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Disappointed with stock (JB) experience?

Howdy hello,
I've been on my Nexus S since GB. Ever since I've rooted and been running custom ROMs. I've had some awesome experiences but some crappy ones at the same time, all of which I attributed to my phone running a custom ROM.
Now I've finally got the new, new stock JB on my device, and after running it for a few weeks, I'm a bit disappointed. The features are nice and all, but there are so many issues I face that make it near unusable. To name a few:
Google Now takes way too long to pull up. At least 5 seconds and even while it's loading the cards, it's very laggy. The search button used to be a quick way for me to search for something, but the is effectively ruined with this lag.
Constantly losing data / connectivity. I know this may be at the carrier level, but I've never had this much trouble. ALSO, in these cases, the phone will often be reporting that it has full bars / full 3g connectivity, so either way the phone is acting screwy. I mean seriously, the one thing I need my phone to do is make a damn phone call, yet it semi-frequently fails to do so.
Apps fail left and right. Today my youtube app crashed in the middle of the first video I pulled up on it. I know this isn't really the OS, but it's part of the stock experience, and I think android should be held responsible.
Just a few minor gripes. I'm just wondering: has anyone else experienced this? I did a full wipe before installing the stock JB rom, and I don't think it could just be root permissions making things go wacky. I may consider re-wiping and only installing a few apps, but I really don't have that much crap installed, so I'm not sure if that's the issue as well.
I saw another post recommending to get a new SIM card from AT&T. I have had mine for a few years, so that could be a possible fix for issue #2, but I don't think that's the entire reason.
Any feedback is welcome. Thanks a lot all.

Stock JB was very laggy on my NS for some reason. Even swipping pages in the home screen was laggy. Some apps would instantly crash, too.

I've been running custom JB roms on my Nexus S, and its been running really well. The only thing is im experiencing the same lag that you do with Google Now. It has caused me to open my browser to do a search, which is disappointing, because in GB and ICS, the Google Search bar was so quick and convenient.

shyguyhighfive said:
Howdy hello,
I've been on my Nexus S since GB. Ever since I've rooted and been running custom ROMs. I've had some awesome experiences but some crappy ones at the same time, all of which I attributed to my phone running a custom ROM.
Now I've finally got the new, new stock JB on my device, and after running it for a few weeks, I'm a bit disappointed. The features are nice and all, but there are so many issues I face that make it near unusable. To name a few:
Google Now takes way too long to pull up. At least 5 seconds and even while it's loading the cards, it's very laggy. The search button used to be a quick way for me to search for something, but the is effectively ruined with this lag.
Constantly losing data / connectivity. I know this may be at the carrier level, but I've never had this much trouble. ALSO, in these cases, the phone will often be reporting that it has full bars / full 3g connectivity, so either way the phone is acting screwy. I mean seriously, the one thing I need my phone to do is make a damn phone call, yet it semi-frequently fails to do so.
Apps fail left and right. Today my youtube app crashed in the middle of the first video I pulled up on it. I know this isn't really the OS, but it's part of the stock experience, and I think android should be held responsible.
Just a few minor gripes. I'm just wondering: has anyone else experienced this? I did a full wipe before installing the stock JB rom, and I don't think it could just be root permissions making things go wacky. I may consider re-wiping and only installing a few apps, but I really don't have that much crap installed, so I'm not sure if that's the issue as well.
I saw another post recommending to get a new SIM card from AT&T. I have had mine for a few years, so that could be a possible fix for issue #2, but I don't think that's the entire reason.
Any feedback is welcome. Thanks a lot all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The cards could be taking longer to load because of your flaky connectivity. Can't expect them to load instantly if your data/signal is dying all the time, can you?

Definitely an inferior experience here on stock JB compared to ICS. Really hope Google fix this in an incremental update, as it's a bit silly their second-best phone can't run JB properly.

polobunny said:
The cards could be taking longer to load because of your flaky connectivity. Can't expect them to load instantly if your data/signal is dying all the time, can you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
heh, that's a fair point. I'm not so upset with the cards taking a long time to load as I am that, while they are loading, the OS is very unstable. It's difficult for me to bring up the keyboard and search google while it's trying to load those cards. I can't believe it's not butter
Nothijngrad said:
Definitely an inferior experience here on stock JB compared to ICS. Really hope Google fix this in an incremental update, as it's a bit silly their second-best phone can't run JB properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My thoughts exactly . I was excited to get back on stock so I could have a functional phone without any added bells and whistles. New features are nice, but not at this price.

Try running a custom kernel.. Try the thalamus kernel its very stockish and it's SUPER smooth..
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium

I'm running stock on [email protected] with a matrix kernel everything smooth for me
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

I had problems with JB too. There were a few lags, especially with Google Now. Some apps would crash every time I tried to open them, and the launcher crashed every time I tried to change wall paper.

shyguyhighfive said:
Howdy hello,
I've been on my Nexus S since GB. Ever since I've rooted and been running custom ROMs. I've had some awesome experiences but some crappy ones at the same time, all of which I attributed to my phone running a custom ROM.
Now I've finally got the new, new stock JB on my device, and after running it for a few weeks, I'm a bit disappointed. The features are nice and all, but there are so many issues I face that make it near unusable. To name a few:
Google Now takes way too long to pull up. At least 5 seconds and even while it's loading the cards, it's very laggy. The search button used to be a quick way for me to search for something, but the is effectively ruined with this lag.
Constantly losing data / connectivity. I know this may be at the carrier level, but I've never had this much trouble. ALSO, in these cases, the phone will often be reporting that it has full bars / full 3g connectivity, so either way the phone is acting screwy. I mean seriously, the one thing I need my phone to do is make a damn phone call, yet it semi-frequently fails to do so.
Apps fail left and right. Today my youtube app crashed in the middle of the first video I pulled up on it. I know this isn't really the OS, but it's part of the stock experience, and I think android should be held responsible.
Just a few minor gripes. I'm just wondering: has anyone else experienced this? I did a full wipe before installing the stock JB rom, and I don't think it could just be root permissions making things go wacky. I may consider re-wiping and only installing a few apps, but I really don't have that much crap installed, so I'm not sure if that's the issue as well.
I saw another post recommending to get a new SIM card from AT&T. I have had mine for a few years, so that could be a possible fix for issue #2, but I don't think that's the entire reason.
Any feedback is welcome. Thanks a lot all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm I can say that AOSP JB is WAYYYY better than ICS. Soon I can port my ROM from the NS4G to the NS.

I have to agree with this. I've used stock JB when it was released, I was wowed by it's smoothness and cool animations. But everything felt a little slow and sluggish coming from ICS custom rom. After switching to Jellybro, JB feels both very fast and smooth. If you feel disappointed with JB, try using custom rom.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk 2

I don't know if you guys with problem tried that yet, but it might be a good idea to do a factory reset. You will lose all your data if not backed up but I'm getting a feeling it could help. JB has only been smoother than ICS for most.

Looking to get an NS soon, but it may help, as others have mentioned to run a custom kernel and bump up the clock speeds a bit.
My N1 is almost perfectly smooth (very little lag and often times none) with JB installed and overclocked.
My GNEX is smooth as butter. (As to be expected). But I guess what I'm saying is, if the N1 can run JB smooth, then the NS should not have any problems.
And while I know AOSP is technically designed to run on multiple devices, only two were in mind when JB was released....the N7 and the GNEX. Everything else is an afterthought in which AOSP may not be fully optimized for the hardware that is pushing it. (Just my opinion).
And another opinion while I'm on my soap box. JB is what ICS should have been.

In my opinion 512 MB of RAM are a tight fit for Jelly Bean. I can just run 3-4 background apps without kill-restart-kill-restart-kill-restart and a constant lag.
I remember some kernels used to have compcache support. Maybe I could try to enable compcache/zram.

got556 said:
Looking to get an NS soon, but it may help, as others have mentioned to run a custom kernel and bump up the clock speeds a bit.
My N1 is almost perfectly smooth (very little lag and often times none) with JB installed and overclocked.
My GNEX is smooth as butter. (As to be expected). But I guess what I'm saying is, if the N1 can run JB smooth, then the NS should not have any problems.
And while I know AOSP is technically designed to run on multiple devices, only two were in mind when JB was released....the N7 and the GNEX. Everything else is an afterthought in which AOSP may not be fully optimized for the hardware that is pushing it. (Just my opinion).
And another opinion while I'm on my soap box. JB is what ICS should have been.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got my GNex and the difference with JB on this phone is night and day. I didn't think it would be but I'm pleasantly surprised. But yeah. The RAM issue seems to be my biggest gripe with it on the NS. And for some reason, it just dominated my battery. I went through my first cycle on stock with Trinity and managed 3.5 hours of screen time over the course of almost 17 hours and still had a little under 50% remaining. My NS would've been dead long before that with the same usage pattern.....

I run stock JB with Matr1x. It works very very well.
---------- Post added at 01:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:44 PM ----------
ekerazha said:
In my opinion 512 MB of RAM are a tight fit for Jelly Bean. I can just run 3-4 background apps without kill-restart-kill-restart-kill-restart and a constant lag.
I remember some kernels used to have compcache support. Maybe I could try to enable compcache/zram.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to mention it only uses 368 mb of them. If it used the full 512, it would be pretty nice

I'm running Androxide 3.1 and used to run AdamG's custom ROM. Both ran great, no hiccups what so ever, Google now loads very fast, I guess it depends on your GPS and internet connection. My experience with JB is far better than the fastest ICS ROM out there, I believe given enough time, performance will become exceptional.

Logomotph said:
I run stock JB with Matr1x. It works very very well.
---------- Post added at 01:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:44 PM ----------
Not to mention it only uses 368 mb of them. If it used the full 512, it would be pretty nice
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That can be tweaked a bit with different kernels.

I am running XenonHD 9 + marmite 4.2 kernel. It's stable and smooth. Worth a try.

[Q] Is Lollipop still a dog?

Or should I install it on my Shield Tablet LTE?

Nope, it's still Lollipop. Google has pushed two fixes that kinda fix things but also create new problems, only one of which the Shield has gotten.
Also, if you like your current Gallery, remember to kiss it Goodbye as Lollipop uses the bloated Google+ for it. :/

Thanks for the prompt reply!

primetechv2 said:
Nope, it's still Lollipop. Google has pushed two fixes that kinda fix things but also create new problems, only one of which the Shield has gotten.
Also, if you like your current Gallery, remember to kiss it Goodbye as Lollipop uses the bloated Google+ for it. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn, I didn't realize the gallery was gone until now. The new gallery doesn't seem to be too bad, but you're right in that it's bloated kinda.
Other than that, Lollipop seems to be an improvement over KitKat with regards to stability OP. I haven't had nearly as many issues with it. I'd say go for it.

MidgetMob said:
Damn, I didn't realize the gallery was gone until now. The new gallery doesn't seem to be too bad, but you're right in that it's bloated kinda.
Other than that, Lollipop seems to be an improvement over KitKat with regards to stability OP. I haven't had nearly as many issues with it. I'd say go for it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the bright side, Nvidia actually went out of their way to compile the email app... my Nexus sorely misses that. But hey, I've been using QuickPic for a while too, which is sufficient where Gallery is meh and Google+ just hurts.
Meanwhile, I'm pretty pleased with the direction the camera and its aftereffects editing have gone. It's not Picsay (or insert favorite editor here), but it's serviceable enough to not require an extra app.

So I'm beginning to see more reasons to upgrade to 5.0.1(?).
Is the only reason not to do so because of the aesthetics of using Google Drive for image storing?

I am thinking about going back to KitKat until there is a update to Lollipop which fixes the slowdowns I and others have.
Otherwise my main problem with Lollipop is that new volume control. To change the media volume you have to go to sound settings in settings menu. It's also too easy to turn of alarm sound by mistake with the new volume/notification control.
I remember reading an article at Android Central ago where they listed all bugs/missing features/problems with Lollipop. Well worth reading before updating.

dape16 said:
I am thinking about going back to KitKat until there is a update to Lollipop which fixes the slowdowns I and others have.
Otherwise my main problem with Lollipop is that new volume control. To change the media volume you have to go to sound settings in settings menu. It's also too easy to turn of alarm sound by mistake with the new volume/notification control.
I remember reading an article at Android Central ago where they listed all bugs/missing features/problems with Lollipop. Well worth reading before updating.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Too late.
Just as well, so far it seems more stable for what I'm doing. I haven't seen any of the slowdowns you and others mention.
Thanks for pointing me to the Android Central article, I'll have to see if I can't find it. Feel free to post a link if you stumble across it before I do.

primetechv2 said:
Nope, it's still Lollipop. Google has pushed two fixes that kinda fix things but also create new problems, only one of which the Shield has gotten.
Also, if you like your current Gallery, remember to kiss it Goodbye as Lollipop uses the bloated Google+ for it. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since people are complaining about the gallery going away. Here is the old one. It also installs the old camera.
https://mega.co.nz/#!CkJBlLiK!KcJGELR2ut_q1avgUGuJBfFMVGdm99RQ_JZQbPZQlGk
Just install the apk.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using XDA Free mobile app

I use Quickpick as a replacement for the stock KK camera and it works really well. As for upgrade to 5.0.1, poeple is complaining about battery life and some miscellaneous thing, that's why i kept 5.0

5.01 is significantly smoother... Especially when you disable HW Overlay (Force GPU rendering).. I went back to KitKat due to the wonky battery stats / life of 5.01 and KitKat was a dog in comparison --- So I went back to 5.01. ANd its butter smooth in comparison - even Chrome is significantly improved on 501. The battery life / stats are still wonky but with my clean load of everything (reflashed everything) and rooted (removed all the ATT bloat) I have to say... I am loving the tablet much much more..
So my suggestion is to load a fresh version of KitKat (1.2 Nvidia Image) then perform a clean upgrade from there...

>even Chrome
With a fresh install approaching 80MB, that's a pretty impressive benchmark.
Yeah, Lollipop elsewhere might be trouble but I think Nvidia pulled it off.

Thanks for all the feedback.
Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using XDA Free mobile app

Honestly, don't... I have been running lollipop since launch on my SHIELD LTE and now with 5.0.1, the number of minor bugs this has is simply mind bending. I have tried blaming it on pretty much everything but in truth all the stuff i use works heaps better in KitKat. Not to mention the Power drain, intermittent wifi, broken power control, rendering artefacts and so on and so forth. FYI none of this was an issue in kitkat for me and i have run it rooted and unrooted and with both locked and unlocked loader and pretty much anything i can think of, since I use EU/RoW software there is no bloating but even so i have tried removing anything and everything i could, to no improvement at all.
If you think nVidia did a good job on lollipop then i really don't want to see a bad job...

I agree... Other than performance Nvidia 2.1 (5.01 Andorid) has been a very poor quality build . However, Performance improved significantly (Antutu I gained 3k points just by going from 2.0 Nvidia to 2.1)
You can fix the artifact thing by Disabling HW overlay in Developers Options... pretty much all video glitches go away... WIFI is no better... I think they have a poor hardware design and wont be able to fix this with software. Battery Life is definitely worse and the battery stats are FUBAR. Regarding power control... I cant tell - honestly I dont see much difference when optimizing and not optimizing thus I guess they are broken.
I went back to KitKat and then went back to Lollipop - that tells you something right there
Tellus82 said:
Honestly, don't... I have been running lollipop since launch on my SHIELD LTE and now with 5.0.1, the number of minor bugs this has is simply mind bending. I have tried blaming it on pretty much everything but in truth all the stuff i use works heaps better in KitKat. Not to mention the Power drain, intermittent wifi, broken power control, rendering artefacts and so on and so forth. FYI none of this was an issue in kitkat for me and i have run it rooted and unrooted and with both locked and unlocked loader and pretty much anything i can think of, since I use EU/RoW software there is no bloating but even so i have tried removing anything and everything i could, to no improvement at all.
If you think nVidia did a good job on lollipop then i really don't want to see a bad job...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

If i disable the overlay i get quite bad stuttering in animations in the places i had artefacts so between two bad things... I hate redoing a good setup but I will go back to kitkat & wait a good while for nV to sort out lollipop before going back.
stanglx said:
I agree... Other than performance Nvidia 2.1 (5.01 Andorid) has been a very poor quality build . However, Performance improved significantly (Antutu I gained 3k points just by going from 2.0 Nvidia to 2.1)
You can fix the artifact thing by Disabling HW overlay in Developers Options... pretty much all video glitches go away... WIFI is no better... I think they have a poor hardware design and wont be able to fix this with software. Battery Life is definitely worse and the battery stats are FUBAR. Regarding power control... I cant tell - honestly I dont see much difference when optimizing and not optimizing thus I guess they are broken.
I went back to KitKat and then went back to Lollipop - that tells you something right there
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I had the memory leak issue on 5.0.0, but 5.0.1 remedied every issue I had. I have no regrets about the update (except that I'm still unhappy with how the OS handles folder permissions because app developers are taking WAY too long to adapt to it).

Mathman85 said:
I had the memory leak issue on 5.0.0, but 5.0.1 remedied every issue I had. I have no regrets about the update (except that I'm still unhappy with how the OS handles folder permissions because app developers are taking WAY too long to adapt to it).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Similar experience here, no issues on latest firmware.

I'm running 5.0.1 and I'm having battery drainage issues and major throttling when waking the device, even if my power management settings are set for max performance. Need to wait 10-20 seconds for commands to register.
I get one day of use out of the Tablet, would have to bring up the battery day for actual on screen time. I do use Chromecast quite a bit and play a lot of Hearthstone so... a day may be correct lol.
the biggest issue for me are the slow downs and random crashes though, just painful. Nothing angers while I'm having relax time than having Hearthstone crash while I'm laying down the hurt..... oh well, just a game.

I had the lovely memory leak issue pretty recently, and my tablet is definitely running 5.0.1. The OS is mediocre generally, with the processor still doing impressive heavy lifting, but when the system grinds to a total halt and not even the Home, Back, and Recent keys are disappearing or unresponsive, it's a bummer.
How about those software keys, huh? Twice as prone to failure in tight situations. Deciding to not register touches, being frozen, disappearing, etc... a brilliant choice.

[Q] Slow performance on Lolipop

Hi everyone,
So i've tried 2 lolipop roms now (currently on the resurrection remix) and i'm experiencing very slow performance on all of them. Typical scenario i'm in an app (lets say chrome) i hit the center home button and then the app drawer button; its taking forever to show the apps and sometimes i will just get a black screen. Just earlier i went into settings and after clicking something it took a few seconds to actually register. I dont remember experiencing this slowness on kitkat or jellybean for that matter. Is it just me?

drkdeath5000 said:
Hi everyone,
So i've tried 2 lolipop roms now (currently on the resurrection remix) and i'm experiencing very slow performance on all of them. Typical scenario i'm in an app (lets say chrome) i hit the center home button and then the app drawer button; its taking forever to show the apps and sometimes i will just get a black screen. Just earlier i went into settings and after clicking something it took a few seconds to actually register. I dont remember experiencing this slowness on kitkat or jellybean for that matter. Is it just me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No you are not.
I am experiencing the same and i am thinking everyone is experiencing this.
I would guess it's a Ram problem, cause thats the reason for all performance problems i had on this Phone, it has always been Ram/Ram-Management.
Take a look at the develpoment Page of CM12.
On the last Pages it seems like C has found a way to make this Rom really really Snappy, but he is still in testing.
Let's hope he will publish it soon.
Greetz Esok44

Check this rom, it's the fastest Lollipop rom I tried for now http://www.droidrzr.com/topic/61544-rom502aosp-aod-dark-updated-03-20-15

JoseBerga said:
Check this rom, it's the fastest Lollipop rom I tried for now http://www.droidrzr.com/topic/61544-rom502aosp-aod-dark-updated-03-20-15
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its as good as the CM versions were a month or so ago. It seems the lollipop performance has dropped off lately as they've added in additional features. I'm on that rom right now because another one became unusable, but its got the same issues as other LP roms, namely multi-tasking and occasional awful performance (but yes, its probably the best of the bunch right now today as far as current roms go).
I'm seriously considering dropping back to KK

three west said:
its as good as the CM versions were a month or so ago. It seems the lollipop performance has dropped off lately as they've added in additional features. I'm on that rom right now because another one became unusable, but its got the same issues as other LP roms, namely multi-tasking and occasional awful performance (but yes, its probably the best of the bunch right now today as far as current roms go).
I'm seriously considering dropping back to KK
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The memory leaks are to blame. Its not even device specific. They are trying to work on it. Word is CM12.1 should fix it, but i've heard mixed reviews on that. But yes, CM11 might be the best bet.
Sent from my ATRIX HD using XDA Free mobile app

5.1 fixes this
I just installed 5.1 by epinter and I have to say it runs amazingly fast, smooth and stable.
Everything that bugged me out is gone.
You can keep Whatsapp, Chrome and Maps in Memory - it's just awesome.
It's also very snappy and apps start a lot faster.
And keep in mind this is the first attempt at porting 5.1.
Did I mention the battery lasts almost 50% longer as well at my first day of usage?

Who here is still running KK? aka Thinking of finally upgrading to LP

I'm usually first in line to update firmware, but when Lollipop first launched I decided to wait until a stable custom ROM was released, and in retrospect, I'm glad I did because from what I've seen and heard, Lollipop has been a big bust.
Now I am getting a little antsy to update, but reading about the 5.1.1 gives me no confidence. Apparently the Nexus 5 still suffers from laggy performance, battery drain, and other performance issues? Can anyone attest to this? Should I just stay with KK? Are the custom ROM's any better or do they suffer from the same issues as stock ROM? I'm really disappointed with Google on this. They came out touting this and that about Lollipop, and it seems they've fallen flat on all those promises.

Stay with KitKat. 5.1.1 fixed/improved the memleak, that's it. It's still not as fast as 4.4.4. There are also issues with flashlight, camera, bounce scrolling, etc.

nubreed000 said:
Apparently the Nexus 5 still suffers from laggy performance, battery drain, and other performance issues?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's impossible to generalise this statement because our usage and setup is all different.
You also have to remember that the internet is for complaining, and you won't hear about or read equivalent posts with little or no issues...
My view: take a nandroid backup of your current setup. Full wipe and flash one of the latest ROMs and test for yourself.
If you discover any of these issues, then restore. If you like what you discover: win!

There is no reason to use KitKat only ( I know some guys will use Xposed as a reason ).
Lollipop has never been terrible, laggy or buggy as hell. I know that some guys have complained but some users don´t know how to handle a device.
They install every App available ( no matter if they need it or not ), collect every game ( no matter if some of these games are considered to be Malware eg. Mother of My** ).
Every system might be throttled down with 500+ Apps active and using their push notifications like there´s no tomorrow.
I never ever had any trouble with Lollipop and would never ever want to move back for good to KitKat only.
I use KitKat 4.4.4 and Lollipop 5.1.1 on my Nexus 7 ( 2013 ) with Multirom but use Lollipop most the time. KitKat is just for testing purposes only if some App I really want to use, would fail to start on Lollipop.
You could try the same and use Multirom for Nexus 5. This way you can use both OS and sooner or later, maybe remove Kitkat and stick to Lollipop+ only

"If it ain't broken, don't fix it ".
4.4.4 works great. Why mess with it? What's so much better with LP? Save yourself the aggravation.
My 2 cents.

Anderson2 said:
"If it ain't broken, don't fix it ".
4.4.4 works great. Why mess with it? What's so much better with LP? Save yourself the aggravation.
My 2 cents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google ain't listening yo

beekay201 said:
Google ain't listening yo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You got that right. ?
Shame on Google. But we're the customers, and the customer is always right.

Lollipop is working perfectly for me

Anderson2 said:
You got that right.
Shame on Google. But we're the customers, and the customer is always right.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, that's a myth. Always has been.
Anyways, thanks for the input everyone. I think I will try dual-booting Lollipop, or whatever we call it on Android

dicecuber said:
Lollipop is working perfectly for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you find about it that's better than kitkat? Just want to know.

Lollipop has more eye-candy to offer while performing a lot faster. The whole OS looks more refined by now and ART is a huge step in comparison to Dalvik.
Ofc some Apps might not work on Lollipop yet but I think you would miss out a lot since Android 5.1.1 ( Stock ROM ) is the fastest update I´ve ever tried.

Just downgraded 2 of my N5's to KK.
My wife hated it and I like Xposed too much.
Now that Xposed is working in 5.1.1 I will probably upgrade and give it a try again.
I keep a 3rd N5 on Kitkat and use multiRom to experiment.

5.1.1 is fast and looks good but IMHO its not as stable as KK, at least not yet anyway, i went back to KK on sunday and it was like getting my phone back, feels more solid and battery life is much better, you very well may regret upgrading.
Lolipop for me became an excercise in searching for wakelocks and trying to diagnose leaks and what was draining the phone, with Kitkat theres no hassle, it just works by itself, the way in should.
edit: i also found the signal coverage patchy on Lolipop, phone would take ages searching for a signal if it lost it,
other complaints i had were mystery battery drains and maps stalling when driving, basic stuff really.

Gorgtech said:
There is no reason to use KitKat only ( I know some guys will use Xposed as a reason ).
Lollipop has never been terrible, laggy or buggy as hell. I know that some guys have complained but some users don´t know how to handle a device.
They install every App available ( no matter if they need it or not ), collect every game ( no matter if some of these games are considered to be Malware eg. Mother of My** ).
Every system might be throttled down with 500+ Apps active and using their push notifications like there´s no tomorrow.
I never ever had any trouble with Lollipop and would never ever want to move back for good to KitKat only.
I use KitKat 4.4.4 and Lollipop 5.1.1 on my Nexus 7 ( 2013 ) with Multirom but use Lollipop most the time. KitKat is just for testing purposes only if some App I really want to use, would fail to start on Lollipop.
You could try the same and use Multirom for Nexus 5. This way you can use both OS and sooner or later, maybe remove Kitkat and stick to Lollipop+ only
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I think this is the best answer and prospect of the whole Kitkat vs Lollipop talk. I never had any problem when i was running the latest Lollipop and custom roms. Saying that Lollipop isn't stable is just saying "you are ****" to the google developers. I mean they are the best engineering and programmers in the World.
I am really glad that i bought Nexus 5 from Samsung flagship phones because i could really dig up the community of android and indie developers providing something for the community. Hell, i even bought Galaxy Nexus after i realized Nexus line phones aren't that bad.

Anderson2 said:
What do you find about it that's better than kitkat? Just want to know.
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It feels snappier, I think the upgrade uses less resources

Custom ROMs... Are they still worth it?

I have been a flashaholic for some time, probably the Eclair days, but I really question if it's worth it now days.
Most Lollipop and newer ROMs, except for Nexus devices, seem to have some kind of issues... If not immediately, then over time. While at the same time factory ROMs get better, partially because the base code is better and because many manufacturers are getting better at it.
And now, some features are being blocked just by unlocking of bootloader, even if you're otherwise stock, like Android Pay and others like Pok�©mon Go.
I find all I really do now on custom roms is some interface tweaks... Change the battery icon, add a clear all button to recents, and add arrows to the navigation bar, all minor stuff. Otherwise things like Nova Launcher, SwiftKey, and GSAM largely don't even require root anymore much less a custom ROM. Part of it used to be for battery life, but now, at least on modern Moto devices, most custom roms struggle just to match the battery life of stock.
I've tried every rom for this device I can find, here and other places, and they all seem to have a variety of things that fail, from minor annoyances to major services broken like GPS, or they fail over time.
My question for discussion is it still worth it, and why do you ROM or even root anymore?

I used to run a variety CM ROM's on Samsung Galaxy & Note devices. Starting with the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket and then every decent device Samsung released until the bootloaders stopped getting cracked.
There was always something that just didn't work right and I'd have random crashes.
But for me it was semi-worth it. I like to tinker and customize a lot.
Fast forward to the last thirteen months with my first non-Samsung since. A Motorola Moto X Pure.
Best damn phone I've ever had.
And there is CM available, but I quickly discovered AOSP ROM's like Dirty Unicorn and Broken OS.
Both these ROM's are FULL of customization not found in Xposed modules, and both ROM's have been 100% reliable.
I may have had one lockup in the last 13 months. And everything from GPS to Bluetooth, etc. have all worked perfectly.
So for me, yes... custom ROM's are more than worth it once you find the right ROM. My phone is heavily customized to my needs and super reliable.
The only thing lacking with MotoX was kernel development. Which I guess is where you start losing some reliability.
But it's also where I'm hoping the Pixel will get some good development and I'm looking forward to it. :good:

Non-rooted stock MM has been going great for me lately. Lots of great built in features like Moto actions, etc. I play Pokemon while walking on my breaks at work, and the last few updates forced my hand to go back to stock. I was (am) also a flashoholic, and it was mainly to have custom features and better performance on outdated and mfg abandoned phones. It was also a must for my Kindle Fire. I really don't see myself going away from stock MM (soon to be Nougat) on my MXPE at this point. I still flash ROMs on my G2 and Note 3 though, but barely use them outside the house.

CZ Eddie said:
I used to run a variety CM ROM's on Samsung Galaxy & Note devices. Starting with the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket and then every decent device Samsung released until the bootloaders stopped getting cracked.
There was always something that just didn't work right and I'd have random crashes.
But for me it was semi-worth it. I like to tinker and customize a lot.
Fast forward to the last thirteen months with my first non-Samsung since. A Motorola Moto X Pure.
Best damn phone I've ever had.
And there is CM available, but I quickly discovered AOSP ROM's like Dirty Unicorn and Broken OS.
Both these ROM's are FULL of customization not found in Xposed modules, and both ROM's have been 100% reliable.
I may have had one lockup in the last 13 months. And everything from GPS to Bluetooth, etc. have all worked perfectly.
So for me, yes... custom ROM's are more than worth it once you find the right ROM. My phone is heavily customized to my needs and super reliable.
The only thing lacking with MotoX was kernel development. Which I guess is where you start losing some reliability.
But it's also where I'm hoping the Pixel will get some good development and I'm looking forward to it. :good:
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Hmm... I have been on that "rom that shan't be named on XDA" for a while now. After a month started suffering SoD randomly and Play Services has stopped issues. DU 10.6 couldn't maintain GPS lock, but 10.5 was fine, seemed to effect only a handful of devices, lucky me.
Anyway, thanks for your input.

acejavelin said:
Hmm... I have been on that "rom that shan't be named on XDA" for a while now. After a month started suffering SoD randomly and Play Services has stopped issues. DU 10.6 couldn't maintain GPS lock, but 10.5 was fine, seemed to effect only a handful of devices, lucky me.
Anyway, thanks for your input.
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I also have been a avid user of the "rom that shan't be named on XDA" for many months now with no real issues. By chance have you tried a fresh install again. The latest release was back in late August a 4.9.1 version that made corrections to some issues on the 4.9 release.

Jimi Mack said:
I also have been a avid user of the "rom that shan't be named on XDA" for many months now with no real issues. By chance have you tried a fresh install again. The latest release was back in late August a 4.9.1 version that made corrections to some issues on the 4.9 release.
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Not yet... I have been on 4.9.1 already, and have been working with the devs a bit on it but seems mostly isolated to my device.

acejavelin said:
Not yet... I have been on 4.9.1 already, and have been working with the devs a bit on it but seems mostly isolated to my device.
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If anything try a fresh install and see if your issues were only from maybe a bad original install. If they show up again then I would say they are isolated to your device.

Jimi Mack said:
If anything try a fresh install and see if your issues were only from maybe a bad original install. If they show up again then I would say they are isolated to your device.
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I'm out of town for the weekend, in a rather rural area, so maybe will try tomorrow evening.

LMT pie, adaway, naptime, and general tweaking are the only reasons I root on a phone this close to stock android.
I didn't run custom ROMs on this phone until about August of this year. That was when battery life on aicp started to get comparable with stock for me. I can get most of the features I want from gravitybox, but I prefer them baked into the ROM. Xposed always seems a little problematic even when you don't install janky modules. I really like the notification led; missed that when I got this phone. I know we're supposed to use moto display, but I think that makes more sense on amoled than a great big LCD. Never had good luck with lightflow or the led enabler apps, but the custom roms work great. I really like slim recents too. I haven't found any modules that work to put KitKat like recents on M ROMs.

TruPureXMM + GravityBox
Loved my MXP so much I bought one for my mom who was hating her iPhone5. Kept it stock (for obvious reasons), so I have a good baseline to compare to my MXP running TruPureXMM + GravityBox. I've tried a bunch of ROMS for this phone but I always come back to TruPureXMM + GravityBox. Oh, and Tasker.
There is no way in hell I would go back to stock.

I used Cyanogenmod on my HTC Incredible and Verizon Galaxy Nexus. Didn't root or ROM for a while due to using the stock ROM on the 2nd generation Verizon Moto X 2014 and stock Android on the Nexus 5X and 6P. But, I had the itch to unlock the bootloader on my Moto X Pure, due to curiousity, and because it's likely that we will only see one more Nougat update. I tried CM13, but I was getting UI freeze ups and slowdowns on multiple builds, so I tried Dirty Unicorns 10.6, and that has been working fine. I may return to the stock ROM after the Nougat update, but in the meantime, I'm happy experimenting with different ROMs on the Pure.

I'd be cool with stock- as long as I could debloat it.
And it was updated fairly quickly.

Stock for this phone is great. Better than most. Only issue really is Moto is so far behind on security updates. They are on what, May I believe? CM13 is Oct.
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Stock here, never a issue. With Nougat in the horizon, a custom ROM is a big NO for me.
Enviado desde mi XT1575 mediante Tapatalk

I would say TruPureX with a few mods is a very solid and stable way to go. I myself am on TurboROM which has ceased current development, but have ZERO issues. AICP's MM build is the most feature filled and works flawlessly aside from one issue I don't have on other ROMs, where my bank app only shows black when using the camera to deposit checks, making AICP unusable for me, but highly recommended for others to try as that's the absolute only issue I could find after a week full of testing (Kind of what I do as a hobby is push ROMs to their limits to find the issues.)
So in short: TruPureXMM, TurboROM, AICP - are all great choices without the negatives associated with many custom ROMs.

Pretty sure we are all here to push the ROMs to he limits lol?
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Speaking of custom ROMs, I just searched android file host for Clark and there are new 7.0 builds of zephyros, pure nexus, aosp, and cos.
I'm in a limited data area so I haven't downloaded or tried them out yet.

jason2678 said:
Speaking of custom ROMs, I just searched android file host for Clark and there are new 7.0 builds of zephyros, pure nexus, aosp, and cos.
I'm in a limited data area so I haven't downloaded or tried them out yet.
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Running the latest Zephyr after trying AICP and CM14. Uses substratum and SuperSU. Camera recording isn't working with snapdragon camera (FC), google camera (records but doesn't save). Had an android.phone FC but replaced with google phone/contacts and no problems so far. Still need to test speakerphone and bluetooth, but assuming those work as well as 6.0.1 I'm pretty impressed by Birdman.

Any roms that anyone can recommend? CM13 and OrionOS both have very bad stuttering after some time of use. Has anyone tried Pure Nexus or Slim6? Just need a good daily driver that can handle games without heating up so hot, and handle most social apps great...

jason2678 said:
Speaking of custom ROMs, I just searched android file host for Clark and there are new 7.0 builds of zephyros, pure nexus, aosp, and cos.
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Seriously? We've got like one and a half here.