my old S2 is getting slower and slower and is mostly a real pain to use. Apps load ages, my whole RAM is used up and surfing the internet is even worse than on my old ipad1. I removed all unnecessary apps but it didn't help a bit which is why I am now looking to flash another version of android (currently running vanilla android 4.1.2).
I know how to flash my phone but regarding the distros out there I am very helpless. Can you guys recommend any for me? I like my phone simple and basic, no fancy UI's. I don't need any google apps, except google maps and gmail (+calendar). Performance and battery life are king.
At the risk of stating the obvious,have you tried Cyanogenmod?\Also,the newer android "distros" need a bit of griunt from the phones themselves. I suspect the S2 hardware is unable to cater to the more demanding distros
http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s2/development-derivatives ... Look through there for anything titled slimkat or a rom based off of it they are free from all bloatware and are generally really fast due to tweaks at the kernel level that I don't understand .... I'd recommend going straight to a KitKat rom as 4.2/4.3 were real processor hogs compared to 4.1 and revisions to the kernal in KitKat allow it to run well on lower spec devices .... If you have a different variant of the S2 then select the one you have here http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s2 and follow the directions above.
Thank you guys for all the answers. I am installin cyanogen mod right now because it seems to be a very popular custom rom with a lot of optimizations. If that does not improve my experience then i will try out the other ones you recommended
c-rom works well if you can still find the s-2 image. If your going to install it, i'de recommend that you use phil's touch for recovery, as c-rom tends to be a bit picky.
Download CyanogenMod but on the older devices like the S2, don't go for the newest releases like CM11. KitKat may advertise to run better on older phones, but it doesn't. I've tried many times. It's noticeably slower and just gives you a feeling of accomplishment that you have the newest Android version. The best version of CyanogenMod IMO for older phones is CM 10.1.3. Really good performance and same general design as KitKat just with blue halo elements.