Unlock and De-brand the Motorola Moto G

Discussion in 'Mobile Devices' started by InsaneNutter, Mar 31, 2014.

  1. InsaneNutter

    InsaneNutter Resident Nutter Staff Member

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    The Motorola Moto G is a great mobile phone which the 8gb version can be purchased for around £100 and the 16gb version for around £130, the best deals are however usually locked to a network. The Sim free versions are usually around £20-30 more. Why pay £20-30 more when you can purchase a carrier locked version of the phone and unlock and de-brand the phone for a total of £2?

    The aim of this guide is to show you how to unlock your Motorola Moto G and flash the stock firmware to the device, in place of the carrier firmware.

    Unlocking the Motorola Moto G:

    This can’t be done for free unfortunately, however the good news is an unlock code will only cost you £2 on eBay: I purchased an unlock code from this eBay member.

    All you need to do is supply the phones IMEI number, this can be obtained by typing *#06# on the phones dialler. The seller will supply the unlock code shortly after, I had to wait about 5 minutes.

    To unlock the Motorola Moto G simply insert a simcard for the network you wish to use, you will then be asked to enter your unlock code you got from Ebay.

    [​IMG]

    After that your Moto G is unlocked to use on any network, very simple indeed.

    De-brand the Motorola Moto G:

    It’s up to you if you really want to do this, to be honest my Tesco Mobile locked version of the Moto G didn’t look to have any branding or bloat added what so ever. However I know in the past carriers have held updates back for months, so I would sooner be on the stock UK Moto G software. Its very easy to do so why not?

    To De-brand the Motorola Moto G you first need to install the Motorola Drivers, download the Motorola Drivers here. Be sure to install the drivers otherwise the next part of the tutorial will fail to work.

    Now download the stock firmware of your choice
    As my location is the UK I downloaded the Retail UK firmware: Android 4.3 Blur_Version.14.71.8.falcon_umts.Retail.en.GB

    I chose the 4.3 firmware as it has scripts to flash the firmware, I would recommend you do the same.

    After the firmware downloaded I extracted it:

    [​IMG]

    Next you need to connect the Moto G to the PC with the USB cable, then power the phone on with the volume button held down to enter Fastboot mode:

    [​IMG]

    Now in the firmware folder simply run the flashall.bat file, the stock UK firmware will then be flashed to the phone:

    [​IMG]

    Once the firmware is flashed the phone will re boot and be on the stock firmware, when the phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network you should be promoted to install the 4.4.2. Kitkat update:

    [​IMG]

    That’s it, you have a unlocked, de-branded Moto G that will get OTA updates as soon as Motorola release them.

    I think the Moto G is a pretty awesome mid-range phone sold at an entry level smart phone price. From what I have used of this phone I would be more than happy to use it as my main device, it really does make you question spending £100’s more on a high end device.
     
    Trebor, Nimrod and Rick like this.

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