Recently got a T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy Note 4 to use with my MetroPCS carrier. The camera on my Galaxy S4 died and I tried replacing it but it still did not work. So I needed to get something and decided to just splurge a little bit and jump to the Note 4. Had considered the Note 3 but the specs on the Note 4 are a lot better and the cost of a used one was only slightly more.
First of all I have to say that the T-Mobile build for the Note 4 is good and would be fine if anyone wanted to stay with it. However when I rooted it using the CF-Auto-Root utility it caused a boot loop.
Not having root is a big deal for me because Titanium Backup which I use to backup and restore all my apps and data requires it, among other things. So I decided it was time to try a ROM rather than mess around and figure out what was causing the boot loop. And I’m really glad I did!
As usual, first it was necessary to install TWRP on it, which I did using ODIN 3. I downloaded the most recent TWRP build for the device, twrp-2.8.7.0-trltetmo.img.tar, which is found here. You also need ODIN 3 and the Samsung USB driver installed.
For the ROM I decided on N5 Express 2.1. It is based on the stock Samsung ROM with features from the Galaxy Note 5 added. It also has a lot of junk removed.
In addition to installing the ROM, we will also install a fix that enables read/write support for the external SD card. The fix is available here and should be downloaded and copied to the phone.
The process of installing it is very easy:
1. Download the N5 Express ROM .zip file and copy it to the phone.
2. Power off the phone, then hold home and volume down buttons while pressing the power button to enter download mode. Press volume up to confirm. It is now in download mode.
3. Start ODIN. Connect the phone to the computer via cable. Phone should show up under the ID:COM field in ODIN.
4. Tick the checkbox next to the AP button and click on the AP button and select the TWRP .tar file downloaded earlier. Under the Options tab uncheck Auto Reboot.
5. Press Start and let it finish. Should only take a few seconds to complete.
6. Remove battery from phone. Place it back in and be careful not to accidentally press the power button.
7. While holding the home and volume up buttons, press the power button. The unit will power up into the new TWRP recovery. If you let the phone accidentally boot back into Android it will wipe TWRP and you will have to repeat steps 2 – 5.
8. Select Wipe and then swipe to do a factory reset.
9. When finished, go back and select Backup at the main menu. Check only the boxes for Boot, System, and Data then swipe to do the backup. This will create a full backup of your stock system under the directory TWRP on the internal memory card. SAVE THIS. IT IS IMPORTANT. If you sell your phone later or for any reason have an issue or just want to go back to the factory, this is the route.
10. When finished go back to the main menu and select Install. Navigate to the N5 Express ROM .zip file that was copied to the phone earlier. Select it and install it.
11. Now navigate to the external SD card read/write fix COD6-COG2_SD_Write_Fix_Mod_TEKHD.zip file and select and install it.
12. When the phone reboots for the first time it will take a long time to come up. You will see the boot logo for a really long time and maybe start to think that something is wrong. Be patient. It can take around 10-15 minutes for it to boot up the first time.
I like this N5 Express ROM because it is still based on Samsung’s builds and I think Samsung creates really good builds in general and a lot of their apps are very good. It also removes a lot of unnecessary things and adds features from the more recent Note 5. Finally, it is a very recent build (just released today!) which means its fresh. The previous ROM for the Note 4 I tried yesterday had a lot of cool features but because it was so old it had not been patched for two very serious Stagefright vulnerabilities. N5 Express ROM is fully patched and not vulnerable to Stagefright.
You can donate to the creator of N5 Express ROM here.
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