Considering buying a verizon note 5

[Fluorescent]

I want to buy my nephew a phone, not a very expensive one obviously, when I came across a couple of Verizon note 5's selling on homeshopping for 29,000. A brand new phone in the same price region would be vastly inferior, so it piqued my interest.

But I've always, as a rule, abstained from making second hand purchases of electronic equipment. This has to do with the fact that my ability to pick out good from bad second hand phone buys is probably around 0/10 or less. So I'm asking the PG gurus to help me out, in terms of how risky it is. What I absolutely don't want is to make the purchase and have the phone die out or have serious problems in a week.

First, are their any technical downsides to owning a Verizon note 5? By this I mean stuff like 4G not working in Pakistan, the inability to get android OS updates etc.

Second, how safe is it? My experience with homeshopping has been excellent thus far, but I'm wary of being sold a repaired phone that'll outlast the 24 hour check warranty before disintegrating. How do I confirm the quality of the phone, that its not been repaired, and that its never suffered water damage etc? Has anyone of you bought such a phone from homeshopping? How was the experience?

If there's any info other than what I've directly asked, please share it. Thanks!

 

[murtaza12]

[MENTION=138654]Fluorescent[/MENTION]

You'd be better off buying an American S7 kit.

Read this:

[TUTORIAL]: Flashing Unlocked ROM on US Kit phones (Samsung)

 

[Fluorescent]

I see. Thats quite interesting. The way I understand is that the guide will allow me to essentially erase all traces of it being an american kit phone, as opposed to note 5 where the bloatware is permanent.

What about the hardware reliability of such phones? Is it worth the risk? And how risky is it? Can I expect an american kit phone to work properly and not run into hardware issues due to prior repairs etc?

And how reliable is homeshopping with the sale of such phones? They clearly state it isn't refurbished...is that a statement I can trust?

Thanks!

 

[murtaza12]

I see. Thats quite interesting. The way I understand is that the guide will allow me to essentially erase all traces of it being an american kit phone, as opposed to note 5 where the bloatware is permanent.

What about the hardware reliability of such phones? Is it worth the risk? And how risky is it? Can I expect an american kit phone to work properly and not run into hardware issues due to prior repairs etc?

And how reliable is homeshopping with the sale of such phones? They clearly state it isn't refurbished...is that a statement I can trust?

Thanks!

HomeShopping doesn't update their site frequently. The American stock they're selling is indeed refurbished.

The reason I'd suggest a S7 kit is because the ROM on it will have no sign of any US bloatware or carrier specific changes.

They're reliable, I know people who use them and no complaints.
In fact there's a Verizon S7 for sale with the Unlocked ROM flashed on it for sale in the PG marketplace that's not repaired or opened.

 

[techyrock]

Well I've had quite a history with Galaxy Phone's since its glorious days of Galaxy S2 :

• When it comes to Sammy's phones now a days there several units that many that its hard to spot a original or refurbished unit or a modded end product

• These Kit's from US carriers and International varaints too , due to high demand get huge refurbished supplies (with end result being use cheap parts to earn more) and

• Take an example of Galaxy Note 4 those are easy to spot. if refurbished the screen around top corners will be loose and could be pressed due to gap,since these vendors don't have or dont use company grade adhesive who knows

I've used Note 5 N920C Duos and N920T T-Mobile over all build was exactly the same except for camera quality (my note edge perfomed better then N920T) and spen ,well some would say camera might differ even in original because Sammy chooses to use either their own baked ISOCELL or Sony's well know IMX but both N920C &N920T I had came with Sony sensors and Spen had clicker issue,later on bought 2 spens but finally ended up selling it without one

About N920V well I haven't had experience but both Verizon and Sprint phones are CDMA based so your device will automatically in roaming mode being on GSM Sim check if these have unlockable bootloaders so if you had a chance could flash n910c ported rom on to it

In this department TMobile goes easier on bootloader with many brands

What I would totally forbid you from will be buying at&t samsung phone those have delayed updates locked bootloaders very little root support

Sent from my m2 note using Tapatalk

 

[murtaza12]

Well I've had quite a history with Galaxy Phone's since its glorious days of Galaxy S2

When it comes to Sammy's phones now a days there several units that many that its hard to spot a original or refurbished unit or a modded end product

These Kit's from US carriers and International varaints too , due to high demand get huge refurbished supplies (with end result being use cheap parts to earn more) and

Take an example of Galaxy Note 4 those are easy to spot. if refurbished the screen around top corners will be loose and could be pressed due to gap,since these vendors don't have or dont use company grade adhesive who knows

I've used Note 5 n910c duos and n910t T-Mobile over all build was exactly the same except for camera quality (my note edge perfomed better then n910t) and spen ,well some would say camera might differ even in original because Sammy chooses to use either their own baked ISOCELL or Sony's well know IMX but both n910c i had came with Sony sensors and Spen had clicker issue,later own bought 2 spens but finally ended up selling it without one

About N910V well I haven't had experience but both Verizon and sprint phones are CDMA based so your device will automatically in roaming mode being on GSM Sim check if these have unlockable bootloaders so if you had a chance could flash n910c ported rom on to it

In this department TMobile goes easier on bootloader with many brands

What I would totally forbid you from will be buying at&t samsung phone those have delayed updates locked bootloaders very little root support

Sent from my m2 note using Tapatalk

You've gotten the model numbers wrong, SM-N910x is for Note 4, SM-N920x is Note 5.

As for the N920V, all devices after S6 have locked bootloaders if they are from Verizon or AT&T, and all devices after the 2016 S7, have locked bootloaders with all american carriers. Either way, even if he got a different variant of the Note 5 (N920T for example), he couldn't flash a N920C ROM on it due to the hardware differences, the radio in particular and the partition tables in the American variants are different from EMEA variants, so even if the flash was successful, the phone would never boot.

Buying a Note 5 in 2017 makes no sense since the shopkeepers selling them are looting people, Note 5 has no more software support after this and the most pathetic battery life I've ever seen in a smartphone.

S7, or better an S7 edge would be a good choice since they still have one software update left, have a great camera and the S7 edge has a 3600 mAh battery which gives a good 6 hours of SOT and lasts the whole day easily, especially if running the unlocked ROM.

 

[Azeem64M3R]

i wouldn't recommend that my friend has one and he still didn't received Android Nougat update on i other hand have both s7 and s6 unlocked and they both got updates

Sent from my SM-G920F using Tapatalk

 

[techyrock]

You've gotten the model numbers wrong, SM-N910x is for Note 4, SM-N920x is Note 5.

As for the N920V, all devices after S6 have locked bootloaders if they are from Verizon or AT&T, and all devices after the 2016 S7, have locked bootloaders with all american carriers. Either way, even if he got a different variant of the Note 5 (N920T for example), he couldn't flash a N920C ROM on it due to the hardware differences, the radio in particular and the partition tables in the American variants are different from EMEA variants, so even if the flash was successful, the phone would never boot.

Buying a Note 5 in 2017 makes no sense since the shopkeepers selling them are looting people, Note 5 has no more software support after this and the most pathetic battery life I've ever seen in a smartphone.

S7, or better an S7 edge would be a good choice since they still have one software update left, have a great camera and the S7 edge has a 3600 mAh battery which gives a good 6 hours of SOT and lasts the whole day easily, especially if running the unlocked ROM.

Yes I've got model numbers wrong since I was out at the time of posting that quote and as I had already mentioned earlier having a history with galaxy phones i know my numbers right ,since note 5 already was elephant in the room i think OP would get the idea of what i was taking about N920 ofcourse so i think there wasnt any need of nitpicking


Other then that why are you quoting me about Buying a Note 5 in 2017 being non sense??? I didnt ask for it and clearly OP didnt ask for other phone suggestions either so,I shared my experience

And why I am writing this ? because whatever allegations you made other then N910 being N920 seem totally bullying or non sense debate

here is why

First of all where in my post i said to flash N920C ROM on N920T? did you forget the part about PORT? been around custom roms? ring any bells?

obviously anyone would know that a Tmobile variant phone would have US specific(Tmobile Speciic) BASEBAND hence different Modem (if one wasnt ignoring i did mention in my post about N920V and P being CDMA based ) hence the knowledge about modems

then about the bootloader dilemma if you had any experience in past with any of these phones related to ROOTING,Custom ROM's etc then you would know the differences between N920T,N920A or N920V for that matter for a developer being able to flash custom recovery and custom roms with root is Bootloader Unlock(hence i wrote tmobile goes easier) no matter the bootloader knox or custom counter

 

[murtaza12]

Yes I've got model numbers wrong since I was out at the time of posting that quote and as I had already mentioned earlier having a history with galaxy phones i know my numbers right ,since note 5 already was elephant in the room i think OP would get the idea of what i was taking about N920 ofcourse so i think there wasnt any need of nitpicking

If you are as experienced as you say, you wouldn't have gotten the model numbers wrong in the first place.
OP is a new member and doesn't seem familiar with model numbers and whatnot.

Other then that why are you quoting me about Buying a Note 5 in 2017 being non sense???

I wasn't posting that for you, I was posting it for the OP to see.

I didnt ask for it and clearly OP didnt ask for other phone suggestions either

Quote from OP:

If there's any info other than what I've directly asked, please share it. Thanks!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And why I am writing this ? because whatever allegations you made other then N910 being N920 seem totally bullying or non sense debate

Allegations? What is this? Nawaz Sharif's panama case on trial here? What allegations? All I pointed out was your incorrectly typed model numbers. The rest was info for the OP, not for you.

First of all where in my post i said to flash N920C ROM on N920T?

You said:

check if these have unlockable bootloaders so if you had a chance could flash n910c ported rom on to it

N910C (which is the wrong model number again) Port ROM. When you port a ROM, you port the ROM base with it, and if you were to 'port' a N920C ROM to a N920T, the ROM base would be a 920C with a 920T baseband, which would be of no use and probably not even boot.
Why would you port N920C ROMs to a 920T anyway? It's useless.

did you forget the part about PORT? been around custom roms? ring any bells?

If you knew anything about custom ROMs, you'd know how ports and Custom ROMs are built and how they work.

N920T has a few stock based Custom ROMs which are debloated and have a few optimizations, these would be recommended rather than the non-existent ports you were talking about.

obviously anyone would know that a Tmobile variant phone would have US specific(Tmobile Speciic) BASEBAND hence different Modem (if one wasnt ignoring i did mention in my post about N920V and P being CDMA based ) hence the knowledge about modems

Would you like a gold medal? Since your so-called 'knowledge' hasn't been winning you any.

'Obviously anyone would know', not everyone knows these things, including the OP.

then about the bootloader dilemma if you had any experience in past with any of these phones related to ROOTING,Custom ROM's etc then you would know the differences between N920T,N920A or N920V

I have more experience with Samsung phones than you could ever imagine. Clearly, more than you.

for that matter for a developer being able to flash custom recovery and custom roms with root is Bootloader Unlock(hence i wrote tmobile goes easier)

Well, no shit. That's what I said in my post.
T-Mobile and Sprint Note 5's have unlocked bootloaders, AT&T and Verizon ones don't.
Two would allow flashing custom ROMs, and two wouldn't, I don't get what point you were trying to make here.

no matter the bootloader knox or custom counter

What are you even trying to say here? This has nothing to do with anything.

 

[techyrock]

If you are as experienced as you say, you wouldn't have gotten the model numbers wrong in the first place.
OP is a new member and doesn't seem familiar with model numbers and whatnot.


I wasn't posting that for you, I was posting it for the OP to see.



Quote from OP:



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Allegations? What is this? Nawaz Sharif's panama case on trial here? What allegations? All I pointed out was your incorrectly typed model numbers. The rest was info for the OP, not for you.


You said:


N910C (which is the wrong model number again) Port ROM. When you port a ROM, you port the ROM base with it, and if you were to 'port' a N920C ROM to a N920T, the ROM base would be a 920C with a 920T baseband, which would be of no use and probably not even boot.
Why would you port N920C ROMs to a 920T anyway? It's useless.


If you knew anything about custom ROMs, you'd know how ports and Custom ROMs are built and how they work.

N920T has a few stock based Custom ROMs which are debloated and have a few optimizations, these would be recommended rather than the non-existent ports you were talking about.


Would you like a gold medal? Since your so-called 'knowledge' hasn't been winning you any.

'Obviously anyone would know', not everyone knows these things, including the OP.

I have more experience with Samsung phones than you could ever imagine. Clearly, more than you.


Well, no shit. That's what I said in my post.
T-Mobile and Sprint Note 5's have unlocked bootloaders, AT&T and Verizon ones don't.
Two would allow flashing custom ROMs, and two wouldn't, I don't get what point you were trying to make here.

What are you even trying to say here? This has nothing to do with anything.

LOL hahaha

Well this isnt the right place to argue about it since any of your so knowledge could be googled one ,if you'd like compare experiences then bring it on somewhere more instant I'm sure it will be fun

Secondly

when you say

I have more experience with Samsung phones than you could ever imagine. Clearly, more than you.

It would mean you have known me for what several years? how can confirm it?

And lol wait a minute,So I was right cause you said this earlier

As for the N920V, all devices after S6 have locked bootloaders if they are from Verizon or AT&T, and all devices after the 2016 S7, have locked bootloaders with all american carriers

and then it turned to this ? (I guess I am right about the google thing?)

Well, no shit. That's what I said in my post.
T-Mobile and Sprint Note 5's have unlocked bootloaders, AT&T and Verizon ones don't.
Two would allow flashing custom ROMs, and two wouldn't, I don't get what point you were trying to make here.

Means Earlier you clearly didnt know what you were talking about? wasnt it nit picking ?

Well, no shit

Being a Moderator are you allowed to speak that way? what impression are you leaving on others?

Would you like a gold medal? Since your so-called 'knowledge' hasn't been winning you any.

Yes I would love one if you were assigned for that job lol,My SO CALLED KNOWLEDGE is not to nit pick on people's posts or for debates I like helping the community and you sure know your way around forum ,I won enough thanks and love from people

If you knew anything about custom ROMs, you'd know how ports and Custom ROMs are built and how they work.

N920T has a few stock based Custom ROMs which are debloated and have a few optimizations, these would be recommended rather than the non-existent ports you were talking about.

If you say you have had enough experience with Samsung phones or if was a gold medal contest as per you say get your facts right

And since you have done googling already,i dont know why you didnt bother to do a little more ,I have several times installed ROMS for international variant on carrier based or other international variant leaving the modem out or Custom rom port not just on samsung on other brands too

and as for this exact Model N920T there is a proper method/kit to flash international variant( stock or custom Roms )




And In my Very first post i did meantioned about Modified phones there are Several N910F(Snapdragon note 4's) in market which actually are N910P running Stock Rom every bit of ROM is stock unless you have been to Mobile Networking Settings on N910F coz that being CDMA Modem would not match as for AP its Stock the only way to spot it is bootloader which they cant modifiy to N910F they even changed the props to N910F

 

[murtaza12]

since any of your so knowledge could be googled one

If it could be googled, then wouldn't you also know about it?

It would mean you have known me for what several years? how can confirm it?

I don't need to know you, your lack of knowledge in this regard clearly shows.

And lol wait a minute,So I was right cause you said this earlier

Right about what?

I first mentioned that all devices after S6 (meaning newer gen), S6 includes S6/S6 edge/S6 edge plus/Note 5 since they're all based on the same SoC.
All devices after S6 (i.e: S7) have locked bootloaders from every carrier (including T-Mobile & Sprint).
2015 devices from the S6 generation, including Note 5 only have locked bootloaders from Verizon and AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile are unlocked.

Means Earlier you clearly didnt know what you were talking about? wasnt it nit picking ?

Do you even know what nitpicking means?

Being a Moderator are you allowed to speak that way? what impression are you leaving on others?

I'll speak whatever way I'd like to speak.

I won enough thanks and love from people

Yes, your many years on this forum, PG Xtreme orange user title, achievements in this section and lack of valuable contribution are really showing. Keep it up.

And since you have done googling already,i dont know why you didnt bother to do a little more ,I have several times installed ROMS for international variant on carrier based or other international variant leaving the modem out or Custom rom port not just on samsung on other brands too

No more arguing is required after this. This statement from you is enough for me to gauge how much you actually know. Cheers.

And In my Very first post i did meantioned about Modified phones there are Several N910F(Snapdragon note 4's) in market which actually are N910P running Stock Rom every bit of ROM is stock unless you have been to Mobile Networking Settings on N910F coz that being CDMA Modem would match as for AP its Stock the only way to spot it is bootloader which they cant modifiy to N910F they even changed the props to N910F

Excellent piece of absolutely irrelevant information, of which I have known about for ages, I spotted a bunch of fake N910Fs in PG marketplace without even looking at the bootloader and deleted the threads because I didn't want anyone to be scammed.

 

[techyrock]

If it could be googled, then wouldn't you also know about it?



I don't need to know you, your lack of knowledge in this regard clearly shows.


Right about what?

I first mentioned that all devices after S6 (meaning newer gen), S6 includes S6/S6 edge/S6 edge plus/Note 5 since they're all based on the same SoC.
All devices after S6 (i.e: S7) have locked bootloaders from every carrier (including T-Mobile & Sprint).
2015 devices from the S6 generation, including Note 5 only have locked bootloaders from Verizon and AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile are unlocked.

Do you even know what nitpicking means?


I'll speak whatever way I'd like to speak.


Yes, your many years on this forum, PG Xtreme orange user title, achievements in this section and lack of valuable contribution are really showing. Keep it up.




No more arguing is required after this. This statement from you is enough for me to gauge how much you actually know. Cheers.




Excellent piece of absolutely irrelevant information, of which I have known about for ages, I spotted a bunch of fake N910Fs in PG marketplace without even looking at the bootloader and deleted the threads because I didn't want anyone to be scammed.

Well ofcourse you had to be one of those pathar ki lakeer people keep it that way good for you,well next time if I was looking for some n910f ill send you the pictures of it to help me out with that najomi magic by just seeing the pictures of em lol fingers crossed

And since you have done googling already,i dont know why you didnt bother to do a little more ,I have several times installed ROMS for international variant on carrier based or other international variant leaving the modem out or Custom rom port not just on samsung on other brands too
No more arguing is required after this. This statement from you is enough for me to gauge how much you actually know. Cheers.

yes of course no arguing after this coz its a obvious dead end where just a few link could easily prove who's statement is wrong lol