My contract will be coming up for renewal in June. I currently have a Galaxy S4 and I have to say that it has absolutely been my favorite phone so far. I thankfully got it rooted before safestrap came on the scene so I honestly haven't had to work with that. I currently have Goldfinger ROM on it which is a TouchWiz ROM which I really enjoy TW.
I was wanting to get a Note 4 just because I figured if I'm going to renew my contract with AT&T, then I want to be able to get the lastest-greatest device, however, the deal breaker is there currently doesn't look like there is a way to root the Note 4 and I have several apps that require root access.
Is there anyone else that has had the S4 and has upgraded to the Note 3? Any regrets?
My next course of action is to check the development section to see if there is a TW ROM that keeps the Note 3 as close to stock as possible but just removes all the AT&T bloatware.
Thanks in advance for any/all responses!
a40dayflud818 said:
My contract will be coming up for renewal in June. I currently have a Galaxy S4 and I have to say that it has absolutely been my favorite phone so far. I thankfully got it rooted before safestrap came on the scene so I honestly haven't had to work with that. I currently have Goldfinger ROM on it which is a TouchWiz ROM which I really enjoy TW.
I was wanting to get a Note 4 just because I figured if I'm going to renew my contract with AT&T, then I want to be able to get the lastest-greatest device, however, the deal breaker is there currently doesn't look like there is a way to root the Note 4 and I have several apps that require root access.
Is there anyone else that has had the S4 and has upgraded to the Note 3? Any regrets?
My next course of action is to check the development section to see if there is a TW ROM that keeps the Note 3 as close to stock as possible but just removes all the AT&T bloatware.
Thanks in advance for any/all responses!
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Click to collapse
I got Note 3, Note 4 and samsung galaxy S5. From my experience : i love note 4 even if there is no root yet ( i hope in near future) . If you fan of TW i will go note 4 , but if you want to flash using safestreap you can get galaxy S5 and finally if you want to flash and have some futures as note 4 i will go with note 3 or wait and see is root will brake for Note 4. I love all phones barely use note 3 but on bone stock with turn off (disable) of some apps (bloatware) i'm happy with S5 and Note 4.
hey guys, i need some of your help, i will buy a note 4 in these days, is still worth buying?
If yes, what model? the snapdragon quadcore or the exynos octacore? which of them have more development for stable roms like a note 7 port to the note 4?
Please i need your opinions, thank you
Won't recommend it this late, especially when the likes of OnePlus 3 is out there, sorry. Also there is HTC 10. The only reason you should get the Note 4 is if you are getting it at a really low price. I love my Note 4, but a phone running TouchWiz, well it still runs TouchWiz. But if S Pen is a mandatory thing to you then you can't go anywhere else except the Note 4, that's true too.
Exynos all the way, if you don't wish for them AOSP based ROMs.
I don't agree, this is my fourth Note 4. Thought I could replace it with LG G4, no way. Thougth I could replace it with Oneplus 3, no way. Yeah, The OP3 is snappier, but thats it, everything else is better on Note 4.
OcainD said:
hey guys, i need some of your help, i will buy a note 4 in these days, is still worth buying?
If yes, what model? the snapdragon quadcore or the exynos octacore? which of them have more development for stable roms like a note 7 port to the note 4?
Please i need your opinions, thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I voted yes. I actually just ordered one yesterday, Due to arrive tomorrow. I was between a rock and a hard place when I made my decision. Seeing as the new notes all have a lot of nice features and speed improvement. The reason I decided on the note 4 is of course the note features as compared to other things like the lg g4 the oneplus etc. And my second biggest reason is that it's the last of the note series to have svlte. Meaning if i'm at a store and someone calls me I can still use data without needing wifi. All newer phones "at least on verizon" do not allow this unless you have volte I think. Problem is I use all my phones on prepaid and verizon won't allow prepaid users to use advanced calling. So if you're on verizon prepaid then the note 4 is for you. If you're on contract or just don't care about svlte then I say get a newer note. note 5 major drawbacks to me. no svlte. no sd card. no removable battery. note 7 drawbacks. no removeable battery and still very expensive.
phonepie said:
I voted yes. I actually just ordered one yesterday, Due to arrive tomorrow. I was between a rock and a hard place when I made my decision. Seeing as the new notes all have a lot of nice features and speed improvement. The reason I decided on the note 4 is of course the note features as compared to other things like the lg g4 the oneplus etc. And my second biggest reason is that it's the last of the note series to have svlte. Meaning if i'm at a store and someone calls me I can still use data without needing wifi. All newer phones "at least on verizon" do not allow this unless you have volte I think. Problem is I use all my phones on prepaid and verizon won't allow prepaid users to use advanced calling. So if you're on verizon prepaid then the note 4 is for you. If you're on contract or just don't care about svlte then I say get a newer note. note 5 major drawbacks to me. no svlte. no sd card. no removable battery. note 7 drawbacks. no removeable battery and still very expensive.
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Click to collapse
I agree, the only reason why i dont choose the note 5 over the note 4 is for the sd card slot, and i dont get the note 7 becouse it is too way expensive.
I would choose the OP3 over the note 4 of course, but it doesnt have sd card slot, and there is only a variant of 64 gb
And i dont buy phones with mobile contract lol
Ohh and another question, which is the variant tag of the note 4 exynos octacore?
I've had my N910C for about a year now and it's probably the best device I've ever had. I got it shortly last year after the SGS6 series was released and when the specs of the Note 5 were announced. If I do end up upgrading it will probably be to a Note 7 as Note 4 are now very hard to find in brand new condition.
OcainD said:
Ohh and another question, which is the variant tag of the note 4 exynos octacore?
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C and U are the tags which stated that you have a Exynos 5433 Octocore device.
I recently bought a refurb TMo Note 4 that went for cheap to use as a backup phone to my Nexus 6P. The last Samsung phone I had was a S4 and I was disillusioned with Samsung since the S3 and very critical of their software, so I only used Motorola and Nexus since. I have opened many phones brands to see their internals including Huawei, HTC, Motorola, ZTE, Samsung and Apple. I'm never impressed with Samsung internal build quality including this Note 4, which I think is cheap considering how much it cost during release. (My opinion, you don't have to get offended.)
I didn't expected to like the S-Pen features so much, along with multitask and pop out feature. This is pretty important to me, to be able watch a video while doing something else at the same time. I can do this with third party apps on the Nexus, I like the fact it's built in for the Note. With Root, Adaway, Nova Launcher, XPosed (reluctantly) the phone is pretty smooth and while not super snappy as my Nexus 6P, it certainly isn't slow. Another important Samsung feature I like is the Game Tuner and this pretty much eliminate the performance issue since I can play games at 720p/1080p and get good framerates. Again I can lower the screen res on my Nexus as well, except this is built in and it only affect selected apps which is much more convenient. Basically, the Note have all the features I wanted built in that I would have to go through extra steps to make available on my Nexus. Did I mentioned removable battery, sdcard and IR blaster?
The only downside for the phone is the finger print scanner is crap, but Smart Unlock works for me so it's not a problem. Other minor issue is the GPS sucks, I had to open up the phone which scared me a bit actually, but I managed to bend that GPS gold contact point upward a bit, now the signal is great.
So I sold the 6P to pay some bills and using the Note 4 as my daily driver. I think the whole Note 7 recall might work in my favor if it cause the phone price to go down faster, then I might upgrade to the Note 7 rather than getting the the new Google Pixel phone.
I forget to mention T-Mobile WiFi Calling works perfectly and stays connected all the time with this phone, a huge deal. For whatever reason it's always disconnect on the Nexus 6P and with Android 7 update it got worse.
tapatalk
DarkGuyver said:
as Note 4 are now very hard to find in brand new condition.
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Disagree, I recently bought 2x Note 4's for around 260€ a piece plus shipping and both are as new! So if you look around carefully you can find them for a reasonable price in as new condition...
Looking at ebay.de/co.uk and you will find good examples.
I would even go further that if they have some minor scratches on the frame, go and buy yourself a new frame. Replacing the frame is easy as is replacing the display assy...
OcainD said:
hey guys, i need some of your help, i will buy a note 4 in these days, is still worth buying?
If yes, what model? the snapdragon quadcore or the exynos octacore? which of them have more development for stable roms like a note 7 port to the note 4?
Please i need your opinions, thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi there,
I voted "YES" too.
I have one already (one Month old) and two more for the rest of the family coming this way. Why you may ask?
I need the S-Pen features, I wan't to be able to replace the battery (switch it in 2 min and 100% battery again), I'm using the SM-N9100 dual sim together with the MicroSD card (can't do that with Note 5 or Note7).
Finally the main reason (Price), I have friends in China that can buy it at 280€ , although locked to China SIM's but with a 10min call (using China SIM) and no problem at all using other Region SIM's ever.
It has a CHC rom (China and English) but using ODIN we can easily load the TGY Multi Language ROM with Gapps (Stock) and not triggering the KNOX warranty flag...
PS: The only downside points (by choosing the DualSIM N9100 version) are :
- The lack or Custom Roms (for example 6.0.1 not yet available "officially" in the TGY variant, maybe a few weeks from now since the CHC is "Finally" out).
- Smaller battery (3000 vs 3220).
- Less storage (16GB vs 32GB).
- Only Snapdragon, no Exynos option for dual sim.
- No FDD LTE band 20, but on the plus side we do have more bands for TDD side (traveling).
but unfortunately I really need the "DualSIM" feature .
PS: In China I saw the non-dual sim version at a even lower price (250€). Imagine buying three units at the same cost of the latest Note7. Can't beat the features/price ratio, especially packed with a amazing 5.7 inch 2K super Amoled screen . And I'm not talking about Refurbishing units.
Thanks,
Regards,
OcainD said:
hey guys, i need some of your help, i will buy a note 4 in these days, is still worth buying?
If yes, what model? the snapdragon quadcore or the exynos octacore? which of them have more development for stable roms like a note 7 port to the note 4?
Please i need your opinions, thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends ... the note 4 has a fine hardware, but the software (espacially updates) sucks. The note 4 is the first smartphone I never would get again. Don't get me wrong - really, the hardware is awesome, but the software (even with alternative) is just so bad. I came from a google nexus 2 years back and will get a nexus again.
Also I guess the note 4 won't get any more software updates, after the note 5 and 7 are out by now. I would suggest you wait till google releases their new nexus / pixel phones and look at the 6p then. My wife has the nexus 6p and I'm quite jealous - all that what I wanted the note 4 to be if you dont calc in the missing pen. Even the cam is better then the note 4 IMHO. And it will drop in price then.
Oh, and for what I don't like about the software ... it's slow and hangs from time to time. Also some Apps from Samsung are just bad like SVoice ... google now is much better in comparsion. If you ever used a pure android, you know what I mean. Also the additional apps like FB are something I don't want. Then there's the problem with the knox triggering when rooting (could result in a warranty dismissal) and so on. Or some random restarts with stock firmware (right now stock DBT snapdragon). Or the really bad finger print sensor. The Pen stuff is awesome and the OCR works like magic. But I use it quite rarely so it doesn't outweigh the cons.
Also I couldn't find any alternative rom that was working for me (too much stuff in it, too slow, to instabile, you name it) or with cm the health sensors not working and some other samsung stuff.
And to be a bit more clear, after I had some other samsung devices in my hands ... never again a samsung for me personally. Only the best phones get updates for more then like 6 months and new features don't reach the phones ever. Also it seems like there are 20 software engineering camps withing samsung, all working against each other...
But really, this is my personal, strong subjective feeling about the phone - if you like it or not, depends on how it works for you. For me there are too many things that anger me, mostly small things like I mentioned above. Might be it's different for you. Read some more reviews on amazon, even the bad ones.
You could set your priorities and then decide, OP.
Hardware: Note 4 is still decent, but much newer chipset and better chipset are out there.
Software: As far as TouchWiz goes, no comment there. But with a little bit of tweaking (by choosing performance over battery) you could the nice enough performance. But never to the level of HTC 10 and OnePlus 3. Read Anand's review of Note 7 and see the section where they compared the frame rates with HTC 10. TouchWiz lags mate, its as simple as that.
Camera + Display: Display is excellent, and camera is decent enough too.
S Pen: No competition there, again.
Build: Note 4 is the very LAST phone in Samsung's lineup where Samsung used practical materials to come up with a mobile phone. Now all of them are jewellery.
Price: Like I said in my previous comment, if you could get it at good price, which is somewhere around 25-30% lower than OnePlus 3's then "maybe" you could get it.
The note 4 is still a great device I still have my tmo 910t device i just ordered the 910c for exynos which is a little snappier than the snapdragon all the devices in my sig. i still own and use but for a few. I haven't added another note 5c and s6 edge plus to my sig yet. But the note 4 will keep up with those other devices for the age. if you want a loud ringing phone note 4 is it.. The note 5 isnt as loud as the note 4 or the note 3 for that matter..
I currently have a Note 4 on the Verizon network.. Plus it is snapper than most, plus it can handle anything I throw at it app wise.. Never over heats or crahses.. The Note 5 and seven both have none removal batteries, and that is a draw back for me.. Plus it still has volte, and the newer ones do not.. I also have the Droid Turbo on Verizon.. What I do not like, is before I installed a custom rom, the battery would drain, and constantly needed to be charge.. Plus it would over heat a lot and freeze.. I would consider another Note 4 if I needed one.. But when the Note 4 is payed off, I plan on getting any Samsung device or another brand all together.. It will depend on price, and development..
Hi Everyone,
I recently bought the Exynos version of the Note 9 and will be handing the Pixel 3 XL to my wife. After reading through a lot of threads, I'm starting to have doubts if that was a wise decision. The reason why I went with Exynos is because I did not like the bloatware on my Tmobile Note 8 that I owned before and wanted to flash a custom Rom. I wanted to clarify a few things.
Will I have issues using the Exynos version with Tmobile? I read that I may be running into LTE issues?
Which Rom would you recommend that works without major issues? I know that this is a personal opinion. I don't want to load the Pixel Experience ROM if it means that half of the features will not be available. I am using Nova launcher, so the launcher is not that important to me. What is important is not losing features that make the Note 9 a Note 9, but also not having extra Samsung apps that I will never use but will slow down the phone or drain the battery. Basically, what I would want is the rawest Google experience without losing features.
Thanks!
You should of got the TMobile note 9 then flash the N960U1 UNLOCK firmware which has no bloatware.
damir831 said:
Hi Everyone,
I recently bought the Exynos version of the Note 9 and will be handing the Pixel 3 XL to my wife. After reading through a lot of threads, I'm starting to have doubts if that was a wise decision. The reason why I went with Exynos is because I did not like the bloatware on my Tmobile Note 8 that I owned before and wanted to flash a custom Rom. I wanted to clarify a few things.
Will I have issues using the Exynos version with Tmobile? I read that I may be running into LTE issues?
Which Rom would you recommend that works without major issues? I know that this is a personal opinion. I don't want to load the Pixel Experience ROM if it means that half of the features will not be available. I am using Nova launcher, so the launcher is not that important to me. What is important is not losing features that make the Note 9 a Note 9, but also not having extra Samsung apps that I will never use but will slow down the phone or drain the battery. Basically, what I would want is the rawest Google experience without losing features.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my ONEPLUS A6013 using Tapatalk
I like the option of having an unlocked bootloader in case a more stable Pixel Experience Rom is eventually released. From what I understand, that is not an option with the Snapdragon...
I also like the dual sim option, where I can use my work and personal sims on one phone.
Many of the Samsung apps can be uninstalled or disbeled. Battery life is awesome on Note 9. I'm coming from a pixel 2 xl 128gb. A can say that I'm fully satisfied with Note 9. Camera received a huge improvement if compared with my past s9 plus and even compared with my old pixel. Google did a great job ruined Pixel 3 xl with that horrible notch.
Note 9 has full package that any smartphone user are looking for
My version is Snapdragon
damir831 said:
Hi Everyone,
I recently bought the Exynos version of the Note 9 and will be handing the Pixel 3 XL to my wife. After reading through a lot of threads, I'm starting to have doubts if that was a wise decision. The reason why I went with Exynos is because I did not like the bloatware on my Tmobile Note 8 that I owned before and wanted to flash a custom Rom. I wanted to clarify a few things.
[SNIP]
Basically, what I would want is the rawest Google experience without losing features.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cristiano Matos said:
Many of the Samsung apps can be uninstalled or disbeled. Battery life is awesome on Note 9. I'm coming from a pixel 2 xl 128gb. A can say that I'm fully satisfied with Note 9. Camera received a huge improvement if compared with my past s9 plus and even in compared with my old pixel. Google did a great job ruined Pixel 3 xl with that horrible notch.
Note 9 has full package that any smartphone user are looking for
My version is Snapdragon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the issue with the 960F: you will lose carrier aggregation, which means when you enter an area that uses a different LTE band for T-Mo, your phone won't automatically switch over like a T-Mobile branded model or the Unlocked U1 model would. It also doesn't support Band 71 (and maybe not Band 66), which is part of T-Mobile's advanced LTE Network.
You may also have some difficulty getting Samsung Pay to work, since your phone is from a different region.
And once you unlock the bootloader, you break Knox, and you lose Samsung Pay, Secure Folder, Samsung Pass, and some other features. PERMANENTLY. No way to recover them. Knox is an e-fuse, not software.
My recommendation would be to get the US Unlocked N960U1, or get the T-Mobile branded N960U and flash the U1 firmware. They are the same exact device hardware-wise and support all of T-Mo's LTE bands.
Then use either ADB commands or Package Disabler Pro to uninstall or disable any bloatware you want. You don't need root to do it. Just check the debloat thread. Honestly, I don't debloat anything. I hide the apps I don't use, and they neither take up memory or battery. Cause they aren't used.
If you don't like the Samsung Experience launcher, use Nova, or Rootless Pixel Launcher. And then apply the free Pixelized theme from the Samsung theme store. It will then look like a big Pixel 2 XL.
If you want to block Ads, follow the Adhell thread and build a copy of Adhell (I think we're on 3 or 3.1 now).
Then add a debit card to your Samsung Pay app, go to the grocery store and have some fun using your phone to buy them when the cashier tries to tell you they don't accept Apple Pay.
I was a Nexus and Pixel fanboy. I've had every Nexus since the Galaxy Nexus (what a ****show that phone was, but God I LOVED it). I've had a few Pixel XLs, and a couple Pixel 2 XLs. I have unlocked, rooted, and ROM'd till my eyes bled. I understand where you're coming from.
I've dabbled in other phones. I've has some Samsung's, some LGs, some Motos, and even a couple iPhones. I always came back to Nexus/Pixel.
Then I got the S8 Plus and I fell in love with Samsung Pay and Samsung Pass. But I didn't become a true Samsung fanboy until the Note 8.
I tried to go back to the Pixel 2 XL and just gor bored with it. I missed the Note features. So I sold it and now I have a 512GB Note 9. It's the ATT model, which I unlocked, flashed the U1 firmware, and am running on T-Mobile. No complaints. Haven't even given the Pixel 3 XL a second thought. It doesn't hold a candle to this phone. In MY opinion.
Thank you all for your replies. Very helpful.
Having had a Note 8 until October of this year, I do not mind losing Secure Folder and Samsung Pay to get rooting capabilities. I never used Secure Folder and while Samsung Pay was a cool feature to show off to friends when I first got it, I barely used it after the first month. Reason being - if I'm paying for something, I'm not at home and need to drive somewhere. If I'm driving, I need to bring my wallet/license.
Band 66 appears to supported with this Exynos version.
Band 71 is currently not supported where I live and by the time it is, I will probably be on my Note 11
Biggest drawback appears to be Carrier Aggregation. I work from home and am typically on Wifi about 90% of the time. This one I am OK with losing as I don't go over 2GB data on my Tmobile plan.
damir831 said:
Thank you all for your replies. Very helpful.
Having had a Note 8 until October of this year, I do not mind losing Secure Folder and Samsung Pay to get rooting capabilities. I never used Secure Folder and while Samsung Pay was a cool feature to show off to friends when I first got it, I barely used it after the first month. Reason being - if I'm paying for something, I'm not at home and need to drive somewhere. If I'm driving, I need to bring my wallet/license.
Band 66 appears to supported with this Exynos version.
Band 71 is currently not supported where I live and by the time it is, I will probably be on my Note 11
Biggest drawback appears to be Carrier Aggregation. I work from home and am typically on Wifi about 90% of the time. This one I am OK with losing as I don't go over 2GB data on my Tmobile plan.
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Click to collapse
And some people don't care about SPay or Pass. Me, I can't live without them. I COULD, but you know what I mean. I use them all the time. I can just throw my DL in my pocket and not worry about someone stealing my debit and credit cards I'd they get ahold of my wallet. Especially nice at the gym when I don't want to carry my wallet around or put it in a locker. Also been handy a few times when I forgot my wallet, LOL.
And now I have a Gear S3, so I just pay with my watch.
I just wanted to update this thread for future reference in case someone as curious as me decides to do the same thing. So far the connection has been great. I have compared the speeds of my wife's Pixel 3 XL to my phone back to back from the same spot, and I'm getting about 45 mbps download speeds vs 60 mbps on the XL. The upload speeds for both are about 19 mbps.
Anyone who likes to mod roms and likes dual sim capabilities, getting this phone is a no brainer. 45 mbps lets you stream at 4k without any issues - so speeds higher than that are not necessary unless you use your phone to download a lot of data.
Having come from the Snapdragon 845 in the Oneplus 6T and the Pixel 3 XL, I can not tell any performance differences in real world scenarios. Only thing that I miss are the low light camera capabilities of the Pixel 3 XL.
Is there anything I should know when applying a custom Rom such as any major functionality loss on the note 9 (S pen), is this phone good to keep for another 3/4 years, will the support from the mod community be there? Thanks for any responses!
QWERTYWARRIOR said:
Is there anything I should know when applying a custom Rom such as any major functionality loss on the note 9 (S pen), is this phone good to keep for another 3/4 years, will the support from the mod community be there? Thanks for any responses!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are some LineageOS versions, you won't loose S pen functionalities. Only major thing you're gonna loose is the iris scanner(only supported on OneUI).
buy the one with exynos soc, and if possible, go for the 512gb if it's relatively cheap. this helps for upgrade after a few years
just my 2 cents