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[Q] New Nexus S: Best ROM's and Advice Needed

Hi All,
I know how deep these forums can go and the latest and greatest always changes as time progresses.
I currently have the Samsung Vibrant running TW - Bionix 1.3.1 because it is by far the best for that particular phone.
I am getting a Nexus S tonight and want to immediately root and flash the best ROM.
I know it can be a subjective topic, but what would you say has the greatest support, most frequent updates, and the best performance for the Nexus S?
How are the OTA updates from Google? Are they still pushing them out with high frequency? Are there any issues that I should be aware of? I remember at launch there was a restarting issue.
Thanks!

Go with CM7 if you want constant updates (nightlies). You won't go wrong with CM7
If you like themed rom, you can try Axura. It's animations are very nice. But it has since stopped because developer is changing phone.
Otherwise you can try SuperAOSP, which is my current ROM. It is also my favourite ROM. It's very fast, constantly updated, and has a few interesting themes to play around with. It has CM options and it's own "SupSetup" which provides even more options to customize your phone with. It comes with a custom kernel also made by the same developer to be fully compatible with the ROM.
Hope you get the ROM you like

I'm personally using CM7 as my daily driver.
CM7 Build #32 + Netarchy 1.3.0-CFS
MIUI is pretty good too.
.. basically any ROM with Netarchy 1.3.0-CFS... you really can't go wrong with it amazing battery life. 60% on 14 hours.

Thanks guys. I know I need to read through all the dev posts, but I spent weeks on the Vibrant forums to get started, and want to hit the ground running with the Nexus.
Appreciate the help!

I think i'm going to go down the CM route. I always wanted to try on the vibrant, but was never officially supported.

sj_martin said:
I think i'm going to go down the CM route. I always wanted to try on the vibrant, but was never officially supported.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can always read up on all of the available ROMs on the thread on my signature. I'm about to go update it to get things completely up-to-date but most of it is. I just have to add SuperAOSP and update the status of Axura which is that it is no longer going to be updated.

[Q] Differences - Prime and Revolver

What is the difference between the 2 ROMS?
When I do a search all I see are comments like "I'm using X and it's great!"
If there's a list of ROMS with notes about what makes one so great over the other that would be appreciative.

I would like to know this as well.

robojerk said:
What is the difference between the 2 ROMS?
When I do a search all I see are comments like "I'm using X and it's great!"
If there's a list of ROMS with notes about what makes one so great over the other that would be appreciative.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think an even better question is "What is the difference between STOCK, Revolver and Prime?"
Revolver 2.5's changelog contains "Improved battery life". Compared to what? Stock 3.2 (8.6.5.9)? Prior Stock 3.2? Prime? Revolver 2.1?
Similarly, PRIME 1.8.2 changelog shows "Choice of Touchpad Circles or Mouse Arrow" and "Lots of bugs fixed (Rotate, Compass, Wifi disconnects)", etc. Are these not in the STOCK 8.6.5.9 as well? (yes, they are)
Disclosure: I've run all versions and don't see much difference between any of them, but I'm currently on PRIME 1.8.4

jhanford,
Good point. That's what I do not understand about these "custom" roms. Seems like they offer the same functions/features as the stock rom so I do not know what exactly is the advantage of using them.

Install them and test them yourself, the proof of wether or not they are better can only be judged by your own user experience and not by what others proclaim.

I noticed a significant performance improvement after flashing Revolver compared to stock.
My browser also no longer randomly locks up and quits when going to sites with flash advertisements. YMMV, of course.

There's not really much difference between the three of them since the source code isn't released and not a lot can be changes. The latter two "custom" roms just have a few tweaks included that make it slightly faster and they usually include special kernel modules such as tunneling, governors, and sound improvements/fixes.
I've ran all three and the difference is minimal as of the current firmware since a lot of stuff is now fixed. Before 3.2 Prime and Clemsyn/Revolver were a lot more useful since IMO they were a lot faster than the official version of 3.1.

I am currently on latest version of Prime but very tempted to give Revoler a try. The only thing stopping is that I do not want to waste the countless hours that I put in to create the "Hubs"

I don't think you'll see significant customizations until Ice Cream Sandwich and the next generation of tablets come out. If you look at the overall history of custom ROMs on Android, they've basically fallen into two camps:
1. Taking something from a newer device that's not officially available for given older device and porting it. That can be new versions of the OS itself, or it could be vendor customizations like newer versions of Sense in the HTC world. Right now, all Honeycomb tablets are getting fast updates to the latest version. As for vendor customizations, there aren't heavy customizations to begin with. Vendors are mostly competing on hardware design right now, throwing in a few widgets and apps that may or may not be useful. But usually customization ports stay within a brand (i.e., an older HTC Sense device gets a newer HTC Sense version). That can be for both technical and legal reasons (even within vendors it might be a legal gray area, but it's generally tolerated). But we're still in the first generation of Honeycomb tablets for all vendors, so even the small customizations that vendors are doing are already on the devices in question.
2. Building a customized ROM from the OS source, aka Cyanogen. Since Honeycomb isn't open source, no dice there. ICS is supposed to return to an open source license.
I don't mean to trivialize what the authors of the custom ROMs that do exist have accomplished. I haven't even tried them yet. There even may be significant improvements they have been able to do within the limits of what they have. But overall, it's going to be nothing like what exists on the phone side, where vendors are improving their custom skins from one generation to the next, there are 3+ major generations to work with, and the source is available. Tablets will get there in a generation or two.

Also remembr that the custom roms are deodexed. The hulu flash mod only plays well with the deodexed roms. But really there isnt much differences bc there is no source so that limits the dev capabilities for now
Sent from my Samsung Epic

ajamils said:
I am currently on latest version of Prime but very tempted to give Revoler a try. The only thing stopping is that I do not want to waste the countless hours that I put in to create the "Hubs"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What hubs do you speak of?

Rackers said:
What hubs do you speak of?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check the thread here.
Back to topic: I took the plunge and installed latest Revolver. So far, I have not found any difference between Revolver and Prime or maybe I just haven't tested it enough yet.

Have you noticed any difference in battery life between the two?

Rackers said:
Have you noticed any difference in battery life between the two?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really. Then again, I haven't used it much since I flashed revolver.

[Q] Custom rom on tablet vs custom rom on phone

Hey guys,
I have been through a plethora of custom ROMs on my galaxy s captivate - ranging from CM7 to MIUI and what not.
Some major features of those roms are:
-removed carrier bloatware
-improved speed
-custom user interfaces (such as CM7 and MIUI)
However, given the fact that the transformer does not include carrier crapware, does not suffer from performance issues, do you guys deem it worth it to install a custom firmware?
On a phone, once rooted you can easily flash between firmwares and such; however on this table you do need to go through the trouble of un-rooting for a simple software update.
Can you guys convince me that it is actually worth my time to install a custom firmware?
P.S. as the transformer pad stock firmware is already very snappy, do you notice performance improvements?
thanks a lot

Looking at the prime 1.8.2 page, there doesn't seem to be any jaw-dropping features. That is very unlike some phone custom roms;
where the moment you see the thread, you might twitch on the ground foaming at the mouth untill you get it running on your phone.

mediumsteak said:
On a phone, once rooted you can easily flash between firmwares and such; however on this table you do need to go through the trouble of un-rooting for a simple software update.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its no different on a tablet. I have never unroot to update firmware. My tablet was 3.0 when I bought it, its now ruining 3.2
You simply wait for the rooted/custom rom to implement the update than you flash. On the phone when you run custom rom you don't get ota update, you flash an updated version of the rom you are running its like that also on the tablet.
As far as different in rom between phone and tablet.
-phone custom rom usually get features and functions ported from other devices or they get lots of stuffs that's not native to the phone.
Take Cyanogen for ex, rich in features and functions. S truer custom rom.
-most tablet custom rom doesn't get much ported over but some does get things stock rom don't have. Example is rooted/custom rom like Prime, we've been enjoying netflix for a while now but stock rom just now getting it.
Tablet rom are mostly tweaked stock rom
I do wish there was cyanogen for the tf

Actually, CM7 doesn't have any ported UI, it uses ADW Launcher from the market.
Also, we may get touchwiz UX port very soon, there is a thread in the developers' subforum

I just rooted mine a couple days ago, then installed Prime for the NetFlix. Then the update comes out! Come on!! Not that I'm unhappy with the overclocking ability now... but COME ON! (in the voice of Gob).

There's not really a need to install a custom ROM since they're just slightly modded versions of the stock firmware. They usually just provide little fixes and updated firmware, which you'd get eventually anyway.

mediumsteak said:
Hey guys,
I have been through a plethora of custom ROMs on my galaxy s captivate - ranging from CM7 to MIUI and what not.
Some major features of those roms are:
-removed carrier bloatware
-improved speed
-custom user interfaces (such as CM7 and MIUI)
However, given the fact that the transformer does not include carrier crapware, does not suffer from performance issues, do you guys deem it worth it to install a custom firmware?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Part of the reason you aren't seeing really tweaked out ROMs on tablet is the fact that Google has not, and will not release the source code for Honeycomb. Once ice cream sandwich comes out and Asus releases the source watch the ROM love'n come flooding out of the gates. But until then meh. I'm on the fence on rooting mine since I desperately want Netflix on my transformer, but meh. Rather not brick it right now just to get another rebaked existing ROM.

A grateful NOOB says hello - and I could care less about an official ICS update

I rooted my phone last night and now I'm seeing just how amazing the ROMs are. My wife looks at me like I'm nuts when I tell her about it so I needed this place to share my excitement.
I'm using the overclocked ICS Multiple Flavors right now and I never want to go back! (To be on the safe side I stashed aside a factory backup and a backup of how I had the phone prior to installing the ROM.)
Now I really don't care if I get the official ICS update. Not after seeing what the developers can cook up.
Cheers!

While your enthusiasm for the dev of our phone is just, and we do have some great roms, I would hardly go as far as saying not to care for official ICS. Mostly because without Official ICS it is unlikely we will ever see 100% stable/functional ICS Roms
SkyICS is nice, but its NOT ICS, it's themed to look like ICS. BIIIIIG Difference.
Note: It's what I'm running and I love it, its great, but I still want ICS .

[Q] [i9023] ICS/2.3.6 based Roms, Manual ICS update, Titanium Backup

Hi guys sorry for the several topics in my subject line but there are several questions that I have.
So I just signed up because I'm a bit confused and I'm quite new to the scene. I actually posted this on another forum which I'm already a member of, but I felt it would be better posting here since this is obviously more specialised.
After reading the rules, I've realised that it's quite hard to do a search for existing topics with my questions. I've already tried to do individual searches on each topic though, with varying success.
I've just rooted my Nexus S (i9023, AUS version) for the first time simply because I wanted to be able to use DroidWall (to only allow certain apps to use data).
1) If I manually update to ICS, will I lose root?
2) Does installing a custom ROM cause you to lose all your data? - I've done some searching on this and it seems to depend. Some do and some don't. I don't quite get it though.
3) Kernels - seem to control battery life and how the operating system runs. This slightly confuses me because it makes me think, what affects battery life more: the kernel or the ROM?
4) Most people like to overclock their phones in the interest of power. Would it be reasonable to underclock it in the interest of battery life? Sometimes I don't think I really need 1GHz.
5) It seems like the OTA for ICS for i9023 has not been released yet but has been for i9020?
I'm trying to find the best 2.3.6 Custom ROM from here but none of these are 2.3.6 based! All of them are 2.3.4 or older. I'm hesitant upgrading to ICS for three reasons:
1) Hasn't been released OTA officially
2) Worried of app compatibility
3) Worried of shorter battery life
For these reasons, I'm looking for a 2.3.6 based custom ROM otherwise I'd be happy to look at ICS custom ROMs.
None of the ICS ROMs seem to have any distinctive features about them, especially after watching the video reviews. It's all pretty much "it's a great ROM that doesn't lag when browsing the web and it's fast". Nothing really distinguishes one from another.
Sorry for the mildly long post, but I'd rather ask as many questions as I can at a time rather than making a couple of threads for each. Hope I can get some help =)
Thanks in advance!

I bought 9023 in hk. Upgraded to ics by ota.
If you want, you may do it manually. Flash the rom by yourself. Ota is no longer available. Check it out at nexusshack.com
I don't have battery problem. But don't know why.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

xdaillum said:
Hi guys sorry for the several topics in my subject line but there are several questions that I have.
So I just signed up because I'm a bit confused and I'm quite new to the scene. I actually posted this on another forum which I'm already a member of, but I felt it would be better posting here since this is obviously more specialised.
After reading the rules, I've realised that it's quite hard to do a search for existing topics with my questions. I've already tried to do individual searches on each topic though, with varying success.
I've just rooted my Nexus S (i9023, AUS version) for the first time simply because I wanted to be able to use DroidWall (to only allow certain apps to use data).
1) If I manually update to ICS, will I lose root?
If it is the update you probably will (not 100% sure), if it is the full OTA you certainly will. But it is not a major issue either way, and i would actually recommend backing up with TB (AND a Nandroid), wiping everything and then installing the Full OTA ROM and just root again, then restore your backup.
2) Does installing a custom ROM cause you to lose all your data? - I've done some searching on this and it seems to depend. Some do and some don't. I don't quite get it though.
They will generally lose any system data, apps, modifications, etc. Titanium Backup will copy over most of it anyway, particularly apps and their settings/data. Keep in mind that you should always have a CWM backup (Nandroid) ready in case something goes wrong.
3) Kernels - seem to control battery life and how the operating system runs. This slightly confuses me because it makes me think, what affects battery life more: the kernel or the ROM?
Both. ROMs can do more or different functions which can cause battery drain. Kernels allow you to change your own settings (most of the time) to actually balance performance and drain. I would say at the moment with ICS, the kernel and the settings you give it is the biggest contributor.
4) Most people like to overclock their phones in the interest of power. Would it be reasonable to underclock it in the interest of battery life? Sometimes I don't think I really need 1GHz.
That is correct. Many people can get the same speed with a lower voltage, lowering battery drain. Others also use something called "LiveOC" and increase the clocks by 10% (or more), changing the bus speed and giving similar speeds to 1000mhz at only 880mhz, again saving power. Just remember every CPU batch has different variations - some can undervolt and overclock like crazy, whereas some struggle with a 5% increase.
5) It seems like the OTA for ICS for i9023 has not been released yet but has been for i9020?
The i9023 and i9020T has been released. The i9020A has not, and the same with the Nexus S 4G (D720 i believe). It sometimes doesnt show up though. Either try a manual command which i can't remember in the dialpad or just update manually (manually is best ).
I'm trying to find the best 2.3.6 Custom ROM from here but none of these are 2.3.6 based! All of them are 2.3.4 or older. I'm hesitant upgrading to ICS for three reasons:
1) Hasn't been released OTA officially
2) Worried of app compatibility
3) Worried of shorter battery life
For these reasons, I'm looking for a 2.3.6 based custom ROM otherwise I'd be happy to look at ICS custom ROMs.
None of the ICS ROMs seem to have any distinctive features about them, especially after watching the video reviews. It's all pretty much "it's a great ROM that doesn't lag when browsing the web and it's fast". Nothing really distinguishes one from another.
Sorry for the mildly long post, but I'd rather ask as many questions as I can at a time rather than making a couple of threads for each. Hope I can get some help =)
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lots of words, i'm getting a little confused up there. Anyway, if you are rooted (and i assume your bootloader is unlocked), there is nothing to worry about as long as you backup. I personally love ICS and have no issue with it, as do many others. A minority of people however tend to have some problems, whether its battery or force closes. My experience so far has been that a proper wipe fixes most of these anyway.
ICS is still new. Once Cyanogenmod 9 is officially released i'm sure we'll see much more variety than the same look and feel, as alot is based off their code. And also, practically no phones have ICS yet. I've not found app compatibility a problem though, i think the main gripe is viber (which should work soon).
I hope this can help you, just let us know if there is anything else you're after. Also, there is a TON of information around the site (and Nexus S forums in particular). A good amount of reading and going through a couple of pages of some of these threads can go a long way. That is why you came here after all, isn't it?

I got the OTA for ICS back around 20th Dec 2011, but I chose not to update it because I was going to be away from a computer for a few days and had no backup phone. When I wanted to update it a few days later, the update had disappeared from my phone so I looked it up online. Apparently the OTA disappeared for Nexus S's due to some bugs or incompatibility issues. I've never seen the update come up on my phone since. Even when I go to Settings->About phone->System update, it says "your system is up to date". So I've always been under the impression that ICS for Nexus S (at least for my variant, i9023) has never been re-released to us OTA.
Harbb, thanks for your answers. The only one I'm not so sure about is the underclocking one. It seems a little beyond me in terms of technicality. I am definitely interested in doing it though. Would you be able to tell me if adjusting clock speed requires an app?
I am rooted and bootloader is unlocked (I thought you could only root if bootloader was unlocked?).
So does that mean all these custom ROMs around at the moment are mostly based around Cyanogenmod, which is why they're very similar? As I was saying, I was looking at getting a custom ROM installed and noticed most of them are ICS custom ROMs, and the video reviews all say "this ROM is fast and does not lag when web browsing. It's a great ROM and it's fast and smooth."
The custom ROMs just don't seem to be "promoted" too well because I can't see what makes one better than the other, or what features of one custom ROM are intended to be the standout ones.
I notice you (Harbb) are using Stock ICS 4.0.3 (according to your sig) - so you are not using a custom ROM? Am I able to install a custom ICS ROM without first installing ICS? I am still running 2.3.6 at this point.
Viber does not work at the moment? That's not too bad. I can live with that.
I've done quite a bit of reading so far. It has certainly helped, but still a long way to go, but thanks for giving me a great start!
I will start backing up my apps using TB and CWM (Nandroid)!

xdaillum said:
I will start backing up my apps using TB and CWM (Nandroid)!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best line i've read in days
I have tried several custom ROMs once they started surfacing but i didn't feel like they gave me anything special enough to switch to right now and Stock is setup and running very nicely. Stock ICS colours are fine and other apps now can provide Notifications Widgets. I havn't noticed any particular differences in speed either.
Brainmasters ICS tweaks, custom kernel and Flavours of ICS runs beautifully. The OTA varies with where it shows up. To force a check, type this in dialer: *#*#checkin#*#* [AKA, *#*#2432546#*#* ]
If you are rooted it won't work anyway. Just update manually. There is no need to currently on ICS to flash custom ICS ROMs. I would advise that when going from GB to ICS though (and often between some custom ROMs) that you go into CWM and do a factory/data wipe and format /system. After backing up of course.
At the moment most are not based on CM9, however several do use bits and pieces of code (ie. notification power widgets) from it. Not sure why most ROM descriptions are the same
First thing i'd consider is getting a custom kernel, and then the NSTools app (market). Lots of stuff to mess around with and full control of the CPU (governors, IO, overclocking, undervolting, etc).

Harbb said:
Best line i've read in days
I have tried several custom ROMs once they started surfacing but i didn't feel like they gave me anything special enough to switch to right now and Stock is setup and running very nicely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree with u. for 4.0.3, stock is my favorite, sad to say that.
for 4.0.4, while stock for NS not available, IMM26 ROM ported from NS4G seems good, if you like the stock rom feel.

Hmm I bricked my phone.
I've done the Nandroid and Titanium Backup and have it sitting on my computer ready once I recover this damn thing. Following the backups, I attempted to manually update to ICS with the zip file on this page: http://www.androidcentral.com/how-manually-update-your-gsm-nexus-s-ice-cream-sandwich
Now I'm following these two threads to try and recover the phone:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1397393
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1396056
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20382688&postcount=16
Hopefully I will get this back up and working. I'm still confused as to why it got bricked though. Updated via clockworkmod "update from sdcard" and then rebooted system. After that, it just bricked. Can't get any lights to come up on the device whatsoever. Plugging it in to computer, wall charger, pressing all the buttons, taking the battery out and putting it back in.

Odd. Best of luck getting it working, i'm sure the resurrector will work for you so don't stress too much. That's the right file so i'll probably just put the issue on a bad flash or bad download (wise to hash check before flashing). At this point i'd say it's wise when you get it working again, just flash the Full OTA file, and do a wipe of /data, /cache, /system and /boot beforehand.
Sad to hear about your troubles buddy.

So it looks like everything worked out for me. I managed to restore my phone with the help of the threads above. I have to admit though, the guides given on this forum aren't too "complete" - there's always a step or two missing from the guide that the reader has to figure out themselves. And not all the files are provided in the topics either! I'm also kind of concerned why it seems so many people ended up bricking their phone like that. Quite concerning.
In the end, I managed to reflash the stock ICS ROM for i9023 Nexus S which I found in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1445635
So I scrapped the one that I downloaded initially from Android Central. The difference in size was surprisingly roughly 30MB (160MB instead of the 130MB Android Central one).
I'm just using stock ICS, but rooted. Downloaded a few apps which require root, but haven't tried adding any mods or kernels. I might look into that later. But it seems like with 4.0.4 coming out, there might be some interesting new additions!
Thanks for all your help!!

Did you flash this ics from stock recovery?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

Congratulations on resurrecting it! Are you guys saying that there is a risk of bricking a phone, while installing official update? I did a manual update, 3 weeks ago, unrooted, and ICS has been nothing but amazing for me.
I have a question. In case, I ever brick my I9023 (hope not).
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=20382688&postcount=16
This post states that I must be running Ubuntu on my PC. Does that mean I can't use Windows? And if I must use Linux, can I just do it with Wubi, or with Online Server?