Looking for a lightweight stock based rom. - Sony Xperia S, Acro S, Ion

Hai. I'm back using my good old Xperia S, but the stock rom is pretty meh, especially coming from the glorious Z3. I'm looking for a rom to make the phone a bit more modern and smoother. What I'm looking for is a debloated stock rom with stock sony stuff updated to at least Xperia Z apps, especially the launcher and the toggles. I don't care about overclocking or barely working honami camera or any of that stuff, I want fully working stock based stuff.
I tried a bunch of roms like Nature or Experienz but they're awfully bloated and full of malfunctioning features.
Alternatively can you recommend a fully working fully stable version of Cyanogen or an AOSP based rom with no bugs and no missing features (I can sacrifice the FM radio)? Last time I tried Cyanogen for this device I was tearing my hair out because of day runing bugs (such as the phone hanging mid calls).
Also what's a no frills kernel that doesn't annoy me with awful edgy boot logos and has a working recovery with ability to mount USB mass storage?

I have tried Nature Xperia and removed a bunch of "features" and so far it's working pretty well and seems faster than stock.

MarkMRL said:
Hai. I'm back using my good old Xperia S, but the stock rom is pretty meh, especially coming from the glorious Z3. I'm looking for a rom to make the phone a bit more modern and smoother. What I'm looking for is a debloated stock rom with stock sony stuff updated to at least Xperia Z apps, especially the launcher and the toggles. I don't care about overclocking or barely working honami camera or any of that stuff, I want fully working stock based stuff.
I tried a bunch of roms like Nature or Experienz but they're awfully bloated and full of malfunctioning features.
Alternatively can you recommend a fully working fully stable version of Cyanogen or an AOSP based rom with no bugs and no missing features (I can sacrifice the FM radio)? Last time I tried Cyanogen for this device I was tearing my hair out because of day runing bugs (such as the phone hanging mid calls).
Also what's a no frills kernel that doesn't annoy me with awful edgy boot logos and has a working recovery with ability to mount USB mass storage?
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Hi Mark,
I am looking for something similar. Did you have any luck?
Cheers

alex_ncfc said:
Hi Mark,
I am looking for something similar. Did you have any luck?
Cheers
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Click to collapse
Nature Xperia with most of the crapware removed worked pretty well for me. Thank the gods I'm back using my Z3 now, I remembered the Xperia S was pretty smooth and very usable, but either my standards changed or something went wrong with it, it's so slow and clunky I could barely use it without getting constantly frustrated.

MarkMRL said:
Nature Xperia with most of the crapware removed worked pretty well for me. Thank the gods I'm back using my Z3 now, I remembered the Xperia S was pretty smooth and very usable, but either my standards changed or something went wrong with it, it's so slow and clunky I could barely use it without getting constantly frustrated.
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Thanks for the reply Mark.
Is the Nature Xperia ROM a "Sony looking" one like the Z series phones?
I don't use the Xperia S as my primary phone and use it as a backup (I have the Z1 compact) and like you, I agree - the XS seems to now be incredibly slow and I am guessing it must be our standards of being used to a device with more RAM. The Xperia S really seems to be struggling and that's why I've been looking for a custom ROM but one which looks like a Sony ROM and behaves like one. The closest I've seen is at Xperia Overlay, which looks very impressive, but I am not paying for a ROM for a backup phone.
I guess the XS just cannot handle the sheer scale of modern apps. I remember when I had the Xperia X10 and to some extent, the Xperia S, apps used to be so small - I remember when Facebook used to be a few MB.

Related

[Q] Xperia Arc running very slow

Hi guys. I bought a Xperia Arc (LT15i) last year, SIM-Unlocked, T-mobile branded and lots of bloatware.The experience so far couldn't be better. I love the UI and the camera is great. Since the very beginning it has being laggy, but it was bearable. Recently I updated to ICS hoping I would get a bit faster. At the beginning it was nice, but now it crashes a lot, and I can hardly avoid throwing it to a wall. Moreover battery lasts 8 hours with hardly use, which is very annoying as I have to go everywhere with cables and chargers (not sure if the battery is actually working well. I haven't tested it or used a brand new one).
I would like to flash a good and stable rom, if possible with JB. Which one would you recommend. I unlocked once the bootloader, but I didn't really want a custom rom at the moment, but the ICS stock one, so I relocked in order to get it. Not sure if that was the best thing to do, but it was running at quite a decent speed. Now it is very very laggy (even doing trivial things such as searching a contact!!!), and when I got my sony smartwatch, the battery drain was overwhelming.
I want something smooth, a custom ROM would be very welcomed. I read about Jelly Sandwich. Seems really nice, but since I don't want have the time to read all the posts, can anybody tell me if there's any problem connecting to the smartwatch in a custom ROM? Also, some comments regarding performance and battery drain on such ROM would be very much appreciated.
I don't have any game installed, since the available storage is very limited (I have like 39 mb left). I use mail a lot, chat applications (such as whatsapp, IMO, talk, etc.), facebook and twitter.
I really want to get the most out of it before I buy myself another phone (Xperia V, maybe?).
Thanks in avance, a newbie.
I recomend you X Gamer or another GB Rom as Arconium 8.2, because JB and ICS will make your device slower cause they need more resources to run ok. If you want smoothness my recomendation is to use X-Gamer Rom from OmenHTX. Im using it right now and its go flashy
HerrJuancho said:
Hi guys. I bought a Xperia Arc (LT15i) last year, SIM-Unlocked, T-mobile branded and lots of bloatware.The experience so far couldn't be better. I love the UI and the camera is great. Since the very beginning it has being laggy, but it was bearable. Recently I updated to ICS hoping I would get a bit faster. At the beginning it was nice, but now it crashes a lot, and I can hardly avoid throwing it to a wall. Moreover battery lasts 8 hours with hardly use, which is very annoying as I have to go everywhere with cables and chargers (not sure if the battery is actually working well. I haven't tested it or used a brand new one).
I would like to flash a good and stable rom, if possible with JB. Which one would you recommend. I unlocked once the bootloader, but I didn't really want a custom rom at the moment, but the ICS stock one, so I relocked in order to get it. Not sure if that was the best thing to do, but it was running at quite a decent speed. Now it is very very laggy (even doing trivial things such as searching a contact!!!), and when I got my sony smartwatch, the battery drain was overwhelming.
I want something smooth, a custom ROM would be very welcomed. I read about Jelly Sandwich. Seems really nice, but since I don't want have the time to read all the posts, can anybody tell me if there's any problem connecting to the smartwatch in a custom ROM? Also, some comments regarding performance and battery drain on such ROM would be very much appreciated.
I don't have any game installed, since the available storage is very limited (I have like 39 mb left). I use mail a lot, chat applications (such as whatsapp, IMO, talk, etc.), facebook and twitter.
I really want to get the most out of it before I buy myself another phone (Xperia V, maybe?).
Thanks in avance, a newbie.
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Click to collapse
If u want to use your devices faster, your battery life time may lower. So, trying a custom rom which developer claimed how much fast their rom, sure the battery will drain faster. If u want to use battery longer, your phone performance will also slower. So try using the stock rom is the best as the sony developer team balanced all the properties. I would like to recommend you one thing is to use app like Advance Task Killer (for fast performance & battery lift) and Link2SD (for storage performance problem). And also Rom Toolbox Pro app. With this app, you can stop unwanted app from auto running. This can greatly reduce memory usage.
Good Luck Guy,

Any major problem with stock ICS on Xperia Arc S?

I just got this phone, Xperia Arc S, and it's on 2.3.4.
I owned the Xperia Ray which was another 2011 SonyEricsson device, but the Ray became a sluggish pile of crap after I updated it to ICS. Does the ICS update work better on the Arc S? Any major problem with it, or should I just root gingerbread, get rid of the bloatware, and keep it that way? The phone is for my dad, so I'd rather keep it stock, but if you can recommend me a custom stock based rom without too much advanced stuff and that is fully stable it would be welcome. I don't want him to deal with any hassle.
UHD by jader if u are looking for a ICS rom its Release candidate the last version but 3.1 is stable and good.If u are looking for gb rom http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2077316 this one is awesome im using it and no lags or bugs.Well u have the ugly gb settings but..
Oh well, I updated and gave it to my father anyway. The ICS is disgustingly choppy, just like on the Ray, especially the home is cringe inducing, but he doesn't know any better so I think it'll be ok.
official ICS on all hdpi on xperia 2011 is crap.
laggy and choppy, the only good thing on it is just it's camera.
"major" problem is only it's wifi strength though.
MarkMRL said:
I owned the Xperia Ray which was another 2011 SonyEricsson device, but the Ray became a sluggish pile of crap after I updated it to ICS.
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It still runs fine on my Ray as it did on my Arc with a few build.prop and init.d script tweaks.
Arc was made for Gingerbread, ICS is slow.
The only alternative is JB, but you can't use HDMI or good camera.
Oh my god. The phone is SO DAMN SLOW on ICS. Today I had the displeasure of using it and it's slow as crap. It responds several seconds late no matter what you do. Even turning on the flashlight with the smallest lightest torch app in the market (Lite Led, it's the best, no frills torch app) takes a couple of seconds.
All the bad memories, buyer's remorse and sadness I felt when I upgraded my Ray to ICS are rushing back.
How could sony blew it so hard, oh man, oh man. I have no idea how my dad stands it. And I thought my Xperia S was "kinda slow" on ICS. In comparisong to this sluggish, chugging, ungodly abomination of an unoptimized OS it's faster than thought. And he has nothing but the torch app, the Vodafone app to check money and internet usage, and Sygic navigation. Is the phone even usable after you actually install apps and games on it?
I don't even think the Ray was this slow, I mean, the Ray was unbearably slow, but this is borderline unusable.
I am so angry right now and I'm not even the user of the phone.
I think there are three solutions for you:
- You keep the Sony stock ROM and live with the lags (easiest way)
- You root the phone and add some tweaks (build.prop, init.d or the most important V6SuperCharger)
- You root your phone and install a custom ROM and - if you want - unlock the bootloader to install a custom kernel
The Arc S is capable of ICS, it just needs a little help. V6SuperCharger is one of the most important tweaks (including the service.jar patch).

[Q] What is the most full-featured 4.X rom?

I'm thinking about finally ditching the 2.3.4 stock rom that's served me well for so many years.
...but since I have been spoiled by 2.3.4, I'm coming in with some extremely high standards. I understand a lot of my Gameloft games will be broken, and I'm willing to come to terms with that.
Requirements:
- I don't want to sacrifice major hardware elements (touchpad/buttons, camera/720p recording, GPS, BT)
- Looking for battery life that will either match or exceed the famously spectacular battery life 2.3.4 users know of
- I'd like to have the new Xperia Play Game Launcher I've seen in the ICS previews
It's asking both a little and a lot at the same time... but with those requirements set in place, I'm not terribly picky about whether it's 4.0, 4.1, 4.2 or 4.3... as long as it's one of them.
Any suggestions?
TLRtheory said:
I'm thinking about finally ditching the 2.3.4 stock rom that's served me well for so many years.
...but since I have been spoiled by 2.3.4, I'm coming in with some extremely high standards. I understand a lot of my Gameloft games will be broken, and I'm willing to come to terms with that.
Requirements:
- I don't want to sacrifice major hardware elements (touchpad/buttons, camera/720p recording, GPS, BT)
- Looking for battery life that will either match or exceed the famously spectacular battery life 2.3.4 users know of
- I'd like to have the new Xperia Play Game Launcher I've seen in the ICS previews
It's asking both a little and a lot at the same time... but with those requirements set in place, I'm not terribly picky about whether it's 4.0, 4.1, 4.2 or 4.3... as long as it's one of them.
Any suggestions?
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Click to collapse
Mission impossible...
Stock 2.3.4 firmware is most stable and fully-compatible for gamer like you.
And there are so many roms out there that you'll need a month to test them all...
I don't know what rom to recommend you, but i can say of some pros and cons of different ics/jb roms out there:
-Stock (Sony) based ICS roms are most compatible in terms of hardware features. Touchpads works in 90% of games (esspecially in gameloft games). All other hardware is almoust 100% in working state. But, ICS is little heavier in terms of memory managment, and whatever rom you choose, if you install heavy apps like facebook that are always on, you're gonna meet Mr.Lag very soon. Also, compared to stock GB, most of them have volume in around 90%, wich is acceptable. You can flash 480p Lupus kernel and getting some free RAM (fyi, 480p on GB is not same as 480p in ICS. Imho, in ICS, 720p looks like streched 480p). Also, there are few types of Stock (Sony) based ICS roms: ported from ics beta for play (little outdated), ported from Neo L's ICS (less features, but not so heavy) and roms ported from other devices (Arc, Ray, T, etc etc), with most features (including small apps)
-CM based ICS have (as all CM roms) lower volume in general (same as stock GB without xLoud), most touchgames works, some roms have problems with back/circle button
-I don't have much expirience with MIUI roms, i tested it few times, but didn't use it much (imho, it is little heavier on RAM, but it's eye-candy). worth a try, for sure
-JB roms are all CM10 based, generally have all features of CM (but not all features of sony apps). And even it works, on all JB roms there is lag when using touchpads. It is barrely noticeable at, for example, at Nova 3, but on heavy game like Modern Combat 4, framerate drop by 10 for sure.
If i missed any, i'm sorry, that is my experience from last (almoust) two years of testing/flashing roms in few words.
I guess you already know, but just for the sake of mentioning, check Xperia Play Index - ROM'S, FIRMWARE, KERNEL'S, GUIDE'S, THEMES, MOD'S. Smokerman had a great job of continuing Fma's work there.
TLRtheory said:
I'm thinking about finally ditching the 2.3.4 stock rom that's served me well for so many years.
...but since I have been spoiled by 2.3.4, I'm coming in with some extremely high standards. I understand a lot of my Gameloft games will be broken, and I'm willing to come to terms with that.
Requirements:
- I don't want to sacrifice major hardware elements (touchpad/buttons, camera/720p recording, GPS, BT)
- Looking for battery life that will either match or exceed the famously spectacular battery life 2.3.4 users know of
- I'd like to have the new Xperia Play Game Launcher I've seen in the ICS previews
It's asking both a little and a lot at the same time... but with those requirements set in place, I'm not terribly picky about whether it's 4.0, 4.1, 4.2 or 4.3... as long as it's one of them.
Any suggestions?
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Click to collapse
i'm using XPlaystation ICS V14 by Frago, it has smoothest ui IMO compared to the past ics rom i used b4 that is Xperia Play Z final v5 by Markphyton
@TLRtheory
MIUI v5 based on JB
from here.. 3.12.27 http://en.miui.com/thread-3182-1-1.html
or MIUI v4 based on ICS
from here.. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2077280
or wt say about MIUI v2 based on GB from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2077280 and TURBO Gamers Edition MIUI v2 from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2201338
Stay with gingerbread!
Almost all other roms out there are experimental and no one was able to perfect a fully compatible one, there's or there are bugs always! If in terms of gaming and overall performance, stay with stock gingerbread, root it and install a modified kernel, from there you can experiment further to even make it better!
im a big fan of ics+ myself
because i have some problems with gb that it doesn't support my router completely
i used most of ics roms around the forum and if you only need a rom full of futures use my Iridescent_Zed_One port but i wont suggest it for gaming or heavy using.
i turned on my hotspot shield on that and started web browsing and phone freezed completely(but gaming was fair enough for myself.i dont use my xperia play for gaming anymore.)
for gaming i will suggest you stock deblaoted rom without any tweaks
Well, I'm trying out xPlaystation v14 now. So far there's a lot I like, but it has this infuriating trend of randomly hanging for about a minute, and it happens frequently enough to where I'm probably gonna try out MIUI.
...if nothing else, just for a functioning Google Now,
Okay so I have MIUI now and OH MY GOD. It was like breathing new life into my Xperia Play.
I do have a couple questions though that I'd like to ask without getting into it's own horribly swamped topic.
1) Where can I access the Permissions Manager? I really need my Link2SD to survive
2) Can I customize the icons on the lock screen? If so, how can I?

[Q] Warranty is up, time to unlock and install a custom rom+kernel. Suggestions?

I'm using stock .96 on my Xperia S, and I'm pretty satisfied with it. I installed the new Home and Walkman, rooted, and for me it's pretty much perfect already.
Since my warranty is up, I want to improve the phone to the max with a custom rom and kernel, but there are a lot of those on here, and I don't really have time to test them all.
Which one do you guys think is faster than stock and with more features and the least amount of bugs (or no bugs at all)?
Thanks in advance.
none,if i say seriously.i was like u but tried almost all roms.all are good and have different advantages but u use ur phone for camera,video and for heavy use like me,dont move to a custom rom for sure.u can try them after making a cwm backup and restore if u dont like.cm10 for locked bootloaders have everything working with few negligible minor bugs
If you like pure stock then I would highly suggest ExistenZ. I am really enjoying it at the moment and has been running fine. I really enjoy my Ion and with the new themes and stuff I don't even want a new device lol. The camera is a issue and if you do try this rom I suggest you also flash advance stock camera before initial boot. The newer camera is cool but with so many bugs its kinda pointless.
Ok then, I've decided how to upgrade... I bought a Samsung Galaxy S4. Found a really good deal on a used one and decided to get it.
Gave my XPS to my father so he upgraded from his god awful Xperia Arc S on ICS (a phone so slow it's literally unusable).
Honestly, I vastly prefer the interface, looks, build, and screen of the Xperia S, but the Galaxy S4 is way faster and the screen is bigger (colors are unrealistic because of OLED, I preferred the screen on the Xperia S), camera is also much better. If I was richer I would have bought a brand new Z1 though.

Pros/Cons of Custom Roms and Kernels?

I've been thinking about Custom Roms for a while now, and whether or not to go down the route again. I've had previous (awful) experience with ROM's and my old N7000.
What I'm basically looking for is someone to advise me, give me the advantages and disadvantages so I can weigh out whether or not it's worth it. Stay stock and wait for the L release, or just play with the custom roms... PA/CM mainly.
I know custom roms are often (usually) unstable, and can be troublesome at times. Unexpected boot loops was a huge issue for me back in the Samsung day.
I've never known much about kernels. I learnt a bit about them in the ICS/GB days because of the huge problem with hard bricking on a wide scale. Are there any issues with today's kernels?
If anyone could help a guy out, that'd be great!
Firstly you need to check if you can unlock your bootloader. I CANT so i must use stock based firmwares. Stock are really good and kitslim based on stock is the best stick based ROM. If you want cm Roma you need to know that in cm there is no Sony features some of then are already ported if i good remember in Sony cross development. Everyone need to w8 for L relaese cm users too. I think first cm 12 will be in January so as stock Sony should be in january /february i think that cm users of xperia devices are happy with cm and i dont hear about loops or random reboots. Xperias devices are quite different than Samsung so you need to check to know
Wysłane z mojego D5503 przy użyciu Tapatalka
Hi
I've just flashed latest CM11 Mod Rom to my Z1 Compact and reporting no problems. Its pretty straight forward and well worth it, gives you complete control and no bloatware or google draining your battery! Just read through posts carefully before embarking, let me know if you need any help.
Chris.
One disadvantage is that the camera quality is not comparable to stock rom
Interesting, how would you compare the stock rom camera quality with cyanogenmod camera resolution? Just ive not noticed any difference thats all. Thanx.
Most custom ROMS have some bugs, which are non-existent on stock ones.
Manufacturers somehow implement some proprietary features, which we find useful. However, we can't implement such.
Overall, custom ROMS are a great addition of getting everything from device's hardware.
Sent from my LG-P710 using XDA Free mobile app
cjh-75 said:
Interesting, how would you compare the stock rom camera quality with cyanogenmod camera resolution? Just ive not noticed any difference thats all. Thanx.
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Try doing a photo on good ligthing and low lighting, stock rom outruns AOSP based rom(CM11,Omni,carbonrom etc.) in terms of quality. The sharpness and details are gone. Images from non stock roms looks grainy
Ah I see. Im new to custom ROMs, so still finding out how it all works but have flashed 2 phones with success! Main reason I bought my Xperia Z1 Compact was the camera as I take a lot of shots, so this is of some concern to me. Am thinking of loading a stock ROM back on maybe, do you know of the best one thats unbranded and without google services etc? Does it overwrite the existing one as think I would want to start from fresh? Thanks.

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