[Q] Noob looking for ROM advice.... - HTC One X+

First, let me say I love this forum. Second, this is my first smart phone, let alone an android OS phone. I have never rooted a phone, let alone installed a custom ROM. I do have linux experience but more as a hobby, not a power user. I like to keep a linux machine around for fun. The idea of never using windows again at home is one I hope to go full bore on someday but I refuse to go MAC.
Having said that, I really like the stock setup from a usability standpoint. My only complaints are the bloatware that I cannot remove and that even when I have power saving turned on, the battery seems to go too fast. I'm trying to accomplish the following:
1) Improve battery life
2) Free up storage space
3) eliminate bloatware
4) Maintain simple interface (I don't want to be inundated with options and choices)
I use my phone to watch MKV movies a lot. I also prefer the stock browser. I watch a lot of flash videos/streams online. I like to be able to use DLNA to share MKV to other devices on the network. I'm not a gamer anymore.
Would anyone be able to help me decide how to accomplish this? Would a custom ROM be a good solution for me? If so, which ROM? Would I be better off just rooting the phone and uninstalling items?
Thanks for any answers and advice you nice folks can give me.

Rooting phone is a good idea. That way you have full control over your rom. Remember to do a backup of your rom before you start making changes, then if you get in to difficulties you can revert back to the original with out any worries.

Android Revolution is a good "Sense cleaner" with some non-intrusive enhancements.
Venom (my current ROM) takes it to the next level and has a friendlier UI for removing Sense bloat. Venom has more configuration options than you can imagine - but you can just ignore them if you like things the way they are.
The best perceived battery life I've had so far on my HOX+ is CyanogenMod though. It's a totally separate build, and based straight on original Android source, not HTC's. You'll lose the sweet HTC camera chip functions with this option (if it's really that sweet is a matter for debate though).

I can only agree with the previous speaker.
Venom is probably the future.
You have so many settings that you will not find elsewhere.
Stable, fast, smooth, and a great support.
Hats off to the developers

If only they'd get rid of the viper icons
Haha. It'll look more professional....just saying.
Sent from my HTC One X+ using xda premium

gamepr said:
If only they'd get rid of the viper icons
Haha. It'll look more professional....just saying.
Sent from my HTC One X+ using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right. I hope it looks better from now.

Well I do not know if you are an international or U.S. user. I can only speak for U.S. and my experience has been Elegancia. The rom is fast stable and offers the simplistic support of what you enjoy. Personal preference directs me away from Viper rom. I have found it buggy, slow and overall hinders daily use. If you are international I would definitely go with Cyanogen Mod, and would still transition to cyanogen once it is released for the U.S. variant.

Kraizk said:
Well I do not know if you are an international or U.S. user. I can only speak for U.S. and my experience has been Elegancia. The rom is fast stable and offers the simplistic support of what you enjoy. Personal preference directs me away from Viper rom. I have found it buggy, slow and overall hinders daily use. If you are international I would definitely go with Cyanogen Mod, and would still transition to cyanogen once it is released for the U.S. variant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use the International Device. For me, the Viper Rom works fine on my Hox +.:good:

Kraizk said:
Well I do not know if you are an international or U.S. user. I can only speak for U.S. and my experience has been Elegancia. The rom is fast stable and offers the simplistic support of what you enjoy. Personal preference directs me away from Viper rom. I have found it buggy, slow and overall hinders daily use. If you are international I would definitely go with Cyanogen Mod, and would still transition to cyanogen once it is released for the U.S. variant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this. Elegancia is great. It gives me great battery life, better than the others Imo. But YMMV.
Sent from my HTC One X+ using Tapatalk 2

ARHD
I was just the same as you but my advice would be simply to install android revolution HD, it looks identical to the default HTC sense so its really easy to use obviously. It improves battery life really well from my experience, I can easily go a couple days without recharging if I need to, or more if I don't use it much. The ROM also has great performance and it makes everything noticeably faster and more fluid, it also uninstalls all the rubbish that's on there when you get it like amazon MP3 and all that stuff. As for installing it just use Hasoon2000's toolkit which I'm sure you've seen by now to root and install the ROM.
Android Revolution HD: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1987885
Hasoon 2000's Toolkit: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1994961

I'll give you my experience, since I'm in a similar boat. After 3 years away from Android (had the first Motorola Droid but wasn't into rooting), I switched from my iPhone 4 to the HOX+ on AT&T so I could give Android another shot. I quickly learned that HTC and AT&T put a LOT of crap on their phones I didn't need, and wanted to slim it down, get better battery life, speed things up, etc.
So for my first rooting/ROM experience, I used Hasoon's tool to root, then went about picking a ROM. I ended up with Elegancia, but really I'd go with either that or Viper just based on the amount of activity on their threads. Elegancia has been excellent, and if you're essentially looking for stock experience with better battery life, just make sure you DON'T choose "De-sense" in the options, and just leave all the HTC apps on during installation.
I actually de-sensed and went with Nova Launcher, but I can tell you that the ROM runs MUCH smoother and faster than stock, and I haven't regretted it. I haven't tried Viper yet. Depending on how long Llior takes on his CM 10 for the AT&T, I may try Viper in a week or two to see how it goes, but honestly, can't go wrong with Elegancia.
Hope this helps. As a similar noob in the rooting/flashing scene here, if you have more questions let me know.

Thanks for all the replies.
I have used the toolkit and rooted the phone today. Everything says to backup before installing a ROM. I thought I made a backup during the rooting process. I only really want a backup of my stock phone in case I have to go back later.
How do I know if I have a full backup that I can use later?
What exactly is the process for creating a backup and where is it saved? Can I save a backup on my PC instead of the phone?
I don't want 2 or 3 complete backups on my phone hogging up space.

OK. I think I got Elegancia installed but I never did install the new boot.img.
Does the elegancia ROM install/update this automatically? I have booted into the new Elegancia ROM and it appears to be running fine.

Related

Most Stable, Least Quirky ROM now?

Hello all,
I was just wondering what your impressions were re, the most stable ROM out now, the one with the least issues. Is there one that seems to be most hassle-free? I'm not nessasarily looking for a lot of bells and whistles...
Thanks!
Used to enjoy Theory's ROMs but felt that every few weeks he'd discontinue a ROM and release a new one. If you want a sense ROM that has a good following, I'm gonna be taking a look at SynergyROM, or if you want a non-sense ROM (AKA AOSP) I'd go CM7 (CynergyMod 7).
I'm aosp fan personally. I've used Cyanogenmod extensively, as well as Omgb. I'm currently running TheROM V4 and it is rock solid stable and very responsive. Not many bells and whistles. Just vanilla gingerbread.
It depends on what you want aosp or sense
For me I'm an aosp girl I'm running cyanogenmod 7 v1.7 loving it and. Ill give the kernel I'm using for battery life
If I don't want aosp anymore I always go to. http://teambamf.net/
I love das bamf! or if not go to http://themikmik.com/forumdisplay.php?1004-HTC-Thunderbolt-Developer-Forum I personal really like chingy's roms
I don't like Droid theory just saying
If you like sense, I really like Chingy's Gingeritis 3D.
Second vote for Gingeritis 3D. Stable and great battery life if you just use better governors.
Definitely the wrong forum, bro.
been rocking cleantheory to shiftsense for the past two weeks. both have been rock solid. DT is stopping development though, so take it for whatever that means. i think at some point all ROMS eventually lose development. hopefully whatever you choose is good enough for your daily driver if you dont like flashing over and over.
ShiftS3ns3 by DroidTho3ry rocks - give it a shot.
I think I'm going to give Gingeritis 3D a try. I'm not a pro at flashing new ROMs... i've only done it once (running BAMF 1.3 now). Is there anything special I should do? Is it just like flashing the BAMF ROM? (can I do it from ROM Manager?)
Thanks!
sushiman79 said:
been rocking cleantheory to shiftsense for the past two weeks. both have been rock solid. DT is stopping development though, so take it for whatever that means. i think at some point all ROMS eventually lose development. hopefully whatever you choose is good enough for your daily driver if you dont like flashing over and over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
DT mentioned that he's taking a break, so hopefully he won't be gone too long. His work is better than stock.. HTC ought to hire him and get out of his way.
If you want Sense ROM, can't go wrong with SkyRaider Preview 2 or ShiftS3NS3.
If you want AOSP based ROM, SHIFTAO5P hasn't given me any problems whatsoever.
If you can live without the 3d, skyraider preview 2 is rock solid.
courtesy of my bolt and tapatalk
FWIW, I have been pretty pleased with the Synergy ROMs and I'd be running one now but...... I was one who fell victim to either the ROM Manager update or the CWM update and now cannot restore any of my backups. I tried various earlier CWMs w/o success and finally un-rooted, installed stock, did the OTA update and I'm back 100% stock.
I mention this because it's relevent to the question..... Battery life is good, the stability is excellent and, once customized to my liking, I really can't see much difference other than the "billions and billions" of crap apps VZW and HTC have added to the phone. If I could get rid of them I'd be just fine with the stock ROM believe it or not!
I'll probably re-root at some point and it's VERY likely I'll go back to the Synergy ROM because it works. I've had rebooting problems with other ROMs I've tried and I'm no longer in a mood to experiment, maybe later?
OK, it's later. I rooted, using Revolutionary, used Titanium backup to remove VZWs crapware and then figured why not? and installed the latest Synergy ROM.
I guess I just can't live with a non-rooted phone for 24 hours..... <sigh>
i keep trying out different roms all the time(sense & aosp based) and find that i'll keep going back to Synergy. it seems the most stable just i having issues with settling with just one rom.
Everyone has a different opinion on what stable is. I think CM7 is plenty stable, but there are those that disagree for whatever logical/illogical reason. Mainly, if you aren't prepared to encounter issues either brought up by your own experimenting or those of the ROM developer, I would stay with what the phone came with and be happy you have a phone that (sort of) works
If you are more brave, then read on.
If you read the comments about most ROMs, there is no such thing as a 100% infallible, will never ever let you down, stable ROM. ROMs are generally bleeding edge and users accept the fact they may have bugs in exchange for the phone doing more than what HTC and verizon allowed them to do. However, ignore most comments, because those are generally just people that screwed something up either knowingly or unknowingly. Like people that go the the hospital (for those that have family members that work at one), not everyone is ready to admit they did something stupid and have it on public display
yareally said:
If you read the comments about most ROMs, there is no such thing as a 100% infallible, will never ever let you down, stable ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Skyraider with Ziggy's kernel is EXACTLY this. It has average to good battery life though. Everything works, including it being compatible with call recording and incredicontrol (voltage control app). It also has the notification tweaks that no one has quite duplicated and I have grown to love.
I find Synergy to be an excellent rom as well, but the themes available do not suit me at all. It does support everything with good battery life and also adds HTC Hub which is awesome. It also has DConfig, which I just have not gotten a great benefit from but I guess some might.
The theory sense rom was smooth as silk, and seemed to be a happy medium between the first two I posted.
Chingy's rom is VERY slick, but very vanilla. The fact that it is Odexed makes theming harder I think, but for me that means I cannot replace the HTC browser with the AOSP one, and I HATE THE SENSE BROWSER lol.
ALL AOSP roms seem to have squashed most of the crappy battery issues and get great battery life now. This added to a FAR FAR FAR better bluetooth stack for better use with wireless devices like Jawbone, AND compatability with PS3 hardware make them an awesome choice. The ONLY problem is the lack of reliable network location. This means google maps works perfect, but your web browser can and will put you across the world sometimes, as well as weather apps etc. This rules it out for me for now.
Hope that helps
Shifts3ns3 has been the best for me, while I liked synergy, it had more bugs and seemed much slower to me, shift has the useful 3.0 features without the slowdown of a full sense 3.0 rom
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

[Q] Fastest ROM for Eris + turning phone into non-phone device

I really just want to use my phone as a WIFI device and have it as fast as I can. Seems like most roms I load still make it quite slow.
Also one where the camera works without bugs would be nice.
Anyways, I think there is a script that lets you disable the radio and mobile, but what ROM would be best if I just want something clean, stable, and quick. nothing fancy.
Vanilla I've heard about, but not sure of the correct one to go with.
Thanks
bryank29 said:
I really just want to use my phone as a WIFI device and have it as fast as I can. Seems like most roms I load still make it quite slow.
Also one where the camera works without bugs would be nice.
Anyways, I think there is a script that lets you disable the radio and mobile, but what ROM would be best if I just want something clean, stable, and quick. nothing fancy.
Vanilla I've heard about, but not sure of the correct one to go with.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As fast as it can run, with a stable camera? Honestly, I think that you are best off with one of the xtr close-to-stock ROMs (xtrSENSE, xtrROM if you don't want the Sense launcher.) I'm not sure if the WiFi only script works on these - I've never tried them - so you'll have to try yourself.
(One of the best parts about being rooted is that it's easy to try things out and then just Nandroid restore back to something that worked if you try something that messes up.)
I use GSB and really wouldn't consider any other ROM on the Eris as an option. GSB is definitely the best out there, and with the "Wifi only" script the battery life is pretty amazing too.
Currently using GSB v4.4, running efficiently. So it may be an option to choose, however, there are other rom's that run great too. For example, Gin-Tazz-aosp; I found to run great, another one to consider. Subsequently, just try rom's that lurk and see which one runs remuneratively(in your perspective)
I have just rooted my Eris, and I'm debating which way to go regarding a new ROM. I want to keep all of the major device functions, and I'm really just wanting to speed up the operation of the phone. Adding some visual excitement wouldn't be bad either. Does GSB 4.4 provide this?
BTW, the phone is currently running 2.1 OTA.
Thanks!
Designman said:
I have just rooted my Eris, and I'm debating which way to go regarding a new ROM. I want to keep all of the major device functions, and I'm really just wanting to speed up the operation of the phone. Adding some visual excitement wouldn't be bad either. Does GSB 4.4 provide this?
BTW, the phone is currently running 2.1 OTA.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you can consider xtrSense; since it derives from most of all the Sense. Also, GSB is a CM7 nightly and is particularly focused on CM7 only. Furthermore, it does not contain any Sense functions. Now don't get me wrong GSB Is phenomenal. Though, if your considering something mostly with Sense, xtrSense is advised; also it being overclocked, Collin_Ph script(saves battery), etcetera. Hope this helped
Sent from my ERIS using xda premium
Designman,
Definitely go with GSB 4.4. I've used this series of Roms since oct '10 and it's been great. I just upgraded to the Razr but I still use my Eris to play around on. I actually just flashed 4.4 from 4.3. the other night and it's really good. You'll like it and obviously it's got full functionality, the only major bug that I know might still exist is with Maps 5.5. or later isn't compatible. But there's an easy fix for that.

Selecting a ROM for my MOM

So my mom got a 3VO recently, and I threw CM7 on there for her.
However, it's too buggy, and having never really messed with any other stable roms, I come to you XDA.
Only requirements are
Stable
Good battery life.
Works with Sprint TV
Has a customizable notification drawer.
Works with ADW
Shouldn't be too hard right?
Thanks!
P.S. I also have a 3VO if that matters
P.P.S. Mods feel free to move if this is in the wrong section.
Try chogardjr3d.
I'd go with cleanrom
Something stock feeling would be best I believe till she gets use to it and/or bored of it.
Sent from inside my Pokéball
I don't think your mom would get "bored" with a ROM. That's a sentiment expressed by flash junkies like us...
She seems like a cool mom though if she likes flashing (had to go there)
I like the Infected Eternity ROM but I'm probably going to go back to Viper ROM when they finish their super secret project. Those are the only two I would recommend for your mom. Don't put her on any AOSP ROM until 4G Wimax is working. Unless she is ok with slow(er) speeds.
MOM ROM?
MOMROM?
MOMrom?
I offer no suggestions. Scratch that, Ill also vote for Clean. I dont use it personally but it would be good for a MOM ROM.
Why not just leave it stock?(rhetorical)
Clean ROM
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
Miui ex: my mom uses!
Miui is the rom I'd suggest sure she will loose her 4G,3D but she will gain an easy to use phone and lots of hidden goods in it too don't be afraid to give her a good old 5 minute lesson one she picks up Miui she will thank you trust me!
my "MOM" has sense on her 3VO when she first got it after a week she kind of got lost in it I said why don't you use what I use? she said its probably way to complicated lol then I told her ok go to your Wifi settings, she paused for 15 secs trying to remember how to do that she did turn it off after 1 minute of searching of course I didn't help her lol I was just trying to prove a simple point...
Yes I am aware certain SENSE/AOSP roms have the same features!
I could sell anyone my phone with MIUI on it give me 15 minutes of there time and they will instantly want there phone like it.
put MIUI on your mom's phone and set swype as default yes you will have to download the beta install it and then make sure you go to swype settings and adjust for accuracy and not speed our phones so damn fast anyways it will only make it more accurate and I promise you between the messaging app that's in MIUI and the general layout of the phone she will love you for it!
in short my mother uses MIUI and she wasn't confortable with her phone for a week on sense after 1 day of her bickering on MIUI she was already thanking me on how much she loves her phone now....
both synergy and viper are pretty good
265ada said:
Miui is the rom I'd suggest sure she will loose her 4G,3D but she will gain an easy to use phone and lots of hidden goods in it too don't be afraid to give her a good old 5 minute lesson one she picks up Miui she will thank you trust me!
my "MOM" has sense on her 3VO when she first got it after a week she kind of got lost in it I said why don't you use what I use? she said its probably way to complicated lol then I told her ok go to your Wifi settings, she paused for 15 secs trying to remember how to do that she did turn it off after 1 minute of searching of course I didn't help her lol I was just trying to prove a simple point...
Yes I am aware certain SENSE/AOSP roms have the same features!
I could sell anyone my phone with MIUI on it give me 15 minutes of there time and they will instantly want there phone like it.
put MIUI on your mom's phone and set swype as default yes you will have to download the beta install it and then make sure you go to swype settings and adjust for accuracy and not speed our phones so damn fast anyways it will only make it more accurate and I promise you between the messaging app that's in MIUI and the general layout of the phone she will love you for it!
in short my mother uses MIUI and she wasn't confortable with her phone for a week on sense after 1 day of her bickering on MIUI she was already thanking me on how much she loves her phone now....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your keyboard missing the 'period' or 'comma' keys?
Sheesh.
265ada said:
RANT START/
How about stay on topic and perhaps "SPAM" post that actually aid the OP.
IDK/C if you was talking about me or not but why not contribute, who gives a crap if punctuality isn't correct or spelling this isn't school or english class.
RANT END/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's too bad.
IMHO, I'd keep her at stock unrooted.
It may become tedious for her to manually update when OTA's are released.
Easier for you to support to.
Techronico said:
I like the Infected Eternity ROM but I'm probably going to go back to Viper ROM when they finish their super secret project.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's this secret project you speak of?
milfROM 4.0.3 imho.
Sent from my HTC EVO 3D using xda premium
Cleanrom or Meanrom are the best.
Lol Go FRESH ROM stockish clean good battery life
myn said:
IMHO, I'd keep her at stock unrooted.
It may become tedious for her to manually update when OTA's are released.
Easier for you to support to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great answer! My wife and 2 of my kids are rooted with custom roms (wish I'd never done it) and every time there's an update or issue I have to fix it. Keep her stock
Btw. Thanks to the ****ing mod that won't let me comment in my favorite thread. Good looking out!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Personally I would leave her phone on stock or use a ROM that won't change much outside of improving performance. ViperRom is pretty good, doesn't remove 3D functionality.
As you can see there are lots of differing opinions, which is why we have so many ROMs here in the first place. I will however do you a favor and list your 3 best options and reasons why, in no particular order. Take whichever option sounds like it will work best for your mom:
MIUI
This one is probably your best bet if you dont care about losing your 4G and 3D. It gives the best battery life and smoothness of any ROM and is a great match for ADW, Launcher Pro, or Go Launcher EX. It is easy to use, has little to no bugs, and you wont have to worry about OTA updates because it will already be perfect and you wont see OTA notifications anyway so it wont bug your mom that there may or may not be an update. Pair this rom with AnthraX A06 kernel for best results
Stock rooted odex w/ latest update OTA
This is because it will have everything in it that the phone is supposed to have. It will be the simplest for her to deal with issues if she has to take it in to a Sprint store or call customer service or whatever. OTAs shouldnt be an issue but if you accept an OTA you will probably lose root, but that wont matter much anyway since you are trying to keep it stock. Can use ADW if you want or keep it regular Sense since thats what this phone is designed to have. This will not allow you to change notification bar things.
Eternity R81 Sense 3.0
Because it is like stock, but a few useless things are removed, performance is improved, and more stable. R81 has been reported to be nearly flawless with the exception of some GPS issues for some users only. It uses the latest OTA and stock kernel and works great. Very smooth. This has the ability to change quick-settings, the personalize button, and other notification bar things just like you want.
EniGmA1987 said:
As you can see there are lots of differing opinions, which is why we have so many ROMs here in the first place. I will however do you a favor and list your 3 best options and reasons why, in no particular order. Take whichever option sounds like it will work best for your mom:
MIUI
This one is probably your best bet if you dont care about losing your 4G and 3D. It gives the best battery life and smoothness of any ROM and is a great match for ADW, Launcher Pro, or Go Launcher EX. It is easy to use, has little to no bugs, and you wont have to worry about OTA updates because it will already be perfect and you wont see OTA notifications anyway so it wont bug your mom that there may or may not be an update. Pair this rom with AnthraX A06 kernel for best results
Stock rooted odex w/ latest update OTA
This is because it will have everything in it that the phone is supposed to have. It will be the simplest for her to deal with issues if she has to take it in to a Sprint store or call customer service or whatever. OTAs shouldnt be an issue but if you accept an OTA you will probably lose root, but that wont matter much anyway since you are trying to keep it stock. Can use ADW if you want or keep it regular Sense since thats what this phone is designed to have. This will not allow you to change notification bar things.
Eternity R81 Sense 3.0
Because it is like stock, but a few useless things are removed, performance is improved, and more stable. R81 has been reported to be nearly flawless with the exception of some GPS issues for some users only. It uses the latest OTA and stock kernel and works great. Very smooth. This has the ability to change quick-settings, the personalize button, and other notification bar things just like you want.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great breakdown. I've been debating which ROM to flash and this is very helpful.

In Need Of Advice For Starting Over

First, an explanation of my situation:
I bought a Galaxy Note at the beginning of the summer. All-in-all, I was pretty happy with it. It was a much improved experience over my Atrix, which was in poor condition by the time I switched over.
I wasn't able to root at first as I only had access to a Mac, and there were innumerable issues in doing so - Odin was PC only, WINE ports of it failed to recognize the phone, the Mac equivalent of Odin (I am spacing on its name right now) didn't work with the Note, etc.
When ICS was officially released, I tried to update to it via Kies. Kies on Mac is a ****storm. It's incredibly buggy, toolbars and menus don't display correctly, it has trouble recognizing the device, etc. I was unable to get it to make a backup, but I eventually managed to load the ROM onto it...
... and that's when the real problems started.
My battery life has turned to crap. Everything runs incredibly slow. Everything's super buggy. Apps force-close all the time. My MicroSD card ended up getting corrupted - half of my music disappeared, of what was left only 1/3rd actually worked. I just reformatted my MicroSD, backing everything important up, etc.
I've been dealing with this for around a month now, as whenever I come to the forum I have no idea where to even start to fix this. I'm up for wiping everything and starting over, and I do have access to a Windows XP machine now so that may be easier... but I don't even know where to go from there.
---------------------------------------------------​
That's why I'm here - I need advice. I need advice as to how to clean up the current mess my phone has turned into and start over. I need advice as to what ROM to try and how to go about loading it. I need advice as to whether to root and how to do so. I need advice as to whether to install a CWM, which one to use and how to go about doing so.
Here is what I am looking for, ordered from most important to least:
Battery life is important to me. I loved how long the battery lasted before my attempted upgrade to ICS... now it lasts maybe 1/3 of the time.
I want something that will work - I want stability. No more constant force-quits of every freaking app.
A smooth, fast UI would be preferable.
Feature packed. I like the thought of cutting edge features of newer (or custom) versions of Android being incorporated - but this is far less important to me than battery life and stability.
My preferred method of installation would be using my Mac - but as I said, Windows XP is a very easy option for me as well. I could also install a newer version of Windows if need be, but would prefer not to go through that...
Thanks in advance for any help, advice and recommendations! ^_^
Get Odin and root your phone...
Download and flash TWRP... http://teamw.in/project/twrp
download a ROM of your choice
boot into the recovery ..wipe--->>cache/dalvik cache/ wipe ROM/factory reset..>then go to the install and flash your ROM...
These are very rudimentary instructions I hope they helped a bit...good luck
Do you have an idea for what ROM you like or want? Couple of great ROMs..for stockish check out flappjaxxx's for jellybean check out manelscout4life..stable and fast
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
Techno is onto the correct answer, unless of course you are truly wanting the stock version back.
Kies and OTA updates are often flawed, and give the end user exactly the type of problems you are stating.
However, if you want a return to stock, the information can be found in the "note super everything thread" located as a sticky at the top of the general note section.
But I do agree with techno, that a root and flash of a quality custom rom is the way to go......g
Thanks a lot, both of you!
As to what ROM I want, honestly that's one of the reasons I have been procrastinating so much -- I have no idea whatsoever. There's such an overwhelming number of options out there, of basic flavors (ICS, JB, GB, CM7, etc.) and tens of derivatives of each one made by different people. I have no idea where to even start making such a decision.
I can tell you this much. On my Atrix, I started with the stock Motoblur-Froyo, flashed GingerBlur, disliked it's bugginess but dealt with it for almost a year, then flashed the CM7-based Neutrino. I wasn't very happy with how skimpy the ROM was but stuck with it until I got my Note. I was pretty satiated with the stock ROM, but decided to upgrade to ICS due to the promise of a better UI, increased functionality and especially a faster camera. While my experience with ICS was terrible, I could see myself enjoying a functional, non-buggy version...
Basically, I have no idea what ROM or even what base OS version I am looking for. That said, I do know the criteria that matter to me, as stated prior:
Battery Life
Stability
Smooth UI
Cutting-Edge Feature Packed
I can't really think of any features I am specifically looking for, other than under-the-radar tethering and top-notch camera speed & functionality .
As I have no attachment to any specific OS version, suppose that would mean that if battery life, stability and smoothness issues are equal amongst ROM variants, I would be looking for a Jellybean ROM - as it would be most packed with new features... right?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1664980
That is the best stockish ICS experience you can get and keeps all the functionality of your phone including the spen. He also offers a jellybean ROM but honestly to find the best JB rom for you just read through the threads read and REREAD THE OP of those ROMs..jellybean is fun and cool but not 101% stable yet..people still getting random reboots and some are losing there APN settings..so maybe just flashing ics and playing with those ROMs is best for you for now..FYI the above rom is smooth as silk and great battery life
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda app-developers app
Again , I agree with Techno, and the rom he posted is the one I'm using to type this.
Flappjaxxx is a fine developer, and he has packed this UCLF6 build with full functionality , and much more.
He is , and will continue to be my top pick for quality builds and performance ...g
This is all really wonderful advice - thanks again!
I guess I have a few last questions:
What is the best way to root at this point? If I recall, there are multiple ways to root via Odin... is there a specific one you would recommend for my current situation (read: current buggy ICS firmware)? A link would be very much appreciated, as the roadmap thread is a bit... overwhelming with all of the options.
Are there any MODs you recommend I install after I have my new flappjaxxx ROM in place? Will tethering work off the bat? Will all of the Gapps (Gmail, Navigation, etc.) be there for me to use? Will I need to install anything else, or is there any recommendations that you have?
Thanks again a ton - you've both been enormously helpful!
Also, I just noticed that the recovery you linked me to (http://teamw.in/project/twrp) has no option for the Galaxy Note...
EDIT: It turns out you linked me to the wrong page - to TWPR 1. Here's the link to TWRP 2.2, for anyone else who comes across this thread: http://teamw.in/project/twrp2
Just my 2 cents. After you get straightened out, you may want to take a look here.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=29376779
Another stable rom with great battery life, and a super Dev a well. I have been running it since testing and find it to be the perfect rom and team for me.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using Tapatalk 2
Okay ....
Please verify your carrier ....model ...and current software version ....then we can point you to the correct bits and pieces of the super thread.
I just want to make sure we are all on the same page ....g
Edit :
I'm away for a few hours ...
But I'm sure a few other helpful folks will chime in with the links ...g
phnord said:
Thanks a lot, both of you!
As to what ROM I want, honestly that's one of the reasons I have been procrastinating so much -- I have no idea whatsoever. There's such an overwhelming number of options out there, of basic flavors (ICS, JB, GB, CM7, etc.) and tens of derivatives of each one made by different people. I have no idea where to even start making such a decision.
I can tell you this much. On my Atrix, I started with the stock Motoblur-Froyo, flashed GingerBlur, disliked it's bugginess but dealt with it for almost a year, then flashed the CM7-based Neutrino. I wasn't very happy with how skimpy the ROM was but stuck with it until I got my Note. I was pretty satiated with the stock ROM, but decided to upgrade to ICS due to the promise of a better UI, increased functionality and especially a faster camera. While my experience with ICS was terrible, I could see myself enjoying a functional, non-buggy version...
Basically, I have no idea what ROM or even what base OS version I am looking for. That said, I do know the criteria that matter to me, as stated prior:
Battery Life
Stability
Smooth UI
Cutting-Edge Feature Packed
I can't really think of any features I am specifically looking for, other than under-the-radar tethering and top-notch camera speed & functionality .
As I have no attachment to any specific OS version, suppose that would mean that if battery life, stability and smoothness issues are equal amongst ROM variants, I would be looking for a Jellybean ROM - as it would be most packed with new features... right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im using black star v flawless in my eyes..
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using xda premium

Suggestion for most stable custom rom

I'm considering putting a ROM on a friend's device that is not familiar with any sort of troubleshooting but is a reasonable upgrade over stock. If that's not possible I'm fine with that. No bugs preferred. Features aren't that important but the phone lags a lot stock so a speed boost would be nice.
Thanks!
Action B said:
I'm considering putting a ROM on a friend's device that is not familiar with any sort of troubleshooting but is a reasonable upgrade over stock. If that's not possible I'm fine with that. No bugs preferred. Features aren't that important but the phone lags a lot stock so a speed boost would be nice.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I typically refrain from "advertising" (even in my own thread - hah) since there are many many fine works to choose from out here crafted by a lot of very dedicated and amazing developers, but in this case I think I'll break my rule and see if my ROM would fit your needs:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2088224
My ROM is pretty basic, it tries to mimick the AOSP/Galaxy Nexus as best as possible for the Fascinate, with only a few customizations. I can't say it's 100% bug free, that would be silly (lol), but the latest version (GeeWiz 4.4 + 2 patches) is very solid/stable in my opinion. I think it's a good fit here since it can be applied as a direct stock replacement using ODIN and doesn't change anything that would cause problems going back to stock again if it's not what your friend was expecting.
I'm not sure the "speed" will impress, but it does pretty well considering it's Jelly Bean 4.2 running on a device that came with Eclair :silly: There are some built-in optimizations you can enable like overclocking the CPU to 1.2GHz that help smooth it out, and I've done a lot of work on the kernel to ensure as little wasted CPU % as possible. Battery life will also be less impressive than your friend is used to on stock, but again I think it's pretty darn good given that we are well beyond what the Fascinate was designed for at this point!
If you want a mildly enhanced Gingerbread experience, you can also try my GeeWiz v2.9.2 here at XDA. It's retired and I no longer actively work on it, but it still gets THOUSANDS of downloads every month (admittedly mostly from China and parts of Africa, I've chosen to not try to understand why - lol).
I don't want to drone on, but I want to add something else ... ANY of the ROMs out here should blow your friend's mind! I only recommend my own because it sounds like a good fit for your needs and could be an easier sell for you since it strives for a stock-like experience. Every dev out here is friendly and will help you if you run into problems, so perhaps the best way to go is peruse the selection in the development thread and see what you think! There are really no "bad" choices to be made here.
I'm impressed how helpful you are. How much difference in battery life are we talking here? I put a jellybean rom on my galaxy tab 7 and it lasts for a month easy on standby, so I know it can vary greatly with custom ROMs.
djp952 said:
I typically refrain from "advertising" (even in my own thread - hah) since there are many many fine works to choose from out here crafted by a lot of very dedicated and amazing developers, but in this case I think I'll break my rule and see if my ROM would fit your needs:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2088224
My ROM is pretty basic, it tries to mimick the AOSP/Galaxy Nexus as best as possible for the Fascinate, with only a few customizations. I can't say it's 100% bug free, that would be silly (lol), but the latest version (GeeWiz 4.4 + 2 patches) is very solid/stable in my opinion. I think it's a good fit here since it can be applied as a direct stock replacement using ODIN and doesn't change anything that would cause problems going back to stock again if it's not what your friend was expecting.
I'm not sure the "speed" will impress, but it does pretty well considering it's Jelly Bean 4.2 running on a device that came with Eclair :silly: There are some built-in optimizations you can enable like overclocking the CPU to 1.2GHz that help smooth it out, and I've done a lot of work on the kernel to ensure as little wasted CPU % as possible. Battery life will also be less impressive than your friend is used to on stock, but again I think it's pretty darn good given that we are well beyond what the Fascinate was designed for at this point!
If you want a mildly enhanced Gingerbread experience, you can also try my GeeWiz v2.9.2 here at XDA. It's retired and I no longer actively work on it, but it still gets THOUSANDS of downloads every month (admittedly mostly from China and parts of Africa, I've chosen to not try to understand why - lol).
I don't want to drone on, but I want to add something else ... ANY of the ROMs out here should blow your friend's mind! I only recommend my own because it sounds like a good fit for your needs and could be an easier sell for you since it strives for a stock-like experience. Every dev out here is friendly and will help you if you run into problems, so perhaps the best way to go is peruse the selection in the development thread and see what you think! There are really no "bad" choices to be made here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Action B said:
I'm impressed how helpful you are. How much difference in battery life are we talking here? I put a jellybean rom on my galaxy tab 7 and it lasts for a month easy on standby, so I know it can vary greatly with custom ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ugh, that's always a tough one to answer Maybe 10%-15%? It's really hard to say since it depends on how the device is used. Some stuff like active Bluetooth definitely takes more juice, whereas Wifi takes less. The screen takes more since JB requires the kernel to maintain a VSYNC (Vertical Sync) signal and it will enable the accelerometer device whenever the screen is on for auto-rotation support (if you turn off auto-rotate it's smart enough to disable the accelerometer). Pretty much anything you actively do with the device will require more battery than it did, there's lots more code in JB, fancier graphics to animate, etc.
There is also one application, Google Play Music, that I have listed as a "Known Issue" when it comes to battery life. For some reason/bug in it's album art downloader, it can get itself stuck in a loop and trash the battery in a matter of hours. I tracked it down to the mentioned album art service when an external SD card is installed, and told Google, but that's all I could do for that. I recommend disabling Google Play Music and replacing it with a better music player!
I wish I had a more concrete answer for this one, but "it depends" is about as good as I can do. If your friend is getting well more than a day out of the phone now, he should probably be OK if charging every night is acceptable. If he's already battery-challenged, I think it may be a frustrating experience for him.
For what it's worth, here are the most two recent battery life screenshots I have. Note: These are with a brand new battery ($14 - amazon) and really only show standby with Wifi ON times, which is what I was testing. Basically indicative of the absolute maximum battery life possible, not real world usage.
Hope this was enough to help with your decision!
Geewiz is probably the most stable by far great battery life and as you can see great developer
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2
There are so many recommended ROMs now, it almost seems like too many choices. (It's a good "problem". I'm not complaining.) I tend to find one based on reviews and recommendations and stick with it, rather than flashing through a bunch. I've been using MIUI from GB to JB, but sadly development seems to have ceased.
I had been eyeing Stephen.k.spear's AOKP PUB as a replacement, but development seems to have ceased there as well. Looks like the torch was picked up by bbrad's AOKP, but browsing that thread opened the floodgates to other ROMs such as Liquidsmooth, Carbonrom, SuperNexus, etc, etc, etc, as well as Geewiz mentioned here. Can anyone provide an overview comparison (stability, features, other pros/cons...) between some of these ROMs? (What exactly is the difference in stability of "by far"?)
Also, at some point around ICS, there was a change in file system and/or structure that allowed MIUI to hold a lot more apps than previously. (I think it had to do with MTD, but not 100% sure.) Can I assume most ROM's have this expanded capability now? Does Geewiz have it? I noticed it uses a different file system. Thank you.
I am one of those people who really likes a stable rom and I would really recommend you try Helly Bean. It's been by far the most stable and feature packed rom I've ever used. I'm not trashing any of the other roms we have, but I've tried almost all of them and I always come back to Helly Bean.
Crawshayi said:
I am one of those people who really likes a stable rom and I would really recommend you try Helly Bean. It's been by far the most stable and feature packed rom I've ever used. I'm not trashing any of the other roms we have, but I've tried almost all of them and I always come back to Helly Bean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately I can't ask in the ROM thread, so I'll ask here... Which version of gapps do I flash for Helly Bean? The thread points to 20121130, but there seems to be a more recent version 20130301 at goo.im. Also, droidstyle's guide mentions inverted gapps. Does that work with Helly Bean? If so, are they flashed after the regular gapps, or instead of them? Thanks so much.
donkeyhaughty said:
Unfortunately I can't ask in the ROM thread, so I'll ask here... Which version of gapps do I flash for Helly Bean? The thread points to 20121130, but there seems to be a more recent version 20130301 at goo.im. Also, droidstyle's guide mentions inverted gapps. Does that work with Helly Bean? If so, are they flashed after the regular gapps, or instead of them? Thanks so much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash the ones from goo.im and as for the inverted you just flash them like regular gapps
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