When approaching an Android smartphone, there is no straightforward route to acquisition. Due to extremely high fragmentation of the Android platform, your approach to acquiring an Android smartphone will vary greatly between devices. Your approach will depend on who made the device and what chipset was used; what version of Android it is running and what version of Android it was originally released with; whether or not the device has an unlocked (or unlockable) bootloader, and whether it was or can be rooted. If that's not enough, you'll have different options depending on the encryption status of the device (which also depends on the device's make, model, and version of Android).
This chapter offers detailed discussion and demonstration of the various physical acquisition methods available for a wide range of Android devices. We'll discuss how to use manufacturer-specific low-level service modes (LG, Qualcomm, and Mediatek), how to use...