[Q] Need help choosing custom ROM (Xperia Pro) - Xperia Arc Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi. I switched phones from a Samsung Galaxy Ace to a Sony Xperia Pro a year ago (got fed up with the touchscreen keyboard, wanted a real QWERTY keyboard.) I like the phone, but now that the warranty's expired I'd like to try a custom ROM or three, just to play with. Also I'm having battery life issues since upgrading to ICS (It's weird; the first time I upgraded it seemed to be OK, but I had to send the phone in for a warranty repair and they went and reflashed the firmware to Gingerbread on me. I reupgraded to ICS via Sony's PC Companion and now the battery life's terrible- about what it was on my Galaxy Ace.)
What I want is:
Everything working. I don't want to encounter problems such as the camera not zooming via the volume buttons, the front camera not working, keyboard layout problems, no wifi/bluetooth, etc. All hardware needs to work at least as well as when using the stock ROM.
Stability. No, or very few, crashes (nothing is perfect, I know), not a lot of force-closes of apps.
Good power management, even if this means slowing down the CPU clock. I'm willing to sacrifice some performance if that means that I don't have to recharge more than once a day. Also I'd like to be rid of some of the background services that I don't need or want, and that use up some juice. (BTW, my typical phone use is sending and receiving 3 to 4 texts per day, one or two voice calls daily, around 6 to 7 hours of web browsing using wifi, maybe 30 minutes playing solitaire, reading ebooks for an hour or three instead of web surfing, and occasionally using the camera or the flashlight, weather apps, calculator, etc.)
I want to be rid of Sony's bloatware. I don't need it.
I don't really care if the ROM has a lot of eye candy, bells & whistles, etc. or if it's a lot like the stock ROM in look and feel. However, k3wl things would be k3wl, so I'm willing to try them and play a bit.
BTW I'm a newbie when it comes to working with the Xperia. I got pretty good about rooting, modding and changing ROMs on the Ace, but Sony is a whole different ball game than working with Samsungs. So whatever ROM I end up choosing needs to have step-by-step instructions somewhere, with download links to everything I'm going to need.
Please post your ROM recommendations. TIA!
Edit: I've turned off data connections as I only use wifi, I've dimmed the display as low as it will go, I only turn wifi on when I'm actually going to use it and turn it off afterward, I never use GPS, I set it to flight mode at night- basically I've done everything I can think of to conserve power. I used to have around 50% of battery life left when I'd go to bed at around midnight or 1AM when I had Gingerbread, but now I have to stop and recharge at around 9 or 10PM. I start using the phone at around 6PM when my wife gets home as she tends to monopolize the computer- she's taking some online classes, and likes to sing along to YouTube to relieve work stress. So I'm typically on the phone and the web for 6 to 7 hours a day, and need enough excess juice to let the phone run idle all night so the morning's alarms can go off, and also to check the time if I wake up during the night.
There's no power outlet near our bed, so I have to do my recharging during the day (when I can use the computer), and besides, we have a bunch of dogs that might chew up the charger's USB cable- they already destroyed one. So I want to try to get 7 hours of web surfing/ebook reading, plus another 5 or 6 hours of idle/standby time.

BTW, I've looked at many of the ROMs listed in http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1642480 but there are so many of them! So I'd appreciate suggestions from people that are familiar with one or some of these ROMs to help me decide which one to use. Cheers!

JayMot said:
BTW, I've looked at many of the ROMs listed in http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1642480 but there are so many of them! So I'd appreciate suggestions from people that are familiar with one or some of these ROMs to help me decide which one to use. Cheers!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd recommend Jelly Sandwich. Press my signature to go to the thread it had everything that you mentioned
Sent from Xperia Arc S

jman2131 said:
I'd recommend Jelly Sandwich. Press my signature to go to the thread it had everything that you mentioned
Sent from Xperia Arc S
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Question: is that a ROM? It looks like just a collection of apps, unless I'm mistaken. How would they help boost my battery life and get rid of Sony's bloatware? (I'm kind of a newbie.)

nope it's a rom. it's not in the conventional ftf file format because it's a zip that you flash with cwm. It's a rom that's had all bloatware removed and a bunch of tweaks. i'm not very technical but it does actually work
oh and use this app. it clocks down the frequency to lowest when your phone's locked, therefore saving battery

JayMot said:
Question: is that a ROM? It looks like just a collection of apps, unless I'm mistaken. How would they help boost my battery life and get rid of Sony's bloatware? (I'm kind of a newbie.)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jelly sandwich is a stock sony ics based custom rom! Without bloatwares from sony! Check out it's thread. It has detailed instructions to install the rom! I also recommend you change your kernel n flash advanced stock kernel to increase your battery life. Speaking from personal experience and based on the daily usage you mentioned i would say you would get around 20 to 22 hrs of battery life!
Sent from my Xperia Arc S using xda premium. Click thanx if i helped!

If you want full functionality (working Cam, working HDMI), here are the top ROMS, which I have tried, that are being developed/maintained/updated:
Xperia Pureness (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Ultimate HD (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Jelly Sandwich (Ice Cream Sandwich)
XGamer (Gingerbread)
I'm currently using Xperia Pureness.. I have XGamer on the other Pro.
Ultimate HD is great too. Check on the thread. The developer's really mature and I think he's cooking a great update to be released soon.
XGamer, being GB, is fast, stable and battery friendly. We're using an old device, we have to admit. The Pro is not as responsive on ICS as it is on GB. So you're probably going to end up with that. Ive read its great with games as well.
Jelly Sandwich is nice, I just don't like how it's presented. Too much hype. Too much bling bling :laugh::laugh::laugh: Once it was even "advertised" by the developer as Android 4.2. But it's a great stable ROM as well, just like the previous ones mentioned.
Anyway, I suggest you try the above four ROMS yourself because at the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preference. Best of luck :good:

Anne_Droid said:
If you want full functionality (working Cam, working HDMI), here are the top ROMS, which I have tried, that are being developed/maintained/updated:
Xperia Pureness (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Ultimate HD (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Jelly Sandwich (Ice Cream Sandwich)
XGamer (Gingerbread)
I'm currently using Xperia Pureness.. I have XGamer on the other Pro.
Ultimate HD is great too. Check on the thread. The developer's really mature and I think he's cooking a great update to be released soon.
XGamer, being GB, is fast, stable and battery friendly. We're using an old device, we have to admit. The Pro is not as responsive on ICS as it is on GB. So you're probably going to end up with that. Ive read its great with games as well.
Jelly Sandwich is nice, I just don't like how it's presented. Too much hype. Too much bling bling :laugh::laugh::laugh: Once it was even "advertised" by the developer as Android 4.2. But it's a great stable ROM as well, just like the previous ones mentioned.
Anyway, I suggest you try the above four ROMS yourself because at the end of the day, it all comes down to personal preference. Best of luck :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I personally like ultimate HD have been using it for past month or so. It does have some bugs but the creator is updating it. I dont do much gaming so cant really say how good it is on that I do play world at arms, brother at arms epic defence but thats about it nothing too heavy I guess.
---------- Post added at 10:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:43 AM ----------
snehil93 said:
Jelly sandwich is a stock sony ics based custom rom! Without bloatwares from sony! Check out it's thread. It has detailed instructions to install the rom! I also recommend you change your kernel n flash advanced stock kernel to increase your battery life. Speaking from personal experience and based on the daily usage you mentioned i would say you would get around 20 to 22 hrs of battery life!
Sent from my Xperia Arc S using xda premium. Click thanx if i helped!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow really 20 to 22 hrs that nice. I dont know how many hours I get I am using uhd with stock kernal. I do go a day with 50% battery drain. Mostly I am web browsing... so you would recommend I change my kernal?

snehil93 said:
Jelly sandwich is a stock sony ics based custom rom! Without bloatwares from sony! Check out it's thread. It has detailed instructions to install the rom! I also recommend you change your kernel n flash advanced stock kernel to increase your battery life. Speaking from personal experience and based on the daily usage you mentioned i would say you would get around 20 to 22 hrs of battery life!
Sent from my Xperia Arc S using xda premium. Click thanx if i helped!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I'm just dense but I don't see a download link in your thread, just a bunch of links to individual apps on the Play Store. Help?

press the left side of the siggy lol

jman2131 said:
press the left side of the siggy lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it! Thanks! GOO FTW!
I may play with it tomorrow.

danyal241 said:
I personally like ultimate HD have been using it for past month or so. It does have some bugs but the creator is updating it. I dont do much gaming so cant really say how good it is on that I do play world at arms, brother at arms epic defence but thats about it nothing too heavy I guess.
---------- Post added at 10:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:43 AM ----------
Wow really 20 to 22 hrs that nice. I dont know how many hours I get I am using uhd with stock kernal. I do go a day with 50% battery drain. Mostly I am web browsing... so you would recommend I change my kernal?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes! Try advanced stock! Its the best for ics based roms!
Sent from my Xperia Arc S using xda premium

OK, I took a look at Jelly Sandwich but decided it was too confusing for my tiny old brain- there were several 8.0 files, then a bunch of what I guess were updates all the way to 8.5, and I didn't see any "do this, then do this" lead-me-by-the-hand instructions. So I decided to try Ultimate HD. Got my bootloader unlocked, flashed the kernel using Advanced Stock for Xperia Pro. Couldn't get it to boot into CWM recovery, so I ended up nstalling CWM ROM Manager from the Play Store and used it to boot into recovery through that app. Whatever works. Wiped my cache & Dalvik, did a factory reset, rebooted (then had to reinstall CWM ROM Manager again.)
Ultimate HD installed just fine (sweet AROMA installation screens made it easy to set up), then I upgraded online to 2.0.1 and reinstalled all my favorite apps- decided to do fresh installations from Play Store rather than backing up and restoring, just to be sure everything's new.
So far, so good- it's pretty fast and stable, as far as I can tell. I'll play with it for a couple of days and see what my battery life is like. Need to find out what those governors do.
Thanks for the advice!

OK, I've used Ultimate HD over the weekend. I've noticed a few wee glitches- no show-stoppers though. For instance, in Album when viewing a particular picture, I click Throw, and notice that I have no context menu if I press the Menu button. All that's there are Trash, Share and Back icons along the top, which I didn't notice at first. The Back hardware button doesn't function when on this screen, you have to press the soft Back button on the screen. I thought the Album app had locked up.
I had one crash, when trying to load a web page while synching with Google/Gmail. The phone rebooted itself. Only happened once though.
So far, battery life's not that great, but it's better than with Sony's official ICS. I may try out a Gingerbread-based ROM later on down the road and see if that's "leaner and meaner' vis-á-vis battery life. Meanwhile, Ultimate HD is pretty cool, so I'll leave the phone alone for now.

JayMot said:
OK, I've used Ultimate HD over the weekend. I've noticed a few wee glitches- no show-stoppers though. For instance, in Album when viewing a particular picture, I click Throw, and notice that I have no context menu if I press the Menu button. All that's there are Trash, Share and Back icons along the top, which I didn't notice at first. The Back hardware button doesn't function when on this screen, you have to press the soft Back button on the screen. I thought the Album app had locked up.
I had one crash, when trying to load a web page while synching with Google/Gmail. The phone rebooted itself. Only happened once though.
So far, battery life's not that great, but it's better than with Sony's official ICS. I may try out a Gingerbread-based ROM later on down the road and see if that's "leaner and meaner' vis-á-vis battery life. Meanwhile, Ultimate HD is pretty cool, so I'll leave the phone alone for now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Update out for uhd try it out. Also implement new tweaks as posted in later pages
Sent from my LT18i using xda app-developers app

PACMan ROM
I've been running on Mang's Pacman Rom for the pro and its great. Its ALOT smoother than ICS on the pro. Its basically stock jelly bean 4.1.2.
After flashing the given kernel you have cpu clock control, so for battery saving you can decrease that i guess. Battery has been ok so far. And basically everything you need is working. You just need to download ICS camera from google play, as the stock jelly bean one isnt working for now.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1924719
Note: the cpu is clocked at 1.6ghz when you first boot the rom. you should at least change it back to stock 1ghz, huge difference in battery life.
Should definitely give it a try. you have to google gapps for 4.1.2 if you want to use google now and the other standard google applications.

JayMot said:
... flashed the kernel using Advanced Stock for Xperia Pro ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where can I find Advanced Stock kernel for Xperia Pro? I've tried searching but there seems to only be ones for other phones...
alishak said:
I've been running on Mang's Pacman Rom for the pro and its great ... And basically everything you need is working ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is the hardware keyboard support? What about the Sym key?

ultimate hd rom
my suggestion :
ultimate hd rom with any stock based ics kernel
i have an arc s... i use this rom with ktg anzu kernel :laugh:
battery 1% in 5 hours with no wifi or anything, normal use :good:

Dude The best one is CM10 by FXP pros: clean AOSP, 4.1, frequent updates and bugfixes, smooth,

Best ROM ever for Sony xperia pro mk16i
Try this u wil never regret-Gin2Jellybean ROM
trust me guys:good: :angel::angel:

Related

[Q] reason to move to cm7

hello everybody
I am totally a noob as you say. i have a defy officialy updated to 2.2.2; since then i have some lag and reboot. in the french forum i have been advised to move to cm7 to avoid such pb. they give me links and tutorials, but it seems very hard to me to go ahead, i roughly succed in recording apk in the sd cards.
they try to help me nicely, but i feel totaly lost moreover with this strange vocabulary you use
this is why i am wondering if it is a good thing for me and the use i have of the defy to try to upgrade it.
basically, i read my emails, skype friends, facebook, read ebooks and take pictures and video of my sons i don't feel any probs with motoblur, don't play game or video or other stuffs like that.
even now, i am writing with my laptop .
i am pissed off when it reboot but it isn't not the end of the world.
what cm7 could bring to sb like me ?
thanks for your help
I do not use the Defy, but it sounds like you are happy with your phone. CM7 streamlines a lot of
unwanted and imo unneeded apps (and lots more really) from your phone. If you are satisfied with your phone's performance I see no need to do anything. I do however use CM7 and love the less is more feel and MUCH better performance.
Read the forums to decide what is best for your own needs.
Cheers
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA Premium App
Hmmm...if y you are new to rooting, flashing and using recovery and is not adventurous, then I suggest to stay with froyo as of now especially if you don't have the time or a spare phone. But if you really want a faster (case to case), good on battery( case to case), beingconstantly updated phone, then change to cm7.
Sent from my MB525 using XDA App
This is really a nice qn
I have used official eclair froyo miui cm7
cm7 is not so gud in customizations.
They give some hardware acceleration and you will not find much of lags on that gingerbread UI.
For looks, i recommend u to use Launcher pro . I am using it with cm7 and the combination is perfect.
U can definitely move to cm7 latest nightly.If u want good camera then u can move to milestone 2 rom.
On the contrary, CM7 is heavy customizable. Lots of features. I suggest you read this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1065798 and the CM7 thread for the latest Google Apps and Cm7. It's not that hard to install, actually it's really easy if you follow their steps.
You can use ADW/ Launcher pro or GO launcher. I personally use Go Launcher and i like it, doesn't crash, loads fast.
You can PM me if you want help in upgrading. Why keep your smartphone on 2.2 when you can unleash it's full potential with 2.3.4. Another reason is apps support, everything works on Gingerbread but not everything on Froyo, Hardware is much more faster ( download Quadrant Standard from the market) i get 2200-2400 . Browsing, doc reading/editing is much smoother. Better battery and the list could go on.
Oh, andf Nightlies are for testing... RC0/RC1 are stable versions to use.
romuloxiii said:
I do not use the Defy, but it sounds like you are happy with your phone. CM7 streamlines a lot of
unwanted and imo unneeded apps (and lots more really) from your phone. If you are satisfied with your phone's performance I see no need to do anything. I do however use CM7 and love the less is more feel and MUCH better performance.
Read the forums to decide what is best for your own needs.
Cheers
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, i was happy, except with th lags and reboots i meet since i updated it to froyo, but it isn"t so bad
salingpusa said:
Hmmm...if y you are new to rooting, flashing and using recovery and is not adventurous, then I suggest to stay with froyo as of now especially if you don't have the time or a spare phone. But if you really want a faster (case to case), good on battery( case to case), beingconstantly updated phone, then change to cm7.
Sent from my MB525 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i think your are true, the gain i can havve compares to my use are very low, better stay and crossing my finger for an official upgrading
Deonix said:
On the contrary, CM7 is heavy customizable. Lots of features. I suggest you read this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1065798 and the CM7 thread for the latest Google Apps and Cm7. It's not that hard to install, actually it's really easy if you follow their steps.
You can use ADW/ Launcher pro or GO launcher. I personally use Go Launcher and i like it, doesn't crash, loads fast.
You can PM me if you want help in upgrading. Why keep your smartphone on 2.2 when you can unleash it's full potential with 2.3.4. Another reason is apps support, everything works on Gingerbread but not everything on Froyo, Hardware is much more faster ( download Quadrant Standard from the market) i get 2200-2400 . Browsing, doc reading/editing is much smoother. Better battery and the list could go on.
Oh, andf Nightlies are for testing... RC0/RC1 are stable versions to use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i had a quick look at the tutorial for noob and it is clearly easier than thr one i read before.
finally i will keep this version but i will keep on reding here, as i am very nosey i will certainely jump the gap one day.
thanks for all your replies and explanation
Had cm7 on my SGS got my defy and knew it had 200mhz less processor but otbwas very laggy needed restarting loads lots of force close. Opening Google maps was a joke.
Installed cm7 all better now and it removed the 800mhz underclock so now rocking a 1ghz and it works better then my SGS. Did some quick boot tests, opened a few apps defy was quicker then the SGS and the iPhone 3gs
Sent from my Phone
I suggest you to read this thread. People around here usually talk about pros of CM7 (and custom ROMs in general), but you have to be aware that there are certain cons also.
Japro said:
I suggest you to read this thread. People around here usually talk about pros of CM7 (and custom ROMs in general), but you have to be aware that there are certain cons also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks,
after an attentive look at it, it seems that most probs are on camera and as it is a main use of my defy i will stay with official froyo.
thanks guys
I had some reboots and issues too after updating to official froyo. They were all gone after doing a complete wipe.
If you have many apps installed and stuff on your phone, root your phone using SuperOneClick (is really, REALLY easy.. click, click rooted) and install Titanium Backup. Save all your apps and do a complete Wipe.
After that, your phone should be working perfectly. To do this wipe, with the phone turned off, hold Volume Down and turn it on (while still holding V. Down) at the triangle screen press at the same time Vol up and Vol Down. There you will see the options to Clear Cache and Delete User data.
You could also try only wiping cache, it wont delete any information on your phone, but might fix issues (No rooting or anything special needed for this)
Hope it helps~
Zephyrot' s post speaks true. See if you can't fix the issues with a factory reset / cache clear
For the first few months I didn't want to really root my phone or flash it as I was expecting ear piece problem. When I finally took the plunge I wanted a rom that removed motoblur, it's launcher and almost everything else so I could configure it myself from market apps and always have the latest versions.
This lead me not to CM7 - which is also rather bloated and still rather buggy when i last tried the nightlies it 2 weeks ago - but Barebones: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=977989
I installed 1.5.1 after flashing the nordic 2.2.2. I have never been happier.
I have now updated to 1.5.6 + the update.zip for market fixes - used Titanium backup *root* to transfer my apps and settings. I replaced the zoom launcher with launcherPro, milestone overclock to 1100 at 65vsel (after some testing with lower / higher settings).
Finally it was a blurless, bare rom that has the pure minimum as a base and all else can be added via the market afterwards.
Advantages :
its 2.3.4
highly customizable
gr8 performance
lots of options under cyanogenmod settings
mobile will be fully flexible
rest all feature u will come to know only when u try it
all the best

[ROM] ICS 4.0.4 (IMM76D) Stock, rooted, busybox, battery%, deodexed (4-12-12)

This is 100% stock, rooted Ice Cream Sandwich I've made for myself and thought I would share. Contains su, busybox, nano and bash binaries.
Link:
IMM76D stock rooted busybox (odexed)
IMM76D_stock_rooted_busybox_deodexed v2 (No Battery% or Softkey Mod)
IMM76D_stock_rooted_busybox_deodexed v2 (includes Battery% and Softkey Mod)
Changes v1:
Deodexed
Optimized the system for much smoother UI
Updated Apps:
Market
Gmail
GoogleEarth
Maps
Added Apps:
ChrometoPhone
GoogleDocs
GoogleGoggles
GoogleVoice
GoogleWallet
Changes v2:
Fixed issue with OS being laggy especially in Market.
Stock launcher 270 degree rotations by me.
Better transitions when rotating 180 degrees (more ipad like) by me.
1% Battery increments by he_stheone64.
Themed softkey buttons with ICS stock blue by atticus182.
Themed the rest of the UI so older older apps can have ICS theme (by unknown, didn't get the name. If you know who created let me know so I can credit them)
Removed: (why make it bloated?)
ChrometoPhone
GoogleDocs
GoogleGoggles
GoogleVoice
Oh dear, It's the great news. So, could you let me know where's the link or attached file...
gordon6 said:
Oh dear, It's the great news. So, could you let me know where's the link or attached file...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whoops! forgot to add the link..
Good, exactly what I was looking for.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
OMG...Geo411m, it's good to have you here with us... Really appreciate your hard work, since Nexus One times.. Cheers mate..
Nikos_s3 said:
OMG...Geo411m, it's good to have you here with us... Really appreciate your hard work, since Nexus One times.. Cheers mate..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1
Nikos_s3 said:
OMG...Geo411m, it's good to have you here with us... Really appreciate your hard work, since Nexus One times.. Cheers mate..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nenil said:
+1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks guys. I ended up getting an iPhone for about a year. It was a great phone but boring due to having no customization. This is my 2nd day with the Galaxy Nexus and I love it. Android has really come a long way since I last used it.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5
Hi Geo411m,
Thanks for your effort, just like to confirm that is it a CWM flashable zip?
Thanks~!!
Well, I ran into a few issues at first. It didn't have any APNs, but I reset APNS to default then restarted the phone and all is well now.
So far so good, no real issues now that it's up and running. Thanks!
And yes, it's flashable via CWM.
thanks kitinas.
damn, I'm forced to login/create account with 4shared now? bah..
nevertheless, thanks for sharing
Kitinas said:
Well, I ran into a few issues at first. It didn't have any APNs, but I reset APNS to default then restarted the phone and all is well now.
So far so good, no real issues now that it's up and running. Thanks!
And yes, it's flashable via CWM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you wipe caches after install? This rom was created using the system image directly from google and therefore should work exactly as OTA. Not sure why the apn weren't there on first use.
kwazi said:
damn, I'm forced to login/create account with 4shared now? bah..
nevertheless, thanks for sharing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't aware of the 4shared issue. I haven't done anything with android for about a year and don't know of other hosting.
Stock or AOKP
Receiving my brand new NEXUS tomorrow. Need to make a decision whether to go with stock ROM vs AOKP.
My history has been HyperDroid CM7 on an HD2 so i am on completely new ground. Can any and all give me your top 10 reasons to go either way?...........
universed said:
Receiving my brand new NEXUS tomorrow. Need to make a decision whether to go with stock ROM vs AOKP.
My history has been HyperDroid CM7 on an HD2 so i am on completely new ground. Can any and all give me your top 10 reasons to go either way?...........
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In my opinion I feel stock (with a few tweaks) offers more stability. I've seen too many AOSP give lots of FC/crashes and I rather have a working phone then have it crash while outdoors and you have to wait to get home to fix it.
My experience in Stock tells me, you can only be with stock for so long...
...till you get frustrated enough to
first - atleast change the Kernel (go for franco kernel, one of the best out there). that makes things a bit snappier, has much more tweaks under the hood for battery life, wifi et al
Then, second, figure out how many more features are available in ROMs out there instead of stock. Once you find that - it is very difficult to stick to stock. Try APEX which is a very generic rom and keeps best features of most of the ROMs out there.
So basically, take it easy, and enjoy the ride ... (or enjoy the bumps first then figure out a way to sail smooth!)
You wont like the smooth sailing of a beautiful rom and a kernel out there, till you've had it rough enough on stock. I just used the rom in this thread, and my phone went down by atleast 30% in terms of performance.
Its much more sluggish, feels heavier, and a bit jerky through the menus. Even when I have almost no apps installed!
I was much better on a 4.0.3 bigxie Apex rom (extremely stable) and franco kernel - extremely fast! blazing.
Stock cant even hold a candle infront of this combination, and I'm talking about 4.0.4!!
GPS lock on this stock image is a 1000 times better than CM9. wtf??
robbiev80 said:
GPS lock on this stock image is a 1000 times better than CM9. wtf??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've always had 5-10 second lock on CM9; seems like mileage varies for some people for some reason or another.
dhruvraj said:
My experience in Stock tells me, you can only be with stock for so long...
...till you get frustrated enough to
first - atleast change the Kernel (go for franco kernel, one of the best out there). that makes things a bit snappier, has much more tweaks under the hood for battery life, wifi et al
Then, second, figure out how many more features are available in ROMs out there instead of stock. Once you find that - it is very difficult to stick to stock. Try APEX which is a very generic rom and keeps best features of most of the ROMs out there.
So basically, take it easy, and enjoy the ride ... (or enjoy the bumps first then figure out a way to sail smooth!)
You wont like the smooth sailing of a beautiful rom and a kernel out there, till you've had it rough enough on stock. I just used the rom in this thread, and my phone went down by atleast 30% in terms of performance.
Its much more sluggish, feels heavier, and a bit jerky through the menus. Even when I have almost no apps installed!
I was much better on a 4.0.3 bigxie Apex rom (extremely stable) and franco kernel - extremely fast! blazing.
Stock cant even hold a candle infront of this combination, and I'm talking about 4.0.4!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just updated the ROM with a much more optimized system. Let me know how it compares to AOSP.
May I know what did you do to optimize the system? Deodex is to make it slower so I'm wondering what are other tweaks you included that make it different than say ARHD 3.0.
bigeyes0x0 said:
May I know what did you do to optimize the system? Deodex is to make it slower so I'm wondering what are other tweaks you included that make it different than say ARHD 3.0.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't know what's in ARHD to compare. I made lots of changes to the build.prop for increased performance and made changes to the system to make android take advantage of the Nexuses GPU for better performance.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5

[INFORMAL POLL]Are you using one of the early Jelly Bean ROMs as a daily driver?

If so, who's ROM are you using?
Can you please share your experience with those of us who haven't taken the plunge yet?
What's your experience with...
battery life?
smoothness?
stability?
app incompatibilities?
whose kernel are you using?
how do you like Google Now? Does it kick Siri's butt?
would you recommend using now as a daily driver?
Feel free to add anything other experiences. I hope we can get some good info to help those of us who are still on the fence with Jelly Bean.
i'm still with stock, ill stay on it until CM10 starts nightlies. stock so far is very smooth, and great battery life.
Neo3D said:
If so, who's ROM are you using?
Can you please share your experience with those of us who haven't taken the plunge yet?
What's your experience with...
Feel free to add anything other experiences. I hope we can get some good info to help those of us who are still on the fence with Jelly Bean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using paranoid android's JB version
battery life? Equal to AOKP on ICS (2days standby, 4~5hours screen on time)
smoothness? Perfectly smooth, equal to all the other JB roms I've tried
stability? - No issues yet
app incompatibilities? - No issues yet either
whose kernel are you using? - The standard one for paranoid android (i.e. CM10's), I used to use franco's but the battery drains too fast with no real benefit for JB
how do you like Google Now? Does it kick Siri's butt? - Google now works incredibly well.
would you recommend using now as a daily driver? - Yes
battery life?
smoothness?
stability?
app incompatibilities?
whose kernel are you using?
how do you like Google Now? Does it kick Siri's butt?
would you recommend using now as a daily driver?
I'm running Paranoid Android v1.9.1a (based on JellyBro CM10, I believe?).
Battery Life: Having a hard time seeing much difference between JB- and ICS-based builds. More on that later.
Smoothness: So. Damn. Smooth. Really, really good. Rapid scrolling through APW FB and Twitter widgets would sort of stutter on ICS builds. No such hiccups now. Similarly, when installing/updating apps in the background, my system used to lag really hard. There's still a little bit of stutter, but so much better now.
Stability: I think I had maybe two random reboots in ~3 weeks. Some of those may have been related to experimental versions of the kernel. Hard to say, as I didn't investigate particularly hard.
App Incompatibilities: Haven't run into anything yet, aside from apps which do not play by the Holo UI rules and require an onscreen menu button. (CM10 commits appear to have baked longpress Multitasking button as Menu, though. Or maybe that is all molesarecoming's doing in ParanoidAndroid. In any case, it's excellent.)
Kernel: imoseyon's leanKernel v4.2.0. Stock voltages and frequencies. Using the InteractiveX governor. There were a few experimental builds for v4.1.x that were hotfixes to get it to even boot in CM10-based ROMs. I have the feeling that the few freak reboots I got were related to the kernel's growing pains.
Google Now vs. Siri: Having never used Siri, I can't really speak to that. Google Now is quite nice though! A real step up from the previous, boring Google Search app. Voice recognition is really good, and the few commands that I've played with (setting alarms, getting directions, etc.) were neat. Voice commands aren't really my cup of tea, though. I already think about my phone too much. If I start talking to it routinely, my girlfriend will probably up and leave me. And I probably wouldn't blame her :]
Daily Driver: Obviously recommended if you're a veteran ROM flasher! And definitely painless enough that I think even a newcomer would be just fine.
Neo3D said:
If so, who's ROM are you using?
Can you please share your experience with those of us who haven't taken the plunge yet?
What's your experience with...
battery life?
smoothness?
stability?
app incompatibilities?
whose kernel are you using?
how do you like Google Now? Does it kick Siri's butt?
would you recommend using now as a daily driver?
Feel free to add anything other experiences. I hope we can get some good info to help those of us who are still on the fence with Jelly Bean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am running Bugless Beast Jelly Bean from Pete Alfonso (Verizon Toro). Currently on the 7/24 build but started with 7/9
1. Battery Life is good. Initially it was shaky, but good after I turned off most of the location based Google Now options.
2. Smoothness - Awesome. Big improvement from ICS
3. Stability - Perfect so far
4. App incompatibilities - So far only one, MyTouchTunes. One normal menu selection does not respond to touch. There is another menu with the same thing so it is not a big problem.
5. Kernel - Stock
6. Google now seems cool, shows off phone really well. Not really sure yet of value, and have not spent enough time with Siri to judge.
7. Highly recommended. Better experience than stock 4.04 all around.
Neo3D said:
If so, who's ROM are you using?
Can you please share your experience with those of us who haven't taken the plunge yet?
What's your experience with...
battery life?
smoothness?
stability?
app incompatibilities?
whose kernel are you using?
how do you like Google Now? Does it kick Siri's butt?
would you recommend using now as a daily driver?
Feel free to add anything other experiences. I hope we can get some good info to help those of us who are still on the fence with Jelly Bean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried jb the day it came out and went back to cm9 because of app incompatibilities. But apps are being upgraded to the point that it's not that much of an issue now, so I made the move to jb.
Went with bigxie's 4.1.1 ROM because of his reputation for releasing very solid, stable ROMs that just work. It also is already rooted and has busybox and gapps preinstalled, which eliminates more hassle. No complaints or issues whatsoever. Smooth as glass and rock solid.
Installed Nova launcher to give me a few of the conveniences I like, at least until a CM10 release candidate comes out. No issues.
Trinity kernel is still in alpha for jb, but after reading some good reports about it, I went ahead and installed it, too. Working great so far with no hiccups. Very good color control and ability to tweak for superior battery life (two of its strong points).
So at this point I'm very satisfied with this combination and wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
I don't use Google Now, or even keep GPS turned on at all. I'm a big believer in internet privacy, and Google doesn't need to know about my daily activities. So can't offer an opinion there.
Tried one of the Roms thinking it wouldn't be ready and I'd have to go back to ICS... how wrong was I. Once you've been to JB you'll never go back to ICS... works perfectly well, no issues.
I'm using Jellybro CM10 Kangs.
In battery I notice no difference.
Very smooth for me, no random crashes, reboots or anything like that, everything works.
Only app I had a problem with is Power amp doesn't work right in the notification bar.
My friend has an i4S, even he agrees Google Now kicks Siri's butt. The voice is more human like, pictures come up, its more of a place to get info rather than a novelty like Siri.
I would strongly recommend the ROM I'm using because it has some of the most important things I missed from ROMs; Notification drawer widget, extra lock screen targets, lock screen weather, lock screen calendar, even theme chooser works now.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
IINexusII said:
i'm still with stock, ill stay on it until CM10 starts nightlies. stock so far is very smooth, and great battery life.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agree:laugh:
I RECOMMEND minco rom.thats a rom colabboration between minooch and franco himself.its the best rom ever,with trinity kernel.best performance+battery life.incredible.brtter than any ics or jb rom.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Edited title to not look like a Q&A question
FNM
Hellz yeah!
I've been running BAMF Paradigm v.2.0 since it was released a few days ago and I absolutely love it. Battery life is well, the GNex typical battery life. I always have spare batteries charged.
I've had no random reboots and confidently use it as my daily driver. I'm using the kernel that is included with the ROM. I've tried a couple others and rolled back to the stock one right away. I was getting problem with deep sleep on any alternate kernel.
I never used ICS on this phone. I rooted and flashed JB from the day I got it, so I really can't speak the the difference in performance, but I run ICS on my HP Touchpad and I know I would not be happy with it on my phone after having used JB.
I would, without hesitation, tell you to make the leap to JB.
I don't think you'll miss ICS in the least.
Xenon HD is pretty good at this moment.
Dark jelly belly ROM gsm is smooth good battery nice custom keyboard option and extras Google now is great and love jellybean it makes android smooth and fluid great stuff
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Just as an update to my previous message, Trinity kernel for Jellybean is now released as stable.
D3HuM4NiZ3D said:
I RECOMMEND minco rom.thats a rom colabboration between minooch and franco himself.its the best rom ever,with trinity kernel.best performance+battery life.incredible.brtter than any ics or jb rom.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Minco with Trinity is better than Minco with the embedded Franco?

Is it advisable to update to ICS from Gingerbread on Arc S...?

Should i update my phone to ICS from Gingerbread??
Or its not a good idea?
Performance vs looks
IF you really want a beautiful experience(WITH LAG) of the interface(FOR A LITTLE WHILE) in lieu of the OVERALL SYSTEM PERFORMANCE then please UPDATE TO ICS.
BUT if you want to have a better experience(WITHOUT ANY LAG) with all of the phone's feature THEN STAY WITH THE GB.:angel:
I have tried almost every ICS ROM for the ARC and almost every ROM HAS A LAG(in the beginning it doesn't come into action but after some time when caching of system applications start it's the most HORRIBLE experience with the phone and sometimes you can't even use your phone for call or messaging (LIKE IT'S LAGGING LIKE HEELLL) ):crying:
SO it's upto you..what i think
I AM BACK TO GB FROM ICS
REST IS YOUR CHOICE:good:
plz hit thanks if i helped
ICS consumes more resources, there's no way round that, but a properly configured Arc can easily run ICS with ZERO lag. You do need to be careful what apps you have running in the background - see this post for more details: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=30809767&postcount=11
Personally, I would never go back to GB. My phone is so much more stable on ICS, you can run a number of tablet-only apps, battery life is significantly improved, etc.
I've not tried the latest Sony rom, but previous ones have not been great - too bloated and sluggish. Custom roms are IMHO definitely the way to go for ICS on the Arc.
Update?
Just Update to the latest .578 ICS and if you feel the device is slow/irresponsive use Bloatware Remover to make RAM consumption better
Xperia Arc Can Handle ICS , Great as GB.
It depends Upon the Developer Of it.
I say go for a try
If i install Sony's official ICS will i lose my root, and will i have to install different kernel? I am currently using doomLord's kernel.
Hi
To upgrade or not to upgrade…
Few days ago I come back to old GB 2.3.4 simply because I have some unfinished business with some games I didn’t finish while on GB – and also sort of compare to what was like to be on GB again comparing to ICS… (anyways it takes me @ 15min to switch to any Android ver. And with CWM backup it a matter of minutes to be back on favorite ROM…)
Man I felt like I was driving on handbrake all this time… you feel like flying fast… no LAG whatsoever it feels great again… speed wise.
From the moment ICS come out I already flashed it via flashtool and rooted, immediately I started to try out different kinds of ROM modes out there… tried like maybe 10 of them (could only use some as I need to stay with locked BootLoader… so no custom kernels.) Anyway after so many months of playing around – the only ROM which suited my needs was JJROM 3.1 – also the look of it is great for me… so I stayed with it… flashed XPERIA S Walkman port + some other little add-ons which made my ROM complete…
Now somebody wrote here that you need to be very careful what you run on ICS ROM in order to be sure it can run smoothly enough… and this is so true…
When buying originally the phone (ARC S) it was supposed to serve me like a little computer machine while I’m away – Internet, mail, GPS, banking, photos, music, movies, YouTube, FB… etc, etc… it supposed to be very flexible and have enough power to do many things with many programs as possible… now with GB I noticed that I’m able to do many more things at once while lag-free then with ICS… I didn’t buy phone just to make calls and SMS – as many users tent to use their smartphones for… for me it have to do some rather heavy duty stuff…
Unfortunately ICS is very memory hungry and I noticed that with time after installing all favorite apps it starts to lag… you don’t notice till you have some reference like trying again GB with the some programs… don’t fall into adverts of different ROM makes that their ROMs are so great and fast – lag free and have so much RAM free – and blah blah… they flash fresh ROM, take few screenshots of fresh install with so much RAM free (zero apps running), then upload some clips on YT so you are amazed at the smoothness… BUT the real life starts after somebody installs their 10+ favorite apps and then can test the ROM in real life… and most of the time you realize that the difference between “before and after” is like night and day… ROM becomes unusable… or lags terribly.
I will be going back to my beloved ICS JJROM3.1 (after I finish the games I can’t on ICS) but I realize that it will never be as fast as GB… I just love the HOLO layout and look of ICS… I miss already some of the ICS options and functions, but the speed of GB is just amazing so I will stay on it to enjoy a bit longer… ha. I guess someone needs to find this “in between” ROM, where he can use as many of his apps as possible and still have reasonable speed left. I have running all GG services, FB Firendcaster, Forum app, weather, RSS reader, maps, Email etc etc and no lag whatsoever – games load fast and run perfectly without any glitches… while playing NOVA, DeadSpace, Shadow Guardian etc I still receive mail and forum/FB/RSS notices in the background and games don’t stop or even shatter for a moment, you don’t feel like there is any problem with having all this background services going on… well with ICS is a bit different, I can still run the some games (exept SG)… with this services, apps etc but it will take longer to load and while receiving notifications games shutter for few sec…
I found GB ROM called JellyBreadV2Arc which is modified version of stock GB which is super for my needs (has removed all FB bloatware + other tweaks) runs really fast…
Anyway – don’t know why I started all this… I guess the question to flash ICS or not is very hard to answer – if you want to try something new and are willing to sacrifice some gaming and a little speed then try it out… there is always way back…
One thing I noticed immediately with GB is battery life, is not as good as on ICS and charging takes longer on GB… which bugs me a bit… I know that with different kernel would improve but I don’t want to unlock BL… so needs to be that way.
ics it's no so bad, i really never used GB too much, but is said that it's better for battery life. I'm happy with ICS.
When I bought my Arc S LT18i, the ICS update was already available. I started using it with gingerbread but then, when I already had the apps I wanted, I decided to update my phone to ICS (4.1.A.0.562). Everything was ok until I booted my phone for the second time after the update. Couldn't unlock my sim and it just freezed. Had this problem for a month. I was so mad! I booted into safe mode, restored using PC Companion but the problem didn't go away. But then came the 2nd ICS update (4.1.B.0.431) and it just fixed things. The 3rd update (4.1.B.0.587) didn't bring any changes as far as I can see. But I still recommend you update to ICS. Or just flash CM9 stable.
Let's just not ask people, try it and see if you like it. Don't get me wrong but we can't help you as we all see ICS differently so you must try it out and see if it suits your everyday life. Also if you don't like it, you can always flash back to GB. Getting the root is simple enough and to find it, Google. Right now I suggest getting ICS because in my point of view, ICS is fast, sleek and beautiful.
badboyofpersia said:
Should i update my phone to ICS from Gingerbread??
Or its not a good idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Let me tell you now to get perfect ics. Once updated to ics, root using eroot toolkit n then install cwm using x-parts. Then go to cwm, flash odexed notification led fix, flash jb adreno drivers. Then boot phone. Now ul have a lot of smoothness and notification bug won't be there. U can then also install titanium backup n remove bloatware for even more speed. For the WiFi dropping problem, flash kernel of .13 firmware. Then ul have the ultimate ics experience. Sony's ics update is incomplete. Do all this n then it'll be a proper update!
Nice Review ,TNKS
What You Think ? Stock ROM Is THE BEST OR NOT ?
amankumar2508007 said:
IF you really want a beautiful experience(WITH LAG) of the interface(FOR A LITTLE WHILE) in lieu of the OVERALL SYSTEM PERFORMANCE then please UPDATE TO ICS.
BUT if you want to have a better experience(WITHOUT ANY LAG) with all of the phone's feature THEN STAY WITH THE GB.:angel:
I have tried almost every ICS ROM for the ARC and almost every ROM HAS A LAG(in the beginning it doesn't come into action but after some time when caching of system applications start it's the most HORRIBLE experience with the phone and sometimes you can't even use your phone for call or messaging (LIKE IT'S LAGGING LIKE HEELLL) ):crying:
SO it's upto you..what i think
I AM BACK TO GB FROM ICS
REST IS YOUR CHOICE:good:
plz hit thanks if i helped
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gius321 said:
What You Think ? Stock ROM Is THE BEST OR NOT ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try it out yourself. Different people have different opinion on different ROMs.
僕のLT18iから送られてきた

[Q] The most RAM saving ROM

Greetings,
I've been around for some time, lurking mostly. And installing a ROM with ICS or JB on my Galaxy W was a wonderful way to innovate. It feels like I'm using a brand new phone, which is awesome.
I have tried Cyanogen mod and Paranoid Android and even the PAC roms. But the issue I run while using them is that my ram seems to be full most of the time, and it's filled with system apps more than my own apps. Which limits the phone seriously. I am almost unable to use Swiftkey for typing online or even messages, since it lags too much the phone.
I plan on keeping a couple of apps like a battery saver, Aviate launcher and occasionally a traffic monitor app like 3g Watchdog.I've been thinking about going back to Gingerbread versions, although new ones seem more enticing with features/apps like Google now.
I'm breaking my question in two parts:
1 - Can a more advanced android version like JB (or maybe KK) help make the system faster and the ram management more efficient? Or should I stick with a rom similar to stock?
2 - What roms do you recommend? Which Kernel? Or should I just face the fact my phone won't be able to comply with my current needs and I should ask Santa for an iPhone?
thanks
Reggards
Thaenor said:
Greetings,
I've been around for some time, lurking mostly. And installing a ROM with ICS or JB on my Galaxy W was a wonderful way to innovate. It feels like I'm using a brand new phone, which is awesome.
I have tried Cyanogen mod and Paranoid Android and even the PAC roms. But the issue I run while using them is that my ram seems to be full most of the time, and it's filled with system apps more than my own apps. Which limits the phone seriously. I am almost unable to use Swiftkey for typing online or even messages, since it lags too much the phone.
I plan on keeping a couple of apps like a battery saver, Aviate launcher and occasionally a traffic monitor app like 3g Watchdog.I've been thinking about going back to Gingerbread versions, although new ones seem more enticing with features/apps like Google now.
I'm breaking my question in two parts:
1 - Can a more advanced android version like JB (or maybe KK) help make the system faster and the ram management more efficient? Or should I stick with a rom similar to stock?
2 - What roms do you recommend? Which Kernel? Or should I just face the fact my phone won't be able to comply with my current needs and I should ask Santa for an iPhone?
thanks
Reggards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try flashing one of a kind by ipromeh ... I think u will be satisfied
Ahmed.ragab said:
try flashing one of a kind by ipromeh ... I think u will be satisfied
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you, I'll give it a try on the stable version.
For future reference, and to save the trouble for other people who may come here and need to search the thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2120340
Thank you very much.
PS: in the mean time I'm open to more suggestions, just in case.
U should also give a try to monster build rev16. Im using it as daily build and its really light weight.
Thread found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=39771952
mirosz said:
U should also give a try to monster build rev16. Im using it as daily build and its really light weight.
Thread found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=39771952
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The rom crashes the settings applet everytime I try to change language to Portuguese.
Can't add widgets with aviate launcher (settings crashes)
otherwise seems alright.

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