[Samsung Galaxy Note 9 Questions & Answers] Bonnox:
Note: it may look like it's my first post, but i actually believe to have already posted on the forum in the past (i'm not sure). I think my account got deleted. Bah, i don't know. Maybe i only wanted to post, but never did.

Also, i'm not a native english speaker, so even if i'm fluent, i may not understand some specific expressions.

And, i noticed that for the second time i posted in the wrong section. i'm stupid today... sorry! ^^" I just noticed that there is a warning to not post in the development thread, but in the general thread. But the general thread is not called "General" but "questions and anwsers" instead?!

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hi all! sorry if i somehow missed something, but i'd like to ask you experts some questions about modding this phone (SM-N960F). In the next days i'd like to buy this phone refurbished: since i don't like the more modern ones (the display shape is really odd, with holes and rounded corners), i went for an ex-flagship to have high quality of everything and still getting sufficient performances for an everyday use.

I've aleady looked around the section a bit, but i have a few questions. Remember, i am willing to read any long post explaining things, and can follow well laid-out instructions, but if they doesn't exist then i become fearful and insecure.

questions:

1)

How to unlock the bootloader?

1.1)

And on this product code (SM-N960F), can it be modded on every stock firmware version?

2)

How (if possible) to re-lock, or, at least, return to stock firmware after the bootloader has been unlocked?

3)

what should i expect to not work? Unfortunately, the single ROMs' pages don't convey many informations. Not only about hardware compatibility, but barely any informations at all.

First, let's assess what this smatphone has and what i don't care about. Is anything left out from the following list?

GSMarena says:

S pen

2 cameras with OIS

Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, dual-band, Wi-Fi Direct, hotspot

Bluetoot 5.0, A2DP, LE, aptX

GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO

Slow motion -> i don't care

Iris scanner, fingerprint (rear-mounted), accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass,

barometer -> i don't care

heart rate -> i don't care

SpO2 -> i don't care

Samsung DeX -> i don't care

ANT+ -> i dont' even know what the hell it is

Samsung Pay -> i don't care

Always on display: i imagine it can easily be reproduced on AOSP with some software running with sufficient privileges.

4)

If there are some specific things to keep in mind when unlocking or flashing. For example, my previous android phones were Sonys (except one easy-to-mod-samsung), so there was a thing called "TA partition", that contains DRM keys or something, and would be wiped upon unlocking the bootloader. If you didn't backup it (through exploits), you would miss some proprietary features. I remember in the old days of smatphone (aka: gingerbread) that samsung too was having some peculiar things to be wary about; i don't remember exactly what it was but it could have worse effects than simply disabling custom DSP features as in Sony, it could even render the phone unable to connect to the network! Where can i find a thread that explains everything that one should pay attention to when modding "modern samsung smartphones"?

Basically, i'd just like a "laundry list" (is this the correct term in english?) of the most useful guides for modding this phone, please. That's because the pinned threads do not answer these important questions, otherwise i could have easily avoided posting this entire topic. The important threads are unfortunately all scattered around.

thanks and greetings! 👋😄