Root [International] Cyanogenmod advice

wooky69

Android Enthusiast
Hi all. I'm thinking about putting Cyanogenmod on my S3. Can anyone tell me what potential problems I might come across.
Is there a mail client that I'll be about to access email accounts with?
Can you still access the full Google play store?

Cheers all :)
 

tensazan

Android Enthusiast
If there's not an email client included with it, there are plenty in the play store. Also, in order to get the play store. You may have to flash gapps, which will be a separate download that you flash through recovery as well, if I'm not mistaken.
 

heat57

Android Enthusiast
You'll have to download and flash the "Gapps" package separately and this, typically, contains Gmail client, Hangouts, Google Calendar, Play Store and Google+, etc.

Play Store access is not going to be a problem.
 

heat57

Android Enthusiast
Great thanks. How long does it typically take, should I allow 3-4 hours?

Flashing typically should not take more than 15-20 minutes including the initial reboot. Make sure you flash a custom recovery first (Philz, CWM or TWRP, latest versions if you are planning to flash JB 4.3+) and then "blitz" your phone by wiping cache, dalvik, data, system and, especially coming from older firmware (i.e. 4.0.4 to 4.1.2) you need to wipe/format the internal SD to avoid any issues.

This will of course delete any personal data so you should back that up to either an external SD in your phone or if you haven't got one to your PC and then restore it from there.

If you flash JB 4.3 and up you'll have a new partition structure, where you restore your files to sdcard/0 - for this you need a file manager like ES or any that more often than not comes with your custom ROM.
 

wooky69

Android Enthusiast
Thread starter
Flashing typically should not take more than 15-20 minutes including the initial reboot. Make sure you flash a custom recovery first (Philz, CWM or TWRP, latest versions if you are planning to flash JB 4.3+) and then "blitz" your phone by wiping cache, dalvik, data, system and, especially coming from older firmware (i.e. 4.0.4 to 4.1.2) you need to wipe/format the internal SD to avoid any issues.

This will of course delete any personal data so you should back that up to either an external SD in your phone or if you haven't got one to your PC and then restore it from there.

If you flash JB 4.3 and up you'll have a new partition structure, where you restore your files to sdcard/0 - for this you need a file manager like ES or any that more often than not comes with your custom ROM.


Do you use the file manager to setup the file system before flashing the new ROM?
 

funkylogik

share the love peeps ;)
No wait until you flash cm and youll notice the file system has changed mate.
I dont personally recommend using cm installer but i get that its much easier and is probably the way of the future.
The trouble is when something goes wrong you wont have the experience to fix it :thumbup:
 

davidmanvell

Android Enthusiast
I tried the Cyanogenmod but it will not download onto my phone (App side) device not supported. I asked on the Cyanogenmod forums and they said they are not supporting the S3 from the installer. have to manually do it.
 

funkylogik

share the love peeps ;)
Ive read from s3 users who have used it.
oh well, screw cyanogen, theyre a bunch of money grabbing thieves anyway (imo)
If you root manually youll learn how to flash any rom you like and theres a lot of roms based on CM that are far better.
What carrier are you on mate?
The All Things Root forum for your carrier version will guide you through it :beer:
 

funkylogik

share the love peeps ;)
Not as fast as AOSP based kitkat but yeah i dont think the CM installer will work with the new bootloader you got with the update mate. Rooting is gona be that bit harder too :thumbdown:
 

wooky69

Android Enthusiast
Thread starter
I still haven't got around to doing this yet :) might get chance next week

How are others getting on with Cyanogenmod?

Any improvement in battery life over stock ROM?
 

mydian

Android Expert
I tried the new CM11 M7 snapshot build the other night and everything worked flawless, including the camera. I prefer AOKP though.
 

funkylogik

share the love peeps ;)
I still haven't got around to doing this yet :) might get chance next week

How are others getting on with Cyanogenmod?

Any improvement in battery life over stock ROM?

I doubt battery life will be as good as stock rom but Google Camera is excellent. I don't miss the TW one at all.
Check out some of the more feature packed roms based on CM. There are some crackers :thumbup:
I don't know many enthusiasts who use CM tbh but I suppose it's a good stable first aosp rom :beer:
 

wooky69

Android Enthusiast
Thread starter
I'm going to give it a go this week as it seems pretty straight forward to install now. I thought one of the benefits was better battery life, bit disappointed to hear it won't be improved.

Are any of the more feature packed ROMs mentioned as easy to install as using CM Installer?

Thanks.
 

wooky69

Android Enthusiast
Thread starter
Right well I installed Cyanogen 11 this morning using the Installer, I did have an initial issue with it not connecting to the phone and telling me to try different cables, disable AV etc but non of it worked. Found a fix later on that I've posted below.

Other than that I'm really impressed so far, the phone is much faster that the stock Samsung one (and I had reflashed it only a month ago). Chuffed :)

EDIT: I'll also add that everything but GPS worked straight away, Google Play was there and no app crashes so far. Handy that you can turn root on and off as well I like that.

Waiting for update on GPS issue but other than that I'm very impressed with CM11.


FIX for not connecting issue

1. Put your phone manually in Download Mode (pwr + vol down + home)
2. Plug device in to PC in Download Mode
3. Download and extract the 7z file here Download libwdi from SourceForge.net
4. Launch zadig.exe. Select Options > List All Devices. Select "Gadget Serial" from list and click the "Replace Driver" button. This will force in a driver for the device when in Download Mode
5. Close zadig.exe and reboot your device. Retry the installer.


Sprint Galaxy S3 "cant Talk To Your Phone" Message - CyanogenMod Installer - CyanogenMod Forum
 
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