Firmware 5.0 for android 4.4. Ten best Android firmwares for the fastidious users. F2FS file system

Show notifications only at a convenient time for you

• View and reply to messages right from the lock screen. Android can automatically remove important personal information from them so that no one but you can see it.
• To avoid distracting your phone in a meeting, just specify the time interval when you do not want to receive notifications. And if you are waiting for an important letter or call, turn on the "Important" mode, and Android will notify you only about important events.
• Now a phone call will not interrupt a game or movie at the most interesting place. You will always have the opportunity to instantly reject it.
• Choose which notifications you want to receive from which apps. If you wish, you can turn off such notifications altogether.
• The order of the arrangement of notifications on the screen now depends on which application and from whom it came. To see all notifications at once, just tap on the top of the screen.

Creating user profiles

• If several people use the phone, create separate profiles for yourself and for them. If you forgot your device at home, just log into your profile on any Android 5.0 phone and you will have access to all your data (contacts, documents, etc.).
• Guest profile. Borrow your phone or tablet without fear of someone reading your messages or seeing your photos.
• An in-app lock lets you restrict another user's access to just one app.

To open the settings you use most often, simply swipe down from the top of the screen.

• In Android 5.0, it has become even more convenient to turn on the flash, activate the tethering mode, rotate the screen and broadcast the image from the phone to other devices.
• Working with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS just got easier.
• Android remembers your brightness settings and automatically applies them under the same lighting level.

Battery saver with Bluetooth technology low power consumption"and a reliable internet connection anywhere

• Smoother transition from one network to another. The device switches from Wi-Fi to mobile Internetwithout interrupting your Hangouts video chat or Skype call.
• The device only connects to those wi-Fi networksthat have Internet access.
• The power consumption is set to low when searching for other Bluetooth Low Energy devices (eg beacons or smart watches).
• Added a mode for interacting with devices that support Bluetooth Low Energy technology.

Faster and more powerful Android

• Android Runtime (ART) improves application performance and speed.
  • Performance increased by 4 times.
  • A smoother interface for complex graphics applications.
  • Compression of background applications and services. Now you have even more resources at your disposal.
• Support for devices based on 64-bit processors.
  • Support for 64-bit microprocessors based on aRM architectures, x86 and MIPS.
  • Work with 64-bit apps designed specifically for Android, such as Chrome, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Play Music etc.
  • Automatically launch applications written entirely in Java in 64-bit version.

Expressive graphics, improved photo and video quality, new audio technologies.

• Due to the reduced latency in the processing of incoming audio signals, it became possible to work with music services and communication applications that require data transfer in near real time.
• Professional audio applications can now mix up to 8 channels, including 5.1 and 7.1.
• Thanks to uSB support Audio you can connect to android device USB microphones, speakers, amplifiers, mixers and many other audio devices.
• The Android Extension Pack and OpenGL ES 3.1 support allow Android to compete in graphics quality with consoles and desktops.
• New features for professional photography:
  • shooting about 30 frames per second at full resolution;
  • support for RAW formats such as YUV and Bayer RAW;
  • control of the matrix, lens and flash settings for individual frames;
  • preservation of metadata such as noise models and optical information.
• Advanced video technology with HEVC support allows you to play UHD 4 videos, stream high-quality video on Android TV, and enjoy all the benefits of HLS broadcasting.

• On DSP-enabled devices (such as Nexus 6 and Nexus 9), the "O" key Google "command can be used even if the screen is off.
• Use voice commands to get directions, find information, make a call or send a message.

The easiest way to seriously update your gadget is to install custom firmware on it. With it, you can not only expand the number of controls over the system, but also try something new, get a lot convenient functions or even a new one android version... In this article I will tell you about ten of the most popular, interesting and functional firmware based on Android.

Paranoid Android

Combines

Temasek's

MK (MoKee)

The interface is truly original. Absolutely all standard Android applications have been replaced with proprietary applications, and the rest have been significantly improved. The notification bar has quick switches that appear above notifications. The section "Power consumption" has been renamed to "Power management" and is much more convenient and informative, the "Network modes" button allows you to enable the "3G only" and "2G only" modes.

There are no complaints about the speed of the graphical shell. Everything is very fast and smooth. It should be said that an interesting mechanism for managing permissions is built into the firmware. It allows you to limit significantly more parameters than Android Marshmallow. Settings interface and almost all system applications fully Russified. But in all applications that work over the Internet, you will see only Chinese characters, but the scientific poke method and knowledge of how such applications are arranged allows you to use them.

The Chinese equivalent of the Play Store has almost all popular (and not so popular) apps. But Google programs will refuse to work without google services Play, but it is not so easy to install these services. There is a solution to the problem on the Internet, but it does not always work, you will have to use either the built-in market or various unofficial stores, as well as accept the fact that some applications "will not start" without Google Services.

Dropped out of the test

Bliss

Official site: blissroms.com/
48 (as of 08/13/2016)
The foundation: CyanogenMod
Android version: 6.0.1

The developers claim that Bliss is one of the most customizable designs out there. In fact, this is not the case. The firmware is indeed a collection of interesting functions from other firmware, but it is very far from RR, AICP or Temasek. Unless it was originally sewn in and launched through the Kernel Adiutor and SuperSU settings. The settings of the firmware itself are not translated into Russian. The translation only applies to items that are in CyanogenMod.

crDroid

Official site: ww2.crdroid.org
Number of officially supported devices: 29 (as of 08/09/2016)
The foundation: CyanogenMod
Android version: 6.0.1

The goal of creation, like everyone else, is to add the best features from other firmware. On the welcome screen during the initial setup, it is written that the firmware includes a lot of functions from OmniROM, Paranoid Android, Temasek and others. Unfortunately, this is the same story as with Bliss. Lack of exclusive functions and significant lag in capabilities from RR, AICP, Temasek. No interesting applications are built in.

Out of test

• NexSense 6.0 - an attempt to port HTC Sense 6.0 (Android 4.4.2) to Nexus 5. At first, only the firmware itself was launched, but over time, enthusiasts were able to make Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, various sensors work. But for a very long time this could not be achieved from the camera and sound. Over time, the developers came to the conclusion that it was necessary to rewrite some libraries from scratch. Local craftsmen seem to have tried to do this, but to no avail.
• ASUS ZENUI CM 13 (Nightly) Based - a project for porting applications from Asus ZenUI to CyanogenMod 13. Officially, development is carried out only for LG G2. According to the developers' assurances, about 90% of all applications have already been moved.
• MIUI - firmware officially ported to 286 various devices... Developed by Xiaomi and based on CyanogenMod and AOSP source codes. Many features have migrated here from iOS, TouchWiz, UX (LG), HTC Sense, but there are also some of their own. Useful functions so many that their description is a topic for a separate article.
• Maru OS - very original firmware, which, when connected to a monitor, makes it a full-fledged desktop. Read detailed review and an interview with the developer is possible.

How to install?

For most devices, the firmware from the drain looks like this:

1. Unlock the bootloader (this is individual for each device, so go ahead to Google).
2. Install custom recovery (in rare cases, you can install custom recovery without it, but this is not a good idea).
   2.1. We go to the official TWRP website, enter the name of our device there, download the newest version for it.
   2.2. We connect the smartphone via USB, install the drivers for our device on the computer.
   2.3. Download and install the Android SDK.
   2.4. Launch the terminal and flash the recovery with the fastboot flash recovery command recovery_name.img (fastboot is located in the platform-tools folder inside the SDK).
3. After the firmware, go to TWRP, select the Russian language (at the very bottom), put a tick on "Allow changes" and swipe to the right.
4. Go to the "Cleanup" section and select "Format Data" there. This is required if the data section is encrypted.
5. We connect the smartphone to the computer and transfer the file with the new firmware to the memory card.
6. We select "Installation", and then the firmware file. We agree with a swipe to the right.
7. Click on "Reboot to OS" and wait for the download to finish (about ten minutes, including application optimization).
8. After initial setup We recommend that you boot into the recovery again and make backups. At least - an EFS-partition, which contains IMEI, s / n and other important data.

If you do not want to lose the main firmware, you can custom install the second system. The one-of-a-kind MultiROM Manager will help you with this. It allows you to install multiple firmwares at once. The device prompts you to select the firmware from the installed ones when you turn it on. Installation of the program is quite simple (just do not forget to do backups just in case):

1. Install MultiROM Manager from the Play Store and launch it.
2. Press the button "Install".
3. We are waiting for the end of the installation, and then we agree to reboot.
4. After rebooting and installing some scripts, the firmware selection interface will open.

Installation of the second firmware is performed via MultiTWRP in the Advanced -\u003e MultiROM section or via the application itself.

Vocabulary

• Stock (stock, stock firmware) - official firmwarepreset by the manufacturer by default. Also, not only absolutely clean images are often called stock images. stock firmware, but also images prepared for installation through unofficial recovery.
• AOSP (Android Open Source Project) - original Android source codes from Google, available for download and modification to everyone. The term "based on stock, based on AOSP" means that the firmware was built on the basis of these sources (and not CyanogenMod sources, as is sometimes the case). Most of the Xposed modifications only work in AOSP / CyanogenMod and firmware based on them.
• CAF (Code Aurora Forum) - a Linux Foundation-backed project forcing promotion open source into mobile technology. The main contributor to the project is Qualcomm, which maintains the Android for MSM repository, which contains Android sources with optimizations for Qualcomm chips. If the developers claim that their firmware is based on CAF, then it includes all these optimizations. But keep in mind that changes from Android for MSM often spill over into AOSP.
• CyanogenMod Based (CM based, based on CynogenMod) - firmware based on CyanogenMod code. Immediately after leaving new version The AOSP developers of CyanogenMod copy its sources to their own repository and begin to implement their add-ons into it and port to new devices. And the number of devices supported by CyanogenMod is such an impressive number that many custom firmware developers choose it as a base, and not AOSP.
• Recovery (recovery mode, recovery) - Android recovery console. Designed to reset to factory settings or install a zip file of the firmware signed with the manufacturer's key. For many devices, there are third party recovery with advanced features such as ClockworkMod, TWRP, Philz. They allow you to make full backups of both the entire system and individual parts, install third-party firmware, format and resize partitions, install any add-ons and much more useful.
• Bootloader (bootloader, bootloader) - is loaded first. It passes the onboard NAND partition table to the kernel, loads it into memory, and starts it up. It is the bootloader that connects to the PC in fastboot mode and launches the recovery. Therefore, before installing custom recovery and often third party firmware you have to unlock it. Almost always, after unlocking the bootloader, absolutely all data is erased from the device's memory.
• GApps (Google Apps) - a set of services and applications from Google. GApps packages come in various sizes, from the smallest (less than 100 MB), which include only Google Play and the services for its operation, to large ones, which contain almost all existing Google applications (such packages are close to 800 MB). Many firmware developers recommend installing Open GApps. See the Open GApps Wiki for differences between versions. Please note that some GApps applications can replace system applications.
• Nightly ("nightie") - nightly assembly of the firmware. For many devices, assemblies are done daily (nightly). In theory, they have low stability, but in practice, failed builds are extremely rare, and emerging bugs are fixed very quickly.

F2FS file system

Almost all custom firmwares support the F2FS file system, which is designed specifically for working with flash memory and in theory uses it more efficiently and more carefully than ext4. You can go to this FS in the following way:

1. Go to TWRP.
   2.0. Open the item "Cleaning -\u003e Selective cleaning".
   2.1. Check the Cache section.
   2.2. Click “Restore or change file system -\u003e Change. file system -\u003e F2FS "and swipe to confirm.
   2.3. Press the Home button.
2. Repeat step 2 for the data and system sections.

Notes:

• Not all firmwares support F2FS. If there is no support, you will catch an endless download.
• After changing the file system of the data partition, not only program data and firmware settings will be lost, but also files saved on internal map memory.
• In practice, the performance gain will be a few percent at best.

Conclusion

We have reviewed not all existing firmware. However, even this is enough to have an idea of \u200b\u200bmodern firmware. In terms of the interface, they are almost all similar, they all work very smoothly, and it is very difficult to notice any differences in the speed of work. But their functions are different. From myself, I can add that if you sit for a long time at least on MoKee, or even more so Resurrection Remix, then you won't even want to return to pure CyanogenMod. But Xposed will probably have to turn to help. Fortunately, almost all Xposed modules work in almost all existing custom firmwares.

Users of the first versions of Android probably remember how illogical and inconvenient the system's interface was when it appeared. But as time goes on, today Android has grown to version 5.0 and has significantly changed from all sides.

Material Design

Google didn't have a standard design for Android for a long time, so manufacturers created application interfaces to their liking, which did not always lead to a good result. Google quickly decided that Android needed deeper changes. This is how the Material Design idea was born, covering every segment of Google's mobile OS design.

It changes the appearance of the system from icons to animation. It's based on the concept that flat design doesn't have to be flat.

Lock screen

In Android 5.0, manufacturers have improved the lock screen on which quick settings and all notifications are displayed. As a result, in order to see, for example, incoming letters or turn off Wi-Fi, it is not necessary to unlock the device at all.

Application menu

Installed and system programs collected in one menu, which was also updated.

For ease of navigation, applications are now displayed on a white background, because now, their icons are much easier to distinguish.

User change

The system has a full-fledged user manager. For a phone it is not so interesting, but for a general tablet it can even be very useful. Thanks to this mode, you can create several accounts on one device and switch between them.

Notification panel

The Lolipop notification bar that drops down from the top of the display has been drastically redesigned. Now it does not close the main screen, but only shades it.

Settings

The settings menu has been slightly improved, it is still a list of icons with names of functions.

From the innovations in the Lollipop settings, a section arose " Contactless payment»For mobile payment.

Smartphone

The calendar

The app has changed noticeably. It appeared new option display “Schedule”, which shows the calendar and events in one feed.

Clock

The Clock application shows local and world time, there are alarms, a timer and a stopwatch.

In this program you can mark “ Night mode”, Which displays the time on the off display.

Contacts

The address book displays the entire list of contacts, and you can also go to the "Favorites" tab, where the marked contacts are present.

Photo

The mode for storing photos is closely related to Google+, and allows you to save pictures in the Google cloud.

The program automatically enhances photos, creates animations and interactive albums from a series of frames.

Keyboard

The keyboard has been significantly redesigned. Its design has changed, the animation of button presses, and even the vibration of the response to pressing.

Google fit

The system will immediately install the Google Fit service application, which can independently count only steps, but with the advent of compatible utilities and accessories, it will make it possible to collect in one place a variety of information about the user's health.

Outcome

Android 5.0 Lollipop is a very serious Android update that brings Google's mobile OS to high level... The Material Design idea combines the best of volumetric and flat designwhich presented an unusual but generally good interface.

Video review Android 5.0 Lollipop

Installation android firmware 5.0 Lollipop

Now it's even easier to update and install your smartphone or tablet operating system to the latest version. Now to install new firmware, just download Android 5.0 Lollipop from our website, follow the instructions from the downloaded archive, download and install the application on your smartphone or tablet with operating system Android.

Android is relatively new, and we all remember how crude and awkward it was. Developers do not sit idly by! Today, many users have an excellent opportunity to download Android 5.0 firmware for free. different smartphones and tablets, and then quickly update your device.

Differences between start and latest version The OS is, of course, huge. Google has long ignored the look and feel of Android, with tacit consent allowing manufacturers to create appearance applications.

Main functions

Material Design

The lack of a standard interface created a number of additional problems. Specialists at Google have decided to make deep changes to the Android interface, which are simply necessary. Thanks to this, the Material Design idea came to life, unifying all Google services and products.

Lock screen and application menu

Now, in order to view notifications or turn off data transmission, you do not need to unlock your smartphone, as it was in more early versions... In Android 5.0, the lock screen is designed in such a way that the user has easy access to notifications, up to the fact that you can write a response in blocking mode, which greatly simplifies the use of the device.

The updated menu makes it easy to work with applications, both system and user-installed, which are located in one place. Application icons are displayed on a light background, so menu navigation has become much easier.

User change

Special attention should be paid to such an option as a user manager. The function is very relevant for family tablets, which are used by all family members. For each user, a separate account... By switching between accounts, using one gadget becomes more convenient for a group of people.

Notification panel

The notification panel has undergone global changes, now, when it drops out, it does not close the main screen, because it is made semi-transparent. In the context of multitasking use of a smartphone, this feature will become an additional plus for ease of use.

Settings

After the installation, you will see that the settings menu improvements are not so global, you will not find any special differences: all the same icons, all the same functions. An exception is the additional function “Contactless payment” - a section designed for mobile payments.

Extra options

Smartphone, calendar and clock

IN voice calls shortcuts are set by default. You will find the contact lists, as well as the call log, if you scroll to the right. The change to the calendar consists of the added option to display the schedule. You will see the calendar and all events in one feed.

The application contains the local and world time as standard, a timer, an alarm clock, and a stopwatch. Here you can set off the display of time on the display at night, saving a little battery, the setting is called "night mode".

Contacts, photos and keyboard

The address book is an alphabetical list of contacts. Favorites tab, allows you to create an additional short list of the most important numbers for you.

Lollipop's image storage is inextricably linked to Google+; photos can be saved in cloud storage Google. At the automatic level, the program will edit pictures, it is possible to create interactive and animated albums, consisting of a series of photos. But everything has changed in the keyboard: the interface as a whole, the design of the buttons, animation when pressing the keys, vibration response.

Google fit

In the updated OS, you will find a pedometer from Google - Google Fit. The program will count the steps, show the average speed, display the number of kilocalories spent, but also allow you to organize and save the results of training and various health information.

As promised by Google, today, October 17, the search giant released the final versions of the applications software interfaces (API) and developer kits (SDKs) to actively develop applications that support Android 5.0 Lollipop. Also published images of firmware final version sweet update for the 2013 Nexus 5 smartphone and the 2013 Nexus 7 tablet. The deployment of the new version of the green robot starts early next month.

During Google I / O 2014, it was announced that Android 5.0 Lollipop has over 5,000 new APIs - these APIs include material design libraries, new animations, UI elements, new features, and more. ... The API level for applications supporting Android 5.0 Lollipop is Level 21. From now on, applications with API 21 will be published to the Google Play store.

Also google has released tons of different documents to help developers get started on creating Material Design UI for branded apps, creating UI for the new Android TV platform, developing Android Wear and Android Auto-enabled apps, and more. All of them are available on the official site of Google Developers - you can view some of them below using the links.