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[Q] New Sidekick/Android user with Root/Roms questions ;-)

Hello everyone.
Recently ordered a Samsung Sidekick 4G and reading on the forums
I noticed people saying that this device lags a lot, has random FCs, etc. and
that they way of getting "rid" of this was by rooting and installing
custom roms. As you might have figured by my low post count, I'm
a newbie with regards to Android phones or Android in general. So
I have a couple of questions.
I know where to look if I want to take the chance and do this
by following this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1275116
(thank God and moderators for stickies!-- making life easier )
But I would like to know:
1) What are the advantages of having Sidekick custom roms (apart
from the usual root access and what not). Is the stock Rom that bad?
Does it have lots of bloat slowing the phone?
2) Has anyone tried the different Roms out there and can I have
an assessment of what they do/offer? (i.e. which one you think
is the best with regards to battery life, bundle of sw, etc for
a newb). Basically their strenghts and weaknesses as I wouldn't want
to lose something important such as network services (i.e. 3G, WiFi, etc.)
And yes, I know that I can try them for myself, but I haven't
even received the phone and I'm scared sh!+less of rooting
don't want to think about repeating the process of the link
above to keep trying different Roms... so I will rely on your
experiences.
3) Since I wont be receiving OTA updates with or without a custom
Rom (I don't have t-mobile, it's an unlocked phone...), do
custom Roms already have stuff from OTA updates??
4) If Android 2.3 update is released for the Sidekick, will it
be available as a "custom" rom? Is that how it works for people
that don't get OTA updates?
5) If I decide to stick with stock Rom, could I still "root"
the phone and play with overclocking and all that jazz?
Finally,
6) What's the meaning of life?!?!?
Hope you can help me with these questions if you can.
And if you don't want to help me... then ... I'll be sad...
for a couple of minutes! ;-)
BTW I also ordered an LG Optimus Quantum just to also try the Windows
OS and compare between both, Android and Windows experiences
(I come from Symbian... Nokia FTW!!! ;-))
Thanks!

to question 4 it will be incorporated to the customs roms no doubt
to question 2 i have used gingerclone v2, lighting rom v2 , touchmiuiwiz, and glorious i like glorious the most so far and dislike lighting v2 the most gingerclone and touchmiui is the same rom different themes
to question 5 you can still root it and overclock it
to question 1 you get d can get better battery life, less bloatware, better signal,
to question 3 on the ota we used kg2 which was an ota as a mix with kd1

that was harsh xtreme .

saying i disliked the rom the most when basically i used 3 roms? thats not being harsh

IMO any rom developed by ayoteddy is worth checking out. Also always be sure to fully read each rom thread's first post; everything you need to know should be there.
And personally I wouldn't flash any rom or attempt to root until you're comfortable using adb commands (I've soft bricked a couple of phones myself and that's no fun at all).
There's a bunch of good youtube tutorials outlining everything from rooting to flashing custom roms. Good luck with everything and welcome to the sk4g family!
Sent from my SGH-T839 using XDA App

It was not harsh. lol. it's his opinion.

I have used gcv2 and glorius i loved the first but the later is def. Better, u can root without a custom rom. And dont fret about flashing a rom, this is my first phone that iv flashed, rooted etc. And yes after a week or so the stock launcher started lagging. Although i only got fc's on zeam
Sent from my SGH-T839 using xda premium

Thanks for the responses so far!
And I'll definitely stick with the stock settings but if I begin to experience bugs or lags, I'll definitely look into this! Now I have to check why the heck I'm only getting EDGE!! WTF?!! lol
Thanks.

go to wireless ettings and swtich from gsm to gs/wcda mode

I FAILED!!! :-(
I think I'm going to have to resell this phone on eBay...
I just noticed WHY it wont connect in 3G... T-Mobile phones seem to be "configured" to use the 1700 band but my service provider does 3G like AT&T and I think they use 1900...
Oh well... back to my second option... the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro...
Thanks guys!

gelocks said:
But I would like to know:
1) What are the advantages of having Sidekick custom roms (apart
from the usual root access and what not). Is the stock Rom that bad?
Does it have lots of bloat slowing the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
with a custom ROM battery usage decreases in some cases and it also allows for more customization of your phone. Like in some ROMs you can change your transition effects, dock settings, and menu settings. It allows you to pick how you want your phone to look. For most people that got the OTA update their phone got really bad with freezes and force closes, you'd have to reboot your phone every day. In the end if you don't like a ROM you can always switch back.
2) Has anyone tried the different Roms out there and can I have
an assessment of what they do/offer? (i.e. which one you think
is the best with regards to battery life, bundle of sw, etc for
a newb). Basically their strenghts and weaknesses as I wouldn't want
to lose something important such as network services (i.e. 3G, WiFi, etc.)
And yes, I know that I can try them for myself, but I haven't
even received the phone and I'm scared sh!+less of rooting
don't want to think about repeating the process of the link
above to keep trying different Roms... so I will rely on your
experiences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried a few and at the moment i'm using glorious overdose by ayoteddy and sduvick. This ROM is very smooth and very nice but doesn't allow for as much customization as touchMUI or GingerClone. TouchMui allows you to customize the behaviors of your phone like menu, transitions, etc. through launcherpro which comes with the ROM, BUT it wants you to buy launcherPro when you try to do certain functions. Now i'm a newby too, barely rooted and flashed my phone a few weeks ago, as well as somebody that works with me. I've also experienced alot less forceclose issues with glorious overdose.
3) Since I wont be receiving OTA updates with or without a custom
Rom (I don't have t-mobile, it's an unlocked phone...), do
custom Roms already have stuff from OTA updates??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There aren't really that many OTA updates but from what i've seen the devs here get stuff before it's actually released, such as KJ2, which we havent officially recieved yet. The one OTA update that happened actually made the phone run like crap, excuse my language.
4) If Android 2.3 update is released for the Sidekick, will it
be available as a "custom" rom? Is that how it works for people
that don't get OTA updates?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Somebody will probably post a version of it on the forums and devs will most likely use it as soon as they get their hands on it, IF there's still deving going on for this phone at that time.
5) If I decide to stick with stock Rom, could I still "root"
the phone and play with overclocking and all that jazz?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you can, I did that before i actually flashed my phone. root is a different thing than flashing a custom ROM to your phone.
Finally,
6) What's the meaning of life?!?!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
according to wikipedia, The meaning of life constitutes a philosophical question concerning the purpose and significance of life or existence in general.

6 the purpose of life is to find the answer to that question yourself...

[Q] Why we don't have more custom roms for our p6200/6210 device's?

I am sorry if this is stupid noob question, but why we don't have many custom roms since that our device's sharing same exynos 4210 hardware, like Samsung galaxy SII?
I own SII for myself and there is every day something new in development thread, and here nothing
My P 6200 is crying for fix WiFi problem and some great custom rom :crying:

spanjeli said:
I am sorry if this is stupid noon question, but why we don't have many custom roms since that our device's sharing same exynos 4210 hardware, like Samsung galaxy SII?
I own SII for myself and there is every day something new in development thread, and here nothing
My P 6200 is crying for fix WiFi problem and some great custom rom :crying:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been using Android since it was released and have collected various devices. This is just me, there is nothing better than stock rooted and tweaked rom. Just debloat the rom and you will be ok. My P6210 is amazingly fast with NO error or any single issues. I got both apple and Samsung products and my P3113 and my P6210 are my main tab. It is a must for me to go stock rooted and tweaked. Just me.
Cheers

I always asked myself the ssame question too... but it turns out we dont hhave so many devs here and this device wasn't a hit like the S series from samsung. Making custom roms isn't so hard but it needs alot of learning if ur a biggener. I tried making custom roms myself but what else do u need from a custom rom if you already have CM9, cm10, paranoid android and soon to be AOKP? But who knows we might see new stuff I mean I bought this tab before there was even a functional cm9 build and I was thinking of selling it. But it pulled through aand I must say his device is rock solid we just need to nail the wifi issue.
Sent from my GT-P6200 using XDA Premium HD app

ben_2g0 said:
I have been using Android since it was released and have collected various devices. This is just me, there is nothing better than stock rooted and tweaked rom. Just debloat the rom and you will be ok. My P6210 is amazingly fast with NO error or any single issues. I got both apple and Samsung products and my P3113 and my P6210 are my main tab. It is a must for me to go stock rooted and tweaked. Just me.
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have any problems with speed and stability on stock 4.0.4 but wifi issue is bothering me so much I try almost everything, now I m on cm10 and problem is still here...

spanjeli said:
I don't have any problems with speed and stability on stock 4.0.4 but wifi issue is bothering me so much I try almost everything, now I m on cm10 and problem is still here...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had wifi problems as well on stock ics (UK version).
It all disappeared when I flashed the US version, give it a try...
This said, cm, aokp and stuff are nice but not stable enough for my taste yet, I don't like bugs (I am not a very patient character) and for me so far there's nothing like a good home tweaked, rooted and deodexed stock ics rom.
When cm10 is completely stable then I will eagerly flash it, I check xda every day waiting for that day to come

unclefab said:
I had wifi problems as well on stock ics (UK version).
It all disappeared when I flashed the US version, give it a try...
This said, cm, aokp and stuff are nice but not stable enough for my taste yet, I don't like bugs (I am not a very patient character) and for me so far there's nothing like a good home tweaked, rooted and deodexed stock ics rom.
When cm10 is completely stable then I will eagerly flash it, I check xda every day waiting for that day to come
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have actually did a lot of things with the ICS stock rooted but never have wifi issues. Anywhere I go with wifi access, I never have problems or any issues. Would it be router related? With my P3113, its fine but with my YP-G70, there was. I have to install another stock rom to solve it. Otherwise, everything works fine with me. These products are actually very nice IMHO. I'm just waiting for the JB update for my P6210 and P3113, if there will be.

Early in ANdroid the stock ROMs were often terrible and there was a lot of room to make easy improvements. Now the stock ROMs are really quite good and there is not much that can be improved on easily. IF you like a different style you have the CM based ROMs with some UI differences but not much in the way of performance improvements and you lose stability and some hardware features like IR Remote. Even with the Nexus, by the time some individual developer takes the time to customize a ROM, Google has new features out in the stock ROM so its just not worth it to build from scratch.
SO called debloating is mostly a placebo because the new devices like this tab have lots of memory and apps you don;t use aren't doing anything or taking resources.
Curious to know if you have found anything unique and useful in SII development. TO me it seems like all retreads of repackaged stock or CM based stuff with a few different apps from samsung or sony thrown in for good measure.

DigitalMD said:
Early in ANdroid the stock ROMs were often terrible and there was a lot of room to make easy improvements. Now the stock ROMs are really quite good and there is not much that can be improved on easily. IF you like a different style you have the CM based ROMs with some UI differences but not much in the way of performance improvements and you lose stability and some hardware features like IR Remote. Even with the Nexus, by the time some individual developer takes the time to customize a ROM, Google has new features out in the stock ROM so its just not worth it to build from scratch.
SO called debloating is mostly a placebo because the new devices like this tab have lots of memory and apps you don;t use aren't doing anything or taking resources.
Curious to know if you have found anything unique and useful in SII development. TO me it seems like all retreads of repackaged stock or CM based stuff with a few different apps from samsung or sony thrown in for good measure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock rom is full with unneeded application.
Custom rom bring more speed and space.
I'm currently running custom rom based on JB leak on my Samsung SII, which is full with super functions from S3 and Note 2. Above all that rom is great for daily use For me that is enough

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] Is it worth the risk to unlock

Bought my 10 year old this tablet last year for Xmas and it's laggy as all get out IMO. Love my android phones and will never switch, but I also love by iPad /gasp!
I am wondering if unlocking and rom'ing this thing will really make enough difference.
I have rooted and rom'ed every phone I have ever had, but I also use them daily so I get to play around with roms and figure out whats stable and works really well. I am also a little nervous about this thing, so many instructions and various ways to do things depending on which update your on.
The tab is 4.2.1 10.6.1.24.5
Any opinions on this and/or suggestions on what roms to try out if I go for it?

arcsum68 said:
Bought my 10 year old this tablet last year for Xmas and it's laggy as all get out IMO. Love my android phones and will never switch, but I also love by iPad /gasp!
I am wondering if unlocking and rom'ing this thing will really make enough difference.
I have rooted and rom'ed every phone I have ever had, but I also use them daily so I get to play around with roms and figure out whats stable and works really well. I am also a little nervous about this thing, so many instructions and various ways to do things depending on which update your on.
The tab is 4.2.1 10.6.1.24.5
Any opinions on this and/or suggestions on what roms to try out if I go for it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlocking and flashing custom ROMs is a major improvement over stock. If you want stability and performance, CROMi. If you want performance and cutting edge, CM or another KK ROM.
Just be careful about what to flash and always ask questions is there is any doubt.

cmendonc2 said:
Unlocking and flashing custom ROMs is a major improvement over stock. If you want stability and performance, CROMi. If you want performance and cutting edge, CM or another KK ROM.
Just be careful about what to flash and always ask questions is there is any doubt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, think I will check it out. Wish there was a path back to stock though.

arcsum68 said:
Thanks, think I will check it out. Wish there was a path back to stock though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can always reflash the stock ROM to go back to stock, but only if you haven't bricked your tablet.

Made a backup of the stock unrooted rom, then rooted and backed up the apps. Loaded up Cromi and all is working well. So far I cant say it's that much of an improvement, with the exception of browsing. Flash will be nice too.
Should I feel like its a huge improvement? Maybe I needed to pick a different kernel.

Should I stick to stock?

I recently got a second-hand S6 from work. My first step is always to look up the XDA forums on the phone to see what my options are.
It seems that a lot of people are happy with the stock ROM, so that could be enough. However, I like root, since I like certain apps that need root. So if that already triggers KNOX, I might as well install Lineage on it while I'm at it.
So I'd love to hear some opinions. Should I stick to stock, or go through the (badly documented, sorry) process of getting this phone customized?

You should definitely stick with stock ROM if you want to use your phone as daily driver.

I always liked the call recording feature so I can keep track of verbal agreements made over the phone. I believe it can be done using Xposed, but Lineage has it built-in (although it doesn't auto-trigger unfortunately). Even with stock, I'd still need root to do it, and that triggers Knox, right?
Thanks, hopefully some more people will have something to say about it.

Custom ROMs are good, but there are always some sort of malfunctions.
For a phone that has an up-to-date firmware, I wouldn't install custom ROM.
While S6 support has dropped, meaning that it will no longer receive an update, but it still has an updated firmware, I would say it will stay good for at least one more year.
After that I'll consider installing custom ROMs, just like what I did with my older phones.
And as @forumber2 mentioned, for a daily driver, stock is better.
However, if you don't mind troubleshooting the issues on the custom ROM and have the time, then you should install it.
And about rooting, yes, it will trigger the Knox, but since Nougat, I've unrooted my phone and I personally didn't need to root it again, though I'm kinda considering it.
The bottom line is that stay with the stock for a while, if didn't satisfy you, then install customs. The stock ROM, doesn't have many issues, or at least I didn't encounter many that I couldn't solve, just like any other stock ROM.

stock ROM. but you can root it and use xposed to do some things you want..

None of the AOSP ROMs have a camera that is on par with the stock one - that's my reason for sticking through with stock on an Android phone since... ever, really. I'm not a fan of keeping things the way they are. If the camera would be as good as on stock, I'd ditch stock immediately, but unfortunately, the drivers for the camera are proprietary, so, it's unlikely that that will ever be the case.
BUT you can get stock-based custom ROMs - I'm currently using the S8+ port, which seems to be working flawlessly. They are usually debloated, with various tweaks and features that aren't usually available, quicker and just generally better.

Stay stock man custom Rom are bad you will lose many futures and performance and battery . I play games on s6 I tried all custom Roms nothing worked always end up with performance and Wi-Fi problems I am now on latest stock nougat and I will just wait until I find cheap s8 then I will sell this poor s6.
There nothing you can do about s6 to get him better than stock. Nothing except get root to use some apps like change location or install some sound apps that requires root..thats it