Get the Galaxy Note 5’s new firmware on your Galaxy S6 now

The Note 5's new software has already been ported to Galaxy S6. Photo: Samsung

The Note 5’s new software has already been ported to Galaxy S6. Photo: Samsung

If you have no interest in swapping your Galaxy S6 for a Galaxy Note 5, or you live in Europe where Samsung’s new phablet won’t be going on sale, that doesn’t mean you mean you have to miss out on its new TouchWiz software.

A Galaxy Note 5 ROM has already been ported to the Galaxy S6, and it doesn’t just bring new features, but also stability and performance improvements.

“Why do this? Because optimizations and other finishing touches are very different from the Galaxy S6,” explains arter97, the XDA Developers member who is responsible for the port. “I’m already noticing way better memory managements and performance from this.”

In addition to those things, users get Samsung’s latest TouchWiz build, which includes some nice user interface improvements — as well as greater camera controls and support for RAW images, and the new S Pen features, which you can take advantage of with a third-party stylus.

And because this is final software that’s shipping on the Note 5, it’s stable and mostly free from bugs. But that doesn’t mean you will enjoy a completely seamless experience.

As this software wasn’t built for the Galaxy S6, you may run into some issues with certain features the more you use it. And just like any other third-party firmware, it requires an unlocked bootloader and custom recovery, which can bring their own risks.

If you’re not too concerned about those and you want to install the firmware anyway, here’s what you’ll need to do:

  1. Download the Note 5 firmware port for Galaxy S6 from XDA DevDB or arter97.com
  2. Download arter97’s custom kernel — the only kernel that’s compatible with this ROM
  3. Ensure your Galaxy S6 is running the ClockworkMod or PhilZ Touch custom recoveries
  4. Transfer the ROM and kernel to the root of your Galaxy S6’s internal storage
  5. Perform a full data wipe (unless you’re running a previous “back-to-n0t3” release
  6. Flash the ROM
  7. Flash the kernel
  8. Flash SuperSU if you want root access (optional)

Once you’ve performed these steps, you can restart your Galaxy S6 and it will be running the Note 5 software.