Samsung's 4.2.2 XXUFME7 leak through ARHD 32.0

After long consideration (and reading through ARHD's official XDA thread) I decided give a try for latest Samsung's leaked 4.2.2 (XXUFME7) which was base of Android Revolution HD 32.0.

So I did following:

1. took all necessary backups from internal and external memory (inc. contacts, sms and EFS)
2. flashed mega wipe tool (by zoot1, xda developer) in recovery
3. flashed ARHD 32.0 in recovery
   -inside AROMA: wipe, selected GAPPS, no Samsung apps, no tweaks, recommended superuser app
4. fixed permissions and restarted phone

Conclusions

After a bit more than one week lasting testing it seems to be that latest leak works just fine in daily basis. Haven't found any major (or even minor) bugs or other relevant issues, like FC's, hanging etc. Unfortunately battery duration has decreased when compared to latest official Samsung's build which is 4.1.2 XXEMF1.

Official 4.2 coming ahead

According to several Android interested sites, Samsung would release official 4.2 build for i9300 during July-August 2013 but who knows if it's all about rumors or is there truth behind those releases.

Dualboot with newest Siyah kernel

Greetings folks,

there've been a while since my previous post. Whoever there haven't been going on that much during past months. In other words it all about updating ARHD (Android Revolution HD) custom ROM to latest available version.

But turning point appeared since kernel developer gokhanmoral released newest Siyah custom kernel which provided dualboot utility allowing to install two different ROM to mobile. In my case that provided me to use newest Android 4.2.2 and the most stable Sammy 4.1.2 in dual boot. Practically it means that I use newest AOKP custom ROM (Android 4.2.2) on daily basis unless I want to use my camera, I'll boot my phone ARHD custom ROM.

Using dualboot utility is going to be a temporary choice if it's possible to assume that after Samsung release official 4.2.x source, developers in XDA are able to compile even more stable 4.2.x custom ROMs' which would more than enough for everyday use.

Ps. I'll update this post later by providing more information about Siyah custom kernel (inc. explanation of dualboot utility) and quick glance for AOKP custom ROM.

Rollback to ARHD

Hola again,

even though I praised newest CM 10.1 Nightly custom ROM more than a lot, after testing for a while, I've discovered a few issues which were bugging me. To be more specific, mainly it was all about "touch to focus issues with enabled flashlight". In real life this means when I use "touch to focus" ability, camera fails to work. According to CM developers this is reason from lack of official source.

Summarum: if I want to return to use CM 10.1 (Android 4.2.1) with my Galaxy S3, I've to wait for Samsung release of 4.2.x base. Currently Samsung reveals new updates quite often, but not yet 4.2. Anyway Samsung hasn't announced anything official about 4.2 release, so only option is to wait patiently.

New year means new era - Please welcome Cyanogenmod

Hola folks!

It's been time since last post in my Android deving blog. After clearing my thoughts, I finally decided to give try for Cyanogenmod, to be more specific newest version CM 10.1. That was the best choice in my opinion even though it wasn't so called stable build.

Moving from thoughts to action

So here comes what I really did via step-by-step procedure:

1. Back'd up current ROM (ARHD 19.0) via CWM
2. Downloaded official CM 10.1 Nightly build (build Jan 22nd) and newest Google Apps (known as GAPPS)
3. Booted phone to CWM
4. Did full wipe (wipe data, cache and dalvik cache)
5. Installed first CM 10.1 and then GAPPS
6. Fixed permissions
7. Finally did reboot

Boot went fine, saw fancy CM logo and waited for a while that fresh install completed to desktop.

First thoughts of CM 10.1

After having first glance of the entire view, CM 10.1 looked pretty much same when compared to my previous experience of CM during my earlier HTC deving times. As already pointed out earlier in this blog, my first Android phone was HTC Desire Z which had Mimicry custom ROM (based on CM repo and 4.0.4 base).

I'm more than glad that currently CM dev team has included ROM auto update, which makes updating CM Nightly much more easier. In other words just connect to Wi-Fi, go to settings and search new updates, download possible update and install it. Hitting install basically means that CM boots automatically to CWM, flashes newest update and reboot back to business. I would say that is a nice user-friendly addon because new updates comes every day, that's what Nightly version is all about.

Current thoughts of CM 10.1

Currently running newest CM 10.1 Nightly (cm-10.1-20130125-NIGHTLY-i9300) with CM own kernel. So far I've been satisfied it and haven't been thinking about returning to ARHD even though it's also worth of mention custom ROM based on stock Sammy 4.1.2 (XXEMA1).

Haven't installed any mods or tweaks, only installed custom icon pack to make homescreen more personal based on my interest. Take a look my current view of modified homescreen.

Personally modified homescreen of CM 10.1 Nightly.

ZAGG Invisible Shield HD for Samsung Galaxy S3

Two posts during same day seems to be quite extraordinary, whoever it's explained by my flow to provided new thoughts. I hope you got something useful from my previous post about my average battery duration with Android Revolution HD custom ROM.

Now I'm going to entirely different topic, which is protecting mobile by using screen protector. As mentioned in several earlier posts that I've used screen protectors since my very first touch screen smartphone (Nokia N97). Anyway I've used budget priced screen protectors so far, which basically means 2 pcs bundle carrying average 10 EUR price tag.

But today I installed my very first high performance screen protector to try is it worth of its worldwide glory name. As already mentioned in title of this post, that high performance screen protector in my case is called ZAGG Invisible Shield, to be more specific its newer HD version. More information about HD version for Galaxy S3 can be found from official product description by manufacturer's official website. 

About the installation process

Product package included all needed equipment for installation process but also clear step-to-step instructions "how-to install Invisible Shield properly". Anyway I wanted to have video guide for supporting the installation process. I've found out that Youtube provides plenty of useful support videos for many, many different occasions.

After quick searching I found video titled "Zagg Invisible Shield for Samsung Galaxy S3", which provided step by step installation instructions to complete the entire process successfully. For blog readers, here's the video I found useful. Thanks goes to AndroidAuthority community which provided this and other also necessary videos.

Here's two photos; product package and view from completed installation (uploaded later) to give closure to this post.

Price was 24.90 EUR from Finnish retailer.

Finally some statistics from average battery duration

Finally I had time to transfer my newest photos and screenshots from my i9300 to PC. I should put this to other words, I had a plenty of time but discovered that more than 50 new photos in my cell, which requires sorting and archiving which in my case takes time as being such a perfectionist.

As a reminder my daily use is following (average work day)
  

• Email (Exchange)
•  Exchange auto push during rush hours (7.30-16.00) 
• In every 1 hour during off-peak hours (16.00-22.00)
• Disabled during night time (22.00-7.30)
• Email (Gmail)
• Automatically in every hour 24/7
• Browsing
• Average 15-30 minutes daily
• Facebook
• Average 15-30 minutes daily
• Casual calls and messaging

Following two screenshots describes difference between two newest builds of ARHD

ARHD 15.1

ARHD 16.0

When both screenshots were taken, ARHD custom ROM was running stock kernel and without any possible tweaks provided by ROM's AROMA installer.

Continuing with ARHD

Haven't been active here lately because my daily work routines keeping me quite busy, yeah I know it ain't excuse. Anyway I'm still on Android Revolution HD custom ROM, which is keeping me pleasant.

Newest version 16.0 is based on leaked Sammy 4.1.2 which whoever is running smoothly. Lately Samsung has released official 4.1.2 (JZO54K) FW, more information can be found from here. Haven't checked yet if there's any differences between leaked and official build, whoever developer of ARHD (mike1986.) is going to re-compile ARHD with new official 4.1.2 Sammy.

Some thoughts about currently newest build of ARHD 16.0

Currently running it with newest Perseus custom kernel (alpha27) and I've found quite balanced setup between performance and battery duration. My GS3 is running smoothly with average 45-50 hours battery duration.

Ps. as I get screenshots transferred from my mobile to PC, I'll add here screenshots to prove better battery stats by showing my average level of use.

It's a bit classy to say but anyway stay tuned!