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Hey guys,
Before you completely write off this thread, just know this is a serious inquiry and is coning from someone with experience in many different devices (rooting, flashing etc.)
My question is, are there any huge benefits to deviate from stock? The reason behind this question is that on the devices I have had in the past, most roms (and even themes) tend to end up trying their hardest to emulate the aosp experience. Some roms (cm7) even do this really well.
Since this device is the aosp experience, essentially being the flagship android device, what benefits would result in flashing something over stock? I know there are potentials for a little more snappiness, battery life, but are they big differences?
Basically I am new to this particular device, am happy with it, and just want to know if the custom software has really taken the phone to 11?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
Any input or recommendations are appreciated.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
Because this phone is AOSP, there is less of a reason to root and ROM. However, there are just a few things stock doesn't provide that I absolutely need (while you may not).
Such things are the notification widgets and BLN.
Other little tweaks I like is the built-in screenshot ability, long press back to kill apps, some status bar modding and a little underclocking.
As you can see, there is little benefit if these things aren't important to you as there isn't a MUST HAVE feature among us that requires root. I'd say BLN is a must have but I notice many people don't need or like it so again, it's all based on preference.
Most ROMs are basically updated versions of the stock experience.
Since I'm using the NxS I tried a lot of different ROMs, but only 3 are on my list that I'd come back to any day. Mostly because they have visible features/improvements and aren't "just" (don't take this negative) modified under the hood.
Those 3 are: Stock ROM, MIUI and CM. Stock ROM for being the source, MIUI for being the most themed ROM with a unique (yaya, I know iPhone-ish) look and CM for all it's changes and new additions (camera button, lockscreen etc). Not putting down the other AOSP ROMs out there, but they don't give me personally enough to choose them over Stock.
So as far as underclokcing roms... large battery improvements?
What is BLN?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
acPIZZA said:
So as far as underclokcing roms... large battery improvements?
What is BLN?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
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BLN = Backlight Notifications
This is when the soft keys (Back, Menu, Search, Home) on the front of the phone light up when there is a notification. An invaluable feature if you ask me considering Samsung always skimps out on the notification LED.
As for underclocking, I find that I can underclock less on my Nexus S than with my Captivate. I could underclock my Captivate to almost -150s before a reboot while I can only do -50s with the Nexus. As such, I don't think it's that great of an improvement but every little bit counts right? I can see many people thinking -50 isn't worth the hassle but it could just be my phone that is adverse to UC.
acPIZZA said:
So as far as underclokcing roms... large battery improvements?
What is BLN?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BLN = BackLight Notification, basically the 4 software buttons below the display will light up/blink on a notification.
Underclocking alone doesn't slice the bread, you need to undervolt to save meaningful amounts of battery life. Using the kernel in my signature compared to stock I'm saving noticable amounts of battery life (no, it won't turn your Android phone into a dumbphone, in terms of battery life). Head over to development section for more kernels.
/EDIT: ok Enhanced is taking care of that now
Awesome. Sounds good and the BLN are a great idea.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
Hello Defy fellows!
I'm new here and to all Android ROM flashing thing. I own a Defy for a couple of weeks now, it runs Android Éclair and I'm looking forward to put on a nicer ROM on it. It is my first Android smartphone, I've come from a sad Symbian 2.3 Nokia.
So: I'm not familiar with any of the ROMs that lots of users here have been playing around and I believe that there could be really interesting inputs for the interested who are new to those developments.
I've been reading on the procedures and what's involved to flash new ROMs to the Defy and I couldn't help to notice that there are quite a few custom ROMs available.
I wonder which ones are the most stable and reliable. Also, which ones have the best performance and deliver higher battery autonomy. I would not like much experimental things, but mostly one with less bugs and problems, to carry on with it and don't bother for a while, until there is a major update or something.
I will use it here on Brazil and I expect it to not lose any functionality regarding GSM, 3G and GPS. I don't know exactly what is involved on this aspect and what are the limitations but I can say to you that my network uses 850 and 2100 MHz for 3G and 1800 MHz for GSM.
It should also support portuguese, even that there's just the spelling dictionary.
I'm sorry if there are dumb questions above, I simply don't know what can be a problem if I change the native ROM to a customized/tweaked one.
I believe that there are patches to do almost anything, but I would like to not need to worry about how to fix issues on my phone's system...
At first, I am tempted to get the main CM7 ROM but I'm creating this thread really to explore the differences and comparisons among the available options.
I am also strongly considering undervolting/overclocking the CPU
Looking forward to your thoughts!
Regards!
BTW: my Defy has Bayer Green lenses!
ursoouindio said:
BTW: my Defy has Bayer Green lenses!
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Click to collapse
bayer is red lense
SOC is green
remuseu said:
bayer is red lense
SOC is green
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looking against the light I see green and yellow shinning... and Catlog reports is as being Bayer.
But that's ok, I wont rely that much on which color it seems to me without having something different on my other hand to compare with.
So, you have Bayer Yellow lens.
Well, thanks...
I didn't even know that there were a third color for the lenses....
But I think that isn't important , its all about the module, Bayer or SOC.
i will recomend you to use ms2ginger... it's a fully operational rom with gingerbread + motoblur, can record at 720p (HD), it's fast and have dlna option to share things with pc, laptops and LED tv.... ohh, it's have support for portuguese language too
espaciosalter20 said:
i will recomend you to use ms2ginger... it's a fully operational rom with gingerbread + motoblur, can record at 720p (HD), it's fast and have dlna option to share things with pc, laptops and LED tv.... ohh, it's have support for portuguese language too
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MS2Ginger is a very nice ROM. It's my current ROM.
ursoouindio said:
I wonder which ones are the most stable and reliable. Also, which ones have the best performance and deliver higher battery autonomy. I would not like much experimental things, but mostly one with less bugs and problems, to carry on with it and don't bother for a while, until there is a major update or something.
I am also strongly considering undervolting/overclocking the CPU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I see, here two common options for you:
I will vote for Barebones Froyo,
-stable Froyo, have no bugs
-without Blur
-best battery (1-2% per night, 2-3 days of average using 3g
-you can overclock it with bootmenu preinstaled
-as good bonus, u'll have many other little things which will make your every day use more enjoyable (720p playing, widescreen recording etc)
CM7 - bleeding edge, you'll have latest software, and latest bugs.
Actually, for me, CM7 give no advantage in every day use.
Someone will say perfomance, but its only syntetic tests (cheating), you'll have no real improvments, cuz hardware stays same.
You've given me an idea.
Would it be useful if I made a spreadsheet/googledoc listing all available roms which os they using, stable, major bugs etc?
what is ms2ginger?
kimagure01 said:
what is ms2ginger?
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check yourself....http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1140839
If u need better battery life(in stand by mode) u must use Barebones froyo ROM.
If u need better performance u can consider using WIUI or cm7.
If u need more new feature u can use cm7.
If u need more moto staff u can use ms2ginger.
For me I am using WIUI and i would say it is a great rom if u like miui's interface and the battery life is good for me(1-2 days) also I don't need new features except crystal talk plus . But I guess MIUI's guys will be add it soon.
My friends, thanks for the replies so far!
Can you enlighten me on what are these tweaks that gets better performance for CM7 over barebones?
As I understood, ms2ginger has the motoblur thing, right? I don't care much about it and I think that I probably would be happier without it as I believe it impacts considerably on the overall performance.
Comparing CM7 and MIUI, which are the most elementary differences?
Sorry for the lots of questions, but there it is hard to someone new keep track on all those developments.
Don't forget to give a try to MS2Ginger, it's a very good ROM and it's in RC2 phase. It has very good battery perfomance and also gives you 720p recording and the new motoblur. Right now it's the ROM I am using and I feel very good with it.
miui
why no one say something bout MIUI?
i've been using it since i got my Defy.
and so far, its a great ROM and nice also.
and good to showoff to iPhone fag
ursoouindio said:
My friends, thanks for the replies so far!
Can you enlighten me on what are these tweaks that gets better performance for CM7 over barebones?
As I understood, ms2ginger has the motoblur thing, right? I don't care much about it and I think that I probably would be happier without it as I believe it impacts considerably on the overall performance.
Comparing CM7 and MIUI, which are the most elementary differences?
Sorry for the lots of questions, but there it is hard to someone new keep track on all those developments.
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Click to collapse
CM7 have no moto staff that improve performance also gingerbread have a better performance. I guess CM7's developers optimized drivers to get much better performance over CM7. MIUI is base on CM7 so there are no much difference of performance. The differences of CM7 and MIUI is they use the different shell(you can read as UI) and also MIUI doesn't use the latest source of CM7 so it may have more bugs and do not have some newest features. I perfer WIUI (mod of MIUI) because it is stable and it's easy to use
Barebones is really insane in battery life !!! it has been 12 hours ..... since and still i m on 90% but though it seems that the older or newer sim it really has a greater impact on battery life .... older seems eats up quickly whereas newer sim they use a lot less battery
joydeep1985 said:
Barebones is really insane in battery life !!! it has been 12 hours ..... since and still i m on 90% but though it seems that the older or newer sim it really has a greater impact on battery life .... older seems eats up quickly whereas newer sim they use a lot less battery
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can confirm the sim effect...i too have lot better battery life after change of sim...am on bbfroyo...amazing rom...15 hours..lot of smses...few calls...an hour of chess plus quite a bit of aimless playing around with the phone...still 78% battery left...amazing
kevin_diu, thanks for the answer, I was wondering on this kind of relation between them...
Wouldn't it be possible to get the same shell as MIUI while using CM7?
joydeep1985, that is really incredible if you get that much battery from this smartphone. How's the performance on it?
I just don't get the sim issue, what is that?
Confused!
joydeep1985 said:
Barebones is really insane in battery life !!! it has been 12 hours ..... since and still i m on 90% but though it seems that the older or newer sim it really has a greater impact on battery life .... older seems eats up quickly whereas newer sim they use a lot less battery
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! BB Froyo 157 gave me 12 hours of life from 100%-0% I can't believe how all of you get so much battery life! I'm back on WIUI and I get 18 hours from full to zero now.
I'm grabbing one for my daughter today and she is going to want me to root, and flash a custom rom.
How stable is 4.2 and 4.3?
What roms/kernel combinations give the best battery life?
It's been a long time since I've used Odin "I think it was my galaxy s4g" since I've used it. The YouTube video under the how to post makes it look pretty easy.
Sent from my Nexus 4
4.2 is pretty stable, although the trade off is shaky WiFi to 3g to 4g hand offs.. Its pretty much the same for 4.3 ROMs as well.. 4.2 is a little more polished compared to some of the small bugs that still are being worked out in 4.3 ... Both are 100% better then touchwiz IMHO. Hope that helps.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
---------- Post added at 10:20 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:18 AM ----------
Just use the stock kernals that come packed in cm 4.2 or 4.3.. And battery like in 4.2 is on par if not better than stock touchwiz.. 4.3 has a bit to go in that category
Sent from my SCH-I535 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Tunderpimp said:
I'm grabbing one for my daughter today and she is going to want me to root, and flash a custom rom.
How stable is 4.2 and 4.3?
What roms/kernel combinations give the best battery life?
It's been a long time since I've used Odin "I think it was my galaxy s4g" since I've used it. The YouTube video under the how to post makes it look pretty easy.
Sent from my Nexus 4
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Click to collapse
What you're asking is a very subjective question. I'd say most of the roms are nice to run and it really matters what features you and your daughter are looking for. AOSP offers a pure Google experience, but you're missing out on some great features touchwiz has to offer. There are good things associated with both options that might weigh you to one side or another.
Basically, I think factors that affect battery life the most aren't rom and kernel related, but applications running on your phone. I find any custom kernel you run will operate more efficiently than a stock kernel. You may notice a slight increase in battery life, but you'll definitely notice a boost in performance.
I'd recommend not relying on what people tell you are good roms, because everyone is going to have a different experience as to which is the best, you're basically going to get a bunch of answers to the same question. Even though our phones are the same, minor hardware and cpu differences could make one rom spectacular on one phone, and cause lag and frustration on another. Trying out roms and playing with them is part of the experience of finding the perfect balance between battery life and performance for your phone.
Odin is extremely easy to use, just follow the directions exactly as stated and you shouldn't have any issues.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
I understand what you're saying I know with my phone Franco kernel only runs one core when the phone is a sleep and two with the ui and trinity is full performance. I wasn't sure if there was something like that here.
How stable stuff is really isn't a opinion.
Sent from my Nexus 4.
Tunderpimp said:
I understand what you're saying I know with my phone Franco kernel only runs one core when the phone is a sleep and two with the ui and trinity is full performance. I wasn't sure if there was something like that here.
How stable stuff is really isn't a opinion.
Sent from my Nexus 4.
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Click to collapse
You have a good premise, but stability is also linked to user error most of the time, unless you're talking about AOSP nightlies. If someone tells you they had a horrible experience on a certain rom, it's hard to take their word for it because you have no idea what other modifications they made to a rom, or if they followed flashing procedures correctly. It's not fair to the developer of a rom to have somebody who messed up their phone talk badly about it. It steers away a potential user from a rom choice and frustrates developers who put countless hours into their rom.
As far as your kernel question goes, I would look at the governor options available as that's what controls your cpu. You can gear any kernel to be more efficient or battery friendly with an app like set cpu. Ktoonsez and zues kernel have many governor choices available, as lean kernel would be much more stock like, but leaner. A governor such as pegasusq will control both your cores and only turn your second on if needed.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2
I know the n5 on cm11 is very fast, but I just wanted to know is there any little tweaks to make the rom even better / faster?
dhalham said:
I know the n5 on cm11 is very fast, but I just wanted to know is there any little tweaks to make the rom even better / faster?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tring another custom rom can improve the user experience for instance
Some ROMs have a mod to improve the scrolling cache. You can also add some tweaks / features through Xposed, flash a custom kernel and so on... A lot of things to try actually ^^
Hmm better anything to improve performance or smoothness?
a different rom and kernel than cm. i wouldnt ever call cm fast or on top in performance. cm is more bloated then anything else. but if all youre looking for is mods, then cm is good.
Reduce animations, f2fs.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Already have , I was just wondering how to get of the very little lags that come now and then
dhalham said:
Already have , I was just wondering how to get of the very little lags that come now and then
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
go away from cm
Why? Is other roms drastically faster?
AOSP!
If they are much better, can you tell me why? Also, would you recommend me any rom
dhalham said:
If they are much better, can you tell me why? Also, would you recommend me any rom
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It's a nexus device. Just use stock. It's a good as it gets.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
jd1639 said:
It's a nexus device. Just use stock. It's a good as it gets.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
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Click to collapse
Not true. Google's ROM is optimized for certain uses, mainly just general use. Different custom ROMs are developed for different types of uses.
One reason there are no best ROM threads allowed. Different users prefer different ROMs because they use their phones in different ways. It is also part of the fun of experimenting. You can see how different ROMs react to your personal usage and most people usually settle with the one that fits them best, except flashaholics. Had my phone less than a month, went through about five ROMs, 4 custom and stock. Finally settled on slimkat as I like the features.
This also holds true for kernels.
If you want a rom that's basically stock with a few improvements in key areas with great performance and batt life, I suggest going Purity Rom + Code Blue. The kernel is optional as it also works well with Franco
Hey guys.. Returned after a long time on XDA.. Was using unrooted nexus since a year now..
Planning to unlock bootloader and get a custom kernel for my n5 currently on lollipop having LRX210..
Which would be the best kernel for stock ROM..?
Sent from my Nexus 5 on 5.0 using XDA.
-Harsh- said:
Hey guys.. Returned after a long time on XDA.. Was using unrooted nexus since a year now..
Planning to unlock bootloader and get a custom kernel for my n5 currently on lollipop having LRX210..
Which would be the best kernel for stock ROM..?
Sent from my Nexus 5 on 5.0 using XDA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Best" ROM.
There is no such thing as a best ROM. The question itself is ambiguous. "Best" is obviously a subjective term.
What I want from a ROM may well differ from what you want from a ROM, ergo - what is best for me could be worst for you.
If you are asking what the most popular ROMs are, or which ROMs people are using, you can see which threads stay around on the first few pages (and have the most posts) in the Android Development or Original Android Development forums. You can also see what other people are running by reading the What are you running on your Nexus 5 thread.
If you are asking which is the most stable, being a Nexus device - they're all pretty stable.
If you are asking which is best on Battery, ROMs only affect battery if they have a feature that is badly coded. You will likely be able to read about this in the ROM threads. ROMs do not impact battery life. The only impact to battery life are your apps, your settings, how you use the phone and mostly, environmental issues such as Phone Signal.
For tips about improving battery life, please read [Battery Life Help] Troubleshoot battery issues here!
"Best" Kernel
Also, please note that as above, "best" is still subjective. What we all want from a kernel is different. Again, many people have the misconception that Kernels affect battery life. Let's get this cleared up. Although Kernel devs will build in optimisations and efficiencies that will improve battery life, these are very, VERY tiny...and if 1 kernel has these optimisations, they likely all have.
People will often say "Kernel x is better than kernel y for battery life". This is actually wrong. Kernels respond to user settings. Setting up the governor to favour either battery life or performance is simple enough to do, you just have to do some learning. The reason people think Kernel x is better than y is because developers set their kernels up with their preferred governor settings. This is what we refer to as out-of-the-box settings. The out-of-the-box settings for kernel x may well produce better battery results than the out-of-the-box settings for kernel y, which favour performance. The fact is, you as the user have the ability to tune kernel x or y to perform the same, be that battery or performance - so start learning how to do this yourselves - that way, you can choose the kernel based on the FEATURES you want, and not the fictional performance benefits of one kernel over another.
Hope this helps
rootSU said:
"Best" ROM.
There is no such thing as a best ROM. The question itself is ambiguous. "Best" is obviously a subjective term.
What I want from a ROM may well differ from what you want from a ROM, ergo - what is best for me could be worst for you.
If you are asking what the most popular ROMs are, or which ROMs people are using, you can see which threads stay around on the first few pages (and have the most posts) in the Android Development or Original Android Development forums. You can also see what other people are running by reading the What are you running on your Nexus 5 thread.
If you are asking which is the most stable, being a Nexus device - they're all pretty stable.
If you are asking which is best on Battery, ROMs only affect battery if they have a feature that is badly coded. You will likely be able to read about this in the ROM threads. ROMs do not impact battery life. The only impact to battery life are your apps, your settings, how you use the phone and mostly, environmental issues such as Phone Signal.
For tips about improving battery life, please read [Battery Life Help] Troubleshoot battery issues here!
"Best" Kernel
Also, please note that as above, "best" is still subjective. What we all want from a kernel is different. Again, many people have the misconception that Kernels affect battery life. Let's get this cleared up. Although Kernel devs will build in optimisations and efficiencies that will improve battery life, these are very, VERY tiny...and if 1 kernel has these optimisations, they likely all have.
People will often say "Kernel x is better than kernel y for battery life". This is actually wrong. Kernels respond to user settings. Setting up the governor to favour either battery life or performance is simple enough to do, you just have to do some learning. The reason people think Kernel x is better than y is because developers set their kernels up with their preferred governor settings. This is what we refer to as out-of-the-box settings. The out-of-the-box settings for kernel x may well produce better battery results than the out-of-the-box settings for kernel y, which favour performance. The fact is, you as the user have the ability to tune kernel x or y to perform the same, be that battery or performance - so start learning how to do this yourselves - that way, you can choose the kernel based on the FEATURES you want, and not the fictional performance benefits of one kernel over another.
Hope this helps
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Click to collapse
I know this.. Got your point, Visiting XDA like after a year almost so forgot how even I used to answer to such stupid questions.. Will go through kernels.. Want kernel just for root and recovery and undervolting..
I would change it to say which is the most stable kernel with the stock ROM?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
-Harsh- said:
I know this.. Got your point, Visiting XDA like after a year almost so forgot how even I used to answer to such stupid questions.. Will go through kernels.. Want kernel just for root and recovery and undervolting..
I would change it to say which is the most stable kernel with the stock ROM?
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They're all pretty stable. Personally I prefer to use ElementalX, but really just look for features and try
rootSU said:
They're all pretty stable. Personally I prefer to use ElementalX, but really just look for features and try
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm thanks
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app