Database Users

AOSP 1.6: Who needs Sense?

So at first when I switched to the AOSP 1.6 ROM I was a little bummed that my beautiful phone was now...ugly. But! After a while I found little things, here and there, that slowly but surely began to make 1.6 better and better:
This is using a combination of metamorph (and various themes), Home++ and the HTC_IME keyboard (ported over from 1.5)
If you're on the fence between 1.6 and 1.5, let this be your nudge! I think my phone looks better now than it did even with Sense and it's a heck of a lot faster too!
I'm just really excited about this that's all. Anyone else manage to get 1.6 lookin' good?

Though I'm happy to hear that you've successfully switched -- I'd like to say that the majority of the people here probably didn't switch yet, because of few reasons (so far that I know of). Apparently 1.6 seems to not allow some people to use SMS and/or Bluetooth? If this has been fixed, then great -- I'd like to try it out. Otherwise, I don't know that I want to spend 10 minutes switching real quick, just to test SMS. I don't use bluetooth, so that wouldn't be a problem for me, though Home++ looks sweet!!. How have things gone for you?

if i could get 7 homescreens on 1.6 i'd jump in a heartbeat because of metamorph.

Ya I almost droped back down to 1.5 because I didn't have Sense, but now I'm using GDE and the better keyboard app. Hey how did you get the bootscreen changed on it?

If you want more info on Home++, here is their official page: link.

I love home++

There's a sweeter home beta to spruce it up to, but I would rather have eclair sense. It just looks so smooth, hard to beat. I was at my it dept today andran onto q fellow xda'er with a nexus. I'm jealous. Sucks that most of the sickest phones are on gsm, and cdma comes behind 6mo to never. Here I sit with Sprint though. Love the speed and data plan. Dangit.

justinisyoung said:
if i could get 7 homescreens on 1.6 i'd jump in a heartbeat because of metamorph.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a metamorph 2.0 extension pack that has an extended home app that allows you up to 10 home screens. It also allows landscape homescreen which is pretty cool.
I will get the links from another thread and post them back here in a minute.
Update:
Here is the link to the Metamorph 2.0 stock theme : http://android-stock-theme.googlecode.com/files/Android-2.0-Stock-Theme-v1.2.zip
And the Add on that will give you the 10 screens as well as some other extras: http://forum.xda-developers.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=274033&d=1264741520
The best part is that it looks and acts like a stock AOSP 1.6/2.0 rom without any of the wierd behaviors of the other home replacements.
Thanks to Gregalous for the Links !

this is the exact set up I was going to do. the only thing that was stopping me was the constant syncing gmail, cal and stuff on aosp 1.6. Is that still an issue?

I do. If I were to switch to 1.6 I would end up building my own custom version and frankly I've spent enough time with my 1.5 rom.

justinisyoung said:
if i could get 7 homescreens on 1.6 i'd jump in a heartbeat because of metamorph.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
worrrdd..me too lol

menzo44 said:
this is the exact set up I was going to do. the only thing that was stopping me was the constant syncing gmail, cal and stuff on aosp 1.6. Is that still an issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AOSP 1.6 never had constant syncing issue.

so i tried this with home++ and i gotta say, it was really awesome. but i STILL ended up going back to 1.5 sense because i missed htc's widgets too much. three of my homescreens are all htc sense widgets... i just can't live without em!

johndoehizzle said:
worrrdd..me too lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can! If you dont want to use a new home app then you can get AdvancedLauncher.apk (available in many metamorph themes) allows you to change the number of home screens among other things

justinisyoung said:
so i tried this with home++ and i gotta say, it was really awesome. but i STILL ended up going back to 1.5 sense because i missed htc's widgets too much. three of my homescreens are all htc sense widgets... i just can't live without em!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same thing happened to me. Also syncing contacts with facebook and posting from "HTC Sense" made me feel special.

gu1dry said:
AOSP 1.6 never had constant syncing issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well I'm not sure what I was thinking of. I guess maybe aosp 2.01? I don't know but I am sure glad you cleared it up for me! I have spent all morning getting it all hooked up and this is exactly what I was wanting. The 1.6 market is reason enough for me! it is light years better than 1.5 market.

I have quiet's 1.6 with gbhil's Googlebits, superuser, and quiet's headset fix. Everything works besides BT, don't care personally.

I have quiet's 1.6 with gbhil's Googlebits, superuser, and quiet's headset fix. Everything works besides BT, don't care personally.

My browser double posted, sorry.

I didnt even think about not having facebook sync until you mentioned it, and I was going to try this out tonight lol.
Is it real bad without it? I have a little hatred in me for contacts without pictures, thats the main thing I guess, dont really use the whole updates and all that tab as it runs kinda slow when I can just use an app. Is there anyway to pull pictures down without Sense?
Also, I hope no one minds me asking this here but I just want to make sure im going to do this right if I do.
Im currently running fresh 1.1 with Modoco's custom kernel and 2.1 icons and want to try out AOSP 1.6
So I should:
1. Create a backup
2. Wipe my phone (will this remove root access forcing me to reroot?)
3. Flash AOSP 1.6
4. Can I load in Modocos custom kernel?
5. Get metamorph etc going blah blah
Any help is appreciated thanks.

New HTC Sense UI

Where did he get this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUPkkrHq820
It looks like the new HTC sense is going to have pinch to zoom on homescreen and type recognition

That may be the official one, or it may be a custom built 2.1.
Pinch zoom is already available on custom built 2.1's e.g. Villian Rom which I would strongly recommend you try.
I use the pinch Zoom feature quite a lot (when I remember its there to use) and its a very nice addition.
Edit: I hope that's close to the final build it looks smooth and lagless
(the type feature is new to me )

latorante said:
Where did he get this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUPkkrHq820
It looks like the new HTC sense is going to have pinch to zoom on homescreen and type recognition
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
probably from here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=630479

obviously, it is a far much better leak than the ones our dev have here on xda or htcpedia...
first impressions:
1- this is the first 2.1 rom we see with the normal usual curved lockscreen.
2- not one FC even when setup is being done
3- was it me or did i see coloured icons in the menu settings?
4- best of all was the handwriting recognition...wow. didnt see this feature till now!!!
i guess this was a custom rom cause we can see the dev tools icon in the menu but imo this is so far the closest leak to the official rom i guess. hope our dev can get a hold on that one.

my build does the whole pinch to zoom thing on rosie
its pretty kool
the dump I compiled my build off of is old, I want a newer one!!!
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=593102

deeren said:
obviously, it is a far much better leak than the ones our dev have here on xda or htcpedia...
first impressions:
1- this is the first 2.1 rom we see with the normal usual curved lockscreen.
2- not one FC even when setup is being done
3- was it me or did i see coloured icons in the menu settings?
4- best of all was the handwriting recognition...wow. didnt see this feature till now!!!
i guess this was a custom rom cause we can see the dev tools icon in the menu but imo this is so far the closest leak to the official rom i guess. hope our dev can get a hold on that one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excatly! I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks this!!

Invicible had the same build (The leaked HTC Android Phone), the settings menu had those specific icons and this will probably be the next version of Rosie. (Expresso Rosie, could have just been a test or a alternative version coming for landscape devices)

WooHoo - Thank you XDA-Claus

Installed 3.14 ROM
Installed Froyo
2 phones in one goodness
Installed a couple of Android Apps then time to set my WinMo back up with CHT and eye-candy goodness

I've been holding off upgrading to the new ROM cos I'm happy
with how I have it set up right now,sounds like you are a
happy bunny though...

Once you've started using Android more, you'll realise that "CHT Eyecandy" pretty much becomes meaningless

Wife has a Desire so I know what Android is all about.
Admittedly cht brought many of the Android tricks to the party but maybe I need to try another ROM as I have been a little underwhelmed by the Desire Sense appearance on the HD2 (doesn't seem to take advantage of the screen real-estate so much)
Might try the Desire HD ROM...

wigwam12 said:
Wife has a Desire so I know what Android is all about.
Admittedly cht brought many of the Android tricks to the party but maybe I need to try another ROM as I have been a little underwhelmed by the Desire Sense appearance on the HD2 (doesn't seem to take advantage of the screen real-estate so much)
Might try the Desire HD ROM...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use MDJ's Desire HD ROM, tis pretty good.
If you're after something speedier, try one of the many RAM based ROMs out there, they're pretty slick!
As for eye candy, there's a **** load more options for Android.. almost too much choice! I still haven't decided on what widgets to settle on yet lol

From what I have read the Froyo Sense Revo 1.7 is very stable so was my choice for thr first foray into Android and to be fair it worked straight out of the box and I d/l apps etc.
My only real complaint is the clock is huge [takes up 1/3 of homescreen] and the widgets take up way too much room so that [for example] I can't put the caledar widget and the marketplace together on the home screen; the calendar only shows one appt as well (I will learn to fix this to show more no doubt esp once you nice people helps a brother out!)
As you say I have seen the blackstone super-fast ones as well. For the time being I can live with the boot speed [may well use another bootloader rather than JMZ v4] since it all works but I may experiement in future - exceller or the mkskip loader support multiple roms I think so that might help.
I was just mighty chuffed that my rom upgrade and the android install were so slick.
I am also enjoying the apparent better reception with this rom

wigwam12 said:
From what I have read the Froyo Sense Revo 1.7 is very stable so was my choice for thr first foray into Android and to be fair it worked straight out of the box and I d/l apps etc.
My only real complaint is the clock is huge [takes up 1/3 of homescreen] and the widgets take up way too much room so that [for example] I can't put the caledar widget and the marketplace together on the home screen; the calendar only shows one appt as well (I will learn to fix this to show more no doubt esp once you nice people helps a brother out!)
As you say I have seen the blackstone super-fast ones as well. For the time being I can live with the boot speed [may well use another bootloader rather than JMZ v4] since it all works but I may experiement in future - exceller or the mkskip loader support multiple roms I think so that might help.
I was just mighty chuffed that my rom upgrade and the android install were so slick.
I am also enjoying the apparent better reception with this rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
use ebl bootloader and set android to autoboot at3 seconds

wigwam12 said:
From what I have read the Froyo Sense Revo 1.7 is very stable so was my choice for thr first foray into Android and to be fair it worked straight out of the box and I d/l apps etc.
My only real complaint is the clock is huge [takes up 1/3 of homescreen] and the widgets take up way too much room so that [for example] I can't put the caledar widget and the marketplace together on the home screen; the calendar only shows one appt as well (I will learn to fix this to show more no doubt esp once you nice people helps a brother out!)
As you say I have seen the blackstone super-fast ones as well. For the time being I can live with the boot speed [may well use another bootloader rather than JMZ v4] since it all works but I may experiement in future - exceller or the mkskip loader support multiple roms I think so that might help.
I was just mighty chuffed that my rom upgrade and the android install were so slick.
I am also enjoying the apparent better reception with this rom
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use LauncherPro Plus, which lets you add its own widgets - but also lets you resize widgets. Try it out! (LauncherPro is the free version)

Pooper said:
Once you've started using Android more, you'll realise that "CHT Eyecandy" pretty much becomes meaningless
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The CHT eyecandyrocks, but Androidkilled my touchscreen!

mini quiz

hey everyone, I am about to release my rom (swag squad) and I was just wondering what features people REALLY want to see.
If you could just post what features you want to see I'll try and include every feature in the rom.
I know this may seem like a stupid thread but I think developers can be much better if people just tell them what they want.
Just post any questions in the thread and the rom will be released in the next 2 days or so.
thanks,
ljbaumer

gingerbread would be much appreciated.

Souviets said:
gingerbread would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha. at this point the rom is going to be 2.2 until a stable version of gingerbread is released for one of the "new"droid phones (Dx, D2, D2g, Dpro).
I am working on status bar controls on the pull down. Like on cyanogenmod and MIUI.

AOSP!!
Cool themes and icons instead of vanilla

thanks for the response,
The rom will be themed and it will have totally different icons than AOSP because in my opinion the AOSP icons are ridiculous.
The rom is based off of gummyjar right now but I will soon convert it to being based off of fission (gummyjar was originally based off of fission also). If tanzite turns out to be a completely stable AOSP alternative I will consider basing it off of that but at this point I have my doubts.
I am going to include the stock AOSP keyboard along with an HTC sense keyboard themed to look like the MIUI one and the controls in the status bar will not be released alongside the beta but should be out once the rom itself is out of beta.
Thanks,
ljbaumer

I'm not too worried about themes as I have a set 'theme' I kinda patch in to every rom I run but a black status bar with white text would be good as the default imo. Not sure if any of these would make it but here's a few things I would like to see:
Gingerbread Keyboard as main kb - The latest release of it as a standalone addon works very well on the D2 and the shrink effect is now gone
AOSP Lockscreen sliders
You mentioned the status bar icons already, but I'd love to see those in a rom on the D2
Have none of the google apps installed to the system by default, let users install them from the market or backups
And the impossible one for last!!! A battery manager that doesn't force close 50% of the time!

I have a few suggestions:
1. A charging light would be much appreciated, half the roms out there dont have it and its really an issue for me as I always think my phone is not charging.
2. Use the latest ADW (If that is what you are going to use), I dont like installing a new ROM and not having the choice to add or subtract screens or changing any launcher settings.
3. Have an alarm clock in by default. One of the main reasons I use fission is because I can still use the blur alarm with it, as I am not really impressed with any other alarm clock on the market.
4. Speed is always nice but without blur these phones run pretty smooth so im not too worried.
5. Make it work. This is kinda general but I just want a rom that I dont have to fiddle with to make it work. I agree with an above poster to leave everything out and just let us install it but things like the camcorder, GPS, USB etc are things that should work out of the box I dont want to have to wait for a new release so I can find my way through town.
Finally, thanks for helping out with these phones. I had to go to stock (Blur) for a little bit the other day and it just kills these phones people like you make me happy that I dont have to deal with a slow ass phone after spending 200 dollars on it.

ANSWERS
phrozen87 said:
I'm not too worried about themes as I have a set 'theme' I kinda patch in to every rom I run but a black status bar with white text would be good as the default imo. Not sure if any of these would make it but here's a few things I would like to see:
Gingerbread Keyboard as main kb - The latest release of it as a standalone addon works very well on the D2 and the shrink effect is now gone
AOSP Lockscreen sliders
You mentioned the status bar icons already, but I'd love to see those in a rom on the D2
Have none of the google apps installed to the system by default, let users install them from the market or backups
And the impossible one for last!!! A battery manager that doesn't force close 50% of the time!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One version of the rom will come out with a black status bar and one will come out with a white. Neither of them are the stock black and white bar but modded versions.
I will try and include the GB keyboard and I didn't know it worked by itself. If you or someone could post a link to it I will include it as soon as I can. I also include a MIUI themed HTC keyboard which I think works incredibly well.
The rom dosen't include battery manager because of force close issues but under settings-about phone-battery use- you can see all of the things that have been using up the battery in the same way.
I think it will have the GB sliders at the beginning once it is released but soon after I will switch over to stock AOSP sliders with a blue option.
I have a few suggestions:
1. A charging light would be much appreciated, half the roms out there dont have it and its really an issue for me as I always think my phone is not charging.
2. Use the latest ADW (If that is what you are going to use), I dont like installing a new ROM and not having the choice to add or subtract screens or changing any launcher settings.
3. Have an alarm clock in by default. One of the main reasons I use fission is because I can still use the blur alarm with it, as I am not really impressed with any other alarm clock on the market.
4. Speed is always nice but without blur these phones run pretty smooth so im not too worried.
5. Make it work. This is kinda general but I just want a rom that I dont have to fiddle with to make it work. I agree with an above poster to leave everything out and just let us install it but things like the camcorder, GPS, USB etc are things that should work out of the box I dont want to have to wait for a new release so I can find my way through town.
Finally, thanks for helping out with these phones. I had to go to stock (Blur) for a little bit the other day and it just kills these phones people like you make me happy that I dont have to deal with a slow ass phone after spending 200 dollars on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1: at this point I don't really know how to include a charging light lol. But if you give me the link to a rom that includes one I can probably figure it out.
2: personally, I am a HUGE launcherpro fan but I understand that a lot of people don't like having to pay $2.99 for the extra features and the free version isn't that great so I may end up including ADW launcher+launcher2
3:I will use the blur alarm clock
4:there will be basically no blur except for: camera, camcorder ( i think blur camera and camcorder work much better), alarm clock, and files.
5: I don't really get what you mean by let you install GPS and USB...
Thanks for the feedback,
ljbaumer

Try basing it off of Ultimate Droid for D2 when the final stable is released. It's AOSP and RC2 is running damn well on my D2, minus GPS and camcorder.

i wish there was a way to get the iphone keyboard i know the market has lookalikes but they dont perform like the real one (thats the only thing i like about iphones btw) or to stick with android it would be fantastic to get the dinc sense keyboard if there was some way to make it work.

ljbaumer said:
1: at this point I don't really know how to include a charging light lol. But if you give me the link to a rom that includes one I can probably figure it out.
2: personally, I am a HUGE launcherpro fan but I understand that a lot of people don't like having to pay $2.99 for the extra features and the free version isn't that great so I may end up including ADW launcher+launcher2
3:I will use the blur alarm clock
4:there will be basically no blur except for: camera, camcorder ( i think blur camera and camcorder work much better), alarm clock, and files.
5: I don't really get what you mean by let you install GPS and USB...
Thanks for the feedback,
ljbaumer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Fission is really the only one I know that has it.
2. I would really appreciate that.
3. Thank god.
4. Awesome. I completely agree
5. I just mean that some ROMs don't have the basics down. When I install your rom I want my phone to work. I dont mean that we should be able to isntall that stuff just that it works.

miketoasty said:
1. Fission is really the only one I know that has it.
2. I would really appreciate that.
3. Thank god.
4. Awesome. I completely agree
5. I just mean that some ROMs don't have the basics down. When I install your rom I want my phone to work. I dont mean that we should be able to isntall that stuff just that it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1: I will end up basing it off of fission but the first release will be from gummyjar2.1
5:the rom should 'just work' and I would never release some crap that people have to work on forever for it to look good and run well because I hate those roms also.
i wish there was a way to get the iphone keyboard i know the market has lookalikes but they dont perform like the real one (thats the only thing i like about iphones btw) or to stick with android it would be fantastic to get the dinc sense keyboard if there was some way to make it work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Iphone keyboard would be hard because it uses a different file type for applications and I would have to spend forever porting that over and I would probably need to finish learning java and the android APIs (which I am working on).
The sense keyboard is a themed droid inc keyboard and it will end up using the gingerbread keyboard and the sense keyboard will be a second option.

ljbaumer said:
Haha. at this point the rom is going to be 2.2 until a stable version of gingerbread is released for one of the "new"droid phones (Dx, D2, D2g, Dpro).
I am working on status bar controls on the pull down. Like on cyanogenmod and MIUI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i would love to have status bar controls on the pull down!!!, oh and rotary lock screen, thats pretty much all i would like, it should be smooth, fast, and sleek

status bar controls are not the easiest thing to port and it won't be there on the first release but should be there pretty soon after.
I would usually be totally up for anything a user want EXCEPT for rotary lockscreen.
Sorry guys but rotary lockscreen is not going to be featured in swag squad because personally I hate how it looks. sorry
Right now I am converting the base of the rom to fission. I would release the rom right now except for my website and paypal donate are not up and I want those things to be up before IU release the rom.

ljbaumer said:
status bar controls are not the easiest thing to port and it won't be there on the first release but should be there pretty soon after.
I would usually be totally up for anything a user want EXCEPT for rotary lockscreen.
Sorry guys but rotary lockscreen is not going to be featured in swag squad because personally I hate how it looks. sorry
Right now I am converting the base of the rom to fission. I would release the rom right now except for my website and paypal donate are not up and I want those things to be up before IU release the rom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thats fine i can live without it, if we get the status bar controls

lol
I'm almost done moving everything over to the fission base, I just have to make the black status bar theme and then test it out.
I will work on my website tonight and hopefully I can finish it by the end of tomorrow so I can release the rom.

All my requests have been slowly added to various ROMs so far, except one. Notification power controls would be absolutely amazing. The one feature I've never seen on a D2 ROM that I want a lot.

Well I just finished moving it over to a fission base so that is all i am working on
can't wait to release this thing
mistermr said:
All my requests have been slowly added to various ROMs so far, except one. Notification power controls would be absolutely amazing. The one feature I've never seen on a D2 ROM that I want a lot.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Fast responding. Good battery life. Stable. And everything said above. And as much gingerbread stuff as possible.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

Pellegrini406 said:
Fast responding. Good battery life. Stable. And everything said above. And as much gingerbread stuff as possible.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It should be very fast especially since it is based off of fission which is just about as fast as roms get on the DROID2.
Battery life should be decent as well.
Gingerbread is not really my thing but there should be a fair amount of gingerbread apps included.
Thanks,
ljbaumer

Android 2.3.2 Not gingerbread

I have just put android 2.3.3 please for give my typo on the post title of 2.3.2 on my dhd expecting it to be gingerbread the interface looks nothing like gingerbread, it just seems more like an updated version of froyo exept it has higher quality audio recording in videos 44.1 khz aac 96kbs the firmware i loaded was Seraphic stock-rooted 2.36.405.8 but doesnt look anything like gingerbread and has no DSP equalizer option either, i did try cynogens 7 firmware but didnt like it the camcorder and camera app is awfull with a horrible grey border awfull 8khz sound recording and no focus function on the camcorder either which states by pressing the screen it does not work so i thought i would install a non modded version of firmware, is this normal for 2.3.3 to be like this or have i done something wrong?
Thanks

Err, It is Gingerbread.
Gingerbread has been officially labeled as "Android 2.3 Gingerbread" for months.
As much as it looks like the older Froyo 2.2, it still is Gingerbread.
Liam

yeah but the interface is nothing like gingerbreads?? wheres all the fancy extra audio options? also in the software version under about phone it would actually say gingerbread just like it say's froyo 2.2.

stephenuk said:
yeah but the interface is nothing like gingerbreads?? wheres all the fancy extra audio options?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you maybe mistaken for the custom roms i.e. CynogenMod.
I know what you mean though... I thought the same but then I came to the realisation that is what the developers of the custom rom's have implented.
Liam

Your getting a little mixed up here.
Gingerbread is Android 2.3
What you are referring to is HTC Sense, the skin/framework that HTC uses to brand Android. HTC Sense has looked like this since the very beginning back with the HTC Hero.

just looking at pictures of some gingerbread builds the main home screen has different dock icons and thats something the developers did redesign, you dont swipe the screen down in gingerbread to inlock its sideways and when you shut down gingerbread the screen goes off with a white line effect like a crt tv being switched off, this build does not seem like gingerbread at all and the developers particulary said they where implementing new dsp equalizer features which are featured on the androids developers website, i also downloaded a very buggy leaked release of gingerbread which had developer test apps on it as well, the gingerbread battery and wifi icons are green not white and thats not because it was modded, the nexus has gingerbread which looks nothing like this release.

Yes the Nexus S runs Pure Android, which does not have HTC Sense, and as such looks nothing like it. You wondered why Samsung's TouchWiz looks nothing like Motorola's MotoBlur, Its because they were designed to look different from Pure Android.
The docks can be changed easily with different launcher apps from the Market. WiFi & mobile network icons are white when your not synced with Google, they turn green once connected.
HTC has removed some features, i.e the CRT animation as they probably feel it doesn't flow well with HTC Sense.
Have you tried MIUI?

yeah i use go launcher ex its just the developers at android stating a major audio overhaul which is no different to froyo i just thought it would look more like this
http://magazine3.com/techblog/demo/...ndroid-2.3.3-brings-expanded-NFC-features.jpg
thanks anyway andy has explained it now was just a bit mythed by it