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Hello everybody!
My question is simple.
Should i wait for the official Froyo for my HTC Desire, or should I usw a custom Rom from this Board?
I am very disappointed with the battery-time of my normal stock 2.1 rom...
My Desire just lasts for about one day with normal usage.
Is the battery-life going to be better with the official froyo (an with roms out of the section of rom-cooking in this board) ?
Would you recommend me to wait for the official Rom, or not?
Are there some reasons against an unofficial froyo-rom?
Wich rom you would recommend at the moment?
(dont need htc-sense...)
Thanks for you help, and sorry for bad english
If you haven't done so already, I'd recommend checking out "Juice Defender" in the Marketplace. You can fine tune your APN/WIFI settings and such to get much more out of your battery. Best of all it's free. If that doesn't satisfy your battery hungry needs then I suggest you stop listening to my advice as I know squat about custom Roms. What I do know though is that battery life is reported to be greatly improved in Froyo.
Even if you wait for official froyo, the devs here will make it better and add more features make it faster etc and you'll be back here in no time you can always unroot your phone of you change your mind.
the proper answer world be depends on how you use your phone, I too would suggest using "Juice Defender" if your battery needs are not met, however note that even if you w8 for the official froyo rom you will probably not notice a major power saving effect over the existing rom. In fact I doubt that you will notice any improvement in battery life whatsoever considering you seem to be a proper power user.
Some custom roms run less services/process so you will be able to save up some battery life, its the only proper way too cut down on power consumption I would imagine the closer to the vanilla system the better.
With HTC straight out lying about the release date for the update (as usual), yesterday I took the plunge and have moved over to DeFroST after rooting.
Based on my initial impressions, battery life has improved. Rooting opens up the possibility of using the brilliant application that is setCPU to very finely tune many battery consuming aspects of the device and should make 48hrs achievable without switching off push and sync. There's a thread in the dev section about this.
I would do it. DeFroST is a brilliant ROM, but there are plenty of gems in the Dev section
bedeabc said:
With HTC straight out lying about the release date for the update (as usual), yesterday I took the plunge and have moved over to DeFroST after rooting.
Based on my initial impressions, battery life has improved. Rooting opens up the possibility of using the brilliant application that is setCPU to very finely tune many battery consuming aspects of the device and should make 48hrs achievable without switching off push and sync. There's a thread in the dev section about this.
I would do it. DeFroST is a brilliant ROM, but there are plenty of gems in the Dev section
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm guessing you needed an unlock code to upgrade your radio since your on orange?
i flashed yesterday and , oh boy, what can i say - its great.
you root your phone with unrevoked, then flash a custom rom, then the new radio ( for froyo ). easy, peasy, painless. froyo kicks ass, i chose leedroid and its so speedy, an battery life has improved, altough not too much i think
@ bedeabc
When did HTC lie about the release date:???: the only official announcement I heard was 3rd quarter... there is still weeks/months to go yet. Any reply you see posted via some ones uncle who told my mother that apparently honest to god customer service said two weeks...is not 'official' lol.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
So, you guys think, that its not be worth, to wait for the official froyo?
There will not be some "new" things, i will miss in the froyo, I can get in den Dev-Area?
Cause i dont like it, to change the rom every 2 month ;-)
ATM I have a rooted desire with ocuv kernel.
Untouched radio.
Is the upgread "heavy"? (dangerour, time-expensive?)
Thanks for all of your Help
I just upgraded to Froyo, Android 2.2, yesterday.
Well i think i love it. Extra functions and the speed is incredible.
When rooting & new rom - do you lose HTC Sense?
Dave
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
the defrost custom rom is awesome, it'ld go for it tbh
breytex said:
So, you guys think, that its not be worth, to wait for the official froyo?
There will not be some "new" things, i will miss in the froyo, I can get in den Dev-Area?
Cause i dont like it, to change the rom every 2 month ;-)
ATM I have a rooted desire with ocuv kernel.
Untouched radio.
Is the upgread "heavy"? (dangerour, time-expensive?)
Thanks for all of your Help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well me personal I'm waiting, if I had a branded phone I probably wouldn't wait as it'll be X amount of weeks after HTC release until you carrier release its version with bloatware.
I am obviously one of those easily satisfied people, I think its a great phone as is with just a few tweaks here and there (voice search, keyboard etc..) which didn't even require root
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
deejaydave said:
When rooting & new rom - do you lose HTC Sense?
Dave
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
depends on the new rom. If it has Sense you don't lose it Rooting doesn't concern Sense or anything else on interface
what's important for everyone who's considering to move on new froyo sense roms (2.06) - they're stable and fast, I'm using them for a week and haven't noticed one error or reboot.
You can try them out and then decide for yourself whether to return to eclair, or use them until htc releases official version. I'm certain you will choose second option
AdamLC said:
I'm guessing you needed an unlock code to upgrade your radio since your on orange?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you should check the radio thread in development subforum, last version of radio doesn't lock Orange phones...
So far I've been using Revolution HD, but now I wonder if there are other ROMs that may have interesting things to offer.
I read the ROM's threads and I find it somewhat hard to decide based on those posts. Almost all say they are stable/fast/zipaligned/deodexed. Maybe there isn't that much difference between the custom Sense-ROMs?
LeeDroid sounds interesting, as does CoreDroid, but so does Revo HD...
So maybe those of you who are using custom ROMs could say why they use their specific ROM. I know there's no "best" ROM, but I guess everybody has a reason for their choice. I think it'd be interesting to hear.
Rcmix hd, because it's clean and near stock. Only real mod is the deodexing. The more the messing the more the chance of unforseen problems.
Sent from my super slick Android device.
bur2000 said:
So far I've been using Revolution HD, but now I wonder if there are other ROMs that may have interesting things to offer.
I read the ROM's threads and I find it somewhat hard to decide based on those posts. Almost all say they are stable/fast/zipaligned/deodexed. Maybe there isn't that much difference between the custom Sense-ROMs?
LeeDroid sounds interesting, as does CoreDroid, but so does Revo HD...
So maybe those of you who are using custom ROMs could say why they use their specific ROM. I know there's no "best" ROM, but I guess everybody has a reason for their choice. I think it'd be interesting to hear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to say but when you start on this flashing stuff you are going to spend a lot of time anyway. Trust me . I have tried out many of the ROM's and mostly they are all good. They all have a touch from the cook though. My advice is to try for yourself. It doesn't take more than 10 mins plus and you're set to go on a new rom.
Asking us will just give you answers pointing in different directions. I hope that you can use my advice. I know that its probably not what you wanted to hear but that's just my opinion.
Anders
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
Yes, I know there's no way around trying for yourself. But it'll take some time to decide whether a ROM is good or not. You'd probably need to use the ROM for a couple of days.
But since there are many ROMs maybe the selection can be thinned out a bit by advice of other users. What would you suggest I try if I'm looking for a clean ROM where the changes are mostly under the hood. From browsing through the forum it seems Revo/Leedroid/Coredroid/Rcmix are fitting that description. Any other suggestions?
And I read in some Sig that Revolution HD was best performance and Leedroid best battery usage. Is that really the case?
Its a personal choice! LeeDroid all the way!
Well, I think the best thing to do is trying out the different roms and see what works for you.
I personally prefer the Revolution HD rom, but that doesn't mean that it's the right one for you
Revolution HD, LeeDroid and CoreDroid are the ones I've tried so far.
- Revolution HD is the one closest to stock which is both its' strong as well as its' weak point.
I have the strong suspicion that I might be doing sth wrong in its' case but with this ROM I always lose the "places" and "latitude" apps. On the other hand I notice I also lose them with every ROM (including the stock one) if I do a Factory Reset the "normal" way.
- LeeDroid is the one I tend to gravitate the most on because it's got that sth extra without being extremely heavy. Still too much bloat for my tastes though...
Works great though!
- CoreDroid is the one I like the most aesthetically (i.e the theme work they do) and they seem to be the ROM most on the bleeding edge.
However, I also got the most bugs out of all the ROMs I tried including the WiFi not working at all (turned out I needed to flash a different kernel manually), the battery draining EXTREMELY fast (not sure why, I didn't change any settings coming from the other two ROMs), the GPS navigator and an added Weather&Clock widget just crashing when called, as well as their own add-ons sending the phone on a BootLoop.
The "last straw" of sorts was today when I picked up my phone after a night that it auto-updated only to find the freakin' Market missing altogether!
In all honesty, CoreDroid would be the one I'd prefer if they could just get it to work right...
(P.S. interestingly enough, ALL three of them released a new version of their ROMs today so take all that I said earlier with a grain of salt as I can't know what bugs were squashed or whether any new ones were introduced).
I like leedroid the best. I installed it the day I got my phone. It's mostly stock, but with a ton of under the hood optimization. Ever since lee started doing his own kernels the phone has been getting quicker each release. And while there are kernels that score higher in benchmarks, general usage feels way snappier on lees kernels.
Been running leedroid roms for 3 months now, and nö issues to report
Automatically generated by my LeeDroid powered DesireHD
CoreDroid HD v3.1 + LeeDroid v2.2.2 Custom Kernel Combo. Enough said.
Leedroid for battery life-Revolution for benchmark...
But every couple of days there are updates!This is nice or not?i think is better to use my CWM once a week,but thats roms life...
I like Core Droid the best, Sergio has been working hard these past days releasing update adter update to please everyone, and 99% of times he has done.
Battery life for me is amazing, performance is as smooth as butter, and Sergio is a theming god.
I also use LeeDrOiD's kernel, because it is perfect for me.
I have only used the Android Revolution HD rom, but this is a great rom, the battery time is good, and its easy to install and all the "crap" apps are removed.
I've never used leedroid as I've only used rev hd, but better battery life sounds good. What's the main difference between the 2 or 3 roms?
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk
They are different flavors of the same ROM (well, until recently at least, now CoreDroid is at version 1.84 which does away with some problems I had with the stock 1.72 as well as all the ROMs based on it) so it's not THAT extreme (nothing like flashing CyanogenMod) but there are subtle differences.
Personally, I like the blue theming of CoreDroid the best but they also tend to be pretty bleeding edge, better to let a ROM mature a little first, the Revolution HD ROM is the one closest to stock and the lightest of the bunch but LeeDroid's strong point is their very heavily optimized kernels with very frequent updates.
They have no custom theme but there is a lot of effect-based eye candy (like transparencies and flying-in message boxes).
Honestly I like all three for different reasons and keep switching between them on a pretty regular basis, so far I like the CoreDroid the best but I just keep going back to LeeDroid for stability and long battery life!
Just got an EVO tonight, I would have liked to wait for 3D but I needed faster internet/phone asap since I started my new job.
I've been reading the forums, how to root, etc. the past couple of days, and am in the process of rooting. But there are just so many ROMs all which have there own pros/cons, so I was wondering if anyone had advice based on what I mainly want to use my phone for...
CM7 seems like the most popular, and I care mainly about stability, removing bloatware, and performance, care less about visual stuff. Plus it sounds like you can customize it with themes anyways.
But I've read threads where GPS/4G breaks which is what I care about the most.
I live in OC which has 4G, and that is the primary reason I upgraded from my old phone. 95% of the time this phone will be used for internet/games.
I was debating just going for a stock ROM, but not sure if benefits of a custom one outweighs stock ones.
Does anyone have advice on a stable ROM that improves performance and has little risk of breaking things like 4G? Or at least a few I can narrow down to?
Strife025 said:
Just got an EVO tonight, I would have liked to wait for 3D but I needed faster internet/phone asap since I started my new job.
I've been reading the forums, how to root, etc. the past couple of days, and am in the process of rooting. But there are just so many ROMs all which have there own pros/cons, so I was wondering if anyone had advice based on what I mainly want to use my phone for...
CM7 seems like the most popular, and I care mainly about stability, removing bloatware, and performance, care less about visual stuff. Plus it sounds like you can customize it with themes anyways.
But I've read threads where GPS/4G breaks which is what I care about the most.
I live in OC which has 4G, and that is the primary reason I upgraded from my old phone. 95% of the time this phone will be used for internet/games.
I was debating just going for a stock ROM, but not sure if benefits of a custom one outweighs stock ones.
Does anyone have advice on a stable ROM that improves performance and has little risk of breaking things like 4G? Or at least a few I can narrow down to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Normally I would suggest MIUI, but since you need 4G either go with CM 7 or if you want to stick with a Sense based ROM I would suggest MikFroyo. Hope that helps and good luck with the new job.
Strife025 said:
Just got an EVO tonight, I would have liked to wait for 3D but I needed faster internet/phone asap since I started my new job.
I've been reading the forums, how to root, etc. the past couple of days, and am in the process of rooting. But there are just so many ROMs all which have there own pros/cons, so I was wondering if anyone had advice based on what I mainly want to use my phone for...
CM7 seems like the most popular, and I care mainly about stability, removing bloatware, and performance, care less about visual stuff. Plus it sounds like you can customize it with themes anyways.
But I've read threads where GPS/4G breaks which is what I care about the most.
I live in OC which has 4G, and that is the primary reason I upgraded from my old phone. 95% of the time this phone will be used for internet/games.
I was debating just going for a stock ROM, but not sure if benefits of a custom one outweighs stock ones.
Does anyone have advice on a stable ROM that improves performance and has little risk of breaking things like 4G? Or at least a few I can narrow down to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to keep your stock rom you can also just search root uninstaller on the market and get rid of any bloatware on the stock rom.
CM7 is the way to go friend...
Thanks for the replies. I thought I'd get the CM7 suggestions. I'm assuming RC4 is the version I want?
The only issue I had was that I saw in the known issues that some people were experiencing problems with 4G/GPS, so I wasn't sure if that was a widespread issue or not.
cm7 is an awesome ROM, dont get me wrong... if its your first rom troubleshooting may be a hassle because until it becomes an official release there will be bugs to deal with.
my suggestion would be look in the development thread and try a simple sense based rom first and read its threads (or even cm7 for that matter) to see what people are reporting about it.
*imho*
I switch between my own stock backup and CM7. CM7 is the way to go if you are looking for a different rom. It is basically stable. I have found nothing wrong with it.
MIKFROYO is great, but have been running Koni's Elite 111 with Honeycomb Dream theme for over a month...AWESOME...STABLE...FAST using netarchy 4.3.2 cfs sbc havs less
I was wondering this myself last week and what I found out is that once you see how easy it is to switch roms you'll be testing out a bunch of them and keep finding yourself returning to a particular one for one reason or another... and that's the one I stuck with. I ended up using Myn's Warm TwoPointTwo but I'm sure I'll be trying out a couple more today
Myn's Warm TwoPointTwo RLS5. It's fast, stable and everything works and it's very customizable like any other Android device.
posting & replying via the XDA Premium app
But GPS does not work on CM7 without real hassle, well I couldn't get it to work.
Love that you got a new job and need a phone to play games and browse the web 95% of the time
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Koni's elite series iii is very stable, very fast, and looks great.
Clipsey said:
But GPS does not work on CM7 without real hassle, well I couldn't get it to work.
Love that you got a new job and need a phone to play games and browse the web 95% of the time
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol I know right. Basically my old company was cool with everything as long as I got my work done so I never really needed to use internet on my phone as much. Have a good gaming rig at home and was always at my desk at work.
My new job is with at a larger corp. (like 3,000 people) and has way more rules and regulations. My boss doesn't care and always goes on his phone or reads the paper in his freetime, but it's a company rule. So I wanted something that I could go online with
Anyways, I rooted and installed CM7 last night, it was quite easy. I haven't had any problems but I did like certain things with the stock Sense UI better. Maybe I'll try some other ROMs suggested here since it was so easy.
I gotta agree that, I've use MIUI, CM6 (not 7), fresh, and researched but not used MikFroyo, and my favorite right now is Myn's Warm 2.2 RLS5 w/o a doubt. It has everything you would want in a SENSE based ROM. Then, I'd also download the launcher pro that's right on that same thread, it adds a ton of additional customization that is great.
If you want a stock look but a bit faster and possibly better battery life check out Calkulins evio series 2 its on version 1.8,by far my favorite sense rom.
If you want aosp gb rom very stable really fast,gps works for me but with all gb aosp its different from user to user.Try salvage mod on version 1.1 though 1.2 is coming soon.
Both great roms.
I'm running the new CM7 Final, and I love it. I was using the nightlies and the RC's, and they were all great for a daily driver. Now CM7 Final is out? To me, this can't be beat.
It's fast, stable, has the features, and does everything I want. Let us know which one you decided to try out...
After rooting my HTC Desire i thought i had done the hard bit.
After reading the mountains of info; about Roms I dont know if I am any wiser, confused maybe. As a Newby to this i have a great deal to learn, I am after some guidance with peoples reccomendations as to which ROM is best for me.
I think i want -Stability, more than anything as Much as the latest Android updates, thanks for any suggestions
If stability is priority fo you and you want bug-free ROMs, I'd reccomend to try Froyo ROMs. Gingerbread ROMs are stable, as well, but bugs occur in them - not big ones, but still.
And for the ROMs - Insertcoin HD/ RCMixHD / LeeDroid/ Starburst - take your pick, all good
gilberc said:
After rooting my HTC Desire i thought i had done the hard bit.
After reading the mountains of info; about Roms I dont know if I am any wiser, confused maybe. As a Newby to this i have a great deal to learn, I am after some guidance with peoples reccomendations as to which ROM is best for me.
I think i want -Stability, more than anything as Much as the latest Android updates, thanks for any suggestions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CyanogenMod. I still run their RC3 and considering I've never had any issues large enough to complain about, I never bothered to upgrade to their current release
Thanks for the Quick reply, will take on board
Thanks for the quick reply, reads well
Honestly though, if you look at the desire forum, it gives you a good idea which ROMs have the most amount of issues. Although a lot are caused by noob errors
GB: InsertCoin / RCMix
Froyo: Leedroid
In the last few days I have tried all the major gb roms(rcm, insertcoin, reflex etc), all of them have been stable but not fast enough. I think that may be due to the fact that there is currently no stock rom for desire gb. I would recommend leedroid 2.4.1. Its very fast and stable. I will switched to a gb rom once the official software has been released.
Hello
Im a proud owner of DesireZ, got it from my provider for free, and I could not possibly think of a better phone than this. On stock clock - it runs high graphic games, and it runs smooth. I really cant imagine what would someone do with announced Exynos 2Ghz on SGS3, apart from resolution requirements. But than again, everything above ~250ppi is just retarded, by my standards. This HTC phone is perfect for me.
so, my question is -
1. need to replace stock rom with something good
2. need fully working phone (camera also, so no ICS for me, I guess )
3. need info on Sense version that doesnt cause bugs and problems, cause I have read lots of topics with people complaining. (lagging after couple of hours, need restart and so on)
4. CM, or ICS, or some pre-tunned Gingerbread .. ?
As I have done this before with some similar devices, please link the following to me:
1. root instructions
2. backup instructions
3. best OS by my requirements (smoothness, no bugs, and pre-installed OC software are priority)
and that's it
Im sorry in advance, cause there will surely be someone that says - use search, but Im making it like this cause regular visitors of site can find that with much more ease than I could. Appreciate help in advance.
Welcome to the DZ/G2 forums!
The procedure of using gfree to root and carrier unlock your DZ is in my signature. Depending on your current installed version of ROM, you may or may not have to downgrade your phone.
The most stable versions of ROMs that I have personally tried are the following.
Virtuous Sense: The closest stock DZ ROM you can get with optimizations and tweaks. It's been debloated of carrier crap and has an OC kernel up to 1.5GHz if I am not mistaken. The best GB Sense experience you can get IMO.
Virtuous G-Lite: The closest stock G2 ROM you can get with optimizations and tweaks. Debloated of T-Mobile's carrier crap and also OC-able to about 1.5GHz. Very light weight and able to go out 2-3 days on the stock battery on a single charge depending on usage. I would, however, recommend ditching LauncherPRO in favor of GOLauncherEX though.
Thanks man!
It is not carrier locked, cause supply stock of Serbian Telekom was only few and they didnt bother, it is a plain simple out-of-the-factory Desire Z.
If I choose G-lite, can I flash my regular DesireZ, are there limitations between G2/DZ .. ?
Does OC-ing to, lets say - 1.2Ghz shorten battery life ?
I like this G-lite, as I am aware of the fact that Android generally drains much more than other OSes, as I had HTC Blackstone. 4 days on WM6.5, 1 day on Android.
If you want a Sense 3.5 ROM, but a bit refreshed, I've been using Android Revolution for a few days and it's amazingly smooth compared to the other 3.5 ones.
I would HIGHLY recommend G2 Slim. It's the latest t-mobile release of gingerbread for the G2, but it has nearly everything unnecessary removed and it has the best battery life out of ALL the ROMs on our devices.
It's a very smooth ROM with all features working, it is a bit basic but there's nothing you can't really fix with apps from the market. It's very very fast, has ridiculous amounts of free RAM, it's great with multitasking and it's even very quick when it comes to app performance.
Virtuous G-Lite is basically the same as G2 Slim, except it's much faster. It seems like the extra speed of G-Lite comes at the cost of battery life though. That said, the battery life on both of those ROMs is amazing, so you can't go wrong with either of them.
Otherwise, if you're looking for something different and a little bit fun, try out the latest gingerbread release of MIUI . You will fall in love with the theming abilities of that ROM.
Get miui, looks good, and just works. ... MIUI Android (GB)
I would highly recommend AOSP, be it G2Slim or EliteMod.
Sense and MIUI can be fun to play with, but they're just toys IMO and like to eat your RAM and battery life. They do each offer some pretty kickin' features that AOSP doesn't but I still prefer the base experience as it offers the most stability, battery-life, and overall smoothness.
Happy to hear you like the phone, I'm going on a year and a month now and I still love it! I have nothing but praises for this thing, the flash even almost survived me! But alas I have to replace it after one too many accidental hits of the Torch quick setting.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD via my tethered HTC Vision
buxtahuda said:
I would highly recommend AOSP, be it G2Slim or EliteMod.
Sense and MIUI can be fun to play with, but they're just toys IMO and like to eat your RAM and battery life. They do each offer some pretty kickin' features that AOSP doesn't but I still prefer the base experience as it offers the most stability, battery-life, and overall smoothness.
Happy to hear you like the phone, I'm going on a year and a month now and I still love it! I have nothing but praises for this thing, the flash even almost survived me! But alas I have to replace it after one too many accidental hits of the Torch quick setting.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using XDA Premium HD via my tethered HTC Vision
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with this, G2 Slim and Virtuous G-lite are both fantastic AOSP ROMs that you should try out.
I like how you all automatically assume that I know the "AOSP" abreviation, but google helped me on that one
played last night with all OS-es you recommended, and in the process I made a routine with flashing so now I know what im doing, and this is hard - in terms of what to choose It is now that I actually see the potential of this phone. XDA support for this device is just awesome, one of the most supported devices generally.
@buxtahuda - had a lots of smartphones before this one, all lost due to failures:
HD2 - was crappy in terms of assemble, got loose and had really bad plastic. When I opened it it was clear that HTC assembly was not good at that time
iPhone 3g - after 6 months of usage without protection and pocket time, it looked like it had a fight with Optimus Prime.
SGS1 - fell from 2 feet and the scene looked like I dropped i light bulb - into 100 pieces. even Cornig Gorilla glass that has only one flaw - side pressure, managed to crack
DesireZ is on a whole another level. I actually managed to drop it 5th day of usage because I replaced bundle headphones (that's the only thing that sucks) and didnt have cable-control, and trying to change a song while running on high-cardio excercise (weight loss process). It fell down also having momentum cause of running and it tubmled for 4-5 meters:
still cant find where are the scratches. really, I placed it under a magnifying glass and I cant find where are the scratches from f'in concrete! awesome materials and assembly by HTC
Rooting your phone, getting S-OFF to install other Roms
Hello and have fun with your Desire Z!
Full instructions for HTC Desire Z and T-Mobile G2 Root and FULL S-OFF can be found on http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision#Rooting_the_G2
When you need support for getting S-OFF you can join the IRC channel #G2ROOT on freenode. Browser access on webchat.freenode.net . After joining the IRC webchat you can change to channel #G2ROOT using the command "/join #G2ROOT".
My favorite ROMs for the HTC Desire Z are:
* Virtuous Affinity 2.05: A little bit slow, but great experience
* Virtuous G-Lite 2.0.1: Very fast, some special software might have issues
* CyanogenMod 7.1: Great overall ROM, respectable speed and stable.
Try the ROMs and decide for yourself!
For backing up applications I recommend using Titanium Backup (Pro), for backing up your system you can use ClockworkRecovery and RomManager.
When you want to install more than one ROM on your phone at the same time then try BootManager (from Google Play). Might not work with all ROMs but is really good to try things!
Good Luck.
Congrats on your new phone! The Desire Z is starting to show its age, but considering the developer base and the fact that you got it for free, I'd say you got a pretty good deal.
Personally, I like MIUI and CyanogenMod 7. CM7 is a classic, and everyone loves it for the degree to which it preserves stock Android, while adding on a few improvements here and there. MIUI, on the other hand, gives you a complete re-imagining of the Android interface, and it can be great to use. I find myself alternating between the two every couple months, actually. That's the beauty of the Desire Z, though: the widespread developer support means you get that kind of flexibility!
I agree that Cyanogenmod 7 is fantastic but for me, i could NEVER eliminate the constant battery drain issues that i had with it no matter what. I'd still recommend it to newcomers but i think simpler ROMs like G-lite or G2 Slim are much better.
I generally like to have a clean and consistent looking UI on any ROM that i use and CM7's styling seemed to always take a way from the stock gingerbread feel that i was looking for. That's my opinion.
Right now, i'm using Virtuous G-lite and now i know what it's like to have a really really fast phone xD.
As far as Sense ROMs go, my experience showed me that Virtuous Affinity 2.05.0 was the fastest and most stable out of all the Sense 3.* ROMs.
After many tries, I decided to stay on G-lite mainly cause of the battery, but I would also like to give a chance to Virtuous Sense, cause it seemed (for a hour of usage) like a pretty decent ROM.
MIUI reppeled me with the iPhony look, that's sometnig I want to avoid in the future, even if it has only a fraction to do with rotten Apple.
The best option would be, if anyone ever creates it, ICS based system with the "strip-down" settings like G-lite. that I would like very much
Anyways, this phone is Awesome. I did not have a hype like this with any other phone, and as I stated, I had them all shortly after release (HD2, SGS1, iPhone 3G). The only thing that's bothering me is metal back-cover which I guess will be all bumpy in the future (I hate putting my phone in covers and skins) But I guess I could recreate it out of metal, since I am good with power tools and fine cutting of stuff, and like to do that kind of projects