Hydrog3nics is a custom ICS ROM based on AOKP (Android Open Kang Project). If you like the stunning UI of CM9, Hydrog3nics doesn't look any different. When it comes to customization and better control of your SGS2, Hydrog3nics is one of your best bets.
Mod version reviewed in this post: April 01, 2012
Developers: @Paradoxxx_1337 and @NetchipTI. Don't forget to follow them on Twitter!
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| Image source: HyDr0G3N-ICS XDA Thread |
What works & Pros
- What works: WiFi, autorotate, send and receive messages, receive and make calls, camera, video capture (1080p), full HD video playback, USB debugging
- Lock screen: You can change lockscreen text color, style, and a whole lot of things by going to Settings > ROM Control > Lockscreen Options. If ever the icons get disarranged when you switch between styles, change Lockscreen Targets on the bottom of Lockscreen Options.
- Home Screen
- Clean UI + pure ICS icons
- Interactive widgets like in Honeycomb
- Resizable widgets
- Apps Drawer
- Apps are arranged alphabetically
- Browse through apps and widgets continuously
- Status Bar
- Blue battery status icon and clock. Change clock display by going to Settings > ROM Control > Clock
- Show day of the week on status bar - just awesome.
- Change clock position - SERIOUSLY? COOL!
- You can even change the clock color.
- Change battery icon style - text, icon with text, and many more!
- Change battery bar thickness and color -__- Wow.
- Okay, basically you can change every icon on the status bar by going to Settings > ROM Control. They are all under Status Bar.
- Notifications Drawer
- Adjust brightness or switch to auto-brightness mode
- Quick press Settings icon to hide/show toggles
- Long press Settings icon to access settings
- Quick press toggles to activate them
- Long press toggles to access individual settings for WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, and Autorotate
- Swipe to individually remove notifications, press X on top right to clear all notifications
- Change toggle styles, arrange toggles order, and choose which toggles to display by going to Settings > ROM Control > Toggles
- Recent Apps View - Enable by going to Settings > ROM Control > Nav Bar > Enable long press home menu :-)
- Settings
- The same Holo theme as CM9 but with something different - ROM Control. Check below for what ROM Control has to offer.
- Apps - Camera, Gallery, Music, Messages, Contacts, Phone Dialer, and Internet Browser are all similar to CM9. Listed below are their notable features.
- Camera: Take panorama photos
- Gallery: Loads fast. Edit photos by selecting a photo and clicking the menu button. Then select "Edit". Really love this about ICS :-)
- Music: Google Music, has sound effects/equalizer
- Internet browser: When you sync your SGS2 to Google (and given that you set Google Chrome to sync bookmarks), saved bookmarks on your Google Chrome browser will be synced to your phone. Click here to find out how to do this.
- ROM Control (Too many to mention so I'll just name those I found interesting and confirmed to work)
- Disable boot animation
- Add navigation bar (with even more customization settings)
- Change lockscreen style
- Show battery percentage on lockscreen
- Use power button as flashlight when screen is turned off
- Enable "slide across status bar" to change display brightness.
- Change every icon on the status bar by going to Settings > ROM Control. They are all under Status Bar. THIS HAS GOT TO BE MY FAVE FEATURE.
- And now my second favorite feature: OVERCLOCKING & UNDERCLOCKING. Go to Settings > ROM Control > Performance and choose between 100 to 1600MHz.
- Trebuchet Settings
- Basically similar to CM9.
- Edit number of home screens
- Choose default screen
- Change transition effect
- Show page indicator
- And so on...
Bugs & Cons
- CWM isn't pre-installed. Backups and restores have to made manually via ClockWorkmod Recovery.
- Sometimes, it takes a while to wake up the phone after turning off the display and phone locks itself.
- Cannot change lockscreen wallpaper. Settings > ROM Control > Lockscreen Options > Change lockscreen wallpaper force closes.
- Can't remove vibrate/haptic feedback on lockscreen. I find it annoying.
- You can turn off the touch button lights by going to Galaxy S II Settings > Sensor > Check/Uncheck Enable keys backlight. However, it doesn't stay that way. You have to turn it off again eventually.
Verdict
Hydrog3nics for SGS2 is the most customizable ICS ROM I've tried to date. It gives you the power to tweak minor details like icons on the status bar, all the way to CPU speeds. I really enjoyed how detailed this ROM can get. And that's what makes this custom ROM special from all the others I've tried.
For now, please check the original XDA Thread for installation guide and latest release of Hydrog3nics.
Screenshots
The screenshots below are based on the preset customizations. You can further customize them by going to Settings > ROM Control. There's really too many of them to include here :-) I say you experiment how settings affect the user interface. Enjoy!
is the long press menu button to activate search working?
ReplyDeletei notice it is not working in nova and apex launcher.
was wondering in this rom got any changes or not.
Face unlock is working fine!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: I still have to confirm :-) i'm back to UHLPE will let you know what i find out. i tried it once i think but didn't work. i'll check it again just to be sure.
ReplyDelete@jason: i wasn't able to find it. or maybe i missed it? i'll check it once i'm back to hydrog3nics.
@ada
ReplyDeleteFace unlock is part of the gapps!
You have to flash the gapps for ICS package
@jason: yes i was thinking that too. that maybe because it was the gapps i flashed. the one i flashed was an older version. not the one from the thread.
ReplyDeleteWheres the Radio???
ReplyDeleteOnly installed it yesterday but it's very impressive.
ReplyDeleteworks blazing fast and stable.
comparing to stock GB and ICS this is better by miles.
Great work :)
Hello Anonymous hehe. I agree. It's really impressive :-) But I'd have to disagree with stability though. I found stock GB to be better. I was on XWLA4 2.3.6 before but my Nandroid backup was corrupted so now I'm on stock ICS. STOCK ICS IS SO LAME if it weren't for the cool features I discussed in a separate blog.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you liked my work :) Feel free to connect with me on Twitter. I interact with my followers there hehe.
@ffereyros: uhm. i didn't check that. there is no radio? i haven't switched back to Hydrog3nics yet but I might possibly today to check. depends on my work schedule really swamped :(
ReplyDelete@mrbean: here you are again! you should try westcrip as well. it combines cm9 + stock ICS. heavy on memory though. but yeah in terms of customizations, Hydrog3nics (AOKP) and MIUI seem to be the best candidates. I am yet to learn more about AOKP since I only heard about it with Hydrog3nics hehe. AOKP/Team Kang is responsible for ROM Control in Hydrog3nics. who are you btw? do you follow me on Twitter? Lol.
Any one know what the swagger toggle does
ReplyDeletenewbie here..can i flash this to my galaxy s2 dxlp7?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous1: What swagger toggle are you referring to?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous2: As long as you're rooted, yes. Doesn't matter what firmware/radio you're from.
@ada s.:thnx..done...but under volting is really a pain in the a**..always hangs up after rebooting,over and over again,,,reflashed to stock and redo unrooting-flashing the same rom..haha
ReplyDelete@prey: SGS2 can only handle specific speeds. For example (based on personal experience), overclocking to 1.4GHz is stable but pushing it to 1.5GHz and higher makes it stable. You probably went too low on underclocking, causing this problem. I never go below 500mHz for SGS2 because it has a big screen and I multitask a lot. It is not the ROM's problem. It is the preset you chose.
ReplyDelete@ada s/: ill keep that in mind..thx,,so 500-1500 is your stable preset?no battery prob?
ReplyDelete@ffereyros: No radio sorry. I checked it just now. Let me remind you that this is a custom ROM. So standard apps found in stock Sammy ROMs may/may not be present here. It all depends on the devs.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: Now I wonder what the Swagger Toggle does too. LOL.
@Prey: This is going to be weird. I actually switched back to Hydrog3nics for you. I am between 200mHz to 1400mHz. I doubt underclocking to 100mHz would cause a problem. Maybe it was the overclocking that caused this on your part? Because based on your symptoms, it's something I experienced when I overclocked to 1.6GHz (it wasn't Hydrog3nics but an overclocking kernel).
@ada s.:how nice...whats your kernel?im using siyah kernel v3.o...i dont remember overclocking to 1.6ghz...maybe voltage control?100mhz-800mv,, 800mv is too low maybe,,
ReplyDeleteDoesn't provide Google Account as an option for Accounts & sync, only Exchange account provided. As such, I can't sync my Google Contacts, Calendar, etc... Hope this gets fixed or am I doing something wrong?
ReplyDelete@Prey: You mean you flashed Siyah kernel after flashing Hydrog3nics? Maybe that is causing the problem on voltage. I'm not sure though. I'm using Hydrog3nics as it is since it doesn't need an additional kernel for under/overclocking
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: You need to flash Google Apps or "Gapps" :-) I believe the link is on the original XDA thread. Just download it, transfer to your phone, then go to recovery and flash it. Once your phone restarts that option will be available.
@ada..yup.flashed siyah kernel.so far so good,,ill just use the presets from extweaks,battery mode, --no undervolting for now..hehe
ReplyDeleteIs there a way to prevent apps from installing shortcuts to the homescreen?
ReplyDelete@Prey: Okay. Hope your phone doesnt restart now hehe.
ReplyDelete@J: That is a Market setting :-) Lauch Google Play and go to settings. Uncheck the box that adds shortcuts directly to homescreen after install.
I have been using this ROM for over a month now and enjoying it alot and I tried many other ROMS but came back to this one. If I wanted to update the ROM if it says no full wipe I just have to flash the new update and everything should be fine? TIA
ReplyDelete@Unknown: Yes. If it's a no-wipe update just flash it and all your data will be retained.
ReplyDelete@Raymond: I cannot elaborate more on the camera as you ask and I cannot compare it to Galaxy Nexus because I have no other device other than my Galaxy Tab. It doesn't autorefocus when pointing on a different object though that's for sure. What I meant by same camera as CM9 was the software. They have a similar interface. Check the screenshots it's there just not in landscape mode.
@ada s.-not using siyah kernel anymore..hehe.enlightened by you.haha..tnx
ReplyDeletefrom where can i down load it
ReplyDeleteDTC ;)
ReplyDelete@Prey: so your phone's okay now? :-)
ReplyDelete@death: sorry for the late reply. i hope you understand i got work :-) the original link to the XDA thread is posted. Please refer there for downloads.
@Obsidian: What's DTC? LOL. I'm such an idiot.
Ada try Resurrection remix rom...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.galaxys2roms.com/
@Cherwin: I hope you are not trying to spam me. Either way, I will delete your comment within 24 hours because of the link you added. Even though it's useful, I do not like being commented on with links in them. I have tried Resurrection Remix ROM actually. Just not the latest version but thanks for the tip.
ReplyDeletebravia engine on?
ReplyDeleteI love this ROM its really beautyfull but I don't get all the apps.. like the music app for example and I also can't overclock.. only from 200 to 1200
ReplyDeleteDo you have an idea why this happens and what I can do about it?
I have the original kernel and gapps from the thread. Tia
@anonymous: Maybe you installed an old version?
ReplyDeletedownload new and old versions of this http://www.xdafileserver.nl/index.php?dir=Samsung%2FGalaxy+S+II%2FHydrog3n-ICS+by+Paradoxxx%2F
ReplyDeletedoes it include radio? i've used the 20120418 version and it had no radio icon.
ReplyDelete@tanha_890 thanks for the link! :)
ReplyDelete@Anonymous: I can't check anymore because I haven't tried the latest version. Maybe I will this week :)