[Q] [Qs] OmniROM on Xoom issues - Omni Q&A

I just flashed OmniROM 4.4.2 for the Motorola Xoom and so far it is great except for a few things I have noticed.
Firstly, why this ROM is faster (i.e. apps open faster, etc.), it is not nearly as smooth as my Xoom was running 4.0.2 stock. Swiping through screens on the home screen and to the Google Now screen isn't terrible smooth, nor is the app drawer.
Secondly, I always get a Google+ ANR at startup.
Thirdly, I can't get some apps to run and some crash in the middle of certain events. Dropbox refuses to open at all. And the enclosed Dev Tools app with Omni crashes while don't a few things.
Anything I missing here? I am clocked to 1400Mhz and am running ART.

I don't see any official builds at dl.omnirom.org - contact whomever provided your unofficial build.
In general, Tegra2 devices are barely supported due to lacking NEON.

Related

Why you SHOULD install a custom ROM

I installed the Team Eos 4 ROM with Android 4.2, after finally admitting that Asus has ceased updating the TF101. I can only say everybody should do the same:
It's easy. Took me less than 30 minutes, with these instructions: http://www.transformerforums.com/fo...nt/31927-frederucos-guide-root-rom-tf101.html
The device became (and I'm not overstating it) really lightning fast. Videos play better, everything happens at once. Somehow Android now looks better also.
The browser looks the same but feels totally different. It responds immediately and pages load pretty much as fast as with a desktop browser. Write in an address and the page is there. No more "The browser is not responding / wait or close" dialogs.
It's actually very stable and everything works. Nothing has crashed for me since installing, not even the browser, which is really something. The browser used to crash once or twice each time I used it.
You can install Adblock Plus (the Eos ROM comes rooted) and Avast with firewall
User control. A device can now have several user profiles. No more need to share your private issues with other members of the household.
The TF101 feels like a new device again suddenly
(Ps. Asus stopped updating TF101 after 1,5 years on the market, as they've agreed with Google. This is not very good customer service. 18 months is nothing - it feels like "take the money and run". They leave their customers with potential security problems, with outdated software. The older the software is, the more likely it is to be exploited.)
I'm also very satisfied with the Team EOS ROM. For me it's not quite as stable as stock, but it's faster and smoother.
A few notes:
- User profiles are not fully supported by most apps yet. I suggest you stay away for now, at least until we get decent su(do) support.
- Team EOS ROMs, while they put a lot of effort and time in (and I DO appreciate it!) are still non-official ROMs and devs work with what they have, so you can still expect bugs and random issues while they're reported and ironed out. Don't expect a 100% flawless ROM.
- 18 months is the time that Google will provide manufacturers with updates, that does not mean the manufacturer has any obligation to push out the update. If any of you guys saw the post here about the new AiO Transformer, you can see Asus are moving on to bigger and better things. While I'm not that happy myself about no official 4.1+ for this device, I'm pleased to see there's people working hard to make us awesome ROMs to keep up with the new stuff. Also, most other Asus tablets are announced to have the 4.1 update, so it's really just their oldest tablet (launched on March 30th 2011) that isn't getting it.
- You can "double" your "RAM" by adding swap space to your device on your fat32 internal sdcard space using Swapper (I mention it because it's useful to some extent - not real ram - and it's seldom mentioned).
I've mentioned it before... but I suspect that stability/performance issues are tied to the SBK revision you have, and the B/C version.
I look at Asus not supporting updates for the TF101 in this way: This tablet was their test run for what was to become their flagship design in the tablet market. It obviously worked and since then with the later models, the tablet/netbook hybrid idea has really taken off. The 300 and the 700 have bigger and better hardware so its what they are going to focus on. Don't look at the TF101's lack of support form the big guys as being its inevitable demise as much as its chance to shine in the custom rom community. The tablet is almost 2 years old and hasn't been officially supported for a few months now but the development between CyanogenMod and EOS as well as some of the other roms avaiable for this tablet makes it really stand. Its graduating into a fully supported developer gold mine instead of going to the grave.
EOS 4 is the rom I'm currently running and its a powerhouse even with some of the bugs that are being worked out. Its definitely proof that this device still has some miles left in it.
TL;DR: I totally agree. If you want a world changing experiences on your TF101, then check out EOS!
The ROM is not quite as perfect as I first thought. It has problems with speaker volume - it's not possible to set it loud enough to make it hearable from some apps. (And yes, I know about the volume boost apps, which don't seem to help, tried several from Play).
hardy81 said:
The ROM is not quite as perfect as I first thought. It has problems with speaker volume - it's not possible to set it loud enough to make it hearable from some apps. (And yes, I know about the volume boost apps, which don't seem to help, tried several from Play).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trie this one http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1841851 special for eos rom.
Jack fig said:
Trie this one http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1841851 special for eos rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It also works better with the K.A.T. Kernel
I love JB. But its not stable enough as they don't have official sources.
I prefer ICS and nice kernel. OC, update, Build my own Rom, add what I want, call it a day.
Truthfully tho, I only use the thing for games, Emails, Reading, and Internet. Its fine for those things. I am selling it tho cause I want an N7. But the only reason is to match my phone. A Tablet is a tablet to me.
To be honest I haven't play around with any custom ROMs for several months. What really turned me off was the lack of a file explorer which I guess is the fault of Google not including anything in the source. I really happen to to like the Asus file explorer & haven't found another one that I like. That is my main reason for not. Maybe I'll give JB another shot.
jadesse said:
To be honest I haven't play around with any custom ROMs for several months. What really turned me off was the lack of a file explorer which I guess is the fault of Google not including anything in the source. I really happen to to like the Asus file explorer & haven't found another one that I like. That is my main reason for not. Maybe I'll give JB another shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try ES File explorer, it's not eye candy like Asus' but it has much broader support, like built-it LAN and FTP capabilities. You can just browse to your network share, and start your movie/music/whatever from there without having to copy it, etc... it's pretty cool.
Other Asus apps have been modified to work in other roms. I use their deskclock, email, weather and task manager apps on Team EOS' 4.2.1. Task manager won't actually kill any apps but it still displays them fine. There's also their dayscene wallpaper, etc... search and browse through this forum in the apps section, you'll see lots of people posted modified versions. It almost feels like stock with all those mods.
I can vouch for ES. It doesn't look pretty but it's insanely powerful for a file browser. You can access networked computer, directly access all your cloud storage and also access root if you are rooted. The only thing I would like to see them do is give you the option of dragging and dropping from one directory to another.
I also use a fair share of the Asus stock widgets and such. I noticed that wit hthe task manager, I get random FCs with it but it doesn't affect anything at all.
jadesse said:
To be honest I haven't play around with any custom ROMs for several months. What really turned me off was the lack of a file explorer which I guess is the fault of Google not including anything in the source. I really happen to to like the Asus file explorer & haven't found another one that I like. That is my main reason for not. Maybe I'll give JB another shot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try Solid Explorer - same functions as ES file explorer but looks nicer - dark and light themes are good and dual pane usage.
I'm currently using EOS Rom, overall its great, but I'm going back to LiquidSmooth (4.1) for the following reasons:
-Performance. LiquidSmooth performance is the reason why I'm keeping this device even though Asus doesn't support it anymore. Performance is beyond my beleif. (Only gripe: random reboot once every 48 hours or less, while sleeping. Still, could be worse)
-Weird EOS nightly 90 bug for me. LCD backlight randomly turns off until next reboot.
On another note: +1 for Solid Explorer. My choice too. I considered AntTek too but in the end I think Solid Explorer fits my needs better. And cheaper!
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using Tapatalk HD
Awesome! I finally decided to install EOS after reading your post. This old Tf101 feels like a brand new tablet now and iam not exaggerating.
I compare the webpage loading time with iPad 2 and they are compatible! Thanks for the post and the developer team.
I want to recommend everyone to flash.
I am big EOS4 fan now as well. last months with Timduru's work has litteraly change my tabs. even has my ipod luvin kids wanting time on them.
they are stable enough now that i can hand them over to the kids and evrything just works.
my setup i use
latest eos4
latest KAT kernel (this makes the rom run far more smooth and buttery as well as fixes minor glitches for me)
KAT app (Havent really had a need for this other then it can help get sound volume up in some apps for me. only lost sound once and kat app brought it back easily)
APEX launcher (really speeds up and smooths out the desktops and adds load of customisation i like)
cifs manager so my pc server now is like an extra internal memory card built into my tab
Alot of ppl have made a few working roms and they all deserve a heaping load of thanks for thier time and efforts.
no rom is 100% but a few are close enough now to be very usefull and far better off then where asus left us.
Over the Christmas holidays I took the plunge and rooted and flashed my TF101 with RaymanFX CM10 (I think, that's the version, the device isn't with me ATM). Since then I've been impressed with the speed and functionality but I've had a two reoccurring issues, Wifi drops out frequently and no sound after a few hours uptime. Both issues necessitate a reboot to fix.
Anyway... I'd like to try EOS4 with the KAT kernel, it seems to be more actively developed and used.
As I said the device is already rooted and flashed it since it was a PITA to reload all my apps and setup email accounts etc, I'd like to know if installing EOS4+KAT is going to require completely wiping everything again or are there steps I can take to reduce the effort?
Just to confirm, I'd need the flash 3 things from the recovery bootloader to switch: 1. EOS4 zip, 2. KAT kernel, 3. gapps is that correct?
Pete
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2063406 (thread with links for the eos4 )
yes do need all 3 as well your recovery needs to be compatible with 4,2,1. you usualy need the latest version of recovery to be able to do that.
I use twrp 2.3.2.3 which is very easy to instal. just get the goomanager of the play store if u want this recovery and it can instal it for u as well and it will tell you when there are updates to your rom etc....
as a general rule I always do full wipes when changing roms. cache, system etc.... as sometmes the file system is different and needs this.
Why I should not flash a custom ROM:
nothing supports the Slider. Sigh.
Emitted from my Nexus Prime
RaymanFx CM10.1 with the latest nightlies uploaded by 'josteink' and kat kernel 94 for CM10.1 works really well. Full android 4.2.2, smooth and fast. Also adding gps.config file seems to get the gps working as well.
I'm still kicking Team EOS3 #81 with KatKernel #69 & KAT App
99.9999999% bug free
Only thing I have to do sometimes is press a button in Kat App to reinitialise the audio after a long deep sleep
Lightning fast and butter smooth and everything works perfectly
Couldn't agree more having the Team EOS 4 custom ROM has been wonderful. Thanks to the team for all the effort and time.

SGS1 (I9000): Testing CM 10.1 vs. SlimBean 5.0

After being tired with the official gingerbread stock, i decided to give two mods a try, that seemed to be interesting to me:
CM10.1 - latest RC and SlimBean 5.0 (semaphore), based on CM, claiming it is very clean and fast (very interesting to me). both look really nice and so i decided to help myself with the decision by installing my std. apps and benchmark it with antutu 3.3 - 3x ina row after a fresh install andfrsh restart.
the benchmark fits with my subjective feelings: CM10.1 was faster in loading apps and i noticed a slight but annoying waiting time in SlimBean for the keyboard to pop up - the swype-handling is not smooth enough in SlimBean, but only slightly slower. Same with the pin code after starting android - SlimBean delays my entered keys, CM works smooth.To the other hand, SlimBean seems to be faster in graphics. Once i open (e.g. contact list or gallery) sth. in SlimBean, it seems to be way more faster the 2nd time - compared to CM10.1
my take for this moment: i went back to CM10.1 mainly because auf the keyboard delay. i don't play games on my smartphone so i don't care about the gpu.
ps: comments about your experience are welcome.
Alternative Roms
I'm with swift Mackay based Xperia Style using its own keyboard (not updated for long time unfortunately but Mackay is),
and I can suggest CyanAOSP and Gamerz (even without games) with Mackay / Cyan kernels.
I also used Semaphore all over and enjoyed deep idle and low 100 top 1400 MHZ tweaks, with various schedulers.
Hope you will have time to add more benchmarks before settling down with a fine rom
Slim dimensions
deedee_SGS1 said:
After being tired with the official gingerbread stock, i decided to give two mods a try, that seemed to be interesting to me:
CM10.1 - latest RC and SlimBean 5.0 (semaphore), based on CM, claiming it is very clean and fast (very interesting to me). both look really nice and so i decided to help myself with the decision by installing my std. apps and benchmark it with antutu 3.3 - 3x ina row after a fresh install andfrsh restart.
the benchmark fits with my subjective feelings: CM10.1 was faster in loading apps and i noticed a slight but annoying waiting time in SlimBean for the keyboard to pop up - the swype-handling is not smooth enough in SlimBean, but only slightly slower. Same with the pin code after starting android - SlimBean delays my entered keys, CM works smooth.To the other hand, SlimBean seems to be faster in graphics. Once i open (e.g. contact list or gallery) sth. in SlimBean, it seems to be way more faster the 2nd time - compared to CM10.1
my take for this moment: i went back to CM10.1 mainly because auf the keyboard delay. i don't play games on my smartphone so i don't care about the gpu.
ps: comments about your experience are welcome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thak you for your informatioan. But I have a question: why in Slim, all thins are small? How can I increse its?
You need to increase LCD Density to 240 (default for devices with 480x800 screen resolution).
I think it's under Slim Interface settings.

[Q] Omnirom on S3 (core2 offline, camera issues )

Hi all,
i've started installing roms on my s3 in the last two weeks because i was fed up with abysmal jelly bean stock performance.
Started making images etc and pretty soon i was testing various roms. Really painless with cwm etc.
I was amazed at how much faster cm11 was and how responsive and smooth everything got. cm11 m6 wasn't as stable though is i would have liked.
I tried omnirom (4.4.2-20140513-i9300-NIGHTLY). I really like the features it has over cm11 and it IS more stable but it seems it isn't that responsive and smooth (still way better than bloated jellybean stock though) but enough of a difference to make it seems it has issues.
I noticed that core2 is always offline apart from when it's frechly booted.
On one side i don't know if it is normal. You can't see the 4 cores in cm11 so i don't know if cm11 does the same thing but i noticed that omni even isn't as smooth in for example games even when it's freshly booted and it says the four cores are running at 1400. True skate and rayman legends both run buttery smooth on cm11 without dropping a single frame at 60fps vsynced. Omni seems to stutter sometimes and and also sometimes looses vsync!!!
The fact that it's more stable and has no bluetooth dropouts as opposed to cm11 m6 makes me stick with omni...but one thing is really annoying me...THE CAMERA!
Om both google camaera, the "stock" omni camera2.apk and the cm11 camera2.apk i installed in omni the video is super slow...maybe 10 or 15 fps. Also the viewfinder really struggles to keep up for probably the exact same reason the video shooting is so bad.
Will there be a fix for that?
Ow...and i don't have multiwindow??? Is that normal.
Thanks all!

Mokee OpenSource ROM

I've not seen this ROM mentioned for Moto X before... but here it is:
http://download.mokeedev.com/?device=moto_msm8960dt
Details about this ROM:
MoKee OpenSource is based on the Google AOSP. We update our source code frequently to keep up with the latest development, and not forgetting to merge in special features of our own at the same time.
A small group of people from around the world who are interested in Android launched this project on the 12th of December 2012, and is committed to make this ROM better and better. Like most contributors of open source projects (Omni, CyanogenMod, Slim AOSPA etc), we are doing all these in our free time as our passion...
Since this project is open source, anyone interested can participate in the development (maintain new devices, contribute code etc). Newcomers are always welcomed!
Read here for developer application: http://www.mfunz.com/en/developer-application, you can host your unofficial MoKee builds on our server!
Some benefits of Mokee:
Phone & Messaging
Quick contacts look up, speed dialing, caller location and other useful features
Colorful Themes
Unleash the creative side of you, customize how your phone looks; make it cool, make it colorful!
Smart Controls
Increase your productivity with Active Display, Lockscreen Notifications and other shortcuts
Power Saver
With our unique battery saving strategies, get the most out of your phone's battery
Snippet from a review at techgeekal.com
"Some would accuse me of wrongly placing mokee OS above giants like PA and CM. But I shall give you the reasons why I have done that. First and foremost this ROM has all of the features the above mentioned CM11 has like dual SIM compatibility and being absolutely bug less. But it comes with the added incentive of a number of other features that CM lacks. Things like Multi Windows, List view animations, Halo, Active display including various others are not found in CM natively but in Mokee OS these work absolutely perfectly. Now some may even say that PAC and Carbon too have some of these features, but they lack dual SIM support which is why this is currently the ROM to beat. Its got everything you can ask for, from features to stability. And they are constantly adding new features which makes it even better."
I'm going to flash it now, and will post my opinion shortly...
First impressions:
1) Buttery smooth, polished and snappy; CM11-type setup process. Some native Chinese options appear right off (not of interest to me, but I wanted to mention that it was easy to select English as the default...)
2) I'm using an XT1060 Verizon Moto X. And while the ROM states it's for the msm8960dt, I waited several (uncomfortable) minutes on first launch before it detected a cell signal. All seems fine now. Strength is on par with CM11 4.4.4. I haven't used the ROM long enough to know if Mokee shares the same problems as CM11...
3) Really nice OTA interface, with frequency choices as to how often it checks for new versions to update.
4) The ROM throws up the error that ART is not officially supported, but you can easily select it in Settings/Developer Options and reboot. If you haven't done this before, I was quickly reminded that it takes FOREVER to convert all of your apps to ART...
5) Supports Cyanogenmod Themes - nice touch. I love the Flux theme (all but their icons - I substitute Velur).
6) I seem to be able to scroll up and down pages with this ROM faster than any other I've used before. Render time is incredible.
More soon...
And about 1080p back câmera record?
1080p option...though they must have their labeling backwards...that should be for "rear camera"...
Sent from my Moto X using XDA Premium HD app
How is the Active Display app? Any better than the typical play store options?
Sent from my XT1060
what about the gapps?
ellcid said:
what about the gapps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used PA 4.4.4 gapps and it is working beautifully.
A little lag here and there but not a deal-breaker.
Now I just need to test gps and if it has no issues, this will be my daily driver for now.
poncespr said:
I used PA 4.4.4 gapps and it is working beautifully.
A little lag here and there but not a deal-breaker.
Now I just need to test gps and if it has no issues, this will be my daily driver for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used PA Gapps, and google keyboard force closed. Then wipe data and cache, then install rom, and doesn't install gapps, and reboot to rom. And the rom contains gapps. Hmmm...
I used PA 4.4.4 gapps also. I don't stay with other ROMs too long, as Verizon seems to really be sensitive with signals when I'm not on stock... so I didn't get to test the Active Display function. Either way, Floatify, DynamicNotifications, and NotifierPro are all great solutions for any ROM. I did notice lockscreen notification swipe panes on Mokee were functioning and nice though.
A few very minor issues with a couple of apps...I couldn't get BackDrop Root Pro, for example, to recognize that BusyBox was indeed installed.
I would likely have kept it if it weren't for the signal.
PS - I cant recall exactly where, but I believe if you install the ROM and then go to Settings / Mokee Center / Extras, you will see that the ROM will allow you to download and install gapps right from there...
Shyciii said:
I used PA Gapps, and google keyboard force closed. Then wipe data and cache, then install rom, and doesn't install gapps, and reboot to rom. And the rom contains gapps. Hmmm...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using the release version of Mookie, not the nightly build, with pa_gapps-stock-4.4.4-20140629-signed.
I did a complete wipe including system folder.
So far I have two single issues after using this rom all day and they are minimal.
1. I had a f/c when I received my first call after installing the rom. The issue has not repeated itself after several incoming calls.
2. Btooth does not seem to be sending music data to my car stereo, which usually displays music information.
These two issues are all that I've had after a full day of use.
A couple of things.
Battery life is good. Seems a little bit better even, compared to stock, at least fot me. Still the best battery life I have had so far is with Krypton.
I used the camera, gps, bluetooth, wifi, wired and wireless headstes and had absolutely zero issues.
Call quality is good, as well as volume. There are no speakerphone issues. Gps locks very fast and stays locked.
CM11 themes work perfectly. And camera seems to be working fine.
I love the little touches added to the rom.
All in all, I say this is superb, and for a new rom, it feels like it is ready for prime time.
ROM is running very smooth without any issues...using gapps 6.30.2014 with an unlocked, non Dev, VZW Moto X. The theming is very nice too....
Sent from my Unlocked VZW M-O-T-O XxX
a.tanakaa said:
And about 1080p back câmera record?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hijax2001 said:
1080p option...though they must have their labeling backwards...that should be for "rear camera"...
Sent from my Moto X using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Translation has been corrected on yesterdays release, it now displays front and rear cameras correct resolution.
But rear facing camera has been limited to 320x240. It is the front facing camera that can record up to 1080p.
Photo resolution seems to be ok.
Battery usage looks higher now, on last release.
Im gonna try this, thanks!!
Doh! After updating to 7/12 I'm having signal and GPS issues.
Going back to previous version to see if it is resolved.
Disregard this post.
Sent from my DROID MAXX using Tapatalk
poncespr said:
Doh! After updating to 7/12 I'm having signal and GPS issues.
Going back to previous version to see if it is resolved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Changelogs documented here: http://changelog.mokeedev.com/index.php?mk_version=MK44
hijax2001 said:
Changelogs documented here: http://changelog.mokeedev.com/index.php?mk_version=MK44
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Great.
Thanks!
Wonder why this was moved to general from the development section. This is very solid ROM with consistent nightlies.....been using it as my DD. Very smooth.....
Sent from my Unlocked VZW M-O-T-O XxX
imparables said:
Wonder why this was moved to general from the development section. This is very solid ROM with consistent nightlies.....been using it as my DD. Very smooth.....
Sent from my Unlocked VZW M-O-T-O XxX
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it is.
I am also using it as my daily rom.
Like it much better than stock.
imparables said:
Wonder why this was moved to general from the development section. This is very solid ROM with consistent nightlies.....been using it as my DD. Very smooth.....
Sent from my Unlocked VZW M-O-T-O XxX
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because the developer is not here....there's no kernel source code linked....there's a very specific set of rules/guidelines for posting a rom in the development section.

TouchWiz ROM vs CM11

Here are the results in zipped screenshots after running Geekbench on my Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 (SM-T320).
First I did a test on the stock TouchWiz ROM (Sep 3rd, 2014 update).
Then I wiped the device and installed CM11 (M11, Oct 2014 release) , nothing else was added.
I had tweaked neither TouchWiz nor CM11 (no governors changing, no trickster mods, no nothing)
As I had empirically observed, in the Sales Force Automation app that I am developing (which is resource intensive), the stock TouchWiz ROM is faster. (I actually benchmarked it on both ROMs, see post 16 bellow)
Single-Core Test: 7.24% (TW is faster than CM11)
Multi-Core Test: 16.11% (TW is faster than CM11)
*** UPDATE for CM11 (M12) ***
When CM11(M12) rolled out I also benchmarked it with Antutu and it casts CM11 as faster than TW by a persistent 3.51% (did the test 5 times in each ROM, always by ~3,5% CM11 is faster)
Benchmarking CM11 (M11) vs CM (M12) the results are the same, not worth posting extra screenshots.
****************************************************************************
Here are some of my thoughts after using both the stock TW ROM and CM11
I found TW better than CM11 on:
-- The Samsung Email app is far superior than the CM11 Email app
I have configured a corporate Exchange account, CM11's Email app downloads attachments as 0 bytes, I have to use 3rd party email such as "Nine - Exchange ActiveSync" or "CloudMagic" (which is cloud based) if I want to download attachments.
-- The Samsung Contacts app is far superior than the CM11 contacts app (which defaults in portrait mode and needs 3rd party app/mod to change it)
-- I cannot transfer files between my PC's Bluetooth dongle and CM11 (but I can and do transfer files via Bluetooth between the PC and the device on the TW ROM, btw files transfers between my phone and the device work both on TW and CM11 ROMs)
-- Battery drains faster on CM11 (though improved), no noticeable difference on M11/M12
-- Samsung Camera is superior than the CM11's camera (though latest Google Camera builds go on par with Samsung's one, so no problem there)
-- I use both WiFi (at home and at work) and Bluetooth (in my car and out of WiFi reach) connection to the Internet. On TW ROM the WiFi connection disables the Bluetooth connection when connectable WiFi is in range while it is the other way around on CM11.
-- Miracast works fine both on TW and CM11, transmitting the device's screen on TV. But additionally when video is playing on the device, TW transmits only the video on TV while leaving the device's screen operable for other tasks while CM11 transmits both video and the screen, as Miracast default behavior.
-- TW has built in DLNA server, running as a service, with the ability to transmit subtitles. In order to achieve that on CM11 I need to download the Pixel Media Server app (the best I found with subtitle support) which is killed by the OS when swiped off the Recent Tasks pane.
I found CM11 better than TW on:
-- No bloatware, debloatted by default (TW debloatting is always incomplete and trouble prone)
-- Uses less RAM, more active applications on the background (though not that many)
-- Much, much smoother that TW (although using Google Now Launcher on TW improved the experience)
-- Far superior Settings on CM11, the Settings are awful on TW ROM, always a pain to find what I am looking for.
-- Far superior notifications, status bar and quick access tiles on CM11
I really, really like CM11. That's the software that our device should have been shipped with, but I found Samsung's TW more rounded, more polished, more h/w compatible, more worked through than CM11.
You are welcomed to share your thoughts.
.
thdervenis said:
Here are the results in zipped screenshots after running Geekbench on my Samsung Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 (SM-T320).
First I did a test on the stock TouchWiz ROM (Sep 3rd, 2014 update).
Then I wiped the device and installed CM11 (M11, Oct 2014 release) , nothing else was added.
I hadn't tweaked neither TouchWiz nor CM11 (no governors changing, no trickster mods, no nothing)
As I had empirically observed, in the Sales Force Automation app that I am developing (which is resource intensive), the stock TouchWiz ROM is faster.
You are welcomed to share your thoughts.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think it depends on what apps you are running, some are probably better with TW. However, over all I think that cm11 has better overall feeling.
CM is slower ?
CM is worse on this tablet, I have TW because CM and other AOSP builds are having many problems even on official.
I bet a debloated tw would just crush it.
Please if it wasn't for CM I would have gotten rid of both my 8.4 and 10.1 tabs. They work fine with CM. Useless benchmarks...
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
thdervenis, which exact ROM is your TouchWiz ROM anyways? Is it NG1?
Anyways regardless of a 7 to 15% benchmark performance difference... I am still thinking of dumping TW (NG1) and trying CM11.
I'm just not a fan of any of these Samsung "features" or bloat (I don't care for multi-window, S Finder, etc) and I just want the default Android experience I get with a Nexus device.
At least with CM11 I should be able to have more free RAM because none of the Samsung bloat I don't use will be running in the background (right?)
locutusx said:
thdervenis, which exact ROM is your TouchWiz ROM anyways? Is it NG1?
Anyways regardless of a 7 to 15% benchmark performance difference... I am still thinking of dumping TW (NG1) and trying CM11.
I'm just not a fan of any of these Samsung "features" or bloat (I don't care for multi-window, S Finder, etc) and I just want the default Android experience I get with a Nexus device.
At least with CM11 I should be able to have more free RAM because none of the Samsung bloat I don't use will be running in the background (right?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should try CM11, I definitely recommend it. But be wary of dumping TW for good.
I develop an Android app which is resource and database intensive. It downloads data from remote servers and stores them locally in an Sqlite database. TW db performance is significantly faster than CM11, over 20% (measured repeatedly with my watch, I haven't found a db benchmark app yet)
I like CM11 better than TW, it is smoother, it uses less RAM (TW boots with 1.35GB in use, CM11 boots with 980MB in use), it's transitions are superior to that of TW and I hate the TW's bloatware.
But no bloatware, does not make CM11 lighter on the battery (it drains faster, yet at least since M11 it improved), neither does it make it faster on opening, switching and running apps. I have managed to keep about 6-7 (heavy) active apps active on the background on TW and about 7-8 (heavy) active apps on CM11 due to more RAM available.
I am very fond of CM11, it is the software that our device should have been shipped with in the first place. Android and CM is one of the major reasons why I wouldn't go iOS (I love tweaking, experimenting and I am an avid ROM flasher)
PS: My TW ROM is KOT49H.T320XXU1BNI1 (build Wed Sep 13 :34:57 KST 2014)
I had Slimkat installed on my 8.4 for a while but i'm back to TW, too.
I'm using Apex launcher,greenify, xposed and removed most unneeded system apps.
On Custom Rom, there were to many apps crashing randomly.
I can customize the stock rom via xposed exactly the way i want it to be.
Many xposed customizations don't work on slimkat and aren't available in settings, too.
The hole TW UI is much more optimized on the screen size and resolution.
Of course these are just my opinions, but i really like the tw rom.
greetings
Good to know you are on NI1. I am on NG1 but too many things do not work (i.e. Chromecast)
I think I will wait another 2 weeks for a North American NI1 firmware, if not I'll just go with the British one.
I guess it makes sense that official Samsung firmwares are better performing because they can ask their in-house developers to optimize it for the tablet, whereas CM11 might be missing some optimizations?
Hey OP, how about re-doing the benches using M12 (since you did them using M11) ... M12 could be faster, no?
locutusx said:
Hey OP, how about re-doing the benches using M12 (since you did them using M11) ... M12 could be faster, no?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I planned to do it on the weekend (or tomorrow if I find an hour), not because I expect any difference but because I want to try another benchmark tool also (I follow MondrianWiFi's CM11 changelog, I haven't seen any changes that are going to improve performance).
I plan to use and post results from both Antutu and Geekbench on a vanilla setup of both ROMs. I am not going to try the battery duration as I do not plan to use CM11. Any other benchmark tool that I should try?
PS: It's not so much the performance penalty that keeps me from using CM11 (I have found it to be smoother and more tweakable) as the shortcomings that I mentioned above in my post (especially the email, the bluetooth and to a lesser extent the battery)
locutusx said:
Anyways regardless of a 7 to 15% benchmark performance difference... I am still thinking of dumping TW (NG1) and trying CM11.
I'm just not a fan of any of these Samsung "features" or bloat (I don't care for multi-window, S Finder, etc) and I just want the default Android experience I get with a Nexus device.
At least with CM11 I should be able to have more free RAM because none of the Samsung bloat I don't use will be running in the background (right?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would absolutely recommend to try CM11 if that is how you feel, or alternately SlimKat.
I went to SlimKat and never looked back. Its just a personal preference, and also depends on how you use your device. But I also hate the Samsung bloat apps, did not find anything to add any value (for me) and hated how TW handles the basic UI like Settings, Contacts, etc. SlimKat is so much smoother. I don't think the things being benched by the OP apply to how I use my tablet (I haven't witnessed any performance loss in real life, only smoother interface); nor have I noticed battery life to be significantly affected. Again, a lot is probably dependent on what apps you like to use.
Also remember that manufacturers love to cheat on benchmarks. And Samsung has been shown to cheat on GeekBench specifically by 11 to 16% (pretty close to the deltas found by the OP's benchmark comparison - coincidence or no?). Samsung has supposedly gone legit on benchmarks as of earlier this year. But I don't know if I buy that. Probably all the manufacturers cheat the benches in one way or another (HTC was caught, too). As long as there is a means to compare (increasingly similar) devices; manufacturers will try to leverage that benchmark to make their product look better.
http://www.extremetech.com/computing/177841-samsungs-latest-android-update-no-longer-cheats-on-benchmarks
Interesting comparison, nonetheless and the OPs effort is appreciated.
OP, in terms of additional benchmarking apps, how about trying one of the "Super PI" apps for Android. I use that for quick benchmarking runs when I overclock my desktop, you could try it for your firmware benchmarking as well
There are a few on the Google Play store.
For the record, I try to avoid threads like this like the plague... But you seem to actually be have good intentions.
Your benchmarks really don't show much other than the fact that Samsung "cheats". If you look at your graphs, you'll see that the CM numbers are equal or almost equal[*] to those of the Nexus 5. Given that we have the same hardware as the nexus 5 that's actually what you'd expect. The "cheating" is that Samsung has a power manager service that knows about benchmarking apps and tweaks things in the system to make benchmarking apps benchmark better. That part I know, what they tweak, I do not know. But obvious things are to overclock (unlikely), lock processors at max frequency (likely), let processors run too hot for their own good (likely) and keep processors always online (likely).
You did mention that your app is definitely much faster on TW than CM. If you can provide a test program/app and instructions for running it that you think is doing better in TW than CM, please send me instructions either via PM or via the CM thread in original development. The only way to make things better is to have tests cases so if you can share, it helps.
[*] We are slower on the graphics tests because we have a larger display.
Sqlite db operations: receive and write 20,000 records in a batch
Triggered by crpalmer's comments I 've compiled the following benchmarks of the application that I participate as a developer. I 've compiled them after hours at work on my personal tablet (SM-T320).
The application I am developing is an ERP & CRM companion app for my company's BackOffice ERP & CRM application systems. It downloads packets of JSON formatted data (usually 2,000 records a batch) and stores them locally in an Sqlite db. The data downloaded can easily exceed 300,000 records in over 150 Sqlite tables.
In order to achieve "optimal" conditions for benchmarking I did the following
The benchmarks were performed after hours, when the company's personnel had left and network resources were unused (I performed them on our Intranet).
The company's SQL Servers that provide the data were not used by any other but me.
I configured the app to download just 1 table (not 150+ tables) so as to minimize network calls per table to download the data.
I configured the app to download 20,000 records in a batch (not 10 calls of 2,000 records so as to minimize network calls per table) and insert them in Sqlite.
It took me about 1.5 hours, flashing and reflashing, performing the tests. I did the test for only 20,000 in a batch because if I had done it for the whole dataset it would take me about 30 minutes a try.
As you can see bellow TouchWiz outperforms CM11 consistently by 10 seconds for a 2 min to 3 min operation. Keep in mind that the actual business operation of the app is to do multiple calls over the network downloading and inserting 2,000 to 2,500 records in a batch, a full fetch cycle includes over 120 network/Sqlite batch insert calls. In a full process cycle this may take 30 mins, TouchWiz outperfoms CM11 by about a noticeable 5 - 7 minutes (~17% faster). I 've have stamped up on the delay consistently over the past 4 months that I own the tablet and pin pointed it on Sqlite operations, not on network conditions.
TouchWiz (KOT49H.T320XXU1BNI1) (clean flashed, no accounts, no updates, no apps, only WiFi setted)
1st try: 2 mins and 48 secs
2nd try: 2 mins and 31 secs (no app reopen)
3rd try: 2 mins and 31 secs (no app reopen)
4th try: 2 mins and 30 secs (no app reopen)
5th try: 2 mins and 30 secs (no app reopen)
CM11 (M12) (clean flashed, no accounts, no apps, only WiFi setted)
1st try: 3 minutes and 2 seconds
2nd try: 2 minutes and 42 seconds (no app reopen)
3rd try: 2 minutes and 41 seconds (no app reopen)
4th try: 2 minutes and 41 seconds (no app reopen)
5th try: 2 minutes and 43 seconds (no app reopen)
Bellow are the instructions on how to use it and get a glimpse of what I did.
Sorry crpalmer, I cannot give you a version of the app to perform the test I did, I would have to go to the legal department of my company to get clearance, I don't want to do that for my personal tablet. Also the "demo" user that I am posting bellow (it is the publicly available login that we encourage our customers to use so as to demonstrate our app) downloads a small set of data (not actual full work load data), usually done in 2 to 3 mins, so the difference between the two ROMs may not be noticeable or depended on network conditions.
Here is the link to the app on Google Play http://goo.gl/JTd3SR . Make sure your tablet in in English (or if it's in another language it will default to Greek)
Login using "demo" as both username and password.
Press the first option labeled "Company Selection"
Let it finish until it shows a toast "Work area changed ..."
Press back and press back again.
It will start downloading data. (it 'll take a 2 to 3 mins)
Press the "Refresh" button on the main screen and select the 3rd option labeled "Get All" and press ok. I did this final step five times in order to benchmark it..
I am not passing a judgement on CM11 or TouchWiz, just my personal experience on my device on the General Discussion section, hoping someone will also share their expreriences. I know that full professional benchmarking is not what I did.
crpalmer said:
The "cheating" is that Samsung has a power manager service that knows about benchmarking apps and tweaks things in the system to make benchmarking apps benchmark better. That part I know, what they tweak, I do not know. But obvious things are to overclock (unlikely), lock processors at max frequency (likely), let processors run too hot for their own good (likely) and keep processors always online (likely).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I've read, tweaking the thermal profile and maxing out the CPU clock during benchmarks is what they were doing when they got busted earlier this year (before supposedly coming clean with 4.4.4).
As much as I appreciate CM, I've always found it inferior to the stock ROM on tablets. Especially when compared to a de-bloatified TouchWiz. (Why oh why does Samsung hamstring their devices in that way?)
I haven't rooted my GTab Pro 8.4 yet (I'm running stock w/Nova Launcher Prime) but when I get some free time I'll debloat it... as fast as it is now, I'd love to see how it runs lean and mean.
TW, CM11 (M12) and conclusion
I updated my first post with benchmarks I did using Antutu, it's *** UPDATE for CM11 (M12) ***
The results appear to be inconclusive:
Geekbench casts TW as noticeably faster (~16%)
Antutu casts CM11 as somewhat faster (~3.5%)
Plus my own, non professional benchmark, that casts TW as faster (on network calls followed by db insertions)
A 3rd, a 4th and a 5th professional benchmark tool might also cast different and inconclusive results.
From a consumer point of view CM11 beats down laggy TouchWiz.
So I guess it is down to if Samsung stock software gives you reasons enough to stay with TW or get rid of it and go with CM11.
My thoughts on the experience is in the 1st post at the beginning of the thread.
My CM works super excellent and much better than TW... That is very strange

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