[Galaxy S 4 General] MrC85:
Continuing on from my previous post (#1469) sent a few more emails back and forth with Samsung....

I sent:

Thanks for getting back to me, I have a few more questions/issues for you…

So I can’t downgrade my phone at all? I didn’t agree to have KNOX forced upon my phone so I should be able to have it removed when requested. This should not have been loaded onto my phone with prior warning/consent.

It would appear that it could be removed via rooting, however looking around on forums it would appear that problems with the phones are happening after it has been rooted and the knox flag tripped (wifi issues, rebooting, etc). So does tripping the knox flag actually damage the handset in anyway? Or cause malfunctions in the O/S or applications?

You say that the warranty would be void if the device was rooted, is that the entire warranty? What if the home button breaks (which would be a manufacturing defect)? Would it not be covered because of a software change?

Also in the EU there is legislation that specifically states that rooting a device does NOT void the warranty so are you saying that Samsung is now acting in breach of that?

As for the tripping of the flag, is that enough to determine if the device has been rooted? It seems there are plenty of cases where recovering from a botched update via KIES is enough to trip the flag. Do those unlucky people get no warranty because of that?

Their reply:

Dear Andy,

Samsung does not officially support downgrading of your device but it may be possible to do so. KNOX in the 4.3 Android is similar to the pre-loaded apps from Samsung/carrier - the KNOX app shortcut icon will be present on the home screen but the actual application is not installed on the device until it is done so by the user.

Tripping the KNOX warranty bit only affects the KNOX container - the container can no longer be created on such a device and the data encrypted and stored in an existing KNOX Container can no longer be retrieved. Everything else should work just as before.

The warranty claims are also determined on a case by case basis. However, it was established for the US market that rooting a device represents a breach of warranty. Since Samsung cannot guarantee the normal function of the hardware any longer with a hacked software, any malfunction of the device resulting from the rooting will not be covered under warranty. Please understand that Samsung needs to set a 'general warranty policy' as it cannot foresee every possible device issues related to the warranty claim.

We're currently working with the legal team to draft up Samsung's official policy regarding this matter. We'll post our official policy on our website shortly. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Best regards

Steve

Samsung KNOX Team

www.samsungknox.com

I sent:

Thank you for your continued responses.

I live in the UK which comes under EU legislation which says rooting does not void the hardware warranty.

But I would much rather downgrade the device to remove KNOX than go down the whole rooting avenue but I don’t seem to have much choice in the matter at the moment. You say it may be possible to downgrade, how?

Andy

Their latest reply:

Hi Andy,

I will reach out to our contacts in the UK office to confirm their policy on device rooting.

Unfortunately Samsung does not support downgrading of the devices and we cannot provide instructions on how to do so but I have heard from other customers that this may be possible.

Best regards

Steve

Samsung KNOX Team

www.samsungknox.com

So a lot of non-answers really, at one point I thought I might actually be getting somewhere with the downgrading thing but "apparently" it "may" be possible :rolleyes: