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Unlocked/International Version for use with US/GSM Carrier

I would definitely prefer an unbranded phone, usually that means 'International' model? Any suggestions on where I should be looking to buy one?
Here on "pre-order launch" day, the only offers I see are for carrier branded phones.
In case I've made an error in logic, I'll note what I'm trying to do: I use a MVNO GSM carrier with an unlimited data plan, so I'm looking for a "GSM" S7-EDGE that is carrier unlocked. I'll check the LTE bands and all... the question is, where to buy one of these?

Not sure on international models however you'll want to check out tmobile. There always unbranded and I believe I read somewhere it has all 4 bands except cmda? Can't confirm the cmda one. Also the bootloader are unlocked.

Expansys and eBay are your best bets when the time comes
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Shoulon said:
Not sure on international models however you'll want to check out tmobile. There always unbranded and I believe I read somewhere it has all 4 bands except cmda? Can't confirm the cmda one. Also the bootloader are unlocked.
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TMOBILE phones are not Unbranded at all - they include a bunch of bloat and their branding is all over the software in their phones - I don't think they put the name TMOBILE on the phone itself, but I thnk Unbranded means much more than just that. I am not meaning to criticize, just pointing out the fact that I don't think TMOBILE Phones could be considered unbranded.
Having said that, they do work beautifully on other compatible networks.

Just preordered my Samsung Galaxy S7 (930T). Hopefully this T-Mobile phone will get rooted quick. I'm done with AT&T phones.... paid outright, and will unlock through T-Mobile....

mocsab said:
TMOBILE phones are not Unbranded at all - they include a bunch of bloat and their branding is all over the software in their phones - I don't think they put the name TMOBILE on the phone itself, but I thnk Unbranded means much more than just that. I am not meaning to criticize, just pointing out the fact that I don't think TMOBILE Phones could be considered unbranded.
Having said that, they do work beautifully on other compatible networks.
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He might be talking about the international versions and not the US version.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Tidbits said:
He might be talking about the international versions and not the US version.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
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My Bad... thanks for the heads up

Here's an unlocked probably European phone from Expansys
http://www.expansys-usa.com/samsung-galaxy-s7-unlocked-32gb-black-onyx-288135/
I think it's the European because it's listed as an Octa core (Processor: Octa-Core / 2.3 GHz Quad + 1.6 GHz Quad) if I'm not mistaken the SD820 isn't Octa but the Exynos is and Europe is supposed to be getting Exynos.

If those bands are correct that is very limiting. I'd still hold out and wait to see the full support listing.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

Isn't that you can just use qualcomm's QXDM,QPST and DFS to unlock all the band? Just need have root first.

maybe, but you should rely on it. Let's just say for example Samsung changes how things are in this version or we can't find an exploit for 6 months to a 1 year? That's just me though. I'd rather be safe than sorry.

So I was planning to get the international version (Exynos) Galaxy S7 Edge, but After using the Live Chat on Samsung website, they told me as of today the International Version of S7 DOESN"T support the Samsung Pay yet.... any ideas?

I am trying to unlock one for my family member from t mobile. Anyway to unlock it for international use without paying a fortune?
---------- Post added at 04:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 04:16 AM ----------
Is it true what they are saying that when you first put the sim in the phone and turn it on it locks itself to that carrier?? SO IF I PUT IN att sim in tmobile phone it will be locked to att ?

UnixSlayer said:
Just preordered my Samsung Galaxy S7 (930T). Hopefully this T-Mobile phone will get rooted quick. I'm done with AT&T phones.... paid outright, and will unlock through T-Mobile....
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Sorry to break it to you but the bootloader on the TMO S7 Edge is locked down now like ATT and Verizon without root available
"And on that bombshell!"
Sent from my Smokin G935A

Check out the Canadian version sm-g935w8. It has exynos, supports samsung pay and can be rooted. The specs say it supports all the north American lte bands. If you buy one from a Canadian samsung experience store, it comes with factory unlock codes
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA Free mobile app

I'm getting an Exynos S7 Edge and am thinking of installing an unbranded Rom from Sammobile, any idea which?
I'm in Australia, so no Samsung Pay yet, but it could be handy.
I'm sure certain European Roms get updates sooner too.

Ok, checked Sammobile again and this looks safe. Looks to be an unbranded Australian rom.
http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/download/67083/G935FXXU1APAW_G935FXSA1APAW_XSA/

Should i get a note 7 from at&t?

The Galaxy Note Edge still to this day does not have Root. I was wondering if it was worth it getting the Note 7 from At&t or should I get an unlocked one. What do you guys think?

I had the At&t Note 4 as well, which also never got root. I recently sold mine for over $200 on eBay and I found a T-Mobile Note 3 that I rooted and ROM'd and it is nearly as fast as the Note 5. I've already pre-ordered the Note 7 through At&t only because I've used the S7 Edge and it is fast enough to not really need root. But to be fair the S7 and S7 Edge do have root so it may be possible for the Note 7 to be rooted in a similar fashion. Now the bootloader is a whole nother story!
Sent from my SM-T700 using XDA-Developers mobile app

whmgreen said:
I had the At&t Note 4 as well, which also never got root. I recently sold mine for over $200 on eBay and I found a T-Mobile Note 3 that I rooted and ROM'd and it is nearly as fast as the Note 5. I've already pre-ordered the Note 7 through At&t only because I've used the S7 Edge and it is fast enough to not really need root. But to be fair the S7 and S7 Edge do have root so it may be possible for the Note 7 to be rooted in a similar fashion. Now the bootloader is a whole nother story!
Sent from my SM-T700 using XDA-Developers mobile app
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Click to collapse
It seems to really depend on the popularity of the phone, whether it gets root or not. The Note 4 Edge was a great phone, but was not that popular with the general public. With all the excitement generated for the Note 7, I think we will get root. I do really wish they had put the snapdragon 821 & 6GB of ram, like the rumors had said. Then it really would of been an iphone killer. Btw, I also Pre-ordered a Note 7.

whmgreen said:
I had the At&t Note 4 as well, which also never got root. I recently sold mine for over $200 on eBay and I found a T-Mobile Note 3 that I rooted and ROM'd and it is nearly as fast as the Note 5. I've already pre-ordered the Note 7 through At&t only because I've used the S7 Edge and it is fast enough to not really need root. But to be fair the S7 and S7 Edge do have root so it may be possible for the Note 7 to be rooted in a similar fashion. Now the bootloader is a whole nother story!
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We do have root, what are you talking about lol. S7 edge Verizon rooted

I'm gonna also pre-order and I have AT&T. But I'm gonna go to best buy and out right buy the unlocked no plan version. AT&T can kiss my rear end, if it weren't for my wife not wanting to leave them I would have dumped them way back when bootloader got locked.

Reinaldo33897 said:
I'm gonna also pre-order and I have AT&T. But I'm gonna go to best buy and out right buy the unlocked no plan version. AT&T can kiss my rear end, if it weren't for my wife not wanting to leave them I would have dumped them way back when bootloader got locked.
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Dont buy it from best buy, they upcharge. They wont carry a sim unlocked one anyways. Buy on amazon. For me as much as I used to like sammy I cant deal with locked bootloaders and the price tag is too high. If anything id consider a international exynos model s7 from amazon. Theres at least stable root and development.

fix-this! said:
Dont buy it from best buy, they upcharge. They wont carry a sim unlocked one anyways. Buy on amazon. For me as much as I used to like sammy I cant deal with locked bootloaders and the price tag is too high. If anything id consider a international exynos model s7 from amazon. Theres at least stable root and development.
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Good advise, I went to best buy and asked if they were taking pre-orders for the unlocked version. She looked at me like I was talking some alien language. Gave me a weird expression and walked away.

You shouldn't support ANY carriers - including AT&T.
Buy unlocked and do what you want with YOUR device!

TechBSwift said:
We do have root, what are you talking about lol. S7 edge Verizon rooted
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Umm...can you read? I said S7 and S7 Edge CAN be rooted!!

HNIC215 said:
You shouldn't support ANY carriers - including AT&T.
Buy unlocked and do what you want with YOUR device!
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What model version is unlocked? Will it be possible to unlock the bootloader on this version as well? Thanks in advance
Sent from my SGH-I337 using XDA-Developers mobile app

awakener777 said:
What model version is unlocked? Will it be possible to unlock the bootloader on this version as well? Thanks in advance [/URL]
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N930F (Europe); N930G (India)
I think both of these models come unlocked and I think there are also dual sim variants that come unlocked as well. Not sure.
I always go for the F variant - N930F - which is usually the international unlocked version.
Yes, it should be possible to unlock the bootloader and root - at least it was on the S7 Edge I used to own.
Keep in mind, the international model uses the Exynos processor as opposed to the SD820 the US version uses.
They both have pros and cons - do your research before you purchase. Especially if you are planning to root, use Samsung Pay etc...
I prefer international for less bloat/carrier restrictions, better battery life, root etc...
P.S. -> if you root then no Samsung Pay

HNIC215 said:
N930F (Europe); N930G (India)
I think both of these models come unlocked and I think there are also dual sim variants that come unlocked as well. Not sure.
I always go for the F variant - N930F - which is usually the international unlocked version.
Yes, it should be possible to unlock the bootloader and root - at least it was on the S7 Edge I used to own.
Keep in mind, the international model uses the Exynos processor as opposed to the SD820 the US version uses.
They both have pros and cons - do your research before you purchase. Especially if you are planning to root, use Samsung Pay etc...
I prefer international for less bloat/carrier restrictions, better battery life, root etc...
P.S. -> if you root then no Samsung Pay
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Thank you for your input! Can't do a phone without unlockable BL. I don't even know what Samsung pay is so that's okay.
Sent from my SGH-I337 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Don't the unlocked phones use different frequencies/channels compare to US carriers and might not get full potential of US LTE network?
Even between US carriers the frequencies/channels are different. For example my Note 3 T-mob doesn't use some channels that Att uses and I can't get full LTE speeds on ATT network because of that.

[email protected] said:
Don't the unlocked phones use different frequencies/channels compare to US carriers and might not get full potential of US LTE network?
Even between US carriers the frequencies/channels are different. For example my Note 3 T-mob doesn't use some channels that Att uses and I can't get full LTE speeds on ATT network because of that.
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Not anymore, Almost all unlocked variants work perfect with all US carriers..I have international Note5 on AT&T
Sent from my SM-N920S using Tapatalk

will I be able to flash Indian firmware on a note7 purchased from Dubai? The models in India and Dubai are same. SM-N930FD
Sent from SM-N910G on Dr. Ketan's L16

rajat_delhi said:
will I be able to flash Indian firmware on a note7 purchased from Dubai? The models in India and Dubai are same. SM-N930FD
Sent from SM-N910G on Dr. Ketan's L16
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As long as model numbers are same, you can...
Sent from my SM-N920S using Tapatalk

Unlock bootloader us snapdragon galaxy s7?

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.
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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.
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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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

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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Click to collapse
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?

thinking about s7 edge - newb questions

Hey All!
I'm currently using the s5 active, and I'm looking for an upgrade. I'm looking for a phone with a great camera, so obviously s7 edge has come up.
I'm planning on using this phone primarily in Vietnam, so I wanted to ask a few questions about which variant you all suggest.
1. Are all versions sim unlocked? I read online that verizon is, but I also read that some other ones I need to buy codes. Is it relatively easy to unlock the other variants (without paying money)? I'm not shy about flashing and odin things so if it's complicated that's fine too, as long as it's possible.
2. Hows the unified development? I love flashing roms and trying out new ones, if you were to buy a new s7 edge and didn't care about carrier, is there one that you would recommend over the others? I'm on the ATT s5 active now, and locked bootloader sucks. So I'm hoping to avoid that if I can.

If you can buy the exynos version, it's SIM unlock and easily rootable. All USA version are based on Qualcomm and with locked boot loader so no development for it.

G935 exynos is your choice, but I'd wait for S8

Anik49 said:
If you can buy the exynos version, it's SIM unlock and easily rootable. All USA version are based on Qualcomm and with locked boot loader so no development for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah okay. Maybe I'll check out some other phones then. Thanks!
yaro666 said:
G935 exynos is your choice, but I'd wait for S8
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Click to collapse
Thanks! haha, but since I'm not on any US plan, I figured I'd buy a used one instead. Although, if I wait till the s8 comes out, I'm sure there will be a nice price drop for a used s7.
Although now I gotta think if I want to look into HTC or LG for my development needs =D

Ah. One more question. People are generally saying touchwiz now isn't terrible. So if carriers have OTA updates, are they easily flashed in other countries? With my att sg5, it was pretty difficult to get updates abroad.

Are there any benefits of flashing unlocked firmware?

I have a sprint galaxy s8, I know already that flashing the firmware of the unlocked version isn't going to unlock my phone, but is there any benefits if I did flash it?

fever308 said:
I have a sprint galaxy s8, I know already that flashing the firmware of the unlocked version isn't going to unlock my phone, but is there any benefits if I did flash it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No bloatware
Sent from my SM-G950U1 using Tapatalk

Yes there are. There's some cons too.

Many individuals claim better battery with the unlocked firmware but I saw a small hit tbh. Maybe it's because of the lack of 4x4 and 256QAM.
I personally only use the unlocked firmware because it has a better locking LTE icon that tmobile lol

You can switch SIMs between any carrier

S8 experience
Looking for help on deciding what to do about the note 8. Looking for words of advise from you s8/8+ ppl since you already have experience.
Did not have the note 7 long obviously and honestly did not even realize it was locked down tight. Soooo now i am thinking about buying the international note 8 instead of the us one since i hear it will be able to be rooted. Soooo my questions to you guys
1) what do i lose by buying the international version?
2) what do i gain (other than flsshing) by buying the international verdion.
3) will the international version work on both sprint and tmobile should i decide to switch.
4) what's the best way to buy the international version and what do i beed to look out for. All the s8's on amazon i have seen only appear to work on tmobile.
Thanks for any and all help
Sent from my SM-N910P using Xparent Purple Tapatalk 2