Bluetooth MAC Address

Hi everyone

yesterday I’ve noticed that the bluetooth MAC address of my Kospet Hope is the same one that a colleague of mine has on his IQI I8: how is that even possible?

Also the serial number is the same (1234…DEF) and the software seems the same (I believe that is the one based on the MTK sources).

Does anyone noticed this problem before?

Thanks!

Apr 5, 2019 12:15:36 GMT 2 marioerased said:
Hi everyone

yesterday I’ve noticed that the bluetooth MAC address of my Kospet Hope is the same one that a colleague of mine has on his IQI I8: how is that even possible?

Also the serial number is the same (1234…DEF) and the software seems the same (I believe that is the one based on the MTK sources).

Does anyone noticed this problem before?

Thanks!


Does this cos issued? If I’m not mistaken it supposed to be that way.
pablo11

Apr 5, 2019 10:30:56 GMT soniasophie9697 said:

Apr 5, 2019 10:15:36 GMT marioerased said:
Hi everyone

yesterday I’ve noticed that the bluetooth MAC address of my Kospet Hope is the same one that a colleague of mine has on his IQI I8: how is that even possible?

Also the serial number is the same (1234…DEF) and the software seems the same (I believe that is the one based on the MTK sources).

Does anyone noticed this problem before?

Thanks!



Does this cos issued? If I’m not mistaken it supposed to be that way.
pablo11

Yes, the issue is that the watch keeps trying to connect to his phone and back, because the mac address is the same.

marioerased
Let me check it out.

If you have the serial number 123456789ABCDEF then you can’t expect to be the only one with that serial number. I also have that serial number on some of my watches.

Apr 5, 2019 15:23:27 GMT 2 noidremained said:
If you have the serial number 123456789ABCDEF then you can't expect to be the only one with that serial number. I also have that serial number on some of my watches.

Yes I know, in fact the serial number is not a problem. I wrote it just because it seems strange.

Hi marioerased I’ve the same problem! I cannot connect to my smartwatch because in my office there is a colleague with the same BT MAC address!

Apr 5, 2019 15:51:26 GMT 2 wreps86 said:
Hi marioerased I've the same problem! I cannot connect to my smartwatch because in my office there is a colleague with the same BT MAC address!

Top tier manufacturers have all the needed certifications and such, but it’s not the case with most of the lower tier manufacturers like KingWear (Kospet).

It’s not that difficult to manufacture a device with amazing specifications, the difficult part begins when the device is ready to manufacture, but you have to get the FCC, CE… certifications before it hits the global market. We knew that the Kospet Hope isn’t for the global market, although we could easily buy it.

When you have all the needed certificates, you can be sure that each MAC address will be unique, just like the IMEI and the serial number of the device. All of the Kospet Hope watches have the 1234567890ABCDEF “serial” - it’s a lot more convenient to flash exactly the same FW that having to alter a few variables.


That’s why you should never buy cheap fingerprint reader locks, cheap Chinese “security” devices, home security sets made for the Chinese local market. They are cheaper than their global versions, but you would never know if that particular device has a built-in chip to follow your steps or not. China likes to rank their people, so they just can’t opt-out from things like this. A global version is 99% safe.


The Kospet Hope is - as somebody stated on the forum back then - a muscle car with a 125ccm 10bhp engine.

It easily could have been the best smartwatch everybody wants to own, but KingWear chose to keep their kernel closed. Why? Because of the built-in spy components they just can’t do this. They would sell at least 10x to 50x as many watches as this way, because with a custom ROM this watch would be hands down THE BEST out there, but this won’t happen.


I love the HW of the Hope, it’s an amazing piece of tech, but the FW is just sub-par. Is there an app to keep track of your heartrate? Yeah, there is. Is there an app to let you use the Hope as a fitness watch with GPS tracking? Yeah, there is. Is there some kind of sleep tracking app out there in the Play Store? Yeah, sure. But none of them is built-in. No heartrate tracking, no fitness with GPS tracking, no sleep tracking. The FW is the same sh*t most cheaper generic Chinese smartwatches has novadays.


As I said many times earlier (but since KingWear / Kospet doesn’t follow this forum, shame on them!, it doesn’t really matter), with a bit more love the Hope could easily be the best smartwatch hands down.


That won’t happen.

Apr 5, 2019 17:33:21 GMT 2 StormChild said:

It’s not that difficult to manufacture a device with amazing specifications, the difficult part begins when the device is ready to manufacture, but you have to get the FCC, CE… certifications before it hits the global market. We knew that the Kospet Hope isn’t for the global market, although we could easily buy it.

When you have all the needed certificates, you can be sure that each MAC address will be unique, just like the IMEI and the serial number of the device. All of the Kospet Hope watches have the 1234567890ABCDEF “serial” - it’s a lot more convenient to flash exactly the same FW that having to alter a few variables.


That’s why you should never buy cheap fingerprint reader locks, cheap Chinese “security” devices, home security sets made for the Chinese local market. They are cheaper than their global versions, but you would never know if that particular device has a built-in chip to follow your steps or not. China likes to rank their people, so they just can’t opt-out from things like this. A global version is 99% safe.


The Kospet Hope is - as somebody stated on the forum back then - a muscle car with a 125ccm 10bhp engine.

It easily could have been the best smartwatch everybody wants to own, but KingWear chose to keep their kernel closed. Why? Because of the built-in spy components they just can’t do this. They would sell at least 10x to 50x as many watches as this way, because with a custom ROM this watch would be hands down THE BEST out there, but this won’t happen.


I love the HW of the Hope, it’s an amazing piece of tech, but the FW is just sub-par. Is there an app to keep track of your heartrate? Yeah, there is. Is there an app to let you use the Hope as a fitness watch with GPS tracking? Yeah, there is. Is there some kind of sleep tracking app out there in the Play Store? Yeah, sure. But none of them is built-in. No heartrate tracking, no fitness with GPS tracking, no sleep tracking. The FW is the same sh*t most cheaper generic Chinese smartwatches has novadays.


As I said many times earlier (but since KingWear / Kospet doesn’t follow this forum, shame on them!, it doesn’t really matter), with a bit more love the Hope could easily be the best smartwatch hands down.


That won’t happen.


Sadly it appears that it’s true…

I have had mine for months, Since the beginning of January, I live in USA I use Tmobile. I have great success with Strava, No problems like every one else . Map is spot on. With out using alot  more apps at same time.As suggested. I really dont no what some of you expect 

Apr 6, 2019 0:30:03 GMT 2 matty said:
I have had mine for months, Since the beginning of January, I live in USA I use Tmobile. I have great success with Strava, No problems like every one else . Map is spot on. With out using alot  more apps at same time.As suggested. I really dont no what some of you expect 

I agree. There are some very unreasonable expectations going around. The watch is a great device and considering the volume that have been sold it is also a very reliable device. I work with KingWear and Kospet and the company that actually manufactures the board and they do read this forum. A lot of people don't realise that the companies that use MTK chipsets are not allowed to release any current kernel sources. MTK chipsets are very commonly used by the military and so it is closed source. Even if the source was available I don't think many people realise that it will probably not help much anyway.

In the past I have passed source files to developers and basically the result is a rom designed for larger square screens and the UI is very unfriendly unless our Universal Launcher is used.
Even then, obtaining all correct libraries for the sensors and other requirements is pretty much impossible.

Anyway, apart from that, these devices are very good value for the price we pay.
Generally speaking, the functionality of these products is very good. Some may need third party software to keep customers happy but is that really a problem? My opinion is that if you can install what you need it is actually a great bonus!!

The serial numbers are always the same but the MAC addresses for both WiFi and BT are not. As long as you are using up to date firmware.
See the photo of my 2 Hope watches…
By the way, the mac address will be all zeros if the particular service is not in use.

The Hope bas been an awesome watch so far. As a smartwatch it has also been very good. For fitness, it’s not perfect. Support for the different, sensors is not very widespread.

Google is not helping as it tries to protect it’s manufacturers (WearOS devices). Most of them have abandoned watches with LTE and as of right now, there’a nothing with an updated chipset and reasonnable battery life. I also don’t like the looks of many of those watches.

I already said it before, this forum is the best thing about those watches. Without it, it would be very hard (if ot impossible) to get support/help. That’s why I’m sending money from time to time to help you guys. THANK YOU guys for your awesome job.

I believe that the crurent crop of those watches could be a lot more than they already are with a few addons in their ROMs. I speak with my wallet. I’m still gonna buy incremental updates (new watches). I would pay more for incremental software updates on my already bought hardware though…

We’re getting a bit out of topic…

pablo11 : MediaTek is eons behind Qualcomm. Nobody wants the source of their kernel to steal code from it, but believe me: Chinese manufacturers used to abandon a device after a year or so, and from that point you’ll never ever get an update.

If a device has its own userbase, you can use it years after its designed lifetime. For example I have a Samsung Galaxy S4 mini, which was slow like hell, but since it has its own fanbase on XDA, I was able to install Android 8.1.1 on it instead of the old and slow 4.4. Everything works, I’m using the little phone as a remote control, I didn’t have to throw it away, I’m happier.

KingWear will provide 1 or 2 more updates, then you have to live with what you have FW-wise. I didn’t say the Hope isn’t amazing, because it is, but you have to be in love with it to forget about the missing functions, bugs, inconsistencies.

$135 is a lot? It depends. I also bought my Amazfit Stratos for that price, and because I use my watch mostly for fitness purposes, it’s better for what I need. The Kospet Hope is better in almost every aspect, it also looks very similar (because KingWear wanted to create a very similar looking watch to the Stratos), but it lacks most of the fitness features I use day by day.

So pablo11 , you don’t have to protect Kospet/KingWear, I didn’t say anything bad about it, but closed source is more than suspicious IMO, and if that particular manufacturer (MediaTek) is the #1 supplier of the Chinese army, then it’s even more suspicious. Again, in my opinion. ** Edit: BTW, I know the wifi and bluetooth MACs are different, but are they really unique? Are you sure there aren’t any other device with the same MACs? That’s what the certifications are for. Yeah, you can spoof the MAC, but by default they are unique with each FCC/CE certified device/component.

their goal is to make the same lame device and full the market to confuse customers,yes XDA you can find a lot of Roms with Mediatek devices, i believe the support of those watches that i bought it in this community, yes i am supporting here,but nothing that we can have fun with those watches like custom rom,i do remember that 4pda years ago i did install a custom rom and was pretty good. There nothing we can’t do,just follow here and wait for the ideal device. ah for the price they are getting expensive.

Apr 7, 2019 3:39:26 GMT 2 leafar said:
their goal is to make the same lame device and full the market to confuse customers,yes XDA you can find a lot of Roms with Mediatek devices, i believe the support of those watches that i bought it in this community, yes i am supporting here,but nothing that we can have fun with those watches like custom rom,i do remember that 4pda years ago i did install a custom rom and was pretty good. There nothing we can't do,just follow here and wait for the ideal device. ah for the price they are getting expensive.

Sadly, is not many apps and roms developers want to develope for these watches otherwise they would have been perfect:)

Back to the problem, THIS in my issue:

Both watches are updated, is there something I can do to solve?

Apr 8, 2019 10:16:50 GMT 2 marioerased said:
Back to the problem, THIS in my issue:

Both watches are updated, is there something I can do to solve?


Well, this is interesting.
I will have a look into this.
2 different devices showing the same MAC is quite an interesting situation.
I’ll let you know how it goes.

krapulant
Thanks very much for your support and I hope that we can continue to provide a forum that is a kind of bridge between the customers and the brands.
Technical support and mediation are very important as you said.
Cheers
Pablo.

soniasophie9697
Yes this is true but it is most likely due to the challenges of producing round face friendly apps.
Roms are not easy to make without the right sources and the various types of screens and hardware adds yet another layer of complexity.

Having the kernel source is useful for some important elements but it is not the Holy Grail - as the Openwatch team would probably agree…
iscle and Sean know what I mean I think?

The truth is that it’s not the manufacturer’s fault that the kernel source isn’t released, that’s the fault of Mediatek, that forces them to keep it private. There are a lot of leaked Mediatek kernels out there (for exmaple, the one for the Orange PI 4g IOT, running the same SOC as most of our watches, MT6737) and there is no signs of spy code. What could contain spy code is the Android system itself, and that can be easily solved by building a rom (like LineageOS) using the prebuilt kernel.

As for the bluetooth MAC issue, well, yes, MAC addresses SHOULD be unique, but nothing wrong will happen if this low-end devices get repeated MACs with other equipment. The problem here might be that this batch of watches have a hardcoded MAC that they forgot to change. However, if I’m not mistaken, it shouldn’t be too much of a trouble changing it. Mediatek devices are very tweakable!