Alright, well I hope I haven't buggered up here.
I'm doing some work for a business that needs no less than 17 new smartphones for their sales team. They wanted something that had a decent sized screen, awesome battery, and fingerprint reader. I immediately thought of the Xioami Redmi Note 3 Pro. I showed them my Note 2 and they were impressed and said they would be keen on the Note 3 with the fingerprint reader for the price. I thought it was a no-brainer. I knew MIUI would confuse the existing sales team (they use Nexus 4's and 5's currently) so I figured CM12.1/CM13 would be the way to go, and I did notice that there was a bootloader unlock process required. I didn't think much of it at the time.
Now I realise there is a somewhat painful bootloader unlock code application process. Hmm. Would I experience difficulties getting unlock codes for this many devices? Luckily I only ordered one so far to test, but I am worried whether Xiaomi will be happy to hand out codes like candy. If they reject me, I'll be holding the bag and be required to get them a different phone, probably something like a Nexus 6p, which is more than three times the price and doesn't have as great battery life.
If anyone has some insight to this process and how it would play out if I tried to get a heap of codes that would be great.
Tell them to use MIUI.
Firstly, you shouldn't replace a stable STOCK ROM with a development AOSP ROM like CyanogenMod, which usually has undocumented bugs and issues. Companies usually prefer security and stability over "the look of vanilla android". I don't believe people cant learn to use MIUI. Why? Because MIUI is still android, just with CUTER icons and a different launcher. If you are so worried about the launcher, force all of them to use google now launcher or Nova Launcher. Confusion due to different launcher is never a good excuse to sacrifice security and stability.
Secondly, unlike MIUI, which pushes stable updates every 1 or 2 months for security patches, CyanogenMod updates are not guaranteed, worse still, CM updates are never extensively tested and are released almost every god damn day (along with randomly added experimental features/changes, which might suddenly break something, or randomly removed features/changes, which again, might break something). You can't expect them to update today, find out there's a bug, update again tomorrow, OMG BUG NOT FIXED ? Patch again the next day. OMG bootloop from bad update / bad flash? OMG OMG OMG ! What to do? OMG OMG OMG WTF Another bad flash? No signal, no wifi? What to do? Wait til next update? See the problem here? Not everyone knows what to do with a ROM that needs that much tinkering. Then, there's another problem, what if somehow the maintainer call it quits? The ROM gets abandoned. What happens then?
Conclusion, for work use, NEVER EVER flash AOSP ROMs or whatnots, always stick with stock for security, stability and support from the OEM. Also, it saves you the trouble when **** happens, imagine a bug causes the whole team to miss a meeting or screw up an email which causes business loss, the management would certainly like to know whose idea it was to unlock a secured bootloader, replace a stable MIUI stock ROM with an unstable ROM.
EDIT : Extra info : I am using CM13 now, it has a lot of weird bugs, like GPS not working for some devices (depends on region) and some people have random "no signal" issues, or no data, or sim not detected. And after flash, some of us needs to edit files it root directory to get capcitive buttons working again, otherwise menu key wont work properly. Some get random reboot. Some get bootloop after update. So on. Seriously, DO NOT FLASH FLASH CM FOR OFFICIAL WORK USE IF THE PEOPLE USING THEM ARE NOT TECH SAVVY PEOPLE WHO KNOWS HOW TO DO A LOT OF ANDROID ****.
I totally get where you're coming from, but I think you're overreacting and ROM stability or updates isn't the problem here. This isn't going to happen for a couple of months at least, and I would use one as my own device and make sure there isn't any bugs before giving it to anyone else. I'd be handling updates manually as well. You make it sound like stock ROMs don't have bugs either, and they get updated forever. Lol.
Really not sure I'm sold on MIUI though. It is quite a departure from AOSP. I tried it for a week and I couldn't really stomach it, but this was about a year ago now. I feel I'd get complains for sure. I also don't see development for CM13 stopping anytime soon either.
Even if I did use MIUI, I'd need to flash a modified stock ROM via fastboot, which again would require an unlocked bootloader. I sure as hell am not going to sit around and setup 17 phones by hand, so let's get back to the original question. Is getting bulk bootloader unlock codes a problem?
Bulk unlocking won't be a problem, since you only need to get the permission for a MIUI account.
Basically,when you get the permission, you can unlock any number of Mi phones linked to your account.
Although I would recommend sticking to the stock MIUI since it is much more stable and supported because in your use case, stability would be paramount.
Hire me too, and I'll unlock for them. :highfive:
Via mi tool and getting official authentication to get unlock code? Yes it's a problem because xiaomi will only allow to unlock one device per month using same mi account, you'll need different mi accounts to get codes at a time...
Also, it takes quite a long to get unlock code from xiaomi around 2-3 weeks, if unlocking is mandatory for you, I'd suggest you to manually unlock those devices.. search mi forum or Google, you'll get process to manually unlock your device...
But still, i don't think it'll be a good idea...
Unlocking device and installing custom rom for personal use or experiment? it's really good.
But for bulk or commercial use? I still don't think it'll be a good idea... best of luck anyways.. happy unlocking!
Alright, cool. I thought that would be the case - pretty annoying. Not keen on the manual unlock method, it seems like a good way to brick a device via an OTA update.
The only other way I could use MIUI is if:
- I could disable all the MI services such as Mi Account, Mi Message, Mi Cloud, and any other junk / optimiser apps that might be preloaded
- I could pre-load around 20 user apps (some which need to be pre-configured with data, such as launcher) that would be needed
- I could disable the stock launcher permanently and have it replaced with Nova launcher
- I could install some kind of AOSP theme
- I could improve the RAM utilisation somehow
If I could do all of that, and clone this configuration to 17 devices without unlocking the bootloader, then I might be able to stick with MIUI... otherwise it's gotta go, or I gotta pick a different phone.
Edit: Had another look at the unofficial unlock method. It appears that as long as you aren't on a MIUI base, it should be fine. Looks like I might not have to unlock official after all.
1. MIUI has bugs too, yes, but usually minor + documented. It doesnt break GPS nor does it randomly make major capabilities of the phone fail. This is where CM falls short, sometimes. You'll never know when CM will change something because they think it will work, which winds up giving you bugs or bootloops.
2. MIUI won't get updated forever, but it will certainly be supported for a longer time than other OEMs. Look at how many phones will be getting MIUI 8 soon. Also, let's not forget, CM won't be updated forever either. Sometimes, it even gets abandoned. Then there's the part about CM where some (well most, but i don't blame them) maintainers are like "logs or it didnt happen" when it comes to bug reporting, and there arent that much people using CM, so, less likely they will get logs. Some even give you the middle-finger by saying "can't reproduce LOLL you're on your own." ***By no means am i implying that the maintainer/developer for RN3 CM13 is an asshole.
3. Aside from launcher, MIUI is not that different from other "flavoured" android UIs like touchwiz or whatever-LG-calls-their-UI. Mainly, icons are different, that's about it. The "not sold on MIUI" is not really a solid reason to use a ROM that isnt stable/secure. Just change the launcher then, use themes. Humans can adapt. With time, users will adapt to it. The same goes to iOS-->Android or Android-->iOS, that's why it's not very common (but not exactly rare either) for users to switch, because within a week or two, they give up, swap back.
4. Flashing using MiFlash with locked BL you mean? Hmm, perhaps you could try using adb reboot edl. This sends the phone into emergency download mode (only for qualcomm version), which allows you to flash fastboot ROMs, but only STOCK fastboot ROMs. Never tried on a modified ROM version, but i don't think that would work.
Note : I am not advocating for/against MIUI nor am i here to argue with you. I am just trying to help you make a decision clearly. By looking at security and stability. Not by judging how lamely cute MIUI is (which i agree, looks childishly weird, it's like an iOS reject made out with touchWiz and gave birth to a mutated UI).
By the way, sometimes xiaomi ignores unlock requests, sometimes they reject them cuz you account doesnt have enough "posts". Plus, you'd need like 17 accounts. Personally, i would suggest getting another phone, one (or 17 ) that looks closer to Vanilla and is friendlier to the Open Source Community (which obviously, xiaomi isn't, they dont walk the talk) as this would greatly reduce bugs and problems on ROMs like CM, should you choose to go there. But at its price range, RN3 is just about the best. Other phones are like 2x more. The next best thing would be Nexus 5x. 6P is too expensive.
Why not suggest Nexus phones. I wouldn't use Xiaomi phones if I had to support them afterwards?
Price and battery life mainly. They're just so hard to beat for the money.
Good points. The thing that I really want to focus on is the user experience though. The extra "features" will definitely cause some headaches. Sure, they can adapt, but I'd probably have to train them which isn't what I want to do. I've setup devices with CM ROMs for people in the past with great success (setup quite a few K3 Notes earlier this year on CM12.1) as they have been cleaner, faster, and much easier to use than the stock ROM. I figured I could do the same thing on Xiaomi devices. I also want to create training videos for them and I was hoping that if I could use CM it would apply to those who still have Nexus devices as well since they will look and feel the same.
It's a classic case of awesome hardware (with snapdragon SOC) at an awesome price held back by irritating software. The K3 Note was similar until CM12.1 was stable - the stock ROM was really bad.
I'll have to think long and hard about whether I would want to continue or if I should just start looking at other devices. I just can't think of anything else under 250USD that will fit the bill.
Others have said you can only unlock one device a month per account.
I've always loved LineageOS. However, it's always had some bugs that keep recurring like after a certain point I can't open the wifi settings so now I can't add new networks. And even worse, there's a bug that causes my phone to restart again and again and again for no reason. This has happened on LineageOS 16, 17.1, and even pixel experience(9) too.
So now, I think the time has come for me to just say **** it to the best ROM(which I think is LineageOS/PE) and hello to the stablest ROM.
If you can suggest a custom ROM that would be great but if you suggest stock I understand.
Thank you!
Hello folks,
Can you recommend a ROM? Don't have any special needs, just wanted something that's functional, but obviously a step-up from stock.
Thanks!
TBH custom ROMs are still going bit rough for this family of phones from xiaomi.
i recommend ForkLOS(los_fork-miatoll), and arrowOS(ArrowOS), WaveOS(WaveOS - miatoll) as no frills ROMs with good stability. just dont use tap-to-wake and doze functionalities, since they cause freeze/reboots.
and yesterday LineageOS put out their initial official build(LineageOS - miatoll)
There is official LineageOS from today.
EDIT: late
Honestly, every custom ROM has minor to major bugs that are annoying as hell. I'm not being unappreciative but with how hard it is to flash and setup roms these days (backing everything up externally because we need to format device) it's not worth trying out roms for our device imo. They're pretty much all just "I want to be a pixel device" - which isn't a bad thing but there's not much difference between them and they all share the same set of bugs and/or features. I always end up coming back to eu miui roms simply to have a fully functional device.
Hello all! I recently got a refurbished A52 5G (SM-A526B/DS) and have successfully gone through the process of unlocking the bootloader and flashing AOSP 13 GSI to the phone, with the help of various helpful guides on this forum. For the moment I am satisfied with this but there is definite room for improvement that I would like to explore.
First I'd like to just mention that I'm not really a phone guy; I have one because I need to have one and my primary concern is a simple, stable and nonsense-free experience, which is why I always flash custom ROMs to my phones to get away from the crapware that these things are always loaded with. However, I am very much out of the loop because this is only the fourth smartphone I've owned in probably over a decade, and the second one in over 5 years.
AOSP 13 GSI definitely does the trick in gutting out all the Samsung crap and leaving me with a nice clean system, but it has some minor issues that I'd be delighted if I could solve. The main ones are as follows:
I would like to be able to unlock my phone with my fingerprint. With a freshly flashed AOSP 13 GSI, this is unavailable.
The torch/flashlight toggle does not work, but the flash does work if I enable it in the camera app.
NFC for contactless payment would be a nice-to-have (but I can live without it).
I have primarily used LineageOS on my phones for as long as I can remember, so that is on my radar and I would like to try it at some point, but I am very much open to looking into other custom ROMs, especially if they can sort out the things listed above. I don't really know where to start so I'd be grateful for some help and advice in coming up with a shortlist, or if it's possible to fix these problems by making modifications to the AOSP 13 GSI then that is something I'd be happy to explore too. Even if I have to go back to the stock OS and can completely gut it from Samsung's garbage I'd be happy to look into that too.
Thanks in advance!
Interesting, I'd recommend you to just go back to android's stock rom instead for your A52 since it has the things it primarily needs, use ADB Appcontrol to get rid off all the bloat and even more if you decide to dive deeper into it. If you'd need debloat recommendations I'm here to help i out
While custom rom's can be nice and that it can also be the biggest pain in the ass.
WooBLOATERRRR said:
Interesting, I'd recommend you to just go back to android's stock rom instead for your A52 since it has the things it primarily needs, use ADB Appcontrol to get rid off all the bloat and even more if you decide to dive deeper into it. If you'd need debloat recommendations I'm here to help i out
While custom rom's can be nice and that it can also be the biggest pain in the ass.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply! I'm aware I might have gone for the nuclear option too quickly by flashing a custom ROM on to the phone but what can I say, it's been my go-to process for years and I'd be lying if I said it isn't a lot of fun!
Debloating the stock ROM is definitely an option but I have to say, the experience I had just simply turning the phone on for the first time and getting it set up and updated was nothing short of a nightmare. It was determined to install social media apps without my permission between updates and that just made me all the more eager to get away from it.
If you have a link to a guide for debloating the stock ROM I'd love to take a look at it!
You can take a look at the discountinued thread of the one ui debloat thread made my hamid
[DISCONTINUED] Samsung Galaxy One UI - Optimization Guide
THIS IS A SUGGESTED CONFIGURATION FOR SAMSUNG DEVICES OUT OF SUPPORT/CLOSED I - RECOMMENDED SETTINGS To Start With - Factory Reset before starting optimisations - Factory Reset after every Major update (One UI/Android) - Remove SIM before first...
forum.xda-developers.com
Otherwise make sure to get adb appcontrol downloaded
So im looking into getting a custom rom installed on my ZF9 now that they have finally begun development, but im really unsure of which i should uses. Omnirom seems to be the one with most interactions, Blissrom seems like a nice rom but its fairly new and bugs are probably everywhere. Topaz seems like a little in between, a fair amount of interaction but still under omnirom.
Im not after the one with most features, just best battery life and stability.
Which one of them would you recommend? Currenty running magisk with stock .113 FW with Kirisakura kernel.
DankDeuxez said:
So im looking into getting a custom rom installed on my ZF9 now that they have finally begun development, but im really unsure of which i should uses. Omnirom seems to be the one with most interactions, Blissrom seems like a nice rom but its fairly new and bugs are probably everywhere. Topaz seems like a little in between, a fair amount of interaction but still under omnirom.
Im not after the one with most features, just best battery life and stability.
Which one of them would you recommend? Currenty running magisk with stock .113 FW with Kirisakura kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
No offense here but without even trying any of the custom roms u mentioned in your list how are you even judging that these roms have bugs and that rom is between ?
jackeagle said:
Hi,
No offense here but without even trying any of the custom roms u mentioned in your list how are you even judging that these roms have bugs and that rom is between ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cause Ive gone through all of the roms topics on here. Omniroms comments arent as bug focused as like Paranoids, more like how to install it. Blissrom is fairly new and got like no comments at all. And i know, Roms can be bug free, but these Roms have been out for like a month or two now, so can they really be bug free after 2 months development?
I just wanted the opinions of someone thats used one of them.
I no longer have the ZF9, but when I did I tried OmniROM and AOSPA Topaz Beta. I preferred the smoothness of Topaz over OmniROM by far. However, that was many months ago and OmniROM may have been improved since then.
The battery on Topaz was also slightly improved over stock, if that matters to you!
Veiranx said:
I no longer have the ZF9, but when I did I tried OmniROM and AOSPA Topaz Beta. I preferred the smoothness of Topaz over OmniROM by far. However, that was many months ago and OmniROM may have been improved since then.
The battery on Topaz was also slightly improved over stock, if that matters to you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery performance matters a lot to me, might try Topaz first, and then maybe omnirom.
The only issue i have so far is that bluetooth EATS the battery. Checking the battery usage graph doesnt show anything out of the ordinary, bluetooth uses like 2% after 3h etc.
However i always have like 15% left after a whole day (8h) with bluetooth on, and thats with 10h since last fully charged along side 2-3h of SoT. Without bluetooth i can EASILY get over a day on standby with 6h+ of SoT.
Im hoping the issue im having is software related since other people have reported it too.
@DankDeuxez, have you tried both of them? What is your opinion?
Joheee said:
@DankDeuxez, have you tried both of them? What is your opinion?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ive not tried one yet because of other things. Although since you asked i might as well go ahead and try and flash omnirom tonight. Omnirom seems like the most polished rom so far.
DankDeuxez said:
Ive not tried one yet because of other things. Although since you asked i might as well go ahead and try and flash omnirom tonight. Omnirom seems like the most polished rom so far.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
UPDATE: Ok, so i tried almost all of the available roms yesterday, but it seems like none of them worked on my phone. Topaz wouldnt even install. Got the recovery installed perfectly fine, but whenever i tried to install the rom, it just wouldnt work, stating it was missing certain files etc.
Omnirom also wouldnt work. I managed to install TWRP after a few tries with random things going wrong such as not being able to show up on the computer, random decryption etc. BUT even if i got TWRP to work in the end, Omnirom would still just fail upon installation and trying to boot the phone just froze on the ASUS logo.
But since i got TWRP to work as intended i just installed the stock rom in the end. Everything is back to normal and im not sure when or even IF im going to try a custom rom again.