The 'how' of loading custom firmware isn't as difficult as the 'why'
Speaking to what would traditionally be the target audience for custom Android ROMs at the Big Android BBQ, Steve Kondik of the newly-incorporated CyanogenMod Cyanogen, Inc. spent a little time laying out the future prospects for the company. As we would expect this close to the announcement of its plans, we were given much of the same information.
Yes, a so-called "one click" installer is on its way. As are several new and inventive features like cloud backup and secure messaging. The Oppo N1 will even be released in short order as the first phone to ship (at least in some capacity) with CyanogenMod pre-loaded.
And even with 8.2 million users of its custom firmware, there are clearly still hurdles in CyanogenMod's future.
The biggest one of all is likely the issue of perception. Steve spoke candidly about the fact that there's no easy way to talk about what CM is or how you should get it on your device. Anyone who has dabbled in custom ROMs knows that the process isn't easy for an average user, and that idea has permeated throughout those who follow the Android world.
CM plans to "solve" this problem with the one-click installer, but that still doesn't change the fact that it's hard to convince people why they should go through with that process — no matter how easy it may be — in the first place. Even after the technical hurdles are gone, you still have to convince people to hook up their phone and push the button.
It's all about creating a value proposition for the potential users, and right now CM is working to build that offering. Features like a "Recent Conversations" folder and device themes are nice, but they aren't going to convince anyone to re-flash their phone from a stock state. The basic set of features that CM has traditionally offered appeals to those who have already made the leap to custom ROMs, not the general public.
Biweekly software updates, a system built on a user-contributed code base and the ability to simply enable root aren't features that the average Android buyer is clamoring for right now. CM has to show users what it can actually do for them — how it can make a meaningful difference in their smart phone usage and their life. Showing off a handful of system-level services doesn't do that.
Maybe the best road to success really is partnering with hardware vendors. Maybe it's just building up an irresistible pile of software and services that just stands out against the rest. But whatever the final plan of attack for increasing market share is, it's clear that CyanogenMod Cyanogen, Inc. still has a lot of convincing to do.
Reader comments
The future of CyanogenMod: 'We still have a lot of convincing to do'
I really could have used that OneX click installer this weekend. Between custom recovery ./adb and ./fastboot rooting, unlocking the boot loader, SuperCID, S-Off and touch panel firmware downgrades, flashing a boot image, corrupting /sdcard/ storage no average Joe is going to this and risk bricking their device and voiding their warranty.
It's awesome that there is choice beyond relying on an OEM and carriers to push updates. However, it's no easy feat. CMOD definitely saves devices from electronic graveyards and breaths fresh droid bits into otherwise abandoned and unusable devices making them even outperform their original stock and current devices with bloated skins and carrier ware.
I tried CyanogenMod on two different devices and my experience is that you trade one set of bugs for another and more importantly you also trade one set of bloatware for another. So no, I'm not interested in the new CyanogenMod at all. The only way I'd try a custom ROM these days is with one that can turn my device into a Google Play Experience type of device with clean stock Android and no crapware from anybody else. Otherwise, I'll stick with the ROMs from the people who know the devices best, the ones who manufacture them.
I've used cyanogenmod for my Galaxy Tab 2 for the last couple of months and in comparison to TouchWiz its much better. The tab used to lag like hell (probably due to loads of bloat and less-than-stellar hardware), but now it lags mostly because of badly written apps and utter disasters such as Disqus. There are probably slicker ROMs out there, but at the moment I'm happy. Not sure about the corporate direction they're heading towards, though.
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Does it make sense installing this on a Nexus 4 already running nine stock android? What features does Cyanogen add?
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Part of the issue as I see it, is that ROM Developers are not playing with a full deck.
This is not their fault as they do not have access to the needed Drivers/etc. that a SW Engineer at the Manufacturer has.
In all honesty getting a custom ROM to function at all is an impressive feat unto itself.
I choose not use Custom ROMs for just that reason, I want all functions of my handset to work properly and with the least amount of intervention from my part.
Thus I buy Nexus Devices as they give me the stock experience without any intervention from my end.
However, I do have a play device (a GS2) that I flash with Custom ROMs just for the heck of it and I am constantly amazed by what ROM Developers can do without a full deck to play with.
What I keep coming back to is why, what is the reason to buy say Cyan or any other ROM which might go the same direction as Cyan?
I do not have a good answer and that is my concern, granted being a Sunday Quarterback CEO is easy, but I have trouble seeing a good business case, even with a bullet proof installer, etc.
Dan
I read this article and all that kept coming to mind was that CM may go the path of Canonical. If they do, then they will lose many advanced users, like us, for the sake of being generic user friendly.
I have some feeling of that, but I'm not as worried, it is true that there has been some backlashes and some developers left the team. But what Canonical did was much more extreme as in wanting to be like Apple, creating their own thing (Unity), going against standards, and not heeding community feedback. I don't see Cyanogen going to that length yet, but there will always be other good choices out there if they do.
So how would the one click installer work with people with a locked boot loader? (Droid RAZR)
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I think the device have to have an unlocked bootloader first, or like the Nexus, easy to unlock with a command line. So I think the installer would only work with international devices with unlocked bootloader, I think there will be some legal issues if they also implement a way to unlock the device (except for Nexus), and its not easy to implement for a vast majority of devices either. A good reason to not buy Motorola.
The Xposed Framework makes sticking with a Nexus device way more attractive.
@dchawk81 Thanks for the level headed response. I think we do agree at a few points.
It's more than just that, some people flash incorrect gapps package to their rom (flashing 4.2 gapps to a 4.3 roms, then Google services doesn't work correct), or 'unofficial' gapps package.
Flashing nightlies builds as well, which by definition are automatically compiled daily and therefor not checked for bugs, nightlies and beta are meant for testing only, but the truth is most people like to flash these. There are many little things that can go wrong, people tends to put in their own tweaks, flash random zip files, use "one click automation" which is a no-no (what's Cyanogen team is trying to make).
I personally never get issues other people tends to get with flashing, but in honestly it takes time to learn to flash custom roms correctly and know what to do to avoid bricking or recovering from them. So even though I commend Cyanogen team effort, I'm not sure something like this is meant for the mass, but my point still stand that if you flash everything correctly with a good rom it should run great as a daily driver, with lots of bonuses. If it wasn't the case, there wouldn't be million people using it and tons of developers, and no one would use Android and stick with iOS for that matter. Right now I'm using swipe gesture to turn on and off the screen of my Nexus 4 and getting T-Mobile LTE. Another point is lots of the things available in custom roms ended up in AOSP, such as the quick toggles, and now the transparent status and nav bar. If these home brew customization done in the basemen gives intensives to paid developers of big companies to improve their software, it's a worthy effort.
I think we have to re-identify the meaning of custom, anything that isn't AOSP is custom to me, including TouchWiz and Sense. As for Oppo CyanogenMod, I don't know if they have big plans, but as of now, its simply regular CyanogenMod without root, not much different really.
My best custom experience was with Slim on the Captivate. It breathed new life into that phone but something was amiss that I can't recall.
I love the Captivate, but I gave one to my friend and one to brother when he's deployed over sea. It's one of those real durable Samsung device that they don't make anymore. I have to repurchase the Samsung Vibrant one day, because these Galaxy S have the Wolfson DAC giving them excellent sound, I probably wouldn't have to do this if Nexus devices didn't have such poor storage options. AOKP doesn't support the Captivate anymore unfortunately.
I swear I'm going to get a brain tumor from reading all the inane comments here. If you are incapable of knowing how to probably put a custom rom on your device and making it run stable, just don't flash and then complain about nightly bugs or something that's probably your fault before researching or reading before flashing.
Buggy ROMs are the fault of the person booting into recovery and pressing the flash buttons to load the zip. Or the fault of people who boot into download mode and open up the ol' CMD prompts. Got it. I will never ever flash any custom ROM until I know this is how it's done.
Flashing ROMs is easy (there are step by step instructions all over the place if you don't know how). Finding a good ROM is what's hard.
Don't get me wrong; I want CM to succeed and I'd very much like to see this CM Oppo phone. It might be pretty darn amazing since they can code specifically for it and will have access to driver code.
But then, it won't really be a custom ROM anymore either. I wonder what custom ROM for a CM Oppo phone will look like.
I have used their ROMS when I was using a Nook Color and all it had on it was a forked Gingerbread ROM. The main reason was to get more features of the newer, stock Android ROMS. I was never really looking to do things beyond what the latest Android OS offered. Having Nexus phones and tablets with the latest Android OS is all I really need now. Having said that, if I was to pick up a carrier phone with all the bloatware and usually 1 or 2 steps behind the current version of Android I would probably go with a CM custom ROM.
Best Rom out there! Love it
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So much sniping! Come now, brothers, be happy with all the options available.
All you Android nerds do is complain complain complain.. Nothing satisfies you and you're always knit picking..
Just f'kin be happy for once in your miserable lives.
Posted via Android Central App on a Nexus 4 running CM10.1.3
I think it's the non-nerds complaining most. I mean, I was an Android nerd until I grew tired of all the sleepless nights spent restoring things to get them working again.
Now I'm kind of an average user who wants his beauty rest. I don't like being a slave to my phone. So I'm going to bitch about glitchy and/or nonfunctional code.
You keep talking about all these sleepless nights, hyperbole much? I've been flashing fairly often since early 2010 and I've never had a sleepless night. You either suck at this or buy phones with crap dev support.
Or I have a job...which means this stuff was done in the evenings and a subsequent and immediate fix/revert happened right after that...at night.
Galaxies from the beginning.
It's not my fault if a ROM is bad but I'm the one that has to stay up and fix it. I can assure you I'm not the only one who is tired of the process.
And no it's not as if every night of every week was sleepless. I'm not that big of an idiot. But there have been enough bad ROMs that I've had to back out of to sour me of the whole thing.
Let's throw a little logical reasoning at it for a minute: if custom ROMs were sooooo great, there would not be hundreds of replies begging for help and freaking out over problems on the threads over on XDA. There also wouldn't be lists of "known to be non-functional" in the OPs of those threads. People would download them and be happy. There also wouldn't be hundreds of variants of the same ROM with sillier and sillier names, none offering anything that the previous didn't.
Modding is fine and all if you consider it a hobby unto itself but IMHO it's not the path to take if you just want a solid daily driver.
Furthermore, you don't actually know WHO coded or compiled a given ROM. They could be a 15 year old kid who doesn't even have access to the phone. They could be someone who doesn't have a clue how to compile or code. They could be someone who won't even come back to fix what they broke.
Like I said, do it if you want but I'm mainstream now for the most part as is a vast majority of the population.
The fact that you insulted my abilities further proves that custom ROMs are not for the masses.
"Furthermore, you don't actually know WHO coded or compiled a given ROM. They could be a 15 year old kid who doesn't even have access to the phone."
It's your choice to flash the rom, it's your responsibility to know who code the rom and the proper channel to get it from. Do you just download a rom from a random warez site and flash it? Maybe if you have research something more before installing it you wouldn't get so much issues. All proper open source roms have github and sources you can compile yourself, developers pages, and most of the time information is in the rom itself with the developers name and contacts. This openness of information in fact make it much more trustworthy than proprietary softwares like TouchWiz and Sense that might have secret things like CarrierIQ that you don't even know about, or security bugs that you have to wait for the manufacturer to fix if and when they want to.
Just use stock firmware from now on please.
Yes, because there are no anonymous accounts on XDA. Everyone posts their full name, age, location, resume, and biography. Everyone is completely honest too.
That's exactly my point about unreliable sources. I only stick with known and proven big projects, like CM, AOKP, Slim, and Paranoid Android. Get only the stable builds.
These are the links I get my stuff from, I do not download from mediafire or random links:
get.cm
aokp.co
slimroms.net
goo.im/gapps
goo.im/devs/OpenRecovery
goo.im/devs/paranoidandroid/roms
You'll notice if you get roms from official site, they'll always have MD5 for hash checking to make sure the file isn't altered.
Check out these screenshots:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/39/w60s.png/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/202/nw2o.png/
Try and ask HTC to give out the entire source code for Sense, they'll laugh at you. HTC has been known to violate GPL licenses more than once in the past as well.
CM seems to work best on gsm devices. All my Sprint phones I had it on worked good for the most part. But I did have the occasional crash that I just learned to live with. But after putting it on my Nexus 4 (cm10.1.3) it hasn't crashed once and it flies. I have no complaints at all and it is no doubt better than AOSP.
Posted via Android Central App on a Nexus 4 running CM10.1.3
i don't use the pure android experience roms. i used to run CM but there isn't enough customization options. roms like liquidsmooth & carbonrom are the cats ass and the only ones i use.
Will they have the clout to sue carriers and oems to have devices with unlocked bootloaders so we can even load it?
And sue them on... what grounds exactly? Carriers and OEMs can lock bootloaders all they want. You're buying a carrier device, there should be very little expectation that you can do what you want without their intervention.
Seems like there's an obvious desire among a wide range of users for the guarantee of a level of privacy that is nearly impossible to get anymore with a stock phone. And even if that statement is only one of perception and not based in reality, its a strong enough perception at the moment to create a market. If CM wants to market itself to a wider audience that would be a good place to start...
Nothing but respect and appreciation for CM since my early days running buggy but glorious mtd cm Roms on my Fascinate, now rocking solid toro and flo builds looking forward to the next Nexus; While I understand and respect these recent developments, I fear that this will undoubtedly lead to the "mainstreaming" and dilution of an experience that was developed in the fringe for the bold and initiated.
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People have a choice, they don't have to do anything, stay stock, if you love the way your device works, leave it the way you bought it!!! I've been a Android fan since the day the G1 made its debut. Then the mention of Rooting came out, I've haven't stopped...
I own a HP Touchpad, MyTouch 4G, Nexus 7, Samsung Galaxy S2, and a Samsung Galaxy S4 and they're all ROOTED. Some with a custom ROM and some stocked, but ROOTED so I could use some apps that I like using, that only work on rooted devices
I like to thank all the developers that take the time to do what they do, because since the G1, Android has been implemented with tweaks and features that the developers have created!!! So enjoy your stock Android devices, because the features you now enjoy on your devices were created by the very same developers you now criticize!
I still root. I still install some mods. I still remove bloat.
What I don't do is install broken ROMs.
Please remove stick from ass.
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And put it in your mouth........
I'll put my stick up your ass!
Why, are you in pain?
Calling the a ROM that is being installed by an OEM now broken is just trolling.
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I pluralized it because I'm not singling out CM. I speak of all buggy custom ROMs.
If CM gets it right, fantastic. They'll have to if they want to be a real player.
Thanks to CM I have jelly bean on my lg spectrum. Without it, I'd be suffering with either a very buggy ICS that took the carrier/manufacturer over a year to roll out, or equally buggy gingerbread. I've had cm for 9 months on this device, and its definitely extended the time I've enjoyed the handset. And it keeps getting updates about every other month. My phone freezes and reboots every couple days, but on stock firmware it would freeze and reboot multiple times daily. Only thing missing for me feature wise is mhl output. Usability wise its a very worthwhile trade off. I am very grateful for the hard work the CM team has put in.
it seems to me that alot of android people are wanting a stock android experience. The HTC One is my first Android and while the HTC UI is nice I'll be getting the Nexus 5. I understand they are trying to monetize this, perhaps I'm not the target audience.
I think the reason "why" is to get rid of the carrier's control and bloatware installed on your phone.
That was the reason for me.
Now that rid of Verizon and use a Nexus I no longer have a desire to install a custom rom.
Posted via Android Central App
It's not worth messing with a phone that works.
Measure what you might gain by what you might lose, and you can lose anything and/or get random errors.
Will you even use what you gained? when things like wifi or gps can get messed up - it may make no sense for these things to break, but when it comes to computers, logic does not always apply and you can't argue with a computer when it screws you.
i will be honest my opinion is most people who have mediocre android phone are the ones with the complains my first device to have cm on it was my mytouch 4g yeah it was buggy at times i toughed it out it got better slightly then i got a gs2 it was even more buggy here n there but to be so honest i have a galaxy s4 and im using the nightlies i change um daily android 4.3 and ud swear this is a stable version it runs smooooooooooooooth as butter no bugs.....i use cm because it adds functionality sometimes its things u dont see it could be in the framework or whatever example i couldnt use the sixaxis app on my mytouch 4g ...after i flashed cm it was working... i love cm and i respect these guys i mean all developers i appreciate having a later version of android instead of waiting for my carrier who may never update it in the first place....CM=THE DAMN NEAREST THE VANILLA ANDROID TWEAKED :)
Wow go Cm,questions,android is open source so at what point does google get mad when oem's choose CM over Android as there OS? Also, I'm new to centrals app (been strictly an xda user/contributor) so hello all. Crwolv
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well cm isn't a separate is so Google really shouldn't be mad
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Well CM isn't a fork of android. It's still Google certified. Don't think Google necessarily has any hard feelings. Especially at this point.
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The day they S-Off'd the Verizon HTC One I immediately flashed CM 10.2.
I've run CM on every phone I've had since the Bionic.
Posted via Android Central App
I'm a developer and computer science student, which would almost certainly lead to exploration urges. But I don't feel like I should, not specifically to my N4, and no ROM could, until now, convince me to replace or shortly leave the so called Stock Android. I did intense experiences with my first Android, a tiny Samsung powered by Froyo. But now? I didn't have any need for Cyanogen or others... So does most average users as well. Can't say for sure, but I don't really believe in this flashing or even one click process to be widely used and considered by the regular Joe.
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Tried cm lately? I'd rather touchwiz than aosp.
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I doubt if I will EVER switch my HTC One over to CM, but I am VERY thankful to them for taking the time to port their product over to the HP Touchpad, after those clowns abandoned ship two miles out to sea! I have a functioning Android tablet on a still useful (although dated) piece of hardware. Thanks, CM team!
The CM I smaller worked flawless on my htcone
Posted via Android Central App
I see they just came out with a stable release for the S2. A 2 year old phone! Last time I tried it, it rebooted the first phone call I got. Sorry, but I need a phone to work. For a mostly vanilla ROM, it's not worth it. More power to them if they need guinea pigs, though...
Bi-weekly updates are more annoying than helpful. No average user wants to get a notification that their phone is out of date every three days.
That would be "semi-weekly". Bi-weekly would be every 14 days. (But, I do agree with you; would be very annoying, even at 14 days!)
I see biweekly used both ways. But yeah both definitions annoy. Hah.
Right biweekly can be somewhat ambiguous, but usually means once every two weeks and that's what CM intends on doing.
And I agree, even at that rate the "nag factor" would be pretty high for most people.
Posted via Android Central App
They have done allot for people who own phones from a company that completely abandoned the device. They also make the base for most other roms out there so without them allot of people would be on gingerbread or ice cream sandwich so we should appreciate them for that alone.
Amen.
The dudes work their ass off to make your phone better. It's not always fun, and hardly ever easy.
Android, and all billion+ of its users owe them a lot.
Their community is why I bought a smartphone.
Posted via Android Central App
Meh. They break as much as they fix. I'm not hating but I'm not going to worship the ground they walk on either.
I'm sure they do and it's appreciated whole heartedly! But how is it making my phone better when BT doesn't work. Then a new update comes out and it breaks wifi. They get that fixed but now you can't SMS or make a phone call cause they used the wrong radio firmware. Finally they get it stable but batt life has been reduced to being non-usable?
If it made them better, why do they need Nightlies to fix the bugs from the day before?
Rom developers are appreciated. Especially from me. But Roms should have ALL the core features working, stable, and ready to use. Then use the updates to add all the goodies....but it seems the other way around...even to this day.
1. Define better. Your BT may work on whatever came with your phone, but I promise it's riddled with known security bugs unless it's a Nexus — or runs a custom ROM like CM.
2. Even if they do not succeed, they still worked their ass off.
1. Improved upon OEM as-shipped.
2. True, hard work and sleepless nights are hard work and sleepless nights but it doesn't make bad product good or even worth praising. It's like getting a trophy even when your team went 0-12 just because you sweat a lot and got grass stains all over your uniform. Sorry but you still suck.
1. So even the most broken custom ROM is better, provided it improves the device security.
2. Some people value the way others will work hard and attempt what they can not do. Clearly, some do not. In either case, hard work was still performed.
We get it. you don't like it. That doesn't mean nobody else should.
To clarify: I'm solely considering the developers who do this for free. Once a profit is made of any sort, it's no longer "hard work for the common good". It's a job. Those spending the money, or providing the income in other ways like ads or analytics, should decide the value of the services.
In this case, that needs mentioned.
1. Disagree. Security is moot if the device doesn't even work.
2. True. I don't hate. I just don't universally love either. I'm a results-oriented person but I can appreciate the effort. I just won't praise effort. I'll thank someone for trying but I won't give them false assurances.
1. You're an idiot
2. You're what turns off devs from sacrifice in the oss community
Posted via the Windowz Phone App
Tisk Tisk....
1. Okay
2. So is the average user.
1. Why do you type every comment this way?
2. You sound like a total douche. I bet you can't do better than those developers.
Well at least that douche goes where you only dream of going....
1. Blame Jerry. He started it.
2. I never claimed to be a dev. I'm not a football player either, but I can still call a bad pass.
@dchawk81, it's as simple as, THEN DON'T DO IT, DON'T ROOT, STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM TRYING SOMETHING YOU DON'T UNDERSTATED, simple...
No need to get nasty.
why is the first thing people say when the rom is not liked is "SO DONT ROOT" or whos to say he doesnt understand the rom? I May not know how to cook roms but i have a fair(above average) understanding of them ive been flashing modding unlocking since the audiovox 6700 days. and while CM6/7 were great, i cant help but feel lately theres been some slacking. to be honest it seem like it started when Samsung started helping CM. these days ive tried CM roms i can use it for a week, maybe but i end up going back to OEM(sense in my case) not because i dont understand it but because i simply dont like it. every software has bugs its ALWAYS gong to happen but it really does seem like the Bugs CM brings break something somewhere. ok maybe my evo had the damn compression bug i would pic the compression bug over no GPS on 10.2, or Spotty LTE on 10.1. maybe i dont want to toss sense in the trash and maybe i want to customize my sense, delete apps i dont use (Watch, Weather, Facebook/twitter/Flickr Engine). so since i dont like CM you say i should root and flash a bare sense rom?
Better is a relative term here. What I think is better, you may not and vice versa.
I drive a truck for a living with 3 kids and I need my phone to work. Also, as a commercial driver, it is illegal to have a phone to your ear while driving as with texting. So core features are essential, not window dressing.
Security? Well, the chances that it will get breached is slim. Not saying it can NEVER happen but you have a better chance having your identity stolen using checks than you do doing any business online, as long as you're safe about it....listen to Clark Howard...I do!! :)
I want them to succeed. I do. And I understand that they work their ass off for what they do. If they haven't, then they wouldn't be where they're at today. I have much respect for them and will continue to follow their progress, but I feel that constant custom rom-ing is an addictive flaw just to get things just right.
Agreed. It's one thing to create a ROM as a side project and it's another to put it out to the stupid masses such as myself, when we stupid masses want to just use the phone.
I've used a lot of different ROMs and I always end up going back to a de-bloated version of stock because it always seems to work best for my daily life of small business ownership, nephews, and travel.
More power to the folks who still hit forums and ROM daily/weekly but I just can't see that becoming mainstream, which means CM will have to tighten up their work so people don't become frustrated.
To each their own, but I also rely on my phone, and so does my non tech savvy wife. CM is bit only stable and functional for both of us, but offers a better experience than AOSP.
I guess my experience is the reverse of yours in that stock based ROMs have always had issues for me.
Maybe it was the devices you were getting?
I think the security and privacy aspect alone will help fuel CM's success. I'd switch from Sense 5 just for App Ops 2.
Posted via the Windowz Phone App
Could be my phones. Samsung Epic 4G (the first one, not the Touch) and Samsung Captivate.
I'm on a GS3 now but I lost interest before trying CM on this one. I'm basically burned out from it. Sounds silly but I've basically moved on and prefer sticking with what I've got.
Indeed I hooked many people up who's phones were basically unusable due to crap factory software and they've all raved how its like having a new device.
Posted via Android Central App
Exactly. Remember when Motorola spent almost an entire YEAR promising the Atrix and Photon would get ICS in Q3 of 2012? They had an update list on their website and everything. And the day after Q3 ended. they publicly said (paraphrasing) "HAHA, SUCKERS! WE LIED! You're staying on Gingerbread so SUCK IT because we've already got your money and there's nothing you can do about it!"
XDA and CyanogenMod helped a lot of us get ICS and Jelly Bean on our phones for FREE, no less. And now when LG is refusing to update its awesome Optimus G Pro past 4.1.2, CyanogenMod is letting me run 4.3 without LG and AT&T's bloatware (No, LG. I do not want your craptastic LG Keyboard on my Input Select screen with no way to turn it off. No, AT&T. I do not want AT&T Navigator taking up space on the phone I PAID FOR).
CM the buggy ROM as many know them to be. If it's not BT issues, MMS issues, no LTE, is something else. We are their test dummies, and my head hurts already.
Agreed. I look back on all those sleepless nights and get tired just thinking about it.
Sorry that's just not the case on every device.
Posted via Android Central App
The many dozens, hundreds even, of phones/tablets that "CM" is available for is accomplished by far more people than the real people who develop the core CM code. Even the core code is produced by people of varying degrees of skill. Anybody who volunteers (and can manage basic github techniques) can be made a maintainer for a certain device. And porting the CM code and getting it to run (well) is the job of the maintainer.
And because some devices have issues and bugs, it is not a reflection of CM as a whole. Of course they do it all, without any support from the hardware folks who make the CPUs and GPUs and camera sensors, etc (which is simply beyond amazing that they manage without that support). And being able to get genuine support for Qualcomm's cpus, and Nvidia, and Sony's camera sensors, etc... is exactly why they are incorporating in the first place. They have gotten tired of making code utilizing components via drivers when they aren't even allowed to read that driver's code.
On my old phone, I had real problems with the "official" builds of CM. But guess what? There was one guy that made his own "unofficial" build. He scrapped some parts, made some tweaks, and built a truly amazing version of CM. It was rock sold stable (never froze up, never needed a reboot, never a forceclose, never glitched), it was fast, and pretty darn free of any significant bugs (I can't say that about OEM software, even stock from google on a nexus).
Was it that CM sucks because the official builds sucked for that device? Or was it that the official maintainer for that device sucked? The fact that the unofficial build ran like a dream should make it clear. If you had a device like that, and you want to publicly insult someone's work, make sure you at least point your finger at the right people.
I won't mention the device, because it's uncool to speak poorly of someone who volunteers to do difficult work, and then puts many hours into it (and probably doing their best). And even though the official maintainer did not put out a good official build for my old device, CM was awesome on it anyway.
On my nexus 4, CM 10.1 is fantastic. 10.2? not as much :)
Perhaps. Still said Cyanogen on the label. We don't blame individual programmers at Samsung for making Touchwiz kind of suck; we blame Samsung.
But do you blame Samsung when a port of Touchwiz runs like crap on a Sony phone?
Nobody ports Touchwiz for a Sony phone. I'd blame Samsung if Samsung ported Touchwiz to run on a Sony phone and it was crap though...
My understanding is there is no specific phone for CM to run on. It just is and it still says CM.
CM is based on AOSP code, which is written and provided for Nexus hardware.
And I have seen touchwiz ported to pretty much everything... No matter how little of it actually worked.
Posted via Android Central App
Okay. So you've seen some weird obscure stuff...
Here, here, hots off to all the developers who take all their free time to put together something that would make their devices work faster, features that would do better things than what came with their virgin device, but here come the ones who for what ever reason want to try out something different, that don't take the time to read that the ROM is still in Alpha or first stages of the build, then start to complain that the ROM doesn't work right or some function don't work anymore, that they go as far as to blame the developer and now they want to go back to stock, but can't, because there is no stock ROM available yet to flash back to!!!
All you have to do is to read all the comments here and see who those people are...
Well even on my galaxy nexus, nexus4 and 7 all running with different bugs which never got fixed, or they fixed it to create another ones...
No to custom Roms
Posted via Android Central App
Hope it all works out for the new Cyan Inc. I wonder how long before it no longer is the nice public ROM we've all come to love. Remember RedHat when it came out then went all enterprise on us or even Ubuntu, it started out cool then went all corporate on us with store and cloud. Just saying
Posted via a SkyRocket running LiquidSmooth 3.0
Every CM I have ever installed has had some sort of bugs (on any phone). Then I install the update they put out and it fixes some bugs but others are created, It has been a never ending endeavor. I need my phone and all the features to work.
I wish them luck though and hope they become a force to beat!
True dat
Posted via Android Central App
I'd go so far as saying virtually every ROM period. Not to discount the huge amount of work the developers of ROMs do, but after a while, you get tired of the usual issues that no one seem able to solve - screen tearing, non functional bluetooth, non-work/reliable SMS/MMS, random reboots, etc. Perhaps if there was some organized effort to solve these, as opposed to releasing the umpteenth "Liquid Butter Smoothie with Speed and Stability Sprinkles", custom ROMs wouldn't necessitate such a tradeoff in terms of reliability.
I Agree!!
A liquid butter smoothie sounds pretty good actually. Starbucks should turn it into an iced coffee. Stability sprinkles would really cap it off nice.
@Gator352, I'm sure the CM base will have the minimal with the option to apply completed custom ROM's on top, or over the CM base ROM. See other developers could create "themes" that can be downloaded from the market or play store and simply install them like an APP.
Gee Android is almost up to where webOS was 4 years ago.
Custom ROMs, Themes, Over-clocking, all thru a custom app store.
Ah the good old days are almost back again.
The main issue I have and the reason I have NOT recommended it to friends is the Sprint HTC One has a tendency to over heat and burn up the phone. This is an issue the CM team refuses to agknowledge.
Posted via Android Central App
This is an issue you should bring up with your kernel developer, not the CM team.
I'd love to if someone would specify who that is
Posted via Android Central App
Figure it out that's your responsibility not ours.
Posted via Android Central App
Says ever "developer" ever. Thanks bro for offering so much help.
Posted via Android Central App
It's probably the kernel that came with CM.
Posted via Android Central App
If you don't know enough to determine who developed the kernel you are running, you shouldn't be flashing ROMs.
Posted via Android Central App
@littleemp, 100% CORRECT!
The entire conversation above is exactly why cynogen will have trouble...the average user just wants things that work out of the box with decent support when it doesn't. They don't want to mess with kernals and who made what
Posted via Android Central App
Cyanogenmod isn't even that great..
Posted via Android Central App
Considering it's the base for every non-sense rom on my phone, it's pretty great from where I'm sitting.
I thought you was going to say standing, then I was going to be like "you stand at home with your phone." I don't know, I'm tired right now..... >_>
Posted via Droid RAZR M on the Android Central App
Trust me, I don't stand if I don't have to. That's the devil's game.
Yeah challenging gravity is a futile effort.
False is not the base for all but most
Posted via Android Central App
How do you know what roms are on his phone?
No, it's true. Thanks for playing though.
I'm with you. I'll stick with the pure Android experience.
Posted via Android Central App
Cm over aosp there is no contest. However (and I know some people that haven't actually used it will blast me for this) but I will take sense 5 our either any day.
Absolutely no contest. AOSP all the way....
Posted via Android Central App
Sense is pretty sweet. I actually like Blinkfeed. It grows on you. And sense looks pretty good.
I get so torn between Google Edition ROMs and Sense ROMs for my One. I'm GPE right now, but there are things I miss.
Posted via Android Central App
MoDaCo Switch is in public beta right now, I believe.
Posted via an HTC Thunderbolt
Yeah I started beta testing modaco switch when it was in private beta. Pretty sweet. Dual boot sense and gpe utilizing the same apps and user data.
Posted via Android Central App
"I could easily outperform those trained professionals..."
You don't even understand the bases of it! You're one of those who shouldn't ROOT!!!
Someone doesn't like CyanogenMod so they shouldn't root huh? I personally have never liked CyanogenMod but I am very good with rooting and all sorts of other tech geeky-ness. I've even set up my Asus laptop to dual boot with OS X. CyanogenMod is not that great and every time I flash it or another ROM based on it I reflash within 24 hours.
Posted via Android Central App
I have to agree with @jdevenberg, BAck in my Evo Days i was all on CM6 & 7 but i had issues including GPS, Camera & quality, Even FFC, WiMax, while CM opens all kinds of doors many doors close behind it as well. I do give props where they are due and CM makes AOSP feel Like iOS in the customization department. But like @frettfreak said give me Sense 5 Over either one anyday of the week, on my 1 GB ram Evo LTE it runs like butter and blinkfeed is actually pretty damn useful,just see quick updates on games, news and tech without opening an app. very very useful.
So did they announce when they would release the one click installer?
Posted via Android Central App
No solid date on that. Obviously lots to be done for that to go smoothly.
Posted via Android Central App
"Steve Kondik of the newly-incorporated CyanogenMod, Inc."
Should be Cyanogen, Inc.
CM doesn't seem to really nail down whether they're "CyanogenMod LLC" or "CyanogenMod, Inc." and we incorrectly had a slip of the mind. At this point just "Cyanogen Inc." Is the closest thing to accurate. We've changed the post above.
Posted via Android Central App
But not in the last paragraph.
Yes, clearly both were supposed to be changed.