yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
All files have been deleted from my AndroidFileHost profile. Some will be reuploaded, most won't. So, for now, the ROM is unavailable. The current incarnation of the ROM is no longer supported, and is being re-done from scratch. I have already produced a booting internal test build, but it's for my use only ATM.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
After more testing, I have found that the latest version of MicroG works really well with the Note 4 stock firmware. With older MicroG versions, it seemed to work ok for awhile, but would suddenly lose/forget its' settings. Things like device registration and GCM would suddenly disable themselves despite being explicitly enabled by me. I never did find a solution, so I gave up on MicroG and went back to using GApps with the stock firmware. But now that it seems to work flawlessly again (several yrs later), I'm considering doing a new ROM build with GApps ripped out and replaced with MicroG. The Note 4 is an old device, and GApps uses too much resources, which makes it even laggier, so I feel like it could benefit from MicroG.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
I know I keep saying this, but I really am working on a new ROM build, which is nearly finished. I have a tendency to to get sidetracked alot, so it's hard to focus. And the Note 4 isnt my main device anymore.

The only thing holding up releasing the build is that I'm thoroughly testing MicroG on the stock ROM. I've had bad luck with it on the Note 4 before, but I want to give it one last chance. If I find any issues, I'll report them on MicroG's GitHub in an attempt to get a fix.

There's one caveat though. If MicroG does hold up, I'll probably include FakeStore in the ROM, instead of the real Play Store app. FakeStore has recently had some functionality added that allows it to do license checking for apps, as well as provide in app billing/subscriptions functionality. Previously, FakeStore couldnt do this. Including Play Store means I'll probably also include Aurora Store too, so that users can install apps directly from Google, to make up for Play Store not being installed.

Also, this ROM will almost certainly ***NOT*** pass SafetyNet/Play Integrity. Anyone complaining about this will be summarily ignored. There's nothing I can do about it, blame it on Google's BS, because they're ultimately who's responsible.

The ROM will probably also include extras like Magisk, a custom Emotional Kernel, Xposed, and Busybox. It will be released as is, take it or leave it. I'm not getting paid, just doing this in my spare time because I want to, so I owe noone anything.

Keep an eye out.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
test post, ignore.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] Nikkerston:
nice. i wont be risking my aldready failing note 4's with this rom though since ive aldready killed one of my note 4's with stock 6 but hopefully for the people with not failing phones this rom makes them work forever without the risk of EMMC failure.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
I'd also like to explain another reason why debloating is a good thing:

On the N4, Samsung did not use the highest quality NAND flash memory. In fact, it isn't all that great. It exists in phones in the form of a SoC (soldered on chip), this is non-detachable and hardwired onto the motherboard. The higher a quality a NAND flash has, the more write hits it can endure before giving out. Like on the newest flagship phones, they typically use the best materials. So they can potentially take terabytes of write hits.

I see lots of users complaining on XDA that their N4 is dying. They talk about errors like "couldn't do normal boot", increasingly common freezes/crashes, etc. There are multiple reasons why our phone can die, but the wearing down of NAND flash memory is one of the biggest reasons. Oftentimes it's the flashaholics who complain the most, because they are constantly flashing ROMs. Every time you do this, the NAND's write hit capacity decreases. On a ROM flash, a system partition write can take up to 3.5GB, especially on a stock ROM. For our phone, that's a fair amount. My advice is to find a ROM you like, stay with it for as long as possible, and dont reflash unless you have to. Avoid downloading really big files, unless you are putting them on your SD card. Try to move big apps onto the SD card, or if you're rooted, you can use Link2SD/Apps2SD to move big apps into a 2nd partition on the SD. This saves write hits on the NAND.

NAND works similarly to how SSDs work on PCs. They both have a finite amount of writes, and once they reach that #, they usually die, or not too long after. Sometimes they can go well beyond the rated write capacity, but this can't go on forever. The more writes they take, the more the quality of the NAND storage degrades. It is like wear and tear on anything you use. A big difference is that phone NAND is typically nowhere near the quality of the average SSD. And it is usually slower. I have a 2TB Samsung NVME SSD drive in my laptop that has read/write speeds well over 3500/2500 MB/s, this is dozens of times faster than what the N4 can do.

Once a NAND chip/SSD dies, it goes out quickly and there is little chance of recovering lost data. On a hard drive, you can usually get some of your data back.

By debloating, you decrease the overall write hits your phone takes. Every little bit counts.

I'd be willing to bet that many XDA users weren't aware of what I'm posting about. I like to understand the innards of how phones/computers work. So I research a lot.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
In addition to a new ROM zip, I'm probably also going to be uploading a TWRP backup of the deodexed/debloated system partition and boot.img. You can just restore this from TWRP and you're good to go. TWRP will only copy back the used space into the system partition, reducing the write hits. The system_new.img in the original zip will write both used and free space, it is byte-perfect. But there is no real need for this, the result is the same either way.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] gwm121:
vend note4 sm910f samy link thanks

many THANKS what you are doing really does help. Ill watch for link, I guess it will load with twrp as a custom rom does? as one zip, does gaps have to be loaded as well? vers?

Is it hard to get swype up for apps so that it feels a bit more like modern android?

Is volte possible, so that in my home which doesnt get signal, first part of call can be done over wifi using three?

i guess the apps that no longer run on android 6 stilll wont run

Ive tried so many custom roms, none works faultlessly, they seem to be slow with freezes particularly with camera app.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] PJzzz:
Thank you so much for your work!

I'm eagerly waiting for your new deodexed/debloated ROM to get my trustworthy and beloved SM-N910F back in shape.;)
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
[MENTION=10724961]gwm121[/MENTION]: Yes, the TWRP backup would restore, equivalent to flashing the zip. I'm not certain whether I'll provide the backup as an alternative though.

You don't need to flash OpenGAPPS zip separately, GAPPS are of course built into the ROM (by Samsung). You generally should not flash GAPPS on top of a stock ROM, for this reason. But if there is enough demand, I can completely clean the ROM of GAPPS, making it safe to flash OpenGAPPS standalone zip. I will warn that you should only flash their nano zip, their bigger packages will remove some stock system apps like /system/priv-app/Tags/ (related to NFC).

What is Swype up? Are you talking about Swype keyboard app? Or maybe you mean swipe up to open the apps drawer? This depends on the launcher. I use latest Nova Launcher, which has swipe up gesture as default.

I'm not sure if the N910F "supports" VOLTE...I think VOLTE is carrier-dependent.

Yes, any app that isnt compatible with Android 6 still won't run, I can't change this. I can no longer run GTA San Andreas because of this. It used to be compatible, but they updated it, now you must have Nougat or higher. I can still play if I use an old version though.

I haven't made any camera changes, it should work the same.

[MENTION=342084]PJzzz[/MENTION]: Thanks for 3 months XDA ad-free gift. Although i never saw ads to begin with, since I have an ad-blocking hosts file installed (the zips I'm providing have the stock hosts file).
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] gwm121:
thx reply sm910f samy

thankyou for reply.

Yep swype up for app draw, nova noted thankyou.

Is the reason fo your effort for a debloated android6stock, that it will run without a problem, is it that to end up with a custom rom based on 9 0r 10 android is really difficult to make work faultlessly and fast?

Im curioious after reading your explanation of dying nand to understand why canera apps seem to upset the noote 4 so much,

I look forward to your download .. u can see im newbie, ive learnt that to use twrp to load a custom rom you really must clean the system first and trhat the default settings work, is this the same with yours just clean and load zip file from sd card.

VOLTE... well 4 years ago three had an app which used wifi for the first part of the call, it worked faultlessly on note4 until they withdrew it saying modern fones had this facility anyway. since then i cant use fone in house due no signal. Android 6 hasnt got a menu entry for this. acip based on android 10 has a menu entry, i havent got it to work.

Three have said they have volte. , is it the hardware or rom that means it can be used????
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
[MENTION=10724961]gwm121[/MENTION]: Nova has long been one of my fave launchers. It is one of the few that still has double tap to sleep gesture.

I've been trying out Lightning Launcher for awhile, but the learning curve is steep. It has seemingly endless customization options, very good for advanced users. Sooner or later I may completely switch over to it from Nova.

My reasons for debloating, is that everything runs smoother, and with less resource usage, and a smaller overall installed footprint. Less is more, is my philosophy.

I'm not a fan of Android versions after Oreo. I love Xposed, Oreo is the last to have official Xposed support. No, I'm not trying to create a path to other custom ROMs. I have yet to find a custom ROM for the N910F that runs flawlessly, always some problem here or there. And they are not as stable as stock.

Only Samsung fully understands the N4's official camera workings, they designed the phone after all. So it makes sense that the camera will work better on stock-based ROMS.

Clean flash is preferred, which means wiping data/cache/internal/system should be done manually before flashing these zips. Dirty flash may work too, if you are flashing these zips over a not wiped data/cache that is the same ROM build.

I don't see any settings for enabling VOLTE in the phone dialer app. But I'm still convinced it is carrier dependent. I used to see the VOLTE icon all the time when I was with T-Mobile. But since I have switched to MetroPCS some months ago, it hasn't appeared since.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] PJzzz:
I should have known better because I'm using a host file as well. I should have bought you a beer instead :p
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
[MENTION=342084]PJzzz[/MENTION]: No thanks, I generally don't drink. I have never liked the taste of most alcoholic drinks. I don't like being around drinkers either. About the only kind of drink I find tasteful is a margarita, which I consume once in a great long while when eating at certain restaurants. But I always limit myself to just one shaker.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] PJzzz:
Whatever makes you happy. And margarita's are indeed very nice.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
I'll take coffee over alcohol any day. But not Starbucks. They make some of the worst coffee I've ever tasted. I really hated it when Seattle's Best got bought out by StarCrooks.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
I built another zip last night, but decided not to upload it because it wouldn't flash. TWRP complained that it couldn't find a file. This must be some kind of error with the updater-script that flashes the ROM, and not the ROM itself. I've PMed the Kitchen maintainer about the error, to see if there is a quick fix.

If anyone wants GAPPS completely removed then say so now, I will still have to build another zip later today anyway. You will still be able to flash OpenGAPPS nano zip after the ROM zip. The advantage of doing it this way is that your GAPPS will be up to date, whereaa the GAPPS built into the ROM are old.

And with them removed, you could either flash GAPPS if you need them, or install MicroG and signature spoofing patch on top of an already cleaned ROM. I'd rather leave the choice up to the user. I can say for a fact that completely removing GAPPS doesn't affect stability, I've done it many times.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
After thinking on it for awhile, ive decided that I'm going to completely remove GAPPS from the ROM. This means that no Play Store/Play Services/etc will be installed by default, you will need to manually flash OpenGAPPS nano zip if you need those. There will be no future builds after this, unless someone complains about a serious issue and can prove their claim. Before posting a complaint, make sure that Xposed or other mods (including Magisk/SuperSU/other root) are not present.

The final zip will be deodexed, debloated/deknoxed, and GAPPS removed. No other changes will be made. I will still leave the link to the original deodexed only ROM zip, in case anyone needs it.

I will not be accepting feature/mod requests, so please don't ask. I don't intend for this to be a custom ROM, just a baseline that is good as a starting point for the average user. What you do after this (anything not included by me) is on you.

The only other thing I'm considering:

An N910F ROM based on the firmware listed in this thread's 1st post, but with multiple CSC codes integrated. Right now only UK BTU is present. Multi-CSC means you will be able to switch between different CSC codes depending on your preference and carrier. However, I'm not sure how to do this, so maybe someone can drop some guidance.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
As a last moment decision, I've decided to do some additional debloat, as well as the GAPPS removal mentioned above. This leaves the system partition with about 45% free space, up from 30-something from before. Of course, if you decide to flash GAPPS, that free space calculation will decrease, but your GAPPS will be up to date. I have to balance between ripping out junk, but not taking out too much. I'd love to cut a lot deeper though.

The goal is to create a safe-debloated stock ROM that runs well and is stable. And this way, you will have a choice of flashing GAPPS, proceeding to MicroG and skipping GAPPS, or neither. It's up to you guys.

I will post a complete list of what else has been removed. I'll also be providing separate flashable zips to restore the bloat apps I've removed, in case anyone needs/wants them.

I expect to be able to upload the final zip within the next 6-8 hours.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] gwm121:
anon comments on modern n910f roms compare andr6

Hi anon, thanks again, seems your idea of deploated android6 will be the best solution for a reliable quick note 6, as there isnt any completely reliable fast custom rom based on 9 or 10 out there to my knowledge. sad.

anon, there are some things on recent android that seem worse! than 6, why oh why? 1. when swype from top down once for shade on android 6, the icons for data wifi tec have words underneath them, so useful, so easy, Android 9 10 just a picure which varies fone to fone, and eventually a mistake made and data left unintentionally on for example.

It is the same on the icons along the bottom of screen, picture only now, no text, and again such a different look on different fones, Its easy to find msng or contacts with the name, sometimes not so easy with just piuctures.

Fonts seem bolder and clearer with 6, with the better "experience" of 9 and 10 its harder to read.

..anon, when you upload debloated android6 without gapps, for the newbies please make gaps version clear, i guess android 6 nano, and no need to clean between twrp load rom and twrp load gaps.

.. thx again, I prefer the note4 to my recent fone xiomi note..
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
So, I'm just going to warn everyone that the last build will be later than expected. I was nearly done, when I realized Private Mode wasn't working. It just refuses to turn on. At first I thought it was due to debloating...nope. I reverted to the original zip that I posted (which is deodexed only)...and Private Mode still didn't work. I then flashed full stock official firmware with Odin...Private Mode works fine. It appears that deodexing alone is enough to break Private Mode, even if you don't mod/remove anything.

Unless you definitively know how to fix it and are willing to submit a fix, don't bug me about it.

I could probably mod the Private Mode APK, change some values in a few Java methods, then it would most likely work. But...you have to re-sign the APK, Android will not accept the new signature, at least not when signature verification isn't globally disabled for the whole ROM. I also tried APKTool's "re-sign with original signature" parameter, but Android still wouldn't accept the modded APK.

So the bottom line is:

If you want Private Mode working, then you need to use the official odexed firmware. I have never really cared about Private Mode. It is very flaky. Works sometimes, but sometimes not. I will not expend any additional effort to get it to work. Besides this one crappy feature not working, this ROM is otherwise fully functional. If you need an alternative to Private Mode, check out an app called Island.

Edit: I think I might have just found a fix, Private Mode works now, for the first time since I've been trying the past few hours. I borrowed a modded APK from [MENTION=4107827]TEKHD[/MENTION], I'll be sure to credit him later. I'll test a bit on a clean zip of the new zip, then rebuild the zip with the new APK.

I know that if I leave it unfixed, someone will complain, I'll get blamed. No matter what you do, there will always be whiners. So even though I don't care about it personally, I still prefer that it works, since others are using my work.

I like to polish my work to near-perfection, because i take pride in what i do. Find something you're good at and commit to being the best you can be in that area. There's no point in doing something half-assed.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
In case anyone is wondering, what I expect to be the final update hasn't been cancelled. I am just testing, is all. I hope to be able to upload everything by the end of today.

I am abandoning the possibility of multi-CSC support in the ROM, because it would be a ton of work and time involved.

If anyone wants to "donate" to me for my efforts, I will not accept your money. However, I am open to the possibility of private torrent tracker invites. PM me if you can help with that.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
i just noticed something weird: When i enable torch/flashlight from the quick settings notification panel, i get 1 notification in the statusbar to turn it off. But if i enable flashlight from the widget, i get 2 notifications, one from SystemUI and the other from Settings. Either one disables it, then they go away. I'm pretty sure there was just 1 notification before. Oh well, it's a minor annoyance, not worth looking into.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] PJzzz:
[MENTION=7441667]AnonVendetta[/MENTION]

If you have a link for the latest ROM I will test it on my Note otherwise I'll wait for de updated 1st post.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
[MENTION=342084]PJzzz[/MENTION]:

Sure, here it is:

https://androidfilehost.com/?fid=8889791610682924674

Just remember that it has no GApps or root. Use the latest OpenGApps ARM 6.0 nano zip only. For root, Magisk or SuperSU will work. It passes SafetyNet too, dont need Magisk for that.

If the magisk icon doesnt appear in the app drawer (it never does for me when kernel is SELinux enforcing) after you flash the zip, just extract the APK from the installer zip and manually install it.

i didnt want to link to it earlier than when i was finished editing 1st post, but since you asked.....
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] prkfsz:
[MENTION=7441667]AnonVendetta[/MENTION]

Can't wait to try your ROM! Perhaps i will find some time tommorow morning. I will probably reinstall S-Note and some other small stuff.

If you removed the stock wallpaper, could you please give me the location of where i could find it in the original stock ROM? Tried to find it previously with TWRP but couldn't. And i kinda like it. It became a part of the whole Note4 experience for me.

The same for the weather widget - i thing i saw it on the list of stripped apps. Is there a simple way to put it back?

I appreciate the list of everything that was stripped, and the explanation why. Might come in handy for me in the future, since i am slowly realizing that whether i like it or not, i will probably have to look into the SuperR kitchen you done some PR for. I have a couple of other devices i would need to do the exact same thing as this - debloat, deknox, degoogle.

Thanx again! Will get back to you, probably some time next week after i tried the ROM.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
[MENTION=10891995]prkfsz[/MENTION]: you dont need to find the stock wallpapers manually. I've already prepped flashable zips to restore some of the bloat.

I removed the weather widget because it didnt seem to work anyway. When trying to place the widget, i got a black square and "AccuWeather has stopped working". If you need Weather, then I would suggest Chronus. Or an app called "Your Local Weather" from F-Droid.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
OK guys, I consider my work pretty much complete. All files are uploaded, first post of this thread has been edited. It's a bit long, but please read all of it before flashing anything. I've explained everything there in detail.

I may upload more files that will be helpful to MicroG users. But other than that, there will be no more ROM builds, unless someone posts about a serious issue and has proof.
[Galaxy Note 4 Android Development (Snapdragon)] AnonVendetta:
I just edited the 1st post again. I uploaded some stuff that will mainly be useful to MicroG users. But if others are interested in Gboard themes, there is something for you too.

See items 45 through 52 (in Extras section) for details

At this point, I do consider my work pretty much complete. I honestly can't think of anything else I'd like to do. But I'm open to suggestions.

At this point, you might as well call this a semi-custom ROM that is 99% based on stock firmware.