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

Sully · 17-06-2014 02:59PM

Any good places to get a battery? Can't help but feel the phones existing one is ****e. I don't get much out of it if I use it anyway heavily. If I use the camera a few times, the batter drops significantly. It's constantly on charge and I have Power Saving on all the fekcing time. Have the phone just about a year now and not due an upgrade until February.

JDxtra · 17-06-2014 03:05PM

quad_red wrote: »

I got an S4 a few months ago and I have to say, I found touch wiz and all the non functional Samsung bloat increasingly wearying.

So I rooted and flashed it with the S4 play edition ROM (basically turning it into a nexus) and it's a different phone. Absolutely superb. Really happy with it now. So much snappier, really prefer the UI.

Can't recommend it highly enough.

Where did you get the ROM from (PM if not allowed to discuss).

I flashed mine with 4.4.2 - but there was no difference, or at least very little. Same Samsung bloat was still there.

quad_red · 17-06-2014 03:30PM

@mods: are we allowed talk about this on here?

From a total amateur perspective, I found the experience quite daunting at first. And I had one hiccup which was a sphincter tightening moment. But all in all, it was quite straightforward.

I would be happy to link to the guides and the tools I used.

(I was using a standard network unlocked S4 I9505).

Gaffs89 · 17-06-2014 05:56PM

Flashing custom roms is not illegal( it just voids your warranty).So discussing and sharing them is allowed.

sentient_6 · 17-06-2014 06:02PM

I've CM11 put onto my new S4 and its the dogs bollox. Pure android FTW.

south · 17-06-2014 08:09PM

Any way to get 4g working after flashing any ROM? I'm with 3 and while I have the option of LTE/WCDMA/GSM I can't connect to the 4g network. The phone didn't come from three and they said I'd need to change the firmware but I'd have to bring it to a shop and get it sent away. I've tried changing the firmware myself but has no joy.

balkieb2002 · 17-06-2014 08:23PM

quad_red wrote: »

So I rooted and flashed it with the S4 play edition ROM (basically turning it into a nexus) and it's a different phone. Absolutely superb. Really happy with it now. So much snappier, really prefer the UI.

Can't recommend it highly enough.

As soon as I saw the play edition of the S4 come out, I was hoping they'd release a fully functional rom of it for the standard S4. I wanted to keep touchwiz as I liked some of the S4 gimmicks but soon realized that I had to turn them all off to save battery so kind of pointless keeping it now.

Few questions if you don't mind regarding the play edition and flashing:

Do you notice if your battery life is any better? Any downsides?
Will I lose everything on it i.e. apps/data etc if I flash it? I have a few specific versions of apps I'd rather not lose.
Is phone space still an issue?

Thanks!

quad_red · 17-06-2014 09:08PM

balkieb2002 wrote: »

Do you notice if your battery life is any better? Any downsides?
Will I lose everything on it i.e. apps/data etc if I flash it? I have a few specific versions of apps I'd rather not lose.
Is phone space still an issue?

Thanks!

Battery is noticeably better. Under the Samsung build I would be down to 30% by lunch. Thatd be an hour of net on the commute and then a few phone calls.

It's now noticeably better. At 40% by 5pm.

In regards to apps - I honestly don't know. I just redownloaded everything from the play store. All my data and content on the card was still there.

Can't really answer on storage cos I don't download massive amounts of apps etc. One of the reasons why the interminable clutter and bloat samsung insist on pissed me off so much.

The UI is now noticeably smoother. Phone performs better. No connectivity issues. Had one issue initially - there is a bug where the phone cant boot up fully with a sim lock. But once I removed the sim pin in another phone and logged in on the phone, never an issue again.

balkieb2002 · 17-06-2014 10:23PM

Cheers for the quick reply.

Can you possibly link the guides and tools/rom you used? I remember being quite nervous about doing it the previous time I flashed a phone (i've only rooted my s4). I had a look on XDA and most of their stuff requires a bit of on in-depth knowledge.

Are you using the GT-I9505?

donkey balls · 17-06-2014 10:25PM

quad_red wrote: »

Battery is noticeably better. Under the Samsung build I would be down to 30% by lunch. Thatd be an hour of net on the commute and then a few phone calls.

It's now noticeably better. At 40% by 5pm.

In regards to apps - I honestly don't know. I just redownloaded everything from the play store. All my data and content on the card was still there.

Can't really answer on storage cos I don't download massive amounts of apps etc. One of the reasons why the interminable clutter and bloat samsung insist on pissed me off so much.

The UI is now noticeably smoother. Phone performs better. No connectivity issues. Had one issue initially - there is a bug where the phone cant boot up fully with a sim lock. But once I removed the sim pin in another phone and logged in on the phone, never an issue again.

Would you mind posting up the links to how you did it as I'm thinking of rooting mine as the battery is crap since the last update 4.2.2 cheers.

griffdaddy · 18-06-2014 02:49PM

Gaffs89 wrote: »

Flashing custom roms is not illegal( it just voids your warranty).So discussing and sharing them is allowed.

Rooting or flashing a custom rom does not void your warranty in the EU. There should be a sticky about this at this stage.

Gaffs89 · 18-06-2014 03:27PM

griffdaddy wrote: »

Rooting or flashing a custom rom does not void your warranty in the EU. There should be a sticky about this at this stage.

While you may be correct ,best of luck sending your phone back to Samsung and then trying to disprove them when they say the cause of your problem is unofficial software. You may not be able to flash it back to stock before sending it back.

quad_red · 18-06-2014 03:35PM

donkey balls wrote: »

Would you mind posting up the links to how you did it as I'm thinking of rooting mine as the battery is crap since the last update 4.2.2 cheers.

Did a good bit of reading but went with the instructions, tools and files in this guide.

http://www.technobuffa...oogle-edition-phone/

griffdaddy · 18-06-2014 05:13PM

Gaffs89 wrote: »

While you may be correct ,best of luck sending your phone back to Samsung and then trying to disprove them when they say the cause of your problem is unofficial software. You may not be able to flash it back to stock before sending it back.

There's reports of people sending phones back after a bad flash and having them fixed. I might be mistaken but think I might have even read one here on boards.

balkieb2002 · 18-06-2014 08:30PM

quad_red wrote: »

Did a good bit of reading but went with the instructions, tools and files in this guide.

http://www.technobuffa...oogle-edition-phone/

Do you mind posting that link again as the it's cut off on the middle?

It's OK i've found it

http://www.technobuffalo.com/videos/how-to-turn-a-galaxy-s4-into-a-google-edition-phone/

cosanostra · 19-06-2014 07:50AM

I highly recommend this rom http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2557353 very stable and well supported by the developer. There's plenty of tutorials on youtube that will get you started and i'd recommend TWRP for your custom recovery

quad_red · 19-06-2014 09:49AM

balkieb2002 wrote: »

Do you mind posting that link again as the it's cut off on the middle?

It's OK i've found it

http://www.technobuffalo.com/videos/how-to-turn-a-galaxy-s4-into-a-google-edition-phone/

I don't know why it chopped it in half

Thanks for fixing it!

Lanaier · 23-06-2014 07:22PM

Curious if anyone here has been using the i9500 with Cyanogenmod 11 or other custom ROMS (Carrier: 3).

I just bought one in China and I've played around with several ROMS but all (except stock) had issues with it not hanging up on calls.

About to go back to a stock ROM, just wondering if anyone out there was in the same boat.

People with similar issues found solutions in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2635758

But I'm not sure how I would obtain the 3 rils.
I'm not a phone-guy by any means so this is a little out of my field.
My understanding it that CM11 is CDMA friendly and Ireland is a CDMA zone?

DERPY DERPFACE · 23-06-2014 07:27PM

I thought only America uses CDMA.

Lanaier · 23-06-2014 07:57PM

Ah I see, so Ireland is GSM and UMTS?

That should take me a few steps further to a solution, thanks.

EDIT: Flashed with a stock ROM now so hopefully my issues will be sorted.
I quite enjoyed some of the custom ROMS I installed since I got the phone (Friday), especially CWM11... but to be quite honest I like the standard touchwiz interface just as much.
Don't see why it gets hated on.

If I don't encounter anymore problems I'll be sticking with this quite happly.

bijou · 24-06-2014 10:10PM

Sully wrote: »

Anyone having issues since the KitKat roll out?

Had loads of problems following update to KitKat (which the device did itself - never asked if I wanted it).
1. Battery was terrible lasting only a few hours.
2. Device overheating.
3. Serious lag when trying to open apps etc.
4. Constantly switching itself off and rebooting.
5. Camera Failure.

Contacted Samsung who said do a factory reset. Did that and it seemed to have sorted itself out except for 1 or 2 issues - Camera Failure. Camera is pretty much buggered - everytime I try to open the camera I get the dreaded "Camera Failed" message. And every now and then the device does heat up but not as bad as before!!

Only had the device since Oct last year. Contacted o2 and all they could say was bring it in and we'll send it off. Driving me nuts not being able to use the camera :rolleyes:

akaSol · 24-06-2014 11:52PM

Down load the Google camera or similar see if they pop up the camera fail.
If it continues use kies to reflash the phone using emergency recovery mode.

Remember : back every thing up first !

>Sol

bijou · 25-06-2014 01:02PM

akaSol wrote: »

Down load the Google camera or similar see if they pop up the camera fail.
If it continues use kies to reflash the phone using emergency recovery mode.

Remember : back every thing up first !

>Sol

Thanks akaSol
Tried that and kies to no avail.... so a trip to o2 methinks!

apope8 · 25-06-2014 03:18PM

cosanostra wrote: »

I highly recommend this rom http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2557353 very stable and well supported by the developer. There's plenty of tutorials on youtube that will get you started and i'd recommend TWRP for your custom recovery

Flashed this 2 days ago and the difference is unbelievable. So smooth without all the samsung bloat and the battery life has improved substantially.

I dont think I'll buy any phone that isn't stock android again.

balkieb2002 · 25-06-2014 08:11PM

cosanostra wrote: »

I highly recommend this rom http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2557353 very stable and well supported by the developer. There's plenty of tutorials on youtube that will get you started and i'd recommend TWRP for your custom recovery

Flashed the customised version of the above rom last night and I'm really liking it so far. I initially had a problem where every time I put my phone to sleep it would drop the network signal but changing the baseband has resolved this.

I'm missing some of the basic features of touchwiz such as contacts sync, music player, watchon, profile switcher and a few others though I'm finding useful alternatives that I would normally would never have looked at.

Be interesting to see how battery life is but like post above me, I'm loving the smoothness of everything.

jca · 25-06-2014 08:57PM

balkieb2002 wrote: »

Flashed the customised version of the above rom last night and I'm really liking it so far. I initially had a problem where every time I put my phone to sleep it would drop the network signal but changing the baseband has resolved this.

I'm missing some of the basic features of touchwiz such as contacts sync, music player, watchon, profile switcher and a few others though I'm finding useful alternatives that I would normally would never have looked at.

Be interesting to see how battery life is but like post above me, I'm loving the smoothness of everything.

How do I actually do it? I there a noobies guide anywhere?

sentient_6 · 25-06-2014 09:17PM

jca wrote: »

How do I actually do it? I there a noobies guide anywhere?

One thing you could do is install cyanogenmod from their windows installer. Pretty much fool proof. Phone is then rooted (technically meaning you could install any rom from recovery from there) but cyanogenmod is pretty much the same as Google play edition anyway.

balkieb2002 · 25-06-2014 09:45PM

balkieb2002 wrote: »

http://www.technobuffalo.com/videos/how-to-turn-a-galaxy-s4-into-a-google-edition-phone/

cosanostra wrote: »

I highly recommend this rom http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2557353 very stable and well supported by the developer. There's plenty of tutorials on youtube that will get you started and i'd recommend TWRP for your custom recovery

jca wrote: »

How do I actually do it? I there a noobies guide anywhere?

I used the the easy to follow guide in the first quote in combination with the rom in the second quote.

For anything I wasn't sure about I just had a look at the posts on XDA.

numorouno · 28-06-2014 09:29PM

This question may have been answered but if I Flash a rom will the mhl to hdmi still work?
I flashed a few roms on my s2 last year and it didn't work

numorouno · 28-06-2014 09:29PM

This question may have been answered but if I Flash a rom will the mhl to hdmi still work?
I flashed a few roms on my s2 last year and it didn't work

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

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