Related
-----------8-14-----------
1.Upgrade MIUI to 1.8.12 (130811). No FC anymore! And the internal 2GB mass storage is accessible! This version is great! Unless DO NOT USE BUILD-IN BACKUP, or all your sd-card apps will be unaccessible! (stockwell is working on this)
2.Since I'm kinda like MIUI, and this job is really time consuming, I decided that I'll only update MIUI in the future.
3.Include all the historical data of MIUI in this release, so that you can see MIUI is really improving!
-----------8-7------------
1.Upgrade MIUI to 1.8.5 (070811). Sometimes I found FC quit frequently. Still testing...
2.Upgrade Oxygen to 110805. System benchmark improved!
3.Battery not tested due to time shortage. And I still don't know how to test hardware video acceleration. May anyone help?
-----------8-2------------
1.Upgrade MIUI to 1.7.29 (010811). This ROM fixed the FC problem due to wrong build.prop. The performance looks same.
2.Change the test method of battery. I turn on the phone, turn of WIFI/BT/GPS/APN, and wait for 8 hours (during the night). In the next morning, I record the battery level left. I haven't test HW stock ROM yet. So far, MIUI is better!
-----------7-31-----------
Upgrade MIUI to 1.7.29 (310711). This ROM is GREAT! It not only fixed the bugs (video recording, audio recording, etc), but also improved the performance dramatically! The benchmark of MIUI now is even higher than Oxygen! I think that's due to the latest Android 2.3.5.
But the only problem for MIUI now, is that there are toooooo many FC!
-----------7-30-----------
1.Update battery power consumption, according to Katu2006's opinion and test result. Thanks mate!
2.Upgrade Oxygen to version 110730. It fixed the 720p video recording, and the benchmark seems even better!
-----------7-29-----------
Hi guys!
I just transferred to HW U8800 from SE X1 (WM). Since I've made an X1-ROM benchmark and it was pretty useful for some friends there, I think probably I can do the same thing here as well. So, that's why I make my first post of this.
I'd like to thank the cooks that contributed so much for our U8800. Without your guys, my U8800 is just an ordinary phone.
I'm just using my U8800 for 2 weeks, and still learning Android system. So, if you have any suggestions, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Finally, I'm not a cook or expert on this. Definitely I might make some mistakes, and that means NO offense to any cooks or personnals. I just want to contribute some efforts to someone might in need. I also want to use this for the decision of my U8800 ROM.
Cheers!
China_1 said:
Hi guys!
I just transferred to HW U8800 from SE X1 (WM). Since I've made an X1-ROM benchmark and it was pretty useful for some friends there, I think probably I can do the same thing here as well. So, that's why I make my first post of this.
I'd like to thank the cooks that contributed so much for our U8800. Without your guys, my U8800 is just an ordinary phone.
I'm just using my U8800 for 2 weeks, and still learning Android system. So, if you have any suggestions, please don't hesitate to let me know.
Finally, I'm not a cook or expert on this. Definitely I might make some mistakes, and that means NO offense to any cooks or personnals. I just want to contribute some efforts to someone might in need. I also want to use this for the decision of my U8800 ROM.
Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's cool to keep a sheet with current roms performance level and stage of usability.
I would want you to continue working on updating as it's hard for some to keep track which rom is up to date and which rom is fastest
It's good to know that my work is useful. I'll try my best. But it's very time consuming, as you can imagine...
Anyway, thanks!
very good really. i saw that you didnt test the battery life, but you cant say nothing about this?
vlc_marcos said:
very good really. i saw that you didnt test the battery life, but you cant say nothing about this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right. Battery life (or power consumption) is very important. But I have to find a proper way to do the test! You know, just let the phone wait for a whole day and night is not a effective way (and I myself have to use the phone!). Is there any suggestions?
something like normal use, if you have another phone to use, you can think about a test like 30 sms to your self or another number, 3 or 4 benchs let the music player work during 2 hours and one or 2 youtube movies and the rest left it alone to see how is his behavious on idle
I've been playing gameloft's Dungeon Hunter for a few days now and noticed that it practically sucks the juice out of the phone. So maybe use that game, or one similar? You could monitor battery consumption AND performance. And, it's also entertaining!
Sent from my u8800 using XDA Premium App
Aaaaaaaaand...
And you could run the game while keeping wifi and bluetooth on with max brightness ^^
Ok, I've been testing ALL versions of Roms available at this point and I can tell you that playing a game is not a relevant test, as everybody is interested in power draining during normal daily usage, with Wifi and BT all all the time, 1-2 calls/day, 2 email accounts with push and some browsing (weather/news etc).
What you should do is install each Rom and use it with all options mentioned always on and measure the time it takes to fully discharge.
I've done multiple tests, on B160/B137/Miui/Oxygen etc With all options mentioned above, I NEVER got more than 24h with stock Roms, to be frankly honest, NO FROYO based rom stock/custom has ever gone over the 24h mark for me.
Both Miui and Oxygen have absolutely amazing power drain, over night I lost like 7% of the battery and with everything mention always on, I get at least 40h.
You should correct the statement with the power drain, as Miui and Oxygen have MUCH better power drain if not twice as better compared to stock Roms.
Another thing you got wrong is the hardware acceleration, which is available in Oxygen.
At this point in time, there is nothing better than Oxygen and thank God that is available, cause the Froyo Roms are terrible, especially in terms of power consumption.
I think you are not able to refresh it that fast,because Oxygen is updating every day recently
vlc_marcos said:
something like normal use, if you have another phone to use, you can think about a test like 30 sms to your self or another number, 3 or 4 benchs let the music player work during 2 hours and one or 2 youtube movies and the rest left it alone to see how is his behavious on idle
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OIC. I think I need to find a more effective way. Is there any battery lasting benchmark software?
Vk_ said:
I've been playing gameloft's Dungeon Hunter for a few days now and noticed that it practically sucks the juice out of the phone. So maybe use that game, or one similar? You could monitor battery consumption AND performance. And, it's also entertaining!
Sent from my u8800 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for you advice. I'll try that game!
katu2006 said:
Ok, I've been testing ALL versions of Roms available at this point and I can tell you that playing a game is not a relevant test, as everybody is interested in power draining during normal daily usage, with Wifi and BT all all the time, 1-2 calls/day, 2 email accounts with push and some browsing (weather/news etc).
What you should do is install each Rom and use it with all options mentioned always on and measure the time it takes to fully discharge.
I've done multiple tests, on B160/B137/Miui/Oxygen etc With all options mentioned above, I NEVER got more than 24h with stock Roms, to be frankly honest, NO FROYO based rom stock/custom has ever gone over the 24h mark for me.
Both Miui and Oxygen have absolutely amazing power drain, over night I lost like 7% of the battery and with everything mention always on, I get at least 40h.
You should correct the statement with the power drain, as Miui and Oxygen have MUCH better power drain if not twice as better compared to stock Roms.
Another thing you got wrong is the hardware acceleration, which is available in Oxygen.
At this point in time, there is nothing better than Oxygen and thank God that is available, cause the Froyo Roms are terrible, especially in terms of power consumption.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THANKS MATE!
It's good to know that someone is also testing the ROMs, and can share some of the experiences. I think the hardest thing for me is the battery test. I've revised the result, according to your opinion.
And about hardware video acceleration, when I use Mobo player, it seems always very laggy, no matter which ROM I use. So, how to prove that the hardware acceleration is on?
jiangheng90 said:
I think you are not able to refresh it that fast,because Oxygen is updating every day recently
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do believe that cooking a ROM is much complex and time consuming than testing one.
Your work is excellent! Thanks !
Escellent overview China_1. Thank you!!
great work m8
ps: I have a doubt, did you put the cpu freq at 800mhz? because both (miui and oxygen) has the cpu at 1ghz per default.
China_1 said:
THANKS MATE!
It's good to know that someone is also testing the ROMs, and can share some of the experiences. I think the hardest thing for me is the battery test. I've revised the result, according to your opinion.
And about hardware video acceleration, when I use Mobo player, it seems always very laggy, no matter which ROM I use. So, how to prove that the hardware acceleration is on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's hard to tell when GPU is used and when it's not, but in my view, actionscripts (which are used when GPU is not required/unavailable) are sometimes as fast as GPU in rendering simple things.
I may be wrong here, but this is just my understanding...
The best way to tell if GPU is active is by measuring the frames/sec...on action scripts you usually get lower FPS...That's why in testing Quadrant, you get much more points in 3D rendering tests, when having hardware acceleration active.
If you search on the market for "OpenGL Test" or "OpenGL Frame Rate Test", these should test the GPU specifically.
There is an example here:
http://www.yeahbutisitflash.com/?p=2447
d3xtr0 said:
great work m8
ps: I have a doubt, did you put the cpu freq at 800mhz? because both (miui and oxygen) has the cpu at 1ghz per default.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. I just used the default CPU setting. So, this might be a reason why Oxygen has such a high CPU score.
katu2006 said:
It's hard to tell when GPU is used and when it's not, but in my view, actionscripts (which are used when GPU is not required/unavailable) are sometimes as fast as GPU in rendering simple things.
I may be wrong here, but this is just my understanding...
The best way to tell if GPU is active is by measuring the frames/sec...on action scripts you usually get lower FPS...That's why in testing Quadrant, you get much more points in 3D rendering tests, when having hardware acceleration active.
If you search on the market for "OpenGL Test" or "OpenGL Frame Rate Test", these should test the GPU specifically.
There is an example here:
http://www.yeahbutisitflash.com/?p=2447
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know basically what GPU and hardware acceleration means. And, to turn on hardware acceleration, you need the support of: 1. hardware; 2. O/S and driver; 3. software application. So, to prove that a certain ROM is h/w acceleration supported and measure the performance, we need to find a compatible software.
And, there are usually two kinds of h/w acceleration: 3D animation, and HD video.
U8800's GPU is Adreno 205, shoud be very good at 3D. But the performance is not that good. I think we need more optimization of the O/S and drivers.
While I was on CM7 I kept asking myself whether the time was right to switch to "stock" gingerbread in order to get rid of the few CM7 nasties (such as battery life, FM radio, lack of BLN support,...) without giving up too many of the goodies (performance, performance, performance). I hoped there was some insight into objective comparisons, i.e. people who had tested both and could give some "neutral" feedback. Well, I couldn't find it.
So I now find myself on samsung's gingerbread for the first time and these are my findings*:
Performance**:
CM7
The best I've tried so far. No doubt.
Number of installed apps does not affect performance.
JVR
Acceptable, but after getting used to CM7 there is noticeable lag (lapse between gesture and screen reaction) and hiccups when scrolling down menus. Tested with rfs and ext4 ("lagfix"). All in all, performance is noticeably worse than CM7.
Battery***:
CM7
Improves greatly with GB bootloaders [BL] (custom kernel has to support it) but it only affects standby drain (lowers to about 1~3 %/hr).
Usage drain is ridiculous (20~50 %/hr depending on type of use and connectivity).
Typical average battery life has been about 10~24hrs.
JVR
Standby drain is about the same as with CM7 & GB BL (about 1~3 %/hr).
Usage drain is about 10~30% (general feeling about half as draining).
Typical average battery life is being about 15~36hrs.
Android system process shoots CPU usage up to 99.9% while charging (reboot fixes this). Not sure if this is actually a bug.
Miscellaneous:
CM7
No BLN support (as of custom kernels on Aug 15th). No blinking led notification support.
No FM radio (as of #80)
Voodoo sound/color support is kernel dependent
Minor BT car system (A2DP) bugs. Not reproducible with BT dongle.
Horrible Wifi reception and timeouts with WPA2 + hidden SSID (might be custom kernels).
No TV-out support.
No 720p recording (?)
JVR
BLN support is kernel dependent
Voodoo sound/color support is kernel dependent
I might have overseen a bug or been inaccurate at some point. Please feel free to fill the voids or correct any imprecisions.
*I was on CM7 #80 with Zach's Neo kernel v16 r2 (GB BL!). Have also tried Glitch's.
I am now on JVR Simplicity v0.31 (Semaphore kernel 1.5).
**No OC/UV for the sake of fairness of this test (improves performance about 30~50%).
***Battery findings are merely subjective appreciations I have made on a daily usage basis. No scientific mA/h tests or benchmarks have been made. I apologize for that...
This thread should serve for everyone who has tried both ROMs to give their feedback and for those weighing to make the switch to ask questions and have more info.
Cheers!
Nice job on writing this up.
For me CM7 on the SGS is out of the question, because battery and BLN are two of my most importing things that I need daily.
I even went as far as getting the Samsung Armani Battery 1650Mah battery (same physical size as the stock battery) to give me the extra battery life I need.
As for CM7, I may throw that on my Atrix down the road. Some people that have used the beta of it say they think battery life is better than stock. Time will tell, but battery life is an absolute must on my phones which sadly rules CM7 out for me at least on the SGS...
Problems I have with CM7:
* Battery drain (obviously), but since #86 I usually get through the day without recharging.
* Random reboots
* sometimes suddenly loses reception (comes back after some time)
* broken 2g/3g-toggle (don't know if it's fixed yet, didn't dare to try)
Problems I have with stock-ROMs:
* often Launcher-redraws
* no USB-tethering on Linux
Problems I have with all GB ROMs:
* GPS-performance is bad. It's usable after applying hardware fix, but when comparing with Froyo ROMs (e.g. Darky 9.5), they always win.
You can get led notifications with Neo's kernel, v17r5 currently. No need for BLN app. :]
Otherwise, CM7 is just smoking the stock ROM, specially if many apps are installed. I can compare the phone to AOSP Desire experience, before I exchanged it for SGS a month ago.
Btw, Green battery saver app helps alot, it turns off wifi/mobile for specified intervals, so less drain when idle and you don't need to manually toggle it. Same **** as iPhone does.
I have messed both with CM7 #80 and JVR. Now I am back to stock JVR because CM7:
- does not support 720p recording
- I had a lot of issues with calling, the other person couldn't hear me. This seems to happen randomly to many users and makes it for me unusable.
There's HD recording @ 30fps on 2 recent nightlies I tried.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
I was wondering, in CM7 does flash performance is still as low as in stock roms ? Most of the video websites I visit work awfull on JVR.
alinescoo said:
I was wondering, in CM7 does flash performance is still as low as in stock roms ? Most of the video websites I visit work awfull on JVR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my experience there is a great improvement in flash performance in cm7 (and decline in samsung's gb). Especially in flash video playback. Beware though not to expect anything similar to computer-like performance in this field.
You want a fast, smooth UI and not expect a drawback in battery use? There has got to be a sacrificial lamb in there. The fact that idle drain is already comparable with stock roms means there is no more "battery drain" issue in CM7.
I left CM7 with fugumod kernel overnight, I lost 2% battery in 9 hours.
I left Simplicity overnight. I lost 10% in 9 hours.
Just my findings off of one test
Nice Job
Thank you for your interesting info
filiptc said:
In my experience there is a great improvement in flash performance in cm7 (and decline in samsung's gb). Especially in flash video playback. Beware though not to expect anything similar to computer-like performance in this field.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
alinescoo said:
I was wondering, in CM7 does flash performance is still as low as in stock roms ? Most of the video websites I visit work awfull on JVR.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
for me, flash is crazy good since jvq and flash update. 720p fluid in the browser. silky smooth scrolling, gpu helps a lot.
Quite accurate but:
-wifi for me is horrible on stock and cm7...compared the galaxy s my old iphone 3gs was much better.
-battery when phone is on use is same on cm7 and stock... 'till you use data connection. When using 2g/3g on cm7, battery goes down like a hell.
This because samsung driver are closed source i suppose.
Imho Gingebread is not a great update respect froyo.
Just switched back to stock rom from cm7 nightly. I really liked cm's features but after a while the battery drain was too much.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I was just about to post a thread like this! The last samsung rom i tried, jvq, was for lack of a better word, **** compared to CM7. I wondered if JVR was better but its probably not much better than jvq. For me, i think i can live with the 'drawbacks' of CM7 as it just makes the phone as good as it should be - fast as hell.
Interestingly enough, as you can see from my sig im posting from a galaxy tab. The stock sammy firmware on this is much better on this than most stock sgs roms.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
Necrolust said:
I was just about to post a thread like this! The last samsung rom i tried, jvq, was for lack of a better word, **** compared to CM7. I wondered if JVR was better but its probably not much better than jvq. For me, i think i can live with the 'drawbacks' of CM7 as it just makes the phone as good as it should be - fast as hell.
Interestingly enough, as you can see from my sig im posting from a galaxy tab. The stock sammy firmware on this is much better on this than most stock sgs roms.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to say that I was the same (and I still like to switch roms) but JVR is like from a different dev team at Samsung. I am talking about stock JVR. Give it a try and you will see that it is the perfect stock rom.
My issue with CM7 are the colours. Both on stock and Voodoo. There is something about it that I can't get right even after following a few guides here.
Having said that, CM7 is a very good, features rich, fast rom. I don't think any stock rom would get to that speed due to the filesystem difference.
K.
It's interesting that nobody mentions the problem during calls. Is this an isolated problem, happening to only a few of us ?
I am very very impatient when it comes to responsiveness so I'm on CM7 for a while. Hoever, most likely, I will go back to stock because of:
-problems during calls (other person can't hear me - hold-unhold call sometimes fixes this, sometimes not)
- headset controlls not working (can't answer calls, can't control music); very annoying, this was introduced when a fix for FM radio was tried. FM radio still does not work but it managed to screw up the headset controls
- no 720p recording - well, you CAN record but the frames skip a lot and audio is not synced
- when using 3g/h battery goes down REALLY fast and phone heats up a LOT
- last but not least devs are concentrating on SGS2, so any fixes will probably take a long while to be implemented (if there's gonna be any fixes); the development has slowed a lot (still, my thank to the devs for their hard work)
The grass is always greener on the other side, is it? I love CM for its pure android experience, its speed and the control. But yes, there are bugs and that's to be expected if you have to work with closed source blob's and pretty weird hardware (search for atinm's post in the CM7 thread). I'm willing to live with the remaining bugs because the advantages of CM7 are just to big. But my next phone is going to be a Nexus one for sure. That's the only way I'm guaranteed a real android phone without any of the OEM crap.
Jvr odexed with a few fixes is best for me. Camera, colours, no radio and battery drain just not good enough on cm7 for my needs.
Stock Samsung jvr is better than my cm7 2.2.4 nexus one.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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..
Click to expand...
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
Hey, guys!
So, I know that internally Milestone2 and DEFY/DEFY+ are the same (chipset, CPU, GPU, camera module) and I'm absolutely okay with that. Latest CM10 builds work incredibly good on the DEFY. So, I know I would be happy with Milestone2 on CM10 experience pretty much the same
But! Other than internals... How good is the Milestone2? How good is the build quality? Are there some common failures that occur? Is the keyboard good? The keyboard sliding mechanism is built to last?
I really love my DEFY+, but I would LOVE to have the actual keyboard. Other than that, i see that M2 has a dedicated camera button, that's a nice touch, too
Please share some experience! And no need for anyone to tell me that it's old/outdated, it's still a good phone and it's definitely good enough for me, so please no recommendations on other phones, just your experiences with the M2! :fingers-crossed:
If you just use CM10 its ok..
Milestone 2 have not too much modding like Defy+ (on roms variation).
And the keyboard for me is fine.. some user sometimes have a debounce problem but its has a "apk" solution
Sorry for my English
From the bathroom using Tapatalk 2.2.8
Enviado desde el ñoba usando Tapatalk 2.2.8
JoseBerga said:
If you just use CM10 its ok..
Milestone 2 have not too much modding like Defy+ (on roms variation).
And the keyboard for me is fine.. some user sometimes have a debounce problem but its has a "apk" solution
Sorry for my English
From the bathroom using Tapatalk 2.2.8
Enviado desde el ñoba usando Tapatalk 2.2.8
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM10 is all I need, yes, and since I see that the builds are pretty much the same as the one for DEFY (how could they not be, it's the same hardware) I know it'll be great
Debounce problem... Please explain more, I have no idea what that means
Thanks for the reply!
*EDIT* Got it! Debounce = double pressing Okay. I guess it doesn't happen on new phones? Cause I'm looking at buying a new one. But since there is a fix available anyway... Not a big issue, I'd say!
niksy+ said:
CM10 is all I need, yes, and since I see that the builds are pretty much the same as the one for DEFY (how could they not be, it's the same hardware) I know it'll be great
Debounce problem... Please explain more, I have no idea what that means
Thanks for the reply!
*EDIT* Got it! Debounce = double pressing Okay. I guess it doesn't happen on new phones? Cause I'm looking at buying a new one. But since there is a fix available anyway... Not a big issue, I'd say!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is a fix that SOLVES the problem for sure.
Search for "MS2 Debounce-debug.apk"
I bought MS2 because at that time it was the only smartphone with stand alone GPS and real keyboard (big +).
That means you have GPS and don't have to make data traffic in roaming , can be pretty expensive if you travel around continent.
Dropped a few times on stone floor , wood floor , > survived . The mechanism is bent on one side due to excessive pressure, still works.
tectonik said:
Dropped a few times on stone floor , wood floor , > survived . The mechanism is bent on one side due to excessive pressure, still works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it's bent because of the drops or because of usage (how old is it, if this is the case?) or every M2 is just like that since brand new? If it's like that since it comes out of the factory... Does it disturb the usage anyhow?
Thank you!
Is 2 years old , comes OK from factory , mine is bent because is under my ass sometimes
Does not disturb the usage, but the space between the 2 sides, is not that equal as it was out of the box.
I'm 84kg ,... if this is relevant ))))))
tectonik said:
Is 2 years old , comes OK from factory , mine is bent because is under my ass sometimes
Does not disturb the usage, but the space between the 2 sides, is not that equal as it was out of the box.
I'm 84kg ,... if this is relevant ))))))
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm 64kg, so I guess it would sustain my a$$ a bit better (no offense intended, of course!)
It's sounds like it's (the phone ) tough enough for me (not meaning just my a$$)
*EDIT* A question I forgot earlier... How's the battery? I see that it's merely 1400mAh, which is smaller than the standard DEFY one (1540mAh) and I guess I'm kinda used to my + version (1700mAh) :/
The specs say that M2 has got a lot longer stand-by and talk times than the DEFY, though. How is that possible?
mine is 1390mAh , what can I say ,.... I'm charging once in 2/3 days ... sometimes 4 i guess ,.. but u have to replace stock froyo for that.
Sure you can run empty in less than 1 day if 5/6 applications are running on wireless + display + keyboard used for hours.
I don't talk to much, twice a day would be average+ 1 or 2 hours of wireless / day . For the rest of the time wireless and background data are off.
Alarm rings & vibrates every morning for at least 30 min ))) once in 5 minutes, or 10 ?? I will never find out I guess , I'm too sleepy )
Scheduled airplane mode from 2:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.
Hope it helps
niksy+ said:
I'm 64kg, so I guess it would sustain my a$$ a bit better (no offense intended, of course!)
It's sounds like it's (the phone ) tough enough for me (not meaning just my a$$)
*EDIT* A question I forgot earlier... How's the battery? I see that it's merely 1400mAh, which is smaller than the standard DEFY one (1540mAh) and I guess I'm kinda used to my + version (1700mAh) :/
The specs say that M2 has got a lot longer stand-by and talk times than the DEFY, though. How is that possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The battery is not great, specially after a few dozens rom flashing around the clock and different tries, but there is a 2400mah battery the same size as the original one you can find around and it's cheap (it was something like 9/10£ with shipping for me, despite me living outside uk) that i'm testing right now.
Battery duration is quite better, and the battery is detected normally for charge capacity, prediction and such.
On top of that people messed around/tried different governors/voltages and got an undervolt setting that gives quite good result and is stable.
Overall the Tezet's CM10 (and sfc3001's CM9 despite a bit lagging behind now due to him being busy IRL) are really good and stable with a low number of bugs/problems that are *mostly* problems present on DEFY/DEFY+ because overall the MS2 CM roms are port of the Defy ones (with some tweaks like hardware acceleration, and so on coming from other Moto phones like the MS1 or the Atrix from memory).
Answer to your question is - No, don't buy it.
ncc74656 said:
Answer to your question is - No, don't buy it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why?
Ashareth, thanks for the reply! :good:
Phones without moving parts are more reliable than phones using flex cables.
Debounce is not a problem here, simply because I don't use hw keyboard. Swype is faster than hw keyboard and since I don't open the m2, will be harder to break the lcd flex - that is essential to use the phone.
Hi
IMHO you get great value for a really cheap price. I paid 200€ without contract on amazon.de
basically because it was one of the very few available with HW keyboard. Non rooted I was very disappointed mainly
due to the low speed and bloatware. But performance and experience with CM10 is great!
Sum : Best HW keyboard phone for that price range
niksy+ said:
Why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Poor battery, bad performance, no good rom alternatives. I got this phone to replace my old HTC Diamond, now I see that old htc was more reliable than this. MM2 is my first and last Motorola product that I paid for.
I still like the MS2 (hey, it's got a hw keyboard!), but I'm not too enthusiastic about CM10 on it.
I mean, I really appreciate tezet's current work (also sfc3001's CM9 before, and tezet's CM7), I love CM10 per se, but I think it's pushing too far the MS2: even with a 1.2GHz OC processor, smartassV2, SIO scheduler, and less than 30 apps installed it's sometimes almost too laggy for me.
When I open the dialer or the contacts app, I want it to launch (almost) immediately, not after seconds.
It also kills the possibility of a full multi-task operation, constantly having only 50-100MB free ram.
Anyway, if you decide to buy it, and you're not too addicted to CM10's bonuses (as I, sadly, am), I'd suggest to try CM7 by tezet, which IMHO can give you the best of this phone's hw-sw performance combo.
djlooka said:
I still like the MS2 (hey, it's got a hw keyboard!), but I'm not too enthusiastic about CM10 on it.
I mean, I really appreciate tezet's current work (also sfc3001's CM9 before, and tezet's CM7), I love CM10 per se, but I think it's pushing too far the MS2: even with a 1.2GHz OC processor, smartassV2, SIO scheduler, and less than 30 apps installed it's sometimes almost too laggy for me.
When I open the dialer or the contacts app, I want it to launch (almost) immediately, not after seconds.
It also kills the possibility of a full multi-task operation, constantly having only 50-100MB free ram.
Anyway, if you decide to buy it, and you're not too addicted to CM10's bonuses (as I, sadly, am), I'd suggest to try CM7 by tezet, which IMHO can give you the best of this phone's hw-sw performance combo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm +1 this. Totally agree.
CM10 is great (I'm also too much comfortable with CM10's features :/ ), but it IS slow. It is not that slow, as stock Froyo ROM of course (that was really pain in the... ), but I think CM10 is even slower than stock GB
(but hey! I have to say, that's not tezet's fault of course... JB is just too much for M2 HW probably...)
I would recommend CM7 too or stock GB (or ROMs based on it) if you don't rely on CM10 functions... I will probably go back to one of these too, since I really need (and like) speed and smoothness... CM10 is great, but definitely not fast or smooth - and I don't even mention the slowness, in case you are out of free RAM...
Cm7 in my opinion it's the best rom for our miles2. After the last update, the battery is much better than previous version.
Sent from my MotoA953 using xda premium
Honestly, as much as the MS2 is good (great) you should look out for another phone currently, because there is better (more recent) choices out there for roughly the same price.
If you buy it new, it's still prohibitive since most vendors still list it around 300€ new.
If it's used, unless you manage to find one under 100€ it's not worth it (most of them are sold close to 180/200€ from what i've seen).
You're better of going after a Galaxy Nexus/Galaxy SII if you don't need the hw keyboard. If you do need it it's another question since there is not much choices out there, and MS2 is still one of the best.
@ Ashareth: Sorry, but when you are talking about "better (more recent) choices out there for roughly the same price." - do you refer to smartphones in general
or with HW keyboard ?
In my opionion the choice of HW keyboard phones is very, very limited sadly. Not that I am trying to defend here the milestone 2, but I am seeking myself for a potential
alternative. My contract ends soon and I could get cheaply a new phone, but with HW keyboard ? Bummer, there is not much out there, especially outside the US
Another point, I would be interested in would be the speed of CM7. I am running CM10 at the moment but couldnt run CM7 due to 2.36 kernel. Is the speed comparable with the MS2Ginger ? Its the only one I tested so far ....
niksy+ said:
Hey, guys!
So, I know that internally Milestone2 and DEFY/DEFY+ are the same (chipset, CPU, GPU, camera module) and I'm absolutely okay with that. Latest CM10 builds work incredibly good on the DEFY. So, I know I would be happy with Milestone2 on CM10 experience pretty much the same
But! Other than internals... How good is the Milestone2? How good is the build quality? Are there some common failures that occur? Is the keyboard good? The keyboard sliding mechanism is built to last?
I really love my DEFY+, but I would LOVE to have the actual keyboard. Other than that, i see that M2 has a dedicated camera button, that's a nice touch, too
Please share some experience! And no need for anyone to tell me that it's old/outdated, it's still a good phone and it's definitely good enough for me, so please no recommendations on other phones, just your experiences with the M2! :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why do you want to buy a machine two years ago.Even it s just locked with a out-date system.
Greetings All,
First post here so I hope I don't f#@% up.
I know there've been a million threads closed about this because everyone's setup and usage is different. I found it really frustrating to not get an 'answer', thinking to myself ‘why not compare apples with apples?’ ie stock vs custom ROM with the same usage. So I thought I'd share my experience for anyone else frustrated with the lack of “The Answer”
I bought a refurbished (new screen, battery and back cover) SGS2 GT-I9100 unlocked with Vodafone stock ROM. I was getting the battery warning at 4 hours (!) after a few calls and texts, about 15 min of FB, same for Gmail (WiFi on/Data off at home), and about an hour of driving with Google Navigation and playing music (Wifi/Data/GPS on). Battery usage showed that next to the screen at #1, GPS/Navigation was the biggest drain followed by playing music. All the other stuff was insignificant by comparison.
By uninstalling and disabling everything Samsung, Vodafone, and stuff I didn’t use, it stretched to 6 hours. 50% improvement but still unacceptable as I wanted to get at least a work-day plus travel ie 10 hours.
So a custom ROM was required which started the saga of rooting. Did hours of research and unsuccessfully tried a few through a Samsung developers’ program (Odin?). I finally resorted to spending money and sent the IMEI# to online services. Some said the phone was rootable, some not. I paid my twenty-five bucks to 1-ClickRoot and it didn’t work (but I used it to root my wife’s Motorola Mileston2) and finally rooted the SGS2 with Framaroot (I think it was either free or the price of a can of Coke). Couldn’t have been simpler – downloaded the file with the browser, explored to the (apk?) file and opened it, tried the first 2 vulnerability options unsuccessfully and on the third, success. Rebooted – voila.
I tried a few custom ROMs that, while they were highly recommended and had all the customisable bells and whistles and ‘great battery life’, I didn’t like the UI. Plus I just wanted a ‘normal’ phone with a good camera (I’m a hobby photographer) which could also browse the web, use GPS navigation, play music, have custom ringtones and pics for contacts, and the ‘important’ stuff for me at the bottom of the home screens - phone, messaging, contacts, browser and apps. I didn’t need to be able to customise virtually everything on the phone and some of these ROMs were 400-900MB compared to under 200MB for most.
Which brings me to CyanogenMod 10.1 (CM10.1). The UI is closer to standard (plus many more options) so I found the transition from the stock ROM easy. And with the same usage PLUS an EXTRA hour of Google Navigation/GPS/music – 10 hours easy with 20-33% battery left (!). Added a high capacity battery (2600mAh over 1800mAh factory, same physical size) and I now go from 0700 to 0100 the following day regularly – 18 hours with 1-9% battery left.
Hope this helps…
Cheers,
Ferenc
25 bucks for rooting :laugh:
Eek i get about 5hrs + screen on time wid ics 4.0.4 xwlpt wid speedmod kernel....
Btw since u are hobby photographer.. The camera app on cm10.1 sucks when compared to that of the stock...so does the picture quality ...
No regrets here??
Best battery would be NeatROM +Apolo Kernel IMO
I've got two ROMs that deliver really nice battery life:
1. XWKE7 2.3.3 Samsung Stock (somehow it doesn't deliver such a good battery life now)
- This once got me through 3 days of regular usage with roundabout 10% left. Somhow "Android OS" drains me now, so I get two days maximum.
2. CM10.1 stable + DorimanX 9.14 kernel
- Got a tip about this combo from a friend, and well, it rocks. If you want an up-to-date version of android and great battery life, choose this.
There is various things you can do.I use rooted stock rom, running custom kernel and have all the crap stripped out.
I find custom roms better in some things and worse in others=overall not worth it for me.
You try what you like, but a GB rom c/w speedmod should be good.
That 25 bucks though...
Best Combo would be NeatROM (Extra-Lite) JB + Apolo Kernel 4.13 (Extreme V2, if possible for your phone and won't reboot)
weirdly enough but best power consumption I ever had on SG2 was with CM11 from 10-Dec-2013 by Wayland_ACE
(I've used mostly CM nightlies starting from 7.2)
Later versions from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2597199 much worse for some reason...
Not enough time to investigate fully yet, but BetterBatteryStats shows very similar picture...
Now just flashed this one - http://download.cyanogenmod.org/get/jenkins/57551/cm-11-20140202-NIGHTLY-i9100.zip .... we'll see...
CM 11 with ART runtime solved all my leakages during sleep mode. (Some apps like "stocks" were draining power when Dalvik was used)
CM11 nightlies seem to be good and stable, the only issue is: phone doesn't enter a deep sleep after charging(stuck on 200MHz). Shut down & power up solves, yet very annoying issue.
One thing, GB tops in battery life...
But i dont like it(GB theme is ugly)
gvovs said:
CM 11 with ART runtime solved all my leakages during sleep mode. (Some apps like "stocks" were draining power when Dalvik was used)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting.....
Cheap root?
doctor_droid said:
25 bucks for rooting :laugh:
Eek i get about 5hrs + screen on time wid ics 4.0.4 xwlpt wid speedmod kernel....
Btw since u are hobby photographer.. The camera app on cm10.1 sucks when compared to that of the stock...so does the picture quality ...
No regrets here??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your response Doc
Twenty five bucks is cheap for a root Ok, it was 2am and I was desperate to root my phone after 18 hours of research over a coupla'days and repeated attempts which never ended up with SuperUser in my Apps drawer. I know better now...
Tonight I have 33% battery left after 12hrs/4.5hrs screen on - pretty happy...
Funny you say the cm10.1 camera app sux - yeah sure the colours are a bit over-saturated (but gee it makes for pretty pictures ) but so far i've found the lag between shutter-press and shot, and Auto White-Balance the best so far, other than Fast Burst Camera which for me is too low res for anything other than phone screen or Facebook/YouTube small window viewing on PC. I take a lot of pics of my happy 4yo daughter who stubbornly refuses to smile 'properly' 'at' the camera and her most delightful smiles are at the top of a swing which has been pushed a bit too hard (I'm getting quite good at predicting the lag now, but MANY missed pearls). I've installed Camera 4.2 for panorama shots (can't remember what the google name is) and find it has too few options for me (particularly white balance) and much the same lag. You sound like a bit of a camera app connoisseur - any suggestions for no lag (I mean really, it's digital, can't you capture it NOW?)/accurate white balance/good colour saturation? I really only got a mobile phone when the cameras got good enough to 'replace' a point-and-shoot, so camera is a biggy for me
Cheers,
Ferenc
okay... still using CM11 nightlies, finally can leave the phone not in charger overnight and still use it next day.
average charge loss (radio and wifi on) is 2 to 4% per hour, some syncs are enabled. Also ART(supposedly unsupported by CM) enabled.
All is smooth.
@ferenczoltan - u r a camera pro ... I m a noob in terms of camera and i can only look for end user comparison points like touch to focus or image blurriness and few more... For me the stock camera app seems to more hardware dedicated..
As for rom .. 4.5hrs screen on time and still 1/3rd juice left? 2000mAh battery ..right?
Edit - saw ur old.reply... its 2600mAh
I like this thread. I would suggest adding a poll to it so that users can vote for the best battery life rom.
I've been trying a lot of roms with the goal to find one that that has a good battery life and even if some roms are better that others none are excellent. It makes me laugh when I read that you judge a rom on its built-in apps (camera...) since you can instal all the apps you need (like a better camera on xda or even on the market.
I don't know if I'm the only one but I get the feeling that the "out of the box" rom and kernel gave me the better results but I won't go back to full stock, that's for sure.
Currently on : Neat extra lite + Apollo V2
mastawindu said:
I like this thread. I would suggest adding a poll to it so that users can vote for the best battery life rom.
I've been trying a lot of roms with the goal to find one that that has a good battery life and even if some roms are better that others none are excellent. It makes me laugh when I read that you judge a rom on its built-in apps (camera...) since you can instal all the apps you need (like a better camera on xda or even on the market.
I don't know if I'm the only one but I get the feeling that the "out of the box" rom and kernel gave me the better results but I won't go back to full stock, that's for sure.
Currently on : Neat extra lite + Apollo V2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be more precise...stock rom camera libs are much more better as compared to custom ones. no matter which app I use in custom roms the quality is still inferior when compared to stock ..
And yes u r right .. out of the box combo is the best m on stock rom 4.1.2 deodexed zipalign rooted and wid a secure kernel (my own kitchen made rom)
Wizzedkat
Guys has anyone using Wizzedkat rom?
Battery life on that rom is terrible...had to revert back to slimsaber 4.4.2
Haven't tried deodexed stock roms yet. On KK, the best battery life was on beanstalk, AOSB and Cyan fox. Amazing deep sleep battery life for AOSB and beanstalk. Stock kernel.
Hey,
I also had battery problems on my previous rom so I went looking for another rom... I ended up with Chameleon rom, it is based on stock samsung(4.1.2[emoji20]) firmware with pure aosp look (everything related to samsung is replaced by aosp apps except the camera) it also has aokp ROM Control included so you are able to tweak the rom and the best part is the screen time... 4 hours on a 2 year old stock samsung battery