The poll in the sticky is very outdated (no option for KitKat) and requests to have it reset seem to have gone unheard for months now, so I thought I'd just make a new poll.
Feel free to add your thoughts on the pros/cons of the different Android versions and how they run on the Xperia Ray.
Personally, I'm curious to know how many others are running KitKat and how they think it stacks up against the previous versions in terms of responsiveness, battery life and features. This could provide a good starting point for others in their search for a ROM that fits their needs.
Hi, interesting poll and request.
I'm still on ICS (stock based superleggera v7) and I tried a couple of KK ROMs, but I had to revert to ICS because of very bad battery life. Even using tasker and greenify to limit battery drain my ray did not survive for an entire day (1 phone call, some SMS and IM, an hour of browsing/rss/pocket).
Also some application were not so responsive, but I think it was because of too aggressive tasker/greenify settings.
Too bad because I wanted to try how google now (and uber!) would fit in my daily usage... But maybe it's time to buy a more recent phone!
Related
I can imagine this may have been asked before, yet I can't find any definitive answers, to what are the benefits to running ICS over Gingerbread at this time?
I dont really think there is much right at this moment, due to the ICS being out is so buggy, but i read alot of positive about CM9 which is running ICS - though one major drawback for me is the USB mount doesn't work.
But after playing around with my dads Galaxy Nexus, the diffrence aint gamebreaking. Surely its optimised in other ways, better interface imo - but again, Gingerbread is really great, and i will surely stick to this untill ROM chefs starts to cook roms on stable ICS releases.
Eventually check out my thread where some people are talking about ICS and the benefits from it compared to Gingerbread
right, ics is still buggy. but check out some of the very good custom ics roms in the development forum. some of them now are more stable than they previously do. i mean, stable enough for daily use.
apparently ICS has a lot of benefit over GB:
some of the good points:
- smoother ui animation (you'll feel more smoother than GB, also there are more transition animation added)
- improved google apps (gmail, calendar, maps, phone, sms have been redesigned and feels better than current version in GB)
- voice dictation (different from the one in GB, instead of "press-speak-press-speak", now you can keep speaking and the word will come out as you speak)
- face unlock (no need to introduce)
- options to encrypt the phone memory (forget if GB has it)
- some new widgets (some of the custom roms use AOSP apps instead of the samsung one, e.g. the calendar widget looks much better now)
- camera app seems to open faster
some problems:
- usb mass storage not working (may get fixed in the future, but now you can use MTP instead, if you are using windows or mac. linux users can have some problem with that)
- some apps don't work with ICS (most apps work, for the rest we need to wait for update to support ics)
- battery drain issue (there have been several report for battery drain on "Android OS" process, google seems to fix it in 4.0.4, so we just need to wait. currently mine can last over 10h with moderate use)
- remember it's still in alpha/beta stage, so backup your data!
if you are really interested, make a full backup using CWM and try to flash some of the roms. you can always go back to ginger bread by recovering the backup. hope this helps
I tried one of the cyanogenmod alpha builds from codeworkx and i had the impression that the menu is cleanear and more tidied up all in all. dont know if thats an ics or a cyanogenmod thing though.
my wireless lan seemed to work better, too
THUDUK said:
I can imagine this may have been asked before, yet I can't find any definitive answers, to what are the benefits to running ICS over Gingerbread at this time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After being on ICS Remix 8.6 by Westcrip, I "feel" the browsing, the sliding and most of the navigation on the phone is happening a lot faster.
Before February I felt like my old Gingerbread-thingy by Eskimo i belive... was the nuts. Now its like playing in a other league.
My SG2 feels generally Smoooottthheeeer
My 3 cents
The taste is better
BigMrB said:
The taste is better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More for hot weather, really.
What are the benefits in daily use that you are seeing from ICS over GB?
I'm running my SGSII on GB and have a few minimal issues:
I have the calendar notification bug where following a notification, the calendar will regularly wake up the CPU, causing battery drain
Occasionally unresponsive home screen for a second or two
Audio volume from the handset isn't great
I think ICS may fix the first and last, but would guess the second is launcher related. From reading ROM threads, people on ICS are getting random reboots, smoothness is poorer than GB, battery life is generally a bit worse, there's been issues with SMS (blanks and duplicates). Overall, it seems like I'd be swapping some issues for others.
Overall, I find my phone a pleasure to use most of the time, so am not keen to mess with it, unlike my previous ZTE Blade which was poor out of the box, so I was always trying new custom ROMs.
Any thoughts?
megapleb said:
What are the benefits in daily use that you are seeing from ICS over GB?
ICS is blue .
I'm running my SGSII on GB and have a few minimal issues:
leave it alone then for now .
I have the calendar notification bug where following a notification, the calendar will regularly wake up the CPU, causing battery drain
Occasionally unresponsive home screen for a second or two
Audio volume from the handset isn't great
I think ICS may fix the first and last, but would guess the second is launcher related. From reading ROM threads, people on ICS are getting random reboots, smoothness is poorer than GB, battery life is generally a bit worse, there's been issues with SMS (blanks and duplicates). Overall, it seems like I'd be swapping some issues for others.
Possible but many that have rushed to flash ICS are lacking in experience .
Overall, I find my phone a pleasure to use most of the time, so am not keen to mess with it, unlike my previous ZTE Blade which was poor out of the box, so I was always trying new custom ROMs.
Personal still on GB until i can have an ICS rom that matches it .
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey All,
What is the best stable (full featured) ROM for the x10i? Last ROM I installed was TEAM ROM v4.0 a year ago, recently upgraded to an S3 and am handing down old faithful to my daughter and want to get it running smoothly for her....she is technically inclined so I need something that is G2G no additional flashing or modding required. Any current recommendations appreciated...I realize that most ICS ROMS will be out of the questions...that is fine, GB = Happy. Thanks in advance.
PS - When I wiped the phone the home button lost its binding...working to wake the screen, but not as a multifunction button.
Hi bro,
if you like SONY's UI Achotjan V2 should be the best option, link :
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1690148
Some bugs was reported (MMS on some provider, Bravia Engine) fixed, try to find it on that thread.
FYI
SFL44 said:
Hey All,
What is the best stable (full featured) ROM for the x10i? Last ROM I installed was TEAM ROM v4.0 a year ago, recently upgraded to an S3 and am handing down old faithful to my daughter and want to get it running smoothly for her....she is technically inclined so I need something that is G2G no additional flashing or modding required. Any current recommendations appreciated...I realize that most ICS ROMS will be out of the questions...that is fine, GB = Happy. Thanks in advance.
PS - When I wiped the phone the home button lost its binding...working to wake the screen, but not as a multifunction button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the best ROM is donutHD. It's smooth(highest benchmark) and very stable.everything is working
Sent from my X10i using xda app-developers app
I agree with Jakuburban. DonatHD 2.2.9 is best GB rom for X10i. Recommendations......
Sent from my X10i using xda premium
SFL44 said:
Hey All,
What is the best stable (full featured) ROM for the x10i? Last ROM I installed was TEAM ROM v4.0 a year ago, recently upgraded to an S3 and am handing down old faithful to my daughter and want to get it running smoothly for her....she is technically inclined so I need something that is G2G no additional flashing or modding required. Any current recommendations appreciated...I realize that most ICS ROMS will be out of the questions...that is fine, GB = Happy. Thanks in advance.
PS - When I wiped the phone the home button lost its binding...working to wake the screen, but not as a multifunction button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hay ..
all ROM for Xperia is good, but for ICS and JB there are some bugs. For example, Video Recording. If you intend to try but note that there is a problem faced by other users who have installed first.:silly:
Cm7zmod is the best, hands down. The performance offered by ZMOD eclipses all other gingerbread roms, even donutHD.
Achotjan Stock Remplacement Rom V2 is my best rom :good:
D
the best rom is donat hd
its smooth and stable and its jellybean/ics themed , its awesome
Few ROMs Usage - Comments
Hi all,
Just wanted to share a bit of my own personal experience with a few of the X10 roms i tried for some time.
Keep in mind that the daily use was more or less the same for all ROMs and is as follows:
Telephony(calls), data usage (both wifi & 3G), gaming (quite a lot actually), camera (videos + pics), music and even watching videos (rarely).
- Stock 2.3.3: used this for a long time, once it was officially released by SE. When i bought the X10 it had 1.6!! then went to 2.1.
Then i joined the xda family here. Anyways, the overall 2.3.3 rating was that UI is slow and battery drainage is high. (I even charged it twice during a single day!!!)
- CM7-ZMOD-003: used for months. Overall rating was that UI speed is noticeably much faster than stock, but battery drainage is slightly better than with stock 2.3.3.
What i did not like so much was that i had to add another launcher because most toggle widgets i use would not work on the built in loader. Don't know why.
- Then i went back to stock 2.3.3 and tried various themes, launchers (like GO EX, Galaxy S3) but this only made UI much slower (response) and battery drained faster.
The look was nice but as long as you add extra stuff, its only logic that the power drain increases and UI performance decreases.
- FeraLab*** ICS v4 (17/11/2012) - Finally, i wanted to try this (obviously)
Had to learn to unlock BL which was interesting and finally was able to do it ..(after reading carefully - many thanks to all who contribute).
Used it for a month until recently.
The major difference in my case, was that the battery drain was much much less than with any other ROM of the above. This is a major PLUS!.
The only downside was that UI is a little slower but this is expected as the 4.x OS needs more power to sustain, since the X10 was not built for 4.x OS.
Another major factor for me was that, some of the games i played on any 2.x.x OS, will not run on the 4.x OS, like Plants vs Zombies (which is one of my favorites),
I have 3 different apk's saved but either of them work on ICS. Probably they are written for 2.x OS only.
So, now i'm back to stock 2.3.3 and will try a few other candidates that are in xda and see if i finally decide to stay on one, or simply buy a newer phone and more powerful one.
Since i am rather new at all this, i would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributes to xda in any way.
Just wanted to share something back.
Regards,
Eros
dta1eros said:
Hi all,
Just wanted to share a bit of my own personal experience with a few of the X10 roms i tried for some time.
Keep in mind that the daily use was more or less the same for all ROMs and is as follows:
Telephony(calls), data usage (both wifi & 3G), gaming (quite a lot actually), camera (videos + pics), music and even watching videos (rarely).
- Stock 2.3.3: used this for a long time, once it was officially released by SE. When i bought the X10 it had 1.6!! then went to 2.1.
Then i joined the xda family here. Anyways, the overall 2.3.3 rating was that UI is slow and battery drainage is high. (I even charged it twice during a single day!!!)
- CM7-ZMOD-003: used for months. Overall rating was that UI speed is noticeably much faster than stock, but battery drainage is slightly better than with stock 2.3.3.
What i did not like so much was that i had to add another launcher because most toggle widgets i use would not work on the built in loader. Don't know why.
- Then i went back to stock 2.3.3 and tried various themes, launchers (like GO EX, Galaxy S3) but this only made UI much slower (response) and battery drained faster.
The look was nice but as long as you add extra stuff, its only logic that the power drain increases and UI performance decreases.
- FeraLab*** ICS v4 (17/11/2012) - Finally, i wanted to try this (obviously)
Had to learn to unlock BL which was interesting and finally was able to do it ..(after reading carefully - many thanks to all who contribute).
Used it for a month until recently.
The major difference in my case, was that the battery drain was much much less than with any other ROM of the above. This is a major PLUS!.
The only downside was that UI is a little slower but this is expected as the 4.x OS needs more power to sustain, since the X10 was not built for 4.x OS.
Another major factor for me was that, some of the games i played on any 2.x.x OS, will not run on the 4.x OS, like Plants vs Zombies (which is one of my favorites),
I have 3 different apk's saved but either of them work on ICS. Probably they are written for 2.x OS only.
So, now i'm back to stock 2.3.3 and will try a few other candidates that are in xda and see if i finally decide to stay on one, or simply buy a newer phone and more powerful one.
Since i am rather new at all this, i would also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who contributes to xda in any way.
Just wanted to share something back.
Regards,
Eros
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have the money, go for a new phone. The X10 is more like a ghost these days. Or you could try CM10 by scritch007, which everyone says is really smooth. There's also donutHD, which will give a good stock-based ROM (imo not nearly as smooth as ZMOD, but has better battery life). Or you could try on of the gaming ROMs, those are sure to have the maximum free RAM available..
OK, I realize that everyone has a different idea of the best ROM and/or kernel, and I fully expect to try out a few different ones to see which is best for me. However, I am hoping that I won't be irritating anyone by asking for suggestions on where to start. I don't need a lot of extra features, but I do like to be able to configure as many settings as possible--that is the main reason I chose Android in the first place. I also want to maximize battery life. Based on my experience with SlimBean on the Nexus S, it and SlimKat will be definite contenders, but which others should I consider? And are there any specific kernels I should look at? It will be a couple of weeks before my LGOG arrives, so there should be fairly stable 4.4.2 based ROMs by then, but I don't mind using 4.3 ROMs if they will provide better performance. I have been using a Galaxy S II for the last several months, where NeatROM is the only real choice if you want good battery life, so I'm a bit out of the loop.
I have been having a similar issue with trying to maximize performance and battery life at the same time. I have found that using android 4.3 really does make a huge difference in battery life and it makes all the animations, I think, look more fluid. Now as Kernels go, I cannot recomend one in particular, but look for one with eco mode or just change your processor setting with Trickster mod. I use only 2 cores, the ondemand governor, and keep my frequencies between 1026000 and 1512000. Hopefully this helps.
I was wondering about the pros and cons of each. For example, right now I'm running MIUI, and it has the best experience of any rom I've used (I've been using MIUI since GB on my N1 - only recently upgraded to the GSIII). But, I really like the way Milk Music looks, and I can only get that particular app if I'm running a near-stock touchwiz based rom.
I was wondering if there was a way to get the best of both worlds? Or if I should stay away from stock entirely, or if there are any other benefits I'm missing!
Hello !
I believe this is one of the hardest question to reply ever "stock or aosp/aokp/miui".
For me, everything depends on what you want to do with your phone. Exellent battery life would be stock rom, but more smoothness would be cm, for exemple.
NewbieFTW said:
Hello !
I believe this is one of the hardest question to reply ever "stock or aosp/aokp/miui".
For me, everything depends on what you want to do with your phone. Exellent battery life would be stock rom, but more smoothness would be cm, for exemple.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's mostly about appearance and functionality for me. I'm pretty good on battery life, and have a battery backup if needed. I love how clean MIUI looks. It's always looked obsessively clean, and I love it for that. It also lets me arrange my status bar into the iOS style (I like the battery on one side, signal on the other - clock in the middle).
MIUI with Aviate as my launcher seems to work wonders, and MIUI has a lot of great features - built in data monitor, app and trash cleaners, just a lot of great things to keep the phone running smooth.
But I want the samsung support as well. I like a lot of the touchwiz stuff (minus the actual launcher), and I enjoy having my data backed up with them (MIUI backs up my data, but not all of it, really). And I am absurdly interested in the Milk Music app. But when you look at stock/near-stock touchwiz based roms that have the samsung support and the camera app, and the like, you're stuck with the stock UI as well. Which is nice, mind you - leaps and bounds better than it was in previous versions, but still leaps and bounds behind the work that MIUI has done to give it the smooth feel I've come to expect.
If only there was a way to get the Samsung Framework on MIUI, I think all my problems would be solved.
I never tried MIUI, because I don't really fancy the iOS style..
I think, the perfect rom would be a mix of CM, stock rom, and maybe MIUI too, but I believe that's impossible to make.. :/
Stock:
Pros:Usually completely stable,Full warranty,Apps is usually better designed/has more features,Can use official updates easily,More Secure(Without root of course)Usually looks better(my opinion)
Cons:
(may be a bit slow)
Inefficient
Unrooted
Bootloader may be locked
High ram usage
Custom
Pros:
Usually faster than stock
Usually pre-rooted
More efficient
Usually quicker update timeframe
Less space is used
Easier to install certain apps
Cons:
Loss of warranty
Unstable
Errors
Insecure(rooted)
Apps are more plain (less features/looks)