Database Users

CM7 vs Stock Froyo

Hi guys,
It's been a week since I installed CM7.0.3. I think I can write down pros and cons of both roms. By the way I tried dk and joker but didn't find them stable.
Here it goes;
Speed:
CM7 hands down. Butter smooth.
Stock rom isn't too bad but lags 0.2 seconds when opening stuff which is a tad annoying. Also laggy with angry birds. (i don't play games, just tried it for testing)
Stability:
CM7 is good but not as stable as stock froyo. Froyo keeps runing and running. CM7 has crashed 3 times in a week.
Battery life:
I am getting 30 hours with CM7. 55 hours with stock froyo. (same cpu speed)
Common Apps:
This is where stock rom wins as well. CM7 Gmaps and Gtalk fonts really suck.
It may not be a big deal for some users but for me it is a big problem as I use these apps at least 5 times a day.
With stock rom skype is unusable. CM7 wins here if you use hands free option.
Radio: (reception)
I can't tell the difference to be fair. wifi, gps, cell. they all feel the same. Stock gps is definitely more battery friendly.
Customization:
CM7 wins again. Stock froyo is not customizable unless you install shed loads of apps on it.
Conclusion:
CM7 is like an aston martin. If you get one you'll have a big grin on your face. On the other hand you'll spend a lot of time waiting for a recovery van on the side of a motorway.
Then stock froyo must be a good old toyota corolla. It always gets you there. Not in style though...

Haha, good comparison.
I would say battery life is pretty similar, not any significant gains over stock rom though I will tone down the cpu frequency further in standby as I have noticed CM7 is better in this aspect.
I would agree with the majority of your comparison though, nice balanced review.

I get good battery life from CM7, because I use SetCPU and smartly set profiles. (low battery=low cpu clock, screen off=low-ish cpu clock...)

nejc121 said:
I get good battery life from CM7, because I use SetCPU and smartly set profiles. (low battery=low cpu clock, screen off=low-ish cpu clock...)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I experienced some problems with setcpu. On low cpu clock setting, when I receive a call it takes 3 rings for the phone to realize it is receiving a call. Which makes me miss lots of calls.

That's a drawback of setting the min speed too low. Which is why I keep it at 245.
BTW, it is not recommended to use SetCPU anymore, because it may clash and cause issues with the default CM Settings. Keeping the governor at Smartass under CM Settings, is equivalent to having a profile in SetCPU for Screen Off.

i like CM7 very much, but with FroYo my battery (with wifi or data on all the time, and juicedeffender) was last for 2 days... now, with wifi (not all day) its like 1 day max.... very disappointing... :\

Nice comparison, I mostly agree to this. I haven't noticed any crashes so far (been using for ~a week now) and my sd card loads faster on reboot.
I really like using CM7, and there's no going back to stock froyo.

I'm running CM7 nightly for quite some time now and I can say it works even better.
Running it overclocked at all times, lasts a day or two depending on how much I stress the phone.
As for camera I flashed the MIUI camera which is a lot better then stock CM7 one, image quality and speed of the app is marvelous.
Just like you said, it's highly customizable; I wouldn't go back to the stock one anytime soon
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using XDA App

You can say what you want, but for me, even stock rom is faster than CM7, especially in settings menu (scrolling), but of course applications is a different thing (if you have enough patience to find one)..

CM7 looks dull and takes the punch out of user experience.
Battery life is not a issue if it is more than a day.
Ultimately what sells is user experience and hence hTC Sense wins.

you can't compare stock froyo with aosp gingerbread

-SmOgER said:
You can say what you want, but for me, even stock rom is faster than CM7, especially in settings menu (scrolling), but of course applications is a different thing (if you have enough patience to find one)..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, can't agree with that at all.
You just need to run a benchmark app to see cm7 is way faster than stock even without over clocking.
Not sure what you mean by the second part of your post.

AloneInShadow707 said:
I'm running CM7 nightly for quite some time now and I can say it works even better.
Running it overclocked at all times, lasts a day or two depending on how much I stress the phone.
As for camera I flashed the MIUI camera which is a lot better then stock CM7 one, image quality and speed of the app is marvelous.
Just like you said, it's highly customizable; I wouldn't go back to the stock one anytime soon
Sent from my HTC Wildfire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey could you send me the link to the camera update???? Thanks!!

I am planning of using the CM 7.0.3 Stable version. Does anyone know how the camera quality is in this version???

ameya88 said:
I am planning of using the CM 7.0.3 Stable version. Does anyone know how the camera quality is in this version???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In a word;
Crap
I find CM nightly builds more stable than the 7.0.3

Tell us your (real) reasons staying on a Froyo ROM or moving to a GB ROM.

Ok people, like the tittle says, state your reasons.This is for current ROMs we have available at the moment and also lets put in perspective that we will never get a official GB source for our Vibrants. I feel this will help any newb in deciding what he/she would like to flash on his/her Vibrant and also those of us who will not succumb to ads telling you your phone is old as **** and you NEED to buy a new one or else you will never be cool again and will live the rest of your life as a looser with hairy palms.
Tell us what ROM you're on. Try to be professional when stating your reasons. Give us your opinion on other ROMs you were on or tried but DO NOT flame the ROM cuz we all know Devs work really hard to give us (for FREE) these masterpieces for us to enjoy or else we could be stuck on stock and there ain't nothing worse than that. NO FLAMING other people's opinion also, that's why they are called opinions (and just like assholes) we all have one. Fire away..

Staying with Froyo 2.2.1. Reason
- GPS
- Battery life
- Overall smoothness and ZERO bugs
- Netflix now on Froyo
- Great FFC support in most apps
- Dont use skype video chat much (thats actually the only one app I miss a little bit being on froyo)

The absolute ONLY reason to use froyo is for gps support. That said, the gps on this phone is crap anyway so there is really no reason for froyo. Gingerbread has been faster, smoother, and more stable for me.

I'm one of those that will keep using my Vibrant as long as possible. I'm currently on Bionix 1.3.1. Battery and GPS (the two biggest issues regarding the Vibrant) work great for me. I tried CM7 on my other Vibrant and I got to tell you its pretty smooth, responsive and stable but it did not beat my other Vibrant with Bionix on a overnight battery standby test. I made sure for both of them to have running just the necessary system apps for the test. CM7 GPS does work it seems but it took forever to lock inside my house compared to my Bionix with the s.gps.2 installed (5 sec.). I did not do a Navigation test on both so I can't call this a complete test. I will stay on Bionix because I need a ROM that is as close to 100% in stability and functionality and I feels it (Bionix) gives it to me.

On 2.3:
CRT Animation
Speed
Battery life is improving (almost on par with Froyo)
Overglow effect
Look
Customization (on MIUI or CM7)

duboi97 said:
On 2.3:
Overglow effect
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The one thing that I'm jealous about 2.3.

My reasons for moving to CM7:
- Much smoother than even some of the nicer FY roms I used
- Little Details (battery graph, customization options, etc)
My reasons for moving back to Froyo from CM7:
- Battery life
- GPS
- Battery life
- Seriously: battery life (even with Bali's kernel, I'd have to charge at least 2x a day)
CM7 is ready for primetime. However, the Vibrant is not ready for CM7. The devs don't have source and don't (and IMHO, won't ever) have GPS drivers.

Speed and overall smoothness of whole phone an battery is ok an sometime excellent 12hrs is good enough really customization of themes
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App

@Mindaika try Neo redux 9 much better battery an GPS idk cuz I never used it since got phone
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App

I moved to cm7 cause of the mindblowing performance difference... just no lag or instability and i have desktop class browsing when i overclock thats even faster than the pentium 1.6ghz laptop i used to use o.o
Sent from a cell tower to the XDA server to you.

cm7, reasons (in no order):
i like having the newest version of android (fragmentation? i was running 2.3.5 like the day it came out), gps works (i ran it before gps worked, though because it is worth it) and gets to ~3m accuracy when the best i got on froyo was ~6m, crt effect, overall better performance, i've ran cm7 on other devices and it's always been good to me and provides a consistent experience.
basically, with the gps being fixed, the oc/uv built into the stock kernel (providing pretty good battery life even at 1.3Ghz), and it being extremely easy to flash i don't see why anyone would still be running froyo.

2.2 (Bionix NextGen V2)
Stability
Better GPS
Better Battery
No Random reboots
Swype (it does not work in Simply Honey but does work in CWM)
Faster with OC than 2.3.4
Better 3D rendering
Even with all this, It is very likely that I will move back to 2.3.x again if the GPS reboot issues are fixed. For those unknowing, The GPS works in 2.3.x but if you turn the radio off, it will not work again until you reboot the phone. This is the biggest issue for me.

Just flashed Biffmod 1.3 (GB 2.3.5) last Thursday and was actually very surprised at how well it runs.
-Battery life is actually better on this ROM than what it was on Bionix 1.3.1
-GPS is on par with what I had on froyo
-Runs smoother than a baby's bottom
-Web browsing is more responsive
All-in-all, I'm happy using this as my DD. Everything works as well, if not better than on bionix. But we all know, YMMV.

I tried MIUI and Simply Honey 5.0
Both were awesome and looked awesome.
However since then I have switched back to Trigger 3.2
The biggest reason for me is battery life.
Even though some of the stuff (battery graph, new market, animations) aren't as good as the GB roms it has great battery life.
I'll probably give it a couple months and try the GB roms again..
T-mobile screwed us over so we'll probably never get the source code for GB.
If the GB leak came out the GB Roms would take leaps over the FROYO roms.

i havent used froyo as my main rom for a few months the reason i changed to cm7: much more smoother for me
i prefer the newest
gps is not a must for me
great themes
good battery life

Miui 2.3.5 GB
Gingerbread performance
Stable & Smooth
Battery "Decent"
UI and Theme Customization
Weekly updates that improve overall user experience
and Honestly it's just a gorgeous UI.

rakeshchn said:
Staying with Froyo 2.2.1. Reason
- GPS
- Battery life
- Overall smoothness and ZERO bugs
- Netflix now on Froyo
- Great FFC support in most apps
- Dont use skype video chat much (thats actually the only one app I miss a little bit being on froyo)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
very true...

So it seems alot of you prefered moving up to a GB ROM. I tried CM7 and MIUI looks to iPhonish to me which is not bad but I dont want launcher icons on my screens (beside what is on my dock) which also brings the issue of it not having an app drawer and thats what I liked from Android when I moved from the Iphone. So besides those two which is the most stable GB ROM out there so I could install it on my second Vibrant?
Sent from my Blutiful-Bionix-Powered Vibrant [2ndIINoNe]

2 words.
TV out.
Other than that, gb is fantastic.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App

Raistline said:
Even with all this, It is very likely that I will move back to 2.3.x again if the GPS reboot issues are fixed. For those unknowing, The GPS works in 2.3.x but if you turn the radio off, it will not work again until you reboot the phone. This is the biggest issue for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm using cm7 with the newer gpsd file (i don't know if it's now included in cm7 or not, but it's pretty easy to find) and i just turned gps off then back on, then turned airplane mode on then back off and then opened gps status without rebooting and locked 10/11 sats with a 6m error and i'm inside.

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
Click to expand...
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?
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
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.
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

Movement Back to GingerBread

So after having been running ICS roms for the past 2 months or so, I decided to switch back to my favorite Gingerbread rom for the hell of it, to see exactly what I'd been giving up for ICS. And WOW, was I blown away. I remember GB was a lot faster than ICS, but geez I did not remember it being this fast. EVERYTHING opens and closes quicker, touch responsiveness is amazing, screens swipe lightning quick, and I'm sorry, even though I did realize ICS improved battery life a little bit from my initial impressions, GB is giving me better battery life than most of the ICS roms I have used. Most importantly to me though, my phone has simply just become more of a joy to use. And less of CHORE. ICS makes texting a pain in the ass. And not only that, but basically doing anything, browsing, having to constantly re-press anything, scrolling.......omg scrolling. Going down your facebook newsfeed is definitely a chore on ICS. Seeing as it goes up a little, half the time you scroll down. But typing is probably the biggest thing for me, since I text a decent amount. I even installed the same GB keyboard I'd used on gingerbread roms (it's a modified stock gb keyboard called "gingerbread keyboard") which I had been able to type so quick and so accuretly with (except for the occasional double letter that the keyboard puts in), but on ICS it was just as inaccurate as any other crap keyboard I'd try out. You just have to type slowwwww, and press hard. Who the hell wants to use their phone like an old person? I sure don't. ICS makes my phone a chore to use.
I'm looking to get some other impressions here, and from both sides (mostly ICS fans, if you don't mind), and just get an overall consensus of what the deal is. I knew I'd missed GB, but I didn't realize it was this much!
Things I'd be missing from ICS: brightness minimum and maximum (having a lower min is really appreciated in my room at night - some later GB roms have this implemented though), the updated Gallery (soo much better on ICS), some features that are nice to have but I don't really change anyway (screen mode, gamma sensitivity, etc.), Chome (LOL jk, chrome sucks **** on mobile), better default video player, having my phone say 4.03, 4.04, or 4.1.1 that's about it. Lemme know some other things you'd miss from ICS if you were to revert back.
Also, I have tried most roms for ICS, ranging from AOKP, AOSP based roms, CM9, Sammywiz ones, MIUI variations. Just for reference, I've tried Shishir, Ressurection AOKP, Foxhound's roms, Basically all of Kaffee's roms, cMIUI, RGUI, AdyScorp's V4, AOKP official, Rootbox, etc. My favorite of those personally was probably Ressurection, and cMIUI. Not a huge fan of AOKP (or the wole CM interface), so cMIUI a bit more.
Btw, the GB rom I'm referring to is AdyScorpius' MIUI GB. Fastest rom I've ever used, period. Battery life from what I remember was not even that good (I mean it's MIUI) even compared to other MIUI's. So considering that I'm noticing it to be on par, if not better than ICS I was running, is noteworthy.
Lay your comments down below.
EDIT: Oh and I've tried a few JB roms already, including CM10, Kaffee's CM10, and X-treme's CM10 based rom. To be honest it's really smooth (coming from ICS though), however it's wayyy too early in the game to compare it to GB for me. To be quite honest, it's really smooth and relatively fast, but since it's still based on ICS, I doubt it will ever feel as good as GB.

I do agree but i got used to ICS and the little problems bundled with it. When samsung decides to update our phones to JB, i hope it'll be a different story
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

VanillaCracker said:
So after having been running ICS roms for the past 2 months or so, I decided to switch back to my favorite Gingerbread rom for the hell of it, to see exactly what I'd been giving up for ICS. And WOW, was I blown away. [...] I'm looking to get some other impressions here, and from both sides (mostly ICS fans, if you don't mind), and just get an overall consensus of what the deal is. I knew I'd missed GB, but I didn't realize it was this much!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I'm not an pure ICS fan - both versions have their advantages - but I like CM, AOSP and MIUI - and Samsungs camera app. As almost everything here at XDA and other boards is about ICS and now JB I have not expected someone coming up with a thread like this, thanks
I must admit reverting to a 2.6.9 GB MIUI (external link to Fluxi's MIUI GB thread) quite often, too - It somehow just "feels" better than any ICS ROM I tried so far (only 2 months \w I9100, i9000 before, always working on kernels) - touch sensitivity and wakeup lag definately are two reasons for me, too. Battery seems to be almost equal to me.
I'm still looking for "the" firmware, currently testing MIUI 2.7.27 which seems to work quite well, too. But I have a feeling that I'll switch back to GB tonight...
Read in another thread you posted that the WIUI dev might update the GB version, may I ask where you have that information from? Interesting.

Gingerbread was far better than ICS from a raw performance standpoint, i was 100 and 1% happy with the way my phone performed with GB and then i flashed to ICS and got used to extra features (and im the kind of person that doesn't like to be behind the curve).
If google had ported all of the new functionality to GB along with some of the work they did with project butter we would have a MUCH MUCH better platform than we are currently stuck with.
Having a device that doesn't respond the way you would expect to touch input and has noticeable jank and lag in this day and age is NOT acceptable when you have the likes WP7 and iOS out there.
Time is running out Google (& to a degree Samsung) , I've been an Android user since the G1 and 3 devices on my patience is growing short.

We already had these kind of threads before

i will downgrade to 2.3.3 if there isn't a newer 2.3.x of Nee which i believe there is but i ain't finding them
i downgrading due to lockscreen stopped work on Stock ICS but it seems to be working on gingerbread

The only reason why I am on ics is that I can not connect to my college's wifi network... On ics wifi works fine...
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

I downgraded from ics back to GB 2.3.4 due to ics bugs, lag on the touch screen (sometimes felt like a resistive screen) jerky swipes between home screens, black screen of death, random shut down and disappearing widgets. Like the op says, GB was a revelation again and the galaxy feels reliable, responsive and fast again. I'm staying put now till next year when my contact ends, I came from iPhone to android and maybe it will be wp8 next, or maybe a galaxy s3.....
I miss the face unlock, swipe to dismiss notifications and the task manager of ics, that's about all
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app

ephraim033 said:
I do agree but i got used to ICS and the little problems bundled with it. When samsung decides to update our phones to JB, i hope it'll be a different story
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm hoping the same thing man haha. But honestly I'm not having my hopes up anymore. I know that the CM10 preview builds don't have HW Accelerator working, and that the sensitivity does seem a bit better than ICS (more in the 'ok-eh' category instead of 'bad' like ICS), but I've seen a couple builds that claim to have HW Acceleration working, so if that makes a drastic improvement we'll see. Honestly I thought when ICS came out that it was just early in developemnt and that they'd work out the jags and stuff....yeah no. It's 3 months later and performance-wise it's relatively similar. AOKP has gotten much smoother though, but there's only so much you can do.
mialwe said:
Well, I'm not an pure ICS fan - both versions have their advantages - but I like CM, AOSP and MIUI - and Samsungs camera app. As almost everything here at XDA and other boards is about ICS and now JB I have not expected someone coming up with a thread like this, thanks
I must admit reverting to a 2.6.9 GB MIUI (external link to Fluxi's MIUI GB thread) quite often, too - It somehow just "feels" better than any ICS ROM I tried so far (only 2 months \w I9100, i9000 before, always working on kernels) - touch sensitivity and wakeup lag definately are two reasons for me, too. Battery seems to be almost equal to me.
I'm still looking for "the" firmware, currently testing MIUI 2.7.27 which seems to work quite well, too. But I have a feeling that I'll switch back to GB tonight...
Read in another thread you posted that the WIUI dev might update the GB version, may I ask where you have that information from? Interesting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really appreciate your comments, especially coming from someone who has experience with kernels, it gives the whole discussion a little more validity. Wake lag is definitely annoying, honestly that's one of those things that by itself, you would think could be dismissed, but when added to the touch sensitivty, and sluggishness, just makes you think..what the hell.
Btw I was actually looking at WIUI last night by chance and also saw that he actually is updating his GB version. I had to re-read it a few times to make sure I wasn't mistaken. He's got a 6.29 version out, and in the comments he said he would do 8.4 (around there). I'll probably flash that, as my April GB rom is probably really outdated....hah.
sabianadmin said:
Gingerbread was far better than ICS from a raw performance standpoint, i was 100 and 1% happy with the way my phone performed with GB and then i flashed to ICS and got used to extra features (and im the kind of person that doesn't like to be behind the curve).
If google had ported all of the new functionality to GB along with some of the work they did with project butter we would have a MUCH MUCH better platform than we are currently stuck with.
Having a device that doesn't respond the way you would expect to touch input and has noticeable jank and lag in this day and age is NOT acceptable when you have the likes WP7 and iOS out there.
Time is running out Google (& to a degree Samsung) , I've been an Android user since the G1 and 3 devices on my patience is growing short.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you that it probably would have made a lot more people happy had they stuck with a thoroughly upgraded GB instead of making a new platform. However although ICS sucks performance-wise (interface, anyway), it is actually pretty good in terms of efficiency. If you notice while restoring text messages or installing something via titanium backup, or shutting off your phone, things run quicker on ICS. ICS is more efficient, for sure. Which is why I hate even more how it is, because it has potential but for some reason still just completely sucks.
I'm gonna have to rant on google: *these are new thoughts just realized a minute ago* Google is definitely behind the ball in terms of what they're releasing. Google has always been out of touch with the people[/B. I'm only 20 but I was able to pick this up over the last couple years. They suck at knowing what people want, or at least are too hung up with their own projections that they don't see the people in which they're serving. You can tell google doesn't know what they're doing because you see it in everything they do. Example 1) Changing Android Market to Google Play Store. Obviously, there are plenty of reasons for them to do that (main probably being to get their name out - not everyone knows android is google based, and also to put all their apps into one [google music, google books, ect]), but they could have done that without changing the name to something EVERYONE HATES. Example 2) Google chrome (desktop). I use Chrome on my home PC. It's really fast. Other than that, I hate everything about it. The interface is styled, but looks like it was organized by an amateur, and is poorly structured. Functinoality is splintered and not well thought out. Firefox beats it in every single category, except for performance. Wish I could go back to firefox. Example 3) Chrome (Mobile), this app is unstable, and probably the slowest browser on the market...and yet it is the only video playing browser available on JB (no flash anymore)... Firefox BETA is 300% more stable than chrome's Non Beta app.
GB was fine, but ICS's regression is total bull (and I'm not talking to official update - samsung), and honestly as mentioned above it is just debasing them for the future. Honestly, I had an itouch for a couple years, and have used countless friends iphones over the years, so I know what it's like. Just the simple fact that going back to MIUI GB has made me the happiest I've been in a while...is saying something. I hate to be the ass who brings up negative things, but if they had been doing things right in the first place, things wouldn't have to be mentioned. I'm not too picky, but I do demand quality. Although I've never even considered it in the past, I'm looking forward to seeing what they're rolling out for the iphone 5, cus it may actually make a difference in my next phone.
sahibunlimited said:
We already had these kind of threads before
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw one, but it does not discuss the same thing..it meerly has the same subject. This thread heads in a much different direction, also the former post is outdated with the progression of ICS currently.
LastStandingDroid said:
i will downgrade to 2.3.3 if there isn't a newer 2.3.x of Nee which i believe there is but i ain't finding them
i downgrading due to lockscreen stopped work on Stock ICS but it seems to be working on gingerbread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You may find one! I know finding official releases past 4.x.x is hard. WIUI is pulling from somewhere though, I know that. Could be it's all just his own input.
Dark Emotion said:
The only reason why I am on ics is that I can not connect to my college's wifi network... On ics wifi works fine...
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I know ICS has better range for WIFI, other than that I don't know the actual differences.
*Sorry for long post*

It is not the range, it is wpa2 thing...
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Oh no!! This thread is killing me for going back to Gb. Damn damn damn....
Sliding answering options, fantastic lockscreen, system wide font synchronization, what more I am missing....God knows....!!

i never use GB on my phone it came with ICS out of box but i want to try it, stock and custom just wanna see how different it is performance wise.

ithehappy said:
Oh no!! This thread is killing me for going back to Gb. Damn damn damn....
Sliding answering options, fantastic lockscreen, system wide font synchronization, what more I am missing....God knows....!!
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Lol I hope you're not trolling. Honestly I doubt GB has much of anything that ICS doesn't have. Except ICS option menu is dumb (although samsung's gb is RETARDED), and GB has more simple, intuitive button layout (delete, menu key layout, etc.)
heavens dragon said:
i never use GB on my phone it came with ICS out of box but i want to try it, stock and custom just wanna see how different it is performance wise.
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Yeah I mean if you haven't rooted yet you're definitely missing out on like 50+ roms to try. There's plenty of different categories and types. You'll probably be amazed when you flash one of the latest (or last) GB build roms. They're blazing. Ady MIUI is like iOS on steroids. Cept the battery is meh. That's the only problem. And of course GB seems outdated now, but it's still got higher usability, imo. Part of what kills ICS is it takes so much longer for you to do things on your phone. I bet it drives up screen on time

VanillaCracker said:
Lol I hope you're not trolling.
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Whatever I do, I'll never troll.

after brick my phone with the so called chip bug and change the mb after paying 100 with the same chip with a bug, flashing XWLPO and then XWLPT I decided to go back to 2.3.4. My battery last +2 days (everything disabled and underclocked) and everything looks smooth enogh for me. If you want a cool interface like ICS has (I see no reason at all to run ICS other than the interface) just install the free version of Go Launcher

Yeah I mean if you haven't rooted yet you're definitely missing out on like 50+ roms to try. There's plenty of different categories and types. You'll probably be amazed when you flash one of the latest (or last) GB build roms. They're blazing. Ady MIUI is like iOS on steroids. Cept the battery is meh. That's the only problem. And of course GB seems outdated now, but it's still got higher usability, imo. Part of what kills ICS is it takes so much longer for you to do things on your phone. I bet it drives up screen on time
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no my phone is rooted and i already flashed custom roms for more then 10 times( all ics expect 2 latest build of cmx) not a big fan of ios looks but im looking forward to try out other gb roms, but im keep coming back to stock based roms just b'coz of camera and that is wht i really want to see in stock gb : camera
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ithehappy said:
Whatever I do, I'll never troll.
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Good to hear it :good:
heavens dragon said:
no my phone is rooted and i already flashed custom roms for more then 10 times( all ics expect 2 latest build of cmx) not a big fan of ios looks but im looking forward to try out other gb roms, but im keep coming back to stock based roms just b'coz of camera and that is wht i really want to see in stock gb : camera
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Oh I gotcha. Yeah honestly stock camera blows all the other cameras away. Stock ICS camera is pretty decent too, but the button on stock gb is the best. feels more secure, and focus is instantaneous with press. MIUI (GB) is decent too except I found the quality a little worse and instant focus a little less accurate. Anti-shake is terrible on MIUI camera too.

Wow GB. Amazing memories .I think the best GB was XXKI4. But what can I know... I had GB for 2 or 3 months since this year's winter and then Boom! Boot loop. You know why guys?? I had brand XWKI4 and there were battery mods for XXKI4.So I flashed those ;p. And then came XXLPS.Now I am on LQ7 but It's not the same. Thanks bro I was waiting for man wich will lead me to GB. BTW first rom for SGS2 is XWKDD so?! Coman guys we have Gingerbread to flash
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can someone link the "best" (in his eyes) gb roms ?
i would love to try a few if they are really faster than ics (smoother).
was so close to try cm10 but so much stuff needs to be fixed...
for me the most important thing would be cam and a smooth feeling.
and can i use nova launcher prime on gb (is it looking the same?)
i never tried gb (my s2 came with ics, so....)

I haven't used GB since I got my S2, but I used it exclusively on my original S. When I moved from phone to phone I found the speed increase of GB on an S to ICS on my S2 simply mind blowing. I know it's nearly a 200% processor boost, but still. Now I'm using JellyBean. I get a full day of near constant use with an extended battery. (I'm a teen, we text all the time, so it gets a pretty heavy workout.) and the speed BLOWS AWAY Gingerbread and ICS without question.
So no, I don't miss it personally. And I'm using SwiftKey, which is an absolute dream. Way better than any stock kb I've ever used.
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