<Rant>
Since the release of the htc desire here in the uk I have seen a explosion of my friends buying it/ getting android. Ive gone from knowing one person with a android to 10 in 2 months!
All very well and good but being a htc hero owner for nearly a year now I cannot more and more help think that the Sense/MotoBlur and other skins over the stock android really arent worth it.
This may fall on deaf ears here at xda with such a huge CustomROM development scene but every time google release a new android version, I have less and less reason to root and flash a customROM onto my phone!
Back when android was 1.5/1.6 it was a ugly looking beast which HTC sense did brilliantly to fix. It was the first android phone to make me (and many others) go "wow". Such that is the pace that android and its manufactures travel at, within a couple of months the hero dropped from #1 to #4 of top android phones. The main reason being of course the android pace of upgrades
since 2.x android has looked good, its picked up sense features and really is not that far behind the sense experience (apart from KB).. I could happily live without sense if i was on 2.x and would much prefere to have a update within 2 weeks then 6months that htc(and other companies) seem to provide.
The problem is I now want a incredible or a evo4 but I would prefere to be able to buy it with a Stock Android build that google will support like they do on the Nexus one.
Am I the only one who feels this?
</Rant>
It's a trade-off. With the evo you do have the option to use the stock android launcher though. But it still is up to the rom scene to do most of the work regarding updating the rom. Though HTC has stated that they will have, at least the evo, sense available for with 2.2 before July (I think the unofficial date is June 26 or something).
(OT)
I though the UK only had GSM carriers/towers and didn't know there would be a GSM version of the evo, and I didn't know there would be a GSM incredible(Verizon branded in the US)
I haven't heard or read anything about the HTC EVO or Incredible being produced in GSM versions. HTC have continuously stated that there won't be any GSM models of either phone. As far as I'm aware, anyway.
Do you have any links/sources that say otherwise?
Make sure you take note on the extensive time it takes to update a device with a custom UI. Learn from the eris, which JUST got its first official OTA, and even that was released pretty buggy. Even the Droid took a while, but that's just a Moto issue, and it didn't take near as long as others, as it has had 2 OTA's since it's release. Lets just hope HTC has worked out the kinks in their compilation and distribution of working software.
So generally speaking I've always stuck to sister phones of nexus devices. My Samsung Captivate was sorta the "nexus with an SD card" in terms of being identical to the Nexus S, the LG Optimus G was "4g + SD Card Nexus" and I never really had any problems running roms with the latest version of Android. Running nightlys and experimental software wasn't such a big deal because it allowed me to keep my phone up to date long after it would have been updated otherwise.
The general lack of desire to stand behind the stability of a particular version coupled with a general lack of "stable" releases kinda has me jaded when I can just keep rolling with the newest version of Android officially.
It has made me wonder if there are any "stable rolling release" versions of roms? Like "here is the stable rolling release, once a week we push the latest stable versions and features from our nightles over the last month!" Letting those who want to try the newest upgrades immediately have nightly and letting people who want the latest version of android with more tweaks get the version that suits them the most?
Edit: I'm not really asking for specific ROM recommendations so much as ROM trends in general.
Many AOSP roms do this.. We can't recommend Roma to you because those comparisons are against the rules but the ROM I use (slim) has weekly builds and then a monthly stable.
The stable has a code freeze a while before release to extend testing to ensure it is stable but the weeklies are stable too.
The devs also post personal test builds in between the weeklies for those who want to test particular new functions.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
rootSU said:
Many AOSP roms do this.. We can't recommend Roma to you because those comparisons are against the rules but the ROM I use (slim) has weekly builds and then a monthly stable.
The stable has a code freeze a while before release to extend testing to ensure it is stable but the weeklies are stable too.
The devs also post personal test builds in between the weeklies for those who want to test particular new functions.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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My mistake I should have phrased the original thread more carefully and I'll edit it after this.
I was more looking at general ROM trends as opposed to looking for a specific ROM.
Many AOSP roms do this
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Snow_fox said:
So generally speaking I've always stuck to sister phones of nexus devices. My Samsung Captivate was sorta the "nexus with an SD card" in terms of being identical to the Nexus S, the LG Optimus G was "4g + SD Card Nexus" and I never really had any problems running roms with the latest version of Android. Running nightlys and experimental software wasn't such a big deal because it allowed me to keep my phone up to date long after it would have been updated otherwise.
The general lack of desire to stand behind the stability of a particular version coupled with a general lack of "stable" releases kinda has me jaded when I can just keep rolling with the newest version of Android officially.
It has made me wonder if there are any "stable rolling release" versions of roms? Like "here is the stable rolling release, once a week we push the latest stable versions and features from our nightles over the last month!" Letting those who want to try the newest upgrades immediately have nightly and letting people who want the latest version of android with more tweaks get the version that suits them the most?
Edit: I'm not really asking for specific ROM recommendations so much as ROM trends in general.
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your "sister" phones in reality have nothing to do with the nexus, and are not similar. the only similarities they have is using the same kind of cpu, but tweaked completely differently. maybe the same screens as well. all the other internals are completely different. completely different as in your "sister" phones are nothing like their nexus counterparts. so unlike nexus, that i would never call them a "sister" phone.
and there are many completely stable aosp roms out there for the n5.
I really don't see a point in releasing "Stable Releases" with a nexus device. With a Nexus device, the whole source is there for developers and the device is fully unlocked. So most likely, if a dev knows what they are doing, there shouldn't be very many bugs, if any at all. It would be mainly feature additions and whatever else the dev wants to add.
Now with Non Nexus devices, it's a little harder to get EVERYTHING working since the devices are usually locked down and all. So "Stable releases" are kind of a bigger deal.
That's my view on it anyway.
the thing about android is that someone somewhere is finding something new everyday, and waiting around for the release of monthly releases of roms kinda puts the users off("ohh active notifications!" "wow heads up notification" "can i get the <insert fancy OEM specific feature here> in my device?"). I for one, coming from an XMP which had rom's being updated once every two week found it hard in the N5 community where the nightlies where more common.
The thing is you have to keep changing fast and there is always room for improvement so there can never be a "stable" version just short term triumphs.
The thing is, there isn't much need for "stable" builds anymore, the nightlies for most ROMs are really stable and daily driver capable (of course sometimes something doesn't work right here and there, but generally). Some have Delta updates too so you don't need to flash the entire ROM over each nightly, kind of like daily OTAs.
jsgraphicart said:
I really don't see a point in releasing "Stable Releases" with a nexus device. With a Nexus device, the whole source is there for developers and the device is fully unlocked. So most likely, if a dev knows what they are doing, there shouldn't be very many bugs, if any at all. It would be mainly feature additions and whatever else the dev wants to add.
Now with Non Nexus devices, it's a little harder to get EVERYTHING working since the devices are usually locked down and all. So "Stable releases" are kind of a bigger deal.
That's my view on it anyway.
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Out of curiosity is the same true for the Play edition devices? With that said I was thinking about ROMs in general not ROMs specific to devices. I'd also argue (having worked QA professionally) the need to check new features added ranges drastically depending on what you want to add to the device.
gamer.11 said:
the thing about android is that someone somewhere is finding something new everyday, and waiting around for the release of monthly releases of roms kinda puts the users off("ohh active notifications!" "wow heads up notification" "can i get the <insert fancy OEM specific feature here> in my device?"). I for one, coming from an XMP which had rom's being updated once every two week found it hard in the N5 community where the nightlies where more common.
The thing is you have to keep changing fast and there is always room for improvement so there can never be a "stable" version just short term triumphs.
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As someone who loves new features I find the "additives" as great. I've also found just having the latest version of Android with a working stable feature set is pretty cool too.
Lethargy said:
The thing is, there isn't much need for "stable" builds anymore, the nightlies for most ROMs are really stable and daily driver capable (of course sometimes something doesn't work right here and there, but generally). Some have Delta updates too so you don't need to flash the entire ROM over each nightly, kind of like daily OTAs.
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I might look into the Delta Updates. There are a few things I do miss about ROMs such as being able to close all active windows and stuff. I just don't miss how some ROMs basically were just a conglomeration of shoving as much stuff into one ROM as possible regardless of how it ended up.
Snow_fox said:
Out of curiosity is the same true for the Play edition devices? With that said I was thinking about ROMs in general not ROMs specific to devices. I'd also argue (having worked QA professionally) the need to check new features added ranges drastically depending on what you want to add to the device.
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Click to collapse
Google Play Edition devices aren't the same as Nexus devices, they just use a more "AOSP-like" ROM that doesn't have the respective OEM skin on top of it. Not sure if bootloader unlocking process is different (Nexus devices have fastboot oem unlock) but the stock ROM on them still has some parts of the OEM framework underneath (like double tap to wake and duo camera editing on HTC One M8). The Nexus 5 is more popular then Google Play Edition devices and which is why it subsequently has more developer support.
Lethargy said:
Google Play Edition devices aren't the same as Nexus devices, they just use a more "AOSP-like" ROM that doesn't have the respective OEM skin on top of it. Not sure if bootloader unlocking process is different (Nexus devices have fastboot oem unlock) but the stock ROM on them still has some parts of the OEM framework underneath (like double tap to wake and duo camera editing on HTC One M8). The Nexus 5 is more popular then Google Play Edition devices and which is why it subsequently has more developer support.
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This makes sense. I didn't know if the Play Edition devices still had OEM fragments or if they were as free as the Nexus series.
Heavy oem frameworks
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To be fair, there was a pretty significant gap between 4.2 releasing on the Nexus 4 and Cyanogenmod releasing 10.2 stable. As mentioned though, many of the ROMs have released stable versions and those that haven't are still fairly stable despite not having an "official" stable release.
I will say that I'm less likely to stick with a ROM despite bugs on Nexus devices than on other devices for two main reasons. With other devices, you're often getting rid of a manufacturer skin (so it's a completely different interface, instead of just having some tweaks) or you're moving up an Android version early.
Its worth pointing out that some devs only call their last ever release "stable" when they absolutely won't add or change anything again.
I think it's too easy to get wrapped up in the terminology and not appreciate the development we have
What a stable release means to 1 dev, means something else to another.
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nearly every single ROM that I've ever used that has been titled "stable", has been less stable then the regular builds. especially with cm. a real ROM is neither called " stable" nor "experimental", its just called by its name and released. people add the word "stable" to them just to trick a few into a few more downloads.
There number of quotation marks in here is too damn high.
For good reason...
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Not bashing CM but why is everyone so inclined to use it when it's not stable compared to other custom roms?
nadmail said:
Not bashing CM but why is everyone so inclined to use it when it's not stable compared to other custom roms?
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because most other roms use cm as base , and if cm isn't stable other roms will be unstable too .
The exception being Moto G stock android + (Xposed + modules), which isn't based off CM. It is extremely stable and bang up to date!
I will never ever ignorantly buy again a Droid which is not (enough) stock Android first and formost. I had several Samsungs (S1,3,4) and a LG Opt.G Pro. Hate hate hate factory UI's since Nexus an now Moto G Lte. It is like raping Android with those UI's not to mention über-bloated unnessary battery drain and lag.
In perspective of this one know's if full CM (or better Slim Roms) support one has good alternatives for a Droid. Official CM support often means open drivers thus decent/good custom rom quality. If custom roms are dependent on blobs for lack of open source drivers their custom roms will be most of the time full of bugs and be crap.
Another perspective of full CM (or better Slim Roms) support is good quality of newest Android versions when for instance a Moto G is end of support and will not receive updates anymore.
So when a Droid has no official CM support (and aviabilty open source drivers) I will never buy it. No matter how cheap. Official CM support will also mean a big choice of good different custom roms.
Verstuurd vanaf mijn Nexus 7 (2013), iPad Mini Retina of Moto G Lte
I prefer Paranoid Android. The update scheduled every Wednesday, well organized compared to CM, which updated randomly.
Miracast screen-mirroring is fully functional in CM, but not in Stock. So to fully realize the capability of Moto G's hardware a custom ROM is currently required.
CM Miracast might be one good reason its true. However I have been getting perfect results using an Airplay app on a standard Moto G. Airplay is a well engineered cross platform system which works equally well with Apple, Android and Blackberry devices.
Cm is Best Rom Ever!! Every Android device has Cm, and also used Base Rom to port other Roms... So There is No Competition with Cm... :beer:
Sent from my XT1033
Considering how Cyanogenmod beats anything I've seen from budget OEMs (especially chinese OEMs who slap together all sorts of glitchy ROMs with annoying features), why don't they just grab CM sources and use that for their entire line instead of developing their own ROM from scratch? It's pretty obvious that people buy their phones for the price and not the "unique user experience" and Cyanogenmod is pretty awesome. The CM12.1 codebase has been pretty stable for a long time now so I'm sure it can be done.
Bump! This still weighs on my mind..
once, CyanogenMOD was extreamly popular within the tech comunity... because it helps android user to update their device to newer android even after oem's forget their users... Cyanogen comes to new version as soon as new version of android comes... It was supported by almost every android device out in market that time... even other ROM developers depends on their device tree to build new ROM's and it helps alot to a techie user to mod their device with customizations...
But now, its changing day to day... they are more focusing on Cyanogen OS then CyanogenMOD...
It takes months to come new version of CyanogenMOD and also the OS after new android releases...
Once they were releasing official release for almost every device out in market from samsung, huawei, nexus (obviously), motorola, oppo, HTC, Sony, ZTE, LG, acer, asus.... but now they aren't updating major flagships like samsung galaxy s6, s6edge, s7, even more from samsung, HTC (desire & others)... as they are not porting it to many non flagship devices like HTC desire, Samsung Galaxy A series, J series, so theres no device tree for those device and also this makes limitations to developing ROM for these devices...
Cyanogen is more concerned about OS then the free MOD, its practicle for them, even this went well with the partnership with the oneplus one... but after the partnership with yu, this went as hell...
right now I think no one is giving a damn to CyanogenOS... they must understand this... as they are well known for CYanogenMOD. If they dont focus on CyanogenMOD then I fear they may loss their popularity in tech comunity...