I suppose this tutorial will be valid for all Handy, since it consists of modifying the main application in this class of phones: Handy Setup or Handy Configuration. This is an application that restricts much of the system and on which the Handy Custom ROM is based. Without this application, the phone can operate almost like a normal phone.
Handy is a smartphone service operated by Tink Labs that equipped hotels around the world with in-room phones for guests.
The InFocus VZH-T1 (also known as Handy T1) was used as a test phone. This terminal can also be found under another name and brand: Sharp SH-H01.
There is little information about this mobile on the Internet, it is not even shown as an InFocus model on the InFocus page. The fact that the company that owns Handy went bankrupt and several servers went down also makes the job difficult.
When the system starts up, the Handy displays a screen requiring an Internet connection to launch the Handy applications menu. Everything is based on the Internet, so - since the server is no longer working - it will not be usable and you will be trapped in a useless menu.
There are some tricks to install applications. Mainly, entering the link "Cannot find your network?" and sliding your finger from left to right. This will display the Android Settings. Once there, we enter Storage and then Explore. Then we can access the memory of the device and install a launcher application (Nova Launcher, for example) that we have copied from the PC.
Another way to get the application launcher or any other app is by accessing the phone's browser and downloading the app from any APK file download page. For this, we would enter the Android Settings and then in Phone Information. Then in Legal Information and then in "System WebView Licenses". Finally, click on any link that says "homepage".
Once we have the application launcher (I recommend Nova Launcher), we can better use the phone; but it will still be very limited: the navigation bar does not work (only the back button) and the application launcher cannot be set by default.
Knowing all the above information, here are the secret steps:
When we are in Handy Setup (the application that shows "Network Configuration" at the top) we press and hold on "Network Configuration". This will show us a Handy window that will ask us for a password to access. The way to access by default is with the password 0000, but the one that will allow us to modify settings is
4685121.
With this last code we access the hidden menu of Handy Setup configuration.
The first thing is to activate the first box, which will allow us to activate USB Debugging (very necessary if we want to uninstall problematic applications via ADB that do not allow their uninstallation from System Settings).
A little further down there is an option that I think shows a dropdown window (can't remember the name, but it's easy to find). It will show several options, but the most interesting are two:
- Handy settings.
- Handy Launcher.
First we enter Handy Configuration, repeatedly click on "Set provisioned" (no message will appear) and restart. Once the phone has rebooted, we will find that the navigation bar is already working (now we can access the multitasking menu!). The problem is that whenever we press the central button of the navigation bar (Home button) Handy Setup will open again.
To solve this problem, we access the hidden configuration menu again (with the code 4685121). Again we enter the drop-down window and select "Handy Settings". This time we will check the "Enable Main page" box ̶y̶ ̶p̶u̶l̶s̶a̶r̶e̶m̶o̶s̶ ̶e̶n̶ ̶ "̶S̶t̶a̶r̶t̶ ̶M̶a̶i̶n̶ ̶p̶a̶g̶e̶" ̶. We access multitasking (by pressing the right button of the navigation bar) and delete all the applications that are running. We press the central Home button of the navigation bar and a warning will appear to select the default launcher.
Finally, I advise giving all the permissions to the application launcher that you have chosen. In the System Settings menu there is a section that is "Accessibility & more", within Accessibility we will find interesting options for our application launcher. If our launcher is Nova Launcher, we can also access "Nova Settings". If a warning appears at the top, pressing it will allow us to configure Nova as the default launcher.