Contemplating ROM choices...

[Turnkeys]

Morning all,

Long time member, been lurking a while now. I'm generally not quick to embrace new ROMs 'cause I'm overly paranoid of bricking, but as with my Mogul, I'm starting to see unacceptable slowdowns on my TP2; to the point I'm considering a new ROM.

Currently running the origional stock 1.21.651.3, not yet unlocked. I'm looking for recomendations and opinions, for myself and a friend. I prefer function and speed over frills and eye candy.

My friend updated his work TP2 to stock 6.5 and is becomming disillusioned with WM. After a year of ragging on his iPhone habit I finally got him to switch, so now I feel obligated to help keep him off his personal brand of crack.

I've skimmed a few threads of people having issues unlocking (and an unlocker that works online?) Is unlocking dependant on the current rom?

I've also been reading several threads mentioning stability vs frills. Is 6.1 generally more stable?

How common are bricks with this handset?

I've no problem following guides and how-to's. Links and comments are welcome.

Thanks.

[Playa Slaya]

Well just so you know; you asked all of the questions that I was going to. I have the Htc touch pro II, and I want to unlock it so that I can use more features and apps. I just joined the site, and I have a lot to learn!

[quick99si]

You don't need to unlock it to get more "apps" (man I hate that word). Everything you can install on a custom rom can also be used on a stock Sprint rom. Granted, the custom ones come with the latest WM builds, packages, and of course HTC Sense.

The unlocker is restricted to one use per computer station and it is verified online. You can easily "donate" online to avoid this mess. There have been some strange issues with the unlocker lately and I'm not sure if it's still functional or not. You can always try to see if it works.. you don't need to flash a custom rom after that. If it fails, just reset the phone and no harm done (not to say it won't work).

WM6.1 is thought to be more stable and quick whereas 6.5 offers new features and arguably better battery management. 6.1 is relatively "old looking" and stripped when compared to the later releases, in addition to being less finger friendly IMO and of course not having the cool scrolling of 6.5. It rocks as far as memory usage and stability however.

Bricks are very rare and even when they do happen, they're recoverable in the vast majority of cases (so they're not REALLY bricks are they?). People think they brick their phone when they flash a GSM rom on a CDMA device. In fact, the phone can easily be brought back to full function. Now flashing a GSM radio is a different issue..

My advice is to read the sticky threads, browse the upgrade forum (pay particular attention the the first posts of threads made by chefs), conduct a few related searches, and ask specific questions in this forum.

I suggest you ignore "radio unlocks" for now. Stick to unlocking the device for the ability to flash a custom rom. For that, go here: http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/cdma-tp2-u...w-hardspl.html - Then select a rom to download and flash in the upgrade forum: http://forum.ppcgeeks.com/cdma-tp2-upgrades/ - you can sort by number of views/replies and start with the more popular ones to get a feel for it. You can flash as many roms as you want (well, technically I think the limit is ~10,000). The optional step is to use task29 to wipe the phone totally clean before flashing a custom rom. This is NOT needed when flashing an official Sprint rom! I've attached the file in the past, look through my posts to download and learn to use it.

Be advised that the majority of roms use 6.5 with the newest version of HTC Sense, a combination which many people will tell you is far from the fastest. If you want absolute speed, look into the base 6.1 rom, but don't foget that you'll have to install a lot of your own cabs, tweaks, registry edits etc.. I don't recommend this if this is your first time doing it.

Post questions here and you'll find people who will happily help you over the bumps. Just do us all a favor and read a little first because some of the questions get pretty old.

[horndoctor]

Wirelessly posted (htc Pocket PC: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows CE; IEMobile 7.11) Sprint MP6950SP)

Even though quick99si has questionable hygene practices, I agree with his advise above.

In fact, mods can we make his post a sticky? lol

[eric12341]

well believe it or not u are on one of the most stable roms out there. the shipped 6.1 combine with the goodthings2life cabs is very stable. the Sprint basics 6.1 ROM i used to be on is also incredibly stable its kinda like stock with all the goodthings2life tweaks cooked in except it has a later build number (21057 vs 21052). the rom im using now is vins neodium its a regular 6.5 rom and its based off build 21916 and so far it does not suffer any of the issues that the older 6.5 and 6.5.x builds face. its like a midpoint between max stability and eye candy. and with this app available on xda u can set it to disable sense automatically when starting programs and then when u close it sense restarts so that basically solves the RAM issue in 6.5 and possibly 6.5.x tho i havent tried those roms again yet.

[Turnkeys]

Quick99si, Horndoctor,
Good info, I appreciate it. And I'm not afraid of research, thanks for the opinions and links.

Playa,
Welcome to PPCGeeks. Lot of good people here. I'd never've had the nerve to flash my Mogul w/o the info and support on this site.

[Kris443]

Unlocking is easy, but before you jump to another ROM, I suggest you write down

1) exactly what it is you don't like in the one you have,

2) what extant ROMS like "Energy" etc have as an improvement in that area,

3) and what cabs exist that would allow you to make a similar change to your extant ROM, and avoid the hastle.

Many cooked ROMS contain variants of CHT ("Cookie's Home Tab"), but of course if you like that you can simply add that as a cab to your present ROM - you gain nothing by flashing a rom that already has it cooked in - in fact, you may loose if Cookie (in this case) upgrades the cab, it may be difficult or impossible to get the new version without waiting for the ROM you want to upgrade to that version, and then flash it.

Just a thought!