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Hello everybody...XD
I've been trying the "new" port of Cyanogenmod 9 (ICS), from the following topic:
[DEV][WIP] Ice Cream Sandwich Port (AOSP/CM9)
And after some weeks of dayly usage of build 4 with Update 1 i've decided to make a review of it.
The original post has a list of working and not working features, so first of all i'm going to comment and complete the ROM issues:
Bluetooth: It's not possible even to turn it on, so if you really use the bluetooth, forget it.
Wifi AP: The native tool doesn't work at all. The ROM includes the app Wifi-Tether, through this app you are able to turn on the Wifi-AP, other devices can see and connect but that's all, you can't actually use the internet .
Calendar: In the raw ROM it's not possible to syncronize your google calendar account, it can be solved by installing the GAPPS: link GAPPS...Thanks Halco (it also fixes a google+ app issue)
Camera(Photo): You can took photos but you can see them only after they are saved, through the gallery app, i mean the camera app has no live preview of the photo, only a black screen.
Camera(Video): You can't record videos period.
Videos: You can't watch videos, even youtube videos, youtube crashes when it attempts to reproduce the video.
Games: Forget every application which demands high processing .
Issues I've faced during usage:
Sometimes the phone crashes when you remove the power cable;
You cannot natively sync your facebook contacts (I've used this appfacebook contact-Sync.=P);
Sometimes all of a sudden the phone freezes, and you need to reebot it ;
It can take a bit to open the App Draw if you join the Apps and Widget Tabs, if you face this slowness go to Settings->Laucher->App Draw and uncheck Join with Apps;
The Data Usage (a native tool that keeps a track of your data usage) doesn't work;
Those were all the problems i had with this ROM, but all the other amazing Ice Cream Sandwich features are fully operative, so if you just like me don't use those missing tools go ahead it is a legendary SO with dozen of little features that make all the difference, all with an smooth interface...XD
Well this review is my attempt of a useful way to say thank you to the Developers...
Nice review, and yes you can post market links, just not links to warez websites.
Cheers
Sent from my GT-i9003 powered by MIUI
thanks!
perhaps you can try the newest arakmar kernel with openFIMG update and tell us if sth changed
download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12943198/openFIMG_Arakmar_signed.zip
source: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1539922
Use this link for GApps : http://goo-inside.me/gapps (Ever updated)
j4m said:
thanks!
perhaps you can try the newest arakmar kernel with openFIMG update and tell us if sth changed
download: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12943198/openFIMG_Arakmar_signed.zip
source: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1539922
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i've just installed...soon I post my experience
actually you should use latest openFIMG update with arakmars G3mod kernel. it improves overall performance and data usage feature works with the new kernel.
general assumption: when doing a review you might want to say some positive stuff about the ROM as you only said which features don't work. overall performance is good on ICS though trebuchet launcher consumes a lot of CPU power (but it's version 0.1, so there will be improvements anyway). there's no word on battery life, too, which is quite good for ICS.
[edit:] oops I was to slow
Good review,but to many problems,i will instal it in the future,ICS is amazing,
I like to add some more bugs
vibibs said:
Hello everybody...XD
I've been trying the "new" port of Cyanogenmod 9 (ICS), from the following topic:
[DEV][WIP] Ice Cream Sandwich Port (AOSP/CM9)
And after some weeks of dayly usage of build 4 with Update 1 i've decided to make a review of it.
The original post has a list of working and not working features, so first of all i'm going to comment and complete the ROM issues:
Bluetooth: It's not possible even to turn it on, so if you really use the bluetooth, forget it.
Wifi AP: The native tool doesn't work at all. The ROM includes the app Wifi-Tether, through this app you are able to turn on the Wifi-AP, other devices can see and connect but that's all, you can't actually use the internet .
Calendar: In the raw ROM it's not possible to syncronize your google calendar account, it can be solved by installing the GAPPS: link GAPPS...Thanks Halco (it also fixes a google+ app issue)
Camera(Photo): You can took photos but you can see them only after they are saved, through the gallery app, i mean the camera app has no live preview of the photo, only a black screen.
Camera(Video): You can't record videos period.
Videos: You can't watch videos, even youtube videos, youtube crashes when it attempts to reproduce the video.
Games: Forget every application which demands high processing .
Issues I've faced during usage:
Sometimes the phone crashes when you remove the power cable;
You cannot natively sync your facebook contacts (I've used this appfacebook contact-Sync.=P);
Sometimes all of a sudden the phone freezes, and you need to reebot it ;
It can take a bit to open the App Draw if you join the Apps and Widget Tabs, if you face this slowness go to Settings->Laucher->App Draw and uncheck Join with Apps;
The Data Usage (a native tool that keeps a track of your data usage) doesn't work;
Those were all the problems i had with this ROM, but all the other amazing Ice Cream Sandwich features are fully operative, so if you just like me don't use those missing tools go ahead it is a legendary SO with dozen of little features that make all the difference, all with an smooth interface...XD
Well this review is my attempt of a useful way to say thank you to the Developers...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like to add some more bugs,
- During the call when you press any key to interact with IVR the phone call goes to mute.
- Phone became very slow when you using is continuously.
A lot of faults but not much said about the features that are working so just thought I would go a bit further....
Widgets in appdraw
You can now view all widgets in the app draw without having to add them to the home screen, this is a staple feature of ICS and has been ported beautifully, it gives you a grid size in the draw too so you can see sizes.
Folders on homescreens
You can pile apps ontop of eachother to create folders so you can have all your messaging apps (whatsapp,fbmessenger, smmsmms) in one place. just click on it and it will open the folder to make your choice. it makes finding things quickly very simple, especially if you have alot of apps.
Apex Launcher
Apex launcher is a replacement launcher for trebuchet and helps run the new OS butter smooth. it also a little more customisable and user friendly and runs the best on this port. if you want fast and smooth, download it and push it to system/app for all functions
notification bar
the notification pull down bar on the port is alot more customisable than anything on GB or earlier OS's. add a weather option to it for a really sexy look.
Once installing the new gapps, they work absolutely fine, still a few syncing issues but all in all a decent attempt, the calendar especially is cleaner and more user friendly than previous builds.
extended power menu is working brilliantly, can go straight into download or recovery mode which i believe is now touch screen if i remember correctly... (please correct if wrong) and connecting to wifi is fast and reliable. There are many more things that really do show a huge amount of promise in this build, it is clear that given a little time and help with resources, these dev's are going to pull off what i personally didnt think possible. ICS ON G3!! D
Did some testing
I tested a view tastes of CM9. Was quite happy with the latest builds, however discovered a small issue that makes it a bit difficult to operate. I will describe it, hope this helps the developers.
First: Wifi, data is all working quite well, calender worked as I needed.
After flashing the rom CM9 systems work fine for about a day, after that when the phone goes into sleep you can wake it up, however the digitizer does not show any sign of life.
The screen however is fully functional, buttons operate.
After some random button pressing the digitizer migt start working, sometimes a reboot is the only solution.
However after a reboot sometimes it operates for half an hour and shows up problems with the digitizer again. I had this on both the G3 phones I owe (use one for testing).
Why it operates the first day after flashing without a problem is a little weird.
For the moment I'm back on Dutchmod 5.3
I lost the market (play store) after installing the G-apps given in the first post.
Looks like the G-apps from the above link is de-Odex.
Can any one give me a link to the odex G-apps?
Anandababu153 said:
I lost the market (play store) after installing the G-apps given in the first post.
Looks like the G-apps from the above link is de-Odex.
Can any one give me a link to the odex G-apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think gapps has odex and deodex apps
It is the ROM which is odexed and deodexed.
It works for icsforg3 build 4 so you can install it on any odex ROM
Sent from my GT-I5800 using XDA
Hey, guys. This ROM is originally made by Shumxin, I am just sharing it because I recently started using it and I actually liked it a lot. It is based on Android Lollipop 5.1.1. The SCREENSHOTS are given in the attachments. (I am using UPPERCASE letters so that you don't ignore the important parts.)
Here are it's pros and the cons, followed by a conclusion;
PROS:
1) The system is VERY smooth and works lightning fast. Your phone won't lag a bit. (More than 2 GB of RAM stays free when idle, shown in screenshot)
2) FANTASTIC BATTERY LIFE. Battery usage is VERY LOW, this is what impressed me the most.
2) Even though the UI's default theme is very boring, you can spice it up with a theme, like the one I used. There are ABOVE hundreds of THEMES available.
3) Camera app has some nice features add.
CONS:
1) You'll probably run away after reading this; Gapps cannot be flashed while using this ROM. However, you can download it externally. But once everything has been installed (including the Play Services framework), the Play Store crashes in some cases, and in the other cases it won't connect to the servers. And here's a problem for Clash of Clans players; even if Google Play is installed, you won't be able to play COC and all other games that requires Google Play.
2) The market is very messed up, well, for who doesn't know Chinese language
CONCLUSION:
If you are a gamer, this ROM is a straight no. And if you were wondering about how can we download applications, we can always download the apk files from apkmirror.com and alternative website (Google up).
If you are a regular user seeking for fluid performance and good battery saving options, this ROM is a MUST. Trust me when I say this, you'll love it.
Visit this thread to download:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-x/general/rom-color-os-v2-1-oneplus-x-shumxin-t3320161
@meraj99 Does your WhatsApp receive notifications without locking it in the background
Adesh15 said:
@meraj99 Does your WhatsApp receive notifications without locking it in the background
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, it can be controlled though
Adesh15 said:
@meraj99 Does your WhatsApp receive notifications without locking it in the background
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AFAIK, there's a setting in COS, that let's background apps to be FCed that you need to enable for Whatsapp to run in background in COS. I used COS on my Oppo Find 7S, till I relinquished it to my wife....enough knowledge is enough...
Dead Cookies leave no trails...
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
Hi there with the Legacy Xperia LineageOS Testing build i got wonderfully Netflix working
on the Xperia Play
see in this Video(Changed Sound in Youtube because my Audio Recording was horrible)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFKfy28bDVM
You can download the Image from this Post:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=78102650&postcount=2589
Many Thanks to the Legacy Xperia Team for this wonderfully LineageOS for this Phone.
All work exept Bluetooth
wow what version of lineage is it? hows gaming performance? i gave away my last xperia play( i had 4 at a point) one month ago cause i got a moto z2 with the game pad...but i still love the xplay!
Hi sorry for my Delay with the Answer.
It is Lineage 14.1 Nougat.
The E-Psxe Performance is better than in the Legacy Xperia 4.44 Images.
Telegram,Whatsapp,YalpStore(slim Playstore Alternative),
Netflix,GLTools(Chainfire3D Alternative for newerOS) and others work fine.
I will test it with PPSSPP and StarTrekTimelines next Time.
It was difficult to install because my Windows10 have many Driver Problems with the Fastboot Drivers.
And you should use a A1 Micro SD Card...
...because the OS is on this SD Card.
It work all exept Bluetooth and the AnalogNubs.
For my playing Psx Rpgs are the Analog Nubs not that important.
greetings from Germany.
Glad people are still using this device. Is this device still usable for basic taskts in 2019?
Which custom ROM do you recommend? I am looking for one which is the lightest, fastest and uses least system resources and RAM.
Mostly the Rom is not the real Problem.
This Phone is definly to slow for GoogleServices like:
-the big Playstore
-Google Play Services
-and other Google Things.
I simple recommend to:
-root the Device
-deinstall all Things what you personaly not need:
For me Things like:
Calculator,Calendar,SpeechRecorder,Google Things,Themes,PicoTTS and big Memoryhungry Launchers
After this i installed my important Things:
-Yalp Store(Small Apk for Download Apks directly from Google)
With Yalp Store you can make easily Updates when you want.
-Telegram Messenger
-Whatsapp Messenger,
-EsTaskManager(look on an older Version withoud Ads)
-Vlc Player
-Sms/mms and Phone Apps
-Epsxe (work wonderfully exept Nubs..played Grandia on it)
-GLTools(its like Chainfire3D but for newer OS)
I am with Messengers UptoDate
So i can:
Phone,writeSMS,Telegram&Whatsapp Messaging with working Camera for Photos...
...and the Importantest Thing ...Gaming PSX Rpgs.
I stillt search for an good Snes and GBA Emulator.
Maybe PPSSPP will work with Mana Khemia
...o i have Drastic paid..maybe it work fine too for Dreamcast.
LineageOS Install was bit difficult but it work realy fine on an A1 SD Card and i can use normal Headphones because Bluetooth is not working with this Image.
Edit:
I do use a very small Launcher named Zeam Launcher.
Edit Edit:
Oops Drastic is for Nds
Is anyone aware of where the sources can be gotten from I’ve only found up to 13 on their GitHub
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