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Simply Pimptastic

Calvo1

Calvo1

Android Enthusiast
Hello All,

Long time no speak my friends, unfortunately my time away wasnt because I had been on Holiday or I had won the lottery, it was because I had done the seemingly impossible. I bricked my phone..... and I dont mean that I could get in to Download mode and reflash ,I mean I used the damn thing to keep the bedroom door open so the darkness didnt scare me :)

Thankfully, my phone must have been that bad that my Network Provider 3UK couldnt tell I had voided my warranty (Several times, included numerous flashes and a replaced USB Port) and repaired and replaced my phone in within 3 weeks.

You would think that with the fear and stress of loosing my phone again for being a flashaholic would stop me from doing it this time around ..........well no not really, as soon as my battery was at full belt I had Odin back up and running and I was flashing away. Cold Turkey didnt work.

Anyway the point of this post is not tell you my tales of woe and stupidity, Its about this absolute belter of a programme I found on XDA Called Pimp My Rom. I searched for it here and found a couple of posts for other phone models but nothing for the GS2.

As mentioned I am a flashaholic and within a few hours I had flashed, played with, and deleted several Roms from XDA (All with complete wipes since I had nothing of any worth on my mobile at that time anyway) . Namely Roms such as Faryaarb Super Nexus Build 4, Alliance Rom, CM10, and Hawkers distant recomendation of Pure look SGS3 Rom. Nothing tickled my fancy as much as the daily driver I previoulsy had (when I bricked my phone) Simplistic Rom V

The Rom is Simply Beautiful. It has selection of S3 Ripple Lock Screens which I love. Within the settings it has an option called Simplistic Control. Within these settings you have all the options open to you similar to that of JKAY but on ICS 4.04. You have plenty to choose from such as big photo on Call, incremental ringtone, CRT, Clock location, clock colour, battery mods, long press back to kill app. The list is quite extensive. (A special mention has to go to the Gallery, ported from the Galaxy Note its a joy)

The first thing I do is install Apex Launcher along with its Galaxy S3 HD theme. Then I add the Galaxy s3 Dandelion Wall Paper and im pretty much good to go. Now Im not claiming here that this Rom is as Smooth as Sale's Fantastic Neat Rom, or the battery life is as good....but that was before I come across Pimp My Rom

I was suffering a few lags here and there, Siyah set to default, Apps taking just a little longer to open, a tiny bit of lag multi tasking, Swiftkey not being able to keep up with my typing This was over a 3 day period etc I read up on Pimp My Rom andthought why the hell not?

Firstly Pimp My Rom is a Zip file that when flashed with CWM opens Aroma installer, after a couple of welcome screens youre in. Now im not even going to attempt to explain the number of tweaks you can make to your Rom (Virtually any ROM) but you have things like faster web browsing, better HD Streaming, options for better battery savings, better mobile signal, quicker multi tasking....its absolutely mind blowing. It also allows you to install certain things such as Launchers, Music Players (Sony Walkman anyone) Awsome Dre Beats, Hulu+ (Didnt work for me unfortunately)I could go on.

After the initial panic wondering why the hell I put myself through this I can honestly say after a further 3 days of testing that I have an absolute beast on my hands.

Everything is soo smooth and quick, everything seems to be instant. Opening Chrome, Long Pressing to close, opening play store, opening my messaging and typying straight away, there is absolutely no hint of slow down or anything.

I do know how good other Roms are, Partuclarly Neat, and I know that some of the tweaks it made may not sound that impressive (" so what, my phone is super fast anyway) if you try Pimp My Phone, you will see a difference....Its these milli seconds of responsiveness that just makes me stare at my phone in wonder!!!.

I know Battery Life is a big thing for people so as of now my phone has been running for 8hrs 3 mins and 39s and my battery level is 64%. (Doing the math if I continue to use the phone as I have been - Moderatley - that should give me around 24 Hours of Battery Life)

Others may have tweaked their phone to last a lot longer than this but for me, those figures are bloody amazing. Especially considering that I have Siyah on Default and not the battery saving profile

Now Im not encouraging people to do as I have, I am merely sharing my experience with a community that has helped me so much over the last 6 or so months. If you are happy with your Rom then good for you. I never really was throughout all the Roms I have tried until now.

My next step is try this set up with Dorminax Kernel instead of Siyah for even better results apparently. Ill post back the results after a few days.

Ill add videos and screenshots over the next few days

I hope some people may find this Post Useful.

Cheers

Calvo

Simplistic Rom : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1862587

Pimp My Rom : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1908269
 
Looks and sounds interesting Calvo1! :D

It is sort of like the CheckROM Kitchen for tweaks.

Just to reiterate a couple of things you should definitely do before flashing this...

Make a nandroid backup

Wipe cache and dalvik.

I must admit that I am one of those that already gets very good battery and performance from my present configuration of NEAT ROM + Siyah, so it will be interesting to see how these tweaks fare on my existing set-up.
 
Cheers Ironass mate... Yeah full backup recommended as always

The things is I'm not sure how much difference you will see using Neat Rom as the standards are so high anyway, it would mainly be cosmetic I reckon

The draw for me was that fact I like Simplistic Rom so much that these tweaks just increase that enjoyment.
Are you going to try it Ironass?
 
Been on it for about an hour old son.

No noticeable difference for me so far. Nothing leaps out over my usual set-up but, as you surmised, it has to improve on, arguably, one of the best, if not the best, ROM's and kernel's around which have been developed and tweaked to the nth degree already.

One thing I did select was to omit the boot screen and then sat there on boot up looking at a blank screen for a minute or so while it booted after the wipes. I soon reversed that selection!

Will run it for a little while to see how it fares. :)
 
Just as I thought.... You may think im mad for not just using Neat anyway... But it's the feel and look of the Rom for me plus the S3 lock screen.... Do you know if there is a mod to add the s3 lock screen to Neat by any chance?
 
Calvo1 said:
Just as I thought.... You may think im mad for not just using Neat anyway...
Click to expand...

Not at all. If we all used one ROM and configuration it would be like, well... an iPhone! :ahhhhh:

But it's the feel and look of the Rom for me plus the S3 lock screen.... Do you know if there is a mod to add the s3 lock screen to Neat by any chance?
Click to expand...

That's what it's all about... what you like. I have a confession to make though... I have never used the lock screen on the SGSII... always have it disabled. I'm just too lazy to keep having to unlock my phone every time. It has never fired up in my pocket, no matter what I'm doing.

As for the S3 lock screen, I guess you mean the Ripple effect one, similar to my Home screen below.

A quick search has revealed some app's that emulate this but, for the reasons stated above, I cannot vouch for them.

Galaxy S3 Inspired Lockscreen

Galaxy S3 iPhone Go Locker

Galaxy S3 Lockscreen HD

Agile Lock free

Homescreenripple.png
 
Ha ha there will be huge differences under the bonnet my old chap...

Interesting to see you have contacts on your dock, does the phone app you use not support a contacts tab?.

Other members please talk amongst yourselves whilst me and Ironass compare notes ha ha
 
Calvo1 said:
Interesting to see you have contacts on your dock, does the phone app you use not support a contacts tab?.
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't per se. I could mod it but the way I use my phone, makes it more convenient, for me, to have both shortcuts.
 
Well I feel Nandroid & new Titanium backups coming on, I think I need to flash this it looks gorgeous and highly configurable.

Before I do (it'll be tomorrow evening now) I need to know have you Calvo1 or Ironass had any issues with it at all ? I need my phone to work and work properly for work and I'd hate to flash, set it up how I like for me to only have to restore a Nanroid backup after I find a niggle.
 
Mate I have had no problems what so ever but that doesn't mean I can guarantee that you won't... I am confident that you will be fine though

Every time we flash we take a risk that's all I'm saying.

What are the most important aspects to you and I'll give you my genuine feedback....

I dont believe Ironass has ran the Rom... Just the Pimp my Phone add on to his Neat Rom

If you do please let me know how you get on mate.
 
Well, I have had PIMP MY ROM v2.0 on my phone for 36 hours.

This is NOT a ROM. It is a series of tweaks that are flashed and configured in Recovery and can, it states, be added to any ROM and any device.

The site promises a whole host of Init.d Scripts, Build.prop Tweaks and app's that can be configured and installed.

I have to admit, that I did not entirely understand some of the 3 screens full of tweaks that one can select from and, it would seem, neither could the developer shown in the sites promotional video... so I was not alone! I opted to go with virtually the same tweak selection that was shown in this video but I did not to install any of the app's shown as I had either tried them or had alternatives already installed.

As I mentioned, earlier in this thread, I am running the NEAT ROM and Siyah kernel with ExTweaks and Battery profile. Both of which are by developers at the top of their game and are tried and tested.

After choosing the various tweaks from the vast array offered I rebooted the phone and commenced using it. Since these are tweaks there is no outward sign that there is anything different to your phone. It is not a theme and there are, thankfully, no splash screens, etc:

My immediate reaction was that there was no noticeable difference apart from the screen being a little bit dimmer, to save battery, and the scrolling in things like Contacts, Titanium Backup and browser were, if anything, a little slower and jerkier.

In spite of the claims, internet browsing was no faster and page loading was, I thought, a tad slower.

I also took a series of photo's and video's and, once again, could not detect any improvements. Neither was video streaming improved.

The touch screen, likewise, showed no more responsiveness as promised.

The same applied to my network and Wi-Fi signals which, after settling down, were identical to my previous readings.

Lastly, my battery consumption was definitely not improved. If anything, my Deep Sleep was not as good as without the tweaks giving me 88 & 89% overnight as opposed to 92-94%.

To be fair to the developer, Androguide.fr, PIMP MY ROM v2.0 was up against some stiff competition from both the ROM and, in particular, the kernel. I know that gokhanmoral, developer of the Siyah kernel, has devoted thousands of hours and has had countless releases to reach the stage that his latest SGSII kernels have reached.

IMHO, PIMP MY ROM v2.0, although promising a lot in the description, was not able to match the tweaks that existed in both the ROM and the kernel and so I have reverted back to my pre-installation, nandroid backup.

Where PIMP MY ROM v2.0 may well score is with a lesser ROM or kernel that perhaps lack the finesse and expertise of NEAT and Siyah. It will be interesting to see what other users make of this.
 
Thanks for the update my friend. Just as we thought :rolleyes:

As predicted this tweak programme would have minimal effect on the very best Roms plus Siyah..it seems to have degraded somethings like deep sleep as mentioned by Ironass I have noticed this too.

Simplistic Rom V is not as slick as Neat but that doesn't mean it's bad... Far from it so the tweaks were noticeable for me.

I installed Dorimanx kernel and tested that for the past few days. No major differences... And to be honest I think the latest Siyah was better for deep sleep and battery usage.

I will revert back to Siyah and re flash Simplistic Rom V with out Pimp my Phone installed and see what happens again.

As mentioned in my first post I'm not claiming this to be the best Rom out there. For those looking for something a little different and I've got to admit its the sexiest Rom I've ever had, If Roms can be sexy :p try this

The developer LegendK95 is a very good developer... Its been noticed he has been hanging around the BlackBerry forums asking about its new lock screen... Its very nice... Ill post a video soon. No doubt in my mind he is looking to implement it


Edit

Here is the above mentioned lock screen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfCa3JtGpxc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I think it's quite nice
 
Also after reading a post on Xda today there has been a huge test with the most popular kernels

Testing on a LPX Rom... It was found that Phenomenal Kernal 6.1 Extreme was the best for battery life

Sooooo yeah you guessed it.... Ill report back my findings in a couple of days lol
 
Phenomenal kernel is phenomenon.... But it feels like I'm talking my self here :rolleyes:

I'll post screenshots after its bedded in but so far so bloody good
 
how About Some Links To Kernels? I Know Siyah Is The OnlY One I've CoMe Across On Here.Lol

Current Cm10 Isn't Compatible WithSiyah But I'm Tempted To Start Using A new ROM For Daily Driver, Neat Is Tempting, Just I Like The Different Themes Etc Other Than Stock :-)
 
Calvo1 said:
But it feels like I'm talking my self here :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Not at all Calvo1. It'll be interesting to see what you think of v6.1.

Most of the old hands on here have tried out the Phenomenal kernel at one tome or another. See this review that I did on it, way back in January...

http://androidforums.com/galaxy-s2-international-all-things-root/478158-phenomenal-kernel.html

I must admit that I haven't tried v6.1 yet only because I know it does not support BLN, (Back Light Notification), which I find very useful.

For more information and download, see here...

Phenomenal 6.1 ICS
 
Cheers Ironass... I've just shouted to the missus from the kitchen to the bedroom to text me whilst my phone was off... And I can confirm that Phenomenal v6.1 does not support BLN, but having said that it doesn't surprise me as I'm running the extreme battery saving version.. (which has had no derogatory effect on performance).. Knowing that BLN would have an effect on battery performance no matter how small that may be.

You can't use Ex tweaks with this kernel either which kind of sucks as i really need the audio boost that you can get from Siyah and ex tweaks...

I wonder what Voodoo louder will do.....

Back in a jiffy :)

Having said all this I think my ideal will be Simplistic Rom V plus Siyah... I reckon I could be the new Syd... If you want something testing... Gently hint to Calvo and hell be off like a piranha in an overcrowded gold fish bowl...

Phone is at 100% now, and going to go to bed after listening to this last song.. (high hopes - Pink Floyd) and ill post some screenies

Thanks for the support Ironass.. I have to remember that I am merely an amateur... But we all have to start somewhere... Adios amigos

:cool:
 
By the way can I also add that Siftwkey is the frikkin bomb... As expected I've been all around the houses with thumb keyboard, jelly bean, ICS, gingerbread, swype and a new one called I know you... (pure potential).... What keyboard do you rapsacllians use?
 
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