[rockmonkey1973]

I have just installed cm7 after using the deblured nordic for a few months. Even though it was decent release at the time i got tired of it as it was a tad buggy and would freeze up occasionally for no reason that i could see.

The trouble is i am slightly lazy and i had set up and customized it well and good and had the search button mapped to take photos wifi locked and loaded beautiful widgets all looking really nice and rosy etc etc etc blah blah you get the drift.

Anyways last night i decided to shift my butt and try something new so i installed liquid arc. i Uninstalled it after a few minutes. didnt like the set up. i found out later that the theme was based on the samsung galaxy s 2 and se arc.

So next up i try cm7. I had cm7 on my old blade and thought ok why not as it is very popular. All i can say is wow what a difference it is like having a new phone. Ultra fast... the defy was never a slouch before but now it is as if the thing is on steroids. Love the little touches of cm7 brilliance like the camera settings that are inbuilt in the app allowing the user to set the shutter button. Before i had to map the buttons using an app from the market to take photos and this sort of thing just shows great thought and care in the writing of the rom.

As far as i can see the preinstalled wallpapers all look pretty groovy and although i have only been using it for an hour or so and so i still have a way to go before i have discovered all it has to offer i can say i am seriously impressed.

The only thing i dont like is the adw launcher and the old style dialler. If i can uninstall these and load up launcher pro and the moto dialler then i will be one hell of a happy chappy.

So bottom line... big thumbs up for cm7 and the dev team over at xda. if i remain this impressed in a couple of weeks time then for the first time ever i will be donating a few beers to the team who have obviously worked so hard on this.

if anyone has a defy and is tired of a buggy official froyo and is waiting for the gingerbread upgrade that will never ever come my suggestion is ...kiss moto goodbye they aint needed and get rooted and get on the cm7 gravy train .

EDIT: I was considering buying an atrix only yesterday and i even had a trade thread in the classifieds section (i still might for the extra few mms of screen real estate combined with its small footprint making it a perfect match for me).

However as it stands now though with my defy running cm7 i am even less inclined to splash the cash than i was before.

I love the silly things i can do with the defy like listen to internet radio in the shower and because i have a good screen protector on throw it around a bit (within reason of course) without worrying about scratches or having to dress it up in some poncy case.

I also like the sturdy way it is built with torx screws keeping the casing in place and it feels good in the hand with a nice rubber back (especially when compared to the plastic backing of many hadsets). What convinced me to buy this above any other handset though was the bezel is very small and so the phones footprint despite it having a reasonable screen size is no bigger than many other handsets with less screen real estate.

Have to say moto know how to make phones... but much like most other manufacturers out there they just dont like supporting them once they have got your cash. Guess that makes it even better news that the mobile division is now owned by the boss.

So anyways basically even though it is now about 8 months old imho out of the box the defy remains a great piece of hardware let down by some poor software support... but root the thing and you may find a perfect match.

[Derang3d]

Thanks for the write up. Just got one from the orange shop on PAY-G for £109.99 and I just need to unlock, root and install CM7.

Have you tried MIUI by any chance?

[rockmonkey1973]

Hi glad it helped. in answer to your question. no i havent. dont like the idea of having an iphone interface on my android phone . from all i have read though it is based on cm7 and runs sweet as.

ics is out now but the camera doesnt work and is not likely to work at all for green lens defy owners. thankfulli have a red one so if they do get it up and running then i should be ok. until they do i will stick with cm7. in fact i intend to flash it to the latest nightly with the 2.3 kernal today or tomorrow.

in all honesty i dont think you can go far wrong with whatever rom you choose. and remember you cant brick the phone... it is the only upside to having a locked bootloader.

good luck and enjoy.

[maverick52]

hi guys i am thinking of buying one of these if i root it will it unlock it or wiould i have to look at unlocking as well
thanks

[rockmonkey1973]

i think there is a soft unlock available but only if you flash cm7 and i think it is slightly more involved than just flashing the rom. there are guides on xda which i would suggest you take a look at.

also even if you do get it unlocked this way if you changed your rom or upodated to the latest nightly then the phone will be once again be locked. basically if it only temporary for as long as you use the rom.

rooting the phone wont unlock it all. it will simply root it.

[maverick52]

thanks for the info