Related
Hey whaddup, I'm certain I have to be careful with how I ask this. I'm on Miui's ROM right now and see tremendous benefit of using an AOSP rom. I had Fresh since I got my Evo and I feel like I have experienced the best of both worlds.
Now I'm looking at Cynogen. What are some of the perks of having Cynogen over Miui? Knowing they both have different strengths, is their more stability in Cynogen? Are alot of the issues in Miui addressed already in Cynogen i.e. MMS problems, Kernal instability, Camera FC, etc.?
I'm thinking about making the transition and just looking for some insight. While I like Miui's interface, if Cynogen has more stability and alot of the issues fixed then I'm on my way.
Thanks
CyAnogen's roms have always been my favorite. MIUI is very different, and that is cool, but it is far too appley for my tastes. In my opinion, CyanogenMod has many more settings features and there is a lot of stuff to play around with. It is also a very very fast and clean rom, so you don't have much of the eye candy that is in MIUI. I would suggest making a nandroid backup of your MIUI setup, and try CyanogenMod out. But I would recommend flashing the nightly build #187. There are a few bugs worked out that are in the RC2, and it includes settings to use the Wimax led for notifications
MIUI is basically an old version of CyanogenMod, skinned to look like iOS. So while CyanogenMod isn't as "polished" as MIUI, it does allow for more customization, and has far more features. In addition, it is constantly in development, and anyone can contribute.
Just a few things that CyanogenMod has lately added:
New kernel (2.6.35.9)
New lockscreen gestures, and Phone + Messaging slide-tabs (like the unlock and sound sliders, but they go directly to your dialer or messaging app of choice).
Notification bar power controls
Latest version of ADW and SuperUser
Always-on or selectable lockscreen music controls
Can hide signal bars in favor of a -dB numerical indicator, or both.
Battery level as text over the actual battery icon.
Have the notification drop-down retract after selecting one of the power controls
Select to have national or international roaming, seperately.
Forced-roaming
HTTP/SOCKS proxy
VPN compatibility
Force an application to install to SD/Internal
Quick unlock (don't have to press OK to unlock)
Menu unlock
Disable unlock slider (in favor of menu or gesture unlock)
"Quiet hours" (disable SMS alerts while you sleep, but not your calls!)
WiMax LED for notifications (haven't seen this in use yet, but I saw the commit for it)
iOS-like rubbery "overcrolling"
Manipulate timeouts for when to lock phone after power button is pressed or screen turns off from inactivity
Built-in equalizer
Music player gestures
WiMax support (hopefully) coming soon!
HDMI support supposedly just around the corner
And there's tons more. Really, someone could write a book and have to update it every week to keep up with the sheer number of tweaks, customizations, and features of CyanogenMod.
Wow.. Thanks to both of you. This is exactly what I was looking for. So now the question is do I go to Nightly or RC. I hear what Leukay is saying about the bugs.
Last 2 question....what is the difference between Nightly and "regular" cynogen? Do I need to partition my SD CArd in order to flash this ROM?
I will be flashing this tomorrow.
I personally always run the nightlys. I like to have the newest builds of roms. No you dont have to partition your SDcard to flash Cyanogen roms.
The RC's are the Nightlies, just they're only made once every now and then, when Team Douche feels confident that the software is fairly stable.
Nightly and "Regular" (Or "Release") are the same thing, just Release is more stable than RC or Nightly, when the team feels that things are smooth enough.
Nightlies have the latest and greatest features (new kernel, new tricks, etc.) and some of the bad features (battery draining features, bugs, etc.).
Makes perfect sense now. Thank you to all of you for the info. Bout to come on over.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
Just remember: There are no ETA's, and Nandroid backups are your friend.
As you may have noticed there isn't a lot of ROMs for the nexus 7 2013. Tell me what kind of nougat ROMs you want.
I'll build the ROM that has the highest amount of votes.
P.S if anyone's wondering i was the former SAOSP maintainer.
Simple, clean and fast...
-fast
-complete debloated
-oms support or dark ui
-maybe privacy guard and advanced reboot
-permissive + enforce bootable and tweakable kernel with non standard govs and hotplugs
-no preroot
-Fast
-oms support
-optional pixel navigation bar w/animation setting
I know that you already build DU for another device. Would like to see DU on Flo, I think it pretty much has the features that most of us would want. Thanks.
Mike T
I'd be super happy with a Lineage build that has cherrypicks for our device. Lineage and CM officials were always nice but the reason I started coming here was the optimized versions for various devices. Having somebody that knows our device and what extras to add or remove based on our chip/gpu/flash was always nice. Sort of what DevSwift1 was doing at the start.
I'd like to see substratum support as well but i generally don't run themes.
Purenexus or a similar experience. I'd love to get pixel features with this device and manage to pass safetynet.
If this is still an option, I would love to see paranoid on the n7 2013. It's amazing on my n6p. They always looking for a maintainer.
Of course omni is great too.
I would like the latest Paranoid Android to come to FLO! But, as an alternative,
The Major Features I would like:
- Clean, Debloated & Beautiful (latest Paranoid Android Wallpapers and Stock UI look gorgeous)
- Very, Very Smooth & Snappy
- Full OMS Support
- Built-In Kernel with best Performance-Battery Balance (you can modify the latest ElementalX Kernel to suit the need)
- No Pre-Installed Bloatware (cLock, OmniStyle, OmniJaws, CM/LAOS/Omni Browser, CM/LAOS File Manager, Terminal, Stats, MusicFX/AudioFX, etc.)
- Not an overwhelming amount of unused features, just the basic & adequate amount of customization (unlike Resurrection Remix, having an unending amount of pretty useless customization, which is a waste)
- Lowest possible System Footprint (System Partition space is a bit low on our FLO/DEB)
- Comes Unrooted (passes SafetyNet but can allow for Magisk)
- Regular & Meaningful Updates (Weekly Builds are better than Nightlies)
Additional Featues, which if implemented, would be lovely:
- Basic level of Built-In Themes/Accents (like OxygenOS' Light/Dark Themes and Multiple Accent Colours)
- Good System UI Animations & Animated Elements (like OxygenOS' Power Menu, which has animated & colourful large buttons instead of a list and allow for seamless Power OFF and Advanced Restart while looking beautiful)
- Use as much of Google Apps in the build (Google Calculator, Calendar, Camera, Clock, Contacts, Chrome & Email instead of other AOSP & Open Alternatives or make a zip to replace the built-in ones with the Google ones)
Please, make this happen! Upvote if you too wanted this ROM...
Thank you.
Thank you for developing a new ROM. It is great that there will be a new build for the old tablet. If you could include substratum, viper4android, or xposed framework with rootcloaking module (not that it can't be done individually), that would be awesome. Thank you again for bringing new life to Flo (aside from generic LineageOS builds).
Not to discourage you from doing your own thing, but if possible, I think it would be best if you build something with changes that could easily be merged into the latest nightlies of LineageOS. With the number of Nexus 7 2013 users dropping as the device ages I don't think it would be wise to splinter the community too much more than it already is
As similar to the stock one as possible. That means without root, with Google Apps, without non-stock features, and with stock kernel.
We got that, aosp rom, check it out
I want a nougat ROM that will work with VOIP/SIP apps like TalkaTone for the occasional phone call with the 2013 LTE device or through WiFi. It's been a month since I've tried but TalkaTone locks up with
every Nougat ROM I've tried with the 2013 LTE and Flo devices I have. Funny thing I picked up a used 2012 3G and it works like a charm with the Nougat ROM and the VOIP/SIP app TalkaTone. Kurt
Hi, a lean clean rom as described above - would love the addition of some of the features from Timurs rom v4 (on git hub) so can be used for a car install. There quite a community and we really need a decent updated rom. Features, power event manager including forced sleep on power off, USB host, USB DAC Support.
Don't forget the deb devices.
I just want SlimPIE.
Whats the status here, is there a new room coming any soon?
Hi Mi Max'ers.
My name is Addy and I have been using Xiaomi MI Max [Hydrogen] for 2 years now. I do a lot of customization because being simple is boring .
I liked MIUI till MIUI 8 Nougat (Global ROM). After that there was not much improvement in MIUI ROMs and I could not customize much in the new MIUI 9 and 10 ROMs.
I mostly like system-wide black theme and black theme for all the apps.
So, I came to custom ROMs. I flash ROMs like crazy just to find the perfect one that fulfills my level of customization.
I found AEX [7.1.2] (AOSP Extended). It was good for about 5 months. Then I was having lot of issues one over the other.
One of the major problem was... All the widgets were getting disappeared when I turn on my phone after my phone shutdowns when the battery is dead. No matter what I tried, the problem did not solve. I'll have to restore my 10GB of Nandroid backup everytime it happened.
So I started to search for a new ROM. I wanted to go the the latest releases like Android PIE.
I tried almost a dozen of Android PIE ROMs. Unfortunately, all the ROMs that I have tried had one problem in common.
But exactly the camera and flashlight did not work. Many user were reporting this issue and some said the the camera would work after some time after reboot or it might work after few reboots. It was highly uncertain.
Since I love taking pictures, then I thought I have no choice and I have to go to MIUI again to the latest release (even though I experienced MIUI 10 is full of Bull crap.)
But I saw that Latest MIUI 10 global is still running on Android Nougat. So, I decided to go for Nougat based custom ROMs.
Now I ended up with final version of Resurrection Remix [7.1.2].
In my opinion, this ROM is by far the best and most customizable ROM that fulfilled me. So I am sharing my review on that.
For now I have installed around 85 user apps + Google apps micro package + Magisk and Xposed Modules.
ROM Link:
a. RESURRECTION REMIX [5.8.3] [DEPRECATED] - Thanks @sawdoctor.
-ROM thread.
-Post for download link.
b. AOSP Extended (AEX) - Thanks @Davehimself
-ROM thread.
Battery : ~8 hours of SOT
I think 8 hours SOT for a 2 year old phone is more than expected I guess considering my torture of my MI Max in the past with all the games in the past
I stopped playing games these days since I had to concentrate on my studies. So, I mostly watch youtube videos and listen to music. I hardly use any social media because it if filled with nothing but full of fake stuffs and promotional ads these days.
Camera: Best on so far - MIUI modded camera
I flashed MIUI modded camera so that I can use my favorite Camera and make fruitful memories:victory:.
I did not take good pictures recently. So, I have attached a HDR picture that I have taken few months ago when I was using MIUI camera.
I tried a lot of modded Google camera apks for features like night sight, HDR+, Portrait mode etc. But I got tired of searching/installing/uninstalling. So I think I will enjoy those features when I get a new phone instead of being greedy.
If anyone has working Google camera MOD for MI Max Hydrogen Nougat based ROM, kindly let me know in the discussion.
MIUI Camera: - Thanks @Arnova8G2.
-Arnova8G2's Camera Mod thread
-MIUI Camera v1.2 download link
CPU usage: ~ 50% of time in deep sleep according to EX Kernel manager.
I use ondemand governer for both Little and Big cluster.
I also have also set 1190 Mhz for Big cluster for saving some juice.
I did not tewak GPU settings.
I have only Double tap to wake setting turned on.
Memory Usage:
At first only when I installed only the ROM, without Masigk or GAPPS... Astonishingly, the total free RAM was ~1900 MB!
After setting up all my apps customizations, now the free RAM after clearing recents is around ~ 1200 MB!
I know the unused RAM is wasted RAM. But in previous ROMs, I used to have only 500 MB of RAM or so as free RAM. So it was nearly impossible for me to multi-task.
I am really surprised with the RAM management in this ROM!
But, I still have some apps freezed in Titanium backup + I hibernate some user apps in greenify.
Customization and MODs:
I utilized almost all the features the configurations option in RR ROM settings. My favorites are:
- Recents and Notification panel blurs.
- Customized lockscreen using "Lock screen wigdets [L-M]" xposed module.
- disabling quicktiles (GravitiyBox) and power menu in Lockscreen (This is a major securty issue for me in MIUI ROM. They removed the option to disable these from marshmallow! Now, It is much easier for the thief to steal the phone and switch off/ turn to silent mode!)
- I totally disable mods of the ads in my phone. I use adaway + "MinMinGuard" xposed module for systemwide ad blocking and I use Mozilla firefox with uBolck Origin addon to block ads in browser.
-and other bunch of stuffs.
One thing I was not satisfied after switching from AEX is the quality of VIPER4ANDROID soundmod.
I installed the same module. but somehow I could feel the different effect. I will have to adapt to this I guess.
I have shared the screenshots so that you can see it for yourselves .
Thanks for Reading.
Feel free to share your opinions/mods/etc.. So, that we can use our MI Max to the most fullest way possible
Thank you very much for sharing your experience, that was very helpful.
Hi @Aadhik how did you turn on all black settings? Are you using substratum?
ishwar110594 said:
Hi @Aadhik how did you turn on all black settings? Are you using substratum?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. It is using Substratum... Swift black.
Hi there, i got question regarding this rom, after i flash this rr rom from lineageos 16, my internet h+ - lte display but no data or connection. but my phone line is ok. anyway to troubleshoot this problem. right now im only using my wifi only as my data cannot be use. thx
I am not the developer and this is not my work. I am just sharing this ROM here with reference to real developers' website.
Another good news for Lenovo P2 owners that another Android 10 based ROM is available which is completely stable and can be used as your daily driver.
Mokee OS is developed and sourced by a team based in China. MoKee is based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). It has additional localised and personalised functionality while preserving the stock Android look by adhering to Material Design guidelines.
Important Features:
A few advancements over Lineage OS
Customization for Gesture navigation bar
Quick settings tile columns count
FP gestures along with Gesture navigation bar
Built in Lawnchair launcher v2
Enhanced open source Gallery with advanced features
Customized clock app for one-handed use
Light weight open source Calendar with Google sync ability
FM Radio
Encryption
SELinux Enforcing
Extended/ long Screenshot
Edge long swipe action and more
Developer Wesbite: Website is written in Chinese language. If you don't know Chinese language then use Microsoft Edge or Google Chrome browser to translate the page.
Download Link: Mokee OS MK100 for Lenovo P2 aka Kuntao
Recommended GApps: ARM64 Nano or Micro GApps by OpenGApps
Recommended Recovery: TWRP 3.4.0
Enjoy the Mokee!
Solution for Device not certified issue.
Fully Compatible GCam 7.4 by Parrot
Enjoying new features but Facing battery drain issues?
Android 10 has been the most versatile Android hence, it came with all kinds of goodies such as new features, performance improvement, better permissions and security settings.
Please, don't complain that battery life is not as good as Android 9 because, Android 9 was NOT as good as Android 10.
Overnight battery drain issue has been fixed. If you are still facing it then you can try following methods to improve battery life (I will update it if there is a better strategy):
# Install blazemax kernel 3.4 and Magisk for root. Install a kernel manager app. Select "elementalx" governor for CPU and "balanced" governor for GPU. Enable "IntelliPlug" from CPU Hotplug and that's it.
Following are optional:
# Use Pure Black theme rather than light or grey
# Disable "Device personalisation services" from settings
# Disable "Find my device" from security settings
# Disable printing services from system settings
# Disable "Battery Manager" from system battery settings (optional)
# Freezing "Digital Wellbeing" may also help (optional)
More Tips for Improved Performance and Enhanced Battery
We install plenty of apps in our mobile phones to use for various reasons which may require us to use those apps regularly or when it's needed on random days a month. Some of apps are needed to work in background such as social networking apps. Whereas, gaming apps are needed to work only when needed. Other breed is known as bloatware which are not used by us but are part of system app partition. Gaming, infotainment and bloatware apps shouldn't be working in the background as they not only use battery but also use our data for ads and such. So, these apps should be disabled when not in use.
We need to have knowledge of all such apps and their relevant categories because this information will result in snappier performance of our phones along with good battery life by following the below mentioned trick.
You will need:
1. Titanium backup app
2. AirFrozen
Detail is given below:
1. Titanium backup app is one of the veteran apps which is good for backing up your app data so you can resume from where you left in previous ROM or phone. It's made for rooted phone users. It can be used for disabling the unwanted apps by using freeze command. I recommend that you should freeze bloatware which you don't use at all. But be very careful while disabling system apps. You can download this app from Google Play Store. But if you don't want to backup your apps then no need to install it. Just go for next app.
2. AirFrozen app is for people who have such apps which are not needed to work in background but are needed to be installed. Such apps include gaming and infotainment apps etc. By using AirFrozen; you can easily freeze/disable an app and can still open frozen app for use with couple of touches. This way the app gives you few major advantages; disabling the app which prevents background processing, data and battery usage and unwanted notifications. Secondly, frozen app is hidden from sight yet ready to open upon couple of taps. I don't want my son to know that I have battle royale game installed in my phone. Hence, I've frozen COD in AirFrozen. Few other infotainment apps and Titanium backup are also frozen in AirFrozen. Give this app a try and you will love it. You can download AirFrozen from Play store.
Did the developers of Mokee OS wait for the developers of LineageOS 17.1 to fix all the errors?!:laugh::good:
May be
Nice job Ali! Though you didn't develop this rom, but the conveying part is still noble.
Finally an official rom other than lineage. Is there face unlock present in this rom
Biradarkushal said:
Finally an official rom other than lineage. Is there face unlock present in this rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It isn't.
alirazaagha said:
It isn't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok my fingerprint is not working.so I needed atleast face unlock to work.atleast this is official rom .I'll try it out later .thanks for getting us this rom dev
Is this rom fast and smooth as LOS 17.1 ?
Please tell more about battery backup, bugs, sot, native video calling, And audio/video bug
Performance is good as I played COD on it for a few moments and I found no stutters. Battery seems fine as I saw only one percent battery drop overnight. I've used mostly mobile data since installing it and it hasn't really struggled with battery whereas data drains battery faster than WiFi. I cannot say anything about SOT at the moment as I couldn't fully recharge my phone since installing this ROM. I've been testing this ROM for last 19 hours with conservative governor. Added features as I mentioned are pretty useful. Unlocking with FP is snappy, signals are strong and LTE is connected all the time. I can't say about native video calling as my network don't have it. I use WhatsApp video calling which is fine.
No bugs encountered so far
Biradarkushal said:
Ok my fingerprint is not working.so I needed atleast face unlock to work.atleast this is official rom .I'll try it out later .thanks for getting us this rom dev
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google had dropped face unlock with Android 10. Hence, official ROMs have dropped it as well. You should try LOS 16 or Mokee 90 or other Pie custom ROM for this ability.
alirazaagha said:
Google had dropped face unlock with Android 10. Hence, official ROMs have dropped it as well. You should try LOS 16 or Mokee 90 or other Pie custom ROM for this ability.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually msm xtended v8.0 and havoc os 3.5 both have face unlock and both of those roms are android 10 .so I'm stuck with them untill another android 10 rom gets face unlock.by the way the next update of both msm and havoc os removed face unlock so I don't think they'll add face unlock any sooner.however the developers of this rom can definitely add face unlock as an added bonus
---------- Post added at 05:55 AM ---------- Previous post was at 05:52 AM ----------
alirazaagha said:
Performance is good as I played COD on it for a few moments and I found no stutters. Battery seems fine as I saw only one percent battery drop overnight. I've used mostly mobile data since installing it and it hasn't really struggled with battery whereas data drains battery faster than WiFi. I cannot say anything about SOT at the moment as I couldn't fully recharge my phone since installing this ROM. I've been testing this ROM for last 19 hours with conservative governor. Added features as I mentioned are pretty useful. Unlocking with FP is snappy, signals are strong and LTE is connected all the time. I can't say about native video calling as my network don't have it. I use WhatsApp video calling which is fine.
No bugs encountered so far
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice
Biradarkushal said:
Actually msm xtended v8.0 and havoc os 3.5 both have face unlock and both of those roms are android 10 .so I'm stuck with them untill another android 10 rom gets face unlock.by the way the next update of both msm and havoc os removed face unlock so I don't think they'll add face unlock any sooner.however the developers of this rom can definitely add face unlock as an added bonus
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, Degrus and VladSor added that functionality on their own fulfilling community requests. But in order to make a ROM official; it needs to follow AOSP code which doesn't allow face unlock.
alirazaagha said:
Yes, Degrus and VladSor added that functionality on their own fulfilling community requests. But in order to make a ROM official; it needs to follow AOSP code which doesn't allow face unlock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thank you for the information
Rock solid rom and flued. Everything is working great No bug till now.
Can we add face Unlock Externally ?
No pure Black theme available bro, couldn't find it, only dark theme available. But the rom is great.
Miltonbaidya88 said:
No pure Black theme available bro, couldn't find it, only dark theme available.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pure Black theme is available. Check screenshot.
siemens_marolikar said:
Can we add face Unlock Externally ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm looking for some mod :fingers-crossed:
Full day of usage and I can say that battery life is around 9 hours SOT. Not great but not very bad either.
I am on 16th jun build, where only dark theme available bro
Miltonbaidya88 said:
I am on 16th jun build, where only dark theme available bro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using the same build. Have you checked settings because dark theme is grayish by default which has to be switched to black.
alirazaagha said:
I am using the same build. Have you checked settings because dark theme is grayish by default which has to be switched to black.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it bro..thank u
Introduction
I have spent too many hours trying to find the perfect ROM to install on my Samsung Galaxy S6 phone. My goal was to find an ultra debloated ROM without any Samsung or Google stuff with the bare minimum. Turns out, it's impossible. I also wanted to use something new that went out of the normal boring stuff we are used to see. The ROM and Kernel selection is just enormous. I also needed to address a very specific issue which is to maintain the cell phone up to date with the latest ROM it can take to be stable and usable while being able to install the latest version of apps from Google Play. I have a SIM card but I never recieve any phone calls on it and it's an international card that I cannot use without high fees. It's basically used when my wife, from another country, needs to contact me via SMS. So phone calls using the default call app is just useless for me.
Apps that I excessively use
So here is the list of apps that I use, or shall I say, OVER-use:
Facebook Messenger (video calls)
Grandstream Wave - GS Wave (All my phone calls using SIP service)
Camera app (My wife is in another country for now so pictures and videos is our way of communicating)
Microsoft Launcher (the only free launcher having a good balance between customization and those notification dots)
Banking apps (2 major ones, 1 credit card app, PayPal and Xoom)
Games (2 to 4 mostly from AI Factory and 1 from Facebook app)
Facebook, Reddit and Discord
GMail
Total Commander + LAN plugin
Magisk (latest available version on GitHub)
AdAway (latest available version for ROM version installed, removes pretty much all the ads in my games and apps)
Google Play (Obviously)
Mozilla Firefox or Microsoft Edge browser (depended on my mood as long as I was NOT using the infamous Google Chrome or Samsung Browser)
Open Camera (Only on AOSP roms or Stock roms higher than v7.0)
Problems / Issues / Bugs / Missing configs
After all of my tests, here is the list of all problems I have encountered under which ROM versions:
No floating video call window when call is unfocused. When unfocused, other person sees black screen until I get back the video call in full screen focus - Facebook Messenger (Stock rom v7.0) this issue does not happen on roms higher than v7.x, floating video call is possible with v8.x and higher roms.
Dark mode unavailable or requires heavy tweaks to fake or achieve a similar effect in OS, example, dark mode in the system settings menus - System configuration menus (Stock rom v7.x)
Camera's picture taking is not syncing with flash, therefor, picture is taken WITHOUT the flash leading to dark pictures - Default camera app (Stock roms higher than v7.0 and all AOSP roms)
Lower than usual voice recording audio - Facebook Messenger (sending a voice recording), Default camera app (all AOSP roms)
Unable to see the internal storage of my device in Windows Explorer - LineageOS roms (some custom roms do work that are not pure LineageOS)
Bluetooth connecting but no audio is directed to the device - Facebook Messenger and all other system sounds and music (AOSP roms higher than v7.x)
Bluetooth causes Facebook Messenger to drop connection when in use with BT device. Once disconnected, call ceases to drop - Facebook Messenger (AOSP roms)
Apps and system a tiny bit less responsive - Facebook game Words with Friends, Home screen and configs (Stock rom v7.0)
Contacts not syncing - GS Wave (AOSP roms with Open GApps Pico and Nano)
Username and passwords not automatically filled from stored passwords in Google account - Facebook, Reddit (All roms)
GMail dark mode and dark mode option unavailable - GMail (Stock rom v7.x)
Some games do not install or simply unavailable from Google Play - Super Mario Run (Highly debloated Stock rom v7.0)
Initial setup crashes after configuring the first time wifi connection, Google's update checking fails (AOSP roms with Open GApps)
When resizing the DP from 360 to 480 in the developper options, keyboard does not stretch to the entire screen width - System (Stock rom v7.x)
Lack of keyboard customization such as enabeling the numbers row instead of integrating them in the letter keys with long touch - System (all AOSP roms)
Random reboots or total system freeze. Very minimal and rare, not enough to remember too much about it, but still happened - System (Stock rom v7.0 other than SamStock)
Tests
My phone: Canadian Flat SM-G920W8
As of today, I have tested Ultimate Nougate, Oreo, Unofficial Lineage OS 14.1-17.1, FlynOS, NexusOS, S8 ports Note 8 ports, ViperOS, Marduck, SamStock, DotOS plus many other derivatives of LineageOS 16 and 17.1. If a rom was not mentioning compatibility with W8 version, I'd try using a compatible Kernel which seems to make the roms work and boot properly but most of these tests were performed with roms that stated supporting the T or W8 variants.
First test was to actually go through the Install process which Ultimate Oreo and 1 or 2 others failed. The amount of failed installs is very neglectible. Next was to actually boot into the OS. I got a few boot loops due to Kernel incompatibilities, again, just 1 or 2 failed REALLY and a few others were my fault for installing a wrong Kernel. So nothing to mention here too. Next was to actually be able to use the Camera app without doing anything else. All AOSP roms failed this. I simply opened the app, enabled flash and took a picture in a dark place. Picture has never been taken properly. Camera flashes correctly but picture is taken AFTER the flash turns out. Open Camera with the Camera API 2 enabled solved this issue.
Is was now left with rooting my phone. Note that most Stock roms and some AOSP roms have their own pre-built root which I utterly hate. Magisk is available and easily installable and works super fine so I do not need an old outdated version of Super SU or Magisk pre-installed. If the rom had Magisk pre-installed, I'd simply flash the Magisk app over it before booting to be at the latest version. I also needed to install Open GApps on AOSP roms and configure it. This was much easier to do when having a first time NO OPEN GAPPS intial boot. Basically, boot the first time without Open GApps, then reboot and install Open GApps and reboot to system, this resolves the wifi issue.
After all of this, it's time to let Google Play update everything it has to before starting to use Google Play and installing our apps. Turns out that I hate pretty much all of the launchers out there. They all have weird lacks. Lack of options, lack of configuration or no support for notification dots or a payment is needed to unlock this feature, lack of icon and folder lables. I tried the major ones and I even installed the hacked version available as torrents and I was not impressed by any one of them. Microsoft Launcher is the best one I know that offers enough options to configure what I want AND enables notification dots freely. The only last thing they could make available is the possibility to configure folder background colors and transparency and icon styles. To my opinion, that's all that's missing. I DO NOT use gestures so no comment on this.
Verdict
I absolutely NEED my bluetooth to work and I need this camera app to work flawlessly. This means that I am left with one single option. That is:
Stable Stock (Touchwiz based) rom version 7.0 (Nougat)
I tested some nice ones but again, I run into some issues, therefor:
MY RECOMMENDATION: SamStock ROM
ALTERNATIVELY, My Re-Pack of the above ROM: SamStock ROM (Lightly Debloated)
The only Problem I fell upon is the download which required me to use a separate download manager to download this rom from Android File Host. I also am displeased that SamStock DOES include his own version of Magisk integrated inside the rom so after rom installation, I have to flash MY version of Magisk immediately before booting. This rom is also completely Stock which means NO debloating, Everything is there, from Samsung apps to Google apps. Knox is the only thing that got removed. So this is also a very big file to download, almost 2gb when some roms go far below the 1gb size. So it's probably the most space greedy rom out there, but it's also the one I have the least problems with.
Why not the other roms such as Marduk? Because they are not 100% stock, they are moded stock roms with the author's personal touches and possible kernels. The customized roms brought some awkward issues at moments and made the phone unstable with some rare but random reboots and total freeze requiring me to hard reboot the phone using "Volume Down + Home + Power". Some others just had a weird issue where some apps and games were not available to download on Google Play while as with a same v7.0 rom like SamStock, these were available for download.
As for AOSP roms, the camera and bluetooth issues are just too major to make the roms usable on a daily basis. Open Camera DOES resolve the camera image issue but does not resolve the low volume issue.
I hope this will help any of you out there to clarify your decision on what to install. I did my job in trying pretty much all I could download from XDA for my version of the phone. I recon that some exceptions may happen and that you may have not run into any of the issues I listed. Please feel free to comment.
Reference and downloads
If you want a good list and explanations and valuable links for downloads, please checkout the website I dedicated for the Canadian model but also valid for other variants: http://dr.mywebcommunity.org/g920w8/
Website last update: 2021-09-01
Website update notes
2021-09-01
• Added my own "SamStock ROM (Lightly Debloated)" in the list
• Added "Recommended" tags in the "Downloads and links" section
• Added my recommended android launcher "Microsoft Launcher" in the apps list
Mod-coversation removed following up a personal conversation. Thank you XDA mods for your concerns about your online community!
I updated the website to include more information and added a few more links in the Downloads section. I also added a small menu to to make the navigation in the Downloads and links section a bit easier.
I also added a small text file listing the apps that can safely be removed in zipped Stock ROMS. Here's the direct link, it's also available in the "Downloads and links" section: http://dr.mywebcommunity.org/g920w8/debloat/debloat_safe.txt