Hoping to get a Note and can't decide to wait for T-Mobile to get it (? months) or buy ATT now and do the steps to use T-mobile including 4G. How tricky and risky are these steps? I managed to root a Samsung ~year ago but the Note is worth 5x that phone. Also, if I use Gingerbread now, will ICS upgrade while maintaining 4G ablity be easy enough? Appreciate the advice.
I am on atta so I dont have exp on tmobile but if you go to rootgalaxynote.com you will see step by step guide and it looks easy just like flashing custom roms. just follow the instructions and you should be fine. I have flashed so many custom roms since jan of this year and never had any problem and my note is better than ever.
for official ics update, you will have to revert back to stock rom before you can upgrade. you will find this process also in develop section. you will probably have to flash tmobile again but it will be easy for you by then. very easy I must say.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium
xdafangirl said:
Hoping to get a Note and can't decide to wait for T-Mobile to get it (? months) or buy ATT now and do the steps to use T-mobile including 4G. How tricky and risky are these steps? I managed to root a Samsung ~year ago but the Note is worth 5x that phone. Also, if I use Gingerbread now, will ICS upgrade while maintaining 4G ablity be easy enough? Appreciate the advice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, I am on t mobile.
Here is the thing. The T-Mobile modem is easy to flash, true. However its reliability is less than you would see on T-Mobile phone (meaning some complain of weaker signal and data connection gets dropped very often with the only work around disconnecting data and reconnecting).
I personally never had dropped calls by the way but some people complain.
If you choose to stay on att modem then you get reliable 100 kbps which is pretty slow for most tasks but works fine for emails and light web browsing.
There are some tweaks that purportedly make it more stable but those can only be done on stock rooms and not on cm9 or aokp which are the most popular.
To make a long story short - it is kind of a pain on both gb and ics. They say T-Mobile is switching to 1900 band in a few months and then connection on stock att modem should improve- but there is a risk there too. So if you can wait I think T-Mobile one should be better.
It is a great phone and those of us who had it from day one are happy campers for most part. But if you can wait why not get the right one?
And then again what is the right one? With new processors already announced and galaxy siii coming soon many will say that you should just get a newer phone. But I am perfectly happy with the note and if you get the one with perfect connection that would be quite great (in my opinion). T-Mobile always takes longer to get new phones so on T-Mobile side the note will be quite big news for some time.
By the way I just posted some related questions in a neighboring thread - hoping to get some questions answered myself
Wow just read in general section that galaxy siii is coming in June and note on July 11th. This is for T-Mobile - so if this is true then you have quite a few excellent choices.
very helpful...
Thanks, I appreciate the info in all of the replies. I'm afraid I already caved and bought a used one on ebay today! I have been "suffering" with a quite tiny screen on an old Symbian phone!! I also saw the July 11 date for the Note arriving to T-mobile but I'm very anti-contract -- can't stomach the way the providers soak so much $$ from contract customers. It just seemed that the price on T-Mobile Notes would be elevated for a while and might take a few more weeks beyond July 11 before there would be plenty of used ones to pick from on ebay. . So I will hope for the best with flashing the T-mobile modem on ATT version.
xdafangirl said:
Thanks, I appreciate the info in all of the replies. I'm afraid I already caved and bought a used one on ebay today! I have been "suffering" with a quite tiny screen on an old Symbian phone!! I also saw the July 11 date for the Note arriving to T-mobile but I'm very anti-contract -- can't stomach the way the providers soak so much $$ from contract customers. It just seemed that the price on T-Mobile Notes would be elevated for a while and might take a few more weeks beyond July 11 before there would be plenty of used ones to pick from on ebay. . So I will hope for the best with flashing the T-mobile modem on ATT version.
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Click to collapse
Good choice. I was trying to be overly critical, but I guess my (perhaps somewhat hidden) point was that it's a great phone - with a lot of enthusiasm driving higher than usual software development for such a "niche" device.
I've read somewhere today that t-mobile versions of any phones are generally more buggy, so may not be worth it. And I'm sure that as soon as t-mobile phone reaches the hands of our developers the modem will be available for our use as well. Not only that, but also it is likely that by then official Ice Cream Sandwich will be available and kernel modifications will result in even greater roms.
Here is the link to Carrier Unlock discussion - I paid $25 myself, though some people used cheaper services I guess. You need to do that before your SIM will work.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1530863
While loading modems is easy once everything is set up, you need to root the phone and load cwm recovery which you then use to load the modem.
This helpful thread is for rooting a device and loading CWM without increasing flash counter -
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1518962
I'm posting this here because the Note II is a prime example, but we could also look to the Galaxy Nexus, which is two software versions behind and can't really even be called a Nexus at this point.
I helped my boss set up a Note II and was showing him some features I thought he would like. The first one was the "blocking mode" (do not disturb), which my AT&T model has, as does the International model. It was absent. It first, I thought I just wasn't seeing it or it was moved, but a google search confirmed my fears. I learned later that Verizon removed this because they have a competing service.
Then, I was looking for the S Planner widget (the full screen calendar version) because, as an executive, it was a good fit for him. It was also missing. I'm still baffled by that one.
There is also the branding, including the home button. Verizon seems to treat their phones like Stock Cars these days. The bloat, the missing features (HTC Hub on HTC devices), the numerous modifications, etc.
AT&T is far from perfect. They put a lot of bloat on their phones. But out of all of the Android phones I have bought in the last few years (since they restored "unknown Sources"), I have not noticed them actually removing a lot of features. They did remove screen modes from their version of the GSIII, which was confusing, but otherwise they have just been content with adding bloat that you can disable.
I know Verizon has great coverage, but does it ever really bother you that they remove/modify so much functionality on the phone? Sound off in my poll. I'm curious if I'm the only one who hates Verizon for this. To me, it wouldn't even feel like my phone. It would feel like Verizon's.
TLDR
Removed features (blocking mode, S Planner Widget)
Nascar envy (Logos everywhere)
Severely delayed updates
It sucks but what you gonna do, you know? It's VZW.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
Use to bother me until I learned to unlock and root. Had the gnex prior to the GN II and actually forgot what stock was like until I had to re lock and unroot to sell it. Forgot how limited the phone was.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
koreankabachy said:
Use to bother me until I learned to unlock and root. Had the gnex prior to the GN II and actually forgot what stock was like until I had to re lock and unroot to sell it. Forgot how limited the phone was.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't it say something when the first thing you have to do with your new phone is root it and install your own software, though?
I just bought an Optimus G from AT&T. It had a lot of bloat, but I disabled it all and I'm happy with it otherwise. At least all of the intended features are there.
greyhulk said:
I'm posting this here because the Note II is a prime example, but we could also look to the Galaxy Nexus, which is two software versions behind and can't really even be called a Nexus at this point.
I helped my boss set up a Note II and was showing him some features I thought he would like. The first one was the "blocking mode" (do not disturb), which my AT&T model has, as does the International model. It was absent. It first, I thought I just wasn't seeing it or it was moved, but a google search confirmed my fears. I learned later that Verizon removed this because they have a competing service.
Then, I was looking for the S Planner widget (the full screen calendar version) because, as an executive, it was a good fit for him. It was also missing. I'm still baffled by that one.
There is also the branding, including the home button. Verizon seems to treat their phones like Stock Cars these days. The bloat, the missing features (HTC Hub on HTC devices), the numerous modifications, etc.
AT&T is far from perfect. They put a lot of bloat on their phones. But out of all of the Android phones I have bought in the last few years (since they restored "unknown Sources"), I have not noticed them actually removing a lot of features. They did remove screen modes from their version of the GSIII, which was confusing, but otherwise they have just been content with adding bloat that you can disable.
I know Verizon has great coverage, but does it ever really bother you that they remove/modify so much functionality on the phone? Sound off in my poll. I'm curious if I'm the only one who hates Verizon for this. To me, it wouldn't even feel like my phone. It would feel like Verizon's.
TLDR
Removed features (blocking mode, S Planner Widget)
Nascar envy (Logos everywhere)
Severely delayed updates
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Going off of your list, because yeah it was tl;dr:
Splanner widget might just be broken (its in the rom). Blocking mode doesn't work on Verizon (afaik).
Logos do suck. Samsung is slow on updates already.
Also, I compiled 4.2.1 for my Gnex. I still call it a Nexus.
You know what, I use to be a strong and proud supporter of VZW. I've been with this company for over 10 years now and over the last 5 years i have progressively become more and more displeased with my service. Yes there coverage is the best in the nation. However, in my case i live in NJ, all 4 major cell phone providers cover the entire state of NJ. I hardly ever leave this state unless its going to one of the surrounding cities (NYC PHL DC) and those places are all covered by all major cellphone providers.
With all the limitations VZW puts on the phones, I do believe I will be changing carriers in 2 years (as i just upgraded both my lines tot he note 2). As of now, i want to kick my own butt for upgrading/extending my contract i should of switched when i had the chance.
I get what your saying and it pissed me off on those same exact points. I decided to live with it because I would have rooted for other mods anyway eventually, but probably not as fast. I couldn't wait to get the note 2 and decided to upgrade instead of waiting a few months and going to another carrier. Since this phone is worldwide I'm not worried about updates. I just won't be waiting for Verizon. I think I'll be content for longer with this phone and when I want the next big thing I'll wait till my contract is completely up and switch carriers. Sprint just got lte here so maybe it will be mature in a couple years.
Sent from my Note2 running cleanrom 4
Do you hate what AT&T does to your phones? My phone came with multi-window and didn't need to wait for an update to enable it. Maybe you should go complain to AT&T for not giving you multi-window at launch.
S-Planner, as mentioned is in the ROM, but not functional, and blocking mode, even when enabled, doesn't work. It's entirely possible that with an OTA, S-Planner will be fixed. Blocking mode may be network related. You know, since AT&T is GSM and Verizon is CDMA, but I doubt you've given that any thought.
Also, delayed updates? Yes, the Nexus has delayed updates, but it is still ahead of most other devices. Also, how long does AT&T take to update phones? You don't have a lot of room to talk there because they aren't so great in that department themselves. How long did the Infuse 4G take to get Gingerbread?
Does it suck, a little bit, but it's nothing to go and create a whining post about, especially if you don't even own the phone.
imnuts said:
Do you hate what AT&T does to your phones? My phone came with multi-window and didn't need to wait for an update to enable it. Maybe you should go complain to AT&T for not giving you multi-window at launch.
S-Planner, as mentioned is in the ROM, but not functional, and blocking mode, even when enabled, doesn't work. It's entirely possible that with an OTA, S-Planner will be fixed. Blocking mode may be network related. You know, since AT&T is GSM and Verizon is CDMA, but I doubt you've given that any thought.
Also, delayed updates? Yes, the Nexus has delayed updates, but it is still ahead of most other devices. Also, how long does AT&T take to update phones? You don't have a lot of room to talk there because they aren't so great in that department themselves. How long did the Infuse 4G take to get Gingerbread?
Does it suck, a little bit, but it's nothing to go and create a whining post about, especially if you don't even own the phone.
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Click to collapse
Okay, you need to chill out. This isn't a "Verizon vs AT&T" thread. I acknowledged that AT&T was far from perfect. It is my opinion, however, that Verizon has been much worse in this area lately. My experience being based on several years of service with both providers.
My role in my company puts me in a unique position to use phones from all of the carriers, so yes, I do have room to talk. I also have years of experience in mobility. I'm not "whining". I was asking for feedback from the community.
I suggest you check your attitude. This thread wasn't a personal attack against you or any other Verizon customer.
greyhulk said:
Okay, you need to chill out. This isn't a "Vegas rizon vs AT&T" thread. I acknowledged that AT&T was far from perfect. It is my opinion, however, that Verizon has been much worse in this area lately. My experience being based on several years of service with both providers.
My role in my company puts me in a unique position to use phones from all of the carriers, so yes, I do have room to talk. I also have years of experience in mobility. I'm not "whining". I was asking for feedback from the community.
I suggest you check your attitude. This thread wasn't a personal attack against you or any other Verizon customer.
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Click to collapse
At least Verizon has never disabled sideloading. Carriers suck. All of them.
My post wasn't a personal attack, and really has the same basic tone as your OP. Your OP is essentially "VZW sux, let's all go to AT&T", I'm pointing out that AT&T isn't really all that much better, but you don't see people coming into AT&T forums and saying "AT&T sux, lets go to VZW". You pointed out a bunch of faults with Verizon, but seem to forget issues with AT&T. Their track record for OTA updates isn't that much better than VZW, significantly worse in some instances. How about network coverage? They do a good job of screwing their users on plans and plan features too. Your phone supports video chat over cellular, but your data plan doesn't. How is that different from removing/limiting software? Maybe I'll go create a thread in the AT&T Note 2 forum to voice all my complaints with AT&T service then...
imnuts said:
My post wasn't a personal attack, and really has the same basic tone as your OP. Your OP is essentially "VZW sux, let's all go to AT&T", I'm pointing out that AT&T isn't really all that much better, but you don't see people coming into AT&T forums and saying "AT&T sux, lets go to VZW". You pointed out a bunch of faults with Verizon, but seem to forget issues with AT&T. Their track record for OTA updates isn't that much better than VZW, significantly worse in some instances. How about network coverage? They do a good job of screwing their users on plans and plan features too. Your phone supports video chat over cellular, but your data plan doesn't. How is that different from removing/limiting software? Maybe I'll go create a thread in the AT&T Note 2 forum to voice all my complaints with AT&T service then...
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Click to collapse
No, YOU INTERPRETED my thread as "VZW sux, let's all go to AT&T". You should probably take a moment to recognize that.
I'm not advocating for any carrier. I would prefer unlocked devices, if not for the lack of LTE. When AT&T had side-loading blocked, I hated them for it and yes, the Facetime over Cellular was a dik move, too.
But I also love Smartphones and these days, AT&T does much less damage to the device than Verizon (T-Mobile and Sprint treat them the best) and it's something I'm hoping that AT&T doesn't suddenly decide is okay (again).
Getting my hands on the Verizon Note II really drove it all home for me, thus my post here in the Verizon Note forums asking how other users felt about it.
greyhulk said:
Removed features (blocking mode, S Planner Widget)
Nascar envy (Logos everywhere)
Severely delayed updates
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In regards to this list
Dont care cause I wouldnt use these things.
the home button logo is annoying
AOSP roms are better than stock anyway.
Coverage and reliability of the network far outweigh the downside of an annoying logo. I wanted to switch to Tmobile cause of their pricing but tried a month and coverage was simply not good enough. Friends in my area that have ATT and Sprint complain about coverage all the time. In the end I agree with Adryn. All the carriers blow donkey. For me the least of the evils is VZW.
greyhulk said:
No, YOU INTERPRETED my thread as "VZW sux, let's all go to AT&T". You should probably take a moment to recognize that.
I'm not advocating for any carrier. I would prefer unlocked devices, if not for the lack of LTE. When AT&T had side-loading blocked, I hated them for it and yes, the Facetime over Cellular was a dik move, too.
But I also love Smartphones and these days, AT&T does much less damage to the device than Verizon (T-Mobile and Sprint treat them the best) and it's something I'm hoping that AT&T doesn't suddenly decide is okay (again).
Getting my hands on the Verizon Note II really drove it all home for me, thus my post here in the Verizon Note forums asking how other users felt about it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I interpreted your post to be the same as Imnuts mentioned.
So either your worded it poorly, or there is something in the water.
Clearly you are angry at Verizon and felt the need to vent. Yeah, I am not too pleased with them as well, but so be it. You make it sound like everything is a constant measured response to screw people. Blocking Mode wasn't blocked because of a competing service. It just doesn't work. Do you ask Samsung to recode it to be removed, or just hide it? I doubt they cared. They just told Samsung to deal with it. You can bring it back. It doesn't work on Verizon though. Splanner widget is probably an oversight, and time will tell.
HTC Hub isn't on devices because they SHUT DOWN THE SERVICE. https://www.htcsense.com/
Otherwise, who knows, maybe it would be there on future devices. That service too didn't entirely work right on Verizon and was very limited to the devices it supported everywhere else.
greyhulk said:
No, YOU INTERPRETED my thread as "VZW sux, let's all go to AT&T". You should probably take a moment to recognize that.
I'm not advocating for any carrier. I would prefer unlocked devices, if not for the lack of LTE. When AT&T had side-loading blocked, I hated them for it and yes, the Facetime over Cellular was a dik move, too.
But I also love Smartphones and these days, AT&T does much less damage to the device than Verizon (T-Mobile and Sprint treat them the best) and it's something I'm hoping that AT&T doesn't suddenly decide is okay (again).
Getting my hands on the Verizon Note II really drove it all home for me, thus my post here in the Verizon Note forums asking how other users felt about it.
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Click to collapse
Sorry bro but I'm not sure this thread was necessary, and it was obviously not well received. Stick to the forums that have to do with your device.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
iphoneislame said:
Sorry bro but I'm not sure this thread was necessary, and it was obviously not well received. Stick to the forums that have to do with your device.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
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Click to collapse
I'm not sure your post was necessary, either. How about if I just post where I want, mmkay?
Sent from my LG-E970 using Tapatalk 2
greyhulk said:
I'm not sure your post was necessary, either. How about if I just post where I want, mmkay?
Sent from my LG-E970 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm reminded of a book....
How to Win Friends & Influence People
I'm thinking about going vzw and get a note 2... Or should I go att? :/
Sent from my EVO LTE using CMX
greyhulk said:
I'm not sure your post was necessary, either. How about if I just post where I want, mmkay?
Sent from my LG-E970 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think his post did seem necessary since you don't seem to get it. You point out good things about Att and trashed VZW. So others did the opposite. Everyone seems to have read your post that way. Perhaps you need to learn how to articulate your thoughts better.
OldManJames said:
I think his post did seem necessary since you don't seem to get it. You point out good things about Att and trashed VZW. So others did the opposite. Everyone seems to have read your post that way. Perhaps you need to learn how to articulate your thoughts better.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, because the way everyone READ my post (I'm pretty sure you mean "interpreted") is my fault. I can't control when Verizon fanboys decide to be defensive. I posted a neutral poll with feedback from my experiences. I'm not the one trolling here. I suppose it's just easier to troll than to actually read my post and think for yourself.
Sent from my LG-E970 using Tapatalk 2
Got a dying NoteII (need to replace the USB port and apparently as of yesterday, re-flash the PIT)... so for the moment I have no phone and I'm going into withdrawal
I've got an upgrade available on Verizon, so I'll get a phone through there, but I'm trying to find something that's flashable or at least rootable, ideally QHD (1440x2560), MicroSD, removable battery.
Any 'phablet' class, 5.3"++, phones on verizon that are rootable/flashable, that have at least two of those three things? SD slot I can live without if I can get 64GB internal memory or higher, but there doesn't seem to be much of that on verizon, and less and less rootable, too
At the moment I'm leaning to the nexus 6 or Note 3, those seem to be the most recent/'best' phones that I can get at the moment, but I'm hoping there's some I've missed, that are better!
Any suggestions, anyone?
Haven't been able to find a list of what Verizon phones are rooted/romable, but apparently the LG V10 is as of this week, so I'm likely going with that, unless anyone has any better suggestions?
christiebunny said:
Haven't been able to find a list of what Verizon phones are rooted/romable, but apparently the LG V10 is as of this week, so I'm likely going with that, unless anyone has any better suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on my experience, btw, if you're having PIT issues - like, recovery is throwing up errors about unable to mount partitions - then your eMMC is hosed. Happened to me recently and took me forever to realize it wasn't something I could fix in software. If the display on your phone is in decent shape, though, someone with a cracked/burned-in screen would probably love it, and at least earn you some cash towards a newer phone.
Sadly, the selection of phones for Verizon is pretty sparse. Your best bet these days is buying one outright - Moto X Pure, N6P, international version of the S7/S7 Edge etc - so that bootloader and rooting are never an issue, plus not dealing with Verizon bloatware. Financing outside of Verizon is the way to go, and at that point, you might as well look at an MVNO with good coverage and cheaper rates on data.
Ended up getting the V10, for ~$400 ($18/mo), should be here by morning!
I think the Nexus would have been the best choice, as it is not really a proprietary Verizon phone, but you can always return the V10 and say you did not like it.