Which ROM to install? - Samsung Galaxy J7 (2017) Themes, Apps, and Mods

Hey guys
I would like to get rid of Google and it's tracking but im getting a bit lost here with all the information...
I need something that supports all/most phone functions, steady, reliable, popular (getting regular updates)
can you please point me in the right direction. Which rom is the most stable?

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Is anyone going to make custom rooted builds of the official T-Mobile 1.5 release?

Just wondering. The reason I ask if for the IM app, not myFaves. I know there are other IM apps out there, but none of them work as well (reliability-wise) and are as simple as the stock IM app, especially when you compare it to the complicated apps that try to use multiple IM clients. Meebo is the best one I've used so far, but I still have issues with that one. Unless someone is working on getting that to work for ADP1.5?
someone is definitely going to make one when we get our hands on the official update.zip
I just can't believe it's taking this long for T-mobile to push the updates (or are then even doing it on a large scale?)
On official update.zip by T-Mobile is already aviable. But the problem in my sight is, that this update.zip is only including patches, and not the full Update. So it would take a lot more time.
^
What he said.
I'm sticking to my good ol Android Open Source based builds with a touch of ADP1.5
So much more possible that way.

[Q] When can new roms be used?

I am a jailbroken iPhone convert. I am loving this phone so far and have heeded the warnings to not mess with the phone too much. My question is, when is it safe to use the roms that are available? Is there that big of a difference in performance? I jailbroke my iPhone to get features Apple wouldn't allow our have. what do I gain with custom roms? Thanks for all that has been done so far and look forward to what its to come.
I don't know of there is a time period to use them but most custom roms freshen up your desktop icons as well most of them improve battery life and add the ability to overclock.
You can gain quite a few features with Custom Roms. Such as overclocking, custom ui's, much better performance (snappier). I highly recommend flashing a custom ROM. Currently CM9 and CM7 are a work in progress and should be released sooner than later, (CM7 is currently in it's testing stage). Also to do all of this you have to root your device. A guide can be found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1327741&highlight=how+to+root Keep in mind many features can be gained once rooted, but as you probably know the warranty is voided.
Thanks for the help so far. The only question still remaining for me is; at what point are these roms considered stable enough for someone new to start using. I have read the warnings and really don't want to have to reinstall everything over and over again because of instability issues. thanks
ed20910 said:
Thanks for the help so far. The only question still remaining for me is; at what point are these roms considered stable enough for someone new to start using. I have read the warnings and really don't want to have to reinstall everything over and over again because of instability issues. thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It really all depends on what you are after.
I will say that even the stock ROM on the Atrix 2 is not that stable, and there are a TON of bugs in it.
All the ROMs that are here are in a beta format and are not even at a 1.0 revision yet. If you are not technical at all, and don't really like playing with your device a lot, and flashing ROMs, to try and get a feature that the stock ROM is missing, then I totally advise against flashing anything. These "ROMS are completely safe and stable enough", but both lfaber06 and are I always trying to "improve" on them, no matter what revision that the ROM is at, as well as requests for new features. That really is why it may seem that people are flashing all the time, not really because of instability.
Since he and I are really the only two devs in here right now, there is not going to be a lot of choice in ROMs and since this phone is still fairly new, everything is still "new" and in beta/alpha. Since you are coming from the iphone, and flashing ROMs is not really something that you do, I say you wait until you find something you really want that is not available in the stock ROM, and has been put into one the ROMs available here, then try flashing that. Until then just hang tight for a while. There are plenty of hacks that can be done to the stock ROM, to fix things, and make that better at this time. Also take some time to learn a little about android and flashing and how it all works, not intimately, or on a very technical level, but that might save your "you know what", if you have an issue during a flash or while running an unfamiliar ROM.
Thank you VERY much. That was the answer I was looking for. I am technical savy, just haven't done much with android so far. I am one that likes to tinker and get the most out of any of my electronics.

[Q] Latest Stable Rom? [Galaxy S Relay 4G]

Hey guys,
With the communities help, I've rooted my phone, and have begun experimenting with roms, I'm pretty excited about all this -- but so far, I haven't found one yet that meets my needs.
The only roms I could even find are the ones linked to by this thread. But I can't comment there because I'm an uber-n00b. **** yeah, n00b status! XD
So here's some of the issues I'm having, maybe someone can point me in the right direction:
I'm using CWM to flash roms, and I can't flash the "Debloated Jelly Bean stock image" linked to in that thread, CWM tells me there's an error in the zip halfway through. Though if I do an "unzip -test" on it from the command line, it verifies okay -- so I'm guessing the package is either borked, or intended to be used differently than how I'm trying to use it.
That being said, I've had great success flashing the unofficial, and experimental Cyanogen 10.1s -- but none of them that I have tested have all of the features I want working. Is there a recommended version? The features I want are pretty basic things:
First and foremost: Wi-Fi tethering (I'd pay for it if T-mobile had an option for it, but they don't -- not on unlimited anyway -- and I always hit my data-cap even without tethering, if I went on a non-unlimited plan, it would cost me $20/more a month and for about the last 10-15 days of each month I'd be stuck on EDGE/2G -- to me, that's unacceptable.)
Being able to connect to Wi-Fi networks (obviously not at the same time as tethering, but I expect both to work).
GPS
Bluetooth!! (The latest "stable" the Unofficial 13-03-09 does not appear to be able to connect to my headset.)
The Stock Clock: Alarms App (Also seems to be broken in the 13-03-09 release.)
And obviously: Calling, Texting, Camera, Flashlight
Basic Battery Stuff (Latest "stable" and nightlies both have issues with determining if the battery charger is connected or not, reboot seems to fix it most of the time).
The one thing I don't use (that I know about) on my phone is NFC. I like the idea of NFC, especially to pay for things, I just have never bothered to **** with it to set it up.
So, Is there a list of the nightlies and like some quick indicators that say which key features are working or not? If not, I might be willing to set one up for the most recent ones (at least until I find one that has features that I want all working more or less). If this already exists though, it would be a great time saver. If not, is anyone willing to help me set this up? The testing will go a lot better with >1 person testing things.
I figure stock does almost everything I need except tethering, but I can't figure out how to get the debloated stock rom on, and installing the tethering fix for regular stock (or Cyanogen for that matter) just makes the phone not boot.
Thanks for reading, any thoughts / comments -- and even moreso: answers -- are greatly appreciated. [And hopefully, none of the above is taken as criticism to anyone, as it's not meant that way, clearly, I'm a little frustrated, but I'm also very much excited to be finally modding my phone, and it wouldn't be possible without all the community support that has gone into this development!]
DERP
OH MAN! I just flashed the MC5 modem; BLUETOOTH WORKS NOW ON THE UNOFFICIAL 2013-03-09 RELEASE!
I haven't tested everything yet, but pretty much everything seems to be working now it seems!!! :good::good::fingers-crossed::good::good:
Man, I wish this was all in a guide somewhere so that I wouldn't have to stumble around in the dark like this. :silly:

[Q] Help me choose a ROM please

Hi,
so I have had a rooted phone for a while now, but I'm starting to get tired of the stock ROM so I thought I'd try something different. I've spent a couple of hours looking through these forums and I can't see the difference between the different cyanogenmod implementations, i.e. skrilax, dhacker and epinter all seem to have slightly different versions? Anyway, I was hoping someone could point me in the direction of a good ROM to use for a long period of time, say a month or so, without crashing *much*. I need bluetooth and camcorder working too, these also seem to be issues with some of them.
Alternatively, links some posts that help me better get my bearings on what's what would be well appreciated
Thanks
If you go with CyanogenMod, I would recommend using skrilax's builds since they are released every night and it works with the CM updater built into the ROM.
Camcorder works fine and Bluetooth is mostly OK, but I sometimes get random reboots while using Bluetooth headphones. Not sure if it's still a known issue or just some weird thing with my setup.
Also, your location says Melbourne, so I'm assuming you have the xt925? That might factor into some people's answers a little bit.
killrhythm09 said:
Also, your location says Melbourne, so I'm assuming you have the xt925? That might factor into some people's answers a little bit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
spot on
Anyway, thanks for the reply, but I was about to flash skrilax's ROM when I realised you said IF I choose cyanogenmod... is there a better alternative? I'd like something that's fast (unlike the stock rom is now -.-) and doesn't kill the battery, and some new features to play around with would be nice.
It really all depends on what you want. Some other ROMs like Paranoid Android, MIUI, AOKP, etc have more features than CM, but CM has always been rock solid from my experience (this phone and my previous one).
Doesn't hurt to experiment a little, either, as long as you keep nandroid backups handy.
I haven't heard any reports of significant increases in battery life on custom roms. I wonder if this is the case?
I actually would like to know what the longest screen on time and or standby time a person achieved with underclocking / undervolting etc.
Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX HD

[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.

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