I'm looking to upgrade to the S9 and looking for advice on whether or not to get the US carrier unlock version or stick to T-Mobile version. So those of you who went with the US carrier unlocked S8, What are the Pros and Cons of it please?
Related
Understand that AT&T has locked bootloader on S5.
Can anyone tell me which model I should buy that will work on the AT&T LTE network but has an unlocked bootloader and can be rooted ? Also understand that there seem to be several variants of S5 available like G900F G906S etc....
Anyone tell me which one to buy ? want to use AT&T but have full control on device.
Thanks
You should but the one from T-mobile it will work with AT&T but you will have to Sim unlock it and you will be able to install roms on it.
I am coming from the Samsung line, Note 4 to be exact. I know I will be purchasing the v20, as it is the spiritual successor to the Note 4, to me.
I have been browsing the forums here and doing some reading, I see that the v20 is in it's infancy with root/developers breaking into nougat.
I try to find some answers, and I am unable to fully relinquish all my questions.
From what I understand the American models have unlocked bootloaders via Dirty Santa method, and two korean models if I am correct.
My questions are, which model should I buy? I want to have the model that has the MOST developer support. As I have the Exynos Korean model of my Note 4, and the development/custom roms and the like for my model are pretty non-existent, and it sucks.
From what I've read so far, if you want root, unlocked bootloader and the like, to steer clear of Dual Sim v20's. If this is true, what is the reason?
I was looking on the LG site and saw they are offering the US996 (unlocked) with a 200gb SD card.
(http://www.lg.com/us/cell-phones/lg-US996-Unlocked-v20-titan)
Does 'unlocked' mean that it is SIM unlocked or Bootloader unlocked?
If it's just SIM unlocked, is there ANY model that has Bootloader unlocked from the factory? (and will it have the support of developers, with custom roms and the like?)
Or is the US996 my best bet at unlocked and most widely supported v20.
Lastly, I see there will be a Turkey model release, international sim.
Should I wait around for these other v20's to pop up before purchasing? (I am in no rush to upgrade from note 4, but excited for new v20.)
Thank you everyone for your time in reading this.
I hope this thread helps all newcomers who want to hop on the v20 train.
TL;DR - What is the best model phone to purchase, that will have most DEV support?
The US996 model can be bootloader-unlocked directly from LG.
RichBordoni said:
The US996 model can be bootloader-unlocked directly from LG.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, I saw that! It says it voids manufacturers warranty though. So what if I purchased another variant and unlocked bootloader and sent it in if I messed it up. Would it be a possible gamble of them fixing it vs them knowing my phone is bootloader unlocked because I officially unlocked it via website?
Or should I just purchase based 3rd party warranty, (such as square trade) and not worry about it?
Hey all,
So I'm looking to upgrade to the V20 from my aging Flex2. I'm a power user, so I like to be able to customize as many aspects of my experience as I can. I live in Australia, so I need to know 3/4 things mainly:
1. Which variant should I buy to work in Australia? Am I right to assume the US996 variant would work fine unlocked? I'm currently using an unlocked AT&T variant of the Flex 2.
2. How important is the bootloader unlock? I saw that LG has released an unlock for the US996 variant, but is it required for a lot of custom ROM support? Are there unlocks for other variants?
3. Which variant has the most dev support/activity? If I were to put a custom ROM on the phone instead of just sticking with stock rooted, is it better to get a global variant over the US996 one? The H918 T-Mobile variant looks to have the most custom ROM support on the Dev section.
Cheers guys. Looking forward to becoming part of the community.
I want to install custom Rom on LG V20. Which carrier should I get it from, T-Mobile, Att, Sprint, Verizon? Thanks.
You should get the US996 unlocked version. It will work on all the carriers plus you can unlock the bootloader on LG's website. All the others you will need to use Dirty Santa to unlock unless they have newer firmware which cannot unlock yet. You can get the US996 fairly cheap. Just make sure it is the US996 unlocked not the US996 US Cellular version.
Is there a way to tell if a phone is the US Cellular version or the actual unlocked version?
Already got burned once buying a US996 from ebay that was labelled as factory unlocked but it was actually a US Cellular.
I'm hoping there/s something on the sticker under the battery that will have the answers but nothing obvious from what I can see.
Does the US996 model support all TMobile bands including band 12 and VoLTE, wifi calling? Thanks.
I'm thinking about buying a used US996 UCL (locked to US Cellular) to use on T-Mobile network.
Is there a service selling the unlock code for this phone? I haven't found any service that specifically say they do US Cellular phones.
If I root the phone, can I sim unlock it myself? Are all versions of this phone root-able, or will I need to check for something specific (security software version, firmware version, etc.)?
These are really noobish questions, but I hope someone can help me. Thanks!
According to their policy, all U.S. Cellular phones from February 2016 and newer already come SIM unlocked, so that's probably why you couldn't find any unlock codes/services:
https://www.uscellular.com/site/legal/mobile-wireless-device-unlocking.html
C D said:
According to their policy, all U.S. Cellular phones from February 2016 and newer already come SIM unlocked[/URL]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, that's really nice of US Cellular. It's a shame they have no presence where I am.
Thanks!
V20 are locked at OS level, flashing to a carrier-less firmware (US996), or a firmware from a carrier that doesn't lock their phone (everything aside from T-Mobile and Sprint), or an AOSP ROM (LineageOS) will unlock the device. Unless its a H918 or LS997, you don't have to worry about SIM locking