• MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Unfortunately, Samsung devices in the US come with locked bootloaders that can’t be unlocked (even if bought directly and not from a carrier)

    • seaQueue@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      I’ve unlocked my US Tab S, Tab S2, Tab S5e and Tab S6. I’ve never had trouble unlocking one.

      • MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        Is the problem just with mobiles then? I have never had an S series mobile but I’ve heard about how Samsung devices can’t be unlocked even if they are not bought from a carrier

        • seaQueue@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          No idea. I avoid their phones but their tablets are the best option for solid performance and AMOLED so I buy them periodically on fleaBay. I suspect it’s just a phone thing, I’ve unlocked every tablet I’ve owned.

          • MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Hmm, I suppose so, since carriers don’t sell close to as many tablets. I too really like Samsung tablets but never considered them because I thought they’d be locked. Thanks

            • seaQueue@lemmy.world
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              11 months ago

              Just be aware that there’s not much to flash on most models. There’s not a large enough community to support an active ROM scene so you’re often limited to just unlocking the device and patching the factory image with magisk, occasionally there’ll be a non device-specific GSI treble ROM or something but that’s about it.

              System updates are a pain with a patched device too, it’s all by hand work every firmware release. I usually use Frija to grab and decrypt the image and patch it with magisk before updating with Odin.

              • MigratingtoLemmy@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                Ah, I didn’t know that Odin was still maintained! Wonderful.

                I have never used Frija before; Internet blogs often talk about logcat though. Do you use Frija to get the URL to the payload from the update server?

                • seaQueue@lemmy.world
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                  11 months ago

                  You use Frija to download and decrypt the full image then patch it with magisk on the device, then copy that back to a PC to flash to the device with Odin. It’s :effort: but it’s the best workflow I’ve found. You can download images from the various sites that host decrypted Samsung factory ROMs but Frija is significantly faster.