Database Users

What is the best variant to buy for root/custom roms and why?

Which GSM GS5 variant is the best to buy (Unlocked on amazon, etc.) for ease of root/custom roms? Why?
I want to buy a new unlocked device online and can't seem to find a decent guide on the differences between the varoius models of the S5.
Thanks in advance!

malachy33 said:
Which GSM GS5 variant is the best to buy (Unlocked on amazon, etc.) for ease of root/custom roms? Why?
I want to buy a new unlocked device online and can't seem to find a decent guide on the differences between the varoius models of the S5.
Thanks in advance!
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get the G-900F support almost all custom roms

G900F is the global variant so yeah... I also recommend getting that variant.

I have the w8. It is good very easy to root. It seems to be able to use a lot of roms except none of the ones for the h model. The bad thing is not being able to get 32gb version imo

Dont buy g900h. It does not have any AOSP custom roms or even a proper custom rom except deodexed roms.
Xposed for lollipop doesnt work well with stock samsung touchwiz hence even a rooted g900h wont be able to take advantage of it.

Custom ROM for Snapdraon model

I have a Canadian model SM-G950W which is a Snapdragon one.I have noticed there is a root available although not straightforward.
Even if i successfully root my phone,i am not sure if there are any custom roms that i can flash.
Can anyone advise if there are any roms available i can flash ?

Venkat548 said:
I have a Canadian model SM-G950W which is a Snapdragon one.I have noticed there is a root available although not straightforward.
Even if i successfully root my phone,i am not sure if there are any custom roms that i can flash.
Can anyone advise if there are any roms available i can flash ?
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Click to collapse
No there aren't any roms because your variant has a locked bootloader.

There will never be a custom Rom for the snapdragon phones. At least not the north American phones anyway.

There will only be custom systems, which debloated systems. Nothing else, we can't get a new kernel, just new system.

So I'm looking to purchase a Galaxy S8 which model is best for root?

So I'm looking to pick up a Galaxy S8 because it seems to have more development than my Pixel XL but I would like to know any recommendations on which Model is the best for unlocking and rooting/custom roms I have T-Mobile in the USA so it would be preferable to be compatible with that carrier

AaronGavin said:
So I'm looking to pick up a Galaxy S8 because it seems to have more development than my Pixel XL but I would like to know any recommendations on which Model is the best for unlocking and rooting/custom roms I have T-Mobile in the USA so it would be preferable to be compatible with that carrier
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There is the SamPWND method for rooting it includes using adb t though, as far as custom roms there are none, we have locked bootloader's and it doesn't look like that'll change any time soon. Also once rooted, you can only charge to 80% only. The best we've got are the Oreo beta firmware, that's about it. The only one that has custom roms is the international version G950F but from what I've seen it doesn't work well on US networks.

S8 does have a handful of ROMs but as of now, there's not even an official LineageOS ROM for S8. Surely pixels are bound to have several devs contributing. One more thing, s9 is just a few months away, so I'd rather wait if I were you.

get the exynos version if you want root the snapdragon root is very limited and there are hardly an roms for it. i have a g950f i use the batman rom and the notorious kernal.

AaronGavin said:
So I'm looking to pick up a Galaxy S8 because it seems to have more development than my Pixel XL but I would like to know any recommendations on which Model is the best for unlocking and rooting/custom roms I have T-Mobile in the USA so it would be preferable to be compatible with that carrier
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Click to collapse
I recommend sm-g955fd model. it's dual sim and very easy to root

Questions About Bootloader, Rooting, and Custom Roms on G930V

Hello to the XDA Community, I recently made this account and would like to get some help from the great people here.
I own a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S7 G930V. I, unfortunately, found out the hard way that it could not be unlocked because Samsung decided to lock down the bootloader on it (something that they were a bit more lenient with on the Galaxy S8, I think?). Either way, I was reading this XDA article (https://www.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s7-bootloader-lock-explained-you-might-not-get-aosp-after-all/) about the bootloader, and it basically says that, despite the OEM Unlock option being available under Developer Options, nothing that doesn't have some sort of official signature can be flashed to the device, so it's basically pointless.
But, then I saw that LineageOS dropped official builds for the Galaxy S7. My only question, therefore, is: why would Lineage OS drop custom ROMS for a phone that cannot have anything flashed to it? Am I missing something? Not sure what I'm missing. Just to clear things up again: I have the Verizon Galaxy S7 G930V (Snapdragon). I am also using a T-Mobile SIM in the phone, not sure if that matters or not, however.
So, what I assume is that somehow people were able to get past the bootloader and that is the reason that LineageOS released official builds of their ROM. If that's the case, is there a method/tutorial for, first, unlocking the bootloader and rooting the Verizon G930V, and then installing the custom ROM successfully? Also, I see that LineageOS does not have a build for the G930V specifically, so would it brick my phone if I installed the build for the G930S, for example?
Thank you guys! Bare with me if I completely missed something please!

charania007 said:
Hello to the XDA Community, I recently made this account and would like to get some help from the great people here.
I own a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S7 G930V. I, unfortunately, found out the hard way that it could not be unlocked because Samsung decided to lock down the bootloader on it (something that they were a bit more lenient with on the Galaxy S8, I think?). Either way, I was reading this XDA article (https://www.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s7-bootloader-lock-explained-you-might-not-get-aosp-after-all/) about the bootloader, and it basically says that, despite the OEM Unlock option being available under Developer Options, nothing that doesn't have some sort of official signature can be flashed to the device, so it's basically pointless.
But, then I saw that LineageOS dropped official builds for the Galaxy S7. My only question, therefore, is: why would Lineage OS drop custom ROMS for a phone that cannot have anything flashed to it? Am I missing something? Not sure what I'm missing. Just to clear things up again: I have the Verizon Galaxy S7 G930V (Snapdragon). I am also using a T-Mobile SIM in the phone, not sure if that matters or not, however.
So, what I assume is that somehow people were able to get past the bootloader and that is the reason that LineageOS released official builds of their ROM. If that's the case, is there a method/tutorial for, first, unlocking the bootloader and rooting the Verizon G930V, and then installing the custom ROM successfully? Also, I see that LineageOS does not have a build for the G930V specifically, so would it brick my phone if I installed the build for the G930S, for example?
Thank you guys! Bare with me if I completely missed something please!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are numerous variants of the GS7 and GS7E that have a bootloader that can be unlocked. The Verizon version is not one of them. There is no way currently (and likely ever) to unlock the bootloader on the Verizon version of this phone. This is the case with almost every Verizon phone. People are finding this out the hard way with the new Google Pixel 2's...all versions other than the Verizon one you can unlock the bootloader. It's a Verizon thing and it won't change. You'll need to buy an unlocked phone capable of running on Verizon's network bands if you want this kind of stuff on Big Red.

Which S7 Edge phones can be bootloader unlocked?

I just found out that my SM-G935P has a locked bootloader and is therefore stuck at Android 8.0.
If I want to buy another S7 Edge that is upgradable, I just have to make sure that it has the Exynos chipset, correct?

All s7 only had an official update up to android 8. When you say update, are you referring to having other possibilities using custom roms or are you referring to the rom stock update ?? If it refers to rom stock, it is better to buy an s9 or s10.