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Custom ROMs... Are they still worth it?

I have been a flashaholic for some time, probably the Eclair days, but I really question if it's worth it now days.
Most Lollipop and newer ROMs, except for Nexus devices, seem to have some kind of issues... If not immediately, then over time. While at the same time factory ROMs get better, partially because the base code is better and because many manufacturers are getting better at it.
And now, some features are being blocked just by unlocking of bootloader, even if you're otherwise stock, like Android Pay and others like Pok�©mon Go.
I find all I really do now on custom roms is some interface tweaks... Change the battery icon, add a clear all button to recents, and add arrows to the navigation bar, all minor stuff. Otherwise things like Nova Launcher, SwiftKey, and GSAM largely don't even require root anymore much less a custom ROM. Part of it used to be for battery life, but now, at least on modern Moto devices, most custom roms struggle just to match the battery life of stock.
I've tried every rom for this device I can find, here and other places, and they all seem to have a variety of things that fail, from minor annoyances to major services broken like GPS, or they fail over time.
My question for discussion is it still worth it, and why do you ROM or even root anymore?

I used to run a variety CM ROM's on Samsung Galaxy & Note devices. Starting with the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket and then every decent device Samsung released until the bootloaders stopped getting cracked.
There was always something that just didn't work right and I'd have random crashes.
But for me it was semi-worth it. I like to tinker and customize a lot.
Fast forward to the last thirteen months with my first non-Samsung since. A Motorola Moto X Pure.
Best damn phone I've ever had.
And there is CM available, but I quickly discovered AOSP ROM's like Dirty Unicorn and Broken OS.
Both these ROM's are FULL of customization not found in Xposed modules, and both ROM's have been 100% reliable.
I may have had one lockup in the last 13 months. And everything from GPS to Bluetooth, etc. have all worked perfectly.
So for me, yes... custom ROM's are more than worth it once you find the right ROM. My phone is heavily customized to my needs and super reliable.
The only thing lacking with MotoX was kernel development. Which I guess is where you start losing some reliability.
But it's also where I'm hoping the Pixel will get some good development and I'm looking forward to it. :good:

Non-rooted stock MM has been going great for me lately. Lots of great built in features like Moto actions, etc. I play Pokemon while walking on my breaks at work, and the last few updates forced my hand to go back to stock. I was (am) also a flashoholic, and it was mainly to have custom features and better performance on outdated and mfg abandoned phones. It was also a must for my Kindle Fire. I really don't see myself going away from stock MM (soon to be Nougat) on my MXPE at this point. I still flash ROMs on my G2 and Note 3 though, but barely use them outside the house.

CZ Eddie said:
I used to run a variety CM ROM's on Samsung Galaxy & Note devices. Starting with the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket and then every decent device Samsung released until the bootloaders stopped getting cracked.
There was always something that just didn't work right and I'd have random crashes.
But for me it was semi-worth it. I like to tinker and customize a lot.
Fast forward to the last thirteen months with my first non-Samsung since. A Motorola Moto X Pure.
Best damn phone I've ever had.
And there is CM available, but I quickly discovered AOSP ROM's like Dirty Unicorn and Broken OS.
Both these ROM's are FULL of customization not found in Xposed modules, and both ROM's have been 100% reliable.
I may have had one lockup in the last 13 months. And everything from GPS to Bluetooth, etc. have all worked perfectly.
So for me, yes... custom ROM's are more than worth it once you find the right ROM. My phone is heavily customized to my needs and super reliable.
The only thing lacking with MotoX was kernel development. Which I guess is where you start losing some reliability.
But it's also where I'm hoping the Pixel will get some good development and I'm looking forward to it. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm... I have been on that "rom that shan't be named on XDA" for a while now. After a month started suffering SoD randomly and Play Services has stopped issues. DU 10.6 couldn't maintain GPS lock, but 10.5 was fine, seemed to effect only a handful of devices, lucky me.
Anyway, thanks for your input.

acejavelin said:
Hmm... I have been on that "rom that shan't be named on XDA" for a while now. After a month started suffering SoD randomly and Play Services has stopped issues. DU 10.6 couldn't maintain GPS lock, but 10.5 was fine, seemed to effect only a handful of devices, lucky me.
Anyway, thanks for your input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have been a avid user of the "rom that shan't be named on XDA" for many months now with no real issues. By chance have you tried a fresh install again. The latest release was back in late August a 4.9.1 version that made corrections to some issues on the 4.9 release.

Jimi Mack said:
I also have been a avid user of the "rom that shan't be named on XDA" for many months now with no real issues. By chance have you tried a fresh install again. The latest release was back in late August a 4.9.1 version that made corrections to some issues on the 4.9 release.
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Not yet... I have been on 4.9.1 already, and have been working with the devs a bit on it but seems mostly isolated to my device.

acejavelin said:
Not yet... I have been on 4.9.1 already, and have been working with the devs a bit on it but seems mostly isolated to my device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If anything try a fresh install and see if your issues were only from maybe a bad original install. If they show up again then I would say they are isolated to your device.

Jimi Mack said:
If anything try a fresh install and see if your issues were only from maybe a bad original install. If they show up again then I would say they are isolated to your device.
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Click to collapse
I'm out of town for the weekend, in a rather rural area, so maybe will try tomorrow evening.

LMT pie, adaway, naptime, and general tweaking are the only reasons I root on a phone this close to stock android.
I didn't run custom ROMs on this phone until about August of this year. That was when battery life on aicp started to get comparable with stock for me. I can get most of the features I want from gravitybox, but I prefer them baked into the ROM. Xposed always seems a little problematic even when you don't install janky modules. I really like the notification led; missed that when I got this phone. I know we're supposed to use moto display, but I think that makes more sense on amoled than a great big LCD. Never had good luck with lightflow or the led enabler apps, but the custom roms work great. I really like slim recents too. I haven't found any modules that work to put KitKat like recents on M ROMs.

TruPureXMM + GravityBox
Loved my MXP so much I bought one for my mom who was hating her iPhone5. Kept it stock (for obvious reasons), so I have a good baseline to compare to my MXP running TruPureXMM + GravityBox. I've tried a bunch of ROMS for this phone but I always come back to TruPureXMM + GravityBox. Oh, and Tasker.
There is no way in hell I would go back to stock.

I used Cyanogenmod on my HTC Incredible and Verizon Galaxy Nexus. Didn't root or ROM for a while due to using the stock ROM on the 2nd generation Verizon Moto X 2014 and stock Android on the Nexus 5X and 6P. But, I had the itch to unlock the bootloader on my Moto X Pure, due to curiousity, and because it's likely that we will only see one more Nougat update. I tried CM13, but I was getting UI freeze ups and slowdowns on multiple builds, so I tried Dirty Unicorns 10.6, and that has been working fine. I may return to the stock ROM after the Nougat update, but in the meantime, I'm happy experimenting with different ROMs on the Pure.

I'd be cool with stock- as long as I could debloat it.
And it was updated fairly quickly.

Stock for this phone is great. Better than most. Only issue really is Moto is so far behind on security updates. They are on what, May I believe? CM13 is Oct.
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Stock here, never a issue. With Nougat in the horizon, a custom ROM is a big NO for me.
Enviado desde mi XT1575 mediante Tapatalk

I would say TruPureX with a few mods is a very solid and stable way to go. I myself am on TurboROM which has ceased current development, but have ZERO issues. AICP's MM build is the most feature filled and works flawlessly aside from one issue I don't have on other ROMs, where my bank app only shows black when using the camera to deposit checks, making AICP unusable for me, but highly recommended for others to try as that's the absolute only issue I could find after a week full of testing (Kind of what I do as a hobby is push ROMs to their limits to find the issues.)
So in short: TruPureXMM, TurboROM, AICP - are all great choices without the negatives associated with many custom ROMs.

Pretty sure we are all here to push the ROMs to he limits lol?
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Speaking of custom ROMs, I just searched android file host for Clark and there are new 7.0 builds of zephyros, pure nexus, aosp, and cos.
I'm in a limited data area so I haven't downloaded or tried them out yet.

jason2678 said:
Speaking of custom ROMs, I just searched android file host for Clark and there are new 7.0 builds of zephyros, pure nexus, aosp, and cos.
I'm in a limited data area so I haven't downloaded or tried them out yet.
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Click to collapse
Running the latest Zephyr after trying AICP and CM14. Uses substratum and SuperSU. Camera recording isn't working with snapdragon camera (FC), google camera (records but doesn't save). Had an android.phone FC but replaced with google phone/contacts and no problems so far. Still need to test speakerphone and bluetooth, but assuming those work as well as 6.0.1 I'm pretty impressed by Birdman.

Any roms that anyone can recommend? CM13 and OrionOS both have very bad stuttering after some time of use. Has anyone tried Pure Nexus or Slim6? Just need a good daily driver that can handle games without heating up so hot, and handle most social apps great...

jason2678 said:
Speaking of custom ROMs, I just searched android file host for Clark and there are new 7.0 builds of zephyros, pure nexus, aosp, and cos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously? We've got like one and a half here.

Will xiaomi mi mix 2 roms work on 2s?

I haven't gotten my phone yet ordered it Saturday shipped today so 3 weeks I wait. As I wait I was wondering if the roms that are available on the 2 would work for the 2S and vice versa? (I have the 2s coming) I heard mostly same hardware just different cameras and wireless charging not sure much more has changed. Thanks for your input can't wait to root this phone and use it daily

No they wont work. However most of the project treble Roms work for our phone

Nope - use the available MiMix2s ROMS

Thanks to both of you I'll look into Project Treble Roms when I get the phone. I want the phone to function as intended and have root and a decent skin from the looks I'm not liking miui maybe i'll change my mind when i get it. Probably use Nova launcher but will want to root it anyway so thanks for your help.

spriteboost said:
Thanks to both of you I'll look into Project Treble Roms when I get the phone. I want the phone to function as intended and have root and a decent skin from the looks I'm not liking miui maybe i'll change my mind when i get it. Probably use Nova launcher but will want to root it anyway so thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had the most success with the Benzo Treble ROM, but I've heard others talk about Arrow, Havoc and Pixel Experience.

spriteboost said:
I'm not liking miui maybe i'll change my mind when i get it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You won't! Trust me!
I'm dreaming of a pixel experience pie rom. This would fit my needs the best. I don't really need all the customisation some of the roms offer although I must admit they are great and the ideas behind them are really cool.
The treble roms are pretty stable by now and daily driver ready IMHO but the MiMix2S isn't very popular as it seems so not too many devs out there building for this device. Maybe this will change in the future, until then I'll stick with the benzo and pixel experience roms.

I agree
Miui should die

I don't agree with you both I owned a 1+1 for more than 3 years and flashed a new rom every month or even more often. When I got the Mi Mix 2s I had to use it with miui for 2 weeks because of bootloader unlocking time(this is the most stupid thing I ever encountered). I'm on miui since then because I LOVE the gesture control and mostly it just works. As soon as we got a rom with gcam that supports slowo videos I will flash an aosp based rom too to test it but to say MIUI should die or he will hate it is too much. It's working fine and is full of features.

Flatric said:
I don't agree with you both I owned a 1+1 for more than 3 years and flashed a new rom every month or even more often. When I got the Mi Mix 2s I had to use it with miui for 2 weeks because of bootloader unlocking time(this is the most stupid thing I ever encountered). I'm on miui since then because I LOVE the gesture control and mostly it just works. As soon as we got a rom with gcam that supports slowo videos I will flash an aosp based rom too to test it but to say MIUI should die or he will hate it is too much. It's working fine and is full of features.
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Click to collapse
I think it depends on your individual needs and what you expect from a rom.
I too think that miui should die. Xiaomi is producing great devices regarding the hardware. But if you force your customers into using your own ROM (even if it is only the bootloader unlocking time) then this should work perfectly fine and fluid. Read the comments section in the miui forums or here on XDA. It's full of bugs. Every time they release a new version something else is broken.
If I'd like the look of iOS so much I'd get an iPhone. It's neither looking original nor behaving like a finished ROM. For me it felt like a developer version. So many bugs and not even the simplest features worked correctly.
I couldn't care less for navigation gestures or slowmo video (although this is really a nice feature), but I'd like to have working Bluetooth hands free, stable network connections and the possibility to connect to an airports WiFi. None of this worked with miui. At least not for me. And that's the reason I switched ASAP to a GSI. Those were the longest 15 days of my life.
Of course the 8.1 versions worked much better as Pie was just released and many things had to be sorted out. But some of the Devs here did a much better job in developing stable and well functioning roms than the miui team.
So in my opinion MIUI should just die or at least they should reduce the stolen/copied functions and concentrate on the main features and make them perfect.
To me it seems they concentrate more on the looks of their OS than the functionality.
But I don't want to start a debate of principles. If you like it use it, I will never return to this abnormality of an OS.

Whats this about waiting 15 days or 10 days for unlocking bootloader? Going to do some googling about it but figured I'd ask that sounds annoying if its the case.

spriteboost said:
Whats this about waiting 15 days or 10 days for unlocking bootloader? Going to do some googling about it but figured I'd ask that sounds annoying if its the case.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is and you can't do anything about it. It's Xiaomi's way to prevent their phones from being delivered with malware infested roms as it's too much of a hassle for the shops to unlock and install it.
I hated it too. You're lucky that it's only 15 days and not 720hrs like some have.
I don't understand it because if you get the phone with a not certified or custom ROM from a shop that looks suspicious you could simply install the original Xiaomi firmware without the headache.

kleinholzinferno said:
Yes it is and you can't do anything about it. It's Xiaomi's way to prevent their phones from being delivered with malware infested roms as it's too much of a hassle for the shops to unlock and install it.
I hated it too. You're lucky that it's only 15 days and not 720hrs like some have.
I don't understand it because if you get the phone with a not certified or custom ROM from a shop that looks suspicious you could simply install the original Xiaomi firmware without the headache.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's the ones that know a lot more about phones. I can see how this makes sense well guess I'll have to test out xiaomi's rom for the duration. The phones expected delivery is Friday but only a state away so hoping FedEx will be nice and deliver it a couple days early lol.

spriteboost said:
Well that's the ones that know a lot more about phones. I can see how this makes sense well guess I'll have to test out xiaomi's rom for the duration. The phones expected delivery is Friday but only a state away so hoping FedEx will be nice and deliver it a couple days early lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the meantime you can set up your Xiaomi account as you will need it for unlocking you phone anyway and request the unlock permission.
As soon as you get the device, bind the account to your phone so the time starts counting down immediately. Then it's only 15 grueling days using MIUI but then there's a whole lot of roms which make the device what it should have been from the start. A stable, fast, reliable and good device!

I just can't do it anymore.

For years I have rooted my phones, and have had just about all the OEM's at one time or another. Since I've had my Pixels, not so much. So I decided to Root my Pixel, and run a custom ROM for the weekend, and today, I had had enough, and went back to stock. It's just not for me anymore. I like for everything to work, and what I get from stock is just perfect for me. Why is everyone else still holding on?

I miss being a flash-a-holic lol. I would always flash alot of custom roms also and my fav was Pure Nexus. i'm currently stock and fine with it well i wanted to try Q so. I still wanted a Pure Pixel rom but it never happened.

I think pretty much the ability to properly backup and restore using Titanium Backup. Otherwise, I as well would be done with root. Sure would make the monthly updates easier...

I have always rooted my devices. From Nexus 6p, Pixel XL, Pixel 2XL, I never felt I needed to, they always ran great and did exactly what I needed. My favorite, including a 2 days battery was Pixel 2 XL.
However, with Pixel 3 XL, the battery, and now the lagging, has been a nightmare. It's like I am dealing with samsumg all over again, like it was with samsumgs, pockets pcs, etc...
I was about to root and flash a custom until I saw your post... which means, not even the custom roms will fix this horrible phone... thats sad... I always buy my pixels on launch date, but I will eagerly wait for the next one, but only buy it 3 or 4 months later, if I buy it. For now, I am now researching between the latest samsung, OPO and Huawei to replace my P3XL, I really can't take it anymore. What a waste of money in this phone, and is not even worth half of what I paid now....

I use a custom rom for customization (changing statusbar color, accent colors, customize reboot menu, change statusbar icons, etc). Use root so I can disable navbar and use pie controls, use tasker and other apps properly, enable fingerprint pay where it is not allowed, and many other things.
I admit on stock you can use tulsadiver's mods to change most of the things a custom rom does, but you have to redo it on every update.

Stock with root and ElememtalX kernel for the extra high brightness mode. Need it because I mount my phone to the handlebars of my motorcycle for Nav. It's ok without it, but so much better with it.

I held off for years before putting a custom ROM on my Pixels, but I finally relented because of some lag on my 3XL. Now I'm running the latest AOSiP with Kirisakura kernel, and everything works beautifully and better than stock. Those of you who are having issues and have nothing to lose should definitely try a custom ROM. I haven't yet found anything that doesn't function better than stock. It's been totally stable and fully functional for me. With better performance and more features, of course.

There are still a couple reasons that keep me flashing custom. Not as many as there used to be. I still enjoy it though. Just like switching Linux Distros. I do it when I'm bored. It's fun.

For me. It's roms. Kernels. Titanium. And ad blockers.
There are lots of reasons to still root. But to each there own.

What finally drove me away from custom ROMs is that devs would stop supporting my device as soon as a new flashier, newer, c00l3r device came out. Basic bugs wouldn't get fixed. They'd be switching forums every few months (XDA? Telegram? Google+?). I'd donate $100 and a month later my favorite features would stop working or be dropped.
In short, lack of long term (6-9 months "long term"?) basic stability in favor chasing the latest new toy. I get it, it's their free time, but that's why I donated, and this is why I left.

This is the first Android device I've had I've kept stock with exception to rooting and a few Magisk modules like ViPER4Android. Other than that, I have to admit I am pretty content with the stock experience.

After almost 3 years (starting with the OG PIxel and XL), I finally installed a custom ROM on the 3XL but left the 3 stock and rooted. I may go back to stock and rooted with Q coming. The biggest reason for me to quit swapping custom ROMs on these devices is that TWRP has really become nothing more than a zip flasher. Multiple slot issues and no real Nandroid functionality makes it so that a custom ROM just replaces stock if you are happy with it and support continues. The time to completely wipe and reconfigure after a custom install just isn't worth it more than once for me.

Data backs up fine on TWRP and restoring it gets back all your settings.

Ad-blocking, ad-blocking, and ad-blocking.
I just can't use a phone that shows adverts - they p1ss me off no end. Not only the fact they take up half the screen, and steal bandwidth, but the tracking is basically illegal but still done relentlessly.

21cdb said:
I held off for years before putting a custom ROM on my Pixels, but I finally relented because of some lag on my 3XL. Now I'm running the latest AOSiP with Kirisakura kernel, and everything works beautifully and better than stock. Those of you who are having issues and have nothing to lose should definitely try a custom ROM. I haven't yet found anything that doesn't function better than stock. It's been totally stable and fully functional for me. With better performance and more features, of course.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Active edge, and Pixel stand doesn't work as it should. Also with all the custom ROM's I flashed they would just reboot randomly.

djcrystals said:
There are still a couple reasons that keep me flashing custom. Not as many as there used to be. I still enjoy it though. Just like switching Linux Distros. I do it when I'm bored. It's fun.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get that. It's one of the reasons that got me into it in the first place.

cantara256 said:
What finally drove me away from custom ROMs is that devs would stop supporting my device as soon as a new flashier, newer, c00l3r device came out. Basic bugs wouldn't get fixed. They'd be switching forums every few months (XDA? Telegram? Google+?). I'd donate $100 and a month later my favorite features would stop working or be dropped.
In short, lack of long term (6-9 months "long term"?) basic stability in favor chasing the latest new toy. I get it, it's their free time, but that's why I donated, and this is why I left.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly that's actually one of the advantages of still Rooting. Getting the latest software on a device that is no longer supported.

krs360 said:
Ad-blocking, ad-blocking, and ad-blocking.
I just can't use a phone that shows adverts - they p1ss me off no end. Not only the fact they take up half the screen, and steal bandwidth, but the tracking is basically illegal but still done relentlessly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dns.adguard.com

jmartin72 said:
Active edge, and Pixel stand doesn't work as it should. Also with all the custom ROM's I flashed they would just reboot randomly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Both features work great in the latest AOSiP build. Also haven't had any random reboots.

jmartin72 said:
dns.adguard.com
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That only works on wifi right? On mobile data it uses your providers DNS?

Looks like Dirty unicorns incoming...

I was just checking out various customs threads & twitters and saw that DU had added Bonito to its official page as well as a screenshot on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/_DirtyUnicorns_/status/1129623484567621633?s=20
Im really hoping the dev community takes off for these devices like the old nexus days.

Wickidmasshole said:
I was just checking out various customs threads & twitters and saw that DU had added Bonito to its official page as well as a screenshot on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/_DirtyUnicorns_/status/1129623484567621633?s=20
Im really hoping the dev community takes off for these devices like the old nexus days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have mixed feelings. I rooted all 45 different Android phones I owned prior to my last 3 (essential, OnePlus 6, and more pixel 3A). I feel like these days there are way fewer reasons to use custom roms. Base Android has gotten really good, stock roms (for companies like OnePlus and essential) are stable and add lots of useful features, and the good manufacturers are doing updates multiple times a month anyways. We don't see crazy innovation like we did back in old paranoid Android days with projects like Halo and pie controls. And a lot of the real kernel developers like sultanxda moved on to other non-Android projects. It's a shame, but it helped push Google and it's partners into making better software. God knows how many features Google copied from custom roms. Kind of makes you wonder where we'll go from here now that roms are less of a necessity.

Yeah, I was on Android from day one and had been flashing the old windows phone before that. I've stopped installing roms on the last few phones however because I perceive them as worse than the stock software. I came here from a 6T which had a fair few ROMs but none that had the fingerprint sensor working correctly. I want that fingerprint sensor. There are other things but that's the idea, I used to see roms as a proposition where I gave up a few things but gained more than I lost. Now I don't see myself gaining much of anything that I'm not getting with a quick trip into Magisk with everything still working, but I do see things like that lost fingerprint sensor. It's kind of sad to me in a way because it was a bit like a hobby.

xxBrun0xx said:
I have mixed feelings. I rooted all 45 different Android phones I owned prior to my last 3 (essential, OnePlus 6, and more pixel 3A). I feel like these days there are way fewer reasons to use custom roms. Base Android has gotten really good, stock roms (for companies like OnePlus and essential) are stable and add lots of useful features, and the good manufacturers are doing updates multiple times a month anyways. We don't see crazy innovation like we did back in old paranoid Android days with projects like Halo and pie controls. And a lot of the real kernel developers like sultanxda moved on to other non-Android projects. It's a shame, but it helped push Google and it's partners into making better software. God knows how many features Google copied from custom roms. Kind of makes you wonder where we'll go from here now that roms are less of a necessity.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you. I haven't rooted my past 4 (6, 6p, pixel xl, pixel 2 xl) probably bc they all ran "pure Google."
I do also have a note 9 att variant and I wanted to root and install custom on that device the 2nd day in.
But to have options is always a good thing. Keep it up devs!!!
Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using

I can't get excited because I tried to figure out what features this rom has that would entice me to get into unlocking/etc and I can't find any sort of place where they actually tell you why you should install their mod. Their website still lists g+, to give an idea of how good their user communication is.

Is there any way I can get hotspot to work without having to use a custom rom

With magisk and Xposed, ROMs just aren't as necessary to me as they used to be, especially now that Google has made a good bit of functionality Pixel-only that isn't always replicated as well in ROMs.
There are still plenty of folks looking forward to them though, so this is definitely good news!

I stopped using custom roms when Marshmallow came out.
But I still use EX for the kernel..
Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk

jmcandrews83 said:
Is there any way I can get hotspot to work without having to use a custom rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, there's a build prop mod that pretty well known and works on any phone. Unfortunately you need an unlocked bootloader and root so no OTAs and you'll have to keep magisk updated to keep safety net working (it gets updated pretty often)

Heck I dont know why anyone would not want a custom rom. More options and features. Yeah stock has gone far these days but I will always welcome more development.

I can totally understand why people feel there isn't a need for root access or custom ROMs anymore. Stock has certainly improved a lot. I find it useful for a few things, though:
Limiting battery charge to 80% so it prolongs the life of my battery. It's important in a world where you can no longer change batteries with ease.
Swapping my back button on the nav bar to the right side
De-Googling my phone, i.e. installing LineageOS without GApps.

Hold on just a sec, for my part I didn't say anything about root, that's a must have for me. I also didn't say that I don't welcome the development, just that it probably wont be for me. Despite that I'm always glad to see it happen whether it is applicable to my use case or not. I certainly didn't mean to imply or say that ROM development is bad, I apologize if that was the connotation people got from my posts.

krabman said:
Hold on just a sec, for my part I didn't say anything about root, that's a must have for me. I also didn't say that I don't welcome the development, just that it probably wont be for me. Despite that I'm always glad to see it happen whether it is applicable to my use case or not. I certainly didn't mean to imply or say that ROM development is bad, I apologize if that was the connotation people got from my posts.
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Hey, there! If you're replying to me, I'm sorry if I mislsed you. I didn't quote anyone because I was just referring to the general discussion from everyone.

Archangel said:
Heck I dont know why anyone would not want a custom rom. More options and features. Yeah stock has gone far these days but I will always welcome more development.
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Click to collapse
Same here bro ...i love more options and features cuz then it feels like i have 3 different phones in 1 lmao
Stock is getting better but still a little boring for me

I just hope this isnt another one of those Pixel XL things where all of the development goes to the XL and nothing comes to the regular Pixel 3a

Looks like they released a release candidate.
http://download.dirtyunicorns.com/?device=bonito

Wickidmasshole said:
I was just checking out various customs threads & twitters and saw that DU had added Bonito to its official page as well as a screenshot on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/_DirtyUnicorns_/status/1129623484567621633?s=20
Im really hoping the dev community takes off for these devices like the old nexus days.
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I would think that would be the case - especially given the massive availability in North America alone. (I had a Galaxy Nexus and ran DU on it starting with Marshmallow and through Nougat - DU on a Pixel 3a XL would be - literally - Old Home Week and a good thing.) The ONLY reason I'm not running DU *now* is that I left the GNex for the Galaxy S7 Snapdragon - and not long after, the GNex croaked - it's now a paperweight.
If anything, the Pixel could be bigger than the Nexus line *ever* got to be - here is why:
1. First off, it can go to any carrier in North America - it's not restricted to Verizon Wireless.
2. Wide retail availablility - online my foot! I don't HATE online - I just prefer retail for things like phones (and that is despite being in the front yard of Amazon HQ2). And that is just the availability end.
3. Sane pricing - even, if not especially, in retail. ($479USD - as I stated before, that is the 3a XL - *half* the price of the S10e.) The S10e is pricier than the Note 9 - which is bad enough; to have the 3a XL undercut the same S10e by that much? Why would - or should- I buy an S10e? (And I don't hate the S10e - before the 3a and 3a XL came along, I was seriously considering the S10e, and I had actually seen it in retail and gotten some hands-on time with one - I haven't been able to do that with the 3a XL yet.)

Archangel said:
I just hope this isnt another one of those Pixel XL things where all of the development goes to the XL and nothing comes to the regular Pixel 3a
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The XL has been Google's AOSP build target with all the Pixels including 3a.

lazycow said:
The XL has been Google's AOSP build target with all the Pixels including 3a.
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So, I should return my 3a and get an XL for the dev support, you think?

jmtjr278 said:
So, I should return my 3a and get an XL for the dev support, you think?
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I suspect the XL will get more support. But I don't know enough about either device to be sure how development will progress.

Question Where are all the Custom ROMs?

There's a lot of custom ROMs out there on Telegram for the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro but may someone direct me to where I can find all these ROMs? It used to be so easy finding ROMs and kernels on XDA but now devs moved away from it. Everything is buried under various chat groups on Telegram and it's honestly a pain trying to find them. So far, I know the following custom ROMs exist somewhere on the Internet:
CrDroid
LineageOS
SparkOS
HentaiOS
StatixOS
SuperiorOS

Most have moved to using Telegram for announcing. Google Pixel 7/7 Pro Updates, is the channel where you will find the d/l links. GL!

Yeah I stopped trusting custom ROMs since the HTC days. When they finally get everything working and all the kinks out im onto the next phone.

schmeggy929 said:
Yeah I stopped trusting custom ROMs since the HTC days. When they finally get everything working and all the kinks out im onto the next phone.
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Battling the bugs That's half of the fun

Beggars can't be choosers. But my biggest issue with custom ROM's is that the devs never finish anything.
As soon as the next version of Android comes out, they move to that one instead of fixing the remaining issues with the previous Android version custom ROM.
I'd much rather have a ROM that just "works" without any weird random glitches.

CZ Eddie said:
Beggars can't be choosers. But my biggest issue with custom ROM's is that the devs never finish anything.
As soon as the next version of Android comes out, they move to that one instead of fixing the remaining issues with the previous Android version custom ROM.
I'd much rather have a ROM that just "works" without any weird random glitches.
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Because the majority of 'devs' today are simply kangers who cherry pick a handful commits and call it a day. True devs are very few and far between.
Also, changes to the Android architecture and other security improvements have generally made the custom rom scene much less appealing with fairly significant downsides.
I miss the 2010-2012 days of Android.

I used custom ROMS for years, particularly on the old Galaxy phones with Cyanogenmod to get rid of Touchwiz.
However, given the vanilla nature of Pixel phones, I don't really see the point of them on these devices unless you really want to avoid Google's framework. It's all personal choice though, but speaking personally I'm more than happy with stock, albeit rooted.

skymera said:
I miss the 2010-2012 days of Android.
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Fact!! Me too, when I was very active in the Dev scene, here and on the old SDX-Developers site but really, those ROM's focused mostly on customizing and removing bloatware. Custom Boot screens, fonts, colors, embedded logos, etc and other than the guys who were developing kernels - which don't require custom ROMs - and the early development of ARM and EXT4, customizing can be done with stand-alone apps now, and with Pixel phones, there is no real bloatware.
The only thing I really wish for is Recovery. I'm still blown away that the TWRP Project more or less abandoned the project over the last few years.

Can't speak for the pixel 7 pro, but I used custom roms basically the whole time I had a smartphone.
The last years it was for Xiaomi phones and on those I wanted them badly to get rid of muiu and/or the stock installation.
On my last phone (mi 9t) the roms / TWRP got so annoying that I bought the 7pro. Honestly the mist was fine for me. I wanted a better camera, but everything else was fine by me. The roms though weren't bearable anymore.
I switched to pixel to avoid those ... Stock it is. I didn't even root it, as lately I only used root for blocking adds and for that there are other ways ...

HipKat said:
Fact!! Me too, when I was very active in the Dev scene, here and on the old SDX-Developers site but really, those ROM's focused mostly on customizing and removing bloatware. Custom Boot screens, fonts, colors, embedded logos, etc and other than the guys who were developing kernels - which don't require custom ROMs - and the early development of ARM and EXT4, customizing can be done with stand-alone apps now, and with Pixel phones, there is no real bloatware.
The only thing I really wish for is Recovery. I'm still blown away that the TWRP Project more or less abandoned the project over the last few years.
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CWM and TWRP are a god send in the custom ROM world. I think part of the reason the project got abandoned is due to Google locking down Android. I can't even remove system apps now.

geokilla said:
CWM and TWRP are a god send in the custom ROM world. I think part of the reason the project got abandoned is due to Google locking down Android. I can't even remove system apps now.
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Yeah, true. The best option is to freeze them, and then find a mod to hide them. Another funny thing is that if you ran AOSP, it was like being a computer user that uses Linux instead of windows. Like me lol!
@Poerger the funny thing is the last custom ROMS I ran were on the Nexus 6, and I was part of a development team that was porting over MIUI. Lol. That was my preferred set up on several phones.