Custom Rom for Galaxy S4 i9505: Google Edition vs Echoe vs Cyanogenmod?

Forums › Android › Custom Rom for Galaxy S4 i9505: Google Edition vs Echoe vs Cyanogenmod?

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#952905 16-Dec-2013 09:32

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#952906 16-Dec-2013 09:36

jeffnz: Some differences between Touch Wiz and GE

I suppose another advantage would be storage as the GE Rom has less bloatware in it and its considerable.

I thought so too when I tried the 4.3 Google edition. But the remaining space was still the same. I believe this is because the partitions for the OS and user storage are a set size?

Timmmay, I missed the Samsung camera, certain touchwiZ features like the downloaded button in the app drawer. Samsung was more customizable in settings,

Google edition is certainly nice though. It was a breath of fresh air from using 4.2.2 all the time

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#952907 16-Dec-2013 09:49

Yabanize:
jeffnz: Some differences between Touch Wiz and GE

I suppose another advantage would be storage as the GE Rom has less bloatware in it and its considerable.

I thought so too when I tried the 4.3 Google edition. But the remaining space was still the same. I believe this is because the partitions for the OS and user storage are a set size?

Timmmay, I missed the Samsung camera, certain touchwiZ features like the downloaded button in the app drawer. Samsung was more customizable in settings,

Google edition is certainly nice though. It was a breath of fresh air from using 4.2.2 all the time

hmm ok I'll check as I did a full wipe including SD card, basically nuked everything and was sure I got way more storage. I'm back on Echoe 4.3 at moment but when I get time tonight I'll restore GE 4.4 and see what the difference is, if any.

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#952987 16-Dec-2013 11:25

Thanks Jeff, Yab. I guess my concern isn't so much doing an install, it's restoring my apps and data, and then rolling back to a stock ROM later if I want to. If that can be done easily and reliably (Nandroid and Titanium + Odin I think) then I'd probably play a little. I just really don't want to mess up my phone, which is an essential business tool.

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#952989 16-Dec-2013 11:33

timmmay: Thanks Jeff, Yab. I guess my concern isn't so much doing an install, it's restoring my apps and data, and then rolling back to a stock ROM later if I want to. If that can be done easily and reliably (Nandroid and Titanium + Odin I think) then I'd probably play a little. I just really don't want to mess up my phone, which is an essential business tool.

Restoring apps with Titanium is a bit trickier, especially if you're backing up and restoring apps across two different Android versions. Nandroid is a lot more straightforward. It takes a snapshot of your entire system, and will restore it exactly like that. It can potentially cause issues if various storage blocks have differing mount points. I can't think of too many cases though. The only times it has caught me out are when:

1. internal storage mount points changed to cater for multi-user environment.
2. different ROMS may or may not support certain file systems. I can't remember the exact conditions under which I borked my system but a particular recovery I had ages ago (on my HTC Desire I think?) partitioned my SD card in filesystems not supported by certain ROMs. It screwed things up royally. I don't think that's much of an issue anymore... haven't had this for ages.

Other than that Nandroid is a great way to take a snapshot prior to installing a new ROM. If in doubt, take a nandroid backup!

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#952991 16-Dec-2013 11:34

Yabanize:
jeffnz: Some differences between Touch Wiz and GE

I suppose another advantage would be storage as the GE Rom has less bloatware in it and its considerable.

I thought so too when I tried the 4.3 Google edition. But the remaining space was still the same. I believe this is because the partitions for the OS and user storage are a set size?

That's correct, even if using the GE rom, you will still have the same amount of internal storage as the partition layout doesn't change. With the I9505G, (the actual google edition model) there is more storage space as the partitions are set out differently. This also means that you can't use touchwiz roms on the I9505G.

There should be partition resizing tools on XDA (I know there were for the Nexus One so I imagine someone will have written one for the S4), however resizing partitions can be risky and easy to screw up.

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#952993 16-Dec-2013 11:36

To those that want a complete guide on flashing custom roms, send me a PM. I wrote out a guide for my brother for flashing Omega from 100% unrooted stock, so I can PM it or email it (it's a bit long for a forum post).

The process is pretty much the same for other roms, so it's easy enough to replace the "omega" part with "your rom of choice"

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#953007 16-Dec-2013 12:08

So would it be fair to say (and I could be totally wrong) Nandroid backsup and restores the whole partition, whereas Titanum does apps individually? In neither case the firmware or modem is backed up, correct?

Actually putting a new ROM on sounds easy enough, it's going back to the original version with all apps, data, and settings available that I'm unsure about.

I'm learning a lot on this thread, thanks to everyone who's contributing :)

dpw

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#953009 16-Dec-2013 12:10

timmmay: So would it be fair to say (and I could be totally wrong) Nandroid backsup and restores the whole partition, whereas Titanum does apps individually? In neither case the firmware or modem is backed up, correct?

Not quite. Yes, Titanium backs up individual apps, but Nandroid backs up everything! It's a snapshot of your current system, firmware, kernel, modem and all.

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#953014 16-Dec-2013 12:14

Ah, so no matter what I do I can always go back to where I am now with a Nandroid backup. That's great to know, and means I probably will play with a GE, Omega, or Echoe ROM over xmas.

I know some ROMs require you to upgrade the modem, so I didn't think custom ROMs included the modem. Why is there a modem in a smartphone anyway? I understand what a old style modem does, but not sure what the term means for smartphones.

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#953063 16-Dec-2013 13:38

timmmay: Ah, so no matter what I do I can always go back to where I am now with a Nandroid backup. That's great to know, and means I probably will play with a GE, Omega, or Echoe ROM over xmas.

For the most part yes, you can go back. As I mentioned earlier I had difficulties reverting back to pre-multiuser setup. It was perfectly doable, just not straightforward.

timmmay:
I know some ROMs require you to upgrade the modem, so I didn't think custom ROMs included the modem. Why is there a modem in a smartphone anyway? I understand what a old style modem does, but not sure what the term means for smartphones.

If I understand this correctly there are different terminologies for this particular bit. Back in my HTC Desire days that crowd referred to it as "radio". Now in the Samsung world they call it "modem". Basically it's the driver that handles the communication, sending/receiving data over the air, both Wifi and 3G. There have been great semi-religious discussions over the "best" combination of kernel and modem in just about every Android device I have used. Basically YMMV... too many variables to win/lose that discussion/argument.

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#953084 16-Dec-2013 14:11

What is a Modem?

A modem, (sometimes referred to as a radio or baseband), is a driver that controls the sending and receiving of your mobile Network signals as well as switching between GPRS, 3G and HSDPA. It does not control Wi-Fi or the switchover between mobile signal and Wi-Fi. That is the job of the kernel. To locate your current modem details, go to... Settings > About phone > Baseband version.

Modems are not firmware specific.*** You can install any modem for the Galaxy S2 to any firmware, (*** T variants have their own modem version for network compatability), unlike kernels and ROMs. The only thing that I have found is that some, "area", modems do not work well for me in Europe, i.e. DX = Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam or ZS = China, Hong Kong or JP = Arabic, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Morocco, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria. For details of country designations, see here.

There is no such thing as, "the best modem". It depends entirely on your location, operator and signal strength. The latest modem may not be the best for you, as I have found out. These are the one's that generally work... KE7, KH3, KI3, KI4, KL1, LPS, LPX, NEKF2, NELP2, NELP3 & BVLP7.

Why is a good modem important?

If your phone has to constanly search for signals and lock on to them it not only gives you a poor call and data quality but also drains your battery.

source

excuse the S2 but its the same thing.

S4 modem link make sure you get the I9505

I just flash the latest modem although I'm on Telecom it has never made a difference. On the S4 you can only flash modems through Odin. Its a bit quirky you need to uncheck 'reboot' switch off and then reboot into download again, hook into odin and reflash and reboot and it should be all good.

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#953085 16-Dec-2013 14:12

Since we're on that topic how do I turn off fast dormancy? The golhanmoral one for the s3 doesn't seem to work.

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#953096 16-Dec-2013 14:33

joker97: Since we're on that topic how do I turn off fast dormancy? The golhanmoral one for the s3 doesn't seem to work.

I actually couldn't find the app but whe I ewent back to Echoe 4.3 it was part of setup. I still have app according to playstore just can't open it.

here's the link to the thread on it see if you can get this one to work

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#953101 16-Dec-2013 14:40

I've just been reading about the /EFS folder, and why it's important to back it up. This tool and this tool are options. If you have no luck try these tips.

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