Skrillex

I can overclock my CPU to 1.3ghz... ran a quadrant score of 3630!!!

Only real issues are no camera yet and battery takes a hit. Otherwise it could be a daily driver... will be for me for a while.

BobBruff

You'll have to let us know how it works going forward. Just out of curiosity, where did you grab the ROM?

Skrillex

From the link in the QBKing77 YouTube video... not sure but I think it was from XDA

KOLIO

Has the functionality of the webtop options been incorporated into this CM9 ICS ROM?

Skrillex

Have not tried it.

drexappeal

This type of stuff REALLY pushes me towards sitting down and actually taking the "rooting" plunge...LOL. My phone is in the charger on the way to work, as well as on the way home (in my car dock).

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Skrillex

Takes more than just root access brother... need to unlock the boot loader which is the scary part. QBKing77 has some very well done step by step YouTube videos to guide ya. Hit me up if you need any help. It is worth the effort.

randy10786

Camera is a big thing for me....Hopefully they will get it hashed out fairly quick.

Skrillex

Try the Magnifier ROM, it sounds pretty slick from the review. I will test that out too soom but am waiting for my 32GB micro SD card first. All these backups take a lot of storage.

drexappeal

Thanks, Skrillex. For me, it's just been taking the time to actually do it. I'm extremely detail oriented when it comes to stuff like this, to the point that I want to cover any possible "worse case scenario" (aside from bricking the phone). One of my big ones was taking time to read how to back up the stock ROM and info, in the event I needed to revert back. I've read through all the different instructions out there, but just haven't taken the time to see which one really does give me every single step, just to make sure I have a complete backup. The rooting and bootloader unlocking, I'm sure there are step-by-steps for those as well, but again with the way I am, I really didn't want to just do this, without having extra time for any possible troubleshooting, in the event I did something wrong (or at least knowing what to do).

But, all that said, once I know it's the time to take the plunge, I just might take you up on that.

Skrillex

I had the same concerns myself. I thought I bricked it a few times but honestly it is HARD to actually brick it if you follow the video. There is actually a stock photon file out there and a video of how to flash it so backup or not you will almost definitely be okay. I honestly doubt I'll go back to stock again. This ROM is SOOOO much faster and hotspot is working perfectly. If the camera gets fixed I'm never going back...

Eguy

You sound like me, my friend haha. I have been hesitant to unlock my Photon's bootloader since it breaks WiMax for now. Rooting on the other had is extremely easy with the one click root method. You just open a .bat file and it does all the work with almost no modification to the OS or phone. Takes no more than 10 minutes to get the job done. Unlocking the bootloader however is a bigger task but it is necessary for custom roms unfortunately.

twospirits

I'm usually good at following instructions but alot of them are so minor or miss a step that it drives me nuts. This is one of the reasons why I do my own step by steps with images and are so lengthy.

As mentioned above, qpking does excellent video and written step by steps. But it seems that there are so many ways of doing it that I'm more confused.

All true.

Here in NYC, I love having 4G, and since I do travel quite a bit, every place I've been to (except overseas) has 4G wimax (except near the Grand Canyon), so I really love having it. That and the camera issue is what is holding me back from putting Cyanogenmod on the Photon.
I've rooted, but that was a time consuming process back then. Unlocking the bootloader will probably give me a migraine. lol But like I said, I wouldn't do it if I have to loose 4G and the camera.

Just wish, Motorola would fulfil their promise of unlocking their phones.

TS

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Skrillex

There are some AWESOME ROMs out now where you don't need to unlock the bootloader and thus don't break 4G. I'm running ROCKO 1.1.1 as we speak and it is sooooo fast. I'm overclocked at 1.3ghz but even running stock 1ghz it makes a stock Photon seem like a slug. Check qbking77's ROCKO rom video and head over to the xda forum to download the new locked version. And kick a few bucks his way, he deserves it... great work! Plus it incorporates Beats audio.

jbb2388

Skrillex, Have you tried CM7 yet?

Skrillex

Yes, I'm actually using CM7.2 as my daily driver for the past 2 weeks as nothing (at least that I've noticed) is broken on CM7.2. CM9 still has no camera or MMS. Also, I can overclock to 1.4 on CM7.2 and battery life is better than CM9 for now anyway.

killersiafu

Looks like the majority of the functionality is currently working with the latest CM9 alpha. The two major exceptions are 4G and the camera, which shouldn't come as a surprise. I believe the webtop is functioning and sms/mms is working post alpha 19 or 20 I believe.

There are rumors of a 4G fix being tested with some of the blur-inspired ROMs. Once they've ironed out the kinks, I imagine it will be incorporated into the CM9 ROM as well. The camera will be fixed eventually. It's always the trickiest part.

There are a few other little issues with 2d rendering and screen flickering that some users, but not all, are reporting.

As I mentioned above, this is still in an alpha phase so there are some kinks but it's looking very promising. There's a thread over at xda if you'd like to follow the progress more closely. Personally, I'm going to wait until either Moto announces their ICS plans w/r/t the Photon or CM9 gets a functioning camera. If Moto comes out and says ICS is coming soon, which I don't think is likely, I may hold out. But I'm thinking we won't be seeing any ICS love until at least April, probably later (if at all). In that case, I'll probably be jumping ship to CM9.

Last edited by killersiafu; February 7th, 2012 at 11:33 AM.

Skrillex

CM9 and CM7.2 are both WAY better than stock regardless of slight bugs or loss of some functions. This phone is a monster once you undo what Motorola and Sprint did to it. Poor Photon...

KOLIO

Just got the LAPDOCK 500 Saturday,so far,it's AWESOME.Haven't tried all the features yet,but,once I'm more acclimated w/it,will visit XDA for all the goodies that are available there.Hopefully,the MO PHO can be fully unlocked or ROMMED & still have 4G WIMAX working in the near future.

jbb2388

CM7.2 doesn't incorporate a fix for 4G does it?

Skrillex

No rom for unlocked bootloaders does yet. Unlocking breaks it.

jbb2388

OK just flashed CM7.2. Couple things I dont understand. I dont have a market app and I cant get my gmail contacts to sync. Any ideas or is this normal?

Skrillex

Where did you get the CM7.2 zip file? It should have had a gapps (google apps) zip file you need to flash after flashing the rom. That is how you get the Market as well as other needed apps. Try the Photon -development thread for CM7.2 in the XDA forums. That is where I got CM7.2 and the gapps file as well. If you did flash a gapps and the market is missing you should try a different version of gapps and let the dev know (can also just attempt to re-flash). You can log into your gmail acct by logging into the market. CM7.2 has a bug that will ask for a physical keyboard when trying to log into gmail accts for the first time, the work around is to skip set up and log into the android market. That will log you in for good but you need the market first and foremost.

jbb2388

All worked perfectly. Thanks man!

Skrillex

Glad to hear it. You should try flashing one of Joker's 1.4OC kernels. They make CM7.2 so much better. You can find them on XDA as well.

jbb2388

Yeah I already did. 1.3 OC. Man this thing is blazing fast now. Gonna try CM 9 next.

Skrillex

CM9 is alpha, just remember that... and create a backup or two first!

killersiafu

Just wanted to update... the camera is now working (both back and front). The FFC only works with a 3rd party app, but as I use Camera Zoom FX anyway, it's not a big deal. The camcorder is not yet working. There have also been huge battery and signal connection improvements. And it sounds like there's a 4G fix coming soon.

I flashed to cm9 last week and it's been great..

BobBruff

You guys have convinced me to root and flash. Now my only decision is what to flash--CM7 or CM9? It sounds like if I don't use 4g much and I'm ok with using a different camera there's not much else that should keep me from using CM9, right?

twospirits

Good to know that the cameras work now, but 4G fix coming soon? Please elaborate.

TS

busted bones

Do you have the software keys taking up screen space?

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jbb2388

Awesome. Good news, Thanks.

killersiafu

The issue has been pinned down to a problem exchanging RSA keys after the bootloader is unlocked. The cm9 devs have been quoted recently as saying a 'wimax fix is closer than you think' and that the fix is 'being tested on the blur roms' currently.

Nope. It just uses the hardware keys for the Photon, no need to duplicate. The only thing that's kind of odd is the google search bar at the top of the screen. Presumably that has been added by Google because the new ICS phones don't have a search button. You can turn the search bar off in the CM settings, but you can't use the pixels it occupies for widgets or anything... so I just leave it on.


Also, CM9 entered beta last night.

killersiafu

The two big things that aren't working currently are 4G and the camcorder. If you're willing to give those up, I'd say give CM9 a shot. If not, you can do CM7.2 or wait a few weeks for a more mature CM9.

They're also having an issue with the camera in the new CM9 beta build (it was working fine in the latest alpha) but there's supposed to be a fix posted today.

The new beta is incredibly stable (no random reboots, FC's, etc) and the battery life in the latest alpha's has been pretty awesome. I just flashed the beta last night so I can't comment yet on battery life but I'm assuming it will be the same. They also put in some nice 2d-rendering fixes so virtually all of the 2d jittering in games / flash web sites is gone.

Looking really good.

twospirits

Thats the part that has me confused, because if i am not mistaken, CM (any version) does not have any blur in it whatsoever, I take it you mean stock rom (since it has blur).

TS

killersiafu

I meant blur roms like these:
xda-developers - View Single Post - !!!LOOK HERE FIRST!!! Motorola Photon Compendium a.k.a. all things MoPho 1/26/12

jbb2388

Just installed joker's beta 0.0.2.1. Seems to work great. ICS is definitely different than GB. Obviously the 4G is still not working and the forward facing camera only works with an external camera app but so far its smooth and fast.

Skrillex

Try the Rocko rom, Imperium Initiative rom and my personal favorite, CM7.2

jbb2388

I have Rocko. Haven't tried it yet though. I do like CM7.2 better than CM9 so far. It has many more tweaks that i liked.

Skrillex

Exactly

jbb2388

Just looked at QB's rocko review and it doesn't look that thrilling to me so will just stay with cm7 and continue to tweak things.

Skrillex

Rocko is very snappy and the battery life is the best I've ever seen... ever! But CM7.2 is more customizable.

grimlok78

Do you have to have the bootloader unlocked to run cm?

Skrillex

Yes you need to be unlocked for most. There is a locked version of Rocko you need bootstrap recovery.

busted bones

Hey Skrillex, would I be able to use your kernel for CM9, or is it custom tailored to the phone for some reason?

Skrillex

Custom but there will be custom kernels for CM9 soon enough. Joker has to finish CM9 then he'll build more kernels for it.

jaxprat

So, if I'm following the rationale, getting these results goes something like this:

Go to QBking77 on YouTube
Find the procedure to root a photon 4g
Find the procedure to overclock a photon 4g
Use CM7 or CM9 ROMs
Watch your battery drain and enjoy the hell out of this awesome device!

Please fill in the missing bits if I generalized too much.

Skrillex

Wrong. What needs to happen is to have the bootloader unlocked. Without that you can not flash either of theses roms (or 99% of the roms out there). Find qbkings bootloader unlock video first. Then you can root and you also need to install clockworkmod (don't choose twerp, is has issues).

jaxprat

Okay. You are, as you know, correct. I have already rooted by Photon using QBKing77's method. I just stepped in to the procedure after that.

I am going to follow these instructions and post the process as you have described here. I am glad you guys were having this discussion as I have been somewhat apprehensive to overclock my Photon. I have unbricked it many times using the information that QBKing77 has provided. Man, that guy has helped me with a pile of things.

Skrillex

You will not lose root when you unlock just be sure to immediately create a backup after installing clockworkmod. It will save you headaches in the future.