Database Users

Custom ROMs - - Sense or AOSP? What's your poison?

Firstly let me just as I give a MASSIVE congratulations to the guys in #g2root for all their hard work in achieving permanent root. I'm not going to lie, I thought Christmas time was an achievable target when it came to breaking the eMMC lockdown on the G2 and DHD but to do it in early November? (applause)
Anyway, my Black Ops addiction forces me to keep this short and sweet, as time is of the essence and I must earn some COD Points before work!
My question is, when we start seeing custom ROMs, will you be sticking with Sense or moving to an AOSP ROM? I'm interested in your reasons and also wondering whether there are any users who were fans of AOSP (Stock Android) and have been converted by the new and improved HTC Sense 'experience'?
Things to consider are speed, functionality, looks etc.
I'll weigh in with my opinion later on.
Please don't start flaming each other and turn this into some kind of epic fight between the OS and it's illegitimate shell UI of a child!
They both have pro's and con's.
Regards.

I much prefer stock android. Sense is nice, but i just don't really like the look of the dock (even though you can change it). Stock android with the transparent dock at the bottom, and all fancy animations for opening/closing apps, keyboard sliding up etc just looks awesome!
Also gingerbread im sure will probably have more eye candy, but again HTC might cut these from their roms. So i'll be sticking with stock. Cyanogen maybe..

No I couldnt get to grips with sense it looks really flash, but maybe it's because i came from the Magic that the system overhead of running all the ui effects worries me, so I have disabled it all and am waiting on Cyanogen

What counts more?
To me its not the UI that counts but the android version, in other words if i had a choice of CM 6.1 or my current sense rom id go for sense. Don't get me wrong CM is amazing but both being 2.2 id rather take the extra functionality, looks and ease of use of the new Sense roms than an AOSP build. However if i had the choice of CM 7.0 (ie gingerbread) or sticking with sense 2.2 i would move over to AOSP without a second thought!

After coming from the Hero and the amazing FroydVillain 1.5. I cannot wait for Hacre to start cooking ROMs for the DHD. So my choice is firmly in the AOSP camp.

Unless a custom rom offers something i dont have ill stick with sense. I like it graphically and much prefer htcs widgets.
Only phone ive loaded custom roms on before was my htc hero but that was because it fixed a message notification problem.
So far ive no issues with my DHD so see no reason at the moment for a custom rom.

bratfink said:
To me its not the UI that counts but the android version, in other words if i had a choice of CM 6.1 or my current sense rom id go for sense. Don't get me wrong CM is amazing but both being 2.2 id rather take the extra functionality, looks and ease of use of the new Sense roms than an AOSP build. However if i had the choice of CM 7.0 (ie gingerbread) or sticking with sense 2.2 i would move over to AOSP without a second thought!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, surely Cyanogen adds functionality, or did I miss something? Yes you'll lose the SENSE skin but I'd be surprised if any real functionality is lost

i prefer aosp clean roms,i always used to have aosp cooked roms on my ex-desire and looking forward for aosp roms on dhd

Bring the AOSP roms on !!!

Yes..
ghostofcain said:
Sorry, surely Cyanogen adds functionality, or did I miss something? Yes you'll lose the SENSE skin but I'd be surprised if any real functionality is lost
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im fully aware of the benefits of CM but being mostly a business user the utility i gain from sense is far greater than on AOSP, however the geek in me just cannot live with not having the latest and greatest OS. Simple as that.

Given the choice of a same version Sense UI and a CM ROM I'd likely stick with the Sense UI version. There is a lot more integration than normal flavour ROMs offer and it's one of the reasons HTC have been praised. Small touches like basic Facebore and Twatter integration without needing an app specific to them is nice, as it the browsing of Facebork photo albums as if they're on your device.
ghostofcain said:
Sorry, surely Cyanogen adds functionality, or did I miss something? Yes you'll lose the SENSE skin but I'd be surprised if any real functionality is lost
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It depends on what you call real functionality. As I just said above I love the extra touches that Sense UI has such as the Facebork photo albums, cross-account linking with updates from social networks in their contact profile on your phone and for me the best implementation of copy and paste outside of iOS. It's basic things, not massively important but those touches are missing from stock Android.

skimminstones said:
Unless a custom rom offers something i dont have ill stick with sense. I like it graphically and much prefer htcs widgets.
So far ive no issues with my DHD so see no reason at the moment for a custom rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
me too, i completely agree

I'm really torn between HTC Sense & AOSP. There are positive things for both, as this phone was supplied with android 2.1 and HTC Sense. So for me my first introduction to android was via the Sense UI so once I had rooted the phone and applied s-off I was keen to see what was difference for the user interface (ease of use) and to compare the battery life etc. I'm currently using cyanogen nightly builds, and I'm most impressed with its performance, I do miss some of the HTC widgets, but I get by! now for me my comparison between the two is like comparing kde vs gnome!
Currently my preference is with AOSP, but only by a slim margin as to some degree Sense is (for first time use) easier, but is quite taxing on CPU...
so there's my 2 cents worth!
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk

AOSP !!!
I dont use any Sense widgets. I prefer the speed in a Senseless ROM

I prefer Sense ROM most of the time.. i will try to play around with AOSP once in a while but when a higher version of android is out but still no official sense rom is out yet, AOSP is a must.. this applies to Gingerbread and higher xD

How about that sense browser with the translate feature on long press, can't get that anywhere but sense, and LPP has similar widgets
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

I'll be sticking with Sense, at least for a while anyway (until I get bored!).
It's nice to have something that just works. Coming from WM6.5 it's such a breath of fresh air to just have a phone that does what it's supposed to when you want it to.
I have a Kaiser flashed with CM6 and a Rhodium with AOSP if I ever want to play with that, but right now I just want a seamless environment, and Sense seems to provide that for me quite nicely.

Sense without any doubt!! The only setting I would choose AOSP is if Gingerbread comes out before an official Htc rom with Sense, as said by many. That would be the only scenario I would choose that, and then decide what to do if/when Htc comes to the upper Android version too. I really feel good with Sense, love it!

I'llstick to the first Sense rom "without all the Sense crap" I will see. Why?
The sense phone dialer is unbeatable, so useful! I don't need the clock, Fancy widget takes care of this. I don't need the news and weather stuff and all Sense crap, but because of the dialer, the contacts management AND the music interaface, it's worth having. In the Desire Android development thread, there was 1 rom like this, but I stuck with a AOSP rom because it was better. This sense rom was ok, but still, too many crap in it. The AOSP was ok, but with an update almost everyday, I could merely keep up. So I gave up and sold my Desire. Now I'm back again on the Android scene, let's see what it brings.
BIG THANKS AND RESPECT TO THE G2 TEAM WHO MADE A DESIRE COME TRUE!!!
f.

dazultra2000 said:
I'll be sticking with Sense, at least for a while anyway (until I get bored!).
It's nice to have something that just works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yep, i agree, im not bored with it yet and it works - no reason to change

What's the difference? CM7 and Warm2.2 aside from one being sense and the other AOSP

Okay so I have been thinking about this for awhile now and either I'm missing something or there is no substantial differences.
I was recently on Myns 2.2 RLS 5 and in my waiting time to RLS 6 I decided to try out the lastest nightly of CM7. Funny thing is, I was running ADW launcher which is also the stock launcher in CM7. I came to the conclusion that there really aren't too many differences between CM7 and Warm 2.2 or any sense ROM for that matter.
CM7/AOSP:
More customization
Warm2.2/Sense:
Full functionality of the phone with nothing not working
Sense launcher capabilities
A few other minor capabilities
I really, really cannot figure out the difference in the 2 at all aside from one being sense and the other being AOSP.
Potentially, I could use ADW launcher on both of them and they would look exactly the same and really the only differences would be that Sense would have full functionality of its features and CM7 would have more available customizations.
I MUST be missing something here. I have never really used an AOSP Rom as my daily driver so I can't say anything about the battery life or the speed and performance, but is this where the major differences in the two types of ROMS are?
Please no flaming here guys, I'm just looking at this in the simplest way possible.

Not only is there the Sense vs AOSP difference (which is big in my opinion, regardless of which you prefer), but you're also talking about two different versions of Android. CM7 is Gingerbread, and Warm 2.2 is Froyo. They're both Android, but other than that they're completely different.

Theres lots of little things some of which you don't notice if you are using adw, like senses widgets(paid launcher pro comes closest to replacing these).
Mainly the dialer, email, htc twitter app, music app, lockscreen, calculator, camera, calender, Bluetooth, Facebook integration etc. It's mostly apps with some os stuff like the Bluetooth on CM can use a wiimote.
I wish HTC would let us use thier apps on asop. HTC's dialer and email are what made it really hard for me to switch.
Before I get told about dialer one, I use it and its fine it's more the in call screen that pisses me off. I have to enter 16-24 strings of numbers about 15 times a day and having the number pad on the top is just plain stupid.

code. the code is way different on the entire thing, aosp versus sense. so if you are going to use adw anyways, i'd definetally go with cm7 to conserve battery and performance.
edit: wow didnt even realize i'm over 1000 posts. just kind of let that slip by. well, you get my 1002.

This is what I was aiming for. I like the functionality of adw launcher and was wondering where I would see the best results with it. Everything seems so much crisper in sense like the Facebook integration and dialer just like he said so it will be a hard change for me to make. Ilk try it out until rls 6 comes out. Then I'm going to have to try out calkulins and mikfroyo because Ive heard a lot of good things about them.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

All I can say is try them all and see what you like best. I have tried almost every Rom for the Evo and I stick with CM. The reason being is I don't like HTC Sense and use ADW on it anyway, so why not use an AOSP Rom and that way it won't kill my battery to have ADW because HTC Sense still runs in the background even if you are using a home replacement app. Really I love the smoothness and quickness of AOSP and I love that team CM has coded a fully functional AOSP, built from the ground up, for just about every device out right now. Unbelievable! Anyway, back to my point. Try multiple Rom's and give them each a few days so that you get to use all the functions you normally use with them and decide which one you like best. This is what I did, but I was already a little biased toward CM because that's what I used on my MyTouch and loved then and still love it now. I don't hate on Sense because I feel that HTC did a nice job and made a very functional version of android which works well with their devices, but for me it is CM7 all the way.
PS. I still flash new versions of some of the Sense Rom's that I liked every once in a while to see if they will pull me away from CM, but I always go back.

#1 main feature on CM7 that beats the competition: Screen on/off animations! =)
Sent from my CM7 Powered device

Agreed...very awesome lol. Even caught my non tech savvy girl friends eye!
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Comparison of different custom ROMs?

Is there a thread with a basic comparison of the different ROMs available for the MT4G and what the major differences/advantageous/disadvantageous are?

tmagritte said:
Is there a thread with a basic comparison of the different ROMs available for the MT4G and what the major differences/advantageous/disadvantageous are?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should do a little research on your own, most people will flame you for this question seeing how all the info you ask are already on these forums.
You can either A. Check the rom development section and see what all the roms have to offer and compare them from there or B. Flash and test yourself

I was hoping maybe someone had written an introductory guide for noobs that I had missed that might save me a lot of reading/testing. Based on your response, that doesn't seem to be the case, so lots and lots of reading for me it is...
Thanks.

tmagritte said:
I was hoping maybe someone had written an introductory guide for noobs that I had missed that might save me a lot of reading/testing. Based on your response, that doesn't seem to be the case, so lots and lots of reading for me it is...
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No one has sat down and written a guide as far as what ROM has what feeling to it.
Cyanogen is a AOSP ROM. Plain Jane Android, nothing fancy. Just works and does a quick job of it
Iced Glacier is a slimmed down variant of the MySense that comes on the phone
Gorilla, IIRC, is a traditional Sense ROM
and the last popular one is a MiUi (pronounced My You Eye) rom...
I could be wrong on the last two.. but yea... there is alot of reading to see what you like. Typically you will not find write ups on ROMs because of biased opinions.

Here's my quickie breakdown... Just my opinion (I have not used all of them myself)
Froyo based (Android 2.2.x)
HTC Sense/Expresso ROMs:
Stock - stripped down version of the HTC Sense UI, very fast, but filled with T-mobile BLOATWARE, Sense UI experience is limited.
Ice Glacier - same as above with BLOATWARE removed and ROM optimized.
Desire HD/Z/Thunderbolt - FULL Sense UI experience, a bit slower than STOCK, but with lots of Eye Candy... Great for beginner users who wants all the bells and whistles. Desire Z's Sense UI can work in landscape, but because of it, it is also the slowest of all Sense UIs.
CM6, G2 - Your AOSP ROMs (Google ROMs) totally striped down to bare minium.
Very very fast, but without ANY eye candies or fancy UI's. Some like it due to their speed, some hate it because of lack of Eye Candies.
MIUI - This is a Chinese invented UI which very closely resemble Apple's iOS UI. So for former Apple users, this would seem most intuitive to them.
LiquidMetal - This is an Acer Exclusive UI. It is also very fast because the Framework for it is fairly light weight. It is kinda unusual so takes time to get used to it. Some like it because its FRESH some hate it because it is VERY different from Sense UI.
Gingerbread based (Android 2.3.x)
CM7 - AOSP bare minimum Android... Super fast because its the latest greatest, no eye candies but highly customizable with stuff from users and market place....
Anyways, just my 2 cents...

Wow, great summaries, thanks so much!
I had no idea the stock MT4G ROM isn't the full Sense UI...

Me either! What differences are there between stock sense ui on the MT4G and a 'full' version of sense ui on the other roms?
And thanks for that little breakdown, very helpful

faux123 said:
Here's my quickie breakdown... Just my opinion (I have not used all of them myself)
Froyo based (Android 2.2.x)
HTC Sense/Expresso ROMs:
Stock - stripped down version of the HTC Sense UI, very fast, but filled with T-mobile BLOATWARE, Sense UI experience is limited.
Ice Glacier - same as above with BLOATWARE removed and ROM optimized.
Desire HD/Z/Thunderbolt - FULL Sense UI experience, a bit slower than STOCK, but with lots of Eye Candy... Great for beginner users who wants all the bells and whistles. Desire Z's Sense UI can work in landscape, but because of it, it is also the slowest of all Sense UIs.
CM6, G2 - Your AOSP ROMs (Google ROMs) totally striped down to bare minium.
Very very fast, but without ANY eye candies or fancy UI's. Some like it due to their speed, some hate it because of lack of Eye Candies.
MIUI - This is a Chinese invented UI which very closely resemble Apple's iOS UI. So for former Apple users, this would seem most intuitive to them.
LiquidMetal - This is an Acer Exclusive UI. It is also very fast because the Framework for it is fairly light weight. It is kinda unusual so takes time to get used to it. Some like it because its FRESH some hate it because it is VERY different from Sense UI.
Gingerbread based (Android 2.3.x)
CM7 - AOSP bare minimum Android... Super fast because its the latest greatest, no eye candies but highly customizable with stuff from users and market place....
Anyways, just my 2 cents...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This should be stickied on the rom bible!
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

Going to sound noobish...Different Roms?

Ok ive been doing all this rooting and customization for about 3 months now and i have what i think is a big noob Question!
Q. What is the purpuse of other roms, other then stock or cyanogen?
-Do they offer different things that i dont know about, i mean i know some allow you to get netflix and better batterylife but isnt the batterylife thing really lie in the kernel?
But other then that why get a different Rom if im going to customize it the same way i have now?
And im totally sorry if this sounds dumb...still trying to really get into all this modding thing.

mightymike889 said:
Ok ive been doing all this rooting and customization for about 3 months now and i have what i think is a big noob Question!
Q. What is the purpuse of other roms, other then stock or cyanogen?
-Do they offer different things that i dont know about, i mean i know some allow you to get netflix and better batterylife but isnt the batterylife thing really lie in the kernel?
But other then that why get a different Rom if im going to customize it the same way i have now?
And im totally sorry if this sounds dumb...still trying to really get into all this modding thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well you bring an interesting spin on a simple thought. With all the options out there you can make a Sense ROM look AOSP or make a AOSP ROM look like sense... 8
Some of the ROMs are just personal preference. I use Cyanogen(mod) because that is what i've used for my entire "android life", it's what i know, it's what i like. I know what going to be included, i know where to find stuff... . I know eViL Dee has some follower in the same case, as well as TeamRoyal. It's a comfort level i guess. I mean with so many Sense Based ROMs, so many AOSP ROMs and some other, it's all about minor tweaks. Like Cyanogen(mod) and Faux123 both offer amazing AOSP ROMs. But Faux is a little more "pure" when it comes from an AOSP end point.

neidlinger said:
Well you bring an interesting spin on a simple thought. With all the options out there you can make a Sense ROM look AOSP or make a AOSP ROM look like sense... 8
Some of the ROMs are just personal preference. I use Cyanogen(mod) because that is what i've used for my entire "android life", it's what i know, it's what i like. I know what going to be included, i know where to find stuff... . I know eViL Dee has some follower in the same case, as well as TeamRoyal. It's a comfort level i guess. I mean with so many Sense Based ROMs, so many AOSP ROMs and some other, it's all about minor tweaks. Like Cyanogen(mod) and Faux123 both offer amazing AOSP ROMs. But Faux is a little more "pure" when it comes from an AOSP end point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
#1 what is AOSP lol
#2 so really the other roms are the same thing with sort of a different look but in reality you can basically achieve that look by modding it ..
#3 so there really isnt a difference in roms is basically wat your saying..

Don't forget miui, used to hate the ios_esk ui, but there is alot of customizability without having to go through adw or lp. Super smooth super fast. You can change everything from boot ani to fonts/custom lock screen in their there manager.
Use to be a big aosp user, but got a little plain and boring. If I was still on my mt3g I would be using aosp, but with our hardware we can afford a little more eye candy and convenience without performance sacrifice.
I usually rock between evil's vf3 and royal miui. Both get about 2 days of battery life with absolutely no lag
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

mightymike889 said:
#1 what is AOSP lol
#2 so really the other roms are the same thing with sort of a different look but in reality you can basically achieve that look by modding it ..
#3 so there really isnt a difference in roms is basically wat your saying..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AOSP: android open source project. More of pure vanilla android without all the extra framework and great for performance. I've gotten up to 3500 in quadrant score on aosp and 3 days of battery life.
Sense roms: built off htc sense framework. Tons of pretty interactive widgets but sacrifice battery and performance. Your stock mt4g came with sense stuff like facebook and weather clock animated widgets. And yes you can get sense looking widgets in an aosp, but htc offers much more than you can find on the market.
Miui: kind of like ios meets android. Not everybody likes it,
You can technically make any rom type look like any other rom type. But in the core and functionality, they are world apart
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

The thing is you can replicate the UIs of other phones but you never never perfectly mimic the functionality gained from a specific UI, you cant get certain MIUI features in CM, or get all the integration of Sense into others rom. You can also make you phone look like a Droid, Sony, LG, Sammy, etc... I like MIUI now since it seems to be much quicker than other roms, I've used android since like late 09, and I must say MIUI is so different even though it's android at the core.

Joker Fuel said:
AOSP: android open source project. More of pure vanilla android without all the extra framework and great for performance. I've gotten up to 3500 in quadrant score on aosp and 3 days of battery life.
Sense roms: built off htc sense framework. Tons of pretty interactive widgets but sacrifice battery and performance. Your stock mt4g came with sense stuff like facebook and weather clock animated widgets. And yes you can get sense looking widgets in an aosp, but htc offers much more than you can find on the market.
Miui: kind of like ios meets android. Not everybody likes it,
You can technically make any rom type look like any other rom type. But in the core and functionality, they are world apart
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm ok ...so wat about cm...isnt that Rly aosp Or no
Mytouch 4G, cyg 7.02

mightymike889 said:
Hmm ok ...so wat about cm...isnt that Rly aosp Or no
Mytouch 4G, cyg 7.02
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM straight from their site
"CyanogenMod is based on the Android Open Source Project with extra contributions from many people within the Android community."
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone correct me if i'm wrong on any of this
Cm was developed to work on most android phones. Most of the AOSP roms that you see in the glacier development section are based off of CM but customized to work better for our phone.
Now looking at other roms for instance take Royal Ginger.
"Is built and compiled from CM7 source code with lots of the CM7 extras and other assorted bloatery removed + a custom kernel & numerous tweaks and optimizations added in. It's sleak, it's mean, and it's fast"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it came from CM, lets look at the 2.0 channel log to see exactly what the Developer did to it and then after trying CM if the changes look better it may be worth trying
- entire ROM completely rebuilt and compiled from scratch using latest 2.3.4 CM7 source code. i don't just take in all of the updates/code/commits willy nilly. i check them all out and cherry pick the ones i want .. test some out, decide whether or not to keep them in, etc. (more on that later)
- bundled with my first kernel build: ckisgen-smartass-CM7-v1.0 . this is compiled using a base of zinx's latest CM7 stock source but i've added in the smartass governor (with a little inspiration from dumbfuqs source code, thanks df!) and then tweaked a couple of addt'l settings. i've bumped the default max clock to 1.1ghz. this kernel will overclock to 1.8ghz. i've got LOTS of plans for this in the future. i'm going to be working hard on it. i went with something like this for maximum compatibility with this latest 2.3.4 and all the changes that it's brought about. I def gotta give a big THANKS to FauxMoney for the colorful late night conversations and inspiration to make my own kernel...thanks man.
- FULLY working google Talk with video and audio working BOTH ways (ok maybe not 100% .. switching to rear camera FC's but we're working on that..still really solid)
- moved basically all of the remaining 'extra' CM apps and a couple of others to user storage so that they can be easily removed using the traditional uninstall method via the manage applications menu (settings/applications). i call this one the "E-Z AOSP-ify" update. these apps are:
* terminal
* xda
* DSP manager (this is the new one with the EQ presets .. very nice)
* FM
* ROM Manager
* Spare Parts
* stk
* Swype
* Torch
* YouTube
- TONS and TONS of other stuff .. optimizations everywhere .. GPS, radio, data, ETC!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After using CM for a while this may look good so read all the comments to see if anyone was having issues and whether they liked it, was it a battery hog to slow to fast etc. Any new rom will have some minor bugs but if all the new pro's outweigh the couple cons try it.
I also saw that it was on version 2.1, so I read that channel log (I won't post here) to see what fixes or changes were made. Maybe a new theme, kernal, some new app's.
It becomes fun, get involved, learn as you go try new stuff and see what works for you. Always ask if you have a question, everyone around here is really helpful.
I just used Royal Ginger as an example to show you the difference between CM and another AOSP rom that is based of CM
Edit: Also look at the pictures that they add, most everything can be changed but a rom's pics may just look really cool that you just have to try it.

Bottom line, try it all and settle with the one you like. It'll keep you busy and entertained for months
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

CyanogenMod vs MIUI (for the fassy)

Do you prefer CyanogenMod or MIUI based on the current versions available to the fascinate, and why?

CM7 because of the Theme Chooser. There are at least 200+ themes and you can find more in Android Theme forum.
MIUI has cool lockscreen tho...

MIUI becausr online theme AND editing. I dont have to download a whole theme and flash to change on little thing. If a theme has a messaging app theme i like i can apply it easily with no reboots or flashing. even bootscreens. Also full system backup and restore built in.. When i tried cm7 the theme chooser only showed like 4 themes and there where all a bit too vanilla for me. MIUI lets me fel more like its my ui
Sent from my I500 using XDA Premium App

xelsewherex said:
MIUI becausr online theme AND editing. I dont have to download a whole theme and flash to change on little thing. If a theme has a messaging app theme i like i can apply it easily with no reboots or flashing. even bootscreens. Also full system backup and restore built in.. When i tried cm7 the theme chooser only showed like 4 themes and there where all a bit too vanilla for me. MIUI lets me fel more like its my ui
Sent from my I500 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This +1, the theming engine is garbage on cm7 compared to MIUI. Both are ridiculously smooth with way better performance over touchwiz-based roms but MIUI is a whole different beast. MIUI not only offers the performance of cm7 but also adds more features and way better looks. Miui is like a whole different os compared to any other rom on android. But in the end I suggest you try both and decide which you like better yourself.

Ive tried both and I am still on the edge I love both of them MIUI is unique unto itself the launcher is smooth and very clean. CM7 gives you that clean raw android look but i am leaning on going back to MIUI because of the theme engine. True it does take some getting used to but once you are going you are going.

Another factor, depending on how flash-happy you are, cm7 is currently getting more spontaneous development because jt releases fixes & updates as they occur, not just once a week. Although andmer is very responsive as well, the changes only seem to be incorporated in the general build on a weekly basis.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App

garywojdan81 said:
Another factor, depending on how flash-happy you are, cm7 is currently getting more spontaneous development because jt releases fixes & updates as they occur, not just once a week. Although andmer is very responsive as well, the changes only seem to be incorporated in the general build on a weekly basis
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually.... We recieved a patch for the sensors last build from andmer and 2 this week for in call and ril update. We are usually only a day behind jt's releases. The weekly update is the miui framework updates themselves
Sent from my I500 using XDA Premium App

Question, can you just flash MIUI over CM7 with "only" wiping dalvik cache? What about CM7 over MIUI?

I flashed MIUI directly over CM7 and it worked fine, make sure to wipe your cache and make backups because if you have problems then a full data wipe is the easiest fix.
In response to OP, you won't be disappointed with either one. They are both very smooth and have great battery life. Kernel works the same for both so either way you get voodoo sound and overclock and everything else if you use OTB. The only differences are mainly in the UI, CM is more vanilla android and most themes just recolor things. With theming CM7 you usually get just different colors and slightly different look to the phone but usually more things will be themed. With MIUI right now you can theme a whole lot more and customize your own theme by theming individual items, which is really cool but there are a lot of UI elements that currently don't change no matter what theme you use.

I bought an Android phone because I love the Android OS, and CM7 -- while it isn't pure AOSP -- is pretty darn close to Google's vision.
MIUI, on the other hand, while an amazing ROM in its own right, makes Android, well, less Android-y (and dare I say, more iOSy). That's not what I personally want for my Android phone. I like vanilla Gingerbread.

That hurts man.....that hurts.....
Falcyn said:
I bought an Android phone because I love the Android OS, and CM7 -- while it isn't pure AOSP -- is pretty darn close to Google's vision.
MIUI, on the other hand, while an amazing ROM in its own right, makes Android, well, less Android-y (and dare I say, more iOSy). That's not what I personally want for my Android phone. I like vanilla Gingerbread.
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but..... Miui's theme manager give you MORE options to make your ui MORE unique which is the opposite of ios........btw low blow saying Miui is anything like ios you should apologize to all Miui users and devs.

Junkboy0 said:
but..... Miui's theme manager give you MORE options to make your ui MORE unique which is the opposite of ios........btw low blow saying Miui is anything like ios you should apologize to all Miui users and devs.
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+1 totally agree except for the apologizing part lol

DroidBlaze said:
+1 totally agree except for the apologizing part lol
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lol I meant that last part as a joke

MIUI intentionally borrows a large number of design elements from iOS, so it's not insulting to point that out when the developers did it on purpose. That's also not a bad thing. What MIUI does is, in short, combine the best of iOS with the best of Android, and that's precisely why it's so successful. Like it or not, iOS is aesthetically very well designed, and Android has lagged behind in that regard. It wasn't until Gingerbread that Android even had a truly unified aesthetic.

Falcyn said:
MIUI intentionally borrows a large number of design elements from iOS, so it's not insulting to point that out when the developers did it on purpose. That's also not a bad thing. What MIUI does is, in short, combine the best of iOS with the best of Android, and that's precisely why it's so successful. Like it or not, iOS is aesthetically very well designed, and Android has lagged behind in that regard. It wasn't until Gingerbread that Android even had a truly unified aesthetic.
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While that is 100% true, I think the fact the Miui adds onto the "raw" CM7 build means that it makes it less like iOS as it's giving you more options in where iOS tries to limit you as much as possible. But that's the way I see it

Junkboy0 said:
While that is 100% true, I think the fact the Miui adds onto the "raw" CM7 build means that it makes it less like iOS as it's giving you more options in where iOS tries to limit you as much as possible. But that's the way I see it
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Why don't we just say its CM7 and iOS combined and move along? Gives you the freedom of Android with the look of iOS.
Case closed.

Falcyn said:
MIUI intentionally borrows a large number of design elements from iOS, so it's not insulting to point that out when the developers did it on purpose. That's also not a bad thing. What MIUI does is, in short, combine the best of iOS with the best of Android, and that's precisely why it's so successful. Like it or not, iOS is aesthetically very well designed, and Android has lagged behind in that regard. It wasn't until Gingerbread that Android even had a truly unified aesthetic.
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Everything you said is completely true; however, the reason I love MIUI is it's theming engine which is easily MIUI's biggest strength for anybody that likes to customize their phone. MIUI's theming engine is absolutely amazing. Also, I personally do not like the MIUI launcher due to it looking too much like iOS's launcher so I don't use it lol. This is what my homescreen and lockscreen currently look like http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15325743&postcount=201 which could never have been easily done without being on MIUI. In the end though, to each his own.

DroidBlaze said:
Everything you said is completely true; however, the reason I love MIUI is it's theming engine which is easily MIUI's biggest strength for anybody that likes to customize their phone. MIUI's theming engine is absolutely amazing. Also, I personally do not like the MIUI launcher due to it looking too much like iOS's launcher so I don't use it lol. This is what my homescreen and lockscreen currently look like http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=15325743&postcount=201 which could never have been easily done without being on MIUI. In the end though, to each his own.
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I agree about the Launcher, I personally use Launcher pro Plus and that thing just flies with Miui.

i also think miui is too i os ish for me, didnt like it much, but could def see why ppl would, very snappy and user friendly

I personally prefer Cyanogenmod 7 over MIUI, but that's because I really like Gingerbread's UI and also because I'm a huge supporter of open source software, and the fact that MIUI won't release their source bugs me because if something is broken I can't go in and try to fix it...
I'm a big linux fanatic though.