yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] kidserious:
Well cm7 is gingerbread with an unbelievable GB kernel from the nexus s. It's AOSP as well which is superior in everyway. The only thing that com rom has over cm7 is that it doesn't have the few little annoying bugs that cm7 does. AOSP is pure Google android OS with Cyanogenmod's own custom tweaks added in for performance and customization. Com rom is based on TouchWiz, which is samsung's disgraceful attempt at a codebase, was altered from the original uncut Google AOSP for the sake of financial gain by the proprietor (Samsung). Bottom line, cm7 is a monster of a rom, considered by many to be the best and the elite of all rom's. Com rom is very good in that TSM was able to make it usable. A lot of hard work was pit into it and it's the best TW rom for fascinate.....but it's still touchwiz. Cm7/miui/omfgb/omgb all the way man. Were beginning to do away with TW.
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] saps:
CM7, and I too used com rom forever, but now I can't go back
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] chisledice:
I am going with CM7 to try it out. So far it is insanely smooth and fast. I am about to try out a couple of the kernels to try to find which will work best with my phone.

Thanks for the info all!
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] spinnum:
Tried CM7 for a couple days, fast and smooth. But went back to ComRom for a couple reasons. First was the camera, the TW camera is just better. Second is video playback. I use my phone as a little TV in bed and the video player and all the other video apps I tried suck compared to the TW video on the ComRom. Another reason was the wifi\3G kept dropping and it wasn't a dealbreaker like the other two but still very annoying.
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gunm3tal:
Both ROMs have their own set of pros and cons.

If you love TW and its TW based apps go for the ComRom. If you could careless about those, then CM7 hands down.

Biggest things I've noticed after switching:

- Better battery life

- Faster

- Smoother

- CM7 Customization is great

Other comments:

- CM7 doesn't really have too many themes yet since it's still fairly new.
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] xwhofarted:
IMO I am using CM7 and it works, BUT is no where near as functional as Com Rom.

example:

Livable bugs but they are annoying in CM7:

-No WiFi Tethering

-No in-call volume (biggest deal breaker that is making me want to switch back to Com Rom)

-Proximity sensors do not work!

I was waiting for an update but it looks like CM7 has stopped dev.

Dont get me wrong i love this phone and Thank the developers everyday for their hard work!

The only reason to go with CM7 is to be able to say you have GB on your phone otherwise stick with Com Rom.
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neozen21:
Looks like the CM7 you were using is an old one. Have you tried the latest CM7?
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] xwhofarted:
Yes i was on the build 11 with the glitch kernel [glitch kernel was super fast!]

-in call volume was not loud.

- i got an error when turning the wifi tether on

- and you have to push the volume rockers or the power button to hang up the phone.
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] neozen21:
Well, build 11 isn't that old.. but yeah, the call volume is not as loud as it could be, and the screen won't turn back on once you pull the phone away from your face.. but I had no problems with WiFi tether.. my NookColor running CM7 can see and use the AP..

I just installed the 7/24 version... changelog is not out yet.. hope they fixed even more bugs..
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] djlim4:
you must not be looking very hard
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] hrez2kx:
I've run both roms, CM7 and the latest ComRom. In everyday use, I can't tell the difference between the two. Honestly. ComRom ran super well, but twice it crashed on me and would only boot to safe mode (where I would endure force-close hell), and I would have a ***** of a time recovering it. After getting fed up with that and no longer trusting ComRom, I switched to CM7.

I haven't really seen the same bugs that other people have. I have no complaints with it on the stock kernel. On the OTB kernel, it was laggy as hell (felt like my roommate's ancient mytouch 3g). On the glitch kernel, it was suuuper smooth, but my battery life was suuuper ****.

So I'm using the stock kernel that comes with CM7. Unfortunately, I got twice the battery life on ComRom (2 days) vs what I get on CM7 (a day if I'm lucky). Of course, YMMV.
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Keithn:
CM7 has MORE themes, just look for CM7 themes /ThemeChooser Here are some

You could always try both for a few days and see how you like them.
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] kkennedy22:
I came straight from community rom and no contest. Cm7 is better in literally every way. I especially like the improved GPS and Bluetooth performance. The only drawback Ive seen is its a little too quiet in calls if you're in a particularly loud area. So as long as you aren't a construction worker or a traffic cop, I'd say cm7.
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] skynet11:
About CM7 themes: try Android Themes in the Android Development and Hacking forum. You'll find more themes there than a thrift store has used shoes :)

About call volume - I am running miui 7/22 which has better volume (on its stock kernel) than CM7. The miui theme manager has its own built-in catalog of online themes you can download and apply. Plus, it lets you actually edit your theme, mixing and matching elements from several of your installed themes.

Another Fascinating post by my XDA app...
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] vlucchetti:
cool. thanks for the info on themes!
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] xwhofarted:
LOL i don't think you meant to use the word Literally.

The sensor doesn't wake the phone when you pull it away from your face! that is literally not better than ANY Froyo ROM or even the sd card eating EC09!

I admit the glitch kernel made it run super smooth, but if you put com rom next to cm7, other than a few skins you really cant tell the two apart.

Like i said the ONLY reason to have CM7 on your phone is to boast you have Gingerbread!

If you disagree that is fine, this is my opinion but i am getting tired of people pumping up CM7, saying it is "hands down the best" when simply it is lacking. It is functional yes but it is maybe 98% functional to any Froyo roms 100% functionality.

I will be very excited to see when CM7 is great, the only thing is all the GREAT devs Left for other phones and i doubt we will see a fantastic GB rom like we did with ComRom's and EF.

Please if you disagree i would love to hear what makes CM7 better than Froyo roms. I would love to hear why everyone is so amped on CM7, I have tried both.

Once again this is only my opinion. PS I LOVE THIS PHONE!
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] skynet11:
Reasons to try CM7:

1. Continuing support / updates - the community and the Evil Fascination ROMs are probably the last you'll see of touchwiz-based ROMs, as most of our developers have moved on to the Droid Charge or the Incredible 2. CM7, on the other hand, will soon get nightly builds and support from the cyanogenmod team (thanks for all your hard work to get CM7 developed for the Fascinate jt1134!)

2. Themes - easier to apply, greater selection, many of them just done in more detail than those on touchwiz-based on ROMs.

3. Netflix only works on GB.

Reasons Not to Try CM7:

1. In-call audio.

2. In-call audio.

3. In-call audio. Are you seeing a trend here?

Reasons to try MIUI:

1. Miui will also get ongoing support and new releases from andmer (thanks andmer and jt)

2. Themes are even easier to apply than on CM7.

3. In-call audio is a little better than CM7 at this point.

Reasons Not to Try MIUI:

1. In-call audio is still not as good as touchwiz-based ROMs.

2. The look and feel of MIUI is not for everyone.

Bottom Line: it's whatever you want to choose :)

Another Fascinating post by my XDA app...
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] xwhofarted:
I agree 100% try them both and decide for your self

it is all a matter of opinion.
[Fascinate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] lowtech80:
Actually netflix does work on stock fascinates now.

I really liked cm7 because of it's speed, but that was really it.

Cm7 uses a crappy dialer

Cm7 uses a crappy calendar app

Cm7 doesn't have fully functional proximity sensors

flash only works on the camera not as a flashlight

Camera app is not as good on cm7

Bottom line: I could live with everything but in call audio and proximity sensors. As soon as netflix started working on fascinates I switched back to comm rom 2.1
[Atrix 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Will of fire:
I searched for my answer prior to posting this question. I did the ota of gingerbread 2.3.4 and I have a black battery with a checkmark in the top right corner. My question is how do I get rid of it? What does it mean?
[Atrix 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] coldfusionb:
That is probably the alarm. Turn your alarm off and see if it goes away.
[Atrix 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Will of fire:
Thanks alot it worked I guess it the alarm after all.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bluppfisk:
I bought a Samsung Galaxy S II in China, after checking that it was a genuine model (comparing weight, software operating speed ...). When I came home I realised it didn't come with the Google Applications we're used to in the West: Street View, Android Market (there is a Chinese version but I cannot read it), GMail. I cannot set up a Google Account Synchronisation either... This is all part of China's boycott against Google.

So I figured I could flash firmware from another region onto my phone and get access to all those apps and functionalities I'm used to.

However.

1. I loaded the following file from http://www.samfirmware.com/WEBPROTECT-i9100.htm :

2. I9100XXKG3 (MULTI - CSC - OXAKG3), this seemed to be the latest gingerbread firmware.

3. I had Odin load all the required files, flashed everything and - blamo:

Fail! After restarting my phone I merely get a red android with a yellow exclamation mark with "Software Update Fail" beneath it. (and something in Chinese)

I tried reflashing several times, but without success. What can I do? Is it possible that I cannot flash over Chinese firmware? Anyone else out there?

Odin Log:

<OSM> Enter CS for MD5..

<OSM> Check MD5.. Do not unplug the cable..

<OSM> Please wait..

<OSM> CODE_I9100XXKG3_CL401405_REV02_user_low_ship.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> MODEM_I9100XXKG3_REV_02_CL1040774.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> GT-I9100-CSC-MULTI-OXAKG3.tar.md5 is valid.

<OSM> Checking MD5 finished Sucessfully..

<OSM> Leave CS..

<ID:0/011> Odin v.3 engine (ID:11)..

<ID:0/011> File analysis..

<ID:0/011> SetupConnection..

<ID:0/011> Initialzation..

<ID:0/011> Set PIT file..

<ID:0/011> DO NOT TURN OFF TARGET!!

<ID:0/011> Get PIT for mapping..

<ID:0/011> Firmware update start..

<ID:0/011> boot.bin

<ID:0/011> NAND Write Start!!

<ID:0/011>

<ID:0/011> Complete(Write) operation failed.

<OSM> All threads completed. (succeed 0 / failed 1)
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bluppfisk:
Update: I've reflashed the original and it works again. But I'm still stuck with the Chinese software :(

The firmware came as one .tar file: I9100ZNKG5_I9100ZNKG5_I9100OZHKG5.tar

Any ideas?
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ElecVio:
I have same problem

It's my dad's galaxy s 2 and I promised him that I will upgrade the phone, so that it will have google applications. I went to the firmware.com and got one of the firmware for GT-i9100 (galaxy s II) and used Odin to flash the firmware (with .pit file). But unfortunately, it failed and the phone is now stuck on the red screen that says "software update fail" and sth in Chinese on the bottom. Later, I found out that the phone was i9188 (a variant of i9100) and I'm so screwed because it's my dad's phone...:(

I can't go on download mode nor on recovery mode... So... I'm not sure how you reflashed the original firmware... Can you tell me how you did it? I need to fix it ASAP or my dad will kill me... Lol...
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] amiruleffendy:
hi guys, did u guys put in the pit file also when u flashed using odin? usually its not needed to flash the pit file
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ElecVio:
I used pit file because the website told me to...

the pit file was sth like EXT4.pit

and now I can't get rid of the red "software update fail" screen... no download mode... no recover mode either...

Can someone plz help me?:(
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tjjensen23:
Buy a jig and try that
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ElecVio:
what's a jig lol and where can i get them?
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tjjensen23:
Google and Ebay
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ElecVio:
Is there any other way then using jig?

I don't even know what that is..lol
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Rockin_Zombie:
What does it say about the firmware version in settings _> abt phn? What is the exact firmware version u currently have?

Edit: nvm, just saw u can't boot into it. Hmm, r u sure thr is no dl mode (vol down + menu+ power)?
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ElecVio:
It said sth like I9188ZCKE2
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tabrisfreewill:
I having the same problem flashing other country's firmware on china phone. Is this because the phone hardware is different? Please let me know so I will return the phone asap.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] amiruleffendy:
jig is to make u enter download mode if the normal 3 button combo does not work for you,then under download mode u can reflash then should solve the problem
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ElecVio:
Thanks for telling me what jig is, amiruleffendy.

Thankfully, I don't need to use a jig but the problem is I can't find a stock firmware for GT-I9188...:(

does anyone know where I can get stock firmware for GT-9188?

or

can anyone tell me where I can find any other chinese sgs2 stock firmware that works on i9188?
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Odia:
ONLY I9188 firmware will work on I9188 since it has OMAP CPU.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Odia:
The boots on Chinese phone reject none Chinese firmware.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gmstrollo:
Would it be bad to say I'm glad that I'm not the only chump that this happened to?

So, first off, thank you for posting this. After googling your firmware rev, I realized that I could actually get into "samfirmware"... which looks pretty official for Samsung firmware releases... and I'm guessing is. Anyway... got it back to China-mode, which is still better than my back t-mobile crackberry.

I had gotten well past the red droid pic with my brick. I could get into download mode tho. Some things I picked up on that might help others:

1) I was using the wrong version of Odin. You have to use 1.85.

2) Kies was still running in the background and lots of people say to kill the process before running Odin.

3) Before seeing this thread, I tried downloading and installing "One-Click Unbrick". Bad idea for my purposes, as Odin failed to work afterwards. I had to use Kies to reinstall the USB drivers and that, for some unknown reason to me, took about an hour and a half.

So, A question:

If this is an Asian hardware variant, then there is some likelihood that the Singapore version might work on it. Singapore, having spent some time there, is a fairly western society. I'd wager it would be open to using Google Apps. Has anybody looked into this or attempted to install that firmware? [CSC = OLBKE5 / I9100XWKF1]

I'm reluctant to 'just try it' as it has a new kernel in the download package and I'm at a loss as to how to use Odin to update that.

Any help on getting this resolved will earn you a beer the next time you're in San Diego.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] tabrisfreewill:
if the bootloader is locked to chinese firmware only, i doubted that a singapore version firmware would work on the phone.

I think the only way we can use other roms on this chinese variant phone is to crack the boot.bin file to accept other firmwares? I hope Intratech can answer this.

PS: I bought the china variant phone as well.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Odia:
Its not a variant as such since the HW is 100% the same, just the boots reject none Chinese firmware.

Thats not as easy as it sounds since all the boots are signed.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ElecVio:
Instead of flashing I9188 rom on my phone... I accidently flashed chinese I9100 stock firmware...:( during the process odin crashed and I got the "Black Screen of Death" (totally bricked)

Luckily my dad works at samsung, so he sent it back to get it fixed.

Anyways, europe or other firmwares cannot be flashed over sgs2 chinese variant phones...:mad:

I guess I just have to get an sgs2 international model...
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] macdaddyau:
Don't buy Chinese. Only buy their takeaways
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] devil3062:
no problems..

i read through the whole thread without seeing any solution.. to the people who bought the mobile in china, the sad news is that you can flash any firmware but then there are compatibility issues such as some google apps wont work and neither will skype.

i also bought my phone in china and could only download apps from their local GoMarket and could not pair phone with android market.

but after leaving china first thing i did was flash a stock ke7 and do hard reset and restore my old data..

Everythn running great so far and is total different experience than if only were allowed to use in china. :p

still wondering if should update to any 2.3.4 firmwares ans KE7 is very stable in my experience for over a month.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gmstrollo:
I'm wondering if your Chinese phone is different than mine. Everything I flashed besides I9100ZNKG5 gave me the cold boot of death (and apparently numerous others on this thread.) How long ago did you buy it?

I'm also wondering exactly how to tell the differences between the different versions of the hardware. Is it something you can pick up from the serial information... or is it something that can be gleaned from the kernel info? The reason I bring this up is because while I was able to get version ZNKG5 to bring my phone back to life, it's still slightly different from what was on there when I purchased it. Clearly there are different versions of the Chinese firmware available, but maybe it's just the CSC.

If there's a hope and a prayer here to actually have some fun with this thing, I'll keep it. If not, it's going up on ebay.

And just out of curiosity, which CSC did you load?

A LATE ADDITION:

Everyone reading this thread might be happier to read this one. http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=16140775

If it's not the solution, it makes me thing that one is right around the corner.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gmstrollo:
Okay, following the above link, I was able to get to onwhere's page where he/she is apparently hacking the chinese OS in realtime. No sooner did I download in flash the new firmware, without FAIL!, no less, than a new version was posted. This appears to have Android market preloaded, gmail, and a bunch of other stuff. You have to navigate through the icons to get to the language settings so you switch it into English (or whatever your native tongue.)

All these pages are in Chinese. Onwhere's page points to a download page, also in Chinese. You can kinda figure it out. I asked a Chinese colleage to translate for me before I got all click-happy. If anyone needs directions on how to navigate through there, I can help.

The best advice though is to use Chrome and let Google translate it for you.

I'm downloading the new version (1.2.4 as of today) and will install and post comment.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Odia:
I think the boots will allow ZN and ZC, possibly ZS too, you may also be able to flash any version by removing boot.bin and sbl.bin from the flash bundle, you may also need to remove param.lfs, this is just some theory since I do not have an SGS2 with Chinese boots and I am not responsible for any damage should you wish to test it out.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] SWEcarlson:
Hi, Sitting with a chinese SGS2 and cant update firmware. Any solution to get app-market and google running would be great!

Will read link above to see if the mood works for me.

Thanks.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] SWEcarlson:
The link is not working for me, any other location where the file might be?
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] gmstrollo:
Try here: http://bbs.gfan.com/android-2099143-1-1.html
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] lrojasma:
Actually i found a way to get around this.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=18490662&posted=1#post18490662
[Desire HD Android Development] Gtj94:
I present, in collaboration with Decalc & Mothatt, MIUI+

Aiming to be light and clean, with the best performance available.

Feature List:

•LorDMod Kernels

•/Cattleprod Kernels (Newly introduced and testing)

•Latest MIUI Android English translation bases

•Project Vexillum icon theme as default (stock MIUI icons + more)

•All bloat and extra apps removed, get the latest versions from the market

•Various Mods including 4-Way-Reboot, Extended Settings Menu Options and Skip track via volume press

What to Expect:

•Quick Timely releases

•Lighter and less bloated

•Tweaked to allow a better user experience

•Good support from our Devs

•Nearly complete stock MIUI

My changes

Removed ->

• Appshare.apk

• Gmail.apk

• Simplelivewallpaper.apk and Livewallpaperpicker.apk

• Simtoolkit.apk

• LatinIME.apk

• Miliao.apk

• Miuistats.apk

• HTMLViewer.apk

• Protips.apk

• Picotts.apk

• All Wallpapers and Ringtones except Stock

• All extra themes

Added ->

• Virtuous OC Daemon

• LordMod Kernel (Latest during time of release)

• Vexillum Icon set as a stock Extension

• 4-WAY reboot MOD

• Extended Settings MOD

• LG IME Keyboard

• Updated Hosts

• Tweaked Wi-Fi Scan rate

• Vipermod

• Dolby & SRS Support

Credit List:

•CM7 team

•Virtuous Team/ Rmk40

•Cattleprod

•MrGarak

•MIUI Android team

•Seo

•LorD ClockaN

•Andy Thomson for the Extended Settings Menu Options and Skip track via volume press for the MIUI Music app Mods

•Everyone responsible for the 4-Way Reboot Mod

•Everyone behind Project Vexillum for their lovely icons

Download

1.7.22 MIUI+ V1.0

1.7.29 MIUI+ V2.0

1.8.5 MIUI+ V3.0 'August 6th'

1.8.12 MIUI+ V4.0 (Cancelled)

1.8.26 MIUI+ V5.0

TEST

'August 27th'

Have a Galaxy S? Check Out Mothatt & Decalcs Version here
[Desire HD Android Development] Gtj94:
Screenshots