So now that we're able to flash custom roms on the xt860, people are starting to ask "how is such and such rom?""Is this one good for battery?""Help i have no data!"
So i've decided to test drive the various roms available for the D3 on the xt 860 and see which work and which don't, battery life and overall feel.
Please note none of this work is mine, i've just compiled it all here for ease. Also i am not responsible if you brick your phone, void your warranty, etc etc
This should work with any 2.3.5 or 2.3.6 versions. These roms were all tested on the brazil retail 2.3.5. I'm using Iusacell 2.3.6 and at the very least liberty works. Please note that currently WE HAVE NO WAY OF RETURNING TO BELL STOCK. If you can't live with this hit the back button now.
You can find the 2.3.5 and 2.3.6 fastboot files here Thanks to daywalker04 for that
This is flashed to the phone via RSDlite 5.5. Google it, i don't remember where i found it.
Or moto-fastboot. I have a script for linux moto-fastboot if anyone wants.
There are a few other things we need as well, may as well download them now
Zergrush root method Thanks to DooMLoRD
3Gfix Thanks to willis111
Flashing the safestrap version in bootstrap will not work. you must get the old version to use in bootstrap
Safestrap usb fix Thanks to Rick#2
I don't think this is needed with the newest safestrap 1.08 but i will leave it up
Safestrap HUGE thanks to Hashcode who's hard work makes this all possible. Buy the man a beer
Before you do anything you may wish to download Titanium Backup from the market and backup your apps, this process will remove them all. Any photos, music or other files you have download to either the internal or external SD will be untouched.
Flashing firmware(Unless you are on Bell 2.3.4, you can skip this. And if you are on Bell 2.3.4 download the update for the love of god)
1)Install RSDlite
2)Unzip the brazil retail to somewhere on your computer, doesn't matter where, just as long as you know where you put it
3)Power off your phone, then hold M+power to boot into the bootloader
4)Choose AP fastboot, volume down scrolls, volume up selects
5)Plug in usb
6)Open RSDlite and point it at the .xml file located in the unzipped brazil reatil folder
7)Start it up
Rooting
1)Unzip zergrush somewhere on your computer
2)find and open the RUNME.bat
3)Follow the instructions onscreen
If you have issues with version 3, use version 2(I use linux so i have not tried the windows versions, sometimes i did notice with the linux version that it would hang at the point "restarting adb as root" ctrl+c the process, toggle usb debugging and try again, it will work)
Installing Safestrap
1)Either adb push, or drag and drop Safestrap into the root of your sdcard
2)Using file manager, find and open the safestrap.apk
3)This will install the app, open it and click Install recovery
4)It should ask for superuser permission, allow it
There is an issue with Safestrap on the xt860 which prevents the recovery from opening unless plugged into a usb. To fix adb push the aforementioned safestrap usb fix(recovery.zip) to /system/etc/safestrap/ to replace the existing one(or usb drag and drop to sdcard and use root explorer to move to the appropriate directory)
So now you need to choose a rom, download it, transfer it and the 3Gfix to the root of your sdcard(it doesn't need to be the root, it just makes it easy to find, you can even put them on the external sd)
Installing Roms!
1)Reboot your phone, pressing the menu key when prompted to enter recovery
2)Go to safe mode menu(vol keys scroll, power button selects)
3)Once in safe mode go to mounts and storage>format /system
4)Go back, and then go to Install zip from sdcard
5)Find your rom, install it, and then install the 3Gfix the same way
6)Go back and choose Wipe data/Factory reset
7)Reboot System Now!!!!!
Enjoy your new rom
You can now redownload Titanium Backup from the market and restore your apps. remember to repeat the process anytime you want to change roms
I've chosen several roms to test found both here and other forums, i'll link to each one as i post my results. I'm gonna run each one for 3 days, to get a decent feel of it. I'm keeping the experience pretty stock, i don't want to go through the effort of customizing the hell out of it just to wipe it all a day later. Installed 3rd party apps are, twitter, xda, droid forums, rootzwiki, TiB, Beautiful Widgets, Skype, Whatsapp. My usage patterns are mostly checking forums/twitter every so often, couple hours of music through headphones and playing with the various settings on the rom. Please keep in mind these are my experiences, i make no guarantee yours will be the same.
Also, if you have issues getting any of these steps to work, feel free to ask, however if you are having an issue with one of the roms i mention, please check the official thread for that rom before posting here(or there) as someone has probably already had the same issue as you. If your problem is unique, post in the rom thread, be sure to mention you are on xt860. You can also try here see if other xt860 users are experiencing it.
First, cm7/cm9
I am unable to use cm7 as i get constant FC of phone. Others have been able to use it, but afaik no one has data working for xt860. I was able to boot cm9/ICS on my phone, no mobile network at all, portrait and landscape are reversed, many option don;t function, but it's fun to preview it, give it a try.
Liberty3 V2.0
Very smooth rom. It was responsive, and i had no issues with it. Most blur is removed, although you can restore some of it, ie camera, launcher, alarm clock through liberty customizer, gives you the choice between blur and AOSP. 150-200 megs free RAM at all times. Managed 18 hours battery life keeping my usage moderate, when i went a little heavier i went 9 hours with 30% left. Cell standby was still top of the list but battery life was much improved over stock blur. Easily able to get you through the day. Comes with Liberty Customizer, lets you make changes to status bar, has 8 lockscreens, build.prop editor, minfree editor, setcpu amongst others. Also comes with rom toolbox which lets you change system fonts, boot animation etc. Quadrant of about 2300, up from my 1800 on stock 2.3.4. I did try overclocking, brought my quadrant and linpacks up at first, but brought them down after and hour or 2. Way down, however i at no point did it seem to make any noticable difference to the running on the UI, was always smooth and quick. I stopped using them, i didn't feel i needed to. I quite liked this rom. One thing i noticed is that although all the other status bar icons are changed, signal strength is still the stock motoblur icons. However there is an option to display in DBm instead(which i did as the blue clashed with the themeing of the rom). All in all i quite liked it and will be using it again in the future
Eclipse 1.1.1 found at rootzwiki.
I found eclipse to have a similar feel to Liberty, it was smooth and fast, and had similar battery life. I preferred the colour scheme of eclipse more, i may see about putting the framework-res and systemUI of eclipse into liberty. It has lots of blur removed, just dialer and camera leftover, however it has less customization options than liberty. It lacks the ability to restore blur, if you're into that kind of thing. I had a few glitches pop up that required a battery pulls. They seemed to be touch screen related and only happened once each. While i had the soft keyboard up it acted like i was pressing the r key, and i had an issue where every time i scrolled down a web page it scrolled back up. I tried rebooting on the latter and the phone wouldn't turn back on until i pulled the battery. This is definitely on my reuse list.
Monster rom
I'll preface this by saying I'm not a fan of blur, and as such I wasn't a huge fan of this rom. It's blur based with an aosp launcher. It was very snappy and quick, although i felt battery life wasn't as good as with liberty, it would still be sufficient to get through the day. I got my highest quadrant ever on monster rom though 2600. Often had 150-200 MB ram free. I had no issues or glitches with it, ran very smooth. For those who like blur it's pretty good, i would consider using it again.
Mavrom
So for mavrom i've tested both versions 1 and 2. They both seemed to be pretty good for battery life, not quite as good as liberty or eclipse but i probably could have gone for 12 hours or so. New version has a maverick toolbox, similar to the liberty customizer but with fewer options. It's blur based, on the 5.7.xxx verizon system version. I don't think all the system apps are compatible with xt860, right off the bat i noticed there was a question mark for one of the dock icons, and tapping it got me an "application not installed" message. I didn't bother to run through the /system/app to figure out what it was(mostly because it just occurred to me)I also had with version 2 cause my phone to freeze a few times, there didn't seem to be any particular event that caused it, and it would normally unfreeze within a minute. Only issue i had
Steel Droid
I had issues with Steel Droid, i only ended up testing it for 1 day, as i can't have issues like that during the week. It dropped 3G several times, similar to when battery saver kills data when idle, except i had it set to performance mode. I also had terrible battery life, 6 hours had me down to 10%, and before anyone asks, yes i calibrated the battery. I may give it another try sometime and see if i have any better luck.
Darkdroid 1.0 is the only rom that did not work for me. However i do remember an older version working for me once.
DEVS! If you are cooking a rom up and need an xt860 tester, feel free to hit me up.
So i've decided to test drive the various roms available for the D3 on the xt 860 and see which work and which don't, battery life and overall feel.
Please note none of this work is mine, i've just compiled it all here for ease. Also i am not responsible if you brick your phone, void your warranty, etc etc
This should work with any 2.3.5 or 2.3.6 versions. These roms were all tested on the brazil retail 2.3.5. I'm using Iusacell 2.3.6 and at the very least liberty works. Please note that currently WE HAVE NO WAY OF RETURNING TO BELL STOCK. If you can't live with this hit the back button now.
You can find the 2.3.5 and 2.3.6 fastboot files here Thanks to daywalker04 for that
This is flashed to the phone via RSDlite 5.5. Google it, i don't remember where i found it.
Or moto-fastboot. I have a script for linux moto-fastboot if anyone wants.
There are a few other things we need as well, may as well download them now
Zergrush root method Thanks to DooMLoRD
3Gfix Thanks to willis111
Flashing the safestrap version in bootstrap will not work. you must get the old version to use in bootstrap
Safestrap usb fix Thanks to Rick#2
I don't think this is needed with the newest safestrap 1.08 but i will leave it up
Safestrap HUGE thanks to Hashcode who's hard work makes this all possible. Buy the man a beer
Before you do anything you may wish to download Titanium Backup from the market and backup your apps, this process will remove them all. Any photos, music or other files you have download to either the internal or external SD will be untouched.
Flashing firmware(Unless you are on Bell 2.3.4, you can skip this. And if you are on Bell 2.3.4 download the update for the love of god)
1)Install RSDlite
2)Unzip the brazil retail to somewhere on your computer, doesn't matter where, just as long as you know where you put it
3)Power off your phone, then hold M+power to boot into the bootloader
4)Choose AP fastboot, volume down scrolls, volume up selects
5)Plug in usb
6)Open RSDlite and point it at the .xml file located in the unzipped brazil reatil folder
7)Start it up
Rooting
1)Unzip zergrush somewhere on your computer
2)find and open the RUNME.bat
3)Follow the instructions onscreen
If you have issues with version 3, use version 2(I use linux so i have not tried the windows versions, sometimes i did notice with the linux version that it would hang at the point "restarting adb as root" ctrl+c the process, toggle usb debugging and try again, it will work)
Installing Safestrap
1)Either adb push, or drag and drop Safestrap into the root of your sdcard
2)Using file manager, find and open the safestrap.apk
3)This will install the app, open it and click Install recovery
4)It should ask for superuser permission, allow it
There is an issue with Safestrap on the xt860 which prevents the recovery from opening unless plugged into a usb. To fix adb push the aforementioned safestrap usb fix(recovery.zip) to /system/etc/safestrap/ to replace the existing one(or usb drag and drop to sdcard and use root explorer to move to the appropriate directory)
So now you need to choose a rom, download it, transfer it and the 3Gfix to the root of your sdcard(it doesn't need to be the root, it just makes it easy to find, you can even put them on the external sd)
Installing Roms!
1)Reboot your phone, pressing the menu key when prompted to enter recovery
2)Go to safe mode menu(vol keys scroll, power button selects)
3)Once in safe mode go to mounts and storage>format /system
4)Go back, and then go to Install zip from sdcard
5)Find your rom, install it, and then install the 3Gfix the same way
6)Go back and choose Wipe data/Factory reset
7)Reboot System Now!!!!!
Enjoy your new rom
You can now redownload Titanium Backup from the market and restore your apps. remember to repeat the process anytime you want to change roms
I've chosen several roms to test found both here and other forums, i'll link to each one as i post my results. I'm gonna run each one for 3 days, to get a decent feel of it. I'm keeping the experience pretty stock, i don't want to go through the effort of customizing the hell out of it just to wipe it all a day later. Installed 3rd party apps are, twitter, xda, droid forums, rootzwiki, TiB, Beautiful Widgets, Skype, Whatsapp. My usage patterns are mostly checking forums/twitter every so often, couple hours of music through headphones and playing with the various settings on the rom. Please keep in mind these are my experiences, i make no guarantee yours will be the same.
Also, if you have issues getting any of these steps to work, feel free to ask, however if you are having an issue with one of the roms i mention, please check the official thread for that rom before posting here(or there) as someone has probably already had the same issue as you. If your problem is unique, post in the rom thread, be sure to mention you are on xt860. You can also try here see if other xt860 users are experiencing it.
First, cm7/cm9
I am unable to use cm7 as i get constant FC of phone. Others have been able to use it, but afaik no one has data working for xt860. I was able to boot cm9/ICS on my phone, no mobile network at all, portrait and landscape are reversed, many option don;t function, but it's fun to preview it, give it a try.
Liberty3 V2.0
Very smooth rom. It was responsive, and i had no issues with it. Most blur is removed, although you can restore some of it, ie camera, launcher, alarm clock through liberty customizer, gives you the choice between blur and AOSP. 150-200 megs free RAM at all times. Managed 18 hours battery life keeping my usage moderate, when i went a little heavier i went 9 hours with 30% left. Cell standby was still top of the list but battery life was much improved over stock blur. Easily able to get you through the day. Comes with Liberty Customizer, lets you make changes to status bar, has 8 lockscreens, build.prop editor, minfree editor, setcpu amongst others. Also comes with rom toolbox which lets you change system fonts, boot animation etc. Quadrant of about 2300, up from my 1800 on stock 2.3.4. I did try overclocking, brought my quadrant and linpacks up at first, but brought them down after and hour or 2. Way down, however i at no point did it seem to make any noticable difference to the running on the UI, was always smooth and quick. I stopped using them, i didn't feel i needed to. I quite liked this rom. One thing i noticed is that although all the other status bar icons are changed, signal strength is still the stock motoblur icons. However there is an option to display in DBm instead(which i did as the blue clashed with the themeing of the rom). All in all i quite liked it and will be using it again in the future
Eclipse 1.1.1 found at rootzwiki.
I found eclipse to have a similar feel to Liberty, it was smooth and fast, and had similar battery life. I preferred the colour scheme of eclipse more, i may see about putting the framework-res and systemUI of eclipse into liberty. It has lots of blur removed, just dialer and camera leftover, however it has less customization options than liberty. It lacks the ability to restore blur, if you're into that kind of thing. I had a few glitches pop up that required a battery pulls. They seemed to be touch screen related and only happened once each. While i had the soft keyboard up it acted like i was pressing the r key, and i had an issue where every time i scrolled down a web page it scrolled back up. I tried rebooting on the latter and the phone wouldn't turn back on until i pulled the battery. This is definitely on my reuse list.
Monster rom
I'll preface this by saying I'm not a fan of blur, and as such I wasn't a huge fan of this rom. It's blur based with an aosp launcher. It was very snappy and quick, although i felt battery life wasn't as good as with liberty, it would still be sufficient to get through the day. I got my highest quadrant ever on monster rom though 2600. Often had 150-200 MB ram free. I had no issues or glitches with it, ran very smooth. For those who like blur it's pretty good, i would consider using it again.
Mavrom
So for mavrom i've tested both versions 1 and 2. They both seemed to be pretty good for battery life, not quite as good as liberty or eclipse but i probably could have gone for 12 hours or so. New version has a maverick toolbox, similar to the liberty customizer but with fewer options. It's blur based, on the 5.7.xxx verizon system version. I don't think all the system apps are compatible with xt860, right off the bat i noticed there was a question mark for one of the dock icons, and tapping it got me an "application not installed" message. I didn't bother to run through the /system/app to figure out what it was(mostly because it just occurred to me)I also had with version 2 cause my phone to freeze a few times, there didn't seem to be any particular event that caused it, and it would normally unfreeze within a minute. Only issue i had
Steel Droid
I had issues with Steel Droid, i only ended up testing it for 1 day, as i can't have issues like that during the week. It dropped 3G several times, similar to when battery saver kills data when idle, except i had it set to performance mode. I also had terrible battery life, 6 hours had me down to 10%, and before anyone asks, yes i calibrated the battery. I may give it another try sometime and see if i have any better luck.
Darkdroid 1.0 is the only rom that did not work for me. However i do remember an older version working for me once.
DEVS! If you are cooking a rom up and need an xt860 tester, feel free to hit me up.
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