Windows Phone: Samsung Diagnostics App Blocks GPRS Profile

If you own a Samsung Windows Phone device, you probably noticed that there is an update available for the stock Diagnostics application. The default build is 1004 and the new one is 0210.

There is one breaking change that was implemented here that you should be aware of – once you update to 0210 you will not be able to enter the GPRS profile selection mode.

IMPORTANT NOTE: It seems like some devices do not have a problem with the hidden menu.

Image lost since transition to new blog.

Here in the screenshot, I was attempting to type in the code to get to the required page (*#9908#) and the application instantly crashes. This means that if your device is not interop-unlocked (giving access to lower-level drivers with a registry flag), you won’t be able to do so because the current methods are tied specifically to the GPRS profile switching capability of the app.

It doesn’t appear to be an internal restriction at the moment – the layout for the invocation is the same. The Samsung-generated hash code for this command is registered and handled. It might be that there is something missing in the current firmware, or it might be that developers misplaced a native call somewhere.

Either way – tested on a Samsung Focus Flash (7.10.7720.68 – FW 2103.11.10.1). The new Diagnostics app was automatically delivered through the Marketplace update.

To revert back to a version of the Diagnostics app that works with the *#9908# command, uninstall the 0201 release and type ##634# in the dialer once again. This will revert it to the 1004 build.

NOTE: If you updated your Samsung device to 8107, let me know what model you have and whether the command mentioned above works in the diagnostics app on your build (given that the app is 0201).