Recently I got a Samsung Galaxy SCR01 pocket Wi-Fi and tinkered with it a bit.
I learned about this device because I occasionally saw posts online recommending it in China.
Apparently it’s popular there because it’s small and portable, has great battery life, and isn’t expensive (around 400-500 RMB).
In Japan, it seems like this thing is often bundled with a pocket Wi-Fi plan. After you cancel the plan, it can’t access the internet anymore.
But that’s just a software restriction. The internet is powerful: people found a workaround. As long as you disable the restriction through a hidden menu on the device, it can happily go online again.
Disable The SIM Lock And Enable 5G
There are tons of tutorials online. I just picked one:
知乎 - 光栅镜像 - 三星5g 随身Wifi scr01 安装第三方桌面、设置apn、解锁5g sa 图文教程
Quoting a section:
- Tap
About >> Status >> Phone numberquickly 10 times- After 10 taps you’ll enter DRParser Mode, then enter
*#0011#in sequence- Enter service mode, tap the top-right menu, tap back once, then tap key input again
- Enter
Qand confirm, wait about one minute on this screen, then you’ll enter the main menu- Tap
[2] UE SETTING & INFO>>[1] SETTING>>[1] PROTOCOL>>[9] NR>>[2] allow list control>>[2] allow list off, and you’ll see APPLY success- Tap the top-right menu, tap
backtwice to go up, then tap[1]nr5g sa/nsa mode control>>[1] sa/nsa enableand reboot as prompted
allow list offis likely the SIM restriction: by default it only works with the SIM provided by the plan. Turning off the allow list lets you use SIMs from other carriers.sa/nsa enableenables 5G SA. Supposedly it’s faster than normal 5G?
Add APN
After the steps above, you still can’t access the internet yet.
You need to add the APN for your carrier. Each carrier has different settings. Search for carrier name APN settings and you can usually find it.
Then go to Communication settings >> APN and add it according to the instructions. After that, you should see 4G or 5G in the top-right status bar, with up/down arrows next to it.
That means the setup worked and you can surf the web.
One thing to note:
For network mode, it’s best to keep the default Standard (ST) mode when setting things up.
Plus Area (+A) depends on whether your carrier and region support it.
I had a SIM that refused to connect no matter how I configured the APN. Later I found that switching to Standard (ST) fixed it. Another SIM worked in both Standard (ST) and Plus Area (+A).
Some Optional (Not Necessary) Settings
If you only use it as pocket Wi-Fi, you’re done at this point.
Many tutorials in China also include installing a third-party launcher and setting up gestures.
First, tap About >> Status >> IMEI quickly a few times to enable USB debugging.
Then you can connect via adb and do whatever.
-
Install a third-party launcher
After installing another launcher, this device becomes more like a normal Android phone: you can access system settings and freely install apps. -
Set up gestures
The reason is: if you accidentally tap the square button on the navigation bar, the device returns to the default pocket Wi-Fi UI. In that UI, no buttons can return you to the third-party launcher unless you reboot.
In that case, you can set up a floating widget overlay, and use it to return to your custom launcher.
So: pick any launcher you like (search Android launcher app), install it via adb install ***.apk.
Then run adb shell am start -a android.intent.action.MAIN to bring up the “choose default launcher” menu, and select the launcher you installed.
For gestures, you can use anything similar, as long as it can “display over other apps”.
The tutorials I saw often recommend 流体手势. I installed a 悬浮球, and it achieves the same effect.
Alright, that’s enough “water” for today.