# Touchwiz ROM versus CM/AOSP



## Veridor

Anyone here do a side-to-side comparison of Touchwiz (stock and/or debloated) and an AOSP ROM like Cyanogenmod or AOKP on the Galaxy S3? I love the feel of AOSP/stock Android, but I keep running into bugs in AOSP. I'm just wondering what sort of perfornance hit, if any, I might see going back to a Touchwiz ROM, especially when I compare the ROM image sizes (around 180 MB for CM10.1, and well over 700 MB for debloated Touchwiz).

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


----------



## headcheese

aosp has always felt faster and smoother to me on any phone. 4.2 is getting better everyday with less bugs and the newest leankernels have been working great. bluetooth is almost worked out, tethering is still a bit buggy, sometimes i have issues with gps, and data can still be flaky but it has gotten better.

personally i like the customization, less bloat, and new features and updates that aosp brings. also i update my rom at least weekly and its just easier to do on aosp. plus there is a lot more updates. smaller rom sizes, cm's updater works great, and i have my pc set up to compile aokp. i enjoy doing that and like checking http://gerrit.sudoservers.com to see what new things are being worked on.

if you need the stability run TW if you like new shiny things run AOSP. i flashed to aosp 4 months ago and told myself i would never go back. that's one of the biggest reasons i root in the first place.


----------



## jefflikesbagels

The biggest issue I have with AOSP is the reception/data drops. I rely on having my data working a lot, so when it just randomly drops I rage haha.


----------



## Veridor

Generally, I prefer AOSP over any skinned version of Android, but I guess I'm debating whether it's worth it to go back to TW for working Bluetooth. Also, I get a ton of data drops on CM10.1 nightlies.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


----------



## Cruiserdude

Depends on your needs and preferences. If you simply prefer the look of AOSP, there's a few TW roms that emulate it. Beans is definitely my favorite, and with the Aroma Installer, its nearly as customizable as stock CM, though of course many changes can only be done when flashing, rather than on the fly. I'd recommend everyone try AOSP at least once, just make sure to back up your IMEI first (flashing a Synergy rom will do this for you). If you find there's something you use that is still broken, or a feature you need or want badly, go right back to TW.

For me, everything that I use works great on official CM10.1, and its just as stable and reliable as stock TW. There are TW-specific features that I miss, and the TW camera certainly is alot better, but there's nothing I really need that isn't there. But the performance difference is insane, feels like a completely different device. You have to see it to believe it, but its very addicting. I want to get certain TW features back, but I haven't been able to tear myself away due to the performance, and the fact that nothing I need is broken. I know I'll get the urge eventually, and probably end up switching back and forth a number of times. But the great thing is that's easy and fun to do, so don't be afraid to play around and see what works best for you.


----------



## darthyobert

Ditto

Sent from my SCH-R530U using Tapatalk 2


----------



## jucytec

lets not forget, TW roms have much greater battery life.


----------



## headcheese

I wouldn't say much greater. Imoseyons 4.2 kernels do pretty well on battery. Deep sleep like a champ.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## kameleongt

My only issue on aosp vs two is camera seems like night and day difference.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Veridor

My own anecdotal experience leads me to believe that cell signal, Bluetooth, and the camera perform much better on Touchwiz.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


----------



## zerocool79346

jucytec said:


> lets not forget, TW roms have much greater battery life.


I'm at 17 hours off the charger with 1:45 screen on and at 33%, that's all LTE usage too. I'd love to find a TW ROM that does much greater than that.


----------



## griz.droidx

Someone somewhere I truest who is in the know, told me there are performance drivers / modules or something that are closed source or were closed source at the time.

I too actually bought my sgs3 black because of the unlocked bootloader and abundance of aosp roms. I love slim, CM, AOKP, and Liquid. I just like open source. Even though I'm not a dev.

I mentioned to this person that on several benches that TW roms were always faster and he said they probably always would be because of the closed source stuff for the Sgs3 or the CPU/GPU or something. Just my two cents for what it's worth. I think reception is much better in low signal areas on TW roms. I'm using the newest modem/rpm and signal is better on TW for me. I'm on a TW rom at the moment, but I have a nandroid of a test build of SlimBean which I love because it has the customizations that I want to see in a rom.


----------



## shoman24v

On a phone like this that is so feature rich, I think putting AOSP is a 'downgrade' personally. The camera functions found in TW are gone out the window, same goes for gesture actions or TW related items. As much as I love Galaxy Nexus, it is pretty featureless lol, and the camera is horrible.


----------



## havy15

I'm on tw and i get 4 hours of on screen time and that's when I hit 15 percent idk aosp never did that for me regardless of ROM and I have way better signal on tw ROMs like on aosp it would have a receive lag on texts like they would send it and I'd get it like 4 minutes later . on touch wiz I haven't gotten that problem . I mean I love 4.2 like love but if they could tweak the battery more and give better connection then I'd be flashing aosp so quick lol

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## evertec

I've been running AOSP for the last 6 months and finally was getting tired of the bugs and the fact that they are never fixed because a new version of AOSP comes out and all the devs move to that, which just introduces other different bugs. I installed the customizable "Jelly Beans" TW ROM and overall think it works better than the current AOSP ports. Even the latest AOSP roms that have "fixed" bluetooth don't sound nearly as good as it does on TW, games run much faster on TW (45fps on Epic Citadel on TW vs 35 on AOSP), and the speed of TW seems to have caught up to AOSP since I last used it. The biggest things I miss from AOSP are configurable hardware buttons, configurable automatic brightness settings, and the ability to always show the menu overflow button.


----------



## shoman24v

If I could customize my LED light on my GSIII I'd be happy. Light flow works, but conflicts with the system. For instance, opening folders the phone actually says it. Known bug, but would be nice if TW had that option. What's the point in a multicolor LED if you can't set it!


----------



## iamjackspost

I always end up coming back to TW. The stability and better data are the biggest reasons, but like others have said there are tons of features I've really gotten used to and like. And I'm not knocking AOSP at all, I would still love this phone if that's all we had on it. But TW is easily the best skin I've ever used on android.


----------



## havy15

shoman24v said:


> If I could customize my LED light on my GSIII I'd be happy. Light flow works, but conflicts with the system. For instance, opening folders the phone actually says it. Known bug, but would be nice if TW had that option. What's the point in a multicolor LED if you can't set it!


light flow kills battery

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## bobcaruso

Real simple, if your phone is more of a toy then a device you rely on, then playing with ASOP/CM/AOKP is fun. If you actually use your phone and rely on most of its features, you need to be on a reliable debloated, rooted Touchwiz rom. Though the devs are breaking their collective asses working on their roms, and they're getting better by the day, if a random reboot or non-working feature is not acceptable, then none of the available ASOP/CM/AOKP roms would be a good choice today


----------



## masri1987

So my question is, does bt streaming really sound better on TW?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


----------



## Veridor

masri1987 said:


> So my question is, does bt streaming really sound better on TW?
> 
> Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2


Bluetooth is jacked up in Android 4.2.1 in general. Pending fix in 4.2.2 supposedly.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using RootzWiki


----------



## RedRumy3

I just tried aosp for the first time on my s3. And I must say I really like it. Running cm10.1 and love it. Once they fix small issues I can see myself ditching tw. I will probably stay on this until S3 get multiwindow from Samsung. Hopefully another leak will have it soon.

As of right now I don't miss using tw.

Sent From My Galaxy S III Using TapaTalk 2.


----------



## scottpole

Im fairly new to the GSIII. Just got mine about a week ago. I've been jumping back and forth between cm10.1 and tw based. Its a given that the TW based roms are more stable. But given the devices awesome hardware, AOSP based ROMs still run butter smooth. So I guess what it would all come down to is why you got the GSIII. Me personally I decided on this phone because of all the features Samsung has packed into their TW overlay. But other reasons would be because of the unlockable boot loader and amazing hardware. If your reasons fall more into the next category then maybe reap the benefits and go for all the AOSP ROMs. Right now I'm running the Eclipse TW based ROM with the stock jelly bean theme and I'm super super satisfied. Could not ask for anything more.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I came from a galaxy nexus. So I'm used to, and very fond of stock android. I settled with the look of TW at first because I had what I wanted. And the theme isn't all too bad. I like the twists that Samsung put on the stock apps such as calender, clock, etc. But this Eclipse ROM gives me the stock look back while still maintaining the unique core features of TW. That's my input.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2


----------



## scubamike

The minute I pulled my phone out of the box, I unlocked the bootloader, flashed TWRP, and flashed AOKP with the lean kernel. It is almost exclusively a business tool for me. Everything works. It's very stable, and battery life is superb. The signal seems every bit as good as my old droid X. I say that to give confidence to anyone considering an AOSP ROM.

With all that in mind, I am currently downloading my first TW ROM, which, instead of about 150 meg, it's 50 terabytes. (Just kidding. But, seriously, it is over 700 meg). I'm curious how a TW ROM compares.


----------



## neyenlives

Battery life, camera, cellular reception, and overall stability are all still better on a TW build than any AOSP build. AOSP has come a long way and a lot of really good guys have done so much for it, but in the end if those items are important to you, best stick with TW. Been using both for years now over multiple Samsung devices, all the high end ones. I check out the latest builds every few months or so. It's just beginning to feel like AOSP builds are just trying too hard to be too many things these days.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 4 Beta


----------

