I've seen a variety of conflicting reports online so I wanted to get some more expert opinions from XDA:
If I buy an international Galaxy S7 (specifically, the G930F):
(1) I'm in the US. Will I be able to use that on AT&T's LTE network? I know some bands are supposedly different but I've heard that's really only a problem for T-Mobile's LTE.
(2) Does Samsung Pay work out of the box? If not, is there a way to easily make it work while still being able to take software updates?
EDIT: Looks like people have got it working by flashing Australia, Germany, or UAE CSCs and then sideloading Samsung Pay. Which leads to another question…
(3) What disadvantages are there to being on a different CSC than your actual country? Will it be a problem downloading apps, regionally restricted videos, etc? And will Samsung Pay break after phone software updates?
Answers to these would be appreciated!
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Hello
I'm looking at replacing my S4 with an S7. My carrier in the US is AT&T and that won't be changing. I've been looking at different unlocked versions and can't find a solid representation of what the real world differences are. I know they have different processors. Some say a band is missing, but does that matter. I don't use android or samsung pay, but i know there is a difference here too. I found one comment about some kind of samsung 'coverage' plan, but what is that?
Best Buy has US unlocked phones for about $700. B&H Photo has an International phone for about $640. Its a lot of money either way. Is one phone really better or different than that other?
I am planning a trip through Canada and maybe to Europe. I assume either would take a SIM from those areas and I could avoid getting raped by international fees.
Here is a summary of question I can think of:
Does the US unlocked phone from BestBuy have a warranty or insurance or anything like that?
Can the US phone be rooted. I only do this to remove apps I don't use.
Is the hardware one vs the other really better or just different?
Does a dual SIM do anything useful?
Does a band being missing make a real world difference?
Is there a good comparison somewhere to that can decide on a phone to purchase?
It comes with a limited warranty as stated on their site:
"This device is not warrantied through the manufacturer. This device has a limited 1 year warranty provided by CCR Warranty. To obtain technical or warranty assistance, please contact CCR Warranty at 866-579-8436."
What I don't know is how useful/limited that warranty is. I'd like the HTC 10 but the unlocked S7 is my runner up, and the warranty issue is one of the major factors in my hesitation.
I do believe it can be rooted.
As far as I know, through research, the only major difference between the two is battery life.
Hello, I'll just go straight to the answers.
1. I'm going to assume that if you go through a carrier (att, t-mobile etc etc.) they will offer an insurance plan. You will have to go to third party insurance for the international version
2. As far I know, the US version does not have a root option yet. Because of the locked bootloader.
3. Hardware will depend on which version you choose. Both are very good.
4. Dual sim is as the name implies, you'll be able to use 2 separate sim cards with their respective #s. that's the only benefit really.
5. Missing radio bands is something you may have to do some research on depending your location.
6. I'm sure YouTube or some online site will have some reviews/comparison of both.
I just looked at the best buy website again and something is different. The S7 listed for $690 is definitely the international version and not the US version. When I looked last month I was positive that the phone was listed as a US phone ... huh
A little late
a little late to the thread but just wanted to share what I learned while researching the matter.
There is an US unlocked version of the S7 (g930u) and available through a few places (Best Buy, B&H, Ebay). It goes for $679.99 retail and I have not been able to find one that goes for less. Probably because it just came out end of June. The biggest benefit of it is that it has a bunch of bands and CDMA-compatible. Thus, you can get full connection with AT&T and TMobile. Downside is no wifi calling or VOLTE (as those seem to be locked by the carriers to their own phones).
The international versions (930f/930fd) are both available on Ebay/Swappa for about $500. Upside are that they have the Exnyos chip and no bloatware. You can also root and flash them with new ROM. Another thing is that you get updates earlier. I got Marshmallow on my s6 a month or so before AT&T released its update. Downsides are no Samsung Pay or WiFi Calling/VOLTE and the biggie...missing bands. I had a g920i and it was missing support for bands 29 and 30 on AT&T...this led to poor LTE and indoor reception at times. I would have to turn on/off the mobile data switch sometimes to get good connection.
Finally, we have carrier based versions, which loads you down with bloatware and has the Snapdragon chip. But, it does support all features of your carrier. Slower updates also an issue and lack of support of all bands internationally are additional drawbacks. Cost is also about $500.
Personally, I am going with an unlocked 930a. Bloatware sucks but I can delete or disable almost all of them. Snapdragon seems pretty powerful to me. Samsung Pay, Wifi Calling, and Band support are just too important for me. Note, make sure you ask the seller on Ebay/Swappa about whether the phone is unlocked.
Hope that helps.
I did a lot of research into this before buying my S7 but was kind of screwed since I'm on Verizon (CDMA)...
Since you're on AT&T you have more options.
There are two different processors in the two different models, Snapdragon 820 in the US CDMA capable and an Eyxnos in the International GSM ONLY phone.
After doing my research, I personally recommend the Eyxnos, which I couldn't get :/
If for nothing else, better battery life, by far. Do some research into the comparison between the two.
However! When buying from Best Buy be careful!
Last I checked, on their website, the black/onyx S7 was an unlocked US Snapdragon 820 phone.... while strangely enough the other two, gold and silver? were both unlocked US (actually international) Eyxnos phones.
Also, last I checked Samsung themselves only sell the CDMA snapdragon processor model to the US.
Unless Best Buy made a mistake listing the Eyxnos processor, it is the only way to get that model without buying an "internationally sourced" phone on ebay.
Just a few notes:
1) The G930u is fully compatible with all the US Carriers
2) VoLTE works on both T-Mobile and Verizon
3) Wi-Fi Calling works on T-Mobile and potentially Verizon (but I am not positive about Verizon).
The big downside to the G930u is that for whatever reason it is not receiving updates from Samsung when its branded siblings are.
Hello,
I really apologize for all these post, I am just trying to figure out how to use this phone. I did do a google search but the information I am getting is mixed.
- Samsung Pay - Does it work on the International version S7 Edge?
- Wifi Calling - Can I get it to work by slapping an AT&T rom?
- Visual Voicemail - Is there a tweak to get it integrated on the phone icon?
Thanks in advance.
1) depends on which country you live. I heard samsung activated it in UK, eventually all the countries should
2) absolutely not. Despite the two variants having different hardware (exynos 8890 and snap 820), wifi calling has to be implemented by the carrier. Anyhow, it'd brick your phone
3) don't really know, but I don't think it's possible on samsung stock dialer. But you could try to download some custom ones from the store
DevastatorTNT said:
1) depends on which country you live. I heard samsung activated it in UK, eventually all the countries should
2) absolutely not. Despite the two variants having different hardware (exynos 8890 and snap 820), wifi calling has to be implemented by the carrier. Anyhow, it'd brick your phone
3) don't really know, but I don't think it's possible on samsung stock dialer. But you could try to download some custom ones from the store
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Thanks for the info.
I was able to download Android Pay and add a credit card but unable to test it. I am located in California, USA.
I will will check on the VVM app and see if I can get it to work.
Looking to purchase SM-955F from Clove and use in the USA with AT&T.
Will Samsung Pay work in the USA?
CC
Maybe. Can't know for sure until someone tried it out. A few of us will be testing this out
Sent from my ZTE A2017U using Tapatalk
cc999 said:
Looking to purchase SM-955F from Clove and use in the USA with AT&T. Will Samsung Pay work in the USA?
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The S7e'rs got it working. You have to install the right combinations of Samsung Pay Framework and the Samsung Pay App. Since the UK phones don't ship with the Framework pre-installed some people got better/easier results flashing a different "F" CSC ROM that included Samsung Pay pre-installed. BTU (the UK CSC) gets the most updates fastest so I'm not interesting in changing it. I'm getting a AT&T S8+ Wednesday so I'll pull the APKs (including S Pay) I may need from it to set up my UK phone. I'll post my findings and results.
In terms of Samsung Pay in the U.S., none of the S7e'rs ever got Amex cards to work so I doubt that'll change. Also, for Gear S3 owners, you can use the Gear version of S Pay on a UK phone without any gyrations.
Question
BarryH_GEG said:
The S7e'rs got it working. You have to install the right combinations of Samsung Pay Framework and the Samsung Pay App. Since the UK phones don't ship with the Framework pre-installed some people got better/easier results flashing a different "F" CSC ROM that included Samsung Pay pre-installed. BTU (the UK CSC) gets the most updates fastest so I'm not interesting in changing it. I'm getting a AT&T S8+ Wednesday so I'll pull the APKs (including S Pay) I may need from it to set up my UK phone. I'll post my findings and results.
In terms of Samsung Pay in the U.S., none of the S7e'rs ever got Amex cards to work so I doubt that'll change. Also, for Gear S3 owners, you can use the Gear version of S Pay on a UK phone without any gyrations.
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Another question. I hear that if you put in an ATT sim into the SM-955F phone all the ATT bloatware gets
installed. Is this true? If so can you completely remove it?
Also can you completely remove the usual Samsung bloatware?
CC
cc999 said:
Another question. I hear that if you put in an ATT sim into the SM-955F phone all the ATT bloatware gets
installed. Is this true?
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Nope. Samsung's achieved the Holy Grail with U.S. phones. S8's for all the carrier phones are SM-G955U. So rather than having different model numbers (EG: SM-G955A), different per carrier s/w, and sometimes even carrier specific h/w modifications, all phones are the same with carrier s/w revisions occurring based on the SIM inserted. That's what you read.
International unlocked phones are completely pure. Meaning nothing about them is influenced in any way by a carrier. They'll be some regional additions (EG: UK specific browser bookmarks, pre-installed apps, etc.) but they can all be removed. The best part is getting updates directly from Samsung. With a phone as new and complex as the S8 there will be tons of updates both on the feature and bug elimination side.
As AT&T'rs we'll lose some stuff. Like HD Voice and NumberSync but gain things like Samsung's Smart Call which lets you dial businesses that you don't have the number for directly from the dialer. I've done both AT&T and grey market phones before and I'll post what we gain and lose once my UK S8 arrives.
http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/apps/smart-call/
Hi all! Hope you're well and safe.
I'm moving to the UK soon and bought a S22 Ultra a couple of days ago. Did not find out about Samsung's inexplicable and baffling region locks on the phones and certain features (Samsung Pay, etc.) before I bought the phone. Consequently, I've been researching on all issues I think I could face once I move to the UK later this month. Had a few questions about the same, so thought I'd reach out for help here.
a) I understand that Samsung Pay will not be available in the UK on my Indian S22, due to the region lock. Is this correct? To clarify, I don't intend to change the CSC if I'll only be losing Samsung Pay, as I'm sure Google Pay will be sufficient.
b) I understand that UK S22s are Exynos-based and not Snapdragon-based. Therefore, am I correct in assuming that I will be unable to flash UK firmware on my device, due to the SoCs being different?
c) I'm using a Samsung Galaxy Watch 4. I tried installing Google Pay on my watch, but was unable to find the app on the Play Store. Further reading led me to Google Pay's website, which states that Google Pay for Wear OS is only available in select countries, including the UK, with India not being included. Would I be correct in assuming that once I change the country on my Google account, I will have access to the app on my watch? Also, would the watch automatically have access to apps in the UK once my Google account's country is changed?
d) I understand that the international version of the S22 Ultra (which I believe is the model I'm using) will have no problems connecting to 5G networks in the UK, since most networks in the UK use band 78. Can anyone who's travelled to the UK confirm if they've been able to successfully access 5G networks in the UK on their Indian S22s?
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. Grateful for any help I can get!
Cheers!
If your device is SM-S980E which I belive is the Indian & International model , then it will support 5G in UK for sure. Both the European devices & the International ddevices support the same 5G bands , they used to be the same version before.
Samsung pay should work But you won't get Uk exclusive offers
Google pay will work once you travel to UK
Hi OP. I am moving to UK too in a fortnight. Were you able to change the country code?
a b c yes
d likely because Indian (E model) and UK (B model) have same 4G/5G bands.
Hi all, I'm asking here because there is no dedicated subforum for XCover 6.
So, I'm planning on buying Galaxy XCover 6Pro but I'm getting confused if there are different version of it out on the market? I've noticed that shops in my country (Poland) mark phones they are selling using these three different product numbers:
sm-g736bzkdeeb,
sm-g736bzkdeee,
sm-g736bzkd
with the first one (EEB) being called "Enterprise Edition" appearing in most of stores while the offical samsung.com store lists XCover 6Pro with "EEE" product number. Neverthless google shows up a samsung page for the "EEB" model too.
https://www.samsung.com/uk/business/smartphones/xcover/galaxy-xcover6-pro-sm-g736bzkdeeb/
https://www.samsung.com/levant/business/smartphones/xcover/galaxy-xcover6-pro-sm-g736bzkdeee/
So i checked the specs, in stores and on these samsung pages and they all appear to be the same XCover 6 Pro, 6GB 5G phones with Dual Sim in black colour.
So here is my question. Are they really the same phone or there is some difference that's my eye is missing?
The difference between the two devices you have named, is that one is made for the German market (EEB) and one is made for the eastern European and Swiss/Austrian markets (EEE).
There may be some issues with things such as samsung pay if you are using a device outside of its region but overall the device should work fine either way.
With the previous model (G715FN), I was able to flash to my local firmware without issue and all bands worked flawlessly as well as all localised features such as samsung pay. Unfortunately once this is done, you will not receive OTA updates any longer as it recognises your device has been modified. This may be because I tripped knox doing all this.
The only other thing to look out for is that you aren't buying a device that has been locked to a given carrier, or requires a sim from that carrier for activation.
Again, there's usually ways around this but you don't need to complicate your life like that.
If you are able to buy locally, surely they can give you some assurances that the device will work with your local providers?
There is no difference in specs, bands etc, it's just localisation support and operator specific configurations to worry about.
Samsung generally include all international MBN files in their modem config files so it's not such a huge deal these days as long as you can successfully register the device for use.
bandario said:
The difference between the two devices you have named, is that one is made for the German market (EEB) and one is made for the eastern European and Swiss/Austrian markets (EEE).
There may be some issues with things such as samsung pay if you are using a device outside of its region but overall the device should work fine either way.
With the previous model (G715FN), I was able to flash to my local firmware without issue and all bands worked flawlessly as well as all localised features such as samsung pay. Unfortunately once this is done, you will not receive OTA updates any longer as it recognises your device has been modified. This may be because I tripped knox doing all this.
The only other thing to look out for is that you aren't buying a device that has been locked to a given carrier, or requires a sim from that carrier for activation.
Again, there's usually ways around this but you don't need to complicate your life like that.
If you are able to buy locally, surely they can give you some assurances that the device will work with your local providers?
There is no difference in specs, bands etc, it's just localisation support and operator specific configurations to worry about.
Samsung generally include all international MBN files in their modem config files so it's not such a huge deal these days as long as you can successfully register the device for use.
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Thanks for detailed explanation!
Anyone tried root with Magisk?
bandario said:
Anyone tried root with Magisk?
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I have one I got recently, but have not used Magisk. Doesn't one have to access bootloader to do that? Which is my question: Anyone have an unlock for the bootloader?
Yes. There's instructions Here