I just wanted to note down a few things that I wished I knew before flashing my Infuse.
Substituting your official Samsung build for unofficial ROMs like CyanogenMOD (CM) is a double edged sword. On one hand you get to play with the latest and greatest stuff...but on the other hand you have no guarantees of any kind. I'm not sure but you may be in violation of your warranty. In other words you're on your own.
Now there are forums like the Official CM forums and XDA where you'll get help if you run into issues but the bottom line is: You flashed your phone on your own responsibility. Nobody is liable for that. Nobody has any duty to resolve your issues. You may get a response, you may not. Sometimes the level of solution varies with the technical level of the person trying to help you. I may not be able to fix your problem... My suggestion may even f*** it up worse.
In my opinion, if your phone has critical data that you depend on (contacts, appointments etc)... it would be wise to stick with the OS build your phone came with. It may be old...but it has been tested by qualified engineers. All aspects of the phone are functional. And if you run into an issue, you can always pick up the phone and call somebody. When you flash your phone, there's always a minimal chance that you may lose your data (I'm not saying it always happens...but it can). You also lose the privilege of support provided by your carrier or anybody else.
Secondly, your Infuse ships with OS that has been modified by Samsung to provide you with a better experience. These are things which I'll list down at the end, that you'd lose with a custom build like CM. So you'd gain some features by trying the latest version of android but you'd lose a few features too! Because they were provided by Samsung, not by Google.
Things like:
1. No quick view in Calendar. You have to go to Agenda view in options where all entries of all dates will be visible. You cannot see daily appointments on the default Month view. Also there's no option for persistent alarm for your appointments. In the stock build my alarm for tasks used to ring for 15 minutes...now there just one ring and silence. Its a little thing but I sometimes miss the alarm and the whole purpose is lost.
2. Contacts applications is modified by Samsung. Joining contacts from different sources (facebook, twitter) into a single contact is much easier. You can do that in CM too but I had to search the Internet for that option.
You'd also get alphabets on the side of the screen while scrolling contacts. Tap an alphabet and you quickly jump to contacts that start with that alphabet. That's missing in CM too.
3. There are some widgets provided by Samsung like Running Applications widget which I absolutely loved. It would show number of running applications and a quick option to close them all. CM has a task manager and the market has applications that can replicate that functionality but I haven't found one as nifty as that little widget. Then theres a Dual Clock widget, which was important to me as I have contacts in different timezones. I could easily check their time at a glance. In short there were some gems that I miss... and I can't get with CM.
4. Messaging app was modified by Samsung to allow quick addition of a particular group (e.g. all the contacts in Family group) to senders list.
5. There was a very nice Memo app that you could store notes in for offline use. There are tons of alternatives in the market like Springpad, Evernote etc but I kinda liked that app. It had a very nice yellow legal pad template. Its a minor gripe but hey!
6. There's no swype in CM7! Samsung preloads your Infuse with swype. If you've not used swype, its an awesome way to input text. I found that I could sign up for Swype beta and use it in CM but then again....beta is a beta. It has problems.
7. Bluetooth (currently) doesn't completely work in CM7. You can transfer data but audio pairing is an issue. It doesn't bother me but it may be something you use.
8. Wifi is fine but try using Mobile Data on CM. I still haven't figured how to set up my mobilink GPRS internet. I tried setting up the APN with the same settings as on the stock build but it doesn't seem to work. It worked fine under Samsung. But YMMV. It may be particular to my network and CM build.
9. There's no voice search in google search widget. I had to install an apk from net to get it working. It wouldn't even show up in the market.
10. Also you'll lose all your settings in applications. You'll get your apps back from the market (Even the Paid ones...you won't have to re-purchase) but you'll have to set them up all again just the way you want. That may not be such a big deal for some but it may irk you. Also don't use Titanium Backup to restore you app data. I tried that and every f***ing app would crash every ten minutes. I had to reflash again.
11. Your partitions will show up different in the file manager. For example your internal sd card (as it showed up in stock build) will be mounted under 'emmc'. I had to look online for that. Now that may not be a major thing but it screwed up a lot of app data links.
12. Lastly CM isn't even official for Infuse yet. All you have are volunteers packaging builds for Infuse. Hats off to their hard work! But as a user.... you are the tester! So if you're comfortable running untested beta grade software only then go for CM7 on your infuse. Otherwise stick with the stock build.
I'll keep adding other differences as I remember and discover them. You guys can pitch in too.
This post is by no means an attempt to belittle CM. Its an excellent ROM. It has its own advantages which you can read up on its website. I'm just highlighting some tradeoffs so that new users like myself exactly know what they're giving up.
So if you still want to go ahead and flash your Infuse, full power to you. At least you'll be making an informed decision. Just please backup your critical data. Sync your contacts with Google. Back up your music and videos, messages, downloads etc.
Go here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1400375 for the latest CM7 build for Infuse.
Enjoy the CM awesomeness! Best of Luck
This is what distinguishes the men from the boys...or should I say android from apple....be cause we have options....yea...it voids your warranty..who cares...my dedutibke on my insurance and wait time for warranty repair isn't worth it. First we have options, apple doesn't, so if your scared say your scared and buy an iPhone...and as long as you have a back up you will not lose any critical info.. I flash my phone about 20 times or more a day testing out my rom builds and themes and have bricked a hundred times and all info is intact...if you stay stock on infuse...slow, laggy, bad signal.....this is why us devs work so hard ...so your phone and you don't....happy hollidays
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium
dman3285 said:
This is what distinguishes the men from the boys...or should I say android from apple....be cause we have options....yea...it voids your warranty..who cares...my dedutibke on my insurance and wait time for warranty repair isn't worth it. First we have options, apple doesn't, so if your scared say your scared and buy an iPhone...and as long as you have a back up you will not lose any critical info.. I flash my phone about 20 times or more a day testing out my rom builds and themes and have bricked a hundred times and all info is intact...if you stay stock on infuse...slow, laggy, bad signal.....this is why us devs work so hard ...so your phone and you don't....happy hollidays
Sent from my SGH-I997 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
Well said bro...just came off a semi-hard brick and I'm back in business. And you can believe I'll keep flashing. CM7 isn't the only game in town. We've had a tidal wave of ports and even a couple infuse-based roms (thanks D) that can cater to anyones needs. All you gotta do is read and enjoy all the hard work these devs put in.
sbjaved - Thanks so much for this! i just flashed CM10, and am discovering what i've lost (From the latest samsung gingerbread leak) - and what i've gained! two days in and it's so worth it - The only thing i miss is MHL and quite frankly, it's a small loss.
-Woody
The last time I rooted a phone and installed a custom ROM was on a HTC with Windows 6.5, so to say I'm rusty is an understatement.
And honestly, I liked HTC Sense so I never had the urge. But now, I have been waiting for the ICS Android for so long that I think it's time to Mod Again! And it will be nice to get rid of that pink T-Mobile crapware! So I have a few newbie questions, I'll hope you'll forgive me.
1. Will I be able to keep all my app store bought apps? How?
2. Can I go back to the "official" ROM if I have to send in my device for repair?
3. What are considered the best HTC Sense/ICS Roms for the sensation?
4. Will I be able to migrate my contacts? How? (and will I be able to get rid of the awful duplication of records that seems to have occurred somehow)
5. Is there a reason to actually not go for HTC Sense? I personally really like the smart linking features of contact related information and the way contacts work with all the social networks info in one contact record. I think the contacts are where the phone shines. I hate the bugs in the music app and I don't really like the photo app either.
6. Where can I find a good step by step guide? (I can find it myself, but while I'm asking the pro's anyways)
7. Are there any limitations such as things that won't work as well because of driver support etc?
Cheers,
Marc
Hey XDA!
I rooted my Infuse months ago and flashed a custom ROM I found here (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1412957) with little trouble. ZEUS has worked great ever since and rarely fails for my purposes. I have a Limited Data plan (200 MB/Month) with AT&T and no warranty to worry about voiding
Anyway, I have some specific questions that seem to be affected by the conditions I've described. I apologize in advance, I'm by no means an expert and would appreciate any guidance offered
1) Being that I'm rooted and running a custom ROM, the usual methods of changing certain preferences are complicated. Specifically, how do I enter the "saved words" or "dictionary" that autocorrect uses for inputted text? I'd like to add/edit/delete words. Is there a method? With the stock ROM, it was pretty simple, but now I don't see any similar options when I'm in the settings menu.
2) I think Swype isn't supported by the new ROM because I no longer had the option of selecting it once I rooted and I do find I miss it lol. Any way to restore it without downloading an app?
3) Recently, I tried paying for an app* in the Market (or Play Store or whatever you wanna call it, but it'll always be the Market to me lol) and found that the only way to do that was through using Google Wallet. I found that Google Wallet wasn't listed in the Play Store when I searched the exact words "Google Wallet" and somewhere in this effort, concluded that ZEUS was too outdated to support the app. I think a prompt from the Play Store confirmed this, but I'm still not sure. Isn't ZEUS just a variation of Gingerbread, anyway? So, since I'm rooted with a custom ROM, am I ineligible from purchasing in the Market?
4*) APPS: Do you guys even "buy" apps? I'm vaguely familiar with the idea of "cracked apps" but have no idea how to safely procure any.
5) Generally, should I just flash to a newer ROM? ZEUS has worked pretty well, but the above issues (the most pressing being 1 and 4) have made me rethink ZEUS. That was months ago, is it now outdated? Any good ICS ROMS (unported, because I don't like dealing with the bugs that inevitably follow ported ROMS) available?
Any help would be a appreciated, I'm sorry this was such a long post and I did scour the forums as best I could before posting this thread.
Thanks a lot!
Rayk1080 said:
Hey XDA!
I rooted my Infuse months ago and flashed a custom ROM I found here (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1412957) with little trouble. ZEUS has worked great ever since and rarely fails for my purposes. I have a Limited Data plan (200 MB/Month) with AT&T and no warranty to worry about voiding
Anyway, I have some specific questions that seem to be affected by the conditions I've described. I apologize in advance, I'm by no means an expert and would appreciate any guidance offered
1) Being that I'm rooted and running a custom ROM, the usual methods of changing certain preferences are complicated. Specifically, how do I enter the "saved words" or "dictionary" that autocorrect uses for inputted text? I'd like to add/edit/delete words. Is there a method? With the stock ROM, it was pretty simple, but now I don't see any similar options when I'm in the settings menu.
2) I think Swype isn't supported by the new ROM because I no longer had the option of selecting it once I rooted and I do find I miss it lol. Any way to restore it without downloading an app?
3) Recently, I tried paying for an app* in the Market (or Play Store or whatever you wanna call it, but it'll always be the Market to me lol) and found that the only way to do that was through using Google Wallet. I found that Google Wallet wasn't listed in the Play Store when I searched the exact words "Google Wallet" and somewhere in this effort, concluded that ZEUS was too outdated to support the app. I think a prompt from the Play Store confirmed this, but I'm still not sure. Isn't ZEUS just a variation of Gingerbread, anyway? So, since I'm rooted with a custom ROM, am I ineligible from purchasing in the Market?
4*) APPS: Do you guys even "buy" apps? I'm vaguely familiar with the idea of "cracked apps" but have no idea how to safely procure any.
5) Generally, should I just flash to a newer ROM? ZEUS has worked pretty well, but the above issues (the most pressing being 1 and 4) have made me rethink ZEUS. That was months ago, is it now outdated? Any good ICS ROMS (unported, because I don't like dealing with the bugs that inevitably follow ported ROMS) available?
Any help would be a appreciated, I'm sorry this was such a long post and I did scour the forums as best I could before posting this thread.
Thanks a lot!
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Click to collapse
1) Don't know about that. It's never been an issue for me. In general you'll find the settings for that type of stuff by opening the settings in the keyboard. But in general I think most people add words one at a time as it is necessary... I don't know if you can access the whole dictionary in an easy way, and even if you could... why?
2) Swype is an app. You don't have it, you can't use it. I would just reinstall.
3) ??? No. You shouldn't have any issues like this. Never happened to me; can't think of a reason why. Maybe problem with data connection? Maybe you should install a different ROM and start from scratch.
4) You'll get in trouble for even mentioning that, probably. Buy your apps, support the devs, period.
5) Yes, IMHO. ZEUS has been surpassed (again, IMHO.) I would run AEON or Vagabond for GB... both stable, great pieces of work. ICS still has room to grow and progress to be made, I think. There are some great choices there, and exciting features too. ParanoidAndroid, RemICS, jblparisi's... great stuff, (also none of it would be possible without jt1134 and Entropy) but I always end up going back to GB for the time being because of speed and stability.
Flash a new ROM, I would suggest. If your problems persist... search xda or ask.
But to me it sounds like your ROM just isn't working for you and you need something a little different...
dht2005 said:
1) Don't know about that. It's never been an issue for me. In general you'll find the settings for that type of stuff by opening the settings in the keyboard. But in general I think most people add words one at a time as it is necessary... I don't know if you can access the whole dictionary in an easy way, and even if you could... why?
2) Swype is an app. You don't have it, you can't use it. I would just reinstall.
3) ??? No. You shouldn't have any issues like this. Never happened to me; can't think of a reason why. Maybe problem with data connection? Maybe you should install a different ROM and start from scratch.
4) You'll get in trouble for even mentioning that, probably. Buy your apps, support the devs, period.
5) Yes, IMHO. ZEUS has been surpassed (again, IMHO.) I would run AEON or Vagabond for GB... both stable, great pieces of work. ICS still has room to grow and progress to be made, I think. There are some great choices there, and exciting features too. ParanoidAndroid, RemICS, jblparisi's... great stuff, (also none of it would be possible without jt1134 and Entropy) but I always end up going back to GB for the time being because of speed and stability.
Flash a new ROM, I would suggest. If your problems persist... search xda or ask.
But to me it sounds like your ROM just isn't working for you and you need something a little different...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you SO MUCH for that comprehensive and helpfully speedy reply! Definitely will flash one of the newer ROMs you mentioned after I do some reading up. That, I think, will resolve most of these issues
In regards to why you would access the inputted text dictionary: to add/edit/delete words that appear as suggestions for autocorrect. I have several recurring words that are either in caps lock or misspelled ("you" becomes "yoy" way too often because I accidentally saved it one day). With the stock ROM and most others, accessing the setting is pretty straightforward. Settings/Language and Input/Dictionary or something like that.
In any case, I'll just flash something else, it's time for a change. Thanks again!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda app-developers app
SO! I've escaped the blue bubble cult! And even though I really enjoyed jailbreak tweaks (what are even the equivalent of tweaks on android? lol) and theming on IOS, I don't really even know where to begin looking for info on doing similar things with android, and more specifically my oneplus 6, I'm excited but it's all a bit overwhelming. Any help? Any recommendations on where to begin?
Spectr7615 said:
SO! I've escaped the blue bubble cult! And even though I really enjoyed jailbreak tweaks (what are even the equivalent of tweaks on android? lol) and theming on IOS, I don't really even know where to begin looking for info on doing similar things with android, and more specifically my oneplus 6, I'm excited but it's all a bit overwhelming. Any help? Any recommendations on where to begin?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, the first step for you is to figure out what exactly you want to do. Jumping headfirst to things on this OnePlus 6 without a gameplan sounds like a recipe for hard brick.
tabletalker7 said:
Honestly, the first step for you is to figure out what exactly you want to do. Jumping headfirst to things on this OnePlus 6 without a gameplan sounds like a recipe for hard brick.
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Click to collapse
I'd just like to manipulate the UI, similar to some of the tweaks on IOS. I haven't used the phone enough to want to change much of its core functionality yet... So mostly surface level things for now. I also figure that would be a good place to start in terms of difficulty and knowledge as well.
Spectr7615 said:
I'd just like to manipulate the UI, similar to some of the tweaks on IOS. I haven't used the phone enough to want to change much of its core functionality yet... So mostly surface level things for now. I also figure that would be a good place to start in terms of difficulty and knowledge as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tweaking the UI is seriously as simple as going to the google play store and downloading a launcher. No need to do anything drastic yet buddy. If I may, I would recommend "Nova Launcher". The free version on the play store will give you plenty of options to change your UI and I have been using it for years on several different phones. Forgive me but I know nothing about IOS - a closed source operating system on an item I payed money and purchased to use for my own desires seems silly to me.
tabletalker7 said:
Tweaking the UI is seriously as simple as going to the google play store and downloading a launcher. No need to do anything drastic yet buddy. If I may, I would recommend "Nova Launcher". The free version on the play store will give you plenty of options to change your UI and I have been using it for years on several different phones. Forgive me but I know nothing about IOS - a closed source operating system on an item I payed money and purchased to use for my own desires seems silly to me.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, it's one of many reasons I left after years. They made it increasingly more difficult to even sustain a jailbreak, on a device I overpaid for.. but I digress lol. Thanks for that tip, I remember using nova launcher years ago on one of my old galaxy phones, so I'll start there.
Spectr7615 said:
Yeah, it's one of many reasons I left after years. They made it increasingly more difficult to even sustain a jailbreak, on a device I overpaid for.. but I digress lol. Thanks for that tip, I remember using nova launcher years ago on one of my old galaxy phones, so I'll start there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I will happily walk you through the whole unlock bootloader, install TWRP, and obtain root access process for this phone, if you have been away from android for a long time you will find it much more difficult than it was on your old galaxy phone, so why go there with no real reason behind it.
tabletalker7 said:
While I will happily walk you through the whole unlock bootloader, install TWRP, and obtain root access process for this phone, if you have been away from android for a long time you will find it much more difficult than it was on your old galaxy phone, so why go there with no real reason behind it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just decided to pretty much go through my jailbroken phone and see just what I'd like to carry from that setup over into my oneplus 6. Fortunately, most of system tweaks I had made on my iphone are baked into android already, so it's really coming down to theming as I look at it deeper. However some tweaks I used to use might require (please correct me if I'm wrong). For example, I used a tweak on my iphone that allowed me to create gestures. Plugging in headphones would open my music app, double pressing the power button turned on my flashlight, it was highly customizable, things like that.
Honestly if you are rocking OP6 just root with magisk, grab TWRP and that's it. Then explore your magisk module options, add adaway for systemwide ad blocker, download magisk youtube vanced that blocks ads and let you download directly , what else.... Substratum for theming ....
As others are getting at, take it one step at a time. Android gives you more flexibility than your old phone did, so you'll enjoy that. Rooting will give you further options.. I agree with the poster who said to try launchers. You can change the look of your phone in pretty dramatic ways with them. Different ones have different benefits. I use Action Launcher most of the time. There are lots of them and they can change the look and feel of your phone a lot without doing anything permanent or potentially damaging to your device. Change launchers and whatever you did with the last one is no longer visible. Go back to the stock Oxygen one at any time if you like.
If you like gestures, Oxygen gives you some. Other launchers, including the aforementioned Nova and Action do, too, albeit not necessarily the exact same ones. GMD Gestures takes it much further, but that requires root. It used to be one of the first things I installed on my phones and tablets. Navigation Gestures uses a different approach, more limited, but it doesn't require root.
Rooting requires unlocking your phone and flashing Magisk. This is not hard to do, but you need to connect your phone to your computer and use a command line to enable some of it. The procedure is simple enough, but if you haven't done it, it might seem daunting at first. But you've jailbroken, so you will probably be fine with all this. There are pitfalls with each device, which you can read about at length here in this phone's part of XDA.
Read up, take your time, and if you do root, make sure to read the guides carefully and do all the steps. Missing things or doing them out of order can cost you sometimes.
youre in for a surprise, enjoy the ride
I'm going to echo what some others have said and suggest you take it slow. I was jailbreaking from the 3G days so I know what you're thinking about doing. My wife still has an iPhone, and trust me, there are great many things you can do in terms of tweaks and theming without ever thinking about rooting. I'm a Nova Launcher loyalist as well, but there are dozens of great launchers out there. Try a bunch out, play around with themes, wallpapers, and icons to get a look you like, then start thinking about rooting.
Unlocking and rooting OP phones is much more straightforward than any other Android phones besides Pixels, so when you're ready to start, it's not that challenging. However – especially if you're coming from Samsung – forget everything you think you know and start reading the guides posted here. There is unfortunately a fair amount of bad and less-than-ideal information floating around about this phone. I'd recommend starting with these:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-6/how-to/guide-noobs-guide-to-b-partitions-op6-t3816123
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-6/how-to/guide-how-to-install-official-twrp-t3801558
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-6/how-to/oneplus-6-unlock-bootloader-flash-twrp-t3792643 [note that some of the info in this thread is obsolete/incorrect, so refer to the two above in any conflicts, but it's good for the very basics]
There are pre-rooted boot images you can use to gain root without getting custom recovery like twrp. But you will need to unlock your bootloader first. Like everyone else said, Android is much more flexible compared to iOS when it comes to customization.
The main reason why I rooted in the first place was to get Adaway which removes ads from your phone. Also YouTube Vanced like someone mentioned which removes ads from youtube videos.
Systemless root like Magisk which does not touch systemfiles is the way to go if you are gonna root your phone in the future.
It is very, very easy to brick your phone if you are not careful. Read the guides here on xda, check what OxygenOS version you are have and so on. Do not try to flash a older version, that will brick your phone.
A small tweak you can try right now is to first enable developer options by tapping your Build number under About phone in settings. From there, scroll down til you see something about animation (should be under Drawing). Set the three settings to either off or 0.5. That should speed things up.
Maybe you should NOT root your device and stick with stock save us all some headaches.
I come from an Jailbroken iPhone as well. I can do pretty much everything I could on my iPhone except see the amount of battery cycles and current wear.
Xposed has more modules than you'll know what to do with.
Combine that with all the customizations you can do without root like launchers, full UI and app theming with substratum, custom ROMs, magisk modules, TWRP flashable zips for some mods, etc.
There's SO much stuff you can tweak
Xposed has more modules than you'll know what to do with.
Combine that with all the customizations you can do without root like launchers, full UI and app theming with substratum, custom ROMs, magisk modules, TWRP flashable zips for some mods, etc.
There's SO much stuff you can tweak
Cydia -> Magisk and optionally Xposed
Winterboard -> Substratum
Hats off to everyone on this forum. It's been awhile since I been on here and I am happy to see it still going strong.
I am new to the S8+ and new to modding in 2019. I haven't messed around with this stuff since the "getting the evo to work on boost" days. I am looking for some advise/recommendations on what to choose as far as roms, etc., from the gate from someone who may have had an experience in what I'm trying to achieve rather than going through hundreds of rom post to find the answer I'm looking for. I stepped away from "smart" phones for awhile and came back only when I found out I could lock them down as much as possible using programs like bk disabler (rip). Even root at the time didn't list the "apps in the background" (if you know what I mean) for me to edit or disable them.
I am looking to root (if needed anymore) my device and install an ultra slim/lite rom, no extra apps on it that don't need to be there, especially social media apps. Not sure if roms still come with a separate gaps install option but not having them is fine as well as I will not be signing into any account on my phone and will only want to use youtube as far as the only goog service used, so i wont be able to use any of them anyway besides tube (unless of course there is now a way to use maps and such without signing in?). If theres such a rom out there of course it would need to be stable. I do not want android 9 as none of the apps I actually use (like bk disabler/acr/etc) work with pie from what I have read. Goog wants all the tracking to themselves now I guess, hence why I am looking for a rom that is as slim as possible. I just want to make calls, text, browse the web and use the tube without having all kinds of accounts and sign ups for any of it. I am really tired of big tech but going back to a black and white nokia in 2019 is not an option anymore.
So a few questions I have would be.. Whats the best root process? I see Odin is still a thing so which version should I be using, also which kernel should I be using? Are different roms still based off different kernels, if so which is better? And lastly what rom should I choose or which rom creator is now the person to look out for?
I know I'm oldshool at this point so please bare with me on these questions. Any help in pointing me in the right direction would be very much appreciated. Thanks!