Samsung ATIV Odyssey has been interop unlocked, time to hack away

Hacking on Windows Phone is a pretty nonexistent sport. Earlier we told you guys about HackerTeam and their claims of having full control over Windows Phone, but there’s no way to validate their claims. Here’s something we can validate, the Samsung ATIV Odyssey has joined the ATIV S and has been Interop Unlocked. This opens the gates for potentially deeper level OS changes on the Odyssey.

Why would you want to Interop Unlock your device? Well you just might want to do something crazy, like add more Live tiles to your Start screen. Head to the links below to learn how to do other things with an Interop Unlocked device like copy files from Adobe Reader to your documents folder, upload videos directly to YouTube, edit accent colors and more.

The Interop Unlock for the Samsung ATIV Odyssey comes to us from Trevor Halsey. Good work Trevor! Join Trevor in the Windows Phone Central forums to learn more about the process.

Source: XDA-Developers

​Thanks for the tip Trevor and Muessig!

Sam Sabri
104 Comments
  • I can't wait the day that the Lumia 1520 from AT&T be hacked as well.
  • Hmm. I would love to dual boot to windows 8.1 pro and windows phone 8.1 with the 1520
  • Really,,, You think that's possible❔
  • I imagine it would take some serious coding muscle but anything's possible. Our 1520s haves quad core mobile processor just like the surface RT
  • So you're asking for Windows 8.1 RT NOT Windows 8.1 Pro. HUGE difference! Not saying it wouldn't be possible to get 8.1 Pro on a handset with some sort of voodoo magic, but it's not going to happen. RT maybe, Pro definitely not.
  • Well id prefer PRO but I understand the limitations
  • Personally I love my Surface RT and Surface 2 and for a phone I wouldn't need/want anymore than that. Going Pro on a phone would be pointless imo, cool, but pointless.
  • Youre right. Tried thinking of a use I'd have for PRO but besides my surface pro having a keyboard and being able to torrent and use a file browser, my windows phone is sufficient
  • The beauty of RT is you can torrent and you do have a file browser :) So if they can continue to merge RT and WP, I will be delighted. If the Surface mini would just get here (with Full size USB and kickstand) I will be set for awhile. If it just has miniUSB then I will unfortunately have to pass.
  • Hackers have put windows XP on the HTC Evo. So it could be possible but more realistically it will be slow as hell.
  • Speed is one thing sure, but stability is a whole different story. Hacking XP or W8 Pro or a full x86 OS onto a phone is possible, but making it useable and stable is way more work than would make sense (again imo, because I don't think W8 Pro on a phone is necessary/wanted at all). Apple would have the easiest time doing it since they control their hardware specifications across platforms. Microsoft will never do it because their hardware is so diverse to make something stable for all configurations.
  • Makes Samsung Windows Phones a little more appealing, in a different way.
  • Agreed, I haven't interop unlocked my ATIV S yet as I don't have a use for anything that needs it.
  • 3 rows of tiles, custom tile colors....Not any use ? That alone would be worth it for me, and all those are is registry edits and getting a Interop unlock will allow registry edits...
  • Hence why I said "I don't have a use for anything that needs it." or did you just not bother to read that part?
  • Yeah three columns I think is a little bit overkill on a 480x800 screen. But to be honest I really don't know, because I haven't gotten GDR3 for it. I recalled everyone avoiding it because Diagnosis was modified as part of the Samsung Update that comes with it. And I still think apps should be encrypted on device. Piracy is just wrong, especially in a minority platform where it takes extra effort to port apps to Windows Phone. Unless its Microsoft's YouTube app, but that's because MS wasn't being stubborn enough to keep it alive in the store.
  • The YouTube app could have been left in the store but it was blocked at Scroogles end so it wouldn't have worked anyway.
  • Well the app works (the slightly modified edition), but it I honestly don't like the design. I'm too used to metrotube, when they were the only thing out there on WP7.
  • Where did you get the modified version from?
  • Read the thread. It got the link to it.
  • I think we were talking cross purposes, I was talking about the modified YouTube app :-D?
  • Yeah, its the third post, down a ways. There's a regular version for people that have developer unlocked their device, and there's another version of the YouTube app that supports uploading.
  • Thanks, the same thread has a non interop version as well. Works like a dream and it's nice way to stick it to Scroogle.
  • There should really be a like system for these articles.
  • Facebook likes exist, don't they?
  • This opens the gates for potentially deeper level OS changes on the Odyssey. I disagree. This opens the gates to piracy, nothing more.
  • You late bro.... We already have a google app to exploit our privacy.
  • He wrote "piracy" not "privacy"
  • I totally disagree, but I tend to think you don't know what you're talking about. While Interop Unlocked WP7.x devices allowed for such criticism because of unencrypted XAPs, you won't be able to install those ones with only interop unlock on WP8. I used it to have more/smaller tiles on my screen (Ativ S here) and to tweak some other parameters, nothing that really hurts the ecosystem but helps to make it better.
  • I'm afraid he does know what he's talking about. I won't go into specifics because I don't support piracy and would happily see it gone from software development, but he's right that interop unlocking leads to app's being pirated because it's the first step in getting to the unencrypted package.
  • I use an fair version of WPC
  • Right, You can't have one with out the other. Being able to install XAP files that changes registry settings requres access to the registry. A DEV unlock will not allow advanced high level changes. A interop unlock opens the door for registry settings. The difference between a free dev unlock from Microsoft or a paid one (3 apps or 10 apps) is just a registry change, and if you set this over 300, it opens the Interop unlock that enables high level registry changes.. and this opens the door for unlimited sideloading. Piracy is a whole different story as apps in the marketplace are encryiped, so you cant side load them but, the hackers even found a way around that... I dont support piracy at all but, I was wondering, so I did a lot of homework. My old Trophy was rooted, so it was actually cool to do a lot of changes that you cant do in WP....It's a lot more than just piracy... .
  • Can you honestly say that you have never downloaded a single torrent or mp3 ever? You should get an award
  • I can't say I never have. I can say I swore off it nearly a decade ago and won't ever go back.
  • Are you implying if a man kills once under the circumstances, he should opt in to be a serial killer or a mass murderer?
  • Murder is more serious than copyright infringment... it's more like if someone has ever photocopied a book, then he can't really complain when people are sharing PDF's of the book.
    But anyway, the OP is incorrect - interop unlock allows you to develop more powerful homebrew apps / games and access portions of the OS that MS has locked down too tightly. For piracy to be effective you'd really need custom ROM's or specifically cracked XAP's, but that's a different kettle of fish.
  • My point exactly.. This dudes comparing pirating to murder lol
  • He's using an extreme, to make a Point...
  • Yes, but it's stupid... it's like if someone stole a chocolate from you and then comparing it to them stealing a child, or "stealing" someones life. It's almost as ridiculous as comparing infringement of intellectual property to actual theft.
  • Its way over the point of being extreme, if someone stole a 99c chocolate should he get 25 to life?
    Jailbreaking an os allows the more than average user to make more use of his/her device..
  • Why would you do that when you have Xbox music?
  • That could happen but it's unlikely as apps from the store are signed and can't be installed without the phone checking online first.
  • I couldn't care less about pirating apps. I want to tweak the crap out of this phone! I want to make some typefaces smaller so I can read the entire line. I want to assign individual colors to certain contacts, so emails stand out. I want to turn off animations sometimes so things are quicker (for example, I don't want a slow fade when I delete a video and I have 20 files I want to delete). Ultimately, if the whole OS becomes hackable, we could have some amazing new utilities and apps--especially a file explorer!
  • Only thing I'm waiting is for usb tethering on my 920 and to unlock the WiFi tethering
  • ... Hasn't wifi tethering been available since WP7 days or did it vanish from 8? Or is it just your particular carrier/model limitation?
  • Att limits it if you don't have it on your plan
  • Ahh AT&T, say no more. It's available for free on most carriers worldwide. AT&T seem like they want to screw their users over more than most.
  • Its a matter of finding the right keys. No one has done it yet because it hasn't been found and most people already pay for Internet Sharing on their plans.
  • On AT&T perhaps. It's available for free on most carriers... It's usually all part of a standard plan and doesn't cost any extra. I think it's ridiculous they would charge or limit access to your own data allowance.
  • This sound like Samsung try to sabotage Windows phone.
  • Can I get some tissue over here. We have a whiner.
  • Actually it is called a realist. Sorry but when it comes to software development it is kind of stupid even trying to protect Samsung there.
  • Sure, and they made one of the best WP8 device (Ativ S) to invade and destroy WP from the inside. Smart, really smart.
  • My ATIV S is way better than my 900, 920 & 925. My ATIV S battery last longer than them 3 combined.
  • Great! Do you know that my old Nokia 1100 lasts longer than all windows phones combined? Lol...jk
  • Not as long as my old 5110 and 3210 :)
  • I ended up selecting a Lumia, but I respect the Ativ S.
  • Me too. It reall was a hard decision though. I was leaning on everything towards the Ativ S but then I found this forum and they talked about how awful the sound quality on the ATIV was. It's a major point for me so I eventually went to purchase the 920.   But I really respect the ATIV S. I'm a fan.
  • Hey what sound quality are you referring to? Ear piece or loud speaker? I haven't noticed any difference in either quality on my 900, 920, 925 or ATIV S. They all sound great. I will say the screen on the ATIV S and 925 is 100% better than the 920
  • My wife has an Ativ Odyssey and I think the built-in speaker sounds better than my 822, at least for music.
  • Do you believe every opinion you read on this forum? I haven't had any issues with sound quality on my ATIV S.
  • No other manufacturer besides Nokia should have windows :D
  • If you like paying through the nose for your phones then that's fine, I don't though.
  • Oh and what about the galaxy line they are not cheap ! So the question is did you purposely leave out that info or wat shamesung fanboy !
  • Tha Galaxy devices have nothing to do with this article and if you read the comment I replied to instead of doing the typical Nokia Fanboy thing of ignoring it you would understand why. So my choice of phone makes me a fanboy, does it?
  • It was a joke..relax yourself..
    But still Nokia only lol :)
  • Fair enough but there are people on here that actually do think like that. If Nokia were the only company creating Windows Phones then they could charge whatever they wanted, just look at the prices for the iPhone.
  • I get what your saying but also look at the price of the Lumia 521, cheaper than any other phone in its range including Samsung's, Motorola's, Sony Eric etc..Nokia makes devices for all budgets...
  • For now it is, but if Nokia were the only OEM do you think that would have happened?
  • There's a possibility because Nokia has already released more models than apple.. Even way bk when, Nokia had a verity of budgets (5110,3210,3310,6110,8210,etc)
  • And not a single f*ck was given
  • No comment.
  • Lol, +920
  • It's amazing how people who don't care don't mind going out of their way to tell everyone.
  • My question is why always jailbreaking of samsung and htc is so easier than nokia.. As we see in case of wp7 too???
  • Well I guess if it's not done yet, it's mainly because it ISN'T that easier. By the way, WP8 ISN'T WP7, and that's mainly why it's not called the same.
  • If I remember its because Samsung has the diagnosis app, that's how the focus was interop unlocked with windowsbreak by jaxbot
  • Diagnosis has a builtin registry editor that's needed to do the unlock.
  • I often wondered that. Miss my RegEdits man. I hope that since WP8 has been unlocked its not exclusive to the Samsung and will soon spill over to the rest of us. Would love my L925 with the 3rd row... jejeje
  • As of right now the only Nokia device to get an interop unlock is the 920 and AFAIK it's not easy to do.
  • Unfortunately its specific to Samsung due to the background service it relies on.
    Also the 920 seems to be unlocked, but with a hardware mod a la JTAG (using a RiffBox). I unlike others, like restoring the device to factory settings and actually using the devices warranty whenever its still available wherever a problem arises.
  • Why do that when you have Xbox music?
  • So this is good but the mercenary hacking is bad? Smells like double standards.
  • Not really, the mercenary hacking allows for deep level changes. This is an interop unlock which just allows for making the changes that OEMs can make.
  • Mercenary hacking allows companies to steal your data without your knowledge. This is more of a personal preference in a sense that you have to unlock your phone before running any "extra" script that would compromise your information. I for one like to tweak the OS. This is good, maybe not for everyone but definitely a plus for the platform.
  • Exactly, an interop unlock effectively, AFAIK, gives you the same access to the phone that an OEM like Nokia would have.
  • Hacking is only bad when used for ill intent. e.g. Piracy, selling consumer's identity (but that's kinda phishing though), government spying, ect.
  • Can you also enable the traffic indication small icon on the 3G / Wifi status icon with these registry hacks as well? Is there anything more you can do after opening this closed sh*t? Is there a list of tweaks maybe? Damn I dont understand why does this tiny stupid feature must be showed like a premium feature, so not all users get it, just a selective providers? Ps. On Android, these things like showing battery percentages or tnetwork traffic indicators are easily accomplished via FREE or .99$ apps, absolutely nothing to feel special. Quoting my favorite dead comedian, George Carlin: "its all BS folks, its all BS..."
  • Oo..
  • There was a chinese teaser video that showed Lumia 920 getting interop unlocked. Any word on that?
  • Check the fourms, nothing major but, a website is up to watch when it hits.... If it hits....
  • How come every Samsung phone is so badly designed, with no sense of style. Not to mention cheap and flimsy feel. Its all good that other manufacturers are making WP handsets but if its a half assed product don't bother. I owned Samsung and it was crap never again. Sticking to Nokia/Microsoft.
  • Not a f*ck was given!!
  • Funny man, thanks for making my day.
  • >implying style
    A phone simply make calls and take them for to be in the business. And text if your into that kinda thing. I almost never use my mobile data anyways.
  • Totally agree, although I listen to internet radio when I'm diving. And lots of emails purely because of work. Otherwise I have no apps installed.
  • Well Samsung never launched any of the ativ devices in India. Although they did launch the Omnia w and omnia m devices back in the days of windows phone 7. But that never went anywhere .
    I so badly want more windows phone devices here in India, if priced right the ativ s is a great option. Come on Samsung you launched a million galaxies already, two ativ devices won't hurt
  • Huff! I almost thought you wrote about something illegal...like using a proxy...
    Wat
  • Good for you guys. You should soon be able to enjoy the 3rd row of tiles on your Start Screen.
  • It may seem counteproductive given the small screen real estate on the Odyssey, but it's still nice to have options! :)
  • Encouraging hacking.  Hmmm. This is a new twist.
  • Awesome news isn't it? I thought so too. Hacking is not bad. Its bad people that make it an issue. Its my device, I can hack if I want to... Unless its a PS3... per Sony... jejeje
  • Aw come on, don't be that guy.
  • If this would allow someone to get inside to access the digital audio to output to an external DAC, then this is interesting.