Some general questions.. please help

[kas07]

Asslam.o.alaikum

Guys i have some questions in my mind, i am of-course googling them but i thought to ask the experts here, it will help me alot and i m sorry if i put the topic in wrong category but i couldnt find one for this

1. Where does the IMEI number reside? is it on hardware or it is just in ROM and may be removed by flashing or any other mechanism? and if it IS changed then is it recoverable?
i know it can be changed but is it masked like we can mask the MAC address or is it over-writable?

2. and can i store any custom information in the ROM of a mobile?


actually i was thinking about some kind of anti-theft thing...

 

[james515]

the IMEI can be changed, but it is against the law, and I believe it is not allowed to be discussed on the forms here.

you can not stop someone from stealing your phone, but if it is stolen and or you lose it, you can call your carrier and have them block the IMEI, doing so will prevent your phone from being used to make phone calls, they could still use it for games/apps over wifi, but thats it

James

 

[jerofld]

If you're worried about theft, you should check out App Shield. LBE Privacy Guard is a free app, but requires root.

FYI, altering your IMEI is illegal. You can deny apps access to it, but you may not change it. It would also make it so your phone wouldn't work, because your carrier sends calls to your phone by checking your IMEI.

For your second question, like...what type of information...specifically?

 

[kas07]

dude.. i am not asking you guys to help me changing IMEI :S i am just asking for knowledge... and that is also for prevention...

and i have just asked the general questions

 

[kas07]

If you're worried about theft, you should check out App Shield. LBE Privacy Guard is a free app, but requires root.

FYI, altering your IMEI is illegal. You can deny apps access to it, but you may not change it. It would also make it so your phone wouldn't work, because your carrier sends calls to your phone by checking your IMEI.

For your second question, like...what type of information...specifically?

thank you, i am not going imei, i dont need to. but i want to know if imei of a mobile is changed, is it recoverable?

 

[jerofld]

thank you, i am not going imei, i dont need to. but i want to know if imei of a mobile is changed, is it recoverable?

If you change it on an Android device, the Market may have your old IMEI registered. Your carrier would also have it, but I don't know if they would give it to you. They may also report you for possible IMEI violations, because you can't exactly say that you accidentally cleared out your IMEI when ordering a pizza...

If you insist on playing with it, I'd recommend you write it down, first. In a .txt file and on actual paper. But, of course, I don't recommend you playing with it.

 

[james515]

the IMEI is on the hardware, its not over written by installing a new or specialized ROM. once someone changes the IMEI the old one should be gone and not recoverable, unless it was "re-burned" / written to the chip

James