[Q][Gurus] Kernel + ROM. Hot picks? - Galaxy Note II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

For a n00b (in this context anyway!), there is a huge amount of options available.
I've pretty much decided on using the NARK kernel, but the ROM choice is a hard one. Stock Sammy, AOSP, Omega, PA etc.
While I love stock, the S-Note popup is rather handy. Although for an ultimate experience I would sacrifice it. I like minimalism, consistency, and efficiency.
NARK or otherwise, what are the current 'killer' combos for ROMs and kernels? In terms of speed, fluidity and battery life.
Any pointers from the gurus out there would be very much appreciated :¬)

b0se said:
For a n00b (in this context anyway!), there is a huge amount of options available.
I've pretty much decided on using the NARK kernel, but the ROM choice is a hard one. Stock Sammy, AOSP, Omega, PA etc.
While I love stock, the S-Note popup is rather handy. Although for an ultimate experience I would sacrifice it. I like minimalism, consistency, and efficiency.
NARK or otherwise, what are the current 'killer' combos for ROMs and kernels? In terms of speed, fluidity and battery life.
Any pointers from the gurus out there would be very much appreciated :¬)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would a so called guru respond to this.
Read up on the kernels and roms. See which have the features you require/want. Make a back up and flash.
Then you can decide for yourself instead of getting the views of people who may want something different than you.

Related

[Q] Rom and Battery life

Hi. I'm thinking about flashing my first ROM on the Droid Incredible for my wife. She is having terrible battery life with her phone, and I'd like to try and help her out. I really am not looking for much though. My order of prefs are:
Stability > Battery Life > Performance
Mods and tweaks and things of that nature are not really a huge concern for me. I just want everything to work well, and have great battery life. I'd love to hear some suggestions.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
I'm running OVORene Community ROM and my battery last all day with GPS on internet on and 5 apps syncing all day everything on. Super stable I have no problems so far no force closes. Give it a try
Sent from my OVO Community ROM using XDA Premium App
But having sense 3.0 is a closer look too stock incredible and have great battery life
Sent from my OVO Community ROM using XDA Premium App
Nobrainer, the newest leak 2.3.4. Its only sense 1.0, so it would be familiar to her, no lag, no issues at all, and the best battery life for me on any sense rom.
If ive helped you, please hit the damn thanks button!
donnyp1 said:
Nobrainer, the newest leak 2.3.4. Its only sense 1.0, so it would be familiar to her, no lag, no issues at all, and the best battery life for me on any sense rom.
If ive helped you, please hit the damn thanks button!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd go this route or something VERY similar to it. Just don't flash the RUU. Try to find a rooted version of the ROM.
As for AOSP, I've flashed about 5 different AOSP ROMs on my dInc and none of them have been what I'd call stable and reliable. I'm NOT a fan of any of the launchers and I do NOT like having to spend days trying to dig through the Market and threads trying to find the stuff to make AOSP do most of what Sense does right out of the box. My girlfriend likes AOSP... and I just can't understand why, but I'm always messing with it trying to figure out why it's restarting, being all herky-jerky, not responding, doing weird things for no reason... And frankly, I don't think the battery life is all that much better on AOSP than Sense.
I don't know what about CM7 or MIUI isn't stable or reliable? What doesn't work on those roms that works on sense roms? IMO, sense is bloated, slow, and outside of social networking (which I couldn't care less about anyway), adds no real functionality when compared to AOSP. Also, AOSP roms are infinitely more customizable than sense. For people that like to mess with their phones and make them their own (which being XDA, I'd think a lot are in this category), there's just simply way more you can do with AOSP, and better kernels too!
Again, some of this is just my opinion, but I fail to see how our AOSP roms can be called unstable or unreliable. It all boils down to personal preference but to say that AOSP is not stable or reliable is simply not a true statement.
k_nivesout said:
I don't know what about CM7 or MIUI isn't stable or reliable? What doesn't work on those roms that works on sense roms? IMO, sense is bloated, slow, and outside of social networking (which I couldn't care less about anyway), adds no real functionality when compared to AOSP. Also, AOSP roms are infinitely more customizable than sense. For people that like to mess with their phones and make them their own (which being XDA, I'd think a lot are in this category), there's just simply way more you can do with AOSP, and better kernels too!
Again, some of this is just my opinion, but I fail to see how our AOSP roms can be called unstable or unreliable. It all boils down to personal preference but to say that AOSP is not stable or reliable is simply not a true statement.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Going thru the miui or the cm7 nightly threads lately, it does appear that they also have their fair share of issues. The fact of the matter is, the leaked/rooted ota is very stable, very fast, and has great battery life. It also would have no learning curve for her and she could set up her screens to her liking with whats already familiar to her. Thats why i said no brainer. Aosp is nice, ive ran them all, but it really is just personal preference. Aosp battery can be just as bad if not worse than sense. I also found my self trying to make it look like sense, so now i use sense pretty much all the time. The diffrence between sense and aosp is preference and preference only.
If ive helped you, please hit the damn thanks button!
I definitely wouldn't hesitate to recommend the stock rom for someone that doesn't really mess with their phone that much and needs it to work without issue. I personally like to have a bit more control and feature additions. I mainly posted because it was being stated that AOSP roms were unstable and unreliable, and that's simply not the case. I have recently run CM7 nightlies and MIUI (current rom) without issue. I keep up on new features and bug fixes, and there isn't anything "buggy" about either of these roms. Pretty much the only things you're gonna be missing out on are 720p recording and tv-out functionality, but for me that tradeoff is well worth it considering the other benefits.
I can't really speak on battery life comparatively, because my phone hasn't seen a sense rom for more than a few hours since I got it, but I think the difference is mainly in the kernels. There are simply better options for AOSP (right now at least), the kernels have more battery saving features than what is available for GB sense. I see that they've gotten smartass working on the new GB sense kernel though, so I would think that would help. I imagine a lot of it also has to do with your accounts and sync settings as well, for example, I'd imagine if you had two phones (one on AOSP, one on stock sense) with the same governor settings and sync settings, battery life would be pretty similar.
I would think your probably right on that. I personally have had no issues with aosp roms or any of the new gb roms. I run basic configurations with minimal apps and minimal syncing. I only install 4 apps, so i can get a rom runnin pretty good for what i need.
If ive helped you, please hit the damn thanks button!
Im using the latest OMFGB nightly, no problems, no issues, everything works.
Please lengthen your message to at least 10 charters
my apologies. Was reading and accidentally quoted and posted a comment. *should be asleep right now*
Sent from my ADR6300 using Tapatalk
OP you will be flooded with opinions going in all directions, it depends what you want. Pretty much any ROM here is noticeably faster than stock with better battery.
If you're looking something closer to stock, but faster and with better battery life than I would suggest Skyraider:
http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?t=1314
Agreeing with nivesout, Sense adds some bloat to your phone- but some people just like the UI and don't mind whatever minimal extra lag or battery loss they get from it.
CM7 is a great AOSP ROM and just in general one of the top choices here. If you get this then you should probably download Launcher Pro (from market) instead of using ADW, but it's up to you.
MIUI is more appearance based and offers lots of theming options, however the luancher that comes with it is not as smooth as other launchers (can always be changed like you can do with CM7)
All of these ROM's are stable and well polished.
I would also suggest that you use chad's incredikernel for a custom kernel (saves battery and increases performance) and also flash the latest radio because it's trending that most people get better battery and faster speeds with it.
It seems like people are just reading his op title. Paragraph 2 states mods and themes are not what he is looking for. Its for his wife. If you go thru the new ota threads you will find people stating excellent battery life. The ota's are debloated and can be even more reduced with ti backup. His wife will have no issues with this rom, nor will she have to search market for apps, theme section for themes, install new kernels, yada yada ya.... The leaked, debloated, pre-rooted ota is a perfect solution for what he is looking for. Op, you can pm me if you have questions about which one to install.
If ive helped you, please hit the damn thanks button!
Thanks to all of you who took the time to reply. I appreciate everyone's input.
@donnyp1 Thanks for your suggestion, and if you want to put your recommendation in this thread that would be great or PM works too. What you said is pretty head on, keeping it simple and similar to what she is already used to would be great. Just need to get that battery in check.
The new OTA has given me the best battery life of any ROM I've used. However, HTC's kernel dislikes my car's Bluetooth module, so I'm back on CM7 for maximum compatibility till they or a kernel dev releases one that works with my car.
My vote is on the OTA. Fast, long lasting and very stable. As a second choice I say CM7. Only thing about CM7 is that she would have to spend more time setting it up.
The sense 2.1/3.0 and 3.0 roms still have some bugs and general performance issues without no real boon to battery life. Lockscreen and quick settings sure do rock though.
Sent from my Droid Incredible using the XDA app.
I have run all 3, and liberation beta 4 is really working well. I had no issues with any though. I used ti backup to remove the rest of the verizon stuff, it eorks fantastic. Display at 30%, i get great battery life on my phone. I also flashed the newest radio.
If ive helped you, please hit the damn thanks button!
Godsmacked's senseless 2.0 is a great blend of sense and aosp. Battery life is awesome, it flies, and I haven't had a single fc yet.
Maybe I'm wrong but I was always under the impression that Kernel effects battery life not ROM. I have been going between CM7 Nighties and MIUI.US, with their kernel only get 6 to 8 hours. But if I use incredikernel with incredicontrol I get between 18-27 hours depending on use. Incredicontrol enables fast charge and sound boost, also allows you to set min and max volts. I'm undervolted min 750 and stable with CM7 Nightly 173. I loved Nils' Business GingerSense 3.0 but I personally decided I can't live without incredikernel, so I will wait until he releases a gingersense kernel.
http://www.incredikernel.com/
I have not tried but there are mod's for Gingersense for better battery:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1216306
For choices on ROM's best to go here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=969371
I've been running MIUI for about a week now and I can't believe how great the battery life has been.
I personally have been using gingerbread-inc-deck with chads incredikernel as my daily for over a month now. It's stable and I've had great battery life. I've tested a few sense 3.0 roms, but the battery just doesnt seem to last as long for me.

My thoughts on most roms (GSM) (personal opinion)

Hi all.
I have started this thread for all users. And mainly newbies.
Now when i say newbies i dont mean anything bad, in a way i mran people eho are new to the nexus and are overwhelmed by all these great roms and devs. (Max respect to all you great devs)
If you are hoping that i will say....this rom is the best......or that rom is the best, you will not find that here...
I am what they would say a "crack flasher" and have flash most of the gsm roms (not all, so devs if i dont mention your rom its because ive had no experiance with it) anyone feel free to post there opinions.
Right lets start.
I am splitting these up in to groups.
Customization (obvious customize hell outa it...not as good battery.
Balanced. Fair customization fair battery.
Stock (ish) pretty much stock less customization. Good battery.
Stock. As close to stock as possible great battery.
I set it it out like this as its my opinion.
Right then, lets really begin this time.
From, the top.
Customization
You have aokp, liquid smooth and black ice, i repeat there may be more that i have not tried.
These 3 roms will give you as much customization as the devs can think of and cram them in there. I find that these have the worst battery. (That does not mean terrible, but just compared to others.
Balanced.
Cyanogen mod 9, eagles blood, gummy. These roms give an average user a good bit of customization and pretty good battery.
Stock (ish) only one i have experianced is bugless beast. I hate stock rom for one reason, wich is no wifi toggles etc. Bugless beast will gives me the feel of stock (wich i love) but with those features.
Toggles aren't the only feature but its what stands out to me most. Also offers great battery life.
Stock
Android revolution hd
This is a great rom for the people who want completely stock but better performance than stock.
Offers really great battery life.
There is one section i missed out as i didnt know what to call the section. The rom that belongs in this unknown section is........BAMF
i have had little experiance with this rom but my opinion is....
This is a unique rom. Well thought out. It dosent look like most of the others. Its set out diferant and offers good customization and pretty decent battery life.
And thats all, i know there are other roms i have missed out but i want to list the ones i have experianced personally.
Please no haters as i have put a lot of effort into this post.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

[Q] Best ROM + Kernel combination for battery life?

Pretty much what the title says.
Preferably, I'd like to stick with Touchwiz because I like it, but if the TW UI bogs it down then I don't mind suggestions for of other ROMs. All I really care about is battery life (and maybe performance when I run heavy games from Gameloft, for example.)
johnafer said:
Pretty much what the title says.
Preferably, I'd like to stick with Touchwiz because I like it, but if the TW UI bogs it down then I don't mind suggestions for of other ROMs. All I really care about is battery life (and maybe performance when I run heavy games from Gameloft, for example.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be able to get accurate results you will just have to try them out to see for yourself. It kind of sucks. But its just a reality. Our devices perform so much differently from each other when it comes to kernels that one might be able to run ktoonsez's kernel but the next guy can't. It a sad thing that all devices are not created equally. Same thing goes for ROMs. Probably not the answer you're looking for. But its just a fact.

AOSP Status News

I'm currently running Jedi on my AT&T Note 2, but I've given AOSP Roms a go here and there. After having a Galaxy Nexus for 9 months, I became quite addicted to them and have very much missed them since moving to the Note 2.
I made the move back to TouchWiz because I wasn't happy with the bugs and hardware compatibility issues on the AOSP ROMs I tried (Primarily PAC as I didn't get much time with much else). Where can I track the progress of AOSP hardware compatibility and what is the current status of it? I know that Samsung released some documentation about the SOC, but in truth how solid is it? Battery life, processing power, and camera all seemed sub-par compared to the Touchwiz roms.
Will AOSP ever be on par with Touchwiz or is this just the way things will always be?
One more question. Given that I'm on T-Mobile and want 4G, what current or upcoming phone would get closest to Nexus like support while satisfying my phablet craving (greater than 5 inch screen)?
I have tried both types of roms. I love AOSP but I love good battery life and smoothness. I would like to use multiwindow and be able to really use my phone to its full potential. What I really want is a TouchWiz AOSP hybrid that has the TW framework with AOSP customization. Sadly noone has tried it to my knowledge. Battery life on TW is best from my understanding. This is because the GPU is dedicated on TW while AOSP uses the CPU to render everything. Hence, the battery drain. Custom DPI is extremely important to me and so I can't see myself going back to touchwiz, plus its not very appealing to be honest. But the features and battery life... I would pay to have someone combine the two.
Traqic said:
I have tried both types of roms. I love AOSP but I love good battery life and smoothness. I would like to use multiwindow and be able to really use my phone to its full potential. What I really want is a TouchWiz AOSP hybrid that has the TW framework with AOSP customization. Sadly noone has tried it to my knowledge. Battery life on TW is best from my understanding. This is because the GPU is dedicated on TW while AOSP uses the CPU to render everything. Hence, the battery drain. Custom DPI is extremely important to me and so I can't see myself going back to touchwiz, plus its not very appealing to be honest. But the features and battery life... I would pay to have someone combine the two.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone WAS working on it. They pretty much got TW themed like AOSP and then gave up after some issues trying to include aroma. Here is the thread if you want to take a look.
I get great battery life on liquid smooth. give it a try.
Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2

Out of the game.

Been out of the Android game for a little bit, 6 months, looking at buying the 5x. What are some good mods, tweaks, kernels and roms to use so I can be prepped when it comes in. Basing off tax return will either be 5x or 6p. Bought an iPhone mainly to give it a whirl, good phone but not nearly what I want out of my device.
Illogi.xbone said:
Been out of the Android game for a little bit, 6 months, looking at buying the 5x. What are some good mods, tweaks, kernels and roms to use so I can be prepped when it comes in. Basing off tax return will either be 5x or 6p. Bought an iPhone mainly to give it a whirl, good phone but not nearly what I want out of my device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're gonna get a lot of different answers here but here's my two cents:
ROM: Ubermallow
Kernel: Phasma Kernel
Tweaks and Mods: L-Speed and Interactive Governor Tweaks
Links are in my signature.
Why? What I want out of my Nexus is a butter smooth and enjoyable vanilla Android experience. I don't need to tweak everything down to the very pixel or customize every single bit of the UI on my phone. It's just not necessary to me. Ubermallow and Phasma Kernel are developed by the same developer, DespairFactor, who works very closely with UberTC creator Chat Kener. UberTC is highly regarded and used by thousands of devs in the Android world to optimize their work. Because of their close relationship, I'm confident that Ubermallow and Phasma Kernel are one of the best choices you can make. Although, in the end, a lot of the big devs for the Nexus 5X all wind up sharing their work or using the same commits as each other anyways. Ubermallow has just the right amount of customization without getting ridiculous, which Phasma Kernel absolutely flies and comes packed with different features, governors, I/O schedulers that most other kernels don't. They're also updated quite often. L-Speed takes things further in implementing tiny tweaks that makes the phone feel smoother and generally a bit snappier. The Interactive Governor Tweaks are a huge project / discussion that has exploded in recent weeks which focuses on coaxing the best battery life out of our phones without sacrificing performance. The results are astounding.
TL;DR - It depends on what you want out of your phone. If you're into huge amounts of customization, my suggestions may not work best for you. It depends on your usage patterns and your personal tastes. If you want slick performance and great battery life, my suggestions above are a good place to start. I highly recommend you flash different ROMs and kernels until you find what best fits you. We're very lucky to have some of the best Devs out there working on our device. There's no wrong choice when it comes to these guys.
Alcolawl said:
You're gonna get a lot of different answers here but here's my two cents:
ROM: Ubermallow
Kernel: Phasma Kernel
Tweaks and Mods: L-Speed and Interactive Governor Tweaks
Links are in my signature.
Why? What I want out of my Nexus is a butter smooth and enjoyable vanilla Android experience. I don't need to tweak everything down to the very pixel or customize every single bit of the UI on my phone. It's just not necessary to me. Ubermallow and Phasma Kernel are developed by the same developer, DespairFactor, who works very closely with UberTC creator Chat Kener. UberTC is highly regarded and used by thousands of devs in the Android world to optimize their work. Because of their close relationship, I'm confident that Ubermallow and Phasma Kernel are one of the best choices you can make. Although, in the end, a lot of the big devs for the Nexus 5X all wind up sharing their work or using the same commits as each other anyways. Ubermallow has just the right amount of customization without getting ridiculous, which Phasma Kernel absolutely flies and comes packed with different features, governors, I/O schedulers that most other kernels don't. They're also updated quite often. L-Speed takes things further in implementing tiny tweaks that makes the phone feel smoother and generally a bit snappier. The Interactive Governor Tweaks are a huge project / discussion that has exploded in recent weeks which focuses on coaxing the best battery life out of our phones without sacrificing performance. The results are astounding.
TL;DR - It depends on what you want out of your phone. If you're into huge amounts of customization, my suggestions may not work best for you. It depends on your usage patterns and your personal tastes. If you want slick performance and great battery life, my suggestions above are a good place to start. I highly recommend you flash different ROMs and kernels until you find what best fits you. We're very lucky to have some of the best Devs out there working on our device. There's no wrong choice when it comes to these guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome and thank you for the tips. I will give those a go as soon as my phone comes in, tomorrow or Friday. I will let ya know how it works for me, don't expect to be stock at all. Do you know if Multirom will or is supported for the device as that would be an excellent way for me to give new roms a go. And what apps would you recommend for rooting now besides the standard Titanium Backup, xPosed, TWRP manager and Flashify?

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