Hello again everyone,
Interesting conversation I want to have with users here; which Android skin do you like most and why?
Obviously AOSP != what Pixels run.
What if a future Honor device ran Android One/Go? Would that be enough to convince you buy one? What if Kirin hardware was still used even with Android One?
What do you like and not like about EMUI?
Really want to get your all's input and feedback.
AOSP has always been my favorite, primarily because it adheres to Google's design standards, and theoretically allows OEMs to deliver faster updates overall.
Skins like EMUI deter from Material Design a fair bit, and it makes it fragments the experience in that sense. It looks too much like iOS, but honestly, I don't mind it too much, because the features it brings with it are actually useful rather than bloat (I'm not saying EMUI is exempt from bloat). Overall, it's a good stock experience, but not something I'd run.
AOSP is also very flexible with projects here on XDA, and it allows for the ease of development and synchrony.
The code is generally cleaner than the additional stuff that OEMs add, and there usually a performance benefit. Skins usually overdo it (I'm looking at you Amazon), and it detracts from what we come to expect from Android itself.
And finally, I'm not sure why, but devices that ship with AOSP-esque ROMs generally feel more premium. Probably because there is less useless garbage.
Those are just my quick thoughts. I hope Honor puts the feedback to use
EMUI tries too much to be like ios. EMUI doesnt incorporate Googles material design. EMUI needs to follow Android design guidelines and features. The share menu looks and functuion like IOS why? We need a better lqauncher. the icons are ios inspired.
Miui und EMUI feel like the interpretation of a 13 years old fan boy of how his phone should work and look like. While AOSP looks much more mature in total feel.
I switched from a phone running Near-AOSP Android 7.1 and now 8.0 to my first EMUI 8.0 device.
EMUI 8.0 on my Mate 10 Pro is a flaming piece of sh*t.
I don't even care about the design. Yeah, it looks like iOS puked all over Android KitKat after a drunken stupor - but that can mostly be remedied with a custom launcher and/or an EMUI theme.
I don't even care that the settings menu feels like it was organized by someone trying to hide their porn collection inside a labyrinth of subfolders back in the 90s. It's stupid, but you get used to it.
I *do* care about the insane amount of things that Huawei/Honor actively broke, removed or replaced with ****tier versions of the same thing.
That things that don't work is staggering:
* Many widgets don't reliably update, they simply die after a while and never show new information. Even Google Widgets are affected, like Google News & Weather.
* Notifications are unreliable. If you don't use an app for a while, don't expect to get any more notifications until you open it - even after fully whitelisting it from everything. I missed several important Facebook Messenger messages because of this. And if Do Not Disturb is enabled, notifications aren't just silenced, they frequently simply disappear into nowhere.
* Some apps simply can never show notifications when in the background on EMUI for more than half an hour, no whitelisting possible.
* Forget about running apps in the background long term, they are frozen eventually, regardless of your settings. And, no, not via Android Doze but via Huawei's own battery management that has all the surgical precision of a sledgehammer.
* You can't disable many system sounds. They also ignore the do not disturb setting and play full volume regardless (like the battery charging sound).
* You can't enable "Do not disturb" for x minutes/hours - that was removed for no reason at all.
* The AOD is essentially useless, it only supports Huawei's own apps, nothing else.
* Lock screen messages can't be expanded or interacted with - the arrow to expand them exists but doesn't do anything.
* You can't even set WiFi connections as metered, the feature was removed - you can't limit background traffic for those connections in EMUI. Forget about ever using a mobile or otherwise metered hotspot with EMUI.
* AdGuard doesn't survive a network connectivity change. When it reconfigures the VPN connection the battery manager kills it, regardless of whitelisting. The only workaround is to never let it reconfigure.
* You can't configure your billing cycle. If it doesn't start at the beginning of the month you are out of luck. One of the many, many native Android features that were simply removed in EMUI with a sledgehammer for no sane reason at all.
* You can't reliably set default apps or even launchers, EMUI loves to reset them back to default randomly. So you launcher of choice decided to roll out an update on the Play Store? Time to enjoy Huawei's launcher again from now on ...
* The same goes for many settings, even in Huawei's own apps - many settings just don't "stick" and are reset after some hours or weeks.
* By default the battery management eventually even stops Chrome from running in the background. Which is the sole WebView provider - breaking just about anything that uses WebView. Insane. At least here the manual whitelisting works as a workaround.
* The camera shortcut was moved from the power button to the volume button for no sane reason, which means it doesn't work when you listen to anything or when the screen is on.
* It has a ludicrous amount of Bluetooth compatibility issues. You though Bluetooth on Stock Android could be iffy? It's compatibility heaven compared to what Huawei somehow managed to do with it.
* Huawei removed Google's Smart Lock and replaced it with ... Huawei Smart Unlock, which currently *only* supports Bluetooth unlock, nothing else, and naturally doesn't even do that reliably.
* You enjoy "OK Google"? Well, Huawei has "OK Emy" as the only assistant capable of waking the phone. It literally has exactly two features (find phone, make a call) and the only semi useful one does not work - at all.
It's the dumbest, most infuriatingly, most idiotic take on Android I have ever experienced.
I still *love* the hardware of the Mate 10 Pro. It's near perfect for me: It's beautiful, fast, great display, amazing build quality and the best battery life and fastest fingerprint sensor of any current flagship.
But I hate EMUI's guts after a couple of months with it. And I really, really tried to like it.
Seriously, why anyone would prefer EMUI over AOSP, or pretty much any other Android skin, is beyond me.
I just miss an Android experience that just works and that I don't feel like I'm constantly fighting. I still love Huawei's hardware, but I'll avoid future EMUI phones like the plague.
freibooter said:
Seriously, why anyone would prefer EMUI over AOSP, or pretty much any other Android skin, is beyond me.
I just miss an Android experience that just works and that I don't feel like I'm constantly fighting. I still love Huawei's hardware, but I'll avoid future EMUI phones like the plague.
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Just trying to understand users. Some like features from skins that AOSP doesnt offer.
Really appreciate what was stated. I too wish notifications on the lockscreen were improved. Hope to continue the trend to make improvements with EMUI and listen to our users
[email protected]_USA said:
Just trying to understand users. Some like features from skins that AOSP doesnt offer.
Really appreciate what was stated. I too wish notifications on the lockscreen were improved. Hope to continue the trend to make improvements with EMUI and listen to our users
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Please try a stable custom rom like Omni ROM and you will understand that most people here on XDA just want good developer support. AOSP doesn't have features but it is designed well and less in your face like EMUI. And those that are here on XDA probably root it and install a custom ROM that is based on AOSP with added features without the cartoon like UI that some custom skins like Samsung, Huawei, LG provide.
syl0n said:
Please try a stable custom rom like Omni ROM and you will understand that most people here on XDA just want good developer support. AOSP doesn't have features but it is designed well and less in your face like EMUI. And those that are here on XDA probably root it and install a custom ROM that is based on AOSP with added features without the cartoon like UI that some custom skins like Samsung, Huawei, LG provide.
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I've personally used custom ROMs through my android history of close to 2 dozen devices. AICP, DU, AOSPA, LOS, Slim, RR, etc etc. been apart of the XDA community for close to 8 years.
I really want to support the dev community and have a passion for it. :good:
[email protected]_USA said:
Which Android skin do you like most and why?
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I prefer pure Android itself over OEM's skins. Why? It is not only the cleanest, but it's also way smoother and i have also nothing to complain about AOSP. One example (of many out there) could be Huawei Nova which I've owned. It was way smoother with LOS 14 and also had much better battery backup. It might be featureless compared to OEM's skins, but how many of us actually use all the features implemented by OEM? I personally don't.
Sometimes simplicity is the best.
What if a future Honor device ran Android One/Go? Would that be enough to convince you buy one?
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Only Honor ones? Anyway, yes, that'd convince me. I don't care about Android One program, but I do care about AOSP.
What if Kirin hardware was still used even with Android One?
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No, then I wouldn't consider it. The reason I've bought Huawei Nova was because it had Qualcomm, otherwise I wouldn't have bought any Huawei. Qualcomm is popular and easier to develop for (correct me if I'm wrong). IMO, this is one of the reasons why XDA forums for Huawei are dead.
What do you like and not like about EMUI?
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Click to collapse
Things I like:
Lockscreen - I really like how the lockscreen looks, especially with a cool wallpaper. I'd choose this lockscreen anytime over AOSP's one as I like that's not "blurred", that I can see the wallpaper properly on a good screen. It just looks gorgeous. The widgets which can be accessed from the bottom is also nice. Would've been nicer if we could also choose own actions for that widgets.
White-blue themed - I love this man. I've always wanted this kind of theme.
Things I don't like:
Phone Manager - Man, this is just bull****. Apps are getting killed even after disabling the options in Phone Manager to not kill them. It's the most annoying thing. It's known that task killers are harmful for Android, yet that's what you're doing. Just let Android handle the things how it was meant to, it doesn't need task killers or some kind of RAM management. I also don't like the fact that battery stats is implemented in that and after removing Phone Manager, you no longer can see the battery stats, and if I remember properly, the option to block calls is also gone. That virus scanner is another ****. I mean, come on... It would have been so much better without this ****, Phone Manager. It's not only a bloatware, but it's also harmful.
Kernel - it's a mess. Just few examples: root scanner and some other protection which I don't remember right now (was related to rw system if I'm not mistaken), some configs in defconfig with "HISI" in the name are enabled on Nova which has Qualcomm. On top of this, you're providing the kernel as tarball making it hard to remove your **** for someone which is not pro, like me. I'm not the only one who said that your kernels are a mess.
Dark notification panel - Why black? Just why? Why didn't you make it white-blue themed just like the rest of the skin? It would have looked so much better. Dark one just doesn't make sense IMO when EMUI is white-themed. I'd have understood if EMUI was black themed, but it isn't.
Bloatware - removable, but still.
Privacy - I care so much about this and I doubt about it on EMUI, no matter what you would say. I haven't checked, but I'm sure that's possible to check out if there's something going on in the background. It's not like you would be the only OEM doing it though.
Screen Recorder - it's laggy and you better wouldn't have added it. I've recorded my Nova's screen when I've been on AOSPExtended even when gaming and there's no lag when I'm watching the recorded video. It was same on LOS, but I think it was slightly better on AEX. I haven't tried to record screen through terminal command on EMUI though, so I don't know if it could be better.
There were more things I like / don't like at EMUI, but right now nothing else cross my mind.
I had a list with things I like and I don't like in an app on my Nova and there were more things, but I've forgot what I've wrote there. Since it's broken, I can't access it, but I think I had a backup of that app made with Titanium Backup, so maybe I'll grab it through TWRP and restore it on my old phone to check.
I remember though that on the list I don't like was persistent notifications and seeing 0mb at apps in Developer Options > Running services, but when I've tried the last update they were actually solved (persistent notifications were really persistent and I could see the proper RAM usage at apps).
Why I won't buy Huawei anymore as of now:
I'd say that the percent is 99%.
EMUI - already listed some things I don't like and some of them are annoying af. As I've said, I have nothing to complain about AOSP, no annoying things or whatsoever.
Huawei support - this is a joke IMO. Lemme give examples. Huawei Nova came with Marshmallow (EMUI 4.1). You've updated it to EMUI 5 and even today it doesn't have a rollback update to go back to EMUI 4.1. Basically, people are stuck with EMUI 5 and obliged to accept your new changes which may not like. There's no full EMUI 4.1 firmware on Firmware Finder and the only way to go back to EMUI 4.1 is to unlock the bootloader, install TWRP and restore a backup of EMUI 4.1, only if you're lucky to get one from someone else. When I've asked Huawei support about rollback update, they've said about going to service. Well, **** that.
Second example is about the kernel source. You've uploaded EMUI 5 kernel source for a Chinese model of Huawei Nova and there was no EMUI 5 kernel source uploaded/mentioned for CAN-L11 and the other models. I've asked several times Huawei support about publishing the source for CAN-L11 and I've been told the same thing always. After a long time (couple of months), I've seen that there was a new category on their opensource website, with EMUI 5 kernel source for CAN-L11 and other models. I've downloaded it and compared it with the first EMUI 5 kernel source released which was for a Chinese version and I was surprised to see that's the ****ing same source code. Basically you've uploaded the same source after a long time and made a new category on your website where you've added the rest of the models at one source when you could mention the compatible models from the beginning or editing your website...
The kernel is a mess - already said it before...
Kirin chipsets - I've never used one and i would never use one.
XDA support - kinda all Huawei phones are dead on XDA. Some of the things listed before should be helping this.
That's pretty much all I had to say. If you're really looking into making changes, then I'll also be looking forward to those changes. I hope you're actually willing to make changes and that this thread won't be useless.
I'd really consider Huawei again if it's gonna have AOSP / Android One and Qualcomm chipset.
PS: Just noticed that there was a typo ("bloatwait" instead bloatware lol). I'm sorry if there's more typos/mistakes. I've wrote on my old phone which is a Galaxy S Advance with 4 inch screen and the keyboard is small...
I have used every single OEM based distro since the beginning of android. I have to say that out of all of them Sense was the one I liked the best. Here are my reasons why.
1. They had their own style (original Sense versions) They didn't copy anyone else. This is a big deal really. I personally am not a fan of material design. It looks very childish and unprofessional.
2. Added features that didn't bog down the UI (Hey Samsung)
3. They didn't add useless features just because everyone else did.
Now these things have changed as of late and I wouldn't use the new HTC sense (was part of their beta group at one time. They didnt listen)
With people using things like custom launchers, icon packs, themes and wallpaper apps like KLWP the over all UI of the OS really doesnt matter as its almost never seen. I mean how many times does someone really go into settings outside the first time setup? The notification shade is the major thing of the underlying OS that people see the most.
Android Go is really pointless unless you plan on lowering the specs of the honor devices. They lose functionality which is pointless if the hardware good enough for the standard version.
As for the chip. Well really that will only matter if the team puts in the time to help developers with documentation for working with the chip. This is the reason for the support of qualcomm chips. They have gone out of their way over the years helping developers with documentation and apis for working with the chips. You provide this and it will help alot.
I want to say Aosp will make you guys a Huge hit all around the globe. Especially if you bring Aosp over One flagship and one budget phone.
Personally i love emui. But market more oriented to Aosp
I'd take the Nokia approach to this matter. Since Huawei uses their AI mostly in the camera app, I'd love if there was an honor flagship running android one software and Huawei / honor camera app. Also, the background user data analysis for better battery and resource optimisations, claimed to be in EMUI 8 are being implemented in android P, so it's a win win for both the company and the customers
For those that are claiming aosp is the way to go atop and think about this. Samsung is the biggest Android oem and it is not because it get aosp. It's because of the features that touch Wiz offers that Google doesn't. Aosp really is bare bones enough that it can be compared to running Linux on a pc. It works but not as full featured or as well as something built for the hardware.
zelendel said:
For those that are claiming aosp is the way to go atop and think about this. Samsung is the biggest Android oem and it is not because it get aosp. It's because of the features that touch Wiz offers that Google doesn't. Aosp really is bare bones enough that it can be compared to running Linux on a pc. It works but not as full featured or as well as something built for the hardware.
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Completely agree with you man, but Honor doesn't really have much hardware differentiation like Samsung has infinity displays and S pen. All other EMUI features like Knock gestures are barely used and features like app twin can be done using a third party app like parallel space. But the benefits that Android one like ROM offers, like smoother UI experience and enabling faster updates with little to no feature exclusions. So I beg to differ in my opinion that OEM skin (EMUI) offers any benefits over Aosp.
iamsabresh said:
Completely agree with you man, but Honor doesn't really have much hardware differentiation like Samsung has infinity displays and S pen. All other EMUI features like Knock gestures are barely used and features like app twin can be done using a third party app like parallel space. But the benefits that Android one like ROM offers, like smoother UI experience and enabling faster updates with little to no feature exclusions. So I beg to differ in my opinion that OEM skin (EMUI) offers any benefits over Aosp.
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But see android one is a watered down version of android really. To be honest honor software is over all crap. I'm not sure who they ha E writing the software but they should be demoted.
zelendel said:
But see android one is a watered down version of android really. To be honest honor software is over all crap. I'm not sure who they ha E writing the software but they should be demoted.
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I was just stating my opinion and I truly believe android one or stock android, for that matter, make a midrange phone, with lesser CPU power and RAM, perform equal to Honor / Huawei's 2017-18 flagship, the View 10 or the Mate 10 pro, running EMUI, and having better battery backup. I agree that EMUI is okayish to an extent because it is better than any other custom skins except Oxygen OS, but fragmenting the UI into region based firmware is a completely useless thing to do, considering that it slows down updates, takes more human resources to develop updates to separate regions and not to mention that they state regional feature prioritisation as the reason, but most of the basic features are common and they just add bloat like Paytm integration in Indian version and stuff like a separate Huawei app store on the international version, which is essentially useless because of all the stocks being updated either through the playstore or OTAs. Just My Opinion and I speak only for myself.
iamsabresh said:
I was just stating my opinion and I truly believe android one or stock android, for that matter, make a midrange phone, with lesser CPU power and RAM, perform equal to Honor / Huawei's 2017-18 flagship, the View 10 or the Mate 10 pro, running EMUI, and having better battery backup. I agree that EMUI is okayish to an extent because it is better than any other custom skins except Oxygen OS, but fragmenting the UI into region based firmware is a completely useless thing to do, considering that it slows down updates, takes more human resources to develop updates to separate regions and not to mention that they state regional feature prioritisation as the reason, but most of the basic features are common and they just add bloat like Paytm integration in Indian version and stuff like a separate Huawei app store on the international version, which is essentially useless because of all the stocks being updated either through the playstore or OTAs. Just My Opinion and I speak only for myself.
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It won't make it equal to a flagship, it will just make a mid range not suck as much.
zelendel said:
It won't make it equal to a flagship, it will just make a mid range not suck as much.
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Exactly my point. But when you take a powerful midranger like a Nokia 7+ and compare it with an honor flagship running EMUI, say a View 10, I agree that the raw power of the CPU or the SoC would make the flagship open apps much quicker and load much faster, but since we are talking about UI experiences, we must touch the issues like memory management, resource allocation, battery optimisations, etc. I'd say based on my usage that once the apps are loaded onto memory on both phones, I find switching apps and multitasking a bit smoother on the stock android (android one) and with very comparable battery sizes (3800 vs 3750 mAh), the Nokia 7+ provides a bit more extended D battery life on heavy usage. Light to moderate usage yields very much the same battery life of around 7.5 - 8 hrs SoT, but think of what honor phones with flagship specs could achieve with android one or stock android. I'd say that at this point, with very comparable hardware on almost all flagships, UI makes a lot of difference and I think EMUI, though providing a lot of features and is almost as fast as android one, I'd say the extra features added only weigh it down in terms of raw performance.
Pure Android is always better choice over other custom UIs. It is fast, smooth and lag free.
It is fine even if it doesn't have some customizations that other UIs offer.
EMUI memory management makes some apps does not work properly.
[email protected]_USA said:
Hello again everyone,
Interesting conversation I want to have with users here; which Android skin do you like most and why?
Obviously AOSP != what Pixels run.
What if a future Honor device ran Android One/Go? Would that be enough to convince you buy one? What if Kirin hardware was still used even with Android One?
What do you like and not like about EMUI?
Really want to get your all's input and feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Problem wid skin like emui is, OEMs take longer to bring android updates. More the skin is close to stock android more easier it is to give timely updates.
Honor itself has pathetic record in rolling out updates, that's the thing i dislike about emui
Related
Just pre-ordered an HTC One X + from AT&T today. Comes with JB 4.1 I believe. Coming from iPhone (jailbroken of course.) I see there was also a recent announcement, something about 4.2 being released by Google to VOSD. Read some of the improvements in 4.2 and would love to have them. But frankly, I don't want to spend hours futzing with my phone or risk bricking it. On the other hand, I don't want to wait 6 months for HTC to release a 4.2 update.
Without any prior experience can someone throw me a bone. Will there be a 4.2 ROM here I can download that will be stable and how long do you estimate before it is available versus waiting for HTC?
I've heard good things about Sense, but if I consider myself to now be a lifelong Android user, isn't it better to get used to using a vanilla version of the OS instead of using some manufacturer-specific overlay like Sense? So should I install a custom ROM no matter what from that perspective or will I loose to many conveniences/features specific to the phone?
Finally, will I be able to go back to stock HTC ROM (whatever is the most recent version) for warranty/resale purposes if I don't wait for the HTC upgrades?
I believe the JB 4.2 was only released yesterday with the sale opening for the Nexus 4/10. I am not really bothered as there are only "cosmetic" updates anyway like this orb pic shooting cam setting and dop down notification.
I got my HOX+ yesterday, after being very happy with the HOX since it was releases in April. And I have to say, so far unlocking/rooting the HOX + is not really necessary or a thing that needs to be done as soon as the batterry has charged to full the very first time you have it in your hands.
HOX+ with HTCs Sense is running very well, smooth as hell. And while I don't like the Sense launcher as it is restricting too much my daily use, I find alternative launcher much better..they provide amazing eye candy. In particular the Apex launcher is worth to have a look at.
But the integration of Sense is the background is just great, Contacts/phone/social media integration is basically perfect, as is the Google calender and in particular Google Now.
There also is a noticable improvement with the sound quality, and sound is mind blowing with the alternative player PowerAmp.
Development will take off for the HOX+ soon, and devs are already on it. Once CWM is up and running I will also unlock/root, if only for for the adblock
I am not a fan of AOSP as it is too stripped down for me. But that is pure personal taste.
Give the development a few weeks, in my opinion the HOX+ is already coming out of the box an amazing piece of technology, and Sense together with JB 4.1.1 is a very good user experience!
So in a way, it seems you could consider Sense a package of apps/features, that you might otherwise install over the vanilla OS anyway? I suppose when I think about it, I spent hours to jailbreak and install Cydia apps on my iPhone to customize how the lock screen works, notification works, the spring board works, the wallpapers work, etc. So even though iOS interface is consistent from version to version, I always modify it to my liking - essentially building my own "Sense" for iPhone.
One thing I don't like is bloatware - apps installed that I don't need but can't install. And I'm sure the AT&T One X+ comes with plenty of it? (At least in Windows PC's you can uninstall the stuff.) So my gut is telling me I will still probably end up rooting and going with a custom ROM anyway. I'm mainly looking for stability and consistency for years to come, despite what device I own. Not that learning a new interface "flavor" has a steep learning curve, but it would be nice to "standardize" on one "flavor" be it Sense or CM10 + some specific launcher app, etc etc. To be honest I don't have hours and hours to experiment anymore so it may be best to take what HTC gives me and be done with it. But I know I will crave 4.2 when available just to see what's improved (I've read about it - not groundbreaking but better), so I guess I'll probably cave and give at least one custom ROM a try. Makes the phone more unique too, which is kind of a novelty. But ya, this stuff we are talking about is foreign to probably 90% of the smartphone users out there. So the devices wouldn't sell as well as they do if they had issues or were hard to use out of the box!
hardstuffmuc said:
I believe the JB 4.2 was only released yesterday with the sale opening for the Nexus 4/10. I am not really bothered as there are only "cosmetic" updates anyway like this orb pic shooting cam setting and dop down notification.
I got my HOX+ yesterday, after being very happy with the HOX since it was releases in April. And I have to say, so far unlocking/rooting the HOX + is not really necessary or a thing that needs to be done as soon as the batterry has charged to full the very first time you have it in your hands.
HOX+ with HTCs Sense is running very well, smooth as hell. And while I don't like the Sense launcher as it is restricting too much my daily use, I find alternative launcher much better..they provide amazing eye candy. In particular the Apex launcher is worth to have a look at.
But the integration of Sense is the background is just great, Contacts/phone/social media integration is basically perfect, as is the Google calender and in particular Google Now.
There also is a noticable improvement with the sound quality, and sound is mind blowing with the alternative player PowerAmp.
Development will take off for the HOX+ soon, and devs are already on it. Once CWM is up and running I will also unlock/root, if only for for the adblock
I am not a fan of AOSP as it is too stripped down for me. But that is pure personal taste.
Give the development a few weeks, in my opinion the HOX+ is already coming out of the box an amazing piece of technology, and Sense together with JB 4.1.1 is a very good user experience!
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Just to chime in. I'm coming from 4 years of iPhone (still have my 4S and from the day I turned on the X+, I was in wow factor! Device runs SMOOTH as heck, responsiveness is more than I expected, just overall Great experience overall. That being said, I still want to be able to customize it even more. My iPhone had all the tweaks, theming, etc that truly made it my experience. So, i'm new to the whole "rooting" for Android devices as I'm a Mac guy also, but have a PC on standby waiting for instructions.
I'm really excited to actually take the dive in Android and especially with this particular device!
sense UI is the best for me among all the launchers.
i don't mind 4.1.1 vs 4..2 i don't think there's much changes anyways.
I have Jellybean 4.2 on my Nexus 7 and my old GNex. It is really buggy and the UI changes suck. There is battery drain, slow charging, instability and BT is broken. I rather have a stable Jellybean 4.1 and get a stable 4.2 in a few months on my Hox+.
Hellion said:
Just to chime in. I'm coming from 4 years of iPhone (still have my 4S and from the day I turned on the X+, I was in wow factor! Device runs SMOOTH as heck, responsiveness is more than I expected, just overall Great experience overall. That being said, I still want to be able to customize it even more. My iPhone had all the tweaks, theming, etc that truly made it my experience. So, i'm new to the whole "rooting" for Android devices as I'm a Mac guy also, but have a PC on standby waiting for instructions.
I'm really excited to actually take the dive in Android and especially with this particular device!
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I had a 4S for a time. Customising it was a pain in the arse. I'll be glad if I never see cydia again . You can customise a lot of android without needing to root. But some things like taskbar icons, transparency effects for system apps, bootlogo's, system transition effects ect. You need to be rooted for.
AndroHero said:
I had a 4S for a time. Customising it was a pain in the arse. I'll be glad if I never see cydia again . You can customise a lot of android without needing to root. But some things like taskbar icons, transparency effects for system apps, bootlogo's, system transition effects ect. You need to be rooted for.
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Is there a verified working root for us ATT users yet? Saw a lot of talk about one which is why I'm asking. If so, any moon steps on how to root? I need it mainly for titanium backup to backup data files too and more tweaks.
Also hope someone can fix the broken Steele headset controls for this dang phone. All u can do is pause and play tracks from your wired or Bluetooth headset. Can't change tracks nor adjust volume from your stereo headset, huge fail for me! At the gym 5 days a week for hours and nothing worse then pulling this link out of my pocket the whole workout to manually change tracks and adjust volume for certain songs.
So I've seen this word thrown around a lot since switching to Android from my old iPhail 3G (yes, I actually lived with that horrible laggy device for ~4 years) and in comparisons between Android and iOS (which I'm not trying to get into here). I've also read lots of people saying Jelly Bean was supposed to be 'snappier' compared to ICS. I wasn't sure if they were referring to lag as in fps or a delay in reaction. My Note II is currently stock 4.1.1, but I'm definitely noticing some delay in games, such as Air Hockey, between moving my finger on the screen and the paddle moving in the game, for example. It's quite noticeable in apps like Maps too. I had the Galaxy S III for a short time before I decided I wanted the bigger (and better specs) Note II, but not long enough to make any comparisons. My question is, is there a way to increase the snappyness without doing anything too dramatic, such as flashing a different ROM, etc. Or will a ROM like beanstown106's Jelly Beans help? Or is this a problem that is inherently part of Android operating system/devices? Thanks in advance.
marcmy said:
will a ROM like beanstown106's Jelly Beans help? .
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I can tell you that flashing beans ROM made absolutely no speed difference whatever over my previous debloated/rooted stock ROM (and I didn't really expect it to)
One thing is, it is noticeably laggy when running the inferno galaxy live wallpaper, but pretty much instant response with regular WP.
The "snappieness" in individual apps is really down to the app itself combined with phone specs.
Poorly coded apps may have lag.
High end apps may push the hardware harder and cause lag.
I would bet its mostly the former when it comes to the Note 2.
Samsung also put touchwiz on these phones, which does affect overall performance to some degree. If we get the ability to remove much of it in favor of AOSP versions, then it should perform a little better overall.
The differences between iPhones and Android... is that Apple focuses on user interaction over all other things. So this means they will sacrifice performance in other areas to ensure that user interactions are kept smooth, or at least keep the appearance of smoothness. For example, iOS will stop loading web pages when you start to scroll the screen, so the CPU can focus on smooth scrolling. This means that the page will never finish loading if you keep scrolling around on the screen. Android does not do this or these kind of things. The new "project butter" implemented in JB is designed to help smooth out the interface and user interactions, without sacrificing performance in other areas. Its not perfect though, and it requires good specs and more power than the iOS way of "one thing at a time".
Great response ty very much. I guess next question is will we be able to get those AOSP versions later on or are we SOL in that department?
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
Depends on which version you have.
I am on Verizon, so my device is locked down, other versions are not.
This device is also unique in the fact it has a Wacom stylus and functionality, so that must be considered.
Often times, you can swap things out without too much issue. AOSP lockscreen instead of touchwiz lockscreen... AOSP launcher instead of touchwiz launcher... without too much trouble. Problem is, underneath the ROM is still touchwiz... or at least that is how it worked on HTC Sense phones. (this is my first touchwiz device) HTC do a lot of work to the underlying framework which meant wholesale replacement of everything wasn't possible, so it depends on how much Samsung changed Android to put touchwiz on it.
Basically they "DE-Touchwiz" the phone and do some background tweaks for added performance, plus they "de-bloat the ROM. (they remove all the unnecessary crap that the carriers and Samsung put in, that served them some benefit, but not benefit the users) The advantage of this method is that you can keep much of the functionality of the stylus.
Another method is to use a ROM based on stock, but tweaked and de-bloated. This usually retains all the functionality of the device as it came out of the box... but the performance is usually only a little better than stock, and less than one where the AOSP stuff has been put in. This method does allow you to keep most of the stylus functionality.
As far as straight up custom ROMs based on AOSP...
They usually offer the best performance for a given device, having no extra crap, and being tweaked for performance... But you will lose most if not all the stylus functionality. Some ROMs may have limited stylus functionality, but they have to put that in themselves, meaning more work on their part.
As far as performance gains... I can only speak of HTC Sense devices with sureness. Where pure AOSP usually had significant improvements to performance/battery life. (mostly due to how extensive Sense is, touchwiz may be better in this regaurd) "De-sensed" ROMs where they removed all of the Sense stuff they could and replaced with AOSP equivalents, had good performance increases. "De-bloated" and tweaked but otherwise stock ROMs had some improvement.
But as was said, the stylus functionality is something that must be considered when looking at ROMs
After using AOSP ROMs quite extensively in both of my two Galaxy 3s, I have no desire whatever to run those type ROMs in my Note 2 (and lose things like pen functionality).
I could never see any performance difference whatever (except maybe in useless benchmarks) between a completely debloated TW ROM with all the features working perfectly and a buggy AOSP ROM in my G3s (and I tried every G3 ROM available at least twice).
Posters where constantly claiming this ROM is PERFECT when discussing any AOSP ROM but two posts later someone else would post "can anybody get NFL Mobile to work??" The next post would say "that has never worked in AOSP but I never use it anyway so who cares........"
Good call. I'd rather keep most functionality
Sent from my SCH-I605 using xda app-developers app
You could go into a store and try some of those games out on a DNA. Hopefully some are free so you don't have to put your google account in the play store and then clear the data. The DNA's gpu is much faster. It sounds like it's the app coding though. I don't have any input lag with on screen buttons playing GTA or N64oid, and emulators are pretty heavy on the processor.
When you hand your phone to granny to take a photo of you, can she get the job done? Rate this thread to express how you deem the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge's camera software. A higher rating indicates that the software is easy to use, fast, uncluttered, and inclusive of advanced features for when you need them.
Then, drop a comment if you have anything to add!
This and the lack of foreseeable root are really the only two negatives regarding this device. Google's apps are just superior at every corner.
Messenger is more sleek than Messages
Chrome is now as smooth as Internet, but scrolls faster, accesses all my stored passwords, can share history with my computer.
Google's keyboard doesn't shove my friends emails into regular typing like Samsung's.
Gmail is much more appealing than Email.
Contacts and Phone - does anyone know how to get Google's variants working on a Verizon S7e?
Love the phone, but am loving it so much more with each Google app I add to replace one from Samsung.
Software features of Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge are very neat. TouchWiz is overall very much improved and device has a great build quality. Multi Tasking Features are amazing, pop-up view windows, and single hand usage tweak by Samsung itself is responsive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K42A_PQLzHc
Waiting for tasting AOSP but it will kill many features
I'm about to return the phone due to software. TouchWiz is hell. I come from a Motorola and a Sony phone, those phones offered experiences close to stock Android with some added features.
Using this phone is incredibly complicated. The settings section is a mess and it crashes when you try to change the do not disturb options. The soft keys are just wrong. I have half of my ram consumed by Samsung apps and duplicate apps for everything.
The phone is just sad, this is not an android phone. I'll give it a shot for the weekend, otherwise I'm going to swap this for the HTC 10.
Now that I expressed my rage, could someone advice me on making this phone bearable?
pepinocho9 said:
I'm about to return the phone due to software. TouchWiz is hell. I come from a Motorola and a Sony phone, those phones offered experiences close to stock Android with some added features.
Using this phone is incredibly complicated. The settings section is a mess and it crashes when you try to change the do not disturb options. The soft keys are just wrong. I have half of my ram consumed by Samsung apps and duplicate apps for everything.
The phone is just sad, this is not an android phone. I'll give it a shot for the weekend, otherwise I'm going to swap this for the HTC 10.
Now that I expressed my rage, could someone advice me on making this phone bearable?
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Click to collapse
I too come from a Sony device, and I love the S7 Edge. Sony software is very stable, and "minimalistic" compared to Samsung, LG and Huawei's customization, but damn it, I'm not hating it. I owned the first Galaxy Note. Yeah, you want some buggy and laggy TouchWiz crap? Take a good look at how things used to be, and then come back to the S7 and tell what you think.
The problem isn't that today's TouchWiz is bad, because it's not even close to being bad. It's just you that can't adapt to TouchWiz, so you curse at it and make sure to tell us what you think. TouchWiz isn't close to being "stock Android", and it's your own fault if you even thought that to begin with, but it's smooth, quick and there aren't any huge bugs (that I'm aware of). The camera software is awesome, the battery is awesome, the display is awesome, the design is awesome, but I guess you don't like the looks of the "notification center" and the Settings-app? You can theme those, and I recommend you install the "Material Design" theme from the theme store. It's free. You can also remove the annoying "Quick connect" thingy in the notifications by tapping "edit" and then disable it there (at the bottom). Then install Nova Launcher or Google Now Launcher.
The real issue here though is that you think there are too many options. Think about it. I get it. I really do, but this is such a first world problem that I can't even... :laugh:
But alright, I've already mentioned the themes and stuff, so give me/us some more details on exactly what's annoying you, and we'll see if it's easily changeable.
I luv it samsung s7 egde
Came from a HTC m8, and I do like the phone. As much as I use to rag on my girlfriend about her wanting samsung...they did right by me on it with waterproof alone. I did want the 10 though but this phone is keeping me content
Hi guys, I'm a jailbroken iPhone 6S+ user. I'm currently a slave to Apple's ecosystem (iPad, Apple TV, Watch but not a Mac) I apologize for the wall of text below, but I know you guys are always glad to give a helping hand.
I've been using iOS since the iPod Touch 2G, taking a break for a couple months only in the Galaxy S3 days, which was my first and only android experience. Many iOS users are in the same boat as me.
Android was a whole different thing back then. Nowadays, when I see the curved, bright and saturated screen of an S7 and how well it pairs with the material design, I feel like I'd love to give that a spin. My problem is that I've been fed constant complaints on behalf of android users, using different handsets and at different times. Here are my main concerns:
I've always heard that, after a "honeymoon" period, almost without fail, all android handsets start to experience stuttering, freezing, rebooting, framerate drops, etc. (maybe one of those at a time, sometimes all of those are common occurrences) does this happen? This is the most important one for me, because if there's something that none of my iPhones ever suffered from, was reduced performance.
Software glitches which are mostly hardware-specific. I've visited the 6P subreddit, only to find a plethora of people complaining about the camera app freezing or crashing, some focus issue I believe as well, or maybe just reduced performance in other parts of the OS (which is the purest form of android). I've also heard that Samsung's bloatware, although only a fraction of what it was back on the S3 days, still causes the phone to feel sluggish at times. Haven't heard about Huawei or HTC bloatware, but I have watched reviews which mentioned some lag here and there.
Software updates. The whole ordeal of having to choose a phone thinking about whether it will get updates in the future or not is pretty sad. I know that Nexus phones are guaranteed to get updates for two years I believe, but as I stated before, visiting the 6P subreddit, I've seen people complain about Google updating the OS but leaving bugs unresolved for several iterations of it. How do you handle this when choosing a phone?
Customization. If there's one area that I've been always convinced Android was leaps and bounds ahead of iOS was this. However, as a jailbroken iOS user, I find that I get most of what you guys can get out the box, but in a prettier package. As in, jb tweaks are very tightly integrated and always match the OS look and feel. In Android, you work with apps or, after rooting, with "modules" I think they're called. How do these differ from JB tweaks (stability-wise as well)? How different is the process of waiting for root vs waiting for a JB? Is rooting as necessary as jailbreaking?
Lastly:
Apps. I am aware of the differences in general app quality when comparing the App Store and the Play Store. Big names such as FB, Twitter, Instagram, etc are mostly the same. But when you start digging a little bit deeper, you find that there's a big difference in not only availability, but also variety and polish. At least, that's how my experience was and what I tend to hear from Android users. How's the Play Store these days? Has this changed a bit?
I apologize once again for the wall of text. If you could answer each point with one or two lines I'd be immensely grateful. Honestly, since these points are big question marks in my head right now, I wouldn't even know what handset to look into, because I don't want to be unpleasantly surprised later on. Android screens though... Damn. Most of them are sexy.
Anyway, thank you very much for your time. Any help is deeply appreciated.
Stuttering/Freezing. You might find this on some low-end devices but the "flagship" devices that I've used haven't suffered from this. This would generally be caused by lower end hardware (lower clocked CPU and lower RAM).
Software glitches. I own the 6P and have never had the camera crash or freeze, never had any software issues with this phone actually. Samsung phones are pretty well known to suffer from being sluggy, this is due to their Touchwiz UI which hogs quite a bit of RAM. The HTC devices I've owned haven't had this issue. Can't speak for Huawei's own UI. The Huawei 6P uses pure Android, I don't notice any real lag issues on this phone.
Updates. If you want guaranteed software updates your best bet is a Nexus. I've noticed no major bugs on the 6P apart from a 4G bug that was specific to an Australian carrier but that was patched pretty quickly. There have been things in Android that people label as bugs that haven't been patched immediately though. Even if you choose a device that may not be updated officially you will very often be able to update via a custom ROM, custom ROMs are often developed for devices long after official support has stopped.
Customization. Android is definitely far ahead in terms of customisation. Most people find customisation via a custom ROM (a customised version of the OS, sometimes based on the stock OS, sometimes based on AOSP (Android Open Source Project or "pure Android"), sometimes based on something like CyanogenMod). A ROM will almost always have extra features and tweaks, these features are usually very well implemented and tie in very nicely with the OS. When speaking about modules you'd be referring to Xposed Modules which are used with the Xposed Framework. Xposed basically opens up a lot of customisation ability, it requires root, it can be used on a stock ROM with root or with a custom ROM. There are a plethora of modules available, too many to even begin to list, the best way to see what they can achieve is to look in our Xposed Modules section. As for root in general, you don't generally need to wait for root like you would with jailbreaking. Having root access is also far more flexible than jailbreaking, you can pretty much do anything with your phone, you have full access to the otherwise blocked system partition. Root methods will vary from device to device but you'll usually need an unlocked bootloader. The easiest devices to root and modify are the Nexus devices, they're designed to be tinkered with, development phones first and foremost.
Apps. In the early days of Android, and even up until a few years ago, the Play Store really lacked in terms of availability and quality. The last few years have seen a dramatic increase in both areas though, there's a wide variety available and the quality has become top notch.
In summing up, it looks like the worries you have are misconceptions commonly held by Apple users.
As a former board level apple technician who used the first ever apple products in kindergarten nearly 30 years ago, I must say I can't even use an iPhone. With all respect, most of your thoughts are not accurate.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app
Just a question. I've been using my RN4 for cca. 2 months now and I am really impressed with the device.
My question is; Why would you flash an AOSP/CM/whatever ROM, if MIUI works without problems and the device's speed is really great too?
My last device was LG G2, and there was a big difference in terms of speed between Stock LG ROM (all the stupid apps) and CM, but here, I dont know if you would get that much on speed.
Also, that "free" MIUI cloud backup is great, camera with those effects is cool too. I've not encountered a single problem with my stock/not rooted RN4 (Snapdragon).
There are other cool MIUI features, which are not in other AOSP/CM ROMs included. (maybe in RessurectionRemix but still)
What are your thoughts about this one?
Is there a big difference in speed, camera, battery between stock/not rooted and rooted CM/AOSP ROM?
for me its how they handle notification and multitasking. Too agressive with killing apps. No one finger expand. Outdated emoji support. If they fix all that i'd gladly switch back to MIUI
Imho the UI sucks.
Because MIUI just ****s up the material design, doesn't regard the default notification in AOSP, have aggressive memory management and **** cheetah apps disguised as normal system apps.
If I have to give two reasons for using custom ROM:
1. Overall look and feel of material design
2. Notification handling in AOSP Nougat, it is the most
beautiful thing ever happened to Android.
In the end its users choice whether to stick to stock ROM or flash custom ROM depending on their experience.
Oh XDA censors curse words!!
Cuz their ui is cancerous xD
sachin n said:
Cuz there ui is cancerous xD
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Click to collapse
??????
are aops roms stable anyway?
I use Resurrection ROM 5.8.3 and it is rock-stable. But RR is Lineage-OS-based, not AOSP.
My reason to use a Custom-ROM: with MIUI I can't use my Samsung Gear Fit 2. The Gear-App doesn't start in all MIUI-based ROMs. With AOSP/LineageOS-ROMs no problems.
Miui has lots of bugs that take forever to be fixed.
I think Miui is a way of Xiaomi to spy on users....
MIUI have a lot of spyware in their bloatware apps. Which I don't like.
MIUI is like pre-GraceUX Touchwiz.
Lots of interesting features but not polished, and there's no consistency across the whole UI.
For the free cloud backup, Google's Drive and Photos are better in my opinion, you can sync your contacts and messages as well.
As for the camera, I'm happy with the Camera2API on AOSP ROMs.
Because if you also have an iPhone you don't need MIUI ?
Kidding aside, there's a lot of reasons why AOSP is better than MIUI and there's a lot of reasons why MIUI is better than AOSP.
I personally prefer AOSP (Slim 7 specifically) because of it's speed and general lack of complications.
I don't like being asked by the SMS app if I'd like to send my SMSs to the Xiaomi servers, or my pictures, or every time I'd use some app that used the internet to be forced to accept some privacy policy.
I want Android, clean, no bull$$1t. That's where Slim won my heart. I tried other AOSP ROMs as well but I got disappointed with the lack of responsiveness caused by features that should make your life easier but the phone slower. Also all ROMs using the substratum theme engine have an easily perceived delay in operation.
If you'd like to stick with MIUI, then go for the nougat development version. The increase in responsiveness is considerable compared to the stable version based on marshmallow.
Nonetheless, if you want the same security as on an iPhone or more expensive Android phones, do not unlock your bootloader at all. The simple fact that your bootloader is locked will render your device useless to a thief. Although he may not know that before he steals it...