Ever since owning a Kindle Fire, I've had my eye on the hacking scene. Having some experience rooting and flashing ROMs to my old Android phone, I was certain that I'd eventually go down the same path with my Android-based Kindle Fire device.
It seems like an eternity that I've been looking closely at threads discussing the development of custom Fire ROMS based on Google's Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). Up to this point, there have been significant downsides to flashing these ICS-based ROMs, with such issues as a lack of sound, crashing, no video playback, Wi-Fi instability, etc. This is to be expected with unofficial ROM releases. It's taken a while for these hard-working hobbiest developers to get these ROMS to the point where they're stable and usable enough for everyday use. Finally feeling like they've gotten there, I've decided to take the plunge and flash a custom version of ICS to my Kindle Fire.
There's a variety of choices out there in the Kindle ROM-iverse. The ROM I chose to flash is dubbed "Energy," and it's one of the more popular ICS ROMs for the Fire. This ROM is based off of Cyanogen Mod 9, which is based off of Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. If anyone should be interested, developer NRGZ28 keeps a thread updated with info on the latest version of the Energy ROM here.
I really am liking this ROM quite a bit thus far. It's snappy, mostly stable, and the majority of the bells and whistles that you'd expect to work on a tablet, do. The best part about flashing this ROM, though? Simply running Ice Cream Sandwich and everything that comes with that! I feel like this is a real tablet now. Amazon's custom UI is fine for what it is; it's designed to be as welcoming as possible to a mass market who likely wouldn't even know what Android is. The jump from their simplified UI to Android 4.0 is like a breath of fresh air for someone like me, though. It's like I was a caged lion, able to see the free-flowing field just beyond the bars, and now my cage is open and I'm free to roam--installing apps that I couldn't under Amazon's iron fist, running the CPU at a higher clock speed, customizing individual homescreens to my ultra-specific liking.
On the other hand, the ROM ins't a perfect one. There are certainly downsides to installing these unofficial ROMs that some people may not be able to live with. This particular ROM seems to have a problem playing video. Netflix, specifically, I can't get to play. The app will open, but the videos refuse to play. For anyone who frequently uses their Kindle for Netflix, this would be a disaster. Thankfully, I'm not one of those people; that's what my Roku is for.
One particularly notable fault with this ROM that I've noticed only lately is that after I leave my Kindle in sleep mode for a while, it will turn itself off and won't wake up. To solve this, I eventually have figured out that If I hold the power button for a little bit, and then start pressing it slowly, the Kindle will finally turn itself back on. This wasn't a problem initially, but it's now been doing it consistently for a few days. I'm thinking if it keeps up, I'll be either trying a different ICS ROM or I'll be simply flashing a more stable Gingerbread-based alternative.
Despite the downsides (that will almost certainly be fixed with future releases), I still am really excited about my now more capable Kindle Fire. A device that was once locked down by Amazon has been opened up and turned into something much more useful, and I just think that's super awesome. If you've been waiting for stable ROMs before trying this yourself, then I'd say now's a great time to finally jump in, even if only to try a Gingerbread ROM. The water's fine; come get your feet wet!
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**If you've never rooted a device and flashed ROMs before, make sure to read up on it, as you could be left with a useless hunk of metal if you're not careful. A good beginner's guide can be found here, and some awesome walkthroughs, here.
There's a variety of choices out there in the Kindle ROM-iverse. The ROM I chose to flash is dubbed "Energy," and it's one of the more popular ICS ROMs for the Fire. This ROM is based off of Cyanogen Mod 9, which is based off of Google's Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. If anyone should be interested, developer NRGZ28 keeps a thread updated with info on the latest version of the Energy ROM here.
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| Some tablet-specific apps like this split keyboard simply won't install unless running a custom ROM. |
I really am liking this ROM quite a bit thus far. It's snappy, mostly stable, and the majority of the bells and whistles that you'd expect to work on a tablet, do. The best part about flashing this ROM, though? Simply running Ice Cream Sandwich and everything that comes with that! I feel like this is a real tablet now. Amazon's custom UI is fine for what it is; it's designed to be as welcoming as possible to a mass market who likely wouldn't even know what Android is. The jump from their simplified UI to Android 4.0 is like a breath of fresh air for someone like me, though. It's like I was a caged lion, able to see the free-flowing field just beyond the bars, and now my cage is open and I'm free to roam--installing apps that I couldn't under Amazon's iron fist, running the CPU at a higher clock speed, customizing individual homescreens to my ultra-specific liking.
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| Widgets galore--if you're into that kind of thing. |
One particularly notable fault with this ROM that I've noticed only lately is that after I leave my Kindle in sleep mode for a while, it will turn itself off and won't wake up. To solve this, I eventually have figured out that If I hold the power button for a little bit, and then start pressing it slowly, the Kindle will finally turn itself back on. This wasn't a problem initially, but it's now been doing it consistently for a few days. I'm thinking if it keeps up, I'll be either trying a different ICS ROM or I'll be simply flashing a more stable Gingerbread-based alternative.
Despite the downsides (that will almost certainly be fixed with future releases), I still am really excited about my now more capable Kindle Fire. A device that was once locked down by Amazon has been opened up and turned into something much more useful, and I just think that's super awesome. If you've been waiting for stable ROMs before trying this yourself, then I'd say now's a great time to finally jump in, even if only to try a Gingerbread ROM. The water's fine; come get your feet wet!
---------------
**If you've never rooted a device and flashed ROMs before, make sure to read up on it, as you could be left with a useless hunk of metal if you're not careful. A good beginner's guide can be found here, and some awesome walkthroughs, here.
Thanks for posting your experiences. I've been looking into whether or not the ICS builds had progressed enough to be worth while for installation. I do actually use my Fire quite a bit for Netflix, so this won't work for me just yet. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteGlad I could help!
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