Samsung is rolling out the One UI 3.0 update across its flagship devices. The Samsung Galaxy S20 series are the first devices to receive the stable Android 11 firmware. This includes the international Exynos variants of the Galaxy S20, as well as the US Snapdragon variants from different carriers such as T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint and USA. Samsung has also opened the One UI 3.0 Beta Program to the Galaxy S10 series.
Now Samsung is releasing the update to the Galaxy Note 20 series. US carriers are the first ones to push the stable One UI 3.0 update based on Android 11 to their Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 devices with SM-N981U and SM-N986U model numbers, respectively. AT&T is the first carrier to release the update, but other carriers will follow soon. The unlocked US Galaxy Note 20 series are also set to receive the update soon. The unlocked series have the following model numbers: SM-N981U1 for the Note 20 and SM-N986U1 for the Note 20 Ultra.
The new One UI 3.0 firmware for the Galaxy Note 20 series is based on the latest Android 11 version. The build number of the Note 20 firmware is N981USQU1CTL2, and N986USQU1CTL2 for the Note 20 Ultra firmware. The new update brings all the new features presented on Android 11, as well as custom modifications and improvements to Samsung’s own One UI skin. This build comes with the December 2020 security patches, which fixes a number of security issues.
Follow the guide below to learn how to download the stable Android 11 update on all US Snapdragon variants of the Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra.
Contents
How To Download and Install One UI 3.0 Stable Firmware on US Snapdragon Galaxy Note 20 and Note 20 Ultra
Pre-requisites
- Go to Settings > About Phone > Software Information. Quickly tap 7 times on Build Number to enable Developer Options.
- Go to Settings > Developer Options and tap on USB Debugging. This will allow your phone to communicate with the computer to install the new firmware.
- Make sure you have at least 60% of battery life left. If your phone gets stuck during the installation process, it will not turn off.
- Download the latest Samsung USB drivers for the Galaxy Note 20 series (Download)
- Download the Samsung Odin tool. This is the program we will use to flash the firmware.
Download One UI 3 Firmware for US Snapdragon Galaxy Note 20 series
Before you actually go ahead and download the firmware, first try and see if One UI 3.0 is available as an over the air update on your phone. To do so, go to Settings -> Software Update -> Check for updates. Installing OTA updates is the fastest and easiest way because you do not need any third-party tools. However, US carriers are notorious for delaying updates for a long time, sometimes for many weeks.
As a solution for this, you can manually download the official Android 11 firmware and flash it on your Galaxy Note 20. For this, you will need Frija. This is a tool with which you can download firmware files directly from Samsung’s servers. Here’s how.
- First, download the Frija download tool and extract it.
- Take note of your phone’s model number. If you do not know it, go to Settings -> About Phone. Remember the model number displayed on the screen.
- Open Frija, and enter the model number in the Model field.
- Now you need to enter the CSC code (region code). This is different for every carrier. For example, it is ATT for AT&T, VZW for Verizon, TMB for T-Mobile, SPR for Sprint, and XAA for unlocked variants.
- Click on Check Update. The tool will search for the latest firmware files and will display the latest one.
- Tap on Download. This will download the selected firmware on your computer.
How to install One UI 3.0 Firmware on US Snapdragon Galaxy Note 20 series
- Make sure to download both ODIN flashing tool and the Galaxy Note 20 One UI 3.0 firmware from the download links above.
- Extract the firmware file. You will get five different files that start with different names: AP, BL, CP, CSC, HOME_CSC. Keep track of these files because we will need them.
- Launch Odin on your computer. To do so, extract the Odin archive and double click on the program.
- Turn off your phone and go into Download Mode. To do so, press and hold the volume down + power buttons at the same time.
- Connect your phone to your computer using the provided USB cable. If the USB drivers are properly installed, the ID:COM box in ODIN will turn blue.
- Click the AP/PDA button and select the file that starts with AP. Click on BL and select the file that starts with BL. Do the same thing for the other files.
- Note: For the CSC part, select the file that starts with CSC if you want to factory reset the phone and delete everything. If you want to save the data on your phone, then go with CSC_HOME.
- Go to Options and make sure to disable Re-Partition and enable Auto Reboot and F. Reset Time.
- Click the Start button and wait for the firmware to be installed on your Galaxy Note 20.
Once the installation process is over, ODIN will show a green “PASS” text with the time it took to install the firmware. The phone will automatically restart a few times before it boots up. When the phone boots up for the last time, it will be running the newly installed stock firmware.
That is it. Your phone is now running on the latest Android 11 firmware based on the One UI 3.0 skin.