Database Users

Consensus: Best ROM at the moment?

So, down and to the point... what's the best ROM out there? I'm looking for performance and battery life (I know they're usually negatively correlated) but the best balance of both.
Thanks in advance...

obviously, it all depends on what you're looking for, but my money's with Fresh.

akarol said:
So, down and to the point... what's the best ROM out there? I'm looking for performance and battery life (I know they're usually negatively correlated) but the best balance of both.
Thanks in advance...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try them pick the one u like and use it SIMPLE

I've played with all of them and the best for battery life, signal and over all just awesome is DamageControl 3.2.2.1 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=700649

I really like AOSP, so Bugless Beast has been nice. I don't really dislike the HTC homescreen or lockscreen, but I don't like the contacts, text messaging app, music app, browser, etc.
However bugless beast has some rough spots, there is an fc that shows up once in a while (not a problem, just annoying) and it doesn't show up as a usb drive on the computer all the time.
Fresh is probably my second favorite, and it isn't far behind even though it is almost straight Sense. I see a lot of people say it is their favorite. It seems like it may be the most robust and stable custom ROM as well, but I haven't tried all of them, only half a dozen or so.

I like Bugless Pete's...
but moved on to Fresh because I like Sense. Plus I like the fact I can use apps2sd.

This is a matter of opinion. You need to decide for yourself. I am using Culkulins ROM and really like it. In b4 this is moved to general / q&a
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

Only tried Fresh and Damage Control so far but I like DC better, I could tell an immediate difference in performance, unlike with Fresh. Both have Apps2sd which is a must for me. Apparently this phone has more app storage than most other Android phones, yet not even close to enough for me. I couldn't even put any graphic intensive games like Asphalt on before apps2sd due to lack of room.

Damage Control works great for me as far as 2.1 roms. Just look at the activity for that thread.... most popular IMO and for good reason with all of the dconfig options and updates. They were one of the first to incorporate the OTA update into their rom... they stay on top of things.

So Frech has the HTC Sense? I'd like that.
Also, will installing these different ROMs wipe my data? If so, what backup utility you recommend?

I like the fresh rom, but i'm using DC atm because of the OTA update built into it, i need the grounding fix but when fresh fixes it i'll be moving back.
akarol said:
So Frech has the HTC Sense? I'd like that.
Also, will installing these different ROMs wipe my data? If so, what backup utility you recommend?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use titanium backup for the app data backup/restore and android commander for the app program backup/restore.

Damage Control also has Sense, though you have the option to disable it.

In case it hasn't been said enough yet - DamageControl all the way. Awesome ROM!

I dont mean to be a d**k but you have to read and experiment on your own. There's no such thing as the "best" rom. Clearly all the devs here put a lot of work into their roms and the least you can do is try it and see which you like the most. Are you even rooted?? Your questions give the impressions that you don't even know the basics of rooting or installing your own roms...read the stickies
and yes both Fresh and DC have the Sense UI

I use a modified Damage Control myself
Added in the latest busybox, Bash 4.1, made some tweaks to dalvik-cache to make it use the cache partition instead of the system partition (seriously, the cache partition is ~160megs and barely gets touched normally ), among other things.
It is worth noting that Damage Control (in my opinion) is quite good itself and stays pretty up to date, with a lot of nice features.

DamageControl my fav so far.
Sent telepathically via my Evo.
-_-

Thread moved to General.

ervman1 said:
I dont mean to be a d**k but you have to read and experiment on your own. There's no such thing as the "best" rom. Clearly all the devs here put a lot of work into their roms and the least you can do is try it and see which you like the most. Are you even rooted?? Your questions give the impressions that you don't even know the basics of rooting or installing your own roms...read the stickies
and yes both Fresh and DC have the Sense UI
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand, but I figured that by seeing what the recommendations are, I'd be able to exclude some unmentioned ROMs. Makes sense...
I am not rooted at the moment, but I am familiar with it (developed for my HTC Dash years ago). I haven't had much time at all to dive into rooting until nw. Unfortunately, the OTA update was run on this device so now I'm at the mercy of the devs around here to discover a workaround.

Damage rom for the battery life. Seriously guys , if anyone and I mean anyone is *****ing and moaning about battery life , then they haven't tried DC's rom yet. And if Damage ain't on then trevE will answer.
I find a close second in polish and likability is Fresh's rom. Great rom . And I've run that one too.
I also ran Finisher by magnus.
And the froyo by avalaunch. Which is great but I need my camara and I hate having to flash to get it and then flash back.
I've also flashed Hero's over rom. But i didn't like the guys attitude in a couple of posts so I took it off.

howdyace said:
Damage rom for the battery life. Seriously guys , if anyone and I mean anyone is *****ing and moaning about battery life , then they haven't tried DC's rom yet. And if Damage ain't on then trevE will answer.
I find a close second in polish and likability is Fresh's rom. Great rom . And I've run that one too.
I also ran Finisher by magnus.
And the froyo by avalaunch. Which is great but I need my camara and I hate having to flash to get it and then flash back.
I've also flashed Hero's over rom. But i didn't like the guys attitude in a couple of posts so I took it off.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im actually a really nice guy. I just let my personal life interfere with my development life. Ive apologized multiple times and will once more. Im sorry. My ROM sucks btw lol

what's the difference between VillainROM and Lite'ning Rom

Hello, I am a new guy for andriod. Now I am using the lastest offical rom which is KE7.I consider to flash a custom rom while two popular custom roms making me hard to choose, which is VillainROM and Lite'ning Rom. Is there anyone could tell me what's the differfence between these two? what is the advantage of each one? cheers

This might be quite ot,but i have never had a phone b4 that i didnt had the hurry to flash a new rom.The original rom is quite flawless in my eyes!But finally i did flash the VR1.1 rom.But honestly i dont think its worth the effort,the WOW factor isnt there.To be honest,the Samsung rom is quite finished in my eyes!I had the Optimus 2X and Galaxy S before,and they sure did needed a new rom,but the SGS2...no at this point you dont need it.I might be flamed now but i think ur better of NOT flashing a new rom,just unroot and wait !There sure will be better alternatives later,but as of now...no it dont!

thank u for ur suggestion
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App

ruskprick said:
This might be quite ot,but i have never had a phone b4 that i didnt had the hurry to flash a new rom.The original rom is quite flawless in my eyes!But finally i did flash the VR1.1 rom.But honestly i dont think its worth the effort,the WOW factor isnt there.To be honest,the Samsung rom is quite finished in my eyes!I had the Optimus 2X and Galaxy S before,and they sure did needed a new rom,but the SGS2...no at this point you dont need it.I might be flamed now but i think ur better of NOT flashing a new rom,just unroot and wait !There sure will be better alternatives later,but as of now...no it dont!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This really in the past all Android phones I have owned have been dire out the box and the roms always made them better but apart from running an alternative launcher I think its pretty much perfect rom.

littlepig877 said:
Hello, I am a new guy for andriod. Now I am using the lastest offical rom which is KE7.I consider to flash a custom rom while two popular custom roms making me hard to choose, which is VillainROM and Lite'ning Rom. Is there anyone could tell me what's the differfence between these two? what is the advantage of each one? cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're happy with stock, there's little point in using a custom ROM.
If you want the kind of tweaks I do to ROMs, like removing silly battery warnings, or letting you send longer SMSs to more people, then use VR1.1.
TBH there's no need to use a custom ROM on this phone unless you want these kinds of tweaks, as tbh this phone is good enough out the box

pulser_g2 said:
If you're happy with stock, there's little point in using a custom ROM.
If you want the kind of tweaks I do to ROMs, like removing silly battery warnings, or letting you send longer SMSs to more people, then use VR1.1.
TBH there's no need to use a custom ROM on this phone unless you want these kinds of tweaks, as tbh this phone is good enough out the box
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does the Villain Tweasks work on the offical firmware? cuz I intall it but does not work on my phone in terms of 'prevent the notification when full charged'.

Just try them both, how long is that really going to take?, I have and prefer Villain simply because I am not big on lightnings theme.

Heh, it's funny how we all have different tastes. I love Litening's theme and it's the only reason I use it. As Pulsar said his opens up so extra tweaks. If you don't have a pressing reason to flash, stick with stock, but maybe root if you need to.

Honestly, Samsung has indeed made a really good work with android 2.3.3. But I took Lightning because I like when there's a theme behind all the software. Like same color, or the similar design which make it good-looking.

I haven't tried Villain, since Litening 1.4 is my first romflashing experience. However, compared to the stock unrooted rom in my Galaxy S II, I think Litening has added significant value to my phone. This includes, but is not limited to:
SMB-shares using Samba
Allows you to access your phone's internal memory and SD card over your WiFi as a shared folder. That way you'll never have to connect your phone by USB to manage files.
Vastly improved sound quality on video recordings
Potatoman has a released a modified version of the camera app, which increases the audio resolution on video recordings from 16 KHz to 44 KHz resulting in clearer and cleaner audio. His mod also allows you to silent the camera (disabling shutter sounds and clicks) and increase the video bitrate (although the effect is negliable).
Improved batterylife
Litening will root the phone, allowing you to get rid of Samsungs bundled apps. Once they are removed, they no longer litter in the background.
Video and voice over Google Talk
Litening features an updated version of Google Talk, which allows you to place free voice and video calls over Googe Talk.
Carrier branding goes away
Some carriers have modified the original firmware to disable certain options, for instance 3 has disabled the option to switch between 2G and 3G mode. Logically, Litening does not incorporate these branded limitations.
Minor user interface improvements
Litening features a modified blue theme, which IMHO looks cool. It features an improved battery icon and a snazzy animation when the screen is turned off.

ah nm
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

I'm new here too! I tried both and they both preform perfectly. Although, from personal experience I found the villianrom to have overall battery life but lite'ning to be more stable with a focus on performance.
I am currently on villainrom lite (bloat removed) with the nimphetamine kernel as I find the battery life to be more important to me.

If you want UI overhaul and improved usability, I recommend MIUI. To be honest, it's the only ROM I find greatly improves the way you use the phone.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App

ruskprick said:
This might be quite ot,but i have never had a phone b4 that i didnt had the hurry to flash a new rom.The original rom is quite flawless in my eyes!But finally i did flash the VR1.1 rom.But honestly i dont think its worth the effort,the WOW factor isnt there.To be honest,the Samsung rom is quite finished in my eyes!I had the Optimus 2X and Galaxy S before,and they sure did needed a new rom,but the SGS2...no at this point you dont need it.I might be flamed now but i think ur better of NOT flashing a new rom,just unroot and wait !There sure will be better alternatives later,but as of now...no it dont!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. There's no rush to flash a new rom because the original Samsung rom is quite ok for me. Wait for a few months and there'll be a lot of better alternatives and CM is getting better and better everyday.

[POLL] Which is the smoothest one?

I have been using Wolf's GB ROM for 10 days now.
It is not only really smoother than stock SE GB rom, but also so stable. Really, it was a child's play for me to install it (actually it was also my first custom ROM) just like using a stock rom..
Now,
I'm happy with this rom at the moment but i want to try a couple more roms. I'm a little bit obsessed about smoothness of the phone.
Which one would you chose as the smoothest if you have to?
Please answer the poll if you have tried at least two of them..
Further reviews, ups and downs and advices are accepted..
1. Wolfs TW Gingerbread ROM
2. Blue Sparks
3. VMOD V5
4. ThGo2
5. Cyanogenmod

First of all, you forgot T.E.A.M. ROM in the poll.
phobias1903 said:
Really, it was a child's play for me to install it (actually it was also my first custom ROM) just like using a stock rom..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the case with all custom ROMs, installing them is as simple as flashing one or two zips in recovery.
I find that installing a custom ROM is actually simpler than flashing stock with SEUS/PC Companion/FlashTool.
phobias1903 said:
Now,
I'm happy with this rom at the moment but i want to try a couple more roms. I'm a little bit obsessed about smoothness of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my humble opinion, which is based on experience since I myself am working on tweaking stock SE ROM for the past 4 months or so, a stock-based ROM is, at the end of the day, a modified but still stock ROM.
Granted there are the popular "tweaks" which are basically scripts that run on startup to optimise mostly the internal Android task killer and/or some kernel parameters, etc. The very core of the ROM, in most, if not all, cases remains the same. That way, my advice is to find a ROM that combines an acceptable by your personal taste level of "smoothness" (which is a purely relevant term, as it cannot be measured accurately), graphical enviroment and features.
Each user will probably give you a different answer because user experience may differ due to countless factors (apps installed, general way and purpose of using the phone). Gamers would mostly prefer a "stripped" ROM with minimal apps to leave them with space and memory for intense gaming. IMers (people using the phone mainly to communicate by mail, SMS, instant-messaging) will most of the times not notice performance improvements between ROMs because said apps are generally light-weight.
For a totally different experience, for example, Cyanogen could very well be your answer.
It is by default much smoother to SE ROMs, alas there might be things missing or not working at all, along with certain inconveniences.
So, it all comes down to what you want to do with your phone and what you feel is better. As with everything in life, obsession is never a good thing. At the end of the day, you want to be using your phone and not flashing it and setting it up from scratch every other day, right? And, let me say, that a poll will never help you as much as flashing and using the ROMs yourself.
Good luck!

Agreed...
cyanogen is great because it uses minimal system resources. It is a nice light, basic alternative, and therefore is quite fast.

As usual Iris explained it so well that a further answer isn´t really neccesary
Just a few summarised words; When you prefer a ROm where everything is working choose a ROM based on stock because just there everything is working especially the camera. Just there you have the Sony Ericcson camera app where you have features that aren´t available in real Custom ROMS.
In this case I can recommend you T.E.A.M Rom. It is very fast, beautiful and the support is awesome. But yeah....Iris mentioned that, too
When your priority isn´t the camera but best battery life and smoothness I can recommend you Tatsuo´s CM7 ROM running with his own kernel.

And where is MIUI? I happy with this ROM

iridaki said:
First of all, you forgot T.E.A.M. ROM in the poll.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely!
iridaki said:
At the end of the day, you want to be using your phone and not flashing it and setting it up from scratch every other day, right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Uhm, ... wrong. I want to flash and set it up every other day, sometimes even 2-3 times a day
Admitted, my desire to flash is greatly reduced since I use T.E.A.M ROM. But FXP046 will be a definite go for me and hell, I LOVE to play with many different ROMs. I have to admit that I reduced the apps I always install to a minimum and only install more apps if I plan to stay a little longer (--> T.E.A.M).
So, seeing it from this point of view, I make the worst out of my smartphone because I rarely can use its full potential. But who cares, flashing is fun

Wich ROM(s) are the best for nexus 4

Hi, recently I just got a nexus 4. Some time ago I use to had a optimus black and in their own forum there is a few ROMs. In the other hand here, OMG there is a lot of ROMs and I just dont know wich is the best combination between kernel, ROM, or maybe there are 2 or 3 great ROMs, etc...
I just dont know anything talking about ROMs for Nexus 4. Can some one help me a little bit in order to see 1,2 or 3 ROMs and I can make my choice?

ocovarr112 said:
Hi, recently I just got a nexus 4. Some time ago I use to had a optimus black and in their own forum there is a few ROMs. In the other hand here, OMG there is a lot of ROMs and I just dont know wich is the best combination between kernel, ROM, or maybe there are 2 or 3 great ROMs, etc...
I just dont know anything talking about ROMs for Nexus 4. Can some one help me a little bit in order to see 1,2 or 3 ROMs and I can make my choice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock 4.2.2 (rooted if you're into that). Nothing can beat the stability of pure android. Amazing battery life on the stock kernel as well (I can easily squeeze out 4 hours of screen on each day on mobile data).
If you're more after features, CM10 has always been more reliable for me than AOKP. Once again, stock kernel is great for performance/battery life.
AOKP if full of features that most people have no need for. But it's nice to have, I guess. Always has been the buggiest for me though, so I tend to stay away from it.
As I said before, nothing beats stock in terms of stability.

KiNG OMaR said:
Stock 4.2.2 (rooted if you're into that). Nothing can beat the stability of pure android. Amazing battery life on the stock kernel as well (I can easily squeeze out 4 hours of screen on each day on mobile data).
If you're more after features, CM10 has always been more reliable for me than AOKP. Once again, stock kernel is great for performance/battery life.
AOKP if full of features that most people have no need for. But it's nice to have, I guess. Always has been the buggiest for me though, so I tend to stay away from it.
As I said before, nothing beats stock in terms of stability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your recomendation, since I got this device I knew that it will be the most pure android system and as your thoughts I also do not think it was neccesary to change to any ROM. Thanks for your answer it is a lot of help for me.
Just one more question, why do you reccomend me to put root in my device, can you give me some examples it will be usefull?

ocovarr112 said:
Thanks for your recomendation, since I got this device I knew that it will be the most pure android system and as your thoughts I also do not think it was neccesary to change to any ROM. Thanks for your answer it is a lot of help for me.
Just one more question, why do you reccomend me to put root in my device, can you give me some examples it will be usefull?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For Ad blockers, Titanium backup and restore for user apps and data, color control, custom bootanimations (also requires custom recovery) etc etc

[Q] stock google rom vs LiquidSmooth

Hey,
I just wanted to ask does the custom roms really worth rooting? in comparison to the google stock rom how much faster and more battery efficient are the custom rom that specialize in those fields? (i.e. LiquidSmooth from what I could gather) and how much more/less stable are they from the stock rom?
Thank you.

Experience differs from user to user. The most conclusive way to get an answer is to try it out yourself. For me, PA has been just as fast as the stock ROM and had equally good battery life, but I have had the occasional random reboot. To me that's a miniscule trade-off for the features you get. You won't really get a ROM that's significantly faster than a stock ROM though because the hardware on the phone is good enough that everything feels fast.

tomer90 said:
Hey,
I just wanted to ask does the custom roms really worth rooting? in comparison to the google stock rom how much faster and more battery efficient are the custom rom that specialize in those fields? (i.e. LiquidSmooth from what I could gather) and how much more/less stable are they from the stock rom?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would recommend you try both and stick with the one that works best for you. Only you can determine which one you like more. The N4 is easy to install a custom rom on (even from stock). Plus with the backup apps out there you don't have to risk losing your data and starting over. No two users are identical and what works for one may not work for another.
For what it's worth, I've flashed back to stock/locked/unrooted because I never came to depend on the features the different roms gave me. I'm getting older and don't have the time to stay current on the different roms and features. All I need for my phone are apps/features that are found in the stock rom and the google store. Battery life is better on a custom rom but it's not worth it to me to continue my "flashaholic" ways. I still get through a day sometimes a day and a half on the stock rom - which is all I need. My use case could be drastically different than yours so don't do what I did unless you know it will work for you.
The developers here do great work and it's a great community so I would recommend you try them all to see which one you like the most.
Good luck.

You need to find the answer yourself.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using tapatalk 2

its not about me testing for myself because i'm not looking for features or special stuff i can get along with everything i'm really just looking for the fastest most battery saving ROM, thats it, I play little to almost no games basicly mail and scanning and stuff like that(i'm a student right now) and soon i'll be writing some apps for myself for security purposes so I need something to really milk that Quad Core for all its worth so I also need some CPU tweaking apps(not sure if thats ROM related)

You'll be very happy with Sabermod or Rasbean both close to stock. Sabermod is the only Rom built using the 4.8 chaintool and is very fast. The battery life is also excellent. I recommend those 2 for a close to stock experience with some useful tweaks both fast smooth and solid.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Thank you for your input.
Any other opinions?
and by the way, excuse my ignorance but what does it mean 4.8 chaintool? what makes it faster then the 4.7 or the older ones? and since its really new im guessing, does it mean its less stable then the other ROMS? and when you say excellent battery life, its in comparison to all those other ROMS that aim for max battery life?
Thank you!

If you really want more battery life or smoothness then IMO you should just install a new kernel; Franco's kernel has great battery life but it still has better performance than stock, Trinity kernel is super fast and smooth, and there's loads more options available.
I'm running CM10.1 and Franco kernel and its very stable, barely ever have any sort of bugs or random reboots
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

I run CM10.1. Close to stock, but has a few options that are nice to have especially if you like to customize your phone. There are other Roms that have more options, but to me, what's in CM is enough. It's really up to you.
With that being said, I recently flashed a stock rooted rom and got MUCH better battery life than on CM. I don't know if it was an app I had or what, but stock definitely gave me better battery life. I have tried kernels and Rom combinations, but always come back to CM with every single phone I've had. But, in my experience on the Nexus 4, stock Rom gives me the best battery life.

For me liquidsmooth is brilliant! Extremely fast while having tons of customization options. Pair it with matr1x and it really is a great combo for speed and battery life. This is only my opinion but it works for me. I got over 22000 on antutu with this combination (no overclock) while I think its around 17000 on stock. I also get significantly better battery life compared to stock.

if you really want a bump in battery and performance, i suggest rooting and just install francos kernel.i've tried every rom on this forum and for me i ALWAYS find my way back to stock for me it just feels the most fluid and everything works like it should. like me you dont play games or anything and im no app hoarder.that said stock rom with francos kernel gives me the best of everything including color/gamma tweaks to make your screen look better with his app.
with that said i suggest to check out different kernels

Installing kernel...
paul_viado said:
if you really want a bump in battery and performance, i suggest rooting and just install francos kernel.i've tried every rom on this forum and for me i ALWAYS find my way back to stock for me it just feels the most fluid and everything works like it should. like me you dont play games or anything and im no app hoarder.that said stock rom with francos kernel gives me the best of everything including color/gamma tweaks to make your screen look better with his app.
with that said i suggest to check out different kernels
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now, if we install franco's kernel onto the Stock ROM, will this prevent any future Google updates from being installed?

mastewman said:
Now, if we install franco's kernel onto the Stock ROM, will this prevent any future Google updates from being installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Updates in any form will show up in the forum and no need to simply rely on Google for them. They have recently released an updated kernel which I see being implemented by some rom developers and kernel developers already. Let's understand what we have here guys, a community of constant building additions/updates to our phones. So updates should be the last thing for you to worry about IMO
Also to me OP some of the questions you asked can all be answered with a simple Google Search, not that the answers given here are wrong but you would probably find more in depth and uniformed answers by looking it up.. Quite sure its on a wiki somewhere...

playya said:
Updates in any form will show up in the forum and no need to simply rely on Google for them. They have recently released an updated kernel which I see being implemented by some rom developers and kernel developers already. Let's understand what we have here guys, a community of constant building additions/updates to our phones. So updates should be the last thing for you to worry about IMO
Also to me OP some of the questions you asked can all be answered with a simple Google Search, not that the answers given here are wrong but you would probably find more in depth and uniformed answers by looking it up.. Quite sure its on a wiki somewhere...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe he means Google ota's and yes it can stop you from getting ota's. Any modification to system. Whether you added or removed something will fail. You would have to be on complete stock for it to work. Just download yourself a nexus 4 toolkit. The latest factory image, latest drivers, and make sure you backup your internal storage on your computer. Use the tool to return your phone back to stock. Of course whenever you feel is tge right time to do so.

Jsparta26 said:
I believe he means Google ota's and yes it can stop you from getting ota's. Any modification to system. Whether you added or removed something will fail. You would have to be on complete stock for it to work. Just download yourself a nexus 4 toolkit. The latest factory image, latest drivers, and make sure you backup your internal storage on your computer. Use the tool to return your phone back to stock. Of course whenever you feel is tge right time to do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh no I fully understood what he meant and my point was simply people unroot or stay stock to wait for an update. Whether you are rooted or not the update will find you in some form. Either with a rooted stock rom or a custom rom but rest assure that xda will not let an update happen and its not on everyone's phone :good: