[Galaxy S III General] xclub_101:
OK, as you know an official 4.3 is out and after Wanam got a NON-WIPE version based on it the temptation was too big.

I was running for a very long time a dual-boot system based initially on Siyah kernel and lately on Googy-Max kernel, and the main ROM was a Sammy 4.1.2 (which also happens to be quite customized, with a lot of bloatware removed and the rest frozen in Titanium or Greenified; also using Apex as launcher and DialerEx as dialer).

FIRST STEP - make a good EFS backups (as in save it in more than in one place) - I was running with an older EMF1 modem (which I found to be VERY power-efficient for my needs) using the old EFS format, (for the moment) it is said that 4.3 Sammy ROMs will need the newer EFS format and will upgrade you (probably by installing the new modem). Also in this step it is a good idea to backup your ROM(s) from recovery (and direct that to the external SD). It is also a good idea to have around "just in case" the kernel(s) and whatever else you think you might need to restore things in case something goes wrong. Also having a Titanium Backup of your LATEST stuff on the external SD is a very good idea.

2nd STEP - get a NON-WIPE ROM based on the Sammy 4.3 - I used GT-I9300_WanamLite.XXUGMJ9.V7.2.NO-WIPE.zip

3rd STEP (optional stuff) - in case you want to keep your old Sammy configuration and/or dual-boot - copy (in the special dual-boot recovery) your Sammy main ROM on both slots - I normally have my main 4.1.2 as the 2nd ROM (which is set as default = primary), and I do all the tests on the 1st ROM (mostly since some aroma installers work best on 1st ROM). So I kept my main 4.1.2 as the 2nd ROM and I made a copy of it to 1st ROM.

4th STEP - install the NON-WIPE 4.3 (in my case from Philz Recovery over the 1st ROM as an upgrade). It worked pretty well but it took a rather long time (10+ minutes). At the end I encountered 2 minor problems - during the upgrade of the Sammy Calendar items it kind of remained forever there (with the circle rotating but after 10 more minutes I decided it was a little too much and I forced a power off by keeping the power button pressed 7-9 seconds; after restart it went over OK; at a later time I got a message that media scanner crashed but after updates it seems OK).

5th STEP - update everything in the new ROM and configure it to your taste. IMHO you MUST try Xposed + Wanam Xposed - that one is great.

After a large number of updates, restarts, Wanam-related configurations + obligatory restarts and Greenify-related stuff I got EVERYTHING to work PERFECTLY in the new 4.3, so a few impressions on that:

- things are definitely a little snappier in 4.3

- the new settings are kind of different but not that much

- for me it was a major point that EVERYTHING was kept/upgraded - all my contacts were still there (with the custom pictures), Sammy calendar items and so on; the one thing that I had to restore manually were the custom ringtones;

- this version does not repartition and does not change your bootloader/recovery, but the Sammy official one is said to do that and to replace your bootloader; the free space is kind of low in /system without the repartition but IMHO is still perfectly usable;

- battery life over night looks OK for a Sammy kernel but is a far cry from what I was getting with custom kernels in 4.1.2 - about 8% discharge over night vs. only about 2%

- the best two new features for me - the torchlight in lockscreen (with volume up 2 seconds) and the 3-tap-zoom (standard Android stuff since 4.2.x)

- there is a very tiny delay when unlocking - some people claimed it was like 2 seconds but they are delusional, it is well under 0.5 seconds and I am not bothered by that AT ALL; EDIT: OK, I have now seen a few times something clearly longer than one second, it seems to be a little variable, I have yet to determine on what :(

- what bothers me a little is the PIN-unlock dialpad - I have seen the same in CM/AOSP before and it is kind of ultra-laggy (and pretty small) compared to the 4.1.2 Sammy PIN-unlock dialpad; on the other hand the 4.3 Sammy keyboard feels a lot better/faster than the ported Note2 keyboard that I am using in 4.1.2 :good:

- camera also works OK, the new Sammy media player is also OK (but voice commands are tricky on it); for the moment the lockscreen for me is "stuck" in the 'safe mode" enforced by Sammsung by some setting of policy; for me is not a problem but I would like to know more about this.

KIND OF DUAL-BOOTING

Googy-Max is not yet fully dual-booting the new Sammy 4.3 (but IMHO is VERY close - 4.3 boots and seems to be seen over USB, only the video driver is not correctly initialized), but there still is a way to get a kind of dual-booting - it is no longer a 2-click 10-seconds thing but instead a 10-click 50-seconds thing but still works :cool: - I have Googy-Max-Kernel_1.7.8_CWM.zip and Archi_Flasher_Repacked_Wanam_Stock_XXUGMJ9_Kernel.zip in the root of the internal SD and I only need to restart to recovery and write the 6-8 MB of kernel; when the Sammy stock 4.3 is written it automatically starts the 1st (standard) ROM = 4.3, when Googy-Max is written it was set as default for the 2nd ROM so it goes automatically to my old 4.1.2 ;)

REMEMBER - everything on internal SD is the new "4.2.x and newer" style - in 4.3 it goes to /data/media/0 and in 4.1.2 it goes to /data/media. Eventually specific configuration for that must be done in Philz Recovery and Titanium Backup.

I am still doing some battery tests over the next days - this night I want to test if the new BUUGMJ3 modem is part of the power-consumption differences so I will test it in the old 4.1.2 and with Googy-Max. There are many other small things to test, I will eventually add those here once done.

EDIT: A BETTER KERNEL FIXES THE LAGS

I have now tried a beta kernel (different than the stock one) and the lags are gone, tomorrow I will report on battery life.

http://yank555-lu.net/viewtopic.php?p=4594#p4594

Also it might not be impossible that a true dual-boot Googy Max might be ready after the weekend or so.