yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] LightCCB:
Dear Fellow XDA Members,

I am in need of your expertise and opinion on the following issues.

With the recent announcement of the Droid Turbo I have been very excited about the phone and its hardware and software have been executed well. However I have heard reports of a so so camera and screen being an issue in the sun and not being as accurate as the note 4's as Samsung is using newer screen technology whereas the turbo has the amoled similar to the old s4.

1. Overall do you think the note 4 is better in terms of what it offers from a hardware perspective and its features?

2. Now that the developer edition is available a lot of the excess bloatware can be removed is it more worthwhile to get the note 4?

3. How close of a stock experience can you get on the Note 4?

4. Video and Picture comparison thoughts on this for Note 4 vs Turbo?

5. Can the Turbo's moto specific apps be ported to the Note 4?

6. Please if you could explain why you think one is worth getting over the other. I know screen size on the turbo is at a much more manageable size for one handed use. (I can currently use the note 2 with one hand [my hands are pretty big haha] although i have dropped it a lot and a smaller form factor is appealing)

7. Any advice that you have for me to help me make a decision would be appreciated.

Thank you very much for your time to respond to my questions. I have rooted and unlocked boot loaders in the past but its been almost a year and a half since I was last able to check up on any of these things. I am not sure how much the process has changed, hopefully it hasn't gotten too complicated.

Sincerely,

Charlie :D
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] big70tom:
Ok. I am moving from G3, and I did EXTENSIVE research on this. I read every thing on the internet and spent a few hours on both. The one thing the Turbo has, which totally killed it for me was the screen. The note 4 was unbelievably sharp and beautiful...so was the turbo...but the turbo on max broghtbess is about half of note 4. Outside it was horrible. If you lived in a closet with no Windows or light all day, it would be ok. Man they really made an error there. Wireless charging was a factor, but I saw the note has qi back plates coming, so that's good now. The capacitive buttons were a bummer for me,as we'll as the screen size. I'm use to biggernow
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] daboyal006:
I have both and I appreciate both devices for different things. The turbos battery is not as great as advertised but still gets 13-14 hours with moderate to heavy use. The turbo charger doesn't charge as fast as the note charger in my opinion. If you want the overall feature experience, then the note 4 is the way to go with tiny lags here and there. The turbo is just a more turbo charged moto x with just moto voice as its main feature and bigger battery. Touchwiz does get boring but so does pure android. The overall better phone is the note 4 but the turbo can be the underdog in this note 4, nexus 6 comparison.

Sent From My VZW Note 4 POW!
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] LightCCB:
Thank you

I agree with everything you have said. Do you have the developer edition? I don't really care so much for wireless charging but having a good camera and snappy phone is what I am looking for I am really sick of the lag on the note 2 and I am looking to remove as much bloat as I can again I don't know how this will effect the the phone when Lollipop comes out.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] LightCCB:
thanks for the reply

Do you know if moto voice can be ported to Note 4 Dev edition? I personally think the nexus 6 took it too far with the size at least for me.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
I have the Note 4 Developer Edition. Out of the box it is exactly the same phone as a retail version...all the same bloat. Of course the distinguishing difference is the ability to unlock the bootloader and install a custom recovery (which we have), root (which many of us have done) and debloat and flash ROMs (none available right now). It is a great phone!!! If you buy a Developer Edition you need to be aware that Samsung, if they treat the Note 4 Developer Edition like all of their previous Developer Edition phones, will never release an update. So, when Lollipop comes out the Developer Edition phones will not get it via an OTA or a Samsung released firmware file. You'll have to wait for the development community to modify the official OTA and release a ROM that is Lollipop based and safe to flash on the Developer Edition. Having been the owner of two previous Developer Edition phones, both Samsung, that usually doesn't take the development community long to do that. Hope this helps.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] LightCCB:
thanks for the reply

Thanks for the quick reply JP,

Can you make it close to stock Android and is there a way to port the always listening feature on the turbo or did they use a special chip for that (it seems pretty awesome)! Or is there an app that mimics the function without destroying battery life. I seem pretty confident I will get a note 4 Motorola is almost there but not yet :rolleyes: Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions! :)

Also we root --> then unlock bootloader and install custom recovery ---> then flash a debloated rom?
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
Yeah, you can, but it is always going to be TouchWiz and most ROMs will be TouchWiz ROMs because AOSP ROMs just simply aren't ready for primetime yet. But, I've used some TouchWiz based ROMs that look and alot like AOSP. And, I don't care what anyone says, TouchWiz based ROMs work better on a Samsung phone than do AOSP ROMS. After you've installed TWRP and root you can debloat to your hearts content as long as you have a backup.

The correct sequene is: Odin TWRP to get the custom recovery, in custom recovery flash SuperSU, reboot. You now have TWRP recovery and rooted. Go to the Android Development Section for a more complete discussion and download links.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
You say "Of course the distinguishing difference is the ability to unlock the bootloader".

How does one unlock the bootloader? If I remember correctly on my S5 DE the bootloader comes unlocked from the factory and If one inadvertently locks it they are just out of luck! You cannot unlock a Samsung bootloader and Samsung will not unlock it for you.

I hope I am wrong about this and you tell me how to unlock the bootloader on my S5 DE and the Note 4 DE I have coming tomorrow incase I inadvertently lock this one also.

Samsung gave me a runaround about unlocking it on my S5 and it never happened...but by then the regular S5 had root so it did not matter so much.

I do hope I have to admit how stupid I am on this subject.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
I also had a Development Edition S5. You unlock the bootloader on both the same way, ODIN a TWRP recovery. That's it. Then you can root. Go to the Android Development Section and see a more step by step and download links.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
The reason you can ODIN a TWRP recovery is because you have a unlocked bootloader. The reason you cannot do this on a standard N4 is the bootloader is locked!
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
If you're asking a question, your statement is correct. You cannot unlock the bootloader on a Retail S5 or Retain Note. All you have to do for the Development Edition S5 and Note 4 is use ODIN to flash the TWRP .tar file and flash SuperSu in TWRP recovery.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
Thats correct but you are missing the point that you don't want to let people believe you can unlock a bootloader that can't be unlocked once it is locked. If anyone really believes the bootloader can be unlocked on the N4 then have them flash the retail rom. Flashing the retail rom will lock the bootloader. Then have them try and use ODIN to flash TWRP. Believe me it wont unlock the bootloader. BTW: The retail rom can be found in this forum.

I would not try this you might just end up with a retail N4 and a DE box
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
I'm not missing the point, its hard to determine what your point is. I never said anything about unlocking a Retail phone. You're all over the board with this thread. Go read the Android Development Section.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
You are correct again you did not say anything about unlocking a retail phone what you said was.

"Of course the distinguishing difference is the ability to unlock the bootloader and install a custom recovery"

The fact is a DE can not have its bootloader unlocked!

It comes with an unlocked bootloader.

That is a BIG difference.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
Ok fine. We have a difference in symantics. I give up, LOL.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] LightCCB:
well this escalated quickly :p
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
Yeah, if someone wasn't confused before reading this thread they probably are now, LOL. I just hope readers/users understand that the retail version has a locked bootloader and cannot accept a custom recovery or be rooted, yet, and the developer edition has an unlocked bootloader (from the factory) and can accept a custom recovery which then allows them to root their phone.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ryanbg:
If the unlocking mechanism is the same as previous Developer Edition devices (related to eMMC CID), it is possible to upgrade the device to the latest OTA/Retail release, and maintain an unlocked bootloader. Once I get the opportunity to test this, I will release instructions for this process once I can confirm it works and is safe, but I'm 99% sure it'll work. Very benign and simple actually.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oneandroidnut:
no will not work
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
I too don't believe that will work my friend.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ryanbg:
It certainly is. It's the same factory method Samsung uses. I'd be happy to explain how it works and why. The last 512 bytes of aboot are two 256 byte SHA1 signatures in PKCS1.5 format. The first is a signature of aboot itself, the second is a signature of your eMMC CID. Your eMMC CID is static and permanent. I'm sure you can fill in the blanks.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
Well, I'm not accomplished enough to debate this at the level of expertise it warrants. So, I hope you're right, but I never saw anything like this for the Dev Edition S4 or Dev Edition S5, and I had them both.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oneandroidnut:
It isnt possible. beans and several other devs had no luck on the note 3 with this. if that was the case the verizon note 3 would been unlocked
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ryanbg:
Again, not true. You would need Samsung's private key to sign the hash to unlock each individual device. This is why Samsung sells limited quantities of Developer Edition devices. Each device needs to manually be signed. But since Developer Editions already have a signature, they can merely append it to a new aboot, pending if the same key is used to verify (in mincrypt format.) It's a poor method of unlocking a device. Ask [MENTION=4395895]BeansTown106[/MENTION] himself.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] oneandroidnut:
Correct this is why if you locked a developer edition you couldn't unlock it because they were individual set
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] BeansTown106:
Ryan has a method that will 99% possibly work, it's not guaranteed but with all of his and surges and various others studys it should although he needs to test it and testing it chances bricking the device lol
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] BeansTown106:
Although I do hope with the amount of a stir we made on g+ reddit etc. That they hopefully changed the unlocking process for the better. If not hopefully Ryans method works. Best bet would be to have someone with an older Dev edition s4 try it since it's not worth as much and then if it works there we do note3 and alas if it works on note3 we do note4 make sense?
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
I wish I still had my Dev S4, I'd try it in a heartbeat.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
Makes sense to me!

I did not know about this. What is Ryans method or will you supply URLs? I have a S5 DE that I inadvertently locked the bootloader on by flashing a retail rom.

(this might be why I am so touchy about the difference between an unlocked bootloader and one that is unlock-able) My Moto Maxx DE has a unlock-able bootloader.

Anyway you mention a S4 will the S5 work for testing Ryans or any other meathods? Are there other methods like Sunshine or something?

As you know flashing TWRP with ODEN does not unlock a bootloader on retail or DE editions and I have tried everything else I could think of including going through Samsung.

Thank You
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ryanbg:
I would need a backup of your original aboot partition in order for it to work. The process is only for upgrading or re-unlocking if you have the original aboot with your unique device signature.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
Coming from a DE edition Moto Maxx that allows consumers to unlock the bootloader at any time I was ignorant of the importance of backing up my S5 DE before I started flashing roms.

Thank you for answering my question.

I received my Note 4 DE yesterday and never had an easier time rooting a device thanks to the folks that received a Note 4 DE before me. After installing TWRP for Verizon I did several backups before installing SuperSU and then another one. Seems I have learned the importance on backups.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ryanbg:
In terminal/adb shell

dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p6 of=/sdcard/aboot.bak

Run that and keep aboot.bak somewhere safe. That way if you accidentally lock, you can re-unlock.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
Thank you again. I will save and use that terminal command!
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] wtherrell:
Correct.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
So, if I'm reading the last few threads correctly, does this mean we have a method of recovering (in terms of unlocked bootloader) a Developer Edition Note 4 bootloader that has been inadvertently locked by flashing retail firmware of by some other means?
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
As ryanbg posted and made clear you can only if you have the proper backup which you get by running a Terminal command posted by Ryan a few posts up.

That said most folks that would inadvertently lock the bootloader would probably not have the correct backup.

I know I did not on my S5 DE and can find no way to unlock the bootloader even Samsung is no help and I was willing to pay.

Now I know "thanks to Ryan" how to do the correct backup I have also learned enough that i don't think I would inadvertently lock the bootloader.

I did the BU just in case....
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
So, just to be clear. Does the "backup" of aboot with ryans terminal commands work even after you have ODIN TWRP on a device or does that terminal command have to be run before you ODIN TWRP for the first time?
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] GreenGoblin227:
how does one do this in terminal. I will admit, I am a NOOB in some regards.. I have a Mac, have ADB and fastboot run properly in terminal. I tried to cut and paste this command line and doesn't seem to work. Any help would be greatly appreciated...

---------- Post added at 06:53 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:52 PM ----------

Also have a windows xp machine is the ADB software installed... i used to know some with dos commands but i am lacking in memory..
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
I think the first thing to do is make sure ADB is working.

Open a new terminal window and enter just "adb" hit return and see if it returns a list of adb commands etc.

If not adb is not working.

Second thing enter "adb devices" in the same terminal window hit return and if your device is not listed in the terminal window something is not hooked up correctly. Play with the settings in your phone!

If your device is listed you should be able to cut and paste the string into the terminal window and it should work.

I'm not to good at explaining things but hope this helps.

I am using a Mac and adb works fine for me. I also have a disk with boot camp and win 7 and adb works fine also.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] GreenGoblin227:
Okay, .adb works fine, but when i go to ./adb devices it shows the serial number but says its "offline" (using the mac) the phone is recognized in kies... I forget how i get it to be seen in terminal. I had this issue with my htc m8
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
In the morning I will go through the motions again on my Mac and S5 DE and post them so we can figure this out. I think settings have to be set in Developers settings "USB debugging" and then USB settings in Storage have to be set for ethernet and internet. Does that sound right?

Please post if you get your phone online for adb to see so I wont search for a solution you already have.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
I went back through my settings this morning USB debugging is checked and in the notification window shows Connected as a media device.

Then

You have to OK "The computer's RSA fingerprint is:" diolog box that will pop up on the N4.

If you get this your not quite ready...

List of devices attached

ca83**** unauthorized

When its ready to go you will get

List of devices attached

ca83**** device

hope this helps
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] GreenGoblin227:
Im not getting the RSA dialog box. Tried 4 different USB cables, all 4 USB ports on my mac still not getting the pop up. Thats what I forgot. The old note 3 did this fine, I can't get the note 4 to pop up. when connected i get the verizon cd on the desktop, just can't get the RSA fingerprint.....

time to try to mess with some settings.......
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] GreenGoblin227:
Ok, got it on windows 7 laptop. When I go

/adb shell - I get Shell@trltevzw:

I enter - dd if=/dev/block/mmcblk0p6 of=/sdcard/aboot.bak

I get cannot open for read: permissions denied
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
That answer is over my head but I think Ryan or someone with more knowledge of adb and/or terminal commands could easily tell you how to enter the command to give you the proper permissions. Sorry I can not help on this.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
I think i have a solution now.

This is done on the phone with no computer used.

Download Terminal Emulator and a root file browser (I used Root Explorer) from the play store if you don't have something like that already.

Open the Terminal Emulator app and enter just su and hit return.

This will just return a prompt.

Then paste in the string posted in one of the above threads to copy .aboot and name it aboot.bak

Then I used Root Explorer to find aboot.bak and copy it to a place I could find it with android file transfer and copied it to my computer and external sdcard.

I set Root Explorer to show invisible files but aboot.bak did not appear to be hidden it was just loose on the internal sdcard.

So now I have copies of aboot.bak on my internal and external sdcard and computer. I hope I don't have to try and figure out how to reinstall it on the phone.

Please let me know if this works for you.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] GreenGoblin227:
Think it worked like a champ. I found it in Root Explorer, did the command and found the aboot.bak (Internally) then copied it to my SD Card, Sent it to My Drop Box, My Google Drive.

Thanks again. I dont know if all the others know about this in the other DE chats...
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
This is important "stuff" if it really works. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it won't work, we just don't know for sure until someone has to use the aboot.bak backup. At any rate, someone needs to post the terminal commands and step by step in the Android Development Section for all Dev owners to see. This could be a lifesaver for someone who has inadvertently locked the bootloader on their Dev device. I guess the next question is "what exactly/how do you use the aboot.bak file"? It's great to have it, but now what?
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
It will work!

Ryan (ryanbg) knows what he's talking about.

If he did not know it would work he would not have kindly posted the string.

If it would not work the .aboot file would not have been found by the string.

I'm sure it will work just fine!

You should check on Ryan's work before questioning it.

But since you question it...if I were you I would not bother to make a copy of .aboot ;)

I'm certain I can figure out how to use it if needed plus always plenty of help on this forum.

---------- Post added at 11:17 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:10 AM ----------

I won't be posting any more steps because it seems some people always wonder if it really works and I am poor at explaining things anyway.

I have to agree it would be good if someone posted all the steps in the Android Development Section.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
First, I was not questioning ryanbg. If I've read the previous post correctly and according to beanstown106, it has not been tested. Secondly, if I didn't think this was a potentially significant bootloader recovery tool I would not have recommended it be put in the Android Development Section.

You can flash/install anything you want on your phone. I don't give crap. You've already hosed one developer device so your credibility and opinion about what is safe to flash on a developer device doesn't hold a whole lot of water with me. And, I'm sure you'll figure out what to do with the aboot.bak file, you better, your track record suggest you'll need it.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] scallawag:
If the following quotes from jpcalhoun are correct then why would one need a .aboot copy?

All the following quotes form jpcalhoun are in this thread and show his credibility.

"Of course the distinguishing difference is the ability to unlock the bootloader and install a custom recovery (which we have)"

"I also had a Development Edition S5. You unlock the bootloader on both the same way, ODIN a TWRP recovery. That's it."

"You cannot unlock the bootloader on a Retail S5 or Retain Note. All you have to do for the Development Edition S5 and Note 4 is use ODIN to flash the TWRP .tar file and flash SuperSu in TWRP recovery."
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] jpcalhoun:
You're right Dude, you can't explain things well and you should stop posting/responding to any threads. Do us all a favor.
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] wy1d:
Wouldn't you need root to restore the aboot? Or would there be a way to restore it via Odin?
[Verizon Galaxy Note 4 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] wy1d:
Hey ryanbg - according to Partition Table, mmcblk0p6 is labeled as "ddr" and a dd image of it is 32KB. mmcblk0p7 is labeled as "aboot" and a dd image is 2MB. Do you think mmcblk0p7 is aboot for the Note 4 DE? How big should aboot be?