Custom Rom Review: CyanogenMod 10

Picture taken from here.

I have recently rooted and unlocked the bootloader of my HTC Sensation and can finally try some new rom other than the stock rom that I've been using for a while now. It makes me really excited and so I thought about sharing the experience I have with some of the custom rom that I tried. I will also talk about the things I likes and also the things I dislikes regarding the custom rom that I tried.

Without further delay, the first custom rom that I will be writing is the ever popular CyanogenMod 10 (a.k.a CM 10) which is running Jelly Bean (4.1.2), the latest dessert from Android. You can see what's new in Jelly Bean here. Here's the official description of CyanogenMod from its official website:-

"CyanogenMod (pronounced sigh-AN-oh-jen-mod), is a customized, aftermarket firmware distribution for several Android devices. Based on the Android Open Source Project, CyanogenMod is designed to increase performance and reliability over Android-based ROMs released by vendors and carriers such as Google, T-Mobile, HTC, etc. CyanogenMod also offers a variety of features & enhancements that are not currently found in these versions of Android." - http://www.cyanogenmod.com

Before I start my review, I would like to also clarify that the custom rom that I am using isn't directly from CyanogenMod itself as they only support up to CyanogenMod 9 for my HTC Sensation. Thus, the rom that I am using is an unofficial port from the original CM 10 by one of XDA Developer's senior member by the name of bruce2728. You can get the rom here if you are interested to try it yourself.

Alright, done with the introduction and clarification and now, here's my personal opinion on this rom:-

What I like

• Almost everything is working fine. Meaning it's a pretty stable rom
• DSP Equalizer which gives some pretty good sound enhancement
• Customization of lock screen such as:-
• Customizable lock screen shortcuts
• Customizable clock and weather position in the lock screen
• Beautiful weather panel in lock screen
• Lock screen gesture where you can draw a gesture in the lock screen to open an application or do some activity
• CRT animation when turning off the screen using the power button

What I dislike

• Picture taken from the camera app is not displayed in full screen (picture ratio does not fit my screen)
• Too few customization to suits my customization thirst :p
• Wifi connection is not stable. Keep on disconnecting even though I'm sitting next to my router. Have to off and on the wifi again to be able to connect back to my wifi once the connection is disconnected
• Some random restarts once a while

Conclusion, this rom is pretty stable and very close to the Stock Android. For those who wants something very similar to Stock Android but also need some of the extra features that this rom provide, then you can go ahead and try it. The only thing I'm not really ok with is the wifi connection where it just keeps on disconnected and wouldn't connect back to my wifi until I off and on my wifi connection again.

Also, I would say that Jelly Bean is really fast and the overall performance is really good. I especially loves the new notification bar too :). However, since I'm coming from HTC Sense, there is some feature from HTC Sense that I miss such as their calendar widget which integrates with facebook's calendar, the people app that integrate with facebook, twitter etc, Beats audio, and etc. Nevertheless, the overall user experience is good and I do recommend this rom if any of you would like to try out Jelly Bean for your phone.

If anyone tried this rom before and have your own comment, or you agree or disagree with me, please feel free to drop a comment. I would love to hear other people's comment on this rom too :)

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Unveiled

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has just been announced at IFA in Berlin and for those who are interested with it, here's the complete specs of the phone:-

• Processor: 1.6 GHz quad-core processor 
• Display: 5.5” HD Super AMOLED (1,280 x 720)
• OS: Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean)
• Camera: Main (Rear): 8 Megapixel Auto Focus Camera with LED Flash, BSI; Sub (Front): 1.9 Megapixel VT Camera, BSI; Best Photo, Best Faces, Low light shot
• Video: Codec: MPEG4, H.263, H.264, VC-1, DivX, WMV7, WMV8, WMV9, VP8, Format: 3GP (MP4), WMV (ASF), AVI, FLV, MKV, WebM; Full HD (1080p) Playback & Recording
• Audio: Codec: MP3, OGG, WMA, AAC, ACC+, eAAC+, AMR (NB,WB), MIDI, WAV, AC-3, Flac; Music Player with SoundAlive; 3.5mm Ear Jack
• S Pen Optimized Features: S Pen Experience; S Note, S Planner, Email with hand-writing integration; S Pen Keeper; Quick Command, Easy Clip, Photo Note, Paper Artist; Air View; Popup Note, Popup Play; Shape Match, Formula Match, Idea Visualizer
• Sharing Features: Samsung AllShare Play & Control; Samsung AllShare Cast (WiFi Display) – Mirroring & Extension; Samsung AllShare Framework; S Beam
• Content Features & Services: Samsung Apps; Samsung Kies /Samsung Kies Air; Samsung TouchWiz / Samsung L!ve Panel; Samsung Hub; Game Hub; Learning Hub* / Music Hub* / Video Hub* / Media Hub* (US only); Samsung ChatOn mobile communication service; Samsung S Suggest; Smart Stay, Direct Call, Screen Recorder, Quick Glance; Page Buddy/ Tag Buddy/ Word Buddy
• GPS: A-GPS; Glonass
• Connectivity: Bluetooth® v 4.0 (Apt-X Codec support) LE; USB 2.0 Host; WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4 & 5 GHz), Wi-Fi HT40; Wi-Fi Direct; mHL; NFC
• Sensors: Accelerometer, RGB Light, Digital Compass, Proximity, Gyro, Barometer
• Memory: 16/32/64GB User memory + 2GB (RAM); microSD (up to 64GB)
• Dimensions: 80.5 x 151.1 x 9.4 mm, 180 g 
• Battery: Standard battery, Li-ion 3,100mAh

And here's the hands-on video to make you drool even more for the device. Enjoy :)

HTC Trace vs Swype

It's old news that HTC has introduced a Swype-like keyboard which they called it the HTC Trace Keyboard. However, when I upgraded my HTC Sensation to Ice Cream Sandwich recently and I am too busy playing with Ice Cream Sandwich that I don't have time to reinstall the Swype keyboard (which is actually quite tedious to install compared to other Android app), I decided to give HTC Trace keyboard another try and I feel that the trace keyboard works better then it previously was.

I personally hated the Trace keyboard when I tried to use it the first time. The reason is simply because it SUCKS! It always give me the wrong words even though I've put more effort into tracing the right alphabets. And sometime when I tried to trace a word, it didn't register the swiping and treat it as a tap. So after some tries, I gave up and switch from Trace to Swype and I never look back after that.

So when I tried it after my ICS upgrade, I feel that the Trace keyboard has slightly improved. The tracing is much more accurate now and it almost get every words that I traced correctly. However, it will still register a swipe as a tap sometimes.

Even though the Trace Keyboard seems to have been improved, after using Swype for quite a long time, I could never go back to this Trace Keyboard. Here's some of the reason why I simply can't go back to the Trace Keyboard:-

1. Better text prediction
• One thing that really stands out about Swype is its great prediction. Sometimes you can simply scribble and it will still gives you the correct word.
2. Choice to add in new word
• Swype allows you to choose whether you want to add in a word that is not in your Swype Dictionary whereas Trace will automatically add in all the new words that does not exists in your dictionary even when you knew you will not be using this word ever again in your whole life.
3. Gestures support
• This is what I love most about Swype. If you can't live without your usual Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V or Ctrl+A then you will love the Swype gestures as it allows you to do these with some simple and familiar gestures. Simply swipe from the Swype icon on the bottom left of the keyboard to the character A (to select all), C (to copy the current selected text) or V (to paste the copied text). This is the best way to copy paste any text in your phone (at least in my opinion as it is way better then the usual copy paste in Android).

But using Swype in your ICS phone also means it will be more difficult to switch from typing/swiping to the new Google Voice Typing input that comes with ICS. This is because Swype is using Nuance voice-to-text instead of the Google's Voice Typing. Thus, if you wish to use the Google's Voice Typing feature, you will have to switch your input method back to the original keyboard.

So here you go, the comparison between the HTC Trace in ICS and the Swype keyboard. If you have any better keyboard to recommend, please leave a comment.

HTC Sensation ICS Update Reached Malaysia

ICS update has been pushing out for the HTC Sensation in several countries and now the update has finally reached Malaysia. As you can see from the screenshot above, the update will upgrade the HTC Sensation to Android 4.0 (a.k.a Ice Cream Sandwich) and HTC Sense 3.6 (not HTC Sense 4.0 though).

This update might not be in your notification yet but if you can't wait to grab it now (just like me!) then you can manually check for update in your phone setting. Simply go to your homescreen, press the menu button and then select Setting->About Phone->Software Updates and then click on the Check Now button. And then voila! your update will be on its way to your phone.

Some apps may not yet be optimized for ICS yet so some of your apps may not be working properly. Or you might even need to hard reset your phone (just like any other major updates previously). Anyway, just download and enjoy it for now.

I'll be enjoying mine now. Ciao.