System Partition Issue - Samsung Epic 4G Touch

So I recently found an old Galaxy SII Epic 4G Touch lying around and I thought I would play around with it a little bit.
Little did I know it was gonna be a complete hell
So in all of the confusion of simply not being able to flash whatever the heck I wanted (since the kernel and recovery are apparently both within one monolithic binary), I have now run into a different issue.
So, on this phone so far, I have somehow managed to crash, break, and soft brick my way into successfully installing CyanogenMod 11 (4.4.4 KitKat), CWM 6.0.5.1(I think yeah totally), and the pico loadout for 4.4.4 gapps. I reeeaaally enjoy taking these phones that manufacturers destroy with preloaded launchers, bloat, etc. and fixing them up nice to look like they just rolled off the Google showroom with a fresh installs of all stock gapps, and silky smooth android. But here's where my issue comes in. I spent the good part of today just looking for a full gapps package with all stock gapps that would work on this thing. I sifted through unsafe websites, dead links, and throughout (what i think is) most of this forum to find something that would work, but couldn't. Thought it was issues with not being able to install PA packages onto Cyanogenmod. But that wasn't my issue. (the recovery kicked out error after error each time I tried. So it was an issue for sure. I realize that. Just not the issue I want to solve here and now) So then, I decided to simply run another factory reset, do another fresh install of the OS, and cave in, and use the nano app package. This package was the only one to give me some kind of response. It essentially said that my /system/ partition was too small to accept all of the apps on it. And then it dawned on me. The internal storage on this phone is separated into 2 partitions. 16gb. 1.97gb for system use, and the rest for downloaded apps, media, etc.etc. . I want to know if there is a process - for this phone specifically - to merge those two partitions together so that I can get a stock looking gapps install on this guy. I don't plan on using this phone for anything in particular. Just doing this for fun.
Anyone got any answers? I've seen similar situations floating around here and other places with other devices. And it's doable(????????), but all of the methods shown are for those specific devices, and I would rather not try and replicate them here if somehow something is critically different.
Thanks for any response at all. Seriously. If it's just to tell me I'm a big stupid and this won't and can't work, I will still appreciate it.

Related

[Q] A Few Questions About New Nexus 7

Sorry in advance as I'm sure these questions are added somewhere. Just looking to be pointed to some threads or other places with good info.
I just got a new 2013 N7 and it came with 4.3 build A# JWR66N.
Upon first run, there are a couple of system updates available that I am hesitant to install. I'm guessing they are to update it to the newest 4.4. Just wondering if I should do this or if it will cripple or lock anything else having to do with rooting or flashing custom ROM's
First thing I noticed is it looks just like the custom EOS 4.1.1 I flashed into my Xoom tablet a few years ago and coming from a Galaxy tab, there is no option to clear all recent apps (the Galaxy has a small garbage can symbol in the recent apps list that gets rid of everything with one touch). I was wondering if there is something like this for the N7 (either an app or a custom ROM that has it).
Also, I knew before buying it that OTG was crippled. My friend has one and said he rooted and used stickmount to get full OTG read-write access. Wondering if there is a better alternative (or if there is a custom ROM with this already fixed).
I have been seeing a lot of stuff about a N7 FLO. What is this and how do I know if I have it?
Last, I am definitely interested in unlocking/rooting/adding a custom ROM to it but looking for some good direction for this. I have been searching through these boards and my head is spinning from all the different info. Last time I rooted and flashed a custom rom was a few years ago with my Motorola Xoom and I did it all manually with ADB and some other stuff and it went smooth. It seems like everything written on here is made for people that already know what they are doing and although I have done it before, and have no problems following instructions, it's been a few years I am looking for a good link or links to some beginner guides so I can kinda go back to the beginning and refresh myself before going into this. I am also not opposed to using WUG's toolkit or similar but would still like to better understand doing things manually in case something goes wrong.
Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
happy4ya said:
Sorry in advance as I'm sure these questions are added somewhere. Just looking to be pointed to some threads or other places with good info.
I just got a new 2013 N7 and it came with 4.3 build A# JWR66N.
Upon first run, there are a couple of system updates available that I am hesitant to install. I'm guessing they are to update it to the newest 4.4. Just wondering if I should do this or if it will cripple or lock anything else having to do with rooting or flashing custom ROM's
First thing I noticed is it looks just like the custom EOS 4.1.1 I flashed into my Xoom tablet a few years ago and coming from a Galaxy tab, there is no option to clear all recent apps (the Galaxy has a small garbage can symbol in the recent apps list that gets rid of everything with one touch). I was wondering if there is something like this for the N7 (either an app or a custom ROM that has it).
Also, I knew before buying it that OTG was crippled. My friend has one and said he rooted and used stickmount to get full OTG read-write access. Wondering if there is a better alternative (or if there is a custom ROM with this already fixed).
I have been seeing a lot of stuff about a N7 FLO. What is this and how do I know if I have it?
Last, I am definitely interested in unlocking/rooting/adding a custom ROM to it but looking for some good direction for this. I have been searching through these boards and my head is spinning from all the different info. Last time I rooted and flashed a custom rom was a few years ago with my Motorola Xoom and I did it all manually with ADB and some other stuff and it went smooth. It seems like everything written on here is made for people that already know what they are doing and although I have done it before, and have no problems following instructions, it's been a few years I am looking for a good link or links to some beginner guides so I can kinda go back to the beginning and refresh myself before going into this. I am also not opposed to using WUG's toolkit or similar but would still like to better understand doing things manually in case something goes wrong.
Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do not use a toolkit. If there is one thing you take from this response, take that.
N7 2013 has two models, flo and deb. flo is the wifi version, deb is the LTE version.
Updating a Nexus device will not hinder your ability to root/unlock the bootloader. Other OEMs do this, and that's why I'm not using their devices anymore. Done with them.
Clear all recents button is removed on later Android versions. Custom ROMs or Xposed/GravityBox to get it back.
OTG/Stickmount issue: I believe that if you have a custom kernel that supports it, not an issue, don't need Stickmount. No experience in this area, however.
The stock look of a Google OS is standard AOSP. That's why the ROM you flashed on your Xoom looks very similar.
If you are new to Nexus devices, I would probably recommend using stock for a while. When you become tired of the absolute lack of customization, switch to SlimKat and use Banks' minimal gapps package. The gapps thread is in the N5 apps section, but works just the same on N7.
If you are going to unlock the bootloader anyhow, here is what you want to do to update to the newest version without the extra steps.
You need to install the drivers, get ADB+fastboot, and download the KTU84P factory image for your device. All links in signature. If you have the wifi model, razor, if you have the LTE model, razorg. razor=flo, razorg=deb.
You can find the fastboot tuts all over the internet, and it's too long to type. But basically, you want:
fastboot oem unlock (this will wipe your device, but only needs to be done one time)
fastboot reboot-bootloader
<you can run the flash-all.bat file that came with your fasctory image now>
after that's done, you'll want to go back into bootloader mode and flash TWRP (link in signature).
fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
That's a lot of information written with very poor coherence. If you need elaboration, just ask. But it has you pointed in the right direction.
Aerowinder said:
Do not use a toolkit. If there is one thing you take from this response, take that.
N7 2013 has two models, flo and deb. flo is the wifi version, deb is the LTE version.
Updating a Nexus device will not hinder your ability to root/unlock the bootloader. Other OEMs do this, and that's why I'm not using their devices anymore. Done with them.
Clear all recents button is removed on later Android versions. Custom ROMs or Xposed/GravityBox to get it back.
OTG/Stickmount issue: I believe that if you have a custom kernel that supports it, not an issue, don't need Stickmount. No experience in this area, however.
The stock look of a Google OS is standard AOSP. That's why the ROM you flashed on your Xoom looks very similar.
If you are new to Nexus devices, I would probably recommend using stock for a while. When you become tired of the absolute lack of customization, switch to SlimKat and use Banks' minimal gapps package. The gapps thread is in the N5 apps section, but works just the same on N7.
If you are going to unlock the bootloader anyhow, here is what you want to do to update to the newest version without the extra steps.
You need to install the drivers, get ADB+fastboot, and download the KTU84P factory image for your device. All links in signature. If you have the wifi model, razor, if you have the LTE model, razorg. razor=flo, razorg=deb.
You can find the fastboot tuts all over the internet, and it's too long to type. But basically, you want:
fastboot oem unlock (this will wipe your device, but only needs to be done one time)
fastboot reboot-bootloader
<you can run the flash-all.bat file that came with your fasctory image now>
after that's done, you'll want to go back into bootloader mode and flash TWRP (link in signature).
fastboot flash recovery twrp.img
That's a lot of information written with very poor coherence. If you need elaboration, just ask. But it has you pointed in the right direction.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for all the info. So I definitely have the FLO model.
I would like to use Titanium Backup for Root and a few other things that need root access so I definitely want to do this.
Also, being that this tablet has no micro SD, I definitely want to have read-write access with a USB drive. I've had this for almost a week already and I haven't loaded anything into it yet because I figured I'd be wiping it. I really don't want to mess with stock because of the lack of a few things. I really just can't stand having devices with restricted use. That's not what I paid for.
I never used Kit Kat before and not sure if I'll like it. Do you know if you can go back to 4.3? I know with some of the other devices (like my Galaxy S3 phone), once you update it OTA, they lock stuff up and you cannot roll back.
Also, does anyone have any idea on a completely new out of the box unit what is killing the battery so fast? On my galaxy 7 tab, it would last over a week in standby. This thing was dead in about a day and a half after I took it off the charger. and I charger it full a couple of times already. Or does battery life just suck on this tablet?
I did find a post somewhere that said to turn off google location and I just did that. We'll see if it does anything.
happy4ya said:
Also, does anyone have any idea on a completely new out of the box unit what is killing the battery so fast? On my galaxy 7 tab, it would last over a week in standby. This thing was dead in about a day and a half after I took it off the charger. and I charger it full a couple of times already. Or does battery life just suck on this tablet?
I did find a post somewhere that said to turn off google location and I just did that. We'll see if it does anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can roll back to 4.3. Google hasn't gone full Apple yet. But I strongly advise against doing so, as it's a large step backwards.
Understood on stock OS, agree no options anywhere. Slimkat+franco.kernel+banks gapps. You won't look back. Also in developer options, switch to ART. Dalvik sucks. If you're using Banks' minimal gapps, the lack of some syncing libs (for the AOSP calendar nobody uses) will cause random FCs until you reboot a second time. Nothing to worry about. Just grab the Google Calendar, or whatever calendar you use, from the play store and freeze the AOSP one with TiBu. Another FC you might see is gms.location. It should only happen once. Something with play services.
Once you are rooted, you can grab BetterBatteryStats to see what's killing your battery. On stock installs, it's mostly going to be location-based stuff keeping it awake. You already turned off reporting, but you also need to switch location mode to Device only.

[Q] Crashing apps and loss of service?!

Hey guys, long time browser, first time poster, but not a reason for celebration, alas.I come to you guys out of frustration after hours of being unable to solve my issue cruising the interwebs, and the thread title kinda says it all.
To start from the beginning, I recently delved into the rooted world by means of towelroot (kitkat 4.4.2), installed xposed framework, got the modules XBlast and XPrivacy, and you might have guessed, fiddled around with each. Everything was fine and dandy until I was having issues receiving/making calls through an app (LINE, if you know it), and so I attempted to figure out what the issue was, very much assuming XPrivacy to be the culprit. Couldn't get it to work, which is when I decided to restore my backup I made using Clockwork. Should have been nice and smooth sailing, but...
Upon having it "restored" I booted on into it, which is when I got smacked in the face; as soon as I'm booted, most, if not all, my apps are reporting that they have stopped working by a bombardment of error messages in endless succession, making just browsing the home screens almost impossible. Also with this barrage came the lack of cell service, a nice white n' slashed out circle in what should be my bars of signal. I tried again to restore my phone from my backup. Same issue, but I did notice during the recovery it made mention of something like "secure_android" missing? This sent me on my hours of head banging, turning up *possible* resolutions, which didn't work. I've tried flashing the stock bootloader, gapps, and nothing. Now, my data and apps are all still there and I can get into recovery without issue, it's just the pain of not being able to actually using any of it.
I have debugging switched on on my phone, but do not have some sort of adb app installed on it, nor could I access any market place to try. I'm not so sure I would be able to install anything on my phone given my current circumstances, anyway.
Please, if any of you out there have some idea as to what is going on, I'm all eyes (as ears on a forum don't work so well)! If there are any details I may have omitted and so on, just let me know and I'll supply it--
Thank you all so much in advance for any possible steps that may resolve this issue!
Fingerless said:
Hey guys, long time browser, first time poster, but not a reason for celebration, alas.I come to you guys out of frustration after hours of being unable to solve my issue cruising the interwebs, and the thread title kinda says it all.
To start from the beginning, I recently delved into the rooted world by means of towelroot (kitkat 4.4.2), installed xposed framework, got the modules XBlast and XPrivacy, and you might have guessed, fiddled around with each. Everything was fine and dandy until I was having issues receiving/making calls through an app (LINE, if you know it), and so I attempted to figure out what the issue was, very much assuming XPrivacy to be the culprit. Couldn't get it to work, which is when I decided to restore my backup I made using Clockwork. Should have been nice and smooth sailing, but...
Upon having it "restored" I booted on into it, which is when I got smacked in the face; as soon as I'm booted, most, if not all, my apps are reporting that they have stopped working by a bombardment of error messages in endless succession, making just browsing the home screens almost impossible. Also with this barrage came the lack of cell service, a nice white n' slashed out circle in what should be my bars of signal. I tried again to restore my phone from my backup. Same issue, but I did notice during the recovery it made mention of something like "secure_android" missing? This sent me on my hours of head banging, turning up *possible* resolutions, which didn't work. I've tried flashing the stock bootloader, gapps, and nothing. Now, my data and apps are all still there and I can get into recovery without issue, it's just the pain of not being able to actually using any of it.
I have debugging switched on on my phone, but do not have some sort of adb app installed on it, nor could I access any market place to try. I'm not so sure I would be able to install anything on my phone given my current circumstances, anyway.
Please, if any of you out there have some idea as to what is going on, I'm all eyes (as ears on a forum don't work so well)! If there are any details I may have omitted and so on, just let me know and I'll supply it--
Thank you all so much in advance for any possible steps that may resolve this issue!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like your backup was a downgrade (old version).
I would suggest doing a factory reset, test it. If that doesn't do it, use Odin to flash stock firmware (which can be found in the general section stickies).
BWolf56 said:
Sounds like your backup was a downgrade (old version).
I would suggest doing a factory reset, test it. If that doesn't do it, use Odin to flash stock firmware (which can be found in the general section stickies).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for responding! I did try a wipe data/factory reset via CWM, then restored from there. Didn't work. I'm not sure if there is a particular order in how it should be done such as "factory reset, reboot phone into recovery, restore" or if I should be able to get away with "factory reset, restore", the latter being what I did. I also got a hold of a bootloader file and modem base band for build I747UCUFNE4, if those would be useful in any way.
If it's of any help, I somehow got the Unofficial Omni ROM 4.4.4 to work without any issue, but not quite happy enough with the overall interface of it, yet slowly adapting having installed a touchwiz launcher just to hold me over.
I've tried locating the backup CWM created on my phone so that I could store it on my computer and generate another backup as from what I read, the unpaid version only allows you one at a time, but had no luck digging through my directories. I'm currently investigating this online nandroid backup thing to see if there's anything to it.
I've also come across some file labeled "I747UCUFNE4_Stock_Rooted_Deodex" which is a zip, but I'm reading ODIN uses tar as it's compression of choice? Does this mean I should flash this file via recovery, or? Also, the file size is a whopping 920MB or so... that normal? (Edit: this is where I found the file http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2788357 which says to flash in recovery)
Thanks again for your response! I was really thinking my problem would just be glanced over.
Fingerless said:
Thanks for responding! I did try a wipe data/factory reset via CWM, then restored from there. Didn't work. I'm not sure if there is a particular order in how it should be done such as "factory reset, reboot phone into recovery, restore" or if I should be able to get away with "factory reset, restore", the latter being what I did. I also got a hold of a bootloader file and modem base band for build I747UCUFNE4, if those would be useful in any way.
If it's of any help, I somehow got the Unofficial Omni ROM 4.4.4 to work without any issue, but not quite happy enough with the overall interface of it, yet slowly adapting having installed a touchwiz launcher just to hold me over.
I've tried locating the backup CWM created on my phone so that I could store it on my computer and generate another backup as from what I read, the unpaid version only allows you one at a time, but had no luck digging through my directories. I'm currently investigating this online nandroid backup thing to see if there's anything to it.
I've also come across some file labeled "I747UCUFNE4_Stock_Rooted_Deodex" which is a zip, but I'm reading ODIN uses tar as it's compression of choice? Does this mean I should flash this file via recovery, or? Also, the file size is a whopping 920MB or so... that normal? (Edit: this is where I found the file http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2788357 which says to flash in recovery)
Thanks again for your response! I was really thinking my problem would just be glanced over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant factory reset without restoring.
But now that you're back up and running, there's no need for it (unless you flash another ROM). You could flash NE4 if you wanna get back on the official ROM but there are also tw custom ROM which you can look into (you're currently using an aosp one).
As for the 920mb, yeah.. That's Sammy at its best, bloating their ROMs.
BWolf56 said:
I meant factory reset without restoring.
But now that you're back up and running, there's no need for it (unless you flash another ROM). You could flash NE4 if you wanna get back on the official ROM but there are also tw custom ROM which you can look into (you're currently using an aosp one).
As for the 920mb, yeah.. That's Sammy at its best, bloating their ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You think it would be safe to do a factory reset and try to restore just the data from my recovery? Or is it possible that the data is somehow the issue with everything going wonky?
I'm very new to the ROM thing, Omni was easy to get up and running, but actually playing with a ROM was more of a last ditch effort to see if the problem would be resolved that way and give any sort of indication as to what the issue was (still haven't the sllightest). It's currently not rooted (at least according to my root checker) and the towelroot method doesn't seem to work on it. I kinda need to be rooted if I wanted to make a nandroid, I really want to make a back up of what I currently have set in case I screw the pooch trying to get things back to "normal", yet I'm afraid of overwriting my only recovery and losing whatever data is embedded, though I'm not too deeply saddened by the thought of not having chat histories and whatnot, it would just be nice to have. Perhaps you have thoughts, or anyone else out there, on the matter? I know my first step would be to at least root my current ROM, then back up, I found this as a means to root Omni (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2672160), but how do I determine whether I'm using an ARM based or x86 based device?
Good to know the file size for the stock ROM is considered normal. I didn't even consider carrier/Samsung bloat to have such a huge impact.
Thanks, yet again!

[Q] Entire Device Lags with Maps/Waze

Hello Everyone,
Ever since I've updated to 4.4.2+ I've been having the same issue across multiple ROMs. This being when I use Google Maps or Waze the entire device will frequently start to lag really, really bad. Somewhere around 15 seconds response to do anything. More often than not, I have to reboot by pulling the battery. I've seen similar issues between probably the 6+ ROMs across 4.4.2, 4.4.3, and 4.4.4, so I don't think its something isolated to any one specific ROM. This leaves the assumption that it may either be something specific to my device, the way I'm flashing new ROMs, or something seen in all releases of 4.4.2+. I doubt it's the third possibility, though. When I flash a new ROM I wipe cache, dalvik, and storage via TWRP's wipe option followed by installing the new ROM and Gapps, if needed.
I fear I know too little about how Android functions to start really troubleshooting the issue. If anyone can point me in the right direction of some troubleshooting guides, posts, applications, logs, etc I don't mind trying to hunt this down myself. I welcome any and all help that can be provided.
Thanks
-Omni

[Q] Game refuses to run?

So I'm running into a wall on this.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.square_enix.ff7g_bike Updated a week ago to 1.2.0, and prior to that it would run fine (if a bit laggy at times). But since installing the update (required to play) it won't run. I'll tap on the icon, it'll load and show in the background with other running apps, but just won't run proper? I even updated to Android 4.4.4 cm-11-20141112-SNAPSHOT-M12-d2lte, from 4.4.2), used the Triangle Away app to reset things so the phone wouldn't appear to be custom/flashed, and still doesn't work.
I tested the update on a friend's S4 (un-rooted) and haven't had the same issue.
Is my phone (SGH-T999) just too old/no longer supported? The S3 is still on the device list: http://help.finalfantasy7-gbike.com/model but perhaps it wasn't updated.
So the last update to 1.4.0 at the end of April took care of the problem, which was great.
However..... they've updated to 1.5.0 today, and I'm experiencing the same exact problem I had prior to that update.
I don't know what to do, if there's anything that CAN be done.
Help, please.
Probably because you are using an aftermarket rom. Only thing I can suggest is to use a TouchWiz rom, or update cm. That zip is extremely old. Try the latest nightly. In case you didn't know, cm12 is available for the s3 under d2tmo in case you want to try it
It's possible.... so far unrooted/stock-rom devices are fine. However my friend let me root their S4 and that didn't cause an issue.
As for updating CM, I'll give that a try. I hadn't checked since March (and CM updater didn't give me any indications of a newer version oddly).
*edit* Ok I used TWRP 2.8.6.0 and updated to cm-12.1-20150614-NIGHTLY-d2tmo (along with gapps-5.1-2015-04-20-15-56-24), during the "Android is upgrading" screen (after a very long time on the CM splash) the phone rebooted.... currently back on CM splash screen... will edit in more details once beyond that screen.
*edit2* Past the CM splash, on "Android is starting".... optimizing apps 3 of 108.... and again with reboot.
*edit3* Again at "Android is starting" now optimizing app 198 of 199.... *fingers crossed*
*edit4* Finishing boot.... ok looks like I need to use a newer gapps... ok, updated to gapps-5.1-2015-06-02-15-19...
*edit5* Well everything appears to be working.... though the G-Bike game still won't load once updated to 1.5.0... it does at least switch to the horizontal position and the screen goes dark longer before returning to the homescreen... but that's about it. :crying::crying: Switching to TouchWiz may have no change either, correct?
*edit6* I've always used the default messaging app, but when I opened it it's seemingly stuck on "loading conversations", I read elsewhere that it may take a very long time to load if you have a lot of texts... which I guess given that one contact has 4,000+ texts saved in that thread, perhaps it's just a matter of time before all previous texts load?
A rooted rom shouldn't affect it. I mean aftermarket like cm or aosp. It could work fine on TouchWiz, especially since it's listed as a supported device. Yes, texts may take long time to load if you have many
Texts finally did load. I'm about to install CM on the S4, to see if the game no longer loads then. If that's the case, then I'll switch to TW on my S3 and hope that the game works afterwards.
Unfortunately I'm under a bit of some time constraint, the 1.5.0 update was for an event to gain a new support character, and that ends in exactly 1hr....
Given the time-frame, is there a "quick & easy" method to flash a TW rom without having to do various app data backups/nandroid backup (I will have to factory wipe, yes?), and not lose much/any data? I unfortunately don't have a high capacity SD Card (4GB, my 64GB one in the S3 stopped allowing write access a few days ago, seems to be an issue with that particular card), and 4GB isn't nearly enough to backup everything from the S3 to SD.
*edit* Well well..... 1.5.0 will not run on the CM rom on the S4!
You can back up to your internal memory. As long as you factory reset with custom recovery, you won't lose anything stored on it, except apps and settings
Great! One further question, is there any possibility that by switching ROMs, the game might think I'm on a different phone/new user (and if so, is there a way to fix this?)? Despite all the un/re-installs, I've never lost my progress most likely due to it being saved on their servers... but I'd hate to appear as a new user and lose month's worth of progress.
Yeah there's always that possibility. That's why you should always back up your apps with data so you can restore it in case
Thanks again. I wish I knew exactly what was being changed from version to version, that makes the game not work on an aftermarket rom. If it never worked from the beginning, that'd be one thing... but it's a yes/no/no/yes/no type of deal here. Shame I can't just take what works in the 1.4.0 version and compile it into the 1.5.0 ver... Or figure out what it's checking, and make it think it's a stock rom instead.

Could I get advice on a Rom to flash please

Ok so I have a HTC ONE M8, it says it has Android 6 and Sense 7 and I am in UK.
I have unlocked the bootloader, installed TWRP 3.2.3-0 (and backed up) and Rooted with SuperSU 2.82
So all I need is a rom...
I have been looking for hours trying to decide which rom to try but I am at a loss.
My needs are simple...
1. The newest version of android I can get (just to annoy my dad)
2. I must be able to blacklist calls and texts (without needing an app)
3. No bloatware, I don't want my phone doing anything unless I want it to.
4. Things like blinkfeed are totally not wanted.
5. I am not even sure what sense is, I am pretty sure I don't use it
That will do it, thank you for looking. Suggestions?
alphalvr said:
Ok so I have a HTC ONE M8, it says it has Android 6 and Sense 7 and I am in UK.
I have unlocked the bootloader, installed TWRP 3.2.3-0 (and backed up) and Rooted with SuperSU 2.82
So all I need is a rom...
I have been looking for hours trying to decide which rom to try but I am at a loss.
My needs are simple...
1. The newest version of android I can get (just to annoy my dad)
2. I must be able to blacklist calls and texts (without needing an app)
3. No bloatware, I don't want my phone doing anything unless I want it to.
4. Things like blinkfeed are totally not wanted.
5. I am not even sure what sense is, I am pretty sure I don't use it
That will do it, thank you for looking. Suggestions?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First, you need to know there is no "golden rom" that will make everyone happy. You have to try them out yourself and see which one you like the most.
Anyway, to answer your questions:
1. Lineageos 16 currently is the only rom with android pie. However it's very early release, so minor and major bugs are to be expected. I'd recommend you lineageos 15.1 instead - oreo isn't that old and the rom is very stable.
2. It's possible on lineageos 15.1 and roms based on it, should also be possible on 16. Not sure about sense roms.
3. Almost all of the custom roms don't have bloatware. Also you can get root and delete apps you don't need.
4. Blinkfeed is only in stock roms. You can disable or uninstall it.
5. You're using it 100% of the time. Sense is the name of android skin on htc devices. It includes changes in look, feel and some functionality compared to stock android. You should know there are sense based roms - they are based on the stock rom, retaining sense functionality and look and custom, pure android roms - those have only minor changes in them and feel and look like stock android.
Great answers in the previous reply. Just wanted to add:
What qualifies as "bloatware" is completely subjective. The goal of the makers of these built-in apps (whether it be a manufacturer, carrier, or even Google themselves) is to provide useful apps. But that doesn't always work out, and certainly not always for everyone. However, what qualifies as "bloat" to one user, is a useful or even necessary app for another. So you say "no bloat" doesn't mean too much; without you being specific about what you want/need and what you don't. Therefore, there are various approaches/answers:
- If you refer to HTC specific apps, these won't be present in any of the more current ROMs. By definition, HTC stopped supporting this device with OS updates at Marshmallow. Anything after that, will be non-HTC and therefore AOSP or "pure Android" based.
- The AOSP based custom ROMs will often allow (even require) you to flash Google apps (gapps) separately from the ROM. This also allows you to choose which gapps package to install, and therefore tailor to your own needs. From minimal installation to get Android to work; to full suite of Google apps (many of which, a lot of users will consider bloat).
- Any pre-installed apps can be disabled or removed with root. Although you should take caution, as removing some bloat apps may break other phone functions. Unless you research and know the specific app is safe to remove, better to disable or "freeze" it with a root app like Titanium Backup. Then test the phone for a while, to see if there are any resulting bugs or issues.
Thanks, I have never really got into the whole Android and Iphone thing. My best ever phone was a Nokia N-gage and I only stopped using it recently due to my eyes not being what they once were.
My last phone was a LG nexus4 and I have only switched it up to the M8 as i saw it in a friends house with a broken screen.
I can already see it is a tad more responsive and to be honest the stock rom is probably fine for what I do (nothing + odd game) but where is the fun in that
Going to download lineage 15.1, sounds like a good start.
one last thing my M8 is 16GB of which 6GB was used, then I backed it up and that sucked up another 4GB so what happens exaclt when i install a rom does the original 6GB become free again? i have installe roms before back in the early days but my memory like my eyes aint what it once was
OK so i just jumped in and followed the 15.1 instructions (i think) Installed the rom, the suggested superuser thing and that went ok, but when installing the gapps (nano) it failed with lack of space. Doing something wrong??
The rom is starting with pink balls so I am almost there......and it is working. I went back and tried to flash gapps nano again and it actually says there is insufficient space on the system partition.
Resized it, then it seems to have worked. thanks guys i love it so far.
alphalvr said:
one last thing my M8 is 16GB of which 6GB was used, then I backed it up and that sucked up another 4GB so what happens exaclt when i install a rom does the original 6GB become free again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No storage is going to free itself up, from flashing a custom ROM. You will have to free it up yourself. You can delete the LOS ROM zip, once it has been installed. Although, I like to keep copies of custom ROMs on my computer for a while, just in case I need it again in the future.
If you have an SD card installed to the device, you can have your TWRP backup on the SD card, which will free up a lot of space. As you've seen, the TWRP backups take up a ton of storage! Having a backup on the device (either SD or internal storage) is "best practice" in my opinion; so it is handy in case you need to restore that backup.
You'll never get all 16 GB of storage. A significant amount is taken by the system (OS) and other uses. I think something like 12 GB of user-accessible storage is all you will ever see on a 16-GB device. And this starts to be eaten up the moment you start installing apps and using the device.
You guys have been a great help, I ordered a 2nd m8 off ebay and a genuine HTC dot matrix case although I now realise the dot thing is part of sense which I no longer have. whoops
I didn't realise at the time because everything seems to work but when i was installing I kept seeing a red line of text. iirc it was something about unable to access dalvik partition? I only realised it shouldn't have been saying that when I watched a youtube video of installing a rom that wasn't plagued by this line.
I need to do it again to try and figure what was going on.

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