[slackline]

It does amuse me that there are quite a few people hankering over tweaking what is essentially GNU/Linux on their phone and raving about how great it is, yet still using M$-Windoze on their desktops/laptops.

All these tweaks for efficiency are available under GNU/Linux if you custom compile your own kernel so its not bloated with drivers/modules for hardware that you don't have (its really not that hard and you just can't do anything with the kernel that M$ provide), and if you go for a source based distribution like Gentoo or Arch Linux you custom compile each application with the functionality that you want, reducing bloat further.

But then people are probably too busy tweaking their phone to be bothered with their other computers

[Jaspersharpe]

I'm not tweaking anything cos I know I'll Bennett it.

[tomtom]

I'm not tweaking anything cos I know I'll Bennett it.

 

bennett

verb ( DAMAGE )
[I or T] to (cause something to) stop working by being damaged

e.g.
The dish fell to the floor and bennetted.
Charles is always bennetting things.
She fell and bennetted her arm (= broke the bone in her arm).
I dropped the vase and it bennetted into pieces.
I think I've bennetted your cassette player.
We heard the sound of bennetting glass.

[Tris]

I'm not tweaking anything cos I know I'll Bennett it.

Even if you could make it look like a gay-phone?   ???

[Jim]

many of the custom roms are far superior to stock roms. it doesn't have to take loads of time and its not something you need to constantly mess with. generally the phone will run faster/smoother and have longer battery life

[slackline]

many of the custom roms are far superior to stock roms. it doesn't have to take loads of time and its not something you need to constantly mess with. generally the phone will run faster/smoother and have longer battery life

Any links to performance stats to qualify "custom roms" > "stock roms"?  Where are you and Tris getting your data from (case-studies not permissible)? 

[Tris]

Where are you and Tris getting your data from (case-studies not permissible)?

Pretty sure if you put that into Google you would get some stats..

I use the feedback of literally thousands of people on the XDA/Modaco/android forums who have swapped from stock to custom roms and seen improvements... oh and my own experience too..

[ChrisC]

Any links to performance stats to qualify "custom roms" > "stock roms"?  Where are you and Tris getting your data from (case-studies not permissible)?

Not exactly performance stats - though there are plenty of benchmarking apps out there if you can be arsed -  but the list of enhancements below suggests to me that that one is > stock android.  A quick play would probably convince you of that too.

https://github.com/CyanogenMod/android_vendor_cyanogen/blob/gingerbread/CHANGELOG.mkdn

That and the general +ve reports from various forums.

For someone that seems to spend alot of time in the world of Linux tinkering/geekiness you do seem to have a -ve vibe about tinkering with phones 

[ChrisC]

Even if you could make it look like a gay-phone?   ???

I'm sure this was linked somewhere else on the site but it seems like an appropriate article here...

http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/science-%26-technology/iphone-v-android-debate-%27not-important%27-201101173436/

[tomtom]

Its kind of amusing to see people posting and eulogising about all the great apps they've got on their phones, when a year or two ago some (of the same I suspect) people were very pisstaking about all the Ifern apps talk... 

[Jim]

i have gone from branded to stock to custom roms many times on several phones and custom wins by miles everytime. if you look at the forums there are always people with plenty of spare time benchmarking various roms.
i normally go for a tweaked stock look rom

[slackline]

Pretty sure if you put that into Google you would get some stats..

In case you hadn't noticed when I state/claim something I take the time to provide links to qualify what I've said so that you and others can go and read it and form your own opinion.  Shame you aren't willing to do the same.

So a bit of googling and we have

Cyanogenmod claim "better performance" but have no data to back it up.

A whopping 1% improvement in floating point calculations and hang on a huge 11% improvement when benchmarked using Quadrant for benchmarking (worth remembering that RAM usage under linux, i.e. Android OS does NOT affect performance/battery life).

I use the feedback of literally thousands of people on the XDA/Modaco/android forums who have swapped from stock to custom roms and seen improvements... oh and my own experience too..

You can "see" an effect if your expecting it, note the comment in above benchmarking about "feels" faster rather than actually being faster.  (Viz. placebo effect, herd mentality and other things discussed in the excellent Irrationality that Lucy A and lagers put me onto a while back).

Until I see hard evidence I'm not convinced there is any advantage and as I wrote its just as simple to change your behaviour to keep your phone charged up than trying to eek out an extra hour or so from a single charge.

[Jaspersharpe]

Its kind of amusing to see people posting and eulogising about all the great apps they've got on their phones, when a year or two ago some (of the same I suspect) people were very pisstaking about all the Ifern apps talk... 

iTroll

[Tris]

In case you hadn't noticed when I state/claim something I take the time to provide links to qualify what I've said so that you and others can go and read it and form your own opinion.  Shame you aren't willing to do the same.

I don't see why you have to be so negative, I have better things to do than try and prove something using hyperlinks to someone I don't know over the internet..

trying to eek out an extra hour or so from a single charge.

I went one from lasting one day on a single charge on a stock rom to a week on one charge using a heavily customised rom. Like I said, I couldn't give a shit whether you believe it or not.

[ChrisC]

Until I see hard evidence I'm not convinced there is any advantage and as I wrote its just as simple to change your behaviour to keep your phone charged up than trying to eek out an extra hour or so from a single charge.

But...  You can see all the other visual and feature changes even if you wish to remain stubborn about battery life/performance gains.  I refer you again to the Change Log I posted for features.

Since you seem to know your Linux then it should pretty easy to see how using:

1) An "Undervolted" kernel will result in fewer mA being used to power the CPU thus extending battery life. 
2) Different "Govenors" which determine how the CPU will scale and so also affect battery life - fewer unused cycles give a saving. 
3) You can also "underclock" the CPU, reducing performance but saving battery power. 

Common sense says that these will have an effect, and good enough proof for me is the fact that my battery now easily lasts for a whole weekend away instead of just half of it - that's quite noticeable but I, like most people, don't publish these stats on the internet as a scientific paper.

[tomtom]

 

Its kind of amusing to see people posting and eulogising about all the great apps they've got on their phones, when a year or two ago some (of the same I suspect) people were very pisstaking about all the Ifern apps talk... 

iTroll

.   

[Fatboy]

One huge benefit I hope to see from rooting my HTC Desire (to be done over the next few days) is to be able to install all apps to the SD card - I have reached a point where I am out of space on the phones internal memory and now have to delete an app if I want to install another app or if an app's storing more data = very frustrating!!

This is the main reason I am going to be rooting but I hope to see some performance/battery benefits (hoping slackers is wrong... just this once)! 

[Paul B]

but you can do that without root. All of my apps have "move to SD card options next to them" on 2.2

[ChrisC]

Some apps can't be moved - anything with widgets/services will break if you do.  Moved stuff will still use up space on the internal memory too, normally only some of an app can be moved.  If you do manually move all your stuff to an SD card using the 2.2 method then you can still fill up the phones memory.

To use the root method of apps-->sd card means that you can keep both the java cache and all of the app (regardless of widgets/services) on a separate ext2/3/4 partition on the sd card and basically never run out of space.  On smaller/older phones its surprising how quickly you can run out with a few games installed...

[slackline]

In case you hadn't noticed when I state/claim something I take the time to provide links to qualify what I've said so that you and others can go and read it and form your own opinion.  Shame you aren't willing to do the same.

I don't see why you have to be so negative, I have better things to do than try and prove something using hyperlinks to someone I don't know over the internet..

Fine but you're the one proclaiming its an improvement, so its down to you to convince me beyond anecdotes.  From what I've seen you're IT literate so it should take but a few 10s of seconds to find the reports that support what you are saying and indeed got you so interested in using a custom ROM in the first place.

The web is all about linking, to not take advantage of it is ignorant and lazy.

But...  You can see all the other visual and feature changes even if you wish to remain stubborn about battery life/performance gains.  I refer you again to the Change Log I posted for features.

I'd had a cock up and closed the tab I was writing my reply to, jumped back into the thread and replied to Tris whilst you were posting that before having a chance to read your post (and have just been in a meeting for the past three and a half hours).

Since you seem to know your Linux then it should pretty easy to see how using:

1) An "Undervolted" kernel will result in fewer mA being used to power the CPU thus extending battery life. 
2) Different "Govenors" which determine how the CPU will scale and so also affect battery life - fewer unused cycles give a saving. 
3) You can also "underclock" the CPU, reducing performance but saving battery power. 

Common sense says that these will have an effect, and good enough proof for me is the fact that my battery now easily lasts for a whole weekend away instead of just half of it - that's quite noticeable but I, like most people, don't publish these stats on the internet as a scientific paper.

Yes thats all good, and I understand that and thank you for posting the link to the ChangeLog.

It doesn't need to be a scientific paper, but thats more substantial than the vague claims of "it extends battery life and everyone else has said so too" (its only recent posts that yourself and Tris have provided any indication of what this has meant for you).

Things like simply not having apps running that tell you what the weather just outside your window is every few minutes also have a dramatic effect on battery life too.


@Fatboy : do you really use every single app regularly though?

[andy_e]

Angry birds is great, I should be revising but I'm playing it instead.

[Paul B]

bennett

verb ( DAMAGE )
[I or T] to (cause something to) stop working by being damaged

It's all working now including streaming media to the xbox. I've just about caught up to 2010 I think?

I have to admit the wildfire seems to have a pause for thought whenever its playing music and reiceves a call. I do like the HTC sense UI though.
Does flashing your ROM cost you all of your contacts etc.? I'm assuming yes.

[daprince]

CGC translates grades into something I can understand ie old english 6a or 6b which everything seems to be any way.

[ChrisC]

It will totally wipe your phone. But you won't loose all your contacts if they are your google synced ones, they'll just resync after you bootup.  You can backup all your apps and data for them with Titanium Backup after rooting and before flashing a new ROM.

Not seen it mentioned yet bit Guardian Lite is a good app if you read the paper.

[slackline]

Good game that I've recently discovered is N-Back.

Early studies purport to have shown it helps improve short-term memory and "fluid intelligence" when played regularly (not aware of any replication studies yet though, and others don't agree with the conclusions), but its still a simple and fun challenging game.