Finally rooted my Epic, questions about ROM flashing...

TwistedJake · April 3rd, 2011, 03:11 AM

Alright guys, after the OTA update last week my battery went to crap. It wasn't great before but would usually get me through the day (18-20 hours) with decent use and after that I would usually have 20-30% left. After the update I would need to plug it in after 12 hours or so. At any rate, that started me on the quest to get more battery life.

I did the pull the battery, hold the power button trick as well as install juice defender today. After 16 hours I had over 50% left which is a huge improvement. This got me interested in what more could be done if rooted.

Long story short, rooted tonight using the steps listed in the "WIP" thread. Worked like a charm. Now I'm looking at custom ROM's. Seems that the SyndicateROM Frozen is a popular choice and plenty stable. Watching the video I'm sure I can install it but have one question that I can't find the answer for. Will flashing the ROM reset my phone? As in will I lose my apps and such? Or will that all be there when I'm done.

And secondly, is there a better ROM for me? I'm connected to wifi all day at work. I mainly use the phone for basics, calls, lots of texts/emails, facebook, few small apps, etc. etc. When not at work I depend on my Jawbone for all calls and such. I use the GPS with google maps and navigation pretty often. I've been content with the speed of the phone but more and smoother is always better. My main goal is a stable phone that won't give me issues or quirks with as strong of battery life as I can get. If I can get 20ish hours of battery with moderate to heavy use I'd be thrilled.

Thanks in advance guys. Lots of good info on here.

Kelmar · April 3rd, 2011, 07:12 AM

When you do the necessary wipes it will reset your phone. There are apps that will backup your apps and stuff but I personally find it easier and less problematic to just set it all up from scratch.

I've heard excellent things about syndicate. You can always try it and go to a different ROM later!

tyztoy · April 3rd, 2011, 12:17 PM

I'll add my .02 since I also rooted for the first time 5 days ago. If you followed the instructions in that thread and used CWM 2.5 you need to make sure that you look for RFS ROMS. I went the CWM3 version and converted to EXT4. In that case, you need an EXT4 ROM zip on your SD card prior to running CWM3 and install the ROM from SD card before rebooting.

I am running Midnight 5.1 w/Journaling and could not be happier. Very stable and battery life is fantastic. I wish I had done this a long time ago. You can start out with a bare version and then build you own ROM or once installed, you can extract the standard version from the Extras zip and have a lot of the most used apps. Then just add the apps from the market you need.

Thank you everyone in this forum for all of the info supplied. I have just started posting but have lurked since early November almost every day.

droid newb · April 3rd, 2011, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TwistedJake

Alright guys, after the OTA update last week my battery went to crap. It wasn't great before but would usually get me through the day (18-20 hours) with decent use and after that I would usually have 20-30% left. After the update I would need to plug it in after 12 hours or so. At any rate, that started me on the quest to get more battery life.

I did the pull the battery, hold the power button trick as well as install juice defender today. After 16 hours I had over 50% left which is a huge improvement. This got me interested in what more could be done if rooted.

Long story short, rooted tonight using the steps listed in the "WIP" thread. Worked like a charm. Now I'm looking at custom ROM's. Seems that the SyndicateROM Frozen is a popular choice and plenty stable. Watching the video I'm sure I can install it but have one question that I can't find the answer for. Will flashing the ROM reset my phone? As in will I lose my apps and such? Or will that all be there when I'm done.

And secondly, is there a better ROM for me? I'm connected to wifi all day at work. I mainly use the phone for basics, calls, lots of texts/emails, facebook, few small apps, etc. etc. When not at work I depend on my Jawbone for all calls and such. I use the GPS with google maps and navigation pretty often. I've been content with the speed of the phone but more and smoother is always better. My main goal is a stable phone that won't give me issues or quirks with as strong of battery life as I can get. If I can get 20ish hours of battery with moderate to heavy use I'd be thrilled.

Thanks in advance guys. Lots of good info on here.

I use My Backup and have never had any issues restoring apps. I also back up any app settings that I can to my SD card so when I restore via My Backup it is easy to restore the app settings as well.

Some folks like a clean start but I've never had an issue doing it this way, and some of my apps have a ton of customized settings so it's a pain to remember them all!

I'm on the latest version of the Frozen ROM with the EC05 modem. Works great and I have excellent battery life!

TwistedJake · April 4th, 2011, 08:20 PM

Alright all, so as of around lunch time today at work my Epic is now running SyndicateROM Frozen.

I didn't have any apps that really mattered so I didn't back them up. Just downloading once that i need as I need them.

I've also downloaded SetCPU and JuiceDefender. This phone screams now buy my main intent is to extend the battery life. I don't want to worry about using the phone in fear of draining too much battery at the end of the day. Any other suggestions of apps or mods I should do?

Oh, and plan on letting the battery die, then charging full before wiping the battery cache.

forddna · April 4th, 2011, 11:20 PM

Barnacle for wifi tethering. Titanium Backup will backup your stuff, but also save your scores and stuff in games. Very important if you are an Angry Bird addict. lol