Samsung Galaxy Note 3 can now be region unlocked thanks to RegionLock Away

Remember that pesky region restriction on the Galaxy Note 3 that has gotten Samsung a lot of flack for lately? That may now be a thing of the past thanks to XDA elite developer Chainfire’s new app that will open up the device to territories previously unavailable.

The gist of the matter is that the Galaxy Note 3, and apparently some other handsets once the appropriate update has been applied, are configured to work only with SIM cards in the region they were bought in. While this won’t affect normal usage, it becomes a huge obstacle to people who routinely travel to other countries, as they will be forced to use their original SIM card, and accumulate roaming charges, instead of being able to switch to a cheaper local SIM. Although Samsung has issued a statement clarifying the issue, as well as a way out of the problem, the problem still exists for majority of uses and the damage has somewhat been done to tarnish Samsung’s image.

XDA’s Chainfire might have another solution at hand via an app called RegionLock Away. It seems that the region lock mechanism is based on a blacklist that blocks carriers and countries from functioning. Sounds simple enough, but there are a few caveats. First, as with most apps of such nature, the Galaxy Note 3 has to be rooted in order for it to work. Secondly, it only works on device models SM-N9005 that are running MI7 firmware version. Meet these requirement and you’re good to go. Here’s a video showing how the RegionLock Away works.

Such methods might not be to every user’s taste and some might prefer to go the official route via a SIM unlocking procedures. Still, it’s good to know that the developer community have made an alternative, just in case.

SOURCE: XDA Develoeprs