Related
(If request threads are frowned upon, my apologies. Feel free to delete or move this thread.)
Are there others of you out there that would appreciate a ROM that is a phone / PDA first and lotsa colorful graphics left to a minimum?
Here's why I ask. I've recently been looking at the reviews of the new HTC PURE (AT&T.) Looking at its TF3D screens my first reaction was, "I dig the blue theme, but man those mono color sliders sure look boring! The ROMs at XDA sure have better graphics!"
That was, however - a short lived reaction. . . .
We have a stock AT&T FUZE here in the house, and as everyone knows its theme is gray, gray, and more gray - boring.
However -
When a text message or email comes in, the little bright orange notification circles that pop up on the sliders are quite noticeable and stick out like a sore thumb. Some may consider this ugly, but it IS functional.
Once the modding stops and life restarts, these are, after all phone / PDAs. And in a busy life full of varying light conditions, the boring AT&T themes seem more useful than many cooked ROMs. Their basic two toned themes make it easier and faster to interact with the phone while on the go. The alerts are not distracted by the multicolors all over the interface.
I really do not like the features, bloat, and outdated stock AT&T ROM for the FUZE. And I really appreciate the great ROMs here on XDA and prefer them.
I'm wondering if there are others like me out there and a chef willing to make a go at a simple two toned ROM with bold alerts?
Feedback?
NBP Pipsquack Bird said:
(If request threads are frowned upon, my apologies. Feel free to delete or move this thread.)
Are there others of you out there that would appreciate a ROM that is a phone / PDA first and lotsa colorful graphics left to a minimum?
Here's why I ask. I've recently been looking at the reviews of the new HTC PURE (AT&T.) Looking at its TF3D screens my first reaction was, "I dig the blue theme, but man those mono color sliders sure look boring! The ROMs at XDA sure have better graphics!"
That was, however - a short lived reaction. . . .
We have a stock AT&T FUZE here in the house, and as everyone knows its theme is gray, gray, and more gray - boring.
However -
When a text message or email comes in, the little bright orange notification circles that pop up on the sliders are quite noticeable and stick out like a sore thumb. Some may consider this ugly, but it IS functional.
Once the modding stops and life restarts, these are, after all phone / PDAs. And in a busy life full of varying light conditions, the boring AT&T themes seem more useful than many cooked ROMs. Their basic two toned themes make it easier and faster to interact with the phone while on the go. The alerts are not distracted by the multicolors all over the interface.
I really do not like the features, bloat, and outdated stock AT&T ROM for the FUZE. And I really appreciate the great ROMs here on XDA and prefer them.
I'm wondering if there are others like me out there and a chef willing to make a go at a simple two toned ROM with bold alerts?
Feedback?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
looking on the ROM page I see many stock like or simple ROMS. Have you tried any of those? To me the idea behind cooked ROMS is to be different from the ones who use stock ROMS. I personally during a day go from my car to my office to a warehouse to my car then out to lunch at many different places then back to my office and then home as well as stores and shopping and have not had an interaction issue with a single ROM I have tried. Furthermore all ROMS put a notification icon on the task bar as well when you have mail or messages. For me functionality has never been an issue. What I would like is a more personal way to ad or remove apps I never use such as all the multimedia and messaging crap.
Try Timolol's ROMs as bare and boring as they can be but with great speed.
And this topic is not worth a new thread.
Please be careful next time you start a new thread.
yeah i would use timolols if ur interested in a bare looking and yet functional rom.
I concur with more function over looks
It would be nice to see more roms that are naked or use UC to put in the programs you want or exclude those that you may not need.
I'll take a look at Timolol's
sa-10 has a good idea with choice through UC.
One thing I like with many ROMs is the choice to run with TF3D or Titanuim baked into the same ROM. I was just wondering if there would be much popular support for an option to run with a very basic theme.
I don't dispute Solarenemy68's expereinces day to day. But for me, I have become vision impaired. I didn't want to make this thread about me or a disability, so I thought I'd see if other folks would find a simple to see, functional ROM useful.
madnish30 said:
Try Timolol's ROMs as bare and boring as they can be but with great speed.
And this topic is not worth a new thread.
Please be careful next time you start a new thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You wanna watch how you speak to people, who are you to decide what deserves a thread and what dosent
Quite an ironic response for someone with "Learn How to use XDA well.Love all.Respect all." in there sig lol
mancsoulja said:
You wanna watch how you speak to people, who are you to decide what deserves a thread and what dosent
Quite an ironic response for someone with "Learn How to use XDA well.Love all.Respect all." in there sig lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Watch how you speak ?! Read again and if you take offense to that your sissy nothing else.
Whats Ironic huh ?
Dude only if you had read the Rules in that link !
And Who am I to decide well, I'm a member of this community as much as you are !
Is anyone stopping you from posting something ?
Or you just go around flaming ?
The message about the thread was for the OP with respect okay ?
Not for you so stop sticking your leg in between.
P.S: if the OP got and problem with what i said he/she can please tell me. I meant no offense to the OP.
But strangers please stay out.
Peace.
madnish30 said:
Watch how you speak ?! Read again and if you take offense to that your sissy nothing else.
Whats Ironic huh ?
Dude only if you had read the Rules in that link !
And Who am I to decide well, I'm a member of this community as much as you are !
Is anyone stopping you from posting something ?
Or you just go around flaming ?
The message about the thread was for the OP with respect okay ?
Not for you so stop sticking your leg in between.
P.S: if the OP got and problem with what i said he/she can please tell me. I meant no offense to the OP.
But strangers please stay out.
Peace.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
would it not be an idea to talk to an moderator instead of saying this things that can be dually explained ?
PS: maybe not the right timing but it would be a good idea to let chefs make a bare rom and just add the stuff through UC which one can download and unpack on a sd-card ?
I don't mind a MOD judging me as I was not Wrong !
I can't stand baseless acquisitions !
And will defend myself.
And UC on SD card would be good but then the ROM of one chef would not be different from anothers which would make things repatitive.
Plus UC will take so long to install so many apps and things.
People will have different demands and many demands for custom UC.
But maybe it could be tried by upcoming chefs.
Just PM'd two MODs Captain_throwback and the-equinoxe two look into the matter.
I will agree with whatever they will say.
No offense was taken.
Many times how I express myself in text is misunderstood as text doesn't allow for tone of voice, pauses, voice inflectoin etc.
So, Im not one to cast stones on this. No harm, no foul.
That said, I didn't post this thread to attract trouble or controversy.
I simply wished to make a request where chefs and patrons could take note and chime in if they like.
Yes, this was posted selfishly seekling a ROM a bit more user friendly to my disability. But before posting I tried to phrase things inclusively with the idea others might also like such a ROM for whatever reason.
Just a request, wondering if others feel they would benefit too.
No trouble intended.
NBP Pipsquack Bird said:
No offense was taken.
Many times how I express myself in text is misunderstood as text doesn't allow for tone of voice, pauses, voice inflectoin etc.
So, Im not one to cast stones on this. No harm, no foul.
That said, I didn't post this thread to attract trouble or controversy.
I simply wished to make a request where chefs and patrons could take note and chime in if they like.
Yes, this was posted selfishly seekling a ROM a bit more user friendly to my disability. But before posting I tried to phrase things inclusively with the idea others might also like such a ROM for whatever reason.
Just a request, wondering if others feel they would benefit too.
No trouble intended.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
glad to hear that.
you don't need to be sorry OP.
you are at no fault
glad to see you 2 get along now all of a sudden
donno what happend but it is gifted by the gods
??
I was never against the OP !
This thread seems to be a fair request, imo.
That being said, it's always a good idea to look at the ROM threads before posting, to see which ROM meets your needs. If you don't see one, perhaps starting a thread like this gives the OP an opportunity to get people's opinions. This isn't one of those "which ROM is the best" threads, which serve no real purpose, as the answer to that question is quite subjective.
I'm glad to see that the disagreement has been worked out.
I'm also not one for "pretty over functional" ROMs, though don't get me wrong - I like pretty. But I also like having the latest features/ports working on my device (i.e. Manila 2.5).
[self-plug]
I'm actually close to (FINALLY) releasing my own ROM, which I'm *trying* to keep simple and functional (it's tough though, with so many goodies out there). My philosophy is to install as many apps as possible via CAB, rather than cooking in, which not only keeps the \Windows folder cleaner, but allows the end-user to uninstall anything they don't like or won't use. I actually created the placeholder for my ROM 2 months ago, and it's just now finally getting to the point of completion (several ports and hundreds of builds later). Maybe you'll want to check it out, in addition to the other suggestions offered here.
[/self-plug]
Anyway, just make sure everyone keeps respecting each other here in the forum. We just here to help each other. No reason to scold anyone for starting a thread. If it shouldn't be here, the Mods will take care of it.
Yes, it would be great to have a basic ROM, all,ost all the other ones are overloaded with things most people don't need...
You then could upload a package with CABS so that people can install only the things they want.
It would be great indeed...
Captain_Throwback said:
This thread seems to be a fair request, imo.
That being said, it's always a good idea to look at the ROM threads before posting, to see which ROM meets your needs. If you don't see one, perhaps starting a thread like this gives the OP an opportunity to get people's opinions. This isn't one of those "which ROM is the best" threads, which serve no real purpose, as the answer to that question is quite subjective.
I'm glad to see that the disagreement has been worked out.
I'm also not one for "pretty over functional" ROMs, though don't get me wrong - I like pretty. But I also like having the latest features/ports working on my device (i.e. Manila 2.5).
[self-plug]
I'm actually close to (FINALLY) releasing my own ROM, which I'm *trying* to keep simple and functional (it's tough though, with so many goodies out there). My philosophy is to install as many apps as possible via CAB, rather than cooking in, which not only keeps the \Windows folder cleaner, but allows the end-user to uninstall anything they don't like or won't use. I actually created the placeholder for my ROM 2 months ago, and it's just now finally getting to the point of completion (several ports and hundreds of builds later). Maybe you'll want to check it out, in addition to the other suggestions offered here.
[/self-plug]
Anyway, just make sure everyone keeps respecting each other here in the forum. We just here to help each other. No reason to scold anyone for starting a thread. If it shouldn't be here, the Mods will take care of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Appreciate that you had a look here.
And wasn't scolding was just expressing what i felt.
And i think i can do that
Yeah solved OP got no problem i got no problem.
But Captain i heard that once apps are cooked in ROMs they perform better rather than when installed ?
Could you explain that ?
madnish30 said:
But Captain i heard that once apps are cooked in ROMs they perform better rather than when installed ?
Could you explain that ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It all depends. If you're talking about an app that is located in \program files, it doesn't matter at all how it got there. Apps that appear in rom (in the \windows folder) can work much better when cooked in (voice command comes to mind).
I would love to have a clean ROM. I have acculmulated most of the Software that I won't already in CABs. I have found a lot of really nice ROMs out there but say in 1 I don't like this feature, or in another, I don't like that. I wouldn't mind having just a ROM cooked WinMo 6.5.#, a good radio with only Titanium setup to work with my Fuze on ATT and I can probley do the rest. I don't generally run Manila and the only HTC specific programs i really like are the HTCcalculator and the HTC Comm Manager.
I just saw that people are arguing on different rom threads and saying oh yours is better since you made this first but I tweaked it. (I mean no disrepect in that comment.)
Point being here is a interesting thing I thought of just to see what anyone else thought of. We have four main froyo roms Tazz, Kaos, Sheds and Conaps.
If people are fighting over whos to choose I was thinking maybe the four of them should make a combined rom since everything they use to build them is a combined effort anyway. I just personally think it would be interesting to see what they all would contribute and it would be the best rom all around due to it has everyones input. Its nice how they all are unique by themselves but it would be awesome to have them all mashed together if that makes sense. It would be fast, stable, and could probably even be updated more due to whomever had more time would be able to work on it.
I am not posting this to make people mad or to say one rom is better than the other I just think it would be rather neat to have one huge awesome rom to choose from. I know it would probably never happen but its a interesting thought.
I do not mean any disrespect or harm in this post either. I just figured maybe it would cause less arguments.
I just wanted to share an idea I had. What do you all think? Negative or positive.
sounds cool they all do seem to work together enough, lending each other things and being really quite friendly to each other on their posts. to have them together on a test ROM would be cool but i think they all have their individual ideas that keep them just different enough to make everyone happy no matter what their style i'm using Nonsensikal 16.1 now but i'm about to switch to Tazz... i'm not sure Vanilla or Gingerbread... overall though lol yeah i think that would be a great idea!! sorry i rant >< xD!
labnjab said:
I just wanted to share an idea I had. What do you all think? Negative or positive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having things in public view surely makes "who did what first" a non-argument - because one merely needs to look at the commits to find out who did what when.
As a reminder, devs who work on AOSP ROMs are under a GPL obligation to release their sources.
Without a doubt though, asking that cooks/devs publicly document their trickery increases their workload (in addition to build & test, add some "documentation" tasks) - so, the trade off might be better documentation - but fewer ROM updates per developer.
It is possible that having more information available about methods which are Eris hardware specific might encourage more people to participate in ROM "porting" activities, e.g. hacking of backlights, notification delivery, gps/sensor, and "pre-built" library requirements.
It is my impression that devs have shared some of this informally in private communications/IRC, but you would be hard-pressed to find explanations or mini-tutorials on most of these topics here on XDA (Eris) forums. That makes it more challenging for any would-be "ROM porting developer" - because they must re-invent those same wheels from scratch, or go begging to devs that have worked through those issues before. The latter certainly won't happen if they view the devs as combative or secretive.
I would suggest that if you can gain any traction with the devs on this, the baseline ROM should be AOSP - that way the GPL disclosure requirements align well with the benefit of making information readily available. (Perhaps never in the form of tutorials, but at least in the form of public source code).
bftb0
labnjab said:
Its nice how they all are unique by themselves but it would be awesome to have them all mashed together if that makes sense.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well a lot of people don't like Sense UI so... But I think it could be a good idea. It's just hard to have to download the latest and greatest version anytime a dev wants to make a change, and two could never change it at the same time unless they were like teamviewing or something.
Yes it is hard having to switch versions everytime they make improvements & I didnt mean the sense ui. I meant i hoped the sentence made sense. Meaning all the newer froyo non sense roms rolled into one. Sorry for any confusion.
Sent from my FroyoEris using Tapatalk
I think Tenzo and Tazz have slowed down some of their development until they can get some common problems worked out.
So, new to this game, but a reasonably good tech head by trade. I didn't see any information outlining the differences between the available GTab ROMs in an apples to apples sort of way. Does anything like that exist currently? If not, is this something the community would be interested in brainstorming in a Google Doc or something? I'm happy to get things rolling if so.
Okay, so, this might be stupid, or a total waste of time, but what the heck:
https(colon,slash,slash)spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Au8YYie-Ky7kdDNQRG8zN09xYnQ2NTVvOXY1ZTFtMXc&hl=en&authkey=CJC3j5oC
I went ahead and started working up a spreadsheet. Feel free to go in and start editing, adding important features, correcting, or whatever else. If someone else has beaten me to this, just say so.
I actually think it is an awesome idea and should help a lot of people decide what ROM they want to use. I have had my GTab since Christmas and have flashed mine over 20 times. I have tried all of the ROMs available on these forums multiple times and I don't think I would have needed to if a spreadsheet like this was in place earlier.
Okay, I think I seeded the spreadsheet with as much information as I can based on the various ROM threads. It'll be up to the community to help fill in some of the remaining gaps and such. And feel free to add in new feature checkpoints as well that users would find relevant. I'll keep curating the document to keep it consistent, and will fill in more once I actually have my G-Tablet in hand.
Features, add features that we could us, so those of us who want a rom that performs the tasks we want can see which one best suits us.
just some egs
bluetooth gps support
usb gps support (dont think this will be possible till hc is availabe)
usb g3 support
proxy support
external or bt keyboard and mouse support
.....
TheQuicksilver said:
Okay, so, this might be stupid, or a total waste of time, but what the heck:
https(colon,slash,slash)spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Au8YYie-Ky7kdDNQRG8zN09xYnQ2NTVvOXY1ZTFtMXc&hl=en&authkey=CJC3j5oC
I went ahead and started working up a spreadsheet. Feel free to go in and start editing, adding important features, correcting, or whatever else. If someone else has beaten me to this, just say so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Neither stupid nor a waste of time: I have been wanting to do something similar for a while - decide what/whether to upgrade my TNTLite 2.2 install to, I just haven't found the time or energy.
Your spreadsheet is very helpful. You should start a thread for it in the 'G Tablet Android Development' forum and see if you can get it stickied: I'll bet a LOT of other people will find it useful too. Maybe the various developers will chime in and help you fill in the blanks.
*thumbs up!*
I for one thank you for your time and effort. I am waiting on my Gtab to be delivered and am trying to decide which ROM to use. With this spreadsheet I can see the pros/cons of the major players at a glance. I think I will go with Vega.
Tt
Icedvoco said:
Features, add features that we could us, so those of us who want a rom that performs the tasks we want can see which one best suits us.
just some egs
bluetooth gps support
usb gps support (dont think this will be possible till hc is availabe)
usb g3 support
proxy support
external or bt keyboard and mouse support
.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tossed some extra fields in for those requests.
999pings, thanks, I'll start a second thread once I have the requisite posts to do so in the Developer forum. I was sort of torn what the right place was to post this to begin with. Mods, feel free to merge the threads if necessary once I get the second one going.
Yeah thanks this would be helpful. It's always easier to have a side-by-side comparison than having to read through a long list of change logs and hundreds of pages of comments on what works and what doesn't. I too am waiting for my tablet to come in the mail and deciding which ROM to go with. I was basing my decision on popularity and that award going to TnT based on thread activity. Of course that doesn't always mean it's the best choice. I'd like to see this spreadsheet take shape in the next few days or so
Perhaps you can model yours after one that SimonNWalker here at XDA did:
http://db.androidspin.com/androidspin_release_matrix.asp
Something along those lines would be nice once I have the data put together from everyone. Likewise, it'd be nice to find a wiki for it to live on, some place that it could continue to be maintained over time. Ideally something like this can take off in a way that it wouldn't need me (or any single person) to constantly curate it.
TheQuicksilver said:
Likewise, it'd be nice to find a wiki for it to live on, some place that it could continue to be maintained over time. Ideally something like this can take off in a way that it wouldn't need me (or any single person) to constantly curate it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know much about it, but there is Wiki functionality within XDA if this gains popularity. The spreadsheet/chart can definitely grow over time especially when Honeycomb comes out. There will be many more flavors of ROMs being released.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
Dave615 said:
I don't know much about it, but there is Wiki functionality within XDA if this gains popularity. The spreadsheet/chart can definitely grow over time especially when Honeycomb comes out. There will be many more flavors of ROMs being released.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, fantastic. That'll do great. I'll check into porting the stuff over to that once things fill in. Loves me some wiki action.
g1no23 said:
I actually think it is an awesome idea and should help a lot of people decide what ROM they want to use. I have had my GTab since Christmas and have flashed mine over 20 times. I have tried all of the ROMs available on these forums multiple times and I don't think I would have needed to if a spreadsheet like this was in place earlier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, excellent idea. Thanks for taking the time to do this!
I was about to embark upon getting VPN access working using TNTLite, now I know that I can switch to Vegan if it gets too complicated.
Here is the link since I thing the OP could not post it up
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc...NTVvOXY1ZTFtMXc&hl=en&authkey= CJC3j5oC#gid=0
copc said:
Here is the link since I thing the OP could not post it up
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc...NTVvOXY1ZTFtMXc&hl=en&authkey= CJC3j5oC#gid=0
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, thanks. Forums require a minimum of 8 posts to include links. I just joined, so had to fake it a little, heh.
Thankyou TheQuicksilver!!
Sticky??
I suggest adding a column for stock TNT, and maybe even 1 for stock+enhancement?
That would be helpful for those trying to decide to stay stock or not.
Jim
TheQuicksilver said:
Okay, so, this might be stupid, or a total waste of time, but what the heck:
https(colon,slash,slash)spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Au8YYie-Ky7kdDNQRG8zN09xYnQ2NTVvOXY1ZTFtMXc&hl=en&authkey=CJC3j5oC
I went ahead and started working up a spreadsheet. Feel free to go in and start editing, adding important features, correcting, or whatever else. If someone else has beaten me to this, just say so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Brand new to the GTab.. Picking a ROM and rooting tonight. This resource helps immensely! Thanks!
Just wanted to say thanks for this. This would be great to have as a "sticky" so we don't have to search for it, and for new owners to see at the top of the page.
I've been pondering for some time that if Android has the most customization on the earth for a Mobile OS why doesn't the rooted community make a rom? All the current roms out there Whether it be Cyanogenmod, MIUI, Sense, Touchwiz, Motoblur, it's all based and still resembles of what the manufacturers or companies have given us. Even though MIUI has a company behind it, it shows that you can use the rooted community to make something great. We have an abundance of Developers, Themers, Idealists, testers, etc. to do something like this.They could design it, port it, test it, and put more ideas forward. Even though I have nothing of value to offer, I was just wondering why this has not been done, so my pondering can stop.
imagine how many phones you would have to port it to
Not trying to be rude or anything, but think about that statement.
He has a point. A ROM alone doesn't do much if the drivers are missing... and those are not generally available unless you sign a deal with the hardware maker, which isn't exactly trivial for opensource projects. I don't really see any other way than what people are doing now: What other way than grabbing the drivers from the previously installed system is there to get anything to run on the actual hardware?
Cimer said:
Not trying to be rude or anything, but think about that statement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah i know your first post says we have a lot of developers to do it, but porting isnt an easy job. each phone has their own specifications. some phones cant handle what other phones can. and even if you manage to port most of the rom, there are bound to be bugs. and maybe you dont know how many phones we have here on xda. we're talking about all the phones here and here
Well since it's off of AOSP...? I don't see where you're getting this whole making deals with manufacturers. How ever since most brands have been ported to Cyanogenmod it's not impossible.
Also you would not need to port it to those devices. Not trying to exclude people but I'm just going to take Cyanogen's stance...It's been two years, most people have updated to new devices. Also most of those are not even Android..cmon
How else do you want to get the drivers... you either have to take them from the device, which means leaving enough of the system in place that they'll function (which is what CyanogenMod is doing now), or make a deal with the people who have the original drivers. I just don't see any other ways, do you?
Cyanogen does not make deals with manufacturers and it's well Cyanogenmod not Cyanogenmod+motoblur or Cyanogenmod + touchwiz.
Look I know you guys are pessimistic about it, but it's a interesting and real possibility.
Drivers, not frontends. What I mean is Cellphone chipsets, battery stats and so on... they're still there when you install Cyanogenmod, since they can't include their own... I thought that was part of what you meant with "Community ROM", that these "leftovers" from the original system should go. I'm not pessimistic, just confused.
Well you're only confusing your self. It's a straight forward idea..The community designs it's own UI and from there it is dependent on specific devices developers. It's not impossible, It's only as possible as the community makes it out to because this community is very talented.
Ah... you just want to change the frontend, not the "bowels" of the system... sorry, simple misunderstanding. I read "community ROM" and thought you wanted to go further than what Cyanogenmod is doing, essentially building a full working ROM instead of what is essentially a kind of patch for the system already in place...
Sort of..Think MIUI but by the community
Hmm... could you be a little more specific what you think should be part of such an alternative main user interface? For example, should it do away with the widgets concept if it feels inadequate? Or remap controls and so on. Or should it be "just" a launcher and a fancy keylock?
Well that's not up to me to be frank. The reason why I can't be specific is because it's a community rom, not a Cimer rom
There always has to be a starting point and you (hopefully) have some thoughts on this, otherwise you wouldn't have created this thread, right?
For me, it's mostly about the launcher and "Task Switcher" or whatever you want to call it ("Recent Applications"). Lock screens for me serve only a single purpose and any more than that usually gets in the way. For example, if you place a lot information on it, you have to keep the screen on for a longer period, which will eventually drain the battery if you keep the phone in your trouser's pockets.
Well yes...I have thought about it. Through thinking about it I came to the conclusion that I don't know what everyone wants, and how it will work out. Now I could be the starting point, but to be realistic I can't do it by myself I would need the previous mentioned people in my first post, and the community to get this rolling. This could either be revolutionary or it could just be lost in XDA's countless topics. It will also be hard because everyone has something they're working on.
You need to give people something to discuss
OK, then I'll start.
As I said, the core functions for me are home screen and task switching.
Let's start with the launcher.
Launchers fall mainly into two categories:
1. Searcher
2. Finder
A "Searcher" allows the user to specify more and more precisely what he wants to do. This can either be key presses, categories/labels or anything really that asks the user for traits of the activity he wants to perform.
A "Finder" on the other hand presents most available functions at once and lets the user pick the one he wants immediately.
There are many shades of gray between those two, but that's the spectrum.
For me one level of "Searcher" functionality has proven the optimal level of traits that I can navigate through without ending up at the wrong point too often. Categories, à la PalmOS are still the best thing I can think of, but obviously that's partly due to my history with mobile devices, which has been dominated by PalmOS. How do other people reach their applications?
P.S. May I suggest a title change for the thread? Something along the lines of "What User-Interface 'Experience' would you like on Android?". The "CustomROM" title still confuses me
Done.
If you think about it All roms basically have icons on their home screen in a grid or on a dock of some sort..How would you change that to have the greatest eye candy and functionality.
Well to be honest you can't get away from icons on the home screen judging from other mobile and computer operating systems. So they next question would be how do you optimize that "dock" to be to the user's liking. ADW, Launcher Pro, and somewhat MIUI has provided a little answer to that. You can theme the dock, put 1 to 5 icons on it..But the trouble is to not make it look iPhoneish yet allow the possibility in case someone want to...we don't want that. So what do you do? Also perhaps we could not get rid of the app drawer, but the app drawer short cut. Like there is a little bar or line (depends what shape your dock is) above the dock and you have to drag that up.
Or perhaps having the notification bar on the bottom (top if you wanted to) and improve the notification system
Cimer said:
The community designs it's own UI and from there it is dependent on specific devices developers.
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ah i see now, sorry for the misunderstanding
Cimer said:
If you think about it All roms basically have icons on their home screen in a grid or on a dock of some sort..How would you change that to have the greatest eye candy and functionality.
Well to be honest you can't get away from icons on the home screen judging from other mobile and computer operating systems.
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i came across this...looks pretty interesting to me
I also like this idea, MIUI has done an outstanding job with android, they've added so many things that were never made, but even CM is superior to AOSP or any stock ROM out there. I would like a cool homescreen that's 2D w/ 3D like effect similar to sense 3.0. And the setting menus should resemble honeycomb, it should have extensive theming down to every app. These are just some things I would like to see.
Theres something that was pointed out to me by a new friend, that I had to vent about.. so HERE IT IS!!1
Why are some people too good to hang out in their threads and answer questions about the builds they post???
It seems to me that it builds credibility, to help the people using your build, so why not hang out and answer questions, address issues, help finding solutions, offer advice... BE HUMAN
Sure its great that new builds are being pushed out constantly... BUT IF YOURE NOT TALKING TO THE PEOPLE RUNNING THE CURRENT ONE AND EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS WHAT GOOD IS IT????
Step down from the clouds, and walk barefoot on the grass with the rest of us.. its cool and refreshing on your feet
WOW Man..
pitbull8265 said:
Theres something that was pointed out to me by a new friend, that I had to vent about.. so HERE IT IS!!1
Why are some people too good to hang out in their threads and answer questions about the builds they post???
It seems to me that it builds credibility, to help the people using your build, so why not hang out and answer questions, address issues, help finding solutions, offer advice... BE HUMAN
Sure its great that new builds are being pushed out constantly... BUT IF YOURE NOT TALKING TO THE PEOPLE RUNNING THE CURRENT ONE AND EXPERIENCING PROBLEMS WHAT GOOD IS IT????
Step down from the clouds, and walk barefoot on the grass with the rest of us.. its cool and refreshing on your feet
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Could not have said it better.... You hit the nail right on the head.. People respect those who back their work with support:good::good::good:
This DOES seem to be in SHORT reserve.. WELL STATED
Impressive
I have noticed this too.. Its like these people are too GOOD for Q&A and sometimes even respond to questions like they are PETTY and an inconvenience.. There ARE some who DO help, and those people deserve to know they are appreciated.. You in particular, have helped me a ton, so thanks.. Maybe you'll start a movement, and more people will start doing their part to help their followers...
+1
There is a SERIOUS shortage of helpers and an overage of shovelers
All these builds keep coming, and still the same problems on the one they put out before with a different NAME for the ROM.. Its like they change the name and recycled it..
I read through threads now, and if the OP doesn't hang out and help their users, I wont use their builds anymore.
Couldn't agree more!! Nicely said too
Be proud of your work.. Stick around and make sure people can..ya know, enjoy it too..
It's quality not quantity that matters. Stepping on other teams and developers to rush something out just to say "FIRST" will get you no where.. So while timely updates are important, if that's the only thing you post in your own thread.. "New build is up" when there's been 10 pages of people asking questions... I'll never support you, both publicly or financially.
I understand new enthusiast can be quite frustrating or maybe you just aren't a people type of person.. team up with someone that is... pass the q&a on to them, but do fricking something, people want support for YOUR roms and if you put out 20..that means all 20.
Exactly, how dare these developers not spend any time in the forums answering the same useless non-informative questions over and over. How dare they spend countless hours building a ROMs for free and then share it for others to use. How dare they spend time with their families and go to their actual job and have a life. How dare they….. (/sarcasm)
mapatton82 said:
Exactly, how dare these developers not spend any time in the forums answering the same useless non-informative questions over and over. How dare they spend countless hours building a ROMs for free and then share it for others to use. How dare they spend time with their families and go to their actual job and have a life. How dare they….. (/sarcasm)
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Yea, I'm somewhere between this and the op. They shouldn't be 100% absent, but on the same note, some consideration for the above quote is in order too.
While were venting, its possible the devs haven't figured out how to fix some of these issues, but it doesn't do a dam bit of good for 50 people to complain about the same thing and no one is posting logcats. So don't complain about things not getting fixed, if your not attaching logs to every post about issues.
Just my 2c, add 97c more and go buy a cheeseburger.
Sent from my G3, Unlocked by Team Codefire
mapatton82 said:
Exactly, how dare these developers not spend any time in the forums answering the same useless non-informative questions over and over. How dare they spend countless hours building a ROMs for free and then share it for others to use. How dare they spend time with their families and go to their actual job and have a life. How dare they….. (/sarcasm)
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Then why put out 20 instead of 1 that they can handle is the point!!
Variety is the spice of life. I'd rather have 20 that will get fixed eventually than just 1 that works perfectly. If they are all too similar for you then just move on to another one, build your own, or just wait for fully featured lollipop which will be here soon enough. If a thread is maintained or not - I'm just happy to have a thread. A couple devs have walked away already and it'd suck if more left. Just be grateful for what we've got and be patient.
Kris Nelson said:
Then why put out 20 instead of 1 that they can handle is the point!!
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The same person is not releasing 20 different versions. Also, most are all based off of the AOSP core source, but each dev might add their own touch/flare to it. But, since each one is based off of AOSP, then more than likely, they will all have the same issues, unless the dev has made some changes.
I'd rather have a lot of choices than none. Believe me, when there is NO dev support (that is, a lot of ROMs being release), then you get even MORE whining of "Why isn't there any ROMs/dev support for this?"
Maybe you're not a dev, but I am (not for ROMs but that is my full-time job). Development takes a lot of time. I do it at work and to do it at home as well, especially for something that is free, takes a lot of time and dedication. Especially, ROM development is NOT an easy task. Rebuilding ROMs takes at least 90 minutes or more, depending on the speed of your machine, the size of the source code, etc. Heck, I've pulled down the git for CM12 and it's 12gb in size (source code only, not compiled) and it took hours to download over my high-speed internet connection at home.
I can understand wanting support if you PAID for it, but this is free, people. Free. They don't ask for anything in return monetarily, and yet, we see people demanding support as if they paid for it. You get what you pay for, and in this case, it's free. But I feel the support most devs give is very good, considering it's free. Also, for things like CM, it's usually not just one dev, but several who have responsibilities for different parts of the Android code base. So, just because one guy posts about it, doesn't mean he's the only dev on it. He might be sending your findings back to the other devs.
Also, you DON'T have to flash these custom ROMs. They all have disclaimers that the dev is not responsible for any damages that may occur to your phone. They don't guarantee support, but it's there for you to use. However, who is to say they aren't monitoring the forums? Just because they don't respond, doesn't mean they aren't looking into the issues you report.
Yes, I understand how you want a response from them, but in the end, it is your choice whether you want to flash or not. They didn't twist your arm to do it.
Keep posting your defects. Most devs, the good ones, do monitor the forums and take note of the issues. However, they know about other major issues that they are probably trying to work on. Again, for most, it is done in their spare time.
I myself would like to build and release ROMs, but right now, I don't have the time. it's not just "make a change, compile, release". There is a lot of researching, debugging, etc that must go on. Those that are programmers understand this. And, once you fix a bug, you don't just go and release it (under normal circumstances). You have to go through a complete testing cycle, retesting previous tests along with any new tests to ensure you didn't break something else. It's not that simple.
However, with these free releases, WE are the testers. WE are the ones that report back the issues so they can be addressed. Post them here, or even some devs have Twitter pages where you can post defects. Not all, but some.
In the end, be thankful you have so many choices. Yes, it may seem as if they are all the same, and in some cases they are and some are from people who just want to say "look I released a ROM" and then you never hear from them again. But, in the case of XDA, to post about a ROM in the dev forum, I believe you have to be an identified developer, so they do have to go through some vetting process. So, more than likely, they are legit developers, not a fly-by-night person.
Just wanted to get that off my chest. I understand what people feel, but you have to understand, this is not an easy thing to do. Maybe a lot of you understand that, but I find that a lot don't. Or, they say they understand, when they really don't. They just "think" they understand.
Wow. Off the soapbox. It just burns me as a developer when I see things like this. Yes, I understand where you are coming from, but sometimes, I think you need to hear it from the other side as well.
Ciao!
If you're a good parent, when you bring a child into this world, you raise it, and nurture it... creating it is not enough...
noun
1.
the act or process of developing; growth; progress:
iBolski said:
The same person is not releasing 20 different versions. Also, most are all based off of the AOSP core source, but each dev might add their own touch/flare to it. But, since each one is based off of AOSP, then more than likely, they will all have the same issues, unless the dev has made some changes.
I'd rather have a lot of choices than none. Believe me, when there is NO dev support (that is, a lot of ROMs being release), then you get even MORE whining of "Why isn't there any ROMs/dev support for this?"
Maybe you're not a dev, but I am (not for ROMs but that is my full-time job). Development takes a lot of time. I do it at work and to do it at home as well, especially for something that is free, takes a lot of time and dedication. Especially, ROM development is NOT an easy task. Rebuilding ROMs takes at least 90 minutes or more, depending on the speed of your machine, the size of the source code, etc. Heck, I've pulled down the git for CM12 and it's 12gb in size (source code only, not compiled) and it took hours to download over my high-speed internet connection at home.
I can understand wanting support if you PAID for it, but this is free, people. Free. They don't ask for anything in return monetarily, and yet, we see people demanding support as if they paid for it. You get what you pay for, and in this case, it's free. But I feel the support most devs give is very good, considering it's free. Also, for things like CM, it's usually not just one dev, but several who have responsibilities for different parts of the Android code base. So, just because one guy posts about it, doesn't mean he's the only dev on it. He might be sending your findings back to the other devs.
Also, you DON'T have to flash these custom ROMs. They all have disclaimers that the dev is not responsible for any damages that may occur to your phone. They don't guarantee support, but it's there for you to use. However, who is to say they aren't monitoring the forums? Just because they don't respond, doesn't mean they aren't looking into the issues you report.
Yes, I understand how you want a response from them, but in the end, it is your choice whether you want to flash or not. They didn't twist your arm to do it.
Keep posting your defects. Most devs, the good ones, do monitor the forums and take note of the issues. However, they know about other major issues that they are probably trying to work on. Again, for most, it is done in their spare time.
I myself would like to build and release ROMs, but right now, I don't have the time. it's not just "make a change, compile, release". There is a lot of researching, debugging, etc that must go on. Those that are programmers understand this. And, once you fix a bug, you don't just go and release it (under normal circumstances). You have to go through a complete testing cycle, retesting previous tests along with any new tests to ensure you didn't break something else. It's not that simple.
However, with these free releases, WE are the testers. WE are the ones that report back the issues so they can be addressed. Post them here, or even some devs have Twitter pages where you can post defects. Not all, but some.
In the end, be thankful you have so many choices. Yes, it may seem as if they are all the same, and in some cases they are and some are from people who just want to say "look I released a ROM" and then you never hear from them again. But, in the case of XDA, to post about a ROM in the dev forum, I believe you have to be an identified developer, so they do have to go through some vetting process. So, more than likely, they are legit developers, not a fly-by-night person.
Just wanted to get that off my chest. I understand what people feel, but you have to understand, this is not an easy thing to do. Maybe a lot of you understand that, but I find that a lot don't. Or, they say they understand, when they really don't. They just "think" they understand.
Wow. Off the soapbox. It just burns me as a developer when I see things like this. Yes, I understand where you are coming from, but sometimes, I think you need to hear it from the other side as well.
Ciao!
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Thank you.. Just to correct you though.. There ARE the same persons that are putting out 20 different versions (1 developer. releasing 20 different roms.) That was just the point i was making..
I do personally research before i ever flash a rom or anything..and trust me i donate!! LOL
Kris Nelson said:
Thank you.. Just to correct you though.. There ARE the same persons that are putting out 20 different versions (1 developer. releasing 20 different roms.) That was just the point i was making..
I do personally research before i ever flash a rom or anything..and trust me i donate!! LOL
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I see who you are talking about. If you read the OP, at the bottom, he gives thanks to the devs on these ROMs. I don't think he's a developer at all. At least, his profile doesn't say so. I think he just finds all these ROMs and posts links to them. I could be wrong, and I apologize if I am if that person is reading this thread, but I don't see where the OP of the 5+ ROM threads is the actual developer for them. It's almost like he does the "announcing" for the devs of those ROMs.
And since it does appear that you do not have to be a developer to post in the standard DEV forum, then that makes even more sense.
I do know that in another forum I frequented a lot, you were given developer status and only developers could create new threads in the DEV/ROM forum. That was to prevent a lot of "spam" postings of ROMs.
Makes me wonder if that's what is happening here.
iBolski said:
I see who you are talking about. If you read the OP, at the bottom, he gives thanks to the devs on these ROMs. I don't think he's a developer at all. At least, his profile doesn't say so. I think he just finds all these ROMs and posts links to them. I could be wrong, and I apologize if I am if that person is reading this thread, but I don't see where the OP of the 5+ ROM threads is the actual developer for them. It's almost like he does the "announcing" for the devs of those ROMs.
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I wish you were correct but nope, he is the builder and maintainer. Trust me many more than 5+ when you include other carriers as well.. But not just the one, others have started as well... It's very frustrating that after 1 week, several messages of a very specific problem (not mine just someone i was helping) on different sites where they are posted.. I have to track down someone that i know can help but has NOTHING to do with any of these roms...and gets zippy cash.. Though he should..lol
Anyway, i truly value great developers and have learned who to support and who not to. I like to help people so the developers can build awesome stuff and its my way of keeping the simple crap of your plate so you can do just that..but when i can't even find the answer, the developer should be available.
Just saw your edit.. Yes i think that is happening too. I was always under the assumption that builders/maintainers did so for the actual devise and carriers they use.. I guess that's no longer the case.
Oadam11 is a builder of various roms for our G3's from source repositories available for anyone to build from, and anyone to commit to. He may or may not be doing any commits/merge requests - and even if he did those contributions might not be accepted into the various G3 forks.
In any case, he might not be in a position to contribute to feature requests or bug fixes. He might not be running his own builds of all these roms, past checking to see if they will boot and more or less work.
Say Team Vanir does a fork of their work for the G3, an official one. Ok, then you would ask for support from members of Team Vanir, sure, though you might not get much, depending on a lot of factors (including your attitude...) Then consider the possibility that someone just builds something like Commotio from publicly available sources, with just enough tweaks from somewhere to get it to compile and run, unofficially, on one or more G3 variants. I suspect that is where oadam11 is coming from. He doesn't create the roms, he builds them for G3's. He watches the repositories for each rom he has built for us, and when he sees that rom's devs have checked in and merged useful updates, then he rebuilds for us when he has time. Builds take a while. Then he makes them available for us users to download and install them, after some degree of testing.
The point is that he is in no way responsible for supporting the builds he produces of these team's work. It would be impossible for him to anyway. I am sure he gets permission and some degree of cooperation from any team project he builds from, but he is NOT a team member, or major contributor, for all of them. He is a noble builder and distributor, and you should expect nothing more from him than What he is already providing.
If you want to get a problem or new feature dealt with on any given rom, you must deal with the team's source contributers by raising issues on their gerrit or maybe working on an outstanding and team-prioritized bug as a contributor.
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
Thank you..you actually confirmed the point I was making. However, is the average person going to know all this? Of course not...should they do their research prior, of course but they don't... I see good teams being hurt by this as well.. Vanir just had an issue the other day.. Something is being lost in translation and by no means was i only referring to Adam.
I understand. It is interesting that in G+ just a little why ago someone asked David Kessler of Team Vanir who was their maintainer of the G3 Vanir and he replied that they don't have one.
There was also discussion about someone providing support, like answering questions. The idea of supporting a clueless user who had tried to flash TouchWiz onto a Vanir device, by beating the user over the head with an iPhone6+ was suggested. The devs have no patience with such users, generally.
That said, Holy Angel seems exceptional.
Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk
The problem I have, is that when a person POSTS a Rom, and are the OP, they need to support what they post, and help the people posting questions in the thread, or BOW OUT!!! There are people posting and dumping... DONT Post a ROM if you're not willing or able to help the team you are Posting links to... Dont post it and then say "Any problems, contact THEM"
THAT PERSON mentioned, has a lot of them, all as OP, none supported other than.."New build up"
Raising the age limit for COPPA
The amount of entitlement exhibited in this thread is phenomenal. Yes, by all means don't use a build if the developer (who has actually done some REAL WORK) won't support you to your liking.
That will really teach those mean developers a lesson.
Don't forget to complain about the slow speeds of free downloads as well.
It's also a good idea to stop using a build if the developer won't add features you want, and soon, too.
DeanGibson said:
The amount of entitlement exhibited in this thread is phenomenal. Yes, by all means don't use a build if the developer (who has actually done some REAL WORK) won't support you to his/her liking.
That will really teach those mean developers a lesson.
Don't forget to complain about the slow speeds of free downloads as well.
It's also a good idea to stop using a build if the developer won't add features you want, and soon, too.
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Just because you want a feature, doesn't mean it's a good feature to add. If you did that, you would end up with something that could eventually become impossible to maintain.
There are SO many bugs right now in the AOSP code that these devs are trying to fix to make it work on this phone. I would rather those get fixed first.
And, do you think you are the only one to ask for features?
I'm a developer, not for android, but I write code for a living. And what you are asking for is what we call "scope creep". We have to weed out the "must haves" with the "wants". Must haves are the things that they user must have in order to perform their job. This is usually adding functionality that isn't there currently that is needed to complete their job. The "wants" are "I would like to have the ability to clear out all background apps with a single button or swipe". That is NOT needed on this phone, but it's a nice "to have" option, but it doesn't affect the overall performance of the OS itself. Yes, you might say it does because you can clear out the background apps, but in reality, those apps are NOT running. I don't want to get into the specifics of android app management, but those apps you see in the "recent apps" history are NOT running. They are suspended and not taking up ANY CPU cycles, what-so-ever. If they happen to be, then it's a poorly written app, and it means the dev knowingly circumvented the Android OS app management process which is a big no-no. In that case, you should go back to the dev of the app and demand they fix that.
But, you are free not to install the ROM. That's fine and that's your choice, but it just irks me when I see people make complaints like this who probably have no idea what the software development life cycle is all about. To me, fixing bugs right now is the main issue, not adding pretty enhancements to the OS.
And who's to say they aren't working on what you ask, especially if you ask for fixes to major issues (such as battery life, radio, etc)?
Remember, these are UNOFFICIAL releases. They are based off of AOSP source which is pretty much device-agnostic except when it comes to Nexus devices since those are Google devices and therefore, the AOSP source is built for those type of devices.
Android is completely different from iOS. iOS is built for a set of hardware that doesn't have much variance like Android does. Hence, that is why Apple controls both the software AND the hardware of iPhones. It means less fragmentation across devices, but it also means, they decide what is best and you have no way of getting the source.
Google releases the source for Android so you CAN have these custom ROMs built. But, because one Android device has a different hardware configuration from another (CPU and GPU's being the biggest ones), then anything that can take advantage of the hardware architecture for a particular phone means having to change the AOSP source to use any of those "advantages" from that hardware. Which then means, that source no longer works on other phones, only for the phone they modified it for.
So, give the devs some slack, please. They are working hard on it and it's not one dev. If it were, then give the guy even MORE slack. The source for Android is over 12gb along. That is where it's not even compiled. And, compiling the android source generally takes about 90 minutes. So, each "fix" they do requires recompiling (90 minutes) and then testing.
Then, more than likely, the "fix" either didn't work or it possibly broke something else. That means, going back, determining the issue, fixing it, recompiling (wait another 90 minutes) and test again.
That all takes time, people. We developers are NOT magicians, even though it might seem like it.
So, try to imagine trying to fix all the big bugs that you know about, then have to come here, read through ALL the posts and then log those requests down, prioritize them based on all the other work you have, make those changes, recompile, test, etc. It's not a easy and it gets frustrating. But believe me, when we do fix an issue or are able to give the users what they want, we get an extreme amount of satisfaction knowing that we were able to satisfy the "customer".
So please, be careful what you state about devs. Those that do read here usually have thick skins, but complain enough, and they might just quit and then you have nothing.
I understand where people are coming from, but you've been blaming the devs when it's not their fault. Again, the android source is huge and it takes more than one person to work on it. Especially if they are responsible for more than one device. Some devs are working on source for more than just this phone. So, add that to what I already stated and hopefully, you can begin to understand what the devs are going through.