I have never bought an unlocked phone before, but then again I had never anticipated phones prices becoming so expensive, so I prefer to get the best bang-for-my-buck. Is there a significant performance difference between SnapDragon and Exynos? From some quick research I did, it seems that SnapDragon is slightly better than Exynos in gaming due to its GPU, and Exynos gets better battery performance and a slightly smoother experience all while being an unlocked phone? If it is too much of a hassle to get the Deep sea Blue Exynos Note 8 imported and if there isn't much of a difference I can settle for the SnapDragon one.
I have looked online but find can't any places besides Amazon where I feel safe dishing out $1300 CAD and know its going to be just as good as if I bought it from Samsung (unfortunately amazon doesn't seem to have the blue colour). I get that technically they are a 3rd party seller but their customer service and return policy is so good that it's fine; especially because internationally imported phones seem to have no warranty. I thought about eBay at first, but honestly that's a crap-shoot. Only other possibility was NCIX but I despise them.
would subscribing to a VPN and then loading up the Samsung website in region that has Exynos work?
What makes you think that eBay is a "crap shoot"? Many of us got ours that way.
Kalm_Traveler said:
What makes you think that eBay is a "crap shoot"? Many of us got ours that way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because I have gotten scammed before and getting your money back is a hassle. Not worth the trouble. Anyway you think it's worth to get the Exynos ?
GreenBirdo said:
Because I have gotten scammed before and getting your money back is a hassle. Not worth the trouble. Anyway you think it's worth to get the Exynos ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the 256gb and Exynos are worth it. If it was only the cpu I might need to think twice.
I bought mine about 3 weeks ago on ebay.It took 2 weeks to get here from the seller.Despite the seller being a U.S. seller. But in all its glory and beauty I got my 256gb deep blue sea brand new in box I was very happy.
Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
I found one one and I'm tempted to pull the trigger but the more I think on the the more I'm hesitant. Not having warranty on a $1300CAD device is a little disappointing. You guys thinks it's worth?
Got mine on eBay worth it 100%
Yep do it !! Just get a nice case and your golden.
Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
Alright, you guys talked me into it. Just three quick questions. Are these two websites reputable? https://www.clove.co.uk/ https://www.omegacell.com/ and are the phones new? As in they won't send me old one someone sent back and call it "new" when shipping it to me.
Also it will work on Freedom Mobile, right? I did my research and it seems to work, but just wanted to double check with you more knowledgeable folks here.
Edit: would Bixby also work?
GreenBirdo said:
I found one one and I'm tempted to pull the trigger but the more I think on the the more I'm hesitant. Not having warranty on a $1300CAD device is a little disappointing. You guys thinks it's worth?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is definitely a valid concern. My N950N had the lower usb/mic/speaker/antenna circuit board stop working properly after about a week and apparently quite a few of us have run into issues with that same component. The rest of the phone works perfectly, and the boards are $5 to $10 US once they're available so I'm not very concerned but it is a bit frustrating to pay over $1300 and have something break in the first week, when all the US model phones I've had never had a single issue that wasn't entirely my fault.
i can't find any deepbluesea one's on ebay
Kalm_Traveler said:
This is definitely a valid concern. My N950N had the lower usb/mic/speaker/antenna circuit board stop working properly after about a week and apparently quite a few of us have run into issues with that same component. The rest of the phone works perfectly, and the boards are $5 to $10 US once they're available so I'm not very concerned but it is a bit frustrating to pay over $1300 and have something break in the first week, when all the US model phones I've had never had a single issue that wasn't entirely my fault.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn that sucks. There is no way to ship it back to the seller and have them send it in for a fix, no? You just kind of burst my bubble. But I think I'm still going to pull the trigger. I'll wait 1-2 more days before I drop that much money. But if all I'm losing is WiFi-calling and VoLTE, It's a go from me. If I lose Bixby too, then I guess SD it is.
GreenBirdo said:
Damn that sucks. There is no way to ship it back to the seller and have them send it in for a fix, no? You just kind of burst my bubble. But I think I'm still going to pull the trigger. I'll wait 1-2 more days before I drop that much money. But if all I'm losing is WiFi-calling and VoLTE, It's a go from me. If I lose Bixby too, then I guess SD it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I might have been able to ship it over there but TWRP + root = Knox 0x1 so they wouldn't warranty repair it anyway, nevermind the down time of being without it for who knows how long with shipping both ways and repair time.
You'll lose wifi calling and VoLTE unless you flash your carrier's CSC and make sure they have those features enabled for the new phone. Bixby still works.
Kalm_Traveler said:
I might have been able to ship it over there but TWRP + root = Knox 0x1 so they wouldn't warranty repair it anyway, nevermind the down time of being without it for who knows how long with shipping both ways and repair time.
You'll lose wifi calling and VoLTE unless you flash your carrier's CSC and make sure they have those features enabled for the new phone. Bixby still works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, I see. Guess the warranty part wouldn't apply to you regardless since you instantly rooted it, lol. VoLTE is okay, but doesn't impact me in anyway. Just seems like better connection/quality. WiFi-calling just seems like more of the same and kind of useless to me personally. Unless I don't understand what it does. But in this day and age we have good enough call quality and pretty much unlimited calling that I don't get the big deal. But to each their own.
GreenBirdo said:
I see, I see. Guess the warranty part wouldn't apply to you regardless since you instantly rooted it, lol. VoLTE is okay, but doesn't impact me in anyway. Just seems like better connection/quality. WiFi-calling just seems like more of the same and kind of useless to me personally. Unless I don't understand what it does. But in this day and age we have good enough call quality and pretty much unlimited calling that I don't get the big deal. But to each their own.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VoLTE and Wifi calling are basically the same thing, just that one runs on your LTE connection and one runs over your wifi-to-internet connection. They should in theory provide better voice calls than standard 3g can handle. Wifi calling is also great if you can use it overseas - every time I go to Asia I keep my T-Mobile SIM card around and make calls to home people for free because it's going over the internet instead of through the phone system.
Kalm_Traveler said:
VoLTE and Wifi calling are basically the same thing, just that one runs on your LTE connection and one runs over your wifi-to-internet connection. They should in theory provide better voice calls than standard 3g can handle. Wifi calling is also great if you can use it overseas - every time I go to Asia I keep my T-Mobile SIM card around and make calls to home people for free because it's going over the internet instead of through the phone system.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it. You have been amazing! After much deliberation with myself, I went ahead and bought the SD version. Due to the fact that I'm an extremely picky person when I am spending this much money on a product. I need to be 100% sure the product I received had in no way been opened and used, and I'm fairly certain that they power-up the product to see if it's DOA; this irks me. Also the fact that I don't have warranty was too much of a loss for me. If I get the phone and if it ends up breaking or having screen bleeding I can exchange it no problem. I would rather sacrifice a little bit of performance and [email protected] video over peace of mind in the product i'm getting. Plus I managed to get $700 off the phone due to calling my carrier and complaining about the troubles I have with my current phone.
Also thank you for the information about the differences betwen VoLTE and WiFi-calling
Wish you the best. Cheers mate.
Related
If enough people are interested, I had an idea that DFW XDA members all return their Vivids at the same time for a mass return at the AT&T HQ store in order to make a statement. This is the heart of their operation. We can discuss this, but what I and others came up with so far is:
AT&T Mass Return
Tuesday December 6th at 1:00pm
208 S Akard Street
STE 110
Dallas, TX 75202
Customer Parking Available for 2 hours at:
1600 Commerce Street
Dallas, TX 75201
Everyone is invited. Whether you have a Vivid or not. I understand not everyone lives here, but all are welcome none the less.
Thanks to Radi0chik
What do you guys think of this idea?
Reclaim said:
If enough people are interested, I had an idea that DFW XDA members all return their Vivids at the same time for a mass return at the AT&T HQ store in order to make a statement. This is the heart of their operation. We can discuss this, but what I and others came up with so far is:
AT&T Mass Return
Tuesday December 6th at 1:00pm
208 S Akard Street
STE 110
Dallas, TX 75202
Customer Parking Available for 2 hours at:
1600 Commerce Street
Dallas, TX 75201
Everyone is invited. Whether you have a Vivid or not. I understand not everyone lives here, but all are welcome none the less.
Thanks to Radi0chik
What do you guys think of this idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
great idea.
Returned it already though.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
I bought mine from Amazonwireless... and I've already asked for an exchange to the skyrocket.
Plus the fact that I have school then doesn't help, but if I could come, I would.
can some one help me decide on what phone to get on sunday once i return mine?
i think that lg nitro hd is nice, but ive heard the ui sucks on it... so i was thinking either that new google nexus phone (sorry, im new to android and cant remember all these pohones) or the gs2... id rather have the og gs2 cause its faster than the skyrocket and i dont care to have lte
randrewm97 said:
can some one help me decide on what phone to get on sunday once i return mine?
i think that lg nitro hd is nice, but ive heard the ui sucks on it... so i was thinking either that new google nexus phone (sorry, im new to android and cant remember all these pohones) or the gs2... id rather have the og gs2 cause its faster than the skyrocket and i dont care to have lte
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea if your going to go with a gs2 Definitely get the OG. The Skyrocket has issues with screen resolution and such. As far as the LG Nitro goes I think that is up in the air considering it is going to have a full 720p screen. I am actually slightly leaning toward the LG just because of that but I still need to research it a little bit more.
Yes. I am wondering the same. Though I'm not sure if it will be rooted... New to thus android world. Also, I'm not sure how the devs will take the phone. I heard the lg ui is like touchwiz but retarded... Not meaning to insult. I'm hoping someone will do a good overview of the nitro by sunday
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using XDA App
randrewm97 said:
I heard the lg ui is like touchwiz but retarded...
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO, both of those UIs are on par with excrement. On day 1 of owning my Captivate, I switched launchers. Even on Froyo/GB, I could not put up with it and just went full AOSP launcher-wise. If the LG launcher is the same, I know that I won't like it for sure.
Sense is the only aftermarket UI that I like, hence why I ended up with this phone.
EDIT: Also, what's even the point of this? Sending a message to AT&T about this phone would do nothing with you guys mass-returning it. After the event, you wouldn't even care what happened to this device's development life anyway, while you guys all go for Nitros or Skyrockets or whatever phone fits your fancy.
Occupy AT&T....not a chance
You mad cause you have no root...?
Root doesn't allow you to do much anyway other than to either overclock your CPU, make a complete backup of your rom, flash any random rom you want etc...
All the phones have the same CPU chipset, you're just paying for different screen resolutions and plastic shells that cover everything
Samsung couldn't even use its custom CPU because it lacked the ability to incorporate LTE technology, so they chose the Snapdragon S3 APQ8060 dual-core CPU...the same one in the Vivid, and the same one is in the LG Nitro.
Its the only CPU capable of allowing AT&T's 4gLTE service to run smooth for the end user
So go ahead, boycott the Vivid, youre only benefit is a screen with a smaller resolution or a screen with a higher resolution, plus youre still gonna pay the difference plus a $35 restocking fee is applicable...
It seems to me that the problem isn't the Vivid. It's AT&T. If you really want to make a statement then keep this amazing phone, cancel your contracts with AT&T, and allow the devs to continue working on unlocking and fully rooting the device which you know they will. This will do two things. One: send a message to AT&T that will cost them BIG-TIME. Two:Once the devs see how many people are willing to SACRIFICE their wireless mobility for such a great device, they may release a carrier unlock and varying radio support for the different competitors for the vivid. There are some major competitors that offer much better rates and data packages with full LTE support that DON'T lock bootloaders.
It seems silly to put such a serious and damaging halt to great development just because you're unwilling to sever the head of the snake, whereas mass returns will accomplish nothing. Well, not nothing, but if you REALLY want this problem addressed, make AT&T pay with the sudden loss of income. HTC isn't the problem. The Vivid isn't the problem. Big corporations have insurance policies to protect them when there's a problem with inventory/product defects/returns etc. But losing customers.. That just plain sucks for ANY business. Hit them where it hurts. The Next big awesome phone you want will just be locked up tight as well unless you send a CLEAR message they CAN'T ignore.
The Vivid counterpart in Canada (Raider) has already had great roms and kernels that work and are supported/updated every couple of days. I love this phone more and more and would switch carriers in a heartbeat if the company I pay my hard earned money to EVERY Month wasn't treating me like a VALUED customer. AT&T KNOWS what they're doing. They KNOW that what they're continuuing to do is WRONG. But they aren't listening becuase the customers aren't willing to lose they're precious contract they've worked so hard for.
Yes, it means going without the ability to use your nice phone for a little while. Yes it will suck having NO cellphone at all with all it's nice features at your disposal and whim. Maybe getting a junker from a better provider and waiting for the devs is asking too much.
Either that or stop and realize you've had your phone for ONE month. Forget everything I've said about teaching your carrier a lesson, and show some support for xda (maybe a little faith and gratitude as well) because they LOVE tinkering with HTC's products. I wonder sometimes if there would even BE an XDA team without HTC. Be patient, or teach them a REAL lesson in customer service. The alternative is YOU losing out, and feeling all proud and happy for giving up something you once loved. But then again nobody wants to admit they're ACTUALLY PAYING AT&T to treat us like prisoners. Stripping you of your right to DO WITH YOUR PROPERTY THAT WHICH YOU FEEL LIKE DOING.
While we're at it let's all go buy REALLY nice houses where we're not allowed to decorate, hang pictures, change the layout of the livingroom, or park our cars anywhere near.
Been following these forums since the beginning of this week when I ordered the phone through amazon. Now that it has finally shipped today after being backordered, I'm seeing this
and returning this, which I got for a penny, would mean I would have to pay full price for the phone I exchange for, correct?
I wish the morale in this forum didn't seem like it is dying away, but I understand that many of us are almost at the 30 day limit on exchanges and two years is an awful long time to go without an unlocked bootloader.
My first htc phone, after going through LG and blackberry.... which might be exchanged like all of yours....
I think a lot of you are missing the point. This is not just about the bootloader. everyone's reasons are different so I can only share my own. So if you have been paying attention to this forum at all you might get that. Personally my reasons are in no particular order: Carrier IQ, locked bootloader..not just because of development, but because you can't get rid of Carrier IQ while the bootloader is locked, being throttled by AT&T with normal use only halfway through my Billing cycle at only 3.6gb while I still have to pay full price even though I'm on an unlimited plan, their lack of answers, their silencing of our voices on forums, and those are just a few reasons. This is beyond "you mad about no root". And if you think I won't care about what happens after this, then you really haven't been paying attention. My plan is to import a phone or stick with my streak until I figure out a better option. If I use a phone they don't have on file for me, then I can at least not be throttled or be affected directly by Carrier IQ.
This idea isn't JUST for vivid users, and no one is occupying anything. This is for the returns to occur in one fell swoop so they can feel the hit they have caused themselves. As paying customers, most of us are tired of being treated like this. If you're having trouble understanding why and how this would matter, then you haven't been following this forum.
Returned mine already
rodger-sp said:
Returned mine already
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
everyone Ganged up on me last time when I politely said 'bye bye vivid' not even a week back. Even my thread got deleted and I can't find it on vivid general section anymore.
I think it's worth sticking to Samsung for a while. Eventhough I love sense interface so much, I enjoy having good debloated ROMs that give me full potential of the phone.
I'm back to galaxy s2 and it's totally worth it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
ceo.mtcl said:
everyone Ganged up on me last time when I politely said 'bye bye vivid' not even a week back. Even my thread got deleted and I can't find it on vivid general section anymore.
I think it's worth sticking to Samsung for a while. Eventhough I love sense interface so much, I enjoy having good debloated ROMs that give me full potential of the phone.
I'm back to galaxy s2 and it's totally worth it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might have been ahead of the game sir.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=19946984&postcount=173
Reclaim said:
I think a lot of you are missing the point. This is not just about the bootloader. everyone's reasons are different so I can only share my own. So if you have been paying attention to this forum at all you might get that. Personally my reasons are in no particular order: Carrier IQ, locked bootloader..not just because of development, but because you can't get rid of Carrier IQ while the bootloader is locked, being throttled by AT&T with normal use only halfway through my Billing cycle at only 3.6gb while I still have to pay full price even though I'm on an unlimited plan, their lack of answers, their silencing of our voices on forums, and those are just a few reasons. This is beyond "you mad about no root". And if you think I won't care about what happens after this, then you really haven't been paying attention. My plan is to import a phone or stick with my streak until I figure out a better option. If I use a phone they don't have on file for me, then I can at least not be throttled or be affected directly by Carrier IQ.
This idea isn't JUST for vivid users, and no one is occupying anything. This is for the returns to occur in one fell swoop so they can feel the hit they have caused themselves. As paying customers, most of us are tired of being treated like this. If you're having trouble understanding why and how this would matter, then you haven't been following this forum.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Carrier IQ situation will allow you to break free of your contract, not happy with AT&T, maybe it wasnt for you, not the first time a subscriber switched carriers. AT&T just got LTE when other carriers had it for longer and unthrottled, what stopped you from leaving then?, I have a bandwidth monitor on my vivid, the HTC IQ AGENT ( Carrier IQ ) doesn't take up gigs of your data plan, matter of fact it takes less than 1/10th of a MB. It is very freaky what this app is capable of and was pretty shocked when I saw the youtube vid. Did you know that uploads are also counted as well!. AT&T will soon realize that 4GB just isnt enough to satisfy customers.
Propose this, you have the ability to break free of your contract pretty soon cause of this whole CIQ debacle, if you want AT&T to keep your business, tell them you want unthrottled unlimited data on your grandfathered plan, they cant do that then just leave without penalty.
Its not HTC's fault AT&T has some weird business practices and contract practices that show up in forums / media from time to time, returning any carriers devices hurts sales and manufacturer reputation. Take the fight where it belongs, tell it to Al Franken..lol
penguinfishies said:
Been following these forums since the beginning of this week when I ordered the phone through amazon. Now that it has finally shipped today after being backordered, I'm seeing this
and returning this, which I got for a penny, would mean I would have to pay full price for the phone I exchange for, correct?
I wish the morale in this forum didn't seem like it is dying away, but I understand that many of us are almost at the 30 day limit on exchanges and two years is an awful long time to go without an unlocked bootloader.
My first htc phone, after going through LG and blackberry.... which might be exchanged like all of yours....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the same boat as you got mine for .01 and it's a nice phone. The only thing I'd like to do is remove some bloat apps, but honestly who cares. Everything I've thrown at it works way better than it did on my EVO 4g on Sprint.
Its not like I have unlimited data with ATT and I pay for 4gig of data.
I'm keeping mine root or no root.
EDIT: I misread an article that I thought had said that HTC promised it unlocked in a month. Either way, you people are so impatient.
EDIT2: If this is for Carrier IQ then I totally agree, but for a phone that doesn't have an unlocked bootloader That's just stupid.
If you guys are seriously going to "occupy AT&T" then you are idiots. A few hundred people won't make that huge of a difference when they have nearly 100 Million customers.
In the end you're only hurting the development community because when it does get unlocked everyone would have left.
That's my $0.02. Good day.
Sent from my HTC Vivid.
8125Omnimax said:
The Carrier IQ situation will allow you to break free of your contract, not happy with AT&T, maybe it wasnt for you, not the first time a subscriber switched carriers. AT&T just got LTE when other carriers had it for longer and unthrottled, what stopped you from leaving then?, I have a bandwidth monitor on my vivid, the HTC IQ AGENT ( Carrier IQ ) doesn't take up gigs of your data plan, matter of fact it takes less than 1/10th of a MB. It is very freaky what this app is capable of and was pretty shocked when I saw the youtube vid. Did you know that uploads are also counted as well!. AT&T will soon realize that 4GB just isnt enough to satisfy customers.
Propose this, you have the ability to break free of your contract pretty soon cause of this whole CIQ debacle, if you want AT&T to keep your business, tell them you want unthrottled unlimited data on your grandfathered plan, they cant do that then just leave without penalty.
Its not HTC's fault AT&T has some weird business practices and contract practices that show up in forums / media from time to time, returning any carriers devices hurts sales and manufacturer reputation. Take the fight where it belongs, tell it to Al Franken..lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You raise some really good points. Though I do feel HTC does have some degree of responsibility because it's on their branded product with their name attached to the actual app.
Infinimint said:
Wow... HTC already said they were going to unlock the bootloader for this phone. You people are so impatient.
If you guys are seriously going to "occupy AT&T" then you are idiots. I few hundred people won't make that huge of a difference when they have nearly 100 Million customers.
In the end you're only hurting the development community because when it does get unlocked everyone would have left.
That's my $0.02. Good day.
Sent from my HTC Vivid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can I get a link to where they said they were going to unlock the bootloader?
Sent from my HTC PH39100 using xda premium
Today, I had a chance to test for awhile new Nexus 4 phone. It was demo version in Carphone Warehouse.
I have been told, they selling only this phone with a contract, so I haven't asked more as we know Google is selling it with "no strings attached".
First impression was really good, nice phone, big enough but not so big, light weighted.
Screen is very responsive, considering it has still protective film on in. I had no chance to test WiFi as well as 3G connections, as this phone has no simcard. During the test once appears one white artefact on the bottom of the screen and suddenly disappear once I touched the screen.
I hope some of photos tell more than I wrote.
I would like to thank for people from Carephone Warehouse in Croydon, where I was able to test this phone.
Your test was all wrong, you are meant to come back and tell us every little fault with the phone and moan about how terrible a company Google are. Tell us to never ever get this phone and go on for 3 pages about the lack of LTE (even tho useless in UK) and micro SD card :laugh:
@roughavoc why shall I moan about this? I'm considering to buy this phone, but as we know it's not available right now. Yesterday, sale was started and finished immediately. Lack of LTE? That's true - but as Three network user, I will not need LTE for year or even longer.
There's no micrSD card... but it's microSIM... how wonderfull
Seriously, there's no reason to be disappointed, besides the first impression was really good - considering the price of this device.
He was being sarcastic
If a 'first mini test' means picking up a display handset in store, then god help us.
nasedo73 said:
@roughavoc why shall I moan about this? I'm considering to buy this phone, but as we know it's not available right now. Yesterday, sale was started and finished immediately. Lack of LTE? That's true - but as Three network user, I will not need LTE for year or even longer.
There's no micrSD card... but it's microSIM... how wonderfull
Seriously, there's no reason to be disappointed, besides the first impression was really good - considering the price of this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WallnutBoy said:
He was being sarcastic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really just need some opinions here. Let me lay out my situation: I'm a college student, so money can be an issue for me at times. I'm an at&t subscriber, and the phone that my parents got me as my first smartphone was the LG K10( good for the price, but otherwise blaah). Recently, my friend and his family all upgraded their phones, and I was given a Verizon Galaxy S6 Edge (64gb) as a "pity gift". It was purchased when the phone was released, and the screen has some major cracks all along the left side of the edge screen. Also, the battery is pretty atrocious (due to age), and because it's a Verizon phone, and I have an at&t sim, the service will not exceed speeds of H+ (occasionally I'll get 4G, I just have to have very very good service).
I have a choice I need to make. Should I try to keep this phone and save money (I could buy a new battery and screen and a case), or should I get a new phone? I really don't know what would be the best thing to do. All I know is I cannot use my K10 any longer(it's just so slow and bad), and I'd like to do something soon. If I get a new phone, I'm going on get the best I can get, and try to squeeze as much life out of it as I can (I'd like to get the OnePlus 5t, but I'd have to save all that money before getting it, so I might get a note8 or 8 plus)
I just need to see what other people think. Thanks for your time.
Its up to you, but if you need 4g that much, i suggest you buy a new phone or change network provider. I'm not living in US so idk if you could change your provider or not. S6e is good i think, if you wanna use this phone for a long term.
nguyenphi96 said:
Its up to you, but if you need 4g that much, i suggest you buy a new phone or change network provider. I'm not living in US so idk if you could change your provider or not. S6e is good i think, if you wanna use this phone for a long term.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4g isn't that big of a deal, and I get it occasionally, so I'm not worries about that. Switching providers isn't really too easy (I'm not on contract, but since im only on my parents plan I would have to set mine up, so I'll just wait till I move out). I've had a lot of people on Reddit saying that it's be a waste of money to just fix the S6e up, but I really don't wanna have to worry about a phone payment right now.
I live in the US and the phone works - but it's a Snapdragon, not an Exynos ( so ... better?) and I'm not really sure what to think now that I see the hardware model of it.
The only noticeable differences I could find are that handwriting defaulted to Chinese and the Chinese calendar seems burned into the Samsung Calendar app.
Anything I should look out for? Should I pursue a return through Amazon?
Samsung pay?
Try hard reset then immediately sideloading Samsung Pay 2.7.03 (apk from apkmirror) and Framework 2.7.51 see if spay will work.
If you have problems with language options in general, you can factory reset and set up your languages defaults from the very beginning (on the very first page, you will have a language selector, possibly showing Korean as a default choice, type the Korean writing and choose your favorite localization; this happens on any model by Samsung). This is highly recommended if you do not trust the vendor.
As far as I can tell, the main limitation of N9500 is localization of hardware-secured features: if you plan to use the (awesome) Samsung Pay, apparently you can do so only in Hong Kong so far (with N9500). As I understand, Samsung uses/experiments a more advanced system in Hong Kong, which you will not be able to use elsewhere. I have a N9500 and I want to try to spoof the model number in build.prop to see if one can cheat the phone to have Samsung Pay work everywhere.
Snapdragon vs Exynos is a mixed bag, depending on your workload. Exynos performs slightly better, Snapdragon will offer a faster web experience. In my opinion, no noticeable difference at all. However if you:
-Have a 64GB model
-Have a write heavy workload (quite rare, for instance you do some video-editing on phone or backup GB of data TO the phone every day)
exynos will perform noticeably better in these tasks since Samsung uses different NAND on the two models. For reading workload, again the difference is not noticeable.
Also, my guess is that you got N9500 for a better price: these are usually imported models from Hong Kong or UAE, with no official support. Importers likely got a much better price than the local Samsung offer, or maybe they avoided some import taxes via shady practices. If you paid the same as the official listing in your country, you may want to ask for a replacement regardless of the hardware.
---------- Post added at 09:31 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:23 AM ----------
Just to clear out, in the message before I meant that both the conditions (64GB AND write heavy) need to be satisfied to have an Exynos preference.
I haven't run into any actual problems yet (4 hours of use?) and I'm trying to avoid any modifications while I decide how to handle this... The whole thing seems shady, there's a promotional coupon stuck over the model number on the box. I feel like it was done intentionally for some reason.
delugeofspam said:
I haven't run into any actual problems yet (4 hours of use?) and I'm trying to avoid any modifications while I decide how to handle this... The whole thing seems shady, there's a promotional coupon stuck over the model number on the box. I feel like it was done intentionally for some reason.
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Well if you were sold a model different than the listing description and you are worried/not happy about it, get your money back and make sure you don't lose even a penny (teaching seller a lesson in the process since a lot of this purposeful shadiness seems to be happening even when seller knows).
Don't be upset. You might have gotten the only Snapdragon variant with an unlockable bootloader out the box. If you don't mind double checking this, go to developer options and see if there's an OEM unlocking toggle. Then download Crom and run it, it should unlock your bootloader.
Paradoxumical said:
Don't be upset. You might have gotten the only Snapdragon variant with an unlockable bootloader out the box. If you don't mind double checking this, go to developer options and see if there's an OEM unlocking toggle. Then download Crom and run it, it should unlock your bootloader.
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Unfortunately, no such luck.
delugeofspam said:
Unfortunately, no such luck.
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Really? Damn, Samsung is seriously tightening things up, the HK and CN variants used to the only Snadragon models that came with an official bootloader unlock tool/method.
Paradoxumical said:
Really? Damn, Samsung is really tightening things up, the HK and CN variants used to the only Samsung models that came with an official bootloader unlock tool/method.
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Didn't people have to wait exactly a week after activation for that option to show up or something like that?
evangelionpunk said:
Didn't people have to wait exactly a week after activation for that option to show up or something like that?
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I don’t recall anything of the sort, but don’t hold that against me. My last Samsung device prior to the Note 8 was the S6 (which I despised). The S5 was Samsung’s last great and true user/developer/mod friendly device. Even though the design got a lot of hate, I quite liked it. It went to eight different countries with me, and never gave me grief even though I used it as an underwater camera countless times.
Paradoxumical said:
I don’t recall anything of the sort, but don’t hold that against me. My last Samsung device prior to the Note 8 was the S6 (which I despised). The S5 was Samsung’s last great and true user/developer/mod friendly device. Even though the design got a lot of hate, I quite liked it. It went to eight different countries with me, and never gave me grief even though I used it as an underwater camera countless times.
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Yep double checked and there is a 1 week wait post activation for OEM UNLOCK option to appear.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...-8-exynos-n950f-fd-oem-unlock-t3673140/page64
Not sure if applies to qualcomm variants too. Doesnt HK/CN by law require OEM UNLOCK? Read something along this line somewhere here.
evangelionpunk said:
Yep double checked and there is a 1 week wait post activation for OEM UNLOCK option to appear.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...-8-exynos-n950f-fd-oem-unlock-t3673140/page64
Not sure if applies to qualcomm variants too. Doesnt HK/CN by law require OEM UNLOCK? Read something along this line somewhere here.
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Hey! That’s amazing news for OP. I believe HK/CN does require that by law. I remember when the S7 was released there, it looked so sleek without the Samsung logos.
Paradoxumical said:
Hey! That’s amazing news for OP. I believe HK/CN does require that by law. I remember when the S7 was released there, it looked so sleek without the Samsung logos.
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Yep it would be if it applies to Qualcomm variants and if it does it may only apply to HK/CN variants.
Maybe someone that has already had this model for 7+ days can confirm it for him.
The company I purchased it from refuses to advance-replace this with the phone I ordered and seems to expect me to pay to ship it back to them. This is probably going to turn into a dispute with Amazon, so I'm out another $900+ as I have to get into a new phone ASAP, and leave this one with zero wear.
I'm pretty convinced that I want the N950FD/S Aus, Europe & Lat edition of this phone despite living in the U.S. I don't want to suffer heavily locked bootloaders even for a Snapdragon and it seems there is more development for Exynos.
Please, though, tell me I'm wrong and that I should keep this phone that I dumped hours into configuring before catching on to the damn Chinese calendar embedded in the Samsung Calendar app :|
Damn yeah I would return it and get the exynos model you want oem unlock for sure ! I love my deep sea blue 256gb N950N its a work horse things were a pain at first but most the issues have been sorted out and its the best 1200$ i spent.
delugeofspam said:
The company I purchased it from refuses to advance-replace this with the phone I ordered and seems to expect me to pay to ship it back to them. This is probably going to turn into a dispute with Amazon, so I'm out another $900+ as I have to get into a new phone ASAP, and leave this one with zero wear.
I'm pretty convinced that I want the N950FD/S Aus, Europe & Lat edition of this phone despite living in the U.S. I don't want to suffer heavily locked bootloaders even for a Snapdragon and it seems there is more development for Exynos.
Please, though, tell me I'm wrong and that I should keep this phone that I dumped hours into configuring before catching on to the damn Chinese calendar embedded in the Samsung Calendar app :|
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Click to collapse
If I were you, I would keep it. I’m 92% sure TWRP will pop-up for your device in the upcoming weeks. I don’t know if Samsung has released the kernel source yet, but once they do, I’ll be more than happy to compile it for you. I remember the same thing happened with the HK/CN variant of the S7. Holding out a week to see if OEM Unlocking shows up will be worth if it does.
Dont want to start a new thread so hopefully someone can help on here.
I ordered a N950fd but have received a N9500. It's currently sat in dubai waiting for a friend to bring back to UK.
Should i stick with it or get the N950FD instead? I would like to use Samsung pay but it's not a deal breaker as dont use it that much now anyway. Is there anything else i should be worried about?
thanks
So you ordered the Big Mac and got a Cheeseburger...
If you were at Macca's would you complain and want the right order? I know I would...
ultramag69 said:
So you ordered the Big Mac and got a Cheeseburger...
If you were at Macca's would you complain and want the right order? I know I would...
Click to expand...
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Lol do you really think there's that much difference?
imy300 said:
Lol do you really think there's that much difference?
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Yes.....
Not only is there a difference, but I want what I ordered...
Is it just me or are they completely gone from Amazon? Wonder why?
Wondering the same thing myself. Have one on order should have arrived today but didn't make it, should be tomorrow.
I've read the amounts available will be limited and sporadic. It *may* be they sold out and are waiting for stock. I don't think that's the same as 'being pulled' as you indicate.
I know the supplier I bought from is still selling other phones on Amazon, but that's about it. The listing is gone, but that *could* mean they are just out of stock.
do you know more about it?
I would hope there would be multiple sellers on Amazon but I saw not. However there's still a ton on eBay. So it's got me wondering. Either way I got mine. So far so good.
Nickdroid86 said:
I would hope there would be multiple sellers on Amazon but I saw not. However there's still a ton on eBay. So it's got me wondering. Either way I got mine. So far so good.
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Amazon Germany still sells both phones
I wrote the seller here and he responded. They're just sold out is all, lol. Good to know. I hope sales so really well for this phone.
Just got mine a few hours ago... I'm ecstatic!
A few of the things that are really different than other phones I've had:
1) a Wifi or phone Network connection happens so fast if you blink you'll miss it. I just love that.
2) The hidden antenna results in my t-mo connection (to 2G) is at 5 bars, consistently. Astounding really. My LG G6 sometimes has 3, rarely up to 4, and even falls all the way to 1 (tried to make a call at 1 and it said 'no network available').
3) Volume of the speaker ** IS ** quite loud. More so than other phones I've had for sure.
4) The screen is really fine. With things that are highly video oriented, may be a let down for some, not me. Not a gamer.
5) Android One rocks! It's pretty much just like LineageOS, which I'm very familiar with. It really gets tiring to have to learn
a new UI implementation, MIUI, EMUI, Sammys version, and on and on and on. Hate it. So tired of it. I know, some of the have
a good feature here and there, but it's too few and too far between imho.
Very happy with this phone
I purchased mine at Sunsky from china, good service, also dirty cheap cases and tempered screen protectors.
https://www.sunsky-online.com/v/668810?contact=Grandy&u=57751-twitter