Galaxy note 9 korean variant in Europe - Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Questions & Answers

Hello,
I am thinking about buying a Galaxy Note 9 korean variant, i found a good deal and the phone is brand new.
Are there any limitation if i use the device in Europe? Will I recieve software updates regularly or am I gonna be stuck with the version that comes with it?

StarryKnight said:
Hello,
I am thinking about buying a Galaxy Note 9 korean variant, i found a good deal and the phone is brand new.
Are there any limitation if i use the device in Europe? Will I recieve software updates regularly or am I gonna be stuck with the version that comes with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if the device gets region unlocked( usually a 5 min call is made to lift that before being sent) beforehand then it should works just as well as an F model. for receiving updates that i dont know. I've been manually updating mine evry so often. there are much less frequent firmware updates for the Korean N devices aswell.
i manually download the new firmwares with samfirm 0.3.6 and apply them via odin 3.13.3
been doing this since the note 8.

You should be able to use it in the EU without any issues as any Samsung device purchased in Korea is naturally sold unlocked.

Related

N9500 UK - anyone used this and is it any good?

Unfortunately in the UK, the only way to get the Deep Sea Blue variant would be to buy the N9500. I understand that this was built specifically for China markets, but it should have the right network frequencies for the UK. I was just wondering if anyone has bought one of these before, and whether there's any quirks in the device compared to the UK model? Cheers
Using Note8 N-9500 for 3 weeks now
doubleluckstur said:
Unfortunately in the UK, the only way to get the Deep Sea Blue variant would be to buy the N9500. I understand that this was built specifically for China markets, but it should have the right network frequencies for the UK. I was just wondering if anyone has bought one of these before, and whether there's any quirks in the device compared to the UK model? Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Note 8 N-9500 is Hong Kong/China version. I have been using it for 3 weeks now, but I would not recommend it.
I have Hong Kong version. (China version doesn't support Google Play Store. Avoid it!)
Here are some negative things that I found out so far.
1. It works perfectly with UK network frequencies, however, you can't enable VoLTE or wifi cailling.
This is really downside. it keeps saying my current software does not support VoLTE.
2. It doesn't have Samsung Pass. Some apps require it to log in with your bio info (cf. finger print etc.), so it is bit annoying.
3. Android Pay works fine.
I have not use Samsung Pay yet, but Samsung Pay is registered as Hong Kong so you will get promotions from Hong Kong market only and you can't change it.
4. If you contact customer service through handset it automatically connect with Samsung Hong Kong Service centre. ha ha
I have tried to change it with other CSC roms such as Europe versions, but Note 8 N-9500 uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 not Exynos as Europe or Korean version.
At this point as far as I know it is impossible to use other CSC roms.
twotoy said:
Yes. Note 8 N-9500 is Hong Kong/China version. I have been using it for 3 weeks now, but I would not recommend it.
I have Hong Kong version. (China version doesn't support Google Play Store. Avoid it!)
Here are some negative things that I found out so far.
1. It works perfectly with UK network frequencies, however, you can't enable VoLTE or wifi cailling.
This is really downside. it keeps saying my current software does not support VoLTE.
2. It doesn't have Samsung Pass. Some apps require it to log in with your bio info (cf. finger print etc.), so it is bit annoying.
3. Android Pay works fine.
I have not use Samsung Pay yet, but Samsung Pay is registered as Hong Kong so you will get promotions from Hong Kong market only and you can't change it.
4. If you contact customer service through handset it automatically connect with Samsung Hong Kong Service centre. ha ha
I have tried to change it with other CSC roms such as Europe versions, but Note 8 N-9500 uses Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 not Exynos as Europe or Korean version.
At this point as far as I know it is impossible to use other CSC roms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you managed to flash Europe firmware successfully?
I've also got N9500 deep sea blue, the only reason I bought this version was for the colour!
I quite like it but would like to have volte
SM N9500
No I haven't. As far as I know EU firmware doesn't work with this SM-N9500.
I ask some questions to Samsung customer service Hong Kong, but I haven't got the answer yet.
If I do, I will post it here. cheers!
Note 8 n9500
doubleluckstur said:
Unfortunately in the UK, the only way to get the Deep Sea Blue variant would be to buy the N9500. I understand that this was built specifically for China markets, but it should have the right network frequencies for the UK. I was just wondering if anyone has bought one of these before, and whether there's any quirks in the device compared to the UK model? Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the China variant of the N9500 in Deep sea blue
I I've had it for 3 months with no problems. I saw from one of the other posts that there had been some issues they had found with theirs. Just to comment on mine Samsung pay initially wouldn't let me load a card and work but now it works fine with no issues. Google play was installed and works without issue also. Unfortunately I have not been able to get VoLTE or WiFi calling to work as the firmware installed does not support the former and the latter, I'm still trying to get to work, but neither I or EE can come up with a reason why it doesn't. I've also not been able to install a European /UK firmware due to the Exynos/qualcom incompatability issue. mind you there are only a few reasons why you'd want to install the firmware as the phone works fine with the firmware installed bar the issues I've mentioned and f you can live without WiFi calling or VoLTE then there's no reason to use it. They are a great bit of kit as I they come with a much larger internal storage than is available over here. This was the reason I got mine in the first place as I store loads of books and music as well as videos and as an amateur photographer alongside my DSLR I still use this for photos as the shots are quite comparable in lots of cases. I hope this has helped, oh and one more thing, I i got mine new from a online phone store via ebay I ended up paying about £750-800 for it which was cheaper than the lower storage version that you can get in the UK so that's another plus
NDB19573 said:
I have the China variant of the N9500 in Deep sea blue
I I've had it for 3 months with no problems. I saw from one of the other posts that there had been some issues they had found with theirs. Just to comment on mine Samsung pay initially wouldn't let me load a card and work but now it works fine with no issues. Google play was installed and works without issue also. Unfortunately I have not been able to get VoLTE or WiFi calling to work as the firmware installed does not support the former and the latter, I'm still trying to get to work, but neither I or EE can come up with a reason why it doesn't. I've also not been able to install a European /UK firmware due to the Exynos/qualcom incompatability issue. mind you there are only a few reasons why you'd want to install the firmware as the phone works fine with the firmware installed bar the issues I've mentioned and f you can live without WiFi calling or VoLTE then there's no reason to use it. They are a great bit of kit as I they come with a much larger internal storage than is available over here. This was the reason I got mine in the first place as I store loads of books and music as well as videos and as an amateur photographer alongside my DSLR I still use this for photos as the shots are quite comparable in lots of cases. I hope this has helped, oh and one more thing, I i got mine new from a online phone store via ebay I ended up paying about £750-800 for it which was cheaper than the lower storage version that you can get in the UK so that's another plus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No volte is a biggie for some.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
i wonder if the wifi calling would work on the proper csc for n9500's or if like my provider, regardless of what mods are done to the phone's software, if its not a device purchased from them, they black list imei. well i should say they white list theirs and simply block everything else.
people on rooted 9500:
have you manualy extracted csc from relevant provider firmware and copyed to system/omc?
Limeybastard said:
No volte is a biggie for some.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
/ appreciate that it must a deal breaker for some out. there .I guess its just never been such a huge issue for me really. Its the inactive wifi calling that's the pain in the rear for me. It's not that
its not working that annoys me the most, its more
that there is no actual reason why it shouldn't work. that's the most annoying thing. its just so usefull to have.
Sent from my SM-N9500 using Tapatalk

Using an unlocked att device outside USA

I want to buy a galaxy note 5 from Amazon while I'm in America and use it in a different country where I live.
The device I am considering is the sm-n920a. I've checked the cellular bands and they Mach.
I'm have a few questions since it is not the international version or the sm-n920c that is sold in my country.
1. I heard people saying that it won't fully support my language since it is an att phone. It seemed odd to me because I thought that if the international version supports the language any module should.
2. Will there be a problem with OTA updates?
3. At the price point of 360$, is the note 5 really the best phone to buy?
Thanks
chaimgross said:
I want to buy a galaxy note 5 from Amazon while I'm in America and use it in a different country where I live.
The device I am considering is the sm-n920a. I've checked the cellular bands and they Mach.
I'm have a few questions since it is not the international version or the sm-n920c that is sold in my country.
1. I heard people saying that it won't fully support my language since it is an att phone. It seemed odd to me because I thought that if the international version supports the language any module should.
2. Will there be a problem with OTA updates?
3. At the price point of 360$, is the note 5 really the best phone to buy?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have an unlocked AT&T Note 5 and an international one, both work perfectly even though I live outside America. And about updates I am not sure but you can always search for custom roms with the latest features for the device on the forum. And overall the n5 is a great phone in my opinion, has everything you need in a phone and more.

Can't get Samsung Pay to work on international Note 8.

I bought an international model of the Note 8, model N950FXXS3CRF1, and ever since day 1, I can't get Samsung Pay to work. I was able to get it setup for my Gear S3, so it's not like I'm completely unable to use it, but this is a bit concerning for me in a way that I'll explain in a moment.
First off, when I go to the Galaxy Apps store, I'm unable to find Samsung Pay for download. Naturally, I went and just hunted down the latest APK for the app instead, though, whenever I open it, it just says it's temporarily unable to connect. Again, this doesn't affect the Gear S version of the app, it's still fully-functioning, it's only doing this for the phone version.
Now, the reason this is concerning to me is because, as far as I can tell after doing a bit of research, is that the version of the Note 8 port of Android belongs to a country that doesn't have support for Samsung Pay, thus leading me to suspect that there might be some more features I'm missing out on.
So, can anyone tell me which version of the Note 8 firmware I can install that'll allow me use of the phone version of Samsung Pay?
Where will you use your phone? You can install Mexico's FW, it will include samsung pay, no need to side load
winol said:
Where will you use your phone? You can install Mexico's FW, it will include samsung pay, no need to side load
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
Im kinda new to the Note 8, the Mexico's FW is the one on this link?
https://forum.xda-developers.com/ga...ility-flashable-csc-selection-v1-0-0-t3711226
Under the Claro section
If you purchased your Note 8 from a grey importer. Chances are you receieved a Note 8 that was not intended for use in your country. Despite the fact that it is an international variant. If the device is not intended for use in your country, you won't be able to use Samsung Pay on your device.

Is it possible to install DIFFERENT model's update on my phone

Hi guys, I bought a galaxy s10 LTE model in South Korea (SM-G973N) and realized I can not use Samsung Pay with my phone because I live in Canada and the phone would only take Korean credit cards due to different korean/international whatever credit card standard (((
I've been a iphone user for years so apple pay always worked. It sucks samsung pay wont work on my phone but we have android OS which means yall super duper cool dudes can fix stuffs haha.
So I am seeking for help if there is any way to use international Samsung pay on South Korean Galaxy S10 device (SM-G973N)
If there is play explain it to me nice and slowly cause im noob. Thank you guys!!! )
As long as it is the same model as in you can NOT install an exynos software onto qualcomm hardware
It is already exynos hardware and also software as well.
I just wanna use International Samsung Pay App instead of Korean Samsung Pay on my phone :/
on my note 9 which was a korean variant but has exynos too, I flashed roms based on F/DS exynos and it worked perfectly along w magisk. not sure on the s10 tho.
Pododo123 said:
Hi guys, I bought a galaxy s10 LTE model in South Korea (SM-G973N) and realized I can not use Samsung Pay with my phone because I live in Canada and the phone would only take Korean credit cards due to different korean/international whatever credit card standard (((
I've been a iphone user for years so apple pay always worked. It sucks samsung pay wont work on my phone but we have android OS which means yall super duper cool dudes can fix stuffs haha.
So I am seeking for help if there is any way to use international Samsung pay on South Korean Galaxy S10 device (SM-G973N)
If there is play explain it to me nice and slowly cause im noob. Thank you guys!!! )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you can, but as said above stick with exynos based firmware. youre also going to likely need the patched version of Odin to flash the unbranded firmware so the 255 errors wont cause Odin to fail
Same problem here, for me its the USA s10 cannot use Samsung pay in Vietnam

Question Anyone have U1 XAA 5BULH?

Short story long, I was on U1 XAA 4BULE, and I've been having major issues with app crashes (specifically DJI GO 4 for my drone) and I was going to downgrade to 4AUIP (Android 11 One UI 3.1). I downloaded the firmware, patched Odin, flashed the downgrade, failed, phone won't boot.
Turns out, my phone auto updated on reboot (I forgot to disable that in Developer Options) so it automatically updated to 5BULH, and now that it's on the baseband 5, it can't be downgraded to any baseband 4 firmware. So, easy enough right?, just flash 5BULH? Well, as far as I know, that was ONLY released as a baseband PATCH in the form of an OTA, and there's no actual firmware as far as I can tell.
Which basically means my phone is bricked until Samsung releases an actual 5XXXX firmware to flash with Odin.
I've been looking for awhile, checked Frija, SamFW, GalaxyFirmware, SamFrew, SamMobile, SamFirms, FirmwareX, and Sfirmware all with no avail, every latest firmware that shows is 4BULE
Unless someone has a baseband 5 full firmware for Odin, because I couldn't find anything online, than I guess I'm screwed until *5CVAA comes out, which is rumored to be on February 9th during the S22 launch event.
So, anyone have that firmware? Or am I just going stone age until February 9th when the new build is suppose to be released?
bANONYMOUS said:
Short story long, I was on U1 XAA 4BULE, and I've been having major issues with app crashes (specifically DJI GO 4 for my drone) and I was going to downgrade to 4AUIP (Android 11 One UI 3.1). I downloaded the firmware, patched Odin, flashed the downgrade, failed, phone won't boot.
Turns out, my phone auto updated on reboot (I forgot to disable that in Developer Options) so it automatically updated to 5BULH, and now that it's on the baseband 5, it can't be downgraded to any baseband 4 firmware. So, easy enough right?, just flash 5BULH? Well, as far as I know, that was ONLY released as a baseband PATCH in the form of an OTA, and there's no actual firmware as far as I can tell.
Which basically means my phone is bricked until Samsung releases an actual 5XXXX firmware to flash with Odin.
I've been looking for awhile, checked Frija, SamFW, GalaxyFirmware, SamFrew, SamMobile, SamFirms, FirmwareX, and Sfirmware all with no avail, every latest firmware that shows is 4BULE
Unless someone has a baseband 5 full firmware for Odin, because I couldn't find anything online, than I guess I'm screwed until *5CVAA comes out, which is rumored to be on February 9th during the S22 launch event.
So, anyone have that firmware? Or am I just going stone age until February 9th when the new build is suppose to be released?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bummer! That's a genuine horror story of I ever heard one!
Tried searching for said firmware, but couldn't locate one anywhere.
It's either stone age for you or just pop into a service center and have them flash the phone for you. From what I can see you only tried flashing stock firmware, phone should still be under warranty...
Wish it was that easy, population of 98k in a town that is roughly 750km (~470mi) away from the next major city means a service centre doesn't exist for me lol. Purchased through a Carrier also requires an additional $15 monthly charge for warranty outside of Samsung which I obviously didn't pay for lol. Plus with shipping times around here (Amazon Prime shipping takes a week minimum), just to send the phone to Samsung for repair, I would be looking at close to a month there and back. Looks like I'm just better off just waiting for estimated 10 days until the 5CVAx/5CVBx firmware to be released.
I dusted off the old Windows Phone, it'll do for now I suppose. Hopefully they release something before February 9th haha
Thanks for looking around for the firmware.
bANONYMOUS said:
Wish it was that easy, population of 98k in a town that is roughly 750km (~470mi) away from the next major city means a service centre doesn't exist for me lol. Purchased through a Carrier also requires an additional $15 monthly charge for warranty outside of Samsung which I obviously didn't pay for lol. Plus with shipping times around here (Amazon Prime shipping takes a week minimum), just to send the phone to Samsung for repair, I would be looking at close to a month there and back. Looks like I'm just better off just waiting for estimated 10 days until the 5CVAx/5CVBx firmware to be released.
I dusted off the old Windows Phone, it'll do for now I suppose. Hopefully they release something before February 9th haha
Thanks for looking around for the firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wish you luck man! Hope the release comes soon. And condolences on being stuck with A12.
Do let us know once you get it up and running again!
bANONYMOUS said:
Short story long, I was on U1 XAA 4BULE, and I've been having major issues with app crashes (specifically DJI GO 4 for my drone) and I was going to downgrade to 4AUIP (Android 11 One UI 3.1). I downloaded the firmware, patched Odin, flashed the downgrade, failed, phone won't boot.
Turns out, my phone auto updated on reboot (I forgot to disable that in Developer Options) so it automatically updated to 5BULH, and now that it's on the baseband 5, it can't be downgraded to any baseband 4 firmware. So, easy enough right?, just flash 5BULH? Well, as far as I know, that was ONLY released as a baseband PATCH in the form of an OTA, and there's no actual firmware as far as I can tell.
Which basically means my phone is bricked until Samsung releases an actual 5XXXX firmware to flash with Odin.
I've been looking for awhile, checked Frija, SamFW, GalaxyFirmware, SamFrew, SamMobile, SamFirms, FirmwareX, and Sfirmware all with no avail, every latest firmware that shows is 4BULE
Unless someone has a baseband 5 full firmware for Odin, because I couldn't find anything online, than I guess I'm screwed until *5CVAA comes out, which is rumored to be on February 9th during the S22 launch event.
So, anyone have that firmware? Or am I just going stone age until February 9th when the new build is suppose to be released?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you try samsung's smart switch recovery procedure ?
DaReDeViL said:
Did you try samsung's smart switch recovery procedure ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The programme says it can't connect to a USB File Transfer device when in recovery, and when booted in Download Mode, it says to open the recovery procedure, which asks for a recovery code from a previous OS install. Which I don't have because I've never used this before. So, looks like it needs a previously working instance before it can be used for recovery.
Also, entirely unrelated, but I made a video of my friends car with that quote in your signature haha
EDIT:
It appears Youtube removed the audio for copyright reasons lol.. never mind
Learned quite a few things today.
Samsung just released 5BVA1 for G998W. So I switched to that just so I have a phone. (I usually stay on U1 for faster updates which apparently isn't the case anymore)
It turns out that 5G is also working in my city now that I'm not on U1.. So for some reason Canadian 5G doesn't work on U1 even though they use the same basebands which is weird. It's like Bell is blocking non W phones from using it even with all the correct APN settings.
It's also pretty interesting that even on G998W XAC (unlocked Canadian CSC from Samsung with no bloat apps), it now says on setup "looks like you're using Bell, restart the phone" (with no way to close it, or ignore it) and after rebooting, it forcefully installs all of the Bell bloat apps as System apps that can't be uninstalled unless using ADB.
So there's literally no reason to buy a phone directly from Samsung now, at least in Canada. You get the carrier bloat apps by force no matter what with One UI 4.0 Might as well just buy them from the Carrier with the discounted prices for a 2 year term.
S21 Ultra from Samsung for Canada was $1999.99, though Bell it was $350 up front plus $50 a month for 12 months, works out to $1550. You literally save $450 CAD by getting a phone through a Carrier. Only reason to buy from Samsung was for the limited edition colours, and so the phone didn't have bloat apps preinstalled from the carrier. And personally, it's not worth $450 since you get bloat apps no matter what now, only for a special colour when replacement back panel which are like $60 CAD off eBay if you REALLY wanted a different colour lol
U1 XAA still doesn't have the bloat apps, but 5G doesn't work in Canada.
So it's either W XAC with Bloat and use ADB to remove it. Or U1 XAA with no bloat, but no 5G.
My phone is now working again, but those are some interesting findings, use this information as you will.
bANONYMOUS said:
Learned quite a few things today.
Samsung just released 5BVA1 for G998W. So I switched to that just so I have a phone. (I usually stay on U1 for faster updates which apparently isn't the case anymore)
It turns out that 5G is also working in my city now that I'm not on U1.. So for some reason Canadian 5G doesn't work on U1 even though they use the same basebands which is weird. It's like Bell is blocking non W phones from using it even with all the correct APN settings.
It's also pretty interesting that even on G998W XAC (unlocked Canadian CSC from Samsung with no bloat apps), it now says on setup "looks like you're using Bell, restart the phone" (with no way to close it, or ignore it) and after rebooting, it forcefully installs all of the Bell bloat apps as System apps that can't be uninstalled unless using ADB.
So there's literally no reason to buy a phone directly from Samsung now, at least in Canada. You get the carrier bloat apps by force no matter what with One UI 4.0 Might as well just buy them from the Carrier with the discounted prices for a 2 year term.
S21 Ultra from Samsung for Canada was $1999.99, though Bell it was $350 up front plus $50 a month for 12 months, works out to $1550. You literally save $450 CAD by getting a phone through a Carrier. Only reason to buy from Samsung was for the limited edition colours, and so the phone didn't have bloat apps preinstalled from the carrier. And personally, it's not worth $450 since you get bloat apps no matter what now, only for a special colour when replacement back panel which are like $60 CAD off eBay if you REALLY wanted a different colour lol
U1 XAA still doesn't have the bloat apps, but 5G doesn't work in Canada.
So it's either W XAC with Bloat and use ADB to remove it. Or U1 XAA with no bloat, but no 5G.
My phone is now working again, but those are some interesting findings, use this information as you will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you find that 5BVA1 ???
Frija
Searched for SM-G998W XAC, it get's firmware directly from Samsung's servers so it'll always find the latest version Samsung has up.
I have it on Google Drive if you want it from a different mirror, or if you can't get Frija working cause it depends on Visual C++ x86 2008 and 2010 and even then it fails to load on Windows 11 sometimes which is why I stayed on Windows 10 lol.
SM-G998W XAC 5BVA1
bANONYMOUS said:
Frija
Searched for SM-G998W XAC, it get's firmware directly from Samsung's servers so it'll always find the latest version Samsung has up.
I have it on Google Drive if you want it from a different mirror, or if you can't get Frija working cause it depends on Visual C++ x86 2008 and 2010 and even then it fails to load on Windows 11 sometimes which is why I stayed on Windows 10 lol.
SM-G998W XAC 5BVA1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you very much i found it . The weird thing is that mine is GLW and it can not find it in software update. I already downloaded the TLS . do you know if there is any difference from XAC?
You could flash the U Firmware as well. It's up to #5 BL. I'm not sure what your limitations would be, but it's worth a shot. It's 5BULJ.
bANONYMOUS said:
Short story long, I was on U1 XAA 4BULE, and I've been having major issues with app crashes (specifically DJI GO 4 for my drone) and I was going to downgrade to 4AUIP (Android 11 One UI 3.1). I downloaded the firmware, patched Odin, flashed the downgrade, failed, phone won't boot.
Turns out, my phone auto updated on reboot (I forgot to disable that in Developer Options) so it automatically updated to 5BULH, and now that it's on the baseband 5, it can't be downgraded to any baseband 4 firmware. So, easy enough right?, just flash 5BULH? Well, as far as I know, that was ONLY released as a baseband PATCH in the form of an OTA, and there's no actual firmware as far as I can tell.
Which basically means my phone is bricked until Samsung releases an actual 5XXXX firmware to flash with Odin.
I've been looking for awhile, checked Frija, SamFW, GalaxyFirmware, SamFrew, SamMobile, SamFirms, FirmwareX, and Sfirmware all with no avail, every latest firmware that shows is 4BULE
Unless someone has a baseband 5 full firmware for Odin, because I couldn't find anything online, than I guess I'm screwed until *5CVAA comes out, which is rumored to be on February 9th during the S22 launch event.
So, anyone have that firmware? Or am I just going stone age until February 9th when the new build is suppose to be released?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to let you know: BULH standalone for U1 has been released on SAMMobile
On Frija as well. Usually a faster download there.
bANONYMOUS said:
Learned quite a few things today.
Samsung just released 5BVA1 for G998W. So I switched to that just so I have a phone. (I usually stay on U1 for faster updates which apparently isn't the case anymore)
It turns out that 5G is also working in my city now that I'm not on U1.. So for some reason Canadian 5G doesn't work on U1 even though they use the same basebands which is weird. It's like Bell is blocking non W phones from using it even with all the correct APN settings.
It's also pretty interesting that even on G998W XAC (unlocked Canadian CSC from Samsung with no bloat apps), it now says on setup "looks like you're using Bell, restart the phone" (with no way to close it, or ignore it) and after rebooting, it forcefully installs all of the Bell bloat apps as System apps that can't be uninstalled unless using ADB.
So there's literally no reason to buy a phone directly from Samsung now, at least in Canada. You get the carrier bloat apps by force no matter what with One UI 4.0 Might as well just buy them from the Carrier with the discounted prices for a 2 year term.
S21 Ultra from Samsung for Canada was $1999.99, though Bell it was $350 up front plus $50 a month for 12 months, works out to $1550. You literally save $450 CAD by getting a phone through a Carrier. Only reason to buy from Samsung was for the limited edition colours, and so the phone didn't have bloat apps preinstalled from the carrier. And personally, it's not worth $450 since you get bloat apps no matter what now, only for a special colour when replacement back panel which are like $60 CAD off eBay if you REALLY wanted a different colour lol
U1 XAA still doesn't have the bloat apps, but 5G doesn't work in Canada.
So it's either W XAC with Bloat and use ADB to remove it. Or U1 XAA with no bloat, but no 5G.
My phone is now working again, but those are some interesting findings, use this information as you will.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you find the phone after the update? Issues with lagging? How is the battery life? I had to downgrade back to 11, I found the earlier firmwares too beta-like for daily use.

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