First and foremost, I sincerely apologize for making this type of thread, but I have done some searching and reading and I am now thoroughly confused.
My phone is the BNG3 version so obviously not towelroot compatible. After figuring out that was the case and it ain't being updated I stumbled upon Odin Pro, but it needs root to use. Seems like a bit of a catch 22.
So how do I root my S5, what is this Knox and why shouldn't I trip it, and what the heck is happening?
Once again, sorry for making this kind of thread, but I am just so confused.
Nemaides said:
First and foremost, I sincerely apologize for making this type of thread, but I have done some searching and reading and I am now thoroughly confused.
My phone is the BNG3 version so obviously not towelroot compatible. After figuring out that was the case and it ain't being updated I stumbled upon Odin Pro, but it needs root to use. Seems like a bit of a catch 22.
So how do I root my S5, what is this Knox and why shouldn't I trip it, and what the heck is happening?
Once again, sorry for making this kind of thread, but I am just so confused.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll answer the second part since the other poster already answered the first part.
Tripping knox is just setting a flag in the bootloader to true. Basically it tells Samsung that you did something "unauthorized" with your phone and voided your warranty with them. The thing is, tmobile doesn't care. They will replace/upgrade your phone without even looking. This has been confirmed many times here and other places. (don't hold me accountable...yada yada...)
..
fffft said:
But TMB, like most carriers doesn't care about Knox and it usually won't affect a warranty claim made with TMB.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not always the case. Before rooting, I called T-Mobile a few times speaking to different representatives each time and asked them to explicitly describe their policy on rooting and Knox, and how it relates their JUMP! program (T-mobile's warranty/insurance and upgrade service) with regards to upgrading and general insurance repair/replacement.
EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM SAID: If the Knox counter is tripped we will know/find out and you will no longer be eligible for upgrading nor replacement in accordance to the JUMP! program. In fact, a couple of them went into further detail that I could be liable for paying the full remaining price plus a fine if I were to attempt to upgrade/replace a Knox tripped phone.
THAT SAID, the employee that I bought the phone nonchalantly remarked when I asked him about rooting the phone with respect to the JUMP! program that T-Mobile would honor the JUMP! program despite root. HOWEVER he said nothing about a Knox tripped phone. Perhaps he equivocated meant that a towelrooted phone may be accepted but a full-fledged Knox tripped phone may not.
TL;DR:
T-Mobile representative/"official" web-sources say Knox tripped phones will not be eligible for the JUMP! program.
ONE employee at a T-Mobile store seemed to be willing to accept a rooted phone with regards to the JUMP! program.
..
fffft said:
TMB is a large company. ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry if I'm coming off as a troll/unwise, I am being completely serious. I am a cautious guy, and I wanted to know the full potential hazards of rooting with regards to their warranty policy. Of course on a person to person basis it should be easy to find a rep that will let a Knox tripped phone slide. However, in my personal opinion to pay the price of the warranty + full price of the phone + a fine in the unlikely worse case scenario that T-Mobile holds their policy to the letter seems expensive, especially when I know I will more than likely keep the phone for 2yrs+. My conclusion was to not buy their warranty, root, and be happy.
..
Just do a deferred trade in then when you jump. You skip one person looking at your phone and the people in the warehouse honestly couldn't care less.
Wow, thanks for the massive amounts of information folks, truly.
A couple question though.
1. If I Install an older version and root using towelroot...
Would I be able to keep my device up to date with the performance updates Samsung releases?
2. These custom recoveries/kernels that would trip Knox? What do they mean and what advantages do they have?
3. If I do end up tripping Knox, can I un-trip it?
Nemaides said:
Wow, thanks for the massive amounts of information folks, truly.
A couple question though.
1. If I Install an older version and root using towelroot...
Would I be able to keep my device up to date with the performance updates Samsung releases?
2. These custom recoveries/kernels that would trip Knox? What do they mean and what advantages do they have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure on the first one, so I'll let someone else answer.
The reason I chose to use the root method that tripped knox is I knew I was going to flash a custom rom later on. I would really recommend flashing the CM11 rom in the forum. If you wait a few days, most if not all the bugs will be ironed out and it'll be just as stable as stock.
As to what they mean, recoveries are what you use to flash and backup roms (they can be used for more, but this is what most people use) and kernels would just add MUCH more control over the inner workings of the phone (performance, screen calibration, button tweaks, etc).
..
Last question,
If I root using an old kernel would it be possible to install updates without breaking root? Someway to keep the kernels just get the improvments?
Nemaides said:
Last question,
If I root using an old kernel would it be possible to install updates without breaking root? Someway to keep the kernels just get the improvments?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here are two threads concerning how to update without losing root and or tripping knox. i suggest you read as much as you can b efore doing anything http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2790292 http://forum.xda-developers.com/tmo.../experimental-how-to-root-triggering-t2845421
AleHanSolo said:
That's not always the case. Before rooting, I called T-Mobile a few times speaking to different representatives each time and asked them to explicitly describe their policy on rooting and Knox, and how it relates their JUMP! program (T-mobile's warranty/insurance and upgrade service) with regards to upgrading and general insurance repair/replacement.
EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM SAID: If the Knox counter is tripped we will know/find out and you will no longer be eligible for upgrading nor replacement in accordance to the JUMP! program. In fact, a couple of them went into further detail that I could be liable for paying the full remaining price plus a fine if I were to attempt to upgrade/replace a Knox tripped phone.
THAT SAID, the employee that I bought the phone nonchalantly remarked when I asked him about rooting the phone with respect to the JUMP! program that T-Mobile would honor the JUMP! program despite root. HOWEVER he said nothing about a Knox tripped phone. Perhaps he equivocated meant that a towelrooted phone may be accepted but a full-fledged Knox tripped phone may not.
TL;DR:
T-Mobile representative/"official" web-sources say Knox tripped phones will not be eligible for the JUMP! program.
ONE employee at a T-Mobile store seemed to be willing to accept a rooted phone with regards to the JUMP! program.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah if you call them and ask they will tell you that ... Its completely the opposite of what happens when you bring a knox tripped phone in for an upgrade or whatever .. Think about it ... If you have jump then you have premium handset protection which means you can throw your phone at a wall and take it to tmobile and get a new one . They would way rather get a knox tripped phone that they can resell without having to pay for parts or anything like that ...I have been using tmobile for years and they never ever check for know . Knox voids the manufacturers warranty not the handset protection. The sales people really don't know jack about anything . There only fix for anything is to do a factory reset . At the end of the day Tmobile wants you to have a device so they can give you a bill monthly . Its bad business to take away equipment that makes you money . Im saying this from personal experience and basic common sense . Plus I have a friend that worked at tmobile for some time . When I bought my GS5 I rooted it while I was still in the store waiting for them to finish my transaction and even showed the sales guy how towelroot works . Jump is kinda a waste anyway cause you have to have half your device paid off to JUMP , when you can just sell your phone outright to pay the other half off .Especially if you buy flagship phones . I sold my GS4 for 320 which was more than what Jump would have covered
I like this!
fffft said:
Fair enough and I appreciate the elaboration. You described yourself as cautious which is fine. It's an individual choice whether to rely upon common practice or only trust what is official policy. You can decide what is best for yourself.
My perspective is that life is nothing if not learning to read between the lines. Have you ever read the back of a movie rental contract? Or car rental.. or rent almost anything contract? If you took the worst case, they have the right should you ever be late in returning the rented item to literally bust down your door, retrieve the rented item and not be held responsible for damage to your home. Not to mention collect hundreds of dollars in penalties for "being forced" to repatriate their overdue rental.
It would be naive to think that is common practice or likely to happen though. And that is the lesson of worst case scenarios. It's wise to know about them, but you also have to make a judgement as too how likely they are to occur. The alternative would be to refrain from doing many common place activities and live something like a hermit.
There is no reason that you or anyone else need agree though. That's just my take on it.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:good: That right there was a lesson in life!
spirodave said:
Jump is kinda a waste anyway cause you have to have half your device paid off to JUMP , when you can just sell your phone outright to pay the other half off .Especially if you buy flagship phones . I sold my GS4 for 320 which was more than what Jump would have covered
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not the old JUMP. That lets me upgrade twice per year without having to pay off 50%.
Related
im thinking about rooting my vibrant. but my buddy told me if i root, that it sends a message or signal of some sort back to t-mobile, thus voiding my insurance that i pay an extra 5 buck a month for. and i dont want to root, then have my $500 phone get stolen, or water damage, or anything like that and then be out a phone. i understand the other risk, like losing my warranty, and the possibility of turning the phone into a paperweight. but i cant find any good answers on this little signal that gets sent back to t-mo. so true or false? Details?
djkozdefantastico said:
im thinking about rooting my vibrant. but my buddy told me if i root, that it sends a message or signal of some sort back to t-mobile, thus voiding my insurance that i pay an extra 5 buck a month for. and i dont want to root, then have my $500 phone get stolen, or water damage, or anything like that and then be out a phone. i understand the other risk, like losing my warranty, and the possibility of turning the phone into a paperweight. but i cant find any good answers on this little signal that gets sent back to t-mo. so true or false? Details?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no signal that goes back to T-Mobile because you root your device. T-Mobile can tell if it's rooted if you send it back to them for a warranty repair rooted. And they can (though often don't) deny warranty claims because of this. So, now that we've doffed our tinfoil hats....
The real issue here is honest risk assessment and an understanding of what root is and why we want it.
Rooting is a means to an end, not an end in and of itself. Merely rooting the phone changes practically nothing at all really. Rooting (or obtaining superuser/administrator privileges) simply allows you access to the OS in a manner generally not necessary to simply USE a device.
The question you really should be asking is why should I root my phone? If you come up with reasons and then root, you must then accept responsibility for what you do, as well as what you can undo.
Are there some things you cannot do without root? Yes. Are they deal breakers? Except for the tinkerer who invested in an Android device precisely BECAUSE they wanted to tinker with it at the OS level, the answer here is generally no.
Root is not needed to install apps, play games, make phone calls, navigate, read twitter, etc... If you want total control over the look/feel/behavior, or even the entire OS, then you need root. So it depends on what your intentions are.
Many things that WE DO HERE do require root access. But we're all well aware that doing so absolves T-Mobile from necessarily having to honor a warranty.
Now, can a phone be rooted, tinkered with, and then reverted to a factory state in a manner where T-Mobile/Samsung would be basically unaware (effectively) that the device had ever been rooted or tinkered with? Yes. Does this mean you are not responsible for what you do to your phone? No.
Just keep in mind that many of the things we do to our phones with root access are varying degrees of risky, so it is equally possible (though not really likely if you do your homework) to brick your device and make the ability to revert the phone to a factory state impossible.
The reason why service providers will void warranties with evidence of root is a practical one for them. Rooting an Android phone is generally (or usually becomes) easy as pie. Modding your phone, thanks to the gracious work of many devs and rom cooks, is also very easy. So easy that you can easily do most of this stuff without having the first clue what you've actually done. Click a few buttons, smile, eat pie...mmm...tasty pie!
Start stacking multiple mods along with this lack of clue, and you can easily screw up a device. This is a road T-Mobile (and every other provider) does not want to encourage. People's stupid mistakes can cost them money. It's just that simple.
i have mos def been doing my research . and i know the things i wanna do once i root. i just wanted to be positive that if i root, and then somthing happens to my phone that is not from me rooting (like if i gets stolen, damaged, or lost) that i can get a new one with out having to pay full price. thanks for the advice friend
Hard to top the previous post, but remember, you can always unroot if you ever needed to send your phone back. With custom recoveries you can make backups of your system, and three Vibrant is crazy hard to brick...
djkozdefantastico said:
i have mos def been doing my research . and i know the things i wanna do once i root. i just wanted to be positive that if i root, and then somthing happens to my phone that is not from me rooting (like if i gets stolen, damaged, or lost) that i can get a new one with out having to pay full price. thanks for the advice friend
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well nothing is 100% positive, and you should realize that your ability to avoid violating the spirit (if not the letter) of the warranty entirely depends on your ability to leverage your research towards understanding what you can easily and safely do.
Gloom and doom aside, so long as you can do a hard reset, reliably enter download mode, figure out Odin3 v 1.30 and use it to flash back to factory JFD (something I do as a safeguard first step when messing with experimental roms anyway...it's best to start with a clean slate...), it's simple to get the phone back to a pristine state.
I generally err way on the side of caution when answering these sorts of questions, but only because I've seen some people do some really boneheaded things here.
YMMV.
bird is the word. now i just kinda have to decide which way to go about actually rooting. seems like theres multiple ways to do so. any thoughts on which way of rooting is the best? or do they all have the same features?
Sure there are different methods but in the end they all accomplish the exact same thing.
Nothing can void your insurance except for 2 replacements in 12 months. It will void your warranty. If the phone gets lost, stolen or damaged Asurion will gladly take your $130 and mail you a replacement.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
First of All, I might seem pretty vague as I cannot find the threads where I heard about all this.
So I will apologise in advance If I am talking complete non sense.
Knowing about all the upsides of rooting, I have been seriously considering Rooting my S3 with CF auto root and triangle away.
I understand that currently it is possible to return the phone for warranty and not have any issues with it once stock roms is applied.
What I am worried about is the future implications with rooting, right now Samsung is being quite loose with how strict they are being with letting us root etc. But I heard that they have recently started a background service which keeps tracks of custom files created when rooting and that they are doing this in order to crack down on people who have rooted, using this log when attempting to use warranty. Again this might be completely wrong.
Can anyone confirm this with me, whether this is true? I'm worried about the future implications as I am only going to keep this phone for a year and keeping the 2 year warranty would be a huge plus.
Any help would be appreciated.
polesp said:
Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone as scared as you are about the future ought not to be rooting!
Having said that,you need to ask yourself what you wish to achieve by rooting and if you get sound reasons,go ahead.
Try to enjoy your phone and live life kingsize rather than being worried about warranty issues.
Have you heard of anyone successfully having the cake and eating it too?
Life really is too wonderful to be spent worrying about Samsung spying on you!
Tell you what - go on ! Well i can't guarantee that the rumours are false but i can assure you that we'll have a workaround similar to what we have today for re setting bin counter
sathkartha said:
Someone as scared as you are about the future ought not to be rooting!
Having said that,you need to ask yourself what you wish to achieve by rooting and if you get sound reasons,go ahead.
Try to enjoy your phone and live life kingsize rather than being worried about warranty issues.
Have you heard of anyone successfully having the cake and eating it too?
Life really is too wonderful to be spent worrying about Samsung spying on you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you are right nothing ventured nothing gained. It is just I am wondering how much it would pay off risking my warranty, I am only looking to install some audio mods and ad-blockers. If this rumour of Samsung tightening up the security in the near future wasn't there, I Would be rooted right now
If Samsung can fool such a large community, then I tip my hat to them (<--- that's my hat)
Like the movie Inception says, once you plant the idea of rooting into a user's mind, s/he will obsess over it. I did for 2 days (my previous android phone ran CM7), and I knew there was no way I could go back. So rooted
My advice: Right now, we have ways to circumvent, reset root counters and regain warranty. Tomorrow we may not. MobileOdin even flashes without changing the counters.
istoner said:
If Samsung can fool such a large community, then I tip my hat to them (<--- that's my hat)
Like the movie Inception says, once you plant the idea of rooting into a user's mind, s/he will obsess over it. I did for 2 days (my previous android phone ran CM7), and I knew there was no way I could go back. So rooted
My advice: Right now, we have ways to circumvent, reset root counters and regain warranty. Tomorrow we may not. MobileOdin even flashes without changing the counters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That really sums the situation up nicely .
OP make a list of why you want root then decide if its worth it ,
Without root XDA does not exist no mods no custom roms no nothing.
jje
I think it's high time that I present myself. I'm not as noob as I can be in the forums. Yes, I don't know Android, since electronics isn't my field of working anymore. I have studied electronics and went for a master in Engineering Physics so I'm not a newbie when it comes to hardware.
Just that I got this (stupid?) 30-year crisis and went for an MD instead.
My foremost field of working has been Unix, but I'm schooled in lower levels and had done both VHDL/Erlang projects and have been really fluent in asm. But that was a LONG time ago when Motorola 68xxx was the ruler (oh, the ****ing best cpu ever made code-wise).
The aversion and stop for asm-coding came with Inter and that was around the 486-time when you had to fiddle with the memory and stuff.
I have kept parts on my knowledge. Did a SOC for a big company with a linux that I pressed in on 128 kb of Rom but I'm not up to date with arm-asm and I can say that the last time I ever coded something was around 1996 since I started with design/capacity planning of hardware and management.
So the time has flown by. I'm a C-coder. Never coded a line of Java in my line. I'm also from Sweden and I don't know where you are from but if you are from USA we have quite some different rules here, especially when it comes to consumer law that can be used for us.
Ok. Enough **** about me.
I called Samsung today and this is a summary of the conversation I had.
I asked them about why the consumers had to use the Knox and how to pass it as a developer.
He could not answer it.
I asked if I trip the flag, why does it forbid me to sideload my own developed applications?
He could not answer it.
I asked how to remove it since as a consumer I had no use for it and this is something that I have not signed up for.
He said that I could send in my phone and have it reflashed to a lower version of the firmware.
I asked for specifications about it and said that knew it's a SE-linux containter (because it is).
That he could confirm.
I asked him what for specifications for the boot loader since it hinders me in my work.
He said that the only thing he could provide was a downgraded one (see above)
I said that I don't want a downgraded one since all use 4.3 and that is the future.
He could not provide that.
I said that maybe this is a deal that Samsung has done with NSA to provide them with information since I don't know what the phone sends out since I'm locked out of the kernel.
He said that he understood that he would feel the same sentiment.
I asked him if consider us who are developing on a low lever as valuable people the brings the phone forward.
He agreed.
I told him that I don't consider tripping the Know-flag to invalidate my warranty since it could be tripped in Kies (as reported here).
He agreed on that and told me that I could then contact the service for a reflash.
I told him that the option left then would be to crack the boot-loader as with the rooting.
He said yes.
Note that this is in Sweden. But the info in any case is interesting since he very well knew about this.
So the info I got. Yes. It's a Se-linux container and it is reflashable. Since it's reflashable we now know that it's not an e-Fuse and can leave that question. Since it's software it's crackable.
Seems high time for me to start to update myself on arm-asm. I got lazy with VHDL/Erlang
Also, this has not been the field of my quite messy life. Going from electronics to computers and Unix towards medicine.
I don't have a J-TAG. What do you guys use? What have you found so far?
Do we have access to the very beginning of the boot strapping?
With that I mean the first asm-lines that the phone do as a start. Is that hardware or is that software?
In this case. Could someone please provide me with that. As I said. I don't know Arm-asm yet, but I'll try to freshen myself. Asm is asm and the last thing I did with Arm was working with a Xlinix that had 2 cores in the die and then a VHDL-part. Really nifty. But that was 10 years ago.
My other problem is time, like you all, since I'm guessing you work full time.
But can someone update me or give me links to white-papers etc on how the phone starts? I guess there is quite little about it. It's not the glorious days where you could get papers on the clock-penalties and how revolutionary it was when you could do an instruction on both the edges of the clock-wave.
Sorry. I type a lot, but I really hate this and yes, people can say what they want. When Ericsson still made phones I had a special firmware that showed a LOT more then what a normal user would get and how chatty the phones are without us knowing. So the option of spreading the "Samsung has made a deal with NSA" WILL scare people whatever you think. I have done "activist" things before and you just have to present it as a theory and get to the point where the rumor will get viral.
I was truly amazed when my complaint against RIIA went viral and the "Govermental institution for internet privacy" got over 5000 complaints in one day. Don't know how that works in other countries but every document that you send here is official and need to be filed. We also have the reverse policy that seems to be a bit unique. Everything is open until it's classified as not public. Not otherwise as it seems in most countries.
Ok, off topic. You have to live with that if you want my help that I'm offering here.
Where are you know in the dissaembly of the boot-loader? SE-linux CAN be cracked but if t's scrabled with hardware it makes it a bit harder.
Ok, enough from me. Want me to start to dig with the Cortex-chip? I know that Qualcom are more then happy to provide white-papers on their chip. Just a matter of cost.
/Paul
Download the open source kernel and build it from source. Use ida for analysis and the qualcomm and Samsung boot procedure documents are around you have to search though.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Surge1223 said:
Download the open source kernel and build it from source. Use ida for analysis and the qualcomm and Samsung boot procedure documents are around you have to search though.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I've seen that some use a modded build-chain for it. Is that just modded for speed or what is modded and where can you get it?
/Paul
Btw, got a i9506 today. Will be interesting. Also got An Note 3 and that has 4.3. Both are "pre-knoxed". Need a good burn-in software before i start to root them. Know any?
I have not noticed this behavior before but although they are connected to a Wifi they still search every 15 s or so for others. I don't recall if my old one did that? My HTC doesn't.
But anyone now how the phone boots-strap? It's too late after having a kernel.
Since it makes it before it loads it, it's not a real SE-kernel because then the custom ones would work without even touching Know, would they. And they trip the flag.
So the check must be done earlier? Besides, are the kernel sources enforcing MAC? I have not set up a build env yet so that's all the questions.
And any good J-Tag that you recommend?
Double post. Don't know how to remove...
You might send it in, if yours is qfused like the ATT model they will have to resign the MDL bootloader with a certificate that has not been invalidated by the qfuse.
If they do that, you can extract it and we will atleast be able to flash back the i9505.
Sent from my i337 MF3 using tapatalk.
TheEgonSpengler said:
You might send it in, if yours is qfused like the ATT model they will have to resign the MDL bootloader with a certificate that has not been invalidated by the qfuse.
If they do that, you can extract it and we will atleast be able to flash back the i9505.
Sent from my i337 MF3 using tapatalk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you still think it's actually an e-fuse? If they can "reflash" it as I got the info yesterday that means that the e-fuse is in the prom because how else could they just change it?
I'm still not sure about the fuse thing? Do we have that black on white that it's the case?
Because I think that they have just a small SE-Linux in the bootloader and then they can enforce all the rules they want. Your phone will behave
basically like a jailed Unix-account and the only success in cracking it is to prevent it to load. There is no other way.
I just sent a long and nice mail to Samsung. Will see if they contact me tomorrow.
I basically asked them why it's enforced on us private citizens and if we should start to openly question the motives on Samsung in different
mobile user forums. Because I will. Would be happy if someone would follow suit and help out.
Bad publicity is something that is hard to get rid off. Also, we never got an opt-in/out.
And if they start to get it it WILL scare them. I've done that before but not on this scale.
If need be I will drag them through our Consumer department. They are not so fun if they bite on the case and it just cost me time to write a letter of complaint to them.
"Freedom loving" Sweden will not accept spy-ware on their phones. That is one of the strong thing here. Consumer power and the equivalent for governmental issues.
Well, I'll report tomorrow. Btw, I got my new phone yesterday and it was a I9506.
They don't sell the I9505 anymore and the prel result with plain kernel is that it's about the same speed as Note 3.
absolon_se said:
Do you still think it's actually an e-fuse? If they can "reflash" it as I got the info yesterday that means that the e-fuse is in the prom because how else could they just change it?
I'm still not sure about the fuse thing? Do we have that black on white that it's the case?
Because I think that they have just a small SE-Linux in the bootloader and then they can enforce all the rules they want. Your phone will behave
basically like a jailed Unix-account and the only success in cracking it is to prevent it to load. There is no other way.
I just sent a long and nice mail to Samsung. Will see if they contact me tomorrow.
I basically asked them why it's enforced on us private citizens and if we should start to openly question the motives on Samsung in different
mobile user forums. Because I will. Would be happy if someone would follow suit and help out.
Bad publicity is something that is hard to get rid off. Also, we never got an opt-in/out.
And if they start to get it it WILL scare them. I've done that before but not on this scale.
If need be I will drag them through our Consumer department. They are not so fun if they bite on the case and it just cost me time to write a letter of complaint to them.
"Freedom loving" Sweden will not accept spy-ware on their phones. That is one of the strong thing here. Consumer power and the equivalent for governmental issues.
Well, I'll report tomorrow. Btw, I got my new phone yesterday and it was a I9506.
They don't sell the I9505 anymore and the prel result with plain kernel is that it's about the same speed as Note 3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This link should shed some light on the qfuse situation.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30781353
I believe this is specifically for the i9506 as the qualcomm chip in yours is a different prefix (though they are very similar in construction to my novice eye, the boot process is still a bit magical to me though so grain of salt all that.)
Sent from my i337 MF3 using tapatalk.
TheEgonSpengler said:
This link should shed some light on the qfuse situation.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=30781353
I believe this is specifically for the i9506 as the qualcomm chip in yours is a different prefix (though they are very similar in construction to my novice eye, the boot process is still a bit magical to me though so grain of salt all that.)
Sent from my i337 MF3 using tapatalk.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually they hotted up the phone quite much: http://www.gsmarena.com/compare.php3?idPhone1=5542&idPhone2=5371
Snapdragon 800, Adreno 330, Krait 400 @ 2,3 Mhz. Antutu places it next to Note 3 so it whops quite much.
Hi everyone!
I just want to share with you guys that I rooted my SGS i9505 with CF root and knox flag was tripped to 0x1.
I flashed the custom rom and i got bootloops and i tired of fixing that issiu. I went to Samsung service center in Dubai and they reflashed the MJ5 stock firmware.
Later when I checked in Download mode Knox flag it was 0x0. I guess I am lucky because I have my warranty back. Sorry for my bad English.
Bishkek said:
Hi everyone!
I just want to share with you guys that I rooted my SGS i9505 with CF root and knox flag was tripped to 0x1.
I flashed the custom rom and i got bootloops and i tired of fixing that issiu. I went to Samsung service center in Dubai and they reflashed the MJ5 stock firmware.
Later when I checked in Download mode Knox flag it was 0x0. I guess I am lucky because I have my warranty back. Sorry for my bad English.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is interesting that they reflashed the stock firmware without negating your warrenty coverage for the tripped knox flag.
The question is were they supposed to do that or did they just screw up?
Thanks for sharing that!
Please follow the next thrilling episode in the Samsung-Zone... --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=48077682&postcount=1350
And about the reflash. They have offered that to me too if I "happen" to trip the Knox. So e-fuse, no e-fuse. Duck. I don't know what to think anymore.
As someone who's mother accepted the update to MI1 a few days ago, would contacting Samsung be a way to possibly downgrade the baseband?
Where in Samsung would I contact for this?
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
kalestew said:
As someone who's mother accepted the update to MI1 a few days ago, would contacting Samsung be a way to possibly downgrade the baseband?
Where in Samsung would I contact for this?
Sent from my SCH-I545 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Goodluck! US Samsung told me to kick rocks. (hence why I am posting from a HTC one now.)
Sent from my One using Tapatalk
Bishkek said:
Hi everyone!
I just want to share with you guys that I rooted my SGS i9505 with CF root and knox flag was tripped to 0x1.
I flashed the custom rom and i got bootloops and i tired of fixing that issiu. I went to Samsung service center in Dubai and they reflashed the MJ5 stock firmware.
Later when I checked in Download mode Knox flag it was 0x0. I guess I am lucky because I have my warranty back. Sorry for my bad English.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just a few quesitons to you sir.
did you wait for some minutes or did it take some hour?
was it repaired or motherboard simply replaced?
if they reflash the firmware it looks to me they have a "restoreable" that will be reversible if you flash it, just to ask why didn't you ask him what he did
Hi,
Here's a unique idea.
Let's pass the word to boycott Samsung over the whole KNOX fiasco.
Use social media, ie. twitter, facebook, etc. to pass the word.
Tell everyone you know not to buy a Samsung phone this holiday season.
The only thing that will make companies take notice is if we take action.
1. Just the attempt to downgrade firmware or load unauthorized firmware triggers KNOX in 4.3 and voids your warranty.
2. Now that's not bad enough, because even if you now load a signed piece of firmware KNOX still stays triggered.
3. If my warranty is now void, I should be able to do what I want, but nooooo, my bootloader is still locked and I have no warranty.
So Samsung should fix this. Just trying to do something should not void my warranty, especially since they block the possibility of being able to change the bootloader.
This is not Samsung's device.
Everyone does not need nor want KNOX and those that need it, know it.
The majority of devices are not enterprise, so why are they forcing an enterprise and NSA solution down our throats!
BOYCOTT SAMSUNG!!!
tech_head said:
Hi,
Here's a unique idea.
Let's pass the word to boycott Samsung over the whole KNOX fiasco.
Use social media, ie. twitter, facebook, etc. to pass the word.
Tell everyone you know not to buy a Samsung phone this holiday season.
The only thing that will make companies take notice is if we take action.
1. Just the attempt to downgrade firmware or load unauthorized firmware triggers KNOX in 4.3 and voids your warranty.
2. Now that's not bad enough, because even if you now load a signed piece of firmware KNOX still stays triggered.
3. If my warranty is now void, I should be able to do what I want, but nooooo, my bootloader is still locked and I have no warranty.
So Samsung should fix this. Just trying to do something should not void my warranty, especially since they block the possibility of being able to change the bootloader.
This is not Samsung's device.
Everyone does not need nor want KNOX and those that need it, know it.
The majority of devices are not enterprise, so why are they forcing an enterprise and NSA solution down our throats!
BOYCOTT SAMSUNG!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was going to say a lot of the obvious, but let's just say this is um admirable.
tech_head said:
Hi,
Here's a unique idea.
Let's pass the word to boycott Samsung over the whole KNOX fiasco.
Use social media, ie. twitter, facebook, etc. to pass the word.
Tell everyone you know not to buy a Samsung phone this holiday season.
The only thing that will make companies take notice is if we take action.
1. Just the attempt to downgrade firmware or load unauthorized firmware triggers KNOX in 4.3 and voids your warranty.
2. Now that's not bad enough, because even if you now load a signed piece of firmware KNOX still stays triggered.
3. If my warranty is now void, I should be able to do what I want, but nooooo, my bootloader is still locked and I have no warranty.
So Samsung should fix this. Just trying to do something should not void my warranty, especially since they block the possibility of being able to change the bootloader.
This is not Samsung's device.
Everyone does not need nor want KNOX and those that need it, know it.
The majority of devices are not enterprise, so why are they forcing an enterprise and NSA solution down our throats!
BOYCOTT SAMSUNG!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For your #1, how did you load unauthorized firmware?
I don't understand your #2...what "piece of firmware"?
How do you know it voids your warranty? Did you have issues with the warranty?
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app
I really doubt something like this would work. The only people on board would be those of us who mod, which make up such a small portion of Samsung's sales, they wouldn't care. The general consumer is where they get their money and said general consumer couldn't care less about Knox.
prshosting.org
Tell your friends and family. Word of mouth is huge.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk
Samsung sold 213 million phones in 2012.
Two things...
1) Though XDA and all seems huge, only a really really small percentage of cell phone users play around with crap that will effect knox. I doubt a large number of those "don't care" people are going to want join your campaign.
2) There are a lot of great things about Samsung phones and products. It's like people complaining about VZW cost and billing and marketing, but they have great coverage and I'd never switch because someone starts a "boycot Verizon for $$ reasons".
I don't like the S4 lockdown either, but I'd rather have a locked S4 than an unlocked G2.
JeeperDon said:
I don't like the S4 lockdown either, but I'd rather have a locked S4 than an unlocked G2.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure I'd agree with this. At the same time o hate Samsung, I'd have a Motorola phone if I wouldn't have had to upgrade when I did. Kind of screwed me.
SirHoover2010 said:
Not sure I'd agree with this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't have to.
JeeperDon said:
You don't have to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea ik. Exactly why I put "at the same time I hate Samsung" so I'm kind of biased
They can make lock downs most of this is to stop forms of piracy in my opinion. I'm new to rooting but I'm from the modding scene. I have no worries do to developers here as I do on game system modding. Give them time nintendo,Sony and Microsoft have done similiar things with updates the push regularly to their gaming consoles and boycoting will not work do to the modding group is a small group that has a small impact they already planned on loosing.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app
Boycott yourself, this would defeat the purpose of "DEVELOPER" phones...you knew what you were getting into when buying a consumer s4.
When will people think logically? Samsung wants security. They sell the developer phones completely unlocked for US.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using xda app-developers app
Knox is high security put on the phone as a bid to gain military contracts. They only want the most secure phones. Do you think Samsung will stop trying to get that military high $$$ over a few people saying they won't buy anymore? Also add to this many corporate businesses that buy bulk phones and contracts and want a more secure phone for their Exchange and corporate software. XDA users are barely a ripple in that ocean of waves.
you should have bought a developer edition if locked bootloader was a concern.
Sent from my XT1080 using xda app-developers app
not that it matters but i believe a korean family controls 46% of samsung husband wife and 3 kids. just saying.
eklipz3 said:
not that it matters but i believe a korean family controls 46% of samsung husband wife and 3 kids. just saying.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, so you're going to tell their kids that their daddy is a bad man for locking bootloaders? Tell their kids they won't get Christmas presents if they don't get their parents to unlock bootloaders?
orangechoochoo said:
Okay, so you're going to tell their kids that their daddy is a bad man for locking bootloaders? Tell their kids they won't get Christmas presents if they don't get their parents to unlock bootloaders?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The kids don't care. They have the Developers Edition.
orangechoochoo said:
Okay, so you're going to tell their kids that their daddy is a bad man for locking bootloaders? Tell their kids they won't get Christmas presents if they don't get their parents to unlock bootloaders?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sorry i should have made myself a little more clear about the kids but they are adults as well and are vp's and such of samsung and i think the oldest girl was just promoted to run some part of sammy. and yes i bet there's is not locked.
eklipz3 said:
sorry i should have made myself a little more clear about the kids but they are adults as well and are vp's and such of samsung and i think the oldest girl was just promoted to run some part of sammy. and yes i bet there's is not locked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Umm...yeah...because the international versions are not locked...neither is Sprint...it is a carrier request to lock bootloaders on Samsung phones, otherwise all phones would be locked. Locked bootloaders and Knox are not the same thing. This thread states it is about Knox. True that Knox in the bootloader prevents you from downgrading the firmware...but does not equal locked. There are many phones with locked bootloaders but no Knox.
Batttie said:
you should have bought a developer edition if locked bootloader was a concern.
Sent from my XT1080 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not just about a locked bootloader.
If that was all, no issues.
KNOX and SE Linux are now baked in from the bootloader up.
No it was not on my phone when I first got my phone and was not detailed before they rolled it out.
Messing with the bootloader in anyway even an attempted downgrade, void your warranty.
Not tampering by using unauthorized software, but just trying to go to an older version of *SIGNED* firmware will void your warranty.
My issue is this, if my warranty is now void, why can't I install any *SIGNED* firmware that came on the phone?
My rant about At&t and I why I am angry with them about my predicament with my s7.
PLEASE READ DISCLAIMER AT THE BOTTOM AND ALL ASTRICKED ITEMS. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
I will say how disappointed in at&t I am; it should be illegal to lock phones like this. The last samsung galaxy able to be rooted was the s4 and note 2 (don't quote me on that is was guestimation). But like all the idiots caught up in the buzz of owning the newest device, I got burned by the note 4. Fool me once shame on you, but fool me twice shame on me. I got burned again on the s7, and developers on here have basically given up rooting anything else (since the note 4 crisis there's a large bounty for whomever get the first permaroot) . Maybe if millions of us write to samsung about how at&t is ruining their products, they could do something about this travesty. <b>
Well if could some root required apps to work on my phone I would be much happier. I can't even use the current version of lucky patcher, how stupid is that. <b>
If your phone isn't rooted or have never felt the joy of a rooted phone (it is like endless possibilities all in the palm of your hand), and if you don't know what rooting is, get a clue, (Google it). Beg, barrow, steal one from a guy the next County over, forge one, trade for one, find one, save up for 3 months to buy one on eBay, I don't care how you get a clue, but you need one. The ability to Root our phone should be a fundamental right. (particularly with what went on with Apple and the FBI in California) We buy the phone, pay for it's service, then you treat us like we somehow don't know something has changed. (All the sudden "security updates that happen right after finding root for other devices and then people update their devices and it is gone back to square one.) Who is going to be responsible for all the millions of phones that are going to be trash because of this?
(because now on certain devices it softbricks the phone, sure it roots it, but what good is a rooted phone when you can't use it? (I relate it to something close to ransomware, on a computer, where software hold it (the computer) hostage until you meet the criminal's demands (usually money), so that you can get your computer back, and then sometimes they just leave it in place. (nasty crap fun to get rid of without reinstalling the OS) In this case it holds your phone hostage until you meet at&t's demands of "removing non at&t software", and until such time that the software is removed it remains bricked. If you have this issue, which I have only seen it mentioned a handful of time, and happen to have a Samsung device (with or without warranty) they will fix for free and even pay shipping both ways (now that's how you keep customers happy) I still have this issue as I have not sent my phone in yet and if someone knows how to fix it I would like to know. It goes from the ransom page with the padlock unlocked and warnings from at&t, then it goes to a second page saying that I have a Reactivation Lock in place. I have tried everything stated on the forum about RL, but my case is unique because of my stupid idea of seeing if king root had figured out how to root note 4 at&t sm-N910A version. To answer your question did it work, yes and no. Read the bricking bit above.)
Surely not your loyal customers, surely not the one who actually make and put their name on the phone, no I blame the cell phone companies. They have gotten to big for their own shoes on this one, they stepped in a giant pile of it. How many millions of customers have you lost at&t? Hmmm? Answer that one. Maybe I'll be the next to jump ship, sprint has a great plan, half the price, and they'll pay our way out of the eta( early termination fee(s) ln case you didn't know) up to 600 USD on each line. Sounds good to where do I sign, oh you need to take my piece of it phone and trade it for one the COMES with an unlocked bootloader. Take it I never wanted this piece of it to begin with. Bye At&t, you had a good ride with most of us for longer than a decade, but you done shot yourself in the foot on this one. You should have never changed your name and started in the cell phone business. South Western Bell is dead, and this monstrosity that has been created is nothing more than a shell of its former company, what a bunch of sell outs. I hope you sleep good at night knowing how many people are cursing your name from every roof top and highest building. You don't play with other people's it. It isn't proper nor is it called for. Some customers will be loyal to the end, but I am sick of all the red tape and garbage we have to put up with. Higher rates for the same service? Do you think we are stupid?
DISCLAIMER
*PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS IS MY OWN OPINIONS. IT IS AIMED AT AT&T, AND THEIR INABILITY TO LEAVE A GOOD THING ALONE. IT IS NOT MEANT TO OFFEND US NORMAL FOLK THAT PAY RIDICULOUS PHONE BILLS EVERY MONTH. IF YOU ARE ONE OF THESE PEOPLE AND YOU FIND THIS OFFENSIVE I AM SORRY. I NEVER CUSSED OR SAID ANYTHING OFFENSIVE ABOUT OR TO AN INDIVIDUAL. *
*ANY INSTANCES OF "IT" THAT ARE EXTRAGRAMMATIC ARE A CUSS WORD IN DISGUISE AND IS SELF EXPLANATORY*
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO COMMENT WITH YOUR OWN OPINIONS THIS A JUDGEMENT FREE ZONE, SO PUT SOME FEELING IN IT. OCCASIONAL SWEARING IS TO BE EXPECTED (AS LONG AS IT IS OK WITHIN THE POLICIES OF XDA IF DOUBT DON'T DO IT.).
ANY HELP WITH ABOVE STATED ISSUE PLEASE LINK BELOW SO THE POST ENDS UP IN THE PROPER SECTION (TROUBLESHOOTING AND WHATNOT).
ANYTHING FOUND IN PARENTHESES WAS ADDED FOR CLARIFICATION PURPOSES, AND NOT MEANT TO DEMEAN ANYONE. THERE ARE PEOPLE WHO DO NOT KNOW THE TERM OF KNOWLEDGY.
IF ANYTHING IN THIS RANT HAS BEEN MISREPRESENTED OR IS INCORRECT PLEASE BRING TO MY ATTENTION.
THANK YOU TO ANYONE WHO ACTUALLY READ ALL THIS.
God bless and peace out,
Kelentaria
I switched to AT&T because of direcTV unlimited (saves me 15 bucks a month from what I was paying). I don't really care much about having root access, but I do care about being able to erase the bloat on the phone. Bloat should be optional software, not burned into the OS. Look at Windows for a PC. If you don't want an app that came preloaded, you simply uninstall it. How is that even legal to have software stuck on your phone, which you have no idea what it is doing in the background and also claim you have 32gigs of storage, but you actually only have 19?
I see some of your points, but the whole rooting thing will be an uphill battle. Each company is required by law to patch exploits that allow the system to be compromised. Unless Google makes root access standard (meaning easily unlocked with an app etc) you won't see it again , and if you do, rarely.
I could forgive them for the root issue, but not for the bloat, lack of WiFi calling on android devices, etc.
Your points and opinion is well taken here as a fellow ATT user. We won't even get Samsung to move on rooting and bootloader unlocking since they're path is the business level users. That's mostly to do with all of us modder folks being in the small minority when it comes to purchasing their phones. There should be an option to unlock the bootloader from them directly. Basically them allowing us to either choose to void our warranty to unlock the bootloader which relieves them of the responsibility of folks blaming them for their choice of modding the phone. Similar to the HTC process. But again this is my opinion. ATT on the other hand has been a constant pain with not being consumer friendly for the last 4 years from my guestimation.
psufan5 said:
I switched to AT&T because of direcTV unlimited (saves me 15 bucks a month from what I was paying). I don't really care much about having root access, but I do care about being able to erase the bloat on the phone. Bloat should be optional software, not burned into the OS. Look at Windows for a PC. If you don't want an app that came preloaded, you simply uninstall it. How is that even legal to have software stuck on your phone, which you have no idea what it is doing in the background and also claim you have 32gigs of storage, but you actually only have 19?
I see some of your points, but the whole rooting thing will be an uphill battle. Each company is required by law to patch exploits that allow the system to be compromised. Unless Google makes root access standard (meaning easily unlocked with an app etc) you won't see it again , and if you do, rarely.
I could forgive them for the root issue, but not for the bloat, lack of WiFi calling on android devices, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suggest you try Package Disabler Pro, its a small price to pay but it works perfectly disabling bloat from Samsung devices. It is not root but at the very least it helps make touchwiz bearable.
---------- Post added at 02:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:54 PM ----------
I don't think there is a single ATT user that doesn't share your opinion but nowadays we all know what we are getting into with them. Only the Nexus line remains untouched but with the recent surge in mobile payment use the manufacturers are locking down phones harder than eve, one the plus side it helps maintain security and protect your hard earned money but sadly some sacrifices must be made. My only wish is that Samsung would finally see the light and at the very least give us the option of stock android in their devices, a tall order I know but one that would be met with enthusiasm.
glm0025 said:
I suggest you try Package Disabler Pro, its a small price to pay but it works perfectly disabling bloat from Samsung devices. It is not root but at the very least it helps make touchwiz bearable.
---------- Post added at 02:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:54 PM ----------
I don't think there is a single ATT user that doesn't share your opinion but nowadays we all know what we are getting into with them. Only the Nexus line remains untouched but with the recent surge in mobile payment use the manufacturers are locking down phones harder than eve, one the plus side it helps maintain security and protect your hard earned money but sadly some sacrifices must be made. My only wish is that Samsung would finally see the light and at the very least give us the option of stock android in their devices, a tall order I know but one that would be met with enthusiasm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive done that, but the bloat still takes up a huge chunk of space - the APKs are just disabled
there hasn't been a bootloader unlocked at&t galaxy since the S3. The S4 was bootloader locked, but anyone with AMDL firmware (the second OTA) could bypass the bootloader and load ROMs that way. Anyone that updated past that was stuck with bootstrapped ROMs. The S4 was never bootloader unlocked ever.
psufan5 said:
Ive done that, but the bloat still takes up a huge chunk of space - the APKs are just disabled
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooted or not, you wouldn't get that space back. The pre-installed crud is installed on the system partition which is a separate space from where user apps (and all data) are stored. If you rooted and deleted those apps, the space would just go unused. (And really, those apps don't take up much space in storage.)
On the other hand, there are things in the AT&T preload that can't be disabled. Some might be daemons that load before (and outside the scope of) android, and others are embedded deep into the existing modules (such as systemUI.) For example, AT&T still uses a variation of carrier IQ software for analytics.
However, even if you had root, you couldn't easily get rid of those things without completely changing the firmware to something else. Once you did that, you'd also lose AT&T variant specific things such as AT&T's implementation of VoLTE, video calling, etc. (Just because other firmware might support features by the same name, it doesn't mean that they'll work on AT&T's network.)
My biggest complaint these days with AT&T variants is that AT&T blocks important system updates. Even VERIZON has become better about releasing firmware updates and upgrades for android phones when compared to AT&T. (Verizon used to hold the crown of being the absolute LAST carrier to update their phones... but no more. Now AT&T clearly owns it.)
Here's the funny thing: AT&T claims that they are locking down bootloaders and such in order to have a higher level of security for business customers. Yet, by taking MONTHS longer to release firmware updates, AT&T phones are often vulnerable to malicious exploits long after those exploits have been fixed by Samsung/HTC/etc.
garyd9 said:
Rooted or not, you wouldn't get that space back. The pre-installed crud is installed on the system partition which is a separate space from where user apps (and all data) are stored. If you rooted and deleted those apps, the space would just go unused. (And really, those apps don't take up much space in storage.)
On the other hand, there are things in the AT&T preload that can't be disabled. Some might be daemons that load before (and outside the scope of) android, and others are embedded deep into the existing modules (such as systemUI.) For example, AT&T still uses a variation of carrier IQ software for analytics.
However, even if you had root, you couldn't easily get rid of those things without completely changing the firmware to something else. Once you did that, you'd also lose AT&T variant specific things such as AT&T's implementation of VoLTE, video calling, etc. (Just because other firmware might support features by the same name, it doesn't mean that they'll work on AT&T's network.)
My biggest complaint these days with AT&T variants is that AT&T blocks important system updates. Even VERIZON has become better about releasing firmware updates and upgrades for android phones when compared to AT&T. (Verizon used to hold the crown of being the absolute LAST carrier to update their phones... but no more. Now AT&T clearly owns it.)
Here's the funny thing: AT&T claims that they are locking down bootloaders and such in order to have a higher level of security for business customers. Yet, by taking MONTHS longer to release firmware updates, AT&T phones are often vulnerable to malicious exploits long after those exploits have been fixed by Samsung/HTC/etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bootloader is locked down for one reason - stop tethering on unlimited plans.
Thats about it.
psufan5 said:
Bootloader is locked down for one reason - stop tethering on unlimited plans.
Thats about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are misinformed.
I completely agree that the situation sucks. I know that this will fall over into the Note 6, and that saddens me. That is why I set up camp on the Apple side of the fence. They are always hacking into ios somehow (no fragmentation i guess?), and the OS, while still not as open as Android has matured a little. I do miss Android, but Samsung was my home, and it isn't easy switching to another OEM when their hardware designs are so different (no physical home button).
I happen to work for Sprint (for the time being), and the prices are better, but our systems suck, and our business practices are kind of shady. Hopefully I don't get into any trouble for this, but customers deserve to know the whole story. Example: a gentleman came in to get a new sim card for his S4 Mini. Now with at&t, you just go get a sim card, and all you have to worry about is standard/micro/nano. With Sprint, however, each size sim card has a wide variety of skus (barcodes), and we use a tool to see which ones are compatible with the device in question. In this guy's case, Sprint had discontinued the only sim card that would work with his phone.
To put it plainly, we force ultimatums on our customers; buy another phone, or do without. I'm actually ashamed to work for this company.
What sickens me is that they disable perfectly fine features to replace them with their crapware. I like their network coverage, but I'm really doubtful if I would/should stay with At&t anymore. I personally don't care much about the bootloader, but the fact that they are doing this sort of thing without facing any sort of push-back, is what annoys me.
sireniankyle said:
I completely agree that the situation sucks. I know that this will fall over into the Note 6, and that saddens me. That is why I set up camp on the Apple side of the fence. They are always hacking into ios somehow (no fragmentation i guess?), and the OS, while still not as open as Android has matured a little. I do miss Android, but Samsung was my home, and it isn't easy switching to another OEM when their hardware designs are so different (no physical home button).
I happen to work for Sprint (for the time being), and the prices are better, but our systems suck, and our business practices are kind of shady. Hopefully I don't get into any trouble for this, but customers deserve to know the whole story. Example: a gentleman came in to get a new sim card for his S4 Mini. Now with at&t, you just go get a sim card, and all you have to worry about is standard/micro/nano. With Sprint, however, each size sim card has a wide variety of skus (barcodes), and we use a tool to see which ones are compatible with the device in question. In this guy's case, Sprint had discontinued the only sim card that would work with his phone.
To put it plainly, we force ultimatums on our customers; buy another phone, or do without. I'm actually ashamed to work for this company.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get what you are saying 100% but the only problem for me is that a locked down Android device does more than a jailbreaked iPhone any day of the week.,at the end of the day Android is still more open than IOS. As of right now Marshmallow has proven good enough for me that I'm not missing root or custom roms, that I would root and unlock if I had the chance you better believe it but even 6.0 Touchwiz is bearable right now.
glm0025 said:
I get what you are saying 100% but the only problem for me is that a locked down Android device does more than a jailbreaked iPhone any day of the week.,at the end of the day Android is still more open than IOS. As of right now Marshmallow has proven good enough for me that I'm not missing root or custom roms, that I would root and unlock if I had the chance you better believe it but even 6.0 Touchwiz is bearable right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It heavily depends on how well you know Cydia. . You can change everything about the layout in an iphone through winterboard or dreamboard. You can customize power options, and assign on screen and button shortcuts no matter where you are on the device (app, home screen, locked). Ad blocker, free spotify premium, a youtube downloader built into youtube, custom carrier logos, system wide night mode, keyboard sub symbols, finger print locked apps, remove the media cap in imessage or text messages, enable zedge ringtone downloads, kill all background apps, pop out video for any app, and custom folder sizes.
I can agree that a few of those are just catching up with Android, but a system wide on or off wifi ad blocker is something that only root can do. There are some things, like the no media cap in messages, that even a rooted android device can't technically do (depends on the carrier I suppose), because they don't go through Apple servers.
This isn't me crapping on Android. I love Android. I just needed a place to hold up until Samsung gets it together. I refuse to buy their locked up garbage anymore. The htc 10 is looking pretty good, too, but I was hoping for something with amoled.
Just so everyone is clear, we dont discuss piracy or fraud or such on XDA.
App developers work hard for their money, trust me it is hard to earn a living at 99cents a pop. Lets support our developers instead of supporting theft.
You're dumb. You're *****ing about a $600 term fee which is impossible for a single line. Buy your phone international or unlocked if this is such an issue for you and stop whining. The ATT model of phones are NOT for power users. Plain and simple. I'm surprised so many people are taking the time to read you *****ing.
This post is so funny...
You are all over the place with your words, your thoughts and your anger.
Why would you purchase the S7 on AT&T if you already knew all of this?
Especially if this has already happened to you with your Note 4?
End of the day, most of the customers who use AT&T have no idea about root. They have no care or concern about these things.
People like us, on XDA, who love to root and customize our phones have to understand that there is a paradigm shift in Android (particularly in regards to Samsung devices) that focuses on security rather than customization. Especially when dealing with Carrier phones. The bloat, the locked bootloader, the restrictions all have their reasons for existing.
Especially when Samsung is amidst a global (albeit slow) roll out of Samsung Pay. Trying to align themselves ever so closely with Apple in terms of quality and brand recognition.
Samsung Pay will NEVER work on a rooted phone, EVER! Doesn't matter if you restore stock firmware etc...
Carriers also have their reasons as well...
There are plenty of reasons why they both do it, most of which I don't want to sit here and write out one by one. Like you said in your post... Google it.
End of the day, if you want to root or customize your device then you should do your research before dropping $700+ on a phone.
Plenty of bloat free, bootloader unlocked, international and non carrier phones available for you to achieve root and enjoy Android.
Coming on here and posting a wall of whine just makes you look silly and childish.
Yes, it sucks... I share your annoyance as I'm sure many other AT&T/XDA members do as well - for years now.
End of the day, these mega corporations don't care about you or what makes you happy. It's a business, their business, deal with it. We all have to... If you want to protest, protest with your wallet.
HNIC215 said:
Samsung Pay will NEVER work on a rooted phone, EVER! Doesn't matter if you restore stock firmware etc...
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While I tend to agree with the majority of your post, I think this one statement I quoted might be a bit too absolute.
My understanding of SPay is that it relies on the KNOX fuse to determine if a phone is modified. If true, then if an exploit is discovered and implemented which grants root without tripping KNOX, then SPay could possibly work on a rooted device. (Hiding root is doable, and supersu has been playing the cat/mouse game with Android Pay for several months on this...)
The galaxy S6 was rootable without tripping KNOX when it was initially released...
Of course, it's possible that there's something in the samsung firmware that will immediately trip KNOX if root is even detected. If so, it's something new that hasn't been there before. Previously, tripping KNOX required an action at the bootloader level - and usually occurred when an image not signed by samsung was flashed via ODIN.
Moving slightly off topic...
The problem, in my opinion, isn't that root can't be gained. There are plenty of exploits for gaining privileges that either Samsung takes too long to patch, or that the carriers (specifically AT&T) take too long to release the patches for. (AT&T is already 2 months behind on the S7's security patches. Those are patches for security concerns that are now publicly announced and should be easily exploited by reverse engineering the fixes that google publishes.)
The real problem is that people who would develop and publish a root method for hobbyists don't care anymore. Those people aren't going to buy a bootloader locked S7. Either they'll buy a different phone entirely (from a manufacturer that's more dev friendly), or they'll buy a non-carrier model that isn't bootloader locked. (Actually, there's another group, but it's very small: Industry insiders who are constrained by legal agreements (such as NDA's) preventing them from releasing anything they might come up with.)
garyd9 said:
While I tend to agree with the majority of your post, I think this one statement I quoted might be a bit too absolute.
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That's what a Samsung Rep told me when I had the international Note 5 and wanted to know if I would be able to use Samsung Pay here in the states.
First, they said Samsung Pay would have to be available in the device's country of origin.
Second, they said the device can NEVER be rooted. If the device is rooted, it will NEVER be able to run Samsung Pay on it for the remainder of its life. Regardless if you restore with stock firmware and unroot.
Which makes sense actually when you think about it.
Apple is and has been synonymous with security and safety - in general but especially in regards to Apple Pay.
Samsung has always been considered the "Apple" or "iPhone" of the Android world - this statement holds true now more than ever before.
With Samsung Pay being released globally (slowly but surely)... Samsung will not risk the security of their platform by any means at all.
Letting users gain root access to their devices can potentially expose parts of their secure Samsung Pay platform and risk a major security or privacy incident that would lead to global fallout regardless of where the incident took place.
They will never allow this - especially with the progress they have made over the years to build a premium brand.
With the S7 and S7 Edge - they further that tradition and bring more security than ever.
Don't take my word for it...
Samsung Knox recognised as the strongest mobile security platform
Samsung has received strongest ratings for its mobile security platform Knox in areas including authentication methods, encryption management, jailbreak or root protection and application vetting.
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The latest version of Knox is currently available for Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge and optimised for Android 6.0 Marshmallow.
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According to a report, Mobile Device Security: A comparison of Platforms by renowned market analyst firm Gartner, Samsung's latest security platform Knox version 2.6 got the most strong ratings for any mobile security platform. The firm analysed the core OS security features built into a total of 12 mobile device platforms as well as enterprise management capabilities. Samsung also managed to gain leadership in mobile security market though Knox, coupled with Samsung Pay.
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Source:
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/samsung-knox-recognised-strongest-mobile-security-platform-1554836
HNIC215 said:
That's what a Samsung Rep told me when I had the international Note 5 and wanted to know if I would be able to use Samsung Pay here in the states.
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Okay.. I wonder if he's related to one of the "samsung reps" that work in Best Buy stores.... or the ones that come visit AT&T stores on occasion. For the most part, they are really good in reciting the marketing material, but when it comes to details, they are clueless. In fact, at least as bad as Radio Shack sales people.
"KNOX" is a confusing term.
First, there's "KNOX" as a software security suite that is very closely related to what google calls "Android for Work." Both are basically a "secure" and private container/sandbox. The idea is that you take a personal smartphone to work and can run "work" apps that are completely sandboxes from personal apps. This has nothing whatsoever to do with SPay. SPay doesn't make use of this element of KNOX.
KNOX is also the name of a fuse in the device (which is likely a qualcomm "qfuse" in the SD820 S7's) that trips when the bootloader detects an unsigned kernel/recovery. _THIS_ is the KNOX that relates to SPay. Real human beings (not samsung sales or support reps) have confirmed that once the KNOX fuse is tripped, it prevents SPay from working. (It also prevents KNOX, the software suite mentioned above, from working.)
Now I need to express things in strange ways, and I hope you'll forgive the odd phrasing:
As far as devs on XDA and other sites similar to XDA have been able to determine, "root" does not prevent SPay from functioning. In fact, my understanding is that there are people who rooted their Galaxy S6 without tripping the KNOX fuse, later reverted to factory firmware, allowed the phone to OTA to newer firmware that included SPay, and SPay worked fine. However, there are others who have tripped the KNOX fuse while rooted who can no longer use SPay. The key here is that KNOX fuse...
I can say with a very large degree of confidence that SPay will work just fine if you happened to had a device that somehow had a working "su" binary in the path AND KNOX wasn't tripped. That might happen if the bootloader was designed to not trip KNOX... such as someone who developed software for preloads might have on a test device. Based only on information in the public domain, it might also happen if an exploit was found that didn't require flashing a custom kernel, recovery, etc.
It's POSSIBLE, and I actually don't know this, that the firmware released on these devices publicly has code to force tripping the KNOX fuse if root is detected. The galaxy S6 did NOT have this mechanism when towel root (or whatever root method it was) worked on it. I somehow doubt that samsung would have added this to the firmware, as there's too great a chance for a false positive, and tripping that KNOX flag is permanent.
In android user terms, a "rooted" device is merely a device that has a working suid "su" binary in the path owned by the 'root' user. (Later versions of android also require some sepolicy changes, but that's outside the scope of this thread.) That binary might be on /system or it might be in the kernel partition. However, neither is a permanent change to the device, and therefore it can be removed with no trace.
garyd9 said:
Okay.. I wonder if he's related to one of the "samsung reps" that work in Best Buy stores.... or the ones that come visit AT&T stores on occasion. For the most part, they are really good in reciting the marketing material, but when it comes to details, they are clueless. In fact, at least as bad as Radio Shack sales people.
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No this wasn't in person... Nor was it someone from the states (from what I could tell).
It was with a technician over the phone because the first customer service rep had no idea - so she transferred me to a technician.
Regardless, there is no point in discussing this endlessly.
There are already plenty of folks out there who are trying to solve this issue, only time will tell if they can succeed.
Let's see what happens.