Not sure if I should buy

[story79]

I have a chance to buy a Galaxy Note 3 and a Galazy note pro 12.2inch from a friend that had a financial hardship. Both devices were turned on with AT&T and both accounts suspended.

If I buy these, and remove the SIMS, could I do a factory reset and get a clean system? i don't care about cell access, just WiFi.

if those work (no they aren't unlocked) i might pick them up (very cheap, mostly the tablet is what I want)

if this is possible just using the hold power and + volume menu i can handle it, if special steps need to be taken I'd appreciate advice.

I tried searching for this question but dind't find much.

 

[ratsttam]

Both will still work as wifi devices, no problem. Since you're getting them from a friend, should be able to release any reactivation locks if applicable, and get you onto the main screen to do a factory reset.

 

[story79]

OK great!

So, what I did was have them remove ALL the accounts in the accounts screen. So google play, facebook, and Samsung's

From what i've read those are the biggies. (at least google and samsung). there is no screenlock or security.

So if I understand right, i can just hold down the power and up volume button booting into the android menu. I use this to empty the deive cache anyway. but I saw a factory reset option.

I just choose that? or is there a better way to do this?

Thanks very much for the help by the way

 

[ratsttam]

Yep. Factory reset is the way to go. 100% clean from there. No minor accounts or stray files from the previous owner. As a side note, ALWAYS factory reset a device before selling it or giving it to someone else.

 

[story79]

Yep. Factory reset is the way to go. 100% clean from there. No minor accounts or stray files from the previous owner. As a side note, ALWAYS factory reset a device before selling it or giving it to someone else.

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, I've always done that. But I've never sold a device that had the account associated suspended and I was afraid somehow it could stop the reset.

Thank you! I do have one other question. I'm assuming it's loading the image from a local storage. is there any way to do a default android install so it's not peppered with the AT*T crud i don't want?

 

[ratsttam]

If the carrier account is suspended (not the google account) you can even have the person remove the "reactivation" lock that's common on newer phones. Depending on if there was a balance on either of those devices will determine if they can ever be used on the carrier again. A note 3 should be paid off by now (or off contract), but I'm not sure how old the tablet one is.