Suggestions for Upgrading ROM, Please - EVO Shift 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I have been using SupremeSense in my Evo Shift 4G. I used MikTweaks to turn off pretty much all eye candy and remove the startup animation. So, eyecandy is really not a big deal to me.
Since the battery isn't huge, I am looking for a ROM that is as battery miserly as possible. I read that Android 4.3 Jellybean introduced a huge improvement in battery life. Am I correct that a ROM based on that version would be the best on battery life?
As a noob to the Android phone world, I was really focused on making sure all the basic features of the phone work. Now that I have lived with the phone for a while, I realize that I almost never use WiMax. So, if I have to give up WiMax, I don't think that would be a big deal.
I really do not like touch screens -- which is why I chose this as my first Android phone.
For practical reasons, I would like to not have the volume hardware buttons change my volume. If it is possible, what I would really like is for the volume rocker to move whatever slider on the screen has focus -- if any. Any advise on accomplishing that would also be appreciated... Using the d-pad would be an acceptable alternative for that.
I want to use A2SD, preferably on an Ext2 partition. My rusty memory thinks I read somewhere that becomes included in Android at some point and only has to be added for older versions. My google karma is not getting me an answer on that though...
Looking for a kernel that is swap enabled, so I can use swap on a swap partition.

Related

[Q] To root or not to root... newbie questions

Hello All,
I am new to the forum. And the more I read on this forum and others re: rooting, the less I feel I understand. I'm decent on computers but tech speak (as I call it) somewhat eludes me. I posted this on another forum and no one has really answered my questions. Hopefully you all can give me succinct and simple answers/advice.
I have a G2 that I adore. The only thing I hate is the bloatware that came on it. I want to get rid of the crap. In searching methods to do so I learned about rooting. So now I am on the fence as to whether or not I want to root or not.
I have heard that someone people experience better performance when they root, but not many go into specifics on what kind of enhanced performance they noticed (eg. internet speed, call clarity, battery life, etc.). If I could get rid of the bloatware, get faster performance (especially when web browsing), and other benefits I wouldn't mind figuring out how to root. What kind of benefits do you notice with rooting? Is it worth rooting since it has been announced that a new version (gingerbread) is supposed to be coming out soon, or is this new version not that much of a big deal?
Is there a program or app (hopefully in the market) that will root for me? If so can it also unroot and bring me back to my original state? Is rooting that easy?
Also what is a ROM, and what does it mean to flash? I semi understand what this is. I'm not confident in my understanding of it though. I understand it to be a file or app that can alter phone settings once rooted. I do think the actual meaning and purpose of ROMs go deeper than that, but a little clarity would be helpful.
Lastly, what does clocking out mean? I have seen a few charts, and people throwing out numbers and saying they are impressive but no one describes what clocking out means. It seem to be something involving speed, but speed in what aspect (eg. web browsing?).
I have never rooted a phone before, but I am willing to try it out if the rewards and enhancements are that much greater. And I also like to tinker with and fully utilize and understand my favorite gadgets from time to time.
Android is a Linux OS. Having root access is like having admin access in Windows. You can modify the system in any way you want. You can do temp root on the G2 but with temp root, all the bloatware you have will come back after a reboot (to my understanding, please correct me if I'm wrong.)
There are plenty of guides to doing a full complete root. It includes flashing an HBOOT (the screen you get when you turn the phone on by pressing the back arrow) and that can brick your phone if done wrong. READ! READ! READ!
Flashing a ROM is like installing an OS on a computer. There are plenty of Fro-Yo (2.2 ROMS) Fro-Yo with HTC Sense on top or even Gingerbread ROMs (like CyanogenMod 7 nightlies.) You can install any of them but make sure the ROM comes from the G2 section of the forum to avoid any problems.
In my experience, Custom ROMs are MUCH faster than stock. All those extra things that they tweak/add really makes a difference. I rooted two android phones before and Custom ROMs always make the phone much more enjoyable.
Overclocking or clocking is setting the speed of the CPU. Every phone (even if they are the same phone) has a slight difference in the CPU. Some can clock higher than others and remain stable. Overclocking helps in CPU intensive apps like web browsing, and games. It makes the experience much smoother. The side effect is decreased battery life (since you are over clocking past the factory settings).
This is all I can explain to you. Hope someone else who is more experienced in Android helps you.
Thank you so much! A lot of what you said just helped make everything I have been reading make a little more sense. Thank you soo much! Here is another question what is S-Off? I have seen it in a ton of places now since researching further into rooting.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=789498

What is the deal with CM7?

TB is my very first android, and i have come a long way, but maybe not long enough
as i can not for the life of me understand why everyone nut over the rom dubbed as cm7?
why???
I have been on almost single rom on the TB, and countless updates on each of them..
what is so special about CM7? do you prefer running linux?? why not run windows 3.1 on your quad core computers?
is it nostalgic?? or does it simply remind you of your ex girlfriend that you loved?
I know the dev team for the CM7 works very hard but so does every other dev.
So is it because cyanogen mod are simply better developers, and with their code other devs could build their rom with their findings..
i need to know, in order to get to the promise land
I guess some people hate anything other than stock android. But tbh I can't stand stock android. It is so boring and not polished.sense is so nice. But cyanogenmod is really fast and responsive. And battery life is a factor
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
i'm sure a full fledged cm7 has good battery life.
not the current one. everything else seems to have better battery life
Its not bloated with extra crap. I love sense but to me CM7 always seems to be the fastest rom I run on my TB. It started out really popular with the TB because it was the only way for people to get gingerbread on their TB. It has grown so much and is finally, in my opinion nearly perfect. Its been a great trip and people have stayed with it till now and it has been well worth the wait. Stock android(for the most part) is a nice breath of fresh air.
droidisftw said:
I guess some people hate anything other than stock android. But tbh I can't stand stock android. It is so boring and not polished.sense is so nice. But cyanogenmod is really fast and responsive. And battery life is a factor
Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not really stock android. It's close, but there's many improvements that work well with the system. OMFGB is much more vanilla than CM7. It's also 100% opensource (unlike sense roms and aosp roms like miui) which is useful if you care about more than the rom because you like to hack around on the source and don't trust certain roms like miui (no offense, but I am not using a rom made by chinese with no source given, just too creepy for me as far as how much control you are giving them aside from the fact they give back nothing to the community).
For the OP's information, there's plenty of information out there (including articles on wired and many screen casts on youtube) about CM7, besides their own site/wiki/forums/irc channel
there is much about cm7 that you don't know.
start here for a very small list of features... http://www.cyanogenmod.com/about/features
but this list barely scratches the surface. none of my favorite features are even listed here, and the cyanogen settings menu has literally hundreds (thousands?) of additional modifications you can make to your device.
i flashed cm7 for the first time about a month ago, and i won't ever be able to run sense again. i've been converted
phooky said:
there is much about cm7 that you don't know about.
start here for a very small list of features... http://www.cyanogenmod.com/about/features
but this list barely scratches the surface. none of my favorite features are even listed here, and the cyanogen settings menu has literally hundreds of additional modifications you can make to your device.
i flashed cm7 for the first time about a month ago, and i won't ever be able to run sense again. i've been converted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah tons of features you only wish other roms had most of the time. I love the media track skip via the volume buttons with the screen off (similar to what blackberry does). Makes it way easier to switch songs or repeat one when you are running.
Its cause we want android without all the battery hogging and performance issues associated with crap like motoblur, sense, touchwiz etc. Plus cm7 has so much more features than being basically a asop rom. Its provides a lot of customization with your phone, which is what andrioid is all about.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk
Everything just works on CM7. I can use wimotes for my emulators.
Sent from my ThunderBolt using XDA Premium App
I like the simplicity of stock-ish Android and all the tweaks and customizations CM offers. Sense is nice and all but way too heavy for my enjoyment.
I've only used CM7 on my nook color and was very impressed by its responsiveness and options. I heard of using Android OS's with overlapping UI but I figured this would only hamper on the overall user experience. I'm def open to different versions of Android for tablets. Any suggestions?
Hello my name is _________, and I'm addicted to CM7..............
Another cool factor is that it's available for so many different phones. I had CM7 on my EVO with Sprint. When I got my Thunderbolt I immediately rooted it and flashed CM7. There is a CM7 build for every major carrier in the U.S., So as long as you chose a supported phone your not stuck with some crappy user interface or an older version of Android. The main reason I chose the Thunderbolt over other Verizon 4G phones was that there was a CM7 ROM for it, but then again I'm an addict.
ddgarcia05 said:
Everything just works on CM7. I can use wimotes for my emulators.
Sent from my ThunderBolt using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
really? Then why are there all these threads about what is broken on cm7?
to prove my point of cm7 not being all that great on the thunderbolt, from page 1 of the thunderbolt general forums right now:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1185757
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1185459
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1163043
Some of my favorite features:
- skip tracks w/vol keys
- swipe notification bar to adjust brightness
- lockscreen gestures
- custom long press home/menu/search options
- long press back to kill current app
- hundreds of themes easily switched via Theme Chooser
- incoming calls in background when screen on
- permission management
- any app to sd
- built in performance and overclocking settings
...just to name a few. The real question is why do so many people have such a deep hatred of CM7? If you don't like the ROM you don't like it. Why make such a big stink out of it? If others want to like it then let them be
^ Shift Faced
i remember putting CM on the first phone i rooted, the MyTouch 3G... and it was the only one i ever used on that phone. This time around, i've experimented and tried out just about every single ROM for the TB. This time i would say that Synergy is my fav only because i managed to get better battery life with it then CM7(and its overclocked).
that plus, i know its ridiculous but i prefer for the green light to come on when the battery is at 100%, not 90%(yes i know that's just how AOSP ROMs are). im just use to going "oh green light, time to unplug".
jesusice said:
Some of my favorite features:
- skip tracks w/vol keys
- swipe notification bar to adjust brightness
- lockscreen gestures
- custom long press home/menu/search options
- long press back to kill current app
- hundreds of themes easily switched via Theme Chooser
- incoming calls in background when screen on
- permission management
- any app to sd
- built in performance and overclocking settings
...just to name a few. The real question is why do so many people have such a deep hatred of CM7? If you don't like the ROM you don't like it. Why make such a big stink out of it? If others want to like it then let them be
^ Shift Faced
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
who says we hate cm7? I just said it wasn't the best thunderbolt ROM. It's quite buggy as far as cm7 builds go.
I guess my point is that if this is your first time using cm7, would you be defending it as much.
nrfitchett4 said:
who says we hate cm7? I just said it wasn't the best thunderbolt ROM. It's quite buggy as far as cm7 builds go.
I guess my point is that if this is your first time using cm7, would you be defending it as much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like I said, if you like it you like it. If you don't you don't. Starting threads calling out a particular ROM seems a little haterish.
^ Shift Faced
jesusice said:
Like I said, if you like it you like it. If you don't you don't. Starting threads calling out a particular ROM seems a little haterish.
^ Shift Faced
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think he was just looking for pros and cons of the ROM more than calling it out.
Thread is not titled
"CM7 Sucks!"
I rarely use CM, but I think it is a really good ROM, with a good team behind it. Also, basically anyone who is into rooting/romming/modding their Android phone owes something to the CM team, in one way or another. I personally don't like it because, and this is hard to explain, it is almost too good. Lol. It feels like a stock, out-of-box software. I know there are tons of settings, and it runs great often times, but it just lacks the pizazz that I'm looking for. Not like overly flashy drag your phone down kinda stuff, but just a little something extra.
That being said, I, again, really appreciate the rom. I am currently using it on my Thunderbolt until we get some ROMs based off of the OTA if it ever comes, and have also used it on my D1 and Incredible.

[Q] Samsung Droid Charge ROM suggestion?

I'm looking for a rom that's debloated and optimized. I HATE lag. I'd prefer a gingerbread rom if any of them work properly. I also happen to like the default Charge interface (touchwiz?) quite well, although I've never used the default gingerbread interface.
Suggestions? Mainly what I'm looking for is speed, stability, and a good UI. Something that would help as well is if the rom is good at increasing battery life. Battery life is my only real gripe with this phone. I've made decent use of tasker to shut down gps, bluetooth amongst other things to increase it, but it still pales to my old bb phones possible 2.5 days with low use. While battery life is my main gripe, I'd take extra speed more than anything else. I hate waiting for things to load.
Suggestions?
Thanks in advance.
-Sootah
No suggestions?
Still nada? All I want is a debloated ROM with Gingerbread and TouchWiz - unless Gingerbread's UI is better since I happen to be quite happy with TouchWiz.
I can make one I dont have a charge but I can make a touchwiz gingerbread debloated rom
Sent from my HTC Evo 4G
Interesting. How does one go about making a ROM, anyway? I program plenty, but it's all C# .NET and PHP here and there. I have no real experience with anything else.
I also only have a cursory understanding of Linux. I can use the desktop distros well enough, even troubleshoot issues here an there, but my understanding of how the system works is frankly pathetic. Give me almost any problem on a Windows sys and I can fix it, but with Linux I don't know my head from my hind-end.
I'll PM you.
Anyone else have suggestions? Also - I'd love suggestions on good reading material for understanding an d working with Linux. I've played with using it as my desktop OS a few times, but never see the point in continuing to use it since I either have to dual-boot, or run a lot of my apps in a VM that's running some versin of Windows. The only dedicated task I've ever used Linux for is to crack the occasional wireless network.

[Q] What is a "ROM"?

I keep on seeing such word in half of everyones sigs, It seems to be related to phones because theres always a phone model near the word. So what is a "ROM"?
It's essentially the operating system that your phone is currently running. It's like windows XP or windows 7 on your laptop. Windows itself is the operating system, as is any rom on a phone.
The key things about ROMS are how they can be customized (especially with android) to your hearts content. Let me explain;
A stock ROM is the rom you get from the manufacturer/network. Say you buy a phone, you turn it on, the interface you look at, the settings you change, EVERYTHING is the rom, and seeing as you havent changed it, it's the 'stock' ROM, it's the one made by the manufacturer.
But with a custom rom, you can take a phone you buy from outside and remove any limitations imposed by the manufacturer/network you got the phone from by installing a custom rom someone else made. It can have any number of changes from the stock rom, from just looking a bit different and being a bit smoother to completely overhauling your phone and making it feel like a brand new machine.
To install a custom rom requires a few things, read around more and when you've found one you want for your phone look for the specific instructions for that rom but it usually boils down to
-root your phone (actually you only usually end up having to do this the first time, if you flash a rom which has root, which most do. Read on, i explain what that means)
-install rom
-done
There may be extra steps involved but they just expand on that
if you root, it's is essentially a process to gain complete control over your phone, even to the most basic 'root' level) your phone and install a custom ROM, you have FAR more control over your phone, which is fair, it's YOUR phone.
Say you got a HTC phone because you liked the specifications, but didn't like the interface you get with a HTC phone (called Sense UI on a htc btw) and you like the look of basic android instead, install a custom rom which is based on plain android.
(using a launcher can change the interface and you needn't be rooted and have a custom rom installed to install a launcher from the market) (a launcher is something that completely changes the homescreen interface for you, and there a TON out there, that's a whole other topic i wont go into, but google it and search xda for more info. Infact there's a list on xda of nearly ALL homescreen launchers)
Say you wanted better battery life, a faster phone, or countless other tweaks applied to your phone to improve it; a custom rom is specifically designed for improving the phone compared to the stock ROM.
Individual tweaks can also improve your phone experience, but they are applied on top of your current rom (any they must be compatible with your device and then the rom your running, but when you read around you'll understand whether something is compatible)
Hope that helped, lemme know if it didn't
Have fun, and read around... always the best way to get more knowledge
yup, just to expand on that and offer a more technical side to the ROM and a bit about its history...
ROM is Read Only Memory
back in the day devices had ROM and RAM (random access memory)
The ROM was where the OS lived, if you hard reset or took the battery out it would always revert to the state in the ROM. In the old days any customisation was kept in RAM, this was not persistent and would mean you could lose everything if you pulled the battery out and didn't have it saved to an SD card, you could divide up the RAM in to storage and program memory, some devices had two batteries, one external the other internal which whilst not powerful enough to run the phone it did give it enough power to keep the memory active and thus stop you losing your data!
So anyhow, at this point in time around WM-2002 HTC had pumped out several devices, the mobile carrier O2 had them rebranded and sold as XDAs (that's partly where XDA-dev comes from) and came to the attention us, and XDA-developers was born!
So development began (consolidated)and because you were developing the OS to be flashed to the ROM, they become known as ROMs
even to this day its fairly accurate, the only difference is that from WM5 it was compulsory to have persistent storage, which is where NAND came in to the picture.
So there you have it, ROM RAM and NAND (Storage) all under one Roof!
Yes im sure that was riveting but its history and its always good to learn that there was life before iphones and Android
OptimusLove said:
I keep on seeing such word in half of everyones sigs, It seems to be related to phones because theres always a phone model near the word. So what is a "ROM"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Short answer: A ROM is everything what runs the phone
Thatgrass said:
Short answer: A ROM is everything what runs the phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
short yes, but if I were to be pedantic, inaccurate
ok then, very pedantic!
In this forum the above definition of ROM is correct. In the computer world however, it differs greatly..where it refers to Read Only Memory, which would be counter-intuitive in the context of XDA.
vader860 said:
In this forum the above definition of ROM is correct. In the computer world however, it differs greatly..where it refers to Read Only Memory, which would be counter-intuitive in the context of XDA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not counter intuitive, the historical context of the term "ROM" helps define what one is. And that is a file that contains an Image of an Operating system designed to be flashed in to ROM on a given device
There you go, I think that's a short accurate definition of the term ROM.
its still good to know your history though
GIYF
Google
Is
Your
Friend
Sent from my U8150 using XDA
read-only memory
ROM = Read Only Memory
Android comes with stock rom(company rom) which can be replaced by flashing a custom rom(third-party rom) if you are rooted.
PRESS THE THANK BUTTON IF YOU THINK I HELPED

Why I Returned My HTC One S

I just returned my HTC One S under buyer's remorse for a number of reasons.
Severely Broken Multi-Tasking
As has been more publicized for the HTC One X, the memory management is so aggressive that you can barely multi-task at all. It's like the Generation 1 iPhone. Especially a killer, since one of my main uses cases is to listen to streaming NPR.
Signal Fluctuation Issues
I think the signal fluctuation issue was largely fixed by the recent update. Pre-update, sometimes I would spontaneously have no signal at all. Post-update, sometimes the signal drops precipitously for no reason at all, but hasn't gotten to the point of "X for no signal".
Bluetooth Spontaneously Disconnecting/Crashing
The bluetooth would spontaneously disconnect, pretty frequently--probably once every 2-3 hours of use. A couple of times I think it even caused the phone to re-boot. Again, since my #1 use case for my phone is voice calls for work (I know, who would have though, voice a primary usage for a smartphone! ), and my #2 is streaming NPR, this is a big problem.
Screen Size
I knew what I was getting, but I had really wanted a 4.6" widescreen (like GS2). I was willing to compromise on this, but it was a factor. Had I known T-Mobile would get the GS3 so promptly, I probably would have held out from Day 1.
Menu Button
For the many apps not updated to ICS, you lose quite a bit of space in portrait mode, due to the on-screen menu button. I know this isn't HTC's fault, they are following the Google spec, but it was a real bummer (and compounds the screen size compromise). I am thinking Samsung made a much better choice with the GS3 by going against Google's intent and including the menu button. Surprised this hasn't been discussed more, it is a real bummer.
It's all personal preference.
The multitasking issue has been greatly improved (some would argue fixed) over the stock settings. Signal issues could be a result of several things (location, firmware, hardware, etc.); likewise with the Bluetooth issues you mentioned. I am very pleased with the screen size and the portrait menu button doesn't bother me. Hopefully the GS3 (or whichever phone you are switching to) meets your needs.
WCCobra said:
The multitasking issue has been greatly improved (some would argue fixed) over the stock settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how? i can't get One X multitasking fix scripts to run no matter what. i can edit the minfree values manually but they are getting reset on the next boot. the extreme values probably affect the overall performance too. are there some other methods to improve it?
What ROM are you using. Sounds like the init.d script is not running on boot.
The One S would really benefit from AOKP, CM9 or any AOSP based rom. But development is really stagnating. The community for this phone just suck and thats unfortunate cause it is a decent phone for the price.
wilcoholic said:
The One S would really benefit from AOKP, CM9 or any AOSP based rom. But development is really stagnating. The community for this phone just suck and thats unfortunate cause it is a decent phone for the price.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think development for this phone is going rather well. I think you should appreciate what the developers have already put out for us, its their time and they do it for free. You have an expectation which is just wrong.
We already have a CM9 and a MIUI rom, more will follow. You have to realise its still very early in the phones life.
Your options are to get a One X or SGS3 or deal with it. Alternatively you can build your own rom, I'm sure it will be great.
Ben is right stop being so ungrateful they use up their time and deliver awesome roms for free
Sent from my HTC One S using xda premium
WCCobra
i triple checked everything. the boot.sh is properly modified, the init.d scripts have the right permissions. even if i execute the script manually the minfree values never change, they are always the same. like i said, at this point i'm not even sure if all other ROM scripts are being run and active. i'm on the latest TrickDroid currently but the same thing was happening on Zydroid as well. if you have any other tips regarding this issue please do share!
Are you sure there are not multiple init.d scripts running and conflicting with each other?
Can you move out all of the init.d scripts except the one running the minfree settings. Also, try adding a line to the script to have it create a file so you know it ran:
touch /sdcard/Download/test.txt
Do you mind posting screenshots of what you are seeing?
OP wanted a larger screen and really didn't matter about anything else. He decided he wanted GS3 and put a little blame on everyone else. Should have just waited a bit man no need in downing guys that are working hard and also loveing the S One. I have tons of devices and picked this one for my own reason and glad I did. Have very little problems with it at all. We have some great guys working doing a great job, and if you've been following one-x s-off. There real close and that's going to be good for us as well.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using XDA Premium HD app
WCCobra,
i tried to reboot with just the multitasking script inside init.d, it didn't create the test txt file. i'm not sure about the original TrickDroid scripts you see there though. when i rebooted without them the system behaved unstable so perhaps some of them do run? it's confusing to me.
the values in the minfree file from the screenshot are the original One S values that never change no matter what i run and how.
place the touch command in 01trickdroid
just tried that, no txt being created.
Check the locations. Your init.d scripts are all in /etc/init.d They should be in /system/etc/init.d
--------
Ah, nm it's a softlink
I have a very splited opinion to the One S. I really do love this phone and i dont want to return it! But there are some issues which bother me. The HTC build quality is very impressive but all my HTC phones had a small defect.
HD2: i had to put a small piece of paper between the battery and the backcover to make it fit tight.
Desire: the vibration motor had a small disfunction.
One S: the glass is on the top left not glued accurately.
These are problems u can fix at HTC but they were not worth it to lose the phone for 2 weeks. There is the chipping problem on the black One S. The touch button issue. It seems like HTC tries to build a great quality phone but dont test it long enough.
Gesendet von meinem HTC One S mit Tapatalk 2
I know there are defects out there that's part of manufacturing. I'm just glad I got a good one. Also I still have my hd2 and use it everyday as a WiFi router in my truck. Even dropped it off a three story roof and busted the case and cracked the digitizer but keeps on going... Wished all phones were built that way
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using XDA Premium HD app

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