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Anyone understand Samsung phones?

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  1. #11

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    She might have bought second hand. You can get here unknowingly some shady origin phones second hand. After I carelessly got one a few years back, I noticed it had burned in AT&T icons on the screen. So...yeah, you never know here.

    Regarding the KNOX status which I guess you might be referring to, you shouldn't be able to trip it if you're still installing 100% original firmwares, unmodified on any way. AFAIK sammobile only hosts original firmwares. You should be able to change between countries/zones by swapping the firmwares (bearing in mind there's always at least two versions of any samsung phone, the Exynos and the Qualcomm CPU versions...then sometimes variations with/without extra SIM, or SD card slot). If it's a different model (like, different physical hardware) it should refuse it, but I'd rather not try that. And if you install some modded firmware, that's when the Knox fuse will be tripped, and Samsung Pay (and many other Samsung secure-related features) will be locked permanently and rendered useless.

    A lot of more detailed guides and info might be available in XDA forums.

    Last edited by timonoj; 04-07-2021 at 01:57 PM.
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  2. #12

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    Or get a brand new Octopus card for $50, which just works.


  3. #13

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    Quote Originally Posted by pin:
    Why did you buy a Singapore version phone to use in HK?

    Honestly with someone like you, you should stick to officially bought stuff.
    Because I had no idea it was. Turns out neither did the vendor, and he swapped it for a similar HK version today - which was pretty good I thought. I didn't need a new phone - turns out I didn't need the second hand one either - but I saved myself about 7k in finding that out!
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  4. #14

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    Quote Originally Posted by timonoj:
    She might have bought second hand. You can get here unknowingly some shady origin phones second hand. After I carelessly got one a few years back, I noticed it had burned in AT&T icons on the screen. So...yeah, you never know here.

    Regarding the KNOX status which I guess you might be referring to, you shouldn't be able to trip it if you're still installing 100% original firmwares, unmodified on any way. AFAIK sammobile only hosts original firmwares. You should be able to change between countries/zones by swapping the firmwares (bearing in mind there's always at least two versions of any samsung phone, the Exynos and the Qualcomm CPU versions...then sometimes variations with/without extra SIM, or SD card slot). If it's a different model (like, different physical hardware) it should refuse it, but I'd rather not try that. And if you install some modded firmware, that's when the Knox fuse will be tripped, and Samsung Pay (and many other Samsung secure-related features) will be locked permanently and rendered useless.

    A lot of more detailed guides and info might be available in XDA forums.
    So, the good news was that I took it back to the shop, explained the problem and he swapped it without a fuss to another similar secondhand S8. Also a nice phone.

    This time I checked in the shop that it was a HK version.

    Took it home and tried again to install Samsung Pay. Got the phone working great; got my Smart Octopus up and running (even used it to register for my consumption vouchers later); but STILL could not get an octopus on my watch which was the whole point of the exercise originally. Turns out that the Samsung Pay on the phone and the Samsung Pay on the watch (which is also on the phone) are different and don't talk to each other; most HK credit cards won't load onto the watch-linked version; nor the smart octopus. So I never achieved my objective; but at least I got a new Octopus. And a new SIM-less phone for the leavehomesafe APP since my other (even older) phone is on its last legs. What a crazy day. Thanks for those who helped.

    The second hand phone guy is in the electronics mall opposite Galleria in Tseun Wan, if anyone wants to know the whereabouts of a legit second hand sales person who replaced something that didn't do the one thing I had asked him (when I purchased it) it would do.

  5. #15

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    I think Samsung Pay allows you to back up your Octopus card, provided you're going to install it onto some other phone (I think the option to save it also removes it from the phone, or completely uninstall the app, I'm not 100% sure). Maybe once saved, can it be restored onto the watch?

    ...But I would have tried this BEFORE registering for the scheme. Not sure if restoring the octopus elsewhere will keep the same octopus number.