[Q] Sense ROMs and HTC locations - G2 and Desire Z Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

Hi all, looking for some advice before i root my Z (it's feeling a bit sluggish, so want to OC it)
I use HTC locations alot for the offline navigation. Do the stock (ish) sense ROMs have HTC locations enabled/working?
Also do any sense ROM's sync properly with HTC sense. I have paid a subscription for voice guided navigation (which i assume authenticates using the HTC sense interface - correct me if im wrong). If i flash a sense ROM will my subscription still be active once i sync my HTC sense account?
Lastly... i know HTC is planning to release a gingerbread update by the end of June. Will the devs (god bless them) get a rooted version of this out with HTC locations and sense syncing working soon after release.
Thanks for your time and advice

You can root and overclock, and still stay on the stock ROM. You don't need to go to a custom ROM, unless that is what you are looking to do. I've used the Godspeed kernel with the stock 1.34 ROM with good results. Everything on the stock ROM remains intact, it just opens up the CPU clock options.
As far as your question on Locations working on custom ROMs, every custom ROM is different, so that is too vague a question. What ROM in particular are you looking at? I've tried Virtuous (which is "stockish" as you mentioned), and Locations works fine.
Access to the Sense account is via email address and your Sense password, so that should be easy to migrate (if you switch ROMs). I haven't had any issues going between ROMs and being able to login to my Sense account. I don't use the paid navigation. But I would think that is linked to your Sense account the same way.
As far as a rooted version of the upcoming Gingerbread (with Sense) update, you'll have to wait and see what happens (like everybody else!). A rooted version will probably be available. And everything working is pretty likely too, but we won't know what the developers will run into until it actually happens. I think you would need a crystal ball to be able to know any more than that.

Thanks mate. I should have poked around the dev section more before posting this. Looks like everything is working on Virtuous Sense

Related

Most stable 2.x ROM?

Hi !
I'm very happy with my Hero, but im kinda tired that HTC hasn't released atleast a 1.6 ROM yet.
Im thinking of flashing a 2.x ROM, but which is the most stable? I use my phone at work, so can't go around and reboot it constantly. Also Exchange mail is a must!
Any tips? (looking at kagu/ckdroid)
CKDroid works great! I find it most stable.
this may be a little early to make the claim of stability but i have been using AOSP 2.1 r1 by jnwhiteh all day, and it has been very stable.
i was using kagudroid before this.
warsng said:
this may be a little early to make the claim of stability but i have been using AOSP 2.1 r1 by jnwhiteh all day, and it has been very stable.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CKDroid is based on it
Why don't you try MoDaCo custom roms? They are android 1.5 but heavely optimised, they're faster then any 2.x rom i've tried.
I'd say CKDroid is the fastest of the 2.X ROMs. And as far as I've tested it up against MoDaCo when it comes to speed, they are quite equal.
Ok, i'll try CKDroid.
I can't seem to see a complete flash guide. Can someone link me?
Is there indeed an offical 2.1 rom coming at some point?
ProfessorAsian said:
Is there indeed an offical 2.1 rom coming at some point?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Around mid-Feb.
culturelol said:
Ok, i'll try CKDroid.
I can't seem to see a complete flash guide. Can someone link me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just written
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=622228
KaguDroid 1.1 by LoxDev is amazing. Fast and stable. Really nice!!
what about hero2.1 v1.8?( http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=592596)
i want to try a 2.1 rom with sense and i read that this is the most stable...it's true? what about the hero/espresso hybrid?
I find this one the best Sense ROM by far - full albums / camera / bluetooth etc.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=613746
Well
I tried MoDaCo 3.1 hours after getting my hero, and about the same length of time later I removed it, it was horrible and I used to get crashes of the "system" process and had to reboot, happened 5-10 times in fewer hours so i switched straight back to a rooted version of the original Hero generic latest ROM.
I might consider givng another senseUI 2.1 option a try before i make my final judgement, but that's just my experience with the MoDaCo one so far.
has anyone tried the new VILLAIN 1.0??? it seems to be almost perfect! i'm gonna try it tomorrow...if anyone has already tried it please tell me how it works!
magokh said:
has anyone tried the new VILLAIN 1.0??? it seems to be almost perfect! i'm gonna try it tomorrow...if anyone has already tried it please tell me how it works!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running very nicely here, its just missing the htc mail program so no exchange support and a couple of problems with the htc weather program not liking other locations
MrYiff said:
Running very nicely here, its just missing the htc mail program so no exchange support and a couple of problems with the htc weather program not liking other locations
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeh I just looked at that, and the exchange and lack of HTC keyboard are the only two things keeping me from flashing to it just yet. (I'm a perfectionist, so it's gotta be perfect before I'll even consider it.)
yes i read those problems...but can be resolved easily...so, when the cook will release the next version, i'll flash instantly! goodnight
I suggest KaguDroid 1.1 or later, or AOSP 2.1-r2 or later, if you can handle a vanilla (no sense ui).
Villain has Sense; which is nice because of Facebook contact sync. All other parts of Sense can be imitated by apps (like the clock/weather can be done by beautiful widgets). There are some other issues with Network Location and there is no included HTC or Android music widget in Villain. Although I prefer the HTC home-screen, I also prefer the Android lock-screen.
KaguDroid includes voice input from the keyboard, so you can use dictation to enter text into a field in ANY app.
Villain doesn't provide the HTC IME keyboard, or voice input (as of today).
Market works without using Market Enabler, for Rogers (Canada) in Kagu/AOSP. SMS incoming timestamps are correct without using SMSfixtimes in Kagu/AOSP.
As far as stability is concerned, I haven't really had issues with any of Villain/Kagu1.1/AOSP2.1-r2
bt1980 said:
I suggest KaguDroid 1.1 or later, or AOSP 2.1-r2 or later, if you can handle a vanilla (no sense ui).
Villain has Sense; which is nice because of Facebook contact sync. All other parts of Sense can be imitated by apps (like the clock/weather can be done by beautiful widgets). There are some other issues with Network Location and there is no included HTC or Android music widget in Villain. Although I prefer the HTC home-screen, I also prefer the Android lock-screen.
KaguDroid includes voice input from the keyboard, so you can use dictation to enter text into a field in ANY app.
Villain doesn't provide the HTC IME keyboard, or voice input (as of today).
Market works without using Market Enabler, for Rogers (Canada) in Kagu/AOSP. SMS incoming timestamps are correct without using SMSfixtimes in Kagu/AOSP.
As far as stability is concerned, I haven't really had issues with any of Villain/Kagu1.1/AOSP2.1-r2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
definetely kagudroid..stable and full market!

question about porting roms

Hi guys,
I am considering getting a Desire, or possibly wait for the Supersonic to replace my HTC Magic.
Problem is, I'm not a fan of SenseUI, I would much rather run stock Android. I know you can sort of disable Sense, but that only disables the Sense homescreen, and the Sense integration goes much deeper. Plus, I don't want to have to rely on HTC updating their roms with Sense.
However seeing as most people like Sense, I fear there will not be much or any interest with devs to build Sense-less (heh) roms for the Desire.
So I was wondering if anyone could tell me how hard it is to take, for instance a Nexus One rom, and port it to a device like the Desire or Supersonic so I could do it myself? I never did any rom cooking and I have no idea how much work would be involved in it.
Any info would be greatly appreciated
if you see other android models there are versions without the sense too. so i am 100% positive there will be a stock android rom for the desire
lambrospower said:
if you see other android models there are versions without the sense too. so i am 100% positive there will be a stock android rom for the desire
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah but most of those phones came without Sense to begin with I don't think there's many people running stock Android on Hero's for example right?
Anyway, I do hope you're right though
Desire and Nexus can run the same roms (apparently as they had the desire rom on the nexus in no time) so you'd be able to just flash a stock rom from the nexus forum.
You can simply turn off the sence UI. Go into applications and stop it! then when you hit home it asks you if you would like to use sence UI or standard home, hit the tick box to remeber selection and choose home. Sence UI disabled!
There is a video on youtube a2Amcaot1Us but I can't post a link!
As I already said, that only disables the SenseUI homescreen, and Sense integration goes deeper than the homescreen. And it also doesn't solve the dependence on HTC in regards to providing OS updates.
I have a Sprint Hero. There are several ROM's that use the Nexus One launcher. These do not have Sense UI on them. However, I would not try what someone posted earlier about taking a ROM from a different phone and putting it on yours. This could brick your phone and you would be screwed.
In time when someone figures out how to Root there will be ROM's that don't have Sense. The phones seem to run faster without it, but I love Sense and would not swicth to a phone that does not have it.

HTC sense (or similar), sane interface for the Galaxy..

Hello all,
I have my Galaxy for almost 2 weeks and the more I use it the more I realize that the Samsung interface is nothing short of idiotic. Today I compared it with an HTC device some colleagues at work and what I thought were just pure Android OS stupidity it turned out to be Samsung's
Just an example: In the dialer application, if I start typing a contact name, I get a match ONLY if I type the first letters -- I get no match in the middle of a word.
Also, when a match is found, I am not presented with all the phone numbers for that contact, only the first one.
That's _really_ bad -- even my old Omnia running WM6.5 can do better than that.
Needless to say same thing worked as expected on the HTC running Froyo.
So, the question is: Is there any custom ROM (ideally 2.2) that doesn't suffer from this stupidity ? Or -- even better -- is HTC Sense (or a similiar, sane interface) ported to the Galaxy ? Or maybe even a vanilla 2.2 GUI ?
Thanks...
do a market search on 'launcherpro'. it's as good if not better than htc sense (with all the built in widgets), at least until the newer version of htc sense from desire hd comes out.
this is not really android rom dev, is it?
As this seems to be a dialer problem for example, check out the alternative ones from the market, one may cover what you miss...
For example dialer one. It's at least way faster than the stock one...
Oh, and +1 to LauncherPro (Plus), unless you use Touchwiz widgets.
zenkinz said:
do a market search on 'launcherpro'. it's as good if not better than htc sense (with all the built in widgets), at least until the newer version of htc sense from desire hd comes out.
this is not really android rom dev, is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip, will look into it.
Well, I'm not so sure it's not rom dev since I'm not sure how much TouchWiz is embedded with ROM, if there are "vanilla" ROMs without TouchWiz or other cooked ROMs with other (better) interfaces, etc. etc.
So you tell me if it's rom dev or if it's not
P.S. And yes, "HTC Sense" was just an example, maybe not the best. Maybe I should have said "a saner interface than TouchWiz"...
the dialer found in froyo rom will be able to search in the middle of the name, instead of just starting.
you can run launcherpro over touchwiz although you probably want to remove the touchwiz widgets as they are not accessible outside of touchwiz. (which means you need to have your rom rooted). But you can't remove touchwiz completely (unless things has changed in the last 1 month) as it's integral component to feature/function beyond shell interface (e.g. you need this if you want to use kies to connect to your galaxy)
zenkinz said:
the dialer found in froyo rom will be able to search in the middle of the name, instead of just starting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure which Froyo you are talking about, but the test above is on the XXJPH I have installed off this very forum (and seems "ho-hum" in terms of stability on my device).
Anyway, will take a look at LauncherPro -- maybe it will alleviate some of the issues with TouchWiz
zenkinz said:
the dialer found in froyo rom will be able to search in the middle of the name, instead of just starting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately, it isn't. Is there a way to hack it?
Theres already a Bounty for porting HTC Sense/the full ROM to our phones. Search, got around $1000+ between both threads (one over in the other subforums), but we need someone to port it. There is someone who has semi done it, just need him to release it publicly.
if you really want something similar to htc sense then check out this awsome mod from JAguirre1231 here , its the closest thing to sense (at least for now) with azreils sense theme. Or if you want stock android, you can check this which includes stock everything but only 2.1 (no its not a port, it still has touchwiz framework but everything is stock even the phone app) . Hopefully devs are working on cyanogen and once thats out, you will get what you want. until then you can use these
Hope i helped
HTC Sense is consider warez on XDA if it is not on an HTC device. HTC already threatened to sue acouple of developers on the Motorola Droid for porting it.
When I start typing 626 the equivalent for "mam" I get more suggestions.
first is "mama".
I also get a girl with the name "oana" because 626 numbers also equals "oan".
And I get some random guy that it happens to have a number like 07 626 3xxxx

[Q] Which ROM?!?! Totally unable to choose...

Hi all,
I'm a newbie of the Androids world. (and also in HTCs one).
I'm coming from the world of Nokia hacking and modding and here, with all the mods changed, I feel a bit (just not to say totally) lost.
I bought this week a new HTC Desire, I feel very happy and proud of my choice, the AMOLED screen is something superlative.
But, coming to my problem:
I discovered that to join the wifi hotspot in my university i need to set the proxy and other stuff which i can do only with root privilege and other apps, so I decided that is just arrived the time to f**k up the guarantee and install a rom one time for all, at the beginning so i must not reinstall many apps, settings and other stuffs.
I'm searching for a ROM which is the most possible similar to the original Sense FroYo that is now installed on the phone. But at the moment for me I think it's to hard to be able to recognize the differences between two ROMs, so...
Which is better for me to choose in the huge list of post #1 of the "Desire Index - Everything is here" thread?
Obviously it must have the root capabilities, ap2sd and..? (i'm totally ignorant in which are the starter-important mod)
thx for you help and sorry for my poor english..
Piemo said:
Hi all,
I'm a newbie of the Androids world. (and also in HTCs one).
I'm coming from the world of Nokia hacking and modding and here, with all the mods changed, I feel a bit (just not to say totally) lost.
I bought this week a new HTC Desire, I feel very happy and proud of my choice, the AMOLED screen is something superlative.
But, coming to my problem:
I discovered that to join the wifi hotspot in my university i need to set the proxy and other stuff which i can do only with root privilege and other apps, so I decided that is just arrived the time to f**k up the guarantee and install a rom one time for all, at the beginning so i must not reinstall many apps, settings and other stuffs.
I'm searching for a ROM which is the most possible similar to the original Sense FroYo that is now installed on the phone. But at the moment for me I think it's to hard to be able to recognize the differences between two ROMs, so...
Which is better for me to choose in the huge list of post #1 of the "Desire Index - Everything is here" thread?
Obviously it must have the root capabilities, ap2sd and..? (i'm totally ignorant in which are the starter-important mod)
thx for you help and sorry for my poor english..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LeeDroid! But I'm biased, been using it a couple of months and it rocks, full Sense ROM, A2SD+ (need an ext partition on your SD card for this), themeable, overclockable if you want. I've tried other but nothing has persuaded me to switch.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=773997
this one is all stock but for the root access, but if you root, why just go for the same as you got?
Invest a few bucks in titanium backup or mybackup pro and rom manager and try some of the top roms like AuraxTSense, LeeDroid, both with Sense as you know it, or Miui and OpenDesire which run alternative launchers.
There is never just flash one rom and be happy once you have set yor foot in here
By far the greatest of all is LeeDorid.Lots of good features and a lot of updates !
Modaco Custom ROM
Should be as good as Leedroid or even better in my opinion ;-)
zambara said:
By far the greatest of all is LeeDorid.Lots of good features and a lot of updates !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MIUI 10.0.29 is honest to god stunning, its fast, overclockable, excellent batterylife and the whole UI is a nice overhaul. Its clean and everything has been designed for use, the system menu has been re-organized for the better making it easier and clearer to get to all options. They have also done things like add settings to the notification panel, added kintetic scrolling (so things bounce) FM radio re-skinned all major apps. The lockscreen has also been changed to a custom lockscreen which has quick access to phone and messaging, barring that i'd suggest trying DeFrost, he does good builds of CyanogenMod, or Cyanogen Mod 6.1 rc1. Not a huge fan of CM6, its seems as slow as sense roms on my phone. OD and DeFrost dont seem to suffer this issue however.
Mr favourite non-Miui rom is OpenDesire, theyr quick and dont come with bloatware r crap pre-installed, but Adam_g has been absent lately.
For 'sense' builds try leeDroid (imo bloated with tonnes of crap), Modaco Custom Rom (www.desire.modaco.com) or Alex-V sense rom. Theres also AuraxTSense but its hideous. Imo for a good sense rom try a modaco rom with a sense kernel such as vorkKernel, or 'HAVS 2.6.32 for Sense Roms V5' by richardtrip
Jedipottsy said:
MIUI 10.0.29 is honest to god stunning, its fast, overclockable, excellent batterylife and the whole UI is a nice overhaul. Its clean and everything has been designed for use, the system menu has been re-organized for the better making it easier and clearer to get to all options. They have also done things like add settings to the notification panel, added kintetic scrolling (so things bounce) FM radio re-skinned all major apps. The lockscreen has also been changed to a custom lockscreen which has quick access to phone and messaging, barring that i'd suggest trying DeFrost, he does good builds of CyanogenMod, or Cyanogen Mod 6.1 rc1. Not a huge fan of CM6, its seems as slow as sense roms on my phone. OD and DeFrost dont seem to suffer this issue however.
Mr favourite non-Miui rom is OpenDesire, theyr quick and dont come with bloatware r crap pre-installed, but Adam_g has been absent lately.
For 'sense' builds try leeDroid (imo bloated with tonnes of crap), Modaco Custom Rom (www.desire.modaco.com) or Alex-V sense rom. Theres also AuraxTSense but its hideous. Imo for a good sense rom try a modaco rom with a sense kernel such as vorkKernel, or 'HAVS 2.6.32 for Sense Roms V5' by richardtrip
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
CyanogenMOD is one of the fastest ROM and the one with the most fixes and updates! Dont say bad things about CyanogenMOD RomĀ“s !! Without him this Community would be nothing!
Sense or AOSP? Minimalist or Feature-Packed? Depends on your personal needs...
You could start with a rooted stock, after a week try Leedroid/RCmixHD/MIUI and next week CM6.
Or you just get DSIXDA's Kitchen, learn some ADB and Shell Stuff and make your own ROM.
Go for cyanogen to get the best android experience...
This post might fit better in the Desire Q and A and not the Development section mate
this is not a post for the development section, in future please reasd the forum rules before posting
I've tried Leedroid (SENSE) and DeFrost (NON-SENSE).
Both are really good but after some experience I've decided to stick with non sense ROMs. They are by far faster but that eventually comes at the price of some higher battery drain.
DeFrost FTW !
You must be thinking, i'll find the best and most popular one and i wont be flashing again in the next few months/weeks. You're wrong. You come here, you'll be flashing all roms as the clocks ticking.
I have tried all except MIUI and Defrost so far. and am sticking on OpenDesire for the longest AOSP rom and Modaco R8 for the sense ROM.
But my personal choice;
CyanogenMod : Be it Nightly, stable or RC, i love it to the core! Best AOSP rom ever. I tried them all and they are super fast! The reason i didnt use it currently because i waited for the stable 6.1. Hehe~~ Love the nightlies before RC1 got released though.
OpenDesire : The dev(AdamG) used to have minor updates almost everyday but now, very2 long time before an update, meaning it is at the most stable version now. and it is true cuz i didnt believe it at first( I used to use the older versions and it still have some bugs) but now it is the best for me. Best after CM(cant deny CM, they are the master here).
LeeDroid : Well i've tried all Sense roms already, and this seems the most stable and fast(though i found out it become slower over time, my fault for installing so many apps maybe). I used to love NeXTSense by Neo, but when it got changed to AuraxtSense, i jumped to Lee.
I'm sorry for posting in the wrong section, but i wasn't sure where to post in the different areas.
Well, you named different roms, but which are the differences (explained to a nearly-noob)?
I'm searching for something with the same interface of the normale roms, but purified from all the (in)utilities. In fact a clean and fast rom, in which THEN i decide what i like to install and personalize...
If I can make a representation, a roms with no apps which are not native (facebook, twitter, opera and all the others), but with only the things that you nedd as a basis for all the rest.
Lol the op will still have a hard time deciding. XD
The best way for you to choose which Rom to use is to download and test each one individually. Hope you get ORD btw
sent from the dark side
I'd like to test them all, but at the moment i'm under exams and for next 5 weeks don't have enough time to test anything.
so I was searching for a direct suggestion explaining what will change and what will not change..
If you want a rooted rom similar to your current one, why don't you just use unrevoked to root your current rom?
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
MIUI! or Defrost!
If you want speed, then go for Cyanogenmod 6.1, DeFroST or OpenDesire. If you want a nice UI, too, you have to put a theme on it or use a Rom like RCMixHD, AuraxTSense or smth. like that.
a-ehm...are there ROMs that haven't been named yet? LOL
Piemo said:
I'd like to test them all, but at the moment i'm under exams and for next 5 weeks don't have enough time to test anything.
so I was searching for a direct suggestion explaining what will change and what will not change..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
easy, test it while you go. thats what i did.
Here's my timeline(some are examples);
I'm meeting my girlfriend tomorrow, lets bring LeeDroid! and yeah i did it, i manage to test all features and stability while I'm in the bus travelling from my place to her(took 8 hours in the bus). i screwed up while playing around though, the phone didnt boot so i had to restore nandroid of my modaco R8 back...haha~~
This weekend is examination time(yeah seriously no joke), so last week i flashed OpenDesire. Now i'm still using it. done exploring it in a day though, and keeping it longer than i imagined since i love it.
Presentation week, damn it this week was very busy and i tried Cyanogenmod Nightly 149. Love it. but no themes for it so i flashes CM 6.0.2...but aah too many gallery crash for me so i'm back to OpenDesire.
Well those are my moments, you'll be done exploring in 2 days at max for a rom though. Be sure to test all primary function first before you begin to like them. I did all in a day only. shouldnt be too hard.

[Q] A Crapload Of Questions

So yeah, I have a crapload of questions.
I recently asked about rooting and keeping HTC Sense. In retrospect, I don't think I'll need Sense, I just tried out AppLauncher, and I have to say, I think I'm sold on it. I'm just wondering what exactly HTC Sense has? Is there anything it has that I'll really miss? So far the only thing I can think of is the HTC Sense website for a lost phone, backing up data, and the weather widget/FriendStream...though adding Facebook to HTC sense shows all my contacts in the Phone button which is a huge piss off, but meh.
So that being said, I think I'm about ready to give rooting a shot, but now I've been confused with even more things. And the more I read the more I get confused. Especially where I have to downgrade the firmware, I'm wondering if it's still okay to do this, since the guy at Bell told me if I didn't do / get certain updates I'd have to send my phone back to HTC for repair.
There's stock Android, Cyanogen, and it seems like a million other ROMs. Which is the best to use? If I want total customizability, but also good functionality?
Finally, I'm using a Bell-branded Desire Z on the the Bell network. So Whatever I do will need to work okay with it.
As I've said, I'm totally new to this, and I'm scared to hell of bricking my phone since I just signed a contract and don't to shell out $500 bucks for a new one.
There's just so much info on this forum and it's a bit overwhelming/confusing, not that a lot of info is a bad thing, I'm just lost lol.
EDIT: If anything I wrote seems too rambling or doesn't make much sense please specify that and I'll clarify it.
cant help you root your phone but just follow the instructions that the person who writes the threads say. It's not that easy to brick your phone unless you just completely dont follow directions.
1. Downgrade is perfectly fine, it's to allow you to use a certain method to root your phone.
2. Try out different roms to see what you like, it's like asking whats your favorite video game, how can you really choose, some will agree some wont. I personally like the Miui roms which is the iphonelike and android UI mashup. the apps built in are nice on the eyes, the physics of the phones movement is very smooth, it can oc to 1.5ghz, and you can just download a launcher to replace the original if you dont like it.
3. ask the dev's on the thread if your not sure. i have no idea about bell, but it would seem that it shouldnt have any affect on rooting your phone, just maybe the radio but that is different then rooting or flashing roms.
P.S. you might miss the small things from Sense like, it looks nice, turns on fast, widgets, the dialer to search contact, incoming calls doesnt disrupt navigation, and it's original live wallpaper lol.
So are you saying that I can't search by contact in the default phone app? That kind of sucks.
I guess more of what I'm asking is just based on people's experiences what the best route to go is. I know there are different tastes, I'm more concerned about reliability, so I'm sure people could help with a ROM choice with that criteria.
So downgrading firmware won't affect phone performance? And can it still be reverted to stock in case the phone needs warranty repair? Just trying to cover all my bases.
And thanks, I'll ask around in the deg thread.
Bloodlvst said:
So are you saying that I can't search by contact in the default phone app? That kind of sucks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are usually apps available that provide Sense functionality to non-Sense ROMs. In regards to the above, you can try DialerOne.
To help you with the ROMs think of them in terms of how different Linux OS's are setup (if you know a bit about this).
You have the base OS's such as Cyanogen. Now some one doesn't like the look of that so they change the Frameworkres.apk to give it defferent colors, transparencies, icons and so on. Now they want a few extra apps to be included in the install so they add them to the /system/app directory or add a /data directory. Repackage it and now they have a custom OS called WINNING ROM (or whatever). These are easy to do and can be completed in a matter of minutes since there aren't any big alterations in the base coding of the OS. This is why you see a lot of ROMs that look like Cyanogens and the developer usually (and should be) states what version of some one elses ROM it's based off of.
Then you have ROMs that tweak certain parameters for speed or add other functionalities to a ROM such as a custom kernel, audio/video codecs, a2ext, compcache/linux swap, and others. Plus a complete custom UI (launcher), port parts of other ROMs such as Sense to work on their ROM, and toms of other things. These take days, weeks, or even months and usually have release cycles and updates. Cyanogen, Virtuous, Enomther, Villain, and a few others make up these ROMs.
Hope that helps with your ROM quest. It can be a bit overwhelming but remember to ask, ask, ask, and then ask some more and also read, at least the OP (original post) and a few pages past that. Some people may get upset and flame you for it but most will be glad to help in any way.
If you flash a non-Sense ROM, you will miss the HTC camera app. Its far and away better than the stock Android one, and I haven't found any Market camera apps that measure up, either. Also, the camera button on the Sense builds seems much more responsive than on CM7.
Also, I'm not sure about this, but the Sense ROMs seem to have better or more hardware codecs for playing a wider array of video formats. Lots of the videos I've tried on CM7 and CM6 are only playable using software decoding (on a variety of players, but RockPlayer is my favorite) and end up super laggy (very low frame rate) and audio way out of sync. On stock Sense and Virtuous, those videos play fine, hardware decoding, silky smooth, and audio in sync.
There are some aesthetic stuff, like HTC does some pretty significant theme changes for Sense, and you will lose customizations like the HTC Skins. And you will lose the HTC widgets (like the clocks) and apps (stocks, weather). But as mentioned, there are lots of Market apps that pretty well simulate many of the Sense apps and widgets, or are very suitable replacements.
Thanks for the detailed replies guys.
KCRic, thanks for list of known ROMs that's basically what I wanted to know, and your Linux flavour comparison helped too
Redpoint, I'm not sure how often I'd ever use the camera anyway...when I get home I'll have to find some screens of the default camera. That being said, I see your ROM is Virtuous. Is that a Sense-like ROM in case I agree with you on the ca?era app?
Thanks!
Bloodlvst said:
Redpoint, I'm not sure how often I'd ever use the camera anyway...when I get home I'll have to find some screens of the default camera. That being said, I see your ROM is Virtuous. Is that a Sense-like ROM in case I agree with you on the ca?era app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, you don't use the camera? I use it all the time, for those "spur of the moment" snapshots, or to quickly take a pic that I can MMS to a friend or family.
Yes, Virtuous is mostly stock Sense, but with some optimizations and with some extra features added. Its also based on the 1.85 ROM, one of the more recent stock Sense versions.
Guides, links for just about everything you can ever think of is here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916431
BTW, be sure to click the "Thanks" button if you found responses to be helpful!
ROM LIST
Sense ROMS
Gingerbread - Android 2.3
Shokouhi 2.0
Desire S G2 Port Sense2.1
Probably others.
Froyo - Android 2.2
Virtuous
Stock ROMS
Gingerbread - Android 2.3
CyanogenMod 7
Stock Gingerbread 1.7
iceandfire 1.7
Pyromod 1.2
GingerVillian 1.5
meXdroidMod
Froyo - Android 2.2
CyanogenMod 6
Others of unimportance now.
The Other ROMS
Gingerbread - Android 2.3
MIUI (The 2.3 one)
Froyo - Android 2.2
MIUI (The 2.2 one)
LiquidVillian (Or whatever it was called.)
I probably just wasted 10 minutes of my life doing this, but meh, it was something to do.
Now to kill myself since I had to listen to Nickelback through it. Damn 4Music.
I would hardly call CM7 (and ROMs based on it) "Stock".
Although "Non-Sense" is not a very good sounding name for that category, also.
redpoint73 said:
I would hardly call CM7 (and ROMs based on it) "Stock".
Although "Non-Sense" is not a very good sounding name for that category, also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AOSP Based.
There should be 2 categories. CM Based and AOSP.
But I don't think there are any AOSP ROMs. Which I hate, cos when people say they've built a stock ROM, but it's based on CyanogenMod.
redpoint73 said:
Wow, you don't use the camera? I use it all the time, for those "spur of the moment" snapshots, or to quickly take a pic that I can MMS to a friend or family.
Yes, Virtuous is mostly stock Sense, but with some optimizations and with some extra features added. Its also based on the 1.85 ROM, one of the more recent stock Sense versions.
Guides, links for just about everything you can ever think of is here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916431
BTW, be sure to click the "Thanks" button if you found responses to be helpful!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I'm guessing no one has cooked up a weird ROM that is like Cyanogen with the Sense camera app lol.
Anywho, I really only have a couple of questions now.
Would you recommend Gingerbread or Froyo? I'm guessing Gingerbread probably runs better / is better than Froyo, but it's hard to say.
Also, how easy is it to restore my phone to factory condition if I need to?
And finally, I read the wiki, it says to make sure I have the windows USB drivers installed...do I just throw those in my windows drivers folder?
EDIT: Wanted to add, the instructiosn for recovering to stock doesn't include the version. So any help there is appreciated.
Or you know, if any of you would be so kind to PM me / add me to IM if you've done this on a Bell phone in Canada that would be awesome too
The drivers go in your Android SDK folder, where ever adb resides. At least on XP and Vista that's the case - I'm not sure if the adb issue was ever resolved in Windows 7. You could always use VM linux or dual boot linux if you like, it's much easier imo. Wubi works too I think.
When it comes to Froyo vs. Gingerbread it's literally like a linux in the sense that one is completely stable and well known by this point (Froyo) an the other is bleeding edge, not stable at times, some things are just not compatible unless you port them, and peoples knowledge base on it isn't as thorough.
I've never returned this phone to stock, which I assume you mean s-on and no superuser permissions. So I have no idea how difficult it is, though I do know you need to make sure you 100% know what you're doing before attempting it - especially if you have s-off. It's a pandoras box if you mess it up.
Ah okay, I'll definitely stick with Froyo for now then. I've always stayed 1 version behidn with Fedora lol.
I did get the drivers working, made my gold card, about to downgrade my firmware.
Are the instructions the same for 1.84.666.2 ?
Edit: Successfully rooted. Now time to find a new ROM. thanks again for all the help. Quesiton though, I have no HSDPA icon anymore...do I need a new "radio" or something?
No, it will do that and some ROMs don't have either the 'H' or the 3G' icon - just depends on the developer. You can still flash a different radio - anyone listed in the G2 radio sticky will work, flash a few and see what works best for you.
There's also a radio version/.ril file issue being debated so you might check that thread too and flash the zip provided just to be safe. I think it's in the G2 questions forum but I can't remember.

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