Hi all, I've just upgraded my phone contract, and i now have a Samsung Galaxy S i9000. Beautiful phone and great apps etc., but i've been looking at custom ROMs for it now, as it uses a bit too much memory for my liking. Are any of you running custom ROMs on your Android phones? If so: 1. Is the system quicker than stock OS it comes installed with? 2. Is it safe, i.e what are the chances of bricking it? 3. Which ROM are you running? 4. What are the advantages and disadvantages of running custom ROMs? Your thoughts and advice please ladies/gentlemen..... Neal
http://www.xda-developers.com/ is the best place to go. I'm never actually run a custom ROM myself (HTC Wildfire), but I am very tempted as my phone has been a little slow recently. The forums at the above website are full of people who are developing new ROMs or trying out custom ones and their feedback.
wow those guys know a lot about this stuff! Thanks for that. +rep. Still wondering if there are any Bit-techers running custom roms...
Like oasked said xda is the place to go, this thread in particular is superb as it allows you to build your own rom from the ground up. You really need to make sure you have the 3 button download & recovery modes before flashing, & know how to use Odin which is the easiest way to get CWM (clockwork recovery mod). Here's the set up on my I9000 Device - Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000 Rom - XXJS5 Doc rom kitchen Kernel - Speedmod K13c 500Hz ext4nj Modem - BUJP5/DXJPA wifi firmware Theme - Valle mod honeycomb The difference between my sgs I9000 & a stock I9000 is night & day in terms of os speed & general usage, it's faster, smoother. Battery life on a I9000 to start with is around 2.5 days but running with the above set up I get around 2 days from one charge so it's not to bad. Advantages are it's faster, smoother, has none of the operator or samsung bloat ware installed, voodoo sound, sharpness fix .... Disadvantages slightly less battery life (depends on what file system you use rfs,jfs, ext4,ext2), can't really think of any other disadvantages...... It's safe as long as you read & understand the instructions fully, don't be afraid to ask for advice/help on the forums as there's a lot of helpful people over at xda.
Thanks jonnie3. I took the plunge last night and flashed Darky's rom 9.2 - Resurrection edition. I immediately noticed the difference in speed. Everything was more responsive, and the apps loaded faster. My battery lasted longer too, even with wifi on and playing hd vids. The whole setup was explained in detail. Darky really explains it step by step, which is great. Its running voodoo kernel. Have you noticed a difference between voodoo and speedmod?
There is little difference between the 2, Speedmod allows me to experiment with different file systems & various tweaks not in Voodoo. If you use your I9000 to listen to mp3's or the fm radio through headphones download the voodoo control app the sound quality is superb.
I always have a chuckle when I listen to the Custom PC podcast and hear the distain in certain members voices when they mention Android. I have an HTC Desire HD perm rooted using the one click method with radio S Off I use the Android Revolution HD Rom by mike 1986 at and find it to be silky smooth with cracking speeds. I also overclock using SetCPU but often find I can slightly under clock, improve battery and still have fantastic results. I use LauncherPro (full version) for my launcher and love the fact I can have a really clean, tweakable interface. My Opera Icon comes from http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=Opera+PNG#/d24zrcb G mail Icon http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=Gmail+PNG#/d2dv1gm Android Icon http://browse.deviantart.com/? qh=§ion=&q=Android+Icon#/d2yfbtv Camera Icon http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=Camera+png#/d163yy1 As for the benefits.... I dont think there are any major benefits from rooting/ flashing custom roms. I just like the fact I can remove bloatware, I can fully customize the interface and I have the knowledge that I am getting the full potential out of my hardware. Its exactly the same reason I build my own PC hardware and overclock. I can sit there and overclock/ run bechmarks on the train going into work! Don' t know why the Custom PC staff writers/ Podcast members don' t show it just a little bit more love in that respect Gotta love Android. Gotta love XDA!
http://www.cyanogenmod.com/ They support many different handsets and provide nighties and constant support for their releases.
This. After going from MCR and villian roms CM7 is currently allowing me to hold off a handset upgrade until the duel core phones come out. Meaning my Hero is not left in the dust.
I'm also on a desire hd, with Android Revolution. I'm with T-Mobile, and wasn't impressed with all the crap they loaded the phone with, and besides i quite like tinkering. Not bought Launcher Pro yet, still using the trial version, but I think I may seeing the screenshot from Lankius. Your weather widget, is that part of launcher pro, or something different? That looks really sleek.
