Ways to upgrade performance, or a dodgy Omnia?

[Guest ChromeNewt]

Hi everybody! I'm new to the forum but have been lurking here for about 15 months ever since getting my Omnia i900 and having to solve umpteen problems and issues with the phone, and google kept referring me to here. I have a love/hate relationship with it and I think it boils down either to Windows Mobile (and the user unfriendly interface if you don't use a stylus) or something fundamentally wrong hardware-wise. The issue is the severe lag I get with the UI even when it's a fresh install of the approved ROM with nothing else installed. I press something on the screen and I can wait up to 5 seconds before anything happens (unless it also decides to not bother registering I did anything at all). I've sent it off once already and they (Vodafone) said they fixed it (blatantly didn't though). I keep going back to my old Nokia N95 (not even the 8gb version) because texting with the Omnia is plain agony. I've tried installing other UIs like SPB and PointUI to improve the interface but then the lag becomes even worse.

Really I'm after some advice. Do you esteemed forum members think it's software or hardware? Is the Omnia just underpowered in general? Would flashing a custom ROM help? If I flash a custom ROM I invalidate the warranty but if I get a working phone out of it I don't care. I you were in my shoes, what would be your course of action bearing in mind I still have quite a few months before a new phone is an option?

[Guest andylyf]

If im you, i would sell the Omnia and stick with Nokia....

[Guest ChromeNewt]

If im you, i would sell the Omnia and stick with Nokia....

Believe me, I'm veering that way. It's pure bloody-mindedness and determination that makes me stick with it. :)

Edited October 14, 2009 by ChromeNewt

[Guest andylyf]

Believe me, I'm veering that way. It's pure bloody-mindedness and determination that makes me stick with it. :)

maybe others will tell you to try this custom rom, try that custom rom, and tweak here n there, but if you are totally unfamiliar with WM, and tweaking is going to make u pull your hair more, i would suggest u consider selling your Omnia off.

Its not about giving up without trying, but time is precious, do u want to waste time flashing, reinstall programs, scratching your head...etc? i believe there are more things to do in life than to fuss over a phone to make it work.... :(

[Guest Billus]

Have you tried any winmo 6.5 roms?

[Guest ChromeNewt]

I've been getting used to WinMo and it seems that it does things *almost* brilliantly, but then does retarded stuff like disabling all alphabetical character input when inputting passwords into a website login (only allowing numbers and special characters) using the samsung keypad. So then I install another keyboard but then the buttons are too small/laid out retardedly so you end up sending a message when you wanted to backspace one character etc. And it extends almost everywere. I have fairly girly fingers and it seems even despite my dexterity it made a half-baked effort to be a non-stylus using mobile phone OS. Bottom line is WinMo is not for me on the UI front, but very good on the customisation scope if it didn't lag so badly when using another UI over the top.

My dream OS I think is Android since even though I haven't tried it yet, it looks very clean, quick and has lots of customisation potential. I've seen Andromnia but since it's still not 100% I'll knock that on the head atm.

Is there a way to seriously strip down WinMo to bare essentials to free up resources so that PointUI or SPB doesn't lag so badly?

@Billus: Not yet. I wanted to know if 6.5 had any resource efficiency advantages over 6.1 before invalidating my warranty

[Guest Atamagaokashii]

you can always go back to 6.1 you know...

[Guest Jokes On You]

I've been getting used to WinMo and it seems that it does things *almost* brilliantly, but then does retarded stuff like disabling all alphabetical character input when inputting passwords into a website login (only allowing numbers and special characters) using the samsung keypad. So then I install another keyboard but then the buttons are too small/laid out retardedly so you end up sending a message when you wanted to backspace one character etc. And it extends almost everywere. I have fairly girly fingers and it seems even despite my dexterity it made a half-baked effort to be a non-stylus using mobile phone OS. Bottom line is WinMo is not for me on the UI front, but very good on the customisation scope if it didn't lag so badly when using another UI over the top.

My dream OS I think is Android since even though I haven't tried it yet, it looks very clean, quick and has lots of customisation potential. I've seen Andromnia but since it's still not 100% I'll knock that on the head atm.

Is there a way to seriously strip down WinMo to bare essentials to free up resources so that PointUI or SPB doesn't lag so badly?

@Billus: Not yet. I wanted to know if 6.5 had any resource efficiency advantages over 6.1 before invalidating my warranty

Have you tried using programs like SKTools to increase the file system cache? I've had my device for about a year now and I really didn't see better performance until I did that. I am also still on 6.1(I have a rom that is also about a year old lol :) )

[Guest Bouvrie]

If you're at all considering custom ROMs, my experience with the WM6.1 lite ROM from Khuanchai is VERY good. It's heaps more responsive/reactive (faster) than the original ROMs I tried on my Omnia. Plus it'll leave more room for your own applications. :)

Also, if you don't like the ROM, you could always flash a stock ROM again. :(

Edited October 14, 2009 by Bouvrie

[Guest ChromeNewt]

@Atamagaokashii: Because Vodafone are very *coughcoughbloodymindedcough* strict about having the branded ROM on the phone is there a way to save the existing ROM for flashing at a later date? If someone could point me in the right direction I'll do the rest of the reading and I'd appreciate it a lot. :)

@Jokes On You: SKTools eh? Never heard of it before but I'll definitely look that one up tonight when I'm at home! Thanks!! :(

@Bouvrie: That sounds like just the ticket! Pending being able to flash back the original ROM I'm going to give that a go with the SKTools method! I will get a decent and responsive phone out of this, even if it kills me! ;)

[Guest ChromeNewt]

@Atamagaokashii: Because Vodafone are very *coughcoughbloodymindedcough* strict about having the branded ROM on the phone is there a way to save the existing ROM for flashing at a later date? If someone could point me in the right direction I'll do the rest of the reading and I'd appreciate it a lot. :)

@Jokes On You: SKTools eh? Never heard of it before but I'll definitely look that one up tonight when I'm at home! Thanks!! :(

@Bouvrie: That sounds like just the ticket! Pending being able to flash back the original ROM I'm going to give that a go with the SKTools method! I will get a decent and responsive phone out of this, even if it kills me! ;)

I'd just like to say a big thank you to those that replied and helped me! Following the above advice has resulted in my Omnia being faster than me now! You guys/gals really saved my phone from being toe-punted through my neighbour's window!

I haven't installed the 6.5 ROM yet, but I now have the bug to try it so am currently backing everything up and making my own ROM, just in case. I'm like a kid with a big bag o' sweets! ;)

[Guest Zealster]

When I first got my Omnia, I felt like throwing it out into the street. It was unresponsive, slow, and needed to be soft reset constantly to work right. I'd wake up at night to find not text messages waiting for me, but my phone hung. After a custom ROM it got much MUCH better. Thanks to 6.5 it's awesome and much more touch friendly.

I'd highly recommend 6.5. It's much more touch friendly and very fast as well. Plus, it's very very stable.

[Guest ChromeNewt]

When I first got my Omnia, I felt like throwing it out into the street. It was unresponsive, slow, and needed to be soft reset constantly to work right. I'd wake up at night to find not text messages waiting for me, but my phone hung. After a custom ROM it got much MUCH better. Thanks to 6.5 it's awesome and much more touch friendly.

I'd highly recommend 6.5. It's much more touch friendly and very fast as well. Plus, it's very very stable.

Hmmm, since I've backed up my current ROM (although untested) I might just give it a stab. :)

[Guest arirang]

When I first got my Omnia, I felt like throwing it out into the street. It was unresponsive, slow, and needed to be soft reset constantly to work right. I'd wake up at night to find not text messages waiting for me, but my phone hung. After a custom ROM it got much MUCH better. Thanks to 6.5 it's awesome and much more touch friendly.

I'd highly recommend 6.5. It's much more touch friendly and very fast as well. Plus, it's very very stable.

+1 on custom 6.5 rom. the extra touches and tweaks the chefs put in them are as important [page pool, back-up, restore, and install utilities, cooked-in themes, etc] yes, your mileage may vary depending on use and needs; however, the omnia [i190] is a chameleon and can be eye-candy, a battery sipper, cutting-edge depending on the 6.5-based ROM. it comes with a strong battery, fast CPU, and lots of screen space. it has the chipset and brunt to handle MS 6.5 well. it has gone beyond the official 6.5 release, and currently being cooked from a ROM branch that is further improving the experience [6.5.1]. read up on any make/model-specific forum, and you'll see ALL mobile H/W and OSs have their pro's and con's.

Edited October 16, 2009 by arirang

[Guest Natsirt]

+1 on custom 6.5 rom. the extra touches and tweaks the chefs put in them are as important [page pool, back-up, restore, and install utilities, cooked-in themes, etc] yes, your mileage may vary depending on use and needs; however, the omnia [i190] is a chameleon and can be eye-candy, a battery sipper, cutting-edge depending on the 6.5-based ROM. it comes with a strong battery, fast CPU, and lots of screen space. it has the chipset and brunt to handle MS 6.5 well. it has gone beyond the official 6.5 release, and currently being cooked from a ROM branch that is further improving the experience [6.5.1]. read up on any make/model-specific forum, and you'll see ALL mobile H/W and OSs have their pro's and con's.

Really?? I'm thinking of upgrading my ROM to 6.5.. but I'm not sure how the battery issue is going to turn out... Like Jokes On You, my rom is almost a year old xD im using taril's DXHL3 ROM from like.. december 08. I just want to have decent battery, stability, and decent sensitivity as my omnia is one of the oldest ones (bought back in october 08, so it doesnt have the new digitizer)

oh yeah, @ChromeNewt you mentioned you backed up your ROM and you're going to try flashing to a new ROM.. what software did u use?? I've backed up my ROM using spirte Backup, but I'm still too afraid to flash my omnia, because I don't know if it backed up all my tweaks, registry edits, installs etc.. it claims it can do that, but i'm still not too sure (Coz i've got a buckload of tweaks and reg edits for sensitivity, auto-disconnect GPRS etc etc). Let me know how it goes :)