Can I install US firmware on an (unlocked) Canadian S7?

[MacGuru96]

I was an international student in Canada when the S7 came out, so I bought the phone through the carrier I was with in Canada (Wind), and had it unlocked before leaving so I could use it with T-Mobile when I returned to the US.

Now that I'm back in the US for the summer, I'd like to take advantage of the exclusive features that have yet to be made available on Canadian devices, such as Android and Samsung Pay.

Would acquiring such features be as simple as flashing a US firmware onto the device? If so, is there a carrier-free version I should choose, or would T-Mobile's be my only option?

(This is my first experience with doing this, as my previous phones–a Nexus 5X and before that many, many iPhones–didn't have such irritantingly region-specific firmware.)

Thanks!

 

[chanchan05]

Nope. Firmwares are device specific, so unless you've read somewhere that the firmware is compatible, you may end up bricking your phone. Even the same devices may have different components. For example, as I understand US phones generally have SnapDragon processors, as opposed to other countries where there usually are Exynos processor running devices.

 

[anon(9408097)]

I was an international student in Canada when the S7 came out, so I bought the phone through the carrier I was with in Canada (Wind), and had it unlocked before leaving so I could use it with T-Mobile when I returned to the US.

Now that I'm back in the US for the summer, I'd like to take advantage of the exclusive features that have yet to be made available on Canadian devices, such as Android and Samsung Pay.

Would acquiring such features be as simple as flashing a US firmware onto the device? If so, is there a carrier-free version I should choose, or would T-Mobile's be my only option?

(This is my first experience with doing this, as my previous phones–a Nexus 5X and before that many, many iPhones–didn't have such irritantingly region-specific firmware.)

Thanks!

Check your model version. Like SMG930F etc. Go into settings about phone and see the model number. And report it here.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[ironass]

Canadian carrier, Wind = Galaxy S7 model SM-G930W8 which has an Exynos octa core chipset and therefore cannot run T-Mobile (USA) Snapdragon quad core firmware.