Root Installed AOSP CM7 - Now What? (app replacement, tweaks, etc.)

[DingoDan]

Thread title says it all, really.

After installing AOSP CM7 on my Optimus V and going through a LOT of trouble to get Swype working again I'm loving my first smartphone (I was using a VE20 for the last three years) and am ready to do more. Aside from fixing Swype I've done nothing to it. I really want to start replacing the stock and AOSP 2.3.3 packaged apps with better/faster/smaller ones but I'm unsure of what's safe to remove or replace. Additionally I've seen a lot of tweaks floating around but after the first two I tried (overclocking to 806 and sd card enhancement) caused my phone to crash nonstop I'm a bit wary of what I should and shouldn't try to do.

So before I go monkeying around with anything further I'm looking for a list of safe tweaks and things that CAN be replaced, and maybe just a _little_ bit of advice on what to replace them with. There are hundreds of threads online recommending and bickering about apps so that's not really the part that I'm interested in, though if there's an unrivaled "best" in a certain category (like Handcent for messaging) then I'm all ears. Also I'M NOT LIMITING MYSELF TO FREE APPS.

Anything that adds currently nonexistant functionality would be great, too. I don't have a QR reader or firewall for instance.

A few things to note:
- I'm not a huge fan of tracking or data collection. GPS and wireless network location are both off unless I use something that needs them, after which they're turned back off. I manually kill google services a LOT.
- I want as much battery life as possible when I'm unplugged. App killers are pointless for this (from what I've read) but the power control widget is one of my best friends.
- I realize that there's a tradeoff between power consumption and functionality for most apps. Recommendations for apps would ideally indicate this somehow - I may just end up with two apps that do essentially the same thing and use one or the other depending on my needs.

 

[JerryScript]

Try overclocking a bit lower. I always crash at 806 as well, but I'm perfectly stable at 787, and it's a noticeable difference being overclocked.

I use the tweeks mmarz and fransiscofranco put together, there are threads about them at xda and androidcentral. Take out the sql stuff till they have a stable binary to use. The scheduler and read_ahead tweeks alone make a big difference.

For battery life, it depends upon your usage. If you are not near wifi much, be sure to keep it turned off. When you are near it, use it and turn off 3g data, syncing seems to be more efficient with good wifi, and very power hungry with a poor 3g signal. Don't underclock more than one notch, as it can actually take more power for the processor to speed up for short operations than the power savings you might otherwise expect. Watch the battery usage of various apps over the next couple of days, and you'll see what is hogging it.

The only apps you may want to replace are the music player and the gallery. I personally like ADWLauncher, but it is a bit slow on reboot, so many prefer zeam and uninstall adw. Other than that, go through every single settings menu, and while in each submenu press the menu button to see if there are more options, I think you'll see you don't need many more system/tweeking apps with aospCM7.