Develop Bugs

S4 TouchWiz functions on S4 mini?

TouchWiz S4 Mini was gutted in terms of some cooler TouchWiz function available on the regular S4, namely:
Air View, smart stay, smart scroll, air gesture, multi Window, TV remote, etc.
However, I have seen they are porting S4 room into regular S3. I would imagine it should be even easier to do it with S4 mini (especially, as pre-sale versions already had (some of those?) features that were later disabled).
Is there a good chance for a rom that will contain those S4 things that are now missing from S4 mini?
This is one of the main question I ask myself while deciding whether I should get S2 or S4 mini, as S3/S4 is more of a spade, than a mobile phone.

There's TV remote on s4 mini (ir blaster )
Also, does the S2 have those features? If it doesn't then you might as well get the S4 Mini for the performancd

Whosat said:
There's TV remote on s4 mini (ir blaster )
Also, does the S2 have those features? If it doesn't then you might as well get the S4 Mini for the performancd
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, S2 doesn't have those features but is 100 euro cheaper than S4 mini, so I would like to know if there's a point of that price difference.
So the remote is there (I don't care much for it). How about chances to get the rest of the features with a S4 rom port?

impactor said:
No, S2 doesn't have those features but is 100 euro cheaper than S4 mini, so I would like to know if there's a point of that price difference.
So the remote is there (I don't care much for it). How about chances to get the rest of the features with a S4 rom port?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The things that the S4 Mini will never get are things like Air Gestures since the Mini doesn't have the front facing IR sensor that the S4 has so it can't detect movement.
However things like smart scroll is POSSIBLE in a ROM since that just uses the front-facing camera, so smart scroll is a software exclusion not a hardware issue. As for multi-window that too is software related so MAYBE a ROM might have it but remember that is some serious work so you may never see it.
As for Smart Stay....the S4 Mini already HAS that...
Regarding porting an S4 ROM to the S3/S4 Mini as I said above Air Gestures will NOT work since the IR sensor for that is missing.

Thank you, that explains quite a lot.
So I am still stuck between a S2 and its amazing development resources, or S4 mini, which for the moment has next to none. And I don't know if it will ever have enough to produce some really interesting ROM options.
S4 mini advantages:
- camera wide lens as in S3 (can someone confirm? I hate narrow lens of regular S4)
- slightly better screen
- slightly better camera
- slightly faster (don't really care, cause I never game, only multitask)
- might get some S4 functions down the line
S2 advantages:
- 100 euro cheaper
- huge amount of roms
- roms with changable dpi (remedies the issue of lower resolution, making it even possibly an advantage over S4 mini without this function)

impactor said:
Thank you, that explains quite a lot.
So I am still stuck between a S2 and its amazing development resources, or S4 mini, which for the moment has next to none....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it seems you have made up your own mind here
If being able to choose from large amounts of ROM's is what you want then maybe the S2 is what you want but remember the s4 mini only came out around July/August so not really a lot of time to create stable ROM's.
All I can say is that the S4 Mini is much more future proof in terms of hardware specs so that should count for something. If you wanted to stay stock then my argument would be simple since the s4 mini would definitely be updated by Samsung since it is a rather beefy phone but since you're interested in using various ROM's then the S2 seems like a winner at the moment. Main phone such as the S2 or S3 and S4 would get more ROM support since they were "flagship" phones when they came out.
Take this in mind, look at how much support the S3 Mini has gotten and then apply that to the S4 Mini (but in my opinion the S4 Mini seems to be more popular than the S3 Mini so it may get more ROM support, but give it some time)
To end off as a closing argument. If you want a phone NOW then I would say the S2 since you clearly want ROM choices BUT take into consideration that the S4 Mini has only been around for 1-2 months.
That's the best I can do, hopefully it has helped in your decision.
*Addressing one of your advantages of the S4 Mini, the S4 Mini is not slightly faster than the S2. It is MILES faster. It's getting +-19500 in Antutu 4 whereas the S2 is only getting +-10500
*Also what do you mean by wide lens camera? You mean like choosing a wide capture mode? The S4 Mini does let you choose full resolution 4:3 which are squarish or you can choose slightly lower resolution 16:9 pictures which are widescreen. But ye maybe I don't know what you mean.

Eradica said:
Take this in mind, look at how much support the S3 Mini has gotten and then apply that to the S4 Mini (but in my opinion the S4 Mini seems to be more popular than the S3 Mini so it may get more ROM support, but give it some time)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point. Haven't thought of looking into that.
*Addressing one of your advantages of the S4 Mini, the S4 Mini is not slightly faster than the S2. It is MILES faster. It's getting +-19500 in Antutu 4 whereas the S2 is only getting +-10500
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure where would I see this speed difference if I don't game.
*Also what do you mean by wide lens camera? You mean like choosing a wide capture mode? The S4 Mini does let you choose full resolution 4:3 which are squarish or you can choose slightly lower resolution 16:9 pictures which are widescreen. But ye maybe I don't know what you mean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, that's not what I mean. If you look at the difference between the area of the picture S3 and S4 fit into the frame (check out S4 gsmarena review) you will be amazed by how much narrower is the lens of S4. That's a serious issue for me.
I read S4 mini's camera is nearly the same as S3's so I would like to know if the viewing angle is also as wide.
Also, do you think prices of S4 mini will drop when Note 3 comes out?

The speed improvement will be clearly reflected in your multitasking. Also note the amount of ram the s2 has vs s4mini.
The prices are unlikely to drop as they are of very different functions and target very different user groups.

[Q] S4 mini I9195 Or moto G 4g (1st gen)

As the title says, im considering either of these, reason for 1st gent moto g is because i do not want a tablet phablet or a television in my pocket, which is also the reason im considering the S4 mini
Im located in denmark, i have no issues with installing customs ROMs, so touchjizz is of no issue here.
The S4 mini is about 100-200DKK more than the moto G, (20-30EU, if even that much)
Reasons I have for choosing the S4 are the following:
AMOLED display
Smaller dimensions
1.5GB ram
IR Blaster
NFC
And for the Moto G:
Water resistance
Slightly better PPI
Better brightness outdoors
Better ROM support (slightly)
Quad Core CPU (But lets be honest here, the 1.2GHz Quad core in the moto G is hardly any better than the Dual core 1.7 Krait in the S4 mini)
Not made of slipperly glossy fall out of hands material
So as you can see.. im just torn here, Im not even sure how much better the S4 mini performs with a custom rom compared to the ultra bloated touchjizz
Obviously i looked for reviews of them against each other, but every time they test both of them stock, and the S4 is severaly gimped by touchjizz i assume.
Halp!

I've just received my S4 Mini yesterday and I'm very happy with it so far. I think the S4 Mini if I remember right from reviews and in specs has a slightly better camera if that makes a difference to you . but the Moto G seems like a good phone.
I have yet to root or install a custom ROM due to warranty concerns for the short time being but I don't see match problems with the touchwiz interface so far. So when I do finally root and maybe install a custom ROM without the bloat which some of can be disabled on stock would run very smoothly indeed.
What GPU does the Moto G have?

Moto G 4G makes more sense. Yes I agree that moto falls behind s4 mini in RAW performance. But an optimised stock android UI yields better experience than buggy touchwiz.
Also Moto G 4G will get official android "M" from Moto. S4 Mini may/NOT get official Lollipop. Forget about "M".
I am not familiar with moto but s4 mini has superman devs live arco68 and F4k. So we do have solid custom rom base.
But being a 2013 device s4 mini becomes obselete more quickly.
Even I am having thoughts about new phone. My s4 mini worked splendidly over last 12 months, but recent "drops" resulted in heavy battery drain[hardware fault :crying:]
But here in India we get mostly dual sim phones which are a hell to work with [custom roms]. If I get galaxy S5 G900F for cheap I may buy that.
Otherwise I will wait and buy Moto G 3rd Gen :laugh:

Stock UI S4 Mini VS Moto G. Moto G wins. Custom ROM not sure...

It has the same GPU as the moto g, Adreno 305 IIRC
@THE rest of the replies; thank you for the replies, Im looking at both phones due to the custom rom support too, I do not care for stock at all (i wouldent run the moto g stock either)
Its too bad the moto G does not have nfc and IR blaster, im pretty sure NFC is going to be really good here in denmark soon.. (all bus/train terminals are going to support it for example)
The camera i guess both of them are fine to me
Its a tough choice.. the moto g is hyped quite a bit..
Oh, i forgot to mention, im on an S3 mini right now, which has pretty much the perfect size for me.

when I choose s4 mini there were many other good phones available. But the main reasons for selecting S4 mini were:
1. This is the lightest (only 108 gms.) and very small form factor android phone with such specs available( even till today also).
2.I did not like Touch wiz much, but as of today there are plenty of custom (specially Lollipop based) roms available for this device. And most of the roms are quite usable as daily drivers.
3.SUPER AMOLED!!! I used IPS LCD phones, but once you use S.AMOLED, i think it will be hard to go back.
4. For me phones should be light,small ( best size: Iphone 4) (i hate 5" bulks) and powerful.
on a side note, moto G is also a very good device.

Yep, I also think itll be hard to not have an AMOLED display, my s3 mini has one (PenTiLe though..)
NFC is going to be important i think
the IR blaster is nice.. but dont care much about it..
Only reason im considering the moto g is..
1: Water resistant
2; Higer PPI display, slightly more sharp screen
Both the s4 mini and moto g has a nice thin bezel (1st gen at least)
Both phones are about the same price, normally id go moto g, but seems the S4 mini has a nice community, which is rare, and not just one person making roms for it.
Anyone have any information on the S4 mini feelings towards rain?
And how much did CM11/Carbon help?
Thanks!

Anyone?
Kind of a deciding factor here haha

Axaion said:
Anyone?
Kind of a deciding factor here haha
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did not get your question about rains!!!? And to me the best kitkat(4.4.4) Rom for my device (s4 mini duos)is PAC MAN KK. Still using it since last 3-4 months. very good rom.

about rain, i mean does a little rain water, if youre outside and it rains, will it mess it up?, or can it at least handle that?

Axaion said:
about rain, i mean does a little rain water, if youre outside and it rains, will it mess it up?, or can it at least handle that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hahaha!....your question really made me laugh. Well, technically speaking this device is not water proof or water resistant. it has got open ports(like usb/charging, speakers,mic etc.) so if any of the electronics contacts with water........you know the answer. Besides even if we get an water resistant phone, we would never ever get some water on it deliberately. So, if water resistance is important to, you better get a SONY xperia z series( they are being advertised as mil-spec type water resistant upto a meter or so).

Moto g less ram is a killer if you're a heavy multitasker

Another option is s4 mini plus LTE. Model number is I9195I
It has 1.5gb ram and 64-bit sd 410 chipset. Problem is samsung
launched that "plus" version without much publicity or fanfare.
So not a lot of people know about its existence. So not much development
with that device. However it should give solid experience as
1.5gb ram + sd410 is much better than sd400 with 1gb ram.

Yeah, im getting the 4G version, not sure if the lotterly will give me the sd400 or 410 version though..
For rom support and community i hope the 400..
for performance 410

sasank360 said:
Another option is s4 mini plus LTE. Model number is I9195I
It has 1.5gb ram and 64-bit sd 410 chipset. Problem is samsung
launched that "plus" version without much publicity or fanfare.
So not a lot of people know about its existence. So not much development
with that device. However it should give solid experience as
1.5gb ram + sd410 is much better than sd400 with 1gb ram.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, would be nice if there was roms for the 9195I since it seems to be overall better.
Sadly im not willing to drop rom support for a 10% better phone though, even when it does have nice battery life (I need my xposed, and non-touchwiz UI, haha)
So ive narrowed down where to buy it, just a few quick questions before i pull the trigger.
Does NFC work with CM and Carbon? both Kitkat and Lollipop.
Same question for the IR Blaster and 4G
Would kinda suck to buy the phone based on those two and the 1.5GB ram and seeing that two of them dont work if they didnt
Im from denmark so i assume its the international version.
Thanks!

Screen on my S4 mini broke, what would you suggest?

Hello all!
After a lot of hard use, the screen on my beloved S4 mini broke and are not usable..
I don't think its really worth buying a replacement screen for this old phone, but looking around on newer models, i feel like we are really lucky to have this great community and development still around.
If your phone broke what new one would you get? Or would you get a new s4 mini again? I mean, 8mp camera, low resolution screen... The specs for this phone are really bad, but the roms/development around it is just amazing it seems. And yea, i have been really happy with it the last 2.5+ years.
The other problem is that i dont really want a phone that is much bigger than this one currently is, as i think it has a great size..

Linkdk said:
Hello all!
After a lot of hard use, the screen on my beloved S4 mini broke and are not usable..
I don't think its really worth buying a replacement screen for this old phone, but looking around on newer models, i feel like we are really lucky to have this great community and development still around.
If your phone broke what new one would you get? Or would you get a new s4 mini again? I mean, 8mp camera, low resolution screen... The specs for this phone are really bad, but the roms/development around it is just amazing it seems. And yea, i have been really happy with it the last 2.5+ years.
The other problem is that i dont really want a phone that is much bigger than this one currently is, as i think it has a great size..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it will depend on your financial stats , if i was in your place and my financial stat is lets say average or even a little better i would go for the S5 mini

Hedi.Karray said:
it will depend on your financial stats , if i was in your place and my financial stat is lets say average or even a little better i would go for the S5 mini
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Money is not the biggest problem really, but i dont want to give 1000$ for a flagship phone, because it's not worth it imo
Yea i looked at the s5 mini, but as far as i can tell, its not really much better. The resolution is a little better and then it features a quad core cpu. But the rest is pretty much the same, and its already 2+ years old
What about the Galaxy A3? is a little bigger (4.7"), but has some better specs. But it doesnt seem it much supported by rom builders.. Or maybe the Xperia Z5 compact, but its like double the price of the S5 mini.
I wish samsung had continued their Mini series..

Linkdk said:
Money is not the biggest problem really, but i dont want to give 1000$ for a flagship phone, because it's not worth it imo
Yea i looked at the s5 mini, but as far as i can tell, its not really much better. The resolution is a little better and then it features a quad core cpu. But the rest is pretty much the same, and its already 2+ years old
What about the Galaxy A3? is a little bigger (4.7"), but has some better specs. But it doesnt seem it much supported by rom builders.. Or maybe the Xperia Z5 compact, but its like double the price of the S5 mini.
I wish samsung had continued their Mini series..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well there is no big difference between the s4 mini and the A3 only in screen size and CPU which is not something will make me personnaly want it , and nooooooooo stay away from the Xperia if you love custom roms and those stuff , they are so complicated and some of them even dont accept custom roms ( locked bootloader ) i decided to never own an xperia again in my life even for free
try looking in the Galaxy J there are some great phones too

Hedi.Karray said:
well there is no big difference between the s4 mini and the A3 only in screen size and CPU which is not something will make me personnaly want it , and nooooooooo stay away from the Xperia if you love custom roms and those stuff , they are so complicated and some of them even dont accept custom roms ( locked bootloader ) i decided to never own an xperia again in my life even for free
try looking in the Galaxy J there are some great phones too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm well the A3 has better screen, better cpu, better camera and better battery but it seems the battery is not removeable though.
Haha yea alright point taken about the xperia

the s4 mini is a good phone and it wins on more phones, i suggest you to replace the screen or to buy the new s4 mini plus

I was also considering a Z3 compact when seeing a replacement for my beloved Xperia Ray, but went for a refurbished S4 Mini. A great little phone, and excellent dev support (thanks to @arco68). I liked the sleek appearance of the A3, but it's bigger than the S4 Mini and Z Compacts.
Nice comparison tool here:
http://www.phonearena.com/phones/si...mpact,Samsung-Galaxy-A3/phones/7788,9611,8932
Cheers!

I'm also looking for a replacement. So far, I tried:
- Samsung S5 Mini - larger, pentile screen = text looks fuzzy, has GPS hardware issue
- Moto X 2013 - has 5.1 official, great screen, but: larger, software keys make usable space same as S4 Mini, no sd card, has radio standby bug
- Sony Z5 Compact - expensive, really blocky & heavy - not very compact when compared to all the others in list, software keys make usable space *less than* S4 Mini
- Samsung A3 2015 - larger & blockier, very light, nice materials, only Android 5.0 with probably no update, specs almost same as S4 Mini (Plus / VE)
- Samsung A3 2016 - even larger, pentile screen = text looks really fuzzy, worse than S4 Mini...
- Moto G LTE 2013 - larger, but ergonomic, heavy, Android 5.1, sd card, only 1 GB RAM & 8 GB space
So far, only A3 2015 & Moto G LTE 2013 are acceptable, but no real upgrades (apart from not being stuck on KitKat...).
There are other new phones similar in size with S4 Mini, but all are huge downgrades: Lenovo A1000, Samsung J1 Mini, chinese phones...
So far, staying with S4 Mini seems the only good option...

What about the S3 Mini
I have both the S3 and S4 Mini, I prefer the S3, S4 is stuck at 3G, also the S3 is a little smaller than S4, Just my humble opinion.

Keep s4 mini is best ever
Inviato dal mio GT-I9195 utilizzando Tapatalk

bjwx2 said:
I have both the S3 and S4 Mini, I prefer the S3, S4 is stuck at 3G, also the S3 is a little smaller than S4, Just my humble opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also checked the S3 Mini as soon as it was released. Unfortunately, it was also pentile, and at that resolution it was very visible.

nick_white said:
So far, staying with S4 Mini seems the only good option...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know, right? It's crazy to think that our ~3 year old phone is still one of the best compact devices available.
I had hoped that the iPhone 5SE would encourage other manufacturers to release new <4.5" devices with modern specs. Every so often I check to see if any new, compact Android phones have been announced, but it seems 5.0" is considered the 'sweet spot' these days.
It's a shame the One Plus 3 Mini rumour was quashed - that would have made for a nice little device.
Cheers!

JimmyRay said:
I know, right? It's crazy to think that our ~3 year old phone is still one of the best compact devices available.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea exactly. But my s4 mini is also getting a little 'boring' to look at, the same about the s5 mini, so i would like some other design. Sonys experia models looks pretty good, but they are all 5", like the xperia XA, it looks very good
If i chose to buy the galaxy A3, it would definitely be the 2016 edition

nick_white said:
- Samsung A3 2016 - even larger, pentile screen = text looks really fuzzy, worse than S4 Mini...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what do you mean that the text looks 'fuzzy'? I went to the store to look at it yesterday, i think it looked pretty good

The font lines are zig-zagged instead of straight because the pixels "borrow" subpixels from the adjacent ones. It's not obvious to anyone. I mostly read PDFs and browse desktop versions of sites, so the text is small and uses few pixels, so it makes a huge difference to me. I compared the 2016 model to the 2015 one, and to S4 Mini side by side, and the new model was worse than both.

Best new phone after S4Mini ?

Hi Guys,
I'm a favorite user of our S4mini. But having it for almost 4 years now i'm starting to see it gets a bit old. I have used several custom ROMs, but in the end all are ending up a bit slow..
So i'm looking for a follow up device. Any tips? Right now I'm thinking on buying the Galaxy S7..
New phone should be;
- Fast, 'flagship' specs
- A great custom ROM community
- Good camera
- If possible, not to BIG (s4mini size is perfect, but hard to find i guess)
thats all

Wait for new Sony x compact. The current one is really good but I'm sure new one will be better.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

Mascarponi said:
Hi Guys,
I'm a favorite user of our S4mini. But having it for almost 4 years now i'm starting to see it gets a bit old. I have used several custom ROMs, but in the end all are ending up a bit slow..
So i'm looking for a follow up device. Any tips? Right now I'm thinking on buying the Galaxy S7..
New phone should be;
- Fast, 'flagship' specs
- A great custom ROM community
- Good camera
- If possible, not to BIG (s4mini size is perfect, but hard to find i guess)
thats all
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oneplus 3 or 3t

Here is my story...
Was looking for something compact and lightweight like s4 mini and also reasonably powerful (don't need flagship power. AMOLED and non stock Rom is also must. Bought a LENOVO P2. ...used for 2 months and sold it. Pros: Good battery life and ultra fast charging. What i didn't like was size and weight...too big for my hands. Also didn't like the Rom as it was close to stock.
Then i bought zuk z2. Liked nothing. Specially the LCD display. I will never buy anything if its not AMOLED and that too SAMSUNG calibrated. Device was thick and boxy....ergonomics were poor.
Moral of the story: only flagship cpu and very big bbattery don't make a good device. Its balance and optimisation of everything. And my opinion is SAMSUNG has mastered the art of making fantastic android smartphones. I hate stock,Los/based, miui etc. After trying everything....touchwiz(tweaked) and Flyme os are the top.
So far i have short listed GALAXY A5 2017. Though it is still large to my standards. ....after the recent price cut it seems the most viable option to me. Thanks for reading.

I started with trying to replace 2013 moto x. Tried the following :
Galaxy alpha
Galaxy a3 2016
Galaxy a3 2017
Sony z5 compact
Sony x compact
Oneplus x
Now running galaxy s5 and s4 mini both on RR and working pretty good. I prefer size of s4 mini but it is Lil under powered.
Wish I would have kept oneplus x. Now waiting for new Sony compact.
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

I have decided on the HTC 10, now that the price had dropped to ~ 1/2 of the launch price. It is one of the better "ex-flagship" type phone that is not too big, still is plenty powerful even tho it has last year's Top SOC.
Unlockable bootloader & great ROM support, and solid build. Design is a bit dated, but I think it will be a solid phone for me. (Ordered on-line, awaiting delivery ....)
The S7 is my second choice - better screen, better camera. But I am leery of the glass back, and the use of micro USB rather than USB-C swayed me towards the HTC. Plus Samsung's update record is spotty, and you can only get ROM support if you get the G930F variant. And Sammy seemed to have added multiple hurdles to the bootloader unlocking process compared to the S4 mini.

I was pretty much in the same predicament as you. After first giving the new Nokia 6 a chance, I decided that the screen (5.5 inches) is too big for my liking, especially coming from a S4 mini with a 4.3 screen, so I returned it.
I then decided to get the S7 (flat; not the edge variant) a chance, and so far I'm happy with it. If you get one with an Exynos processor, there are enough different roms to choose from (https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s7/development).
Plus, it's also Samsung so it's not something completely new. Yes, the screen is larger as well (5.1 inches), but with a nice back case to get a better grip on the phone it's still decent and not too big if you ask me.

BlackDontCrack said:
I was pretty much in the same predicament as you. After first giving the new Nokia 6 a chance, I decided that the screen (5.5 inches) is too big for my liking, especially coming from a S4 mini with a 4.3 screen, so I returned it.
I then decided to get the S7 (flat; not the edge variant) a chance, and so far I'm happy with it. If you get one with an Exynos processor, there are enough different roms to choose from (https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s7/development).
Plus, it's also Samsung so it's not something completely new. Yes, the screen is larger as well (5.1 inches), but with a nice back case to get a better grip on the phone it's still decent and not too big if you ask me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What rom you recommend?
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

mario24601 said:
What rom you recommend?
Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me first say, I don't consider myself an expert like that. I've only tested a few so far.
For example, Official LOS, which worked quite well. The only problem was that my S7 (SM-G930F) unfortunately has different camera sensors than most others. It looks like sometime in the last 1-3 months, Samsung has started to also use Sony camera sensors instead of the regular Samsung ones, which are not yet supported by LOS, so my camera isn't working when using LOS. It just stays blank.
The developers are aware of that and there might even be a fix for this issue, but I haven't researched it that thoroughly.
I wanted a rom with root, Xposed (Xprivacy, Gravitybox, and a whatsapp module) and all the main features, so I'm now using Helios 7.20 with Magisk and Xposed enabled. So far, everything I need is working, so no complaints on my part. I haven't updated to 7.21 yet, so I can't tell you how that version works.
Battery life is okay. No huge drain, but then again I have gps and all them location services disabled, but my data connection is turned on 24/7.

I can't find a tablet that checks all the boxes, is S4 the closest?

1) headphone jack (has it)
2) at least 4G ram, modern processor, nice screen, 64 GB internal storage or more, 10" screen or more (has it)
3) waterproof/IP6x rating (doesn't have it)
4) Active XDA community (has it)
5) Is easy to root, unlock bootloader, flash custom roms, etc... (not totally clear, looks easier than my old Xperia Tabs).
Any feedback on #5 would be great, or if anyone wants to talk me out of getting one or getting a different one I'm listening. Would get the S5e if it were waterproof or had a headphone jack. Still annoyed that Sony apparently developed some new tablets and then shelved them at the last minute.

NexusLush said:
1) headphone jack (has it)
2) at least 4G ram, modern processor, nice screen, 64 GB internal storage or more, 10" screen or more (has it)
3) waterproof/IP6x rating (doesn't have it)
4) Active XDA community (has it)
5) Is easy to root, unlock bootloader, flash custom roms, etc... (not totally clear, looks easier than my old Xperia Tabs).
Any feedback on #5 would be great, or if anyone wants to talk me out of getting one or getting a different one I'm listening. Would get the S5e if it were waterproof or had a headphone jack. Still annoyed that Sony apparently developed some new tablets and then shelved them at the last minute.
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I have the Tab S4 64GB LTE + Wifi Version (I wanted the 256GB but it was never released in my country) I would say go for it. I'm extremely happy with the Tab S4 and anxiously waiting for the Pie update (rumoured to be out by April) It performs great and I use it in my office daily. I plug the tab to an USB-c dongle that's hooked up to a monitor and use Dex on it. It may not be perfect but it gets the job done for me. It performs well and barely lags. The only thing I hate about it is how most Android apps aren't really optimized for tablets. There is no fingerprint scanner which is fine for me since the Iris and face unlock are quite reliable. This only becomes annoying for me with my password manager. It doesn't support iris scanning to log in, so I end up using a pin code.
The only advantage I see with the Tab S5e is the cheaper price, fingerprint scanner, option for more RAM (unless you can get a Tab S4 from Korea) and smaller body frame.
Not really related but I have tried the Tab S3, and that one was slow. Watching YouTube videoes were annoying; videos would stutter and the Youtube App would freeze and then crash. I never had any of those experiences with the Tab S4 and it is a definite improvement over its predecessor. I've had mine for 7 months and still runs smooth as the day I got it. I also have substratum running on mine and it works well!
Based on your requirements the I think you'll prefer the Tab S4 for the headphone jack. The XDA community is great. I'm just not too familiar with the rooting/unlocking bootloader on this device though so I can't say anything about that.
I hope you find the tablet you are looking for. Cheers.

Rooting is quite easy on my tab S4 WiFi. All needed to be done was follow the instructions. Be noticed that rooting procedure does indeed trip knox.
It is lacking when it comes to development of custom ROM. There are only a few available roms and they're all based off official Samsung firmware. I would love to see something like lineageOS on this thing but having my fingers crossed for now. My guess for this is the high price of this tablet which made it not as widely available as others for more active developments. The s5e pricing looks quite promising and I think once released it will prove to be more popular than S4. If you're more into custom ROM then I would recommend leaning toward the s5e instead. That said, the S4 is still the top performing tablet as of now and I absolutely loving this damn thing.
This tablet isn't rated for water resistance. It might survive a splash or two but not submerge in water.
Face and iris unlock work generally quite well but it's not as fast as finger scanner. I often alternate between glasses and it sometimes confuse the tablet. Doesn't work well in the dark either.

mintjustin said:
Rooting is quite easy on my tab S4 WiFi. All needed to be done was follow the instructions. Be noticed that rooting procedure does indeed trip knox.
It is lacking when it comes to development of custom ROM. There are only a few available roms and they're all based off official Samsung firmware. I would love to see something like lineageOS on this thing but having my fingers crossed for now. My guess for this is the high price of this tablet which made it not as widely available as others for more active developments. The s5e pricing looks quite promising and I think once released it will prove to be more popular than S4. If you're more into custom ROM then I would recommend leaning toward the s5e instead. That said, the S4 is still the top performing tablet as of now and I absolutely loving this damn thing.
This tablet isn't rated for water resistance. It might survive a splash or two but not submerge in water.
Face and iris unlock work generally quite well but it's not as fast as finger scanner. I often alternate between glasses and it sometimes confuse the tablet. Doesn't work well in the dark either.
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Tab s5e will not support s pen as far as I'm aware. So not even in the same league as the s4

I just upgraded after patiently hoping for some sort of Dex equivalent for my Tab S3. Octa makes a big difference imo with snappier responses and I really love Dex so that i don't need necessarily need my bigger laptop when I travel.
I really wish Brydge made a keyboard for this device. So frustrating they only make it for the Pixel Slate (who in the world who would Chrome OS on x86)

Took the plunge today after 2 weeks of contemplation between the iPad Pro 11 and Tab S4. I don't know why it took me so long, given that I absolutely love it. I had my reservations having used the iPad Pro for the past 3 years. But the package (S-pen included, cellular model, expandable storage) for almost half the price of the latest iPad Pro, is just too good imo. Also, that display is absolutely stunning, I compared a 4k video on Tab s4 vs S10+ and preferred the tab Tab S4 screen (even though it could just be the size differential) . There are concerns chipset is old and ram is not enough, but for tablet I don't think that's an issue. I just hope it ages well, whether it'll still be as good in a year or two's time.