Cyanogenmod. Is it worth it?

waynegalway

I have a stock htc one m7,and a couple of things about it annoy me that I can't solve with launchers or apps. Mainly it's the darkness of the menu on the phone app and the contacts. They are hard to see while outside, and sometimes it's impossible to see who is calling.

Anyway, cyanogenmod have this app that seems to make installing it very easy. I rooted a galaxy s3 before, but the HTC seems less straightforward, so the cm app sound ideal. The rom contacts and dialler app look like stock android, which is far better looking than the HTC stuff.

Anyone have any experience with cm on a HTC one? Any good points/bad points I should know about to help me decide whether to go ahead?

How about converting to google play edition? Anyone with anything to share about that option? I'm on Three, and one fear is that the network connection will go crazy if I have to change the phone id to convert.

Thanks

BopNiblets

My friend used this app to get CM on her phone, it was a little bit tricky getting back to Stock HTC Sense when she realised she didn't like it (I was recruited to do it and I wasn't familiar with HTCs phones or S-OFF stuff), got it in the end though
I'd say if you do go for it just be aware you might have to put CWM Recovery (Clockwork Mod) on to re-flash to another ROM or get back to HTC Rom as I don't think the Cyanogen app puts a custom recovery on it.
Other than that just read everything if you are doing custom roms!

Sonics2k

Ran Cyanogmod on my HTC One for a few months and a GPE ROM too. Went back to stock HTC Sense as it works much better on the phone I found.

Its worth getting Cyanogenmod on many older phones, even the S3 (especially Samsung) or other phones no longer getting updates.

bennyineire

I put it on my S3 about 8 months ago and its a big difference, a friend of mine has an S3 with 3's stock android and mine is far smoother and quicker. So for the S3 defiantly but I can't comment on other phones

Riesen_Meal

Google Play Edition would probably be the way to go for you, at least you know the Rom is official and chances are it will get updates with little chance of bugs....

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

StereoSound

I put it on my old HTC desire and it made a big difference. It became usable for a phone that's half a decade old.

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

waynegalway

Just as an update, seeing as how this thread has been revived!

I used the CM Installer method to root my M7 and lived with CM for a couple of months. Then I got itchy fingers and tried a few other ROMs, looking for one that have me a good balance of performance and battery life (which definitely wasn't as good as it had been before rooting).

Long story short, there are aspects of stock HTC UI, such as the TV app, and the camera in particular, that just work way better than on vanilla versions of Android. So my phone is still rooted, but I'm using a custom ROM based on Sense UI now, so I'm getting the best of both worlds. Huge customization plus stock apps that work really well.

If you're missing stuff fron the OEM software after going down the CM route, before you give up on rooting, try a custom ROM based on your phones original software.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

irishpancake

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Why don't you revert to Stock, as shown here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2432476

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

irishpancake

Patww79 wrote: »

That made me go crosseyed
XDA always presume you're somewhat of an expert so their guides are never really 'for dummies'. I definitely backed up the phone when I flashed it with CM, I just can't remember how I did it or how I restore it. I've the files on my PC though.


EDIT: My phone has a TWRP folder, I think that was the backup.

You have twrp rwcovery??

with a Nandroid backup of your original, stock rom, it appears.

You can get into recovery with this app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.siriusapplications.quickboot&hl=en

There, you can check if you have a backup, they usually have a date and time.

Then you can restore to your original stock condition.

TWRP is a touch recovery, and easy to use.

There is a twrp manager app top, which means you don't need to go to recovery to perform most functions.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jmz.soft.twrpmanager&hl=en

DESCRIPTION:

This app allows you to Install, Backup, Restore, and Wipe your device all using TWRP. This utilizes OpenRecoveryScript to complete these actions.

waynegalway

Patww79 wrote: »

That made me go crosseyed
XDA always presume you're somewhat of an expert so their guides are never really 'for dummies'. I definitely backed up the phone when I flashed it with CM, I just can't remember how I did it or how I restore it. I've the files on my PC though.


EDIT: My phone has a TWRP folder, I think that was the backup.

If LG is anything like HTC (mines an original One), then putting a custom ROM based on the LG software would be straightforward compared to reverting to stock.

To check if you're still rooted, have a look for an app called SuperSU in your app list. Also, if you try to power off the phone, do you see an option to reboot to "recovery mode". If you don't see that, don't worry, you could still be rooted and it might not show up in the power menu. Have a look online and see what hardware buttons to press to put your phone in recovery. It's usually something like holding down a volume key while powering on the phone.

If you check those couple of things and find out that you're still rooted with TWRP recovery, then putting another ROM on there instead of CM should be a piece of cake. Let me know how you get on after checking your root and recovery status, and I'll walk you through it.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

waynegalway

Patww79 wrote: »

I couldn't get booted into recovery (I ended up in a Safe Mode), but I installed TWRP manager from the Play Store. After I granted it Superuser access it had an option to boot into recovery.

Great, so when you boot to recovery, does it go into the twrp recovery or the lg recovery?

If it goes to twrp, then putting a custom ROM on there should be easy. I don't have an lg, so by all means check this out for yourself, but basically here is how it works on HTC:

1. Search online for a custom ROM. Ones based on OEM software (like Sense on HTC and Touchwiz on Samsung) tend to be larger in size than cleaner ROMs like cyanogen. The last one I downloaded for my One was about 1.2gb in size, compared to CM which is probably 3-400mb or so. When you find the one you want to try, download it, it will be a.zip file. Save it on your PC.

2. Make a full backup of your current set up, just in case you need to revert to it. You can do this by booting to recovery and finding the option in TWRP to do a full back up. I suggest you back up everything, system and data. Make a copy of this back up file on your PC if possible, in case you accidentally erase it from the phone. No need to delete it from your phone, but keep a copy on your PC in case....

3. Transfer the zip file of the custom ROM onto your phone. Usually this should be placed on the highest level of the phone storage, rather than buried deep in some file system. But it doesn't matter where you put it as long as you know where to find it later. Once the zip is on your phone, you can disconnect it from the PC.

4. Reboot the phone into recovery mode, and in the TWRP menus, find the option for "install zip". Click on that, then browse to where you saved the zip file. Click on zip file, then follow the instructions on screen, and you should be good to go. If it asks you do you want to wipe data and cache, then you should do it. Going from cyanogen to an OEM based ROM requires a "clean " install, and this means wiping your phone completely. It's like a full factory reset. If the install process doesn't prompt you do wipe cache and data, maybe go back a couple of steps in TWRP and wipe these first, before installing the new zip file. Make sure you only wipe data and cache, not the system. I made that mistake once, and it cleaned everything, including the operating system. Took a bit of work to get that working again, wouldn't wish it on anyone!

The phone might reboot itself a couple of times, and take a bit longer to switch on the first time the ROM runs, but basically what I've written above is all there is to it. Quick reminder, I'm sharing my experience of how it's done on a HTC. Please double check on YouTube to see what it's like on an LG, but I'd imagine it's something similar. Don't blame me if it goes tits up!

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

waynegalway

Patww79 wrote: »

Cheers for that. Definitely will be no blame, it's a thing that could always go wrong!
I'll have a search for a ROM and see what I can find (I'll check it reboots to the TWRP first). From what I remember, the best out there was CloudyG3 but I'll see is there anything better.

Wrote that from memory, so I just edited a couple of changes into it since it was first posted. Have another read before you start.

irishpancake

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

You said you had a backup made with TWRP, which would be your original ROM, as it was when you made the backup.

I would advise first to check if there is a backup which could be restored, using the TWRP Manager App I recommended, no need to actually go into recovery at all.

In TWRP Manager, you can backup your existing set-up first, just in case.....

then restore any existing backup, as the one you made before you flashed CM.

See Screenshots below from my phone, a Moto G with TWRP and TWRP Manager.


Options



Existing Backup(s)

Restoring a backup is easier than flashing a Custom ROM, at least until you investigate and decide on a suitable Custom ROM.

No wipes or anything needed, it just restores to what you originally had, which was Stock in your case apparently.

waynegalway

irishpancake wrote: »

You said you had a backup made with TWRP, which would be your original ROM, as it was when you made the backup.

I would advise first to check if there is a backup which could be restored, using the TWRP Manager App I recommended, no need to actually go into recovery at all.

In TWRP Manager, you can backup your existing set-up first, just in case.....

then restore any existing backup, as the one you made before you flashed CM.

See Screenshots below from my phone, a Moto G with TWRP and TWRP Manager.


Options



Existing Backup(s)

Restoring a backup is easier than flashing a Custom ROM, at least until you investigate and decide on a suitable Custom ROM.

No wipes or anything needed, it just restores to what you originally had, which was Stock in your case apparently.

Great advice, I missed the bit about having an original backup.

Strange how it seems to have twrp. When I used the cm installer app that I was on about originally this thread, it installed clockwork recovery. Later changed it to twrp though, seems faster and easier to use.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

waynegalway

Patww79 wrote: »

I think it's that because I didn't use an installer (I used that for my Nexus 4 and 7 CM installs). I had to manually root and install on this phone, only could do it following a very strict set of instructions and can't really remember how.
I haven't the backup on my phone, I put it on the PC to save space but I think I screenshotted the correct path for if I want to put it back on.

With the TWRP still working, can I just go to a new ROM and skip the whole restore bit?

Ah right. The CM installer used different recovery to TWRP. Twrp is better, so stick with that.

If it was me, I'd be tempted to restore the original back up just to make sure it works, so that if I was selling the phone later on I could sell it in the original condition. The risk in doing that is that you might lose the root access and then you'd be back to square one trying to figure out how to root it again. If you don't want to have to go through the whole rooting process again, I'd say you're better off not restoring in case you lose root access.

If you decide to not try the restore, then go ahead and flash a custom ROM like I outlined a few posts ago.

It comes down to whether you want your phone back to original factory state or not. I suggest that because you wanted to root in the first place, there must have been something about the original software that you didn't like. In that case, if you still feel the same way, go for a custom ROM and try that out for a while. Your original backup will still be there in the future if you want to go right back to your starting point before selling the phone.

irishpancake

waynegalway wrote: »

Ah right. The CM installer used different recovery to TWRP. Twrp is better, so stick with that.

If it was me, I'd be tempted to restore the original back up just to make sure it works, so that if I was selling the phone later on I could sell it in the original condition. The risk in doing that is that you might lose the root access and then you'd be back to square one trying to figure out how to root it again. If you don't want to have to go through the whole rooting process again, I'd say you're better off not restoring in case you lose root access.

If you decide to not try the restore, then go ahead and flash a custom ROM like I outlined a few posts ago.

It comes down to whether you want your phone back to original factory state or not. I suggest that because you wanted to root in the first place, there must have been something about the original software that you didn't like. In that case, if you still feel the same way, go for a custom ROM and try that out for a while. Your original backup will still be there in the future if you want to go right back to your starting point before selling the phone.

First thing to do is make a back-up [Nandroid] of your existing set-up, using TWRP or TWRP Manager. This is good practise in case of problems!!! you can restore to what you have now.

Try to ensure you have the latest TWRP Recovery available first, you can do this from the Manager App.

[Install TWRP option//Device Name option, select your device from list presented.....AFAIK, the LG G2 European version is named g2d802. Then click Install Recovery, it will download and ask permission to install the latest TWRP]. A message will flash up saying recovery has been installed.

Boot into recovery to be sure it is installed.

Custom ROMs for the D802 are here:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g2/development-d802

I can't recommend any, as I do not know this device, but there are a few interesting one's, even a MIUI.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

waynegalway

Patww79 wrote: »

To be honest, the more I look at this the more I'm unsure (God knows how I did it first time).
I'd decided on the CloudyG3 as it seems to work best and will give me back all the hardware I bought this thing for, that CM took from me. But when I read up the likes of XDA I'm seeing things about kernels and things that I really know nothing about. I also can't see if I need a pack of Google Apps, I needed those when I done CM the first time.
As far as I remember now I rooted the phone, installed the 2nd app shown in the screenshot, and used that some way to install CM.
I'm going to factory reset this CM for now and see does it help the battery. I'll live with the rubbish camera and lack of FM radio/IR remote/etc.

Usually Google Apps are only installed separately if you flash an open source ROM like cyanogenmod. In the case of HTC, and I'd be surprised if LG was any different, a ROM based on the original software will have Google apps built in. Thats one of the reasons why ROM's based on OEM software are much larger files than the likes of cyanogenmod.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

waynegalway

Patww79 wrote: »

As an update, that's much more like it. Cheers all for all the help and the push in the right direction.
And to bring the thread back in line, about CM I'd just say to read up on how it actually works with the hardware in the phone you have (special features, etc). Great OS but it's definitely better to put on a pretty basic device.

So did you get the LG based custom ROM to work, or go back to stock?

Glad you're happier with battery life anyway.

I'm with you on cm. The cm installer I used originally was handy in the end as it looked after rooting my HTC. But cm just didn't give me the main benefit I was looking for (battery life and more of a raw Google feel), and if anything it highlighted some of the really nice features that HTC had built in. Recommend it for an older phone, but I wouldn't be rushing into putting it on any phone in the future.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.