No Google Play or Android Market

[helpoona]

Hello everyone!

I bought a used Samsung Galaxy S yesterday from my friend (I trust her). The phone was not in heavy-use before and everything seemed normal but we couldn't find Google Play or Android Market. It was not listed in Apps or anywhere.

We tried factory reset but it didn't help at all. There are some updates I haven't run. The instruction booklet claims that there should be Android Market installed.

So umm.. What should I do? This is my first smartphone so I really don't understand anything.

 

[Rukbat]

1) Factory "reset" doesn't add what's missing, it just removes anything you've added.

2) Try Play Store Install It needs other firmware to support it, so hope that no one removed that.

Or you can use the Amazon app store. They have an app you can download (IIRC, it sends it to your phone and installs it) and they carry just about all the apps the Play store does (and at the same prices, so the free ones are still free). They also have a "free app of the day" app - and I''ve gotten some nice apps for free with that (and it's legal).

 

[mikedt]

Hello helpoona, welcome to Android Forums!

Two possibilities I think:

1) Play was removed by the previous owner, which means the phone would have been rooted.

2) Is was originally sold in China or was meant for China. Samsungs here don't have Google Play. Are there any Chinese apps on there, like Weibo or QQ?

Certain it's not just been disabled and hidden in the application settings options?