Maximum from Android Lollipop for Samsung Galaxy S4. Installing official firmware on Samsung Galaxy S4 I9500 Samsung galaxy s4 Android version

The South Korean company Samsung has been in the telecommunications equipment market for quite some time. Since the thirties of the last century. During this time, it managed to become one of the world's leading companies producing smartphones, tablets and various household appliances. Today, Samsung is on a par with such giants as Microsoft and Apple. Sales of Samsung smartphones have confidently risen to first place among other companies, overtaking Apple and Huawei.

The flagships of the Galaxy S line are significantly ahead in terms of Apple sales iPhone. This is not surprising, because Samsung smartphones have the most high performance, modern attractive design, support for a huge number of applications and millions of users around the world. Do you want to follow all the news about existing and details about new Samsung devices? Then we are glad to welcome you to our website. Here you will find all the most interesting things for your smartphone: from useful applications to stylish accessories, and you will always be aware of all the most interesting things from the world of Samsung gadgets.

And other flagships by Samsung was released very quickly - at the beginning of 2015. I never tire of repeating that this is one of the advantages of buying a smartphone from a renowned large manufacturer, and not “exactly the same unknown Chinese, but half the price.” Moreover, consider the relevance of the Galaxy S4 - this is a phone of 2013! And Samsung even intends Galaxy Note II to Android 5.0 update! This is already completely “out of the blue” - can you name at least one “Chinese” who is supported 2.5 years after graduation?

In short, the Android 5.0 firmware for my beloved Galaxy S4 GT-I9505 (and even in the Black Edition version!) did not arrive in the most prompt manner - it was released earlier for the Exynos version of the GT-I9500. And then I had to sew it up myself. But everything went quickly and without unnecessary difficulties. Now I’m sharing exactly how.

Here's a short guide to Android firmware 5.0 on Galaxy S4:

  1. and make sure that your smartphone has enough charge;
  2. enter the smartphone into mode Download Mode(while simultaneously pressing the “off” + “volume down” + “home button”) keys, then press “Volume up”;
  3. connect to device USB cable;
  4. in the Odin application on your computer, select files from the archive with the firmware:
    • for the column PIT - a file with the extension *.pit;
    • for PDA - a file whose name contains the word CODE, if there is none, then you should know that this is the heaviest file in the archive;
    • for CSC - a file whose name contains the word CSC;
    • for Phone - a file containing MODEM in the name;
    • Note. If the files for the CSC, Phone and PIT columns are not in the archive with the firmware, then we sew exclusively using the one-file method, i.e. indicate the location of the firmware in the PDA column, and leave the remaining lines empty.
  5. Make sure that the “Auto Reboot” and “F.” checkboxes are checked in Odin. Reset Time". If the location of the *.pit file was specified, then the “Re-Partition” checkbox will be checked automatically;
  6. Press the “Start” button and watch how the firmware process occurs. The phone may reboot several times during installation and in no case should you disconnect the cable from it until the message “All threads completed” appears in the Odin log or the green information window with the inscription “PASS!” lights up.

The firmware update process traditionally lasts several minutes (from 5 to 15) and if successful, you will be asked to configure the smartphone according to your preferences. After this you can start working. If you have a question, go straight to the second section of this post - everything is described there.

There aren't many changes in Android 5.0 on the Galaxy S4 because they're hidden TouchWIZ shell. It wasn't just launched on a new system, it was also redesigned. But in general, it offers exactly the same interface as before, hiding some of the innovations of the fifth version of the “robot”. In the case of the Galaxy S4, Samsung's skin is a mixture of bare Android 5.0.1, the style and the original TouchWIZ variant on the S4. Something like this.



All notifications are now displayed on the lock screen - this feature was transferred from pure Android 5 almost unchanged. The ability to launch the camera even on a smartphone locked with a pattern or password has also been added.


The list of recent applications in the form of tabs was simply taken from the system itself, although the panel at the bottom with additional options is a clear Samsung design.


The notification panel is designed in the style of the mentioned Galaxy S5. Moreover, the changes partially overlap the innovations of Android 5.0. Notifications are also displayed, but the ability to “shrink” the toolbar has been eliminated and the standard “Samsung” functionality is left.



Other changes are less significant. Much remains “under the hood” - we will talk about this in detail. Of course, the standard applications were redrawn.


The settings are also designed differently, but nothing more. There is nothing fundamentally new here. Moreover, the division by tabs, which was relevant for the Galaxy S4, was retained, and a year later it was replaced by a grid of icons.


Many people complain a lot about glitches after Android installations 5.0 on Galaxy S4. For glitches, worse autonomy and brakes. I can say from myself that I haven’t noticed any glitches yet, but slight delays in interface rendering do occur. Autonomy does not seem to be worse yet. But in any case, if your smartphone does not work well after the update, I recommend resetting everything to factory settings. If this does not suit you, you can roll back the Galaxy S4 to Android 4.4.

How to return Android 4.4 to Galaxy S4

Very simple. I specifically highlighted this in a subsection so that it is noticeable. And so you can roll back the Galaxy S4 to Android 4.4 in the following way:

  1. do the same step by step as was listed above for flashing to Android 5.0.

Yes, that's so elementary. There is no difference, you just need to specify a different firmware file in Odin. If you still have questions, ask in the comments! And in general, leave your reviews about Android 5.0 for Galaxy S4!

Enthusiasts love to compare new models with old ones, as well as with competitors. I was somewhat surprised by the short-sightedness of this kind of comparison, since most reviewers believe that there are few differences from the Galaxy S3 and they all lie in technical parameters. There are actually many differences, and most of them are qualitative, not quantitative. Similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, the first thing you notice about the S4 is the lack of twitching standard interface. So, Galaxy S4 is the first samsung smartphone no brakes.

Apparently, they finally kicked out the programmers who had been engaged in destructive activities at Samsung for many years. It's hardly a matter of increased power, although the S4's performance has increased very noticeably compared to the Galaxy S3. For example, the latest Android 4.1.2 update for the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 also noticeably revitalized the tablet; compared to the previous firmware, the user interface began to simply fly.

Although marketing materials everywhere indicate that the Galaxy S4 has eight cores, only four work simultaneously: at low loads, 4 Cortex-A7 1.2 GHz cores to save energy, and at high loads, 4 Cortex-A15 1.6 GHz cores. There is also a modern PowerVR SGX 544MP3 video accelerator on board, which is cooler than the iPhone5, if anyone cares.

Despite the larger screen compared to previous models and more powerful processor, the life time on one charge is about the same - about a day with moderate use. Of course, heavy games like Real Racing 3 (which, by the way, runs almost perfectly) will drain the battery in a few hours, but still, in this mode, the Galaxy S4 discharges noticeably slower than Sony devices, for example. This is thanks not only to the new, more economical processor, but also to the battery, whose capacity is 2600mAh. At the same time, the device remains thin and is almost no larger in size than its predecessor.

Another qualitative difference is the SuperAMOLED display. And it’s not even the FullHD resolution of 1080x1920, but the fact that the display is surprisingly well calibrated. If our reviews do not show graphs of color rendering quality measurements, then most likely we were ashamed to post them, and the device seemed defective. Sometimes this happens in pre-sale copies, which are sometimes completed just before sales begin. So, the Galaxy S4 impressed with good color reproduction. Traditionally, on Samsung devices, I recommend the “Cinema” screen mode, in which the colors are closest to the sRGB standard.

The SuperAMOLED screen traditionally has a wide color gamut:

It is easy to see that the white balance is slightly biased towards cool tones, but in real images this is almost unnoticeable. But the gamma curve is as it should be:

The last time I remember this was on the Samsung Galaxy S2, and the colors did not look acidic. In the display settings there is also a “Professional Photography” mode, in this mode the blues and greens will be a little richer, but the color rendition is not as accurate due to the red channel:

However, you won't notice this in real photographs. Compared to the “Cinema” mode, in this mode the landscapes will look brighter, but this is a matter of taste. By the way, the screen is more slippery and pleasant

Another thing that is very useful in Everyday life– Adapt Sound. This is a sound equalizer that adapts to the characteristics of your hearing and your headphones. Instead of tweaking the highs/lows, you take a test where you answer honestly whether you can hear the signal or not. This exercise should be done once in a quiet room. As a result, the phone will apply these settings when listening to music, amplifying what you hear less. Believe me, you can hardly achieve this sound by turning the knobs of traditional equalizers, or it will take you a lot of time. The Adapt Sound feature is available in your phone's audio settings.

There is also an interesting thing about sound - increasing the ringer volume if the phone is in a bag or pocket. Apparently, S4 detects this using its proximity sensor. Even if the sound doesn't reach you, you'll probably feel the vibration - the vibration alert on the S4 is harsh.

And also in terms of sound, a trifle, but nice - the alarm clock finally rings with increasing volume, reducing the likelihood of a heart attack in the morning. Of course, there are a lot of third-party alarm clocks that do the same thing, but it’s strange that such a practical thing was not built into the system from the beginning.

Other little things include the presence of an infrared port and a built-in universal application for controlling audio/video equipment various manufacturers, not just Samsung. The application hangs in the status bar, and it is really convenient to use if you are too lazy to look for the remote control.

S4 can be operated with gloves, as the new type of screen can sense you from a distance, appreciate it in winter. You definitely don’t want to type text while wearing gloves, because the accuracy of your keystrokes is significantly reduced, but answering a call without freezing your hand will now be easier. By the way, it seemed to me that the screen interacts better through leather gloves than through knitted ones; perhaps they were thinner.

And another small improvement that makes the interface more convenient - when you drag icons across the desktop, a diagram of your screens is displayed below, where you can see which of them has free space.

But what I didn’t really like and still seems strange is the lack of a normal on-screen keyboard. Of course, what is available on the S4 by default is much better than anything that came before - there is finally a row with numbers, like on tablet keyboards, but for some reason there are still no separate punctuation buttons. So far, I consider the paid Smart Keyboard Pro to be the most convenient.

Getting a root on the Galaxy S4 does not pose any difficulties if you are not bothered by the loss of warranty and you like to tinker with your phone.

Thank you for your attention.