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Don't waste your money on an awful Android tablet on Black Friday
(9to5google.com)
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this post was submitted on 24 Nov 2023
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Android
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I think the Galaxy Tab A8 may be a good option. While I've only flashed a custom ROM, there are root guides at XDA.
Unfortunately, Samsung devices in the US come with locked bootloaders that can't be unlocked (even if bought directly and not from a carrier)
I've unlocked my US Tab S, Tab S2, Tab S5e and Tab S6. I've never had trouble unlocking one.
Is the problem just with mobiles then? I have never had an S series mobile but I've heard about how Samsung devices can't be unlocked even if they are not bought from a carrier
No idea. I avoid their phones but their tablets are the best option for solid performance and AMOLED so I buy them periodically on fleaBay. I suspect it's just a phone thing, I've unlocked every tablet I've owned.
Hmm, I suppose so, since carriers don't sell close to as many tablets. I too really like Samsung tablets but never considered them because I thought they'd be locked. Thanks
Just be aware that there's not much to flash on most models. There's not a large enough community to support an active ROM scene so you're often limited to just unlocking the device and patching the factory image with magisk, occasionally there'll be a non device-specific GSI treble ROM or something but that's about it.
System updates are a pain with a patched device too, it's all by hand work every firmware release. I usually use Frija to grab and decrypt the image and patch it with magisk before updating with Odin.
Ah, I didn't know that Odin was still maintained! Wonderful.
I have never used Frija before; Internet blogs often talk about logcat though. Do you use Frija to get the URL to the payload from the update server?
You use Frija to download and decrypt the full image then patch it with magisk on the device, then copy that back to a PC to flash to the device with Odin. It's :effort: but it's the best workflow I've found. You can download images from the various sites that host decrypted Samsung factory ROMs but Frija is significantly faster.
Thanks, I didn't know this.
I unlocked my US variant WiFi A8.