View source for Samsung Galaxy A10

Notes from a customer getting our SIMs to work with this handset:

The Samsung Galaxy A10 retails at Carphone Warehouse for around £139
It is an Android 9 device, which dual SIM capability.
It requires nano-SIM size cards, which may require some work with
cutters to make A&A SIMs fit.

There is a warning on the box "European SIM cards only".

The phone does not recognise A&A SIMs as European SIMs and requires an
unlock code to turn off the regional locking 'feature', which is built
into the phone.  This process is not required if the phone is activated
with a SIM that it does recognise.

This region lock is NOT a network lock (as the phone is sold SIM-free).
Some networks are not selling handsets locked to specific networks any
more, although BT and Vodaphone still are.  This may change following
this announcement from OFCOM
https://www.ofcom.org.uk/about-ofcom/latest/media/media-releases/2019/ban-on-mobile-firms-selling-locked-phones

There is a leaflet inside the box which goes into some detail in 26
different languages, the english section of which reads:

----
European model. THis product should be activated with a SIM card issued
by a mobile operator within Europe (as defined EU/EEA, Switzerland, and
the following Non-EEA countries: Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and
Herzegovena, Former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, Monaco, Montenegro,
San Marion, Serbia and Vatican City).  To use SIM cards from other
regions, a cumulative call of five minutes must first be made with the
SIM card from European operators.  If a SIM card issued from another
region is used for activation, the phone may not work. In this case, the
device will need to be released at the nearest Samsung service center.
----

The practical upshot of this is that with only an A&A SIM card
installed, the phone will prompt for a PIN number (which is not any PIN
number that may associated with the SIM), but will allow you to use the
device over WiFi, but will not recognise the SIM.  No calls or mobile
data, incoming or outgoing will be possible, as the phone will not
attempt to register the SIM with the network.

In my case, I worked around this by buying an EE SIM from the local
newsagent (for a massive £1).  I have not registered this SIM (doing so
requires creating an account online and adding credit), but out of the
packet it works for incoming calls.  With this SIM present, the phone
does register itself, and does also activate the A&A SIM card which I
moved to slot 2.

Other minor gotchas with this phone.  Install the SIM card and SD card
contact face downwards, and slide into the phone with screen upwards
(otherwise, the not very well designed SIM carrier will go in, but get
stuck and will require some effort to remove, causing cosmetic damage)



[[Category:Voice SIMs]]