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As a long time Android user and general nerd, I often hear from some of my friends about new and cool custom ROMs. It ranges from "amazing customization" to "blazing speed" and even "far better than anything stock in general".
So this weekend I decided that since my warranty is no longer valid anyway, and Samsung won't be updating the Galaxy S2 GT-i9100 anymore, I can go ahead and try something new and shiny, which could help me with my job.
And thus began my research and tests on Android custom ROMs...and oh boy, that was one hell of an experience.
Everything I heard from people about nearly everything was shattered right then and there.
As a reasonable person, I decided to try some of the more popular ROMs, trying to stick as much as possible to stable builds since everyday use is a big deal for me. So now I present to you, my experience with what I was told are the top-dogs of the custom ROM world and my impressions of each:
Omni 4.4.2
This one actually surprised me in terms of it's video driver. As some might know, a bunch of Gameloft published games always show washed out colors on the Galaxy S2, but when used, this ROM showed the correct colors...quite shocking! ...however, it turned out to be highly unstable with apps crashing left and right all the time and often for no real reason. This ROM is not really advertised as "stable" so I guess that was understandable, so I decided to move on.
MIUI v5
This ROM was just impressive. I absolutely love the UI (and I didn't even try the customization stuff, yet I say that!). It seemed really stable and I almost decided to stick with it...until I found out that 3 apps in particular I very much rely on don't work properly or at all (overlay issues it seems). This got me really disappointed but I figured functionality is more important than looks so once again, I decided to move on.
CyanogenMod 10.3.1
This might be the biggest disappointment for all the wrong reasons. The buildup and hype I got from people about it created in my head "the ultimate ROM"...but after installing it and doing some tests...I have to say, the performance difference was just barely noticeable and i all honesty, not worth the trade for the bugs it also brings (although if it had the video driver from Omni I would've changed my mind). I really wanted to do a fair judgement since I know this is the top-dog of ROMs (or at least in popularity) so I even ran tests on it...and in games, the framerate difference between stock and CM10.3 was just 2-5fps.
Resurrection Remix 4.0.7
This was...let me just say it out loud - the installation for this ROM should be a standard - just incorporate some stuff and have people chose what to get or don't get. Having stock stuff and then 10 additional flashable ZIPs while not really a big issue is just a time-waster for a lot of people in my eyes (although it would've been nice to know more about the modems when it asks you for a choice). Anyway, this ROM's keyboard just refused to work so I got rid of it after 2 flashes.
ReVolt JB 4.5
...keyboard didn't work on this one again, and after another 2 flash attempts, I scrapped it aswell.
At this point I pretty much just gave up and went back to the Samsung stock ROM for my region and was left with an empty feeling that custom ROMs all seem to have at least one or more huge flaws.
All the buildup and "legends" (lacking a better term) weren't even close to what I experienced (except the MIUI...well, UI) and it got me thinking...are custom ROMs meant for everyday users or they were always aimed at people willing to experiment? Personally, I decided that my journey through the custom ROM world has ended here at least for the time being (maybe someday I'll go back to MIUI but who knows), but I wanted to ask, does anyone feel the same way I do? That custom ROMs, while a really cool thing to be able to have is getting overhyped to the point where unless you really know what you're getting into will lead to just disappointment?
I would really like to hear other people's views on this, especially if you're not an expert user.
NeatROM rulez, give it a try.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
I'm using slimbean 2.2. It's seems better them any other ROM.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
Resurrection Remix 4.0.7 worked fine for me. the only problem is the System UI that usually crashes when you messed up on something and it really need some reboot for that. ☺
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Well, with custom roms comes both bugs and extended capacities.
First of all, having a rooted phone gives a lot of new possibilities.
Besides, custom roms give new content, like the latest android updates, which the constructors take time to port to their devices.
At last but not least, custom ROMs often let you.. customize as much as thou wish
I'm personally using Cyanfox (android 4.4), and I'm pretty happy about it
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
You schould try another 4.4.2 custom roms for egz pound rom(the best for me) or beanstalk which is good too
Wysłane z mojego GT-I9100 przy użyciu Tapatalka
warpgamer said:
Well, with custom roms comes both bugs and extended capacities.
First of all, having a rooted phone gives a lot of new possibilities.
Besides, custom roms give new content, like the latest android updates, which the constructors take time to port to their devices.
At last but not least, custom ROMs often let you.. customize as much as thou wish
I'm personally using Cyanfox (android 4.4), and I'm pretty happy about it
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually just root my stock ROM with the SuperSU flashable ZIP-thingie...though I only need it for a firewall ^-^;;
But to me one of the biggest deal-breakers is how all the ROMs I did like don't support MHL (if only MIUI was capable of that )
Since the warranty is gone i'm trying a bunch of roms to sede what nave to offer. So far i've only tried the omnirom and it's pretty good to me, except some minor bugs.
In my opinion you've to choose a stabile ROM if you don't want any problems
im using cm10.1 stable linaro build most nearly perfect rom for me.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
iobling said:
Since the warranty is gone i'm trying a bunch of roms to sede what nave to offer. So far i've only tried the omnirom and it's pretty good to me, except some minor bugs.
In my opinion you've to choose a stabile ROM if you don't want any problems
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
dredremon said:
im using cm10.1 stable linaro build most nearly perfect rom for me.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's kind'a the thing, CM 10.3.1 is the one shown as stable and it seems to be...but it's missing features that the stock ROMs offer, and the performance difference is pretty much not noticeable enough to justify it for me.
All the ROMs except Omni were shown as "stable" but as i mentioned in my first post, all seem to have at least 1 big issue.
As a side question...I heard the newest version of MIUI actually had MHL/TV-out support on the S2...anyone know if that's true?
Dorimanx anybody ... ?
I only use my phone for basic stuff.So I just use a stock rom with a custom kernel.That way, everything works and I dont have to read 2000 posts to see what problems to expect.
Stock CM kernel isn't all that great IMO , Try coupling Dorimanx's kernel with CM or any other ROM... Adds a lot of power features with stability. stock Sammy Roms feel very caged and unoptimized thus the need for custom builds. Give it time... It grows on you eventually.
Just my 2cents
theunderling said:
I only use my phone for basic stuff.So I just use a stock rom with a custom kernel.That way, everything works and I dont have to read 2000 posts to see what problems to expect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After 2 years of trying to find a custom ROM that doesn't have one show-topping bug, I feel bad for not just staying with a nicely optimized stock ROM with a tweaked kernel that is 100% dependable when I need it.
So, +1 :good:
Well, I only recently got the S2. Before my S2, I've owned an HTC One V. The stock ROM on that thing was just a mess. It came with 4.0.4 ICS and... you guessed it... no update to JB. So I installed a custom ROM on that one... it improved nearly everything.
So, from my experiences with that device, I thought I could flash the S2 and get the same experience. And... well, not really. I have tried so many ROMs...
The AOSP based ROMs either drain battery like hell or have any other bug which is so impacting that I can't deal with it. For example, the Audio 50% bug. Just one word: Annoying.
SO, I could stay with a Samsung stock ROM, but well, that won't be an option for me. Why not? Simple, on the stock rom, using my phone for an hour, literally ONE HOUR, the thing is completely dead. Battery empty. The only stock rom which gives me two and half an hour of screen on time is the 2.3.3 GB stock. And well, that's a bit old nowadays.
The by far best combination for power, speed, stability and battery life for me is CM10.1 stable with the DorimanX 9.14 kernel. I've tried it once and I find myself going back to it pretty much everytime I flashed any ROM I do not like.
Currently I'm on CM11 unofficial nightly, tomorrow I will see for how long my battery can last. I know, my battery is probably broken, but it's not thicker than normal or something like that. It just drains and I have no idea why.
DerGraf1997 said:
Well, I only recently got the S2. Before my S2, I've owned an HTC One V. The stock ROM on that thing was just a mess. It came with 4.0.4 ICS and... you guessed it... no update to JB. So I installed a custom ROM on that one... it improved nearly everything.
So, from my experiences with that device, I thought I could flash the S2 and get the same experience. And... well, not really. I have tried so many ROMs...
The AOSP based ROMs either drain battery like hell or have any other bug which is so impacting that I can't deal with it. For example, the Audio 50% bug. Just one word: Annoying.
SO, I could stay with a Samsung stock ROM, but well, that won't be an option for me. Why not? Simple, on the stock rom, using my phone for an hour, literally ONE HOUR, the thing is completely dead. Battery empty. The only stock rom which gives me two and half an hour of screen on time is the 2.3.3 GB stock. And well, that's a bit old nowadays.
The by far best combination for power, speed, stability and battery life for me is CM10.1 stable with the DorimanX 9.14 kernel. I've tried it once and I find myself going back to it pretty much everytime I flashed any ROM I do not like.
Currently I'm on CM11 unofficial nightly, tomorrow I will see for how long my battery can last. I know, my battery is probably broken, but it's not thicker than normal or something like that. It just drains and I have no idea why.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get up to 14 days with my battery if it's just on Standby [no actual use] and up to a full day if I play some games on it with the Stock ROM.
Also I wanted to mention that I tried DorimanX 8.43 earlier today and my god, my phone became unstable as hell [still on a stock ROM]...odd.
But yeah, you might want to get a new battery if you get less than 16 hours battery life
Hello. I want share my experience. I moved from stock because i want try 4.2 new features, specially widget on lockscreen.
I first tryied cm 10.2 but battery drained quickly and gaming was so sloooow.I tryied then cm10.2 linaro but experienced 4-5 reboot a day. Now I'm back on cm10.2 hoping that the guy working on exynos drivers will bring good news. In the meanwhile I will try gustavo or apolo kernel that seems the most stable kernels
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda app-developers app
Waiting S4 UI port into i9100G ...
I have found only 2-3 Roms that can be used
I can say that i have installed allmost all posible ROMs. For me every rom whit verson of android above 4.1.2 just didn't work ( i have SD CARD problems in most of the ROM's in other i have encored camera problems or bootloops ) The only ROM working realy good is snapdragon and s4fors2 .
IF ANY ONE KHNOWS HOW TO SOLVE MY SD-CARD PROBLEMS ON ANY ROM WITH ANDROID VERSION ABOVE 4.1.2 PM me PLS
CyanFox Rom is the most stable and worked for me as well. Give it a try!!
For Battery Backup, maybe you can use Voltage Control Pro App, Underclock to 1 GHZ if you are not a hardcore gamer. You can also decrease voltage,more Options over mv are also available in Pro Version, Decreasing Voltage will help lower power consumption of CPU.
You can also install Siyah Latest Kernel and do all of this using S-Tweaks!
Thanks!
@hellco what exactly is your sd card problem?? Can you elaborate??
Hi everyone,
i'm thinking about buying a LG G2, i've read many topics about it but i still have some questions:
currently i have a galaxy S3 with a rooted stock room, and using powersaving mode and greenify to reduce battery usage
i am attracted by the G2 because of its specs and battery life, but it seems to have a lot of problems with kitkat update... ?
I didn't find any stock kitkat rom for G2 without bug, am i right ?
how about the cloudyG3 rom ? I don't want to flash and test many roms, in fact i just would like an updated rom with acceptable features and a very good battery life,
So i need your help my friends
thanks in advance
arya444 said:
Hi everyone,
i'm thinking about buying a LG G2, i've read many topics about it but i still have some questions:
currently i have a galaxy S3 with a rooted stock room, and using powersaving mode and greenify to reduce battery usage
i am attracted by the G2 because of its specs and battery life, but it seems to have a lot of problems with kitkat update... ?
I didn't find any stock kitkat rom for G2 without bug, am i right ?
how about the cloudyG3 rom ? I don't want to flash and test many roms, in fact i just would like an updated rom with acceptable features and a very good battery life,
So i need your help my friends
thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know if there has been that many problems with KitKat and G2. The one that has affected me was the sound bug - hissing and weird noices when using headphones. That bug wasn't noticable to most users - it seemed to only affect or being noticed by them that used certain headphones (in my case AKG K551). The irritating thing with that one was that LG didn't seem to be able to fix it. They released new versions that made it a bit better but not good so to speak. I switched to using custom ROMs and Kernels because of it and got rid of the problem that way.
There are some very good ROMs out here. I've tried Cloudy Stock, Cloudy Flex and Pardus HD sensation and they were all good. I kind of liked Cludy Flex and Pardus HD Sensation best because they use a black color background to the screens. I've also tried both Cloudy and Optimus G3 ROMS, but my thought is that they are made for a different set of hardware and needs to be ported to G2 and that makes them a bit more suspicious to having bugs. so if you don't desperately want the G3 interface I would stick to one that is more specific to G2. I'm sure some one else will ha another opinion.
I've used Dorimanx's kernel more or less all the time. No sound bug there!
The G2 is a great phone with fantastic battery time - I truly recommend it!
thanks for your reply,
how about the battery life ? did you see any improvement with those custom roms ?
and finnaly how can i find the last and the best stock rom ? (i am afraid about the sound bug and the battery drain)
thanks a lot
I'm not sure were you got the problem with battery drain from. The battery time is great on the G2 (compared to most other phones). I can't say that I've noticed any differences in that aspect between the different ROMs. It's more a matter of what you choose to activate on your phone(as usual). High performance location service, WIFI, Google Now etc. So the more you activate the faster the battery will run out. The custom ROM:s also allow the use of tuning between performance and battery time.
If you want the most stock like experience I suggest using Clody Stock or Pardus Classic ROM. Both can be combined with the Dorimanx kernel.
G2 plus Cloudy's G3 rom has been amazing. Throw in G3 tweakbox and hold on!
thanks i will try it,
have you seen any bugs or battery drain with those roms ?
U can grab the whole info here :-
http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_g2-5543.php
If you want to keep the mst stable and stock possible debloated with perfect battery life, then sotmax 9+ stock rom is the perfect choice combined with bruce kernel
Enviado do meu LG-D802 através de Tapatalk
No real KitKat problems here. Take a look at the specs, view some reviews on youtube and choose it... or not.
If you trust an guy who says "Flash a G3 rom" then buy a G3... But get a phone just for to use a ported ROM doesnt makes any sense to me. Even tho "G3 roms are best" isnt even a valid reason, read thru the G3 port threads and see the bugs etc. I prefer to use a Stock based ROM (Bruce, pardus or even pure stock rooted) and read into the threads (we all have done it - even me, i have my G2 for around 5-6 months now and i finally found my prefered ROM > BruceROM with his own kernel, so it might take some time to find your prefered ROM because there are plenty of choices, but if you are stock lover, just try the stock ones). With ported ROM's you always take the risk of bugs and the current builds are bugged, believe it or not. LG did a GREAT job on stock and 20F is almost perfect (at least for me). If you're a AOSP lover, there are good choices aswell, but i highly prefer a Nexus device if you are a hardcore AOSP user tho.
And dont take arguments like "G3 Roms are best because of UI" too serious, because i dont choose a Phone cuz of its UI...
Thanks everybody for your advices, @kewkie: thank you specially, that's exactly what i was looking for, i will look for the 20F,
in fact i would prefer the nexus 5, but the 3000mAh battery of the G2 makes me prefer the G2
EDIT: I've made my final decision, I'm not coming back to the G2 probably. A Stable ROM is much needed, especially on a recent version of Android. I'll have to give a bit more and opt for the G2. The feedback I got was amazing, thank you so much everyone!
ORIGINAL POST:
Hello,
I am looking forward to buying the LG G2 (again, I had the AT&T one with the bad signal bug - I'm getting the D802 now) and the only thing that is currently holding me back is the Custom ROMs. While right now, the G2 is at a great development state, I don't know how much this will be true in a few years when LG stops making updates for us. AOSP and CM based ROMs will be the only option for an up to date version of Android. The hardware is definitely capable of more than 3 more years of usage with a few optimizations here and there. However, my question is how is the experience on AOSP and CM ROMs compared to stock. How's the battery life? Is the audio worse due to the lack of those special drivers? I've heard the camera is awful, is it really that bad? I love the photos my G2 took and while I'm not someone that takes pictures often, I do like a great Camera for the vacations where I have some time to take photos. I'm especially concerned about all of this as my S2 USCC had an awful ROM development and wouldn't want to risk it all again. Not that Marshmallow wouldn't be fine for another 2 years, especially if we get Cloudy G2 4.0.
Thanks in advance,
Chris
AOSP 5.1.1 roms are just as good as stock in terms of everything except for camera quality. Battery life is stellar and all features work flawlessly without a single bug or app crash or anything. Try the latest SlimSaber for d802.
Thanks! I'll be definitely checking out SlimSaber when I get it. Is camera quality a lot worse or just a bit in your opinion?
AOSP is awesome. It is super fluid on the G2. I keep trying them out (Slim, RR, CM, DU etc) but there are always a couple showstopping bugs that send me back to stock:
• Random vibrations
• 5.1.1 bug: when screen is off, leave a WiFi zone and reenter the zone - the phone will not reconnect unless screen is unlocked (ie no push messages, whatsapp etc etc)
That's about it though. Camera is good, GPS works, QuickRemote with a bit of fiddling works great. But stock gives the full package still.
In my experience the only advantage of custom roms is customization - which isn't a huge advantage considering how customizable lg's roms already are. As far as stability and battery life, it depends on the rom - some are great, others( a lot) are downright unusable. At least with the stock rom you know that it will be stable with good(not exceptional) battery life. Since you mentioned that you take a lot of pictures, nothing beats stock since the developers that made it have access to proprietary data. If you have the time to mess with multiple roms over several weeks, go for it - you may find the one you're looking for. For me, stock does everything I need and then some so that's what I use.
Thanks for your response. As I am not someone that often switches ROMs due to me worrying that I'll lose data, I think I've made my final decision. See Original Post.
Awesome, thanks for the amazing info. I've made my final decision, see Original Post.
G'Day all my friends of the shining sun!
I'm a S4-owner since the first second and I really like that mobile... On the hardware site. I switched from the iPhone 4s and I loved to playing around with Android, Tasker, Flashing... Etc pp.
But I missed this "set it up and just use it"-feeling. Why? Because I have to care about the battery life, about the speed and about the storage space. So I tried all possible roms, starting with A like Alucard, over CM, Google Edition, Samsung Stock, crDroid, Abele, optimized cm... And now I'm with kushan rom.
Thank you all for this fantastic community, for the development, for the reports, help, Q&A, love and peace for the world!! There are also nice tweaks, features, gimmicks and other crazy stuff for everyone - awesome!
BUT: It feels like that there is no really stable build in any rom. There are still some little bugs that no one cares about because of the new Android (every year) and no one fixed it. Especially the CM's only nightly and monthly builds politic... Maybe I have very exotic problems or I'm still to stupid to find the stable one.. Anyway I'm unhappy
I'm just looking for a really stable and basic rom, that is fast and low on battery consumption. I just use the smartphone for browsing, sms, camera and Bluetooth music connection to my car... That's it, nothing more.
I don't like to start a big discussion of the best rom or sth like that, I'm just looking for tips because I don't have more ideas. Additionally I don't care about the newest rom... It just have to work (see the paragraph before).
Thank you
Nira
(traveling 1year in Australia... to improve my English )
Performance and battery don't go along very well.
For stability and battery life you would be looking at stock roms. But, for some reason, people have problems even with stock roms. So what does that tell you?
Even stock roms aren't completely stable.
Marshmallow took android's speed up a notch. Everything seems snappier. Although, there are still issues. But they vary from user to user.
People say that Lollipop didn't improve over Kitkat in terms of battery life.
Toucwhiz still has the best camera app and can make most of the camera features (HDR, Slow-Motion). And it probably also has better battety life. We are talking about stock touchwhiz, not a custom touchwhiz.
Slim roms are very basic, with a few extras.
AOSP roms from JDCTeam are even more stripped down. It's just basic android.
Keep in mind that wifi and mobile data are big battery drainers. I can maybe get 2 hours SOT with wifi or mobile data activated. But I can probably double or triple that with wifi and mobile data off.
But I don't use the more fancy features of the phone, like GPS and such.
Should I sell the lg g2 and get mi4C which is currently on discount for 173$.
I think it is a better phone and I also like miui a lot. I like the g2, but it is only 9 months old from the date I bought it and I know that a lot of people have yellow spots on the sreen after 1 year use.
I don't know if I should change with the mi4c. I like the g2. I am currently on cr droid android m and it is very fast.
rdlegy said:
Should I sell the lg g2 and get mi4C which is currently on discount for 173$.
I think it is a better phone and I also like miui a lot. I like the g2, but it is only 9 months old from the date I bought it and I know that a lot of people have yellow spots on the sreen after 1 year use.
I don't know if I should change with the mi4c. I like the g2. I am currently on cr droid android m and it is very fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why are you thinking of that ? It is still a good phone . Development is still in motion .
Because the mi4 is a newer and better device with software that I like better
The sore point of the G2 is the slow, buggy stock ROM. One way to work around it is to install an AOSP based ROM, but you lose the stock camera and the ability to run certain banking and video streaming apps (because they seem to check for AOSP ROMs). The second options is perhaps to get a stripped down G2 lollipop ROM (only for d800). But if neither of these works out, I'd say sell it and get something else.
Akopps said:
The sore point of the G2 is the slow, buggy stock ROM. One way to work around it is to install an AOSP based ROM, but you lose the stock camera and the ability to run certain banking and video streaming apps (because they seem to check for AOSP ROMs). The second options is perhaps to get a stripped down G2 lollipop ROM (only for d800). But if neither of these works out, I'd say sell it and get something else.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have no idea what you're talking about. Most(/all) aosp roms are garbage - laggy, lower raw performance, no camera, poor stability, etc. They're experimental roms for enthusiasts to test, not like stock roms that are fast and stable which are meant to be used everyday. For some reason people delude themselves into thinking aosp is somehow better...
Op, if you like miui and want to spend the extra $ for the mi4c, then you should do it. It seems to be a much better phone.
stan54 said:
I have no idea what you're talking about. Most(/all) aosp roms are garbage - laggy, lower raw performance, no camera, poor stability, etc. They're experimental roms for enthusiasts to test, not like stock roms that are fast and stable which are meant to be used everyday. For some reason people delude themselves into thinking aosp is somehow better...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I highly disagree with this post. I am not speaking for "most" AOSP ROMs. Just look at the well established ones: Cyanogenmod, BlissPOP, etc (I honestly think this is it, as far as good AOSP ROMS go). I had pretty much zero issues with Cyanogenmod ROMs on devices I have used them on. Of course, if you run the bleeding edge CM13 will have more bugs than the more stable and well established CM12.1. Right now I am running the last LG2-compatible official OmniROM, which is based on KitKat, on my G2 and this ROM was basically a revelation. It's incredibly, blazingly fast. So fast, that I think if I took away two cores and halved the clock speed of the remaining cores, there would still be no difference in speed or responsiveness, and it still would run fast. The stock 5.0.2 ROM on the other hand, seriously feels like its running on its last legs, specially if you multitask a lot. The lag can be real and very noticeable.
As for the camera, the advantages of the stock LG camera are highly exaggerated. It can take forever to focus, and often fails to focus, specially shooting videos. I downloaded every free camera app I could find on the play store onto the OmniROM install, and pretty much everyone of them is more than passable. Right now I am using Google camera, but HD Camera seems pretty satisfactory too (sans the ads in the free version). Overall, I'd say the LG camera is better, but it's not that much significantly better or more important to prevent me from using other ROMs.
I used reconstruction remix, blisspop, vanir and currently using cr droid android M. Even with android M I have no issues. Have been using it for about a month. Had one crash or two on one app. That is all. I really like it and it is very fast.
I like everything about this phone expect that you can't put tempered glass screen protector, because it doesn't fit good.
The mi4C is on a really good price atm for 170$. I like miui, new features, usb - c, sunlight display, better SOC, tempered glass will stick good, new device(Released 2015 September). The g2 is almost 3 years old. That is the thing that makes me wanna sell it. It is just old and I might get a yellow spot on the screen, because a lot of people have one.
The mi4C is really a better phone, but I am still not sure if I should do it, because I still like the g2, but on the other hand the mi4c is on a really good deal atm