I've got a used Verizon Nexus, which I am using on Page Plus, after running through a lengthy process to program it to work with Page Plus. I didn't really understand everything I was doing, but I was able to follow the instructions, and it worked great. But it's incredibly slow.
It's running 4.2.2 and Paranoid Android 3.6. I've heard that 4.3 seems to eliminate a lot of the incredible slowness I'm experiencing, and I'd like to upgrade it. But I also spent about a week tweaking and configuring this exactly the way I want, with my launcher and screens and hubs, etc. I don't want to have to do all that again.
Anyone know what my options are? Is it possible to upgrade it to 4.3 without losing all of that? Please write in laymen's terms. I can follow complex instructions, but I don't always know what the terminology means.
Thanks in advance.
In my personal experience, and I have tried many ROMS, the ones with PIE, themes, halo, and other tweaks only make the phone slow. In the end I just went with rooted stock and haven't missed the old.
As per your issue, yes you can do it but it may lead to some issues.
The way you want to do it is through Titanium Backup. Selectively backup entire apps or just app data, which for the launcher itself would contain the arrangement of screens and settings. If you have Nova or Apex, you can export settings to your "sdcard". A bunch of system settings and sync with Google, you may already know this so you don't have to backup those. Once you flash a 4.3 ROM, you will want to re-install Titanium Backup and restore your apps or app data. The drawback to this, hence why I don't typically recommend this, is that you may get some sporadic app force closes. Ideally you'd want to install clean apps from the Play Store.
You don't always experience issues with TB, but just keep in mind the possibility is there.
Best of luck.
iLeopard said:
In my personal experience, and I have tried many ROMS, the ones with PIE, themes, halo, and other tweaks only make the phone slow. In the end I just went with rooted stock and haven't missed the old.
As per your issue, yes you can do it but it may lead to some issues.
The way you want to do it is through Titanium Backup. Selectively backup entire apps or just app data, which for the launcher itself would contain the arrangement of screens and settings. If you have Nova or Apex, you can export settings to your "sdcard". A bunch of system settings and sync with Google, you may already know this so you don't have to backup those. Once you flash a 4.3 ROM, you will want to re-install Titanium Backup and restore your apps or app data. The drawback to this, hence why I don't typically recommend this, is that you may get some sporadic app force closes. Ideally you'd want to install clean apps from the Play Store.
You don't always experience issues with TB, but just keep in mind the possibility is there.
Best of luck.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply. I don't like pie, halo, or themes at all. I prefer to set up my own methods of navigating around my phone. (I put shortcuts on my dock that go to the different screens in my launcher (each devoted to a different category of apps), and then include shortcuts on those screens that go to the apps appropriate to that screen's app category, if that makes any sense. It seems, to me, a very efficient way of finding everything I need very quickly). I am using PA 3.6, because it's what was provided with the process I followed, to get this to work on Page Plus.
Do you know if upgrading to 4.3 with a different ROM will affect the use of my phone on Page Plus? And if not, any suggestions on a good one that includes the most features? I would imagine rooted stock would be fine with me also, but again, I'd like to avoid re-configuring everything. Of course, I will if I have to, to eliminate the lag and get the best performance.
loribuono said:
Thanks for your reply. I don't like pie, halo, or themes at all. I prefer to set up my own methods of navigating around my phone. (I put shortcuts on my dock that go to the different screens in my launcher (each devoted to a different category of apps), and then include shortcuts on those screens that go to the apps appropriate to that screen's app category, if that makes any sense. It seems, to me, a very efficient way of finding everything I need very quickly). I am using PA 3.6, because it's what was provided with the process I followed, to get this to work on Page Plus.
Do you know if upgrading to 4.3 with a different ROM will affect the use of my phone on Page Plus? And if not, any suggestions on a good one that includes the most features? I would imagine rooted stock would be fine with me also, but again, I'd like to avoid re-configuring everything. Of course, I will if I have to, to eliminate the lag and get the best performance.
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I don't know what you did to make it work for Page Plus and I cannot offer any advice on that note I'm sorry. I've never owned a CDMA device. With GSM, you stick in a new SIM and its ready to go. As far as ROM's go, again I'm afraid I'm the wrong guy. Maybe you can apply some of the same steps to making it work with a 4.3 ROM? The underlying OS is the exact same.
Related
I've been using my samsung GN for a month now and loving it. This is my first transition into the Android platform so please excuse my ignorance if my questions seem trivial.
I haven't unlocked or rooted my phone yet, but I'm itching to do so. I just had a few questions before I try it.
1. Unlocking the bootloader will wipe out my entire phone. I'm assuming this means it will similar to opening up a new phone. Since I've used this phone for a month now, I've put all my phone contacts in, including getting all the profile photos for my friends and contacts. Since I started a GMail account, can all this be recovered once gmail syncs back to the phone. I'm assuming this is for the calendar as well. Also is there a way to backup and restore anything else... ie txt messages, apps, settings, etc. I read somewhere something about titanium backup (can this be done the first time I unlock the bootloader?)
2. One of the main reasons why I want to unlock/root is to be able to put in some custom themes and icons. Am I correct to say this is only possible after I root the phone? Or can this be done on the stock unlocked form?
3. The other reason I want to do this is to see if there are any custom roms or kernels that can help with the UI interface to make it a bit more smooth and not as stuttery. (I know this is a debated discussion), however I came from the iphone and it is noticable and irritating to me (YMMV) Does anyone know of a custom kernel or ROM that will be able to improve on this?
Thank you for your help... I'm still somewhat hesitant to do the process. I'd just like to find out as much as I can before I try it.
You can change icons and launcher themes by using a custom launcher such as ADW or Go Launcher (the two with the most themes) but this will only change the icons of your apps. If you want to get into custom colors and buttons and such, you will need to root.
Gmail will sync all of your contacts back, but the pictures will be low resolution (unless they are your friends on G+) to fix this, you can redo the pictures by hand or download an app called Haxsync for facebook sync which I've found works fairly well.
You can download "SMS backup and restore" to back up and restore your texts.
Market will have your paid apps saved, but write a list of your free apps as market will not save those.
Also your settings such as wifi networks will be remembered.
And yes, custom kernels and roms will help with smoothness, promise
Josh, thanks a lot for the advice, I'll look into the apps before I start to unlock this puppy!!!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Anytime feel free to PM me if you need any help!
the bad about being a flashahilic.
Just when you got your favorite ROM all customized the way you want the DEV team for your rom will releases a new ROM
1) Not being able to restore apps that require you to start it up first,ex: tasker or Widget HD.
2) Also realizing the first time you use Navigation system on a new rom you realize the GPS is searching the entire trip.
The sticky has ans awesome GPS fix
3) loosing alarms sounds and ringtones because they are not in the new rom.
Any one app specifically designed for flashahiolics, an app that just restores just want you in about 3 clicks?
Titanium back up is awesome but it for applications only. it backs up to many things that system backup are hard to figure out. I keep restoring system stuff until I get what I want . Takes very long. have to say Android 4.+ has been a blessing to a flashahiloc.
Guess Im just venting a little. but a solution is needed for a flash aholic like me.
Cheers
Lol...I learned enough lessons restoring system apps, and dirty flashing. I've settled down, pick one that is fine and when the new one comes out watch the threads and let the flashaholics tell you if there's problems. Keeps you safe and less time restoring everything.
No known method other than problematic methods of getting things up quick.
On aokp one design was incremental updates that I thought didn't require full data wipes. However, if system framework changes happen you don't want to be jacked in a boot loop because you didn't follow instructions.
What you feel is the same as many others and no quick solution. If the ROM doesn't have certain settings that can be backed up and restored there's not a lot you can do.
Good luck though..
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
I've been playing with my new and shiny VirginROM for a couple of days now, and while I am really happy with it, a friend of mine has been nagging me to try out a few different ROMs before I finally settle down for the Chosen One. So I looked around, and both AOKP and CM look interesting. My concern is that, assuming the flashing goes smoothly, I might lose some application data and/or settings. I do have up-to-date backups of my current ROM, so my gut feeling is that I should be able to recover at least some, if not all of my data, but since I've never done this, I don't really know...
Let's assume for now that I want to try AOKP. What apps/tools/guides should I acquaint myself with if I want to:
Back my current ROM up. I've been using CWM backups, is there a better way?
Restore only my apps and settings after I flash AOKP.
Titianium backup will back up your user app and settings. Never restore any system apps or data. That you will have to redo on every flash. Nova launcher can back up it's widget set ups.
Wayne Tech Nexus
I might suggest taking a look at Infamous ROM. It's based on Touchwiz, so it includes wifi calling if that is important to you. Neither AOKP or CM will have that.
Infamous also includes the framework for an app called 3minit, which allows essentially every customization option that I can remember from AOKP on my Galaxy S2 and then tons more. Dev support is excellent.
Everyone has their favorite of course, just thought it might be worth mentioning. Good luck looking around.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda premium
Dugan1017 said:
I might suggest taking a look at Infamous ROM. It's based on Touchwiz, so it includes wifi calling if that is important to you. Neither AOKP or CM will have that.
Infamous also includes the framework for an app called 3minit, which allows essentially every customization option that I can remember from AOKP on my Galaxy S2 and then tons more. Dev support is excellent.
Everyone has their favorite of course, just thought it might be worth mentioning. Good luck looking around.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that rom doesn't support the clone device
Wayne Tech Nexus
Dugan1017 said:
I might suggest taking a look at Infamous ROM. It's based on Touchwiz, so it includes wifi calling if that is important to you. Neither AOKP or CM will have that.
Infamous also includes the framework for an app called 3minit, which allows essentially every customization option that I can remember from AOKP on my Galaxy S2 and then tons more. Dev support is excellent.
Everyone has their favorite of course, just thought it might be worth mentioning. Good luck looking around.
Sent from my SGH-M919 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
I remember looking at Infamous' thread here, on XDA, when I was choosing ROMs. It looked like one of the more attractive ones, but I remember discarding it for some reason I can no longer recall. I'll take another look, now that I am (a little) more knowledgeable about ROMs in general.
ArgentSun said:
I might lose some application data and/or settings. I do have up-to-date backups of my current ROM, so my gut feeling is that I should be able to recover at least some, if not all of my data, but since I've never done this, I don't really know...
Back my current ROM up. I've been using CWM backups, is there a better way?
Restore only my apps and settings after I flash AOKP.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As was already mentioned, 99% of the time, you don't want to use TiBu to restore your apps+data. From my experiments though, using TiBu (or backing up only the data partition you used on TouchWiz) is fine to use on other versions of TouchWiz. Say you want to go from WickedV4 to BobCat from the i9505 section... TiBu app+data backups (flashable update.zips too) and CWM/TWRP data partition restores will work just fine... that is not the case if you're switching between, for example, TW and AOKP; or between AOKP and CM. Most definitely use TiBu, but unless you're going between different versions of the same ROM, don't restore your data; just restore the apps.
As for everything else, your gallery is fine.. anything on your internal memory/external SD card is fine and won't be touched. There are apps that will backup your text messages and your APN settings if need be. It's not a whole lot of hassle and, once you get the hang of everything, one should be able to have a newly flashed ROM up and running like they've been using it for weeks within about 15-20 minutes.
Ok, so I just rooted my tablet, my first time too. But I have a few questions.
I have no idea what custom recovery is? How do I get it, and what are some apps and stuff I should not do before I get it.
What are some apps you recommend? Keyboard apps, uh...any apps I guess.
My biggest question is, I downloaded a emulator called dolphin emulator, so I could play the old gamecube Pokemon Colosseum. But it wont work. I do not know if any of you use this program, but any help would be appreciated. The game actually starts, shows the nintendo symbol, goes to a weird grey screeen instead of the studios logo animation, and then turns black. The fps is around 21, and during audio or the grey screen, it goes to 13 - 15 fps. Any Ideas on what might be wrong? Maybe RAM or something of that nature.
What are things like Nova and Apex?
Also, what do i need to do to install roms? What should I have before I install a rom? And what kind of roms do you recommend?
um...and I guess anything else you could tell a complete rookie. I have no idea what I'm doing. OTL
also, what is the bloatware that i can get rid of?
ugh, basically, what have you done for your rooted note? What are some things you would recommend to another person for their device.
and for some reason i cant download SetCPU, so I downloaded CPU Tuner. What are some settings you recommend.
ryandoodles said:
Ok, so I just rooted my tablet, my first time too. But I have a few questions.
I have no idea what custom recovery is? How do I get it, and what are some apps and stuff I should not do before I get it.
What are some apps you recommend? Keyboard apps, uh...any apps I guess.
My biggest question is, I downloaded a emulator called dolphin emulator, so I could play the old gamecube Pokemon Colosseum. But it wont work. I do not know if any of you use this program, but any help would be appreciated. The game actually starts, shows the nintendo symbol, goes to a weird grey screeen instead of the studios logo animation, and then turns black. The fps is around 21, and during audio or the grey screen, it goes to 13 - 15 fps. Any Ideas on what might be wrong? Maybe RAM or something of that nature.
What are things like Nova and Apex?
Also, what do i need to do to install roms? What should I have before I install a rom? And what kind of roms do you recommend?
um...and I guess anything else you could tell a complete rookie. I have no idea what I'm doing. OTL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ryandoodles said:
also, what is the bloatware that i can get rid of?
ugh, basically, what have you done for your rooted note? What are some things you would recommend to another person for their device.
and for some reason i cant download SetCPU, so I downloaded CPU Tuner. What are some settings you recommend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, my first bit of advice is to start reading. Things like custom recovery are easily figured out with a little research. As far as I know, the only custom recovery we have for our tablets is TWRP 2.6.x.x, not sure what version they are on now since I am not using it.
As for what to do after root, that is up to you. Get the pro version of Titanium Backup, and SuperSU at the very least, they will be very important if you want to freeze/delete bloatware and modify your phone at all.
Can't help you with the Pokemon thing.
Nova and Apex are launchers. Try them out and see if you like one better than the stock launcher. I run Nova on mine.
To install a ROM, you will need to first download TWRP, then flash the ROM. Read the directions for flashing the ROM fully before you do anything.
As for bloatware, start by freezing things you don't use in TiBu, and go from there.
In all honesty, you need to read, read, read and then read some more. You don't want to turn your tablet into a $600+ paperweight.
As for me? I am rooted running the stock ROM, Nova Prime launcher, and I froze a bunch of bloat. It is plenty fast, smooth, stable, and it looks great.
lol the dolphin emulator won't work because it requires an extremely powerful machine. It will only work with maybe 2 or 3 devices currently.
The developer posted this in the app description:
"If you're expecting reasonable speeds out of this, you are sorely mistaken. This will run slow on every single Android device, no matter if it is the most powerful one in the world.
Some caveats
- It will crash. Alot.
- It might need to be force closed and ran multiple times to work.
- It will run slow"
Why immediately install new ROMs? There are no many ROMS for this device anyway. Rooting will help you to freeze unnecessary Samsung software, as already mentioned above (using Titanium). To try different launchers (Nova, etc.) you don't need to be rooted, just install and play with them. You have a powerful machine, learn to use it, use all the features (S Pen, multi-window, pen window, etc.) before playing with other ROMs.
Since you are rooted you must get this app:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2646432
Makes multi window way more useful.
Also Xposed Framework and multi window manager so that you can add any application to the multi window menu.
Actually there are a lot of cool things you can do with Xposed.
Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk
Is there any good data on which of the major ROMs are most trouble free?
I am a pretty simple guy. All I really want is to be able to use my phone as a hotspot, take pictures without the camera app crashing and easy access to turn the torch on and off. Seems like a lot of the reviews spend a lot of time focusing on how many colors you can change and relatively little on the actually reliability of the ROM. This sort of leaves us asking eachother and it seems like everyone and their brother has an opinion on how stable any given ROM is and all swear by different ones.
At any rate, this just leaves me wondering if there is actually any good reviews or sources that summarize what the weeknesses of each ROM are. I know it is a tricky thing to ask, because they are always changing with each nightly build, but I have been pulling my hair out for the last couple years trying to find a properly stable ROM for my T999.
They cant really review stability and functionality on some roms, such as CM for example. Its going to be different for every model device, and even between 2 identical model devices you will still find one has issues while another does not. Thats why they usually stick to reviewing features and options. But also, what works best will vary from person to person even more so than from one device to the next. As is stated in all the "what's the best rom" threads, only you can determine what suits your needs best.
But for what its worth, imo, if its stability you're after, stick to whatever the manufacturer included on any given device.
DocHoliday77 said:
They cant really review stability and functionality on some roms, such as CM for example. Its going to be different for every model device, and even between 2 identical model devices you will still find one has issues while another does not. Thats why they usually stick to reviewing features and options. But also, what works best will vary from person to person even more so than from one device to the next. As is stated in all the "what's the best rom" threads, only you can determine what suits your needs best.
But for what its worth, imo, if its stability you're after, stick to whatever the manufacturer included on any given device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would stick with the stock rom, but I just really don't like it. I have also gotten very used to using a more stock version of Android and don't want to have to adjust back to using the stock rom, even if there are ways to get tethering to work.
aviphysics said:
I would stick with the stock rom, but I just really don't like it. I have also gotten very used to using a more stock version of Android and don't want to have to adjust back to using the stock rom, even if there are ways to get tethering to work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What don't you like about the stock ROM? You say you want simple and don't care about changing anything, but you're not happy with stock either. What do you really want? lol. Also note, than any other ROM is not going to have the Samsung camera app, they are all going to be a lot more basic camera's, no wifi calling if you use that t-mo feature.
Torch on and off can be accessed with a shortcut on stock ROM, any third party app that lets you add a widget, or if you install xposed framework, you can add torch to the volume up button, so you can turn the torch on without even waking the phone. I'm with Doc, I'm a Touchwiz kind of guy too. I don't get the hate for it.
I just don't like some of the extra junk Samsung adds on. I like a more stripped down vanilla Android. I originally switched yo get rid of sVoice in particular and just got used to it. Not needing extra apps for WiFi tethering is a nice bonus.
At any rate. Just totally wiped the phone back to stock with Odin and installed the latest AOKP. No problems yet.
You can strip the Samsung apps out, and there is mods to enable native tethering.. But aosp or the kind is a nice option as well, just depends on what you want and need
aviphysics said:
I just don't like some of the extra junk Samsung adds on. I like a more stripped down vanilla Android. I originally switched yo get rid of sVoice in particular and just got used to it. Not needing extra apps for WiFi tethering is a nice bonus.
At any rate. Just totally wiped the phone back to stock with Odin and installed the latest AOKP. No problems yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thinly veiled best ROM thread. SlimKat with Banks' minimal gapps.
I don't use my S3 anymore, but I have that ROM on it and my other two devices. It is filed under d2lte on their site, it's a unified build.
If you have kernel problems, use ktoonsez'. That one was always really solid.
Aerowinder said:
Thinly veiled best ROM thread.
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Click to collapse
LOL. Totally not meant to be a best ROM thread. Just wanted to know if anyone was tracking reliability or issues common to the different ROMs in a way that was easy to sift through and not totally anecdotal.
SlimKat with Banks' minimal gapps.
I don't use my S3 anymore, but I have that ROM on it and my other two devices. It is filed under d2lte on their site, it's a unified build.
If you have kernel problems, use ktoonsez'. That one was always really solid.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never figured out what was causing problems with my last ROM. TBH, I don't even recall what the kernel and ROM combination was. It was just something some random XDA forum member suggested. The biggest issue is that every time I opened the camera app, went away from it and came back, it would crash. Also happened when switching between camera and video. Sometimes it would require a system reset to get the camera back. I think it was something to do with the app itself, cause other apps that took pictures never had any problems. Super annoying. There were some other issues to. I stuck it out for a long time because the app fixed a BT audio issue I was having and I was too lazy to do more searching or reflashing my phone from scratch.
Right now I am just trying to make my phone last until the Sony Z3 launches. I am pretty sure that will be my next phone. Hopefully it won't cost a crazy amount to import it if t-mobile doesn't get it right away.
aviphysics said:
LOL. Totally not meant to be a best ROM thread. Just wanted to know if anyone was tracking reliability or issues common to the different ROMs in a way that was easy to sift through and not totally anecdotal.
I never figured out what was causing problems with my last ROM. TBH, I don't even recall what the kernel and ROM combination was. It was just something some random XDA forum member suggested. The biggest issue is that every time I opened the camera app, went away from it and came back, it would crash. Also happened when switching between camera and video. Sometimes it would require a system reset to get the camera back. I think it was something to do with the app itself, cause other apps that took pictures never had any problems. Super annoying. There were some other issues to. I stuck it out for a long time because the app fixed a BT audio issue I was having and I was too lazy to do more searching or reflashing my phone from scratch.
Right now I am just trying to make my phone last until the Sony Z3 launches. I am pretty sure that will be my next phone. Hopefully it won't cost a crazy amount to import it if t-mobile doesn't get it right away.
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AOSP camera was always crap in general but especially so on the S3.
You can get an updated on in the play store now, so you can freeze the AOSP one.
Aerowinder said:
AOSP camera was always crap in general but especially so on the S3.
You can get an updated on in the play store now, so you can freeze the AOSP one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The camera in the latest AOKP was working fine, but I downloaded the Google Camera app just to check it out. Works fine taking normal pictures, but the blur mode causes it to crash when you try to take a picture and the panorama/photosphere modes won't take pictures. I found some other people with identical problems, but didn't see a clear solution.
aviphysics said:
The camera in the latest AOKP was working fine, but I downloaded the Google Camera app just to check it out. Works fine taking normal pictures, but the blur mode causes it to crash when you try to take a picture and the panorama/photosphere modes won't take pictures. I found some other people with identical problems, but didn't see a clear solution.
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It was originally for the Nexus 5, then they put it on the play store for everyone. Clearly issues with non Google devices.
I'd suggest a third party camera app, like Camera ZOOM or something.