[T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S 4] seekingbuddha:
Rooting & ROMing in 2018 - Galaxy s4 M919....

Hi,

This is my first post to xda. Glad to be part of this group, because i have a newfound interest to get into Android development. I was a software engineer doing other stuff before.

After spending hours browsing these forums, learning about Rooting and various custom ROMs, I thought i would start a thread to document my efforts and results. Even though there are good HOW-TO guides written in

the past, they are not couple of years old and do not provide 100% details that a newbie should be aware of......

THE GOAL

My aging and dying Tmobile S4, model SGH-M919 has been running 4.4.4 Android (kitkat) for few years. I am not a power user; just the basic apps (and

NO

social media, video games or streaming on phone). So, The goal is listed.......

I want a rejuvenated phone, that is stable. Right now it is messed up after 4 years of simple usage.

Get rid of all the bloatware of T-mobile since their stock Kitkat is 1.2GB (even as the download image).

Rooting gives me the ability to install useful apps, and ability to keep up with security patches.

Move my whatsapp into SD card because currently it is hogging my phone memory.

Increase battery life (There is thread on internet that says Kitkat is much better for battery than any newer ones).

STABLE ROMS ?

Searching for issues related to galaxy S4 and custom roms indicates that Lineage OS or SlimROM are the most stable for this phone. Based on some performance videos on youtube, i see that Marshmallow OR Oreo, would be the best options for me. I am leaning towards Marshmellow, to keep performance and stability over the newer functions that OREO might provide. Any comments on comparison between these two versions (especially with Lineage OS versions) would be helpful. I can live with minor bugs, but not major issues like delayed SMS / whatsapp OR voice calls having issues.

STEPS TO FREEDOM OF YOUR DEVICE

The following steps are what i intend to do within days. As i understand, these are the correct steps to avoid

problems (like bricking or needing to reflash multiple times). Please correct me, if I am missing anything important that is relevant to the Tmobile galaxy S4.

If you are a newbie (like me), to tweaking with your phone, then you should be aware that unlocking bootloader on this phone is the first step. As new user, i can not post URL, so search for unlock-bootloader-android-devices-via-fastboot.

Next, you can find useful information about rooting, by searching for guide-to-android-rooting-custom-roms-apps, and root-android-devices-using-cf-auto-root. There are suggestions on XDA that indicate that CF-auto-root is the best choice for beginners, and i am planning to stick to that advice.

Next, i am going to have to install TWRP, which is the recommended custom recovery and do a full backup of device. I had already done 2 backups so far, using ADB and Samsung Smartswitch. Note that there is an older version of TWRP which is the right version for this phone. Not all versions of TWRP will work on M919. You can find info on that, by search these forums.

Finally, i will install the custom ROM, after i hear some feedback here on which is better (between Marshmallow based & Oreo based Lineage OS).