Database Users

[Q] Thinking about getting a Note 3

Hello everyone. I don't have that many posts here, but please don't let that reflect me lol. I tend to trade phones a lot. I currently have a Verizon S4...I like the phone, but I am on the latest MK2 firmware...Here just recently, SafeStrap has became available. However, there is really 1 ROM that works right, and is stable, and that is Hyperdrive. Hyperdrive is a great ROM, I am not bashing at all. It's just not my cup of tea. In the past I have been a huge fan of Eclipse. Eclipse is not working with Safestrap at this time...I have had this phone for a couple of months, and it sucks waiting week after week hoping devs have made progress...Anywho, what can you guys tell me about the Note 3?
If I went to Verizon and picked one up, am I going to be able to root it and install a variety of roms, or am I going to be stuck like I am with the S4?
If I am going to be stuck like I am now, then that is definately going to make me choose a different phone. If so, could someone recommend one? I have been a huge fan of the Samsung phones here recently since the S3 and Note 2. I really liked my Note 2. I also really like Motorola's...They are durable phones, and safestrap is nice...Here recently SafeStrap has became available for Samsungs which is awesome.

Heads up !!the powers that be will move this thread to the q&a section.... but to answer if you want to crack flash...note 3 is not for you.....maybe moto x, or if you want a bigger device the Lg g2 has some good development.
One thing about the note3 is that you should be able to deal with the phone( stock )....and rooting it just to de bloat and themeing. The phone Is quick and Imo the spen and touchwiz are essential to this device! so asop roms are not happening.
hope this helps...good luck...
p.s. still stock Un rooted and kicking ass... coming from gnex!

You can checkout the ROMs section in the Note 3 forum to see the available ROMs. I come from an S3 and the choice of ROMs there was ample. Note 3 however has very few ROMs as opposed to the S3. However, the ones that are there are pretty good. I am on Beans ROM and it gives me everything that I want.
One important thing for me is the ability to use the PEN (Along with all the apps, SPEN, Scrap book etc). Beans gives me full features as far as the pen is concerned. I guess there are other ROMs as well that do it (Hyperdrive). But any new "Original" ROM development that happens for the Note 3, might have some limitations. if you are not a big user of the PEN, then it might not matter to you.
Nutshell, I love my Note 3 and the fact that I am running a non-stock ROM on it. Hope this helps.

Thanks guys! Well I glanced through the roms, but I don't know what firmware the note 2 comes with if I was to go get one right now. That being said, I wasn't sure if the one that it came with is rootable, or if it is locked tight like the s4...One rom specifically that I am looking for on the note 3 would be eclips....Without doing a bunch of research, I figured it would be easiest to just open a thread an ask, that way I got accurate information.
Oops, sorry about using the wrong forum.

most of what is considered roms these days are actually themes applied over the top of a stock rom. Those hundreds of roms you see for the S3 and Note2 can be easily achieved yourself with a couple of apps and a bit of know how. The Note3 has everything one needs. If you buy retail you can use safestrap and flash touchwiz roms only. If you buy a Developer Device, then you can flash AOSP or Touchwiz since the bootloader is unlocked. Also most everything in the T-mobile section N3 is compatible with the VZW DE N3, so there is actually alot of development going on if you look in the right places and do not expect silver spoon feeding on a platinum platter.

droidstyle said:
most of what is considered roms these days are actually themes applied over the top of a stock rom. Those hundreds of roms you see for the S3 and Note2 can be easily achieved yourself with a couple of apps and a bit of know how. The Note3 has everything one needs. If you buy retail you can use safestrap and flash touchwiz roms only. If you buy a Developer Device, then you can flash AOSP or Touchwiz since the bootloader is unlocked. Also most everything in the T-mobile section N3 is compatible with the VZW DE N3, so there is actually alot of development going on if you look in the right places and do not expect silver spoon feeding on a platinum platter.
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Thanks, I appreciate the help. I wasn't expecting to be spoon fed anything. I just don't get a good grasp on whats going on and have the device in my hand. I wanted to make sure that I could do what I was wanting to do with it before I went and bought this phone. I guess my one last question is, what is the firmware that will come with it, or what is the latest I should ask. Just so that I can check on my rom options.
Reason why I am asking this, is because the S4 was kind of confusing at first because devs are making mk2 roms, but they aren't working with ss...There are some other things as well, but thats beside the point. lol.

Moving to Q and A and closing... Best any more discussion goes here..http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2466108

mix and match roms and variants?

first, i did use the search button so no flaming. at the risk of sounding like a noob, here goes nothing. i just picked up a verizon g2 variant and love it! however i have found a couple roms on the att side (who is my carrier) that i would like to use. so im wondering can these roms be used on different devices or do you need to stick to your carriers sub forum? perhaps flashing a kernel or something additional.
any help is greatly appreciated! oh, and the reason for a verizon phone on att is simply because of the awesome deal i got.
thanks!!!

Dont flash the ROM from AT&T. You'll most likely going to boot loop or even worse brick your phone. There's a reason they have different sub forums for different carriers. Stick to the verizon sub forum or go to the Original Android development and look for ROMs that works on VS980 only. But if you really want the ROM. It never hurts to ask.

Will Non-Verizon Firmware Work?

Hey everyone -
Apologies if this has been asked before, but a simple search didn't turn up results. Verizon (surprise surprise) is already lagging behind on firmware updates. For those of us who are S-Off, unlocked, and on custom ROMs, is it possible to flash an updated firmware (such as 1.80.617.1) and still use our phones? Or are we stuck on Verizon's release cycle for firmware updates?
EDIT - I meant to post this in the Questions & Answers section, my apologies. If any mods want to move it, please feel free.

btonetbone said:
Hey everyone -
Apologies if this has been asked before, but a simple search didn't turn up results. Verizon (surprise surprise) is already lagging behind on firmware updates. For those of us who are S-Off, unlocked, and on custom ROMs, is it possible to flash an updated firmware (such as 1.80.617.1) and still use our phones? Or are we stuck on Verizon's release cycle for firmware updates?
EDIT - I meant to post this in the Questions & Answers section, my apologies. If any mods want to move it, please feel free.
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Click to collapse
we're stuck on verizon's firmware. i use viper and the software is updated to the latest release, just not using the eu/intl firmware.

btonetbone said:
Hey everyone -
Apologies if this has been asked before, but a simple search didn't turn up results. Verizon (surprise surprise) is already lagging behind on firmware updates. For those of us who are S-Off, unlocked, and on custom ROMs, is it possible to flash an updated firmware (such as 1.80.617.1) and still use our phones? Or are we stuck on Verizon's release cycle for firmware updates?
EDIT - I meant to post this in the Questions & Answers section, my apologies. If any mods want to move it, please feel free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are on Verizon you should be using Verizon firmware. Just because a version number is different doesn't mean it's ahead. They are different forks tested and tweaked for entirely different networks.
Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk

dottat said:
If you are on Verizon you should be using Verizon firmware. Just because a version number is different doesn't mean it's ahead. They are different forks tested and tweaked for entirely different networks.
Sent from my HTC6545LVW using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
But does that hold true when flashing the Verizon radio behind the other firmware?(not challenging your statement here, just asking a variation of the OP question)
I think that is the main thing people want to know when this topic comes up. I've seen the question and information on it scattered in pieces across multiple threads, but never fully answered by being backed with a report by someone who did it.
So you don't think I am one of those that just sits back to let someone else do the work - I am willing to try such a thing by flashing the US unlocked or Europe FW followed by the VZW radio you pulled, but would need a little guidance in terms of how to provide feedback. Test signal before/after? I know from Viper thread loss of camera is something to watch out for. Any other specific items/parameters to check before/after? Since Viper just did a re-base, I have been searching and debating between those two FW anyway. First the Euro to match the ROM, then the US because they have the ROM flashing on all FW out at the moment.

camparks said:
But does that hold true when flashing the Verizon radio behind the other firmware?(not challenging your statement here, just asking a variation of the OP question)
I think that is the main thing people want to know when this topic comes up. I've seen the question and information on it scattered in pieces across multiple threads, but never fully answered by being backed with a report by someone who did it.
So you don't think I am one of those that just sits back to let someone else do the work - I am willing to try such a thing by flashing the US unlocked or Europe FW followed by the VZW radio you pulled, but would need a little guidance in terms of how to provide feedback. Test signal before/after? I know from Viper thread loss of camera is something to watch out for. Any other specific items/parameters to check before/after? Since Viper just did a re-base, I have been searching and debating between those two FW anyway. First the Euro to match the ROM, then the US because they have the ROM flashing on all FW out at the moment.
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Click to collapse
So here's the thing... you will see unlocked users who simply flashed the radio complain they often get stuck on 3g/1x. You will see the posts about the camera loss. You will see things about loss of volte. The firmware is always optimized for the rom/carrier for which it was written. They won't include vzw fixes in unlocked firmware since that phone isn't targeted for use on the vzw network.
Between the rom and the firmware it's really just a different fork altogether. They aren't mean to be used without each other as a dependency.
Euro firmware will likely have some odd wifi side effects for some folks as they use different bands over there.

dottat said:
So here's the thing... you will see unlocked users who simply flashed the radio complain they often get stuck on 3g/1x. You will see the posts about the camera loss. You will see things about loss of volte. The firmware is always optimized for the rom/carrier for which it was written. They won't include vzw fixes in unlocked firmware since that phone isn't targeted for use on the vzw network.
Between the rom and the firmware it's really just a different fork altogether. They aren't mean to be used without each other as a dependency.
Euro firmware will likely have some odd wifi side effects for some folks as they use different bands over there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So can we back up just a bit to where I believe this all stems from - Is the HTC 10 truly a single-hardware phone? Therein, making all "variants" manifested only by which firmware is flashed? Is that true globally? If not, is that true for all in a particular "zone"(Europe, Asia, US, etc.)?
Ok, with the Euro FW the issues are apparent, given different standards not only for cellular, but also the camera and wi-fi vary from those here in the US. Even if one were to flash a US carrier radio, the camera and wi-fi issues could still pop up. Moving on from that consideration.
For US unlocked, there should be no standards issue, correct? Assuming hardware is the same for atleast all US carriers, what besides the radios would differ between carriers when not running stock ROMs?
Obviously there would be issues when on stock ROMs due to custom apps, features, etc. that would break not only when running different non-stock FW, but also when running one carrier's stock ROM on another carrier's network. All that is ill-advised and goes back to you only recommending stock FW.
Thanks for discussing this. I do not question your advise at all, I just want to explore the what and why of it all to put it all in one place. Thanks for humoring me and my questions!

camparks said:
So can we back up just a bit to where I believe this all stems from - Is the HTC 10 truly a single-hardware phone? Therein, making all "variants" manifested only by which firmware is flashed? Is that true globally? If not, is that true for all in a particular "zone"(Europe, Asia, US, etc.)?
Ok, with the Euro FW the issues are apparent, given different standards not only for cellular, but also the camera and wi-fi vary from those here in the US. Even if one were to flash a US carrier radio, the camera and wi-fi issues could still pop up. Moving on from that consideration.
For US unlocked, there should be no standards issue, correct? Assuming hardware is the same for atleast all US carriers, what besides the radios would differ between carriers when not running stock ROMs?
Obviously there would be issues when on stock ROMs due to custom apps, features, etc. that would break not only when running different non-stock FW, but also when running one carrier's stock ROM on another carrier's network. All that is ill-advised and goes back to you only recommending stock FW.
Thanks for discussing this. I do not question your advise at all, I just want to explore the what and why of it all to put it all in one place. Thanks for humoring me and my questions!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hardware wise most are the same. And you are right about me recommending firmware that matches your carrier. That aside, my experience has been like this....
I have been asked a couple times to try to fully convert a phone from one carrier to another. On the 10, we know that unlocked<->verizon works and we thought it would since HTC gave them the same MID (different CIDs though). On the m9, I have attempted to fully convert a verizon m9 to an ATT model. The RUU flashes everything BUT tp and one or two other ones. It boots up fine (att death star and all)... but it will never boot to recovery and never load TWRP when flashed. There's something about the overall partition structure that makes it different.
On the rom/firmware front.... Verizon and HTC do very specific testing for firmware/OS releases. They do this not only to ensure optimal performance for the user, but also to make sure that the phone itself doesn't cause issues on the network itself. As the manager of an engineering team for a huge US based ISP, I can tell you that firmware of devices CAN and DOES impact the network stability from time to time. I'm not talking about capacity issues, I'm talking about your phone making a phone call and causing a network card back at the CO/Tower/ETC reset. It does happen.
Lastly, I measure things by what you gain. What would gain by flashing unlocked or EU firmware images onto a phone on the verizon network? An increase in number version? As much as I see people who change their aboot do so to avoid red text, it always surprised me to see a VZW phone with a third X.X.401.X number on their bootloader indicating non-vzw firmware. There's a new piece of fun around since the m9 and present on the 10. If you manage to get an aboot on your phone doesnt match your firmware and you reboot the phone you will be stuck in bootloader with no access to download/recovery and often OS. The only fix is to manually flash each firmware image / partition file by name manually and it must match the aboot for it to work. So that's another reason to not go and mix and match because to be honest... most people don't make it beyond the panic moment of that. That phone gets returned and added to the reasons verizon makes it more difficult going forward.
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There's my 2 cents

SCH-R970X (CSpire) ROMS

Hey, Guys.
I've had this phone for a while, now. I'm pretty attached to it. I'm pretty sure I have some 2 or 3 year old posts here about this very phone.
BUT...
I haven't seen any new support for it. I'm currently running PAC-ROM, but I'm still on jellybean and while I LOVE the rom, it can be a bit glitchy (blame Tyler). I've tried flashing plenty of roms for this thing over the years. i9500's, i9505's, jfltexx's, etc. etc..... I've even gone in and added my phone's model to the rom compatability list (I'm sure there's some other technical name for it, but hey). But nothing actually work works.
Can anyone point me in the direction of some snazzy newer rom for my phone? I don't wanna go back to stock just so I can have lollipop/marshmallow.
Stock sucks.

FalseP77 said:
Hey, Guys.
I've had this phone for a while, now. I'm pretty attached to it. I'm pretty sure I have some 2 or 3 year old posts here about this very phone.
BUT...
I haven't seen any new support for it. I'm currently running PAC-ROM, but I'm still on jellybean and while I LOVE the rom, it can be a bit glitchy (blame Tyler). I've tried flashing plenty of roms for this thing over the years. i9500's, i9505's, jfltexx's, etc. etc..... I've even gone in and added my phone's model to the rom compatability list (I'm sure there's some other technical name for it, but hey). But nothing actually work works.
Can anyone point me in the direction of some snazzy newer rom for my phone? I don't wanna go back to stock just so I can have lollipop/marshmallow.
Stock sucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JDC ROMs are compatible with the SCH-R970.
There doesn't seem to be any difference except for the carrier. Yours is C-Spire, and the other is US Cellular.

GDReaper said:
JDC ROMs are compatible with the SCH-R970.
There doesn't seem to be any difference except for the carrier. Yours is C-Spire, and the other is US Cellular.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks for replying.
US Cellular runs on a CDMA network, while CSpire runs on GSM.
Meanwhile, T-Moble ALSO uses a GSM network (every other major carrier uses CDMA), but I believe that they use a different chipset.

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