Database Users

[Q] Samsung firmware upgrade policy annoys thousands

coming from an iphone 4s which was frequently upgraded worldwide
Why doesn't Samsung do this on its unlocked phones its not carrier depended?
Very annoying
The only option void the warranty truely unacceptable

I wouldn't say it annoys thousands.
Those "thousands" to begin with, must be aware that there is a newer version of firmware available.
To be aware, you must have visited a place like this at some point. Since you visited this site, you should be able to see at least a sticky thread in the development section called "N7000 All stock ROMs + install + Root guide All at 1 place".
What does that mean you ask? It means that if your country's latest firmware is let's say KK5 (just like my case), you could easily flash back to a stock KK5 firmware after flashing LA4, for warranty purposes. Doing so does NOT void your warranty, since those are stock official roms. Rooting voids your warranty, just like jailbreak.
If you can't be bothered to all that, just wait. Samsung rolls the update to 1 country at a time, for stability and testing purposes. Currently Germany gets the updates first. Samsung rolls the update there and checks for bug reports from consumers. If all is good, another country gets it. If not, Samsung works out the bugs, and pushes the update with any improvements they developed to a new country as well as the first one. It wouldn't be nice to have a nasty bug caused by an update in all the phones.
Can't blame you for not knowing that, but don't blame a different update policy only because you didn't search on how to work around it

Update official firmware via odin no issue i have uk unlocked, couldnt change the csc and was stuck with no la4
Solution download dbt la4 version and flash with odin. . 4 mins later fast unlaggy phone latest firmware AND I can now change my csc i didnt do anything with the csc and the upgrade shows me all cscs now!
Do it its worth it
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

magichoward said:
coming from an iphone 4s which was frequently upgraded worldwide
Why doesn't Samsung do this on its unlocked phones its not carrier depended?
Very annoying
The only option void the warranty truely unacceptable
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First of all, it seems obvious to me that you are trolling. Seriously? Knock it off...
Secondly, to answer your question, Samsung takes whatever time it needs with its firmware updates in order to make sure everything works properly, including region specific things like RTL. It's a QA thing.
Thirdly, Samsung has a LOT more devices, with different hardware, to keep up with as far as updates are concerned.
Fourthly, to think that voiding your warranty is your only option as far as updating is concerned, is very ignorant; you obviously don't know what you're doing. I'm not going to teach you either, because you have no excuse for not learning on your own; it's easy.
Finally, you say that thousands are annoyed? Well, considering that Samsung pushed out 35 million phones last quarter alone, a couple thousand is a small percentage of people compared to an overwhelming several million.

The 4s has technically had 1 update since its release. 5.0.0 was on the phone when it released and then 5.0.1 was done to fix battery issues (which it actually made worse for a lot of users) The international note was released kind of around the same time but has had multiple released. Your argument is completely invalid and you are indeed a troll.

Thousands where? Must be you

Yes, apple does a GLOBAL push, but don't forget, all their devices had battery issues, heating issues, and a TON of bugs. So what would you REALLY rather have? A small controlled group of people with bugs? Or EVERYONE having bugs? I think Samsung is more intelligent in that sense. I'd rather have one country pissed off at me than the whole world saying "HEY! ALL OUR DEVICES SUCK NOW!" But of course, that NEVER happens because Apple NEVER has bugs or issues, right? hahahahaha.
I like the way Samsung does it now Incremental pushes if you can wait, otherwise, flash it, it's all the same. They give you that freedom.

Both of your illustrious 2 posts are both negative. Do the board, Samsung, and Android a favor. Go back to in line duck walking with Apple.
Convert Iphone3g,3gs,i4 then Gal Note. No comparison.
When you do not read, update, mod and tailor your fully customizable Android to your liking you will never be happy.
Go back to the spoon feeding from Apple, you and a few others will be better off. Or before you post anything moronic, do some more reading, and maybe modding, if its not above your realm.

Please note that this is just my view for your consideration.
If the previous post is correct that means Samsung chose one or two countries to be beta testers without asking them and not telling there will be bugs etc.
Surely a better way like every.other it company would be to offer beta versions for download and feedback.
That would offer a win win solution as power users can mess around with the new features and give feedback.
Just my thoughts as I don't really want tp root my new phone but yet I have no idea when I will get the update. I wonder will they be doing the same with ics as that's due in approx 7 weeks
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App

magichoward said:
Please note that this is just my view for your consideration.
If the previous post is correct that means Samsung chose one or two countries to be beta testers without asking them and not telling there will be bugs etc.
Surely a better way like every.other it company would be to offer beta versions for download and feedback.
That would offer a win win solution as power users can mess around with the new features and give feedback.
Just my thoughts as I don't really want tp root my new phone but yet I have no idea when I will get the update. I wonder will they be doing the same with ics as that's due in approx 7 weeks
Sent from my GT-N7000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to root to update your device. All you need is Odin which requires no root. I just think you need to read and educate yourself more. First stop comparing what apple and Samsung do and things will be a lot easier.
Sent from my Galaxy Note using xda premium

I think for ICS release they will do worldwide and just block your IMEI from getting it
(now if this isn't a really funny troll, none is)

doesn't apple have testers who run the latest software to test for bugs. and don't those people pay for that service.
Sent from my GT-N7000 using xda premium

[Q] Note 4 lollipop downgrade/rollback

So woke up yesterday to an update. Lollipop. Thought why not. After upgrade my android looks like an iOS. Yuk. Vile. Is there any way to shift the horrible whiteness. Can I roll back my device without rooting or voiding my warranty. Surely there is a setting or something. My battery seems to last half as long now too. If I wanted an iOS I'd of bought one. Fact is iOS is ****e hence why I came from apple to a note 2 to a note 4. What were android/Google thinking.
Thanks

TurboH said:
So woke up yesterday to an update. Lollipop. Thought why not. After upgrade my android looks like an iOS. Yuk. Vile. Is there any way to shift the horrible whiteness. Can I roll back my device without rooting or voiding my warranty. Surely there is a setting or something. My battery seems to last half as long now too. If I wanted an iOS I'd of bought one. Fact is iOS is ****e hence why I came from apple to a note 2 to a note 4. What were android/Google thinking.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can download the 4.4.4 firmware from sammobile and flash it via odin. I'm not sure if that will trip Knox or void your warranty (it shouldn't though if you're not modifying recovery, kernel, or rooting).
Flashing full, official firmware should be fine (although I'd probably document my steps with pics and/or video- that way of there's any question about it if you bed to file a claim, you can show them what you did to go back to kitkat and they have proof you did it in a legit way). I personally have never destroyed my warranty by rolling back on official firmware, but I root my devices the day I get them so... but yeah that's the best, most official way to roll back

One good reason not to take the Android 6.0 (M) OTA

Two Words: Root Access. It seems it may be harder to root Android M than we might have thought (Though we all expected this). So as a warning to those on 5.1 (whether you took the 5.1 OTA or waited for the 5.1 rooted img) and here is why:
http://www.xda-developers.com/a-look-at-marshmallow-root-verity-complications/
Given that a BL unlocked has not come out for the Droid Turbo on 4.4.4 or 5.1, this would possibly only make it harder to do so. I would suggest prolonging the OTA for as long as possible.
This is only a suggestion, however obviously you all are free to do as you please with your devices. Just wanted to give a fair warning. Though in this article it states that root might not be possible w/o BL unlock so moforoot might not even work because we can not modify our boot images.............yet (we hope). Again decision rest on your individual shoulders but I just thought, since Android M has been confirmed ( here ) for our devices, that we should at least be informed how this is going to affect our devices in the future (regarding root access and the probability of BL unlock mainly, of course). So it might not be wise to take the 6.0 update......at least not yet.
Let me know what you guys think.

We don't even have m yet....
Sent from my XT1254 using XDA Free mobile app

Yeah, we do. It's in my notifications now to update. Just wanna see what happens

Cjzi5i5 said:
Yeah, we do. It's in my notifications now to update. Just wanna see what happens
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Click to collapse
That's not M. [emoji23]

Wynnded said:
That's not M. [emoji23]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol don't crush his dreams.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

It's my understanding that what you posted may not really be that relevant.
For example, we can't root 5.1 for the Turbo. Unless of course you were already rooted on 4.4.4. Maybe rooting 6.0 is easier/possible if you're already rooted on 5.1. I've seen this same thing on other devices I've owned. If you take an update too early you can lock yourself out while people running the lower version have more options.

Flowah said:
It's my understanding that what you posted may not really be that relevant.
For example, we can't root 5.1 for the Turbo. Unless of course you were already rooted on 4.4.4. Maybe rooting 6.0 is easier/possible if you're already rooted on 5.1. I've seen this same thing on other devices I've owned. If you take an update too early you can lock yourself out while people running the lower version have more options.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It clearly states that to root 6.0 that changes have to be made to the boot image which turbo users 4.4.4 or otherwise can't do. You're taking offensive to a warning post, not one meant to say it's impossible (provided BL unlock becomes available for the Droid Turbo). This is all based on Motorola's confirmation of the Droid Turbo getting 6.0 and how it could affect our devices future ability to obtain root.

Cjzi5i5 said:
Yeah, we do. It's in my notifications now to update. Just wanna see what happens
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dont worry dude.. if we get lucky we will see M by next September.

I took the 5.1 update. I'm comfortable with the fact that I'll never get root. The moment 6.0 is available, I'll update that too... knowing full well that root will never happen. Don't tell folks not to update. That's your opinion. You want to keep root, that's up to you. For those of us that it is too late, we don't care. And we'll openly take that 6.0 update... if and when it comes.

irish_711 said:
I took the 5.1 update. I'm comfortable with the fact that I'll never get root. The moment 6.0 is available, I'll update that too... knowing full well that root will never happen. Don't tell folks not to update. That's your opinion. You want to keep root, that's up to you. For those of us that it is too late, we don't care. And we'll openly take that 6.0 update... if and when it comes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I, much like you, took the OTA update and don't have root and would like to have it once again if possible. However I did state numerous times that this is an opinion, my opinion, and everyone is free to do as they please with their devices.

While I had root and an unlocked bootloader on my S3, I found that the need rarely arose for me to even have to elevate privileges. I mainly rooted and unlocked because while I loved its hardware specs, I *hate* TouchWiz. I specifically got this phone because it had a relatively vanilla version of Android on it, it has fairly decent specs, it's nowhere as large as the Nexus 6, and the store I was at, didn't have any X's in stock. I was more than aware that us getting an unlocked bootloader, much less root was pretty unlikely, and I was actually pretty comfortable with it, surprisingly enough.
Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

I read the article in the OP, and I don't think we have much to worry about. It seems like verity relies pretty heavily on SELinux being set to enforcing, and we already have to set it to permissive in order to get our mofo'd roms to work properly. Does this reduce the security of our devices? Of course it does, but if you really cared about device security, you wouldn't be trying to get root access to your device in the first place. When there is an epidemic of peoples' identities/accounts/money/etc. being stolen via remote attacks, that's when I'll start to care about things like that. Even Stagefright, which is extremely well-documented and unpatched on most Android phones in circulation, doesn't have a single example of a real-world attack being executed using it (as far as I know).
Root access allows me to use things like Cerberus to help combat the much more probable event of someone with physical access to my phone getting into it, so when it comes to security, I'll take less security-by-design and more security that I can choose to implement.

Should I just update?

I've been holding out and waiting for a root (haven't updated once yet). Curious if I just screwed up and bought a phone which will never get rooted and will have to wait till I can afford a new one which can...
Question: Should I update? I know it'll severely reduce the chances of rooting in the future but...will we ever be able to get it with a locked bootloader?

neijia said:
I've been holding out and waiting for a root (haven't updated once yet). Curious if I just screwed up and bought a phone which will never get rooted and will have to wait till I can afford a new one which can...
Question: Should I update? I know it'll severely reduce the chances of rooting in the future but...will we ever be able to get it with a locked bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're still on PB5 and use Hotspot, I'd stay where you're at. I haven't updated yet either. I'm avid user of Hotspot and my battery life is great. My motto is, if it ain't broke don't fix it
Sent from my SM-G935P using XDA-Developers mobile app

I'm only waiting for root; I don't use Hotspot. If we won't ever get root, I'll probably just update.

No one can say "Never," but it certainly doesn't seem promising.

neijia said:
I've been holding out and waiting for a root (haven't updated once yet). Curious if I just screwed up and bought a phone which will never get rooted and will have to wait till I can afford a new one which can...
Question: Should I update? I know it'll severely reduce the chances of rooting in the future but...will we ever be able to get it with a locked bootloader?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a similar thread to this was, this was my response
I would take the updates, your going to have to face the music at some point as I have already accepted this phone may never have root
Your on release day software and last time I checked I have never wanted to stick with the earliest builds. It's not like they rolled out OTA's only to block the APN settings, other things were done I'm sure just based on the size of the OTA's. While I didn't have any problems with it, I prefer to be on the latest versions. Not like these OTA's are beta buggy nightly builds, they have to go through the act of congress just to get approval to push them to the public.
I haven't had any issues with the latest build and I rarely used the hotspot anyway. It was nice to use a few times a year but I don't support people who abuse the piss out of it because they are too cheap to buy a wired line.
My golden rule is hard reset after any OTA if you have any issues. I can't tell you how much I will have people ask me, my phone does this, or that or bla bla. Let me guess, you took a big OTA and didn't hard reset. I'm a firm believer in clean installs.
You can avoid it for a while, but your only going to get more behind and of course I think chances will be higher for root exploits on older builds, this thing is locked down and locked again so I just decided to deal with it. Kinda sad I saw all the threads deleted in the Android development section. Just my opinion if tether was that important or root we would have went with different phones. We got a lucky break with the release software having a loophole which was quickly patched in turn locking you out of any new updates for the life of the phone unless a miracle is achieved.

[Europe] Bootloader Discussion

So i receive many questions about this via PM and other topics as i have a good contact with ZTE so i thought I'd create one where you guys can post your comments.
Ive raised this topic to them and they are discussing it. I will keep this main post updated with what i hear.
Update 05/01/17
Official Bootloader Unlock is coming. It was delayed through there not being a great process to release it and the various updates the ZTE have provided to fix bugs. I am still on a root version of b03 and there is a stock b09 version currently. However, the root version i was given is great and works flawlessly. Ive been promised that another root release is coming very soon and will become official.
Potential EU Bootloader Unlock - Needs testers! Thanks @DrakenFX:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/axon-7/how-to/guide-how-to-unlock-bootloader-stay-t3461165
Why did USA get a bootloader unlock?
> The phone has been released to the open market there and under USA law they can remove the warranty if a bootloader is requested. From what i have read/understand in EU they have to commit to their warranty no matter what.
> It was all decided hastily internally within the USA team without contacting the worldwide team, neither had a clue of what each other was doing, but due to my efforts it looks like they are communicating.
> ZTE promise they dont want to discriminate.
What is happening with the EU?
It is coming. You wont lose warranty.

i got my Axon 7 today in germany from Saturn and in the dev menu i had the option for OEM Bootloader unlock, i thought european weren't supposed to have that?
Best Regards
starvirus

Starvirus said:
i got my Axon 7 today in germany from Saturn and in the dev menu i had the option for OEM Bootloader unlock, i thought european weren't supposed to have that?
Best Regards
starvirus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's on all phones. It doesn't do anything.

Starvirus said:
i got my Axon 7 today in germany from Saturn and in the dev menu i had the option for OEM Bootloader unlock, i thought european weren't supposed to have that?
Best Regards
starvirus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rikin93 said:
It's on all phones. It doesn't do anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even doesn't do anything on his own when enable, is needed when official bootloader unlock arrive.

thought a fastboot oem unlock would suffice, but didn't try it yet.
But that they kept that option there is just pure torture

What ZTE should realize regarding the bootloader unlock is that they have 2 options to build trust with the customers, especially considering last year's Axon has not received Marshmallow and will not receive Marshmallow (at some point customer service said it would, which makes the whole thing even worse).
Either let people unlock the bootloader and provide long term software support through the dev community or promise updates for at least 2 years. Buying what is essentially a flagship device (and *the* flagship of ZTE) and then possibly not receiving anything beyond Nougat (which I expect them to deliver at the very least because of Daydream) would be a huge letdown. I can accept that with <200€ phones, whose hardware probably doesn't really hold up anyways after 2 years, but I expect more from a 400€ phone that is the top of the line from that brand. This holds true especially considering that the other two big competitors in the same price range (the OP3 and the Honor 8) do provide at least one of those assurances. So far, the Axon 7 does not and that's worrisome given both some of the flaws in the current software (notification bell, video playback issues etc) and their own history with last year's Axon.

Bad news but it is starting to look unlikely in Europe that we will get a bootloader unlock. They will try to give us an official confirmation via social media soon.

rikin93 said:
Bad news but it is starting to look unlikely in Europe that we will get a bootloader unlock. They will try to give us an official confirmation via social media soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
tbf, idc if they fix the querks of MiFavour and we still got Root

rikin93 said:
Bad news but it is starting to look unlikely in Europe that we will get a bootloader unlock. They will try to give us an official confirmation via social media soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's realy sad, will have to start looking for another phone and send the axon7 back

Thats a deal breaker..
Can't we get any solutions for the europe phones from the A2017U unlock? Are they so different?

Really bad news. I hope they will re-think this decision
Sent from my Redmi 3 using Tapatalk

recieved mine today and right after unpacking i saw this thread with the bad news.
if there's no new info about the bootloader untill the end of next week it's gonna get returned.
not gonna gamble on someone maaayyybe finding an exploit in a year...

Oh well, they better rethink this or OP3 it is. Been on the edge the whole time. But wanted to give it a go due to the cool hardware. I can still cancel that order on the Axon and will probably do that as soon as this get official.

Please help me.
We have the US version with the 20B update from which you can unlock your boot loader with the 20B_boot update.
One guy has flashed the b02 version for the Europe devices on his A2017U US phone. Correct?
Can't we flash the 20B version to our Europe A2017G phones and unlock them with the 20b_boot version?
Can't we check which files and how the boot update changed the boot loader and do it some way manually on our phones?

Keiler90 said:
Can't we check which files and how the boot update changed the boot loader and do it some way manually on our phones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really -- the OTAs are block level patches, not file patches. Someone would have to dump and compare the partitions before and after. The system image would probably be easy, fastboot is provided as a full image, but for the other images (boot and recovery), you'd have to dive into the assembly and/or tear apart the kernel.

I'm actually kinda glad they decided to **** europe over with the bootloader. I was on the fence whether to buy the P8 Plus or wait for the Axon 7.
Now I don't have to worry about this anymore, ZTE made the decision so much easier
The P8 has the better battery and camera anyhow. Cheers to everybody

Vipeout said:
I'm actually kinda glad they decided to **** europe over with the bootloader. I was on the fence whether to buy the P8 Plus or wait for the Axon 7.
Now I don't have to worry about this anymore, ZTE made the decision so much easier
The P8 has the better battery and camera anyhow. Cheers to everybody
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats your choice.
The Axon 7 has better screen and sound anyhow which matters to me. Pretty solid phone for the price even without an unlocked bootloader. Theres already root so cant really complain, what do you expect for a £360 phone!
They didnt really **** europe with the bootloader, it was never guaranteed or announced. But glad your decision is made easier.
The 3 year warranty with the axon 7 was too good to pass on

rikin93 said:
Thats your choice.
The Axon 7 has better screen and sound anyhow which matters to me. Pretty solid phone for the price even without an unlocked bootloader. Theres already root so cant really complain, what do you expect for a £360 phone!
They didnt really **** europe with the bootloader, it was never guaranteed or announced. But glad your decision is made easier.
The 3 year warranty with the axon 7 was too good to pass on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Giving one group a choice and deny this choice to another group, that's ***ing one group over IMHO

rikin93 said:
Thats your choice.
The Axon 7 has better screen and sound anyhow which matters to me. Pretty solid phone for the price even without an unlocked bootloader. Theres already root so cant really complain, what do you expect for a £360 phone!
They didnt really **** europe with the bootloader, it was never guaranteed or announced. But glad your decision is made easier.
The 3 year warranty with the axon 7 was too good to pass on
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All valid points. But no unlocked bootloader = no custom roms = no buy, simple as that.
Especially with a company with a bad or at very least doubtful reputation to provide software updates for a reasonably long/adequate period.
But as you say, that's my choice. And from what I can tell many others will make the same choice. Owning an Android is all about freedom of choice and customization, especially for people her on XDA (obviously). I do like the phone but I don't necessarily like the software on it, or at least not all of it.
I would go for the One+ 3, but no SD card slot = no buy.
I have owned enough android phones to know what I consider essential features and I buy my phones accordingly.
And I actually consider a 1440p screen on a phone a slight negative due to increased power consumption while I gain nothing with higher pixel density (not interested in using mobile VR).
Sound is better, true, but I listen exclusively with headphones so nice speakers are a bonus. My Bluetooth speaker still has better sound
Mash87 said:
Giving one group a choice and deny this choice to another group, that's ***ing one group over IMHO
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.

Vipeout said:
And I actually consider a 1440p screen on a phone a slight negative due to increased power consumption while I gain nothing with higher pixel density (not interested in using mobile VR).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think 1080p is an absolutely fine resolution for 5.5", but 1080p PenTile? Eh. Not quite hitting the mark for me.