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Well with all the hype going on about custom (and sometimes stock) firmwares. I thought I would start a discussion and Perhaps a poll to see if you are using stock or custom ROMs.
As for my 2 cents: Samsung makes great hardware (at least to my experience) but sinks it down to sleep with the fishies with poor software support including bad very bad software suites (like Kies or Media studio the latter which installed a nasty rootkit on my laptop believe it or not for DRM), prematurely axing support to its newly launched devices (I remember hacking my samsung MP3 with korean firmware as I was really angry at samsung for axing the device 2 months after its release whats up with that ).
So what about you: Do u use custom ROMs or stick to late to almost never released stock ROMs?
Stock rom.
It does what I want. Internet-games-programs. It is fast and good.
I do not see a reason to go with a custom rom.
I use modaco. because its sooooo fast.
Overcome. Hands down the best rom/kernel IMHO.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA Premium App
okay ... dumb question ... i've just ordered a Tab from T-Mobile, should have it Monday or Tuesday, so ... just what is a custom ROM/Kernal going to do for me?
Thanks,
pat----
Im sticking with stock atm...
As posted above, it does what i want.
Im on Overcome 1.3, undervolted, not overclocked
what it does for you is it removes bloatware, includes fixes to known bugs that samsung has not addressed with a proper firmware update, allows for overclocking and undervolting if you're into that, formats the file system to EXT4 making IO faster, installs a full backup and restore facility from recovery, and provides better battery life*
quadrant score from original firmware: 1000-1200
quadrant score from Overcome 1.3 no overclock: 1690
so yeah, custom IS better than stock until samsung gets all these tweaks into their official ROMs.
(*I don't know how it does that, but it does )
It should be said that in reality the split isn't just between stock and custom, but stock, "unreleased', and custom.
Most of the custom ROMs you can find here are based on Samsung's own unreleased test/dev builds (e.g. MoDaCo is based on JMI, Overcome is based on JMK). Even in their "raw" form, these unreleased ROMs are far better than those that actually ship on the device (BEWARE LOCKED BOOTLOADERS IF YOU ARE THINKING OF FLASHING ONE!!!).
If you take say Rotohammers build, it is stock JMI (JMK now?), without the locked bootloaders and pre-rooted. MoDaCo and Overcome go quite a bit further as they have completely rebuilt kernels and are tweaked for speed. Then you have Technomancers Gingerbread ROM, which is completely custom and based on CM7 rather than an existing Samsung build.
In my opinion, staying on a shipping Tab ROM means you are not getting as much out of your device as you could. Even the Samsung unreleased dev builds are way better than the shipping ROMs, so I don't know why Samsung haven't actually formally released them.
Regards,
Dave
I user overcome 1.4.4
Its much faster than the stock rom and seems to use less battery power in my particular use case.
Custom, as indicated in my signature. I have a T-Mobile Tab and in stock form, it was extremely slow. It sucked.
chicken roms is better ever
For those who say stock is fine i say you have no idea what you are missing. Try both, then make a decision. Custom all the way baby!
T-Mobile tab running latest Overcome
As a bell mobility tab user, i used the stock one (jj3) i think for about a month.
After that i decided to go with roto jme then jmg and after that went to modaco.
Was on modaco for about the last 3 months and i have decided to flash overcome.
There is a significant speed difference between modaco and overcome. I noticed lag in angry birds seasons with modaco but with overcome, barely any.
I am happy with flashing a custom Rom and would never go back to stock.
If only i could get a copy of the stock Rom just in case of any issues.
Hope that helps.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA Premium App
The hardware is superb but it's let down badly by Samsung in not keeping it up to date with firmwares.
Using Custom roms solves this and provides an all round quality tablet so, yeah, custom roms for me.
I use a stock rom for now, but once my download for Overcome is done, I'll switch to it.
pendevous said:
I use a stock rom for now, but once my download for Overcome is done, I'll switch to it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Read the guides before flashing.
I had stock. It was excellent, good multi-language support, excellent hardware support.
Tried MoDaCo. Lost most of language support. Hardware support only for the basic stuff.
Replaced with Overcome. Language support even sketchier. Battery performance awful. Hardware support still only basic stuff.
Tried going back to stock. I could not find the stock firmware that was originally available on the device. All «stock» firmwares in the wild had the same issues as the MoDaCo and Overcome. I was shocked and seriously puzzled!
Went to the repair shop and asked them to flash the device with the original.
- Two days later I was told, that they need some special cable to flash the device, and it's going to take a week to get it from Korea(!).
- One week later I was told, that the device needed motherboard replacement.
- One more week later I got the device.
Now my device has Excellent language support, but still fails to report Neighbouring GSM Cells.
Eventually I installed a Winblows in a VM (Bleh!) to try Kies.
To my greatest surprise after eventually connecting Kies says that my device is 'Not Upgradeable'.
So my adventure with custom firmwares is MOST unfortunate.
My ¢2: new users should NOT replace firmware unless they BADLY need something that SUPPOSEDLY a custom firmware would give.
Lachezarian said:
I had stock. It was excellent, good multi-language support, excellent hardware support.
Tried MoDaCo. Lost most of language support. Hardware support only for the basic stuff.
Replaced with Overcome. Language support even sketchier. Battery performance awful. Hardware support still only basic stuff.
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Can you please elaborate more what do you mean by "hardware support", what would be the difference between "basic stuff" and "excellent"?
AFAIK, the custom ROMS are based on stock ROM, thus I can't understand there will be any difference over hardware support level.
With custom ROMs you are more free!
DarkPal said:
Read the guides before flashing.
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Click to collapse
I did. I ended up installing Rotohammer's instead, though. It works fine.
I'm sure there's a million other threads like this, but the Iconia development world moves too fast for me to keep up, and for those older threads to maintain relevance. So I'm wondering what the latest and greatest ROMs are for the Iconia A500, and better yet a good guide on how to get it going.
Here's what I have going on right now:
1. It's running stock ICS (4.0.3, image Acer_AV041_A500_RV05RC01_PA_CUS1) applied through the OTA update.
2. It is rooted.
3. It has stock recovery, stock everything besides being rooted.
I do have experience flashing ROMs on Androids, rooting, ClockWorkMod, ADB, etc. but I have never flashed anything on an Acer before. Ideally, I'd like to throw CWM on there and a (mostly stable) JellyBean ROM. Can anyone hook me up with some threads?
Thanks!
EDIT: You know, from the looks of it, that CUS1 kinda screams that something isn't stock. The only explanation I have is it changed when I rooted it.
In Developement section I noticed JB 4.2.1 beta3 is most current if your going on JB numbers (over 4.1.x) not all works (but is getting better each version), read thread
if you goto any JB ROM , it will based on another BASE... ACER A500 STOCK ROM only has gotten to 4.0.3 so far (NO JB)
A good MOD or addon, I like is "Google NOW by Civato MOD" it adds Google NOW to 4.0.3. (ICS)
Lightspeed 4.8 is a great ROM (older ICS 4.0.3 based) but nice how it is stripped of bloatware) and you can add OC kernel and have @ 1504 Mhz
Civato, has made a few ics 4.0.4 ICS roms with A700 mixed in, better screens, etc.
I Like sticking with STOCK Acer_AV041_A500_1.054.00_WW_GEN1. It's the most current STOCK version.
Then I strip out a lot of Bloatware, add in Civato's Google NOW mod. another MOD AD Blocker (etc\"hosts" file)
I tried JB on Another based ROM, couldn't get into it, I'd try 4.2.1 in few weeks when more is working.
*** MOST important to get onto ICS UNLOCKED Bootloader, and before that, GET CPUID before u do any other CHANGES
Hope this has been helpful.
So... Where do I start? What software should I use? Do I fix the bootloader first or flash CWM, or what?
In my years of rooted phones (Galaxy S2 E4GT, Galaxy S4 (destroyed USB port), Galaxy S4 #2... neither of the S4's have Spark), I have always stuck with stock rooted ROMs. My Sprint Samsung Galaxy S4 is currently on NAE stock rooted TouchWiz with the MF9 bootloader (no-Knox). I have developed a strange issue with loosing my mobile connection and GPS, referenced here: [Q] NAE started loosing mobile connection & GPS? and here: [Q] Loosing mobile connection & GPS. The best suggestion I feel I have received to deal with my issue is to flash a 4.4.2 NAE ROM that already has the Knox removed from it, which means looking for a non-stock ROM, so I am looking for recommendations...
My main priority is STABILITY over bells and whistles. I would prefer a TouchWiz based ROM, because I like the interface, however the only 4.4.2 NAE TouchWiz ROM I find is Negalite WondeROM X, and the developer of that ROM has not posted here since April, so it appears to be abandoned. Also, I'm not so keen on being stuck with a blue theme anyways.
That then leaves me with AOSP ROMs I believe. It occurs to me that because I'm use Nova Launcher, assuming that works under AOSP, rather than the TouchWiz launcher, my interface isn't going to change anyway, correct?
I would prefer to be able to use the KT-SGS4 kernel, only because I like it. I prefer to be able to make choice for myself than to have choices made for me (I might not prefer a ROM that removes a lot of bloatware if I don't consider some of it bloatware, or forces me into a certain color scheme, for example).
So any recommendations for AOSP ROMs that fit my needs? I haven't even started looking yet, but thought I'd throw this out there. CyanogenMod certainly seems to be the most well know ROM (and that is AOSP, correct?), but to my way of thinking, any ROM that needs nightly updates must have a lot of issues that need fixing (correct me if I am wrong about that... and I'm not the nightly flashing type anyways). I have always stuck stock rooted to avoid problems, so I DON'T want flash a ROM that will CAUSE problems! Thanks!
Well... I don't seem to be getting much (ANY) response to this. Having looked around myself, I am finding it difficult just finding ANY 4.4.2 ROMs, everything seems to have gone on to 4.4.4. My reason for AVOIDING 4.4.4 at this point is that 4.4.2 is still the official release level for my phone, plus the ext sd card issues I've heard about (which may or may not be an issue). SO... ARE THERE ANY VALID 4.4.2 NAE CUSTOM ROMs to flash? At least tell me that. I still strongly dislike ANYTHING that has NIGHTLY updates. Thanks.
Previous versions are Nae based newest 2.0 version is ng2 based
[ROM][NAE/NG2][TW 4.4] [TEAM ACHERON] SuperS4 [ODEXED] UPDATED 8-22-14
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2773162
pontif said:
Previous versions are Nae based newest 2.0 version is ng2 based
[ROM][NAE/NG2][TW 4.4] [TEAM ACHERON] SuperS4 [ODEXED] UPDATED 8-22-14
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2773162
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know that, but I'm figuring since my phone hasn't officially received a NG2 update yet (unless I am missing something... I think the Spark version has), I don't want to make that jump yet (stupid or not...)
rsngfrce said:
I know that, but I'm figuring since my phone hasn't officially received a NG2 update yet (unless I am missing something... I think the Spark version has), I don't want to make that jump yet (stupid or not...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download the older version 1.6 it's nae based. The link is in the OP for older versions. You don't have to take the leap.
Well, right now, based on what I have found, or based on recommendations, these seem to be my options:
[ROM][NAE][4.4.2] Negalite WondeROM X | Aroma | Xposed | Performance | Kernel | 04-11
[ROM][NAE/NG2][TW 4.4] [TEAM ACHERON] SuperS4 [ODEXED] UPDATED 8-22-14 (older version 1.6)
[ROM] ***Sacs_Custom_Rom_4.4.2_KITKAT_v6*** (I am still really not clear at all what the features of this ROM are).
[ROM][Official][4.4.2] SlimKat Stable 3.0 (older 4.4.2 NAE version, BUT I cannot find 4.4.2 NAE gapps on their site anywhere).
Does anybody have any opinions?
Hey man. I was sort of in the same boat as you. Years of flashing but prefer stock for stability. Lately my s4 felt not only sluggish, but there have been odd jitters in audio, terrible battery life when I'm actually using it very little. So I decided to install CM in a whim.
Last I used CM it was trash. The rom was absurdly unstable and it was just a bad experience, however, with over a year on the market I thought that the S4 version might have changed and be better. And change it did. This rom is better, more stable, absurdly faster, and to top it off battery has improved about 30%. Maybe even more. The system settings are not only extremely decluttered and well laid out, but it also has lots of features that I used apps for, such as NFC profiles baked into the OS.
As for the nightly, I strongly recommend against flashing them, pick the "Stable" version of the rom, the "Milestone" build. Also, CM unified all S4s to 1 master build so our device would be this: http://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Jflte_Info That's great news as that means that all of the resources have been focused on one rom and it works very well. No issues with any radios, GPS, BT, WiFi, they all switch on faster than they did on the stock s4 build and GPS locks fast. Everything for me is working perfectly after a week. I advice you flash stock, root, then you flash a recovery(I used TWRP) and do a full wipe, flash the latest CM M build and see for yourself. I'm thoroughly impressed with the ROM, I'm sure you will be too.
Thanks very much for the informative post! I will have to give CM a look as you suggest. :thumbup:
Hi,
I'm currently on stock 5.0 ROM (Simple ROM) but I prefer pure Android UI. I've got two questions:
Is there any fully-working and stable 5.0 ROM?
I'm on KK bootloader and TWRP 2.8.5.1 w/ Bump. Do I have to do anything if I want to flash non-LG 5.0 ROM?
No, you just have to find a Rom and install it through TWRP by factory reseting and installing zip + Gapps.
There are many different roms for the G2, if you like stock android UI with some little improvements, you have the well-known CM12.
If you prefer having a fast and smooth phone you might want to look forward on liquidsmooth.
If you're an addict of options and customization then the BlissPop rom is for you.
And if people likes the LG's stock interface they have simple rom (who can be coupled to GravityBox in order to be enhanced... ).
All those roms are still in devellopement, but honestly they have really good performance and the updates are now just some little things/bug fixes.
You first should look on Gravity Box + xposed who just realeased a LP version, might work on simple rom and add many things.
If you still don't like the improved stock experience you have all those other roms who have their specificies.
I'm currently running BlissPop and have to say that it's really well-made, but D802 has some problems with some builds causing bootloops, so not the perfect one indeed.
Just watch other threads and fine something that you'll like, feel free to ask questions...
So you say I don't have to flash JB bootloader, right? Just flash ROM using BUMPed TWRP and that's it?
wojtal said:
So you say I don't have to flash JB bootloader, right? Just flash ROM using BUMPed TWRP and that's it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, no, NO! With some ROMs you NEED the JB bootloader, unless stated otherwise!
I made the same mistake and ended up with vertical black lines on the screen due to overheating upon hanging boot. So, even thought the ROM says it includes a bump-ed kernel, I would be really careful with KK bootloaders.
errikosd said:
No, no, NO! With some ROMs you NEED the JB bootloader, unless stated otherwise!
I made the same mistake and ended up with vertical black lines on the screen due to overheating upon hanging boot. So, even thought the ROM says it includes a bump-ed kernel, I would be really careful with KK bootloaders.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually for this simple/Grola ROM you need to be on bumped recovery and KK boot loader BEFORE flashing the ROM. You can flash back and forth between cloudy 2.2 and simple ROM, but aosp Roms in general require jb bootloader
Sorry for the noob questions. I just don't want to mess it up.
I plan to root shortly. I've watched a few YT vids, so I'm confident about doing that.
I'd like to about the order of doing things, if that makes sense.
At the moment, I've not downloaded the OTA firmware updates, so it's basic KK 4.4.4. But, I downloaded via SamMobile, the latest KK ROM (N910FXXU1ANK4_N910FBTU1ANK2_BTU)
Am I correct in thinking, I should reformat the phone (I've got nothing on the phone I want to keep), install the ROM from SamMobile via Odin (to be fully up to date with KK), then root and install TWRP, create a backup.
Then I'm free to install any custom ROMs, update to Lp?
Speaking of custom ROMs, at the moment I'd prefer to stick with KK, until Xposed is sorted and is easy to install when using Lp.
Without trying all the custom ROMs out there, do any support the fingerprint scanner, S Pen, Multi Window, S Health and the HRM or would I loose some/all of those features?
If in the future I upgrade to Lp, is it necessary to download/flash the latest stock ROM (to get the latest FW updates/fixes/security patches etc), before I installed a custom Lp ROM?
Thank you for any help and advice
Does anyone have any answers, before I try it and blow up my phone in a massive fireball?
You're pretty much such right on the above steps. Some (me included) prefer Phils CWR rather than TWRP as a custom recovery. Fair enough to stick with KK, but LP working ok with Xposed now, assuming you're using a custom rom. There are two distinct types of custom ROMs. Those based on touchwiz and those that aren't. The ones based on TW will be called things like BOD2 or BOE2 for LP or ANK2 for KK (like the one you pasted above). Other ROMs will be based on AOSP. The TW ones will work with the s-pen, fingerprint etc. The AOSP ones won't. You can go straight to LP custom from KK, you don't need to flash via a stock LP ROM but it doesn't harm to do so. The custom ROM installation instruction will often provide you with an extra bootloader/modem file to flash if you are coming from KK or a different version of LP. Stock ROMS do include bootloader and modem, custom ROMs generally don't.
Good luck
EyeTech said:
You're pretty much such right on the above steps. Some (me included) prefer Phils CWR rather than TWRP as a custom recovery. Fair enough to stick with KK, but LP working ok with Xposed now, assuming you're using a custom rom. There are two distinct types of custom ROMs. Those based on touchwiz and those that aren't. The ones based on TW will be called things like BOD2 or BOE2 for LP or ANK2 for KK (like the one you pasted above). Other ROMs will be based on AOSP. The TW ones will work with the s-pen, fingerprint etc. The AOSP ones won't. You can go straight to LP custom from KK, you don't need to flash via a stock LP ROM but it doesn't harm to do so. The custom ROM installation instruction will often provide you with an extra bootloader/modem file to flash if you are coming from KK or a different version of LP. Stock ROMS do include bootloader and modem, custom ROMs generally don't.
Good luck
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Click to collapse
Thank you very much, that's been a great help Respect to the People's Republik of Mancunian :good:
A TW ROM sounds the best option for me at this time.
A few more Q's if you don't mind (or anyone else).
1. Is it worth installing a pre rooted stock ROM (for the 910F), so I can get any possible OTA updates (KK or Lp) or is it nothing to worry about?
I'm not sure if any exist at the moment for the 910F?
2. Is it best to just install 910F based ROMs? (I'm thinking about the telephone side of things, connecting to UK carriers)?
Thank you.
0-0-0 said:
Thank you very much, that's been a great help Respect to the People's Republik of Mancunian :good:
A TW ROM sounds the best option for me at this time.
A few more Q's if you don't mind (or anyone else).
1. Is it worth installing a pre rooted stock ROM (for the 910F), so I can get any possible OTA updates (KK or Lp) or is it nothing to worry about?
I'm not sure if any exist at the moment for the 910F?
2. Is it best to just install 910F based ROMs? (I'm thinking about the telephone side of things, connecting to UK carriers)?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No prob. Yeah. I agree - go for a TW ROM. As for your questions:
1. No. OTA updates just take you from one stock ROM to next version of the stock ROM. OTA updates don't work well, usually failing, once you have rooted and maybe installed custom recovery. You can easily stay up to date without OTAs by just re-flashing with a new custom or stock ROM release. For me, the only reason to use a custom rom at present is to use Xposed (mostly to change DPI for different apps and also to add the symbols on the stock keyboard, oh and also to run a non-ads environment). If I was staying on KK I would have stayed on stock, rooted and then installed a custom recovery and Xposed. Currently Xposed is only compatible on the Note 4 with Lollipop if you are using a deodexed (custom) rom. All stock ROMs are ODEXED, and hence not compatible with Xposed (for now).
2. Yes. Stay away from ROMs for other variants (like the 910G). They're not compatible.
When you pick a ROM, ask questions in the ROM thread. It will be more read than these Q&A areas.
EyeTech said:
No prob. Yeah. I agree - go for a TW ROM. As for your questions:
1. No. OTA updates just take you from one stock ROM to next version of the stock ROM. OTA updates don't work well, usually failing, once you have rooted and maybe installed custom recovery. You can easily stay up to date without OTAs by just re-flashing with a new custom or stock ROM release. For me, the only reason to use a custom rom at present is to use Xposed (mostly to change DPI for different apps and also to add the symbols on the stock keyboard, oh and also to run a non-ads environment). If I was staying on KK I would have stayed on stock, rooted and then installed a custom recovery and Xposed. Currently Xposed is only compatible on the Note 4 with Lollipop if you are using a deodexed (custom) rom. All stock ROMs are ODEXED, and hence not compatible with Xposed (for now).
2. Yes. Stay away from ROMs for other variants (like the 910G). They're not compatible.
When you pick a ROM, ask questions in the ROM thread. It will be more read than these Q&A areas.
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Click to collapse
Thank you again, I appreciate the help