How to get the missing Android Market on your Android device
Posted under: If you got your android phone or device like the Samsung Galaxy Tab from the Middle East (UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, etc.) you will notice that the official Android Market place is missing.
I got my Galaxy Tab from Dubai, UAE and I saw that it came pre-installed with the Slide ME app market. The apps selection on Slide ME is not the best and I was furious that Samsung does not inform its customers about the fact that Google Market is missing from its devices when sold in this region.
To get the Official Google Market app follow the procedure below:
Note:
- I have tried this on my Galaxy Tablet only. I believe it should work on other Android phones such as the Samsung Galaxy phone, etc.
- This procedure may work for devices which are sold outside the Middle East (Such as North Africa) which are missing the Official Market App.
- Please back up all your data as the following procedure will reset your ‘Internal phone storage’. All apps and data will be deleted and your phone will be reset to as it was on the first day.
- All data on the ‘Internal Memory’ (On the tab there is 12.66 GB memory where I store my photos, music, etc.) was not deleted but it is a good idea to back it up none the less.
- Following this procedure will convert your android device / phone to the UK sales region.
- Try the below at your own risk. I will not be liable for any harm or faults that may come upon device. Read the entire tutorial below before proceeding so that you can evaluate the pros and cons.
Now, for the procedure…
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1.
Get the IMEI number of your device. On the Galaxy Tablet is written on the rear side of the device. Alternatively you can get it from the phone settings.
Go to Settings > About phone > Status
Your IMEI number will be listed there. It is a long number, for me it was a 15 digit number. Note this number down.
See pictures below for an idea:
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2.
Now open your Phone app (Go to the Dial pad) and enter the following:
*#272*your device IMEI code#
Do note the positions of the * and # symbols.
See picture below for a better understanding.
As soon as you finish entering the info in the format instructed above a ‘preconfig’ sales code screen will be displayed as shown in the picture below:
DO make a note of the currently selected sales code in case you want to revert back. In my case (UAE), it was ‘XSS‘.
Now select the code ‘XSG’ and click on the install button as shown in the picture above. The XGS code is for the UK region.
Be patient, your phone will restart in a few seconds. Once it has finished booting up again you will notice that the Official Google Market app named ‘Market’ is present and the alternate app market such as Slide ME has been taken off.
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3.
Make sure you go to the ‘Date and time’ settings and select the time zone of your country as the default time shown will be UK / GMT time. Go through all settings again and change it as it you had customized it before. You will have to re-arrange everything as your home screen and Application pages have been reset to default.
In case you want to revert your device back to your region, follow the above procedure again and on the ‘preconfig’ screen select the code of your region (In my case XSS) that you had noted earlier and click ‘Install’. This will reset the device to your region but it does not get back the apps and settings you had in place earlier.
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Why are there only free apps?
In some regions you will notice that the app wont display paid apps. This was the case for me in UAE. On my trip to India though, the market app displayed paid apps.
All done, Enjoy!
hi thanks for this as i bought my tab in dubai but live in oman. have now got app market working beautifully but still no music media any ideas. thanks for your help
Hi Diane,
Glad to see that you got the app market on your device, as it should be in the first bl**dy place!
Could you please elaborate on what you mean by music media?
You can just connect your device to your laptop via the cable, select mass storage > mount.
It will appear as a hard disk on your pc/mac. Create a new folder (I named mine user files > music ) and put all my music onto it.
Unmount the device and remove the cable. The device will scan for new files automatically at this stage and your music will be present in the music app.
great instructions. have been looking for this for a month now. thanks
thank you so much for the help.. it worked out great
Thank you, this is very useful, but i have to return the preconfig sales code to the original status as ARABIC language did not work well with XGS.
MyGalaxyTab is missing the sound recorder and the calculator, any ideas on how to install them on the set.
thanks dude, you rock!
Hi Dev… tks for the tip, will definitely try it out. But before i do, need some clarifications if possible. I’m in Malaysia, but for some reason I can’t seem to update my pre-configured Market app. It’s still stuck in Version 2.0.4 when the latest is 5.0.12. Will your tip work in my case? My Sales Code is XME, i was thinking of switch to either Singapore or Thailand or even UK but dont know their codes. Can you help? Thanks!
hi how to get skype running ??
I did this but i only found ‘CHN’ (i bought my GT-P1000 in China) and no other sale codes. Any way to get around it but still get the ‘Market’? Thanks!
For country letter codes, check: http://samfirmware.com/samsunglettercode.htm
Just for your information, “XSG” seems not to refer to a UK region but another UAE region. In fact every code you have in that selection screenshot of yours seems still to be around the Middle East.