Database Users

[Q] i9500 Google Edition Question

Hi there everyone, I have a dumb question since I'm not big into the whole rooting and flashing scene. I can do it but I'm not crazy about it.
I was wondering if it would be possible to root my phone and flash the stock android rom that's going to be on the Google Edition of the Galaxy S 4 onto my i9500.
Is the Google Edition's stock android rom optimized only for the Galaxy S 4 that it's going to be installed on or is it optimized for all i9500s?
I'm guessing it's not possible to flash the stock rom onto any phone since there's bound to be hardware differences that must be take into consideration otherwise there'd be a lot more people with stock roms on their phones as opposed to having to find roms that are compatible with their respective phones.
Also, I remember the Google Edition Galaxy S 4 uses a Snapdragon 600 processor, so does that mean my Octacore based i9500 won't be able to use the rom?
Basically, I'd like to get the stock rom onto my phone which is why I'm asking all these questions. Thanks everyone! Have a great day.

Most likely, yes.:fingers-crossed:

And with that said, you should post further questions in the dedicated Q&A section.

Hopefully we'll be able to flash a true vanilla ROM asap!:good:

Since the S4 Google Edition uses snapdragon 600, you can't flash it on your octa core i9500. It will make your phone brick. Snapdragon and Exynos chips are different.
Sent from my Galaxy S4 i9500

I feel sorry for the aosp-hungry ones foolishly buying the i9500 with the excuse "but it was the only one available in my country".
Ok if you want exynos and octa core, but if you wanna be able to flash aosp, you simply don't buy anything exynos.

[Q] Why is there not any AOSP or Cyanogen ROM for S4 i9500?

The AOSP and cyanogen Roms which are available all of them have camera issues and other bugs. Why is it so?
Is it impossible to run AOSP on s4 i9500? If yes, then why so?
Is it because developers are slacking and just dont want to make a AOSP custom rom for s4 i9500 or there is something which limits developer from making AOSP avialable for s4 i9500. maybe samsung hasnt given tools or drivers to developers.
All the custom roms available for s4 i9500 . They all have written at the end of the thread that The rom is based on Stock firmware.
What is a firmware? Isnt it same as kernel?
Yeah I know I am total noob.

diper07 said:
The AOSP and cyanogen Roms which are available all of them have camera issues and other bugs. Why is it so?
Is it impossible to run AOSP on s4 i9500? If yes, then why so?
Is it because developers are slacking and just dont want to make a AOSP custom rom for s4 i9500 or there is something which limits developer from making AOSP avialable for s4 i9500. maybe samsung hasnt given tools or drivers to developers.
All the custom roms available for s4 i9500 . They all have written at the end of the thread that The rom is based on Stock firmware.
What is a firmware? Isnt it same as kernel?
Yeah I know I am total noob.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM Based
Aokp - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2654985
Mokee - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2578676

Don't panic, I can see ROMs based on AOSP here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4/i9500-develop
I have personally never seen a i9500 so I beleive they are just not that common or shipped to countries where there is a lack of devs. How about cooking your own? I've started to develop my own ROM which I'm using right now.

Firmware is a full system
The kernel also partly firmware
The kernel is the core of android
If no kernel will not boot
Note: sorry if i am wrong

I9500 has an exynos chipset which had been looked down by Samsung. This has been the case since the Galaxy S2. AOSP Roms exist for the i9500 but they won't be the most stable things you will try, so you are better off staying with the original software or a rom based on the original software.

Androiders96 said:
CM Based
Aokp - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2654985
Mokee - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2578676
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as I said these roms have some serious bugs like random reboots bluetooth not working camera not working. These roms arnt good for a casual user.
DallaryPT said:
Don't panic, I can see ROMs based on AOSP here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4/i9500-develop
I have personally never seen a i9500 so I beleive they are just not that common or shipped to countries where there is a lack of devs. How about cooking your own? I've started to develop my own ROM which I'm using right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Developing your own ROM is cool thing. That's what I will be doing after my next month exams.. I dont actually own a s4 i9500 but my cousin has it. I have xolo a500s. It's pretty looking device. I would like to port 4.4 kitkat AOSP rom on it.. :victory:
Androiders96 said:
Firmware is a full system
The kernel also partly firmware
The kernel is the core of android
If no kernel will not boot
Note: sorry if i am wrong
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for replying. I think you are right. Firmware = rom + kernel.
ballsofsteel said:
I9500 has an exynos chipset which had been looked down by Samsung. This has been the case since the Galaxy S2. AOSP Roms exist for the i9500 but they won't be the most stable things you will try, so you are better off staying with the original software or a rom based on the original software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that's it. Samsung doesn't share the full source code of it's exynos chip. half of the sourcecode is closed source. They just don't give the full source code to the developers. That's why developers fail to make custom kernels and roms.
But now I wonder why do samsung do this? Maybe they dont want other phone makers to know their unique performance tweaks which they have put in sourcecode.
Lesson learnt never buy Exynos powered device. Always try to get snapdragon powered device.

[Q] SM-N900V vs SM-N900

Good day everybody. I just wanted to find out about the N900 variant. I have the N900V locked to verizon but it's sim unlocked so I can use it at my country.
How do you go about installing custom roms on the N900?
Is the bootloader unlockable?
Does it support AOSP roms?
I don't play graphic intensive games so I'm thinking about trading it for a N900 version and flashing an AOSP rom.
Can anybody give me a general response on how the N900 is in terms of development?

take a look at the developement thread.
As far as i know there are some Roms, but not as much as for the Snapdragon version. For example CyanogenMod12 is avaiable but just as Pre-Alpha and cm11 left at beta stage..
Maybe your also interested in this Thread

Which variant is better, i9500 or i9505?

I have the an opportunity to trade my Samsung A5 2015 edition for a Samsung S4.
Which variant should I get?
Which has the most development?
Is the trade worth it?

jnvdh06 said:
I have the an opportunity to trade my Samsung A5 2015 edition for a Samsung S4.
Which variant should I get?
Which has the most development?
Is the trade worth it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the 2016 A5 might be better or equal to the S4, but the S4 is definitely and improvement over the first A5.
The first generation A5 has a Snapdragon 400 processor, while the S4 has a Snapdragon 600 processor.
That being said, you should get the I9505 model. It has the most custom rom support.

GDReaper said:
Well, the 2016 A5 might be better or equal to the S4, but the S4 is definitely and improvement over the first A5.
The first generation A5 has a Snapdragon 400 processor, while the S4 has a Snapdragon 600 processor.
That being said, you should get the I9505 model. It has the most custom rom support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I have owned an S4 Mini and that was an awesome little phone, so an S4 would be a big upgrade over the A5

I9500 for sure if u want better touchwiz rom development and also better performance.I9500 has the best S6 Based Port ROM which runs very smoothly.

How does the S4 compare to the S5

One big difference is the i9500 doesn't support 4G/LTE (No antenna.) So you'll need the i9505 if you want to use that.
Sent from my GT-I9500 using Tapatalk

Usama707 said:
I9500 for sure if u want better touchwiz rom development and also better performance.I9500 has the best S6 Based Port ROM which runs very smoothly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's incorrect my friend.
The I9505 and the I9500 have about the same touchwiz development. They both have none. There will be no new Android version for both devices in the future based on Touchwiz. Both are stuck at Android 5.1.
On the other hand the I9505 has superior CM development compared to the I9500. So if you want to keep the latest version of Android go for the I9505.

Lennyz1988 said:
That's incorrect my friend.
The I9505 and the I9500 have about the same touchwiz development. They both have none. There will be no new Android version for both devices in the future based on Touchwiz. Both are stuck at Android 5.1.
On the other hand the I9505 has superior CM development compared to the I9500. So if you want to keep the latest version of Android go for the I9505.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both Have S6 Based Port ROM which is 5.0.2 basically but they dont work in the same way.Ale95 Milestone V4 is the best s6 port rom which i9505 doesnt have.I am personally using I9505 but i find i9500 much superior in performance too.I9500 has better TW development and i9505 has better CM development

Usama707 said:
I9500 has better TW development and i9505 has better CM development
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it's dying...
With one by one of developers are leaving i9500 development.
For S6 ported ROMs, i9500 is the best because S6 has Exynos SoC too (i9505 is great, they have Astra ROM). But, porting S7 frameworks and apps to i9500 will be making a lot of headache (don't ask me why), so they're just themed instead of being ported.
Edit: Damn, network problems messed up everything...
Sent from my ASUS_Z00A using XDA Labs

Is I9500 ROM Development Dead Already?

Hey people. I just wanna ask you something that bugs me to buy a new phone which I don't want to by the way. Is I9500 ROM development dead or what?
I see Nougat ROMs for older phones (say CM14 on S3) while even CM13 doesn't work perfectly on I9500. And I didn't come up with a new I9500 ROM for a long time. I don't want to be disrespectful for the devs for their splendid work but newer ROMs are the forks of the older ones as far as I can guess.
These all sums up my real question: Did development community ditch I9500 and is it time to dump I9500?

Reason for the slow development is EXYNOS
That's all you need to know,Devs are trying. It's not easy at all. S4 is an old device anyway
Sent from my SM-N920G using Tapatalk