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This is more of a general question and not really expecting a true answer from any mobile companies. But why do they insist in either locking their handsets, or preventing them from getting the latest firmware upgrades from the phone manufacturers?
Take the S3 on T-Mobile for example, why have they disabled he update feature? They have put on their own version of the firmware that does nothing different from the official except for disabled updates, no splash screen, no extra apps or other branding, just no official updates? Why?
Why prevent the phone from getting the latest updates from the actual people that made them?
To control content. When you control content, you control the all mighty dollar.
Plus, unless there is a bug that just flat out cripples the device, frequent updates are a bad thing for carriers. Risk of a bad flash, returned merchandise/warranty returns, all hits their bottom line. In other words, they have zero skin in the game to get you the latest/greatest/fastest/most stable ROM. Plus, it's not like they're in the mobile phone branding business, they could care less if your device is a bit slower than a competing carrier's.
For them, a "good enough," bloated/branded ROM with very little updates fits the bill.
eon_designs said:
This is more of a general question and not really expecting a true answer from any mobile companies. But why do they insist in either locking their handsets, or preventing them from getting the latest firmware upgrades from the phone manufacturers?
Take the S3 on T-Mobile for example, why have they disabled he update feature? They have put on their own version of the firmware that does nothing different from the official except for disabled updates, no splash screen, no extra apps or other branding, just no official updates? Why?
Why prevent the phone from getting the latest updates from the actual people that made them?
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Actually, branded handsets can receive their own official updates. Samsung will distribute them for the carrier. Much of the issue is that people just see a message and accept an OTA update without really thinking about it. I saw a lot of people have to get warranty repairs on HTC desires due to dodgy flashes etc. It probably cost the carriers loads of money with the logisitics of that issue.
Unbranded updates wouldnt work on branded software. Only the correct branded update, modified and created by the carrier would work on the device. Removing the option to check for updates is not stopping you get any updates. The fact that T-mobile aren't sending you any updates is stopping it. The missing option is pretty much a cosmetic issue.
Two seperate questions really.
As for locking the device, like CMD512 said, a lot of it is control. And while pushing their content vs. other or OEM choices is part of the reason, support is the biggest. Returns, exchanges, and contact center support (phone, e-mail, chat, tiered-escalations) eats up profits. The last stat I heard was about 5-7%. Locking the device so the user can't change it reduces returns and exchanges and simplifies support.
Carriers could care less about updates and what happens to a device after they sell it. You're locked in to a 2-year contract whether they update it or not. They all do eventually but it's not a priority. They also skip what they consider minor updates to avoid the hassle and expense all the support contacts updates create.
Well its a known fact that carrier branded phones are destined to get slow updates with added nuisance of preloaded junk along with alteration in FW just to make the phone more carrier obedient.However if someone is having issue with that then there is an alternative known as unlocked international version, buy it and receive prompt OTA's.
*Bites tongue* This is tricky.
.However if someone is having issue with that then there is an alternative known as unlocked international version, buy it and receive prompt OTA's.
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The carrier-branded phones have the hardware-id i9300 too and often enough have no network lock. So by all definitions they are unlocked international versions but with carrier branding.
Since these are hardware-version including OTA updates.
d4fseeker said:
The carrier-branded phones have the hardware-id i9300 too and often enough have no network lock. So by all definitions they are unlocked international versions but with carrier branding.
Since these are hardware-version including OTA updates.
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Isn't it also possible to just call your carrier and get a code so that your device is no longer locked to that carrier? Wouldn't that solve the problem?
maggot_ff said:
Isn't it also possible to just call your carrier and get a code so that your device is no longer locked to that carrier? Wouldn't that solve the problem?
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I'm thinking the OP is talking about locked bootloader preventing the flashing of custom ROMs and not carrier locking.
Afaik noone except Verizon (surprise, surprise) locks the S3's bootloader. And Verizon-devices got their own forum.
The only issue with the international S3 is that carriers often delay updates or refuse to deliver them which can be circumvented with Odin as described above.
d4fseeker said:
Afaik noone except Verizon (surprise, surprise) locks the S3's bootloader. And Verizon-devices got their own forum.
The only issue with the international S3 is that carriers often delay updates or refuse to deliver them which can be circumvented with Odin as described above.
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But they don't delay them if you just get the code to unlock your phone. No need for Odin. or am i totally off? I usually buy unbranded phones, so not really an issue for me. Just wondering if i got it right or what.
You're talking about network locking, meaning that only the carrier's SIM card will work with the device.
This is about carrier-branded ROM's which has nothing to do with network lock. Basically it's the carrier getting their hands on the ROM and modifying it so it fits their needs (which usually consist of adding the most possible bloatware)
Sometimes they remove the ability for OTA-updates completely during their processing of the ROM, but usually they only cause huge delays and skipped versions due to quality control (testing, ...) and/or laziness (costs)
To get a non-carrier-branded ROM on the phone you'll have to use Odin. Sometimes Kies mistakes the ROM too and flashs a Samsung-provided ROM but that's not a reliable method. Plus depending on your regional location it still takes long until release.
Thanks for all the replies, very interesting. I know of the Odin approach, very scary and not sure I am up to that task, but really we should not have to do that.
I can understand the carrier wanting to control the firmware release when they stick loads of extra bloat ware on it, bit in the case of the S3 there does not seem to be any?
Seems like a waste of time to the carrier IMHO
d4fseeker said:
You're talking about network locking, meaning that only the carrier's SIM card will work with the device.
This is about carrier-branded ROM's which has nothing to do with network lock. Basically it's the carrier getting their hands on the ROM and modifying it so it fits their needs (which usually consist of adding the most possible bloatware)
Sometimes they remove the ability for OTA-updates completely during their processing of the ROM, but usually they only cause huge delays and skipped versions due to quality control (testing, ...) and/or laziness (costs)
To get a non-carrier-branded ROM on the phone you'll have to use Odin. Sometimes Kies mistakes the ROM too and flashs a Samsung-provided ROM but that's not a reliable method. Plus depending on your regional location it still takes long until release.
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Ahhh.. Ok Thanks a lot. And how exactly would one go about to do that? Just flash a different firmware with odin? I think my GF's S3 is has a carrier branded rom, as my phone got official updates a lot sooner than hers. I have no clue about all this stock stuff. I just always root and update when i feel like it. She doesn't want me to rooth hers, but she wants to get updates quickly, so if you could just send me a link to a guide or quckly explain in PM i would appreciate it. Sorry for going off-topic.
d4fseeker said:
Basically it's the carrier getting their hands on the ROM and modifying it so it fits their needs (which usually consist of adding the most possible bloatware)
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It's also different between the U.S. carriers and the rest of the world. In the U.S. the phones get specific model numbers, have their physical radios configured differently, have OEM features omitted (h/w and s/w), and are tweaked to perform differently. Elsewhere it's usually a carrier splash screen and some fairly harmless carrier apps. The SGS3 is the closest to unmolested of any phone offered to date by the U.S. carriers. Other than the swap of Exynos for S4 of course. And Verizon locking the bootloader.
Hey guys,
If this has been answered previously, then please forgive me, but I wasn't finding anything definitive in the related threads. I've got an unlocked Developer Edition that I plan on using on T-Mobile. I really wanted the extra space and I *believe* San Diego is refarmed and so should work reasonably well (although if I get Edge speeds I'm gonna be bummed).
Anywho, has anyone figured out whether there is:
1) any way to get WiFi calling working? Not positive I'll need but wondering if I need to flash a T-Mobile modem or rom to get that to work on the DE version
2) if tethering will work if my plan supports it (it does - I've done it on my T-Mobile Galaxy Note II)
3) does flashing one's modem cause the phone to show as "tampered" or "modified"? My preference would be NOT to add the bloat unless I'm going to lose out on the aforementioned features OR if the signal ends up being dramatically affected.
Lastly, has anyone else had any experience with the Developer Edition on T-Mobile in San Diego? Wondering what to expect.
Thanks in advance for any and all help!
K-
To answer your questions.
1.Quickest is to flash a ROM, try this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2266025. Its stock (missing apps like calculator, flashlight etc due to bootloader unlock). It comes in odexed and deodexed flavors. There is a way to flash radios but I havent researched it enough.
2. Tethering will work once you pay for the add-on through T-Mobile
3. Im not particularly sure at which stage it changes to Tampered. But I noticed it after flashing a custom kernel. So maybe it occurs after unlocking the boot loader or flashing custom recovery. This does not affect the phone performance in any way that I know of. Im not sure what relevance this question has to the topic discussed tho.
Regards
I think the jury is still out on the question of whether or not the radio hardware is actually different between the TMo version and the Dev version. I, personally, don't believe they are physically different. HTC probably sat down with TMo and said, "by the time they get S-Off it won't matter anyhow".
Hello people
So i my problem is that i have recently baught an htc one m8 AT&T device . and i found that the android that it's running on it, is just for the demo units it's 4.4 kitkat , moreover i have also some issue with the hotspot option and the network choosing option, like i don't have the ability to choose which network to use 2G or 3G or 4G it's all the time 4G .and you all know that the M8 has got already the lollipop android version on April but mine still on it's demo android version
i have tried the hard reset but it did not work also the did the updates for AT&T apps also did nothing.
please if any one can help me out with a solution i will be more then thankful. also may you know that i'm not a professional android developer so if i goona need to have some files please provide me with them or their path
Was the phone advertised/described by the seller as a demo unit? If not, its obviously a fraudulent sale; and you should seek a refund or exchange, rather than messing with the phone any longer. This is not a fully functioning phone without significant mods by you, taking time and possibly even money.
Hard reset just wipes user data, and won't do anything to solve this issue.
Network type (2G, 3G, 4G) is locked out on the AT&T version, as is the WiFi hotspot. You may be able to unlock the bootloader and flash a custom ROM to make this a fully functioning unit. But you may also need to s-off the phone ($25 by sunshine).
Depending on your intention/response to the above comments, I'll be happy to help you more.
Thank you bro for your support. my problem is that i cannot go back to dealer because i'm not actually in the US and thing is i have contacted him by my brother who baught it for me from there, he said he didn't know about that problem till now ,he sent me some pictures of the other htc phones that he is selling and they turned out that all of them are just demo units and not for sell.
While i was looking on the internet i found that rooting my phone and installing a custom rom is my solution after all ,exactly as you said.
Abdelmounaim said:
While i was looking on the internet i found that rooting my phone and installing a custom rom is my solution after all ,exactly as you said.
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Not just any ROM. Since the device is on KitKat firmware, you will want a KitKat M8 ROM. Otherwise, you will have severe bugs, such as extreme long boot time (or no boot), or broken WiFi.
Hey everybody,
So recently i bought this international unlocked Galaxy S9+ (SM-965F/DS Exynos processor) off Amazon and it's great, everything is fine with the one major exception being that at home my signal is pretty poor and i get extremely delayed text messages coming in and calls taking forever to dial out or failing to connect. Not a problem, i'll turn on Wi-Fi calling, right? Wrong, option isn't available, some detail: I'm in the US on T-Mobile, updated to the latest Pie OS update, i'm very tech-capable and used to do tier 2 tech support for Verizon. Long story short, I've tried everything in the book including FDR and fresh setup as well as clearing system cache etc. and it's looking like the ONLY solution to get Wi-Fi calling (and subsequently VoLTE that i didn't realize wasn't enabled until researching and checking myself) enabled is to flash the ROM with a T-Mobile OS. Unfortunately i'm coming up negative trying to find the firmware for this phone. Plenty of resources out there for the SM-965U(Snapdragon), but none for the SM-965F(Exynos) as of yet as far as i can tell (and before any ignorance jumps in here as i've seen on other threads, NO the SM-965U software will NOT work on this model phone as it runs a different processor, non-Snapdragon Exynos chipset)
So, that all being said, is anyone out there working on a fix for this, is it likely i'll ever get a fix for this, and/or is the fix already available and I've just completely missed it? Any information or help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and consideration.
bahruuk said:
Hey everybody,
So recently i bought this international unlocked Galaxy S9+ (SM-965F/DS Exynos processor) off Amazon and it's great, everything is fine with the one major exception being that at home my signal is pretty poor and i get extremely delayed text messages coming in and calls taking forever to dial out or failing to connect. Not a problem, i'll turn on Wi-Fi calling, right? Wrong, option isn't available, some detail: I'm in the US on T-Mobile, updated to the latest Pie OS update, i'm very tech-capable and used to do tier 2 tech support for Verizon. Long story short, I've tried everything in the book including FDR and fresh setup as well as clearing system cache etc. and it's looking like the ONLY solution to get Wi-Fi calling (and subsequently VoLTE that i didn't realize wasn't enabled until researching and checking myself) enabled is to flash the ROM with a T-Mobile OS. Unfortunately i'm coming up negative trying to find the firmware for this phone. Plenty of resources out there for the SM-965U(Snapdragon), but none for the SM-965F(Exynos) as of yet as far as i can tell (and before any ignorance jumps in here as i've seen on other threads, NO the SM-965U software will NOT work on this model phone as it runs a different processor, non-Snapdragon Exynos chipset)
So, that all being said, is anyone out there working on a fix for this, is it likely i'll ever get a fix for this, and/or is the fix already available and I've just completely missed it? Any information or help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and consideration.
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I'm currently researching the very same issue... So far i hypothesize , with no knowledge, that if it is rooted, you can then change the csc settings and configure it for TMO, thus enabling WiFi calling. If someone can confirm, that'd be great, otherwise i'm trudging slowly to verify.
Root and use tekhd detonator.
CynicalHeight00 said:
Root and use tekhd detonator.
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Well i looked at this and it looks like a non-stock rom i'm sure wrought with problems that unfortunately is not helpful. My goal here is to have my phone work and continue to get standard updates with original and licensed (more or less) software and have it actually work. I'm not interested in a full OS replacement pre-loaded with a bunch of adblockers and other crap the designer thought would be useful, just want my standard features enabled and nothing else to change if at all possible. Also, if you believe my statement here is in error please explain, your one line really isn't very helpful, and nowhere on their website is there any description as to what tekhd detonator does / is supposed to do / what it will break. I'm certainly not risking bricking my phone when their own website says under all of its S9+ related material that it's for Snapdragon which the variant i have again doesn't use Snapdragon.
bahruuk said:
Well i looked at this and it looks like a non-stock rom i'm sure wrought with problems that unfortunately is not helpful. My goal here is to have my phone work and continue to get standard updates with original and licensed (more or less) software and have it actually work. I'm not interested in a full OS replacement pre-loaded with a bunch of adblockers and other crap the designer thought would be useful, just want my standard features enabled and nothing else to change if at all possible. Also, if you believe my statement here is in error please explain, your one line really isn't very helpful, and nowhere on their website is there any description as to what tekhd detonator does / is supposed to do / what it will break. I'm certainly not risking bricking my phone when their own website says under all of its S9+ related material that it's for Snapdragon which the variant i have again doesn't use Snapdragon.
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Click to collapse
This is going to be a hassle trust me. even with the Snapdragon models from different CSCs VoLTE and Wifi Calling do not carry over. An ATT 965U would have to be reflashed with the TMobile CSC and USERDATA files to get access to TMobile features. U are trying to do this with an Exynos model. I think you would have to root and install a custom firmware that has the TMobile USERDATA embedded.
Good luck.
can the U1 be flashed to the verizon u firmware? i thought i read someone tried this, but suspected it didn't work because he had previously used the phone with verizon with the unlocked firmware...
methcat said:
can the U1 be flashed to the verizon u firmware? i thought i read someone tried this, but suspected it didn't work because he had previously used the phone with verizon with the unlocked firmware...
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You can flash the G965U onto the G965U1 and vice versa. It's been well documented that this will let us go from one carrier firmware to another as well as let us have the unbranded carrier firmware. The only catch to this is the bootloader version of the firmware your wanting to flash. The firmware one wishes to flash must have a bootloader version equal too (or greater then) what is currently on the phone.
If your trying to ask about flashing the U1 onto an exynos variant then the answer is definitely no. You can't flash firmware from a different model onto a different model.
I ended up returning my Unlocked version of the Nord N200 and Now I just have the T-Mobile version. Ironically enough the Unlocked version can't be activated on T-Mobile. I have no idea why this might be. I finally got my unlock code from OnePlus and got my bootloader unlocked.
Seems there are zero custom roms. I'm assuming once there is a fully vetted version of TWRP we will see some pop up. Until then I'm hoping to get some help here to accomplish my goals.
Its been a while since I've tried to flash custom software and change setting on a rooted phone.
How would I go about force enabling the built in Wi-Fi hot spot / USB Tether even if its not on my plan. Most custom roms come with this feature. I'm wondering where to start here and if its possible do this manually by flashing something in fastboot or something.
Following the debloat adb script guide I can get it close to stock but I am wondering if its possible to flash the Stock OEM boot animation and audio vs the T-Mobile version. How would I get this done.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Hotspot/ Tethering app recommendation
Hi, the stock phone limits the hotspot/ tethering functionality. Any recommendations on how to bypass the same or an app that allows unrestricted tethering? My unlocked Samsung phone allows full tethering. Thanks in advance!
forum.xda-developers.com
Bypassing hotspot/tethering throttle speed on n200 5g
Got a free n200 through tmobile to use as a hotspot device for my pc. I was previously getting the job done by using a galaxy note 3 and setting my pc's ttl to 65 but apparently that doesn't work with the newer phones. I did some searching...
forum.xda-developers.com
These 2 threads discuss options for tethering.
If you check the various threads, there are a few options for rooting the phone, but I'm waiting for a fully functional TWRP before going past having my bootloader unlocked; so I can't personally comment on any of them.
GSIs on N200
The process of flashing alone is conventional, shouldn't even need a thread to detail, but still leaving a thread here for search indexing. With an unlocked BL, flash an ARM64 AB GSI within fastbootd, reboot to recovery, format userdata, reboot...
forum.xda-developers.com
This thread discusses GSIs, which are apparently a type of custom ROM... I don't really understand them; and I'm not touching something like that with a 10-foot-pole without at least TWRP to help me recover when I inevitably screw something up.
The N200 is still pretty new; and as a budget phone, it isn't really getting any attention from the better hackers/modders/developers/etc., so things are going pretty slow. Personally, I think things will pick up after we get a copy of the Unlocked variant's MSMDownload Tools, so people can start figuring out how to flash one variant into the other.
I have reviewed those threads and the solution is to use a 3rd party app and or a companion app. I'm looking to mod the built in native tethering app to not check for a subscription. I don't want to have to use a 3rd pary app.
EDIT - I am not sure if "check for the subscription" is technically the right thing I need to get around here either. On other phones like say a Samsung phone when you turn on the native hot spot it says my line is not subscribed. But on a one plus phone the native hotspot and Usb tether both work however there is no internet. I sure somewhere it might be checking but not bringing up a dialog that says it.
Another small note here my old One Plus 7 Pro 5G(Sprint Branded) was bootloader locked and stock but the native USB tether would work(Was not apart of my plan at this time). The native Wi-Fi hotstop wouldn't however. Also at this time I had a Sprint Sim and was on the Sprint Network. I now have a T-Mobile SIM and on the T-Mobile network with a T-Moble Branded OnePlus phone.
Main reason I'm trying to get this done is because I lost the ability to USB Tether Natively.