Samsung 42 Galaxy S5 models - Dummies Guide

[mtnbkr88]

It's been a while but I hope you still have the Galaxy S5 knowledge. I live in USA and have an old Galaxy S5 SM-G900V with CSC VZW. This old phone has seen better days and I wanted to replace it with a new Galaxy S5. I bought a mint condition unlocked Galaxy S5 SM-G900V from an ebay seller hoping to just move my SIM card to it and be on my way. Unfortunately it does not connect to 4G LTE. *#1234# shows it came with AP, CP and CSC all equal to G900VVRU2DPG2 (MM 6.0.1). About Phone shows United Arab Emirates. Booting into Recovery shows a CSC value of XSG which is United Arab Emirates. The IMEI reported via software does not match the IMEI stamped under the battery. Is this a case where the phone physically cannot do USA 4G LTE per your comments on a gazillion variations or can I get 4G LTE working by changing the embedded CSC from XSG to XAA. If it's a case of simply changing the embedded CSC to XAA. How can I do that?

Thank you for any insight and help.

 

[Fox Mulder]

If the phone was not made for the US market it is very likely that it does not have the proper radio hardware for use on US networks. There isn't anything you can do about that. Probably best to return it to the seller, hopefully that is an option.
At this point even a "mint" S5 is an old device that may have trouble keeping up with current apps and has limited storage, and of course it stopped getting updates years ago. Presuming it's been sitting around the battery will probably be shot as well, there are no more new OEM Samsung batteries but there may be some aftermarket ones.
As good a phone as the S5 was in its day, I gave up on mine a long time ago and moved on to the S9 I am using now.

 

[mtnbkr88]

I was afraid of that. Thank you for your reply. I have two new batteries. Looks like I'll have to relegate this phone as a full time display for my DJI Mavic Pro controller. Bummer. The S5 is such a good phone. I started down this path a month ago and I was eventually forced to buy a new phone so I got a Galaxy S22. After I bought that I learned it didn't have IR, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and you couldn't replace the battery if it went bad. I hate that every time a new version of something comes out they always sacrifice the little things that made the old versions better. Thanks again.

 

[Fox Mulder]

RF, I assume you mean IR? Yes that was a great feature on the S5 that really should be in more phones.
The internal batteries can be replaced, just with a lot more difficulty that is beyond the ability of most users and has to be done professionally for $$. In the case of a flagship like the S22 it may be worth it if the battery needs replacing in a couple of years while the phone is still viable, with a mid-range or low-end phone not so much.
At least with the S22 you now have a current device with a powerful processor and plenty of storage that will be getting updates for a long time.

 

[mtnbkr88]

RF, I assume you mean IR? Yes that was a great feature on the S5 that really should be in more phones.
The internal batteries can be replaced, just with a lot more difficulty that is beyond the ability of most users and has to be done professionally for $$. In the case of a flagship like the S22 it may be worth it if the battery needs replacing in a couple of years while the phone is still viable, with a mid-range or low-end phone not so much.
At least with the S22 you now have a current device with a powerful processor and plenty of storage that will be getting updates for a long time.

Yes, I meant IR. I edited my post. Thank you.

 

[dave907]

I was afraid of that. Thank you for your reply. I have two new batteries. Looks like I'll have to relegate this phone as a full time display for my DJI Mavic Pro controller. Bummer. The S5 is such a good phone. I started down this path a month ago and I was eventually forced to buy a new phone so I got a Galaxy S22. After I bought that I learned it didn't have IR, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and you couldn't replace the battery if it went bad. I hate that every time a new version of something comes out they always sacrifice the little things that made the old versions better. Thanks again.

Sealed batteries started in 2015 with the S6 after tech journalists complained about how cheap and flimsy the S5's back felt.

 

[dave907]

It's been a while but I hope you still have the Galaxy S5 knowledge. I live in USA and have an old Galaxy S5 SM-G900V with CSC VZW. This old phone has seen better days and I wanted to replace it with a new Galaxy S5. I bought a mint condition unlocked Galaxy S5 SM-G900V from an ebay seller hoping to just move my SIM card to it and be on my way. Unfortunately it does not connect to 4G LTE. *#1234# shows it came with AP, CP and CSC all equal to G900VVRU2DPG2 (MM 6.0.1). About Phone shows United Arab Emirates. Booting into Recovery shows a CSC value of XSG which is United Arab Emirates. The IMEI reported via software does not match the IMEI stamped under the battery. Is this a case where the phone physically cannot do USA 4G LTE per your comments on a gazillion variations or can I get 4G LTE working by changing the embedded CSC from XSG to XAA. If it's a case of simply changing the embedded CSC to XAA. How can I do that?

Thank you for any insight and help.

You were sold an overseas S5 model that was somehow flashed with Verizon's firmware

 

[mtnbkr88]

Sealed batteries started in 2015 with the S6 after tech journalists complained about how cheap and flimsy the S5's back felt.

Tech journalists are often idiots. Most people put their phones in protective cases so it doesn't make any difference. Plus the plastic backed phones are way more tolerant of drops than the glass backed phones.

 

[mtnbkr88]

You were sold an overseas S5 model that was somehow flashed with Verizon's firmware

I know that. I thought all SM-G900V phones had the same hardware but I've learned they don't. I think it's very wrong to make a bunch of different hardware configured phones and call them all the same model number.

 

[dave907]

There is another S5 model called the G900R6. You should add it to the guide and that would make it 43 S5 models.

 

[ironass]

There is another S5 model called the G900R6. You should add it to the guide and that would make it 43 S5 models.

See post #1. The G900R6 is already showing as it was a carrier specific model for Bluegrass Cellular, USA and is a CDMA equipped phone. So, back to 42.