The Best Stable Custom ROM for Samsung Galaxy S7 / S7 Edge

About Galaxy S7 / S7 Edge:

It's been around four years now (2020) since Galaxy S7 / S7 Edge released but it can still compete with the current generation new phones. The hardware is almost equal to the phones that are coming out in 2020. The Camera quality is still one of the best among the latest phones. 4 GB RAM, Power-efficient Exynos / Snapdragon quad-core / octa-core processor, 12 MP camera capable of shooting 4K videos, Fingerprint sensor, Heart rate monitor, Water-resistant and many more. 

Official firmware update:

Usually, the phone manufacturers provide firmware support for 2 years from the launch of the phone but S7 / S7 Edge has got support even in December 2019. Yes, the latest firmware released for S7 / S7 Edge is in December 2019 but it is still on Android 8.0 Oreo. It is very unlikely that S7 / S7 Edge will get further major Android 9 or 10 updates. 

Custom ROMs:

Custom ROMs are firmware that is developed by many good-hearted Android developers out there. There are plenty of Custom ROMs for S7 / S7 Edge on the Internet and depending on the requirements one can choose the AOSP(pure Android) or Touchwiz(Samsung) ROMs. 

An important thing to note is that flashing a custom ROM will void the warranty. If you had purchased the phone a year ago then feel free to try out these ROMs at your own risk. Being cautious while trying out the steps to flash will reduce the risk. 

Now lets come to the point. Out of all the ROMs that I have tried, the best stable custom ROM for the S7 / S7 Edge is the BlackDiamond N8 Port. 

It is based on Samsung Touchwiz ported from Galaxy Note 8 with Android PIE 9.0.0 and Samsung ONE UI developed by KiLL-SwitCH

I have been using this ROM (V2.0) for around five months and it is butter smooth without any lags or restarts, highly stable, works flawlessly even when the internal storage is 100% full, excellent RAM management, runs high end games and apps flawlessly, supports VoLTE.
There is a latest version V5.1 available but I haven't updated to it since the version V2.0 itself is very stable. Recommeded to use as a daily driver and never leaves you disappointed. 

Installation Steps:

Compatible devices are G935X/G930X

1. Prerequisite of TKKG, AJ's latest official TWRP recovery or any TWRP recovery based on them.

2. Boot into Recovery by pressing and holding Volume UP + Power + Home buttons together and as soon as you see Galaxy S7 Boot logo, release all three buttons.
3. Wipe System/Data/Cache/Dalvik.Wiping internal storage would be even better.
4. Choose the downloaded ROM zip file and flash it. Choose Clean wipe too in Aroma. Choose your options in the Aroma installer.
5. Reboot.
6. Give sometime for the ROM to boot. First boot may take 5 to 10 minutes.

Download TKKG TWRP for S7 and S7 Edge

S7 img flashable: https://mega.nz/#!xEdWwYQZ!IdTYbSyUz...bwP3P-mkcJCelo
S7 odin flashable: https://mega.nz/#!tMVCBYrB!Bcvd2tGuv...5qe_zCOSLX_-rA
S7e img flashable: https://mega.nz/#!oFd2RIpa!M2JYNFiur...-yMXx8eMHhBZ7I
S7e odin flashable: https://mega.nz/#!4JcmXKpK!BANHL1q1Z...4EFn84C413BJuY

Download BlackDiamond N8 ROM

V2.0

V5.1 - Mega

V5.1 - GDrive

Camera Mod - Samsung 4K60 Camera Mod

Stock camera works perfectly fine but there is camera mod out there which outperforms most of the latest high end devices. This mod will allow to shoot video at 4K UHD at 60 fps, the PRO mode is tweaked to have the maximum shutter speed of 1/24000 of a second and ISO at 6400 max.  

Get the Camera 4K60 Camera Mod here

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4k60 Camera Mod for Samsung Exynos devices

I have come across this mod recently and found to be very interesting. The mod makes the Exynos based Samsung devices to use their full potential of the hardware to capture some of the best videos and photos. This mod can be installed only on Stock based Samsung Experience ROMs with Magisk. All the credit goes to the developer Cvolton. 




Videos:
The Galaxy S7 Edge stock camera allows to take 4K videos at 30 fps, FHD at 60 fps max whereas this mod allows to capture 4K UHD resolution videos at 60 fps, FHD videos at even 120 and 240 fps and even more. Some of the UHFR resolutions may not work in some devices.

Resolutions available for Videos

The additional Mod Settings can be found in the camera settings as shown in the below screenshot. Allows user to change the Video encoders, Audio bitrates and Video bitrates as they require.

Type of Video Encoders available are H.263, H.264, MPEG-4 Visual and H.265

Audio bit rates ranges from 64 Kbps to 320 Kbps

Video bitrate ranges from 500 Kbps to whooping 200 Mbps

Photos:

The interesting part in the photos is that it's Pro mode. This gives an excellent improvement for the users who use this mode more frequently. 

• The limit of the ISO is increased to 6400.
• Shutter speed is scaled up to 90 seconds for long exposure shots (It is 2 or 4 seconds in the stock camera)
• Shutter speed is also lowered to 1/24000 seconds (It is 1/30 seconds in the stock camera)
• Unlocked Pro mode in the front cam

Requirements/Compatibility:

• Magisk 17+
• Samsung Experience stock based ROM
• Supported devices are Samsung Galaxy S7 & S7 Edge, Galaxy S8 and S8+, Galaxy Note 8
• Devices with different sensor resolution than 4032x3024 require a manual modification of a .xml file

Installation instructions:

• Install the zip via Magisk --> Downloads and search for 'Samsung 4k60 Camera Mod'
• Clear the ShootingModeProvider's data
• Install the zip based on the Hardware of the device and not on the type of ROM running

How to Install Magisk?
Click here and follow the instructions to Install Magisk on your Samsung Devices

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Install Magisk (The System-less Root) in Galaxy S7/S7 Edge Exynos

Note: Take a complete backup of your data. There may be a chance to erase internal memory if required. This will void warranty. I am not responsible to any harm done to your device. You should know what you are doing. Follow the steps carefully. 

Get the TWRP for Galaxy S7 (Exynos) here

Get the TWRP for Galaxy S7 Edge (Exynos) here

Get latest Magisk zip here

Get latest Odin here

Get Encryption Disabler here

1) Go to Settings and enable the Developer Options (Keep tapping on the ‘Build number’ and you will find the Developer Options visible under Settings). Now enable “USB Debugging” and "OEM unlocking" if available

2) Transfer the Magisk zip file, TWRP tar file and the Encryption Disabler zip file into the SD card

3) Shut down your phone and hold Power button + Home button + Volume down simultaneously until you see some text on the screen. Now press “Volume up” button to enter the phone into Download Mode

4) Connect the phone into the PC USB port directly via USB cable. Avoid USB hubs

5) Open Odin and load the TWRP tar file (****.img.tar) in the AP section. Disable 'Auto Reboot'. Hit 'Start' button 

6) Once you see ‘Done’ or ‘Success’ in Odin, hold the Power + Home + Volume down buttons and once it leaves the Download Mode, change from volume down to volume up while holding other buttons

7) Press/Select "keep system read only" in order to Keep the Safety Net

8) In case you can’t read the internal storage of the phone (check that by pressing on install and checking internal storage), go to format-->format data and type yes. It explains there that, by doing so, you will remove encryption. This will erase the internal memory data.

9) Now tap on ‘Install’ and flash the Encryption Disabler zip file and then the Magisk zip file.

10) Clear Cache/Dalvik if requested and Reboot. Done!!!

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How to flash boot image file using ODIN

How to flash boot image file using ODIN

1. Get the stock boot image file for your device. To get the stock boot.img file download the latest firmware from sammobile or updato. Extract the file and you will get the files as shown in the below image.

2. The boot image file is contained in the file starting with AP_G935F........... So extract this file and you get boot.img as one of the files. Recent firmware files from Samsung uses a new compression method known as lz4 so if you end up some thing like boot.img.lz4 then you need to extract the lz4 file using 7zip. Now finally you will have boot.img. 

3. ODIN needs files in .tar format. So use 7zip and archive/compress to .tar format. You can even rename the file as boot.img.tar as shown in the below screenshot

4. Open ODIN and plug your phone to your computer via USB cable. Your phone should be detected by ODIN. Click the AP button and select the boot.img.tar file from your computer. Hit 'Start'. The flashing will be done in seconds as shown in the below screenshot.

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Systemless Root for Samsung Galaxy phones using Magisk

Systemless Root for Samsung Galaxy phones using Magisk

Brief Intro about Magisk:
Magic Mask is know as Magisk. “Systemless” root can be achieved by Magisk. It is a way to modify the system without actually modifying it. Modifications are done in a duplicate boot partition instead of modifying the real system files. Modifications are undetected by SafetyNet since the original files remains unchanged. This is an alternate for SuperSU. 

Let's get started 👍

Prerequisites:

• Read this post at least twice before starting. You agree that you are performing this at your own risk.Warranty may be void. 
• Take a full backup of your phone. Need to do a factory reset during the process.
• Stock boot image file of your device
• Magisk Manager
• ODIN

This method is applicable for all Android phones and I am taking Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge as an example to show the demo. There are many ways available to root a phone but the way we are gonna achieve root does not require custom recovery. In other words, flashing Masigk without root and does not require a custom recovery. 

1. Get the stock boot image file for your device. I am taking Galaxy S7 Edge as an example here. Download the latest firmware from sammobile or updato. Extract the file and you will get some files as shown in the below image.

2. The boot image file is contained in the file starting with AP_G935F........... So extract this file and you get boot.img as one of the files. Recent firmware files from Samsung uses a new compression method known as lz4 so if you end up some thing like boot.img.lz4 then you need to extract the lz4 file using 7zip (get 7zip from here). Now finally you will have boot.img. 

Get the Stock boot image file for Samsung Galaxy S7 edge here or here

3. Now download the Magisk Manager. Get it here and install it in your device. 

4. Move the extracted boot.img file to your SD card

5. Open Magisk Manager and go to Settings -> Update Settings -> Patched Boot Output Format, and select .img.tar

6. Go to the homepage of the Magisk and select Install -> INSTALL -> Patch Boot Image File -> Select your stock boot image file(boot.img) from the SD card

7. Magisk Manager will now patch the boot image and stores in Internal Storage/Download/patched_boot.img.tar

8. Copy this patched_boot.img.tar file to your desktop

9. Download the latest ODIN from here

10. Put the phone in Download mode(For S7 Edge -> Press Home key + Power button + Volume down simultaneously and continue to Download mode) Connect the phone to the PC via USB cable and open ODIN

11. Your phone should be detected by ODIN. Click the AP button and select the patched_boot.img.tar file from your desktop. Hit 'Start'. The flashing will be done in seconds. Below image is for reference.

12. Your phone will now reboot and asks you to to do a reset. After Resetting, you are Done. 

13. Go to the app drawer and you can find the Magisk Manager. Open it and follow the on screen instructions which requests you to Install Magisk. 

14. Now your phone is rooted systemless-ly. You will still be eligible to receive official OTA updates. 

Note: You may receive a warning message by 'Device Security' as shown in the below screenshot. Do not restart phone from here. Ignore it. 

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