It has just been less than a week when the guys behind the ParanoidAndroid ROM team surprised us with an innovative feature that makes us easy to browse through your phone from almost any part the phone’s screen. The PA beta ROM with this feature was available only to a bunch of Nexus devices, but now the Nexus monopoly has come to an end as the new ROM has hit the top three Samsung Galaxy phones: Galaxy S2, S3 and Note 2.
The new feature is called the Expanded Desktop Mode and it is still being tested through a few beta releases for some very popular Android smartphones. Apart from the unique features like giving you the tablet, phablet and phone layouts, the latest PA ROM also has this wonderful expanded desktop pie that lets you quickly switch to the homescreen, task manager, status bar toggles and the options of a particular app or interface.
ParanoidAndroid 3.0 ROM for Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10 7 Galaxy Nexus?
The basic idea is to give you a cleaner homescreen without the status bar at the top and the home, back, and option buttons at the bottom tray. Thus you have more space on your phone’s desktop. It is a wise move on the part of the PA Team to shrink all the shortcuts and info of the top and bottom bar to a Pie shaped launcher that appears as you swipe your finger on your phone’s screen in a particular way. The ParanoidAndroid team has released a video teaser that beautifully demonstrates the new feature that will just make you say “WOW!”
Features of ParanoidAndroid ROM 3
Here are some of the most striking features of the PA 3-
- Pie panels are centered and glide right under your thumb, don’t stretch in landscape
- New pie default colors (holo) for disabled per-app-color
- Screenshot option
- New status bar icons (don’t look “washed out” anymore)
- New bootanimation
- Unlock pattern cut off is gone
- IME is themable
- MMS black on black fix
- Pie without a search agent should be fixed
- PAPrefs has been polished for easier use (still much to do)
- PAC support for Bluetooth icon
- (Mako) Perfect kernel calibration made one extra for pa
- (Mako) Auto-brightness is adjusted for it
- (Mako) Fart vibration for on-touch is gone
- Tons of optimizations under the hood
ROM Review
I have tested the ParanoidAndroid ROM 3.0 on my Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 and having used it for one day, I did not perceive any glitches or bugs. The ROM was buttery smooth and faster than the stock 4.1.2 Jelly Bean on both the devices. Here are a few of many screenshots that I made to give you a complete walkthrough of the ParanoidAndroid ROM 3.0 before you actually decide to install it.
The ParanoidAndroid ROM 3+ is based on CyanogenMod ROM 10.1 that means it has Android 4.2.1. The ROM features widgets on the lockscreen that can be customized. The second screenshot below shows the widgets that are currently available for the lockscreen. Swiping down the status bar with one finger launches the notification center while by swiping two fingers you can directly enter Quick Settings pane. The ROM also supports theme which you can find at Google Play.
Before you can see the Pie magic infatuate you, you will have to enable it: long press the Power key of your phone and select Expanded Desktop. You can customize Pie from Settings> Toolbars.
Root Your Galaxy S2, S3 and Note 2 First:
For your Galaxy phone to be eligible for flashing a custom ROM, you will have to root it first. We have prepared one of the easiest tutorials on the topic that will help you achieve root access and install ClockworkMod Recovery on it;
Root Samsung Galaxy S2: Link
Root Samsung Galaxy S3: Link
Root Samsung Galaxy Note: Link
Root Samsung Galaxy Note 2: Link
Root Galaxy Note 2 (N7105): Link
PA 3 ROM Review and Tips to Use
ParanoidAndroid ROM 3 Review, Tips and Complete Walkthrough
Download ParanoidAndroid ROM 3.0
Note that the PA ROM 3+ has started rolling out on February and therefore the previous beta 2.99.9 ROMs have been replaced with the latest release. The Google apps for PA 3+ is common to all Samsung Galaxy devices listed below. As more and more Samsung Galaxy device get PA 3+, the post will be updated.
How to Install ParanoidAndroid ROM 3+
Having downloaded the ROM and Google Apps file for ParanoidAndroid, you can now go on with installing it. But as I said above, your phone must be rooted and CWM Recovery installed on it.
- Download the ROM and GApps files in zip and copy it to your device by connecting it to the computer using a USB cable.
- Turn on USB Debugging mode on your Samsung Galaxy device from Settings> Developer Options.
- Make sure your phone has a good battery level, if not charge it now.
- Backup your contacts, messages, and apps. You can use these free apps for backing up all data easily.
- Turn off your phone and reboot your phone into ClockworkMod Recovery mode. If you do not know how to do it, here it is: press and hold the Volume Up+Home (center) keys simultaneously and then press and hold the Power key. Keep the three buttons pressed till the screen turns up. Just as you see the Samsung logo blink for two times followed by a green Android bot, release the Power key and you should see a list of options in blue text on black background.
- In the Recovery the touch mode does not work, so you will have to use the Volume up and down keys to scroll and highlight and the Power button to select an option.
- The first and most important thing is to backup your current ROM. Scroll down to “backup and restore” option and select “backup”. It might take a few minutes for the backup to complete.
- When it is done select go back option and choose “wipe data/factory reset” option and wipe it.
- Then go to “wipe cache partition” and wipe it.
- Finally, go to “advanced” option and “wipe dalvik cache”.
- Return back to the main menu and select “install zip from sd card> choose zip from sd card” and select the ROM file that you copied to your phone in Step 1.
- When the ROM is installed, go back and install the Google Apps zip package the same way you installed the ROM in Step 10.
- Finally, go back to the main menu in Recovery and select “reboot system now”.
What to do, if I get a Bootloop after flashing Paranoid Android?
With the installation method described above, everything should go fine. However, if you get a bootloop after installing the ParanoidAndroid ROM, pull out the battery, place it back after a minute, boot into Recovery mode, wipe cache partition, and then reboot the device.
It might take a few minutes before your phone boots up and when it does, set up your network and Google account and you are done. Enjoy the ParanoidAndroid ROM 3 on your Galaxy device.
Note:
The post will be updated when the ROM has a newer version. If you have any doubts or question, do not hesitate to ask. Enjoy the Expanded Desktop Mode and let us know how it works for you!
Rakesh. I’ve got some problem with my screenshot function. It takes the screenshot, but afterwards sais the picture has not been made because the memory might be busy. I’m saving pictures to my sdcard. Heard this problem any time before? I’ve got PA3+ (version 3.99-RC2) running on my GTi9100. Besides the internal system memory (2gb) is filling up quite rapidly. Anything to overcome this? I’ve been reading through fora about some logfile of wifi by the dumpstate file, but i cannot find a wifi logfile anywhere on the places mentioned. Do you know of any other problem causing the internal memory to fill? Thnx in advance!!
Try this instead: http://goo.im/devs/aospa_legacy/i9100
Google apps: http://goo.gl/M2DkQC
DroidViews
hi again, I try the instalation with roms that u post here, but sounds
like my phone isn’t a phone for the list of terminals, whit a message
like this:
no file_contextassert failed:
getprop(“ro.build.device”)==”GT-I9100″ || getprop(“ro.build.product”)==”GT-I9100″
E:Error in /emmc/ROMs/PA3+/pa_i9100-3.97-20130817.zip
(status 7)instalation aborted
auti Verify the md5 checksum of the downloaded rom first. See how to do it here: https://www.droidviews.com/check-md5sum-of-a-file-on-windows-mac-and-linux/
hello, I have a problem with this rom…I don`t know why the CWM shows:
-Install /sdcard/ROMs/PA3+
-Finding update package…
-Opening update package…
-Verifyng update package…
E:signature verification failed
but, the install bar goes on…I probe with CM10 but shows another error…like my phone is not in the list of SGS2.
iqbalking DroidViews Try Goo Manager app from play store.
DroidViewsiqbalking
i was thinking the same thing. being searching for it like hell. theres an update twrp2.6 but not supported to galaxy note 1 gt n7000.
any ideas?
iqbalking DroidViews Try some other version of TWRP.
DroidViewsiqbalking
i can confirm signature verification is disable in setting and also the rom file is not corrupt because the md5 checksum is correct. also in flashing page i uncheck the signature verification and md5 checksum verificationi just swipe to flash.
how to settle this?
iqbalking You need to disable signature verification in TWRP. If it is already disabled, try after updating TWRP.
dear good sir,
i have aproblem flashing this rom. it show failed in red whenever i try to flash it. im currently using alliance rom with twrp as a recovery and my kernel is alliance kernel. i try to revert back to cwm v6 but to no avail. do i need to change the kernel to cm10 kernel?
for t-mobile S3 t999?
Unfortunately the link for TMO S3 is dead at the moment.
You can try a similar ROM cann PAC which has all features of ParanoidAndroid:
Download the RC1 version: http://pacman.basketbuild.com/index.php?dir=main/d2tmo/release/
Download Gapps from here: http://goo.im/gapps/gapps-jb-20130813-signed.zip
Gracias (thanks)…
can we have 4.3 custom firmware for samsung galaxy note N-7000
Download the latest version of PA, it is based on 4.3: http://goo.im/devs/beerbong/n7000/ParanoidAndroid
I successfully flashed it on my S3. Thanks for the instructions! =)
I also encountered the ‘loop’ in the animation on my first reboot. I just followed the instructions where I removed the battery and restarted after a while. I have not encountered issues since.
Hello. I used the TWRP to root my phone (galaxy s3 verizon) because I got the Verizon multi-view update. However, I cant go into recovery mode. It’s as if CWM recovery was never installed when I rooted my phone. Am I doing something wrong? I am trying to try the PA 3 ROM.
The new OTA has replaced the custom recovery with stock one. Try rooting the device again.
ANy chance PA 3 ROM build for Samsung Note LTE N7005
Only PA can answer to this.
ATT Galaxy S3 link is broken. does anyone have a mirror link?
Hi Markie, I just checked the official thread and the developer has not updated the ROM for a long time. The Dev Host server where the ROM is uploaded is down temporarily and it’ll be up soon. Keep checking this link: http://d-h.st/DW8
Anyways, I have a better choice for you. Try this: http://droidviews.com/2013/want-a-fully-customizable-aosp-rom-for-your-android-try-carbon-rom/
Done in my S3. The animation at the beggining was in loop, so I cleaned the cache, pulled the battery away and voilà!!
The system is very useful,clean and gorgeus. A big improvement over older versions.
Thanks so much for ur guide!!!
Nice! I am also using PA right now!
my wifi unable to connect ,it says saved but not connected,pls help
Just tested on my S3 and it works flawlessly. What device do you have?
how can we install Paranoid ROM with Odin??i already rooted my phone and now after installing an update from Samsung my phone is not starting and i am unable to go to recovery mode(vol up+ power+home) and i am only able to enter Download mode(vol down+power+home) . Please help me 🙁
Hi, Odin is used only to install official firmware and for custom ROMs you must have a custom recovery on your phone. After updating to the new firmware, your phone is no more rooted so you’ll have to root it again and install a custom recovery. You’ll then be able to install a custom ROM.
What Galaxy device do you have?
Hello there,been a reader of your site. I tried rooting my sg s3,successful, then played my very first custom rom (with your help) your supernexus rom,then i changed just now into paranoidandroid. I have 32gig sg s3,at first flashing supernexus,I noticed that my internal memory changed into 11g. Then i decided to change into paranoidandroid thought that this may change, roms are doing perfectly, no flaws,except for my problem of my internal memory from 32gig changing into 11gig. Can you help me with this?
camera is not working when i open it crashes…running with paranoid rom 3 version with gapps latest installed after a clean wiper, format, cache, etc as required. Moved back to Ultimate ROM after 3 weeks of repeated installations….any suggestions as i feel Paranoid rom is real good ROM.
Ok, I have found out a fix for the issue. Try this and let me know if it works for you: http://droidviews.com/2013/install-android-4-2-photo-sphere-camera-and-gallery-apps-on-your-samsung-galaxy-phone/
I have tested it on S3 with Carbon and PA.
It is working on sg s3. Already using it.
Nice!
Is there a galaxy s3 sprint version?
PA3+ is still not available for Spring Galaxy S3 but you have yet another choice that is better than PA. Try this: http://droidviews.com/2013/want-a-fully-customizable-aosp-rom-for-your-android-try-carbon-rom/
Awesome! Thanks!
It is stuck in a ”X” Glowing Symbol in startup
Pull out the battery and wipe data factory and cache partition. If it does not help, reflash the ROM:
http://droidviews.com/2013/things-to-do-before-and-after-installing-a-rom-troubleshooter/
galaxy note n7000 ist ok.. good.. beatiful!!
proceed with the installation of pa-i9300-3.10…zip and this is what I get.
installing:/SD cardrd /new firmware /pa-i9300-3.10-11mar 2013-gokussjx.zip
Finding update package
opening update package
installing update package
set-perm: some change failed
E : Error in /SD card/new firmware/pa-i9300 3-10-11 (status7)
Installation abort.
what shall I do if i need to continue with this new rom ?
You have an old recovery on your phone and that is why you are getting Status 7 error. Root it using this tutorial and it will be solved: http://droidviews.com/2012/root-samsung-galaxy-s3-on-android-4-1-2-jelly-bean-firmware/
see this error message during the backup process, ” no/sdcard/.android-securefound skipping backup of application on external storage.
no sd-ext found.skipping backup of sd-ext.
Generating md5 sum.
Backup complete
shall I continue wipe up data/factory reset and the following step…
Please advice.
Thanks in advance.
“Backup complete” shows that it was successful. Yes if you have doubts, you can reboot phone and do it again, then delete the previous backups from Clockworkmod folder on ext sd card. You can then continue to install another ROM.
Also consider these ROMs: http://droidviews.com/tag/best-custom-roms-series/
This might be a dumb question but, whats the difference between the fascinatemtd and d2vzw?
Fascinatemtd is the version for Samsung Fascinate, while d2vzw is for Verizon Galaxy S3
is this ROM HD? I’m asking this because the size is small (160 mb) and looking at all these features, is it going to look good on a galaxy note 2? I’m going to try it, but I’m hoping it’s not going to look blur but rather sharp and nice.
Hi, the size does not affect the quality of the graphical UI. Every ROM adheres to the resolution of the device it is made for. The ROM is small but you also have to install Google apps separately. It’s a nice ROM, try it. But also see this-
http://droidviews.com/2013/paranoidandroid-rom-3-review-tips-and-complete-walkthrough/
okay thanks…but has there been any fix for the battery drain yet? I also do hope that the physical home and a “soft touch” return/back and options buttons do work on the note 2 with this ROM?. I’m not sure I’d like to use the one that comes with the ROM.
Plus I’m going to purchase your app from the playstore if all goes well. Thanks
I´m trying to install on my S2 but says aborted!
3 possible reasons:
1. You phone does not have CWM recovery
2. The downloaded zip is corrupt
3. if it is status 7 error, your custom recovery needs to be updated.
I´m trying to install on my S2 but says aborted!
Holy **** IT IS NOT WORKED…i followed all the steps, but it said cannot open the ROM zip file
The ROM zip you downloaded is corrupt. Redownload it.
it said cant open …( bad ) what happend
there are so many download link…are those links work?
They are older and new versions of the ROM. Read the date in names to know which is latest.
Is there a t-mobile galaxy s3 version (t999)
Hi the official PA 3 is not yet available for T999, but you can try the PAC ROM from here: http://droidviews.com/2013/best-custom-roms-for-t-mobile-samsung-galaxy-s3-sgh-t999/
Thanks, I think i will install it! 🙂 thanks
Note 2 gt-n7100 there is no downloads
Fixed! You can download now.
thanks
Please help me!
Only the boot screen appears (blinking fish).
But it won’t start.
I follow the instructions above!
Hi
Sorry for being late in reply. If your problem persists, pull out the battery, reboot into recovery mode, wipe data/factory reset and reboot phone. It will be fixed.
Thanks for your reply.
I will try.
Yesternday, when i try to boot in the recovery mode (Vol-Down+Home+Power-Button) i only get a screen with the options
– Download a rom
– or Reboot
I think it was a “odin-screen”, so a flash the original firmware with odin.
I will try to flash paranoid android again.
But the tutorial clearly says: Vol-Up+Home+Power-Button
When i do the installation i press Vol-Up+Home+Power-Button (step 4) and all the steps works fine.
After the reboot of the last step only the start screen (fish) appears.
I waited about half an hour, but nothing changed.
I controlled the checksum of the download on pc, but i don’t controll it again on the phone (perhaps i should controll it on the phone again)
Tell me about This plz..?
This is a beautiful custom ROM but you will have to root your phone to be able to install it:
Rooting guide: http://droidviews.com/2013/root-samsung-galaxy-note-gt-n7000-on-android-4-1-2-jelly-bean-firmware/
ROM details here: http://droidviews.com/2013/paranoidandroid-rom-3-review-tips-and-complete-walkthrough/
can i
install on my note
Yes you can but you will have to root your phone first, You will find requires links in the article above.
Rooting also done sir now
then go on…and do not forget to backup the current rom.
Sir…
how to crate RooM Backup?
Sorry for My bad English…
Sir This Room Nys But i loss Some apps ..
Music Player icon . Notice bar.. massege Icon Tell me but can i do now plz?
It is based on pure Android JB, and therefore you will not find Samsung Apps here. Many people like it more that Samsung’s TW UI. Use it as a change of taste and then restore the old ROM via CWM Recovery.
Thanku u sir
come on to jelly bean ..
Show 2 gallerys and 2 Camera
Sir can i back to my old ics 4.0.0 Plz tell Me Or can i Update to 4.1.1 Jelly bean
There is no 4.1.1 for Note. Stay with JB. I am writing an article on best ROMs for Note that run fast, smooth and with better battery. Till then go back to Android 4.1.2 by restoring it from CWM.
restoring Done Sir..
Back to Jelly Bean 4.1.2 …
what happened to 3+ for sprint l900 note 2? where can i find it?
I am on a Galaxy S2. I installed everything however the pie panels doesn’t seem to work?
Hi,
I have checked it and it’s working beautifully. Please, read my tutorial on PA 3: http://droidviews.com/2013/paranoidandroid-rom-3-review-tips-and-complete-walkthrough/
you are right, it is working now, don’t know what happened. I really like this rom. One thing however I’ve seem to have deleted my notification bar including battery, time etc. Any ideas? Many thanks!
Hi Raimond,
You are asking this question because you did not read the article thoroughly. The Pie mode is also called the expanded desktop mode and it means, it removes all extra things like statusbar and navigation bar so that you get more space at the homescreen. All the removed items can now be accessed and seen from the PIE itself, whether it be the nav icons, network signal, notification and battery info. Read my article again and you will get a fairer idea. Cheers.
I realize that now…and found out how to switch this on and off. One thing I wonder about is that with the pie panel on some other options like status bar disappear like you said. When new messages come in there is a popup message which disappears after a few seconds. If I would’ve missed this, I would not know there is a new message only if I navigate through the pie panel. Do I see this correct?
A bit closer this time but whenever you launch the pie all unattended sms, mms, mail, call item show just above the pie circle. Just drag your finger to these items (when pie is open) and you will see the notification panel on the screen with all details. When you drag your fingers to the empty space at left side of these items, you can see the quick settings panel. All these and many other things have been mentioned in the article. Please spend some time reading that.
Regards!
I guess you are right. I have one problem however with the key board, it doesn’t seem to respond at times when I type in messages, i need to touch 2 or 3 times before it responds to a certain letter. Is this a known problem?
No, it’s not to the best of my knowledge. Try rebooting your phone once or twice. It’ll be fixed hopefully.
SKIPPING SD CARD SMTHN ?????? HELP PPLLEEEASSSEEE
Hi Ahmed,
If are unable to acess the SD Card data with PA3 or any AOSP or CM ROM, do this. Open My Files and tap on a folder names “0”. The files on internal sd are saved there. As for accessing the data on ext, sd card, the best way to access them is install the Xplore file manager from play store. Alternatively, open the CM file manager app and tap on left soft button and from app settings activate root mode. No you will able to see the files saved on ext sd. Open all folders and in one of them you will be able to see the ext sd card data.
I am currently on stock firmware so do not remember the folder name exactly. Let me know if it helped you.
i dont understand the cwm recovery part?
What is your problem?
do i just copy the cwm files on the phone or using odin to install them?
Well, it is a custom ROM to be flashed via CWM Recovery. Odin is used to flash official firmwares. So custom roms come in zip and are copied tp phone’s sd card (internal or external). You phone must be rooted and Clockworkmod Recovery be installed on it. If you do not have rooted your phone yet, you can root it using the rooting tutorial (link in the article above).
ok thanx for making that more clear
I have no wifi now =/
Correct! iI missed to notice the WiFi connectivity.
You can now try it. WiFi is working now with the new update.