Help with rooting and custom roms. - Xperia Z1 Compact Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hello everyone. I just have a question about rooting and installing a custom rom. I have an xperia z1 compact and I am just completely overwhelmed with information about it all. I don't exactly know what the benefits are and which one is best for my device. Im particularly interested in extending my battery life and getting rid of all the bloatware.
If someone could help me or point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance,
Ryan.

yurtal said:
Hello everyone. I just have a question about rooting and installing a custom rom. I have an xperia z1 compact and I am just completely overwhelmed with information about it all. I don't exactly know what the benefits are and which one is best for my device. Im particularly interested in extending my battery life and getting rid of all the bloatware.
If someone could help me or point me in the right direction I'd really appreciate it.
Thanks in advance,
Ryan.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) you're always taking a chance, and your decisions are your responsibility
2) it's almost 100% a matter of opinion, (although there are a few absolutes)
Having said that, I'll give you my 2¢ about the specific issues you mentioned. For battery life, you probably want stock, or stock-based, and KitKat is better than Lollipop. Rooting may help in that it will enable you to use root apps that tweak performance, but this is usually subtle and you have to know what you're doing to make it effective. Unlocking bl, if you haven't already, will give you access to custom kernels, of which there are a few good ones, which could help with battery life, if you know what to do with it. As for bloatware, I've become increasingly convinced that the best option is just don't use what you don't want. Most apps won't do anything unless you at least open them, so you can just let them sit there and ignore any update notification, etc. If you do have some reason to think something is doing something bad, you can disable it, and ignore it. There's also apps that will hide the icons, so you don't even know something is there. Bloatware removers can be good, but can sometimes cause problems, and unless you designed it yourself, it's not likely to line up perfectly with what you want/don't want.
You're right, there's a lot to choose from. The only way to know for sure is to try. If you want to be impressed with battery life, try Munjeni's .108 KK ROM in the development forum - http://forum.xda-developers.com/son...evelopment/rom-d550314-4-0-108latest-t2862578 - If you're currently on Lollipop, you will have to do some computer work to flash it, (which you're probably going to have to do to root, etc., anyway).

levone1 said:
1) you're always taking a chance, and your decisions are your responsibility
2) it's almost 100% a matter of opinion, (although there are a few absolutes)
Having said that, I'll give you my 2¢ about the specific issues you mentioned. For battery life, you probably want stock, or stock-based, and KitKat is better than Lollipop. Rooting may help in that it will enable you to use root apps that tweak performance, but this is usually subtle and you have to know what you're doing to make it effective. Unlocking bl, if you haven't already, will give you access to custom kernels, of which there are a few good ones, which could help with battery life, if you know what to do with it. As for bloatware, I've become increasingly convinced that the best option is just don't use what you don't want. Most apps won't do anything unless you at least open them, so you can just let them sit there and ignore any update notification, etc. If you do have some reason to think something is doing something bad, you can disable it, and ignore it. There's also apps that will hide the icons, so you don't even know something is there. Bloatware removers can be good, but can sometimes cause problems, and unless you designed it yourself, it's not likely to line up perfectly with what you want/don't want.
You're right, there's a lot to choose from. The only way to know for sure is to try. If you want to be impressed with battery life, try Munjeni's .108 KK ROM in the development forum - http://forum.xda-developers.com/son...evelopment/rom-d550314-4-0-108latest-t2862578 - If you're currently on Lollipop, you will have to do some computer work to flash it, (which you're probably going to have to do to root, etc., anyway).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
An incredible reply, thank you so much for your time. This really cleared things up, I'm just going to stay as is and not worry about modifying anything.
Thanks again!!
Cheers!

Related

[Q] Why so many ROM's...and Sense, or no Sense?

I've read and used a great deal of the information I've found in these forums, and definitely appreciate and admire all the work that is being done. But still being somewhat new to this, I'm a bit confused about all the ROM's available and what makes one better than others.
I've rooted my EVO to be able to run android wireless tether and Titanium Backup, and hopefully other things down the road (installed unRevoked3 and then 'Forever'..which worked flawlessly). But I held off on the latest OTA after reading that it cannot yet be rooted, and then I decided to look at the variety of ROM's out there just in case I might see something amazing. What I just don't get yet is what the most popular ROM's provide that are better than the 'standard' EVO (2.1-update1..build 1.47.651.1)?
(with due respect, I also wonder why a ROM would even be released if it kills 4G, the radio, battery life, drops the camera to only 3mp, etc..).
Beyond all this, I'm a bit confused about why HTC 'Sense' seems to be something that gets bashed a lot. Is it a bad thing for some reason..the phone is a beauty imho. This or that ROM says it does or does not have 'Sense' in a way that makes me wonder what's wrong with it as far as developers or the community is concerned?
Thanks. Any thoughts or answers will be much appreciated.
-JTT
jttraverse said:
I've read and used a great deal of the information I've found in these forums, and definitely appreciate and admire all the work that is being done. But still being somewhat new to this, I'm a bit confused about all the ROM's available and what makes one better than others.
I've rooted my EVO to be able to run android wireless tether and Titanium Backup, and hopefully other things down the road (installed unRevoked3 and then 'Forever'..which worked flawlessly). But I held off on the latest OTA after reading that it cannot yet be rooted, and then I decided to look at the variety of ROM's out there just in case I might see something amazing. What I just don't get yet is what the most popular ROM's provide that are better than the 'standard' EVO (2.1-update1..build 1.47.651.1)?
(with due respect, I also wonder why a ROM would even be released if it kills 4G, the radio, battery life, drops the camera to only 3mp, etc..).
Beyond all this, I'm a bit confused about why HTC 'Sense' seems to be something that gets bashed a lot. Is it a bad thing for some reason..the phone is a beauty imho. This or that ROM says it does or does not have 'Sense' in a way that makes me wonder what's wrong with it as far as developers or the community is concerned?
Thanks. Any thoughts or answers will be much appreciated.
-JTT
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, for starters as long as you used unrevoked forever you can apply any OTA update and be able to continue flashing ROMs. This prevents the phone from locking out unsigned ROMs, so flash away. In regards to the many similar looking ROMs, most of the changes are under the hood and provide many improvements such as battery life. Also, many ROMs remove certain apps and services which are considered bloat and of not much use. Visually similar, but functionally varied. Sense, although providing some eye candy and improvements over AOSP, is heavy and requires a lot of system resources. Also, like me, many prefer having natural android over a heavily modified look. Hopes this helps
jttraverse said:
I've read and used a great deal of the information I've found in these forums, and definitely appreciate and admire all the work that is being done. But still being somewhat new to this, I'm a bit confused about all the ROM's available and what makes one better than others.
I've rooted my EVO to be able to run android wireless tether and Titanium Backup, and hopefully other things down the road (installed unRevoked3 and then 'Forever'..which worked flawlessly). But I held off on the latest OTA after reading that it cannot yet be rooted, and then I decided to look at the variety of ROM's out there just in case I might see something amazing. What I just don't get yet is what the most popular ROM's provide that are better than the 'standard' EVO (2.1-update1..build 1.47.651.1)?
(with due respect, I also wonder why a ROM would even be released if it kills 4G, the radio, battery life, drops the camera to only 3mp, etc..).
Beyond all this, I'm a bit confused about why HTC 'Sense' seems to be something that gets bashed a lot. Is it a bad thing for some reason..the phone is a beauty imho. This or that ROM says it does or does not have 'Sense' in a way that makes me wonder what's wrong with it as far as developers or the community is concerned?
Thanks. Any thoughts or answers will be much appreciated.
-JTT
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Suggestion, if you have plans for flashing rom (and you will once you understand the advantages) make sure you are fully nand unlocked, also check to see if the rom you want does better with clockwork mod recovery or ra recovery. I love htc sense, but it kills the ability to use certain bluetooth devices like the wii classic controllers for emulators. I'm with you, I'm in atlanta where 4g is strong, I take pictures and hd videos all the time so I stay away from"experimental" roms. So far I haven't seen a rom with "sense" unbroken 4g/cam/camcorder. A lot of people trade stability for speed/power.
One thing I've been doing lately is kind of putting together my setup a la carte through mod releases. Keep asking questions here as well as in the threads of potential roms and a developer might implement what you're looking for.
Sent from my HTC EVO
If you want a list of the most popular ROMs and what features work for them check my sig, it gives also performance and battery tests for them. It also says if it has sense or not.
Thanks...so far so good.
Thanks for the replies, and I actually feel better that my take on things is close to the mark. I love that there are people out there hacking away to modify software to suit a variety of needs...if I had a million bucks I'd give it to all you people. This is what I think makes the end user/owner able to drive some of what the market provides.
I love this phone and so far have been 100% happy with it (ha..especially now that I have root and can install what I want to suit my own ends! Thanks again people
I'm still a bit concerned about what I've read that even if you have root now, the latest OTA can -not- be rooted yet, i.e. don't update with the Froyo 2.2 OTA or you loose it all. Is this correct? I did see the response that once I have unRevoked-Forever on my phone that I can update to any OTA...but I seem to think that may not be accurate.
Thanks,
JTT
jttraverse said:
Thanks for the replies, and I actually feel better that my take on things is close to the mark. I love that there are people out there hacking away to modify software to suit a variety of needs...if I had a million bucks I'd give it to all you people. This is what I think makes the end user/owner able to drive some of what the market provides.
I love this phone and so far have been 100% happy with it (ha..especially now that I have root and can install what I want to suit my own ends! Thanks again people
I'm still a bit concerned about what I've read that even if you have root now, the latest OTA can -not- be rooted yet, i.e. don't update with the Froyo 2.2 OTA or you loose it all. Is this correct? I did see the response that once I have unRevoked-Forever on my phone that I can update to any OTA...but I seem to think that may not be accurate.
Thanks,
JTT
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i know NOTHING about unrevoked anything. however if youre rooted be happy. you can go and flash a 2.2 rom. they are the same as the OTA (if they're different im sure the differences are marginal) and you keep root. hurrah!
jttraverse said:
Thanks for the replies, and I actually feel better that my take on things is close to the mark. I love that there are people out there hacking away to modify software to suit a variety of needs...if I had a million bucks I'd give it to all you people. This is what I think makes the end user/owner able to drive some of what the market provides.
I love this phone and so far have been 100% happy with it (ha..especially now that I have root and can install what I want to suit my own ends! Thanks again people
I'm still a bit concerned about what I've read that even if you have root now, the latest OTA can -not- be rooted yet, i.e. don't update with the Froyo 2.2 OTA or you loose it all. Is this correct? I did see the response that once I have unRevoked-Forever on my phone that I can update to any OTA...but I seem to think that may not be accurate.
Thanks,
JTT
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, I recommend what nenn said. The 2.2 roms have what the ota updates have in it and you don't loose root.

Just brought a S3 need some advice?

Hi all, I just brought a S3 need some advice? if i root my phone do i get better battery life compare to the stock rom? can someone link me to the root page? thank you
root is the must do things before u can do anything else, just root only wont do any good to yr device, all the info is in here, look around and u will find it, enjoy.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using xda premium
what is the best rom everyone recommend?
brokensmile209 said:
what is the best rom everyone recommend?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As a new owner of an S3, I would suggest the FreeGS3 ROM, but you should spend a few days and become familiar with the process of rooting and installing new ROMs, because you don't want to rush it and brick it.
No ROM is created equal though, so try a couple and stick with what feels best to you, but in general ROMs and even kernels if you decide to take that course can provide an increase in battery life which varies between ROMs.
Personally, I would recommend taking a look at what's eating your battery life right now and see what you can do to make it better without rooting.
After that, determine if you want or need root access. Root access doesn't give you a new ROM - you'd have to flash one and it would overwrite the stock - and you need to think about the features you want and features you might lose before doing that.
You need to know how to troubleshoot your battery life - otherwise you might end up flashing a bunch of ROMs you don't like and that don't give you the results you want. You need to read about these ROMs and find out what they offer and how they are different from stock and what about that appeals to you.
Just having root on the stock ROM will give you more options for battery life control than un-rooted. But even without root there are things you can do. I'd work my way down - from simplest to hardest - that way you acquire the skills you'll need as you go.
@OP read the two responses above mine. Best answers you are going to get.
Just because you are Rooted, means nothing. It is what you do with those privileges that mean everything. Install an app called Betterbatterstats and it will tell you what precisely is eating your battery.
Hmmm, if there was only a thread about battery life and how to get more out of your phone, with direct links and various methods to use. (Hint: see my signature)
For best ROM ideas, just go into Dev sections and look at the OPs of a few that spark your interest. Then read the last 10 pages or so to see if there are any bugs. If you find one that you like, start reading.
Best ROM threads are frowned upon and generally turn into pissing matches and are closed.
Moved to Q&A and closed.

is it possible to uninstall bloatware without rom once i have root access?

pretty much what the title says, i got my phone rooted, and i want to uninstall the stupid media suggestion service, some weather service that keeps querying the net for weather updates, and the music store, maybe "s-suggest" etc. but i dont necessarily want to get a whole new rom. i am a noob, so this is a noob question, but i *thought* that once rooted i had full control/access to everything? does that only apply once i flash to a new rom?
thanks all!
Please read forum rules before posting
Questions go in Q&A
Thread moved
Thank you for your cooperation
Friendly Neighborhood Moderator
There are plenty of apps, titanium backup being one of them, that let you delete anything you want to. There is a thread somewhere here that lists which apps are safe to remove. Just Google it. Titanium also let's you freeze/unfreeze apps so you don't accidentally delete something that you shouldn't.
Follow-Up
metalfan78 said:
There are plenty of apps, titanium backup being one of them, that let you delete anything you want to. There is a thread somewhere here that lists which apps are safe to remove. Just Google it. Titanium also let's you freeze/unfreeze apps so you don't accidentally delete something that you shouldn't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awseome, thank you.
Follow-up question - is there any direct benefit (other than coolness, etc.) to using a rom vs just getting rid of what you dont want? my main goal is to have maximum functionality with most possible battery life. i would prefer to mess around with the phones os as little as possible just because im a noob, but if there is benefit to doing so i'll venture out into those waters.
thanks again!
fruithead said:
Awseome, thank you.
Follow-up question - is there any direct benefit (other than coolness, etc.) to using a rom vs just getting rid of what you dont want? my main goal is to have maximum functionality with most possible battery life. i would prefer to mess around with the phones os as little as possible just because im a noob, but if there is benefit to doing so i'll venture out into those waters.
thanks again!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some roms will actually give slightly better battery life over stock (depending on kernel) as well as look completely different. YMMV on battery life no matter which rom you run tho. Everyone uses the phone differently. And before you ask which to run... Just shop around.. try a few out.. see how you feel about each. I run The People's Rom or Mother of All Roms personally. Both are TW based roms, with crazy themeing options Via Morphology. But always shop around, best thing about being rooted, if you don't like it.. can always revert to stock or try something else!
and lowned
milky1112 said:
Some roms will actually give slightly better battery life over stock (depending on kernel) as well as look completely different. YMMV on battery life no matter which rom you run tho. Everyone uses the phone differently. And before you ask which to run... Just shop around.. try a few out.. see how you feel about each. I run The People's Rom or Mother of All Roms personally. Both are TW based roms, with crazy themeing options Via Morphology. But always shop around, best thing about being rooted, if you don't like it.. can always revert to stock or try something else!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
awesome, thanks again for the info. so, just so i am clear, there is no rom/kernel specifically designed/written for the express purpose/purposes of maximizing/extending battery life? eg, by stripping down the phone or somesuch or whatever?
may have gotten a little carried away with the slashes.
fruithead said:
awesome, thanks again for the info. so, just so i am clear, there is no rom/kernel specifically designed/written for the express purpose/purposes of maximizing/extending battery life? eg, by stripping down the phone or somesuch or whatever?
may have gotten a little carried away with the slashes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I'm aware of. Most are tweaked to be above stock in all areas tho.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2
Heres the apps safe to remove thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1913428
Sent from my PG06100

[Q] ROM suggestions

So, as the topic states, looking for some suggestions. I have a rooted Rogers Galaxy S3 and I'm wanting to help increase my battery life without sacrificing any (or very little) CPU/GPU power.
Before you say go look at the ones out there, or whatever.... I've done that. I've spent hours looking them over and it's hard to decide as a lot of "comparison" questions aren't there.
So if I could get some suggestions to what I'm looking for, I'd very much appreciate it.
So key points:
- Bare. I don't want bloatware, or any apps that aren't required by the OS.
- Battery life is important. I've read about some Battery tweaks but can't really find out what the tweaks are exactly.
- Somewhat stock "look and feel" but as long as it does what stock did, I can live with some minor changes. I liked the stock layout.
I've also been wondering if using a custom UI would help with battery life?
For those who read/reply, I appreciate it.
You're only going to get opinions.
You've done whole lot of looking, as you said, but everyone who's been here awhile is going to tell you to do some trying.
Root, install a custom recovery, make a system and imei backup, try out a rom. Have fun
There are already quite a few threads identical to this thread here in this very forum. Why not go check those out instead of starting a new one?
If you have already dont the reading just make a back up of your current rom and start flashing other ones and see what you like best. I personally like CM 10, but other may not and prefer another one. What you asking is a loaded question and all depends on your own prefrence
I am currently running AOKP and having looked back! Great ROM
Sent from my SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

[Q] Tips and Recommendations?

Hey, so as you can tell this is my first post here. Well, not only that, but I just rooted my first device. I'm excited and nervous and have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.
That is why I came to you guys. I have never done this before and no one in my town knows anything about rooting devices, so all of this is a bit daunting. Anyways, I wanted to ask for a few tips and tricks, maybe a few apps, roms, or whatever to download. What to uninstall and not uninstall. But my main thing is, the whole reason I rooted was because someone said I could boost my RAM. And the reason I would want to do that is because, let's face it, I'm a huge nerd and I'm trying to play a Pokemon Colosseum rom. But my ram has gone from about 50% usage to now being in the 70-80% usage. Not only that, but my Internal storage went from being 45% full to about 80%.
Anyways, I'm probably not explaining myself in the best of ways. I just wanted to make this thread because after reading some of the others, I was still confused. Maybe here I can have someone explain it to me, because, as you've guessed, I'm worse than a newb. I'm like newb squared. Anyways, if you're confused on what I'm trying to ask of you, please respond down below and maybe I can explain some more of my problems.
Thanks.
P.S. By the way, you guys helped me out so much so far. Even though I didn't understand the majority of it from most other sites, you guys helped a lot more. You now take up over 50% of my bookmarks on my school computer. So much that they had to sit down all the seniors and tell us we can't root or jailbreak on the high school computers.
Oh, I also have no idea what roms and kernels and the likes of that are, despite my numerous hours of research during my 4 A.M. red bull fueled craze.
I also forgot to ask if there was a way I could add the facial recognition lock that is suppose to come with 4.3.
Which rom are you using?
Rooting allows you to do some very cool things. In a nutshell. Android is open source so people that are clued up with modding can change the entire operating system. They do All kinds of sorcery to the stock Roms eg. Zipaligning, deodexing, debloating etc. Debloating is where some of your ram gets freed up as they remove lots of the bloatware (unnecessary apps) that comes from manufacturer.
Also certain roms allow your device to render fully on the gpu.
Apps that you need to get:
Titanium backup
Greenify
Android Firewall
xposed installer
--
"Skate where the puck’s going, not where it’s been.”
- Wayne Gretzsky
Best tip I ever read on XDA: "before rooting read, read and read again. And then when you're ready to root read it all again."
Be ready for every eventuality before you do anything!
Sent from my SM-P600 still running Jellybean Samsung!
And don't forget that rooting voids the warrenty on our units

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