Database Users

JI6, OTA's, and people's expectations...

The relative success/failure rates of the recent JI6 OTA, and the level of noise it's added to the forum have got me thinking about people's expectations.
I suppose at the end of the day this is just too subjective a topic to glean anything objective from. But only so long as people keep trying to have it both ways. That might seem harsh, but follow along with ye olde rant here.
People have different levels of both expertise and experience when dealing with such a "gadget". Because of this expectations and experience can conflict. Toss in lingering buyers remorse and how you "feel" about a device can have as many variations as the hairs on your head.
We all color our interpretations with our own experiences in other words. In my experience this is the best smartphone I've ever owned or played with for any length of time and I've played with and owned quite a few including Palm OS phones and two previous Android phones (G1, BeholdII..eww) of my own and a smattering of HTC, Motorola, and Apple devices my friends have.
One thing I can say with near certainty, is that people who venture into a place like this to mod their phones and then have issues with a carrier OTA are potentially setting themselves up for a bad experience.
This phone is ridiculously easy to mod WITHOUT KNOWING WTF YOU JUST DID. Expecting a carrier OTA to account for every possible scenario encountered with a phone (even a bone stock one that can still be running any of 70,000+ 3rd party apps) is a bit much. Granted, this reality leaves you at the potential mercy of your local T-Mobile rep if you get backed into a corner with a dead phone post-OTA, but this is just how it is.
If you've had OTA issues, people here can help you resolve them. But getting angry about it here misses the point. Focus that anger and get T-Mobile to fix your phone if it's really that important to vent.
Let's be honest, OTA's are not for people like us. They are for that android toting friend of yours, the one you have to continually help figure out their new doodad every day because they came to their smartphone from a Moto Razer.
That's not to say I've never experienced angst with this phone. The initial shipping stock JFD firmware had way too much lag. Resolving that and experimenting quite a bit (without knowing WTF I was doing in the beginning) left me staring at an expensive brick many times.
My latest specific firmware progression has been flawless, smooth, reliable, and enjoyable. That progression required...
- Odin JFD repartition after a full wipe (if you're not prepared to full wipe, you're not prepared to safely and usefully provide feedback about ANYTHING)
- Odin JI6 after a full wipe
- Bionix 1.8 w-OC/UV Voodoo (wipes for you)
- Bionix 1.9 w-OC/UV Voodoo (wipes for you)
I've gone back and forth with the Voodoo lagfix the last few days, which admittedly isn't a long enough time to really evaluate lag long-term, but I don't think I really need Voodoo at this point. And yes this is a totally subjective interpretation. YMMV
Apologies for going off on that tangent, but I did so to make a small point. I think perhaps anyone dissatisfied with JI6 should at least try the basic progression I listed...
- Odin JFD repartition after a full wipe
- Odin JI6 after a full wipe
At least with this you can make a fair evaluation based on your experiences with the actual non-polluted firmware.
If Odin is too scary and/or if you're not willing to wipe and start over...well, then maybe your better off just letting your local T-Mobile reps resolve your issues, or just consider another phone if you're within the return period. I won't go as far as to say that if you're too scared of Odin you don't need to be here in the first place, but I will say you need to be honest about your expectations when it comes to precisely who is responsible for your grief.
A lot of the OTA angst here, I just get the impression that at least SOME of this is people who've gotten in over their head because of all the free and easy to apply stuff here, who are either unable or unwilling to take responsibility for stepping outside of what T-Mobile is responsible for supporting.
Modding means you're taking responsibility for what you do, and letting T-Mobile off the hook. Just as it's not fair to expect a provider to give you shoddy equipment and service, it's not fair to violate terms and expect T-Mobile to care.
And I say that having made T-Mobile basically bow and lick my feet in the past when they've dropped the ball (free Vibrant, release from 2 year contract, discounted data service). So believe me I'm not a T-Mobile apologist when I say these things.
Having it both ways is fine and all, until it doesn't work anymore...

masterotaku said:
The relative success/failure rates of the recent JI6 OTA, and the level of noise it's added to the forum have got me thinking about people's expectations.
I suppose at the end of the day this is just too subjective a topic to glean anything objective from. But only so long as people keep trying to have it both ways. That might seem harsh, but follow along with ye olde rant here.
People have different levels of both expertise and experience when dealing with such a "gadget". Because of this expectations and experience can conflict. Toss in lingering buyers remorse and how you "feel" about a device can have as many variations as the hairs on your head.
We all color our interpretations with our own experiences in other words. In my experience this is the best smartphone I've ever owned or played with for any length of time and I've played with and owned quite a few including Palm OS phones and two previous Android phones (G1, BeholdII..eww) of my own and a smattering of HTC, Motorola, and Apple devices my friends have.
One thing I can say with near certainty, is that people who venture into a place like this to mod their phones and then have issues with a carrier OTA are potentially setting themselves up for a bad experience.
This phone is ridiculously easy to mod WITHOUT KNOWING WTF YOU JUST DID. Expecting a carrier OTA to account for every possible scenario encountered with a phone (even a bone stock one that can still be running any of 70,000+ 3rd party apps) is a bit much. Granted, this reality leaves you at the potential mercy of your local T-Mobile rep if you get backed into a corner with a dead phone post-OTA, but this is just how it is.
If you've had OTA issues, people here can help you resolve them. But getting angry about it here misses the point. Focus that anger and get T-Mobile to fix your phone if it's really that important to vent.
Let's be honest, OTA's are not for people like us. They are for that android toting friend of yours, the one you have to continually help figure out their new doodad every day because they came to their smartphone from a Moto Razer.
That's not to say I've never experienced angst with this phone. The initial shipping stock JFD firmware had way too much lag. Resolving that and experimenting quite a bit (without knowing WTF I was doing in the beginning) left me staring at an expensive brick many times.
My latest specific firmware progression has been flawless, smooth, reliable, and enjoyable. That progression required...
- Odin JFD repartition after a full wipe (if you're not prepared to full wipe, you're not prepared to safely and usefully provide feedback about ANYTHING)
- Odin JI6 after a full wipe
- Bionix 1.8 w-OC/UV Voodoo (wipes for you)
- Bionix 1.9 w-OC/UV Voodoo (wipes for you)
I've gone back and forth with the Voodoo lagfix the last few days, which admittedly isn't a long enough time to really evaluate lag long-term, but I don't think I really need Voodoo at this point. And yes this is a totally subjective interpretation. YMMV
Apologies for going off on that tangent, but I did so to make a small point. I think perhaps anyone dissatisfied with JI6 should at least try the basic progression I listed...
- Odin JFD repartition after a full wipe
- Odin JI6 after a full wipe
At least with this you can make a fair evaluation based on your experiences with the actual non-polluted firmware.
If Odin is too scary and/or if you're not willing to wipe and start over...well, then maybe your better off just letting your local T-Mobile reps resolve your issues, or just consider another phone if you're within the return period. I won't go as far as to say that if you're too scared of Odin you don't need to be here in the first place, but I will say you need to be honest about your expectations when it comes to precisely who is responsible for your grief.
A lot of the OTA angst here, I just get the impression that at least SOME of this is people who've gotten in over their head because of all the free and easy to apply stuff here, who are either unable or unwilling to take responsibility for stepping outside of what T-Mobile is responsible for supporting.
Modding means you're taking responsibility for what you do, and letting T-Mobile off the hook. Just as it's not fair to expect a provider to give you shoddy equipment and service, it's not fair to violate terms and expect T-Mobile to care.
And I say that having made T-Mobile basically bow and lick my feet in the past when they've dropped the ball (free Vibrant, release from 2 year contract, discounted data service). So believe me I'm not a T-Mobile apologist when I say these things.
Having it both ways is fine and all, until it doesn't work anymore...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for helping me kill my last hour at work LOL. Just kidding my friend. Im not too sure what the ULTIMATE point to this post was, but i did gather quite a few sub-points that I like. This phone is insanely easy to mod. Admittedly, ive only had mine for about a week, and ive already been modding/flashing up a storm. For the most part, I dont even really research before acting, i just make sure i have all the key steps down so that i dont screw anything up. As far as OTAs. Yah, im all set. Once you start modding, its best you leave your updates to the developers, because once you start mixing mods with stock, youre bound for problems.
PS - i constantly read stories about people OWNING TMobile. HOW??? I mean, I could barely get them to drop my Vibrant upgrade price from $227 to $170. Did they screw something up for you or something.

I have not gotten the update yet soon maybe. I liked what you said. I love my phone. There are a lot people that get mad at T-Mobile and or Samsung for there problems. I understand that a five hundred dallar phone should work. If you have issues then done moan about it hear do something about it. I am someone that would rather have T-Mobile fix my problems them me hooking it up to my computer and trusting in something that I don't know anything about. If the update messes up my phone I will take to T-Mobile and the will fix or get me a new one.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Have you thanked a dev today?

Part of what makes android great is its openness. I have, and absolutely hated, an HTC Hero. CM6 and all the kernals out there (and swype) changed that. It's still a laggy pile, but I have a feeling if I went back to the stock rom I'd be shocked at how bad it is.
Anyway, to get to the point, my friend got an intercept from virgin mobile, and I found out my brother has a moment. I was looking into custom Roms and whatnot for them to speed up their phones, assuming that with all the projects going on, they had something like we do.
As far as I can tell, they don't. Granted I've invested some time in the hero, so the "where do I even start" factor isn't nearly as high, but both the moment and instinct appeared to be in complete dissarray. There are 200 updates for the stock eclair rom and 200 roms based off of all of them. It seemed like no matter what rom you ran there was some "well this is faster, but the video camera doesn't work", style trade offs. As far as I could tell they've got about as much of a CM6 port, the only attempt at froyo I could see, running on the moment as ASOP had running on his heroc gingerbread build about 6 hours after the SDK hit.
So, I don't know if we got lucky that the smart/right guys got a hero as their phone, or if samsung phones are a tougher nut to crack, or what, but we really have it good over here. Even this forum itself is better and easier than the alternatives.
So, long story short, thanks for all the hard work boys and girls.
Edit: And it's quite possible, probable even, I'm wrong and there are tons of Froyo fully functioning roms for the moment, but the point still remains that there's so much crap out there that you know know what's what.

I could not agree more. I have read a lot here in the Hero community (hence my low post count, I wanted to learn, not have my hand held) Then I started exploring XDA, especially from my phone. It's amazing how much talent there is in the Hero forums, even compared to newer, better phones.

Echoing Fer's comment, XDA forums were a huge part of the reason that I got an Android phone vs. becoming an IPhone devotee. Constant improvements have been wonderful.
I know that I am NOT the reason that you, the developers, do what you do. But please accept my thanks for your irresistible urge to examine and improve.
Arnold

The truth about the bootloader

http://www.vampii.com/dcom/componen...-x-bootloader-already.html/blogger/czerdrill/

Indeed I saw a presentation from a guy who worked for a major phone hardware company recently about recent advances in 'locking down' hardware. They are getting better and closing more loopholes with every generation. 2048-bit encryption, complete trust chains, burying sensitive traces, chip-swapping detection and on and on. Even digging right into the hardware it is getting harder and harder to find weaknesses if the manufacturer is determined to lock something down.
If you look at older phones like Droid X and Milestone that still haven't cracked there is almost no chance the Atrix has a weakness unless someone majorly goofed or there is a leak.

Well there is one 4th option that I think that what devs are trying to do and, IMO, is the real meaning of cracking: Finding a security hole and exploit it.
But as haloimplant already mentioned that's highly unlike to happen...

Unfortunately nothing said was news to me. I gave up a long time ago when my Milestone never got cracked.
Mods still make the phone fun, but it's night and day different of what you can do with say a Galaxy S...

Until applications stop supporting Froyo/Gingerbread/ICS/whatever the final update Motorola pushes is, I dont see the need for a custom kernel. Stuff like 2init that allow everything but the kernel to change would be enough for almost everything you'd want to do. As long as Motorola pushes semi-recent kernels, we should be ok.

From what I've read, in the bootloader bounty topic, we have something close to release.
Bootloader might not ever get cracked completely, but there are certainly ways around it. Look at the iPhone, they can modify it with various levels of exploits. (iBoot, ramdisk, userland) and they don't have it cracked completely.
Also, number 3 on that list could be pure speculation, or it could be complete truth. There could be hundreds of people that know it, or just 1.

PixoNova said:
From what I've read, in the bootloader bounty topic, we have something close to release.
Bootloader might not ever get cracked completely, but there are certainly ways around it. Look at the iPhone, they can modify it with various levels of exploits. (iBoot, ramdisk, userland) and they don't have it cracked completely.
Also, number 3 on that list could be pure speculation, or it could be complete truth. There could be hundreds of people that know it, or just 1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1. Us Atrix users obviously don't have the userbase that iDevices have, but we have the *new* nVidia chipset, there are bound to be holes. Some talented dev needs to find it. But we have like 1/20 the users that iDevices have. And like 1/1000 of those are devs. But coming as a jailbreak dev on the iPhone. Im gonna take a plunge and see myself.
Sent from my screaming Atrix *4G* using the XDA App

Jotokun said:
Until applications stop supporting Froyo/Gingerbread/ICS/whatever the final update Motorola pushes is, I dont see the need for a custom kernel. Stuff like 2init that allow everything but the kernel to change would be enough for almost everything you'd want to do. As long as Motorola pushes semi-recent kernels, we should be ok.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Motorola will have an "Official Gingerbread" out this year. Will they have an "Official ICS"? Highly doubtful
There will be partial ICS available through mods, but why play the waiting game when the update is available and easy to flash? Most of the waiting is for sales/marketing purposes anyway.
^ Look at the HTC Desire, Froyo was available to be installed early last summer. One major carrier didn't release it till Halloween. Guess what, the "Official version" was the exact same as the leaked version (I used both to compare). Then there's the T-mobile Galaxy S "Froyo incident" (which everyone knows that story by now). Verizon Fascinate, (the list goes on and on).
The average Joe will sit around and wait for an OTA, but the average XDA user knows better.
That's why any exploits found on the Bootloader will still better than nothing...

PixoNova said:
From what I've read, in the bootloader bounty topic, we have something close to release.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously? Will it allow us to finally get rid of blur via another Rom?

Lots of ROMs, theming and tweaking, BUT what about REAL IMPROVING?

These days, I'm seeing lots of supposed teams tossing zillions of ROMs that are no real improvement. I think I have tried 1 out 2 and I stopped the flashing game after I realized they are almost the same dog with a different collar.
Am I the only one? Is our Vibrant a stalled device in terms of REAL development? Come on, boys, less theming and more real improving!!

You're kidding, right?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I'm not kidding. Can you name a ROM that is not CM7 that is making real improvements like proper GPS with sensors and no path-sliding in Gingerbread, improved battery, no problems entering deep sleep and being fast?
Any ROM GB ROM that doesn't not suck, lasting less than 15 hours with moderate use?

You wanna go beg samsung to release source? Wait. Dont. By the way you type, you seem like a genius that can build us a source!

JMN... everyone jumped ship and started working on Gingerbread... without anything specific for our phone. I guess you could say we are stalled in that regard. Nobody wants 2.2.... and the 2.3.+ roms are missing a lot of the key things needed for what you seek. It is what it is.
Go pester T-Mobile and Samsung, not XDA/community/developers.
I do.

If it were as easy as you make it seem, I am sure our Vibrant would have a 100% working CM7 right now. Problem is, it isn't. We don't have any source code for Gingerbread, our GPS is from a half-baked file for the Galaxy S 4G, and Samsung decided to use several proprietary loops inside their source code that make the code counter-intuitive. As a result, our developers basically have to reverse engineer a good portion of the code itself.

Or you are more than welcome to start working on it yourself. Seems as up until JVQ dropped on I9000 I was the only one actually doing anything (with of course a couple other good people dropping in from time to time). From April until now we went from a build that was barely usable for more than a couple hours to builds that are definite daily drivers. Granted there are still some flaws but with less than a handful of people do any real developing on what free time we do have and for no incentive other than the thank you button and occasional donation I'd say we're doing pretty damn good.
In the words of someone famous you're either part of the solution or you're part of the problem. Which are you going be?
EDIT: My statement above is putting CM7/MIUI aside, different animal/problems/features/pluses/minuses.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App

I dunno man, I found a ROM that does everything that you listed. What you're asking is a lot of development time for marginal improvements.
Sent from my HTC Sensation

So what do you gotta say now bro?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

its not that easy to build a rom thats so great people build on xda some can be slightly better than others but hey thats why u get updates, if ur looking for good battery life on gb use an i9000 port like simplyhoney and u wont be mad about the battery life on the other hand i use cm7 and have been on it ever since nightlies started being released i will tell u it came a long way from no gps and battery drain to a half working gps which is still functional to decent battery life and i am grateful for all the hard work but into it

Funny seems like JMN went silent!
I think he got served!
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App

Biting the hands that feed... smh

OK, OK.
Please, forgive me for my anger being unleashed. Maybe it was that I see newer devices having a plethora of updates and improvements, or maybe because with my previous device (HTC Polaris running Windows Mobile 6) there was a man (XDA member know as DZO) that reverse engineered it, driver by driver to make a fully fledged Android device.
I ask you for your understanding, and hope you pardon me. You're right: the real problem here is that T-Mobile and Samsung abandoned the Vibrant to its own luck.
Lots of devs jumped ships because of that. I don't make them guilty about this situation, although I did in my first post. Sorry about that.
I'm a dev myself, but not so low level. I cannot compile drivers or reverse engineer. Otherwise, I would really like to collaborate with Atinm and the others.
Please, don't abandon or blame the Vibrant and other Galaxy S devices and try to squeeze all the juice out of it. If we all switch to the latest device, manufacturers will always laugh at us selling slightly different hardware, not upgrades for our totally capable devices.
Nothing more to add. Sorry for my rough and disrespectful words I wrote before. Long live XDA-Devs.

My fellows, I went to the T-Mobile USA facebook site (http://www.facebook.com/TMobile) and published this on their wall:
"SHAME ON YOU, T-MOBILE! Where is Gingerbread for the T-Mobile VIBRANT???? Do you ever care about your users? Do you think we will eat every phone you release with no questions and wishing NO SUPPORT? We do buy devices with future in mind. A ONE-year-device has been ditched away because you are too busy selling the so called 4G version. Too obvious you're playing with us, playing the "buy me and forget me" game. Sorry, but never again to you, T-Mobile, or whatever you will be called after the merger."
I hope you could support me or write comments criticizing the way T-Mobile is acting upon us.
Thanks.

I just re-posted your message on T-Mobiles Facebook site. Not too sure where yours went. Maybe they deleted it.

Thanks a lot, dude. They have the site configured so you cannot see the posts that users write on the wall until you explicitly reveal them using the "Most recent" option (link http://www.facebook.com/TMobile?sk=wall&filter=1). It's there, I think. We need to cry out loud.

I absolutely approve of telling T-Mobile we are tired of waiting.....
Gingerbread = Security.

I posted this on their facebook, all we can do is hope one day they get the point.
"T-mobile, you have a very loyal customer base that bought one of 2010's best smartphones, the Samsung Vibrant. However, with the release of the Samsung Vibrant 4g, we have been left in the dark and seemingly ignored regarding security updates and notifications, specifically the gingerbread 2.3 update. We buy devices with the future in mind, and expect to have full support for the devices we spend our hard earned money on. We know that Samsung awaits your instruction to push the updates, and we respectfully request you do so immediately, in order to be up to date on stability, security, and support. This situation has bothered and frustrated many in the Vibrant community, we only ask that you extinguish that fire by providing us the update we deserve and earned, by being your customers."

people will never learn...
they cannot support devices forever. it seems like every single person thinks that once they buy a smartphone, they are guaranteed lifetime support. the cell phone industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. i would much rather them cut off my support and have a beast upgrade waiting for me, rather than them focus on constantly rolling out updates for every single device theyve ever created just to shut up *****y consumers. think about it, getting stuck with an outdated device makes it all that much better once you get your upgrade! its amazing im saying this, as i despise corporate america.
i realize the vibrant is just over a year removed, BUT THIS HAPPENS WITH EVERY SINGLE DEVICE. i guarantee if you go to ANY other forum for a device that is 1+ years old, 95% of them will be filled with threads like this. update this, update that, fix this, release this blahblahiwantmybottleblahblah. its not JUST tmobile. its not JUST samsung. these accusations are so narrow-minded. what would happen if they released gingerbread??? two months later, the cry babies would be right back in full swing, "wheres honeycomb?? release honeycomb source!!" it has to end somewhere, you can never satisfy everybody, let alone ANYBODY in the vibrant forum.
its the industry. its the way it works, so stop acting like we are the only ones who are "suffering". its such an ignorant, narcissistic way of looking at it. enjoy what you got, nothings ever built to last. youre "stuck" with a damn good device, it is what you make it. weekly threads begging for gingerbread, or ****ting on tmobile/samsung is clearly not getting it done. so maybe people should be spending their time differently instead of constantly *****ing: get familiar with linux, learn to compile/decompile, learn to theme...its amazing how much fun (yes, without source!) youll be able to have once you learn some stuff. keep yourself busy creating new things, youll take more pride in your device knowing its something that YOU created, as opposed to trolling around and downloading anything you can get your sticky fingers on.
gingerbread isnt here....but neither is the end of the world.

TopShelf10 said:
people will never learn...
they cannot support devices forever. it seems like every single person thinks that once they buy a smartphone, they are guaranteed lifetime support. the cell phone industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the world. i would much rather them cut off my support and have a beast upgrade waiting for me, rather than them focus on constantly rolling out updates for every single device theyve ever created just to shut up *****y consumers. think about it, getting stuck with an outdated device makes it all that much better once you get your upgrade! its amazing im saying this, as i despise corporate america.
i realize the vibrant is just over a year removed, BUT THIS HAPPENS WITH EVERY SINGLE DEVICE. i guarantee if you go to ANY other forum for a device that is 1+ years old, 95% of them will be filled with threads like this. update this, update that, fix this, release this blahblahiwantmybottleblahblah. its not JUST tmobile. its not JUST samsung. these accusations are so narrow-minded. what would happen if they released gingerbread??? two months later, the cry babies would be right back in full swing, "wheres honeycomb?? release honeycomb source!!" it has to end somewhere, you can never satisfy everybody, let alone ANYBODY in the vibrant forum.
its the industry. its the way it works, so stop acting like we are the only ones who are "suffering". its such an ignorant, narcissistic way of looking at it. enjoy what you got, nothings ever built to last. youre "stuck" with a damn good device, it is what you make it. weekly threads begging for gingerbread, or ****ting on tmobile/samsung is clearly not getting it done. so maybe people should be spending their time differently instead of constantly *****ing: get familiar with linux, learn to compile/decompile, learn to theme...its amazing how much fun (yes, without source!) youll be able to have once you learn some stuff. keep yourself busy creating new things, youll take more pride in your device knowing its something that YOU created, as opposed to trolling around and downloading anything you can get your sticky fingers on.
gingerbread isnt here....but neither is the end of the world.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, support for the Vibrant has been pretty much nonexistent from T-Mobile, I don't think it's too much to ask for a GB ROM from them and Samsung, had T-Mobile been into providing us service instead of trying to sell out we could have had a beter chance at some real support.

Was expecting more from the nexus experience (first impression)

Mind you, I have only had this phone for a day, but all I've done is played around with the software until now, somehow I was expecting more.
I've never owned a Nexus device and the last phone I had was a m8, granted it's a lot older now but I modded it from the beginning and I get the feeling there was more content on the HTC side.
Not saying there is little going on here, but I was expecting more.
So what's the deal about "if you like modding software this is for you" every reviewer says out there?
I haven't done any research on Nexus devices prior to getting the phone because my HTC gave up on me.
So far I'm very impressed by the phone though.
Edit: when I say I modded I'm just talking about editing files or installing zips

For starters, there's the hassle of unlocking the M8's bootloader. Second, with other OEM devices such as Samsung, HTC, and LG, devs usually have to start from scratch unless there are already some sources.
When it comes to Nexus.... it's AOSP + Google's Nexus apps. That's it. Then there's the sources easily available.
I'm sure someone else can explain it way better than that, but when my girl bought an HTC M8 two years ago, it took at least an hour to get a custom ROM installed onto it. My 5X (or even my Nexus 5 at that time) had CyanogenMod flashed in 15 minutes.

Vuciz said:
For starters, there's the hassle of unlocking the M8's bootloader. Second, with other OEM devices such as Samsung, HTC, and LG, devs usually have to start from scratch unless there are already some sources.
When it comes to Nexus.... it's AOSP + Google's Nexus apps. That's it. Then there's the sources easily available.
I'm sure someone else can explain it way better than that, but when my girl bought an HTC M8 two years ago, it took at least an hour to get a custom ROM installed onto it. My 5X (or even my Nexus 5 at that time) had CyanogenMod flashed in 15 minutes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you noticed the low sound volume in CM13 for N5X, I wait t change until fixed.

datagubben said:
Have you noticed the low sound volume in CM13 for N5X, I wait t change until fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really dont think the sound volume is that big of a deal. However you can edit the mixer paths file to bring the sound volume back up, if it is to you.
Either way razorloves has isolated the change thay reduced the volume level so hopefully a fix will come quickly now that they have identifed exactly what caused the problem.
As to the OP, Give it some time. Probably as you learn about modding and see how much support is in the Nexus community you well will understand more.

The Nexus experience isn't exactly a specific experience due to the unique nature of the phone, but rather the ease with which customization and modification is achieved. Nexus devices are also very forgiving in terms of mistakes you may make when modding - for example there's been at least a handful of people even on just this device that have bricked their phones but been able to successfully fix them. On most other devices, bricking would have meant game over.
Additionally, if you bought the phone from Google, part of the Nexus experience is the great warranty support policies Google has, both for manufacturing defects and issues you may have caused yourself (for example, I believe they will replace your phone once if you break the screen)

Buy a 6P, maybe you miss the boomsound

Was expecting more from the nexus experience (first impression) Title of the OP
"Mind you, I have only had this phone for a day,"
Ok and this is your post? One day?
"....a m8, granted it's a lot older now but I modded it from the beginning and I get the feeling there was more content on the HTC side."
More content on the HTC side? What are you saying?
"I haven't done any research on Nexus devices prior to getting the phone because my HTC gave up on me."
Ok so who's problem is that? What did you expect with all the research you have done? Oh nvm, I see.
"So far I'm very impressed by the phone though."
Wait a sec.. you OPd and said you were expecting more. And now you're impressed? Why did you create this thread?
"Edit: when I say I modded I'm just talking about editing files or installing zips "
Do you even know what you're saying?
How about you close this thread and stop this silliness? That would be the best post at this time.

Huh? Your post history suggests you're at least active in some rom sections for the m8 and you're asking about modding on the 5x, a FREAKING NEXUS PHONE?
You wanna do a nokia phone mod with blinking keypads lights and techno beats?

OP, you've clearly missed the point of the whole Nexus experience in general. Nexus devices are for those who want the latest updates to Android, clean software, and stability. Unlike other manufacturers that load their devices with a whole bunch of sh!t apps and/or features no one uses. I'm not saying people DON'T use those features, but Nexus devices are for people who want a stable phone, or an easy to mod/root if they so choose.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

On try paranoid Android Rom. Smoothest I've tried.

bobby janow said:
Was expecting more from the nexus experience (first impression) Title of the OP
"Mind you, I have only had this phone for a day,"
Ok and this is your post? One day?
"....a m8, granted it's a lot older now but I modded it from the beginning and I get the feeling there was more content on the HTC side."
More content on the HTC side? What are you saying?
"I haven't done any research on Nexus devices prior to getting the phone because my HTC gave up on me."
Ok so who's problem is that? What did you expect with all the research you have done? Oh nvm, I see.
"So far I'm very impressed by the phone though."
Wait a sec.. you OPd and said you were expecting more. And now you're impressed? Why did you create this thread?
"Edit: when I say I modded I'm just talking about editing files or installing zips "
Do you even know what you're saying?
How about you close this thread and stop this silliness? That would be the best post at this time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
queerquirks said:
Huh? Your post history suggests you're at least active in some rom sections for the m8 and you're asking about modding on the 5x, a FREAKING NEXUS PHONE?
You wanna do a nokia phone mod with blinking keypads lights and techno beats?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
iamterence said:
OP, you've clearly missed the point of the whole Nexus experience in general. Nexus devices are for those who want the latest updates to Android, clean software, and stability. Unlike other manufacturers that load their devices with a whole bunch of sh!t apps and/or features no one uses. I'm not saying people DON'T use those features, but Nexus devices are for people who want a stable phone, or an easy to mod/root if they so choose.
Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, no need to feel insulted guys.
First of all this was my first impression like the title states, what's wrong with that?
I bought this phone in a hurry, I was asking because I had heard people (mostly youtubers and the like) recommending this phone for "modders/flashers" around the Web, not just the nexus 5x in particular, but nexus devices in general.
This gave me the assumption that the modding/development community would be even more active than on other devices.
Coming from the m8, which had/has a big selection of mods, roms and tips & tricks etc, I was expecting a lot more to be found here on the forums (I was not comparing the devices directly).
And yes I'm impressed by LGs 5x, I was not expecting to get so much at this low price point (I paid under 300€), regardless of software (which is awesome btw, I haven't used stock Android before).
I hope this clears things up for you
I guess many of the things that make nexus devices "better" in this regard are out of my skill set.

Shebee said:
Hey, no need to feel insulted guys.
First of all this was my first impression like the title states, what's wrong with that?
I bought this phone in a hurry, I was asking because I had heard people (mostly youtubers and the like) recommending this phone for "modders/flashers" around the Web, not just the nexus 5x in particular, but nexus devices in general.
This gave me the assumption that the modding/development community would be even more active than on other devices.
Coming from the m8, which had/has a big selection of mods, roms and tips & tricks etc, I was expecting a lot more to be found here on the forums (I was not comparing the devices directly).
And yes I'm impressed by LGs 5x, I was not expecting to get so much at this low price point (I paid under 300€), regardless of software (which is awesome btw, I haven't used stock Android before).
I hope this clears things up for you
I guess many of the things that make nexus devices "better" in this regard are out of my skill set.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OEM device forums usually have more mods because people try and make the stock OEM rom more like the stock Nexus rom. Those mods are obviously not needed. There aren't really any stock Nexus based roms either since AOSP roms are stable and for the most part bugless. The rom threads are not as big either since there are far less bugs to report. OEM device forums are filled with ways to make their phone the way ours comes out of the box.
What you are observing is more meat and less fat.

Its a good phone for the recent prices, with the nexus branding it becomes better for longetivity.
If you did further research then you would have realize the bigger community is over at the 6p section. 5x is good but not flagship level good especially when you feel the lack of ram