Database Users

What is AOSP?

Hey, sorry for the N00b question. I'm a software developer (among other things), but am just now delving into the world of custom ROMs for my EVO 4g. I've been looking at what's available and see a few that say either AOSP or NOT AOSP.
This leads me to a few questions.
1. What is AOSP?
- Is it a separate code base (other than 3.70.651.1 #15) from which to start customizing the code to create a custom ROM?
2. What are the main differences that are generally present between the normal code base and AOSP based?
3. Can you go back to a ROM based on 3.70.651.1 (or another base) if you go AOSP?
4. If it is a custom code base, whas it created from scratch or based on something else?
Thanks for your time in answering this. If I'm way off base on what AOSP is, just let me know. I appreciate your replies!

Simple, it is android without any overlay from different carriers. It is just bone stock android.
Android Open Source Project.
Edited because I fail!

Disclaimer: I'm not taking anything away from any of the Devs here. I can't do any of the stuff they do with any of the ROMs, so please, don't take the following as such.
Most of the non AOSP roms here are themed versions of the stock rom with performance increasing tweaks and what not. Not saying there's anything wrong with that, but it is what it is.
AOSP roms like Cyanogenmod are built from the source code. They are usually more bleeding edge because when the source is released from Google, they get to working on the update. Cyanogenmod 7 is already on 2.3.3, whereas most sense roms are still on 2.2.1

AOSP is short for Android Open Source Project. It's the source code for Android.
HTC takes the AOSP code and then adds Sense and their other tweaks to it. Basically all ROMs whether they are from HTC, Samsung, or who ever, is based on AOSP. The thing is that some of the OEMs modify the code so much that things start to become incompatible. Plus if you go straight to AOSP right now, the source code is up to Android 2.3.3, no OEM released ROM is up to that version. So that creates even more incompatibilities.
Some custom ROMs use AOSP and implement the code to devices from the ground up. That's what Cyanogen Mod does. MIUI also does this (and adds some heavy modifications to the code as well) but that ROM isn't specifically built for the EVO but is instead ported from the Nexus One ROM.
To keep it simple:
- AOSP is Android at it's most basic form, it's straight from Google and is pretty much what the Nexus devices use as final builds.
- OEM ROMs are based on AOSP but are usually outdated and heavily modified.
- You can go back and forth if you want, but if you do, you should wipe your cache as their are incompatibilities.

Wow, that's great everyone! I completely understand now. I really appreciate all the help and replies!
Could I ask what everyone's favorite AOSP & non-AOSP ROM is? I know this has been asked before, but I'd like the opinions of those that replied to this post, if they don't mind.
I'm looking for "bleeding-edge" technology, wireless tethering, hulu, etc. all the bells and whistles essentially. I don't care so much about how "pretty" it looks, just functionality and cool-gadgety-stuff. Thanks again!!!

ShadowCyborg said:
Wow, that's great everyone! I completely understand now. I really appreciate all the help and replies!
Could I ask what everyone's favorite AOSP & non-AOSP ROM is? I know this has been asked before, but I'd like the opinions of those that replied to this post, if they don't mind.
I'm looking for "bleeding-edge" technology, wireless tethering, hulu, etc. all the bells and whistles essentially. I don't care so much about how "pretty" it looks, just functionality and cool-gadgety-stuff. Thanks again!!!
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i would definitely suggest you look at cyanogenmod. it is built straight from source but improved apon in many ways. you can think of cyanogenmod as a crowd sourced rom. meaning anyone can contribute and submit changes to it. it is governed and controlled by the core members of the cyanogenmod team (team douche) but open for anyone to modify. what this gets you is a rom as close to aosp but made better. things like the power bar widget in the notification menu, music controls on the lock screen, quiet hours (notifications are turned down or off as well as dimming leds during set hours so they do not wake if if you say get an email at 5am), etc etc. members of teamwin recently built 4g support from the ground up be themselves and it is now a part of cyanogenmod. besides adding in features they also do a great deal of optimizing creating one of the most streamlined, user friendly fastest roms available.
oh and one part of your question seems unanswered - the 3.70.x.x.x of sense based roms is just the numbering of the rom build from htc for sprint but will always be built off of an older version of android due to the amount of customization done to it.

It's soap spelled wrong.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk

As far as AOSP go I like Cyanogen CM7 or MIUI but if I want a sense type rom I typically run Mikfroyo or Fresh.

Thank you all very much, once again! I have so far tried the following ROMs.
- King's Ultra Unleashed R2
- Cyanogen Mod 6.1.2
I'm running Cyanogen Mod right now and it's pretty cool, but the problem is I really like different features of each. I do like how many features are built into the Cyanogen Mod ROM though. I have to say, I LOVE the quiet time feature a LOT! I've wished Android had that for a while now. Oh, and the increased battery life and decreased charge time of both is AWESOME!!! My phone had gotten to the point where it wouldn't even charge in the car. It just kept the battery at the level it was at. Now it will only drop 7% battery over the entire night, unplugged!
I'm contemplating trying the EVO Non-Sense right now. I am just trying many of them to see which I like the best. Thanks for all the advise everyone!

Koni Elite II has some really cool features in it. try them all, it's a lot of fun

It's soap spelled wrong.
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Click to collapse
i thought it was the name of an ancient greek writer?

ShadowCyborg said:
Thank you all very much, once again! I have so far tried the following ROMs.
- King's Ultra Unleashed R2
- Cyanogen Mod 6.1.2
I'm running Cyanogen Mod right now and it's pretty cool, but the problem is I really like different features of each. I do like how many features are built into the Cyanogen Mod ROM though. I have to say, I LOVE the quiet time feature a LOT! I've wished Android had that for a while now. Oh, and the increased battery life and decreased charge time of both is AWESOME!!! My phone had gotten to the point where it wouldn't even charge in the car. It just kept the battery at the level it was at. Now it will only drop 7% battery over the entire night, unplugged!
I'm contemplating trying the EVO Non-Sense right now. I am just trying many of them to see which I like the best. Thanks for all the advise everyone!
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you can also try cm7, which is gingerbread based. cm6.x.x is froyo based. its in the rc1 stage meaning it is almost finalized. the rc1 does not have 4g but the nightlies do.
rc1
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=956187
nightlies
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=729802
the nightlies are also 2.3.3 which is the newest build. nightlies=bleeding edge. they, as the name implies, as released nightly and contain all the code submitted from that day. sometimes they are broken or even fail to build but such is the life of living on the edge!

Alanman, thanks! I was thinking about trying that one too and... I agree that this is a BLAST! I'm absolutely loving the custom features, software and abilities.

Digged up an old thread through search
I was wondering what AOSP meant as well, but thanks I now know and might try some of the suggested ROMs in here So far I had only tried a King ROM (Shooter) with Sense 3.0. I don't mind it, but currently I can't get Swype to behave for me so I was thinking about dropping it and moving onto another.

questions about roms...

So I have recently learned that all AOSP roms get worse service than stock roms. I wanted to know exactly what constitutes an AOSP rom? is it a rom derived from the source code released by google? or is it just any variation on a rom?

Cyanogen is very close to AOSP, but with a lot of nice features added in. I wasn't totally familiar with what it was until I flashed Faux123's AOSP rom. It's an even more stripped down version of like the Nexus 1 and Nexus S.
Stock MT4G is HTC Sense with Tmobile's Espresso flavoring added in...but roms based off of sense or look similar aren't necessarily AOSP roms, neither are ports (Thunderbolt, Desire, etc) Hope this helps, google it also and that'll give you more info.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

kimbernator said:
So I have recently learned that all AOSP roms get worse service than stock roms. I wanted to know exactly what constitutes an AOSP rom? is it a rom derived from the source code released by google? or is it just any variation on a rom?
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Click to collapse
ASOP means android open source project, so yes it is the code google release. Stock roms will vary from devices but all are generated from this asop source code. Asop cannot be download and just put on to a device it has to be put together first. Service providers and phone manufactures spend months optimizing phones before they hit the market. If service is better it is because of the resources they have over any given dev you will find on here

mark manning said:
ASOP means android open source project, so yes it is the code google release. Stock roms will vary from devices but all are generated from this asop source code. Asop cannot be download and just put on to a device it has to be put together first. Service providers and phone manufactures spend months optimizing phones before they hit the market. If service is better it is because of the resources they have or any given dev you will find on here
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worded perfectly IMO, for what it's worth.
if you look at the G2 and the G2x, those are what AOSP ROM's look like.

somehow it double posted

ASOP means android open source project, so yes it is the code google release. Stock roms will vary from devices but all are generated from this asop source code. Asop cannot be download and just put on to a device it has to be put together first. Service providers and phone manufactures spend months optimizing phones before they hit the market. If service is better it is because of the resources they have or any given dev you will find on here
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
worded perfectly IMO, for what it's worth.
if you look at the G2 and the G2x, those are what AOSP ROM's look like.
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Click to collapse
It is true for g2. For g2x, it is a striped down version of lg's own framework to look like aosp from the outside but underneath it quite different from aosp. People are now starting to find out for g2x...
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

faux123 said:
It is true for g2. For g2x, it is a striped down version of lg's own framework to look like aosp from the outside but underneath it quite different from aosp. People are now starting to find out for g2x...
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App
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Really? Didn't know that. It looks and feels like AOSP. I messed with one in the store for a moment.
[sent via Cyanogen powered Android]

ASOP .............i give up

ok ..i give up What is the difference between my "out of the box" nexus7 rom and an ASOP rom. What are the pros and cons of each and which should I want???

patterone said:
ok ..i give up What is the difference between my "out of the box" nexus7 rom and an ASOP rom. What are the pros and cons of each and which should I want???
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well depending on the aosp..there are more features to it then stock. a con would probably be more bugs then stock since stock has no bugs i believe.

jarjar124 said:
well depending on the aosp..there are more features to it then stock. a con would probably be more bugs then stock since stock has no bugs i believe.
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What? Aosp is aosp. Android open source project. There's only one source. It can't "depend on the aosp".
Aosp means built from source which makes it easier to add mods and such. Otherwise stock aosp and stock OTA are pretty similar.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Metallice said:
What? Aosp is aosp. Android open source project. There's only one source. It can't "depend on the aosp".
Aosp means built from source which makes it easier to add mods and such. Otherwise stock aosp and stock OTA are pretty similar.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
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yes ik that but cyanogen mod is also aosp...as well as others.

W ouldn't AOSP be sorta pointless in a Nexus device, seeing as its basically a pure android experience (as is AOSP) straight out of Google? I get AOSP /AOKP on a Samsung /LG/Sony/etc that's plagued with crap and bloatware, but on a Google device?
Just think about it...

Yeah, the ideal rom to me would be a deodexed stock rom. That way you know everything works but mods are easier to add.

Evo_Shift said:
Yeah, the ideal rom to me would be a deodexed stock rom. That way you know everything works but mods are easier to add.
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Nah. Mods are much easier to add to aosp. That's why CM and AOKP are modified from AOSP.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Someone correct me if I'm wrong here... But isn't the Nexus 7 an AOSP stock rim as is? I mean it seems to me like it's vanilla (AOSP) android with Gapps added... Remove theGapps and u have AOSP, no?

omegajester said:
W ouldn't AOSP be sorta pointless in a Nexus device, seeing as its basically a pure android experience (as is AOSP) straight out of Google? I get AOSP /AOKP on a Samsung /LG/Sony/etc that's plagued with crap and bloatware, but on a Google device?
Just think about it...
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Click to collapse
depends on the rom. as mentioned before, some devs use AOSP as a base and add features to it. if you go for just a plan AOSP, then its semi-pointless. but if you go for a ROM that has AOSP as a base and adds a crapload of customisability to it, then there are some benefits. some have integrated equalisers, integrated speaker amplifer apps, more choices for screen settings, etc.

What the Nexus Experience One really means

With all the news today surrounding the Nexus experience HTC One there was a point i feel was a little lost. While most of the news centered as to if we can port Sense specific features to AOSP roms (we cant), and all the things that the AOSP One (i am calling it the AOSP One because we have not heard otherwise at this point) will be lacking here is what was lost... and to those of us who have been in the community for years its amazing.
We've been recognized by OEM's.... Think years back when Motorola was locking its bootloader down, HTC wasnt far behind and Samsung was not being very helpful. The modding community was pretty much shoved to the side, and while some OEM's started (half-assed until recently) to provide solutions and options to locked down bootloaders, they widely sucked. The dev model of the Motorola Razr series comes with No Warranty whatsoever once you unlock it.
-
+Unlocking your DEVELOPER EDITION's bootloader voids all warranties and may cause serious harm to your device. Make sure you understand what this means.
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Of note, there is no MAY like the HTC and NEXUS line have while unlocking.
And up until recently HTC still had issues after unlocking your bootloader with flashing the boot partition and/or adjusting the System partition. It was touchy to say the least.
But finally OEM's are willing to recognize the development community and provide devices that enable us to do what we love to do so much. The price is a 50/50 but a $20 premium is not much of a fee to pay over the stock unlocked model for the One.
For those of us who have been fighting the good fight for years we have done it, we have made a change in the way OEM's work, even if it is a side effort they are still recognizing us and building a device for us. I really honestly wish i could trade in my Tmobile One for the AOSP model, just to show my support for HTC but frankly cannot afford it.

Unfortunately, it won't actually mean anything. It does show that these companies are opening up to development, but the AOSP edition phones themselves will lack so many features that make them distinct. Google has to do some serious discussions with HTC to come out with an open-sourced solution to proprietary hardware like ImageSense and possibly Boomsound as well.

ArmedandDangerous said:
Unfortunately, it won't actually mean anything. It does show that these companies are opening up to development, but the AOSP edition phones themselves will lack so many features that make them distinct. Google has to do some serious discussions with HTC to come out with an open-sourced solution to proprietary hardware like ImageSense and possibly Boomsound as well.
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Why does everyone think Google & HTC are about to ship some horribly unoptimized phone and open themselves up to the media sh*tshow that would ensue? I don't understand.
HTC is handling the One with SUCH pride and it's such an important device for them, I don't think they'd stand for a noticeably crippled device. And what would that say about vanilla Android if everyone attributes the 'suck' of the device to it's operating system?
Both Google & HTC have probably been working on this for a good while and SOMEONE has raised these issues in-house and I'm sure they're both working together to work out all the kinks & provide a solid device ready to put the Nexus experience into more people's hands.
I also think 4.3 is just around the corner and will continue to achieve parity with third party solutions & ideas, especially in imaging, and hopefully someone will figure out this button situation once and for all.

Interesting thought, but I do believe vanilla Android will be just that. No HTC features. HTC gets to sell a phone.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2

asif9t9 said:
Interesting thought, but I do believe vanilla Android will be just that. No HTC features. HTC gets to sell a phone.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
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I agree. The Nexus Experience will be nothing more than plain vanilla Android running on a HTC ONE. Anyone expecting anything else is just fooling themselves.
When has vanilla Android been anything overly exciting? My experience with the Nexus 4 was boring as hell. I basically just had a device that just worked without any features, kind of like Apple OS.
Call me crazy but I've always loved the overlay that Samsung and HTC adds to Android.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium

What it gives us is longevity and prompt update.
Coming from Galaxy Nexus and Nexus 4, I prefer a lot of features in Sense 5 over vanilla android. Even 4.3 won't be able to tempt me to go back to vanilla.
But since updates on these Nexus experience devices are supposed to be maintained by Google, what this means is that the One will be among the first devices to get a fully functional Key Lime Pie rom this fall. Without this new Nexus One, we would probably have to wait at least half a year before HTC can come up with Sense 6 or something on KLM.
Sent from my HTC One using xda premium

I think what is being missed about a aosp HTC one. No it won't have sense features, if it did, it wouldn't be aosp. What's important is that it will be a pure android experience WITH all of the proprietary hardware drivers. So no it won't have Zoe, but it will have the same quality image capturing as the sense. No, it won't have Beats sound codecs, but the boomsound will have the same awesome sound as sense with beats turned off. All in all it is going to be what we've wanted forever. The bugs in most all aosp builds are from not having proprietary hardware drivers. We will have a base for the devs to build on that is built by the manufacturer. AWESOME

18th.abn said:
I think what is being missed about a aosp HTC one. No it won't have sense features, if it did, it wouldn't be aosp. What's important is that it will be a pure android experience WITH all of the proprietary hardware drivers. So no it won't have Zoe, but it will have the same quality image capturing as the sense. No, it won't have Beats sound codecs, but the boomsound will have the same awesome sound as sense with beats turned off. All in all it is going to be what we've wanted forever. The bugs in most all aosp builds are from not having proprietary hardware drivers. We will have a base for the devs to build on that is built by the manufacturer. AWESOME
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It's not just Zoe that you won't get. It's ImageSense that you have to worry about, cos that processes the images to be what it is. We can only hope that the new device would come with open-source versions of drivers for these features as they are embedded deeply into the Sense framework.

Nexus usually means quickest Andriod updates, since no dependencies on OEM skins/overlay development and testing. And ongoing platform support... at least until features can't be supported by hardware.
I've been a long time CyanogenMod fan, but the Sense 5 experience is good so far. Snappy interface, clean, good battery life... but I do some 4.2.2 features from my HOXL. If HTC lags too far behind with Sense 5 development, then it may warrant switching to CM or going naked Android. For now Blinkfeed and Zoe are interesting... wish I could increase the density of icons in Sense...

ArmedandDangerous said:
It's not just Zoe that you won't get. It's ImageSense that you have to worry about, cos that processes the images to be what it is. We can only hope that the new device would come with open-source versions of drivers for these features as they are embedded deeply into the Sense framework.
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Quoted from The Verge:
"Of course, the big question with running stock on the One is how HTC's unique hardware features will work without its software, and it sounds like there's good news: Barra told me Beats Audio will still work — the hardware optimization is active all the time, but it won't put an icon in the menu bar. HTC's UltraPixel camera module is still present, but it's being made to work with the stock Android camera app — Barra said it'll just "do what it does," adding that more details would be forthcoming as Google and HTC work on the software."
That should settle some worries about Beats and ImageSense support. I wouldn't get my hopes up for Zoe, though...

I am sure they will deliver working htc features like beats, zoe, cam, IR remote and stuff. Otherwise they'd do a huge mistake marketing wise.
Sent from my HTC One

BrickL0rd said:
I am sure they will deliver working htc features like beats, zoe, cam, IR remote and stuff. Otherwise they'd do a huge mistake marketing wise.
Sent from my HTC One
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They have already gone on record that the ir, zoe, camera enhancements etc won't be added as these are sense specific.

BrickL0rd said:
I am sure they will deliver working htc features like beats, zoe, cam, IR remote and stuff. Otherwise they'd do a huge mistake marketing wise.
Sent from my HTC One
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Being proprietary features, they will not just port the whole thing over to AOSP cos it needs Sense to work. What HTC can do is make new drivers that are open-sourced for AOSP that interface with these hardware

milaxtpe said:
I don't understand.
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What don't you understand?

ArmedandDangerous said:
Being proprietary features, they will not just port the whole thing over to AOSP cos it needs Sense to work. What HTC can do is make new drivers that are open-sourced for AOSP that interface with these hardware
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This is sad. I've been running CM10.1-nightlies for about a week and I really like AOSP/Nexus-style, but the camera in original/sense-based roms are better than CM, at least right now. (Can't really compare to alpha-nightlies)
If HTC were to release the camera-app for playstore that'd be awesome, and I would actually not mind paying a dollar or so for it. But if you're right about it being a driver issue as well I'm not quite sure how they'd be able to solve that with just a camera-app, haven't had time to read up on those parts of Android yet since I'm fairly new to this world (as my post count would suggest).

klewwe said:
This is sad. I've been running CM10.1-nightlies for about a week and I really like AOSP/Nexus-style, but the camera in original/sense-based roms are better than CM, at least right now. (Can't really compare to alpha-nightlies)
If HTC were to release the camera-app for playstore that'd be awesome, and I would actually not mind paying a dollar or so for it. But if you're right about it being a driver issue as well I'm not quite sure how they'd be able to solve that with just a camera-app, haven't had time to read up on those parts of Android yet since I'm fairly new to this world (as my post count would suggest).
Click to expand...
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Welcome to Android! An app would be great, but I don't think that would be enough. It's a HTC-only feature that requires the Sense framework to work, so to me the only logical way to proceed is to create a second set of drivers that are open-source and compatible with AOSP.

ArmedandDangerous said:
Welcome to Android! An app would be great, but I don't think that would be enough. It's a HTC-only feature that requires the Sense framework to work, so to me the only logical way to proceed is to create a second set of drivers that are open-source and compatible with AOSP.
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Would a 3rd party camera app suffice in these sort of circumstances?

daleski75 said:
Would a 3rd party camera app suffice in these sort of circumstances?
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Nope. ImageSense is a proprietary piece of hardware exclusive to HTC and Sense and is not accessible/fully accessible through 3rd party apps. They'll still have the Ultrapixels to play with though

ArmedandDangerous said:
Nope. ImageSense is a proprietary piece of hardware exclusive to HTC and Sense and is not accessible/fully accessible through 3rd party apps. They'll still have the Ultrapixels to play with though
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When 4.2.2 is released for the sense edition phones I am sure there will be camera comparisons between both editions and I reckon there won't be that much of a difference between them.

if they dont include these sense based features they cant sell it for the same price - ergo it has to be alot cheaper hence everyone would buy the stockandroid ONE and flash SENSE custom Roms on it.
I'd do it this way

HTCDev posts framework support files for Google Edition

I'm not sure what they are yet as I'm still downloading the zip. Maybe a way to add the framework support into AOSP?
http://www.htcdev.com/devcenter/downloads

Hopefully a way to implement the Sense Camera and Dialer into AOSP. That would be really awesome, if I could use those two in AOSP, I would switch immediately.

wph said:
Hopefully a way to implement the Sense Camera and Dialer into AOSP. That would be really awesome, if I could use those two in AOSP, I would switch immediately.
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Well, the Sense stuff requires Sense, it's a choice between Sense and AOSP, really. You'd be better off de-Sensing a Sense ROM than hoping for Sense stuff on AOSP.

These have been available for almost week now

bbedward said:
These have been available for almost week now
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Yes, I heard it was available on day 2 after the kernel code was released. I don't think anyone has looked into using it/implementing it yet though. I knew the kernel source dropped but I did not see this until today and I'm sure there are many people who didn't know it was even posted.

BenPope said:
Well, the Sense stuff requires Sense, it's a choice between Sense and AOSP, really. You'd be better off de-Sensing a Sense ROM than hoping for Sense stuff on AOSP.
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I fully understand what you're saying, but these apps depend on the Sense framework, so that's why something like this gives hope.
Porting such stuff was always (almost) impossible, meaning you had to choose between the latest Android and Sense. When, on the long run, the One isn't supported anymore, you are stuck, since de-Sensing a ROM that isn't there is impossible. Maybe, and only maybe, with this framework files it is easier to port a couple of apps and include them in the latest AOSP.
For now I see it like this: HTC made these available, so they must have some reason. Might be because the Google Play Edition camera is not as good as the Sense one, which causes bad publicity, like the review on The Verge which gave a 4 for the camera. By providing these files, they maybe want to reach out to the community?

Forgive me for not knowing much on the development side of things, but if we can't find a way to port the Sense camera with this framework, what can we learn? And what would be required to see what the Sense camera requires to run on an AOSP ROM? Does this make it possible to port the Sense camera to at least the GE edition ROM? I know GE is different from AOSP, so I'm curious. The only reason I'm hesitant to stay on a stock android ROM is because of the camera.