Since I last posted here, I’ve played with Cyanogenmod firmware images – since AT&T is limiting updates to my S3 to KitKat, I needed to take matters into my own hands to upgrade to Lollipop.

In order to install a Cyanogenmod image, I needed to Root the phone first. Rooting is a process where you give yourself elevated permissions on the phone.

I tried a handful of “quickroot” tools that promised a one-click root experience. None of them worked. I ended up installing a recovery ROM image using ODIN, booting into a recovery mode, then running a program to root the phone. Once that was done I was able to load the boot image and boot into my new Lollipop environment.

I like the new Material Design look and feel. Lollipop has some interesting features, like a priority notification mode.

What I didn’t realize was that one of the tools I rely on, Priority senders in email, is a Samsung feature and isn’t on the generic ROM. What I was hoping to do with Lollipop was to improve on mail notifications from specific senders and ignore everyone else. Apple does this well with their VIP feature, Blackberry did this way back when with two levels of notification.

I’m downgrading now to a stock AT&T image and NILS, my previous lock screen solution. While I’m going to miss the eye-candy, KitKat seems to have all of the features I need for work.