Database Users

[Q] Root N7 or not, for what I use it for?

Hi all,
First post as just registered here but XDA seems to be the best place for this subject by far.
Should I root and unlock, install kernel, overclock etc?
I use it for:
-Emails (Business & personal)
-Web browsing (a lot)
-Some games (but simple ones)
-Viewing and editing (slightly) Images.
-Google Analytics/Ads/Drive
-CRM database etc
In addition to the above question, I want to now if overclocking to 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6 ghz or install would make the N7 smoother and faster for these general things? I wont be 'gaming' or doing anything massively graphics or processor intensive (I dont think?)

iAmlearning said:
Hi all,
First post as just registered here but XDA seems to be the best place for this subject by far.
Should I root and unlock, install kernel, overclock etc?
I use it for:
-Emails (Business & personal)
-Web browsing (a lot)
-Some games (but simple ones)
-Viewing and editing (slightly) Images.
-Google Analytics/Ads/Drive
-CRM database etc
In addition to the above question, I want to now if overclocking to 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6 ghz or install would make the N7 smoother and faster for these general things? I wont be 'gaming' or doing anything massively graphics or processor intensive (I dont think?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on your uses I'd leave it stock...you could however install a custom kernel and squeeze some more battery life out of it.

Risk and Difficulty?
Culex316 said:
Based on your uses I'd leave it stock...you could however install a custom kernel and squeeze some more battery life out of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks, I have thought about battery life however I am willing to sacrifice a little battery for more speed. Do you think you'd notice the difference? In terms of smoothness and speed on general activities? Also one BIG question(s), how hard it is and how risky is it to root from Mac? Whats the likelihood of me ruining my device, for good? Are we saying 1 in 1000 or for a rookie like me a toss of a coin?
I have watched a few videos and find it pretty amazing what you can do to a phone or tablet. Especially by yourself.

iAmlearning said:
Hi all,
First post as just registered here but XDA seems to be the best place for this subject by far.
Should I root and unlock, install kernel, overclock etc?
I use it for:
-Emails (Business & personal)
-Web browsing (a lot)
-Some games (but simple ones)
-Viewing and editing (slightly) Images.
-Google Analytics/Ads/Drive
-CRM database etc
In addition to the above question, I want to now if overclocking to 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6 ghz or install would make the N7 smoother and faster for these general things? I wont be 'gaming' or doing anything massively graphics or processor intensive (I dont think?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, iAmlearning...
Based on your needs... I would say... stay stock, but root...
You can then run apps like Titanium (always useful for backing up those Temple Run 2 high scores.. or running AdAway (for getting rid of those pesky, annoying ads that seem to crop up just about everywhere...)
As far as risk is concerned... well, it's not really quantifiable... there is ALWAYS the possibility you might hard-brick the thing... but then, you might drop it on the kitchen floor tomorrow!
I'd be a liar if I said the Nexus 7 was 'unbrickable' ... it is eminently 'brickable'! But it's actually kind of hard to do! And if you follow many of the excellent instructions here on XDA, you should be OK. (Actually, rooting is a piece of cake - people make too much of it.)
Finally... rooting involves unlocking the BOOTLOADER... which WIPES the device and performs a FACTORY RESET... so I would suggest it might be done sooner rather than later... before you build up a lot of content on it (not that it can't be backed up elsewhere beforehand).
Once you have root, you can then think about custom ROMs and kernels much later.
But root is you're gateway.
Rgrds,
Ged.

iAmlearning said:
Hi all,
First post as just registered here but XDA seems to be the best place for this subject by far.
Should I root and unlock, install kernel, overclock etc?
I use it for:
-Emails (Business & personal)
-Web browsing (a lot)
-Some games (but simple ones)
-Viewing and editing (slightly) Images.
-Google Analytics/Ads/Drive
-CRM database etc
In addition to the above question, I want to now if overclocking to 1.4, 1.5 or 1.6 ghz or install would make the N7 smoother and faster for these general things? I wont be 'gaming' or doing anything massively graphics or processor intensive (I dont think?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't sound like you really need to root. If you get sick of the interface or whatever you can always install a launcher like Nova Prime and play around with it. The things you can do without being rooted is pretty amazing.
Overclocking it to 1.4 Ghz won't make a huge difference, but overclocking to 1.8 Ghz will. It will also drain your battery a lot faster - something to think about. I'm one of the under clockers to preserve battery.

One further question?
ynrozturk said:
Doesn't sound like you really need to root. If you get sick of the interface or whatever you can always install a launcher like Nova Prime and play around with it. The things you can do without being rooted is pretty amazing.
Overclocking it to 1.4 Ghz won't make a huge difference, but overclocking to 1.8 Ghz will. It will also drain your battery a lot faster - something to think about. I'm one of the under clockers to preserve battery.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have probably answered my question, I am a bit scared to overclock past 1.4 or 1.5 due to the heat and me not really knowing what I am doing and as the battery life is fairly important I might just leave as stock.
However like a few people advise I may try to give the rooting a go.... or maybe find a cheap used tablet or handset and try it on that first?
Would be great to get rid of the adverts.
Question - I have heard that some of these customer ROM's take away the unnecessary junk from the OS and make things smoother and faster? Would this be more worthwhile than overclocking if I were to do just one? Also any ROM's for this purpose that people recommend?
Thans again everyone

Well because the device is a Nexus device, it comes very clean as default. Not really any junk on the device to slow it down, even though that "junk" is relative. For example, I live in Europe and Google Play Music does not work over here, so I've disabled it. I've also disabled Google Currents, and any other built in apps that I simply do not use. Now it's like those apps are not even on my device - they are just dead.
If we were talking about a Samsung tablet, then yes I would say root it. Because rooting would allow you to get rid of Samsung's Touchwiz interface, which can be a bit of a RAM hog. But the Nexus 7 doesn't have such a problem, it's already stock and very smooth.
I can tell that you're very interested in this stuff and you will most probably root in the near future. However, my advice to you would be to just use and enjoy the device as it is right now, but in the mean time just read about how to unlock bootloaders, rooting, custom ROM's.. read as much as you can. You'll get more familiar with the process and the terminology, and it will be a big help when it comes time to root two months down the line.
One custom ROM I can recommend is Paranoid Android. Truthfully, it's the only one I can recommend because its the only one I've flashed. I like it, but does it make a huge difference from stock in terms of speed? Not really. It has a load of other cool features, though.

If all you're interested in is battery life and performance, rooting and a custom kernel would suffice. However for what you say you'll be using it for, not really needed. The nexus line is super simple to root and play around on though. It all sounds way more complicated than it really is.
Sent from my Paranoid 3.0 Nexus7 running M-Kernel mr1

ynrozturk said:
Well because the device is a Nexus device, it comes very clean as default. Not really any junk on the device to slow it down, even though that "junk" is relative. For example, I live in Europe and Google Play Music does not work over here, so I've disabled it. I've also disabled Google Currents, and any other built in apps that I simply do not use. Now it's like those apps are not even on my device - they are just dead.
If we were talking about a Samsung tablet, then yes I would say root it. Because rooting would allow you to get rid of Samsung's Touchwiz interface, which can be a bit of a RAM hog. But the Nexus 7 doesn't have such a problem, it's already stock and very smooth.
I can tell that you're very interested in this stuff and you will most probably root in the near future. However, my advice to you would be to just use and enjoy the device as it is right now, but in the mean time just read about how to unlock bootloaders, rooting, custom ROM's.. read as much as you can. You'll get more familiar with the process and the terminology, and it will be a big help when it comes time to root two months down the line.
One custom ROM I can recommend is Paranoid Android. Truthfully, it's the only one I can recommend because its the only one I've flashed. I like it, but does it make a huge difference from stock in terms of speed? Not really. It has a load of other cool features, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite impressed that you can determine this, as its 100% correct. I am probably going to do this at some point, but maybe not just yet, I think I need to get comfortable with the process and research a bit more about it all. Also, I am actually very impressed with the Nexus 7 as it id and coming from an Apple iPhone 5 and iPad 3, I can safely say that I'd not go back to either after this. I used to think Apple had it all in terms of functionality and innovation, however in recent years they have almost made backwards steps.
But thanks for the response, I keep seeing the Paranoid ROM around and on signatures. So may give that a go.

iAmlearning said:
Quite impressed that you can determine this, as its 100% correct. I am probably going to do this at some point, but maybe not just yet, I think I need to get comfortable with the process and research a bit more about it all. Also, I am actually very impressed with the Nexus 7 as it id and coming from an Apple iPhone 5 and iPad 3, I can safely say that I'd not go back to either after this. I used to think Apple had it all in terms of functionality and innovation, however in recent years they have almost made backwards steps.
But thanks for the response, I keep seeing the Paranoid ROM around and on signatures. So may give that a go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldnt root it for the uses you are indicating, BUT from your post I can already see that you eventually will. My advise is set a saturday or friday night aside and get this done sooner than later. Its just easier because this device not having an SD card will make it difficult to restore data and things that you have already done on it ( I got it two days ago and still havent rooted but am already worreid about some of the work ). The thing that usually helps me the most is youtube. Read a lot but have a good comprehensive detailed youtube video of teh rooting method you decide to follow and just follow along with the video. I have rooted 3 phones using that method and have yet to brick anything.

[Q] stock google rom vs LiquidSmooth

Hey,
I just wanted to ask does the custom roms really worth rooting? in comparison to the google stock rom how much faster and more battery efficient are the custom rom that specialize in those fields? (i.e. LiquidSmooth from what I could gather) and how much more/less stable are they from the stock rom?
Thank you.

Experience differs from user to user. The most conclusive way to get an answer is to try it out yourself. For me, PA has been just as fast as the stock ROM and had equally good battery life, but I have had the occasional random reboot. To me that's a miniscule trade-off for the features you get. You won't really get a ROM that's significantly faster than a stock ROM though because the hardware on the phone is good enough that everything feels fast.

tomer90 said:
Hey,
I just wanted to ask does the custom roms really worth rooting? in comparison to the google stock rom how much faster and more battery efficient are the custom rom that specialize in those fields? (i.e. LiquidSmooth from what I could gather) and how much more/less stable are they from the stock rom?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would recommend you try both and stick with the one that works best for you. Only you can determine which one you like more. The N4 is easy to install a custom rom on (even from stock). Plus with the backup apps out there you don't have to risk losing your data and starting over. No two users are identical and what works for one may not work for another.
For what it's worth, I've flashed back to stock/locked/unrooted because I never came to depend on the features the different roms gave me. I'm getting older and don't have the time to stay current on the different roms and features. All I need for my phone are apps/features that are found in the stock rom and the google store. Battery life is better on a custom rom but it's not worth it to me to continue my "flashaholic" ways. I still get through a day sometimes a day and a half on the stock rom - which is all I need. My use case could be drastically different than yours so don't do what I did unless you know it will work for you.
The developers here do great work and it's a great community so I would recommend you try them all to see which one you like the most.
Good luck.

You need to find the answer yourself.
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using tapatalk 2

its not about me testing for myself because i'm not looking for features or special stuff i can get along with everything i'm really just looking for the fastest most battery saving ROM, thats it, I play little to almost no games basicly mail and scanning and stuff like that(i'm a student right now) and soon i'll be writing some apps for myself for security purposes so I need something to really milk that Quad Core for all its worth so I also need some CPU tweaking apps(not sure if thats ROM related)

You'll be very happy with Sabermod or Rasbean both close to stock. Sabermod is the only Rom built using the 4.8 chaintool and is very fast. The battery life is also excellent. I recommend those 2 for a close to stock experience with some useful tweaks both fast smooth and solid.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

Thank you for your input.
Any other opinions?
and by the way, excuse my ignorance but what does it mean 4.8 chaintool? what makes it faster then the 4.7 or the older ones? and since its really new im guessing, does it mean its less stable then the other ROMS? and when you say excellent battery life, its in comparison to all those other ROMS that aim for max battery life?
Thank you!

If you really want more battery life or smoothness then IMO you should just install a new kernel; Franco's kernel has great battery life but it still has better performance than stock, Trinity kernel is super fast and smooth, and there's loads more options available.
I'm running CM10.1 and Franco kernel and its very stable, barely ever have any sort of bugs or random reboots
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

I run CM10.1. Close to stock, but has a few options that are nice to have especially if you like to customize your phone. There are other Roms that have more options, but to me, what's in CM is enough. It's really up to you.
With that being said, I recently flashed a stock rooted rom and got MUCH better battery life than on CM. I don't know if it was an app I had or what, but stock definitely gave me better battery life. I have tried kernels and Rom combinations, but always come back to CM with every single phone I've had. But, in my experience on the Nexus 4, stock Rom gives me the best battery life.

For me liquidsmooth is brilliant! Extremely fast while having tons of customization options. Pair it with matr1x and it really is a great combo for speed and battery life. This is only my opinion but it works for me. I got over 22000 on antutu with this combination (no overclock) while I think its around 17000 on stock. I also get significantly better battery life compared to stock.

if you really want a bump in battery and performance, i suggest rooting and just install francos kernel.i've tried every rom on this forum and for me i ALWAYS find my way back to stock for me it just feels the most fluid and everything works like it should. like me you dont play games or anything and im no app hoarder.that said stock rom with francos kernel gives me the best of everything including color/gamma tweaks to make your screen look better with his app.
with that said i suggest to check out different kernels

Installing kernel...
paul_viado said:
if you really want a bump in battery and performance, i suggest rooting and just install francos kernel.i've tried every rom on this forum and for me i ALWAYS find my way back to stock for me it just feels the most fluid and everything works like it should. like me you dont play games or anything and im no app hoarder.that said stock rom with francos kernel gives me the best of everything including color/gamma tweaks to make your screen look better with his app.
with that said i suggest to check out different kernels
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now, if we install franco's kernel onto the Stock ROM, will this prevent any future Google updates from being installed?

mastewman said:
Now, if we install franco's kernel onto the Stock ROM, will this prevent any future Google updates from being installed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Updates in any form will show up in the forum and no need to simply rely on Google for them. They have recently released an updated kernel which I see being implemented by some rom developers and kernel developers already. Let's understand what we have here guys, a community of constant building additions/updates to our phones. So updates should be the last thing for you to worry about IMO
Also to me OP some of the questions you asked can all be answered with a simple Google Search, not that the answers given here are wrong but you would probably find more in depth and uniformed answers by looking it up.. Quite sure its on a wiki somewhere...

playya said:
Updates in any form will show up in the forum and no need to simply rely on Google for them. They have recently released an updated kernel which I see being implemented by some rom developers and kernel developers already. Let's understand what we have here guys, a community of constant building additions/updates to our phones. So updates should be the last thing for you to worry about IMO
Also to me OP some of the questions you asked can all be answered with a simple Google Search, not that the answers given here are wrong but you would probably find more in depth and uniformed answers by looking it up.. Quite sure its on a wiki somewhere...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe he means Google ota's and yes it can stop you from getting ota's. Any modification to system. Whether you added or removed something will fail. You would have to be on complete stock for it to work. Just download yourself a nexus 4 toolkit. The latest factory image, latest drivers, and make sure you backup your internal storage on your computer. Use the tool to return your phone back to stock. Of course whenever you feel is tge right time to do so.

Jsparta26 said:
I believe he means Google ota's and yes it can stop you from getting ota's. Any modification to system. Whether you added or removed something will fail. You would have to be on complete stock for it to work. Just download yourself a nexus 4 toolkit. The latest factory image, latest drivers, and make sure you backup your internal storage on your computer. Use the tool to return your phone back to stock. Of course whenever you feel is tge right time to do so.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh no I fully understood what he meant and my point was simply people unroot or stay stock to wait for an update. Whether you are rooted or not the update will find you in some form. Either with a rooted stock rom or a custom rom but rest assure that xda will not let an update happen and its not on everyone's phone :good:

Should I upgrade to Android M?

I'm asking this question because I want input from users who did upgrade and I'm not sure if I need the upgrade or not.
I'm currently going by the logic: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I'm quite happy with how Android L with the stock Kernel works on my device and after looking at the features that Google advertises for M I discovered that I can live without most of them.
I'm mostly interested in the new battery management system, app permissions, overall performance improvements in apps and general usage and some misc things like the new copy/paste thingy.
So let's say that of all the above, I'm mostly interested in the new battery management system. How well does it in you experience work? How much more usage do you get out of your phone? Do the new Doze and App Standby features really work as well as Google advertises them?
Also how stable is Android M on the Nexus 4? This is the main thing that is keeping me from upgrading. I would rather stay on stock then get a few new features that may or may not work well or even worse, get a phone that crashes every 5 minutes.
I'm currently looking to use the Pure Nexus Project ROM (because I want the pure Google experience) and the TAURUS Kernel (heard a lot of good things about this Kernel and it works well with the ROM I've chosen by the reports of some users).
So what do think? Is it worth it to upgrade to M or should I wait for the next major Android version?
Thank you for reading.

I have been using One Of A Kind ROM (OCT 31, Build) and it has been rock solid for me. My phone's battery definitely lasts longer than stock Lollipop ROM. We are talking a couple of hours extra. The Doze feature works well, there is very little battery drain on standby. You will see that from battery stats. You will be waiting for a while until next iteration of Android. As you know Google has stopped supporting Nexus 4, it will be at least few weeks to a month before we get anything going for our beloved Nexus 4. Even then, the stability won't be guaranteed.
I think there are a few stable ROMs out there. Back up everything and give it a try. Worst case scenario, you go back to what you had.
I tried M, and I am not going back to Lollipop.

Yes, you should. Doze makes a difference for me, and the permission stuff is always useful to have. If you find yourself confortable with stock L, then you should flash "stock M", which is, in my opinion: Fake Nexus ROM.
I had same doubts one month ago, and I tried with a few ROMs out here, searching for stability, battery life, without compromising performance. I stopped on the ROM I linked you, try it!

Thank you both for your input.
I have decided to not upgrade for the time being.

It does have noticeable improvements, the system is smoother, battery life is longer (you should probably install Grennify to further improve the new Doze mode and App Standby functionalities),
and it comes with app permission control.
With regard to stablization, I have been using the PureNexusProject rom and the TAURUS kernel for nearly a month, no reboot no crash, no bizarre behaviors, everything seems fine and I really enjoy it.
I personally recommand you to try it, anyway it's the new Android!

I'm loving android M, Doze is really working to me!
So I think you should give it a try.

LORD MJ said:
Thank you both for your input.
I have decided to not upgrade for the time being.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why?

TheArt. said:
Why?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For a number or reasons. It's mostly that I'm happy how things are working right now and I don't have time to upgrade. Also, I don't have enough space to fully backup my apps.

Do you have Stock or Custom Rom?

Do you have Stock or Custom Rom and why?

The vendor firmware landscape has been increasingly adequate for quite some time, providing multiple viable options for a satisfactory mobile experience - buying a device with the intention to separate from its out of the box experience as much as possible no longer makes a compelling case against the unique, and sometimes identity-forming, features provided as stock.
During earlier years, Android, and mobile firmware in general, was controlled by regulations and risks while expanding an entirely new platform. There is no alternative otherwise, and anything less conservative would border reckless abandon.
This paved the way for many enthusiasts under no control to have immersed themselves into the technology like the career engineers and developers were doing, but with the nearly full freedom to test ambitious ideas and solutions unlike their professional peers, who were often limited to free time and with no expectation of something even as simple as maintaining a message board OP exploring those ideas.
This allowed many of those ideas to manifest and be thoroughly tested by many and with an unmatched diversity of real-world usages and trending philosophies. This is when many projects helped form several of the early features unique to the Android platform, absorbing a substantial portion of the risks without fear of retribution, allowing the vendors to devote more time to polish and fine-tuning and less time devoted to brainstorming ideas and risk scenarios.
This afforded the hobbyists a custom platform having quite the head start and that could distance itself from the vendor experience in features, accessibility, and form.
Custom rom's had a different identity then than custom rom's do now, and that is with good reason as well.
Ignoring the few debatable exceptions, custom rom's are currently little more than variations or slight modifications of vendor firmware or AOSP. I exclude CM/LOS simply because CM was among the hobbyists described earlier.
With the feature gap as narrow as it currently is with Mr. Rom Dev and Mr. Lead Software Engineer, the professionals now enjoy an edge with often unlimited resources available providing an experience that is hard to match or exceed with limited time and resources, so users today understandably gravitate towards the familiar vendor experience with a manageable number of features or tweaks.
Of course, even in a market of no stock, consumer demand still determines the custom software landscape.
The benefit today is that ideas and solutions require an extraordinary amount of ingenuity and progressive thinking to stand out and enjoy active development for more than six months. The breakthroughs are far fewer but they are also more impactful in pushing the platform forward.
Having said all that, my purpose for exclusive use of vendor firmware is for hobbyist development reasons. I see no benefit a custom rom would provide for development. I mean, if it works, great. But, if it works only because of the rom, you have essentially prepared something to share among a fraction of one device's users.
If something fails to implement into the vendor firmware, I move on to something else. If it works great for some custom rom's, "Cool, man!", if not, a user has the choice to use the only firmware a developer could logically assume is in use.
So, put gh down for Stock! :good:

Yes, but with custom rom you can have better battery stats. You can also have fewer google apps.. And many more.

I use xXx NoLimits: a stock-based custom ROM. It meets all of my needs. Therefore, I have no reasons to try anything else.

lazostat said:
Yes, but with custom rom you can have better battery stats. You can also have fewer google apps.. And many more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm getting 10-12 hours of screen on time and idle time is about .3-.6% drain let hour on stock on OOS. There isn't anything custom out there giving anything better.

Eric214 said:
I'm getting 10-12 hours of screen on time and idle time is about .3-.6% drain let hour on stock on OOS. There isn't anything custom out there giving anything better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
Getting 10-11h SoT every cycle with stock ROM. Got 11ish hours the other day with almost 3 full days without charging.
Haven't seen anything better or much better then THIS.

lazostat said:
Yes, but with custom rom you can have better battery stats. You can also have fewer google apps.. And many more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock firmware does not necessarily need to remain "untouched".
Perhaps, a more accurate answer would be that my preference for a foundation on which to tailor to my specific needs is the stock OxygenOS firmware. It is certainly rare for users with root access to refrain from making a single change to the installed rom, be it custom or stock. :good:

With this phone it is the first time I've had to come to accept that stock is king, no custom rom compares to it, I've tried them all (yes this is subjective). Stock + a custom kernel + viper4arise and off I go.

I dont know if you count it as stock or custom since it is both but i use HydrogenOS and my own modification of its stock kernel. Im used to 9 hours SoT+ with .2% standby drain per hour. No performance sacrificed. Ill vote in the poll once u verify which u factor hydrogen os as.

tWoBrO said:
This.
Getting 10-11h SoT every cycle with stock ROM. Got 11ish hours the other day with almost 3 full days without charging.
Haven't seen anything better or much better then THIS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok can you provide more insight? how you get it done......i average about 4-5.5 hours sot over two days........idle drain at1.33 and active at 12.55.

How I get it done? Everyone uses the phone differently, have different apps installed, etc.
Last few days I have used Wi-Fi 99% of the time, always on, Facebook, IG, Tapatalk (a lot), Gmail, Movies HD (a lot), Terrarium-tv (a lot), YouTube, a couple calls and sms here and there, but not much, Messenger, Chrome and app-like-Spotify with bluetooth on the car. I turn on location and bluetooth only when I need it.
Auto brightness is on, always on the low side, dark theme on, turned off vibration on touch (because of the double vibration bug in Oreo), turned vibration of on keyboard touch too (have sound on instead, I like the type writer sound when I type).
Let me see, I do have privacy fix module and sysconfig patcher installed on Magisk. This last one might gave you a boost in battery, but to be honest I don't even know if it actually works.
I would say that having a dark theme, screen brightness on the low side, and not having EVERYTHING turned on all the time are what makes the difference for me. I'm sure if I have bluetooth and location on, for example, all the time, when not needed it, it will cut a my time quite a bit.
Oh, I have notice that talking on the phone takes a lot battery. I don't talk that much on the phone, just those quick 30s-5m calls to ask a quick question or whatever.
I had great battery life out of the box with Nougat, but Oreo really made a huge difference. I'm talking about 2-3h of SoT on Oreo compared to Nougat.

Stock atw and ftw!

Finn the moment the phone I get breathes it's getting a custom ROM.
Always.

For a device like OnePlus 5, a custom ROM isn't really needed since the stock ROM is pretty much debloated and already offers a bunch of features.
Custom ROMs still offer many more features than any stock ROM though. They also get faster updates and for far longer. By the time OnePlus stopped providing updates to this device, custom ROMs will still be updated most probably.
I haven't flashed any custom ROM yet because the stock ROM has almost everything I need. The main reason I flashed ROMs was performance. The OnePlus 5 isn't lacking in this area.

Pure fusion, the Nougat version. It's the smoothest of all ROMs that I tried, has lots of settings and supports stock camera.

Codename Phoenix. Oreo 8.1, Very few bugs and for me a lot better than Stock. From the same dev making Pure Fusion.

CT-CRC said:
With this phone it is the first time I've had to come to accept that stock is king, no custom rom compares to it, I've tried them all (yes this is subjective). Stock + a custom kernel + viper4arise and off I go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How a custom kernel can help? I installed bluspark but i dont see additional settings.. How to make us of it?

CT-CRC said:
With this phone it is the first time I've had to come to accept that stock is king, no custom rom compares to it, I've tried them all (yes this is subjective). Stock + a custom kernel + viper4arise and off I go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally subjective and IMHO completely not true, you are hindered without root and without the ability to alter your phone in a positive way, not only for longevity of battery life but also in regards to performance, stability and stamina.
Stock does not compare to custom in any way for me.

Optimized custom rom could be great when the device is old, and no more supported.
Also, back in the days, let say with Gingerbread 2.3.x, not much nice/modded feature were present. Now, from what I can see, stock roms got almost everything.
OP5 is so fast rigt now, even if stock is heavier, we won't see much difference with a lighter rom.
But looking forward for custom roms in 2-3 years.

HTC U Ultra no updates since Feb 2018... still safe for daily use?

I have a two years HTC U Ultra as a daily driver, battery duration and other minor annoyances aside, I am pretty happy and I don't feel the need of replacing it. What worries me more is the lack of updates for the last 18+ months, what makes me wonder if it is really safe to keep using it "as is". I know there are alternative custom ROMs, but I already walked this route with other devices and they just don't meet my needs, the overall user experience is worse and the unlocked bootloader gives me headaches with apps like netflix and others. What leads me to the question... is an Android device with 8.0 and no security updates since early 2018 still safe to use?
Thanks.

Pocket_rocket said:
I have a two years HTC U Ultra as a daily driver, battery duration and other minor annoyances aside, I am pretty happy and I don't feel the need of replacing it. What worries me more is the lack of updates for the last 18+ months, what makes me wonder if it is really safe to keep using it "as is". I know there are alternative custom ROMs, but I already walked this route with other devices and they just don't meet my needs, the overall user experience is worse and the unlocked bootloader gives me headaches with apps like netflix and others. What leads me to the question... is an Android device with 8.0 and no security updates since early 2018 still safe to use?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it is safe? I think it still is, thinking about some who still use android 4.4 to 7. It has of course more exploitable holes in system, but it depends on what you visit online, what you download, apps you use, etc. I think that with the encryption, the stock could be safer than the custom ROMs. I am on Android Q and is not as stable as stock, the camera is also not so stable. I'm using it because this version has better battery life and speed than stock. But that's the story with almost all phones with custom ROM, an adventure .
It is a shame that HTC stopped the support for HTC U Ultra so fast, so we cannot have all.

acristescu said:
If it is safe? I think it still is, thinking about some who still use android 4.4 to 7. It has of course more exploitable holes in system, but it depends on what you visit online, what you download, apps you use, etc. I think that with the encryption, the stock could be safer than the custom ROMs. I am on Android Q and is not as stable as stock, the camera is also not so stable. I'm using it because this version has better battery life and speed than stock. But that's the story with almost all phones with custom ROM, an adventure .
It is a shame that HTC stopped the support for HTC U Ultra so fast, so we cannot have all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
android Q is better or 9.0 in terms of stability , camera , battery ?
and can we take any legal steps against htc to force them update the u ultra to the pie update as it has to do so as the device should have 2 years of updates , i think a legal case can be made against them
---------- Post added at 02:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:59 PM ----------
Pocket_rocket said:
I have a two years HTC U Ultra as a daily driver, battery duration and other minor annoyances aside, I am pretty happy and I don't feel the need of replacing it. What worries me more is the lack of updates for the last 18+ months, what makes me wonder if it is really safe to keep using it "as is". I know there are alternative custom ROMs, but I already walked this route with other devices and they just don't meet my needs, the overall user experience is worse and the unlocked bootloader gives me headaches with apps like netflix and others. What leads me to the question... is an Android device with 8.0 and no security updates since early 2018 still safe to use?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i like the stock too , specially in camera as other custom roms doesn't support the focus of camera and the laser autofocus , but now i have a strange bug that the device tries to launch something in a fraction of second and then it doesn't open it . so u see that strange empty pop up that makes the device really bad to use , did u face it ?

EAEmadinho said:
now i have a strange bug that the device tries to launch something in a fraction of second and then it doesn't open it . so u see that strange empty pop up that makes the device really bad to use , did u face it ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, that didn't happen to me so far. The worst problem it has, after two years of use, the battery duration just sucks. It never was that good, not even new, but now I can't stay too far from a charger. I haven't had good experience with third-part replacement batteries in the past, so I am not replacing it for the moment.