ROM REVIEW - CM6 RC2
Installation & Set up
Installation was very fast. The first boot took 2 minutes. Apps synced in about 11 minutes and download all but 2 apps, Pure Calendar and Ultimate Juice. The weird thing was, when I searched for Pure Calendar in the market, I could not find it. (I did not perform the market fix)I restored a version from Titanium Backup. I also restored my app data using TiBU. I tested the usual suspects, maps, Bluetooth voice dialing, and paid market apps. All seem to be working, and for some reason my maps is accurate again! Yesterday it was showing me what end of my apartment I was on. My maps location had been off by about a block for months. I used Launcher Pro to restore my screens and it was fast and easy, just replaced the widgets.
Speed and Performance with Stock Kernel
Running the stock 800mhz kernel for about a day, I felt it was very capable and fairly battery friendly. I did have to make some setting adjustments in order to achieve optimal performance, those changes are posted
here. I also suggest flashing Superuser 2.1, it seems to play nicer with CM, and faster. Find it
here. I did minus a half of a point due to the necessity of the tweaks and the fact that they are not explained in the OP for the rom. I was happy with the performance of the stock kernel, but admittedly I do not run 800mhz kernels. I need at least a 1ghz to keep me happy
Short Bench: 248ms
Long Bench: 637ms
Quadrant: 1073
Rom Speed with Chevy’s 1.2ULV Kernel
Chevy’s 1.2 ULV is my kernel of choice. I use it for speed and to save battery. CM definitely flew with Chevy’s kernel! I have almost no redraw when going to a home screen unless I’m doing something obviously memory intensive. The transitions between apps and screens flows very well. While I am happy with the speed, I am not quite so happy with the battery life. I use Battery Left to estimate my battery life, but I only use it as a comparative tool. I do not take the estimates literally, I simply use the data given and compare it with other rom/kernel combinations. By my estimations, and using Chevy’s 1.2ulv as a constant, I get about 28% less battery life with CM as compared to BB V0.4. CM loses a point for this.
Short Bench:
170ms
Long Bench:
420ms
Quadrant: 1615
Features
Most of you are aware of the many CM features but I’ll cover some of them briefly. REBOOT is an option when holding the on/off button. CM now comes with its own SETTINGS MENU allowing you do things like change all the colors in the notification bar, increase performance, move to next music track or previous by holding up or down on the volume buttons, move apps to SD card, MUSIC CONTROL ON THE LOCKSCREEN (I love this!), tweaks to haptic feedback, and 360 degree screen rotation. There also options in the CALL SETTINGS to do things like vibrate when call has begun and ended, and turn the phone over to silence ringer. There has also been a change to the power control
. Look at the photo below and you will see that you can now control your 3G connection.
I have not tested for battery savings but it does have potential. There are certainly more additions I have not covered, CM comes packed with great features!
Themes
There are some great themes including 928Droid’s 2.2 Black Glass theme. I am in love with this theme, if you haven’t seen it, check it out. It looks way better on the phone than in the photos. As of right now, themes are being ported slowly RC2, probably because this is a Release Candidate (RC) and is subject to change any day. For convenience, if a new RC does come out, you will be notified of the update via Rom Manager and can easily update it.
Conclusion
CM6 RC2 has grown into one of my favorite roms, right next to BB and Kangerade. The features that CM incorporates makes it uniquely stand out. It did lose 1.5 points for battery and required tweaking, but since we can’t give a 3.5, I have to give it a 4. It is too rich and stable to be considered a 3 but is not ready to be elite. I have no doubt that the final version of CM6 will be spectacular, but in the mean time this is a great rom to have on your Droid.
OVERALL RATING: 4/5