Did my friend give me a brick?

[Dalynx]

A friend of mine gave me a phone that he said was his but I'm having my doubts, it's a sony XA1 and he says he's forgotten the pin AND the google account that he linked with it, I smell some serious crap, but as it was free is there anything I can do with it? Thanks guys. 

[Himommies]

Factory Reset it from boot

[Dalynx]

2 minutes ago, Himommies said:

Factory Reset it from boot

any idea how I'd do that? I'm an IOS guy haha

[Catsrules]

9 minutes ago, Dalynx said:

any idea how I'd do that? I'm an IOS guy haha

try this

https://tricksandtipsaddacom.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/sony-xperia-xa1-mobile-phone-hard-reset-and-remove-pattern-lock-restore/

 

It also sound a little fishy story. You sure your "friend" didn't steal this phone.

[dcgreen2k]

Does it look like this? If it isn't, then you didn't get a brick.

[Dalynx]

4 minutes ago, Catsrules said:

try this

https://tricksandtipsaddacom.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/sony-xperia-xa1-mobile-phone-hard-reset-and-remove-pattern-lock-restore/

 

It also sound a little fishy story. You sure your "friend" didn't steal this phone.

he better not have stolen it, if he did will anything bad happen?

[Dalynx]

9 minutes ago, Catsrules said:

try this

https://tricksandtipsaddacom.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/sony-xperia-xa1-mobile-phone-hard-reset-and-remove-pattern-lock-restore/

 

It also sound a little fishy story. You sure your "friend" didn't steal this phone.

in fact if it was stolen is there anyway i could find whos it was an return it? because if i can't get the code off of it then it's no use to me

[manikyath]

if you have to question your friend's "sources" i'd call that a pretty poor friend. at least with the "friends" i had in high school they'd give the good wink when things werent entirely legit.

 

i'd say its time to roast that friend of yours

 

and yes, my bet is defenately on stolen.. "oh i forgot my code, here, you can have it" in what universe does that make sense?

[Dalynx]

12 minutes ago, Catsrules said:

try this

https://tricksandtipsaddacom.wordpress.com/2017/08/23/sony-xperia-xa1-mobile-phone-hard-reset-and-remove-pattern-lock-restore/

 

It also sound a little fishy story. You sure your "friend" didn't steal this phone.

tried that an it doesn't boot to any bios screen just reboots as normal 

[Dalynx]

1 minute ago, manikyath said:

if you have to question your friend's "sources" i'd call that a pretty poor friend. at least with the "friends" i had in high school they'd give the good wink when things werent entirely legit.

 

i'd say its time to roast that friend of yours

 

and yes, my bet is defenately on stolen.. "oh i forgot my code, here, you can have it" in what universe does that make sense?

my phones battery is fucked an keeps randomly offing itself so i was more just like sure i'll see what i can do

[ScratchCat]

29 minutes ago, Dalynx said:

tried that an it doesn't boot to any bios screen just reboots as normal 

Try holding down random combinations of buttons as the phone starts - normally power and a volume button.

You should end up in a text based menu system instead of booting into Android. Alternatively you may enter download mode (probably will say download mode) where you can reinstall a factory image.

32 minutes ago, Dalynx said:

in fact if it was stolen is there anyway i could find whos it was an return it? because if i can't get the code off of it then it's no use to me

Try turn it on and see if it forms a data connection - if an owner loses their phone they can mark it as lost on Google Device Manager. This should lock the phone with a different passcode and display a message, however it requires an internet connection hence the data connection test.

[paddy-stone]

http://www.hardreset.info/devices/sony/sony-xperia-xa1/hardreset/first-method/

[Crayfishian]

15 hours ago, thegreengamers said:

Does it look like this? If it isn't, then you didn't get a brick.

nice joke 

Also has your friend done anything else sketchy

[Catsrules]

15 hours ago, Dalynx said:

in fact if it was stolen is there anyway i could find whos it was an return it? because if i can't get the code off of it then it's no use to me

Here are a few things you can try.

 

If it still has the sim in it, Take the sim out and put it into a different phone, sometimes the sim has contacts on it and you might find one that said Home or Dad, mom, Wife etc. (I think the sim might still contain the original phone number even if it has been deactivated) You can call that and the owner should answer assuming they got a new phone.)

 

Try the emergency call section, it will sometimes have a contact in there you can call.

If it lets you access the digital assistant you could discussing the situation with them haha. Try saying call home or something. (This probably wont work as I would guess the phone has been deactivated of service.)
You could also take a photo, of a message with your number on it saying found phone call this number. Most people have there phone auto sync photos. (But again this wont work unless it has an internet connection. to sync the photo back to Google.) 

 

You could also take the phone to the wireless provider (if it still has a sim) and they could potentially get in touch with the owner. They should have the owner's information from the sim number.  

[Nena Trinity]

22 hours ago, manikyath said:

if you have to question your friend's "sources" i'd call that a pretty poor friend. at least with the "friends" i had in high school they'd give the good wink when things werent entirely legit.

 

i'd say its time to roast that friend of yours

 

and yes, my bet is defenately on stolen.. "oh i forgot my code, here, you can have it" in what universe does that make sense?

I had a friend like that and when I managed to open it he was like "can I have it back?" then he made puppy eyes! O3O