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Hello All,
This post is about my recent experience with CM10 stable build on SGS3 verizon. I did not like the many problems with the stock camera app.
It takes only 1.3MP when my phone is capable of 8MP. The camera app frequently crashes, and stops connecting to the camera. only a reboot brings it back. Also, it saves pictures only to the internal memory, and not to the external SD card I have. The TouchWiz camera is way better and has so many awesome features that the market camera apps and the stock camera app does not have.
I have done some research on all of these issues and after finding there is nothing we can do at the moment to fix them, I came here to ask for expert opinion.
Things I did.
1. Rooted the phone using the instructions from this site.
2. Backed up all user apps and data using titanium backup.
3, Got RomManager, and clockwork mod
4. downloaded the latest CM10 stable and GAPPS (latest)
5. Roboot into recovery
6.backed up the current image
7. Wiped Cash
8. Wiped data partition
9. wiped dalvik cache
10. wiped battery stats
11. fixed permissions
12 flashed the CM10 zip file
13 Flashed the GAPPS zip file
14. Reboot
now the phone boots into CM10 running JellyBean 4.2. It looks awesome in everyway.
but the first thing I tried after setting up all the google accounts, was the camera. and It was crashing after 3 pictures, and they were pretty poor quality.
I installed some of my apps from the App store, and noticed that the battery was draining really fast. I got about 2 hours of screen time, and the phone gets really hot.
The Gallery in TouchWiz automatically syncs with facebook, and shows all my FB albums. The stock gallery does not do that.
From what I see, there are tons of optimizations that samsung did in TouchWiz that I don't know how to achieve with CM10.
I really missed the awesome Camera app. If there is any way to get full device functionality and perfomance on CM or any other custom ROM running Jellybean, I am all ears.
Thanks for your time.
.
The 4.2 camera is known to have issues on aosp on the s3 right now. As for the actual aosp camera it's not bad at all, in fact I think it takes amazing pictures (used it on my vacation in Hawaii this past summer) and the pictures turned out amazing. I'd suggest not using the 4.2 camera for now until it gets worked on.
As for a touch wiz camera port to aosp that's highly doubtful, it requires the touch wiz framework to work completely.
And for my personal opinion going back to touch wiz solely for the camera is rather sad, while the touch wiz features are nice after being on aosp for so long it just feels so slow and behind in the times, I'd recommend using liquid smooth aosp and just staying on aosp
If u like touch wiz and the look of aosp then I would suggest trying jelly beans build 4. Check it out. It has a thread. Ktoonsez kernel works great with it. No problems at all. GPS is a lil slow. The ROM is nice. U also need ROM toolbox. Love that app
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Camera is still only at 1.3MP
Neverendingxsin said:
The 4.2 camera is known to have issues on aosp on the s3 right now. As for the actual aosp camera it's not bad at all, in fact I think it takes amazing pictures (used it on my vacation in Hawaii this past summer) and the pictures turned out amazing. I'd suggest not using the 4.2 camera for now until it gets worked on.
As for a touch wiz camera port to aosp that's highly doubtful, it requires the touch wiz framework to work completely.
And for my personal opinion going back to touch wiz solely for the camera is rather sad, while the touch wiz features are nice after being on aosp for so long it just feels so slow and behind in the times, I'd recommend using liquid smooth aosp and just staying on aosp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Camera in CM10 will only go up to 1.3MP. Is there any other apk that uses the SGS3 camera to the full potential?
Liquid smooth
Neverendingxsin said:
The 4.2 camera is known to have issues on aosp on the s3 right now. As for the actual aosp camera it's not bad at all, in fact I think it takes amazing pictures (used it on my vacation in Hawaii this past summer) and the pictures turned out amazing. I'd suggest not using the 4.2 camera for now until it gets worked on.
As for a touch wiz camera port to aosp that's highly doubtful, it requires the touch wiz framework to work completely.
And for my personal opinion going back to touch wiz solely for the camera is rather sad, while the touch wiz features are nice after being on aosp for so long it just feels so slow and behind in the times, I'd recommend using liquid smooth aosp and just staying on aosp
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have never heard of Liquid smooth aosp. Is it a custom rom similar to CM10 ? Where to get it?
RobIsRight said:
The Camera in CM10 will only go up to 1.3MP. Is there any other apk that uses the SGS3 camera to the full potential?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
little confused here; mine on CM10 (latest build) goes up to 8mp, so how are you saying it only goes up to 1.3mp?
RobIsRight said:
I have never heard of Liquid smooth aosp. Is it a custom rom similar to CM10 ? Where to get it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Original development section
---------- Post added at 12:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 PM ----------
goldsmitht said:
little confused here; mine on CM10 (latest build) goes up to 8mp, so how are you saying it only goes up to 1.3mp?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was wondering the same thing actually
camera
Neverendingxsin said:
Original development section
---------- Post added at 12:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 PM ----------
I was wondering the same thing actually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the latest stable build for the S3 verizon, published 11/13/2012
Should I use the latest nightly build of CM10?
The Settings in the camera app gives only 3 options for resolution. VGA, 640, 1.3MP nothing more.
Also, I used the GAPPS from the latest build
/the forum won't let me post the links.
It isn't a nightly. Go to their website and they have a stable 4.1.2 build. It more than likely will b the final build on 4.1.2 due to newer releases coming out that they r working on. I tried it and went back to touchwiz based roms for the features.
Sent from my k-tweaked clean 5.0
RobIsRight said:
I used the latest stable build for the S3 verizon, published 11/13/2012
Should I use the latest nightly build of CM10?
The Settings in the camera app gives only 3 options for resolution. VGA, 640, 1.3MP nothing more.
Also, I used the GAPPS from the latest build
/the forum won't let me post the links.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't used official CM10 so i can't be sure exactly, but unless your using the front facing camera i'm not sure what to tell you. Could be a bug in the rom itself, i'm not entirely sure.
For the last month or so, I have had ROM a.d.d. I would sometimes flash 6 different rom's a day. I really liked the CM nightlies for awhile. Then, I would get bored with that and jump over to a Touchwiz. The whole time I was with touchwiz, I wanted it to be like an AOSP. Then I would go back to CM and the cycle would start itself all over again. Then, finally, one day the madness stopped. I don't know how I ever skipped over the liquid smooth rom's before. I went with liquid smooth and I have been fine ever since.
I would actually sacrifice megapixel resolution on the camera, although I don't remember any of the CM builds being only 1.3 megapixel- rather then go back to touchwiz.
Take liquid for a ride.
Hello! I know I probably should post this in the dev thread for my ROM, but I mostly lurk here so I don't have enough post count to be granted posting privilege in dev forums yet... x_x
Anyway, I am running Slim Bean 4.3 on a Samsung Galaxy S2 (T-Mobile model, T-989 AKA Hercules). The ROM works great for the most part, but I am having some issues with the camera.
First off the camera app that came bundled with Slim Bean seems to be a modified version of the stock Android 4.3 app, and had the PhotoSphere mode removed... I uninstalled it using Titanium Backup and then installed the stock 4.3 camera app, and now PhotoSphere is working, which is great. But that wasn't the main issue...
The main issue is that in both the camera app that came with Slim Bean, as well as the stock Android 4.3 camera app, the photos I take from Panorama and PhotoSphere modes come out extremely blurry. It's almost as if these two modes have absolutely no control over the camera's focal settings.
Strangely, this issue does NOT affect the standard photo mode (thankfully), so everyday photos aren't affected. But as it stands, I pretty much cannot take photos using the Panorama or PhotoSphere modes.
I was just wondering if this issue is device-specific? Or have other people on non-4.3-supported devices who flashed a custom 4.3 ROM also experienced this issue?
Thanks in advance for your answers!
Lorien_Silmaril said:
Hello! I know I probably should post this in the dev thread for my ROM, but I mostly lurk here so I don't have enough post count to be granted posting privilege in dev forums yet... x_x
Anyway, I am running Slim Bean 4.3 on a Samsung Galaxy S2 (T-Mobile model, T-989 AKA Hercules). The ROM works great for the most part, but I am having some issues with the camera.
First off the camera app that came bundled with Slim Bean seems to be a modified version of the stock Android 4.3 app, and had the PhotoSphere mode removed... I uninstalled it using Titanium Backup and then installed the stock 4.3 camera app, and now PhotoSphere is working, which is great. But that wasn't the main issue...
The main issue is that in both the camera app that came with Slim Bean, as well as the stock Android 4.3 camera app, the photos I take from Panorama and PhotoSphere modes come out extremely blurry. It's almost as if these two modes have absolutely no control over the camera's focal settings.
Strangely, this issue does NOT affect the standard photo mode (thankfully), so everyday photos aren't affected. But as it stands, I pretty much cannot take photos using the Panorama or PhotoSphere modes.
I was just wondering if this issue is device-specific? Or have other people on non-4.3-supported devices who flashed a custom 4.3 ROM also experienced this issue?
Thanks in advance for your answers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
most of the time cyangenmod always has issues with the camera, plus android 4.3 like just recently came out and you were expecting everything to work?
Trozzul said:
most of the time cyangenmod always has issues with the camera, plus android 4.3 like just recently came out and you were expecting everything to work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply ^_^
I just flashed back to 4.2 (CM 10.1) but it looks like the camera is still blurry in panorama mode... I don't see this on the known issues list for CM though. Does anyone know if this is a known issue for this specific device?
Lorien_Silmaril said:
Thanks for the reply ^_^
I just flashed back to 4.2 (CM 10.1) but it looks like the camera is still blurry in panorama mode... I don't see this on the known issues list for CM though. Does anyone know if this is a known issue for this specific device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i remember flashing cm 4.2 back i think a year ago when 4.2 came out and the camera had some bugs still, i would recommend using a downloaded camera app that normally works.
Lorien_Silmaril said:
Thanks for the reply ^_^
I just flashed back to 4.2 (CM 10.1) but it looks like the camera is still blurry in panorama mode... I don't see this on the known issues list for CM though. Does anyone know if this is a known issue for this specific device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the exact same problem with CM 4.1.2 and 4.1.3. Looks like it just gets stuck on the minimimum focus distance.
I have been getting a bit frustrated. I'm not sure if its a CM 12.1 issue, or just a hardware + lollipop issue.
Here is my opinion on cameras that 'work' with the rom, but have issues.
1. Stock CM 12.1 camera. Has known "cannot connect' issue. I believe this ASOP camera is the same as the Google Camera. Each version seems to have small tweaks /settings, but IMHO this camera lacks tons of useful features other stock cameras have. These are useful if all you care about is point and shoot, versus filters, scenes, etc.. I am lumping Google Camera in this, even though the icons are different.
2. OpenCamera. This is the one I am currently using, and seems to be stable for me, and I am running Nightly 12.1 July 15 nightly with DKP kernel (tweaked) and july 13 GAPPS. My only gripe is I still feel like the quality of the pics isn't what you get with stock, but also the delay between pics is annoying, as opposed to Google Camera which gives you pretty instantaneous snaps. Even with the thumbnail animation disabled, there is a 1/2 - 1 sec delay between pics.
3. Someone recommended the HTC Camera. I was able to find a series of APK versions from googling, and this camera had really good promise. You did need the HTC Gallery for it to work, BUT..and this was the deal breaker, the front camera broke for me. The front camera only worked, for a short time, with the most recent HTC Camera version...but would eventually freeze, and couldn't even force close. A reboot was required. Very annoying.
It would be awesome if we could flash another stock camera app in this, like the S4, S5, S6, etc.
Any other recommendations besides apps from the Play Store?
bryank29 said:
I have been getting a bit frustrated. I'm not sure if its a CM 12.1 issue, or just a hardware + lollipop issue.
Here is my opinion on cameras that 'work' with the rom, but have issues.
1. Stock CM 12.1 camera. Has known "cannot connect' issue. I believe this ASOP camera is the same as the Google Camera. Each version seems to have small tweaks /settings, but IMHO this camera lacks tons of useful features other stock cameras have. These are useful if all you care about is point and shoot, versus filters, scenes, etc.. I am lumping Google Camera in this, even though the icons are different.
2. OpenCamera. This is the one I am currently using, and seems to be stable for me, and I am running Nightly 12.1 July 15 nightly with DKP kernel (tweaked) and july 13 GAPPS. My only gripe is I still feel like the quality of the pics isn't what you get with stock, but also the delay between pics is annoying, as opposed to Google Camera which gives you pretty instantaneous snaps. Even with the thumbnail animation disabled, there is a 1/2 - 1 sec delay between pics.
3. Someone recommended the HTC Camera. I was able to find a series of APK versions from googling, and this camera had really good promise. You did need the HTC Gallery for it to work, BUT..and this was the deal breaker, the front camera broke for me. The front camera only worked, for a short time, with the most recent HTC Camera version...but would eventually freeze, and couldn't even force close. A reboot was required. Very annoying.
It would be awesome if we could flash another stock camera app in this, like the S4, S5, S6, etc.
Any other recommendations besides apps from the Play Store?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was in the KK builds also but some of the ROMs in KK had fully functioning camera but it went crap again with CM12.
I installed the FL-5 Camera and Cinema apps, paid for both. So far I am enjoying them and feel the quality and speed is great.
Camera 360 works suitably well. Solid filters and features if bloated. Its a veteran app and has seen its worst days long behind them. The magic skin filter is the best on android. Black is the color of Korean selfie sorcery. You purchase beauty but at what cost? Your soul of course, and an excessive UI.
A better camera is my personal go to.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using XDA Free mobile app
Be weary when flashing or porting camera apk's and firmware.
Basically a few weeks ago I hard bricked my SCH-I535 by flashing the wrong firmware for the camera to try to get it to work. So my only caution to you is the be absolutely sure the firmware of apk is compatible. I tried to port the firmware for the galaxy S5 to the S3 however I think the difference in firmware is what caused the problem. I extracted the S5 firmware for the stock camera app and then zipped it and signed it to be flashed on the S3. Well I knew what I had done when the phone buzzed once and never turned on again. I had an unlocked boot loader running CM 12.1 (if I remember correctly) and had CWM set as my custom recovery.
I wish you luck in your quest to find a working camera app for your S3. I know I wish I still had mine to fiddle with and maybe even downgrade while we wait for a solution to the non-working lollipop camera.
I have a Verizon S3 d2vzw with an unlocked bootloader runnign Oct M Android 6 custom ROM. When I use the back camera I takes pics just fine. When I use the front camera it takes pics just fine in low light i.e. when the light is to low to take a decent picture. When I move to a location where the light is good I get a force close. "Unfortunately Camera has stopped". The Camera is version 2.0.002 (7a32386e9-30) org.cyanogenmod.snap that comes with the ROM, but I tried it with Open Camera from the Play Store and I got the same issue. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? Perhaps someone would be able to speculate...
Update
I now believe this is a CM-13 issue. I'm not certain if it applies to devices other than d2vzw, but all CM-13 based ROMs for d2vzw e.g. Oct-M and AICP, have this issue including CM-13 Nightlies. If you search "camera" in this thread you can read all about it: http://forum.xda-developers.com/gal...m-cyanogenmod-13-0-nightlies-verizon-t3269675 Also in the threads for Oct-M for d2vzw and AICP for d2vzw I've found the same issue being discussed. When I originally posted this I was using Oct-M and there was no talk about this issue in that thread and in all my noobiness I thought I was the only one in the world that had the problem. I didn't think of searching threads for all CM-13 based ROMs. In light of this discovery I'm questioning the usefulness of this thread.
bigbaluka said:
I have a Verizon S3 d2vzw with an unlocked bootloader runnign Oct M Android 6 custom ROM. When I use the back camera I takes pics just fine. When I use the front camera it takes pics just fine in low light i.e. when the light is to low to take a decent picture. When I move to a location where the light is good I get a force close. "Unfortunately Camera has stopped". The Camera is version 2.0.002 (7a32386e9-30) org.cyanogenmod.snap that comes with the ROM, but I tried it with Open Camera from the Play Store and I got the same issue. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this? Perhaps someone would be able to speculate...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty unusual.
The phone is old and you're running old firmware. It's really hard to tell what the issue is. Could be a hardware or AOSP issue.
If you can take a logcat while the phone force closes and you can see how it fails. You can post that in the cm thread and see if you can get the developer to fix the problem. You can post it here and I'll tell you when it's failing.
Alternatively, you can attempt to boot up a stock based rom and see if that camera is still giving you problems.
Camera Firmware?
BadUsername said:
Pretty unusual.
The phone is old and you're running old firmware. It's really hard to tell what the issue is. Could be a hardware or AOSP issue.
If you can take a logcat while the phone force closes and you can see how it fails. You can post that in the cm thread and see if you can get the developer to fix the problem. You can post it here and I'll tell you when it's failing.
Alternatively, you can attempt to boot up a stock based rom and see if that camera is still giving you problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was reading about camera issues and I read something about "camera firmware". I thought the phone's firmware included firmware for the whole phone. I guess that's why sometimes there's separate "modem firmware". I'll get a logcat done so someone with a clue can pehaps buy me a clue. I've been meaning to try Alliance ROM from beanstown to see if the problem persists with a stock based ROM. I was messing with it yesterday in a dark room and the front camera works fine 'til I turn on the light then I get a big fat FC as soon as i take a picture. No problems with back camera. I love my S3 and it's in very good shape, but I think it may be getting tired. I've been wanting a Nexus 6 or 6p for a while now. Those seem to be my only options since for now I'm stuck with Verizon. I think all bootloaders should have the option to be unlocked by the user. They could even put up a big scary warning, notifying us users of all the chaos that might ensue from recklessly unlocking our bootloaders. Here's one of the posts I found about camera firmware. http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/general/jb-4-1-2-camera-driver-t2006128
Thanks for your thoughts on all this wierdness.
bigbaluka said:
I was reading about camera issues and I read something about "camera firmware". I thought the phone's firmware included firmware for the whole phone. I guess that's why sometimes there's separate "modem firmware". I'll get a logcat done so someone with a clue can pehaps buy me a clue. I've been meaning to try Alliance ROM from beanstown to see if the problem persists with a stock based ROM. I was messing with it yesterday in a dark room and the front camera works fine 'til I turn on the light then I get a big fat FC as soon as i take a picture. No problems with back camera. I love my S3 and it's in very good shape, but I think it may be getting tired. I've been wanting a Nexus 6 or 6p for a while now. Those seem to be my only options since for now I'm stuck with Verizon. I think all bootloaders should have the option to be unlocked by the user. They could even put up a big scary warning, notifying us users of all the chaos that might ensue from recklessly unlocking our bootloaders. Here's one of the posts I found about camera firmware. http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s3/general/jb-4-1-2-camera-driver-t2006128
Thanks for your thoughts on all this wierdness.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Camera is usually always an issue in CM ROMs because the stock camera firmware is closed source so the devs can't use it, they have to piece the camera firmware together themselves. Some devices never get the camera straightened out in CM.
BadUsername said:
Pretty unusual.
The phone is old and you're running old firmware. It's really hard to tell what the issue is. Could be a hardware or AOSP issue.
If you can take a logcat while the phone force closes and you can see how it fails. You can post that in the cm thread and see if you can get the developer to fix the problem. You can post it here and I'll tell you when it's failing.
Alternatively, you can attempt to boot up a stock based rom and see if that camera is still giving you problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ink'd from my KrAkEn'd S3
Droidriven said:
Camera is usually always an issue in CM ROMs because the stock camera firmware is closed source so the devs can't use it, they have to piece the camera firmware together themselves. Some devices never get the camera straightened out in CM.
Ink'd from my KrAkEn'd S3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right, hence my suggestion to use a logcat since it's impossible to tell if it's aosp or hardware related. Camera usually still works on aosp, just not nearly as well.
The title is basically self-explanatory. I'm particularly interested in these things:
AOSP/LOS/anything clean: how's battery drain? More than on stock or not?
Camera: could we replace ours with gcam? Is 70-105 switch working well?
Camera: do we have smth like XperianceCamera?
What features are we losing with unlocking bootloader? None afaics, but I may have missed something.
Thanks in advance! :^)
About Xperia 5 IV. It works great to me.
1.- No idea, never used stock. I have strong dislikes on Google.
2.- It works fine with OpenCamera, all 4 cameras detected (front, back normal, back close, back wide).
3.- No idea, I would need to try.
4.- It works fine.
Looks like I wrote a novel so TLDR:
I suck at this stuff, just getting back into custom ROMs - tried Pixel Experience 13 and Lineage OS(no Play Services (I think Android 13/A13 Beta)).
Stock Sony Rom + Root is the way to go. At least for right now.
Wouldn't count on GCam working or working well.
(Sony) Photo Pro is proprietary too afaik so you'd need someone to port it to custom OS like Lineage without G Services (what I read someone feel free to correct me). It might work with LineageOS with G Services or whatever else, I didn't try it.
END OF TLDR:
ROM EXPERIENCES:
Pixel Experience was weird, probably worked fine but I don't think the dimensions of the Xperia 5 III work well with how PE is scaled. Just this users opinion. Also I really only tried it to try it- not a huge fan of Google lately.
Lineage OS almost worked but the version I had text messages didn't work. The default one or others from F-Droid. I'm positive its user error on my part. Battery life seemed great though, it's anecdotal but it seemed markedly better without Google constantly checking in. Probably my bias.
Its important to me to have some Sony Apps and overall functionality (seems like low dev support when comparing to other devices IE Galaxy/Pixel) so I think stock Sony ROM+ Rooted is the way to go. Seemingly the general consensus on the forum too (especially since its pretty stock Android anyway).
Bonus objectives for me on stock Sony Rom is to DeGoogle + MicroG although I haven't made it all the way there yet. Then maybe long term try a Xperia 5 IV ROM for sh*ts and giggles for Android 13 since I doubt the 5 III will get it.
FUNCTIONALITY:
Your questions about GCam and losing functionality: I have heard/seen a lot of things online about GCam either needing to be ported to devices individually or that its part of Google's "Special Sauce" software wise. So I would expect stripped functionality if functional at all.
Someone who is a lot smarter and experienced than me should clarify on these last two:
Downsides to an unlocked bootloader+Custom ROM is same as always: risk of user error, bricking your device (soft bricked mine), depending on the ROM you choose you may not have Google Apps/limited so Banking apps and streaming apps won't work or won't go all the way up the resolution chain 4k20 69 fps etc. And I'm sure there is a security disclaimer somewhere out there too if you aren't careful.
Pros are same as always: Control of your device, system wide ad blocker, admin rights to delete bloatware, customization, custom ROMs, better battery life, potentially longer OS support, privacy, security, etc.
RAMBLINGS OF GETTING BACK INTO ROOTING WITH THE X5 III
*In case there are others out there who are similar to me in either getting back into rooting after a long time or the first time*
I'm pretty much a novice at this stuff but I was finally able to get my phone unlocked a few weeks ago and tried a few different ROMs. Out of what I tried I really only remember the Pixel Experience and Lineage OS. PE was fine but I'm not a huge fan of all the Google stuff so I went in the opposite direction and did Lineage OS without the Google Play Store/Services/App Framework whatever. It was almost a keeper for me except messaging wasn't working for whatever reason ((I wonder ^^)but really I think it was because it was an A13 beta). I tried a few different messaging apps but between that and losing some Sony Apps I decided to back to stock.
I feel like the big points for this phone are the camera app, the display customization depending on the content viewed, and possibly the gaming tweaks/music app? Last two are a stretch but eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
The new plan was/is hoping to do was DeGoogle the stock ROM and replace it with MicroG. I haven't gotten around to it because the post I was looking at on how to do it on this forum linked to another post in a different forum and it was for Android 11. My phone is on Android 12. Looking at the comments people had said the process was the same for 12 as 11 or very similar. Shouldn't be too hard but knowing me it will take me another afternoon or two to get it figured out and working.
Long term I'm kind of hoping that when an Android 13 ROM comes out for the Xperia 5 IV we could try throwing it on our devices too. Since I doubt we will be getting Android 13 on the Xperia 5 III. I know the physical camera is different on the 5 IV but everything else seems close enough to a normie like me that maybe it would be worth it to try. Then its back to figuring out how to DeGoogle on an unsupported device and installing MicroG etc etc.
Sorry its such a late response and not the most technical (or maybe even 100% accurate) but that was at least my experience a bit ago trying a few different ROMs on the GSI thread linked in the "How To" post listed here.
This phone has really grown on me and I'm bummed I'm not savvy in any amount of Android development so I am unable to make customizations/tweaks to the stock ROM. Or customize other OS ROM's to port here. Which makes me reliant on others to do the work so I can leech off it haha. On more widely used phones like Samsung or the Pixel its NBD since there are so many users. But a small community like this, it doesn't seem like there is a lot being done. Not a dig or anything, just not a ton of options. Although being able to install a ton of different custom ROMS from the GSI thread is really cool even if it isn't tailored to the Xperia 5 III.
Part of why I threw up so much info on here goes with the last paragraph. You probably won't get a lot of responses. There aren't a ton of peeps here and those who are generally already know what they are doing.
If you end up trying a bunch of different ROMs and find one you really like LMK!
+1 to that. I don't get 5G and had bad time trying to obtain signal. It doesn't worth.
J2 digital said:
Looks like I wrote a novel so TLDR:
I suck at this stuff, just getting back into custom ROMs - tried Pixel Experience 13 and Lineage OS(no Play Services (I think Android 13/A13 Beta)).
Stock Sony Rom + Root is the way to go. At least for right now.
Wouldn't count on GCam working or working well.
(Sony) Photo Pro is proprietary too afaik so you'd need someone to port it to custom OS like Lineage without G Services (what I read someone feel free to correct me). It might work with LineageOS with G Services or whatever else, I didn't try it.
END OF TLDR:
ROM EXPERIENCES:
Pixel Experience was weird, probably worked fine but I don't think the dimensions of the Xperia 5 III work well with how PE is scaled. Just this users opinion. Also I really only tried it to try it- not a huge fan of Google lately.
Lineage OS almost worked but the version I had text messages didn't work. The default one or others from F-Droid. I'm positive its user error on my part. Battery life seemed great though, it's anecdotal but it seemed markedly better without Google constantly checking in. Probably my bias.
Its important to me to have some Sony Apps and overall functionality (seems like low dev support when comparing to other devices IE Galaxy/Pixel) so I think stock Sony ROM+ Rooted is the way to go. Seemingly the general consensus on the forum too (especially since its pretty stock Android anyway).
Bonus objectives for me on stock Sony Rom is to DeGoogle + MicroG although I haven't made it all the way there yet. Then maybe long term try a Xperia 5 IV ROM for sh*ts and giggles for Android 13 since I doubt the 5 III will get it.
FUNCTIONALITY:
Your questions about GCam and losing functionality: I have heard/seen a lot of things online about GCam either needing to be ported to devices individually or that its part of Google's "Special Sauce" software wise. So I would expect stripped functionality if functional at all.
Someone who is a lot smarter and experienced than me should clarify on these last two:
Downsides to an unlocked bootloader+Custom ROM is same as always: risk of user error, bricking your device (soft bricked mine), depending on the ROM you choose you may not have Google Apps/limited so Banking apps and streaming apps won't work or won't go all the way up the resolution chain 4k20 69 fps etc. And I'm sure there is a security disclaimer somewhere out there too if you aren't careful.
Pros are same as always: Control of your device, system wide ad blocker, admin rights to delete bloatware, customization, custom ROMs, better battery life, potentially longer OS support, privacy, security, etc.
RAMBLINGS OF GETTING BACK INTO ROOTING WITH THE X5 III
*In case there are others out there who are similar to me in either getting back into rooting after a long time or the first time*
I'm pretty much a novice at this stuff but I was finally able to get my phone unlocked a few weeks ago and tried a few different ROMs. Out of what I tried I really only remember the Pixel Experience and Lineage OS. PE was fine but I'm not a huge fan of all the Google stuff so I went in the opposite direction and did Lineage OS without the Google Play Store/Services/App Framework whatever. It was almost a keeper for me except messaging wasn't working for whatever reason ((I wonder ^^)but really I think it was because it was an A13 beta). I tried a few different messaging apps but between that and losing some Sony Apps I decided to back to stock.
I feel like the big points for this phone are the camera app, the display customization depending on the content viewed, and possibly the gaming tweaks/music app? Last two are a stretch but eh ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
The new plan was/is hoping to do was DeGoogle the stock ROM and replace it with MicroG. I haven't gotten around to it because the post I was looking at on how to do it on this forum linked to another post in a different forum and it was for Android 11. My phone is on Android 12. Looking at the comments people had said the process was the same for 12 as 11 or very similar. Shouldn't be too hard but knowing me it will take me another afternoon or two to get it figured out and working.
Long term I'm kind of hoping that when an Android 13 ROM comes out for the Xperia 5 IV we could try throwing it on our devices too. Since I doubt we will be getting Android 13 on the Xperia 5 III. I know the physical camera is different on the 5 IV but everything else seems close enough to a normie like me that maybe it would be worth it to try. Then its back to figuring out how to DeGoogle on an unsupported device and installing MicroG etc etc.
Sorry its such a late response and not the most technical (or maybe even 100% accurate) but that was at least my experience a bit ago trying a few different ROMs on the GSI thread linked in the "How To" post listed here.
This phone has really grown on me and I'm bummed I'm not savvy in any amount of Android development so I am unable to make customizations/tweaks to the stock ROM. Or customize other OS ROM's to port here. Which makes me reliant on others to do the work so I can leech off it haha. On more widely used phones like Samsung or the Pixel its NBD since there are so many users. But a small community like this, it doesn't seem like there is a lot being done. Not a dig or anything, just not a ton of options. Although being able to install a ton of different custom ROMS from the GSI thread is really cool even if it isn't tailored to the Xperia 5 III.
Part of why I threw up so much info on here goes with the last paragraph. You probably won't get a lot of responses. There aren't a ton of peeps here and those who are generally already know what they are doing.
If you end up trying a bunch of different ROMs and find one you really like LMK!
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Thanks for putting all your experiences out here, really a huge help. I would also like to try out lineage, but can't seem to find a supported version. Would you mind pointing me in the right direction?
Claussen said:
I would also like to try out lineage, but can't seem to find a supported version. Would you mind pointing me in the right direction?
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If you don't mind a customized one, try crDroid
i would like to try custom ROM's but since no TWRP anymore to get for the Xperia's i hate to reinstall everything just to test something new.