[Q] What is the best rom to put on a brand new 2.1 phone

[Offlineo]

Hi
I have a brand new Motorola Defy on T-Mobile UK still running 2.1. It is red lens. There is still no official update for it.

Whilst I am quite geeky, I prefer my phone to just work. So once I have upgraded it I don't plan to do so again for another 12-18 months unless there is a really good reason to update before hand.

So I am looking for a stable update, that will still be compatible with new apps in 12-18 months time. I want the updates for the following reasons: speed, battery life, as few bugs as possible, stability, any camera improvements and 720p video recording.

Yes it is a long list I figure an Android 2.3 is probably better than a 2.2 for future proofing. Last night I spent a few hour reading the wiki and information about lots of roms.

I am not looking for help in how to do anything as there are quite a lot of info on the threads about it. I would just like to know which is the best rom/s to install now, from experienced users.

Thanks Alex

 

[sp8y]

The official update for T-Mobile UK android 2.2 (froyo) has been out for a couple of weeks now - it's on the Motorola Software Update site ready for download. There's also the retail version there that would have no operator logo etc.

I'm using CM7 on my UK Defy (green lens on mine as it's an early one) & find it be the best ROM I've used so far - much better than the stock eclair it came with & better than the froyo ROMS I flashed (used 2 leaked UK 2.2 & a Nordic 2.2).

I'd recommend CM7 as it's very stable for me - no random reboots or freezing like would happen from time to time on 2.1 & 2.2 when I had those.

CM7 is still in development but it's working fine for me but if started using it you may need to flash an upgrade every so often but this was quite easy for me & only took a few minutes.

MIUI is also out for the Defy - haven't used it myself so can't comment but it seems popular.

 

[Offlineo]

Thanks for the info.

Can anyone tell me how I can get this posted in the General section?

I have no idea how it got into the Themes and Apps section.

 

[Offlineo]

It might be on the motorola website but over an hour later I cannot get the installer to recognise an internet connection, so I will give up on this. CM7 doesn't yes support 720p recording so I will try something different.

 

[lanfearxt]

if you want a customisable and pure speed ROM, it's CM7, but if you dont plan to tinker a lot, then MIUI is pretty good as it's already a pretty nice looking ROM, with a lot of iOS influence

 

[Offlineo]

Im so good at listening to advice I ignored it all and tried to install 2.3.4 from forum.xda-developers com/showthread.php?t=1135901.

Somehow I not get a flashing red moto logo, system restore and bootloader do nothing and the phone does not show up on my computer. At a bit of a loss what to do now!

 

[sachhi]

Remove battery, and put it back.. While starting keep the vol up button pressed. It ll take u to moto bootloader state. Connect to pc with usb. Use rsdlite software to detect it.. Then flash with any full sbf of ur choice to give back life to ur defy...

 

[Offlineo]

Thanks for the info. It sounds so simple. Sadly after hours of trying this morning I still can't get the phone to turn on.

 

[K3n H1mur4]

First of all: check if your phone has a green or red lens (the answer is here). If your phone has a green lens, sorry, but nothing can be done for it to record 720p videos (hardware limitation). But, if your Defy is brand-new, you'll probably get the red lensed one, because green lensed Defy are old and, AFAIK, not selling anymore.
If you want speed and stability, with 720p recording, I recommend you to install Barebones Froyo with Hancock's 720p mod (mod available here). For better compatibility, ROMs based on the leaked GBs are the best option, and there is also a patch for it to be able to record in 720p (even though I wasn't able to get this one working on my phone - but many people did and are satisfied with it).
For speed + stability + compatibility, CM7 is the one to go for. But it doesn't have 720p enabled yet (some nightlies do, but they're not stable, and even on these nightlies, 720p is not working for everyone).
MiUI is also stable - and beautiful - but not as fast as CM7. For CM7's speed with the looks of MiUI, check here for the Meizu theme.

 

[farsight73]

First thing first... Flash back your phone with full sbf. I would recommend start flashing froyo 2.2.2 since you're from 2.1.
I assume your Defy is red lens as it is newly bought right.. Flash gingerbread 2.3.4 and patch it the 720p followed with installing lgcamera for video recorder. Lastly patch it multitouch to have more than 2 fingers touch. You can find these all in the developer section. Above poster already guided you how to go into bootloader, clean cache and installing rsdlite drivers. Take one step slowly...

Sent from my awesome Moto Defy: Stock Rooted Gingerbread 2.3.3 - XDA Premium

 

[LenAsh]

Hmm... my Defy is a May 2011 model (taken from the serial number) brand new UK retail version from Amazon. Updated to 2.2.2 from the Moto site. Lens is clearly Green...

 

[MuscleNerd]

CM7, out of the question.

 

[Manish54]

CM7... da best u can hav!

 

[murad12s]

CM7 is really stable for defy!

 

[bisto321]

Stock 2.2 GB rooted and overclocked is really nice.

Current custom roms break too much at the moment for me.
I need an infrastructure hot spot, stable wifi, gps that does not need agps to lock and working fm receiver.

I fancy a go with CM7 or miui, but I am going to wait a while for all the fixes to roll in. The devs need people to test and use these roms, but with over 2 million hits i think they have enough already

Ask yourself if you really need a custom rom yet?

 

[futurenos]

I would recommend either a stock froyo rom or adlxmod froyo, as they are stable and won't require any real upkeep. Adlxmod can be updated directly from the phone itself and is hassle free.
CM7 is probably one of the best roms but has nightly updates almost everyday, which is great for people like me who want to be on the bleeding edge but not if you dont want to update.

 

[LenAsh]

Stock 2.2.2 GB retail via MSU has 1-2 random reboots/day marring its Kudos. Always when you really don't need it...

 

[futurenos]

True, I forgot about that, I tried it for an hour and was amazed that the official was that bad. In that case nordic froyo is very stable and 2.3.4 motoginger is also very good too, just takes a bit longer to install though.

 

[bisto321]

Stock 2.2.2 GB retail via MSU has 1-2 random reboots/day marring its Kudos. Always when you really don't need it...

Really? Wow, mine has been rock solid with overclock to 1Ghz. My hero running MoDaCo and villain used to bork out all the time, but the defy has been up for 3 days now using gps, sms, email, wifi tether and web and not a single reboot or lock.

Running launcher pro with scale transition effect and it is very smooth and responsive - very pleased with it so far.

Sounds like I might be doing something wrong

I wonder if some folks hardware (mem and cpu) is a bit flaky? Might be interesting to see place and date of manufacturer of those units that are rebooting. Still does not explain why they can run CM7 well though.

 

[futurenos]

Practically every rom has ran fine for me except 2.2.2 uk. I even used MSU and then re-did using rsdlite, both instances it was terrible. If I was a standard user and didn't experiment with different roms I probably would have been pissed you must be one of the lucky ones.