[J4nu5]

I have an S3 and have an older TouchWiz based ROM that is mainly factory and still on baseband version VRLF2.

First of all, I'm not use if accepting the Verizon OTA updates will affect my root or not. I haven't been accepting them because I dislike what the actual update does regardless of how it affects my root. I'm also not a huge fan of TouchWiz home screen and it's functionality and so I use my own 3rd party home screen application, but I would love to see some of the features the Note 2 software has on my Galaxy S3.

I've done some reading and I know there isn't any ROM yet for Verizon that does the Multiwindow. Are there other ROMs you could recommend that function quickly and efficiently for the S3 and that allow me to keep my universal search feature. Also, is it worth going to the latest Verizon update for the phone and how will that affect everything else and my root? Sorry, I'm not the most knowledgeable about this.

Thank you for the help.

[J4nu5]

Hey, sorry to bump my own post.

My girlfriend's S3 just updated to Android 4.1.1 with baseband VRBLK3. There doesn't seem to be too much different with this except for some of the settings menus and stupid hints popping up everywhere. How does this version actually compare to the VRLF2 with all the stuff that isn't obviously apparent?

What's your favorite ROM for as close to stock appearance with good functionality. I don't want to be messing with the version I have or with the modems if I don't have to. Before rooting I got the update after VRLF2 and my phone basically lost all 4G, was stuck in 3G mode and couldn't even get a signal to make a phone call in San Francisco/San Jose/Fremont which is why I rooted and went back to VRLF2.

[rvhighway]

What's your favorite ROM for as close to stock appearance with good functionality.

I think there are two main choices out there, CleanROM and Synergy. I've run them both and like both. They've also provided reliable functionality for me, both in os performance and radio performance.

As you obviously know, the os is seperate from the radio, rpm and kernel. For example, you can change the os, but keep your older radio. In fact, you can flash whatever radios you want. There's a site to download all the different versions that come out. So, you are free to leave your radio alone and change your os as many times as you want.

Currently, CleanROMs latest version is based off the latest K3 official os release. Synergy on the other hand, has been based on the prior release, but their K3 update is expected either tomorrow or Wednesday (according to the dev).

CleanROM also recommends that stock kernel. There is no other kernel packaged with the os when you download it. On the other hand, Synergy is packaged with a modified kernel by Ziggy. When you download the Synergy ROM, the kernel will be changed.

I happen to be running the latest CleanROM release at the moment. However, I have installed the Ziggy kernel. It can be downloaded seperate from the Synergy ROM. I've found that it give me better battery performance and faster os operation than the stock kernel.

If I had to choose between the two, I would say that I prefer Synergy. I can't really say why I prefer it. They both work great. Maybe it's the fact that I installed Synergy first, before trying CleanROM, although many folks seem to be sold on CleanROM. However, I'll be reinstalling Synergy once the K3 base comes out in it.

I do happen to like one small little thing with Synergy that isn't found on CleanROM. Most people wouldn't even notice the difference. Synergy happens to kill much of the phone tracking Samsung stuff, at least by their own statements. It's evident by the phone status reported in the Settings section. In synergy, it's reported as stock. In cleanROM it's reported as modified.

Here's the dev links to the two ROMS:

Synergy-





CleanROM-





Ziggy Kernels-



Radios-



RPM-