Root Best ROMs for a noob?

[nillaplease]

I have a lot to learn, and have really been enjoying the wealth of information on here. I've never used a custom ROM before... but now I want to get serious.

I read rooting for dummies, and thought using ROM Manager might make everything easy. After more reading, it sounds like ROM Manager isn't always perfect.

I'm looking for a fast, clean ROM with features in the pull-down notification tray (like flashlight, 4g, etc). Also, I like Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare so hopefully ROMs out there are compatible.

As a noob, I think CM7 sounds cool, but I haven't learned the difference between Sense and Aosp.

Any and all information is appreciated.

 

[ardchoille]

I have a lot to learn, and have really been enjoying the wealth of information on here. I've never used a custom ROM before... but now I want to get serious.

I read rooting for dummies, and thought using ROM Manager might make everything easy. After more reading, it sounds like ROM Manager isn't always perfect.

I'm looking for a fast, clean ROM with features in the pull-down notification tray (like flashlight, 4g, etc). Also, I like Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare so hopefully ROMs out there are compatible.

As a noob, I think CM7 sounds cool, but I haven't learned the difference between Sense and Aosp.

Any and all information is appreciated.

The best thing you can do is make a nandroid backup and start flashing ROMs to see which one is best for you. You can find a nice list here.

 

[ocnbrze]

well i think that a good place to start is mikg2.3. it is a very great rom. fast and smooth. it is very stock themed and all of the bloatware is removed.

and you are correct in rom manager. it tends to be buggy and create more issues then it is worth. do everything manually, get to learn your recovery. i would also recommend that you switch to amon ra2.3, if you have not done so yet.

and the difference between sense an aosp is that aosp is pure android with no sense in it. just be aware that there some fixes that you will need to do. there is the gps fix and you have to pick your visual voice messages. so aosp does take more tweaking then sense. but it has more kernels to choose from compared to the only gingerbread kernel we currently have. just make sure that you wipe really well go to and from an aosp rom.

 

[Evo]

I am really enjoying the Synergy ROM RC2 that was just released yesterday. It runs great and I don't think it would be a big jump from stock. Here is a screenshot of the new quick settings since you did mention the notification tray. Also, there are a few options that got cut off at the bottom, they are: Sprint Hotspot, Auto Rotation, and All Settings.

 

[nillaplease]

well i think that a good place to start is mikg2.3. it is a very great rom. fast and smooth. it is very stock themed and all of the bloatware is removed.

and you are correct in rom manager. it tends to be buggy and create more issues then it is worth. do everything manually, get to learn your recovery. i would also recommend that you switch to amon ra2.3, if you have not done so yet.

and the difference between sense an aosp is that aosp is pure android with no sense in it. just be aware that there some fixes that you will need to do. there is the gps fix and you have to pick your visual voice messages. so aosp does take more tweaking then sense. but it has more kernels to choose from compared to the only gingerbread kernel we currently have. just make sure that you wipe really well go to and from an aosp rom.

I am pretty comfortable with clockwork, but I am willing to try something new. Why do you suggest amon ra2.3, and how should I pursue switching?

Also, while I probably won't dive right into aosp, if I did flash CM7 and the necessary fixes, could I still enjoy social media apps?

Lastly, would I be better off with "odexed or deodexed?" I suppose deodexed if I want to flash themes?

Thanks for all the help people.

 

[ocnbrze]

I am pretty comfortable with clockwork, but I am willing to try something new. Why do you suggest amon ra2.3, and how should I pursue switching?

Also, while I probably won't dive right into aosp, if I did flash CM7 and the necessary fixes, could I still enjoy social media apps?

Lastly, would I be better off with "odexed or deodexed?" I suppose deodexed if I want to flash themes?

Thanks for all the help people.

i think the main issue is that clockwork mod just does not wipe very well. i had issues when i first rooted with certain roms just crapping out. so i switched to amon ra 2.3 and have never looked back. never had one issue with it. and if you check the forums most of the issues you will see are people who have clockwork mod.

so if you want to try it you can get it here:http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all-things-root/259446-clockwork-amon-ra-pc36img-files.html. just remember that your nandroid backups will not work on amon ra2.3

i do not see social media apps not working with aosp roms. the only real fixes you would have to do these days are the gps and vvm fixes. everything else on aosp roms should work correctly. you could always make a nandroid and try them out, if you dislike them then you can always restore a nandroid.

and as far as deodexed vs odexed. it really does not matter too much. most roms that are deodexed so that theming for theming purposes. i think that the mik roms at one point experimented with odexed roms. deodexed a larger but not as fast as odexed roms which are smaller.

anyways i would not worry about deodexed or odexed roms. you should really try some of the newer roms out with sense 2.1 and sense 3.0 built in. there are pretty cool. like i said you should try mikg2.3 though another one just dropped mikg2.4. it has sense 2.1 and sense 3.0 something that our evos will never get officially. i hate sense 1.0 espescially after trying out these roms.

synergy is another rom you can try out. they just dropped a new version r2 the other day.

 

[kenn]

I am currently sporting synergy RC2. It's quite good and I've really had no issues with it so far. Mikg2.3 is also quite good as mentioned above. Both are basically a stock-like rom with bloat removed BUT have been updated to sense 2.1/3.0... It should feel very similar to a stock evo with cooler "stuff".

 

[nillaplease]

i think the main issue is that clockwork mod just does not wipe very well. i had issues when i first rooted with certain roms just crapping out. so i switched to amon ra 2.3 and have never looked back. never had one issue with it. and if you check the forums most of the issues you will see are people who have clockwork mod.

so if you want to try it you can get it here:http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all-things-root/259446-clockwork-amon-ra-pc36img-files.html. just remember that your nandroid backups will not work on amon ra2.3

i do not see social media apps not working with aosp roms. the only real fixes you would have to do these days are the gps and vvm fixes. everything else on aosp roms should work correctly. you could always make a nandroid and try them out, if you dislike them then you can always restore a nandroid.

and as far as deodexed vs odexed. it really does not matter too much. most roms that are deodexed so that theming for theming purposes. i think that the mik roms at one point experimented with odexed roms. deodexed a larger but not as fast as odexed roms which are smaller.

anyways i would not worry about deodexed or odexed roms. you should really try some of the newer roms out with sense 2.1 and sense 3.0 built in. there are pretty cool. like i said you should try mikg2.3 though another one just dropped mikg2.4. it has sense 2.1 and sense 3.0 something that our evos will never get officially. i hate sense 1.0 espescially after trying out these roms.

synergy is another rom you can try out. they just dropped a new version r2 the other day.

Because I already had the most recent ROM Manager installed I used it to set Amon RA2.3 as my recovery and I performed a backup. Within recovery I know I can wipe the data, dalvik, and cache as many times as I want, so do I need to flash VRsuperwipe or anything like that before I flash a ROM?

And when I do put the ROM on the root of my card and flash it, do I need to rename it or anything?

 

[ocnbrze]

Because I already had the most recent ROM Manager installed I used it to set Amon RA2.3 as my recovery and I performed a backup. Within recovery I know I can wipe the data, dalvik, and cache as many times as I want, so do I need to flash VRsuperwipe or anything like that before I flash a ROM?

And when I do put the ROM on the root of my card and flash it, do I need to rename it or anything?

well for me i wipe dalvik cache, cache, and data but then i flash the superwipe and then i flash my rom. have done this many times and never had any bootloops or had any other issues.

and no it is not necessary to rename the rom file. i do however, rename my nandrodi backups so that i know what is what. just do not use any spaces or any weird symbols in the name.