Related
Does anyone have a full listing of every app removable from the stock rom without killing it? I've frozen lots of stuff that I don't believe should impact general performance, but end up having to completely wipe and reinstall due to something I've frozen rendering my screen unusable. I think it's in the Samsung apps, but haven't done enough testing to determine which apps it NEEDS to have running in order to work.
The tablet can boot up just fine but as soon as I go to unlock it, it just sits at the homescreen unresponsive to any button or touch input.
nickhimself said:
I've frozen lots of stuff that I don't believe should impact general performance ... The tablet can boot up just fine but as soon as I go to unlock it, it just sits at the homescreen unresponsive to any button or touch input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not a "bloatware" issue (and it kills me when people go hunting for this stuff, unused software really has minimal impact).
You may be suffering from a problem I'd discovered with the Samsung kernel (namely, it doesn't reserve enough memory that the Android framework needs in order to do InterProcess Communication).
Can you try this kernel (rename the file to "boot.img" and flash it with either Odin or Mobile Odin) and tell me if that fixes anything for you?
The meaning of my quoted sentence in your post was central to the freezing issue I had following a reboot after I'd disabled apps. I didn't disable them because I thought my tablet was running slowly, I disabled them because I didn't want 200 applications installed because some guy in Samsung's marketing department said "well they have to have twelve different notepad applications, nine clocks, four calendars, several methods of backing up data to various cloud services, and also put a whole bunch of wallpapers in there for no reason because I really like cats and flowers so other people probably do too."
Also, sorry to tell you this kcrudup, but... I'm already using your kernel anyway
nickhimself said:
... following a reboot after I'd disabled apps ... I'm already using your kernel anyway
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK, as long as this is a case of "shooting yourself in the foot", then.
BTW, wallpapers (as just one example) take up NO resources if not used, and since you're not going to be installing anything in /system anyway, what's the point?
(BTW, it's not just you I'm talking to here- it's all the other Quixotic "bloatware" folks out there. Unless something like "Better Battery Stats" are showing multiple wakelock instances and/or Alarms, y'all are wasting your time on that; eliminating "bloatware" is the "ATK" of ICS+)
kcrudup said:
OK, as long as this is a case of "shooting yourself in the foot", then.
BTW, wallpapers (as just one example) take up NO resources if not used, and since you're not going to be installing anything in /system anyway, what's the point?
(BTW, it's not just you I'm talking to here- it's all the other Quixotic "bloatware" folks out there. Unless something like "Better Battery Stats" are showing multiple wakelock instances and/or Alarms, y'all are wasting your time on that; eliminating "bloatware" is the "ATK" of ICS+)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it's more carryover from working with windows for so long. I'm used to, possibly even trained, on expecting the first steps after a new install to be Clean Out Everything and Trim Services ASAP.
I just don't like feeling like I have no power over a stock ROM through removing any and every piece of software I just don't want.
nickhimself said:
I just don't like feeling like I have no power over a stock ROM through removing any and every piece of software I just don't want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure, I get that. One thing to remember (and I've worked on a number of Android devices over the years for a number of manufacturers and carriers) is that no manufacturer (nor carrier, believe it or not) wants to do anything that reduces overall performance (even predatory ones like VZW who'd rob your Grandmother if there's a dime to be made off her).
What's instructive is to run BBS and check on "Alarms", "Network" and "Partial Wakelocks" at the reference "Since Boot" after the tablet's been on a while- you'll see that all this "bloatware" isn't even a factor in the parts of the system that count.
Basics
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1634624
jje
Although I have none... Maybe these things as well as contributors can come up with some ideas that might have helped:
1. Kies restore via norbarb's/Kies method. This will remove root, but rerooting is 30 secs.
Root Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2252248
Kies Link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2261232
All information is in his thread, but I feel it's easier to download Kies
start it up
and then plug your phone in. Kies will do the rest.
2. Seeder from Market by Entropy512. Root Required!
Download from Market
enable lag reduction
check only 'Start automatically on boot''
select performance profile "Moderate"
Reboot your phone and check its on.
3. Disable the following:
Power Saving (This one lags the phone quite a bit on different charge levels)
Screen Mirroring
Multi Window (This one straight lags the phone period, kinda useless)
4. Android Assitant
Download from Market
Select Tools from Tabs
Select Startup Manager
Under User Tab - Kill anything you don't care about
Under System Tab (Check to Kill on Startup, will run when you start it)-
Email (I don't use it)
Exchange Services (I don't use it - for MS Exchange Servers)
Help
Internet
Maps
Facebook SNS
Talk
Youtube
Reboot the phone
5. Developer Options. (Click 7 Times on the Build Number)
Window animation scale = 0.5
Transition animation scale = 0.5
Animator duration scale = 0.5
I don't use any ATT stuff so I removed it, but I doubt this will do anything. I have everything else enabled other than listed above like air gestures blah bla bla
By all means not exhaustive and lag is based on what you have loaded.... but I just hope this helps!
If others have anything to add please do.
0.5 still gives me lag, I set it to 0 just because it feels more instant.
I still see lag in glow animations, however, so I really think there is something up with the scaling/governor of the CPU/GPU. This will likely be remedied in future optimizations, patches, and/or third-party kernels (I hope).
I also turned off Air View, Air Gesture, Smart Stay, and Smart Scroll just because a part of me feels those were unnecessarily taxing. Messaging actually seems to load faster now that I don't think it needs to track finger movements.
I'm the opposite, I have all the features turned on & animations at default 1.
What I did was frooze all AT&T apps but left Samsung Apps alone since I like to see what they have to offer. Of course, you can freeze them if you want.
DL an app called Android tuner from the Play store & went to the startup section. I unchecked all apps that I didnt want to startup.
I have done just about everything listed in the 1st post and more at least 3 times in the past 3 days..
The lag-a-thon continues..
I have not tried Seeder or Android Assist nor will I!
I am sure they are premium and top notch applications but if I need to go to that extent just make what should be one of the fastest and quickest phones on the planet (based on it's specs) work then it's time for me to return and move along...
Good luck all as the POS is heading back to AT&T.. :good: :good: :good:
burningembers said:
0.5 still gives me lag, I set it to 0 just because it feels more instant.
I still see lag in glow animations, however, so I really think there is something up with the scaling/governor of the CPU/GPU. This will likely be remedied in future optimizations, patches, and/or third-party kernels (I hope).
I also turned off Air View, Air Gesture, Smart Stay, and Smart Scroll just because a part of me feels those were unnecessarily taxing. Messaging actually seems to load faster now that I don't think it needs to track finger movements.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you reduce to 0 on all 3 scalers like transition, animation, and animation engine(?)
RMXO said:
I'm the opposite, I have all the features turned on & animations at default 1.
What I did was frooze all AT&T apps but left Samsung Apps alone since I like to see what they have to offer. Of course, you can freeze them if you want.
DL an app called Android tuner from the Play store & went to the startup section. I unchecked all apps that I didnt want to startup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe you have to leave Samsung apps completely working because they are tied to the SystemUI and features.
raqball said:
I have done just about everything listed in the 1st post and more at least 3 times in the past 3 days..
The lag-a-thon continues..
I have not tried Seeder or Android Assist nor will I!
I am sure they are premium and top notch applications but if I need to go to that extent just make what should be one of the fastest and quickest phones on the planet (based on it's specs) work then it's time for me to return and move along...
Good luck all as the POS is heading back to AT&T.. :good: :good: :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait what? Kies released the OS yesterday.... Factory reset and Kies is very different
slider2828 said:
Did you reduce to 0 on all 3 scalers like transition, animation, and animation engine(?)
I believe you have to leave Samsung apps completely working because they are tied to the SystemUI and features.
Wait what? Kies released the OS yesterday.... Factory reset and Kies is very different
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did the Odin method twice last night and once today..
Have not tried Kies but may give it a shot later tonight before this thing gets boxed up and sent back to hell...
I doubt there will be any difference whatsoever between using Kies or Odin but hey, I will give it a try..
raqball said:
I did the Odin method twice last night and once today..
Have not tried Kies but may give it a shot later tonight before this thing gets boxed up and sent back to hell...
I doubt there will be any difference whatsoever between using Kies or Odin but hey, I will give it a try..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry about the frustration, but I appreciate you giving it another try as I really am enjoying this phone coming from an Infuse 4G.
In the meanwhile, try seeder and android assistant as well.... Root is reversible anyways.... Good luck!
Seeder is not by entropy512...it relies on a thing called entropy...and most devs say its pacebo as there is no real reason why it would increase performance...this is just based of the entropy threads ive read...and I believe entropy512 was one of those people who stated it was placebo so a little irony there...however if it makes your phone run faster then use it but I never noticed any differnce with using seeder on any of my previous phones (samsung infuse, htc vivid)
Here is seeders official thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1987032
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
Its like any other program and settings done to phones. Some maybe affected some maybe not.... I through it on most my phones.... Depends what you are running I guess, but who knows... I have 2 SGS4's... One for me and my wife... She doesn't have it and I do.... Most settings are the same, i'll see... Both bought on opening date at the same time, so hard to tell hardware batch... But I will seee......
Try looking for an app that prevents apps from starting up like "android tuner" or "Rom toolbox pro".
Something else is hit power saver off and on. Power saver limits the cpu speed might be it...
sgh-i747(d2att)(sgs3) on latest cm10.1 or ultimatum
i've noticed a tiny bit of a delay when unlocking the phone and perhaps when opening SMS and the phone, but its not enough that I feel it's the same lag that a lot of people here are complaining about. I'm only basing that on the fact that there's no way i'd be THIS upset (as some of you are) based on what i'm seeing. So while there's lag, im afraid to try this stuff because it cant possibly be what you guys are experiencing unless you're all huge complainers, which I doubt :silly:
These steps can be done on any phone and are generic. I am suggesting you try it
Just a quick, simple suggestion for everyone posting their best "you should try app XYZ" on this thread and others without posting any links to them.... please take the extra 2 seconds to link the app from the Play Store - ahhh, you see what I did there! - because it makes your attempt at a helpful post actually helpful! In the thread I made about that Weather Station app, do you know how many apps that have the words "Weather Station" there are on the Play Store? Here's the current list - would be pretty mean of me if I didn't link it, right? And someone still asked me on that thread what the name of the developer was because they didn't just click the link! :silly:
My 2 cents........
I am rooted and have noticed a little bit of lag - In the past I have used an app called "LagFix" free https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.grilledmonkey.lagfix&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5ncmlsbGVkbW9ua2V5LmxhZ2ZpeCJd
So I tried installing it - dropped my animations in Settings/Developer Options to .5 and I noticed a pretty decent improvement.
I have also have always used Android Assistant https://play.google.com/store/search?q=android+assistant&c=apps because it is such a useful APP and it helps as well.
FYI - I also froze some of the unneeded ATT Bloatware APPS but I am not sure if that had any effect or not -
I was a little dissapointed when I first got this phone because of the lag but honestly I think I have been spoiled by running custom roms for so long I got used to having little to no bloat and hi power kernels --- so, I had to bring things into perspective - can't wait to get the bootloader unlocked and some AOSP roms to flash - lol
I still love this phone despite the few minor annoyances...
So i read in another thread of some people trying a different launcher and having better results.. I just installed nova launcher and bam.. lag is completely gone. LIke.. there is ZERO lag, not even a hitch.. so maybe the problem lies in how samsung did the launcher?
The only thing that i dont like now is that I can't use the really nicely redone clock/weather widget and the fantastic briefing widget which i fell in love with on day one. Oh well, at least my phone zips now.
howtomen said:
Something else is hit power saver off and on. Power saver limits the cpu speed might be it...
sgh-i747(d2att)(sgs3) on latest cm10.1 or ultimatum
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice going to add to the front.
Some people are using Trickster to tweak the cores... which I have heard it works, but I get wakelocks from this,...
What kind of wakelocks are you seeing? I'm seeing very very little wakelocks using trickster. I unplugged my phone at 4:30 am this morning. 12 hours later I still have 89% battery left with very few wakelocks (kernel/partial). With 48 mins screen on. Couple of phone calls and texts.
Yeah not sure why.... I am not sure how to find these wake locks.... I would need to jump into Better battery stats to do so...
Hey guys
i need some tips or feedbacks. So ive been with the Galaxy since the S3, and each one ends up becoming the same. They are great when i first get them, then within the first 2 months, they pretty much turn into crap. The UI isnt smooth, things take a while to open, apps dont transition to another smoothly, opening texts,, going back and forth between texts and apps arent the best and i constantly get problems to the point i need to do a warranty exchange with tmobile.
Do you guys experience the same or are you phones super fast and fluid? Even with a rooted phone i experience the same. Whenever i test out my friends iphone, everything seems to be super quick and fluid, just not customizable and limited to what you can do
What can i do to improve my phone or this is just how these galaxies are?
Thanks!
Hiya
I find it's good to reboot every so often, and I also use the built in Smart Manager to Clean All, and I don't experience any lag.
I do run my phone pretty clean though and don't have a million useless Apps which does tend to slow it down.
Reboot and use the smart manager from time to time and you should be good to go. I also find that using Package Disabler, Nova Launcher and Anti virus Apps SLOW DOWN my phone and make it buggy and laggy.
I have now wiped it and left it fully stock and it multi tasks properly and is super quick.
Jonathan-H said:
Hiya
I find it's good to reboot every so often, and I also use the built in Smart Manager to Clean All, and I don't experience any lag.
I do run my phone pretty clean though and don't have a million useless Apps which does tend to slow it down.
Reboot and use the smart manager from time to time and you should be good to go. I also find that using Package Disabler, Nova Launcher and Anti virus Apps SLOW DOWN my phone and make it buggy and laggy.
I have now wiped it and left it fully stock and it multi tasks properly and is super quick.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your response. i already do all that. I use clean master everyday to clear my phone of cache and boost it so all background running apps are closed. when rooted, i deleted all useless apps and bloatware. i do restart my phone but still, i face these problems. its just frustrating when using an iphone because everything is so fast! i just want to fix up my android to be the same but it always turns to ****. im now facing a problem where outgoing texts stays stuck on sending and doesnt go through so now i have to use a third party messaging app.
danman987 said:
Thanks for your response. i already do all that. I use clean master everyday to clear my phone of cache and boost it so all background running apps are closed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously, cleanmaster?? Delete immediately! If you're rooted, why don't you freeze the bloats? Use amplify and greenify combo! Can't believe a rooted user uses cleanmaster
Clearing cache every time is not good and results in stutters as cache is meant to make loading times faster and usually only cleaned if there are signs of corruption!
Your description looks suspicious
Fullmetal Jun said:
Seriously, cleanmaster?? Delete immediately! If you're rooted, why don't you freeze the bloats? Use amplify and greenify combo! Can't believe a rooted user uses cleanmaster
Clearing cache every time is not good and results in stutters as cache is meant to make loading times faster and usually only cleaned if there are signs of corruption!
Your description looks suspicious
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol i didnt know about that for cleanmaster, im new to the whole rooting thing so i didnt know. i already freeze the bloats using titanium backup. also, i had to update my phone because my call quality was all messed up. i updated my phone to baseband version DOJC. upon doing that, my phone is no longer rooted. where are the best places to go to download new files in order to root my phone again. i dont want to use my old files and risk messing up my phone.
Thanks
danman987 said:
lol i didnt know about that for cleanmaster, im new to the whole rooting thing so i didnt know. i already freeze the bloats using titanium backup.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if you're no longer rooted, you can't use titanium backup. No need to root the S6 as you won't be able to update and rooting without using custom roms isn't that great.
Use package disabler pro! It's enough. Put apps to always optimize in battery settings. Use a custom launcher like Apex or Nova. Update everything. Clear cache in storage menu and reboot. You should be good.
Try leaving at least 1GB out of your internal memory free, although its impact is not proved!
Fullmetal Jun said:
So if you're no longer rooted, you can't use titanium backup. No need to root the S6 as you won't be able to update and rooting without using custom roms isn't that great.
Use package disabler pro! It's enough. Put apps to always optimize in battery settings. Use a custom launcher like Apex or Nova. Update everything. Clear cache in storage menu and reboot. You should be good.
Try leaving at least 1GB out of your internal memory free, although its impact is not proved!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no, i meant i used titanium backup when i was rooted. im no longer rooted because i had to update my phone in order to fix some problems i was having. When i was rooted, i used a custom rom, twisted sixx version 3. i want to reroot my phone again, but i want to know if i need to download new files again to root if what i used last time is ok. last time i rooted was in septempber so my files are from that time frame. If not ok, where can i go to get the new files i need to root again? also with your phone, is everything usually fast and fluid or do you come across the problems i mention earlier as well?
thanks
danman987 said:
If not ok, where can i go to get the new files i need to root again? also with your phone, is everything usually fast and fluid or do you come across the problems i mention earlier as well?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry can't help with newer root methods!
I'm completely stock and using package disabler pro and app optimizer. It's not buttery smooth like a Nexus or Motorola, but it still is a fast experience, i.e, rarely any scrolling stutters. Try putting animations to 0.5x or 0/off.
Fullmetal Jun said:
Sorry can't help with newer root methods!
I'm completely stock and using package disabler pro and app optimizer. It's not buttery smooth like a Nexus or Motorola, but it still is a fast experience, i.e, rarely any scrolling stutters. Try putting animations to 0.5x or 0/off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok cool. i just installed it, looks to be the same like the titanium backup where i can disable freeze all the random apps. any idea why my texts are stuck on sending? dont really want to do a system wipe to see if that fixes it
thanks for you help!
danman987 said:
ok cool. i just installed it, looks to be the same like the titanium backup where i can disable freeze all the random apps. any idea why my texts are stuck on sending? dont really want to do a system wipe to see if that fixes it
thanks for you help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Np! Try defrosting some packages that as per your guess might be linked to the sms system.
Try sending through a 3rd party app like Google messaging app on play store and see if it works.
Fullmetal Jun said:
Np! Try defrosting some packages that as per your guess might be linked to the sms system.
Try sending through a 3rd party app like Google messaging app on play store and see if it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea i am using google messenger now, which works, just odd why the phone isnt. ill play around troubleshooting things and see if anything works. you know where i can find a list of apps to freeze with the disabler app that arent important? if not, all good, i appreciate your time and help, Thanks!
danman987 said:
yea i am using google messenger now, which works, just odd why the phone isnt. ill play around troubleshooting things and see if anything works. you know where i can find a list of apps to freeze with the disabler app that arent important? if not, all good, i appreciate your time and help, Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Search 'safe to debloate guides' in S6 general and q&a forums and Note 5 forums as well.
Fullmetal Jun said:
Search 'safe to debloate guides' in S6 general and q&a forums and Note 5 forums as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
awesome, thank you!
Fullmetal Jun said:
Seriously, cleanmaster?? Delete immediately! If you're rooted, why don't you freeze the bloats? Use amplify and greenify combo! Can't believe a rooted user uses cleanmaster
Clearing cache every time is not good and results in stutters as cache is meant to make loading times faster and usually only cleaned if there are signs of corruption!
Your description looks suspicious
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Or he could use Kernel Adiutor and set Androids build in kill scheduler to free ram
Sent from my LG-LS740 using XDA Free mobile app
My little tips :
First. Speed up your android device by *not* installing any speed booster app.
2. Android is smart enough to force close background services when more ram is needed. And restart them when ram hungry process (e.g heavy game) ends. Do some research, it's a very very bad idea to manually kill background apps and services. Doing so will just decrease both your performance and battery.
3.Stock Samsung provided applications gives better performance and battery life. They also use ram more efficiently. try using stock launcher,stock keyboard, stock E-mail app, etc.
Also every other launcher that uses vertical scrolling will have lags. (Apex,Action,Nova and even Google Now Launcher)
4. Manually clearing cache is also bad idea. Imagine you put your charger on your desk to quickly access it when needed (cache), then someone puts it back to drawer every time :| (Clearing catche)
Sent from my SM-G925I using Tapatalk
Aria.A97 said:
My little tips :
First. Speed up your android device by *not* installing any speed booster app.
2. Android is smart enough to force close background services when more ram is needed. And restart them when ram hungry process (e.g heavy game) ends. Do some research, it's a very very bad idea to manually kill background apps and services. Doing so will just decrease both your performance and battery.
3.Stock Samsung provided applications gives better performance and battery life. They also use ram more efficiently. try using stock launcher,stock keyboard, stock E-mail app, etc.
Also every other launcher that uses vertical scrolling will have lags. (Apex,Action,Nova and even Google Now Launcher)
4. Manually clearing cache is also bad idea. Imagine you put your charger on your desk to quickly access it when needed (cache), then someone puts it back to drawer every time :| (Clearing catche)
Sent from my SM-G925I using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tips. i already use stock email, stock interenet stock everything. My battery dies extremely quick with minimal use, as oppose to when i had it rooted, which was significantly better. with minimal use today, its been off the charger for 5 hours and im already at 50%. i also dont force close. i just click that menu button and press close all when nothings being used, or are you saying thats not good to do?
i have mine for 10 months, and i don't regret it at all, i had a galaxy S2 and S4 before and i always said i won't get another samsung because of the lag, but this time i made the right choice...the phone flies through everything, loading apps takes no time, opening apps really fast, the truth is this is the first galaxy that didn't lag after a couple of months, at least not for me, there are sometimes some frame drops, but in general it's really fast, i use stock apps, i restart my phone about every week, the battery isn't that good, 3-4 SOT...so not bad but not that good, because this is a phone you wanna keep using all the time and then suddenly the battery die.....the truth is if i had the money now i would get the NOTE5/ S6 EDGE PLUS...because of the battery and big screen, other than that it's perfect....best screen, camera, the new TW is really good....
abdelha said:
i have mine for 10 months, and i don't regret it at all, i had a galaxy S2 and S4 before and i always said i won't get another samsung because of the lag, but this time i made the right choice...the phone flies through everything, loading apps takes no time, opening apps really fast, the truth is this is the first galaxy that didn't lag after a couple of months, at least not for me, there are sometimes some frame drops, but in general it's really fast, i use stock apps, i restart my phone about every week, the battery isn't that good, 3-4 SOT...so not bad but not that good, because this is a phone you wanna keep using all the time and then suddenly the battery die.....the truth is if i had the money now i would get the NOTE5/ S6 EDGE PLUS...because of the battery and big screen, other than that it's perfect....best screen, camera, the new TW is really good....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea im like you, after each galaxy, im like this is the last time im getting it, then im like screw it, maybe the new one will be different this time around. They all end up being the same for me :-/
danman987 said:
yea im like you, after each galaxy, im like this is the last time im getting it, then im like screw it, maybe the new one will be different this time around. They all end up being the same for me :-/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah, but this time it's different, the phone is as fast as it was when i bought it....really fast, my old galaxy devices lagged when opening even the dialer, not to mention the gallery, takes 2 seconds to load...now it's instant....
abdelha said:
yeah, but this time it's different, the phone is as fast as it was when i bought it....really fast, my old galaxy devices lagged when opening even the dialer, not to mention the gallery, takes 2 seconds to load...now it's instant....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
everything for me right now is taking 2 seconds plus horrible battery life. now my texts dont send out using the stock messenger. going to factory reset my phone and root it tonight and see how it goes.
also i just updated my phine and saw theres video calling now. thats only to other phones with s6 correct?
I got the Mate 20 X from Italy, delivered two weeks after order on November 12 for € 829, VAT and 2-years warranty included. It is a nice silver device 6/128 (don’t need more memory). My first hands-on impression? I was shocked.
I had pure Chinese phones before (Huawei and Lenovo) and I know how to deal with them. That wasn’t what upset me. And it wasn’t EMUI either, I like some of its functionality and I know how to customize it.
But my previous phone was Mate 10 pro (international, not Chinese), which really works well and comparison with a newcomer is what really shocked me. The EVR_AL00 came slow and clumsy with those big fat letters and ugly ios-like icons on the screen. I tried to improve the look with increasing the smallest width in the developer options, but original resolution came back with every reset.
So what I did first, is factory reset (I usually perform it on every new phone). I lost Google Play but I didn’t care, I intended to install and adjust Google apps anyway.
And then I started to customize the phone. Basically, it means “dechinezed” and “deiosinezed” it and make it usable for my purposes as the daily driver. Eventually, I succeeded and like before I don’t regret that I bought the Chinese phone as I never regretted before. I believe that my customization demands would request almost the same amount of work and effort with the “international” version.
And with “dechinezed” I don’t mean to be impolite, actually, I like some of the features of China phones, some of them after years comes to western phones as well (night sight, close all apps etc). I just prefer the more Android look of the phone (even more than currently, Google delivers).
The actual status of my phone is as follows:
In the beginning, when I started phone manager, the performance never exceeded 69%. It seems that later it adapted and healed itself (maybe with help of AI) and now performance is usually over 90, close to 100% and the phone suddenly becomes snappy and smooth, slightly better than Mate 10 pro. As expected, the battery life is due to its capacity and with my way of use it could easily survive two days. I don’t have exact data on SOT and other parameters of the battery performance yet. By adjusting the text and display size (both too small) under settings/display the phone gets a nicer look and more usable size of applications.
I had decided to keep EMUI launcher before I learned that the phone has a hard time with other launchers. I bought Nova Prime once, I consider it a great launcher, maybe the best, but even on my previous phone I used EMUI. The reason is in its features that I don’t want to sacrifice: dedicated Accuweather, swype gestures (now with 9), dark mode. I was never a fan of ios-like white themes, I always considered that Android’s color is black. Besides, what even Google admits now (and started to return black mode into its apps accordingly), the white mode consumes a lot more energy (especially with AMOLED). What is yet to admit is that it burns your eyes.
So, what I have now, is a fully customized EVR_AL00 that perfectly suits my needs. That means that it looks like Android, works like Android and behaves like Android. I replaced most Chinese apps with Google’s ones, installed additional that I use and tune the system. With tuning the system I mean screen adjustment and customization. Under Settings/Display/text and display size, I changed both values to small and thus converted ugly appearance of the display into something that suits size and purpose of the phone. I replaced IOS icons with the Android ones. Adjusted notifications and permissions for each application.
First I was thinking about keeping some Chinese apps that I considered useful, like Sky Mobile and a few others. But trying them I found out that all of them are more or less connected either with Chinese environment or payment system and therefore eventually I removed them all. After I had to perform the factory reset I was only got more careful with apps that I disabled. And according to my orientation, I kept Email, at least until Google implements dark color in Gmail. And kept useful utilities: (Manager, Gallery, Remote…).
Otherwise, I use Google Phone (the amazing last beta from: https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/app-google-phone-v14-0-175904292-bubble-t3708218, thank you Martin), Messages, Translate (removed nonfunctional MS Translate), Auto, Duo, Voice, Photos, Trips, Pay, Assistant, Lens, Google, Chrome, and of course all Google system apps. I also use third-party apps like VLC, Xiaomi calculator and YouTube vanced. Pretty much everything works as expected, including notifications to the extent that suits my way of use. After I erased Hivoice, Assistant works together with the hot word, if the screen is turned on (never wished to use it from turned off screen). The red mic on notification bar of the attached picture shows that assistant is active.
All banks application work. Google Play is not working at the moment but I expect that it will eventually. Currently, failure is the result of poor synchronization between Chinese EMUI and Google Android. No point to call the bank, it is the last one to solve the problem. The problem will be solved with the new EMUI or Play Services, because there is no material obstacle for G Play (SafetyNet passed and bank card is recognized and could be used online). I have another identical payment system installed (Inteso SP) and it works flawlessly.
CUSTOMIZATION
In order to adapt the phone to my needs, I had to deal with existing Chinese application first. I had to either: 1) remove them, 2) hide them, or 3) disable (erase) them.
Removing apps
Removing apps was easy. Just uninstall Chinese in Settings/Apps. As I said, I did it thoroughly and indiscriminately.
Hiding apps
My overall objective is to have only one home screen page. I’m fed up with slippery pages interfering with gestures. And besides, I decided to use gestures (swype) as system navigation and therefore swyping between homepages could be annoying even more.
In order to have only one home page, I have to use folders and hide auxiliary functional apps (like download, OTA, backup, clock..etc).
Surprisingly I found that Tweaker for Huawei works pretty well with EMUI9, although it is an old application: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teammt.gmanrainy.emuitweaker&hl=en. One of its functions is triggering the abandoned EMUI gesture that enables hiding any application and thus removing it from the home screen without affecting its functionality.
Disabling (erasing) apps
To “remove” any nonremovable application without root you need a computer with the adb command-line tool. In fact, this method never removes any application, rather disables and hides it for the current user. So it doesn’t affect OTA and it doesn’t revert after reset either. It does come back after factory reset though.
The method of erasing an app works through adb (so adb must be installed on the computer – either Windows or Linux) and it requests the following syntax in command line:
1. adb devices (and after that setting permission on the phone)
2. adb shell
3. pm unistall -k --user 0 <package name>
where <package name> is not the name of the application as it shows but the name of the installed package, which must be discovered and one of the apps which could do that effectively could be found here: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=pl.itto.packageinspector&hl=en.
(for example: pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.huawei.wallet)
A basic idea what to disable could be found here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-10/how-to/guide-to-remove-apps-root-t3828324. Of course, what to disable always depends on personal preferences and therefore this list should be taken with a grain of salt.
So, after arranging applications there comes the final stage of making the phone Android again. EMUI makeover. For that, we need this EMUI editor: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mixapplications.themeeditor.
But there is a bad news. It doesn’t work with EMUI 9 (yet). What now? There are two possibilities: either finding a good theme and simply installing it (there are plenty of them, only I didn’t test if they are working with EMUI 9 (some of the android likes are to be found in the Playstore under Hamzio7 or here: https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-10/themes/pure-black-theme-emui-8-t3719904.
The other possibility is to find a phone with EMUI 8 and compile the hwt file there and transfer it to Mate 20 X. That is what I did. The system will warn you that it is an old version of the theme and it might not work well but skip that. It works just fine.
Don’t judge the solution by my design. I’m a modest guy, more practically oriented. You may have almost any design that you wish.
And of course, if you decide to experiment with this stuff yourself, you should be aware that you are the only one taking the risk. I honestly believe that you can’t, if you are not extremely innovative, irretrievably destroy anything, but even factory reset might be sometimes really annoying.
Good luck with your brand new Chinese Mate 20 X.
Great post Just a couple of questions:
1) Are your notifications working perfectly? By that, I mean without delay under both wi-fi and mobile networks, with screen on and screen off? If so, what did you do to achieve this?
2) Do you mind sharing where did you buy the device from?
Nice job! Looking even more forward to the arrival of my Mate 20 X!
@piskr
Would you mind give some steps to get google phone and Messages to work properly. When phone call comes in, my phone call screen does not come on. Messages only works sometime and sometime message does not send. Thanks.
Genoveffo said:
Great post Just a couple of questions:
1) Are your notifications working perfectly? By that, I mean without delay under both wi-fi and mobile networks, with screen on and screen off? If so, what did you do to achieve this?
2) Do you mind sharing where did you buy the device from?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Yes, notifications work flawlessly in my extent of use, both with the screen on and off. I don't use exotics like telegram or whatsapp though. It's a matter of permissions and notification settings. Be aware that each notification had to be set separately and checked under application and under notification sector under settings. And also have in mind that if you install the third party phone, it is just addition of original phone (under app/system processes), and the later must remain active and has its own permissions and notification as well. Phone app has different system structure than SMS. You can simply erase Huawei messaging and replace it with the Google one (haven't tried others).
2) You can find here both color and memory variants: https://www.ilmultistoredelzazza.eu...l_Sim_EMUI_9_Android_9/p1748191_19236868.aspx
wingzero said:
@piskr
Would you mind give some steps to get google phone and Messages to work properly. When phone call comes in, my phone call screen does not come on. Messages only works sometime and sometime message does not send. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should really carefully check and set both permissions and notifications for each application. And remember that you mustn't neglect the system phone app.
piskr said:
You should really carefully check and set both permissions and notifications for each application. And remember that you mustn't neglect the system phone app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I checked all the settings and seem to be correct unless I missed some steps.
wingzero said:
I checked all the settings and seem to be correct unless I missed some steps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK. Here are my settings.
You do know there's an EVR-L international models, right? Why not just get that instead? That's what I have.
piskr said:
OK. Here are my settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for taking the time to post the screen shots. All my the settings are the same except I don't the phone app on your last screen shot. Did you download it or it's a stock app?
---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------
MishaalRahman said:
You do know there's an EVR-L international models, right? Why not just get that instead? That's what I have.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's too late. I already bought the China version. It's too much hassle try to sell it.
wingzero said:
Thanks for taking the time to post the screen shots. All my the settings are the same except I don't the phone app on your last screen shot. Did you download it or it's a stock app?
---------- Post added at 04:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:11 PM ----------
It's too late. I already bought the China version. It's too much hassle try to sell it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right, the last one is Google phone from the link I published and it works just fine (I really recommend it, it has so many opportunities). But you have managed to get notifications neither on the home screen nor on the lock screen? Neither for messages nor for the phone? If I were you I would go from setting to setting for this two apps and inspect every item very carefully. It is possible in this early stage of EMUI9 that it has some weird glitches occurring randomly on some phones but it is not very likely. A small overlooked detail in settings could mean everything.
Otherwise, I don't regret that I bought the Chinese version. Now I've got everything that I would have with the international variant. Only I don't have working Google pay yet, but so far I haven't seen a clear statement that it really works on international Mate 20x either. To work means to be able pay with the phone not only loading a card, that's what I did too. Otherwise, I got a good price (€660 before VAT), integrated call recorder and rooting opportunity.
And regarding crap, international one has it too. I've got international Mate 10 pro and I know it. Besides Chinese one additional western, baked in (MS, Facebook, Google's and third party's).
@piskr
The phone will ring on the google phone app but the screen does not come. I will play with the settings and figure it out. Thanks for all the help.
Thank you. This helped get me to a non-Chinese specifc phone.
Attachin my ADB run.
UPDATE: Please check out AJ's great thread https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-x/how-to/guide-remove-apps-adb-t3870727
I mistakenly removed one item (com.huawei.android.hwouc) I shouldn't have and I amnot getting OTAs (which I also turn off automatic ones in dev options, but if I want one, I lost it them).
Rudolpht said:
Thank you. This helped get me to a non-Chinese specifc phone.
Attachin my ADB run.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I'm not well schooled on ADB. How would you apply this? And why 2 Zips? Gracias
See beginning of the thread and other threads on ADB. Same list, mine in txt or zip, same file, not necessarily good for everyone.
Sent from my HWEVR using XDA Labs
def-g said:
As I'm not well schooled on ADB. How would you apply this? And why 2 Zips? Gracias
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here's my Spreadsheet with a quick guide in it along with the adb files you'll need.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/mate-20-x/how-to/guide-remove-apps-adb-t3870727
Once you get the list of packages on your AL00 just run the fastboot command to remove each one.
wingzero said:
@piskr
The phone will ring on the google phone app but the screen does not come. I will play with the settings and figure it out. Thanks for all the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wondering if you had any luck. Some people actually use a phone as a phone
Sent from my HWEVR using XDA Labs
Rudolpht said:
Wondering if you had any luck. Some people actually use a phone as a phone
Sent from my HWEVR using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got it working. I am using the stable v.25 version. What I did was after selected the google phone as default dialing app, I go back to default apps and click the stock phone and then click the google phone again. I did this by chance and luck. Hope this will solve your issue. The stock phone app is horrible. Make sure you use the stable version. Good luck.
wingzero said:
I got it working. I am using the stable v.25 version. What I did was after selected the google phone as default dialing app, I go back to default apps and click the stock phone and then click the google phone again. I did this by chance and luck. Hope this will solve your issue. The stock phone app is horrible. Make sure you use the stable version. Good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks man.
Sent from my HWEVR using XDA Labs
Now it's 27. And so far everything work. Regarding comments on the forum we are on the privileged side. Just be sure to set notifications and permissions right.
Most people seem fairly happy with the stock pixel user experience, after all a main reason we purchase pixels is because of it's software.
in your experience, is there any benefit to any of the currently available custom roms that would increase performance and battery? I mean something bigger than just customisability and tinkering
I've been debating this too. I haven't rooted a device in 4 years. No real reason to anymore. I'm on the fence because I'm hoping for a true blackout theme and better animation transitions on a custom rom. Haven't pulled the trigger yet.
Performance, efficiency, and control over fast more than what Google chooses to provide.
ctfrommn said:
Performance, efficiency, and control over fast more than what Google chooses to provide.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What roms are you referring to?
It has been scientifically proven that running custom kernels and/or roms helps to minimize E.D.
Mainly battery life. I have to charge my phone once every 1-1.5 weeks or so, vs every or every other day like most people.
*Keeping the screen brightness only as bright as you need it (i.e. not ecessively set or maxxed out--I keep mine around 1/4 maybe touch more, on the brightness slider.
smokejumper76 said:
I have to charge my phone once every 1-1.5 weeks or so
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bruh, do you even use your phone at all? What ROM makes such a huge difference for your use to extend your battery life from 1 day to over 7 days?
fix-this! said:
What roms are you referring to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Literally any?
GrapheneOS gets rid of all Google Services, thus (and overall) it's a lot more privacy-focused.
Performance isn't a huge issue on Pixel devices (imo), because the ROM they come with isn't super bloated, but you can always just use LineageOS, or any other barebones ROM if you don't need any fancy features, only sleek (slick?) performance.
I have always been a fan of ResurrectionRemix/crDroid, which are filled with TONS of features. Sure, depending on who you are, you might not care for most/some of them (double tapping on statusbar to lock the screen, changing the animation of quick settings tiles when you tap on them, blinking the flashlight when you receive a call, and many, many other small things).
Nowadays, even ROMs like this aren't hogging up your performance or ruin your battery life.
Besides flashing custom ROMs, rooting is still useful for me.
Yeah, getting SafetyNet to pass can be a bit of a hassle, but in exchange I get to use ACC to prolong my battery's health, I can get rid of the navbar pill, and I can use an lsposed module to disable secure flag in my transportation app, so I can take a screenshot of my ticket (should the inspector come when there's no cellular connection (and the app doesn't properly cache the ticket, because of great programming )).
None of these are deal-breakers, but as long as there's still an option for doing these, I wouldn't want to miss out.
Radjah2001 said:
in your experience, is there any benefit to any of the currently available custom roms that would increase performance and battery? I mean something bigger than just customisability and tinkering
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery life and performance is pretty good as is. The stock rom on Pixels isn't super bloated, so it's not like it has much of an effect on battery or the performance of your phone. With the stock kernel I lost about 0.6% of battery every hour overnight, with MVK kernel that number got reduced to about 0.4%. Does it make a difference? Not at all.
I guess you could root and use a kernel manager to downclock the CPU to gain some extra SoT, but that's about it. If you're not much of a tinkerer, and content with your current setup, there's no real reason to switch to something else.
Lada333 said:
Bruh, do you even use your phone at all? What ROM makes such a huge difference for your use to extend your battery life from 1 day to over 7 days?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not really. I have no friends. <s>
I'll use it outside/on road but even then, phone conversations and internet browsing is not very much. Here and there, etc. Mostly texts or instant msgs.But calls here and there. I have it set to charge max 75% and will recharge when it gets to around 20%. Running LineageOS w/ the kernel it comes with it. Nothing fancy. I don't use any social media app (or social media or that matter), so I don't have to worry about that stuff draining the battery. WiFI and/or VPN will so I tend to keep them turned off until I need them. If I used phone more regularly, I could see myself having to recharge it maybe every 3-4 days maybe, I dunno.
Battery life can actually be worse on custom ROMs that do not have Google Play Services. When an app uses Play Svcs to handle push notifications, things like notification pushes get are managed and batched together by Play Services. If a phone does not have Play Svcs, apps that use cloud notifications may have to register their own persistent polling services which can chew up battery. And then you have to disable battery optimization for that app so it doesn't get dozed.
I've at least heard anecdotal evidence that battery life suffers on GrapheneOS because of this. Say, if you have an email client and messaging apps that require a persistent polling service to look for new messages.
Nowadays when I look up reasons to use ROMs or root, I get annoyed when articles list modules or features that serve to fix the issues that the act of making these changes cause (eg- hide root from other apps, force apps to doze, magisk bootloop saver, etc). I mean now you're spending the time managing the problem you've created for yourself. It's silly. Unless there are practical reasons to customize, I see no compelling reason to do so.
jawz101 said:
Battery life can actually be worse on custom ROMs that do not have Google Play Services. When an app uses Play Svcs to handle push notifications, things like notification pushes get are managed and batched together by Play Services. If a phone does not have Play Svcs, apps that use cloud notifications may have to register their own persistent polling services which can chew up battery. And then you have to disable battery optimization for that app so it doesn't get dozed.
I've at least heard anecdotal evidence that battery life suffers on GrapheneOS because of this. Say, if you have an email client and messaging apps that require a persistent polling service to look for new messages.
Nowadays when I look up reasons to use ROMs or root, I get annoyed when articles list modules or features that serve to fix the issues that the act of making these changes cause (eg- hide root from other apps, force apps to doze, magisk bootloop saver, etc). I mean now you're spending the time managing the problem you've created for yourself. It's silly. Unless there are practical reasons to customize, I see no compelling reason to do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very well said. I've been thinking the same. Google does there optimizations pretty well and they have given even more options to even tinker with a lil more effecient as per your need. There's no need to go out of the way replace the whole rom. even if you do you should have a very good reason and it should have some very noticable difference that can be seen to any one... Though i always have a soft corner for the modding community. Because of their push oems are stepping up their game.
Interesting. I do have Gapps installed and regarding polling the servers, while I myself haven't had battery drain, I can definitely attest to custom roms possibly messing with polling. On my old M8 (which also had Lineage), if the phone was on standby for a long time, I would not get ANY text or IMs unless I turned on the screen, THEN I'd get a bunch of messages. Or even if the phone was on, I would have to send a text message to myself and then I'd get a bunch back from people. So, yes at least on that phone there was serious polling issues I opened myself up with.
Currently I am on the newer phone(s), which I don't experience those issues, but you are absolutely right about them.
smokejumper76 said:
if the phone was on standby for a long time, I would not get ANY text or IMs unless I turned on the screen, THEN I'd get a bunch of messages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've also experienced that issue on my 3T running.. any custom ROM, basically. I think it's mostly fixed on newer ROMs though. YMMV.
Radjah2001 said:
Most people seem fairly happy with the stock pixel user experience, after all a main reason we purchase pixels is because of it's software.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Speak for yourself. I bought pixel for the HARDWARE, and specifically the fact that it isn't crippled (locked) and is properly supported in AOSP. The factory prebuilt software is utter trash with one purpose and one purpose ONLY: To track everything you do.
In order to safely use the hardware, it is NECESSARY to wipe the spyware from it. Either build AOSP from source yourself, or use a security focused distribution like GrapheneOS.
Lada333 said:
Besides flashing custom ROMs, rooting is still useful for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Add possibly Viper4Android on A13 some day and its perfect.
Safetynet / play integrity & hide root is pretty easy on stock, but did you have success on custom Roms?
My banking app doesnt even rely on Safetynet / play integrity and checks for root itself, but shamiko takes care of that, but I suspect it would detect a custom Rom and refuse to work.
An entire Rom would probably much harder to hide than just root.
G5-User7080 said:
Add possibly Viper4Android
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never really saw the need/use for v4a.
G5-User7080 said:
Safetynet / play integrity & hide root is pretty easy on stock, but did you have success on custom Roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sure. Never had issues. Besides adding my banking apps to the DenyList, I also had to hide the Magisk app. What I've found is that some apps may look for the Magisk app being installed on your device (you don't even necessarily need to be rooted, just have Magisk installed).
Love the warped perspective a few posts up. Reminder to all on the risks of oxygen deprivation at birth
Lada333 said:
Never really saw the need/use for v4a.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really hope someone finds out how to make it work on A13 soon, luckily my music app has an eq so its not like it sounds bad, but what I mostly miss is replay gain ig, when I'm outside music with a wider dynamic range is a bit of a problem, the quieter parts just drown in the outside noise.
Sure. Never had issues. Besides adding my banking apps to the DenyList, I also had to hide the Magisk app. What I've found is that some apps may look for the Magisk app being installed on your device (you don't even necessarily need to be rooted, just have Magisk installed).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, mine do, hideMyApplist takes care of that, for some reason when I hide magisk App, it gets picket up by AppListDetector (well not by my banking app at least).
I kinda wanna try a custom ROM but flashing an entire new ROM is a lot scarier than just rooting stock, like some apps might not be working cause they rely on google services etc, maybe when I buy a new phone in a few years and this one doesnt get updates anymore I could try that.
DB126 said:
Love the warped perspective a few posts up. Reminder to all on the risks of oxygen deprivation at birth
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With all the scandals involving big tech all the time, do you really wonder why people distrust google & co?
In the end it's probably never as bad as you fear and never as good as you hope.
A13 has some nice privacy protecting features built in, like Android System Intelligence all happens on device, then again, gboard, google app, etc don't, ig u get a little bit of everything.
You can never be completely private, and for that reason some of my friends say "Well then it doesn't matter anyway, just know everything about me idc" and some others be like "ill just stop using all their services alltogether"
In the end everyone can do what they want cant they?
G5-User7080 said:
like some apps might not be working cause they rely on google services etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
um, so?
Even if the ROM of your choice doesn't come with GApps preinstalled, you can always just sideload MindTheGapps.