Hey, just a quick question. I'm thinking of getting the N910F after formatting my N910C's efs partition (;_ and I'm a bit reluctant since it's sold out in all of my country's stores BUT it's available through my carrier. What I'm asking is, if I buy the phone from them (just the phone, no contract since I already have one) is there a chance the bootloader will be locked and if it is, will there be a way to unlock it? Also, will it be sim-locked? If you don't know, how could I ask?(This isn't a local branch of t-mobile, verizon, sprint, etc. etc. large US carrier. It's a domestic government owned company so I don't know about that on my own).
-As far as i know Only Verizon and at&t have locked bootloaders (You wont be able to flash anything)
-Now a days samsung has started partially locking bootloaders on all its devices (910C + 910F) Any note 4 running COJ5 rom has a partially locked bootloader, which means you can not downgrade to 5.0.1 or 4.4.4 but you are still able to root and Flash coj5 based custom roms, recovery etc.
-If you buy a phone from local carrier you can turn it on at the shop go to settings>about> Check if the baseband version is COJ5 or COL or anything newer if it is then you wont be able to downgrade to earlier versions of stockrom but you can still root and do stuff.
- you can ask the company reps if the phone is locked to work on their carrier only (you can pay them to sim-unlock the phone)
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Hi
i have had a search and can find plenty of USA bootloader questions regarding The Note 4. these usually deviate into US Carrier bashing and Samsung hating.
My query is specific to UK release of the Note 4. I am thinking of getting one but would like to know, from anyone who can verify, is the boot loader locked/unlocked? Are the sim free ones unlocked.
i fancy one however would rather not void my warranty on day one. Option 2 is looking at getting hold of a developer edition note 4 however they are not available here yet.
if you are in UK and can help or know id be greatful
many thanks
wookey
No UK models, the n910f have locked bootloaders. The only models that have locked bootloader are at&t and verizon but they are locked by the carrier. Sim free ones won't be carrier or bootloader locked but might well be region locked ie an American variant may be locked to America and a European locked to Europe etc.
You will however probably lose your warranty when you root although eu law states rooting shouldn't void your warranty for a hardware defect
I have never minded restoring my phone back to stock when sending in for warranty repair. so might be enough not to void it if unlocked?
Once you root you will trip knox and that can't be reset. That's the same on all new Sammy phones. But most Sammy centres don't actually check for knox in the UK
(my browser spazzed and I lost my last post if it shows up as a double ignore the other one!)
I'm new to Android and finding it confusing so thanks for the help so far!
I have a 910F Note 4 on Lollipop and want to root it to get rid of bloatware and possibly stop ads (if I can convince myself it's ethical) btu I *may* want to custom ROM it later.
So far your help and my reading have taught me this:
-- I can root using chainfire in order to get rid of bloat and block ads
-- If after rooting I later want a custom ROM or Xposed I'll need to get custom recovery in which case I'll be able to add CWM or TWRP later to my rooted phone
Assuming the above are true (if not please tell me!!) my question is this:
What on earth is oem unlock/bootloader unlock? In my reading I've come across people talking about this and it wiping the phone. I can't find an easy answer online. If I root +/- do CWM/TWRP will that automatically do OEM unlock or are they different things? Is bootloader unlock a different thing too? I'm confused! Will I need to root AND custom recovery AND oem unlock AND unlock bootloader?
Thanks in advance!!!
Some devices come with a locked bootloader, where you may be able to root the device via an exploit, but you can't change lower level software (ie kernel and/or recovery)... unless there is an unlock method for the bootloader.
The devices that do have a locked bootloader can be locked by the manufacturer, or by the carrier. That's the difference between the two. Either way the bootloader is still locked, only difference is who called for the locking.
For example, note 4 on tmobile does not have a locked bootloader, however, note 4 on at&t does. That decision was made by at&t, not Samsung. As far as I know, the at&t variant does not have a method for unlocking the bootloader yet so there's not much development for the device.
Compare to nexus devices, where Google automatically has the manufacturer lock the bootloader, but it being a development device, it's the easiest bootloader to unlock. It's literally a one line command in adb. HTC devices are locked but you can get an HTC dev code to unlock it from HTC.
I hope that makes sense. The best way to determine if your device has a locked bootloader is to visit the development forum or the general/Q&A forums for your device. If you have a locked bootloader and there is an unlock method, you only have to do it once (until you update or relock your bootloader). Some locked devices never get an unlock method. It designed to maintain the security and integrity of the device, but it also prevents user tampering.
Thank you for your thorough reply absinthesummer, very helpful.
However I'm still a little confused. My reading suggests to me that T-Mobile (910T) is *rootable* and the AT&T version (910S?) is not *rootable* but I'm in the UK and don't use these providers I use EE. And so I have the international variant of the Note 4 which is the 910F. I don't see a subforum or help for the UK EE version of the note 4 but as it's the 910F I assume that's the one I need to search for and not worry that EE will have put their own lock onto the 910F??
Now, because this happens to coincide with what you are saying has a locked bootloader or not, am I to assume that whether or not something is rootable is the same as whether or not it has an unlockable bootloader? i.e. is something only rootable or not because its bootloader is unlockable or not? If so therefore am I correct to assume that as the 910F which I have is rootable that it is also bootloadunlockable? And furthermore am I correct to assume that the very process of rooting itself unlocks the bootloader? Or perhaps in the case of the 910F it doesn't need to be so is even easier than Nexus devices? i.e. I just simply root and that in itself mean bootloader is already unlocked (and I am assuming that oem unlock is the same thing?)
I'm getting myself in a muddle I think!
Hehe it's totally cool, and yes your carrier could put a lock on it but that's incredibly rare in Europe due to frequent traveling between countries and the need to change Sims and carriers often... or at least that's what I've been told. The US carriers who lock their bootloaders are typically GSM carriers who do not expect you to need to root/carrier unlock/whatever. It's a control thing imo.
Anyway, your note 4 does not have a locked bootloader. If you check the development forum for your device you will see plenty of roms and guides and directions for rooting. That's usually a good indication that a device is unlocked (and those anticipating the release of new devices tend to get lock information prior to release, so they know which device they intend to buy).
Anyway, since you don't have a locked bootloader I wouldn't worry about it... that reminds me of a device I had for about a week, the LG L9. It had an oem bootloader lock but the international variant did not. We could root it & use a specially designed recovery with the bootloader locked but we couldn't flash a custom kernel (with a custom rom). They figured out that we could flash the international firmware and unlock that way, but it would make our display backwards (mirrored) and while that could be fixed, we would never be able to revert the boot screen. Now that's way too much trouble to go through just to unlock a bootloader and I did end up returning it and getting an s3 instead.
Bootloader locks are no fun, but they are not often placed on international devices for various reasons, so really I wouldn't worry about it too much.
If you get a device like a Google nexus, or an HTC that has a known locked bootloader, the bootloader and unlock method will be specifically mentioned in the routing guide. I hope that helps.
One more thing: rootability and locked bootloaders are not mutually exclusive, sometimes you can root devices with locked bootloaders and sometimes people will come up with ways around them (ie note 3 has safe strap recovery that runs parallel to stock recovery) to be able to use custom roms. However, if no exploit is found and there is no workaround, development will stall until one or both of those things is found. You may be able to root a device with a locked BL, but you may not be able to flash custom roms/kernels without a workaround. What I meant though is if you see a popular device with very little development, that's probably due to a locked bootloader and not having found a way around it yet. Most guides will explicitly mention the BL though if it's something you need to do
Yet another thoroughly helpful and detailed reply. Thank you very much indeed. You're a star!
I have a verizon samsung galaxy note 3 as many already know after 4.4.4 was released verizon locked the note 3 boot loader so users cannot down grade back to 4.4.2 and the only successful root process that works is on 4.4.2 at this time as far as I've researched so my question is if I were to pay verizon the sim unlocking fee and switch to a carrier that has a known properly working root process, in theory would this work. ? Any feed back would be great. Hoping this will work??!! If any thing I've said is confusing please reply and I'll try my best to reword it.
You're assuming that when you pay the fee that verizon will flash you with an unlocked boot chain. Don't think it's possible. If I'm not mistaken, some of the trust zones are flashed then locked with a physical fuse.
....
So paying the unlocking fee then say you buy a BYOD (bring your own device) kit from t-mobile, straight talk etc, activate the phone with the new carrier (preferably a carrier that currently has a root method that works) then proceed with rooting said device?
Again I'm new to the forum as well as new to the concert of rooting, flashing custom roms etc so please respond in laymens terms
Idk if it could work, I'm just trying to explore any possible solutions to the problem of when android 4.4.4 was released (verizon released theirs with a locked bootloader and if my reseach is correct, there are root processes working for android versions after 4.4.2 on other cell carriers.
So what I'm trying to figure out is if I found a root process that is known to be working on for example (a root process that works on t-mobile, sprint, at&t etc)if I paid to unlock the damn sim and activate the SM-N900V on a cell carrier that so happens to have a working root process, what is the likely hood of it working?
Or
Will it be a complete waste of time, effort, and money to atempt?
Riwd98 said:
So paying the unlocking fee then say you buy a BYOD (bring your own device) kit from t-mobile, straight talk etc, activate the phone with the new carrier (preferably a carrier that currently has a root method that works) then proceed with rooting said device?
Again I'm new to the forum as well as new to the concert of rooting, flashing custom roms etc so please respond in laymens terms
Idk if it could work, I'm just trying to explore any possible solutions to the problem of when android 4.4.4 was released (verizon released theirs with a locked bootloader and if my reseach is correct, there are root processes working for android versions after 4.4.2 on other cell carriers.
So what I'm trying to figure out is if I found a root process that is known to be working on for example (a root process that works on t-mobile, sprint, at&t etc)if I paid to unlock the damn sim and activate the SM-N900V on a cell carrier that so happens to have a working root process, what is the likely hood of it working?
Or
Will it be a complete waste of time, effort, and money to atempt?
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Click to collapse
You are confusing 2 different types of "unlocking".
Sim unlocking is not the same as unlocking a bootloader.
The locked bootloader will not be unlocked by Verizon.
The locked bootloader will not allow you to flash a custom kernel or system and prevents the easy rooting methods. Unless someone finds a root method, you will not get root on that device.
Sent from my SM-N900V using Tapatalk
Hi,
Tomorrow, I will be paying a visit to the US Cellular store so that they can unlock my phone for use on GSM networks. I usually run the unofficial build of CyanogenMod 12.1. But I learned that in order for them to unlock it I must be on stock. My question is: after I get it unlocked, will I be able to flash back to my backup of CyanogenMod without relocking the phone? I know on full GSM phones it's more of a hardware thing. But I want to be sure once it's unlocked that it's permanent.
(Also, I forgot to mention it's the US Cellular variant of the Galaxy S5)
Thank you!!
ROMs don't affect SIM lock afaik, or you'd be able to unlock them with a custom ROM too
I have a question. If I bought this phone outright, and sprint basically locked rooting it via boot loader version 5+, could another carrier flash it with "something special" to get it on the carriers firmware? If I own this, and Sprint locked a feature on me, wouldn't that make them liable for damages?
tonysak said:
I have a question. If I bought this phone outright, and sprint basically locked rooting it via boot loader version 5+, could another carrier flash it with "something special" to get it on the carriers firmware? If I own this, and Sprint locked a feature on me, wouldn't that make them liable for damages?
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Click to collapse
Not really. You bought the phone to use specially on Sprint as a Sprint phone. When it came out, no one knew about the u firmware or using it on other carriers. There is a post on here about unlocking additional lte bands. If the phone is carrier unlocked, you will get some service on all carriers, but not all the bands will be unlocked.