Database Users

Are custom rom's necessary.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Look and Feel of Cyanogen/ AOSPA based ROMs compared to Stock ROMs...

Hi All,
I have flashed a lot of ROMs on my OnePlus X, but every-time I decide either to go back to the stock Oxygen OS or OEM based ROMs such as Flyme/ H2OS or Color OS.
The reason behind is every-time I flash Cyanogen/ AOSPA based ROMs, it doesn't feels as Solid as the stock ROM, looks like something is missing (the UI doesn't feels polished, the colors don't seem punchy).
Everything is cool with Cyanogen/ AOSPA like battery usage, smoothness, customisation etc., but the feel which the stock/ OEM based ROMs have is missing from these ROMs.
You may have observed the differences between the two.
It can be my feeling only, but I wanted opinion from you guys about this.
I'm using OxygenOS 2.2.1-X with Android N-ify and PerfectColorBar Xposed modules.
Thanks in advance.

I think what you are experiencing is a placebo effect that stock is more refined than CM and AOSPA. Regardless of whether this is true or not, I believe that for you it is a placebo effect because if you really do think CM and AOSPA have an unmatured UI, then you should not be using PerfectColorBar because that too has glitches. PerfectColorBar isnt so perfect, in some instances the colour is incorrect. CM and AOSPA are the more refined custom ROMs anyway, which to me seem equally matured in terms of UI as stock. As for some other custom ROMs i do agree they they seem unrefined, such as AICP where the bluetooth share button is coloured in the gallery while the other buttons are in white.

What OP has said is so true, as it is also happens to myself. All this time, I thought it only me that have that feelings.
So, beside the weak LTE signal bug that plagued almost MM ROM for OPX (at least for E1003 in Asia region as confirmed by a lot users already), the half-backed feelings of custom ROM is what makes me always going back to my OOS TWRP backup.

kcyz said:
I think what you are experiencing is a placebo effect that stock is more refined than CM and AOSPA. Regardless of whether this is true or not, I believe that for you it is a placebo effect because if you really do think CM and AOSPA have an unmatured UI, then you should not be using PerfectColorBar because that too has glitches. PerfectColorBar isnt so perfect, in some instances the colour is incorrect. CM and AOSPA are the more refined custom ROMs anyway, which to me seem equally matured in terms of UI as stock. As for some other custom ROMs i do agree they they seem unrefined, such as AICP where the bluetooth share button is coloured in the gallery while the other buttons are in white.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your opinion mate but PerfectColorBar is working absolutely perfect for me. I was using FlatStyleColorBar before but that plugin was causing slowness while opening apps, that's why replaced with this one.
Anyways, the placebo effect thing might be true for me

luckily (?!) i only booted oos once to enable usb debugging etc [emoji16]
Gesendet von meinem ONE E1003 mit Tapatalk

prabhat.singh.836 said:
Hi All,
I have flashed a lot of ROMs on my OnePlus X, but every-time I decide either to go back to the stock Oxygen OS or OEM based ROMs such as Flyme/ H2OS or Color OS.
The reason behind is every-time I flash Cyanogen/ AOSPA based ROMs, it doesn't feels as Solid as the stock ROM, looks like something is missing (the UI doesn't feels polished, the colors don't seem punchy).
Everything is cool with Cyanogen/ AOSPA like battery usage, smoothness, customisation etc., but the feel which the stock/ OEM based ROMs have is missing from these ROMs.
You may have observed the differences between the two.
It can be my feeling only, but I wanted opinion from you guys about this.
I'm using OxygenOS 2.2.1-X with Android N-ify and PerfectColorBar Xposed modules.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes exactly same issue with me ...all the rom which are CM and AOSP Base seems dull color to me as compared to Chinese rom like color os ,flyme ,and stock rom.. it feel even AOSPA ROM also seem good
Sent from my OnePlus X using XDA Labs

Well I do agree with OP. You have to realize OOS and H2OS are especially made for oneplus devices. This means full work on this devices. They HAVE to make it look good to sell it hehe.
CM on the other hand is generic for all devices. Also any variant coming from it.
Just with one feature which is tristate key states on H2OS show how specific the ROM was built, on CM I don't use them for nothing at all. On h2os it has a beautiful UI when changing modes, and those modes actually make sense and are useful.
The thing here is OOS is really bad in my opinion. H2os is really really good, but for some reason I keep coming back to AOSPA or Sultans ROM hehe. It's more customizable and has some really handy features.
But with ROMS is all about taste. Each person has a different opinion, so just use the one you like the most and you'll be happy

feligoni said:
Well I do agree with OP. You have to realize OOS and H2OS are especially made for oneplus devices. This means full work on this devices. They HAVE to make it look good to sell it hehe.
CM on the other hand is generic for all devices. Also any variant coming from it.
Just with one feature which is tristate key states on H2OS show how specific the ROM was built, on CM I don't use them for nothing at all. On h2os it has a beautiful UI when changing modes, and those modes actually make sense and are useful.
The thing here is OOS is really bad in my opinion. H2os is really really good, but for some reason I keep coming back to AOSPA or Sultans ROM hehe. It's more customizable and has some really handy features.
But with ROMS is all about taste. Each person has a different opinion, so just use the one you like the most and you'll be happy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, OOS on the OPX feel like a beta test rom. I switched with sultan cm13 three week ago, i'll wait OOS 3.0 but for now i stay on it, it work well enough for a daily use. In fact there are some bugs here and here but it's like nothing compared to OOS 2.2.1-X...

prabhat.singh.836 said:
Thanks for your opinion mate but PerfectColorBar is working absolutely perfect for me. I was using FlatStyleColorBar before but that plugin was causing slowness while opening apps, that's why replaced with this one.
Anyways, the placebo effect thing might be true for me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, the reason of flashing custom ROMs, mods etc is that you want to take control of your device. You get barebone stock android. You can easily theme, customize icons, fonts etc. Want better sound quality, flash somethings, use greenify with all its feature working etc.
I remember the first time I flashed custom ROM on my note 2, it was kind of shock to me because of so much changes in look, but smoothness was what kept me there. Sometime later, I could not imagine myself going back to TW.
There are some very good ROMs and with proper theming, you can not even tell the difference (except smoothness in Custom ROMs ). Rest is your opinion, if you don't like something, noone can make you .

But the strange thing is, I don't have this kind of weird feelings of half-baked ROM when I flashed Pure Nexus, Cataclysm, or CM variant on my Nexus 5. Even everything seems better than stock ROM from Google.

motherninja said:
But the strange thing is, I don't have this kind of weird feelings of half-baked ROM when I flashed Pure Nexus, Cataclysm, or CM variant on my Nexus 5. Even everything seems better than stock ROM from Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It may be because Nexus are made to be used with stock android and flashing other custom ROM based on stock android doesn't makes much of a visual difference.

Stock Based, Custom Rom - Opinion

I have had many phones starting back with Windows phones. With my Moto G4, I find that I can use apps with my rom and get almost all features of custom.
I use Xposed:, Gravity Box(GB), Battery Home, Xposed Torch, Boot Manager and Native Clipboard. I use Nova Launcher too. Battery life is excellent. Phone is responsive. I don't think a deodexed custom rom would do better. PIE is available with GB but I never use it.
I was thinking of trying CM 14. I tried Nougat on other device and, in my use, it has no meaningful advantages. I'm blocking updates to the MM rom. I'll wait a while to see what others might find.
I'm not a gamer. I would describe my camera skill as a snap shooter. Rarely do video. Have Snap Camera but haven't had patience learn it.
Unless Lenovo gets a much larger user base, I don't think that many custom roms will be done for this phone.

Yeah. With a clean enough android that is supplied with the phone, after flashing the stuff you mentioned, it gives a stable and smooth experience.
Unless you actually want to try the latest development I too don't see the need to flash every custom ROM out there.
Yeah ROM based on stock are distributed as well( intact I might try something myself after stable nougat comes) and it will be my go back to ROM. I'm pretty happy with unmodified CM myself.
Regarding the development side I think its happening fast enough recently with new builds coming online almost every week. Give it time we'll get more(I hope).

stock vs LOS. any advantages?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Discussion] my experience with custom roms in 2 years with this device

I am just telling my experience, all the Dev's are best, they are the ones who let me explore more in around android and it's versions.
I used custom roms on k5 plus 3gb for 2 years i think.
It was like first few months i used the original rom and then i voided the warranty with custom roms as i saw more possibility and newer versions of android coming better than what i had. I kept exploring every part of the phone, and whatever softwares i could use and get more from this phone. Few roms lasted around 4-5 months. I love the nougat roms still, there is a Android Q rom already here, amazing. It was a good experience, until this last few months i started to have battery drain faster when i would use the hotspot feature or use bluetooth for headsets, and gps was like the most battery drainer. I kept changing roms and seeing what would give more bettery life while using, the sleep/screenoff state uses like no energy and then opposite happen if i use in full brightness outside and gps
Then
today i just tried to see the stock rom backup is working or not, it did, and now i realise that the most stable rom is the stock rom that comes from lenovo. The battery life is just way better than any other roms (+1hour than what you get in current Oreo and pie roms), the performance is back, Dolby Atmos is back and works, the inbuilt vr works.
The apps which were quite heavy lagged in animations in custom roms, stock does it smoothly, and i didn't need to get a small gapps package for performance this time, stock has like most gapps i think and it's smooth.
New stuff like play protect, assistant, well-being, etc are now available for this old lollipop rom as well, most of the features in the future versions are now available to use with simple downloads and a few majisk modules, without harming performance.
i am not sure how secure the rom/os it self is with old security patches. But yeah original rom got to be top 5 in best rom/os available for this device in terms of overall usability in daily life.
Tell me what your experience has been, i will use the stock lenovo again now for sometime. And might get back to custom".:laugh::good:

Fax Max said:
I am just telling my experience, all the Dev's are best, they are the ones who let me explore more in around android and it's versions.
I used custom roms on k5 plus 3gb for 2 years i think.
It was like first few months i used the original rom and then i voided the warranty with custom roms as i saw more possibility and newer versions of android coming better than what i had. I kept exploring every part of the phone, and whatever softwares i could use and get more from this phone. Few roms lasted around 4-5 months. I love the nougat roms still, there is a Android Q rom already here, amazing. It was a good experience, until this last few months i started to have battery drain faster when i would use the hotspot feature or use bluetooth for headsets, and gps was like the most battery drainer. I kept changing roms and seeing what would give more bettery life while using, the sleep/screenoff state uses like no energy and then opposite happen if i use in full brightness outside and gps
Then
today i just tried to see the stock rom backup is working or not, it did, and now i realise that the most stable rom is the stock rom that comes from lenovo. The battery life is just way better than any other roms (+1hour than what you get in current Oreo and pie roms), the performance is back, Dolby Atmos is back and works, the inbuilt vr works.
The apps which were quite heavy lagged in animations in custom roms, stock does it smoothly, and i didn't need to get a small gapps package for performance this time, stock has like most gapps i think and it's smooth.
New stuff like play protect, assistant, well-being, etc are now available for this old lollipop rom as well, most of the features in the future versions are now available to use with simple downloads and a few majisk modules, without harming performance.
i am not sure how secure the rom/os it self is with old security patches. But yeah original rom got to be top 5 in best rom/os available for this device in terms of overall usability in daily life.
Tell me what your experience has been, i will use the stock lenovo again now for sometime. And might get back to custom".:laugh::good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just to add you could try the latest stock ROM our device got wich is MM, and tell us your experience. I'm on it since a lot of time, and I won't move from it anymore.
don't you know the link?
here it is:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OGx6L4kTsoH1e_RxIRA_S6shIEiRBqT9/view?usp=drivesdk
it's a TWRP backup made by a Brazilian user and posted here on xda long time ago.
related thread:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/k5...fficial-lenovo-andoid-6-t3596733/post72044687
quickly instructions?
here we go:
go to TWRP and restore only /boot and /system partitions. that's it.
You could share with us how did you feel it compared with LP.
PS: everything is working flawlessly for me. a6020l37 (sd616 2gb RAM single SIM)

Okay I will check this out, also you don't need to quote long messages

Lenovo stock ROM wasn't that bad but after installing Android 10 (AOSP) Custom ROM on my Vive K5 Plus, it's feels a relief.
Yes there are some minor issues & bugs but over all satisfactory experience.
Personally I will always stick with this ROM over Lenovo stock 5.1
Thanks.

Fax Max said:
Okay I will check this out, also you don't need to quote long messages
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and you don't need to say what I need/don't need.
Yes, I extended a bit, but not that much as you unnecessary long OP, just to say stock ROM is more battery saver than any custom ROM.
BTW learn that this kind of experiences sharing shouldn't be posted in the guides section.

walterfuster said:
BTW learn that this kind of experiences sharing shouldn't be posted in the guides section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
..... It's not just guides section it's also news and discussion

NaXal said:
Lenovo stock ROM wasn't that bad but after installing Android 10 (AOSP) Custom ROM on my Vive K5 Plus, it's feels a relief.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep aosp 10 feels good.... I will use it when it gets a bit more updates

AOSP 10 has got another build. I guess the last possible build since Dev may be moving out of Vibe K5 Plus platform.
I have just upgraded to the new build & it's stable enough.
Yes although performance can't be called butter smooth but it's better than previous build & most of the phone features that I may need in daily usage are working fine.
Standby time is good but SoT is on lower side, but I can't blame the ROM, it's my battery which is very old & worn out by now.
Thanks. :fingers-crossed:

The best rom with extended battery life was AOSP extended. i used it for 2 years with Dolby atmos mode and it worked flawlessly. Stock rom eats up battery too fast.