Samsung S6 - aftermarket ROM's?

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MichaelNZ

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#233328 11-Apr-2018 11:58

I have a New Zealand new Samsung S6.

Previously I have flashed Cyanogen onto phones but they were handsets which I could afford to risk. My S6, although a bit dated now, is still quite a decent handset so I'm being a bit more conservative.

Is there a ROM available which is stable, reliable and won't break stuff?

Will flashing a new ROM affect the frequencies supported? I'm in a rural area so don't want to lose 700Mhz coverage.

Thanks in anticipation :-)

WFH Linux Systems and Networks Engineer in the Internet industry | Specialising in Mikrotik | APNIC member | Open to job offers | ZL2NET

bradstewart

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#1994234 11-Apr-2018 12:09

Flashing a custom ROM to the S6 will trip the Knox fuse and you will permanently lose functionality like Samsung Pass, Samsung Pay etc. Additionally Google Pay and anything that depends on Google's SafetyNet validation will failure.

If you not too worried about those then either get an official LineageOS 14.1 build (Android 7.1) or one of the ported ROMS from a newer Samsung device. Something like this from the A8+ https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/development/a8-2018-7-1-1-port-s6-s6edge-note5-t3769743

Flashing a custom ROM won't affect frequencies. The baseband is separate to the ROM.

MichaelNZ

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#1994283 11-Apr-2018 15:06

Thanks @Bradstewart

My #1 aim is to get rid of the baked in crapware, like Facebook for example.

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bradstewart

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#1994289 11-Apr-2018 15:18

@MichaelNZ:

Thanks @Bradstewart

My #1 aim is to get rid of the baked in crapware, like Facebook for example.

If all you want to do is get rid of junk then you might be best to just flash the latest unlocked firmware for the S6 and then uninstall/disable the apps you don't want.

Give this one a try: https://updato.com/firmware-archive-select-model?q=SM-G920I&rpp=15&r=XSA&order=date&dir=desc&exact=1 (XSA is the unbranded Australian firmware - no carrier bloat)

If Facebook etc can't be uninstalled then disabling will have the same effect as you can't reclaim or reuse that space in the system partition for user data anyway. You have to repartition the device for that, and that is an excellent way to have yourself an expensive paperweight.

I used to be a big custom ROM user, hell I even used to compile my own, but for Samsung's since the S6 a debloated stock firmware will give you the best experience. Especially since the Android 7 versions of Samsungs firmwares. A lot of stuff still doesn't work properly, or as well on an AOSP based ROM. You give up a lot to run those too. You can't even install Netflix from the Play Store.

The trade off for rooting/flashing custom ROMs just really isn't worth it anymore.