Root The Great ROM Hunt

[mrphy42]

I have been searching high and low for a decent ROM that will do what I want. I am looking for bare bones, wont run my battery down like mad while my phone is doing nothing and allows me to run what I want running without sacrificing speed and style. I admit, I am a touch fan, because it is what I know. So as of late I have been using FRESH, but maybe I need a change. There are so many ROMs to choose from and so few ways to know what is tested and reliable. So who has a suggestion?

 

[Xtremedays]

Fresh is a good one to run. I used it for about 3 weeks before my flashing addiction took off

Kings, Koni's Elite, Myns, and Mikfroyo are all good, stable roms with everything working. The best thing to do is make a nandroid backup and pick a rom to start with. Flash it and use it for a couple days. If you like it, make a backup of it so you can go back to it if you want and flash another one. The rooting for dummies guide has step by step instructions for flashing and backups.

As far as saving battery when the screen is off, you will need something like setcpu(available in the market) to slow down the processor speed while the screen is off thus saving on battery.

 

[madflasher]

check out one of MIK'S ROMS the 4.6b2 ODEX is bare bones and smooth. theres an awesome thread community HERE on his 4.5 thread. those guys will whip you up a zip of a custom mod or theme in no time. i havnt seen that from any other thread.

im using 4.6b2 ODEX chogard themed it for me.

 

[MizzouBrent]

I flashed to Koni Elite II today and it's good. I was on Kings R2 earlier today and for what its worth Koni isn't quite as gaudy but still looks good and is just as functional.

 

[Ivansandroid]

I would't call Kon's ES2 barebones, but I like it alot. Flashed toast kernel with it and have increased batter life from using 4 batteries a day to only 2.

 

[ExtraCrispy]

I would't call Kon's ES2 barebones, but I like it alot. Flashed toast kernel with it and have increased batter life from using 4 batteries a day to only 2.

How much are you using your phone man, 4 batteries a day!

SuperPower made the greatest difference for me, and I tried JuiceDefender and Setcpu as well.

 

[andygu3]

I have been searching high and low for a decent ROM that will do what I want. I am looking for bare bones, wont run my battery down like mad while my phone is doing nothing and allows me to run what I want running without sacrificing speed and style. I admit, I am a touch fan, because it is what I know. So as of late I have been using FRESH, but maybe I need a change. There are so many ROMs to choose from and so few ways to know what is tested and reliable. So who has a suggestion?

I like Culkulin's v1.8

 

[flyjbaker]

Calkulin's gets "gummed up" over time. I liked it at first but things started to get weird with it.
IMO, Mik makes the best ROMs out there. They are nicely themed and he seems to "optimise" every little detail to make the ROM run smoking fast and smooth. I am on his version of "Z" and it RIPS. I will say, if you flash either his Z or Warm's Z, Titanium Backup seemed to really mess things up when I restored. Give it a try but if you see weird stuff after using TB, don't give up and restore "manually". I resotred one by one thru Astro. Anyway, try Mik's Z and you will be quite impressed. It is not barebones by any means but still almost "instantaneously" fast.

 

[andygu3]

Calkulin's gets "gummed up" over time. I liked it at first but things started to get weird with it.
IMO, Mik makes the best ROMs out there. They are nicely themed and he seems to "optimise" every little detail to make the ROM run smoking fast and smooth. I am on his version of "Z" and it RIPS. I will say, if you flash either his Z or Warm's Z, Titanium Backup seemed to really mess things up when I restored. Give it a try but if you see weird stuff after using TB, don't give up and restore "manually". I resotred one by one thru Astro. Anyway, try Mik's Z and you will be quite impressed. It is not barebones by any means but still almost "instantaneously" fast.

Funny, never had one issue with v1.8. It's the only rom I keep a nandroid of

But, imo, the developers for the Evo are incredible. All in all, any rom you flash, more than likely you won't have many troubles

 

[ExSaint]

I have tried Ava, Evio, Myn's warmtwopointtwo RLS2-5 and Z, and Fresh. The best one i have seen as far as performance and battery life goes is Myn's series. Best rom IMO hands down.

 

[timmins1977]

I have had much better luck with Fresh than Myn. Very stable, simple, and great battery life, especially with the older radios (1.77).

 

[drumshark]

Im running Koni Elite II with launcher pro running over it, and I love it.
Launcher pro is very quick, customizable, and smooth. And Koni's taskbar is amazing. Im in love

 

[Granite1]

Im running Koni Elite II with launcher pro running over it, and I love it.
Launcher pro is very quick, customizable, and smooth. And Koni's taskbar is amazing. Im in love

+1 on Launcher Pro.
I kinda hope more Devs include a flashable themed LP with their roms. I loved the LP from RLS5, and Koni includes one for his Elite series.

 

[ExSaint]

I'm sorry, but I can't stand launcher pro. Looks awesome though. Love how you can customize it. Just slows the crap out of my device. Too much crap loaded on top of other crap. For me I compare its like having a damn browser toolbar, looks nice but messes up the browser speed.

 

[flyjbaker]

I'm sorry, but I can't stand launcher pro. Looks awesome though. Love how you can customize it. Just slows the crap out of my device. Too much crap loaded on top of other crap. For me I compare its like having a damn browser toolbar, looks nice but messes up the browser speed.

Hope I am not straying too far off...but along those lines I just discovered Dolphin Mini browser....which is a stripped down version of Dolphin HD and it SMOKES!!! ...just FYI!

 

[andygu3]

Im running Koni Elite II with launcher pro running over it, and I love it.
Launcher pro is very quick, customizable, and smooth. And Koni's taskbar is amazing. Im in love

Personally, I would never run LauncherPro, ADW, Zeam.... on a Sense rom. Pointless, imo Sense UI is better than all of them.

Now, on a AOSP rom? I like LauncherPro

 

[sokoto]

What exactly is Launcher pro and what does it do? Im planning on rooting and flashing to ESII tonight but my main concern is battery life and wi-fi tethering.

 

[flyjbaker]

What exactly is Launcher pro and what does it do? Im planning on rooting and flashing to ESII tonight but my main concern is battery life and wi-fi tethering.

It is somewhat of an overlay on your phone that modifies the way things work. I don't know how better else to explain it. Your launcher at the bottom of your home screens is modified to allow you to do different and more stuff....

 

[Granite1]

Personally, I would never run LauncherPro, ADW, Zeam.... on a Sense rom. Pointless, imo Sense UI is better than all of them.

Now, on a AOSP rom? I like LauncherPro

I never used to use LP befor I used AOSP on my hero, now I have a tendancy to use it all the time.
For some reason I like the scale home screen transition, I haven't figured out a way to get that effect without LP. I am 1/2 cro magnon man, so I might be missing something

 

[aznmode]

I like LP as well but my 2nd choice would be Go Launcher ex w/ colorize widget app to emulate sense UI widget ie facebook, twitter, calendar. You can do almost the same with Go Launcher Ex as you can with LP. The only thing that I'm not liking on Go Launcher Ex is I use Manup text icons and it wont fit in the dock boxes and are cut off on the sides. This is the reason I'm not using it. Otherwise I love the way you can switch the app drawer to swipe side to side or up and down like LP's, and its transparent so you still see your wallpaper. I also like that current and running app tab in the app drawer. Once I can find text icons that fits I'm probably going to switch to it.

 

[mrphy42]

Thanks for all of the advice!