Related
... if nothing else... Backups/Restores take a quarter of the time!
Thats it? I have tried AOSP roms a few times but they never lasted longer then a few hours. I just keep going back to Sense, I would love to hear about what is better about AOSP vs Sense. Are those backups including system data or just apps + their data?
What I like about aosp is the increased performance and customization. I get much better battery life compared to sense roms, my phone feels much snappier and the availability of themes/mods is unparalleled. Not to mention cm7 is always being updated and has the most support of any custom rom.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
I was trying out CM7 and while it was nice there were a few things I missed from my old rom and wasn't sure if I could get it on CM7.
On my old rom the pull down has the flashlight icon so I can turn it on and off easily also I was looking for some task bar themes. I found a few but not too many unless I'm not looking in the right place.
I really hate that standard gingerbread green theme.
You can put the flashlight toggle in the notification pulldown and you can also set it to death ray which is way brighter than the sense flashlight. That also reminds me of another useful feature that was added recently, you can long press an icon in the pull down menu and it will take you to the setting for that particular feature. As far as themes, there are quite a few in the market and floating around in the themes section as well.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
*sigh* anyone who claims they are getting dramatically better battery life on an aosp rom vs a sense rom needs to actually test it and show proof. I've done testing using apps like System Panel and Battery Monitor Widget and I saw NO difference in battery drain between cm6 and my stock sense rom. Neither when idle, asleep, or while actively using the phone.
On the dinc, the two biggest battery killers by far are the screen and 3g data. And no rom is going to change that.
I'm glad that we have options but I hate when people claim things are faster or have better battery life but offer no objective proof.
My top 3 reasons.
1. Increased speed/responsiveness.
2. DSP Manager, in 2.3 you get bass boost, once sense hits 2.3, it may have it too however. But for the time being. AOSP only.
3. The super bright flashlight! Seriously, probably the second most used app on my phone, next to SMS.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Hm sorry if I don't want to spend my time making graphs and charts, doing testing etc, so I can "back up" my opinion that battery life and performance is better on aosp as opposed to sense.. As I see it, sense offers fancy graphics and social integration but of course uses more CPU and therefore battery as well. If this is a ridiculous claim I apologize.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
I'd say its more dependent on what services you use in sense. Like friend stream, news, stocks, weather, and such. And how often it updates, how many live widgets you have etc. And AOSP ROM's typically don't have as much to sync, and less stuff running all the time. Hence the better battery life. Also depends on the kernel you use.
BrettApple said:
I'd say its more dependent on what services you use in sense. Like friend stream, news, stocks, weather, and such. And how often it updates, how many live widgets you have etc. And AOSP ROM's typically don't have as much to sync, and less stuff running all the time. Hence the better battery life. Also depends on the kernel you use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, those things in sense are optional and not using them or syncing them less often could help but that kind of defeats the purpose of using a sense rom.. Not to mention that the framework that allows those things to work is still running in the background even if you're not using those services. AOSP kernels do seem to have better support as well.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
This may be completely shallow of me, but I HATE Sense's visual style. It's just too cartoony for my liking. Too me it looks like something that belongs on a children's toy, not a legitimate piece of consumer electronics. It's an ugly, cartoony battery hog. I know that some people think that AOSP Android looks "boring", but I greatly prefer it to Sense.
matoya said:
This may be completely shallow of me, but I HATE Sense's visual style. It's just too cartoony for my liking. Too me it looks like something that belongs on a children's toy, not a legitimate piece of consumer electronics. It's an ugly, cartoony battery hog. I know that some people think that AOSP Android looks "boring", but I greatly prefer it to Sense.
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Click to collapse
that may be true, but sense was made to be usable in a smartphone SENSE. AOSP is very boring, and a battery hog on gingerbread. Until it is released for the inc, we are just using someone elses build. It is easy to come in here and blast something in which you dont like, but I ask, if you hate sense, why did you buy the dinc in the first place? You obviously have the wrong phone. to come in here and bash this phone because its too "cartoon like", is kind of stupid, since you bought the phone. I personally get much better battery life off of the sense 2.0 z roms than I do off of cm7. I really cant stand people who just bash a rom, just to bash. Everyone has there own preference, why not just leave it to that. If the sense roms are so cartoony, why the hell did you buy the phone, you look like an idiot for bashing a phone you paid alotof money for dude.
donnyp1 said:
that may be true, but sense was made to be usable in a smartphone SENSE. AOSP is very boring, and a battery hog on gingerbread. Until it is released for the inc, we are just using someone elses build. It is easy to come in here and blast something in which you dont like, but I ask, if you hate sense, why did you buy the dinc in the first place? You obviously have the wrong phone. to come in here and bash this phone because its too "cartoon like", is kind of stupid, since you bought the phone. I personally get much better battery life off of the sense 2.0 z roms than I do off of cm7. I really cant stand people who just bash a rom, just to bash. Everyone has there own preference, why not just leave it to that. If the sense roms are so cartoony, why the hell did you buy the phone, you look like an idiot for bashing a phone you paid alotof money for dude.
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Click to collapse
First of all I didn't buy my Dinc, I received it as a gift this past Christmas. I didn't get to choose my phone or my carrier. I love the Incredible but I hate Sense. And I'm getting better battery life with CM7 then I get with any Sense based ROM. You talk about people having they're own preference and leaving it at that, why don't you take your own advice ans stop insulting people for having a different opinion than yours?
I came from a Droid 2 and I'll definitely say sense>blur but was mainly attracted to the Inc because its fully unlockable and has goo(d dev support. Getting better battery and gingerbread is just a bonus.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
matoya said:
First of all I didn't buy my Dinc, I received it as a gift this past Christmas. I didn't get to choose my phone or my carrier. I love the Incredible but I hate Sense. And I'm getting better battery life with CM7 then I get with any Sense based ROM. You talk about people having they're own preference and leaving it at that, why don't you take your own advice ans stop insulting people for having a different opinion than yours?
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Click to collapse
We all have choices, your the one who commented in a thread on how much you HATE something. I dont really care if you like sense or not, but i have children, i suspect you may not, i teach them not to use that word. Had you not used it, i probablt would have never said anything. The problem with our society is all the HATE going around.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
I've been doing some tests on CM7 recently... with my battery life.
I have the stock battery, using Tiamat 3.3.8, -25 UV. I don't use any self-updating widgets other than Fancy Widgets Home for weather and clock. On my second page I have SuperManager widget for monitoring free RAM, not saying it helps battery life, but definitely with performance. OC'ed at 1113, and using performance governor. LauncherPro Plus is my default launcher...
Yesterday when I went to sleep, my phone had been off of the charger for 13 hours plus, and I was still at 51%.
Perhaps I don't use my phone as much as ya'll... but I browsed internet for a good 45 minutes.... sent and received a total of about 50 text messages.... got about 4 emails (everything on autosync) and tweaked some settings in launcher pro.
Maybe it's because I stopped using so many autoupdating widgets, but the last week I have been seeing a dramatic improvement.
I find CM7 to be faster than Sense... until I load it up with widgets. Beautiful widget clock, calendar widget, contacts widget... Once I've added these, CM7 is noticeably laggier and generally slower than Sense.
donnyp1 said:
We all have choices, your the one who commented in a thread on how much you HATE something. I dont really care if you like sense or not, but i have children, i suspect you may not, i teach them not to use that word. Had you not used it, i probablt would have never said anything. The problem with our society is all the HATE going around.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App
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Click to collapse
And you don't think that's overreacting just a little? I didn't say I hate a person, I said that I hate a custom UI on a mobile operation system. The thread is about AOSP vs. Sense, and I simply commented that I greatly prefer the look and feel of AOSP Android to the look and feel of sense. I don't hate everything about sense, I like the flip clock widget and HTC's camera app is great, but the fact is that I do hate Sense's visual style and think that it is better suited for a children's toy then an actual piece of consumer electronics.
Up time, or time off the charger, means almost nothing, considering you'll only lose a percent every 2-3 hours. You guys need to look at your AWAKE time, time you are actually using the phone. I find I can typically get about five hours of awake time out of a full charge on my sense Rom. Cm7 gave me fourish, I don't recall what cm6 was but I know it wasn't as bad as 7.
BrettApple said:
My top 3 reasons.
1. Increased speed/responsiveness.
2. DSP Manager, in 2.3 you get bass boost, once sense hits 2.3, it may have it too however. But for the time being. AOSP only.
3. The super bright flashlight! Seriously, probably the second most used app on my phone, next to SMS.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have all three of these features on skyraider 4
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA Premium App
Hey all - looking for some flashers' opinions on MIUI. What do you think? Do you like it? It looks really slick and very functional, but I feel kind of lame flashing something onto my Android that looks so much like iOS lol, like I'm trying to be a poser But to those of you who run it or have tried it, what did you like and what did you not like?
I would maybe be running Launcher Plus Pro over it, so I'm also curious to hear what people think of the whole system, not just the home screen...?
Its a wierd looking rom. Kind of hard to navigate, is not user friendly in my opinion. The UI is too complicated and not so easy to use. I also didn't like that it doesn't have an app drawer.
I also got alot of fc's with that rom. I don't know. Just alot of lil things I didn't like.
MIUI is great! even though it does resemble iOS. It's smooth and responsive and I haven't had any force closes. What I noticed is I don't have to download an alternate launcher, sms app, browser, etc. I guess some bad things are no app drawer but I just organize all the apps into folders. Also there are a lot of settings you can mess with and the UI takes some getting used to but I think thats the fun of flashing new ROMs, something new to play with. Try out thederekjay's ROM: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1060415 I'm pretty sure you'll like it too! And make sure you read everything before trying it out. =p
this rom looks very nice im give it a try when i can and let ya guys know what up thx
I know some people really like it, but my PERSONAL OPINION is, if I wanted iOs, i would get an iPhone.
I have tried it twice because after my first try it felt like a gimick and too iphonish but I liked the icons. After the second useage I missed the drawer and I also got a lot of fcs. What I did to satify my Miui taste was download the MIUI launcher. Its made exactly like ADW and looks like MIUI with a drawer and you could add icons.
Thank you all for your opinions! I'm on the go right now and can't flash it, but will when I have some time to play around with it and test it out. Like I said, I'll likely be throwing LPP over it to use as my home launcher, so I'm curious about how it runs system-wide, not just the aesthetics of the launcher...good battery? Good data connection and speeds? I'll likely be trying the demonspeed MIUI rom by derek...I know the settings menu and just about everything is different from AOSP/Sense, so I'm curious to try something new...
I have flashed both Evil D's and thederekjay's MIUI roms and I love them both! tdj's demonSPEED rom is blazing fast and never had any real problems with it(the problems I did have were fixed very quickly ). it does resemble iOS, but more customizable. yes the menu options are confusing at times, but after a while you get used to it and know where everything is. I also have used both ADW EX and LauncherPro with no issues with both roms. battery life is awesome, I got 26hrs on a full charge. some advice: make a nandroid backup and just flash one of the MIUI roms, preferably demonSPEED, to get a feel for it. cant hurt to try it out its a very fun rom. plus netflix works
Lets not forget the Cool Things you can do in it. The New Version 1.5.20 has the MIUI Camera and this Camera is Really Good. It Auto Focuses and is very fast when taking pics. Plus when you get a MMS you have the option to save the pic and also crop or rotate it how you like. Then lets not forget about the Flashlight while pressing home on lockscreen. Comes in handy if you need it for a minute. And the Dialer has an option to record calls, if you might need to after authorization from the other person first. Those are the main things that i like about it but overall its really great. Oh and the Gallery is light and loads really fast. Especially if you have a lot of pics like me.
krazie1 said:
Lets not forget the Cool Things you can do in it. The New Version 1.5.20 has the MIUI Camera and this Camera is Really Good. It Auto Focuses and is very fast when taking pics. Plus when you get a MMS you have the option to save the pic and also crop or rotate it how you like. Then lets not forget about the Flashlight while pressing home on lockscreen. Comes in handy if you need it for a minute. And the Dialer has an option to record calls, if you might need to after authorization from the other person first. Those are the main things that i like about it but overall its really great. Oh and the Gallery is light and loads really fast. Especially if you have a lot of pics like me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
not to mention the pull down is really neat and if u long press the icons it takes u directly to that option(thats one of my favs) also much like Sense, it has the abilty to flip to silence and quiet ring on pickup.. Eh maybe does resemble iOS in someways(and boy do i hate apple)... but imho it takes the functionality from different manufactures/developers and mashes them into one... the dialer is second to none, with t9 capabilities, to the little details in tells u(for example missed calls, the number of rings before they hung up, that's just neat) the sms/mms is beyond that of any stock rom... searching for contacts is a breeze... i honestly have never used a rom that is so functional right out of the box without the assistance of 3rd party apps... battery life is great and the way it utilizes the ram is beyond awesome..the launcher may be really iphoneish but it looks amazing with how the icons r sized and just the graphical dispaly alone is great! not for nothing, if the only thing holding u back from MIUI is the iphoneish look, i would suggest downloading it and using it for a week... i was the same way @ first but now i wont look back!
It is not bad... But to plain for my tastes. I tried it and went right back to Virtuous Fusion.
vabeach454 said:
It is not bad... But to plain for my tastes. I tried it and went right back to Virtuous Fusion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hmmm not sure where u get "plain" from... there is really nothing else like it.. plus between features and how u can customize it... but hey thats ur opinion and we r all entitled to one..
I really like MIUI look, but never could see a point in using it since it looks horrible when I jack my LCD Density to 160 or 140... so kind of defeated the purpose.
If you are using the default 240 density (not sure how anyone can use this phone at all at that density personally), it's actually a pretty slick/clean looking interface IMHO.
rogabean said:
I really like MIUI look, but never could see a point in using it since it looks horrible when I jack my LCD Density to 160 or 140... so kind of defeated the purpose.
If you are using the default 240 density (not sure how anyone can use this phone at all at that density personally), it's actually a pretty slick/clean looking interface IMHO.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which of the density changer apps are you using?
Miui is HORRIBLE. It is ios look alike and it is the exact same look and feel of samsucks touchwiz. I would never use miui. Its horrible.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
PureH2O said:
Miui is HORRIBLE. It is ios look alike and it is the exact same look and feel of samsucks touchwiz. I would never use miui. Its horrible.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It sounds like either people like it or hate. I used royalginger for sometime with launcher pro plus. It was fast and smooth but battery was less ideal with launcher pro. Stock launcher was too plain for me. So I tried thederekjay's MIUI rom for kicks and loved it. Takes some getting use to coming from CM7based rom. Tons of customization to modify the look of the phone. Runs very fast and smooth. Great battery life. You should give it a fair look with a test drive to see if you like it.
PureH2O said:
Miui is HORRIBLE. It is ios look alike and it is the exact same look and feel of samsucks touchwiz. I would never use miui. Its horrible.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha i will bet any amount of money this is that hydroroms guy that got banned for trying to charge ppl money to dl his rom... watch u will see that soon he will post in the dev section with some bs rom... he is just hatin cause i called him out on it...
TeeJay3800 said:
Which of the density changer apps are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LCD Density Changer
i wouldnt bother flashing it just because it looks so much like iOS.
So I flashed it earlier tonight, and tried it for about an hour...in the end, my personal opinion was that I wasn't crazy about it. It was fun to play around with something totally different than the usual AOSP/Sense roms, but the aesthetics and overall look and feel just wasn't doing it for me. Maybe it's because I've gotten used to the other android os options, but it didn't seem as refined and classy as some of the other roms. To each his own, but for me I'm going to flash to something else.
But to thederekjay, thank you for your hard work on the rom! I could see why some would like it, and the rom itself felt smooth. That's the great thing about having options We can all flash and run what works best for us
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/04/...u-from-fixed-grid-tyr/?a_dgi=aolshare_twitter
I have been testing it today and I must say I'm really impressed. This is the launcher I use on my phone for years and I swear by it. Much more stable than the competition and tweaks galore! It's still in Beta (2.0) for us, but it's already set for a daily driver. I highly recommend it.
Download it from here (scroll down to the end of the post).
Another duplicate post...
How can you say it's ready to be used as a daily driver?
Virtually no options for settings. In the many posts in threads already here about this, there are people posting issues with it. Especially with widgets.
Don't get me wrong. I've got this and have ran it myself without issues others may be having, and was impressed. Yet still, its only Beta2 and many people are having issues, and the lack of settings is annoying if not a real hinderance.
Definitely not ready for daily driving. IMHO
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium HD app
sad but true
akarol said:
http://www.engadget.com/2012/03/04/...u-from-fixed-grid-tyr/?a_dgi=aolshare_twitter
I have been testing it today and I must say I'm really impressed. This is the launcher I use on my phone for years and I swear by it. Much more stable than the competition and tweaks galore! It's still in Beta (2.0) for us, but it's already set for a daily driver. I highly recommend it.
Download it from here (scroll down to the end of the post).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be truthful I was utterly disappointed even though its still a beta, but my complain is not in stability as in my gt-p7510 it ran quite smoothly (other than occasional bugs). The approach of the launcher was just too hectic and messy to the organisation of icons and its it takes too much time to make folders and edit them, put all the desired icons in them and every other things that anyone would want to tweak. Lastly the biggest disappointment was the lack of options in settings and because of all these reasons I will happily live with Trebuchet which is much more flexible!
But its just my opinion, maybe other will just love it .................
wtgserpant said:
To be truthful I was utterly disappointed even though its still a beta, but my complain is not in stability as in my gt-p7510 it ran quite smoothly (other than occasional bugs). The approach of the launcher was just too hectic and messy to the organisation of icons and its it takes too much time to make folders and edit them, put all the desired icons in them and every other things that anyone would want to tweak. Lastly the biggest disappointment was the lack of options in settings and because of all these reasons I will happily live with Trebuchet which is much more flexible!
But its just my opinion, maybe other will just love it .................
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The lack of options in settings was and is a big issue for me but surely this will change as the betas get higher or the full release comes out.
Strangely I found the organization of icons, apps, and folders easier and faster. Of course I'm used to go launcher as it is now so that night have helped me some. There was still a bit of a learning curve I had to overcome, a bit of an annoyance, but not much, and I'm not familiar at Trebuchet hardly at all.
So I'm also staying with what I have now, which is a highly customized version of go launcher non-hd.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium HD app
What'a wrong with Go Launcher EX on the tab? I have been using it for several months now and I'm pretty impressed with it. The only disappointing thing is the refresh of the icon when you switch between landscape/portrait...
I know it lacks some of the customization of other mature launchers out there, but what is available has been more than enough to get me by. I am loving the dock (other launcher's docks are gimmicky; especially ADW's). And the landscape/portrait layout doesn't overlap like in other apps. It's just fast, clean, and simple.
I also didn't understand the above poster's hassle with organizing the icons. I find it quite intuitive and simple. Far superior than what's out there. I customized my homescreens in a fraction of the time it took with other launchers.
dino_Donis said:
What'a wrong with Go Launcher EX on the tab?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing. Just trying out the newest go launcher.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using XDA Premium HD app
I am currently running the Virtuous Unity ROM on my phone, but use Go Launcher rather than Sense. Does Sense add any real benefits other than aesthetics?
I will admit that Virtuous Unity is quite a bit better than stock, and I do love it. I was just wondering if other ROMs (non-Sense) perform better (faster and smoother) and save more battery. I know this is a tall order to fill since Virtuous Unity is quite a beast.
If so, any recommendations on a decent ROM? Thanks.
Honestly...if you're not going to use the nice sense launcher, then no, it's not worth it. There are a few Senseless ROMs. Or you could cook one up yourself xD. For recommendations, I'd go with MIUI. It is unbelievably customizable. Thousands of themes to choose from. I'd recommend TDJ's MIUI or AndroidInsomnia's MIUI. Of course, you could always go with the standard CM7.
Sense advantages on AOSP/CM/MIUI:
Dialer.
Contacts + integrated Exchange contacts.
Better Exchange support.
Proper (and good) mail client.
Proper calendar.
Proper photo+video camera.
Much nicer Quick Settings menu in Notification Bar (MIUI is very close, CM isn't).
Better hotspot control (per-user access permissions).
Better lockscreen (this one is subjective).
Probably forgot a couple of points.
Its kinda funny how you are using a custom launcher on top of sense. Sense doesn't really provide any functionality besides its UI. I suggest you use royalginger, i used it for a while and liked it but i ended up needing my eyecandy
THEindian said:
Sense doesn't really provide any functionality besides its UI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Its UI", as you can see from my post above yours, goes FAR beyond the launcher.
Jack_R1 provided a pretty comprehensive list of some of the non-aesthetic features of Sense ROMs. Personally, the main reason I would switch to Sense would be for the camera. The camera is better supported and the pictures that turn out are visibly better than CM7's.
Bottom line is, if you're fine with the Virtuous + goLauncher, then just stick with it. If you want to try something new, you can always backup, flash a new one, and stick with it or restore to what you had before.
I didn't quite realize all that Sense did besides look pretty. I guess I'll stick with Virtuous Unity for now (may switch later just because I can - lol). Thanks to everyone for your input.
I think I'm addicted to Go Launcher..I seem to end up using it with most Roms. It's very snappy using Go launcher over Black Ice...this is as good as my handset has been ever..thanks Team Inferno!
Sent from my Black Ice'd Glacier using xda premium
Before I learned about rooting and MIUI, I used to exclusively use GoLauncher. Then I realized how much I could mix and match different themes I found from MIUI market and I haven't looked back since. It's fast, smooth, and crazy good on battery life.
Plus I prefer the dialer, boot screens, lock screens, etc. Customization is the best part of it.
The only bad thing about MIUI is its lack of an app drawer. It is pretty much a knockoff of iOS. But creating folders has a similar effect to an app drawer. Except I can put the good apps I frequently use in there.
madmanmostafa said:
The only bad thing about MIUI is its lack of an app drawer. It is pretty much a knockoff of iOS. But creating folders has a similar effect to an app drawer. Except I can put the good apps I frequently use in there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Give AltDrawer a try. I used to use it on MIUI and it works great!
Im using the Virtuous Unity ROM as well with ADW ex Launcher. I kinda like it
Hello, I've been using custom Touchwiz ROM (Goldeneye for Telus) and it occasionally stutters at various points such as opening app or folder, etc. It's very minor but considering that it's a new phone, I was a little disappointed. Then I tried the Google Edition and it is seriously lacking on features. It's snappier but there's no toggles for notification, can't quickly clear out opened apps, can't create folders in app drawer (I like to organize them), camera isn't as good as the Touchwiz due to features - I also like it that I can record a video by clicking the button on screen, and a few minor details that I can't remember now.
So is there any benefit of using Google Rom over custom Touchwiz rom other than it being snappier? Does anyone prefer Google Rom? MOD EDIT: NO BEST ROM QUESTIONS
Every user is different. So it's best to try different ones and see which you like best.
I prefer the Google ROMS (stock android) because it has no bloat, pretty fast and snappy, and looks premium, clean, and (IMO) amazing. I don't normally use TW ROMS mainly because of the looks and bloat. For example, I'm not a fan of the toggles in the notification bar, so I got stock android and had a clean and efficient notification bar. Many of the "S" features I never used , so I thought I might as well get rid of them.
Camera is something I would actually use TW for, but since I don't take many photos it didn't seem necessary (for me at least).
As for creating folders and stuff, use a custom launcher, they'll have more features than the stock launchers on both.
However this all does come down to preference, if you value the features, stick with TW, if you value a premium look and feel, use stock Android ROMS. Best part is that you can switch between both anytime you like, just make backups. (I switched every 15 days on my S3 so I got the best of both). Since Modaco Switch will be coming to the S4 (i337 also I hope), it will be even easier to switch between the two, and enjoy both types of ROMS.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4
jd1639 said:
Every user is different. So it's best to try different ones and see which you like best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya, I just tried the Google Edition rom today and.. It feels that I have to try very hard to like the rom. Do people usually use a different launcher to make it somewhat more user friendly? I mean... I like stock feeling and all.. But it's seriously lacking on some features.
r8revealed said:
I prefer the Google ROMS (stock android) because it has no bloat, pretty fast and snappy, and looks premium, clean, and (IMO) amazing. I don't normally use TW ROMS mainly because of the looks and bloat. For example, I'm not a fan of the toggles in the notification bar, so I got stock android and had a clean and efficient notification bar. Many of the "S" features I never used , so I thought I might as well get rid of them.
Camera is something I would actually use TW for, but since I don't take many photos it didn't seem necessary (for me at least).
As for creating folders and stuff, use a custom launcher, they'll have more features than the stock launchers on both.
However this all does come down to preference, if you value the features, stick with TW, if you value a premium look and feel, use stock Android ROMS. Best part is that you can switch between both anytime you like, just make backups. (I switched every 15 days on my S3 so I got the best of both). Since Modaco Switch will be coming to the S4 (i337 also I hope), it will be even easier to switch between the two, and enjoy both types of ROMS.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4
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Mmm. I'm interested in using a launcher but I have no idea what they do lol. I'm very new, coming from an iPhone, so I still have to adapt to Android - It's a great switch! Loving the larger screen, removable battery and expendable memory! Do you have any suggestion about which launcher provides the most features? Are they generally super stable and do they consume more battery than the default settings? Thanks!
Try apex or nova launcher. Both let you do folders in the app drawer.
A aosp ROM like CyanogenMod gets rid of the bloat and make the phone faster but still retain notification toggles.
I put cm on my s4 the day I got it. Its very fast and smooth.
sbddude said:
Try apex or nova launcher. Both let you do folders in the app drawer.
A aosp ROM like CyanogenMod gets rid of the bloat and make the phone faster but still retain notification toggles.
I put cm on my s4 the day I got it. Its very fast and smooth.
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Yeah, I considered AOSP roms too. However, there isn't a stable 4.3 CM or AOKP yet and I would like to switch to the newest possible OS since I have to set up every again. I also read something regarding AOSP camera being sub par comparaing to touchwiz or GE firmware - Not sure if it's all just a myth..
I'll most definitely checkout these launchers. Seems interesting. Thanks.
Nova Launcher is what I use, tons of customizations, very stable, and not really any different battery consumption. You should try all the popular launchers and see what you like. For some cool 3D ones check out Next Launcher, and for other ones apex, Holo, and ADW are popular. Atom launcher is a cool one too. Try all of them and see which one you'll like, they all are unique ;D
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4
r8revealed said:
Nova Launcher is what I use, tons of customizations, very stable, and not really any different battery consumption. You should try all the popular launchers and see what you like. For some cool 3D ones check out Next Launcher, and for other ones apex, Holo, and ADW are popular. Atom launcher is a cool one too. Try all of them and see which one you'll like, they all are unique ;D
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 4
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Yum. Launcher on Google Edition rom might work well. Time to try it out. Thanks!
Aukaminator said:
.... since I have to set up every again. ...
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Titanium Back up takes care of that. Going to the S3 to the S4 took only a little but of setup. It backups all of your apps and their data across OS upgrades.
sbddude said:
Titanium Back up takes care of that. Going to the S3 to the S4 took only a little but of setup. It backups all of your apps and their data across OS upgrades.
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I have problems getting notifications to work properly with some apps when I restore data also, so I usually just restore the apps (except for games and stuff where I don't want to lose progress and don't care about notifications anyway).
As for whether I like stock Android better or not the answer is a definitive yes. When I got my S4 I used it as is only until I could get back to my computer and flash a custom recovery and a new ROM (CM 10.2 at the moment). Yeah, there are some features that you lose, but for me they are gimmicky and unnecessary (I emphasize me because I recognize that some people really do like the TW stuff and like I always say: good for you, that's what Android is ultimately all about). Stock Android, on the other hand, looks good, is functional, is fast, and works the way I want/expect it to.
I also happen to think that TW is butt ugly, but that's purely subjective.
I haven't tried one of the GE ROMs yet but CyanogenMod gets close enough with extra features that I like (do not disturb, anyone?) so that's what I tend to gravitate towards. There is nothing wrong with going either way, of course, and ultimately it boils down to what you want from your phone. Again, that to me is a big part of what makes Android so damn appealing (and why locked bootloaders and anti-tweaking efforts piss me off).
It is stable, but if you like bland, and lack of features, then it would be the os to use...
TheAxman said:
It is stable, but if you like bland, and lack of features, then it would be the os to use...
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Hah, no bias here at all.
The Google "Experience"
Having tried both a custom TW rom and a GE rom, I have to give the TW roms the win.
This is why:
1) The dialer is pretty bad, I'm not a fan of deciphering hieroglyphics to determine how to navigate the dialer. Also the contacts app UI is awful.
2) The GE launcher lacks features offered in free editions of 3rd party launchers.
3) The stock email program and widgets are not as good or as functional as the Samsung email program and S Planner.
4) I actually like being able to turn on/off wi-fi and BT without having to navigate menus and/or install space and memory hogging widgets.
5) Multi-window is pretty awesome.
6) The GE/CM ROMS have some pretty showstopping bugs with BT, microphone issues during calls, random reboots, etc.
As someone already mentioned earlier about its personal preference. I myself tried to hard to like GE rom, but couldn't because of lots of things that I use on TW is missing. The only thing I ever missed was photosphere feature, and that issue got solved by installing GE camera app. Regarding smoothness, it's not bad at all, and this is coming from a guy who has seen worst from froyo times to super good with JB. Also, you can disable lots of bloat even if you are not rooted. But of course people who come here are not the one who likes to do things without rooting their device and once you root, you can disable all the bloat tou want. But until and unless you try for yourself, it's hard to know what you'll miss from either of the rom.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using xda premium
mcapozzi said:
Having tried both a custom TW rom and a GE rom, I have to give the TW roms the win.
4) I actually like being able to turn on/off wi-fi and BT without having to navigate menus and/or install space and memory hogging widgets.
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You can drag down the notification bar with two fingers and long press on wifi and bluetooth to toggle them on/off.
I come from two years of using a nexus devices. I got this phone for free, otherwise I would still be using the galaxy nexus. I miss the easy flashing, fastboot etc. This phone will last me till next fall and at that time, I'll move to the nexus 6
Needless to say, I use a bone stock ge Rom with nova launcher.
Sent from my I337m using xda app-developers app
I would prefer to use the GE ROM over Touchwiz but for whatever reason I can't find a single browser that doesn't stutter horribly as compared to aosp ROMs. For that reason alone I am using CM 10.2.
calvin35 said:
I would prefer to use the GE ROM over Touchwiz but for whatever reason I can't find a single browser that doesn't stutter horribly as compared to aosp ROMs. For that reason alone I am using CM 10.2.
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You've probably tried these popular choices.. But I use Dolphin browser and its performance is pretty close to stock AOSP browser with some nice added features. I've also tried Firefox and it's pretty damn close! But either way, try the beta versions of the two and see if you like them. .
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