New to android. Some questions.

[Tweety.Abd]

Download:

- Odin Flashing Tool

- Root File

- USB drivers (Not needed if Kies installed)

Download links broken.

Sorry for the inconvenience, links have been updated ;)

[Tweety.Abd]

Another thing to note, Snapdragon might not be all that bad either. Specifically because Samsung's Exynos processors, in past, have given a hard time to flashers / rooters for some reasons. I personally have no idea with them, but have heard so.

Either way, whatever you select, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. :)

There's nothing wrong with Exynos processors, its easy to flash & root as well. The only problem I know of is that Samsung vehemently refuses to hand out any information or even a single line of Exynos code to the developers. Also there is a lack of source code for the Exynos platform. Qualcomm and Texas Instruments have websites where source code is provided quickly. Samsung-development boards like the Origen (insignal.co.kr), is outdated, and incomplete.

If I were you, I'd go for Qualcomm, you'd have great AOSP support (if you want to try it out). Exynos is faster, but to be honest you barely will notice any difference.

[fugitiv3]

Thanks Tweety.Abd. If I dont find the Exynos I will have to go for the Snapdragon. :)

[DKT27]

@Tweety.Abd: Does that mean that Exynos problems are also suffered by flash rom devs? :)

Anyway, from that, Exynos might should be the first choice, but Snapdragon might not be bad either.

[Tweety.Abd]

@Tweety.Abd: Does that mean that Exynos problems are also suffered by flash rom devs? :)

The problem applies to AOSP ROMs. I'm not sure about stock based ROMs, but I believe they're unaffected by the issue of lack of documentation.

[Brrownie]

@ Tweety sounds like you have good knowledge of android. Maybe you can start a new thread or maybe a new android section with step-by-step guide of (how to root your android device) would be much appreciated. ;)

[DKT27]

@ Tweety sounds like you have good knowledge of android. Maybe you can start a new thread or maybe a new android section with step-by-step guide of (how to root your android device) would be much appreciated. ;)

Long time ago, I had pinned this thread. However, it might be outdated, and I would really be happy if Tweety provides a generic rooting guide / tutorial. :)

[ffi]

Cr.p. my country will get the GT-I9505. I wanted the Octa-Core one. I might buy it from a different country that offers the I9500. Anws thanks again for the info Tweety.Abd!!

Don't the quadcore qualcomm is much more powerful and energy efficient than the octacore samsung processor, plus it supports lte unlike the samsung

[Tweety.Abd]

Long time ago, I had pinned this thread. However, it might be outdated, and I would really be happy if Tweety provides a generic rooting guide / tutorial. :)

I'm not sure if its possible to have a generic rooting guide. I'm mostly acquainted with Samsung devices, so my knowledge mostly limited to specific devices.

@ Tweety sounds like you have good knowledge of android. Maybe you can start a new thread or maybe a new android section with step-by-step guide of (how to root your android device) would be much appreciated. ;)

Just a basic few stuff :)) and mostly about Samsung phones since I've owned both SII & SIII. As for the Android in general, I know a few things but I'm sure there are others here who are more knowledgeable than I am, but I'd love to help with whatever I can :)

[DKT27]

Well, I haven't rooted or flashed my phone yet. So everytime I visit my phone's section on XDA, this is my reaction. :P

Cr.p. my country will get the GT-I9505. I wanted the Octa-Core one. I might buy it from a different country that offers the I9500. Anws thanks again for the info Tweety.Abd!!

Don't the quadcore qualcomm is much more powerful and energy efficient than the octacore samsung processor, plus it supports lte unlike the samsung

Snapdragon 600: 4 full powered cores + one hidden low powered core (not mentioned in specs). Supports LTE.

Samsung Exynos 5 Octa: 4 full powered cores + 4 low powered cores (mentioned in specs). Supports LTE too. ;)

[Tweety.Abd]

Well, I haven't rooted or flashed my phone yet. So everytime I visit my phone's section on XDA, this is my reaction. :P

I know the feeling, the first time I flashed my Galaxy SII, it gave my heart palpitations lol :P I freaked out what I've done but then slowly got used it. I flashed my phone within one week after I bought it :P

[fugitiv3]

haha nice comments above guys @Tweety.Abd + DKT27.

So I am doing my research on what is best to buy. The snapdagon or the Exynos? Many suggest that you will barely notice the performance difference (Also suggested by Tweety.Abd above). Also many say that the Snapdragon will consume more battery than the Exynos. According LTE my country barely offers 3G so I dont care about LTE. But as many say both versions of galaxy s4 will support LTE (Also mentioned by DKT27 above). Also I might not get into rooting (Still thinking of it since I will be AFRAID to try it :P ). Thats what I said on my first iphone 2G (jailbreak) hehe. So you guys what you suggest? If you were in my place what you were going to choose?

[DKT27]

I'll try to go with Exynos one if possible.

Few more things:

As per one benchmark, Exynos one is about 8% faster than Snapdragon one. However, in other benchmark, it's almost the same, with only 1 - 2 % difference, means, you won't be disappointed with either.

It might be better at saving power too - remember, it will probably use the low powered CPU for normal needs - expect longer battery list.

Exynos version is not quite available in market yet (for testing) - probably why you are not hearing anything about it - wait for official 26th April release.

This 4 + 4 cores is a little experimental. Whether it works well or not, is to be seen.

I'm waiting for my 1 year warranty to end, before I root. :) And don't worry, Android is far, far, far more open and customisable than iOS can be, and it has tons and tons of free apps and pirated apps sites for you to not require to buy anything, meaning, you won't exactly need to root your phone, by most, you can root it after 6 months or even a year.

[ffi]

Well, I haven't rooted or flashed my phone yet. So everytime I visit my phone's section on XDA, this is my reaction. :P

Cr.p. my country will get the GT-I9505. I wanted the Octa-Core one. I might buy it from a different country that offers the I9500. Anws thanks again for the info Tweety.Abd!!

Don't the quadcore qualcomm is much more powerful and energy efficient than the octacore samsung processor, plus it supports lte unlike the samsung

Snapdragon 600: 4 full powered cores + one hidden low powered core (not mentioned in specs). SupportsE.Samsung Exynos 5 Octa: 4 full powered cores + 4 low powered cores (mentioned in specs). Supports LTE too. ;)

Where did you get that info, afaik Qualcomm's cores are asynchronous and therefor can run at different speeds independently, whilst exynos' 2x4 cores are synchronous. Qualcomm has years of experiences optimizing arm and building radios unlike Samsung.

Last year I had a Qualcomm and tegra3 device (one x and s) and the Qualcomm device had much better battery life and ran much smoother although it had only 2 cores. Tegra3 and exynos where similar in the benchmarks. I don't expect either tegra or exynos to close the gap with Qualcomm all of a sudden..

[DKT27]

Where did you get that info, afaik Qualcomm's cores are asynchronous and therefor can run at different speeds independently, whilst exynos' 2x4 cores are synchronous. Qualcomm has years of experiences optimizing arm and building radios unlike Samsung.

Last year I had a Qualcomm and tegra3 device (one x and s) and the Qualcomm device had much better battery life and ran much smoother although it had only 2 cores. Tegra3 and exynos where similar in the benchmarks. I don't expect either tegra or exynos to close the gap with Qualcomm all of a sudden..

What info? Everything is out in open. :)

Anandtech says that asynchronous processing was introduced in Exynos 4 Quad:

Samsung also notes that Exynos 4 Quad has power gating on all four A9s, in addition to per core frequency and voltage scaling. This is an interesting move away from the one frequency plane shared across all cores architecture of Exynos 4210, and to the aSMP (asynchronous SMP) architecture similar to what Qualcomm has so far exclusively used.

Samsung too is very experienced in developing things. Remember, in addition to just Samsung phones, which are the most sold Android phones worldwide, Samsung also makes / used to make processors for other companies, including Apple.

The battery is all about the architecture. ARM's big.LITTLE feature is going to help Samsung drastically. As I write, I'm googling all the benchmarks scores and images and I've led to conclusion that Exynos 5 Octa is 2-8% faster than Snapdragon 600.

[LeetPirate]

The reason why you will barely notice a difference is because almost zero apps can use multiple cores, LOL. Internet browser might use 2 if you are lucky. Why they bother packing 8 cores I will never know, perhaps they intend to release games using the Frostbyte engine which is the only game engine capable of 8 threads.

Debating cores and benchmarks performance is useless, just pick the one that has the best battery life or whatever other key requirements you want such as how easy it is to mod or root etc.

[fugitiv3]

Guys another one question.. So after reading some forums I saw that you cannot install apps on the SDCARD on galaxy phones. You have to be rooted to do this. Is there any way this can be done without rooting?

16gb will not be enough I think. I think you will have only 11-12 gb free internally?

[Brrownie]

^ I believe when you close to full your internal 16GB then you should be able to install apps on your external SD.

[fugitiv3]

^ I believe when you close to full your internal 16GB then you should be able to install apps on your external SD.

This is not reported anywhere I have searched so.. I dont think so.. Everyone says that you have to be rooted.

[DKT27]

I for one have no idea about Galaxy devices.

However, on my phone, HTC One V, I have 3 type of apps. One is, the apps that specifically ask you to not move to SD card or some function will stop working of it (example: Firefox). Second is, the apps that are fine / don't mind to be moved to the SD card (example: generally normal apps), may that be a app that is useful to the phone or not. And the third type is, the apps that are impossible to move to SD card, their moving option is disabled (example: Chrome). This is of course, is of my phone, someone else will tell you better about Galaxy. :)

[ffi]

Guys another one question.. So after reading some forums I saw that you cannot install apps on the SDCARD on galaxy phones. You have to be rooted to do this. Is there any way this can be done without rooting?

16gb will not be enough I think. I think you will have only 11-12 gb free internally?

it had been a while since I used my s2 but I think you can use the regular android way to move apps to sd (slow and unmounts when connected to computer) but I hardly had to. Back when I had a desire which had only 512mB of internal storage(=fast storage) is was very necessary to do it but the stock android way of doing it was not very convenient and makes loading slow and some apps not work, there were other ways which worked faster, did it automatically, wouldn't unmount when connected, and arranged the content of the apps in such a way that they would load faster for that you needed to be rooted (and even s-offed for the best methods)