[CM9 beta] Tips & Customization Discussion

wtogami · Mar 8, 2012

Tips & Customization Discussion Thread
CM9 beta1: Android 4.0.4 for Samsung Epic 4G

This thread is ONLY to discuss issues related to best practices and tips of configuration options, helpful add-ons, utilities and apps on CM9 for Epic 4G. The best tips are regularly summarized in the official Epic CM9 Customization Guide. Please read the guide before posting to this thread.

CM9 Discussion Threads

User Support, Questions & Answers Thread
Battery Optimization Discussion Thread
Tips & Customization Discussion Thread
Development Discussion Thread

dyehya · Mar 8, 2012

I highly recommend doing the battery optimization first before customizing the settings.

First thing you want to do is change the default notification from Silent to something else so you hear when you have emails, texts, etc.

There is a lot of stuff in the optimization guide to help you get things started and set-up. I like going into the Messaging app and have it not only divide texts into 160 character blocks but also number them so people know the reading order as they aren't always sent and received contiguously.

I think that is a good start for now!

prochargedls2 · Mar 8, 2012

Being a CM9 user since day 1 I figured out that you will NEVER want to use an app form the market which allows you to change the frequencies of your phone. I found out that it drains battery EVEN MORE then when using the built in one under Performance.

And I highly recommend that you get Juice Defender. Ultimate is best because it allows you to choose what apps you want to have data turned on for.

And if you monkey around with Voodoo control I'm sure you'll find something to your likes.

Screen Filter from the market is also a great tool. If you think the lowest brightness is to much and want it darker then use that tool.

I recently learned that custom kernels are not recommended.

hayzooos · Mar 8, 2012

prochargedls2 said:
Being a CM9 user since day 1 I figured out that you will NEVER want to use an app form the market which allows you to change the frequencies of your phone. I found out that it drains battery EVEN MORE then when using the built in one under Performance.
And I highly recommend that you get Juice Defender. Ultimate is best because it allows you to choose what apps you want to have data turned on for.

And if you monkey around with Voodoo control I'm sure you'll find something to your likes.

Screen Filter from the market is also a great tool. If you think the lowest brightness is to much and want it darker then use that tool.

I recently learned that custom kernels are not recommended.

I'd like to know how this is possible. I mean, if you're undervolting (throwing less power to run a specific speed) I would like to know how this actually drains battery quicker. It simply goes against logic.

Not saying I don't believe you, but I would like it explained why this is true.

wtogami · Mar 11, 2012

CWM flashable Sprint Visual Voicemail

http://epiccm.blogspot.com/2012/03/customization-guide.html
Sprint Visual Voicemail now works on CM9, meaning we now have three options for visual voicemail on Epic! Read the Customization Guide for CWM5 flashable .zip and setup instructions if you want to use it. Be aware that there are currently glitches.

Ragnar · Mar 11, 2012

wtogami said:
http://epiccm.blogspot.com/2012/03/customization-guide.html
Sprint Visual Voicemail now works on CM9, meaning we now have three options for visual voicemail on Epic! Read the Customization Guide for CWM5 flashable .zip and setup instructions if you want to use it. Be aware that there are currently glitches.

I can't get it to work at all. It installs and looks like its all there but I've left 4 voice messages for myself in the past hour and nothing.

Sent from my MTD Epic 4G SGS using Tapatalk

wtogami · Mar 11, 2012

edfunkycold said:
I can't get it to work at all. It installs and looks like its all there but I've left 4 voice messages for myself in the past hour and nothing.

Did you run the app once? It provisions the first time you run it, and tells you with Toast messages.

Ragnar · Mar 11, 2012

wtogami said:
Did you run the app once? It provisions the first time you run it, and tells you with Toast messages.

Yes it did all of that as with any tw rom when you do fresh flash and set up phone. I even just for nostalgic reasons played the two set up messages. But I then used my wife's phone and called myself and left several voice messages but nothing comes through the app. I read everywhere people having success with this and I'm struggling. I even tried sending the activate@vvm.sprint.com message and it looks like it sent but nothing happens.

Edit: I am getting the text messages alerting me that o have a VM but the app is not downloading the messages. I still have to dial #1 on dialer to dial my voice mail.

Sent from my MTD Epic 4G SGS using Tapatalk

StoneRyno · Mar 11, 2012

wtogami said:
Did you run the app once? It provisions the first time you run it, and tells you with Toast messages.

I get a 9016 message with provisioning successful but if there was a toast message it was so quick I missed it but I don't think there was one. Does this mean that I need to delete data for the app and try again or does this mean it provisioned but like edfunkycold I too get the text messages about new VM but the app doesn't download them. In fact the messages aren't on sprints VM system like the app told it to delete the message as if it had downloaded, even though there is no message in the app to listen to.

prochargedls2 · Mar 11, 2012

hayzooos said:
I'd like to know how this is possible. I mean, if you're undervolting (throwing less power to run a specific speed) I would like to know how this actually drains battery quicker. It simply goes against logic.

Not saying I don't believe you, but I would like it explained why this is true.

Well its mainly for those who leave it in their pocket for long periods of time. Because if you have apps like twitter, facebook, or anything like that they run in the background and the cpu will require more power to run them all. Now if you used an app from the market to control them it would drain battery because it requires battery to run apps in the background and that app you supposedly have from the market will run in the background, thus causing battery to drain even if you're under volting it.

If that wasn't very clear tell me.

Sent from my Epic with a lil' ice cream on it

dhadlock · Mar 13, 2012

StoneRyno said:
I get a 9016 message with provisioning successful but if there was a toast message it was so quick I missed it but I don't think there was one. Does this mean that I need to delete data for the app and try again or does this mean it provisioned but like edfunkycold I too get the text messages about new VM but the app doesn't download them. In fact the messages aren't on sprints VM system like the app told it to delete the message as if it had downloaded, even though there is no message in the app to listen to.

Same problem here, except I dont think that mine are getting deleted, cuz I can still call my VM and listen to them. But for the life of me I can not get the VVM to work, I have tried absolutely everything I can think of. Please if anyone can figure out what the deal here is, it would be greatly appreciated. The loss of VVM was pretty much the only thing I didn't like about This CM9 for Epic, since I flashed the alpha 1.

Edit: Just an update: when I use Sprint VVM to compose a message to myself, to test send and receive functions, It sends the VM to me just fine. I get the 9016 text and its on my VM but It still does not show up in the Sprint VVM app.

StoneRyno · Mar 13, 2012

dhadlock said:
Edit: Just an update: when I use Sprint VVM to compose a message to myself, to test send and receive functions, It sends the VM to me just fine. I get the 9016 text and its on my VM but It still does not show up in the Sprint VVM app.

Exactly how I tried to test it except the message I composed and successfully sent was not on VM when I call in after getting the 9016 message saying I got that VM. This is what leads me to believe that sprint VVM is failing to download the message and deletes it from the VM system as if it had.

hayzooos · Mar 13, 2012

prochargedls2 said:
Well its mainly for those who leave it in their pocket for long periods of time. Because if you have apps like twitter, facebook, or anything like that they run in the background and the cpu will require more power to run them all. Now if you used an app from the market to control them it would drain battery because it requires battery to run apps in the background and that app you supposedly have from the market will run in the background, thus causing battery to drain even if you're under volting it.

If that wasn't very clear tell me.

Sent from my Epic with a lil' ice cream on it

I see where you're coming from, I think. So you're saying Voltage Control, for example, would be running more frequently if I have a lot of apps that update in the background becuase in addition to those apps running, VC would then have to run more to produce more power to run the other apps.

I guess I was under the impression that VC would run at boot (however you have it set up) but it wouldn't continue to run once the settings were in place. For example, I never see Voltage Control as an app listed in the running apps or or cached processes for that matter either.

So then my question becomes if it's not an active running app, and it's not a cached app either, how is it draining more battery?

beltsnspoons · Mar 13, 2012

hayzooos said:
I see where you're coming from, I think. So you're saying Voltage Control, for example, would be running more frequently if I have a lot of apps that update in the background becuase in addition to those apps running, VC would then have to run more to produce more power to run the other apps.

I guess I was under the impression that VC would run at boot (however you have it set up) but it wouldn't continue to run once the settings were in place. For example, I never see Voltage Control as an app listed in the running apps or or cached processes for that matter either.

So then my question becomes if it's not an active running app, and it's not a cached app either, how is it draining more battery?

i dont think it does. i never see it as a running app, and it doesnt show up as using the battery in battery stats, so i think this guy is misinformed on that aspect. if youre using undervolted settings with the ondemand governor, you probably wont be using more battery than on stock. im in know way absolutely sure of this and im not a dev or computer genius or anything like that, but im pretty sure the battery problems that DO occur are on the custom kernel side. since a custom kernel is needed to overclock and undervolt, and some of the 3rd party kernels have had some battery draining issues, like wake lock issues and stuff, i can see where one would get the impression that using an oc/uv app might be causing battery draining issues. i myself am using the shadow kernel which oc's to 1400 mhz and at first was getting terrible battery status. but after messing around with a few settings, reading up on tips for saving battery, and tweaking juice defender ultimate to my liking, im getting exceptional battery life. almost as good as the stock kernel. i would have dealt with a bigger difference in battery drain for voodoo color anyways. not to mention, the added bonuses of being able to oc/uv. im in no way trying to knock the stock kernel, my preference is just that, my preference.

as far as a custom kernel not being recommended...thats easy, its also not recommended to root your phone or flash a custom ROM. nuff said, right?

p.s. while voltage control does NOT show up on my battery stats, juice defender ultimate DOES. VC does NOT seem to be running in the background at all times, but JD definitely IS.

dhadlock · Mar 14, 2012

dhadlock said:
Same problem here, except I dont think that mine are getting deleted, cuz I can still call my VM and listen to them. But for the life of me I can not get the VVM to work, I have tried absolutely everything I can think of. Please if anyone can figure out what the deal here is, it would be greatly appreciated. The loss of VVM was pretty much the only thing I didn't like about This CM9 for Epic, since I flashed the alpha 1.

Edit: Just an update: when I use Sprint VVM to compose a message to myself, to test send and receive functions, It sends the VM to me just fine. I get the 9016 text and its on my VM but It still does not show up in the Sprint VVM app.

So after a big long ordeal (accidentally flashed mtd over bml and soft bricked my phone for a day lol

) I finally got it fixed with odin. Then I managed to get back to a working backup that had a working version of Sprint VVM and backed up the data with titanium backup then got my cm9 beta 0 restored and flashed a fresh version of SVVM then went in and made sure it was set in the dialer settings and then restored the app data and the provisioned and still no damn luck.

StoneRyno · Mar 14, 2012

beltsnspoons said:
p.s. while voltage control does NOT show up on my battery stats, juice defender ultimate DOES. VC does NOT seem to be running in the background at all times, but JD definitely IS.

This is because VC loads the custom changes at boot time and is no longer needed. Where as JD is a service that performs periodic actions based on how the user setup JD. In essence JD will consume a slight bit of battery but the increase in savings will outweigh it's consumption. If anyone would like I can try and determine JDs exact usage if it registers in any of the available tools for checking apps battery/CPU usage. As far as I'm aware it does not show up in androids battery info section commonly used to show battery usage in screen shots here on the forum. I of course would post those findings if any in the battery thread.

lost_ · Mar 20, 2012

For those who can't enable the native HOTSPOT as reported on issue 148, try side-loading android-wifi-tether.

With AWT, I can have AP infrastructure hotspot using netd, with WPA2 encryption and multiple Android devices connected. The trick is to configure the device profile as an Epic 4G Touch, Galaxy or any Samsung device that shows netd option in the Setup-Method. Optionally, turn off driver force-reload to get rid of a harmless error message (works fine either way).

A nice thing about AWT is it shows the hotspot real time, accumulative bandwidth usage, and if you don't need to use AP infrastructure mode, you can even lower the ad-hoc mode transmit power for lower battery use.

It also has MAC-based client access control, and on TW ROM, it would give hidden SSID option.

(sorry for posting this multiple times; just thought I'd share my finding on all the relevant threads.

samsungd700 · Mar 20, 2012

ok what sound manager app is better....

i have bought voodoo

I know that DSP comes with cm9...

lost_ · Mar 20, 2012

I use Voodoo (paid version) so I can limit the headset volume on my kids' Epics.

mad1111 · Mar 20, 2012

FYI: For those of you that are having issues with VVM, are you using GoSMS? If so, it's been posted in the CM9 tips and tricks thread that GoSMS and Sprint VVM dont play nicely with one another.

Freeze or Uninstall GoSMS and your VM's should start trickling in!!!

Here's the link to the post I mentioned:
http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=23817393&postcount=650

[CM9 beta] Tips & Customization Discussion

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