Database Info

Thought on ROM installation problems

It appears that there have been a higher than normal number of issues flashing ROMs since the woot deal. I think that some of the issues are the result of using tools that were developed and tested on tablets fresh from VS late last year and early this year. It appears that many of the woot tabs may not have been totally returned to the state VS sent the end of the year. Based on this, it might be a good idea to return your tab to a clean 3588 before starting the mod.

I would actually bet cash money that the majority of the problems are from people NOT actually following directions EXACTLY. I am not saying there is anything wrong with wooters. (but ... hey they do buy a lot of leakfrogs and screaming flying monkeys)
It is a natural instinct when you are excited by a new toy to ignore the instructions and "wing it" even if you are not extremely technically gifted.
When it comes down to it - if everybody who had a problem is 100% honest about it, you will find that they did something slightly different than what was recommended. Like trying to flash a ROM or new kernel or something intensive when the charge level was too low or skipping some (seemingly) inconsequential step.
I know this from spending many years on the phone solving issues that were well documented and easily fixed if the customer had actually READ the email and followed the directions correctly and completely.

nunjabusiness and rumbleweek,
I agree completely.
I don't think people are bad or "trying" to make an honest mistake -- but people try to
do too much too fast. Tell me that someone who has had his G-Tablet less than a
day and already has flashed four ROMs is giving them a fair trial?!?
It also is my honest opinion that part of the problem is Android.
First, there is the lack of good OS documentation -- I'm not just talking about ROM install
procedures -- but info about how it is organized and how it works and what the functions
are based on.
Second, it is obvious to me that some of the operations like format, wipe, delete, erase,
etc. do not work like they do in other OSs. Many times things get "left over" --and it
makes me wonder if things are left over to mess up future installs, etc.
I'm saying I think Android and the G-Tablet are new enough and unknown enough that
folks should be a lot more cautious than they are. IMHO.
Rev

Agreed on nearly every count, Rev. I've found inconsistencies in the way that many of the "Standard Features" of Android are implemented on different platforms. For example, I've been looking for a way to format the data partition from within an update-script for the express purpose of ensuring a clean setup for testing purposes. I've found three recommended methods... and none of them worked correctly. The result is application and system data that may not be cleaned out properly for activities like flashing a new ROM even when you do everything correctly. It's actually kind of surprising to me that we don't see an even larger volume of help request after what I've seen.

Hi guys

Sup xda, my names Bilal and this is my first time posting here. I do have a question though but I've got a lot I want to talk to you guys about
I got my tmobile mytouch 3g about 4 days ago. On the first day my cousin had already told me about this site and how beneficial it would be to me real soon xD. The next day I had already begun looking up important things i needed to know to end up with a custom rom on my phone. I looked up the specifications to my phone (like checking the radio and SPL versions) I found out my phone was a 32B and had new SPL and Radio. I found out the Roms that would be compatible with my phone as well as the method to go about doing it. the next 2 days basically consisted of my going through over like 15-20 different methods over my phone (but all of them basically had the same routine). I mean, you have to root it then get a custom recovery than flash the custom rom. But this is simplified as I'm pretty sure i searched and found 3-4 different ways for the simplified root recovery rom steps. Anyways it was real frustrating since I failed many times on all 3 steps . Anyways with the new SPL Radio 32b Mytouch phone 2.2.1 (since i idiotically upgraded it to 2.2.1) just flashed cyanogenmod 6.1.0 about 30 minutes ago. Haha I'm so excited to see the possibilities.
I wanted to thank this whole site and the people from the unlockr because i searched a ton of guides and Google'd over 50 questions to figure out the process suited for me and even though it ended being extremely easy compared to the people who had to work hard to develop all the things involved in making Rom Manager, Clockworkmod and Armons Custom recoveries, and every easy step in the process that we take for granted. I didn't have a clue in programming scripting developing software or ROM's for anything before flashing my phone. After doing it I still don't have much of a clue even though I feel like I did learn a whole lot I know I'm way more interested in learning how things work.
You could have probably skipped this whole essay and went straight to the question though xD.
My question at this point was what exactly are all the possibilities (or some that I'm not aware of) that my phone has now that it has flashed cyanogenmod 6.1.0
One thing that I have definitely noticed and feel that alone, was worth the 4 days of tirelessly failing, is that my phone has become a lot faster, and I mean in everything that it does, from opening applications to loading videos on youtube. I know I could probably search this as well but I just wanted to advice directed towards me as far as what to do next? Ive been messing around with the themes (can only use ADW as far as I know) but was wonting to find a live unlock pattern screen? I found one on youtube and I'm 90 percent sure the guy had the exact same phone as me. Also any advice on details for upgrading the overall performance on my device would be great help.
Thanks guys glad to be here

Glad that you learned some stuff. Stay around here for a while and you'll learn alot more. Anyways, yes, there are many possibilities available for you. For one, I would advise updating to CyanogenMod 7. Just go here: http://www.cyanogenmod.com/devices/htc-slide and choose a category to suit you. NB: The "Experimental" build category is not as "dangerous" as it sound. These build are actually Release Candidates which mean they are almost (if not) good enough to be a Stable build. Since you're just beginning, you may just want to use a stable build for now. But later on, you may change your mind. There are also many apps you may want to try like: SetCPU (to make your device even faster than it is now and/or to save battery life, Titanium Backup, Rom Manager, etc. ADW is NOT the only launcher you can use. It just came as the main launcher for your rom. There are many other launchers like Launcher Pro, etc. For the "live lockscreen pattern, you could try Ripple Lock (Honeycomb Lockscreen) or the sense 3.0 lockscreen found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1190071 . Cheers!

[Q] Will a new ROM be all I ever dreamed of....?

Hi all! I'm a noob to the site and a noob to smartphone modifications, so please forgive me for my questions and concerns. I've used forums for years on many topics and found the knowledge base to be incredible, so I hope you guys will help me out, too.
So, while my Skyrocket has generally worked very well for the past 2+ years, I have always felt it's not living up to its potential. I've read numerous threads on many forums to see what my fellow Rocketeers were doing. I think I've come to the conclusion that flashing a new ROM is the way to go, but I am a bit wary since I've never done this nor know anyone who has. My thinking goes along the same lines as my experience with computers... If you buy a Dell, HP, etc., you get the garbage that the manufacturer bundles in along with Windows. If you wipe the HD and install your own clean copy of Windows, you can usually get better performance without all that other stuff. Hence, the idea for a new ROM for the phone.
A few things have me wondering, though... There seem to be more ROMs available than flavors of Linux! I know choice will end up being a personal thing. My goal is really simple... I just want a clean OS that is stable, efficient, and runs the basic functions I am accustomed to. So, I am not looking to experiment or push the envelope. I want a phone that doesn't crash at the worst possible time, and one that can actually make phone calls! I assume that I will still be able to use the Google Play store to download apps (after installing the plugin thingy). My phone is from AT&T and is unlocked. Will it say unlocked after flashing a new ROM? Will Visual Voicemail still work? I occasionally use FoxFi to create a mobile hotspot. Will I still be able to use it? Or do other ROMs already have this feature unlocked (or bypassed)? I use apps on my phone mostly for email (Yahho/Gmail), calendar, FB, Instagram, YouTube, taking photos/video, viewing forums, and the like, besides making phone calls. In other words, what should I expect from a new ROM? How will things be different? I'm really trying to gauge if this is a worthwhile endeavor for me.
Sorry for the long post. I appreciate your opinions and experience.

It's always worthwhile.
The Skyrocket, to me, was always a case of OEM software that limited its potential. If you really sit down and tweak it, custom ROM, new governor, overclock, it's a beast of a phone that can still keep pace today. You'll have to balance performance with battery life--overclocking and switching to a more aggressive governor doesn't do you any favors there, and some ROMs are better about battery life than others. It's a great phone with a lot of life left, though, much more so than the vanilla S2 because the Rocket has LTE capability.
To hit your other questions, any app that is available on the Play Store will work. If a ROM needs a second gapps flash to get the Play Store (along with everything else Google ships) back, that will be made available and is a very easy install. I've never unlocked a phone, but I don't believe that a new ROM would lose that. Wait for someone else to reply, but I'd be shocked if it did. As far as what you want, there's a ROM to suit any desires. Most ROMs are pretty basic and look and feel like you'd expect a Skyrocket to. Some are designed to feel a little more like iOS, some are designed to be stripped-down (and faster as a result), and some are based on stock firmware and very closely replicate the original experience. It's up to you to read through the dev forum for the Rocket and pick the experience that's best for you.
As far as how difficult it is, spend a couple hours reading about flashing, how it works and why it works. Once you have that basic understanding of it and can follow a few simple instructions that are pretty universal across ROMs, you're set.

Well, I'm giving this a try tonight. Fingers crossed!

One piece of advice: when you pick a new rom from "Android development" read the WHOLE thread associated with that rom, with special attention the the first couple of pages. Make sure you understand the process and any potential pitfalls.
First rom I tried I spent probably six hours reading. It was worth it.

Success!!! I now have the latest CandyKat running! It ended up being not too bad at all. Now I need to figure out how things are different from the AT&T Jelly Bean this replaces.
Thanks for the advice and thanks to everyone who contributes to the site,

I have Kandykat. It seems to be a good solid rom. The Google Now launcher is buggy though. I changed to Nova launcher. Other than that it's been fine.

Thanks for the tips, Chris. I've been using Launcher3. What's the difference between these launchers? Everything seems to be running fine on my rocket now. Any tips on increasing battery life? Any tips on some nice customization?

Google Now launcher seems to have the annoying habit of forgetting the screen setup (app positioning) during reboot. Launcher 3 also exhibited the same problem. Launchers are a matter of taste, but Nova launcher seems solid and looks right to me. YMMV. It's easy to try a few.

Samsung Tab's need more Development Support

The dev community for Samsung tab's is minimal for such a great Tablet not saying others brands are bad but seriously I owned or did own a Samsung i9505 until my son washed it with soap and water lol however the dev support for a telephone or mobile phone was insane, for this tablet and the lack of support for such an out standing device is kinda weird in a way, and its only just over a 1 1/2 old, i still own a Motorola xoom which devs gave support for while over 3 years , you had almost every dev working on a project for that slow old device, Samsung tabs are one of the best and what we have here is nothing for LP (lolliopop) with TW,(touchwiz) i mean hell, the TW for the I9505 you could add themes with the tab models there are no theme engine unless you switch to cm, i fully support cm and there crew but im a stock sorta guy where i take advantage of the devices features. cm doesn't really support a device to device development and all its modules ie IR blaster, Peel Application's or have the nice and neat multi window tool bar i know with xposed you can get them sorta things but to end it like this these devices need more juice from the development department.
no need to flame me i know but its just my 2 cents.
Thanks for reading lol

I bought a galaxy player (think ipod, but running on android) a few years back and it didn't attract very many developers either. I'd guess non-phones just don't interest as many people.
Also, it's not THAT hard to make your own rom.
Find a rom with most of the features you like
Decompile/decompress that rom into it's component files
Modify the files as you like (change optimizations, add features/tools from other roms, change the installer, update the kernel, etc.)
Compile the modified files back into a single rom image
Test and troubleshoot (you'll loop through this step many many times)
(optional) publish on xda
The hardest part of customizing a rom is building the dev. environment. This usually means installing linux on a virtual machine (which takes a bit of learning itself), and getting the tools installed and running isn't something you can do by a rote process (there's almost always some dependency missing, so you need to be able to understand the error messages to determine what you need to add/fix).
However, if you're comfortable with installing a custom rom and unbricking a device, that should be within your skill level. You'll probably need to use a half dozen walkthroughs for each of the trickier tools, or errors you may encounter, and end up spending a few days all total just getting it set up. Thankfully that's a one time process, and even if, by some horrible misfortune, you have to do it again, it'll take a fraction as long the 2nd time.

Question Has anyone tried GSI ROMs? How're they compared to stock? (1 III/5 III)

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!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.