Hi guys, I have a HTC M8 AT&T (Actually version. Android: 5.0.2 | Software: 4.28.502.1) bought in the United States but use in Brazil, but it is not possible to automatically update and I always down by the site the latest version. I always wanted to modify the phone but was always afraid of not liking too. But now I'm trying to change and unlock it.
I have some doubts about the ROM.
- Everything works the same as the original?
- It will take some bug during use?
- Can I have the visual theme of the original?
- If I want to go back to the original, it is possible?
I apologize for the questions, but it is something I want to solve.
I read a lot here, see topics ROMS but always have some doubts, I see a lot of people talking about problems, etc.
Thank you all.
My responses below in red font:
diigodr said:
I have some doubts about the ROM. What ROM(s) are you considering? If you don't specify, it makes all your following questions too vague to possibly answer!
- Everything works the same as the original? Too vague to know what you are asking about. What specific features are you concerned about? The basic functionality (what you can do with the phone) will be the similar or same; but obviously there will be some differences, otherwise why install the ROM at all? In fact, many custom ROMs will be "better" than stock in many ways (which is the main point). For instance, performance tweaks, removed bloatware, and most will remove AT&T's limitation on being able to use WiFi hotspot (tethering).
- It will take some bug during use? Its possible to have bugs. But the official stock ROMs have bugs, too. ROMs based on HTC baseline ROMs (Sense or GPE) are typically very stable, and with very few bugs (are if any, they are very minor). More on "bugs" below.
- Can I have the visual theme of the original? It depend on what ROM you are talking about. It will typically state in the ROM threads if it has been themed, if it has tools built-in to change the theme, etc.
- If I want to go back to the original, it is possible? Of course. In fact, you can and should make a TWRP (custom recovery) backup of the stock ROM before you flash any custom ROMs, in case you want to revert to stock(as doing a TWRP backup makes it much easier to revert).
I read a lot here, see topics ROMS but always have some doubts, I see a lot of people talking about problems, etc. Again, too vague to know what you are referring to. Sometimes "bugs" are due to user error, such as having outdated firmware, not doing proper wipes before flashing, etc.
Whether to flash a custom ROM is a good idea for you as an individual, is a very personal choice. It depends on what you hope to obtain, which you really haven't mentioned at all. But custom ROMs are obviously worthwhile to a large number of folks. Otherwise, XDA wouldn't exist in the first place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I came back to the forum after 6 months and was pleasantly surprised by the number of custom roms available now. From the few (currently trending) threads I checked out, I see that either there are still some kind of bugs are still lingering or the dev abandoned the project or the thread was closed or ... I think you get the point. For this reason, I'd rather stick with the official stock rom but I never quite liked the bloatware (both mi and google) and google tracking. To maximise performance and battery life, I wish to clean my rom of all of these stuff or, if possible, install a pre-configured one.
I have some questions though:-
1. Best way to debloat?
Yes, I have tried adb uninstall command when I first got the phone but for some reason, that didn't work. I saw a recent guide on the forum for this purpose that I could try later.
2. Any experience with microG on MIUI?
I don't know if it's possible/working on MIUI roms since this is my first Xiaomi device.
3. Recommended custom ROM?
I may have missed out on all the good stuff during my absence. If you could recommend a rom you find the most stable and clean, even if it is AOSP, it would save me a lot of time.
Look, you are probably going to tell me that I could have done a bit more search on my own before posting here. The thing is, I have returned to the whole modding stuff after 4 years so lest I might break/mess up things, I deemed it more reasonable to ask here.
Hope someone sees this. Thank you.
You're looking for the exact same thing I did.
For me the solution was lineageos with microg, magisk, fdroid store + aurora store.
Lineageos has some minor bugs for me, as well as cameras not working properly.
Reason for most bugs in the most roms is probably that they are based on Android 10,
the devs will probably be able to solve all the bugs as soon as Xiaomi releases miui 12 for this device, which will be based on Android 10.
What you are looking for is probably miui EU rom.
You can easily debloat most of the unwanted sofware with "Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot tools".
Your problems with ADB probably has to do with SU priviligies.
If I remeber correctly you have to use Xposed framework in order to get microg running on miui, I could be wrong on this!
Hope this helps a bit!
SkogstaTarzan said:
You're looking for the exact same thing I did.
For me the solution was lineageos with microg, magisk, fdroid store + aurora store.
Lineageos has some minor bugs for me, as well as cameras not working properly.
Reason for most bugs in the most roms is probably that they are based on Android 10,
the devs will probably be able to solve all the bugs as soon as Xiaomi releases miui 12 for this device, which will be based on Android 10.
What you are looking for is probably miui EU rom.
You can easily debloat most of the unwanted sofware with "Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot tools".
Your problems with ADB probably has to do with SU priviligies.
If I remeber correctly you have to use Xposed framework in order to get microg running on miui, I could be wrong on this!
Hope this helps a bit!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! I am more inclined to use vanilla Android than MIUI. At least now I know my desired setup is within the realm of possibility. Will surely give LineageOS a try.
Hey guys,
it's been 3,5 years since I've had a Oneplus 5 and couldn't root the other phone that I had during that time.
I'm happy to be back but feel like this device isn't nearly as popular as what the previous models (at least till the 5) have been.
I feel like here's much less root related stuff (like custom Roms) to be found.
Can someone give me an update or correct me if I'm wrong?
Thanks in advance.
Twrp has been out since 20th June...
Not only is TWRP a factor, but the evolution of android as a hole. Rooting isn't necessary these days to achieve desired results. My only intention on rooting my op9 pro is to remove the annoying bloatware from T-Mobile.
I feel like rooting/custom roms really are not worth it anymore.
The custom roms are designed to make the device better but in my experience you end up with more issues than you initially had when stock.
you dont have to flash custom rom when you root your phone. I use root acces for these: block ads, debloating unwanted system apps, some deep theming with swift installer and custom kernels. for example omega kernel is better than oneplus kernel now. especially while we all know that Oneplus heavily throttling well known apps.
you dont have to flash custom rom when you root your phone.
regards
sultan.of.swing said:
I feel like rooting/custom roms really are not worth it anymore.
The custom roms are designed to make the device better but in my experience you end up with more issues than you initially had when stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that is your opinion. From my perspective, I'm not happy with basic Android or provided extension and want to flash whatever suits me better and customize as much as I can. And rooting is must have for some specific apps I need, but generally usefull for proper ad-blocking.
Unbreakeable said:
I'm happy to be back but feel like this device isn't nearly as popular as what the previous models (at least till the 5) have been.
I feel like here's much less root related stuff (like custom Roms) to be found.
Can someone give me an update or correct me if I'm wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I felt that way at first, coming from a OP7P where my phone had been heavily modded the whole 2 years I used it and I tried about every custom ROM and kernel available. Then I bought the OP9P on release day and there wasn't anything posted in the Dev section for about 2 months. But there were some challenges early on with a brand new device, Android 11, no TWRP until last month, etc., so development is just now really picking up. I expect to see more and more in the coming months.
And like others have said, a lot of us who used to always use custom ROMs have found other ways to mod without having to rely on ROMs, which can sometimes be a hassle. With root, custom kernels, and a whole slew of magisk modules to choose from, I personally don't have a reason to switch to a custom ROM right now, other than boredom.
I just bought my Poco F3 (8/256), and initially I never really gave any thought about flashing a custom ROM, since at this level, the phone itself is amazing, and I can use it well and reliably.
But I came across people being really passionate towards the EU ROM over the Global one. And they aren't doing it for the sake of customization, they're doing it for literal quality of life improvement.
With that said, as the title suggests, my interest is piqued with the topic, and just wanna ask if it's worth doing so?
I hope you guys could give a conclusive, objective list, not just simply because you use one or the other. (Would really appreciate it :> )
Also I have a few other questions;
Is it technically a custom ROM but is essentially official ROM (I.e. it's from Xiaomi directly so practically nothing changes and everything is still optimized and built for the F3)
Can you go back to the default ROM like nothing happened (Literally back to stock, is that possible?)
And is it safe from a I wanna keep my phone as stock as possible, without any modifications (I really just want the EU if it's officially from Xiaomi and really is stock)
Also maybe you guys can throw around tutorials, and instructions (Like with is TWRP?)
As someone who came from the era of primitive Android modifications (Rooting around 2014) I managed to boot loop an old device of mine, and so I'm understandably hesitant towards these things m
Hopefully my questions could be answered by such an awesome community. Appreciate it :>
Stay safe always guys!
Edit: I really value keeping the phone as is (The experience and the technicalities) I just really want my phone to still be reliable and free from bugs and headaches (With exception to the ones caused by the phone itself, not cause I messed around with my phone)
only one way to find out
Xyril07 said:
I just bought my Poco F3 (8/256), and initially I never really gave any thought about flashing a custom ROM, since at this level, the phone itself is amazing, and I can use it well and reliably.
But I came across people being really passionate towards the EU ROM over the Global one. And they aren't doing it for the sake of customization, they're doing it for literal quality of life improvement.
With that said, as the title suggests, my interest is piqued with the topic, and just wanna ask if it's worth doing so?
I hope you guys could give a conclusive, objective list, not just simply because you use one or the other. (Would really appreciate it :> )
Also I have a few other questions;
Is it technically a custom ROM but is essentially official ROM (I.e. it's from Xiaomi directly so practically nothing changes and everything is still optimized and built for the F3)
Can you go back to the default ROM like nothing happened (Literally back to stock, is that possible?)
And is it safe from a I wanna keep my phone as stock as possible, without any modifications (I really just want the EU if it's officially from Xiaomi and really is stock)
Also maybe you guys can throw around tutorials, and instructions (Like with is TWRP?)
As someone who came from the era of primitive Android modifications (Rooting around 2014) I managed to boot loop an old device of mine, and so I'm understandably hesitant towards these things m
Hopefully my questions could be answered by such an awesome community. Appreciate it :>
Stay safe always guys!
Edit: I really value keeping the phone as is (The experience and the technicalities) I just really want my phone to still be reliable and free from bugs and headaches (With exception to the ones caused by the phone itself, not cause I messed around with my phone)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not worth it, the changes are very little, like e.g. added Ads toggle directly in the initial Android Setup and probably other very minor stuff.
Unless you're talking about Xiaomi.eu which is a Custom ROM. I personally use it and can recommend it. Latest MIUI from China, optimised for rest of the world. Advantages are more features and in-house apps like MIUI Phone (with Call Recording), MIUI Contacts, Xiaomi Health, etc..
dreamytom said:
Not worth it, the changes are very little, like e.g. added Ads toggle directly in the initial Android Setup and probably other very minor stuff.
Unless you're talking about Xiaomi.eu which is a Custom ROM. I personally use it and can recommend it. Latest MIUI from China, optimised for rest of the world. Advantages are more features and in-house apps like MIUI Phone (with Call Recording), MIUI Contacts, Xiaomi Health, etc..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait I'm confused?
Xiaomi.eu is different from the EU ROM?
Does that mean that the particular ROM you're using is actually a Custom ROM (From the community rather than from developers/ POCO themselves)
If so, what exactly are the advantages it provides aside from the one you mentioned? How about substance?
And does that mean that it is outside the realm of being official, and therefore not ideal to someone like me looking to stick to stock everything to avoid the hassle and headache?
Thank you!
Xyril07 said:
Wait I'm confused?
Xiaomi.eu is different from the EU ROM?
Does that mean that the particular ROM you're using is actually a Custom ROM (From the community rather than from developers/ POCO themselves)
If so, what exactly are the advantages it provides aside from the one you mentioned? How about substance?
And does that mean that it is outside the realm of being official, and therefore not ideal to someone like me looking to stick to stock everything to avoid the hassle and headache?
Thank you!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes 100% different. Many get confused about this because of the website's name.
It's very much a Custom ROM, but very stable, since it just takes the latest MIUI ROM from China (China gets the latest ROM first, because Xiaomi is chinese). The community devs also did a few adjustments to make the chinese MIUI ROM suitable for the rest of the world, like adding Google Services which China doesn't use, etc..
I'm not sure if you can flash the Official EU ROM without having to unlock the bootloader. I think you can.
But for Xiaomi.eu you definitely need to unlock it. For me personally it was worth it, but I'm also very specific about my customisations and also always unlock & root my Android devices.
dreamytom said:
Yes 100% different. Many get confused about this because of the website's name.
It's very much a Custom ROM, but very stable, since it just takes the latest MIUI ROM from China (China gets the latest ROM first, because Xiaomi is chinese). The community devs also did a few adjustments to make the chinese MIUI ROM suitable for the rest of the world, like adding Google Services which China doesn't use, etc..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Damn.
Do you personally recommend going through the hassle of switching over to Xiaomi.eu, as someone who wants to stick to stock as much as possible but also want the best ideal experience (best battery life, general quality of life stuff)
I also wanna avoid stuff like bootlooping, issues with my warranty, not being able to go back to the official state of the phone etc.
Can you also comment on the opinions I see mostly saying that there is better battery over at Xiaomi.eu. and if so by how much? Are talking an extra hour or two on your screen on time and general battery life? Or at best a couple of minutes?
Thank you
Xyril07 said:
Damn.
Do you personally recommend going through the hassle of switching over to Xiaomi.eu, as someone who wants to stick to stock as much as possible but also want the best ideal experience (best battery life, general quality of life stuff)
I also wanna avoid stuff like bootlooping, issues with my warranty, not being able to go back to the official state of the phone etc.
Can you also comment on the opinions I see mostly saying that there is better battery over at Xiaomi.eu. and if so by how much? Are talking an extra hour or two on your screen on time and general battery life? Or at best a couple of minutes?
Thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hm. Well, Global and EU ROMs are always behind China ROM and Xiaomi.eu Custom ROM.
First thing you'd notice is the Xiaomi apps like Phone, Contacts, and other Xiaomi apps being improved and having a modern Design. You also get new features like Horizontal Recents-Menu, ability to smoothly adjust Font-Thickness. And probably more obvious stuff.
It's been a long time since I last used Stock ROM, but.. battery life is the same.
Also: When people claim much improved battery life on Vanilla Android ROMs or other specific ROMs, take them with a grain of salt, unless these people do scientific tests.
There's always variation, and it highly depends on the features that are enabled, your apps and its services that are running in the background and other stuff like your specific brightness setting.
You may get bootlooping when trying out Custom ROMs, that can happen, but you can always revert back to Stock ROM. You just need to do research on how to flash a Custom Recovery like TWRP, how to flash a Custom ROM and how to revert back to a Stock ROM.
Unlocking Bootloader and using Custom ROM is probably not covered under warranty, but if you can, you can revert to Stock, lock the bootloader, and say "I haven't modified my phone's software", they wouldn't know.
The best MIUI experience is Xiaomi.eu in my opinion, however you have to take time in doing research about TWRP, Xiaomi.eu, Mi Flash (to revert to Stock if sh*t goes wrong), and yeah.
From Global to EU ROM (Official) however, is not worth it at all. No differences basically.
dreamytom said:
Hm. Well, Global and EU ROMs are always behind China ROM and Xiaomi.eu Custom ROM.
First thing you'd notice is the Xiaomi apps like Phone, Contacts, and other Xiaomi apps being improved and having a modern Design. You also get new features like Horizontal Recents-Menu, ability to smoothly adjust Font-Thickness. And probably more obvious stuff.
It's been a long time since I last used Stock ROM, but.. battery life is the same.
Also: When people claim much improved battery life on Vanilla Android ROMs or other specific ROMs, take them with a grain of salt, unless these people do scientific tests.
There's always variation, and it highly depends on the features that are enabled, your apps and its services that are running in the background and other stuff like your specific brightness setting.
You may get bootlooping when trying out Custom ROMs, that can happen, but you can always revert back to Stock ROM. You just need to do research on how to flash a Custom Recovery like TWRP, how to flash a Custom ROM and how to revert back to a Stock ROM.
Unlocking Bootloader and using Custom ROM is probably not covered under warranty, but if you can, you can revert to Stock, lock the bootloader, and say "I haven't modified my phone's software", they wouldn't know.
The best MIUI experience is Xiaomi.eu in my opinion, however you have to take time in doing research about TWRP, Xiaomi.eu, Mi Flash (to revert to Stock if sh*t goes wrong), and yeah.
From Global to EU ROM (Official) however, is not worth it at all. No differences basically.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What about OTA? From what I've read in the past, the Updater app in Xiaomi.eu just downloads the full package and we dirty flash the package it in TWRP. Is that still the case?
CharlieMHz said:
What about OTA? From what I've read in the past, the Updater app in Xiaomi.eu just downloads the full package and we dirty flash the package it in TWRP. Is that still the case?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, on Xiaomi.eu that is the case.
However it only takes 3 minutes to flash the ROM and to reboot. That's literally it.
It's possible for a system to work together with a Custom Recovery, in order to automatically flash updates, but apparently in 2021, we haven't gotten there yet.
I've heard of some Vanilla Android Custom ROMs having fully automatic OTA-updates. AICP or crDroid I think? Not sure..
There's two option with Custom MIUI ROM ( Bare minimum modifications or else there is Highly modifiable MIUI ROM's like OneOS, MIUI MIX, Hellas MIUI, XTRV, MIUIVN, MI-Globe, etc. ) , Xiaomi.eu weekly beta update and a Xiaomi.eu Stable update which are both based on chinese beta and stable as the name suggests. Personally, I use the Weekly update and i have not found any issues for which i would consider it a deal breaker. I am Rooted and happy. I will never go back to Stock ROM because of how poor the battery life was. And also to factor the google dialer and messages app. I do not like it.
I agree with everything @Animesh Singh said, except the Battery life part.
dreamytom said:
Sì, su Xiaomi.eu è così.
..
Ho sentito parlare di alcune ROM personalizzate Android Vanilla con aggiornamenti OTA completamente automatici. AICP o crDroid penso? Non sono sicuro..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to complete the list, even with Syberia I get the update via OTA.
pegasoc said:
Just to complete the list, even with Syberia I get the update via OTA.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol why is it in italian
dreamytom said:
lol why is it in italian
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I apologize, I got confused with the translator.
Xyril07 said:
I just bought my Poco F3 (8/256), and initially I never really gave any thought about flashing a custom ROM, since at this level, the phone itself is amazing, and I can use it well and reliably.
But I came across people being really passionate towards the EU ROM over the Global one. And they aren't doing it for the sake of customization, they're doing it for literal quality of life improvement.
With that said, as the title suggests, my interest is piqued with the topic, and just wanna ask if it's worth doing so?
I hope you guys could give a conclusive, objective list, not just simply because you use one or the other. (Would really appreciate it :> )
Also I have a few other questions;
Is it technically a custom ROM but is essentially official ROM (I.e. it's from Xiaomi directly so practically nothing changes and everything is still optimized and built for the F3)
Can you go back to the default ROM like nothing happened (Literally back to stock, is that possible?)
And is it safe from a I wanna keep my phone as stock as possible, without any modifications (I really just want the EU if it's officially from Xiaomi and really is stock)
Also maybe you guys can throw around tutorials, and instructions (Like with is TWRP?)
As someone who came from the era of primitive Android modifications (Rooting around 2014) I managed to boot loop an old device of mine, and so I'm understandably hesitant towards these things m
Hopefully my questions could be answered by such an awesome community. Appreciate it :>
Stay safe always guys!
Edit: I really value keeping the phone as is (The experience and the technicalities) I just really want my phone to still be reliable and free from bugs and headaches (With exception to the ones caused by the phone itself, not cause I messed around with my phone)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you really like to more Google default apps than MIUI default apps such as Phone, Messages, Google Discover, etc. then changing from Global ROM to EU ROM from official MIUI site is good to go. Unlock the bootloader first then you can flash the EU ROM. Otherwise just stick with Global ROM, everything is same from performance, battery life, etc. But then again if you prefer a Custom ROM based on MIUI, then MIUI EU from Xiaomi-EU is better, it has better stability and more features as well since it is from Chinese ROM which always release earlier features and bug-fix improvement than the official MIUI ROM. Hope this help
You can check all xiaomi.eu features from the link below (scroll down a bit).
MIUI 12.0 - MIUI 12.0/12.1/12.2/12.5 STABLE RELEASE
STABLE RELEASE RULES WHEN POSTING 1. If a ROM is not published DONT ASK ABOUT ITS ETA 2. If a ROM is not published DONT ASK why! 3. If a ROM is available, download it and use it 4. If a ROM has bugs, post the bug to the bug section if the BUG is not already listed 5. If you use any form of...
xiaomi.eu
Notable features for me are:
Increased volume in headphones after some tweaking in sound settings, better standby and battery life, wallpaper carousel (it has an anime category in xiaomi.eu), better theme store imo because of the AOD category which i couldn't find in the global but most of the stuff is in chinese so it might not be as appealing for everyone, no ads etc
I have been looking at a Poco f3 5g. It will have the UK (EU?) Rom. Should I still try xiaomi.eu?
I have a mi 9t at the moment with pixel experience but I'm willing to give Xiaomi ROM another go.
I like Google dialer and messages app. I don't record calls and don't understand why people make a big deal of this?
Is there less bloat in the xiaomi.eu ROM compared to the official EU ROM?
causeway said:
I have been looking at a Poco f3 5g. It will have the UK (EU?) Rom. Should I still try xiaomi.eu?
I have a mi 9t at the moment with pixel experience but I'm willing to give Xiaomi ROM another go.
I like Google dialer and messages app. I don't record calls and don't understand why people make a big deal of this?
Is there less bloat in the xiaomi.eu ROM compared to the official EU ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have read somewhere that xiaomi.eu have some significant better stuff, i think it was on reddit. I ordered mine yesterday, my Poco F3 comes with the Global ROM so i am also thinking on flashing it to xiaomi.eu or to the Official EU ROM, i am still thinking more about changing to the EU ROM other than xiaomi.eu since it's official and it's the first time i am thinking about flahing a phone, is it possible to change from official Global ROM to official EU ROM and if so, do you know how can i do it?
I personnly wouldnt bother still got bloat like virus scanner pretty sure it Avast with a diffrent stamp dont care for the music and video apps to much bloat , the themes app sucks to ,, gonna flash something make it worth your while like Arrow