Related
So here's the skinny. I'm new to the whole rooting-esque activities on a phone. The hero is my first smart phone, and i'm looking to expand what it can do.
BUT.
All of the roms I seem to find are 50/50 good/bad to me. They have some nice things like the OC/UV/Jit working, but then they do all sorts of stuff like live wallpapers, all sorts of color changes, lock screen changes, etc etc.
What I'd like, is a minimalist ROM, that as close as possibly matches the following:
SenseUI Dialer app
Auto OC to 710 (and underclock when not in use)
UV
Jit
Good Screen response (with no real keyboard, the onscreen MUST work well)
Things I don't want
Features that don't work (Camera, BT, MMS etc not working)
Instability (I'd trade less crazy for more stable)
See-ums like Live Wallpapers, and other things that do not add function other than visual "niceness"
So my question, is there anything like this?
honeybun
and not the sweet bread variety.
diicembr said:
So my question, is there anything like this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you do know there is a Q&A board
diicembr said:
So here's the skinny. I'm new to the whole rooting-esque activities on a phone. The hero is my first smart phone, and i'm looking to expand what it can do.
BUT.
All of the roms I seem to find are 50/50 good/bad to me. They have some nice things like the OC/UV/Jit working, but then they do all sorts of stuff like live wallpapers, all sorts of color changes, lock screen changes, etc etc.
What I'd like, is a minimalist ROM, that as close as possibly matches the following:
SenseUI Dialer app
Auto OC to 710 (and underclock when not in use)
UV
Jit
Good Screen response (with no real keyboard, the onscreen MUST work well)
Things I don't want
Features that don't work (Camera, BT, MMS etc not working)
Instability (I'd trade less crazy for more stable)
See-ums like Live Wallpapers, and other things that do not add function other than visual "niceness"
So my question, is there anything like this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i would say pick up the latest fresh rom, its made for just the basic stuff and you can add more if you want. jit can be very unstable at times so i dont know why you would want that
fresh http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=681856
oc-710 http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=722073
EDIT: this post goes in general as well as is doesnt really help anything "develop"
perfect one for you, and it happens to be the best.
I use what I think you are looking for exactly, with maybe the exception of the HTC dialer. The absolute best custom 2.1 Rom out there, that does not have much of the eye candy that just drains your battery and personally I find it to be clutter and annoying, it is caller DarchDroid 2.7.
It does not have HTC Sense whatsoever in it. It was built using a different source than what HTC puts on it, and I like it much better. It is very fast, responsive, touch screen works real nice, it has JIT, UV, OC to 710 by default, does not have live wallpaper. It is clean, good to the eye without the glitter, camera and all that works, basically everything works on the phone.
it uses all the standard aosp apps by default like aosp keyboard (which personally i find it very accurate and easy to use).
If the default apps do not please you, you can always dl and install apps from the market.
to check out and dl darchdroid, goto http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=703133
if you want to use all the google apps, then be sure to dl and install the google ****s on that page as well.
distantneighbor said:
I use what I think you are looking for exactly, with maybe the exception of the HTC dialer. The absolute best custom 2.1 Rom out there, that does not have much of the eye candy that just drains your battery and personally I find it to be clutter and annoying, it is caller DarchDroid 2.7.
It does not have HTC Sense whatsoever in it. It was built using a different source than what HTC puts on it, and I like it much better. It is very fast, responsive, touch screen works real nice, it has JIT, UV, OC to 710 by default, does not have live wallpaper. It is clean, good to the eye without the glitter, camera and all that works, basically everything works on the phone.
it uses all the standard aosp apps by default like aosp keyboard (which personally i find it very accurate and easy to use).
If the default apps do not please you, you can always dl and install apps from the market.
to check out and dl darchdroid, goto http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=703133
if you want to use all the google apps, then be sure to dl and install the google ****s on that page as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is great if you don't want sense, to me its a personal preference thing so you can try each. I used dd2.7 for a loooong time and it is the most stable rom Ive had with up to 30 hour battery life
I'm still using Ic3Rom v2.8. It is by far the best ROM I've flashed in terms of performance. It looks mostly AOSP, but still has the Sense dialer and people apps, with other Sense goodies in there as well. Other recent ROMs I've tried out are DarchDroid and the Cyanogen 6 test, and while I've really liked a lot about both of them, Ic3 is more stable and MUCH quicker than either.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=663366&highlight=ic3
DD all the way...best rom ive used to date.. and i have tried them all!!! ic3rom close second!!!
i have to say darch droid, OR buufed Rom are indeed THE best ive used. Both are fast, Stable, AND both use less then 100mb onboard flash! good luck to u though.
I can't believe no one mentioned nfinitefx45's ROM which is 100% stock, with A2SD and everything working. Don't mind the screenshots at the bottom, that's what it looks like only if you flash the optional file for the zen aka MyTouch 3G theme.
As for the OC (and optional undervolt), get DarchKernel for nfinitefx rom here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=705074
Users have reported this combo to be very, very fast. The only thing it doesn't have is JIT.
Like others mentioned, Iced HoneyBun ROM is also good, and DarchKernel is also available for it
IceRom 2.8
NOIDBETA still working on oc
codelockdown said:
i have to say darch droid, OR buufed Rom are indeed THE best ive used. Both are fast, Stable, AND both use less then 100mb onboard flash! good luck to u though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Definitely either one is a solid choice, but I prefer Buufed because its completely themed out. Its 100% AOSP (meaning its ridiculously fast), includes all the stuff you like (UV, OC, JIT) and is still very stable, and it looks pretty sweet.
c00ller said:
I can't believe no one mentioned nfinitefx45's ROM which is 100% stock, with A2SD and everything working. Don't mind the screenshots at the bottom, that's what it looks like only if you flash the optional file for the zen aka MyTouch 3G theme.
As for the OC (and optional undervolt), get DarchKernel for nfinitefx rom here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=705074
Users have reported this combo to be very, very fast. The only thing it doesn't have is JIT.
Like others mentioned, Iced HoneyBun ROM is also good, and DarchKernel is also available for it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree. Can't believe someone didn't mention nfinitefx's ROM. I am runing it right now and even without OC it runs very smoothly.
+1 for nfinitefx
Moved as not Development.
I'm sure I'm setting myself up here, but what advantages are there to the custom ROMs at this point?
I'm running stock Froyo 2.2 (I did update the radio to 5.08, though), stock bootloader, and I'm not rooted. I'm on T-Mobile in the Tampa, FL area.
I'm not sure if it's a coincidence, or just because most people that are posting on XDA are running custom ROMs, but I don't really have ANY of the problems most people on here have. My battery life is great, and the phone is overall VERY stable. I've tried other launchers, themes, etc., but I always prefer the stability of the stock setup over aesthetics.
The few issues I have had I can attribute to poorly written apps (force closes, battery vampires), or known hardware problems (mediocre 3G connectivity at times, etc).
I can understand if you have a phone like the MyTouch that never got any official updates after 1.6, or you want to try the next leaked software on your phone. But the Nexus One has had tons of official support and updates up to this point. Before Froyo was officially released, I found myself better off with stock recovery to load the latest, greatest Froyo build.
Sorry for the rambling, but I would greatly appreciate any education I can get on what's packed into these custom ROMs that everyone gets so excited about.
THANKS!
Don't really feel like typing all the reasons haha, but there's a lot of stuff to enjoy with custom roms. If stock works for you that's great. I don't know anyone that's ever gone custom and wanted to go back but I'm sure it happens. End of the day it's whatever makes you happy. A lot of us want more than just a great experience, we want to see what's possible. You can view the changelog for the latest Cyanogenmod(most popular custom ROM) build here http://github.com/CyanogenMod/android_vendor_cyanogen/blob/froyo/CHANGELOG.mkdn
1. More control over the appearance of the OS. Get rid of that ugly white notification bar and replace it with a sexy black one, for example.
2. Removing the stock apps from the phone that you don't use or want. Why have them sitting there taking up space and potentially resources for no reason? Sure they don't take up much in terms of storage space, but if you use a lot of apps, every little bit counts.
3. Undervolting and over/underclocking. Get that extra little performance boost, or cut it back. When I was UV'd to 800mV and UC'd to 806mhz, I noticed no performance difference or problems (note: I don't play 3d games on my phone) and my battery life was insane. 24 hours of normal use would put me to 65% give or take.
4. Relating to number one, more control over other things. I've ripped stock, but customized, apps from random ROMs and pushed them to my phone. Black Facebook & Twitter widgets (white ones are ugly), darkened (black & dark grey) stock messaging interface with white text, etc.
5. Trackball Alert Pro.
I'm sure that others can add more, but the above are the main reasons I rooted mine.
A tiny little thing called Apps2SD+, for example.
Multiple audio/video decoder support.
Lots of Linux binaries bundled.
Lots of modifications to stock software (contacts, browser) that increase their usefulness (for example, do you really like to type "about:debug" each time you want to change browser client after reboot?).
etc etc.
Thanks for all the great info.
The underclocking sounds interesting. I don't play any games on my phone, and extra battery life is always nice.
I'm not too interested in customizing the appearance too much. Coming from an iPhone, I'm pretty happy with the looks of the stock Froyo UI compared to that.
Again, thanks for the time you guys took to give me some information. I greatly appreciate it!
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Ryjabo said:
1. More control over the appearance of the OS. Get rid of that ugly white notification bar and replace it with a sexy black one, for example.
...
5. Trackball Alert Pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This was reason #1 and 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 for me, respectively
Track ball skip song.. Enough said.
If I install a custom ROM, when a new one comes out, do I have to install the ROM from the start and I loose my setings etc. or do I just update it?
Depends on the ROM maker. Most make their ROMs backwards-compatible, so you can upgrade. Going between different makers' ROMs you mostly need to wipe and start fresh (though there are apps that can back up and restore pretty much everything).
I am thinking to try Cyanogenmod ROM, bot I don't wan't to cofigurate all the things when a new ROM comes out.
I've seen some comparison made in threads, but most are partial, and while I've looked into Froyo quite a bit, and even made a hack at it, I haven't come to fully understand why I should. So I thought it might be helpful to have a Pro/Con differentiation between the two; why did you go through the effort to Froyo? Why didn't you? I know some have gone Froyo and then back to Eclair. I'll try to edit this post into a list once we have some good comparisons thrown out here.
Alright, after playing with the latest Froyo and looking at this thread so far, the tentative list for newbz0rz to consider is here.
The List:
Froyo 6.6
+Flash (!)
+Higher Benchmark scores, possibly faster in certain ways
+Higher compatibility with certain apps
+Potentially more configurable
+Cut and paste
+JIT compiler (potentially increases speed)
+Launchers behave properly (i.e. add shortcuts)
+Text-to-Speech
-Choppy Flash (!)
-More effort and time (lots more) to setup equivalently capable features
-Higher risk of Nook destruction (although still low)
-Higher risk of lots of work rescuing Nook from the grave/brickyard
-No Nook Color features (i.e. B&N apps, in store access, reader, magazines, etc)
-Buggy-ish sometimes (Unstable) :-(
*-Different users seem to report very different experiences; thus, we'll just call Froyo Inconsistent
-Ignores internal 5GB storage
-Ugly notification bar mis-sizing
1.1.0 Rooted
+Stability (Consistency in a stable experience, compared to Froyo)
+Some claim smoother overall
+B&N "experience" (FWIW)
+magazines, built-in reader for those who prefer it (hint: Aldiko is better)
+Status/Notification bar at bottom with back/menu keys
-Ye Olde Android 2.1
*-No JIT
*-No Flash
-Incompatible with shiny new 2.2+ apps (not very many of those, but still)
-Possibly slower, benchmarks lower
-Dialogs don't display correctly due to B&N system configuration
-Many alternative keyboards don't work properly
-No Cut and Paste
*Evernote was a dealbreaker for me, oddly enough. I use it all the time. Also, 6.6 Froyo broke my ADB somehow, and was a huge pain for very little gain. Gotta love Nandroid. 1.1.0 rooted does 95% of what I want, while Froyo does the 5% it can't do and breaks another 10% of what already worked. But that's just me. I can wait for CM7/ a more stable Froyo before I get flash. Honestly, what flash content do I want to watch on my tablet that I cant use my netbook/desktop for? I'll stop asking questions I don't want the answer to.
The biggest plus for froyo for me was flash content. The negative is Thai it is not as smooth as 1.1.
haven't tried 1.1 yet, but froyo+launcherPro+dolphin browser is as smooth as a phone. also, plus flash content
It really comes down to this:
Rooted 1.1.0 is for people who want to have the basic(older, no flash) tablet expirence, on a platorm which runs well and requires little to no cmd-line/linux/etc. knowledge.
Rooted 1.1.0 OC'ed to .950/1.0/1.1ghz only requires a couple hours of development forum reading, a little bravery, and a NC that can handle it.
Nookie Froyo 6.6 OC'ed to 1.0/1.1ghz ON SD CARD again, only forces you to read the respective threads(twice) and have an available micro SD card(at least class-4 4gb). This is a good method to start out with because if you mess it up, just reflash the SD card.
Nookie Froyo 6.6 OC'ed 1.1ghz INSTALLED TO EMMC is not over-the-top hard. It just requires a lot of dedicated hours understanding what exactly the flash images are doing to your device. Being comforable while working in cmd-prompt/linux/android-system is a must. Acceptance of the fact that, doing so *can* break your $250 toy.
knaries2000 said:
The biggest plus for froyo for me was flash content. The negative is Thai it is not as smooth as 1.1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed Flash was upsetting otherwise i would of kept it as 1.1 right now i dual boot w/ 66 and 1.1 but using froyo i really only go back to read my magazine subscriptions, and i like the back and menu softkeys setup on the bottom in teh 1.1 not so much in froyo
woot1524 said:
It really comes down to this:
Nookie Froyo 6.6 OC'ed 1.1ghz INSTALLED TO EMMC is not over-the-top hard. It just requires a lot of dedicated hours understanding what exactly the flash images are doing to your device. Being comforable while working in cmd-prompt/linux/android-system is a must. Acceptance of the fact that, doing so *can* break your $250 toy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've yet to see anyone break their $250 doing so. (In fact I don't see how it could break it). Also it doesn't require being fluent in any of those. Can you copy and paste? Okay well then youre set. Also, with people posting builds coming preinstalled with needed apps makes even using the command prompt almost uneeded (the only thing that needs to be pushed is the market).
The real downside to froyo is the lack of the B&N soft-keys on the bottom, meaning there isn't always a back and menu button on screen.
To Sum:
Froyo = Lack of softkeys permanetly there
Eclair = Slower, Lack of Flash
I tried NF for a little bit. I still have the card sitting somewhere.
For some reason, I don't feel the need to get Froyo on here until I can easily flash it like any other Android device.
I seem to remember there were certain compatibility issues along with slower benchmark results on Froyo. Is this no longer true?
vapor63 said:
I seem to remember there were certain compatibility issues along with slower benchmark results on Froyo. Is this no longer true?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I know of. Froyo Quadrant scores are a full 400 or so points above eclair.
I've got rooted/OC'd 1.1Ghz 1.1 on mine.
I don't feel the need to go to Froyo.
Once Honeycomb is perfected, though, I am SOOOOOOOO there.
MattJ951 said:
I've yet to see anyone break their $250 doing so. (In fact I don't see how it could break it). Also it doesn't require being fluent in any of those. Can you copy and paste? Okay well then youre set. Also, with people posting builds coming preinstalled with needed apps makes even using the command prompt almost uneeded (the only thing that needs to be pushed is the market).
The real downside to froyo is the lack of the B&N soft-keys on the bottom, meaning there isn't always a back and menu button on screen.
To Sum:
Froyo = Lack of softkeys permanetly there
Eclair = Slower, Lack of Flash
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, the chances of bricking the nook color are remote. But as you can see from the dev threads, even they have warnings. Because the odds dramaticaly increase when one starts messing with system and boot mounts, or over-clocking the hardware.
The reason why I stressed the understanding of what exactly your doing, when you flash the emmc or uImage, is there are many conflicting/confusing instructions involved If you take things verbatum from threads. I just don't think it's something a novice user should try at the moment. Especialy with the loss of the abilty to do a CWM recovery(I know about the sd images and swaping the cards out to do a backup, others don't, nor have more than one sd card)
Froyo does infact have Back and Menu buttons in the status bar.
you just need to push a couple files found in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=932631
The real problem with nookie Froyo is that it's still not a daily driver. It's buggy(to an extent), it's always being updated(annoying, but part of the fun), and frankly 1.1.0 just runs better.
I am surprised that nobody bothered to mention that with Froyo, currently, you lose the ability to veiw kids picture books, newspapers, and magazines. If you care about any of that stuff, you have to stay with 1.1.0
waiting for guys at Cyanogen to release the nightlies for NC
i tried froyo last night since you can now flash through recovery.
it was a painless install but then i had to get adb running to install gapps and sdcard fix.
after running it for awhile it isn't bad but still not as smooth as 2.1. not sure why people are posting that its faster as it is not. it's little more choppy overall and has hardware acceleration problems when playing movies. as some have mentioned it is annoying not having the navigation buttons without the nook bottom bar.
i am also just waiting for cm7 and i'll say goodbye to eclair forever. it was a breeze restoring back to stock through recovery and will probably try the next update of froyo now that I know what I'm doing.
jblues1969 said:
I've got rooted/OC'd 1.1Ghz 1.1 on mine.
I don't feel the need to go to Froyo.
Once Honeycomb is perfected, though, I am SOOOOOOOO there.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is my exact standpoint.
If a Honeycomb (That isn't just the SDK preview) is made for the NC, I will be downloading it.
So we've got a working list running for reference; I'm sure some people have more to add? This kind of thing would have saved me a lot of time a few months ago, let alone now with the increase in crazy options.
Thanks for this list, its awesome. It helps address the questions.
I am ofcourse going to try froyo since its so easy to do so but I wanted to help decide what was going to be my daily driver, etc.
CM7 is built on 2.3 AOSP right? I am excited to read above that nightlies are coming soon?!?!?
woot1524 said:
True, the chances of bricking the nook color are remote. But as you can see from the dev threads, even they have warnings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The warning are there as a just in case. These roms won't short out any circuits (short of the Overclocking one) and are just standard warnings. Since the NC boots to the SD card first it shouldn't be bricked. In fact if you wish to claim it can brick it then I can equally make a claim nooter will.
woot1524 said:
(I know about the sd images and swaping the cards out to do a backup, others don't, nor have more than one sd card)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't need more than one sd card. I only have one and have successfully recovered when I was trying to do some edits myself.
woot1524 said:
Froyo does infact have Back and Menu buttons in the status bar.
you just need to push a couple files found in this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=932631
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is actually glitchy and if you read the developer even stated it himself later on. He said instead of releasing a custom ROM to fix the problems he'll just release the source code in case anyone really wants them
woot1524 said:
The real problem with nookie Froyo is that it's still not a daily driver. It's buggy(to an extent), it's always being updated(annoying, but part of the fun), and frankly 1.1.0 just runs better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Eclair is buggy to an extent as well and on the issue of which runs better we'll have to agree to disagree since we can only have it based on opinion. Froyo has higher quadrant scores, and runs much smoother for me. As for compatability I'll test evernote later, but I dont know of any apps I've tested that don't work in froyo but do in eclair, while theres quite a few 2.2 exclusive apps that obviously won't work in eclair. But for those who can't get apps to work in 2.2 that did in 2.1 might be worth more than those 2.2 exclusives
In the end I would suggest just dual-booting Froyo and Eclair. Theres a simple download over the developers forum's that allows this. You just put it on an sd card, then type one line on your nook and you can test both of them and decide for yourself, while always having one for backup
How is the 1.1 g?
I feel quite the opposite, I think the B&N 2.1 experience is horrible.
B&N 2.1
- Dialogs don't display right due to B&N system configuration
- Keyboards don't work properly and if the keyboard does not have the settings in the UI there is now way to configure it due to B&N config
- No Cut and Paste. The work around are horrible.
- Default B&N Apps are horrible by far the worst apps in every field.
- System settings are non standard and accessing app configurations is very difficult.
- No JIT compiler causes apps to run slower.
- Launchers do not work properly because of missing
- No Text-to-speech.
- Random reboots multiple times a day.
- Games are sluggish, basic games are just fine.
Froyo 2.2 (0.5.8)
+ JIT compiler
+ Can get the nook 4 android app (which I think is better than their stock reader)
+ Cut-n-paste
+ Text-to-speech
+ More Stable( reboots on me twice a week)
+ Default Android back end so configuring keyboard apps and other apps is possible.
+ Launchers behave properly.
+ Access to more Market apps.
+ Game experience is much smoother(thanks to the JIT).
What bugs do you see on the Froyo that you don't see on the Stock nook. If anything I've seen more issues running stock nook than foryo?
What is the advantage of using android 3.0 have over 2.2. and 2.3?
Install all three and really see no difference beside the slight UI changes.
evilPERSOn,
I had not yet loaded HC, so my advice is pure speculation. HC has an entirely different interface which acknowledges the fact that a tablet is in essence a tablet and not an oversized phone. So, as such, it works a bit more like a computer with. The speed and streamlined interface of a tablet. As I write this I really wonder why I have not cobbled it up. Well, it is only a matter of time.
Have fun
~Leko
evilPERSOn2009 said:
What is the advantage of using android 3.0 have over 2.2. and 2.3?
Install all three and really see no difference beside the slight UI changes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well for starters this should be in general not development
second HC isnt just a slight UI change, it was MADE for tablets so if you want your tablet to be a giant itouch running android than install 2.2/2.3 but if you want a tablet you should install 3.0
^My bad. I had two tabs open. General and Development. Must have started thread on the wrong location.
1. HC uses GPU interface rendering.
2. HC is meant for a system like a nook with few buttons (good for us)
3.But HC's source is not in the open (bad for us).
poofyhairguy said:
1. HC uses GPU interface rendering.
2. HC is meant for a system like a nook with few buttons (good for us)
3.But HC's source is not in the open (bad for us).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hopefully the source will be released soon!
For me i thought i would try hc on the sd card and just go back to froyo. I was hooked. I used it for two days on a class 2 card then i flashed, and ive tried to go back to froyo and get flash but i cant. The UI is just perfect, the live app switcher key is wonderful and so great to use, probably my favorite feature. Not to mention i love that the task bar is on the bottom, reminds me of windows and keeps the clock and keys out of my face. Honestly i hate the top notification bar on other versions, ive always hidden it on my droid. Being on the bottom is so nice and out of the way.
Its got its downsides, but give it 2 months.. apps galore, source files..... it will be really good to run.
Edit: not to mention, ive never lost data like on my droid while switching apps. Ive come back to apps ive had open for over 24hrs and its still in the same state
Sent from one of those missing Droids
altimax98 said:
The UI is just perfect, the live app switcher key is wonderful and so great to use, probably my favorite feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm using the samuelhaff's eMMC HC and i noticed that i can't scroll the app switcher, so i don't have access to all my previously run apps. is this normal?
loving HC, so far. the fact that it's designed for no hard buttons is just awesome.
i don't think the app switcher even scrolls on the xoom yet.
I have only played with HC breifly. But from what i know about it these are the following reasons to use it.
1. Market. Honeycomb is the first android os that will support having the google market. This provides a few things. Any of us who have played with Ipods and ipads will know that there are specific apps built for ipad. Now that Android 3.0 is built for tablet form factor, and officially supports the market. We will now see Tablet applicatons that provide higher resolutions, or new features. These apps will be built around the 3.0 os, and may not work on older operating systems.
2. Built for tablets. Everything we have had up untill this has been a phone operating systme built for a 3" screen ported to something with a 7-10" screen. The os is clearly built for phones there are things in there that just dont work right, or should not be there, but are there, on a fundimental level in the operating system. By adding native support for larger screens, and removing the phone items, it provides for a cleaner higher performance interface.
3. Interface enhancements. The UI has been built to support the larger form factor. This will provide easier navigation as well as soft keys as mentioned above, since alot of tablets are just missing physical buttons.
Unfortunatly the OS has not been released to the public. My guess is there is some contract between motorola (xoom) and google for exclusivity on their tablet. but dont quote me on that.
1) The web browser is much improved - even over Dolphin
2) The email client is much improved - even over K9
3) Contacts sync seamlessly with Google contacts
4) The keyboard is much improved - has a TAB key, has a "handle" to move the cursor around in text, has cut and paste features.
All of this is enough to make me swich to HC.
Downsides:
1) Many of my favorite apps cannot be found or downloaded from the Market - even though they worked fine on 2.1.
2) From uSD card, runs a little slower than 2.1, but not enough to bother me.
is the video accelerated? I could not take cm7..so slow.
winkler1b said:
is the video accelerated? I could not take cm7..so slow.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. Same problem effects both I think.
Well, I switched and got my nook to recognize the sd (Class 2) partition. I expanded the image to use the 16 gigs too. I love it. The Live App switching is nice. It actually feels more like true Linux (I am thinking KDE) than any other droid system. I just can't handle the lag when booting apps (probably a combination preview/sd card). I am a teacher and grade on my Nook, so I need speed. But, I am excited about this. Thanks a lot Deeper Blue. This will be stellar.
The true app switching is almost priceless as is the efortless interface.
~Leko
Besides the obvious access to particular Honeycomb apps, what other benefits does Honeycomb offer on our G-Tabs?
I ask because it seems like some people prefer Honeycombs GUI but I also noticed that one is able to theme their tablets to look like Honeycomb while staying on a non-Honeycomb based ROM.
What tipped it for me to go ahead and install the Bottle of Smoke alpha:
- improved widgets, including scrollable Gmail previewer
- Gmail app is fantastic
- access to 3.0-only tablet-optimized apps (like Touchdown for my Exchange email)
- laying out the homescreens is easier since you can preview the widgets
Just a couple of things I've discovered (I just applied this ROM yesterday...):
- improved Market interface
- HC themes approach but do not fully capture the "holographic" feel of HC
-the notification system is different enough that I'm not sure whether I like it better or not.
I'm not mentioning the particular quirks of the BoS alpha - there are threads here and elsewhere that chronicle those. They should definitely be part of your decision, as it takes a good measure of patience to deal with.
I went to the Century Eyes Rom by roebeet, and I'm loving it. It gives me the tablet feel with no bugs. I do miss the market and Youtube apps from honeycomb though.
(Century Eyes = Notion Ink Adam's EdenUI)
Although being just an alpha and lacking flash support, I don't see myself moving away from BOS anytime soon. Granted quite few areas still have bugs to be worked out, visual asthetics alone have me hooked on roebeets rom. Not to mention it surprisingly runs very well vs. coming from vegan rc1. I have live wallpaper going, of course oc-ed, and I can still play game any for the most part with little to no lag. The menu/context menu layout for adding/changing wallpaper, active/recent apps menu, default keyboard, and default browser ease of use are my main reasons for sticking with it. If you want a rom with minute issues, this one is obviosly not for you. But if you can sacrifice a random reboot every other day and don't watch youtube all the time like me, BOS is a keeper and will only get better.
Edit: I should also note that my gtab is mostly for recreational use. A friend of a friend bought it bout a month ago now, tried doing something without proper knowledge, soft-bricked it, gave it to my friend who in turn gave it to me while the original owner bought an Ipad a week later. So I dont find it appropriate to use the term 'daily driver' since I see it as a very fun toy currently so my opinion on ROMs should include this.
In all honesty, I would have been mad if I hadn't found such a good modding community for this device. The stock is terrible.
So i have the BoS alpha installed , it runs very smooth - the only real FC come from open-gl not being available yet, well that and the apps that arent compatible with the nvidia kernel in general... i hope this helps a bit, if not please let me know exactly what apps your planning on using, and ill test them and post a video on youtube for you to see how well they run. my channel on youtube is ( youtube.com/itsnothowyoudie ) the latest video shows the homescreen and a couple apps including the scrolling gmail, which btw is great.
ps. one thing that has annoyed me, not being able to resize the widgets (;
I am also running Century Eyes. It offers the tablet feel, with improved resolution over all other Froyo ROMs. The resolution and the scrollable widgets are the best of Honeycomb, but I need Hardware Acceleration for flash. I use the streaming TV and movie apps, and it is required that you have flash enabled.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb-C27sIuX0&feature=player_embedded#t=0s
I am running the Evervol GB ROM with the Honeycomb 3D-SBicons theme and it looks so much like HC that you wouldn't believe it. Especially when using Launcher Pro with scrollable widgets. Amazing! Plus, almost everything works (flash, camera, both sd cards, usb to pc, etc.).
I also like honeycombs browser which syncs my bookmarks with the chrome browser. Been waiting for android to do this, I have tons of bookmarks on my computer so this helps a lot. The new 4.1 version of bottle of smoke is very smooth and works very well for me.
I think I'll wait until one of the Honeycomb ROMs hits final release. I need it to be able to do everything I can currently do in froyo before switching (open GL, flash, video playback, etc...)
Good ROM
Sidriel said:
I went to the Century Eyes Rom by roebeet, and I'm loving it. It gives me the tablet feel with no bugs. I do miss the market and Youtube apps from honeycomb though.
(Century Eyes = Notion Ink Adam's EdenUI)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Refering to battery, the best rom i think, i dont like the hidding status bar and i couldnt use the long search whit other programs, I like this rom so much i hope it could be fixed!!
EL TEJANO said:
Besides the obvious access to particular Honeycomb apps, what other benefits does Honeycomb offer on our G-Tabs?
I ask because it seems like some people prefer Honeycombs GUI but I also noticed that one is able to theme their tablets to look like Honeycomb while staying on a non-Honeycomb based ROM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To answer the OPs post: Froyo gave genuine performance improvements and features i.e. batterly life, reduced sluggishness, Flash (which had limited support on earlier Android IIRC), but AFAIK Honeycomb gives mostly UI improvements -scrollable widgets, etc. However, some of those 'UI improvements' are also significant improvements in how the tablet is used as well as how it looks (i.e. UI = user INTERFACE and not just how the home screen looks).
See here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Android_version_history
Honeycomb on gTab has some tradeoffs, but if you want to keep all the Froyo functionality you can try different launchers on any ROM, although I'm sure Froyo launchers have limitations when compared to the Honeycomb launchers. I am currently using VTL launcher on Vegan 5.1.1 (Froyo), I would not call it a 'Honeycomb Replacement' but the ROM (Vegan 5.1.1) is way better than the stock ROM and the launcher (VTL) is way better than the stock launcher, and everything that I need still works, including camera, keyboard, video, and PvZ.
For ideas on setting up your launcher/home screen see here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=862030
Recommend Honeycomb FlashBack or GtabComb,
You basically won't have camera functionality and some Flash won't work in browser. Most Games will work, the cool 3d ones at least.
Just give it a try, its as easy double clicking the nvflash exe
I switched back from GTABcomb to cm7 because there is one particular app didnt support. The back support is not that good. On the good side, you have everything mention here by other members but flash is only playable through opera browser and no HW acc. The sound is louder too on HC and screen more responsive.
I'm running FB 5.5. Visually, it is more satisfying than GB or Froyo.
Gmail widget and app handles email better.
Stock Calendar app and calender widget is better as well.
YouTube and Market HC is visually better as well.
Flash works in browser opera and stock.
qkster said:
I'm running FB 5.5. Visually, it is more satisfying than GB or Froyo.
Gmail widget and app handles email better.
Stock Calendar app and calender widget is better as well.
YouTube and Market HC is visually better as well.
Flash works in browser opera and stock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to mention the Netflix 1.3 apk works perfectly now, all youtube vids play in full screen, No sleep of death, etc. TV.com acts weird and runs small like it's on a phone but I may play around with different versions. At this point the only thing I'm really missing is the camera. To be honest I think I only want it because I can't have it. I'd probably go 6 months without using it if it worked. I did notice that FB 5.5 runs a bit slower than GTABComb 3.2. I got 3345 quad score on GTABComb with the built in OC script where I get about 2450 with SetCPU at 1400mhz on FB 5.5. Overall I feel like both of these HC roms have evolved to a point where the leary should jump in and give them a shot. You won't be missing much and what you gain is seeing your tablet run visually the way it was meant to.
Currently running GTabComb 3.2 and it's pretty good. Stable, quick. Been considering Illuminate as well. I will say HC is such a slicker interface over Froyo or GB. I definitely would like to stick with HC now that I've played with it.