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deanb
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So while I like the look of SenseUI and the weather/clock widget I'm getting pretty pissed off with it's recent habit of just pausing the entire loader (limiting me to the 6 most recently used Apps)

So while I had been wary of doing it I'm now looking into sticking on a new ROM. CyagenMod seems to be the big one. Also I'm wondering if it'd be posisble to upgrade to 2.2 as well.

At the moment I'm on a 2.1 HTC Wildfire. I'm gonna look into if theres a CyagenMod ROM for my phone. I think there is. (so no need to ask "is there even a version for your phone?")

 

Any particular downsides. Like can I still get on the Android Market, what happens if Virgin decide to eventually do the OTA 2.2 update? Will that wipe my phone?

Also how'd you back up a phone and should shit go wrong, reload it all back on?

 

edIt: loked up, there is a Cyanogen version for my phone. 2.2 aswell. Also seems I've spelt cyanogen mod wrong throughout this post :P

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well, give us some impressions when you get a chance.

 

Samsung isn't making things easy on the CM devs, to the point where the SGS isn't currently officially supported by CM.

 

I keep hearing its the best custom rom out there, also being completely AOSP. Better battery life, neat features (like the unlock gestures in CM6), more responsive.

 

The other great thing about CM and other custom roms is they give new life and support to devices that have been abandoned by their manufacturers. Not getting an official Froyo / Gingerbread update? Look to your dev community.

 

I'll probably never see an official 2.2 update for my AT&T Captivate, but I'm running 2.2 on it anyway. 2.3 is being worked on atm as well.

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I'm trying to find out how to take screen caps. I thought it was built into the ROM,but seems it's an App. Just I can't find this docap2 thing.

Right a quick search on the market site netted me something else.

 

Anywho:

snap20110207_190055.png

 

I liked HTC's black notification bar, I kind of managed to get that back to black, but it's also made the actual notifications black, which is a bit fucked up cos it's black text on black background. And the space with no notifications is semi-transparent. So yeah the notification bar is pretty fucked up, but it also has the Power Strip built in, which saves me putting a widget on the front (though the power strip here lacks the screen brightness button)

I guess I'll replace this when I get a notification I can show. Also I've just noticed that apparently at some point I made the time go black too. Fuck. But I think I can find out how to change that.

 

I've since found out that the keyboard I used to have is HTCs own and oh my how I miss it.

 

snap20110207_190051.png

 

My phone now tells the date, which is cool.

Also you can dock stuff to the bottom bar, which also means some free home space. I've gone down from SenseUI's defualt 7 home screens, where I only used 5, down to 3. And I can add and remove more at any point which is cool.

 

snap20110207_190135.png

 

Winamp is my media player of choice, and while I used to have the lock screen option on, this now includes media controls in the lock screen by default, which is good cos Winamps lockscreen replacement was pretty clunky. No Track Title mind, but I can figure it out a couple seconds into a song.

 

Also Seesmic seems to have stopped updating. I'm having to manually update it each time.

 

 

The main reason for the change was becasue my phone used to crash n freeze, so as long as that stops (time will tell) then this is great. But yeah some of the things I've had to give up haven't been 100% as awesome n polished as HTC's ROM.

Since it's semi-simple to hop between ROM's I might have a look at some more in future. Just Cyanogen mod is the main one, so it's like going with Ubuntu on first shot of Linux, then finding you like Mint.

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1. You can change the notification colors in Settings > Cyanogen Settings > User Interface. You can change pretty much everything about the notification bar there. You can also add more options to the widget bar.

 

2. You should be able to find the HTC keyboard over at XDA. You have to flash it in (maybe you can install it like an app, I don't remember), but it isn't hard. I'll go see if I can find it.

 

3. You should check out some skins for Cyanogen. I've been using some Gingerbread look alike one for a while now. I really like it. Or you can make your own skins. I haven't dabbled in that yet, so I can't help you there.

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Yeah for point 1 that's how I got the main bar black. Thing is I want the actual shade to be white/grey-ish.

 

Also, no proper torch(flashlight) app. It's either

or nothing. My old HTC app had the way to go through 3 brightness levels.

 

edit: managed to make the Shade go grey. Woot.

 

Anyword on the HTC keyboard just drop it in. I hate the Cyanogen one.

 

as for skins, I've been looking at some of them. The ADW ones? The default one seems okay. Not even on PC have I been a fan of themes.

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Since the Galaxy S line up isn't supported by CM thanks to Samsung, I'm currently running Cognition 3.04. It's not AOSP ROM, its a ROM built / tweaked off Touchwiz. 3.0 uses the official 2.2 update for the Canadian / Rogers version of Captivates, with all the settings / locale changed for Americans. So far its worked rather well for me, its just nice having 2.2

 

I'm debating trying out Phoenix, because it's built off a leaked 2.2.1 update

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htc (and hell, even motorola with the Droid 1) has the nice habit of releasing sources for the hardware / software updates something Samsung is not doing, except for with the Euro Galaxy S (I9000). This is preventing the developers from making CM work with the Galaxy S devices, especially since each one has different features / lacking features.

 

The Galaxy S phones have top notch hardware, the software behind it sucks (as evidenced in the difference between the Galaxy S and Nexus S), and there is basically no support (with the exception of the Vibrant and Euro GS), with the GS2 coming out.

 

 

As for choosing roms, it's all based on what you are looking for. Right now I just want something stable and running 2.2. In my case cognition is built off an official 2.2 release, so I'm going with that.

 

 

 

... and maybe I'm misunderstanding what you are asking.

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CyanogenMod isn't supported on my phone (a ZTE Blade - which is awesome: 480*800 amoled screen for £90!) but they're working on it. At the moment I am using Japanese Jellyfish which is 2.2 though anything was a welcome improvement over all the evil orange bloat that came with it.

 

Can anyone answer a question for me: if I pay for an app on the market is it linked to my google account so, if for example I install a new ROM or even buy a new phone will I be able to redownload the paid app or will I have to buy it again? Thanks,

 

Joe

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  • 1 month later...

I'm using CM7 (aosp) on my LG Optimus V:

 

Gq1P1.pngKo24f.png6cgAe.pngkOa2q.png

 

Really nice. Over and underclocked based on demand. I've been using swipepad + simi folder to get around. With swipepad you set a region around the edge somewhere and it brings up a menu when you move your finger over it for a second:

 

84UcP.png

 

I leave a blank space just incase I activate it. It works within a lot of programs too which is really convenient. The games and tools are my simi folders which when on my desktop they open like iphone folders so this just does that without actually placing the folder (so i get this floating display of apps)

 

The electron beam effect when the screen goes on and off is really nice. The lock screen is great, too. I have mine customized where a down swipe takes me to foursquare places for a quick check in. I use wallpaper rotator to well... rotate the wallpaper every hour.

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