Installing a SuperNexus ROM on Galaxy S3

I finally did it. I finally rooted my Galaxy S3 and installed a custom ROM. This usually happens when my phone becomes slow and I think “this phone was fast last year so what is wrong?”

I also despise hearing about new Android features but not being able to use them. My Google Now was horrendously slow on my Samsung TouchWiz ROM.  I just got a galaxy tab 10 too and I found that things were just different enough between the two to annoy me when switching back and forth.

So was it hard? Not at all. I’d explain but the instructions on the SuperNexus ROM announcement page are adequate. If you have problems, let me know and I’ll help. I’ve flashed a lot of ROMs on other devices but this is the first one on my S3.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2219885

Now for what didn’t work very well.

Barclays mobile app wouldn’t run on my rooted Galaxy S3. It would start and take me through all the steps then bomb out saying that you cannot run the app on rooted devices. This is annoying because I’ve come to rely on this application’s mobile pinsentry functionality.  After a little research, I found that I could get the Barclays Mobile application to run on my rooted phone using the steps below. I basically followed the instructions I found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1710613

1. Buy TriangleAway
2. Tell it to reset your custom ROM counter
3. Open the SuperSU application
4. Click the button that says prepare for reinstallation via google play (or something similar…my app is gone now so I can’t go back and look!)
5. Reboot
6. Your phone now is not flagged as having a custom ROM and superSU is not installed
7. Run the Barclays app and set it up
8. Unverified yet: reinstall SuperSU from the play store. I’ve read that this will work but I’ll download it and use it when I need it next. For now things are in good shape on my phone.

I’ve heard that this will help you use SkyGo on a rooted Galaxy S3 too but I haven’t tried that either. Bonus: my Netflix application works now too!

I’ve been running the ROM for a day and am incredibly pleased with my phone again. I’d recommend flashing to anybody who is a little frustrated with lags and the overall performance of their Galaxy S3 at the moment. It’s not a hardware problem, it’s a software one!

Improving HTC Hero Performance

My HTC Hero is a good phone but it’s sluggish all the time. I’ve tried many many things and should have reported on all of them but fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint, you’re only going to get the tips that worked.

1. Install ADWLauncher and never use HTC Sense launcher again. ADWLauncher is better and faster.
2. Buy a faster SDCard. I upgraded to a type 6 card and received a noticeable performance improvement.
3. (Rooted phones only) : Install OverclockWidget and set something like this: screen on frequency: 576000 for min and max. Screen off frequency: 245760 min, 352000 max. It might be a bit sluggish to wake up sometimes but the battery lasts longer and it’s faster when you use it than when using the default HTC settings.

So not many tips but these are the only ones that worked out of hundreds that haven’t. I don’t want to buy another HTC phone because my phone was top of the line less than a year ago when I bought it and it’s official software version is 1.5 even though Google have since released 1.6, 2.0, 2.1 and 2.2. I jumped on Android so I could stay up with new technology and not lag like the other phone manufacturers besides Apple seem to do. It will be a Nexus One or I think Motorola for me next since they are quick to release the new software.

Installing Villain ROM on my HTC Hero

I, like many others, am tired of waiting for HTC to update the software on my phone.  The new Android apps I read about in the news are starting to require Android 2.1 or higher and I’m stuck on version 1.5.  At least, I was stuck.  I tried out a few ROMs and can recommend the VillainSlide ROM on the HTC Hero.  It has the most responsive interface and apart from a slightly annoying application listing screen and home screen icons is visually very appealing too.  Here’s the steps I took to install the ROM.  It will hopefully save you a few searches.

There is a great guide for installing a custom ROM on the XDA Developer’s forum.  I didn’t need the GoldCard method so my install was fairly straightforward.  Follow steps PRE and 1-3 and you’re running a new version!

Here’s the SlideVillainROM so you don’t have to find that either.

The first boot after an install  takes forever and a day and the SMS recovery isn’t the fastest in the world either.  You’ll need to re-download apps from the marketplace too but all your contact data is safe in the Google cloud.