Database Develop

Advantages of the different Roms

The Bionic is my 5th Android and they all have been rooted and had custom roms installed. Before I root it and get to installing custom roms, I would like to know what each one does well and what their weaknesses are. I don't currently have the time available to install them and play with them all like I normally do, so I'm asking the users who are currently using them.
3 things that are important to me: performance, battery life, and would like the camera not to take 5 seconds after clicking it before taking a picture(wouldn't care about this but have kids that I would like to take pictures of). I would also like to install custom boot screens (after owning the lg revolution, I now know that custom boot screens aren't always an easy task).
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

smokedkill said:
The Bionic is my 5th Android and they all have been rooted and had custom roms installed. Before I root it and get to installing custom roms, I would like to know what each one does well and what their weaknesses are. I don't currently have the time available to install them and play with them all like I normally do, so I'm asking the users who are currently using them.
3 things that are important to me: performance, battery life, and would like the camera not to take 5 seconds after clicking it before taking a picture(wouldn't care about this but have kids that I would like to take pictures of). I would also like to install custom boot screens (after owning the lg revolution, I now know that custom boot screens aren't always an easy task).
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
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Unl3ash3d: Blur based and stock feel, but with extra mods and an extra pretty theme. Pulldown toggles.
Liberty: Stripped down, AOSP (as much as it can be) and a speed demon. Pretty lightweight. Lots of free RAM here. Pulldown toggles. Reboot and other options in the extended power menu.
Which one is better? Matter of taste. Do you fancy the new blur we have? If yes, go Unl3ash3d. Do you want a stripped down, clean, AOSP vanilla gingerbread feel? Go Liberty.
Battery life I couldn't tell you, as I never ran Liberty through a full discharge. I'm a (new)blur kind of guy - it's grown on me. Unl3ash3d gave me battery issues on some early builds, but this latest is great and gets me the best battery life I've had to date.
Both have different themes available for them, so that's equal as well.
Good luck.
P.S. When Eclipse drops in here, give that a whirl. Smooth.

As far as the camera goes, I agree that the stock one is pretty unusable compared to other phones. Both Liberty and Unl3ash3d have replaced the stock camera app with ones that I find work much faster and better.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using xda premium

I definitely appreciate this thread and would love to see more discussion from those with experience with the various roms. I've just switched from the Atrix to the Bionic and from some of the comments, I wasn't even sure if it was worth switching to a custom rom or not. Obviously they each offer some benefits, but complaints about battery life were a bit concerning. I also wasn't clear on how much faster/smoother any of them performed compared to stock (though it's pretty nice in stock form already).
As of now I'm rooted and running go launcher without any huge complaints, though I like to tinker and customize stuff, so that alone is driving my interest in running a rom, though I'm still having trouble with taking interest in a particular option.

CC Lemon, don't let the complaints about the existing roms scare you. This is still a relatively new phone and it takes time for the devs to work the bugs out. Over time, they will be worked out.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

smokedkill said:
CC Lemon, don't let the complaints about the existing roms scare you. This is still a relatively new phone and it takes time for the devs to work the bugs out. Over time, they will be worked out.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App
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I wouldn't say that it scares me... I'm just not convinced there's anything I should be trying yet. I'm sure we'll see some great roms eventually, but I'm not looking for something that I'll update every time a new version is released, so I'd like something with as few bugs as possible. My post was mostly directed at trying to figure out if any current roms in their current form are worth using or if I should just wait until more bugs are worked out.
The recent CM7 developments definitely sound promising. I know it's just a matter of time before I decide to flash something, but the question is when and what.

Have the devs just abandoned this phone?

I haven't seen any ROM updates or development news in some time. I was planning on getting the Nexus anyways, but I at least wanted the phone to have life after I passed it on.
--
Sent from my Droid Bionic.

I've been waiting and hoping. I like my bionic a lot.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

* *

We have liberty, that's enough for me. Liberty was all I ran (I tried others but always went back) on my Droid X, with my thunderbolt I only ran BAMF roms. I would like to see more customizable options like power control widget in the notification pull down.

Unfoetinitaly I agree. Having had the evo 4G and the thunderbolt, Dev for this phone seems dead.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

I disagree. Liberty was released just a few weeks ago, the the30ry dev has released two new ROMS, one of which was just updated yesterday, and eclipse will have a 5.7.893 update here soon. In addition, there are devs working to get ICS working on the bionic, and a CM7 project (although I don't know if that's in the works any longer as they have announced CM9 for January). I will say that few of these devs seem to be active on XDA any more, they're all on droidforums and rootzwiki. But they're out there.

It sounds more like the OP is abandoning the Bionic, not the devs.

Hashcode said:
It sounds more like the OP is abandoning the Bionic, not the devs.
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And I never tried to deny it. However, I'm passing on the phone to my girlfriend, and I didn't want her to be SOL when it came to the best part of owning an Android device.
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Sent from my Droid Bionic.

I think this is just part of the "downtime" between releases. We have an OTA on the way that may or may not have additional compared to whats leaked so a lot of devs IMO are waiting for that OTA to come out and then will update their Roms accordingly.
In addition a lot of 3rd party Roms use CM as a base so until CM is finished being ported to the Bionic, this front will probably remain dead. Once we see CM7 done and CM9 starting, i think you'll start to see a bunch of new roms pop up.

dpw2atox said:
I think this is just part of the "downtime" between releases. We have an OTA on the way that may or may not have additional compared to whats leaked so a lot of devs IMO are waiting for that OTA to come out and then will update their Roms accordingly.
In addition a lot of 3rd party Roms use CM as a base so until CM is finished being ported to the Bionic, this front will probably remain dead. Once we see CM7 done and CM9 starting, i think you'll start to see a bunch of new roms pop up.
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You're probably right.
Surely the parade of better more exciting devices isn't helping.
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using xda premium

I agree I feel UN loved
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using xda premium

Hmm.....
We're supposed to get the OTA and ICS....No???
D

I feel the same way about the Photon, but we are making progress too.
Have you guys been able to unlock your bootloaders without loosing LTE? If so, you are at an advantage, but how many of you have developers with this phone?

There is a locked bootloader. The excellent devs have done most of what can be done without that being unlocked. They are not lazy, they just did so well that there is nothing to change until the bootloader is unlocked or motor/Verizon push ics.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using XDA App

I understand, I am going through the same thing with my Photon, on Sprint, the Now Network.

The devs definitely haven't given up, the Th3ory T3am is working on getting CM9 to boot and a couple of devs over at DF are going through the source code to see if they can unlock the bootloader right now.

darkrom said:
There is a locked bootloader. The excellent devs have done most of what can be done without that being unlocked. They are not lazy, they just did so well that there is nothing to change until the bootloader is unlocked or motor/Verizon push ics.
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Click to collapse
A locked BL isn't as big of a hindrance as people think ... really all it stops you from doing is running a custom kernel. You can still make custom roms and over/underclock. Sure it's not ideal bc you have to deal with 2nd init to run CM but otherwise there is still a lot of flexibility. Liberty, Th3ory and eclipse are perfect testaments to that.

it isn't as long as Motorola continues to create roms with kernals for the newest version of android and only as long as it is rootable. The min one of those two things stop happaning we will need kernel access to continue on

dB Zac said:
it isn't as long as Motorola continues to create roms with kernals for the newest version of android and only as long as it is rootable. The min one of those two things stop happaning we will need kernel access to continue on
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That's a good point. I would hope that at that point they would at least have the decency to unlock our BL... but who.knows. I'm holding out hope for project cheesecake ... yum I can smell the creamy goodness...
[ sent from _base2 ]

The Razr came out, all hyped up, and now half of what you see on the forums is talking about how it's not that much different than the Bionic, and it clearly becomes a subjective issue, mainly based on form factor and pentile rgbw/lcd (bionic) vs pentile rgbg/samoled (razr).
The Gnex will likely be similar once it comes out and people realize that its not that much better either. It has pure ICS, but I bet we'll be seeing some of that by the time the Gnex is released anyway - at least some roms based on that source anyway.
Droid 4 is literally a Razr with a kb.
Rezound is great as well, but nothing tremendously better than these others.
My point is this... All of these new phones have something positive and something negative about them. I don't see any good reason why developers would stop supporting the bionic, as it is technically in the same league as all of these other phones. I don't think I'm being too much of an idealist ... at least that's my hope
Sent from my phone

Bionic ROMS?

Whats the newest, most bug free ROM out there for Bionic, thats still getting updates?
I've had the Bionic for a couple of weeks and already got disapointed.
back when i rocked the DX2 i was die-hard Eclipse.
well on bionic i notaced many bugs, and i re-flashed, redownloaded, the works. had the same issues.
anyway. nitro sold his bionic, so no more Eclipse. so i swung to the other side to try Liberty. its cool. no where neer as boss as Eclipse. but they both have pros and cons. anyway.
come to find out Liberty devs stopped for the bionic too. so, my question is, what is the newest, bestest rom, thats still getting updates, and lots of themes? preferably a boss ICS theme D

Active Bionic Roms
There are several alpha and beta Roms out for the Bionic however most of them still have bugs ranging from no 3G/4G to the front facing camera not working. From what I can tell the only stable Rom for the Bionic is gummy. This may be due to the Bionic having a locked boot loader. Hopefully either Nitro will get a used Bionic and continue development or development will increase when or if ICS is officially released on the Bionic.

i hope he does too. i really enjoyed Eclipse. besides the fact thant when i held down the power button to get the reboot options it would just straight up reboot. (very annowing when wanting recovery)
i think the AOKP ICS rom thats out looks mighty spiffy, but i dont know what all doesnt work, and i dont want to risk having to go back to my old old devour. (sold the DX2)
anyway. thanks for your input!

here is me and @insanemods rom mainly his but working on fixing all the bugs stuck at f.c.'s at the moment but mostly works themes galore lockscreen changes and such... here is the link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1535293

I'm in the same boat as you, trying to find a stable ROM rather than go back to de-bloated Blur. The only other recommendation I can give besides those already mentioned is dhacker's April 5th nightly of CM9.
I obviously haven't been using it for long, but it has so far has a pretty consistent data connection.
DroidHive -> Downloads -> Bionic -> CM9 SELFKANG BIONIC ICS

I've been running CM9 Unofficial since it dropped. Currently I am on 04-04 and have had stable data and WiFi since I flashed it. HW accel and video are the only things really missing for me. Give it a shot.
Sent from my XT875 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5

flascrnwrtr said:
I've been running CM9 Unofficial since it dropped. Currently I am on 04-04 and have had stable data and WiFi since I flashed it. HW accel and video are the only things really missing for me. Give it a shot.
Sent from my XT875 using Tapatalk 2 Beta-5
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can you post a link to the rom
Sent from my XT875 using xda premium

thats sounds really nice. so theres CM9, and CM7.....wheres 8??
but a link would be helpful.
i just want something super stable, that will work with safestrap, and will be getting updated frequently, i like having all the bugs worked out, and having cool new additions
because i liked the option of going into recovery upon each boot.
and is anyone using http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1527544 ?
i want a straightforward review of it. dont sugar coat it xD

Bfitz26 said:
here is me and @insanemods rom mainly his but working on fixing all the bugs stuck at f.c.'s at the moment but mostly works themes galore lockscreen changes and such... here is the link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1535293
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Click to collapse
ive never found MIUI appealing, its not really my cup of tea. it reminds me too much of apple. i really dislike apple stuff

jetknife said:
I'm in the same boat as you, trying to find a stable ROM rather than go back to de-bloated Blur. The only other recommendation I can give besides those already mentioned is dhacker's April 5th nightly of CM9.
I obviously haven't been using it for long, but it has so far has a pretty consistent data connection.
DroidHive -> Downloads -> Bionic -> CM9 SELFKANG BIONIC ICS
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Click to collapse
it'd be pretty cool if they had a bug list, and screenshots...

zakkyzombie said:
ive never found MIUI appealing, its not really my cup of tea. it reminds me too much of apple. i really dislike apple stuff
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Click to collapse
i can see apple as first install install like nova launcher or apex and the "apple" is gone dude simple as that super customizable at that point.. just sayin' but do what you want..

I do prefer the AOKP ICS rom port over the CM9 just for the little details, but they're rather similar.
Being new to this stuff, I don't know what "Repo Sync & Build" means. But I've used the rom linked below, and in my eyes, it was merely the March 13th nightly of the AOKP rom port--also on droidhive, their latest is april 8th.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1527544
Both the AOKP and CM9 4.0.3 roms have the same bugs as mentioned above.
No HW accel. Games crash.
Video has issues.
Data is intermittent. I'll have rock steady data all day, but then the next day it won't work at all.
AOKP:
http://www.droidhive.com/forums/index.php?/files/file/37-aokp-selfkang-bionic-ics-403-r1-nightlies/
CM9:
http://www.droidhive.com/forums/index.php?/files/file/38-cm9-selfkang-bionic-ics-403-r1-nightlies/

Is there any consensus on which is the most stable ROM with a solid 4G connection?

ronaldheld said:
Is there any consensus on which is the most stable ROM with a solid 4G connection?
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Click to collapse
im with this guy.
even 3G
im using the one on her the repo sync and build ICS AOKP.
well, one thats getting updates like the ICS roms.
like is CM9 or the AOKP better?
or pretty much the same, but with one with 'rom controll"
hell, i wouldnt mind just a port of stock ICS with boss data connectivity.
oh, with the AOKP can i update between nightlys just by wiping cache and flashing, or do i need to factory reset everything?

I use eclipse 2.2 after using liberty for .901. I tried gummy but had issues.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

anyone have a link for a stock 902 thats deodexed and flashable?

The Gummy ICS rom is VERY good and is only missing a working camcorder...and that's it. I ran it for days and ZERO issues, except for that. Eventually I just got too uncomfortable not being able to use the video camera and went back to stock. It just updated yesterday as well, but still no video recording:
http://goo.im/devs/TeamGummy/Roms/Targa

For that gummy ROM do you only flash that one, becsuse the Gapps are part of it?

no there is also a Gapps package for it as well....i'm sure its on their site.

I did not see it unless it isin a different slot than the ROMs. A link would help

[Q] Droid 3 ICS-Root?

Hello. I will be receiving a Droid 3 as a warranty replacement tomorrow. It comes with ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) pre-installed. I have been searching, and cannot find a way to root the Droid 3.
I am hoping I missed it. If someone can point me to the tutorial for rooting the Droid 3 with ICS, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.

y0himba said:
Hello. I will be receiving a Droid 3 as a warranty replacement tomorrow. It comes with ICS (Ice Cream Sandwich) pre-installed. I have been searching, and cannot find a way to root the Droid 3.
I am hoping I missed it. If someone can point me to the tutorial for rooting the Droid 3 with ICS, I would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you hear it will come with ICS...? Because it won't.

I was told this by the Verizon rep. It is a warranty replacement. he specifically said it has ICS on it. No, I am not mistaken. Maybe he was?
Even if it doesn't, I have been unable to find a tutorial for rooting the Droid 3.

I can assure you that it will not be arriving with ICS, I'm sure he must have been mistaken. It will most likely be running Gingerbread 2.3.4 with the 5.6.890 system software.
Anywho... here is the tutorial you are looking for http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1240130

If you do get one with ics on it then I will be calling Verizon and having them replace my phone for one like that
Sent from my XT862 using XDA

leerpsp said:
If you do get one with ics on it then I will be calling Verizon and having them replace my phone for one like that
Sent from my XT862 using XDA
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If you get a phone w/ics system dump before anything else please, if you need a hand lots of people here will help (or on irc) but since moto still has the d3 listed as "evaluating" for ics and haven't even started working on a build I would say the rep is more than likely mistaken. Hopefully not but if moto had an ics build for the d3 I imagine we would have heard about a soak or something. As for your question I would probably try the root for d4 and if that didn't work check out what they're using on the nexus etc

If you do get ICS please tweet Hash. We really could benefit from it.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA

We would still have a locked bootloader and the same kernel issues though. I'd put money on the rep being wrong, but I'd like to be proven wrong.

so what version of android did you end up getting on the d3?
Sent from my A100 using Tapatalk 2

You folks were right. He was wrong. It has 2.3.4.
It runs pretty fast, compares well to the DX2. I wanted CM ROM on it, but none are completely working. Camera has issues GSM FCs and so forth. I just wish my DX2 would work. Haven't used a physical keyboard in a while either.
What do you folks think of your Droid 3s?

y0himba said:
What do you folks think of your Droid 3s?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought my D3 FOR the keyboard. I came from an enV touch and the thought of a touchscreen keyboard that wasn't 100% perfect made me shiver. Looking back, I would definitely have gone with a SGS II. I didn't know anything about the D3's bootloader being locked and the full touch screen is definitely worth the unlocked bootloader. That being said, I still love the keyboard. It's better than any I have ever used.
I don't hate my Droid 3. It runs my ICS roms rather smoothly and the only thing that I wished worked is Google Chrome. I use the camera but I found that I have not wanted to use the video recorder since switching; even if it DID work.
If you want a CM ROM that is pretty stable, I'd recommend 7.2 found here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1308924
It's a bit more stable than CM9, though it still has some bugs. Stable enough for a daily driver in my opinion.

My d3 is alright but if I was sent one now with any option of sending back either for a different phone or terminate a contract(within 30 days or whatever and setup a new one) I would jump @ the chance, just because its a little old, 1g ram would be nice but imo it's like dual core phones, 1 core is wasted 90% of the time, upgradable to ics would be very nice too, custom kernel would be nicest though(htc,lg etc etc). I guess what I'm saying is its decent but I wouldn't buy one now.
Sent from my XT860 using XDA

I'd say droid 3 is all about the keyboard. Without the keyboard, there would be many better phones. Phones with 1GB ram, unlocked bootloader and a better screen.
However, I'd rather have a keyboard than have those ^ things without a keyboard .

It seems to run faster, and more smooth than my Droid X2. It's ugly though, and it will take some getting used to a physical keyboard again. I have it rooted, radiocom hacked. I want to tweak the camera, but the thread is confusing me a bit as to which zip to use, or which edits to make to build.pro and the XML file. I would prefer to edit rather than install a zip as I don't really want a bootstrap on the phone.
App Brain is making me frustrated though, since Fast Web Installer will not log in.
So far, I am loving this.

Another heartbreak. If D3 doesn't gets ICS by July, I'll let it go.
Sent from my XT883 using XDA

Is it me or is it slowing down

I haven't seen much on roms lately. All the one's out here aren't stable either. We only have a couple fully working roms and none of them are being update. If I get a new phone any suggestions on what it should be to take advantage of the most fully functional roms?
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA

I found Liberty ROM to be quite stable, and while I don't want to jinx it, I've been running Maverick 4.0 for a day or so and it seems great!
If the bootloader ever gets unlocked, it will open up more kernel dev options (for the genius' out there!) which could open up more/better ROM possibilities for us (fingers crossed).
I don't think I'll be upgrading to another phone until a new physical keyboard model comes out. And hopefully it's quad-core with at least a gig of RAM. (512mb on my XT860 has been killing me) ;D

Unfortunately I dont think the kernel will ever be unlocked on our phones... that's Motorola for you.
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

But now it's Google...we may get lucky
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA

Ever since they switched to the nightlies and stopped posting new beta's on here It slowed down, IMO.
I'm happy with Mavrom 4.0 I guess, but would've loved to see hashcode etc. focussing on getting video on ICS, rather than adding features etc. Other ROM makers could've tried that. Who cares about advanced settings when you can't even record a video?

Google is going to probably sell Motorola hardware section to Huawei and keep the core just as legal requirements. Also, they said they are not going to interfere with Motorola decisions on their products. Google only bought Motorola for their parents, nothing more, nothing less.
Rocking with my M3 and XDA app

Exactly ... but I don't want this to be a Motorola bash... even tho its easy to do... lol... so for now I would like to see a list of roms that are fully functional. I'm on liberty and I keep going back to that just because everything works... what other roms are in this category. And I agree that a extra features aren't important till a fully or close to fully completely working roms is in place. What's the point of all the bells and whistles if you can't even use the basic functions of a phone.. don't get me wrong now. I love trying new roms but it becomes a downer when you get one that has cool extras but you end up going back to a working rom for taking video or watching Netflix .... even if your on safestrap to go back to that functional rom. And the other question is if I change phones what would be a good phone to go to just for rom purposes ...
Sent from my DROID3 using Tapatalk 2

The problem iswith the hardware codes and drivers. Every phone probably has this problem with ics. They add more features cause this is almost impossible. The attic has a really good developer support. I would definitely go back yo it if I could but I had nothing but problems with mine. Anyone know how to make a rom? I wanna get into it.
Sent from my XT860 using XDA

Atrixn00b said:
The attic has a really good developer support.
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Click to collapse
I assume you mean Atrix instead of attic?

The real issue to all of the problems is the bootloader. When you can customize the kernel to fit your rom you pretty much take care of any problems. Not to say there aren't roms with custom kernels that don't have issues .... there are but thats due to other things. Programming or incompatibly issues. All of our roms are franken roms held together by bungee cords and duct tape. The devs do a great job with what they have at hand so when time comes for them to build a rom on a phone with a unlocked bootloader, I don't blame them.. much more freedom and the ability to create awesome roms the way they want. All the stable roms we have are just built around the original with some cleaning up and a splash of color... I wonder what it feels like to know when you pick a rom no matter what it is and you know its going to work and the only reason you don't stick with it is because you don't like the way it looks or it doesn't have a extra you want... how sweet.
Sent from my DROID3 using XDA

Yeah... it was good when i had my Desire Z. All kinds of roms for that thing!
Sent from my XT860