Choosing a Rom and Why? Some thoughts and Questions!
 

After hesitating to upgrade my Rom to the latest Bell release (due to having to re-install all my apps), I finally bit the bullet this last weekend and flashed it to

RUU_Vogue_BM_WWE_3.09.666.1_Radio3.42.50_Ship

Several months ago, I had unlocked my htc and flashed it with aitel's rom but never bothered to try one of the cooked roms.

My first trial was NFSFAN's custom WM6.1 Roms simply because it was based on Bell's 3.08.666.1 rom set. However since I was unable to see the clock with the themed version and since NFSFAN's other non-themed ROM was unavailable, I decided to give DH's lack Vista Rom a try and found some very nice features making my phone totally brand spanking new.

Managed to get GPS working with both Romset as well TomTom connecting; unfortunately it takes anywhere from 15 seconds to a minute for the sats to reconnect everytime I put the phone on standby thus making the need to leave the phone on while using TomTom (the gps keychain always reconnected immediately whenever I turn the phone on from standby).

Although DH's Black Vista ROM is a very nice collection, I've found the phone freezing and sluggish at times; tapping the screen madly to get out of a function. I've reset the phone twice since I've installed the ROM.

Tonight, I'm flashing back to NFSFAN's No themed Rom simply for the reason that it was originally a Bell rom which may mean that it would be more compatible with my phone.

Now here are some million dollar questions :)

1. are most of the included programs in DH Roms such as Opera, installed in ROM, thus saving RAM space?

2. Is it better to install a ROM that was stripped from the original OEM Rom? such as NFSFAN's Rom which was created from Bell's latest ROM?

3. Anyone check the difference between
RUU_Vogue_4350_BM_WWE_3.08.666.1_Radio3.42.50_Ship
and
RUU_Vogue_BM_WWE_3.09.666.1_Radio3.42.50_Ship?

Thanks
Ralphael

Re: Choosing a Rom and Why? Some thoughts and Questions!
 

It makes no difference where the ROM base came from. What matters is whether the Bell carrier modifications are applied. 99% of the ROMs to be found will use either PPCKitchen's carrier definitions or DCDs carrier definitions. There is no practical difference between the two other than the way they are installed (DCD runs after the rom is built, PPCkitchen is embedded). The actual carrier customizations are the same.

Most of the applications in everyone's ROMs come from PPCKitchen, and they are embedded in the ROM. DHarvey's ROM is a PPCKitchen product, and thus will have it's applications primarily in ROM. NFSfans ROM, while utilizing quite a few PPCKitchen elements, also contains some of his own...I can't vouch for their quality as I haven't looked at them, but generally automated OEM tools generate inferior results. Odds are, you won't notice the difference because the Vogue has plenty of memory available.

So, to direclty answer your questions:
No.

Yes, sortof. You don't save RAM, you save Storage (flash). Keep in mind, however, that unlike a stock rom, custom roms exchange ROM space for Storage. So, what you really gain (assuming you don't have poorly done OEMs) is preinstalled software w/ customizations, not Storage space savings.

No.

The radio didn't change, the OS changed - but Microsoft/HTC/Carriers don't publish changelogs.

Re: Choosing a Rom and Why? Some thoughts and Questions!
 

You might ask yourself "What do each of the alternatives (stock/custom/kitchen) offer?"

Stock
If you have to talk to your carriers technical support or you need warranty service, this is the ONLY choice. Technical support doesn't know and doesn't care to learn your custom rom. They certainly won't help you fix its issues. Installing a custom rom voids your warranty, so flash stock if you need warranty service.

Stock roms sometimes fix very strange custom rom issues. We don't know why this is. If your device has strange hardware like problems, try flashing stock...it might just fix it.

Custom
Less/No carrier crapware.
A few bugfixes.
Unless it's Clean, some additional Apps
Custom themes and dialers
Sometimes built on much newer OS cores - new features bring new bugs, so this can be a mixed bag, but generally its a feature.

The primary difference between Custom roms is the theme, the carrier, and the OS base - custom roms of the same vintage run pretty much the same, regardless of who cooked them.

Do Not install Custom ROMs for carriers other than your own on your phone.

Kitchen
Why settle for someone elses idea of what's good when you can have your own?
Works with all carriers
Wide selection of apps/tweaks to choose from
Wide selection of OS bases to choose from, from stock to latest and greatest
Foreign language support (coming soon)
RUIM card support (if you need it)
Multiple device support - take your configuration with you to your next PPC!
Can bake YOUR settings in. Never have to set your phone up again!
Takes about 20 minutes more time than a premade custom ROM, and three times the hard drive space.
Takes a little more effort to make a nice theme
Can be intimidating because of all the choices available - just remember you don't have to choose anything more than your carrier.

Re: Choosing a Rom and Why? Some thoughts and Questions!
 

Thanks gguruusa for clarifying these baked goods... :headbang:

So after re-installing NFSFAN no theme rom and re-installing a handful of apps, I found that my phone was more responsive then DH's Black Vista.

Although DH's 3d icons, 3d'ish keyboard etc were nice, the familiar look and feel of HTC's original GUI remains in NSFAN's Rom; even Opera seem to run quicker (user installed) in comparison to DH's Opera embedded in ROM.

Here is something strange, the music player in DH's rom seems like the normal Media player, however hitting the power button seems to shut off the music unless you the music is piped through a bluetooth headset of which the screen is blanked rather then putting the unit into standby. This is usually the first thing I check after flashing a rom; whether or not I can play my music from my SD card after hitting the power button. I believe there is a streaming media player under programs which seems the same but that player will blank the screen when the power button is pressed. Since the 3d cube is no longer present in DH's rom, the play, pause buttons are missing from the cube.

NFSFAN's Rom statys with the familiar OEM player function. I had the original HTC Touch before I went with Bell. The first thing that I noticed when I bought my Bell was the Bell music store and the fact that the player was routed through media player; shutting off the music after you press on the power button.

NFSFAN's rom retains the original HTC music player which puts controls on the 3d cube, controls on the today's page and the ability to hit the power button to blank the screen without interrupting the music.

With GPS viewer included in NFSFAN's Rom, I had that app running while running TomTom. TomTom would relock the sats in approximately 12 seconds after a standby; Googlemaps in 4 seconds. With Googlemaps I did not need GPS viewer running, whereas TomTom seems lost without it.

I really enjoy the works of the cooked ROMS as it seems to bundle all the favorite apps into one install. However having said that, the bundled favorite app of the ROM might not be your favorite app and thereby become another bloatware.

Unless another must-have feature comes about (in this case REV-A and GPS), I doubt I will be flashing my ROMS again as it usually entails having to hunt for all my apps and re-installing them one by one. I have lost my favorite game suduku and now I will have to find the cab again..... suduku where are you?

For those who are making these kitchen roms..... thank you....

Ralphael

Re: Choosing a Rom and Why? Some thoughts and Questions!
 

I don't know anything about DHarvey's ROM, but the differences you note in performance are likely due to either different bases, different cache settings, or different app version. I would guess that DHarvey's is older than NFSfans on this particular day, but that may be different tomorrow.

As far as how the apps work and what's included, that obviously is a function of app version and chef ability/desire to tailor. GPS lock speeds are purely a function of how recent the ROM base is.
Every rom made in the last several months is REV-A and GPS enabled.
Exactly why a lot of people choose to use the kitchen. Your choice of apps, your setup. Upgrading to the lastest base and app versions are almot trivial. The hardest part is knowing how to setup your today screen the way YOU want it. If people would make theme OEMs (much like colonel and Nex have), you could sample different UI configurations easily as well.

Once you get your custom configuration in a kitchen, you never go back to a premade ROM.