[Q] Help choosing a ROM!? - HTC Aria Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

My wife's got an HTC Aria that's been on its last legs for quite some time. My first "solution" was to update to CM7 back when the Aria CM7 ROM was first released, and it was good for a while. Lately, a few issues have been cropping up, and I haven't been able to get ahead of them (tried Mujeni's latest CM7.2, updated gps drivers...etc).
The biggest things she's noticed is the lagging UI - she gets the "force/wait.." screen a lot lately, and has had a lot of problems with the GPS getting a good fix. She also ran into space issues and couldn't download apps anymore, but we got past that (which is probably why some of the apps are lagging now - being run from SD)
Anyways - I was thinking of updating to the WinSuk CM10 ROM (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1826894) but am worried the performance of this ROM will be worse than the CM7 ROMs (features, graphics...etc).
Can anyone compare first hand the performance difference between the two? I don't want to give my wife a phone (ROM) that is going to just piss her off more than the old one did.
If the WinSuk CM10 ROM isn't a good answer - can anyone recommend a stable ROM that will perform decently? She doesn't really care about any whiz-bang features, but does use a bunch of apps, so compatibility with recent stuff would be good. Maps, GPS, facebook, foursquare, gmail...etc.

The problem with asking questions comparing two ROMs is that you will get different opinions from users of the ROMs because no one uses their phones in exactly the same way. In addition, it is considered somewhat gauche to the devs who provide the results of their work for free. Unfortunately, it has also been known to lead to some pretty spectacular fights between supporters of the devs. Due to this, we generally close best/fastest/mostest types of threads when we find them before bad things happen.
That being said, I understand and sympathize with your predicament and I want to help as I have had wife/phone issues, but.... to be very honest, I do not believe there is a ROM out there which will fix your actual issue. At least for more than a relatively short time.
I don't have an Aria so take my advice with a grain of salt , but I have a Sensation which has unfortunately peaked for me well before I can get something new (August ) and has had an issue or two as well, but I have maxed out its potential and am happy with it. Actually with the new TMO no-contract stuff I might even keep it until something really appealing comes along.
It's an Aria. It is what it is. You might be able to help it by getting a Class 10 SD if you don't have one already, although depending on the other hardware and many other software factors, Class 6 cards are actually faster at random access which is more common with smartphone and apps usage. Class 10 cards are faster at sequential access which is typically important for cameras or if she uses the phone as a camera regularly. Depending on the app, and I would think also for a2sd, sequential access might be better. No way to predict though, only actual usage with her set of apps would confirm.
I used to have a bunch of apps and then when I switched ROMs it was sometimes a hassle. I realized over time that I never really used a fairly large number of apps after the first or second time so I uninstalled them and settled out a "core" list of apps that I kept loaded always, and I use Titanium Backup to restore some other apps that I use infrequently and don't want to download again or have saved data for.
I make sure to hold the back button when leaving apps that are larger. Holding the back button should terminate it from memory. I reboot every 3 or 4 days. It only takes a few minutes and I don't get unexpected reboots and everything works.
I will leave this open for any Aria users to chime in and keep an eye on it so it doesn't go south. I will move it to the Q&A forum shortly.
Thank you,
mf2112
XDA Moderator

mf2112 said:
The problem with asking questions comparing two ROMs is that you will get different opinions from users of the ROMs because no one uses their phones in exactly the same way. In addition, it is considered somewhat gauche to the devs who provide the results of their work for free. Unfortunately, it has also been known to lead to some pretty spectacular fights between supporters of the devs. Due to this, we generally close best/fastest/mostest types of threads when we find them before bad things happen.
That being said, I understand and sympathize with your predicament and I want to help as I have had wife/phone issues, but.... to be very honest, I do not believe there is a ROM out there which will fix your actual issue. At least for more than a relatively short time.
I don't have an Aria so take my advice with a grain of salt , but I have a Sensation which has unfortunately peaked for me well before I can get something new (August ) and has had an issue or two as well, but I have maxed out its potential and am happy with it. Actually with the new TMO no-contract stuff I might even keep it until something really appealing comes along.
It's an Aria. It is what it is. You might be able to help it by getting a Class 10 SD if you don't have one already, although depending on the other hardware and many other software factors, Class 6 cards are actually faster at random access which is more common with smartphone and apps usage. Class 10 cards are faster at sequential access which is typically important for cameras or if she uses the phone as a camera regularly. Depending on the app, and I would think also for a2sd, sequential access might be better. No way to predict though, only actual usage with her set of apps would confirm.
I used to have a bunch of apps and then when I switched ROMs it was sometimes a hassle. I realized over time that I never really used a fairly large number of apps after the first or second time so I uninstalled them and settled out a "core" list of apps that I kept loaded always, and I use Titanium Backup to restore some other apps that I use infrequently and don't want to download again or have saved data for.
I make sure to hold the back button when leaving apps that are larger. Holding the back button should terminate it from memory. I reboot every 3 or 4 days. It only takes a few minutes and I don't get unexpected reboots and everything works.
I will leave this open for any Aria users to chime in and keep an eye on it so it doesn't go south. I will move it to the Q&A forum shortly.
Thank you,
mf2112
XDA Moderator
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the thoughtful response! I probably should've known better than to post but I am at my wit's end with this one. I've already got a class 6 card, and have been trying the "make sure you reboot" line as well. I realize there aren't many options left, and a new phone is certainly in the future (but why aren't there any GOOD SMALL phones!?)...just trying to squeeze a few more months out.
I guess I was hoping someone would chime in with CM10 will run better on the aria than CM7.2 (or the opposite!)...
Feel free to close the thread if necessary...don't want to clutter up an otherwise great board! :good:

Related

HTC Hero - Always this laggy?

I'll start this thread noting that I've come from an iPhone 3GS and came to expect things to open and close smoothly. That being said, I do know that you need to keep an eye on open apps through a task manager and close out things that you don't need on the Android OS, but I feel like this device just can't hang with other smartphones currently.
I'm constantly nagged with keypresses lagging for over a second, half of the time when I'm trying to type quickly it will register a single button press as a long press and I end up getting the alt key instead of the plain letter.
I have a fresh load of the MoDaCo ROM and ever since I received the phone a week ago I've been severely disappointed. Attempting to answer phone calls ends up with the screen telling me to drag down to answer and is completely unresponsive, but sometimes answers the call and sometimes just turns on the speaker and mic, but doesn't connect the call.
I've removed footprints, as well as stocks from the base ROM to pull out anything I wouldn't need. My understanding is that should only have a positive impact on performance.
Menus are sluggish to say the least, often times taking 1-3 seconds just to open a sub-menu.
Did I just get a bum phone that someone tried to pawn off because there might be something wrong with it? Is this the behavior that people have been experiencing from the HTC Hero? Does anyone know a way to speed this little bugger up and make it useful?
I've installed the Overclock widget and set it to 528mhz and verified that it's still set there each time I've rebooted the phone, as well as using Android Task Manager to keep a select few applications as "do not close" so that the phone doesn't freak out and try to reload a bunch of apps.
I'm about to throw this damn phone out the window currently. I absolutely loved my G1 when I had it, and this thing feels like it's two or three steps DOWN from that phone.
Please, help me actually want to keep my phone. I LOVE the Android OS, and I love the form factor and sound quality.
i came from a hermes to the hero.. and its fooking awsomes, the lag you are getting is non existant on my hero, its a stock t-moblie as i is on contract with it atm and dont wanna risk screwing up and my insurance says F U!
if they could make a hero with a iphone screen i would be be a very VERY happy man.
sure its just not the rom u flashed? try flashing another? i used to get hassel with my hermes if it did not like the rom (wm6.5 for one it hated it but some loved it)
I might try out another ROM, but the only one that I thought I'd seen was the MoDaCo. I will have to look around the forums to see if there are any others that I can attempt to flash to my Hero. I suppose if all else fails I can just get a rooted base ROM and install WiFi tethering from there, since it's an app that I use on a VERY regular basis.
I've never updated from the original 1.5 ROM I received on my unlocked white hero. It is a bit laggy when using the Sense UI. However, when I "revert" to the Android OS Home screen (by disabling Sense UI / Touch Flo) it is VERY responsive. And that is fine for me......
I have the Hero and an iPhone 3GS and the Hero is very laggy in comparison. We have a few Android devices here in work to test/evaluate and none f them are without lag. No matter what people say I can't help thinking that they are looking through rose tinted glasses or refure point blank that the device they chose coudl possibly be less than perfect.
If you use an iPhone 3GS along side the Hero then the lag is very apparent. Scrolling through TouchFLO, scrolling the menu, typing, all have lag no matter how often I use Takiller.
pritsey said:
I have the Hero and an iPhone 3GS and the Hero is very laggy in comparison. We have a few Android devices here in work to test/evaluate and none f them are without lag. No matter what people say I can't help thinking that they are looking through rose tinted glasses or refure point blank that the device they chose coudl possibly be less than perfect.
If you use an iPhone 3GS along side the Hero then the lag is very apparent. Scrolling through TouchFLO, scrolling the menu, typing, all have lag no matter how often I use Takiller.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bear in mind android isn't there that long and the Iphone is... Iphone won't improve Android will.
I updated my hero to the last official rom and I don't think it lags at all.
But I didn't own an Iphone, so I wouldn't know how it compares to that.
Tooslo says:
I'm about to throw this damn phone out the window currently. I absolutely loved my G1 when I had it, and this thing feels like it's two or three steps DOWN from that phone.
If that's the case, send the darn thing back. It's supposed to be faster then the G1 and I haven't heard anyone saying it's not except you. Also waiting 3?! seconds for a submenu seems impossible, they almost instantly pop up here.
Also:
but I feel like this device just can't hang with other smartphones currently.
I had a diamond and had a play with the diamond 2, both donĀ“t even come close to the hero, same with the touch HD
Sorry to say but I think yours has some issues that are not fixable by any software updates. Send it back.
Unfortunately I purchased the phone from someone on another forum, so there is little/no chance of ever getting a replacement since I wasn't the person who originally purchased it.
I've tried reloading the MoDaCo 2.9 ROM with the Teknologist kernal after formatting my SD card and re-creating the ext2 and swap partitions.
It's running a bit faster, but it's still frustrating that this device is so slow in comparison to my wife's 3GS. I can type more than 1 letter per second on the keyboard and only occasionally get the problem with the key registering a long press.
I'm always killing unnecessary processes, but I find myself needing to reboot the phone several times a day to keep it running at a moderate clip.
TooSlo said:
I'm always killing unnecessary processes, but I find myself needing to reboot the phone several times a day to keep it running at a moderate clip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try not killing anything at all, and leaving Android to handle it. Whilst some people swear by task killers, others (myself included) don't use them and often we're the ones who don't seem to suffer from excessive lag!
BTW - comparing the Hero to the iPhone 3GS is always going to be a bit unfair, because the 3GS has a vastly superior processor. Comparisons to an iPhone 3G are far more apposite.
Regards,
Dave
don't use swap, especially on a slow sd card. android will only be dragged down by using swap, because then it does not close applications automatically as long as it does not run out of memory.
also, using a faster sd card might improve your overall experience with modaco.
foxmeister said:
Try not killing anything at all, and leaving Android to handle it. Whilst some people swear by task killers, others (myself included) don't use them and often we're the ones who don't seem to suffer from excessive lag!
BTW - comparing the Hero to the iPhone 3GS is always going to be a bit unfair, because the 3GS has a vastly superior processor. Comparisons to an iPhone 3G are far more apposite.
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I should clarify myself with that. I try to kill things like Market, Facebook, UniWar and Browser through the day.
I notice that if I leave any of those apps open it's going to turn into a slideshow afterward. I would say that after having the phone turned on for more than 60 minutes, if I try to play UniWar, by the end of a few turns, the game has almost stopped responding as a whole. It's frustrating as the final decision to move back to the Android platform was the fact that this game was available here, since I play it with my officemate during the day.
TooSlo said:
Unfortunately I purchased the phone from someone on another forum, so there is little/no chance of ever getting a replacement since I wasn't the person who originally purchased it.
I've tried reloading the MoDaCo 2.9 ROM with the Teknologist kernal after formatting my SD card and re-creating the ext2 and swap partitions.
It's running a bit faster, but it's still frustrating that this device is so slow in comparison to my wife's 3GS. I can type more than 1 letter per second on the keyboard and only occasionally get the problem with the key registering a long press.
I'm always killing unnecessary processes, but I find myself needing to reboot the phone several times a day to keep it running at a moderate clip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2.9 doesnt need a swap partition it uses compcache also upgrade to an ext3 or ext4 partition 2.9 is actually a blindingly fast rom.
Tried 2 hero's of some friends of mine yesterday, all the official latest htc rom.
And all of them respond like mine, no need for mcr 2.9 or whatever.
I've said it before, I don't think this is a rom problem, maybe defect ram memory or something.
I would definitely try disabling swapper. If you are using swapper, you are giving the Android memory management routines no chance to improve your experience because the don't know that you're out of physical memory and are swapping to flash memory that is going to be an order of magnitude or two slower than the physical RAM.
Regards,
Dave
So I've upgraded the Ext2 to an Ext3 partition and everything "felt" a little better, but I keep running into the fact that my phone just does NOT like to respond when woken up.
It's incredibly slow to be able to pull down the notification tab or move from the "main" screen in any way. I've ordered a new SD card and will reformat and only use the Data/Ext3 partition when possible, I'm just at a loss of why this type of behavior would happen.
Is this a result of using my phone to sync with my work Exchange server? I only have it set to ping the server every 15 minutes, but man, the phone becomes useless when it's attempting to sync over EDGE. I can't get ANY type of connectivity, even through games that only process 20-40k/hr data usage.
Are there "no-no" type applications to stay away from? I've removed every widget aside the WiFi toggle and Overclock Widget. I'm just tired of rebooting my phone every couple hours.
afaik there is no working overclock app/widget for hero, try removing that.
there is the option of wiping to see whether the problem continues.
seems to me like the Modaco rom is the problem. a lot of people are on the stock Hero rom and don't get any lag at all and certainly don't need to reboot the phone so often...
It's not the Modaco ROM - I've been using Modaco since the first versions, and it is fine.
HOWEVER.....
I've never bothered with Apps2SD or Swapper, and I'm pretty certain that Swapper is going to cause problems.
Regards,
Dave
I'm pretty sure the hero will never be as smooth or quick as the iPhone... you just have to decide whether you can live how smooth the hero is. On Mocado 2.8 and not using any task manager I definitely can.
Update on device
So I've received my 4gb Class 6 card, created a 1GB Ext3 partition, no swap partition and reloaded MoDaCo 2.9. I've also tried this with a stock rooted image as well. These results apply to both ROMs I've loaded.
At first it "felt" somewhat fast, but then after adding the following, it's just dreadfully slow.
Exchange email
UniWar
Handcent SMS
Advanced Task Killer
Systray Monitor
ShootMe (never running)
Better Terminal Emulator
Apps Installer
I don't really think any of those should have this type of negative impact on the phone, though I have noticed that my Exchange email does take an extremely long time to sync, but it seems isolated to this device.
My Exchange settings are:
Size Limit - 5kb
Frequency - 15 minutes
Past Mail - 3 days
Include attachments - Never
Reply w/ original text - Yes
Always BCC - no
Those seem to be the only things that are currently ever running.
Are there major conflicts that I should know about with any of those apps?
Even with a fresh install, properly partitioned SD card, current version of both the MoDaCo as well as stock rooted ROM.
Anyone?

should i get atrix?

for some time now i'm planning to get my first android phone. atrix was my first favourite, but it's pretty expensive. in the meantime, google nexus s caught my eye, and i've been trying to find it, but it's almost impossible to find in my country. so, i decided to save some more money and go for atrix. reading a lot about it on the internet, i have some concerns.
1.) i've been reading a lot of opinions that atrix, despite its impressive hardware, often lags, has a lot of bugs; all in all that user experience is not smooth as it should be with phone this powerful. i'd like to hear your opinions.
2.) how is battery life? would it last a whole day with this scenario: brightnes on max, 1 hour wi-fi, 5-10 minutes talk, 30 minutes gaming/using apps, half an hour reading, watching one movie.
3.) is blur ui really that awful? i see a lot of people complaining about it. is it removed from custom roms?
4.) what actions cause phone brick? i've red that downgrading an os causes bricking, so it means if i install custom ics rom, and don't like it, i'll be stuck with it because i can't roll back to stock gingerbread or i'll brick my phone?
5.) coming from WM, i've seen a lot of compatibility problems with apps/games. how is the situation here? will atrix run every (or almost every) app/game?
6.) how does it cope with demanding games like shadowgun, backstab, nova...?
7.) can rooting cause any problems?
8.) anything else, you'd like to add.
thanks in advance.
at this point in the atrix's life... pretty much all of your questions/concerns have been addressed.
read the noob guide that's pinned in the general atrix forum.
take some time to search and read through the atrix forums.
like I said... the answers are out there.
Look at this thread i made when i was considering buying the atrix:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1478124
Lots of usefull infos and opinions.
Im very happy with my Atrix. After installing custom roms, the perfomance bumps A LOT. Im using Nottachtrix 4G right now, and my phone is flying.
1.) I believe that it's not as bad as people say, things got better with GB, and really it's just the launcher that's laggy, which can be replaced easily through the market. My favorite is ADW EX, very smooth, very clean
2.) that depends on a few things, typically i believe the stock and blur based roms are the best in terms of battery, then CM7 roms are close behind, and CM9 is not so great. Not sure for those exact uses, but i believe the atrix is above par for android phone
3.) There not really much to blur IMO, just some widgets and app replacements. Without any rooting or unlocking you can get make the launcher look relatively stock. And of course any CM7, CM9, or MIUI based roms aren't going to have blur at all
4.) I'm pretty sure this just referrer to downgrading from Stock 2.3 GB back to an early stock 2.2 froyo rom, which honestly i don't see why anyone would do that at this point, after you get to GB and unlock it you can move to any custom rom and back to stock 2.3GB if you'd like. Bricking usually happens when don't thoroughly follow directions, i haven't bricked my phone yet and this is my first android phone as well
5.) Very few to none really, there are a few games that require, certain chipset, like OMAP, tegra, etc. but this can be fixed by install chainfire 3d. So when you get your phone it'll be compatible with 99% of apps out of the gate there aren't any i've run into yet
6.) Quite well, many apps are specifically tuned toward tegra, and it's capable as it is
7.) I think i read that, if your on stock with root permission, you can't receive OTA updates, but on any custom rom it's not a problem
8.) I believe the Atrix has a relatively strong dev community, just a quick look at the number of posts on this site, the Atrix has one of the top.
Im using atrix for 7 months now...its my first android phone and after a lot surfing in net i bought this one....believe me its the best.
With the usage like u mentioned it surely lasts for one day...it has d powerful battery 1900mAh! Blur UI is really good (in 2.3.4)...those all might be related to 2.2.1 but after the update its good...
It takes really good HD vdos...great pics(xcept night shots)....touch and rest is awesome
Go for it.....!
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
The Atrix is a good investment. Look at the phones coming out today. What do they have over this phone? Pretty much nothing. They usually have higher stock CPU speeds but other than that they are similar. This phone is a year old and still had enough specs to run with phones coming out. Until the 4-plus-1 chips start showing up in phones you can't get much better. Unless you want a bigger screen.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Once I moved to Atrix from my iPhone 3G I could never go back. This thing is a powerhouse. It replaced my computer for me. The battery is pretty good for a dual core device. So long as you know not to keep useless apps running in the background (which there are apps out there that automatically take care of that).
I have experienced several bugs here and there but it's nothing major. Extremely fast browsing experience as well.
I would definitely recommend this to anyone. Especially once you root this thing, it turns into a super powerhouse

Something definitely isn't right (performance issues)...

And I don't think it's related to the SoC. I think it might be more related to Sense, or HTC in general. The phone is fast, but there's some situations where it's very slow. Could be ICS too, I'm not sure. I notice that when switching between apps, or if I go a while without cleaning out open apps, I get a lot of lag. This is a concern because it never happened with my E4GT (I never bothered closing apps on that phone unless they were using GPS or something, and I HAD to).
Also (and here's one I'm sure everyone can try) when I'm looking at a photo in the gallery, and I click the "share" button, it takes 3-4 full seconds before the menu finally pops up. Is this normal? Again, never happened on my old phone. I might just be grasping for straws here, but it's the little things that bug me.
I'm running ViperROM 1.2.1 (I believe), and I've done the dual-core enhancement. I'm also running Nova PRIME.
Anyone else notice these kinds of annoying things?
I think it is sense/htc. Although the current cm9 is still what I'd consider in alpha stage, look at the rom zip, ~200MB vs close to 600MB for the other roms floating around. Add maybe 50-80MB to the cm9 for gapps, and you're still less than half of stock. All that bloatware has to run somehow. I think as time goes on, it'll be determined exactly what can safely be stripped away from sense to reduce bloat. Officially, the phone is hardly a week old, unofficial a bit over 2 weeks. Give it a month or two.
True. Good to know I'm not the only one
I'm actually pleasantly surprised at how popular this phone is with the dev community. I mean, root was available before it was in the hands of the masses, lol.
Can't wait for CM9! Ran CM7 on my OG EVo and LOVED IT! I just hope getting LTE to work on CM9 isn't as painful as getting Wimax to work on CM7
Given how much I used wimax with the old evo, if CM should comeout without functioning LTE, i'll still switch. By that time, LTE should be rolled out in chicago in masses, and hopefully 3g performance will be what it should be (1-1.5mbps down /1mbps up). For what I do, that's more than enough bw.
I already use different third party apps for practically every fundamental function of the phone. Converting from sense to something else will be real easy this time. With the old evo much time was spent trying different apps out to figure out what works best or gives a good user experience.
It would be nice if sense camera functionality was ported over in full. One thing htc did get right with the phone was the camera and the app.
Try a different launcher like Nova Launcher and see if it's still slow.... Maybe try a different rom.
I too have noticed slowdowns when using the phone after some time....
DarkManX4lf said:
Try a different launcher like Nova Launcher and see if it's still slow.... Maybe try a different rom.
I too have noticed slowdowns when using the phone after some time....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OP says he's using Nova Prime.
Sent from my EVO using XDA
gpz1100 said:
It would be nice if sense camera functionality was ported over in full. One thing htc did get right with the phone was the camera and the app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ehhh, it's hit or miss for me. I've taken some very nice shots, but honestly the majority of my low-light shots have looked like absolute crap. The app's native AUTO settings are pretty bad for low-light shooting. Even the presets aren't that good. I have to manually adjust the expose and contrast to get anything remotely good. Daylight shots, however, are absolutely brilliant.
I have the paid version of CameraZOOM FX, but I don't think it plays very well with this camera. The exposure and color levels look good in low-light shots, but the pictures come out very out-of-focus for me. Not sure what that's related to.
But yeah to the other member who mentioned it, I'm using Nova Prime and it made my experience a whole lot better over the Sense launcher. Still not where I want it to be, though
Either way, very happy with the device. Screen is beautiful and the device itself is sexy as hell.
Don't complain if you're using a rom. Roms are not perfect. Not the phone fault. This should be put in that rom's thread
edub186 said:
Don't complain if you're using a rom. Roms are not perfect. Not the phone fault. This should be put in that rom's thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it shouldn't.
PsiPhiDan said:
OP says he's using Nova Prime.
Sent from my EVO using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm that really sucks... I get lag too and it's kinda annoying.... Looks like we'll have to wait for the devs to fix this problem or an update from HTC.
Memory management is much too aggressive with HTC's factory settings. Apps get bumped out of memory too easily. I had the same issue. I suggest you try this -
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1681183
My device (I'm loathe to call it a phone, it's SO much MORE... ) runs much better with Mr. V's mod - and I still get great battery life.
EDIT: Don't forget to nandroid first!
HTH,
-Jerry
JerryGNYC said:
Memory management is much too aggressive with HTC's factory settings. Apps get bumped out of memory too easily. I had the same issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to say I don't think it's just the memory management problem. In fact, I wish there were less "management" and more "memory". In today's world of ICS, large screens, memory-hogging GPUs, and background apps, most Android phones don't have enough memory to run all the apps we would like to have. Especially for power users.
Since the OP was using ViperROM, he/she already has the memory optimizations you pointed suggested. As do I, although, I placed them there manually on Stock. Memory management will only get you so far. I still get quite a bit of performance hits when switching apps. Worse than that though, I get apps that have been killed in the BG and thus didn't fully save state so when I go back to them, I've lost the work I've done. Truly annoying.
HTC (and others) need to get a better imagination in terms of future-proofing (or even now-proofing) their products. I bought the LTEvo based on timing (contract renewal), reviews and loyalty for HTC (been on it since the G1). I can only assume that the reviewers didn't put on many apps when they reviewed the product.
Every time I've upgraded, I've been unhappy with the amount of space available - particularly RAM since the SDcard is upgrade-able. 1GB was "ok" in the GB- era. I'm looking forward to my next upgrade when HTC will (finally) get it right ... I hope.
@ailima -
You're right. I must have been running on fumes when I read the OP.
I tried ViperROM, but went back to stock. I noticed lag after awhile.
On my OG EVO, if I wasn't running CM7.x, I'd either have MikG or Tommy Tomatoes Classic. Both odexed ROMs. IIRC, Aamikam has said that odexed performs better, and I believe him. Also, my experience bears this out. Stock with the dual-core ultimate mod is running way better for me than stock without.

Girlfriends Droid X2. suggestions/advice appreciated

ok so first of all, HI
secondly, my GF's DX2, currently 2.3.5 and rooted, is a mess. serious lag issues, so much so that its fast approaching the "chuck it through a brick wall" threshold. i've got very little (but some) experience installing custom roms and such on my xperia play, about two weeks experience actually, not a lot but ive been very successful with it as i follow directions very closely and am comfortable trying new things but not reckless about it. especially when its not MY phone.
ive been reading up in this forum for a few days now and wanted to see if i can get someone to tell me the pros and cons of my options and suggest any further modifications i can make to remove her phone from her "Things that cause me stress" list. my GF is a bit of a minimalist and doesnt want 10k apps on her phone and has no use for the vast majority of stuff that comes preinstalled on the stock ROM. however, since im the techie type and any time something isnt working right she comes to me to figure it out, i need to have some tools that i can use to fix whatever problems she has as well as "pretty it up" a bit.
as such i am considering installing one of the following and yes, i realize ill have to SBF to 2.3.4 before doing so:
Eclipse Barebones 1.3 final
or
Molten 2.3 final
but these are just my initial thoughts, if anyone has any insight i will happily consider alternatives. i dont much care what all i have to do in the short term as long as it makes her phone is a happy camper, but this is also something i want to do like, once, and maybe again next year or something. im not looking for frequent updates or whatever (which is why i chose the "final" options) just something that is stable and non-irritating.
as for a tool for me i was considering the ROM Toolbox by jrummy(i think), i have it on my phone and love it, but im not 100% that it would be a good choice for the DX2 or if it would even be necessary considering the roms i intend to install. any and all input/alternatives are appreciated.
MIght want to narrow down what the specific issues you are concerned about might be since no ROM or OTA is perfect.
SBF to 2.3.4 then root and flash CM7. Let it rock. All the features of ROM manager are not X2 friendly and I would avoid it if possible. CM7 comes with it and DZK says do not use it.
That's what is on my old X2 and my bride uses is everyday.
DigitalMD said:
MIght want to narrow down what the specific issues you are concerned about might be since no ROM or OTA is perfect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
mainly we just need the phone, texting, the camera, and the ability to play a few minor games like spades and some toddler games for my 2 year old. as it stands when you open the camera it lags for like 30 seconds before opening and then has trouble focusing at best, and locks up or reboots at worst.i would suspect some kind of hardware issue but we just got the thing a month or so ago and its been like this since about the 2nd day.
tallyforeman said:
SBF to 2.3.4 then root and flash CM7. Let it rock. All the features of ROM manager are not X2 friendly.
That's what is on my old X2 and my bride uses is everyday.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i though CM7 was one of those that had a ton of stuff that came with it and is something that needs updated frequently? if im mistaken then awesome. as for ROM manager, im glad i asked before using it then. thanks any alternatives to the other aspects of ROM Toolbox?
thanks for the replies
I have tried several of the ROMs and have had the best luck with CM7 on the X2. My bride isn't exactly technologically savy. It has had the very least of troubles for her and very rarely needs a battery pull or tweaking.
I just loaded 3 of Zepplinrocks scripts on it for her. Its running like a top and hasn't missed a beat.
I ran CM9 when I had it and loved it. But I have no worries with CM7.
As for a substitute for ROM toolbox, just let it ride how it is. If you just want to tinker with it, run the scripts a briefly mentioned above. Let me know if you need the links.
tallyforeman said:
I have tried several of the ROMs and have had the best luck with CM7 on the X2. My bride isn't exactly technologically savy. It has had the very least of troubles for her and very rarely needs a battery pull or tweaking.
I just loaded 3 of Zepplinrocks scripts on it for her. Its running like a top and hasn't missed a beat.
I ran CM9 when I had it and loved it. But I have no worries with CM7.
As for a substitute for ROM toolbox, just let it ride how it is. If you just want to tinker with it, run the scripts a briefly mentioned above. Let me know if you need the links.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
sweet. will give it a shot.
I strongly suggest Eclipse 2.2.1. If she wants something that works and works well, and you don't want to have to worry about applying additional patches to make sure things are stable, well then this would deff. be the one to go with.
GL and let us know how it goes.
SlimMan said:
I strongly suggest Eclipse 2.2.1. If she wants something that works and works well, and you don't want to have to worry about applying additional patches to make sure things are stable, well then this would deff. be the one to go with.
GL and let us know how it goes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What he said
eclipse 2.2.1 and v6 supercharger
Sent from my MB870 using xda premium
well alrighty then. since i dont have to downgrade to do eclipse i guess i can give that a shot first and see how it goes. if that doesnt suffice ill give CM7 a shot and go from there.
thanks all
Keep us updated. Interested to see how things work out.
so far so good. eclipse is installed, v6 supercharger is installed(though as far as correctly configured ive no real idea) and was very snappy... right up until she decided to install scramble with friends. so i did some googling and found this
"Game - Scramble With Friends (Zynga) - it has a really annoying memory leak, but it's fun to play. Unfortunately due to very poor coding it frequently freezes my phone."
so i scratch my head and look at her app management page. sure enough scramble is using 130 MB of ram, FAR more than anything else. well hell. it seems ive found the culprit and that ive done an awful lot of unnecessary work with ROMs and tweaks and other various annoyances all with very little, if any, positive results aside from eclipse being very attractive. one thing i dont quite understand though... i have scramble on my phone and it doesnt cause me this kind of headache. any thoughts?
Deviouz1 said:
so far so good. eclipse is installed, v6 supercharger is installed(though as far as correctly configured ive no real idea) and was very snappy... right up until she decided to install scramble with friends. so i did some googling and found this
"Game - Scramble With Friends (Zynga) - it has a really annoying memory leak, but it's fun to play. Unfortunately due to very poor coding it frequently freezes my phone."
so i scratch my head and look at her app management page. sure enough scramble is using 130 MB of ram, FAR more than anything else. well hell. it seems ive found the culprit and that ive done an awful lot of unnecessary work with ROMs and tweaks and other various annoyances all with very little, if any, positive results aside from eclipse being very attractive. one thing i dont quite understand though... i have scramble on my phone and it doesnt cause me this kind of headache. any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What phone do you have? As with all hardware in the device world no two makes and models handle things the same including but not limited to hardware it's self. So if you are running a different device that can explain it. Also in theroy the SD card that is her phone could come into play, by this it would have to do with the class of card. Class 4 is the typical card you buy from say Walmart and alike where as say class 10 would be a better performance. Again the SD card coming into play is only in THEORY.
GL, and let us know.
SlimMan said:
What phone do you have? As with all hardware in the device world no two makes and models handle things the same including but not limited to hardware it's self. So if you are running a different device that can explain it. Also in theroy the SD card that is her phone could come into play, by this it would have to do with the class of card. Class 4 is the typical card you buy from say Walmart and alike where as say class 10 would be a better performance. Again the SD card coming into play is only in THEORY.
GL, and let us know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i have an xperia play r800x 2.3.3 loaded with DarkForest 3.05.
the SDcards we have are identical 8GB cards. i got a buy one get one free deal on newegg. anyway, she's been using eclipse for a lil bit now and seems very happy with it. only thing is that she has to force stop scramble when she's finished playing or it slowly begins to eat all of her ram. other than that all is good. battery life is almost double what it was before, everything is snappy(as long as scramble isnt running) and life is good.
SlimMan said:
What phone do you have? As with all hardware in the device world no two makes and models handle things the same including but not limited to hardware it's self. So if you are running a different device that can explain it. Also in theroy the SD card that is her phone could come into play, by this it would have to do with the class of card. Class 4 is the typical card you buy from say Walmart and alike where as say class 10 would be a better performance. Again the SD card coming into play is only in THEORY.
GL, and let us know.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and as a side note,
Stairway to Seven baby! that front line is gonna be much better this year. no more ankle biting ratbirds.
The latest version of eclipse is very good. Rock solid performance, good battery life. If you are already running eclipse then you should be able to easily flash the latest version 2.3
Sent from my DROID X2 using xda app-developers app

root, re ROM -advice

Hi all,
noob alert. While I am a tech and run linux at home(windows at work) Im old, tired and grumpy slow :lol
I am the only one in the family still using their original S2. I have two other S2s that have "died" with no sim recognition. (one of which my son uses just to play games. ie wifi and everything else is fine just no network) I guess I look after mine better. I found some articles on the web and will be reading into this.
Lately however Ive gone thru a decreasing battery life(well it is getting old +2yr) Lasting about 7-8hrs (I gave it an external charge discharge cycle and its down to 65%)
Also trouble with updates(insufficient memory). No manner of clearing cache ( *#9900#) and having very limited apps installed seems to help. My solution has been to uninstall FB allow everything else to update then reinstall the bloated FB.
Has a tendency to lock up or run slow ..or maybe im just loosing patience lately.
After a fair amount of reading I have deduced that
1) root the device then delete the many bloatware I dont need.. which should at least alleviate the insufficient memory problem
Probably purchase another battery
2) install a custom ROM
3)try n work out if I can get sim access back on the other units.
I have one working must have S2 which for now I wont touch but will try the root etc on one of the spares.
I guess Im just checking in to see if people are about when it all goes belly up to help me.
There seems a myriad of ROMs n kernels etc which has me at present a little confused. more reading. I am not after bleeding edge just stable phone that allows a few tool like apps without crashing or hitting the no memory.
Im happy to run some analytical apps if someone can point me at them to gleam further info.
Some phone specs:
GT-I9100
Android 4.1.2
Kernel 3.0.31-1287495
unlocked
telstra
Running Clean Master app does not really seem to help matters.
Power saving on
wifi is on most of the day. GPS,bluetooth off.
Charged overnight (9:30-5:30) Used to last till 9:30 before running low. Nowadays wont make it to 4pm before complaining.
applications 1.34g of the 1.97. 11gb of USB storage(10 available)
32g sd card(28 available)
Hi @vector180,
Welcome to XDA. First there are plenty of S2 users on this forum who would be happy to help if you get stuck. I think you will be glad if and when you root your phone and start using custom roms. As with anything though, there are pros and cons. The camera and some other functional elements of the phone may not work as well, especially with AOSP based roms. But you can get around that by using a touchwiz based rom such as neat rom.
I believe the pros outweigh the cons though, as you can get really good performance with a lot of the custom roms out there, and things like space issues will be a distant memory. You just have so many more options once you have root access.
All I can advise is read as much as you can. You are in the right place to start with here at XDA. Search the forums, use google and if you haven't found the answers you are looking for, you can always ask on one of the threads. Good luck
I recently started rooting too (about month or two ago) And yesterday I managed to unlock boot loader of Huawei g620s and install custom recovery and then rom for my friend using adb. If you will read and have some patience you will be doing it flawlessly soon So you can be sure that there are still people here starting and helping new ones in rooting i9100 ^^
Wish you luck Vector
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
thx guys,
ok so I found the old "spare" S2.
Id like to image my "real" phone and copy it to the spare then play around with it. Thus leaving my real one untouched.
first of all.
the spare is running ICS not jelly bean. first thing I noticed was it had heaps of memory..even after I installed fb and some crud to prove the phone was still working.
It also ran smoother, battery seemed fine(normal well certainly better than my real one). And accepted the SIM card... why was it in trouble last time..dont know maybe a year in the dark draw has taught it a lesson.
So either I have hardware issues on the real one or maybe its Jelly Bean causing the probs.
Yeah I need to image the spare(so I can restore it back to its current "good working order" if I bungle things).
update it to Jelly. see if it bogs down
clone the "real" image on to it ..see if it bogs down.
By that stage seeing as the spare phone working, I can try some custom ROMs
Problem is I cant get a simple (image) backup system working. see my other posts.
reading continues.

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