I am tired of dealing with SGH-I467's (AT&T only) locked bootloader. It makes installing custom ROM impossible. Now I'm thinking of buying and swapping in a mainboard from SGH-I467M (the Canadian version is bootloader UNLOCKED) or GT-N5120 (international version).
1. will this give me an unlocked bootloader without any other hardware change? I know I probably have to swap in a new modem code, but with an unlocked bootloader, any software change is possible
2. will the mainboard from GT-N5120 work in a SGH-I467? I know SGH-I467M's mainboard will for sure work in SGH-I467 because the only difference is the latter has a locked bootloader. Unfortunately, SGH-I467M's mainboard is hard to come by, but GT-N5120's is still available. Although the LTE bands in N5120 are overseas and SGH-I467 has AT&T bands, are they really different hardware, or same hardware with different software?
Any comment is highly appreciated. Thanks
[Updated Feb 9th, 2018] Now I don't think it is doable at all to download SGH-I467 or SGH-I467M's modem code to a GT-N5120 hardware even if the bootloader is unlocked. I have a Canadian Galaxy S4, SGH-I337M (bootloader unlocked, unlike the AT&T version). Since my carrier is U.S. T-Mobile, I tried to download T-Mobile's modem to my S4 thinking it may give me better data rate. Odin prompted Fail! (Auth) and S4 showed Secure Check Fail! After some googling, I realize regardless of unlocked bootloader, these phones/tablets are engineered to check if authorized modem codes are being flashed. I know for sure my S4's bootloader is unlocked because I have installed TWRP for recovery.
Since GT-N5120 has international frequency bands, turning it into a North American tablet is DOA if another carrier's modem code cannot be installed. If anyone questions why a custom ROM can be flashed to a phone/tablet with unlocked bootloader, it is because a custom ROM seldom comes with the modem code!
1. will this give me an unlocked bootloader without any other hardware change? I know I probably have to swap in a new modem code, but with an unlocked bootloader, any software change is possible
2. will the mainboard from GT-N5120 work in a SGH-I467? I know SGH-I467M's mainboard will for sure work in SGH-I467 because the only difference is the latter has a locked bootloader. Unfortunately, SGH-I467M's mainboard is hard to come by, but GT-N5120's is still available. Although the LTE bands in N5120 are overseas and SGH-I467 has AT&T bands, are they really different hardware, or same hardware with different software?
Any comment is highly appreciated. Thanks
[Updated Feb 9th, 2018] Now I don't think it is doable at all to download SGH-I467 or SGH-I467M's modem code to a GT-N5120 hardware even if the bootloader is unlocked. I have a Canadian Galaxy S4, SGH-I337M (bootloader unlocked, unlike the AT&T version). Since my carrier is U.S. T-Mobile, I tried to download T-Mobile's modem to my S4 thinking it may give me better data rate. Odin prompted Fail! (Auth) and S4 showed Secure Check Fail! After some googling, I realize regardless of unlocked bootloader, these phones/tablets are engineered to check if authorized modem codes are being flashed. I know for sure my S4's bootloader is unlocked because I have installed TWRP for recovery.
Since GT-N5120 has international frequency bands, turning it into a North American tablet is DOA if another carrier's modem code cannot be installed. If anyone questions why a custom ROM can be flashed to a phone/tablet with unlocked bootloader, it is because a custom ROM seldom comes with the modem code!
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