Hi everyone!
During a year that I spent in the US, I bought a galaxy S7 Sprint (SM-G930P).
I live in France now, so back in Europe, I tried to use this phone on the European network, and as you probably know, it's not compatible. I have to use a SM-G930F firmware, which is made for different chip (F is for exynos chip, P is for snapdragon qualcomm).
(I successfully flashed my phone with SM-G930U firmware and it works pretty well, but still not compatible witch European SIM cards...)
So I wondering, do you thinks it's possible to change the motherboard from a Snapdragon to a Exynos?
I'm used to the disassembly part, that's not the point. Same for the fact that I can find some cheap S7 one eBay now, it will still be more expansive than just a motherboard and I'd like to reuse this phone...
The question is, do you think the motherboard will be compatible with all other components inside ?
Thanks for your help
Different chipset, might not work / expensive gamble
Be better off selling that one and buying the G930F
Is your phone SIM unlocked though?
I was under impression if the phone's sim is unlocked it will work abroad ?
Did you buy it second hand or new? Since it's a carrier model (930P) when the unlocked model is 930U, it would be carrier locked unless you got the carrier to unlock it.
If second hand, might be the person lied about it being unlocked. There's a few sites that'll give you unlock codes, I think samsung can do it directly too.
No, it's a first hand.
It was locked with Sprint (930P), after several try and a long week, I finally succesfully install the 930U firmware. Don't remeber exactly how, it was month ago, but I think I have to downgrade the phone before.
But I just did that to try, still the 930U firmware don't work in Europe, I have to flash the 930F. And apparently, can't do that with a snapdragon chip...
Flashing the 930U firmware doesn't carrier unlock the phone. Carrier unlock has to be done by the carrier, or someone with carrier access.
If you bought it from Sprint, you will have to call sprint to get them to unlock it, otherwise the phone will remain locked down to Sprint. Either that or you have to use a third party unlock like http://updato.com/unlock
Once unlocked it should work in Europe, but mileage may vary as the snapdragon models use different network modems than the 930F model.
I had the sm-g930a and i selled it then i buy sm-g930f,
It's the only thing you can do
Related
Wanting to order a unlocked Samsung s7 edge for AT&T. Don't want to get stuck with a locked down phone like the AT&T Samsung s5 I have. Been reading about the sim card locking to the network. And about getting a code to unlock the phone. Like to have the option to root/mod my s7 in the future. Am I just better off to wait it out?
First off what do you mean by locked? AT&T will unlock a fully paid phone from it's network upon request to be used on any other GSM carrier. If you want an unlocked phone with unlocked bootloader your best bet is to buy a T-Mobile variant as it has Snapdragon 820 and open bootloader. The Global unlocked version of the device is unlocked but is also Exynoss 8890 so less likely to get ROMs or root.
cepheid46e2 said:
First off what do you mean by locked? AT&T will unlock a fully paid phone from it's network upon request to be used on any other GSM carrier. If you want an unlocked phone with unlocked bootloader your best bet is to buy a T-Mobile variant as it has Snapdragon 820 and open bootloader. The Global unlocked version of the device is unlocked but is also Exynoss 8890 so less likely to get ROMs or root.
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Not every international s7 phone comes fully unlocked. Some are locked to certain regions of the world or country. Make sure to ask from a seller in email if it will work on your country before ordering. Some will have to open the box to make a call or something as part of some unlocking process. At least that was the case when I got my s6
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
ChuckWow550 said:
Not every international s7 phone comes fully unlocked. Some are locked to certain regions of the world or country. Make sure to ask from a seller in email if it will work on your country before ordering. Some will have to open the box to make a call or something as part of some unlocking process. At least that was the case when I got my s6
Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk
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Except for the "Global" version which is g390/5F. The phone are not region locked this time but you should check the bands to make sure it's compatible with your carrier.
Thanks for the repls . I live in the Eastern US. By Unlocked, I really just want to be able to root my s7. I don't see me leaving AT&T any time soon. I had an International unlocked Samsung s4, never had any trouble with rooting and installing CROMS. Bought the Samsung s5 striaght from At&T and never could get it rooted. For me, being able to root and play with the CROMS is a big deal.
So i currently have as sprint s4 that unlocked thanks to xda. i actually have att sim in right now and working fine although only getting HSPA+. haven't got time to try to do the upgrade to LTE for gsm also yet
But thinking of getting a replacement. Is there some sort of unlocked S7 ver that would allow for use on all 4 US networks as well as international? can i purchase that somewhere or i can only get a network sold ver and try to unlock? Thanks.
You can grey import or buy official unlocked S7 int. model (G930F or G930FD) with ease. I don't think I've actually seen a locked international version, at least not on the sites I look at.
Just be careful you don't end up buying a fake (avoid ebay). I got mine from eGlobal. Many locked US variants like the G930V get reflashed to G930F firmware and have the text on the back changed so you can't tell unless you go into download mode.
From what I've seen around here, they work in the US just fine and being the international model work in the rest of the world. You might just need to flash the appropriate CSC/modem for whatever carrier you're using at the time.
I thought international models would only have gsm support?
I was looking to buy the Galaxy Note 8, and is it worth buying the Unlocked version over the ATT version? I know I will save a little money, and also have less bloatware. I could not find much info on the basebands of these phones, there would not really be any basebands the unlocked version wouldnt have that the ATT version has? I assume that it would just be smarter to get the unlocked version?
Someone correct me if I am wrong
Sorry this is somewhat unrelated to the S8+
Thanks
Somebody mentioned the carrier specific ones may get updates more frequently. Regardless, the only unlock that really matters to me is bootloader unlock. US Snapdragon S8/S8+ are not bootloader unlocked--regardless whether the model is carrier unlocked or not. Only the Chinese and Hong Kong Snapdragon S8/S8+ bootloaders can be unlocked so far. My recommendation is to pre-order the Note 8 as you were interested in that phone, but that if you were planning on sticking with the same carrier and wanted updates more frequently, getting a carrier specific Note 8 might be best.
I'm in the same situation. I currently with att prepaid, they have LTE+ (LTE advanced). I did speed test twice, getting 127mb down, 30mb up, 115mb down, 28mb up. I'm not sure if unlocked version note8 has all the LTE bands. I thinking of just getting att version and if I want to switch carrier in the future, I just pay for those unlock service.
netnerd said:
I thinking of just getting att version and if I want to switch carrier in the future, I just pay for those unlock service.
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Be careful about those assumptions, make sure the AT&T variant has all the bands needed for full rate.
Recently switched from ATT to Verizon, and ended up getting a new phone (not *really* complaining since it's the GS8+) because my 1 yr old GS7edge AT&T model didn't have support for the correct LTE bands to work properly with the Verizon network.
I'm planning on staying with the same carrier, I just figure I'd get update faster, have less bloat ware, and have more lte bands (with the unlocked version)
Isn't that all accurate?
ALL the US versions have the same exact hardware and support the same exact bands. The ONLY difference is the carrier specific firmware. And you can change that by flashing whichever firmware you want through ODIN.
brendan4t said:
I was looking to buy the Galaxy Note 8, and is it worth buying the Unlocked version over the ATT version? I know I will save a little money, and also have less bloatware. I could not find much info on the basebands of these phones, there would not really be any basebands the unlocked version wouldnt have that the ATT version has? I assume that it would just be smarter to get the unlocked version?
Someone correct me if I am wrong
Sorry this is somewhat unrelated to the S8+
Thanks
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Click to collapse
I have both S8 T-mobile and S8 unlocked. They have identical LTE bands. Moreover, when inserting SIM cards from different providers the CSC is changed to that provider and some specific options are enabled. I put in T-mobile SIM card and used it without any issues. Put in Vodaphone Europe SIM card and CSC changed from TMB to XAA (unlocked) and phone still had all LTE bands available and worked. I'm sure it's the same for ATT. Also, from previous experience if you get ATT version and change providers you'll not get updates anymore unless you go to Samsung to have your phone updated, as all OTA's go through ATT servers.
Go for unlocked.
Hello,
I have an old Galaxy S7 Snapdragon Verizon variant (G930V). This is the most locked S7 that there is: Verizon has a completely locked boot loader with no unlock system, and Snapdragon has almost no ROMs for it (all the ROMs are for Exynos). Worse, it's got the Bootloader Revision 10 and Android Oreo, which is incompatible with every (current) way of even rooting this phone. The only hope of rooting it is hoping that someone leaks the 10th-bootloader-compatible "ENG BOOT" file, and the last file to be publicly leaked was for Bootloader 8. You also can't downgrade the boot loader or the OS because of e-fuses.
So, I was thinking: I went online and discovered the G930F (international unlocked Exynos) motherboard can be purchased on AliExpress for $40. It is GSM-only (so only Sprint / T-Mobile, no Verizon or AT&T), but the root and custom ROM development for the G930F is great. The G930F and G930V motherboards are physically identical, so...
Overall, I'm wondering, if I bought a G930F motherboard, some iFixit tools, and swapped the G930V motherboard with the G930F board, would I have a functioning G930F phone? For $40 or so, would I have gone from unrootable to golden, or are there far more things I should be aware of?
Thanks!
You should be fine. I would suggest you find pictures of a G930V mother board and G930F mother board and then compare them for any visible differences.
Also replace the battery while you are under the hood.
Found a better price. Its G930W8 but its the same.
I have a G930W8 so I know it works.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Unlocked-O...ispr=1&hash=item1cc26420ef:g:EPkAAOSwE~ZcAgwy
Excellent. My only question is, does the G930W8 work on the US GSM carriers?
I know that either board will not work on the Verizon/AT&T which are CDMA, I'm just curious if this will work on T-Mobile/Sprint/"New T-Mobile".
Oh, and one more thing: Because these boards are from eBay, is there any risk of the IMEI being blocked? (I.e. any risk of these being stolen parts?) Though, I suppose, that in that case eBay would accept a return.
gjsman said:
Oh, and one more thing: Because these boards are from eBay, is there any risk of the IMEI being blocked? (I.e. any risk of these being stolen parts?) Though, I suppose, that in that case eBay would accept a return.
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There's always some risk, but in theory those motherboards are from broken phones (screen for S7 are crazy expensive), so they erase any sensible information and sell them.
gjsman said:
Oh, and one more thing: Because these boards are from eBay, is there any risk of the IMEI being blocked? (I.e. any risk of these being stolen parts?) Though, I suppose, that in that case eBay would accept a return.
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Click to collapse
not a risks because ebays is safe
gjsman said:
Excellent. My only question is, does the G930W8 work on the US GSM carriers?
I know that either board will not work on the Verizon/AT&T which are CDMA, I'm just curious if this will work on T-Mobile/Sprint/"New T-Mobile".
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Click to collapse
You are confused about the U.S. carriers. AT&T and T-Mo are GSM; Verizon and Sprint are not.
Some of you might recognize me, used to be pretty active in the root/mod/ROM game back from the days of the OG Droid on, but have been away for a while. Now I've got a new Samsung S10E, and I don't quite get the relationships with the versions and trigraphs, etc.
My phone is a G970U1 - which I understand is a non-carrier specific unlocked model? But the Service Provider SW ver. reads SAOMC_SM-g970U1_OYM_TMB_PP0022 with TMB/TMB/SPR tags? What's the OYM? And what's up with the two T-Mobile tags followed by the Sprint tag? I did some digging around but couldn't see where there might have been a guide/explanation in this forum... pointers would be fine if it's too much of a pain to explain the whole thing here.
Also, OTAs? Would those come from TMO because of the tags, or from Samsung because of the U1 instead of the U?
Thanks....
For others' benefit: OYM is multi - covers multiple options depending on what SIM you toss into it. And the OTA question was answered a few minutes ago when I picked up the US Unlocked update from Samsung.
redoregon said:
Some of you might recognize me, used to be pretty active in the root/mod/ROM game back from the days of the OG Droid on, but have been away for a while. Now I've got a new Samsung S10E, and I don't quite get the relationships with the versions and trigraphs, etc.
My phone is a G970U1 - which I understand is a non-carrier specific unlocked model? But the Service Provider SW ver. reads SAOMC_SM-g970U1_OYM_TMB_PP0022 with TMB/TMB/SPR tags? What's the OYM? And what's up with the two T-Mobile tags followed by the Sprint tag? I did some digging around but couldn't see where there might have been a guide/explanation in this forum... pointers would be fine if it's too much of a pain to explain the whole thing here.
Also, OTAs? Would those come from TMO because of the tags, or from Samsung because of the U1 instead of the U?
Thanks....
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Click to collapse
If you have an unlocked S10e model, then you shouldn't have SPR at the end. It should be XAA. For example if you put T-Mobile sim in your unlocked phone, it should read: TMB/TMB/XAA, meaning that you have an unlocked US model(U1). If you put another US carrier sim in the phone, then first 2 TMB/TMB will change to that sim, such as ATT, VZW, USC...but the third XAA will stay the same. If your phones shows SPR, then it should be Sprint branded model that was flashed with U1 unlocked firmware. Basically US carrier firmware has OYN in the Service Provider SW ver. and unlocked is OYM.
Charkatak said:
If you have an unlocked S10e model, then you shouldn't have SPR at the end. It should be XAA. For example if you put T-Mobile sim in your unlocked phone, it should read: TMB/TMB/XAA, meaning that you have an unlocked US model(U1). If you put another US carrier sim in the phone, then first 2 TMB/TMB will change to that sim, such as ATT, VZW, USC...but the third XAA will stay the same. If your phones shows SPR, then it should be Sprint branded model that was flashed with U1 unlocked firmware. Basically US carrier firmware has OYN in the Service Provider SW ver. and unlocked is OYM.
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Thanks! That's exactly the kind of knowledge I was looking for.
So... my phone was somehow hijacked from Sprint and reflashed as unlocked somehow? It arrived in factory shape, including all the little plastic protective bits that you have to spend fifteen minutes peeling off, tearing open, etc., etc., etc...
redoregon said:
Thanks! That's exactly the kind of knowledge I was looking for.
So... my phone was somehow hijacked from Sprint and reflashed as unlocked somehow? It arrived in factory shape, including all the little plastic protective bits that you have to spend fifteen minutes peeling off, tearing open, etc., etc., etc...
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It isn't an issue if the phone was flashed. So if you were planning to buy a factory unlocked model, then it isn't the case but nothing to worry about.
Back when S8 was a Samsung flagship, there was a news that Samsung is planning to make the firmware more universal(at least in US) and if you have a carrier branded phone and you put another carrier's sim, then it would automatically apply that carrier's settings + download any bloatware.