Someone gave my wife their Samsung Verizon S6 (SM-G920V). She would like to use it on T-Mobile which is GSM. I don't know enough about this phone to anwser that question. I "think" it will work? But I'm not sure.
Also I would like to root it and put a fresh OS on it. Preferably Lineage OS, or another reputable groups OS. Lineage's dloads don't have a listing for Samsung S6.
Thanks for the assistance.
additional info: phone is on nougat, and when I go into "Download Mode" its a blue screen with the word "downloading...", and there is nothing on it about KNOX WARRANTY listed anywhere (whatever that is).
You can use it on tmobile but you're out of luck when it comes to a custom ROM.
I know you probably already found an answer elsewhere by by now but whatever.
Related
Anyone mind telling me the terms necessary for Samsung mods/roots/etc...
On HTC I had things like S-Off
On LG I had things like Download Mode
What does Samsung have?
Any words or uh-ohs I should look out for. I don't know what things like Knox or Odin mean
Chocolina said:
Anyone mind telling me the terms necessary for Samsung mods/roots/etc...
On HTC I had things like S-Off
On LG I had things like Download Mode
What does Samsung have?
Any words or uh-ohs I should look out for. I don't know what things like Knox or Odin mean
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the same boat wondering the same things. Are you on T-mobile? They offer device unlock and I'm wondering if I should do that.
SammyTRK said:
I'm in the same boat wondering the same things. Are you on T-mobile? They offer device unlock and I'm wondering if I should do that.
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I had a few extensive questions for T-mo. They said you need to have a T-mo account/service for 40+ days before you can start requesting unlocking.
I'm not sure if you can unlock phones already on a plan, or phones that have been fully paid off. If you're happy with T-mo, then unlocking is pretty much pointless, but it does give you more selling options down the line. T-mo has a "no hassle" upgrade service where for an extra $10 a month on your bill, you can trade up to another device by trading in your current one at half-value. This would mean if I wanted a Note 5, they would only give me half the value of the S6 to apply to the new phone. Alternatively if you had an fully-financed unocked S6, you could sell it for much more down the line. I'm expecting to sell my S6 for around $700-$750 in a few months.
Chocolina said:
Anyone mind telling me the terms necessary for Samsung mods/roots/etc...
On HTC I had things like S-Off
On LG I had things like Download Mode
What does Samsung have?
Any words or uh-ohs I should look out for. I don't know what things like Knox or Odin mean
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i havent used Samsung since the galaxy nexus so im trying to figure things out again too. S-off is an unlocked bootloader? I think most carrier versions of the S6 have an unlocked bootloader with the exception of Verizon and AT&T. Samsung also has download mode but you need to use a program call Odin. There's also Samsung Kies and Smart Switch used for backup, restore and flashing back to stock carrier firmware.
Tried posting this in the S6 Edge forum already, but got no response, so hopefully you guys can help me out.
I'm upgrading from a very buggy Galaxy S4. (The bugs are my fault and I'm not savvy enough to fix them, so I just deal with them.) I have a few questions about which version of the S6 I should get because I'm seeing a lot of info and I'm not really sure what all of it means, so hopefully you guys can give me straight and simple answers.
1. Which version of the S6 do I want if I want to be able to switch between AT&T and Verizon? I'm currently on Straight Talk using AT&T. However, Verizon is overall the best in my area and areas I work, so if I get switched to a new client where AT&T doesn't work I may need to change back to Page Plus on Verizon quickly. I'm seeing conflicting information on these phones, some say all should work while some say only certain ones will work well (all of them seem to be speculating really, I can't find any "for sure this works" posts). At least there does seem to be hope out there that it's possible for some versions to be able to switch between the two easily, one of them being the Verizon one, which also lacks some apparently annoying features the AT&T one has.
2. An out-of-the-box, working mobile hotspot feature is extremely important to me if at all possible. My S4 is messed up primarily because my attempt at making things work, like the hotspot, didn't go so well. I've seen on these forums that some users are saying that at least the Verizon version will work if you use FoxFi, no rooting or tether file hacking required (so no risk of me breaking my phone, yay). I have the paid version of FoxFi already, so that's good news if it's true. Confirm/deny and is the same true for the AT&T version if I had to get that instead? I also just saw some mention of a file that can be downloaded to a rooted S6, but am unsure.
Thanks all!
I would say but the unlocked s6. U could switch the sim cards out np. Yes there is root for vzw s6 now
Sent from my risiculously powered S6 using Tapatalk
holla420 said:
I would say but the unlocked s6. U could switch the sim cards out np. Yes there is root for vzw s6 now
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Click to collapse
But which version of an unlocked S6 do I want? They all still have branding on them which can make some things work or not work from what I've been reading. Am not sure if the Verizon branded one will work for what I need or if I need a different one.
Am not really interested in rooting if I can avoid it because I might break a rather expensive device if I muck something up like I did with my S4. Just need a working hotspot and if I have to root to get it then I guess I have to, but I won't need the root for anything else.
Hi all, I have an unlocked s6 edge (925f) living in the U.S. I understand that it will not be officially bundled into the software since it's an international variant, but has anyone gotten it to work through the framework and APKs? When I try it , I'm able to get into the app and all that, but when I try to add a card, it tells me that it can't communicate with the server. If anyone could help that'd be awesome.
Thanks!
Same exact scenario here. 925F, sideloaded the framework and app, can add card, can't communicate with server. Went to Samsung counter at Best Buy, they couldn't do anything. The girl there though did say she had experienced the same scenario with no connection but in an ATT branded S6 which then cleared itself up in a day or two.
Two things I'm thinking of:
1. Flash a US branded firmware (ATT or Tmobile) and see if that fixes it. Though I'm not even sure if they will flash on the 925F version, and/or the flash will lock the phone to that firmware's brand SIM.
2. Somehow try to get the Samsung Pay logs to see where it's trying to connect but I don't think that's even possible without root which will trip Knox which makes Samsung Pay unusable.
I'm new to XDA and not very expert at Android. I used to use a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S6 with T-Mobile as the carrier. I recently bought a used AT&T Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, and have succeeded so far in getting it unlocked so it recognizes my SIM card. So my phone is up and running. However, it is still an AT&T phone. I don't know all of the ways it is undesirable to use an AT&T phone on the T-Mobile network. I do know that updating software is problematic. I want to make this phone into a T-Mobile phone, so that when software updates are available it asks me if I want to install them and so on.
Now I'm getting into unfamiliar territory. I believe my CSC is G935AUCU1APB4. (This is called my 'baseband version' in the settings menu.) From 'PB4' I get that this firmware is from February 2016, version 4. My model is G935-A and what's in between tells me something about my country and original Android version, maybe. So when I go looking for a late version of T-Mobile's firmware for my phone, would it still start with G935A, or would it perhaps look like G935T (for T-mobile)? Or perhaps G935U (for unlocked?) Anyway, my first big question is what firmware package should I look for and how do I know that is the right one?
After that, well, I have never manually flashed firmware into a phone. I see references to Odin and SmartSwitch and sammobile. Well, shoot. I figure I can learn any of these packages. Which should I use and why?
That's enough for now, thanks for reading!
metalmagpie
metalmagpie said:
I'm new to XDA and not very expert at Android. I used to use a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S6 with T-Mobile as the carrier. I recently bought a used AT&T Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, and have succeeded so far in getting it unlocked so it recognizes my SIM card. So my phone is up and running. However, it is still an AT&T phone. I don't know all of the ways it is undesirable to use an AT&T phone on the T-Mobile network. I do know that updating software is problematic. I want to make this phone into a T-Mobile phone, so that when software updates are available it asks me if I want to install them and so on.
Now I'm getting into unfamiliar territory. I believe my CSC is G935AUCU1APB4. (This is called my 'baseband version' in the settings menu.) From 'PB4' I get that this firmware is from February 2016, version 4. My model is G935-A and what's in between tells me something about my country and original Android version, maybe. So when I go looking for a late version of T-Mobile's firmware for my phone, would it still start with G935A, or would it perhaps look like G935T (for T-mobile)? Or perhaps G935U (for unlocked?) Anyway, my first big question is what firmware package should I look for and how do I know that is the right one?
After that, well, I have never manually flashed firmware into a phone. I see references to Odin and SmartSwitch and sammobile. Well, shoot. I figure I can learn any of these packages. Which should I use and why?
That's enough for now, thanks for reading!
metalmagpie
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I have learned a ton in the last couple of days. Bottom line is the easiest way to update OS on an AT&T Samsung is to take it to Best Buy and ask the person at the Samsung counter to do it. I see no reason to believe that it is possible in software to make an AT&T phone look like a T-Mobile phone. And as far as flashing with Odin? What a totally buggy tool! I was NEVER able to make it get past "analyzing files" or maybe "file analysis". When you get down to switching cords from one USB port to another I figure you might just as well change your socks. Finally, there is a TON of crap advice out on the Web.
metalmagpie
So, I'll apologize if this has already been dealt with previously, but I just need to verify what I've been told by a friend who knows Android systems (and Samsung S7 phones) a LOT more than I will ever attempt to understand..
About a year ago, I bought a Samsung Galaxy S7 from a 'rebuilder' (my term) who mentioned at the time "... it was ATT phone..", and, yes, when I turn it on it does the ATT circle jerk logo and has an ATT logo on the back of the phone. This was of no real concern to me, because my service purveyor uses the ATT system (Consumer Cellular), so it's worked well enough. But unfortunately, it also has a boatload of 'semi-proprietary' ATT trash in the phone which I'd like to get rid of. To confuse the matter even more, it appears that I cannot 'unlock' the phone because it has not been associated with an actual active ATT account for close to two years, and it APPEARS that now they refuse to accommodate an unlock code for this phone.
So... according to my friend (Mr. Android Phone), I can 'root' this phone to 'factory original firmware' and make it (in essence) just a plain-old-vanilla Samsung S7 without this rather bogus ATT firmware and the myriad of craplets I'd like to get rid of..
So, I'm here looking for "expertise" in such things because I certainly don't want to 'brick' this pretty nice phone, but I also want to get this to a point where there is no association with ATT in any manner. So my question sorta comes down to: "can I root this and be rid of all things ATT?", and "will this allow me to achieve an 'unlock' without having to play ATT's games? (I had QUITE the discussion with an ATT 'support' dude a couple of hours ago when he flatly refused to give me an unlock code so I could simply ATTEMPT to see if Consumer Cellular's T-Mobile service might work better at my home, since CC tells me I'm right in the center of a brand new rebuilt 4G service area).
Does any of this make any sense to anyone? Pardon my ignorance, but if the IMEI # is somehow 'tethered' to ATT and they won't "release" it, how does rooting help with this? - or is this something more like an 'association' of the IMEI # AND the ATT firmware...? GAH!! I'd just like to be totally rid of all this ATT junk and have the freedom to choose whichever service I want.
CentennialMan said:
So, I'll apologize if this has already been dealt with previously, but I just need to verify what I've been told by a friend who knows Android systems (and Samsung S7 phones) a LOT more than I will ever attempt to understand..
I'd just like to be totally rid of all this ATT junk and have the freedom to choose whichever service I want.
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Click to collapse
Hi There that's a lot of words partner! I'll try make the answer easy to understand and I've cut out much of the post so my reply isn't huge.
1. Yes you can install vanilla firmware which will remove all branding from AT&T and you don't need to root the phone to do this. here is the firmware for your device >>here<< You can also use XAS or XAA. You will see the guide and the Odin you need to flash this firmware.
2. This is another version of Odin on this website if you have any issues with the one on Sammobile. >>here<<
3. Unfortunately you cannot unlock the phone unless the original cell phone provider gives you their half of the unlock key as a code to input to the phone. In the UK once a phone is out of the initial contract period it is illegal for the provider to refuse to give you this code whether your still with them or not. I know in the USA you guys gets ****ed over. The original account holder of the phone can ask for the unlock code but not you.
4. Changing the firmware and unlocking the phone to any network are two different things, flashing unbranded firmware will not unlock the phone the network is tied to. They don't make it that easy!
5. As far as i know T Mobile (USA) has also moved to G930U firmware so you could be lucky with a T Mobile SIM working once the phone is flashed with this firmware but don't hold your breath. Check Sammobile for the T Mobile firmware too.
6. IMEI number is tied to the phone so in theory it can be changed after the phone is rooted and you are able to modify the EFS partition but it is extremely difficult even for veterans like me and it causes lots of problems with cell network registration. Leave well alone if you don't want a completely useless device.
Things to make flashing go easier
1. Turn off FRP lock or sign out of the Google account on the phone or delete it before you do anything, you can put that account back on the phone after flashing.
2. If you enable Developer options make sure " usb debugging" is enabled and OEM unlock, not essential but can help when things go wrong.
3. Anything you want to keep, pics media etc back up or move to SD card, the SD card won't be touched when flashing firmware.
4. Please follow the guides on how to flash correctly.
Any other questions please ask.
It should be noted that if it's an ATT phone it's Snapdragon therefore permanently bootloader locked, OEM Unlock won't actually do anything, that setting only works on Exynos.
The only root method for Snapdragon is to use a leaked engineering bootloader to gain system access, and you can only install the leaked bootloader if your phone is already running old firmware. For up to date phones there is no root method.
Beanvee7 said:
It should be noted that if it's an ATT phone it's Snapdragon therefore permanently bootloader locked, OEM Unlock won't actually do anything, that setting only works on Exynos.
The only root method for Snapdragon is to use a leaked engineering bootloader to gain system access, and you can only install the leaked bootloader if your phone is already running old firmware. For up to date phones there is no root method.
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Click to collapse
Hello mate i'm not sure if your aware but AT&T were initially Qual comm but they've also been using Exynos for a while.
cooltt said:
Hello mate i'm not sure if your aware but AT&T were initially Qual comm but they've also been using Exynos for a while.
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Click to collapse
Source?
Beanvee7 said:
Source?
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Click to collapse
Don't be smart you know how to use Google?
I did google it, I wouldn't have asked for a source if I found something. But it doesn't matter, you're the one making unsubstantiated claims, the burden is on you to prove it. But since you asked for it:
AT&T's website says Snapdragon
https://i.imgur.com/TdV62Mq.jpg
https://www.att.com/buy/phones/samsung-galaxy-s7-32gb-black-onyx.html
GSM Arena says Snapdragon
https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s7_(usa)-7960.php
Wikipedia says Snapdragon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S7#Qualcomm_Snapdragon_820_Models
There isn't a single page when googling AT&T S7 Exynos that backs your claim up. The USA also uses completely different network technology than internationally, using the S7 Exynos in the USA is already known to cause issues with LTE, VoWiFi etc. They'd have to do a hardware refresh of the Exynos SoC if they wanted to support it in the USA, which they ain't going to do a for a 3 gen old phone.
Beanvee7 said:
I did google it, I wouldn't have asked for a source if I found something. But it doesn't matter, you're the one making unsubstantiated claims, the burden is on you to prove it. But since you asked for it:
AT&T's website says Snapdragon
https://i.imgur.com/TdV62Mq.jpg
https://www.att.com/buy/phones/samsung-galaxy-s7-32gb-black-onyx.html
GSM Arena says Snapdragon
https://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_s7_(usa)-7960.php
Wikipedia says Snapdragon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S7#Qualcomm_Snapdragon_820_Models
There isn't a single page when googling AT&T S7 Exynos that backs your claim up. The USA also uses completely different network technology than internationally, using the S7 Exynos in the USA is already known to cause issues with LTE, VoWiFi etc. They'd have to do a hardware refresh of the Exynos SoC if they wanted to support it in the USA, which they ain't going to do a for a 3 gen old phone.
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Click to collapse
lol ok.