Develop Bugs

Battery Life-Extending Firmware Update: Got Yours?

If anyone gets this update please let us know! I am currently still on "N910AUCU1ANIE" and have not received the update for "XXU1ANJ4". Look forward to see what positive enhancements this has, have read good comments about the positive impact on battery life.
http://www.androidauthority.com/galaxy-note-4-firmware-update-xxu1anj4-536934/

The update mentioned isn't for the AT&T variant. No word on when we will get our update.

That's for T-Mobile variant

Even if we do get an update, there is no way I am applying it. I want root, and don't want to risk any chance that I might miss it.

At Att pace for updates we wont get it until next year and when we do it will mess our phones up.

raiu said:
At Att pace for updates we wont get it until next year and when we do it will mess our phones up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol so true

pseudoSequential said:
Even if we do get an update, there is no way I am applying it. I want root, and don't want to risk any chance that I might miss it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might not have a choice. AT&T is known for force pushing updates to phones and without root you can't stop the OTA push service so you don't really have anything to worry about. Unless you disconnect from the network, you'll eventually get the update without a choice. This happened to a lot of people on the Galaxy S4 when they patched loki. Many went to bed to wake up the next morning with there phone rebooted. Some didn't even notice planning to install loki the next day only to find AT&T pushed the patch to there phone unless you remembered to disable OTA service.

[SM-T217A] Success with SRSRoot?

Any AT&T SM-T217A users here successfully obtain root via Srsroot on their tabs? They dropped a tweet a month ago that it was supported @ 4.4.2, but it's not sticking for me..

geokhentix said:
Any AT&T SM-T217A users here successfully obtain root via Srsroot on their tabs? They dropped a tweet a month ago that it was supported @ 4.4.2, but it's not sticking for me..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. I tried that one out as soon as it posted. Here is the thread discussing http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-3/help/root-sma-4-4-2-t2902677

bigdawg6183 said:
Nope. I tried that one out as soon as it posted. Here is the thread discussing http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-3/help/root-sma-4-4-2-t2902677
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These T217As I bought are turning out to be the worst experience I have ever had with a decent device. The specs and the battery life are great, but AT&T (or samsung?) has lost their mind. Out of my two tabs (both set up identical) Only one was ever eligible for the 4.4.2 upgrade. The second says no upgrade when I check for one.
The one I did upgrade was so bad on 4.4.2 that I ended up trying to flash back to 4.2.2 before I realized I couldn't and bricked the tab.
2 months later, still no upgrade available for my second tab (probably a good thing except I wanted to try an app that says it can catch the firmware update to use on my bricked tab). Still no 4.4.2 firmware to be found on the internet to download for this device.
The worst part is it doesn't even seem to be available from kies. Kies 3 doesn't even recognize it as a 4.4.2 device anymore after the attempted downgrade and the other kies versions only offer 4.2.2 which the device won't let me flash.

rmntruexjr said:
These T217As I bought are turning out to be the worst experience I have ever had with a decent device. The specs and the battery life are great, but AT&T (or samsung?) has lost their mind. Out of my two tabs (both set up identical) Only one was ever eligible for the 4.4.2 upgrade. The second says no upgrade when I check for one.
The one I did upgrade was so bad on 4.4.2 that I ended up trying to flash back to 4.2.2 before I realized I couldn't and bricked the tab.
2 months later, still no upgrade available for my second tab (probably a good thing except I wanted to try an app that says it can catch the firmware update to use on my bricked tab). Still no 4.4.2 firmware to be found on the internet to download for this device.
The worst part is it doesn't even seem to be available from kies. Kies 3 doesn't even recognize it as a 4.4.2 device anymore after the attempted downgrade and the other kies versions only offer 4.2.2 which the device won't let me flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree rmn, the experience with this tablet has been sub par. I know when I first heard about the update being released I was checking around online to see if I could find a dl for it, none existed. I did finally go through the process of updating OTA after having to remove root from my 4.2 firmware. Since the update my tablet appears to operate the same except for the lag has returned. I believe that is because I now no longer have my tweaks setup on the device since I have no root. My real peeve with AT&T with this tab is the locked bootloader, come on man, I want to load up different roms and get rid of all this bloatware. We cant even get root access with this new 4.4!
Could I get a screenshot of your about screen on the tab that is not updating?

bigdawg6183 said:
I totally agree rmn, the experience with this tablet has been sub par. I know when I first heard about the update being released I was checking around online to see if I could find a dl for it, none existed. I did finally go through the process of updating OTA after having to remove root from my 4.2 firmware. Since the update my tablet appears to operate the same except for the lag has returned. I believe that is because I now no longer have my tweaks setup on the device since I have no root. My real peeve with AT&T with this tab is the locked bootloader, come on man, I want to load up different roms and get rid of all this bloatware. We cant even get root access with this new 4.4!
Could I get a screenshot of your about screen on the tab that is not updating?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it's in warranty, take it to the AT&T store. Tell them you did OTA and it 'got all screwy'. don't use terms like "bricked". Feign ignorance on all the workings of rooting and roms and stuff. Don't even use the term "Rom", use "operating system". Assuming you have the same boot error message I did, something to the effect of "there was a problem updating", apparently it's common enough that they'll get you to Samsung. Samsung will email you a shipping label, and in about a week to a week in a half, I had mine back functional again. Granted they put it on 4.4.2, which is a bummer, but at least it works. No questions asked. they didn't ask me about rooting or anything, I just told them I did the update, rebooted, it rebooted once, and then I had to reboot again and it had the error. First I took it so Samsung rep at best buy, he couldn't do anything, then I took it to the AT&T store. AT&T doesn't deal with tablet warranties, so that's why they put me on the phone with Samsung. On amazon, they have refurbished t217a's for $144.00, and on the description it says they're on 4.1.2 (rootable, and upgradable to 4.2.2 w/odin, which is also rootable. 4.2.2 firmware was a gigantic pain in the ass to get a hold of, but it's out there. I know it's not the answer you want, but hope it helps at least return the tablet into working state. I don't think we'll ever see a root for t217a on 4.4.2, nor any way to downgrade back to 4.2.2. Just not enough interest from the guys with the time and know-how. It was Samsung's bottom-end tablet, and the Tab S is just better for almost everyone. I use the Tab3 7.0 for work mainly because of it's size. I'm a pilot and I strap the tablet to my leg for approach plates and maps and stuff, and the size of the 7.0 is just right. The 8.0 and 8.3(?) is just a bit to big for that purpose. Anyway, I just hope (but not holding my breath) that Samsung + AT&T well at the very LEAST update the thing to lollipop so we can at least get full external SD card function again, because aviation maps and references and the sort take up a LOT of memory after a while..

DSTG said:
If it's in warranty, take it to the AT&T store. Tell them you did OTA and it 'got all screwy'. don't use terms like "bricked". Feign ignorance on all the workings of rooting and roms and stuff. Don't even use the term "Rom", use "operating system". Assuming you have the same boot error message I did, something to the effect of "there was a problem updating", apparently it's common enough that they'll get you to Samsung. Samsung will email you a shipping label, and in about a week to a week in a half, I had mine back functional again. Granted they put it on 4.4.2, which is a bummer, but at least it works. No questions asked. they didn't ask me about rooting or anything, I just told them I did the update, rebooted, it rebooted once, and then I had to reboot again and it had the error. First I took it so Samsung rep at best buy, he couldn't do anything, then I took it to the AT&T store. AT&T doesn't deal with tablet warranties, so that's why they put me on the phone with Samsung. On amazon, they have refurbished t217a's for $144.00, and on the description it says they're on 4.1.2 (rootable, and upgradable to 4.2.2 w/odin, which is also rootable. 4.2.2 firmware was a gigantic pain in the ass to get a hold of, but it's out there. I know it's not the answer you want, but hope it helps at least return the tablet into working state. I don't think we'll ever see a root for t217a on 4.4.2, nor any way to downgrade back to 4.2.2. Just not enough interest from the guys with the time and know-how. It was Samsung's bottom-end tablet, and the Tab S is just better for almost everyone. I use the Tab3 7.0 for work mainly because of it's size. I'm a pilot and I strap the tablet to my leg for approach plates and maps and stuff, and the size of the 7.0 is just right. The 8.0 and 8.3(?) is just a bit to big for that purpose. Anyway, I just hope (but not holding my breath) that Samsung + AT&T well at the very LEAST update the thing to lollipop so we can at least get full external SD card function again, because aviation maps and references and the sort take up a LOT of memory after a while..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bigdawg6183 said:
I totally agree rmn, the experience with this tablet has been sub par. I know when I first heard about the update being released I was checking around online to see if I could find a dl for it, none existed. I did finally go through the process of updating OTA after having to remove root from my 4.2 firmware. Since the update my tablet appears to operate the same except for the lag has returned. I believe that is because I now no longer have my tweaks setup on the device since I have no root. My real peeve with AT&T with this tab is the locked bootloader, come on man, I want to load up different roms and get rid of all this bloatware. We cant even get root access with this new 4.4!
Could I get a screenshot of your about screen on the tab that is not updating?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just now saw your post. When I get back home I'll take a screenshot. It's set up identical to the one I upgraded and bricked. Rooted with kingo, installed the tweaks for this tab from development (KoolKit) and using a few xposed modules to change some notification/statusbar icons..Not much else you can do to these things, and if I had to guess, the only difference between the two would maybe be different versions of the KoolKit tweaks.
---------- Post added at 01:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:08 PM ----------
DSTG said:
If it's in warranty, take it to the AT&T store. Tell them you did OTA and it 'got all screwy'. don't use terms like "bricked". Feign ignorance on all the workings of rooting and roms and stuff. Don't even use the term "Rom", use "operating system". Assuming you have the same boot error message I did, something to the effect of "there was a problem updating", apparently it's common enough that they'll get you to Samsung. Samsung will email you a shipping label, and in about a week to a week in a half, I had mine back functional again. Granted they put it on 4.4.2, which is a bummer, but at least it works. No questions asked. they didn't ask me about rooting or anything, I just told them I did the update, rebooted, it rebooted once, and then I had to reboot again and it had the error. First I took it so Samsung rep at best buy, he couldn't do anything, then I took it to the AT&T store. AT&T doesn't deal with tablet warranties, so that's why they put me on the phone with Samsung. On amazon, they have refurbished t217a's for $144.00, and on the description it says they're on 4.1.2 (rootable, and upgradable to 4.2.2 w/odin, which is also rootable. 4.2.2 firmware was a gigantic pain in the ass to get a hold of, but it's out there. I know it's not the answer you want, but hope it helps at least return the tablet into working state. I don't think we'll ever see a root for t217a on 4.4.2, nor any way to downgrade back to 4.2.2. Just not enough interest from the guys with the time and know-how. It was Samsung's bottom-end tablet, and the Tab S is just better for almost everyone. I use the Tab3 7.0 for work mainly because of it's size. I'm a pilot and I strap the tablet to my leg for approach plates and maps and stuff, and the size of the 7.0 is just right. The 8.0 and 8.3(?) is just a bit to big for that purpose. Anyway, I just hope (but not holding my breath) that Samsung + AT&T well at the very LEAST update the thing to lollipop so we can at least get full external SD card function again, because aviation maps and references and the sort take up a LOT of memory after a while..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish it was that easy, but I ditched AT&T years ago and went to straight talk. These tabs I purchased second hand.

rmntruexjr said:
I just now saw your post. When I get back home I'll take a screenshot. It's set up identical to the one I upgraded and bricked. Rooted with kingo, installed the tweaks for this tab from development (KoolKit) and using a few xposed modules to change some notification/statusbar icons..Not much else you can do to these things, and if I had to guess, the only difference between the two would maybe be different versions of the KoolKit tweaks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No worries mate. Hmmm, if it was root that was stopping the update from showing it should have been the case on both tabs. Plus, mine was originally rooted when I searched for the update and it found it fine. You do definitely have to remove root to successfully update to 4.4, which totally blows, but with the SD card changes that came out in 4.4 I had to do it.

Nougat Beta Completed - Official update due in January to S7 and S7 Edge

Samsung apparently has sent out a final notification to all those enrolled in the Nougat Beta that there will be no more updates and that the beta ends officially on December 30th and that they will attempt to push out the official update to everyone in January. Hope this means they were able to quash all major bugs.
http://www.androidcentral.com/galaxy-s7-and-s7-edge-receive-nougat-update-january
And it is officially Android 7.1.1, at least for those in the US.

Hopefully we get it soon, I would love some Nougat. At this point I prefer to not have to root my phone to get updates because it's a hassle without being able to unlock the bootloader. I was rooted for awhile and IMHO stock runs butter unless you spend hours customizing it. I love debloating but I would prefer a fully unlocked/rooted phone to a partial solution.
I don't have high hopes for when we get this updated because of verizon but we eventually will, about 2 years after everyone else

JerseyDubbin said:
Hopefully we get it soon, I would love some Nougat. At this point I prefer to not have to root my phone to get updates because it's a hassle without being able to unlock the bootloader. I was rooted for awhile and IMHO stock runs butter unless you spend hours customizing it. I love debloating but I would prefer a fully unlocked/rooted phone to a partial solution.
I don't have high hopes for when we get this updated because of verizon but we eventually will, about 2 years after everyone else
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't been rooted for over a year. I was on an LG G3 before my S7 and so far, I haven't found a real need to root. Before, I rooted because I used TiBu to backup my apps, but with the G3, they had their own backup utility that worked just like TiBu, but it's only for LG devices.
But with how Google Play uploads settings now, that appears to work just fine for me as well, so at this point, I have no reason to root. Plus, I really love Samsung Pay so I don't want to lose that.

This is the first device I have owned that I have never rooted. No need to. Faster than anything I have ever owned and mine never slows down for my usage. It's the first device that I feel works as intended. I also wasted a few years of my life with this stuff and just don't have the motivation anymore. Especially without an unlocked bootloader and custom recovery, I'd never.

JediDru said:
This is the first device I have owned that I have never rooted. No need to. Faster than anything I have ever owned and mine never slows down for my usage. It's the first device that I feel works as intended. I also wasted a few years of my life with this stuff and just don't have the motivation anymore. Especially without an unlocked bootloader and custom recovery, I'd never.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree completely. The root process works well etc but I had to go through xposed and do a lot of tweaks to get it running well for really no gain over what I had stock.

JediDru said:
This is the first device I have owned that I have never rooted. No need to. Faster than anything I have ever owned and mine never slows down for my usage. It's the first device that I feel works as intended. I also wasted a few years of my life with this stuff and just don't have the motivation anymore. Especially without an unlocked bootloader and custom recovery, I'd never.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree. The G3 was the first phone I ended up not rooting. I did at first because I was just in that mode of, get a new phone, root, flash a custom ROM. But as I started getting used to a lot of the features, and found that the battery life wasn't bad, coupled with running Greenify in non-root mode, I could make the battery last 1.5 days. So, over the last year of the two years I owned it, I didn't root.
With the S7, no need to root. This is smoothest phone I've had yet. The quality of the phone itself is excellent. So, this phone will not be rooted.

It appears the official Nougat OTA is being pushed out, with beta testers getting it first.
Anyone on here that has gotten the Nougat OTA notification yet? I'm holding off on accepting until I know better on how it performs, etc.
http://www.androidcentral.com/stabl...ing-galaxy-s7-and-s7-edge-starting-beta-users

iBolski said:
It appears the official Nougat OTA is being pushed out, with beta testers getting it first.
Anyone on here that has gotten the Nougat OTA notification yet? I'm holding off on accepting until I know better on how it performs, etc.
http://www.androidcentral.com/stabl...ing-galaxy-s7-and-s7-edge-starting-beta-users
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing on my end yet.
Sent from my SM-G930V using XDA-Developers Legacy app

was there ever a second beta OTA sent out to Verizon testers? I didn't get into the beta but side loaded the only 7.0 beta build OTA that was floating around and my build number is NRD90M.G930VVRU4ZPK4. Was there an update to after that? Trying to figure out if the Nougate beta -> final OTA (assuming someone pulls it) will work on my phone or if I'll need to find the intermediary beta OTAs or else wipe clean and start from scratch.

sklarskyj said:
was there ever a second beta OTA sent out to Verizon testers? I didn't get into the beta but side loaded the only 7.0 beta build OTA that was floating around and my build number is NRD90M.G930VVRU4ZPK4. Was there an update to after that? Trying to figure out if the Nougate beta -> final OTA (assuming someone pulls it) will work on my phone or if I'll need to find the intermediary beta OTAs or else wipe clean and start from scratch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe there were only two betas for VZW phones and then they cancelled the beta testing for VZW-based phones. Not sure why. Kind of sucks. Probably Big Red had something to do with it.

j0hnh0lmes said:
Nothing on my end yet.
Sent from my SM-G930V using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, tried rebooting and checking again a few times and still nothing.
Oh well

I spoke to Verizon about this and they dont know when the update will be out.

SoerenHelmer said:
I spoke to Verizon about this and they dont know when the update will be out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course they don't. They have to add crapware, disable a bunch of stuff and add backdoors.
Sent from my SM-G930V using XDA-Developers Legacy app

SoerenHelmer said:
I spoke to Verizon about this and they dont know when the update will be out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's their usual response.

I've read US-Based carriers have no ETA yet. Grr.

iBolski said:
I've read US-Based carriers have no ETA yet. Grr.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I swear searching around the interwebs for information on release dates has at least as much mis-information as looking for information on the election candidates during the election. So much trash.
But I haven't found anyone stating they heard definite dates. I'm thinking it will be late January at this point maybe early Feb before it hits our phones.

i have given up speculating anything that involves verizon. nothing would surprise me.

Take it where its coming from but it looks like some US non-beta testers are starting to see the update. "Unlocked" phones only but still....
http://www.theverge.com/2017/1/19/14321980/samsung-galaxy-s7-edge-android-nougat-update

I have an official unlocked US model, but nothing yet. I expect to see the update by the weekend. Crossing fingers.

lickwid said:
I have an official unlocked US model, but nothing yet. I expect to see the update by the weekend. Crossing fingers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe unlocked models should be getting it before us on Verizon. But, there was a story out that stated OTAs for some reason have stopped being pushed out and Samsung has acknowledged this and is looking into why it happened.
http://www.droidviews.com/samsung-galaxy-s7-android-nougat-problems-firmware-delivery-stops/
Whether the "bug" is in the firmware itself or with the update process that sends out the notifications is not mentioned.

I just got update to Nougat on AT&T

Did anyone else get updated, my phone is not rooted or unlocked. so far update looks sleek, need to explore a lot.
enjoy all.

jhogal12 said:
Did anyone else get updated, my phone is not rooted or unlocked. so far update looks sleek, need to explore a lot.
enjoy all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is updating now but stated "security update will install?"

Looks like the N920AUCS4EQG1 update Nobarb found for all of us and referenced as unreleased a little bit back. (Thank you once again, Nobarb for all your hard work!!)
Probably just another security update. With the S8, S8+ and now the Note 8 forthcoming I can't imagine Samsung throwing us any more bones for our good old Note 5.

mattern1974 said:
Looks like the N920AUCS4EQG1 update Nobarb found for all of us and referenced as unreleased a little bit back. (Thank you once again, Nobarb for all your hard work!!)
Probably just another security update. With the S8, S8+ and now the Note 8 forthcoming I can't imagine Samsung throwing us any more bones for our good old Note 5.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well as I said I got Official Nougat, i will post some pics but security enhancements shows as April 13. Im sure ATT rolls these out in phases.

jhogal12 said:
well as I said I got Official Nougat, i will post some pics but security enhancements shows as April 13. Im sure ATT rolls these out in phases.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My apologies...I may have misunderstood what you were talking about. I just got an update yesterday and it was the QG1 update which brings in the July 1, 2017 update.
If you are not fully up to that build, keep trying for an update. You might try manually pushing your clock ahead a day if it is restricting you by the time limit.

I also received this new update and installed it. No difference in battery life or performance whatsoever... Just security updates.
Ever since my phone was updated to Nougat, it has been randomly rebooting (sometimes once a week and sometimes twice in 10 minutes). I can still use it fine but I'm honestly getting tired of finding it stuck at the "Enter PIN" (encrypted phone) screen after restarting. So I'm missing important calls without even realizing it when the phone is in my pocket. Anybody else seeing this? Suggestions welcome.
I did a cache wipe at least 10 times now and that didn't help. Don't wish to do a factory reset... It's a pain to setup android the way I like.
Thanks for any help guys.

someone can give me firmware N920AUCS4EQG1, im out side US,pls!

Firmware advice - SM-N975U - Note 10+

Hi All,
Been a while on here - please be gentle!
I have spent the last 6 hours looking into updating my firmware from Android 10!
I have done this on previous phones, but my current phone is proving a little more difficult. For the life of me, I cannot find the correct ROM to flash. Whenever I come to something I think I have found I seem to have another issue.
I've tried using various tools (Bitfrost) but got errors.
I'm in the UK, and as far as I can tell, my phone is “XAA”, “USA unbranded (default)”. I'm not bothered about changing the region code (unless it can be done easily).
Details::
SW ver.: SAOMC_SM-N975U_OYN_XAA_PP_0001
XAA/XAA/ATT
I would really appreciate some help from you guys who are way more informed and cleverer than me!
Thanks guys and gals!
Simon
EDIT: I have found a bit more informstion - I think I would be ok using SM-N975U1 - is this correct?

That's the umlocked Snapdragon variant...
I have two N10+'s; N975U/Pie, N975U1/Android 10. I would stay on Android 10 unless you want cpu cycle sucking scoped storage in all its glory.
Personally I prefer Pie to 10, better functionality and usability. With 11 you lose even more and 12 is fubar... in my opinion.
The best way to trash a stock N10+ is to mess with its firmware.
Rule #1 if a OS is fulfilling its mission, let it be!
Upgrades/updates can and do break things.

blackhawk said:
That's the umlocked Snapdragon variant...
I have two N10+'s; N975U/Pie, N975U1/Android 10. I would stay on Android 10 unless you want cpu cycle sucking scoped storage in all its glory.
Personally I prefer Pie to 10, better functionality and usability. With 11 you lose even more and 12 is fubar... in my opinion.
The best way to trash a stock N10+ is to mess with its firmware.
Rule #1 if a OS is fulfilling its mission, let it be!
Upgrades/updates can and do break things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that info ... I actually have no beef with A10 other than one issue which I thought maybe a firmware issue.
My NFC works (I can transfer files between phones) however, I cannot use Google Pay, or Samsung Pay. I have read somewhere that this was a firmware issue, hence my desire to update.
I have tried literally everything to get it working (cleared cache, re-booted). NFC Tools confirms it works, but it just does nothing at the checkout.
If I can fix this issue, I'll be happier!

Ratzz2 said:
Thanks for that info ... I actually have no beef with A10 other than one issue which I thought maybe a firmware issue.
My NFC works (I can transfer files between phones) however, I cannot use Google Pay, or Samsung Pay. I have read somewhere that this was a firmware issue, hence my desire to update.
I have tried literally everything to get it working (cleared cache, re-booted). NFC Tools confirms it works, but it just does nothing at the checkout.
If I can fix this issue, I'll be happier!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome. It may be doing that because big sister Google thinks you need to upgrade to be secure. May have to do with the region you're using it in. I don't know. I never use those features and don't want them on the phone. Don't want anything to back door in using that route.
Depends how hell bent you are on having those features. You could easily lose more than you gain by upgrading, worse it may not resolve the issue. The N10+ is a valuable and reliable work horse that will run for years... just as it is. If it's running well otherwise I would try to find the root cause of this issue or simply use other workarounds rather than the shotgun approach.

Yeah, I was wondering about being in the UK with a phone registered in the US. But NFC doesn't read my credit card either. Would have thought that would be an option.
I'm not necessarily a huge NFC user, but the other day I forgot my wallet at the petrol station after filling my car. If I'd have had my NFC working, I'd have been able to fire it up and avoid the embarrassment!
Anyway, thanks for your help!

Be glad you have the Snapdragon variant. They are very reliable and run well stock when optimized. If you do upgrade to 11 a rollback to 10 isn't possible if you upgrade the boot loader.
There's always at least a small risk when flashing firmware which can trash the device. The only time I would flash a N10+ is if the rom was corrupted which barring a hardware failure is a very rare SUE, single upset event.
I never tried mine to see if Pay works nor have I ever set a screen lock. The fingerprint scanner could be dead for all I know.
The flip side to that is never being locked out* of my own device, no data lose, and double tap on/off. The device is glued to me as physical security is the only real security. I realize this may seem extreme to some, but it works well in the real world.
*a SEU or partial hardware can lock you out of your device. Had no lock been set, no lockout would have occurred. Got locked out of a PC bios like that. The password -was- correct
That caused a mountain of trouble...

Thank you my friend. Wise words indeed and duly noted...