Lenovo Legion Y700 - Happy with Hacked Global 15.0.549 ROM?

Like many now that the new model is out and doesn’t include an SD card slot I opted to order the 2023 model of the Y700, in particular I chose the CN ROM fully aware that the Global ROMs typically being sold for a bit more are just hacked CN ROMs and not the actual Global ROM.

I’ve now received my tablet and despite being shrink wrapped (easy enough to do), it looks like it had the hacked Global 15.0.549 ROM installed rather than the stock CN ROM which I had specified… I thought I had read things like the YouTube app not being able to stream at full quality and streaming apps not working with the hacked ROM, but I can get the YouTube app to 2560 and as far as I can tell all of the streaming apps I’ve tested work fine… I actually don’t have Netflix, but I tested Amazon Prime Video, BBC iPlayer, and Apple Music, and there were no issues with any of them.

The Google Play store was already loaded, but I assume that’s the case for all versions of the hacked Global ROM, but again, I was assuming that the streaming apps wouldn’t work properly and for the ROM overall to be a bit buggier than it seems.

The only quirks I’ve noticed are that I can’t re-lock the boot loader via the Developer Options, it’s greyed out, and the slide from the side for the Game optimisation menu doesn’t seem to work which isn’t a surprise from what I’ve read. (The only thing that bothers me, all things considered given I don’t want to use the tablet for gaming, is that the slider dot still shows up.)

I only paid £209 shipped so don’t really fancy trying to send it back, but before I get too comfortable with the tablet as is, should I move to the standard CN ROM or am I really missing out on that much with the hacked Global 15.0.549 ROM?

For background I primarily bought the tablet as an e-reader… I wanted something suitable for comics as well as books via the Kindle app, and when travelling I may use the streaming apps, but aside from that I’m purposefully keeping the tablet pretty bare bones and notification free so the hacked ROM does seem suitable enough, but I wasn’t sure if there’s a reason I would still be better off switching to CN ROM and side loading the Play store. (If YouTube and the streaming apps weren’t working as expected I would certainly switch, but again, they seem to work and at full resolution just fine?)

For reference, the manufacture date according to the box is May 2024, so being post April I’m assuming the official CN ROM is my only option vs. the official Global ROM.

**** 13th Dec., 2024, Update ****

So after more research and reading of the comments I decided to go for the offical CN ROM and long story short, all seems well.

For the longer story, my inital impression wasn't great... the process of getting the CN ROM was easy enough all things considered, but even after choosing English at installation there was FAR more Chinese than I expected to the point where I immediately thought I was going back to the drawing board with the other recommendation of updating the Global ROM with the CN ROM details in order for it to run. I spent a bit of time with the CN ROM though, deleted or disabled the Chinese only apps, sideloaded the Google Play Store, and changed the keyboard and so far I now can't distinguish it from an English device. (There is the weird character spacing issue when an apostrophe is used for inbuilt descriptions, but that was the same in the Hacked CN "Global" ROM and the only thing I've noticed thus far.)

The Game settings seem to work fine now, and I was able to update to the latest ZUI version via an OTA update. (I admit to not knowing if that means OTA updates work overall, or if just ZUI OTA updates work, but they certainly didn't work on the fake Globak ROM.)

I haven't tried to re-lock the bootloader yet, but all in all I'm very happy with the tablet now, especially at the import price.

My main point with this ramble is that if you do go the official CN ROM route with hope for English support do not be offput by the initial amount of Chinese characters that display in various areas, there's seemingly a little bit everywhere at first, as it doesn't take terribly long to clean it up. (Nothing against the Chinese language itself of course!)

Will update again if I come across any issues over the next week or so, but I'm not necessarily a power user having purchased it more for the screen in a Comic and Kindle capacity.