What's so special about Sapphire?

[Syraz]

I've been jumping between Sapphire and Kangerade for a couple of weeks now. After the release of 0.8.4 I think I'll be sticking with Sapphire for my daily driver. I have had zero issues since flashing 0.8.4. My battery life has increased from previous ROMs, temp is a little lower, quadrant and linpack scores are great. For me, it all comes down to the fact that it will work (and work well) when you want it to.

I have been doing the same myself, really happy with this Rom. Just need to change the boot animation and all will be well.

 

[Martin030908]

Stable releases. As mentioned... no need to constantly flash minor updates.

Responsive developers! They are present and willing to help here on DF and in their IRC channel.

Bugzilla bug tracking. Greatly helps the developers troubleshoot end user issues. Especially when they can't replicate the issue themselves.

 

[Deuel]

Interesting how this thread has me DownLoading Saphire...thanks....I think it is worth a try after all

As CK already said, "You will be VERY pleased...seriously."

I've had nothing but a great experience using the Sapphire releases. By far the most stable ROM around!

 

[PJnc284]

I think the interaction with the community from the developers and being able to easily report bugs and feature requests are what helps Sapphire. They aren't as well known as Cyanogen/Koush but I expect only good things to come as the rom and team gains reputation. There have been a couple little issues and quirks but those have been worked out and 0.8.4 is smooth sailing with the market fix. I've been through the various Koush/CM Eclair builds, Bugless Beast (Eclair & Froyo), and Kangerade(froyo) and even at 800Mhz, this is the smoothest rom I've used with no random reboots or force closes. I considered trying the latest CM build but I can't find any reason to switch. If you need a reliable, glitch-free daily driver, Sapphire is it.

 

[coondogg97]

Well this thread just inspired me to try out Sapphire for myself.

Thanks!

Alright so I downloaded, wiped and installed with a P3 1200 LV kernel and my phone just kept rebooting. I have never had much luck with the LV kernels. So I re-downloaded a new version, wiped and reinstalled with a standard 1200 kernel. All is working well and I haven't had one issue yet. Great speed and response time.

 

[DeeMat]

I've been jumping between Sapphire and Kangerade for a couple of weeks now. After the release of 0.8.4 I think I'll be sticking with Sapphire for my daily driver. I have had zero issues since flashing 0.8.4. My battery life has increased from previous ROMs, temp is a little lower, quadrant and linpack scores are great. For me, it all comes down to the fact that it will work (and work well) when you want it to.

I have been switching between those two as well and am very satisfied with Sapphire. No FCs, great battery, snappy, etc.

 

[CLShade]

My experience of Sapphire has been fantastic since day 1. So was my experience with other ROM's for the most part, but that changed with Froyo. For some reason, and I realize this is NOT everyone's experience, only Sapphire ran smoothly and FC free on my Droid. :blink:

That's why I switched to Sapphire: necessity. The only Froyo ROM that didn't have issues (for me) out of the gate.

I've stayed with Sapphire because it still runs smoother and faster (again, on my phone, YMMV) and I'm very, very happy with it. Instead of trying out a new ROM every few days... I just enjoy using my phone.

The lastest (0.8.4) consistently gives me the highest quadrant scores my phone ever has. Between that, the stability I experience, the included features (scriptybox, GEM, interesting themes, etc.) the consistent additions of interesting features, and the feeling of having been part of something from its early days... I'm a Sapphire fan.

You can't really go wrong with any of the ROM's out there, though. Seriously. Droid development is very, very good these days. What you land on is largely a matter of how your phone's hardware works with the various ROM's and personal taste.

 

[SteveC]

NOW, I like Sapphire a lot. I thought I'd goofed big time when I tried 084 the first time. I used ROM Manager and had a bit of a hard time downloading, which may have been the problem. That download of Sapphire OWNED the Droid. I could not back up the ROM, could not flash recovery in either SPR or CW, could not reboot into recovery either from ROM Manager, Root Manager or even with the power-x reboot. Just the blue diamond would show up and reboot the Sapphire regardless of what I did. I finally re flashed the Sapphire with a standard voltage 1.0 kernel (I had the LV 1.2) and all is well.

I also really like Jrummy's Kangerade a lot too, but the screen auto-rotation has a mind of its own on my phone. Documents to Go won't work with BB froyo on my phone.

I also like the fact that this, like Team Chaos which I used before they went mostly inactive, is something different. Nothing wrong with Cyanogen for sure, but seems like nearly everything out there is a semi-Kanged up Cyanogen of some nature or another.

They all say they are built from source, so that definition seems to have a lot of leeway. For now both my phone and I are happy with Sapphire. It is stable and everything seems to work.

Thing is they all work more or less alike. Some phones like one better than others.

 

[MAzing87]

Ive had problems with Sapphire 6.0,6.2, and 7.0, mostly with the market not functioning or not having google maps. Most people would have very little patience and not even try Sapphire again if they had my kind of experience. But I never gave up on this rom.

I just downloaded 8.4 yesterday and so far, everything works, including the wi-fi tethering, google apps (nice that there's an update zip to add them), and overall experience browsing on the net. Not a fan of the gem boot animation (I'd like to see a black gem boot animation) but that's nothing compared to the overall performance of my phone. I'm running P3Droid's 1K kernal.

I will stick with this rom, and await some really nice themes. I'm hoping for a real slick black theme (Dark Edge?), especially for my facebook, and some other apps. Great job to all that was involved.

 

[bhughesiii]

Ive had problems with Sapphire 6.0,6.2, and 7.0, mostly with the market not functioning or not having google maps. Most people would have very little patience and not even try Sapphire again if they had my kind of experience. But I never gave up on this rom.

I just downloaded 8.4 yesterday and so far, everything works, including the wi-fi tethering, google apps (nice that there's an update zip to add them), and overall experience browsing on the net. Not a fan of the gem boot animation (I'd like to see a black gem boot animation) but that's nothing compared to the overall performance of my phone. I'm running P3Droid's 1K kernal.

I will stick with this rom, and await some really nice themes. I'm hoping for a real slick black theme (Dark Edge?), especially for my facebook, and some other apps. Great job to all that was involved.

928Droids Black Glass is a really nice black theme, you should check it out.

 

[MAzing87]

928Droids Black Glass is a really nice black theme, you should check it out.

I'll check it out. Thanks.

Update: That theme is kick a@%! Thanks again!

 

[wingdo]

928Droids Black Glass is a really nice black theme, you should check it out.

I'll check it out. Thanks.

Update: That theme is kick a@%! Thanks again!

Yup it sure does. I don't think there is a more polished theme out there (I say that having never used DarkEdge). 928Droid seems to find everything which can be updated and makes great icons for them, and of course the black glass look just plain rocks. IMHO, Sapphire plus Black Glass is about as good as it can get.

 

[bhughesiii]

928Droids Black Glass is a really nice black theme, you should check it out.

I'll check it out. Thanks.

Update: That theme is kick a@%! Thanks again!

You are quite welcome!

On a side note, no sooner do I get the latest black glass installed and I already had adw launcher pushed to /system/apps so that I can get the themed adw, does adw update with it's ability to theme. I downloaded ThemeOne I think it is and it has a glassy style quicklaunch bar as well.

 

[MAzing87]

928Droids Black Glass is a really nice black theme, you should check it out.

I'll check it out. Thanks.

Update: That theme is kick a@%! Thanks again!

You are quite welcome!

On a side note, no sooner do I get the latest black glass installed and I already had adw launcher pushed to /system/apps so that I can get the themed adw, does adw update with it's ability to theme. I downloaded ThemeOne I think it is and it has a glassy style quicklaunch bar as well.

I was confused about that whole moving the ADW launcher, so I just left it alone. I like the 928Droid theme!