[Note 7 Questions & Answers] jcadduono:
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Welcome to my Galaxy Note 7 All-In-One Information & Answers thread!

Here I'll try to consolidate all the facts so you can decide which variant you want, how to root it, and how to upgrade it manually.

REGARDING BATTERY EXPLOSIONS / RUPTURE / FIRE / END OF THE WORLD

Update: Issue in design of battery, affected all batteries including replacements, return your Note 7. Get a full refund ASAP while you still can. If you bought it from an unauthorized dealer through eBay, contact your seller and if that doesn't work, contact eBay and report it as not working as advertised and eBay will take care of you.

KNOWN GALAXY NOTE 7 VARIANTS

SM-N930A - USA (AT&T)

Processor: Snapdragon 820

Bootloader: Locked (no custom kernels/recovery)

CDMA network compatible: Yes

Root available: Yes (N930P userdebug firmware, no updating!)

Colors: Blue Coral, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx

RAM: 4 GB

Storage: 64 GB

Explosive: Kaboom!

SM-N930T - USA (T-Mobile)

Processor: Snapdragon 820

Bootloader: Locked (no custom kernels/recovery)

CDMA network compatible: Yes

Root available: Yes (N930P userdebug firmware, no updating!)

Colors: Blue Coral, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx

RAM: 4 GB

Storage: 64 GB

Explosive: Kaboom!

Extra notes: Includes FM radio broadcast receiving support via earbud antenna.

SM-N930R4 - USA (US Cellular)

Processor: Snapdragon 820

Bootloader: Locked (no custom kernels/recovery)

CDMA network compatible: Yes

Root available: Yes (N930P userdebug firmware, no updating!)

Colors: Blue Coral, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx

RAM: 4 GB

Storage: 64 GB

Explosive: Kaboom!

SM-N930P - USA (Sprint)

Processor: Snapdragon 820

Bootloader: Locked (no custom kernels/recovery)

CDMA network compatible: Yes

Root available: Yes (N930P userdebug firmware, no updating!)

Colors: Blue Coral, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx

RAM: 4 GB

Storage: 64 GB

Explosive: Kaboom!

SM-N930V - USA (Verizon)

Processor: Snapdragon 820

Bootloader: Locked (no custom kernels/recovery)

CDMA network compatible: Yes

Root available: Yes (N930P userdebug firmware, no updating!)

Colors: Blue Coral, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx

RAM: 4 GB

Storage: 64 GB

Explosive: Kaboom!

SM-N930W8 - Canada

Processor: Snapdragon 820

Bootloader: Locked (no custom kernels/recovery)

CDMA network compatible: Yes

Root available: Yes (N930P userdebug firmware, no updating!)

Colors: Blue Coral, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx

RAM: 4 GB

Storage: 64 GB

Explosive: Kaboom!

SM-N9300 - China Duos (Dual Sim)

Processor: Snapdragon 820

Bootloader: CROM Unlockable

CDMA network compatible: Yes

Root available: Yes (Official Snapdragon TWRP and SuperSU 2.77+!)

Colors: Blue Coral, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx

RAM: 4 GB

Storage: 64 GB

Explosive: Kaboom!

SM-N930K - Korea (KT Corp / Olleh)

Processor: Exynos 8890

Bootloader: Unlocked

CDMA network compatible: No

Root available: Yes (Official TWRP and SuperSU 2.77+!)

Colors: Blue Coral, Gold Platinum, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx

RAM: 4 GB

Storage: 64 GB

Explosive: Kaboom!

Extra notes: Includes TDMB broadcast receiving support.

SM-N930L - Korea (LG Uplus)

Processor: Exynos 8890

Bootloader: Unlocked

CDMA network compatible: No

Root available: Yes (Official TWRP and SuperSU 2.77+!)

Colors: Blue Coral, Gold Platinum, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx

RAM: 4 GB

Storage: 64 GB

Explosive: Kaboom!

Extra notes: Includes TDMB broadcast receiving support.

SM-N930S - Korea (SK Telecom)

Processor: Exynos 8890

Bootloader: Unlocked

CDMA network compatible: No

Root available: Yes (Official TWRP and SuperSU 2.77+!)

Colors: Blue Coral, Gold Platinum, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx

RAM: 4 GB

Storage: 64 GB

Explosive: Kaboom!

Extra notes: Includes TDMB broadcast receiving support.

SM-N930F - International

Processor: Exynos 8890

Bootloader: Unlocked

CDMA network compatible: No

Root available: Yes (Official TWRP and SuperSU 2.77+!)

Colors: Blue Coral, Gold Platinum, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx

RAM: 4 GB

Storage: 64 GB

Explosive: Kaboom!

SM-N930FD - International Duos (Dual Sim)

Processor: Exynos 8890

Bootloader: Unlocked

CDMA network compatible: No

Root available: Yes (Official TWRP and SuperSU 2.77+!)

Colors: Blue Coral, Gold Platinum, Silver Titanium, Black Onyx

RAM: 4 GB

Storage: 64 GB

Explosive: Kaboom!

Extra notes: Uses N930F firmware, compatible with N930F roms.

DOWNLOADING FIRMWARE FOR YOUR DEVICE

You can download entire stock firmware flashable packages from Updato:

http://updato.com/firmware-archive-select-model

Linux or Windows users with wget are able to download firmware from command line with support for pause and resume.

To do this, you need to visit the download page on Updato of the firmware you want and get two URLs.

The first URL is the actual zip link which you can get by right clicking the big yellow download button on a firmware page.

The second URL is the download page you are on which will be used for hot link verification.

For example,

Zip URL: http://fws01.updato.com/SM-N930FD/SM-N930FD/SIN/SM-N930FD_1_20160812154228_q0nr08ylnc_fac.zip
Download Page URL: http://updato.com/firmware-archive-select-model?record=558E2E3C663011E69A56FA163EE8F90B

Next, open a terminal and run the command:

wget -c "Zip URL" --referer="Download Page URL"

The firmware should download fairly quickly. As more people learn about this site, it may slow to a crawl though.

FLASHING YOUR FIRMWARE WITH ODIN

Windows users will want Odin v3.12.3 or later, which you can download here verified clean with safe default settings from my server:

https://idlekernel.com/flash-tools/

You will also need the Samsung USB Mobile drivers for Odin to recognize your device properly:

http://developer.samsung.com/technical-doc/view.do?v=T000000117

Firmware for the Note 7 comes in a zip file which contains multiple .tar.md5 files.

AP_*.tar.md5 - contains system, boot, and recovery images. Flash in AP slot to upgrade/install your stock ROM.

BL_*.tar.md5 - contains bootloader images. Flash in BL slot to upgrade your bootloaders.

CP_*.tar.md5 - contains modem image. Flash in CP slot to upgrade your baseband.

CSC_*.tar.md5 - contains PIT (partition information table) file and cache image which boots recovery, wipes your data, and installs carrier apps/settings. Flash in CSC slot for full factory restore/reset.

HOME_CSC_*.tar.md5 - contains cache image which boots recovery and installs carrier apps/settings. Flash in CSC slot when doing a stock ROM upgrade in AP slot.

Unless you're doing a full factory restore/reset, use the HOME_CSC_*.tar.md5 not the CSC_*.tar.md5!

Once you've decided which files & partitions you want to flash, all you should need to do is hit the [Start] button.

SOME ODIN OPTIONS EXPLAINED

Auto Reboot - Once the firmware finishes flashing, the phone will attempt to reboot.

Re-Partition - Used to flash a PIT (partition information table) that will rebuild your GPT and tell Odin and your bootloader where each partition starts and ends as well as the name of files meant for flashing the partition.

Phone Bootloader Update - Doesn't seem necessary to select when flashing bootloaders, so unsure of purpose. May be for primary bootloaders which aren't normally part of firmware packages.

Nand Erase All - Wipes the just the data partition (ROM settings, apps, and internal storage) to nothing but zeros. This means whoever gets your phone next won't be able to recover any of your previous data from the phone.

Phone EFS Clear - Reformats your EFS partition. This deletes calibration data and some small caches, you will want to flash full stock ROM when using this so it can properly restore itself. Your device will recalibrate all of its sensors on the next boot.

INSTALLING A CUSTOM RECOVERY

This section only applies to the unlocked bootloader Exynos devices!

Custom recoveries (in tar format) can be flashed in the AP slot. When flashing a custom recovery, you will want to turn off the Auto-Reboot option.

You can exit download mode using the [Volume Down] + [Home] + [Power] button combination.

If you are flashing a custom recovery, you should

immediately swap [Volume Down] to [Volume Up]

when the screen blanks (device reboots).

If you fail to do so, the stock ROM's system will replace the custom recovery with the stock recovery.

The Note 7 will refuse to boot if the system partition is modified or mounted rw, so you'll need to disable the verity protection.

You can do this by flashing the latest no-verity-opt-encrypt zip in your custom recovery.

Download here: https://idlekernel.com/fun-stuff-trust-me/no-verity-opt-encrypt/

The Note 7 also appears to have forced encryption and formatting the data partition after flashing the no-verity-opt-encrypt zip will not stop it from happening.

This can be fixed by replacing the vold and init binary with one from the S7 APx firmware. HydraKernel and Kali NetHunter are able to do this for you so far.

Full instructions are available in the TWRP XDA threads below.

Team Win Recovery Project (Exynos devices): http://xdaforums.com/note-7/development/recovery-official-twrp-galaxy-note-7-t3446047

Team Win Recovery Project (Snapdragon devices): http://xdaforums.com/note-7/development/recovery-official-twrp-galaxy-note-7-t3458413

ROOTING YOUR EXYNOS OR (CHINA SNAPDRAGON) DEVICE

Chainfire has come up with a patch to remove the anti-root restrictions from Samsung's arm64 kernels.

You can now use SuperSU 2.77 or newer to root the Note 7 while in TWRP.

Download the latest SuperSU here: https://download.chainfire.eu/supersu

You can also use older versions of SuperSU or other rooting methods after patching your boot image with Chainfire's patch via my Samsung Anti-Root Protection Removal tool:

Find it here: https://idlekernel.com/fun-stuff-trust-me/samsung-antiroot-removal/

ROOTING YOUR SNAPDRAGON DEVICE WITH THE SPRINT NOTE 7 USERDEBUG LEAK

See original Sprint SM-N930P thread here by freeza: http://xdaforums.com/sprint-note-7/how-to/root-super-leaky-bros-sprint-galaxy-t3447202

Verizon SM-N930V thread by LRiley: http://xdaforums.com/verizon-note-7/how-to/root-vzw-note-7-t3448711

T-Mobile SM-N930T thread by ethanscooter: http://xdaforums.com/tmobile-note-7/how-to/how-to-root-t-mobile-note-7-using-t3448844

AT&T SM-N930A thread by goonygugle: http://xdaforums.com/att-note-7/how-to/root-based-off-super-leaky-brother-t3448430

US Cellular SM-N930R4 thread not available yet.

Canadian SM-N930W8 thread not available yet.

CUSTOM KERNEL DEVELOPMENT

Developers and interested users looking to learn can take a look at my Exynos 8890 kernel repository.

I've added the option to build for the different variants/devices to my kernel repository based off a single base defconfig you can modify (initially for building TWRP, but I will move onto custom system kernels when I can).

It can also build for the S7/S7 edge if you want to be diverse.

You can find it here: https://github.com/jcadduono/android..._universal8890

You'll also need a toolchain. I wrote up a full guide here on how to build your own custom kernel!

There's a few different branches:

opensource - This is where I commit changes from Samsung OSRC updated releases. It's entirely unmodified.

stock-6.0 - Improved build system and fixes to Samsung sources that allows for easy error-free building and modification. This is the branch I recommend using.

stock-6.0.y - This is like the stock-6.0 branch but is updated for the latest Linux stable kernel. (ex. 3.18.43 instead of 3.18.14)

twrp-6.0 - These are the kernel sources used for official TWRP for Note 7, S7, and S7 edge. You can take a look and cherry-pick patches from here if you like. It has a minimal configuration meant for TWRP and won't run on any ROMs.

nethunter-6.0 - These are the kernel sources used for Kali NetHunter for the Note 7, S7, and S7 edge. Lots going on here to play with.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: If I flash a custom recovery will it trip the Knox warranty bit?

A: Yes. The Iris and Fingerprint scanners will still function, but Secure Storage may not. This is the same case with custom kernels.

Q: Will the Exynos variant work with my carrier?

A: In Canada, it covers all GSM bands just like the Canadian Galaxy S7.

In the US, it will not work with CDMA technology, so if you used it on Verizon, Sprint, or US Cellular, you would miss out on much of their coverage. It will work fine with most T-Mobile & AT&T towers.

You can find a list of supported bands and compare with your carrier here: https://www.frequencycheck.com/comp...930fd-galaxy-note-7-duos-td-lte/united-states

Q: Will my Snapdragon variant ever get custom recovery?

A: No. There's a chain of signature and checksum validation that prevents aboot from accepting unsigned images for flash or boot.

The only way is if an unlocked/engineering ABOOT bootloader is released with signature enforcement disabled. This will likely never happen.