[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S 4] Skipjacks:
Some of the most common questions....

What is the difference between the S4 Development Forum and the S4 Original Development Forum?

The regular development forum is for ROMs based on Samsung's Touchwiz version of Android

The original development forum is for AOSP or other based non Touchwiz ROMs, recoveries, and such

What is Odin?

Odin is a program that lets you flash things to a Samsung mobile device from a PC. It's an invaluable part of modding Samsung devices.

Here is a guide by k0nana about how to use Odin. You can find download links for the software there as well as a few other things.

If you need a little more detail on how to use Odin this is a more detailed write up by Intratech explaining how to use it. (Note, do not download and try to install

anything

from this thread. That is a thread with GS3 files. If you try to put those on your GS4 you will not be happy. This thread is for information on Odin ONLY!)

How do I root my Galaxy S4?

CF-Auto Root by Chainfire

What ROMs are there for the T Mobile GS4?

Here's a big list of them with links all organized in one place. Thanks to MT3G.

What recoveries are available for the T Mobile SGS4?

ClockworkMod

TWRP

PhilZTouch

OUDHS

What are all these installed apps on the stock ROM that I don't know anything about?

That could be bloatware. Stuff T Mobile and Samsung put on there for a variety of reasons. See this list by Xologist explaining what all those APK's are.

How come my 16GB phone says I have only 5GB available even though I just flashed a fresh ROM?

First off, you never had 16GB free. That's the total memory on the device. That includes the space for the ROM, recovery, bootloader, system files, data, and then what's left over is your user partition which is abou 11GB for you to put photos and music on.

But if you make a nandroid backup using Clockwork Mod Recovery it saves the backup in a hidden directory that uses up a lot of space. (About 1 GB for an AOSP backup and 2 or 3GB for a TouchWiz backup). You can use the CWM Recovery App to find and upload the backup to your computer over Wifi for safe storage. Or you can just delete he backup if you no longer need it.

I bought a phone off Craigslist and the IMEI is bad!

You learned a valuable lesson. Don't buy phones off Craigslist. And don't try to change your IMEI. It is illegal to do so. And don't ask XDA how to change it because we can't discuss that here.

However, if you haven't bought you used phone yet and you are worried about it having a bad IMEI, have the seller meet you at a T Mobile store and get the sales rep to verify its a clean phone with no outstanding payment due and that the IMEI won't be blocked in the future. Just be sure that YOU pick the store to meet at. Don't let the seller pick the store in case he has a T Mobile rep working with him.

THESE POSTS / ARTICLES SHOULD BE CONSIDERED REQUIRED READING FOR ALL NEW ANDROID USERS!!!

http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile...plained-boot-system-recovery-data-cache-misc/This is a great write up of how Android is organized under the hood. This is invaluable knowledge to help you get better not just at modding your phone, but for really understanding wha you're doing.

This post by The TechnoCrat explains what most of the common words and phrases you will hear around XDA mean. Things like 'Kernel' and 'Clock Speed' and 'Governors'. If you don't know what terms like that mean, do yourself a favor and read this post. It is like the Rosetta Stone to understanding 95% of threads on XDA.

Another great post by Technocrat that explains the difference between the various available governors.