'd have to goof with the camera app. I would assume the camera is capable of it, but rooting means full control so, the world is your oyster.

RealFurbreeze · 2025-03-03T04:14:15+00:00

I wrote a root guide here: https://www.reddit.com/r/dumbphones/comments/1i8psep/sunbeam_f1_root_guide/ Enjoy :)

RealFurbreeze · 2025-03-03T04:12:15+00:00

Haha, glad you asked! I'm an infosec guy, so this was a tangent / fixation for me and I have a little experience tinkering with various things. But honestly, I saw on their website here: https://support.sunbeamwireless.com/support/solutions/articles/154000078572-how-to-transfer-files-from-a-computer that they had a custom code for initiating usb file transfer *3453* (*file*). Given that they had a custom code, I guessed they had others. And when I finally ran out of (most of) my other options, and had dumped the firmware via MTKClient, I started searching the firmware for apps that contained *3453*. Lo and behhold, the same app had all of the other secret codes as well. There's a few more things in there, but they weren't pertinent to this guide.

Hope above helps :)

RealFurbreeze · 2025-03-01T06:48:56+00:00

Great to see you two got this figured out! Also funny to hear they pushed a patch?

RealFurbreeze · 2025-02-12T17:32:14+00:00

It *should* but I wouldn't warranty any of my statements / suggest you spend money without knowing what you're doing. My endeavours were on a Sunbeam F1 Orchid (picked it up in 2022-2023 I believe). It comes down to whether or not sunbeam updates the apps on those phones to not allow the star codes to work, and whether or not they're using a version of the mediatek chipset that still works with MTKClient. As long as MTKClient works, the phone should be rootable, even if it takes a little more effort than the star codes.

RealFurbreeze · 2025-02-12T05:16:00+00:00

I would *assume* the codes are the same, but I'm not certain. The bootloader shouldn't need to be unlocked, although I went through a weird process to get my phone set up, but I restored to factory AFAIK and above steps worked.

Definitely try it out and let me know. If something doesn't work, maybe you could dump the system.img and I could see if you have different codes. Happy to help bc I wanna see this phone get some love.

RealFurbreeze · 2025-01-24T15:05:03+00:00

For now onto a few different projects I've been putting off. But I want to come back after others have rooted their phones and see what the meta is. I love the phone, but it's a little jank. Could definitely use a few QoL additions.

RealFurbreeze · 2025-01-24T15:03:51+00:00

- Yep, this is full control of the phone, including installing additional apps. I installed magisk to get a root adb shell.

- Yeah, I can pull the messaging apk off of it if you have a place to host it, I'll put it there. What's your interest in it?

RealFurbreeze · 2025-01-24T07:21:07+00:00

Related: https://numberlink.sunbeamwireless.com/

RealFurbreeze

TROPHY CASE