Thanks,
Its for my daughter who is strapped for cash and at £230 its a good deal. Seems to work fine so we will keep it. she is not bothered about getting lollipop. The seller says it can be returned to their UK address in the event of any warranty claim.

the CSC is OJV, which is used in countries in the middle east mainly
go into settings, then down the bottom to "about device"
half way down it tells you under firmware United Arab Emirates

It's the exact same handset as European S5, only Samsung don't honour the 2 year warranty it should have.
The seller offers his own 1 year warranty, but he's on Ebay and from another country, I'd rather pay to get mine fixed if it broke. So I returned mine. Hope I've helped.

Hi Minted

It returns:

AP:G900FXXU1ANC9
CP:G900FXXU1ANCE
CSC:G900FOJV1ANCD

Will do. Back in UK tomorrow

Returns address I was given was Salford. Not sure if this would also be the case for warranty returns

Also, is it definitely a 900F and not the Exynos 900H sold in a lot of the middle east?

Sure will keep you postet. Expecting delivery on Monday.

In the end I opted for an Argos refurbed one with 12 month warranty on ebay for £192 with the 20% code valid today between 4pm and 10pm. Heres the link

ebay

Argos offer a 12 month warranty with these phones, so for any problems they're your first port of call. However there's a decent chance the handset will also have some of the 24 month Samsung warranty remaining too. It's easy and free to find out once you have the IMEI.

The ebay code is CUKFLASH. Expires at 10pm tonight.

See this old thread for comments on Argos refurbished Samsung Galaxy S5's. On the whole it seems they are as new condition, but if not exchange it I suppose?

http://www.hotukdeals.com/deals/refurbished-sim-free-samsung-galaxy-s5-black-blue-gold-argos-ebay-220-96-198-86-2263790

go-to keypad and enter *#1234# and post the 3 results

settings/about device/build number
sometimes you need to Google the build to see its origin, but it clearly stated United Arab Emirates under build.

Could you post the results from my next post? How was the seal on your box? mine fell off in my hand lol, which was worrying

the handsets on pixmania are from Hong Kong according to the seller, which Samsung again won't entertain you with. meaning having to send the handset to the seller if you have any problems

Might that also be why it doesn't seem to have a lollipop update available? Or might it be because I haven't put a simple in yet?

Interesting thanks. Mine all seems fine. How did you find out it was a UAE phone?

Is Pixmania reliable site ? Is this S5 UK model SM-G900F ?
I am planning to buy one ... just checking before I go ahead ...

I think its useful to point out whether a phone has a removable battery or not - beyond that people can make up their own minds about whether they want it or not - arguing about the advantages and disadvantages endlessly on HUKD is pointless and boring.

The benefit of a removable battery is switching a depleted one with a full one.
Do you understand? :smirk:

Black / White £240/£245 at Exponline Ebay. seem at least as reliable as Pixmania and some of its 3rd party sellers.

Context is a wonderful thing if you understand it.

Nobody was complaining until you walked in...

Your point is? I can't change the battery on my S6 and yet I don't complain that the battery isn't removable? Ahh I see. I can get by just fine through out the day without needing to swap the battery out and I'd end up smashing any phone where I had to carry another battery with me to swap out. The battery life is poor but not that poor.

Avoid Pixmania, Simply Electronics. You wouldn't want to deal with them.

Nice price but ..Pixmania

That is one of my favourite sites, good to know i'm on the track. cheers!

XDA developers is the only site you need.

Yeah the S6 has the hardware for great performance potential and i agree certain bloatware can restrict it.
I personally like my phones to be like leatherman multi tools, i would love to squeeze out as much functionality as possible, there seems to be so many ROM's out there and choosing the one that ticks the most boxes seems to be difficult, do you know of any reliable sites that would help me make the right choice ?

Modding can afford you many features over stock, it just depends if you need them. Everytime I've modded any Android phone I've owned it's got better battery life and slicker operation. I'd expect that on the S6 which doesn't really show off its power with stock firmware.

Hopefully the Marshamllow update will solve the battery charge problems, otherwise it's great that you always have the option to mod it as you mentioned, so i dont think you have much to worry about.
I have been interested in modding my Note 3 but i currently don't have any complaints to justify it, but nevertheless, i love tinkering so once i learn enough about it, i'll be modding mine too.

My S6 will be excellent when it gets Marshmallow, and if the EE firmware isn't great, I will mod it and then it will be great anyway.

I appreciate that and i'm sure you have very good reasons for your preference.
That's why i like Samsung as a company, they give us choice and aim to offer a device to suit everybody.

Yeah it's not a criticism, just for some people the Note 3 is too big, it was for me and I have large hands. I just don't like a phone that big.

I actually own the Note 3 and i personally don't find it too big at all, in fact it is one of a small minority of phones that has the largest screen to body ratio (74.2%)
The original Note was called "too big" when it was first released and now it has been accepted by many more people as workable and the huge success of the following Note series would back that up.
Obviously everybody has their own criteria, but i suggested the Note 4 , due to the fact that furious1978 was considering the Note 5, which suggests that he doesn't find it too big either.

Yeah this is getting boring now to be honest, I've given my opnion and I'm not changing it.

Makes a big difference to people who plan to hold on to their phone for several years - all batteries have a limited number of recharge cycles. Much as the phone companies try to market it, we don't need to change phones every 2-3 years. You might be happy to do so, others might not.

..and I'm saying how often does some one really need to change a battery? How crucial is that feature? It's minor at least. I had a Nexus 4 since 2012 and the battery still works in it now. I use it to test new ROM builds. 2.5 years and I've already replaced it with an S6. So a removable battery as a feature is not a reason in my opinion to choose a phone.

Semantics. Can it be changed easily by the user buying a battery themselves? Not true in many cases (hence the term non-removal batteries). Really not sure why you're arguing this point so hard unless you were looking to be disagreeable on a Monday morning.

The OP counts being able to change the battery in the S5 as one of the desired reasons to pick one over the S6. OP also doesn't mention at any point that being able to change the battery is a feature of the S5 (or any other phone).

NO I said every phone can have the battery changed and that is true.

There are several phone models out there with no access to switch out the battery. So not quite any phone. The options in those cases are pretty limited.

In any case, the OP's list was specifically a comparison between the S5 and the S6 so your arguments that batteries can be changed on any phone is very much off the mark.

Just pay £60 more and get the G4.

The battery can be replaced in the S5 in seconds by anyone without costing anything more than the cost of the battery - that is a benefit over other phones, not a "useless feature" as you call it.

The Note 4 is an excellent phone, buy many people would find it too big. I bought a Note 3 to try and it was too big for me which is why I went for the Galaxy S6, which turned out to be a fail because of the battery life.

Whether I assume that or not is irrelevant, the battery can be changed on any phone without costing a fortune.

not sure which Samsung to buy so many good deals atm, only decider would be does anyone know if you can use a samsung note 5 here in UK? I've seen simply electronics I think selling them.

The deal is good but the fact that the phone won't officially receive Android 6 makes it cold too me. That taken into account, I'll abstain from voting.

Actually you're wrong the s6 battery is sealed in and cannot be easily replaced, it requires a technically minded person to do it or send it away. The functionality of carrying an extra battery around that can easily be replaced in a few seconds is a feature.

sound a bit special there mate...
I'm sure everyone can afford to replace handsets every 2 years like yourself.
or are able to charge the phone twice a day. not everyone sits at a desk at work

You're assuming others will only keep the phone for two years. For others, replacing the battery is a much cheaper and sensible option than getting another new phone

Think I'd rather go with LG G3 or spend another £50 for the G4 :smiley: voted hot if you are looking for Samsung device.

Waiting for prize to go down

Is this S5 or S5+?

Well aren't you hopelessly wrong there. I'm am S6 user, who doesn't particularly like the S6 but it's not because of lack of 'features'. It's the crap battery life. The battery works, just not long enough, do I need to take the back off the phone to replace the battery NO. I just charge it up again. The battery should last my contract term of 2 years, but I won't be keeping the phone that long anyway.

Avoid Pixmania, dreadful service. Took them about three months to give me a refund on a faulty handset, and I had to pay extra for "Zen" cover to allow me to do that!

You can replace the battery in any phone regardless, so it's not a feature. Every phone I've owned has managed a battery life of 2 years and by then I've replaced the phone.

Water resistant -GOOD
Longer battery life - GOOD
External SD slot - DEBATABLE Feature
Battery not sealed in the handset - USELESS FEATURE

Good price but avoid the retailer... customer service is rubbish...

What's the best rom for this ?

I have one, and like it, but can't stand touchwiz, and have heard that Cyanogenmod is buggy.

Code needed for this price is now BIRTHDAY.

Agree with your comments, but I'm waiting for it to be £200.

Cheaper at 240 GBP @ gadget monocle . Am not sure whether this is reliable site? any idea ?

http://www.gadgetmonocle.com/products/samsung-galaxy-s5-lte-16gb-g900f-white-sim-free-unlocked?variant=962990872&gclid=CjwKEAjwkK6wBRCcoK_tiOT-zFASJAC7RArils-1Rfl0Jan9MDhqZ0S6RR0a1_K134HqnFqOKdC6IRoCbuvw_wcB

Seems a decent deal, been looking for my mum. Says its a European model how does this affect its use, im locked into OS and not sure about this android sorcery. Cheers