CyanogenMod 7 vs Serendipity VII

[Alex.Kim]

Hey guys. I'm new to android, and was wondering what the main differences were between CM7 and Serendipity (specifically for my Captivate). Which one is better for a newbie? Which one is more advanced? Thanks for your support.

 

[ibejack96]

Ok... They're both Gingerbread-based. HOWEVER, CM7 is AOSP-based, which means it's based on what you would find on a stock Nexus phone. Serendipity VII is based on the i9000 Gingerbread update (European Galaxy S). The weird part of this is that to install any i9000-based Gingerbread ROM, you have to change your bootloaders, which I don't want to mess with because it's hard to get back for me because I have issues with odin, which is why I'm staying with CM7. I run the nightlies (the versions of the ROM that come out pretty much every day), and they're really stable for me, but sometimes there are bugs that are also usually fixed with the next Nightly. The "stable" version of CM7 is RC1 at the moment... I tried it but switched back to nightlies because I found bugs, and couldn't wait until RC2 comes out. Serendipity may be more stable, I don't know, I used Serendipity when it was froyo-based and LOVED it, but you may want to just use CM7 because of the stuff with the bootloaders. I hope this helps, and feel free to hit that "thanks" button if it does. Also, feel free to ask questions to clarify if I confused you.

 

[pittsm]

Good reply, pretty much sums it up.

I've been on both roms and I prefer serendipity by far. Its just way more stable with basically no issues.

Sent from my extremely awesome Captivate.

 

[ibejack96]

Here are some links to stuff that I was talking about:
Odin info
Installing bootloaders (couldn't find the thread here)
The reason I don't want to install the bootloaders is that I have a 1010 (see Odin stuff), and that to get back to normal bootloaders, you have to use the regular Odin, not the special one for 1010, and that would soft brick my phone, forcing me to make/buy a jig. Hope this also helps.

 

[loraque]

Also put a KF1 build, which is Captivate specific, into contention. Cognition or AtomicFusion would offer you Audience Chip support (Captivates have a special chip added that increases call quality... if it is used). They all have their quirks, but I would recommend KF1 to get actual Captivate modem support... just remember to unmount your EXT SD before restoring or installing apps on KF1, as it defaults to installing apps there. Which is bad. But that is pretty much it for my issues on it, speedy and reliable overall.

The i9000 ROMs are solid choices. A lot of community behind them, but I did have more problems on those builds than I do on i897 ones. I had a few odd problems, which were similar to the EXT SD problem above for the Captivate as well as enduring Launcher problems.

CM7 is tweak city. I had odd problems with it though, which I understand people still do, probably related to the fact it is modified to run on our phones, not native. These issues seemed to directly impact me with BT reliability, and more FCs than I could mentally handle. I have not tried it again in some time though, but I still see similar complaints. If your apps work fine on it, it is a very good choice. If you tend to get FCs and can't figure it out, don't wait around... it may never work, and there are ALMOST as good of choices out there.

Try them all. It takes at least a week to get a good feel for a decent ROM. Crummy ones can typically be identified in less than an hour .

EDIT- Ok, you guys got me testing CM7 again. Buddy with a Fascinate had been talking about it, so been wanting to try again .

 

[loraque]

CM7 is much snappier than it was when I last used it. At least as fast as KF1, perhaps better. I recall some of my issues with it... the Camera sucks by comparison to the Samsung one. I have a 13 month old and another one due any day. I snap a lot of pics with the phone, so that does matter to me. The Kf1 camera had yet to get the hacks that the 2.2 Samsung camera had (power button to take a pic in particular was nice), but it can take a picture in a fraction of the time that CM does. I may be able to live with this, as the app itself at least WORKS this time, where it would crash constantly back when.

The car dock + stay awake issue- tasker profile I turned back on from the last time I had this. No problem now. Not too many calls yet, so not sure if the call quality will bug me. The volume is nice and high, so that is good (better than i9000 ROMs). I thought I was having BT audio issues, but it turns out, that the Voodoo sound improvements were just letting me hear parts of the Red Hot Chili Peppers that I had now known was there before. It wasn't static . Nice to have that back.

And a huge plus is a working Nandroid backup system. I will give it a week and see, but so far, it is much better than the last time I tried it. Early verdict puts it at least as good as i9000 GB ROMs, and if the stability stays, perhaps higher on the unofficial but widely touted ME scale.

If anyone knows any tips on improving the camera, I would love to hear it. I tried a couple after market ones previously, but was not impressed. Quick pictures is what I want from my phone camera, not press, hold still for 3-5 seconds, hope your kids don't move (yeah, right), and then get a click of some kid's butt running away. The 2.2 Samsung hacked camera still holds a warm place in my heart with the pre-focus and power button snaps.