Develop Bugs

Turning off Sense in Favor of Vanilla Android No Longer Possible?

Hi there!
I've written a FAQ with Android tips & tricks and tweaks that I try to keep updated, and when I made an attempt to turn off HTC Sense on my Desire the other day in order to get the default Android homescreen, the old method didn't work.
Clearing the defaults for HTC Sense had no effect, and Home wasn't even listed in the application manager.
Is there another way? Perhaps Sense on Android 2.1 devices goes so deep that there isn't even a vanilla Android below it anymore?
Thanks

When you say "no longer possible" are you saying you were able to do this before? From what I know Launcher2, the default 2.1 app launcher, is not installed so you have to find the apk somewhere and install that first.

When the reviewers were first getting hold of Desire's I think there was a video of someone turning off Sense and running stock Android. It was a really simple process too, from what I remember.
When the phone was officially released people noticed you couldn't do this any more.
I think that's what the OP is referring to.

HTC removed the standard Home before they shipped the Desire, so it's never been possible on post-release handsets. It was an option on pre-release phones, though, so people got videos out showing how to do it, and then no dice...
You can install HelixLauncher 2 or 1, which will give you similar homes. I'm not sure if the regular Launcher2.apk will install - I seem to remember trying it and failing. Don't recall for sure, though.

not again lol....well this has been discussed before again and again, the retail version's sense ui cannot be turned off...

Well, it can if you install a different home replacement and clear Sense's defaults.

You can install Launcher2.apk you should be able to find it in some other threads
(use the search?). I had no problems installing it.
Then do the 'clear defaults' setting on the Sense UI application, press 'home' and it will ask you which home screen you want to use.

Better still, install the Helix Launcher 2 from the Market. I prefer it because of the ability to insert 4 static shortcuts alongside the menu button where the space was just previously wasted.

How would I install CyanogenMOD for the TP2 Android builds

I have been using Android on my TP2 quite well. I would like to get into customization or it though and would like to figure out how to install CyanogenMOD or some other form that allows me to direct edit the android system from within the system.
This would also help the Devs I think.

electrikjesus said:
I have been using Android on my TP2 quite well. I would like to get into customization or it though and would like to figure out how to install CyanogenMOD or some other form that allows me to direct edit the android system from within the system.
This would also help the Devs I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now thats what im talkn about, pushing the limits of Android. lol im wondering the same myself. For the meanwhile u can try out either Home ++, PandaHome, Helix Launcher, or Zeam. ive tried all of those out with this AOSP build. I would recommend Zeam first then Home++ second. The Zeam UI is very customizable and i havent had a force close yet. so when i boot up android, i have the option of what UI i want to use The Standard AOSP Home, Home ++, or Zeam. also theres no slowdown when running these UI. try it out, u might like it. I got the Metamorph program but when i try to run it , it says im missing busybox. i dunno, i looked at processes and busybox is in here but not active or not being recognized. who knows..lol
im on the same note as u though, customization.

I've been trying this, unsuccessfully so far, since I got my TP2 about a month ago. It's not really documented anywhere so it's all trial and error and I haven't really found the time to work on it as much as I would like to. I was having some success mounting the data.img, pulling and pushing parts via ADB and editing the squash file. But now adb won't recognize my phone and I'm too lazy to fish out why. meh.

I noticed that Busybox was also in the file structure, just not activated. Which also means that the Android builds we have all been playing with are rooted.
I do agree with you though, Home++ or Zeam are the home screens of choice, At least until SPB MS 5 comes out. Did I see somewhere that one of the devs here on XDA made an android apk store for only XDA releases?

electrikjesus said:
I noticed that Busybox was also in the file structure, just not activated. Which also means that the Android builds we have all been playing with are rooted.
I do agree with you though, Home++ or Zeam are the home screens of choice, At least until SPB MS 5 comes out. Did I see somewhere that one of the devs here on XDA made an android apk store for only XDA releases?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
wow..i hope someone chimes in with that link..thatll be crazy ..thats cool as hell...only surf for xda apps for android wit ease. ive been using Zeam..it loads up fast and hardly any hiccups or FC's. Plus u can load any widget wit no problem. For some reason on Home ++ , certain large widgets will freeze up and wont let u put them in the trash bin at the bottom..lol and now i came across the same clock widget used in the sense that shows time and weather. so with zeam and that, ud think i had the sense version although im repping AOSP at the moment. I really wanna learn or find out how to either activate the busybox in this build or find a new, simple download. i researched some, but way too many steps and risky since this not an official rom. I b worried sometimes that messing around with the UI or hidden settings in android might mess up things on the next boot up..lmao but i already got MetaMorph, its juss waiting to be used once it recognizes busybox.

seems like a new sqsh file would have to be made by a developer mimicking cyanogen in order to "install" it

eghoti1 said:
seems like a new sqsh file would have to be made by a developer mimicking cyanogen in order to "install" it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it would be like a custom sqsh file, kinda like a custom rom in a sense..lol that would be cool...there would have to be enuff interest in it plus be stable enuff to merge with this build. i know there has to be some kind of work around for the moment. there usually always is. ;-) i dont like the plain look of the Aosp build but its fast. so i try to find new ui or mods. which ive found out there is a ton of stuff u can do to this build thru apps juss like windows...my setup on this Aosp looks nuthn like it does when u first install it. it looks more like the Sense version. now i have it in fullscreen and that taskbar up top no longer there for that much more screen real estate..lol Zeam(ui app at the marketplace) has been wrkin pretty well for me.

Neopeek Cyanogen
Neopeek got Cyanogen working with ext2 partition

alternative
or you can use staysafe app in android to transform sqsh to ext2. it's like root, but without the ability to reboot.
So no customisations yet.

this.

Well, I have the SuperE CyanogenMod from Neopeek installed. It runs a little choppy, But FAST!! I was never able to get DATA working though. So I had to put her down until they figure out why.
I even tried a couple different zimage/modules packages for the rhodium. All but one resulted in the boot animation endlessly restarting.
I guess I still have to wait a bit.

Porting phone.apk from stock to cyanogen

So right now I'm in dsixda's rom kitchen, trying to pull a few stock apps(phone, dialer, contacts, messaging) from a rooted stock rom(cr 2.13 OTA) to the nightly CM7. It's giving me process.com.android.phone has stopped unexpectedly at boot and won't let me past. So I know that the OTA rom is froyo and CM is gingerbread, I'm assuming thats my problem. so that being said, first am I right? What do I need to do to make this work? and where can I get a stock gingerbread rom? can I simply drag and drop phone.apk, dialer.apk, etc. or is there more to it?

TheUnknown7 said:
So right now I'm in dsixda's rom kitchen, trying to pull a few stock apps(phone, dialer, contacts, messaging) from a rooted stock rom(cr 2.13 OTA) to the nightly CM7. It's giving me process.com.android.phone has stopped unexpectedly at boot and won't let me past. So I know that the OTA rom is froyo and CM is gingerbread, I'm assuming thats my problem. so that being said, first am I right? What do I need to do to make this work? and where can I get a stock gingerbread rom? can I simply drag and drop phone.apk, dialer.apk, etc. or is there more to it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think that will work. Espresso roms are sense, cm roms are not, they have different frameworks and such. First off, I'm PRETTY sure phone.apk is just the backend to sms/dialer/radio/etc., so you can leave that alone. Why do you want to move those apps over to cm7? Theming? Messaging and contacts I KNOW won't work because they require the tmobile framework resources that cm roms don't have, same with the dialer. You won't be able to move messaging either, since it has different coding from froyo to gingerbread. Contacts and dialer you MIGHT be able to move over if you ALSO move over the com.htc.resources.apk from /system/framework to the same location on the cm rom. You also might have to move the com.tmobile.framework.apk or something like that from /system/app to the same location on cm7 as well.
That may or may not work, it'll more likely just cause force closes everywhere since htc apps are very dependent on other apps and proprietary framework resources that stock android doesn't have.

I don't understand why you would want any of that. To each his own, but I think cyanogen has made all of that stuff better and simpler. The only thing he needs to add is the ability to end the call from the notification bar. I thought sense had a good idea there
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide using XDA App

I'm not knocking CM I do like it, it's just still buggy. For example in his contacts when entering a new a number with the keyboard the numbers are haywire and dont work, so you have to use the touchscreen. The main thing with the dialer is I miss the T9 speeddial, and messaging is a bit buggy as well, plus I like the old mms.apk ui better. For now I found out about dialer 1 on the market and will use that, but hopefully when it's all said and done things will be better on CM. Can anyone suggest a good messaging app from the market? contacts too maybe?

TheUnknown7 said:
I'm not knocking CM I do like it, it's just still buggy. For example in his contacts when entering a new a number with the keyboard the numbers are haywire and dont work, so you have to use the touchscreen. The main thing with the dialer is I miss the T9 speeddial, and messaging is a bit buggy as well, plus I like the old mms.apk ui better. For now I found out about dialer 1 on the market and will use that, but hopefully when it's all said and done things will be better on CM. Can anyone suggest a good messaging app from the market? contacts too maybe?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use GoSMS. It's free, and you can theme it and such.

Alright. and almost forgot, the stock music player... any way of porting that? I really like the original widget better, and I miss controlling it from the lock screen. I want the old calendar back as well. thoughts?

i missed the dial by name from the SenseUI - this app is a GREAT replacement, you swipe from side to side to get to recent/favs/dial, and it's free: https://market.android.com/details?id=kz.mek.DialerOne

TheUnknown7 said:
Alright. and almost forgot, the stock music player... any way of porting that? I really like the original widget better, and I miss controlling it from the lock screen. I want the old calendar back as well. thoughts?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this is available in the later CM7 nightlies (30+) - you can hold the volume buttons to do prev/next, and you can even have the controls on the lock screen...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_gY1fGpKBs&feature=player_embedded
This is a replacement contacts called Phonebook 2.0. It's pretty cool.
Also, pretty much any of the widgets in sense are sense only ;p

Thanks guys. Yep figured out about the music player, thats good. Already using dialer one, I like it better actually. Now I'm missing the calendar. I really miss being able to see when stuff is coming up on the old widget. Any body got anything on that?

TheUnknown7 said:
Thanks guys. Yep figured out about the music player, thats good. Already using dialer one, I like it better actually. Now I'm missing the calendar. I really miss being able to see when stuff is coming up on the old widget. Any body got anything on that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stock calendar widget is an agenda style widget
Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide

Coming from an Iphone

Hey guys been reading for a bit...Actually about 2 days now lol
Anyone else have a hard transistion over?
A few things im excited about is the wifi calling and possibly tehtering.
Right now Im tring to accomplish getting a different theme and removing the bloatware and might just wait for ICS to come out before I start playing with roms I feel like I got the phone a bad time because soon we will be transitioning over.
So right now,
Get a theme where I can access and change my music with out opening the to the home screen...
Wifi calling
And possibly tether but I think I need to install a custom rom and freeze the tether option.
Other than that just figure things out.

Firstly, you cant remove bloatware, truely, without rooting your phone. However, you can hide certain apps with a themer/launcher.
Root free, the most iphone-like launcher is Espier launcher 5.x . Espier also has a safari like browser called Espier Browser. Both of these apps can be found in the market place and will fool you into thinking you have an iphone.
The best iphone like lock screen is the miui lockscreen on the market.

Yea I don't know if I want to go iphone style theme I was looking at some other threads even tried a few widgetlocker I couldnt figure this one out find some nice ones on this site just couldn't get them to look like that one mine.
The other was lockbot its was a bit cheesy.
I will have to look into launcher(s)

blazin6969 said:
Yea I don't know if I want to go iphone style theme I was looking at some other threads even tried a few widgetlocker I couldnt figure this one out find some nice ones on this site just couldn't get them to look like that one mine.
The other was lockbot its was a bit cheesy.
I will have to look into launcher(s)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The girlfriend and I both really like golauncher and golocker, but you'll have to play with them and figure out which works best for you.
Give it a bit of time and you'll really like the phone I think. It takes a bit to get used to finding things. The OS has a ton more depth to it so it can be a bit overwhelming at first, but once you get the lay off the land you'll be able to enjoy it a lot more.
Both my girlfriend and I had iPhones before Android and couldn't go back. Unless you're really itching for some new feature you can only use by rooting the phone I'd just take some time to familiarize yourself with the phone and it's menus. New roms add a lot of flexibility and new features, but the new options/moved menus may just add to the frustration for now.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

I would personally suggest WidgetLocker, as you can put a music player widget(I'd suggest pure music widget 4x2), and DX Home as the homescreen. It's just iphone-like enough to look really nice, but it has android where it counts.

Android Heaven
Welcome to Android Heaven.
Here you'll find many choices during your PERMANENT stay
1) Awesome Customization
2) CIQ free
3)Games with better graphics
4)No Bloatware
5) Customs rooms and kernals
6)Google and Social Integration
7)Bigger Screen
8-9999999999999999999999999999999999999) Tell you the those reason later. Going to destroy something with my build in android phone camera laser/rocket/hologram

peconaut said:
Welcome to Android Heaven.
Here you'll find many choices during your PERMANENT stay
1) Awesome Customization
2) CIQ free
3)Games with better graphics
4)No Bloatware
5) Customs rooms and kernals
6)Google and Social Integration
7)Bigger Screen
8-9999999999999999999999999999999999999) Tell you the those reason later. Going to destroy something with my build in android phone camera laser/rocket/hologram
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't forget the kernel update for the Valkyrie rocket.
Any who back on topic. If your completely new, you're gonna want to wait a bit to root and ROM, as it can get overwhelming. Get a good feel of how it works. Look at a lot of reviews for your phone on YouTube, then search around the forums for some good tips. Especially stickies.. and yea
That's about it.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App

if you don't really want a launcher that bad you can play around with the Samsung Launcher thing, and add music instead of contacts etc... Home Button > Settings > edit > switch >take out whatever you want and add whatever you want, sure it goes out of order but you can always put it back in order by Home > Settings > View Type > Alpha, etc..

blazin6969 said:
Hey guys been reading for a bit...Actually about 2 days now lol
Anyone else have a hard transistion over?
A few things im excited about is the wifi calling and possibly tehtering.
Right now Im tring to accomplish getting a different theme and removing the bloatware and might just wait for ICS to come out before I start playing with roms I feel like I got the phone a bad time because soon we will be transitioning over.
So right now,
Get a theme where I can access and change my music with out opening the to the home screen...
Wifi calling
And possibly tether but I think I need to install a custom rom and freeze the tether option.
Other than that just figure things out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best launchers are Go Launcher EX, ADW Launcher, or Launcher Pro in my opinion. If you want an iphone-like experience, MIUI is a good way to go but i dont think its quite ready for prime time for our phone though theres a MIUI Launcher standalone available, which has many of the same features from a UI standpoint.
As for lock screen controls, apps like Poweramp have lock screen controls for music. There are also lock replacements like Go Locker and Widget Locker that have customizable lock screens.

peconaut said:
Welcome to Android Heaven.
Here you'll find many choices during your PERMANENT stay
1) Awesome Customization
2) CIQ free
3)Games with better graphics
4)No Bloatware
5) Customs rooms and kernals
6)Google and Social Integration
7)Bigger Screen
8-9999999999999999999999999999999999999) Tell you the those reason later. Going to destroy something with my build in android phone camera laser/rocket/hologram
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is is strapped to a shark?
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium

Like jumping to any platform you get your pros and your cons, You have a more flexible OS but Battery might not be as good the list goes on. and not every OS is made for everyone just give it a shot you have 30 days to change your mind.

Thanks for the info guys! Yea been playing with it a bit more I think the screen is a million times better than my 3gs I might try go locker or the launcher today

Get qq launcher. I use it now and love it. it's free in the market and had s bunch of different internal themes.you can use.
I'm using the iPhone theme for obvious reasons

There's a thread called home screenshots in the theme and apps section where you can take a look at how some ppl have their home screens set up with different launchers, themes, widgets, and icons that way you can get some ideas of how you might wanna set things up as for roms it's really up to you and which you like better there's no harm in trying each one til you find your daily driver remember you can always mix different roms and kernels and find what combo works best for you (just remember to stick to roms and kernels that are for our specific model you don't wanna end up with your first android paper weight) .. Btw I was the same had been using iPhones since the first one to the iphone4 and this was my first Android and haven't looked back since love this phone it's a beast!
Sent from my SGH-T989 using Tapatalk

If you want to change the lockscreen around, try milocker. Its free and there are alot of options, plus you can change your lockscreen wallpaper.

Just got my Gnex and I have some questions

So my Gnex arrived from Google last night, and I am in the process of setting it up. However three things immediately jumped out at me that I was hoping to get clarification on. First, when I long press the screen I am not shown the option for widgets. All it shows me is wallpaper options which I found weird since obviously Android is big on widgets. Is it supposed to be like this, or am I missing a setting somewhere? Second, for the life of me I can not find the settings for the default launcher. I would like to add some new icons but I am unable to do so. Lastly, all the other icons can be long pressed and then removed, with the exception of the Google search bar at the top. In all previous Android phones I was able to add or delete anything from the home screen, again, am I missing something or is this a "feature"??

open the app drawer ad you can drag icons and widgets to the screens.
to remove the pesky search bar (a "feature"!) you need a 3rd party launcher such as Apex or Nova, from the play store (the free versions are fine)

Widgets are now under a tab in the app draw.
I believe you can remove the Google search bar by selecting a different search provider in the settings list.
As far as launcher settings I think u need a custom rom to do that.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

1) They are located in your app drawer, Right at the end after your Apps
2) Think this is located in the settings menu, but is Limited. Been so long since i was on stock
3) It can be removed IIRC, but the space is not useable.
All in all, You might want to look at an alternative launcher like Apex or Nova, All are close to stock but with a wealth of features

azlemad said:
pretty much all of what you listed can be solved using a 3rd party launcher such as Apex or Nova, from the play store (the free versions are fine)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used Apex on my previous device and I will likely use it again, but my question is are the things I mentioned supposed to be happening with the stock setup?

Yes
10chars

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1431
good day.

Yea those are all new "features" for ICS.

JDFlint said:
Yea those are all new "features" for ICS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha! What crappy "features"! Gotta love it....

chopper the dog said:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=1431
good day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you mean to post a general link to this forum?

azlemad said:
open the app drawer ad you can drag icons and widgets to the screens.
to remove the pesky search bar (a "feature"!) you need a 3rd party launcher such as Apex or Nova, from the play store (the free versions are fine)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess its back to Apex for me. I was kind of hoping the "pure" Google experience would be a little better, but I guess you still need to tweak things.

webmaster said:
I guess its back to Apex for me. I was kind of hoping the "pure" Google experience would be a little better, but I guess you still need to tweak things.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My wife just got the GN two days ago, upgrading from a Droid Inc running Stock+ rom. I actually like the new features of ICS. Seems very different coming from Sense, two versions old. I'm not using an Android device, but if I were, the GN would almost definitely be my pick right now.

kjjb0204 said:
My wife just got the GN two days ago, upgrading from a Droid Inc running Stock+ rom. I actually like the new features of ICS. Seems very different coming from Sense, two versions old. I'm not using an Android device, but if I were, the GN would almost definitely be my pick right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sense is terrible and I will never again purchase a device with that abomination installed on it! I had sense on my Sensation (previous phone) and then I rooted it, killed sense, and was running an AOSP ROM for the past few months.

Remove search bar:
Menu > Settings > Apps > All > Scroll down to google search bar (believe thats what it says) > disable.
Gone.

webmaster said:
Sense is terrible and I will never again purchase a device with that abomination installed on it! I had sense on my Sensation (previous phone) and then I rooted it, killed sense, and was running an AOSP ROM for the past few months.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually like Sense and would not have objected if my wife insisted on the Rezound or the upcoming Inc 4G. It does have some very useful widgets and is pretty slick looking. Doesn't matter anyhow, I'm not on Android and wife loves her new GN. Hopefully she'll get the 4.0.4 update today or at least this week to iron out some of the small annoyances.