Develop Bugs

[Q] sense...

Been having a great time playing around with my evo, have it fully rooted and flashed with the latest cm which has been really great on battery life and experimenting but I think im trying to run before I can walk. My first question is what exactly is it that sense brings to my phone?
Is it just a bunch of bloated screen effects to make the phone look pretty?....I really enjoy cm 6 but I do miss some things from stock like the call window, gallery, contact list, and browser (the stock browsers auto adjusting seemed a lot better)....but I don't miss the horrible battery life.
Is it sense that brought me those things I liked, or can I get them in cm with enough customization?
Tbh I've been looking at the new fusion mod since I'm in a 4g area and it would be nice to put my phone to full use. I was just curious about the sense vs. senseless.

shrumhead said:
Been having a great time playing around with my evo, have it fully rooted and flashed with the latest cm which has been really great on battery life and experimenting but I think im trying to run before I can walk. My first question is what exactly is it that sense brings to my phone?
Is it just a bunch of bloated screen effects to make the phone look pretty?....I really enjoy cm 6 but I do miss some things from stock like the call window, gallery, contact list, and browser (the stock browsers auto adjusting seemed a lot better)....but I don't miss the horrible battery life.
Is it sense that brought me those things I liked, or can I get them in cm with enough customization?
Tbh I've been looking at the new fusion mod since I'm in a 4g area and it would be nice to put my phone to full use. I was just curious about the sense vs. senseless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you tried checking the box
Settings - Cyanogen settings - UI settings - WebView - reflow immediately after pinch
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

Oooo ty like I said I'm pretty new to all of this

Why download 2.3?

I just downloaded gingerbread and it left me questioning why I did. There is no black notification bar, no screen on/off animation, and no new sense that we were hoping for. Seems like just a disapointment to have to loose root for.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

So you could have those flat, ugly status bar icons?

Allow's better custom roms to be built We might soon (or already have by now) a fully functioning Sense 2.1 ROM.

I was dissapointed as well. Went through lengthy process to finally get the phone updated properly and the new 2.3.3 still does not have support for multiple Exchange accounts (Which I wanted and the whole reason I wanted to upgrade)..

Why not just flash the stock root version? There was no reason to lose root access.

There's the quick power on, keyboard enhancements, and I've noticed the animation with the HTC clock widget. I've also noticed my battery life is a little bit longer than with froyo. Although I am also dissapointed that there is no new sense,
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

EggosEvo said:
There's the quick power on, keyboard enhancements, and I've noticed the animation with the HTC clock widget. I've also noticed my battery life is a little bit longer than with froyo. Although I am also dissapointed that there is no new sense,
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you know battery life is better after just a few hours? Not even enough time to run it completely dead yet

Wait the status bar isnt black?
Sent from my......ummm...let me get back at'chya!

Sorely disappointed in this update. I knew not to expect much, but I was hoping for SOMETHING to change, something visual, or spruce up the phone alittle bit.
IDK, maybe Im just spoiled with all the rom updates and the improvements and mods from the CM7 community.
CM7 guys, you ROCK! and I cant wait to see what more you can do with the actual 2.3 base.

my friend updated to this also. I was quite surprised how little had changed

The Gingerbread update is mostly a bug-fix with some new features - but not something radical (say like Windows 95 to Windows 7).
The notification bar is black for mine (I unrooted and received the OTA update from HTC/Sprint).
Also - the battery life (or better battery stats reading) alone is worth the update and wait for a new root method for Gingerbread for me. I immediately noticed (within two days of use) the battery improvements.
That, with the fact it runs as smooth/fast as, say, the Azrael 4.0 ROM (which is optimized and speedy) - right from the stock update - I'm content to deal with the Sprint Bloat again until someone roots it and I can go deleting those APKs again.

The GB isn't as Senseless (ah, I crack myself up) as you think. Mostly under hood improvements, and a few less appealing aesthetic changes.
XDA App - EVO - 2.3 unrooted. Help!

Rant about hardcore users, productivity and the Sense launcher

There are some things I can't get my head around.
From the screenshots of all the cool user ROMs and themes available it's clear they've been designed by clever people who use their phones a lot. So why does it appear from these shots they use the Sense launcher, and their default home screen has a big Sense clock and hardly any apps?
Presumably, like me, these people are pulling their phones out their pocket and putting them back there many times a day. Presumably also, like me, these people use a number of apps and widgets in a day that hits two figures. With this in mind, I want to be able to get to those apps and widgets easily and quickly. I.e., with as few swipes/clicks/screen presses as possible. I'm sure these people do too, right?
So that rules out the Sense launcher doesn't it, with its 4x4 grid limitation and non-resizeable widgets. Not to mention its time-consuming spin-in carousel effect every time the phone's security screen is unlocked. I haven't found anything useful the Sense launcher does that another launcher can't, at least after downloading other apps.
Furthermore, who really keeps that big clock on their home screen, when 1. you probably wear a watch; and 2. you can see the time on the top right. It seems like a silly amount of screen 'estate' to use.
Or is it that these people in fact have a more practical default home screen and it's just tradition to post the screenshots they show?
Finally, why do so many of these otherwise brilliant ROMs not mod the battery icon to show how much battery is remaining, percentage-wise? Appreciate this can be modded using the kitchen website. But surely everyone wants this info from the off, so is it not included?

Well, I'd never call myself a hardcore user - although I believe that term should be defined too, because I'm not sure it's interpreted the same way by everyone. That aside though, here's what I think on tinkering with the launchers. You buy an Android phone - be it of any manufacturer. In general, and especially considering the top level models, it can be said that there isn't much diversity hardware-wise. What does make a difference is the UI, the services integrated and how the phone handles them. (And let's exclude synthetic benchmarks for now, I don't believe they represent real-life scenarios.) So, someone knowledgeable going for an HTC device (meaning it's not chosen because of price or because of how "pretty" it is), imo, means they're attracted to Sense: those little nuances that do make the difference. Ditch the launcher and you've pretty much ditched at least about half of what Sense - of what HTC is about. But then, why did you go for HTC in the first place? And the same can be said with Samsung and SE as well, those who quite heavily modify the Android UI. Sure, you can do it, you can dump the whole customized everything...but can doesn't mean that you should: if you're a "hardcore user", however we define the rest of it, you know you'll have an easier life with a phone that runs stock Android, there's no point in choosing something customized (read: more complicated), with risk of locked bootloaders and whatnots.
And you're right: you can get the puzzle pieces from the Market (or elsewhere) to create a Sense-like experience. That's because Sense offers so many good things in one package that ppl are aiming at re-creating it, but ask this: if you want to re-create it, why not spare yourself the hassle and use the real thing right out of the box?
As for the clock: I haven't even owned, much less worn a watch for at least about ten years, nor do I feel the need. Actually they seem pretty redundant now that mobiles have become as complex as they are and being carried everywhere. But as for the battery percentage - I couldn't agree more, I wish I knew why HTC itself doesn't make it available at least as an option.

In addition to the great points made by breathlesstao, I'll add the following:
Many devs concentrate on performance, stability and removing bloat when developing their ROMs, so if you want UI mods like battery percentage etc then the option is there for you to do it yourself. It would be nice if HTC could add percentage but they do have a battery widget that shows it.
As for on screen icons, I suppose many people like a sleek looking interace with not a lot of clutter. Plus, the more you have on the homescreens the more likely you are to experience lag when scrolling between the screens. Personally I have every app I use often on one of the 7 screens and if I need anything else it's only a few presses away in the all apps menu. I like it to be set up with each page having similar types of app, so on one I have music / media related stuff, another tools / settings type stuff... etc. See my helicopter view screenshot below for an example. My screen aren't crammed, but then they're not too sparse either.
I actually like the flipclock as it integrates local weather and just generally looks cool... I also haven't had a watch since the 1990s.
Choice and the ability to customise things are part of the many joys of Android, you set it up your way and use it your way.

The replies are right in. As for the launcher I have people coming to me all the time cause their phone is slow and lagging and whenbi unlock screen they have dozens of shortcuts all over the screen. Of course its gonna be slow when it need to reload a the launcher and all those Widgets. I swear some look so much like an icrap with all the shorcuts when I see it I have to double check. Lmao
As for the battery icon, you have to edit the coding for the file to add the extra 150 images that make up the % battery and charging icons and the bigger the file......
Now the clock well to be honest I remove the clock from the top bar any chance I get as I see it as pointless. We have Widgets for that.
As for sense it has its pluses like everything is prebuilt in. Social networking (not sure as I don't use FB at all) built into contacts and all the other handy apps that it comes with. I mostly run a senseless Tom my self but that is only due to it be long a resource hog. But the contacts and dialer work so well together that I have not found a better dialer/contact combo. The sense 3 lockscreen is just too good. I have widget locker but prefer the sense lock screen

Some very good replies, and here is my take, i've been modding my phone(s) now for a few years now (Since the Windows Mobile 5 Genre) and I would say function is not the only thing i look for. I want "coolness", "graphics"... I love the way the flip happens when you unlock a Sense ROM ..I strive to make it smoother !
Having said that I do resort to simplicity at times however, and you can too. have a look at Cyanogenmod and get Launcher Pro.. Ain't nothing simpler than that with the most "Function".
The ROM above will satisfy anyone who loves Function over Heavyness and also it has the option of showing percentage battery amongst plethora of other customizations neatly laid out in the settings menu.
But sometimes that just isn't enough for me..I want a ROM with More......Sense framework is probably the best Integration of everything I've ever seen. Yes its huge ! But then...this phone ain't that weak either...It is a beast
That is why you have an "option" my friend...an option to choose non-sense ROM or a Sense ROM. You could go for a Sense ROM (if you like all the integration of sense) and get yourself a different launcher from the market if you choose..customize it with the battery percentage mod.... yourself... The Dev's like to leave the option customize some aspects of their ROM's to the users... mostly because its personal preference.
The Sense Rom cooks, mostly, give u the most basic thing... A highly optimized ROM with a stock-like UI. You can choose to customize it the way you like ! After all thats what XDA is all about ..do it youself modding..

Hi all,
Your responses are appreciated and it's nice to have a polite conversation about this!
You're right breathlesstao, what the hell's a hardcore user. I just meant anyone who'd flash a ROM, root their phone, perhaps mod some element themself.
So I guess many of you - suprisingly for me - are happy to swipe between screens to get to their apps or widgets. You like what less clutter for doing this. Can see your point of view! I don't experience any lag though, zelendel, for packing my homescreens.
I suppose it was assumed that if you're more knowledgeable you'd be aware of apps and widgets with more options and functionality than the Sense launcher and its own widgets, and choose to use the former instead.
To be clear, I do like using other HTC features such as their contacts and dialler. It's just the homescreen layout I'm ranting about.
In particular for me, a good GUI, as well as looking pleasant, is as simple and quick to to use as possible. So when, for example, I'm going for a lunchbreak at work it's satisfying to be able to put my music or podcast-player on in a second without having to hunt it down.

i keep meaning to try a non sense rom but i like virtuous unity 2.39 sense 3.0 rom so much i´m loathe to part with it.
i know it only takes twenty minutes to go back to it but i just find it does everything in such a pleasant manner.. its smooth fast responsive and most of all it looks the buisness. plus as others have said you dont have to use all that sense stuff if you dont want to.
for music i do tend to use the stock player but i have been playing with other ones of late same with video but things like the clock and weather widgets for me are much more polished on the sense versions than anything comparible available from the market. plus i´ve not had any problem running low on ram or anything, the dhd is more than capable of handling sense 3.0 and whatever else one cares to throw at it without any hiccups

Circle launcher 1x1 widgets are the best
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium

killersloth, thanks for the heads up - it looks very useful.
ponk2k, you know I also use VU (2.39) but with Launcher Pro - have uninstalled the Sense widgets that aren't connected to anything else. You probably think what's the point! To answer my own question, I wanted a custom ROM for things like battery life optimisation, and the VU team's branding has seemed more user-friendly to me than the non-Sense ROMs. Though maybe I'll try one soon. While I've got you though, can I ask if you have a problem with the brightness dimmng slowly on command in most scenarios with that ROM version? More info in my question here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1292894

Capys runny 1.5 is perfection
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium

killersloth said:
Capys runny 1.5 is perfection
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
100% bug free? I was thinking of trying it.

CitizenLee said:
100% bug free? I was thinking of trying it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a fair warning man. No rom will be 100% bug free. That is what the stock roms are for. The roms here are for learning and trying new things. So there will always be bugs that need to be fixed. Plus some things that one person may see something a a bug while another sees it as a feature.

zelendel said:
Just a fair warning man. No rom will be 100% bug free. That is what the stock roms are for. The roms here are for learning and trying new things. So there will always be bugs that need to be fixed. Plus some things that one person may see something a a bug while another sees it as a feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks lol.
&by 'perfection' I definitely don't mean bugfree but it is everything I expect in a good rom. From the improvements to audio, the good battery life, and now decent skins too...
If it was bugfree what would be the fun in developing with it ?
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium

zelendel said:
Just a fair warning man. No rom will be 100% bug free. That is what the stock roms are for. The roms here are for learning and trying new things. So there will always be bugs that need to be fixed. Plus some things that one person may see something a a bug while another sees it as a feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I meant with the basic day to day phone functions and stuff like WiFi, video playback etc. To me that's an expected level of functionality for any non beta ROM. I've flashed and tested many over the last 2.5 years of owning Android handsets so my standards are quite high

CitizenLee said:
I meant with the basic day to day phone functions and stuff like WiFi, video playback etc. To me that's an expected level of functionality for any non beta ROM. I've flashed and tested many over the last 2.5 years of owning Android handsets so my standards are quite high
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is fully functional. I believe there is the bug in camcorder still where you have to watch play.the video in the same orientation you recorded it.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium

I haven't had any problems with vu dimming slowly no. I do find that the dimming settings on the ROM are a bit brighter than on the stock ROM though but with no noticeable battery drain incurred.

Thanks will have to investigate further.

zelendel said:
Just a fair warning man. No rom will be 100% bug free. That is what the stock roms are for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
...aaaand potentially not even those. I mean, they're made by humans as well, and humans are bound to make mistakes, aye? It happens.

The most productive thread i ever encountered !!! Thanks to OP

[Review] Sense4a - The joys and gripes of running HTC made software

So now I am running the TSM UltimateKangBang made possible by Nitsuj17 and the deluge of other people whose work is ingrained into the 0's and 1's that is currently making my phone's MSM8255 chip brim with life! Previously I ran the stuff from the good people behind TeamKang and their AOKP - essentially Android 4.0 as Google envisioned it with a little spice and Unicorn Porn! (Trust me, there is an app called that on AOKP, but it isn't what you may think it is ) Since this is a review, expect a fair share of biased opinion being present and categorical truths about Sense4a and the AOSP design! You've been warned.
I am not all in for the Spartan and frankly "cold" and unfriendly feel that Google went for on the ICS.. It seems too clinical, too sterile. Nevertheless, I do like it over previous iterations and I love the fact that there seems to be a level of consistency in the UI.
On the other hand, I love the feel of Sense4. It is cheerful and friendly-looking AND at the same time looks smart and professional, a feeling that I didn't get during my brief experience with a Honeycomb Samsung Tablet. On the flip side, the Sense4 apps seem to lack the same ease of use and simplicity that Google's vanilla version has. For instance, even though it has been sometime since I used the Email app on AOKP, I know exactly where each button is and how to go about the app. The Email app on Sense4, not so much.
The Good:
Let us get down to it. Things that are nice about Sense4 are the animations. Many are subtle, but the best is the most conspicuous animation of them all - the screen unlock. The little metallic ring zooms out of the screen in a magnificent way. Also, if you randomly touch the lock screen, the ring jitters with a forceful smash on the ground-like effect, causing ripples to emanate from it. I say, cool
The whole ensemble of animations makes the phone super smooth and slick. I had issues with animations and screen transitions on AOKP, on a regular basis. But on this ROM, I have yet to experience one, and I have installed ALL my apps to the point where I ran out of internal space to install apps! And still, the OS is smooth. At one point, I was contemplating the possibility of buying a new phone as my DInc2 with AOKP was not smooth enough, leading me to believe that it must be the poor hardware. Well, with Nit's Sense4a ROM, I am happy to note that that is simply NOT the case. Well, for once I am pleased with the outcome of a skin made by a manufacturer. It means a lot when a not-so-average Android phone user, like me, says "Well, HTC, your skin is *not* the worst!"
HTC also did a pretty good job with the lockscreen. The missed calls, messages, calendar events, etc. appear prominently on screen. I like the alarm and timer events too. And then to activate any app or action icon, you need to drop it into the ring. Neato! A constant issue I had with AOKP and I believe CM9 was that after locking the device with the power button, when I turn on the screen with the power button, the phone momentarily displays the app/homescreen I was viewing before realizing that the phone is actually "locked" and then showing the lockscreen. No matter what setting I changed, this issue didn't go. Thankfully, however, this is not a problem on the Sense4's lockscreen which does what it should and not reveal my secrets unauthorized, even for a moment!
The widgets are nice as well. I've been dying to find a Calendar widget that works as well as the one on Sense, and now I have it. The email, music and weather widgets are great too. However, I am a bit disappointed that the homescreen is a 4x4 grid. That is a waste of screen real estate, but unfortunately I was unable to use HTC widgets on a third party launcher (bummer). I also do not like Google's decision OR HTC's to make the app drawer have horizontal pagination. That is a major PITA and slow. A vertical scroll is so much faster to make you reach the last app... On the plus side, it has tabs for frequent and downloaded and you can sort apps alphabetically or date used or installed (I didn't figure that out).
The annoying:
However, it is not all rosy, even for rosie. My main gripe is with the design decisions that HTC made with their apps. Many of those decisions seem to add to the time needed to use the app and makes it cumbersome.
Let's start with Music. To go from Now Playing to the music on the phone, I need to press the back arrow (on the top) and choose "My phone". And then to flip through songs/albums/artists etc., I have to use a drop down menu. Meanwhile, Google Music lets you swipe the lists horizontally to change them. And it always seems to take a moment to load the song list or album list etc.
Next offender, the Email app. Its faults include needing to use a drop-down menu to choose folders that in turn brings up a list of folders to choose from. Google's email app does it better. Also, I need two button presses to go from an email to the next or previous compared to one button on Google's email app, though the AOSP Email app should have been made consistent with the Gmail app where you can swipe to the next or previous email . Nevertheless, it has the ability to show emails in threads, good support for Exchange email.
The phone app also hits a nerve. I believe Google's implementation is pretty much perfect and HTC's doesn't add anything new, excepting annoyances. All you get when you open the app is a dial pad and a list of names. I need to go to a menu to see call history and my phone book. Well, why not just add tabs like Google? The "People" app is basically what I am talking about. If you simply added a 4th tab in that app with the dial pad, that would be a perfect phone app. :disapprove:
Now the camera app is good except for one teeny problem (and I am nitpicking here) which is I need to go to settings to change the camera from back to front. But otherwise, that is well laid out. In fact it is better than Google's in terms of looks (I was always of the opinion that Google's ICS Camera app was made by someone who couldn't make small graphics and so chose plain colors to make the UI. Something I would've done) and also because you can either take a photo or video by just changing the button you press unlike in AOSP where you need to go through some button presses before that happens.
At this juncture, I'd like to note that I <3 the Camera on TSM ROM! It works! 720p video and panorama mode and the many other modes (except slow motion capture, which recorded at normal pace)! And no tearing in Camera360 or other apps! There are still some glitches with the app and the framerate of the 720p doesn't seem smooth, but that is understandable given that we are working with leaks only! So you heard me folks! If you want a proper camera on ICS, this Sense4 ROM should do the trick...​
Back to taking a swing at Sense4!
Now comes the notification panel. There are way too many icons on the top bar, especially when I listen to music. There are a total of 3 icons telling me I am listening to music: The headphone icon (thanks, but I jolly well know there are headphones attached to the phone, mainly because I put it there!), the beats audio icon (I believe this is a product placement decision. It is obvious that HTC is making a ton of money simply due to that software redundancy...) and of course the "play" icon of the music player. I also don't like that there are no notification toggles that can be hidden/shown as one pleases like on CM9 or AOKP (activating it in the tweaks causes it to show ONLY the toggles and no other notification when I have no notifications that can be cleared, even if I have notifications that CAN'T be cleared... )
Frankly I don't care for the "Beats audio". It may work better with some beats audio hardware in the phone and may be the actual earphones themselves, which I can't be bothered to buy. But I liked Google's MusicFX app... It gave me a nicer sound. At times I feel the beats audio sounds richer and more even, but the volume is low to appreciate the whole dynamic range... I heard louder sound at the same volume on AOKP.
So there you have it. My impressions on Sense4. The central theme behind the shortcomings of the HTC apps seems to be the usage of the drop down menu rather than using the more accessible tabs available on most default google apps.
But still, I must admit I like how the whole interface feels. I find myself unlocking my phone, swiping through screens and then simply relocking it as I have nothing to do! I can't take my eyes off of that gorgeous interface... As and when more tweaks become available, rectifying the shortcomings of Sense4, I'll be deeper in love with it.

One thing I have to say about the dialer is that full sense 4 is more like the sense 3.5 dialer where it has the people app included in the dialer. Sense 4a is more based on sense 2.1 where it didn't have this feature.
Sent from my KangBang'd out vivow

Thanks for the review. I was running MIUI weeklies from about July 2011 until a couple weeks ago. If we didn't get stuck with no new stable builds after 1.12.09, I probably would still be running it. But I wanted to go back and try something else anyway. MIUI customization is second to none, so maybe I'll go back to ICS MIUI as Nits does amazing work.
As of a week ago, I'm running TSM Sense 5.01 M. It runs incredibly smooth and stable on my phone, and everything works.
With the increasing stability of ICS roms, I'm thinking of trying one out. TSM UKB seems to be the ICS rom of choice for many. I appreciate your feedback, and may jump to UKB in the next couple weeks. One thing you didn't mention was battery life. How does it compare to stock, or other roms you've tried? I've been through the rom thread, but since you gave a thorough review of the rom, I thought I'd ask.

ttupa said:
Thanks for the review. I was running MIUI weeklies from about July 2011 until a couple weeks ago. If we didn't get stuck with no new stable builds after 1.12.09, I probably would still be running it. But I wanted to go back and try something else anyway. MIUI customization is second to none, so maybe I'll go back to ICS MIUI as Nits does amazing work.
As of a week ago, I'm running TSM Sense 5.01 M. It runs incredibly smooth and stable on my phone, and everything works.
With the increasing stability of ICS roms, I'm thinking of trying one out. TSM UKB seems to be the ICS rom of choice for many. I appreciate your feedback, and may jump to UKB in the next couple weeks. One thing you didn't mention was battery life. How does it compare to stock, or other roms you've tried? I've been through the rom thread, but since you gave a thorough review of the rom, I thought I'd ask.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh battery life is superb.. refer to this post I made: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=27465676
That is the battery life with just stock battery!!!
Sent from my vivow using XDA

litetaker said:
Oh battery life is superb.. refer to this post I made: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=27465676
That is the battery life with just stock battery!!!
Sent from my vivow using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent! This one sounds very promising, and I will probably make the leap when I've got some time.

Indeed battery is great. I took 29 photos today while at a job site and have been using my phone since 7:30am (now 6:33pm) and battery reads 58%. Skyraider hated when I took photos. It had great battery life, but camera would eat it up. UKB does not. Fantastic ROM. I do not foresee myself changing ROMs until I change phones at this point.
Sent from my Droid.

ttupa said:
Excellent! This one sounds very promising, and I will probably make the leap when I've got some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Battery is great on ukb. I left for work this morning at 5am. I work in a poor reception building...the signal is constantly at 1 or no bars and switching between 3g and 1x. After 13 hours at work my battery is at 52%.
Sent from my vivow using XDA

I figured I'd ask here instead of the dev thread, but does the hot reboot option not work for anybody else on UKB 3.5?
Sent from my vivow using XDA

litetaker said:
So now I am running the TSM UltimateKangBang made possible by Nitsuj17 and the deluge of other people whose work is ingrained into the 0's and 1's that is currently making my phone's MSM8255 chip brim with life! Previously I ran the stuff from the good people behind TeamKang and their AOKP - essentially Android 4.0 as Google envisioned it with a little spice and Unicorn Porn! (Trust me, there is an app called that on AOKP, but it isn't what you may think it is ) Since this is a review, expect a fair share of biased opinion being present and categorical truths about Sense4a and the AOSP design! You've been warned.
I am not all in for the Spartan and frankly "cold" and unfriendly feel that Google went for on the ICS.. It seems too clinical, too sterile. Nevertheless, I do like it over previous iterations and I love the fact that there seems to be a level of consistency in the UI.
On the other hand, I love the feel of Sense4. It is cheerful and friendly-looking AND at the same time looks smart and professional, a feeling that I didn't get during my brief experience with a Honeycomb Samsung Tablet. On the flip side, the Sense4 apps seem to lack the same ease of use and simplicity that Google's vanilla version has. For instance, even though it has been sometime since I used the Email app on AOKP, I know exactly where each button is and how to go about the app. The Email app on Sense4, not so much.
The Good:
Let us get down to it. Things that are nice about Sense4 are the animations. Many are subtle, but the best is the most conspicuous animation of them all - the screen unlock. The little metallic ring zooms out of the screen in a magnificent way. Also, if you randomly touch the lock screen, the ring jitters with a forceful smash on the ground-like effect, causing ripples to emanate from it. I say, cool
The whole ensemble of animations makes the phone super smooth and slick. I had issues with animations and screen transitions on AOKP, on a regular basis. But on this ROM, I have yet to experience one, and I have installed ALL my apps to the point where I ran out of internal space to install apps! And still, the OS is smooth. At one point, I was contemplating the possibility of buying a new phone as my DInc2 with AOKP was not smooth enough, leading me to believe that it must be the poor hardware. Well, with Nit's Sense4a ROM, I am happy to note that that is simply NOT the case. Well, for once I am pleased with the outcome of a skin made by a manufacturer. It means a lot when a not-so-average Android phone user, like me, says "Well, HTC, your skin is *not* the worst!"
HTC also did a pretty good job with the lockscreen. The missed calls, messages, calendar events, etc. appear prominently on screen. I like the alarm and timer events too. And then to activate any app or action icon, you need to drop it into the ring. Neato! A constant issue I had with AOKP and I believe CM9 was that after locking the device with the power button, when I turn on the screen with the power button, the phone momentarily displays the app/homescreen I was viewing before realizing that the phone is actually "locked" and then showing the lockscreen. No matter what setting I changed, this issue didn't go. Thankfully, however, this is not a problem on the Sense4's lockscreen which does what it should and not reveal my secrets unauthorized, even for a moment!
The widgets are nice as well. I've been dying to find a Calendar widget that works as well as the one on Sense, and now I have it. The email, music and weather widgets are great too. However, I am a bit disappointed that the homescreen is a 4x4 grid. That is a waste of screen real estate, but unfortunately I was unable to use HTC widgets on a third party launcher (bummer). I also do not like Google's decision OR HTC's to make the app drawer have horizontal pagination. That is a major PITA and slow. A vertical scroll is so much faster to make you reach the last app... On the plus side, it has tabs for frequent and downloaded and you can sort apps alphabetically or date used or installed (I didn't figure that out).
The annoying:
However, it is not all rosy, even for rosie. My main gripe is with the design decisions that HTC made with their apps. Many of those decisions seem to add to the time needed to use the app and makes it cumbersome.
Let's start with Music. To go from Now Playing to the music on the phone, I need to press the back arrow (on the top) and choose "My phone". And then to flip through songs/albums/artists etc., I have to use a drop down menu. Meanwhile, Google Music lets you swipe the lists horizontally to change them. And it always seems to take a moment to load the song list or album list etc.
Next offender, the Email app. Its faults include needing to use a drop-down menu to choose folders that in turn brings up a list of folders to choose from. Google's email app does it better. Also, I need two button presses to go from an email to the next or previous compared to one button on Google's email app, though the AOSP Email app should have been made consistent with the Gmail app where you can swipe to the next or previous email . Nevertheless, it has the ability to show emails in threads, good support for Exchange email.
The phone app also hits a nerve. I believe Google's implementation is pretty much perfect and HTC's doesn't add anything new, excepting annoyances. All you get when you open the app is a dial pad and a list of names. I need to go to a menu to see call history and my phone book. Well, why not just add tabs like Google? The "People" app is basically what I am talking about. If you simply added a 4th tab in that app with the dial pad, that would be a perfect phone app. :disapprove:
Now the camera app is good except for one teeny problem (and I am nitpicking here) which is I need to go to settings to change the camera from back to front. But otherwise, that is well laid out. In fact it is better than Google's in terms of looks (I was always of the opinion that Google's ICS Camera app was made by someone who couldn't make small graphics and so chose plain colors to make the UI. Something I would've done) and also because you can either take a photo or video by just changing the button you press unlike in AOSP where you need to go through some button presses before that happens.
At this juncture, I'd like to note that I <3 the Camera on TSM ROM! It works! 720p video and panorama mode and the many other modes (except slow motion capture, which recorded at normal pace)! And no tearing in Camera360 or other apps! There are still some glitches with the app and the framerate of the 720p doesn't seem smooth, but that is understandable given that we are working with leaks only! So you heard me folks! If you want a proper camera on ICS, this Sense4 ROM should do the trick...​
Back to taking a swing at Sense4!
Now comes the notification panel. There are way too many icons on the top bar, especially when I listen to music. There are a total of 3 icons telling me I am listening to music: The headphone icon (thanks, but I jolly well know there are headphones attached to the phone, mainly because I put it there!), the beats audio icon (I believe this is a product placement decision. It is obvious that HTC is making a ton of money simply due to that software redundancy...) and of course the "play" icon of the music player. I also don't like that there are no notification toggles that can be hidden/shown as one pleases like on CM9 or AOKP (activating it in the tweaks causes it to show ONLY the toggles and no other notification when I have no notifications that can be cleared, even if I have notifications that CAN'T be cleared... )
Frankly I don't care for the "Beats audio". It may work better with some beats audio hardware in the phone and may be the actual earphones themselves, which I can't be bothered to buy. But I liked Google's MusicFX app... It gave me a nicer sound. At times I feel the beats audio sounds richer and more even, but the volume is low to appreciate the whole dynamic range... I heard louder sound at the same volume on AOKP.
So there you have it. My impressions on Sense4. The central theme behind the shortcomings of the HTC apps seems to be the usage of the drop down menu rather than using the more accessible tabs available on most default google apps.
But still, I must admit I like how the whole interface feels. I find myself unlocking my phone, swiping through screens and then simply relocking it as I have nothing to do! I can't take my eyes off of that gorgeous interface... As and when more tweaks become available, rectifying the shortcomings of Sense4, I'll be deeper in love with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This rom really is awesome. Nits has given a gift to the dinc2 community and I still can't help but feel satisfied with this rom (havent switched roms after I used ukb 3.5!!!
But you have an error. The droid incredible 2 has an MSM8655 chip (same as the HTC Thunderbolt)
Also, my only gripe with the rom is the music when you're using headphones, earphones, etc. The volume goes to its max when you raise or lower the volume once. Raise and lower it again and the volume becomes either lower or a little quieter. That's pretty much it. Doesn't bother me too much, but it can get tiring at times. Doesn't change how much I enjoy using this rom as my DD. I'd give this rom a 10/10 for its awesomeness.
AJGO23 said:
I figured I'd ask here instead of the dev thread, but does the hot reboot option not work for anybody else on UKB 3.5?
Sent from my vivow using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hot reboot doesn't work in the rom. Hope this helped.
Sent from my Galaxified ICS phone!!! Don't be hating bro!!!

david_hume said:
This rom really is awesome. Nits has given a gift to the dinc2 community and I still can't help but feel satisfied with this rom (havent switched roms after I used ukb 3.5!!!
But you have an error. The droid incredible 2 has an MSM8655 chip (same as the HTC Thunderbolt)
Also, my only gripe with the rom is the music when you're using headphones, earphones, etc. The volume goes to its max when you raise or lower the volume once. Raise and lower it again and the volume becomes either lower or a little quieter. That's pretty much it. Doesn't bother me too much, but it can get tiring at times. Doesn't change how much I enjoy using this rom as my DD. I'd give this rom a 10/10 for its awesomeness.
Hot reboot doesn't work in the rom. Hope this helped.
Sent from my Galaxified ICS phone!!! Don't be hating bro!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh, I thought that Droid Incredible S and 2 had same processors... Whoops!

litetaker said:
Huh, I thought that Droid Incredible S and 2 had same processors... Whoops!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nah, the s has a different processor cuz it's GSM only.
Sent from my KangBang'd out vivow

Using Blackout ICS

I'm new to using a rooted device and installing custom ROMS, and I love it!
I've loaded the latest Blackout ICS version 3.0.0, and am really impressed by how well it works. I immediately noticed that battery life is better than anything I've used previously, always different versions of Gingerbread. So that's a big improvement straight away. As others have highlighted, it's a bit laggy at times, but I overclocked the CPU and it runs much more smoothly. Even just 1.2 GHZ produced a noticeable improvement, and I'm now on just under 1.5 GHz, which I gather is a safe setting. I was worried about this affecting battery life, but if it has it's barely noticeable. I suppose it only runs at the fastest speed when it needs to.
The only problem with the ROM is the auto-brightness, which jumps up and down even in fixed light conditions. Not sure if the developers pick these threads up, but that is really the only issue I've found.
As the DHD seems to be the only device not to be getting an official port of ICS, I'd definitely recommend giving this ROM a try.
With all these other devices getting updates, is it likely that more fully working ICS ports for the DHD will be on the horizon?

Really? You get better battery? I suspect i get a little less battery time...

Dbugger said:
Really? You get better battery? I suspect i get a little less battery time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes its noticeably better. Is this just me or have others found the same?
Sent from my HTC Desire HD using xda app-developers app

I must say I'm getting good battery as well.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium

You should also try AOSPX and Nik Project X. The first one is stock ICS and the second one is ICS with Sense 4.0. I tried both of em and they work flawlessly on my DHD.
Haven't tried Blackout yet because I saw in the thread that there were still quite a few issues to be solved.

Dbugger said:
Really? You get better battery? I suspect i get a little less battery time...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was getting excellent battery life as well, but I suspect it might be killing my data connection when the phone is asleep.

Largamelion said:
You should also try AOSPX and Nik Project X. The first one is stock ICS and the second one is ICS with Sense 4.0. I tried both of em and they work flawlessly on my DHD.
Haven't tried Blackout yet because I saw in the thread that there were still quite a few issues to be solved.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I like the look of Nik Project X, though the final post on the forum raises an issue with not being able to get HSDPA data speed. I'll keep tabs on that forum and maybe give it a try.

Swell6 said:
I like the look of Nik Project X, though the final post on the forum raises an issue with not being able to get HSDPA data speed. I'll keep tabs on that forum and maybe give it a try.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, haven't really paid attention to that (I 'm mostly on WIFI). I 'll do a speedtest when I get the chance.
Edit: Did a quick test and I 'm getting 3,6Mb down / 1,6Mb up (inside a server room right now so not the best connection). Seems quite normal for my network (7,2Mb is max speed I can get from my provider). Of course the max HSDPA speed is alot higher but that 's something I cannot test.

Hi,
I've just installed, and recovered my apps, as i've wiped battery calibration i cannot talk about it, but OC is excellent. Even in default frequency the desktop turns without any lags, but as you mentionned, sometime there are some lags (typing on keyboard for instance) but i guess it's linked to the OC profile changing , try in performance instead of on demand, this should solve that.
Regarding the brightness i agree , it seems it change on "i don't know which parameter" from bright to low brightness.. so i've installed Bright day app to set the brightness along the day at low value and i've set on the main desktop the brightness widget to up from system parameters to push it up when i need, then bright day will recover the setting after a while..
Br
Trixo

trixo said:
Hi,
I've just installed, and recovered my apps, as i've wiped battery calibration i cannot talk about it, but OC is excellent. Even in default frequency the desktop turns without any lags, but as you mentionned, sometime there are some lags (typing on keyboard for instance) but i guess it's linked to the OC profile changing , try in performance instead of on demand, this should solve that.
Regarding the brightness i agree , it seems it change on "i don't know which parameter" from bright to low brightness.. so i've installed Bright day app to set the brightness along the day at low value and i've set on the main desktop the brightness widget to up from system parameters to push it up when i need, then bright day will recover the setting after a while..
Br
Trixo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So after few days of testing here are my feelings :
Takeing account of deamon set to 1,2Ghz, i can still reach 1d and half near 2days without charging , with a light use :
Allways connected to network though HSDPA (as i take train it often check the network to change the connected cell)
Playing 20-30min 3times a days to Pirates of carabean (3D game multiplayer so connecting to the network)
Surfing a bit
no music
no video
With an harder use i reached 1d wake up to sleep:
still same network condition
playing double time at least (1 to 1,5h 3times a days)
Surfing more (1h)
no music an no video
using battery eater apps (windguru) a bit
to resume my feeling on battery is excelent, i've noticed a light improvement on idle battery drop, a bit accelerated over time (due certainly to used app remaining processes.
Let's go now to the issue i've noticed :
-Back tactil button doesn't work on phone screen while it works everywhere else
-Using smoth rosie to supersmooth show a light display trouble when reducing the app drawer windows (doubling the reducing animation)
-Light keyboard trouble doubling the A letter some time (like if the touchscreen has been typed twice when its not the case)
-blackout tweak shortcut from top task bar doesn't linked (need to go through the app drawer to access it)
-Folder creation missing from widget/app shortcut addition screen (or i didn't found it) , i use the moving app on another icon to create it (i don't know if it's the ICS new way of creating folder on desktop)
The plus i've found (don't know if it's an ICS feature) : create a folder in the lower task bar : can jump from 4 shortcut to full app contained in your phone accessible from the locked screen : I loved that !
The overall impression is really great and for an old phone that "doesn't give a good experience of ICS" following HTC, i feel this ROM fullfill my expectation from ICS on my Desire HD !
Many thanks to the Blackout team !
Br
Trixo

Sabsa Prime 4.1 works good too.

GLADS said:
Sabsa Prime 4.1 works good too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha.. very funny pub..
Btw, testing further again, i've found the sms issue (from my point of view it was linked to transferring sms not to content,) I'll give a try to the 3.1 to chek this out
I confirm the keyboard double "a" in certain text box, particularly in sms typing or web address typing
Lags linked to overclocking
Br
Trixo

Swell6 said:
I'm new to using a rooted device and installing custom ROMS, and I love it!
I've loaded the latest Blackout ICS version 3.0.0, and am really impressed by how well it works. I immediately noticed that battery life is better than anything I've used previously, always different versions of Gingerbread. So that's a big improvement straight away. As others have highlighted, it's a bit laggy at times, but I overclocked the CPU and it runs much more smoothly. Even just 1.2 GHZ produced a noticeable improvement, and I'm now on just under 1.5 GHz, which I gather is a safe setting. I was worried about this affecting battery life, but if it has it's barely noticeable. I suppose it only runs at the fastest speed when it needs to.
The only problem with the ROM is the auto-brightness, which jumps up and down even in fixed light conditions. Not sure if the developers pick these threads up, but that is really the only issue I've found.
As the DHD seems to be the only device not to be getting an official port of ICS, I'd definitely recommend giving this ROM a try.
With all these other devices getting updates, is it likely that more fully working ICS ports for the DHD will be on the horizon?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For the life of me I cannot find whre to over/underclock or even set govonors

MrAhlefeld said:
For the life of me I cannot find whre to over/underclock or even set govonors
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
check for the "deamon" app in your app drawer

Are there any known bugs with mms? I can not send or recieve mms with this Rom..

Imonol said:
Are there any known bugs with mms? I can not send or recieve mms with this Rom..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes. Some can't send at all. Some have data drop in and out while sending and some have no issues. Seems weird to me since the hardware is supposed to be the same for the most part. I think apn and radio combo has the most to do with it.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using xda premium

Love this ROM...
This ROM would be my daily driver if the Wifi hot-spot worked. Has anyone found a work-around or fix? Wifi Tether didn't work either btw. I know it's WIP by the devs but they said it wasn't a major priority for them (Boooooo lol) Fingers crossed for v3.2

As noticed recently in the official thread, i've also noticed the magical battery jumps, i first guessed it was linked to the battery calibration wipe i've done before to flash the Blackout3.0 rom, but i can sometime still see this trouble also.
It happen even phone is in use but every time inbetween 30 and 5 percent of battery left. it goes down to low then readjust it to an higher value without any reason.
The phenomen come back lately less often, but maybe devs can check this out. I'm running on a SFR Desire HD recognized as an incredible S on the 3.0 rom.
BR
Trixo