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I'm about to upgrade my Verizon account, and I'm trying to decide between the LG G4 and HTC One M9. Right now, rooting and bootloader unlocking are possible on the M9. Difficult; but possible. However, the G4 still lacks carrier-specific forums on XDA. I know that the G4 was only released on Verizon at the beginning of this month, but I would have expected to see more movement on its development by now.
Is it reasonable to think that the G4 will ever have root or bootloader unlock on Verizon? The G3 has an all-in-one toolkit, but that took a whole year. Then again there are rumors on here that LG might open up bootloader unlocks for all variants.
I want to want this phone so bad, but it's dead in the water if I'll be stuck on stock firmware without root for 2 years. Is it still just too early to expect anything and the hacks will likely flow soon? Or are things really moving slow? I'm not asking for an ETA. I'm just wondering if there's reasonable hope for anything to happen.
I'm in the same boat as you, but on at&t. I am planning on buying the G4 tomorrow. I think root will be here before too long; jcase has rooted the at&t variant but hasn't released the method, presumably because it is unsafe. I figure the worst case scenario is I get the G4 and wait it out, if no root by fall, sell the phone and buy the new Nexus 5 or whatever they'll call it.
flamadiddle said:
I'm about to upgrade my Verizon account, and I'm trying to decide between the LG G4 and HTC One M9. Right now, rooting and bootloader unlocking are possible on the M9. Difficult; but possible. However, the G4 still lacks carrier-specific forums on XDA. I know that the G4 was only released on Verizon at the beginning of this month, but I would have expected to see more movement on its development by now.
Is it reasonable to think that the G4 will ever have root or bootloader unlock on Verizon? The G3 has an all-in-one toolkit, but that took 2 years. Then again there are rumors on here that LG might open up bootloader unlocks for all variants.
I want to want this phone so bad, but it's dead in the water if I'll be stuck on stock firmware without root for 2 years. Is it still just too early to expect anything and the hacks will likely flow soon? Or are things really moving slow? I'm not asking for an ETA. I'm just wondering if there's reasonable hope for anything to happen.
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G3 tool kit took 2 years? Wasn't the g3 released one year a go?
creaky said:
I'm in the same boat as you, but on at&t. I am planning on buying the G4 tomorrow. I think root will be here before too long; jcase has rooted the at&t variant but hasn't released the method, presumably because it is unsafe. I figure the worst case scenario is I get the G4 and wait it out, if no root by fall, sell the phone and buy the new Nexus 5 or whatever they'll call it.
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His root is for all variants.
Sent from my G4 using your mom
frigidazzi said:
G3 tool kit took 2 years? Wasn't the g3 released one year a go?
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Yup, you're right. I was thinking 2013 for some reason.
creaky said:
I'm in the same boat as you, but on at&t. I am planning on buying the G4 tomorrow. I think root will be here before too long; jcase has rooted the at&t variant but hasn't released the method, presumably because it is unsafe. I figure the worst case scenario is I get the G4 and wait it out, if no root by fall, sell the phone and buy the new Nexus 5 or whatever they'll call it.
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Click to collapse
I'd forgotten about jcase's news. I guess mostly I was just worried by the lack of carrier-specific forums. I've never seen it take this long for a flagship phone before.
I have 2 more weeks to make my choice. I may go your route.
We will get Root and Bootloader access, it is just a matter of time since the devs (or rather some of them) already have it and are working on making a safer method to do it.
As far as a direct unlock from LG, that is never going to happen. They have personally stated they have no plans to do the unlocker for any of the "older models" of the G4 (So no AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, US Cellular, etc.).
While I do understand your concerns as Root is very important to most of us and it seems like an eternity waiting for it, but trust me, this device can certainly hold its own just based on its own merits.......Yes Root will be nice and bring forth welcome modifications and removal of bloatware, but in the mean time the phone is still an incredible piece of technology and is also a great feel in the hand.
Overall I would say get yourself the G4, you will not be sorry.
Z3ldaFan88 said:
We will get Root and Bootloader access, it is just a matter of time since the devs (or rather some of them) already have it and are working on making a safer method to do it.
As far as a direct unlock from LG, that is never going to happen. They have personally stated they have no plans to do the unlocker for any of the "older models" of the G4 (So no AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, US Cellular, etc.).
While I do understand your concerns as Root is very important to most of us and it seems like an eternity waiting for it, but trust me, this device can certainly hold its own just based on its own merits.......Yes Root will be nice and bring forth welcome modifications and removal of bloatware, but in the mean time the phone is still an incredible piece of technology and is also a great feel in the hand.
Overall I would say get yourself the G4, you will not be sorry.
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Click to collapse
I'm a pretty heavy root app (and custom recovery) user. I like making regular nandroid backups. I use Titanium Backup all the time for so many different functions. I love my root-enabled Tasker profiles and apps like VideoReg Pro with save-to-SD capability. Plus, a bootloader unlocked phone just means so many more ROMs and a much simpler process to try them out.
I agree it's an amazing phone (hardware), but the software side of things is even more important to me. Thus my dilemma.
flamadiddle said:
I'm a pretty heavy root app (and custom recovery) user. I like making regular nandroid backups. I use Titanium Backup all the time for so many different functions. I love my root-enabled Tasker profiles and apps like VideoReg Pro with save-to-SD capability. Plus, a bootloader unlocked phone just means so many more ROMs and a much simpler process to try them out.
I agree it's an amazing phone (hardware), but the software side of things is even more important to me. Thus my dilemma.
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I fully understand, trust me I am the same way. I got my G4's on 6/17 and this is the longest I have ever owned a smartphone without Bootloader & Root Access.......It really sucked for me at first (as I did not know it was still locked down when I got it and had I known that before hand I honestly would have gone for the Moto N6 instead) after a week or so with the G4 though I am super happy with my decision and now I just see Root as being the eventual icing on an already fantastic cake.
Z3ldaFan88 said:
I fully understand, trust me I am the same way. I got my G4's on 6/17 and this is the longest I have ever owned a smartphone without Bootloader & Root Access.......It really sucked for me at first (as I did not know it was still locked down when I got it and had I known that before hand I honestly would have gone for the Moto N6 instead) after a week or so with the G4 though I am super happy with my decision and now I just see Root as being the eventual icing on an already fantastic cake.
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That helps me feel a little better. Glad I'm not the only one.
flamadiddle said:
That helps me feel a little better. Glad I'm not the only one.
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Glad I could be of some assistance for you, and nope you are most certainly not the only one buddy, haha.
If you have any other questions about the device or how various apps or things run on it feel free to PM me and I will gladly answer any/all questions you might have.
Z3ldaFan88 said:
We will get Root and Bootloader access, it is just a matter of time since the devs (or rather some of them) already have it and are working on making a safer method to do it.
As far as a direct unlock from LG, that is never going to happen. They have personally stated they have no plans to do the unlocker for any of the "older models" of the G4 (So no AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, US Cellular, etc.).
While I do understand your concerns as Root is very important to most of us and it seems like an eternity waiting for it, but trust me, this device can certainly hold its own just based on its own merits.......Yes Root will be nice and bring forth welcome modifications and removal of bloatware, but in the mean time the phone is still an incredible piece of technology and is also a great feel in the hand.
Overall I would say get yourself the G4, you will not be sorry.
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Click to collapse
It's not just the carriers either. They told me they have no plans to unlock my 815 TW version that has no ties to any carrier either.
frigidazzi said:
It's not just the carriers either. They told me they have no plans to unlock my 815 TW version that has no ties to any carrier either.
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Ahh, I see. I was not sure on those as I do not have one at my disposal so I had no reason to ask about it. Thank you for the information on the matter though.....I guess the H815 is just special?? Seems like it is the ONLY one LG is willing to "Fully Support".
Z3ldaFan88 said:
Ahh, I see. I was not sure on those as I do not have one at my disposal so I had no reason to ask about it. Thank you for the information on the matter though.....I guess the H815 is just special?? Seems like it is the ONLY one LG is willing to "Fully Support".
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Well Mine is H815. But it's the TW version... The H815 Europe version without any carrier ties is the only one that can unlock. I wish I had known this all when i ordered it .
frigidazzi said:
Well Mine is H815. But it's the TW version... The H815 Europe version without any carrier ties is the only one that can unlock. I wish I had known this all when i ordered it .
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You and me both, buddy. I ended up with the US991 because I was dumb and did not check the root status before I bought the G4 (Don't get me wrong I love the phone and everything, just should have done my research is all)
We technically already have root. It's just a matter of being safely packaged and released. I give it another month or 2 before we see a long hand method on how to root our phones without bricking them.
In all honesty the G4 is far superior to the m9 in just about every way, aside from the forward facing speaker of the m9.
Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
megamanfre said:
In all honesty the G4 is far superior to the m9 in just about every way, aside from the forward facing speaker of the m9.
Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
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That’s debatable. I prefer the smaller screen and resolution myself. I'd rather not sacrifice CPU/GPU cycles and battery life for pixels I can't even see. I mean, the G4 has 4x the pixels of my 24" monitor. That's just stupid
Then there's the snapdragon 810 in the M9 that some say is horrible, and others say is amazing. And yes, the stereo speakers would be nice.
If the M9 had a removable battery and the G4's camera, I wouldn't even be here. The camera is really important to me though, and the M9's looks like a toy compared to the G4's.
flamadiddle said:
That’s debatable. I prefer the smaller screen and resolution myself. I'd rather not sacrifice CPU/GPU cycles and battery life for pixels I can't even see. I mean, the G4 has 4x the pixels of my 24" monitor. That's just stupid [emoji14]
Then there's the snapdragon 810 in the M9 that some say is horrible, and others say is amazing. And yes, the stereo speakers would be nice.
If the M9 had a removable battery and the G4's camera, I wouldn't even be here. The camera is really important to me though, and the M9's looks like a toy compared to the G4's.
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Oh the G4 is deff display overkill. And I'd be with the m9 personally if the camera was on par with the G4 and s6, even without a removable battery.
I went with the G4 for the camera and sd card. I have kids and taking a million pics of them are more important than hearing my ring tone and music louder without a Bluetooth speaker.
I prefer a largerish phone after my s5 and the G4 didn't really feel much larger aside from width a little.
Plus I got a free battery and 32gb SD card, so there's that too.
Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
megamanfre said:
Oh the G4 is deff display overkill. And I'd be with the m9 personally if the camera was on par with the G4 and s6, even without a removable battery.
I went with the G4 for the camera and sd card. I have kids and taking a million pics of them are more important than hearing my ring tone and music louder without a Bluetooth speaker.
I prefer a largerish phone after my s5 and the G4 didn't really feel much larger aside from width a little.
Plus I got a free battery and 32gb SD card, so there's that too.
Sent from my VS986 using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
Yeah, we have pretty much the same requirements. Those kids move so fast, an average phone camera just won't cut it anymore. I'm tired of blurry pictures
I've used every Samsung Galaxy flagship until now. Forget Samsung and their Apple-chasing, anti-user policies. I need an SD card dangit!
Some phones take longer to get root than others, but being how this is LG's flagship, and LG has a growing followship, there will be root very soon. Just be patient! This phone kicks butt. I typically root to get easy tethering, ad removal, and bloatware removal, but this phone is damn good out of the box WITHOUT root! get it and don't look back! you won't regret it.
I'm on Verizon with a rooted LG G3 on 12B (KitKat because Lollipop was terrible) and I was thinking on upgrading to the G4 but there doesn't seem to be much going on as far as development.
All I need is to root the G4, Install TWRP, and enable the HotspotProvisioning.apk hack.
Can this be done on the G4?
Thanks,
-Joe
csimo said:
I'm on Verizon with a rooted LG G3 on 12B (KitKat because Lollipop was terrible) and I was thinking on upgrading to the G4 but there doesn't seem to be much going on as far as development.
All I need is to root the G4, Install TWRP, and enable the HotspotProvisioning.apk hack.
Can this be done on the G4?
Thanks,
-Joe
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Click to collapse
As of now, no. The good thing is root is basically guaranteed, multiple roots actually, meaning once one is patched there is a high probability of another one right after! (according to one of the devs working on this) and a medium chance of a bootloader unlock on the way soon, at least they plan to and there's a lot of good devs working on it so I would personally see it coming eventually. If I were you however, I would wait it off a bit and see what happens, there is also one more factor in play though. According to some other people the newest LG G4 updates will some how "disable downgrading", meaning disable the ability to downgrade your OS, not sure how this would come into play with an unlocked bootloader or what thats supposed to mean, maybe someone else can explain that to you better but from what I understand it just means it will make root/downgrading harder or impossible(downgrading impossible). My point there is in that case it may be better to buy one before that update becomes wide spread but hey, as stated, someone else could explain this better and correct me here if I'm wrong. Alsooo, with a non-root trick somewhere in the Q&A section of the VZW LG G4 forum you can bypass the "Pay us moneyz or no hotspot 4 u" Verizon gig and get the mobile hotspot tether thing via that without having to deal with the crap.
S1L3nTShaDoWz said:
Alsooo, with a non-root trick somewhere in the Q&A section of the VZW LG G4 forum you can bypass the "Pay us moneyz or no hotspot 4 u" Verizon gig and get the mobile hotspot tether thing via that without having to deal with the crap.
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Click to collapse
I have a link to that root-free hotspot hack in my signature. Keep in mind that it isn't working for everyone - still trying to figure out why. Worked great on my verizon G4 and my dad's sprint g4.
The G4 is a fantastic phone. I'd buy one up from Best buy right now as they are $549 and you get a $100 gift card for free. Also, if purchased before the end of July, you'll get a free second battery, external battery charger, and leather back. By purchasing sooner than later you'd also probably get a device that hasn't been updated yet - therefor reserving your ability to root when the methods are released in the coming weeks. The Devs have stated that they've found many root methods, so I would bet that you could still root even after taking (or purchasing a preinstalled) OTA update. Also, the anti-rollback code shouldn't matter once we have an unlocked bootloader and can flash our own ROMs.
I came from a rooted G3. In my opinion, it isn't worth upgrading or buying the G4. There are to many issues. Battery life sucks. The G4 is not that much better than the G3. I paid full price for the phone to keep my unlimited plan.
With all that said, I knew there were problems when I bought it. I wanted the free battery and SD card. I think the new promo is even better. It was killing me not to have the new LG. Would I do it again? Yep Will I buy the G5 with all its problems when it comes out? Yes.
Thanks for the replies. I love the G3 but I like to have the latest stuff. Sounds like I need to wait for more development on the G4.
Thanks,
-Joe
FoxFi also works on the Verizon G4.
As the title says.
Is there no hope?
Lol there has been no Verizon s8+ development... they have these bootloaders so locked down now that there really is nowhere to go anymore. At least there is jrkruse who develops what he can with limited root options and no BL unlock but this has kind of been the state of all Verizon phones for the last few years... They've really murdered any type of options for these phones. Tmobile ever gets there network up to par I'm out
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Go google pixel ii !!!!!!
What exactly are you asking? The Verizon S8+ HAS root. As the poster stated above, it does NOT have an unlocked bootloader. However, there's still a LOT that can be tweaked, themed, overlayed, etc.. I, for one, am very pleased with how far the guys have gotten with the 'development' of this phone.
I'm asking whether there is any hope for unlocking the bootloader? Or at the very least, getting systemless root?
GuyInDogSuit said:
I'm asking whether there is any hope for unlocking the bootloader? Or at the very least, getting systemless root?
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Most likely not. With pixel 2 and 5T on the scene now that's where the rom action is. SuperSU doesn't even work on the pixel 2 yet anyway. It hasn't been updated yet and with Chainfire retired now updates maybe slow to come by. S8+ is actually a good phone to have for root if you get it from your carrier. Nice to know now we have Xposed and Oreo to jump back and forth to for now. Heck I would never have thought I'd have more options with Samsung than I did with LG.
sabresfan said:
Most likely not. With pixel 2 and 5T on the scene now that's where the rom action is. SuperSU doesn't even work on the pixel 2 yet anyway. It hasn't been updated yet and with Chainfire retired now updates maybe slow to come by. S8+ is actually a good phone to have for root if you get it from your carrier. Nice to know now we have Xposed and Oreo to jump back and forth to for now. Heck I would never have thought I'd have more options with Samsung than I did with LG.
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The S8+ has Xposed? How?
GuyInDogSuit said:
The S8+ has Xposed? How?
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Here's the thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8+/how-to/unofficial-xposed-guide-snapdragon-s8-t3663728
Use the latest Xposed 88.2 I believe and latest installer app and have fun.
sabresfan said:
Here's the thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8+/how-to/unofficial-xposed-guide-snapdragon-s8-t3663728
Use the latest Xposed 88.2 I believe and latest installer app and have fun.
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Click to collapse
I'm guessing this should work on the Verizon variant? It's a Snapdragon, at least.
Too bad we can't use Magisk on this. And no way to reset the Knox counter yet. If it's even possible....
GuyInDogSuit said:
I'm guessing this should work on the Verizon variant? It's a Snapdragon, at least.
Too bad we can't use Magisk on this. And no way to reset the Knox counter yet. If it's even possible....
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Click to collapse
Yes, I've used Xposed on the SnapDragon Verizon variant, just install it with Flashify. Just know that it will trip all (3) SafetyNet checks after it is installed.
The G6 seems to have a really active dev community. Is that a one off or is that constant? Is it easy to root LG devices? I have a choice between this of the S9+ and I can't decide on what to go for.
sacredsoul said:
The G6 seems to have a really active dev community. Is that a one off or is that constant? Is it easy to root LG devices? I have a choice between this of the S9+ and I can't decide on what to go for.
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Click to collapse
I can't speak on behalf of the LG community as of late but the last time I had one, the G4, there was plenty of people wanting to mod/create ROM's but couldn't due to LG's restrictive bootloader unlock nature.
If it means anything, I wouldn't grab the Snapdragon 845 version of the S9+ either. If you want to root/flash ROM's, you need to get the Exynos version of the S9+. I wouldn't, as there is reportedly severe battery issues with the Exynos chipset. Getting root on the S8+ with the Snapdragon version took a very very long time whereas there was virtually no wait for the Exynos version.
I really hope there's some development for the G7!
I think it died after the G4. Just the for traffic alone in these G7 forums, should show that not many are interested in LG anymore. If it weren't for the free phones promo, I prolly wouldn't even get an LG.
The V20 had a pretty nice community for T-Mobile at least and even somewhat still does. The reason I got the Note 8 over the V30 was it had and still currently has root which I need in order to even use a phone to my liking. If the G7 or V40 has a nice root community I might get the V40. However at this point I'm likely just getting a Oneplus 6. As at this point I doubt we'll have root on the Note 9 Snapdragon version or T-Mobile devices as a whole. They used to be really root friendly like Sprint then once they became big they became pretty bad from a customer standpoint. They definitely are better than the other big two but not the carrier I fled to years ago.
20degrees said:
I think it died after the G4. Just the for traffic alone in these G7 forums, should show that not many are interested in LG anymore. If it weren't for the free phones promo, I prolly wouldn't even get an LG.
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This is the damned truth. I wouldn't have purchased the G7 has it not been for the buy one get one free thing..
Use to be the go to dev friendly brand...not anymore. I really wish a mainstream brand would allow for this stuff, but it seems the carriers won.
Seems like OnePlus is the way to go. Or perhaps Xiaomi. None of the mainstream brands unfortunately.
sacredsoul said:
Seems like OnePlus is the way to go. Or perhaps Xiaomi. None of the mainstream brands unfortunately.
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Like who may care still in 2018 for custom ROM developments when everything works fine in stock ROM, even EAS is supported.
Billy Madison said:
Like who may care still in 2018 for custom ROM developments when everything works fine in stock ROM, even EAS is supported.
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Lol then why are you in the xda for then if you dont care about custom roms? And the simple answer is AOSP.
sickkside13 said:
Lol then why are you in the xda for then if you dont care about custom roms? And the simple answer is AOSP.
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I don't exactly agree with the AOSP comment, but yeah...there are other forums if you only have questions to be answered.
Billy Madison said:
Like who may care still in 2018 for custom ROM developments when everything works fine in stock ROM, even EAS is supported.
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When LG invariably stops supporting this phone 9 months into it's life, and you want to at least have security patches on it....
I'm looking for a new phone and considering a carrier branded one. In the past I've had bad experiences with this as they tend to be more locked down and restricted then when I get phones off Amazon.
Can all Galaxy S9 be rooted?
Can all Galaxy S9 be bootloader unlocked to install custom ROM?
LuminousOne said:
I'm looking for a new phone and considering a carrier branded one. In the past I've had bad experiences with this as they tend to be more locked down and restricted then when I get phones off Amazon.
Can all Galaxy S9 be rooted?
Can all Galaxy S9 be bootloader unlocked to install custom ROM?
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As long as they are Exynos, or the Chinese snapdragon, the US Model Snapdragons are bootloader locked
*Detection* said:
As long as they are Exynos, or the Chinese snapdragon, the US Model Snapdragons are bootloader locked
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So US Model can't even get root?
Also will US Snapdragon likely get unlocked bl in the future?
LuminousOne said:
Also will US Snapdragon likely get unlocked bl in the future?
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No and no, read the forum, info is everywhere about this
*Detection* said:
No and no, read the forum, info is everywhere about this
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Click to collapse
So you're basically telling me there will be no development for this phone? I'm surprised as it would seem Snapdragon is much more common Exynos yet without Exynos you're screwed. There isn't much customization that can be done without it.
LuminousOne said:
So you're basically telling me there will be no development for this phone? I'm surprised as it would seem Snapdragon is much more common Exynos yet without Exynos you're screwed. There isn't much customization that can be done without it.
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If you had looked in the Exynos dev forum and the Snapdragon forum you would see a distinct lack of custom ROMs for the snapdragon, there are only 2 Chinese model SD S9s that are bootloader unlocked, all the US models are locked, this has been the case since at least the S7, possibly earlier, think there was some engineer ROM or something for the S7 that allowed root, but it was a battery hog
Bootloader locked = No development
But tbh if you want to go custom ROMs, I wouldn't buy a Samsung anyway, they make it a PITA to do anything custom these days and you lose warranty, trip KNOX, certain things stop working, can't get good camera quality with non TouchWiz ROMs, etc etc
Agreed Samsung is a pain to customize and yea the S7 never got an unlocked bootloader they had an engineered bootloader that allowed root and a stock custom rom the battery wasn't as bad as most people made it seem honestly, but I do believe the Latin American snapdragon is unlocked as well I believe not just the Chinese variant correct me if I'm wrong?
gurnsey101 said:
Agreed Samsung is a pain to customize and yea the S7 never got an unlocked bootloader they had an engineered bootloader that allowed root and a stock custom rom the battery wasn't as bad as most people made it seem honestly, but I do believe the Latin American snapdragon is unlocked as well I believe not just the Chinese variant correct me if I'm wrong?
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I was told Samsung is one of the easiest to customize. Out of curiosity which phones are easiest to root and get custom recovery? It seems with most there's a chance you get one that it can be done.
LuminousOne said:
I was told Samsung is one of the easiest to customize. Out of curiosity which phones are easiest to root and get custom recovery? It seems with most there's a chance you get one that it can be done.
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Up until the G5, the last I owned I always considered Motorola G phones the easiest.
Nah Samsung is actually one of the harder ones to modify bc Samsung doesn't run pure android and they heavily modified it and not to mention all the extra security stuff Samsung added and the fact the international variant runs Samsungs own hardware makes a bit more tricky customize and modify. Don't get me wrong i will admit Samsung phones are some of the best there is out there but to modify it takes a little more know how. But in terms of easiest to modify and unlocking the bootloader you're best off just getting a Google Pixel bc it runs pure stock android and Google never locks the bootloader. (Just don't get one from Verizon or AT&T they do lock the bootloaders on all there phones)