Database Users

Sense vs. Vanilla

Is the phone that much faster without Sense? Is it any better on the battery? I like the Sense apps but have thought of switching to vanilla if I can get better battery life and less occasional lag (like its really that bad ).
Just looking for Pros and Cons...Is ADW a good alternative? I tried Launcher Pro and it seemed run slow, maybe because sense was running behind it.

Vanilla is better, but is not fasteror better onbattery.
Launcher pro is the best launcher
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

I just prefer vanilla over sense, no technical reason why. Also, I second the vote for LauncherPro.
Sent from my Incredible using XDA App

I like sense myself..after having trield vanilla and launcher pro..Launcher pro MAY be needing resources a bit more than sense and vanilla.. as these two are built in.. while Launcher pro is an app.

kriskmk said:
I like sense myself..after having trield vanilla and launcher pro..Launcher pro MAY be needing resources a bit more than sense and vanilla.. as these two are built in.. while Launcher pro is an app.
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I second this. I just used Sky Raiders 2.2 vanilla and while it was amazing in the battery department it was not all that great in the UI arena IMO. I just missed some of the features that you have with sense.

I prefer sense, mostly because of it's better Exchange integration. I like the tweaks and additional functionality that Sense provides.

Kipphh said:
I second this. I just used Sky Raiders 2.2 vanilla and while it was amazing in the battery department it was not all that great in the UI arena IMO. I just missed some of the features that you have with sense.
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I think it was lacking in the ui because it is a mix of vanilla and sense. Some theming will clear that up.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App

I really like the 5 buttons on the bottom of Launcher Pro as apposed to the sense bar with 3 buttons. But LauncherPro just didn't seem as smooth with sense running the BG and all I could think about was how it would kill my battery with Sense running all the while I have LauncherPro going.

I run the stock rom with Launcher Pro as my default rom and nandroid backup. I use Advanced Task Killer to kill sense and all the non critical supporting processes and apps. My battery life is about the same as before I switched over to this configuration, and my phone does seem to run about as smooth as it did with sense. I have used ADW and a couple others, as well as the stock vanilla android, and I like Launcher Pro the best. I get some stability issues here and there, but LP just restarts and all is well in the world. I also use the Beautiful Widgets clock/weather widget, it may contribute to the occasional force closes, but they'e not frequent enough to concern me.

dark_blue said:
I run the stock rom with Launcher Pro as my default rom and nandroid backup. I use Advanced Task Killer to kill sense and all the non critical supporting processes and apps. My battery life is about the same as before I switched over to this configuration, and my phone does seem to run about as smooth as it did with sense. I have used ADW and a couple others, as well as the stock vanilla android, and I like Launcher Pro the best. I get some stability issues here and there, but LP just restarts and all is well in the world. I also use the Beautiful Widgets clock/weather widget, it may contribute to the occasional force closes, but they'e not frequent enough to concern me.
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likewise I used to be an avid ATK (Advanced Task Killer) user.. but after having read how android OS works and reading plenty of expert articles.. apparently using a task killer is COUNTER PRODUCTIVE to saving memory and battery.. you can google this if you want.. Android OS has built in file and RAM allocation management systems.. the ATKs will kill a task before it has a chance to shut down itself.. resulting in depletion of resources necessarily.

jdkoreclipse said:
Vanilla is better, but is not fasteror better on battery.
Launcher pro is the best launcher
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Click to collapse
I agree 100%. Coming from Moto Droid. I am not a big fan of sense. It just seems like there is too much stuff going on. It all depends on how much social integration you like, i.e. Facebook, twitter and so on.

Is there any way to change the bottom bar? I really like the LLP bar, but sense is smoother so I will likely stick with it for the forseeable future.

CM/Stock Android vs Sense

When I started using Android on my HD2, I hated stock android builds and was huge fan of Sense Builds.
However after using it all (Stock Desire, Desire HD ROMS) and trying out stock Android builds...i've started to like stock android/CM much more...
Even though HTC has done a great job and sense has the best out of the box experience, but with few additional softwares, widgets Launcher Pro and Dialer2...stock android is just as functional as sense and feels much more smoother/faster too...Animations also seems much more elegant..
What you guys think?
Also I don't know what CM7 gives over stock Gingerbread, stock builds are just as much functional and feels more light too?

my 1st try on android was shubcraft, very simple but later its annoy me of launcher pro unintend 'widget resize' reminder to get full purchase. Then, Iv try the Nexus base which has bland milky white menubar which make me boring. So I skip to Desire and Evo base rom. I think Im liking to use more because Sense is is very usefull with instant result widget like, message and people widgets, so handy without necessary open main program
But once getting to Desire HD, its like full of colors while other build stay sorta black and white. But I do like to MIUI and Gingerbread too, better than before

What ROM should I use [backup and wipe)

Hello. I tried the cyanogen 7 RC3. It is my first custom ROM I flashed...it is ok, the battery last double the time it last with stock sense rom. GPS still had problems but with a different radio things changed a lot....I could manage to get the fix in 10 seconds with GPS status.
I don't know why, but last days I couldn't get the fix anymore...rebooting, and so on...didn't help. Changing rom would help me see if the GPS gets a better fix or not.
Second reason I want to try a new rom is the contact management, calendar, facebook photo sync. These 3 things aren't really too well made on cyanogen...the contact list doesn't look as good as the sense one. Same thing for the calendar and the sync of the contacts with the various 'accounts' (google, facebook, SIM). I would like a rom with sense although it will be difficult to abandon the cyanogen gallery....which looks fantastic.
I am going to flash the MIUI to give it a try (just see what happens). But what rom could you suggest? Maybe with SENSE in it?
I don't find the interface important...I mean the interface is the last thing for me in a rom, I know I would always stick do ADW launcher EX for the home screens....what I find important is the rest (battery life, gps fix, contact and calendar management, photo gallery and camera).
I know sometimes some features can be replaced by 3rd party applications (SMS archive, camera software, and so on)...but some other features cannot.
I wait for your suggestions.

If u want sense then try leedroid v2.2.3... if no sense then try ultimate droid hD.. amazing rom.. im using it now and i dnt think il. Go back to sense roms
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App

leedroid was the first rom I ever flashed it was great, but now I want to try others just to see what its like

That's the reason I keep coming back to Sense Roms, the contact managment and syncing through my different social media sites. And it just does it, flawlessly. I would try Android Revolution HD 3.5.

I like sense for the contacts, calendar and the facebook thing (I am no facebook addict but it is nice to have the photos of the contacts in the contact list...and that is automatically done by sense when syncing with the facebook account...ok some other roms do that too but how sense does it is just better).
I also like some sense applications and widgets....unfortunately the widgets are lost when I use ADW launcher ex....I love adw launcher for the high customized home screens, animations, and everything....but with this I lose the nice HTC widgets (contact widgets, calendar widgets). There are some other widgets on the market that can replace the HTC ones...but again, they are not as good.
So in my case there is a very big war between:
- contact and calendar management of sense
- ADW launcher and htc widgets
- the great things the cyanogen brought
- gingerbread and no sense
- some other details
So many interesting things which cannot live on the same device...at the same time...for instance MIUI looked very nice but had an awful gallery, too little customization on the home screen, but many things were very nice.

Try Android Revolution 3.6 i thing is the best...
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA Premium App

ARHD 4.0
ARHD 4.0 Beta 4!! love it just waiting for the official gingerbread release so mike can make a rom with official gingerbread rom

ARHD 4.0 is old and outdated. other ginger sense roms are way better then ARHD 4.0 ( ARHD 3.6 is great tho)
Best ROMs imo:
FroYo Sense: ARHD 3.6 or CoreDroid
Ginger Sense: RCMixHD 5.9
AOSP: M-DJs Ultimate Droid

Flussen said:
ARHD 4.0 is old and outdated. other ginger sense roms are way better then ARHD 4.0 ( ARHD 3.6 is great tho)
Best ROMs imo:
FroYo Sense: ARHD 3.6 or CoreDroid
Ginger Sense: RCMixHD 5.9
AOSP: M-DJs Ultimate Droid
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Click to collapse
Thats it, this ROMs are definitly [imho] the best.
My choice on DHD is RCMixHD 5.9, great ROM stable and smooth.

kwUAxx™ said:
Thats it, this ROMs are definitly [imho] the best.
My choice on DHD is RCMixHD 5.9, great ROM stable and smooth.
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RCMix HD 5.9.7 is definitely one of the best, but you could also try CoreDroid HD GB 5.4 as well, they are my two favorites at the moment.
I just installing i00 Desire HD 4.1 at the moment............we'll see how that one goes!

But there is one thing I can't understand. What makes some user put sense away? I tried the 'ultimate droid' without sense...I mean, what's the point of taking it away? What are the advantages?
And also...I am now with MIUI 1.4.22. I wanted something new because sense or not sense, I always end up using the ADW launcher EX because of its app management, menu, visual effects and row customizations. So...what do you think about MIUI ?
And also, I can't go back to sense keyboard now that I am used to the ginger ones. Same thing for the power notification widgets (lights, wifi, gps, mobile data and so on).

I recommend CoreDroid 5.4 or 6(still working out a few bugs out one this one). CoreDroid was the first rom I flashed and I've loved it ever since. It runs smooth and has lovely eye candy.

MIUI! It's fast, very stable and it looks great. It's also much lighter then Sense ROMs which is about 280MB vs MIUI with 80MB.
And today MIUI is upgraded to 2.3.4

RCMix, brings to us full sens 3.0....in couple of hours. The sens keyboard can easily be replaced.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

just try other roms with your self, then you will got the better one.

i have been running the following for two days now, and can't believe i took so long to make the jump. so good.
ROM: LeeDrOiD HD v3.0.1 GB
KERNEL: LeeDrOiD GB v3.0.1
Radio: 12.54.60.25U_26.09.04.11_M2

What ROM are you currently using?

This thread is pretty self-explanatory. I just thought I'd create it to see what other people besides me were using and why. Anyway, I don't know why I haven't seen any other thread like this, although I have a feeling someone's going to come and egg my house for this for some reason.
Right now I'm using faux123's AOSP Gingerbread ROM just because I like the speed and fluidity of AOSP.

Im Using UD. Its a pretty great rom but im getting tired of gingerbread and its little flaws for our mytouchs. Like the ffc for video chat being upside down and the lack of apps able to run properly

Everything? Right now RG 1.6. In about an hour probably fauxes AOSP to try to fix some stuff... (of mine that's broken.... not fauxs.. don't freak out).
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

Cm7 nb#58 with stock cm kernel. Having no issues on this build.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA Premium App

I've tried most of them, but always find my self coming back to CM7 (7.0.2 currently). I want so badly to run Faux's ASOP, but he stripped out the notification bar power widgets... and I am not sure I can live without them!

Currently using CM 7.0.2

CM7.0.2
I want to love the cm7 releases and they do work well but battery life seems to be much shorter than it is when using RoyalGinger. Anyone else have the same experience?

Running eViL's 4G-HD DesireHD port. I found out that when it comes to usability, pure Android is lacking A LOT compared to Sense (specifically - contacts/dialer, Exchange mail, browser), I'm tired of Gingerbread quirks, and I don't like the T-Mo Sense skin too much, so I'm running the pure Sense version.

As of a few days ago, running cm7 latest "stable" build. It's the first post-stock rom I've run, and I love it! So far very happy with the seemingly faster smoother experience, and battery so far seems much better than stock. I might get around to trying Royal's as I hear it's even faster and better with battery, but I'm wary of constant flashing lol, I just want a solid steady rom to use as my daily, and so far cm7 running LPP over it has made me happy

Jack_R1 said:
Running eViL's 4G-HD DesireHD port. I found out that when it comes to usability, pure Android is lacking A LOT compared to Sense (specifically - contacts/dialer, Exchange mail, browser), I'm tired of Gingerbread quirks, and I don't like the T-Mo Sense skin too much, so I'm running the pure Sense version.
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Click to collapse
I felt the same way until trying Launcher Plus Pro (LPP) - no it's not Sense, but offers many similar sense-like widgets that in my opinion actually work BETTER than their sense counterparts, i.e. the "Friends" LPP widget is SO much faster than Friendstream, and serves the same function, and LPP's calendar widget is much more efficient, you get both grid and agenda in one widget. Add to the widgets the far-superior customizable dock and I haven't looked back. Only drawback to running an AOSP rom over sense is the phone-related ui elements definitely suck, i.e. the dialer screen, etc. Overall though, totally worth the shift for me.

Royal Glacier v1.3. Its all in my signature. Fast and smooth with all the mt4g features available, great on battery life and performance and love the theme also.

boardopboy said:
I've tried most of them, but always find my self coming back to CM7 (7.0.2 currently). I want so badly to run Faux's ASOP, but he stripped out the notification bar power widgets... and I am not sure I can live without them!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are widgets in the market that do the same thing.

Faux's ASOP here. It's damn near perfect for me.

running royalglacier 1.3, its fast smooth, and gets awesome battery life. I have yet to try out any gingerbread roms, kinda waiting for the offical update, which may or may not come.

sunsean said:
I felt the same way until trying Launcher Plus Pro (LPP) - no it's not Sense, but offers many similar sense-like widgets that in my opinion actually work BETTER than their sense counterparts, i.e. the "Friends" LPP widget is SO much faster than Friendstream, and serves the same function, and LPP's calendar widget is much more efficient, you get both grid and agenda in one widget. Add to the widgets the far-superior customizable dock and I haven't looked back. Only drawback to running an AOSP rom over sense is the phone-related ui elements definitely suck, i.e. the dialer screen, etc. Overall though, totally worth the shift for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not using Sense for the widgets. Actually, I'm not using a single Sense widget on my 7 screens - even though I really like the full-screen weather animation that comes with HTC clock (but not willing to sacrifice half of my main screen for it).
I've been running LPP on stock Android for a long time using various ROMs on my Nexus One, including Gingerbread versions. The obvious parts of the stock-vs-Sense I already mentioned, but there are less obvious parts. The integration with external dialer in stock Android is bad, different screens coming up one after another for checking missed calls, very slow contact photo rendering on long lists, etc. LPP sucked when taking the phone off the charger every morning, having to restart and reload all the screens. Since GB it also sucked, being unable to do zoom-out and show 7 busy screens without hiccups, having to reload caches after every heavy app launch or charging, and scrolling slowly when using really busy screens. So I stopped using it and dropped GB in favor of Sense, and this preference remained when I moved to MT4G (my wife wanted the Nexus, I finally convinced her to move to Android from her antique WinMo).

boardopboy said:
I've tried most of them, but always find my self coming back to CM7 (7.0.2 currently). I want so badly to run Faux's ASOP, but he stripped out the notification bar power widgets... and I am not sure I can live without them!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just get widgetsoid from market, its even better with pop up for brightness and individual volume controls, reboot options, custom intent and more.
[via XDA premium]

darinmc said:
There are widgets in the market that do the same thing.
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Click to collapse
Is there one you would recommended over another?
Edit: Now seeing post above mine... I'll check it out!
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

My signature should explain it all
Sent from MY HTC Glacier powered by Evil 4G-HD v0.3.3, Faux123's FR-sense v1.0.0RC3 low voltage kernel, smartass governor using SetCPU at 748mhz min & 1555mhz max, themed with Blue Droid Xtreme HD theme for 1.84 base,with Droid X boot animation & sound... As of 4/25/2011, this device is absolutely kicka$$

Running CM7 and after they get all the bugs working for the Galaxy Tab, will be giving it a try also.

I use Power Control Plus
Sent from my HTC Glacier using Tapatalk

DHD/INSPIRE4G screen frame rate?

something's buggin' me about the htc screen.
it seems like it operates on low frame rate. for example 30FPS instead of 60FPS
like it's not lagging or anything, quite the contrary, i have a MIUI rom and it's freaking fast, but it feels not as smooth as on other devices like let's say, an iPhone 4.
do you get me? or am i crazy?
is there a way to check this kind of thing? any documentation?
is it supposed to run at 60FPS?

I know what you are talking about...and it kinda bugged me at first too. One thing I can tell you for sure is that if you use an alt skin like Safari HD or even Slate...you see that frame rate jump back up and become iphone-ishly smooth again.
Not sure why some skins are smoother than others...but that seems to be the case.

Test it with a GOOD live wallpaper.
Everyapp can define it's max FPS. Some LVW usually do so, to save battery.
MIUI Launcher might also be doing it. BTW, did you enable enhanced graphics ?

I think it may just be the launcher. When you switch to an alt like Launcherpro, ADW or GO, it become much smoother. (Miui icons are still kept, except a few miui widgets are lost such as the folders)
LWPs also lag the launcher alot regardless of how simple they are...
Other than actual fps lag, i dont see any lag with the screen at all...
Miui settings is always kinda laggy, im not too sure how to fix that, but if you don't care about looks, you could get Cyanogenmod - Its still slightly themeable, but doesnt have the miui icon backgrounds

thanks daedric. i disabled enhanced graphics and it runs way smoother now.
but now the colors band a little. well, you can't have it all.
maybe i'll try CM7.

Leedroid v3.2.1 which is GB and sense 2.1, this specific version runs at locked 60fps, also any GB Rom with sense 2.1 will run at 60fps once the smoothness patch is applied (search in the development section) we are still working on locking the sense 3 launcher to 60fps
CM7 should be 60 but depends on the launcher, go launcher and launcher pro are 60fps, go launcher more stable in smoothness, if you want stable and locked 60 with zero bugs you won't find better then Leedroid v3.2.1, members in the leedroid thread will help you find it