Hello guys,
I want to switch from Honor 8 to Xperia XZ2 Compact, but I fear from a serious issue: the lack of custom ROM support. I haven't seen any ROMs specifically developed for the XZ2 Compact in the development thread yet, but there are always AOSP, Lineage OS, Resurrection Remix or Carbon ROM GSIs on the rescue, but I'm not sure if everything works fine. Can I install them as my daily driver OS or just stick with the factory Sony ROM to avoid issues with the OS?
ThePS4Gamer said:
Hello guys,
I want to switch from Honor 8 to Xperia XZ2 Compact, but I fear from a serious issue: the lack of custom ROM support. I haven't seen any ROMs specifically developed for the XZ2 Compact in the development thread yet, but there are always AOSP, Lineage OS, Resurrection Remix or Carbon ROM GSIs on the rescue, but I'm not sure if everything works fine. Can I install them as my daily driver OS or just stick with the factory Sony ROM to avoid issues with the OS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
atm you can only stay with stock, no roms for this phone yet because to root you need to unlock the bl and lose camera functionality. i used to be a flashaolic, but i like stock Sony fw and can stay with it, only miss root.. if you want custom roms and root, get another phone. or wait until someone will develop a drm fix for this phone
Maybe me
I'm contemplating getting one of these phones. It's a bit pricy compared to the low end devices I usually work on, lacks a headphone jack, and the camera DRM is a bit annoying. However, it's the only good small device on the market. Traditionally I've been a Motorola guy, but modern Motorola phones are just too huge for me.
Here's an offer: I will buy an XZ2 Compact and bring official LineageOS to the device if the community donates a total of $300 to me as an expression of interest and support.
squid2 said:
I'm contemplating getting one of these phones. It's a bit pricy compared to the low end devices I usually work on, lacks a headphone jack, and the camera DRM is a bit annoying. However, it's the only good small device on the market. Traditionally I've been a Motorola guy, but modern Motorola phones are just too huge for me.
Here's an offer: I will buy an XZ2 Compact and bring official LineageOS to the device if the community donates a total of $300 to me as an expression of interest and support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that offer!
Without wanting to be disrespectful, but how do we know, that you really buy the device after we donate (if there are only lets say $200 at all)?
I mean, i have no problem to donate $20 (and i donated for Insert Coin Rom more than once), but usually the developers at least already had the device and were working on the rom.
And we doesn't even have a recovery...
squid2 said:
I'm contemplating getting one of these phones. It's a bit pricy compared to the low end devices I usually work on, lacks a headphone jack, and the camera DRM is a bit annoying. However, it's the only good small device on the market. Traditionally I've been a Motorola guy, but modern Motorola phones are just too huge for me.
Here's an offer: I will buy an XZ2 Compact and bring official LineageOS to the device if the community donates a total of $300 to me as an expression of interest and support.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
same reason why i bought this phone, is the only good one available in the market not huge like all others, can't stand them. i could donate no problem, let's see how many could be interested.. you assure you can give us some custom ROMs without lacking good working camera?
I understand your concern @old.splatterhand. I mainly just wanted to gauge how many people are seriously interested, and I’m not really in great need of the money.
Here’s another offer that’s better for everyone involved: I will buy the phone and put in a best effort to bring charter-compliant (fully functional) LineageOS and recovery if 25 or more people pledge to donate something (any amount) once I meet the goal. You don’t have to specify an actual amount - just say you’d donate.
This is better for you because you have no risk of losing money, and you maintain an incentive for me to complete the project. This is better for me because I would not feel compelled or guilty if I fail to meet my goal for unforeseen reasons (technical or personal), and I don't want to be in a situation where I feel morally obligated to do a lot of work for not much money.
@FcukBloat Regarding camera - hopefully Sony will sort that out soon, since the camera is supposed to continue working (without fancy noise reduction) when the bootloader is unlocked. If Sony fail to live up to their own standards, we’ll see. The first step would be to just build Sony's own AOSP, and since nobody has done that yet, we don't know if AOSP camera does or does not work.
to be honest i am enjoying my new non-flashaolic life with this phone, what i really miss is just root but keeping working camera, nevertheless i promise to donate if you'll bring some development for this phone that, even if not me, some other could enjoy. I've always donated for dev work i used with my phones so it won't be a problem at all to do that also in this case even if in the end i won't use your roms
you could maybe unify the quest for this section and regular xz2 also? this would bring more willing donators i think, and shouldn't be too much additional work for you?(i think to support regular xz2 also you'd just need to make two kernels with small differences from each other?)
squid2 said:
Here’s another offer that’s better for everyone involved: I will buy the phone and put in a best effort to bring charter-compliant (fully functional) LineageOS and recovery if 25 or more people pledge to donate something (any amount) once I meet the goal. You don’t have to specify an actual amount - just say you’d donate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats a fair deal! So, count on me, i'm in and donate :good:
FcukBloat said:
to be honest i am enjoying my new non-flashaolic life with this phone, what i really miss is just root but keeping working camera, nevertheless i promise to donate if you'll bring some development for this phone that, even if not me, some other could enjoy. I've always donated for dev work i used with my phones so it won't be a problem at all to do that also in this case even if in the end i won't use your roms
you could maybe unify the quest for this section and regular xz2 also? this would bring more willing donators i think, and shouldn't be too much additional work for you?(i think to support regular xz2 also you'd just need to make two kernels with small differences from each other?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I’d use the same kernel for both, and would probably use a commonized device tree structure (Sony already does that in their AOSP trees on GitHub). Thus, supporting the regular XZ2 shouldn’t be difficult, and it would certainly increase the number of people interested. I can’t justify buying a second high end phone myself, but I can make builds for users to test.
squid2 said:
Thus, supporting the regular XZ2 shouldn’t be difficult, and it would certainly increase the number of people interested.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sure thats true
I think i'll leave the 2 most interesting threads from xz2 here for people who are interested in:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/xp...recovery-twrp-3-2-2-0-touch-recovery-t3821597
https://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-xz2/help/happen-unlock-bootloader-t3769726
for who is willing to help, why don't making a new thread about this "donators hunt" in this phone's discussion section, and then making another thread also in xz2's discussion section, linking to original one? there we could collect donators also for other xz2(c) devs like @MartinX3 @serajr etc
FcukBloat said:
for who is willing to help, why don't making a new thread about this "donators hunt" in this phone's discussion section, and then making another thread also in xz2's discussion section, linking to original one? there we could collect donators also for other xz2(c) devs like @MartinX3 @serajr etc
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds like a good idea. I’m personally debating between them XZ2 compact and the (upcoming) Pixel 3. Assuming rumours are correct and the Pixel 3 is similar in dimensions to the Pixel 2, the device wouldn’t be too huge, though still a bit larger than I’d prefer. However, the Pixel would have several benefits over the XZ2 compact: OLED display, better camera, no infuriating camera DRM, better developer support from the OEM, android verified boot (allows locking BL to your own keys), and a much larger community of developers and custom ROM users. For the Pixel 3, I could also just sit back and have others with more time and enthusiasm do all the development for me If the Pixel 3 (non-XL) is indeed reasonably sized, I’ll probably buy one of those when they come out.
With that said, if enough people pledge interest in me doing work on the XZ2 compact, I’d buy one too. If 25+ XZ2 compact users pledge support, I’ll buy an XZ2 compact and bring LineageOS to it, regardless of whether or not I buy a Pixel. If 40+ users of XZ2 and XZ2 compact combined pledge support, I’ll try to bring LineageOS to both. If someone else wants to help, I’d appreciate that too.
@FcukBloat @serajr @squid2 @old.splatterhand
I am also interessted in LineageOS for this device and making a donation. Could you mention me, when you start developing LineageOS?
There shouldn't be much difference between the XZ2 compact, XZ2 and XZ2 Premium expect the driver (vendor/oem) partition and maybe some parts of the kernel.
And the LineageOS Treble image and the Sony Xperia AOSP Project is very helpful, if you want to get a LineageOS maintainer.
After the bootloader update for the XZ2 compact, XZ2 and XZ2 Premium, I will update my device files and compile TWRP again.
First for the XZ2 and if that works, for the XZ2 compact and XZ2 Premium, too.
They are very similiar. As example, the XZ2 and the XZ2 Compact sharing the same fstab file.
So there is a high chance, that the XZ2 Premium is similiar, too.
You can view the progress here!
https://forum.xda-developers.com/xp...ecovery-twrp-3-2-2-0-touch-recovery-t3821597/
squid2 said:
That sounds like a good idea. I’m personally debating between them XZ2 compact and the (upcoming) Pixel 3. Assuming rumours are correct and the Pixel 3 is similar in dimensions to the Pixel 2, the device wouldn’t be too huge, though still a bit larger than I’d prefer. However, the Pixel would have several benefits over the XZ2 compact: OLED display, better camera, no infuriating camera DRM, better developer support from the OEM, android verified boot (allows locking BL to your own keys), and a much larger community of developers and custom ROM users. For the Pixel 3, I could also just sit back and have others with more time and enthusiasm do all the development for me If the Pixel 3 (non-XL) is indeed reasonably sized, I’ll probably buy one of those when they come out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was evaluating pixel 3 also, it is 1cm taller than xz2c, so bigger but not that much (and still smaller than all other damned huge phones released nowadays) plus luckily it won't have that awful notch... so will see and if it will be really better than xz2c (not easy as this is a great phone!) I may get one and sell the sony.. from pixel 3 I like always on display, flat back, probably reduced weight, and yes as you say probable easy root wihout loosing (cam) performances... but I have to carefully check P3 battery life which I care a lot...
I personally don't care about the display, I find this IPS very good and even better than some OLED panels I tried (S7) and also camera is great for me in this phone (even in low light) but yes probably because of the SW alghoritms in pixel 3 will be better...
squid2 said:
I understand your concern @old.splatterhand. I mainly just wanted to gauge how many people are seriously interested, and I’m not really in great need of the money.
Here’s another offer that’s better for everyone involved: I will buy the phone and put in a best effort to bring charter-compliant (fully functional) LineageOS and recovery if 25 or more people pledge to donate something (any amount) once I meet the goal. You don’t have to specify an actual amount - just say you’d donate.
This is better for you because you have no risk of losing money, and you maintain an incentive for me to complete the project. This is better for me because I would not feel compelled or guilty if I fail to meet my goal for unforeseen reasons (technical or personal), and I don't want to be in a situation where I feel morally obligated to do a lot of work for not much money.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest you will never reach 25 people ready to donate.
The Sony community is used to get everything for free, they nearly never thanks and even less give donations.
Even if you build a few rom like lineage or carbon, the camera will always give bad results and low quality which is a deal breaker for many.
That's why I'm working only on stock rom and add all custom features and interesting commits from custom rom like lineage, resurrection remix, slim... I can have a fully working rom without any bugs without hundreds of new options.
Just my 2 cent but you shouldn't buy a Sony phone at all.
niaboc79 said:
To be honest you will never reach 25 people ready to donate.
The Sony community is used to get everything for free, they nearly never thanks and even less give donations.
Even if you build a few rom like lineage or carbon, the camera will always give bad results and low quality which is a deal breaker for many.
That's why I'm working only on stock rom and add all custom features and interesting commits from custom rom like lineage, resurrection remix, slim... I can have a fully working rom without any bugs without hundreds of new options.
Just my 2 cent but you shouldn't buy a Sony phone at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand you.
But I did choose the XZ2, because I get regular updates, Sony pay and support the AOSP development for their devices and the XZ2 has a high durability and is water proofed.
Like a high-speed outdoor smartphone.
Is the cam quality really as worse as you say, when you use the DRM fix, camera API 2 and a gcam port for your chipset?
niaboc79 said:
To be honest you will never reach 25 people ready to donate.
The Sony community is used to get everything for free, they nearly never thanks and even less give donations.
Even if you build a few rom like lineage or carbon, the camera will always give bad results and low quality which is a deal breaker for many.
That's why I'm working only on stock rom and add all custom features and interesting commits from custom rom like lineage, resurrection remix, slim... I can have a fully working rom without any bugs without hundreds of new options.
Just my 2 cent but you shouldn't buy a Sony phone at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
are you going to prepare a stock based rom also for xz2c maybe? I'd only need few features from custom ROMs :fingers-crossed:
MartinX3 said:
I understand you.
But I did choose the XZ2, because I get regular updates, Sony pay and support the AOSP development for their devices and the XZ2 has a high durability and is water proofed.
Like a high-speed outdoor smartphone.
Is the cam quality really as worse as you say, when you use the DRM fix, camera API 2 and a gcam port for your chipset?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I choose the xz2 because I like it, that's all. For me it's a great device, great look and fast.
For me Sony doesn't really support developers, they allow a small amount of devs to share source of AOSP that's all, Sony doesn't share what's needed to build perfect AOSP. If the camera works since Oreo it's only because AOSP devs and some guys here on xda worked hard.
Also if they support developers why so much things linked to drm. Why so much issues when unlocking bootloader. They should allow us to unlock bootloader without loosing anything and like that we could come back to stock rom without issue or stupid message at boot.
I like Sony, all I buy is made by them. But the main developers, not the aosp one doesn't like us and are doing all they can to discourage us to go ahead in development. I can understand them, they loose also many things with years, all what they are allowed to do is build stock with 5 Sony options, they lost what made Sony's stock rom amazing, the difference, the innovation.
Finally, since the Xperia Z I've never seen a good camera on aosp or custom rom, neither than a fully functional phone, I mean fingerprint reader, battery charging, automatic brightness, camera, noise canceling, battery life.
Envoyé de mon H8266 en utilisant Tapatalk
FcukBloat said:
are you going to prepare a stock based rom also for xz2c maybe? I'd only need few features from custom ROMs :fingers-crossed:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As soon as a working recovery, drm fix on official Android P will be available, I will build my eXistenZ rom on XZ2 and XZ2 compact family [emoji6]
Envoyé de mon H8266 en utilisant Tapatalk
niaboc79 said:
As soon as a working recovery, drm fix on official Android P will be available, I will build my eXistenZ rom on XZ2 and XZ2 compact family [emoji6]
Envoyé de mon H8266 en utilisant Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the theory the DRM fix is finished.
But we need twrp to test it.
And to get a working twrp, Sony need to release the next bootloader update and to announce the XZ2 as part of the open source program.
And don't ask for an ETA.
They only know the words soon and ASAP. :silly:
But they added the tama akari apollo defconfigs and a kernel build script to the asop sources this week.
Maybe the release is now really soon.
Related
Okay so I'm in a situation where I soon need to get rid of my old sh**ty Xperia Active.
My first smart phone was a Xperia X10i (Which I contributed almost all stock firmwares for, here on XDA), followed by a Nokia 800 (WP7), then a Huawei Ascend P1 which I unfortunately lost and had to go back to a backup phone which is the Xperia Active.
Now I've been looking around for a replacement and the Z1C is really attractive with the awesome design language Sony has set for their Xperia line. But I wanted to get the opinions from flashers and devs here on XDA, mainly because I usually don't stick with stock firmware for long.
So I've done some searching and found some "contenders" for my next phone.
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
Oppo Find 7a
Sony Xperia M2
OnePlus One (When available)
Google Nexus 5
I know there is loads of custom firmwares for the Nexus line of devices, and the Oppo and OnePlus devices has CyanogenMod support.
So my only "Uncertainty" is the Xperia devices.
Now I know FXP is covering a lot of Xperias but I want to know if there is other major ROM supports for the Z1C and M2 and if the release cycle is on time with CM or not too far after that.
And how stable the builds are in general with the latest official builds of Android (4.4.3 and 4.4.4).
In general how have you had it with your Z1C?
Is it easy to root?
What recoveries is available?
Is there many reports on defects/faults on the device?
How well is the developer community for this particular device?
Is Sony releasing kernel source for the device?
I appreciate all the input you can give me and hopefully I'll get a little bit back into the Xperia hacking.
arkedk said:
So I've done some searching and found some "contenders" for my next phone.
Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
Oppo Find 7a
Sony Xperia M2
OnePlus One (When available)
Google Nexus 5
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious, why is Z1C on the list but not the Z2? I ask because I noticed that besides the Z1C (and the M2 which is just a cheaper (and larger) Z1C pretty much) all the other phones are 5" or larger. The main reason I personally picked the 4.3" Z1C is that it has flagship specs in a small package, that and that Sony are traditionally quite developer friendly. Is it an economical choice or are you just not sure on the size?
Rekoil said:
I'm curious, why is Z1C on the list but not the Z2? I ask because I noticed that besides the Z1C (and the M2 which is just a cheaper (and larger) Z1C pretty much) all the other phones are 5" or larger. The main reason I personally picked the 4.3" Z1C is that it has flagship specs in a small package, that and that Sony are traditionally quite developer friendly. Is it an economical choice or are you just not sure on the size?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mostly because of pricing. These devices cost from 270 to 400 euro here, and the Z2 is significantly more expensive because it's the newest flagship coming in at around 670 euro, and I wont spent that on a phone since I'm buying without contract as I'm perfectly happy with my carrier and don't want to be locked down for 6 months at a new carrier.
arkedk said:
Mostly because of pricing. These devices cost roughly the same here, and the Z2 is significantly more expensive because it's the newest flagship.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So it has nothing to do with size? Because compared to other Snapdragon 800 phones, that (and waterproofing) is what the Z1C has going for it. It has a lower resolution display which means less work for the GPU, and thus better battery life and a more fluid UI.
If it's solely the price and you don't mind a larger phone then I'd probably go with a One PlusOne, but I would suggest you go and have a play with a Z1C before making a decision. See if you like the size.
Rekoil said:
So it has nothing to do with size? Because compared to other Snapdragon 800 phones, that (and waterproofing) is what the Z1C has going for it. It has a lower resolution display which means less work for the GPU, and thus better battery life and a more fluid UI.
If it's solely the price and you don't mind a larger phone then I'd probably go with a One PlusOne, but I would suggest you go and have a play with a Z1C before making a decision. See if you like the size.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well it's not all down to price. I want a phone that has a good dev community around it, so it's possible to try new kernels, tweaked stock firmwares and custom firmwares like CM, Paranoid and other major custom ROM's. I know that Nexus has this, but the design of that phone is boring and the camera is "bleeh". So the Z1C looked like a good device with great specs, small form factor and a great camera.
arkedk said:
Well it's not all down to price. I want a phone that has a good dev community around it, so it's possible to try new kernels, tweaked stock firmwares and custom firmwares like CM, Paranoid and other major custom ROM's. I know that Nexus has this, but the design of that phone is boring and the camera is "bleeh". So the Z1C looked like a good device with great specs, small form factor and a great camera.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well camera is a bit iffy, but other than that CM runs smooth as hell on the Z1C, that's really all I care about hehe.
Trying to be helpful here (my comments in italics):
In general how have you had it with your Z1C?
I used to be LG O2X owner, and compared to my old phone Z1C even running with stock rom is fast, stable and smooth.
Is it easy to root?
Very easy. All you need to do is download a file and follow the OP here. And I can confirm that it works with the latest kitkat/4.4.4.
What recoveries is available?
TWRP, PhilZ and CWM are available. You can get them here..
Is there many reports on defects/faults on the device?
Some users report flashbleed problem with the camera (fortunately I don't have that problem).
How well is the developer community for this particular device?
I'd say quite good, judging from the number of custom ROM and kernel available for Z1C in the XDA.
Is Sony releasing kernel source for the device?
I think so, check here..
komedol said:
Is Sony releasing kernel source for the device?
I think so, check here..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
arkedk said:
Is Sony releasing kernel source for the device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sony recently uploaded all their copyleft kernels to GitHub, below link is for current Z1C tree.
https://github.com/sonyxperiadev/kernel-copyleft/tree/14.3.A.0.xxx
Rekoil said:
Well camera is a bit iffy, but other than that CM runs smooth as hell on the Z1C, that's really all I care about hehe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm that's quite a big point in why I want the Z1C. The great pictures that can be taken on stock doesn't work properly on cm. Are they porting stock camera drivers and app into future FXP releases or count on getting the issues fixed?
Rekoil said:
Well camera is a bit iffy, but other than that CM runs smooth as hell on the Z1C, that's really all I care about hehe.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do photos have a lower quality or do some things simply don't work?
mugoftee said:
Do photos have a lower quality or do some things simply don't work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Photos seem to have more noise as far as I could tell when I tested a FXP build. And currently it's not possible to have 4k and 120FPS recording on a CM based rom or at least nobody successfully tested it.
mugoftee said:
Do photos have a lower quality or do some things simply don't work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
About the same quality wise in my opinion, but camera starts really slow, and you lose a lot of features and post-processing that Sonys camera app does.
People mentioned that the BIONZ image processor only works with stock roms, don't know if that's true.
Hi, i have one simple question. Should i buy XZ or Z5 Premium and why? I have Xperia Z2. Thanks
Hi,
Since you are here, on XDA. You can easily see how Sony is doing in the eye of other XDAers. So, as a Z5 Premium owner who likes the phone and thinks of holding on to it for like a year or two, I sincerely recommend you to buy a LG V20 or a Pixel XL.
This phone is not even 1.5 year old (from release date). I have used much more cheaper and older phones, which I have still got every answer for my every question and every possible customizations on XDA (HTC Sensation XE being one of them). None had this much abandonment on XDA. No development, no customization, no themes, no nothing. This phone is beautiful but it is also just "as is". If you are OK with adding and substracting absolutely nothing to the phone, then it's a good phone (then you wouldn't probably be in here XDA though).
The pros are all pyshical: the screen, sound quality, battery life, body material, camera are all a lot higher than the high standards of the flagships (though, none is the best in their categories). If there were some love from the community, at least maybe CyanogenMod (R.I.P.), FXP Blog or Lineage OS. Even Z5 is has not the previlige..
So I say, make sure to look at other options before actually deciding.
Mirzagunner said:
Hi, i have one simple question. Should i buy XZ or Z5 Premium and why? I have Xperia Z2. Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would go for the XZ Premium instead if the XZ, from what I'm seeing pricing is excellent this time around of $ is not a concern...
Now if you're on a budget, XZ will get more updates than Z5p as it's a newer device, I'm not a fan of the XZ look, especially the slipt material back and the plastic side frame (but they took care of that with the XZS that's about to come out.
The Z5p is a great looking phone on the other hand with the right use of proper material and with still great hardware...I'll be upgrading to a XZ Premium whenever it will be out.
_delice_doluca_ said:
Hi,
Since you are here, on XDA. You can easily see how Sony is doing in the eye of other XDAers. So, as a Z5 Premium owner who likes the phone and thinks of holding on to it for like a year or two, I sincerely recommend you to buy a LG V20 or a Pixel XL.
This phone is not even 1.5 year old (from release date). I have used much more cheaper and older phones, which I have still got every answer for my every question and every possible customizations on XDA (HTC Sensation XE being one of them). None had this much abandonment on XDA. No development, no customization, no themes, no nothing. This phone is beautiful but it is also just "as is". If you are OK with adding and substracting absolutely nothing to the phone, then it's a good phone (then you wouldn't probably be in here XDA though).
The pros are all pyshical: the screen, sound quality, battery life, body material, camera are all a lot higher than the high standards of the flagships (though, none is the best in their categories). If there were some love from the community, at least maybe CyanogenMod (R.I.P.), FXP Blog or Lineage OS. Even Z5 is has not the previlige..
So I say, make sure to look at other options before actually deciding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Looks like more people went for the Z5 than the Z5p, just by looking how the other forum is more active than this one here and most rom available for the Z5 are also flashable on our Z5p... Lineage is also out recently, I haven't tried it though as I'm waiting Xposed to be compatible with sdk24, so I'm still on MM (RomAur)...nowadays as long as you can get a good optimized custom/stock rom and custom kernel (Zach's Kernel do wonders by the way), you can do pretty much all the UI cosmetics add-ons with Xposed yourself...
So I was all up and ready to buy a Moto G5 plus and then saw the Honor 8 Pro will be out soon. Everything about it looks great - The display (isn't amoled - thankfully!) and the size, the Kirin 960 looks like it competes with the Snapdragon 835 in many ways. And the price of course is very reasonable.
I'll be coming from the Nexus 5 so I've been in and around XDA a long time, flashing ROMs etc. I don't expect the Honor 8 Pro to be anywhere near as Dev friendly as the Nexus 5. But I was wondering if anyone can tell me what it's actually like for Devs with Huawei phones and getting hold of the sources needed to make custom ROMs or even get LineageOS and all the hardware working? I get the sense (but I'm not sure) that at the moment it's a *real* challenge because Huawei, like most manufacturers don't really believe that engaging with the Dev community can provide a great boost to brand visibility and "geek cred" which will then filter out into recommendations to friends and family etc: It can be a very strong marketing tool essentially. But companies rarely understand that it would actually benefit them in a business sense. So...
Do Huawei provide all the "sources" and resources needed for developing custom ROMs *eventually* or do they just not bother at all in some cases or make it very hard in others? I saw on a Honor 8 (not pro) thread that there are "ambassadors" around. Can these guys interact with Huawei/Honor to encourage them to help out with the necessary technical stuff to make building ROMs a viable possibility, and is that likely to get a good response or is it already in process?
I mean if I get the Honor 8 Pro, I'll use it "as is". EMUI is not bad but still quite amateurish/90s in many ways and I'm thinking I can go along way to fixing it by using a custom launcher. But if there's a good chance Honor/Huawei will suddenly become much more helpful with Dev stuff it would make it a dream phone for sure. Any info?
I've been looking in to this too. It seems you can unlock the bootloader on EMUI devices in an official way so that's a good start.
Have you had a look around the other Huawei and Honor forums? There do seem to be ROMs and unofficial Lineage OS builds, but I haven't found much info on sources, etc.
I have actually pre-ordered an Honor 8 Pro, it looks awesome and at £474 I couldn't resist. I think the major manufacturers have lost the plot in terms of flagship pricing.
alsheron said:
So I was all up and ready to buy a Moto G5 plus and then saw the Honor 8 Pro will be out soon. Everything about it looks great - The display (isn't amoled - thankfully!) and the size, the Kirin 960 looks like it competes with the Snapdragon 835 in many ways. And the price of course is very reasonable.
I'll be coming from the Nexus 5 so I've been in and around XDA a long time, flashing ROMs etc. I don't expect the Honor 8 Pro to be anywhere near as Dev friendly as the Nexus 5. But I was wondering if anyone can tell me what it's actually like for Devs with Huawei phones and getting hold of the sources needed to make custom ROMs or even get LineageOS and all the hardware working? I get the sense (but I'm not sure) that at the moment it's a *real* challenge because Huawei, like most manufacturers don't really believe that engaging with the Dev community can provide a great boost to brand visibility and "geek cred" which will then filter out into recommendations to friends and family etc: It can be a very strong marketing tool essentially. But companies rarely understand that it would actually benefit them in a business sense. So...
Do Huawei provide all the "sources" and resources needed for developing custom ROMs *eventually* or do they just not bother at all in some cases or make it very hard in others? I saw on a Honor 8 (not pro) thread that there are "ambassadors" around. Can these guys interact with Huawei/Honor to encourage them to help out with the necessary technical stuff to make building ROMs a viable possibility, and is that likely to get a good response or is it already in process?
I mean if I get the Honor 8 Pro, I'll use it "as is". EMUI is not bad but still quite amateurish/90s in many ways and I'm thinking I can go along way to fixing it by using a custom launcher. But if there's a good chance Honor/Huawei will suddenly become much more helpful with Dev stuff it would make it a dream phone for sure. Any info?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in the same boat. I love the H8Pro but all I see outside of stock based roms, is one unofficial Lineage build for the Honor 8. The camera is currently listed as not working still. It's like that on a lot of phones that aren't too well known. My Le Pro 3 for example didn't have working camera on the marshmallow roms for a while and then when they got it working the 7 roms didn't have it until very recently. So it's a maybe it will at all. The problem is that while a lot of these companies allow bootloader unlocking, no they don't release sources. That's a big problem. That means devs have to build things like camera drivers from scratch, and without them being that popular devs working on it aren't usually too plentiful. Also not too much kernel support for that Kirin chipset either.
Well let me ask you guys. How much custom ROMs do you use these days ? I myself found that after changing to custom ROM I found back to stock ROM. These days stock roms has become so good that they actually brings the true character of a phone
Apparently I'm not the only one facing this decision. I've owned the Moto 2nd gen, G3, and G4 and frankly every time I've moved up a model, I like them a little less. For that reason alone, I'm trying to look past the Moto G5. Now that the Honor 9 is coming out, I'm taking a look at the Honor 8, hoping the cost will come down. I've always carried my phone in my front pocket so the size difference over the G4 I have now has me a little worried, but the weight really doesn't matter. I'm really looking very hard at the Honor 8 Pro though since price wise, it looks pretty close to the best bang for the buck.
ehh ..
alsheron said:
So I was all up and ready to buy a Moto G5 plus and then saw the Honor 8 Pro will be out soon. Everything about it looks great - The display (isn't amoled - thankfully!) and the size, the Kirin 960 looks like it competes with the Snapdragon 835 in many ways. And the price of course is very reasonable.
I'll be coming from the Nexus 5 so I've been in and around XDA a long time, flashing ROMs etc. I don't expect the Honor 8 Pro to be anywhere near as Dev friendly as the Nexus 5. But I was wondering if anyone can tell me what it's actually like for Devs with Huawei phones and getting hold of the sources needed to make custom ROMs or even get LineageOS and all the hardware working? I get the sense (but I'm not sure) that at the moment it's a *real* challenge because Huawei, like most manufacturers don't really believe that engaging with the Dev community can provide a great boost to brand visibility and "geek cred" which will then filter out into recommendations to friends and family etc: It can be a very strong marketing tool essentially. But companies rarely understand that it would actually benefit them in a business sense. So...
Do Huawei provide all the "sources" and resources needed for developing custom ROMs *eventually* or do they just not bother at all in some cases or make it very hard in others? I saw on a Honor 8 (not pro) thread that there are "ambassadors" around. Can these guys interact with Huawei/Honor to encourage them to help out with the necessary technical stuff to make building ROMs a viable possibility, and is that likely to get a good response or is it already in process?
I mean if I get the Honor 8 Pro, I'll use it "as is". EMUI is not bad but still quite amateurish/90s in many ways and I'm thinking I can go along way to fixing it by using a custom launcher. But if there's a good chance Honor/Huawei will suddenly become much more helpful with Dev stuff it would make it a dream phone for sure. Any info?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
personally, i am a fan of their emui5, amazing ui tho,
and their harware is solid,
camera is good too,
battery lives are excellent (thanks to emui optimisations)
but my only regret is that i dont have much of a custom roms to play with, given that their kirin chip is not open sourced
offcourse, their is open kirin team unofficially, but they are not working on every device, so only complaint will be kernel sources,
many honor devices has no development at all,
thilak devraj said:
personally, i am a fan of their emui5, amazing ui tho,
and their harware is solid,
camera is good too,
battery lives are excellent (thanks to emui optimisations)
but my only regret is that i dont have much of a custom roms to play with, given that their kirin chip is not open sourced
offcourse, their is open kirin team unofficially, but they are not working on every device, so only complaint will be kernel sources,
many honor devices has no development at all,
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. kernel source from p10 plus works on duk
2. resurrection remix will follow soon .. it is booting already, but still has some major bugs we have to fix first
EDIT: I just saw you are talking about kirin devices in general, sorry
OldDroid said:
1. kernel source from p10 plus works on duk
2. resurrection remix will follow soon .. it is booting already, but still has some major bugs we have to fix first
EDIT: I just saw you are talking about kirin devices in general, sorry
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
don't worry, we are always greatfull for open Kirin and the hard work of devs like you
Source code is just released! Check HERE. Since the phone is new, source is released early. OpenKirin Team can now develop for this device.
adriansticoid said:
Source code is just released! Check HERE. Since the phone is new, source is released early. OpenKirin Team can now develop for this device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wooow... source released ?? :cyclops:
thilak devraj said:
wooow... source released ?? :cyclops:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. That's what I just said.
adriansticoid said:
Yeah. That's what I just said.
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Click to collapse
wasnt expecting huawei to do this
thilak devraj said:
wasnt expecting huawei to do this
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Click to collapse
Rox_Honor said it will be released mid-June. A bit delayed but it's good.
adriansticoid said:
Rox_Honor said it will be released mid-June. A bit delayed but it's good.
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Click to collapse
finally, i could play with custom roms , hope it woud happen for the 6x too
thilak devraj said:
finally, i could play with custom roms , hope it woud happen for the 6x too
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah. Everybody's hoping for that.
adriansticoid said:
Yeah. Everybody's hoping for that.
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Click to collapse
imagin , if huawei bedev friendly, and their phones will be like snapdragons, no one would stop em
thilak devraj said:
imagin , if huawei bedev friendly, and their phones will be like snapdragons, no one would stop em
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They'll see this in the future. Yeah that future again.
adriansticoid said:
They'll see this in the future. Yeah that future again.
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Click to collapse
if that happens, huawei's gonna beat sam
thilak devraj said:
if that happens, huawei's gonna beat sam
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course. So it's important that they decide for this.
Where is AOSP Extended? RR? Viper OS?
Bunch of reasons, though the primary one that I would guess is the phone is bootloader locked for Verizon. I'm not sure how wide spread this phone is on other networks at this point that are unlockable, but the most are probably
on verizon. I stopped using the nexus line when it stopped. Moto phones are close to stock and with the projector mod, a cheap entry price deal from verizon, I took a risk and went with this phone. My most durable nexus phone was the 6, which was made by motorola. I'm loving the quality of the phone and the battery life. I even picked up a dirt cheap moto z play on craigslist and love it just as much and its even better battery.
If you really care about custom roms, you gotta do some research and follow the developers, not necessarily the other way around. I'm not sure what I am going to do in a year for my next phone, but I do liked trying out the other vendors.
I feel, there have not been many buyers of the Z2 Play, hence the community support for this smartphone is quite low.
Before the Z2 play i used to own a Galaxy S4 mini, which has great support till date, and threads for different Custom Android versions of Viper, XenonHD, RR,AOKP, AICP, are still active.
There are a lot more Custom Android versions for the s4 mini but they have got inactive only some months ago.
Even now development for Android O version for the S4 mini is going on.
The main reason according to me is, s4 mini got a lot of buyers, and the small form factor plus the removable battery made a lot of its users stick to it , and luckily a lot of them seem to have been Android developers .
Is that because phone is relative new?
I hope soon this changes!
So I guess I will keep using my rooted Droid Turbo.
I guess I wrongly assumed that since the bootloader could be unlocked, there would be developement.
Don't get me wrond. I totally appreciate what has been accomplished!
I am grateful for root and TWRP!
I find it hard to believe that Motorola/Lenovo has not posted the stock firmware for this device.
I really like having a rooted phone, mostly for the ability ot install dark themes. I really hate white backgrounds and status bar icons.
I prefer Motorola phones. I wonder what my next phone will be...
I will surely wait until stock firmware is actually available, prior to purchase.
A few days ago they (Lenovo) released the kernel source code for Oreo so that might help some devs to start developing for our device if they want.
We're not gonna see a lot of developer support for the device for one reason: not a lot of people have a z2 Play. At least, not enough for devs to actually care about supporting our device which not enough people are using it to garner enough interest.
It also helps that the z2 Play was a push in the wrong direction towards battery life and thus, most potential buyers, most of which are going to be Moto Z Play owners, are gonna stick with their current phones.
I am a big fan of cell phones and installing custom roms.
In the past I have had several oneplus like the o 3t, 6t, 7pro, and without a doubt the one that has disappointed me the most is the one I have now, the 9 pro European version.
It was already a big shock the purchase price, but I longed for the old days in which you could find dozens of functional roms for your oneplus and enjoyed exploring it.
Before I bought it I saw that there was community so I decided to get the 9 pro... but after half a year I am quite disappointed.
It makes me sad that there is no rom with all the features perfectly validated, battery life and customization superior to the stock rom and with the native camera app, I always believed that custom roms served to improve the stock one (very sloppy compared to previous times), but at the moment it is not so.
I admire developers a lot, and I know how difficult it is, just maybe my mistake was waiting for this oneplus to have its soul of the past, and now I don't know if it has a solution or it is better to sell it before its price plummets.
Unfortunately, the stability does suffer on the 9 Pro. It's one of the things you'll have to live with. To be fair, most phones aren't that great in 2022. Samsung has horrible battery life and Apple's caught in that iCloud scanning controversy. Pixel 6 is meh for a phone, the chip just can't keep up.
So pick your poison.
aforocars said:
I am a big fan of cell phones and installing custom roms.
In the past I have had several oneplus like the o 3t, 6t, 7pro, and without a doubt the one that has disappointed me the most is the one I have now, the 9 pro European version.
It was already a big shock the purchase price, but I longed for the old days in which you could find dozens of functional roms for your oneplus and enjoyed exploring it.
Before I bought it I saw that there was community so I decided to get the 9 pro... but after half a year I am quite disappointed.
It makes me sad that there is no rom with all the features perfectly validated, battery life and customization superior to the stock rom and with the native camera app, I always believed that custom roms served to improve the stock one (very sloppy compared to previous times), but at the moment it is not so.
I admire developers a lot, and I know how difficult it is, just maybe my mistake was waiting for this oneplus to have its soul of the past, and now I don't know if it has a solution or it is better to sell it before its price plummets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you think stock OS is better than custom rom for the 9pro, just stick with stock.
if you are not satisfied with the result from people who do support custom roms in their free time, maybe think about doing it yourself instead of complaining.
also there is probably a reason, why the stock cam is not available in any custom rom...
there are great gcam alternatives, that work well.
for me the custom rom is way better, after the OOS 12 disaster from oneplus.
aforocars said:
It makes me sad that there is no rom with all the features perfectly validated, battery life and customization superior to the stock rom and with the native camera app, I always believed that custom roms served to improve the stock one (very sloppy compared to previous times), but at the moment it is not so.
I admire developers a lot, and I know how difficult it is, just maybe my mistake was waiting for this oneplus to have its soul of the past, and now I don't know if it has a solution or it is better to sell it before its price plummets.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm afraid you don't understand how development works. Custom ROM developers rely mainly on how developer friendly a phone manufacturer is. OnePlus has known a steady decline in community support in the past few years. You would be amazed how difficult it is to make components like a fingerprint reader or camera work properly if no sources are released. This is a massive challenge that this community struggles with every single day. To be honest I'm even surprised they get the hardware working so fast. I'm not familiar with today's hacks but I remember the camera of the OnePlus "Bacon" One was quite the piece of work. I am still thankful to @Sultanxda for the near magic he performed on this and many other devices. Interesting read: Cameras in Custom ROMs: How Developers Make Hardware Work without Source Code
But that was then, "simpler times". With all added security measures by Big G nowadays and how reluctant OnePlus has become to cooperate with the very community that made them so great it can only have become more difficult. They say "added security" but they really mean "protecting our economic interests". If custom development is so important to you it should've been a part of your selection process when buying a new phone. That's what I asked myself when I was looking for a device for my son: "What's cheap, has a decent battery, some gaming capabilities and has a solid development community?". I got him a Xiaomi Poco M3, no regrets. I've been on the 6T for over 3 years now and will likely be on the lookout for an upgrade later this year. Development will be an important selling point. Nothing looks promising! If it's going to be as 'open' as they claim, it will have amazing community support.
TL;DR: Don't look to independant devs about quirky ROM development, complain to the companies about their lack of community support instead.
vincemue said:
if you think stock OS is better than custom rom for the 9pro, just stick with stock.
if you are not satisfied with the result from people who do support custom roms in their free time, maybe think about doing it yourself instead of complaining.
also there is probably a reason, why the stock cam is not available in any custom rom...
there are great gcam alternatives, that work well.
for me the custom rom is way better, after the OOS 12 disaster from oneplus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
vincemue said:
if you think stock OS is better than custom rom for the 9pro, just stick with stock.
if you are not satisfied with the result from people who do support custom roms in their free time, maybe think about doing it yourself instead of complaining.
also there is probably a reason, why the stock cam is not available in any custom rom...
there are great gcam alternatives, that work well.
for me the custom rom is way better, after the OOS 12 disaster from oneplus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The point of my comment was not any criticism of developers, maybe I should have put this " I admire developers a lot" in bold.
Neither stock rom nor custom roms are what they used to be in oneplus devices.
Timmmmaaahh! said:
I'm afraid you don't understand how development works. Custom ROM developers rely mainly on how developer friendly a phone manufacturer is. OnePlus has known a steady decline in community support in the past few years. You would be amazed how difficult it is to make components like a fingerprint reader or camera work properly if no sources are released. This is a massive challenge that this community struggles with every single day. To be honest I'm even surprised they get the hardware working so fast. I'm not familiar with today's hacks but I remember the camera of the OnePlus "Bacon" One was quite the piece of work. I am still thankful to @Sultanxda for the near magic he performed on this and many other devices. Interesting read: Cameras in Custom ROMs: How Developers Make Hardware Work without Source Code
But that was then, "simpler times". With all added security measures by Big G nowadays and how reluctant OnePlus has become to cooperate with the very community that made them so great it can only have become more difficult. They say "added security" but they really mean "protecting our economic interests". If custom development is so important to you it should've been a part of your selection process when buying a new phone. That's what I asked myself when I was looking for a device for my son: "What's cheap, has a decent battery, some gaming capabilities and has a solid development community?". I got him a Xiaomi Poco M3, no regrets. I've been on the 6T for over 3 years now and will likely be on the lookout for an upgrade later this year. Development will be an important selling point. Nothing looks promising! If it's going to be as 'open' as they claim, it will have amazing community support.
TL;DR: Don't look to independant devs about quirky ROM development, complain to the companies about their lack of community support instead.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I probably know the world of development a lot better than you think... , I wasn't complaining at all about the developers, just my misconception that oneplus was what it used to be.
aforocars said:
I probably know the world of development a lot better than you think... , I wasn't complaining at all about the developers, just my misconception that oneplus was what it used to be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So we're basically saying the same thing? Alright then! Easy discussion. Maybe literally say you're disappointed in OnePlus next time, that would've made more sense.