[Q] need some advice before buying m8

[rusty-ragster]

hey fellows need your kind help..

a shopkeeper over here is selling an unlocked m8 i am a noob when it comes to htc because i have only used samsung phones..

now when i turn this m8 on the main boot screen it says that the phone is for developer use only in a red font on the bottom of the screen (similar screen shot attached) and i am not sure what this means...

secondly for the sake of info the phone is already rooted and running venom rom....

i have been looking around for info and people are saying something about s-off and on now i get the gist of what is s-of and on but my question is that how do i check that is it s-off or on? and if i buy a phone with s-on will i be able to turn it off? secondly i looked around in settings for the model number of that phone but due to the shortage of time i could not find it i went to settings-about phone and all it said on the model option was htc one m8...how can i check the model number of the phone? now correct me if i am wrong here i am looking for the model number because in samsung there are 2 main models the note 3 for ex has n900 and n9005 and all the good roms are made for the n9005..

my main purpose of buying a phone is to root it straight away and flash aosp and other roms on it...basically i want an m8 which has the most developer support meaning all the roms like PA,GPE,CM etc are supported so can you please enlighten me about the model number or any other specifics of the phone which can point to it having the most developer support and guide me how to check that before i buy it....your help would be greatly appreciated.

and can someone tell me the key combinations to enter into fast boot and recovery mode?

 

[S1L3nTShaDoWz]

Not sure if you mean GSM unlocked or bootloader unlocked (not sure if you even need to GSM unlock with the international variant) but if it's bootloader unlocked then it is most likely S-OFF too. You can check whether its S-OFF or S-ON by powering the phone off and booting it up with power + volume down (bootloader mode) and it should show S-OFF or S-ON at the top somewhere in the interface. To get out just use the volume keys and navigate to reboot and if it doesn't show reboot then navigate to hboot/fastboot, whichever one shows the reboot option. Also where it says "developer use only" I'm quite sure that means the phone is either S-OFF or bootloader unlocked, not 100% sure as to this though.

You can check your model number by navigating to Settings > About > Phone identity, it'll be the second one. & on the developer support topic, I assume you bought the international variant since you're posting in that forum and well luckily for you I believe it has more support than the carrier versions such as Verizon, Sprint, etc.

Volume down + power button = Bootloader mode & I think Volume Up + Power button is Recovery but it isn't working on my device so can't confirm.

Apologies if some of this is inaccurate, I have the Verizon variant and haven't explored into the international variant as much as I have my own. Still most of it should be accurate and answer your questions.

 

[rusty-ragster]

thank you for your reply....how do i check if it is the international variant of the htc one m8? i found out how to check s-off and bootloaders by going into recovery only thing i need to know is that how to differentiate the different variants of the m8? is there a model number or something else i need to check my phone is the international variant?

 

[radicalisto]

It'll be the International version if it's not -: carrier branded, GPE Branded or an Asian model (higher clock on the Asian model 2.5 opposed to intl 2.3)

 

[nathlynn22]

And pretty certain you can check by looking at boot loader for cid and see what it is. Hopefully he hasn't super cid'd

Sent from my HTC One max using Tapatalk

 

[BerndM14]

Model Make is also on the back of the device, at the bottom. It's very small though but it's there.

 

[rusty-ragster]

oki so I went to check the phone again sadly I could not enter into fast boot mode maybe I hat to check that in settings which I forgot to do...however I got some additional information regarding the device which is that the phone is a display unit imported from the UK by display unit I mean that the phones that are displayed in the stores for people to come and use....so what do you guys think about that

 

[radicalisto]

oki so I went to check the phone again sadly I could not enter into fast boot mode maybe I hat to check that in settings which I forgot to do...however I got some additional information regarding the device which is that the phone is a display unit imported from the UK by display unit I mean that the phones that are displayed in the stores for people to come and use....so what do you guys think about that

Display units here in the UK - AKA Demo models, don't always come with Radio's on board. For example - The Note 3 has no radio on board, or the HW for it. Yet the M7 did. -

If the unit has a radio on board then it'll be fine.

Word of caution though most display models from the UK that end up elsewhere tend to be stolen units and are often blacklisted. I'd ask where the reseller got it from just to be sure.

 

[rusty-ragster]

Display units here in the UK - AKA Demo models, don't always come with Radio's on board. For example - The Note 3 has no radio on board, or the HW for it. Yet the M7 did. -

If the unit has a radio on board then it'll be fine.

Word of caution though most display models from the UK that end up elsewhere tend to be stolen units and are often blacklisted. I'd ask where the reseller got it from just to be sure.

i am assuming by radio you mean that does it get a signal? then yes it can get a signal i have yet to check a 3g signal though will do that before buying...well he is a well reputed seller over here but just to be on the safe side can you tell me the drawbacks if i buy the phone and it ends up being blacklisted?

 

[rusty-ragster]

once again went to the store to get some screen shots for you guys...he flashed google play edition on one of the phones the bootloader screen is also from the phone with google play edition rom...also posting a shot from one of the sense roms...need your input guys can you guys tell that is it the international variant i am going insane trying to figure that out and so close to giving up...

 

[rusty-ragster]

shot from the one running stock sense

 

[radicalisto]

At the back of the phone, at the very bottom there's the device info under the FCC stuff. It'll give you MID (model) (mine is 0P6B100) and I'll say something like M8n (mine is M8n) then look up the model id.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

---------- Post added at 01:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 PM ----------

If it's uk carrier unbranded it'll be international. Demo units are I think

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

 

[rusty-ragster]

At the back of the phone, at the very bottom there's the device info under the FCC stuff. It'll give you MID (model) (mine is 0P6B100) and I'll say something like M8n (mine is M8n) then look up the model id.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

---------- Post added at 01:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 PM ----------

If it's uk carrier unbranded it'll be international. Demo units are I think

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

will do that the next time i go there

 

[rusty-ragster]

At the back of the phone, at the very bottom there's the device info under the FCC stuff. It'll give you MID (model) (mine is 0P6B100) and I'll say something like M8n (mine is M8n) then look up the model id.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

---------- Post added at 01:52 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:50 PM ----------

If it's uk carrier unbranded it'll be international. Demo units are I think

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

i was wondering that is it possible to flash a google play edition rom on any device other then the international variant?

 

[radicalisto]

Yeah it's possible. ROMS can be flashed on any variants. RUU's to change to GPE are for S-OFF only

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

 

[rusty-ragster]

Yeah it's possible. ROMS can be flashed on any variants. RUU's to change to GPE are for S-OFF only

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

my god htc is really complicated or maybe i am used to samsung that is why...

 

[radicalisto]

HTC do work a little differently But with HTC you can unlock your bootloader and not worry about Knox junk

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

 

[rusty-ragster]

HTC do work a little differently But with HTC you can unlock your bootloader and not worry about Knox junk

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

true but there should have been an easier way to determine what you are buying....for instance when i was buying the note 3 i knew there were 2 variants one with the model sm n900 and the other n9005 and the model number could be easily determined by going into settings about phone..over here on the other hand i have been going insane just trying to figure out the model number

 

[radicalisto]

HTC are region specific just like Samsung. There's three main variants.

Asian - 2.5GHZ 801
WWE - International 2.3GHZ
US - Same as WWE.

Then just split up into carrier branded per region. Isn't too hard to fathom.


With S-OFF you can change model ids etc and make it any variant you want and flash any firmware on it. With Samsung you risked a massive screw up.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

 

[rusty-ragster]

HTC are region specific just like Samsung. There's three main variants.

Asian - 2.5GHZ 801
WWE - International 2.3GHZ
US - Same as WWE.

Then just split up into carrier branded per region. Isn't too hard to fathom.


With S-OFF you can change model ids etc and make it any variant you want and flash any firmware on it. With Samsung you risked a massive screw up.

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

i never knew about that being possible with s-off...that line alone just gave me knew hope how hard is getting s-off?