Good ROMs for Optimus S

[epidenimus]

Welcome! It all depends what you want and how much time you are willing to put in. A few tips:

1. DO NOT use ROM Manager. I will smack you and your momma if you do. And you won't be able to call anyone to complain, so just avoid the pain, shunning, solitude and misery altogether.
2. Figure out what baseband you have and act accordingly. This affects what rooting method you apply and also what ROMs you can install without reverting/upverting.
3. Install Xionia custom recovery. There really is no other option, so consider this choice a simple one on a device that gets a lot of options and attention.

The baseband thing explained:
ZVD with Froyo 2.2.2 was the last stable and reliable release. Everything works with this. After excessive months of rumors and speculation waiting for a closed-source release of the radio, LG and Sprint produced a half-assed, untested and occasionally brilliant release, ZVH with Gingerbread 2.3 libraries. Total success with it is getting about 92% of everything to work as expected. Many folks are happy to stay with ZVD, because everything still works. There are guides on this forum to "upgrade" as well as downgrade, so play around.

If you have ZVH, go with Your Mom ROM or gROM.

If you have or get to ZVD, go with Reborn or sROM, which are very solid and featured. I do not know your experience, but CM7 builds are often phenominal, and we have a few great devs devoted to it. However, it is a little buggy still and many people find its expanded options to be too much. It's all about preference.

 

[Howard1685]

I use the mom rom it's pretty good has a couple of issues that still need fixing but over I give it a 9 out of 10.

 

[jmrwbilly]

Loved your Mom ROM when I had it..went back to cm7...think I'm sticking with it until cm7 is ported on vh

 

[jstntp]

I use the mom rom it's pretty good has a couple of issues that still need fixing but over I give it a 9 out of 10.

I'm going to work on a new update for Your Mom here in the near future, would you mind posting those couple of issues you noticed that need fixing in the ROM thread?

 

[Dennola4]

Ok, here's my deal. New to Android, but not Linux. Got a free LG Optimus S (ZVD), read about it, rooted it with one-click, installed xionia, flashed RebornROM (then dutifully donated), made nandroid and Titanium back-ups on both device and laptop, and am now looking to move to either HydroROM or one of the CM7 builds.

I can't stop hearing about CM7, but the HyrdoROM project also looks promising. What I am hoping to find (and will donate to) is a full-featured, highly configurable, un-buggy ROM that is supported by committed devs with a conservative approach and long-range vision that recognizes "stable" as more important than "bleeding-edge".

Basically I'm looking for the ROM that would be best described as the "Slackware" of ROMs. (And I am NOT trying to incite a flame-war...just asking for honest and fair insights to help me choose the right ROM for my needs).

Any input? If so, thanks in advance.

-Dennis in New Orleans

 

[darkavenger]

Thanks to our great devs here, CM7 is extremely stable and insanely versatile. I just switched to Kraven's from drew's and love it. I found a few tweaks to get hdpi ics theme running along with setcpu and a few other mics things gives a jaw dropping ROM. HydroRom looks great but isn't out yet

 

[mike9670]

Team Hydro is awesome.

 

[epidenimus]

Ok, here's my deal. New to Android, but not Linux. Got a free LG Optimus S (ZVD), read about it, rooted it with one-click, installed xionia, flashed RebornROM (then dutifully donated), made nandroid and Titanium back-ups on both device and laptop, and am now looking to move to either HydroROM or one of the CM7 builds.

I can't stop hearing about CM7, but the HyrdoROM project also looks promising. What I am hoping to find (and will donate to) is a full-featured, highly configurable, un-buggy ROM that is supported by committed devs with a conservative approach and long-range vision that recognizes "stable" as more important than "bleeding-edge".

Basically I'm looking for the ROM that would be best described as the "Slackware" of ROMs. (And I am NOT trying to incite a flame-war...just asking for honest and fair insights to help me choose the right ROM for my needs).

Any input? If so, thanks in advance.

-Dennis in New Orleans

It's an awkward place where we are with this device. I really wish Sprint/LG hadn't put out this botched update.

They all have bugs, it's only a question of what gives you the features you want and bugs you the least.

The least buggy, stablest ROMs where everything works are still the Sprint-based ZVD ROMs. You don't get all the customization that you would with CM7, but they have some features that CM7 lacks, at least out of the box.

Reborn ROM is solid and featured. However, it is no longer in active development. Nick7 does post fixes sometimes, so I wouldn't call it completely dead. Everything works, including wireless tether, overclocking, and roaming control. Think of it like LinuxMint 10.04.

sROM is great, too, and scrosler pushes updates to it when needed. It does not add as many features as Reborn, but it definitely stable looks great, and everything worked just fine the last time I had it running. PCLinuxOS?

CM7 is lean and quick, actively developed, and full of customization options. However, it tends to be buggy and lacks some things you may want to have working on your Optimus. GPS Navigation, the handset mic while headset plugged in, EAS bypass not enabled... It's gotten a lot better lately though. You should definitely flash it and experience it yourself before jumping to ZVH. Think of Fedora.

The ZVH base is where most of the devs here are focused, despite its fundamental flaws. I cannot comment much on those ROMs as I didn't keep ZVH on my device for long. Team Hydro is developing some killer stuff and I am really looking forward to playing with it.

 

[darkavenger]

CM7 is lean and quick, actively developed, and full of customization options. However, it tends to be buggy and lacks some things you may want to have working on your Optimus. GPS Navigation, the handset mic while headset plugged in, EAS bypass not enabled... It's gotten a lot better lately though. You should definitely flash it and experience it yourself before jumping to ZVH.

CM7 is a lot better now. I believe the gps and handset issues have been fixed, I've never had a single issue. Not sure about EAS bypass. I think the latest kraven cm7 is the most 'stable' in the fact that not only does everything work, it works well and is fast. Having the ICS theme helps too as I find it easier to navigate since more stuff will fit on the screen now.

The ZVH base is where most of the devs here are focused, despite its fundamental flaws. I cannot comment much on those ROMs as I didn't keep ZVH on my device for long. Team Hydro is developing some killer stuff and I am really looking forward to playing with it.

+1 I took ZVH off my optimus on day one of trying it. I'm sure HydroRom will rock when it comes out though. Our devs here are outstanding.

 

[Dennola4]

Thanks to all for the feedback, epidenimus in particular for the very thorough breakdown, complete with analogies only a distro-whore would appreciate.

After consideration I think I will stay with ZVD on this device and continue to use Reborn until Hydro is out of beta and has seen a few incarnations. I'll probably flash CM7 just to know what it's all about, but I am satisfied with the functionality of Reborn at the moment.

Question: If I understand correctly, ZVH was the flawed update of ZVD. Does that mean that if we wait long enough it will be replaced by yet another (hopefully unsucky) update? If so, why not just hold off the way many XP users held off for Windows7 and avoided Vista altogether?

Off-topic: SalixOS 13.1 Xfce is the distro that stopped my distro-hopping.

 

[aaronrw]

Thanks to all for the feedback, epidenimus in particular for the very thorough breakdown, complete with analogies only a distro-whore would appreciate.

After consideration I think I will stay with ZVD on this device and continue to use Reborn until Hydro is out of beta and has seen a few incarnations. I'll probably flash CM7 just to know what it's all about, but I am satisfied with the functionality of Reborn at the moment.

Question: If I understand correctly, ZVH was the flawed update of ZVD. Does that mean that if we wait long enough it will be replaced by yet another (hopefully unsucky) update? If so, why not just hold off the way many XP users held off for Windows7 and avoided Vista altogether?

Off-topic: SalixOS 13.1 Xfce is the distro that stopped my distro-hopping.

Yes and no. In my experience the Zvh sprint zip blew but once I rooted, recovery and now Yourmom Rom and the v8 kernel my phone is unleashed. Cm7 was cool but not Android feeling to me.

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk

 

[epidenimus]

Question: If I understand correctly, ZVH was the flawed update of ZVD. Does that mean that if we wait long enough it will be replaced by yet another (hopefully unsucky) update? If so, why not just hold off the way many XP users held off for Windows7 and avoided Vista altogether?

Correct, ZVH was an update to ZVD, which was supposed to bring Android 2.3 Gingerbread from 2.2 Froyo to our device. We are all certainly hoping that they will issue a corrected update, but we waited too long for this one and we know that the Optimus S is not the big new thing for LG or Sprint anymore. So who knows.

Off-topic: SalixOS 13.1 Xfce is the distro that stopped my distro-hopping.

Hmm... I've read about that one, but I haven't tried it. I settled on Sabayon some time ago, shortly after they went to Entropy and binaries. I'll have to give yours a spin.

Yes and no. In my experience the Zvh sprint zip blew but once I rooted, recovery and now Yourmom Rom and the v8 kernel my phone is unleashed. Cm7 was cool but not Android feeling to me.

An analogy involving lipstick and a pig come to mind, but what our devs do is more like liposuction, a makeover and glamour shots... And okay, I'll bite on your CM7 comment: What do you mean "not Android feeling?" Given that CM7 is an AOSP, it is more definitive of FOSS and pure Android in its nature.

 

[Dennola4]

epidenimus:

Correct, ZVH was an update to ZVD, which was supposed to bring Android 2.3 Gingerbread from 2.2 Froyo to our device. We are all certainly hoping that they will issue a corrected update, but we waited too long for this one and we know that the Optimus S is not the big new thing for LG or Sprint anymore. So who knows.

I see. All the more reason to stick to my game plan: ZVD/Reborn until ZVH/Hydro is up and has the kinks are worked out.

Even if no one were to actively update the VD ROMs, as long as they work there doesn't seem to be any variable that could unfavorably alter the present functionality of my device. I mean, apps which currently work should still work.....the only thing I can see possibly being an issue might be slews of newer apps coming out that only work for the newer builds. Or am I off the mark?

I guess what I'm asking is: if I were to decide to stick with, let's say, Reborn or CM7 (thus VD), for the rest of time I have my Optimus S, will there be a point at which the ROM itself becomes obsoleted and unusable? If so, what do you guess that shelf-life figure to be. Again, just theoretically...nothing I'd hold you to.

 

[darkavenger]

Well, you could stick with CM7/Reborn with no issue and stay on ZVD for the remainder of your phone's life. ZVH or the next update will probably be our phone's last. The optimus was advertised as 2.3 upgradable and they have followed through, however, that is probably as far as official development will go. I doubt any serious updates will follow.

I kind of know what you mean about the android 'feel' thing, but that's only because on CM7 I have everything the way I want it and not the way it was originally designed. I guess the way we setup our phones(generally) on these forums might be a bit much for a lot of 'normal' people to take in. Original android is easy and just works, but I'd rather have every control at my fingers even if it means taking the time to learn and get everything setup.

Dennola4: Since you have reborn running, nand and titanium backup(using batch mode is quick) and then try kraven's CM7 + setCPU. You can always restore reborn via recovery with no effort.

 

[aaronrw]

I realize what cm7 is derived from but my stock based Rom just seems more native to me. But all the neat stuff baked into cm7 ie settings and lockscreen functioning is REALLY nice

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk

 

[Dennola4]

Dennola4: Since you have reborn running, nand and titanium backup(using batch mode is quick) and then try kraven's CM7 + setCPU. You can always restore reborn via recovery with no effort.

Holy hell. This is excellent.