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[Q] When can new roms be used?

I am a jailbroken iPhone convert. I am loving this phone so far and have heeded the warnings to not mess with the phone too much. My question is, when is it safe to use the roms that are available? Is there that big of a difference in performance? I jailbroke my iPhone to get features Apple wouldn't allow our have. what do I gain with custom roms? Thanks for all that has been done so far and look forward to what its to come.

I don't know of there is a time period to use them but most custom roms freshen up your desktop icons as well most of them improve battery life and add the ability to overclock.

You can gain quite a few features with Custom Roms. Such as overclocking, custom ui's, much better performance (snappier). I highly recommend flashing a custom ROM. Currently CM9 and CM7 are a work in progress and should be released sooner than later, (CM7 is currently in it's testing stage). Also to do all of this you have to root your device. A guide can be found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1327741&highlight=how+to+root Keep in mind many features can be gained once rooted, but as you probably know the warranty is voided.

Thanks for the help so far. The only question still remaining for me is; at what point are these roms considered stable enough for someone new to start using. I have read the warnings and really don't want to have to reinstall everything over and over again because of instability issues. thanks

ed20910 said:
Thanks for the help so far. The only question still remaining for me is; at what point are these roms considered stable enough for someone new to start using. I have read the warnings and really don't want to have to reinstall everything over and over again because of instability issues. thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It really all depends on what you are after.
I will say that even the stock ROM on the Atrix 2 is not that stable, and there are a TON of bugs in it.
All the ROMs that are here are in a beta format and are not even at a 1.0 revision yet. If you are not technical at all, and don't really like playing with your device a lot, and flashing ROMs, to try and get a feature that the stock ROM is missing, then I totally advise against flashing anything. These "ROMS are completely safe and stable enough", but both lfaber06 and are I always trying to "improve" on them, no matter what revision that the ROM is at, as well as requests for new features. That really is why it may seem that people are flashing all the time, not really because of instability.
Since he and I are really the only two devs in here right now, there is not going to be a lot of choice in ROMs and since this phone is still fairly new, everything is still "new" and in beta/alpha. Since you are coming from the iphone, and flashing ROMs is not really something that you do, I say you wait until you find something you really want that is not available in the stock ROM, and has been put into one the ROMs available here, then try flashing that. Until then just hang tight for a while. There are plenty of hacks that can be done to the stock ROM, to fix things, and make that better at this time. Also take some time to learn a little about android and flashing and how it all works, not intimately, or on a very technical level, but that might save your "you know what", if you have an issue during a flash or while running an unfamiliar ROM.

Thank you VERY much. That was the answer I was looking for. I am technical savy, just haven't done much with android so far. I am one that likes to tinker and get the most out of any of my electronics.

Any advantage to rooting if you just want simple?

Overall, I am happy with my phone. Use it mostly for e-mail, websurfing, various apps. Don't need to play around with settings, etc. It just works.
I am interested in possibly rooting, but frankly, I don't want to spend a lot of time on tweaks, loading ROMS, etc. I just want to use my phone.
If I root without loading a new rom, what are some of the advantages?
I know that I can remove some bloatware, but unless it significantly increases battery life, then it doesn't really matter to me. Will removing bloatware do anything significant to battery life?
I am already SIM unlocked (I called AT&T, and they gave me the code to unlock).
Any other advantages?
I have rooted my wife's NOOK with CM7, and while I like it, there are issues like the Sleep of Death (SOD), occasional lag, etc., that I really don't want to deal with on my phone. I need it to work without any glitches, or constant fiddling.
My guess is I should probably stay unrooted, but wanted to see if anyone can educate me whether there are any benefits in my situation.
Thanks!

f308gt4 said:
Overall, I am happy with my phone. Use it mostly for e-mail, websurfing, various apps. Don't need to play around with settings, etc. It just works.
I am interested in possibly rooting, but frankly, I don't want to spend a lot of time on tweaks, loading ROMS, etc. I just want to use my phone.
If I root without loading a new rom, what are some of the advantages?
I know that I can remove some bloatware, but unless it significantly increases battery life, then it doesn't really matter to me. Will removing bloatware do anything significant to battery life?
I am already SIM unlocked (I called AT&T, and they gave me the code to unlock).
Any other advantages?
I have rooted my wife's NOOK with CM7, and while I like it, there are issues like the Sleep of Death (SOD), occasional lag, etc., that I really don't want to deal with on my phone. I need it to work without any glitches, or constant fiddling.
My guess is I should probably stay unrooted, but wanted to see if anyone can educate me whether there are any benefits in my situation.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let's start with the basics, please search before posting. The advantages of rooting and disadvantages are well documented in numerous threads. It sounds like to me your phone is what you want/need it to be so why change it? If you are explicitly telling me you don't want to spend time flashing ROMs and tweaking the Inspire then I'm telling you its in your best interest not root.
Simply put, every custom ROM on here has its issues. No ROM is perfect, certain things work while others don't and its on you to figure out what you can or cannot live with. The only way to do that is by testing ROMs which brings me back to your statement that you don't want to spend time flashing ROMs and all that stuff..if you don't want to spend time doing this, rooting is not your journey.
Battery life is subjective, overall yes, most rooters see an increase in battery life, how much is subjective. I get 28 hours on one charge while others get 6. The difference? The user and what they do with the phone. My opinion for you is that don't root, you sound content with everything the inspire is.
Devil's advocate though, your inspire could be soo much more.

if you dont know what you want root for, then you dont need to root

if you want simple, do not root. It is not an easier path to walk on. It has its bumps and glitches. Sometimes you have a bad flash or download and have to redo it, or youll forget to back up something and now your sms messages are gone. If you arent ready to dig deeper into the phone and learn and also make it do more than stay as it is, no shame in that. Hes right, if you arent SURE you need to root than you shouldnt because the gains wont be noticed. I think most of us have had an almost brick experience at some point in time, be mentally prepared lol
once i had my phone run good all night, once i got to work it just died. was a bad flash and it didnt show its ugly head till the next day so i had to wait till i got home to fix it properly. lol gave me twitches not having my phone lol

f308gt4 said:
I am interested in possibly rooting, but frankly, I don't want to spend a lot of time on tweaks, loading ROMS, etc. I just want to use my phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I agree with the posts made here already that suggest rooting may not be for you, there are a couple significant advantages which you may want to consider.
Probably the first biggest advantage from my point of view is to remove the 'spyware' (Carrier IQ) present on most factory ROMs. That's HUGE for me. I have enough government intrusion into my life, I don't need any more. Another element is that - at least on my ROM (Virtuous Unity or Affinity) that they have done an excellent job of blocking ad intrusions.
There are also some applications which require root access, though most of them are system utilities (like Titanium Backup) which you wouldn't be using if you don't intend to experiment with different ROMs.
If I'm not mistaken, there's a path to go back to the OEM (factory) ROM, however you will need to be cautious with how you back up and restore the data you need. However it's something to consider if you felt like you wanted to kick the tires while still being able to go back to stock.
As with anything else in life, there are pros and cons. At this point most ROMs are fairly stable for the Inspire, so you probably won't be at a disadvantage, but if the one thing you need on the one ROM you like is the one thing that doesn't work and it's the one thing you can't live without, then don't do it. Read the documentation for each ROM and you'll know what to do.

I rooted my wife's Inspire so that I could get rid of unwanted AT&T and HTC apps and get rid of Carrier IQ.
The result has been better battery life and no prompts/notifications for updates to apps that were installed as system apps but that I have removed. I believe that the phone runs smoother without the stuff that was running in the background.
She really does not see any difference (except the battery life) in her everyday use.

marvin02 said:
I rooted my wife's Inspire so that I could get rid of unwanted AT&T and HTC apps and get rid of Carrier IQ.
The result has been better battery life and no prompts/notifications for updates to apps that were installed as system apps but that I have removed. I believe that the phone runs smoother without the stuff that was running in the background.
She really does not see any difference (except the battery life) in her everyday use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you install a different ROM, or just keep the stock (except for the rooted part) and delete the bloatware? How much of a difference did it make in the battery life?
Thanks!

Pirateghost said:
if you dont know what you want root for, then you dont need to root
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed here. Rooting requires learning more in depth capabilities about your phone. If you are content with the status quo, why complicate?

f308gt4 said:
Did you install a different ROM, or just keep the stock (except for the rooted part) and delete the bloatware? How much of a difference did it make in the battery life?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No change in ROM. Battery usually has better than 50% at night when she goes to bed. She unplugs at 5 AM and usually it's back on the charger around 10 PM. Before it was at about 30% most nights.
I also believe that it uses less background data.

Root that ***** n throw a couple ROMs on there to play with. Ever since I've roted my phone a while ago I can't stop playing with new ROMs as they cone out.

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I thought that thisbphone never had carrier iq
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App

Well, I went against the good advice offered here and rooted.
I used the Ace Hack Kit, with Ubuntu, which worked perfectly as expected.
I have not installed any ROM's, as I think I will just try to remove any bloatware, etc to see if the phone battery life increases.
Any suggestions as to what to remove (I am trying a search as we speak)?
Thanks!

f308gt4 said:
Well, I went against the good advice offered here and rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally, I'd suggest removing anything that's carrier-specific. Those apps tend to be better for them than they are for you. To do so, I'd recommend a couple utilities that will help you in your experimentation.
1) Titanium Backup. Good for removing bloatware, when you decide what it is you don't need or want.
2) ROM Manager / Clockwork. Great for downloading ROMs and managing backups from the Android interface.
Part of what might be draining your batter is Carrier IQ, but that's not something easily dug out. You'd do better to just install a ROM that's had it expertly removed. I'd suggest either Virtuous Unity or Virtuous Affinity.

The Inspire was not released w/CIQ.

Tx Redneck said:
The Inspire was not released w/CIQ.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Better safe than sorry, I suppose.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using Tapatalk

Sigh. All was well with my phone, and I had taken the case off to clean it. I was in the back yard with the phone, and boom, I dropped it on the patio. Landed face down and screen cracked.
I guess I'll be looking for a new phone now.
Thanks for all of your help!

f308gt4 said:
Overall, I am happy with my phone. Use it mostly for e-mail, websurfing, various apps. Don't need to play around with settings, etc. It just works.
I am interested in possibly rooting, but frankly, I don't want to spend a lot of time on tweaks, loading ROMS, etc. I just want to use my phone.
If I root without loading a new rom, what are some of the advantages?
I know that I can remove some bloatware, but unless it significantly increases battery life, then it doesn't really matter to me. Will removing bloatware do anything significant to battery life?
I am already SIM unlocked (I called AT&T, and they gave me the code to unlock).
Any other advantages?
I have rooted my wife's NOOK with CM7, and while I like it, there are issues like the Sleep of Death (SOD), occasional lag, etc., that I really don't want to deal with on my phone. I need it to work without any glitches, or constant fiddling.
My guess is I should probably stay unrooted, but wanted to see if anyone can educate me whether there are any benefits in my situation.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Removing bloat is advantageous to battery life, but the best feature IMO is AdFree Android. It , which removes ALL ads, in the browser or in the apps. It makes browsing and apps faster and cleaner.

f308gt4 said:
Sigh. All was well with my phone, and I had taken the case off to clean it. I was in the back yard with the phone, and boom, I dropped it on the patio. Landed face down and screen cracked.
I guess I'll be looking for a new phone now.
Thanks for all of your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just go on craigs list and find a local repair shop. the same thign happened to me, $100 and she's brand new again

IHTFP12 said:
Removing bloat is advantageous to battery life, but the best feature IMO is AdFree Android. It , which removes ALL ads, in the browser or in the apps. It makes browsing and apps faster and cleaner.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, the best feature is the fact you get full control of the device you purchased, anything else is secondary.

Root if for no other reason than to install CWM and keep up to date nandroid backups of your oem rom. It's always nice to have a quick solution in case something bad ever happens.
Plus, a lot of cool apps require root access.
Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

Custom Roms: No longer the "must do" they once were?....

Ok, so im moving from the htc sensation XE to the HTC one.
During my time with the sensation, i pretty much put on every rom/kernal/patch etc and the in the end, im posting this from a stock rom.
Why?
Well, i found that not one custom Rom worked 100%. The CM ROMs especially, with poor camera, poor scrolling and poor telephone.
ARHD became unbearable, with FC's and Permission bugs, the Sense 4 ROMs were slow and on and on.
Coming back to stock, after using ROMs which (apparently ) have been super optimised, I don't notice much difference in performance tbh. Battery life is similar, speed is similar etc.
YMMV on this one, but whatever.
In fact, the stock Rom just works
So, fast forward to two more iterations f the smart phone, and I believe the immense power now available should mean that the "optimization" ROMs, CM etc are becoming pointless. There is ample power to run the stock Rom no matter how bloated it is.
Some exceptions would be a slow roll out of updates from your carrier though.
Anyway, after flashing so much, and reverting back to stock, I'm not going to be in a rush to put a custom Rom on the One when it comes.
Even rooting it, I may hold off for a while. I'm just not sure these days what the point is.
Why knacker up the warranty?
Pah!

Different people have different uses/needs. All custom ROMs pretty much worked on my HD2 (although it's an exception since it originally had WinMo) and all of them work smoothly on the N4. Different devices also have different bugs, so you can't base the entire decision on your experience with only one device. As for why you'd want to flash one if you're OK with performance, the answer is that some of them have tonnes of features and UI enhancements. Take PA over stock 4.2.2 for example, or an AOSP based ROM over TouchWiz.

I have been thinking the same for all the reasons mentioned. I would like Titanium and Nandroids and some status bar themes. But, otherwise, for me, custom roms may not offer much. And, they do seem to have their own quirks. The stock roms and better processors now days can stand on their own for most folks. Having flashed hundreds of roms, there has been many occasions were I did something and said "Oh S--T" I am bricked. Luckily I have always been able to recoup. I am looking at the One and S4 and may root after a bit, but may not flash a custom rom. My One S had no issues running with the bloatware. But, who knows after so much flashing it may be hard to stop.

Superpiper1972 said:
Ok, so im moving from the htc sensation XE to the HTC one.
During my time with the sensation, i pretty much put on every rom/kernal/patch etc and the in the end, im posting this from a stock rom.
Why?
Well, i found that not one custom Rom worked 100%. The CM ROMs especially, with poor camera, poor scrolling and poor telephone.
ARHD became unbearable, with FC's and Permission bugs, the Sense 4 ROMs were slow and on and on.
Coming back to stock, after using ROMs which (apparently ) have been super optimised, I don't notice much difference in performance tbh. Battery life is similar, speed is similar etc.
YMMV on this one, but whatever.
In fact, the stock Rom just works
So, fast forward to two more iterations f the smart phone, and I believe the immense power now available should mean that the "optimization" ROMs, CM etc are becoming pointless. There is ample power to run the stock Rom no matter how bloated it is.
Some exceptions would be a slow roll out of updates from your carrier though.
Anyway, after flashing so much, and reverting back to stock, I'm not going to be in a rush to put a custom Rom on the One when it comes.
Even rooting it, I may hold off for a while. I'm just not sure these days what the point is.
Why knacker up the warranty?
Pah!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is where alot of people get confused. The point of making a custom rom was never for everyday people to be flashing them, They were for developers to try new things and see what they could make happen. Does this break things? Yeah from time to time but that is all part of learning.

That's all true also DK. It does depend what we want from phone and if we want the risks of flashing. I have done it long enough and maybe just getting old and tired. It takes a lot of time to keep up with the roms and not have to rely on others for all your info. Although XDA was/is a dev forum, it has also benefited in member growth with all the people now interested in flashing.
I think it is more likely with the new phones that some will not see the need to flash a custom rom as much as they wanted/needed to say 3-4 years ago.
Either way it is still a personal choice and more than likely I will still flash whether I need to or not--

rugmankc said:
That's all true also DK. It does depend what we want from phone and if we want the risks of flashing. I have done it long enough and maybe just getting old and tired. It takes a lot of time to keep up with the roms and not have to rely on others for all your info. Although XDA was/is a dev forum, it has also benefited in member growth with all the people now interested in flashing.
I think it is more likely with the new phones that some will not see the need to flash a custom rom as much as they wanted/needed to say 3-4 years ago.
Either way it is still a personal choice and more than likely I will still flash whether I need to or not--
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh trust me If it wasnt for the crapware and bloat OEMs added to their devices and the absolute UGLY look to them I may not feel a NEED to flash a custom rom but with the listed things for me it is still very needed. Mainly the UGLY. I can deal with a bit of lag but it better be good looking while it lags lol

agreed--

[Q] The severe lack of ROMs / Kernels

Hi everyone!
I am currently looking to replace my slightly broken Google Nexus 5 with a Sony Z3 and as per usual I checked the XDA for common issues or anything that I may need to be aware of before purchasing one... So whilst I was here I decided to look through the ROM's / Kernels and these is a huge lack of ROM's for this phone...
What are the reasons behind this? Is this a pure lack of developers willing to spend their time on it? The source code not being available easily?
Is there a logical explanation for this?
I had two ROM's a while back for five different phones (links are below probably) and I was thinking of getting back into it again and being a Sony phone I thought "I have done it once, I can do it again!"
Any help / guidance / explanation will be great, looking forward to reading through the replies and hopefully purchasing my phone later this week

apmartin1991 said:
Hi everyone!
I am currently looking to replace my slightly broken Google Nexus 5 with a Sony Z3 and as per usual I checked the XDA for common issues or anything that I may need to be aware of before purchasing one... So whilst I was here I decided to look through the ROM's / Kernels and these is a huge lack of ROM's for this phone...
What are the reasons behind this? Is this a pure lack of developers willing to spend their time on it? The source code not being available easily?
Is there a logical explanation for this?
I had two ROM's a while back for five different phones (links are below probably) and I was thinking of getting back into it again and being a Sony phone I thought "I have done it once, I can do it again!"
Any help / guidance / explanation will be great, looking forward to reading through the replies and hopefully purchasing my phone later this week
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The reason rom development is so slow is because of the DRM issue that no one can get passed, the vast majority of Z3 owners still have a locked BL, you can google search and read up that unlocking the phone's BL causes plenty issues, specially camera related. Until a root exploit is found i am afraid it will carry on being this slow..

corpsegrinder62 said:
The reason rom development is so slow is because of the DRM issue that no one can get passed, the vast majority of Z3 owners still have a locked BL, you can google search and read up that unlocking the phone's BL causes plenty issues, specially camera related. Until a root exploit is found i am afraid it will carry on being this slow..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did indeed have a quick google and I read about the issues you explained, all about DRM issues with Camera and a few other things.
Many thanks for your reply, hopefully they will remove some of this with android L.

I'm pretty sure the DRM can now be restored with a unlocked bootloader

CameronBanna said:
I'm pretty sure the DRM can now be restored with a unlocked bootloader
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not possible. The only thing possible is restore some features that you lose when you unlock the bootloader.

apmartin1991 said:
Hi everyone!
I am currently looking to replace my slightly broken Google Nexus 5 with a Sony Z3 and as per usual I checked the XDA for common issues or anything that I may need to be aware of before purchasing one... So whilst I was here I decided to look through the ROM's / Kernels and these is a huge lack of ROM's for this phone...
What are the reasons behind this? Is this a pure lack of developers willing to spend their time on it? The source code not being available easily?
Is there a logical explanation for this?
I had two ROM's a while back for five different phones (links are below probably) and I was thinking of getting back into it again and being a Sony phone I thought "I have done it once, I can do it again!"
Any help / guidance / explanation will be great, looking forward to reading through the replies and hopefully purchasing my phone later this week
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The main reason there are no roms for the devices at this point is NOT due to the DRM issues. The phone is easily unlocked and rooted - there's instruction all over google...it's actually due to the Xperia Z3 being a very new phone arriving right around the time that Lollipop hit the shelves on Nexus devices. DEVs are busy updating their ROMs to be based on the Lollipop platform. This is of much more importance to them as it gives them much more rep, than them wasting time on a new phone. As they say... being first in the game is a lot easier than working your ass off to catch up.
In my opinion, I think you should jump on the Z3. It's a great phone. Kick ass battery. Great stock rom, and google lollipop update coming soon, which will kick out a lot of the needs for a custom rom for day to day usage + Nova Launcher does a kick ass job filling in a few holes. I'm waiting until DEVs get the lollipop based roms ready and then you can be sure the Z3 will have plenty of custom rom options. For the same reason above, root w/ Locked BL (liked the Z2) probably won't be available for a while as well...but...
The DRM keys that are lost when unlocked, mainly affect the camera (night shots). That said though... it really doesnt. I've done quite a bit of testing in different low light conditions using the Sony Camera app, and using the Google Camera app (cause I love photosphere). The SOny camera app uses the algorithms locked in the DRM keys, while the google camera doesn't. The low light photos, in my opinion, have very minimal difference, unless one is taking a twilight shot using a tripod stand for the phone... in which case they deserve to be hit across the head with a bat.
As for the competition... I tried the Nexus 6 and it's simply too big. The Samsung S5 is nice... but just not sexy enough and the battery is not as good and touchwiz is not really all that great.

munsabin said:
The main reason there are no roms for the devices at this point is NOT due to the DRM issues. The phone is easily unlocked and rooted - there's instruction all over google...it's actually due to the Xperia Z3 being a very new phone arriving right around the time that Lollipop hit the shelves on Nexus devices. DEVs are busy updating their ROMs to be based on the Lollipop platform. This is of much more importance to them as it gives them much more rep, than them wasting time on a new phone. As they say... being first in the game is a lot easier than working your ass off to catch up.
In my opinion, I think you should jump on the Z3. It's a great phone. Kick ass battery. Great stock rom, and google lollipop update coming soon, which will kick out a lot of the needs for a custom rom for day to day usage + Nova Launcher does a kick ass job filling in a few holes. I'm waiting until DEVs get the lollipop based roms ready and then you can be sure the Z3 will have plenty of custom rom options. For the same reason above, root w/ Locked BL (liked the Z2) probably won't be available for a while as well...but...
The DRM keys that are lost when unlocked, mainly affect the camera (night shots). That said though... it really doesnt. I've done quite a bit of testing in different low light conditions using the Sony Camera app, and using the Google Camera app (cause I love photosphere). The SOny camera app uses the algorithms locked in the DRM keys, while the google camera doesn't. The low light photos, in my opinion, have very minimal difference, unless one is taking a twilight shot using a tripod stand for the phone... in which case they deserve to be hit across the head with a bat.
As for the competition... I tried the Nexus 6 and it's simply too big. The Samsung S5 is nice... but just not sexy enough and the battery is not as good and touchwiz is not really all that great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats a precise answer! Thank you for that. I would like to back it again that the low-light performance is really minimal at most. I'm definitely considering unlocking the bootloader now even to achieve root. Do you know if the D6653 and the D6603 are 'cross-compatible' with custom ROMs?

corpsegrinder62 said:
The reason rom development is so slow is because of the DRM issue that no one can get passed, the vast majority of Z3 owners still have a locked BL, you can google search and read up that unlocking the phone's BL causes plenty issues, specially camera related. Until a root exploit is found i am afraid it will carry on being this slow..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Should probably edit / delete this post since it's not really correct and you're essentially driving people away from a great phone. DRM is not really an issue if you do some more research, unlocking the phone is easy and info is all over google, and rooting the phone; same story.
Reason no ROMs are available is b/c Xperia Z3 and Lollipop hit the shelves around the same time. DEVs are working to get lollipop based custom ROMs out, not ROMs based on old OS for a new phone.
---------- Post added at 08:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 PM ----------
squabbi said:
Thats a precise answer! Thank you for that. I would like to back it again that the low-light performance is really minimal at most. I'm definitely considering unlocking the bootloader now even to achieve root. Do you know if the D6653 and the D6603 are 'cross-compatible' with custom ROMs?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No clue. I'm sure when custom ROMs will be available; that info will be clearly mentioned.

munsabin said:
Should probably edit / delete this post since it's not really correct and you're essentially driving people away from a great phone. DRM is not really an issue if you do some more research, unlocking the phone is easy and info is all over google, and rooting the phone; same story.
Reason no ROMs are available is b/c Xperia Z3 and Lollipop hit the shelves around the same time. DEVs are working to get lollipop based custom ROMs out, not ROMs based on old OS for a new phone.
---------- Post added at 08:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 PM ----------
No clue. I'm sure when custom ROMs will be available; that info will be clearly mentioned.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whilst i do agree to your point, my point of view of the post is not exactly inaccurate but rather a different point of view to yours, think of it like this: many users start developing because they start to tinker with their new amazing device, many users themselves apart from developers try at developing aswell, and this all ads to rom and kernel growth as well as bug/beta testing which developers obviously need to keep developing, whilst yes Lollipop is a great thing and yes many devs are trying to get lollipop working instead of modding kitkat, there are still plenty users that will prefer kitkat over lollipop. The vast majority of users and devs are first working on a root exploit cause 80% (give or take my best guess here) of users are now frustrated from buying a device they cannot unlock or develop with unless they willing to risk their warranty or destroy 30% of the phone's functionality included by sony which we all love and taking such a risk knowing you got only one try to get it right, this is tricky.. so if you think of lets say 30 000 users on xda owning a z3, i can bet you not even 2000 of those are unlocked yet, and therefore slow development happens because all focus is taken to finding an exploit, which is great, i cannot wait for the day my Z3 can get unlocked when we can backup DRM. Im not disrespecting anyone here fyi, im just posting my opinion.

CameronBanna said:
I'm pretty sure the DRM can now be restored with a unlocked bootloader
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Most DRM is not restorable, although it can sometimes be backed up and then restored with various other phones.
iFlasher said:
It's not possible. The only thing possible is restore some features that you lose when you unlock the bootloader.
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This is correct from what I hear.
munsabin said:
The main reason there are no roms for the devices at this point is NOT due to the DRM issues. The phone is easily unlocked and rooted - there's instruction all over google...it's actually due to the Xperia Z3 being a very new phone arriving right around the time that Lollipop hit the shelves on Nexus devices. DEVs are busy updating their ROMs to be based on the Lollipop platform. This is of much more importance to them as it gives them much more rep, than them wasting time on a new phone. As they say... being first in the game is a lot easier than working your ass off to catch up.
In my opinion, I think you should jump on the Z3. It's a great phone. Kick ass battery. Great stock rom, and google lollipop update coming soon, which will kick out a lot of the needs for a custom rom for day to day usage + Nova Launcher does a kick ass job filling in a few holes. I'm waiting until DEVs get the lollipop based roms ready and then you can be sure the Z3 will have plenty of custom rom options. For the same reason above, root w/ Locked BL (liked the Z2) probably won't be available for a while as well...but...
The DRM keys that are lost when unlocked, mainly affect the camera (night shots). That said though... it really doesnt. I've done quite a bit of testing in different low light conditions using the Sony Camera app, and using the Google Camera app (cause I love photosphere). The SOny camera app uses the algorithms locked in the DRM keys, while the google camera doesn't. The low light photos, in my opinion, have very minimal difference, unless one is taking a twilight shot using a tripod stand for the phone... in which case they deserve to be hit across the head with a bat.
As for the competition... I tried the Nexus 6 and it's simply too big. The Samsung S5 is nice... but just not sexy enough and the battery is not as good and touchwiz is not really all that great.
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Thanks for a brilliant reply, I am waiting for CES to finish this week and then if nothing major is announced I will be buying a Z3, as soon as lollipop is out and in a good state I will make a ROM if I have the time
squabbi said:
Thats a precise answer! Thank you for that. I would like to back it again that the low-light performance is really minimal at most. I'm definitely considering unlocking the bootloader now even to achieve root. Do you know if the D6653 and the D6603 are 'cross-compatible' with custom ROMs?
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They may need different drivers as they have a slightly different chipset in them, most devs should be able to account for this
munsabin said:
Should probably edit / delete this post since it's not really correct and you're essentially driving people away from a great phone. DRM is not really an issue if you do some more research, unlocking the phone is easy and info is all over google, and rooting the phone; same story.
Reason no ROMs are available is b/c Xperia Z3 and Lollipop hit the shelves around the same time. DEVs are working to get lollipop based custom ROMs out, not ROMs based on old OS for a new phone.
---------- Post added at 08:27 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:23 PM ----------
No clue. I'm sure when custom ROMs will be available; that info will be clearly mentioned.
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He should not delete his answer, his answer was a good one albeit not as detailed as the rest. DRM is an issue to contend with as some users like it and want to keep it.
corpsegrinder62 said:
Whilst i do agree to your point, my point of view of the post is not exactly inaccurate but rather a different point of view to yours, think of it like this: many users start developing because they start to tinker with their new amazing device, many users themselves apart from developers try at developing aswell, and this all ads to rom and kernel growth as well as bug/beta testing which developers obviously need to keep developing, whilst yes Lollipop is a great thing and yes many devs are trying to get lollipop working instead of modding kitkat, there are still plenty users that will prefer kitkat over lollipop. The vast majority of users and devs are first working on a root exploit cause 80% (give or take my best guess here) of users are now frustrated from buying a device they cannot unlock or develop with unless they willing to risk their warranty or destroy 30% of the phone's functionality included by sony which we all love and taking such a risk knowing you got only one try to get it right, this is tricky.. so if you think of lets say 30 000 users on xda owning a z3, i can bet you not even 2000 of those are unlocked yet, and therefore slow development happens because all focus is taken to finding an exploit, which is great, i cannot wait for the day my Z3 can get unlocked when we can backup DRM. Im not disrespecting anyone here fyi, im just posting my opinion.
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This is a good answer too, and your bang on, not everyone wants to lose DRM keys or risk losing stuff they like. I will be patient until I start ROMing myself again or until someone manages to hack around this known issue. Sony have always been tight arses with ROM developers...

@apmartin1991 - root w/ locked BL is now available. No need for custom roms IMO when you've got xposed framework available. Xblast Tools will give you a LOT of what you'll find on custom roms, plus you'll be running on stable stock rom. Kernels can be modified once you've rooted your phone with locked BL, saved TA partition (for future), and unlocked bootloader. But unlocking bootloader will kill camera night shots.

Is it really worth it to root my Note 8 snapdragon?

So as of late with each update I find my note 8 getting slower and slower and along with that I frequently run into glitch after glitch. I was wanting to root my phone to hopefully get rid of a lot of these issues if I could. From what I am seeing though there is no way to unlock the bootloader V5 that I have on my phone and a lot of things I have read state that it is unlocking the bootloader that allows control of speeding up the phone etc... so here are my questions, Is it truly even worth rooting my note 8 to try and fix some of these issues, or is it just a lost cause? I do realize that unlocking the bootloader will allow me to flash custom rom..

spent_insanity said:
So as of late with each update I find my note 8 getting slower and slower and along with that I frequently run into glitch after glitch. I was wanting to root my phone to hopefully get rid of a lot of these issues if I could. From what I am seeing though there is no way to unlock the bootloader V5 that I have on my phone and a lot of things I have read state that it is unlocking the bootloader that allows control of speeding up the phone etc... so here are my questions, Is it truly even worth rooting my note 8 to try and fix some of these issues, or is it just a lost cause? I do realize that unlocking the bootloader will allow me to flash custom rom..
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Try reflashing the stock firmware, that will more than likely solve the issues you're having if they are caused by software problems.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

I've done that this morning was my 4th time.. my question still stands though regardless of what's going on is it still truly feasible to root the snapdragon note 8 to help boost performance and get my sound back?

spent_insanity said:
I've done that this morning was my 4th time.. my question still stands though regardless of what's going on is it still truly feasible to root the snapdragon note 8 to help boost performance and get my sound back?
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It is possible to improve performance with custom ROMs, but as ROMs get newer, they tend to be slower depending on how old the device is, the older the device is, the harder the device has to work when using newer custom ROMs. Custom kernels can also improve performance and battery life, there are some root apps that can also improve performance by freezing apps that aren't being used at all and freezing apps that you do use when they are not being used.
It all depends on what ROMs or kernels are available for your device, it also depends on which root required apps and mods that use along with the ROM. Some ROMs are better than others, it just depends on who built it and how experienced they are, some ROMs don't perform well or don't have enough features to make them interesting or have issues that never get solved.
Whether or not it is "worth it" to root your device is a personal choice that you have to make. Just be aware, it does come with its fair share of risks, especially if you aren't experienced with rooting and using root, it's very easy to cause serious issues when you start changing things or removing things.
Maybe you just need to figure out what is wrong with sound and fix it with the stock firmware.
I will try to help either way you go, fixing stock will probably be the simplest.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk

Droidriven said:
It is possible to improve performance with custom ROMs, but as ROMs get newer, they tend to be slower depending on how old the device is, the older the device is, the harder the device has to work when using newer custom ROMs. Custom kernels can also improve performance and battery life, there are some root apps that can also improve performance by freezing apps that aren't being used at all and freezing apps that you do use when they are not being used.
It all depends on what ROMs or kernels are available for your device, it also depends on which root required apps and mods that use along with the ROM. Some ROMs are better than others, it just depends on who built it and how experienced they are, some ROMs don't perform well or don't have enough features to make them interesting or have issues that never get solved.
Whether or not it is "worth it" to root your device is a personal choice that you have to make. Just be aware, it does come with its fair share of risks, especially if you aren't experienced with rooting and using root, it's very easy to cause serious issues when you start changing things or removing things.
Maybe you just need to figure out what is wrong with sound and fix it with the stock firmware.
I will try to help either way you go, fixing stock will probably be the simplest.
Sent from my LGL84VL using Tapatalk
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I thought with the Note 8 there is no way to unlock bootloader V4 and V5 which means no custom rom though? I see a boatload of conflicting info specifically on here if that is the case regardless of my issues I still would like to flash for custom rom, etc.. I want fully control over my phone from here on out. I have the Note 8 with the snapdragon processor... SM-950U my bootloader is V5

spent_insanity said:
I thought with the Note 8 there is no way to unlock bootloader V4 and V5 which means no custom rom though? I see a boatload of conflicting info specifically on here if that is the case regardless of my issues I still would like to flash for custom rom, etc.. I want fully control over my phone from here on out. I have the Note 8 with the snapdragon processor... SM-950U my bootloader is V5
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I don't know anything about unlocking your bootloader or whether there are any custom ROMs for your device, I was answering the question about the aspects of rooting a device.
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