Firmware for asus zenfone 5 phone. Is everything serious? Flashing smartphone firmware via ADB

Instructions for flashing smartphone firmware (A500CG, A501CG, A500KL) on new version, custom firmware using the official method from Asus or phone firmware via ADB. Installation instructions custom recovery CWM/TWRP on Asus Zenfone 5 (A500CG, A501CG, A500KL) as well as getting Root rights (super user rights).

Firmware (A500CG, A501CG, A500KL)

For owners of firmware below 1_14_40_50, first flash to 1_14_40_50 or WW_1_15_40_20, only then to the new firmware!

Official phone firmware method (from ASUS)

When you go CN->WW, all data disappears; when you update TW->TW, CN->CN, WW->WW, the data remains.

0. Download the firmware in *.zip format (you can download the firmware on the official website, select OS: -> Firmware)
1. Connect the phone to your PC using the USB cable that comes with the kit and unpack the previously downloaded firmware file, you should get something like this UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user.zip.secure or ***.zip
2. If the name contains UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user.zip.secure, then rename it to UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user.zip, then copy to internal memory smartphone.
3. Disconnect the phone from the PC and the system will see the update itself - you need to confirm by selecting the update itself and after that the firmware will begin.
Notes:
If you are trying to flash it, but you don’t see the firmware, then double-check, everything should be like this: UL-ASUS_T00F-CN-1.15.40.21-user.zip, instead of 1.15.40.21 version of your firmware
In future updates, nothing needs to be changed in the name.
When moving from CH -> WW or TW -> WW firmware, you need to change the file name from UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user to UL-ASUS_T00F-CN-1.15.40.20-user
If the firmware for T00J and T00F is the same, then in the unpacked firmware you need to change the file name from UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user to the version for your device.
If everything is correct, but you can’t see the firmware, then reboot your smartphone.

Firmware for ASUS ZenFone 5 via ADB

To flash latest firmware unpack the downloaded archive into your phone's memory, turn it off and on again. The system itself will detect updates and offer to flash it.
You can install the latest firmware by repeating steps 8-15 using UL_ASUS_T00F_WW_1_16_40_50.zip

How to install custom CWM/TWRP recovery on Asus Zenfone 5 (A500CG, A501CG, A500KL)

First of all, we need to download ADB, if you have not done this yet, download it from the link above.

Then you need to download the installation file of the custom recovery for your phone to your PC, here I offer you a choice (you only need one) zenfone_5_cwm_installer.zip or zenfone_5_twrp_installer.zip
1. Make root in any convenient way
2. Install Busybox
3. Enable USB debugging
4. Rename using any file manager with root access the file “recovery-from-boot.p” in the system folder in “recovery-from-boot.bak”
5. Unpack files from the archive with CWM or TWRP into the same folder (I installed CWM for myself)
6. Connect Zenfone 5 to the computer, the phone must be turned on, confirm the request that we trust this computer if we have not done so before
7. Run the install.bat file in the folder with adb, confirm the request to obtain root rights on the device itself
8. After which the phone should reboot with custom recovery already installed

How to enter custom recovery:
1. Turn off the phone
2. Press the power key until vibration response occurs
3. Release the power key, hold down the volume down button

How to get ROOT rights to Asus Zenfone 5 (A500CG, A501CG, A500KL)

I would like to note right away that the author of the file specifically indicated that this file is not suitable for devices with the CN version of the firmware! He is not responsible for the accident! For the CN version there is a separate"*.apk" .

1. Download the program RootZenfone-1.2r.apk
2. Install it on your smartphone, having first checked that in “Settings” -> “Security” the “unknown sources” checkbox is checked, which allows the installation of applications on the Asus Zenfone 5 phone from unknown sources.
3. Turn off WiFi. We switch the device to “flight mode” (in order to prevent any penetration of the device into the Internet when “*.apk” is running).
4. Launch installed application. A warning will appear stating “...You are at risk...I am not responsible...etc.” Click “Do not ask” (“leave me alone” in Russian).
5. Then select the program for assigning root rights (I recommend SuperSU) and press the button below (With the inscription “Come on already! Do ROOT!”)
6. The demo mode will then begin. When it comes to the image of the device labeled Zenfone 5, quickly press (hold) the power button and select “reboot.”
7. After the reboot, return to the “Root Zenfone” program and grant it root rights (click “grant” in the “SuperSU” question window). Then click the “After updating, save ROOT” button in the program.
This way you will not lose your root rights after the OTA update.

• Video review of Asus ZenFone 5

Specifications

Start of sales	2014
Availability in stores	Available
Weight	145 g
Dimensions	148.2 mm, 72.8 mm, 10.3 mm
Number of processor cores
CPU frequency	2 GHz
Processor model (Chipset)	Intel Atom Z2580/Z2560
Model GPU	PowerVR SGX544MP2
Random Access Memory (RAM)	2 GB
Built-in memory	16 GB
Memory card (maximum)	64 GB
Screen type	IPS capacitive touch, 16M colors
Diagonal (inches)
Protection	Corning Gorilla Glass 3
operating system	Android OS, v4.3 (Jelly Bean), upgradable to v4.4.2 (KitKat)
SIM	Dual SIM (Micro-SIM, dual stand-by)
WiFi	802.11 b, 802.11 g, 802.11 n
Bluetooth	v4.0, A2DP, EDR
GPS navigation	Yes, with A-GPS, GLONASS
2G	GSM 850, GSM 900, GSM 1800, GSM 1900
3G	HSDPA 850, HSDPA 900, HSDPA 1900, HSDPA 2100
Battery capacity	2110 mAh
Type	Non-removable Li-Po
Resolution in megapixels	8
Flash	Yes
Additional camera	2
Sensors and sensors	Accelerometer, proximity, compass

Reviews of Asus ZenFone 5
	A smartphone for a Zen Buddhist! November 2, 2014, 5:22:00 pm How long have you had this device? Bought 10/15/2014. Exactly two weeks ago. But I looked closely at this model for a very long time. Do you use it before...
	A story of expectations met October 19, 2014, 5:16:00 pm That's all, dear readers, the era of undivided dominance of B-brands in the budget smartphone market is over. Now you can stop looking...
Read all Asus ZenFone 5 (2) reviews...

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Firmware ASUS ZenFon 5

Instructions for flashing the Asus Zenfone 5 (A500CG, A501CG, A500KL) smartphone to a new version of Android, custom firmware using the official method from Asus, or flashing the phone via ADB. Instructions for installing custom CWM/TWRP recovery on Asus Zenfone 5 (A500CG, A501CG, A500KL) and also obtaining Root rights (super user rights).

Firmware Asus Zenfone 5 (A500CG, A501CG, A500KL)

For owners of firmware below 1_14_40_50, first flash to 1_14_40_50 or WW_1_15_40_20, only then to the new firmware!

Official phone firmware method (from ASUS)

When moving CN—>WW, all data disappears; when updating TW—>TW, CN—>CN, WW—>WW, the data remains.

0. Download the firmware in *.zip format (you can download the firmware on the official website, select OS: Android –> Firmware)
1. Connect the phone to your PC using the USB cable that comes with the kit and unpack the previously downloaded firmware file, you should get something like this UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user.zip.secure or ***.zip
2. If the name contains UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user.zip.secure, then rename it to UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user.zip, then copy it to the internal memory of the smartphone.
3. Disconnect the phone from the PC and the system will see the update itself - you need to confirm by selecting the update itself and after that the firmware will begin.
Notes:
If you are trying to flash it, but you don’t see the firmware, then double-check, everything should be like this: UL-ASUS_T00F-CN-1.15.40.21-user.zip, instead of 1.15.40.21 version of your firmware
In future updates, nothing needs to be changed in the name.
When upgrading from CH –> WW or TW –> WW firmware, you must change the file name from UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user to UL-ASUS_T00F-CN-1.15.40.20-user
If the firmware for T00J and T00F is the same, then in the unpacked firmware you need to change the file name from UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user to the version for your device.
If everything is correct, but you can’t see the firmware, then reboot your smartphone.

Firmware for ASUS ZenFone 5 via ADB

To flash the latest firmware, unpack the downloaded archive into the phone's memory, turn it off and on again. The system itself will detect updates and offer to flash it.
You can install the latest firmware by repeating steps 8-15 using UL_ASUS_T00F_WW_1_16_40_50.zip

How to install custom CWM/TWRP recovery on Asus Zenfone 5 (A500CG, A501CG, A500KL)

First of all, we need to download ADB, if you have not done this yet, download it from the link above.

Then you need to download the installation file of the custom recovery for your phone to your PC, here I offer you a choice (you only need one) zenfone_5_cwm_installer.zip or zenfone_5_twrp_installer.zip
1. Make root in any convenient way
2. Install Busybox
3. Enable USB debugging
4. Using any file manager with root access, rename the file “recovery-from-boot.p” in the system folder to “recovery-from-boot.bak”
5. Unpack files from the archive with CWM or TWRP into the same folder (I installed CWM for myself)
6. Connect Zenfone 5 to the computer, the phone must be turned on, confirm the request that we trust this computer if we have not done so before
7. Run the install.bat file in the folder with adb, confirm the request to obtain root rights on the device itself
8. After which the phone should reboot with custom recovery already installed

How to enter custom recovery:
1. Turn off the phone
2. Press the power key until vibration response occurs
3. Release the power key, hold down the volume down button

How to get ROOT rights to Asus Zenfone 5 (A500CG, A501CG, A500KL)

I would like to note right away that the author of the file specifically indicated that this file is not suitable for devices with the CN version of the firmware! He is not responsible for the accident! For the CN version there is a separate“*.apk” .

1. Download the program RootZenfone-1.2r.apk
2. Install it on your smartphone, having first checked that in “Settings” -> “Security” the “unknown sources” checkbox is checked, which allows the installation of applications on the Asus Zenfone 5 phone from unknown sources.
3. Turn off WiFi. We switch the device to “airplane mode” (to prevent any penetration of the device into the Internet when “*.apk” is running).
4. Launch the installed application. A warning will appear stating “...You are at risk...I am not responsible...etc.” Click “Do not ask” (“leave me alone” in Russian).
5. Then select the program for assigning root rights (I recommend SuperSU) and press the button below (With the inscription “Come on already! Do ROOT!”)
6. The demo mode will then begin. When it comes to the image of the device labeled Zenfone 5, quickly press (hold) the power button and select “reboot”.
7. After the reboot, return to the “Root Zenfone” program and grant it root rights (click “grant” in the “SuperSU” question window). Then click the “After updating, save ROOT” button in the program.
This way you will not lose your root rights after the OTA update.

It’s been a while since I wrote about space games, and the most important space simulators right now are Elite Dangerous And Star Citizen, well, with a slight stretch No Man's Sky, which rose from the ashes, spread its wings and pleases with new colorful updates, and this summer will offer players a full-fledged VR mode. To be honest, I gave up playing ED, not because it’s too boring, but because there are a lot of other, more interesting games and you can spend a few hours a week in ED to feel the atmosphere of deserted space, but no more. Lately I prefer Elite Dangerous more fun Warframe, which, although it requires endless grinding, which is the essence of this “looter shooter,” but it happens colorfully and in the company of live players.
The majority of Elite Dangerous players are currently focused on mining. Most of them are engaged mining void opals in a new way using explosions, but I learned about the possibility of traditional mining of painite and decided to become a miner. Of course, this type of activity was previously in the game, but it was absolutely dull (imagine even the collecting drones were useless) and the profit from it did not at all repay the time spent by the player. Now it’s completely different and we need to thank the players themselves for this, who cooperated, divided zones and carried out reconnaissance, thus finding intersecting double spots with the most expensive mineral, which is mined by traditional mining - painite. But I must say that this may have become possible with the introduction of new surface scanners in one of the patches. Plus, in one of the patches, they introduced the ability to filter the collected material, without thus clogging the processing plant with unnecessary ore, and mining became a fairly simple and even meditative activity.

Enter the name of the system where you are located and the script displays places where you can dig and sell at the best prices

To mine painite you only need a few things:

1. A large ship for traditional mining (for the new method, opal mining, it is desirable to have a maneuverable ship, so they dig on an “edge” or “python”). Not necessarily Type-9, something simpler will do for the first time. Beginners can even dig on Type-6. An advanced research scanner must be installed on the ship to explore the rings and recognize “spots” (resource extraction points). Please note that the distances along the “bubble” from the production points to the system with a high selling price are large (150-200 hp), so it is advisable to have a ship with a maximum FSD (jump) and a fuel scoop system, so as not to frantically search for a gas station.
2. Know where to dig. There are not so many good places. Players have checked almost all the systems in the bubble where there are planets with "metal rings" and found several that are especially rich in painite. This simple script will show you the systems you need.
3. Know where to sell. In the ED world, there are systems that buy up painite at abnormally high prices, allowing you to make excess profits. In this way, after the first trip, I almost paid for the purchase of a Type-9 with a top-end body kit for 188 million credits.
4. A couple of hours of free time. However, no one forbids you to leave the game and return to it after a while. When you are a free miner, you are your own boss.

The extraction of resources itself occurs in a rather simple way and requires only perseverance from the player:

• We arrive at the “spot” (we select the intersection of two spots with painite and “fall” in the middle)
• We shoot a research probe at the asteroid (therefore it is advisable to have more of them in the hold while they are lying in the hold - the drones are all the same)
• If the painite content is satisfactory, then we fly up and start scratching it with lasers
• We open the bucket and release a horde of collecting drones, which will drag the fallen pieces into the hold for processing.

For me, the mining cycle for one asteroid took no more than 3 minutes, and most of the time was spent on maneuvers to fly up to it at the required distance for laser operation and waiting for the collectors to complete their work (this is why professional miners fill the entire hold with collector controllers - in order to release 11 drones simultaneously and quickly collect stones). This all looks very confusing if you haven't mined Elite Dangerous before, but you can figure it out within the first hour. In this simple way, I paid for the purchase of the ship in a couple of hours. Of course, earnings from the sale of painite are much greater than any trading activities and carrying out trade delivery missions, not to mention military operations.
And now about the sad thing. It is obvious to all players that the development of Elite Dangerous has slowed down greatly and, apart from the new research scanner and the launch of the Thargoid invasion, nothing fundamentally new has appeared in the game (the addition of a couple of new ships and useless weapons should not be considered major changes to the game). The game looks fine and plays well, but major changes are planned for 2020 and they will be released in the next paid add-on, which will probably cost the same as a full-fledged Elite at launch. By the way, now the base game could be bought at discounts for almost pennies - for 400 rubles, it seems. Another thing is that the base game is now useless without the paid Horizons add-on.
Another blow to Elite came just recently. It turned out that there are cheats for the game that allow you to modify your weapons, ship armor, jump and simply make the ship invulnerable. For a multiplayer game, this is simply an unheard of failure, level with the 2000s, when we changed the parameters using the cult ArtMoney. That is, the developers simply did not check against primitive parameter changes on the client side! At the same time, the punishment for cheating is quite funny: switching to single-player mode for 3 days and deleting the character if caught 3 times. I don’t know how the developers will resolve the situation; I wouldn’t be surprised if they ignore what they have been successfully doing all these years with other fundamental problems (for example, half of the ships in the game are simply useless and are a degraded version of existing models).

If development in Elite Dangerous is moving slowly, then Chris Roberts with his epic long-term construction of Star Citizen has problems not only with the speed of development (he constantly misses deadlines), but it seems there are fundamental problems in management. Journalists from Forbes did not evaluate the game itself, which is now quite buggy software, which can hardly even be considered the basis of a future large-scale game, but we spoke anonymously with former employees and those who now work in Chris’s studio. And some rather unsightly things came to light, which, however, were no secret to the players who were closely monitoring the situation:
- a lot of money has already been spent on development and it will run out soon
- Chris Roberts doesn’t know what he wants and constantly reworks the game concept and some elements on the fly, forcing the developers to rush from side to side
- when the game will be ready is completely unknown - deadlines are constantly missed.
Immediately people appeared and started hype on this topic and say “we told you that this would happen.” Fanatics appeared who began to fiercely defend the game, accusing Forbes of lies and unprofessionalism.
Personally, I am very upset by the fact that the worst fears about Chris Roberts' personality and organizational abilities (or rather, his ability to lead the development of the game to a dead end) were confirmed over time. He may be a wonderful creator and visionary, but this does not help in any way to make a complete game on time. All that has been done since 2012 is the concept of a multiplayer game with an open world, spaceships and landings on planets. Even if the concept of the game is quite beautiful in places, if you don’t touch it with your hands, otherwise everything will fall apart. How much more time and money will it take to polish Star Citizen and release at least a beta version? Judging by current work studio, then another 10 years, but by then the game engine and its concept will be hopelessly outdated, and only the most devoted fans will wait for the game. And I’m not talking about the rampant sale of ships in an unfinished game at rather merciless prices. However, I cannot help but note that by patch 3.5 the game has changed quite a lot and has become prettier compared to the ugly nightmare that it was previously. In May, another free weekend was held and everyone had the opportunity to download 40 GB of games and try to burn out their video card playing the current version of Star Citizen. I refused this pleasure because I ran out of space on my hard drive long ago.
Things may not be great in space simulators, but I believe that new interesting games, new projects will appear, and no one has canceled indie studios. Good luck to everyone in virtual space!

May 19, 2019

Now I understand that I bought successfully Crew 2 on sale, without listening to numerous bloggers who didn’t like the game at all and quickly abandoned it. As it turned out, the most interesting thing in the game is revealed further: it becomes interesting to complete missions “as an ace” (the highest difficulty in the game), it becomes interesting to tinker with the pro-settings of the vehicle, setting up tools literally for each track in order to set a new record and rise higher in the table, and it even makes sense to “grind parts” in order to assemble a super set of legendary ones for your favorite car.

The game developers had a clear vision of their product and they went towards it, releasing patch after patch without rushing and gradually improving almost all elements of the game: the control physics were once again corrected, the optimization of the graphics engine was improved, and even cloudy mirrors appeared due to the absence of which all she was scolded (the mirrors in Crew 2 are for the most part a completely useless thing, because the races take place at such high speed that there is no way to look in the mirrors - just look at the road and the next turn). The game world, of course, does not look nice everywhere, even in comparison with the first part of The Crew, and the textures on the buildings are frankly primitive - a massive artistic reworking of the world suggests itself.
A massive patch for the game was released this spring and it brought two important innovations, in addition to engine optimization, car customization and new high-speed cars (including exclusive cars that are not in any game): competitive mode Summit and visual improvements such as unique tires, smoke and other special effects that can only be purchased for a special currency cc(it turns out either directly for donation, or for simple daily tasks). Now there is a motivation to play a lot and improve your level in the game: to complete the tasks of the summit and move up the leaderboard, because only the first 3000 players receive the main prize, and as it turned out, about 50,000 people around the world are now playing the game on PC (and only up to 8 people in a session in the open world, so it seems empty) and that’s not counting people on Xbox and PS4 consoles, who are on their own servers and don’t overlap.
We finally added the ability to not just destroy numerous unnecessary parts Vehicle, and “recycle” them into part points, which are then spent on reroll (the ability to randomly change the properties of a specific part) - just like in other MMORPGs and games from Ubisoft (the same system is in The Division and this is considered top content).
The tasks at the summit use a wide variety of vehicles and take place in different disciplines, forcing you to buy and upgrade a wide variety of equipment. However, as I noticed, most players prefer street racing, not favoring other disciplines - they especially don’t like off-road and boat racing, not to mention exotic airplanes (although airplane disciplines are the simplest, most understandable and accessible to master). In this way, developers are encouraged to spend the money they earn. Transport, if these are not cheap street cars, are very, very expensive, so players are faced with the problem of grinding currency. A little hint: if you are racing in a team with a friend, then only one player needs to win, so teaming up is beneficial and an experienced player in a good car can easily “pull” a friend through the races. And that's not to mention PvP, where you will be given a decent amount of parts and currency just for participating, even if you don’t win the race.
I've already played The Crew 2 140 hours, which I think is decent for an arcade racing game, and I have a ton of racing activities and vehicles to level up. I’m very glad that the developers have not abandoned the game and, according to rumors, will announce something interesting at the upcoming E3 exhibition. The fact that the game turned out to be really interesting can be judged by the players who come to it from the wonderful Forza Horizon 4 and find something of their own in The Crew 2.

Useful materials:
1. Table with descriptions of pro settings and a description of how the machine behaves when they are changed.
2. A table with measurements of the speed of earning currency in the game in various races (credits/hour). To help those who like to grind currency (don’t forget to redistribute points to earnings in the “pilot” section). Now the normal earning rate is 400,000 per hour and this is the cost of an average car.
3. Reddit section for The Crew (not very visited, unfortunately).

April 13, 2019

At one time, I swore off getting involved with games from Russian developers and even deleted War Thunder And Star Conflict from a computer. I have never regretted deleting Star Conflict - the game is “de facto” dead and is in a state of clinical death, which even the head of the studio admits in an interview in 2018. It’s a pity that he blames what happened on the certain complexity of a game about space for players (this is not true - Star Conflict is very simple), and not on the actions of his studio, which once again steps on a rake and buries with its own hands CrossOut. However, this post is not about the problems of the Targem Games studio, but about my impressions of War Thunder after a year-long break.

It would seem that War Thunder has changed radically: the navy, modern tanks, supersonic aircraft with air-to-air missiles, guided missiles, helicopters! New gameplay that players have been waiting for for so long. Our competitors don’t have anything like this and they certainly won’t have anything like it in the near future. And, with some reservations, this is all true. There is no deception here: all the things introduced into the game are quite “playable” and add new gameplay mechanics, they are not made for show. Perhaps for once, developers have learned to thoroughly test new features and get feedback from players, and not just rely on gut instinct according to the principle “I’m a developer and I know my own game better than anyone else.”
Along with the new mechanics and technology, the game still has all the problems that players were dissatisfied with a year ago, when I stopped actively playing it:

• out of sync when the game does not record your hits on the enemy
• "typical wartander" when a hit passes but does not destroy your opponent. Anti-aircraft guns that can withstand several hits from an MBT cannon are commonplace
• low draw range for aircraft in tank battles, which deprives them of the ability to strike from a safe distance
• Balance! He is not and never was. The game has comfortable cars, a lot of “cacti” (for example, all the reserve French tanks are simply unplayable, but the developers don’t care about this at all) and every patch there is an “imba” that annihilates everyone and everything. In the latest patch, "Tunguska" made ALL aviation practically useless in joint battles.
• The presence of cheaters and near-cheaters who simply turn on minimal graphics in tank battles, thus gaining an advantage in visibility over other players. Cheaters are not banned in the game, since they are also active donors. And they can even be understood: people paid money, they want to “bend over”, but the mechanics of the game do not allow them to do this, which is why all sorts of paid subscriptions for cheats are so popular.

What surprised me most was the difficulty of leveling up. If at the first three ranks it became relatively easy, fast and fun, then the suffering begins. In the next patch at the end of April, the developers want to change the economy and make it easier to level up at high ranks. To do this, it was necessary to endure for two years, ignore the indignation of the players (even all the official YouTubers spoke about this) and extort money from the players to buy premiums, of which there are now an incredible amount?

By the way, premium vehicles in WT used to cost much less than those in World of Tanks, and this was an advantage. But since then there have been two falls in the ruble exchange rate, the premium currency in WT was officially pegged to the dollar exchange rate and now we are greeted with premium packages with a new imba of 3000-4000 rubles! It is never less than that of its “potato” competitor. Previously, developers were frankly embarrassed to introduce premium equipment that would be far superior to linear machines, but now this rule is over. Here's the XM-1 tank-bending tank, here's the Ju.288 bomber, which can overtake and twist any fighter. And if you want to pump out equipment at high ranks and earn a lot of “lions”, then you will have to get premium high-ranking vehicles. And no matter what life may seem like honey, we will increase the price of repairs and ammunition so much that even in the event of a good fight, the player, at best, will play to zero, or even better, go to the minus! Almost all conventional bombers are unprofitable. That's why I left the "potato" and went to War Thunder. The developers seem to be hinting to us that it’s time to fork out the cash and buy a “premium” one, preferably with premium equipment. But I have no desire to pay several thousand rubles for painted models. Moreover, for a very random gameplay , where you are either at the top (rarely) and play comfortably, or go to the hangar after 5 minutes of battle (in most cases), without doing anything useful for the team.

The last straw was an attraction of unprecedented generosity called “Front Mechanic”. The point of this event is that you play the game and for 10 minutes of being in battle you receive 1-2 repair kits, which you spend in large quantities on repairing the aircraft. It sounds simple, the implementation in the game is confusing (the proprietary interface has not gone away), but in fact the player is offered to stay in the game for several dozen hours in order to be able to get the desired trophy without money. And if you want to get a top trophy, then get ready to play for a couple of hundred hours. Almost all players are “on fire” from this marathon with a twisted theory of probability, where you are always a loser. Foreign players are trying to understand the mechanics of the marathon and calculate the number of hours to achieve the goal.

Personally, I spent 8 hours on the marathon and realized that I was wasting my life wrong. During this time, I didn’t even disassemble a quarter of the plane, but I was faced with the need to buy the missing parts for repairs on the stock exchange. In the end, I found the strength to stop and not do this. I'd rather watch a couple of movies instead. To justify the developers, I can say that earlier in the game in general there was no way to win any trophy, complete daily tasks and people just stupidly flew the same planes in the same maps. There were no tanks then, no navy, and post-war jet fighters were only a dream. And we loved this game then, which is amazing! At that time, the simulator mode was still alive and people bought joysticks to fly there. It’s a shame that the game has now been reduced to an aviation arcade game and tank battles, and everything else has become irrelevant.

Take care of your nerves and play interesting games.

April 11, 2019

For three weeks now I’ve been playing the wonderful Assassin’s Creed Odyssey quite successfully, I’ve played more than 100 hours, slowly completed 85% of the main campaign and have a lot of thoughts about this series and this particular game. Since I put the “pirate armband” on the shelf and became an honest user, so unlike Origins, I bought “Odyssey” with my own hard-earned money and it worked out without any problems, because I did it with a promotion with a 50% discount for 999 rubles, and also by activating the 20% discount that is given for 100 uplay points - in the end the discount turned out to be such that it was not expected in any Steam at that time. They are awarded for achievements in Ubisoft games and even without completing all of Crew 2, I had enough of these points. In general, the idea is to give out points for completing your favorite The game is very cool and I hope Gaben will steal it for his Steam someday.
Assassin's Creed Odyssey is not a revolutionary game, but a further continuation of the ideas of Origins, made on the same engine and on the same assets in the form of houses, bushes, trees, textures... and the combat system is taken from there. I even hastened to call it an addon to Origins, which is being passed off as a new game, but Odyssey 10 times larger in scope and the number of quests than Origins, so it turned out to be a very strong addon. It is clear that the game designers had a holistic vision of the game and they clearly implemented it, simplifying some old annoying mechanics, making the game very simple in some places (for example, completely removing damage from falling from a height, since there are a huge number of mountains in the game, and it’s safe you’ll obviously quickly get tired of getting down from them), somewhere faster combat, completely redoing the hero’s skill trees. Yes, there are few breakthrough ideas here, but the working mechanics that players liked so much have been polished. Did players want more weapons? Here you have a huge amount of weapons and armor and they all have different effects, they often fall out of “monsters”, but here you also have the opportunity to modify them at the blacksmith (you can add the effect of poison or fire to your favorite sword). Dear players wanted greater variability in completing quests, just like in The Witcher 3? No problem, here you have a quest with a choice right on the starting island, where the obvious message of a good player to save innocent people from the priests will destroy the island and start an epidemic (sorry for the spoiler, but this is like an obvious twist). However, it is clear that later the game designers were afraid of such variability and reduced it in quests simply to different ways of solving problems (intimidating the npc or attacking is such a choice, and sometimes you can simply refuse to perform the action and leave). Although, when completing side quests, I came across some really interesting moments when your quest giver turned out to be not at all who he said he was. Following the precepts of the Witcher, the side quests here turned out to be very interesting and they are all voiced by actors. And the game also has endless quests in the style of “quickly run there and kill everyone there”, which the game generates itself, including dialogue phrases (sometimes it turns out wrong) - very similar to the Radiant AI system in Skyrim, only unlike Skyrim it works here and the war between provinces never stops even without player action.
The map in the game is simply huge, and for lovers of endless adventures, it is possible to turn off the interface in the game and find quest goals only after a verbal description from the dialogues (example: go north near such and such a temple or to the coast of the southeast). In addition, even with task markers turned on, there are so-called “points”, which represent a riddle and after solving it you must find a certain location where there will be another clue and so on. All this is quite interesting and if you are fed up with endless battles, then you can just relax and explore the world.
When discussing the Ubisoft game, thanks to all sorts of narrow-minded YouTube bloggers like Itpedia, it is impossible to go through the donation topic. For some reason, they are shocked by the presence of booster boosters and a huge number of cosmetic skins in a single-player game that are sold for real money. For me this is not a problem, because experience in the game is earned without problems without buying an “xp booster”, no one forces you to buy it. Moreover, buying a booster is a very stupid thing, because the whole game is essentially about accumulating experience. What is it, a player buys a thing to play less? Why did he even buy the game if he’s too lazy to spend an extra hour exploring the world and running around doing side quests? Similarly with “cosmetics” - Ubisoft added the ability to obtain them in-game without any donation. In Origins there was a seller of “loot boxes”, from which “golden” armor often dropped out, and in Odyssey the system is more cunning: you first need to earn orichalcum, which is given in the amount of 10 pieces for completing a simple daily quest, and then you can either buy a “loot box jug” (I don’t recommend it, since purple items drop out there) or for a larger amount of orichalcum, buy the desired legendary item or skin from an open assortment, which changes every week. Yes, you won’t be able to buy everything at once, orichalcum accumulates for a very long time, but this way the game motivates you to stay in it longer and log into it every day. And no one canceled receiving legendary items and skins for exploring the world! I’m not defending corporations that essentially profit from users by treating them as cash cows with wallets, but Ubisoft’s system so far seems “fair”: if you don’t have money for “skins” and packs, don’t buy them. However, sometimes they proprietary pumping system crashes when they try to push it into non-fantasy games. For example, if you don’t upgrade your character and weapons in the game Far Cry New Dawn, then you can even shoot a carload of bullets into the face of the main boss from a machine gun - nothing will happen to him. Looks like a mockery. There is a similar system of oppressing the player in Crew 2: if the level of parts inside your vehicle is less than that stated by your opponents, then even if you drive perfectly, the game simply will not allow you to win! Simply because you are not allowed to do this due to your low level. Such a system, where progress depends not on personal skills, but simply on the experience gained, insults “skilled” players, but it is more democratic and linear for the broad masses of players, and at the same time artificially keeps the player in the game, not allowing him to finish it in a few minutes. hours. Did you spend time, look at the open world (in vain, perhaps the best artists tried) and eventually gained experience? Move forward in the story calmly.
The game itself advertised the “store” to me only once, and the fact that you don’t buy something there won’t make you play any worse. All these entertainments are aimed at wealthy foreign audiences who are ready to spend an extra $100 on their favorite game without any problems. The only problem for me personally is the high cost of the season pass (it costs as much as 1800 rubles, and I bought the game itself for 800!). The season pass includes two quite interesting DLCs with several hours of content each and a remaster of Assassin's creed III, which, to put it mildly, turned out to be not the most technologically advanced (in some places it even got worse), but they sell it as a full-fledged game separately. No money, but want to know the plot? The walkthrough is on YouTube.
Among the gameplay innovations, I liked the redesigned skill tree and the ability to select all weapons and armor specifically for your fighting style. That is, now you can put on “killer armor” and increase the damage of a hidden attack, when you can secretly destroy the strongest opponents and mercenaries with one or two hits. And you can pump up the defense and damage of a warrior, if you prefer open combat with a large number of opponents, or the damage of an archer - now you can easily create a sniper who will deal with enemies with one shot (by the way, the type of bows is now always the same, which is much simpler and more convenient compared to Origins). You can even upgrade your ability to tame animals and walk with a huge bear or lion. As you progress through the game, you will need all these skills and the game will push you to this one way or another. For example, some of the “bosses” are easier to shoot with a bow, wild animals are difficult to attack with weapons, and not all places in the game can be passed through secretly and you will be forced to enter into battle. The new patches even introduced the ability to create and change outfit sets on the fly for each playstyle, not to mention the ability to switch skill sets on the fly. I'm glad that all skill points can be reset and redistributed without any problems - experiment for your health. I played the game on my old Logitech gamepad and, unlike the previous part, I shot with a bow much more often, but on a mouse it’s still 10 times easier to aim, especially since the game mechanics encourage not just shooting, but accurate shooting at the npc’s head (there are skills and engravings for critical damage when shooting).
The game has total auto-leveling, but it is more advanced and not as disgusting as in TESO or Skyrim. At the beginning of the game, some territories will be inaccessible to you, and opponents who are more than 3 levels superior to you are a mortal threat. After you “outgrow” your opponents in level, they are pulled up to you minus 2 levels. This is done so that you can easily return to already explored locations and earn experience there. But you will need experience, because leveling goes up to level 99, and after opening and maximizing all skills, you can invest points in skill levels, for example, increasing damage from swords or poison by 2% per level. But bosses and top mercenaries will always be either your level or slightly higher, so you won’t be able to defeat them in a hurry.

I also really liked the blacksmith’s engraving system. As soon as you receive a unique weapon or open a treasured chest in a secret place, you will be able to use a new engraving from there and apply it to any weapon. Thus, having found the trident of Poseidon (it’s not difficult) and received “water breathing” from it, you can easily apply this property to any weapon you like and explore the expanses of water without having to come up to breathe! And if you want to experiment, you can erase the already applied engraving and make a new one. In general, there is always something to do in the game and as a result, leveling up your character, weapons, and his ship does not stop until the end of the game. Having gone through most of the game, I haven’t cleared even half of the “questions” and haven’t found much else interesting. I specifically avoided reading articles indicating the location of interesting things, so as not to spoil the pleasure of the surprise if I found it.

Assassin's Creed Odyssey is my personal virtual expedition to Ancient Greece. Yes, it is still a work of fiction with many elements of fantasy and science fiction, but even this encouraged me to learn a little more about the history of Greece: more than what we were taught in a boring school , where we didn’t have educational films and such cool games... And all this virtual trip for only 800 rubles. It was in this game that I happily began using “photo mode,” which automatically uploads your screenshots to the servers and shares photos with the whole world.
When I write this text, it has already become known that the next part of Assassin's Creed will take place in the setting of Scandinavian countries and Vikings. I hope that this time they will make a belated but worthy answer to God of War (I predict that they will introduce system of partners in the game and will return cooperative passage of missions).
The only complaint is related to the technical part. The game has become more graphically heavier than the previous one and my old GTX 970 can no longer cope with 2K resolution, so I had to disable some of the effects and enable console 30fps, which, however, did not make the game worse, but even made the picture more cinematic.

Review by respected blogger Exler.

I bought the phone officially from the only Russian online store, I took it as a new product. Naturally, I fell under the promotion and there for 18,000 rubles you could buy the phone itself and a fitness tracker Honor Band 3 (they really sold out like hot cakes and the most popular blue color of the case was always out of stock). This is me now, after a whole 4 months, I see that this is not the most profitable purchase, because after the new year the prices for Honor 8X dropped to 14,000 rubles, but at that time it was quite a good offer. Oh, I didn’t know then what quest awaited me. In stores of large retail chains this phone You could have bought it for 2000 more and of course without a bracelet.
I registered on the site, gave Huawei a bunch of personal data (they now know more about me than the State Services website), paid with a card and waited. The phone was sent quickly - within a week. The courier, according to his courier tradition, warned about delivery 30 minutes before arriving home, so it was not me personally who received it. A few hours later I unpacked the parcel, but my joy lasted only 5 minutes - the phone turned out to be defective. Its body and screen were very bent. I contacted technical support and they helped me arrange a return and replacement. Do you think after 2 weeks I received my brand new phone and an apology from the company for the inconvenience caused and the defective product that was missed for sale? No, I already received my phone with a bent screen, a note from a “technical expert” that the phone was damaged, and technical support simply stopped responding to my emails and messages. Even leaving an angry review in Yandex.Market did not help. As you understand, I completely lost the warranty on the phone. Frightened by such impudence of a seemingly decent company (a market leader, for a moment), I put the phone on the shelf and it collected dust there for another month, while I decided what to do with it. Without coming up with anything and without suing the official Huawei store, I talked about this situation on the Internet (I even dissuaded someone there from buying). I myself I won't buy anything else from this store I don't recommend it to you either. Your purchase there is protected in the same way as from an unknown seller on Aliexpress, only it is cheaper to buy on Ali and the sellers there do not allow themselves to put clearly defective goods in a box, because you can easily pay for this with money and reputation on the site.

I won't talk about sad things. After the new year, I finally decided to start using this device and have never regretted it. Well, except for the external one in the form of a body broken in half, which is a drawback of my device. There was such a gap between the case and the back cover that dust immediately got in there, so I had no choice but to use a silicone case, which I usually try to avoid - mine old phone Honor 5X with an aluminum cover is ideal in this regard. One case is included with the phone (the cheapest and ugliest, but it will do for the first time), but I ordered myself a slightly more decent silicone Makavo for 200 rubles. After a month of use, I can say that the case is decent, but it still gets dirty, it becomes unpleasant to touch, and my fingers begin to touch the edges. But the size was perfect. The use of a case is almost mandatory, so there is no point in the main design feature of the phone - a beautiful cover made of (supposedly) 35 layers of glass. Without a cover, this cover will instantly get stained with fingerprints and scratched, so believe me, you won't be enjoying it for very long. The factory one is already pasted on the screen protective film and for this we could say thanks to Huawei, if not for the disgusting anti-oleophobic properties of this film - after a week it begins to collect fat.

However, even in a case the phone looks very nice and original. Yes, it certainly looks a little like the iPhone XS, especially with the bangs turned on, which, by the way, is turned on by default, and the first thing I did was remove it in the settings, leaving a black bar at the top. The phone has an unusual elongated screen and in general the screen is its main advantage. At first the screen looks unusual, but you quickly get used to its diagonal and reading texts on it becomes a pleasure. In general, the screen in Huawei 8X is beautiful and the fashionable “bezel-less” design is very much in the theme here. Not to say that I suffered much from having bezels before, but without bezels the phone is really beautiful. The phone has color correction, temperature adjustment and eye protection for the display, and unlike previous models, here these functions can actually be used and are useful. Personally, I turned on “eye protection” and the screen began to turn a little “yellow.” I got used to it quickly, now I don’t want to turn it off.

The rest of the device's hardware didn't disappoint either. Very powerful processor and a video core that allows you to run mobile tanks at 60fps. I saw on YouTube how fast some application opens new iPhone and I won't say that mine is 5 times cheap phone makes it slower. I took the phone in the minimum configuration with 64 GB of memory and 4 GB of RAM, but after using it for a long time budget phone, I don’t know what to do with such a wealth of memory. This is really enough for everything, especially since I’m not a fan of 4K videos and toys. Huawei engineers were able to optimize the firmware for using the Kirin processor and the 3750 mAh battery lasts for 2 days without recharging in economical mode. This is the longest-lasting smartphone I've ever owned! If you constantly sit on your phone on the Internet and in social networks(the most used function for a smartphone by most people), then it lasts for 12 hours, and then the extreme saving mode turns on and the smartphone turns into a regular phone and can live for several more hours without leaving you without a connection. Well, the cherry on the cake - there is NFC here! NFC is a wildly convenient thing and I was immediately convinced of this. I have set up Google Play through a virtual Yandex card, so I can pay in stores and public transport without any problems. Well, finally, in 2019, I don’t have to carry around a bunch of “changes for travel.” Unfortunately, this does not apply to minibuses - the owners there resist progress in order to evade taxes, but someday accounting and control will reach them, especially since our state has already taken a tough approach to all working citizens and sellers.
The device is running Android 8.2 and its own shell, which, although convenient, has a caveat - you cannot install other shells (or rather, you can install it, but be prepared for glitches). That is, Huawei programmers have integrated EMUI into Android so tightly that when installing other launchers, a lot of functions are disabled. And that is not all. The Chinese corporation Huawei is taking a course towards secrecy, so getting root on the device will not be very easy (you need to get some kind of code from the manufacturer, which is no longer issued). There is one more “ambush” for those who bought a phone in China with firmware for the Chinese market: it is impossible to install global firmware on such devices - you will not be able to install a security chip inside (you know how the Chinese government loves to monitor its citizens). Yes, such devices can still be taken out of the country and services from Google can be installed, but they will still remain “Chinese” in essence and, at a minimum, localization will suffer. Therefore, when purchasing any phone on AliExpress, be sure to inquire about the honest “global version” of the version of the device being sold. By the way, they were sold on Ali Chinese versions Honor 8X and they were without an NFC chip, because this technology is not used in China - the whole country there uses payment through QR codes.
The device implements an analogue of FaceID like the iPhone. The technology is cool, it really works, but even on the iPhone with its bunch of expensive sensors it fails, and here there will be more problems. But the technology really works quickly, although over these two years I’ve gotten used to unlocking using a fingerprint in the scanner on back cover and this can be done 2 times faster than with face recognition: there you need to wait a second, then swipe across the screen.
I also liked that the device has a bunch of sensors constantly working (including a microphone for voice control from Google) and this does not affect performance or battery life in any way. On the other hand, this device definitely monitors you constantly, using all the power of modern operating systems and sophisticated chips, and only Chinese programmers and Google know where the information accumulated about you is leaking and how it will be used (okay, if only for advertising purposes).
Huawei promised to roll out an update to Android 9 Pie by the New Year, but, as it turned out, everything is not so simple. Beta versions of the firmware are already available and you can even sign up to test this firmware, but testers report problems with the device, glitches and battery leakage, which is the most unpleasant thing. It's a pity, because at 9 Android versions and EMUI have added a lot of new features such as gesture control. I think Android 9 will officially be released on my device by spring.
Overall, Honor 8X is an incredibly cool device, and now that its price has dropped to 15,000 rubles, it’s also a good buy. Yes, in this price range there are already a bunch of different budget devices, including from Huawei itself, but personally I would prefer a proven device from a renowned company than a typical budget device from Xiaomi or Meizu, which in six months will be left without support and will start to glitch and slow down, which often happens with phones from these manufacturers. I have never regretted that I bought this particular phone, but I regretted that I bought it from not entirely honest people from the official online store.

FirmwareAsus Zenfone 5 (A500CG, A501CG, A500KL)

For users of firmware below 1_14_40_50, first flash to 1_14_40_50 or WW_1_15_40_20, and only then to the new firmware!

Official way to flash smartphone firmware (from ASUS)

When moving CN→WW, all information disappears; when updating TW→TW, CN→CN, WW→WW, the information remains.

0. Download the firmware in *.zip format (you can download the firmware on the website, select OS: Android → Firmware)

1. Connect the device to your computer with via USB cable that comes included and unpack the previously downloaded firmware file, you should get something like this UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user.zip.secure or ***.zip

2. When the name contains UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user.zip.secure, then rename it to UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user.zip, then copy it to the internal memory of the phone.

3. Disconnect the phone from the computer and the system itself will detect the update - you must confirm by selecting self-update and then the firmware will begin.

Notes:

(0) If you try to flash, but the firmware is not visible, then double-check, everything should be like this: UL-ASUS_T00F-CN-1.15.40.21-user.zip, instead of 1.15.40.21 - the version of your firmware.

There is no need to change anything in the name in subsequent updates.

(1) When upgrading from CH →WW or TW →WW firmware, you need to change the file name from UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user to UL-ASUS_T00F-CN-1.15.40.20-user

(2) If the firmware for T00J and T00F is the only one, then in the unpacked firmware you need to change the file name from UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user to the version for your device.

(3) If everything was done correctly, but the firmware is not visible, then reboot the phone.

Flashing smartphone firmware via ADB

1. Download the necessary firmware (the official firmware can be downloaded from the link above), modified (custom) firmware for ASUS Zenfone 5 based on the official one - SphinX-V1.0-ZenfoneA501

4. Extract from the archive (we unpacked it to C:/adb)

5. Launch the command line of one of the versions. Press the WIN+R buttons at the same time and enter “cmd” without quotes, after which you need to go to the folder with ADB. In our case, you need to enter the command “cd C:\adb” without quotes.

Go to the folder with ADB, and press the Shift + right mouse button combination and select the “Run” section command line from here"

6. In your smartphone settings, enable USB debugging. Go to “Settings – For Developers”, check the “USB Debugging” box and enable the mode itself (switch on the top right). If the “For Developer” section is missing, go to “Settings - Help - Software Information” and click on the build number 5-7 times, information will appear that you have become a developer.

7. Return to the console on your computer and enter the command “adb devices”

8. Reboot your smartphone into recovery. "adb reboot recovery"

9. The smartphone will reboot into recovery mode. If the menu does not appear on the smartphone display, click the volume and power keys.

10. Do wipe data/factory reset (delete everything you don’t need on your phone). Navigation with volume keys, OK – power key.

11. Extract the firmware from the archive and put it in the adb folder. We flashed version WW_1_15_40_20. The downloaded archive needs to be unpacked and renamed. Unzip UL_ASUS_T00F_WW_1_15_40_20_user.zip to your adb folder and rename UL-ASUS_T00F-WW-1.15.40.20-user.zip.secure to fw.zip

12. In recovery, select the second option (apply update from ADB) and confirm with the power key.

13. In the console, enter “adb sideload fw.zip” and wait until the firmware is downloaded into the smartphone’s memory. Once the download is complete, the smartphone will begin updating the firmware.

14. After the update is complete, select the first option “reboot system now” and press the Power key.

15. You can enjoy the new firmware!

To flash the latest firmware, unpack the downloaded archive into the smartphone’s memory, turn it off and on again. The system itself will see the updates and offer firmware.

You can install the latest firmware by following steps 8-15 using UL_ASUS_T00F_WW_1_16_40_50.zip

Installing custom CWM/TWRP recovery on your phone

First you need to download ADB, if you have not done this yet, then download from the link above.

Then you need to download the installation file of the custom recovery for your smartphone to your computer, here we offer a choice (only one is needed) zenfone_5_cwm_installer.zip or zenfone_5_twrp_installer.zip

1. Make root any convenient option

2. Install Busybox

3. Enable USB debugging

4. Using any file manager with root access, rename the file “recovery-from-boot.p” in the system folder to “recovery-from-boot.bak”

5. Unpack the files from the archive with CWM or TWRP into the same folder (we installed CWM)

6. Connect Zenfone 5 to the PC, the smartphone must be turned on, confirm the request that you trust this PC if you have not done so before

7. Run the install.bat file in the folder with adb, confirm the request to obtain root rights on the device itself

8. After this, the smartphone should reboot with custom recovery already installed

Login to custom recovery:

1. Turn off your smartphone

2. Press the power button until vibration response occurs

3. Release the power button, hold down the volume down key

How to get ROOT rights to the phone

2. Install it on your phone, first making sure that in “Settings” → “Security” the “unknown sources” checkbox is checked, which allows you to install applications on your smartphone from unknown sources.

3. Turn off WiFi. Switch the device to “flight mode” (to prevent any penetration of the device into the Internet when “*.apk” is running).

4. Launch the installed application. A warning will appear stating "...you are at risk...we are not responsible...etc." Click “Do not ask” (Russian: “Leave me alone”).

5. After that, select the utility for assigning root rights (we recommend SuperSU) and press the key below (With the inscription “Come on already! Do ROOT!”)

6. Demo mode will then start. When you come to the image of the device labeled Zenfone 5, quickly press (hold) the power key and select “restart.”

7. After the reboot, return to the “Root Zenfone” utility and grant it root rights (click “grant” in the “SuperSU” question box). After that, press the “After updating, save ROOT” button in the utility.

This way, you will not lose your root rights after the OTA update.