Unlocked and rooted...but ROM time?

[kevincwelch]

I have been using my Note 2 for a week or so now, and I have to say that I've been really impressed.

This is quite a leap from the Nexus S 4G, a phone I really enjoyed and loved customizing. As I look back at the NS4G, I customized it because I was either unhappy with the speed and/or the battery life. With the Note 2, I rooted the phone so I could use Titanium, but I haven't really felt compelled to install a custom ROM on this phone. Granted, there aren't many out there yet, but this phone lasts me 16 hours easy with 4h+ of screen time as well as a couple hours of internet music. Actively syncing 5 Gmail accounts. Hourly Tweetdeck polls. Tapatalk notifications.

The only thing I've customized is the launcher. I've never liked Touchwiz, so I froze it and replaced it with Nova, which I love.

Running Swipepad to launch most of my goodies.

Love the phone.

 

[bill323]

I was in the same boat as you up until yesterday. I went with a non invasive type of rom that improves on the stock rom. The main features include multiwindow for all apps, Adobe Flash 11, de-bloated and kills the camera shutter sound. Beyond that it acts stock.

[ROM][11/18] ProjectROM *UltraLight Edition* 1.2 - xda-developers

 

[TenshiNo]

I'm in the same boat as the OP. I've already bounced from custom ROM to custom ROM, but I really don't feel the need to do that with this phone. Samsung has really raised the bar in my eyes. This is probably the most incredible piece of hardware I've ever used.

The only problem I've found with it is that it's so fast, I run out of stuff to do, but still want to play with the phone

 

[kevincwelch]

I can't say that I'll never install a custom ROM, but right now I don't feel the need to do so. Like the second poster, I may go with a ROM that doesn't stray too much from stock.

Sent via Tapatalk...cool.

 

[skinneejay]

Kevin can you give me a bit more information on how the note is working for you. I'm currently using the Nexus S 4G like you had. I love running custom ROMS. Right now I'm on AOKP. Will I miss stock ROMS? I'm worried there will be to much bloatware on my phone.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

[kevincwelch]

Kevin can you give me a bit more information on how the note is working for you. I'm currently using the Nexus S 4G like you had. I love running custom ROMS. Right now I'm on AOKP. Will I miss stock ROMS? I'm worried there will be to much bloatware on my phone.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

Hey, skinneejay.

I guess you have to ask yourself why you are running a custom ROM. For me, I was running them because I felt the stock OS was to slow or the battery life was subpar or some combination of that. Another reason is that some phones like those that aren't nexus devices come with so much bloat.

Here's what I like about the note 2.

The screen is large and beautiful. 1080p video recording. Camera qualityis fantastic. Fast out of the box. Stylus is neat--reminds me of my Palm days. Google Now actually works well. MMS works. GPS works. No FCs (except for cloud agent, which seems to be a known bug. ) 50 free gigs of dropbox space. Google voice search and Samsung S Voice actually work!

I will also say that I really like the Samsung customizations of the apps. I'm not talking about Touchwiz (using Nova launcher). There are a lot of nice little gizmos that make using this device pleasant.

The screen is large, and multiview allows you to run two apps on the screen simultaneously. I have been texting a lot in one screen with Gmail on the other.

Biggest reason: I am writing this with 57% battery left, 14 hours of use and 3.5 hours of screen time at 50% brightness.

I love it.

I rooted the phone, installed busybox, and installed custom recovery. ... so, I could install a ROM. I did this to use battery calibration and to use titanium to freeze a few bloat programs.

Btw, I have tweetdeck polling every 30 minutes, 5 Gmail accounts syncing, tapatalk subscription notifications and be weather polling as well.

Why install a ROM? This thing runs superbly without a ROM.

Sent via Tapatalk.

 

[skinneejay]

Thank you for your quick mini review. You set my mind at peace. I'll be grabbing one this weekend. Most likely white. Am I able to turn off S voice for Google voice? I found myself Roming to get the latest android version. Speed wasn't really a concern with my Nexus S 4G. Thanks again. I'm pumped now. My biggest plus will be the camera. I take a ton of photos.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

 

[kevincwelch]

Thank you for your quick mini review. You set my mind at peace. I'll be grabbing one this weekend. Most likely white. Am I able to turn off S voice for Google voice? I found myself Roming to get the latest android version. Speed wasn't really a concern with my Nexus S 4G. Thanks again. I'm pumped now. My biggest plus will be the camera. I take a ton of photos.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk 2

I didn't experiment with turning off S Voice before just freezing it with titanium. I think it worked pretty well. I chose to freeze it because Google voice search seemed to do the same thing.

The camera is great and it brings back all the nice features that I loved in my Epic 4G phone but missed in my Nexus S 4G. Additionally, you can hold down the screen shutter button and take multiple pictures rapidly -- and it works well.

The quad core processor is just awesome.

I would say that the biggest drawback of this phone is the size, and it's only because I sometimes have trouble using it with one hand.
I seriously looked at the GS3 side by side with the note 2 and ultimately chose the note 2. The gs 3 is awesome, nevertheless.

Sent via Tapatalk.

 

[yankeesusa]

I can't say that I'll never install a custom ROM, but right now I don't feel the need to do so. Like the second poster, I may go with a ROM that doesn't stray too much from stock.

Sent via Tapatalk...cool.

Same here. I love the stock Rom too. Only need I have is hotspot and being able to remove some apps.

Sent from the Beast that is Galaxy Note 2