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Why should I do CyanogenMod on a Nexus S?

Go gentle on this newbie-droid -
What are the reasons for giving up the warranty on my Nexus S and install CyanogenMod?
Thanks!

Short answer - it's awesome and it has a lot more options and features than stock.
Long answer -
1st, I wouldn't be too concerned about voiding warranty. Depending on how you root, "unrooting" will be easy as pie. If you have a problem with the phone, flash back to stock, lock the bootloader, and no one will know the wiser.
2nd - A lot of people are kinda under the impression that CM on the SNS may not be necessary because their though is that since the SNS is "vanilla" already, there's no point.
On devices that aren't vanilla already the jump to CM is much more dramatic, for sure. On the SNS the differences are more like subtle enhancements that really make the device more customizable.
You can change the lockscreen; you can add widgets to the notification bar to control things like wifi, BT, etc; you have many more options in Browser (remove those zoom controls) and Messaging (dark theme FTW); you have album art and music controls on the lock screen; you can choose a "render effect" to make the display use less battery; you can set up gestures for lockscreen shortcuts and messaging; the list goes on and on.
Once you get used the the features of CM it will be horribly painful to have to go back to stock for any reason. You may not notice them at first, but dig deep and play around with them and you'll see what all the fuss is about. Definately worth it.

CM7 runs faster and smoother and allot snappier than stock.
Pretty much what fchipm said
BTW you wont void your warranty rooting and installing 3rd party ROMS...you can unroot and re-lock the bootloader.

Faster and smoother .. Thats should be great ! Its my first android phone and already find it smokin' slick ;-)

201102 said:
Go gentle on this newbie-droid -
What are the reasons for giving up the warranty on my Nexus S and install CyanogenMod?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it makes bacon...

It makes an island and then transforms your phone into a jet and flys you to that island

simms22 said:
it makes bacon...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

Well, thanks to the educational replies and also to the well meaning ones who think they are funny.
I'll probably waiting till it's past alpha/beta.

slowz3r said:
It makes an island and then transforms your phone into a jet and flys you to that island
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does it have the GB's?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

201102 said:
Well, thanks to the educational replies and also to the well meaning ones who think they are funny.
I'll probably waiting till it's past alpha/beta.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should give it a try. I've never had any issues with core apps throughout all of CM7s nightlies. RC1 extremely stable, IMO enough to be a stable release. There's nothing to lose because you could always return to stock and not void warranty. CM7 is superior to stock in all aspects. Speed, sound, display, battery, themes, Widgets and many other features. For example, one of the reasons I find myself going back to CM7 is for the notification bar toggles. The kernels available should you decide to root are also amazing. Voodoo sound provides superior audio clarity, and voodoo color fixes any maroon grey tint you might experience. Couple this with CM7, and it'll leave you smiling.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

seriouslyjeff said:
Does it have the GB's?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
actually yes

Google's own blog specifically says they made the Nexus S easy to root and install custom roms on; I sincerely doubt that installing a custom rom would void your warranty in 99% of situations, despite that warning on the fastboot oem unlock command. (Example, if you get a dead pixel, that's nothing to do with a custom rom and your warranty should still be effective.)
Of interest is that the oem unlock is NOT necessary to root the phone, or flash custom roms, and that the oem unlock is the only place you get a "you'll void your warranty" screen. I would argue that if you skip the oem unlock you've not voided your warranty because you didn't see the warning, and you never acknowledged it.

peeturr said:
You should give it a try. I've never had any issues with core apps throughout all of CM7s nightlies. RC1 extremely stable, IMO enough to be a stable release. There's nothing to lose because you could always return to stock and not void warranty. CM7 is superior to stock in all asp..................
............ maroon grey tint you might experience. Couple this with CM7, and it'll leave you smiling.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi, newbie here, dont mind me asking wats the diff between Rc1 and alpha etc, saw a few CM threads here
Sent via Picopad

tishfire said:
hi, newbie here, dont mind me asking wats the diff between Rc1 and alpha etc, saw a few CM threads here
Nightlies are built each night by a program called the build not and sometimes incorporate small changes others times not. A RC or release candidate is a when all of the little changes get polished up and put together by a human and put out as a sort of beta.
Sent via Picopad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my MattedBlue CM7 Google Nexus S!

Who cares about a locked bootloader any ways.

Yes I love Cyanogen and it would be nice to have a recovery but what about all the great things from TouchWiz.
If Dan does have an unlock and does release it then yes I probably will unlock but I don't think I can part from TouchWiz. Yet...
Since I bought my wife an S4 also we use S-Beam for sharing pictures of the kids a LOT! That brings me to my next point, the camera is ridiculously good. I don't need to mention how handy the multi-window is...
Will probably run modified stock Roms. Comments?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

So far the mods to TW have been quite impressive, Nottach's Framework for example and P-ROM. Still would very much like a true pure Android experience that I can play with and mod myself. Can't do that without the bootloader unlock though but I can definitely live with what we got for quite a while if I had too

ZPaul2Fresh8 said:
Yes I love Cyanogen and it would be nice to have a recovery but what about all the great things from TouchWiz.
If Dan does have an unlock and does release it then yes I probably will unlock but I don't think I can part from TouchWiz. Yet...
Will probably run modified stock Roms. Comments?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a perfect example of not reading the threads. Do you even know what to do with the fix when you see it? will you know how to apply it? Not bashing you, but sir, I think before you even see a fix, you need to read way more, what is Cyanogen? is it some kind of recovery method? answer to your question is yes, it allows to run other modified TW roms also. This ain't no damn iPhone.

TheAxman said:
This is a perfect example of not reading the threads. Do you even know what to do with the fix when you see it? will you know how to apply it? Not bashing you, but sir, I think before you even see a fix, you need to read way more, what is Cyanogen? is it some kind of recovery method? answer to your question is yes, it allows to run other modified TW roms also. This ain't no damn iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uh, I'd listen to your own advice there, chief.
He didn't even have a question, and from the way it sounds he is plenty aware of the difference between a custom ROM and a recovery. What are you talking about?
And OP, I think I'm having the same dilemma...the mods that have come out for TW have been amazing - and honestly I don't know of any specific features on AOSP ROMs that I DON'T have right now.
And let's be real, I enjoy it when people were are like, "ooh, is that an S4?" And I respond by turning off a random TV in the area, or by scrolling through my gallery just by waving my hand. I'd miss that I think
So yeah I'll definitely unlock once available, but I'll most likely stick with stock-based ROMs too.

CPA Poke said:
Uh, I'd listen to your own advice there, chief.
He didn't even have a question, and from the way it sounds he is plenty aware of the difference between a custom ROM and a recovery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your right, I was actually commenting on his TW opinion, it is a comment. And I prefer TW roms also. more stable.

Choice is always a good thing, just because you have a unlocked bootloader doesn't mean you have to get rid of tw.
For me I always like to just fix what ever I feel is wrong or missing or locked out from a stock rom.
At the end of the day people have to use what makes then happy.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

TheAxman said:
This is a perfect example of not reading the threads. Do you even know what to do with the fix when you see it? will you know how to apply it? Not bashing you, but sir, I think before you even see a fix, you need to read way more, what is Cyanogen? is it some kind of recovery method? answer to your question is yes, it allows to run other modified TW roms also. This ain't no damn iPhone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're on crack. LMAO. It hurts to ponder what you THOUGHT you read.
And I did forget to mention the IR blaster. But they're is finally an alternative to SmartON. Try SmartRemote made specifically for the S4 but it is $9.99. It does allow you to make custom remotes so you can place buttons from any device all onto just 1 remote. Also allows custom commands through Pronto HEX codes.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

ZPaul2Fresh8 said:
I think you're on crack. LMAO. It hurts to ponder what you THOUGHT you read.
And I did forget to mention the IR blaster. But they're is finally an alternative to SmartON. Try SmartRemote made specifically for the S4 but it is $9.99. It does allow you to make custom remotes so you can place buttons from any device all onto just 1 remote. Also allows custom commands through Pronto HEX codes.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, I should not have added bourbon to my coffee.

TheAxman said:
Actually, I should not have added bourbon to my coffee.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's all good. I've woken up a few times still half asleep having that same problem.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

ZPaul2Fresh8 said:
Yes I love Cyanogen and it would be nice to have a recovery but what about all the great things from TouchWiz.
If Dan does have an unlock and does release it then yes I probably will unlock but I don't think I can part from TouchWiz. Yet...
Since I bought my wife an S4 also we use S-Beam for sharing pictures of the kids a LOT! That brings me to my next point, the camera is ridiculously good. I don't need to mention how handy the multi-window is...
Will probably run modified stock Roms. Comments?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am surprised to find I am starting to feel the same way. I've modified, configured and optimized the stock ROM quite a bit now and it is running very nicely. Looking forward to flashing a custom recovery so I can backup and restore and experiment with what's out there, but it's going to be a tough decision to run modified stock versus CM. I have also found battery life to be excellent with the Stock ROM.

Been trying out the new Samsung features for a while. To me they're nothing more than gimmicks. They're great for making a cool looking commercial, but mostly useless in real life. Air gestures? Please....I'm an adult, how often are my fingers too filthy to touch my phone? The eye tracking features worked sporadically, at best. And not at all in a dimly lit room. Can't wait to unlock this bootloader, flash a ROM, and get rid the mountain of Samsung bloat apps...not to mention AT&T's contribution to that mountain...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2

ZPaul2Fresh8 said:
Yes I love Cyanogen and it would be nice to have a recovery but what about all the great things from TouchWiz.
If Dan does have an unlock and does release it then yes I probably will unlock but I don't think I can part from TouchWiz. Yet...
Since I bought my wife an S4 also we use S-Beam for sharing pictures of the kids a LOT! That brings me to my next point, the camera is ridiculously good. I don't need to mention how handy the multi-window is...
Will probably run modified stock Roms. Comments?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
BlastTyrantKM said:
Been trying out the new Samsung features for a while. To me they're nothing more than gimmicks. They're great for making a cool looking commercial, but mostly useless in real life. Air gestures? Please....I'm an adult, how often are my fingers too filthy to touch my phone? The eye tracking features worked sporadically, at best. And not at all in a dimly lit room. Can't wait to unlock this bootloader, flash a ROM, and get rid the mountain of Samsung bloat apps...not to mention AT&T's contribution to that mountain...
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I jump back and forth between these two ends of the opinion spectrum in regards to TW and Samsung's (AT&T's) stock ROM. This is probably the first android phone that I could honestly be okay with never flashing a custom rom on. I will still unlock the bootloader when it becomes available. I will still flash a custom recovery (nandroid backups are a really nice thing to have, and I'm disappointed that carriers don't include this) when it becomes available as well. I *might* flash a custom rom based on the stock rom, but I think I'd rather stick to stock as much as possible, at least for some time.
As for the gimmicky features it comes with, I sort of agree, yet it's fun to show off to friends. I normally keep the gestures and eye scrolling turned off, and I keep the NFC turned off when not in use. I did buy the $9.99 remote app, and I'm surprisingly content with it. I need to offer some feedback about being able to actually drag/drop to change the order of the buttons on the other screen, but otherwise it's so much better than the WatchOn stuff that I have recently frozen using TiBu.
And on to speaking of freezing apps. With root, I'm pretty content. I can use TiBu Pro (to anyone reading this, go buy the Pro version - it's completely worth it!!) to freeze all the bloatware that I don't like. Every few days since I got my phone, I re-evaluate the list in TiBu and check into any blaotware I haven't frozen yet. "Do I need this? Have I used this? Nope! Frozen." I've done this for nearly all of the "Samsung ____" apps, including the Samsung store and all the associated apps (Samsung account, etc.). Did the same for every "AT&T ___" app that it came with - they're all garbage to me. Next on my list to evaluate and possibly freeze is all the printing services - do I really need to print from my phone? Maybe if it were my work phone...
I suppose one good reason I would want to flash a customized stock-based rom would be to free up some space. Having a 16gb version is no different than my S2 was... but I definitely had a few more GB's of room to store all the cool photos. And with larger picture files, and a faster camera, the storage is suddenly a bit more important to me.
And finally, the camera, and its associated apps/modes. I see a lot of people freezing some of the apps that allow some of the cool modes this camera can use. I'm not a professional photographer, but I love taking awesome pictures with this phone. It rival's my wife's Nikon 9300 point-and-shoot, with the exception of the Nikon's zoom lens. But as far as features and quality are concerned, it's possibly better.
This thing has been pretty smooth since day negative-one for me. Even better when we got root and the bloatware was frozen. Even snappier and better on battery once that first OTA dropped. I'm pretty impressed, and it certainly is a huge step up from my S2 running CM10.1.
TL;DR: I really like the stock rom and all the cool things it offers. The performance is great. I do like some of the gimmicky things, even if I rarely use them. With the root ability to freeze things I don't use, I could definitely see keeping this thing "stock" for this device's lifetime.
PS: It's also nice to see the "Official" status, as though I haven't violated the phone too badly...

Couldn't agree more. As you all mentioned, the security of having a custom recovery + Nandroid really opens up a lot of ground for flashing new mods and having the comfort of that fallback instead of only being able to Odin back to stock if I jack something up (which has NEVER happened or anything...lol).

@Aou I too use a Titanium Backup Pro and freeze the bloat. But I kept the Samsung Apps because it had some that you can't find on Google like the Video Editor app.
Let me remind you that the Xposed framework adds new functionality without the need to flash roms. As you can see from the screen shot I was able to mod the screen without touching the framework. Easy and reversible.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

I don't unlock and root my devices to get rid of the stock interface (Touchwiz, Sense etc) i simply do it for a better rom with tweaks that makes it faster and battery life better..
and when i finally get sick of my stock interface ill flash a AOSP rom
i know some people disagree but i think the stock rom on this phone is laggy.. even after disabling S Voice and Smart stay/Air view

Wierd I couldn't add the image.

There we go lol
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium

ZPaul2Fresh8 said:
Yes I love Cyanogen and it would be nice to have a recovery but what about all the great things from TouchWiz.
If Dan does have an unlock and does release it then yes I probably will unlock but I don't think I can part from TouchWiz. Yet...
Since I bought my wife an S4 also we use S-Beam for sharing pictures of the kids a LOT! That brings me to my next point, the camera is ridiculously good. I don't need to mention how handy the multi-window is...
Will probably run modified stock Roms. Comments?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dunno if anyone else pointed this out to you yet, but even without s beam, non touchwiz phones still all have Android Beam (you know.. the concept S Beam was based off of?)
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda app-developers app

BlastTyrantKM said:
Air gestures? Please....I'm an adult, how often are my fingers too filthy to touch my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
O you must be working in an extra clean environment. I know I don't. My hands get dirty often and these air gestures work for me.
Aside from that, what I am looking forward to is being able to have a pattern unlock And lock screen widgets at the same time. Unless Samsung releases an update for that.

Already a thread on this a few threads away

Conversion i9505 to i9505G - Discussion/Rant

I'm not smart enough to do it myself.. however, I am still amazed that no one has been able to work out how to convert an i9505 into a i9505G. I know the partition layout is different, and I also know that there are ported 4.3 GE roms available.. BUT all of that aside.. has Samsung won the war here?
Which leads me to a separate subject.. but.. their knox efuse.. while it hasn't been long.. it looks like they have won there as well.
In any case.. I'm more interested in the conversion to i9505G. Does anyone know more than I do about the status or possibility of ever being able to convert a i9505 to a i9505G?

Well.. This is not as easy as you may think.
Need someone who has both I9505 and I9505G. Also need special connection to I9505 like JTAG to get direct access to flash. Then using JTAG try to dump whole flash from I9505G and upload it to I9505. And then depend on success and whole result, procedure can be simplified.
But JTAG is required at experiment stage if you are not so rich who can afford to buy tens (if not hundred) I9505 while experimenting

A full conversion (think about bootloader,radio) is not possible.
Samsung secured the bootloader very agressively .

Aerys said:
A full conversion (think about bootloader,radio) is not possible.
Samsung secured the bootloader very agressively .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why i've mentioned JTAG. Google JTAG if you wanna know what is that.

Aerys said:
A full conversion (think about bootloader,radio) is not possible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
People said a reset of the flash counter was not possible.. @Chainfire was able to take care of that just fine..
I doubt it's impossible.. but I wonder how many people have even tried, or if there are even more than a handful of people with the skills needed to make this happen.

xyzulu said:
People said a reset of the flash counter was not possible.. @Chainfire was able to take care of that just fine..
I doubt it's impossible.. but I wonder how many people have even tried, or if there are even more than a handful of people with the skills needed to make this happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried everything except for jtag + bootloader exploit. Even hardbricked my S4 1 time.

Aerys said:
I tried everything except for jtag + bootloader exploit. Even hardbricked my S4 1 time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats very sad to hear, would this mean we will never have a full ported/working edition of google on our phones? shall I sell my phone and move to a nexus? or simply buy the original i9505G?

Noorish said:
Thats very sad to hear, would this mean we will never have a full ported/working edition of google on our phones? shall I sell my phone and move to a nexus? or simply buy the original i9505G?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I sold my AT&T SGH-I337 GS4 and got an I-9505G. Best decision I ever made.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4

oldblue910 said:
I sold my AT&T SGH-I337 GS4 and got an I-9505G. Best decision I ever made.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 4
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why? Now you cant ever run TW roms now... But on the SGH 1337 you can run both roms

Easton999GS said:
Why? Now you cant ever run TW roms now... But on the SGH 1337 you can run both roms
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't care less about running ROMs. I unlocked the bootloader but otherwise I leave my devices stock and unrooted. I know how to root and install ROMs but once I knew how, my curiosity was satisfied.
Honestly, I have had Nexus devices my entire Android life. I decided to branch out and try a GS4 with Touchwiz. I really liked my I337, so much in fact, that I also ended up purchasing a Galaxy Note 8.0 as well. There are definitely things in Touchwiz that I'd love to see Google add to the stock user experience. I'm referring to things like air view and having separate wallpapers for the home and lock screens. Alas, though, when you've used stock Android as much as I have, it's hard to use anything else.
The only thing I truly miss about Touchwiz is the camera app. The camera was simply amazing. The other things that are important to me, namely the IR blaster and the S-View cover functionality, both work flawlessly on the I9505G.
Sent from my Galaxy S4 GT-I9505G using Tapatalk 4

What i dislike most in stock Android is halo theme. It's really ugly. Micro check-boxes. Ugly seek-bars. Alert dialogs are too flat and sketchy. Halo theme looks more like concept than theme for daily usage.
TouchWiz theme was odd originally in time of SGS2, but it was getting better and better. On SGS4 it's nearly perfect. May be some elements like ViewPager and title bar need to reworks somehow. But overall it's way better theme than Halo. Also, there are many useful addons in TW ROM like quick settings panel, nice looking lock screen with quick launch shortcuts on the bottom, and other small tweaks making TW ROM much more useful than naked Android. And it's easier to remove unneeded apps/services/tweaks from TW ROM than add them into naked Android.
I would think about I9505G over I9505 only as device with bigger user storage running custom TW ROM, but it looks like not much success here.
From other side, you can buy 32GB version of I9505 and don't think about 16GB-only I9505G.
But hey, there are SHV-E330 and GT-I9506 already

sorg said:
What i dislike most in stock Android is halo theme. It's really ugly. Micro check-boxes. Ugly seek-bars. Alert dialogs are too flat and sketchy. Halo theme looks more like concept than theme for daily usage.
TouchWiz theme was odd originally in time of SGS2, but it was getting better and better. On SGS4 it's nearly perfect. May be some elements like ViewPager and title bar need to reworks somehow. But overall it's way better theme than Halo. Also, there are many useful addons in TW ROM like quick settings panel, nice looking lock screen with quick launch shortcuts on the bottom, and other small tweaks making TW ROM much more useful than naked Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You mean Holo I believe. That's why I use stock Android. TW with its different colors, big buttons that are not even separated from others and mixed styles in applications is really crazy and a pain to use. For people that like to use a phone without distractions it's a plain and simple fail.
Nice to have options as we're all not the same, you keep your TW phone, I will keep my stock Android one.
sorg said:
And it's easier to remove unneeded apps/services/tweaks from TW ROM than add them into naked Android.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was taking you seriously until I read this. You think that removing system applications is easier than going to Google Play and download one? Yeah, sure!

jcasares said:
I was taking you seriously until I read this. You think that removing system applications is easier than going to Google Play and download one? Yeah, sure!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah.. It looks like your are really serious talking about replace TW features by 3rd party apps
Which app can replace lockscreen? None. It's impossible by android design. Only can mask some app as lockscreen which is completely different.
Having quick settings panel in on-going notification area? Phh..
If you think, it's not serious, then hold on and think first. May be other person, who is talking about this, knows something you don't know.
I'm not even talking about how serious people who are buying non-Nexus device and then whining about CM/AOSP in half of topics.

sorg said:
Yeah.. It looks like your are really serious talking about replace TW features by 3rd party apps
Which app can replace lockscreen? None. It's impossible by android design. Only can mask some app as lockscreen which is completely different.
Having quick settings panel in on-going notification area? Phh..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're considering rooting a device to freeze/remove system applications. I was talking about simply adding applications to a stock Android from Google Play. I fail to see the former being easier.
And here the "impossible":
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.widgetlocker&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.j4velin.notificationToggle&hl=en
In any case what you might consider essential I might consider a waste of resources.
That was the point of my post. That's why Android is a success.
And if you don't like to read people talking about changing non-Google devices you might be better off XDA.
XDA Developers was founded for developers by developers. It is now a valuable resource for people who want to make the most of their mobile devices, from customizing the look and feel to adding new functionality.

jcasares said:
You're considering rooting a device to freeze/remove system applications. I was talking about simply adding applications to a stock Android from Google Play. I fail to see the former being easier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are able to create custom ROM then removing unneeded apps (and even editing framework to cleanup from some useless features) is much easier than add absent functionality.
I suppose, we are on XDA, i.e. developer's forum right? If you are talking from regular user point of view who usually don't know what is "root", then it's out of scope of this board. Just buy Nexus device and then you are set.
jcasares said:
And here the "impossible":
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.widgetlocker&hl=en
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.j4velin.notificationToggle&hl=en
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've told you already: there is no way to truly replace lockscreen by any other application. Lockscreen is a part of framework, not APK. I'm using android devices not the first year, and believe me, i've tried these apps long long time ago. These apps mimic lockscreen using some security holes in OS, but they are not replacing lockscreen. Actually, device remains unlocked all the time. Also there are many bugs and glitches because such apps trying to suppress original lockscreen with different kinds of success/fail.
As for modifying device: there are many ways to modify and it's not exactly by installing CM/AOSP. You can check my topics to see that i'm not just user.
XDA has been created long time before CM/AOSP and believe me there are many other good ways to modify the device. CM/AOSP have their own dedicated forums and repositories which should suit your needs better than XDA (if you want to compete in pointing directions to others).
P.S.: look into I9505G forum to see how users begging to add samsung's standard camera app which doesn't work on non-TW ROM.
Suggest them to install some app from Google play
The same can tell about video player and amount of video and audio codecs integrated into TW ROM. On TW ROM i can use nearly any music player and able to playback almost any audio and video. On GE ROM you have to find special audio player having support of some specific format, and then try to get used to its bugs without choice to switch to another player. With video player it's even worse...
Also, CM/AOSP usually don't have tight integration when it comes to Hardware 3D acceleration. Some selected devices (usually Nexus and GE devices) have good 3D support, but only some.
The truth is: Some people wanna to install CM/AOSP and then they realize they miss many useful (usually not noticeable when it presents) features. That's why custom TW ROMs are present and have a lot or users.

sorg said:
The truth is: Some people wanna to install CM/AOSP and then they realize they miss many useful (usually not noticeable when it presents) features. That's why custom TW ROMs are present and have a lot or users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never denied that TW based ROMs have value for some people, just that as well stock Android is much more attractive for others. If not we wouldn't be discussing this and you wouldn't see the kind of activity we see in this forum.
And I still disagree on the "easier" issue but I fail to see any benefit in continuing the discussion.

got a weird question... where's the am/pm display on the 12 hour clock for the i9505G rom that i installed? hmm...

spilksch said:
got a weird question... where's the am/pm display on the 12 hour clock for the i9505G rom that i installed? hmm...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Look at the window?

So this really isn't going anywhere?
HTC One has just been fully converted into the GPe.
I was really hoping there was some kind of solution for this conversion
Anyway, thanks for all the hard work guys!
Enviado do meu iPad usando o Tapatalk

andreqm said:
So this really isn't going anywhere?
HTC One has just been fully converted into the GPe.
I was really hoping there was some kind of solution for this conversion
Anyway, thanks for all the hard work guys!
Enviado do meu iPad usando o Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would you need to ? You have CM/TW/GE to choose from when using the i9505 partition layout. Took us a couple of hours to get KitKat after the GE got it (broodplank delivered AOSP 4.4 even earlier).

[Q] why there is no special features like as in lg g2 or any other high end phones

hello guys...
Just wanted to know why nexus 5 doesn't have special features such as camera effects, special effects for home screen or so on..

That's because Nexus line of devices come with pure vanilla android!
If you want those effects, there are tons of apps available on the playstore

You do realise what Vanilla means right?

Nikhil.1105 said:
hello guys...
Just wanted to know why nexus 5 doesn't have special features such as camera effects, special effects for home screen or so on..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As stated its because we have pure "vanilla" android. It's a bit boring to some but its exciting for those that want speed and love to hack/modify.
Think of it this way. The Nexus 5 is like a Lamborghini (uncomfortable to drive, but very fast), phones like the G2 are like a Mercedes still pretty fast (not as fast as the Lambo) but its more luxurious and packed with features.
The main feature exclusive to the Nexus 5 is timely updates straight from Google.
sent from my neXus 5

ArtieQ said:
You do realise what Vanilla means right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanilla_software
Anyway the reason is of course that the software is built from aosp with Google addons, while this is also the case for any other device, except those have their respective customisations on top of aosp and Google addons.
So nexus 5 has plenty of special features, they are just not exclusive, as Google is about software and makes money from all android devices, and allows all OEMS to use these features, while the OEMS want to keep their features exclusive in order to attract customers to their devices.
So every time Google adds new features, its also rolled out to all other android devices.

Nikhil.1105 said:
hello guys...
Just wanted to know why nexus 5 doesn't have special features such as camera effects, special effects for home screen or so on..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to the forum!
The features you mentioned are really easy to add if you are rooted. BEFORE you root, however, I strongly suggest that you read everything you can about the phone to become familiar with its native functionality (e.g., the sticky threads at the top of this forum) as well as the N5 Apps and Themes forum to get an idea of how you can mod (Browsing the Play Store and trying out apps is also a lot of fun). ONLY after you have read thoroughly everything mentioned above, you can decide if you'd like to root (which I recommend, because many great apps and mods require root) and, perhaps, try flashing some custom roms and kernels.

I'm familiar with Google play and have installed many apps from there, but I've not owned another Android phone. So I don't know what capabilities other high end phones have that are missing on the N5.
What are some of the better customizations some high end phones have that I could add to the N5 using which apps? I am rooted but would prefer to remain with stock rom 4.4.2 rather than flash a new rom.
Thanks.

Actually, we're still slightly modified from vanilla aosp. We have Google dialer lookup and photosphere.
Nexus 5 is developers phone and built on a budget
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

rootSU said:
Actually, we're still slightly modified from vanilla aosp. We have Google dialer lookup and photosphere.
Nexus 5 is developers phone and built on a budget
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah that's right. AOSP also has Browser by default (not Chrome) and many other things...
We (Nexus + GPE Devices) have:
AOSP + Google Apps - Some AOSP Apps (that were replaced).
Sent from my Nexus 5

Anderson2 said:
I'm familiar with Google play and have installed many apps from there, but I've not owned another Android phone. So I don't know what capabilities other high end phones have that are missing on the N5.
What are some of the better customizations some high end phones have that I could add to the N5 using which apps? I am rooted but would prefer to remain with stock rom 4.4.2 rather than flash a new rom.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you are rooted, I would suggest perhaps looking into xposed framework and the gravity box module, since it's essentially made for phones this close to stock android. You can enable a ton of useful features from there, all on the stock ROM. There are also kernels you can flash to attain certain features, such as the knock on screen to activate thingy that comes with the LG G2. There aren't really a tone of features that other phones have that the N5 doesn't, The base functions are essentially the same, they just present a ton of different ways to go about it. With gravity box, for example, you can make it so when you tap on the status bar the phone goes to sleep. You can really do anything you want as far as customization, but all smartphones essentially do the same thing ie:internet, phone calls, camera, bt, music etc. Since you went ahead and rooted, research custom recoveries and start going to town exploring options. There are a ton for a phone such as this, it's just a matter of sifting through all the option until you find exactly what you want. You can google the highlights that other OEMs provide and find a close-as-possible match for that feature, whether it be a module, rom or kernel. There are A TON of options, so don't get overwhelmed and have fun brother! Modding a Nexus is, in my opinion, more about the journey of exploring the possibilities rather than searching for the perfect set up. Welcome to the best phone out right now and if there is anything I can help you with, please feel free to PM me.

Thanks for replying. Because I've never used one of the other phones I just didn't know what I was "giving up" by going with Nexus.
I've been a user of Xposed Framework, Xgravity, Xprivacy, and Boot manager for some time and love them. Also greenify, titanium backup, Nova prime, and TWRP. I'm delighted with the phone but had no previous experience to compare it with which is why I asked the question.
For instance I've heard some users rave about their MotoX interface but I don't know what made it so special. Do you know?
(Still scared to go into kernels and different roms because everything is working so well and I don't want to mess things up).

Anderson2 said:
Thanks for replying. Because I've never used one of the other phones I just didn't know what I was "giving up" by going with Nexus.
I've been a user of Xposed Framework, Xgravity, Xprivacy, and Boot manager for some time and love them. Also greenify, titanium backup, Nova prime, and TWRP. I'm delighted with the phone but had no previous experience to compare it with which is why I asked the question.
For instance I've heard some users rave about their MotoX interface but I don't know what made it so special. Do you know?
(Still scared to go into kernels and different roms because everything is working so well and I don't want to mess things up).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 2 biggest aspects, as far as I understand, to what makes the Moto X so unique is the "always listening" feature, which we have with ok Google and the active display lockscreen, which shows messages and content from the lockscreen using a black background. Since it is AMOLED, that uses less battery than actually turning on the phone to look at the message. There are a couple app that can perform this function for any phone (AcDisplay and Dynamic Notifications.) While they are certainly cool, doesn't do us much good battery-savingwise because we don't have AMOLED screens. Moto X also uses its core in some way that is supposed to be more efficient...but I honesty haven't looked into it much : ) I completely understand about be wary with kernels and ROMs! I've been flashing assorted mods for a couple of years, but it took me some time to commit myself to doing it and I read and read and read because I didn't wanna jack anything up. Inevitably I did, but it was a learning experience. I completely understand about the stock ROM as well. I have tried a few ROMs and kernels on this phone and decided that I was perfectly happy with stock. I'm not even rooted anymore and I locked my bootloader back (shameful, I know. and though this kind of contradicts what I was saying about experimenting, stock is where I am the most satisfied...I've tried plenty of other ROMs, but I've found I crave true stability) This phone is a beast as is and the only reason I would ever root is just for gravity box, but I'm content for now. There are some bugs with stock, but Google is working on them and there should be an update in the near future.

Thank you.

Nikhil.1105 said:
hello guys...
Just wanted to know why nexus 5 doesn't have special features such as camera effects, special effects for home screen or so on..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It does. It's the easiest phone to mod and comes with the largest mod community. That's a special feature that's why I buy it
Sent from my Nexus 5 using xda app-developers app

you guys forget that it does have a special feature, its googles baby, its a nexus. and like all nexus, its freedom in a device

Anderson2 said:
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NP bud

Nikhil.1105 said:
hello guys...
Just wanted to know why nexus 5 doesn't have special features such as camera effects, special effects for home screen or so on..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's special because I CHOSE what makes it special. I can have camera effects or unique home screens with ease....it was built that way.

Thanks to all... But I don't know how to root.. And rooting will void my warranty.. And if in case something goes wrong in route then I will regret for it..

Nikhil.1105 said:
Thanks to all... But I don't know how to root.. And rooting will void my warranty.. And if in case something goes wrong in route then I will regret for it..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will be happier with a different phone.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

No AOSP yet?

Kinda disappointed there's no Pixel love, any devs out there looking to make an AOSP ROM?

Honestly, is there even much reason to when stock is so good?

k.s.deviate said:
Kinda disappointed there's no Pixel love, any devs out there looking to make an AOSP ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To my knowledge they haven't released the source code yet for AOSP to be built off of.

I see them here https://android.googlesource.com/
Under device/google/marlin

k.s.deviate said:
Kinda disappointed there's no Pixel love, any devs out there looking to make an AOSP ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Give them time, it is a fairly new device.
pjd2011 said:
Honestly, is there even much reason to when stock is so good?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason is simple. No carrier Bloat!!!

I'm sure it will come with time.. I'm just putting it out there ? no disrespect meant in anyway.

FernBch said:
Give them time, it is a fairly new device.
The reason is simple. No carrier Bloat!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the Verizon version what carrier Bloat are you talking about?

parmend said:
I have the Verizon version what carrier Bloat are you talking about?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you put an active Verizon sim in any pixel it will install like 3 apps. No big deal at all they can all be uninstalled but for some reason people think it's a huge deal lol

pjd2011 said:
Honestly, is there even much reason to when stock is so good?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes for all of the functions and settings custom roms offer.
Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

aholeinthewor1d said:
If you put an active Verizon sim in any pixel it will install like 3 apps. No big deal at all they can all be uninstalled but for some reason people think it's a huge deal lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Verizon apps are always there just deactivated. Verizon sim just lets the apps show up in your app drawer. Also the Verizon apps are always running in the background. Don't know why; I don't even have a Verizon sim in my phone but there they are.

drock212 said:
The Verizon apps are always there just deactivated. Verizon sim just lets the apps show up in your app drawer. Also the Verizon apps are always running in the background. Don't know why; I don't even have a Verizon sim in my phone but there they are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where are these apps?
Edit: there are no hidden disabled apps at all. They do not come installed on the phone. They get installed during setup if you have a Verizon sim card in and sign into a good account in the setup. I've had two pixels and done at least 10 factory resets and flashed full factory images. I've never had one of those apps get installed

aholeinthewor1d said:
Where are these apps?
Edit: there are no hidden disabled apps at all. They do not come installed on the phone. They get installed during setup if you have a Verizon sim card in and sign into a good account in the setup. I've had two pixels and done at least 10 factory resets and flashed full factory images. I've never had one of those apps get installed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Install greenify and look through the list of apps you can have it force close. I've attached some screen shots in case you don't want to install greenify, as well as a screen shot that shows in on AT&T

drock212 said:
Install greenify and look through the list of apps you can have it force close. I've attached some screen shots in case you don't want to install greenify, as well as a screen shot that shows in on AT&T
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have them.

I manually delete everything Verizon/sprint, no need for them with T-Mobile on Google version
Sent from my Pixel using XDA-Developers mobile app

hi,
technically, u can build a working aosp 7.1.1 Rom for the pixel now, but its still a bit rough around the edges... I've already done it a couple of times. it comes with a few caveats though, by default its setup to use google's prebuilt kernel in the build, opengapps wont install without patching aosp and the build.prop in /vendor needs to be adjusted to match the fingerprint in /system to avoid an error on boot... all of these things are trivially fixable, but pixel on aosp isn't ready for primetime yet, Imho...
the stock Rom is much much better... I think until cyanogenmod and other Roms get working builds out, idk there's any compelling reason to switch to aosp....
lastly, idk aosp builds would be as fast ot optimized, im not sure how google's internal toolchain differs; are they using sdclang? are there optimizations in art, bionics, etc that haven't hit aosp yet? etc, etc

I too am keeping an eye on the custom ROM scene. I've always preferred the "lack" of carrier bloat, etc. Being a tester for some time has taught me much. Since the demise of my last device I am forced to take a break.

Stock is really good. But I am looking forward to using substratum again.

fracman said:
Stock is really good. But I am looking forward to using substratum again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using substratum but just for theming the navbar on stock/pixel rom.... Obviously, if you try to theme systemui you will get a bootloop though (as expected. lol)... On top of that, I did also play with theming individual apps, mainly phone and google play which both worked, with the particular theme that I was using...
Theming would be nice on stock, it's too bad that google ripped out the dark theme that was in the N previews, I would have been happy with that, myself.

I think I'm most looking forward to the extra features that get baked into custom AOSP Roms and the full substratum support. I'm not a big fan CyanogenMod, but I do try them out from time to time. Always seem to go back to AOSP tho.
I am using substratum to theme everything but system UI. All individual apps, settings etc.

k.s.deviate said:
I think I'm most looking forward to the extra features that get baked into custom AOSP Roms and the full substratum support. I'm not a big fan CyanogenMod, but I do try them out from time to time. Always seem to go back to AOSP tho.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ya, I've contributed some patches to CM - but since getting the Pixel, I'm fairly happy with Stock. There are only a few features that I miss in CM that aren't available on the Pixel and even when I was using CM on my s5 - I always had to rip out a number of CM's features; all of the CMstats (analytics stuff), a number of their apps + adding my own keys since it is insecure (and arguably quite silly) to be using public known keys on ROMs (although, afaict - many third-party roms tend to do that.).
I'm thinking about rolling my own AOSP for Pixel -> pulling in only the features that I want, most of which I have patches for and only a few bits would need to be tracked down that I don't have. not hard to find though... Now that TWRP (RC1) can actually restore backups I can start actually looking at playing with AOSP without losing my stock rom that is already setup.