Post your custom ROM experiences

I figured I would start a thread since I couldn't find one devoted to posting our personal experiences with ROMs for our Kindles.

I have tried 3 separate roms out thus far.

CM 10.1 (JB 4.2.2)
This was my first dive into custom roms for my first gen Kindle Fire, and it was a pretty easy transition. Really enjoyed freeing up the device by not having to have the stock Kindle firmware. Apps ran far more quickly and smoothly. After using this for a while I yearned for something faster/smoother. (probably need to get myself a higher powered device to improve on that). Somewhat missed the lack of an Amazon Video app. It's too bad Amazon has not yet developed an app for other Android devices that we can install. A minor issue (with all roms) seems to be the boot animation. It starts out stretched and in the upper right region of the screen at first and then corrects itself maybe 10 seconds later and is centered. Not a big deal of course. The only drawback for me personally with this one is CM's lack of customization.

JB 4.3 Barebones
I had read that JB 4.3 ran a bit quicker (and used more battery) than 4.2.2. I found this to be the case. Especially when using an app like Flipboard this is apparent. The boot time seemed to be a bit longer than CM 10.1, but that could very well be my perception. I did find that the build I was on seemed to give me issues on restarts. I'd restart and icons would be missing and the icon themes I was using with Apex would have to be reset. Mild annoyance that I didn't enjoy dealing with. Overall I was mildly satisfied and preferred CM 10.1 to the specific (early) JB 4.3 that I was using, despite the fact that CM ran slower.

AOKP (JB 4.2.2)
Just installed this one tonight. Coming into this, I was already a big fan of AOKP 4.2.2 as its my daily driver on my Droid Razr M. Love AOKPs customization. Anything beyond AOKP level customization is overkill for my taste. AOKP just has everything I'd need in that department. I did notice that I feel like I'm back to CM 10.1 speed which I may or may not settle on. A minor issue I found was the screen rotation glitch (which I have heard is found in few different ROMs.) It's nothing too major, but it may be enough of a nuisance to get me to switch in the future. We'll see. I do prefer AOKP 4.2.2 over CM 10.1 strictly due to AOKPs level of customization. If you are simply looking for a ROM beyond stock and not necessarily looking for great options and customization, I'd say go with CM 10.1 (If you don't have your heart set on JB 4.3, that is). But my personal favorite of the 3 would have to be AOKP. I have not used this long enough to properly test the battery life compared to CM 10.1.

I hope this helps any noobs like me who are giving flashing roms a thought. Would love to hear what you all are finding for the best speed and battery life. I'll post any updates for roms that I try in the future.

Summary:
Best Battery - CM 10.1
Best Speed - JB 4.3 Barebones
Best Customization - AOKP 4.2.2

Sent from my Droid Razr M using xda app-developers app

Anthony96922 said:

There is an AOSP 4.2.2 ROM by hashcode on xda (search "kindle fire aosp rom") and i have it on my kindle fire. It's really smooth and fast. Come try it out

Sent from my kindle fire

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I'll check it out thanks! How does battery life compare with the others you've tried? I'll take speed over battery life at this point though. So definitely giving it a shot, thanks!

zenihilist said:

Thanks for starting this thread! I've been trying find a jelly bean rom that doesn't suffer from low memory app crashes. Like when the browser just quits suddenly and drops you to the home screen. So far cm10.1 and the stock roms have this problem pretty equally in my experience. Has aokp or any other rom better handled this issue for you?

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Well just as you mention it, BAM! That's exactly what I'm experiencing now with AOKP 4.3. Lots of browser crashes and keyboard issues where it will not pop up. Rom is still a decent bit quick, but I may be looking to downgrade from JB 4.3 to something that won't have minor issues such as browser crashing. Need a good daily driver with good speed and battery life. AOKP 4.2.2 didn't have the browser crashing.

Sent from my Droid Razr M using xda app-developers app

zenihilist said:

Yeah I recently switched to twa priv's cm9 and so far the only problem I've had is it doesn't sleep quite as deeply. And I can't just let it sit unplugged all day and barely lose any battery like jb roms. Not a huge sacrifice.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Interesting. Going to try giving that one a shot then! Haven't yet found the daily driver. Do you have a link to that version you're running?

Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using xda app-developers app

androvista said:

My first (and current) rom is/was CM 10.1(official from cm site).It ran perfectly for about a month, but now its force closing apps, play store(and othe gapps) dont work. Has become really frustrating. Looking forward to a 4.4 rom, if it doesnt come, will install 4.3

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

Basic question, but have you done a weekly wipe of cache and dalvik cache in recovery? May be worth a shot if it took a month for errors. I always do a cache and dalvik cache wipe once a week on my phone. Seems to keep it running smoothly.

I am also running CM 10.1 now. Really like it so far. Smoothest running rom I've tried for the Kindle.

Sent from my Droid Razr M using xda app-developers app

47th_Ronin said:

I've had my kf for about 3 months and while i haven't flashed them all i have flashed lots of them.
Unfortunately, i haven't found any rom either with or without gapps that have the low memory/ram issue.
I have done lots of searching an just plain tinkering with everything from freezing everything possible in stock roms to only having 2 user apps installed, i.e. dolphin browser and adobe flash player.
The only thing i really want to do is to be able to let my grandson and nefews/nieces watch cartoons on the net, and maybe some simple type kids games. (This way they have their own and dont mess with mine lol)
The games I've found and installed and they work fine, but the memory on this thing is just not capable of even rudimentary multitasking.
Its a damn shame too, because just an extra 50 - 100 mb of ram would make the difference.
Wish i knew how to dev a kernel id look at the big memory kernels on the gnex and see if he same principles could be applied.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

I'm not sure if anybody is going to get us a 4.4 rom, but isn't 4.4 supposed to address low ram devices specifically? If so, this may help us out.

Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using xda app-developers app

androvista said:

Hey thanks! Had to fiddle around in COTR for some time...

Never thought I have to do a weekly wipe... Thanks!

Sent from my Amazon Kindle Fire using xda app-developers app

Click to expand...

Click to collapse

No problem! Hope it does the trick for ya. I'm using TWRP and it's fairly easy in that.

Sent from my Droid Razr M using xda app-developers app

Ok I'm quickly tiring of my Kindle running unbearably slow at the benefit of battery life. Which Rom, any version of android, works the best on the Kindle Fire? I'm talking smooth. I'm running 4.3.1 CM 10.2 and I just can't do it anymore. If I have to downgrade to an earlier version of Android I will. I just need faster. I've got a Nexus 10 ordered, but keeping this and want it at it's best. So what's the fastest?