Database Users

"Counting" developers

Hi all, i'm going to buy this device, probably, but i'm a bit scared by its particularity.
I fear that not so many devs will pick it up and support for long time...who's here, apart from Chainfire (great guy, but he develops root methods mostly, not full roms or super optimized kernel, he shows the way to others )?
Supercurio (another great dev, but with specific attention to color/sound and not to full roms, again) could come up later (he doesn't seem the "0 day" buyer ), or at least i hope so, and i think Cyanogen will come pretty soon (but could it be with S-Pen full support or not?), but then?
Is it out in USA or not yet?
Sorry for all the questions (they may sound even dumb, i know), but continuous development is the only main "?" i'm facing before the purchase (my galaxy s1, far from being perfect, gained incredible improvements from devs' work)

Same doubts here... How about developers who have the device/are about to buy comment on this thread, that way we can know about the kind of developer support we can expect.

It took 7 months for the GSII to come to the US. I wouldn't cross my fingers.
I'm running rooted stock right now and I am already getting better battery, performance than my S2, and loving this HD screen!
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

But when I bought the SGSII in June 1st week, a lot of development was already taking place. The Note is following the same launch trajectory: UK>Europe>India>South-East Asia> then rest of the world. Now that it's available in India, I don't see many developers who have adopted the device.

kunalparwani said:
But when I bought the SGSII in June 1st week, a lot of development was already taking place. The Note is following the same launch trajectory: UK>Europe>India>South-East Asia> then rest of the world. Now that it's available in India, I don't see many developers who have adopted the device.
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Click to collapse
The op was asking if the Note was in the US, wasn't responding to you.
Why run custom ROMs when the system is already godly? Anyways just look at the At&t ****rocket, it is a piece of **** that At&t created and it is still getting devs.
If you think development is a problem, there's a simple solution... go with your gut. No one here can tell you what to do, the Note runs faster and smoother than my GSII that has cooked roms. Cooked ROMs can increase some aspects, but mess up others. Once someone zipaligns and adds some init'd scripts, I'll be happy.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

xAnimal5 said:
The op was asking if the Note was in the US, wasn't responding to you.
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Click to collapse
I was asking for availability to US developers, i'm european and very keen to buy this beautiful tabphone (hoping to be able to manage it, i like big screens, but this is just bigger ).
I'm glad it runs so well (but i tried it in store and it didn't look so incredibly smooth, i hope it was due to idiots who mess up everything with their sticky hands ), but i hope to see some customization soon (not only custom samsung roms, that are indeed kinda pointless, but cyano, miui, and hopefully mods of these two roms, deeply modified kernels and so on...ICS )

I have to kind of agree, I really see no reason to put a custom rom on the note, everything just works. I wouldn't mind some themes for when things get a little stale but don't really see a need for a rom.

I have been flashing Roms since 2005. The ONLY reason I would not installed a custom rom is the fear of losing the warranty. But since even that is not a problem usually now, I see no reason why not flashing a custom rom..
E.g: Some people want's to modify their cars, other not.. We respect everyone's opinion(if within reason) and preferences.
BUT: The option to have a Custom Kernel/ROM made by our skilled developers here for performance/optimization, stability and longer battery life and customizations? I would take that every time over the stock..

[Q] 16gb specific ROMs install on 32gb or 64gb S4?

Maybe it's a stupid question to many, but... I have the chance to order a 32gb korean version of the S4 off Taobao.com, and since I live in China it's quite convenient. The only issue I have is that I refuse to use an android phone without rooting it, and I've been a happy Wanam user for a long time on my S3.
The taobao seller states that 16gb ROMs CANNOT be used for 32gb models AT ALL, but I know better than blindly trusting ignorant Chinese vendors who usually don't know what they are talking about (personal experience).
It does not matter whether it's 9500, 9505 or whatever, this seller has all the models (even 9508 dual sim), I just want to understand if SIZE is a problem or not... Will I be able to just simply root it, and keep using the stock ROM at least? Or maybe I'll even be able to install ANY 16gb ROM of my choice? Or none of the above???
Thanks!
P.S. I searched the S4 forums but found no reference at all to this question...

UoMoTaLpA said:
Maybe it's a stupid question to many, but... I have the chance to order a 32gb korean version of the S4 off Taobao.com, and since I live in China it's quite convenient. The only issue I have is that I refuse to use an android phone without rooting it, and I've been a happy Wanam user for a long time on my S3.
The taobao seller states that 16gb ROMs CANNOT be used for 32gb models AT ALL, but I know better than blindly trusting ignorant Chinese vendors who usually don't know what they are talking about (personal experience).
It does not matter whether it's 9500, 9505 or whatever, this seller has all the models (even 9508 dual sim), I just want to understand if SIZE is a problem or not... Will I be able to just simply root it, and keep using the stock ROM at least? Or maybe I'll even be able to install ANY 16gb ROM of my choice? Or none of the above???
Thanks!
P.S. I searched the S4 forums but found no reference at all to this question...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as you're flashing a i9505 ROM to an i9505-like(aka U.S. Carriers variants) device, and an i9500 ROM to an i9500-like device, you'll be just fine. Don't try to flash unlike devices(i.e. i9505 to i9500) though. Best case scenario, the flash will fail. Worst case, you'll brick the device.
Internal storage capacity has never, to my knowledge, had anything to do with what you could or could not flash.

unremarked said:
As long as you're flashing a i9505 ROM to an i9505-like(aka U.S. Carriers variants) device, and an i9500 ROM to an i9500-like device, you'll be just fine. Don't try to flash unlike devices(i.e. i9505 to i9500) though. Best case scenario, the flash will fail. Worst case, you'll brick the device.
Internal storage capacity has never, to my knowledge, had anything to do with what you could or could not flash.
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Click to collapse
That would be my same guess, although the seller was adamant to the fact that it won't absolutely work (he even declared that he tried himself...). Though I agree with you, I'll wait for some concrete proof, when 32 and 64 gb versions will be more widely available, or at least until someone comes out with a first-person experience of this.
Anyway, thanks

UoMoTaLpA said:
That would be my same guess, although the seller was adamant to the fact that it won't absolutely work (he even declared that he tried himself...). Though I agree with you, I'll wait for some concrete proof, when 32 and 64 gb versions will be more widely available, or at least until someone comes out with a first-person experience of this.
Anyway, thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to call the guy out... but that seller has some very funny ideas; likely he was trying to flash unlike devices. If you want further feedback, I'd suggest posting this question over in the AT&T forums since the 32gb is more widely released. Further, from my past experiences, I've successfully flashed ROMs intended for the Developer Edition(64gb) of the HTC One onto my 32gb.
Let's say, hypothetically, he's correct--the developers who create the ROMs would be required to, perhaps not by forum rules but more so out of "I'm not responsible if you do this," declare their ROMs only usable by certain phones with certain storage capacities?
I will applaud you for taking your time, reading, and doing research before jumping into the fray. Is this your first phone you've rooted?

unremarked said:
I don't want to call the guy out... but that seller has some very funny ideas; likely he was trying to flash unlike devices. If you want further feedback, I'd suggest posting this question over in the AT&T forums since the 32gb is more widely released. Further, from my past experiences, I've successfully flashed ROMs intended for the Developer Edition(64gb) of the HTC One onto my 32gb.
Let's say, hypothetically, he's correct--the developers who create the ROMs would be required to, perhaps not by forum rules but more so out of "I'm not responsible if you do this," declare their ROMs only usable by certain phones with certain storage capacities?
I will applaud you for taking your time, reading, and doing research before jumping into the fray. Is this your first phone you've rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not at all, I rooted my first HTC Legend years ago, then my current S3,and so on. Happy user of Wanamlite ROM on my current S3 at the moment. Anyway, I guess our idea is correct. Not to belittle the vendor's experience, but in MY experience PRC people can be quite often very ignorant, or appear so at the very least, and declare the impossibility of an action or a request just to avoid any sort of responsibility in case the crap hits the fan... Think it as a sort of "ultimate disclaimer": I told you not to do it, so if you try and break it it's your problem.
After saying all this, I guess I'm in no rush since my S3 is still working like a charm after more than one year, I'm just exploring the S4 alley since I bough a SUPERCOOL Nolan bluetooth helmet for my bike, I use 2 sim cards at the same time (1 personal=S3, 1 work=HTClegend) and the HTC Legend's bluetooth is sort of fried So I was looking for a way to upgrade things.
I'll follow your suggestion and try to post in the AT&T section as well.
Thanks!

LG's lack of development community support

I was really surprised to learn that LG don't have a bootloader unlocking service like even HTC have done and given that the LG never managed to unlock the bootloader, I'm quite surprised that there wasn't more of a community outcry. What is up with that? Have LG ever spoken of supporting the development community? Is it unlikely that we'll see it happen within the flagship lifetime of our device?
NB: This is discussion topic, it's really not a question/answer topic.

sabret00the said:
I was really surprised to learn that LG don't have a bootloader unlocking service like even HTC have done and given that the LG never managed to unlock the bootloader, I'm quite surprised that there wasn't more of a community outcry. What is up with that? Have LG ever spoken of supporting the development community? Is it unlikely that we'll see it happen within the flagship lifetime of our device?
NB: This is discussion topic, it's really not a question/answer topic.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
whoa is this 100% correct? if that's the case I will strongly reconsider getting the G3 and will probably go for either M8 or Z2...

Well, coming from an LG Nexus 5, I can tell you that the development community is booming over there. But that's to be expected with a Nexus device. I'm planning on switching from the Nexus 5 to the G3 (ordered yesterday) in an effort to no longer sacrifice hardware in order to get the vanilla Android experience. These days I'd rather give up some of the software advantages in AOSP ROMs in order to get significantly better hardware.
Unfortunately, it's a sacrifice one way or another. And if you buy a phone such as the G3 you must do so expecting that the development for it will take significantly longer and will likely have less options. However, in my opinion the interface/features offered in the latest stock LG interfaces are quite improved and look/feel much better than the interfaces provided by other manufacturers. I don't think I'll have any issue using the stock interface with the LG for many months after coming from the previous 4 generations of Nexus devices.
The vanilla Android experience has gotten quite boring in my opinion and I welcome the features that will be available on LG's stock ROM.

cez10 said:
whoa is this 100% correct? if that's the case I will strongly reconsider getting the G3 and will probably go for either M8 or Z2...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sadly yes, it's something I should've looked into in the six months of waiting for this phone. But it's sadly the case. Even on the G2, they couldn't unlock the bootloader and instead had to bypass it.
sn0warmy said:
Well, coming from an LG Nexus 5, I can tell you that the development community is booming over there. But that's to be expected with a Nexus device. I'm planning on switching from the Nexus 5 to the G3 (ordered yesterday) in an effort to no longer sacrifice hardware in order to get the vanilla Android experience. These days I'd rather give up some of the software advantages in AOSP ROMs in order to get significantly better hardware.
Unfortunately, it's a sacrifice one way or another. And if you buy a phone such as the G3 you must do so expecting that the development for it will take significantly longer and will likely have less options. However, in my opinion the interface/features offered in the latest stock LG interfaces are quite improved and look/feel much better than the interfaces provided by other manufacturers. I don't think I'll have any issue using the stock interface with the LG for many months after coming from the previous 4 generations of Nexus devices.
The vanilla Android experience has gotten quite boring in my opinion and I welcome the features that will be available on LG's stock ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have the patience, I'd recommend waiting a little while to see if they announce a GPe of the G3. That could provide you with the best of both worlds.

Development will improve for sure - the phone has only been out less than a week (D855) with most people still not having received their devices yet and is not even released in the US. It seems the Korean models have shipped with an unlocked bootloader (from what I have heard) and as for the D855 no one has yet confirmed it a) it is locked and b) if it can be unlocked.
I have certainly not looked into it yet myself, although if it is locked, unlocking via any "hacking" method, is beyond my knowledge, someone smarter than me will have to tell us how to do that.
Give it time, development is always slow in the first month of a new device (unless its a nexus), and tends ot only pick up after release in the USA.

sabret00the said:
If you have the patience, I'd recommend waiting a little while to see if they announce a GPe of the G3. That could provide you with the best of both worlds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh, if they release a GP edition G3 it will still pay to have this one because any AOSP ROMs for the GP edition will be quickly ported over to the non-GP edition anyway. I plan on keeping this phone but will also still be happy if they come out with a GP edition as well so we can get some AOSP source code up and running for this device.
And I'm not worried about the bootloader being locked. Someone ALWAYS finds a way to unlock it rather quickly these days.
Personally, my goal with this phone is to root it to get my DPI settings where I want them and get rid of any bloat that may cause the phone to slow down. If I can manage to accomplish those two things, I'll be happy (and it's already doable). My days of rooting, flashing ROMs, bricking, unbricking, and flashing more ROMs are over. At this point I just want a solid phone that works flawlessly.

Lennyuk said:
Development will improve for sure - the phone has only been out less than a week (D855) with most people still not having received their devices yet and is not even released in the US. It seems the Korean models have shipped with an unlocked bootloader (from what I have heard) and as for the D855 no one has yet confirmed it a) it is locked and b) if it can be unlocked.
I have certainly not looked into it yet myself, although if it is locked, unlocking via any "hacking" method, is beyond my knowledge, someone smarter than me will have to tell us how to do that.
Give it time, development is always slow in the first month of a new device (unless its a nexus), and tends ot only pick up after release in the USA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not so much talking about from the community side, I have faith the community will find an unlock or bypass method. I'm more so talking about from LG's point of view. They don't seem to be supportive hence no official channel to unlock the G2 bootloader despite the G3 launching globally this week.

sabret00the said:
I'm not so much talking about from the community side, I have faith the community will find an unlock or bypass method. I'm more so talking about from LG's point of view. They don't seem to be supportive hence no official channel to unlock the G2 bootloader despite the G3 launching globally this week.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Remember it took years to get HTC to provide an unlock tool (and the company nearly going bankrupt!), Moto and Sony were the same - moto becoming better when Google acquired them and Sony nearly gave up making android devices completely before they decided to become more dev friendly.
Basically companies only provide unlock methods as a last resort, when they feel its the only way to improve their sales. LG haven't needed this yet.
There are still plenty of devices where you cannot officially unlock the bootloader, its not just an LG thing.

Lennyuk said:
Remember it took years to get HTC to provide an unlock tool (and the company nearly going bankrupt!), Moto and Sony were the same - moto becoming better when Google acquired them and Sony nearly gave up making android devices completely before they decided to become more dev friendly.
Basically companies only provide unlock methods as a last resort, when they feel its the only way to improve their sales. LG haven't needed this yet.
There are still plenty of devices where you cannot officially unlock the bootloader, its not just an LG thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally hear you, but with the success Sony have enjoyed, you'd hope manufacturers would get involved early on.

Lennyuk said:
and as for the D855 no one has yet confirmed it a) it is locked and b) if it can be unlocked.
I have certainly not looked into it yet myself, although if it is locked, unlocking via any "hacking" method, is beyond my knowledge, someone smarter than me will have to tell us how to do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this something that is easy to check?

Dubhar said:
Is this something that is easy to check?
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Click to collapse
I can't even access the bootloader. Despite turning USB debugging on, I can't get ADB to recognise the phone. I started a thread to check if others have a similar problem.

It's a flagship, I'm not worried about development support. Look at the g2, it got cm support. Plus the LG software looks decent, not too basic like HTC or too intrusive like Samsungs touchwiz

sabret00the said:
I can't even access the bootloader. Despite turning USB debugging on, I can't get ADB to recognise the phone. I started a thread to check if others have a similar problem.
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Click to collapse
I rooted D855 yesterday using ioroot and as a part of the process "adb devices" did show the phone with USB debugging on.
I had to install lg unified driver so windows 8 had a right driver for it.

Heisenberg420 said:
It's a flagship, I'm not worried about development support. Look at the g2, it got cm support. Plus the LG software looks decent, not too basic like HTC or too intrusive like Samsungs touchwiz
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Click to collapse
This thread is about development support from LG. Please read threads before commenting. The G2 you mentioned was given as an example of the lack of support previously provided by LG.
jodvova said:
I rooted D855 yesterday using ioroot and as a part of the process "adb devices" did show the phone with USB debugging on.
I had to install lg unified driver so windows 8 had a right driver for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Perhaps I need to update my drivers then. Though that's nearly unheard of as I'm on Linux.

If i can atleast root the phone to remove the bloatware, I'll be happy for a little while.

sabret00the said:
This thread is about development support from LG. Please read threads before commenting. The G2 you mentioned was given as an example of the lack of support previously provided by LG.
Perhaps I need to update my drivers then. Though that's nearly unheard of as I'm on Linux.
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Click to collapse
Hm, i've not check on Linux yet, but it is recognised on windows with the right USB drivers installed. Maybe its lacking some udev rule to properly recognise the device?
The LGD855 boots into recovery with adb reboot recovery, but not the bootloader using adb reboot-bootloader its just reboots. I goes into download mode with power+volume up, that about all ive tried.
Slash8915 said:
If i can atleast root the phone to remove the bloatware, I'll be happy for a little while.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
towelroot worked.

on Win 7 by flashing sphinxrom for d855 and s,k,l :
when i was installing the lg driver, it installed the AndroidNet Sooner Single ADB Interface
i had to change it Android ADB Interface

what the hell the device just came out give it some time

daddioj said:
what the hell the device just came out give it some time
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What the hell can't you read & understand what OP has said or trying to say? (sorry no offence intended). He isn't talking about the support of the development community to this device(G3), which by the way will certainly pick up from what it is now, but he is talking about LG's support to the development community(being more developer friendly as Sony & HTC).
And even if we talk about how much active Android development this device(& it's variants) will see, then let me tell you that the development activity of this device will(probably) never be as much as you see with other flagship devices like HTC One(M7 & m8), that is because a) HTC is more developer friendly by letting you to unlock the bootloader & thus making easy for developers to port(make) ROMs, recoveries & what not, where as with LG & G2 it is entirely different case(ask any developer involved in G2 development, how difficult it is or was to make a recovery or a ROM for G2 and for common flahers the risk factor of flashing those recoveries & ROMs that much more because all the solutions based on a bypassing solution with many permutations & combinations rather than a fully unlockable bootloader just as with HTC devices and b) they are more popular devices among people(as much successful the G2 was it wasn't sold as many as S4s & S5s or M7s & M8s).
We all hope that LG will follow HTC & Sony in being developer frienly. No doubt they are making beautiful devices like G2 & now G3. But sadly, as one of other member pointed out above, it is at the stage of extinction that a manufacturer tend to be more friendly with developer community.

st_7 said:
What the hell can't you read & understand what OP has said or trying to say? (sorry no offence intended). He isn't talking about the support of the development community to this device(G3), which by the way will certainly pick up from what it is now, but he is talking about LG's support to the development community(being more developer friendly as Sony & HTC).
And even if we talk about how much active Android development this device(& it's variants) will see, then let me tell you that the development activity of this device will(probably) never be as much as you see with other flagship devices like HTC One(M7 & m8), that is because a) HTC is more developer friendly by letting you to unlock the bootloader & thus making easy for developers to port(make) ROMs, recoveries & what not, where as with LG & G2 it is entirely different case(ask any developer involved in G2 development, how difficult it is or was to make a recovery or a ROM for G2 and for common flahers the risk factor of flashing those recoveries & ROMs that much more because all the solutions based on a bypassing solution with many permutations & combinations rather than a fully unlockable bootloader just as with HTC devices and b) they are more popular devices among people(as much successful the G2 was it wasn't sold as many as S4s & S5s or M7s & M8s).
We all hope that LG will follow HTC & Sony in being developer frienly. No doubt they are making beautiful devices like G2 & now G3. But sadly, as one of other member pointed out above, it is at the stage of extinction that a manufacturer tend to be more friendly with developer community.
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Click to collapse
i am Guilty of not reading the whole Thread

All things root and Bootloader?

Hi Friends,
Hope you're all having a great new year. So last time I was lurking the S7E forums, we had a leaked Engineering Bootloader that was used to acquire root on all US Snapdragon models, albeit, with a lot performance issues and etc.
I came here to glance as well as all other variant forums for the SD model and now we have Root for every model, with even ROMs being baked like the Echo ROM for Verizon, Sprint, AT&T models, usually the toughest to achieve these things on. I'm trying to read through the forums, but I fear I'm missing the details, that will help me pull the trigger for getting the device or not.
Can one of you very experienced, knowledgeable, and kind members educate me on the latest?
1. Do we have unlocked Bootloader and Root for all US carrier S7Es? How is it done? I use people using Flashfire. So no TWRP?
2. Does this process still trip Knox and render Samsung Pay to never be used again on the device?
3. If I bought the Verizon variant, for example, can I root, unlock Bootloader, and etc, and then return to stock, to return to the store in case I don't like the phone?
4. Xposed Framework working for all models?
Much appreciate your responses, any and all of them in advance! Thanks!

ProFragger said:
Hi Friends,
Hope you're all having a great new year. So last time I was lurking the S7E forums, we had a leaked Engineering Bootloader that was used to acquire root on all US Snapdragon models, albeit, with a lot performance issues and etc.
I came here to glance as well as all other variant forums for the SD model and now we have Root for every model, with even ROMs being baked like the Echo ROM for Verizon, Sprint, AT&T models, usually the toughest to achieve these things on. I'm trying to read through the forums, but I fear I'm missing the details, that will help me pull the trigger for getting the device or not.
Can one of you very experienced, knowledgeable, and kind members educate me on the latest?
1. Do we have unlocked Bootloader and Root for all US carrier S7Es? How is it done? I use people using Flashfire. So no TWRP?
2. Does this process still trip Knox and render Samsung Pay to never be used again on the device?
3. If I bought the Verizon variant, for example, can I root, unlock Bootloader, and etc, and then return to stock, to return to the store in case I don't like the phone?
4. Xposed Framework working for all models?
Much appreciate your responses, any and all of them in advance! Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely nothing has changed on root (only possible due to ENG kernel) and bootloader unlock (which is not yet possible).
1. No
2. No
3. No
4. No idea about all models. For the t-mobile one, please check: https://forum.xda-developers.com/tmobile-s7-edge/how-to/guide-installing-xposed-framework-t3414718
You can use the search feature in xda for finding out

CravingMender9 said:
Absolutely nothing has changed on root (only possible due to ENG kernel) and bootloader unlock (which is not yet possible).
1. No
2. No
3. No
4. No idea about all models. For the t-mobile one, please check: https://forum.xda-developers.com/tmobile-s7-edge/how-to/guide-installing-xposed-framework-t3414718
You can use the search feature in xda for finding out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey bud, thanks for getting the ball rolling on these questions. If you could add some more information, I'd appreciate it :
If we still don't have a way to Root or Unlock bootloader, how are these ROMs (Echo, Tek, and other stock ROMs) available with root? And how are these flashed? Are we somehow bypassing the BL by using FlashFire?
Can you also educate me on the U Firmware and why people install it and is it reverseable?
Lastly, if I got a T-Mobile variant for example, installed these ROMs Tek, Echo, etc, can I return to Stock completely and return to T-Mobile, by any chance for them to take it back? Thank you again!

for the t mobile variant, I was able to flash the U firmware and flash back to stock t mobile. NOTE: I did not flash the U bootloader. I kept the T mobile bootloader just be sure I could flash back to stock t mobile(APK1). I'm sure this method would work with other carriers as well. so what ever variant you have, make sure you stay on that BL and only flash the U firmware CSC and AP. As for the CP(modem) I would flash your carriers latest CP file. That's what worked best for me with the U firmware. Currently I'm using the latest nougat BETA

Thank you very much for your response, bud. One last follow up question: Since all the US variants are rooting based on the ENG Kernel, is there really a benefit of getting one variant over another, for rooting or etc purposes?
P. S. May I ask why you flashed the U Firmware? What are the advantages of it? ?

ProFragger said:
Thank you very much for your response, bud. One last follow up question: Since all the US variants are rooting based on the ENG Kernel, is there really a benefit of getting one variant over another, for rooting or etc purposes?
P. S. May I ask why you flashed the U Firmware? What are the advantages of it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The u firmware basically does not include all of the software that is usually included with the phone. For example.. Tmobile with their software on it, Verizon att etc... Makes the phone a bit snappier especially if you were to root. Even tho I hope for a more stable root still. I am rooted at the moment. Wish they didn't recall the note 7 because the root on that was better

ProFragger said:
Hi Friends,
Hope you're all having a great new year. So last time I was lurking the S7E forums, we had a leaked Engineering Bootloader that was used to acquire root on all US Snapdragon models, albeit, with a lot performance issues and etc.
I came here to glance as well as all other variant forums for the SD model and now we have Root for every model, with even ROMs being baked like the Echo ROM for Verizon, Sprint, AT&T models, usually the toughest to achieve these things on. I'm trying to read through the forums, but I fear I'm missing the details, that will help me pull the trigger for getting the device or not.
Can one of you very experienced, knowledgeable, and kind members educate me on the latest?
1. Do we have unlocked Bootloader and Root for all US carrier S7Es? How is it done? I use people using Flashfire. So no TWRP?
2. Does this process still trip Knox and render Samsung Pay to never be used again on the device?
3. If I bought the Verizon variant, for example, can I root, unlock Bootloader, and etc, and then return to stock, to return to the store in case I don't like the phone?
4. Xposed Framework working for all models?
Much appreciate your responses, any and all of them in advance! Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're confused. At least, you were.
We do not have an "unlocked Bootloader" and we never did. We had an engineering kernel. That engineering kernel allows certain commands that enabled us to acquire root access. But without that kernel, the system (with the original kernel or boot partition) checks for any changes in the /system partition. If any are found it triggers a bootloop. So basically, if you want root we MUST have the engineering kernel. Unless someone else finds another way that's just the way that it is.
Personally, I unrooted and went back to stock. Root was okay at first but with the lack of development, Samsung Pay and the fact that Android 7+ will probably not be seeing root... well... time to accept the fact that Samsung owns the phone even though we bought it. What else can we do?

nitroevo said:
The u firmware basically does not include all of the software that is usually included with the phone. For example.. Tmobile with their software on it, Verizon att etc... Makes the phone a bit snappier especially if you were to root. Even tho I hope for a more stable root still. I am rooted at the moment. Wish they didn't recall the note 7 because the root on that was better
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Binary100100 said:
You're confused. At least, you were.
We do not have an "unlocked Bootloader" and we never did. We had an engineering kernel. That engineering kernel allows certain commands that enabled us to acquire root access. But without that kernel, the system (with the original kernel or boot partition) checks for any changes in the /system partition. If any are found it triggers a bootloop. So basically, if you want root we MUST have the engineering kernel. Unless someone else finds another way that's just the way that it is.
Personally, I unrooted and went back to stock. Root was okay at first but with the lack of development, Samsung Pay and the fact that Android 7+ will probably not be seeing root... well... time to accept the fact that Samsung owns the phone even though we bought it. What else can we do?
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Thanks for your helpful responses fellas. I understand root is not perfect, but for some folks like me, Xposed seems to be worth the trouble. For Samsung Pay, I intend to use the Gear S3 one day ?.
Final question, since all US Snapdragon models are using the engineering kernel to root and etc... Is there a benefit of getting one carrier variant, over another? For example, Verizon is usually the cheapest. Is it wise to get that, with the U Firmware, to use on AT&T? Thanks!

ProFragger said:
For Samsung Pay, I intend to use the Gear S3 one day .
Final question, since all US Snapdragon models are using the engineering kernel to root and etc... Is there a benefit of getting one carrier variant, over another? For example, Verizon is usually the cheapest. Is it wise to get that, with the U Firmware, to use on AT&T? Thanks!
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Let me know if that works out for you then.
I just purchased the S2 Classic (on T-Mobile) and use Samsung Pay quite a bit. But I can tell you that it does open Samsung Pay on the phone and if you are rooted, Samsung Pay will not work at all. So I'm not sure if it will work at all for you even with the S3.
In regards to your other inquiry, I haven't tried the U firmware. I read something about data issues, no wifi calling (which is pretty important to me), no hotspot (which is also really important to me) but I heard that it is really fast. Not sure how much of that is still a problem but you should probably read up on it before doing anything first. But the rooting method is all the same between carriers I believe. All require the engineering kernel and breaks Samsung Pay along with a couple of other apps.
Just make back ups, have a stock firmware available to flash with ODIN just in case and remember that it's almost impossible to brick this device (because we don't have an unlocked bootloader.)

Binary100100 said:
Let me know if that works out for you then.
I just purchased the S2 Classic (on T-Mobile) and use Samsung Pay quite a bit. But I can tell you that it does open Samsung Pay on the phone and if you are rooted, Samsung Pay will not work at all. So I'm not sure if it will work at all for you even with the S3.
In regards to your other inquiry, I haven't tried the U firmware. I read something about data issues, no wifi calling (which is pretty important to me), no hotspot (which is also really important to me) but I heard that it is really fast. Not sure how much of that is still a problem but you should probably read up on it before doing anything first. But the rooting method is all the same between carriers I believe. All require the engineering kernel and breaks Samsung Pay along with a couple of other apps.
Just make back ups, have a stock firmware available to flash with ODIN just in case and remember that it's almost impossible to brick this device (because we don't have an unlocked bootloader.)
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Click to collapse
Thank you again for a helpful post. So the S3 has a dedicated MST/NFC chip in it, that allows for Samsung Pay to work from the watch, it's done through the Gear app. That's what I have read.
About the rest of it, again, curious to see if there is one US variant, superior to another in terms of Root capabilities or bands and radios available and etc? Can anyone confirm this for me?
Thanks!

ProFragger said:
Thank you again for a helpful post. So the S3 has a dedicated MST/NFC chip in it, that allows for Samsung Pay to work from the watch, it's done through the Gear app. That's what I have read.
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So does the S2.
When I was setting up the Samsung Pay on my watch it said that it had to download an update.
Then I went through the setup process through my phone which was from the Samsung Pay app.
You go to "Add card" on your watch and it opens Samsung Pay on your phone.
You click "Next" and it displays your Samsung account information.
Then it takes you to a screen that says "Setup complete" telling you that you're ready to use it and at the bottom says "Add card"
You do that all from the Samsung Pay app on your phone which leads me to suspect that if you root your phone, you won't be able to use Samsung Pay on your watch.
People on this thread that you have to set it all up first, remove the Samsung Pay app on the phone but leave it on the watch. If it's all done correctly then it should work. Just make sure you get it all set up first.
Next thing that I'm going to try is using my watch in "Standalone" with my phone out of bluetooth or wifi range. See if that still works.
ProFragger said:
About the rest of it, again, curious to see if there is one US variant, superior to another in terms of Root capabilities or bands and radios available and etc? Can anyone confirm this for me?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I know, the U firmware permits use of some other bands that aren't normally used. Not sure which ones though.

Binary100100 said:
So does the S2.
When I was setting up the Samsung Pay on my watch it said that it had to download an update.
Then I went through the setup process through my phone which was from the Samsung Pay app.
You go to "Add card" on your watch and it opens Samsung Pay on your phone.
You click "Next" and it displays your Samsung account information.
Then it takes you to a screen that says "Setup complete" telling you that you're ready to use it and at the bottom says "Add card"
You do that all from the Samsung Pay app on your phone which leads me to suspect that if you root your phone, you won't be able to use Samsung Pay on your watch.
People on this thread that you have to set it all up first, remove the Samsung Pay app on the phone but leave it on the watch. If it's all done correctly then it should work. Just make sure you get it all set up first.
Next thing that I'm going to try is using my watch in "Standalone" with my phone out of bluetooth or wifi range. See if that still works.
As far as I know, the U firmware permits use of some other bands that aren't normally used. Not sure which ones though.
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Thanks for the correction/education on the S2, bud, much appreciated. I wonder if the rooted phone works with the S3, because Samsung has allowed many other non Samsung phones to know work with the S3? But I could be wrong, I thought it was open like that with the S2 as well, no? Looking forward to your testing, hope there is a breakthrough in there! ?

if you want root and customizability and roms, just don't get this phone. you will be very disappointed with the performance once you root and it gets so much worse with Xposed. not worth it at all, you will have better performance and speed from a 4 year old phone that has an unlocked bootloader and strong development. I mean my Nexus 5 (from 2012) had better performance than my rooted S7. it sounds like you do want roms, and if you want roms then AOSP/Cyanogenmod is the way to go. there will probably never be any AOSP or CM ROM on the QC S7/E so you're better off getting an older galaxy model that does have a great development community and unlocked bootloader. or just get a OnePlus or Nexus or something.

xVermicide said:
if you want root and customizability and roms, just don't get this phone. you will be very disappointed with the performance once you root and it gets so much worse with Xposed. not worth it at all, you will have better performance and speed from a 4 year old phone that has an unlocked bootloader and strong development. I mean my Nexus 5 (from 2012) had better performance than my rooted S7. it sounds like you do want roms, and if you want roms then AOSP/Cyanogenmod is the way to go. there will probably never be any AOSP or CM ROM on the QC S7/E so you're better off getting an older galaxy model that does have a great development community and unlocked bootloader. or just get a OnePlus or Nexus or something.
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Or a Exynos S7.

Binary100100 said:
Or a Exynos S7.
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exactly this. except for some reason I thought exynos variants are lacking certain bands/features on American networks. could be wrong.

xVermicide said:
if you want root and customizability and roms, just don't get this phone. you will be very disappointed with the performance once you root and it gets so much worse with Xposed. not worth it at all, you will have better performance and speed from a 4 year old phone that has an unlocked bootloader and strong development. I mean my Nexus 5 (from 2012) had better performance than my rooted S7. it sounds like you do want roms, and if you want roms then AOSP/Cyanogenmod is the way to go. there will probably never be any AOSP or CM ROM on the QC S7/E so you're better off getting an older galaxy model that does have a great development community and unlocked bootloader. or just get a OnePlus or Nexus or something.
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Click to collapse
Binary100100 said:
Or a Exynos S7.
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xVermicide said:
exactly this. except for some reason I thought exynos variants are lacking certain bands/features on American networks. could be wrong.
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Click to collapse
Very helpful inputs guys, thank you! If I were to be honest with myself, I don't want AOSP/CM/Lineage, especially on a Samsung phone, so unlocked bootloader is not a deal breaker for me. However, I think root is cool for me for doing some SystemUI tweaks, Xposed and etc. Exynos was an option I was exploring, but lack of warranty, no Samsung Pay, and the price are enough to keep me at bay. I think I just need to put my big boy pants on and try to use a phone without rooting it. Something I have yet to do in EVER using an Android phone since about 10 years ago, and I have never ever used or bought an iCrap... I mean... an iPhone !

ProFragger said:
Very helpful inputs guys, thank you! If I were to be honest with myself, I don't want AOSP/CM/Lineage, especially on a Samsung phone, so unlocked bootloader is not a deal breaker for me. However, I think root is cool for me for doing some SystemUI tweaks, Xposed and etc. Exynos was an option I was exploring, but lack of warranty, no Samsung Pay, and the price are enough to keep me at bay. I think I just need to put my big boy pants on and try to use a phone without rooting it. Something I have yet to do in EVER using an Android phone since about 10 years ago, and I have never ever used or bought an iCrap... I mean... an iPhone !
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Get a One+ 3T good development and really nice phone if you want root. Root is dead on Samsung phones and so are ROMs.

So by reading thru this thread, I assume having a T-mobile S7E (G935T) rooting is pointless and really not available the way I'm used to it coming from a Note 4. That's kind of a bummer... I've been using Android and have always had ROOT and all the goodies that come with it. And I recently starting really enjoying my Note 4 with all the cool development in Note 7 ported roms oh well... I wonder if the S7E is enough of an upgrade to keep my interest as stock?
I see there is a G935U firmware, but that seems a bit hit and miss? But I'm just starting to read up on all this... :good:

ShrekOpher said:
Get a One+ 3T good development and really nice phone if you want root. Root is dead on Samsung phones and so are ROMs.
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Believe me bud, if Oneplus 5 or even 3T had an SD Card, I'd already have that phone, but thanks for your wisdom !
Araltd said:
So by reading thru this thread, I assume having a T-mobile S7E (G935T) rooting is pointless and really not available the way I'm used to it coming from a Note 4. That's kind of a bummer... I've been using Android and have always had ROOT and all the goodies that come with it. And I recently starting really enjoying my Note 4 with all the cool development in Note 7 ported roms oh well... I wonder if the S7E is enough of an upgrade to keep my interest as stock?
I see there is a G935U firmware, but that seems a bit hit and miss? But I'm just starting to read up on all this... :good:
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You and I both man... The last few years, I have lived off the mercy of T-Mobile and their BLs being unlocked. But Samsung sure done them all in ! Even the International unlocked ones disable Samsung Pay (forever, mind you!) if Knox is tripped, which I believe it is, when rooted and TWRP'd.

As I understand it,
Android pay / Samsung pay is why they frown on rooting now. I can understand it, though I don't agree with it.
The first time someone's financial information is compromised, and they've ever used one of the "pay" methods, on a rooted device the pr nightmare that would ensue would make the note 7 fiasco look like child's play.
"Samsung unsecured device compromises persons credit card information today, while Apple is still secure" I can see the headline.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S7E

possible solution for rooting difficulties?

Its been a long time since i posted but wanted to share this in off chance it will be helpful. Anyways i have been doing some research to try and help me decide whether i am going to get the s7 edge 935t or the international 935f, 935fd i believe are the model #'s. While reading about the locked bootloader and rooting difficulties on the 935t and other u.s. models i thought about how i was able to root and install a custom rom on my Verizon galaxy s4 with a locked bootloader and remembered using something called safestrap. i believe it just made like a separate partition but here is the link incase a similar method can be used on the tmobile version of the s7. https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2441441

I used the same exploit on my Verizon S4 and S5, even wrote my first ROM for the S4, thanks to safe strap. Unfortunatly the developer of safestrap gave up a long time ago...
Our only option is flash fire. The phone is a couple years old now, the S8 and Note are most of our remaning developers priority. And without a bunch of heads being bashed against the boot loader we will never find the cracks to exploit it.
We have a PR issue with devs. They work their butts off to give us a custom created operating system with a bunch of bells and whistles for free and we brow beat and demand more from them until we push them into giving up and moving on. Just look at the ROM threads for the TMobile S7 here on XDA, @jrkruse has been helping folks like me for years here on XDA, creating ROMs for phones he doesn't even own and helping out extremley amature devs like myself when we get stumped. How do we repay him? We flash without reading, we ignore and complain, we demand fixes and updates... For a free product from a guy who creates in his valuable and minimal free time...
I know I went off script, my bad I am just disappointed with the lack of development and developers lately.
Sent from my SM-G935U using XDA Premium HD app

yeah I noticed theres seems to be a lot less going on these days compared to when I got my first android phone, the Samsung droid charge and after rooting it I was hooked. then came the s3,s4,s5 which I had till was stolen a few months ago and now deciding on what to get next. leaning towards the g955fd which I would like more if it had the physical home button(fingerprint scanner config is ridiculous) and the i.r. blaster although I think I read somewhere that it is f.m. radio capable at least on the Chinese variant. It would be cool if Samsung released a version that was a little tougher like the one that is made by att but it seems as people have become content with what the manufacturers give you these days. Seems like a waste to spend so much money on a device with so few roms and other development options. I miss getting on here and checking out the progress all the developers had made then downloading and flashing new goodies for hours on end but it looks as maybe those kinda things are history. sad