I'm planning on replacing my stock 4.4.2 touchwiz ROM on my rooted I9505 Galaxy S4 but I want to get a custom ROM that is running Android 6 or higher. I have never done this before so I'm wondering if there are any precautions I should take.
To my knowledge the standard process for installing new ROMs is:
1. Get into your custom recovery
2. Make a backup of your current ROM
3. Wipe system, data, dalvik cache, and cache
4. Flash the new ROM
I heard somewhere that if your current device is running some android version (in my case 4.4.2), and the new ROM you're flashing is a different android version (6.0.1 or 7.0), then when you try to restore your original ROM there might be problems.
I also read somewhere that for new roms you also want to update your radio and bootloader? None of the big youtube tutorials I've watched even mentioned these things. If someone could elaborate that would be amazing!
One last thing, if anyone knows of good ROMs that's compatible with my S4, please let me know I'm looking for something that is running the more recent android versions (6 or higher), very stable so that it can be my daily driver, and has a good camera app (I hear a lot of custom ROMs have really bad camera apps).
Thanks for the help
After reading on all the forums about Mi4C, I could not evaluate if MIUI ROMs are better with respect to custom ones. I think they're heavier, and as I don't care about features and customization, I was wondering which is the ROM which "could be flashed once and forgotten".
I'm a basic user, few apps, some photos, GPS navigation. It is important to underclock the CPU as we know out Snap 808 heats a lot.
All I search in a ROM is: stability, security, no frequent updates, good photos, lightweight, battery friendly.
Are there people with similar usage patterns which could advise me?
Thanks in advance.
If you want a stable daily rom which supports all the features of your phone, i would go with a debloated original rom (e.g. mi-globerom). If you want the newest features and u want to test some mods, i would go with Lineage/ResurrectionRemix but camera isn't best...
Mi-globe Lollipop or Nougat? Does Nougat still lock the bootloader at each flash on this one too?
I would take the nougat version as it has various optimizations and is also updated more frequently.
However, your bl will ALWAYS be locked if you flash from Nougat to Lollipop or Lollipop to Nougat but if you are on nougat bl and reflash the nougat rom it wont lock again.
Btw, u need to go through the miui unlock procedure once and then you have a "dev" account on which u can unlock (nearly) as many phones as you want without re-applying every time... it takes 5mins to unlock bl again then.
edit:
If you flash around a lot, stay on lollipop as there are more ROM's for it. Otherwise (and if you like MIUI) its worth to just update to Nougat bl, unlock (wait for the unlock-token to arrive before you upgrade to nougat), flash newest mi-globe and forget about the rom as everything will be working and batterie is ok (especially with gov-tuner mod).
If camera is high priority, then you need to stick with a MIUI based ROM like xiaomi.eu or Globe ROM.
I'm on AOSP Extended - AEX - (build from 2017/06/16) - Nougat BL - and I think I'll stick to this until MIUI 9 makes debut: good SOT - 3-4h, it's fast, it has many custom settings without cluttering. The only bug I found that could bug other people is that "Prevent accidental wake up" has no effect.
But regarding camera, I never rely on stock camera app (unless it's MIUI Camera on MIUI ROM). For a few weeks I'm using snapdragoncamera_v3.zip (flashed in TWRP) but you can choose from a wide range of apps if you have an account on a very well known Russian forum (I wont name it 'cause I don't know if it violates XDA terms but you can PM me).
Thank you, I think I'll go with mi-globe and I'll apply the MOD MI4C Charged (present here on xda). I have to unlock the bl sending the request and then flash the ROM, right? (I'm on an old lollipop MIUI8 xiaomi.eu dev).
Which is the gov-tuner mod you are talking about?
Thanks, so that ROM's bug makes the screen activate whenever the phone perceives movement?
About the cameras, I have the account on that site, which camera do you suggest for a not-MIUI ROM?
If the option is activated, when a notification arrives the screen should stay off if the sensor is covered and light up is the sensor is not covered. If we keep the phone in a pocket, for example, the screen should not light up. But in this ROM, if the option is on, the screen lights up not matter if the sensor is or is not covered. I can live with this, because ROM is good in many aspects.
About the camera, I'm using snapdragoncamera_v3.zip, but not from that forum. A Better Camera also seemed to me very good, its interface can be customized for your needs and produces good results. Feel free to experiment, there are many camera apps.
You can select the GOV-Tuner mod in the rom builder on MI-globerom website. However, if you use the MI4C Charged mod (didnt try this one by myself) make sure GOV-tuner mod is unticked, otherwise you will have problems.
To unlock BL:
1. Make sure you are on MIUI rom and logged into your Xiaomi account on the device.
2. Send the unlock request to Xiaomi
3. Wait for them to grant you the unlock
4. Flash newest miui DEV rom (best would be with Xiaomis flash tool)
5. Unlock BL
6. Flash TWRP over Fastboot
7. Flash MI-Globerom (dont boot it yet)
8. Unlock BL again/Flash TWRP again if necessary (shouldnt)
8. Flash supercharged mod
9. Boot the rom for the first time
Is installing Gapps (opengapps) on stock nougat rom possible? The reason why I ask is because I am on RRemix rom and while love having the stock android experience with all the stock google apps (especially dialer with caller id), I hate the compromises I have to make such as the poor camera performance, no fingerprint button function, and random reboots that doesn't seem to be getting fixed any time soon.
So my idea is to go back to stock but before I spend 16 dollars to use the app to reset it back to stock rom (all the free methods i've tried gets me stuck on stock rom with NRD-TestKeys problem), I'd like to know if anyone has tried to flash opengapps to get google dialer and assistant installed.
Any help appreciated. Thanks
When I first bought my Pixel, I believe the camera apk was different from the stock google camera that came on other android devices.
I recently flashed an 8.1 rom (Resurrection remix) and was wondering, are the two APKs still different or has google's stock now moved to using the newer APK? I noticed the google APK now has the Auto HDR mode that my Pixel's old stock camera used to have back when it was on Android 7.
If they're still different, how do they compare? I'm trying to figure out if it's necessary for me to find and flash the pixel apk at this time
There are some custom ROMs for the Galaxy A51, but so far I have not seen a ROM without proprietary Google and Samsung software that also gets regular security updates. It would be nice if someone could answer me.
Thanks
Hello, as I modified my phone, bricking it and restoring it, the firts custom ROM I flashed was SuperiorOS.
And I also use it.
The feature of this ROM is, that you do not need to flash any Gapps: all needed system applications, like gallery and phone are already included!
The problem is, that this ROM does not support MTP, but I resolved it by flashing a custom kernel.
Recently I have decided to replace all systems apps by simple mobile tools ones; and it still works!
So, the answer is, SUPERIOR OS