Develop Bugs

[Q] Improve the Tab Pro like the Tab S?

I have a Galaxy Tab Pro 10.1 SM-T520.
i just tried the new Tab S 10.5 and it is way smoother than the Tab Pro 10.1, has anyone else noticed this?
Now because these devices are pretty much identical except for the extra 1gb of RAM in the Tab S, so if I increase the RAM in my Tab Pro using Roehsoft Ram Expander could I expect my Tab Pro 10.1 will become smoother?
Also would I be able to flash the Tab S ROM on my Tab Pro? would it work without any problems? In case it has more optimized software?
Kind feel gipped that both devices are essentially the same yet the Tab S is miles smoother.
Thanks Guys

Both Tab S and Tab Pro have 3gb ram don't they.
I have the 12.2 Tab Pro and that says it as 3gb ram

Only the 12.2.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

james_lpool said:
Both Tab S and Tab Pro have 3gb ram don't they.
I have the 12.2 Tab Pro and that says it as 3gb ram
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
10.1 has 2 GB.
Sent telepathically to my SM-T520

bought the 10.1 at BB on release day and have been there several times lately looking at the S and besides tthe screen size and improved screen (this doesnt mean that much to me) i am very pleased with the 10.1 and they seem to behave the same with all my looking.
i dont think having their rom would change anything and honeslty my 10.1 isnt laggy and has replaced my laptop for everything but for work.
i am certain that we will see some kind of S Pro or something hit later this year when the holidays hit and i will jump then.
i turned on Developer Options and set animations to 0 as i always do on everything and mine runs smooth.
Sammy has just this week firgured out how to actually get 6 of the 8 cores working together at once and we havent seen that update and probabaly wont for some time and that will make a huge difference.
also if like me you are on the web a lot with all that white background you will get better battery life on 10.1 but if your a video person with all the black background time you gain with the S.

I think all new android devices run the smoothest when they are new. As you download apps u can't help but have stuff running in the background. Android devices tend to slow down the longer you have them based on my experience.
I imagine demo mode is probably meant to run as fast as possible so that buyers aren't turned off by lag etc. If you have lag on your pro it has to have something to do with an app pulling too much ram. However, that extra 1gb of ram probably makes a difference. I know it did with my note 3 vs every other Samsung device I've owned. My pro 8.4 doesn't lag but it doesn't feel as fast as my note 2014 did while I had it. Software optimization has never been Samsung's strong suit.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Free mobile app

colts187 said:
I think all new android devices run the smoothest when they are new. As you download apps u can't help but have stuff running in the background. Android devices tend to slow down the longer you have them based on my experience.
I imagine demo mode is probably meant to run as fast as possible so that buyers aren't turned off by lag etc. If you have lag on your pro it has to have something to do with an app pulling too much ram. However, that extra 1gb of ram probably makes a difference. I know it did with my note 3 vs every other Samsung device I've owned. My pro 8.4 doesn't lag but it doesn't feel as fast as my note 2014 did while I had it. Software optimization has never been Samsung's strong suit.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest the best thing you can do to fight lag on the tab pro is dump the horrible Magazine UX launcher. Samsung really sucks as a software company and it really shows with Magazine UX. Google OTOH makes some of the best software and it shows with the Google Now Launcher.
BTW I tried really hard to force myself to use magazine ux for 6 weeks after I got my tab pro. What a waste of time. I was wondering why my battery always ran down fast, and the app drawer was laggy etc. But it turned out it was the god-awful Touchwiz/Magazine UX bullsht the whole time. Switched to GNL and it was like i had a new tablet (again!)
Seriously if anyone is complaining about lag and is still using Touchwiz, I'd say that the solution is right in front of their nose, lol

What should I do if I want to switch to GNL..just install it from play store ?
Do I have to uninstall the Touchwiz as well ?
Can I go back to Touchwiz if don't like the GNL at a later time ?
Thanks

Obing said:
What should I do if I want to switch to GNL..just install it from play store ?
Do I have to uninstall the Touchwiz as well ?
Can I go back to Touchwiz if don't like the GNL at a later time ?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, u can only install it from the play store if you have a Nexus device. for Galaxy Tab devices, you need to sideload the apk.
see here:
http://www.xda-developers.com/andro...-drive-google-now-launcher-and-play-services/
No need to uninstall Touchwiz. it stays on your device, but it won't be always running if you switch to GNL.
of course you can switch back later if you want. btw if u decide to switch to GNL, i suggest removing all icons/widgets from your Touchwiz home screens and re-adding them to your GNL home screens.

Thanks and will try soon..

I can only speak of the Tab Pro 8.4. But it was laggy on TouchWiz, and going to a CM based ROM made it much smoother. Honestly, I don't see any of the TouchWiz features (with exception of MultiWindow) to be of any added value; and I'm hardly missing TouchWiz one bit (again, MW is all I miss).

redpoint73 said:
I can only speak of the Tab Pro 8.4. But it was laggy on TouchWiz, and going to a CM based ROM made it much smoother. Honestly, I don't see any of the TouchWiz features (with exception of MultiWindow) to be of any added value; and I'm hardly missing TouchWiz one bit (again, MW is all I miss).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
personally i use All Share, Hancom Widget, WatchON, love Samsung Calendar, SideSync, love the Email, and a few others i am sure i am forgetting. i use to despise TW and all layovers but TW has grown on me. like my Note 3 i will take the custom TW based Roms and use Root and Xposed to customize it the way i like versus trying to force back CM like Roms to give me the TW features back i like which never works right when going that direction.

fletch33 said:
personally i use All Share, Hancom Widget, WatchON, love Samsung Calendar, SideSync, love the Email, and a few others i am sure i am forgetting. i use to despise TW and all layovers but TW has grown on me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, I completely recognize its a matter of personal taste, how you use your device, etc. I kinda had a love/hate relationship with WatchON. The rest, I either didn't have much use for, or didn't like them. I actually stayed stock on my Note 8 for the year I used it (broke the screen), but I am the opposite of you on the Tab Pro (how TouchWiz grew on you), I was fine with TouchWiz before and for whatever reason now I can't stand it. I was using CleanROM for a couple months. But now I'm on Codename Lungo (CM based) and can't imagine going back to a TouchWiz ROM.

[Q] using a custom rom on Note 8 with s-pen

Hi,
I am a custom rom fan and use them in most of my devices. But with my Note 8.0 I only use original Samsung based rom.
because I don't want to lose Samsung features like S-Pen etc.
What I wonder is, with a custom rom ;
- is the s-pen supported ?
- is there an alternative to Samsung AllshareCast support ? (in standards this is miracast support. Do the custom roms support miracast ?)
- What would I miss from Samsung features if I use custom rom ?
Thanks.

The s-pen works and is very functional on custom roms however you need to find the right software to go in tandem
S note is only compatible with touchwiz based roms and Imo is the best but actual pens functionality and sensitivity is as sensitive on any custom rom
Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk

thnaks for the fast reply.
So you mean S-Pen works but S-note (app) does not work. That's good news because I don't use S-note.
But for example, I can use Adobe Photoshop with S-Pen ?
What else I miss with custom rom ?

and what about screen mirroring ? (miracast)

mrmrmrmr said:
thnaks for the fast reply.
So you mean S-Pen works but S-note (app) does not work. That's good news because I don't use S-note.
But for example, I can use Adobe Photoshop with S-Pen ?
What else I miss with custom rom ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may of misunderstood what he replied. Just to clarify....if the custom rom is based on Touchwiz then SNote will work fine otherwise it in most cases won't.
If the custom rom is based on Touchwiz you should actually gain more functionality and not lose any. AOSP roms will vary on what is working and what is not.
---------- Post added at 08:44 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:43 PM ----------
mrmrmrmr said:
and what about screen mirroring ? (miracast)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I am not mistaken I believe that is confirmed working on civato's latest rom.

A little clarity:
There are ROMs based on the official Samsung ROMs, and they generally support all of the same features as stock but without bloatware and with additional features. Civato's excellent ROMs are a great example; they perform better, have more features (particularly kernel-based), allow the user to select which bloatware to install, and generally are wonderful. Consider it stock ROM fixed up. I have used them for nearly a year and can recommend them highly. This means you get S-Note, and Allcast I believe at this point. There have also been other apps that have been ported from other Samsung devices to this ROM.
Other ROMs are based on AOSP (Android Open Source Project) and do not include the Samsung-specific software. No TouchWiz, S-Note, or any app that depends on the Samsung APIs in their stock ROM. The Photoshop app that is shipped for Samsung crashes immediately on my OmniROM and I had to uninstall - I guess that it is calling a Samsung API. So now, with Omni-ROM I will be dealing exclusively with the world of generic apps, which is not a problem. The stylus works out of the box. To have an app launch when the stylus is removed it is necessary to add a non-free app from the store. This will also enable other features of the pen. There are stylus-supporting note programs (e.g. Papyrus) which work just fine. Most apps using a stylus should work (e.g. Sketchbook) unless they were written using the Samsung APIs, in which case that should be obvious in the store as they will be Samsung-only apps. Edit: if you like to use the stylus for general text entry then you will need to get an app for that as well; they are available - but the neat way that the Samsung keyboard can switch to stylus input is lost.
I have no knowledge of the Allcast issue, other than noting that there are apps available. DLNA is certainly available through any number of apps for any ROM.
You will find a good source of ROM info on this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2630650

mrmrmrmr said:
- is there an alternative to Samsung AllshareCast support ? (in standards this is miracast support. Do the custom roms support miracast ?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both AllshareCast (Miracast) and Chromecast screen casting work fine on the most recent @civato ROM's (FlexNote 3.0 and FlexBurst 1.0). This app and the official app are required for Chromecast screen casting.
ramjet73

Hi,
I would like to make some clarification to my question. By "custom rom" I meant "non-Touchwiz based" rom. Of course, Samsung/Touchwiz based roms do support everything related to Samsung APIs.
So my question is;
with a non-Samsung based rom, shall I be able to use S-Pen with 3rd party apps ? (like Adobe Photoshop - not the one distributed with Samsung devices but the commercial Store version)
Also does miracast work with them ? (not DLNA , real screen mirroring)
Thanks.

Yes you can use your stylus. Miracast depends on Rom kernel development. Due the fact that this is included in Stock Samsung Kernel Source maybe not working...
That is a problem of all Samsung devices, lack of Source code...

Ok. Allshare Cast is Samsung feature but AOSP based roms do have Miracast support , correct ?

mrmrmrmr said:
Hi,
I would like to make some clarification to my question. By "custom rom" I meant "non-Touchwiz based" rom. Of course, Samsung/Touchwiz based roms do support everything related to Samsung APIs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's not necessarily true.
Some custom ROM's based on Samsung stock break things that work on the official ROM by using a different kernel, modifying the framework or implementing alternate versions of Samsung components from other devices. You need to check the OP and read through the thread to determine if any stock features are broken or missing.
It is definitely harder to mimic all the features of the stock TouchWiz firmware on ROM's compiled from AOSP source. If you plan to use one of those ROM's you really need to verify that the features you use/need are available and can expect to add several third party apps to get anything close to stock sPen support.
Here's a similar thread from last October and this post should help with fleshing out Spen support for AOSP ROM's even though it was written for the Note 3.
mrmrmrmr said:
Ok. Allshare Cast is Samsung feature but AOSP based roms do have Miracast support , correct ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Allshare Cast is just Samsung's name for Miracast but it is still certified by the WiFi Alliance so it should be compatible. From the Wikipedia article on Miracast:
On 29 October 2012, Google announced that Android version 4.2 (updated version of Jelly Bean) will support the Miracast wireless display standard, and by default will have integrated features for it.[8] As of January 8, 2013, the LG Nexus 4 and Sony's Xperia Z, ZL, T and V officially support the function,[9][10] as does HTC One, Motorola in their Droid Maxx & Ultra flagships, and Samsung in its Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II under the moniker AllShare Cast. The Galaxy S4 uses Samsung Link for its implementation.[11] In October 2013, BlackBerry released its 10.2.1 update to the existing line of BlackBerry 10 devices, which brings Miracast and Wi-Fi Direct support to the Z30,Z10,Q10 and Q5 models.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Chromecast screen casting is different and obviously requires a Chromecast device. I have done both successfully on the stock ROM and the latest versions from @civato but don't expect either to work on AOSP based ROM's at this point. They do work with the M10 snapshot for CM11 on my Nexus 4 but the Note 8.0 is not a Nexus device and I think those functions are highly dependent on the kernel used.
If you want all the features of the Note 8.0 working then you should stay with something close to the stock ROM. It will take a lot of time, effort and some money for apps just to get away from TouchWiz interface.
ramjet73

paying for 3rd party apps is not an issue if there are apps supporting S-pen.
I would stick with Samsung ROM if I believed Samsung will support this device anymore. But I doubt Samsung will release Android L to it.
So , I should turn to non-Touchwiz rom at some point. (I like the idea of 8 inch note device, and Samsung doesn't release a 2014 edition replacement)
2 things important for me on the Note device:
- S-Pen usability with 3rd party apps (I understand that non-Samsung roms support S-Pen)
- Screen mirroring (miracast should work if the rom is based on AOSP)
Any advice for a good non-Touchwiz rom ?

mrmrmrmr said:
- Screen mirroring (miracast should work if the rom is based on AOSP)
Any advice for a good non-Touchwiz rom ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Should" and "does" are two different things.
Out of curiosity, I loaded the M10 snapshot (the latest) for CM11, just to see if it supports screen casting for Miracast and/or Chromecast. The answer is "no" and it doesn't even appear in the display options for settings even though the M10 release for my Nexus 4 works fine with both.
The moral of the story is don't expect much better support in the future from the AOSP ROM makers. CyanogenMod will probably release an L (CM12) version since the N51xx is an officially supported device but don't expect it to support all the features of the Note 8.0 that the stock ROM does.
For a ROM recommendation, I'm planning to stay with the enhanced stock versions from @civato.
ramjet73

I appreciate your confusion on the stylus support, so let's talk about that. First off, the stylus is not unique to Samsung. Most if not all ROMs will provide the status of the raw stylus data (location, pressure, button, storage slot) to applications. Programs written to access the stylus at this level should work on any device that has the (Wacom?) stylus, Samsung or not. The PS Touch in the store should work fine on AOSP - the one I tested last night was a freebie tied to the Samsung ROM and didn't work on Omni-ROM (no surprise there). The fly in the ointment is that Samsung includes a library of stylus functions in their ROM which makes it easier to develop apps for use with a stylus, and which will lock the apps to Samsung devices (the APIs are Samsung-specific). Any app using those APIs will not work on AOSP ROMs. It is easy to tell the difference in the Store because those apps will be for Samsung-only; if it works on non-Samsung devices it is a good bet it will work with open ROMs.
In addition to the stylus software library, Samsung includes software to do things when the stylus is removed from storage or touches hot-spots, a keyboard option to use the stylus and handwriting recognition to create text input in any program, and stylus-enabled programs like S-note that can also convert your scribblings to text with varying levels of success - YMMV. These functions can all be added back into AOSP ROMs with programs from the store, at a modest price. Of course they will be a little different but the functionality will be there.
My recommendation would be to go with Civato's latest ROM (FlexBurst) for now, assuming you are using your stylus a lot and enjoy the Samsung implementation. Civato has added into the ROM support for aircommand, which is available on other Samsung devices but not stock for the Note 8. Also, there are newer versions of S-note available. Samsung (and thus FlexBurst) is currently at 4.4.2, while Omni-ROM is at 4.4.4; I don't see the small lag as anything important at this stage. Once Samsung stops supporting it there will be time to convert to AOSP. In any event once your Note is rooted and TWRP Recovery installed it is a simple matter to make a Nandroid and Titanium backup before installing a new ROM to try out; if you don't like it then wipe and reinstall - not a big deal. The only downside is that you will break your warranty if you have a KitKat bootloader (required for Civato's latest as well as Samsung's latest).
Hope this helps,
Greg

[Q] [Question][ROM] Fastest / Efficient Rom 4.4 -5.0 for GT N5100

Hey everyone!
Since I have the Galaxy S5, I am not using my Note 8.0 as full media device anymore.
Mainly for reading and taking notes and that's the point.
Currently I've got the CivZ_FlexNote8.0-KK with Android 4.4.2 and the CivZ SphereKat Rev4.0 Kernel.
It's working, that's is not the problem - but I want a really slim, fast and efficient ROM.
So, what is the most efficient ROM right now?
SlimKat?
Thanks for every answer!

To be honest, stock does a great job. I trim down Google services and freeze what I don't need. Been there with modded ROMs, and find more trouble than what they are worth. Rather mod my stock ROM and be happy everything I want works smoothly as long as Google does not mess with updates.
This Note 8.0 will be the last Android device I'll get... Sticking with Linux, Apple, or Windows devices. never in my life have I had such an issue with an OS, if you can call Android an OS.

Samsung-specific features vs. AOSP/Custom ROM

Hello everyone,
I recently bought a Tab S 8.4 and I do have it rooted along with a custom recovery but I'm still running the stock Lollipop Samsung ROM with Touchwiz. Here is my question: If I were to flash a non-Samsung ROM like IronROM or CM12 or anything based on AOSP, what are the Samsung features I would be losing?
Here's what I can tell so far:
Fingerprint Reader
Multi-Window
Touchwiz Overlay
Hancom Office Software
S-Voice? Unsure
Peel Smart Remote? Unsure
Toolbox
Quick Connect
Will I lose Power Saving and Ultra Saving Modes? Unsure
Guest mode/Private mode
Knox? Unsure what this does
Thank you.

Bumping this in case anyone has any insight they could share with me, thank you.

IronROM is a Touchwiz 5.0.2 ROM, not AOSP. Since you have custom recovery isntalled, you should try flashing AOSP ROMs to experience the difference yourself. Perhaps you'll become a flashaholic like many of us :victory: . A Marshmallow ROM is available. I tried several TW and AOSP ROMs on various devices, and I decided I prefer TW.

HKSpeed said:
IronROM is a Touchwiz 5.0.2 ROM, not AOSP. Since you have custom recovery isntalled, you should try flashing AOSP ROMs to experience the difference yourself. Perhaps you'll become a flashaholic like many of us :victory: . A Marshmallow ROM is available. I tried several TW and AOSP ROMs on various devices, and I decided I prefer TW.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, I now consider myself to be a reformed flashaholic I was hoping to avoid flashing several ROMs since it's a time-consuming process.
I did read up on some ROMs and might move over to IronROM since it keeps some of the Samsung features that might be useful. I'll end up deleting/freezing others that I don't want I suppose.
Thanks.

Personally, the only thing that keep me from using an AOSP Rom is Split Window, something that I use a lot.
You should consider if there is some TouchWiz feature that you can't live without, I consider most of it crapware.

Dont forget to run the Wanam LP Xposed module. It adds some customizations to TW.

Thanks all. I think multi-window and fingerprint reader are enough to keep me on the TouchWiz. I'll switch to IronRom and with Xposed that should do the trick, especially if I disable a lot of other Samsung bloat. Thanks again!

One major factor to me is that aosp does not support exfat. In this day and age and the size of media files that's a killer.
Also let's put something straight. TW like any other gui such as sense is just an enhanced interface.
It does provide many useful features. Samsungs problem is its insistence on bogging it down with unnecessary bloat, also knox should be optional.
TW can be just as efficient as aosp or cm.
On the tab A they included very little bloat and it runs very well.
The tab S has quite powerful hardware and should fly, which it does when all the chaff is removed.

ashyx said:
One major factor to me is that aosp does not support exfat. In this day and age and the size of media files that's a killer.
Also let's put something straight. TW like any other gui such as sense is just an enhanced interface.
It does provide many useful features. Samsungs problem is its insistence on bogging it down with unnecessary bloat, also knox should be optional.
TW can be just as efficient as aosp or cm.
On the tab A they included very little bloat and it runs very well.
The tab S has quite powerful hardware and should fly, which it does when all the chaff is removed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I had no idea about the lack of exfat support! That settles it then, I'm sticking with TW for sure and will switch to IronROM since it adds a few things and also enables the use of Xposed due to being deodexed etc. I can definitely disable the other bloat I don't need, in fact I have done that already on my current stock 5.0.2 ROM as well.
I am a serial Nexus user and the last 10 or so of my devices have all been Nexus, so TouchWiz is taking some getting used to. It does add some useful features and it's easy enough to get rid of what you don't want/need.
Thanks again everyone, much appreciated.

the7thson said:
Thanks all. I think multi-window and fingerprint reader are enough to keep me on the TouchWiz. I'll switch to IronRom and with Xposed that should do the trick, especially if I disable a lot of other Samsung bloat. Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cm13 does suport fingerprint sensor and multi Window (not 4 Windows, or mini Windows) but fingerprint isnt working right now.
Peel does work with aosp.
S voice is crap and Google search (even cortana beta) is far better.
Toolbox can be used by using an app called Toolbox (play store it, there are 5 i think)
So, you will only lose (and miss) ultra power saving Mode, because cm13 (even xposed modules have) has Its own saving Mode called doze
Knox is a security Mode to protect your info. (i never use it)
Guest/private Mode, are cm since cm12 and of course on cm 13 too

Soundcamp, the music workstation from Samsung, does not work on AOSP but is OK on IronRom.

BraianV said:
Cm13 does suport fingerprint sensor and multi Window (not 4 Windows, or mini Windows) but fingerprint isnt working right now.
Peel does work with aosp.
S voice is crap and Google search (even cortana beta) is far better.
Toolbox can be used by using an app called Toolbox (play store it, there are 5 i think)
So, you will only lose (and miss) ultra power saving Mode, because cm13 (even xposed modules have) has Its own saving Mode called doze
Knox is a security Mode to protect your info. (i never use it)
Guest/private Mode, are cm since cm12 and of course on cm 13 too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Finger print will never work for this device on an AOSP ROM. The sensor is a proprietary Samsung device, they will not release the source code for it. Regardless of the native support for fingerprint sensors in MM, it is impossible to build support for the Samsung sensors into an AOSP ROM without the source code.

Can I install OPPO's ColorOS on my Samsung A70?

I had been a long time user of OPPO devices and have gone on to like the ColorOS interface over Android. Now I have been gifted a Samsung A70 and want to check if I could install the latest available ColorOS on A70?

No that is not possible .

No, some developer have to port it to make it work on A70. Looking at the scene very few developers are interested in the device. we only see two custom roms for the device.
You may convince a dev by gifting him the device.

But if you dont like the Samsung UI,
easiest option you have right now is just to find a theme that looks like it or have Nova launcher + theme.

It's not that I disklike the UI on Samsung. Also, I run Microsoft Launcher...so it is not about the UI.
I'd rather have the ColorOS version of Android on my device. ColorOS had so many inbuilt features, IMO, that were much better.
Anyway, thanks for the replies.