45 replies to this topic

[jw0914]

SamuriHL, you mentioned that once you unlock your bootloader on a Samsung DE you can no longer receive OTA updates... I've always had a Moto, so is it not possible to flash fxz's (or the Samsung equivalent) when they become available, just as they do for Moto phones?

[SamuriHL]

You're referring to ODIN images.  Could you flash that to a DE?  Sure.  Would you like the end result?  Not a chance in hell.  That will immediately turn your precious DE device into a locked consumer edition with no remediation to unlock it again.  Why?  It all has to do with the mechanism that Samsung uses to unlock their phones.  The short version is that each device has a customized signed aboot partition.  When the phone boots up, it sees that the aboot partition contains a signed certificate appended to the aboot partition and then runs in insecure mode.  If you overwrite your aboot partition with a non-signed version, it will boot in secure mode.  And no, you can't sign your own.  And no, you can't get Samsung to fix it.  And yes, this has been tested quite a bit.  People who did this to their DE's now have lovely expensive CE's that can't be unlocked.

 

Moto uses a completely different unlocking mechanism that involves physically changing the hardware (blowing an eFuse).

[jw0914]

You're referring to ODIN images.  Could you flash that to a DE?  Sure.  Would you like the end result?  Not a chance in hell.  That will immediately turn your precious DE device into a locked consumer edition with no remediation to unlock it again.  Why?  It all has to do with the mechanism that Samsung uses to unlock their phones.  The short version is that each device has a customized signed aboot partition.  When the phone boots up, it sees that the aboot partition contains a signed certificate appended to the aboot partition and then runs in insecure mode.  If you overwrite your aboot partition with a non-signed version, it will boot in secure mode.  And no, you can't sign your own.  And no, you can't get Samsung to fix it.  And yes, this has been tested quite a bit.  People who did this to their DE's now have lovely expensive CE's that can't be unlocked.

 

Moto uses a completely different unlocking mechanism that involves physically changing the hardware (blowing an eFuse).

 

 

Would I be correct in assuming then that most people with Samsung DEs end up flashing a custom ROM of one sort or another in order to maintain current versions of Android?  Would I also be correct in assuming you lose the ability to use the S Pen within Custom ROMs?

[SamuriHL]

Would I be correct in assuming then that most people with Samsung DEs end up flashing a custom ROM of one sort or another in order to maintain current versions of Android?  Would I also be correct in assuming you lose the ability to use the S Pen within Custom ROMs?

 

No idea what most people do.  What I'd personally do if I had one is make a "rom" from the consumer edition to flash *ONLY* the following:

 

System

boot

non-hlos

fsg

 

Obviously I'd not be using stock recovery for anything, so, no need to flash it.  That gives you modem, kernel, and system.  

 

Then again, I'd not personally own one.  

[jw0914]

lol I'm weighing my options as to whether I'll simply sell my Note 4 when I get the NX6 or sell it and purchase the Note 4 DE.  It's a bummer the Best Buy $200 gift card for any working phone trade in only applies to the Note 4 and Note Edge, as I'd rather just buy one phone, however passing up a $200 gift card for the original Droid X would just be stupid

[SamuriHL]

LOL.  Well, good luck on what you decide to do!  I'm personally looking forward to the NX6.  That thing is going to rock.