I can't seem to find any legitimate way to root my G900A from AT&T.
I was with Sprint with my S4, and never had an issue. I made the switch to AT&T before buying the S5.. Was that mistake?
In all the threads I've combed through here there is one common, glaring, issue.. The G900A is not included in the supported devices.
Am I missing something obvious or am I screwed? Or am I just looking too soon?
Already gave the S4 to my daughter.
Thanks for any information or insight.
ACiD0N said:
I can't seem to find any legitimate way to root my G900A from AT&T.
I was with Sprint with my S4, and never had an issue. I made the switch to AT&T before buying the S5.. Was that mistake?
In all the threads I've combed through here there is one common, glaring, issue.. The G900A is not included in the supported devices.
Am I missing something obvious or am I screwed? Or am I just looking too soon?
Already gave the S4 to my daughter.
Thanks for any information or insight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is a universal root method.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2717061
Try to talk with a recovery developer to check your partition table.
(Other variant may have matching partition table with your variant)
I guess, @PlayfulGod can help you with it.
ACiD0N said:
I can't seem to find any legitimate way to root my G900A from AT&T.
I was with Sprint with my S4, and never had an issue. I made the switch to AT&T before buying the S5.. Was that mistake?
In all the threads I've combed through here there is one common, glaring, issue.. The G900A is not included in the supported devices.
Am I missing something obvious or am I screwed? Or am I just looking too soon?
Already gave the S4 to my daughter.
Thanks for any information or insight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SandeepEmekar said:
Here is a universal root method.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2717061
Try to talk with a recovery developer to check your partition table.
(Other variant may have matching partition table with your variant)
I guess, @PlayfulGod can help you with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure eventually a root method will come about for that model. Unfortunately tho, the vzw & att models have a locked bootloader and most likely locked down with knox as well and currently no way to boot custom recoveries or kernels.
PlayfulGod said:
I'm sure eventually a root method will come about for that model. Unfortunately tho, the vzw & att models have a locked bootloader and most likely locked down with knox as well and currently no way to boot custom recoveries or kernels.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@PlayfulGod is absolutely right. Even if an exploit is found for the AT&T or Verizon models, it is unlikely that you'll ever have full root access - thanks to the combination of locked bootloaders, KNOX, and SELinux.
Check your contract - most carriers have a 14-day "buyer's remorse" period in which you can return your handset. You might be faced with a $35-$50 "restocking fee", but depending on how desperate you are for custom ROMs and/or Recovery, it may be worth it to you. Please note that your carrier may try everything they can to stop you from leaving (in terms of talking you out of it). Your contact with AT&T should also have a "back-out" period of 30 days (unless that's changed recently).
Couple other notes:
1) That's the primary reason I switched from AT&T to TMO when I jumped from the S4 to the S5 - I was sick of locked bootloaders. Otherwise, I really just like TMO a lot more as a company, including some of their political standpoints.
2) I've heard of several people now buying TMO S5's and taking them over to AT&T. It's a lot of money up front, but might be worth it to you.
Good luck.
Thanks guys
Thank you for the informative replies. They confirmed what I had already gathered, piece by piece, in a decent comprehensive manner so I appreciate it.
Unfortunately, this time around we gamed the system a bit and went in on this as a 'group' for the services and phones. As far as I can tell, as an individual, I don't have any options of returning the unit in favor of moving to another provider.
Besides that, I finally have good service where I live. I am in the middle of a city but my actual home was in a crap spot with Sprint. After doing research we found that we'd all have great service with AT&T. If the trade-off is no root, so be it I suppose. (Though I have heard that T-Mo has the same service in the same areas due to using the same connectivity)
The knox deal doesn't concern me so much.. This may be a bit cocky (and a little stupid), but I have yet to have to replace a galaxy since they started putting them out *knock on wood*. But it sounds like that's only one issue in a sea of others.
Long-winded story short, Thanks guys. I am much more informed on my situation than before. :good:
ACiD0N said:
I can't seem to find any legitimate way to root my G900A from AT&T.
I was with Sprint with my S4, and never had an issue. I made the switch to AT&T before buying the S5.. Was that mistake?
In all the threads I've combed through here there is one common, glaring, issue.. The G900A is not included in the supported devices.
Am I missing something obvious or am I screwed? Or am I just looking too soon?
Already gave the S4 to my daughter.
Thanks for any information or insight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I expressly bought a G900W8 model because of the locked bootloader issue with AT&T. I've come from Verizon on the S4, and I wasn't doing the whole locked thing again - it was annoying and I just wasn't going to have it. What I did was buy an S5 from AT&T on a $25/month installment plan, turn around and sold it on Swappa for full price, and bought an unlocked W8 model the same day. I payed virtually nothing except shipping, I get a nice unlocked phone ready for AOSP when it comes out, and I didn't have to pay the ridiculous $650 price for what would be essentially a developer unlocked phone.
If your phone is still new and you think you could sell it and get mint condition pricing on it, do your research on the G900T model. That's TMobile's phone, but it has an unlocked bootloader, can be rooted/flashed/whatever you like, and if I remember correctly (please someone correct me if I'm wrong), it works on all the bands that AT&T does and will be virtually the same as far as mobile data goes. If you already have your service activated on your current AT&T phone, you can literally just swap the SIM card out and you shouldn't have any issues after that. There might be a little caveat as far as having an AT&T SIM in a Tmo phone, but as far as I've read on the forum, this is very easy to get past; you may very well not have any problems whatsoever.
You could look for the W8 model, which wouldn't have any carrier branding on it, but those were hard to come by for me on Swappa, and the unlocked listing the main page gives you is for a phone that doesn't support 4G.
So like I said, if you think you could sell it, and you find a good listing on Swappa for an unlocked phone, I say go for it. Having an unlocked bootloader is going to put your device in a good place as far as updates go, and once developers start pushing out polished custom ROMs, you'll be happy to use your device for longer than the year's use that is generally expected.
Related
So my question is quite simple, and before I get flamed, yes I have tried searching. I don't think I'm typing the correct sequence of words if there is already something on this. I never post obviously, I normally creep and derive my answers that way. Obvious again that I've been here since 2012
My question is if there is a way / guide to overwrite/reprogram the phone with the AT&T firmware and software and replace the Verizon that is currently on the device. I brought the phone over from Verizon to AT&T and there are just a couple complications that are just a bother and Just over it.
I would appreciate any guidance and information any of you could provide on the subject.
RonniEdwards said:
So my question is quite simple, and before I get flamed, yes I have tried searching. I don't think I'm typing the correct sequence of words if there is already something on this. I never post obviously, I normally creep and derive my answers that way. Obvious again that I've been here since 2012
My question is if there is a way / guide to overwrite/reprogram the phone with the AT&T firmware and software and replace the Verizon that is currently on the device. I brought the phone over from Verizon to AT&T and there are just a couple complications that are just a bother and Just over it.
I would appreciate any guidance and information any of you could provide on the subject.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if you can from a user stand point but when I was shopping around t-mobile store told me they would copy their firmware onto the phone so I could try their network. You may need to go to a store and talk to someone.
Since Verizon is CDMA and AT&T is GSM, I am not sure a simple firmware update is all that is needed to switch.
supersnackbar said:
Since Verizon is CDMA and AT&T is GSM, I am not sure a simple firmware update is all that is needed to switch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's what I thought but they insisted they could do it. Maybe since there is a Sim slot it's easier on the the 3's.
Years ago you could almost swap sim cards and be good. Idk about it anymore. I think you would have to take all the system files/partitions and the radio and swap them for the carriers. Im sure someone else whos more, but i think it would be unreasonably hard to do.
Sent From My Galaxy Note 3
This thread is moving to T-Mobile, but the concept is the same for AT&T
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2582747
Sent from my Note 3 via Tapatalk
i believe that some services would work as the phone has some radios in it for the att bands, but you would be better off trading for an att version. swappa has stuff like that all the time to straight trade
Getting service to work and getting 4Glte was no issue. That just required me to manually input APNs that were AT&T specific and presto I have service and all that jazz. My issue is a couple of other small things that really aren't big hut just thst, annoying. That's why I was seeing about the software and firmware being flashed into the device.
Greetings, I can't seem to find a definite answer or guide to this. I have a sprint galaxy s4 and once my contract was up I was looking to get off sprint and onto another contract, looking at verizon as my friends happen with them. I know they both use cdma. If I have them unlock the phone, can it be brought over and used that easily? If not, what must I do? Custom root? Find a verizon s4 motherboard with clean esn? I'm willing to do it to not spend a few hundred bucks on a new phone. I'd liketo give it to my mother and get the s6 for myself when it comes out.
Man, I'm 0 for 2 here. Anything?
bump?
Another bump. Can anyone help me?
94 views, not a peep. I thought these forums were active and helpful? Perhaps not?
All of my research leads me to believe I'd need to get a verizon logicboard with a clean esn. Maybe I can trade for one, but I would like some confirmation before I spend the 80 bucks or so. Thanks.
Dabba87 said:
Greetings, I can't seem to find a definite answer or guide to this. I have a sprint galaxy s4 and once my contract was up I was looking to get off sprint and onto another contract, looking at verizon as my friends happen with them. I know they both use cdma. If I have them unlock the phone, can it be brought over and used that easily? If not, what must I do? Custom root? Find a verizon s4 motherboard with clean esn? I'm willing to do it to not spend a few hundred bucks on a new phone. I'd liketo give it to my mother and get the s6 for myself when it comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
is your phone still locked on sprint?
xDroidZz said:
is your phone still locked on sprint?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello DroidZ,
It is. I was planning to have them unlock it. But I heard that though both are CDMA, I wouldnt have full 4g with it. I was contemplating buying a verizon (or any other carrier's logic board that I would switch to) and sell my sprint board.
Of course I'd need a clean esn right?
Another bump. Does the lack of responses mean it's harder than a logical board swap?
bump again
Bump
You can use the Sprint S4 on Verizon, assuming it's possible for you to unlock it from Sprint's network, but LTE will never work. Verizon uses standard LTE frequencies (750 & 1700MHz) while Sprint uses "Extended PCS", i.e. Spark. Totally different technologies.
You'll need a new phone to take full advantage of Verizon infrastructure, which unfortunately means dealing with an encrypted (locked) bootloader.
Strephon Alkhalikoi said:
You can use the Sprint S4 on Verizon, assuming it's possible for you to unlock it from Sprint's network, but LTE will never work. Verizon uses standard LTE frequencies (750 & 1700MHz) while Sprint uses "Extended PCS", i.e. Spark. Totally different technologies.
You'll need a new phone to take full advantage of Verizon infrastructure, which unfortunately means dealing with an encrypted (locked) bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Greetings,
Does that mean swapping the logic board with a verizon version won't fix the LTE problem? So I'd get normal 4g? I suppose I could try it. Couldnt deal with 3G. I guess I'm asking if there are any parts I could swap out to fix the problem or if I'm just screwed.
Thanks man.
Dabba
If you have a Sprint phone, you cannot simply purchase a Verizon motherboard and replace the Sprint motherboard with it. Why it won't work is because the design of the two motherboards is sufficiently different that if you tried it the Verizon motherboard wouldn't fit in the midframe.
In simpler language, you're screwed. You need a new phone if you want LTE. Whether that is a new phone from Verizon or a used device off Swappa is irrelevant, so long as the MEID is clear.
Hmm, I didnt know the motherboards were actually different. That sucks, I assumed they were more like computers. Oh well, thanks for the info though, now I know!
Again, thanks a bunch
I've been an iPhone user for 5 years now. 3G and 5 versions. I am tired of iTunes I would also like to tinker a bit with my next phone. . I have used Linux as my main desktop os for a few years.
Anyways, I'm on a grandfathered unlimited data plan on att. My iphone 5 has no working power button, the mic is defective and the battery is worn.
I work in construction so i was considering the s5 for its dust rating and removable battery.
I spoke with tmobile today and they told me that any tmobile device, even if bought for full price new on amazon or best buy would be locked to tmobile service. They informed me I would need service with them in order to unlock. If that's the case it rules out buying a tmobile version for the unlocked bootloader.
Does the unlocked version from bestbuy come with the unlocked boot loader?
To clarify I meant the model listed as "Sam G900"
Sayn3ver said:
To clarify I meant the model listed as "Sam G900"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go into settings and in "about device" for the model name. Sam G900 is not a model name.
lingowistico said:
Go into settings and in "about device" for the model name. Sam G900 is not a model name.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm pretty sure he's just going off what best buy says for the model.
I too am wondering this question. Very disappointed in the new S6, thought it was going to be "the next big thing", turns out they just want to be like apple now.
Side note, where would u recommend buying an unlocked bootloader S5, that has LTE capabilities for att? Or does that not exist in the US? Been searching but coming up empty handed.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
I don't have the phone I am referencing. Like mentioned earlier, it's just the model number off of best buys webpage. They have the g900a model and a Sam-g900 for sale. They only sell the tmobile prepaids unlocked at a higher price point.
Is there a reputable online seller of new or refurbished unlocked tmobile versions?
I don't know if I wanna gamble buying used.
fals3illusion said:
I'm pretty sure he's just going off what best buy says for the model.
I too am wondering this question. Very disappointed in the new S6, thought it was going to be "the next big thing", turns out they just want to be like apple now.
Side note, where would u recommend buying an unlocked bootloader S5, that has LTE capabilities for att? Or does that not exist in the US? Been searching but coming up empty handed.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Buy a 900f from ebay. There are tons of reputable sellers there, just look at their feedback score. All qualcomm models support all lte frequencies, however they're not activated by default. There's a guide in general or q&a which shows how to activate all freqeuncies
lingowistico said:
Buy a 900f from ebay. There are tons of reputable sellers there, just look at their feedback score. All qualcomm models support all lte frequencies, however they're not activated by default. There's a guide in general or q&a which shows how to activate all freqeuncies
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the 900f come with unlocked bootloaders? Is there a way you can identify if they have an unlocked bootloader without physically checking the phone just don't want to spend hundreds of dollars and kinda get stuck with a phone that's not what I wanted.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Free mobile app
I just purchased an unlocked GS5 G900T (Tmobile version) from eBay yesterday, and should have it by the end of the week. I've purchased my last 3 phones from eBay, and all have been true to the ad, and in excellent condition.
You do need to study the photos closely though, and make sure the seller has good feed back, and a lot of feedback (I never buy from sellers who have only a few ratings and/or using a new account).
I got this phone to use with ATT and wanted an unlocked bootloader. Kinda wish I knew that you could activate the frequencies on the 900F though, as it seems like most of the development is for that model. Oh well, as long as I can root and have a few choices of ROMs, I'll be happy.
I'll probably be using some sort of stock based rom on this phone (for a while at least).
fals3illusion said:
Does the 900f come with unlocked bootloaders? Is there a way you can identify if they have an unlocked bootloader without physically checking the phone just don't want to spend hundreds of dollars and kinda get stuck with a phone that's not what I wanted.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, the 900f/klte/international has an unlocked bootloader
lingowistico said:
Yes, the 900f/klte/international has an unlocked bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok cool, thanks for all the help!!
I did not know that T-Mobiles Galaxy S5 Came with unlocked bootloaders. I am just going to get one from them since T-Mobile and ATT run on basically the same LTE Basebands and LTE will not be affected as much as the international version when i'm on ATT's network
fals3illusion said:
I'm pretty sure he's just going off what best buy says for the model.
I too am wondering this question. Very disappointed in the new S6, thought it was going to be "the next big thing", turns out they just want to be like apple now.
Side note, where would u recommend buying an unlocked bootloader S5, that has LTE capabilities for att? Or does that not exist in the US? Been searching but coming up empty handed.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
didn't read the rest of the replies but cricket...they sell it with unlocked boot loader, and you can sim unlock after six months...but they are owned wholly by att so you'll have att's reception and reliability. Of course your unlimited data would be history but crickets rates are significantly lower than most other mvno carriers
Edit: the model no is sm-g900az
Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
I called bestbuy.com customer service. The customer service agent was no help. No additional info than what's provided on the webpage (actual samsung model # is what I was looking for).
She transferred me to their technical support department. The gentleman spent about 5 minutes or so searching and couldn't come up with anything more.
I was told to call an actual best buy store and speak with their mobile department.
I called later today when best buy opened up. Sat on hold for 8min before an actual human being answered the phone. They too were no help. The conversation went like this...
Me: do you know which model of the g900 the sku 5760005 is referring to. . The listed model number Sam-g900 with that sku# is not an actual samsung model number.
Them: it's a g900.
Me: no you do not understand, g900 should be followed by one more letter. Is it a g900a, g900t, g900v, g900f, g900h, etc?
Them: it's a g900. What provider do you have?
Me: I'm on att but probably going to tmobile soon.
Them: we don't carry tmobile. I have a g900a. It works good. (they have the prepaid tmobile s5 on their website).
Me: nvm. Thanks have a nice day.....click.
Sad story finding out that the S7 is locked down harder than anything before. I'm still running a Note 3 that I purchased on release day, so needless to say, I've been holding out for the S7 since the S6 series didn't have SD card support.
Having had quite a few Samsung flagships over the years, I've really liked them, their speed and battery life, but having no root is a dealbreaker for me.
Things like TWRP (or MultiSystem), Cerberus, Greenify, TiBu and Xposed are essential to me. Seriously, without the ability to simply back up your current ROM or even just your apps and their data, what does everyone do when they get a new phone or some stupid update ruins what they had??
So that being said, I'm asking here if any of you are waiting it out for root before getting an S7 or if you're considering moving to another phone?
If you are thinking or have already moved to another phone, what's the best rootable phone of 2016 that has an SD card slot that is comparable to the S7?
I'm not hard to please, I just require root and an SD card slot - well, and a community of devs!
I heard there is an unlocked variant with CDMA, if not that then maybe wait it out until a root method is found.
Other options are the 5X, maybe the new G5 or the V10 if you want just root.
cadcamaro said:
I heard there is an unlocked variant with CDMA, if not that then maybe wait it out until a root method is found.
Other options are the 5X, maybe the new G5 or the V10 if you want just root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlocked variant with CDMA? Where did you hear this? This also doesn't guarantee Verizon will allow it on their network.
JAYNO20 said:
Unlocked variant with CDMA? Where did you hear this? This also doesn't guarantee Verizon will allow it on their network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I read it here
http://www.droid-life.com/2016/03/18/unlocked-lg-g5-gsm-cdma/
cadcamaro said:
I read it here
http://www.droid-life.com/2016/03/18/unlocked-lg-g5-gsm-cdma/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That link is all about the G5....
JAYNO20 said:
That link is all about the G5....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for some reason I thought that was the one you were interested in.
JAYNO20 said:
Unlocked variant with CDMA? Where did you hear this? This also doesn't guarantee Verizon will allow it on their network.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm so tired of people making this comment... The law passed last year clearly stated that no phone can be block from any U.S. Network if it's not stolen, not on an agreement, and has the proper radios to support the network... That's why they can't stop nexus devices, unlocked Motorola etc. Your phone will simply show up on Verizon site as "non Verizon device" and your stupid voicemail won't work. That's what google voice is for. That's why as soon as you pay for your phone, carriers have to unlock it if you request them to do so
2swizzle said:
I'm so tired of people making this comment... The law passed last year clearly stated that no phone can be block from any U.S. Network if it's not stolen, not on an agreement, and has the proper radios to support the network... That's why they can't stop nexus devices, unlocked Motorola etc. Your phone will simply show up on Verizon site as "non Verizon device" and your stupid voicemail won't work. That's what google voice is for. That's why as soon as you pay for your phone, carriers have to unlock it if you request them to do so
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you are saying a Sprint phone will work on Verizon's network then? I think not.
JAYNO20 said:
So you are saying a Sprint phone will work on Verizon's network then? I think not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you miss the piece where I said the phone has to have the proper radios? Most sprint phones do not have the appropriate radios which support Verizon CDMA channels, therefore the phone wouldn't work. Phones like Nexus, Motorola, and other unlocked phones typically have the hardware to support all U.S carriers.
2swizzle said:
Did you miss the piece where I said the phone has to have the proper radios? Most sprint phones do not have the appropriate radios which support Verizon CDMA channels, therefore the phone wouldn't work. Phones like Nexus, Motorola, and other unlocked phones typically have the hardware to support all U.S carriers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok so this post is completely useless in this section then. There isn't an unlocked variant of the s7 that will work with Verizon nor has there ever been a galaxy phone from another carrier that would work. So stop being a know it all and take you condescending attitude somewhere else. What is your deal?
JAYNO20 said:
Ok so this post is completely useless in this section then. There isn't an unlocked variant of the s7 that will work with Verizon nor has there ever been a galaxy phone from another carrier that would work. So stop being a know it all and take you condescending attitude somewhere else. What is your deal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once again you are diverting from my original comment, which verizon has nothing to do with if a phone can be used on verzion, or "white listed" as you put it. For your information there's been Samsung models that would work on Verizon from Sprint but they wouldn't get the correct lte signals...
2swizzle said:
Once again you are diverting from my original comment, which verizon has nothing to do with if a phone can be used on verzion, or "white listed" as you put it. For your information there's been Samsung models that would work on Verizon from Sprint but they wouldn't get the correct lte signals...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First: I never used the words "white listed" anywhere in my posts.
Second: if they don't get the correct LTE signals then they basically don't work, lets not beat around the bush with here. Ultimately, I get what you are saying but it doesn't really matter. Other than to create an argument where there definitely doesn't need to be one your response really has no meaning in this particular thread. There are NO unlocked CDMA versions of this phone that will work on ANY other carrier and Verizon at the same time. /thread.
Can anyone tell me what an equivalent HTC, Motorola or LG phone would be that is rootable?
*Must be rootable
*Must have an SD card slot
*Hopefully has dev support for custom ROMs but isn't totally necessary since with root I can use Xposed to make it look like I want
I mean seriously, Samsung isn't the only top-tier manufacturer, why are we all addicted to this anyway? It's a great phone, I'm sure - but isn't there ANY good alternative in you guy's opinion?
I might just bite the bullet and get the S7 and hope for root, but the loss of Viper4Android would be a killer.
As a former flashaholic I have decided as long as I am on Verizon I will have to live without root especially when I got my sony z3v. I am glad I did. Flashing and setting everything up took up so much time atleast once a day at most once a week. And heaven forbid there was an issue and I would have to restore or start over. I then got a Verizon z2 tablet again without root on lollipop. This is a great phone and a worthy upgrade from my z3v. I think the line between needing and wanting features or gimmicks is getting blured.
JediDru said:
As a former flashaholic I have decided as long as I am on Verizon I will have to live without root especially when I got my sony z3v. I am glad I did. Flashing and setting everything up took up so much time atleast once a day at most once a week. And heaven forbid there was an issue and I would have to restore or start over. I then got a Verizon z2 tablet again without root on lollipop. This is a great phone and a worthy upgrade from my z3v. I think the line between needing and wanting features or gimmicks is getting blured.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damnit, you're right and I know it, I'm just fighting it.
As a complete crackflasher since 2004, I've been around the block a few times - I suppose it's just habit to "require" root.
I think the hardest things about moving to a phone that has no root is no TiBU and no Viper. Seriously, how to people back up their data without TiBU? Of course I could manually back up all my apk's that didn't come from the Google Play Store, and I could manually back up all their \Android\Data folders, but that sucks. How is it in 2016 we have apps that require root and fewer and fewer phones that allow it?
Anyway, thank you for your perspective. I think I'll end up getting an S7 anyway and if it gains root someday it's a bonus!
So here is the deal. All of the variants for the Galaxy S7 / S7 Edge now have unlocked bootloaders except the ones from the US, even the chinese qualcomm variants got unlocked bootloaders. The way they got the unlocked bootloader was through an unlock tool provided by samsung on the galaxy app store. My question of the day is...
Is this possible on the US variant?
Could a modified version of this app or straight up this app be used on the US variant?
My hope is that I can unlock the bootloader of my Verizon Galaxy S7 now that I have lived with this locked bootloader root for 8 months now, and possibly have it run the nougat firmware, rooted, and have TWRP.
Cm4nXD said:
So here is the deal. All of the variants for the Galaxy S7 / S7 Edge now have unlocked bootloaders except the ones from the US, even the chinese qualcomm variants got unlocked bootloaders. The way they got the unlocked bootloader was through an unlock tool provided by samsung on the galaxy app store. My question of the day is...
Is this possible on the US variant?
Could a modified version of this app or straight up this app be used on the US variant?
My hope is that I can unlock the bootloader of my Verizon Galaxy S7 now that I have lived with this locked bootloader root for 8 months now, and possibly have it run the nougat firmware, rooted, and have TWRP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Put simply no. People have tried and it just doesn't work sadly.
Illogi.xbone said:
Put simply no. People have tried and it just doesn't work sadly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's to bad, love this phone.
The only thing that would make it better is an unlocked bootloader and TWRP. [emoji3]
sent from a galaxy far far away
Illogi.xbone said:
Put simply no. People have tried and it just doesn't work sadly.
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Has it been determined why Samsung won't let the US unlock the bootloader? TWRP would be awesome..
Binary Assault said:
Has it been determined why Samsung won't let the US unlock the bootloader? TWRP would be awesome..
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It's not Samsung, it's the US carriers who insist on the locked bootloaders. Your next question is probably going to be, "Why doesn't Samsung stand up to the carriers and insist their bootloaders be unlocked?" The answer is simple. Samsung is in the business of selling phones. They're not going to stay in business very long if they make that stand, and two of the largest carriers with the most customers (Verizon and AT&T) say, "Fine, we won't carry your phones then." The people who root their phones and care whether or not their bootloaders are unlocked are such a minute fraction of the total wireless carrier customer base, so the carriers stance on the bootloaders is not likely to change.
landshark68 said:
It's not Samsung, it's the US carriers who insist on the locked bootloaders. Your next question is probably going to be, "Why doesn't Samsung stand up to the carriers and insist their bootloaders be unlocked?" The answer is simple. Samsung is in the business of selling phones. They're not going to stay in business very long if they make that stand, and two of the largest carriers with the most customers (Verizon and AT&T) say, "Fine, we won't carry your phones then." The people who root their phones and care whether or not their bootloaders are unlocked are such a minute fraction of the total wireless carrier customer base, so the carriers stance on the bootloaders is not likely to change.
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well said
Verizon and att kinda has Samsung by the balls they could go on without sammi
now sprint and tmob need Samsung plus all the little companys need Samsung now like lg
all the carriers have lg by the balls if u don't make the software how we want we wont sell ure ****.
Samsung could survive without the us carriers it would hurt em but they could survive
now lg on the other hand could not theyre mobile phones division would go down if it wasn't for the us carriers this has all been gone over in of the lg threads on the same thing no bl unlock
Now out of curiosity are these bootloaders locked or are they signed with a key???
If a key what kind of encryption is used?
I know the g4 is encrypted with a 256 bit key which is basicly unhackable at this point in time.
TheMadScientist420 said:
Now out of curiosity are these bootloaders locked or are they signed with a key???
If a key what kind of encryption is used?
I know the g4 is encrypted with a 256 bit key which is basicly unhackable at this point in time.
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Locked, tighter than Apple too! Maybe we will see an exploit one day, look a t the Note 4 which took a year, or was it longer?, and then look at the s4 and the others, ONE exploitable bootloader then its locked down. It doesn't affect me too much personally, getting Pixel when taxes come in, but would like to see it in the future since my S7 will be my go to backup.
cant we try flashing that firmware version to our phones and use the app?
This is why my next phone will either not be a Galaxy S7, or will be the international one. I'm eyeing the Pixel 2 for my next phone though. I didn't want the Pixel because of the lack of water resistance.
Have not found a "place where this is being worked on" per-say, but please let it be known to any developers working on a method of unlocking the US S7/S7 Edge - I purchased an S7 Edge (T-Mobile) and shortly later ended up aquiring a S7 G930U - My understanding is that even though it's "U" It is only unlocked to use any carrier/sim, but still locked bootloader - which I would say seems true as it complained after the "soft-root" and me then enabling to many 'rooted' apps - causing a lockdown and no way around it but to re-flash.
** The reason for posting this ** - I am more than willing to 'test' any possible methods on the G930U that I have. I'm not a skilled android dev. but neither am I a novice, I am quite capable of providing any needed data, and also have quite a bit of software that could possibly help in finding answers, DFS and others. I also am very good at acquiring software, If there is anything I can do to help with this please get in touch with me!
Dycast - coming from my beloved rooted S4 as a crazed flash-a-holic - now with lovely S7's LOCKED to the hilt and hating it.. Like I just had a leash and muzzle strapped on.. If it wasn't for being able to play with the VR end of things I would just as well go back to my S4..
Shadowops34 said:
cant we try flashing that firmware version to our phones and use the app?
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No unfortunately not. THe chinese phone uses a special keycheck that the US variants don't have.
So when you use the app it sends a packet request for a non-existent key.
there was a whole thread about this and the guy tried to reverse engineer it and it wouldn't work
Silkmeister
The reason why what works for the international variants of the s7 won't work for the United States ones is because the US ones use the qualcomm snapdragon. Two different processors. Also it is both the carriers and samsun who have a say in locking the bootloader. Samsung makes the devices it is their choice how they make it. Verizon and att models of samsung phones have always had locked bootloaders. Tmobile and sprint in the past have not. People were shocked the tmobile s7 had a locked bootloader. Even tmobile said it should not have been locked according to them. You never see unlocked bootloaders for iphones on any carrier because apple juat doesn't do it and also their software isn't open source like android is. The s8 is going to have a locked bootloader as well from what I have read. I am hoping tmobile goes back to their roots heh pun intended. So that we can get an unlocked bootloader for samsung phones again.
TheMadScientist420 said:
Now out of curiosity are these bootloaders locked or are they signed with a key???
If a key what kind of encryption is used?
I know the g4 is encrypted with a 256 bit key which is basicly unhackable at this point in time.
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Illogi.xbone said:
Locked, tighter than Apple too! Maybe we will see an exploit one day, look a t the Note 4 which took a year, or was it longer?, and then look at the s4 and the others, ONE exploitable bootloader then its locked down. It doesn't affect me too much personally, getting Pixel when taxes come in, but would like to see it in the future since my S7 will be my go to backup.
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The question still remains, what makes it as locked as it is at this point? Is it because Qualcomm wrote the the original closed source code for Android's "aboot"? Or is it something that is more obvious?
Delgoth said:
The question still remains, what makes it as locked as it is at this point? Is it because Qualcomm wrote the the original closed source code for Android's "aboot"? Or is it something that is more obvious?
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Everything points to them just being signed now. So we cant flash anything thats not signed with lgs or in this case sammys key
At this point it's been over a year now and still no unlocked bootloader. I'm dying without any custom ROMs like lineage is. I just love playing with my device. Can't they just let me do that.
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Realistically that shouldn't be hard to discover either. We know where to look for their encrypted key. In the footer of the .Tar files, and the last few bytes of the partition images. Now the question is, how we use DD to strip off all but like the last 2048 bytes of the boot.img's, to compare amongst the different incremental builds for the same device.
That should give us all the different keys generated from Samsung's private signing key. This gives us a method to reverse engineer the algorithm used to create the public keys from the private key. This in turn will then lead us to either A.) Reverse Engineer the actual private key, or B.) Give us an equation with which to generate our own key which the Device will accept.
Using @droidvoider 's Dirty cow based root console, we can pull the .pem files from the stock firmware, and also pull the other firmware specific certificates. Using his console along with combination firmware also allows us to mount the /system & /data partitions as RW in an environment which does not care about DM-Verity success. That gives us a route for installing a system-Ish root that can persist through a reboot without an eng kernel.
But if the signing keys are the last roadblock, I think the greyhat root project is almost done with that thanks to a the other member(s).
We will see soon.
TheMadScientist420 said:
Everything points to them just being signed now. So we cant flash anything thats not signed with lgs or in this case sammys key
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Im currently running G930U AQC1 (Android 6) firmware on G930V. Do I need to unlock bootloader in order to get the root access?
Sent from my SM-G930U using Tapatalk
ahmedk49 said:
Im currently running G930U AQC1 (Android 6) firmware on G930V. Do I need to unlock bootloader in order to get the root access?
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https://forum.xda-developers.com/ve...-to-notes-root-install-xposed-unroot-t3411039
No, because you cannot unlock the bootloader.
Delgoth, how close are you?