Ok, should I go the ROM route?

[dead78]

I've had the Epic since November when I gave up on the Palm Pre. Ever since Froyo, I've been consistently unhappy with the performance of this phone. The battery life is very poor, apps run sluggishly and signal strength is middling. Overall, I'm just not too happy with the Epic anymore. For whatever reason, I've been reluctant to go the ROM route - mostly out of fear that I'll break something, I suppose.

I guess what I'm asking is, at this point, should I continue to use this phone with stock Froyo or try something else? Will I notice considerable improvements if I switch from stock Froyo?

Please, be patient with me as I've really no experience with running anything but OTA builds.

Thank you for your time.

 

[ratsttam]

The issues you are experiencing are the main reason that we meddle with the phones like we do. If the phone worked great stock and roms didn't do anything to improve on it, nobody would bother. There are quite a few custom roms that just work GREAT. Some are built for speed, others are built to have incredible battery life, nothing is "perfect" for everyone. Once you're rooted, swapping roms around is a trivial matter (make a backup in recovery mode, and you can roll back to your previous state in just a few minutes!)

What features are you looking to most improve on? I've found stock 2.2 ec05 to be pretty stable with decent battery life, the leaked stock 2.3 ef02 to be wicked fast with great battery life. Head on into the developer section here, and there is an index of roms, read up on each of them, and try them out for a few days each to find the one you like the most

To answer the question of "What do YOU run Ratsttam?", I run stock EC05 with the TwilightZone kernel, OC'd to 1.2ghz and a charger kept at work, home, and car

I personally would run 2.3 but I have a weird issue where all modems crash in low signal areas, will exchange if it does it when 2.3 lands official.

 

[dead78]

What features are you looking to most improve on? I've found stock 2.2 ec05 to be pretty stable with decent battery life, the leaked stock 2.3 ef02 to be wicked fast with great battery life. Head on into the developer section here, and there is an index of roms, read up on each of them, and try them out for a few days each to find the one you like the most

Battery life, primarily. I'm running stock Froyo and the battery life is abysmal. I experience significant battery drain even if I don't use the device at all. If I do use it for any length of time, forget it. This was the issue that had me running from the Palm Pre last year and I'm pretty disappointed to be encountering the same thing with another device.

I personally would run 2.3 but I have a weird issue where all modems crash in low signal areas, will exchange if it does it when 2.3 lands official.

I'm in low signal strength areas most of the time (I'm a Sprint customer; are there any consistent signal strength areas? ), and I've frequently dealt with unresponsive data on the Epic. In my house for example, where I have an Airvana, I've had to reboot my phone in times where I've been sitting just out of range of the Airvana and sit at about one bar of signal. Sometimes the data will just stop responding all together and I have to switch to WiFi. Maybe I should get the Epic checked out to see if there's something wrong with it.

 

[Paul627g]

Your best option is to read up on how to go about rooting your device and flashing custom ROMs. Really its an easy process once you get down to things and start to do it. You have to put in your mind that you will probably make a mistake or two, even freak out that you " bricked " your device which everyone goes through. Honestly the amount of " true hard bricks " that can not be recovered from is very very low. Were not even talking about 1% so I wouldn't concern yourself with this very much.

Take a look at the following threads, give them a good read over and feel free to ask any questions before attempting anything. We can help you along the way so you don't back yourself into a corner. Once you do decide to take the plunge and get it up and going you will find its a fun game of playing with custom ROMs, themes and kernels. Its a very satisfying time when you can simply flash a new theme and completely change the look of your phone and do things that you could never imagine on stock OS.

Epic 4G Rooting, ROMs, and Hacks

(This is where all the fun is.. )

[FAQ] Q & A on Rooting/ROMs/Methods ( A nice general guide I did answering many questions you may have )

[MOD][One Click Root]ClockworkMod 3.1.0.1[RFS & EXT4] (Credit XDA) (This is what you would use to root your device and install ClockWorkMod)

[Index] Froyo EC05 ROM's, Kernels, Themes & Mods 6/28/11 (I try to keep this list current but things are constantly added so its a tough chore to keep up with.. )

Any questions, please ask.. Don't feel overwhelmed I know its a lot to read and take it but it will all start to make sense after you sit down and start playing with it.

 

[dead78]

Hey, Paul. Thank you for the thoughtful response. I really appreciate your support. I am going to read through everything fairly carefully before deciding (and possibly attempting) this.

One thing I'd like to know is which ROMS/themes/kernels do you personally recommend?

 

[WesR6]

I like syndicate rom frozen. I run set cpu 100mhz to 1.2ghz "on demand" and can get a full day out of my battery. (8am-6pm) with moderate texting, talking and surfing android central. It is amazing how fast this phone can be without sprints bloatware running in the back ground.

I have tried other ROMS but find myself coming back to SFR. Like others have stated, you need to try them out and see what you like. I'm always playing with my phone wether it be roms/themes because if I dont like it I can restore to my past state using a CWM backup

 

[IAmSixNine]

I can sencond WesR6's notion that Syndicate Frozen Rom 1.1.1 with SetCPU is a great ROM to run.
Before i switched to my EVO 3D i was running that ROM on my EPIC for a while and was very happy with it.
I still have that device as my back up should i decide to switch back or if any failure happens to my 3D causing me to be with out it for any reason.

If your new to Rooting then ODIN will be your friend.
Also once you get the hang of Rooting and customizing your device remember to do a NAND back up.

 

[bigtimeweb]

I third on syndicate, but an easy way to start is with the Bonsai 4.1.1. They have a one click root called master key that you can download with it and everything is a breeze. Easy first rom to understand.

after you get rooted boot into CWM and do a backup. That way if you get lost you can always restore it.

 

[ANDROID__JUNKIE]

There are a ton of helpful videos out there for noob rooters and modders. For this phone I would check out qbking77 on youtube. He has detailed information and walk-throughs for everything you could possibly need to get started.

http://www.youtube.com/user/qbking77

 

[xalky]

I come from a palm pixi. Same here,l got frustrated with waiting for a new palm device. I got an epic and waisted no time rooting. I tried the bonzai rom , because it was supposedly easy, and "bricked" the phone 2 days after I got it brand new. Paul627 talked me off the ledge and bailed me out.

If you doctored your pre with WebOs Dr you can roo your phone with Odin, its fairly simple. I recccomend the Syndicate frozen rom 1.2, the latest. Follow gb kings video to the letter and you won't have a problem. Use the puse button on his video, because he's done it a million times and whips thru the procedure, but every detail of the procedure is there.

Do it exactly as he does and your phone will be dream. After doing that I loaded juice defender and a few other apps to Tweak it to my liking. This phone is incredible now.


Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[dead78]

If you doctored your pre with WebOs Dr you can roo your phone with Odin, its fairly simple. I recccomend the Syndicate frozen rom 1.2, the latest. Follow gb kings video to the letter and you won't have a problem. Use the puse button on his video, because he's done it a million times and whips thru the procedure, but every detail of the procedure is there.

I actually didn't use WebOS Dr until after I'd already purchased the Epic and needed to get my memos off the Pre and onto the Epic in one piece. The process was actually simple and I was sort of pissed that I hadn't done it months earlier. And thank you for also recommending qbkings video. One thing I noticed is that when he flashes to Syndicate, he's not using Odin but Clockwork Mod.


As a more general question for all of you: What sort of improvements have you noticed from your Epic since rooting?

 

[kevincwelch]

. As a more general question for all of you: What sort of improvements have you noticed from your Epic since rooting?

Faster. Can over clock as well.
Better battery life.
Many fewer FCs.
Can run programs requiring root access.
Themes
Removal of carrier iq -- creepy.

The phone is simply better.

 

[xalky]

One thing I noticed is that when he flashes to Syndicate, he's not using Odin but Clockwork Mod.

I can't remmember exactly how he did it, but idid it exactly the way he lays it out from strt to finish. There's one part for loading the new clockwork mod where there's an alternate method of loading thru odin, I used that. . Some people are afraid of odin but I actually prefer it.

Its impeerative to not skip any steps. Make sure you're starting from the same point, which I believe is stock ec05, in this case.

You might also have to load the prior CWM before loading to CWM 3.1.0.1. He spells it all out. ;-)

BTW: make sure you do the wipe the 3 data sections 3 times thru CWM once you get to that point.

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[dead78]

This is the clip I was going by:

YouTube - ‪How to flash SyndicateRom Frozen 1.2 on the Samsung Epic 4G‬‏

should I be using something else?

also, and please forgive this question, will I lose all contacts, calendar entries and existing apps?

 

[xalky]

It will back up all your data. When you click on the links at xda forums fwatured in the video, read those posts, especially for the CWM 3.1.0.1. You have to be already on a certain CWM to be able to ugrade to the latest cwm. If not, you'll need to load that cwm first, which is what I had to do.

The video shows you where to go, but pause the video, open a new window on your browser and read the posts on the links from the video. In case ...

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[xalky]

It all seems a little complicated at first but you'll figure it out as you go thru it.

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[xalky]

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1131544 this is the thread.

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[dead78]

thank you for the info. you folks who have rooted your phones using Clockwork, did you complete wipe all data from your phones and not attempt to restore it? I ask only because this message worried me a bit:

FYI, the EXT4 conversion script is not necessary if you are flashing a ROM that properly formats to EXT4, unless you plan to keep data (which isn't recommended coming from stock anyway, use MyBackup Root if you must).

this seems to suggest that if I wish to retain my contacts and apps and whatnot, it may be problematic for the operation of the phone. is this true?

also, I've never connected my Epic to my computer before. in one of qbkings videos, he mentions drivers that will enable my PC to recognize the Epic. Will I not be able to root w/out installing these drivers? Running XP SP3 on the PC btw.

 

[xalky]

You meed to backup to sd card before wiping. I dodnt have to do that because I was working on a new phone. Titanium backup seems to be mentioned around here.I've backed up but haven't had to restore yet.
I can't help much there.

a pc should add the drivers automatically when you plug in your phone. If not you'll need to get them from the samsung site and load them on your computer...


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[Paul627g]

You will need to download the Samsung drivers and install them on your PC which should be provided in whichever rooting thread your using.