Is there a comprehensive guide to Roms? - EVO 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Noob evo rooter I installed Fresh since I was told it's a solid rom with lots of bloatware gone.So now i just wanted to see what the differences between diff roms are & figure out which one is right for me but, each rom has thousands of posts & that would be impossible.
Is there somekind of a summary?
thanks in advance!

There is a stickied thread right in the subforum you (wrongly) posted this in.
Not to jump on a "noob" but this shouldn't have been posted and this should've been in Q&A anyways.

At this point, I would recommend MikFroyo v4.3
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=883026
if you are looking for super-fast Sense w/ full functionality. The GB roms are going to be too developmental and buggy for you.

rstuckmaier said:
There is a stickied thread right in the subforum you (wrongly) posted this in.
Not to jump on a "noob" but this shouldn't have been posted and this should've been in Q&A anyways.
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thanks I just looked & maybe i'm not seeing it but it just lists the roms not what's special/different about them???
help a girl out
mitchellvii said:
At this point, I would recommend MikFroyo v4.3
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=883026
if you are looking for super-fast Sense w/ full functionality. The GB roms are going to be too developmental and buggy for you.
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so it's just faster than fresh?
I dont know what I am looking for thats why i wanted to see what exactly each one offers?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=653
It is the FIRST thread.
"Detailed ROM Wiki (developers please update)"

rstuckmaier said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=653
It is the FIRST thread.
"Detailed ROM Wiki (developers please update)"
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I saw it, saw the rom names, versions, release dates, root methods
that isnt my question though, what is the difference between them? advantage of one over the other?

The difference would be how they look. The kernels would be for how they perform.
from my EVO using XDA app.

I seriously doubt someone is going to post all the differences of all the Rom's on here and tell you what each one does best. Every Rom is different on every phone. Sense based Rom offer all options like 4G and HDMI. AOSP Rom's are based on Open Source Android and are not build on HTC Sense and some things don't work in them like 4G, HDMI, video recording, etc...I have flashed many, many Rom's and have read many many threads. The way I learned about them is by reading the OP of the Rom thread to see what all the dev says about the Rom and what's included and what isn't. Then I will go through and read like the last 5-10 pages of the thread to see what kind of problems and/or what people are saying about the Rom. I will also read other pages of the thread if I am interested. I then flash the Rom I am interested in, play with it for a few days and if I don't like it I try something else. For some reason I always come back to CyanogenMod even though HDMI and 4G(stable) are not working yet.
No one can tell you which rom is best for you or your phone. Every person has a different personality and even every EVO is a little bit different about how it reacts to certain kernels and Rom's. Maybe if you tell us what you are looking for in a Rom we could point you in the right direction to certain Rom's that offer what it is you want.

Hey all I'm an epic user who is getting an evo next week and I have a more specific rom choice quetion. Having never owned a sense device but always sort liking the sense clock and lockscreen I was thinking of trying myns rom (don't remember if that is the dev or the rom). However, with not having wimax in my area or the desire to output video through my phone the progress of cm7 seems very tempting.
I suppose what I'm asking is whether or not cm7 is really at the point where it could be a daily driver (and which one to use) and whether or not you can get the real sense clock/lockscreen on it and if not how good performance/battery wise is myns? Thanks in advance!
Sent from my ext4 Epic 4G running Bonsai4all 1.1.3!

kenvan19 said:
Hey all I'm an epic user who is getting an evo next week and I have a more specific rom choice quetion. Having never owned a sense device but always sort liking the sense clock and lockscreen I was thinking of trying myns rom (don't remember if that is the dev or the rom). However, with not having wimax in my area or the desire to output video through my phone the progress of cm7 seems very tempting.
I suppose what I'm asking is whether or not cm7 is really at the point where it could be a daily driver (and which one to use) and whether or not you can get the real sense clock/lockscreen on it and if not how good performance/battery wise is myns? Thanks in advance!
Sent from my ext4 Epic 4G running Bonsai4all 1.1.3!
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Don't think you can get the Actual sense clock for CM7, but I use a free widget from the market called Sense Analog Clock which is a skinnable clock that looks a lot like the HTC clock, but not only shows the weather, but can show system info as well like battery %, free sdcard available, free ram, free Rom and Battery Temp. Very nice. As for CM7 being a daily driver, I have been using Lithid's daily compile's of CM7 for a couple weeks now and never had a problem. There are a few quirks and bugs here and there, but for the most part it does what it should and is very fast. Give it a try and if you don't like it flash a Sense Rom. That's the best part of being rooted. You are not stuck with one choice on your phone's OS.

housry23 said:
Don't think you can get the Actual sense clock for CM7, but I use a free widget from the market called Sense Analog Clock which is a skinnable clock that looks a lot like the HTC clock, but not only shows the weather, but can show system info as well like battery %, free sdcard available, free ram, free Rom and Battery Temp. Very nice. As for CM7 being a daily driver, I have been using Lithid's daily compile's of CM7 for a couple weeks now and never had a problem. There are a few quirks and bugs here and there, but for the most part it does what it should and is very fast. Give it a try and if you don't like it flash a Sense Rom. That's the best part of being rooted. You are not stuck with one choice on your phone's OS.
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Oh ya I love flashing. However its a lot easier to try them all when there are just 9ish good ones like on the epic. The evo has just hundreds (or at least it seems so). I suppose that is the benefit to having froyo source. I've used the sense clock from the market as well as beautiful widgets. Thank you so much for your input! I was definitely leaning towards cm7 but
I hadn't found that release. Ill take a gander at it now.
Sent from my ext4 Epic 4G running Bonsai4all 1.1.3!

psixichka said:
Noob evo rooter I installed Fresh since I was told it's a solid rom with lots of bloatware gone.So now i just wanted to see what the differences between diff roms are & figure out which one is right for me but, each rom has thousands of posts & that would be impossible.
Is there somekind of a summary?
thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need to read all the thousands of posts. Just usually the first two or three where the dev describes the rom and the changelog and how to flash.
It's hard to keep a summary up to date. There has been attempts to summarize roms and/or kernels and they all just change too often.
For now, the roms seem to fall into four groups:
SENSE based with full Sense: Myn, Fresh, MikFroyo, Sprint Lovers, Calkulin's Evio
SENSE based but little or no Sense: EvoNonSense, Valpaek, EvoNeo, Burnt Droid
AOSP - 2.2 Android: CM 6.1.2, MIUI
AOSP - 2.3 Android: Gingerbread
It's easier to just browse the development section because there are a lot of ROMs. I just listed the ones I've tried at one point and can remember.

Related

choosing a rom

i checked with the search function, and got no results. Are there any big differences in roms? right now ive got it narrowed down to gingerbread, CM6.1 and the incredibly Re-engineerd one.
what exactly do i look for in a rom? What are the advantages over the stock one?
boogerboy72 said:
i checked with the search function, and got no results. Are there any big differences in roms? right now ive got it narrowed down to gingerbread, CM6.1 and the incredibly Re-engineerd one.
what exactly do i look for in a rom? What are the advantages over the stock one?
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Alright. Gingerbread/CM6.1 are for if you like AOSP ROMs (google stock, no Sense). Incredibly Reengineered is essentially an insanely optimized stock HTC ROM (Sense). However, don't stop there! The Desire Z ROMs have some excellent features, like hibernating for 3-second boot and excellent themes, and Evo framework ROMs are, in general, insanely stable. MIUI is an AOSP ROM that kind of mimics the iPhone UI while still retaining Android, and Myn's Warm TwoPointTwo is an Evo framework ROM that (for me at least) gives INSANE battery life, even on the puny stock battery (down to 66% after 9 hours of heavy use yesterday). I advise you take another look through the ROMs, because if you read deeper into features of some of them, it might shake up your whole list.
Feel free to reply/PM me about this anytime
Yeah, there're some pretty big differences. Some with Sense, some based on Sense but with it removed, and AOSP based ROMs completely Senseless . Just read throught the OPs for the ROMs you're interested in, they usually have screenshots and a list of features and issues. Other than that, I'd suggest you backup with nandroid, read the instructions and flash away. You won't really know what you like until you've tried them for yourself.
setexascustoms said:
Yeah, there're some pretty big differences. Some with Sense, some based on Sense but with it removed, and AOSP based ROMs completely Senseless . Just read throught the OPs for the ROMs you're interested in, they usually have screenshots and a list of features and issues. Other than that, I'd suggest you backup with nandroid, read the instructions and flash away. You won't really know what you like until you've tried them for yourself.
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God yes. Nandroid. THE killer app for any rooted Android user lol
ALWAYS use nandroid. If there's not enough SDcard space to make a nandroid backup, make room. You'll thank us for that one

WHICH ROM

I know this question has probably been posted a million times, but Roms update so fast in this day and age that the answer to it changes daily.
I have an Evo 4G (bought on the day it was released), so it's version 0002
I used the stock rom for a few weeks and then upgraded to BakedSnack, which I really liked until it was no longer made.
Now I want to hard reset again, I already tried Azrael (which was super ugly and tacky) and now i'm on Fresh, which doesn't seem so different.
I've read through the wiki entry of all the roms but it doesnt really explain much of the differences, and I was hoping to find ROMS based on 2.3 but I didn't see any that were available.
What are the BIG names out there, the most stable, fastest roms that are the most popular. This is whats important to me:
- Sense UI (I like it!)
- No sprint bull (none of their programs, voicemail, navigation, nfl, all gone)
- Interface must be snappy
- Good Battery life
- All hardware must be functional (4G, GPS, Camera, leds, everything must work)
- Great if it can come with some useful software like- Swype, File Explorer, AppBrain, WifiTether, SuperUser, FlashLight, etc...
Any ideas?
Which roms do you guys use? and why?
mods please move to correct section
op I suggest plutonium, mikfroyo, or myns is themed very heavily, any way you go all will look the same(ish) with the exception of colors changes here and there and transparancy added in places, most will be optimized and be fast
Check out Myn's or MikFroyo
myns warm 2.2 rls5
mikfroyo 4.4
burntdroid
Check out mikfroyo. I've been using it for around 2 weeks and I love it. If you don't like the way it looks you can always flash over a theme like I did. I flashed over slate sense which can be found in the themes and apps section.
Mikfroyo is very battery friendly and the best/smoothest sense rom I've used.
yoerz said:
I know this question has probably been posted a million times, but Roms update so fast in this day and age that the answer to it changes daily.
I have an Evo 4G (bought on the day it was released), so it's version 0002
I used the stock rom for a few weeks and then upgraded to BakedSnack, which I really liked until it was no longer made.
Now I want to hard reset again, I already tried Azrael (which was super ugly and tacky) and now i'm on Fresh, which doesn't seem so different.
I've read through the wiki entry of all the roms but it doesnt really explain much of the differences, and I was hoping to find ROMS based on 2.3 but I didn't see any that were available.
What are the BIG names out there, the most stable, fastest roms that are the most popular. This is whats important to me:
- Sense UI (I like it!)
- No sprint bull (none of their programs, voicemail, navigation, nfl, all gone)
- Interface must be snappy
- Good Battery life
- All hardware must be functional (4G, GPS, Camera, leds, everything must work)
- Great if it can come with some useful software like- Swype, File Explorer, AppBrain, WifiTether, SuperUser, FlashLight, etc...
Any ideas?
Which roms do you guys use? and why?
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You are going to get flamed posting this in development; this belongs in Q&A. Anyways you should do research as to what you like/want as you are going to have tons of issues with the rom I like and vice versa.
Currently I use Salvage-rom 0.9.6. It is gingerbread, and it is fast. But it does have problem with random reboots and the video camera doesn't work.
Check out Azrael X. Pretty good battery for a non-AOSP rom and ricsim78 (the dev) is pretty quick with the updates when sprint does a OTA.
I'm currently on EViO 1.7.7 b/c for me it's been the ROM that gives the best balance of great battery life w/ great performance.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=745205
King's Rom Ultra 5.2.2 is fast with great battery life.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=894259
yoerz said:
I know this question has probably been posted a million times, but Roms update so fast in this day and age that the answer to it changes daily.
I have an Evo 4G (bought on the day it was released), so it's version 0002
I used the stock rom for a few weeks and then upgraded to BakedSnack, which I really liked until it was no longer made.
Now I want to hard reset again, I already tried Azrael (which was super ugly and tacky) and now i'm on Fresh, which doesn't seem so different.
I've read through the wiki entry of all the roms but it doesnt really explain much of the differences, and I was hoping to find ROMS based on 2.3 but I didn't see any that were available.
What are the BIG names out there, the most stable, fastest roms that are the most popular. This is whats important to me:
- Sense UI (I like it!)
- No sprint bull (none of their programs, voicemail, navigation, nfl, all gone)
- Interface must be snappy
- Good Battery life
- All hardware must be functional (4G, GPS, Camera, leds, everything must work)
- Great if it can come with some useful software like- Swype, File Explorer, AppBrain, WifiTether, SuperUser, FlashLight, etc...
Any ideas?
Which roms do you guys use? and why?
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Click to collapse
Lol cm7 all the way hands down. But seriously bro q+a. This is going to be flame central
Sent from Evo powered by CM7
Don't the first post of every rom have the useful information he asked for?
Anyways,myn for the win (hey that rhymed) IMO
Funny thing is, this is the same asshat that went into the Azrael X thread and trashed the dev Ric about his latest 4.0 ROM... then the genius comes and posts this? Get bent troll...
Here's another vote for Azrael's X. I've tried Mikfroyo, Myn's, and Azrael's recently, and the Azrael X 4.0 has been my favorite of the bunch so far.
Battery life is great, and the font he uses looks great on the phone!
for a sense rom, asrael X is the best hands down.
Darkstar coconut is an excellent font as well from myns thread
Jesus, so much hate.. and you're calling ME a troll??
All I said was that Azrael's rom was very ugly, his wallpapers are tacky, his ringtones are childish, it's nothing an adult could carry around with him without some extreme modifications.
bronxknight28 said:
Don't the first post of every rom have the useful information he asked for?
Anyways,myn for the win (hey that rhymed) IMO
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Agreed
indefinably awesome, although if your thirst for blood is more on the cutting edge Cm7 or kings,fresh,mikfroyo and i know I am forgetting some but are all good in their own special ways its just what you are looking for that is important. All around though the Minions do great outstanding work and always make a complete rom fully capable and with lots of tweeks along with a very large community support network that has plenty of themes.
Currently running Myns RLS-5 with DT a2sd, Kings 11 kERNAL (diving into the salvaged kernals tonight though. I miss the 20hr battery life days lol. Any side insight for a compatible kernal with myns RLS-5?
Digital Jesus
If you want a cool look: Myns or Mikfroyo
If you want speed: Mikfroyo
Battery/Stable: EViO, Fresh, or Ava
What I personally would do is get a EViO, Fresh, or Ava and put a theme on it.
EVOlvedAndroid said:
If you want a cool look: Myns or Mikfroyo
If you want speed: Mikfroyo
Battery/Stable: EViO, Fresh, or Ava
What I personally would do is get a EViO, Fresh, or Ava and put a theme on it.
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Thanks man, that's very helpful
94tbird said:
for a sense rom, asrael X is the best hands down.
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Yep, Ill have to agree with you on this one.

Best rom/kernel for the wife?

Hey guys my wife has an htc droid incredible that she wants better performance out of. As of yet she is always complaining about how it sucks and its slow and boring. I'm sure she will want something she can use a theme on, and something extremely stable..the last thing I need is to hear her freaking out that it is messing up on her.
Also I have no idea if there is a way to create a nandroid backup on the dinc like I do with the fascinate with clockwork, hopefully there is because whatever I end up doing I need to be able to go back without a hitch...
Any and all thoughts/suggestions are greatly appreciated guys! Thanks!
SCH-I500 - Vanilla Froyo AOSP .8/Voodoo5/NexTheme
Sense or non-sense?
Its the wife..of course nonsense. Lol really though I'm sure sense but as long as i am able to revert no problem we can try non-sense. If she ends up not liking any of it I need to be able to restore to like it never happened and she can go on with all her stuff there lol
SCH-I500 - Vanilla Froyo AOSP .8/Voodoo5/NexTheme
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=883380
Try that or maybe Incredibly Re-Engineered, and maybe update to Lou's #9 for a kernel.
Awesome. What are the general steps to backing up and then flashing the above? (or anything else on the dinc for that matter) the most I have done is unrevoked and that's just as easy as super one click root lol
SCH-I500 - Vanilla Froyo AOSP .8/Voodoo5/NexTheme
I'm not sure if i'm allowed to post links to another site since i'm new to this forum but i'll pm you a link to a tutorial.
Awesome. Thanks brother!
SCH-I500 - Vanilla Froyo AOSP .8/Voodoo5/NexTheme
Not sure if it sent or not so i sent it again. Anytime.
Lol I got it both times thanks I was actually in the middle of reading up on some of the stickies when you sent that
SCH-I500 - Vanilla Froyo AOSP .8/Voodoo5/NexTheme
Lou's #9 and Myn's twopointtwo
I recommend the Incredibly Re-Engineered rom. It is sense based and has been very stable and very good with both battery and performance. I am using v2.3.1 and the incredikernel kernel.
Also, I did not see if anyone responded to your question about the backup with clockwork. Clockwork backup does work with the incredible. I have had to use it a few times myself
edit: Oh by the way this is my first post. Hello to everyone here at XDA!
For "non" Sense I'd definitely go with CyanogenMod 7 RC1. It's fast, stable, and GINGERBREAD!!!
DroidIncredible said:
edit: Oh by the way this is my first post. Hello to everyone here at XDA!
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Hi.....welcome
As for the OP: After you figure out the nandroid backup stuff (which isn't too hard, esp since you have experience with your device)....
I stuck with Virtuous for a while which was basically an improved stock ROM...probably not what your wife wants if she wants it different and finds stock "boring" (but still a great rom). Unfortunately, not much development there anymore.
Skyraider sense was my next move. Loved it! Still sense, very stable, but lots of modifications and customizations available (ie: themes). A major upset was the fact that ihtfp69 stopped working on it for the time being.
However, I'm currently running CM7 (build #2) and it's great. Not a final version yet, so may not yet be as stable as she is looking for (though, I've only had 1 random reboot in 5 days of running different CM7 roms, otherwise, absolutely no other issues for me). But if you install it and set it up for her, and point her towards all the themes available, I'm sure she'd be happy.
So there's my experience, hope it provides some insight into the options for the Incredible I'm sure everyone else has their pros and cons, but I have honestly not been disappointed with any of the ROMs I've installed. These developers do a GREAT job!
Good luck
CM7: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916881
Virtuous: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=765447
Skyraider: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=764787
UOTE=Graydon1;11513780]I'm not sure if i'm allowed to post links to another site since i'm new to this forum but i'll pm you a link to a tutorial.[/QUOTE]
I have the same exact situation as the other guy. My wife wants me to work on her incredible. Could you send me that link as well. Thanks in advance!!!!!
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I put IncROM on my wife's Incredible as her first ROM - it was good looking, stable, quite fast, and had insane battery life w/ the stock HTC kernel.
She's since migrated to UlitmateDroid with me, as it has a whole different look/feel, and tons of options, as do many AOSP ROMs. Give AOSP a look for something different.
If not AOSP, some of the Z ROMs are pretty cool too.
That's part of the fun of being rooted; getting to try on different stuff, see what fits you best.
Happy modding!
Let me dig up the links again for ya.
Being someone who has tried a lot of ROM's and Kernels..
Sense kernels run the best for incredibles. I haven't found a non-sense (aka AOSP) that will run without a few significant bugs.
One of the quickest, most stable and clean sense ROM's would be
- Sky Raider's 3.5:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=764787
An excellent Kernel that majorly helped improve my battery life
- Chad's Incredikernel :
http://chad0989.dyndns.org/2.6.32.27-incredikernel-12232010-plus25v.zip
You will need clockwork installed to create nandroid backups and also to flash new ROM's and Kernels, and additionally rooting your phone can be found below:
http://unrevoked.com/#inc
>> Everyone has their preference and I highly respect every developer on here, but there was just a few things in Lou's Kernel that bugged me.
I'm sure you will try a few ROM's before sticking with one, the above are just my suggestions. When running Chad's kernel, do not use setCPU or anything like it because it already has (a better) one built in that helps extend battery life with screen off, and performance/battery with screen on
Thanks everyone! And welcome to the forums brother
SCH-I500 - Vanilla Froyo AOSP 0.8.1/Voodoo5/NexTheme
Just a thought but if stock Sense is boring to her, she may eventually want to try an AOSP ROM. In that case, I would recommend MIUI with Invisiblek #28 and, by that time, I'm sure Cyanogenmod 7 will have a stable release. Its bad a** and gingerbread based. Also, if she decides to stay with Sense and simply wants more options for it, Virtuous is another stable Sense ROM.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
Try out 'Launcher Pro' (maybe PRO if you like it). It has really cool transition effects that your wife would probably love (I love 'em)
It's what I use instead of the regular sense UI.
Check this vid out for a better idea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIK9yBlWYt4
You can get this from the droid market for free. PRO gets you the widgets I think, not much else.
You can also adjust the speed of transition that will make your phone seem much faster. I know the stock incredible homescreens are pretty laggy.

[Q] A Crapload Of Questions

So yeah, I have a crapload of questions.
I recently asked about rooting and keeping HTC Sense. In retrospect, I don't think I'll need Sense, I just tried out AppLauncher, and I have to say, I think I'm sold on it. I'm just wondering what exactly HTC Sense has? Is there anything it has that I'll really miss? So far the only thing I can think of is the HTC Sense website for a lost phone, backing up data, and the weather widget/FriendStream...though adding Facebook to HTC sense shows all my contacts in the Phone button which is a huge piss off, but meh.
So that being said, I think I'm about ready to give rooting a shot, but now I've been confused with even more things. And the more I read the more I get confused. Especially where I have to downgrade the firmware, I'm wondering if it's still okay to do this, since the guy at Bell told me if I didn't do / get certain updates I'd have to send my phone back to HTC for repair.
There's stock Android, Cyanogen, and it seems like a million other ROMs. Which is the best to use? If I want total customizability, but also good functionality?
Finally, I'm using a Bell-branded Desire Z on the the Bell network. So Whatever I do will need to work okay with it.
As I've said, I'm totally new to this, and I'm scared to hell of bricking my phone since I just signed a contract and don't to shell out $500 bucks for a new one.
There's just so much info on this forum and it's a bit overwhelming/confusing, not that a lot of info is a bad thing, I'm just lost lol.
EDIT: If anything I wrote seems too rambling or doesn't make much sense please specify that and I'll clarify it.
cant help you root your phone but just follow the instructions that the person who writes the threads say. It's not that easy to brick your phone unless you just completely dont follow directions.
1. Downgrade is perfectly fine, it's to allow you to use a certain method to root your phone.
2. Try out different roms to see what you like, it's like asking whats your favorite video game, how can you really choose, some will agree some wont. I personally like the Miui roms which is the iphonelike and android UI mashup. the apps built in are nice on the eyes, the physics of the phones movement is very smooth, it can oc to 1.5ghz, and you can just download a launcher to replace the original if you dont like it.
3. ask the dev's on the thread if your not sure. i have no idea about bell, but it would seem that it shouldnt have any affect on rooting your phone, just maybe the radio but that is different then rooting or flashing roms.
P.S. you might miss the small things from Sense like, it looks nice, turns on fast, widgets, the dialer to search contact, incoming calls doesnt disrupt navigation, and it's original live wallpaper lol.
So are you saying that I can't search by contact in the default phone app? That kind of sucks.
I guess more of what I'm asking is just based on people's experiences what the best route to go is. I know there are different tastes, I'm more concerned about reliability, so I'm sure people could help with a ROM choice with that criteria.
So downgrading firmware won't affect phone performance? And can it still be reverted to stock in case the phone needs warranty repair? Just trying to cover all my bases.
And thanks, I'll ask around in the deg thread.
Bloodlvst said:
So are you saying that I can't search by contact in the default phone app? That kind of sucks.
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There are usually apps available that provide Sense functionality to non-Sense ROMs. In regards to the above, you can try DialerOne.
To help you with the ROMs think of them in terms of how different Linux OS's are setup (if you know a bit about this).
You have the base OS's such as Cyanogen. Now some one doesn't like the look of that so they change the Frameworkres.apk to give it defferent colors, transparencies, icons and so on. Now they want a few extra apps to be included in the install so they add them to the /system/app directory or add a /data directory. Repackage it and now they have a custom OS called WINNING ROM (or whatever). These are easy to do and can be completed in a matter of minutes since there aren't any big alterations in the base coding of the OS. This is why you see a lot of ROMs that look like Cyanogens and the developer usually (and should be) states what version of some one elses ROM it's based off of.
Then you have ROMs that tweak certain parameters for speed or add other functionalities to a ROM such as a custom kernel, audio/video codecs, a2ext, compcache/linux swap, and others. Plus a complete custom UI (launcher), port parts of other ROMs such as Sense to work on their ROM, and toms of other things. These take days, weeks, or even months and usually have release cycles and updates. Cyanogen, Virtuous, Enomther, Villain, and a few others make up these ROMs.
Hope that helps with your ROM quest. It can be a bit overwhelming but remember to ask, ask, ask, and then ask some more and also read, at least the OP (original post) and a few pages past that. Some people may get upset and flame you for it but most will be glad to help in any way.
If you flash a non-Sense ROM, you will miss the HTC camera app. Its far and away better than the stock Android one, and I haven't found any Market camera apps that measure up, either. Also, the camera button on the Sense builds seems much more responsive than on CM7.
Also, I'm not sure about this, but the Sense ROMs seem to have better or more hardware codecs for playing a wider array of video formats. Lots of the videos I've tried on CM7 and CM6 are only playable using software decoding (on a variety of players, but RockPlayer is my favorite) and end up super laggy (very low frame rate) and audio way out of sync. On stock Sense and Virtuous, those videos play fine, hardware decoding, silky smooth, and audio in sync.
There are some aesthetic stuff, like HTC does some pretty significant theme changes for Sense, and you will lose customizations like the HTC Skins. And you will lose the HTC widgets (like the clocks) and apps (stocks, weather). But as mentioned, there are lots of Market apps that pretty well simulate many of the Sense apps and widgets, or are very suitable replacements.
Thanks for the detailed replies guys.
KCRic, thanks for list of known ROMs that's basically what I wanted to know, and your Linux flavour comparison helped too
Redpoint, I'm not sure how often I'd ever use the camera anyway...when I get home I'll have to find some screens of the default camera. That being said, I see your ROM is Virtuous. Is that a Sense-like ROM in case I agree with you on the ca?era app?
Thanks!
Bloodlvst said:
Redpoint, I'm not sure how often I'd ever use the camera anyway...when I get home I'll have to find some screens of the default camera. That being said, I see your ROM is Virtuous. Is that a Sense-like ROM in case I agree with you on the ca?era app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, you don't use the camera? I use it all the time, for those "spur of the moment" snapshots, or to quickly take a pic that I can MMS to a friend or family.
Yes, Virtuous is mostly stock Sense, but with some optimizations and with some extra features added. Its also based on the 1.85 ROM, one of the more recent stock Sense versions.
Guides, links for just about everything you can ever think of is here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916431
BTW, be sure to click the "Thanks" button if you found responses to be helpful!
ROM LIST
Sense ROMS
Gingerbread - Android 2.3
Shokouhi 2.0
Desire S G2 Port Sense2.1
Probably others.
Froyo - Android 2.2
Virtuous
Stock ROMS
Gingerbread - Android 2.3
CyanogenMod 7
Stock Gingerbread 1.7
iceandfire 1.7
Pyromod 1.2
GingerVillian 1.5
meXdroidMod
Froyo - Android 2.2
CyanogenMod 6
Others of unimportance now.
The Other ROMS
Gingerbread - Android 2.3
MIUI (The 2.3 one)
Froyo - Android 2.2
MIUI (The 2.2 one)
LiquidVillian (Or whatever it was called.)
I probably just wasted 10 minutes of my life doing this, but meh, it was something to do.
Now to kill myself since I had to listen to Nickelback through it. Damn 4Music.
I would hardly call CM7 (and ROMs based on it) "Stock".
Although "Non-Sense" is not a very good sounding name for that category, also.
redpoint73 said:
I would hardly call CM7 (and ROMs based on it) "Stock".
Although "Non-Sense" is not a very good sounding name for that category, also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AOSP Based.
There should be 2 categories. CM Based and AOSP.
But I don't think there are any AOSP ROMs. Which I hate, cos when people say they've built a stock ROM, but it's based on CyanogenMod.
redpoint73 said:
Wow, you don't use the camera? I use it all the time, for those "spur of the moment" snapshots, or to quickly take a pic that I can MMS to a friend or family.
Yes, Virtuous is mostly stock Sense, but with some optimizations and with some extra features added. Its also based on the 1.85 ROM, one of the more recent stock Sense versions.
Guides, links for just about everything you can ever think of is here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916431
BTW, be sure to click the "Thanks" button if you found responses to be helpful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I'm guessing no one has cooked up a weird ROM that is like Cyanogen with the Sense camera app lol.
Anywho, I really only have a couple of questions now.
Would you recommend Gingerbread or Froyo? I'm guessing Gingerbread probably runs better / is better than Froyo, but it's hard to say.
Also, how easy is it to restore my phone to factory condition if I need to?
And finally, I read the wiki, it says to make sure I have the windows USB drivers installed...do I just throw those in my windows drivers folder?
EDIT: Wanted to add, the instructiosn for recovering to stock doesn't include the version. So any help there is appreciated.
Or you know, if any of you would be so kind to PM me / add me to IM if you've done this on a Bell phone in Canada that would be awesome too
The drivers go in your Android SDK folder, where ever adb resides. At least on XP and Vista that's the case - I'm not sure if the adb issue was ever resolved in Windows 7. You could always use VM linux or dual boot linux if you like, it's much easier imo. Wubi works too I think.
When it comes to Froyo vs. Gingerbread it's literally like a linux in the sense that one is completely stable and well known by this point (Froyo) an the other is bleeding edge, not stable at times, some things are just not compatible unless you port them, and peoples knowledge base on it isn't as thorough.
I've never returned this phone to stock, which I assume you mean s-on and no superuser permissions. So I have no idea how difficult it is, though I do know you need to make sure you 100% know what you're doing before attempting it - especially if you have s-off. It's a pandoras box if you mess it up.
Ah okay, I'll definitely stick with Froyo for now then. I've always stayed 1 version behidn with Fedora lol.
I did get the drivers working, made my gold card, about to downgrade my firmware.
Are the instructions the same for 1.84.666.2 ?
Edit: Successfully rooted. Now time to find a new ROM. thanks again for all the help. Quesiton though, I have no HSDPA icon anymore...do I need a new "radio" or something?
No, it will do that and some ROMs don't have either the 'H' or the 3G' icon - just depends on the developer. You can still flash a different radio - anyone listed in the G2 radio sticky will work, flash a few and see what works best for you.
There's also a radio version/.ril file issue being debated so you might check that thread too and flash the zip provided just to be safe. I think it's in the G2 questions forum but I can't remember.

[Q] ROM questions

i know this will be something that you are probably already seek of reading but i really would like some answers.
I have a new desire z , i already did the tutorial to root and s-off the phone, now i would like to know what roms do you guys recommend me to install.
please give options for roms with and without sense.
thanks!
1) Whatever looks good to you
2) Whatever meets your performance/feature requirements.
Unless you specify what you are looking for in a ROM, its hard to narrow down. There are tons of these threads and the common answer is "try some".
Not trying to be a jerk, but it really comes down to what you want/like.
ok
is there any fully functional ics rom for the desire z?
and what is the best rom to use if i want a fast rom with htc sense?
RE:
magno23 said:
ok
is there any fully functional ics rom for the desire z?
and what is the best rom to use if i want a fast rom with htc sense?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best ICS ROM i have used till now - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1492461 . Though this is also not fully functional.
I don't feel sense ROMs are fast enough :-/ But as biohazard said, it all depends on individual.
I've tried the ICS roms and I'm just not satisfied with them as a dailey driver yet. They'll get there, my biggest thing is the glitchy cameras. I'm excited for the time when ICS roms are 100% working.
I've tried just about all the roms out there, except sense 4.0. I keep finding myself going between CM7 and Virtuous Glite. I like the performance and customization of ILWT and I like the long battery of Glite.
I like that ILWT seems to be the only CM based rom that has a GPS fix.
I really like sense, but they're too laggy for me so far. Maybe, I just haven't found the right one?
The question of "what is the best/favorite ROM" gets asked a couple times a week. Just browse through this forum and you will find plenty of threads with opinions on ROMs.
As already mentioned, everyone has different needs and tastes. What is one person likes, may not be the best for you. Just do some reading, and you will find the benefits and features of the various ROMs, then pick one from there.
Just flashed this mod : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1495255
I love it, but having an issue with the wifi with 2.0.
Good luck!
magno23 said:
i know this will be something that you are probably already seek of reading but i really would like some answers.
I have a new desire z , i already did the tutorial to root and s-off the phone, now i would like to know what roms do you guys recommend me to install.
please give options for roms with and without sense.
thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take a look at this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916431 it has a list of very good ROMs.
i tried some roms with htc sense but they are a little slow for me.
what is the difference between CM7 and ILWT CM7?
magno23 said:
i tried some roms with htc sense but they are a little slow for me.
what is the difference between CM7 and ILWT CM7?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, basically, ILWT is CM7 on steroids. Many optimizations for battery life/performance.

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