[Q]KitKat Optimizations - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777

So it's been a long time since I've been in here, and I've got a (rather stupid) question that I'm not sure can be fully answered, so I apologize in advance.
I'm looking to completely wipe my (now old) I777 and repurpose it as a music player, and I want it to be as fast as possible (so I don't feel totally bogged down when using it next to my shiny new S4 xD). Best ROM questions are bad, so instead I'd like to ask: does 4.4 KitKat actually bring any useful memory/resource optimizations to our phone? I understand the main thing the update brings is the ability to scale back the OS's resource usage so it runs on lower hardware and I was just curious if that actually happens with our phone on any of the current 4.4. ROMs, or if they take about the same amount as older JB ROMs. I do know all of the current ROMs, whatever version, seem to all run pretty fast already, but I just want to make sure this experiences as little hiccups as possible while still running the latest software and apps.
One last question: since I started flashing, I've used Sammy-based ROMs exclusively. Can someone remind me what functionalities I lose switching to an AOSP-based ROM? I remember Samsung's camera app (which usually has more options) is unsupported, as well as MHL-HDMI output is broken, but is there anything else?

Related

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.
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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.
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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
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk 2

[Q] What ROM?

Hi all,
So, I took the leap of rooting my HOX+ (international) about 2 months ago, and the ROM of choice was CM.
I loved it! Love everything about it. At the time, the "stable" channel hadn't been opened, so I was using the version in nightly - it's been moved to stable now - 10.1.
Since I was attached to the stable repo, Goo Manager notified me when 10.2 moved into nightly. After a couple of days of having it stick in my status bar, nagging for an update, I just clicked and let it do its thing.
Unfortunately, this broke my phone . I got an error something along the lines of "the process com.android.phone has stopped". When I tapped "okay" the notification would re-appear after <1 second. I've since found out via Google this is something to do with my kernel (why the auto-update didn't update the kernel too is beyond me =s ) - but at the time, I just wanted a functioning phone with minimal fuss, and thought it'd be best moving myself to stable anyway. This is what I did.
That was Tuesday of this week. Between then and now, the "signal"/reception on the phone (I use Vodafone, so coverage isn't spectacular anyway) has been awful - calls randomly dropping, and it just being unreliable and generally a pain. This is despite it being the supposedly "stable" channel, and the version being the same as the one I installed from nightly (previously). Maturing seemed to make the ROM more buggy, not less!
In the interests of having a working phone, I decided to leave CM. Atm, I'm going to try out an AOKP build - though officially unofficial, I'm hoping that minimalistic => less things to break. We'll see how it goes.
I've run various Google searches and the HOX+ finally seems to be getting (after nearly a year) a good developer community - with Lloir at the forefront of it, and Maxwen's blade kernel. Could anyone recommend a flexible, good looking, regularly updated ROM? I'm not a Sense fan (not long before rooting, Sense 5 came out, and it was "the straw that broke the camel's back" so to speak), but otherwise...I'm not really sure what I'm looking for. GPL would be good, and I'm a fan of minimalism (having as little clutter in the way of unused apps as possible). An active and engaged developer/dev community is a must - I don't want to install software that will become obsolete within a week, and have no prospect of a new release. Other than that, I'm more or less happy to try everything/anything!
Cheers,
AA.
PS - I should probably mention, although I'm in no way a dev, I am quite comfortable with tech, and don't mind spending a bit of time researching things to get stuff working. I'm a dedicated GNU/Linux user, and after a fair bit of distro-hopping I've come full circle to landing on Xubuntu. My view of my phone is basically a more awkward, more delicate version of my PC - the concept of "bricking" a computer is a joke, and I think until this possibility is 100% eliminated on phones, the developer community is always going to be slightly held back. I think the models used for developing Linux OSes could/should be applied to the ROM development process, too - as brilliant as the community is atm, it does have the "exclusive hacker culture" feel to it still.
The kernel didn't update because the device is s-on, also the call dropping bug, is you're problem no one else mentioned it. Just do research on the small amount of ROMs we got.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Lloir said:
The kernel didn't update because the device is s-on, also the call dropping bug, is you're problem no one else mentioned it. Just do research on the small amount of ROMs we got.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
How come you can be so sure of the cause? The 'symptom' must be relatively common, I suppose a bit like the technological equivalent of a headache and nausea.
The device is S-ON, you're right. I've read a little but I've not found anything specific to the UK about potential risks. You've got the same phone as me, and you're in the UK too, would you recommend going S-OFF? Does it cause problems with your carrier (I read somewhere that the manufacturer wasn't so bothered, but the carrier was - as it allowed the user to change certain things to do with the way the phone received carrier signal)?
Last bit on ROMs - I've read/seen quite a lot, but the information just isn't out there (unless you personally badger the devs, perhaps). The most official most ROMs get is a thread here. Compare that to (for instance) a Linux distro - you can more or less guarantee that if a distro is linked to on Distrowatch, it'll have it's own site, you can read up about source, included packages, what distinguishing features that OS has, what DE/package manager, etc. There's virtually no equivalent for phones - the best I've seen is xda's ROM listings under the device...if you're lucky one or two of the bigger ones (e.g. CM) will have it's own site. So, in lieu of that, I'm wanting to get a feel of what other users are doing, and what they'd recommend
ArminasAnarchy said:
Hi,
How come you can be so sure of the cause? The 'symptom' must be relatively common, I suppose a bit like the technological equivalent of a headache and nausea.
The device is S-ON, you're right. I've read a little but I've not found anything specific to the UK about potential risks. You've got the same phone as me, and you're in the UK too, would you recommend going S-OFF? Does it cause problems with your carrier (I read somewhere that the manufacturer wasn't so bothered, but the carrier was - as it allowed the user to change certain things to do with the way the phone received carrier signal)?
Last bit on ROMs - I've read/seen quite a lot, but the information just isn't out there (unless you personally badger the devs, perhaps). The most official most ROMs get is a thread here. Compare that to (for instance) a Linux distro - you can more or less guarantee that if a distro is linked to on Distrowatch, it'll have it's own site, you can read up about source, included packages, what distinguishing features that OS has, what DE/package manager, etc. There's virtually no equivalent for phones - the best I've seen is xda's ROM listings under the device...if you're lucky one or two of the bigger ones (e.g. CM) will have it's own site. So, in lieu of that, I'm wanting to get a feel of what other users are doing, and what they'd recommend
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you cannot S-OFF the X+ currently, so i'm not going into that. Also you stated you flashed from CM10.1 > 10.2, which i assume was a dirty flash (no full wipe etc)
it's like installing the Arch + xubuntu on the same hard drive, which is bound to cause issues. So a full wipe was needed, as you should know "nightlies" are well nightlies, UNSTABLE
the closest we have to distrowatch are the rom reviews and so on. there's my PureAosp, AOSP+ both based on 4.3
CM as well you know what that is.
AOKP no longer supported but stable.
as "best rom" and so on are fround upon, due to the flame and chest beating and so on. which mean's you won't get a good answer tbh, and i'am quite impartial when it comes to rom's as i won't recommend anyone's rom's nor my own.
Lloir said:
you cannot S-OFF the X+ currently, so i'm not going into that. Also you stated you flashed from CM10.1 > 10.2, which i assume was a dirty flash (no full wipe etc)
it's like installing the Arch + xubuntu on the same hard drive, which is bound to cause issues. So a full wipe was needed, as you should know "nightlies" are well nightlies, UNSTABLE
the closest we have to distrowatch are the rom reviews and so on. there's my PureAosp, AOSP+ both based on 4.3
CM as well you know what that is.
AOKP no longer supported but stable.
as "best rom" and so on are fround upon, due to the flame and chest beating and so on. which mean's you won't get a good answer tbh, and i'am quite impartial when it comes to rom's as i won't recommend anyone's rom's nor my own.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First thing first, cheers for this man! It's good to be able to have a "conversation" with a dev - although Linux distros have got more infrastructure in place, there is a lack of 1:1 as a result (of having so many devs, etc).
It wasn't a dirty flash at all - every time I've written a new ROM I've wiped everything (or at least, ticked all the boxes in TWRP), then after reformatted - you can see the output of the 'make ext4fs' in front of your eyes. So unless it's that there's some partition which is write-protected (I assume the kernel is - since every time I've had to flash a new kernel - regardless of the wiping in TWRP, the phone just boot-loops without the kernel being flashed)...it's been clean.
I flashed 10.1 BEFORE it was in stable - so my phone was still pointing at the nightly repo (I guess?). GooManager pestered me into updating, and when I did, I ran into issues (presumably, the auto-update isn't intelligent enough to write a new kernel, and/or its in this write-protected partition which can't be accessed from the OS?)
It'd been a while since I'd put 10.1 on, and thought it'd be worth checking to see if it was in stable yet (it was). Did full wipe - as above - and then hit that annoying bug with call dropping. So I'd gone from being working on nightly to broken on stable. Time for a new ROM, methinks...looked around, and decide to post here.
As things stand I'm using AOKP (just because it was another popular ROM I knew, not really for any other reason). It's doing my head in though - either I'm being thick, or there's no option to edit settings in ANY app. I'm missing some of the gloss CM has too, things like it coming with a File Manager installed (why the hell would you not have one?!). From what you say, flashing 10.1 might be worth trying again...I'll go through from ground 0 and hopefully it won't break this time.
I get the thing with not wanting to advertise...so instead can I ask what you yourself use on your HOX+? Do you use it as a main phone, or is it just something you use for developing?
ArminasAnarchy said:
(presumably, the auto-update isn't intelligent enough to write a new kernel, and/or its in this write-protected partition which can't be accessed from the OS?)
I get the thing with not wanting to advertise...so instead can I ask what you yourself use on your HOX+? Do you use it as a main phone, or is it just something you use for developing?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are right on point 1, it's in the write protected partition, and 2nd point, i tend to use my own rom's....i'am in the mindset, if i don't use my own rom's why should other people?
Lloir said:
you are right on point 1, it's in the write protected partition, and 2nd point, i tend to use my own rom's....i'am in the mindset, if i don't use my own rom's why should other people?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha, I see the logic!
Okay: so we've narrowed it down to a kernel issue. With my AOKP flash, what I did (blade wasn't for the right Android version I think) was extracted the .img file from the ROM.zip and flashed that.
With CM 10,1 (i.e. stable channel) - in your opinion would it be better to do the same, or use the blade kernel?
ArminasAnarchy said:
Haha, I see the logic!
Okay: so we've narrowed it down to a kernel issue. With my AOKP flash, what I did (blade wasn't for the right Android version I think) was extracted the .img file from the ROM.zip and flashed that.
With CM 10,1 (i.e. stable channel) - in your opinion would it be better to do the same, or use the blade kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ALL my rom's are extract kernel from zip, i'am not sure what max did with his AOKP.....but 100% all mine you pull from zip and flash that
you can try the CM10.2 btw M1 not long ago released....just an idea..
Lloir said:
ALL my rom's are extract kernel from zip, i'am not sure what max did with his AOKP.....but 100% all mine you pull from zip and flash that
you can try the CM10.2 btw M1 not long ago released....just an idea..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Re-installed 10.1 (stable) again. Same issue, even though I've only had it running for 24 hours, it's dropped the call and didn't seem able to get 3G data (it was stuck at "E" for some reason, which makes doing anything impossible) despite being in the middle of the city and not near anything obvious that should block it like a huge block of flats etc.
I installed 10.2, we'll see how it goes.

[Q] Initial Changes Done -Help with ROMs

Hello,
I've rooted my XTZ and unlocked the bootloader. I've used TA-Backup to backup my DRM Keys. I'm on the 4.1.2 stock ROM still. I love the tablet interface of this ROM, so I have decided not to upgrade it yet. Based on this, I had a few questions about the custom ROMs I've seen there and what benefit I have in updating at all, or perhaps the cons.
-
Are there any custom ROMs that use or have the tablet UI? They don't have to be based on stock ROMs.
Are there any ROMs that have a working IR Blaster?
Can I use any Sony apps in these custom ROMs and if so, where do I get them? I thoughtI saw them in the Apps and Themes forum.
Is there any reason I really need to go to a different ROM than 4.1.2? Speed benefits? Better battery life? Video performance?
What are the main reasons not to use a custom ROM?
Thank you for any help you can provide.
ColdSunNC said:
Hello,
I've rooted my XTZ and unlocked the bootloader. I've used TA-Backup to backup my DRM Keys. I'm on the 4.1.2 stock ROM still. I love the tablet interface of this ROM, so I have decided not to upgrade it yet. Based on this, I had a few questions about the custom ROMs I've seen there and what benefit I have in updating at all, or perhaps the cons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are happy with the ROM usability and performance I see no reason to meddle with the ROM as it is. Personally I kmow what you mean, even with all the stock Sony apps it is quite a quick runner. I never had issues of lag or slowness. Whatever OEM bloatware is added is honestly not very much bloated, at lewst no comparison to a few years ago when basically your only way to get a lag and nagfree device was switching to a custom ROM. Also many features thought up by the dev community have in some way or another been adopted by the OEMs over time.
Might also be a matter of habit and perception. You see so many threads about this or that ROM develpment, like Cyanogenmod immediately after market release. This also made me try it once and I really disliked. And went back to stock. So, the scramble for custom ROMs for many people is NOT to avoid the crappy unusable stock ROM but rather the fact that they already have grown used to say vanilla Android or CyanMod. And I can totally understand them, I have been buying HTC phones for many years because I was so happy with Sense. To each his own and if you are happy, great.
-
Are there any custom ROMs that use or have the tablet UI? They don't have to be based on stock ROMs.
Are there any ROMs that have a working IR Blaster?
Can I use any Sony apps in these custom ROMs and if so, where do I get them? I thoughtI saw them in the Apps and Themes forum.
Is there any reason I really need to go to a different ROM than 4.1.2? Speed benefits? Better battery life? Video performance?
What are the main reasons not to use a custom ROM?
Thank you for any help you can provide.[/QUOTE]
4. I would take advantage of the official Sony upgrades unless there is something in 4.2.2 you totally hate. Sony has announced to upgrade at least through 4.3 and 4.4 and I will gladly check their stock updates out when they come. Speed benefits might exist, but I think on the negligible side... Maybe measurable with a benchmark but unnoticeable in normsl use. Battery life might be a tad bit better if less stuff runs in tne background, but if some Sony apps or whatnot bother you,much can be turned off under Settings/Apps and whats resilient can be disabled with TiBackup freeze mode. Ask if you need more detailed instructions. I have dumped all the Facebook / Twitter stuff and then some, and while it still is on the tsblet snd in the ROM it is just deactivated and takes no runtime resources.
Thank you, Walter_White. That information was exactly what I was looking for. I'm very satisfied with the performance and layout of 4.1.2. I don't much care for the change they made to the tablet UI in 4.2 so I'll likely wait until 4.3 is released and just upgrade then. My bootloader is unlocked though, so I guess I'll have to use the Sony PC Companion to upgrade and then lose root, unless someone figures that out beforehand.
If someone made an update for a custom ROM that had all my Sony applications and IR functionality, with the tablet UI, I would try it though. I'll also try finding the apps that could cause performance issues like you mentioned.
Again, thanks for this help.

[Q] Not sure what to do...

I have owned more android phones than any non dev has a right to lol, and never before have I run stock this long
Thing is any other phone I have owned there has always been at least one rom that sticks out to me, but there just isn't with this phone. It's not that I do not think any are great, I just have not seen anything that jumps out to me.
So anyhow I was hoping maybe I might be able to get some people to share some of their favorite features, or things that are missing that do not work etc from roms currently available for hte Verizon LG G3.
Thanks in advance!
Morkai Almandragon said:
I have owned more android phones than any non dev has a right to lol, and never before have I run stock this long
Thing is any other phone I have owned there has always been at least one rom that sticks out to me, but there just isn't with this phone. It's not that I do not think any are great, I just have not seen anything that jumps out to me.
So anyhow I was hoping maybe I might be able to get some people to share some of their favorite features, or things that are missing that do not work etc from roms currently available for hte Verizon LG G3.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know the feeling, to an extent. I'm still very much AOSP-inclined, but as far as "stock" roms go, you could definitely get a lot worse than LG's (cough, touchwiz, cough ). Anyway, At this point I've bounced back and forth between 4.4.4 roms and 5.0(.1) ones, as I can't find exactly what I want. On one hand, I like the bleeding edge of 5.0, but on the other, stability is real nice haha...which LG's stock offers, for the most part. I wish that there was just one "rock-solid" 4.4.4 rom out there, but every one I've tried has noticeable issues to some extent. They're often not severe, but they're enough to ideally want a little better. Back on my S3 I ran slimkat, and outside of battery life (which might have just been largely my old battery), it was easily my favorite and most stable daily driver. I'm currently running the latest build of the unofficial slimkat, but I think that the timing of when this device got unlocked, and all the hype about lollipop, etc. it seems like a rock-solid stable 4.4.4 may not exist for a while, if ever. Thing is, 4.4.4 to me really has a lot of benefits still over 5.0. It's not quite as speedy, but being able to run xposed, etc. are big plus'es imho. Just my 2c
I find myself in the same position. I really like xposed therefore I am rooted and running stock with xposed installed. Haven't tried any roms and will probably wait until there is a stable 5.0 rom.
I'm in the same boat, this is my first LG phone and I actually think the stock rom is pretty nice after I rooted, removed the bloat, and installed exposed, I usually run a rom for a few weeks until I get bored with it and look for something new, usually flash back and forth from aosp to stock, but I may keep it the way it is for a while, like the op said, I dont really see anything that jumps out to me and says "FLASH ME" either, I like lollipop but none of the roms had anything much to offer and I missed tweaking with exposed. the most important things to me are being able to root and tweak things and a rom that runs smooth and stable, stock has done this so far.

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