Database Users

ROM Madness

I wonder how many people will agree with me. I have spent the last several months playing around with different ROMs -- both 6.1 and now 6.5. I have found that it takes me at least 5 hours to put everything "back in" after uploading a ROM (I admit that I have 20-odd programs and lots of tweaking to do which I cannot automise) and have decided that this is really a waste of time. I am neglecting ACTUALLY WORKING on my phone (I have several projects going; one is compiling a dictionary). My family has also suffered from lack of attention. I find that when I wake up, the first thing on my mind is: Is there a new ROM for me to download today?
So I have stopped this madness. I have gone back to the latest generic English ROM and have started to add various CABs to suit my needs for new stuff For example I have the 'Growing' panel, and lots of other things like the new calculator from 6.5. I think this is the way forward for me. Of course, I just might give in to temptation as the ROMs get better -- who knows? And I will always be grateful to the cooks.
I wonder how many people would agree with what I have just written; would love to read your comments... Thanks

I fully agree with you. I haven't used a single cooked ROM yet, still I have a lot to do with finding the right software for my phone, installing it, uninstalling it again, adjusting the settings, etc. It consumes a LOOOT of time and it definitely has a great impact on my life at this time. Hope that I will have everything I need soon

I would agree if the new roms brought nothing to the table but after using itje's 4.5 rom i can't say i agree. That was just a spectacular development.

I think the ROM developement here is amazing and the proof of people creativity on .xda. I admire it.
At the same time I don't use it.
No time, no need.
Don't want any risk either.
Generic UK is good. I wait for R3.

doministry said:
I think the ROM developement here is amazing and the proof of people creativity on .xda. I admire it.
At the same time I don't use it.
No time, no need.
Don't want any risk either.
Generic UK is good. I wait for R3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldn't have said it better.

Klaus1960 said:
For example I have the 'Growing' panel, and lots of other things like the new calculator from 6.5.
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Click to collapse
Where did you get a calculator from 6.5? I'm looking for a nice free calculator and that sounds nice
Beside, I agree with you, I think it will coast a lot of time, I didn't install a custom ROM and I'll wait for the official R3AA Rom, I think the custom ROMs are great, and I'm a lot browsing through the threads, but I do need a lot of time...

I agree with you.
I have tried most of the english ROMs for X1. And i tell you the best ROM is the official generic ones(generic UK in my case)
Almost all the cuztom roms out now have problems, little bugs here and there. I like Jacks ROMs best, because he always tries to perfect his ROM. Even the little enhancment tweaks which are posted here, they are not worth it.
Just stick with the official stuff and use the product that are made good developers (like HTC and SPB)

I for one am pretty happy with the nX1i ROM. Its lite and works like a charm.
But yea...its pretty darn annoying to have to install everything back into the device.

Klaus1960 said:
I have found that it takes me at least 5 hours to put everything "back in" after uploading a ROM.
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Click to collapse
5 hours? Did you use UC to automate the install process? I had UC for almost everything (e.g. software install, software registration w/ registry or file copying, shortcut moving, customization ....etc) and it take about 20 mins and require no attention. It may take some time beforehand for UC, but worth it since the one time process will work for any UC custom rom w/ any device (w/ minor change) in the long run.
Klaus1960 said:
So I have stopped this madness. I have gone back to the latest generic English ROM and have started to add various CABs to suit my needs for new stuff
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't that you are doing the same thing except it's just on a stock rom (and no UC to automate yr process)?

I am not either a flashing fun.
I ve had 2 WM phones b4 (MIO & ETEN) with very buggy official ROMs. And a good custom ROM could give tones of added value at these old times.
But with X1 things are different. The latest version of the official ROM is quite good. Not any serious issues.
A good reason to flash a custom rom could be if u like Manila (which I don't)
ATM, I am using nX1i which is actually same as the official, except some junks removed and some newer version apps and I am very happy with it.

From a Winmo user perpsective

Hey guys, I am switching over from the htc blackstone and have experienced with using roms cooked by chefs. However, I am a beginner when it comes to android and have a few questions regarding cooked roms.
How polished are the roms cooked by the major chefs here? Because when using roms cooked for winmo, each ones have irritating bugs that need to be reflashed constantly on a weekly basis.
Is the desire rom build still in its early beta stage?
Thanks guys!

Cyan's ROM is perfect from my use. I have yet to try a sense rom, like modaco's because of compatibility problems. I can vouch for cyans rom being FAST and without error.

As far as I can tell the (non Sense) ROMs from Cyanogen and MoDaCa are really stable and don't have any issues with standart android apps.

rs0cal said:
Because when using roms cooked for winmo, each ones have irritating bugs that need to be reflashed constantly on a weekly basis.
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Same thing here. Desire ROM has Bluetooth and Cyanogen's ROM on my phone Gmail sync didn't work.

rs0cal said:
have irritating bugs that need to be reflashed constantly on a weekly basis.
Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's just WinMo surely?

Some of the roms can be, but thats mainly in test roms or "alpha" releases. Guys that create roms here are good at letting you know what issues are present in roms so you can decide if thats a big deal for you or not.

As a former winmo guy I would say there were plenty of stable roms that didnt require reflashing, ever. Where you using mtty? At any rate I have only tried enoms rom so far. It has a couple odd issues for me but most of them I found answers to, the gain over the stock rom is well worth dealing with them and the rom itself has been stable. I'll be giving CM a shot here shortly and see how that goes. There is in general a feeling of android development being in its infancy to me as compared to the winmo stuff.

The Desire rom is still in alpha stages, but it is polished enough to be considered a full release.

All ROMs available for N1 are near perfection. No major bugs.

faraz1992 said:
All ROMs available for N1 are near perfection. No major bugs.
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don't be posting stuff that just isn't true... Pretty much all the ROMS are super stable (as I type this I just got a call I tried to pick up with bluetooth and the phone froze up, only happend about 3 times in the last month).
However, some ROMs are farther than others.. Right now from what I know ALL the SenseUI roms do not have 100% Bluetooth working... this is because the bluetooth stack has hooks into the SenseUI Kernel. The Nexus One can't use that kernel...
There are always little fixes for the ROMs that cooks produce, but on the whole the N1 has experienced very stable roms for the most part. (I'm comparing to lots of other phones I have played with like my HTC Tilt, LOL).

rs0cal said:
Hey guys, I am switching over from the htc blackstone and have experienced with using roms cooked by chefs. However, I am a beginner when it comes to android and have a few questions regarding cooked roms.
How polished are the roms cooked by the major chefs here? Because when using roms cooked for winmo, each ones have irritating bugs that need to be reflashed constantly on a weekly basis.
Is the desire rom build still in its early beta stage?
Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My experience coming from the infamous HD2 (Leo) to my very first Android which happened to be the Nexus one, i can only imagine how HAPPY you will become.
I have been a looooong time Big time fan of Winmo from Pocket PC 2002 to WM 6.5 until few weeks ago when i decided to abort the ship.
I have just realized how stupid i am to compromise all my time in a mobile operating system that keeps on wasting my time (i.e. Taking out the battery because it hangs/froze up for so many times in one day, never missed a day without a dropped call, constantly ending task in task manager to speed up the phone etc.. etc.. Upgrading firmware every freaking week thinking that maybe this time it will be more stable etc.. etc..)
I did not realized all these until one day, i have decided to write down how many times i would need to restart my infamous HD2 in one day, guess what?? 37 times!
to make it short, i sold it and got the nexus one! and for the first time in my life, i felt that this phone is worth every penny!
Although, i missed the HTC sense... i now rooted it and installed kingklick version of desire rom which is absolutely amazing! and much much better than my previous HD2!
Now that the Android Market is getting popular each day! Im Lovin it!
Since day 1, i have not even restarted the phone nor had experience any hangs or any malfunction.

dont even think about using the sense rom, they have bugs and get slow over time, not to mention the horrible battery drain from the htc sense system bc of all the apps running, just stick with cyanogen or MCR
edit: i also came from winmo (omnia user) and the flashing experience isnt as exciting as winmo's, i personally enjoyed flashing like every week, but on the nexus you will flash like once every now and then as their roms are more stable, and new rom releases arent that often as the nexus is still new and is pretty much the most up to date android phone, so dont expect much until newer phones with better or different interfaces are released...

andredabomb92 said:
dont even think about using the sense rom, they have bugs and get slow over time, not to mention the horrible battery drain from the htc sense system bc of all the apps running, just stick with cyanogen or MCR
edit: i also came from winmo (omnia user) and the flashing experience isnt as exciting as winmo's, i personally enjoyed flashing like every week, but on the nexus you will flash like once every now and then as their roms are more stable, and new rom releases arent that often as the nexus is still new and is pretty much the most up to date android phone, so dont expect much until newer phones with better or different interfaces are released...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what are you talkin about??? i am using kingklick version 1.0 desire rom for two weeks and never had an issue (besides the noted bluetooth and camera flash capture). which ofcourse are acceptable to my daily use.
the rom itself is fast compared to the original modaco alpha 21, although it is still based with the modaco (with kings mods, it made a lot of progress)
it also includes the wifi and usb tether application built in.
never had a problem with the 3g or hsdpa and reception as well.
overall ot is great!

From an Android Mod to ex ex WinMo user........please start asking question in Q&a or General.....Developmental section is strictly for that.

rs0cal said:
Hey guys, I am switching over from the htc blackstone and have experienced with using roms cooked by chefs. However, I am a beginner when it comes to android and have a few questions regarding cooked roms.
How polished are the roms cooked by the major chefs here? Because when using roms cooked for winmo, each ones have irritating bugs that need to be reflashed constantly on a weekly basis.
Is the desire rom build still in its early beta stage?
Thanks guys!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the exact reason I am NOT playing the rom flashing game with my Nexus One. **** got REAL old on Winmo

Your honest opinions on cooked ROMs please [Front Page Article]

Hi all,
First of all, I wish to preface this by saying how appreciative I am of the assistance and wealth of knowledge I have found on this forum. Without it, I must say I would have been pretty disappointed with my HD2 n its purely stock form. Much like the appstore is the iPhone's primary selling point, I believe the customisable nature of WinMo devices is their main selling point and is the reason I chose to purchase an HD2 over an iPhone (other than the cost/Tech Specs) of course. This thread is in no way intended to take away from the amazing work our chefs do!
I would also appreciate if any "If you don't like customising, why are you here?" comments off this thread also as that is not in any way what this is about. god knows I have destroyed enough PC BIOSes and mobile phones trying to customise them or tweak them for the maximum achieveable performance before it all became so mainstream.
I know this kind of a question is going to get people into "attack the n00b" mode really quickly, but i feel it is a legitimate question which could spark some insightful and intelligent discussion.
I was just wondering what your honest opinions are regarding the use of cooked ROMs.
At present I am using an up to date stock ROM with many added tweaks including CHT1.7.1 and the tweaked graphics drivers and am more than happy with the way the phone looks and operates. there is no software that is missing from the stock ROM which I feel would benefit me in any way and the phone seems to operate quickly and seamlessly and so far I have not experienced any reliabillity issues.
With a long standing background in the electronics and software development field, I have always been quite a strong believer in the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" principal, but as I consider you guys and girls to be an intelligent bunch with a wealth of cumilative knowledge, I am interested in your opinions on the cooked VS customised stock ROM debate.
From what I can gather the benefits of a well developed cooked ROM such as EnergyROM or CleanEX ROM are as follows:
Menus are neatly organised and catagorised.
Extra software which is considered to be useful is preloaded.
Interface is tweaked (albiet usually no moreso than it can be with a few mods loaded on to a stock ROM)
UI and animation speed improvements.
The arguements against are as follows:
Risk (however low it is) of bricking your device
Compatabillity with different devices
Warrenty is voided (even though this can in most cases be avoided by flashing bck to a stock SPL)
Reliance on one person, or just a few people for updates rather than a huge company.
Personally, I have never used a cooked ROM, but I have been considering installing the EnergyROM on to my HD2 s it is the most closely matched cooked ROM to the way I have customised my stock ROM, however as I am currently quite happy with the way I have my stock ROM set up, I am wondering if there are any extra benefits that I have missed. It would almost seem that in my case, I am better off just sticking with the tweaked stock ROM as it serves all my needs and scouring pretty much any thread relating to a cooked ROM, I seem to stumble upon a LOT of bugs (hich have usually been fixed in subsequent releases).
To me it would seem that a lot of the time, the appeal of cooked ROMs is the "Elite" and "Geeky coolness" factor rather than actual functionallity.
Discuss....

Excellent post mate and I hope it's taken in the spirit it's intended and you're spared all the usual nonsense when questions are asked.
I've been on here a few months, but rarely ventured into the ROM's section, fairly competent with everything in the "Themes + Apps" section and like you, have my phone looking and performing pretty much how I'd want it.
All I'd perhaps want, and the reason I dip in here every now and then for a look, is perhaps a ROM which removes some of the redundant (for me) applications, ie Twitter, Footprints, Stocks etc to perhaps speed things up a little as my RAM is constantly at 60% and I'm getting low on internal storage memory despite installing everything which can be to the SD card.
But again, I wonder if there is perhaps more to this ROM flashing and whether I'd notice any real advantages which I'd not considered?
One other question for anyone who feels like answering, and it will seem silly. Are the softkeys in 6.5xx all aligned with the right hand one set further in than the left (ie non-symetrical), may seem a minor thing, but it just doesn't look right to me and if I was going to flash to something newer, I'd like to know if it can be changed.
Probably complete "noob" type questions, and apologies for partial hijack of the OP's thread, but as someone else had dared to ask some points that I'd like answered, I thought I'd stick my oar in and we can both be flamed together then.

Thanks for the support
I am the admin on another forum so I am not afraid or unfamiliar with flameage!
I'm looking forward to seeing what discussions this sparks

i think a VOTE would be great for this page....

Hi I would think the best advice would be that if you are happy with your ROM and you are not having any issues with it. Stick to it, this way you will have the peace of mind that your warranty is still in tact and you will not have to revert to reflashing to original stock without any risks.
Flashing on the other hand is fun and I feel the ROM cooks do a fantastic job of tweaking them so they work most efficiently. The chefs also remove programs that are not used that often which gives us more memory to install programs that we will actually use and the chefs also update to the newest builds for software which is dorment in the stock roms e.g. google maps,opera etc. If you update these on stock roms, it takes away valuable space due to the programs installed twice (you cannot usually replace the stock ROM versions and overwrite them with newer builds).
Naturally you will get issues cropping up with things going wrong and this is mainly due to the fact that the chefs use the newest builds before they are released officially so you can have a feel of new things that are put into them. I personally like to stick to one or two chefs and follow their progress, this way you will generally be ok as you will be aware of any minor problems and their fixes. If you flash many different ROMs with different chefs, you may encounter different problems with each of their ROMs and feel that ROM flashing seems to cause more problems than solutions.
I hope this clarifies some of your queries.

chiraag said:
i think a VOTE would be great for this page....
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Click to collapse
I considered it, but I thought a vote makes it a little too black and white. I'd rather a more in depth discussion on the pros/cons

Adiction!!
There's nothing wrong with stock ROM's what a little tweaking can't solve.
and there wil always be problems and things that don't suite you in a cooked ROM.
Bud if you would try it once it wil become an adiction to find the newest and/or the fastest that suite your needs the best.
if you follow the guide's the change of bricking your phone are slim bud there is always the posebilety
I think it's one of the best things of my HTC and no risk no luck.
(bud don't listen to me because i'm an addict)

Well it took a while before I flashed a cooked rom into my phone. I use Artemis roms, and those are the only one I have tried yet - and I really do not think I will ever try another since most of them have silly and ugly mods baked in.... I like the newer 6.5.5 with bigger soft buttons and the "start" down on the left. But the most important thing is speed - with artemis, everything the phone can do, the phone does it faster running Artemis than Stock rom. Often _much_ faster. Starting Opera 10 for example takes roughly 2 secs with Artemis, 5-6secs with stock...

I started to flash custom ROMS because I got sick and tired waiting for HTC to solve my problem with data connection. I tried all sorts of official and unofficial tweaks and patches without success so I decided to take the risk with the flashing adventure.
After flashing a few ROMS from different chefs I eventually found THE ONE that solved my frustrating problem out of the box. Not only that but I was also very impressed by the performance and by the chef himself - always there, always wanting to improve, always fair and balanced. So I settled for it and it's the only ROM I flash to my phone.
I would also like to add that I prefer the close to stock philosopy because I want to do the customization myself. Even so, in my opinion custom ROMS have the following advantages compared to stock:
- you have many options to chose from
- they prove to be faster and more stable
- you have LIVE support from the chef and the other users
- you get updates much, much faster and more frequently (even if beta builds)
- you get all sorts of goodies cooked in the ROM (tweaks, apps, etc.)
- with the ROM I use you also get an app built by the chef himself to tweak the ROM to your likings
- it's rather fun to do it
just my 2 cents

I'm the same as the above poster. I got sick of waiting for my mobile operator to update the ROM (O2). I had SMS problems, data connection problems, freezong problems, the list goes on.
Then i turned into a frantic flasher..up to 5 times a day, looking for the latest and greatest. I was forever setting my phone up and it was taking over my life! I even tried cooking my own with pretty decent success.
I'm now more settled and gone for a ROM thats closer to stock with a few tweaks. It does what i want and pretty quickly too. Its a million miles away from the original phone i got back in early December, but that a good thing.

on a functional level much of the surface features that cooked roms offer could in theory be done with cabs and tweaks, but some things can only be cooked in.
also, cooking in a fix or tweak means it is there from the start, so when you hard reset it the system isn't needing to be patched, so the fix is more stable.(generaly)
on another level many of the chefs really do know a thing or two about building roms and can make them smaller faster and more stable than the stock releases.

I personally never flashed a device...I have to admit that with CHT1.7.1 things been running smoothy and perfectly. The idea of removing some applications on standard ROM sounds really great like footprint,shares,music sense...which i dont use.
As Sentinel196 says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" , i guess i come from the same school in that sense.
by the way with all the cutomization available for CHT i find it really hard if people do not like their htc hd2

I do believe the HD2 is a very good compromise between 'works out of the box' and 'can tweak 'til the cows come home'. It's a modders dream but at the same time probably the only WinMobile device that I thought to myself "I might actually stick with a stock rom, it works"
Curiousity got the better of me... WITHIN HOURS... of getting the device. First off I noticed I was locked to Vodafone's stock rom (it was obviously a Vodafone customer selling on a new handset), I couldn't get the latest rom from HTC so HSPL'd it and flashed to stock 1.66. Good stuff, it was working fine for me.
Then I got curious again some days later and tried 6.5.5. I definitely prefered 6.5 to 6.5.5 and believe it feels much more 'balanced' on a device of this nature (giant screen, few hardware buttons) so decided I wanted to go back to 6.5 after some days of use. I remembered the stock rom did have a lot of 'junk' attached to it, despite operating blazing fast. I found CleanEX on here and from the description it sounded like a good compromise - the stock rom but with junk removed, more 'under the hood' tweaks added and all underlying software updated. Fantastic. I've been flashing to it 'til now and can't see me going anywhere else for the time being.
So yeah, the HD2 out of the box (for the most part, I realise some people have experienced bugs) is a decent device. However, coming here turns it into an AMAZING device capable of just about anything. Having the choice is fantastic. When people ask me about me about my HD2 Vs. the iPhone I can't help but be honest and state 'the iPhone just works', if you want the HD2 to fulfill its full potential you'll need to 'dedicate time to it and be one with your inner geek.'
For people stuck with locked down operator roms, the rom section on XDA is invaluable as it would seem o2 UK (my operator) have ONLY JUST upgraded their rom from the version people were using in Nov '09. Sorry, but that is ridiculous and no customer should have to wait that long for a device like this to have its bugs ironed out when people 'breaking the rules' can have it right off the bat with a bit of a learning curve. Just another reason why operator branded bull**** is a waste of everyone's time -- like movies being released in the US months/years before the UK in the 90s & til mid '00, it took file-sharing to fix that!
I also strongly believe if people are willing to come here and read the 'basic' threads & take a little time out, support here is absolutely second to none. Better than an RMA to HTC, better than your operators forums, just fantastic. This does however support the idea that the HD2 is somewhat another device kept alive by XDA-developers... which I'm sure will become more apparent in the future after WinPhone7 is released.
tl;dr - The HD2 is a HTC phone which, once again, benefits more than anything from the development, tweaks, mods, hacks, customizations and support given here.

Some excellent posts so far. Thanks everyone!! Looking forward to some more insight.
I'm certainly becoming more and more tempted to HSPL and flash a cooked ROM just to satisfy my inner nerd and curiosity!

Until a few weeks ago I was a stock ROM user. To be honest the stock rom was ok but just didnt seem very stable to me with resets a normal part of life. Having looked through the various ROM threads I decided to stick with a fairly stock cooked rom and chose Artemis.
After the first few days it was very apparent that this was the way forward. Artemis transformed my HD2 into what I believe the device should have been, stable and a joy to use.
I think before you can decide on a cooked ROM you need to decide on what you want a cooked ROM for. Is it for stability (in my case) or for added features such as extra tabs, preinstalled cabs etc.
I cant fault Artemis v11, is as stock as you can get with a cooked ROM and is fast, stable and very user friendly but I expect that others will have critism over this ROM against another, like I say there are many great chefs out there and its down to personal choice which is the best.

I love cooked ROMs. This is my first Win Mo device and I have to say when I first got it I was pretty disappointed(December last year). Was pretty damn buggy and slow! O2 UK didn't seem in any hurry to release any of the improved ROMs(not sure if they have even released an update now). I did the various tweaks that people have listed to improve the phone and was pretty pleased with the result. When HSPL came out I figured I would give a cooked ROM ago as if me a n00b doing a few tweaks could make my phone better imagine what pros could do! Flashed Duttys HG series and was blown away! Have been flashing them ever since (tried a few others but always come back to Duttys). It feels nice to have all the latest software bundled up and tweaked for me! Just about to flash from HG v2.5 (COM5) to HG v2.6 (COM5). Will be maybe the 20th time I have flashed my phone Gets better each time

Always cooked. Stock roms are always lacking something... cooked, especially with kitchens allow you to play around and have fun.
Now, regarding the future of cooked roms? that much is very very doubtful. I doubt we'll see many WinMo cooked roms after 2010.

I first had the default ROM 1.43 and everything was allmost OK with little glitches here and there (first of all the battery didn't last long) then I had the official 1.48 update wich I promptly applied and everything worked the same with little things improved (still terrible battery life) then after a couple of months of constants soft resets or taking out the battery for a reset I decided to try Miri's ROMS wich are great (I always prefered the close to stock) but still with battery problems until I learned I can upgrade the radio only without damaging the ROM wich I did and somewhat improved, but just a little, then I tried Dutty's wich are great roms (still close to stock and more stable at least the COM2 version) finally I decided a couple of days ago to give a try to EnergyROM which have additional software and I whent the GTX route, and I really love it, speccially since the battery is lasting me longer with the same radio update as my previous rom and with the lovelly GTX theme but some things like CHT seems to work better cooked in that installed separatedly, in my opinion I think you will have a lot of benefits using a custom ROM, but first use the original rom a couple of months to evaluate if your unit is functional (try everything: FM radio, GPS, light sensor, etc.) and then when you get to know your device try the custom rom of your choice and prepare to be amazed, once you go custom....
Good luck!

Maybe i am talking about the wrong thing here but i will say it. In the HD2 there is very little (if not nothing at all) noticeable difference between stock and custom Rom (except some registry modifications that you can do them with the stock rom as well). It is mainly in the addiction that cooking provides that you can see a difference. In the HTC Touch HD although the difference between stock and custom rom (mainly the Custom Roms that come from the HD2) is VERY VERY BIG. The last stock rom that HTC provide is 1 year old (7/4/2009) with 6.1 Windows, Black and White slider icons, Manila 1.XX etc. So in some cases i thing Custom Rom is more needed that the Stock Rom. But in the case of the ultra-fast HD2 i believe that the difference is much much smaller.

Wow - a front pager!
Sentinel196 said:
I would also appreciate if any "If you don't like customising, why are you here?"
[...]
I know this kind of a question is going to get people into "attack the n00b" mode really quickly, but i feel it is a legitimate question which could spark some insightful and intelligent discussion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sentinel196 said:
I am the admin on another forum so I am not afraid or unfamiliar with flameage!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just thought I'd share in case you hadn't noticed; despite your concerns, you managed to make the 'front cover' of XDA-Devs!
http://www.xda-developers.com/​
Next - Time Magazine?!
Good post, well deserved. Enjoying the conversation and Mass-Debating(!).
Hirshy

You have EU HD2 ? You like apps ? You like stock looks ? Stick with WM6.5...

My two cents.
Let’s imagine you’re like me : you have an EU HD2 with 512 Nand space. You like to download apps; after all, it’s Android, not WM6.5 or WP7. So you’re like me and have around 150 apps on your phone using an ext partition. You also like “stock look”, whether it’s Cyanogen, MIUI or Sense. Also, let’s imagine you’re not a newbie : you know how to handle partition size editing flash.cfg files, how to install various A2SD methods, how to read changelogs and instructions, etc.
You have to agree this is not an excessive profile; just a guy with 512mb Nand, like his apps on EXT and his looks clean…
So, what's your daily stable ROM ? Answer is easy : none.
Since a month or two, Android on HD2 has been going downhill if you consider these points. Let’s “review” ROMS by category (and not ROMS in particular, I don't want to blame in particular)…
- Stock Android/CyanogenMOD :
they used to be great. They still are actually. Fast, stable and editable as you wish. You do have some FC from time to time or need to reboot but that’s ok. Even Hyperdroid now with its CM-based version can be themed to stock. And they got great darktremor A2SD support with a lot of space on NAND and EXT.
Problem ? Since several releases, there is a huge bug (see my sig) that causes incoming calls to be just silent or a “shhhh” whether it's stock or cm. You need to pull out the battery and wait 10 minutes for the reboot. Great when you are waiting an important call. No fixes around, no chefs really caring to fix it either.
A smartphone than can’t be used as a phone is just “smart” and pointless.
- MIUI :
I don’t like it’s Iphoney style but it’s fast, editable and some features are nice.
Problem ? Try to find one with really working A2SD in the long term ! Since SD days, this has been an issue. Whether it is darktremor’s method or A2SDkiller + data2sd installer method, you get either in a bootloop after 5 restarts, either the apps on EXT won’t show, just blank icons. And I tried every MIUI rom out there !
Next !
- Sense :
it used to be slow but stable/working (rafpigna), now it’s fast but buggy. Sense chefs are like kids with the new Sense 3.0. As soon it was released, they rushed into the store leaving behind their previous beloved toys/roms. So instead of a full working old Sense, you get 37 versions of instable 2.1 or highly buggy 3.0, or a mix of both.
Imilkaaa’s ROMs all suffer from a major A2SD bug that leads many apps or games on EXT to FC. And as many recent Sense roms are based of that A2SD method, they all have the same bug. No chefs seems to care about that. Cmylxgo’s ROMS leave not enough space on NAND for apps, etc.
So ? Well Rafpigna 4.0.2, a two months old ROM, still not really optimized is the latest fully stable Sense Rom. Slow but stable.
You see my point. Let’s be clear : I know chefs are working for free, I know they don’t owe us anything; I even donated to several of them.
But my message is : chefs or devs, STOP updating your ROMS daily for matching the latest line of code released and start working on stabilizing your ROM(s). We need our phone to call, to be called and we need our phone to work.
Experimental builds are fine of course but today, they are too many and it has become a nightmare for someone who just wants to have things working. Of course, I could flash two months old ROM for that matter…but I had the naivety to believe that chefs do care about offering a stable experience to the community.
I prey for charnsingh_online call to be heard : we need devs to work on optimizing/stabilizing the experience, not bringing new bugs every day or two.
The solution for now ? Learning to cook my own ROM (I might work on that but I have 0 knowledge and not much time unfortunately) or go back to WM6.5. You can imagine which one I’m considering now.
Please, let this be a discussion and not an trial.

Why didn't you just stick with a build you liked?

OP obviously works at Microsoft.

Hmmm,
well, I´m using still MDJ´s oldfashioned CM7 2.7 (and some fixes from that thread) and don´t know what you´re talking about.
I have a stable, fast, goodlooking and reliable ROM on my HD2.
I love Android

Since you have tested/used enough Android ROMS and your knowledge seems extended as I can see, you must have concluded to the fact that WM6.5 is a joke...
The solution for now is to stick to the ROM that works for you best, either it is NAND, RAM or SD. And since you're satisfied with it, don't flash every other day a different ROM. This way you don't have the time to actually 'use' the phone and appreciate its huge capabilities.
I was a WM user since 2004 with Windows Mobile 2003 SE, so I am happy I have gotten rid of them.

thinking the same thing...
A lot of roms but not one which is just stock and clean. (except typhoon, but which suffers by bugs too).
Don't understand why everybody just must "tweak" their roms so madly...

I see your points and obviously I could stick with a ROM that used to work and I will probably. I spent part of the day flashing all the ROMS from the Nand section's first page and I will now spent the rest of the day flashing old ROMS to remember the ones that were doing it for me.
Don't get me wrong : I'm ok with things not running perfectly. It's Android on a non-native Android device after all. But I'm frustrated to see the general level of stability/usability going down and even to loose some features !
Ex : if you want recent and fully working stock Sense with enough space for apps, your only choice is imilka's Incredible Sense with its major a2sd and wifi connectivity bugs. CoreDroid is heavily themed and Cmylxgo doesn't leave enough space for apps.
And while I could revert to rafpigna outdated but stable work, it's hard to do so when you tasted the speed of the latest build.
I have the impression that some chiefs just "hit and run" : "Bam, here's the newest features ! Don't ask for support and see you in two weeks for more new features and news bugs !" I'm joking...
I guess I should start learning how to **** ROMS. I've spent my day messing around with .zips content, I might take the big plunge...

Maybe you'd like to try Typhoon CM7 v2.7.6. I was using it for a few months and found absolutely no problem with it. No bugs whatsoever, everything is fast.
I've switched to Lady MIUI now.. Just for a change but it still has some quirks. The CM7 build I've introduced though is really solid, surprised that I didn't have any problem with it.

DannyBiker said:
- MIUI :
I don’t like it’s Iphoney style but it’s fast, editable and some features are nice.
Problem ? Try to find one with really working A2SD in the long term ! Since SD days, this has been an issue. Whether it is darktremor’s method or A2SDkiller + data2sd installer method, you get either in a bootloop after 5 restarts, either the apps on EXT won’t show, just blank icons. And I tried every MIUI rom out there !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never used to have a very stable build, until I tried MIUI.
I HATE the iphone look, so I use MIUI, but with Go-Launcher EX.....then it looks nothing like an Iphone and is 100% stable.
To be honest, i'm just VERY VERY greatful that I have been lucky enough to have DEVELOPERS on this site, who work their asses off and give us all these lovely ROMS and greatful that they have enabled us to have Android.
Otherwise, most of us would have got rid of or HD2 by now.
Can you imagine how much it would cost if one of us approached a developer not a member of these forums and asked him to build a ROM for us.
How many hundreds of dollars would that cost - scary!
If it wasn't for Devs working their butts off, mostly for free, apart from donations, then this subject wouldn't even exist.
OK, you said "you like apps stick with WM6.5"
Right, here is a list of just a few apps I have on my phone.
If you can provide me with a link to a site where an equivalent app exists on windows mobile 6.5, then, well....we'll see.
1: Swarm Torrent
2: Battery Left Pro
3: Fast Burst Camera
4: Talking Tom Cat
5: Sheriff Droid
6: Appmonster Pro
Awaiting your reply......

Candlemass said:
Since you have tested/used enough Android ROMS and your knowledge seems extended as I can see, you must have concluded to the fact that WM6.5 is a joke...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WRONG....Windows Mobile is a F**King Joke...lol
matt

i use motoman mytouch4g for daily usage and it very stable and i like it
i also love to try others roms
lately i tested new bulid of wp7
had bad experience with it ie luncking taking long time
connect to marketplace too running camera twice in a row dont boost the time that take it to load so i backed to android

Best Android ROM on HD2

First of all sorry to all you DEVs and Users. But I think it's worthy to ask this. I have searched it but haven't found any thread with satisfactory answer. So I am posting here.
I know many of you wont find it good. But this is important. I am new with HD2 device. There are many of ROMs out here from last couple of years. People actually can't flash them all to test or surf almost 10K pages to know it.
so I request you all of you guys as per your personal experience which ROMs are good to use. It is not necessary to be stable but yes it should be worthy.
Please share you experience with ROMs.

If u looking for an good cm gingerbread SD build look no further the AmericanAndroid hasn't been updated in a while but it is a smooth daily build.
If u looking for a good nand build, I would go with IcecreamTosti v1.1 everything is fully working in the rom, an too me its the best daily driver ics build i tryed to date. . .
Sent from my aokp tenderloin

I've tried a few, but I always come back to HyperDroid. It's smooth and fast and has an excellent cast of developers that are helpful. It is a huge thread and can seems a little bit overwhelming at first, but I think it's well worth doing the research.
The other two mentioned above are solid builds as well. I have not tried AmericANDroid nor the Tosti series, but I haven't read anything nasty or bad about the two.
If your looking for a good Sense based ROM you can try the Energy series. A very solid build, but it is a resource hog.
READ every page prior to installing the rom. You'll be glad you did. You can find out alot about what you're looking for in this way.
Good luck and happy hunting!
And welcome to the HD2 family!

You will never get a satisfactory answer on a thread like this, because your question is subjective. I don't know how many times I've had to explain this
Having said that, my recommendation is NexusHD2 (see, you have 4 different answers in 3 replies).

Nigeldg said:
You will never get a satisfactory answer on a thread like this, because your question is subjective. I don't know how many times I've had to explain this
Having said that, my recommendation is NexusHD2 (see, you have 4 different answers in 3 replies).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That`s also my recommendation

Mooncalled said:
I've tried a few, but I always come back to HyperDroid. It's smooth and fast and has an excellent cast of developers that are helpful. It is a huge thread and can seems a little bit overwhelming at first, but I think it's well worth doing the research.
The other two mentioned above are solid builds as well. I have not tried AmericANDroid nor the Tosti series, but I haven't read anything nasty or bad about the two.
If your looking for a good Sense based ROM you can try the Energy series. A very solid build, but it is a resource hog.
READ every page prior to installing the rom. You'll be glad you did. You can find out alot about what you're looking for in this way.
Good luck and happy hunting!
And welcome to the HD2 family!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yel. I agree too. Hyperdroid is the fastest, smoothest and the most stable build ive tried. But it doesnt really matter. One rom maybe functioning well on one HD2 and it may be messed up on another. So i guess you really have to use the trial and error method
Sent from my HD2 using XDA

adil1508 said:
One rom maybe functioning well on one HD2 and it may be messed up on another. So i guess you really have to use the trial and error method
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 ,very true

Mooncalled said:
I've tried a few, but I always come back to HyperDroid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Me too

its seems it gonna hard to decide which one is good. Every user has their own prospective. But still I am finding it quite usefull. And i believe people who are new to this device they can also be the beneficiary. Thx guys.
I think ill flash few builds by our awesome devs and then start building it by own...

Throwing in another vote for NexusHD2. Consistently a fast and reliable daily build.
I can still see the worth of threads like this. I just so happened to be looking for the most reliable ICS rom now that we have HWA

I am not an expert, just a regular user. I have used AmericanAndroid, Hyperdroid and JaguarMIUI. I like JaguarMIUI, it's pretty stable and light. GPS lock down took only a few seconds. That is important to me as I travel a lot. Also battery life seems to last longer. I only have problem with Hotmail apps when using JaguarMIUI, as I won't be able to add contact, other than that, all is fine.

True we wont get a definitive answer here, but will at least sort the wheat from the chaff.
I use NexusHD2 HWA Build by tytung - have had no problems what so ever since it became HWA.
I used to run AmeriCan Android GB build, and tbh found it buggy and slow, but probably wasn't the latest build, cant remember now, has been months since I used it.
Hyperdroid seems to be a very solid build, especially for us fans of CyanogenMod.
As I am a fan of Tytung's work I would likely try NexusHD2-Gingerbread V3.2a, if I for some reason-such as needing to save space due to bad blocks, etc; though it is AOSP as opposed to CM.

Im new to this android world but im a fan of the hyperdroid. Cosmetically, im a fan of the coredroid..
Question.. is there a way to get the visual upgrades like on coredroid, but have them integrated into the hyperdroid. ????

Because I´ve WPH too , im must yuse SD builds. My favorite is the Tostidroid. But the last builds had many random reboots so I used MIUI ICS for a while (3 days ). The Nexus HD is goot too, but i love Tostidroid has more options...
And i think the MIUI rom was the most smoth and stable ICS ROM. But the b40 of Tostidroid is now very stable too... Before i Installed WPH I had NexusHD rom @ NAND and it was not bad.
If you are looking for a ICS build Nexus HD and MIUI ICS are the best for daily use...
If you don´t want WPH install the Nexus too Nand that you have a 100% working system for daily use and test the other ROMs as SD builds...

well i would personally recommend miui roms. it is a pain in the ass to solve all the problems that come with it( for me it is the ultra low internal storage and bootloops, but the newer versions doesnt have a bootloop) and for the low storage i am trying to make a ext3 partition. but after that.. WOW! beautiful like no other(even ios not and no, i am no apple fanboy) smooth, perfect build-in apps, good at multitasking, fast... just perfect.

Since November '11 I'm testing a lot of roms, but there was never a Rom which is the best for me.
But then I found myMIUI from the User 'Aternus'. This ROM is my favourite one, its stable, fast and very smooth. The only bad thins is, that it isn't multilingual, but Aternus said, it will come with Jelly Bean
Test the Rom (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1639932), I love it :fingers-crossed:

To me the best rum is Pixeldroid Last Edition RC9 Rom with AROMA INSTALLER/HTC Sensation XL
But unfortunately there are a large drain on the battery
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1667631

I am sorry guys but this kind of thread never leads to any positive end. ALready said a million times, "best" is subjective and only is "best" for you.