Going back to Stock ROM - Done! - AT&T, Rogers, Bell, Telus Samsung Galaxy S III

I am sure this topic has been beaten to death already but I still wanted to share my experience with custom ROMs and finally going back to the STOCK ROM. If beginners want to try out Custom ROMs, may be they can read this beginner's post.
First the ritual - Android community is great. ROM developers are great minds at work! Thanks for doing all the hard work and showing me whats in the Custom ROM world.
I started out with simple rooting of my phone to get tethering (cheap on my part but I think I pay more than what my carrier offers). After rooting, custom ROM was just so tempting. So I tried a few - CM, AOKP, Carbon. Honestly, out of all, CM10.0 was the most stable for me. Things I loved:
1. Battery Life - Can't say enough. There is so much junk that runs in background on STOCK ROMs.
2. 4.2.2 JB - Better than 4.1.2 but then, not by miles.
3. Ability to flash ROMs over the weekends You know it.
4. Utilities like Titanium backup and others that needed Root access.
5. Tether - super like.
Things I hated:
1. Force closures - OMG I couldn't understand how the STOCK ROMs are so robust or Is it that the Apps are tested on Stock ROMs very well that they don't crash. Countless failures for Instagram, Email, Camera, BT etc.
2. Camera functionality - I give 10 out of 10 to Samsung in creating great camera app. I am a heavy smartphone camera user. The 4.2.2 camera app was so laggy on my GS3. The user interface sucked (circle). No meter mode. Bad panorama mode, HDR mode and worst low light photos.
3. On one of the custom ROMs, I had horrible issues with making and receiving phone calls (Yes it can go that bad).
4. Bluetooth pairing with devices. BT crashed a lot while music was interrupted with incoming calls.
All in all, I am now happy that I am back to the STOCK ROM with This Link Many thanks to the Member.
There is a lot of excitement and good things about the Custom ROMs but if you are like me who is not a super power user, there is a lot to consider before jumping.
Happy Monday!

In CM 10.1, the FC issues were fixed for me. This applies for most current AOSP roms. I have not had any issues with camera lag either. I will admit that the stock camera is more robust with options but there are third party apps that help minimize the feeling of loss.
Regarding testing, this is what goes on here. The difference is you see the testing phases while you do not with the manufacturer. In addition, many of the drivers and hardware info is proprietary so developing drivers that are stable can be a hit and miss affair.
On the same note, not every phone and user is the same and the experience will be different for each. ROMs will possibly work differently across the same models of phone due to minor variations in quality which are nearly impossible to catch during the manufacturing process due to nearly microscopic differences.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747

aybarrap1 said:
In CM 10.1, the FC issues were fixed for me. This applies for most current AOSP roms. I have not had any issues with camera lag either. I will admit that the stock camera is more robust with options but there are third party apps that help minimize the feeling of loss.
Regarding testing, this is what goes on here. The difference is you see the testing phases while you do not with the manufacturer. In addition, many of the drivers and hardware info is proprietary so developing drivers that are stable can be a hit and miss affair.
On the same note, not every phone and user is the same and the experience will be different for each. ROMs will possibly work differently across the same models of phone due to minor variations in quality which are nearly impossible to catch during the manufacturing process due to nearly microscopic differences.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree with the slight variations in experiences with Custom ROMs. But for some reason, my jump to 10.1 was not smooth with FCs and I quickly made a u-turn to 10.0 and then ultimately to the STOCK ROM. Camera Apps like Camera Zoom are very good and they do provide more options like Metering and time lapse (missing in STOCK), they are still not complete (simple example - I can't enable Panorama from CamerZoom). Nevertheless, the experience can be really amazing when things work out but really frustrating when they don't. STOCK has its problems like I am missing my Solid Battery life today :crying:

I think I'm about to go back to stock as well. While I love all the extra features that custom roms offer, all the tinkering and occasional bugginess can take away from the overall experience. At least for me, anyways.
I also had been doing it long enough that I felt really comfortable with all the flashing that I was doing, but would still make the occasional mistake (look at the hilarity I posted in the stupid questions thread today). I'm thinking I'll play it safe, at least for now, before I do something I regret.
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app

newmind02 said:
I think I'm about to go back to stock as well. While I love all the extra features that custom roms offer, all the tinkering and occasional bugginess can take away from the overall experience. At least for me, anyways.
I also had been doing it long enough that I felt really comfortable with all the flashing that I was doing, but would still make the occasional mistake (look at the hilarity I posted in the stupid questions thread today). I'm thinking I'll play it safe, at least for now, before I do something I regret.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is in my opinion that even the stock roms have bugs. At seemingly random times, my alarm clocks on my AT&T S3 just didn't work when running stock. I was almost late for work 3 days in a row because of it (my alarm is set to repeat 5 times a week every week at the exact same time. I never turn it off). In addition, I get the occasional random battery drop that seems to have something to do with the switch between H+ and LTE when on a phone call.
I stuck with the stock rom for a while but now that AOSP roms are stable, I have switched. Whatever bugs are present do not affect me or they are so minor I work around it. It really comes down to what you find to be acceptable for you.
As far as being comfortable and making mistakes, I have done it as well. Being a flashing fiend has made me overconfident a few times and I botched several installs. Luckily I have been so busy of late, that my flashing desire has been on hold.

Never had any force closes.
Never had any lag
Never had any problems on custom Roms.
If you're experiencing and lag, force closes, you're MORE than likely doing something wrong on your end.
This phone doesn't lag. It should lag whatsoever. 1.5Ghz and 2Gs of ram does not create lag.
Touchwiz runs a LOT more stuff in the background.
Just follow instructions on how to flash, what to flash, and what to tweak. And I can guarantee you an awesome experience.
The camera as well. Just took some amazing lightning shots with 4.2.2 camera, on burst mode with 20 pictures taken in less then 3 seconds. No lag what's so ever.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

jayRokk said:
Never had any force closes.
Never had any lag
Never had any problems on custom Roms.
If you're experiencing and lag, force closes, you're MORE than likely doing something wrong on your end.
This phone doesn't lag. It should lag whatsoever. 1.5Ghz and 2Gs of ram does not create lag.
Touchwiz runs a LOT more stuff in the background.
Just follow instructions on how to flash, what to flash, and what to tweak. And I can guarantee you an awesome experience.
The camera as well. Just took some amazing lightning shots with 4.2.2 camera, on burst mode with 20 pictures taken in less then 3 seconds. No lag what's so ever.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I concur
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747

techmine said:
I am sure this topic has been beaten to death already but I still wanted to share my experience with custom ROMs and finally going back to the STOCK ROM. If beginners want to try out Custom ROMs, may be they can read this beginner's post.
First the ritual - Android community is great. ROM developers are great minds at work! Thanks for doing all the hard work and showing me whats in the Custom ROM world.
I started out with simple rooting of my phone to get tethering (cheap on my part but I think I pay more than what my carrier offers). After rooting, custom ROM was just so tempting. So I tried a few - CM, AOKP, Carbon. Honestly, out of all, CM10.0 was the most stable for me. Things I loved:
1. Battery Life - Can't say enough. There is so much junk that runs in background on STOCK ROMs.
2. 4.2.2 JB - Better than 4.1.2 but then, not by miles.
3. Ability to flash ROMs over the weekends You know it.
4. Utilities like Titanium backup and others that needed Root access.
5. Tether - super like.
Things I hated:
1. Force closures - OMG I couldn't understand how the STOCK ROMs are so robust or Is it that the Apps are tested on Stock ROMs very well that they don't crash. Countless failures for Instagram, Email, Camera, BT etc.
2. Camera functionality - I give 10 out of 10 to Samsung in creating great camera app. I am a heavy smartphone camera user. The 4.2.2 camera app was so laggy on my GS3. The user interface sucked (circle). No meter mode. Bad panorama mode, HDR mode and worst low light photos.
3. On one of the custom ROMs, I had horrible issues with making and receiving phone calls (Yes it can go that bad).
4. Bluetooth pairing with devices. BT crashed a lot while music was interrupted with incoming calls.
All in all, I am now happy that I am back to the STOCK ROM with This Link Many thanks to the Member.
There is a lot of excitement and good things about the Custom ROMs but if you are like me who is not a super power user, there is a lot to consider before jumping.
Happy Monday!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to go back and forth between CM10.1 and Stock.
The biggest thing CM misses for me is the camera. Call me a fanboy but I really like what Samsung did to their camera optimizations in TW.
That being said, I don't like TW very much but a custom launcher and a few minor tweaks can make TW tolerable.
For apps running in the background I highly recommend Greenify for keeping apps dormant when you're not using them.
Titanium Backup also has a feature called Freeze that basically does the same thing as Greenify except it takes the app and prevents it from being used at all.
This is good for apps that you never use that come preloaded on the GS3 (AT&T and Samsung bloatware).

Related

Finally ready to move off GB

Any recommendations for ics roms I'm leaning towards mimicry since I want as much speed and stability as possible. I've been on glite for along time so performance and stability is a huge plus!
I prefer non sense roms with overclocking ability. being pretty it's a plus but not a must. I def want the most stable camera and I don't mind having to tweak out a bit. Any advice?
killj0y said:
Any recommendations for ics roms I'm leaning towards mimicry since I want as much speed and stability as possible. I've been on glite for along time so performance and stability is a huge plus!
I prefer non sense roms with overclocking ability. being pretty it's a plus but not a must. I def want the most stable camera and I don't mind having to tweak out a bit. Any advice?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you're on the right track with Mimicry. In my experience it's been very stable, smooth, an fast. It's meets all your criteria. By default it's overclocked to 1.2 GHz, and has the option to install V6 Supercharger. I'd highly recommend it. As for pretty, Sonny Sekhon makes some incredible ISC/JB themes. Also, all ICS ROMs for the Vision have issues with 3rd party camera apps due to missing drivers. In my experience the stock camera works just fine.
I don't mind the stock camera, since frankly I have other camera apps I've never even run lol. does the stock camera do panoramic pics?
killj0y said:
I don't mind the stock camera, since frankly I have other camera apps I've never even run lol. does the stock camera do panoramic pics?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I thought I'd miss all my camera applications, but at this moment in my life the stock camera completely suffices. I haven't used the panorama option, but... yes, it's appears (just checked it) to be working... I've been using Mimicry for several months now and I'm still excited about it. I was a long time ILWT (CM7) user and I never thought an ICS ROM could compare, but Mimicry truly does. I actually flashed back to GB a couple weeks ago - just to see - and I missed blk_jack's ROM immediately. If you take a look at some of the other "best ICS ROM" threads I think you'll see that a huge population are loving Mimicry. Good luck!
killj0y, I had the same dillema, but was using stock rom.
Friend of mine that already was testing other roms told me to experiment with Andromadus, and especially with Mimicry http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1714187
With latest radio it's just very good concerning the 'out of the box' installation experience.
The only problems were with camera, but I never experienced any issues because I use default campera app, and the only program that was giving weird effects was Google Goggles.
The lack of drivers for camera is annoying when recording video, 480p only.
Recently I started to experiment with Andromadis JellyBean development builds, they they got some minor issues. There still happen some camera issues, but video recording is ok @ 720p. In general it was a bit sluggish, but managed to fix that installing DataSwap - it really helps.
Just wait till Mimicry gonna switch to JellyBean and it's gonna by awesome.
Ditamae said:
Yeah, I thought I'd miss all my camera applications, but at this moment in my life the stock camera completely suffices. I haven't used the panorama option, but... yes, it's appears (just checked it) to be working... I've been using Mimicry for several months now and I'm still excited about it. I was a long time ILWT (CM7) user and I never thought an ICS ROM could compare, but Mimicry truly does. I actually flashed back to GB a couple weeks ago - just to see - and I missed blk_jack's ROM immediately. If you take a look at some of the other "best ICS ROM" threads I think you'll see that a huge population are loving Mimicry. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh great i just flashed it this morning and am tweaking it to my liking so far so good. Wish i could change apex to default to the main screen when I click home like the GB launcher or go launcher ex. I'll make sure to uninstall pano then
_KaszpiR_ said:
killj0y, I had the same dillema, but was using stock rom.
Friend of mine that already was testing other roms told me to experiment with Andromadus, and especially with Mimicry http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1714187
With latest radio it's just very good concerning the 'out of the box' installation experience.
The only problems were with camera, but I never experienced any issues because I use default campera app, and the only program that was giving weird effects was Google Goggles.
The lack of drivers for camera is annoying when recording video, 480p only.
Recently I started to experiment with Andromadis JellyBean development builds, they they got some minor issues. There still happen some camera issues, but video recording is ok @ 720p. In general it was a bit sluggish, but managed to fix that installing DataSwap - it really helps.
Just wait till Mimicry gonna switch to JellyBean and it's gonna by awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome I have had the latest radio for a while now since the ota so no issues there. I thought i was having the wifi dropout issue when i first booted but might have been a false alarm. Either way i have the files needed in my dropbox just in case. I hadn't thought about google goggles damn that kinda sucks but i can live with that. I was kinda bummed about the 720p but i rarely record video, but when I do i like it being the best quality i can manage since it will suck that much less lol.:good:
Best Rom type threads are not allowed on XDA, please just try some and find one that suites you.
Thread Closed

Why do you like your ROM?

What rom do you have on your phone?
Why do you like it?
What dont you like about it?
Im curious to see what everyone is running
So far ive ran aokp, paranoid android, and cm10.
Im currently on cm10 and enjoy how professional it is. (explaining the swag button to potent galaxy buyers was kind of tough)
I would have kept paranoid android but the profiles didnt work and i didnt know how to use the dpi changer.
I also started this thread to see who uses android development ROMS instead of the original development ones
Im mainly interested in the non original android development roms users and their oppinions but everyone's answer is appreciated
My favorite was Codename Android, besides one major flaw that myself and very few others experienced: Impossible to send SMS longer than 160 characters, regardless of settings/reflashes/apn/etc. Just because it was the smoothest ROM for me.
I value UI smoothness above all else and have yet to find a ROM that is truly stutter free.
CM10 is ok, but if you go to clock and swipe to the side to go to timer it stutters like a pentium 2 running Crysis: Warhead.
Stock ICS ROM's lag, as well Facebook/third party app scrolling has constant stutter reminiscing of SGS1
JB Leaks (LIF, LIG, LIH) give me blackscreen reboots once in a while, although noticeably smoother than ICS.
I didn't mention battery life as quite frankly I can get a day of usage with every ROM I have tried so far which is nearly all of them.
I think I'm using stock ROM right now as I was fed up and just restored an old nandroid... I guess its ok, everything just works, lots of stutter's though. Doesn't have that premium feel you expect of a device at this price point.
inB4 go buy iphone5
scorpion667 said:
My favorite was Codename Android, besides one major flaw that myself and very few others experienced: Impossible to send SMS longer than 160 characters, regardless of settings/reflashes/apn/etc. Just because it was the smoothest ROM for me.
I value UI smoothness above all else and have yet to find a ROM that is truly stutter free.
CM10 is ok, but if you go to clock and swipe to the side to go to timer it stutters like a pentium 2 running Crysis: Warhead.
Stock ICS ROM's lag, as well Facebook/third party app scrolling has constant stutter reminiscing of SGS1
JB Leaks (LIF, LIG, LIH) give me blackscreen reboots once in a while, although noticeably smoother than ICS.
I didn't mention battery life as quite frankly I can get a day of usage with every ROM I have tried so far which is nearly all of them.
I think I'm using stock ROM right now as I was fed up and just restored an old nandroid... I guess its ok, everything just works, lots of stutter's though. Doesn't have that premium feel you expect of a device at this price point.
inB4 go buy iphone5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Run AOKP then, it's extremely fast and smooth.
Longcat14 said:
Run AOKP then, it's extremely fast and smooth.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have tried multiple versions of it, still stutters on homescreen sometimes. Same Timer stutter as CM10 and annoying alarm bug (although there is a fix, it's inconvenient). As well the Nova launcher that AOKP uses, and pretty much all third party launchers have a little input lag due to non native integration or no hardware acceleration (not sure which, but the input lag is there).
Anyway I'll take my fluidity rant somewhere else, people seem happy with the current state of the phone.
scorpion667 said:
I have tried multiple versions of it, still stutters on homescreen sometimes. Same Timer stutter as CM10 and annoying alarm bug (although there is a fix, it's inconvenient). As well the Nova launcher that AOKP uses, and pretty much all third party launchers have a little input lag due to non native integration or no hardware acceleration (not sure which, but the input lag is there).
Anyway I'll take my fluidity rant somewhere else, people seem happy with the current state of the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The childishness of aokp turned me off since i looked at the boot logo but my gripes can all be easily fixed /hidden.
I havent noticed the speed difference but i do see tge lag you speak about but ive dismissed it as a hardware being underpowered to the rom issue and dont notice it as much anymore
So im still looking for answers from non original development users but to everyone else
>> What are the Cm10 vs aokp major Differences?
Here is a quick look at some of the differences
http://techie-buzz.com/android/aokp-vs-cm10.html
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
Blazer Rom.
It's minimalistic, faster than stock without overclocking, great battery right out of the box, and EVERYTHING WORKS. take that jelly bean.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2
Because its my ROM. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
I'm currently using cm10 and I find very awesome. It's fast and has a lot of great features. I tried AOKP and decided that IMO cm10 was closer to actual 4.1, but AOKP had many more features.
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda premium
I had been running AOKP for a week or so, I like its customization better than that of other ROMs.
I just yesterday found a new ROM called Paranoid KANGdroid. It pulls from CM10, AOKP, and Paranoid Android. Has pretty much all the features of all three. So much customization, I love it. Not fully stable, though, its only a few days old.

Help Finding Daily Driver

I know that I should "try them myself", but there are a billion ROMs here and I haven't been following any outside of CM/AOKP. It doesn't help that a few of the ROM threads here that seem promising are kind of messy and difficult to sift through and the forum is too saturated to search properly for simple terms. Instead of posting questions in ROM threads and risking getting flamed, I decided to create a thread here. I'm looking for a new daily driver based on TouchWiz JellyBean (no AOSP/CM/AOKP/etc.), and I'm willing to try out ROMs based on your suggestions
Primarily looking for:
-Stability and lack of bugs (all hardware/software works as intended)
-Speed and smoothness
-Battery life
-Screen Modes (dynamic, standard, natural and movie modes from international version/Note 2)*
-one-handed operation mode (for keyboard, dialer, etc. from Note 2)*
-pop-up browser and/or multi-window/multi-view
Not crucial, but preferred:
-AOSP/multi-target/circle lock screen
-GNote 2 SMS app or inverted/dark background AOSP SMS app
-4.2 keyboard (I can add this myself if anything)
-camera on call and enable camera on low battery
Don't want:
-4.2 camera (unless I can remove it and use the TouchWiz camera)
-AOSP/AOKP themed MMS with quickreply (unless the bugs with image display, sending and rotation have been fixed)
-Bravia engine/acid audio/beats audio/etc. (it's fine if I can remove it myself without breaking anything)
-heavy/over-the-top theming
*not sure if any ROMs here have this feature
If you're running, developing or familiar with a ROM that you think is close to what I'm looking for, please direct me to the thread and I'll give it a try. Thanks in advance for the help
*bump*
GGXtreme said:
*bump*
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check out youtube for video reviews man
Well, I spent many hours online researching and reading about ROM's, made a nandroid and clean-flashed a few ROM's from AT&T and Rogers bases. So far...I'm really disappointed in TouchWiz. While my friends with the S3 or Note 2 on other carriers have shown me a fast, fluid and flawless out-of-the-box experience (albeit with some bloatware), every TouchWiz ROM I tried was noticeably laggy to the point that some of my apps and games were unusable (same apps are just fine on my friend's devices and on my device running AOKP). On top of that, TouchWiz seems to introduce black clipping in video playback using any hardware player (not present on my friend's Note 2 and not present on my S3 with AOKP). This is a dealbreaker for me.
I guess I really do have to settle with AT&T's devices: either certain important features don't work or I have to deal with a bunch of minor bugs and the device lags more than my Captivate in some common scenarios
GGXtreme said:
Well, I spent many hours online researching and reading about ROM's, made a nandroid and clean-flashed a few. So far...I'm really disappointed in TouchWiz. While my friends with the S3 or Note 2 on other carriers have shown me a fast, fluid and flawless out-of-the-box experience (albeit with some bloatware), every TouchWiz ROM I tried was noticeably laggy to the point that some of my apps and games were unusable (same apps are just fine on my friend's devices and on my device running AOKP). On top of that, TouchWiz seems to introduce black clipping in video playback using any hardware player (not present on my friend's Note 2 and not present on my S3 with AOKP). This is a dealbreaker for me.
I guess I really do have to settle with AT&T's devices: either certain important features don't work or the device lags more than my Captivate in some common scenarios
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try my rom man, you will like it
check the sig
Danvdh said:
try my rom man, you will like it
check the sig
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does your ROM include an MMS app besides the AOSP one with quick-reply? I know everyone says it 'works 100%', but I always have problems with MMS images not displaying properly/at all after a week or two of using it. Not to pester you with questions, but do you also happen to know if the mDNIE mode can be changed in TouchWiz ROM's (ie. via build.prop)? I suspect this is what's causing the black clipping issue, as I always disabled mDNIE in AOKP.
Edit: Nvm, I just noticed the option to flash another MMS app. Still curious about mDNIE modes though, as I can't stand the dark scenes in my videos being invisible on TouchWiz ROM's.
GGXtreme said:
Does your ROM include an MMS app besides the AOSP one with quick-reply? I know everyone says it 'works 100%', but I always have problems with MMS images not displaying properly/at all after a week or two of using it. Not to pester you with questions, but do you also happen to know if the mDNIE mode can be changed in TouchWiz ROM's (ie. via build.prop)? I suspect this is what's causing the black clipping issue, as I always disabled mDNIE in AOKP.
Edit: Nvm, I just noticed the option to flash another MMS app. Still curious about mDNIE modes though, as I can't stand the dark scenes in my videos being invisible on TouchWiz ROM's.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure about the mdnie in videos, but this is the latest build from Samsung. Newer then 99 percent of touchwiz roms, give it a try and report back
Danvdh said:
Not sure about the mdnie in videos, but this is the latest build from Samsung. Newer then 99 percent of touchwiz roms, give it a try and report back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just started downloading it, I'll definitely report back tomorrow when I get a chance to flash it. Not sure how I overlooked it in my search :silly:
From what I remember from a post by supercurio, the mDNIE tuning is part of the drivers and would require a custom kernel to fix, as the black clipping issue is present on almost all TouchWiz devices except the original Galaxy S and devices with screen modes that can be changed to something like 'Cinema' or 'Movie' (Exynos devices).
Try loserskaters rom "LoserRom" I flashed it a while ago and its doing great, no FC's, no random reboots etc etc
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
I was recently running Drew Garen Serenity 1.2. It's a port of the Jelly Bean ROM from the Note 2. It has all of the working features of the Note 2 except Multi Windows. It does include the 1 hand operation mode you were wanting. It also includes the Note 2 Gallery, which I really liked.
Galaxy Mod Rls14 is really good too and features working Multi Window. I can't remember if it has 1 hand operation.
Danvdh said:
Not sure about the mdnie in videos, but this is the latest build from Samsung. Newer then 99 percent of touchwiz roms, give it a try and report back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely an improvement. Seems similar to the previous ROM's I tried, but now my apps and games no longer lag horribly. I like how light and AOSP-like it is from the initial flash. Unfortunately, the black crush issue is still present and I think that'll have to be a kernel fix similar to Voodoo color on the original Galaxy S. I might keep this for now though.
ajayghotra said:
Try loserskaters rom "LoserRom" I flashed it a while ago and its doing great, no FC's, no random reboots etc etc
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll give it a try now that I'm in the mood to flash everything
Opie Knievel said:
I was recently running Drew Garen Serenity 1.2. It's a port of the Jelly Bean ROM from the Note 2. It has all of the working features of the Note 2 except Multi Windows. It does include the 1 hand operation mode you were wanting. It also includes the Note 2 Gallery, which I really liked.
Galaxy Mod Rls14 is really good too and features working Multi Window. I can't remember if it has 1 hand operation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How stable do you find those? The main reason I was avoiding Note 2 based ROM's is that there seemed to be a lot of bugginess reported in the threads and after a while I just want something I can flash once and forget.
Thanks for all the replies, these suggestions are all in the direction I'm looking for
Edit: I gave Serenity 1.2 a try, and while it gives me the one-handed operation I'm looking for, but the Screen Mode option in the settings doesn't seem to do anything, so videos still have black crush. I was able to poorly get around this on my Infuse by using a screen filter app, but this doesn't seem to have an effect on the S3. I'm positive this is a kernel/driver issue at this point.
I found Serenity 1.2 and Galaxy Mod Rls14.1 very stable. Actually I can't remember encountering a single problem. I personally love TouchWiz. That's one of the main deciding factors for me when choosing a ROM. I guess I've just got used to it over the years. My first smartphone was a Galaxy S Fascinate on Verizon. I tried Galaxy Mod 15 but had some other issues with my phone that had to be addressed before I could really get to test it out. I'm thinking about trying it again. Which ever ROM you decide to try my best advice is to do a lot of research before you do any flashing and for goodness sakes MAKE A QCN BACKUP! http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1801997 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1308546 I didn't and lost my IMEI and had to order a replacement phone because I never could get it completely straightened out.
Jovy23 Darthstalker #9 TW and Ziggy kernel is my DD themed with Morphology. Very, very fast excellent battery life and VERY stable. I've had Serenity, CM10, Triune, Liquid Smooth, PacMan, parakangandriod and many, many others.
I highly recommend Darthstalker its, in my humble opinion, one of the best.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

Hype, Forget, Stay...

...when it should be something like Hype, Compare, Choose.
I'm just posting this because it's crazy how we become kind of addicts to the cutting edge versions of Android, no matter how it really works on our device, it is just awesome because it works, on our beloved 3 years old nexus.
I'm the kind of guy who really search for smoothness, all around the system. I just can't stand a frame drop. It's kind of creepy. No, seriously, I look for details, and there's some things in KitKat I don't like. But all that said, and as I once read, if your eyes see at 15 fps it's not my fault lol. So, here they are:
- Notifications panel / Quick settings animation. Yes, guess what, the frame drop here is aweful. It stutters like hell. Just do it, expand the status bar and hit the tile many times, that's not smooth at all.
- RAM usage. They can say KK is optimized and bla bla, but real thing is that there's less free RAM than JB. It's a fact. You can go all the way of how Android manage memory and stuff, well, I rather more free RAM.
- Home button responsiveness. It just lags. Test it, open an app, something heavy e.g. Facebook app, and press home button. Now do the same but use back button. Give it a few tries if you didn't notice the difference at the first time.
- High battery drain.
There are some other things but you get the point. I felt less responsiveness in general, when multitasking, etc. So I decided to go back to Android 4.3.1 JB, CM 10.2.1 in my particular case. Oh yes, this feels awesome. Notifications panel / Quick settings animation is fully smooth, I've more free ram, Home button reaction is fast again, multitasking is great. I also realized that I missed the Vanilla ui. This is definitely where I'm staying.
So my conclusion is, you can follow the hype but don't stay just with the new things, make your own judgement, compare and choose what's your most suitable rom/android version out there
NOTES:
- I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos looking for this issues I've mentioned, so I discard problems with my Maguro in particular.
- I'm comparing both Android versions with the same apps (around 140 total apps), so there's no factory reset placebo effect.
- They're all present on different roms i.e CM, PA, and some others, so its KK related I guess.
- A particular thing about CM 10.2.1 is that it cames with a modified phase beam live wallpaper that slows down the launcher/system, don't get wrong this first bad impression , try another live wallpaper and you'll see how smooth is it. It runs great, using live or static wallpapers. What I did was delete the phasebeam.apk and push the stock 4.3 phasebeam.apk, that works good :good:.
- Hey! There's some good KK themes for old Theme Chooser if you want the KK look.
Anyway, here's another reason to not to ask what's the best rom for my GN.
This is just my personal opinion.
Hope you've enjoyed the post, and go try yourself!
Kustaa said:
...when it should be something like Hype, Compare, Choose.
I'm just posting this because it's crazy how we become kind of addicts to the cutting edge versions of Android, no matter how it really works on our device, it is just awesome because it works, on our beloved 3 years old nexus.
I'm the kind of guy who really search for smoothness, all around the system. I just can't stand a frame drop. It's kind of creepy. No, seriously, I look for details, and there's some things in KitKat I don't like. But all that said, and as I once read, if your eyes see at 15 fps it's not my fault lol. So, here they are:
- Notifications panel / Quick settings animation. Yes, guess what, the frame drop here is aweful. It stutters like hell. Just do it, expand the status bar and hit the tile many times, that's not smooth at all.
- RAM usage. They can say KK is optimized and bla bla, but real thing is that there's less free RAM than JB. It's a fact. You can go all the way of how Android manage memory and stuff, well, I rather more free RAM.
- Home button responsiveness. It just lags. Test it, open an app, something heavy e.g. Facebook app, and press home button. Now do the same but use back button. Give it a few tries if you didn't notice the difference at the first time.
- High battery drain.
There are some other things but you get the point. I felt less responsiveness in general, when multitasking, etc. So I decided to go back to Android 4.3.1 JB, CM 10.2.1 in my particular case. Oh yes, this feels awesome. Notifications panel / Quick settings animation is fully smooth, I've more free ram, Home button reaction is fast again, multitasking is great. I also realized that I missed the Vanilla ui. This is definitely where I'm staying.
So my conclusion is, you can follow the hype but don't stay just with the new things, make your own judgement, compare and choose what's your most suitable rom/android version out there
NOTES:
- I've been watching a lot of YouTube videos looking for this issues I've mentioned, so I discard problems with my Maguro in particular.
- I'm comparing both Android versions with the same apps (around 140 total apps), so there's no factory reset placebo effect.
- They're all present on different roms i.e CM, PA, and some others, so its KK related I guess.
- A particular thing about CM 10.2.1 is that it cames with a modified phase beam live wallpaper that slows down the launcher/system, don't get wrong this first bad impression , try another live wallpaper and you'll see how smooth is it. It runs great, using live or static wallpapers. What I did was delete the phasebeam.apk and push the stock 4.3 phasebeam.apk, that works good :good:.
- Hey! There's some good KK themes for old Theme Chooser if you want the KK look.
Anyway, here's another reason to not to ask what's the best rom for my GN.
This is just my personal opinion.
Hope you've enjoyed the post, and go try yourself!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with the problems you mentioned and i do want speed, stability and smoothness.
I noticed those things when i first upgraded to KK.
To overcome those challenges, i tried all the roms (CM Remix, Cm11, PA, Omni, Omni FML, geyers, AOKP, etc..) with stock kernels and then with DIRTY V and Fancy.
More ram is available with dirty v, fancy and stock PA kernel.
Afterall, i choose my personal set up which is smooth and stable for my device. i am satisfied with it now.
With Android you always have a choice of tweaking, upgrading or downgrading from JB > KK. so choose whats best for you :good:
Even I've been thinking of try CM 10 for a while but I just can't leave KitKat. For me, latest Android version is important but this lag makes me feel bad. So I try to manage the performance using better kernel and not using apps like Facebook but it isn't enough. There is still lag in some or the other screen.
I bought Galaxy Nexus in last 9 months only so I couldn't use Android 4.3 roms much and thus I don't have much info about them. What do you think, should I give it a try? Also, which rom would you recommend?
Thanks.
hemantv said:
Even I've been thinking of try CM 10 for a while but I just can't leave KitKat. For me, latest Android version is important but this lag makes me feel bad. So I try to manage the performance using better kernel and not using apps like Facebook but it isn't enough. There is still lag in some or the other screen.
I bought Galaxy Nexus in last 9 months only so I couldn't use Android 4.3 roms much and thus I don't have much info about them. What do you think, should I give it a try? Also, which rom would you recommend?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said, you'll have to try my friend
If you want my opinion, CM 10.2.1 Stable is awesome. Rock solid. You should make a nandroid backup of your current rom and go try some 4.3 stuff! In worst scenario you'll be restoring the nandroid and that's it!
hemantv said:
Even I've been thinking of try CM 10 for a while but I just can't leave KitKat. For me, latest Android version is important but this lag makes me feel bad. So I try to manage the performance using better kernel and not using apps like Facebook but it isn't enough. There is still lag in some or the other screen.
I bought Galaxy Nexus in last 9 months only so I couldn't use Android 4.3 roms much and thus I don't have much info about them. What do you think, should I give it a try? Also, which rom would you recommend?
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try the paranoid 3.99 based on 4.3
I remember it was really smooth
Kustaa said:
As I said, you'll have to try my friend
If you want my opinion, CM 10.2.1 Stable is awesome. Rock solid. You should make a nandroid backup of your current rom and go try some 4.3 stuff! In worst scenario you'll be restoring the nandroid and that's it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree with you on everything you said. I think I even went back to CM 10.X (not sure the exact one), but it was much better than anything I had before. I am on PA 4.44 and my data loses connection often and not sure why. The version of CM though, I would put it on airplane mode and my battery would still be drained the next day when other versions I didn't have that issue. That's one reason I went to another ROM, but it appears I am just going through ROMS like crazy trying to find the one I like most. To me...battery life is the most important.
decisions.
when i stopped using google framework with all those apps you dont have to use...
i found my battery lasting much longer
setting my kernel to lazy...while turning up voltage and over hertz. gives it enough speed...with enough "crash"
to stay up for 3 to 4 days, just sitting there
and 1 to 2 while in normal use.
and using up my data....well no one is going to get much up time like that

Please help me pick a ROM based on my criteria...

Hi folks,
I hope this isn't a faux pas. I understand we're not supposed to start religious wars about which ROM is the best. So let's not do that. But I could use some advice on the pros and cons of the different options open to me. Here is my situation and success criteria:
1. My T-Mo M919 is currently running an old SlimKat Android 4.4.4 from August 2014. I'm on the MDL bootloader and NB4 GSM modem at the moment. It's running mostly OK, with some camera freezes, some issues with battery drain when Bluetooth is on but not connected to a paired device or in use (wakelock prevents deep sleep... possibly app related?), and I've noticed the ATT Visual Voicemail app, when used to listen to a voicemail, kills subsequent phone call audio/microphone requiring reboot.
2. I've gotten used to Android 5.1(.1) on my tablet and I'd like to make the jump up to Lollipop on my phone, too. So I'm mostly looking at ROMs that are either 5.1 or 5.1.1. However, I'm considering as an outside contender just getting the OH3 firmware for the M919, doing the double flash to get me all the way there, then rooting and freezing Samsung crapware.
3. My criteria are: STABILITY. I don't need a lot of customization. I just want the thing to work. This includes being able to use the camera without it freezing, and being able to use my visual voicemail app without it nuking the phone function of the... uh... phone.
4. I use the phone mostly as an email / texting / forum-browsing device that a few times a week is actually used as a phone to make voice calls. I occasionally tether other devices to the phone's wifi. This needs to work without a hitch.
5. I use Bluetooth to pair with my car's audio system and I need that to be smooth. I recall in the KitKat days there were lots of complaints about glitch pairing/audio. My Slimkat has worked well with the car audio (a late model Toyota); no glitches. I want something that will have stable Bluetooth audio.
My current planned front-runner is the 5.1 GPE ROM by Danvdh. It seems quite stable from reading the thread.
Team Radium's ROM also looks promising.
On the AOSP side, the relatively pure AOSP recently posted by AntaresOne looks good. And I've run Dirty Unicorns before, in the 4.4 days before I moved to SlimKat. That was a good experience. And of course I hear the Slim folks are rebooting so SlimPop or whatever is an option.
I'd like any good direction, focused on stability rather than artwork or customizability, that will help me decide. Thanks!
Frankenscript said:
I'd like any good direction, focused on stability rather than artwork or customizability, that will help me decide. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly, if your focus is on stability rather than artwork/customizability, you're best off flashing back to stock, as pretty much every 5.1.1 ROM for the S4 is going to have a bug somewhere in it; even in the ones you've mentioned, there are bug complaints in their respective threads.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using XDA Free mobile app
This is definitely something I'm considering, but I'd really like to move to 5.1(.1), so I'm willing to give a ROM a try. It sucks that T-Mo never released Lollipop for the M919. I figure if I pick the most stable / settled-in Pop ROM, maybe it will work out. If not I'll drop back to stock 4.4.4 OH3, then freeze out the crap.

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