Develop Bugs

Developer Edition Note 4 Vs. Droid Turbo

Dear Fellow XDA Members,
I am in need of your expertise and opinion on the following issues.
With the recent announcement of the Droid Turbo I have been very excited about the phone and its hardware and software have been executed well. However I have heard reports of a so so camera and screen being an issue in the sun and not being as accurate as the note 4's as Samsung is using newer screen technology whereas the turbo has the amoled similar to the old s4.
1. Overall do you think the note 4 is better in terms of what it offers from a hardware perspective and its features?
2. Now that the developer edition is available a lot of the excess bloatware can be removed is it more worthwhile to get the note 4?
3. How close of a stock experience can you get on the Note 4?
4. Video and Picture comparison thoughts on this for Note 4 vs Turbo?
5. Can the Turbo's moto specific apps be ported to the Note 4?
6. Please if you could explain why you think one is worth getting over the other. I know screen size on the turbo is at a much more manageable size for one handed use. (I can currently use the note 2 with one hand [my hands are pretty big haha] although i have dropped it a lot and a smaller form factor is appealing)
7. Any advice that you have for me to help me make a decision would be appreciated.
Thank you very much for your time to respond to my questions. I have rooted and unlocked boot loaders in the past but its been almost a year and a half since I was last able to check up on any of these things. I am not sure how much the process has changed, hopefully it hasn't gotten too complicated.
Sincerely,
Charlie

Ok. I am moving from G3, and I did EXTENSIVE research on this. I read every thing on the internet and spent a few hours on both. The one thing the Turbo has, which totally killed it for me was the screen. The note 4 was unbelievably sharp and beautiful...so was the turbo...but the turbo on max broghtbess is about half of note 4. Outside it was horrible. If you lived in a closet with no Windows or light all day, it would be ok. Man they really made an error there. Wireless charging was a factor, but I saw the note has qi back plates coming, so that's good now. The capacitive buttons were a bummer for me,as we'll as the screen size. I'm use to biggernow

I have both and I appreciate both devices for different things. The turbos battery is not as great as advertised but still gets 13-14 hours with moderate to heavy use. The turbo charger doesn't charge as fast as the note charger in my opinion. If you want the overall feature experience, then the note 4 is the way to go with tiny lags here and there. The turbo is just a more turbo charged moto x with just moto voice as its main feature and bigger battery. Touchwiz does get boring but so does pure android. The overall better phone is the note 4 but the turbo can be the underdog in this note 4, nexus 6 comparison.
Sent From My VZW Note 4 POW!

Thank you
big70tom said:
Ok. I am moving from G3, and I did EXTENSIVE research on this. I read every thing on the internet and spent a few hours on both. The one thing the Turbo has, which totally killed it for me was the screen. The note 4 was unbelievably sharp and beautiful...so was the turbo...but the turbo on max broghtbess is about half of note 4. Outside it was horrible. If you lived in a closet with no Windows or light all day, it would be ok. Man they really made an error there. Wireless charging was a factor, but I saw the note has qi back plates coming, so that's good now. The capacitive buttons were a bummer for me,as we'll as the screen size. I'm use to biggernow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with everything you have said. Do you have the developer edition? I don't really care so much for wireless charging but having a good camera and snappy phone is what I am looking for I am really sick of the lag on the note 2 and I am looking to remove as much bloat as I can again I don't know how this will effect the the phone when Lollipop comes out.

thanks for the reply
daboyal006 said:
I have both and I appreciate both devices for different things. The turbos battery is not as great as advertised but still gets 13-14 hours with moderate to heavy use. The turbo charger doesn't charge as fast as the note charger in my opinion. If you want the overall feature experience, then the note 4 is the way to go with tiny lags here and there. The turbo is just a more turbo charged moto x with just moto voice as its main feature and bigger battery. Touchwiz does get boring but so does pure android. The overall better phone is the note 4 but the turbo can be the underdog in this note 4, nexus 6 comparison.
Sent From My VZW Note 4 POW!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you know if moto voice can be ported to Note 4 Dev edition? I personally think the nexus 6 took it too far with the size at least for me.

LightCCB said:
I agree with everything you have said. Do you have the developer edition? I don't really care so much for wireless charging but having a good camera and snappy phone is what I am looking for I am really sick of the lag on the note 2 and I am looking to remove as much bloat as I can again I don't know how this will effect the the phone when Lollipop comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the Note 4 Developer Edition. Out of the box it is exactly the same phone as a retail version...all the same bloat. Of course the distinguishing difference is the ability to unlock the bootloader and install a custom recovery (which we have), root (which many of us have done) and debloat and flash ROMs (none available right now). It is a great phone!!! If you buy a Developer Edition you need to be aware that Samsung, if they treat the Note 4 Developer Edition like all of their previous Developer Edition phones, will never release an update. So, when Lollipop comes out the Developer Edition phones will not get it via an OTA or a Samsung released firmware file. You'll have to wait for the development community to modify the official OTA and release a ROM that is Lollipop based and safe to flash on the Developer Edition. Having been the owner of two previous Developer Edition phones, both Samsung, that usually doesn't take the development community long to do that. Hope this helps.

thanks for the reply
jpcalhoun said:
I have the Note 4 Developer Edition. Out of the box it is exactly the same phone as a retail version...all the same bloat. Of course the distinguishing difference is the ability to unlock the bootloader and install a custom recovery (which we have), root (which many of us have done) and debloat and flash ROMs (none available right now). It is a great phone!!! If you buy a Developer Edition you need to be aware that Samsung, if they treat the Note 4 Developer Edition like all of their previous Developer Edition phones, will never release an update. So, when Lollipop comes out the Developer Edition phones will not get it via an OTA or a Samsung released firmware file. You'll have to wait for the development community to modify the official OTA and release a ROM that is Lollipop based and safe to flash on the Developer Edition. Having been the owner of two previous Developer Edition phones, both Samsung, that usually doesn't take the development community long to do that. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the quick reply JP,
Can you make it close to stock Android and is there a way to port the always listening feature on the turbo or did they use a special chip for that (it seems pretty awesome)! Or is there an app that mimics the function without destroying battery life. I seem pretty confident I will get a note 4 Motorola is almost there but not yet Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions!
Also we root --> then unlock bootloader and install custom recovery ---> then flash a debloated rom?

LightCCB said:
Thanks for the quick reply JP,
Can you make it close to stock Android and is there a way to port the always listening feature on the turbo or did they use a special chip for that (it seems pretty awesome)! Or is there an app that mimics the function without destroying battery life. I seem pretty confident I will get a note 4 Motorola is almost there but not yet Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions!
Also we root --> then unlock bootloader and install custom recovery ---> then flash a debloated rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, you can, but it is always going to be TouchWiz and most ROMs will be TouchWiz ROMs because AOSP ROMs just simply aren't ready for primetime yet. But, I've used some TouchWiz based ROMs that look and alot like AOSP. And, I don't care what anyone says, TouchWiz based ROMs work better on a Samsung phone than do AOSP ROMS. After you've installed TWRP and root you can debloat to your hearts content as long as you have a backup.
The correct sequene is: Odin TWRP to get the custom recovery, in custom recovery flash SuperSU, reboot. You now have TWRP recovery and rooted. Go to the Android Development Section for a more complete discussion and download links.

jpcalhoun said:
I have the Note 4 Developer Edition. Out of the box it is exactly the same phone as a retail version...all the same bloat. Of course the distinguishing difference is the ability to unlock the bootloader and install a custom recovery (which we have), root (which many of us have done) and debloat and flash ROMs (none available right now). It is a great phone!!! If you buy a Developer Edition you need to be aware that Samsung, if they treat the Note 4 Developer Edition like all of their previous Developer Edition phones, will never release an update. So, when Lollipop comes out the Developer Edition phones will not get it via an OTA or a Samsung released firmware file. You'll have to wait for the development community to modify the official OTA and release a ROM that is Lollipop based and safe to flash on the Developer Edition. Having been the owner of two previous Developer Edition phones, both Samsung, that usually doesn't take the development community long to do that. Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You say "Of course the distinguishing difference is the ability to unlock the bootloader".
How does one unlock the bootloader? If I remember correctly on my S5 DE the bootloader comes unlocked from the factory and If one inadvertently locks it they are just out of luck! You cannot unlock a Samsung bootloader and Samsung will not unlock it for you.
I hope I am wrong about this and you tell me how to unlock the bootloader on my S5 DE and the Note 4 DE I have coming tomorrow incase I inadvertently lock this one also.
Samsung gave me a runaround about unlocking it on my S5 and it never happened...but by then the regular S5 had root so it did not matter so much.
I do hope I have to admit how stupid I am on this subject.

I also had a Development Edition S5. You unlock the bootloader on both the same way, ODIN a TWRP recovery. That's it. Then you can root. Go to the Android Development Section and see a more step by step and download links.

jpcalhoun said:
I also had a Development Edition S5. You unlock the bootloader on both the same way, ODIN a TWRP recovery. That's it. Then you can root. Go to the Android Development Section and see a more step by step and download links.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason you can ODIN a TWRP recovery is because you have a unlocked bootloader. The reason you cannot do this on a standard N4 is the bootloader is locked!

scallawag said:
The reason you can ODIN a TWRP recovery is because you have a unlocked bootloader. The reason you cannot do this on a standard N4 is the bootloader is locked!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're asking a question, your statement is correct. You cannot unlock the bootloader on a Retail S5 or Retain Note. All you have to do for the Development Edition S5 and Note 4 is use ODIN to flash the TWRP .tar file and flash SuperSu in TWRP recovery.

jpcalhoun said:
If you're asking a question, your statement is correct. You cannot unlock the bootloader on a Retail S5 or Retain Note. All you have to do for the Development Edition S5 and Note 4 is use ODIN to flash the TWRP .tar file and flash SuperSu in TWRP recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats correct but you are missing the point that you don't want to let people believe you can unlock a bootloader that can't be unlocked once it is locked. If anyone really believes the bootloader can be unlocked on the N4 then have them flash the retail rom. Flashing the retail rom will lock the bootloader. Then have them try and use ODIN to flash TWRP. Believe me it wont unlock the bootloader. BTW: The retail rom can be found in this forum.
I would not try this you might just end up with a retail N4 and a DE box

I'm not missing the point, its hard to determine what your point is. I never said anything about unlocking a Retail phone. You're all over the board with this thread. Go read the Android Development Section.

jpcalhoun said:
I'm not missing the point, its hard to determine what your point is. I never said anything about unlocking a Retail phone. You're all over the board with this thread. Go read the Android Development Section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct again you did not say anything about unlocking a retail phone what you said was.
"Of course the distinguishing difference is the ability to unlock the bootloader and install a custom recovery"
The fact is a DE can not have its bootloader unlocked!
It comes with an unlocked bootloader.
That is a BIG difference.

scallawag said:
You are correct again you did not say anything about unlocking a retail phone what you said was.
"Of course the distinguishing difference is the ability to unlock the bootloader and install a custom recovery"
The fact is a DE can not have its bootloader unlocked!
It comes with an unlocked bootloader.
That is a BIG difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok fine. We have a difference in symantics. I give up, LOL.

scallawag said:
You are correct again you did not say anything about unlocking a retail phone what you said was.
"Of course the distinguishing difference is the ability to unlock the bootloader and install a custom recovery"
The fact is a DE can not have its bootloader unlocked!
It comes with an unlocked bootloader.
That is a BIG difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jpcalhoun said:
Ok fine. We have a difference in symantics. I give up, LOL.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well this escalated quickly

LightCCB said:
well this escalated quickly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, if someone wasn't confused before reading this thread they probably are now, LOL. I just hope readers/users understand that the retail version has a locked bootloader and cannot accept a custom recovery or be rooted, yet, and the developer edition has an unlocked bootloader (from the factory) and can accept a custom recovery which then allows them to root their phone.

If the unlocking mechanism is the same as previous Developer Edition devices (related to eMMC CID), it is possible to upgrade the device to the latest OTA/Retail release, and maintain an unlocked bootloader. Once I get the opportunity to test this, I will release instructions for this process once I can confirm it works and is safe, but I'm 99% sure it'll work. Very benign and simple actually.

ryanbg said:
If the unlocking mechanism is the same as previous Developer Edition devices (related to eMMC CID), it is possible to upgrade the device to the latest OTA/Retail release, and maintain an unlocked bootloader. Once I get the opportunity to test this, I will release instructions for this process once I can confirm it works and is safe, but I'm 99% sure it'll work. Very benign and simple actually.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no will not work

Bootloader unlock and root access

I'm interested in buying the note7 but I need to know first that if it is possible to unlock its bootloader and have root access.
Thanks in advance

I can say with certainty that this phone, as with most android phones, can be rooted. Bootloader is a more tricky issue. If you are running the international exynos version root should come fairly quickly. If you are running the snapdragon version in the US, bootloader has to be hacked so be prepared to wait. Of course I am saying this assuming note 7 is similar to the S7. I am not a tech guy so dont quote me on these. But from experience, all phones gets root treatment with time. The question is how long you can wait. : ) Oh and be prepared to lose access to Iris scanner and Samsung Pay as they are directly tied to Knox.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

mix1987 said:
I can say with certainty that this phone, as with most android phones, can be rooted. Bootloader is a more tricky issue. If you are running the international exynos version root should come fairly quickly. If you are running the snapdragon version in the US, bootloader has to be hacked so be prepared to wait. Of course I am saying this assuming note 7 is similar to the S7. I am not a tech guy so dont quote me on these. But from experience, all phones gets root treatment with time. The question is how long you can wait. : ) Oh and be prepared to lose access to Iris scanner and Samsung Pay as they are directly tied to Knox.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't speak so fast, there are enough devices out there with locked BLs that dont have root...after years.
And reading the S7 root thread its messy and really slows the device down, can't speak from experience but have a read in that thread.
Sent from my Note 5 or S6. Note 7 ordered

Guitarist147 said:
I'm interested in buying the note7 but I need to know first that if it is possible to unlock its bootloader and have root access.
Thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U will have wait till its released or people get early access to it
Sent from my SM-G900T using XDA-Developers mobile app

Can my S9 be rooted or not?

Hi guys, Im sorry if this is a silly question, I'm not an expert, I remember when it was fairly easy to flash custom roms back in the days of S2, S4... but now things have changed so much that personally I get confused between this many versions and variants... I have read along many posts that suggest my S9 can not be rooted, because of locked bootloader, but I have some mixed up settings(I think) in my S9 that doesn't help me to be completely sure.
My S9 has the model SM-G960U printed on the back., but in my Settings under Device Information, my model displayed is SM-6960U1 and my build number is R16NW.G960U1UES3ARI1; I just want to know if I can really root it, I don't intend to flash custom roms to be honest, Im satisfied with just to be able to root, install my TitaniumBackUp Pro and freeze/defrost apps I use from time to time, I have read also the people root their S9 but lacking vowifi or camera performance, but I don't know if that would apply to me.
Also, I tapped the build number 7 times in order to enable Developer options, and I couldn't find OEM Unlock on it, that is not good isn't?
I just got this S9, hence my caution to ask before jump and flash things that could brick it.
Thanks in advance!!

There's nothing to flash because the bootloader is locked.

Ditto

ChongoDroid said:
There's nothing to flash because the bootloader is locked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rather than start another thread, Iv got a couple of questions. is this because he has a snapdragon version?
As aposed to the exynos version which can be unlocked?

throbberx8 said:
Rather than start another thread, Iv got a couple of questions. is this because he has a snapdragon version?
As aposed to the exynos version which can be unlocked?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. There are some snapdragon variants that can be unlocked (9600) and they're sold in China and South America afaik. Limited support but there is lineage and twrp here.

ChongoDroid said:
Yes. There are some snapdragon variants that can be unlocked (9600) and they're sold in China and South America afaik. Limited support but there is lineage and twrp here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry for the huge delay, this has been a rough week for me, and many thanks for your answers.
it really sucks though, and I suppose there's not much hope in a possible way to unlock the bootloader in the future?
I'm not that good seller nor I have the will to actually put it on sell, I assume I will have to accept the fact that I won't be able to root this one ever :/
Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk

FrankI897 said:
Sorry for the huge delay, this has been a rough week for me, and many thanks for your answers.
it really sucks though, and I suppose there's not much hope in a possible way to unlock the bootloader in the future?
I'm not that good seller nor I have the will to actually put it on sell, I assume I will have to accept the fact that I won't be able to root this one ever :/
Sent from my SM-G960U1 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Snapdragon bootloaders have not been unlocked since at least the S7 days (Maybe earlier), buy a Exynos S9 if you want and unlocked BL

I used to root all the time. But don't see the need some the S7. Phones are so optimized stock. I've never needed to. Granted I do miss CMMod

Rally517 said:
I used to root all the time. But don't see the need some the S7. Phones are so optimized stock. I've never needed to. Granted I do miss CMMod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used to do a lot of Moto tweaking and they're among the easiest but I no longer root or even want to. Though there are a couple of things I miss like Titanium Backup.

1080 hours to wait to unlock the bootloader ?!!

Hi,
I just go this phone for Christmas and I'm trying to root in order to get my apps and everything back, and I know Xiaomi has been annoying with security and put a lock between 72h and 360 (wtf...) but here I got 1080 hours to wait ! I Googled it and couldn't find anyone else with this much time to wait so please reassure me and tell me I'm no the only one ?
I've been looking for a fix for the past two days with no luck, I don't have any access to the play store and I'm stuck with a half chinese, half english semi brick I can't use...
Any help will be appreciated

don’t the hosts of phones obstruct xiaomi make the money
Every account can unlock one device within 30 days.
Maybe you unlocked an device and 30 days didn’t pass.
If this is not your case write to service email about the reason of such delay and share their answer with us.
I can add the feature of being unmanageable and it try to make public all staff you doing on phone.
I guess no one have a way to stop that.
"Дорогие Xiaomi, не мешают ли вам хозяева телефонов, майнить деньги?"

When I first requested unlock of my Mi Max 3, it said I had to wait 720 hours.
After around 360 hours, I was able to unlock.
So I'm not sure what the reason for the reduction in wait time was, perhaps due to me being a Xiaomi user for a couple of years.
I guess you could write to them or try again after a couple of weeks, to see if they've adjusted it for you.

GEoMaNTiK said:
When I first requested unlock of my Mi Max 3, it said I had to wait 720 hours.
After around 360 hours, I was able to unlock.
So I'm not sure what the reason for the reduction in wait time was, perhaps due to me being a Xiaomi user for a couple of years.
I guess you could write to them or try again after a couple of weeks, to see if they've adjusted it for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
when I first request unlock it said wait 360hours.
The Xiaomi can change that value with just finger snap in either direction with no announce. (Google:the+thanos+finger+snap)
Hard to predict in what half of universe you will be ) after that.

We should all be thankful we still got to unlock the bootloader...

nijel8 said:
We should all be thankful we still got to unlock the bootloader...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really, Android is Open Source and so if manufacturers want the free software (especially ones like Xiaomi who don't even include Google Play Services in their Chinese ROM's so don't have to pay a cent to Google), they should give back to the community too by making bootloader unlocking fairly easy. It should be a simple option hidden in the dev settings menu at worst.

nijel8 said:
We should all be thankful we still got to unlock the bootloader...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
oh...
I'm thankful to Xiaomi for:
for the best ratio of the hardware/price
for the good battery and the bigger screen.
And please don't tell me I should be happy with locked boot-loader and mess with arb, i already have multiple reason to be not happy with it.

Theseusperse said:
Not really, Android is Open Source and so if manufacturers want the free software (especially ones like Xiaomi who don't even include Google Play Services in their Chinese ROM's so don't have to pay a cent to Google), they should give back to the community too by making bootloader unlocking fairly easy. It should be a simple option hidden in the dev settings menu at worst.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They should but they don't... Like disable ARB with unlocked bootloader... Next step is disable bootloader unlock...
23+b9mx+xh8m said:
oh...
I'm thankful to Xiaomi for:
for the best ratio of the hardware/price
for the good battery and the bigger screen.
And please don't tell me I should be happy with locked boot-loader and mess with arb, i already have multiple reason to be not happy with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course not...
But as long as hardware is cheap and bootloader is unlockable I'll be happy. That's all I need from a phone.

Can this Unlock the Bootloader of Mate 20 X?

Hi guys. I came across this website that says its possible to unlock the bootloader of huawei phones. Is this possiblefor the mate 20 x?
https://pcwindowsdownload.com/windows/unlock-bootloader-of-huawei-phones-free.html

No because the site is down, and it looks like a scam anyway. I would not trust that scam site.

xbt- said:
No because the site is down, and it looks like a scam anyway. I would not trust that scam site.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Appreciate that. One question.. do you know if phone manufacturers in the past unlocked their bootloaders at some point when their phones became irrelevant? It would be cool if huawei would unlock it knowing that the phone is 4 years old. What do you think? Have phone companies done this before?

Deanro said:
Appreciate that. One question.. do you know if phone manufacturers in the past unlocked their bootloaders at some point when their phones became irrelevant? It would be cool if huawei would unlock it knowing that the phone is 4 years old. What do you think? Have phone companies done this before?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huawei will not unlock it. What we have to do is first downgrade the OS to Android 9, which I am trying to do the Kirin 980 chip requires Android 9 to unlock the bootloader, because Huawei removed the option in Android 10+. After that, we have to use a third party to unlock the bootloader.

xbt- said:
Huawei will not unlock it. What we have to do is first downgrade the OS to Android 9, which I am trying to do the Kirin 980 chip requires Android 9 to unlock the bootloader, because Huawei removed the option in Android 10+. After that, we have to use a third party to unlock the bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I understand that. But that was not my question. I had asked if phone manufactures have in the past unlocked their phones.