[Q] Recommended Rom for my daughters "new" phone - myTouch 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

My older son handed down his MyTouch to my daughter. Even after factory reset, it's got some stability (and battery life but that's fixable) problems.
So I'm seeking recommendations: What would be a ROM that's featureful enough for an 11 yo girl to send texts and install some (cr)apps?
Clearly, it doesn't need to active backgrounds or hell even be a current release (so long as it's stable duh). But would need to be able to use Play. I mainly just want her to be able to use the thing without it blindly rebooting a couple times a day. Of course, I realize that the current stability problems are just as likely (prob more so) to be her installing everything under the sun as it is the os on an old phone.
2ndly, if this doesn't work out, I may drop some $$ and get her a low-end phone after the tax refund comes. I fig $100 should cut it. recommendations on that would be great as well.
lastly, I'm not skittish about doing this. I've been around a while, but I lurk (=. However, I would prefer if the rom had decent instructions. (A wall-of-text paragraph with 14 steps buried in it is hard for anyone to follow.)

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=38048145
monsto said:
My older son handed down his MyTouch to my daughter. Even after factory reset, it's got some stability (and battery life but that's fixable) problems.
So I'm seeking recommendations: What would be a ROM that's featureful enough for an 11 yo girl to send texts and install some (cr)apps?
Clearly, it doesn't need to active backgrounds or hell even be a current release (so long as it's stable duh). But would need to be able to use Play. I mainly just want her to be able to use the thing without it blindly rebooting a couple times a day. Of course, I realize that the current stability problems are just as likely (prob more so) to be her installing everything under the sun as it is the os on an old phone.
2ndly, if this doesn't work out, I may drop some $$ and get her a low-end phone after the tax refund comes. I fig $100 should cut it. recommendations on that would be great as well.
lastly, I'm not skittish about doing this. I've been around a while, but I lurk (=. However, I would prefer if the rom had decent instructions. (A wall-of-text paragraph with 14 steps buried in it is hard for anyone to follow.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

monsto said:
My older son handed down his MyTouch to my daughter. Even after factory reset, it's got some stability (and battery life but that's fixable) problems.
So I'm seeking recommendations: What would be a ROM that's featureful enough for an 11 yo girl to send texts and install some (cr)apps?
Clearly, it doesn't need to active backgrounds or hell even be a current release (so long as it's stable duh). But would need to be able to use Play. I mainly just want her to be able to use the thing without it blindly rebooting a couple times a day. Of course, I realize that the current stability problems are just as likely (prob more so) to be her installing everything under the sun as it is the os on an old phone.
2ndly, if this doesn't work out, I may drop some $$ and get her a low-end phone after the tax refund comes. I fig $100 should cut it. recommendations on that would be great as well.
lastly, I'm not skittish about doing this. I've been around a while, but I lurk (=. However, I would prefer if the rom had decent instructions. (A wall-of-text paragraph with 14 steps buried in it is hard for anyone to follow.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I highly recommend SteppNasty's ICS port. It's stable and it's speedy. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2114184

by far the most stable ROMs for this device are going to be Gingerbread ROMs. ICS+ just wasn't intended for this device by HTC, and while we've got most of the issues fixed, there will still be some sort of bug/problem that will happen.
now depending on you/your daughter's taste...
if you want barebone stock, go with Cyanogenmod 7
if you want a bit more than stock (more eye candy), check out any MIUI GB ROM
if you want to stay on Sense because of the eye candy, i would recommend Android Revolution HD, however, check out the other Sense Gingerbread ROMs as well (Virtuous Unity, Leedroid, DARKSIDE to name a few). not trying to brag or show off, but i do personally think that Android Revolution HD is the perfect and "most stable" Sense ROM available. all credits given to mike1986 the original developer, all my team and i did was port this great ROM over to the MyTouch 4G.
Your humble developer, Saranhai

thanks guys. I have something to work with. of course, I realize that even the most stable roms turn to crap if a preteen girl installs all kinds of junk on it.
If anyone else has thoughts, i'm happy to hear them.

Related

General rant

I'm an intermediate (Windows) PC user and slightly more technically inclined than most of my friends and family. I bought the Dream because of it's tight integration with GMail and the promise of untold useful apps. I have some awesome apps such as 4 Timers, My Tracks, Wireless Tether, which are useful in my everyday life, and they were all free (although I donate to developers when i think its justified).
My Dream is a vastly better phone in many ways than my last (Nokia N85) and at first I enjoyed flashing new roms and the ability to change my phone in different ways.
I'm currently running Cyanogen 4.0.2 which is a great rom, but to get the most out of it and actually have a sweet running phone it seems almost required to keep up with the changes on the Dream Dev forum, read hundreds of posts, learn how to install scripts and tweek settings, add ext partitions on your sdcard for swap files, know what compcache is, etc etc.
I realise that the devs are doing everything they can to give us the best performance from our phones, and i am very grateful and applaud it. I just wish it was a little easier to keep my phone being the best it can be.
What I am really getting at is that the Dream has its obvious hardware limitations (lack of RAM and rubbish battery life being the most obvious) and I'm kind of getting to the point where I want a new phone that doesn't require so much work.
None of the recent Android phones that I have heard about offer a full 5 row qwerty keyboard. That's what i want, along with perhaps a flash on the camera and a battery that lasts a couple of days with moderate use.
I will not jump ship and go elsewhere, as I love Android, but i think a manufacturer would clean up if they released a phone with the above specs and perhaps 512mb RAM - I know i would buy it in a second, and at any price within reason.
Anyone else feel this way?
setspeed said:
I'm an intermediate (Windows) PC user and slightly more technically inclined than most of my friends and family. I bought the Dream because of it's tight integration with GMail and the promise of untold useful apps. I have some awesome apps such as 4 Timers, My Tracks, Wireless Tether, which are useful in my everyday life, and they were all free (although I donate to developers when i think its justified).
My Dream is a vastly better phone in many ways than my last (Nokia N85) and at first I enjoyed flashing new roms and the ability to change my phone in different ways.
I'm currently running Cyanogen 4.0.2 which is a great rom, but to get the most out of it and actually have a sweet running phone it seems almost required to keep up with the changes on the Dream Dev forum, read hundreds of posts, learn how to install scripts and tweek settings, add ext partitions on your sdcard for swap files, know what compcache is, etc etc.
I realise that the devs are doing everything they can to give us the best performance from our phones, and i am very grateful and applaud it. I just wish it was a little easier to keep my phone being the best it can be.
What I am really getting at is that the Dream has its obvious hardware limitations (lack of RAM and rubbish battery life being the most obvious) and I'm kind of getting to the point where I want a new phone that doesn't require so much work.
None of the recent Android phones that I have heard about offer a full 5 row qwerty keyboard. That's what i want, along with perhaps a flash on the camera and a battery that lasts a couple of days with moderate use.
I will not jump ship and go elsewhere, as I love Android, but i think a manufacturer would clean up if they released a phone with the above specs and perhaps 512mb RAM - I know i would buy it in a second, and at any price within reason.
Anyone else feel this way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can always just load a rom that is stable and one you like and leave it. Your not forced to always update. If you always want the newest and greatest then you have to update, we all knew that when we started doing this.
The unfortunate thing is that ALL roms i've tried have problems with them - things that dont work, bugs introduced when things are changed. And the devs fix some of the probs in the next release, but then new bugs become apparent.
I know this is the nature of development, and I understand this is only way devs can work to push things forward. But it means living with bugs or upgrading the rom to the next version.
I've not found a rom that has the stabililty/simplicity i really want to just use the phone, and not have to mess around with it all the time, or get annoyed because it wont keep programs like the browser running when you change to do something else, or put up with not being able to rely on the phone for its core function of making and receiving calls and lagging left right & centre.
I think that Android's true requirements are beyond the Dream's hardware - and much as devs try, they will never get past that fact, they will just find progressively better workarounds which "sort of" do the job.
If I were you I would go with an older build instead of a newer one that still has bugs. I'm still on Cyanogens 3.9.5 and have no problems with it at all, no bugs or nothing and happy with it. There is also old dude's builds that I use to be on a long time ago that was stable with no bugs also. But of course since those are older builds it might be hard to find, but if your wanting to take a step back and go to something stable and no bugs let me know I still got all roms on my pc at home.
I am running cyan 4.02 and have no problems whatsoever from it, you really don't have to stay on top off it at all times since you are more technical than most as you say, you can turn around and read the first post and the change log and have a good idea of what is going on. You might have a problem with the costant devolpment but I find it great that people are taking the time to get the android platform better than it was in the beginning, don't be suprised if people from google are on here taking ideas and hard work to make the general source better. The better android gets will only get better with more devolpment, remember the magic and hero just came out still basiclly running the same base as we are. Oh and some of us just got into new contracts and just got their phones and don't want to run out and buy a new phone just cause it has better specs, I want my phone to live up to it's upmost performance possibe by these work arounds so that the next android phone that I get will be 100 times better and more efficent on that hardware
supremeteam:
I think you're right - I've just restored my cyanogen 3.6.5 backup and I forgot how decent it is, using swapper it does respond quite well. To be fair, the only reason i upgraded past 3.6.5 was because I was always having a problem with the HTC_IME - it would never stay on "phone keypad" rather than "qwerty", and it also interfered with my physical keyboard by turning on the "enable prediction for qwerty keyboard" option. Other than that I never had any problems with it. This problem is a BIG annoyance though...
Oh - and the fact that the phone rings (silently) about 3 times before anything is shown on the screen or a ringtone is heard. Forgot about that one...
Also, I'd just like to add that I am in no way bashing cyanogen - i have found his roms to be the best/fastest/most stable out all i have tried, hence why i am using them. I have used a few other roms that were just a joke, with force closes all over the place, and much more serious bugs/errors than i have mentioned here.
Overall, for me, i think cyanogen is the best dev out there, consistently pushing the boundaries of performance, and regularly updating his rom. That much is obvious from the popularity of his roms' threads.
update withdraw
I agree with you that cyanogen is a great devolper but so are jac and drizzy and those other guys that are putting a ton of work into hero, maybe soon we will have a good working rosie but in the mean time I could rant how those are buggy and lag a lot, but even with a cupcake rom you have to break a few eggs to make an olmet and that are the bugs that we are gonna have to live with, truthfully I am addicted like a drug addict to all the constant update from cyan to see what is next to come, just the fact the I have been on 4.02 for a couple days is making me go through update withdraw, I flash a hero rom just for the hell of it just to see the progress, it was on my phone for maybe a whole 10 minutes before I booted my nandroid backup of 4.02
gridlock32404 said:
I am running cyan 4.02 and have no problems whatsoever from it, you really don't have to stay on top off it at all times since you are more technical than most as you say, you can turn around and read the first post and the change log and have a good idea of what is going on. You might have a problem with the costant devolpment but I find it great that people are taking the time to get the android platform better than it was in the beginning, don't be suprised if people from google are on here taking ideas and hard work to make the general source better. The better android gets will only get better with more devolpment, remember the magic and hero just came out still basiclly running the same base as we are. Oh and some of us just got into new contracts and just got their phones and don't want to run out and buy a new phone just cause it has better specs, I want my phone to live up to it's upmost performance possibe by these work arounds so that the next android phone that I get will be 100 times better and more efficent on that hardware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do appreciate what you're saying - that i want to have my cake and eat it! I suppose that's true in some respects. I can honestly say that my Dream is the best phone I've ever had, and the efforts the devs make to push the envelope are just amazing! Their knowledge and skills are something special - and to do it all for the love of it (and of course the respect of the community!) is definitely to be applauded.
I do also hope that google devs do read these forums, and incorporate the work into the official roms! I think they should pay the devs on xda, as they clearly do a lot of work that google ought to have done!
I hope that google does donate to these devs because they have done an amazing job with what they have to work with, I just wish I understood programming better and had the patience for it, I think my phone is better than my computer now, wait anything is better the my computer right now since I burned out my power supply. By far this is the best phone I have ever owned and now I am a android lifer because of the devs. When I first got my phone, it was worthless to me before I rooted it, good thing I found xda back when I had my wing so I knew right where to go and by the end of the first day I had it, it was already rooted
If google pays the devs or give them jobs then we will have to wait long time for our update and cool stuff, they need to just donate lots of money to them so they keep hooking us up first at xda and not the general masses all at once, I don't think they could handle the general awesomeness
setspeed said:
I'm an intermediate (Windows) PC user and slightly more technically inclined than most of my friends and family. I bought the Dream because of it's tight integration with GMail and the promise of untold useful apps. I have some awesome apps such as 4 Timers, My Tracks, Wireless Tether, which are useful in my everyday life, and they were all free (although I donate to developers when i think its justified).
My Dream is a vastly better phone in many ways than my last (Nokia N85) and at first I enjoyed flashing new roms and the ability to change my phone in different ways.
I'm currently running Cyanogen 4.0.2 which is a great rom, but to get the most out of it and actually have a sweet running phone it seems almost required to keep up with the changes on the Dream Dev forum, read hundreds of posts, learn how to install scripts and tweek settings, add ext partitions on your sdcard for swap files, know what compcache is, etc etc.
I realise that the devs are doing everything they can to give us the best performance from our phones, and i am very grateful and applaud it. I just wish it was a little easier to keep my phone being the best it can be.
What I am really getting at is that the Dream has its obvious hardware limitations (lack of RAM and rubbish battery life being the most obvious) and I'm kind of getting to the point where I want a new phone that doesn't require so much work.
None of the recent Android phones that I have heard about offer a full 5 row qwerty keyboard. That's what i want, along with perhaps a flash on the camera and a battery that lasts a couple of days with moderate use.
I will not jump ship and go elsewhere, as I love Android, but i think a manufacturer would clean up if they released a phone with the above specs and perhaps 512mb RAM - I know i would buy it in a second, and at any price within reason.
Anyone else feel this way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its like you read my mind

SPEEDiest stable donut ROM - challenge me...

POST A LINK TO THE FASTEST stable (everyday use) DONUT/HERO ROM
This Thread will list the ROM that is foremost STABLE.. . AND SUPER FAST.
The CURRENT CHAMPION is currently : Dwang
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the reality. MOST ROMs suck in terms of speed. They are slow if you fill your agenda and contacts and add a few widgets. You switch from apps to home you wait, you switch apps wait again, reload etc. Pain in the ass.
So you get the concept, I like speed... AND I want this thread to be about stable super fast ROMS.
I am tired of every rom claiming fast, and blazing and etc.. with the sad reality that the very large majority quite frankly sucks.
Anyone who is using the phone as a real working professional realizes that HERO's suck... haven't found one yet that just eliminates waiting. I just can't deal with waiting 5 seconds when moving out of an app to home or.. into another one..It just doesnt work if I have a call ringing and all the appz bog it down so I can't answer... While some ROMs are trying to be fast.. they still suck if you move a little fast..or have a few things up. That's the reality. And while I appreciate the work of all the devs, I want one thread in here to be about bottom line. Speed & everyday stability everyday use. And I mean not fast right after you flashed it I mean still fast after weeks of use. Many Ron's just come to a creeping halt.. after a while... However a ROM has to be STABLE first (meaning no force closes even after a while) and once it delivers that, then it has to be FAST.
So far I found ONE ROM that is far and beyond above the rest... and it is the current speed champion Dwang (with haykuro spl)
Quite frankly there's nothing that can touch that one. It is stable, has a black theme, bluetooth (don't quite need it though), but is SUPER FAST... meaning no waiting.. it is the only rom, that I consider business-use worthy.. where you can fly through apps, get your stuff done.. it works, does it's thing no matter what you throw at it... leagues above the rest. In fact is is a Rom you can flash onto the Lady's phone and she's gonna love it... which is the ultimate crown for software.
Oh and I am in no way associated with Dwang.. I am just a simple guy who wants a fast and stable donut/hero. If I can get same speed as Dwang in a hero, I'd love to have a hero... anyway.. I'll keep this thread as the speed champion thread (stable). The test infrastructure is a Dream G1.. but others feel free to post your comments.
NOW if any of you guys think you have a rom that works equally well, or you think is faster... please post a link below and I'll give it a shot... I'll run it through its paces with many large calendars tons of contacts and lots of daily use and abuse. However I am not gonna look at test balloons. Test your rom first, make sure it's stable... and most importantly don't go out and throw claims around you can't backup.
So show me what you've got.... For now Dwang is the reigning Speed champion.
I have none of the "issues" you point out with Cyanogen's latest. I'm not going to bother with a link. You should be able to find it.
Edit: Agreed with tazz.
dude, no one cares about what you think of ROM's in development. There's different forums for each phone for a reason. Mods, can we get this moved to general please? This doesn't belong here. Next time, think before you decide to post things that do not belong in development. all it does is just clutter it.
I challenge you to post in the right section.
alec.baldwin has a point, there should be statistics in A part of the Dream forums for everyday usage of the ROM's, I totally agree with him, when I am at home everything is ok with any ROM, but when I am on the road and I am trying to find a location and an IM application is opened and some guy calls me.. everything hangs, even on cyanogen, once it jammed the whole nadroid, black screen, only the notification bar visible and the phone was vibrating, I had to restart it. Anyhow, what's true it's true, this thread doesn't belong here, but it must be somewhere in plain sight. I have tested so far every ROM that has appear in the last two months, and truth be told, I also find dwangs the best, I've been using it like mad, good battery life, extremely snappy, no complaints. And yes, for everyone that keeps saying that the ROM's aren't working well because wipe and format, I ALWAYS repartition my SD when installing a new ROM.
AS ALWAYS, THANKS TO ALL THE DEV's FOR THEYR HARD WORK, remember, this isn't a competition, only statistics, so people can make a good choice without testing everything out there.
When someone says they have a super speedy hero rom, it relates to other PAST HERO ROMS. You cant compare a cupcake rom or a donut rom to a Hero rom. Especially on speed. The sense UI was not meant to run on the G1 nor was it meant to be run on the MT3G. On the other hand, donut and cupcake where both meant to be run on our phones. Thats why they are usually stable, fast, and used on a daily basis while hero roms need completely different frameworks and modifications to even work on our phones. SO, my point is: Hero roms are fast compared to other hero roms being created and they are a WORK IN PROGRESS so let the work progress and stop complaining because we have like 20 devs working FOR FREE just to make people like you and me happy. So Donut will always be faster then Hero. And as of right now, Hero will always be a tad slow, have some loading screens, and lacks bluetooth.
Ok first sorry guys for posting this in the wrong section (admin please move) unless I can (but don't think I can). It took me many hours to find this Rom that delivers - every rom claiming how super fast they are does not make it easy. As newby it takes a while to get the right recovery image, get the right spl, get the hang of it, until you finally get to switchrom or a process that makes testing easier.
Having some XDA stable speed award, or something that would take away all that trial and error and reading through pages and pages of posts to find what is unstable in every rom, having a simple THREAD.. that shows Newbies... look start with XYZ rom. And you have something that is fast, and stable. Then you can go and venture from there. I bet that many get turned off after flashing a hero, or a cyanogen (I first flashed the 4.0... cyanogen and boy what a dog it was, and the hero's are even worse, I was ready to throw it out the window)... all I wanted was something fast and stable, real life worthy. It took me probably about 7 roms to finally find one that RULES.
Also right now dev development has so many dimensions everyone developing in some direction. IT would be nice.. to have a central thread.. if you want speed&stable.. do XYZ. If you want features do ABC... wouldnt it be nice to have an award devs can aspire towards, to get recognition for the work you do...
I just upgraded to a G1 from At&t Tilt. I'm new to the dream threads. I see that you guys are very competitive with your development. That is a good sign because that means that there are hard working devs here. I like
nephron said:
When someone says they have a super speedy hero rom, it relates to other PAST HERO ROMS. You cant compare a cupcake rom or a donut rom to a Hero rom. Especially on speed. ....we have like 20 devs working FOR FREE just to make people like you and me happy. So Donut will always be faster then Hero.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there are 20 devs working but there should be some structure to the madness. I think there are a lot of people that look for fast and stable and simply can't find it because they are lost in so many releases all claiming fast and stable and the greatest thing since apple pie. All I suggest is a simple thread to help new users here to get a positive experience.
Imagine someone is flashing a dog onto their phone... slows it down like you wouldnt believe it after 2 weeks of use... what do you think how likely are they to come back and give it another shot (unless they're geeks and willing to work through it). Now imagine the same thing.. someone starting with a stock donut.. flashing a dwang1.11 and go like "HOLY SH#T".. I'll bet you a positive first experience will do much more for the community the users and the developers than someone with a bad experience.. (trust me I went through that).
The more users you have the more enthusiasts the better for all of us. My vote is simply to create something that gives positive experiences. Does not have to be me.. but someone who is using the devices in the real world.. with abuse and use, large calendars... contacts, just REAL LIFE, and then puts out some recommendations/awards whatever you wanna call it. Do this and you'll see user numbers grow.
YOU CAN NEVER SAY WHAT IS STABLE/FAST
BECAUSE EVERYBODYS G1 IS DIFFERENT
AND UNLESS EVERYBODY IS RICH ENOUGH TO GET EVERYTHING THE OTHER PERSON HAS..
SWAP SIZE
CLASS 6 SDCARD
32B
SPL RADIO
ETC...
THEN THIS THREAD IS USELESS
WHICH IS WHY YOU SAY CYAN IS NOT STABLE
WHILE I THINK ITS THE FASTEST STABLE DONUT ROM OUT THERE
and another thing... the writting up here ^ is not yelling just really big letters =]
i think you are completely wrong, the new sense hero 1.3r1 with the new bfs and 10mb hack have zero lag
this thread is a waste of bandwith.
reported
this has to be the most pointless thread ive ever seen. flash roms and figure out for yourself which is good or not if you dont like it go back to ota updates.
jf4888 said:
YOU CAN NEVER SAY WHAT IS STABLE/FAST
BECAUSE EVERYBODYS G1 IS DIFFERENT
AND UNLESS EVERYBODY IS RICH ENOUGH TO GET EVERYTHING THE OTHER PERSON HAS..
SWAP SIZE
CLASS 6 SDCARD
32B
SPL RADIO
ETC...
THEN THIS THREAD IS USELESS
WHICH IS WHY YOU SAY CYAN IS NOT STABLE
WHILE I THINK ITS THE FASTEST STABLE DONUT ROM OUT THERE
and another thing... the writting up here ^ is not yelling just really big letters =]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything you jus said was pure stupid! The only thing you really got to pay for is a class 6 card and thats less than 15 bucks online! If you dont got 15 bucks get a job! Cyan right now is not stable im getting so much fc's on his rom & new people find bugs all day on it. Dwang's is the meanest leanest fastest stable donut rom out there! Have you ever tried it?
I think part of the fun is figuring out what works best for your needs. Some people like flash and glits, running tons of widgets, others are very minimal. But he is right. Every Rom on this site "claims to be the fastest".
Takenover83 said:
I think part of the fun is figuring out what works best for your needs. Some people like flash and glits, running tons of widgets, others are very minimal. But he is right. Every Rom on this site "claims to be the fastest".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, cyanogen claims his will keep you legal for less. nothing about being the fastest there! xD
Enomther's ROMs are very fast and stable...I flash most the ROMs i find but always go back to his. You are posting in the dev section so most the people here are going to say try them all...when most the users don't want to flash all the time.
I would suggest starting a thread in Dream or Dream Q&A, make a poll, do some benchmarks...Have users pay more attention to the annoyances in their ROMs and post them. All of the stuff you are asking about should be run by the community, not XDA! I agree being a noob and coming to this site can be overwhelming, but at the same time it kills off some of the people that shouldn't be modding their phones anyway.
Maybe make a few threads...one showing the fastest most stable ROM, one for the ROM with the most options, one that is the creeper...maybe build that all into one post and you maintain the first few posts...Hell Google Wave invites are floating around, I am making a wave about tips and tricks on the G1 you could try to do something similar.
damnitput
Thansk for mentioning Enomther's rom looks though he's not on Donut yet.. but as soon as it happens I'll give it a shot.
phamous
Legal for less.. well quite frankly the extra dance about the google stuff is just a hazzle. I see Google's point that when you go and waive the mods stuff around on their market (through the updater) that they'd get upset. But the result now is rather absurd..to backup your own google appz and install them afterwards...(I think that's what the status is). The problem I had with Cyanogen is that everyone was hyping up the 4.0.. something (the last one with the google appz) I installed it on my, my wife and my dad's phone.. and it ended up being a really frustrating experience (they're all heavy users). Now the most current version might have things fixed but I am still scared from that experience.
TakenOver83
yeah I have created a few little benchmarks.. switching from this to that, just certain tasks.. in the future I'll just compare Roms by looking at how much time it takes. Then teh ones that are promising will get immersed into a real life test. It would be awesome to have a benchmark program....
jf4888 and Mgorman
Quite frankly just try Dwang's rom.. . that will make you shut up.
jad011
About sense hero 1.3r1 with the new bfs and 10mb hack that should have zero lag. Well I got exactly that one installed... and I personally thought it sucks. Go to browser.. hit the home button. Or other applications.. you'll get seconds of load times. The other thing that sucked is the widgets.. f.e. weather.. as great as it looks.. I have noticed that I am in an app.. go back to home screen.. go to weather widget and it is reloading... even though before I went into the app it had the data loaded. And generally moving through the rom from apps, to settings, to home, to email to messaging to home... I have found one just waits for 3-5 seconds at a time. And it might be that's just normal for HERO, but with Dwang I don't get that. Sure its a donut.. but if you are a real user, you will care a lot more about speed than you do about a weather animation, or a few more polished things... if it would be a major step in functionality.. ok maybe.. but its not. Its a little bit better.. but a lot slower. If you want a more detailed analysis let me know and i'll boot the hero up again and do some measurments to drive the point home.
alec.baldwin said:
TakenOver83
yeah I have created a few little benchmarks.. switching from this to that, just certain tasks.. in the future I'll just compare Roms by looking at how much time it takes. Then teh ones that are promising will get immersed into a real life test. It would be awesome to have a benchmark program....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You want a true benchmark test, download Linpack for Android (it's available in most droid markets I believe). It isn't perfect, and it doesn't give a ton of stats, but it does do a pretty legit speed test and you can even save the results to compare against other roms/phones.
I agree with you on the "having a thread that highlights the "fastest", "most bells & whistle", etc"... even if just to tell noobs "start here"... I'm running CM 4.2.3.1 (and yes, it has issues... I've had random reboots, FC's, and plenty of lag) but I've been sticking with CM as it's just easier than flashing a new rom every few days because things start going down hill. Having a thread to go to that would give at least a general idea of how different roms work in the real world (without having to spend my entire saturday reading through thousands of posts, most of which provide no info at all) would be great. But then I'm guessing said thread would fill with useless posts, or at least way too many posts) fairly quickly.
That being said, your better bet is to have a website that is either devoted to (or at least has a section devoted to) this concept. You may have a better chance pitching the idea to the folks at Phandroid.com or AndroidAndMe.com. I'm not saying they'll be 100% behind you, I don't really know any of them, so I can't really say what their interest level would be... but at least on a site like that you can control the "reviews/awards" without getting a billion useless posts making it hard to find the useful info. Just a thought.
yup yup yippee, I used a certain ROM that claimed to be fast and stable and it was just the opposite and also had a bad memory leak. I was running under 20 megs in about 8 hours. there should be an end user grading system, it dosent necessary have to be on xda, but a link somewhere in a sticky in the Dev forum. it could have things like speed, stable, memory, battery, looks, radio, overall quality, etc. on a one to ten scale, maybe a short comment box under 200 words then an overall score that's averaged among the reviews. this will definitely help noobs and devs know what's going on without trying to read over 400+ pages of compliments/complaints and how do I flash this posts.
As much as yall hate the "whats the best ROM" posts, i do find them helpful as i hate wiping & flashing several ROMs, I just want a good one and stick with it. This is just a suggestion, although I think its a good one. Id do it myself if I knew how to make web pages .
oops I just realized muzek pretty much made the same point I did.

New G1: My Wife's Phone: ROM Options?

I'm sure you can tell by my post count i'm fairly new to this G1/Android craze.
Actually, I don't even have one, yet. But my wife wants to move from nokia to G1.
I currently have an iPhone, and, after jailbreaking, is an excellent phone.
But it has it's problems. For example, no Linux support (at least not officially, and not good enough).
And why is Linux important? My wife has a Linux laptop (work laptop).
Anyway. I have read and have seen there is a thread telling not to ask for "best ROM", so i read some more, and there are a lot of links, but i can not seem to find one that can help me.
I went to the Androidspin database, and for G1 alone, there are 120 ROMs!!!!!
So, what are the ROMS that more closely fit this "requirements"?:
1) Stability. My wife is not very technical, so i want this to be smooth.
2) Speed. I love visuals, but i rather have a responsive phone.
3) Usability. The most feature rich gadget is useless if i have to take a course in physics to use it.
4) Internet. Browsing, MS Messenger, etc.
5) Applications. Access to the Android market is very much welcome.
6) Google. Synchronization with google apps in general, gmail, docs, etc, is very much welcome.
7) Skype. This would be a very "nice to have".
Lets just finish by saying that my wife would be using it unlocked on Argentina, not T-Mobile, so i think no 3G, but only wi-fi, because of bands compatibility.
So, which 5-10 ROMs should i try?
Thanks, for any help.
well if you want stable rom. you gotta go with cyanogen. his latest stable is 4.2.15.1. but you hav to have the phone rooted.
SuperD is the fastest and most responsive, and in my experience, is also more stable than Cyanogen.
Thanks. I know i have to root them, yes.
What about OpenEclair?
If you want a stable 2.1 ROM, cyanogen's 5.0.7-test1 is fast and responsive. I've only used it for a few days, but stability seems good.
I have been rooting and hacking since the phone first came out in Oct 2008. I love everything android, Cyanogen, google, HTC, modding etc etc. I know I am going to take a lot of crap for this from my fellow hackers, flashers, and modders, but your first requirement:
1) Stability. My wife is not very technical, so i want this to be smooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
made me think of only one option for you (and her)....stay with stock roms that are officially supported and receive OTA updates.
I know that you would probably be doing all of the modding of her phone since she is not technical but you will not always be with her and altered ROMs can act up despite the best efforts of all the great developers that contribute to Android. Stay with stock and I have a feeling you will thank me later.
~DM
It depends on what you are doing. You need a “recovery image” which, as I get it, is just like a back up of your O.S. You have your choice of many here and elsewhere.
I think if you go over to the unlockr.com it’s pretty well spelled out. Figure out where you’re at and where you want to be, and proceed accordingly.
(It’s all here to but a little confusing to me)
Regards, PK
Thanks for responses.
In your experience, what are the most common crazy things a ROM does, when not the stock one, besides maybe hunging?
I would go with Cyanogen's last "stable" release. Judging from my fiance's response to my phone, I think she would be happier with it rooted to just have a speed boost available. The stock G1 is incredibly slow compared to a Cyanogen build mainly because it runs below the processor's capability until you root it and change the setting. Also, there is very little onboard memory and Apps2SD is a life saver for the G1. Basically it allows you to save your applications on the SD card but then your phones relies on the speed of the SD card. Even then, the G1 has a lot of hang ups that an impatient person may have issues with.
I think another android phone may be better for you if it is in your price range. The G1 has really turned in to a gadget to tinker with due to its lackluster hardware. I love my G1 because it is the ultimate gadget that I can recreate on a monthly basis but my fiance HATES it for that same reason.
Judging from Cyanogen's latest experimental build I may have to eat my words. It runs incredibly smooth but still has some bugs to work out.
Cyanogen seems to have some of the more stable roms but i'd definitely search the forums a little more
Super D...
cyanogen use to do a half boot sounds weird but it would go to the animated bootscreen. load. and then go right back into the app i was running . i think it may have something to do with my phone itself
but
most feature full= cyanogen
fastest most stabel= super d
i switch between the two often enough to recommend both
I would then be trying both, SuperD and Cyanogen.
Thanks.
They’re all a little screwy and it varies from phone to phone. I just swapped from super D to Cyanogen 5.07. Neither works my camera (Cyanogen admits to not havening zoom features). (In my case, I probably have a hardware prob.).
Read the associated threads to see what you can live with.
PK
I the G1 gets Android 2.1 or 2.2, i would probably leave it like that for my wife.
The problem is that it is at 1.6 only.
cyanogen 5 is running 2.1 although its still in it's experimental stage (give it a week or so).
but seriously just get amon ra's recovery running and teach her to flash roms....... it's quite an addiction (as long as she can follow instructions she will be fine)
how about "TheOfficial Donut"
it's in here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=538456
It's fast, very stable and feels genuine
I recommend flashing the addons
According to the ROMs thread, the best one is SuperFast 1.3.3 RHJ.
All is 5 (excellent)
I have tried many different roms but SuperFast 1.3.3 RHJ is my daily use rom. I have not had any issue with it. It looks awesome. Has the new anderwebs launcher. The only issue that you might run into is that it uses ramhack which might slow down gaming.
Definitely recommend it. It gets 3.6 avg in linpack!
I want to try SuperFast 1.3.3 RHJ now, and probably later on, SuperD and Cyanogen.
I have so far downgraded the G1, and was able to activate it without a data plan.
Now, i have not installed anything.
I was going to install the recovery image, and was wondering if i should install the Cyanogen one, or the Death one (or something scary like that).
Also, i don't know if i have to upgrade other parts of the phone first, like the RADIO, etc.
This is how it is today:
PVT 32B
HBOOT-0.95.0000
CPLD-4
RADIO-1.22.12.29
Model Number T-Mobile G1
Firmware 1.0
Baseband 62.33.20.08H_1.22.12.29
Kernel 2.6.26-01843-gfea26b0
Build kila-user 1.0 TC4-RC29 115247
Comments?
EDIT: so far, with the stock firmware, my wife is pretty happy (but i want SuperFast at least )

[Q] To flash or not to flash (Stock ROM to CM7 alpha)

For those who have tried, is the CM7 alpha worth replacing the stock Glacier ROM? What are the benefits over the current stock HTC Sense ROM? What's missing or not quite there?
Wrong Section, good question though
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
Cm7 nightlies - no longer CM7 alpha
It's true that this is probably the wrong section and I'm a noob too but before they bring in the new rules about minimum postings in the developer section, I'll throw in my ten cents.
Background:
US T-Mobile version of Mytouch4G and had no reason to be unhappy with the stock Rom but just love to scratch an itch and see what happens.
In the pursuit of seeing what happens I successfully rooted the phone to the point of permanent S=off (but not complete unlock as I have no need for that yet)
and over the course of the last few weeks systematically installed and tested three of the froyo builds/ports available on this forum.
Each have their strengths and weakness which are clearly listed so I wont catalogue the details I'll just say the following:
It's a lotta lotta fun! there was a geek in me waiting to get out and I finally see what the true potential is with this platform (android) - It's probably unlimited.
Aside from the philosophical point of wanting to have the freedom to do whatever with and put whatever you want on the device, that rooting facilitates (I’m a veteran of two generation of iphones), there is also that practical point that rooting does unlock the full potential of the device available right now which includes a host of apps already on the market only for rooted devices.
I don’t want to go into all those possibilities here because they are covered in detail in any google search but let’s just say that once you’re on the other side of the proverbial fence, the grass really is greener.
I know I’m being vague at this point, but let me continue a little longer.
Having also owned a number of windows based htc devices through 2005-2008 I’m no stranger to htc sense and some of the useful little gadgets that they seem to have evolved to a fairly decent level in android and I’ll say this:
Take away the surface veneer which is not as bad in the MT4G as in some others (bloatware) and you find that the meat and potatoes of the platform/operating system is all android.
And it runs MUCH better without the crap. – forget about overclocking (which helps and is fun) loose the veneer and the device flies.
And what you lose in the process – a couple of apps – you replace immediately with comparable ones for free down at the market.
So – phone runs better, can do more, has a host of better looking ui’s and themes that all the talented developers on this forum are constantly pushing out – then what about the risks?
I haven’t had a single hitch – not one.
I’m as impulsive as the next guy but I just took it steady with the information overload – carefully rooted the phone and from there, flashing one rom after another has become no more complicated than booting into recovery – case closed.
It’s become second nature.
And I’ve had to do a double take once or twice when something didn’t play out exactly as described but I’ve discovered that I had overlooked a detail here and there and it’s an easy fix.
Point being that there are constant warnings and disclaimers for obvious reasons, but my device at least has turned out to be very hardy – no scares here.
So finally, I’ve been eyeing developments in the gingerbread camp like everyone else and I’ve been wary of the alpha builds because my zero level of expertise keeps me from playing in that league and I see early this morning that an official CM7 release is out for my model the glacier.
At first I run I into problems flashing Clockworkmod to 3.0 and even try to flash the rom and boot from 2.5 with the predictable conclusion of a stuck boot loop all the while not really knowing what to expect from this ginger hype and whether it’s really worth the trouble of leaving my now very stable cooked froyo rom.
Someone then creates the thread a few lines up describing how to simply use rom manager to install the update for CWM 3.0 and at 2am I’m on my way.
I flash the rom and install the additional google apps and what do I find?
GINGERBREAD IS **** HOT!
Nuff said.
I won’t be overclocking it as a rule but I get 2805 on quadrant – previous high being in the 2500’s (each chip is actually different so I’ve heard that everyones score will vary)
The device has no lags, splutters, and runs quite literally incredibly.
and the look and feel of gingerbread? – I’ll add to what I said earlier – it’s amazing – it’s a moving graphical, visual feast.
It will seriously rain on apple’s parade when this thing hits the main stream and I think quite honestly that it’s the greatest mobile device operating system ever created.
I know I’m gushing but it really is that good and considerably more impressive than froyo while having the same core navigation and other functionality.
I won’t be going back.
I won’t endorse taking risks with your device but I’ll say it’s worth taking a look.
A few afterthoughts for those asking the questions:
There is a brand new version of the market packaged with the 20110115 version of the larger gapps file floating around on this forum – it also rocks!
Although most apps available on the market have not yet been updated for gb 2.3, they all work so far on my machine with one or two unimportant exeptions.
I’ve replaced all sense functionality with free apps off the market – no loss there.
The device runs smoothly and all functionality is tested and working in the latest release - great job guys doing the work here.
Long and the short of it being …it’s all good.
hope that helps.
Definitely worth a flash to try yourself. I mean it's CyanogenMod so how could it not be good?
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk
matkam said:
For those who have tried, is the CM7 alpha worth replacing the stock Glacier ROM? What are the benefits over the current stock HTC Sense ROM? What's missing or not quite there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You would be very surprised at how extremely stable these roms are. I've been running them for a few weeks now and they're definitely stable enough to be your daily driver.
The main thing to consider is that Sense is a highly customized ROM while CyanogenMod is based on Pure Google with some additional configurations available.
Try it out, it's pretty easy to go back if you don't like it. For a while there I was nandroiding back and forth between Sense and CM6 about twice a week, lol.
CM7 some after thoughts
Continuing from my earlier post, I thought I would head off a few questions about observable differences in gingerbread - well the CM7 incarnation:
Android market loads and populates faster.
The wireless radio picks up signals/networks faster and connects gracefully and quickly.
All aspects of the functionality of the whole system and each individual app seems to be smoother and more efficient.
Youtube no longer has that annoying glitch coming out of landscape.
My new 16bg class 6 mini sdhc card finally works and no longer gives me the blank card or damaged card bull crap every time I unmount or remount from usb mode – didn’t expect that one and had resigned myself to going back to the stock 8gb card it shipped with.
The app drawer pops out at you in what seems like 3d while leaving the background wallpaper intact. – so the app drawer just floats while you scroll through it.
Every aspect of the device and systems are customizable – I mean everything – probably in part due to the efforts of the CM7 team.
The stock gingerbread phone dialer app is changed for the better and is obviously one of many enhancements including the ability to program your sip (voip) settings straight into the phone doing away with third party apps altogether to make or receive calls (if you’re into voip)
You’ll have to dig around to find the .apk for the stock car/navigation mode app and I solved that riddle by downloading the free android app(car home) from the market and also installing a third party app (car mode control) which is used to launch it – I’ve been lazy and haven’t investigated yet whether it’s actually necessary to have the go between, but it works.
and swype, if you want it, can be downloaded direct from the guys that developed it at the beta.swype page (wasn't allowed to post the link) - by simply registering to test the latest beta, which is better than in the stock MT4G rom.
Someone report the first post to have this moved.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Whosdaman said:
Someone report the first post to have this moved.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Didn't realize it had to be reported. I always assumed that because you're a mod you can do whatever the hell you want.
Well in your case just pick current RC fork from repository and use it normally you don't have to wait for the SR fork. Unless you are dev I don't see why you would want to flash it every night unless you understand basic and even in that case weekly might be fine. I been there done that as flashing new rom everyday as it came down the pipe I tried few CM7A few times let the dev do more work as ill make that my rom when SR is out, ATM have IGv1.1.6 as I flashed it this afternoon.
matkam said:
For those who have tried, is the CM7 alpha worth replacing the stock Glacier ROM? What are the benefits over the current stock HTC Sense ROM? What's missing or not quite there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you thought your phone was fast out of the box, this is faster. If you thought it was a bit laggy (like me), it's like getting a brand new phone.
Also, having better experiences with CM7 GB on MT4G than I ever did on my Nexus S. This is saying a lot.
ZeroSX said:
Also, having better experiences with CM7 GB on MT4G than I ever did on my Nexus S. This is saying a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for me. Such a smoother experience all around.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk
I just flashed & I must say it is a much smoother expericence. I love it & its not even a stable build.
matkam said:
For those who have tried, is the CM7 alpha worth replacing the stock Glacier ROM? What are the benefits over the current stock HTC Sense ROM? What's missing or not quite there?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is this your first Android phone? Have you ever played with a Pure Google Experience Android phone? If you're nervous about the CM7 builds, try CM6. Easier to flash since you don't need to manually flash the recovery and it will give you a feel for CyanogenMod and the Pure Android feel.
Think of the G2, that comes with plain Android right out of the box. Go to a T-mobile store and poke around with it to see if you like it.
I simply cannot stand the HTC Sense stuff... Personal preference.
I had CM6.1 for a couple weeks and I am VERY happy with it. I am waiting another week or so to start using the CM7 builds just because I have been too busy with other stuff.
neuralboy said:
It's true that this is probably the wrong section and I'm a noob too but before they bring in the new rules about minimum postings in the developer section, I'll throw in my ten cents.
Background:
US T-Mobile version of Mytouch4G and had no reason to be unhappy with the stock Rom but just love to scratch an itch and see what happens.
In the pursuit of seeing what happens I successfully rooted the phone to the point of permanent S=off (but not complete unlock as I have no need for that yet)
and over the course of the last few weeks systematically installed and tested three of the froyo builds/ports available on this forum.
Each have their strengths and weakness which are clearly listed so I wont catalogue the details I'll just say the following:
It's a lotta lotta fun! there was a geek in me waiting to get out and I finally see what the true potential is with this platform (android) - It's probably unlimited.
Aside from the philosophical point of wanting to have the freedom to do whatever with and put whatever you want on the device, that rooting facilitates (I’m a veteran of two generation of iphones), there is also that practical point that rooting does unlock the full potential of the device available right now which includes a host of apps already on the market only for rooted devices.
I don’t want to go into all those possibilities here because they are covered in detail in any google search but let’s just say that once you’re on the other side of the proverbial fence, the grass really is greener.
I know I’m being vague at this point, but let me continue a little longer.
Having also owned a number of windows based htc devices through 2005-2008 I’m no stranger to htc sense and some of the useful little gadgets that they seem to have evolved to a fairly decent level in android and I’ll say this:
Take away the surface veneer which is not as bad in the MT4G as in some others (bloatware) and you find that the meat and potatoes of the platform/operating system is all android.
And it runs MUCH better without the crap. – forget about overclocking (which helps and is fun) loose the veneer and the device flies.
And what you lose in the process – a couple of apps – you replace immediately with comparable ones for free down at the market.
So – phone runs better, can do more, has a host of better looking ui’s and themes that all the talented developers on this forum are constantly pushing out – then what about the risks?
I haven’t had a single hitch – not one.
I’m as impulsive as the next guy but I just took it steady with the information overload – carefully rooted the phone and from there, flashing one rom after another has become no more complicated than booting into recovery – case closed.
It’s become second nature.
And I’ve had to do a double take once or twice when something didn’t play out exactly as described but I’ve discovered that I had overlooked a detail here and there and it’s an easy fix.
Point being that there are constant warnings and disclaimers for obvious reasons, but my device at least has turned out to be very hardy – no scares here.
So finally, I’ve been eyeing developments in the gingerbread camp like everyone else and I’ve been wary of the alpha builds because my zero level of expertise keeps me from playing in that league and I see early this morning that an official CM7 release is out for my model the glacier.
At first I run I into problems flashing Clockworkmod to 3.0 and even try to flash the rom and boot from 2.5 with the predictable conclusion of a stuck boot loop all the while not really knowing what to expect from this ginger hype and whether it’s really worth the trouble of leaving my now very stable cooked froyo rom.
Someone then creates the thread a few lines up describing how to simply use rom manager to install the update for CWM 3.0 and at 2am I’m on my way.
I flash the rom and install the additional google apps and what do I find?
GINGERBREAD IS **** HOT!
Nuff said.
I won’t be overclocking it as a rule but I get 2805 on quadrant – previous high being in the 2500’s (each chip is actually different so I’ve heard that everyones score will vary)
The device has no lags, splutters, and runs quite literally incredibly.
and the look and feel of gingerbread? – I’ll add to what I said earlier – it’s amazing – it’s a moving graphical, visual feast.
It will seriously rain on apple’s parade when this thing hits the main stream and I think quite honestly that it’s the greatest mobile device operating system ever created.
I know I’m gushing but it really is that good and considerably more impressive than froyo while having the same core navigation and other functionality.
I won’t be going back.
I won’t endorse taking risks with your device but I’ll say it’s worth taking a look.
A few afterthoughts for those asking the questions:
There is a brand new version of the market packaged with the 20110115 version of the larger gapps file floating around on this forum – it also rocks!
Although most apps available on the market have not yet been updated for gb 2.3, they all work so far on my machine with one or two unimportant exeptions.
I’ve replaced all sense functionality with free apps off the market – no loss there.
The device runs smoothly and all functionality is tested and working in the latest release - great job guys doing the work here.
Long and the short of it being …it’s all good.
hope that helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you see a link for an official CM7 release for this phone?!?!
Q.Entity said:
I simply cannot stand the HTC Sense stuff... Personal preference.
I had CM6.1 for a couple weeks and I am VERY happy with it. I am waiting another week or so to start using the CM7 builds just because I have been too busy with other stuff.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You know that's how I felt when I bought the phone. I kept thinking about returning it for a G2 just to get plain Android. Ironically, by the time I finally rooted my phone and flashed CM6, Sense had grown on me to the point that I kept nandroiding back and using it by choice. Ha!
Now I've been on cm7 for a few days and I'm pretty happy with it.
CM7 official nightlies
I can't post a link out but the link to the CM7 builds is usually towards the top of the mytouch 4G Android Developement forum page.
It's constantly being updated and it looks like the latest build takes care of a number of little issues including swype, google car home and maybe the apps pack too
To those voting not to flash, have you tried CM7? What's keeping you from being happy with it?
I just flashed it myself and am pretty happy with it. The experience is much more consistent than the stock Sense ROM, gingerbread is really fast/smooth, and CM7 adds a lot of options for customization. Wifi isn't working though.
matkam said:
To those voting not to flash, have you tried CM7? What's keeping you from being happy with it?
I just flashed it myself and am pretty happy with it. The experience is much more consistent than the stock Sense ROM, gingerbread is really fast/smooth, and CM7 adds a lot of options for customization. Wifi isn't working though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reboot for wifi to work.
BTW, CM7 is slick as an iced glacier.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
neuralboy said:
GINGERBREAD IS **** HOT!
Nuff said.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This has got to be the biggest fanboism i've every heard on any forum. Gingerbread is not that different from FroYo. It looks the same it feels. it acts the same.
To the OP If you want to flash the most current baked variant of Android then by all means flash away. If not FroYo will serve your needs just fine.

Thanks to everyone and especially my Heroc!

Hey all,
Even though I've pretty much a big lurker here for a while, especially the last year. I've finally upgraded to the GS3 today, so my Heroc is finally, after just about 3 years, retired.
I wanted to thank everyone throughout the years that made this device so great. I won't name individuals, there are too many and I know I'll forget someone. You all are the best! Thanks for keeping this device so great for so long! Your roms and other resources have truly been a delight.
And to my Hero, you are my hero. I've never had a phone I've been so attached to. You've stuck through the rooting, roms, and other nonsense I've put you through, getting dropped, squished, and other tortures, and never dropped a call, died at the wrong time, or missed a message. Well done, true and faithful servant, well done.:crying:
Carl
Congrats on the GS3. Very nice device. I was giving it a serious look-over, but the screen feels just too big for me. Even though the Evo 4G LTE is not much smaller, it's enough that it I find it "just right." I'm planning to switch over to it soon.
However...
I wasn't very courageous with my HTC Hero. I had it rooted for over a year before finally taking the chance and loading a ROM onto it. I kept reading up on the different ones available, knowing I could always go back to stock if I didn't like it. But I felt paranoid that I might screw it up. And my first time flashing a new ROM, I almost did... fortunately it all worked out. I'm zipping along on CM7.2 now.
It took me a full weekend of searching around to find the apps and widgets that appealed to me, giving enough functionality to match or surpass what I'd had before. I missed the sleek integrated feel of HTC Sense, but... there are fine substitutes to be had if you look hard enough. I've customized my Hero now to the point where I'm regretting that I didn't do this sooner. It's a really great phone with CM7. But there's no beating around the fact that the processor is anemic compared to what is out there now. You can't play memory intensive games on it (e.g. Angry Birds), but in a way I kind of like that... one less thing to waste my time on.
One other nice thing about the Hero... is the grandfathered waiver on the 4G monthly fee. Upgrading adds on $10/mo. Of course, once you have reliable 4G in your area, it's well worth it. Anyway, I suspect the easiest way to motivate an upgrade is to put the two phones side by side. No contest on performance with the GS3 or 4G LTE.
I actually was so scared to root it, I waited like 6 months before I did. But boy o boy, once I did, I think I unrooted maybe once just to clean up a really bad ROM install. I went though the different CMs, NFX, LiquidSense, ExEnHeroC, AospMod (on his for a long time), WildHero, and tried ALOT of others and I finally landed for almost the past year on the TeamHeroC rom. I waited 6 months to root my Hero, and 3 weeks to root my Nook tablet. I rooted the GS3 pretty much three days after I got it. Gotta love XDA!
I've tweaked it to the moon using firerat's and data2ext, played with the different kernels like Decafuct and Jaybob's and UOT kitchened it. I have put it though the mill, and it still runs purrs right along. In fact, if I didn't really need a wifi hotspot right now, I would still be with it.
I don't know if it's that this being the first Android Sprint phone, and at the time there weren't very many out there, or what, but there've been and continue to be so many people working on this phone over the years. I know the HeroC is a legacy device, but there still seems to be lots of development going on. I can only hope the SG3 will be as supported.
BTW, it is a transition going from the Hero's small screen to the GS3's massive one. But it is sweet to use!
Carl
Hey Carl,
Great to hear about your experience with the Hero. I've not yet tried the TeamHeroC... sounds good. Is that the same group that created TWRP? Out of all the ROM's which one would say is:
Best for HTC Sense like GUI with reasonable performance
Best for flat out lean and mean performance without sacrificing usability
I've only just gotten a hang of the Android OS architecture and understanding the various layers, so I've not even started to think about replacing kernels. It certainly sounds like you can mix and match a number of components to achieve your own unique blend that suits you. It'll be fun to learn more about it, which will prepare me for rooting and modding my next Android phone (most likely the HTC Evo 4G LTE). Thankfully I'm all set for a phone discount so if I manage to brick my Hero, I can quickly get a replacement without significant cost.
I'm also looking forward to trying out ICS and JB, to see if people have cooked up ROMs that can actually run efficiently on the Hero without producing much lag. That's pretty much the Achilles Heel of the Hero--the processor. If there was only some way to upgrade it.
~Gary
cytherian said:
Hey Carl,
Great to hear about your experience with the Hero. I've not yet tried the TeamHeroC... sounds good. Is that the same group that created TWRP?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No
cytherian said:
Out of all the ROM's which one would say is:
Best for HTC Sense like GUI with reasonable performance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WildHeroc
cytherian said:
Best for flat out lean and mean performance without sacrificing usability
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jaybob's teamheroc is best for everything
cytherian said:
I'm also looking forward to trying out ICS and JB, to see if people have cooked up ROMs that can actually run efficiently on the Hero without producing much lag. That's pretty much the Achilles Heel of the Hero--the processor. If there was only some way to upgrade it.
~Gary
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shelnutt has done a really good job with jellybean. It runs rather well.
As far as flashing kernels and roms, the hero is hard to screw up. Make nandroids and flash away and you can try everything.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Thanks for the suggestions, ajrty (or do you like to be called SeaDoo?). I had seen mention of WildHero before but I'll bump it to the top of my list of next ROMs to try.
While I've been appreciating some of what GO Launcher does, I'm astounded at how bloated it is. The frigging thing takes up 24Mb of memory, and that's just the launcher alone! The task manager, power master, and weather widgets also consume quite a bit of space. Also, when I elected for it to be the default, it effectively hid ADW Launcher from everything except one sub menu under settings. It took me a while, but for a moment I was thinking the darned thing had uninstalled ADW without asking for my permission.
Are you using TWRP or CWM for managing your backups? If you use TWRP, do you also use Goo Manager? How do you deal with preserving current data when switching ROMs (such as contacts, SMS and voicemail)? It's my understanding that nandroid and the like replace everything completely. Or, is it that once you get a ROM configured the way you like it, you do a nandroid backup for just the apps and system, leaving data out of it? I suspect that if you have the data stored on the SD card that a nandroid backup not containing user data would simply leave it alone when restored.
hey cytherian,
I agree with ajrty33. If you want a good ROM, TeamHeroC by Jaybob et al, is the best, and it's what I rocked for the past year. I tried others, but always came back to it. Wildhero is probably the most advanced Sense ROM out there, and runs really well on the Heroc.
I can't speak too much for launchers...I have always ran my Heroc with LauncherPro. I doubt it's available anymore. I know when I rooted my Nook tablet, it installed ADW as the launcher, and I have to say I like it. So far on my galaxy I'm still on with TouchWiz (for now).
I always ran with clockwork for my recovery, and it always treated me well. for a backup, I used (and still do) MyBackup Pro. Short of a nandroid backup it catches all my SMS/MMS, call log, and other stuff. If I installed a new ROM, that would give me all my data back.
It sounds like your a bit confused below about nandroid backups. A nandroid backup (that you would do from recovery) takes a snapshot of your system (ROM, data, cache, everything) and saves it to a file. If you then install a ROM, and it either messes up, or you just want to go back to the system as it stood just before you installed the new ROM, you can use your recovery to flash it back. So a nandroid backup is a necessary part of playing with ROMs....as long as you keep a good copy, you can get your phone back the way it was.
Backup programs like Titanium or MyBackup, just backup data and apps. They dont backup your system (I dont think Titanium does anyway). So if I installed a new ROM, I would use it to restore, for instance, all my SMSs.
Hope that helps,
Carl

Categories

Resources