What to do with my new Moto X? Cyanogen... Gravitybox... Lollipop... Kitkat...

[jjl5590]

Hey guys,

I've just received my new Moto X XT1052. I've just unlocked the bootloader, and am now thinking about what to do. It's currently on Lollipop 5.1

I would like to put either Cyanogenmod 12.1 or Gravity Box onto it, but I can't decide on which one.

Gravity Box is good because it goes over the stock Moto rom, and I'd still be able to have the fun little tweaks that Motorola created for it, such as twist for camera etc...

Cyanogen would be good because it has functions that GB doesn't have, such as long-pressing back to force quit, number of home screens, and a few other things that are missing from GB.

Does anyone know a way of installing Cyanogen but retaining the Moto apps?

Also, do you recommend I stay with Lollipop? Or should I downgrade to Kitkat 4.4.4 (or thereabouts)


Many thanks!!

 

[UncleMike]

After almost 2 years of using my stock XT1053, it became defective (not the point of this post) and I ended up moving to an already bootloader unlocked XT1053. With it already unlocked, I decided to play around with it a bit, installing Xposed, Gravity Box, and a few other things over the stock ROM, as well as installing CM 12.1. I decided to stick with CM 12.1 for the many built-in options available without requiring root access.

The only thing I really missed of the stock Moto apps was the driving detection and "talk to me" of Moto Assist, and Touchless Controls. Since I didn't have bluetooth in my car, I took this as an opportunity/excuse to get a new car radio - one with bluetooth. Now calls are announced via the radio, and I have Tasker reading both SMS and Hangouts messages to me while driving, allowing me to reply too. Listening to SMS causes the notification to be cleared and the message marked as read (something "talk to me" never did), and Hangouts notifications are also cleared if I listen to the message. While in the mindset of making all this work, I also added the ability to read selected other notifications aloud, and optionally clear the notifications. A single button press on the radio starts voice command - almost as easy as Touchless Controls, and I still don't have to touch the phone. Since I only ever used Touchless Controls in the car anyway, this is a great alternative.

Lastly, I missed the Motorola Camera app, but that can be flashed from recovery if you want it (which I did).

Also, keep in mind that you can install Xposed and Gravity Box with CM 12.1 too - it's no just for stock ROMs.

 

[jjl5590]

Thanks for the reply

With CM, do you still get the active notifications? I know this phone doesn't have a fully working notification LED, so how would one be notified?

I am aware I can run both CM and GB simultaneously but not sure why i'd want to do that. More bugs! Haha

Are you running Lollipop or Kitkat?

 

[UncleMike]

I'm using CM 12.1 - based on Android 5.1.1 (lollipop). Active Display is a Motorola-only feature, but Ambient Display (same concept as Active Display) is part of stock lollipop and is part of CM 12.1.

Ambient Display didn't use the low-power core of the Moto X, and displays the actual notifications as they would appear on the lock screen, except that they're in black & white. Over time I've come to prefer Ambient Display because I can actually interact either the notifications without unlocking the phone, and it ties in better with my Tasker setup. CM 12.1 also let's you wave your hand over the proximity sensor to trigger Ambient Display (something the 2013 stock ROM doesn't do). The only down side I've found of that waking up Ambient Display when I pick up the phone isn't as reliable as the stock ROM equivalent.

Also - CM 12.1 includes the twist-to-start-the-camera action.

One thing to note with CM 12.1 is that you may need to erase the modemst1 and modemst2 partitions using fastboot after flashing in prefer to get GPS to work. If you search "Motorola GPS cyanogenmod" you should find plenty of references to it.

Another nice thing I discovered about CM today is that the contacts app shows my contact groups - something the stock contacts app doesn't do.