New to the T-Mo Galaxy S4 - T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S 4

Hey everyone!
I just paid the etf to get off Sprint (WORST SERVICE EVER), which also made me say goodbye to my Note 2.
I was just wondering if there was anything I should know about this device.
Any different from the Note 2? (Other than obvious differences).
Should I root?
Any good stock, debloated roms?
(Probably gonna get flamed from this question ^)
And anything else I should know.
Thanks in advance, i'm looking forward to messing with this device!

devynbf said:
Hey everyone!
I just paid the etf to get off Sprint (WORST SERVICE EVER), which also made me say goodbye to my Note 2.
I was just wondering if there was anything I should know about this device.
Any different from the Note 2? (Other than obvious differences).
Should I root?
Any good stock, debloated roms?
(Probably gonna get flamed from this question ^)
And anything else I should know.
Thanks in advance, i'm looking forward to messing with this device!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting is really a personal decision....not everyone needs or wants root access.
That being said, if you decide root access and a custom recovery are for you, You'll really have to take a look at the S4 android dev section to decide which ROM meets your particular needs.

Welcome.
I also left Sprint 8 months ago after 14 years.
I couldn't complete over 85% of my phone calls. Forget about data.
I fought the etf and it was waived.
I ported to Verizon, but the data became too expensive. Paid the etf after porting to T-Mobile. The best deal of the 3.
Regarding your S4:
Root using CF-Auto-Root by Chainfire.
Flash a custom recovery. I use TWRP, but you have other good choices as well.
Flash Wifi tether and install a vpn. I see you inquired about that previously.
Install a custom ROM. There are some nice choices. I flashed Infamous S4 v2.6.1 which is running well.
There's call recording available if needed.
You can also flash ROMs for I9505 S4's, but be sure to flash a kernel made for the M919. You can flash the kernel after you flash the ROM in the same custom recovery session. Also make sure you have a Modem specifically for the M919.
And there's much much more but the above should put you on the right path

Biker1 said:
Welcome.
I also left Sprint 8 months ago after 14 years.
I couldn't complete over 85% of my phone calls. Forget about data.
I fought the etf and it was waived.
I ported to Verizon, but the data became too expensive. Paid the etf after porting to T-Mobile. The best deal of the 3.
Regarding your S4:
Root using CF-Auto-Root by Chainfire.
Flash a custom recovery. I use TWRP, but you have other good choices as well.
Flash Wifi tether and install a vpn. I see you inquired about that previously.
Install a custom ROM. There are some nice choices. I flashed Infamous S4 v2.6.1 which is running well.
There's call recording available if needed.
You can also flash ROMs for I9505 S4's, but be sure to flash a kernel made for the M919. You can flash the kernel after you flash the ROM in the same custom recovery session. Also make sure you have a Modem specifically for the M919.
And there's much much more but the above should put you on the right path
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for all the info!
I rooted and installed the Wicked rom, it's working marvelously.
I got a wifi tether working, but I have no idea what "VPN" is.
I've seen it on a few threads but havent a clue as of what it is.
Sent from my Wicked SGH-M919

devynbf said:
Thanks for all the info!
I rooted and installed the Wicked rom, it's working marvelously.
I got a wifi tether working, but I have no idea what "VPN" is.
I've seen it on a few threads but havent a clue as of what it is.
Sent from my Wicked SGH-M919
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's some info about VPNs.
http://lifehacker.com/5940565/why-y...and-how-to-choose-the-best-one-for-your-needs
If you tether, you will see the data usage increase over tethering in your T-Mobile Account app. One of the ways you won't see the increase is to install a vpn. Your data usage will show an increase not not under tethering.
There are other excellent reasons to use a vpn also.
Here is an excellent reference written about vpn choices:
http://torrentfreak.com/vpn-services-that-take-your-anonymity-seriously-2013-edition-130302/

Related

Getting this phone in a few days

Alright, so I am going to be getting this phone in a few days. A guy is trading me his white S3 + $120 for my HTC One. I just wanted to know a few things. 1. he had it rooted but he unrooted it and I believe he is on the latest update, how can I root it back? 2. what's the latest update name? (MK3?) 3. Can I flash 4.4 roms on the latest update? 4. What kernels can be flashed on what radio? Or does it just matter which rom? Thanks
Comet1966 said:
Alright, so I am going to be getting this phone in a few days. A guy is trading me his white S3 + $120 for my HTC One. I just wanted to know a few things. 1. he had it rooted but he unrooted it and I believe he is on the latest update, how can I root it back? 2. what's the latest update name? (MK3?) 3. Can I flash 4.4 roms on the latest update? 4. What kernels can be flashed on what radio? Or does it just matter which rom? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This thread will be the one you want for getting the phone rooted:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2596697
The OP, @goku2778, is very helpful and responsive.
As to your other concerns:
The latest update is MK3, which contains the Knox bootloader. However, Knox is only an issue if you try to use Odin to flash older firmware. You can flash any custom ROM you want-4.1.2, 4.3, 4.4. I highly recommend just being on the cutting edge and going with 4.4 KitKat. Carbon is phenomenal, as is CyanogenMod11. CyanFox is my other current favorite, but there is a lot of work being done by a lot of awesome devs and maintainers, so feel free to try a bunch to see what you like best! Kernels and radios are also like ROM's, in terms of you can safely flash any of the available kernels and any radio you desire to find the best ones for your personal use.
Once your phone arrives, feel free to PM me or post if you need any help or suggestions, there are a lot of helpful members cruising around on this forum!
Mr. Struck said:
This thread will be the one you want for getting the phone rooted:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2596697
The OP, @goku2778, is very helpful and responsive.
As to your other concerns:
The latest update is MK3, which contains the Knox bootloader. However, Knox is only an issue if you try to use Odin to flash older firmware. You can flash any custom ROM you want-4.1.2, 4.3, 4.4. I highly recommend just being on the cutting edge and going with 4.4 KitKat. Carbon is phenomenal, as is CyanogenMod11. CyanFox is my other current favorite, but there is a lot of work being done by a lot of awesome devs and maintainers, so feel free to try a bunch to see what you like best! Kernels and radios are also like ROM's, in terms of you can safely flash any of the available kernels and any radio you desire to find the best ones for your personal use.
Once your phone arrives, feel free to PM me or post if you need any help or suggestions, there are a lot of helpful members cruising around on this forum!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, thank you sir, big help, I will be looking forward to the devs and helpers in this forum! :good:

[Q] CM11 ROM question

I have a TMobile Note 3 with 4.3 rooted using RDLV with KNOX 0x0. I am tired of the stock ROM and I want to switch to CM11. Here are my questions:
1) What's the difference between hlte and htletmo versions?
2) Can I use the htle version since it is being updated more often?
2) I came to Note 3 from an S3. It looks like there were more CM stable versions for S3 and Note 3 only ever has had night-lies..why is that?
3) With reference to the question above, How will that affect development of future versions of CM?
4) Will T Mobile's wifi calling work with CM11?
5) If not, which ROM would it work with and is it safe to use that ROM?
6) Which is the most maintained/updated/used ROM for Note 3 apart from CM11?
Thanks
PS: I have gone through the forums to the best of my abilities to find answers. Please forgive me if I missed one and don't forget to point me to the thread with the answer
ndng28 said:
I have a TMobile Note 3 with 4.3 rooted using RDLV with KNOX 0x0. I am tired of the stock ROM and I want to switch to CM11. Here are my questions:
1) What's the difference between hlte and htletmo versions?
2) Can I use the htle version since it is being updated more often?
2) I came to Note 3 from an S3. It looks like there were more CM stable versions for S3 and Note 3 only ever has had night-lies..why is that?
3) With reference to the question above, How will that affect development of future versions of CM?
4) Will T Mobile's wifi calling work with CM11?
5) If not, which ROM would it work with and is it safe to use that ROM?
6) Which is the most maintained/updated/used ROM for Note 3 apart from CM11?
Thanks
PS: I have gone through the forums to the best of my abilities to find answers. Please forgive me if I missed one and don't forget to point me to the thread with the answer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been pouring through various forums concerning the hlte and hltexx, etc stuff. and have found no definitive answers either..
I'm new to the note as well coming from a string of other devices, honestly this stuff is kind of a headache.
I still haven't found anything very useful.. but what i've gathered is that hltexx seems to be the most common thing across ROMs that should work on our tmo variant..
but if you read this: http://www.cyanogenmod.org/blog/unified-builds you'll see that we will have to flash hlte versions, at least for CM.
Seeing as you want to flash CM, you'll probably be okay flashing the hlte version.
I have no idea if that's a CM specific thing or if it's being adopted across the board by various devs..
it seems that no matter what you do, it might require editing out the device check line from the updater-script,
just like from some ROMs for the S3 (haven't used that phone in a long time, though, so don't think that's a current issue, anymore.)
aside from that, I can't answer any of your other questions, as I haven't flashed any custom ROMs for this device, yet.
but, if this phone is like any other tmo phone, you'll lose wi-fi calling if you switch to any ROM that is NOT based on the stock ROM that was shipped with the device.
i.e. no AOSP or CM based ROM will have wi-fi calling. there are always alternatives to wi-fi calling though.
Thanks for the answer.
ndng28 said:
I have a TMobile Note 3 with 4.3 rooted using RDLV with KNOX 0x0. I am tired of the stock ROM and I want to switch to CM11. Here are my questions:
1) What's the difference between hlte and htletmo versions?
2) Can I use the htle version since it is being updated more often?
2) I came to Note 3 from an S3. It looks like there were more CM stable versions for S3 and Note 3 only ever has had night-lies..why is that?
3) With reference to the question above, How will that affect development of future versions of CM?
4) Will T Mobile's wifi calling work with CM11?
5) If not, which ROM would it work with and is it safe to use that ROM?
6) Which is the most maintained/updated/used ROM for Note 3 apart from CM11?
Thanks
PS: I have gone through the forums to the best of my abilities to find answers. Please forgive me if I missed one and don't forget to point me to the thread with the answer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) HLTETMO are the old non-unified builds. HLTE builds are "unified," and will work across networks, as far as I understand it. What this does is get more developers on the project for everybody since these devices--aside from very minor differences (I'd imagine the RIL, but I could be wrong) between Note3 devices.
2) Yes. Use the HLTE version. I'm pretty sure HLTETMO is dead...and that's a good thing. Things were a little buggier at first for the unified builds, but, they have gotten much better much faster and are currently better than the last TMO builds.
2) See above
3) See above...I can only speculate but I imagine that will concentrate the developer pool that works on devices. Instead of 4 (or more) disparate HLTE (or whatever device) teams of devs they will now all work together. That can only help things along. Again, only speculation. Time will tell.
4) I, personally, don't care about that feature but I do recall seeing some HOWTOs on WiFi calling on CM. But I highly doubt that will ever become a part of the build. That's not a concern of CM. They have enough things to worry about.
5) I'm an AOSP only kinda guy so I don't actually know, but, I'd imagine any TW based ROM will work fine with WiFi calling.
6) See #5. I wish I could help you out on this one, but, I can't. I'm an AOSP only kinda guy. The first thing I did when I got my $700+ phone home was invalidate the warranty. Knox? Pffft, whatever. Right now I can assure you that CM11 is in a highly developed form. It is daily driver status, IMHO. All the major stuff works and works well...and performance is top notch...especially with the ART (Android Run Time....screw Dalvik). Battery life isn't as good as TW roms, but, it isn't far off. The only thing missing is S-Pen features, but, there is another thread around here that gives you step-by-step instructions on how to recreate the utility of the stock S-Pen features.

[Q] ROM

Just retired my Tmobile S2 / Jedi Mind Trick and purchased a new Tmobile S3 LTE. Just rooted it and put on CWM.... Which ROMS have the following.
1.WiFi Calling and MMS
2.Good Battery Life
3.Silky Smooth and Lighting Quick
4.Plenty of Free Memory
5.Bloatware free
Thanks
All Roms based on the Samsung Touchwiz Framwork will support WiFi Calling. So try S3Rx by @enewman17 or StockMod by @saranhai. Eitheer way, I suggest flash KT747 Kernel for Touchwiz.
In my opinion, (and this can be debatable.) AOSP Roms have more free Ram and slightly better battery life. However they will never support WiFi calling. Let me know if you want to explore that.
I found this thread in search before asking the same question.
Not all touchwiz based ROMs support Wifi calling. Read posts 31 and 32 in this thread. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2735506&page=4
I am having a hard time finding the best ROM for my needs. I have to have wifi calling. I have tried several, and really like the KitKat based AICP, but that doesn't do wifi calling, so I started looking for Touchwiz based ROMs, but can't find a good stable one that works well FOR ME.
To rephrase Perseus' statement, only Touchwiz roms based on T-Mobiles firmware will have wifi calling.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Yup. That makes it far more difficult to sort them out.
I am going to try out StockMOD Rom now.
Most TW roms are built from a tmobile base. If not it should specify [PORT] in the title and/or OP.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
I can now confirm that wifi calling works on StockMOD.
custom ROM for tethering and wifi calling SGH-T999L
BenzE420 said:
I can now confirm that wifi calling works on StockMOD.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, I am new here to trying to figure out how to enable mobile hotspot/tethering and wifi calling with my SGH-T999L(t-mobile, prepaid 5GB data).
My phone(ver. 4.3) is rooted by Odin method with root66_TMO-L_T999LUVUBNC1.tar.md5 file. And superSU(ver. 1.94) was automatically(?) installed during the rooting but never used it since. Anyway, this was my very first dealing with phone software; I have never experienced rooting/flashing before. Please bear with my ignorant terms and questions...
q1. Isn't there any reasonably safe ROM to enable tethering?
q2. Can I flash the custom ROM with Odin, same process as my rooting but just change the MD5 file?
q3. Do I need to configure my phone before or after the custom ROM flashing for tethering?
when I rooted, I did not make any recovery. I had no clue about Knox counter before and still don't know where and how to check Knox counter with my phone.. I have just followed YouTube "safe rooting methods for s3" without much knowledge. How lucky my phone is not a brick now!!
1. Any of the Custom AOSP Roms will have tether built in. If you want to keep stock Touchwiz, you will have to use some Tether app from Play store.
2. Yes and no. You first flash custom Recovery with Odin. Same process except different file. Then you flash custom roms (which are in zip format) via the custom Recovery. A custom Recovery is TWRP, CWM or Philz Touch.
3. Usually yes after the custom rom is up and running. Just a few click to turn it on or customize to your preferences. No Rocket science there.
Knox Counter or Warranty Bit is displayed when you put the phone in download mode. If its zero that means its not set. If its 1 then you tripped it.
Is there any Tmobile based TW ROM that has HALO? If not, is there a good add on or app for notifications? Halo was one of the things I really liked about AICP. It seems possible, as Slimbean says it doesn't include HALO by choice.
It seems that all the ASOP ROMs are KitKat. Since KitKat is on the way to Tmobile S3 at some point. When that happens, will it allow ASOP type ROMS with Wifi, or am I mixing up several concepts?
HALO is a feature introduced by AOKP Developer community. Hence it is found only in Roms that are based on that code base such as PAC MAN. Other ROMs particularly Stock touchwiz will never the feature as is. Samsung did introduce something similar called floating Notifications that some liked but most did not. They base on Google's code so the AOKP code will never make it into Samsung Stock. However, I do recall there was bounty on Verizon's forum for bringing HALO to Touchwiz. Don't know what happened to it. I don't use touchwiz.
Speaking of all these terms, you indeed are mixing quiet a few things. AOSP Roms, based either on Google's code or CM's code will never use anything from the AOKP fork. This is by design. If you want to know why, you will have to understand the difference between AOSP and AOKP. Google is your friend.
I recall Liquidsmooth at one point in the 4.3 code had introduced HALO. Don't know if it continued or not. I do know, with the significant code changes to Kitkat, these prior features are not working and the developers are working to port them over. Its a matter of time. Speaking of which, all Custom Roms do have a 4.3 variant. Its just that users want the latest and greatest so you won't see much discussion of the 4.3 now. But it sure does exist.
After you accept Stock Kitkat update, I am sure you can continue to flash custom Kitkat Roms. Who knows, they might have moved to Key Lime Pie by then. But I don't think I understood the question. Are you referring to the Tether or WiFi hotspot ?
I was referring to wifi caling. That is a make or break feature for me. I found a few ROMs that were head and shoulders above TW (FOR ME), but because of lots of steel and concrete structures in my AO I really need wifi calling. I looked into multiboot, but I would have to toggle back and forth too much to make it work.
Wi Fi calling can and only will work with Samsung's Stock Touchwiz. So since that's critical to you, I'd suggest sticking with the stock Rom and Root it if needed. Once Rooted you can remove the bloat to make it more viable. You can also use the KT747 Kernel for Touchwiz. That will allow you to get better battery life.
As to your HALO wish, I guess, you'd have to stick with floating notification and Multi Window features Samsung has. You could try some of the ports of Xposed frameworks. But be cautious to make sure it does not break something else.
Perseus71 said:
1. Any of the Custom AOSP Roms will have tether built in. If you want to keep stock Touchwiz, you will have to use some Tether app from Play store.
2. Yes and no. You first flash custom Recovery with Odin. Same process except different file. Then you flash custom roms (which are in zip format) via the custom Recovery. A custom Recovery is TWRP, CWM or Philz Touch.
3. Usually yes after the custom rom is up and running. Just a few click to turn it on or customize to your preferences. No Rocket science there.
Knox Counter or Warranty Bit is displayed when you put the phone in download mode. If its zero that means its not set. If its 1 then you tripped it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much. :good: Really sorry to bother you but more Qs..
1. When you say stock Touchwiz, does that mean the file I flashed for rooting? root66_TMO-L_T999LUVUBNC1.tar.md5
I have also tried many Tether apps found from google store and none of them worked. They just brings me to T-mobile error message.
2. Beyond tethering, I also like to have WIFI calling function although wifi calling is not as important as tethering for me. Benz said StockMOD works for WIFI calling. So, I was thinking about to flash StockMOD for my custom ROM as long as it will also work for tethering... Do you know whether it works for tethering? If so, would you tell me where I can find StockMOD? By the way, is StockMOD a custom ROM?
3. Did I really screw up my phone warranty? Ouch,,, I have just checked the message on download mode of my phone. It says following:
product name: sgh-t999L
custom binary download: no
current binary:Samsung Official
System Status: custom
DualDomm Secure Boot: enable
Warranty Bit: 1
Bootloader AP Swrev: 1
Any unusual status you notice beyond warranty Bit? Is this saying my phone is rooted? Frankly, I am still not confident to say my phone is rooted.. AGain, thank you very much for your help.:good::good:
Touchwiz is the name of samsungs launcher and modifications they made on top of Android. So whem you see stock, tw, or touchwiz its referring to the official firmware from samsung. Touchwiz based, tmobile roms are the only ones with wifi calling.
The warranty bit is tripped. No way around this if you plan to flash anything anymore. But yes, your warranty is now void im afraid...
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk

[Q] Looking for the right 4.3 and/or 4.4 ROM

Hi, a nearly noob question.
I have Galaxy S33 T999L with SlimKat, android 4.4.4, baseband AMB7, but I believe it doesn't have Wifi calling. I use Teamwin v2.8.4.0 recovery.
I am looking for any good stable ROMs that are:
1. Android 4.3 or 4.4 with 4.4 preferred
2. Wifi calling build-in
3. App Ops provided, OPTIONAL, (for permission control on apps)
4. As lean as possible, but useful features are welcome
Some of the threads are over 3 pages here I did jump thru a few, still kind of lost since these threads started in 2012.
This is my back up phone returning from a loan to a friend. I am not using it now (no SIM inside), just trying to UP this phone before I can reuse it again (Been using Avant for a few months now).
I would appreciate anyone can post a link, or share some advice on which ROMs you would recommend. Many thanks,
clu1688 said:
Hi, a nearly noob question.
I have Galaxy S33 T999L with SlimKat, android 4.4.4, baseband AMB7, but I believe it doesn't have Wifi calling. I use Teamwin v2.8.4.0 recovery.
I am looking for any good stable ROMs that are:
1. Android 4.3 or 4.4 with 4.4 preferred
2. Wifi calling build-in
3. App Ops provided, OPTIONAL, (for permission control on apps)
4. As lean as possible, but useful features are welcome
Some of the threads are over 3 pages here I did jump thru a few, still kind of lost since these threads started in 2012.
This is my back up phone returning from a loan to a friend. I am not using it now (no SIM inside), just trying to UP this phone before I can reuse it again (Been using Avant for a few months now).
I would appreciate anyone can post a link, or share some advice on which ROMs you would recommend. Many thanks,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For wifi calling to work you will need to stick to stock based ROMs so eliminate all others and then try out a couple of those to see if they have what you are looking for.

NOOB to Note 4, on OF5 with starter questions

Hello everyone, just picked up a note 4 and was wondering if i could get guided into the right direction.
Am hoping to install a custom rom, seeing as how my about me says that I am on OF5 I can root and install TWRP through ODIn via the instructions posted on galaxynote4root.com ?
If I want to use features such as S Note, sign pdfs, and have the thimbprint reader I assume I need to run a touchwiz custom rom? It was like that for the Note 2. Any guidance towards slimmed out roms? On my old S3 I was on darkslim and would love to find something of a fast and stable rom that can be themed entirely black while using the extra features of the note that are actually useful.
If I want to use viper audio does that lock me into aosp or touchwiz specifically?
From the little I have browsed so far, the NOTERIZED rom looks to be the one?
Other things that slightly stood out would be Hybrid-x, obar,SOKP?
What is the deal with 5.1.1? Something about a locked bootloader that forces use to run a custom kernel?Do I not have to worry about that because of OF5? Am I slightly screwed because I'm not on OB7? There's issues such as no wifi calling? Would this affect sprint spark? I'm in an area where this is available. ..
Any other suggestions? Are my desires too contradictory? Btw is there anything that allows me to have my wallpapers change everyday? I'm currently using AllianceRom for my note 2 and there is a feature in which the colors of my theme change everyday...
Would really appreciate any and all help.
Lastly,thanks again for reading this far.
-Bryan
You wouldn't have issues with Wi-Fi calling or V4A on either of those ROMs that I'm aware of. You didn't mention freeza's Note 4our ROM but I'd recommend that one too.
Regarding OF5, no real advantage to keep that or its bootloader due to similar issues- no Odin downgrade capability. Depending on how you look at it; slightly disadvantaged, no downgrade through Odin/user lockable reactivation lock that will give you fits if you enable it and try to flash over it.
TW will yield the most capabilities for Note devices. You'll need to upgrade to OG5 through Odin, Odin TWRP and flash the custom ROM of your choice. All OG5 custom should include a kernel exploited for root capability as well as SuperSU in the ROM flash.
Disclaimer: I only answered what I knew. Perhaps others have answers to what I neglected.
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk
Thank you, much appreciated! So OG5 it is!

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