Database Users

My M8 Experience So Far

Bit of background....
Was never much a fan of android and had just about every iphone from day dot right up until the iphone 5.
I'd Jailbroke all the way through with each device, a lot of tweaks, modding etc.
Started to get very bored of the whole iphone thing but ended up losing it anyway (left it on a train)
That's what made me think, why not try something different? So claimed on my insurance and went for a Galaxy S3.
NEVER MISSED MY IPHONE ONCE. How android has improved over the years.
Loved the functionality of the S3, although not the build so much. Had it rooted with CM, gravity box, adaway and that was me happy.
Was very excited to wait for the M8 and upgraded as soon as it came out, wasn't disappointed, LOVE IT!
Fantastic build quality, great looks, great spec. Could hardly fault it anywhere.
Decided to jump in and root it to get some of my favourite things.... That's where my disappointment began
Unlike the Samsung, everything seems really difficult to achieve, some things impossible.
Unlocking the boot loader is a fairly long process but it was fairly straight forward... Job done
Rooting, fairly straight forward... Job done
HERES WHERE THE NOT SO FUN PARTS STARTS...
Adaway, kinda works but not. Keep having problems with it being disabled on boot up and not being able to copy host files
From my research it seems to be a problem with s-off not being active although I'm not sure?
Tried the s-off process and at the end was told it won't work on my device, no one seems to know exactly why?
Another app I wanted was gsam battery, again... Kinda works but not. Standard stats work but more advanced won't.
Tried the root companion, can't get that to work at all.
Something else I really wanted was gravity box through xposed. That won't work with sense.
In order to get that I believe I have to flash another rom that dos'nt have sense, think that only leaves the google play edition rom?
That I believe also loses me blinkfeed and ultra power saver which are both pretty good.
Not sure if I need s-off for that, if I do I can't get it anyway
May main reason for root was for gravity box and adaway, one of which I kinda have and one I don't have at all.
So overall, very disappointed now
Just thought I'd share my experience as it might help others decide on purchase choices.
Also if anyone has any tips to get around my issues I'd really appreciate it

its for those reasons i now leave my phones stock. i used to customise my windows phones to get them to work but since switching to android i just use them and update the stock software when they become available. i also have an m8 and i have only installed gsam, chrome and epson printer apps. that is all i have needed so far. i seem to be able to do everything i need to do without any more apps installed. i had a htc one x previous and sensation before that and had so much stuff on them that they were litterely full of apps. i will probably end up adding heaps of apps as time goes on but the stock setup on the m8 is very powerful and capable (not to mention fast). i would recommend just installing the stock rom back and use it for a while. is there really any advantage to rooting these anyway.

boofhead said:
its for those reasons i now leave my phones stock. i used to customise my windows phones to get them to work but since switching to android i just use them and update the stock software when they become available. i also have an m8 and i have only installed gsam, chrome and epson printer apps. that is all i have needed so far. i seem to be able to do everything i need to do without any more apps installed. i had a htc one x previous and sensation before that and had so much stuff on them that they were litterely full of apps. i will probably end up adding heaps of apps as time goes on but the stock setup on the m8 is very powerful and capable (not to mention fast). i would recommend just installing the stock rom back and use it for a while. is there really any advantage to rooting these anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xposed framework would be a huge advantage to me to get rid of annoying things, some small some not so small.
Even the volume warning really annoys me, there's no way to disable it without xposed working
Also on my s3 I moved the close all apps button to bottom left, much easier for me being a lefty

Hi, ads can be blocked through modified hosts file (you can search how to do that). Have you tried a custom ROM with root already done. I use Venom and have always used adaway, both s-on and s-off with no issues.
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using xda app-developers app

bah77 said:
Bit of background....
Was never much a fan of android and had just about every iphone from day dot right up until the iphone 5.
I'd Jailbroke all the way through with each device, a lot of tweaks, modding etc.
Started to get very bored of the whole iphone thing but ended up losing it anyway (left it on a train)
That's what made me think, why not try something different? So claimed on my insurance and went for a Galaxy S3.
NEVER MISSED MY IPHONE ONCE. How android has improved over the years.
Loved the functionality of the S3, although not the build so much. Had it rooted with CM, gravity box, adaway and that was me happy.
Was very excited to wait for the M8 and upgraded as soon as it came out, wasn't disappointed, LOVE IT!
Fantastic build quality, great looks, great spec. Could hardly fault it anywhere.
Decided to jump in and root it to get some of my favourite things.... That's where my disappointment began
Unlike the Samsung, everything seems really difficult to achieve, some things impossible.
Unlocking the boot loader is a fairly long process but it was fairly straight forward... Job done
Rooting, fairly straight forward... Job done
HERES WHERE THE NOT SO FUN PARTS STARTS...
Adaway, kinda works but not. Keep having problems with it being disabled on boot up and not being able to copy host files
From my research it seems to be a problem with s-off not being active although I'm not sure?
Tried the s-off process and at the end was told it won't work on my device, no one seems to know exactly why?
Another app I wanted was gsam battery, again... Kinda works but not. Standard stats work but more advanced won't.
Tried the root companion, can't get that to work at all.
Something else I really wanted was gravity box through xposed. That won't work with sense.
In order to get that I believe I have to flash another rom that dos'nt have sense, think that only leaves the google play edition rom?
That I believe also loses me blinkfeed and ultra power saver which are both pretty good.
Not sure if I need s-off for that, if I do I can't get it anyway
May main reason for root was for gravity box and adaway, one of which I kinda have and one I don't have at all.
So overall, very disappointed now
Just thought I'd share my experience as it might help others decide on purchase choices.
Also if anyone has any tips to get around my issues I'd really appreciate it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry but i dont understand what problems you actually have or what you done/expect from your phone
Adaway and GSAM battery stats works perfectly on all custom roms for M8 without issues.
And roms like our Viper ONE M8 provides endless customization and tweaking options, can you tell me what can you do with that gravity that you cant in viper rom?

Gravity Box wouldn't work on a Sense based rom anyways. I think the main source of your issues is the lack of research (user error).

rquinn19 said:
Gravity Box wouldn't work on a Sense based rom anyways. I think the main source of your issues is the lack of research (user error).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What parts don't? I haven't gone incredibly far into GB, but the NavBar tweaks worked for me and I'm on Viper, a Sense-based Rom.

ivicask said:
Sorry but i dont understand what problems you actually have or what you done/expect from your phone
Adaway and GSAM battery stats works perfectly on all custom roms for M8 without issues.
And roms like our Viper ONE M8 provides endless customization and tweaking options, can you tell me what can you do with that gravity that you cant in viper rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been looking at viper actually, considering flashing tonight
I mainly wanted to move the close all apps button to the bottom left rather than top right
Stop the volume warning popping up when increasing volume
Have the pull down go straight into settings rather then having to use 2 fingers
I had all that through gravity box on my s3.
I'm guessing they won't all be on viper but as viper isn't sense gravity box should work anyway, is that right?

bah77 said:
I've been looking at viper actually, considering flashing tonight
I mainly wanted to move the close all apps button to the bottom left rather than top right
Stop the volume warning popping up when increasing volume
Have the pull down go straight into settings rather then having to use 2 fingers
I had all that through gravity box on my s3.
I'm guessing they won't all be on viper but as viper isn't sense gravity box should work anyway, is that right?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First off: Sense isn't TouchWiz. All features of GravityBox which work on TouchWiz or AOSP wont always work on Sense.
Plus, Sense 6.0 is still VERY fresh and the devs of GB and similar are still looking into what can be done on Sense and what not.
Viper is already heavily customizable and may already feature most of the things you want. Then there is always GPE which replaces Sense with Vanilla Android most GravityBox features will work with - Tho you need to know that some exclusive features like a couple of camera things, dot view etc wont work as extensive as on Sense anymore.
Its all a matter of what you really need and what you really wanna do. I for one prefer to stick to Sense which is mostly stock (InsertCoin) with some customizable settings - keeps the system cleaner and snappier IMO.
You decide :good:

Try4Ce said:
First off: Sense isn't TouchWiz. All features of GravityBox which work on TouchWiz or AOSP wont always work on Sense.
Plus, Sense 6.0 is still VERY fresh and the devs of GB and similar are still looking into what can be done on Sense and what not.
Viper is already heavily customizable and may already feature most of the things you want. Then there is always GPE which replaces Sense with Vanilla Android most GravityBox features will work with - Tho you need to know that some exclusive features like a couple of camera things, dot view etc wont work as extensive as on Sense anymore.
Its all a matter of what you really need and what you really wanna do. I for one prefer to stick to Sense which is mostly stock (InsertCoin) with some customizable settings - keeps the system cleaner and snappier IMO.
You decide :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Many thanks for the response, I will have a look into the different roms more over the weekend
I guess I was too naive, only on my 2nd ever android phone and that's from a hell of a lot of phones I've owned in the past
I guess I was thinking along the lines of a one android fits all but that's quite clearly not the case, there are lots of differences between one android phone to another

bah77 said:
Many thanks for the response, I will have a look into the different roms more over the weekend
I guess I was too naive, only on my 2nd ever android phone and that's from a hell of a lot of phones I've owned in the past
I guess I was thinking along the lines of a one android fits all but that's quite clearly not the case, there are lots of differences between one android phone to another
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hehe well yeah, every Android phone can be quite different to each other. Its with the hardware already. On the iDevices, its all streamlined and almost everything will work on the different iPhones. Its convenient, but nothing for me - I am a modder and toy around alot, and thats where Android kicks in.
Some things on Android can be annoying, since there are much more differences in Hardware and Software among all the devices running Android, but it actually can be quite interesting to see what all the talented Android Developers come up with.
I hope you find what you are looking for. The M8 is a hell of a great device and dispite of being so new, alot of customizations are already possible.

rquinn19 said:
Gravity Box wouldn't work on a Sense based rom anyways. I think the main source of your issues is the lack of research (user error).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wrong, working just great with my SENSE rom.

Thread closed as it is an off-topic thread.
Ghost

Lollipop vs kitkat : feedback

Hi all,
I made this post to enhance your experience with the Z3C. Indeed I thought since a few days that I was going to throw away my phone because of multitasking. This issue is not clear at all and not all people seemed to be touched by this. However I am, definitely.
This is my experience on lollipop: I can’t have 5 apps running at the same time, even if they’re very light. For example if I’m listening to music and using chrome, everytime I switch to another app, it needs to start again. It gets really annoying when I’m using some apps at the same time and I lose lots of time.
My first idea was to switch to another phone (even if I love the Z3C for other qualities like battery life or how compact it is) but this issue seems to touch every phone except HTC’s but I’m not happy with their battery life. My last choice was the iPhone 6 to get a nice user experience.
Then I thought a little and I remembered that in fact my experience was much much better on KitKat.
So I decided to try again kitkat and OMG!!! I couldn’t get back to L, seriously. If you have the same issues as I have, it’s definitely a solution.
So of course you’ll lose some interesting stuff from Lollipop and the interface doesn’t look as nice as on L but it is definitely worth it.
Indeed on Kitkat the battery is at least equal, maybe better.
But all the difference is about performances: you can’t even compare it. When I switched from KK to L I didn’t realize and I got accommodate to it but actually in this way we can feel the difference without any hesitation.
Now I can use at least 8 apps at the same time, everything is snappier and quicker. Really it changes my smartphone life.
So if you’re ready to leave L, join me with KK and you won’t regret. You’ll get a new phone (even it’s kinda absurd) and you’ll never want to change it for another. That’s the phone I have liked.

Thx for the comparison
I haven't tried Lollipop because there is nothing wrong with KitKat (+ROOT!) and there is nothing about Lollipop that I really need, it's mostly just eye-candy imho. Oh yes there is one small thing: The sparkly unlock animation in KK is the worst, haven't found a way to get rid of it yet... (except using a 3rd party lockscreen - which is something I'm not willing to do because I love my lockscreen widgets, any suggestions?)
If you miss the Lollipop stuff here's some suggestions:
-NiLS(app): Gives you customizable lockscreen notifications like Lollipop with any lockscreen
-Nova Launcher(app): Just got a huge Lollipop update, the average person won't know the difference to lollipop when looking at the launcher
-Install Lollipop theme to change nav-bar icons (or use xposed or any other method)
-Sony is pretty amazing with app updates, so all the independent apps like Music are Material Design anyway
Cheers

Well. The problem with multitasking happens on all Xperia Z3 phones with Sony´s Lollipop (Yes, I confirmed it after test with 5 different Xperia Z3 phones from friends and family).
After I get frustrated with this problem, I also think in change the phone for an iPhone, but lol, iPhone have similar problems with browsers that can´t keep various tabs opened and ends refreshing all tabs, and other similar multitasking problems because of limited ram. I maybe change my Z3 for an Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge in a month (Or when the Galaxy S6 gets Android 5.1 update) because the camera of the Z3 is very bad in quality for me, but until then, I found a "fix" for the multitasking problem:
I finally "fixed" it. ¿How?: Simple, I just installed Cyanogenmod 12.1 in my phone, and it is just... just, very beatiful in multitasking. I can have a loooot of apps opened and get back to one app after a day and they are still opened, it´s is what I ever expected from a phone like Xperia Z3, is amazing. It is because Cyanogenmod is always updated and have all the latest fixes and their own fixes also. I heard that they have fixed more than 51 memory leaks (included the critical ones) in his 12.1 version. Also I get in love with Cyanogenmod extra features.
Yes, I lose all DRM protected features from camera and also PS4 Remote, but meh, camera sucks anyway in stock firmware, and is only a little worse in Cyanogenmod. Just to be careful I backed up my TA partition before unlock my bootloader and go into cyanogenmod.
Hope this helps to all guys that have lollipop, and need a true multitasking on his Xperia Z3 or Z3 Compact.

Aside from multitasking Lollipop seems still very beta on xperia to me. Mind u I own the Smartphone for only 3 days, but the amount of times it made me go nuts, not even my evo 3d managed over 3 years. Phone ran really hot and sort of slugish on lp, but waht reall drove me crazy was Bluetooth Audio... It made my whole phone crash after starting to crackle on my soundwaver (bluetooth speaker).... It wouldnt even play over pc... Back to kitkst and all is fine and dandy. I can actually feel i run a newer handset than before (evo 3D). Ill probably switch to CM some timecdown the road, when lp is fully working.

The stock lollipop build is beta version at best. The debloated lollipop build found here on XDA is beyond acceptable, almost good. The stock kitkat build, though, still has the upper hand. I reverted back today to an old backup and there's no match between the debloated lollipop and the stock kitkat. Stock kitkat wins hands down.

For some balance ive no such issues with lollipop albeit i agree there isnt much of an incentive to upgrade from kitkat. I dont use chrome though. Chrome uses a scary lot of memory. (i use firefox)
Cm12 uses less memory than stock sony roms so that leaves more to chrome, which explains that i guess.

My only complaint is few UI elements that are not very material, you know.

I don´t use Chrome too, I use Cm Browser that dont use a lot of Ram too...
The problem is not how much Ram uses the system, the problem is that Stock Sony in 5.0.2 have a Bad Memory Management and still have Memory Leaks (Except the crititcal ones that are already fixed in Sony Stock Lollipop Firm).
In CM 12.1 a loot of those memory leaks are already fixed, so that also explains why Cyanogenmod works a lot better with multitasking and can keep a lot of apps without close.

clouds5 said:
Thx for the comparison
I haven't tried Lollipop because there is nothing wrong with KitKat (+ROOT!) and there is nothing about Lollipop that I really need, it's mostly just eye-candy imho. Oh yes there is one small thing: The sparkly unlock animation in KK is the worst, haven't found a way to get rid of it yet... (except using a 3rd party lockscreen - which is something I'm not willing to do because I love my lockscreen widgets, any suggestions?)
If you miss the Lollipop stuff here's some suggestions:
-NiLS(app): Gives you customizable lockscreen notifications like Lollipop with any lockscreen
-Nova Launcher(app): Just got a huge Lollipop update, the average person won't know the difference to lollipop when looking at the launcher
-Install Lollipop theme to change nav-bar icons (or use xposed or any other method)
-Sony is pretty amazing with app updates, so all the independent apps like Music are Material Design anyway
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the apps. I'm happy not to be the only one to have made this step!
iFlasher said:
Well. The problem with multitasking happens on all Xperia Z3 phones with Sony´s Lollipop (Yes, I confirmed it after test with 5 different Xperia Z3 phones from friends and family).
After I get frustrated with this problem, I also think in change the phone for an iPhone, but lol, iPhone have similar problems with browsers that can´t keep various tabs opened and ends refreshing all tabs, and other similar multitasking problems because of limited ram. I maybe change my Z3 for an Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge in a month (Or when the Galaxy S6 gets Android 5.1 update) because the camera of the Z3 is very bad in quality for me, but until then, I found a "fix" for the multitasking problem:
I finally "fixed" it. ¿How?: Simple, I just installed Cyanogenmod 12.1 in my phone, and it is just... just, very beatiful in multitasking. I can have a loooot of apps opened and get back to one app after a day and they are still opened, it´s is what I ever expected from a phone like Xperia Z3, is amazing. It is because Cyanogenmod is always updated and have all the latest fixes and their own fixes also. I heard that they have fixed more than 51 memory leaks (included the critical ones) in his 12.1 version. Also I get in love with Cyanogenmod extra features.
Yes, I lose all DRM protected features from camera and also PS4 Remote, but meh, camera sucks anyway in stock firmware, and is only a little worse in Cyanogenmod. Just to be careful I backed up my TA partition before unlock my bootloader and go into cyanogenmod.
Hope this helps to all guys that have lollipop, and need a true multitasking on his Xperia Z3 or Z3 Compact.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM12.1 alternative is good to know then. If I miss L too much, I guess I'll give a try to CM.

clouds5 said:
Thx for the comparison
I haven't tried Lollipop because there is nothing wrong with KitKat (+ROOT!) and there is nothing about Lollipop that I really need, it's mostly just eye-candy imho. Oh yes there is one small thing: The sparkly unlock animation in KK is the worst, haven't found a way to get rid of it yet... (except using a 3rd party lockscreen - which is something I'm not willing to do because I love my lockscreen widgets, any suggestions?)
Cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xposed Installer + Xperia Xposed should make you happy.

I see lollipop better than kitkat, phone run faster and smoother. Good update

Son Lam said:
I see lollipop better than kitkat, phone run faster and smoother. Good update
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, is smoother, but we are talking about the multitasking that is not so good as it have to be...

KitKat has much more battery time than lollipop.
What do yolu think

draligus said:
KitKat has much more battery time than lollipop.
What do yolu think
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that it's a wrong statement. The same power usage curves and same percentage at the end of the day for me.
However, you might be using apps that don't behave well on LP.

Jack_R1 said:
I think that it's a wrong statement. The same power usage curves and same percentage at the end of the day for me.
However, you might be using apps that don't behave well on LP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that was my observation.

KK were amazing for my needs (good battery, smooth).
Lollipop looks just the same.
I always disable animations and whatnot, so I'm kind of an odd user.

to me LLP is good except the quick toggle and sound profile
i need to swipe twice for quick toggle and to swipe twice to close the quick toggle.
using volume button for sound profile annoys me as when i wanna silent my phone while plating music can't be done
multitasking so far is good for me
battery life is the same and in fact idle time is better in LLP
most of the apps improve smoothness in LLP except a few

mimicicu said:
Xposed Installer + Xperia Xposed should make you happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you elaborate on that

I have tried to like Lollipop, but the annoyances i really have, is the swipe down quick menu, prefer the kitkat one, and i really dislike, the user icon on the Lockscreen status bar, At the moment, i have reverted back to kitkat, but would love to give lollipop more time, but after a day, i alway's revert back.

clouds5 said:
Could you elaborate on that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You wanted to get rid of the "sparkly unlock animation" of your Z3 Compact, right?
Do you want the classic Android locker instead?
The original Xperia unlock:
http://i.imgur.com/umsERNx.png
Install Xperia Xposed then this:
http://i.imgur.com/VQOD6ay.png
(reboot)
You activate this:
http://i.imgur.com/92fLyDf.png
And you get this:
http://i.imgur.com/ZOOTdTn.png

Recommendation(s)

Hello. I just received my new 6P, having upgraded from a 2nd Gen Moto X. Prior to that I was a flashaholic on my S4, and S2 before that. Basically, I've been out of the Custom ROM game for a while.
I'm wondering whether to root and install custom on my Nexus, with the following goals in mind:
1. I’d like to stay very, very close to stock.
2. I'd like bug free and stable.
3. Ability to increase battery life by tweaking Doze to kick in faster.
4. Keep Android Pay and Project Fi working
Any recommendations based on that criteria? I'm currently teaching overseas, so I feel like my ability to work through bugs and issues is a bit more limited than it is when I'm back in the States.
Thanks so much.

Check out Pure Nexus.. I just installed it and so far its great!

Given that you are overseas and less able to deal with potential twists and turns of rooting and ROMing... I suggest you remain stock. This is just my opinion but I think some people are diving into rooting, ROMing, launcher-ing this phone the minute they get it because they did it on their previous carrier phone before they even give the true 6P Android experience a chance. (I don't think that applies to previous Nexus owners though)
This phone is amazing in its stock form. The only thing on your list that you won't get by remaining stock is the ability to tweak doze. Doze works quite well in its stock form. If you can charge your phone every night, I wonder if you will even find that you need to tweak doze. If you have periods where you can plug it in during the day with fast charging, there is definitely no pressing reason to tweak doze.
I know this tends to be a more root/ROM forum so my opinion here may be in the minority. I just wanted to toss out one perspective.
Hope you enjoy the phone!

Yeah, that's the thing.,.. I love stock. I do miss some minor cosmetic customisation options, but for the most part, I'm not looking to blow the whole thing up like I was on my Galaxy S phones with TouchWiz. I'm definitely leaning on staying stock over here and maybe playing around with it when we come home for the summer.

Dugan1017 said:
Yeah, that's the thing.,.. I love stock. I do miss some minor cosmetic customisation options, but for the most part, I'm not looking to blow the whole thing up like I was on my Galaxy S phones with TouchWiz. I'm definitely leaning on staying stock over here and maybe playing around with it when we come home for the summer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would definitely unlock the bootloader before you get the phone set up and maybe apply systemless root, but then give stock a go for some time and see how you like it. Then maybe try adding some third party apps like Nova Launcher and Custom Quick Settings (the latter requires root). Stock MM is really very nice.

adrman said:
I would definitely unlock the bootloader before you get the phone set up and maybe apply systemless root, but then give stock a go for some time and see how you like it. Then maybe try adding some third party apps like Nova Launcher and Custom Quick Settings (the latter requires root). Stock MM is really very nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm assuming you say unlock the bootloader now just because it wipes everything if/when I do it later?

Dugan1017 said:
I'm assuming you say unlock the bootloader now just because it wipes everything if/when I do it later?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes!

Dugan1017 said:
I'm assuming you say unlock the bootloader now just because it wipes everything if/when I do it later?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, exactly. Heisenberg has a guide if you should need any help.

adrman said:
I would definitely unlock the bootloader before you get the phone set up and maybe apply systemless root, but then give stock a go for some time and see how you like it. Then maybe try adding some third party apps like Nova Launcher and Custom Quick Settings (the latter requires root). Stock MM is really very nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed, that's what I'd suggest, too. Once rooted, you can use NapTime to tweak Doze to kick in earlier. You can't use it's "aggressive" option, as it has a bug and kills stuff like being able to download new apps from the Play Store, but you can still tweak the times to make it kick in a lot sooner.

I followed the H guide and learnt/learned new stuff. Unlocking and ROM has allowed me to access the fun little options that stock couldn't give to me.
My personal favourites are really quite small things: battery display and clock centered.
I do wonder why though Chroma and Pure nexus are so popular compared to the rest in terms of views and responses. Surely this is an indication of worth, right? Or is it simply following the masses after those Roms were first in, first to serve?

Stock rom is great. I use Xposed and a few modules to get my customization fix!

Root on Pixel XL - Why?

Hello fellow Pixel users!
Just wanted to take a minute and start a small discussion with you about stuff that only works with root. Maybe you feel the same.
As an Android user from day 1, I always enjoyed the general "openness" of Android compared to other mobile OSs and used to frequently try out new custom ROMs, play with all the system UI tuner options and obviously got used to having a decent adblocker.
But ever since I got a Pixel XL, I was honestly surprised by the relatively small amount of ROMs and general lack of development on XDA regarding the Pixel phones. At least compared to previous phones I owned, with the exception of the Blackberry Classic maybe...
(Obviously I don't want to discredit the folks that ARE working on these devices. You're awesome and your work is very appreciated!)
Right now, I only use root for AdAway, Nova Launcher (for turning off the screen and locking it with a double tap) and Ex Kernel Manager (even though I never used it or changed any of the settings).
So what I really want to talk about is, what do you use root for? Or why did you unlock your bootloader? Is there something I'm missing?
TL,DR: Did you root your phone or unlock the bootloader? Why?

Yes and yes.
I will always run an unlocked bootloader. It's a security safety net. If my phone bricks, I have the option to flash factory images. I can always return to stock if something goes wrong.
Root, yes, of course. Because Android.

Pain-N-Panic said:
If my phone bricks, I have the option to flash factory images. I can always return to stock if something goes wrong.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Those are great points! You're absolutely right!
But what about apps or system tweaks? You said "Because Android" but how is your experience different from someone who didn't root?

paco8 said:
Those are great points! You're absolutely right!
But what about apps or system tweaks? You said "Because Android" but how is your experience different from someone who didn't root?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root privileged apps- adaway, titanium backup, modded YouTube, modded Spotify, SD Maid, Substratum and a few others.
Also, custom kernel with customized color profile for a more vibrant display.
I also enjoy themeing my own device so having root is necessary for me.
I also need to root, well, BECAUSE ANDROID

Pain-N-Panic said:
Root privileged apps- adaway, titanium backup, modded YouTube, modded Spotify, SD Maid, Substratum and a few others.
Also, custom kernel with customized color profile for a more vibrant display.
I also enjoy themeing my own device so having root is necessary for me.
I also need to root, well, BECAUSE ANDROID
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U don't need root for substratum on my 8.1 and use Andromeda add on for rootless substratum
I feel like going back to nougat and root for Xposed though...

Thanks for the suggestions!
If you ask me:
Not a fan of TB (restoring often causes problems)
or SD Maid (some cache is important and shouldn't be deleted - except for uninstalled apps),
Substratum is way too buggy for me (at least I can't seem to find a theme without bugs)
and I probably shouldn't ask about those modded apps on here, even though they sound interesting. I guess I'll have to Google that. :laugh:
After looking through Ex Kernel Manager, I can't seem to find anything that I'd want to use or fiddle with. The phone is fast enough, so no overclock. The colors are fine, so no tuning needed. And all the other stuff looks dangerous...
Where are all the awesome system UI options though? I'd love to have my clock in the center of the status bar and display battery percentage INSTEAD of the icon. I know that those are usually coded into custom ROMs but there are no 8.1 ROMs...
Oh, how I'd love to see an 8.1 DU ROM working flawlessly...
Edit: Why go back to Nougat and why use Xposed? I don't get what the big deal is about Xposed nowadays. I used it a few years ago but only because of one or two add-ons, if I recall that correctly.

I have center clock on 8.1 using a Substratum theme.
Also, you can choose to select battery percentage next to the battery icon in 8.1 battery settings.
Once source code gets released for 8.1, the SystemUI can be deodexed which will allow for 3minit battery mod to work. I believe 3minit requires root.

Reasons are getting thin aren't they. AdAway, TB, and Tasker (HBM and single tap sleep(without device admin permission thus required pin)). TB makes life easier but not a necessity. Different device wouldn't need HBM most likely. So basically it comes down to AdAway which I'm pretty sure I'd go nuts without.

TB, Tasker, lucky patcher, greenify, acr (automatic call recorder), ad away. And generally being able to mess with things.

ThePublisher said:
TB, Tasker, lucky patcher, greenify, acr (automatic call recorder), ad away. And generally being able to mess with things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Generally being able to mess with things" is the most accurate response this question for those who love Android at its core.

Pain-N-Panic said:
"Generally being able to mess with things" is the most accurate response this question for those who love Android at its core.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the technical term for it at least.

I'm down to one reason and I found out about it a few months back actually. Without it I probably wouldn't bother.
Assertive display - visibility outdoors in the freaking sun with sunglasses on? Heck yeah! The most annoying part is that it just takes two lines added to the build.prop file. If I could do this without root I sure as hell would.

Adaway

Thanks for all your answers!
This basically proves my point though in my opinion. Having a rooted Android device used to be such an open playground for fun stuff and now it's mostly just about adblockers and minor tweaks apart from a few apps that still take advantage of it like Tasker and TB.
At least the phones nowadays are fast as hell and have insane cameras. I just wish it would be more sci-fi-y if you know what I mean. Phones aren't just gadgets anymore, they're expensive pieces of hardware that seem to improve upon basic things that we could do for years.
Android updates used to have lots of cool new features with every new version number that was released and now they just seem to improve upon what they can already do and sometimes take features away or even lock them to specific phones (looking at the guy who thought it was a great idea to make stuff like "motion pictures" a feature only on Pixel 2 devices even though our device had the feature available for a day).
Guess I'll take this opportunity to spend less time messing around with tons of options and just be thankful for what they can do now. Like playing stupid gambling-like games with ps1-graphics on a device with a quad-core and 4GB of RAM. :laugh:
Am I the only one who gets turned off by games that have reviewers saying "addictive" and "great time-killer"? This thing could play GTA 4 and tons of people rather spend a hundred bucks on candy crush...
Whatever, it's all good. I guess I just have different expectations.

paco8 said:
Thanks for all your answers!
This basically proves my point though in my opinion. Having a rooted Android device used to be such an open playground for fun stuff and now it's mostly just about adblockers and minor tweaks apart from a few apps that still take advantage of it like Tasker and TB.
At least the phones nowadays are fast as hell and have insane cameras. I just wish it would be more sci-fi-y if you know what I mean. Phones aren't just gadgets anymore, they're expensive pieces of hardware that seem to improve upon basic things that we could do for years.
Android updates used to have lots of cool new features with every new version number that was released and now they just seem to improve upon what they can already do and sometimes take features away or even lock them to specific phones (looking at the guy who thought it was a great idea to make stuff like "motion pictures" a feature only on Pixel 2 devices even though our device had the feature available for a day).
Guess I'll take this opportunity to spend less time messing around with tons of options and just be thankful for what they can do now. Like playing stupid gambling-like games with ps1-graphics on a device with a quad-core and 4GB of RAM. :laugh:
Am I the only one who gets turned off by games that have reviewers saying "addictive" and "great time-killer"? This thing could play GTA 4 and tons of people rather spend a hundred bucks on candy crush...
Whatever, it's all good. I guess I just have different expectations.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right! I was also using root just for the 3 reasons you specified! Adaway is the biggest reason. There are other solutions, but nothing that reliable. And next biggest is Ex Kernel Manager to set up double tap to wake without lockscreen.
As for the motion photos, you still can get it. You need to download that version of Google Camera APK and disable updates. I am using it and it looks good. But it works only in Google Photos App. So not that useful as well!

DaSmith87 said:
I'm down to one reason and I found out about it a few months back actually. Without it I probably wouldn't bother.
Assertive display - visibility outdoors in the freaking sun with sunglasses on? Heck yeah! The most annoying part is that it just takes two lines added to the build.prop file. If I could do this without root I sure as hell would.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My quick reasons for bootloader unlocking and rooting mirror many of the others here:
1) Ability to flash factory images in a recovery situation.
2) Titanium Backup - although I haven't had to actually use this to recover anything other than a specific app or 2 in the past few years.
3) Adaway
4) Ability to modify build.prop to leverage native hotspot/tethering (Verizon GUDP)
I am interested in learning more about Assertive Display and the differences between it and Adaptive Brightness. My understanding is that Assertive Display works separately from Adaptive Brightness and actually adjusts the tone/color/contrast of individual display pixels to optimize viewing in bright sunlight. Theoretically, this allows you to turn down screen brightness to achieve better viewing/contrast in bright conditions. Can you provide the link to directions you used to enable Assertive Display? Also - does it play well with Adaptive Brightness - or do you need to manually tweak screen brightness to account for Assertive Display?
Thanks!

sb1893 said:
My quick reasons for bootloader unlocking and rooting mirror many of the others here:
1) Ability to flash factory images in a recovery situation.
2) Titanium Backup - although I haven't had to actually use this to recover anything other than a specific app or 2 in the past few years.
3) Adaway
4) Ability to modify build.prop to leverage native hotspot/tethering (Verizon GUDP)
I am interested in learning more about Assertive Display and the differences between it and Adaptive Brightness. My understanding is that Assertive Display works separately from Adaptive Brightness and actually adjusts the tone/color/contrast of individual display pixels to optimize viewing in bright sunlight. Theoretically, this allows you to turn down screen brightness to achieve better viewing/contrast in bright conditions. Can you provide the link to directions you used to enable Assertive Display? Also - does it play well with Adaptive Brightness - or do you need to manually tweak screen brightness to account for Assertive Display?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When I first enabled this I left my brightness at the same 50% level with the auto brightness left on. It works really well in conjunction with the normal brightness level settings. Maybe turning the brightness down could yeild better battery results but I was never one to complain by the Pixel XL's battery life.
This video from Android Authority here explains it well. I actually randomly got to the video at around midnight on YouTube a few months back. Phone wasn't rooted so I did root it in the middle of the night and followed this topic from the XDA forums to change the build.prop file. Applied the changes, rebooted phone and... Realized I have no real way to test it. Went to my kitchen's aspirator and switched the lights on, brought the phone under there super close at a very steep angle and I could still see it perfectly fine.
TL;DR - this is a great addition to the already standard brightness levels, works like magic, and hey, you can always revert if you end up not liking it.

DaSmith87 said:
When I first enabled this I left my brightness at the same 50% level with the auto brightness left on. It works really well in conjunction with the normal brightness level settings. Maybe turning the brightness down could yeild better battery results but I was never one to complain by the Pixel XL's battery life.
This video from Android Authority here explains it well. I actually randomly got to the video at around midnight on YouTube a few months back. Phone wasn't rooted so I did root it in the middle of the night and followed this topic from the XDA forums to change the build.prop file. Applied the changes, rebooted phone and... Realized I have no real way to test it. Went to my kitchen's aspirator and switched the lights on, brought the phone under there super close at a very steep angle and I could still see it perfectly fine.
TL;DR - this is a great addition to the already standard brightness levels, works like magic, and hey, you can always revert if you end up not liking it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks so much for the detail. I'm going to give it a whirl right now!

sb1893 said:
Thanks so much for the detail. I'm going to give it a whirl right now!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're welcome! One thing I forgot to mention - don't bother with the flashable ZIP. It's more work than editing the build.prop file and it actually doesn't work on 8 and up. 7.1.2 was OK with it but I noticed it wasn't quite right on 8 when I tried to flash it even though it said it flashed with no errors.

sacthegreat said:
You are right! I was also using root just for the 3 reasons you specified! Adaway is the biggest reason. There are other solutions, but nothing that reliable. And next biggest is Ex Kernel Manager to set up double tap to wake without lockscreen.
As for the motion photos, you still can get it. You need to download that version of Google Camera APK and disable updates. I am using it and it looks good. But it works only in Google Photos App. So not that useful as well!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I actually did disable auto update once I had it and still have the APK. Don't know if it works after a fresh install of 8.1 though. I guess I'll try later. Google's Motion Stills as an alternative just feels weird to me.
I think it's a neat feature though. Sometimes it really helps bring a moment back to life, more than a still picture would. Especially when it's snowing or raining.
That new AR stickers thing is also funny but it needs better content IMO. Two of the packs are basically ads for the StarWars movies and Stranger Things.

Google Pixel as LightPhone 2 (distraction free but functional smartphone)

I've always liked the core idea of the LightPhone 2.
A phone that has less distraction but is not a total feature phone.
The Lightphone 2 is great and all but mainly the price is what really turns me off.
A few other cons are lack of e-hailing apps(atleast in my country, e-hailing service like Grab and Uber are much cheaper than Taxi), lack of choice in messaging system(I'm not trying to live near off the grid here) and no camera(that can be actually used for taking pictures of receipt or scanning a document(I live in a between a first world and third world country)) .
I think that the Pixel is a suitable quick replacement for it.
It's just very cheap at this point.
The OLED display just makes sense to use a total minimalist white on black UI (yes I do realize the Lightphone uses E-ink but compared with an LCD based phone OLED just makes sense)
The Pixel has a bad processor intensive task, it will overheat doing nothing. Underclocking it would still be way faster than a Lightphone 2 and would still serve its purpose
and many more
...but only if there is a ROM built for that.
And for that I want to ask any experts here is it possible to just stripdown the Android 10 rom, mod the launcher for the UI, tweak how the notification works to achieve the above?

Did anyone ever make a ROM for this?

Badcam said:
Did anyone ever make a ROM for this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, I think there are there already Blloc OS but its still not good enough for me... There is also the LightPhone 2 which is crazy because its really pricey but still doesn't hit the right spot for me still...
Recently I bought the Nokia 6300 4G which is great for detox but still want that Whatsapp feature but there are other few importants things that I still cant do
I'm already planning on taking a used up Pixel and creating a rom myself
P/S: wow I barely log in here its like the stars are aligned and you made a reply not long before I randomly decided to log in lol....

funtikar said:
No, I think there are there already Blloc OS but its still not good enough for me... There is also the LightPhone 2 which is crazy because its really pricey but still doesn't hit the right spot for me still...
Recently I bought the Nokia 6300 4G which is great for detox but still want that Whatsapp feature but there are other few importants things that I still cant do
I'm already planning on taking a used up Pixel and creating a rom myself
P/S: wow I barely log in here its like the stars are aligned and you made a reply not long before I randomly decided to log in lol....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mate, did you find anything? I'm also looking for same. I'm fed up with this smartphone addiction. I like the lightphone too but it's kinda pricey and lacks some features like you mentioned (WhatsApp, Camera, etc). Someone please develop a rom for this.

RishabhUpadhyay said:
Mate, did you find anything? I'm also looking for same. I'm fed up with this smartphone addiction. I like the lightphone too but it's kinda pricey and lacks some features like you mentioned (WhatsApp, Camera, etc). Someone please develop a rom for this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unfortunately no... the CLOSEST and most BUDGET I've seen so far is the Qin F21 Pro and its variant. It has a small touchscreen so you won't be sucked in as much, the non google play version(you can install apk but its very tedious to sideload an apk via usb).
I still think the best way is if a dev suddenly want to make a Lightphone OS style custom rom for a Pixel

funtikar said:
unfortunately no... the CLOSEST and most BUDGET I've seen so far is the Qin F21 Pro and its variant. It has a small touchscreen so you won't be sucked in as much, the non google play version(you can install apk but its very tedious to sideload an apk via usb).
I still think the best way is if a dev suddenly want to make a Lightphone OS style custom rom for a Pixel
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have found a phone and it's perfect but i wish someone develops a lightphone os for Android devices.

RishabhUpadhyay said:
I have found a phone and it's perfect but i wish someone develops a lightphone os for Android devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah which phone?, for me it doesn't need to be a lightphone os. Just as long as it has foolproof ways to install apps via on phone,foolproof built in website blocking, built in document scanning method

funtikar said:
yeah which phone?, for me it doesn't need to be a lightphone os. Just as long as it has foolproof ways to install apps via on phone,foolproof built in website blocking, built in document scanning method
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, is only available in India. It's called Jio Phone. It runs KaiOS which supports most of the functionalities that you mentioned

RishabhUpadhyay said:
Unfortunately, is only available in India. It's called Jio Phone. It runs KaiOS which supports most of the functionalities that you mentioned
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ah I've actually used a variant of the KaiOS phone the Nokia 6300 phone but I find its too still too limiting for my use, others might be fine with that