Sorry if there is an answer for this, but I can't find it. I was wondering if anyone can tell me if the Chinese version (ME863) comes with the Android Market (and other Google Apps) or not?
I don't mean the version sold by China Unicom, I mean a generic one sold by a third party (say amazon.cn), unless of course the software is the same.
If not, how easy would it be to add (I have flashed/rooted other phones before, I just don't know about the ME863)?
The generic one, sold in Hong Kong for a few weeks now, has the normal market. It's a normal Android phone, with all the Google apps, plus a few Motorola apps... I do believe the one sold in China must be exactly the same thing.
Ok thanks for your reply. I might just buy a HK version anyway to be on the safe side: they're very easy to find and a tiny bit cheaper as well.
When I went to a Motorola desk in Xidan none of the phones had Google apps, but that could've been because they were the China Unicom/China Mobile variants even though it didn't say they were.
My retail ME863's version code includes "SLNCU" so I suspect the hardware's identical. There wasn't any marking on the packaging except TSN (The HK Motorola distributor). I got mine through a website though, so I never saw it in-store.
Mine's running 60.1.103, while the known ME863 SBF image is marked 60.1.101, doesn't include Google Mobile Service, and doesn't offer an OTA upgrade to 60.1.103, so I guess it's a carrier-specific fork.
So checking the firmware version will tell 'em apart, and I _guess_ that if an SBF shows up for the HK Retail version (or potentially Taiwan, I guess) it'd be safe to cross-grade.
The other option would be to flash Google Mobile Service onto a China Unicom device. There's a link to the package in the ME863 SBF thread.
I hadn't realised there was an Carrier-branded ME863... I guessed that the ME863 was basically the UMTS version of the XT883, but I don't know where in China is UMTS and where is CDMA so I was assuming mainland is CDMA while HK and TW are UMTS.
Thanks for the info. No I don't think there's a China Unicom branded device (AFAIK Unicom themselves don't offer the device but yes there is a PRC UMTS version). i.e. it's obviously for China Unicom and I believe it is customised to accomodate that, but its not branded for it.
I couldn't get a look at the actual one, and the service reps didn't know about the Google thing, but none of the other seemingly generic models included Google Apps (for example the Atrix 2 - whatever its Chinese name is).
One more question about the HK version (if you don't mind!): what locales does it include? I believe its en-GB, en-US, zh-CN and zh-HK, correct?
By the way: UMTS and CDMA are both nationally available: China Unicom uses UMTS for 3G while China Mobile uses some weird version of CDMA (one that only they use if I'm not mistaken). Both use GSM for 2G
According to MoreLocale 2 I have English UK and US, and Chinese China + Taiwan... The Android locale settings simply offers English UK and US and Chinese Traditional and Simplified.
My ME863 is build SLNCU ("Solana China Unicom"? I'd been assuming that U was "Unlocked" or "UMTS") but product is SLNHK, where the XT883 is product SLNCT ("Solana China Telecom") and (at least in the first SBF thread I found using Google) the build doesn't contain a name.
This got me looking, and there's a couple of oddities here:
ro.product.locale.region is TW, although ro.product.name is SLNHK and ro.build.id is SLNCU-60.1.103
ro.build.config.version is GAS_ASIA_SOLANAUMTSHKTWN_P017 and ro.build.version.carrier is ChinaRetail. So the _rom_ is obviously shared between HK and TW.
So apart from the build branch, I can't see anything that indicate mine's built towards China Unicom requirements, but it might be that the only difference between the rom build in the HK Retail devices and the ones you're seeing in Xidan _is_ lack of Google Apps.
I hope that helps? It reminded me to tell my phone I'm in not in Australia anymore. ^_^
Related
I'm currently in China, and I have ordered my One. My Chinese level isn't so good, so I am unsure if the phone I am getting is the international version or the Chinese version. Looking on the HTC China website, it is advertising the model with the removable back cover. Anyone with greater knowledge on these matters than me know if these phones will be compatible for the Roms/kernels that will be made for the international version?
As far as I know, the only difference is the inclusion of dual sim cards and the micro sim.
ataft said:
I'm currently in China, and I have ordered my One. My Chinese level isn't so good, so I am unsure if the phone I am getting is the international version or the Chinese version. Looking on the HTC China website, it is advertising the model with the removable back cover. Anyone with greater knowledge on these matters than me know if these phones will be compatible for the Roms/kernels that will be made for the international version?
As far as I know, the only difference is the inclusion of dual sim cards and the micro sim.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's hard to say because of the limited information still available on the Chinese variants. Typically the China Unicom version is closest to the international version and with other devices, international Roms work. China mobile will definitely not work because they use TD-CDMA which is unique to China mobile only. China telecom should also be similar to China unicom version.
I am buying straight from HTC, but they are advertising the removable back cover on their website... So I am unsure if that means they won't be selling the international version in their retail stores.
ataft said:
I am buying straight from HTC, but they are advertising the removable back cover on their website... So I am unsure if that means they won't be selling the international version in their retail stores.
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Click to collapse
the HTC china version is different from international, it has 3 version TDCDMA, WCDMA, and CDMA2000. the WCDMA varience support two sim card (one WCDMA micro sim one GSM normal sim), pls micro sd card.
i'm also in China and actually interesting in this model as well, but there will probably be very little XDA support(custom rom) , so i may end up getting the international version.
also note that the WCDMA only support 900/2100MHz band.
I'm just about to make the same decisions.
Now that I've ruled out the Xperia Z and am getting ready to buy the HTC One, I'm surely interested in the benefits of having an SD-slot as well as Dual Sim support, but worry that I might not get to participate on the customs rom frenzy, even if it is just to get rid of all the pre-installed Unicom crap.
Has anybody had the chance to try it out yet?
So I ended up purchasing an International S5 Mini, which I didn't catch at first. When I got the phone in another language, I figured I'd been screwed. Turns out, it is working well with AT&T, it allowed me to change default to English (I'm in the United States) but the region is (XEH) - Hungary I believe.
When 5.0 comes out, does anyone know if it will be possible to change the region for my SM-G800F? The current issue I have, is that LTE is not functional due to (I'm guessing) the region issue. I am not currently having any other types of issues other than not getting what I am paying for through AT&T (LTE 4g speed).
I'm also willing to entertain a different ROM if that will work, as my phone is already unlocked. Not sure how region codes are affected by ROM (I'm an amateur Odin user - just enough to be dangerous).
Thanks.
The LTE does not work, because AT&T runs on a different band (1700MHz) than European countries do (1800MHz), so that will never work.
Regarding the regional issue, check out this post: http://www.droidviews.com/how-to-change-csc-in-samsung-galaxy-phones/
I am trying to figure out whats the difference between them , I understand one is made for china and one is for taiwan. But I wanted to know which is better, which has more bands that it supports, which would get updates faster and which could possibly run custom roms.
Thank You
petya098 said:
I am trying to figure out whats the difference between them , I understand one is made for china and one is for taiwan. But I wanted to know which is better, which has more bands that it supports, which would get updates faster and which could possibly run custom roms.
Thank You
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have any of the above models but you can take a look here if you want to see the differences : http://pdadb.net/index.php?m=pdacomparer&id1=8683&id2=8796
n9200 is sold in mainland china, hongkong and macao, it has two software versions, one for mainland china, one for hongkong/macao.
the one for mainland china has google framework removed, with some more chinese native apps added.
the one for hongkong has google framwork and google apps, and is good for international usage.
the two software versions share the same hardware, and can be flashed on the same phone without losing warranty.
n9208 is the southeast asia version, it's sold in taiwan, malaysia, etc.
n9200 has a little more bands than n9208, where all the bands in n9208 is included in n9200.
I would recommend you to buy the n9200 if you are choosing between the two, and if you got the mainland china version, you can flash the hongkong firmware.
btw, I got a n9200 for 4000RMB on taobao just a month ago, good and cheap.
edit: if you buy a n9200 hongkong version, you get warranty in hongkong, macao and mainland china,
if you buy a n9200 mainland chinese version, you only get warranty in mainland china.
n9208 would give you warranty in the country you brought
none have international warranty.
I got N9200 (HK version) in Japan and it's working great. :good:
Hi,
Sounds like a silly question in a global universe.
I wanna buy the american & chinese version (snapdragon) and use it outside those countries with a non-us/chinese carrier. Will it work without any problems / ROM modifications?
Are those phone bundled to a carrier (e.g AT&T , Sprint) and cannot be bought privately on the web (Amazon, eBay etc..) ?
TNX
rpz79 said:
Hi,
Sounds like a silly question in a global universe.
I wanna buy the american & chinese version (snapdragon) and use it outside those countries with a non-us/chinese carrier. Will it work without any problems / ROM modifications?
Are those phone bundled to a carrier (e.g AT&T , Sprint) and cannot be bought privately on the web (Amazon, eBay etc..) ?
TNX
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those carrier versions such as T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T you can purchase it directly from the carriers and Samsung.com. However, you cannot use it internationally yet. Keep in mind that those carrier versions also carry unnecessary bloatware. You need to pay it off and ask the carrier to unlocked it since it is locked to the carrier. You can purchase the unlocked version from Samsung.com and use it internationally out of the box. I believe the unlocked version use the same Snapdragon chipset. It does not say detail in the website.
It should work fine with Chinese carrier. You might want to check if they have the same broadcast band.
I'm looking for a version that supports North American bands and from what I understand, the 12gb/512gb one should be the only one that does.
But I also stumbled upon this listing: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000182288484.html?spm=2114.12010612.8148356.2.24fcc18esuf2nD
Which supposedly is 8gb/128gb with North American bands. From what I understand this version shouldn't exist? It also mentions both 2x2 MIMO and 4x4 MIMO so I have no idea which it actually has.
In the description it says: "Tips: CN version, Officail Global Firmare,Mulit Language , Support Google Play and OTA upgrade"
Are they trying to say that it's the Tencent version but with global ROM? I thought OTA upgrades currently don't work on the global ROM?
They also write: " About package and firmware: we'll open the original box to check the phone and install Multi language ROM and Google paly store. Official ROM will be prefered. if custom translation may doesn't cover all the Menus. Not support OTA Update. we may update the ROM. So the OS version may different as the sreenshots."
But I think they have this as a disclaimer on all their phone product pages, whether it applies or not.
I'm trying to determine whether the listing is legit or not and whether to place an order. Did they make a mistake/ are they lying about the bands? Or is there an actual version like this/ did they manage to do something to the Tencent version? In terms of reputation, there's nothing particularly suspicious about the seller so I wouldn't imagine they would outright lie, but it's also a pretty big mistake to make, especially since they highlight the key specs (and bands) in red.
I'm leaning towards the "don't trust" side, with this one, but what do you think?
IMO, you would be better off waiting a few more days till the global version is released. That's a China version with global software, which has been nothing but trouble for most of the people i have heard about that converted.
They already told you.
This is china tencent edition. The phone is not is not brand new, we will open the box, we will turn on you phone, we will root it and unlock the bootloader, in order to replace CN ROM with WW ROM.
So, it will be 2x2, it will lack most bands, it will lack the cover and the cooling accessory included in Ww edition, which will be launched on 30th of September.
Of course, no warranty at all from ASUS and you may have trouble with NFC payments and banking apps. Some other apps may recognise your modified rom, too.
If you are ready, acknowledging all this, you can buy it asap.