[droopydawg]

I upgraded to MightyROM5 05.24.09 last Sunday morning (24 May). Here's my feedback.

For background, I had been on 4.12 (32MB pagepool) since the end of February, having previously used several prior revs of MightyROM. Wanted to point out that although 4.12 was impeccably stable, performance gradually degraded (boot time, general use, etc.) over the last couple of months. Not having reflashed or hard reset (since last flash) during that time, I assumed the degradation was due to something non-hardware related, along the lines of file fragmentation. Something worthy for you flash junkies to note: if you go cold turkey for a few months, you might encounter similar gradual degradation. Flashed MightyROM5 05.24.09, and the performance degradation vanished.

Here's my specs:

* Device: Sprint HTC Touch Pro
* Carrier: Verizon Wireless
* Radio: Sprint 1.03.03V (stock)
* ROM Page Pool: default (loaded the EXE as-is)
* Added CAB's: Arcsoft MMS (Calkulin, Verizon), HTC GPS Tool, BeeJive, Skype, Battery Monitor (Arelas), PHM Reg Edit, Red Theme (LilRico)
* ActiveSync: Direct Push, Exchange 2003 SP2 (via SSL), Windows Server 2003 SP2


Here's what I've come up with in upgrading 4.12 to 5 [05.24.09] so far (and yes, I performed a Hard Reset via Clear Storage prior to configuring)...

TESTS (all succeeded)

* Phone (send and receive)
* ##DIAG#, ##PRL#, ##PST#
* Long Press End Key (set to Terminate Data Connection)
* SMS (send and receive)
* MMS (send and receive)
* Voicemail notification
* Data (carrier)
* WiFi
* Direct Push (both before and after phone calls, over both carrier data and WiFi)
* Media (jpg, mp3, mp4)
* GPS (Google Maps)
* Alarm
* Camera (both photo and video)
* Uploader: Facebook (both carrier data and WiFi)
* Uploader: YouTube (only carrier data and WiFi)


IMPROVEMENTS

* Stability: Once we got over the hump of the first day (see below in issues), this ROM has been more stable than 4.12. With 4.12, I got in the habit of soft resetting every morning to help prevent a lot of various issues that would arise, but with 5 [5.24.09], this is entirely unnecessary. I'm just at the end of 3 days without resetting, and the phone is still running as smoothly as after a reset! AWESOME!

* Windows Mobile 6.5: Although the new Zune-ish Today screen didn't really turn me on (I'm still running TF3D), the new finger-friendly features are great, leaving very few tasks for which I have to break out the stylus. The increased space between icons and selections definitely results in more scrolling, but it's much less of a hassle than a lot of the mis-clicks (read: calling the wrong contact from Call History) I was having before. New Start Menu is nice, too, but we could definitely have a more efficient way of customizing the layout. Still, me likey a lot.


ISSUES

* Stability (ONLY ON FIRST BATTERY CYCLE): The first day I was running the new ROM, my phone hung a total of three times (twice while working in Contacts, once in Opera), requiring a soft reset via the stylus each time. Further, I set my alarm before going to sleep and awoke to find that the phone hung once more: this time, just on the home screen with the screen turned off. Fortunately, I have a habit of waking up before alarms anyway, but this had me on the verge of reverting to 4.12. I was patient, however, and after fully draining and recharging the battery, it hasn't hung since. Again, since the first full cycle on the battery, this ROM has been completely, 100% solid and stable. I'm not entirely sure why I had these hangs the first day, but others might encounter them too. HANG IN THERE and give it a full battery cycle before deciding to reflash!

* SMS/Texting Lag: Typing text messages lags intermittently, but when it does, it's bad. I'm not all that fast on my thumbs, but I easily get two words ahead of the display when it starts lagging. Can't figure out why it works well when it does, but I'll continue looking for trends.

* Task Manager Lag: Task Manager seems to be much less responsive in bringing up the list of open applications than in 4.12. I find myself often tapping the screen, waiting, then re-tapping it (thinking that the tap didn't register), only to find the list appear then immediately disappear (registering both taps). Trying to get into the habit of tapping and waaaaaaaaiting. :P

* Signal Strength Icon: Whereas in 4.12, my signal strength icon was maxed out in a downtown area, the new icon is showing only two bars in the very same location. Voice and data performance seem to be the same as before, however, so I'm guessing the thresholds for each bar in the display might be different in this new ROM. Anyone else notice this or have any more info?


Things like TF3D speed, battery life, and most common tasks seem to be about the same as a fresh flash of 4.12, which were HUGELY improved over previous MightyROM revs, and light years ahead of the stock ROM. To maintain that kind of performance while upgrading a Microsoft OS is an achievement! Bravo, MightyMike, and thanks!