[Q] Kernel Kah to the upgrade!

[Kahbrohn]

Hi.

I am totally new to the Android phone tweaking phenomenon. Been reading and testing many of the tips, tricks and such on the forum here. I must say, I was about to ditch the trusty Atrix 4g when I came upon this forum. I can't thank XDA enough for being the informative and authoritative website that it is.

On another forum I saw someone ask if they should upgrade to a SG3 or unlock/root their Atrix 4g. I though about it a bit. My "answer" was simple: I am a cheapskate. Forking out $200 for a new SG3 (my phone of choice right now to be honest) is a bit rough on my pocket. Unlocking/rooting is for free. Try unlocking/rooting "responsibly" first. If it doesn't work out to my satisfaction, then upgrade the phone. At least you make sure you are squeezing the max out of your Atrix 4G, right?

I unlocked... rooted... and I could not be happier. Only problem now is that I want more! I OC PC's for a hobby so squeezing more is second nature to me right now. Cell phones are way different to PC's though. Quickly saw you can't water cool then effectively and retain its mobile nature. Now my phone has a new life in it that I think could be improved even more. Therefore, I pose two simple questions here now:

1) Extended battery... worth the investment or not? I rooted to MROM and find I have excellent battery life in comparison to before but I wouldn't mind extra life via the battery itself. Investment would be around $20 tops for a 2800 mAh battery. That's about 33% more mAh if that's the correct way of looking at this...

2) If I were to get the extended battery, I was thinking of upgrading my kernel to the Faux123 1.3 ghz version. Would I "really" notice the difference in terms of performance? (am presently running the MROM ver. 43 SV kernel which is 1.0 ghz - "sv" means software voltage "tweaked" for better battery life if I am not mistaken)

Thoughts?



Signed,

Uncle Kah

 

[littleemp]

1.) If you really want the extended battery it is only worth it if you can handle the extra bulk. Buy only what feels comfortable to you. (And that's the only thing that you should be considering on this subject)

2.) Depends a lot on what you're doing. The things that are already running fairly fast and feel snappy probably won't feel much different, but you will see an improvement on things that are/feel a little sluggish at times.

Right now we're on a turning point as far as development goes, since the new leak has been released there will be a slew of new builds coming our way very soon (I am hoping within the next few days), so sit tight and watch (maybe help test too?) closely, because even the current incomplete ICS/JB builds are, in my opinion, superior to any other Gingerbread build.

 

[Kahbrohn]

1.) If you really want the extended battery it is only worth it if you can handle the extra bulk. Buy only what feels comfortable to you. (And that's the only thing that you should be considering on this subject)

2.) Depends a lot on what you're doing. The things that are already running fairly fast and feel snappy probably won't feel much different, but you will see an improvement on things that are/feel a little sluggish at times.

Right now we're on a turning point as far as development goes, since the new leak has been released there will be a slew of new builds coming our way very soon (I am hoping within the next few days), so sit tight and watch (maybe help test too?) closely, because even the current incomplete ICS/JB builds are, in my opinion, superior to any other Gingerbread build.

I agree on the battery thing being more a matter of bulk. That's why I was looking at the 2800 mAh battery instead of the 3500+ mAh. I believe the bulk should be less. I have big hands anyways so it shouldn't be much of an issue BUT, if I need to put the phone on a pocket fort example, that might be an issue.

I see your point on the sluggishness of apps and such. I really can't complain that much of anything being slow or stuttery. Netflix works just fine. I don;'t game on my phone. I mainly surf, email and chat. Those functions are doing just fine. In essence, it's much like a computer. You can reach 4.5 ghz overclock and taking it up to lets say 4.7 may not be noticeable in any way other than bench marking and such and we are not doing that continuously as it is.

Interesting point on the leak and the possibility of new ROM's hitting the threads soon. Not used to how those innovations work in the cell phone world. If that's the case, then I feel that I should wait a bit and then play around with the new ROM's that are soon to be born.

Thanks for the insight...

 

[littleemp]

I agree on the battery thing being more a matter of bulk. That's why I was looking at the 2800 mAh battery instead of the 3500+ mAh. I believe the bulk should be less. I have big hands anyways so it shouldn't be much of an issue BUT, if I need to put the phone on a pocket fort example, that might be an issue.

I see your point on the sluggishness of apps and such. I really can't complain that much of anything being slow or stuttery. Netflix works just fine. I don;'t game on my phone. I mainly surf, email and chat. Those functions are doing just fine. In essence, it's much like a computer. You can reach 4.5 ghz overclock and taking it up to lets say 4.7 may not be noticeable in any way other than bench marking and such and we are not doing that continuously as it is.

Interesting point on the leak and the possibility of new ROM's hitting the threads soon. Not used to how those innovations work in the cell phone world. If that's the case, then I feel that I should wait a bit and then play around with the new ROM's that are soon to be born.

Thanks for the insight...

I actually think the overall feel of GB to be slow and the browser in particular sluggish at times when compared to other devices (not necessarily with better hardware, just with newer software). I guess it comes with territory after tinkering with fully working JB builds on other devices. To be fair, I didn't see it as much until I tried it out... It's kinda like giving a blind man a brand new pair of eyes.

On the overclock thing, 4.5 to even 5 Ghz the difference is very negligible as you say, but a 1Ghz to 1.3 or 1.5 GHz jump is very noticeable. Remember we're talking an extra 30-50% in CPU cycles.