[Q] Help - Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have rooted my note 4 as well as a few other phones and fiddled with them quite a bit. On the other hand, I am very new to this and have some questions. I have some simple questions about how this effects the devices performance. If i modify my device and apply many different tweaks to it, does this effect its performance? It just seems to me that changing how the device works and adding so many mods and what not will slow the device down. It seems like asking the device to do things that the manufacturer did not intend for it to do would cause the device to not perform at its intended capabilities. I am just new to the field of modifying android devices and I want to know if these mods will decrease the performance of my smartphone. I understand and know how to do all of these tasks but I am wary about the overall effects if will have on my daily routines. I do not want my device to perform poorly because I modify it with unnecessary mods.

Related

[Q] Post your optimal tweaks/settings for battery/performance!

I have yet to find any decent threads anywhere regarding the best settings for the Nexus 7 so I thought I would start and hopefully learn some info from other users and provide a good resource thread for others.
I have not overclocked and haven't added any cutom tweaks to governors and schedulers yet so my experience so far has been with the default kernel options. Since hardware is different and kernel/rom experiences will vary I will just start with Scheduler, Governor, and other general tweaks.
Scheduler:
i have so far had the best experiences with SIO, and NOOP
Governor:
So far the best balance between performance and battery life has been with Pegasusq and Interactive
ADJ and LMK:
I don't use any scripts like Supercharger I like to do everything manually, here are the values I have found that offer the smoothest user experience:
ADJ:
0,1,3,6,9,15
1536,9216,25600,51200,76800,102400 - (Wife's for general use and multi-tasking)
ADJ:
0,1,4,7,10,15
5120,15360,61440,81920,102400,122880 - (Mine for gaming and high performance)
I have boat-loads of tweaks that I have used for roms I have built for other devices, but hesitant to use them with the Nexus 7 due to the fact that I don't want to cause any negative effects. I have added generic linux tweaks (ext4, database defrag, kernel tweaks) but the Adreno and Powervr tweaks obviously are null and void for this. As I discover more I will definitely share.
I have had issues getting custom LMK values loaded on some kernels, but franco and anything based off Motley has worked just fine. I know there is a bug with LMK on some source versions and assume it is related to that, but if anyone has found a workaround i would be very interested as I would love to give the other kernels a shot.
I am intrigued about lulzactive but the parameters need to be tweaked as the default settings provide horrible battery life. I am interested to know what other people have been using and any info you want to provide is welcome and greatly appreciated!
The problem with such threads and people sharing all this info is everyone uses something different, meaning what tweaks and settings you use for your given device are dependent also on the ROM and the kernel you're using so...
You can see how that basically ends up being a thread full of info where people just end up saying "oh yeah, well my <whatever device> can get <however many hours> of battery life..." and so on.
It's a good idea I suppose but it only ends up providing benefits to those people that a) end up using the same hardware and b) end up using the same ROMs and c) end up using the same kernels too. And yes I know this is the Nexus 7 so that covers the device aspect right there...
Suffice to say this: none of the tweaks or info you provided in your post are relevant to me at all with my Nexus 7 as the kernel I use (M-Kernel a37) doesn't support the kinds of governors that are considered the more esoteric ones (it has interactive, ondemand, touchdemand, and performance) nor the same class of schedulers (it has noop, deadline, row, and bfq). Would be nice but, I look at it this way:
Both the Paranoid Android developers (any and all of them) as well as Metallice who's responsible for M-Kernel, have done a metric frak-ton of work before I even got a Nexus 7 with testing, builds, more testing, more builds, testing, more testing, even more testing, and they continue to develop and test even to this moment and my Nexus 7 runs fabulously, I honestly can't ask for more considering the performance (even with the default of 2 cores enabled with my choice of kernel) and battery life (which is damned amazing as well).
But who knows, maybe something useful will show up... I've just gotten to a point where "It just works" and that's good enough for me. Tweaking is just boring nowadays, but that's just my opinion.
<all this is coming from a guy that's been tweaking computers and consumer electronics of all kinds, shapes, and sizes for several decades now, and yes I can honestly say "I've pretty much seen it all...">
br0adband said:
You can see how that basically ends up being a thread full of info where people just end up saying "oh yeah, well my <whatever device> can get <however many hours> of battery life..." and so on.
It's a good idea I suppose but it only ends up providing benefits to those people that a) end up using the same hardware and b) end up using the same ROMs and c) end up using the same kernels too. And yes I know this is the Nexus 7 so that covers the device aspect right there...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Given that this is the Nexus 7 forum, <whatever device> = <Nexus 7>
richardorvince said:
Given that this is the Nexus 7 forum, <whatever device> = <Nexus 7>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I covered that in the last sentence you just quoted.
I know I only have 9 posts here and that makes me a "noob" in the eyes of most people here, but I am by no means a noob in general, just a noob when it comes to tegra. I have boosted performance and battery life (up to 50%) on other devices and don't see any reason why it can't be done on this one.
I already touched on the fact that opinions are just that, experiences may vary, but when it comes to governors there is a discernable difference when it comes to battery life and performance and that is what I am inquiring about. There are also tunables which can change a governor from completely horrible to exceptional. THis is why I am inquiring. Don't bother yourself with this thread if it is of no use to you.
If you'd take the time - if you haven't already - to read with comprehension the threads for kernels like franco.Kernel and M-Kernel you'd see a massive if not overwhelming amount of information that you're actually looking for that's already been done. Those two kernels - and probably most of the other popular ones - have extensive levels of research and testing already done on them and in their most currently available forms they are the epitome of kernel development on the Nexus 7, and I stand by that statement even in spite of me not being a developer myself. I have read thousands upon thousands of posts and done my own little amounts of experimentation just to prove to myself that yes, those two kernels (and probably others) provide exactly what their respective developers have worked so hard to provide:
Exceptional performance overall coupled with exceptional battery life as well. Yes you can do your own tuning for your own particular needs and wants and even your own requirements as needed which is pretty much what you're apparently hoping to discover from other people and their own experiences.
I'm not saying this thread is a bad idea, I'm saying it's been done before: hundreds if not thousands of times in the very threads that exist for each of the respective kernels (and ROMs by association). The kernel threads have extreme amounts of info on basic tunables, governors, schedulers, pretty much every last thing you or anyone else could ever do to squeeze out the best they offer and the the developers implement that stuff into the defaults of their kernels based on the results of testing and reports from users implementing them.
The info is out there, you just have to go find it - and yes I note that you said you'd never found any decent threads about the Nexus 7 which is precisely what prompted my first reply: the info is already out there in the kernel and ROM threads.
There can't be a "best of" type thread like this because there's just so many different variations of kernels, ROMs, etc even if the device is the same amongst all the people.
Also, one aspect that most people don't realize: there are different revisions of the Nexus 7 hardware and they tend to perform differently. I, for example, have an original (and I mean first production run) Nexus 7 8GB model that has totally different performance characteristics than the later revisions of the same 8GB model, and then the 16GB and 32GB models are even different on another level because they use faster Flash-RAM onboard than the 8GB models ever did.
So again, it's a great idea and I figured if nobody else ever created one I'd do it myself, but in the long run every device is going to perform differently. Even if you had two Nexus 7s that came off the production line one right after the other and you tested them with the exact same ROMs, kernels, and tweaks, you'd get different results from each one. I'm not being facetious when I say that, I'm being totally absolutely dead serious.
Also, there is no really good overall benchmark for Android, probably never will be. You have to use different ones geared towards specific purposes to get any useful data, like AndroBench which tests the storage specifically and Vellamo which can test the HTML/surfing performance specifically. Antutu is probably the best actually useful overall system benchmark but unfortunately more people use Quadrant which is a shame because that one is so useless the results can vary rather dramatically even if you run it several times in a row.
Believe me, I've been tweaking for decades, so there's nothing I can say or do that'll stop anyone from doing it - I know the bug of "Upgraditis" quite well and have suffered from it forever, right alongside the companion condition known as being a Tweakaholic...
br0adband said:
If you'd take the time - if you haven't already - to read with comprehension the threads for kernels like franco.Kernel and M-Kernel you'd see a massive if not overwhelming amount of information that you're actually looking for that's already been done. Those two kernels - and probably most of the other popular ones - have extensive levels of research and testing already done on them and in their most currently available forms they are the epitome of kernel development on the Nexus 7, and I stand by that statement even in spite of me not being a developer myself. I have read thousands upon thousands of posts and done my own little amounts of experimentation just to prove to myself that yes, those two kernels (and probably others) provide exactly what their respective developers have worked so hard to provide:
Exceptional performance overall coupled with exceptional battery life as well. Yes you can do your own tuning for your own particular needs and wants and even your own requirements as needed which is pretty much what you're apparently hoping to discover from other people and their own experiences.
I'm not saying this thread is a bad idea, I'm saying it's been done before: hundreds if not thousands of times in the very threads that exist for each of the respective kernels (and ROMs by association). The kernel threads have extreme amounts of info on basic tunables, governors, schedulers, pretty much every last thing you or anyone else could ever do to squeeze out the best they offer and the the developers implement that stuff into the defaults of their kernels based on the results of testing and reports from users implementing them.
The info is out there, you just have to go find it - and yes I note that you said you'd never found any decent threads about the Nexus 7 which is precisely what prompted my first reply: the info is already out there in the kernel and ROM threads.
There can't be a "best of" type thread like this because there's just so many different variations of kernels, ROMs, etc even if the device is the same amongst all the people.
Also, one aspect that most people don't realize: there are different revisions of the Nexus 7 hardware and they tend to perform differently. I, for example, have an original (and I mean first production run) Nexus 7 8GB model that has totally different performance characteristics than the later revisions of the same 8GB model, and then the 16GB and 32GB models are even different on another level because they use faster Flash-RAM onboard than the 8GB models ever did.
So again, it's a great idea and I figured if nobody else ever created one I'd do it myself, but in the long run every device is going to perform differently. Even if you had two Nexus 7s that came off the production line one right after the other and you tested them with the exact same ROMs, kernels, and tweaks, you'd get different results from each one. I'm not being facetious when I say that, I'm being totally absolutely dead serious.
Also, there is no really good overall benchmark for Android, probably never will be. You have to use different ones geared towards specific purposes to get any useful data, like AndroBench which tests the storage specifically and Vellamo which can test the HTML/surfing performance specifically. Antutu is probably the best actually useful overall system benchmark but unfortunately more people use Quadrant which is a shame because that one is so useless the results can vary rather dramatically even if you run it several times in a row.
Believe me, I've been tweaking for decades, so there's nothing I can say or do that'll stop anyone from doing it - I know the bug of "Upgraditis" quite well and have suffered from it forever, right alongside the companion condition known as being a Tweakaholic...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blah Blah Blah
I mean seriously dude, that is a lot of words for saying absolutely nothing.
I am a developer on other devices, and I will be releasing roms for this one as well. I was looking for personal experience, not an opinion from someone who has absolutely nothing to add. I have been a member of this site for over six months, and I am just now hitting the "10 post requirement" to post in the developer forums. Why?? Because I am not out to make a name for myself on this website, I already have a reputation - a good one - on others, places where post counts and titles mean nothing unless you have actually developed something.
I work and have a family so I don't have tons of time to test out schedulers and governors so I was looking for some info from others and gave some of my own in return. I am not a tweakaholic, but you will thank me when I release an optimized ROM with extended battery life and a fluid and smooth user experience.
This site is great in a lot of ways, but I have noticed there are a lot of egotistical holier than thou people on the forums who like nothing better than to put other people down and be (for lack of a better word) ***holes. If your hobby is to crap on other peoples threads then it is time for a life change, get out and find a girl-friend, or friends in general.
You're a ROM developer and a member at the biggest most popular site on the entire Internet for ROM development for mobile devices and it took you six months to get to 10 posts? Guess I'm missing something but whatever, you go right on going on, son, I'll keep an eye out for your progress.
As for thanking you for ROMs, no, that won't happen since you're too far behind the curve now and anything you come up with will basically be copied work that others before you have long since created and improved upon (even if you don't realize it). If you're that busy with 'real life' and whatever - which always seems to be the reason, go figure - then perhaps you don't have the time to focus on such tasks in the first place. Priorities, man, priorities.
Ad hominem sure seems to be the norm for people online these days, wonder why.
Fact - 95% of the battery tweaks are placebo at best.
The remaining come from kernel developers who have a firm grasp on undervolting and can actually get a little longer battery life out of your device.
The best blanket solution to increasing your battery.. Turn off Location Access and Google Now.
Yes my job and family are my priority. As they should be. Also my point was I am not trying to boosty my post count to show how "cool" I am, I could care less. As it should be.
And no battery tweaks are not placebo, unless you are using placebo battery tweaks of course. There are Build.prop, init.d and sysctl.conf tweaks that can boost battery life 20-30% easy, and it can be proven. No placebo. If you choose to believe that then I have no problem with it.
I thank both of you for littering this thread with crap. I will not bother with this one I have much better things going on other forums. I truly wish I knew as much as you guys, It must suck to know everything because life must be truly boring for you.

[Q] Root N7 or not, for what I use it for?

Hi all,
First post as just registered here but XDA seems to be the best place for this subject by far.
Should I root and unlock, install kernel, overclock etc?
I use it for:
-Emails (Business & personal)
-Web browsing (a lot)
-Some games (but simple ones)
-Viewing and editing (slightly) Images.
-Google Analytics/Ads/Drive
-CRM database etc
In addition to the above question, I want to now if overclocking to 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6 ghz or install would make the N7 smoother and faster for these general things? I wont be 'gaming' or doing anything massively graphics or processor intensive (I dont think?)
iAmlearning said:
Hi all,
First post as just registered here but XDA seems to be the best place for this subject by far.
Should I root and unlock, install kernel, overclock etc?
I use it for:
-Emails (Business & personal)
-Web browsing (a lot)
-Some games (but simple ones)
-Viewing and editing (slightly) Images.
-Google Analytics/Ads/Drive
-CRM database etc
In addition to the above question, I want to now if overclocking to 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6 ghz or install would make the N7 smoother and faster for these general things? I wont be 'gaming' or doing anything massively graphics or processor intensive (I dont think?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on your uses I'd leave it stock...you could however install a custom kernel and squeeze some more battery life out of it.
Risk and Difficulty?
Culex316 said:
Based on your uses I'd leave it stock...you could however install a custom kernel and squeeze some more battery life out of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks, I have thought about battery life however I am willing to sacrifice a little battery for more speed. Do you think you'd notice the difference? In terms of smoothness and speed on general activities? Also one BIG question(s), how hard it is and how risky is it to root from Mac? Whats the likelihood of me ruining my device, for good? Are we saying 1 in 1000 or for a rookie like me a toss of a coin?
I have watched a few videos and find it pretty amazing what you can do to a phone or tablet. Especially by yourself.
iAmlearning said:
Hi all,
First post as just registered here but XDA seems to be the best place for this subject by far.
Should I root and unlock, install kernel, overclock etc?
I use it for:
-Emails (Business & personal)
-Web browsing (a lot)
-Some games (but simple ones)
-Viewing and editing (slightly) Images.
-Google Analytics/Ads/Drive
-CRM database etc
In addition to the above question, I want to now if overclocking to 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6 ghz or install would make the N7 smoother and faster for these general things? I wont be 'gaming' or doing anything massively graphics or processor intensive (I dont think?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, iAmlearning...
Based on your needs... I would say... stay stock, but root...
You can then run apps like Titanium (always useful for backing up those Temple Run 2 high scores.. or running AdAway (for getting rid of those pesky, annoying ads that seem to crop up just about everywhere...)
As far as risk is concerned... well, it's not really quantifiable... there is ALWAYS the possibility you might hard-brick the thing... but then, you might drop it on the kitchen floor tomorrow!
I'd be a liar if I said the Nexus 7 was 'unbrickable' ... it is eminently 'brickable'! But it's actually kind of hard to do! And if you follow many of the excellent instructions here on XDA, you should be OK. (Actually, rooting is a piece of cake - people make too much of it.)
Finally... rooting involves unlocking the BOOTLOADER... which WIPES the device and performs a FACTORY RESET... so I would suggest it might be done sooner rather than later... before you build up a lot of content on it (not that it can't be backed up elsewhere beforehand).
Once you have root, you can then think about custom ROMs and kernels much later.
But root is you're gateway.
Rgrds,
Ged.
iAmlearning said:
Hi all,
First post as just registered here but XDA seems to be the best place for this subject by far.
Should I root and unlock, install kernel, overclock etc?
I use it for:
-Emails (Business & personal)
-Web browsing (a lot)
-Some games (but simple ones)
-Viewing and editing (slightly) Images.
-Google Analytics/Ads/Drive
-CRM database etc
In addition to the above question, I want to now if overclocking to 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6 ghz or install would make the N7 smoother and faster for these general things? I wont be 'gaming' or doing anything massively graphics or processor intensive (I dont think?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't sound like you really need to root. If you get sick of the interface or whatever you can always install a launcher like Nova Prime and play around with it. The things you can do without being rooted is pretty amazing.
Overclocking it to 1.4 Ghz won't make a huge difference, but overclocking to 1.8 Ghz will. It will also drain your battery a lot faster - something to think about. I'm one of the under clockers to preserve battery.
One further question?
ynrozturk said:
Doesn't sound like you really need to root. If you get sick of the interface or whatever you can always install a launcher like Nova Prime and play around with it. The things you can do without being rooted is pretty amazing.
Overclocking it to 1.4 Ghz won't make a huge difference, but overclocking to 1.8 Ghz will. It will also drain your battery a lot faster - something to think about. I'm one of the under clockers to preserve battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have probably answered my question, I am a bit scared to overclock past 1.4 or 1.5 due to the heat and me not really knowing what I am doing and as the battery life is fairly important I might just leave as stock.
However like a few people advise I may try to give the rooting a go.... or maybe find a cheap used tablet or handset and try it on that first?
Would be great to get rid of the adverts.
Question - I have heard that some of these customer ROM's take away the unnecessary junk from the OS and make things smoother and faster? Would this be more worthwhile than overclocking if I were to do just one? Also any ROM's for this purpose that people recommend?
Thans again everyone
Well because the device is a Nexus device, it comes very clean as default. Not really any junk on the device to slow it down, even though that "junk" is relative. For example, I live in Europe and Google Play Music does not work over here, so I've disabled it. I've also disabled Google Currents, and any other built in apps that I simply do not use. Now it's like those apps are not even on my device - they are just dead.
If we were talking about a Samsung tablet, then yes I would say root it. Because rooting would allow you to get rid of Samsung's Touchwiz interface, which can be a bit of a RAM hog. But the Nexus 7 doesn't have such a problem, it's already stock and very smooth.
I can tell that you're very interested in this stuff and you will most probably root in the near future. However, my advice to you would be to just use and enjoy the device as it is right now, but in the mean time just read about how to unlock bootloaders, rooting, custom ROM's.. read as much as you can. You'll get more familiar with the process and the terminology, and it will be a big help when it comes time to root two months down the line.
One custom ROM I can recommend is Paranoid Android. Truthfully, it's the only one I can recommend because its the only one I've flashed. I like it, but does it make a huge difference from stock in terms of speed? Not really. It has a load of other cool features, though.
If all you're interested in is battery life and performance, rooting and a custom kernel would suffice. However for what you say you'll be using it for, not really needed. The nexus line is super simple to root and play around on though. It all sounds way more complicated than it really is.
Sent from my Paranoid 3.0 Nexus7 running M-Kernel mr1
ynrozturk said:
Well because the device is a Nexus device, it comes very clean as default. Not really any junk on the device to slow it down, even though that "junk" is relative. For example, I live in Europe and Google Play Music does not work over here, so I've disabled it. I've also disabled Google Currents, and any other built in apps that I simply do not use. Now it's like those apps are not even on my device - they are just dead.
If we were talking about a Samsung tablet, then yes I would say root it. Because rooting would allow you to get rid of Samsung's Touchwiz interface, which can be a bit of a RAM hog. But the Nexus 7 doesn't have such a problem, it's already stock and very smooth.
I can tell that you're very interested in this stuff and you will most probably root in the near future. However, my advice to you would be to just use and enjoy the device as it is right now, but in the mean time just read about how to unlock bootloaders, rooting, custom ROM's.. read as much as you can. You'll get more familiar with the process and the terminology, and it will be a big help when it comes time to root two months down the line.
One custom ROM I can recommend is Paranoid Android. Truthfully, it's the only one I can recommend because its the only one I've flashed. I like it, but does it make a huge difference from stock in terms of speed? Not really. It has a load of other cool features, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite impressed that you can determine this, as its 100% correct. I am probably going to do this at some point, but maybe not just yet, I think I need to get comfortable with the process and research a bit more about it all. Also, I am actually very impressed with the Nexus 7 as it id and coming from an Apple iPhone 5 and iPad 3, I can safely say that I'd not go back to either after this. I used to think Apple had it all in terms of functionality and innovation, however in recent years they have almost made backwards steps.
But thanks for the response, I keep seeing the Paranoid ROM around and on signatures. So may give that a go.
iAmlearning said:
Quite impressed that you can determine this, as its 100% correct. I am probably going to do this at some point, but maybe not just yet, I think I need to get comfortable with the process and research a bit more about it all. Also, I am actually very impressed with the Nexus 7 as it id and coming from an Apple iPhone 5 and iPad 3, I can safely say that I'd not go back to either after this. I used to think Apple had it all in terms of functionality and innovation, however in recent years they have almost made backwards steps.
But thanks for the response, I keep seeing the Paranoid ROM around and on signatures. So may give that a go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldnt root it for the uses you are indicating, BUT from your post I can already see that you eventually will. My advise is set a saturday or friday night aside and get this done sooner than later. Its just easier because this device not having an SD card will make it difficult to restore data and things that you have already done on it ( I got it two days ago and still havent rooted but am already worreid about some of the work ). The thing that usually helps me the most is youtube. Read a lot but have a good comprehensive detailed youtube video of teh rooting method you decide to follow and just follow along with the video. I have rooted 3 phones using that method and have yet to brick anything.

I need your experience

After being aware that the knox e-fuse on my note 3 is irreversible I am unsure whether I should flash a custom rom or not.
Here I present my reasons for the sake of understanding and validating through your experience if you may share thankfully:
1. I have used nobloat app & root to freeze/disable most stock bloatware.
2. I am not experiencing any lag in real world experience. So I wonder if the speed increase of the custom roms is real or just placebo effect.
3. There is still hope that Samsung will release the 4.4.4 Android for Note 3 as it already did for the Sprint version. Seems to be very soon.
4. I believe the resale value of the note 3 will decrease if I triggered knox and void warranty.
5. I can't spot the touch wiz services in the processes and not sure if it's taking too much ram or its the Android operating system itself that is consuming.
And finally every flashing instruction out there put a lot of warnings and lack of responsibility if the phone is bricked and there isn't even one rom where the forum users don't complain about lack of functionalities so I become unsure whether I should trust the users or they're just noobs who don't comply to the instructions properly.
So I need some advice to end this confusion, are the custom roms worth losing spen functionality along with all samsung features and triggering knox?
iamarto said:
After being aware that the knox e-fuse on my note 3 is irreversible I am unsure whether I should flash a custom rom or not.
Here I present my reasons for the sake of understanding and validating through your experience if you may share thankfully:
1. I have used nobloat app & root to freeze/disable most stock bloatware.
2. I am not experiencing any lag in real world experience. So I wonder if the speed increase of the custom roms is real or just placebo effect.
3. There is still hope that Samsung will release the 4.4.4 Android for Note 3 as it already did for the Sprint version. Seems to be very soon.
4. I believe the resale value of the note 3 will decrease if I triggered knox and void warranty.
5. I can't spot the touch wiz services in the processes and not sure if it's taking too much ram or its the Android operating system itself that is consuming.
And finally every flashing instruction out there put a lot of warnings and lack of responsibility if the phone is bricked and there isn't even one rom where the forum users don't complain about lack of functionalities so I become unsure whether I should trust the users or they're just noobs who don't comply to the instructions properly.
So I need some advice to end this confusion, are the custom roms worth losing spen functionality along with all samsung features and triggering knox?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello.
for me it is down to personal preferences. Some people, like me, hate the bloated touchwiz and the lack of customization and sometimes the occsional laggs turns me off. With custom rom, you may get a better performance if you know how to tweak your setting, plus you have tons of customization ( esp with CM, AOSP roms etc), but you have to sacrifice the s-pen features. If you rarely use your s-pen, it should not be a problem, right? Nevertheless, there are many roms out there with s-pen features still intact, like the tweaked touchwiz rom, S5 port etc. so really it is down to your preferences. I personally dont mind the knox status, as many general consumer wouldnt know about it either if we're going to sell our device to them. Just flash stock rom and everything should be okay.
and oh about flashing, just follow the instructions provided slowly and carefully, in time, it will be a walk in the park for you, lol. :silly:
there are many good people here, even if you are to mess up, there will be help and solutions, most of the time.:fingers-crossed:
iamarto said:
After being aware that the knox e-fuse on my note 3 is irreversible I am unsure whether I should flash a custom rom or not.
Here I present my reasons for the sake of understanding and validating through your experience if you may share thankfully:
1. I have used nobloat app & root to freeze/disable most stock bloatware.
2. I am not experiencing any lag in real world experience. So I wonder if the speed increase of the custom roms is real or just placebo effect.
3. There is still hope that Samsung will release the 4.4.4 Android for Note 3 as it already did for the Sprint version. Seems to be very soon.
4. I believe the resale value of the note 3 will decrease if I triggered knox and void warranty.
5. I can't spot the touch wiz services in the processes and not sure if it's taking too much ram or its the Android operating system itself that is consuming.
And finally every flashing instruction out there put a lot of warnings and lack of responsibility if the phone is bricked and there isn't even one rom where the forum users don't complain about lack of functionalities so I become unsure whether I should trust the users or they're just noobs who don't comply to the instructions properly.
So I need some advice to end this confusion, are the custom roms worth losing spen functionality along with all samsung features and triggering knox?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A) I believe some custom ROMs are still based on Samsung ROMs, in those you might retain pen and so on, but basically those are 100% what you can also achieve yourself with root, the right programs and the right configuration
B) In my (limited, but still) side-by-side experience the Samsung-stock-based ROMs correctly debloated and configured do not appear in any way less snappy than any custom ROM (running the same programs installed), and the Samsung-based kernels have always shown (much) better battery life. The key part here is however is "correctly debloated and configured"!

What are ROMs, Kernels and why are they useful?

Hi everyone, so I've recently entered the android world, I've had iOS basically for ever. I've been reading a little into this and on the features but can anyone explain me properly what are ROMs, Kernels? And why are they useful? If I'm satisfied with the looks of my s7e and with the functionalities, should I install another kernel/ROM? As far as I understand, should I be satisfied with both, the only thing that ROMs and kernel can do better is make it faster and use less battery? This is what I managed to gather from what I read but please do correct me if it's not so.
Thanks!
So there are really complex answers (Google those) and a really simple answers. Here they go.
ROMs are operating systems. Custom ROMs are created by other users, as opposed to stock ROMs which are created by the manufacturer of the phone. They replace the operating system on the phone with one with custom functionality. The custom functionality can be as simple as modified cosmetic stuff (themes, fonts), to highly modified functionality with added/removed functionality.
A kernel is a critical part of a ROM. Technically it provides the interface between the hardware and software -- it's the heart of the operating system. Modified kernels let you change things about how the hardware operates (overclocking, etc) that you simply can't do in software.
As you may have guessed, there are advantages and disadvantages to custom ROMs. You can modify functionality of your phone, possibly make it operate more to your liking, but you can also irreparably damage the phone if you don't do it properly.
Long story short, if you're happy with your phone, and you don't have any desire to get into the customization game, then don't worry about custom stuff. Leave that to the tinkerers.
Cinco5 said:
So there are really complex answers (Google those) and a really simple answers. Here they go.
ROMs are operating systems. Custom ROMs are created by other users, as opposed to stock ROMs which are created by the manufacturer of the phone. They replace the operating system on the phone with one with custom functionality. The custom functionality can be as simple as modified cosmetic stuff (themes, fonts), to highly modified functionality with added/removed functionality.
A kernel is a critical part of a ROM. Technically it provides the interface between the hardware and software -- it's the heart of the operating system. Modified kernels let you change things about how the hardware operates (overclocking, etc) that you simply can't do in software.
As you may have guessed, there are advantages and disadvantages to custom ROMs. You can modify functionality of your phone, possibly make it operate more to your liking, but you can also irreparably damage the phone if you don't do it properly.
Long story short, if you're happy with your phone, and you don't have any desire to get into the customization game, then don't worry about custom stuff. Leave that to the tinkerers.
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Click to collapse
Well I actually enjoy the customisation game, I did download quite a few apps for that and I really like it right now. So in your opinion I should browse all of them being on the lookout for something, for some functionality that I'd like? Would you say that it'd be worth to download one just for the speed and better battery life?
I apologise for the specific questions but as I understand installing one does trip KNOX, the warranty is probably never going to actually be useful but better safe than sorry I guess thanks !
I am a bit of a noob in the android development scene. The last android phone i used was a HTC One M7. I rooted it and flashed multiple roms on it like Viper, MIUI, CM etc. It was quite a simple process once i watched all tutorials etc.
My query is why we havent seen any AOSP based rom developmwnt for s7 like a CM or a MIUI? Thank you for the reply.
A custom ROM on the S7 is basically the original operating system with extra features, they are all based on the "stock" firmware. If you take a look in the development section you'll notice some ROMs with heavier modifications, like debloated versions (with a lot of the system apps removed) or some with a lot of extras, like king ROM. The likes of renovate or superman are like the original ROM but with very few changes, and they might have some optimizations. If you're new to this stuff, and especially on the S7, it's not worth flashing a custom ROM. Stick with the stock firmware and root access if you wish it.

Best OOS Kernel ?

Hello, I know the choice is personal and regarding my own needs in terms of performance, battery etc. , but i'd like to know which kernel you are using, why etc.
I am not very good at seeing performance difference between 2 kernels and your feedback is often great to hear
Which one for you is the most user friendly with features like color calibration, vibration strength (things with GUI you know i don't care about scheduler or whatever)
I think imma settle down on No Limits OOS Rom, which offers a large choice of kernels...
Thank you in advance :')
You will never ever get a proper answer for this question Every kernel has its own characteristics and features, so try yourself and determine which one fits best for you
Going to have to go with the fact that this thread has been made countless times and you never get a definite answer. If you want a truthful opinion, stick with stock. It was designed for your device specifically. Especially in the case of OnePlus devices, they devise the kernel to fit with Oxygen OS. I stick with stock kernel and stock rom because the roms out there are bogus. Theres usually something the dev has done to their rom to disrupt continuity and stabilization especially with google apps and services. Always trying to "debloat" the phone is not a good idea. Letting the phone run its course is a much better way to go because it will adjust to what you actually use. Changing your kernel doesn't do very much for you. In my experience it is always worse. I havent changed the way i use a smartphone since the day i bought one and every kernel ive ever been on has never POSITIVELY affected: 1. Performance 2. Stability 3. Battery life 4. Speed of service 5. internet speed 6. Screen on time 7. Longevity
The claims that they do something for those things is typically a red flag for me. Every time i used franco kernel for example, my internet would cut out a lot and on some occasions YouTube would work for a few videos then not at all until i restarted my phone. On stock kernel, my phone never has these malfunctions but no matter which release on the 3t and the 5 now with his kernel my google stuff would constantly break down or my internet would die until i restarted or i would be permanently stuck on H+ until reboot. Just something annoying like that. And no i did not install this wrong or anything. Its not like you really can with how TWRP works. If the phone turns on then whatever goes wrong is on that rom and that kernel and theyre very unstable beasts.
TL;DR
Always stick with stock. It is built for YOUR device specifically. Don't debloat, disable. Stock kernel is always superior and in the case of OnePlus you have additional doze options in its built in settings. Don't run doze apps either btw. Let your system manage itself you'll find it does a damn fine job.
This question takes a little research to answer, some reading specifically. By seeing the features and commits present in each kernel offered, you'll be able to see where the focus of the dev is. All devs have different things in mind, some will lean towards extending battery longevity, whereas others will prefer a smooth UI and gaming performance, because after all, the processor in this phone can deliver good stuff for all these different leanings.
Anyway, go read a little, see through the devs lens and take your best pick.
My final and subjective opinion? Lightning kernel, blu spark, flash, elementalX, Franco...in no respective order.
I also have a lot of respect for the guys in RenderZenith. Building EAS from nothing is no short of a benchmark, and that kernel is really good as well.
Or as the gentleman above, stay in stock, it was built from scratch by the manufacturer for this device only and no other.

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