My Pocket PC (PPC) Adventures: Cubot Kingkong Mini 2

Year 2022: Cubot Kingkong Mini 2

For some banking apps, you need Google Play (GMS) which my A5 Pro CC does not have unlike my previous Yotaphone2. So I bought a Kingkong Mini 2 (KKMN2) [specs] [review] [prod] in 2022-08, with Android 10 (API 29). At last, a small phone; though speed and camera are both rather medium. And it gets me away from browsing the internet too much, because the small screen is not as much fun. And once more, hardware buttons at the bottom will probably never be en vogue again.

Cubot KingKong Mini 2	Evaluation
	Pro: Small! (12x6cm) GPlay for banking apps Contra: Low-res camera Non-removable battery No hardware buttons Bugs: FOTA malware

Using adb (stand-alone per apt-get install adb or from Android SDK) is a must to get this device up and running, particularly to remove all the bloatware [discussion]. Boot specials by holding Power + VolumeUp.

Privacy: KingKong Mini 2

First disable apps manually by going to Settings->Apps and notifications>App info, and then turn off everything that moves, including Calendar, Contacts, Duo, Messages and all Google apps, but leave Quickstep because it is the homescreen launcher.

Second, for some reason my Linux computer recognized the phone without any idVendor=="0000" [doc]. Connect the phone by USB, and test the connection with adb devices and then adb shell, where you can pm list packages -e |sort |more and grep to find out if a specific app is installed.

pm uninstall --user 0 com.adups.fota
pm uninstall --user 0 com.adups.privacypolicy
pm disable-user --user 0 com.android.bips
pm disable-user --user 0 com.android.protips
pm disable-user --user 0 com.elephanttek.faceunlock
pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.apps.setupwizard.searchselector
pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.feedback
pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.onetimeinitializer
pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.overlay.homeconfig
pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.partnersetup
pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.setupwizard
pm uninstall --user 0 com.verizon.remoteSimlock

Just for the record, the rest of the packages is:

com.android.backupconfirm
com.android.bluetooth
com.android.bluetoothmidiservice
com.android.bookmarkprovider
com.android.calllogbackup
com.android.carrierconfig
com.android.carrierdefaultapp
com.android.cellbroadcastreceiver
com.android.certinstaller
com.android.companiondevicemanager
com.android.cts.ctsshim
com.android.cts.priv.ctsshim
com.android.deskclock
com.android.dialer
com.android.dynsystem
com.android.egg
com.android.emergency
com.android.externalstorage
com.android.fmradio
com.android.hotspot2
com.android.htmlviewer
com.android.inputdevices
com.android.internal.display.cutout.emulation.corner
com.android.internal.display.cutout.emulation.double
com.android.internal.display.cutout.emulation.tall
com.android.internal.systemui.navbar.gestural
com.android.internal.systemui.navbar.gestural_extra_wide_back
com.android.internal.systemui.navbar.gestural_narrow_back
com.android.internal.systemui.navbar.gestural_wide_back
com.android.internal.systemui.navbar.threebutton
com.android.keychain
com.android.launcher3
com.android.localtransport
com.android.location.fused
com.android.managedprovisioning
com.android.mms.service
com.android.mtp
com.android.musicfx
com.android.ons
com.android.pacprocessor
com.android.phone
com.android.printspooler
com.android.providers.blockednumber
com.android.providers.calendar
com.android.providers.contacts
com.android.providers.downloads
com.android.providers.downloads.ui
com.android.providers.media
com.android.providers.partnerbookmarks
com.android.providers.settings
com.android.providers.telephony
com.android.providers.userdictionary
com.android.proxyhandler
com.android.se
com.android.server.telecom
com.android.settings
com.android.settings.intelligence
com.android.sharedstoragebackup
com.android.shell
com.android.simappdialog
com.android.soundrecorder
com.android.statementservice
com.android.stk
com.android.storagemanager
com.android.systemui
com.android.theme.color.black
com.android.theme.color.blue
com.android.theme.color.cinnamon
com.android.theme.color.cyan
com.android.theme.color.green
com.android.theme.color.ocean
com.android.theme.color.orchid
com.android.theme.color.purple
com.android.theme.color.space
com.android.theme.font.notoserifsource
com.android.theme.icon.circle
com.android.theme.icon.roundedrect
com.android.theme.icon.square
com.android.theme.icon.squircle
com.android.theme.icon.teardrop
com.android.theme.icon_pack.circular.android
com.android.theme.icon_pack.circular.launcher
com.android.theme.icon_pack.circular.settings
com.android.theme.icon_pack.circular.systemui
com.android.theme.icon_pack.circular.themepicker
com.android.theme.icon_pack.filled.android
com.android.theme.icon_pack.filled.launcher
com.android.theme.icon_pack.filled.settings
com.android.theme.icon_pack.filled.systemui
com.android.theme.icon_pack.filled.themepicker
com.android.theme.icon_pack.rounded.android
com.android.theme.icon_pack.rounded.launcher
com.android.theme.icon_pack.rounded.settings
com.android.theme.icon_pack.rounded.systemui
com.android.traceur
com.android.vending
com.android.vpndialogs
com.android.wallpaper.livepicker
com.android.wallpaperbackup
com.android.wallpapercropper
com.android.wallpaperpicker
com.debug.loggerui
com.google.android.apps.maps
com.google.android.apps.nbu.files
com.google.android.apps.restore
com.google.android.calculator
com.google.android.captiveportallogin
com.google.android.configupdater
com.google.android.documentsui
com.google.android.ext.services
com.google.android.ext.shared
com.google.android.gms
com.google.android.gms.location.history
com.google.android.gmsintegration
com.google.android.gsf
com.google.android.ims
com.google.android.inputmethod.latin
com.google.android.marvin.talkback
com.google.android.modulemetadata
com.google.android.networkstack
com.google.android.networkstack.permissionconfig
com.google.android.overlay.gms.documentsui
com.google.android.overlay.gmsconfig
com.google.android.overlay.gmsgsaconfig
com.google.android.overlay.modules.ext.services
com.google.android.overlay.modules.permissioncontroller
com.google.android.overlay.modules.permissioncontroller.forframework
com.google.android.overlay.searchlauncherconfig
com.google.android.packageinstaller
com.google.android.permissioncontroller
com.google.android.printservice.recommendation
com.google.android.syncadapters.contacts
com.google.android.tts
com.google.android.webview
com.mediatek
com.mediatek.atmwifimeta
com.mediatek.autodialer
com.mediatek.batterywarning
com.mediatek.callrecorder
com.mediatek.camera
com.mediatek.capctrl.service
com.mediatek.duraspeed
com.mediatek.emcamera
com.mediatek.engineermode
com.mediatek.factorymode
com.mediatek.frameworkresoverlay
com.mediatek.gba
com.mediatek.gnss.nonframeworklbs
com.mediatek.gnssdebugreport
com.mediatek.ims
com.mediatek.lbs.em2.ui
com.mediatek.location.lppe.main
com.mediatek.mdmconfig
com.mediatek.mdmlsample
com.mediatek.mms.appservice
com.mediatek.omacp
com.mediatek.sensorhub.ui
com.mediatek.telephony
com.mediatek.ygps
com.wapi.wapicertmanager

... and that should save you some battery life and provide additional privacy too.

No Mobile Connectivity: KingKong Mini 2

After all of the above, I swapped in a congstar SIM card and tried to connect to the Telekom network, but to no avail. While the card itself was recognized, connection failed, though there are enough 4G bands that should work. Exchanging SIM1 and SIM2 also did not work; same for deactivating DuraSpeed or a factory reset.

So I returned the device, quite sadly because liked it.