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Anyone understand Samsung phones?

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  1. #1

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    Anyone understand Samsung phones?

    In order to set up a new octopus which worked with my galaxy watch, I purchased a second-hand Samsung phone today. (S8). Seems nice. Downloaded Samsung pay and could not find octopus. Turns out it was a Singapore phone. So I rang Samsung and they said it's impossible to change a Singapore phone to a HK phone. Googled and discovered a code to type in to change the CSC.... But the HK code did not show up. However the Taiwan code did. So I selected that thinking perhaps if I make a small change the HK code will show up later. Well that works. Phone now thinks it's a Taiwan phone....BUT the code I typed in (*#272*IMEI number#, I think) no longer does anything! No idea why.

    Anyone any idea what to try next? I've googled but the very detailed posts confuse the heck of out me....


  2. #2

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    Your Google play app store is controlled by the region in your Google account, not the phone. You probably have your Google account set to Singapore. You can change the Google account region as many times as you want, although it may ask for an address each time.


  3. #3

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    i luv cash, so much less to know.


  4. #4

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    Quote Originally Posted by zzzzzz:
    You can change the Google account region as many times as you want, although it may ask for an address each time.
    You can change the Google account region once per year and you must have a payment method added from that country.
    @HK_Katherine: what country does you Play Store have? It's in the Play Store app under settings - general - account and device preferences - "country and profiles"

    You have to add a HK credit card and HK address to it in order to change it to HK
    Last edited by mrgoodkat; 04-07-2021 at 09:00 AM.

  5. #5

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    Quote Originally Posted by zzzzzz:
    Your Google play app store is controlled by the region in your Google account, not the phone. You probably have your Google account set to Singapore. You can change the Google account region as many times as you want, although it may ask for an address each time.
    I'm fairly sure in this case that's not the issue - the problem is that they don't include/activate the Octopus support in firmware builds for locations other than Hong Kong (reasonably enough). It's probably possible to change that with enough work, but my phone hacking days are long behind me, plus I never paid much attention to Samsung crap anyway...
    shri and alexdown like this.

  6. #6

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    Quote Originally Posted by vmlinuz:
    I'm fairly sure in this case that's not the issue - the problem is that they don't include/activate the Octopus support in firmware builds for locations other than Hong Kong (reasonably enough). It's probably possible to change that with enough work, but my phone hacking days are long behind me, plus I never paid much attention to Samsung crap anyway...
    Yes this is the issue. The firmware on the phone says it comes from Singapore. Or did. Now it says it comes from Taiwan because I managed to make on change... And then the method I used to do that no longer works for reasons which are beyond me. Online it says now I need to install something called Odin and flash it again... But Odin is windows only and I run a Mac.....

  7. #7

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    So I guess the better question might be, does anyone have a suggestion for a reliable person/shop etc which can sort this today at reasonable cost?


  8. #8

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    I have an spare S8....and this weekend I forgot it at the office. So I can't check what's the latest valid firmware from HK so you can try and install that from sammobile. Maybe tomorrow I could read the last firmware I got, and you could try to search for that, provided that we are talking literally the same hardware. The process would be to get the exact firmware file for your phone from sammobile.com, then flashing it to your phone. You need to also download the flashing tool (Odin, I think?). Then the process would be to turn off the phone, boot it in download mode (volume down + power), and hook it to the USB of the PC that runs odin, and flash it.

    This is a process that although not super complicated if tech savvy, mistakes can be made easily (multiple files an options to choose at the Odin app), and the consequences can completely brick your phone! So if you feel uneasy about doing this yourself, I'm sure any shop at the Sin Tat Plaza in Mong Kok should be able to handle this.

    HK_Katherine likes this.

  9. #9

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    Quote Originally Posted by timonoj:
    I have an spare S8....and this weekend I forgot it at the office. So I can't check what's the latest valid firmware from HK so you can try and install that from sammobile. Maybe tomorrow I could read the last firmware I got, and you could try to search for that, provided that we are talking literally the same hardware. The process would be to get the exact firmware file for your phone from sammobile.com, then flashing it to your phone. You need to also download the flashing tool (Odin, I think?). Then the process would be to turn off the phone, boot it in download mode (volume down + power), and hook it to the USB of the PC that runs odin, and flash it.

    This is a process that although not super complicated if tech savvy, mistakes can be made easily (multiple files an options to choose at the Odin app), and the consequences can completely brick your phone! So if you feel uneasy about doing this yourself, I'm sure any shop at the Sin Tat Plaza in Mong Kok should be able to handle this.
    This is what I was going to do... Until I read that doing it removes some security or something and then stops samsung pay from working. I downloaded Odin and everything. I searched for the firmware and there is no HK version for my exact model number. Would a similar model number work do you think?

  10. #10

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    Why did you buy a Singapore version phone to use in HK?

    Honestly with someone like you, you should stick to officially bought stuff.

    ReleaseZeKraken and blueagles like this.

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