Motorola Moto G4 (motorola-athene)

Features
Flashing Whether it is possible to flash the device with pmbootstrap flasher.	Partial
USB Networking After connecting the device with USB to your PC, you can connect to it via telnet (initramfs) or SSH (booted system).	Works
Battery Whether charging and battery level reporting work.	Works
Screen Whether the display works; ideally with sleep mode and brightness control.	Works
Touchscreen	Works
Multimedia
3D Acceleration	Untested
Audio Audio playback, microphone, headset and buttons.	Broken
Camera	Untested
Connectivity
WiFi	Works
Bluetooth	Untested
GPS	Untested
Modem
Calls	Untested
SMS	Untested
Mobile data	Untested
Miscellaneous
FDE Full disk encryption and unlocking with unl0kr.	Untested
Sensors
Accelerometer Handles automatic screen rotation in many interfaces.	Untested

Motorola Moto G4
	; Moto G4
Manufacturer	Motorola
Name	Moto G4
Codename	motorola-athene
Released	2016
Type	handset
Hardware
Chipset	Qualcomm Snapdragon 617 (MSM8952)
CPU	4x 1.6 GHz ; 4x 1.2 GHz Cortex-A53
GPU	Adreno 405
Display	1080 x 1920
Storage	16/32 GB
Memory	2/3 GB
Architecture	aarch64
Software
Original software The software and version the device was shipped with.	Android 6.0.1
Extended version The most recent supported version from the manufacturer.	Android
postmarketOS
Category	archived
Mainline Instead of a Linux kernel fork, it is possible to run (Close to) Mainline.	no
pmOS kernel The kernel version that runs on the device's port.	3.10.108
Unixbench score Unixbench Whetstone/Dhrystone score. See Unixbench.	2621.7
Device package	device-motorola-athene
Kernel package	linux-motorola-athene

This device has been archived. This means that it no longer appears in pmbootstrap and is likely broken.
It can still be selected in pmbootstrap init by typing in the vendor and codename, but you will have to build the kernel package manually.

Contributors

fengjiongmax
thejsa

Users owning this device

Bengris32 (Notes: 2x, Unlocked)
BruninTech (Notes: Running Android 9, 16GB, Broken charging port and battery cable)
Coatlessali
Fengjiongmax (Notes: uart solder pads ruined by my poor soldering skill)
GrantM11235
LaermWirke (Notes: XT1622; hardware buttons for power and volume fell off, which makes booting into bootloader tedious)
Mtheunis
Nobodywasishere (Notes: XT1625)
Stormwoodpecker
Yuui

Models/Variants

According to Wikipedia, the G4 (SKU xt162x) and G4 Plus (xt164x) differ only trivially (memory, storage or peripherals/sensors [camera resolution, fingerprint reader]).

How to enter flash mode

Power + Volume Down buttons

Installation

$ pmbootstrap flasher flash_rootfs
$ pmbootstrap flasher boot

Problems

Firmware issues
kernel partition can't be flashed because the boot partition is not big enough
Loading the adsp subsystem works momentarily before crashing the device
Loading the modem subsystem works momentaily before crashing the device

Firmware issues

Log from dmesg:

[   68.992082] subsys-pil-tz 1de0000.qcom,venus: venus: Failed to locate venus.mdt
[   68.992096] msm_vidc:  err: Failed to download firmware
[   68.992976] msm_vidc:  err: Failed to load video firmware
[   68.993000] msm_vidc:  err: msm_comm_init_core - firmware loading failed
[   68.993007] msm_vidc:  err: Failed to move from state: 1 to 2
[   68.993012] msm_vidc:  err: Failed to move video instance to init state
[   68.993080] msm_vidc:  err: Failed to create video instance, core: 0, type = 0

Hardware details

hwtest output for SKU xt1625

Category	Model	Path	Status	Value
framebuffer	mdssfb_90000	/sys/class/graphics/fb0	Working	U:1080x1920p-0
framebuffer	mdssfb_a0000	/sys/class/graphics/fb1	Working
input	gpio-keys	/dev/input/event7	Working
input	qpnp_pon	/dev/input/event6	Working
input	qwerty	/dev/input/event5	Working
input	Rear proximity sensor	/dev/input/event4	Working
input	light	/dev/input/event3	Working
input	synaptics_dsx_i2c	/dev/input/event2	Working
input	input_mt_wrapper	/dev/input/event1	Working
input	sensorprocessor	/dev/input/event0	Working

For comparison, results from test_sensors for SKU xt1625 on obsolete sailfishOS version 3.0.0.8 running kernel 3.10.84:

test_sensors output for SKU xt1625

Hardware module ID: sensors
Hardware module Name: Motorola Sensors Module
Hardware module Author: Motorola
Hardware module API version: 0x1
Hardware HAL API version: 0x0
Poll device version: 0x1030001
API VERSION 0.1 (legacy): 0x1
API VERSION 0.1: 0x65537
API VERSION 1.0: 0x16777217
API VERSION 1.1: 0x16842753
API VERSION 1.2: 0x16908289
API VERSION 1.3: 0x16973825
API VERSION 1.4: 0x17039361
Got 19 sensors
=== Sensor 0 ==
Name: 3-axis Accelerometer
Vendor: Bosch
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x1
Type: 1
maxRange: 157
resolution: 0
power: 1 mA
minDelay: 10000

=== Sensor 1 ==
Name: 3-axis Gyroscope
Vendor: Bosch
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x2
Type: 4
maxRange: 2000
resolution: 0
power: 1 mA
minDelay: 5000

=== Sensor 2 ==
Name: 3-axis Uncalibrated Gyroscope
Vendor: Bosch
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x3
Type: 16
maxRange: 2000
resolution: 0
power: 1 mA
minDelay: 5000

=== Sensor 3 ==
Name: Game Rotation Vector
Vendor: Motorola
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x4
Type: 15
maxRange: 1
resolution: 0
power: 2 mA
minDelay: 5000

=== Sensor 4 ==
Name: Gravity
Vendor: Motorola
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x5
Type: 9
maxRange: 10
resolution: 0
power: 2 mA
minDelay: 10000

=== Sensor 5 ==
Name: Linear Acceleration
Vendor: Motorola
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x6
Type: 10
maxRange: 157
resolution: 0
power: 2 mA
minDelay: 10000

=== Sensor 6 ==
Name: Step Detector sensor
Vendor: Bosch
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x11
Type: 18
maxRange: 1
resolution: 0
power: 0 mA
minDelay: 0

=== Sensor 7 ==
Name: Step Counter sensor
Vendor: Bosch
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x12
Type: 19
maxRange: 340282346638528859811704183484516925440
resolution: 0
power: 0 mA
minDelay: 1000000

=== Sensor 8 ==
Name: Ambient Light sensor
Vendor: TAOS
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x7
Type: 5
maxRange: 65535
resolution: 1
power: 0 mA
minDelay: 0

=== Sensor 9 ==
Name: Proximity sensor
Vendor: TAOS
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x8
Type: 8
maxRange: 100
resolution: 100
power: 0 mA
minDelay: 0

=== Sensor 10 ==
Name: Display Rotation sensor
Vendor: Motorola
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x9
Type: 65536
maxRange: 4
resolution: 1
power: 1 mA
minDelay: 0

=== Sensor 11 ==
Name: Flat Up
Vendor: Motorola
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0xa
Type: 65537
maxRange: 1
resolution: 1
power: 1 mA
minDelay: 0

=== Sensor 12 ==
Name: Flat Down
Vendor: Motorola
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0xb
Type: 65538
maxRange: 1
resolution: 1
power: 1 mA
minDelay: 0

=== Sensor 13 ==
Name: Stowed
Vendor: Motorola
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0xc
Type: 65539
maxRange: 1
resolution: 1
power: 0 mA
minDelay: 0

=== Sensor 14 ==
Name: Camera Activation sensor
Vendor: Motorola
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0xd
Type: 65540
maxRange: 1
resolution: 1
power: 1 mA
minDelay: 0

=== Sensor 15 ==
Name: ChopChop Gesture
Vendor: Motorola
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0xf
Type: 65546
maxRange: 1
resolution: 1
power: 1 mA
minDelay: 0

=== Sensor 16 ==
Name: Rear Proximity sensor
Vendor: Motorola
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x10
Type: 8
maxRange: 100
resolution: 100
power: 0 mA
minDelay: 0

=== Sensor 17 ==
Name: Glance Gesture
Vendor: Motorola
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x13
Type: 24
maxRange: 1
resolution: 1
power: 1 mA
minDelay: -1

=== Sensor 18 ==
Name: Moto Glance Gesture
Vendor: Motorola
Version: 0x1
Handle: 0x14
Type: 65548
maxRange: 1
resolution: 1
power: 1 mA
minDelay: -1

CPU tuning

For unknown reasons, the default configuration boots only 5 cpus, boot_cpus=0,4,5,6,7. This boots only one of the 1.65 GHz cores, and the four 1.21 GHz cores. This can be shown via cpufreq-info (package cpufrequtils), or htop. The default governor is battery-draining "performance".

To utilize all cores, extract and edit (or update) bootimg.cfg from boot.img to use boot_cpus=0-7. Boot the new image via fastboot boot boot.img. Alternatively, edit deviceinfo and repeat pmbootstrap install. This configuration will boot the 4x 1.65 GHz cores as cpus 0-3 and the 4x 1.21 GHz cores as cpus 4-7.

The governor for each quad is assigned separately:

# cpufreq-set -c 0 -r -g ondemand
# cpufreq-set -c 4 -r -g ondemand

This change does not persist across reboots.

ubench results

boot_cpus	governor	ubench	comment
0,4,5,6,7	performance	1470.9	nominal
0,4,5,6,7	ondemand	1473.7	change governor only
0-7	performance	2619.3	change boot_cpus only
0-7	ondemand	2621.7	change both

Photos

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