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soft brick 

When a phone or other electronic device is rendered entirely unusable ("bricked", ie, the device has the functionality of a brick), but in a non-permanent way, such that with the correct tools and techniques, it can be revived. Contrast with "hard brick" where the device is well and truly useless. The process of unbricking it may still be enough work that one may choose to just get a new one (depending on how expensive it is to replace).

Generally implies that the damage is done to the firmware or software, not the hardware - a phone that was dunked in a fishtank might well be destroyed, but one wouldn't call that "bricked"
"Hey, what happened, I thought you bricked your phone trying to root it the other day - did you get a new one?"

"Oh no, it was just a soft brick. It took me hours to figure out how, but I was able to get it to boot last night and reinstalled android. Lost all my contacts though, and it's still not rooted..."
soft brick by Doc. A May 22, 2019
Related Words

soft brick 

When a phone's system is unusable or not bootable at all, but you can access the recovery or download mode, you can call it a soft brick/it gets soft-bricked. After downloading the original software, it should return to the usable state. It often happens after flashing a custom system.
A hard brick is similar, yet the very opposite. - A hard brick is a literal brick, because the firmware is well fucked up and you cannot even access the download mode.

"flashing" -> Copying/downloading a (custom) system onto an Android phone
"ROM" -> system
"Fastboot/Download mode" -> a mode on an Android phone that allows you to flash files directly into a phone's filesystem
I have a soft bricked phone. I was just going to flash the stock software on it.
soft brick by slvkrt April 8, 2024

🤡🫵🏻

How to say "you're an idiot/clown" using only emojis.
Person 1: Insert completely incorrect and/or idiotic statement here
Person 2: 🤡🫵🏻
Word of the Day on June 1, 2026
Fogey/fogy /fougi/ sl. (early 18C+, orig. Scot) old-fashioned, stuck-in-the mud.
Person with old fashioned ideas which he is unwilling to change: Come to the disco and stop being such an old fogey!
You think me an old fogeyand an old tory, his thoughtful voice said. I saw three generations since O’Connel’s time. I remember the famine. Do you know that the orange lodges agitated for repeal of the union twenty years before O’Connel did or before the prelates of your communion denounced him as a demagogue? You fenians forget some things. (James Joyce, Ulysses. Penguin Books,1992. p. 38)
fogey by Petyush September 14, 2005
Word of the Day on May 31, 2026
Add a tablespoon of jarlic to two teaspoons of butter and spread it in bread to make garlic bread
Jarlic by YSAC fanboy June 6, 2020
Word of the Day on May 30, 2026
An armpit enthusiast — typically of the scent, appearance, and touch of hairy underarms.
That dude’s such a pitpig, I have to wear deodorant to keep him at bay.
Pitpig by wimbledon May 28, 2026
Word of the Day on May 29, 2026