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[Solved]Can i use Galaxy s9 HK (g9600) in europe?

I want to buy a Galaxy S9. Since there are some complains about the exynos version (battery life, performance, especially 3d performance in games) i want to get the Snapdragon version. Custom Roms etc. doens't matter for me. Is it possible to just order the Galaxy S9 g9600 Hong Kong Version and use it normaly here in germany? Does the region even matter?
>>UPDATE<<
tl;dr: Yes you can!

I'm also interested in getting an answer from somebody who has experienced with this.
After Googling around, I think you will have no problem using the phone. The only problem is that the ROM is full of bloat targeted to the Asian audience. What people do normally is they flash the Brazilian version, which uses the same hardware, and should be a very clean rom. I would feel more confident if somebody came and confirmed who I read around.

I bought the S9 online from Hong Kong (SM-G9600/DS) to use in Australia and it works well with full 4g (LTE) bands. I would assume that it would also work fine with European bands as well. I have not had any issues with the phone at all.
The only potential issue is that you wont be able to use VoLTE outside of Hong Kong. Personally this doesn't bother me.
I'd recommend importing the SM-G9600 form overseas.
---------- Post added at 01:58 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:46 PM ----------
CaraMuuu said:
I'm also interested in getting an answer from somebody who has experienced with this.
After Googling around, I think you will have no problem using the phone. The only problem is that the ROM is full of bloat targeted to the Asian audience. What people do normally is they flash the Brazilian version, which uses the same hardware, and should be a very clean rom. I would feel more confident if somebody came and confirmed who I read around.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can confirm after buying a SM-G9600 online from Hong Kong, it has NO Asian Bloatware and overall a fairly clean rom. Most pre-installed apps are actually useful (such as Facebook or Twitter). The only difference that I have noticed over 4 weeks of having this phone is that in the shopping option of bixby vison (where you point the camera at an object and it comes up with a product you can buy) it shows Hong Kong results. And also the advertising in samsung pay is in Chinese.
None of this a problem that affects overall usability and is very minor. I would definitely recommend buying the SM-G9600 from Hong Kong.

Would it make sense to flash the Brazil ZTO ROM or is the Hong Kong ROM just fine?

Hows the battery life on the HK version? HK has the snapdragon variant i assume it has good battery?

Could Hk version S9/S9+ be root now? Does anyone know how to root Hk version S9/S9+?

Good day. I am thinking in getting a Snapdragon version (American or HK), and would love to know if it works in Europe too.
It seems that the battery life of the phone with Exynos is far worse

If this is the case and the phone is locked to Asia region, is there any way to unlock the phone without an Asia SIM card? Or do I have to send it back?
EDIT: The phone got shipped today and should arrive the end of this week or next week. I will make an update if the Galaxy S9 Dual Sim from Hong Kong is region locked or not

Update: The Galaxy S9 arrived today and everything works perfectly. I had no region sticker on the box and my german simcard works just fine. The only bloatware, that is preinstalled are some microsoft apps (word, excel, powerpoint, onedrive). Overall i am very happy that everything is working flawlessly.

Flik210 said:
Update: The Galaxy S9 arrived today and everything works perfectly. I had no region sticker on the box and my german simcard works just fine. The only bloatware, that is preinstalled are some microsoft apps (word, excel, powerpoint, onedrive). Overall i am very happy that everything is working flawlessly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried using\running Samsung Pay?

athos86 said:
Have you tried using\running Samsung Pay?
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Click to collapse
No, i haven't. Here in Germany it is not often used. Even Apple pay is rarely seen.

Flik210 said:
No, i haven't. Here in Germany it is not often used. Even Apple pay is rarely seen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I asked so because I read that the only potential issues in buying a different region version could be Samsung Pay and VoLTE not working.
Inviato dal mio SM-N910F utilizzando Tapatalk

Does the Hong Kong version support VoLTE or wifi calling? I bought a G9600/DS with the Latin America CSC (has OWO in the version number as opposed to TGY in the HK version) and it does not support either feature. Can you let us know please. I'm thinking of flashing with the TGY CSC if it supports VoLTE and Wifi calling.

sentron said:
Does the Hong Kong version support VoLTE or wifi calling? I bought a G9600/DS with the Latin America CSC (has OWO in the version number as opposed to TGY in the HK version) and it does not support either feature. Can you let us know please. I'm thinking of flashing with the TGY CSC if it supports VoLTE and Wifi calling.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HK version does support both VoLTE and VoWiFi but will that work in non-HK carrier in other countries I have doubts

I am also very curious about VoLTE in other countries. Let us know.

Flik210 said:
I want to buy a Galaxy S9. Since there are some complains about the exynos version (battery life, performance, especially 3d performance in games) i want to get the Snapdragon version. Custom Roms etc. doens't matter for me. Is it possible to just order the Galaxy S9 g9600 Hong Kong Version and use it normaly here in germany? Does the region even matter?
>>UPDATE<<
tl;dr: Yes you can!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It will work Germany, no problem.
---------- Post added at 09:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:39 PM ----------
voLTE will only work in Hong Kong. If you root and use a custom ROM the CSC Code can be modified. This is only possible if your device's bootloader is unlocked. As the CSC Code is Region or Carrier Specific you'll need to match your new code to the location and/or carrier.

varcor said:
It will work Germany, no problem.
---------- Post added at 09:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:39 PM ----------
voLTE will only work in Hong Kong. If you root and use a custom ROM the CSC Code can be modified. This is only possible if your device's bootloader is unlocked. As the CSC Code is Region or Carrier Specific you'll need to match your new code to the location and/or carrier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi guys,
I also want to buy one S9 with Snapdragon from overseas, what site did you use?
Best Regards

Amazon and Ebay both offer the Snapdragon variation. Ebay is usually less expensive.

insid3r said:
Hi guys,
I also want to buy one S9 with Snapdragon from overseas, what site did you use?
Best Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got mine from an ebay seller. Just look for a sm-g9600 or sm-g9650 if you want the plus.

Samsung S9 SM-9600 y SM-960F

I'm looking to buy this model SM-9600 unlocked which is sold in Latam and China, this comes with SnapDragon according to Gsmarena.
My concern is if this will be compatible in Europe/Spain as I will be travelling next week. What I've noticed in Spanish sites is that they sell the Exynos variation SM-960F.
What is puzzling to me, is that in GSMarea, it seems to indicate that this model SM-960F is compatible? for Europe and Global markets.
Does that make any sense, or both models are compatible all over the world.
Thanks,

Alternative Firmware (Country) for Note 10 + (SM-N9750)

Hi,
I bought a Note 10 + Today in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Long story short - After a brief search online, I found the best price available on a website. It's only later when I realized that the phone is imported from Taiwan given that the Phones Model is SM-N9750.
What I found really frustrating is that some applications display the Taiwanese language. I check Sammobile for the same model and found that the only two countries supporting this particular model is Taiwan and Hong Kong. The rest of the phones from different countries have a different model number. So, is it possible for me to flash a firmware from any other country ( Preferably from USA, UK, UAE or India)? If so, which one is compatible?
Thanks

I have the N9750 (TGY/Hongkong) and it's in full French, I don't have app in Chinese.
maybe make a factory reset and reconfigure your phone in your language

neodemonium said:
I have the N9750 (TGY/Hongkong) and it's in full French, I don't have app in Chinese.
maybe make a factory reset and reconfigure your phone in your language
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. Regardless of the language. Is there any way I can flash firmware from another country? Is there any compatible ones for this model?

rockz1991 said:
Thanks. Regardless of the language. Is there any way I can flash firmware from another country? Is there any compatible ones for this model?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No Im afraid you cannot. N9750 is being sold only in two regions as far as I know. Hong Kong and Taiwan. I also have a N9750 TGY/Hong Kong. And I love it. Absolutely no bloatware, dual sim and SD855. Only con I see is its updates are slow compared to other models. No Android 10 beta or stable till date

Shaan282 said:
No Im afraid you cannot. N9750 is being sold only in two regions as far as I know. Hong Kong and Taiwan. I also have a N9750 TGY/Hong Kong. And I love it. Absolutely no bloatware, dual sim and SD855. Only con I see is its updates are slow compared to other models. No Android 10 beta or stable till date
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that's sad. I was hoping that it might be compatible with any firmware that running on exynos.
Not that I don't like Taiwan and Hong Kong based fw. It really is rock solid.
Here's hoping that someone might test out alternative fw for this model in the future and let us know.
Thanks.

Shaan282 said:
No Im afraid you cannot. N9750 is being sold only in two regions as far as I know. Hong Kong and Taiwan. I also have a N9750 TGY/Hong Kong. And I love it. Absolutely no bloatware, dual sim and SD855. Only con I see is its updates are slow compared to other models. No Android 10 beta or stable till date
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have Note 10 (not Plus) from Taiwan and I was wandering when Android 10 will be released for this model!

Damianat said:
I have Note 10 (not Plus) from Taiwan and I was wandering when Android 10 will be released for this model!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S10+ Hong Kong version took whole one month over international model. So Im pretty sure the same formula will apply to our model aswel
I expect Android 10 update to arrive on 15 January at earliest.

rockz1991 said:
Hi,
I bought a Note 10 + Today in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Long story short - After a brief search online, I found the best price available on a website. It's only later when I realized that the phone is imported from Taiwan given that the Phones Model is SM-N9750.
What I found really frustrating is that some applications display the Taiwanese language. I check Sammobile for the same model and found that the only two countries supporting this particular model is Taiwan and Hong Kong. The rest of the phones from different countries have a different model number. So, is it possible for me to flash a firmware from any other country ( Preferably from USA, UK, UAE or India)? If so, which one is compatible?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have a 9750 (shipped with BRI, then I changed it to TGY using Samkey) and found that during the OOB setup, some app titles were in Chinese, but as long as you chose English on the very first screen, everything including those with Chinese app titles will end up being in English. As a last resort, you can do a full reset and make sure you select English on the first screen.
If you need help navigating, try using Google Translate's live camera translation from another phone to understand what is displayed on your screen (I had to do that once since my S9+ shipped already on the home screen--in Chinese.)
---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:48 PM ----------
Shaan282 said:
S10+ Hong Kong version took whole one month over international model. So Im pretty sure the same formula will apply to our model aswel
I expect Android 10 update to arrive on 15 January at earliest.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Chinese government is probably vetting it to make sure there's no hidden code meant to subvert their policies and make it easier to organize pro-democracy rallies (j/k).

Taiwan model note 10 plus
@Rocks1991
Same thing here. Wondering if we can do anything to change the language.
More serious issue i am facing is that the bottom speaker doesn't work at times even after the factory reset. Does anyone face that issue? I guess i should replace the phone as this issue persists. Can i get advice on this?
Rzd.

Using HongKong S20+ in Europe: which things won't work.

Hi all,
I live in Europe and am planning to buy a Snapdragon S20+ from HongKong.
I've checked which network bands the HK phone supports and all bands I need are there.
Before placing the order I want to check with you guys if I have a clear picture of all limitations that come with buying a HK S20+ in Europe.
The list I compiled so far:
- No Samsung Pay (I don't care, won't use it)
- VOLTE may or may not work depending on your carrier (I don't care, I barely call and if I call I don't care about the quality)
- No warranty in Europe .
- Difference in timing of updates
Anything else I should take into account?

YH93 said:
Hi all,
I live in Europe and am planning to buy a Snapdragon S20+ from HongKong.
I've checked which network bands the HK phone supports and all bands I need are there.
Before placing the order I want to check with you guys if I have a clear picture of all limitations that come with buying a HK S20+ in Europe.
The list I compiled so far:
- No Samsung Pay (I don't care, won't use it)
- VOLTE may or may not work depending on your carrier (I don't care, I barely call and if I call I don't care about the quality)
- No warranty in Europe .
- Difference in timing of updates
Anything else I should take into account?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Carrier Aggregation may suffer, which will reduce download speeds. I have a Hong Kong variant, VoLTE, WiFi Calling and Samsung Pay work however I'm in the US, your results may vary as you mentioned depending on the carrier. Don't expect you can modify the CSC, you can't change it. Samkey doesn't support HK variants and OXM, which allows Preconfiguration changes for different European CSC's isn't embedded in the software. Updates have come in a timely fashion every month and there's no Carrier Branded Bloatware. Even though the device has some limitations I've been pleased with the HK variant, anything but Exynos!

varcor said:
Carrier Aggregation may suffer, which will reduce download speeds. I have a Hong Kong variant, VoLTE, WiFi Calling and Samsung Pay work however I'm in the US, your results may vary as you mentioned depending on the carrier. Don't expect you can modify the CSC, you can't change it. Samkey doesn't support HK variants and OXM, which allows Preconfiguration changes for different European CSC's isn't embedded in the software. Updates have come in a timely fashion every month and there's no Carrier Branded Bloatware. Even though the device has some limitations I've been pleased with the HK variant, anything but Exynos!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for sharing your experiences.
I'll go for the HK version then. Don't see any reason why I shouldn't.

Actually Samsung Pay should work in Europe flawlessly, only thing that won't work is rewards. To be more precise, rewards do work, but the rewards shown are the ones of the phone's original country...
As for the Samkey CSC change limitation, I remember reading a post here about a user that changed CSC from Taiwan to Hong Kong using Samkey...

Rulsar_Tec said:
Actually Samsung Pay should work in Europe flawlessly, only thing that won't work is rewards. To be more precise, rewards do work, but the rewards shown are the ones of the phone's original country...
As for the Samkey CSC change limitation, I remember reading a post here about a user that changed CSC from Taiwan to Hong Kong using Samkey...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know. I'm currently not using or planning to use Samsung Pay but that might change in the future.
Regarding the CSC limations, I don't see any reason why I would need to change the CSC.

Reason why you may want to think twice is that in the event if you get unit with poor uniformity seller may not be willing to replace it as easily

How do you plan on buying it?

Sharpshooterrr said:
How do you plan on buying it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought mine from T-Dimension. Just be sure to order from their .de or .co.uk site and you don't have to pay any customs. Cheeper then the Exynos version here in Sweden. Took about 2 weeks to get the phone. First they ship it from HK to their warehouse in UK then from there to me.
Skickat från min SM-G9860 via Tapatalk

I have ordered the phone from WondaMobile.
They have the HongKong Snapdragon version for the same price as the Exynos in my country.
Also no customs are being charged as they will ship it from/via the UK.

I have ordered S20 ultra also from WondaMobile. I was on 6th of May and I'm hopping the delivery will not take to much time. I also hope I don't have to send it back because of broken camera glass or other issues which s20 ultra suffers...

Hello
My S20 Ultra comes to WondaMobile and is amazing (model 512/16GB)
Samsung Pay and Volte work perfectly.
Photos are fantastic.

I also have the Snapdragon version
Get it. I had the Exynos and it had a poor battery life plus other disadvantages

Could someone check for me ?: Dutch (the Netherlands) language included in the HK version? Mi

is the hongkong version better than the chinese version ??? any differnce
and what about 5g my country supports sub 6 which is 3.5 bandwith

ChromeFR said:
Could someone check for me : Dutch (the Netherlands) language included in the HK version? Mi
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it is.

dr.memo1o said:
is the hongkong version better than the chinese version ??? any differnce
and what about 5g my country supports sub 6 which is 3.5 bandwith
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung pay and Google services work.
5g is ok for France

Hello, what is the CSC, what is the use of it and why someone would change it? Are the european languages supported in this version?

S20 Ultra 9880 CN/HK Snapdragon in Europe

Hey, there are companies offering the Snapdragon s20 Ultra in Europe, but the unknown is the OS, if all of the Google Services are available, and if their bloatware/spyware ia removable. Is anyone in the know here? I ask because there's some down-low language about the OS and how these are perfect to root. I definitely want to use maps and have banking apps work.

Fujimens said:
Hey, there are companies offering the Snapdragon s20 Ultra in Europe, but the unknown is the OS, if all of the Google Services are available, and if their bloatware/spyware ia removable. Is anyone in the know here? I ask because there's some down-low language about the OS and how these are perfect to root. I definitely want to use maps and have banking apps work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The SM-G9880 is manufactured in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. Google apps are standard on the Hong Kong variant, Samsung Pay will work as well. You can root the device and it has less bloatware than the China and Taiwan variants. Ask the seller what's the country of origin before you pull the trigger.

varcor said:
The SM-G9880 is manufactured in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan. Google apps are standard on the Hong Kong variant, Samsung Pay will work as well. You can root the device and it has less bloatware than the China and Taiwan variants. Ask the seller what's the country of origin before you pull the trigger.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are gonna be direct imports from China and Hong Kong. If it's China, what would be the issues?

If you get chinese unit volte/samsung pay app may not work, you can get hong kong variant from wondamobile though they also provide 12 months warranty