Need to buy a new phone, will an S9 meet my developer needs? - Samsung Galaxy S9 Questions & Answers

Hi XDA-Developer members!
I am hoping someone can assist me in choosing a new phone. I have been using several Samsung S4s on AT&T for over 7 years with no problems.
I am a developer, so I rooted the S4 and installed many helpful apps like Xposed, Titanium backup, etc.
One VERY helpful (and a MUST have ability) was using flashfire which allowed me to do image backups. This allowed me to backup my current daily on a monthly basis and if it failed, I could be up and running on a spare S4 simply by doing a restore.
Well, AT&T just informed me they will not activate any new S4's and my current S4 will stop working in 2022 because it doesn't support VoLTE.
So, I am in the market for a new phone. But all the new phones have huge displays which doesn't work well for my preferred storage location of my front pocket.
However, I did find that the Samsung S9 is close enough to what the S4 provided:
Smaller then 6" screen
External Memory Slot
OLED display
3.5mm Headphone jack
So the last hurdle for the S9 to pass for me to use it is that I need to be able to root the S9 so I can run/install apps like these:
Magisk
Xposed (EdXposed)
Titanium Backup
TWRP or Flashfire
Hotspot (this is a MUST)
I have used ODIN to do simple flash updates to my S4 and other samsung devices, but I have little experience flashing a new kernel/bootloader. But I am willing to follow directions to do these.
I have no preference to any particular Android version, I would be fine to use Oreo, Pie or Q (remember I am currently still using Lollipop on my S4!!!)
I do prefer to use stock samsung roms instead of custom roms like Lineage
So I have some questions:
Should I get the AT&T model of the S9 (960U) or a G9600 or a G9500?
If you recommend the G9600, does it support all the AT&T bands? (I just want to get a good signal anywhere in the u.s.)
What thread should I use to root/Magisk the S9?
What thread should I used to install TWRP or flashfire so I can do image backups/restores?
What "gotchas" will I run into? (like fingerprint not working, camera not working, etc)
Any help to find a new replacement for my trusty old S4 would be greatly appreciated, and I would be happy to return the favor of buying you a few drinks of your choice!

Related

Any Custom Roms For the GT T325 in the Near Future?

Hey, i just purchased the Galaxy Tab Pro T325, after looking into Flashing Custom Rom i came to find out there isn't any out, needles to say this is a GREAT device and would have thought to see several cooked up by know, what would be Awesome in my opinion would be a Custom Rom made from the Source of the Latest Galaxy S5, if its possible, that would be hot. i have the note 3 Running a Custom Rom From HyperDrive (Big Up to Them, Best Rom so far for the Note 3), its based off the S5 and its OFF the HOOK. Just a thought, will be here Patiently waiting, cause i love this device..!!!!!
from t311 to t325
I asked me the same. I changed from the Tab3 8.0 lte to the t325 and the only customs i found are for the wifi version.
The T325 is really the outstandinged Tab out there.
I had from nexus7, nexus7 2013, Acer, note8 every tab that reads good at the specs.
But this great tab is perfect.
I rooted it and and changed all things that are possible with xposed. Thats a good deal at the moment.
Not everybody would pay this price for a tablet.
LowaEastSide said:
Hey, i just purchased the Galaxy Tab Pro T325, after looking into Flashing Custom Rom i came to find out there isn't any out, needles to say this is a GREAT device and would have thought to see several cooked up by know, what would be Awesome in my opinion would be a Custom Rom made from the Source of the Latest Galaxy S5, if its possible, that would be hot. i have the note 3 Running a Custom Rom From HyperDrive (Big Up to Them, Best Rom so far for the Note 3), its based off the S5 and its OFF the HOOK. Just a thought, will be here Patiently waiting, cause i love this device..!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
konsolen said:
I asked me the same. I changed from the Tab3 8.0 lte to the t325 and the only customs i found are for the wifi version.
The T325 is really the outstandinged Tab out there.
I had from nexus7, nexus7 2013, Acer, note8 every tab that reads good at the specs.
But this great tab is perfect.
I rooted it and and changed all things that are possible with xposed. Thats a good deal at the moment.
Not everybody would pay this price for a tablet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a very basic rom I was working on until I broke my screen that u guys can try...nothing but the knox apps have been removed so anything else u don't want will need to be deleted directly from the zip or uninstalled after flash (I'm sure u can find a list of whats safe to remove somewhere on the site). This package has been deodexed & zipaligned but that's about it...u will probably need to download "supersu" & which will ask u to update the"su" binary (just select "normal" method when prompted) after u flash. As an added bonus...4 way multiwindow also known as quad view from the note pro 12.2 has been enabled, along with lockscreen shortcuts as well as multiuser & I also added the assistive widget flashlight back but it only shows up in the widget drawer NOT in the homescreen add widget list for some reason. Also...i have included a fix for using the screen mirroring function (please thank @esgie) with a custom kernel/recovery & enabled the art runtime in the developer options (although this has NOT been tested yet & does NOT work with xposed or deodexed roms which basically deafeats the purpose)
I AM NOT RESPOSIBLE FOR DAMAGE TO YOUR DEVICE OR DELETION OF DATA...BE SURE TO BACKUP BEFORE U BEGIN!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2752944
^ProPlusV1 THREAD (8.4 lte sm-t325 custom rom...added "lockscreen cards" feature)
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7yxeu9x48ILVk5MNXh1Z0tBQzg/edit?usp=sharing
^STOCK T325 NB7 ODIN (This is the factory odin file which contains stock firmware...in case something goes wrong just flash this)
WOW T Thanks for posting this up..!!!
Truly appreciate it, it beats a BLANK, and thats what i can really use right now, something to lighten the load a bit.... Again sorry to read about the situation your going through with your device, i know it felt like a stab in the chest when it cracked on you, i would have call the company i purchased it from and caused a scandal that would have made them send me a new one... The Best of luck.... Bless... :good:
THEDEVIOUS1 said:
I have a very basic rom I was working on until I broke my screen that u guys can try...nothing but the knox apps have been removed so anything else u don't want will need to be deleted directly from the zip or uninstalled after flash (I'm sure u can find a list of whats safe to remove somewhere on the site). This package has been deodexed & zipaligned but that's about it...u will probably need to re-root after u flash & also MAY need to wipe data but that shouldn't be necessary. For those of u brave enough to test...could someone please check the status of selinux after they flash & report back if enforcing is still set or not. As an added bonus...4 way multiwindow also known as quad view from the note pro 12.2 has been enabled, along with lockscreen shortcuts as well as multiuser & I also added the assistive widget flashlight back but it only shows up in the widget drawer NOT in the homescreen add widget list for some reason
I AM NOT RESPOSIBLE FOR DAMAGE TO YOUR DEVICE OR DELETION OF DATA...BE SURE TO BACKUP BEFORE U BEGIN!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7yxeu9x48ILRHdXTnV6ZXZQRzQ/edit?usp=sharing
^8.4 LTE SM-T325 ROM
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7yxeu9x48ILOG00TE05LUl5ZHc/edit?usp=sharing
^ORIGINAL KERNEL (the included one was modified in attempt to disable selinux as well as implement init.d but I'm a noob so I think both expermints failed but I couldn't test thoroughly with my cracked lcd to be honest...just replace the boot.img in the root of the zip with this one to return to stock kernel if u encounter any issues)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey T.D. UNO
I just received your message with your Custom Rom included for our Lovely T325, Im so excited to get this Rom Fired up on my device, Im downloading it as I write this Response, Will definitely Let you know how everything goes once I run it for a Few, Thanks again my Friend, your THE MAN..!!! I have my fingers crossed that this one boots up, I want a Custom Rom So bad that i tried flashing the Wifi only Versions on the 8.4 section hoping it would have boot, the worse i expected was not having 4g/LTE, however it FAILED, didnt even Boot... lol. :cyclops:
Ok, All's well.
Just finished flashing and it booted up, all is well thus Far, Seems to be running smoothly, i will Mess with it for a couple of Days to see how it goes, is there anything i should know or do..? What would be cool is if we can some how flash the transparent weather clock thats on the Note 3, would that be possible..? If theres anything else you need tested Im here, and i was wondering what is that other file you posted in your message, it stated something about Kernel "boot (1).img"..? And ilso was wondering how your device is coming along, i think i read that you Found the lCD & Digitizer you need , did you finally find it, if so how much did it set you back..? ok, thanks again I'll definitely keep in touch, if we can Hook this device to the MAX that'll be AWSOME. )))

Koodo Note 2 compatibility?

Hi everyone. So I Just got a note 2 the other day after having been using a nexus 4 for the past six months. I never use stock Roms and haven't since I got my s3 a year or so ago (I seemingly change phones often...). That being said I was looking into how to root this device and which Roms were compatible etc.
It seems all Canadian note 2 devices are the same? Rogers, Bell, koodo/telus etc? Am I correct in assuming this, and if so that any of the Roms found in this forums sub forums for aosp as well as other Roms like PA etc are compatible? (if it's compatible with the att note 2 my koodo note 2 is good to go?)
Also, it seems this devices forums are outdated and dying sadly, so can anyone recommend a recently active Rom, be it aosp or not, that is highly themeable and configurable, and preferably has good s-pen support?
Much appreciated!
Oh, and a link to the correct post for rooting this device and flashing new recovery (twrp or cwm) in its latest compatible version would be awesome too.
Thanks everyone!
There are two Canadian Note 2 models: the I317M (yours) and the T889V (mine).
So long as you don't try flashing a non I317M modem on your device, you can pretty much flash any t0lte/t0lteatt/t0ltetmo a.k.a N7105, I317(M) or T889(V) ROM out there. Along the same lines, do not flash anything meant for the N7100.
For a nice belt and suspenders approach: make backups of your EFS partitions with all known methods: EFS Professional text format, QPST qcn, "Synergy ROM" method recovery script. (I adapted the latter for the T889V and it should work as is for your device.)
Assuming your device already has the stock 4.3 ROM, you will burn the KNOX fuse by flashing anything custom or generally trying to root.
(There may be more steps involved for KNOX, you're on your own for that part: the only thing stock 4.3 I've flashed is the modem.)
To root, get the latest t0lte Odin-flashable TWRP image, apply SuperSU or superuser zip from there as desired.
There's still a fair amount of activity out here, I've been running Omni nightlies for a while now.
It's normal for things to slow down: Bugs get squashed, ROMs on a manual release schedule slow down because they've implemented what they wanted, automatically built ROMs get smaller incremental updates from upstream. There's been an uptick with the stock TouchWiz 4.4 releases in the pipeline (the N7105 Nordic Countries CSC has been pushed, others are incoming) and kernel sources also trigger some action. Another factor for slow down is that early adopter devices are going on two-years and people upgrade.
I hardly use the S-Pen so I can't help you that much with it. There's a couple open source apps that support it and that can be added to your choice of AOSP ROM to enable things like gestures or hand-drawn notes.
Darkshado said:
There are two Canadian Note 2 models: the I317M (yours) and the T889V (mine).
So long as you don't try flashing a non I317M modem on your device, you can pretty much flash any t0lte/t0lteatt/t0ltetmo a.k.a N7105, I317(M) or T889(V) ROM out there. Along the same lines, do not flash anything meant for the N7100.
For a nice belt and suspenders approach: make backups of your EFS partitions with all known methods: EFS Professional text format, QPST qcn, "Synergy ROM" method recovery script. (I adapted the latter for the T889V and it should work as is for your device.)
Assuming your device already has the stock 4.3 ROM, you will burn the KNOX fuse by flashing anything custom or generally trying to root.
(There may be more steps involved for KNOX, you're on your own for that part: the only thing stock 4.3 I've flashed is the modem.)
To root, get the latest t0lte Odin-flashable TWRP image, apply SuperSU or superuser zip from there as desired.
There's still a fair amount of activity out here, I've been running Omni nightlies for a while now.
It's normal for things to slow down: Bugs get squashed, ROMs on a manual release schedule slow down because they've implemented what they wanted, automatically built ROMs get smaller incremental updates from upstream. There's been an uptick with the stock TouchWiz 4.4 releases in the pipeline (the N7105 Nordic Countries CSC has been pushed, others are incoming) and kernel sources also trigger some action. Another factor for slow down is that early adopter devices are going on two-years and people upgrade.
I hardly use the S-Pen so I can't help you that much with it. There's a couple open source apps that support it and that can be added to your choice of AOSP ROM to enable things like gestures or hand-drawn notes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great Question and great response.
I recently got the Koodo note 2. I finally switched coming from my well aged HTC HD2. Anyway I have a quick question. If i'm using a TW or a AOSP rom I can't connect to my Mac adhoc network. The old roms I used on My HTC had something baked into them that allowed that. Note sure if there's a special file I have to change. Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks
Darkshado said:
There are two Canadian Note 2 models: the I317M (yours) and the T889V (mine).
So long as you don't try flashing a non I317M modem on your device, you can pretty much flash any t0lte/t0lteatt/t0ltetmo a.k.a N7105, I317(M) or T889(V) ROM out there. Along the same lines, do not flash anything meant for the N7100.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you Darkshado for all your helpful posts!
1) I'm also considering one if these from Koodo, currently advertised to contain the dreaded 4.3 update. May I restate what your saying is t0lte for N7105, t0lteatt for I317M, and t0ltetmo for t0ltetmo. When I looked previously on the TWRP site I saw the 't' choices but no clear cross reference to device model number.
2) I've read for many many hours about the downgrade path to 4.1.1 to unlock and how this would blow the KNOX fuse. Considering I'd be buying the device new from Koodo, I'm not happy about the prospect of losing an entire 12 month warranty-assuming a broken KNOX.
Catalyst2012 said:
Thank you Darkshado for all your helpful posts!
1) I'm also considering one if these from Koodo, currently advertised to contain the dreaded 4.3 update. May I restate what your saying is t0lte for N7105, t0lteatt for I317M, and t0ltetmo for t0ltetmo. When I looked previously on the TWRP site I saw the 't' choices but no clear cross reference to device model number.
2) I've read for many many hours about the downgrade path to 4.1.1 to unlock and how this would blow the KNOX fuse. Considering I'd be buying the device new from Koodo, I'm not happy about the prospect of losing an entire 12 month warranty-assuming a broken KNOX.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a Note 3 rom for our Note 2's. I have the same phone as you are asking about. That rom will work for the I317M/I317 variants also.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2504016
Comes with most of the N3 features including Air Command(very handy), and you can use the S5 GUI and some of the S5 apps also.
It's been very stable for me so far. I love it and it's my current daily driver.
Good luck!
Catalyst2012 said:
Thank you Darkshado for all your helpful posts!
1) I'm also considering one if these from Koodo, currently advertised to contain the dreaded 4.3 update. May I restate what your saying is t0lte for N7105, t0lteatt for I317M, and t0ltetmo for t0ltetmo. When I looked previously on the TWRP site I saw the 't' choices but no clear cross reference to device model number.
2) I've read for many many hours about the downgrade path to 4.1.1 to unlock and how this would blow the KNOX fuse. Considering I'd be buying the device new from Koodo, I'm not happy about the prospect of losing an entire 12 month warranty-assuming a broken KNOX.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Nope, t0lte is just as fine for the I317M. (If anything I'm even surprised the TWRP team still builds three separate recoveries. I'd have to look at the code for any meaningful differences, but I'm short on time to do that. Maybe ask on IRC?)
2) It's unfortunate, but then again there are other options, you could get a code from Koodo or elsewhere online; if you're adamant about keeping KNOX untouched. My understanding is that in Europe, the onus is on companies to prove that the user's root and ROM related activities caused problems with a given device. I'm thinking that the same would hold in many Canadian provinces if someone put up a fight in small claims court.
DelphinusMinor said:
This is a Note 3 rom for our Note 2's. I have the same phone as you are asking about. That rom will work for the I317M/I317 variants also.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2504016
Comes with most of the N3 features including Air Command(very handy), and you can use the S5 GUI and some of the S5 apps also.
It's been very stable for me so far. I love it and it's my current daily driver.
Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks fascinating! A brief read indicates its for the N7100 - thanks for clarifying that it works for the i1317M. Does Call Recording work for you?
Catalyst2012 said:
Looks fascinating! A brief read indicates its for the N7100 - thanks for clarifying that it works for the i1317M. Does Call Recording work for you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't tried. I can't test it at the moment either because I need to top my minutes up. D'oh! I should be doing that tomorrow sometime.
It's a great rom. Been using it for several days and no issues.
Darkshado said:
1) Nope, t0lte is just as fine for the I317M. (If anything I'm even surprised the TWRP team still builds three separate recoveries. I'd have to look at the code for any meaningful differences, but I'm short on time to do that. Maybe ask on IRC?)
2) It's unfortunate, but then again there are other options, you could get a code from Koodo or elsewhere online; if you're adamant about keeping KNOX untouched. My understanding is that in Europe, the onus is on companies to prove that the user's root and ROM related activities caused problems with a given device. I'm thinking that the same would hold in many Canadian provinces if someone put up a fight in small claims court.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks.
1) No need to check the TWRP code as your response was clear and helpful.
2) A local unlocker business told me: they have a new way that no longer requires downgrading to 4.1.1. With his codes, I could unlock the device without any additional software or PC for C$40. I explicitly asked about KNOX - he wasn't 100% clear but said he did not think it would affect it. He said they buy lists of unlock codes based on IMEI and resell them for a small profit. Koodo requires 90 days on Koodo + the same unlock $ fee. I wasn't planning on staying on Koodo that long. In perhaps the 8 hours by now I've spent reading about this on XDA, its still not certain a device with 4.3 can be customized without blowing the Knox efuse. Towelroot 'might' give me root without tripping it but the risk of losing a full 12 month warranty is not welcome. A used device might be OK if it was still on 4.1.x. If it had been downgraded from 4.3, though unlikely, I probably wouldn't know until after I got home. Otherwise I could root+custom right way and never mess with samsung roms.
Any suggestions are welcome!
DelphinusMinor said:
I haven't tried. I can't test it at the moment either because I need to top my minutes up. D'oh! I should be doing that tomorrow sometime.
It's a great rom. Been using it for several days and no issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be able to test it without using any of your minutes. Just call Koodo customer service from your handset (*611 I think) it should be a free call. When the voice menu begins, start recording. Ask a few questions like "Do you support custom ROMs?" or "Do you know the winning lottery numbers", or whatever, this is just a 2-way voice recording test. I use this trick all the time when testing. Enjoy.

Confirming lack of ability to upgrade past 4.2.2 on Tab 3 Lite (SM-T110/SM-T111)

Hi all,
Just rooted my device for the first time today using TWRP and flashing SuperSU. I was hoping it was going to give me the ability to upgrade my device to a stock android version of Lollipop. As I'm looking around it seems like that is not supported by the community. I have used the search bar and haven't come up with much, except a few old threads when Lollipop was just released.
I found this thread here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2755532 that suggests nobody has modded it past it's final android update 4.2.2. The only difference it seems is it gets rid of some of the uninstallable Samsung and Google apps.
I just wanted to confirm that there is no development going on past 4.2.2 for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite (SM-T110) before I flash a new ROM from the list.
Thanks.
bump
I would also like to know, I bought the tablet today for my son, but never checked about the android version, and now i can't update the kids mode on it,so being to get it to update would be brilliant, if not i'll have to take it back and exchange it for one that has a newer version.
Maybe in the future:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-tab-3/development-7/official-project-lineage-14-t3604371

Custom ROM for Samsung SM-T325?

I have a nice Samsung Tab Pro 8.4 (SM-T325), rooted w Towel Root, KNOX untripped. This device was stranded by Samsung at Android 4.4.1, though its hardware is faster than many more recent tablets. I've already successfully changed from the original ROM to the latest but still very dated UK ROM, and successfully re-rooted. I'd like to update the ROM (preferably to 8.0 or later), but have found little on this site or elsewhere about good options. As this tablet is also a PHONE, it's somewhat of a rare bird, and I'd really like to preserve all of its hardware functionality in an upgrade of the OS. Any suggestions, please? I've found no new tablets with equivalent features (closest being the Samsung Tab S4, which has great data features, but no phone). Thanks.
I don’t have a lead but I’m interested in the custom rom you mentioned. Would you have a file for that one? I can’t really find anything on ROMs around.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Google ResurrectionRemix 6 and SM-T325. It's there.

Question Impact of Installing Custom ROM and Reverting to Stock Firmware on Galaxy S22 (Exynos Variant)

Hello XDA community,
I am considering installing a custom ROM on my Samsung Galaxy S22 (Exynos variant) and would like to gather some information regarding the implications of this action, especially if I decide to revert back to the official Samsung firmware later on.
Apps Compatibility: Which apps will no longer work if I switch back to the stock firmware after installing a custom ROM? I understand that tripping the Knox flag by rooting or installing custom ROMs can cause certain Samsung apps like Samsung Pay, Samsung Pass, and Secure Folder to stop functioning. But what about other apps? Specifically, I am concerned about the compatibility of my banking app from Belfius (Belgium) with features like contactless payments.
OTA Updates: Will I still be able to receive Over-The-Air (OTA) updates once I have installed a custom ROM and then switched back to the official firmware?
I understand that the Exynos variant might not differ significantly from the Snapdragon variant in this context, but I thought it's worth mentioning.
Any insights or experiences that you could share would be immensely helpful. Thank you in advance!
So first thing you need to understand is that you would be installing a GSI and not a fully maintained device based Rom.
That means forget about the timely updates.
Secondly, GSIs are not optimized for particular phones and you might encounter bugs. From what I remeber, VOLTE won't work on GSI and for some phones even Bluetooth audio and mobile Hotspot won't work. Not to mention erratic battery life and unoptimized system.
App compatibility won't be an issue. But you have to say good bye to the samsung ecosystem. Also, if you do decide to install a custom rom, you will trip Knox and a few apps like secure folder, Samsung pay, samsung pass and Health might not work (unless they are patched). As for banking apps, they should work fine unless you are rooting your phone. If you do, you just to install a magisk module to pass the play stone security settings (forgot the name of it).
Also, if you again decide to go back on the stock rom, you just need to relock the bootloader and you should be able to get Ota updates again.
Overall, it's a good experience but you will grow tired of the bugs present in the GSI soon.

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