Database Users

[Q] G901F - future non-branded ROMS via OTA possible?

I would have posted this under the S5 'T-Mobile' section, but I think it might be more of a generic discussion.
I am considering in purchasing the S5 Plus (G901F). From what I can see right now, this is only available in Germany, UK and just about now, Netherlands. Problem is that it's exclusive to respective providers and therefore - "branded"
I can find it cheaper from Germany - which is subject to T-Mobile / Telekom (same thing?) branding.
I have asked the shop and they confirmed that the phone is factory unlocked to any provider/country and that there is no "hardware branding" on the phone. Meaning no stickers, no logos or anything else physically on the phone.
However, there is "software branding". Meaning the firmware itself and whatever bloatware the provider has put inside that ROM.
Now, I have read that I can use ODIN and find the least crapware-loaded ROM (from any country) and flash it *without* compromissing the knox bit. So far so good.
What I would like to know is that: What happens when finally Samsung releases a pure, non-branded ROM for the G901F? I can still use ODIN to flash - no problem. But what about future releases. I mean future non-branded firmwares. Would I be able to use OTA from that point on, or would I have to keep an eye and update via ODIN? Can someone please elaborate and explain this?

I get it - that's a 'newbie' type of question, but I would be really grateful towards some help here. All I can do for someone who will spend 2mins for writing a useful/accurate answer is say 'thanks'
Didn't find an exact answer to what I ask here, hence me writing this. Hope it's not a double-post!
jstoner said:
I would have posted this under the S5 'T-Mobile' section, but I think it might be more of a generic discussion.
I am considering in purchasing the S5 Plus (G901F). From what I can see right now, this is only available in Germany, UK and just about now, Netherlands. Problem is that it's exclusive to respective providers and therefore - "branded"
I can find it cheaper from Germany - which is subject to T-Mobile / Telekom (same thing?) branding.
I have asked the shop and they confirmed that the phone is factory unlocked to any provider/country and that there is no "hardware branding" on the phone. Meaning no stickers, no logos or anything else physically on the phone.
However, there is "software branding". Meaning the firmware itself and whatever bloatware the provider has put inside that ROM.
Now, I have read that I can use ODIN and find the least crapware-loaded ROM (from any country) and flash it *without* compromissing the knox bit. So far so good.
What I would like to know is that: What happens when finally Samsung releases a pure, non-branded ROM for the G901F? I can still use ODIN to flash - no problem. But what about future releases. I mean future non-branded firmwares. Would I be able to use OTA from that point on, or would I have to keep an eye and update via ODIN? Can someone please elaborate and explain this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Hi jstoner,
I think that while using an unbranded ROM would probably prevent you from receiving OTA's from your provider you would still be left wih the Samsung tool for getting new updates - Kies.
It has the options to check for updates and to flash them.
The geeky option is indeed to keep your eyes out for updates and fire up Odin
Disclaimer: I never used Kies to update my phone so I might be wrong here
Sent from my Android powered Tricorder

I forgot to mention - I live in Greece (but I m thinking of buying the phone from Germany, as it's not available here yet)
Does KIES list all ROMs from ALL regions/providers for a particular phone?
vrl13 said:
I think that while using an unbranded ROM would probably prevent you from receiving OTA's from your provider you would still be left wih the Samsung tool for getting new updates - Kies.
r
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Hello,
It seems there is a firmware for Greece for you
http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/download/40735/G901FXXU1ANK3_G901FEUR1ANL1_EUR.zip/

Oh good
Does that mean it's about to be released in Greece soon???
thierry_b said:
Hello,
It seems there is a firmware for Greece for you
http://www.sammobile.com/firmwares/download/40735/G901FXXU1ANK3_G901FEUR1ANL1_EUR.zip/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Nobody knows man. But you can always flash the newest updates via odin without triggering knox. After a few month only German Vodafone is building an update. T- mobil stii stuck on h5 firmware. So if there will be an unbranded oce ever ever ever.........you have odin

Wonder if that Greek ROM is unbranded or not
As for hardware branding, it seems that all G901F units sold in Germany under Telekom/T-Mobile have that "LTE+" at the back (also on the retail box). Instead, those EE (UK) units seem to have no hardware branding at all - it just has the "Samsung" logo at the back cover (and nothing on the retail box)
teichy1 said:
No Body knows man. But you can always flash the newest updates via odin without triggering knox. After a few month only German Vodafone is building an update. T- mobil stii stuck on h5 firmware. So if there will be an unbranded oce ever ever ever.........you have odin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

There are a few Providerapps inside. All Roms i tested for 901F has the normal Samsung Bootloaderscreener. No Provider startup. So nothing to worry about . Mine has also the LTE+ logo, but former T-Mobile Devices have also Coverbrands on it...Thanks God these not

[Q] How to change CSC Code? (No Root)

Long time lurker, first time poster. I want to express my thanks to everyone who is making this community so great.
I've purchased a S7 edge recently and I noticed I have the TPH (Portugal) CSC code. I'd hope to change it to a Belgian CSC. Two things come to mind:
1 - When I scoured the sammobile site for a suitable Belgian firmware, the only one I found was PRO, which seems to be linked to the Proximus carrier, which is different from my carrier. Is it safe to assume that the PRO firmware is the only Belgian firmware around and therefore not limited to be used with other carriers? Or should I opt for a Luxemburg CSC instead?
2 - I have been looking at the forums for clear instructions on how to perform this, but haven't found this specifically for the S7 (edge). Could someone explain on what I need to do? I'm assuming I just have to download the firmware and use Odin to flash the 4 files, but do i need to set some specific options on Odin before flashing?
Your input is much appreciated.

totally same question. up

This app should let you to change CSC even without root https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zigbrick.galaxyregionunlock

The only way to change the CSC on non-rooted devices is flashing the designated CSC file through ODIN. However, there are limits. In case of Belgium I did only find the version for Proximus, too. But the PRO one is a multi-csc file (VFG Germany) and if you flash this you will end up with Vodafone Germany (VD2), a branded rom. Without root that's the only option you have. If you flash LUX then you have LUX which makes me wonder why you even want to change it as TPH is unbranded and you don't gain anything...

Changing CSC whilist updating to Nougat

Hey Guys !
So, my phones CSC code is DDE which means Deutsche Telekom. Currently Im using Slovak O2 SIM card so i don't think its carrier locked.
Now, I would like to change my CSC to BTU because theres 0 chance Telekom will update their firmware in this century.
So the question is, can this brick my phone if something goes wrong ? I heard stories about deleting IMEI by changing CSC etc.

Floppysvk said:
Hey Guys !
So, my phones CSC code is DDE which means Deutsche Telekom. Currently Im using Slovak O2 SIM card so i don't think its carrier locked.
Now, I would like to change my CSC to BTU because theres 0 chance Telekom will update their firmware in this century.
So the question is, can this brick my phone if something goes wrong ? I heard stories about deleting IMEI by changing CSC etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download and install Phone INFO from Playstore. Check under the CSC CODE tab which country service codes are available for your specific model. Reference that with Sammobile and download the latest firmware.
(Continue ONLY if you've confirmed you have multi CSC on your device in other words more than one CSC to change to)
You'll notice there are 2 CSC files in the zip downloaded from Sammobile. Flash the one that starts with CSC and NOT the one starting with HOME. Your phone will then factory reset so make sure you've backed it up.
Ps!!! Warning!!!
Changing the CSC / product code on your Samsung device may invalidate the warranty. It may also invalidate the Samsung Knox warranty for Samsung devices
that support Samsung Knox. Furthermore, there is no guarantee that flashing the new firmware will work, even when you flash valid firmware.
In many cases, flashing the same firmware a second, or third, time may work.

Floppysvk said:
Hey Guys !
So, my phones CSC code is DDE which means Deutsche Telekom. Currently Im using Slovak O2 SIM card so i don't think its carrier locked.
Now, I would like to change my CSC to BTU because theres 0 chance Telekom will update their firmware in this century.
So the question is, can this brick my phone if something goes wrong ? I heard stories about deleting IMEI by changing CSC etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nevermind try it. You'll see the magic. But be careful unless your phone is sm-g930f you may brick it.

I hace a similar problem, phone info says my csc its from BTU (UK) but I'm in Peru, I cannot make calls, How can I flash the correct csc for Peru?

G950FD from Iran (THR) with pre-installed Persian/Iranian Calendar

I bought an unlocked G950FD which turns out to be CSC THR (part of OXM) so should mean it's from Iran. I have found it generic enough in almost every way to be used internationally (in English) with two noticeable exceptions that i'm trying to solve.
1) there is pre-installed Persian Calendar in the OS which appears after the Gregorian date on the AOS and lock screen. I also noticed this extra date appearing on the Samsung Calendar app under the western date, but i don't use this app at all so can easily ignore. The AOS and lock screen is seen all the time and would displays: "MON, JUNE 5 (KHOR 15)". I looked through every settings on the phone and many forums online, and there is no software way to turn this off.
I thought a potential solution would be to replace this stock ROM with another region since any of the multi-CSC OXM firmwares should be compatible with the phone. So I tried to flash another region using Odin. I tried Singapore (SIN and STH) and completely reset/wiped the phone two separate times. However, despite flashing a large (almost 6GB) file onto the phone it still remains in THR when i looked in settings. I guess I misunderstood the purpose of different firmware regions, I thought i would be changing my phone's existing firmware to another region and get a different set of default apps and localization behavior. But the Persian date is still there on all the same screens.
Am I flashing the rom incorrectly? Is there some setting that i omitted that would give me the desired result of a Singapore OS? Any other ways to change CSC and get rid of unwanted parts of a regional firmware?
2) Another problem is when i receive calls on my local sim card, the phone number shows up without the country code, but if i store my numbers (on Google contacts) in "+<country code> <phone number>" format then the contact is not linked to the incoming call.
Apparently this is fairly common with international phones being used in another market. There is a workaround where i can edit my numbers on google to not have any numerical country codes but instead use the flag drop-down menu on google to indicate country associated with the number. I'm ok with that solution but is there another way? Would flashing a regional firmware that is my location solve this? The region that i intend to use the phone is not part of the OXM multi-CSC list of countries since they only sell the snapdragon variant here.
I would like to find solutions that would avoid root and custom roms, but if that is the only option here, i am not against going down that route.
Thanks a lot in advance.

My eventual solution and what i've learned.
So as i described above, i tried to flash many different versions of G950FD or G950F firware with multi-CSC OXM, but never saw my CSC change from THR. Nothing changed on my phone despite installing large files through odin which was always confusing to me. For the record, i tried BTU (UK), STH (Singapore), and SIN (Singapore) which are all part of the OXM.
I learned from another forum that the sim-card installed matters, so i was just trying different non-middle-east regions by picking UK or Singapore but my actual home region does not support this model/cpu variant. I don't have a sim-card from any OXM regions, only Hong Kong and US ones.
Then i found an old Australian (Optus) sim card from a trip and found a G950F firmware version with CSC OPS on Updato. Not part of CSC OXM but same PDA/Phone version and was told it's safe to flash. When i flashed that firmware with the AU sim card installed, i got the AU OS and all the old regional apps were gone. I got some Australian ones but nothing i can't uninstall. My caller ID problem also seem to be fixed. So i consider the problem fixed.
In all of this, the PDA version numbers were always the same (AQDG), so i'm still a bit unclear as to what the CSC file is specifying and doing.
Am i correct to assume that multi-CSC OXM firmware contained regional apps/settings for all the various regions but without a sim card installed to tell it which one to pick, it kept selecting the factory region of THR? And when i flashed the Optus firmware, did i really need the sim-card installed? Would it have changed the firmware to OPS because it's outside the multi-CSC OXM group?

You live in Hong Kong, right ?
I do too, and have a UAE S8, and Samsung Pay doesn't work.
Does your working around things allow you to use Pay, or you get stuck on the splash screen as well ?

tarkil said:
You live in Hong Kong, right ?
I do too, and have a UAE S8, and Samsung Pay doesn't work.
Does your working around things allow you to use Pay, or you get stuck on the splash screen as well ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes i live in HK, so with the AU Optus Firmware I got a AU version of Samsung Pay with all AU ads and suggested businesses. I can get past the splash and login using my normal Samsung Account, which shouldn't have a region. BUT so far i haven't had any success adding any of my HK credit cards, i assume it's a version compatibility issue. There is no way to pick which regional version of Samsung Pay on the Play Store, so i guess it looks at your phone's origin to determine that part of the app.
I am not that keen to use Samsung Pay, but of course interested to know if it is possible. It says to call the banks to get my credit cards added, so maybe there is still a chance and i will post if i do succeed.
Do you think Samsung Pay is particularly good for HK? Would using Android Pay be comparable here? I'm not that experienced with mobile payment apps in the past. Seems like the membership card storage function will still work on my Samsung Pay so at least i have that and can slim down the wallet a bit.

Hey there buddy,
Finally found a thread that represents my problem also, in my case i have a s8 G950FD that shows the same thing on my lockscreen, by me it shows (KHOR18)!
Is there any way around it, i mean a fix?? I would greatly appreciate any help

Yes that's the Iranian calendar date so the day will increment everyday. Khor is abbrev for the current month.
Yes I have a solution (read my second post in thread) but involves flashing with a sim card and 950f or 950fd firmware of the same region as the sim card. You will need to reset and erase phone data.
If you need help flashing stock firmware there is a long thread on this forum and where I found the answer about how the sim card installed might make difference.
What region/sim are you currently trying to use your s8?

derf574 said:
Yes that's the Iranian calendar date so the day will increment everyday. Khor is abbrev for the current month.
Yes I have a solution (read my second post in thread) but involves flashing with a sim card and 950f or 950fd firmware of the same region as the sim card. You will need to reset and erase phone data.
If you need help flashing stock firmware there is a long thread on this forum and where I found the answer about how the sim card installed might make difference.
What region/sim are you currently trying to use your s8?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey there again,
Thank you very much for the time. I am in SE Europe, to be more precise Republic of Kosovo. My SIM is from Kosovo ( we are considered i believe to be in Europe carrier wise)
I do need help flashing the phone as i have no experience whatsoever i just recently switched from Iphone to Samsung, this being said i must also mention the fact that i would definitely need help. I dont want to mess up the phone i just got it like 2 days ago

Things to consider:
- You can flash both 950F and 950FD firmware on your 950FD.
- You need to find your desired firmware. And that region needs to match your sim card, use Updato or SamMobile but the firmware package is a >3GB file and takes a while to download. Make sure you only look for versions for model 950F or FD.
- You will need to download Odin and Samsung usb drivers to flash the firmware onto your phone. Follow the thread "OFFICIAL STOCK Firmware-update (Odin) thread Samsung GALAXY S8 SM-G950F" for the guide.

Colonel_Kosova said:
Hey there again,
Thank you very much for the time. I am in SE Europe, to be more precise Republic of Kosovo. My SIM is from Kosovo ( we are considered i believe to be in Europe carrier wise)
I do need help flashing the phone as i have no experience whatsoever i just recently switched from Iphone to Samsung, this being said i must also mention the fact that i would definitely need help. I dont want to mess up the phone i just got it like 2 days ago
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you decided to go the "SIM card CSC" method then follow this step by step:
https://www.sammobile.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37711
But I personally think you should do it through flashing a firmware with odin but properly and pay attention to step 6:
https://www.sammobile.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37508
Hope they help you resolve your issues.
Good luck.

samteeee said:
If you decided to go the "SIM card CSC" method then follow this step by step:
https://www.sammobile.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37711
But I personally think you should do it through flashing a firmware with odin but properly and pay attention to step 6:
https://www.sammobile.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37508
Hope they help you resolve your issues.
Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again thank you very much for everything i do have one last question please. Regarding the step 6 should i do it or not i am not sure

Colonel_Kosova said:
Again thank you very much for everything i do have one last question please. Regarding the step 6 should i do it or not i am not sure
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, if you are changing country/code of CSC, then the system needs to recalculate the partitions.
And don't forget no short cuts! Every step should be done.
Good luck.

ooo man this things is killing me now the problem i have after i have rooted the phone is that the computer wont recognize my phone in download mode ??????????

Hey Peeps,
Small update on how things are for the time being. I have been following all steps as described with odin. Last night i had issues with my laptop not recognizing my phone in download mode, got rid of this issue by changing laptops. Once the procedure was finished i ended up with the same thing on my phone???
I have flashed a european software ( from france) but still no go on removing or changing the region!!!
To be honest dont really know what to do again help is appreciated since that date thing is really annoying

Any other way to get rid of khor on aod/aos
Went through the whole thread. Def not keen to flash or run csc. Any other way to turn off khor date from aod? Help !!!

Hey there all, again just a quick thank you for the tips and tricks. To be honest i dont really know what i did exactely but it worked for me.
What did the change by me was the first step, namely: https://www.sammobile.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37711
i really cant tell how but it worked ( used a sim card i have from Slovenia)
till the next one thank you again

Changing CSC

Hi guys,
Sorry I just need a quick answer to this and I can't seem to find a straight answer anywhere. I have a G935F on 3 UK firmware and I want to change the firmware to either BTU or XEU, as the updates are ridiculously slow on this software version. I have read in multiple places that the CSC code is hard coded and cannot be changed, and then other places say this is merely cosmetic and flashing a new firmware will enable you to get OTA updates from the new desired CSC code.
Please can somebody shed some light on this for me, if I flash BTU or XEU will I be able to get updates as normal, and also which is better to flash XEU or BTU. If anybody can advise would either of these packages allow VoLTE and Wifi Calling to work? 3 supports them on the firmware I am currently on, but I was unsure if unbranded firmwares would support this.
Thanks!

jaaystott said:
Hi guys,
Sorry I just need a quick answer to this and I can't seem to find a straight answer anywhere. I have a G935F on 3 UK firmware and I want to change the firmware to either BTU or XEU, as the updates are ridiculously slow on this software version. I have read in multiple places that the CSC code is hard coded and cannot be changed, and then other places say this is merely cosmetic and flashing a new firmware will enable you to get OTA updates from the new desired CSC code.
Please can somebody shed some light on this for me, if I flash BTU or XEU will I be able to get updates as normal, and also which is better to flash XEU or BTU. If anybody can advise would either of these packages allow VoLTE and Wifi Calling to work? 3 supports them on the firmware I am currently on, but I was unsure if unbranded firmwares would support this.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi if this is of any help i was on Vodafone and decided i didn't want there bloatware on here so i flashed the latest XEU as it was newer than BTU.
When i go into the phone app it shows me what my old csc was and the active one which is xeu you do get updates plus i got WiFi calling enabled still but had to get vodafone to activate it on my account again.