Man, I'm so frustrated.
On other forums some people have mistakenly thought I'm against flashing custom ROMs. I'm not. I'd flash a custom ROM in a heartbeat. In fact, the reason I hang out here is I'm watching for "That ROM". I'm just not comfortable with the state of things on the Captivate. Here's the deal... it seems every single ROM is a compromise. I'm not talking about differences in themes, or what apps are included, etc... I'm talking basic functionality. Sometimes it's little things, sometimes it's big things... but always, you need to give stuff up. And I'll get the response, "yeah well stock is buggy too, so what's your point?". You know... sometimes the little things count. The details add to the experience. Maybe we want all the little things to actually work. Maybe you don't care about bluetooth, but I do. Etc.
Bluetooth. Haptic feedback. Battery life. Cell reception. GPS. Stability. Performance. Voice quality/Audience support. Pick the 3 you don't care about and are willing to give up.
Frustrating.
And a lot of it seems to come down to these "modem" files. Dozens floating about... everyone has their favorite like they have a favorite color. And they themselves come with compromises... use one, and A B and C work but X Y and Z don't. Use another, and it's the other way around... or maybe there's D E and F now. What works for one person doesn't work for another... and yet these are the same model phones. Oh, but wait... now it's passe to say "every phone is different". Like they are? They're the same hardware. But now we just accept for some reason that every Captivate is some random assembly of different chips and so using a ROM is an assumed matter of modem-roulette and deciding what features you want and what ones you're willing to sacrifice.
Why is this "ok"?
It's important to mention at this point that this is absolutely nothing against the hard-working developers here. I don't doubt for a moment that they are doing their absolute best with what they have available to them. It's not that, it's the culture... the community... the mindset. Are we being hypocrites? I mean, if we're just accepting now that every Captivate is unique hardware and no one ROM/modem will work ideal on all of them, why do we hold Samsung to a higher-standard like they themselves could ever produce an official and universal 2.2 firmware for the Captivate where everything actually works for everyone?
Something's not right here. I don't doubt that people get different results with different files... but these are different environments, and the testing not done consistently or scientifically. I don't think it's appropriate to act like the differences come from varying hardware when it's far more-likely that it's differences in other more-random things. Some people are in a primarily 1900 MHz area, some primarily in an 850MHz area. GPS is also environment-specific and someone with a modem that offers below-average GPS performance might report that the GPS is "amazing" simply because they're in an ideal spot. The hardware is the least likely aspect to vary. Surely there must be a solution... a better answer... a potential for a modem that actually works amazing for everyone. Where all bands are supported, GPS works amazing, Audience chip is supported, etc etc.
I just felt the need to vent. I'm not sure what the solution here is... I just feel we've gotten to casual just "accepting" a situation as something it's not, and shouldn't be. One shouldn't have to play modem-lotto just to get basic decent performance from their ROM, or decide what basic features they're willing to sacrifice. I know this is a huge discouragement for me, and why I'm still on stock. I want to flash so badly... but every ROM thread I read through I eventually hit at least one (if not several) deal-breakers, and the casual acceptance of them is just frustrating.
Anyone feel the same way? Thoughts?
I think your over analyizing.....im a flash junkie and I've flashed everything on the forums....I don't use my phone for business so almost every rom I use has everything I need functional...haptic feedback is not a reason for me not to use a rom but camera is.....along with flashing roms I mix matched different kernels and modems.....its all preference.....with the modem situation I just flash one and test it out until I have an issue then move onto the next...I thought jk4 was the best for me until I decided to try jk3. I've noticed I get reception in areas where I didn't with jk4....so ill test this one out for awhile....you can't sit and read until u read that u found the best......u just have to test it out for yourself...it sucks but that's what u get. I feel things wont get better for us until we get our official froyo release by att. Well have our noise cancellation chip working as well as a modem built for att usa. I had better cell service with captivate roms n modems then I do with i9000 ones but the i9000 roms are leagues ahead of any captivate ones
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Did you try Serendipity? It seems to do quite well on every item in your list.
I have not flashed for mostly the same reasons as you. It seems that every combination has different things that work and things that do not work. I want every function of my phone to work properly. That includes hardware noise cancellation and proper bluetooth support, which seem to be a major issue on i9000 ROMs/kernels/modems. My biggest issue with Captivate ROMs/kernels/modems is the apparent lack of support for bluetooth voice dialing. Now it is a fair argument that bluetooth voice dialing does not work on the AT&T 2.1 ROM, but it is not a supported feature of 2.1. It is a supported features of 2.2, so why shouldn't I (we) expect it to work? If a feature that is supposed to work in 2.2 does not work, that doesn't give me the best feeling about flashing the ROM.
I came over from the Windows Mobile side and I flashed custom ROMs on my Fuze without thinking twice, but there were never core or standard features of the phone or OS missing in the ROMs I flashed. I had bluetooth + voice dialing, good battery life, good cell reception, good working GPS, extremely good stability, great performance (for the hardware), and good voice quality with working noise cancellation in all the ROMs I ran.
I think that overall the devs here are doing a good job, and I think things will improve after the release of 2.2 sources for the captivate, but it seems that right now, there is a compromise involved in any of the custom ROMs.
I can accept the fact that the current ROMs don't meet my expectations, but when people say, "just start flashing" to people like myself who have higher expectations, it gets a little old. The attitude that only people willing to accept these compromises should be reading/contributing to the xda-developers forum is also annoying. I think it is great that there are people working on custom ROMs and there are people willing to run them with the compromises they have to make, but that does not mean that everyone should just be willing to make those compromises and if they are not willing they should not post.
I have made very few posts in the Captivate forum, I guess it could be said that I have been lurking and reading up on each new custom ROM as it comes out, waiting for one that seems to meet my expectations. I have not been vocal, or complained about the fact that we need to make compromises. But others that ask questions about whether certain things work, seem to get flamed and told to just accept the way things currently are, or they are completely ignored. If the devs don't want to answer questions such as, "does bluetooth voice dialing work," or "how is bluetooth voice quality in this ROM," then they should put this type of information directly in the first couple of posts. The newest Cognition ROM thread has this type of information and I greatly appreciate that DG included it. For most ROMs you can't find out if certain items work properly without reading the first 10-20 pages of posts.
Maybe the main issue for people like me (with higher expectations from my phone) is that good information about what works and what does not work often does not float to the top of the ROM dev threads. I started using xdandroid on my Fuze as my first introduction to Android and each phone that it ran on had a thread and on the first page was a listing of each major functional piece (sound, camera, bluetooth, etc) and whether or not it was working yet. Each developer can do as they choose, but if the status of functional items and known bugs was listed in the first page, it would save on questions and some of the less than helpful responses that the questions cause.
People also have to remember that only a leaked/unfinished Captivate 2.2 ROM has been made available as a base for some ROMs so there's no other choice for a complete Froyo ROM without resorting to i9000 ROMs. Expecting things to work from a unfinished leak is a bit different from having high standards.
GPS is also broken for some people whether they're on a stock ROM or not to begin with, devs can't magically make it work for everyone.
Cell reception is not 100% determined by a ROM, if I flash the "most amazing bestestst rom ever" and live in a remote forest with lead leaves, reception might just suck a little because it mainly depends on location.
No phone is the same believe it or not, maybe unless it's an iPhone. If you want something that works as it should perfectly, you probably shouldn't be flashing ROMs, because they are essentially in infinite beta until a dev doesn't want to work on it anymore. Either stick to the stock ROM, get an Aria or some other unlocked phone, or even an iPhone since that's probably most stable thing out there right now.
The ROM threads grow dozens of pages every hour, and posts will always get overlooked whether they are important or not. It still amazes me that people get confused when they start seeing an H instead of 3G. This is a development community and has several thousands and thousands of users at any given time. It is busy.
tysj said:
People also have to remember that only a leaked/unfinished Captivate 2.2 ROM has been made available as a base for some ROMs so there's no other choice for a complete Froyo ROM without resorting to i9000 ROMs. Expecting things to work from a unfinished leak is a bit different from having high standards.
GPS is also broken for some people whether they're on a stock ROM or not to begin with, devs can't magically make it work for everyone.
Cell reception is not 100% determined by a ROM, if I flash the "most amazing bestestst rom ever" and live in a remote forest with lead leaves, reception might just suck a little because it mainly depends on location.
No phone is the same believe it or not, maybe unless it's an iPhone. If you want something that works as it should perfectly, you probably shouldn't be flashing ROMs, because they are essentially in infinite beta until a dev doesn't want to work on it anymore. Either stick to the stock ROM, get an Aria or some other unlocked phone, or even an iPhone since that's probably most stable thing out there right now.
The ROM threads grow dozens of pages every hour, and posts will always get overlooked whether they are important or not. It still amazes me that people get confused when they start seeing an H instead of 3G. This is a development community and has several thousands and thousands of users at any given time. It is busy.
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For the American SGS phones, I was not trying to suggest that the developers can "fix" the GPS (though it is worth noting that Da_G has made some good progress http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881941).
I don't completely disagree with many of your points, which is why I am still running the stock ROM. If I had two phones, I would be willing to beta test unfinished software and ROMs, but since I only have 1 phone that I expect to work (or more accurately, my company who pays for it expects it to work) I have not flashed any of the current firmwares that are available.
I think cell reception has a lot more to do with the Radio/Modem than the ROM. If you have a working modem and that modem functions with the ROM, then it should give you the same reception. I think one of the main points the OP was making was that there is no apparent consistency, and some modems work with some ROMs, and not with others. It does not even seem to be accurate to say that any i9000 modem will work with any i9000 ROM, as some combinations cause poor voice quality or other issues.
I do disagree with your statement that "no phone is the same." Any Captivate in the same batch/build should have identical hardware and should function identically (assuming Samsung has good quality controls in place). There is the potential for slight differences between batches, but I can't believe that any of those differences is significant enough to cause software running on the phones to behave differently. If that is the case, there is no way that Samsung can release a working Froyo build, or even a working Eclair build that would function as intended on every captivate. If Samsung was unable to produce identical products consistently, they would be out of business because none of their products would function as intended consistently.
As far as "expecting things to work from a unfinished leak is a bit different from having high standards," I don't think it is unreasonable for better visibility to what works and what does not work in the first page of a ROM thread. I am not saying that I expect everything to work 100% on all ROMs, especially without 2.2 sources, and I am not saying I expect the devs to be able to test every possible things, but I don't think it is unreasonable to hope that as bugs or problems or ROM/Kernel/Modem combinations that do not work are discovered, that information could be made more accessible without reading 100 pages of a ROM thread.
Hopefully most of this is just growing pains as Android is evolving and as we wait for 2.2 sources for the Captivate. For Windows Mobile, much of the OS and functionality of the OS was pretty much set between ROMs. The biggest differences were in the frameworks (Sense vs. Non-Sense, etc) and theming of the ROMs. That is why I have said in the past that if we could get a solid, working AOSP ROM with all drivers, etc for the SGS, it would give a good base for additional ROM development.
Related
I have been using this build for quite a while now and decided to write a review of the ROM. Please keep in mind I am not a developer !!! I am simply writing this from a user standpoint and cannot nor will not support your problems. This is a review based on my opinions and usage of the ROM.
Pros:
I do like the UI. It is fairly stable and I haven't had much trouble out of it for the most part. The combination of ADW Launcher and the Cyanogen settings are great. The speed of the ROM is pretty good for a ported ROM based on GingerBread. I can't complain much about that. General things that I like are the advanced menus for customizing the dock and theme settings. The themed settings change icons for contacts, mail, messaging, phone, browser,calendar, and videos ( I may have missed some). The cyanogen settings cover an array of things that you can poke at but in my opinion should be included with stock builds as well. Overall if you were wanting to use this on a daily basis I think you would be ok to go ahead and install this ROM... NOTE: Don't hold me responsible if you brick your phone trying. It isn't one of the easiest roms I've
ever installed. The sleep policy has been fixed so that the phone doesn't reboot on unlock...which on my first flash hadn't been fixed and really really turned me off from this ROM.
Cons: I have yet to figure out why this is (again not a dev) but your microSD card will not mount when connected to the pc. I'm sure they are working on this but I haven't downloaded an update or nightly (which is current at the time of this post btw) that has fixed it. I do have some random picky things that I can't get an answer to, and good luck if you do...feel free to send them to me also. Some of my .mp3 ringtones will not work period. Different ones of even larger file size work... I'm not sure how that works out. Text messaging (native) doesn't work for incoming or outgoing... But I will say that I was having issues with that before so I can't blame that on this ROM. There are a few apps that won't work with this build easy uninstaller is one, I just get a fc. Battery is another issue that may be addressed with future releases. I don't run GPS (so don't ask if it's accurate) but keep wifi on all the time. I get probably about 8 hours with wifi on all the time. Not the best but definitely not the worst. You also cannot charge the phone while it is off... really not sure why, and the extended power menu doesn't work. And for the most part is an in depth install procedure... Back to stock with odin, flash two kernals, then a couple of files... Pretty lengthy and you have to be precise or else it bricks. Here it is if your interested... Thanks to MobileTechVideos for the instructions and video.
How to install CyanogenMod7
Other than that I have had virtually no problems (that I consider major) with this ROM and do like it and will probably continue to use it. If you have any general questions please feel free to ask. Again, again... I am not a dev so questions of that nature should be posted here: CyanogenMod7
I tried it and liked what works but it is still alpha quality and so i will wait for a few weeks until i give it another shot.
surfed.tk said:
I tried it and liked what works but it is still alpha quality and so i will wait for a few weeks until i give it another shot.
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I agree, it is definitely still a beta build and as noted by Cyanogen... hasn't been put into the stable build section of their forums. I do look forward to a stable build. Perhaps the Dev's can address some of the weird issues that I mentioned above.
i also was not able to send multi media mms never would go through i tried for 20 mins to receive and send ,
this rom is great but here is why it sucks, i watch the cyanogen nightlies for the galaxy s phones, and with the types of updates im seeing on the cappy versus lets say the vibrant , there is no ****ing hope and this rom is dead.
the last update fixed an install file wtf. so at this rate cyanogen will be rc in o id say next year. ill have a new phone by then. my money is on miui
NightFalcon27 said:
I agree, it is definitely still a beta build and as noted by Cyanogen... hasn't been put into the stable build section of their forums. I do look forward to a stable build. Perhaps the Dev's can address some of the weird issues that I mentioned above.
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Well you completely forgot to mention that, currently it cannot handle lots of video format, most importantly mkv and even if you find something like Rock Player, there's a lot of lag in it. You cannot charge the phone while its off (because it'll turn on as soon as you plug the charger in). Also, you might encounter a totally new problem which you may not have an idea about. If captivate is your spare phone then play with it else stay away for a while until a RC is released.
This is just my opinion from 3 days of experience on CM7.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
It was a total flop for me :/
It ran well when I first installed it, but started running "funny" (random crashing) after I installed gapps, then totally started crapping out after the 3/16 update.
I ended up ditching it for a 2.2 rom, mostly because I didn't feel I was gaining anything substantive and losing things I regularly use, like a feature rich camera app and divx playback support.
Been running for 3 days. 0 problems.
I've ran into a few bugs. External SD, booting when usb plugged in. Only charging to 95% (apparently a feature not a bug). At one point my signal shot down to searching, then it recovered and grabbed a signal. Not sure what caused that, but it was random.
I also cannot get it to mount to my PC. Kind of annoying, but if I need to transfer anything I just use dropbox.
I like it, and I think I'll keep with it. Even though it isn't 100%, I love gingerbread, and it's working for me.
krips2003 said:
Well you completely forgot to mention that, currently it cannot handle lots of video format, most importantly mkv and even if you find something like Rock Player, there's a lot of lag in it. You cannot charge the phone while its off (because it'll turn on as soon as you plug the charger in). Also, you might encounter a totally new problem which you may not have an idea about. If captivate is your spare phone then play with it else stay away for a while until a RC is released.
This is just my opinion from 3 days of experience on CM7.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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I did forget that you cannot charge the phone while off and now that you mention it the extended power menu doesn't work either. It is fairly aggravating that Cyanogen updates the vibrant with "real" fixes other than this fixing little things but... All in all, it is still usable, just not stable or reliable.
Every time I try and warn someone that CM7 is not yet ready for primetime I get bashed for it, yet there seem to be plenty of people echoing my comments. Like I said in another thread, the people that are saying CM7 is stable and works great are either not using their device to its full potential or are willing to live without certain features. There is really no compelling reason to live with a ROM that has this many bugs or deficiencies when you consider how many really good ROMs there are available for our Cappys that have few, if any, issues. Yeah, they may not have Gingerbready theming or cutesy animations, but they just work. Andromeda 1.2 is one that comes to mind.
I am on it from I think last friday...Not a single problem...atleast how i use it...of course except battery life...which I am trying to solve...
Rock player worked well for me...I watched couple of movies when I was on road....never lagged just stopped couple of times....
great GPS...instant locks...i am amazed...But I also tried MIUI...and it is very very fast...and something different which I never experienced before...I think people should give it a try...ofcourse it has bugs too as it based on CM7...but they fixed camera bug and little stuff.....
Miami_Son said:
Every time I try and warn someone that CM7 is not yet ready for primetime I get bashed for it, yet there seem to be plenty of people echoing my comments. Like I said in another thread, the people that are saying CM7 is stable and works great are either not using their device to its full potential or are willing to live without certain features. There is really no compelling reason to live with a ROM that has this many bugs or deficiencies when you consider how many really good ROMs there are available for our Cappys that have few, if any, issues. Yeah, they may not have Gingerbready theming or cutesy animations, but they just work. Andromeda 1.2 is one that comes to mind.
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I am by no means saying that it is ready for the masses... The only one that I would suggest without a second thought to someone who isn't willing to deal with at least some problems is Cognition Series by DesignGears. To my knowledge (and opinion) this is the absolute best rom for the captivate. IF ... Cyanogen gets to the point of a Cognition rom in function and use, then I might suggest it for the masses but not until then.
Miami_Son said:
Every time I try and warn someone that CM7 is not yet ready for primetime I get bashed for it, yet there seem to be plenty of people echoing my comments. Like I said in another thread, the people that are saying CM7 is stable and works great are either not using their device to its full potential or are willing to live without certain features. There is really no compelling reason to live with a ROM that has this many bugs or deficiencies when you consider how many really good ROMs there are available for our Cappys that have few, if any, issues. Yeah, they may not have Gingerbready theming or cutesy animations, but they just work. Andromeda 1.2 is one that comes to mind.
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Your right in regard to it not being ready for most users (many are already praising the miui 2.3.3 also which is even less stable.....not saying it isn't promising). I think it breaks into 2 camps.
1. If you are a power user that wants all aspects of your device to function as intended...not for you. More specifically, If you use an external SD especially if your moving files to and from mounted to a PC....this is not the rom for you (this is my biggest gripe at this point). If you do lots of video in different formats...not for you as you will face compatibility issues. If you have to ask how your flash back to stock....this is probably not for you. If you value battery life as a top priority...not yet for you. Most of the other deficiencies or shortcomings had adequate work arounds but you until the major issues are resolved you will quickly find yourself flashing back to Phoenix, Firefly, Serendipity, Andromeda, etc.)
2. If you don't use and external SD and/or do much media vid/music then i can see why many view this as "stable" for their purposes. The UI, menus, and animations are smooth/fast and i never really had any issues with force closes while using it. Maybe its better linguistically to say its incomplete rather than refer to is as unstable and sorry if it offends the early adopters but if you are using it as your daily driver its pretty obvious you are using an inferior rom @ this point.
NightFalcon27 said:
I am by no means saying that it is ready for the masses... The only one that I would suggest without a second thought to someone who isn't willing to deal with at least some problems is Cognition Series by DesignGears. To my knowledge (and opinion) this is the absolute best rom for the captivate. IF ... Cyanogen gets to the point of a Cognition rom in function and use, then I might suggest it for the masses but not until then.
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i would easily put a handful of roms on par with cognition:
Firefly, Supernova, Phoenix, Serendipity, Andromeda.
bames said:
Your right in regard to it not being ready for most users (many are already praising the miui 2.3.3 also which is even less stable.....not saying it isn't promising). I think it breaks into 2 camps.
1. If you are a power user that wants all aspects of your device to function as intended...not for you. More specifically, If you use an external SD especially if your moving files to and from mounted to a PC....this is not the rom for you (this is my biggest gripe at this point). If you do lots of video in different formats...not for you as you will face compatibility issues. If you have to ask how your flash back to stock....this is probably not for you. If you value battery life as a top priority...not yet for you. Most of the other deficiencies or shortcomings had adequate work arounds but you until the major issues are resolved you will quickly find yourself flashing back to Phoenix, Firefly, Serendipity, Andromeda, etc.)
2. If you don't use and external SD and/or do much media vid/music then i can see why many view this as "stable" for their purposes. The UI, menus, and animations are smooth/fast and i never really had any issues with force closes while using it. Maybe its better linguistically to say its incomplete rather than refer to is as unstable and sorry if it offends the early adopters but if you are using it as your daily driver its pretty obvious you are using an inferior rom @ this point.
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Excellent post.
Glad to see users sharing their experience on CM7. This is always good foe the community. I hope to see new users to read this thread prior to making any decision whether to flash CM7 2.3.3 or not.
On another note, I'm sure once Samsung do final release of Gingerbread 2.3.3 for i9000 series (last I heard that an early beta was released), we cappyites will see stable release.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Regarding the phone turning on when charging, I believe it's a gingerbread "feature". It's been said that it is working as intended. Also, the iphone does the same thing so I don't really see it as an issue. It's probably google seeing behavior they like and implementing it.
You can not mount the external sd but you can transfer to your internal then on the phone transfer to external, so I am not certain it Is fair to say you can not use your external sd. Video is an issue, and battery is as well.
At this point in time it is a trade off, there are several things cm7 can't do well or can not do at all. there are also several things it does much better than any 2.2 rom or are not available on 2.2 roms.
Its all preference and priorities. Kinda like any best rom discussion.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App
Miami_Son said:
Every time I try and warn someone that CM7 is not yet ready for primetime I get bashed for it, yet there seem to be plenty of people echoing my comments. Like I said in another thread, the people that are saying CM7 is stable and works great are either not using their device to its full potential or are willing to live without certain features. There is really no compelling reason to live with a ROM that has this many bugs or deficiencies when you consider how many really good ROMs there are available for our Cappys that have few, if any, issues. Yeah, they may not have Gingerbready theming or cutesy animations, but they just work. Andromeda 1.2 is one that comes to mind.
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Largely it its because you have never used it, and have only tried one rom. That and you are compelled to jump on any thread that mentions it as if it is a personal mission. It its not as if you do not make some valid points, but it is not hard to see why it may rub some the wrong way after a while.
This is not an attempt to start something, but your comments make it seem like there is no warrant to people who go back at you.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App
mcord11758 said:
Largely it its because you have never used it, and have only tried one rom. That and you are compelled to jump on any thread that mentions it as if it is a personal mission. It its not as if you do not make some valid points, but it is not hard to see why it may rub some the wrong way after a while.
This is not an attempt to start something, but your comments make it seem like there is no warrant to people who go back at you.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App
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Agreed... I was not trying to start a thread to bash any rom. However I do know that there are some hard feelings that are out based on certain features that work or don't and peoples impressions about the ROM itself. I also know that there is quite a bit of loyalty to certain ROM creators that no matter what they aren't going to be going to a new ROM simply because they are loyal to that dev... which is fine! I simply wanted to create an avenue for people who have used the ROM to pass along information and opinions on the ROM to people who are thinking about switching to it. People are entitled to their opinions and I am all for that... Just don't bash any of the devs or their work, it is not easy putting this stuff together and I for one am happy that I have a place I can go to that allows me to get away from stock. I hope that all will realize that
mcord11758 said:
Largely it its because you have never used it, and have only tried one rom. That and you are compelled to jump on any thread that mentions it as if it is a personal mission. It its not as if you do not make some valid points, but it is not hard to see why it may rub some the wrong way after a while.
This is not an attempt to start something, but your comments make it seem like there is no warrant to people who go back at you.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App
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Miami_Son said:
Excellent post.
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The terminology might be better as incomplete instead of unstable. great post.
Folks... double-edged sword here. The CEO of my company wants a phone with a big screen, and came to me for input. He's not interested in an iPhone (not sure why, but I didn't press the matter), and is open to Android. I've been using a Captivate for 9 months and have played around with tons of ROMs for that device, so I know the pitfalls with custom ROMs.
My question for you all is this: if you had to recommend a ROM for the Infuse, what would it be (including stock ATT&T)? He's pretty much the typical CEO, with the added bonus of being fairly approachable and willing to try new things. But I CANNOT piss him off. He's the CEO, after all.
Thanks!
I'd look for something by GTG, Entropy or LinuxBozo in the development section. They all look good to me. Go with something like stock but with additional features. Noone needs CM7 on their first android.
AdamOutler said:
I'd look for something by GTG, Entropy or LinuxBozo in the development section. They all look good to me. Go with something like stock but with additional features. Noone needs CM7 on their first android.
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Thanks for the quick response. Have you any personal experience with any of them?
I'd suggest one of the initial Infused ROMs like 1.5.3. I know that's only going to be Froyo, but I think that would be more usable and stable for his uses than trying to go with one of the current Gingerbread builds. I doubt he's going to want to keep up with updates unless he's surprisingly tech savvy.
I'd go with infused 1.5.0 and personally still use 1.5.0 (no loopy, no slightly weird haptic feedback stuff that my phone got in 1.5.3)
+1 on infused 1.5.0. 1.5.3 does have a weird thing going on with haptic feedback. but loopy smoothness makes a difference, so maybe that could be added.
I also think the stable release of infused v2 is good. but if he hopes to use the hdmi mhl adapter then its a no-go. v2 is rogers based and they didn't get hdmi capabilities in canada for some odd reason. also the att rom and modem get better speeds, even after the "fix" I don't get quite the transfer rates that the att firmware offered but gingerbread seems to have much improved browsing performance so its not a big deal to me. other than that I can't think of any issues with it.
I'd say Infused 1.x. If he REALLY wants Gingerbread, Infused 2.x, but that's still a work in progress. Infused 2.x is my "daily driver" but it has some known issues. (I just don't care about said issues as they don't affect me - I'm still trying to help fix them if I can. Data speeds I can't work on as I live in the boonies, we've only had 3G for two years!)
There are no ROMs from Bozo and I - we're kernel hackers. (Exception: LB is working on a CM7 port but it is NOWHERE near ready).
Actually, any of the Froyo ROMs are very solid. There's only one Gingerbread ROM out now.
The nice thing about the Infuse is that our devs coordinate with each other. As a result, in terms of ROMs and Kernels, currently it's "quality not quantity". We don't have any "hey look I can deodex too!" ROMs. (at least not yet)
I'm loving Infused v2 and use the Bluetooth pairing daily in my car. Its been as stable, if not moreso, than stock. The browser also doesn't checkerboard like stock did - which is a big win if you're looking forward to browsing the web on this huge screen.
Entropy512 said:
I'd say Infused 1.x. If he REALLY wants Gingerbread, Infused 2.x, but that's still a work in progress. Infused 2.x is my "daily driver" but it has some known issues. (I just don't care about said issues as they don't affect me - I'm still trying to help fix them if I can. Data speeds I can't work on as I live in the boonies, we've only had 3G for two years!)
There are no ROMs from Bozo and I - we're kernel hackers. (Exception: LB is working on a CM7 port but it is NOWHERE near ready).
Actually, any of the Froyo ROMs are very solid. There's only one Gingerbread ROM out now.
The nice thing about the Infuse is that our devs coordinate with each other. As a result, in terms of ROMs and Kernels, currently it's "quality not quantity". We don't have any "hey look I can deodex too!" ROMs. (at least not yet)
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well there is that one guy working on CM7 (but you have to compile it yourself)
hwaters said:
well there is that one guy working on CM7 (but you have to compile it yourself)
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You quoted me, but you clearly didn't read what you quoted...
I thought discussion of "best" rom was forbidden on xda?
Entropy512 said:
You quoted me, but you clearly didn't read what you quoted...
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probably only skimmed it and saw "one" and "gingerbread rom" and mixed things the wrong way.
whoops.
Thanks for your input folks!
I really appreciate the input from everyone. Methinks I'll try Infused based on what you all have said. Here goes nuttin....
I know my post count is low... but I am a senior level dude w/ 10 years at my current company and am speaking from personal experience here (albeit from the iOS side). Unless your CEO is capable of flashing ROMs and troubleshooting issues on his own, my advice is to leave it bone stock. Show him some cool apps on the Market, point him to XDA, answer questions that he may have, hell maybe even suggest checking out the dev section and looking into aftermarket ROMs. But once you modify his phone, it now becomes your responsibility and CEOs work 24x7x365...
I guess I'm just really surprised that I'm the only one here who thinks this might be a bad idea, and maybe I'm just an old fart but I just wanted to provide some experience from the flip side of the coin. I assume you've already flashed - so good luck man!
Entropy512 said:
Data speeds I can't work on as I live in the boonies, we've only had 3G for two years!)
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We just got 3g about 8 months ago...
Also, no development occurs in a one Rom per niche town. That's not a good thing that there are no can deodex too Roms.
bahumut075 said:
I know my post count is low... but I am a senior level dude w/ 10 years at my current company and am speaking from personal experience here (albeit from the iOS side). Unless your CEO is capable of flashing ROMs and troubleshooting issues on his own, my advice is to leave it bone stock. Show him some cool apps on the Market, point him to XDA, answer questions that he may have, hell maybe even suggest checking out the dev section and looking into aftermarket ROMs. But once you modify his phone, it now becomes your responsibility and CEOs work 24x7x365...
I guess I'm just really surprised that I'm the only one here who thinks this might be a bad idea, and maybe I'm just an old fart but I just wanted to provide some experience from the flip side of the coin. I assume you've already flashed - so good luck man!
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agree.
If you or your boss can handle any issue that may arise,say,boot loops
If you both are noobs then stick with stock.
bahumut075 said:
I know my post count is low... but I am a senior level dude w/ 10 years at my current company and am speaking from personal experience here (albeit from the iOS side). Unless your CEO is capable of flashing ROMs and troubleshooting issues on his own, my advice is to leave it bone stock. Show him some cool apps on the Market, point him to XDA, answer questions that he may have, hell maybe even suggest checking out the dev section and looking into aftermarket ROMs. But once you modify his phone, it now becomes your responsibility and CEOs work 24x7x365...
I guess I'm just really surprised that I'm the only one here who thinks this might be a bad idea, and maybe I'm just an old fart but I just wanted to provide some experience from the flip side of the coin. I assume you've already flashed - so good luck man!
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I could not agree more. I am a Senior IT Support Engineer and my CEO is a gadget guy who has to have to the newest toys. I would NEVER load a custom ROM on one of his devices EVER as this would put me in a very bad position especially if his device suddenly started acting flakey. Keep it stock and show him some apps and he will be perfectly happy using the phone and if you are like me get him to buy you an Infuse and you can play around with yours and when you find a good stable platform then upgrade his device to that. I always get an identical device to the CEO because he wants me to be able to assist him with issues. I know everyone isn't as lucky as me but it can sometimes be a serious PIA as he will call me constantly with stupid questions.
Blackberrynomore said:
I could not agree more. I am a Senior IT Support Engineer and my CEO is a gadget guy who has to have to the newest toys. I would NEVER load a custom ROM on one of his devices EVER as this would put me in a very bad position especially if his device suddenly started acting flakey. Keep it stock and show him some apps and he will be perfectly happy using the phone and if you are like me get him to buy you an Infuse and you can play around with yours and when you find a good stable platform then upgrade his device to that. I always get an identical device to the CEO because he wants me to be able to assist him with issues. I know everyone isn't as lucky as me but it can sometimes be a serious PIA as he will call me constantly with stupid questions.
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+1 to Stock.
Unless he and you want to be tinkering all the time with each other.
Go for refuse 1.7. Good first ROM
Agreed on staying stock
Believe it or not, I was seriously considering staying stock anyway (for all the stated reasons), but wanted to get an idea of what some of the 'better' (a highly subjective term, I know) ROMs were based on people's opinions, as a means of comparison. Fortunately for me, he got called out of town so I now have a week to live with the device for awhile and learn it's idiosyncrasies and whatnot.
So, unless stock proves to suck, (which I doubt), I'll keep it that way.
Thanks all for your input.
Bought this phone soon after release, the phone and data plan seemed like a worthwhile effort to swap the carriers. Previously I owned HD2 (android-stock sense) on T-mobile. While the phone wasn't the perfect one, I'd still prefer HD2 over Triumph if it wasn't for carrier lock. The first problem was the touch screen, it's unresponsiveness to be exact. I was busy during the time so the 30 days flew in a moment and when I found the time to deal with phone, it was too late to return it. To my relief, the development started to pick up and I was hoping for improved ROM i could flash. Around this time I started to notice other problems; GPS, slow unlock and terrible sound capabilities to name few. While the Roms were a great achievement and I give big thanks to all the devs who have the time and patience for development, most of the problems didn't go away. In addition major bug with video driver was found. This phone isn't the worst out of bunch, and it's not unusable at all, just looking at other phones, considering how much I paid initially leaves wishing for a better device without such apparent bugs.
P.S. Since I'm stuck with this device which Rom would be better, Latest CM gingerbread or modded stock firmware?
CM7 Reloaded for sure. Check it out here
http://androidforums.com/triumph-all-things-root/470282-rom-cm7-tg-reloaded-latest-01-14-a.html
Choosing which rom is best depends on what you use and like... If you use hdmi out regularly then I would suggest a stock based rom, if you use wifi and bluetooth at the same time a lot, then a stock based or cm7-tg-reloaded, if you like easy custimizability with lots of options then I would suggest Miui... What I would do is just flash different roms and maybe use them for a day or so each and see what you like best... Also you can find more help and faster on android forums for the MT. I think a lot more people are more active over there than on XDA...
You know.. it's kind of crazy the captivate is as old as it is, and roms are still being produced (at a fairly large rate) for this device.
For some time now, it has become increasingly apparent XDA could use a slight overhaul or at least a new implementation for the end-users.
I would like to see a review system that allows you to browse by device, then shows you the android roms available based on which version you want to use. .....4.1, 4.0, 2.x......
From there, it could be broken down by most recent version vs. previous versions.
It could have different criteria for review such as battery life, lag problems, how "polished" it is, how well "featured" it is.
Maybe, even an optional set of code for any devs who want to include it which standardize some automatic reporting features so there could be "official XDA stats" and then "subjective user stats"
The reason I'm suggesting this is because even the Captivate which is now *old* by any standard has ample roms for it many of which change at a fast rate. If there was a system that let you see what the original problems were, when they were fixed, and what new problems people were having, it would make the process of rom selection a bit easier. Especially since users have drastically different needs from user to user, and different developers often have different priorities.
We could even have a "voting" system or something where if a user loads up CM10 and feel it has sufficient stutter, A user can go check the "current issues" related to that nightly and click "me too!" so that other users can get an idea of how many people are having what issues. This would also allow us to mark which version of a particular rom we are on and it could even have a system which "moves us" if we report going to a new version/go back device to device.
This would be particularly useful for people who want to give feedback about roms/help developers but, don't want to keep reporting already well known issues vainly, as it would prevent having to look back through 20 forum pages or 15 days of change-log to see what is what. It would also keep users from switching to a new rom, hoping it doesn't have X problem and finding out it does.. only to have to go back and recheck and see if they need to report that issue as well.
XDA is all about the developers but, it's important to consider that a lot of us don't mind giving input/helping/beta-ing and using roms and we even decide our next devices based on what things look like here. That is a 500$ purchase some of us make judging by the atmosphere here at XDA. It is a decision that in a lot of ways pays off, we get to use newer versions of android long after manufacturers quit caring.
If I don't care that the front camera is broken, in CM10 nightly X67 and doesn't work for me, but it works for another user.. Then this can be documented in a much easier to read, easier to follow fashion which would save someone else a lot of time if they don't want to gamble on an unstable camera since they scan lots of QR codes. Especially if the camera was in fact working for almost everyone in the nightly before.
Snow_fox said:
You know.. it's kind of crazy the captivate is as old as it is, and roms are still being produced (at a fairly large rate) for this device.
For some time now, it has become increasingly apparent XDA could use a slight overhaul or at least a new implementation for the end-users.
I would like to see a review system that allows you to browse by device, then shows you the android roms available based on which version you want to use. .....4.1, 4.0, 2.x......
From there, it could be broken down by most recent version vs. previous versions.
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I don't know how the rating system you spoke of would really work out because just as a problem with a ROM could be caused by an error in the code or build, the same problem could be caused by end-user error and any ratings based on that could cause problems with getting an accurate rating.
However what I very much agree with is your idea to break down the listings by software versions. At least if that was implemented within the Development section it would make navigating so much more efficient.
m1batt1 said:
I don't know how the rating system you spoke of would really work out because just as a problem with a ROM could be caused by an error in the code or build, the same problem could be caused by end-user error and any ratings based on that could cause problems with getting an accurate rating.
However what I very much agree with is your idea to break down the listings by software versions. At least if that was implemented within the Development section it would make navigating so much more efficient.
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While I do understand your point about it possibly being end-user related, the reason I don't consider this too big of an issue is because there is always a chance for end-user screw ups with any product.
And being totally honest even if it is end user related, it would allow tracking of possible problems people create for themselves.I do my absolute best to read the instructions two or three times and get everything nailed down before I flash a new rom but, I've made mistakes and said "oops" on more than time.
If we can add that much more clarity to end user created problems vs. inherent rom problems, seems like that much more reason to go through with it.
If I can go back and see X is a problem from Y. I would know, "oh I forgot to clear my cache!" go back, repeat the process do it right and wouldn't have to complain to the dev.
Greetings fellow current and former S3 owners.
Get ready, as Oggie said my posts are rather long and rambling. I've got a few questions mainly for opinions and your experiences.
I tried activating my old DX2 on BYOP tracfone because I don't really use a lot of minutes etc and because they rollover for at least 3 months. After investing a lot of time and money, I found out the hard way that the BYOP android tracfones won't roam on non-verizon towers. And as far as I know, neither do net10, regular Andy tracfones you buy from a store or online, or even prepaid verizon phones. This is a load of BS. So there's my background now for the meat and potatoes of this post.
I've since decided to go with selectel since they do roam but only Voice and text, not data, which is fine with me. Another reason I really wanted to use my S3 is the continued development and the development done on it thus far. I couldn't run Kitkat or even ICS on the DX2 without some kind of issues. Although I give the devs credit for trying. That phone just didn't get the love my old DX got and certainly not the love my S3 gets.
Since I'm in a low signal area I've been wondering if I should use a stock based rom to get an extra few DB/m of signal strength. I can't afford a repeater at the moment. I've looked at putting foil behind the battery and on the back of the battery cover on the inside to supposedly prevent the battery from interferring with the signal from the internal antenna. I've looked at holding it differently. I've looked that using a piece of wire or an actual plug to try an external antenna but I've read many posts on many sites including a very detailed one on XDA that says it works but could damage something inside that could disable the internal antenna permanently without taking the phone apart to fix it. I'd like to avoid that too. But many have done it with excellent results.
1. Has anyone used an external antenna or any other tricks to reliably increase signal strength without buying a repeater which again, I can't afford at the moment. If so, what did you do or could you provide a link to the method.
2. I prefer AOSP or CM based rom's 10 to 1 over TW based roms. Don't get me wrong. I like the TW based roms, Alliance, MOAR, Wicked, and Scott's roms are all excellent TW based roms that are very customizable. But they still use a lot of what I would consider un-necessary stuff from verizon. They are customizable to the point that I'm fairly satisfied with that aspect of those roms even without using Xposed to get the additional features I want. and I'd like to avoid Xposed even though I've found that it works really well. I just think the AOSP roms's seem to operate smoother and there are more kitkat's to choose from. I like most of them but I prefer Nameless since it includes all of what I want without a bunch of stuff I don't use like AOKP, Carbon, and others. I do like slim, as it used to be my DD for a long time. I like Beanstalk until it started including a lot of stuff I don't sue. Don't get me wrong I am not trying to start a war of the rom world. I appreciate them all. Without the development of all those roms, we wouldn't have some of the features and have the lovely roms we have today. So, again, I've used and appreciate them all. That's what's so great about Android. You can choose what works for you. So, Please don't think I'm putting those roms down just because I prefer one over another. I'm using Liquid on my DX. Liquid Kitkat at that. and it works great for me.
I guess my question is do you guys think I'd gain enough DB/m to make it worth using a TW based rom? I know the RIL's aren't perfect but they're pretty damn cloase. Again, living in an area with bad signal to begin with every few DB/m helps. So should i use a TW rom for better signal? I've tried measuring the DB/m but I can't honestly tell a huge difference in signal between the TW and AOSP based roms even though the TW roms should get better signal.
Are there any secret settings I can access in a TW or AOSP rom that I could change to get better signal?
My S3 thanks to the work of many dev's is still an awesome device but I don't believe it gets as good a signal as did my DX and the DX2 according to the DB/m measurements. It may just be that they're measured differently in the device. I don't know.
Could someone shed some light on this and or give me some recommendations.
I also don't want to lose the settings for selectel, I've done an NVbackup in the terminal, as well as made a nandroid of my working nameless rom in case something goes arry.
Any advice will be appreciated. I'd like to try out the new Lollipop roms but I think I'll wait until it's more ready with features to use as my DD. mastamoon's may already be there but I haven't tried it yet. I'm sure they'll all get there eventually. At least I hope so.
Thanks in advance for any input on these questions. Sorry for my long rambling post. Anyone who knows me know's I go into way too much detail.
I''m using the latest firmware with the latest NE1 modem. If that helps.
Thanks one more time for taking the time to read this extra extra long post. And thanks again to the remaing dev's and past dev's for making this phone what it is today. I'd love to buy a note two or three but can't afford that now. I'd also like to hae the Razor Maxx since the battery life on those is ridiculus. I don't know if I'll ever buy another samsung just because the signal doesn't seem to be on par with some of the other brands especially Moto. At lesat the old Moto's. i don't know how well they are now that google as acquired the mobile division of moto's phones.
Did I mention I'd especially love to own a Nexus 6, I just don't know if I could use it on a CDMA network and they have the best coverage out here in the boonies where I live.
Thanks again, and have a gerat new year to all XDA members
Figured this one out the hard way. It doesn't really matter at least in my area which modem or rom. The S3 or at least my sch-i535 sucks compared to the dx2 I'm using now. I miss my s3 but Damm the signal is weak. I've heard it's better with the note 2.
Sent from my MB870 using Tapatalk 2
griz.droidx said:
Figured this one out the hard way. It doesn't really matter at least in my area which modem or rom. The S3 or at least my sch-i535 sucks compared to the dx2 I'm using now. I miss my s3 but Damm the signal is weak. I've heard it's better with the note 2.
Sent from my MB870 using Tapatalk 2
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I don't know what you tried of course, but FYI the reception on a Touchwiz ROM on the S3 is always going to be better than an AOSP ROM because Samsung never released the RIL for this phone. All AOSP ROMs run a reverse engineered RIL that isn't quite as good as the Samsung one, and you can only get the Samsung one if you are on a Touchwiz ROM. So if you never tested a Touchwiz ROM, you were never seeing the better signal. However, "the S3 signal is weak" is a legitimate complaint about this phone. In my experience, even with a TW ROM its reception is below average compared to other phones of its day.
Jacquestrapp said:
I don't know what you tried of course, but FYI the reception on a Touchwiz ROM on the S3 is always going to be better than an AOSP ROM because Samsung never released the RIL for this phone. All AOSP ROMs run a reverse engineered RIL that isn't quite as good as the Samsung one, and you can only get the Samsung one if you are on a Touchwiz ROM. So if you never tested a Touchwiz ROM, you were never seeing the better signal. However, "the S3 signal is weak" is a legitimate complaint about this phone. In my experience, even with a TW ROM its reception is below average compared to other phones of its day.
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No matter the rom on my old S3 I never had a signal issue. It didn't matter if it was TouchWiz or not
Sent from my Nexus 6
ShapesBlue said:
No matter the rom on my old S3 I never had a signal issue. It didn't matter if it was TouchWiz or not
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The AOSP RIL was pretty good, some people never noticed the difference but others (like me) did, I guess it depended on the tower coverage or maybe some phones just weren't as good as others. For me, it was mainly an issue inside buildings. In a few stores I frequent, if I was on a TW ROM, I'd get dropped down to 3G or even 1XRTT sometimes, while on AOSP I'd get no signal at all.
I had totally forgot about this post until going through some of the posts I'd made in the list of participated posts.. Thanks for the info, but I am well aware that the RIL was one of those deals where the dev's did the best they could with what they had. In fact, I couldn't really tell much difference if any between the TW based ROMs and the AOSP baased ones. A testament to the quality of dev's we have around here.
I am certainly very grateful for the work they've done for this phone. I was always blaming the signal loss on a lack of towers in my very rural and mountainous home. Not to mention the fact that we'd installed a metal roof on the house, and put up a metal shed to part a couple cars under. I was thinking both of those probably acted kind of like shielding of sorts. Like shielding in an electric guitar (bass in my case), or shielding in different types of wiring. I could be wrong about that but it just seemed like after that my signal went downhill whether on a TW rom or AOSP. And I was on an AOSP rom like SLIMROMS, AOKP, Liquid, Nameless (which became one of my favorites), and later on AICP, another favorite of mine with active development during the time mine was working.
I've read that the note 2's signal was much better than that of the S3. I don't know about any of the newer "S" or "Note" models. I loved my S3, it was put through the wringer. I sometimes cut weeds with it without a case, getting bits of weed and dirt all over it There were a lot of really awesome TW roms out there, but I always used something AOSP based.
Have said all that, it was a good phone for about 3.5 years. And performed very well, probably due to the 2GB of built in ram. I even dropped my phone in the shower once with no case. The back came off the battery came out, and it got wet. It was actually underwater for a few seconds. Not wanting to wait long, I can't remember if I took it apart and blowed it dry with a hair dryer which would have be the smart thing to do, or if I just put the battery back in and after wiping it off rebooted it. Either way, it survived that and lasted another couple years before the digitizer died. A very nice member on here named Master Cylinder sent several PM's with ideas on how to possibly get it going after the digiitizer died. The screen remained flawless, even after I ran out of screen protectors, and as I said I used it while mowing grass, and cutting copious amounts of weeds around the house. It'd get weeds stuck to it, but again, I'd take a damp rag and wipe it off. To this day I can't believe the digitizer failed. considering the phone worked very well up until that happened.
I'd owned a DX as my first android phone, but wanted the s3 because of the following it had. Many members who'd I'd got to know on forums went with the S3 and I followed because I felt as if I knew the dev's and how good they were. When I buy a phone, that's one of the main deciding factors in my purchase; whether or not development is strong for the device.
But once it died and I activated the DX2 that I bought for 20 dollarss mainly to use as a remote for my XBMC/Kodi computer hooked up to my TV, (before the raspberry pi's came along) and for the 16 GB sd card it contained, I decided to use it instead of my DX because of the Tegra dual core, and my love for Nvidia products. I really it could have been developed half as much as what my DX and S3 were but no such luck.
I don't know if the newer motorolas have signal receeption as good as my old DX and DX2 but I just don't like the fact that many new phones can't accept SD cards, and many do not have replaceable batteries.
In a nutshell, And I know I'm way off topic, but for those members who know my they know I'm long winded anyway. I still wish the very best to all who still own their s3, but in my low signal area, it's just a night and day difference between the S3's reception and the moto's I've owned.
I'll close by saying a BIG THANK YOU to all dev's and the commmunity who made the S3 the device I loved. I just wish it had better reception, and I wish I could fix it cheaper than it would cost me to buy one from swappa. The digitizer alone costs as much as a mint/good condition S3 on swappa. But it is old now. If I'd lived in an area with better reception maybe I'd never noticed the difference. But I don't and the difference is rreadily apparent. Shutting up now, I've rambled enough. I'd have no problem buying another samsung if and only if receptoin is at least comparable to the old moto's I own.
Again, Not *****ing, just a surprising observation to me once I started used the DX2. What sucks is this device while CM10 and CM9 are available, many have reported that they are much less reliable and stable as CM7 and Blur based GB roms. Mainly from what I understand due to either Moto's or Nvidia's lack of support which is a friggin shame.
Going back to my tags again, I personally could tell no difference signal wise from between ROMs. I think it's great that development is continuing somewhat on the S3. A testtament to the love of the phone. I miss it all the time. Except when I have to make a call that is. And isn't that why we buy cell phones. Maybe not as much as it once was, My whole reasoning in getting a smart phone in the first place was that I didn't own a MP3 player, A tablet, a Navigaion system, or e-reader.
Good luck guys and sorry I've got so far off topic. Enjoy your phones. Above all have fun. And if possible support the dev's. At least let them know how much they're appreciated. I know I don't have to tell many of you this. But, I for one (being laid off due to the closure of my engineering firrm) can't afford to even buy a beer for someone (or pop/soda). As far as appreciate goes though, I can guarantee the dev's and community won't find someone who appreciated them more. They make our devices the extra awesome that they can be. To use a phrase from one of the Armed Forces of the US, The Dev's and community who support the Dev's and us mortals, They make sure the device can be all they can be.
Cheers everyone and have fun. Can't wait until I can afford a new (probably used) phone. But as i mentioned I've shopped around mainly on swappa, and I don't even know what I'd buy, I'd like another moto unless the reception is better with the "Note" line. Again, I don't own a tablet, so a 5.5 inch to 6 inch phone is what I'll be looking for as long as it supports a SD Card, and has a removable battery. Battery Tech as came a long way, and maybe it's not the big deal it used to be, but I just think it's crazy that you can't add storage and buy a replacement battery for a phone you buy. I like the Nexus 6 and the multiple notes, but again, I don't believe you can replace the battery in the nexus nor is there expansion available in the form of an SD slot for things like Gigabytes worth of music, books, TIBU backups, and entire sets of maps for use offline. If you're readiing this and own an S3 do just like everyone recommends, don't be afraid to experiment with both ROMs and Modems, because as long as you do some reading you can always fix things back. So far I haven't hardbricked anything due to the help and hard work of the Dev's and Community at large who take time out of their life to do write ups / how to's and are usually more than willing to help.
If there's anything I can help anyone with. Just let me know. But keep in mind just like mechanic work, cooking, or computer/networking work. No one knows it all. But with enough opinions you can make educated choices. Reallly, I know some awesome mechanics who can't paint worth a nickel, and body / paint people who can't do much when it comes to hard core mechanic work. I'm in IT / GIS/ Permit Tech by trade, and while I'm pretty good at fixing things, I tell people who seem to think I know it all, that no one knows everything.
As for my recommendations, on JB I liked SLIM, KK I liked Nameless, and for POP/MM AICP. For TW Allicance, MOAR, and Wicked Sensations, not to mention Scotts work and the work of Old N Slow. This small list is not all inclusive. I've tried almost every rom out there for the S3.
I know Too Long will probably never be read.
griz.droidx said:
Greetings fellow current and former S3 owners.
Get ready, as Oggie said my posts are rather long and rambling. I've got a few questions mainly for opinions and your experiences.
I tried activating my old DX2 on BYOP tracfone because I don't really use a lot of minutes etc and because they rollover for at least 3 months. After investing a lot of time and money, I found out the hard way that the BYOP android tracfones won't roam on non-verizon towers. And as far as I know, neither do net10, regular Andy tracfones you buy from a store or online, or even prepaid verizon phones. This is a load of BS. So there's my background now for the meat and potatoes of this post.
I've since decided to go with selectel since they do roam but only Voice and text, not data, which is fine with me. Another reason I really wanted to use my S3 is the continued development and the development done on it thus far. I couldn't run Kitkat or even ICS on the DX2 without some kind of issues. Although I give the devs credit for trying. That phone just didn't get the love my old DX got and certainly not the love my S3 gets.
Since I'm in a low signal area I've been wondering if I should use a stock based rom to get an extra few DB/m of signal strength. I can't afford a repeater at the moment. I've looked at putting foil behind the battery and on the back of the battery cover on the inside to supposedly prevent the battery from interferring with the signal from the internal antenna. I've looked at holding it differently. I've looked that using a piece of wire or an actual plug to try an external antenna but I've read many posts on many sites including a very detailed one on XDA that says it works but could damage something inside that could disable the internal antenna permanently without taking the phone apart to fix it. I'd like to avoid that too. But many have done it with excellent results.
1. Has anyone used an external antenna or any other tricks to reliably increase signal strength without buying a repeater which again, I can't afford at the moment. If so, what did you do or could you provide a link to the method.
2. I prefer AOSP or CM based rom's 10 to 1 over TW based roms. Don't get me wrong. I like the TW based roms, Alliance, MOAR, Wicked, and Scott's roms are all excellent TW based roms that are very customizable. But they still use a lot of what I would consider un-necessary stuff from verizon. They are customizable to the point that I'm fairly satisfied with that aspect of those roms even without using Xposed to get the additional features I want. and I'd like to avoid Xposed even though I've found that it works really well. I just think the AOSP roms's seem to operate smoother and there are more kitkat's to choose from. I like most of them but I prefer Nameless since it includes all of what I want without a bunch of stuff I don't use like AOKP, Carbon, and others. I do like slim, as it used to be my DD for a long time. I like Beanstalk until it started including a lot of stuff I don't sue. Don't get me wrong I am not trying to start a war of the rom world. I appreciate them all. Without the development of all those roms, we wouldn't have some of the features and have the lovely roms we have today. So, again, I've used and appreciate them all. That's what's so great about Android. You can choose what works for you. So, Please don't think I'm putting those roms down just because I prefer one over another. I'm using Liquid on my DX. Liquid Kitkat at that. and it works great for me.
I guess my question is do you guys think I'd gain enough DB/m to make it worth using a TW based rom? I know the RIL's aren't perfect but they're pretty damn cloase. Again, living in an area with bad signal to begin with every few DB/m helps. So should i use a TW rom for better signal? I've tried measuring the DB/m but I can't honestly tell a huge difference in signal between the TW and AOSP based roms even though the TW roms should get better signal.
Are there any secret settings I can access in a TW or AOSP rom that I could change to get better signal?
My S3 thanks to the work of many dev's is still an awesome device but I don't believe it gets as good a signal as did my DX and the DX2 according to the DB/m measurements. It may just be that they're measured differently in the device. I don't know.
Could someone shed some light on this and or give me some recommendations.
I also don't want to lose the settings for selectel, I've done an NVbackup in the terminal, as well as made a nandroid of my working nameless rom in case something goes arry.
Any advice will be appreciated. I'd like to try out the new Lollipop roms but I think I'll wait until it's more ready with features to use as my DD. mastamoon's may already be there but I haven't tried it yet. I'm sure they'll all get there eventually. At least I hope so.
Thanks in advance for any input on these questions. Sorry for my long rambling post. Anyone who knows me know's I go into way too much detail.
I''m using the latest firmware with the latest NE1 modem. If that helps.
Thanks one more time for taking the time to read this extra extra long post. And thanks again to the remaing dev's and past dev's for making this phone what it is today. I'd love to buy a note two or three but can't afford that now. I'd also like to hae the Razor Maxx since the battery life on those is ridiculus. I don't know if I'll ever buy another samsung just because the signal doesn't seem to be on par with some of the other brands especially Moto. At lesat the old Moto's. i don't know how well they are now that google as acquired the mobile division of moto's phones.
Did I mention I'd especially love to own a Nexus 6, I just don't know if I could use it on a CDMA network and they have the best coverage out here in the boonies where I live.
Thanks again, and have a gerat new year to all XDA members
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Don't think that no one read this in its entirety because I did. I want to say thank you for posting this. I'm glad to see posts like this because too often we post something very short and to the point and it gets kind of mundane after awhile.
I thankfully don't live in a tin can (just being funny) and I'm not rural by any means but I've been in many places where there is no signal or non existent. I've still got my S3 laying around and by far to date it's been my favorite phone to mess around with and change roms, kernels and so forth. While I love my Nexus 5 and 6 I miss the external storage badly.
Thanks again man for just being a member and for your post it is much appreciated