Amazon N6 on T-Mobile - Nexus 6 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I should have my Nexus 6 from Amazon tomorrow evening. From what I can tell, what Amazon is selling is the generic US version that works on all US carriers.
I wasn't planning on buying a new phone, but my Note 2 took a dive off the table a week ago and landed on the tile floor, shattering the glass. The six inch screen, on the Nexus 6, coupled with the huge sale on Amazon made my decision for me I'll probably try to replace the glass on the note 2 later, so I can sell it. I never used the S-Pen. I bought the phone for the large screen.
I have read quite a bit on the forum, but haven't seen answers to my questions. It is possible that I missed something.
I am a bit confused about the listing of 5.1.1 ROMs on the Google site. They list a ROM that doesn't say who it is for, a ROM specifically for T-Mobile and a ROM for everyone but T-Mobile.
My carrier is T-Mobile. What exactly is the difference between the T-Mobile ROM and the others? If is is only WiFi calling, then I don't care, as I don't use it. If there is more to it, please elaborate.
When I get the phone, I'll note which ROM it has, then let it do an OTA update over WiFi to see what ROM it updates to. Once I put a T-Mobile SIM in the phone, will future OTA updates be the T-Mobile only version or the generic version?
Thanks.

Every rom works on this phone - but only SOME support WiFi calling (T-Mobile specific)
They should explicitly say whether they do or don't support WiFi calling (most don't)
If you don't care for this, use whatever you want. It will work just fine. You can use whatever rom you please.
Once it's using T-Mobile service you'll get only T-Mobile specific updates. If you're rooted or on a rom, OTAs won't happen - so don't expect that.

Just to follow up, the original Android version that was on my phone was 5.0, Build LNX07M. The following four OTA updates were applied via WiFi (no SIM yet).
5.01 Build LRX22C
5.1 Build LMY47D
5.1.1 Build LMY47Z
5.1.1 Build LMY48I
What I find curious is that the last update wasn't LMY48M, which seems to be the latest. Does anyone know what the difference between 48I and 48M is?
I really like this Nexus 6 so far. Although it is taller and wider than my Galaxy Note 2, it is much thinner and lighter. I love the extra 1/2 inch of screen and the higher resolution.
Tomorrow, I go to T-Mobile and swap my micro-SIM for a nano-SIM.
Thanks.

Related

Help Please!

I recently purchased a Galaxy S6 from a third party seller on Amazon. After the phone had been delivered, my preferred carrier informed me that not only was a specific model(SM-G920T) required, but it also had to be one of these build numbers.
MMB29K.G920TUEU3DPD6, MMB29K.G920TUES4DPF1, MMB29K.G920TUES4DPH2, MMB29K.G920TUEU4DPG2
I contacted the seller and they do not have one of these builds in stock.
My build is the MMB29K.G920TUVU3EPD1
As far as I know the differences between my phone and the ones accepted is only relative to software. Is there a way that i can install a rom that would reflect one of the accepted builds or that I could somehow trick the carrier into thinking that it is the correct version. I know next to nothing so please if you can make the answers as simple as possible.
My phone is running Android 6.0.1
It is the T-Mobile variant.
I am attempting to get it to work on Republic Wireless.
Thank you so much for any help you can offer!

International Urbane In UK

I've just purchased an international Urbane on Amazon uk for a decent price. Amazon have made it clear it has a 12 month warranty and they will replace or refund if there are issues, and I have that on a live chat transcript so they can't go back on that.
However, as someone who's never owned an LG Android device, I'm wondering if I'm going to have problems with this International model here in the UK? For example, will OTA work or any other form of updating without having to go via ADB? I've heard Wear 2 is coming to this watch, I'd hate to miss out if I can't get it installed here in the UK. Will my UK S7 Edge work with it ok, and will Android Wear installed on my phone from the UK play store work ok? If there are going to be issues I'll simply return it. It's due for delivery tomorrow so any advice on this will be appreciated.
Beefheart said:
I've just purchased an international Urbane on Amazon uk for a decent price. Amazon have made it clear it has a 12 month warranty and they will replace or refund if there are issues, and I have that on a live chat transcript so they can't go back on that.
However, as someone who's never owned an LG Android device, I'm wondering if I'm going to have problems with this International model here in the UK? For example, will OTA work or any other form of updating without having to go via ADB? I've heard Wear 2 is coming to this watch, I'd hate to miss out if I can't get it installed here in the UK. Will my UK S7 Edge work with it ok, and will Android Wear installed on my phone from the UK play store work ok? If there are going to be issues I'll simply return it. It's due for delivery tomorrow so any advice on this will be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using the EU W200e variant with 3G not the LTE version, as far as updates go, everything is fine, OTA operates normally and frequencies are not an issue. I see no reason for the LTE variant to be any different, others are using it successfully.
Thanks. It's actually the 1st gen Urbane I've bought, so it has no cellular ability. But as long as it can be used in the UK and can be updated to Wear 2 when LG release the update, that's good enough for me.

Need a new phone, looking note 8 or gs 8/8+, unlocked vs carrier?

I'm currently using a nexus 6p on verizon and its getting long in the tooth. I want to buy an unlocked note8 directly from samsung or bestbuy, but not sure what I would give up vs buying one from verizon. Would I just pop a sim in, have them register my new imei and off I go?
I saw a mega thread thats like 50+ pages deep in the howto section about flashing between carriers, would I need to flash a certain file to the phone to get it to work properly on verizon? The unlocked seems to support all the bands. I just want the flexibility to use whatever carrier, so if I decide to switch my note over to TMO or cricket I won't have any concerns. Also might not get a note, but it looks nice, has newer software, was more recently released.
How is samsung with releasing OS updates? Would it be reasonable to expect android 8 on the note 8?

Were Unlocked software updates timely?

I know in the past, before the S10, Samsung was pretty terrible about getting software updates to the unlocked versions. Taking several months longer, than the carrier versions.
So how did Samsung do with getting unlocked software updates on the S10? I'm curious to know before I decide which Galaxy S20 I preorder.
I have a Verizon S10 and I was quite pleased with the promptness of the software updates. I'm impressed we even got Android 10.
I was in the beta and my unlocked was a couple of weeks at least behind the beta people with locked phones when the final came out.
Same question here. I was looking at firmware listings on sammobile and it seems that at least for the latest firmware ...CTA3 U1 versions are dated 02-03-2020, whereas for U model only T-Mobile has CTA3 and is dated later 02-09-2020. Would love to hear from someone with unlocked model about their update experience. I've stopped buying unlocked precisely for these update delays, but would love to loose T-Mobile crap and silly 4/5g LTE icons if Samsung has gotten their act together.
madman6886 said:
Same question here. I was looking at firmware listings on sammobile and it seems that at least for the latest firmware ...CTA3 U1 versions are dated 02-03-2020, whereas for U model only T-Mobile has CTA3 and is dated later 02-09-2020. Would love to hear from someone with unlocked model about their update experience. I've stopped buying unlocked precisely for these update delays, but would love to loose T-Mobile crap and silly 4/5g LTE icons if Samsung has gotten their act together.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm running an unlocked S10e on T-Mobile. Got the February security update on 4Feb. Wife's S10e we got directly from T-Mobile, it still hasn't had the Feb update pushed.
While those of us wiih unlocked phones were more than a week behind everyone else getting out of beta on Android 10, we received the February patch before some locked phones. It would be unusual for Samsung to push anything out to the unlocks early but they did on the last patch.

Which G800 best for LineageOS in US?

Hey all sorry for the newbness, I'm kinda totally new to android modding. I've been running a G800A for years now and love it to death, but it's just become a bit too outdated and limiting in stock form. I'm also under the understanding that the G800A is the most limiting version, as there is not even ROMs available to run anything about Android 5.1.1(?)
So I'm understanding if I wanted to go to LineageOS, my options are the G800F/M/Y. Anything I've found on these shows them all virtually identical other than the 4g bands. Would any one of these 3 be any better than the others to use in the USA? Does whatever carrier I would end up going with matter much?
Also, even more stupider questions- has anyone tried installing LineageOS on the G800A?
Last one- what about the G800R4 if I wanted to go with a CDMA carrier?
TIA for any help with this
you can only flash a rom built for your exact device...
only a 800f rom for a 800f device..
or you will brick..
( some roms are built for more then one device like the f/m/y variants)
sadly almost every samsung device sold in the usa after the s4 is bootloader locked.
so you cant flash anything.
you can get a s5 mini g800f from ebay for 60$ and start the flashing game is you love small phones.
That is what is did.
every samsung phone i get now is international or i dont buy it.
@nutpants thx for the reply. I'm still a bit confused tho- aren't US version G900s able to be flashed? Unless I misunderstood some of the stuff I've come across. I'm still on the fence as to whether I want to stay with something quite so small as the G800 (my eyeballs are getting old along with me). I think I might go with a G900 and see how it works out. But is this the same deal ie- I need to look for an international version of that?
Also, I've noticed that tons of international versions have limited to no compatible LTE bands with those used here in the states. I'm assuming there's no workaround for this as it's a hardware issue(?) How much does this affect real world usability?
first off i dont know everything, so you will have to research
https://www.kimovil.com/en/frequency-checker/US/samsung-galaxy-s5-mini
this is a good reference but i just found it so it could be very wrong also.
( it looks like it is not very good with all the variants so its not to be considered the last word)
while i have not looked at every rom posted here ( and there might be a usa at&t s5mini xda page someplace) i don't remember seeing any rom for the g800a variant of the s5mini if it does not say g800a it will very likely not work, and will brick your device if you try.
(https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/rooting-the-s5-mini-from-at-t-g800a.3124674/
its not looking good for your g800a device at all )
i have a g900w8 (Canadian variant) and i can flash anything that the international version uses, but it has all the bands that i usa uses for the most part. (best of both worlds) but i think the usa model (v, r4,p) has a locked boot loader so it is not easy to flash roms.
( i think there is a way to do it, but i never have as i dont but bootloader locked phones)
the s7 and older Canadian phones from samsung are all easily rootable , most can be flashed with international roms, but (dont quote me on this) they use mostly the north america popular bands for lte, hspa, etc.
if you are looking for a newer phone dont get the g900 s5
get the s7 g935w8 canadian phone its about the same size, must faster, better battery ( but you cant replace it, MUCH MUCH better camera (ive had nothing but problems with the s5 camera) and ive found them for about 150$ used in great shape.
if you use data a lot then you want lte to work if you are just going to talk, then the gsm bands are good enough. ive used Canadian phones in the usa plenty and have no serious issues.
but i just got the s5 mini g800f from ebay and im still setting it up so i dont know how well it works yet.
short answer, usa phones are much much harder to root if at all, fewer roms, international phones are much better for all that but may not work well in the usa, canadian phones might be what you want to look at
(my Canadian s5 g900w8 still have support for the latest lineage os 18 )
before you buy check if the phone is supported by lineage os
https://download.lineageos.org/
if it is, then you can root, flash roms and very likely have unofficial roms for years to come.
or you can search xda, but as you can see, the s5mini is all but dead here and developers are not working hard to improve the roms we do have. in another year this place will be a ghost town.
btw i have canadian s4, s5, s7, s4 mini, s7 , s7 edge, note 2, note 3, note 4, mega . and have been very happy with them all. i have a few usa devices (s5 active)but i cant do anything with them. so they sit on a shelf. ( not that any of them do much but the hobby of flashing the newest rom and trying it out.

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