[Samsung Galaxy J5 Guides, News, & Discussion] Myrmeko:
This is all based on personal opinions and experiences. I mean no offense to any of the developers. None of this should be taken as an insult, because it's not intended to be.

Android 5.x:

- Stock: I'll always like the simplicity in design of the older Touchwiz versions. It was nice, but it got pretty laggy after a while.

- Light Xperion:

- ColorOS: Link's broken.

- MIUI 8: Link's broken.

- MIUI 9: Link's broken.

- ADS Sony: Link's broken.

Android 6.x:

- Stock: Starts lagging so bad after around two years of use. Literally no apps installed other than the necessary ones. No games, nothing. Internal storage kept always empty. Became so laggy that the status bar took literally almost one whole second to pull down. Not really that good of an experience. The system took way too much space and didn't have that many features. Sure the theme engine was nice, but that's about it. There isn't really any point into reviewing this, but i thought it might be kinda interesting, if anyone else experienced the same issues as me.

- MIUI 8: About what you'd expect. It's MIUI. Feature packed, as usual. Sometimes laggy, as usual on a low end phone.

- MIUI 10: Graphics pack over MIUI 8. Looks nice.

- Slim6:

- ADS Asus: Link's broken, sadly. I really wanted to see how it was with all the apps i suggested adding. Should have been pretty much a full Asus experience, except the SystemUI.

- SuperROM:

- PERFORMANCE BOOST SPEED: Link's broken.

Android 7.x:

- HalogenOS: Doesn't install, "E3003: Can't install this package over newer build.", which makes no sense because the phone was fully wiped. Tried many times, going from different ROMs back to this. Never worked. It looks pretty nice in the screenshots, even has some custom apps. Quite unfortunate that it doesn't install.

- Odyssey Note8: I personally don't like 3MinitBattery, never liked it. Other than that it lags quite a lot. But it's kinda expected since it's supposed to be a ROM ported from a phone with much more horsepower under the hood.

- SEP Lite: Doesn't recognize the J500F as "J500xx". Refuses to install

- SEP: I just don't get why the Lite version doesn't install. This one installed just fine. Anyway, it's just stock Touchwiz, nothing much to say about it. It runs just fine, nothing more, nothing less. I like the little touches like the Aroma installer and the amount of options are offered.

- WyckedOS: Doesn't flash. "No digest file found".

- SpaceOS: Doesn't flash. "No digest file found".

- Mokee: Doesn't boot. Artefacts. Booting forever.

- AOSP CAF: Doesn't flash. "Can't install this package over newer build".

- CosmicOS: Doesn't flash. "Can't install this package over newer build".

- Serenity: Touchiwz, just Touchwiz. Just like SEP, it's just Touchwiz. The same, but slightly different features. Like SEP, it's as fast as Touchwiz can get, which is not very fast, but it's usable.

- XOS: Doesn't flash. "No digest file found".

- XOSP: Crashes on boot. Massive graphics artefacts. Custom kernels result in bootlooping.

- Ground Zero Validus: Very slow boot compared to the rest, takes way too much time. Glance doesn't work, just shows the lockscreen directly. Doesn't even have an internet browser app installed. The home screen is a random mess. It's not really that polished. But i like that you can make the statusbar transparent with a blurred background. I get what they were doing with the grid style recents, but a more HTC-like approach would have been a lot better, since the grid style only allows 8 apps at a time to be shown, plus they change size depending on how many there are and you can't swipe them to close them, you must hit the tiny "X" button.

- Ground Zero Tesla: Boots the same as slow, but this time it's pre-rooted instead of just having Magisk there to root it yourself. Normally i would complain about it being the same, or about the fact that it's lacking Substratum unlike the other one, but i'm actually very ok with it because i like the features it has. Their custom Kernel Adiutor version supports voltage and sound control, which is a really nice feature. It even has a custom theme, which, yeah, it might hurt some eyes, but it's there at least. It's above average. I wouldn't say good, but it's not bad either and has some unique features. The presentation is messy.

- Hexagon: "No digest file found", but it's installing, maybe if i were to replace the installer script from the other ROMs with this one... Hmmm... Maybe some other time. After finishing installing, it crashed on boot just like XOSP. Graphics artefacts, display slowly fading to yellow for some reason. Doesn't reboot with other kernels, but stays on the boot screen indefinitely.

- DarkNess reDefined: Doesn't flash. "Can't install this package over newer build".

- LiquidDark: Doesn't flash. "No digest file found".

- Fire Star: Doesn't flash. "ERROR: 7".

- AICP: I really like this ROM. It's snappy, feature packed and the weather integration is actually extremely well made. It has weather on the lock screen, on the status bar and on the home screen. And it's actually functional. One thing i have to complain about is the grid-style recent apps screen, which is beyond broken. Literally unusable. But other than that, it's a really good ROM.

- Xperience: Doesn't flash. "No digest file found".

- XenonHD: Doesn't flash. "No digest file found".

- ViperOS: A lot better than ViperOS on Android 9.x. It's a lot more feature packed than the newer version, it has a lot more customization, it doesn't lag and it's overall a good experience. I don't understand how it got worse with updates.

- CypherOS: Massive graphics artefacts. Custom kernels result in bootlooping.

- OneUI: It's literally just a few icons changed and a pretty much broken framework because there is a lot of white text on white background. Very disappointing. I had the highest hopes for this ROM, especially because it came in a different format of having two different zip files.

- LitE: Flashes boot animation for half a second. Any other kernel bootloops.

- Resurrection Remix: It doesn't boot, because it gets stuck at the boot animation. No kernel fixes the issue.

- Slim7: Doesn't flash. "ERROR: 7".

Android 8.x:

- LineageOS: First impression was great, as usual with all LineageOS ROMs. It's pretty much the base for all ROMs. it's good if you like clean and simple UIs.

- AOKP: Besides not having an "OOBE", the customization app has a rather outdated design. Also, the app installer crashes every time i tried to install anything. On the flip side, the customization app offers a wide range of options, nothing to complain about that. Can install apps with 1 Click Installer which uses root, or (i haven't tested) with Lucky Patcher.

- Toxyc: The customization was very complex, but it didn't even have an internet browser pre-installed and the messaging app kept crashing over and over again. Unusable, because it doesn't have basic functionalities like text messaging. Another unfortunate one, because the performance was also good.

- ViperOS: I don't have anything to say about it. Good customization app. Nothing more, nothing less. Good performance, almost wanted to stay on this ROM.

- dotOS: Didn't boot at first surprisingly. Got locked up at the Samsung logo. But the issue was the kernel. After i flashed Jet Cooled Kernel it booted right up. After boot, i was met with a really nice UI, a very mature and modern looking customization app and overall no bugs whatsoever. In conclusion, broken kernel, but good performance and stability with any other kernel.

- Ressurection Remix: As expected, it has every possible customization option there could possibly be. You can even customize the customization app. It's just mindblowing.

- Tipsy: Not only the home button doesn't wake the screen, it also has barely any customization and the home screen you're greeted with is quite messy. The theme engine only themes the settings app and the pre-installed Kernel Adiutor, not even the statusbar/QS. You can't even reprogram the keys from the customization app, like you can do on all the other ROMs, to some degree. Too bad the Tipsy theme was kinda cool, black with glowing yellow accents. Even has doze settings, something that the other ROMs don't have. Could have been a lot better, the 3rd unfortunate one.

- crDroid: Link's broken.

- Ground Zero Validus: Link's broken.

- LineageOS GO: Link's broken.

Common 8.x issues: Searching for locations in the weather provider app doesn't work.

Android 9.x:

- eOS: What a gorgeous ROM. Probably my favourie so far. Doesn't have lots of customization, compared to the other ROMs, but the whole UI is already custom. Good performance, very stable.

- LineageOS: About what you would expect from LineageOS. A perfect base ROM. Everything works. Doesn't really do much, but it's perfectly fine. Customizable buttons and LiveDisplay are the main extra features over basic AOSP, which are more than welcome.

- LineageOS GO: Link's broken.

- AOSPExtended: This was, like, GOOD good. I think this might have broken through RessurectionRemix's level of customization. The UI is smooth and responsive, probably the best i've seen so far. The pre-installed themes are really nice. The camera, omg... This phone can actually take good photos, it's incredible. It actually acts like a 16MP camera, the photos taken in daylight are so detailed. The amount of options in that camera app is outstanding, and you can even turn off denoise completely. The only bug i encountered was after flashing Magisk, the wallpaper broke completely. It defaulted to the original AEX one, couldn't change it in any way. After saving a wallpaper and going to /data/system/users/0, the actual wallpaper was the one i set, but the one showed was the default one. Something broke hard, i have no idea how or what. You have to change the wallpaper manually from where the current wallpaper is actually stored, but that means no Live Wallpapers. Installing an app also breaks the ROM, because the install screen replaces the home screen, and uninstalling an app causes the same effect. Needs a restart after installing any app. (Not affected by Google Play install/uninstall, only when manually installing .apk files.). I personally can get over all these bugs, because the battery life is amazing, the performance is probably the best out of all ROMs and it has the customization features i want. I kept this ROM as my main one.

- EvolutionX: Link's broken.

- Kraken Project: Link's broken.

- Ressurection Remix: Link's broken.

- Carbon: Doesn't flash. "No digest file found".

- Pixel Experience: Pixel ROM, nothing exciting. Doesn't have customization, doesn't have anything. It's about what you'd expect, it's just stock Pixel UI. One thing i have to complain is that the camera performance is extremely bad and i find it very wery weird that out of all the ROMs, this one doesn't have GCam.

- Bootleggers Shishufied: Doesn't have bugs. Runs fine. Has good customization. It doesn't really stand out in any way.

- ViperOS: Didn't start too well. Showed a weird error saying: "There is an internal problem with your device", which was skippable, but i have no idea what it was about. It's also extremely laggy, it doesn't recognize the home button while the screen is off. Customization isn't that great either. Overall, not that great of a, experience.

Android 10.x:

- AncientOS: First of all, wow, how animated everything is. I don't know if i should say it's obnoxious or cute, but i guess it's a bit of both. Nonetheless, i don't mind the animations. I like that it features an AOD, great UI customization and a variety of non-AOSP system apps. Two of the surprising features are Dirac Audio and double tap to sleep/wake. It's actually good. Besides a slight problem with the animation when going out of the AOD mode, i don't see any issues. Overall a fun ROM suitable for daily use.

- crDroid:

- Xtended XQ: I don't like being so negative about stuff, but there are too many problems not to talk about them. First of all, there is no Settings shortcut on QS panel, which i find really weird. If you change anything in the QS, the edit button just shoots offscreen, being unable to change the QS icons without "catching" the editor button while the QS are closing, or changing the DPI to some very high amount. The AOD settings crash the settings app and you're unable to change the AOD style, position, color, font, or anything else. The AOD text function is broken, but at least the image one works, yay... You'd better get used to screen burns, because the AOD is actualy, as literal as it can get, always on, no way to change it, enable a wave function or just turn it off completely. The transparent theme is buggy at best, The colors of the QS, even if you change them to accent color, they are still changing when you extend the QS panel. Yeah, that's about it. It's not that great. At least in terms of performance it was one of the quickest to boot and app opening times were very short.

- Corvus: Imo, the quotes app is really cringe. More or less the same as AncientOS, minus the animations and the fun UI. And mostly stock apps too. Mixed feelings about this one. Average at best.

- Bootleggers Unshishufied: It's nice. Runs well. Doesn't have that much of a custom UI, but i like that it includes non-stock apps, a custom theme from "out of the box" and many customization features. I don't like that LiveDisplay doesn't work. But, yeah, it's fine. I just don't get why the other version doesn't work. Oh, and it doesn't have a camera app.

- Bootleggers Shishufied: Doesn't flash. "No digest file found".

- Bliss: By far the best Andorid 10 custom ROM i've tried so far. it has all the customization features i want and even more. The performance is very good, you don't even notice it's an 8 year old phone. Besides a few weird bugs, like not being able to change the wallpaper (also an issue on AOSP Extended) and not being able to disable the AOD, it's overall very stable and functional. I also like that the UI has that extra something, that little bonus touch to stand out from the rest.

- ArrowOS: Link's broken.

- HavocOS: Link's broken.

- RevengeOS: Link's broken.

Android 11.x:

- LineageOS: Tried an earlier build, everything was broken (internal storage not recognized, not saving photos or screenshots, SIM didn't work, SystemUI crashes and other things. That day i wrote "Imagine that everything is broken, but then you dropped your phone on the floor and accidentally set it on fire afterwards. That's how this build of LineageOS feels.", which i think it's absolutely hilarious. But, yeah, now it's fine. Everybody says the bugs have been fixed and it's good for daily use. I may or may not test it again at some point.

Android 12.x:

- LineageOS:

- Arrow: Doesn't flash. "No digest file found".

Android 13.x:

- LineageOS: I mean... It works just fine. It doesn't help that the UI looks really bad on Andorid 13. That new quick toggle bar is just useless. So few toggles in view. Just doesn't make sense. As for bugs, only the Gcam Go app doesn't adjust exposure. But that's just an app, it doesn't really count as a bug. Surprised to see that it comes with Dolby. I wanted to enable stereo speakers, but i simply couldn't figure out the mixer_paths.xml. And the ultra dim display toggle is an S-Tier feature, especially because it doesn't seem to apply a filter, but actually tune the brightness. Double tap to wake/sleep is also a feature i wouldn't have expected to see.

Common issues on ALL ROMs: The "INSTALL_FAILED_NO_MATCHING_ABIS: Failed to extract native libraries, res=-113" issue occured on all ROMs. Can't install any 64-bit apps.

If anyone has a link or backup of the ROMs i couldn't download because the links were broken, please help me by providing a link. Thank you in advance. :)