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The Premise: Testing out CyanogenMod version 10 now that it recently annouced it had hit a stable build in mid Novemeber and has continued on with nightlies for updates since then.
The Test Setup: I am using the HTC One X(L) aka the One X on AT&T. I was originally running the latest version of stock HTC firmware that was ICS 4.0.4 with Sense 4 pre rom flash. I unlocked my bootloader, rooted, and initially flashed CM10 stable + boot.img for my specific device code named "Evita."
A general quick rundown of the One X(L) spec wise is Snapdragon S4 dual core 1.5ghz + Adreno 225 GPU + 1 gig of RAM + 720p SLCD2 display + LTE
Quick Backstory:
So as stated above I have an HTC One X or so it is called in the US on AT&T. It's the One X LTE variant called the One XL internationally. I was running stock firmware which had been updated to Ice Cream Sandwhich 4.0.4 with Sense 4.0. During the long arguest wait for a Jelly Bean ROM from AT&T I kept putting off flashing since HTC locked the bootloader on my phone which made it a little bit more of a pain in the arse to unlock and root so I could fash.
Eventually though Nov came and the crew over at CyanogenMod announced a "stable" version of CM10 based on Jelly Bean 4.1.2. I gave it a week or two to see how that panned out (and see if AT&T/HTC would come through with an update) as more people tend to jump in once a "stable" is announced to see if there were any major issues. Finally over the Holiday Week here in the US (Thanksgiving week) I decided I'd take the ROM plunge.
My Impressions/Mini Review:
This was last weekend, and I've now used CM10 as my daily driver on my phone for a full week. I rolled with the stable release for the 1st couple of days, and then I moved on to the current nightlies which I've kept up with for the rest of the week.
My Info from my CM10 Stable Flash
So the 1st thing to note is I moved from ICS 4.0.4 with Sense to CyanogenMod's remix of stock Jelly Bean 4.1.2 complete with most of Jelly Bean's features. There also are the added in features CM on it's own brings such as built in theme support or OpenVPN. Of course I lose some of the built in Sense features like Beats Audio and access to the HTC Image Sense Chip for the Camera.
So the 1st thing I must say is I wasn't exactly down on Sense 4, but just hated being basically 6 months and now 2 versions of Jelly Bean behind on my phone with all the extra improvments. Also while I didn't really care much about losing Beats Audio (it just sounded more compressed with added bass) I was sort of iffy on losing access to the image sense chipset in my phone for my camera. That being said I wanted to try out stock Jelly and all that it brings. I'd also like to note I said funk it and decided to wipe clean with no back up and just start over.
Upon 1st boot up I must admit I noticed how much smoother it was. This could partly be do to the fact that CM is more based on stock with a few additions verses HTC's sense, and it also could be attributed to the work in project butter. Granted not everything in butter has been moved over to CM yet, v sync is being actively worked on, but tripple buffering is already a go. General menu movement and scrolling just seemed quicker, and the transitions were definitely a quick step faster.
I also got some of the google app updates that pertained to 4.1.2 Jelly Bean such as improved Chrome security and such, but I must admit I'm still not using Chrome as my default browser. CM has it's own stock browser that works pretty well and includes an incognito mode for those who need one. It's rather snappy like the rest of the system, and it's my back up browser. I'm still on the FireFox bandwagon though since it supports Flash as well as tab/bookmark syncing with the deskop. CM doesn't come with Flash preinstalled, but you can easily turn on installing non marketplace apps in the CM settings and side load Flash. I had no problems here.
Speaking of settings and notifications the move to Jelly allowed me the new notification bar where you can expand and collapse notifications as well as quick reply to things directly from the notification bar. It also allows you to setup some quick toggles for things like wifi and sound and a button to access settings. Made it so I didn't have to throw quick settings on my homescreen like on Sense.
Settings wise supposedly unlike CM7 which grouped all of it's extra settings under extra CM tabs they now just put those settings in their appropriate place like sound or display. I didn't really have any large need to mess with any settings as I don't have a complicated setup. Took my wifi and stuff and things were ago. I initially had some problems connecting to mobile internet, but I went into my APN settings. AT&T/Cingular was checked, and I instead checked the AT&T LTE box. Then everything worked fine.
One nice feature I found is that I could set a quick toggle on my notification bar just for turning off LTE if I wanted to leave just 3g on. I asssume this turns off the LTE radio since it's not integrated in my phone's chipset and therefore should save on battery if I want to do so. I didn't have this option or at least don't remember it on stock Sense 4.
Feature wise CM10 allowed me access to Google Now which works pretty much as advertised. I haven't had any Google Now problems, and obviously I didn't have access to this on my old ICS Rom. Also while I haven't really tried to shoot any video the stock Camera app seems to shoot good enough pics for me. It might not be as good as image sense, but it's nothing I'm worried over. Considering this was my one worry going in I'm happy.
Also while it's a small win moving to Jelly Bean finally fixes that horrible contacts bug where everyone's contact picture looks all low res. Now when someone calls me there picture pops up in full nice high res glory. Like I said it's not much, but sometimes it's the little things.
One of big areas CM10 is trying to deliver is on the audio front. CM10 comes with a new default muisc player dubbed Apollo which the CyanogenMod team plan on putting out in the playstore as it's own thing (it's currently in some development/legal snag that I won't get into here). The bigger thing is CM10 comes with DSP Manager preinstalled.
This tool is rather money for audiophiles. It allows you 3 custom profiles based on your headset, speaker, and bluetooth device. It's also system wide so whatever settings you produce here go throughout your system as a whole no matter the app you are using be it Apollo, Spotify, or Youtube. It has things like dynamic range compression, bass boost, and an equalizer that you can manually set or grab one of the presets. I personally just tried the presets at first and classical sounded good to me so I've been rolling with that.
Outside of that there are some things like the SuperUser app (root access), terminal emulator, and a torch program to mess with the led notication bulbs. I honestly haven't used much of any of them. There also is a preinstalled file system manager if you need one.
As I stated at the begining I initially flashed the CM10 Stable Rom last Sunday evening. I used that as my daily driver for the next two days. I had no really issues that I can think of, and only gains in performance and features as talked above. CM10 has a built in update tool in the settings so you can check for updates either stable or nightlies. After 2 days I decided I'd roll to the latest nightly and see how that went. After you check for new available ROMs you can download then it'll ask you if you want to install. If you do it basically automates the process for you by rebooting your phone installing and then rebooting back up. I've had no real issues with any of the nightlies either.
My screen works, my notifications work, my LED lights work, I can connect to wifi at different places, I can connect to 3G+ or LTE, and I can download and use apps like normal from the play store. Granted to a certain extent this varries from device to device on how much work, in terms of manpower and support, and how much is known, ROM and Driver wise, on how well CM10 might perform on your device. CM10 seems rather stable with little issue for me.
Doing my preflash research the only mixed complaint I heard on the "stable" version was some people thought they weren't getting as good of battery life. That seemed to be a YMMV type of post though. Personally the battery life has been fine for me. I'm not sure if it's as good as before or not, but it gets me through a full day so that's all I care about.
So in conclusion if you can't already tell I'm very happy with my switch to CM10. Even if HTC/AT&T do indeed end up pushing out a JB Rom I just don't see myself switching back. The performance and feature set is just to hard to pass up right now. Plus my device at least is getting regular updates, and CM 10.1 is in the early stages being built off of JB 4.2. Granted there is some slight know how needed depending upon your device in rooting, installing a recover, and flashing with the potential of a bricked device always there, but you can rest assured I'm going to recommend my tech savy friends at least to make the switch at least to try it out. They can always back up their current setup and reflash if need be, but I doubt they will.
Results:
I give CyanogenMod 10 two thumbs up. If I missed anything or you people have any questions I'll try and do my best to answer them!
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