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First, my phone info as reported by Settings/About Phone:
Model: Samsung-SGH-I897
Firmware: 2.1-update1
Baseband: I897UCJH7
Kernel: 2.6.29 [email protected] #2
Build Number: ECLAIR.UCJH7
I have visited the ROM section and I probably dont need to tell you that it is just a little bit confusing (for me anyway)as to which ROM to use.
I would like to flash a new ROM to bring me up to FroYo and I "think" I want to use the Andromeda ROM. I have a couple of questions though.
First, (for the Devs) should I go ahead and flash to FroYo or wait for am Android 3.0 ROM (assuming one is forthcoming)?
Second, is the difference between the "themed" and "un-themed" ROM just cosmetic? Do they both function the same?
There are a few "how to" threads on flashing. They are very detailed and take you step by step. I'd suggest you read or watch the videos.
The questions about Andromeda are well covered in the thread. You just need to read through it. Flashing now or waiting is purely up to you. There's not a GB ROM that's stable enough to run day to day. There's only one that I know of and they are still working a lot of problems out of it.
Thank you.
TayzGpa said:
Second, is the difference between the "themed" and "un-themed" ROM just cosmetic? Do they both function the same?
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Yep, just prettier (in some cases that is).
I'm really looking for a ROM that is as close to "stock" Froyo as possible that will work well with my U.S. phone. I understand Cognition is built on the just released Rogers build, but should I use a Canadian build on my U.S. phone?
I'm using Cognition and find it really nice. No Canadian phrases coming out of it.
If you are going to flash your first rom make sure you read through the forums and figure your what you need to do. Everything that you need are in them. I just flashed my first rom this weekend. Forums are very helpful!!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897. Using Cognition, Firebird, and JL2 modem.
TayzGpa said:
I'm really looking for a ROM that is as close to "stock" Froyo as possible that will work well with my U.S. phone. I understand Cognition is built on the just released Rogers build, but should I use a Canadian build on my U.S. phone?
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I live in Canada and use an American captivate using the cognition ROM and it works just fine.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897
Serendipity 5.x is by far the best Captivate ROM out there, in my opinion. Fast, clean, stable, bloat-free, and tastefully themed.
I just flashed the un-themed version of Andromeda, needless to say I was and am still very pleased with it. It was my first time flashing a ROM and went very smoothly, I guess I just got sick of AT&T jerking around.
I might make a quick video comparing Andromeda 1.0 on the captivate to a stock captivate (my bro's). That is if there is any interest in one.
Btw does any one know when the over clocked kernels will be released, I'm pretty anxious to try them out.
How do you like Andromeda? I started with cognition, then used phoenix for a while and liked both of them. I switched to serendipity last week and it has been rock solid to be honest, but I am always wanting to tinker with this thing. I flashed the KNP1 modem today to see if I get the better data speeds people are reporting and am hoping to gain a little battery life.
I guess everybody has thier own favorite ROM. I am kind of leaning toward either Cognition or Phoenix but cant decide which one. I want as close to "stock" 2.2 (or 2.3) as possible and it looks like Cognition might be the way to go. I have read through the Cognition Wiki and cant determine which flavor of Android (2.2/2.3) Cognition 3.04 is based on (unless I missed it). Anyone know?
TayzGpa said:
I have read through the Cognition Wiki and cant determine which flavor of Android (2.2/2.3) Cognition 3.04 is based on (unless I missed it). Anyone know?
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2.2
10char
There are some videos on you tube that walk you trough the flashing process that I found to be really helpful for my first flash. I also had a written walk thru up from this site. I had no problems with my first using these 2 restorers. Good luck. And andromeda looks very cool. There are also rom reviews on you tube that show you what the rom does. Good luck
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
jferg5 said:
There are some videos on you tube that walk you trough the flashing process that I found to be really helpful for my first flash. I also had a written walk thru up from this site. I had no problems with my first using these 2 restorers. Good luck. And andromeda looks very cool. There are also rom reviews on you tube that show you what the rom does. Good luck
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
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http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=877652
If you haven't already please read through the guide in my sig.
ademarne said:
If you haven't already please read through the guide in my sig.
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I read through the guide "Guide for choosing the right rom for YOU" that you link to in your sig; and i see nothing about choosing the right ROM For me.
The title suggests that there is a guide to choosing a ROM - maybe a matrix of features, or a questions list to help someone decide. Instead the closest thing i find is one sentence "Go to the Android Development Section and read through different [ROM] threads to see what features will work best for you. I have also found it useful to read through the last couple of pages to see what other users think about the current version of the rom"
Did i miss something? Where is the guide to choosing the right ROM for me?
alphadog00 said:
I read through the guide "Guide for choosing the right rom for YOU" that you link to in your sig; and i see nothing about choosing the right ROM For me.
The title suggests that there is a guide to choosing a ROM - maybe a matrix of features, or a questions list to help someone decide. Instead the closest thing i find is one sentence "Go to the Android Development Section and read through different [ROM] threads to see what features will work best for you. I have also found it useful to read through the last couple of pages to see what other users think about the current version of the rom"
Did i miss something? Where is the guide to choosing the right ROM for me?
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I agree. Something like "answer these 20 questions and here's the ROM that most matches what you want" would be great. I am still trying to figure it out.
What I am looking for is, if AT&T (or Samsung for that matter) were to finally release FroYo, here is what it would most likely look like and how it would probably perform. I'm still thinking Cognition is the closest since it was based on the Canadian FroYo release but *MAN* can it be confusing.
alphadog00 said:
I read through the guide "Guide for choosing the right rom for YOU" that you link to in your sig; and i see nothing about choosing the right ROM For me.
The title suggests that there is a guide to choosing a ROM - maybe a matrix of features, or a questions list to help someone decide. Instead the closest thing i find is one sentence "Go to the Android Development Section and read through different [ROM] threads to see what features will work best for you. I have also found it useful to read through the last couple of pages to see what other users think about the current version of the rom"
Did i miss something? Where is the guide to choosing the right ROM for me?
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Click to collapse
The point of that is so that you figure out what is best for you, not that I am telling you what to do. I am simply trying to GUIDE new users on how to go about making informed decisions on which ROM they choose. Too many people rely solely on what others say instead of trying things for themselves, which is why I created that post encouraging people to discover new things.
If you have questions about a certain rom, post in the ROM thread in the dev section. If you don't have 10 posts yet and still have questions, then post in the Q&A section, not captivate general.
What I don't think new users understand is that almost every person has a different preference about what ROM, kernel and modem combo work best. Me personally, I love di11igafs ROMs, but many other people prefer different things. Its pretty much like asking a group of random people, "what is the best car on the market and what options would get with said car?" Almost everyones answer will vary slightly.
TayzGpa said:
I agree. Something like "answer these 20 questions and here's the ROM that most matches what you want" would be great. I am still trying to figure it out.
What I am looking for is, if AT&T (or Samsung for that matter) were to finally release FroYo, here is what it would most likely look like and how it would probably perform. I'm still thinking Cognition is the closest since it was based on the Canadian FroYo release but *MAN* can it be confusing.
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Like you, I recently started trying to figure this out after getting an AT&T Captivate and I agree about the need for a better listing for features (or lack of) for each ROM. A good matrix to compare would be nice, but I fear there are so many people working on these things and it all moves so fast, it would be a full-time job just to keep it up. Reading through all this stuff is quite overwhelming. However, I honestly think it's not bad once you figure out the basics and understand the ropes. By the time you get the things to load on your phone, with Clockworkmod Recovery, Odin and some other tools, life is pretty simple--the devs have done all the hard work, you're just flashing the stuff and figuring out what you like best.
Here is what I can tell you that may help and like I said, I'm pretty new at this, so someone *please* correct me if I'm wrong. I would not want to mislead anyone:
1. Cognition is an "Americanized" version of the Rogers 2.2 Captivate release. If you want 2.2.1 you have to use another custom ROM. Everything with Cognition appears to be well done, stable and smooth. I spent a couple hours trying to get wireless tether to work only to figure out MobileAP is built in and works
2. Look up the videos on YouTube by MobileTechVideos. They are very good and well produced, plus he looks at all the different ROMs. There is a 3-part video on loading Cognition on a captivate. I used it to load 3.04 on mine in almost real time right with the video. The only thing I would caution you on is if you use Titanium Backup to restore apps, be careful about "select all" like he says you can do in the video. I'm not sure if I had backed up system data and accidentally restored it or what--didn't go back that far to check, but after I did my restore I thought everything was fine and I could not make outgoing calls the next day. I reloaded from scratch following the videos again and this time use TB to restore one app+data at a time and was very picky about what I did and it worked wonderfully.
3. Once I got everything working I started to get curious about kernels. Once you have your ROM loaded, you can flash a new kernel (has to be same version as the ROM) and you can get enhancements with speed and other things by doing so. However, I loaded Firebird and did not notice in the thread that Bluetooth doesn't work yet, so I'm trying to figure out if I can go back or if I have to start over. Not a big deal to start over since I know what I'm doing now, just want to push the limits a little cause that's how I roll For some reason after Firebird I also seen duplicate photos on my SD card, even though there were only singles. It's like thumbnails were duplicated or something. I moved the pics off to my PC and it left blank thumbnails behind. I deleted them from the gallery and put the pics back and everything cleared up. I've seen stranger things--no biggie.
4. Battery life was fairly bad at this point, dropping 10-15% or more per hour. My phone came with the JH7 modem (last digits of your Baseband version in Settings -- About Phone). Cognition 3.04 comes with JL1 and many others were reporting great battery life with JL2 so I flashed it and everything seems to be much better so far. I haven't reset the battery stats and such, but I will at some point. Looks like a lengthy process that may or may not help.
5. I see a lot of "do I have to flash to stock first" questions posted and from what I understand, it's best practice to follow the instructions and don't ask why--just do it. Learn how to backup and restore apps+data (not system data) using TB and it's no big deal.
6. I read a lot about different builds of the Captivate--lots of posts about 1006, 1007, 1008's so I was concerned about the issues discussed. I'm guessing these were the early releases. I got mine at the end of January and it's a 1012. Look under your battery right under the serial number.
I suppose once I have this part of it working well and figured out, I will probably start looking into themes and digging deeper. It's pretty addictive so once you start, you just keep wanting more and more and making it better and better. Thanks to all the devs out there. I plan on making a few donations soon, especially to Designgears since his stuff is mostly what I've worked with so far.
My advice is to take a day or two and read *A LOT*. The old carpenters saying is "Measure twice and cut once" and that is pretty much how I look at this stuff. After you figure out how the puzzle pieces fit together, you lose the fear.
Hope this helps and if I would appreciate it if someone more advanced can confirm my statements or correct me.
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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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Click to collapse
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.
I really have no idea why a lot of you guys are still on stock?
This is my very first android, and i took 2 hours reading and another hour asking questions. and another hour rooting my phone.
Just root your damn phone.
I have 3 kids. Taking 3 hours out of my day to root my phone is not an option.
I did make time to mess with my htc incredible only because is was a one click trick.
30 minutes a day.. its worth it.
your question should have been "why do you stay unrooted".. THAT it understandable.
Stock ROM is pretty good though.
Cute dog. is there a way to edit topics?
I stayed unrooted for about three weeks. It took me that long to work up the nerve to root. After I'd read the procedure through a few times, asked a few questions, and, most importantly, satisfied myself that it was entirely reversible, I went for it.
I'm still stock because flashing roms and losing some of my settings got old on my Nexus One. I simply tired of flashing kernels, radios, roms, themes and never really being any happier than I was to start with. Been there done that. I did the whole "I got my first android and want to be like the cool kids and root". I've been using Android and flashing roms for years.
I was always tweaking and I would improve one thing, and another thing would be degraded or broken.I would get better battery life but have to deal with reboots. I would get great GPS but then wifi would break, or the device would get hot...or it would be stable and basically like it was before I ever even rooted in the first place.
CM7 was the best I used(most stable anyway), but even then I got really bored. I tried some Sense roms and really liked them but they were all buggy as hell as well. So I decided to get a Sense device. IF I hated Sense, I would certainly root but then again if I hated sense I wouldn't have bought the Tbolt.
So far I have not had one reboot, not one single issue except that GPS can be slow once in awhile, but then I see folks with rooted devices, flashed kernels and radios complaining of the same thing. Today I went all over town and GPS worked great...it's a random thing.
When I see a rom I HAVE TO HAVE, I'll root and flash it, but so far I have not seen anything that makes me want give up my perfectly working device/os.
With the Nexus One I found the Flavored Ice themes and fell in love with Dark Cherry. I rooted just so I could have that theme. Unfortunately theming is difficult for Sense so there are not really many themes to lure me in.
Some things I DO miss from being rooted, Ad-Free, SetCPU(but again usually ahve to live with some reboots which I hate), being able to flash some cool things like the Hulu apk. no getting around it there are things I miss from being rooted.
However, I have a rooted Moto Zoom and I use that now more than my TBolt. My TBolt has become more like a phone again and I just want it stable for phones calls and navigation.
As a matter of fact, I have rejected Verizon's update because for ONCE I have a device that I am perfectly happy with as is.
If I were going to root it would be to flash this rom:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1013577
and then install ad-free and a few other apps I miss. As it stands I can afford to pay for tethering so I don't even have any motivation to root for free tethering.
I know, what about bloat? Well I have over a hundred apps installed and I still have 1.97 GB of space left. I came from Nexus One where with zero apps installed I had 120MB of free app space! The apps simply don't bother me being there om my Tbolt. Space isn't an issue for me.
To wrap it up, my battery life is fine, my phone call quality is superior to anything I've ever had. I love the sense UI and my device/os is stable as hell.
I am happy.
PS: FWIW, I did root my TBolt using the one click method at android central just to make sure it would work with the USB port on my computer, I then promptly unrooted it. I can re-root anytime I want. No hurry and I may very well never re-root, especially given that I will be again upgrading my phone again as soon as the next best thing is released(that is not the Charge).
Old MuckenMire said:
I'm still stock because flashing roms and losing some of my settings got old on my Nexus One. I simply tired of flashing kernels, radios, roms, themes and never really being any happier than I was to start with. Been there done that. I did the whole "I got my first android and want to be like the cool kids and root". I've been using Android and flashing roms for years.
I was always tweaking and I would improve one thing, and another thing would be degraded or broken.I would get better battery life but have to deal with reboots. I would get great GPS but then wifi would break, or the device would get hot...or it would be stable and basically like it was before I ever even rooted in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I am rooted, I know exactly what you mean. I am on Das BAMF 1.6.2 and am planning to stay put for awhile. Sometimes I fail to use the best features of my phone because I've recently flashed and don't want to input my user name and PW into Pandora while I am driving down the freeway.
Once we have RIL and are officially supported by CM7 I will get back into the flashing game. I am not a big fan of Sense and have done my best to avoid it on my device using LP, Contapps, Handcent
Guysm
If you flash new roms every day, how do you rebuild your desktops, reinstall apps, etc? You do this procedure every day????
nricci said:
If you flash new roms every day, how do you rebuild your desktops, reinstall apps, etc? You do this procedure every day????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Appbrain reinstalls all your apps. Resetting icons/widgets takes 2 mins, tops
nricci said:
Guysm
If you flash new roms every day, how do you rebuild your desktops, reinstall apps, etc? You do this procedure every day????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think a lot of people flash new roms everyday.
Usually if you are updating a Rom, like from Das bamf 162 to 163, you don't need to wipe. apps, texts, layout, and what not stay the same.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
MoreGone said:
While I am rooted, I know exactly what you mean. I am on Das BAMF 1.6.2 and am planning to stay put for awhile. Sometimes I fail to use the best features of my phone because I've recently flashed and don't want to input my user name and PW into Pandora while I am driving down the freeway.
Once we have RIL and are officially supported by CM7 I will get back into the flashing game. I am not a big fan of Sense and have done my best to avoid it on my device using LP, Contapps, Handcent
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was the same way with Slacker over the past year. especially because I was rooted and used A2SD, it would always log me out even if I hadn't recently flashed. Slacker just doesn't seem to like being on the SD card and hold the password at the same time. At the end of the day I'm not in any way against rooting and I'm glad it's there as an option for when I get bored. I always do get bored, either with stock or flashing roms...or just with any given device itself.
headcheese said:
I don't think a lot of people flash new roms everyday.
Usually if you are updating a Rom, like from Das bamf 162 to 163, you don't need to wipe. apps, texts, layout, and what not stay the same.
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is correct. The issue is not UPDATING roms...you get to keep all your settings that way. The issue is having to wipe before flashing a new rom. Me personally, it takes me a whole hell of a lot longer than two minutes to get everything back the way I want it. Downloading all my apps is not the issue. It's getting all of the settings for over a hundred apps back the way I want. Just as an example. Every website I visit I log into with a password. I use Skyfire, stock, Dolphin HD. When I wipe I have to go back and re-log into every damn website I visit again...and I have to do it every time I want to try a new rom...which ends up being often because once you flash one, it leads to another and another, always searching for that perfect rom. I often did flash at least every other day. Most developers would update their rom, fixing or adding something and the temptation was too strong not to test drive it again. But liek I said it makes the device never feel complete because I never settled on anything long term.
I will say this tho, it was rooting and flashing that made me realize how much I enjoyed Sense UI. I tried EVERY rom there was for the N1 and never enjoyed anything the way I did Sense(although I did love ROD's MIUI MoD rom for N1+ LauncherPro Plus...it was quick as hell and had beautiful transitions, not as stable as CM7 tho) and thru root and flashing you can try different UI's and find the one that is right for you. So rooting and flashing is definitely a great thing and like I said I'm glad it's an option I have to admit I miss that little high you get while waiting for a new rom to flash. Wondering if you've soft bricked, and the anticipation of seeing all the goodies new roms contain. The feeling of having total control over your device is nice too.
sublimaze said:
Appbrain reinstalls all your apps. Resetting icons/widgets takes 2 mins, tops
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't TiBackup reinstall your apps just as well? I don't use Appbrain so I don't know the benefit.
KarukTribe said:
I have 3 kids. Taking 3 hours out of my day to root my phone is not an option.
I did make time to mess with my htc incredible only because is was a one click trick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have four kids and a large closet. Adapt and overcome.
major_works said:
I stayed unrooted for about three weeks. It took me that long to work up the nerve to root. After I'd read the procedure through a few times, asked a few questions, and, most importantly, satisfied myself that it was entirely reversible, I went for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 to this, exactly what I though too.
I bricked my Droid X a couple of times, and was able to get it back every time, but it taught me to be careful.
I flash a new Rom daily and set up a whole new theme every time I always got a new phone that way lol
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App
major_works said:
I stayed unrooted for about three weeks. It took me that long to work up the nerve to root. After I'd read the procedure through a few times, asked a few questions, and, most importantly, satisfied myself that it was entirely reversible, I went for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did this too. I plugged my phone into the USB and it took me another hour of rereading the guide before I finally got the nerve to start
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App
I'm sure I'll root eventually, I'm just kinda in the same boat as MuckenMire, tired on the endless rom shuffle. The TBolt is my first Android, but I'm coming from a number of WinMo 6.x devices. As some of you probably know from experience you pretty much had to flash a custom rom to make many of those phones usable. The Tbolt is a much better user experience stock than any of my old WinMo devices were with custom roms. Right now the bloatware would be the only reason I would bother with root. This phone is fast, stable and highly customizable stock. Right now I just don't see a compelling reason to root it.
That being said, first time I need to teather and VZW wants to charge me, I will probably root. I don't do it often enough to justify paying extra for it.
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt
I love all these people who claim they are so busy, really come on, you obviously have time if you browse the XDA forums and Im sure you spend a lot of time on facebook.
Get over yourself.
Sorry for this Trollin, It just irritates me.
mitchell4500 said:
I love all these people who claim they are so busy, really come on, you obviously have time if you browse the XDA forums and Im sure you spend a lot of time on facebook.
Get over yourself.
Sorry for this Trollin, It just irritates me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm over myself. I have time, but I just don't want to root. I'm happy with what I have. None of the roms look that great to me, so why bother? Why do some of you feel like everyone has to root. Like we're idiots cause we're running stock. Why do you really care what others are doing?
Hey guys, apologies if I'm not posting in the best possible section for this, but I've been wondering for a while.
I've been getting sick of TouchWiz. Not just the launcher (I got Nova the moment I could, and am still using it) but the customizations of the phone itself and the small annoyances that Verizon baked in, such as the always-on WiFi indicator. I've been debating going to a stock ROM for a long while, and I've made my decision to break free of the ridiculousness that is Verizon and Samsung's customizations, as they've made the phone slow, and I know it can run much better than it is right now. So here's my question:
What's the best stock Android ROM currently? I'd preferably want one that is
Being currently developed. I don't want a ROM with a lazy developer. (If ROMs are a few weeks late, I won't mind, but I don't want to be waiting forever to get the next .1 added to my version number.
Quick and minimal. Literally as close to stock Android as it can be. If there are things that need to be kept, such as the camera app, that's fine, but I'd like to rid myself of as much TouchWiz as I can.
Free of bugs. I know most ROMs aren't perfect. I'm fine with that. I need something to work as a stable daily driver, and I don't much care to hop on the next nightly I can find.
On the latest version of Android without bugs.
I have experience with rooting and flashing with Odin, but I haven't done it in a while, so if the method to root+flash is more than a one click or a couple of console commands, I'd like to be guided if possible. I have no want to brick my phone, as you can well imagine.
Also, if there's a list of stock ROMs for the Verizon GS3, I'd like to be pointed in that direction, if possible.
Thanks! I hope to hear from someone soon!
Not being rude but, if you were to take the amount of time you put into making this thread and actually looked throughout the forums you'd find a thread already on this or get this, you could go to the development threads and read the ops. Mind blowing right?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
Yeah, I know that. I could surf through bunches of ROMs, but I posted here as a question for community feedback on a bunch of them, that might help me make a decision.
Is asking for opinions and information less efficient than going through a list that's new territory for me?
I'm not stupid. I want advice and info from experienced users. Is that so hard to ask for?
Great thread idea. Surprised no one else has done this.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
You described most of the roms that this phone has. Most give you an option to keep phone stock, Based on each thread, they're all amazing to use daily. As far as being on the latest version you simply have to look at the thread title.
You'll definitely need to go through several threads and try them out to see what suits your needs best. It's not an easy task when there are several awesome developers on your phone!
farenteria said:
You described most of the roms that this phone has. Most give you an option to keep phone stock, Based on each thread, they're all amazing to use daily. As far as being on the latest version you simply have to look at the thread title.
You'll definitely need to go through several threads and try them out to see what suits your needs best. It's not an easy task when there are several awesome developers on your phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Didn't know I was delving into such a huge bunch of ROMs. Back in the X and Droid 2 days, I had to surf through a bunch of different ROMs that really weren't reliable. I know things have changed, but this seems pretty extreme.
If you know of any, which ones have you heard are the, well, "god-tier" ROMs? Any developers who are notable that I should check first?
Thanks again!
I wouldn't judge god tier roms, I'm happy to say that all of these roms on this device forum are just as reliable, it's only a matter of how your phone plays with the rom you end up choosing, since all devices play differently. Even if these threads are meant to be locked since they bring nothing but just opinions.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
I will say that there isn't a rom that is the best. It is all about your preference. I have had bad experiences with Synergy,Axis and CleanRom doesn't mean that these are sh***y roms.
Addiso said:
I wouldn't judge god tier roms, I'm happy to say that all of these roms on this device forum are just as reliable, it's only a matter of how your phone plays with the rom you end up choosing, since all devices play differently. Even if these threads are meant to be locked since they bring nothing but just opinions.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I was just looking for information on the best Roms for the GS3, but since all of the Roms are apparently great, could you list a couple? Even if they aren't "god-tier", are there at least some that fit the qualifications and are well known? I know there's not going to be a "These are the best ROMs ever" list, but are there a few that are highly maintained, or some developers that are well known besides CyanogenMod?
Sorry if I seem new to this whole thing.
Barebones stock is pretty much all I've been for almost a month, and at this point I'm not ashamed to admit I'm a flashaholic, but i only flash his updates (andybones) and the great news is that he keeps the rom consistent in updates and solid Smoot performance.
Also hypredrive just got updated to rls 15 and that's another amazing rom that gets a monthly update and its worth the wait and a very determined developer.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium
buckoman said:
Thanks! Didn't know I was delving into such a huge bunch of ROMs. Back in the X and Droid 2 days, I had to surf through a bunch of different ROMs that really weren't reliable. I know things have changed, but this seems pretty extreme.
If you know of any, which ones have you heard are the, well, "god-tier" ROMs? Any developers who are notable that I should check first?
Thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should give every rom a go, but you can start testing with Synergy. Try it for a week, and then test another rom
Sorry, "Best" is a term that is subjective and can only be defined by the individual, the post above/before me is a good idea.
XDA is not a support site, users are expected to use and test on their own.
Best Rom Threads = Closed Threads
Hi all! I'm a noob to the site and a noob to smartphone modifications, so please forgive me for my questions and concerns. I've used forums for years on many topics and found the knowledge base to be incredible, so I hope you guys will help me out, too.
So, while my Skyrocket has generally worked very well for the past 2+ years, I have always felt it's not living up to its potential. I've read numerous threads on many forums to see what my fellow Rocketeers were doing. I think I've come to the conclusion that flashing a new ROM is the way to go, but I am a bit wary since I've never done this nor know anyone who has. My thinking goes along the same lines as my experience with computers... If you buy a Dell, HP, etc., you get the garbage that the manufacturer bundles in along with Windows. If you wipe the HD and install your own clean copy of Windows, you can usually get better performance without all that other stuff. Hence, the idea for a new ROM for the phone.
A few things have me wondering, though... There seem to be more ROMs available than flavors of Linux! I know choice will end up being a personal thing. My goal is really simple... I just want a clean OS that is stable, efficient, and runs the basic functions I am accustomed to. So, I am not looking to experiment or push the envelope. I want a phone that doesn't crash at the worst possible time, and one that can actually make phone calls! I assume that I will still be able to use the Google Play store to download apps (after installing the plugin thingy). My phone is from AT&T and is unlocked. Will it say unlocked after flashing a new ROM? Will Visual Voicemail still work? I occasionally use FoxFi to create a mobile hotspot. Will I still be able to use it? Or do other ROMs already have this feature unlocked (or bypassed)? I use apps on my phone mostly for email (Yahho/Gmail), calendar, FB, Instagram, YouTube, taking photos/video, viewing forums, and the like, besides making phone calls. In other words, what should I expect from a new ROM? How will things be different? I'm really trying to gauge if this is a worthwhile endeavor for me.
Sorry for the long post. I appreciate your opinions and experience.
It's always worthwhile.
The Skyrocket, to me, was always a case of OEM software that limited its potential. If you really sit down and tweak it, custom ROM, new governor, overclock, it's a beast of a phone that can still keep pace today. You'll have to balance performance with battery life--overclocking and switching to a more aggressive governor doesn't do you any favors there, and some ROMs are better about battery life than others. It's a great phone with a lot of life left, though, much more so than the vanilla S2 because the Rocket has LTE capability.
To hit your other questions, any app that is available on the Play Store will work. If a ROM needs a second gapps flash to get the Play Store (along with everything else Google ships) back, that will be made available and is a very easy install. I've never unlocked a phone, but I don't believe that a new ROM would lose that. Wait for someone else to reply, but I'd be shocked if it did. As far as what you want, there's a ROM to suit any desires. Most ROMs are pretty basic and look and feel like you'd expect a Skyrocket to. Some are designed to feel a little more like iOS, some are designed to be stripped-down (and faster as a result), and some are based on stock firmware and very closely replicate the original experience. It's up to you to read through the dev forum for the Rocket and pick the experience that's best for you.
As far as how difficult it is, spend a couple hours reading about flashing, how it works and why it works. Once you have that basic understanding of it and can follow a few simple instructions that are pretty universal across ROMs, you're set.
Well, I'm giving this a try tonight. Fingers crossed!
One piece of advice: when you pick a new rom from "Android development" read the WHOLE thread associated with that rom, with special attention the the first couple of pages. Make sure you understand the process and any potential pitfalls.
First rom I tried I spent probably six hours reading. It was worth it.
Success!!! I now have the latest CandyKat running! It ended up being not too bad at all. Now I need to figure out how things are different from the AT&T Jelly Bean this replaces.
Thanks for the advice and thanks to everyone who contributes to the site,
I have Kandykat. It seems to be a good solid rom. The Google Now launcher is buggy though. I changed to Nova launcher. Other than that it's been fine.
Thanks for the tips, Chris. I've been using Launcher3. What's the difference between these launchers? Everything seems to be running fine on my rocket now. Any tips on increasing battery life? Any tips on some nice customization?
Google Now launcher seems to have the annoying habit of forgetting the screen setup (app positioning) during reboot. Launcher 3 also exhibited the same problem. Launchers are a matter of taste, but Nova launcher seems solid and looks right to me. YMMV. It's easy to try a few.