Your honest opinions on cooked ROMs please [Front Page Article]

Sentinel196 · May 3, 2010

Hi all,

First of all, I wish to preface this by saying how appreciative I am of the assistance and wealth of knowledge I have found on this forum. Without it, I must say I would have been pretty disappointed with my HD2 n its purely stock form. Much like the appstore is the iPhone's primary selling point, I believe the customisable nature of WinMo devices is their main selling point and is the reason I chose to purchase an HD2 over an iPhone (other than the cost/Tech Specs) of course. This thread is in no way intended to take away from the amazing work our chefs do!

I would also appreciate if any "If you don't like customising, why are you here?" comments off this thread also as that is not in any way what this is about. god knows I have destroyed enough PC BIOSes and mobile phones trying to customise them or tweak them for the maximum achieveable performance before it all became so mainstream.

I know this kind of a question is going to get people into "attack the n00b" mode really quickly, but i feel it is a legitimate question which could spark some insightful and intelligent discussion.

I was just wondering what your honest opinions are regarding the use of cooked ROMs.

At present I am using an up to date stock ROM with many added tweaks including CHT1.7.1 and the tweaked graphics drivers and am more than happy with the way the phone looks and operates. there is no software that is missing from the stock ROM which I feel would benefit me in any way and the phone seems to operate quickly and seamlessly and so far I have not experienced any reliabillity issues.

With a long standing background in the electronics and software development field, I have always been quite a strong believer in the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" principal, but as I consider you guys and girls to be an intelligent bunch with a wealth of cumilative knowledge, I am interested in your opinions on the cooked VS customised stock ROM debate.

From what I can gather the benefits of a well developed cooked ROM such as EnergyROM or CleanEX ROM are as follows:
Menus are neatly organised and catagorised.
Extra software which is considered to be useful is preloaded.
Interface is tweaked (albiet usually no moreso than it can be with a few mods loaded on to a stock ROM)
UI and animation speed improvements.

The arguements against are as follows:
Risk (however low it is) of bricking your device
Compatabillity with different devices
Warrenty is voided (even though this can in most cases be avoided by flashing bck to a stock SPL)
Reliance on one person, or just a few people for updates rather than a huge company.

Personally, I have never used a cooked ROM, but I have been considering installing the EnergyROM on to my HD2 s it is the most closely matched cooked ROM to the way I have customised my stock ROM, however as I am currently quite happy with the way I have my stock ROM set up, I am wondering if there are any extra benefits that I have missed. It would almost seem that in my case, I am better off just sticking with the tweaked stock ROM as it serves all my needs and scouring pretty much any thread relating to a cooked ROM, I seem to stumble upon a LOT of bugs (hich have usually been fixed in subsequent releases).

To me it would seem that a lot of the time, the appeal of cooked ROMs is the "Elite" and "Geeky coolness" factor rather than actual functionallity.

Discuss....

sniper-wolf · May 3, 2010

Excellent post mate and I hope it's taken in the spirit it's intended and you're spared all the usual nonsense when questions are asked.

I've been on here a few months, but rarely ventured into the ROM's section, fairly competent with everything in the "Themes + Apps" section and like you, have my phone looking and performing pretty much how I'd want it.

All I'd perhaps want, and the reason I dip in here every now and then for a look, is perhaps a ROM which removes some of the redundant (for me) applications, ie Twitter, Footprints, Stocks etc to perhaps speed things up a little as my RAM is constantly at 60% and I'm getting low on internal storage memory despite installing everything which can be to the SD card.

But again, I wonder if there is perhaps more to this ROM flashing and whether I'd notice any real advantages which I'd not considered?

One other question for anyone who feels like answering, and it will seem silly. Are the softkeys in 6.5xx all aligned with the right hand one set further in than the left (ie non-symetrical), may seem a minor thing, but it just doesn't look right to me and if I was going to flash to something newer, I'd like to know if it can be changed.

Probably complete "noob" type questions, and apologies for partial hijack of the OP's thread, but as someone else had dared to ask some points that I'd like answered, I thought I'd stick my oar in and we can both be flamed together then.

Sentinel196 · May 3, 2010

Thanks for the support

I am the admin on another forum so I am not afraid or unfamiliar with flameage!

I'm looking forward to seeing what discussions this sparks

chiraag · May 3, 2010

i think a VOTE would be great for this page....

HasC · May 3, 2010

Hi I would think the best advice would be that if you are happy with your ROM and you are not having any issues with it. Stick to it, this way you will have the peace of mind that your warranty is still in tact and you will not have to revert to reflashing to original stock without any risks.

Flashing on the other hand is fun and I feel the ROM cooks do a fantastic job of tweaking them so they work most efficiently. The chefs also remove programs that are not used that often which gives us more memory to install programs that we will actually use and the chefs also update to the newest builds for software which is dorment in the stock roms e.g. google maps,opera etc. If you update these on stock roms, it takes away valuable space due to the programs installed twice (you cannot usually replace the stock ROM versions and overwrite them with newer builds).

Naturally you will get issues cropping up with things going wrong and this is mainly due to the fact that the chefs use the newest builds before they are released officially so you can have a feel of new things that are put into them. I personally like to stick to one or two chefs and follow their progress, this way you will generally be ok as you will be aware of any minor problems and their fixes. If you flash many different ROMs with different chefs, you may encounter different problems with each of their ROMs and feel that ROM flashing seems to cause more problems than solutions.

I hope this clarifies some of your queries.

Sentinel196 · May 3, 2010

chiraag said:
i think a VOTE would be great for this page....

I considered it, but I thought a vote makes it a little too black and white. I'd rather a more in depth discussion on the pros/cons

staalduinen74 · May 3, 2010

Adiction!!

There's nothing wrong with stock ROM's what a little tweaking can't solve.
and there wil always be problems and things that don't suite you in a cooked ROM.
Bud if you would try it once it wil become an adiction to find the newest and/or the fastest that suite your needs the best.

if you follow the guide's the change of bricking your phone are slim bud there is always the posebilety

I think it's one of the best things of my HTC and no risk no luck.
(bud don't listen to me because i'm an addict)

Halle · May 3, 2010

Well it took a while before I flashed a cooked rom into my phone. I use Artemis roms, and those are the only one I have tried yet - and I really do not think I will ever try another since most of them have silly and ugly mods baked in...

. I like the newer 6.5.5 with bigger soft buttons and the "start" down on the left. But the most important thing is speed - with artemis, everything the phone can do, the phone does it faster running Artemis than Stock rom. Often _much_ faster. Starting Opera 10 for example takes roughly 2 secs with Artemis, 5-6secs with stock...

antaed · May 3, 2010

I started to flash custom ROMS because I got sick and tired waiting for HTC to solve my problem with data connection. I tried all sorts of official and unofficial tweaks and patches without success so I decided to take the risk with the flashing adventure.
After flashing a few ROMS from different chefs I eventually found THE ONE that solved my frustrating problem out of the box. Not only that but I was also very impressed by the performance and by the chef himself - always there, always wanting to improve, always fair and balanced. So I settled for it and it's the only ROM I flash to my phone.
I would also like to add that I prefer the close to stock philosopy because I want to do the customization myself. Even so, in my opinion custom ROMS have the following advantages compared to stock:
- you have many options to chose from
- they prove to be faster and more stable
- you have LIVE support from the chef and the other users
- you get updates much, much faster and more frequently (even if beta builds)
- you get all sorts of goodies cooked in the ROM (tweaks, apps, etc.)
- with the ROM I use you also get an app built by the chef himself to tweak the ROM to your likings
- it's rather fun to do it

just my 2 cents

toff74 · May 3, 2010

I'm the same as the above poster. I got sick of waiting for my mobile operator to update the ROM (O2). I had SMS problems, data connection problems, freezong problems, the list goes on.

Then i turned into a frantic flasher..up to 5 times a day, looking for the latest and greatest. I was forever setting my phone up and it was taking over my life! I even tried cooking my own with pretty decent success.

I'm now more settled and gone for a ROM thats closer to stock with a few tweaks. It does what i want and pretty quickly too. Its a million miles away from the original phone i got back in early December, but that a good thing.

samsamuel · May 3, 2010

on a functional level much of the surface features that cooked roms offer could in theory be done with cabs and tweaks, but some things can only be cooked in.
also, cooking in a fix or tweak means it is there from the start, so when you hard reset it the system isn't needing to be patched, so the fix is more stable.(generaly)

on another level many of the chefs really do know a thing or two about building roms and can make them smaller faster and more stable than the stock releases.

gdayhtc · May 3, 2010

I personally never flashed a device...I have to admit that with CHT1.7.1 things been running smoothy and perfectly. The idea of removing some applications on standard ROM sounds really great like footprint,shares,music sense...which i dont use.

As Sentinel196 says, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" , i guess i come from the same school in that sense.

by the way with all the cutomization available for CHT i find it really hard if people do not like their htc hd2

SMS92 · May 3, 2010

I do believe the HD2 is a very good compromise between 'works out of the box' and 'can tweak 'til the cows come home'. It's a modders dream but at the same time probably the only WinMobile device that I thought to myself "I might actually stick with a stock rom, it works"

Curiousity got the better of me... WITHIN HOURS...

of getting the device. First off I noticed I was locked to Vodafone's stock rom (it was obviously a Vodafone customer selling on a new handset), I couldn't get the latest rom from HTC so HSPL'd it and flashed to stock 1.66. Good stuff, it was working fine for me.

Then I got curious again some days later and tried 6.5.5. I definitely prefered 6.5 to 6.5.5 and believe it feels much more 'balanced' on a device of this nature (giant screen, few hardware buttons) so decided I wanted to go back to 6.5 after some days of use. I remembered the stock rom did have a lot of 'junk' attached to it, despite operating blazing fast. I found CleanEX on here and from the description it sounded like a good compromise - the stock rom but with junk removed, more 'under the hood' tweaks added and all underlying software updated. Fantastic. I've been flashing to it 'til now and can't see me going anywhere else for the time being.

So yeah, the HD2 out of the box (for the most part, I realise some people have experienced bugs) is a decent device. However, coming here turns it into an AMAZING device capable of just about anything. Having the choice is fantastic. When people ask me about me about my HD2 Vs. the iPhone I can't help but be honest and state 'the iPhone just works', if you want the HD2 to fulfill its full potential you'll need to 'dedicate time to it and be one with your inner geek.'

For people stuck with locked down operator roms, the rom section on XDA is invaluable as it would seem o2 UK (my operator) have ONLY JUST upgraded their rom from the version people were using in Nov '09. Sorry, but that is ridiculous and no customer should have to wait that long for a device like this to have its bugs ironed out when people 'breaking the rules' can have it right off the bat with a bit of a learning curve. Just another reason why operator branded bull**** is a waste of everyone's time -- like movies being released in the US months/years before the UK in the 90s & til mid '00, it took file-sharing to fix that!

I also strongly believe if people are willing to come here and read the 'basic' threads & take a little time out, support here is absolutely second to none. Better than an RMA to HTC, better than your operators forums, just fantastic. This does however support the idea that the HD2 is somewhat another device kept alive by XDA-developers... which I'm sure will become more apparent in the future after WinPhone7 is released.

tl;dr - The HD2 is a HTC phone which, once again, benefits more than anything from the development, tweaks, mods, hacks, customizations and support given here.

Sentinel196 · May 3, 2010

Some excellent posts so far. Thanks everyone!! Looking forward to some more insight.

I'm certainly becoming more and more tempted to HSPL and flash a cooked ROM just to satisfy my inner nerd and curiosity!

bobbyball · May 3, 2010

Until a few weeks ago I was a stock ROM user. To be honest the stock rom was ok but just didnt seem very stable to me with resets a normal part of life. Having looked through the various ROM threads I decided to stick with a fairly stock cooked rom and chose Artemis.

After the first few days it was very apparent that this was the way forward. Artemis transformed my HD2 into what I believe the device should have been, stable and a joy to use.

I think before you can decide on a cooked ROM you need to decide on what you want a cooked ROM for. Is it for stability (in my case) or for added features such as extra tabs, preinstalled cabs etc.

I cant fault Artemis v11, is as stock as you can get with a cooked ROM and is fast, stable and very user friendly but I expect that others will have critism over this ROM against another, like I say there are many great chefs out there and its down to personal choice which is the best.

bzdemes · May 3, 2010

I love cooked ROMs. This is my first Win Mo device and I have to say when I first got it I was pretty disappointed(December last year). Was pretty damn buggy and slow! O2 UK didn't seem in any hurry to release any of the improved ROMs(not sure if they have even released an update now). I did the various tweaks that people have listed to improve the phone and was pretty pleased with the result. When HSPL came out I figured I would give a cooked ROM ago as if me a n00b doing a few tweaks could make my phone better imagine what pros could do! Flashed Duttys HG series and was blown away! Have been flashing them ever since (tried a few others but always come back to Duttys). It feels nice to have all the latest software bundled up and tweaked for me! Just about to flash from HG v2.5 (COM5) to HG v2.6 (COM5). Will be maybe the 20th time I have flashed my phone

Gets better each time

jewishmafia · May 5, 2010

Always cooked. Stock roms are always lacking something... cooked, especially with kitchens allow you to play around and have fun.

Now, regarding the future of cooked roms? that much is very very doubtful. I doubt we'll see many WinMo cooked roms after 2010.

hector_huerta · May 5, 2010

I first had the default ROM 1.43 and everything was allmost OK with little glitches here and there (first of all the battery didn't last long) then I had the official 1.48 update wich I promptly applied and everything worked the same with little things improved (still terrible battery life) then after a couple of months of constants soft resets or taking out the battery for a reset I decided to try Miri's ROMS wich are great (I always prefered the close to stock) but still with battery problems until I learned I can upgrade the radio only without damaging the ROM wich I did and somewhat improved, but just a little, then I tried Dutty's wich are great roms (still close to stock and more stable at least the COM2 version) finally I decided a couple of days ago to give a try to EnergyROM which have additional software and I whent the GTX route, and I really love it, speccially since the battery is lasting me longer with the same radio update as my previous rom and with the lovelly GTX theme but some things like CHT seems to work better cooked in that installed separatedly, in my opinion I think you will have a lot of benefits using a custom ROM, but first use the original rom a couple of months to evaluate if your unit is functional (try everything: FM radio, GPS, light sensor, etc.) and then when you get to know your device try the custom rom of your choice and prepare to be amazed, once you go custom....

Good luck!

gdem3685 · May 5, 2010

Maybe i am talking about the wrong thing here but i will say it. In the HD2 there is very little (if not nothing at all) noticeable difference between stock and custom Rom (except some registry modifications that you can do them with the stock rom as well). It is mainly in the addiction that cooking provides that you can see a difference. In the HTC Touch HD although the difference between stock and custom rom (mainly the Custom Roms that come from the HD2) is VERY VERY BIG. The last stock rom that HTC provide is 1 year old (7/4/2009) with 6.1 Windows, Black and White slider icons, Manila 1.XX etc. So in some cases i thing Custom Rom is more needed that the Stock Rom. But in the case of the ultra-fast HD2 i believe that the difference is much much smaller.

ahirshfield · May 5, 2010

Wow - a front pager!

Sentinel196 said:
I would also appreciate if any "If you don't like customising, why are you here?"
[...]
I know this kind of a question is going to get people into "attack the n00b" mode really quickly, but i feel it is a legitimate question which could spark some insightful and intelligent discussion.

Sentinel196 said:
I am the admin on another forum so I am not afraid or unfamiliar with flameage!

Just thought I'd share in case you hadn't noticed; despite your concerns, you managed to make the 'front cover' of XDA-Devs!

http://www.xda-developers.com/

Next - Time Magazine?!

Good post, well deserved. Enjoying the conversation and Mass-Debating(!).

Hirshy

Your honest opinions on cooked ROMs please [Front Page Article]

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