For my sins, I live and work in China. I am very far from being savvy about phones, as you can probably tell from the following. I don't even like mobile phones much, especially smartphones, as they seem to need so much attention and care, and I seem to be wasting so much time and money because of them.
Anyway, here is my story, I will try to keep it brief, although I am sure some of it will perplex many of you.
About a year ago I bought a Samsung Galaxy A8, running Android. (My previous phone had been an iPhone 4 given to me as a gift. I had it for about 5 years. I didn't do much with it except use it as a phone. I always found the business of putting music on it with iTunes to be such a pain in the ass, that I swore when I replaced it I would switch to Android, so when it died, that's what I did.)
When I bought my Samsung A8, believe it or not, I didn't know anything about the Google Play Store, how it is unavailable in China, etc. I had absolutely no idea that I would be unable to use many apps which required Google Play Services to run, etc, (for example I thought that I would be able to use the Gmail app as long as I was using an Android VPN, but of course no, it won't even run without Google Play Services.)
Someone told me that I should root the phone, and then install the Google PLay Store, I found rather inadequate instructions on the web as to how to do this. I wasted many hours trying to do so, without success, in the end I gave up.
A few weeks ago someone suggested I try something called 1 Mobile Market, they said it was a great way to get apps without needing the Google Store. I tried it out, one of the apps I downloaded was a kids math game, like a video game but teaching kids how to do math at the same time. My 7-year-old son absolutely loved it, was disappointed when he ran into the locked levels. I didn't realise it was just a demo for a paid version, there didn't seem to be any way to get the paid version. I looked absolutely everywhere on the web, trying to find a way to pay for and download the full version, without any success.
I went back to trying to root the phone so I could install Google Store and use that. I tried a software called Kingoroot to try and root the phone. It worked, (seemingly,) except that when I tried to restart the phone it wouldn't start, I tired and tried and then it died. "Bricked", I guess. Effin' wonderful.
I'm a sucker for punishment, so I went out and bought a new phone, a Samsung Galaxy A9, (I absolutely cannot be without a phone for however long it would take to get the A8 fixed, so I just decided to cut my losses and never try rooting again.)
My son is still asking and asking me to get him the math game again, and I think I have come to the end of every dead end to try. I have written to the company, no reply. I have tried to buy the game from Amazon, they absolutely will not let me have it because of my geographical location, (even trying to fool them by routing through a UK based VPN and changing my billing address to the UK did not work, because my Mastercard is drawn on a Chinese bank.)
Can anyone PLEASE give me some workable solutions to try? Is there any way anyone could share this app with me? Believe me all I am trying to do is make my kid happy here, not break any laws or rattle anyone's cage, I long ago gave up on trying to have the phone and the services I want, as a foreigner in China you're just not allowed that apparently.
And please don't tell me to try the many Chinese app stores, or get help from a Chinese friend to do so. All those have zero English service and are utterly confusing unless you are fluent in Chinese, which I am not. I am just looking for a way to install a kids learning game on my phone for pity's sake, I am crying out for help here, can anyone offer it?
Anyway, here is my story, I will try to keep it brief, although I am sure some of it will perplex many of you.
About a year ago I bought a Samsung Galaxy A8, running Android. (My previous phone had been an iPhone 4 given to me as a gift. I had it for about 5 years. I didn't do much with it except use it as a phone. I always found the business of putting music on it with iTunes to be such a pain in the ass, that I swore when I replaced it I would switch to Android, so when it died, that's what I did.)
When I bought my Samsung A8, believe it or not, I didn't know anything about the Google Play Store, how it is unavailable in China, etc. I had absolutely no idea that I would be unable to use many apps which required Google Play Services to run, etc, (for example I thought that I would be able to use the Gmail app as long as I was using an Android VPN, but of course no, it won't even run without Google Play Services.)
Someone told me that I should root the phone, and then install the Google PLay Store, I found rather inadequate instructions on the web as to how to do this. I wasted many hours trying to do so, without success, in the end I gave up.
A few weeks ago someone suggested I try something called 1 Mobile Market, they said it was a great way to get apps without needing the Google Store. I tried it out, one of the apps I downloaded was a kids math game, like a video game but teaching kids how to do math at the same time. My 7-year-old son absolutely loved it, was disappointed when he ran into the locked levels. I didn't realise it was just a demo for a paid version, there didn't seem to be any way to get the paid version. I looked absolutely everywhere on the web, trying to find a way to pay for and download the full version, without any success.
I went back to trying to root the phone so I could install Google Store and use that. I tried a software called Kingoroot to try and root the phone. It worked, (seemingly,) except that when I tried to restart the phone it wouldn't start, I tired and tried and then it died. "Bricked", I guess. Effin' wonderful.
I'm a sucker for punishment, so I went out and bought a new phone, a Samsung Galaxy A9, (I absolutely cannot be without a phone for however long it would take to get the A8 fixed, so I just decided to cut my losses and never try rooting again.)
My son is still asking and asking me to get him the math game again, and I think I have come to the end of every dead end to try. I have written to the company, no reply. I have tried to buy the game from Amazon, they absolutely will not let me have it because of my geographical location, (even trying to fool them by routing through a UK based VPN and changing my billing address to the UK did not work, because my Mastercard is drawn on a Chinese bank.)
Can anyone PLEASE give me some workable solutions to try? Is there any way anyone could share this app with me? Believe me all I am trying to do is make my kid happy here, not break any laws or rattle anyone's cage, I long ago gave up on trying to have the phone and the services I want, as a foreigner in China you're just not allowed that apparently.
And please don't tell me to try the many Chinese app stores, or get help from a Chinese friend to do so. All those have zero English service and are utterly confusing unless you are fluent in Chinese, which I am not. I am just looking for a way to install a kids learning game on my phone for pity's sake, I am crying out for help here, can anyone offer it?
Thanks to 
That was in a Beijing hostel.
