Database Develop

[Q] Would you recomend flashing android?

Hi guys, as you can see from my sig I owned a few HTC in these years and I moved on from WM to Android about 2 years ago.
I'm writing this post as a request of suggestion from you as I don't have any experience with how Android behave on Tytn II and it's not for me but for my dad..!
He's been using his Tytn II for quite some time so far and I wanted to know if you would suggest me to flash for him Android on his device.
Please before answering considere that it's not for me, it's for a man of a certain age (around 60) that doesn't want any complication and doesn't have any time to dedicate to solve any issue that my come from the process.
So if this would bring him an increase of its device performance and usability I would definetely go for it, but don't want to hear him complaining all the time bout me having ruined his phone because of FC or random reboots or whatever ...
Is there any ROM free of issues and stable enough?!
I enjoy changing kernels, roms and radios of my devices, but you got what I meant before right? Once again: it's not for me..!
Thanks everybody in advance for your suggestions

First of all, before recommending anything.
I understand that your dad is as you say "a man of a certain age (around 60)". Is he savy on learning how to use new things? Meaning navigate his way around using things. IE: with his WM.
As far as if problems will arise, these things will happens (IE: FC, etc...) Depending on how he use it too. But it can be control to the minimum.
From my experience all ROMs are pretty much the same as far a being stable. It will depends on features and a few other things.

BeenAndroidized said:
I understand that your dad is as you say "a man of a certain age (around 60)". Is he savy on learning how to use new things? Meaning navigate his way around using things. IE: with his WM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well..he use his Tytn II as he would have used any "old style phone". No app or whatsoever installed a part from a navigator (which I installed..) ....and once that something was not working properly he didn't anything for about 6 months till I discovered it, PIM backupped everything and made a hard reset to get it back to its functionality...so I'd say: yeah if he need to he will learn, but he won't search by himself any workaround..
And the main problem is that we don't live anymore together, I'm currently at them just till Feb and then I'll b back to Athens where I live...so I won't be here to help him out..!
That said, he's quite tech friendly, he's on his PC all day long and part of his job is to build different sites for various committents...
But from your words I can understand it need far more attentions than I think my dad would like to give to this thing..

Best way is to ask him.

my 2 cents
Well, as far as I can see,
my TyTn II with android is faster, more reliable and overall most usable.
The touch screen feels more like a capacitive touchscreen rather than a resistive one (wich is actually what the TyTN has).
Regarding the "age" of your father, I think it's not a problem.
mine has the same age of yours and he's arguing with Samsung Bada Os every day...so I showed him how "easy" is Android regarding Bada and he was amazed.
the counterpart is that, if he want to move to Android, you have to set up the whole thing in every little piece:
Android version, htc overclock, hiding "dangerous" icons from the drawer (such as the root app ) so he can't cause any "damage" by hitting something wrong.
I'm currently running under Froyo on mine, and it's pretty faster as I said BUT...
sometimes it FC (well, I'm like an addicted to customisations, so it's pretty normal... xD), it freezes for a while, Launcher Pro will FC (I personally hate ADW), my battery drains fast (but again, is because I put all kind of custom on it...IE: live wallpapers, custom lockscreen etc etc)
IMO if you go to a pretty simple version (such as 1.6 or alike) it won't have any kind of problems...
I give you a tip:
google for simosoft project...
he developped an Android "emulator"... install it on his device and see his reactions... from there you can do everything: phone calls, text messaging, emailing (because it basically uses the WinMo programs ) and it's not a flashing rom, it's just a installable .cab file.
try and see
I think this is the best thing you can do to avoid any kind of "stress"...
otherwise, for instance, you can make a huge backup, flash a rom, make him try
and then, if in few days/weeks he can't go on with Android (wich IMO is impossible) you can revert it back to the useless WinMo
let me know :-D

Thanks for all the advices..I'll think about it & I'll let you know
Sent from my brain with Beats Audio using my psychic powers

I'd suggest leaving him with a good stable WM ROM. There are still newer ones but I my favorite was an old one by shifu. You might look for a WM rom that has not a lot of extras, good stability, and updated versions of any "aftermarket" apps.
Or, give him a haret install. If he likes it but complains that it is too slow, you can get more speed by installing nand. But don't do that until you know he likes it.

[Q] Galaxy ace s5730 noob about what os to get and why.

Hey all.
Probably being asked before if so sorry but im very specific with what im after. I have a galaxy ace s5830 unlocked with talk mobile. Still got 3 quaters of a year contract and was wondering a few things.
Im getting a little bored of gingerbread 2.3.3 which is what my phone currently uses and even tho there should be a 2.3.4 or 2.3.6 or 2.3.7 i cant use the auto update thing as for some reason its not on my carrier yet. I could get 2.3.6 using a guide and stuff but if im going to all the trouble of wiping the phone cos of that i might as well give rooting a go and try a os like cynagen or whatever its called etc. I thought.
Good idea or just stick to what works? Whatever i get if i get it needs to be solid and stable and suitable for everyday life and every day usage.
If its a good idea then some questions on how to go.
1. What would be the most stable and most popular ones to consider, ive had a look but theres so many and im so lost. Something on jellybean maybe i dunno would be nice.
2. Camera wifi and usb connecting to pc for file transfer is a must that must work and work well with hopeful updates for the camera i.e faster way to launch it and touch to focus would be sweet as i dont think i have that on my current 2.3.3 gb. Also video for camera must work great too and keep the updated res that 2.3.3 came with i think or better if thats even possible.
3. Battery life would be nice to improve but tbh i dont have that much of a issue with battery life only thing is is when wifi is on it drains a bit quicker but generally it auto turns off when it goes off in to standby/sleep mode.
4. Able to install stuff ok.
5. Has gps and google voice things and search.
6. Touchwiz i think is what i use and might like to keep that i dunno what all the different ones are or if i like em so shrugs here as to what i want really but im used to touchwiz so..
7. I have backed up my contacts to sim and stuff and on pc and all media like pics and vids so i think im ok to do a rooting and new os unless ive missed somit.
I like the flashing on and off thing of cynogen mod i think its from is that only on that or others? I like that circle that rotates when you touch focus thing i saw in some vid for one of the os mods and turns green when in focus that would be nice to have i think.
Somit thats quick to navigate i.e swiping panels with icons on on the main screens would be cool especially with widgets like news and clock and things on my current 2.3.3 it can be a little slugish but in general is fine, im hoping somit new would make it smooth and very fast regardless of what widgets are on tbh.
I like a nice digital clock thats clean and stuff and shows date time and month etc but in a simple way. I use a sense analogue clock thing i think atm that i found which is nice. But well we will see what the os i get recommended has.
So yeah erm i think thats all i wanted to ask.
So yeah what should i be looking at in particular and maybe if i maybe so bold as to write a little description of what the recommendations are like and whats maybe not working for such ones.
So what new os should i look at and version for a s5830.
Thank you so much.

SkeeterUK said:
Hey all.
Probably being asked before if so sorry but im very specific with what im after. I have a galaxy ace s5830 unlocked with talk mobile. Still got 3 quaters of a year contract and was wondering a few things.
Im getting a little bored of gingerbread 2.3.3 which is what my phone currently uses and even tho there should be a 2.3.4 or 2.3.6 or 2.3.7 i cant use the auto update thing as for some reason its not on my carrier yet. I could get 2.3.6 using a guide and stuff but if im going to all the trouble of wiping the phone cos of that i might as well give rooting a go and try a os like cynagen or whatever its called etc. I thought.
Good idea or just stick to what works? Whatever i get if i get it needs to be solid and stable and suitable for everyday life and every day usage.
If its a good idea then some questions on how to go.
1. What would be the most stable and most popular ones to consider, ive had a look but theres so many and im so lost. Something on jellybean maybe i dunno would be nice.
2. Camera wifi and usb connecting to pc for file transfer is a must that must work and work well with hopeful updates for the camera i.e faster way to launch it and touch to focus would be sweet as i dont think i have that on my current 2.3.3 gb. Also video for camera must work great too and keep the updated res that 2.3.3 came with i think or better if thats even possible.
3. Battery life would be nice to improve but tbh i dont have that much of a issue with battery life only thing is is when wifi is on it drains a bit quicker but generally it auto turns off when it goes off in to standby/sleep mode.
4. Able to install stuff ok.
5. Has gps and google voice things and search.
6. Touchwiz i think is what i use and might like to keep that i dunno what all the different ones are or if i like em so shrugs here as to what i want really but im used to touchwiz so..
7. I have backed up my contacts to sim and stuff and on pc and all media like pics and vids so i think im ok to do a rooting and new os unless ive missed somit.
I like the flashing on and off thing of cynogen mod i think its from is that only on that or others? I like that circle that rotates when you touch focus thing i saw in some vid for one of the os mods and turns green when in focus that would be nice to have i think.
Somit thats quick to navigate i.e swiping panels with icons on on the main screens would be cool especially with widgets like news and clock and things on my current 2.3.3 it can be a little slugish but in general is fine, im hoping somit new would make it smooth and very fast regardless of what widgets are on tbh.
I like a nice digital clock thats clean and stuff and shows date time and month etc but in a simple way. I use a sense analogue clock thing i think atm that i found which is nice. But well we will see what the os i get recommended has.
So yeah erm i think thats all i wanted to ask.
So yeah what should i be looking at in particular and maybe if i maybe so bold as to write a little description of what the recommendations are like and whats maybe not working for such ones.
So what new os should i look at and version for a s5830.
Thank you so much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all roms ave their advantages and disadvantages, android phones only run on android, not a different os, cyanogenmod is android. from my experience i would say cyanogenmod10.1 would be the best for you, only problem with that is, ums doesnt work, but u can use clockworkmod recovery for that(it has the mount usb storage option), clockwork mod has to be installed before u flash any rom. i recomend you try out a few roms you like, and choose from there, and read comments. (IF YOU DONT KNOW HOW TO FLASH A ROM, DONT TRY RANDOM STUFF, FOLLOW SOME TUTORIALS AND STUFF FIRST)

[Q] TW stopping working, unfortunately

Hello!
TW stops working several times a day, I've haven't managed to narrow down the apps that might crash it (unless everything I use on the phone crashes it). It sometimes crashes in the home screen, in Chrome, in YouTube. The two apps I use the most are WhatsApp and Facebook, and it has crashed when I'm using them, too.
I have the habit of pressing the home button to leave an app, and the phone always takes a little bit to reload all the icons. I know TW lags and stutters for many, this is not a complaint but an observation. I used phase beam as the wallpaper before, so I changed it to a solid black picture. That hasn't helped.
My phone is not rooted, though processes unused are stopped in App Manager.
Any assistance and suggestion would be much appreciated. Thank you.

Reset phone
BAD ASS NOTE 4

Hey guys,
I am facing the same issue, where TW crashes and I receive the message that TW has stopped working, however in my case it happens each time I reboot the phone. Once I OK the error message, TW reloads, and remains stable until I next reboot my baby, which I tend to do once a day, for good measure. This is not the end of the world, something I can live with, yet I do find it irritating that I cannot figure out what is causing this.
Anyone with a suggestion would be greatly appreciated. FYI, I am running stock at the moment.
Regards,
Raziel

I'd be tempted to odin to stock or flash firekat.

Raziel, I cleared TW cache and then wiped the cache partition earlier this afternoon. It seems TW hasn't crashed as often as it usually does, but it has crashed. It might remedy your problem, though, if you haven't tried this already. I'm avoiding resetting my phone.

If you rooted and tw goes crazy on you something went wrong. Delete everything you got. Turn of antivirus software. Download everything. Start by going back to stock then update then root then your good to go. If you start with a bad hicupp it will just keep getting worse.
BAD ASS NOTE 4

ChinWonder dude! Thanks a bunch for this suggestion... I cleared TW cache in Application Manager, then booted into Recovery and proceeded with wiping the cache partition. Honestly I feel like a bit of a noob right now LOL, I should have thought about this myself!! But hey thanks nevertheless, much obliged .
BACARDILIMON, as stated above by the OP, ChinWonder, as well as myself, in both cases the devices are not rooted. Thanks for the effort though . I'd like to add however that all of my previous and current Androids (S2, S3 and Nexus 7 2013) have been rooted, and in the last 2 cases, on day 1... hell I even made my own custom ROM for the S3 based on stock Bell 4.1.1 and stayed on it despite several available upgrades, I was getting such good performance and battery out of it, and FULL compatibility since I used a firmware base from my carrier, which is not the case for most custom ROMs found here, since none of them (or close to) are using Bell, but AT&T in most cases. From my experiences, I was always getting issues receiving voicemail notifications when using those. Long story short, I have been on the flashing bandwagon for a few years now, and tweaking the hell out of all my devices up to now, but this time, I feel this is the perfect (ok nothing is perfect) smartphone for me, as is, stock, and it performs like no other device I've had until now, and battery is just incredible!! getting regularly well over a day of charge, mostly average 36 hours, with 6 to 8 hours screen on time!!! WOW!!! seriously for the time being, I don't feel I want to root and flash and all that jazz, but instead I just want to enjoy this beast, the way Samsung thought of it, for a little while.
Again ChinWonder, thanks!
Raz

Why does every ROM I try get worse with time?

Okay so once again, another ROM has got bad after 2 weeks. FXP 349 build has got to be pretty much unsuable, the unlock button doesnt respond, and the UI crashes for a laugh now. Getting very frustrated with this phone. Its getting harder to not smash the hell out of it with a hammer.
I must be doing something wrong, but every ROM Ive used just degrades in performance to the point where I cant take how laggy it is, Ive missed phonecalls because the UI cant wake up and show the incall UI fast enough. There has to be something deep in this phone which causes bad performance.
Im moving to VanirAOSP, as it says in the title of the ROM that its fast and smooth. Lets see if it can outlast any other ROM I've tried.
Sorry for ranting, I just dont get it, is there some secret setting that everyones using and not telling about? Ive tried stock kernel with CM, williams kernel with CM, stock kernel with CrystalPA, same again with williams kernel. Art or dalvik, it seems to make no difference, no matter what, the UI will bug out. Im not moaning at the devs because I know the work they do is hard and is much appreciated. I just wish I knew why this phone cant last 2 weeks without needing to be wiped!

Every ROM gets laggy after a while. Just use some app to clear cache and thumbnails and you should be fine.

donk165 said:
Okay so once again, another ROM has got bad after 2 weeks. FXP 349 build has got to be pretty much unsuable, the unlock button doesnt respond, and the UI crashes for a laugh now. Getting very frustrated with this phone. Its getting harder to not smash the hell out of it with a hammer.
I must be doing something wrong, but every ROM Ive used just degrades in performance to the point where I cant take how laggy it is, Ive missed phonecalls because the UI cant wake up and show the incall UI fast enough. There has to be something deep in this phone which causes bad performance.
Im moving to VanirAOSP, as it says in the title of the ROM that its fast and smooth. Lets see if it can outlast any other ROM I've tried.
Sorry for ranting, I just dont get it, is there some secret setting that everyones using and not telling about? Ive tried stock kernel with CM, williams kernel with CM, stock kernel with CrystalPA, same again with williams kernel. Art or dalvik, it seems to make no difference, no matter what, the UI will bug out. Im not moaning at the devs because I know the work they do is hard and is much appreciated. I just wish I knew why this phone cant last 2 weeks without needing to be wiped!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a feeling you are installing too many apps running in background at once. My phone is super smooth, fast and responsive. I just either close apps after I am done with them (kill process) or don't install trash. Deleting some in-build rom apps which you never use could also help.

kwitu said:
I have a feeling you are installing too many apps running in background at once. My phone is super smooth, fast and responsive. I just either close apps after I am done with them (kill process) or don't install trash. Deleting some in-build rom apps which you never use could also help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well VanirAOSP has sorted out my issues for now it seems. I dont really install many apps to be honest, I use the Micro PA Gapps package and I then remove Google Now Launcher, freeze the preinstalled launcher3, install Nova launcher. I have only 17 installed apps, Facebook is the only real hog app I think, I install messenger and then freeze it to get around the Facebook app not letting me use chat within the app. I do also play Marvel Contest of Champions, and I make sure to clear all running apps before playing games. I just feel like now on this ROM, the ram is clearing properly, swiping away apps is freeing up the RAM now.
I think the difference is that this ROM is based on AOSP, whereas before, I was using CM ROM's or Crystal PA which is pretty feature rich. Ill stick with this and see if it will last. This ROM just feels noticeably faster and the UI hasnt crashed once yet, even with a theme on!

donk165 said:
Well VanirAOSP has sorted out my issues for now it seems. I dont really install many apps to be honest, I use the Micro PA Gapps package and I then remove Google Now Launcher, freeze the preinstalled launcher3, install Nova launcher. I have only 17 installed apps, Facebook is the only real hog app I think, I install messenger and then freeze it to get around the Facebook app not letting me use chat within the app. I do also play Marvel Contest of Champions, and I make sure to clear all running apps before playing games. I just feel like now on this ROM, the ram is clearing properly, swiping away apps is freeing up the RAM now.
I think the difference is that this ROM is based on AOSP, whereas before, I was using CM ROM's or Crystal PA which is pretty feature rich. Ill stick with this and see if it will last. This ROM just feels noticeably faster and the UI hasnt crashed once yet, even with a theme on!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I could give you a tip about Facebook app and Messenger. There is an app that lets you chat using Facebook app, meaning you can get rid of Messenger. Google it and you will find it, I can't recall the name now.

kwitu said:
I could give you a tip about Facebook app and Messenger. There is an app that lets you chat using Facebook app, meaning you can get rid of Messenger. Google it and you will find it, I can't recall the name now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well the way im doing it, i dont actually use messenger, its installed but frozen/disabled so it isnt used, this allows me to chat inside the facebook app but the only downside ive found is that the chat notification dont seem to be working. This was a fix I picked up while browsing the net. Ill try out this app if I can find it, the name would make it much easier to find

donk165 said:
Well VanirAOSP has sorted out my issues for now it seems. I dont really install many apps to be honest, I use the Micro PA Gapps package and I then remove Google Now Launcher, freeze the preinstalled launcher3, install Nova launcher. I have only 17 installed apps, Facebook is the only real hog app I think, I install messenger and then freeze it to get around the Facebook app not letting me use chat within the app. I do also play Marvel Contest of Champions, and I make sure to clear all running apps before playing games. I just feel like now on this ROM, the ram is clearing properly, swiping away apps is freeing up the RAM now.
I think the difference is that this ROM is based on AOSP, whereas before, I was using CM ROM's or Crystal PA which is pretty feature rich. Ill stick with this and see if it will last. This ROM just feels noticeably faster and the UI hasnt crashed once yet, even with a theme on!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And? Are you still satisfied with this rom after a while?

Well the 'ROM decay' creeped back in. I tried to counter it by cleaning things up but I had a few problems, nothing was working, I tried fix permissions from ROM toolbox and then my phone stopped booting, tried hard reset with the button on the back, couldn't get into recovery, pretty much died on me. I eventually got into recovery and caches wipes and that didn't work, I tried reinstalling the ROM and gapps without losing my data, it just got stuck on the boot logo, then recovery stopped working again, I eventually got in and had to wipe data, reinstall ROM and I finally got the phone booting again.
I'm not satisfied to be honest, its frustrating that I have to wipe the phone or reflash the roms so often, never has a phone been this bad for me. I'm selling it and moving to the OnePlus One in a few weeks, this phone has been nothing but headaches.

donk165 said:
Well the 'ROM decay' creeped back in. I tried to counter it by cleaning things up but I had a few problems, nothing was working, I tried fix permissions from ROM toolbox and then my phone stopped booting, tried hard reset with the button on the back, couldn't get into recovery, pretty much died on me. I eventually got into recovery and caches wipes and that didn't work, I tried reinstalling the ROM and gapps without losing my data, it just got stuck on the boot logo, then recovery stopped working again, I eventually got in and had to wipe data, reinstall ROM and I finally got the phone booting again.
I'm not satisfied to be honest, its frustrating that I have to wipe the phone or reflash the roms so often, never has a phone been this bad for me. I'm selling it and moving to the OnePlus One in a few weeks, this phone has been nothing but headaches.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IF you are going to stay or at least try for the last time, I suggest formatting /boot but please be careful as I dont really know what will happen if you reboot the device while /boot is empty.
As in PC, an empty boot partition will leave an inaccessible Operating System. If in phone they are the same then I guess it can be much repairable.
IF again it fails and you are still staying I suggest extreme formatting by using the PC Companion and start fresh.
These are still suggestions and I hope you will have a headache free adventures with One plus. Good luck

TechnoSparks said:
IF you are going to stay or at least try for the last time, I suggest formatting /boot but please be careful as I dont really know what will happen if you reboot the device while /boot is empty.
As in PC, an empty boot partition will leave an inaccessible Operating System. If in phone they are the same then I guess it can be much repairable.
IF again it fails and you are still staying I suggest extreme formatting by using the PC Companion and start fresh.
These are still suggestions and I hope you will have a headache free adventures with One plus. Good luck
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice, For me, its the lack of RAM on this phone which is my problem. After a reboot, i have about 300mb free ram, and as soon as I have more than one simple app running (or just one game), ill get a very slow UI, and I have to be very careful and patient with it or it will crash. To me, that is terrible, why would anyone think this is acceptable for a smartphone to just about be able to run an app and hold the interface together. When the System UI crashes, or the lockscreen, It frustrates me so much! The most important part of a touchscreen phone is the UI, without it, your just staring at a blank screen.
There has to be something deep in this phone (the kernel?) where its memory management is broken in someway, ive never experienced a phone be so unstable with 1GB of RAM. When I bought it, I was really hopeful it would be good, it was higher specced than my last phone, it had 4g, it had jelly bean updates coming out, and at the time, a future update to kitkat, and we had support from FXP and CM. What weve actually got is a half baked attempt at 4.3 by Sony, a cancelled 4.4 update, and weve been moved to legacy support by FXP when CM11 didnt even get to the stable point. We may have lollipop builds coming out which could be the savior for this phone, but im sick of waiting for something which might not happen. I just want to be able to rely on my phone and not spend half my screen on time waiting for something to crash and then restart.
Back on my Optimus L9, it has only 768MB ram and a lower clocked dual core CPU but that could run CM10 fine, I never ever had UI crashes, ever! I got lag from time to time, but nothing crashed. Thie SP has 100mb+ more RAM available and a higher clocked CPU but it feels so much more clunky and unstable compared to the L9, it should be the other way round. On my nexus 7 2012 which is similarly specced to the SP (apart from the tegra quad CPU) I again, had no UI crashes, I had lags, but at least things didnt crash. My friend has the Xperia L, which is lower specced than the SP and is only on 4.1, but again, he never gets UI crashes and generally, his phone can run games smoother than I can even though he has lower specs!
This phone, for me, just doesn't fit my needs. It cant really multi task how I would expect it to, and having the phone pretty much lock up if its writing to internal storage is a joke, installing an app from the play store, and not being able to bring down the notification bar to look at the progress without causing problems, to me just feels like something is seriously wrong. The lightbar was the only thing ive really liked on the phone to this day. At first, I was loving this phone, it was great, the only problem I had on 4.1 was that I couldn't play Injustice because it would close the game after a while. I thought, ill wait for software updates, hopefully Sony will fix it. Then the 4.3 updates came but they were buggy, but I held onto hope because at the time, 4.4 was in the pipeline. Then we got a few more 4.3 updates which did fix some bugs but this RAM problem was still there. So I gave up on Official software and tried out custom stuff. I've tried modified Stock ROM's where you get more features but the same inherent problems are there. Ive tried CM, but there hasnt been a stable release of 4.4 and the snapshot builds have also stopped. Vanir ROM is designed to be stable, its one of their highest priorities with their builds. And I definitely feel the difference, but this lack of RAM becomes more obvious with time, this week, I've seen my UI crash 4 times.
Ive done what you've said about fully starting fresh with PC companion Ive flashed stock FTF's and Ive done the PC companion method, Ive done that at least 5 times in the past. When I first do it, it seems like everything is okay. But without fail, after a month of use (usually less) the phone will bog down and the RAM issues return. Maybe my specific device has faulty RAM or something or maybe the storage is messed up. All I know is, this phone has not been enjoyable for me to use, lower specced phones are out performing it, and its value has plummeted in trade in stores like CEX, my old L9 that I traded into my local CEX is being sold for more money than an SP is.
Im sorry to rant but ive just had enough of this phone.
Ive got to flash the phone fully back to stock for when I sell it, so ill go back to full stock, and see if it will last.

donk165 said:
Thanks for the advice, For me, its the lack of RAM on this phone which is my problem. After a reboot, i have about 300mb free ram, and as soon as I have more than one simple app running (or just one game), ill get a very slow UI, and I have to be very careful and patient with it or it will crash. To me, that is terrible, why would anyone think this is acceptable for a smartphone to just about be able to run an app and hold the interface together. When the System UI crashes, or the lockscreen, It frustrates me so much! The most important part of a touchscreen phone is the UI, without it, your just staring at a blank screen.
There has to be something deep in this phone (the kernel?) where its memory management is broken in someway, ive never experienced a phone be so unstable with 1GB of RAM. When I bought it, I was really hopeful it would be good, it was higher specced than my last phone, it had 4g, it had jelly bean updates coming out, and at the time, a future update to kitkat, and we had support from FXP and CM. What weve actually got is a half baked attempt at 4.3 by Sony, a cancelled 4.4 update, and weve been moved to legacy support by FXP when CM11 didnt even get to the stable point. We may have lollipop builds coming out which could be the savior for this phone, but im sick of waiting for something which might not happen. I just want to be able to rely on my phone and not spend half my screen on time waiting for something to crash and then restart.
Back on my Optimus L9, it has only 768MB ram and a lower clocked dual core CPU but that could run CM10 fine, I never ever had UI crashes, ever! I got lag from time to time, but nothing crashed. Thie SP has 100mb+ more RAM available and a higher clocked CPU but it feels so much more clunky and unstable compared to the L9, it should be the other way round. On my nexus 7 2012 which is similarly specced to the SP (apart from the tegra quad CPU) I again, had no UI crashes, I had lags, but at least things didnt crash. My friend has the Xperia L, which is lower specced than the SP and is only on 4.1, but again, he never gets UI crashes and generally, his phone can run games smoother than I can even though he has lower specs!
This phone, for me, just doesn't fit my needs. It cant really multi task how I would expect it to, and having the phone pretty much lock up if its writing to internal storage is a joke, installing an app from the play store, and not being able to bring down the notification bar to look at the progress without causing problems, to me just feels like something is seriously wrong. The lightbar was the only thing ive really liked on the phone to this day. At first, I was loving this phone, it was great, the only problem I had on 4.1 was that I couldn't play Injustice because it would close the game after a while. I thought, ill wait for software updates, hopefully Sony will fix it. Then the 4.3 updates came but they were buggy, but I held onto hope because at the time, 4.4 was in the pipeline. Then we got a few more 4.3 updates which did fix some bugs but this RAM problem was still there. So I gave up on Official software and tried out custom stuff. I've tried modified Stock ROM's where you get more features but the same inherent problems are there. Ive tried CM, but there hasnt been a stable release of 4.4 and the snapshot builds have also stopped. Vanir ROM is designed to be stable, its one of their highest priorities with their builds. And I definitely feel the difference, but this lack of RAM becomes more obvious with time, this week, I've seen my UI crash 4 times.
Ive done what you've said about fully starting fresh with PC companion Ive flashed stock FTF's and Ive done the PC companion method, Ive done that at least 5 times in the past. When I first do it, it seems like everything is okay. But without fail, after a month of use (usually less) the phone will bog down and the RAM issues return. Maybe my specific device has faulty RAM or something or maybe the storage is messed up. All I know is, this phone has not been enjoyable for me to use, lower specced phones are out performing it, and its value has plummeted in trade in stores like CEX, my old L9 that I traded into my local CEX is being sold for more money than an SP is.
Im sorry to rant but ive just had enough of this phone.
Ive got to flash the phone fully back to stock for when I sell it, so ill go back to full stock, and see if it will last.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its okay and I have read all of your post
It quite saddens me that some people isnt actually having fun with their SP. Shockingly enough, my SP does not face those mentioned problems (heck most of those that appears in the forum) but some exceptions goes to Stock Rom bugs and game problems.
This is my first android phone, I actually always wanted one but i am a teenager - i dont make money. But since my dad bought me this lovely sp, I have finally gained so much knowledge about android and it somehow further strengthens my Linux knowledge.
Maybe I was just lucky. Perhaps. But who knows if something is still wrong with my phone
I understand things will get older - people will buy new phones, developer will stop developing, people who got bored of customising etc. In fact I have seen so much decline of SP since the discontinued 4.4 update.
This is my first smartphone and I love it. It has an awesome community and awesome devs, but now it is getting old. Which quite sad to me.
I am saving for Ara phone (i hope it doesnt fail like smartwatches do). Since you are quite involved with many developments (i mean you customise your phone much like others), I hope your transition to a new device is a breeze. And above all, doesn't have the bugs that SP has.

LOL, I thought I was the only one with a "faulty SP".
My XSP has the exact same problems as yours. It is very annoying to change ROMS (or wipe data) every month.
The RAM is SO BAD on my SP, even though it only have 1GB of RAM, it should be a lot better. I didn't have such problems on my Motorola Defy + as I have with the XSP.
I thank so much that we have very nice developers, always trying to improve our user exp., but for some people like me it's difficult.

TechnoSparks said:
Its okay and I have read all of your post
It quite saddens me that some people isnt actually having fun with their SP. Shockingly enough, my SP does not face those mentioned problems (heck most of those that appears in the forum) but some exceptions goes to Stock Rom bugs and game problems.
This is my first android phone, I actually always wanted one but i am a teenager - i dont make money. But since my dad bought me this lovely sp, I have finally gained so much knowledge about android and it somehow further strengthens my Linux knowledge.
Maybe I was just lucky. Perhaps. But who knows if something is still wrong with my phone
I understand things will get older - people will buy new phones, developer will stop developing, people who got bored of customising etc. In fact I have seen so much decline of SP since the discontinued 4.4 update.
This is my first smartphone and I love it. It has an awesome community and awesome devs, but now it is getting old. Which quite sad to me.
I am saving for Ara phone (i hope it doesnt fail like smartwatches do). Since you are quite involved with many developments (i mean you customise your phone much like others), I hope your transition to a new device is a breeze. And above all, doesn't have the bugs that SP has.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well atleast you have started on a better android device than my first one. My first was a ZTE Skate and this was back in the gingerbread days. 512MB RAM, Single core CPU, barely any internal storage. Im very used to using android in a minimalist way, but the SP just takes it to a whole different level for me, i cant take it! Im glad that you arnt having all the same problems Im having. The fact that not everyone is getting the problems is a frustration because unless its a widespread problem, people wont really be pulling together to fix it because they dont understand/experience the problems. It has to be some kind of manufacturing defect, maybe certain batches of RAM/Storage chips used in the SP are defective/bad performers.
I hope the XSP continues to work well for you!
Bruno_Puzoni said:
LOL, I thought I was the only one with a "faulty SP".
My XSP has the exact same problems as yours. It is very annoying to change ROMS (or wipe data) every month.
The RAM is SO BAD on my SP, even though it only have 1GB of RAM, it should be a lot better. I didn't have such problems on my Motorola Defy + as I have with the XSP.
I thank so much that we have very nice developers, always trying to improve our user exp., but for some people like me it's difficult.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its a very weird problem, but its definitely RAM/Storage related.
I agree with you about the devs, I appreciate their hard work, it is great having all these ROM's to choose from when trying to solve the problems. It just seems it doesn't matter which ROM you are on, the problems will always be there. The problem must lie within the hardware or deep in the software side of things, beyond the ROM's like in the kernel or something. I dont know enough about those sides of a phone, but I can see just from using the phone, something isnt right.
It sucks that you are facing the same problems, but its nice to know im not alone in my experiences, its not just me.
If only we knew what the issue was, maybe there would be a chance to solve the issue.

I have the same problems with my phone exactly and am going to smash it with a hammer when I get a new phone. It is indeed so frustrating, I expect much more from sony!

i stopped to mess up with custom kernels, stock 207 is the best option.
Ondemand cpu governor + underclock to 1500mhz + greenify
Battery life + perfomance
My usage:
4 hours online gaming per day
+ some skype calls

Is it still worth rooting my phone?

Good morning (or evening according to timezones)
I have recently purchased a new Note8. Even though the performance is mostly great, I sometimes get lag/stutters and the battery is not that great ( I can get about 3h SOT), but if I don't have my charger with me, there's no chance to get home with the phone still on.
My question is if it is still worth it to root the phone and put a custom Rom on it. I have looked through the various custom rom threads and I am tempted to flash one.
However, my main concern is the banking applications (saw that some don't work anymore after rooting).
At the moment I am on the latest official rom (with the october security patch). I mention that I have no warranty (phone bought from other country), so that shouldn't be an issue.
Any thought please? I have been missing from the android scene for a long time, went IOS there for a while, so I am not sure how to proceed.
Thank you in advance to anyone kind enough to read all this
Bogdan

My Note 8 is the first Samsung phone I haven't rooted as I didn't feel the need to! It's quick and my battery lasts all day (I do have it on medium power saving) and have no problems at all. The Device Maintenance seems to very efficiently clean things up for me when it does get a bit sluggish and I do a restart about every couple of days! I'm very satisfied with my SM-9500 256 GB dual SIM from China! I charge wirelessly every night and use my phone as my bedside clock ...
Sent from my SM-N9500 using Tapatalk

robmeik said:
My Note 8 is the first Samsung phone I haven't rooted as I didn't feel the need to! It's quick and my battery lasts all day (I do have it on medium power saving) and have no problems at all. The Device Maintenance seems to very efficiently clean things up for me when it does get a bit sluggish and I do a restart about every couple of days! I'm very satisfied with my SM-9500 256 GB dual SIM from China! I charge wirelessly every night and use my phone as my bedside clock ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your reply. I also use the device maintenance and reboot it occasionally, but battery life seems to he a hit and miss for me. I do keep the phone at max resolution and with a lot of sync on, but what would be the point of having a powerful device if we don't use it
I am also a bit surprised as to the low number of custom roms available. Not complaining or anything, but looking back to my old note 2 experience, there was far more enthusiasm at that time. Though android did get better since then

No benifit... after rooting you can havw viper sound modes (most imp) if you are music lover ..i haven't found anything interesting after rooting. I use stock room with no app removed and only viper4 android install. So there no point of rooting

melavdev said:
No benifit... after rooting you can havw viper sound modes (most imp) if you are music lover ..i haven't found anything interesting after rooting. I use stock room with no app removed and only viper4 android install. So there no point of rooting
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you. I'll probably leave the OS alone for now

usually i always end up not rooting for the first 4-6 months due to warranty stuff.
But the moment i rooted, i've gained at least a 20-25% increase in battery life with the usual control one can have.
If it's for cosmetics, dont need root anymore for that. not much on exposed, things like Good Lock make it stay away from root edits.
I personally root for a few apps that i use, which some of them have better features when on root. and also for debloating.

Unless you are a developer or a tech hobbyist, I don't see the point in rooting current android devices as they work perfectly fine straight out the box.

Well, when rooting you gain total control, and can run some nice and useful apps that require root, I like viper4A, but as you pointed out, some apps do not run on rooted devices, banking and streaming apps among others, and of course, there is the one very important component that you loose for ever, secure folder