[XPERIA X8 General] Fortun:
GAMING (This post).

Added: THE RETURN OF ATIFROYO (http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=29546400&postcount=14).

Added: TWEAKAGE (http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=30130560&postcount=23).

Gaming.

Let's face it. For some their phones are just a gaming console... that can also happen to make phone calls! For whatever reason you ended up with a Xperia X8, case in point: my younger brother.

I happen to have a knack for computers, he just cares about what they would do. So, this is my small journey trying to help him. Probably someone can benefit from it.

So, here's my experience with ROMs running on stock kernel without overclocking. Why no overclocking? For the life of me, I couldn't tell the difference, even tho I really wanted it to work.

I judged the performance on gaming running Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots and Dead Space. Arbitrary, I know; but it has worked in determining how stable and fast a ROM would be. Dead Space was specially helpful in determining stability since some ROMs would reboot or would close Dead Space after trying to open a saved state. What's more, I would have a frame of reference to test the ROMs with what would prove to be two demanding games for the X8.

· Stock 2.1.1 doesn't run PiB. I don't know about Dead Space because at the moment I didn't even know about that game.

· FroyoPro 2.5 would occasionally run PiB, when it would open it would be lag free. Dead Space wasn't tested on this ROM either.

· GingerDX from v26 onwards runs both. PiB runs with a little bit of lag. Dead Space would become laggy at parts, tho it is quite stable.

After those three ROMs, I tried a few more, mainly Gingerbread ROMs. Most of them were quickly changed. The next are the few who lasted more than half an hour to an hour, also a few of the most popular oner, which are bound to bring up questions.

· FroyoBread v23b. PiB would seldomly open and it would be laggy. Dead Space wouldn't open saved states.

· KuyaDroid 4.5.4. Fast first boot... that caught my eye, plus the cool bootanimation. Dead Space was slow and wouldn't open saved states. PiB had some lags, but it was playable.

· XG!N V8 (LinuXperia Xgin v.0.10). This one caught me by surprise, my first thought was: "This is one ugly ROM"; however both Dead Space and PiB were for the first time fast. Too bad Dead Space wouldn't open saved states. On a second run of this ROM, I might have made a mistake. The ROM originally tested couldn't possibly be XG!N V8 (not the same looks), it probably is LinuXperia Xgin v.0.10.

Tests up to this point seem to leave no clear winner... until:

· AtiFroyo 5.2. Both PiB and Dead Space run smooth. Dead Space opens saved states. First boot is fast... That fast that it deserves mentioning. The only drawback is auto brightness. I like installing Lux Auto Brightness so my brother doesn't burn his eyeballs at night but it's rendered useless since autobrightness is always ON. I tried changing hw_config.sh values, but nothing. I even tried deleting the whole settings that are supposed to manage auto brightness and it would still be active.

My advice: if you can live with the autobrightness bug, use AtiFroyo. Hands down. Use x8toolbox to install the DualTouch modules without hussle.

So, what's my brother's phone running now?

He needs Lux Auto Brightness. So AtiFroyo is ruled out. A shame, really.

Here's the set-up, keep in mind that I want my brother to mess with the settings as little as possible:

· GingerDX v28b. Minus lots of apps (see: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=26683929).

· RAM Manager Pro. Balance is checked at all times. Couldn't tell the difference with the other settings. In fact the only difference I could tell while using RAM Manager Pro, is that when an app starts acting funny, it gets killed faster.

· Chainfire3d. With Reduce Texture Quality always ON. It makes even the games that don't need it run a little bit faster, or at least start faster. The only time you'll notice the difference is when there are gradients present.

· Zeam Launcher. It's a launcher. Seriously, if you only care for getting to your apps/games, this is the answer. For an ICS look go: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1558419. Word of caution: apparently what this modded version does, is pull the icons from the theme; so, if you're using, for example, the system theme the icons won't be the ICS icons.

The results of this set-up: PiB is not as fast, but playable. Dead Space is stable, some lags are still noticeable, but overall is playable.

A final note:

Thanks to all the developers here. You all pushed/discovered, and continue to push, the limits of what the X8 can do.

Who would have thought that some of the X8 phones had real dual touch capabilities?

This list/post is not, by any means, a final judgement/call on the ROMs on the forums. My brother has a very narrow specific use for his phone and this has been my experience trying to fill what he wanted.