Custom ROM "decay": WM6.5.x vs. Android - EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I'm not entirely new to Android, I just haven't had a dedicated android phone for more than 3 weeks.
Coming from WM6.5.x on a Touch Pro, even the best ROMs I've installed seem to deteriorate and act weird after a certain amount of time (2 weeks or so).
Has anyone experienced the same behavior with customs ROMs on Android? I'm wondering what the differences are between SIM unlocking a WM device and rooting an android device.
With an expensive device like the EVO, I'm wondering if it's worth rooting it.
Sorry I couldn't think of a better word than "decay" in the subject.

ROM "performance" fragments over time as you write data to the NAND. While not the same, the idea is synonymous with data fragmentation on a HDD. The point is that over time, performance will slow down some, and a "fresh load" of an OS, be it Android, Windows Mobile, Linux or Windows, will always perform better than a dated install.
That said, I've never experienced degradation other than some performance slow down--never had functionality/features break or otherwise behave erratically.

Case in point, my phone batteries now decharge quicker because my screen doesn't turn off after I get an email or something like that. This is the best it's been. Some other ROMs in the past have had weirder effects on the TP, but I can't seem to recollect exactly what they were. sorry. I think mainly they've been related to Manilla.

I can second the usage of WM 6.5 (custom rom) getting worse over time. Ive got one now Im limping along until the 4th. I use SBP Clone on mine s I can reload my ROM when it gets too bad and then use PIMBackup to restore my calls/txt/emails ECT but it still gets aggravating having to do that.
Im hoping for more and something better with Android.

Running damagecontroll's rom on my sprint hero, no problems at all, no instabilities or anything.

davebu said:
Running damagecontroll's rom on my sprint hero, no problems at all, no instabilities or anything.
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Click to collapse
That's good to hear, thanks for the feedback.

ya no problem here with different roms..you probably wont see a million different roms like you see on windows mobile

Related

Widespread Freezing/Lag Problem?

Today the USB port on my original AT&T Tilt bit the dust. I am considering just buying an external battery charger for it and perhaps an extra battery.
I am also considering the AT&T Tilt 2.
What I don't understand is this: practically every review of the phone on AT&T's website complains of a chronic freezing problem. I figured I'd check these forums for a solution, but there are very few mentions of a freezing problem here, so I'm very confused.
How can the vast majority of the reviews complain about freezing on AT&T's site, but the good people on these forums do not? Am I missing something? Is there really a problem? Would love to buy the phone, but not if I need to reboot it all day long.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
I have had no freezing problems with my device, and the only reasons I reboot are unrelated to freezing or instability. Though, to be fair, I had the AT&T stock ROM on my Rhodium for only a few hours before I flashed a cooked ROM.
I'd guess the reason the reviews discuss freezes while XDA doesn't is because the AT&T stock ROM, which the reviewers would be using, is filled with bloatware and for me had ~75% ram in use on the first boot, and isn't very fast at all.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of the people on this forum use cooked ROMs, which are lean and fast, have every possible speed tweak applied, and are otherwise optimized for the best possible performance. If you are coming from the AT&T Tilt, you will not be disappointed at all by this device.
yea, the stock phone sucks, takes forever to come on but after you download a good rom for it its awsome, I havent had mine freeze up yet, I have had to restart it a cople times duu to a program getting jamed and not going completly away but that was kinda my fault overall I give this phone an A++
I've been using the Tilt 2 for 4 days now on the stock ROM and haven't had any lag or freezing issues. I'm pretty impressed with it so far.
Tilt2 & stock AT&T ROM for me, had it over 8 weeks now. No freezes, no lags, good data speeds. I use MemMaid to clean up memory maybe once a day, and probably soft reset about once a week. I'm real happy with performance.
I've put on a lot of usability tweaks, but I won't put on a custom ROM until my warranty expires.

quick android question

i own a large amount of htc phones, but my mainphones have always been wizard/hermes sofar. I recently bought a universal, but it's too much phone for me. Too big/i live in a bad triband area. i hate to part with it but ehwell.
my question is, i bought a kaiser yesterday. theres android ports for it, whats the speed of them like?
preferbaly a comparinson to the droid eris, it's the only android phone i've played with.
any input would be apperciated, thanksguys!
Kaiser/Tilt
I have two of them running Android. One is Using the Polyrythmic version the other is the KaiserDroid. Both seem to operate well. I like polyrythmics and Im using it for a daily phone. The other Im still toying with. I suggest you read both threads and make sure you understand what youre doing before you do it.Dont fall into the traps that are well documented. Good luck
What I have noticed
I am using Polyrythmic 2.1b, and love it. I have gone though a few versions with them, in Haret and NAND. I have found that the NAND is faster if you are willing to take the full plunge. I only have one phone and feel fully confident in the release that it has been my daily release since the 2/23/10. A few things don’t work, but they were not biggie items to me. Read as much as you can before making the plunge.
Have to say, both the main eclair versions of android are very good, and there are a number of other flavours as well, myn's warm donut is getting good reviews also.
Recommendations? personally I divide my time between Polymod and Kaiserdroid, and have tried another few 'distros' as well.
The main questions to ask before using android are :
Do I need a working Camera?
Do I need working Bluetooth?
Do I need reliable GPS?
Have I read the Stickies in the ROM development section, and/or flashed HardSPL, upgraded my radio, unlocked security,cid and sim?
If any of the first 3 are 'Yes I MUST have these working' then android is not yet ready for you, there is still some work to be done in these areas.
If you answered the last with 'WTF is HardSPL and why do I need it?' then
you are not yet ready for Android
If you know all this stuff already, then my main advice is this:
Run from Sd card, try a few different distros, get used to the installer, learn what panel type, keyboard and resolution suit your device best, and then it's time for the whole Nand experience
im not going to run into any problems flashing it, i've got no worried about that.
but nobody answered, a) is it faster than wm6 and b) whats the performance hit compared to a native android device?
a) Yes for almost everything I use it's faster than WM6. It has a much faster graphics driver, smoother animations and scrolling, MUCH faster screen rotation. Browsing is faster, messaging is faster, soft keyboard and touch events are MUCH better, SSH is much faster, browsing through photos is faster...
b) Depends on the build. Donut builds are basically as fast as a native device, Eclair builds are fast enough for daily use and getting faster all the time.
Donut runs great and is the most stable, much better user experience than windows all around.
Eclair if you can tweak it to suit you then its a great OS. Probably runs about the same speed as a windows on the kaiser. Still a little glitchy and for the most part all are still in beta form
Tattoo or Hero would be great if speed wasn't an issue
Alright i've recieved the kaiser, i've put kaiserdroid+droidion donut+polys version.
polys ran like hell, im unsure why. maybe ill try off nand, shame becasue its gsm was the only one that half worked.
they accept wifi-on, get an ip, but refuse to actually ping or visit a site. anyone have any input on this?
thanks.
i think most stable rom is here: [Android]The Android Thread [Site Update] on this rom dont work only bluetooth. else everythink other working fully. (exclude market.. it works but when i search ASTRO F. M. it show error something about bad network, but im connected with wifi) but i think its old rom whithout some new functions

[Q] Changing the System...

I'm looking to change the whole system on my phone. I see that someone made an android version and I'm very interested in that.
What I didn't see were side effects, problems or errors. I CAN NOT stand the new update to my ATT Tilt2. HTC Sense is horrible. Everything is slow and I've just reduced the "today" to windows default.
Will switching the opperating system screw everything up?? Can I still use my phone after doing so?
Thanks.
Had you read the very first post in the XDAndroid thread you would have seen that a number of very important things do not work and may never will. If BT, headphone use, WMA playback, battery life and a host of other things are important to you, then you're stuck with WinMo. XDAndroid is limited to being on an SD card, it does not have any way to replace your existing ROM. Best bet is to read up on some of the cooked ROMs in the ROM Development subforum and find one that is closer to what you want.
Running XDAndroid will not hurt your phone, but it is not a replacement as it is slow, crippled and chews through the battery. It is more of an introduction to Android, not an alternative to WinMo on our phones.
Miami_Son pretty much sums it up. Android on the TP2/Tilt2 is not a full working ROM at this point. More a proof of concept or working project. You have to still boot it from Windows Mobile, and it resides entirely on your SD card. And as it says, some pretty important stuff doesn't work at all, and its laggy in general.
Also as he said, read up on flashing a custom ROM, and highly recommended to do it. You will likely be much happier. I have the simplicity ROM on my Tilt2, and it runs really smooth and fast. I removed the stock ROM back in May, so I've never actually flashed the "new" update. But once I removed the original shipped ROM and flashed a custom, I was blown away at how much faster, more stable, and more functional the phone became.

[Q] 3 months in... starting to lag

well it's been my experience with every android phone and every rom i ever used for any of those phones, that after a month or so from a clean install, things start to lag, freeze, etc. my galaxy s3 has made it about 3 months, but it's starting to get there.
i don't think i'm asking too much of it. i have 4 homescreen widgets. i use nova as a replacement launcher. i have a lot of apps installed (including the preinstalled stuff, right around 150), but most of them are games, and i tend to remove games/apps that come with intrusive ads and unwanted notifications because i want to keep this thing running great.
anyone have any suggestions that don't involve rooting (i really didn't want to have to root this phone, i thought it would be powerful enough to run good without custom roms, unlike say my old g1/g2/mytouch4gslide). i notice one of the biggest issues is chrome. it freezes a lot. i also get quite a few freezes while pulling down the notification shade.
also i'd consider rooting i suppose but only if there's a rom out there with absolutely zero known issues. don't get me wrong, i understand that the s3 is crazy powerful and my old phones weren't, and i shouldn't judge the rom scene based on the performance i got out of experimental roms on a g2 haha, but i never once rooted, installed a rom and then a month later said "yep this is still running great" on any of my old phones. if anyone has suggestions on a rom where EVERYTHING works as expected and nothing has problems, i'd consider it maybe. but at least for now i'd rather figure out a way to get it running better without rooting...
any ideas?
polarbearmc said:
well it's been my experience with every android phone and every rom i ever used for any of those phones, that after a month or so from a clean install, things start to lag, freeze, etc. my galaxy s3 has made it about 3 months, but it's starting to get there.
i don't think i'm asking too much of it. i have 4 homescreen widgets. i use nova as a replacement launcher. i have a lot of apps installed (including the preinstalled stuff, right around 150), but most of them are games, and i tend to remove games/apps that come with intrusive ads and unwanted notifications because i want to keep this thing running great.
anyone have any suggestions that don't involve rooting (i really didn't want to have to root this phone, i thought it would be powerful enough to run good without custom roms, unlike say my old g1/g2/mytouch4gslide). i notice one of the biggest issues is chrome. it freezes a lot. i also get quite a few freezes while pulling down the notification shade.
also i'd consider rooting i suppose but only if there's a rom out there with absolutely zero known issues. don't get me wrong, i understand that the s3 is crazy powerful and my old phones weren't, and i shouldn't judge the rom scene based on the performance i got out of experimental roms on a g2 haha, but i never once rooted, installed a rom and then a month later said "yep this is still running great" on any of my old phones. if anyone has suggestions on a rom where EVERYTHING works as expected and nothing has problems, i'd consider it maybe. but at least for now i'd rather figure out a way to get it running better without rooting...
any ideas?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Besides the obligatory answers "download and try a few out yourself" and "your mileage may vary," when I first rooted this phone I had very good luck (speed, battery life, etc.) with the Jedi Invasion ROM http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2013568
Besides that, I've heard that the Wicked ROM is great as well as CM10 (10.1 is stable but has a few issues that would dissuade most who are not willing to be on the cutting edge).
yea you know since i posted the thread i've been reading up on the newest roms and Wicked looks pretty damn perfect. if i do decide to root i'm gonna go with that but i'd still love to get this thing working at least for the next few months, with less issues WITHOUT rooting for now... but thanks for the response.

[Q] Maybe it's a dud?

I've got a lovely rooted, unlocked LGOG LS-970 plugged in right next to me. But, I'm finding myself feeling a little left behind in more than one instance:
I've got the impression that swapping AOSP and stock ROMs is a finicky task with our LGOGs. It's really a chore; as far as I can tell, I have to wipe internal data coming from either camp. And I can't even switch from Vectus to any other stock ROM successfully without wiping internal data.
Is this par for the course?
Insofar as the stock playground goes, I'm only able to get up to the 1.22 Liberty Kernal; if I run any of the OC'd ones, the phone lags considerably, especially at boot, and doesn't read that it's clocking higher than 16ghz even when max is set to 17 or 18ghz. Burning hot or cool, same same.
I've doodled around a bunch trying to get the more recent Liberties to work, to no avail. I've had a bit more luck with TricksterMod than ROM Toolbox Pro, but no one else in that thread seems to be having similar issues (or has given advice I haven't tried out).
Welp! Just a general "hey? you smell that too?" inquiry.
And I think this is my first thread. Party.
ihitcows said:
I've got a lovely rooted, unlocked LGOG LS-970 plugged in right next to me. But, I'm finding myself feeling a little left behind in more than one instance:
I've got the impression that swapping AOSP and stock ROMs is a finicky task with our LGOGs. It's really a chore; as far as I can tell, I have to wipe internal data coming from either camp. And I can't even switch from Vectus to any other stock ROM successfully without wiping internal data.
Is this par for the course?
Insofar as the stock playground goes, I'm only able to get up to the 1.22 Liberty Kernal; if I run any of the OC'd ones, the phone lags considerably, especially at boot, and doesn't read that it's clocking higher than 16ghz even when max is set to 17 or 18ghz. Burning hot or cool, same same.
I've doodled around a bunch trying to get the more recent Liberties to work, to no avail. I've had a bit more luck with TricksterMod than ROM Toolbox Pro, but no one else in that thread seems to be having similar issues (or has given advice I haven't tried out).
Welp! Just a general "hey? you smell that too?" inquiry.
And I think this is my first thread. Party.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure what your question is......par for the course? I wish I could say no. But, I've been rooting and ROMing phones since 2010, when I got the HD2 and could not believe the Windows 6.5 garbage that came installed. I've rooted, ROMed, and customized 7 different phones in the time and so far the only phone I had MORE trouble with was the G2x. God, that phone almost swore me off of LG for good. When the Nexus 4 came out, I decided to take another chance. But, I digress. The fact of having to wipe internal memory is not the end of the world. It does not dump your files, only your memory related to the ROM(app cache, data, etc) As far as OCing is concerned, I've found that OCing is not the end of the world either. Not too long ago, phones weren't very fast, and OCing was a viable option to get a little more speed out of the device. We have one of the fastest phones made these days, so OCing shouldn't be that big of a deal,and you won't notice distinguishable speed differences anyway(I tried with my N4; it would over clock, and seem a LITTLE faster, but that was all) As for switching between 'stock' and 'custom' ROMs, I'm afraid that is kinda par for the course. I personally believe the issue stems from most stock ROMs being 4.1.2, and most custom ROMs being 4.2.2. But, I have no real proof of that, just a suspicion. If you are rooted and unlocked, and want to try something different than stock, try one of the builds I make (JellyBeer, Beanstalk, and CM10.1/Linaro). The custom ROMs are not without their quirks, so if you need complete and total stabilty, they may not be for you. But, they are cool to use and you may like them enough to look the other way at the occasional hiccup, I do. The CM/Linaro build is a good stock-ish ROM with some added speed that has been noticed by the users of it. If you prefer a total stock feel, try Lifeless or Vectus. Both are very well made and those who use them swear by them. Be cool. PM me if you need any help with anything. Oh, and watch out for those cows!
BMP7777 said:
I'm not sure what your question is......par for the course? I wish I could say no. But, I've been rooting and ROMing phones since 2010, when I got the HD2 and could not believe the Windows 6.5 garbage that came installed. I've rooted, ROMed, and customized 7 different phones in the time and so far the only phone I had MORE trouble with was the G2x. God, that phone almost swore me off of LG for good. When the Nexus 4 came out, I decided to take another chance. But, I digress. The fact of having to wipe internal memory is not the end of the world. It does not dump your files, only your memory related to the ROM(app cache, data, etc) As far as OCing is concerned, I've found that OCing is not the end of the world either. Not too long ago, phones weren't very fast, and OCing was a viable option to get a little more speed out of the device. We have one of the fastest phones made these days, so OCing shouldn't be that big of a deal,and you won't notice distinguishable speed differences anyway(I tried with my N4; it would over clock, and seem a LITTLE faster, but that was all) As for switching between 'stock' and 'custom' ROMs, I'm afraid that is kinda par for the course. I personally believe the issue stems from most stock ROMs being 4.1.2, and most custom ROMs being 4.2.2. But, I have no real proof of that, just a suspicion. If you are rooted and unlocked, and want to try something different than stock, try one of the builds I make (JellyBeer, Beanstalk, and CM10.1/Linaro). The custom ROMs are not without their quirks, so if you need complete and total stabilty, they may not be for you. But, they are cool to use and you may like them enough to look the other way at the occasional hiccup, I do. The CM/Linaro build is a good stock-ish ROM with some added speed that has been noticed by the users of it. If you prefer a total stock feel, try Lifeless or Vectus. Both are very well made and those who use them swear by them. Be cool. PM me if you need any help with anything. Oh, and watch out for those cows!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yuppo. I just did some backuping, and factory-, data-, and delvik-wiped Lifelessv14 three times to flaash the latest Vectus V3.
"FAILED"
Doh! Again?!
Fair enough. Even though it's stock-to-stock, stuff happens. I have backups.
Insofar as overclocking, it's not so much that I'd like to push the phone faster (this phone, we know, is fast), but that I just couldn't figure out why, after a fair amount of trials, I wasn't able to, when, seemingly, many others could.
Basically, I want to ask, when you say wiping internal data doesn't dump your files, which files do you mean? My /sdcard gets dumped.
... Incomiiing! *mooooo*
EDIT: But, then again, I just sideloaded it and it said "FAILED," and booted. Who'da thunk?

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