[Q] ROM with Vanilla look that has Touchwiz features - Verizon Samsung Galaxy S 4

So, I absolutely love the vanilla style of ROMS. My phone prior to my GS4 was the Galaxy Nexus which ran the Liquid Smooth ROM. I've been flashing my GS4, trying out a bunch of different ROMs. I loved the ones that have the vanilla look to it, but it kind of sucks not having some of the cool touchwiz features. I've done some looking around but have not quite find anything. Is there ever going to be, or is there already, a ROM that has the vanilla look to it, but still has some of the cool touchwiz features such as the motion controls, the different picture types, etc.?

There may be themes for some of the existing TW-based roms, but specifically keep an eye on Bean's rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2307357
There have been a couple previews of an S3 theme that runs on top of that phone's rom, and it looks pretty amazing. I agree with you that this might be what I lean towards.

Once the ROM community picks up, there'll be TW roms themed to look like AOSP. I know beans mentioned that he'd do something like that at some point.
Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

Overtime I'm sure AOSP/TW roms will be plentiful and staple

Related

Aosp Vs TouchWiz

First off I just need to know the difference of the 2 I've flashed roms for several years now but I've really ever had this ? Answered for me we all known touchwiz roms are much bigger than Aosp roms so is the space that's not being used by Aosp roms is it available to the user Like almost 600mb that's not being used by this rom ?
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Premium HD app
Basically it doesnt have the touchwiz skin at all. Its plain android. It also means no s-pen support (its implemented now in the official nightlies however rudementary).
As far as the usuable space, thats a good question. It may not necessarily use it but I dont think its available to the user.
At one point AOSP was about speed and fluidity (albeit still that way) but with the power of this phone its pretty fluid on Touchwiz or AOSP.
For me its always boiled down to whether or not ill be using the pen. I dont use it often, I flash to AOSP and find myself missing features of touchwiz and flashing back. My best suggestion is to go through that exercise and make the decision for yourself.
Yeah beans 17 gives you just the look of Aosp but the Guts of Touchwiz it would be nice to have a Rom that had the mixture of the 2
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Premium HD app
My concern is the camera app. Samsung does an awesome job with the camera software. I've always heard, and also confirmed this during my brief fling with the Galaxy Nexus. How are photos on the N2 using the AOSP software?
Beans is a good mixture and hes an awesome dev to boot. He listens to users and includes features they want to see.
The camera app in AOSP quite frankly is s**t. Its finicky, doesnt like low light conditions and is prone to force closing (no fault to the devs as they have been given zero information to build from, its incredible theyve even gotten it to where it is). I dont use my camera alot so I forgot about that.
littleguevara said:
Basically it doesnt have the touchwiz skin at all. Its plain android. It also means no s-pen support (its implemented now in the official nightlies however rudementary).
As far as the usuable space, thats a good question. It may not necessarily use it but I dont think its available to the user.
At one point AOSP was about speed and fluidity (albeit still that way) but with the power of this phone its pretty fluid on Touchwiz or AOSP.
For me its always boiled down to whether or not ill be using the pen. I dont use it often, I flash to AOSP and find myself missing features of touchwiz and flashing back. My best suggestion is to go through that exercise and make the decision for yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While there is very little S-pen support in AOSP roms people can always get GMD Spen Control from the Play Store and that will give them a lot of the S-pen functionality back.
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Premium HD app
AOSP: pure, straight, unmolested raw Google code. What goes on a Nexus.
TW: Samsung's proprietary skin/software that they build on top of stock android. Hence the size difference. Sense is HTC's version.
Littleguevara is spot on about the camera. That's why I stick with TW. And my battery, GPS and overall stability is better. Now if I had a Nexus 4....
Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

a little help finding my way around please

OK I spent eight hours yesterday figuring out how to root my phone.... Success... I was finally able to figure it out.. Thanks for all the tutorials and posts that helped me do it...
I would love some direction in how to find some cool and neat and SAFE AND STABLE Roms to flash.. Is there a site with roms to choose from?? Any help or suggestions is appreciated....
Thank you again everybody
Just look in the android development section in the international forums. Viper rom is really nice, so is Arhd.
Sent from my HTC One
I second ARHD. It depends whether you like sense and want to keep it without all the bloatware, or try something more pure android. I know Google edition ROM is out now, but I like sense too much to try it. Heres some links to arhd and ge.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2183023
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2356654
Ok great thanks for the help.... I just got home from work and can't wait to spend the rest of the day flashing different roms.. Lol. What fun! This is a thousand times better than jail breaking... I was never able to flash different firm wares on an iPhone... This is a thousand times better
Pro tip: almost all roms on here are stable and safe unless they have alpha or beta in the title
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Nick281051 said:
Pro tip: almost all roms on here are stable and safe unless they have alpha or beta in the title
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the "pro tip." I love this place.. I'm running a GPE rom and having fun... I think I want to flash something I can theme with a lot of choices... I'll look around and see if I can find a rom around here that people are theming... Thanks again
OJsakila said:
Thank you for the "pro tip." I love this place.. I'm running a GPE rom and having fun... I think I want to flash something I can theme with a lot of choices... I'll look around and see if I can find a rom around here that people are theming... Thanks again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For maximum themeing capabilities you can go with any of the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) based roms like Cyanogenmod (CM) AOKP, Vanilla rootbox, Slimbean, etc. They all support custom theming with hundreds uf not thousands of downloadable comaptible theme files in the Google Play store.
They are much more customizable than the GPe roms as well. But be warned, what you gain in customizability and cool factor you may tradeoff in optimal function of the phone features itself, namely camera, sound, call audio quality and BT call/streaming audio reliability.
The reason is because GPe and vanilla android 4.2.2 may look identical on the surface, but are different underneath. The GPe of the One runs on a stock Sense OS heavily modified to look and work like vanilla Android IU, but the underlying OS framework works best with the HTC hardware. While AOSP roms have hardware compatibility issues. You'll see this is a regular issue on those threads. I was using CM until the GPe roms were released. I loved the user options on CM and AOKP but was frustrated by terrible call quality and unstable BT connections. I switched to one of the GPe based roms and I gave up some cool features, but my phone works too well as a phone now to switch back.
Most people using GPe based roms are hoping the developers will adopt and incorporate the cool custom ideas from CM based roms like UI options, themes, adjustable control tile toggles, navigation bar mods, etc.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
kayone73 said:
For maximum themeing capabilities you can go with any of the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) based roms like Cyanogenmod (CM) AOKP, Vanilla rootbox, Slimbean, etc. They all support custom theming with hundreds uf not thousands of downloadable comaptible theme files in the Google Play store.
They are much more customizable than the GPe roms as well. But be warned, what you gain in customizability and cool factor you may tradeoff in optimal function of the phone features itself, namely camera, sound, call audio quality and BT call/streaming audio reliability.
The reason is because GPe and vanilla android 4.2.2 may look identical on the surface, but are different underneath. The GPe of the One runs on a stock Sense OS heavily modified to look and work like vanilla Android IU, but the underlying OS framework works best with the HTC hardware. While AOSP roms have hardware compatibility issues. You'll see this is a regular issue on those threads. I was using CM until the GPe roms were released. I loved the user options on CM and AOKP but was frustrated by terrible call quality and unstable BT connections. I switched to one of the GPe based roms and I gave up some cool features, but my phone works too well as a phone now to switch back.
Most people using GPe based roms are hoping the developers will adopt and incorporate the cool custom ideas from CM based roms like UI options, themes, adjustable control tile toggles, navigation bar mods, etc.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Sense version isn't heavily modified to look like Vanilla, its heavily modified to look like Sense. All carriers start with vanilla.
As for the features--because there's a Google Play Edition (GPE). The GPE devices run vanilla android--what we call AOSP, after the Android Open Source Project...which is the project Google created in order to "Open Source" Android, make it available to everyone, and provide for a "Google Experience".
The Google Experience" comes stock on the Google Play Edition devices, and guarantees that the device comes the way Android is/was intended to be, and is designed far better in terms of functionality and usability than the Firmware(s) created by Samsung, HTC, and other manufacturers, which add additional software to run on top of the Google Experience software in order to differentiate themselves from one another, and be able to say that their phones are better. In reality their software might look better and have a few extra features, but it's slower, can take years to update, and in the end, is often more restrictive.
Because these devices require Google certification, all features are required to be in working order. And because Android is so modular, you're guaranteed to have all the drivers, libraries, etc. you need to use all the base hardware available on the device. This means that beats audio, Wifi , Bluetooth, GPS, 3d, Sound, etc. Will all work. The only thing that won't work is the IR blaster on top of the device (for turning your device into a universal remote control to change channels with on your TV, blue ray player, etc. ), and since updates come from the manufacturer and not Google, it's believed that an update may enable this in the future.
By the way, Engadget did a side by side during their review, and stated that picture quality wasn't any better on the Sense version---which means that you'll get great photos on both devices.
That's the reality. Some have made some wild speculations, and have come to some wild conclusions (entirely subjective and disproved), but this all comes from extremely authoritative reviewers...people who are given devices and whos career depends on spending a ton of time analysing these devices, and getting it right.
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium HD app
Jamesyboy said:
The Sense version isn't heavily modified to look like Vanilla, its heavily modified to look like Sense. All carriers start with vanilla.
As for the features--because there's a Google Play Edition (GPE). The GPE devices run vanilla android--what we call AOSP, after the Android Open Source Project...which is the project Google created in order to "Open Source" Android, make it available to everyone, and provide for a "Google Experience".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but you're misinterpreting what I was saying.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
CleanROM 3.0 <stock look and feel with added performance and perks
Just so I understand this correctly, if we need to get S-OFF to flash ROMs such as Viper due to it being 1.28, correct?
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
nope s-off is not needed. If you still can, obtain the unlock key from HTCDEV.com and use that to unlock your bootloader (this will wipe your phone completely), install a custom recovery such as CWM or TWRP, then install either superuser or supersu for the root
Then flash away
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU7vi388dMk
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRkAHw_GmIs
Thank you so much! So what exactly does S-OFF allow you to do besides customizing the bootloader?
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
tanner4137 said:
Thank you so much! So what exactly does S-OFF allow you to do besides customizing the bootloader?
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Restore your phone completely back to pre-rooted stock condition with the stock Sense ruu. Just like when you got it from the store.
Also is required if you want to reflash/update the phone firmware (which will completely wipe out phone data just like unlocking the bootloader).
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
kayone73 said:
Restore your phone completely back to pre-rooted stock condition with the stock Sense ruu. Just like when you got it from the store.
Also is required if you want to reflash/update the phone firmware (which will completely wipe out phone data just like unlocking the bootloader).
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And do we need to update the firmware to install any of these ROMs?
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
tanner4137 said:
And do we need to update the firmware to install any of these ROMs?
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NO.
Stop being so fixated on updating your firmware. Read more and ask fewer questions.
Sent from my HTC One

[Q] posssibility of Tablet UI with Sense rom?

I'm new to the One, had a Nexus 4 for like 4 months, and I really liked the PAC rom. I know I can install the PAC port, PA, or a various other AOSP rom. But I do really like Sense, one thing I'm not sure I can adjust to going without is the screen settings from PA. Everything looks ginormous in comparison to my Nexus. I believe I had most apps and the UI set to 240 (slipping my mind right now) I did poke around on here and on Google looking for some sort of WIP, but didn't stumble on anything much. Is there any hope of ever getting a stock Sense ROM with DPI setting options similar to PA?
Perhaps a modified PACS rom? I know it's probably not going to happen, maybe it's too much work or not even possible, but PAC + Sense would be greatness.
Only with an HTC tablet. No chance otherwise.

confessions of a flashaholic

Hi my name is Rob and I'm a flashaholic I have to admit with every new phone I get I probably flash every custom ROM made for it I'm not much for stock based roms but I got my lg g2 about a month ago and have flashed to try out just about every ROM built for it so far and I can't wait to see more kitkat ROMs
I pretty much like to flash the latest versions of android to just waiting on more kit kat ROMs
Over the past two days I've flashed 6 different ROMs but keep coming back to ose even though it's not that stable it has all the features I'm looking for
What about you
Figured I'd start a thread for fun let's hear your confessions
am afraid its a completely normal condition bought on by a very complicated organism designated lgg2 i'm afraid the prognosis is not good as the disease is very fast and progressive with episodes of high euphoria followed by intervals of extreme anxiousness- we can only hope that the research into this worrying condition will be continued
and that maybe in the distant future there may be a cure.
I myself find I've been able to avoid the flashaholism by knowing how I like my phone
I'm on pa currently awaiting cm to finish fixing the lte issues.
But I my self know I like a build of the latest cm, stripped down, debloated to it's bare minimum, with a good kernel, and a few tweaks
Sent from my LG-G2 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I wanna flash g flex Rom but I'm afraid to **** **** up
Sent from my LG-D802 using xda app-developers app
Hello, flashaholic here as well.
Love the g2, Flashed cm, PA rom, slimkat and others. Unfortunately I'm soft-bricked at the moment. Hoping to find a resolution.
However with that being said I love the flexibility and the customization.
Sent from my SCH-R970 using xda app-developers app
I am in the same boat. Always looking to see if my circle or ROMS have updated versions. At this point I cannot go back to stock I think I like the latest 4.4.2 performance. Stock just feels slow to me though it's been a while. Maybe ill check out the Flex..
Using PA Houstonn's 4.4.2, Beanstalk 4.4.2, PacMan 4.3 nightlies, and 4.4.2 SlimKat weeklies.
Good luck with your addiction.
Robshr said:
Hi my name is Rob and I'm a flashaholic I have to admit with every new phone I get I probably flash every custom ROM made for it I'm not much for stock based roms but I got my lg g2 about a month ago and have flashed to try out just about every ROM built for it so far and I can't wait to see more kitkat ROMs
I pretty much like to flash the latest versions of android to just waiting on more kit kat ROMs
What about you
Figured I'd start a thread for fun let's hear your confessions
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
me too, this week i flash my first stock rom, and no good, aosp is way faster, if you think in test more there is carbom rom now!
I've always been a flashaholic. This is the first phone I've been completely satisfied with just root. I couldn't care less about flashing now, and its pretty sweet not having to set my accounts up and restore backups once a day.
Yes I like this subject since it reflects my internal war
I'm gonna copy a reply I wrote due days ago on similar topic to avoid writing the whole essay :
"My friend THIS is my biggest issue currently!
I'm gonna be THOROUGH so BEWARE 
I come from many phones history (see signature) where I always flashed PA or CM especially on touchwiz phones.
However on the G2, I liked stock at first and kept using it for around 2 months.
Then, having ORD decease (  see signature again) I kept my eye on PA and tried it on Christmas vacation. It caused me such a big confusion to the extent where I went between stock and PA like 5 times confused on which is BETTER and which I LIKE most.
Currently I returned 2 days ago to stock but still thinking about PA... 
Yes stock is nice with all features and stability, but I just HATE the nonconformity in design (even when using Xposed heavily to stabilize things and theme others).
-Also PA gave me such a smooth experience (much faster) with a lot more RAM and great simple looks. About RAM I greenified most system and installed apps that hogs RAM and still barely have about 500mb of free RAM while I have around 900mb on AOSP roms without any greenifying.
-Most importantly I had crazy battery life on PA while it's lower on stock even when nearly disabling every feature (except knock on of course).
-The thing that made me return to stock, believe it or not, was mainly camera (I know there's a mod for stock camera on AOSP but it's not that functional) and non-intrusive call notification which is a life saver when playing games. I tried "call heads", "call popout" from playstore but none worked nicely all the time.
Even when Omni gives that feature, I cannot install Halo (via Xhalo xposed module) on this ROM bcz it conflicts heavily with multiwindow feature in their rom which I cannot care less about it.
-I hate stock lockscreen and I love AOSP lockscreen.
-I hate AOSP camera and I like stock camera.
-I love AOSP calendar which options of colouring the events but hate its lack of features. I love stock calendar and its widget and snooze option while I hate its lack of colouring events feature.
-Although stock launcher is great it keeps redrawing (reloading) when quitting apps (heavy ones) which is annoying. AOSP laucher doesn't but lack features.
-Sound quality TILL NOW is better on stock.
-Immersive mode and the ability to always see notification bar even when in heavy games is awesome on AOSP.
-Quick memo is awesome for screenshots and editing on the run and sharing. I still couldn't find an app that does all that, that simple and quick on AOSP.
-Call voice recorder (G2 tweakbox) gives amazing sound and recording quality while call recorders on AOSP suck.
-NO FM radio on AOSP till now (maybe spirit fm will change that eventually).
Although most times I think that I don't need all those "useless" features on stock and that I need the quickness, smoothness of AOSP. I end up thinking that I did not pay 650$ (yes in my country) for a 32GB G2 to dump all those and run AOSP on it. If so, it would have been smarter ( and cheaper) if I kept my nexus 4 (or get a cheaper nexus 5 rather a G2). However I really like the feel and looks of AOSP. However  it's those small/silly/gimmick/nice cool features that stock ROM gives you that make you feel that you own a SMARTphone and not any simple phone. It's the fact that you know that they are THERE when you need them that makes you feel satisfied even when you really rarely use them.
As you can see, it's a REALLY very TOUGH decision which always makes me feel confused. One day I wanna use AOSP, the other stock.
I really hate that phone for that.  On samsung phones I really didn't give a thought about it.
Regards,"
Sent from my LG-D802 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
damn found another rom
Well found another ROM that looks interesting downloading and flashing now beanstalk 4.4.2
Update: right now I'm torn between beanstalk and slimkat have them both on my phone and I keep switching back and fourth but I think beanstalk is winning so many customizations think in gonna stick with it for awhile
Well found my new ROM beanstalk ROM has just about everything you'll want
App Compatibility?
All those on AOSP ROMs, What about apps. I have read that most of the apps specially games don't work on AOSP on lg g2. You have that problem?

Most popular ROMs?

Hey everyone, just got my htc one and I'm loving it. I plan on rooting soon and I want to try some ROMs but I don't know where to start. I'm coming from a galaxy s4 running hyperdrive. I really didn't like touchwiz, but cyanogen lacked a little too much galaxy s4 specific support for me. So far I like sense a lot better so I would like to try some sense based ROMs but like I said, I don't really know where to start (this is my first htc). Any recommendations for sense based ROMs that have great performance and feature tweaks?
thecrunked said:
Hey everyone, just got my htc one and I'm loving it. I plan on rooting soon and I want to try some ROMs but I don't know where to start. I'm coming from a galaxy s4 running hyperdrive. I really didn't like touchwiz, but cyanogen lacked a little too much galaxy s4 specific support for me. So far I like sense a lot better so I would like to try some sense based ROMs but like I said, I don't really know where to start (this is my first htc). Any recommendations for sense based ROMs that have great performance and feature tweaks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using SkyFall deodex. I came from Galaxy S3, really enjoying this phone. Not a lot of feature tweaks just yet but you can install Xposed Framework and get a lot of mods, check out Gravity Box and Sense 6 Toolbox. I know that a popular S3 developer is working on a new rom and he's pretty legit. SkyFall is stable, fast, and good battery life for me, but that's just my 2 cents.
thecrunked said:
Hey everyone, just got my htc one and I'm loving it. I plan on rooting soon and I want to try some ROMs but I don't know where to start. I'm coming from a galaxy s4 running hyperdrive. I really didn't like touchwiz, but cyanogen lacked a little too much galaxy s4 specific support for me. So far I like sense a lot better so I would like to try some sense based ROMs but like I said, I don't really know where to start (this is my first htc). Any recommendations for sense based ROMs that have great performance and feature tweaks?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using ViperOne. Once you try it, you'll never want to flash another ROM again! It's sense based, and had more tweakable things than I've seen in any other ROM.
http://www.doperoms.com/roms/nintendo_ds/Pokemon Diamond.zip.html/623024/Pokemon Diamond.html
I think this is the best Roms.

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