So my question is what are the benefits of a costum rom ? Is a Stock rom very bad ? Can you do more with a Costum Rom ? Please give me a anwser
They're not full of bulky crap that carriers put into the rom.
Much smoother and more customizable, quicker also.
The Chef's do great jobs on what they do.
Try them out, you'll see how the benefit your phone.
To answer that question...
Every rom is dependent on the "tastes" of the user.
I use stock, I went back TO stock after trying some custom roms. For me, stock was more reliable and I simply removed shortcuts and some minor reg tweaks to keep any Tmo bloat from working.
If I knew HOW to cook a rom, I'd say that custom would be best, as I would create my rom for my personal tastes...with my particular apps already cooked in, and certain apps removed.
Unfortunately the great chef's here must cater to the masses, so while the various roms I tried were all very good, they did not FIT ME.
You have to try out various roms until you find one you like. Custom roms are great because they are cutting edge. Our chef's are at the front lines to improving HTC/WinMo roms. If you are like me, and need a rom for pure stability without added social networks or video stuff, etc, and are willing to give up eye-candy and even a little speed, then stock may be for you.
Just please don't ask WHICH rom to try...because your answer can be found in the second sentence of this post!!
Custom ROMs will have some added applications...facebook, twitter, TV...In all honestly the two fastest ROMs I have used so far are VZW's stock 6.1 and MightyROM. Figure out what you like your phone to do, do some footwork and you will find the perfect solution (which there are many WinMo apps that you can use).
akashastrega said:
To answer that question...
Every rom is dependent on the "tastes" of the user.
I use stock, I went back TO stock after trying some custom roms. For me, stock was more reliable and I simply removed shortcuts and some minor reg tweaks to keep any Tmo bloat from working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But that "TMO Bloat" is also taking up space in the ROM. The custom ROMs can remove the files, increasing storage.
I myself am still stock, and may well remain that way. I have used the cooked ROM in the past, with my Magician, but I bought this phone from T-Mobile and I don't want to Hard SPL. Also, it is working OK for me.
Speed and stability. Plus you dont get a load of apps you probably wont use.
Memory is another one. I found after moving to a custom ROM i had loads of RAM left over.
Your not locked down as much with a stock/branded ROM either.
Like akashastega said, your gonna have to look around and try some ROMs for yourself to find the right one for your needs.
There are so many to choose from.
But if you do decide to try out some custom ROMs your gonna need to research a bit.
Start with HSPL:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=550131
This is needed to allow Custom ROMs to be flashed
Once your done with that, here's a list of Custom ROMs (this is where i started to get a feel for Custom ROMs):
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=557177
The latest and greatest are always being updated in the 'Windows Mobile ROM Developement' thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=490
And lastly, if you get stuck at any point. Here's a great guide on flashing a ROM:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=550540
stevedebi said:
But that "TMO Bloat" is also taking up space in the ROM. The custom ROMs can remove the files, increasing storage.
I myself am still stock, and may well remain that way. I have used the cooked ROM in the past, with my Magician, but I bought this phone from T-Mobile and I don't want to Hard SPL. Also, it is working OK for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes the bloat is still there, and it does waste space, but at least for me, I have disabled most of it, so my speeds are better and I haven't lost stability.
Custom roms DO remove this, but sadly many of them add apps I don't need and would never use. One of these days I will get my head out of my a$$ and learn to cook, then custom will be the way to go HANDS DOWN.
Good luck to the OP and finding the right rom for your needs. I'd suggest making a list of what is necessary for YOU, and what you can sacrifice. Once you have that list, finding a rom will be an easier task. For me, I needed absolute stability. I needed a working calendar/schedule. I needed 100% phone capabilities including BT. Then I wanted a decent media center, some games to kill time with, some ebook readers. My life is a busy mom, I need to stay on task, on time, and maybe help my kids kill some time while we are waiting somewhere.
A business minded person may absolutely need push email, instant messaging, texts, office.
A student may want office, internet, facebook, texts...
What do you need? Figure that out first, then test roms that fit your needs.
Hi all,
I've tried several passes at Google searching and haven't found these answers. I'm sure this community can help.
I've already rooted my Kindle Fire and put the stock JB ROM on there, good experience and it gave my KF new life.
So I am thinking about rooting and romming my T-Mobile Galaxy S3, but I have a few concerns and questions.
- What TMobile and Samsung features will I lose if I rom? Obviously for the most part none of their apps matter. But I heard that I would lose the ability to call/text over my Wifi connection, which would be a deal breaker considering the cellular connection quality in my house. Is that true? Are there any other features I might care about, that I'd lose?
- Will the face buttons on the S3 still work as they do now?
- Is the "Google Experience" ROM the same as the "stock" ROM? I heard about the "Google Experience ROM" on a podcast but cannot find this ROM in the forums.
- Anything else to consider? This is my first time rooting a phone - S3 was my first smart phone.
Thanks!
Dave
Just because you rooted, won't make you loose any of these features you do actually use. On the contrary you get to remove crap you don't care for. Without Root, your were previously prevented from removing some of the pre-installed apps.
Here's a good link for you to see what can be safely removed.
Now if you chose to install custom Rom, you stand to potentially loose Fabled Wi-Fi Calling. Face Unlock will still be there on other Roms.
Something else you need to know. There are 2 types of Roms. One that Samsung provides is called Touchwiz or TW Rom based on the framework of the same name. The others as you referred to as "Google Experience" Roms. These are commonly called as AOSP Roms. These roms don't have the Touchwiz framwork so won't support features such as Wi-Fi calling, since those only work on Touchwiz. There are other Non-Samsung Touchwiz roms. You will see a list of those and the AOSP Roms in my second link bellow for the Bible.
Since this is your First time on a Smart phone, here's few links you can read.
Welcome to your S3
Galaxy S3 Resource Bible
Hope this helps.
Please read ALL our sticky threads before doing anything to your device!
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk
Thanks for the info. OK from your comments and the links you provided, I gather that any ROM that is a TouchWiz based ROM will still contain WiFi calling. Is that correct? So theoretically I could load one of these ROMs and still be good to go. I have a couple more questions though.
- I've seen a few references to "stock" ROMs. Does the term stock refer to the base Android build (so there is only one of these per release of Android), or does it refer to the software that came with each phone (so there is one per phone)? If it is the latter then would I be able to load the TMobile stock ROM if I did not like the custom ROM I chose?
- Also curious about TouchWiz in terms of Android architecture, which I am still learning about. I was under the impression this is some kind of loader or launcher specific to Samsung. I did not realize it would inherently contain Wifi calling. Does this layer also provide for the face buttons of the S3? What is TouchWiz specifically - a layer that sits on top of base Android? Trying to understand how this layer fits into the grand scheme, and are there comparable layers created by other manufacturers?
In any case, I guess I'm not getting AOSP or CM anytime soon. The TouchWiz ROMs are less-known so I am less inclined to chance it. At the very least I could root and get rid of some of these apps.
Thanks!
STOCK = base Android build from that Device's Manufacturer. So there's only one per Android Release.
Yes you can revert back to T-Mo Version if you don't like custom Roms.
(Small verbiage correction. We call Flashing a Rom not "Loading" a rom. This is to distinguish from system firmware such as Bootloader and Recovery.)
Touchwiz is a framework, that's specific to Samsung. Read here for more on Touchwiz and rest of your questions. It doesn't contain Wi-Fi calling but T-mo's feature of Wi-Fi calling needs to have this framework on your phone to work. There are other T-mo features such as Caller Name ID that needs this framework as well. What do you mean by Face buttons ? Face recognition ?
I had a question to tack on to OP's question, since it seems relevant here.
Ive noticed through looking at the "bible" stickied post that there seem to be 3 major types of roms: CM-based roms (roms that took CM10 code for the GS3 and used it to achieve AOSP compatibility, then rolled their own features), Rootbox based roms (dont know what this is or what it does), and Stock based roms.
Right now, I wanted to try out a Stock rom, as from my understanding, a Stock rom is one in which the developer starts with a stock firmware image from samsung, does things such as root, deodex, zipalign, debloat, etc, and then releases. The advantage of the stock rom, from my understanding, is that it is incredibly stable (assuming no kernel tweaks and similar) compared to the bugs we may experience on roms that are CM based.
I'm experiencing issues with CM roms that are not deal breakers by any means, but definitely make me want to look for greener (less buggy) pastures.
Is there a more up-to date version of the stock rom list? Is there a good way to search for stock-based roms?
shrimants said:
I had a question to tack on to OP's question, since it seems relevant here.
Ive noticed through looking at the "bible" stickied post that there seem to be 3 major types of roms: CM-based roms (roms that took CM10 code for the GS3 and used it to achieve AOSP compatibility, then rolled their own features), Rootbox based roms (dont know what this is or what it does), and Stock based roms.
Right now, I wanted to try out a Stock rom, as from my understanding, a Stock rom is one in which the developer starts with a stock firmware image from samsung, does things such as root, deodex, zipalign, debloat, etc, and then releases. The advantage of the stock rom, from my understanding, is that it is incredibly stable (assuming no kernel tweaks and similar) compared to the bugs we may experience on roms that are CM based.
I'm experiencing issues with CM roms that are not deal breakers by any means, but definitely make me want to look for greener (less buggy) pastures.
Is there a more up-to date version of the stock rom list? Is there a good way to search for stock-based roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All of the stock Touchwiz based roms are in Android Development, so start there. A dead giveaway is if a build number is in the title. For example if you see UVDMD5, or just MD5 in the title, it is based on the latest official release. Anything older is buried by now. We do have a couple of 4.3 leaked builds. UVUEMJ4 and UVUEMJC. MJC is the newest. Anyway, there is almost always a clue in the title. But if you are not sure, just open and look over the OP and screenshots.
Ill try to PM the OP of the list to see if he plans on updating it. I would not expect him to until after our next official release though, which is right around the corner. TBH, aside from a few roms, it should be pretty well up to date.
No I meant the lower left and lower right buttons on the face of the phone, the ones that light up on either side of the Home button.
OK so a custom TouchWiz ROM then may or may not contain the T-Mobile feature of Wifi Calling, since it is again a layer on top of TouchWiz? Just trying to make sure, because that is the single feature I am worried about retaining.
Thanks for the help!
Perseus71 said:
What do you mean by Face buttons ? Face recognition ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
squiddog said:
No I meant the lower left and lower right buttons on the face of the phone, the ones that light up on either side of the Home button.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is your specific question regarding those lighted buttons? Do you want to remap them to make them do something other than what is intended or do you simply want to know if they work as advertised.
squiddog said:
OK so a custom TouchWiz ROM then may or may not contain the T-Mobile feature of Wifi Calling, since it is again a layer on top of TouchWiz? Just trying to make sure, because that is the single feature I am worried about retaining.
Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Think of TWiz along the same lines as your KF. The Kindle (and Nook for that matter) uses Android as its base. Then it is skinned with features that Amazon (or B&N) think that you would like, overlay their own launchers, custom applications, locked bootloader ... Touchwiz is the very same thing. It is Samsung's version of what you have on your KF. An Android base with manufacturer's preferential skin and extra "goodies". Sense (HTC) and the now defunct Blur (Motorola) are other examples of this.
If you want Wifi Calling, then you should have no problem with any of the Touchwiz ROMs that are out there. Please note that Wifi Calling is not and will never be working on any AOSP ROMs.
***************
What I suggest is that your Root your phone, install a custom recovery, make sure that you back up your IMEI if you plan on going to and fro TWiz and AOSP. Before you flash anything, boot into your custom recovery and make a Nandroid backup of your ROM as it is right here and now. Then copy* that off your phone and put a copy on your PC. I say copy because you will want to leave one on your phone and one on your PC as a last resort backup (I still have mine from the ICS days). Then flash a ROM. Check it out for a few days. Not your cup of tea? Flash another. If something goes horribly wrong or you don't like some of the features of X ROM, then just restore your Nandroid that you made and you are right back where you started.
Yes I just noticed that the S3 had these buttons and many other phones do not. Therefore there is probably a TouchWiz requirement to get these buttons to work as advertised. The question is sort of moot now anyway - as I want a TouchWiz ROM.
Woody said:
What is your specific question regarding those lighted buttons? Do you want to remap them to make them do something other than what is intended or do you simply want to know if they work as advertised.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
squiddog said:
Yes I just noticed that the S3 had these buttons and many other phones do not. Therefore there is probably a TouchWiz requirement to get these buttons to work as advertised. The question is sort of moot now anyway - as I want a TouchWiz ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I am aware you have decided to stick with Touchwiz roms. Just so you know, these two buttons work just fine in AOSP as well. In fact, on AOSP you have an option of assigning additional actions to Long Pressing of these two.
Following several of the threads here there are recurring themes:
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
4. Bricking, etc
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Although I personally have not gone through all of these on this phone, I have done so on previous phones I've had.
I appreciate the abstract principle of "it's my phone and I should be able to do with it what I want!". Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Practically speaking, especially in light of the latest android versions and development of MIUI which are so feature rich, customizable and flexible, IMHO there seems to be so little to gained with unlocking versus the risks and endless time wasted related to the above mentioned issues.
With the factory stock ROM you get, without fussing:
1. SafetyCheck (ie pay apps, Netflix) that just works.
2. OTA
3. All built in hardware that just works. No "BT not working in the latest version", etc
4. In MIUI 12-- the excellent stock camera app which has improved photo performance dramatically, eliminates the need for GCam and all of the fussing with that.
5. Minor bugs that you can live with
I welcome comments here with convincing arguments in favor of custom ROMs, other than just enjoying the tinkering, which in my opinion doesn't justify the disadvantages.
My 2 cents!
Inviato dal mio Redmi Note 8 Pro utilizzando Tapatalk
jshames said:
Following several of the threads here there are recurring themes:
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
4. Bricking, etc
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Although I personally have not gone through all of these on this phone, I have done so on previous phones I've had.
I appreciate the abstract principle of "it's my phone and I should be able to do with it what I want!". Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Practically speaking, especially in light of the latest android versions and development of MIUI which are so feature rich, customizable and flexible, IMHO there seems to be so little to gained with unlocking versus the risks and endless time wasted related to the above mentioned issues.
With the factory stock ROM you get, without fussing:
1. SafetyCheck (ie pay apps, Netflix) that just works.
2. OTA
3. All built in hardware that just works. No "BT not working in the latest version", etc
4. In MIUI 12-- the excellent stock camera app which has improved photo performance dramatically, eliminates the need for GCam and all of the fussing with that.
5. Minor bugs that you can live with
I welcome comments here with convincing arguments in favor of custom ROMs, other than just enjoying the tinkering, which in my opinion doesn't justify the disadvantages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Though I do agree this phone works best on stock rom, what's your point?
Custom ROMs are useless and it should be like producer intended? That sounds like iPhone.
The beauty of android and custom ROMs comes with the ability to try and pick your own favourite one and customisation. But indeed with this phone's mediatek chip it's not the best choice for custom ROMs.
Personally miui 12 is working and looking fine by me, I just like rooting and debloating it.
But I highly appreciate all development here on XDA.
If you don't, just ignore all development and enjoy your phone out of the box.
I don't mean to demean anybody's choice.
I'm just trying to understand concrete advantages at this point, if any.
donkyshot said:
Though I do agree this phone works best on stock rom, what's your point?
Custom ROMs are useless and it should be like producer intended? That sounds like iPhone.
The beauty of android and custom ROMs comes with the ability to try and pick your own favourite one and customisation. But indeed with this phone's mediatek chip it's not the best choice for custom ROMs.
Personally miui 12 is working and looking fine by me, I just like rooting and debloating it.
But I highly appreciate all development here on XDA.
If you don't, just ignore all development and enjoy your phone out of the box.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jshames said:
Following several of the threads here there are recurring themes:
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
4. Bricking, etc
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Although I personally have not gone through all of these on this phone, I have done so on previous phones I've had.
I appreciate the abstract principle of "it's my phone and I should be able to do with it what I want!". Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Practically speaking, especially in light of the latest android versions and development of MIUI which are so feature rich, customizable and flexible, IMHO there seems to be so little to gained with unlocking versus the risks and endless time wasted related to the above mentioned issues.
With the factory stock ROM you get, without fussing:
1. SafetyCheck (ie pay apps, Netflix) that just works.
2. OTA
3. All built in hardware that just works. No "BT not working in the latest version", etc
4. In MIUI 12-- the excellent stock camera app which has improved photo performance dramatically, eliminates the need for GCam and all of the fussing with that.
5. Minor bugs that you can live with
I welcome comments here with convincing arguments in favor of custom ROMs, other than just enjoying the tinkering, which in my opinion doesn't justify the disadvantages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I' m quite satisfied with miui12 global, the only thing that's bothering me is the themes store. It doesn't allow changes of caller,sms of status bar,. I'll hope they fix it soon .
Just one simple question: Are you sure that debloating stops the stock rom from constantly sending potentially private data to China?
If you're using Facebook, WhatsApp, GApps and all that stuff it probably won't matter - as you're constantly surveilled anyway and don't seem to care much for privacy - if your data gets sent to China as well.
Can you be sure, custom rom doesn't have backdoors / data leaks by design (call it as you like) installed? Not at all. But with the stock rom I know for sure they are there.
jshames said:
Following several of the threads here there are recurring themes:
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
4. Bricking, etc
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Although I personally have not gone through all of these on this phone, I have done so on previous phones I've had.
I appreciate the abstract principle of "it's my phone and I should be able to do with it what I want!". Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Practically speaking, especially in light of the latest android versions and development of MIUI which are so feature rich, customizable and flexible, IMHO there seems to be so little to gained with unlocking versus the risks and endless time wasted related to the above mentioned issues.
With the factory stock ROM you get, without fussing:
1. SafetyCheck (ie pay apps, Netflix) that just works.
2. OTA
3. All built in hardware that just works. No "BT not working in the latest version", etc
4. In MIUI 12-- the excellent stock camera app which has improved photo performance dramatically, eliminates the need for GCam and all of the fussing with that.
5. Minor bugs that you can live with
I welcome comments here with convincing arguments in favor of custom ROMs, other than just enjoying the tinkering, which in my opinion doesn't justify the disadvantages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. There is no difficulty in unlocking your phone, it takes 168hrs and that's it, be patient. Installing custom recoveries will NOT brick your phone whatsoever, but not following instructions will. The issue with the CFW ROMs is due to MTK processor and lack of monetary motivation for developers that own this phone.
2. My Netflix and banking apps work fine, safety net passes while rooted on a Android 10 GSI ROM.
3. The camera does work, I can record video with EIS (amazing!), shoot 16mb photos, use HDR, astrophotography, and a bunch of other features I don't use. While the camera is a work in progress and did require a lot of testing/comparing, I have everything working, feature wise, that I had on MIUI.
4. Bricking only happens if you don't fully read. MTK processor phones have a lot more "traps" than Qualcomm. Are you going to avoid a classic car because of all the required maintenance on it versus a new car? No. I only ever bricked my phone when working with CFW ROMs. What does that tell you?
5. OTA? Are you're referring to keeping up to date with security updates? The ROM I'm running now has the latest security patch? Or are you saying flashing ROMs is too involved and you rather just tap a button and be done, which is nice too. Xiaomi publicly said they're not issuing updates for this phone next year, so where is your OTA then?
Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're comparing apples to oranges here. A refrigerator is not a smart device, and while a TV can be considered smart, there's nothing to upgrade or remove. Do you run stock Windows on your home computer or do you replace the OS with something better with less bugs? And in fact, I do swap engines from different cars into my car. Upgrading parts and wiring and software for the same car.
At the end of the day, if you want to flash ROMs and have ZERO chance of bricking, go with a GSI ROM. Zero bloatware/spyware, no notification issues, no battery drain, and infinite customizability. Start with Quack and go from there. If you want something that works with zero effort, stay stock.
XNyle said:
Just one simple question: Are you sure that debloating stops the stock rom from constantly sending potentially private data to China?
If you're using Facebook, WhatsApp, GApps and all that stuff it probably won't matter - as you're constantly surveilled anyway and don't seem to care much for privacy - if your data gets sent to China as well.
Can you be sure, custom rom doesn't have backdoors / data leaks by design (call it as you like) installed? Not at all. But with the stock rom I know for sure they are there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can never be sure, on any rom.
Bloatware is not all about safety or privacy, it's more about removing unnecessary files to save memory and disk space.
For instance, my root storage on miui 12 is just over 70%, where it used to be somewhere over 90%.
Ram optimised is 3 GB out of 6.
Besides removing, freezing apps is helping too.
OK, I understand you have dealt with the negative side of the equation, in terms of overcoming the obstacles. But what are the actual benefits?
In the past stock ROMs are stock android were fairly restrictive. This is no longer the case. Can you give a few examples of things you can do with a CFW that are exclusive?
wang1chung said:
1. There is no difficulty in unlocking your phone, it takes 168hrs and that's it, be patient. Installing custom recoveries will NOT brick your phone whatsoever, but not following instructions will. The issue with the CFW ROMs is due to MTK processor and lack of monetary motivation for developers that own this phone.
2. My Netflix and banking apps work fine, safety net passes while rooted on a Android 10 GSI ROM.
3. The camera does work, I can record video with EIS (amazing!), shoot 16mb photos, use HDR, astrophotography, and a bunch of other features I don't use. While the camera is a work in progress and did require a lot of testing/comparing, I have everything working, feature wise, that I had on MIUI.
4. Bricking only happens if you don't fully read. MTK processor phones have a lot more "traps" than Qualcomm. Are you going to avoid a classic car because of all the required maintenance on it versus a new car? No. I only ever bricked my phone when working with CFW ROMs. What does that tell you?
5. OTA? Are you're referring to keeping up to date with security updates? The ROM I'm running now has the latest security patch? Or are you saying flashing ROMs is too involved and you rather just tap a button and be done, which is nice too. Xiaomi publicly said they're not issuing updates for this phone next year, so where is your OTA then?
You're comparing apples to oranges here. A refrigerator is not a smart device, and while a TV can be considered smart, there's nothing to upgrade or remove. Do you run stock Windows on your home computer or do you replace the OS with something better with less bugs? And in fact, I do swap engines from different cars into my car. Upgrading parts and wiring and software for the same car.
At the end of the day, if you want to flash ROMs and have ZERO chance of bricking, go with a GSI ROM. Zero bloatware/spyware, no notification issues, no battery drain, and infinite customizability. Start with Quack and go from there. If you want something that works with zero effort, stay stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jshames said:
OK, I understand you have dealt with the negative side of the equation, in terms of overcoming the obstacles. But what are the actual benefits?
In the past stock ROMs are stock android were fairly restrictive. This is no longer the case. Can you give a few examples of things you can do with a CFW that are exclusive?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To clarify, you don't need to be rooted to use non-stock ROMs, and CFW ROMs are not GSI ROMs. Also, using root with the stock ROM works just fine, but then you don't know what else is going on behind the scenes, no matter how much you disable.
I guess I mainly use root for backing up apps/OS/partitions in the event of a brick or data loss. Certain stock apps you can't remove without root, should you choose to remain on the stock ROM. Have you ever spent hours setting up your phone/apps and then lost your data? Doesn't happen with a rooted phone as you can backup both apps (with data) and even the entire ROM with settings. This allows you to test new ROMs, new tweaks, all while easily returning to your previous save state with no ill effects and within minutes. Click a button, get a coffee and it's done. I tested 6 different ROMs and then returned to my current, all within an hour. While I don't necessarily keep the tweaks and ROMs I test, they do shed light on features that I never knew I wanted or even just inspire me to go down new rabbit holes.
On multiple occasions I have been locked out of my phone after an OS update or tweak . Without root, only option is a factory reset and loss of your OS settings. With root, fixed within minutes. Forgot your password on your back up phone, no problem with root.
I think with data harvesting being so popular/rampant, more and more people will leave spyware infested ROMs for vanilla AOSP ROMs.
jshames said:
Following several of the threads here there are recurring themes:
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
4. Bricking, etc
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Although I personally have not gone through all of these on this phone, I have done so on previous phones I've had.
I appreciate the abstract principle of "it's my phone and I should be able to do with it what I want!". Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Practically speaking, especially in light of the latest android versions and development of MIUI which are so feature rich, customizable and flexible, IMHO there seems to be so little to gained with unlocking versus the risks and endless time wasted related to the above mentioned issues.
With the factory stock ROM you get, without fussing:
1. SafetyCheck (ie pay apps, Netflix) that just works.
2. OTA
3. All built in hardware that just works. No "BT not working in the latest version", etc
4. In MIUI 12-- the excellent stock camera app which has improved photo performance dramatically, eliminates the need for GCam and all of the fussing with that.
5. Minor bugs that you can live with
I welcome comments here with convincing arguments in favor of custom ROMs, other than just enjoying the tinkering, which in my opinion doesn't justify the disadvantages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get your point, this is an MTK device, technical difficulties are obvious, but now its easy to switch to custom ROM without downgrading from Android 10, moreover steps are pretty simple if you get it right, not too different than other devices, bricking was already solved with the leaked Preloader and LK, moreover if it weren't for Xiaomi putting Authentication in EDL the device was unbrickable without any hassle, though I get what you want to say, the device gets hard-bricked on most stupid things.
I guess you haven't tried out the CFW 2 and newer builds, they've fixed offline charging, Netflix 1080p and other things, and I personally never had problems with camera, ANX works fine and GCam too, photo quality is obviously better on GCam but 4k video recording is amazing too.
Every device's Custom firmware and ROMs comes with specific difficulties, if you're willing to look beyond this and appreciate how you're going to get Android version updates even after official support ends, the stock, beautiful feel, better performance and battery then I think you're gonna understand why Custom ROMs for this device is so important!
Peace
And by the way I love tinkering with anything that has an processor and runs Linux hehe :silly:
jshames said:
Following several of the threads here there are recurring themes:
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
4. Bricking, etc
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Although I personally have not gone through all of these on this phone, I have done so on previous phones I've had.
I appreciate the abstract principle of "it's my phone and I should be able to do with it what I want!". Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Practically speaking, especially in light of the latest android versions and development of MIUI which are so feature rich, customizable and flexible, IMHO there seems to be so little to gained with unlocking versus the risks and endless time wasted related to the above mentioned issues.
With the factory stock ROM you get, without fussing:
1. SafetyCheck (ie pay apps, Netflix) that just works.
2. OTA
3. All built in hardware that just works. No "BT not working in the latest version", etc
4. In MIUI 12-- the excellent stock camera app which has improved photo performance dramatically, eliminates the need for GCam and all of the fussing with that.
5. Minor bugs that you can live with
I welcome comments here with convincing arguments in favor of custom ROMs, other than just enjoying the tinkering, which in my opinion doesn't justify the disadvantages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you know what you talking about , did you try by your self some of Custom Roms ,spend some time modifying it, tweaks..
every single stuff that you have on MIUI that working, from first rom that come out with 80% we are now on 99 % of stuff that is working, especially NFC, that for me working on My Bootleggers ROM , with Gcam Bural 8 and 64mp working, Astrophotography that is better than MIUI pro mode that you need to searching for best ISO and SEC to get the best star pic, Gcam do that by self,set congif and make amazing photo.. then, XML modules.. thats another long story..
also , full customization of system , Customization of UI , so many options, so many ideas that developers with hard work and great work modify it..
Some of the features that are included on this ROM are:
Code:
* QS Rows and Colums
* Volume Keys: Wake up, skip tracks and switch according to rotation
* Show song album cover, visualizer and battery info on Lockscreen
* Power Menu Items
* Battery LED light settings
* Suspend Actions: Make your device disable GPS and switch to 2G when you're not using it
* AppOps: Manage your apps permissions in an advanced way
* Recent Styles: Dig the new Pie Quickstep recents, go back to the classic layout or use the Android Go layout
* Network icons: Show or hide the cross, switch between 4G or LTE
and the most import thing is NO BLOATWARE !
No Xiaomi application that you force you too use and the second most import thing is NO GOOGLE SERVICES that drain your battery..
you have,smooth ,fast , stable ROM and free hands to make you to look like you want to ,to make it like you want..
this is mine, one week without single crash of any app or random reboot, that is one of thing that blown my mind.. unofficial ROM that is amazing ..
https://youtu.be/Nc7eHRUYGkI
I get it guys.
There are many technical advantages which allow useful tweaks.
All I am saying is that for the typical user, who uses his device for internet, phone, email and Play Store apps, the ability to use these tweaks are not worth the trouble (unlike in the past, when the gap between stock Roms and customs Roms was HUGE).
You cannot tell me that it's easy-- there are scattered threads with advice all over the place, for all kinds of different setups (like what version of MIUI and phone you have, that require searching and putting together multiple posts and threads, figuring out what is up to date, in to figure out what to do, to avoid bricking and other bugs.
This is not criticism of anybody here or the developers. This is just the situation.
I think that some of the highly advanced users here, who perhaps spend hours a day on these forums or in development, have an easier time technically. I must admit that besides Xiaomi's 168 hr wait, the process looks daunting and risky. On this forum, is there a single unified guide that is up to date and reliably takes you through the whole process, even if I already have MIUI 12 installed?
The only point for me is Android update + security patch update in custom ROM.
jshames said:
Following several of the threads here there are recurring themes:
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
4. Bricking, etc
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Although I personally have not gone through all of these on this phone, I have done so on previous phones I've had.
I appreciate the abstract principle of "it's my phone and I should be able to do with it what I want!". Yet we don't have these expectations of any other consumer devices that we buy. For instance I don't expect to be able to custom modify my television, watch or refrigerator. We certainly don't demand that the manufacturer make this easy for us to do. "Hey, why doesn't Toyota let me change out the engine for a Chevy?".
Practically speaking, especially in light of the latest android versions and development of MIUI which are so feature rich, customizable and flexible, IMHO there seems to be so little to gained with unlocking versus the risks and endless time wasted related to the above mentioned issues.
With the factory stock ROM you get, without fussing:
1. SafetyCheck (ie pay apps, Netflix) that just works.
2. OTA
3. All built in hardware that just works. No "BT not working in the latest version", etc
4. In MIUI 12-- the excellent stock camera app which has improved photo performance dramatically, eliminates the need for GCam and all of the fussing with that.
5. Minor bugs that you can live with
I welcome comments here with convincing arguments in favor of custom ROMs, other than just enjoying the tinkering, which in my opinion doesn't justify the disadvantages.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try and directly answer + add my own stuff.
1. Endless technical difficulties with the process of unlocking, installing custom recoveries and ROMs, downgrading and bricking.
With CFW (Custom Firmware) you can be even safer on custom ROMs, as unbricking will no longer need a Mi Authorised Account. Some users have reported their devices bricking just from updating from MIUI to MIUI, which gave me another reason.
2. Various features of the RN8P not working properly with Rooted/unlocked/ customs ROMs, such as camera, Netflix, bank apps etc.
Camera works even better on custom ROMs, thanks to buffer fix module (can be applied to rooted MIUI). Magisk hide + magisk props will mostly have you covered in terms of banking apps. Netflix is a weird issue, as you either have it crash or Widevine L3 but it works so
3. Endless tinkering with GCam with ambiguous results at best, regarding performance and quality of output.
Nope, not at all. Stock cam was absolutely trash (80% of scenarios) and speaking from an XML creator's point of view, it's just us that has to do the tinkering. You just have to update and pick which XML you prefer. I haven't even bothered to download ANX cam, as GCAM already works well enough for me.
4. Bricking, etc
CFW has you covered here, even when going from A10. Just flash LR TWRP 3.1.1 or 3.3.1 and flash CFW + CFW ROM via recovery and safe.
5. Loss of OTA ability.
Honestly, I don't trust OTAs on MIUI after hearing people were bricked by doing that.
I went to custom ROMs for a peace of mind solution to...
- Better battery.
- Better support.
- Freedom with magisk.
- Trying out new features.
- Less bloatware with NikGapps Omni.
- Sometimes better performance.
So far, I've never felt the need to go back to MIUI.
Stock (global) ROM on my RN8P did not support (or allow) call recording. flashed Indonesia ROM to get that.
I still want to root the phone in order to:
* Backup apps including data with Super Backup
* Add folder shortcuts (for call recordings) to home screen
If there is a way to accomplish these without rooting, I'd love to know how.