Impressions of SlimBean ROM for Nexus S

I've had my Nexus S for about a year and a half now, and I was stuck on an old stock Android for a long time—the AT&T version of this phone just never got the updates, so Matt helped me out and got me started with CM9 on the device back in the Spring.

Since getting some experience rooting and romming, I've tracked CM9, tried CM10, loaded stock Android 4.0 and 4.1. I found my device with stock 4.1 with my usual loaded apps (like BeyondPod, Tasker, etc) to be a little light on RAM. BeyondPod kept getting pushed out of memory when, really, it's my #1 app for daily use.

I needed to free up some memory, so I figured SlimBean would be worth a look. It seems to be based on AOSP with some of the most useful features of other ROMs merged, like notification toggles, etc. It's also relatively easy to install, though the upgrades keep recommending a full wipe and reinstall, which can be inconvenient, even with a ROM Toolbox doing my backup and restore of applications.

One of the most notable features is that the default DPI is set low (182ppi), so everything ends up tiny. Couple that with a tighter grid-size in Hololauncher and you can cram lots of app icons and widgets on the screen. I at one point bumped it back up to 200 to get it just a little more readable, but in the latest install, I've just been leaving it set to the default.

Amazon Appstore offered me my first problem. ROM Toolbox half restored it, but not the whole way, so it had some data files laying around but not the rest of the app. When I went to install it again from APK, it kept telling me "App is not installed". I finally figured out in this last time I wiped and installed, that I needed to delete the Appstore's data directory in Root Browser, and then it happily installed.

In the end, I'm not sure I gained much free memory—it still seems tight, and applications are still quick to get pushed out. I think what's slim about the ROM, is that it merged in some select features from CM and others without taking up as much space for everything those other ROMs offer. I like this ROM, and I hope to see it make Android 4.2.x and later available on my little Nexus S.