yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Mini] munlicar97:
Hi, can anyone find a ROM for E10i that has a XPERIA UI and that is Android 2.3+? I can't find the right one. I want a ROM that needs stock kernel and CWM/xRecovery. Can anyone find a ROM for me? Thanks :)
[Samsung Galaxy Nexus] cnoevl21:
I read that 4.2 wasn't that great which is why I jst stayed with 4.1.2, but I've read that 4.2.2 is better. Is it worth switching? To do so, do I need to do anything different or just wipe data and flash a 4.2.2 rom?
[Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini, Mini Pro, Xperia Pro, A] Code SyGma:
How would you port roms? And also what things would you need?

Thanks!
[Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini, Mini Pro, Xperia Pro, A] RavinduSha:
Why don't u just search? There are so many tutorials in this forum.

Just have a look at this guide
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] hazedabeast:
I might sound like a noob but is it hard to make a ROM?
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] calisro:
time consuming.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] hazedabeast:
I really want to try to make one
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Drewand91:
There are download able free programs to do so. Just google it =)
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] BAleR:
Ya but thats not the way real devs make roms. Still cool tho.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] patrao_n:
Just make sure you dont post others work without giving credit. Asking first before posting is polite as well.

sent from MY BAD A$$ ET4G
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] graydiggy:
I agree... Make sure you ask if you plan on using a ROM as a base.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] hazedabeast:
OK thanks for all the info.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] g_ding84:
Are you into theming or just throwing things together? PM if you want some help.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] hazedabeast:
Is it hard to theme ROMs?

Its over 9000!!!!
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] -EViL-KoNCEPTz-:
Its very time consuming. For basic themeing of the systemui theres the UOT theme kitchen online, google it and play around with it a bit to get a taste for themeing before you start manually doing it. UOT has a GUI to theme from vs manual themeing requires decompiling apks and making edits then re compiling the apk the pushing it back into system or building a flashable zip.

I like to break stuff! :D
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] BAleR:
I know it takes alot of time. I looked into it some and there are 100's and 100's of files you have to go through to find the ones you want to theme. But if you really want to try somethin. Im down to help. Im not bad with photoshop and i could help build roms. Im no expert but i can learn.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] hazedabeast:
I'll read up on it.

Its over 9000!!!!!
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] BAleR:
Let me rephrase that, thousands and thousands.

Ya, gives you an idea of what these devs go through to help us out.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] hazedabeast:
Man

I know its a lot of hard work props to them.

Its over 9000!!!!!
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] hazedabeast:
Did you Devs. Learn from forums/guides how to port or create ROMs?
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] Stryke_the_Orc:
I read a ton on how to. Then I released my first ROM, mostly stock, no theme really, changed a few system apps and sounds, etc...

I was then offered to be taught by most of the devs on here and took advantage of that.

I am always available to help, just send me a pm if you need it and I'll add you to google talk and walk you through it:thumbup::D:beer:

Slithering from the nether regions of a twisted mind and tarnished soul
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] hazedabeast:
Sure when i have all my stuff ready.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] hazedabeast:
Finished my Rom

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=2238252

Sent from a Volted Epic 4G Touch!
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] graydiggy:
Stop spamming!
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] hazedabeast:
Who's spamming
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] graydiggy:
The guy I quoted. He got a ban, I believe.
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] hazedabeast:
What did he do
[Samsung Epic 4G Touch] graydiggy:
He was spamming a bunch of threads with "thank you so much" to get his post count up.
[Galaxy Tab 2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] onyx1898:
hey folks, i was wondering if there was anything that can be done about the sound on our device (gt-p5113). Most Samsung phones has some kind of software-level sound enhancement that is baked into most roms, or flashable via cwm (or whatever recovery is being used). i was curious to know that was available for the tablets as well.

I am currently using the Noozxoide-eizo rewire app, and its helping, but its got nothing on my gs2 with the beats baked in along with that app...

If anyone knows if this even exists and can direct me where to find it, it would be most helpful.

thanks
[Galaxy Tab 2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] superdog404:
Hi - I can't help you as I've tried a few things to get the sound up on my GT-5113 running open kang project by cmenard. You may be able to help me. How are you getting the Noozxoide to work? Maybe it's my rom but it doesn't show up under sound.

Thanks
[Galaxy Tab 2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] onyx1898:
Its an app on the market...
[Galaxy Tab 2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] superdog404:
I understand where the app is. My problem is I don't see any setting under sound to use the app on my 5113. I loaded it on my Sgsii and see how it should work.

Thanks
[Galaxy Tab 2 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] onyx1898:
you adjust the settings within the app not the sound menu.
[Sony Xperia P, U, Sola, Go] ghost_j1:
hi all

free VPN no root for sola please I tried a lot of VPNs but none of them worked anyone can suggest something ?

list of VPN I tried I want something else

1.VPN 1 Click

2.Droid

3.anyconnect

4.hide man

4.hotspot shield

6.5 vpn

7.droid vpn

8.fearless vpn

9.tunnelbear

10.VIATUN

11.Panda pow

12.express VPn

hope someone will ganna help :'(
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] rattfink:
Trying to fix my daughters SGIII Sprint phone.

This morning it started going into a bootloop.

What I've tried:

1) Attempted CWM recovery by pressing (VOLUP+HOME+POWER). The screen flashing "SAMSUNG" with in small blue font in upper left "Reocery Starting..." And then the phone shuts off right away.

2) Attempted ODIN recovery by pressing (VOLDOWN+HOME+POWER). Once in download screen in ODIN I try and flash KIES_HOME_L710VPBLJ7_L710SPRBLJ7_329968_REV03_user_low_ship.tar.md5 but after a few seconds the phone just shuts off.

All in all I think if I can just get the phone to stop shutting down while in download mode I can at least flash something and this thing back up.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] porshce2:
Okay, so I had this problem and at the end of the day I had to turn it in to Samsung for warranty purposes because the phone would automatically turn off when on and then restart the boot process and turn off again. However, I found a temporary fix, if you pull out the battery wait for a while (like an hour) and put it back in, the phone should stay on longer so you can flash through Odin. The phone will no longer turn on normally because once you start the flash with Odin the boot.img has been flashed but it's a broken flash due to the fact that the phone turned off in the process.

Here are simple steps:

Take out the battery and leave it out for an hour or so (longer won't hurt)

Get the USB plug and make sure it's in the computer and Odin is started with the correct tar file already selected so that you can flash it quicker

Put the battery back in and start the phone in download mode

Connect the phone and just let it sit for a couple second to make sure it stays on

If it does stay on for more than 15-20 seconds then you can begin the flashing process

If it turns off while in download mode you can take out the battery and put it back in (you don't need to wait)

It's really all just a matter of patience because eventually, the phone should turn on for long enough

Once flashed, the phone should work for a while

So after following that process, I got the phone to work for about 2 months but the issue reoccurred. I was eventually able to flash the stock rom but the problem persisted. So I called in to Samsung to turn it in for the warranty. So far, they have "Replaced a component" in my phone. I SHOULD have it back by Monday. :fingers-crossed:
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] rattfink:
Thanks, for the response. Battery is out now so I'll try later this evening after it sits for awhile.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] porshce2:
I hope it works for you. Just as an update, Samsung has fixed the problem and my phone has shipped as of today! So I guess it's an error on their part.
[Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III] rattfink:
No luck yet.. Going to leave battery out overnight and try again in morning.
[LG Thrill 4G] v3 Steezyy:
(This was the most related section to my phone, if I'm wrong please move it and don't delete it. I really need help! lol.)

K I rooted last night, flashed CM7.2

Phone: LG Thrill 4G AT&T flashed to CyanogenMod 7.2

Before you guys tell me to use the search, I have! I've been working on this for 11 hours straight now cause I can't use my phone!

1st Problem: After flashing I had no service. (Yes I used search.) Tried adding APN manually, no luck with many different methods. All the other methods possible required file transfers, which leads me to my 2nd problem.

2nd Problem: My computer will not recognize my phone to transfer files. It will charge however. I tried uninstalling drivers and reinstalling them, etc.

BUT right now I have it open! Yes! Now I just want to know the best files and things to do right now before it won't let me transfer files again. I do not know why it is suddenly reading it so I'm counting on it not being able to after I try fixing everything.

If I flash to a new ROM will I get service back? Should I just go back to stock/unroot? I'd prefer to keep it rooted if I can get my service and everything working.

Thank you guys! I know a lot of these question have been answered and I tried finding them, I really did. But I'm so close now that I can actually transfer files and I just need help! Thank you. I appreciate it.

And by the way I can't just backup because when I flashed to CM7 my original backup got deleted, or just hidden deep away somewhere??
[LG Thrill 4G] billy8362:
I think u need to change your bb to use cm7. Im not for sure though as i have never used cm7. I would use this rom http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=33390433 it is a very good ROM to start out with. Make sure your phone is update to GB before you try this one. After you get comfortable you can go to the o3d and maybe try cm10 jellybean. Good luck. Read read read. It is what i had to do.
[LG Thrill 4G] bigjonnyd:
I had the same issues. You have to use the Lg - p920 (Optimus 3d) Rom not sure why but it worked like a charm.
[Asus Transformer TF700] xFaultx:
Just installed ubuntu on my tablet, and still getting used to linux, but I wanted to know, even if pure speculation, will ubuntu touch be possible on the TF700? I am sort of regretting getting my android tablet, due the lack of the ability to multi window. I hope that ubuntu will help me there for when i need it, but Id really like to know if I possibly could get my tablet to do all the fancy stuff they were doing in that video.

For those who havent seen it, here is the article:

http://phandroid.com/2013/02/19/ubuntu-touch-for-nexus-tablets/
[Asus Transformer TF700] gennro:
Yes, it should be possible. Canonical is releasing a porting guide on Ubuntuwiki 22 Feb 13. I know this weekend end I will be working on porting it this weekend. I know Rabits will probably be working with it also.

Don't expect a whole lot as of now it is still in alpha stages of development. I was reading that the next few updates will be based off of 13.04, which should bring some improvements in speed and memory management. I have been running 13.04 on a laptop and it is a lot smoother and faster then 12.10.
[Asus Transformer TF700] xFaultx:
Sounds sweet, very excited
[Nexus 10 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] theriel:
Hi,

I have been trying to watch videos streamed from my PC to my tablet but so far I have had little success...

I am using MX Player Pro to watch videos and ES Explorer to access my PC contents. I have no problems with opening any files including videos and streaming of small files (~300MB movies) works perfectly. The problem is - I would like to watch my Blu-Ray and DVD rips, which are 10GB +. Alas, in this case, it buffers 1 second of movie per 20 seconds in real life. It is unwatchable.

So, the question is - how I could I speed it up? The signal is full (I run the tests with PC and Nexus next to my router, Netgear), the PC has all other connections turned off (mail/browser, antivirus updates etc. all turned off) though it shows the connection speed of only ~80-120Mbps. I guess I am lacking ideas...

Thank you for help,

Theriel
[Nexus 10 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Herman76:
Are your computer connected through wireless? If streaming BR movies you need a lot of bandwith which maybe you won't get if you have a bad wifi connection.
[Nexus 10 Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Androidluv:
Have you tried VLC player? Don't know if it will help with your problem. I'll be getting my N10 tonight, so I'll be checking on that aspect of it for sure.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] vincom:
I CREATED THIS ROM FROM ROGERS OFFICIAL JB 4.1.2 UXUMA7 FIRMWARE:

THANKS TO MOHAN_KR'S KERNEL - BAKED IN - READ ABOUT IT HERE

DEODEXED

ROOTED

INIT.D

INSECURE

RAMDISK

ZIPALIGNED

STOCK BOOT ANIMATION(IN MOHAN'S KERNEL IT WAS REMOVED)

FULL BLOAT, NOTHING WAS REMOVED AFAIK

INSTALLING

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR DEVICES, BUT SH*T HAPPENS!

No radio is included, flash one or stay with what you have, rom will not wipe your existing radio

Im using twrp 2.4.1.0

check md5

Full wipe >both caches,reset,system

Flash rom

Flash t9 - predictive text - somehow it was initially left out

First boot will take awhile, go have a beer

Go through the setup wizard if you like

Let it settle

Open supersu and update the binaries

DOWNLOAD

OFFICIAL 4.1.2 UXUMA7 De-ODEXED ROOTED ROM

T9 - predictive text

"I AM NOT A DEV, I JUST KNOW HOW TODO STUFF"
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] mpfstc:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

Thanks. Was waiting for this.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] jd1639:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

Are you going to make a lite version? Love your lites

God promised men that he'd put beautiful women in all corners of the world. Then he laughed and laughed and made the world round
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] cjd80:
agreed. I find that Rogers ROMs, overall, tend to work wellf or me, so I would like to try this. However, I am using your latest Superlite, and it is honestly the best ROM ive ever used, between this phone and my previous phone (captivate). I would love to see a superlite built on the official Rogers JB!

Either way, thank you for posting this.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] mahanddeem:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

Good job..Thanks...Removing radio is good but I would think it was better to leave the stock kernel in it to be purely stock..

Thanks
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] lingowistico:
But it is the stock kernel just more free :highfive:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] vincom:
was thinking that but there is the stock firmware, but i agree w/lingowistico below

btw, i somehow leftout the t9, its the predictive text, its in the op, just flash it in recovery
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] mahanddeem:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

May be,but it's not stock...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] vincom:
if you ask mohan i think he would disagree with you, its not like the source is out. this rom is deodexed, as the original is odexed so i guess its not true stock, but i never stated it was, for true stock there is the odin flashable file
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] xstokerx:
Just flashed running greatvlooks like sammy did a better job with this then ics thanks vincom again for all the hard work.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] lingowistico:
Good to know :) It doesn't matter as i always use touchpal nowadays and only because swype beta always fc's on me.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] xxboarderxx:
Thanks for this. I'm trying it out now and it has appeared to have successfully flashed. I rebooted and it is taking a LONG time...over 10 minutes now. Should I reflash or continue to wait? How long is long?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] mahanddeem:
I know you never said it's stock ... But it helps much for people to have a cwm way to install "samsung stock" roms , ODIN can be risky some times ! ... I was thinkning the exact thing to extarct a flashable zip from the tar file , but as long as you did that , thanks for sharing...

PS : I flashed , then restored my just-made backup of ICS ... You didn't tell it's a "cleaned-up" rom , yes you didn't state it's a 100% stock , but you also didn't state it's tempered with or modified in some way , like deleted apps or so ...

However , I am out ... Thanks anyway...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] vincom:
maybe mohan will, i might post one up later

i never did time it, if its actually 10 mins thats too long, did you perform a full wipe, caches, system,reset.

check md5
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] xxboarderxx:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

Waited another 5 mins (after 2 beers) and still no lights on the touch keys so figured something was wrong. Yes I wiped cache, dalvik and system twice. Also did a factory reset before flashing. Using latest twrp and coming from mohan's Embryo 6.4 rom. Not sure why it didn't work. MD5 checks out fine too... Phone is from Rogers.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] vincom:
mine is rogers, i flashed this rom countless times, i suggest to start over as something from previous rom is still hanging around, wipe everything x2 just to be sure
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] kparikh82276:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

Can you please provide screen shots so I can see how the rom would lay out?

Currently i'm on your slim cm10 4.1.2 would this be as smooth as that? Honestly the slim has become my standard rom. I'm actually content with it I don't wanna flash anything new.

But if this one offers stability with new look then I'll consider flashing :angel:

Thnx boss for your input to this community and making me love my skyrocket again.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] lingowistico:
I think you're supposed to wipe data not system, am i right? I mean if you did that in recovery after flashing, then that would certainly amount to an epic fail on your behalf. Otherwise it shouldn't matter. Make sure you've got a compatible radio (any of the samsung jb radios should do). + what vincom said.

@vincom Did you mean the dialer T9 or the dictionaries for the keyboard? To me T9 is anything where a keyboard guesses the word you're typing.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] xxboarderxx:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] berniesteven:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

Really like this rom. Only issue is I had to add apn to get Internet working. Att us. Wifi works fine out of the box. RUXUMA7 radio.

SGH-I727 - Peace
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] xxboarderxx:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

Any idea why wiping cache and Dalvik in recovery causes boot loop?

A
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] vincom:
shouldnt unless you messed with the kernel and/or the system files, or added an app that mucked up the system/kernel, i tested with a superlite version of this rom and it booted fine, did you get to the screen "android is upgrading". if others are reporting same i will reload full rom to check

btw, the superlite version is running sweet and superslick, still testing it out though
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] cjd80:
great news about superlite. no rush -- thanks for the update, though! Definitely looking forward to it :D
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] xxboarderxx:
Have to clarify that the rom is running great...I was just wanting to wipe cache and dalvik and to my surprise, bootloop. I wish I messed with something so I'd know why it is bootlooping after wipe but nope...I didn't. It is stock. I made a nandroid before I wiped so I just restored. It could be my internal storage needing a format so I'm going to transfer whatever is important off and format it and reinstall the rom.

No it didn't get a chance to go to 'android is upgrading'. The touch keys never lit up.

Will report back after I do a clean wipe/format (whatever you call it) with TWRP.

Great to hear the superlite is running superslick! Can't wait to try it out once you're satified with testing. In my opinion, this rom is already slick so I am excited for superlite!!!

Cheers

A
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] kparikh82276:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

So is it worth flashing for us att? I'm on the lite v8 and loving it but I think i got the flashing bug. I know i should leave things alone if it's not broke. But it's an addiction I tell ya.

Please your opinion will help in either flashing or not.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] xxboarderxx:
Also wanted to report that GPS gets a lock in less than 10 seconds! It is crazy!
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] dulexetina:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

Very nice rom :) will there be any mods to this rom,like riple effect and toggles mod?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] vincom:
k, just tested full rom, installed rom, booted, signed in, restarted into recovery, wiped both caches, rebooted successfully

your sdcard shouldnt mess it up but a good idea to clean it out, either a initial bad wipe or check md5 of rom
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] berniesteven:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

Definitely worth flashing. Just back up (write down) your lte apn so you can manually add.

SGH-I727 - Peace
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] xxboarderxx:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

Reporting that I used TWRP to wipe cache, dalvik, system, factory reset AND internal storage 3x each. Then proceeded to install the rom. Once rom was installed, I flashed T9 zip as well and rebooted.

Rom booted fine and I waited for 10 mins, then opened each app once. Did not install any extra apps!

Booted into TWRP and wiped both caches and again, stuck on Samsung logo...very weird!!!

I'm not experienced enough to know what could be wrong...

A
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] berniesteven:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

What version of twrp?

SGH-I727 - Peace
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] lingowistico:
Maybe you could do with the UCLL3 radio?
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] xxboarderxx:
Re: [ROM][RUXUMA7]OFFICIAL 4.1.2 De-ODEXED ROOTED ZIPALIGNED INIT.D INSECURE FEB 20/1

TWRP version = 2.3.3.0

One other weird thing...when I looked at the apps, my banking apps, goo manager and poweramp are still there!? I thought wiping internal storage and factory reset in TWRP erases all apps?

A
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727] vincom:
nothing in the wiping process> caches, factory reset, system > touches your internal or external sdcard, they stay intact.

unless you actually choose to wipe your sdcard from recovery, not necessary or recommended for installing roms, if you do, back up your sdcard first

update to latest twrp 2.4.1.0