Samsung Galaxy S4 thread - See Mod Warning in Post #1

nodolan · 18-09-2013 06:31AM

I had a comprehensive post typed and as usual boards.ie logged me out (because I use ad blockers) and so I lost the whole post (I forgot to Ctrl-A Ctrl-C that I normally do just in case).

I'm running Google Play Edition 4.3 (Pure Android as some refer to it) on a rooted S4 (GT-i9505).

I'm also using the XPosed Framework:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1574401

And XPrivacy:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2320783

I find XPrivacy absolutely invaluable as it stops Google and Android apps from data harvesting.

There are lots of XPosed modules available including one to get around the headphone volume limitation in Android 4.3 (though my phone still crashes if I try to put the volume up to 11 so to speak.)

There's a hidden menu in Android 4.3 called App Ops and there are various free apps out there available to acess this menu. I use this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wordpress.chislonchow.appopsshortcut

Be careful not to pay for any App Ops app that claims to give you extras because there are no extras apart from a How-To or an explanation of permissions - all of which you can find out for free online.

I don't know if any or all of this has already been covered but that's my 2c (so far).

GorillaRising · 18-09-2013 07:09AM

nodolan wrote: »

...

Cheers for that! I'll have a proper look later when I'm at home.

How do you find battery life on Google play edition?

nodolan · 18-09-2013 09:56AM

GorillaRising wrote: »

Cheers for that! I'll have a proper look later when I'm at home.

How do you find battery life on Google play edition?

Incredible. As long as you don't use Location (GPS), Mobile Data and WiFi non-stop you'll easily get 24 hours. I'm a fairly heavy user (Location/Mobile Data/WiFi non-stop) and the battery lasts the full day. The Google Play Edition I'm using is:
Android version
4.3
Baseband version
I9505XXUBMEA
Kernel version
3.4.0-1246543
faux123@localhost.localdomain #6
Wed Aug 7 16:40:44 CDT 2013
Build number
JWR66V.S014.130801

From here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2352258

It's stripped of all the extra Google apps like Google+, Keep etc. it's only 200+MB

There's also this one: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2341026
It includes all the Google apps and it's around 400+MB.

GorillaRising · 18-09-2013 09:59AM

nodolan wrote: »

Incredible. As long as you don't use Location (GPS), Mobile Data and WiFi non-stop you'll easily get 24 hours. I'm a fairly heavy user (Location/Mobile Data/WiFi non-stop) and the battery lasts the full day. The Google Play Edition I'm using is:
Android version
4.3
Baseband version
I9505XXUBMEA
Kernel version
3.4.0-1246543
faux123@localhost.localdomain #6
Wed Aug 7 16:40:44 CDT 2013
Build number
JWR66V.S014.130801

From here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2352258

It's stripped of all the extra Google apps like Google+, Keep etc. it's only 200+MB

There's also this one: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2341026
It includes all the Google apps and it's around 400+MB.

Cheers for that! 400MB vs the 6GB Samsung have on it! Deal.

techdiver · 18-09-2013 11:53AM

GorillaRising wrote: »

Yeah I had before too so was wondering.

Do you know how 'Pure' Android runs on the GS4?

Also, anyone see a lot of battery usage from 'Phone idle'...mine when down 2% in 3hrs last night. Not sure how normal that is on the Galaxy though.

I'm using Omega v10, which is a custom rom that includes Samsung apps and touchwiz. I easily get a full day of moderate usage out of it with 3G/Wi-Fi.

Cossax · 18-09-2013 05:47PM

nodolan wrote: »

I had a comprehensive post typed and as usual boards.ie logged me out (because I use ad blockers) and so I lost the whole post (I forgot to Ctrl-A Ctrl-C that I normally do just in case).

I'm running Google Play Edition 4.3 (Pure Android as some refer to it) on a rooted S4 (GT-i9505).

I'm also using the XPosed Framework:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1574401

And XPrivacy:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2320783

I find XPrivacy absolutely invaluable as it stops Google and Android apps from data harvesting.

There are lots of XPosed modules available including one to get around the headphone volume limitation in Android 4.3 (though my phone still crashes if I try to put the volume up to 11 so to speak.)

There's a hidden menu in Android 4.3 called App Ops and there are various free apps out there available to acess this menu. I use this one: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wordpress.chislonchow.appopsshortcut

Be careful not to pay for any App Ops app that claims to give you extras because there are no extras apart from a How-To or an explanation of permissions - all of which you can find out for free online.

I don't know if any or all of this has already been covered but that's my 2c (so far).

How do you find it vs. TW based roms? Anything very obviously broken?
I've Sammy's 4.2.2 on it and I've a Nexus 4 also and much prefer using the Nexus 4 at times, that little bit snappier despite being older/less powerful so 4.3 GE might be a nice change.

GorillaRising · 18-09-2013 06:53PM

Flashed Google edition earlier on there. Much better! Smooth, no issues so far...

siobhanoh · 19-09-2013 03:50PM

Bought the S4 last Thursday. Today the battery is draining very fast and the main culprit is 'Android OS' at 85%. I have been looking around online and apparently that is a very high percentage. All apps are closed, I turned it off, took out the battery and restarted it but it is still the same. I tweeted Three about it and they said to bring it into the shop. I'm going away tomorrow and I really don't want to waste time going to the Three shop if I don't have to. Does anybody know if this is a defect?

GorillaRising · 19-09-2013 06:55PM

That's crazy high alright. Mine is at 6% at the moment.

Battery performance usually gets better after a week or so when it's been calibrated. But nonetheless it shouldn't be that high.

What were you running previously? How long are you getting out of it daily with normal usage??

Do you have lots of active widgets and accounts syncing?? Otherwise could be a dodgy unit firmware wise unfortunately.

I had a similar issue with an S3 before and changing it to a non branded carrier firmware did the trick.

donkey balls · 19-09-2013 08:13PM

This is the usage on my SG4

Screen 68%
Device idle 8%
Android OS 6%
Voice 5%
Google services 4%
Cell Standby 3%
Journal 3%
Facebook 2%
Android system 2%
The screen time out is set for 2 minutes any ideas on what I could/should do.:o

GorillaRising · 20-09-2013 06:45AM

donkey balls wrote: »

This is the usage on my SG4

Screen 68%
Device idle 8%
Android OS 6%
Voice 5%
Google services 4%
Cell Standby 3%
Journal 3%
Facebook 2%
Android system 2%
The screen time out is set for 2 minutes any ideas on what I could/should do.:o

What's your usage like and what kind of usage are you getting??

My battery when down 5% in 6 hours last night -- Device idle being the main culprit.

donkey balls · 20-09-2013 06:59AM

I hardly use the phone to make calls during work I would mainly use it to read e mails send texts,And browse through the stories on the Journal. ie.
I would also use the music player while going training in the morning for 90 minutes which uses about 10/15% of the battery.

GorillaRising · 20-09-2013 07:49AM

But how long does a charge last you with that usage? 10-15% could be a lot depending on if you're manually changing tracks with the screen on a lot of the time...

Seems to be a common enough issue with the galaxy -- battery drain.

I remember there was a similar issue on the Nexus 4 with Jellybean prior to an update.

This is why I prefer iOS.

donkey balls · 20-09-2013 08:07AM

I get about 10/12 hours out of the battery since I took it off charge this morning around 8ish ,The battery has gone down to 90% and that's just reading e mails and posting on boards.

GorillaRising · 20-09-2013 08:09AM

That seems normal enough - mine's at 84% - a few minutes of browsing, torch for a few minutes, some texts and about 5 short calls.

I've noticed it seems to shoot down initially and gets better as the day goes on..

nodolan · 20-09-2013 09:21AM

Cossax wrote: »

How do you find it vs. TW based roms? Anything very obviously broken?
I've Sammy's 4.2.2 on it and I've a Nexus 4 also and much prefer using the Nexus 4 at times, that little bit snappier despite being older/less powerful so 4.3 GE might be a nice change.

The main problem for me with GPE 4.3 vs TW is the new security - Google hasn't been very open about what exactly has changed - LBE Security Master doesn't work properly any more. I'm hyper-privacy concerned and the stock ROM just pours out personal data to Google, Samsung and individual apps, but as I said, I use XPosed/XPrivacy and that gives me very detailed control over what personal data apps can access (main thing being my phone number/ID/IMSI/IMEI, location and contacts.

The 'Pure Android (4.3)' Google Play Edition loses nothing important for me compared to Samsung's stock ROM - I never used all the waving/proximity/audio gizmos - but if you still want them a lot of them are available freely from the Play Store as individual apps.

People finding the Android system using up the battery shouldn't be too concerned. Google's services/framework (Google Settings etc.) has been given a lot more 'work' to do - Ads, Location, Google+, Phone Finder etc - so it looks like it's taking up huge amounts of battery life but it's actually doing most of the Google/Android functions now AFAIK.

PS: The special cover (forget the name) still works with GPE 4.3.
PPS: I'm downloading the MoDaCo dual-boot ROM right now (I'm a glutton for punishment) - can't wait to try it out.

mylesm · 20-09-2013 09:23AM

one word

Nexus

GorillaRising · 20-09-2013 09:31AM

Camera is rubbish and I needed a good one. Also require an sd slot.

If I could get both with a Nexus I'd have kept mine.

GorillaRising · 20-09-2013 09:42AM

nodolan wrote: »

The main problem for me with GPE 4.3 vs TW is the new security - Google hasn't been very open about what exactly has changed - LBE Security Master doesn't work properly any more. I'm hyper-privacy concerned and the stock ROM just pours out personal data to Google, Samsung and individual apps, but as I said, I use XPosed/XPrivacy and that gives me very detailed control over what personal data apps can access (main thing being my phone number/ID/IMSI/IMEI, location and contacts.

The 'Pure Android (4.3)' Google Play Edition loses nothing important for me compared to Samsung's stock ROM - I never used all the waving/proximity/audio gizmos - but if you still want them a lot of them are available freely from the Play Store as individual apps.

People finding the Android system using up the battery shouldn't be too concerned. Google's services/framework (Google Settings etc.) has been given a lot more 'work' to do - Ads, Location, Google+, Phone Finder etc - so it looks like it's taking up huge amounts of battery life but it's actually doing most of the Google/Android functions now AFAIK.

PS: The special cover (forget the name) still works with GPE 4.3.
PPS: I'm downloading the MoDaCo dual-boot ROM right now (I'm a glutton for punishment) - can't wait to try it out.

My battery went to sh!t with play edition. Down 10% in an hour with a tiny bit of usage.

Back on stock with Nova and ton of stuff quarantined.

madmoe · 20-09-2013 03:24PM

siobhanoh wrote: »

Bought the S4 last Thursday. Today the battery is draining very fast and the main culprit is 'Android OS' at 85%. I have been looking around online and apparently that is a very high percentage. All apps are closed, I turned it off, took out the battery and restarted it but it is still the same. I tweeted Three about it and they said to bring it into the shop. I'm going away tomorrow and I really don't want to waste time going to the Three shop if I don't have to. Does anybody know if this is a defect?

Factory reset??

markc91 · 23-09-2013 03:08PM

Woke up today and seen a security policy update available so went to download it but it failed and said update failed due to network issues tried on 3g and wifi getting the same error message anyone got any ideas?

Mc Love · 23-09-2013 03:23PM

also getting cant connect to server

MrVestek · 23-09-2013 03:36PM

mylesm wrote: »

one word

Nexus

As a previous Nexus 4 owner - the S4 is a better device in purely user experience.

knipex · 23-09-2013 06:17PM

markc91 wrote: »

Woke up today and seen a security policy update available so went to download it but it failed and said update failed due to network issues tried on 3g and wifi getting the same error message anyone got any ideas?

exact same issue here. lots of reports of similar problem in UK.

MonkstownHoop · 23-09-2013 07:01PM

knipex wrote: »

exact same issue here. lots of reports of similar problem in UK.

Installed the update just now, not sure what it has done

projectgtr · 23-09-2013 07:51PM

Achilles wrote: »

As a previous Nexus 4 owner - the S4 is a better device in purely user experience.

User experience wise the S4 doesn't have a patch on stock Nexus. In everyday use I still prefer my galaxy nexus over my s4. They over complicate a simple snappy OS with gimmicks IMO. GE edition would be best of both worlds though

Random · 23-09-2013 07:52PM

this security policy thing is very annoying. thought maybe just failing on 3g but failing on wifi at home now too.

Doom · 23-09-2013 08:19PM

markc91 wrote: »

Woke up today and seen a security policy update available so went to download it but it failed and said update failed due to network issues tried on 3g and wifi getting the same error message anyone got any ideas?

Same here...

Dr.Winston O'Boogie · 23-09-2013 09:04PM

Doom wrote: »

Same here...

Me too, annoying me at this stage.

Cossax · 24-09-2013 01:21AM

Achilles wrote: »

As a previous Nexus 4 owner - the S4 is a better device in purely user experience.

I do miss the toggles on the secondary menu of the notification shade, easily fixable if I want but just slightly annoying to have to fix. +1 for the S4.

Other than that, I prefer the Nexus 4 (despite only getting the 8gig version compared to 16 gig + SD for my S4). Part of that may be as I used CyanogenMod on my S2 so vanilla feels more familiar than TW does.
In general, I find it snappier, the interface cleaner and I'd frozen all the gimmicks on the S4 anyway while the battery, despite being smaller, seems about the same.

Samsung Galaxy S4 thread - See Mod Warning in Post #1

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