Missing settings on O2 locked Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

[Typhoon1944]

I upgraded from a pay monthly SIM only deal to a Galaxy Note 4 on 03 May.  After a few days checking it out, I've noticed that some of the settings that should be available aren't there.  The only ones I can remember at the moment are things like the Home Screen settings are not there, Transition Effects, unable to remove the Flipboard Notification page and there's no option to set an unlock effect such as "Ripple", but I'm sure there are others.  Things like the Flipboard and Ripple effect aren't that important but I think it's strange that a brand new phone seems to be running a cut down version of Kit Kat.  My S4 Mini DUOS had all options available.

Having carried out a Google search I've found that some US carriers will remove settings from their locked versions of Android and it would appear that O2 are doing the same.  However, I had a live chat with a customer services rep earlier and she advised that a 4 day old handset was faulty and to return it to the store.  I'm pretty sure the handset is fine as my partner upgraded her contract on the same day, (to the same phone), and her settings are exactly the same as mine so I'd be fairly confident at staking £10 that it's O2 customising the OS rather than a hardware fault.

I have requested an unlock so I can at least connect to Samsung KIES and download the full ROM directly from Samsung but the unlock will take 7 days and I'd rather not have the hassle of doing a software update until Lollipop is released.

Has anyone else come across this and is there anything I can do easily restore the missing settings?

[MI5]

Lollipop has already been released so no idea why you are stil on KK.

[Typhoon1944]

Thanks for the reply.  I have no idea either but it's still showing up as 4.4.4 and tapping on the Android version brings up the Kit Kat logo.  Checking the Software Updates section in Device hasn't brought anything up and it's ticked to Auto Update.  However, presumably the O2 version of Lollipop will also have these options removed or disabled?

[Anonymous]

@MI5 would the phone be pre installed with KK from the factory & that's why it wasn't on lollipop automatically

[Typhoon1944]

@Anonymous It probably did have Kit Kat installed in the factory but what makes me think it's an O2 version of the OS is that, when starting, shutting down or rebooting the phone it plays an O2 logo video and that's why I'm wondering if O2 have removed access to certain settings.  Why they would do that I have no idea but it wouldn't surprise me if they did.  It's just frustrating that, when trying to access an option that someone on YouTube is demonstrating, it's absent from my phone.  If I wanted to have access to my phone restricted, I'd have got an iPhone.

I appreciate the advice though.

[Anonymous]

It's definitely an O2 version then & it will have O2 branded settings installed, you can get certain settings with different carriers but have you phoned cs to ask them

[Typhoon1944]

Yes, they said it was a faulty device (!) and I was supposed to drive 20 miles to the nearest O2 store to get them to replace it.  My partner was with me on Sunday and ended up upgrading her phone at the same time and she also got the Note 4.  She's missing the same options as I am so I know it's not the device and it would have been really annoying to drive all that way for the shop staff to tell me what I pretty much already know.  While I was talking to customer services I asked them to unlock the phone so I'll probably just wait for the unlock to complete and then download the Lollipop update through KIES.

[Anonymous]

You need to pay off your refresh contract in full before they will unlock the phone.

You don't need to have it unlocked to download lollipop. You should get a notification saying it's ready to download on the phone or try through KIES

[Typhoon1944]

OK, I'll give it a try tonight but there's definitely no notifications on the phone to say there's any updates available.  I'm concerned that it'll still be the O2 version of Lollipop and consequently the missing settings will still be missing. 

The customer service rep I spoke to took the IMEI of the phone and advised I'd get an email within 7 days with an unlock code, at which point I had to insert a SIM from different carrier, enter the code and then re-insert my O2 SIM.  Has she given me dodgy information?  I made a point of telling her that I only upgraded on Sunday so she was aware that my contract had just been renewed.

[Anonymous]

Maybe @MI5 or @jonsie can clarify