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

timetogo · 18-08-2014 01:27PM

quad_red wrote: »

Been using the S4 Play Edition rom in my standard S4 for a few weeks now.

The overall experience is immeasurably superior to the bloated dog that was the Samsung skinned android.

But all is not well. I just realised that despite having a 32 gig SD card I'm running out of space because the S4 Play Edition rom won't use it. Everything, apps and media, has to be stored on the phone.

The camera app is also acting up as well. It now takes a few seconds to open and is prone to crashing.

Battery is also atrocious and worsening. I don't know if that's the physical battery or the software but have tested by removing third party apps, disabling all the email accounts etc.

The only thing that stops the battery plummeting is disabling 3G

With minimal use it doesn't even last til 5pm without being charged.

Maybe try a different ROM. I used to have an S4 and used the Play edition ROM. I had no problems with the ext card. Google are messing about with the microSD cards to make them more restrictive but many apps can use them without any hassle

e.g. Play music works fine with the card as do podcast apps and video players. The Google edition of the Camera doesn't know about microSD cards though so it has to save to the internal memory.

quad_red · 18-08-2014 02:00PM

timetogo wrote: »

Maybe try a different ROM. I used to have an S4 and used the Play edition ROM. I had no problems with the ext card. Google are messing about with the microSD cards to make them more restrictive but many apps can use them without any hassle

e.g. Play music works fine with the card as do podcast apps and video players. The Google edition of the Camera doesn't know about microSD cards though so it has to save to the internal memory.

Where did you get the rom you're using?

timetogo · 18-08-2014 02:02PM

quad_red wrote: »

Where did you get the rom you're using?

At the time I got it from XDA Developers. I can't be much help now though as I've since sold the phone.

I have the S5 now. I wish there was a Google ROM for that. Samsung are making the phones even more bloaty now.

quad_red · 18-08-2014 02:32PM

timetogo wrote: »

At the time I got it from XDA Developers. I can't be much help now though as I've since sold the phone.

Cheers anyway. I'll take a look.

timetogo wrote: »

I have the S5 now. I wish there was a Google ROM for that. Samsung are making the phones even more bloaty now.

I am put off Samsung for a long while now. The fact that you have to flash the thing and put on an unauthorised ROM just to get an experience that isn't crammed to the gunwales with utter rubbish is pretty annoying.

balkieb2002 · 18-08-2014 09:20PM

quad_red wrote: »

But all is not well. I just realised that despite having a 32 gig SD card I'm running out of space because the S4 Play Edition rom won't use it. Everything, apps and media, has to be stored on the phone.

The camera app is also acting up as well. It now takes a few seconds to open and is prone to crashing.

Battery is also atrocious and worsening. I don't know if that's the physical battery or the software but have tested by removing third party apps, disabling all the email accounts etc.

The only thing that stops the battery plummeting is disabling 3G

With minimal use it doesn't even last til 5pm without being charged.

I have been using Google Edition for the past month and I'm really unsure about it at the moment. Very tempted to go back to stock or maybe try something else.

I actually miss one or two of the Samgsung apps and features such as Watchon - very handy for misplaced remotes!!

The space really is starting to become an issue for me as I have a 64gb card that has nearly 40gb free but I'm constantly having to move/delete files. I can't install any large games and apps are now starting to give me an insuffiencent space message even though I have at least 3gb free internally. It's just annoying that the phone doesn't recognise the external partition even for something as simple as telling the camera where to save pictures

Camera app itself isn't too bad for me though I do have press the switch camera button three times to use the front camera. I've also had it force close on me a few times but that's also happened with a few other apps.

Battery life is hit and miss for me at the moment. I have a battery saving app installed that turns on wifi/3g for a minute every 15/30mins and with this I can actually get a day out of the phone though that is also with basic use. Any sustained use and the battery will start to come down. Just wish I could use the phone as it was meant to!

quad_red · 22-08-2014 08:01AM

balkieb2002 wrote: »

I have been using Google Edition for the past month and I'm really unsure about it at the moment. Very tempted to go back to stock or maybe try something else.

I actually miss one or two of the Samgsung apps and features such as Watchon - very handy for misplaced remotes!!

Really? Have to say, never missed *any* of the Samsung apps. Found most of them didn't really work or if they did they were very poorly designed and third party party apps worked far better.

balkieb2002 wrote: »

Camera app itself isn't too bad for me though I do have press the switch camera button three times to use the front camera. I've also had it force close on me a few times but that's also happened with a few other apps.

Still having problems with the camera app.

balkieb2002 wrote: »

Battery life is hit and miss for me at the moment. I have a battery saving app installed that turns on wifi/3g for a minute every 15/30mins and with this I can actually get a day out of the phone though that is also with basic use. Any sustained use and the battery will start to come down. Just wish I could use the phone as it was meant to!

Couldn't agree more. To be honest, this has kind of destroyed the entire Android experience for me. When I first got the S4 the extra screen space really blew me away. Loved the extra sharing options. Loved the tight integration and automatic backing up of photos. Loved the extra space the SD card gave me (initially anyway). Love the any do app functionality. Loved the sense of freedom actually having a file structure I could open and explore.

But it's been one issue after another. I really despised the Samsung bloat. And the only way to get it off was to root it. And I've had two rooted builds on the phone now and both have had a whole host of bugs.

Like, I have camera problems. The battery life is appalling. Loads of apps have issues - the gmail app can't download image attachments, certain video sites (like daily motion) inevitably crash the browser (whether it be chrome or firefox). The UP app for my jawbone has always been crash prone (even on the original samsung build). The facebook app is crashy. The Dublin bikes app has never worked on android for me (the map loads to show stations but no actual map/street overlay to show locations).

I am just kinda sick of Android to be honest. As much as iOS bored me to tears, it worked. If I had the money I would defo get a new big screen iphone next month or one of the Lumias. Using my wife's iPhone 5 is chastening in terms of screen size but the smoothness and stability is almost jarring.

Anyway, don't want to drag this off thread. But the S4, as a flagship phone for the platform, has me utterly underwhelmed! But I'm too broke to change it and cos I cracked the screen (first time I've ever damaged a phone - 100% my fault but man it is flimsy) it's worthless so I can't even sell it on/swap it.

bruschi · 26-08-2014 11:21AM

quick question,

for some reason yahoo mail and twitter keep logging out on my S4. I'm not sure if it is happening after I switch off the phone off but it seemed to me like it is just random. Its a pain having to log into each app just to make sure I receive emails.

And another one, when I upload a file onto dropbox, it doesnt show up on the phone, and seems like I cant sync it either. It says sync disabled. When I go into it in the sync settings, the 'sync now' grey box wont let me click it.

Both these issues seem to have only happened recently, so maybe it was rooting it that caused it? any help much appreciated.

quad_red · 26-08-2014 11:24AM

bruschi wrote: »

quick question,

for some reason yahoo mail and twitter keep logging out on my S4. I'm not sure if it is happening after I switch off the phone off but it seemed to me like it is just random. Its a pain having to log into each app just to make sure I receive emails.

And another one, when I upload a file onto dropbox, it doesnt show up on the phone, and seems like I cant sync it either. It says sync disabled. When I go into it in the sync settings, the 'sync now' grey box wont let me click it.

Both these issues seem to have only happened recently, so maybe it was rooting it that caused it? any help much appreciated.

What ROM are you running?

bruschi · 26-08-2014 11:47AM

quad_red wrote: »

What ROM are you running?

stock. didnt bother changing that. 4.4.2 kitkat

Mc Love · 27-08-2014 09:52AM

Same with CM in that I cant get apps to save on external memory which is a tad bit annoying

balkieb2002 · 27-08-2014 11:44PM

balkieb2002 wrote: »

I have been using Google Edition for the past month and I'm really unsure about it at the moment. Very tempted to go back to stock or maybe try something else.

I actually miss one or two of the Samgsung apps and features such as Watchon - very handy for misplaced remotes!!

The space really is starting to become an issue for me as I have a 64gb card that has nearly 40gb free but I'm constantly having to move/delete files. I can't install any large games and apps are now starting to give me an insuffiencent space message even though I have at least 3gb free internally. It's just annoying that the phone doesn't recognise the external partition even for something as simple as telling the camera where to save pictures

Camera app itself isn't too bad for me though I do have press the switch camera button three times to use the front camera. I've also had it force close on me a few times but that's also happened with a few other apps.

Battery life is hit and miss for me at the moment. I have a battery saving app installed that turns on wifi/3g for a minute every 15/30mins and with this I can actually get a day out of the phone though that is also with basic use. Any sustained use and the battery will start to come down. Just wish I could use the phone as it was meant to!

I got so fed up with the above issues that I decided on getting a new rom. Really didn't release there were so many good options out there now.

Looking through XDA I found a KitKat version of ChaosROM which I've been using for around 4 days now and I'm delighted I switched.

The whole install is customised to how you want it to look and feel. During the rom flash stage you install what themes, apps, tools etc you want using the built in Aroma installer (like customising an install in windows!). As i mentioned before I missed some of the s4 functionality so I've gone with a S5 theme so updated/customised Touchwiz with the Samsung apps I was missing (updated versions).

S5 camera app working great for me - no slowdowns any more. I also have the Nexus camera installed as an alternative option. Also have both galleries though I'm liking the view in the S5 version (more options too).

Space is an issue I'm working on and making progress. I've got back access to my SD card, so I haved moved all pictures and other media back to it. Also been using an application called FolderMount which allows you to move data from applications from internal to external (while creating a link). Very hand for large applications or games.
There is also another method (accessed thru ADB shell) to set your phone to install applications to your SD card by default (i'll have a play with this later).

Battery life is still hit and miss though I have noticed an improvement. I no longer have any battery saving app installed as I wanted to get a proper reading of battery life.
Went to bed with phone on 85% and woke up around 5 hours later with 4% battery loss. I have wifi/data, bluetooth (pebble watch), location, reading pane, sync and multiwindow on. After 12 hours on battery (with 2 hours of moderate usage) it's down to 45%. I know that this isn't great but it's a good starting point (and better then what I had) and should give me a days use with a full charge.

I'm also only after finding out about Xposed framework and features and i'm in shock. It's really like cydia for the iphone. Soo many handy tweaks that I never realised i needed that are very easy to use and install. You can make a massive difference to even the stock touchwiz without the need for installing a rom.

Tl;dr - installed ChaosROM and really happy (moved from Google Edition). Also found Xposed application and would highly recommend.

Luke92 · 27-08-2014 11:51PM

Haven't had a problem with my google edition ROM! I could be using an xposed tweak that I have forgotten about but I have never had a problem with space! Using a 32gb sandisk ultra.

quad_red · 28-08-2014 07:31AM

Got sick of the space issues as well so have flashed back to a stock carrier free ROM (UK BTU).

Suddenly having piles of space again makes a big difference and all the camera bugs etc have disappeared.

Battery life is also noticeably better.

I think I can ignore the Samsung bloat for a properly functioning phone (and being OTA upgradeable) is nice.

donspeekinglesh · 29-08-2014 10:53AM

balkieb2002 wrote: »

Also been using an application called FolderMount which allows you to move data from applications from internal to external (while creating a link). Very hand for large applications or games.

This is fantastic, thank you.

joeKel73 · 03-09-2014 11:04AM

Got an S4 Active today, upgrade from my S3.

In the YouTube app I'm not getting an option for the 1080p video, the highest resolution available is 720p. The videos are available in 1080p on the desktop site. Has anyone experienced this or know how to fix it?

Edit: I've updated to 4.4.2 and reinstalled YouTube and now have the 1080p version available. BUT all my videos are playing in Black & White with bands across the screen....

NorthernRaider · 11-09-2014 07:42AM

Looking for some help here.....how do I enable the zoom feature on the camera? Have tried the obvious places!

gerrybbadd · 11-09-2014 07:52AM

NorthernRaider wrote: »

Looking for some help here.....how do I enable the zoom feature on the camera? Have tried the obvious places!

Pull your two fingers apart (opposite of pinch) to zoom

NorthernRaider · 11-09-2014 08:02AM

gerrybbadd wrote: »

Pull your two fingers apart (opposite of pinch) to zoom

Thanks, but keep getting message 'cannot zoom in or out in this mode' and have tried all modes. Apart from modes, there is no readily available settings menu?

gerrybbadd · 11-09-2014 08:17AM

NorthernRaider wrote: »

Thanks, but keep getting message 'cannot zoom in or out in this mode' and have tried all modes. Apart from modes, there is no readily available settings menu?

Failing that, the volume up/down should work.

Maybe you need to clear the cache?

MrVestek · 11-09-2014 08:24AM

NorthernRaider wrote: »

Thanks, but keep getting message 'cannot zoom in or out in this mode' and have tried all modes. Apart from modes, there is no readily available settings menu?

You're in video mode, switch it back to still camera.

balkieb2002 · 11-09-2014 08:29PM

MrVestek wrote: »

You're in video mode, switch it back to still camera.

Either that or he's using the front facing camera which has no zoom function.

NorthernRaider · 11-09-2014 08:55PM

balkieb2002 wrote: »

Either that or he's using the front facing camera which has no zoom function.

Thanks for all the suggestions, but.....

It's not in video mode;
Nor front-facing (i.e facing me);
While the volume buttons prompt the same message!!

It must be something simple, but I'm at a loss (have consulted a few online reviews too!)

P.S. I assume by 'front-facing', you mean facing my front? If not, that would imply no zoom in the normal mode (unlike its predecessors)???

balkieb2002 · 11-09-2014 10:24PM

Yeah by front facing I mean using the camera on the front - accessed via the second option down in the camera app.
Only other time i've seen that message is when I was in a different mode that didn't supppot zoom such as Surround Shot or Panorama. If it's happening in Auto mode then there is something wrong.
I'm actually using the S5 camera app on mine so there is probably one or two different options/modes.

Maybe try a different camera app on yours and see if same thing is happening.

MrStuffins · 11-09-2014 10:34PM

Lads, i'm having a problem whereby my phone thinks I have the headphones in all of the time. I've tried plugging earphones in and out, tried turning it off and on again, tried a soft reboot, tried taking the battery out for a while........... nothing works.

I've managed to grab an app that toggles the normal settings back on, but the symbol doesn't go away and i'd like it to go back to normal. Anyone ever have this issue?

Digidol · 16-09-2014 09:51AM

Hey guys, I found an S4 brand new online for €349, is this still a good phone to buy? I don't really want to go over that price at all but is there anything else similar to that price I should be looking at instead? I really would like a 5" screen as I watch a lot of live sport on the go.

MrStuffins · 16-09-2014 10:06AM

I love my S4. It's still an astounding phone. The new gen phones are obviously "better" but the jump from S4 to S5 wasn't pretty big.

Digidol · 16-09-2014 10:13AM

MrStuffins wrote: »

I love my S4. It's still an astounding phone. The new gen phones are obviously "better" but the jump from S4 to S5 wasn't pretty big.

Yeh I'm thinking the same myself, the price is really quite good for it too. I'm coming from my trusty old iPhone 4 but I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 too so I'm very familiar with it. I think I'll be ordering it, thanks for the reply

Cossax · 20-09-2014 01:52PM

What modems are you guys using?
Recently brought my S4 back to stock as I was lending it to my dad and he's getting a better signal (same sim card) on his old Ace. He's on Three Ireland so if anyone has a decent signal with them, will ye have a look?

quad_red · 07-10-2014 12:20PM

Anyone have any issues with images getting 'stuck' on the desktop?

Have attached two examples below. If I ever open the photo gallery the top bar of the gallery gets 'stuck' behind the notification bar on top. I got sent a football graphic earlier on whatsapp and after viewing the image it is now stuck to the desktop (and I don't even like Fabregas!

)

The only thing that 'hides' these images is opening an app - otherwise, no matter what app icon screen I move to, they remain. And the apps and widgets appear to float over these images.

S4 is running stock Samsung android.

Copper_pipe · 07-10-2014 12:27PM

quad_red wrote: »

Anyone have any issues with images getting 'stuck' on the desktop?

Have attached two examples below. If I ever open the photo gallery the top bar of the gallery gets 'stuck' behind the notification bar on top. I got sent a football graphic earlier on whatsapp and after viewing the image it is now stuck to the desktop (and I don't even like Fabregas! )

The only thing that 'hides' these images is opening an app - otherwise, no matter what app icon screen I move to, they remain. And the apps and widgets appear to float over these images.

S4 is running stock Samsung android.

Yeah happened mea few times, Id be looking at a snapchat or someones snapchat story and then itd appear as my background. Quick reboot sorted it

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

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