• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

I have the ZTE Blade V8 Pro - ASK ME ANYTHING!

GamerCore

Android Enthusiast
Jun 3, 2010
446
187
California
twitter.com
DSC02236.JPG


Hey, y'all. I've had the ZTE Blade V8 Pro for a few weeks now and pretty much love it. At $230, it's really hard to find a better phone for the money. Seeing as how I've put the device through its paces (and own a handful of Android devices), if you have any questions this is the place to ask 'em. Ask away!
 
View attachment 116595

Hey, y'all. I've had the ZTE Blade V8 Pro for a few weeks now and pretty much love it. At $230, it's really hard to find a better phone for the money. Seeing as how I've put the device through its paces (and own a handful of Android devices), if you have any questions this is the place to ask 'em. Ask away!

Do you have any idea how to move music to the SD card?
 
Upvote 0
View attachment 116595

Hey, y'all. I've had the ZTE Blade V8 Pro for a few weeks now and pretty much love it. At $230, it's really hard to find a better phone for the money. Seeing as how I've put the device through its paces (and own a handful of Android devices), if you have any questions this is the place to ask 'em. Ask away!

Hello Gamer Core thank you for being helpful I have
View attachment 116595

Hey, y'all. I've had the ZTE Blade V8 Pro for a few weeks now and pretty much love it. At $230, it's really hard to find a better phone for the money. Seeing as how I've put the device through its paces (and own a handful of Android devices), if you have any questions this is the place to ask 'em. Ask away!

Thank you for being helpful, I have blade v8 just bought it a week ago I notice that the phone music app does not have a search feature and I can't look up a specific song I can scroll down and find it I downloaded my music online not music store. If u could answer this I would really appropriate it
 
Upvote 0
Howdy from Montana, "GamerCore"! How 'bout a "first name" to call you, even if it's an alias?

I've had the ZTE Blade v8 Pro for three days now; and, other than the issues that I've already resolved (thanks in part to your excellent suggestions), my main issue, really the only one, right now is that I transferred over a SanDisk 128 gb SD card from my Amazon Fire HD 8 tablet, and I can't get the Amazon Prime Music files that I don't own (that Amazon now allows being downloaded with protection so you can't get the digital albums for free otherwise), and that are downloaded to said SD card, to show up in the Amazon Music player under Offline Music, though all of them showed up just fine in the Fire HD 8 tablet (and still would if I put that same SD card back in the tablet).

I shut down and restarted the ZTE Blade v8 Pro, and then about 648 songs showed up in Offline Music, about half of them songs that I purchased. But I have literally a couple of hundred albums on that SD card (it is almost full), and thousands of songs. Regardless of whether it's a Fire Android device or not, the Amazon Music player should be able to read the protected song files that were protected by Amazon, and all of them should show up in the player. Yes, I refreshed my music, and I thought over time, with wireless on (to perhaps check the protection with Amazon's website), that the songs would eventually populate from the SD card, like on the Fire tablet, but they don't appear to be doing so.

I can understand that, because of the protection of the songs, they wouldn't be able to be read, shown and played on any other music player, but in the Amazon Music app, they should show up and play just fine. I phoned Amazon, and finally got someone in the U.S. who claimed to be knowledgeable on Amazon Music, but she was extremely rude and I don't believe she knew what she was talking about on Amazon Prime Music.

Do you have any idea how to correct this issue, or could you find out, because I'm relatively sure that a lot of people are likely having this issue? Yes, I know, as the rude gal at Amazon suggested, one can re-download all of the albums to the SD card, but with almost 128 gb of data and so many albums and songs, it would take far too long (days) to do that, so I'm not going to go through all of that; because, for one thing, I'm pretty sure there's a relatively easy fix for this (which I haven't been able to find online as yet).

Oh, I also safely removed the SD card from the phone, and put it back in, before rebooting the phone. And, it looks like by the time you read this, I will have also tried safely removing the SD card, rebooting the phone with it out of the phone, and putting it back in after restarting the phone.

Btw, it turns out that the exactly 648 songs showing up in Offline Music, are ALL songs that I purchased; so, NONE of the Amazon Prime Music "non-purchased" songs on the SD card are showing up in the Amazon Music player app right now, no matter what I've tried to do so far to fix the issue.

Otherwise, so far this appears to be an excellent device, and it's of course not ZTE's fault concerning this Amazon Prime Music issue. I haven't obtained a SIM card yet, so I can't speak to how the phone works for placing and receiving phone calls, texting and data from the cell system. What SIM card do you recommend for the lowest price and month-to-month cost? I really only want to have the SIM for emergencies, usually keeping it out of the phone most of the time, so I want a carrier service that I only have to pay for what I use, without shutdown of the SIM card due to inactivity, without having to pay too much up front, and without the service account expiring for lack of use. Any good suggestions on this? I've looked online, but there are so many choices that it's so confusing and overwhelming for me (I'm physically, but not mentally, disabled; and I am very intelligent), and the reviews make so many of them sound like bad investments; or like, in the case FreedomPOP, scams; or, the coverage area doesn't include my area for data as well as calls and texting (Ting), the northwestern Montana, Flathead County/Valley area, and the north end of same. Which reminds me, yes, I want calling, text and data.

Summarizing my questions in case you've forgotten them already :eek:) ....

1.) Fix for Amazon Prime Music being completely read and playable from the SD card to the Amazon Music player app.

2.) Best recommended SIM card and service carrier for "not-all-the-time", and intermittent, use.

3.) Any other suggestions you might have and want to share, related or not to my issue(s) [inferred though not asked above].

Thank you, "GamerCore", for all of your consideration of, and assistance with, this entire matter.

Sincerely (and Cheers!), from,

Wolf (my real, legal middle name, and what I go by)
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
Ask you anything and you don't even reply? What's that about, typical superiority attitude of "techies"? I knew you were probably too good to be true and that I was likely wasting my time seeking help from you. Thanks for nothing.

For information, @GamerCore hasn't been on AF since 19th May, and could be why he didn't reply to you.

HTH.
 
Upvote 0
Ask you anything and you don't even reply? What's that about, typical superiority attitude of "techies"? I knew you were probably too good to be true and that I was likely wasting my time seeking help from you. Thanks for nothing.

To step in with a suggestion for your Amazon Music player problem - would it be possible that you need to re-import the offline songs you previously had access to? Or possibly you need to tell the app to look in specific music folders?
Sorry, I'm not familiar with the app, but just a couple of thoughts which occurred to me.
 
Upvote 0
Thank you for you guys' replies. So, "GamerCore" makes an offer and then disappears? And with no explanation(s)? Well, anyway, I'm glad to know why I haven't heard from him, and at least I know he's not simply ignoring my request(s).

Evidently Amazon's DRM doesn't allow those non-purchased songs to be downloadable and playable offline on anything but Amazon Fire tablets (and presumably Amazon Fire phones if they still made them, which they don't).

It doesn't seem right, and it would seem to me that those songs should work on any Android device in the Amazon Music Player. I can understand that of course they would not be able to be accessed on any other music player, but they should work on the former.

As far as I can tell from the Amazon Music Player, there is no way to point it at the songs in question, but they should populate into said player but won't because it's not on an Amazon Fire device which is designed to access those songs on it.

In addition, those non-purchased songs can't be re-imported into the Amazon Music Player on anything but an Amazon Fire device either. It's all very stupid as far as I'm concerned, but that's DRM and more of Amazon's idiocy for you.
 
Upvote 0
For some reason, Amazon and Google don't get on. Amazon are very keen to lock you into their ecosystem. There was a thread recently about difficulties with installing Amazon apps on an Android system. And vice-versa, Amazon Fire tablets don't really like you installing Google Play Store apps.
I suppose they are only looking out for their business interests, and aren't really too keen on diluting their profits with people going off and cherry picking the best deals from both sides.
So it doesn't really surprise me that Amazon are putting these kind of DRM restrictions on what music can be played, and on what device. But still seems a bit harsh doesn't it?
 
Upvote 0
DRM is evil isn't it? If I purchase some music, a book, whatever, I should be able to use it wherever I choose. I've paid for the content, so what gives the seller the right to dictate how I can use it? I have a Fire tablet myself, but don't use it for music, and after reading this, probably won't ever use the device for that purpose.
But I'm surprised in a way, because I have in the past bought songs from Amazon, and I'm pretty sure they were DRM free. Is this something that only applies to the Fire tablets?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Member243850
Upvote 0
DRM is evil isn't it? If I purchase some music, a book, whatever, I should be able to use it wherever I choose. I've paid for the content, so what gives the seller the right to dictate how I can use it? I have a Fire tablet myself, but don't use it for music, and after reading this, probably won't ever use the device for that purpose.
But I'm surprised in a way, because I have in the past bought songs from Amazon, and I'm pretty sure they were DRM free. Is this something that only applies to the Fire tablets?

Sounds like Amazon are very desperate to lock their Fire users into their ecosystem or walled garden. Come back Apple, all is forgiven?
 
Upvote 0
DRM is evil isn't it? If I purchase some music, a book, whatever, I should be able to use it wherever I choose. I've paid for the content, so what gives the seller the right to dictate how I can use it? I have a Fire tablet myself, but don't use it for music, and after reading this, probably won't ever use the device for that purpose.
But I'm surprised in a way, because I have in the past bought songs from Amazon, and I'm pretty sure they were DRM free. Is this something that only applies to the Fire tablets?

You're misunderstanding. The Amazon Prime Music that I'm referring to is NOT music that customers have purchased. That's why I called it "non-purchased music". They allow Amazon Prime members to download and play offline a lot of albums that they haven't purchased, and have the songs all DRM protected in a special way so that we can't steal the albums as if we've purchased them even though we haven't. It's an unusual arrangement. It just seems to me that if they allow us to download and play that music on the Amazon Music Player on Amazon tablets, then we should be able to play it on the same player, and only that player, on any Android device; but, evidently, they have prevented that, I guess for fear that people will figure out a way to steal the music without paying for it?
 
Last edited:
Upvote 0
You're misunderstanding. The Amazon Prime Music that I'm referring to is NOT music that customers have purchased. That's why I called it "non-purchased music". They allow Amazon Prime members to download and play offline a lot of albums that they haven't purchased, and have the songs all DRM protected in a special way so that we can't steal the albums as if we've purchased them even though we haven't. It's a unusual arrangement. It just seems to me that if they allow us to download and play that music on the Amazon Music Player on Amazon tablets, then we should be able to play it on the same player, and only that player, on any Android device; but, evidently, they have prevented that, I guess for fear that people will figure out a way to steal the music without paying for it?

Ah right, I see. It's a special arrangement for Amazon Prime members. Well I guess they have indeed imposed that restriction as you say to prevent a loophole.
Personally I use Spotify. If you become a premium member with them, I think you're allowed to download music and play offline.
 
Upvote 0
Ah right, I see. It's a special arrangement for Amazon Prime members. Well I guess they have indeed imposed that restriction as you say to prevent a loophole.
Personally I use Spotify. If you become a premium member with them, I think you're allowed to download music and play offline.

Thanks. I use Spotify Free, and I'm not going to pay for it. At least with Amazon Prime I get a lot of bang for the buck, with free two day shipping and many other perks for $9.99 a month. With Spotify Premium I wouldn't be getting a whole lot of extras for about that amount of money every month, so it's just not worth it as far as I'm concerned; plus, I'm not financially well off (living on below poverty line Social Security Disability). When Amazon Prime was only available by the year, I couldn't afford it, so I didn't get it. When it became available by the month, I then grabbed it.
 
Upvote 0
View attachment 116595

Hey, y'all. I've had the ZTE Blade V8 Pro for a few weeks now and pretty much love it. At $230, it's really hard to find a better phone for the money. Seeing as how I've put the device through its paces (and own a handful of Android devices), if you have any questions this is the place to ask 'em. Ask away!
Dear Gamecore,
I'd like to root my ZTE Blade v8 pro, could you advise me how please ?
I have tried with Dr Fone, but it does not recognize the device
I'm also afraid to test weird alien apps nobody knows...
Thanks in advance !
BRgds,
Dani
 
Upvote 0
Dear Gamecore,
I'd like to root my ZTE Blade v8 pro, could you advise me how please ?
I have tried with Dr Fone, but it does not recognize the device
I'm also afraid to test weird alien apps nobody knows...
Thanks in advance !
BRgds,
Dani
Go to YouTube and search for keywords describing wanting to root this model of phone, find the best video describing how to do it, and then follow the instructions to do so to the letter, very carefully.
 
Upvote 0
Some people on ZTE's forums are reporting issues too, and screenshots show their Baseband version (in Settings/About Phone) is Unknown. My SIM was in one of my old phones (using it as a WiFi hotspot) during my update--not sure if this has anything to do with my lack of problems, but my Baseband version shows as -8953_GEN_PACK-1.82698.1.83731.2. In Settings/Status/IMEI information I see good IMEI numbers for Slot1 and Slot2.
 
Upvote 0
Some people on ZTE's forums are reporting issues too, and screenshots show their Baseband version (in Settings/About Phone) is Unknown. My SIM was in one of my old phones (using it as a WiFi hotspot) during my update--not sure if this has anything to do with my lack of problems, but my Baseband version shows as -8953_GEN_PACK-1.82698.1.83731.2. In Settings/Status/IMEI information I see good IMEI numbers for Slot1 and Slot2.
I don't think so, at least not the sim card. Tried it with another phone and it worked fine. But my IMEI is showing "unknown" on me. I still have the number as a physical copy on the back of the phone, but I just don't know how to re enter it.
 
Upvote 0
That's the thing--it isn't messing up the SIM card itself but if the SIM was in the phone during the update, the phone is being messed up. Quite a few people on the ZTE forums are reporting IMEI unknown, baseband unknown, and GPS not working after the update (but their SIM works fine in another phone) while a couple of us who took the SIM out prior to downloading and installing the update are having no issues whatsoever.

According to the ZTE folks on the Blade V8 Pro forum, their tech people are working on a solution. I'm not sure even they understand exactly how/why this happened.
 
Upvote 0
That's the thing--it isn't messing up the SIM card itself but if the SIM was in the phone during the update, the phone is being messed up. Quite a few people on the ZTE forums are reporting IMEI unknown, baseband unknown, and GPS not working after the update (but their SIM works fine in another phone) while a couple of us who took the SIM out prior to downloading and installing the update are having no issues whatsoever.

According to the ZTE folks on the Blade V8 Pro forum, their tech people are working on a solution. I'm not sure even they understand exactly how/why this happened.
I too have this issue. I bought this phone in January and this update just appeared. I was never asked if I wanted to update. It just did it and now it's a useless piece of garbage and no official word when or if the issue will be fixed. It's beyond frustrating. I will never purchase another phone that I can't return to a store and immediately receive another. I'm absolutely stunned that ZTE expects people to just do without a phone while they supposedly are working on a fix. This happened to mine on Wednesday. I was able to borrow a phone and put SIM card in for now but I'll have to return it to my friend and don't have funds to just purchase another phone. This phone is lousy paperweight
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones