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Custom ROMs... Are they still worth it?

I have been a flashaholic for some time, probably the Eclair days, but I really question if it's worth it now days.
Most Lollipop and newer ROMs, except for Nexus devices, seem to have some kind of issues... If not immediately, then over time. While at the same time factory ROMs get better, partially because the base code is better and because many manufacturers are getting better at it.
And now, some features are being blocked just by unlocking of bootloader, even if you're otherwise stock, like Android Pay and others like Pok�©mon Go.
I find all I really do now on custom roms is some interface tweaks... Change the battery icon, add a clear all button to recents, and add arrows to the navigation bar, all minor stuff. Otherwise things like Nova Launcher, SwiftKey, and GSAM largely don't even require root anymore much less a custom ROM. Part of it used to be for battery life, but now, at least on modern Moto devices, most custom roms struggle just to match the battery life of stock.
I've tried every rom for this device I can find, here and other places, and they all seem to have a variety of things that fail, from minor annoyances to major services broken like GPS, or they fail over time.
My question for discussion is it still worth it, and why do you ROM or even root anymore?

I used to run a variety CM ROM's on Samsung Galaxy & Note devices. Starting with the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket and then every decent device Samsung released until the bootloaders stopped getting cracked.
There was always something that just didn't work right and I'd have random crashes.
But for me it was semi-worth it. I like to tinker and customize a lot.
Fast forward to the last thirteen months with my first non-Samsung since. A Motorola Moto X Pure.
Best damn phone I've ever had.
And there is CM available, but I quickly discovered AOSP ROM's like Dirty Unicorn and Broken OS.
Both these ROM's are FULL of customization not found in Xposed modules, and both ROM's have been 100% reliable.
I may have had one lockup in the last 13 months. And everything from GPS to Bluetooth, etc. have all worked perfectly.
So for me, yes... custom ROM's are more than worth it once you find the right ROM. My phone is heavily customized to my needs and super reliable.
The only thing lacking with MotoX was kernel development. Which I guess is where you start losing some reliability.
But it's also where I'm hoping the Pixel will get some good development and I'm looking forward to it. :good:

Non-rooted stock MM has been going great for me lately. Lots of great built in features like Moto actions, etc. I play Pokemon while walking on my breaks at work, and the last few updates forced my hand to go back to stock. I was (am) also a flashoholic, and it was mainly to have custom features and better performance on outdated and mfg abandoned phones. It was also a must for my Kindle Fire. I really don't see myself going away from stock MM (soon to be Nougat) on my MXPE at this point. I still flash ROMs on my G2 and Note 3 though, but barely use them outside the house.

CZ Eddie said:
I used to run a variety CM ROM's on Samsung Galaxy & Note devices. Starting with the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket and then every decent device Samsung released until the bootloaders stopped getting cracked.
There was always something that just didn't work right and I'd have random crashes.
But for me it was semi-worth it. I like to tinker and customize a lot.
Fast forward to the last thirteen months with my first non-Samsung since. A Motorola Moto X Pure.
Best damn phone I've ever had.
And there is CM available, but I quickly discovered AOSP ROM's like Dirty Unicorn and Broken OS.
Both these ROM's are FULL of customization not found in Xposed modules, and both ROM's have been 100% reliable.
I may have had one lockup in the last 13 months. And everything from GPS to Bluetooth, etc. have all worked perfectly.
So for me, yes... custom ROM's are more than worth it once you find the right ROM. My phone is heavily customized to my needs and super reliable.
The only thing lacking with MotoX was kernel development. Which I guess is where you start losing some reliability.
But it's also where I'm hoping the Pixel will get some good development and I'm looking forward to it. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm... I have been on that "rom that shan't be named on XDA" for a while now. After a month started suffering SoD randomly and Play Services has stopped issues. DU 10.6 couldn't maintain GPS lock, but 10.5 was fine, seemed to effect only a handful of devices, lucky me.
Anyway, thanks for your input.

acejavelin said:
Hmm... I have been on that "rom that shan't be named on XDA" for a while now. After a month started suffering SoD randomly and Play Services has stopped issues. DU 10.6 couldn't maintain GPS lock, but 10.5 was fine, seemed to effect only a handful of devices, lucky me.
Anyway, thanks for your input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also have been a avid user of the "rom that shan't be named on XDA" for many months now with no real issues. By chance have you tried a fresh install again. The latest release was back in late August a 4.9.1 version that made corrections to some issues on the 4.9 release.

Jimi Mack said:
I also have been a avid user of the "rom that shan't be named on XDA" for many months now with no real issues. By chance have you tried a fresh install again. The latest release was back in late August a 4.9.1 version that made corrections to some issues on the 4.9 release.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not yet... I have been on 4.9.1 already, and have been working with the devs a bit on it but seems mostly isolated to my device.

acejavelin said:
Not yet... I have been on 4.9.1 already, and have been working with the devs a bit on it but seems mostly isolated to my device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If anything try a fresh install and see if your issues were only from maybe a bad original install. If they show up again then I would say they are isolated to your device.

Jimi Mack said:
If anything try a fresh install and see if your issues were only from maybe a bad original install. If they show up again then I would say they are isolated to your device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm out of town for the weekend, in a rather rural area, so maybe will try tomorrow evening.

LMT pie, adaway, naptime, and general tweaking are the only reasons I root on a phone this close to stock android.
I didn't run custom ROMs on this phone until about August of this year. That was when battery life on aicp started to get comparable with stock for me. I can get most of the features I want from gravitybox, but I prefer them baked into the ROM. Xposed always seems a little problematic even when you don't install janky modules. I really like the notification led; missed that when I got this phone. I know we're supposed to use moto display, but I think that makes more sense on amoled than a great big LCD. Never had good luck with lightflow or the led enabler apps, but the custom roms work great. I really like slim recents too. I haven't found any modules that work to put KitKat like recents on M ROMs.

TruPureXMM + GravityBox
Loved my MXP so much I bought one for my mom who was hating her iPhone5. Kept it stock (for obvious reasons), so I have a good baseline to compare to my MXP running TruPureXMM + GravityBox. I've tried a bunch of ROMS for this phone but I always come back to TruPureXMM + GravityBox. Oh, and Tasker.
There is no way in hell I would go back to stock.

I used Cyanogenmod on my HTC Incredible and Verizon Galaxy Nexus. Didn't root or ROM for a while due to using the stock ROM on the 2nd generation Verizon Moto X 2014 and stock Android on the Nexus 5X and 6P. But, I had the itch to unlock the bootloader on my Moto X Pure, due to curiousity, and because it's likely that we will only see one more Nougat update. I tried CM13, but I was getting UI freeze ups and slowdowns on multiple builds, so I tried Dirty Unicorns 10.6, and that has been working fine. I may return to the stock ROM after the Nougat update, but in the meantime, I'm happy experimenting with different ROMs on the Pure.

I'd be cool with stock- as long as I could debloat it.
And it was updated fairly quickly.

Stock for this phone is great. Better than most. Only issue really is Moto is so far behind on security updates. They are on what, May I believe? CM13 is Oct.
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Stock here, never a issue. With Nougat in the horizon, a custom ROM is a big NO for me.
Enviado desde mi XT1575 mediante Tapatalk

I would say TruPureX with a few mods is a very solid and stable way to go. I myself am on TurboROM which has ceased current development, but have ZERO issues. AICP's MM build is the most feature filled and works flawlessly aside from one issue I don't have on other ROMs, where my bank app only shows black when using the camera to deposit checks, making AICP unusable for me, but highly recommended for others to try as that's the absolute only issue I could find after a week full of testing (Kind of what I do as a hobby is push ROMs to their limits to find the issues.)
So in short: TruPureXMM, TurboROM, AICP - are all great choices without the negatives associated with many custom ROMs.

Pretty sure we are all here to push the ROMs to he limits lol?
Sent from my XT1575 using XDA-Developers mobile app

Speaking of custom ROMs, I just searched android file host for Clark and there are new 7.0 builds of zephyros, pure nexus, aosp, and cos.
I'm in a limited data area so I haven't downloaded or tried them out yet.

jason2678 said:
Speaking of custom ROMs, I just searched android file host for Clark and there are new 7.0 builds of zephyros, pure nexus, aosp, and cos.
I'm in a limited data area so I haven't downloaded or tried them out yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running the latest Zephyr after trying AICP and CM14. Uses substratum and SuperSU. Camera recording isn't working with snapdragon camera (FC), google camera (records but doesn't save). Had an android.phone FC but replaced with google phone/contacts and no problems so far. Still need to test speakerphone and bluetooth, but assuming those work as well as 6.0.1 I'm pretty impressed by Birdman.

Any roms that anyone can recommend? CM13 and OrionOS both have very bad stuttering after some time of use. Has anyone tried Pure Nexus or Slim6? Just need a good daily driver that can handle games without heating up so hot, and handle most social apps great...

jason2678 said:
Speaking of custom ROMs, I just searched android file host for Clark and there are new 7.0 builds of zephyros, pure nexus, aosp, and cos.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously? We've got like one and a half here.

Any stock Android fans use the S7 as a daily driver?

I'm missing stock Android. So much so I'm selling my S7 to get a Motorola.
Anyone here who prefer stock Android who gets by fine with the S7 (without a custom ROM or theme I mean )

A Motorola :laugh:. Nothing's that bad. A Pixel maybe. I like stock Android but don't prefer it to my current set up. If you don't like Touchwiz why not try an alternative?

Wouldn't survive if it weren't for Xposed + Good lock + Custom ROM

fullbloom said:
A Motorola :laugh:. Nothing's that bad. A Pixel maybe. I like stock Android but don't prefer it to my current set up. If you don't like Touchwiz why not try an alternative?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've had a Moto X Play before getting my S7. It's one of the best phones I've had. Although, if I could afford the Pixel that's what I'd get
I've yet to find a good stable trustworthy ROM especially when it comes to the camera. Also I don't want to trigger Knox so that if I sell it, if my buyer wants to have Samsung Pay, it's still available.
Beanvee7 said:
Wouldn't survive if it weren't for Xposed + Good lock + Custom ROM
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What ROM are you using?

Prosis said:
What ROM are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Superman, very much TouchWiz but debloated and with Xposed modules I can rework it.

I'll be sticking with the S7 for now after all. Maybe it's because of the S8 but they're not that popular right now second hand. Oh well.
Beanvee7 said:
Superman, very much TouchWiz but debloated and with Xposed modules I can rework it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you do different on the Superman ROM than the stock ROM? I can't really understand the point of getting a custom ROM that ressembles TouchWiz. Also do you prefer stock Android?

Prosis said:
What do you do different on the Superman ROM than the stock ROM? I can't really understand the point of getting a custom ROM that ressembles TouchWiz. Also do you prefer stock Android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has a few minor tweaks built in, and removes all bloat apps, and lets you choose which Samsung apps you want - which I only kept the camera basically.
The main reason I use it is because it's pre-rooted and pre-xposed in one neat package, that's where most my customisation comes from. From there I can use xTouchWiz and GravityBox among other modules to bring it closer to stock. Other than the settings menu it more or less looks like stock android. I prefer stock Android, I always used close to stock android ROMs on my previous phones.
I also had my phone before the massive explosion of Nougat ROMs. The only ROMs were TouchWiz ROMs, I had to flash something to debloat and Superman was the best offering. I would go for a Nougat ROM, but they seem to still be working out the kinks, and Xposed isn't officially on Nougat yet.

Beanvee7 said:
It has a few minor tweaks built in, and removes all bloat apps, and lets you choose which Samsung apps you want - which I only kept the camera basically.
The main reason I use it is because it's pre-rooted and pre-xposed in one neat package, that's where most my customisation comes from. From there I can use xTouchWiz and GravityBox among other modules to bring it closer to stock. Other than the settings menu it more or less looks like stock android. I prefer stock Android, I always used close to stock android ROMs on my previous phones.
I also had my phone before the massive explosion of Nougat ROMs. The only ROMs were TouchWiz ROMs, I had to flash something to debloat and Superman was the best offering. I would go for a Nougat ROM, but they seem to still be working out the kinks, and Xposed isn't officially on Nougat yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using the same marshmallow superman while I dual boot aosp roms waiting for a stable one.
Are you able to get GravityBox navigation bar to work, all I get is fc when I enable it?

Never tried it before now, but it seems to work. Seems to disable the home key when it's enabled, which is stopping me from screenshotting.

Beanvee7 said:
Never tried it before now, but it seems to work. Seems to disable the home key when it's enabled, which is stopping me from screenshotting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe I'll have to try again, might be a way to remap home key back to home...
Thanks

For reference I'm on GravityBox 6.3.5 with Xposed 87.1 by wanam. My Xposed status does say installed but not active, but all my modules work so I ignore it.

Darth Cookie S7 Snapdragon as Daily Driver
Beanvee7 said:
For reference I'm on GravityBox 6.3.5 with Xposed 87.1 by wanam. My Xposed status does say installed but not active, but all my modules work so I ignore it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not that hooked on Xposed that I can't do without it (though I came from AOSP). Before the S7, I ran a Galaxy Nexus on VZW; my S7 is on the UnCarrier side of Tracfone today. (Yes - you read the title correctly - I actually have the AT&T Mobility "Darth Cookie" beta firmware on my ex-VZW S7, and it runs quite nicely, thank you - in fact, it's not going anywhere until T-Mobile releases proper Oreo firmware - SE9 and all.) It's faster than stock, and it's faster than L7 v. 4 - which it replaced - therefore, unless I absolutely have to, I have absolutely no reason to fire it. I have been rusing and abusing the firmware as I've gotten more and more comfortable; in particular, I've been extremely swap-happy with Darth Cookie - anywhere from eight to twelve(!) apps have been in my rota; with stock N, I was lucky to be comfortable with three. So I have beta firmware from one carrier on a phone originally from a second carrier, but is actually on a third carrier using the towers of a fourth - yet nary a complaint.

LineageOS

Has anyone attempted to install the base LineageOS on their Verizon m8?
If so, what was the level of success? Does everything work?

yes its sweet

yatman60 said:
Has anyone attempted to install the base LineageOS on their Verizon m8?
If so, what was the level of success? Does everything work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am using LineageOS on my VZW m8. I am having issues with my data disconnecting intermittently. Everything else seems to be working fine.

So ...glad I found this thread, as I was going to create my own (though I think general might be a better place for it...I'll suggest to mods).
Hopefully this can be a good place for all of us VZW M8 users to discuss our LOS experiences.
I just started looking for a new ROM after months of hating the stock MM update. I'm hoping to get another year or so out of my M8.
So far I have narrowed it down to:
NuSenseSeven - A really nice Sense 7 MM build that doesn't seem to have the performance issues of stock MM.
Wolla - Nice clean Sense 8 MM build with a healthy collection of tweaks to configure.
Lineage (LOS) - Nougat build for M8 (only one?). Clean, fast AOSP-like ROM with ability to build extremely light and add what you need from gapps.
So far these are my main issues with Lineage after trying for only a few days:
Not HTC specific. So you are going to lose out on some HTC tools and menus. Something like HTC Connect to cast media, or the comprehensive gesture support HTC has. Some of these you can get back through third party apps, but not all of it and not really as well integrated as you get with HTC/Sense. There are about 5-10 things that a ROM like Wolla has that I can't find the same settings in LOS. Basically I'm deciding if I want to lose out on those to get the benefits on being on the latest possible Android for the phone.
Right now I'm leaning 80% yes on LOS, but I might decide to go back to Wolla or NuSenseSeven. I would need to do some more testing between those two before I decided on which one though.
Although there is a lack of some features in those ROMS, there are other features that you will only get in LOS like the updated Nougat notification system, Privacy Guard, and maybe a few others. So you need to choose what is best for you.
As far as speed/stability/etc. So far I have been really impressed with LOS, though all builds I mention have been way better than stock MM in the few days I've been testing. Here are the only known issues/bugs that I have had with LOS so far:
1) NFC icon. The NFC icon doesn't appear in the status bar, so you can't see at a glance if it is enabled (you can see it in quick launch though). I think this is a regression and there is a bug listed for it. I actually haven't tested the NFC yet though, but it appears that it works, just no notification icon.
2) Double list of APN in mobile settings. This is just a display bug...for some reason the menu option is there twice.
3) I too have had some data/connection issues, but I am not ready to rule the ROM as the issue yet. Basically on the quicklaunch bar it was showing my data connection as "No service" instead of "Verizon Wireless." It would say Verizon sometimes, but not always. I couldn't tell if this was an issue with the display or not because my other ROMS didn't have a comparable icon, so I had to start looking at the hidden phone menus to see what my connection was saying. Sure enough, my phone didn't appear to be getting a carrier name listed when I was using LOS most of the time, but it was there all the time (at least all my testing time) on other ROMs.
As I was trying to compare/troubleshoot this by flashing different ROMS and radios at some point I got to a point where my 4G wouldn't work at all (stuck at 3G). This was the case even when flashing back to pure stock everything. I spent the better part of a day working on this and couldn't find the solution until I found a few other threads of people discussing no 4G connection and the only solution was a new SIM card. Sure enough I got a new SIM from Verizon today and 4G came back immediately. I reflashed LOS and on boot it shows I'm on Verizon, so I'm hoping it stays.

Stumbled into this thread last week, and was curious. Currently running LineageOS 14.1-20170727 and I'm impressed. Been running fine for about a week now with no major issues. Getting a slightly better battery life, better responsiveness, and good 4G connectivity.
Only minor issues have been spotty WiFi connection, though it might have just been due to a weak signal. That and USB tethering doesn't appear to be working yet. Wifi Tethering seems to work fine though.
**Edit** USB tethering does work. Don't know why it wasn't earlier. Perhaps a bad USB cable

How to get it?
I'd like to try this ROM on my M8. Did you guys just flash the ROM for the regular M8 not a ported Version?
If yes, is it safe to do that. I have the GPE ROM installed on my M8 running GSM not CDMA.
Thanks!

Mohamed Yehia said:
I'd like to try this ROM on my M8. Did you guys just flash the ROM for the regular M8 not a ported Version?
If yes, is it safe to do that. I have the GPE ROM installed on my M8 running GSM not CDMA.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, I just tried out the regular M8 version "One 2014 (m8)", and it worked just fine. No special setup coming from the GPE Rom, other than a full wipe. ( That's what I was running as a daily driver before ) It took a long time for the first boot, and it even rebooted on its own after the initial flashing and reboot. Give it a try. I've been really happy with it thus far.

working well except roaming
I've been running lineage on my verizon M8 for a couple months with excellent results - except when I'm out of the country roaming. In Canada and now Chile the same thing is happening - the network appears for one second, then gone the next, and repeat. Sometimes it's connected long enough for a text to get through, but not enough for any data usage. And it keeps asking me to select my sim card, and of course I have only 1.

LOS 15 is amazing. Everything works perfectly fine. I just wish LOS performed as smooth as Sense based ROMs

Any custom kernels available for M8s running LineageOS?

Android One is a massive failure and why I am downgrading back to Oreo

Hello, I am officially downgrading back to Oreo now due to not seeing bugfixes from Xiaomi for several months on common problems reported by many people to Xiaomi ever since Android Pie update was pushed. They did not fix anything, and it does not look like they will either.
Let me debunk for you my thoughts on Android One and how Xiaomi has handled it:
- We are guaranteed two major updates and security patches, but we are not guaranteed any stability or bugfixes! This is just a cheap update to Android Pie with only security updates being pushed, and I find it absolutely unacceptable. Xiaomi probably does not want to give resources to such a unpopular not profitable or well-selling device (compared to their other devices and MIUI) and are just delivering the minimal they have to in order to stick to and fulfil the conditions set in the Android One project.
- I noticed not only lower battery lifetime, but also several bugs. This includes completely random MASSIVE lags in for example something as simple as using Google Maps (nothing else being used on my phone when lagging!)
- My Wi-Fi not working well at all taking a long time to scan and connect, not being able to connect to hidden networks AT ALL
- Random crashes even when I was on my way to an important exam and even "freezing" up in calls and weird buzzing screeching noises in calls.
- I have LTE, but I cannot call over VoLTE or VoWiFi, because this phone does not have the support for my carrier. My phone calls now go through 2G! While my Apple, Samsung and Huawei friends are laughing at me.
- My friend reported one of his speakers DIED on him not even half a year after the purchase.
Note, I have done factory resets, I have tried to give it a chance, but it just doesn't improve. This is a horrible device, and that is my 2 cents.
You should not buy phones just from the specifications you see it has, you should care about plenty a other things that might be wrong. I have decided to go back to Oreo, and at least have a decent device, and I think you should too, which is why I am sharing this with you. Will I buy another phone from Xiaomi? I am not so sure after this ...
How you do it is simple, you just download the latest Oreo OTA: V9.6.10.0.ODLMIFF, do OEM unlocking and flash it using flash_all_lock_crc.sh on Linux or the flash_all_lock_crc.bat on Windows (will erase all data NB)
Join me downgrading to Oreo, WARNING: Only at your own risk!
Need drivers, download the fasboot package binary for Linux or Windows from Google and install Xiaomi ADB/Fastboot drivers, for Linux it is not necessary when I tried it:
Windows: https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-windows.zip
Linux: https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-linux.zip
Mac: https://dl.google.com/android/repository/platform-tools-latest-darwin.zip
1. Download the latest 8.1 OTA http://bigota.d.miui.com/V9.6.11.0....0.ODLMIFF_20181112.0000.00_8.1_8028e3bf1c.tgz
2. Enable developers options by tapping the build number in about phone multiple times, and in developer options enable OEM unlocking
3. Shut the phone down, hold the volume down when plugging it into the PC or hold the volume down + power to enter fastboot mode (you should see it say fastboot and the Mitu mascot).
4. OEM unlock using command "fastboot oem unlock" WARNING: Full data wipe, unless you hold volume down you might be able to stop this, look for other threads on xda-developers for this.
5. Flash using flash_all_lock_crc.sh on Linux or the flash_all_lock_crc.bat on Windows, maybe you can use the ones without data wipe, again you should take backup of your important data!
6. Enjoy a not so terrible device

Now I just have to figure out how to stop auto-downloading of May OTA and notifications about updating, probably needs root?
EDIT:
Can go into Developer Options and disable Automatic system updates

I complete agree with you bro, Android One is almost like we are beta testers for all the time. My Mi A2 lite give me some annoying issues:
1) Bluetooth don't work proprely with my sound car system (freeze the music when I take in my hands or the road shake the device);
2) Autofocus don't work for Gcam in low light and even in the stock app camera the focus isn't correct edge to edge, making some softness in the corners;
3) Hotspot wifi router works for some minutes and for nothing the mobile data stop.
4) Ram management is a rubbish, just opening the camera any other application reload;
After all I understand Samsung and others Brands for delay updates, at least is not full of bugs like Xiaomi (same with MIUI).

if you only downgrade, without patches or fixes, android 8.1 will be a pain in the ...
the anti-roll back politic of xiaomi only makes harder to downgrade...

NeoZX58 said:
if you only downgrade, without patches or fixes, android 8.1 will be a pain in the ...
the anti-roll back politic of xiaomi only makes harder to downgrade...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And about customs ROMs? They are more stable and bugfixeds than stock or not reliable yet? Actually I prefer to install Pixel Experience (Pie) and not downgrade to Oreo.

I like pir granted I never use stock ROM custom is the way to go

Yep pie OS definitely consumes more battery than oreo and I'm almost tempted to role back to oreo just to have more battery life.
I'm currently using lineageos by 33bca it's very stable, I recommend you to give it a try. The only thing I hate is that the ram management is really awful (both with stock and custom rom), most of the time the phone has to reload the applications even if I only have 2 applications opened.
Are you having some problem with sim/network? Because I saw in some post a fix to use after downgrading from pie to oreo.

I never upgraded from Oreo to Pie. Looks like i made the right choice.

gatomestre08 said:
I complete agree with you bro, Android One is almost like we are beta testers for all the time. My Mi A2 lite give me some annoying issues:
1) Bluetooth don't work proprely with my sound car system (freeze the music when I take in my hands or the road shake the device);
2) Autofocus don't work for Gcam in low light and even in the stock app camera the focus isn't correct edge to edge, making some softness in the corners;
3) Hotspot wifi router works for some minutes and for nothing the mobile data stop.
4) Ram management is a rubbish, just opening the camera any other application reload;
After all I understand Samsung and others Brands for delay updates, at least is not full of bugs like Xiaomi (same with MIUI).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like more of the same issues I have experienced, it is simply not good enough for what would be expected of day-to-day use. I think we got exactly what we paid for with this device, sadly, and from what I know the Pie update already released to for example S8 and it is working perfectly well and stable for those. But, again, much more popular and well-financed device than our cheap A2 Lite.
NeoZX58 said:
if you only downgrade, without patches or fixes, android 8.1 will be a pain in the ...
the anti-roll back politic of xiaomi only makes harder to downgrade...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me this has been the easiest device to downgrade. Xiaomi hosts the OTA officially, OEM unlocking simply by an easy command no phone or e-mail verification just like the Pixel(Probably Android One related), and they made the script to downgrade it for you. I had much more trouble before on other devices. like Samsung using ODIN, Xiaomi with MIUI and similar, having to go through a verification by e-mail to unlock at HTC etc etc. I do not get what you are on about?
Also, why is it a pain without patches or fixes? It is much better than what you get with Pie so far, at least that is for me. There is way more lacks of patches and fixes for Pie than for Oreo ...
Remember, this was the last version released just before the May Pie update, it is very recent in itself only by some 7 months ...
anzhaki said:
Yep pie OS definitely consumes more battery than oreo and I'm almost tempted to role back to oreo just to have more battery life.
I'm currently using lineageos by 33bca it's very stable, I recommend you to give it a try. The only thing I hate is that the ram management is really awful (both with stock and custom rom), most of the time the phone has to reload the applications even if I only have 2 applications opened.
Are you having some problem with sim/network? Because I saw in some post a fix to use after downgrading from pie to oreo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I really wanted to try the custom ROMs, but I have banking apps that complain to me if my device is rooted or similar, and refuses to run. These are important apps for paying for goods and services that you need in order to go about your life normally. I can get around it using Magisk Hide, but I would rather not
SIM/network problems actually worked fine on Oreo and Pie (official ROM) for me all the time. I can use 4G LTE band20 perfectly and other bands to access internet, and it immediately connects to 2G/3G(3G being closed in my country soon for 4G and 5G improvement) for calls when it needs to. Coverage is also well in my country. My company use Ericsson base stations and not Huawei ones, but not like that matters.

gatomestre08 said:
And about customs ROMs? They are more stable and bugfixeds than stock or not reliable yet? Actually I prefer to install Pixel Experience (Pie) and not downgrade to Oreo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pixel experience, AOSiP and Lineage are the best custom Roms so far, but, my issue is from RAM management in android Pie (custom or stock).. after hours of use the phone becomes unusable... :/
courfazor said:
For me this has been the easiest device to downgrade. Xiaomi hosts the OTA officially, OEM unlocking simply by an easy command no phone or e-mail verification just like the Pixel(Probably Android One related), and they made the script to downgrade it for you. I had much more trouble before on other devices. like Samsung using ODIN, Xiaomi with MIUI and similar, having to go through a verification by e-mail to unlock at HTC etc etc. I do not get what you are on about?
Also, why is it a pain without patches or fixes? It is much better than what you get with Pie so far, at least that is for me. There is way more lacks of patches and fixes for Pie than for Oreo ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nope, if you only do this, you don't have RIL, can't record videos from camera and only one sim works...
i told you because i did it, you need a several fixes for sim, modify files in the official OTA to flash more files and need the modem pie img and flash it too...

i agree that the android one program wont ever give us a solid flawless build, after all it is ment for lower to mid range devices that will be quickly overlooked after release , i must admit this a2 lite is the best phone i have had so far even with the instabilities but thanks to the xda community i have been able to make the device truly mine and how i like it. i had to get this device after my nexus 5x broke during in a motorcycle accident, it was all i could afford and it performs well for my needs, i did install twrp and Butterfly for Daisy to fix the GCam mis focus issues, eventually i gave in and installed magisk to manage tge kernel with arduitor and increase battery life. i never had the luxury to run Oreo on this devixe because as soon as i got it i unlocked the bootloader and when it restarted it booted into the updated pie partition and i decided to run with it. i dont think xiaomi or Google will actually fix any bugs but we are on XDA and DIY is always an option.

NeoZX58 said:
pixel experience, AOSiP and Lineage are the best custom Roms so far, but, my issue is from RAM management in android Pie (custom or stock).. after hours of use the phone becomes unusable... :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not good. I think this was the same massive lagging issue I experienced, I just did not know it was due to bad RAM management. Is this a fix that needs to be done to the ROM directly or only the kernel? I am not familiar with custom ROM/kernel development that much, but I have experienced some kernels on devices working much better than others like ElementalX.
NeoZX58 said:
nope, if you only do this, you don't have RIL, can't record videos from camera and only one sim works...
i told you because i did it, you need a several fixes for sim, modify files in the official OTA to flash more files and need the modem pie img and flash it too...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am able to record videos from my camera perfectly, it works very stable. I used this version of Oreo just some months ago and it worked great. I have the version with 4GB RAM and 64GB eMMC. I think the reason I experience no issues is because I only use one primary SIM for 4G and calling in SIM slot 1, and do not have a use for the 2nd SIM slot so for me, it is perfect, but too bad for the people that actually needs this feature like you About updates to RIL I assume the firmware used for modem/calling, which for me works so any updates are not that needed for me to have it working perfectly.
Azatecas said:
i agree that the android one program wont ever give us a solid flawless build, after all it is ment for lower to mid range devices that will be quickly overlooked after release , i must admit this a2 lite is the best phone i have had so far even with the instabilities but thanks to the xda community i have been able to make the device truly mine and how i like it. i had to get this device after my nexus 5x broke during in a motorcycle accident, it was all i could afford and it performs well for my needs, i did install twrp and Butterfly for Daisy to fix the GCam mis focus issues, eventually i gave in and installed magisk to manage tge kernel with arduitor and increase battery life. i never had the luxury to run Oreo on this devixe because as soon as i got it i unlocked the bootloader and when it restarted it booted into the updated pie partition and i decided to run with it. i dont think xiaomi or Google will actually fix any bugs but we are on XDA and DIY is always an option.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But it was actually working well enough for me too on some of the builds, but I do agree that it is probably not a phone that was meant to be supported for long. Another person I know has the A2 model, and he says it has been working perfectly well for him for all this time even on latest Android Pie. I do not know if there are much differences between them, but I do know the A2 is a much more popular device. Personally I prefer the A2 Lite just for the audio jack, and I still like the legacy MicroUSB. People would call me mad for this, but haha, that is just who I am.
I am afraid this device is not nearly as popular to get enough DIY effort into making a custom ROM/kernel, I am certainly not anyone who knows enough to get into development of it. I hope it will go well and that somebody will take the challenge, or maybe it has already happened?

courfazor said:
I am afraid this device is not nearly as popular to get enough DIY effort into making a custom ROM/kernel, I am certainly not anyone who knows enough to get into development of it. I hope it will go well and that somebody will take the challenge, or maybe it has already happened?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i actually think the mi a2 lite is more popular than the regular A2, it has more features and a better battery for a cheaper price so it is more accessible to more people and therefore more reach developers. Butterfly for Daisy is a great Custom Kernel that fixes some issues including the GCam focus issue among other things on Pie, i highly suggest you read that thread to see if it offer solutions to some of your issues with the device. im still running stock Rom with the custom kernel and everything works great. others have reported Resurrection Remix/Puxel Experience/ and Lineage Os bring additional stability and fixes in coordination with the kernel. i havent found the need to try a custom rom yet but development is very active on the device. however it is a low end phone and QA is not as good so some devices might be lemons straght out of the factory and not perform as good.

I have almost no issues with my Mi A2 Lite. No slowness except what I expect from a $159 phone, GPS works, bluetooth works albeit I hate that they removed AAC, WiFi is perfectly fine and maxes out my connection with bluetooth on. Only thing I don't like is how crap calling is, but I figured that would be the case when I bought it at again, $159 and knew some American bands were missing. Battery life is 8-11 hours of SOT with regular usage. I use the IR blaster to control my stereo receiver, FM radio is nice. Glass has some light scratches, but again I expect that for $159.
I have a brand new never opened Oreo Mi A2 Lite in my desk drawer still in the box that I haven't felt the need to pull out yet. I think as someone else has pointed out, there may be two hardware revisions because mine is fairly flawless.

I downgrade my Mi A2 Lite to Oreo V9.6.6.0.ODLMIFF (August 2018) and was surprised how good and perfect is this version, looks like I have an new Smartphone. Now Bluetooth works perfect, Gcam Autofocus is accurate, fine RAM mannagement, battery life is great, only miss FM Radio.
Mi A2 Lite was arruined by Android Pie.
Shame on you Xiaomi, I'm very disappointed with the crap updates that we received from you, seems like your only purpose is for the users buy an new one device.

anzhaki said:
Yep pie OS definitely consumes more battery than oreo and I'm almost tempted to role back to oreo just to have more battery life.
I'm currently using lineageos by 33bca it's very stable, I recommend you to give it a try. The only thing I hate is that the ram management is really awful (both with stock and custom rom), most of the time the phone has to reload the applications even if I only have 2 applications opened.
Are you having some problem with sim/network? Because I saw in some post a fix to use after downgrading from pie to oreo.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the ram management... open your kernel 'tweaker' app and disable 'Adaptive Low Memory Killer', it seems to like killing apps on background, even with enough ram to spare... It'll make no magic, but definately helps :highfive:

Sorry, needing Help.
Could you please post a tutorial for this, or a good noob Xiaomi step by step? I have unlocked my phone a few months ago. I don't remember how I did it. I have since moved to another phone. I have installed twrp and had it rooted with majisk. a factory reset took care of majisk. I would love to go back completely to stock oreo.
I only need one slot on the sim so this should be ok.
Your directions for install sound good but seems like something might be missing. I'm new to the xiaomi devices. They seem way more comlicated than all the Samsungs I've had.
PLEASE, and thank you:good::good:

Rev10eight said:
Could you please post a tutorial for this, or a good noob Xiaomi step by step? I have unlocked my phone a few months ago. I don't remember how I did it. I have since moved to another phone. I have installed twrp and had it rooted with majisk. a factory reset took care of majisk. I would love to go back completely to stock oreo.
I only need one slot on the sim so this should be ok.
Your directions for install sound good but seems like something might be missing. I'm new to the xiaomi devices. They seem way more comlicated than all the Samsungs I've had.
PLEASE, and thank you:good::good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All your data on phone will be lost , take back-up on PC if necessairy.
For full stock rom , download Miuflashtool zip. extract and install on your PC, download stock rom for your phone on your PC and extract it , boot into fastboot and connect your device to PC ,in flashtool click on refresh, your device should appear ( numbercombination 225cc80.... or something like that) click browse in the left corner and select the extracted stock rom file, hit flash and wait till you see succes in green on the right . Your device will take about 10 min to boot . You're now on stock rom, locked bootloader, no root and stock recovery . I flashed my device MiA2 lite) yesterday with latest Pie stock rom after I had bootloop
bricked it. I don't now about oreo stock rom , there could be issues with network connection, video playback and swapped simcard because of anti rollback protection.

Thank you so much.
That was super simple and super quick. I am back to stock Pie, unrooted and and the boot loader is locked again. I used OREO and the phone works fine. Make sure you disable update or it will update to pie. I need to redo it to go back to oreo.

I want to downgrade. What about second sim slot OREO error ??? What version is the best? And what version havent bluetooth/wifi/gps issue? I dont remember what version I was at last on oreo.

Warning on updating to android 9 pie!!!

You will lose the possibility of recording calls with ACR or any other recording program!!! Google Crazy nutcase house again as usual.
Think about it before updating, I had forgotten all about it and was looking forward for an update to see if it was to fix one issue I have with it - I had looked at the new features on Googletube yet now I don't want to update any longer. I had planned to wait for the update and then reset my phone, but I'm going to that now to see if I can fix a problem with my none rooted LG 20 in regards of charging. But most likely an hardware issue after I tried a foreign Quick charger Adapter from Huawei for it. *But I have 2 Battery Chargers that still works so flipping battery*
So don't do that!!! I thought that I might get 0.2 Amps more out of it - making the charging to a bit quicker as it is made for 9 volts and 2 amps and not 1.8 amps as the LG.
In any case, think before you update to Android Pie - if you want to lose the option of recording calls.
May Jehovah be with thee
- Anders

There's no rooted phone recorder solution?

baldybill said:
There's no rooted phone recorder solution?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You will loose other features like the Quad DAC for music as far as I know if you Jailbreak it.
I think there might be ways to record if you Root it - but I don't know of the stability or how to do that in the first place. I don't want to lose my Quad DAC and whatever issues I might have by rooting it. I remember how many issues I had on my Note 2 special edition after I rooted it and I'm not going there with my LG V20.

Just wanted to let you guys know - as I had forgotten this insanity and actually looked forward to the update when I heard it was just around the corner. Now, I don't really care much for Pie and I will stay with the older version.

Jesus is God Almighty said:
You will loose other features like the Quad DAC for music as far as I know if you Jailbreak it.
I think there might be ways to record if you Root it - but I don't know of the stability or how to do that in the first place. I don't want to lose my Quad DAC and whatever issues I might have by rooting it. I remember how many issues I had on my Note 2 special edition after I rooted it and I'm not going there with my LG V20.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that is only if you use a non stock based rom. rooting does not make you loose features roms that dont support those features make you loose those features... With root you can actually enable quad Dac for more things and modify many other things and get rid of bloatware 100% not half assedly.

mirrin said:
that is only if you use a non stock based rom. rooting does not make you loose features roms that dont support those features make you loose those features... With root you can actually enable quad Dac for more things and modify many other things and get rid of bloatware 100% not half assedly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You sure about that? Any video on this - so you say if I root my V20, I will have every feature working if I continue to keep the standard Rom? I want to be certain on this before even thinking of going that direction!

By the way, what V20 do you have? How did you get Pie already? Thanks!

Jesus is God Almighty said:
You sure about that? Any video on this - so you say if I root my V20, I will have every feature working if I continue to keep the standard Rom? I want to be certain on this before even thinking of going that direction!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/development/rom-vs995-alpha-rom-v1-1-t3709727 this is the rom i am on
Alpha Omega is just a debloated/tuned stock ROM. You wont lose anything you will gain. Right now there are 2 options stock android(lineageos bases) or stock lg (oreo or nougat based roms from your own carrier)
with Lineage based roms you lose 2nd screen and some don't have volte or wifi calling (my current rom wifi calling works and it sucks...turned it off for clearer calls)
with stock everything your phone shipped with works.
Rooting gives you:
YouTube Vanced
Systemless system-wide hosts-based ad blocking
Remove image retention without needing a screen overlay app
Systemless DNS (I use CloudFlare)
Google Phone
Doze Play Services
Change system fonts (I use Product Sans)
Systemless Xposed
Block services
Debloated system apps on device without ADB
viper4android
And much more.

There's at least one Magisk Mod that lets you record both sides of the conversation even in Pie (so the writeup says).

This works great on my V20 on A-O Oreo. Native call recording:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v30/themes/enable-native-call-recording-lg-v30-t3869260

pistacios said:
This works great on my V20 on A-O Oreo. Native call recording:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-v30/themes/enable-native-call-recording-lg-v30-t3869260
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes it does, I was the guinea pig that tried running it on a V20 first lol. It should work on any stock LG Oreo based ROMs.
But this is about recording on Pie. AFAIK even newer LG's that shipped with Pie no longer have this feature.
Sent from my elsa using XDA Labs

Awesome, just reading back on my past... I tend to forget everything when going to another subject.
I just got another V20, so I'm looking into things at the moment for rooting, never got around it with the other as I never dared afraid of ruining it. My first V20 is broken on so many levels, and just got a new used one, looks decent overall although another variant then what I had sadly. But... At the moment trying to work things out and get on the right track but as usual it takes time to get there.

mirrin said:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/v20/development/rom-vs995-alpha-rom-v1-1-t3709727 this is the rom i am on
Alpha Omega is just a debloated/tuned stock ROM. You wont lose anything you will gain. Right now there are 2 options stock android(lineageos bases) or stock lg (oreo or nougat based roms from your own carrier)
with Lineage based roms you lose 2nd screen and some don't have volte or wifi calling (my current rom wifi calling works and it sucks...turned it off for clearer calls)
with stock everything your phone shipped with works.
Rooting gives you:
YouTube Vanced
Systemless system-wide hosts-based ad blocking
Remove image retention without needing a screen overlay app
Systemless DNS (I use CloudFlare)
Google Phone
Doze Play Services
Change system fonts (I use Product Sans)
Systemless Xposed
Block services
Debloated system apps on device without ADB
viper4android
And much more.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems they stopped working on the Rom you where talking about, I was thinking that it might be the way to go now some years later with a used new V20... Although not sure if it is worth anything if works was discontinued.
Still trying to get everything fixed here as I want it.

sheik124 said:
Yes it does, I was the guinea pig that tried running it on a V20 first lol. It should work on any stock LG Oreo based ROMs.
But this is about recording on Pie. AFAIK even newer LG's that shipped with Pie no longer have this feature.
Sent from my elsa using XDA Labs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup and one must have Recording! It is an awesome feature to have on so many levels.