List one good ROM. I am on F3, there is literally zero interesting ROMs
No android phone has a decent custom ROM scene, let alone a great one. All these ROMs do is changing the wallpaper to some anime character and overclocking the device.
Enjoy no contactless payments, no support for bank, transportation tickets, ID apps etc.
On a custom ROM your phone is essentially a leisure tablet, but even then you can forget majority of games working and limited widevine support means it sucks for Netflix.
Yes, you can make some of these work, but not only does it consume lots of time, it has to be done regularly.
Plus all the launchers I've seen so far, all the options available are just crap compared to any OEM skin
I wish there was at least one good ROM, but there never will be, it is only getting way worse each year
Amazon is the worst store there is when it comes to convenience, the UX is insuferrable. Competitors are years ahead.
Wouldn't it be MIUI without a coat of paint, considering this is their plan B system without or with limited Google services?
Of course they do, you can file a request so they would send you what info they hold. I did so. They store everything - your every message, all login dates, device metadata and anything else you can think of.
The best part? They say that the messages you send are like email, so they are not obliged to delete them.
On xiaomi blog they mentioned it will not get MIUI 15.
I've got zero expectations, they made POCO F3 and F4 with same SoC but F3 is EOL, and F4 still gets updates.
Considering they neglected it in ideal conditions, how can we believe them to support less convergent set of devices?
Anyway, anyone can tell me why should we care about Android updates except for security? I'm totally bored by Android 14, not even one interesting thing in release notes. Maybe taking sharing menu out of OEM hands and updating it through Play Store, but seeing how they did something like that in Chrome makes it rather intrusive feature.
MIUI is even more boring, from MIUI 11 to 14 on POCO F3 I have noticed no changes in the skin, they added widgets for China-only but these see useful, just nice to look at. I love widgets, but c'mon.
OEM ROM:
- just works / ootbe
- proprietary features
- project mainline: security updates and some system components updated independently of OEM after EOL
- safety net / play integrity
- look & feel is on a higher level than an average custom ROM
- years after EOL, majority of apps will still support the ROM, kitkat is loosing support from play services this year, majority of apps target lolipop.
Custom ROM:
- fun with tinkering
- risks, worries, time spent
- more updates
- hit & miss -> either better or worse battery life, these are often targeting middle-school boys fanatic about anime, overclocking destroys heat management and battery life, safety net can stop working any day
- sketchy hacks to get some services for free etc.
- nice hacks to get 80% battery charging limit, underclock, automate tasks
- huge fragmentation and duplication of effort that leads nowhere among tons of ROMS, competition among them does not do any good currently as they have no incentive to compete
- unlocked bootloader -> less security when it's confiscated; but some people are able to lock the bootloader on a custom ROM.
- on one hand increased privacy, but not many people audit custom ROMS, so they pose higher security and privacy risks.
I just scratched the surface, but I think custom ROMS have failed people like me who value having no worries about safety net limiting their contactless payments, cards for public transportation within apps, those who value battery life and love underclocks, professional look instead of kitsch, peace of mind, features out of the box like dolby atmos, additional features from the OEM like gesture screenshots, scrolling screenshots and a lot other features.
Let me know if I'm wrong in the comments.
Was it possible to flash a global ROM onto Chinese version of any Mi Band? Would you guess it would happen with Mi Band 8 Pro?
It would solve two problems:
- Chinese variant often costs half the price
- No need to wait months to get your hands on the device