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/
Related
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. ^_^
Hi!
So I've bought a Samsung S9 Duos recently and to be honest, although I like the phone and have been on a Samsung streak for the past few years, I'm getting seriously tired of their country dependant shenanigans. Because I live in Canada, when I buy a Global phone there's a bunch of stuff that either doesn't work or does only partially. And because the Canadian model is a SD proc, not an Exynos, it's an absolute nightmare to switch CSCs and get everything working right...
I hesitated long and hard to get a P20 pro, but the fact it wasn't available anywhere in Canada made me nervous. But my carrier (Rogers) recently announced it so, being really tired of this Samsung ****e, I'm considering returning the S9 and getting the P20 pro (even if it doesn't have a lot of stuff I like such as the headphone jack, SD card and wireless charging).
TL;DR
My question is, if I get an international (dual SIM) model of the P20 pro, is it going to be different than the Canadian one? Is there an equivalent of CSC codes with Samsung that I have to worry about, or can I assume it will be the same phone and I just need to activate it to get carrier specifics?
Thanks
I'm not an expert, but before I bought my P20 Pro, I made sure that it worked with the AT&T's network frequency bands. Each network has different bands and if the phone doesn't support the band, it won't connect.
https://www.droid-life.com/2015/02/...sm-cdma-wcdma-lte-verizon-att-sprint-tmobile/
https://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html
Here are the tech specs from Huawei:
4G FDD-LTE, TD-LTE: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B6/B7/B8/B9/B12/B17/B18/B19/B20/B26/B28/B32/B34/B38/B39/B40
3G WCDMA: B1/B2/B4/B5/B6/B8/B19
https://consumer.huawei.com/uk/phones/m/p20-pro/tech-specs/
honua said:
I'm not an expert, but before I bought my P20 Pro, I made sure that it worked with the AT&T's network frequency bands. Each network has different bands and if the phone doesn't support the band, it won't connect.]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the input. I checked the bands for sure, and they are covered since it will be sold on my carrier soon. I guess what I meant is more the model itself, if there are variants per country or if we (Canada) are getting the same global version.
You see I come from a Samsung user's background and they have these silly country codes that dictate what you can use and where. I'm not sure it's related, but I found that even if on paper all LTE bands are covered with my S9, it still has shoddy reception compared to a Canadian S7. I could try to flash my CSC code to the phone, but a) it's complicated and risks bricking the phone and b) since the Canadian model is NOT the same as the global one, my CSC cannot be applied to this phone no matter how hard I try...
DenisEhm said:
Thanks for the input. I checked the bands for sure, and they are covered since it will be sold on my carrier soon. I guess what I meant is more the model itself, if there are variants per country or if we (Canada) are getting the same global version.
You see I come from a Samsung user's background and they have these silly country codes that dictate what you can use and where. I'm not sure it's related, but I found that even if on paper all LTE bands are covered with my S9, it still has shoddy reception compared to a Canadian S7. I could try to flash my CSC code to the phone, but a) it's complicated and risks bricking the phone and b) since the Canadian model is NOT the same as the global one, my CSC cannot be applied to this phone no matter how hard I try...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
FunkyHuawei offers a rebranding tool, which changes the region of the ROM. I used it because I bought mine from a Chinese e-commerce website. I rebranded to European region.
I couldn't find anything about International or Global versions of the phone. I know they are region locked, but the rebranding tool will fix that. You can also flash a firmware from FunkHuawei or use HuRUpdater tool from TWRP custom recovery.
I have used both tools, and had 100% success.
https://funkyhuawei.club/rebranding
https://forum.xda-developers.com/honor-9/development/tool-flash-official-firmware-recovery-t3769279/
https://forum.xda-developers.com/huawei-p20-pro/development/recovery-twrp-3-2-1-0-t3779400
https://forum.xda-developers.com/tools/general/huawei-firmware-finder-team-mt-t3469146
honua said:
FunkyHuawei offers a rebranding tool, which changes the region of the ROM. I used it because I bought mine from a Chinese e-commerce website. I rebranded to European region.
I couldn't find anything about International or Global versions of the phone. I know they are region locked, but the rebranding tool will fix that. You can also flash a firmware from FunkHuawei or use HuRUpdater tool from TWRP custom recovery.
I have used both tools, and had 100% success.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cool thanks, I'll see how this could help me out. I'm giving my S9 one last chance but short of that, I'll cough up another $1000 for this phone; I just don't want to end up in the same trap!
Given that I’m probably not going to root the phone or anything which unlocked version is better for the UK- do I have to worry about region lock even if it’s carrier unlocked
krackalackel02 said:
Given that I’m probably not going to root the phone or anything which unlocked version is better for the UK- do I have to worry about region lock even if it’s carrier unlocked
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I have been using the U.S Unlocked Snapdragon s10 version in the U.K for a few months.
No issues for me so far.
The only network issue you may run in to, is the 3 Network. The phone does not work on their 2G connections, but all other networks are good to go.
I have traveled in a few EU countries (UK, Spain, Italy, Romania) with my unlocked US S10, using local SIM/carriers (mostly Vodafone, sometimes roaming from one country to another).
I didn't have any issues...
Hi everyone, I’m writing from Italy.
In October I bought a galaxy watch3 LTE from Amazon.USA and imported it here in Italy, cause it was not available yet here, it was released in the lte version only recently.
I didn’t know that the watch was not compatible here in Italy, but only for the US, and after the last update of a week ago I’m having issues with the watch, like connection problems, notifications not appearing on the watch and also the LTE is not working.
I tried to contact both Samsung US and Amazon US, but they both told me that they cannot do anything to help me, no replacement or return, nothing.
So I searched online if there was a way to change my watch software from US to Italy, and with my extreme surprise I found out that there is the possibility to change the region of the watch to every country in the world.
My questions are: what can I do to change the region of my US galaxy watch3 LTE? There are any compatible ways to do that? Will the change of the region prevent my watch to get future updates? And after the change will I be able to use LTE here in Italy?
Thanks to everyone who will reply!!
P.S. I have to change the current SM-R845U (that is a US version) to an SM-R845F (that should be an Italian version, right?)
I believe you should check the lte chip in your watch to make sure it is compatible with italian mobile operators.
Folks, I'm interested in getting a GW5 (not pro) with LTE.
I wish to use all features it offers while also keep OTA (SPay, BP, ECG, etc).
I know it could be tricky to change the region nowadays (CSC), so I would like to overcome on this, and buy from that region where by default everything is supported.
Which is the most supported region for GW5? With which CSC, and Product code?
Thank you!
What's the difference between SM-R915U, SM-R915F, SM-R9150?
I know: USA version, Global version, China version.
But I don't know the details:
hardware-wise? Maybe different LTE radio for USA?
software-wise? Of course different supported CSCs, anything else?
Guys I have a follow up question.
I wish to purchase the GW5 pro LTE and wish to use all features it offers while also keep OTA (SPay, BP, ECG, etc).
I can get it from the UK or UAE. I would highly appreciate your suggestions.
P.S - Did a CSC change on GW4 LTE, lost OTA and no way to go back now. The watch has warranty but would require a motherboard replacement.