Am I expecting too much?

[recDNA]

I've been lurking here and reading all I could since July. I really would like to root my phone. The thing is I see no reason to do it if I have to give up ANYTHING (besides my waranty).

Every rom seems to have issues not present in stock phones. I know these roms also offer many features not found in stock phones but I'm not willing to risk inability to use the telephone or the camera as they should be used (and of course other roms have other issues).

All roms offer advantages over stock (like titanium backup etc) but is there or will there ever be a rooted rom with NO issues not found in stock phones? I had hoped.with stock gb available now that could actually happen?

 

[steve0617]

I've been lurking here and reading all I could since July. I really would like to root my phone. The thing is I see no reason to do it if I have to give up ANYTHING (besides my waranty).

Every rom seems to have issues not present in stock phones. I know these roms also offer many features not found in stock phones but I'm not willing to risk inability to use the telephone or the camera as they should be used (and of course other roms have other issues).

All roms offer advantages over stock (like titanium backup etc) but is there or will there ever be a rooted rom with NO issues not found in stock phones? I had hoped.with stock gb available now that could actually happen?

I felt the exact same way which is why I didn't root at all until last week when I got fed up waiting for VZW to release GB. As a n00b, I was also intimidated about the dozens of ROMS and all the patches and options. I read the threads and lots of people said excellent things about the Bamf Forever 1.06 ROM. So I crossed my fingers and jumped in.

I rooted with Revolutionary (following the Nate Mill YouTube videos: nat3mil's Channel - YouTube ) then I flashed Bamf Forever 1.06. All worked perfectly.

However, the two things I found were the VM notifications and the Effects option on the Gallery were both busted. They have now been repaired with a simply flash:

VM: Multiupload.com - upload your files to multiple file hosting sites!

Effects in Gallery: http://forums.androidcentral.com/th...rever-1-0-6-build-2-11-605-0-gallery-fix.html

I have found nothing that I use with 1.06 and the two patches that doesn't work from a stock ROM.

Does that mean that every last app out there also works perfectly? Probably not, but I have 105 apps on my phone and I have yet to find one that doesn't work. All the things that pissed me off about the stock ROM are gone now. I actually like this phone now.

 

[Mortiel]

I've been lurking here and reading all I could since July. I really would like to root my phone. The thing is I see no reason to do it if I have to give up ANYTHING (besides my waranty).

Every rom seems to have issues not present in stock phones. I know these roms also offer many features not found in stock phones but I'm not willing to risk inability to use the telephone or the camera as they should be used (and of course other roms have other issues).

All roms offer advantages over stock (like titanium backup etc) but is there or will there ever be a rooted rom with NO issues not found in stock phones? I had hoped.with stock gb available now that could actually happen?

All software will have issues, for any phone anytime. Sorry, it will happen. Stock or custom. You just have to find what's easy to fix, or what you can live with...

Keep in mind rooting just opens up possibilities. You can so choose to root and keep stock software.

However some AOSP ROMs (plain, vanilla Android), such as Cyanogen, have significant improvement to the Thunderbolt's usually abysmal battery life.

Other ROMs, such as BAMF Forever or BAMF SoaB, give you newer versions of HTC Sense likely to not be seen on the Thunderbolt.

Regardless of what you do while just flashing ROMs, as long as you make a nandroid backup via your phone's recovery after you root before you flash a custom ROM, you can always restore that backup and no harm done! Overclocking the CPU until it melts down, however, is not so easy to fix.

 

[recDNA]

The plain vanilla roms interest me most. I'd basically like a droid 1 that has a faster processor and lte. I'm one of the few who doesn't like sense.

Because I know so little about writing roms or how they work it baffles me the cm7 warns more problems than bamf forever. It includes some issues I'm not willing to deal with.

I don't expect perfection (stock isn't perfect) but I'm not willing to accept a single problem not found in stock rom. Call be a baby but I don't want to flash fixes either. Can't the fixes be included and part of the rom?

 

[project.in.process]

The plain vanilla roms interest me most. I'd basically like a droid 1 that has a faster processor and lte. I'm one of the few who doesn't like sense.

Because I know so little about writing roms or how they work it baffles me the cm7 warns more problems than bamf forever. It includes some issues I'm not willing to deal with.

I don't expect perfection (stock isn't perfect) but I'm not willing to accept a single problem not found in stock rom. Call be a baby but I don't want to flash fixes either. Can't the fixes be included and part of the rom?

yes, fixes can be included as part of the ROM
but that would require larger downloads. it's easier to download updates (~3MB) than full ROMs (~260-309MB)
many Dev's will actually create the initial version of their ROM, release small patches as needed, then update the version of the ROM.
for instance, they'd go from 1.0 ROM to 1.0.1 (patch only, requires 1.0 ROM), 1.0.2 (patch only, requires 1.0 ROM download) 1.0.3 (patch only,1.0 requires ROM download)
to
2.0 (Full ROM with previous patches included as permanent fix) to 2.1 & so on.

any ROM will necessitate flashing patches/mods. there's always some bug being found (camera lag, camera audio, GPS, drop down menu, etc) and the Devs will create a quick patch to address it instead of re-releasing the entire ROM.

if you're not willing to flash patches/mods, then i honestly bid you good luck finding one to work flawlessly. cheers!

 

[recDNA]

Ya, that's what I was afraid of. Every additional step (like flashing radios and fixes) geometrically increases the probability I will mess up and brick my phone. I'm not one who is interested in nightlies and as I said I prefer no sense to new versions of sense so rooting isn't for me. I want to do it once and be done with it. Obviously, that isn't possible. I lnow myself well enough to know i'll screw it up.

Thanks

 

[fatboy97]

Interesting that you think the Verizon ROM has no issues... do you remember MR1, or MR2... don't you think they fixed something??? Or the new Voice Mail issue in the GB OTA.

 

[recDNA]

I specifically said it has issues. I simply don't want a new rom with other issues not in stock rom. The point for me would be to reduce or eliminate issues rather than substitute one set for another.

For example I would never even consider a rom in which the camera doesn't work or the phone sometimes cannot be answered or nfl live doesn't work.

Its a philosphical problem I have (and I do know it is MY problem)
I would prefer a team of developers to cintinue to work on one rom until they got it as stable and trouble free as humanly possible, then incorporate all necessary fixes within that rom, then put it out there.

That would be my primary, backed up, "safe" rom. Then if I felt like playing I could flash a different one knowing I could always count on my first rom when I really need everything on the phone to work.

The problem is this would be hard, boring work for developers. Much more fun to play with new stuff. Since these developers work only for donations I can hardly blame.them for prefering to explore new worlds rather than perfecting some older edition.

It is obvious to me that these development teams are talented programmers who outshine those paid by htc. I admire and thank them for all their work. I simply crave a more perfectly functional rom than one incoorporating fun new features.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

I specifically said it has issues. I simply don't want a new rom with other issues not in stock rom. The point for me would be to reduce or eliminate issues rather than substitute one set for another.

For example I would never even consider a rom in which the camera doesn't work or the phone sometimes cannot be answered or nfl live doesn't work.

Its a philosphical problem I have (and I do know it is MY problem)
I would prefer a team of developers to cintinue to work on one rom until they got it as stable and trouble free as humanly possible, then incorporate all necessary fixes within that rom, then put it out there.

That would be my primary, backed up, "safe" rom. Then if I felt like playing I could flash a different one knowing I could always count on my first rom when I really need everything on the phone to work.

The problem is this would be hard, boring work for developers. Much more fun to play with new stuff. Since these developers work only for donations I can hardly blame.them for prefering to explore new worlds rather than perfecting some older edition.

It is obvious to me that these development teams are talented programmers who outshine those paid by htc. I admire and thank them for all their work. I simply crave a more perfectly functional rom than one incoorporating fun new features.

To the OP:

Stock or custom, all ROMs have bugs...the difference is that ROM devs are usually able to fix bugs and release fixes faster than Big Red can.

In response to the section I bolded in your above post (emphasis mine): I'm not familiar with EVERY dev team out there. I have primarily run BAMF ROMs since my Thunderbolt adventure began. While the BAMF team tends to never get any ROMs out of a "beta" classification, I assure you, they've had quite a few VERY stable ROMs every step of the way. Their currently flagship ROM, BAMF Forever, is as stable as they come. ADR has stated that it will probably get to at least version 1.0.7 before development is put to rest, but at this point, we're really only looking at very minor fixes. My point is, BAMF Forever 1.0.6 fits your description to a tee. This is my "safe" ROM. This also isn't just a base OS with some extra apps and themes tossed on top of it -- it is a fully functional ROM, based off of the current GB release, with a TON of fixes and custom code, made by developers that worked like crazy with those of us that installed the early version(s) to tweak and fix the ROM until everything was working perfectly. It is what the OTA Gingerbread should have been, IMO. It took a long time before it was ready to be released, and since it has, the team has worked very hard to perfect it.

There are undoubtedly a few other ROMs that can live up to that classification as well. Of course there are also a lot of ROMs out there that are rough around the edges. I share your view, and I simply don't install those ROMs -- it doesn't take very long to read through a thread and see what works and what doesn't, and make an informed decision as to whether a ROM is right for you or not. (and with Nandroid, it takes only minutes to revert even if I do install a busted ROM).

I understand you're wanting to try out some vanilla or AOSP ROMs, and I say why not?!? But if you're not familiar with the entire process, I do usually recommend flashing a Sense-based ROM first, just to familiarize yourself with the process without having additional variables involved.

 

[recDNA]

But even with the forever rom there are still additional fixes to flash right? I'm suggesting developers go back when all of those fixes have been worked out and incorporate them into a single.rom install. Could the most stable radio even be included in the installation?
If possible to build one virtually bug free I wouldn't even care if it was froyo.

 

[paintdrinkingpete]

But even with the forever rom there are still additional fixes to flash right? I'm suggesting developers go back when all of those fixes have been worked out and incorporate them into a single.rom install. Could the most stable radio even be included in the installation?
If possible to build one virtually bug free I wouldn't even care if it was froyo.

1. There are 3 potential patches to install:

- the 2.1 answer screen (if you have the call answer bug)
- the email patch for Exchange HTML email
- the voicemail notification patch

The first one will remain optional, some prefer the Sense 3.0 answer screen, some people prefer to downgrade, especially if they have a specific bug that causes phone to not allow to answer calls. The other 2 will probably be included in the next version (which they have hinted is just about ready to go). Patching fixes immediately allows us to fix specific issues without having to wait for full updates, most of us appreciate that.

Everything else available are just optional mods, that you can install or not install...that's up to you.

Most of these "bugs" FYI are not ROM specific, they are OS specific (in other words, they are present on the stock ROM as well...but there is no patch being released to fix them)

Radios cannot be included with or installed with ROMs, it is simply not possible.

I honestly don't a think a "virtually bug free" ROM has EVER been released...for any device, stock or custom. Nature of the beast. One thing for sure, staying with stock OS to avoid bugs is a bit naive. Many of the custom ROMs I've run (including BAMF 1.0.6) have many LESS bugs than the stock software...and when bugs do pop up, they are fixed faster by the ROM devs than it takes for Verizon to release an OS update to fix anything wrong with their ROMs (which are still usually a huge disappointment by the time they are released).

 

[recDNA]

Perhaps so....but I've never been unable to answer the phone nor take a picture. (Bugs found in some roms) Some bugs are worse than others and they tend to be in custom roms.

My only stock issue has been data connectivity which though incredibly annoying is nothing compared to a ring you can't answer. I would worry that bug would pop out at just the wrong time.

I understand the reason for fixes being offered. I just wish developers.would.always return to their roms to incorporporate the fixes so the next person who downloads has fewer bugs to fix.

I have vzw visual vm now and nfl live. I wouldn't want to lose them. Other key apps.are.xfinity and hbo go. No way to know if these will work.

Again I don't mean to seem ungrateful to developers. I'd just prefer the closest thing to a bug free rom and that would.likely require continuing to support a rom for a couple of years

I'm not trying to talk anybody else out of rooting. If I could afford to have one tbolt as a toy and another as a tool (working phone) I'd root too. As you can tell I'm anxious to try. The final impediment is that unrooting with revolutionary looks tricky and difficult to me. If a factory reset undid a root I would have done it by now.

If a bug free rom is truly impossible to achieve there is something fundamentally wrong with the hardware or the operating system or both.

The only bug I remember in my og droid was its lack of voice dialing capability. Since it is a function I never use the droid seemed bug free to me.....but of course i like LTE speed.

 

[nate44]

Only way to know for sure unless you try it out yourself. It's not a death wish, you can always go back to boring stock

 

[ryan1972]

Only way to know for sure unless you try it out yourself. It's not a death wish, you can always go back to boring stock

Im with Nate. Sheesh! Just root already! Have some fun man...

 

[rcmarks314]

Hey recDNA PM sent.

 

[soundgard]

if you're worried about bricking your phone and don't like sense, install go launcher or launcherpro.

i, personally, have installed almost every rom available and practically every mod or patch to go along with them. i'm constantly flashing new radios and kernels as well. clearing my phone's cache and dalvik are second nature and i have quite a bit of fun doing it. i am a geek, though .. my career even involves corporate networking.

so if you're not going to do it for the lulz .. just stick with stock and wait for the OTA GB update which will be out relatively soon.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

Could the most stable radio even be included in the installation?

Short answer: No.
Long answer: Radios have to be flashed via the boot loader because of how they are signed by HTC. ROMs have to be flashed via a custom recovery because of how they are signed by the developer. There isn't a way to flash a radio through custom recovery anymore (used to be able to, but now you can't... no I don't know the exact answer). And since custom ROMs aren't signed by HTC, they can't be signed through the boot loader (but stock ROM's can... thats how the RUU works).

I personally don't see what the big deal is by flashing them separate. Both processes are fairly simple and don't take up much time. I have switched ROMs 3 times since I got to work at 7PM EST. I wanted to give the BAMF Forever a spin... now I'm back to my buggy AOSP ROM cause it runs better in some ways that I prefer.

 

[Antiseen]

You're expecting too much. I'm running bamf 1.07 and its more functional than the stock gb rom. Before that it was on par with the stock rom, only a lot smoother and more functional(sense 3.0 lockscreen).

The only rom i've wanted to try but never had is cm7. People rave about it, but all I'm reading are the glaring bugs.

Aside from that... Bamf roms and even gingeritis ran amazing and there was nothing that made me miss stock over them. Maybe voicemail notifications, but that's a bug of the past now.

Edit: its also easy to flash different roms and patches. Radios as well. The only part that you might brick your is when you're actually rooting it. You only do that once and its hard to mess it up. You have to go out of your way to be stupid.

After that, make backups and your fine. If anything goes awry, restoring a backup is quick and painless. The only other way to brick your phone is when flashing radios... And you don't do that often. Also, the chance is really low, lower than when you're rooting the phone(which is low to begin with) ... You have to do something stupid like pull the battery out in the middle of a flash.

 

[recDNA]

I sometimes read "md5" doesn't match. What does it mean and where would I look?

 

[Antiseen]

You can download various tools for whatever platform you're downloading the files too. I use windows, as well as an app on my phone to check md5 sums. Takes about 30 seconds, and have never run into a mismatch yet. So painless to do, it should always be done just to be extra sure.

Just search around and you'll find what you need.