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Root Rom confusion

paigow

Well-Known Member
Sep 13, 2011
153
7
so i now have a rooted thunderbolt and i guess the next best thing to do is flash a custom rom right? well with so many to choose from i have not the slightly clue to which to use.
i just want something that is stable and safe to flash that is better then android 2.2.1 that im currently on right now. please guide me in the right direction guys thanks.

also what can i safely remove off the phone that i dont need? or will all that get taken care of with a better rom?
 
OK to answer your questions:
1) most ROMs out now are for Gingerbread (2.3.x) which all require a newer radio. i have had great experience with the 802 radio but anything after MR2 will work for you.
the Radio is flashed as a "PG05IMG.zip" file through HTC's Hboot.

2) then you have to decide between AOSP and Sense. they are both stable and reliable, it is just a matter of what you want. if you like sense, stick with sense. if you like AOSP, stick with CM7.

AOSP roms have their issues like GPS not working, and general location weirdness, but there are workarounds to get these to work.

sense ROMs are usually a little slower and less customizable, but they work and look great.

for AOSP i would suggest CM7 or OMFGB. tons of options, very customizable, and really fast.

for Sense, the general consensus on the forums is that bamf is the way to go (i am currently running Bamf forever 1.0.3 and it is amazing) but i have had good results with skyraider and liquids sense ROMs as well. just try them out, and see which one works best for you.

a custom ROm will get rid of the "bloat" there are other things you can remove as well. i would stick to apps only though, nothing in the system, or processes or anythign like that.
i have frozen stock: music, stocks,news,messaging, email,gmail,camera, fm tuner,hotspot.


one of the tips i can give you, download titanium backup and the Pro key. it is kinda expensive, but if you plan on switching ROMs a lot, it is a HUGE time saver. at the very least get titanium. open it up, menu>batch> and do a batch backup of all user apps (DO NOT BACKUP/RESTORE SYSTEM APPS EVER!!!!)
when flashing a new rom a Data WIPE is almost always necesary, so this comes in handy after the flash.
 
Upvote 0
OK to answer your questions:
1) most ROMs out now are for Gingerbread (2.3.x) which all require a newer radio. i have had great experience with the 802 radio but anything after MR2 will work for you.
the Radio is flashed as a "PG05IMG.zip" file through HTC's Hboot.

2) then you have to decide between AOSP and Sense. they are both stable and reliable, it is just a matter of what you want. if you like sense, stick with sense. if you like AOSP, stick with CM7.

AOSP roms have their issues like GPS not working, and general location weirdness, but there are workarounds to get these to work.

sense ROMs are usually a little slower and less customizable, but they work and look great.

for AOSP i would suggest CM7 or OMFGB. tons of options, very customizable, and really fast.

for Sense, the general consensus on the forums is that bamf is the way to go (i am currently running Bamf forever 1.0.3 and it is amazing) but i have had good results with skyraider and liquids sense ROMs as well. just try them out, and see which one works best for you.

a custom ROm will get rid of the "bloat" there are other things you can remove as well. i would stick to apps only though, nothing in the system, or processes or anythign like that.
i have frozen stock: music, stocks,news,messaging, email,gmail,camera, fm tuner,hotspot.


one of the tips i can give you, download titanium backup and the Pro key. it is kinda expensive, but if you plan on switching ROMs a lot, it is a HUGE time saver. at the very least get titanium. open it up, menu>batch> and do a batch backup of all user apps (DO NOT BACKUP/RESTORE SYSTEM APPS EVER!!!!)
when flashing a new rom a Data WIPE is almost always necesary, so this comes in handy after the flash.

thanks for the input, so i watched some videos and i get how to flash the rom but what is this radio you are talking about? when would i need to do this process before or after the rom flash? and which one do i need?
i checked out the bamf and i see they are up to 1.0.5 now. would this be the way to go or should i just stick with trying 1.0.3 first?

still the only concern i now have is this radio...
 
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Check the sticky with "radios" in it's title. I believe it is the 3rd post. If you go to GB you need to flash any radio that is MR2+

I would suggest trying out the newest version of a rom, if you read the last couple of pages and people are reverting to an older version then you may wish to do the same.
 
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technically,you do not need to install a new radio,assuming youre rooted on the most current firmware.

keep in mind the sense GB roms are not completely without issue ;) there are still minor bugs since all these roms are based on pre-release leaks. the issues are minor,none make them unuseable. the biggest one left,is the "voicemail notifcation" bug. basically,you get no notifications that you have a voice message until you reboot,and then it wont leave your notification bar until you reboot again :eek: never bothered me too much,but for some folks its enuff to use froyo or GB AOSP.

while you research roms,you might simply enjoy your newfound power by booting to recovery,and making a backup. the more you manipulate the menus there,the more confident youll become. then,reboot and delete or freeze a bunch of your bloatware. these are good first steps for a new rooter,IMO :)
 
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so last night i flashed BAMF 1.0.3 and left my radio alone. Baseband version 1.39.00.0627r,0.01.69.0625r
according to that its Mr2 radio right? well so far everything works fine on the phone, calls, text messaging and so on. a lot of new features i like.

question about the radio. is there any reason to flash a different radio? will a newer version get me better signal strength/download speeds?
 
Upvote 0
so last night i flashed BAMF 1.0.3 and left my radio alone. Baseband version 1.39.00.0627r,0.01.69.0625r
according to that its Mr2 radio right? well so far everything works fine on the phone, calls, text messaging and so on. a lot of new features i like.

question about the radio. is there any reason to flash a different radio? will a newer version get me better signal strength/download speeds?

Debatable. It is pretty much impossible to get hard data on something like this--if it were easy there would be no updates needed because HTC would get it perfect the first time! So really you have to go on the assumption that HTC is making these updates for a reason and...AND...that these leaks are indeed versions that are incrementally improved over the last release (i.e. we are getting the good tests, not the failures).

I have not noticed much of a difference, but I live and work in the Dallas suburbs where 4G coverage is excellent--supposedly one of the best places in the country, so I may not notice improvements made for marginal signal strength or for high population density areas.
 
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