Buying advice- consumer cellular version

I have seen a lot of oder threads and posts about the Consumer Cellular version of the Ham2 but have not found exactly what I'm looking for... A little advice on this version.
First of all the price is right for me out his phone because I can pay the 5 in installments. The problem I'm having is :
1. I know I've seen that it is possible to upgrade the firmware and update to Lollipop but have seen varying degrees of success. This is a must for me since I'm running cm11 on my end of life Samsung and really don't want to run jellybean. Is this fairly full proof to upgrade now?
2. Is it really worth it to have this phone now that it is nearly 2 years old? I like the bigger screen in theory compared to my smaller one now. Any experiences with that aspect? Should I keep looking?
Thanks for any advice you have.

Advice on "unbricking" a soft-bricked stick

I've been scouring different forums for nearly a month now and can't find a solution that works for my situation. I resisted posting here, hoping to find the info on my own without any luck. I have a handful (6) of these generic MK809III Rockchip 3188 based sticks. All identical. I have no idea which Chinese manufacturer assembled them. Four of them work perfectly. Two of them have been corrupted by me. I inadvertently wiped out the build.prop files. The files are there, but they are empty. (I know this because the last one I botched, I could see the file in the open editor with no content, as a read-only. The moment I closed the screen... that was it.

Using the "hold the pin in hole, then power up, wait 5 or 10 seconds, then release the pin" method of recovery (sorry, I don't know the proper name) does boot it into recovery mode, but the screen shows this:
Failed to mount /mnt/external_sd (No such device)
Failed to mount /mnt/external_sd (No such device)
Failed to mount /mnt/external_sd (No such device)
one_data_if_exist->can't find databk partition
Formatting /data...
Formatting /cache...
Booting...
--- then, a stuck boot animation.

My problem, is that I cannot connect to these via USB to do anything to them. My system tools are:

Linux 14.04 LTS workstation
RK_Flashtool_1.7
Android Studio
Latest Android tools sdk
Other tools available to me: A Mac (running Yosemite OSx)

Notes:
- Adb drivers, I assume, are correct, because I can access the working stick computer via ADB
- The RKFlashtool will not recognize any of the corrupted units, or show that it is even connected
- Obviously, I cannot set the "Connect to PC" flag without the OS booted
- In a terminal window, adb does not show the usb device as being connected
- I do not have a back up for any of these. I tried, but both Clockwork and TWRP would not recognize the unit to permit a backup. The unit is recognized as: "get_dongle_3188".

I really need some advice. I must be overlooking something, I admit to be very new to Android. I wish it were possible to backup one of the working units, and install it on the corrupt units. But no backup app was installed in the boot loader of the corrupted (that I'm aware of).

Thanks for your time!

Advice on backing up and restoring my Samsung Galaxy S6

Hey everyone!

My Samsung Galaxy S6 is about 6 months old roughly and the battery life has never really been all that great on it anyway, but lately I'm having some much more serious issues with it depleting really quickly, and dropping to 98% as soon as I take it off the charger. Anyway, my query was regarding backing up my phone and the best way to go about it. I came from an iPhone so I've never really had to back up an Android phone before, this is all new to me. I've googled and such but I figured it might be better to ask as I find a lot of the threads about it and posts in general online are quite old and maybe outdated now.

I want to be able to back up app data, contacts, messages, bookmarks (if thats a thing), login data, and so forth. I know photos and any files can be transferred to my macbook so I'm not too worried about that.

I have a Macbook so I'm not sure on what backup/restore programs are available or whether there is anything I can use to transfer files and such.

I don't know whether this will fix my problem but I figure it's well overdue for a restore anyway so who knows, maybe it'll help a little. Otherwise, I have it insured so I can always see about a fix if it's the battery itself that's faulty.

Noob to Android - advice needed to buy device for development.

Have done some basic android app development using someone else's device to test. I am working on my personal app for which I need a device to test as my app is based on sensors and gps. I wouldn't be charging money for my app (so no earnings at my end) and I am kind of short on budget too as have to buy some an Apple device to test the app for iOS and then the developers account for both to publish the apps.

Question - Usually how many OS upgrades does Android allow? If I can get some device within 0 that would be best else I was thinking something around 0. I came across some used devices on Swappa and a LG G2 deal within 0, but those devices were released around August 2013 with Kitkat version of OS. Any other options to buy cheap android device just for development?

Sorry if this sounds like a dumb question, but my app development is on hold just because I don't have a device to test. Thanks in advance!! :)

flashed wrong ROM. Need advice.

Ok, this is only my second post here, so excuse me if I come off like a moron.
Got my sm-t530nu about six months ago. I got twrp on. Now, I am really foggy on how this went down, as I was on narcotic pain meds, preparatory to spinal surgery, Essentially, I recall causing some **** up that I had to use twrp to repair. But I believe I installed the wrong build firmware. I am on .....1AOA2 but I recall realizing that I had made an error.
So, here are my queries:
1) Is there a way to determine which build I should have, as stock?
2 ) I would like to get this right back to un rooted stock, with the proper original ROM, which I no longer have an image or backup of. And then play with root. I've already blown Knox marker....
( look, it was the drugs making me stupid.)
I regularly receive the error message telling me that "settings has stopped" (or something very similar. )
(Yes, I'm still on the narcotics, and I'm sticking with that as an explanation for my gappiness )
Anyway, any help would be met with extreme gratitude.
Thanx, guys (and girls, I guess...)
Kevin

HTC One M7 soft brick (advice needed)

I attempted to install SuperSU and root, but the phone is stuck in a bootloop. It boots to the "HTC" screen, to which it crashes and boots into recovery. I've attempted to restore back to my backup, and a factory reset, however none of this has worked.

Advice needed

Hi Guys,

Im in the UK. Id like to buy the redmi 2 note from ali express. Its around £104 with DHL 6-7 day delivery. Is there any advice or anything I need to be careful of ? I have the following concerns,

will 4g on the 3 network work, i think so but am just confirming

Ali express says google play and apps will be installed ?

Any import duty i need to be careful of ?

Any other sites that may offer this based on personal experience ?

Many thanks for the info.