Archimedes Trajano

Going to Android 4.0.4

April 6, 2012

Category: Techy

Tags: ,

Today I just took the plunge coming from Codename Android and try out CyanogenMod nightly builds on my Galaxy Nexus since they have the nighties being built on a more regular basis and I wanted to try out Android 4.0.4.

So I did the standard operating procedure when I try out a major ROM update:

  1. boot to Clockwork Mod Recovery
  2. nandroid backup
  3. wipe
  4. install ROM
  5. install Google Apps
  6. install the Dancing Hatsune Miku boot animation that I made.
  7. reboot.

I was wondering what Android 4.0.4 will bring for me, specifically the fabled CyanogenMod that I never really got to try out before.

The first thing I noticed different was the “navigation click” sound seemed different than I remember, it is a subtle change but I actually like the change.

I then proceeded to enter my sign-in information.  Since I am using 2-step authentication I am basically asked to enter my credentials again, which is kind of annoying as I have a long password that is easy to type on the keyboard, but hard on the touch screen.  However, one thing I noticed that was different is when entering the verification code, it switches to the “numeric keypad” mode which wasn’t there when I authenticated my phone all those weeks ago.

I then pressed the “next” type buttons until I got to my practically empty home screen and as expected my apps are starting to download in the background now.  However, up until now Google hasn’t provided an option to “limit” what apps get restored.  Some apps I have deleted because they just don’t work on the phone such as CardStar (as the screen is too reflective for the bar code readers at Metro and Shoppers Drug Mart) just keep on coming back every time I do a restore.

Now I scanned through the menus for the device.  Unfortunately some things I got used to in AOKP and CNA are missing:

  • Configurable buttons (though I still prefer AOKP’s as it can be reduced to two, CNA’s alternative of replacing the recent apps with search is still tolerable).
  • % text on top of the battery icon rather than beside it.
  • The music app seems to be 2.x-ish in looks.
  • I can’t get rid of the notification icon for Android debugging.

So after giving it an hour on my phone, I decided that I don’t really like CM after all.  I guess I was expecting a bit too much from it. However, I still wanted to use 4.0.4 so I downloaded AOKP build 29.

The last time I used AOKP was milestone-4 that’s when I decided to dump it and switch to CNA. I don’t exactly remember why I stopped using AOKP and decided that CNA was a better choice for me, but after using it for a bit and the fact I feed Nova Launcher was shoved down my throat (especially since it’s asking me to pay for some features).

I also don’t like the weather integration everywhere in the ROM, although that’s a feature they are touting.

Seems like the long-press home for recents does not work anymore either. Oh well I was thinking maybe I should try out another ROM.

So I went off looking at the ones that I have heard of on XDA forums and have a 4.0.4 version.

  • Android Revolution HD: As for trying out this ROM again as I have used it before, I have taken a look at their released 3.0.0 release notes.  I decided not to bother.  The ROM just comes with a tad bit too many extras such as Maxthon and what not.
  • Slim ICS: was thinking about this one, but it says it removed TTS so I take that to mean I won’t hear turn by turn instructions on Navigation.  I decided not to bother after that point.
  • Trinity NP and AOSP+: hmm, the information about these ROMs are quite lacking.  No link to a git source from the XDA forum. I think I’ll pass on these too.

Although I still don’t care for AOKP’s development team attitude as I have noted in an earlier post, they seem to have the best 4.0.4 based ROM at this time.  However, as I was writing this, I noticed that there was a new branch of CNA called mod-4.0.4 so I thought… hmm, maybe I should just wait a day or two for CNA to release a 4.0.4 update of the ROM.

Hence in the end I just did a nandroid restore back to CNA 1.6.0 for now.