Cyanogen 7 Screenies and GPS - Vibrant General

The only reason I haven't tried Cyanogen Mod 7 yet is because I still haven't seen anywhere in the developing section with screen-shots so as to visualize what all the fuss is about.
2nd Reason is that there has always been issues with the GPS and Cyanogen Rom, I know a lot of people here don't seem to care about GPS, but for those of us who do rely on it because of the transportation aspect of our jobs, its a lifesaver, and frees us from using laptops and software to route ourselves in constantly unfamiliar territory.
I just recently saw a thread about the fix for GPS with Cyanogen 7, but man it seems a little overwhelming proceedure wise and honestly I'm not sure If I'm good enough to start replacing scripts and editing the scripts as it requires. As opposed to using the other methods on other ROM's that are more Noob or Tech friendly.
Anyway, looking to see what this ROMS like, and if its speed and and functionality is worth it.
I'm running Crazy 8, with all the tweaks and bells and whistles, and I've found true love at last. I mean after going threw many ROM's this one finally has it all, with every aspect of functionality I need to make it a Great work and personal device know, and has freed me up from using my laptop while on the road. But again, for curiosity sakes and having an open mind, before I dismiss Cyanogen 7, Just want to see if its all cracked up to be as everybody here raves about.
And please, I don't need advice about sticking with what I already have, I've already made that decision, what I'm asking for here is the links with screenies and if the GPS really works well or great, just not half ass, and what is involved with getting the GPS to work as great, as what I've got going presently!

Use CM7 based MIUI custom rom LE Lithium 4.0 , everything works out of the box...even GPS...just need a reboot to use GPS..that's all

GPS does not work great. And neither does it really on any of the Froyo ROMs.
If you actually rely on GPS for work, get one of these
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1122688
and you will have a 0.5 feet accuracy with instant lock GPS, ANYTIME, on any ROM.
Screenshots. That's hard. CM7 supports the theme engine which means you can apply a theme to the entire ROM in one click. There are literally several hundred themes for it...so really a screenshot is not a good idea. HOWEVER, I will link you to these screenshots. They are of the theme I am currently using with it. It works great.
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.sonny.theme.lucid <--CM7 theme
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.sonny.lp.lucid&feature=more_from_developer <--Launcher Pro theme that matches it.
Battery. It drains a bit quicker than Froyo ROMs. It's not horrible by any means. In addition, you can now get a 1800mah battery for $23 that's Genuine from Samsung. Using that I get ~18 hours of usage with about 2.5 hours of screen on time per charge.
Performance: Due to gingerbread optimizations, the performance is light years ahead of Froyo ROMS. Your CPU will be roughly 4-5 TIMES faster. Because of that, the phone will be nearly indistinguishable in speed from new Dual Core phones. Everything is instant and smooth.
Options: CM7 is FAMOUS for the amount of customization. There are a PLETHORA of options you can tweak under settings-->CM7 Settings. Everything from adjusting the automatic brightness behavior (you can control how bright the screen is depending on how much light the light sensor is reading from the outside) to adjusting how strong and in what patterns the haptic feedback will be for every button press. Also, you can adjust all of the quick toggles in the Status bar as well as add or remove new ones. You've always wanted a dedicated camera button or music button? No problem. You can assign long-pressing the search button to start up your camera or long-pressing the menu button to start up your music player. There are literally more options than you will need.
The choice is yours.

Cyanogen mod is just plain AOSP, slightly themed. You can also theme it using the Theme manager that comes with it.
I do recommend trying Revamped LE, it is a good, stable, rom.
The biggest thing for me between Gingerbread and Froyo, is the screen color and performance. The colors on Gingerbread are much brighter and cleaner. Also, the contrast is much better... You can adjust the color settings in the Voodoo control app. The performance is very good... it's much smoother and snappier than a Froyo Rom. Overall, it takes much more advantage of our hardware than 2.2 does, with the exception of GPS. The GPS is spotty at times, other times it will work fine, then sometimes not at all.... Until you reboot.
The process to flash CM7 is very easy now, just download it and flash via ROM Manager, just like you would a Froyo ROM. It does all the fancy stuff for you. Once you have CM7 installed you can flash any version or variant of MIUI or CM7 you'd like.You have to ODIN back to stock if you decide you want to go back to Froyo though.

The only thing holding me back from cm7 or miui was the ridiculous flashing process. I definitely will try now that I know its easier.
gotta ask, does cm7 work okay with GB bootloaders?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

NO. You WILL soft brick if you try it.

}{Alienz}{ said:
NO. You WILL soft brick if you try it.
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That's a bit of an exaggeration. I'm running the Gingerbread bootloaders on CM7 and everything is working fine. If you're already on the Froyo ones, however there's no need to switch over.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I've never used the Gingerbread bootloaders and everything has worked fine for me.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using xda premium

Thank You Gentlemen for all the reply's, I now have everything I need to due some reading and research!
}{Alienz}{ Wrote: " GPS does not work great. And neither does it really on any of the Froyo ROMs. " Not trying to start stuff here, but that's not entirely true, in fact its the reason I'm still on a Froyo based ROM, because of its stability and as of present scenario, a great working GPS, down to 17 and as low as 12 ft under Ideal conditions, But I'm using Heathens GB GPS Fix, which made a huge difference, and the best ever performance to date, Of Course with the antenna mod done to my vibrant. Anyway again thank you all for responding. Appreciate all of ya!!

Related

So what's the hype on MIUI Rom all about?

Okay I did some research on the Rom. Everyone raves about the speed and how battery last longer then the stock or cm6 roms. It looks very iphony to me. How smooth is the Rom? How is it working out for you miui users. Is it worth the time? I am very satisfied with cm6. Haven't thought of switching but I want to give it a try. Please let me know.
try out the rom yourself, its not going to kill you
I gave it a go. It is very iphone-ish, but not so much that it bothered me or was distasteful. I saw no increase in battery life or speed, even though I'm sure tests might prove it, nothing that makes a noticeable difference in day to day usage. I eventually went back to enoms rom with wildmonks kernal.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
miui
well, I didnt wanna try it out either because I really dont like the iphone interface, but turns out that I did try it and I love it!
I didnt use the stock launcher though, thats what made it iphone like.
Im using launcher pro and adw so I get pretty much all the benefits of the rom. It is a very fast rom. probably as fast as all the other really. but for some reason, its really smooth. its a completely new version of android I would say.
give it a try with another launcher. I think you might like it. also, try out wildmonks kernels. they seem pretty fast and stable for me
Which Rom do you recommend? Rodriguez or dj's? Wildmonks kernel is the best. Not a big fan of iPhone but will use launcher pro or adw launcher.
Im using rodriguez. It seems to be the easiest one file flash type of rom.
Rodriguez is what I used. Was very nice and launcher pro worked great with it. It also has some nice features with it. I might give it another go myself, but with gingerbread around the corner, I dunno. Plus it's just hard to give up enoms.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
im using it with adw launcher and i love it. there isnt really any increase in performance that ive noticed but i love how you can go straight to sms app from the lock screen.
Rod's MIUI rom's rock...happy flashing!
And read his thread posts for details & info
I've been using Rodriguez MIUI roms for a while now. Every once in a while I flash something else including a few Sense ones and CM6.1 but the MIUI roms simply dust them in speed and responsiveness.
I don't really like the icons so much but I can easily overlook them with the huge increase in speed, stability over CM and the latest (1.8.1) with Wildmonks kernel gives me better battery life than I have EVER had.
I really like MIUI for a couple of reasons. The ability to create folders on the home screen makes finding my apps faster and more organized, as I like to load down my phone with more apps than I ever would really use. I also really like what they've done with the dialer and in-call menu, as it gives you bigger buttons and indicators for Bluetooth connectivity and such. I've lost track of how many times I've forgotten to turn on Bluetooth prior to making a call, and ROMs based on the stock Froyo only have the small icon on the status bar to let you know whether Bluetooth is connected, so I often ended up sitting there listening to silence for a few seconds before realizing the problem. Even answering a call is somewhat easier, as you swipe down instead of sideways, and that's especially useful for the times when I'm asleep and get awoken by a call.
Then there's always the other assorted UI improvements that aren't particularly necessary, but still cool nonetheless. There's a cool visualizer that plays along with your music on the lock screen, in addition to controls on the lock screen for your music. The stock wallpapers are really nice too, and after using CyanogenMod I started getting tired of seeing the color cyan. The top bar is transparent too, so it will always look nice with whatever wallpaper you choose. Despite taking some cues from Apple's iOS UI, I actually think MIUI does it better.
The look of the icons is my only gripe with MIUI, but that can be changed with themes of course. Speed wise, I haven't noticed a whole lot of improvement, and I think that's because I don't often have many apps all running at once. What really matters to me is usability, and in that department MIUI shines, and hopefully will only get better.
I use the miui rom as well with Launcher Pro. The Battery life rocks. thats my main reason I use it.
earlyberd said:
..... The ability to create folders on the home screen makes finding my apps faster and more organized....
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I thought we've always been able to do this with even a stock n1, no? I never use it, but thought it's always been there.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
I did it I flashed it made it like I had it before. Seems little zippy. I like the lock screen. We will see how everything works in couple of days.
Is there a theme for this Rom?
sl8125 said:
Okay I did some research on the Rom. Everyone raves about the speed and how battery last longer then the stock or cm6 roms. It looks very iphony to me. How smooth is the Rom? How is it working out for you miui users. Is it worth the time? I am very satisfied with cm6. Haven't thought of switching but I want to give it a try. Please let me know.
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Click to collapse
it is not hard hard to make a nadroid backup, flash a rom and try it, if you don't like it, may be go back?. People's inputs are biased and you may have a different experience than what others tell you.
One thing is sure, MIUI rom is more composed than the stock experience you get from CM.
sl8125 said:
Okay I did some research on the Rom. Everyone raves about the speed and how battery last longer then the stock or cm6 roms. It looks very iphony to me. How smooth is the Rom? How is it working out for you miui users. Is it worth the time? I am very satisfied with cm6. Haven't thought of switching but I want to give it a try. Please let me know.
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Click to collapse
Meh. Tried it, didn't like it. Went back to CM nightly. MIUI is not in any way faster or better on battery than CM or stock rom. That's all hype and placebo. And imo, LauncherPro2 is way better than MIUI launcher.
But, some people like it, and I'm glad we have a choice.
DarkDvr said:
Meh. Tried it, didn't like it. Went back to CM nightly. MIUI is not in any way faster or better on battery than CM or stock rom. That's all hype and placebo. And imo, LauncherPro2 is way better than MIUI launcher.
But, some people like it, and I'm glad we have a choice.
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I agree. I was using miui not so long back, and its certainly a nice rom, and unlike many,i certainly don't mind the iphone look. However, the talk of it being faster and having better battery life than others is incorrect. I'm now using geos frg83 rom which is largely stock, and the speed and battery life are identical. I decided to start using that as I got sick of constantly updating newer versions of the rom, and all the issues it used to bring. However it is a very polished rom, but with ginger bread around the corner, I will just hold off until then.
As an out of the box rom though it is very nice and polished.
i am using cm 6.1 rc1 right now
thought id try out the nightly and the miui rom tonight
i know u can back up and restore msgs and data using titanium backup
but i heard tht u cant do tht when u shift from cm to miui rom
is it true ???
my msgs are really important and i wont b flashing miui if thts the case
thnx
aasheet said:
i am using cm 6.1 rc1 right now
thought id try out the nightly and the miui rom tonight
i know u can back up and restore msgs and data using titanium backup
but i heard tht u cant do tht when u shift from cm to miui rom
is it true ???
my msgs are really important and i wont b flashing miui if thts the case
thnx
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As far as am aware the messaging thing used to be an issue a few updates ago but I think it's fine now. Maybe someone else could clarify. If anything perform a nandroid backup just in case.
I personally think that miui currently outshines the rest, it's my rom of choice on my n1.
ya , ill give it another try
thnx , i just miss the 3d app drawr in launcher pro

Tried CM 6.0 for 2 hours and restored to FRG83 stock

I was expecting better performance out of CM 6. however other than yes there are a lot of tweak settings, functionally, there's nothing to gain from nexus one's stock rom. I've seem people say CM has better performance than stock at youtube. but maybe it's just me, I see no differences.
damn where's the google 2.3? still no details on what will be in it.
I love being able to rotate any direction, the RenderFX widgets, changing the haptic feedback, easy access to useragent switching in the browser, application moving to SD card, trackball wake, status bar changes, etc.
To each his own I suppose.
Do you think you can notice a difference in 2 hours?
Give it at least a week then give it a proper critique. Also, Cyanogen is not 100% new code, it is based on AOSP.
It does everything stock does and more. What's the logic of going back to stock?
For god's sake, at least try the newest nightly before talking...6.0 is old stuff and doesn't even contain the 2.2.1 update...at LEAST 6.1 RC1...
there are NO reasons to go back unless you are just too lazy to pass 1 hour configuring it the first time you install...
Welcome to XDA...interesting 1st thread/post
gravufo said:
For god's sake, at least try the newest nightly before talking...6.0 is old stuff and doesn't even contain the 2.2.1 update...at LEAST 6.1 RC1...
there are NO reasons to go back unless you are just too lazy to pass 1 hour configuring it the first time you install...
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What new features are there in the nightlies?
Paul22000 said:
What new features are there in the nightlies?
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smoothiness
crachel said:
smoothiness
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and bounciness
gravufo said:
and bounciness
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and quickiness
I too tried CM 6.1 RC1 and returned to PureFroyo Kernal + Geo's FRG83D within about a day. While I'm not running fully stock, it's very close.
I just found that the bat life on CM was not as good as on the Stock ROM or Geo's FRG83D. For example, with stock, moderate usage from the morning to early afternoon would bring me down to around 80%. With CM, I was down to about 70% in roughly the same amount of time.
yes. I will try 6.1 final gold.
leo221 said:
yes. I will try 6.1 final gold.
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Honestly, Once you throw Launcher Pro on any rom it pretty much runs the same. The only differences between roms are the small ones.
MIUI has the a different SMS, Unlock Screen, Toggles in the Pull Down Menu, and a few others. I don't like the iPhone approach, nor the menu's.
CM is mostly stock with a lot of tweaks. I really like the Toggles position in the pull down and the ability to add/remove/reposition toggles as well as the ability to change the taskbar colors on the fly. You can add multiple recipients to SMS/MMS messages. The browser options are awesome having them so handy. Built-in Colored Notification Support. Audio Adjustments. etc etc.
One thing I do (since I like a minimalistic install too) is use Launcher Pro and hide some of the nonsense apps I will never use... or set up once and forget/hide.
Geo does have a good rom but the drop down menu toggles and the taskbar themes sold me. Now I can change my taskbar color to match my wallpaper (white, grey, or black usually) and the taskbar toggles save homescreen estate. Quite nice.
I also am getting hella good signal. My work is in a basement. CM 6.1 RC1 is the first rom that I can actually get calls and text messages down there. Normally I get nothing so it is a huge improvement.
Battery life seems improved for me too coming from Geo's, and Rod-MIUI. Normally I take the phone off the charge at 8am and it's dead by 7pm. Now its good all night with 20% left by bedtime.
After rooting I jumped on CM6 because of the reviews but I couldn't get the GPS to work to save my life. I tried that fix w/ GPS status to no avail. So I flashed Geo's ROM and never looked back. It is definitely the most stable ROM. And you get great support from Geo, he answers all your questions. He updated to FRG83D within 3 hours of its release!
Are the GPS issues fixed in 6.1 RC1?
I used to run CM6 nightlies before switching to MIUI. I miss a lot of features from CM, mostly the CM settings tweaks (limiting rotation to 0 and 90 degrees, integrated trackball settings, hold volume to skip songs, haptic tweaks, and changing the application launched from holding home button); but in the end, I love the new features MIUI brought (namely the notification bar, top-bar battery indicator, lock screen launchers, and vastly improved settings UI). I also find the battery lasts way longer than CM did, even after overclocking (to be fair, I am using a different kernel so I'm sure that helps).
Two WHOLE hours? Wow, you must be exhausted from your heavy trials.
The trackball wake is enough to sell it on me. The pull down menu controls that were added in 6.1 are just icing. Even if you don't use all the features, there are enough different features where almost anybody can find a few improvements over stock Android in Cyanogen.
i've been extremely happy with CM 6.1 RC1, i agree that 6.0 was no faster and maybe in some areas slightly slower than the current stock rom but the extra little features and the freedom to run root apps seals the deal for me anyday but then again i've been running cyanogen roms for a very long time (i was one of the first people with a G1)
The problem with CM6.X is that it ship with a crappy kernel IMHO. If you install wildmonks latest kernel (2.6.35.8_AVS-950mV_CFS_AXI_720p_1152MHz_112010) you'll never see a nexus as fast as this.
After that, you use SetCPU to have screen off profiles and you overclock you phone to the max.
I get easily 10 hours more of battery than stock froyo and and froyo fells like eclair compare to my setup (speed wise)
To be honest I didn't like it at first and did what you did, and went back to stock. But then a week later I tried it again and realized it was pretty awesome. I am running stock now just for the 2.3 update but will root again and put cm on there once I get updated...give it more time.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App

CM7 relevance on the Atrix

A little history: 4 years ago i bought and owned (still own) a G1 - HTC Dream - and ever since custom Android roms were available I have been very happy to try out the latest and greatest. I think jesusfreke being the first but cant remember now its such a long time ago. Then along came cyanogen with hhis rom, brilliant. There were so many new options and the speed increase was great. and because of this rom I kept my G1 for over 3 years as my main phone. When the time came that cyanogen stopped supporting the G1 I decided it was time for an upgrade and decided I would get the Atrix based on its powerful specs and all of the other amazing features it has.
So 8 months on I now have an Atrix on which I have tried nearly all available roms and am currently running the latest version of Aura. (not an endorsement for Aura, simply a statement). Included in my trials was CM7, which i was so excited about when i first heard that development was happening. However since installing CM7 and trying it out for around a month I have to say that amongst all of the other roms for the Atrix it is not the holy grail that it has been on other phones. In fact in its current incarnation its relevance it questionable on the Atrix particularly when reading that the devs are struggling to find solutions to getting some of the features working.
I know that there are many people that bought the Atrix because it was powerful. But, it does have other features that, although not unique are certainly what helps to give the Atrix an edge over the competition. Webtop for example is a feature that used only ocassionally is a valuable asset to the device and simply discard it at for a tweak that boosts performance by mere micro seconds is a poor trade. it would be the same as buying a convertible ferrari and removing the button that puts the roof down - it saved some weight and the car can now accelerate to 60mph marginally faster but you cant put the roof down anymore. So you might as well have bought a hard top ferrari which already went faster. The same theory as buying the Atrix, if you want that extra bit of speed, might as well buy the SGSII.
So, there it is. Thats why i run a different rom at the moment, because all of the features are available and quite honestly with a bit of tweaking i can no longer either see of feel any difference in speed to CM7 and my battery lasts a perfectly acceptable amount of time for a smartphone (Depending on my usage). For those of you who might start mentioning blur as being the reason to move to CM7 that is another area where devs of other custom roms have done a fine job of removing anything really noticable and anything else that I found annoying I simply used TB and personal preference to sort out. (Although i havent yet figured out the accounts manager and anyway of getting rid of that awful blur interface. Maybe one day)
In conclusion, no ROM is perfect and as much as I admire the devs work I simply don't think that CM7 is relevant on the Atrix.
Thoughts?
i think it greatly depends on what your needs/desires are for your phone. i bought my atrix with zero intentions of using the fingerprint scanner or webtop. in the months before CM7 came out, i never even tried them out on stock or custom ROMs.
i really enjoy the extra features that CM7 adds to my atrix (however small they may be). the only downside ive experienced is inconsistent battery behavior, but i cant narrow it down so im not even sure its a cyanogen thing.
any ROM is relevant if there are people who want to use it. it may not be relevant for you, or anyone who is set on webtop/FPS. but to each his own. thats the beauty of open-source right??
It's to each their own, I guess. If someone wants CM7 on their phone, they're going to go for it. Some people are benchmark fiends, others just like the feel of it.
Completely agreed with fischwrap. Many people bought the Atrix because it was the fastest phone at release date, or the best price/performance ratio one. That people might or might not care about the fingerprint scanner (a lot of people in fact don't like the power button placement and use volume to wake, some others don't even use a lockscreen, let alone a fingerprint scanner) or about webtop (believe it or not people without HDTVs or LCDs exist )
And I know the 'don't care or need' side has at least 5300 people on it
turl1 said:
Completely agreed with fischwrap. Many people bought the Atrix because it was the fastest phone at release date, or the best price/performance ratio one. That people might or might not care about the fingerprint scanner (a lot of people in fact don't like the power button placement and use volume to wake, some others don't even use a lockscreen, let alone a fingerprint scanner) or about webtop (believe it or not people without HDTVs or LCDs exist )
And I know the 'don't care or need' side has at least 5300 people on it
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Same here. I also purchased it with eager anticipation that devs would also get it for the same reasons and port CM7. You guys kick major ass. Took a bit more blood, sweat and tears because of the bootloader but our Atrix's are rockin' now!f
i think the Atrix can truly shine regardless of what ROM you use. it's an extremely powerful phone and that will show in any comparison. The kernel plays a very large part in determining performance as well though. Even if you are on standard clock speeds with one of faux's kernels you'll have amazing benchmarks and real world results, and even more so if you choose to overclock. CM7 is a great ROM for every phone, and i don't believe it's relevance to the atrix should be in question, but merely its relevance to you. i've been an android guy for quite a while dating back to the G1 days as well (Do you remember the ROM bible? we need one of those for the Atrix! ) and i shed a silent tear when those forums got moved to the legacy and low activity sections. but this is much like when Sense ROMs started appearing for the G1. Bluetooth and Camera commonly didn't work on them, and some people said they wouldn't use Sense until those were fixed. FP Scanner and Webtop are tenfold less essential than either of those, yet some won't use CM7 until those are fixed. it really just comes down to what you look for in a phone and what you use the most.
I don't use webtop (although no fingerprint took me a long long time to get over), as such CM7 offers some features such as notification power management, being able to adjust lowest screen brightness, having control over when the phone vibrates, etc. THe extensive control CM7 allows you that other Motoblur based roms does not alone is really worth it for me. I can see your point but it's rather ridiculous to suggest CM7 is not relevant. It is still by far the best rom on Atrix at the moment if you're able to live w/o webtop/fingerprint scanner.
lilhyper said:
I don't use webtop (although no fingerprint took me a long long time to get over), as such CM7 offers some features such as notification power management, being able to adjust lowest screen brightness, having control over when the phone vibrates, etc. THe extensive control CM7 allows you that other Motoblur based roms does not alone is really worth it for me. I can see your point but it's rather ridiculous to suggest CM7 is not relevant. It is still by far the best rom on Atrix at the moment if you're able to live w/o webtop/fingerprint scanner.
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Best rom for the Atrix is one that allows those 2 features. Phone is incomplete without it. Design wise
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
n1ckr0th said:
i think the Atrix can truly shine regardless of what ROM you use. it's an extremely powerful phone and that will show in any comparison. The kernel plays a very large part in determining performance as well though. Even if you are on standard clock speeds with one of faux's kernels you'll have amazing benchmarks and real world results, and even more so if you choose to overclock. CM7 is a great ROM for every phone, and i don't believe it's relevance to the atrix should be in question, but merely its relevance to you. i've been an android guy for quite a while dating back to the G1 days as well (Do you remember the ROM bible? we need one of those for the Atrix! ) and i shed a silent tear when those forums got moved to the legacy and low activity sections. but this is much like when Sense ROMs started appearing for the G1. Bluetooth and Camera commonly didn't work on them, and some people said they wouldn't use Sense until those were fixed. FP Scanner and Webtop are tenfold less essential than either of those, yet some won't use CM7 until those are fixed. it really just comes down to what you look for in a phone and what you use the most.
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Legacy devices, yeah that's where my beloved tilt(Kaiser) got moved to. I love Android but I do miss the kaiser days I remember running android from the sd card on the kaiser lol. At first touch screen was not working, no camera, no bluetooth, no wifi, and by the time I left the kaiser they had that stuff working.
Sent from my MB860 using xda premium
andrew.cambridge said:
Best rom for the Atrix is one that allows those 2 features. Phone is incomplete without it. Design wise
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
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I disagree. A rom may have those 2 features but run like a G1 while another can be missing those 2 features and run smooth as butter. It is dependent on taste but I'd pick the latter.
The thing that sets the Atrix apart was the FP and the webtop. I don't use either, and I use cm7.
But without those 2 features enabled, it just another phone. Fast phone tthough. But not the best rom, IMO.
Homebase is the best rom for THIS phone. Smooth as butter and full functionality of the phone. I love CyanogenMod, its fast as hell, very stable. But it does the same stuff my little Aria does.
I'm tired, don't know if this makes sense to anyone else.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
rjmcloughlin said:
A little history: 4 years ago i bought and owned (still own) a G1 - HTC Dream - and ever since custom Android roms were available I have been very happy to try out the latest and greatest. I think jesusfreke being the first but cant remember now its such a long time ago. Then along came cyanogen with hhis rom, brilliant. There were so many new options and the speed increase was great. and because of this rom I kept my G1 for over 3 years as my main phone. When the time came that cyanogen stopped supporting the G1 I decided it was time for an upgrade and decided I would get the Atrix based on its powerful specs and all of the other amazing features it has.
So 8 months on I now have an Atrix on which I have tried nearly all available roms and am currently running the latest version of Aura. (not an endorsement for Aura, simply a statement). Included in my trials was CM7, which i was so excited about when i first heard that development was happening. However since installing CM7 and trying it out for around a month I have to say that amongst all of the other roms for the Atrix it is not the holy grail that it has been on other phones. In fact in its current incarnation its relevance it questionable on the Atrix particularly when reading that the devs are struggling to find solutions to getting some of the features working.
I know that there are many people that bought the Atrix because it was powerful. But, it does have other features that, although not unique are certainly what helps to give the Atrix an edge over the competition. Webtop for example is a feature that used only ocassionally is a valuable asset to the device and simply discard it at for a tweak that boosts performance by mere micro seconds is a poor trade. it would be the same as buying a convertible ferrari and removing the button that puts the roof down - it saved some weight and the car can now accelerate to 60mph marginally faster but you cant put the roof down anymore. So you might as well have bought a hard top ferrari which already went faster. The same theory as buying the Atrix, if you want that extra bit of speed, might as well buy the SGSII.
So, there it is. Thats why i run a different rom at the moment, because all of the features are available and quite honestly with a bit of tweaking i can no longer either see of feel any difference in speed to CM7 and my battery lasts a perfectly acceptable amount of time for a smartphone (Depending on my usage). For those of you who might start mentioning blur as being the reason to move to CM7 that is another area where devs of other custom roms have done a fine job of removing anything really noticable and anything else that I found annoying I simply used TB and personal preference to sort out. (Although i havent yet figured out the accounts manager and anyway of getting rid of that awful blur interface. Maybe one day)
In conclusion, no ROM is perfect and as much as I admire the devs work I simply don't think that CM7 is relevant on the Atrix.
Thoughts?
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Bang On ..i have to agree..
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
andrew.cambridge said:
Best rom for the Atrix is one that allows those 2 features. Phone is incomplete without it. Design wise
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
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I agree that CM7 is not the perfect rom and sacrifices are required. However, using Blurr-based roms you're also sacrificing the functionality of CM7. And judging from the number of people flashing CM7, at significant part of the community prefers the CM7 functionality over fingerprint and webtop.
I feel this both suggests there is a big part for CM7 and it should be in the conversation of one of the best roms. Hopefully one day Blur-based roms will integrate CM7's customizability (unlikely) or CM7 will get a working fpscanner and webtop.
I think CM is more than relevant for the Atrix!
I have bought the Atrix with the lapdock and I have tested Motoblur as well as Aura and have used the lapdock. Before I have used a htc Hero with CM for nearly 2 years.
I really like the possibility of the lapdock in connection with a kind of webtop or similar functionality. But due to my long experience with CM on my Hero, I have tried CM-7.1 despite the fact that I do not have webtop or at least hdmi-mirroring in a sufficient screen-resolution, because I have missed the score of customization of CM.
And I am absolutely satisfied with CM. At least for my personal usage, it IS the best available ROM. It is faster and smother than the other, have many more convenient settings like configurable screens, buttons and LED-notification. Everything in an efficient way. And CM has an exceptional battery-life, I got roughly 30% more battery time.
OK, I am a little bit missing webtop, but I am hoping hdmi-mirroring will be working soon ;-) I have used the FP on Aura, but I really do not miss it, because I was used to unlock with menu-button with my hero, so I stick to that, because it is faster than FP.
If I could acquire a cheap Lapdock I would, I really want to use this phone to it's full potential.
imhuy said:
I disagree. A rom may have those 2 features but run like a G1 while another can be missing those 2 features and run smooth as butter. It is dependent on taste but I'd pick the latter.
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I don't think the CM7 mod can really be considered stable.
I have a good amount of trouble with lag, slow internet, fc's, and obviously the features that don't work.
Hopefully in time they can improve it more.
I've tried many roms on mine and finally decided to settle on stock 2.3.4 U.A.E retail. It is very nicely done.
CM7 is plenty relevant to the Atrix. If it weren't, then there wouldn't be 5,485 people using it (according to CM's official device statistics page*). A lot of people bought this phone for its raw power, and could care less about webtop or the fingerprint scanner. The team doing the port said they want to add that at some point, and the fingerprint scanner at least on some level is working on unreleased builds.
This isnt to mention that once an official (by CM) release is out, CM could provide an excellent base for ROM developers who dont like blur. Blur is fast on the Atrix, but still isnt as fast as vanilla android. Once ICS comes out, we'll definetly get it before blur roms do as well.
At the moment, blur roms have an edge in that they fully support the hardware and have more chances of being bug free. But it wont be long before that all changes.
If you want guaranteed stability, webtop or the fingerprint scanner, use a blur rom. Otherwise, use CM7. If you dont care and just want a phone, use stock. Just because some people prefer one type doesn't invalidate the significance of the other.
* http://stats.cyanogenmod.com/
Look for Olympus
Jotokun said:
CM7 is plenty relevant to the Atrix. If it weren't, then there wouldn't be 5,485 people using it (according to CM's official device statistics page*).
* http://stats.cyanogenmod.com/
Look for Olympus
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How are they able to track this? That's cool.
treehumper said:
How are they able to track this? That's cool.
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When you boot CM for the first time, you're given the option of sending them statistics data. That can be turned off at any time by going Settings > CM Settings > System > Anonymous statistics
Since its opt-in, there are probably more users than that.

Experiences, Thoughts, and Advice on ROMs

Hey guys,
First off, I don't post much on here, but have been doing alot of reading to stay "up-to-date". Yesterday, I just got the Nexus S 4G through Sprint cuz my Epic 4G took a crap and they were backordered so I said sure to the Nexus S.
I spent most the day yesterday looking for ROMs for it and found out about ICS and got all excited for that. So, after looking around I decided on Crossbones 0.1.3 ICS. Overall, I'm liking it but after using it for about a day now, I am noticing the battery life (in comparison to my Epic, which ran the current Legendary ROM with the Samurai Kernel) is HORRIBLE. I don't want to be quick to say it's the phone, ROM, or ICS though. Maybe there's a different way of closing out unused apps that I don't know about? I did just find that you can swipe away unused recent apps. Will that help?
Basically, for a ROM, I look for stability, battery life, speed, and looks. In that order. In GB, I always used Launcher Pro, btw.
So, my question is for those that use or used Crossbones, what are your experiences so far? Also, if it's recommended that I go back to GB for awhile until things get a lil better on ICS (I heard its coming OTA soon), which ROM are people liking? With ICS out now, searching for a good GB ROM has become a lil difficult. So far I read about MUIU (or whatever it is) and CM7, which my gf has on her Dinc2 and her Nook Color. I'm kinda "eh" about CM7. It "just works" imo and I think that's what they are going for. Def not a fan of the looks though. I also miss my power options in my notification pull down too.
PS-
That and I can't get Facebook to add to my account sync. When I go to add it, it does it, goes back to the accounts screen, but its not there. Very strange. Ok, gonna shut up now. this is long enough. lol Thanks in advance.
I've had my Nexus S for a couple of weeks now, I put the stock ICS ROM on the first day and during this time my battery has significantly improved. There are probably three reasons for this, but perhaps not all will apply to you?
1) I've stopped turning everything on, all of the time and constantly tweaking / fiddling / admiring the AMOLED.
2) I've refined how the device uses battery (logged out of Google+).
3) The battery has matured a little.
There's another side effect...
4) I've stopped worrying about the battery so much as I get a day of use from it.
Ice Cream Sandwich and ROMs using it are gonna improve in time. Gingerbread has been out for a year or so and has all this development. So from this there's a lot of potential from ICS...
I'm going to keep my device running the standard ROM for the time being as it's my daily driver, but wanting a device to potentially brick and hack. Thinking about the Galaxy S.
davidsteele1975 said:
I've had my Nexus S for a couple of weeks now, I put the stock ICS ROM on the first day and during this time my battery has significantly improved. There are probably three reasons for this, but perhaps not all will apply to you?
1) I've stopped turning everything on, all of the time and constantly tweaking / fiddling / admiring the AMOLED.
2) I've refined how the device uses battery (logged out of Google+).
3) The battery has matured a little.
There's another side effect...
4) I've stopped worrying about the battery so much as I get a day of use from it.
Ice Cream Sandwich and ROMs using it are gonna improve in time. Gingerbread has been out for a year or so and has all this development. So from this there's a lot of potential from ICS...
I'm going to keep my device running the standard ROM for the time being as it's my daily driver, but wanting a device to potentially brick and hack. Thinking about the Galaxy S.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply. So far in terms of battery saving tricks, I've disabled animations, the screen is set to about 1/4 brightness, only thing that constantly does anything is k9
mail to check my inbox every 15 mins (that I'm aware of lol). So it could be that my battery needs to "mature"? Btw, are there any good themes out yet? I miss my transparent text msg threads and I really miss my power controls on the notification pull down. I'm def not digging the white on the contacts and SMS screens. Lol
::BUMP:: Seriously? No one else?
Well is was getting bad battery and weird force closes on cross bones, i'm on vhgomex(thinks that's right), it's been a lot better for me and it has the notification power widget in it
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
BrianDigital said:
Well is was getting bad battery and weird force closes on cross bones, i'm on vhgomex(thinks that's right), it's been a lot better for me and it has the notification power widget in it
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
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Click to collapse
I havent had any issues with the rom running or any FCs... Took a look at gomez. Gonna do a nandroid and give it try. Looks promising, and FB sync is supposed to work. lol
infamshxr said:
::BUMP:: Seriously? No one else?
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Click to collapse
I think you're not getting many answers because your issues have already been addressed. A simple search will find many (most) ROMs with notification toggles and Facebook sync. I personally recommend AOKP.
I'd say it's just the rom. I'm on an ICS rom, everything works great and I have significantly better battery life than before.
I'm on AndroidME with Eugene's speedy-3 kernel. I don't have Facebook sync and power toggles in notification though, but I don't really care for those two features anyway.
Well I'm on Gomez now. Things already seem to be better. Absolutely no issues so far. I'll know for sure in a day or so.
Well I uninstall bloat.sys apps I don't use with root uninstaller
As for Bette battery life. Honestly think. What could someone do to the phone to put out better battery life. Almost nothing but SBC kernels and the CPU speed and goveners. That's it.
Most of you guys don't have battery issues you just play with your phone all day instead of doing your work.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App. Developer of brickROM, and OP of XDA Thread of The Year 2011.
Shark_On_Land said:
Well I uninstall bloat.sys apps I don't use with root uninstaller
As for Bette battery life. Honestly think. What could someone do to the phone to put out better battery life. Almost nothing but SBC kernels and the CPU speed and goveners. That's it.
Most of you guys don't have battery issues you just play with your phone all day instead of doing your work.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App. Developer of brickROM, and OP of XDA Thread of The Year 2011.
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Click to collapse
A: that was fairly rude. I'm legitimately asking for help and advice. I didn't make the thread to be judged or ridiculed on my phone usage. I don't judge others on how they use they're phone, so why should I be?
B: I'm comparing this all with my epic. I don't over clock or mess with the CPU settings cuz that's beyond my knowledge atm. Like I said, battery seems MUCH better now with this rom . Now my only gripe is volume. Way quieter on this phone which seems to be a known issue. Trying out volume+ soon. Also, at the end of my day, I'll post my battery stats and see what you guys think. But like I said, I think its OK now.
Im on bigxie's rom and icup kernel im getting great battery life with this but thats just me.i dont know whats great for you.try this rom its somewhat minimalist or pure stock with just statusbar widgets and other features.no 'omg' tweaks that cause more harm than good.and it has trebuchet which is perfectly put into the mix.im satisfied with this .been with this rom since build 1 and ive been happy with its consistency.no bugs encountered
Sent from a Nexus S
dark06 said:
Im on bigxie's rom and icup kernel im getting great battery life with this but thats just me.i dont know whats great for you.try this rom its somewhat minimalist or pure stock with just statusbar widgets and other features.no 'omg' tweaks that cause more harm than good.and it has trebuchet which is perfectly put into the mix.im satisfied with this .been with this rom since build 1 and ive been happy with its consistency.no bugs encountered
Sent from a Nexus S
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the opinion. I'll keep that one in mind if this doesn't work out. Sounds a lot like Gomez. Gomez has basically just what you listed. I'd def take stability over extra crap. Lol
Sry for the double post,but to report back, totally forgot to post my battery stats, but they were definitely better. By far. Still not much luck on the sound tho. Got an app the boosts my media volume but my ringer wasn't affected, which sucks. Anything on this that I haven't possibly found?
I'm going back to CM7. 7.2 is out and honesty its just more optimized for this device. CM optimizes their ROMs to very fast high standards and do stuff a lot of you newbies can't even think of. (Yes, these will be implemented in BESTROM.)
So I'm going back. To smoothness.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App. Developer of brickROM, and OP of XDA Thread of The Year 2011.
Shark_On_Land said:
I'm going back to CM7. 7.2 is out and honesty its just more optimized for this device. CM optimizes their ROMs to very fast high standards and do stuff a lot of you newbies can't even think of. (Yes, these will be implemented in BESTROM.)
So I'm going back. To smoothness.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App. Developer of brickROM, and OP of XDA Thread of The Year 2011.
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Click to collapse
You really shouldn't be so rude and demean other members of this forum like that. Frankly, no one cares if you're going back to CM7 or not. But thank you for your belittling feedback.
To the original poster, I'm running Pete Alfonso's nightlies along with Mathkid's Matrix CFS kernel. With a bit of overclock and tweaking of the kernel settings, I get great smoothness, stability, and decent battery life. To me, any battery life that gets me from "up in the morning" to "home at night" is fine, because I have my charger at my desk. But typically, I can survive a full 24 hours on one charge.
Who knows, though. Maybe I'm just too much of a newbie to realize the full potential of what my device can do and therefore it's my fault that the battery life is as good as it is.
Hey! I've just recently switched to my Galaxy Nexus, but was a Crespo owner since it came out. Been reading your post but I would agree that you should try out the AOKP rom along with a custom undervolted kernel for longer battery life.
I haven't really tinkered with my Nexus S in awhile (I gave it to my gf when I got the Galaxy Nexus) but the last thing I remembered was either installing aokp or cm9. In due time the custom ics roms will improve and the power widgets in the notification bar will be brought back, but they usually want to focus on stability then add new features little by little. Hope you are having fun your Crespo!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
So far I'm still rocking gomez's. Really loving the battery life. Only issue I've had is 3g doesn't always come back after using wifi. Not a big deal tho I guess. Really stable too. I was thinking of using mathkidskernel but don't wanna possibly screw up what I got now. I'm backed up so maybe one of these days. Heard alotof good things about mathkids kernel. Heard good things about aopk too, so that's my other go to. Lol
kto_matchu said:
You really shouldn't be so rude and demean other members of this forum like that. Frankly, no one cares if you're going back to CM7 or not. But thank you for your belittling feedback.
To the original poster, I'm running Pete Alfonso's nightlies along with Mathkid's Matrix CFS kernel. With a bit of overclock and tweaking of the kernel settings, I get great smoothness, stability, and decent battery life. To me, any battery life that gets me from "up in the morning" to "home at night" is fine, because I have my charger at my desk. But typically, I can survive a full 24 hours on one charge.
Who knows, though. Maybe I'm just too much of a newbie to realize the full potential of what my device can do and therefore it's my fault that the battery life is as good as it is.
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Click to collapse
sorry if that was rude but you have to take in count that
I myself is using modified CM7.1RC0AOSP2.3.7GB as base. But far as CM9AOSP4.0.3ICS goes its still not ready for folks like me for DD yet.
As I described below how extensively its optimized and most of it is outside the scope of current XDA.
What you have to understand is performance is not measured via synthetic benchmarks (ex: Quadrant). The biggest issue with people is that they don't know enough to know that they don't know, so they compare it with silly numbers (ex: score) they can't comprehend what they see, much less put numbers behind real life activities that's not applicable in controlled environment.
OS development which eliminates most of it but on software level custom base rom (ex: CyanogenMod) is highly optimized and tweaked to run on optimal performance. Mostly, but not all. But does it mean it can't be tweaked any further? (Rhetorical) No. How do I know? We (scope outside of XDA) tweaked it to the next level. How you ask?
1) Optimized ext4fs: reduced r/w rate (healthy NAND lifespan), improved journaling (corrupted data writeback integrity) = Which improves the IOPs and performance access rate.
2) HC3.x fugu binaries, patched sqlite libraries, mSD read ahead buffer fix.
3) Modified VM: OOM (Out Of Memory), LMK (Low Memory Killer), VM heap (Virtual Machine), DRA (Dirty Ratio), DBR (Dirty Background Ratio), DWC (Dirty Writeback Centisecs), DEC (Dirty Expired Centisecs), SWP (Swap), VCP (VFS Cache Pressure).
4) Increased minfree value: Background, Foreground, Empty, Hidden, Visible, Secondary, Content.
5) Optimized cache: File and Drop cache, Forced cache (resident loop).
6) Custom kernel: OC/UC, UV/SVS/VDD, BFS/CFS, RSU/NP/VR/SP supported.
7) Custom ROM: Optimized Rom script and props (ex: CyanogenMod).
this as its tweaked to THE next level. I'll stick with AOSP2.3.7GB until ICS4.X is more stable and we understand more as most memory grouping and adjustments might be changed.
I bet most of you only do 2 of those thing (6&7)
i suggest you try androiduser aosp rom with icup kernel. you dont have to do anything else and with normal usage you'll get 24+ hours

GB to ICS and back - mini review

My month with a factory unlocked Galaxy S2​
Bought this in mint condition from a friend for about half price with only 1 hour of use, an unwanted upgrade. Came with 2.3.4 as expected, so hooked up to Kies; no update at the time. As is my wont, I used the phone for a few days to get to grips with TouchWiz (TW) and the phone generally. All quite reasonable, no stability issues and TW is not bad by any means.
My thoughts and trials so far then:
Hardware
Well made, light and thin. Slippery, so a black rubbery skin bought and fitted and I popped a spare 8GB microSD card in, not that the phone needs it for my purposes.
Only criticism is the OLED screen, I'm used to higher resolution (Moto and Sony) and 800x480 looks rather "cheapo" in terms of detail on a screen this large, but no deal breaker. What I do find somewhat at odds with the price of the phone is the slight but noticeable shading and colour tints across the screen at low brightness levels and on some backgrounds. Plus, the screen's legibility outside on a bright day is no better than more run of the mill LCD screens. (I mean cheaper!)
My first GB update
I generally root phones straight after flashing a new firmware version, if it isn't already. I had already successfully rooted the original stock 2.3.4 firmware with Zergrush 4 and debloated that ROM.
I was keen to try a later GB version before trying ICS, and I found 2.3.6 for "Open Europe" on Sammobile and downloaded it. I had already tried Kies, so the USB drivers were present and working. I uninstalled Kies on the PC but left the USB drivers alone. Kies and Odin are not good bedfellows. I did a full factory reset on the phone and erased everything, allowed it to reboot and then powered off, got in to download mode and flashed XXKL1 (which is an engineering version and deodexed it seems). Rooted it via Zergrush 4, deleted known bloat and renamed possible bloat to xxx.bak to clean the ROM for my own usage, and deleted that very annoying start-up sound. Downloaded all the apps I normally use (about 22 of them), including the excellent CPU Spy to check for deep sleep.
I used/charged the phone over the next couple of days to let the OS bed in. No problems encountered at all, and a very pleasing battery life of 30+ hours of light use, with syncing and GPS, 3G, WiFi always on and occasional BT. Magic! Only thing I did is change the Modem to LPR - the KI3 Modem that came with the ROM is not quite as good at holding weak signals. Only just though...
My first ICS update
So, good phone, stable and very usable ROM in 2.3.6. Time had come to try this new ICS thing. Downloaded the LPQ version and installed it, after a full wipe, via Odin. Not impressed by all the automatic installation rubbish at first boot... Rooted via a hot boot CWM and SU/Busybox successfully and did all the same debloating and app installation as GB 2.3.6. Spent some time getting orientated and used to the new menus and so on.
Over the next day or so, I let the ROM settle and began using the ROM - I changed the Modem to LPR as LPQ was not as good, perception wise. ROM was stable and usable, didn't really look or feel much different from 2.3.6 and was worse on battery - I would say 18 hours at best with the same usage pattern.
Absolutely hate the new Exchange thing for live.com email.... real pain usability wise and battery unfriendly.
My second ICS update
So, not overly impressed with LPQ, although it was usable, I decided to try LP7, the UK generic one. Went through the same process as above, and again swapped the Modem from LPS (awful!) to LPR.
No obvious differences at all. Battery life was as poor, but it was usable.
My first CM trial - CM9
So, somewhat disillusioned by Samsung's ICS implementation, I decide to look around for another "mature" ROM. CM9 fitted the bill (I have used CM6 before on another phone) and was smack bang up to date in terms of kernel, AOSP and G Apps. After my usual clean deck start, installed fine, 23/04 build.
At first, I was quite impressed as I could configure more and to my liking. The ROM was stable and I set the phone up with the usual Apps and deleted some useless stuff (like GenieWidget).
Swapped Modem out to LPR - bit of a theme going on here...
I liked the fact that the Spirit FM radio worked (so bought the Pro version as it is that good). The ROM is very usable and never got bogged down, BUT, for reasons I never fully determined, the battery life would start OK and then decline faster during the day. I never saw more than 12 hours life, again using as per my normal pattern and after a few days to settle. There appeared to be various background activities going on that were preventing deep sleep sometimes, but BBS was not really showing me what. Note that I only use BBS as a last resort as it can increase battery use...
No other real problems, but the soft key backlights wouldn't play with NoLED and were somewhat counter-intuitive. A bit trivial, but a mess.
My second CM trial - CM7
I like GB, it is mature and well understood, so CM7 RC 2 was therefore of some appeal. It had been developed over months and must therefore be fairly sorted. Surely.
Installed without issue on a cleaned platform as usual, including G Apps. Did the usual debloat and installed the usual Apps from the Market/Play, and some that were missing, like GMail. LPR modem was already there, Hooray! Spent rather longer fiddling with the settings in CM7 than CM9 since they were less obvious at first, to me anyway.
Switched off and put the phone on wall charge overnight and was rather shocked to find the phone was noticeably warm and displaying "Kernel Panic" in the morning. The phone had only charged by about 5% in total (to 64%). Worry Worry. I put the phone on USB charge until 100% without incident.
Started to use the phone as normal, the phone UI and operation was very good, fluid even. But, first problem I had was in the car. I paired BT fine, as usual, and made a phone call. After the call, I couldn't end the call on the car or phone - it had locked up. Oh dear.
Later, I tried the FM Radio during my daily walk - doesn't work, so why is it there? I tried Spirit FM - no way would it work. Oh dear.
The following day, I noticed that the battery life was amazing! I had never seen this phone sip juice like this. Deep sleep was always easily achieved. That was until the afternoon. I noticed that the battery level was declining at a much higher rate than earlier. I hadn't done anything different, so BBS was called in again. Nothing obvious shown but I kept seeing the GPS icon winking at me from the Notification bar, and continually. I always keep GPS on, but for some reason on this ROM, no GPS signal meant the ROM just kept trying. I played with various settings like Location etc. and managed to stop this odd behaviour, but this was too silly. I use a Smartphone for all the smart features. This wasn't very smart at all.
CM7 was my biggest disappointment of all the above ROM trials. It was the lightest and most promising, and yet the least reliable or functional. Which is a huge shame...
Today...
I'm now back on KL1 2.3.6, and it just works fine - day after day.
The future for me?
I would really like to use CM9 (or CM7 for that matter). They represent a number of ideals for me, including the open nature of development, the collaboration, a pioneering spirit and giving users a choice and a superb base to build on. I am no developer - I can split and modify kernels to a point, I can rehash ROMs with or without adb, I can amend frameworks. But little more.
Reserved for "tips and hints"
Avoiding problems
Always data reset and wipe before doing anything major from one ROM to another, or follow the installation guide for any specific differences in approach.
Avoid Titanium Backup like the plague - it invariably leads to functional issues later if you cross flash. Use Google and/or airdroid for everything, it all just works. So many friends and other forums I contribute to have had too many backup issues to count. Go clean. Forget about Google paranoia.
ES File Explorer is very useful and recommended.
Don't bother "calibrating" the battery - it's an outdated practice and useless. Just use the phone normally, and anyone who claims the battery life is "great" 1 hour after flashing a newly announced ROM is a fool. Likewise NEVER fully discharge a Li-Ion battery. Just keep topping it up. See here: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_charge_when_to_charge_table
Thoughts
Newer ROMs are rarely better ROMs. Better means different things to different folk of course.
ICS ROM core LPQ to LP8 are largely all the same, just variants of the same thing for different markets. Some users believe they perform differently.
Custom kernels and ROMs are always work in progress and should be treated as such. Check out the number of revisions. Some kernel cookers are (welcome) enthusiastic amateurs that assume more is better and cram "fixes" in that the professional salaried software engineers have mysteriously missed. If you only need your stock kernel to be insecure, learn how to make it so. You are running Linux on your box, right?
Deodexing is not a means to improve performance, on the contrary.
Undervolting is a mythical beast
I bought a phone with an FM radio because I want to use it!
And I totally agree. to all of it. Tried all iterations of almost all roms available. For some reason keep going to my VR 3.0 nandroid back up.
Except CM9, I don't really think there is any real development going on. Most are just cooked up roms OR stuff taken from the CM9 tree and implemented OR so called fixes that have actually broken something else OR just debloated rooted official firmware (that AFAIK is pretty easy to do with the fantastic dsixda's kitchen or on a rooted rom).
Now fanboy's may flame as much as they wish to, but seriously a stable CM9 (hopefully..!) or a VR 4.0 is all I am willing to wait for.
Till such time VR 3.0 it is.
LenAsh said:
Reserved for "tips and hints"
Newer ROMs are rarely better ROMs. Better means different things to different folk of course.
ICS ROM core LPQ to LP8 are largely all the same, just variants of the same thing for different markets. Some users believe they perform differently.
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Click to collapse
I don't agree with your final thought. Different ics rooms have really different feels. E.g. Look at scrolling from lpq to lp7.....and there are numerous others as well. If u want more specific thoughts and feedback, just browse through different ics threads in this section..
omeryounos said:
I don't agree with your final thought. Different ics rooms have really different feels. E.g. Look at scrolling from lpq to lp7.....and there are numerous others as well. If u want more specific thoughts and feedback, just browse through different ics threads in this section..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm... I have browsed through the sections, and tried various "revisions" or versions of Samsung ICS today while jotting this lot down, and my view, honestly, is there is no real difference. That isn't to say there isn't, I just can't see or feel it. I do accept that playing with 3 ROMs in a few hours is less than ideal. And a drag!
I suppose if someone could deconstruct the ROMs properly and thoroughly...
Anyway, thanks for your thoughts, appreciated.
Very nice review! +1
Keep up the good work
I broadly agree with the OP.
ICS/AOSP/AOKP/CM9 have improved over the last few weeks, but I'm back on GB, and will probably stay with it until I get the SGS3.
May be subjective, but for me the GB stock browser, camera and dialler are streets ahead of what the rest can offer. Scrolling is smoother too. And I like/need a radio.
B3311 said:
I broadly agree with the OP.
ICS/AOSP/AOKP/CM9 have improved over the last few weeks, but I'm back on GB, and will probably stay with it until I get the SGS3.
May be subjective, but for me the GB stock browser, camera and dialler are streets ahead of what the rest can offer. Scrolling is smoother too. And I like/need a radio.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like you and the OP only tried the AOSP/AOKP roms? Give the roms based on the latest official a try.
The dialer is still as good as always (unchanged), camera is actually improved with higher bitrate recording and the ics stock browser...is untouchable at the moment in my opinion. (Granted I use "ICS Browser+" from the market which uses the best ui in a browser I've encountered)
I currently use Dynamic's ICS rom and it would be extremely difficult for me to go back to GB at this point.
Sigurd02 said:
Seems like you and the OP only tried the AOSP/AOKP roms? Give the roms based on the latest official a try.
The dialer is still as good as always (unchanged), camera is actually improved with higher bitrate recording and the ics stock browser...is untouchable at the moment in my opinion. (Granted I use "ICS Browser+" from the market which uses the best ui in a browser I've encountered)
I currently use Dynamic's ICS rom and it would be extremely difficult for me to go back to GB at this point.
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Click to collapse
While I agree that in terms of loading websites, ics default browser is a little bit faster, scrolling and pinch and zooming is much smoother with stock gb browser. Also the dialer is worse on ics as it has removed the contacts section which means I have to put both the dialer and contacts shortcut on the dock.
I'm using Wanamlite v11.1, Siyahkernel v3.1, and Apex Launcher.
A winning combination in my opinion, that is now at least as good as the best GB ROMs in terms of battery life. 7 hours standby with 30 minutes screen time and i'm still on 87%.
In terms of fluidity and performance I think ICS /w Apex beats GB handsdown.
Thanks for the recommendation, but I avoid ROM mix ups, I can do that myself. The ones I have looked at have had some very dubious scripts and additions. I usually look at build.prop first, and generally find all sorts of hybrid attempts at adding stuff that is completely wrong. Lines taken from websites, other phones and so on.
LenAsh said:
Thanks for the recommendation, but I avoid ROM mix ups, I can do that myself. The ones I have looked at have had some very dubious scripts and additions. I usually look at build.prop first, and generally find all sorts of hybrid attempts at adding stuff that is completely wrong. Lines taken from websites, other phones and so on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends, it was like you say in Gingerbread days, not with ICS WanamLite nor Dynamic, only tried these + CM9
I am using Dynamic 1.4 LP9, it is as smooth and fast as CM9, but everything working because it is Samsung based
I tried the included NEAK and Speedmod kernels, similar performance and very good battery life, only 3% drain overnight, I dont play with processor tweaking
Sigurd02 said:
Seems like you and the OP only tried the AOSP/AOKP roms? Give the roms based on the latest official a try.
The dialer is still as good as always (unchanged), camera is actually improved with higher bitrate recording and the ics stock browser...is untouchable at the moment in my opinion. (Granted I use "ICS Browser+" from the market which uses the best ui in a browser I've encountered)
I currently use Dynamic's ICS rom and it would be extremely difficult for me to go back to GB at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dialer is laggy if you compare it with GB. CM9 variants have slightly more response dialers but overall, GB dialer is way more responsive. There is a small but noticeable lag when pressing a key and the time it takes to register on ICS (CM9 & stock).
Camera recording with stereo voice recording...! Seriously how many people do shoot video with a phone's camera? For facebook uploads mono audio is just fine..
Browser is a definitive improvement yes, and the desktop mode is welcome but browser mods have been available on GB since long.
It is not that ICS is bad. It is actually very good, but the way it has been implemented on S2 is downright ridiculous...! And not one stable vanilla build isn't really helping..
kranti2064 said:
For some reason keep going to my VR 3.0 nandroid back up.
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Click to collapse
This is something I have been contemplating for quite some time now, quite possibly the last month. The only real thing stopping me is that for some reason alot of games (eg dead space and modern combat 3) don't seem to like it when i change roms, and even though all the ingame data is there, sometimes it decides I have to re-download.
I do miss it alot though.. and also red pill kernel
I might end up doing a backup of current my CM9 and take the plunge sometime soon. I've been using CM9 since around feb and lately I think my interest has plateaued and now I'm just beginning to get frustrated with little lags that are popping up more frequently (probably due for a wipe mind you!). The only thing about villiam rom is the bloody touch wiz launcher.. I just don't like messing with the launcher roms were made for either.
kranti2064 said:
Camera recording with stereo voice recording...! Seriously how many people do shoot video with a phone's camera? For facebook uploads mono audio is just fine..
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Click to collapse
Mass lols to be had at the fact that a majority of the time they would be played on the device through the mono loudspeaker too
I also go back for GB..becoz i feel that ics so laggy at dialer,and PES2012 freeze and cant play on ics..but in GB all working great..
Daripada galaxy s2 non-G
melorib said:
Depends, it was like you say in Gingerbread days, not with ICS WanamLite nor Dynamic, only tried these + CM9
I am using Dynamic 1.4 LP9, it is as smooth and fast as CM9, but everything working because it is Samsung based
I tried the included NEAK and Speedmod kernels, similar performance and very good battery life, only 3% drain overnight, I dont play with processor tweaking
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
kranti2064 said:
And I totally agree. to all of it. Tried all iterations of almost all roms available. For some reason keep going to my VR 3.0 nandroid back up.
Except CM9, I don't really think there is any real development going on. Most are just cooked up roms OR stuff taken from the CM9 tree and implemented OR so called fixes that have actually broken something else OR just debloated rooted official firmware (that AFAIK is pretty easy to do with the fantastic dsixda's kitchen or on a rooted rom).
Now fanboy's may flame as much as they wish to, but seriously a stable CM9 (hopefully..!) or a VR 4.0 is all I am willing to wait for.
Till such time VR 3.0 it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently trying ninphetamine kernel (as per VR3 - thanks for the heads up) on my fave stock KL1 more for interest than anything. Seems OK, no obvious difference from stock running as is apart from it being insecure, need a couple of days to evaluate in real life use.
Bloody good post. I've been using CM9 since the video recording bug was solved, and thats probably the longest I've used any ROM on the SGS2, I really like AOSP but the problem is it does still have quite a few bugs, and isn't quite as fast or as battery friendly as I remember the likes of Hyperdroid v6 being.
This makes me tempted to go back to GB. For me, it is still the ultimate for a daily driver. But I'm lazy so I'll probably stick with CM9.
kranti2064 said:
Dialer is laggy if you compare it with GB. CM9 variants have slightly more response dialers but overall, GB dialer is way more responsive. There is a small but noticeable lag when pressing a key and the time it takes to register on ICS (CM9 & stock).
Camera recording with stereo voice recording...! Seriously how many people do shoot video with a phone's camera? For facebook uploads mono audio is just fine..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ICS dialer laggy , doesn't happen to me on stock LP9 or Dynamic based on LP9 and CM9 is as smooth as they come. Whilst mono audio is fine for you I quite like having stereo audio. Choice, not limitations my friend
tameracingdriver said:
Bloody good post. I've been using CM9 since the video recording bug was solved, and thats probably the longest I've used any ROM on the SGS2, I really like AOSP but the problem is it does still have quite a few bugs, and isn't quite as fast or as battery friendly as I remember the likes of Hyperdroid v6 being.
This makes me tempted to go back to GB. For me, it is still the ultimate for a daily driver. But I'm lazy so I'll probably stick with CM9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers for that - I would definitely recommend the 2.3.6 KL1 off Sammobile if you want a solid GB.
Dude, if you have not tried CheckRom RevoHD V6, then you have not tried the BEST gingerbread rom for sgs2.
This is why I can not use ICS (yet). Checkrom is just too perfect of a Rom.
Try it, tweak it to your liking, use it for a week or 3 then try and go back to stock.
CheckRom XDA thread

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