Develop Bugs

[Q] Whats so good about HTC Sense?

I've tried a few ROMs and I've finally settled on CM7. I like to use a DPI of 200 or lower and when I do this on a Sense ROM, Sense can't scale properly and it looks weird. I also like to have only one or two home screens with all my icons on and twitter and facebook widgets, but on Sense I can only put a few icons on and its full.
So my question to everyone is:
What do you personally find good about HTC Sense?

There are so many great things about sence. The widgets, the dialer, the easy faceboook and twitter sync with contacts. Sence is easly skinable, ooooh and the sms widget is the only dedicated sms widget ive seen for android lol
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

i like the widgets but the dialer misses something very important searching by the number ie. sense dialer search for 010445567 is found but search for 44556 isnt found in the list.
and also i dont like people application it doesnt allow me to add more details in number unless its a google contact wich i dont like bec i dont want to store my numbers online.
ie. if its a phone contanct type i cant add mobile 1 and mobile 2 labels for the same contact, but i found an app thats free and does this even for phone contact called phonebook 2.0.

I prefer more home screens, nice big and bold so that its touch friendly.
I know my phone can do a lot if pretty high computational stuff so my brain doesn't need to when navigating around it.
I had cm Rom ex launcher etc etc before on the hero and it felt like there was too many options to edit. Great if you know exactly what you like. But its such a hassle to go through all the possibilities and adjustments. Not to mention hassle of messing it up and correcting.
It's a bit like heavily modifying a car.. its fun, its about identity, its about the fastest or the prettiest or coolest, however there's a lot of time spent behind it plus it will have its practicality drawbacks.
There's nothing wrong with the bog standard look with a few minor easy tweaks, much less time consuming.
Sent from my Desire HD using Tapatalk

I just like the functionality and the widgets from HTC Sense.
It is like last polishing for android.

Personally the only thing I like about sense is the widgets, apart from that sense is a bloatware, just the same as all the other OEM overlays ie. touchwiz, timescape etc.
I think HTC should spend more time innovating hardware rather then spending its resources on software. The main issue I see is that we have to wait so long for software updates just because HTC need to put there crap on top.

Sense has the best integration of Facebook. I can easily see my Facebook events and birthdays in my Android calendar with Sense.
With aosp you need to fart around exporting and importing calendars or using third party apps.
Not important for everyone but it is for me.
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Sent from my Desire HD pocket rocket.

dr.m0x said:
Sense has the best integration of Facebook. I can easily see my Facebook events and birthdays in my Android calendar with Sense.
With aosp you need to fart around exporting and importing calendars or using third party apps.
Not important for everyone but it is for me.
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Sent from my Desire HD pocket rocket.
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Yeah that is what you immediately notice when going from Sense to AOSP.

For me it just provides everything I need, it's very smooth and it's consinstant throughout sense programs. I've tried other launchers but I found myself going very quickly back to sense.

dhiral.v said:
Personally the only thing I like about sense is the widgets, apart from that sense is a bloatware, just the same as all the other OEM overlays ie. touchwiz, timescape etc.
I think HTC should spend more time innovating hardware rather then spending its resources on software. The main issue I see is that we have to wait so long for software updates just because HTC need to put there crap on top.
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HTC does not manufacture the components that go into their phones, so there is no way they can put more resourses in innovating the hardware. Processors are by Qualcomm, screens are by Sharp (maybe?), cameras, etc. all made by other manufacturers. HTC assembles them and puts their software on top. So their selling point is a/ Sense, b/ Quality and c/ Support. All of them unsurpassed by any other. And before anyone has anything to say about HTC's support, let me ask you when will the SGS receive Gingerbread officialy? We are set for Q2 and it will be a fiasco for Samsung if the SGS (which is basicaly NS minus the NFC) receives the update later than the Desire series.
To answer the OP question - everything. Well everything minus the fact that you can't choose not to use Sense. In WM Sense (TouchFLO 3D) could be "turned off" but not in Android. Not that I would turn it off, but it's always nice to have that option. Anyway, I think the ring volume control is briliant (quiet ring on phone pickup and shutting the ring on phone flip), as I receive a lot of calls and this is perfect for managing your rings when in a meeting, I love the BIG phone button on the bottom (it's a phone after all, so why should it be difficult to open the dialer), I like the Facebook integration (though I might be the only person on that planet that actually hates Facebook) - I use it only for the big updated contact picture when someone calls me. And don't get me started on the widgets - have you noticed how almost all the widgets on the market try (not that successfuly) to copy HTC's? OK there is one more thing I don't like in Sense - lack of landscape. Especialy for the Car Panel and the Locations navi software. But other than that... WOW.

tkolev said:
So their selling point is a/ Sense, b/ Quality and c/ Support. All of them unsurpassed by any other. And before anyone has anything to say about HTC's support, let me ask you when will the SGS receive Gingerbread officialy? We are set for Q2 and it will be a fiasco for Samsung if the SGS (which is basicaly NS minus the NFC) receives the update later than the Desire series.
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So you are saying HTC are the lesser of two evils? I am not sure about hardware support but software support for all HTC phones is nothing short of pathetic. If and when the Desire series gets Gingerbread then we may be able to re-evaluate HTC, but until then they (and most other Android manufactures) are still miles behind Apple in software support.

I am very pleased with sense and most important for me too is easy integration of facebook and twitter contacts. also all the other theme and skin thing i do like it although sense makes phone overloaded but why do i care my dhd is perfectly capable of handling it with huge RAM and processing horse power .

row1 said:
So you are saying HTC are the lesser of two evils? I am not sure about hardware support but software support for all HTC phones is nothing short of pathetic. If and when the Desire series gets Gingerbread then we may be able to re-evaluate HTC, but until then they (and most other Android manufactures) are still miles behind Apple in software support.
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If you call HTC's support pathetic, then you'll be out of words to describe other manufacturers' support. When did the SGS get Foyo? What about SE's... well maybe their department is also called "support" but that word has nothing to do with reallity. Apple is a totally different ball game. They do not (yes that's right - NOT) compete directly with other manufacturers. Noone else makes iOS devices (and knowing Apple, noone will) so there is no competition for them. They can afford to put so much resourses in support because they actually make money out of it. If you had the original iPhone and have spent few hundred dollars for software over the years you'll move to another iPhone. Apple keeps the customers tied to their own AppStore (the only way you can install applications without jailbreaking) and that way you keep buying their devices. What happens if HTC puts so much resourses in support? They fall behind the other Android phone manufacturers and eventually are out of business. No company would go that way. Fierce competition unfortunatelly leads to bad support (yes HTC's support is bad, but still the best ). If they don't focus on newer hardware, you'll buy your next phone from Samsung, or LG, or whoever and still keep your applications.
There is much to be said about that subject, but this is not the place. This is the place to discuss Sense.

tkolev said:
This is the place to discuss Sense.
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..........

tkolev said:
HTC does not manufacture the components that go into their phones, so there is no way they can put more resourses in innovating the hardware. Processors are by Qualcomm, screens are by Sharp (maybe?), cameras, etc. all made by other manufacturers. HTC assembles them and puts their software on top. So their selling point is a/ Sense, b/ Quality and c/ Support. All of them unsurpassed by any other. And before anyone has anything to say about HTC's support, let me ask you when will the SGS receive Gingerbread officialy? We are set for Q2 and it will be a fiasco for Samsung if the SGS (which is basicaly NS minus the NFC) receives the update later than the Desire series.
To answer the OP question - everything. Well everything minus the fact that you can't choose not to use Sense. In WM Sense (TouchFLO 3D) could be "turned off" but not in Android. Not that I would turn it off, but it's always nice to have that option. Anyway, I think the ring volume control is briliant (quiet ring on phone pickup and shutting the ring on phone flip), as I receive a lot of calls and this is perfect for managing your rings when in a meeting, I love the BIG phone button on the bottom (it's a phone after all, so why should it be difficult to open the dialer), I like the Facebook integration (though I might be the only person on that planet that actually hates Facebook) - I use it only for the big updated contact picture when someone calls me. And don't get me started on the widgets - have you noticed how almost all the widgets on the market try (not that successfuly) to copy HTC's? OK there is one more thing I don't like in Sense - lack of landscape. Especialy for the Car Panel and the Locations navi software. But other than that... WOW.
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I realise HTC doesn't manufacture all of its components, but have you seen the new MWC 11 HTC lineup? Pathetic in my opinion, no innovation at all, and that HTC flyer tablet is way behind than what the competition is offering, and not even being released with honeycomb.
Like I said the only good thing about sense are the widgets, apart from that theres nothing else that I cant do on AOSP that I can on sense.
My problem with sense is that HTC keep adding and adding stuff to it, most of it is useless anyway, ie locations is pointless when you already have google maps. There will come to a point where we'll be waiting for software updates for ages, compared to something like the nexus series. Its a good way of adding value and differentiating from the competition but is there really a need to keep on adding bloatware with every version of android that comes out?

dhiral.v said:
I realise HTC doesn't manufacture all of its components, but have you seen the new MWC 11 HTC lineup? Pathetic in my opinion, no innovation at all, and that HTC flyer tablet is way behind than what the competition is offering, and not even being released with honeycomb.
Like I said the only good thing about sense are the widgets, apart from that theres nothing else that I cant do on AOSP that I can on sense.
My problem with sense is that HTC keep adding and adding stuff to it, most of it is useless anyway, ie locations is pointless when you already have google maps. There will come to a point where we'll be waiting for software updates for ages, compared to something like the nexus series. Its a good way of adding value and differentiating from the competition but is there really a need to keep on adding bloatware with every version of android that comes out?
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Click to collapse
Locations is a great software (apart from the stupidity to make it work in portrait only). You have Google Navigation, but here in Bulgaria (and many other countries) we don't have it. Also the "offline" Google Maps were launched after the release of the DHD, so it's not really an option when traveling abroad. I actualy liked it so much I was going to buy the license for navigation, but the lack of landscape made me reconsider and went for iGo insted (I like Locations more than iGo though). The best thing in HTC is that you don't have to wait for the official updates - the community support thanks to this great forum is much, MUCH better. My Touch HD two years after I bought it, still had the latest Sense (though I had to turn some of the features off due to the weaker hardware), with the latest 6.5 WM build. My point is you don't have to wait for HTC to bring updates for the DHD (it has almost gone through the half of it's "support life" anyway) you can always have the newest software ported from the next phone. Nexus series will always get the official updates of the core functionality first, but CM7 was released before Google updated the N1, so in a way we got Gingerbread even before Google's own phone . You can always have AOSP soon enough, but they will never have Sense.
About MWC... yes HTC presented weaker phones than the competition, but until the OS and the applications are optimised for dual-cores there is no need for them. HTC is not going to be the inovative company this year, that's for sure. So what? I'm not going to buy a new phone this year anyway .

I really like the alarm app which comes with HTC Sense. My girlfriend has a Galaxy S, and the alarm clock on HTC sense is way better.

- Best interface
- Animations are fantastic
- Clock , mp3 widgets , calendar , weather etc. - Best i've seen
- Fast , Clean
HTC SENSE - the best thing about android .. !

For me its is 3 things:
The recent apps in the notification menu, i use that dozens of times a day. All phones should have something similar (long press doesnt count!)
The text selection and cut + paste implementation. Its awesome.
The unobtrusive facebook contacts integration.
I dont use the sense launcher as there are too many features that it lacks. ( I use ADW EX).
But overall the sense features are useful enough that i dont want to switch to CM7.

Don't forget the awesome spinning wheels when setting an alarm our appointment. The vanilla + - buttons are boring in comparison.
Sent from my Desire HD pocket rocket.

htc music app

So I upgraded my desire s to ics and find that gallery and music both have an "output" button that lets me select my apple TV.
Now this is ..well brilliant. There's a couple of fairly ordinairy apps like doubletwist that I tried that don't really work very well but this is perfect.
So the question is. Can I transfer those apps to the nexus or are there some alternatives that ppl have found that work?

SoI I extracted the apk from phone and put it in apps folder on nexus. Changed permissions but it won't install.
No one knows?
It's really good! Like close to amazing if you have an apple TV. Perfect air sync for Android. I'm surprised its not a hot topic.
Honestly airplay is the big difference for me in the two os. I prefer android with so many options but missing a major feature like that is a real pain.
It still wouldn't be perfect because the pandora app won't have it nor YouTube but it's a good start.

HTC apps can't be use on a non sense device. As each app need sense framework for operate. So the only way to use a HTC app is to have a sense based ROM. Not sure it'll come to us but would be really happy to see it.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Sense versions, does it matter?

Since HTC is adding all their apps to the play store, won't previous HTC devices get the updates making you not need the newer sense update? Yes internal updates but visually. Like the new dot view, at first I thought it was only for sense 7 but since that had it on the play store sense 6 was able to have it
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Free mobile app

Sense 7 is already quite modular, with a lot of M9 apps installable on the M8, so I imagine it'll continue to go this route in future. Also makes it easier to update single apps as opposed to releasing small OTAs

"Kids Mode" or similar?

Does the 10 offer something like Samsung's "Kids Mode" which allows the parent to lock the interface to a limited set of apps and to be able to set a daily time limit on access?
Sent from my SM-G386T using Tapatalk

If it doesn't there are several apps on the play store for this feature.

I dont know... But with HTC slimming down sense I dont think it will be there. They have their apps available on the play store so you might be able to get it that way?

It would be nice to be able to port Samsung's Kids Mode. I've been on the s5 for 2 years and going to get the HTC 10, Samsung's Kids Mode is the best I have ever used.

Let's see about ports.... But I think you will find many people will be adverse to porting anything Samsung on to this phone. Time will tell

Why don't you use the own android solution already implemented, guest account? or create one specific for what you want?
Maybe is enough for what you need

codeglitch said:
Why don't you use the own android solution already implemented, guest account? or create one specific for what you want?
Maybe is enough for what you need
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Click to collapse
Not a bad idea.
rav101 said:
Let's see about ports.... But I think you will find many people will be adverse to porting anything Samsung on to this phone. Time will tell
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True, but it's a great app regardless.

metalfan78 said:
True, but it's a great app regardless.
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I've never actually used it so I won't be able to tell... I would suggest you get on the s7 or s7 edge forum and ask if someone could provide the APK to test on another HTC model? If it works on an m8 or m9 or a nexus then chances are it will on the 10?

I have it on my own s5, I've never ported an app though. I might give it a shot after I get the 10

HTC had a kid mode app which was on older versions of sense, you might be able to get it from an stock image or ruu
http://www.androidcentral.com/how-make-your-android-phone-child-friendly-kid-mode

That app isn't bad, you can get it in the play store, we have it on our tablets at home.

HTC used the Child-Mode App from Zoodles. At least this is the one that came pre-installed on my HTC One M9. You can easily download it on Google PlayStore
Sent from my HTC One M9 using XDA Labs

Installing widget from quite old HTC phone

My first smartphone was an HTC Inspire (aka Desire). It has this great home screen flip clock widget I really miss. I want to put it on my Galaxy Note 10.
I know I can get flip clocks from the Play Store, but they are not as pleasing to look at and I don't want it enough to risk dealing with ads and phonehomeware. The old HTC widget is from HTC and is part of the manufacturer's native system app (no ads, YAY). I extracted the apk ok, but I'm reluctant to install it in my new phone because I almost bricked my Galaxy Note 4 trying to install downloaded Google phone apk. It locked up the phone and I had to do a system reset. It took me two days to get it all working like I want. I don't want to go through that again.
I believe the HTC Android version is 2.3 or 3.3. Is there a way to verify that this widget apk will work on the Note 10 besides installing it? Thanks in advance for any help.

I can not really help you, but, be advised of this: some really old apps cause troubles, as they were coded in a different way, some elements needed for their correct functioning might not even be present now, some older apps dont even install, or run,
Some other do install, and run, but eventually start doing odd things or freezing the device, this I have experimented with several good apps I liked from gingerbread and ice cream, even kitkat, so, better look for newer alternatives, imho

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.droid27.senseflipclockweather
This has ads, but you can pay to get rid of them. There are others that have a similar flip-cloxk format.
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

I use the free version of this one:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/...ock&pcampaignid=APPU_1_zcc-X4KlMsP6sAWnvYTYBQ
Low power consumption, very custom configurable plus has quad touch switches that you can assign apps too.
Adjustable size, colors, fonts, transparency and more.
Runs well with no data usage (adware) after being configured. I'm running Pie.

You can't get the clock widget off the old Desire as it is part of the HTC Sense home screen. You can only find something similar on the app store...
Sorry...
However, I use Beautiful widgets (paid app) and you can get quite a few flip clocks that look and feel like the old HTC's...

ultramag69 said:
You can't get the clock widget off the old Desire as it is part of the HTC Sense home screen. You can only find something similar on the app store...
Sorry...
However, I use Beautiful widgets (paid app) and you can get quite a few flip clocks that look and feel like the old HTC's...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My understanding is that the flip clock widget is part of the HTC Clock app. I extracted the apk for that. I've not yet transferred the apk to my Note 10. I'd like to know if there's some way other than just installing to verify that it will not damage my Note 10.
Thanks, I checked out Beautiful Widgets. Even the paid version has full internet access, bluetooth, and near field communications. Why a clock widget would need that is beyond me. I'm concerned about security and unnecessary internet access, which is one reason why I'd prefer the old HTC widget. It also has the most captivating rendering of a classic flip clock that I've seen.
If anyone has a spare and sacrificial phone they don't mind resetting to factory specs if necessary, I'm willing to share the apk I extracted if you want to see if it works.

Tom Austin said:
My understanding is that the flip clock widget is part of the HTC Clock app. I extracted the apk for that. I've not yet transferred the apk to my Note 10. I'd like to know if there's some way other than just installing to verify that it will not damage my Note 10.
Thanks, I checked out Beautiful Widgets. Even the paid version has full internet access, bluetooth, and near field communications. Why a clock widget would need that is beyond me. I'm concerned about security and unnecessary internet access, which is one reason why I'd prefer the old HTC widget. It also has the most captivating rendering of a classic flip clock that I've seen.
If anyone has a spare and sacrificial phone they don't mind resetting to factory specs if necessary, I'm willing to share the apk I extracted if you want to see if it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol, wanted lab rats. If your OS load is over 6 months old a refresh isn't a bad idea especially if you had a lot apps you uninstalled.
Be ready to do a factory reset at any time even though it's rarely neeeded it can happen.
After being force to do 2 back to back on my Note it's getting to be 2nd nature. Best load ever now.
That said it probably won't crash the OS and the worst that will happen is you'll be forced to uninstall it.
That happen with one or two of my Kitkat era apks.
Sometimes they will run ok.

Sense V2 is the best replica for HTC Clock
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk

Tom Austin said:
My understanding is that the flip clock widget is part of the HTC Clock app. I extracted the apk for that. I've not yet transferred the apk to my Note 10. I'd like to know if there's some way other than just installing to verify that it will not damage my Note 10.
Thanks, I checked out Beautiful Widgets. Even the paid version has full internet access, bluetooth, and near field communications. Why a clock widget would need that is beyond me. I'm concerned about security and unnecessary internet access, which is one reason why I'd prefer the old HTC widget. It also has the most captivating rendering of a classic flip clock that I've seen.
If anyone has a spare and sacrificial phone they don't mind resetting to factory specs if necessary, I'm willing to share the apk I extracted if you want to see if it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Weather updates which it draws from the internet... You can refuse this or turn off after and just have the clock...

ianmb said:
Sense V2 is the best replica for HTC Clock
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
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What I use

Look at this!
It's beautiful
winol said:
I can not really help you, but, be advised of this: some really old apps cause troubles, as they were coded in a different way, some elements needed for their correct functioning might not even be present now, some older apps dont even install, or run,
Some other do install, and run, but eventually start doing odd things or freezing the device, this I have experimented with several good apps I liked from gingerbread and ice cream, even kitkat, so, better look for newer alternatives, imho
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Maybe try here
https://forum.xda-developers.com/an...blinkfeed-plugins-devices-08-03-2015-t3049438