topic Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE in Get Support

ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

s2scotty — Tue, 04 Jan 2022 18:30:11 GMT

For those of you using an older genertation android based phone, you may have noticed that your manufacturers' updates have become very infrequent or ceased altogether. Certain phones and tablets -- devices -- are easy to switch to what's known as a "custom ROM."

A custom ROM is a customized variant, a legit open source extention, of google's android operating system tailored to your device and tweeked per the specific distrobution's goals (e.g. speed and security, or more gaming than business, et cetera). In most cases a custom ROM is faster and more up to date with regard to bug fixes and security patches. There are many, many sources and variants of custom ROMS. All/any ROM is device specific. You have to mate and match.

A very good custom ROM distribution (many device specific editions) is LineageOS. LineageOS 14.1 parallels and paces google's android 7.1.1 quite faithfully. It is free of ad and bloat ware, though, as YOU install YOUR apps, ad and bloat may leak in via YOUR choices. Their downloads area can be found at https://download.lineageos.org/

I have five devices running LineageOS and all are stable and smooth running. Most are "faster" (smoother) than with origianl "stock" ROM/firmware.

I recommend old devices be tried first. Older typically mean more than two (2) years because -- 1) it is typically at the end of two years that the original maker/brand stops posting native updates to their stock ROM; and 2) the device is out of warranty as flashing a custom ROM *may* invalidate the device warranty and/or the carrier's technical carrier support.

Presently (2017Q1), the frequency of their updates to their ROM images is weekly. IMO, weekly is far better than the once-a-year or not-at-all cycle some brands provide.

For example, my NEXUS 5 phone is now running Android 7.1.1, Guava(7) and is security patched to 2017-JAN. If I was running stock, It would have to be 6.0.1, Guava(5) and 2016-11, respectively.

Happy ROM'ing.

/Scott

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

NDesai — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 21:50:20 GMT

Word of advice, back-up your data even if you don't want to before doing anything. You might have to switch between roms to find the one you like. Some will have no video or camera function on them or battery drain issues so you will have to try them out and see which one you like.I found PureNexus rom with franco kernal to be perfect for my nexus 5.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

MoreYummy — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 21:53:50 GMT

This was very popular at the beginning of android era. However each ROM has its own bugs, so need to keep changing to the one that suite you. This ROM modification need people who knows what they are doing on computer and phone.

Be careful of what you doing. Backup before installing any custom ROM.

Have fun!

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

zhadj030 — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 22:03:17 GMT

I didn't know that after two years the device is already considered old. I have a nice galaxy S5 almost 3 yrs old and I am happy with it. I payed the full 799$ outright I won't call it old after 2yrs. Yes update are non existent almost but custom ROMs are still pouring.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

will13am — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 22:29:36 GMT

@s2scotty, I like phones with xda support myself. I used to like cyanogemnod (lineage) back in the gingerbread, ice cream sandwich days. These days, I like slim and omni. Both offer pretty stable builds. The custom rom scene is the only way to go if you want to have software support beyond about a year.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

will13am — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 22:31:24 GMT

@NDesai wrote:
Word of advice, back-up your data even if you don't want to before doing anything. You might have to switch between roms to find the one you like. Some will have no video or camera function on them or battery drain issues so you will have to try them out and see which one you like.I found PureNexus rom with franco kernal to be perfect for my nexus 5.

Everybody always says back up your data. Interestingly, unlocked bootloader devices offer the easiest ways to save data. I don't know too many people that would not make a backup before installing a rom upgrade.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

will13am — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 22:35:07 GMT

@zhadj030 wrote:
I didn't know that after two years the device is already considered old. I have a nice galaxy S5 almost 3 yrs old and I am happy with it. I payed the full 799$ outright I won't call it old after 2yrs. Yes update are non existent almost but custom ROMs are still pouring.

@zhadj030, I feel sorry for you. That is what happens when you buy a Samsung product. You pay apple like pricing but without the cradle to grave support on software. Your support probably ends abruptly when the galaxy SX+1 model shows up on the carrier shelves.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

NDesai — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 22:46:32 GMT

@will13am wrote:
@NDesai wrote:
Word of advice, back-up your data even if you don't want to before doing anything. You might have to switch between roms to find the one you like. Some will have no video or camera function on them or battery drain issues so you will have to try them out and see which one you like.I found PureNexus rom with franco kernal to be perfect for my nexus 5.
Everybody always says back up your data. Interestingly, unlocked bootloader devices offer the easiest ways to save data. I don't know too many people that would not make a backup before installing a rom upgrade.

Funny. My plan was to unlock the bootloader first then backup the image but then i found out after that unlocking bootloader completely wipes your phone 😞

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

will13am — Sun, 12 Feb 2017 22:57:59 GMT

@NDesai wrote:
@will13am wrote:
@NDesai wrote:
Word of advice, back-up your data even if you don't want to before doing anything. You might have to switch between roms to find the one you like. Some will have no video or camera function on them or battery drain issues so you will have to try them out and see which one you like.I found PureNexus rom with franco kernal to be perfect for my nexus 5.
Everybody always says back up your data. Interestingly, unlocked bootloader devices offer the easiest ways to save data. I don't know too many people that would not make a backup before installing a rom upgrade.
Funny. My plan was to unlock the bootloader first then backup the image but then i found out after that unlocking bootloader completely wipes your phone 😞

Lol, this is a security feature. The first step I take when getting a new device is to tempt fate with the warranty and unlock the bootloader. I want to get the factory reset out of the way.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

zhadj030 — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 00:24:25 GMT

@will13am wrote:
@zhadj030 wrote:
I didn't know that after two years the device is already considered old. I have a nice galaxy S5 almost 3 yrs old and I am happy with it. I payed the full 799$ outright I won't call it old after 2yrs. Yes update are non existent almost but custom ROMs are still pouring.
@zhadj030, I feel sorry for you. That is what happens when you buy a Samsung product. You pay apple like pricing but without the cradle to grave support on software. Your support probably ends abruptly when the galaxy SX+1 model shows up on the carrier shelves.

@will13am XD. I will not deny that.

Yes I totally agree with yoj, but that was my first Samsung phone and before that I had the iPhone 4S. So I had to experiment. While I don't really feel that I got robbed by Samsung compared to apple's WAY OVERPRICES IPhone. (Apple fans no hate please I just said it is OVERPRICES but it is a good device). While I feel pissed at Samsung only bringing a 16GB model I got way more functions (useful ones).

As you mentioned at the time it was the latest flagship and still only had updates everytime team Canada won a game in soccer . The advantage of Samsung is that they are popular so a lot of people do make ROMs for them all the time even after 3 yrs like now I am only two months late on monthly updates.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

will13am — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 01:07:53 GMT

@zhadj030 wrote:
@will13am wrote:
@zhadj030 wrote:
I didn't know that after two years the device is already considered old. I have a nice galaxy S5 almost 3 yrs old and I am happy with it. I payed the full 799$ outright I won't call it old after 2yrs. Yes update are non existent almost but custom ROMs are still pouring.
@zhadj030, I feel sorry for you. That is what happens when you buy a Samsung product. You pay apple like pricing but without the cradle to grave support on software. Your support probably ends abruptly when the galaxy SX+1 model shows up on the carrier shelves.
@will13am XD. I will not deny that.
Yes I totally agree with yoj, but that was my first Samsung phone and before that I had the iPhone 4S. So I had to experiment. While I don't really feel that I got robbed by Samsung compared to apple's WAY OVERPRICES IPhone. (Apple fans no hate please I just said it is OVERPRICES but it is a good device). While I feel pissed at Samsung only bringing a 16GB model I got way more functions (useful ones).
As you mentioned at the time it was the latest flagship and still only had updates everytime team Canada won a game in soccer . The advantage of Samsung is that they are popular so a lot of people do make ROMs for them all the time even after 3 yrs like now I am only two months late on monthly updates.

16 gig is not the end of the world, except touchwiz makes Windows look like a really lightweight OS. The system partition hogs so much space that the user is left with nothing. This is the real killer. My Oppo only has 16 gigs of storage. The system partition is 2 gigs and I still have almost 500 megs free! I get 14 gigs of usable space which is plenty as long as some prudence is applied to avoid installing every antivirus, cleaner, battery saver app.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

thudoan63 — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 01:32:59 GMT

@will13am wrote:
@zhadj030, I feel sorry for you. That is what happens when you buy a Samsung product. You pay apple like pricing but without the cradle to grave support on software. Your support probably ends abruptly when the galaxy SX+1 model shows up on the carrier shelves.

Most manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, LG, etc. seem to have around an 18 month update window for their flagship devices. Not horrible but not great either.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

will13am — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 13:38:34 GMT

@thudoan63 wrote:
@will13am wrote:
@zhadj030, I feel sorry for you. That is what happens when you buy a Samsung product. You pay apple like pricing but without the cradle to grave support on software. Your support probably ends abruptly when the galaxy SX+1 model shows up on the carrier shelves.
Most manufacturers like Samsung, HTC, LG, etc. seem to have around an 18 month update window for their flagship devices. Not horrible but not great either.

If the price was a lot cheaper for Samsung products, I would say it is okay to have around a year of manufacturer's support. I stick by my approach of going buying phones that have xda support. Android 7.1.1 is available on my nexus 4, Oppo Find 7, One plus one. It would not surprise me if one of these devices gets android 8.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

s2scotty — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 17:22:47 GMT

The S5 is a well supported phone in the well-proven custom ROM arena -- lineageOS, slim6 and slim7 (slimROMS), and resurection remix (RR).

I just flashed over a friends S5 to lineageOS 14.1 and it's smooth and stable as can be. One advantage you have when flashing is tweeking the underlying file system . The historic default file system type is "ext4". It was designed for spinning hard drivers. While it works for flash based storage, it is not optimal. Enter file system type "f2fs". It is purpose built for flash storage and affords a near 15x speed increase on "writing" to the flash and a lesser increase on reads from the flash.

If you reformat your flash partitions to f2fs (from ext4), then you will see a performance boost. f2fs file system requires a minimium ROM version of 6.0.1 (marshmellow) and is vastly improved in 7.1.1 if your device will take 7 (nougat).

More food for thought.

Cheers,

/Scott

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

s2scotty — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 17:34:08 GMT

Agree mostly, @MoreYummy.

Yes, always backup before doing anything. Yes, know where to get, and have in hand just in case, your device's stock (original) ROM to flash back to if *&%! happens trying to flash forward to a custom ROM.

However,

In 2017Q1, a, say S5, "froozen" at 5.1.1 and security patch level of July 2015 is not, imo, a good thing though it run quite well. IMO, in 2017Q1, a S5 at 7.1.1 and security patched to January 2017 is a very good thing.

Thusly,

There are tonnes of custom ROMs out there adn some are risky. There are only a few established ROM distro's, and by distro I mean mature code base with good coding practices and version controls, and a goodly number of regular contributing developers (not just "bob" when he feels like it).

The ROMs mentioned in an earlier post meet the good criteria. There are others too, but as an IT guy who's friends turn to for these things, these are the ROMs I'll guide them to because it causes them, and in turn, me very few to no headaches.

Your milage may vary (YMMV).

Cheers,

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

mmmelissa — Tue, 01 May 2018 16:33:39 GMT

Perhaps one of you can help me with my S5. I put LineageOS on it and it couldnt detect the network. So I restored from my Sprint backup, and it now has also lost the ability to detect the network. I am guessing that when I backed up the Sprint Android OS, that I missed backing up some sort of configuration. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

mmmelissa — Tue, 01 May 2018 16:34:52 GMT

(I should mention my SIM still works in another phone)

@mmmelissa wrote:
Perhaps one of you can help me with my S5. I put LineageOS on it and it couldnt detect the network. So I restored from my Sprint backup, and it now has also lost the ability to detect the network. I am guessing that when I backed up the Sprint Android OS, that I missed backing up some sort of configuration. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

koimr1 — Tue, 01 May 2018 16:48:27 GMT

@mmmelissa wrote:
(I should mention my SIM still works in another phone)
@mmmelissa wrote:
Perhaps one of you can help me with my S5. I put LineageOS on it and it couldnt detect the network. So I restored from my Sprint backup, and it now has also lost the ability to detect the network. I am guessing that when I backed up the Sprint Android OS, that I missed backing up some sort of configuration. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.

Do you mean it doesn't see Public Mobile at all or just mobile data doesn't work (and calls/texting do work)?

Edit: Has your S5 ever worked with PM? I ask as you mention Sprint so I'm taking that to mean this phone was originally on the Sprint network in the US - Sprint uses CDMA and generally phones from Sprint and Verizon are incompatible with other carriers that use GSM. I say generally as there's always exceptions, of course. 🙂

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

mmmelissa — Tue, 01 May 2018 16:49:18 GMT

It doesnt seem to see public mobile at all. Texts dont work. Neither do voice calls. Dont know about data, bucause I dont have that on my plan.

Thanks.

Re: ANDROID PHONES AND CUSTOM ROM/FIRMWARE

brent_liza — Tue, 01 May 2018 16:50:14 GMT

I faced the same issue a while back. I found out a way, which at least worked for me.
Here is what I did:
Go to dialer, type #*#*4636*#*#.
Then tap on the first option.
Then tap on the 3 dots o the top right.
Select radio band as automatic.
This should solve the problem. If it doesn't install RR and repeat the above steps. There will be 2 automatic in RR, try both of them, 1 should work.