Database Users

Are custom rom's necessary.

OK a philosophical rant.
I've spent hours trying to decide which custom rom to install. Watched all the youtube videos went on all the developers web sites and read hundreds of pages of threads and yet nothing jumps out at me. I was asking myself why do I want a custom rom. So I went through a checklist of what roms offer
1. Remove bloatware - done that through titanium
2. Display customisations - I use sense and nova and various other gui apps that provide many options
3. Tweaks - I have exposed modules - sense 6, gravity box and xsense which give me all the tweaks I need
4. Speed - my phone's running very well.
5. Gestures - I use gmd gestures
Some roms offer hundreds of tweaks. In reality how often and how many would you change. Also while most roms are stable and bugs are fixable, there are many reports of problems and yes I know they do get fixed eventually but losing wifi, carrier access, reboots, bootloops etc can be disconcerting and a common question is how do I get back to stock rom.
I came to the conclusion that the only reason I wanted a custom rom was to see if I could load one and try it out. Seems like a lot of mucking about to achieve, in my case on this phone, very little.
Have i missed the point of roms?

I installed the Android Lollipop custom rom and it was nice. There were two bugs that I encountered and they were 1) no system r/w access and 2) I kept having to dismount and remount my sd card. I tried Cyanogenmod and while it was nice, I missed Blinkfeed.

It's a presonal preference, really. Everybody has their reason for what operating system they run on their phone. As for me, I like custom ROMs because I like to stay on the bleeding edge. If a new version of Android is released, you can guarantee there'll be a custom ROM for it within 1-2 weeks. Even when the OEM has stopped pushing out updates, custom ROMs give the ability to always stay on the bleeding edge. Also, some people dislike the Sense UI. Understandable, since it does slow the phone down just a bit. But really, it' just down to personal preference.

primed1 said:
It's a presonal preference, really. Everybody has their reason for what operating system they run on their phone. As for me, I like custom ROMs because I like to stay on the bleeding edge. If a new version of Android is released, you can guarantee there'll be a custom ROM for it within 1-2 weeks. Even when the OEM has stopped pushing out updates, custom ROMs give the ability to always stay on the bleeding edge. Also, some people dislike the Sense UI. Understandable, since it does slow the phone down just a bit. But really, it' just down to personal preference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe its a Windows vs Mac thing. Its funny you know that I'm an experienced computer teacher and on PCs I always stay up to date and I do like to be on the bleeding edge but when it comes to phones I feel differently but on my Samsung tablet I do have a custom rom. I'm not anti custom rom. Samsungs bloatware is ridiculous, touchwiz is awful and the tablet is very laggy. A custom rom here was absolutely necessary. Now it flies but on the htc one m8, I don't mind sense 6, speed is good and customisations are adequate.

Technically speaking they are not necessary. I prefer stock android to sense.
Also lollipop appears to be a game changer for exposed. It's uncertain the future of exposed.
I know my ROM of choice is miui although it can be a crap shoot to get a stable ROM to my liking so I usually use mi launcher

jbarr3 said:
OK a philosophical rant.
I've spent hours trying to decide which custom rom to install. Watched all the youtube videos went on all the developers web sites and read hundreds of pages of threads and yet nothing jumps out at me. I was asking myself why do I want a custom rom. So I went through a checklist of what roms offer
1. Remove bloatware - done that through titanium
2. Display customisations - I use sense and nova and various other gui apps that provide many options
3. Tweaks - I have exposed modules - sense 6, gravity box and xsense which give me all the tweaks I need
4. Speed - my phone's running very well.
5. Gestures - I use gmd gestures
Some roms offer hundreds of tweaks. In reality how often and how many would you change. Also while most roms are stable and bugs are fixable, there are many reports of problems and yes I know they do get fixed eventually but losing wifi, carrier access, reboots, bootloops etc can be disconcerting and a common question is how do I get back to stock rom.
I came to the conclusion that the only reason I wanted a custom rom was to see if I could load one and try it out. Seems like a lot of mucking about to achieve, in my case on this phone, very little.
Have i missed the point of roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once u try Xposed Module Xtended Settings (for Sense 6) u won't need a rom. It's ALMOST got more features than s6tb, xsense, htc one tweaker, gravity box,- ALL COMBINED AND THEN SOME THAT NONE OF EM CONTAIN.... Newest versions up on Play Store (Xposed report has older versions).... With this 1 single mod, I have no need for custom rom. Try it u WILL NOT regret it (or turn back either)

Are custom roms necessary? In my opinion yes they are.
1: some people prefer a pure android experience (me included)
2: some people want certain tweaks, apps, and settings
3: and the MOST important one! Faster updates, and longer device life.
What do i mean by device life? Newest android on phones that the manufacturer phased out. Look at the galaxy s3 running 4.4.4, or the galaxy nexus running 4.4.4 and probably 5.0 now. These devices stopped getting updates from their manufacturers but are still good usuable phones, preventing me from getting a new device.
This is why companies have been locking down bootloaders, to get you to buy a new device for new software when the one you own is perfectly good.
So it comes down to taste, preference, and android version.

jbarr3 said:
Have i missed the point of roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Xposed and all these apps which you are using came in very late if you compare them to when custom roms started popping up. Now, me for one prefer to have some of the functionality you use baked into my rom instead of me going to the play store and downloading an app to do so.

R4INS said:
Are custom roms necessary? In my opinion yes they are.
1: some people prefer a pure android experience (me included)
2: some people want certain tweaks, apps, and settings
3: and the MOST important one! Faster updates, and longer device life.
What do i mean by device life? Newest android on phones that the manufacturer phased out. Look at the galaxy s3 running 4.4.4, or the galaxy nexus running 4.4.4 and probably 5.0 now. These devices stopped getting updates from their manufacturers but are still good usuable phones, preventing me from getting a new device.
This is why companies have been locking down bootloaders, to get you to buy a new device for new software when the one you own is perfectly good.
So it comes down to taste, preference, and android version.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which rom are you using then?
BTW In Australia we are bypassing 4.4.4 and going straight to 5.0. When I don't know (Jan. was mentioned) but I'll revisit roms when they match my firmware. The point about updates is a good one. I forgot about that.

jbarr3 said:
Which rom are you using then?
BTW In Australia we are bypassing 4.4.4 and going straight to 5.0. When I don't know (Jan. was mentioned) but I'll revisit roms when they match my firmware. The point about updates is a good one. I forgot about that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im running the google play edition 5.0 lollipop leak right now. Hoping the official google play 5.0 update comes this week. Kinda laggy. I tend to run cyanogenmod (cm11) so as soon as cm12 comes out ill be switching to that

R4INS said:
Im running the google play edition 5.0 lollipop leak right now. Hoping the official google play 5.0 update comes this week. Kinda laggy. I tend to run cyanogenmod (cm11) so as soon as cm12 comes out ill be switching to that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash the antilag fix holyangel posted, it makes things usable imho. Its not 100% gone but its a whole lot better without the fix.

luigi90210 said:
Flash the antilag fix holyangel posted, it makes things usable imho. Its not 100% gone but its a whole lot better without the fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah i have the tweaks all set. Also switched to nova launcher (ditching google now helps). I really only experience the most lag in chrome and keyboard. I could try a differrnt keyboard i guess but it matches so well.

R4INS said:
Yeah i have the tweaks all set. Also switched to nova launcher (ditching google now helps). I really only experience the most lag in chrome and keyboard. I could try a differrnt keyboard i guess but it matches so well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its funny you say that cause im only experiencing lag on google messanger. Everything else is smooth with the occasional hiccup once and a while.
To add my $0.02 to the topic, i feel custom roms in the sense like CM, AOKP, paranoid android, ect. are not necessary unless you have no way to get pure android on your device. Im running the leaked lollipop rom and im loving it aside from the minor lag issues im experiencing, i feel android has itself to a point where if you need to customize something, you have rooted apps that can do it, there isnt any need to have all these seperate apps baked into a rom when you will only use 1/3rd of the features, its just adding more bloat to what could be a pure aosp rom

luigi90210 said:
Its funny you say that cause im only experiencing lag on google messanger. Everything else is smooth with the occasional hiccup once and a while.
To add my $0.02 to the topic, i feel custom roms in the sense like CM, AOKP, paranoid android, ect. are not necessary unless you have no way to get pure android on your device. Im running the leaked lollipop rom and im loving it aside from the minor lag issues im experiencing, i feel android has itself to a point where if you need to customize something, you have rooted apps that can do it, there isnt any need to have all these seperate apps baked into a rom when you will only use 1/3rd of the features, its just adding more bloat to what could be a pure aosp rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I do agree, that the feel of stock AOSP is unbeatable, I don't think that AOSP ROMs like CyanogenMod and Paranoid Android are completely useless. They have some features that you can't simply add with an Xposed module, or some root app. Take CM's theme manager, for example. I honestly don't know what I'd do without the theme manager. And Paranoid Android's Hover feature? (Which I guess with Lollipop's floating mode, is now useless), but in KitKat, it was revolutionary. And I'm sure they'll continue to add new, unbeatable features in Lollipop, too. And until they stop adding new features, I don't think it's likely that I'll stop using them.

primed1 said:
While I do agree, that the feel of stock AOSP is unbeatable, I don't think that AOSP ROMs like CyanogenMod and Paranoid Android are completely useless. They have some features that you can't simply add with an Xposed module, or some root app. Take CM's theme manager, for example. I honestly don't know what I'd do without the theme manager. And Paranoid Android's Hover feature? (Which I guess with Lollipop's floating mode, is now useless), but in KitKat, it was revolutionary. And I'm sure they'll continue to add new, unbeatable features in Lollipop, too. And until they stop adding new features, I don't think it's likely that I'll stop using them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hover can be used via gravity box, wanam, and other tool boxes like it, themer however is unique to android but for a user like me who stays with stock themes that feature is moot.
With xposed not working on lollipop i can see where having a feature hardcoded into a rom would be good but thats only if xposed is broken forever.
Thats my $0.02 on the subject though, i personally find no need to run a custom rom on my HTC One M8, lollipop has all the features i use and i only need root to manage my kernel, files(root explorer), sound control, and an app like greenify that forces apps to shut down when not in use to gelp battery life.

bdizzle1686 said:
Once u try Xposed Module Xtended Settings (for Sense 6) u won't need a rom. It's ALMOST got more features than s6tb, xsense, htc one tweaker, gravity box,- ALL COMBINED AND THEN SOME THAT NONE OF EM CONTAIN.... Newest versions up on Play Store (Xposed report has older versions).... With this 1 single mod, I have no need for custom rom. Try it u WILL NOT regret it (or turn back either)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just installed this and your right, its very good but it is missing a couple of my favourite tweaks from my xsense, sense 6 toolbox and gravity box. Using all of these gives all the tweaks you could possibly want,

primed1 said:
While I do agree, that the feel of stock AOSP is unbeatable, I don't think that AOSP ROMs like CyanogenMod and Paranoid Android are completely useless. They have some features that you can't simply add with an Xposed module, or some root app. Take CM's theme manager, for example. I honestly don't know what I'd do without the theme manager. And Paranoid Android's Hover feature? (Which I guess with Lollipop's floating mode, is now useless), but in KitKat, it was revolutionary. And I'm sure they'll continue to add new, unbeatable features in Lollipop, too. And until they stop adding new features, I don't think it's likely that I'll stop using them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CM theme Manager based on T-Mobile theme engine is used by RichmondoUK in his xposed module too

A custom rom is a great thing but not necessary. I wish i had a custom rom on my m8, but since is almost certain that i can't s-off it, i don't wanna risk not been able to update the firmware or to lose wifi or network signal if i upgrade to a rom based on newer firmware. So i'll keep it stock at least until lollipop comes.

I`d like to add something,
Before knowing that GREAT invention called "XPOSED" , custom roms were a must for me and I assume for every android maniac like me. But now things are totally different , with XPOSED u can have customize ur stock rom in all ways . And thus u get all the benefits of both stock roms "stable bug free" and custom roms at the same time. Guys we shud really thank Mr. XPOSED inventor whoever he is. :good::good:

Jabber Abdullah said:
Before knowing that GREAT invention called "XPOSED" , custom roms were a must for me and I assume for every android maniac like me. But now things are totally different , with XPOSED u can have customize ur stock rom in all ways . And thus u get all the benefits of both stock roms "stable bug free" and custom roms at the same time. Guys we shud really thank Mr. XPOSED inventor whoever he is. :good::good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see everyone talking about Xposed.
Given it's uncertain future in Android 5 I'm afraid for the foreseeable you are going to want baked in features on custom ROMs.
I personally cannot wait to see what themers can do with Android 5.0 in the CM theme engine.
Like others I am also waiting for CM12 as it always just feels more snappy than stock.

Any TW user who has moved to AOSP and hadn't regretted since?

I don't know why I am asking this, but maybe because I can't use LP because Xposed isn't compatible with it yet, I mean for TW based ROMs that is, or something else, but I see that a lot of people are using AOSP based ROMs and even happy about it. I personally like stock Android too but for Note series they have always been a mess and either this or that never really did work fine, and I have used that Cyanogen thingy before, the experience was nothing short of awful!
So I am creating this topic, asking to the TW users only, who like TW, has any one of you moved to AOSP based ROMs and finding it good, or better than TW to put it simply? Does everything work, I mean S-Pen related features and all that?

I personally like TW interface. I'm currently using Lollipop TW and i find it really stable. I have also tried teamsek lollipop AOSP. It is stable but it lacks some samsung features like S-pen, S-cover and all those small sensor (smart screen, air view) options that TW software has. The latest version of AOSP that i have tried was teamsek 5.2 i think and it was really nice but battery life wasn't really good. But it might have changed in recent versions. So i suggest that you make nandroid backup and try AOSP and if you don't like it just restore your previous firmware.
Also there are apps on playstore that can enable some S-pen features on AOSP.
Hope i helped

devilsdouble said:
I don't know why I am asking this, but maybe because I can't use LP because Xposed isn't compatible with it yet, I mean for TW based ROMs that is, or something else, but I see that a lot of people are using AOSP based ROMs and even happy about it. I personally like stock Android too but for Note series they have always been a mess and either this or that never really did work fine, and I have used that Cyanogen thingy before, the experience was nothing short of awful!
So I am creating this topic, asking to the TW users only, who like TW, has any one of you moved to AOSP based ROMs and finding it good, or better than TW to put it simply? Does everything work, I mean S-Pen related features and all that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I kinda qualify - I use and like Alliance ROM LP version - 7.1 currently. It is highly configurable and fast. The 'kinda' is because I normally swap to Nova Launcher as soon as a ROM is installed.
But I also use, more as time goes on, Temasek's LP CM12 build - currently 8.4 just installed. I'm liking it more and more as I use it - no Samsung bloat and the S-Pen beta from XDA does all I want with my pen and it's being upgraded pretty regularly as more features are added. I can't think of anything a stock-based ROM has that I don't have in Android 5 from Temasek.
Now if only there was a dual boot kernel around for the Note 3.

Journyman16 said:
I kinda qualify - I use and like Alliance ROM LP version - 7.1 currently. It is highly configurable and fast. The 'kinda' is because I normally swap to Nova Launcher as soon as a ROM is installed.
But I also use, more as time goes on, Temasek's LP CM12 build - currently 8.4 just installed. I'm liking it more and more as I use it - no Samsung bloat and the S-Pen beta from XDA does all I want with my pen and it's being upgraded pretty regularly as more features are added. I can't think of anything a stock-based ROM has that I don't have in Android 5 from Temasek.
Now if only there was a dual boot kernel around for the Note 3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So with this ROM (Temasek) there is no problem you notice which isn't there on TW ROMs? Like poor call volume, crappy camera photo quality, the display going yellowish etc.? Basic functions, or the problems with basic functions scare me most.

Journyman16 said:
I kinda qualify - I use and like Alliance ROM LP version - 7.1 currently. It is highly configurable and fast. The 'kinda' is because I normally swap to Nova Launcher as soon as a ROM is installed.
But I also use, more as time goes on, Temasek's LP CM12 build - currently 8.4 just installed. I'm liking it more and more as I use it - no Samsung bloat and the S-Pen beta from XDA does all I want with my pen and it's being upgraded pretty regularly as more features are added. I can't think of anything a stock-based ROM has that I don't have in Android 5 from Temasek.
Now if only there was a dual boot kernel around for the Note 3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Link to the s pen beta? ?

kenny1991 said:
Link to the s pen beta? ��
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can try the one at http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software/app-app-samsung-devices-provided-stylus-t3000448 - first post has email to join the beta program.
Also there is CM S Pen Addon from Play - requires root.
---------- Post added at 01:22 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:17 PM ----------
devilsdouble said:
So with this ROM (Temasek) there is no problem you notice which isn't there on TW ROMs? Like poor call volume, crappy camera photo quality, the display going yellowish etc.? Basic functions, or the problems with basic functions scare me most.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
None that I have had. There was an issue with the AOSP cam I think where the video didn't work but changing the setting from 4K back to 1080 fixed that. No display issues I even seen mentioned - that was a problem with early AMOLED screens I thought...?
Only issue I have had is my custom ringtone and notify mp3's keep reverting back to default ones on reboot. Most annoying but hardly a deal-killer.
It's fast and smooth and Temasek and his crew are responsive to issues and good at their work.

Stock vs Custom

So yesterday, I rooted and installed CyanogenMod 12 on my Nexus 6. Didn't like it. Wasn't impressed at all. First, there was very little difference between CM and the stock rom. No difference in battery life or anything special like that. I did like the customizations and also the fact that the notification light was now active (which btw is a real battery killer). I also liked the double tap to wake feature. However, the firmware itself was as buggy as it could get. Lag everywhere. Some apps wouldn't open properly and, worst of all, the camera app kept malfunctioning when I needed it the most.
Now I know CyanogenMod updates their nightlies just about everyday, and the majority of those bugs are fixed by now, but because it didn't bring anything really new to the table, I switched back to the rooted stock rom, installed LightFlow and a zip file which would enable the double tap to wake feature on rooted devices, and haven't looked back. Moral being, in my opinion at least, Stock is better than Custom.

So you flashed cm, which in my opinion isn't the greatest rom, and decided that stock is better than any custom rom? Maybe try one of the many roms out there that are way better than cm

lol, cm. cm hasnt been any good now for what, 4, maybe 3+ years? try some of the other non cm or cm based roms. there are many great, completely stable, aosp roms out there. i use terminus, with the elementalx kernel.

So wrong.

OP,
Are you seriously serious? Have you bothered to try any of the aosp based roms? So many to choose from, even some custom roms based on stock that would give you at least some of tHe things you say you like.

toledodj said:
So yesterday, I rooted and installed CyanogenMod 12 on my Nexus 6. Didn't like it. Wasn't impressed at all. First, there was very little difference between CM and the stock rom. No difference in battery life or anything special like that. I did like the customizations and also the fact that the notification light was now active (which btw is a real battery killer). I also liked the double tap to wake feature. However, the firmware itself was as buggy as it could get. Lag everywhere. Some apps wouldn't open properly and, worst of all, the camera app kept malfunctioning when I needed it the most.
Now I know CyanogenMod updates their nightlies just about everyday, and the majority of those bugs are fixed by now, but because it didn't bring anything really new to the table, I switched back to the rooted stock rom, installed LightFlow and a zip file which would enable the double tap to wake feature on rooted devices, and haven't looked back. Moral being, in my opinion at least, Stock is better than Custom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lmao stop trolling ya nutcase

I find Stock ... for lack of a better description, boring.
Running Multirom test build for the nexus 6 for a week or so now and not looking back. I have the latest stock build as my internal rom that I can load by simply restarting my phone to remind me why I spent the time and effort ( and occasional donation) setting up custom roms. One can do a lot with stock/root and third party apps, but the really slick stuff needs to be built in to work well. Hence the rom development!
I am currently farting around with DU's 5.1 build for the themes and Chroma's latest for the layers. I have these installed as secondary roms on the Phone , all 3 roms take up about 9 GB right now and allow for three distinct flavors at the drop of a reboot.

toledodj said:
So yesterday, I rooted and installed CyanogenMod 12 on my Nexus 6. Didn't like it. Wasn't impressed at all. First, there was very little difference between CM and the stock rom. No difference in battery life or anything special like that. I did like the customizations and also the fact that the notification light was now active (which btw is a real battery killer). I also liked the double tap to wake feature. However, the firmware itself was as buggy as it could get. Lag everywhere. Some apps wouldn't open properly and, worst of all, the camera app kept malfunctioning when I needed it the most.
Now I know CyanogenMod updates their nightlies just about everyday, and the majority of those bugs are fixed by now, but because it didn't bring anything really new to the table, I switched back to the rooted stock rom, installed LightFlow and a zip file which would enable the double tap to wake feature on rooted devices, and haven't looked back. Moral being, in my opinion at least, Stock is better than Custom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So out of all the greatest stable daily driver of aosp, and custom stock base ROMs your first choice was CM a known buggy Not fully stable ROM? [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] [emoji23] Rookie's.

Lol wow some of you guys are rude. It's just an opinion. Yes, I've installed other customs roms and, while they're all fine and stable, nothing new is brought to the table that can't be installed on the rooted stock ROM. I did mention that I'm still rooted, right? Really no need for custom roms for me.

OP does have a good point.

toledodj said:
Lol wow some of you guys are rude. It's just an opinion. Yes, I've installed other customs roms and, while they're all fine and stable, nothing new is brought to the table that can't be installed on the rooted stock ROM. I did mention that I'm still rooted, right? Really no need for custom roms for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This isn't what your first post says. You say you installed cm and go on to basically bash it and then say stock is better than custom. You never say anything about any other custom rom, so what do you expect people to think?
For me personally, using a rom the has either layers themes or cm themes alone makes that custom rom better than stock. I love having the ability to make my phone look different any time I want to.

I agree with the many posters. Who cares if stock rooted is better than a custom ROM? Just run stock then no need for a thread. And once again CM hasn't been good since CM7 lol

toledodj said:
So yesterday, I rooted and installed CyanogenMod 12 on my Nexus 6. Didn't like it. Wasn't impressed at all. First, there was very little difference between CM and the stock rom. No difference in battery life or anything special like that. I did like the customizations and also the fact that the notification light was now active (which btw is a real battery killer). I also liked the double tap to wake feature. However, the firmware itself was as buggy as it could get. Lag everywhere. Some apps wouldn't open properly and, worst of all, the camera app kept malfunctioning when I needed it the most.
Now I know CyanogenMod updates their nightlies just about everyday, and the majority of those bugs are fixed by now, but because it didn't bring anything really new to the table, I switched back to the rooted stock rom, installed LightFlow and a zip file which would enable the double tap to wake feature on rooted devices, and haven't looked back. Moral being, in my opinion at least, Stock is better than Custom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about the Chroma ROM? That is better than stock, it's brilliant. Zephik made some huge ART optimization recently. I can say it makes a difference. More features keep being added too.

i agree with op
Stock is much more stable than cm, aicp is what i use right now but still looking for a non cm based rom.

Have you tried Rastapop, Terminus, Slim....Anything besides CM? There are plenty of custom roms that run 100x better than CM.

kingston73 said:
This isn't what your first post says. You say you installed cm and go on to basically bash it and then say stock is better than custom. You never say anything about any other custom rom, so what do you expect people to think?
For me personally, using a rom the has either layers themes or cm themes alone makes that custom rom better than stock. I love having the ability to make my phone look different any time I want to.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eh, to each his own. I'm finding no problem in customizing the stock ROM to my liking.

BennyJr said:
Have you tried Rastapop, Terminus, Slim....Anything besides CM? There are plenty of custom roms that run 100x better than CM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I've used LiquidSmooth, Chroma, Euphoria, etc. Not saying that I dislike custom roms. I like the thrill of installing a new ROM and praying to God that it works and functions properly (yes, I'm a root rookie). Customizing the stock ROM is just less of a hassle.

toledodj said:
Yeah, I've used LiquidSmooth, Chroma, Euphoria, etc. Not saying that I dislike custom roms. I like the thrill of installing a new ROM and praying to God that it works and functions properly (yes, I'm a root rookie). Customizing the stock ROM is just less of a hassle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should run AOSP then. I usually don't like my roms much farther than stock either

I thought CM was AOSP based?

toledodj said:
I thought CM was AOSP based?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try benzo ROM with Zen9 kernel closest to stock experience but much better.

[Q] Stock or Not to Stock

I have unlocked my bootloader, rooted with Magisk and flashed AsopExtended Rom. Very happy with the performance of my A2017U as it is right now. My question to ya'll is, What would be the pros and cons of returning to complete stock (for OTA updates) or sticking with rooted and custom rom and not being able to receive OTA updates?

whats the question here? Its on you... what you prefer

Lol that depends of your needs - I stick to stock because of audio (mostly) and somehow bcz of camera (as far as I know you can install stock camera app).
That's question is a little bit irrevelant when you was stock and now you are testing custom rom.
So the answer is simply - replay to your question by yourself and with margin to your needs.

Had to test the waters with custom roms on this phone, but was just wanting to hear other peoples thoughts on the subject. I've always tinkered with customizing my phones and enjoy doing so. Would like to hear different points of view and then see if it would make me change my mind. Sometimes custom roms have little bugs that people can or can't live with, and in some cases stock is best for total functionality. Just curious of others opinions.....

amaury48 said:
Had to test the waters with custom roms on this phone, but was just wanting to hear other peoples thoughts on the subject. I've always tinkered with customizing my phones and enjoy doing so. Would like to hear different points of view and then see if it would make me change my mind. Sometimes custom roms have little bugs that people can or can't live with, and in some cases stock is best for total functionality. Just curious of others opinions.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMHO custom ROMs are littered with bugs, but mostly overlookable. Take the phone bug or storage with SD card bug for example.
Stock works better in every regard (except substratum, damn you mifavor) and with MiFavor 5 this is even truer. But if you like your current ROM there's no reason to go back...

Choose an username... said:
IMHO custom ROMs are littered with bugs, but mostly overlookable. Take the phone bug or storage with SD card bug for example.
Stock works better in every regard (except substratum, damn you mifavor) and with MiFavor 5 this is even truer. But if you like your current ROM there's no reason to go back...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I finally went back to stock B25 via the DrakenFx method to retain root and custom recovery. I came across the phone bug on my custom rom and that helped me make my decision to go back to a stock rom.....

Yep, used custom ROMs from the first week of owning the phone until about a month ago when I went back to B25 with Magisk. Couldn't be happier.

I was about to make a similar thread myself but saw this one. I have been running custom roms since day one but have been considering returning to stock.
A brief summary of the benefits:
Reasons to go with stock:
Fully functional ZTE camera app with no bugs - This is perhaps more important than you might think, ZTE haven't enabled the Camera 2 API which means its very possible we are going to get the best quality and feature-set by sticking with the stock app. If ZTE haven't released their blobs there could very well be reasons to stick with the default camera app...not only that but I like it. You can install the mod, but there are aspects that will never work and some roms and kernels play more nicely with the mod than others.
Dolby Atmos app. Similar to the camera on stock this would just mean less messing about, you can of course get atmos mods in magisk but whether they work as well as the stock ZTE app I am not sure. The strange thing is I have never had the stock ZTE Axon atmos magisk mod to work on a custom rom, even though I have an Axon!
Reliability, no need to worry about force closes or apps not working, everything pretty much just works. So much less stress if you use your phone as a daily driver.
Ease of use, less features makes the phone easier to use. In some cases even when you are a tinkerer like me its sometimes good to be able to forget about continuously tweaking stuff and digging yourself in to a never ending upgrade cycle.
Oreo, it looks like if you stay stock we will see Oreo sooner than custom roms.
Reasons to go custom:
Substratum, oh boy would I miss this going back to stock. The ZTE theme engine is pants compared and I love the work that goes in to my current premium theme.
Battery life, perhaps with the aid of also a custom kernel there are some very nice roms and kernels being worked on which allow you to fully customise and save battery life.
Features, you can set the phone up exactly as you want too, every small detail can be customised. You can choose exactly which rom you like based on the features you use.
Performance, you can get more performance out of a custom rom with custom kernel and find a nicer balance between battery and performance, whichever suits you.
Fun, its fun to flash different roms and get the flashing bug. You learn a lot and get to join in with a fantastic community where people help each other.
Third option, run a debloated custom rom.
Seems to be more and more popular, as an ex Nexus 5 user I loved Cataclysm rom for this very reason. You keep all the features associated with stock with added performance benefits, fixes and less bloat. There is a downside if you plan on keeping atmos as some stock roms seem to strip it away, but it is a nice compromise between the options above. Usually these roms are more reliable as they are based on stock too. If you want a lean rom that just works, this may suit you!
Its such a hard choice and one I still havent decided on, if I have missed anything please let me know!
Background info and summary:
My first smartphone was a ZTE blade 2 and it was a beast for the money, this phone is tremendous too. My GF owns a pixel and apart from the camera this phone trumps it for value no question...for less than half the price.
I have to say though, I do miss the days of my Nexus 5 and the larger mod community, I realise these days have gone now with google devices but perhaps next time I will opt to go to Oneplus just so I can trust a bit more that there will be less caveats going custom as if there is one complaint I have with ZTE it is their unwillingness to release their source code for the little tiny things like the camera api and atmos.

Dodgexander said:
I was about to make a similar thread myself but saw this one. I have been running custom roms since day one but have been considering returning to stock.
A brief summary of the benefits:
Reasons to go with stock:
Fully functional ZTE camera app with no bugs - This is perhaps more important than you might think, ZTE haven't enabled the Camera 2 API which means its very possible we are going to get the best quality and feature-set by sticking with the stock app. If ZTE haven't released their blobs there could very well be reasons to stick with the default camera app...not only that but I like it. You can install the mod, but there are aspects that will never work and some roms and kernels play more nicely with the mod than others.
Dolby Atmos app. Similar to the camera on stock this would just mean less messing about, you can of course get atmos mods in magisk but whether they work as well as the stock ZTE app I am not sure. The strange thing is I have never had the stock ZTE Axon atmos magisk mod to work on a custom rom, even though I have an Axon!
Reliability, no need to worry about force closes or apps not working, everything pretty much just works. So much less stress if you use your phone as a daily driver.
Ease of use, less features makes the phone easier to use. In some cases even when you are a tinkerer like me its sometimes good to be able to forget about continuously tweaking stuff and digging yourself in to a never ending upgrade cycle.
Oreo, it looks like if you stay stock we will see Oreo sooner than custom roms.
Reasons to go custom:
Substratum, oh boy would I miss this going back to stock. The ZTE theme engine is pants compared and I love the work that goes in to my current premium theme.
Battery life, perhaps with the aid of also a custom kernel there are some very nice roms and kernels being worked on which allow you to fully customise and save battery life.
Features, you can set the phone up exactly as you want too, every small detail can be customised. You can choose exactly which rom you like based on the features you use.
Performance, you can get more performance out of a custom rom with custom kernel and find a nicer balance between battery and performance, whichever suits you.
Fun, its fun to flash different roms and get the flashing bug. You learn a lot and get to join in with a fantastic community where people help each other.
Third option, run a debloated custom rom.
Seems to be more and more popular, as an ex Nexus 5 user I loved Cataclysm rom for this very reason. You keep all the features associated with stock with added performance benefits, fixes and less bloat. There is a downside if you plan on keeping atmos as some stock roms seem to strip it away, but it is a nice compromise between the options above. Usually these roms are more reliable as they are based on stock too. If you want a lean rom that just works, this may suit you!
Its such a hard choice and one I still havent decided on, if I have missed anything please let me know!
Background info and summary:
My first smartphone was a ZTE blade 2 and it was a beast for the money, this phone is tremendous too. My GF owns a pixel and apart from the camera this phone trumps it for value no question...for less than half the price.
I have to say though, I do miss the days of my Nexus 5 and the larger mod community, I realise these days have gone now with google devices but perhaps next time I will opt to go to Oneplus just so I can trust a bit more that there will be less caveats going custom as if there is one complaint I have with ZTE it is their unwillingness to release their source code for the little tiny things like the camera api and atmos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some comments about this:
-Stock still has RRO support, so while it is kinda craptastic to use substratum this way, it is doable. I have most of my apps with Swift Dark (the ones that don't force close anyways) and Lawnchair with black theme, on MiFavor 5 which already has a rather black quick settings screen. The result is awesome
While you might be getting more battery life from a custom ROM, I totally disagree on the performance part. Everything works just slower. But yeah, battery-wise I got 7h SOT once which is absolutely bonkers :silly:
If you want a nice modded stock try any MiFavor 5 modded ROM like RDX or ADM Team. Those keep Atmos and use MiFavor 5 B13, which seemingly have a new camera app?

Choose an username... said:
Some comments about this:
-Stock still has RRO support, so while it is kinda craptastic to use substratum this way, it is doable. I have most of my apps with Swift Dark (the ones that don't force close anyways) and Lawnchair with black theme, on MiFavor 5 which already has a rather black quick settings screen. The result is awesome
While you might be getting more battery life from a custom ROM, I totally disagree on the performance part. Everything works just slower. But yeah, battery-wise I got 7h SOT once which is absolutely bonkers :silly:
If you want a nice modded stock try any MiFavor 5 modded ROM like RDX or ADM Team. Those keep Atmos and use MiFavor 5 B13, which seemingly have a new camera app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I will give ADM a try first since RDX seems to exclusively for the A2017 and I own the A2017U.
Frankly when I saw substratum without OMS support before I wasn't impressed but it sounds like it's worth a look.
Performance wise I loved running AOKP. It runs so much faster than resurrection remix and faster than my brief time on stock also.
It's a pain sacrifices have to made somewhere, but I guess you can't argue for the money!

Dodgexander said:
Thanks I will give ADM a try first since RDX seems to exclusively for the A2017 and I own the A2017U.
Frankly when I saw substratum without OMS support before I wasn't impressed but it sounds like it's worth a look.
Performance wise I loved running AOKP. It runs so much faster than resurrection remix and faster than my brief time on stock also.
It's a pain sacrifices have to made somewhere, but I guess you can't argue for the money!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you simply have to flash the univ bootstack and your modem file to install RDX, it just wasn't tested on other phones but the A2017. but yeah, just use ADM Team

If we don't get Oreo, I will root mine, debloat etc and unroot just to keep it stock but lean. Stock camera in Nougat is quite good IMO. Atmos is pants but I will leave it alone.

RobboW said:
If we don't get Oreo, I will root mine, debloat etc and unroot just to keep it stock but lean. Stock camera in Nougat is quite good IMO. Atmos is pants but I will leave it alone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what's the downside of having it rooted?

Some apps don't work and it has to be secure for work use.

RobboW said:
Some apps don't work and it has to be secure for work use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Magisk then...

Choose an username... said:
Some comments about this:
-Stock still has RRO support, so while it is kinda craptastic to use substratum this way, it is doable. I have most of my apps with Swift Dark (the ones that don't force close anyways) and Lawnchair with black theme, on MiFavor 5 which already has a rather black quick settings screen. The result is awesome
While you might be getting more battery life from a custom ROM, I totally disagree on the performance part. Everything works just slower. But yeah, battery-wise I got 7h SOT once which is absolutely bonkers :silly:
If you want a nice modded stock try any MiFavor 5 modded ROM like RDX or ADM Team. Those keep Atmos and use MiFavor 5 B13, which seemingly have a new camera app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just installed adm rom and substratum but can't get any themes to work at all. Substratum appears to work and let's me install them but after a reboot they don't work.
I tested with the Google app, gmail and chrome amongst others. I am using swift black.
I guess it's just a bug with the adm Rom? Magisk is working fine I think.

Dodgexander said:
Just installed adm rom and substratum but can't get any themes to work at all. Substratum appears to work and let's me install them but after a reboot they don't work.
I tested with the Google app, gmail and chrome amongst others. I am using swift black.
I guess it's just a bug with the adm Rom? Magisk is working fine I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It can't be because I had everything themed on ADM ROM too. Except system ui and that stuff since it can't be themed. no idea why that happens.

Choose an username... said:
It can't be because I had everything themed on ADM ROM too. Except system ui and that stuff since it can't be themed. no idea why that happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you using the new release with version 5 of mifavor?
What about systemless host list in magisk enabled to get adaway to work?
Only two things I have changed. I am using A2017U with the b13 bootstack.
Haven't changed anything else so no idea why it isn't working.

Dodgexander said:
Were you using the new release with version 5 of mifavor?
What about systemless host list in magisk enabled to get adaway to work?
Only two things I have changed. I am using A2017U with the b13 bootstack.
Haven't changed anything else so no idea why it isn't working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i was using the old release with version 5 (ADM Team V3)

I would stick with stock unless you are an extreme power user. ZTE fixed 99% of the issues with MiFavor with 7.1.1 and custom ROMs are littered with SO MANY little bugs. MiFavor is extremely stable now. Audio and camera is also much worse on custom.
But hey whatever you prefer.

stock vs LOS. any advantages?

can someone who's using LOS comment on any advantages over stock? Now that we can install magisk and xposed on stock roms, is there any advantage at all to switch to LOS? How are the comparisons on battery life and speed?

Just got the phone couple days ago. I m not new to rooting and custom rooms. But I think it is better to stick with stock for now. At least for next 3-4 months imo. The phone already has Oreo and is very stable. Battery life is pretty good as well. Barely any lag, if any. I mean things just work and this is basically stock Android. IDK. Just my 2 cents. Unless something revolutionary happens in custom rom community I will be rocking stock for a while.

Generally people flash Lineage to get a more stock Android experience on their phones. The Essential already runs stock Android. The only advantage Lineage could possibly have while stock Android is still being updated on this phone would be whatever features Lineage offers that aren't included in stock Android. You can make the Essential faster by rooting the phone and flashing a custom kernel. You don't need a custom ROM to do that.
But there are significant disadvantages to installing Lineage on this phone. For one thing Lineage doesn't offer an official build for this phone. Unless something has changed over the last couple of days Lineage for this phone is only available as an unofficial build. That doesn't just mean no official support. Lineage doesn't sanction unofficial builds and there is no way of knowing if the build is poorly coded or not. Anyone can compile an unofficial build. You can watch a YouTube video and learn how to do it yourself. If someone making an unofficial build actually knows what they are doing there is a process with Lineage to make the build official as long as both the DEV and the build meet specific standards. Flashing an unofficial build of any ROM on any phone is a risk.
Then there is the fact that custom flashing on the Essential phone can reportedly lead to hard bricking the phone pretty easily. The a & b partitions make custom flashing a lot more difficult than on single partition phones and people with a lot of previous flashing experience have managed to hard brick their Essential phone within hours of taking it out of the box.
I don't personally think custom flashing on the Essential has enough upside to be worth the risk right now but it's your phone. Unless you don't mind turning your phone into a paperweight you should at least read the entire XDA rooting guide from beginning to end (including all of the comments from people who followed the guide) and also go through the Essential Telegram group which seems to be aimed at people who are flashing on the phone. That way you will have a good idea of what you are getting into and reduce the chances of bricking your phone.
Good luck whatever you decide.

Didn't flash lineage because heard about 360° isn't working so far...
For me an showstopper

AOSiP and Lineage run fine for me. Many bugs that need to be worked out, but they still run okay. Currently running stock however as I am trying to pinpoint what is killing my battery life. One day I am running great, the next I am leaking % left and right.

I can't stand stock rom at alllll. RR is the best the phone has ran for me. I can't stand the way touch works on stock, the scrolling feels like wading through molasses.
Plus true immersive mode. Honestly I see zero benefit to stock, but that's just my opinion.

RR is pretty far from the purpose and philosophy of LOS. LOS attempts to create a stock experience with some additional features. RR is for people who want to mod their phones with as many custom options as possible. I tried RR on my OP5 and wasn't a fan but I can definitely understand why someone who doesn't like stock Android would enjoy it. But the Essential phone is a terrible choice if you want to run custom ROMs. There's almost no development for this phone and I don't know if any custom ROM other than AOSIP even has an official build. If you want to run custom ROMs you would have been much better off with an OP5T. Not only are there a ton of official custom ROMs including RR but the phone is super easy to flash on and pretty much impossible to hard brick.

LOS runs smoother than the stock ROM and I it has more advantages.
LOS:
Immersive Mode : It's very easy to hide navbar and statusbar. That and an modded Youtube app and you are ready to really use the full screen. Not just till the notch.
It's very helpful in games too where you need apps or adb with the stock ROM.
Feel: It's just smoother and more responsive thant the stock ROM
Essential Apps works just normal
It has a few bugs like app dosen't start correct but stock rom can have that too and maybe it's just my installation.
Updater : You get many Updates and you can just download and install it in the background. Then you restart and you just installed an update without any waiting time.
Stock ROM:
It's official. You get updates that are suited to this phone and the softwar knows that there is a notch.

I'm on stock because all hardware works. I want full camera including 360 to work.

D4rk_nVidia said:
LOS runs smoother than the stock ROM and I it has more advantages.
LOS:
Immersive Mode : It's very easy to hide navbar and statusbar. That and an modded Youtube app and you are ready to really use the full screen. Not just till the notch.
It's very helpful in games too where you need apps or adb with the stock ROM.
Feel: It's just smoother and more responsive thant the stock ROM
Essential Apps works just normal
It has a few bugs like app dosen't start correct but stock rom can have that too and maybe it's just my installation.
Updater : You get many Updates and you can just download and install it in the background. Then you restart and you just installed an update without any waiting time.
Stock ROM:
It's official. You get updates that are suited to this phone and the softwar knows that there is a notch.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If there was an official build of LOS there would be a lot fewer issues. The unofficial build is probably just the ROM code auto compiled for this device with no further tweaks or fixes. You can do the same thing with any open source ROM. Have you tried AOSIP? I would think that would run better since it's actually official. That was also a solid ROM when I ran it on other phones. Not a lot of features but very stable fast and smooth.
Is updating a custom ROM difficult on this phone? Do you need to reflash the stock system image and TWRP on a computer or can it be updated like a simple OTA?
---------- Post added at 09:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:16 PM ----------
tech_head said:
I'm on stock because all hardware works. I want full camera including 360 to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
360 isn't likely to work on any custom ROM because the code for it is probably proprietary. Phone manufacturers rarely release code for something like that. The camera code is probably the only thing on the Essential that isn't stock Android. This phone could easily run faster but Essential seems to have opted for better battery life in their stock setup. Google does exactly the opposite. They maximize performance so much that their phones run too hot and tend to burn out after a couple years. That's happened so far with the 5X, 6P & XL. Three flagship phones in a row dying from heat damage after a couple years is a pretty consistent track record.

When I was running LOS earlier this month the 360 camera worked...
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

jhs39 said:
If there was an official build of LOS there would be a lot fewer issues. The unofficial build is probably just the ROM code auto compiled for this device with no further tweaks or fixes. You can do the same thing with any open source ROM. Have you tried AOSIP? I would think that would run better since it's actually official. That was also a solid ROM when I ran it on other phones. Not a lot of features but very stable fast and smooth.
Is updating a custom ROM difficult on this phone? Do you need to reflash the stock system image and TWRP on a computer or can it be updated like a simple OTA?
---------- Post added at 09:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:16 PM ----------
360 isn't likely to work on any custom ROM because the code for it is probably proprietary. Phone manufacturers rarely release code for something like that. The camera code is probably the only thing on the Essential that isn't stock Android. This phone could easily run faster but Essential seems to have opted for better battery life in their stock setup. Google does exactly the opposite. They maximize performance so much that their phones run too hot and tend to burn out after a couple years. That's happened so far with the 5X, 6P & XL. Three flagship phones in a row dying from heat damage after a couple years is a pretty consistent track record.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have NO idea what the hell you're talking about...
Shut up... Flash the ROM... Then give your critique... You obviously haven't done that...
The 360 cam has worked for months...
The only reason this device isn't official... Has to do with Jenkins and gapps...
Sent from my PH-1 using Tapatalk

rignfool said:
You have NO idea what the hell you're talking about...
Shut up... Flash the ROM... Then give your critique... You obviously haven't done that...
The 360 cam has worked for months...
The only reason this device isn't official... Has to do with Jenkins and gapps...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOS has no quality control over an unofficial build. If it runs fine great. If 360 cam works even better. If I wanted to run a custom ROM I would have just stuck with the OP5. LOS was official on that device. I bought the Essential specifically because it runs stock Android. Buying a phone that runs stock Android and has virtually no development community so you can run a custom ROM on it doesn't make much sense to me but it's your phone.

LineageOS is great but it could be much better if we had a better Support with the essential phone.
It has many advantages.
I just installed the stock ROM and can say
- battery life is better with stock
- UI runs smooth enough but apps like Facebook runs better with Lineage
- Instagram runs better because I had the bug in Lineage that videos getting skipped while playing
- whatsapp voice messages sounds awful sometimes because the sound crackles (no problem with lineage)
- no expanded desktop mode with stock rom
Both have advantages and disadvantages.