I have been playing around with some of the custom ROM's recently and I am very impressed with the work the dev's have put in. Some really nice ROM's out there. But I have a few questions that don't fit in anywhere else (I think).
Quite a few of the ROM's are based on either AOSP with a custom launcher that closely resemble the AOSP launcher. Why are we not using the AOSP launcher? Is there something I am missing?
Or they're based on Sense, and quite frankly I have a love/hate relationship with it. Mostly it's app drawer / menu. It scrolls in pages instead of rows, has two unneeded buttons on the bottom (recently launched and something else, I can't remember now)
Here's what I would like to see as a combination of the two launchers.
The ICS drawer, but with the Sense list of toggles.
The ICS homescreen with the Sense widgets. (Gotta love that weather widget )
And the ICS app drawer, missing the somewhat redundant widget list (seriously, who wants the clutter? More to the point, do you add widgets so often that the long press, add widget from a list is too time consuming?)
I guess an amalgamation of the two, could it be done?
There also seems to be some inconsistencies with the settings menu, some ROM's have different settings and the HTC one includes settings only seen from HTC (wifi settings like the O/P power) Can these be included in AOSP/ICS builds or is this going to be Sense based only?
And on a final note, can I run Sense based apps like Camera, Music and Settings on an AOSP/ICS build? What HTC apps are likely to screw with an ICS ROM? I guess I want HTC apps on ICS, the UI inconsistencies that are apparent don't bother me that much, but it's a shame HTC seem to be deviating somewhat to the ICS interface guidelines (making the menu item lists huge and not having a 'back' icon in the top left corner on some of their apps).
Could it be that either the community need to work on improving HTC apps, making them more ICS like or is it a case of waiting to see what HTC release?
I know it sounds like I am picking fault and wanting something for nothing, but this is not the case. I just want a fast, snappy ROM that fits perfectly and we are nearly there, just some of the UI elements need work. I want us to raise the bar when it comes to UI design and fluidity, and user input like this is the only way the chef's/dev's know.
I would contribute on this but I have tried decompiling apps before and get lost/stuck with what I should do. I would be completely clueless as to how to integrate HTC widgets with AOSP launcher, but I know some of you guys know exactly what to do.
Just my input on the future of ROM cooking
Mark
Related
I had an idea last night that I want to try, but after some cursory poking around I can't see how to do it.
Basically, I want to take a Hero ROM, remove touchflo and replace it with the 'normal' android home, then skin the android home with a darker, hero-ish look. Also, maybe, include the modded launcher I've seen floating around that has 5 icons per row.
The aim here is to have a decent looking rom that keeps the good bits of hero (exchange / social networking integration, darker look, multitouch browser etc) without the memory guzzling touchflo interface. Obviously you wouldn't get the Hero widgets, but I'd rather have speed and stability than eye candy.
Anyway, the older hero roms I tried let you clear the defaults on touchflo and it would then prompt to start home instead when you pressed the home key... I think the orange build (that most hero builds are based off now) must have removed the standard home application because it's not there anymore. Digging through a couple of 'normal' android builds hasn't turned up anything as obvious as a 'home.apk' either... so I'm a bit stuck now.
could one of the rom guru's give me a hint as to where I should start looking?
okay, extracting the 'launcher.apk' from another build and doing 'adb install launcher.apk' fails with 'INSTALL_FAILED_UPDATE_INCOMPATIBLE'
hmm.
Hi all,
WM newbie here... just bought a Diamond2....
So far I've found the HTC Home UI to be way more useful than HTC Sense - sure Sense has the cool gfx, but to do much on the default Sense front page, one always has to scroll around to different pages -unlike my near-default HTC Home that has my skype, PocketInformant, power/mem/etc indicators, msg-notifier, togglers for BT/Wifi/3G, and myriad of other shortcuts etc... ALL on the one page - its brilliant, though clearly yesterdays technology (ie. its been phased out).
So, I've been hunting around looking for info about ways to customise HTC Sense, via plugins be they already included or separately downloadable, but sofar, I've found nothing. Am i missing something here? Or is this just bleeding-edge stuff that I have to wait for? I can't even see anywhere that one can customise the info shown on the main Sense screen.
Personally, I find Sense's slideable menu thing at the bottom of the screen to be overly cumbersome - I want to click directly (ok, perhaps after 1-2 other clicks) on an icon to load something, not scroll along a list of gfx icons that somewhat forces me to go back and forwards trying to find the icon of interest.
Thoughts?
I'm pretty new to the whole rooting scene. I currently have ClearDroid ROM. I definitely like it. Fast and all.
But. I've also used a few 2.3.3 Gingerbread + Sense ROM's and I also like the whole quick settings in the notification area and all the neat other stuff that 2.2 didn't offer.
My big $1,000,000 question is... Is it possible to keep ClearD's ROM but still import the 2.3.3 functions in such as the quick settings and lock screen and stuff like that. Or if there is something like that already available. Please let me know.
Thanks,
Cyanide
If that rom is sense based your best bet is to wait or contact the developer to see if he can make the 2.3.3 GB jump.
If it is not sense based or it is AOSP then those features cannot be added since they rely on the sense framework
Not quite sure if I was clear on my OP.
I was wanting to keep some 2.2 features, but add a few 2.3 features like the 2.3 lockscreen, quick settings and a few other things.
But I'll keep looking around.
I'm not familiar with doing changes in the system like that so i cannot tell if it requires the whole system or just some files replacements that will not create any conflicts.
If your looking for the lockscreen search in this forums there are few alternatives and maybe easy to do for example this one:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1054510
I hear a lot of people saying Sense is awesome. This is my first time using Sense.
My favorite part about it is the Weather animations. Is this the awesome part? Not being rude but am i not using Sense to its maximal potential?
Sense overall is the meaning!
Sense is 500mb of pure ****.
Clean android 2.3.4 is perfect for me.
But to be ontopic I think most people love the widgets. The email/friendstream/calendar etc.
Try it out and report back if you like it.
Sense is the best UI on Android IMO - stock Android is FAR too basic
ROM_Guest said:
I hear a lot of people saying Sense is awesome. This is my first time using Sense.
My favorite part about it is the Weather animations. Is this the awesome part? Not being rude but am i not using Sense to its maximal potential?
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Click to collapse
i would like to know it too.cause i never had HTC phones and iam using SE phones
I thought I liked vanilla android till sense 3.0 , vanilla android is just that .....vanilla , sense overall IMO just looks better ,widgets etc...etc..,that's why we need s-off so we can make it fly , I don't think I'm ever going back to vanilla, I installed ADW on my sensation and instantly got depressed and took it off ...vanilla just sucks compared to sense 3.0 ,but its all android so its all good
I love that you can go from the lockscreen directly to certain apps
I'm loving all the widgets, the lock screens, the carousel, and all the other neat features.. I love Sense 3.0 better than any other UI!
I like it....but then again I am coming from Touch wiz...
I like the sexy weather animation on the lock screen, also the lock screen itself. Otherwise, I feels really chunky. For the average user it seems to be really user friendly, but I am far from an average user.
However, I am angry at HTC for removing some things from the last Sense
- Reply to text messages from web
- A differerent dock, the older Sense let you choose from a rounded design to a solid block.
It's how you configure and place widgets that makes the UI aesthetically awesome, Sense is merely offering you a starting point.
Sorry, but Sense is just too much razz-ma-tazz bull**** for me. I grew up with Sense on my Hero and when aosp (the dev) came out with his stock Froyo (and later Gingerbread) roms I initially thought they were just so bland, but I grew to really love the way ADW Launcher could be set up to instantly flick from one screen to the next. I really loved not having to wait even a fraction of a second to get to the next rock-steady screen, and I came to hate the way that Sense couldn't be set up to jump instantly to the next screen. And it still can't be set up to do that, and I still hate Sense because of that. And I hate it when I unlock the lockscreen then I have to wait for that stupid carousel to quit spinning. Jeeze, that **** is truly maddening. I didn't buy a smartphone so I could watch the goddamn carousel spinning around. That got old after about 2 minutes, and I REALLY resented that I couldn't deactivate it. My time is valuable to me, that's why I got a dual-core Adreno 220 1.2ghz machine. Sense doesn't do anything for me except waste my time. The second day I had this new phone I put ADW Launcher on it and I've been a happy camper ever since. I've got it set up so all I have to do is touch the flip-screen dots in the lower corners or give the screen a flick and BAM, instant screen change! Very satisfying!
Also, ADW lets me set up 5 rows of icons on each screen, which is perfect on the size screen we have now. Being limited to 4 rows just feels like an awful waste of screen space.
So now I've got a screaming machine all set up like I like it! The only thing I don't have yet is root!
ADW on top of Sense is nice. I do like some of the apks provided with Sense. The Launcher, however, is complete garbage lacking any kind of decent customization for better useability...aesthetics only.
Sdobron said:
ADW on top of Sense is nice. I do like some of the apks provided with Sense. The Launcher, however, is complete garbage lacking any kind of decent customization for better useability...aesthetics only.
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Thanks. That's exactly what I was trying to say.
Sense is awesome because of the widgets and sleekness of it, the effects. also you get those htc apps that are pretty cool too. also the touch input HTC_IME is the best touch screen keyboard IMO.
What i find not so awesome is 7 home screens i wish you can change that. i only use 3 to 5. Sometimes it feels like over kill. Ram hog is a under statement
android with Sense is much more convinient than non-sense android..
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App
oldjackbob said:
Sorry, but Sense is just too much razz-ma-tazz bull**** for me. I grew up with Sense on my Hero and when aosp (the dev) came out with his stock Froyo (and later Gingerbread) roms I initially thought they were just so bland, but I grew to really love the way ADW Launcher could be set up to instantly flick from one screen to the next. I really loved not having to wait even a fraction of a second to get to the next rock-steady screen, and I came to hate the way that Sense couldn't be set up to jump instantly to the next screen. And it still can't be set up to do that, and I still hate Sense because of that. And I hate it when I unlock the lockscreen then I have to wait for that stupid carousel to quit spinning. Jeeze, that **** is truly maddening. I didn't buiy a smartphone so I could watch the goddamn carousel spinning around. That got old after about 2 minutes, and I REALLY resented that I couldn't deactivate it. My time is valuable to me, that's why I got a dual-core Adreno 220 1.2ghz machine. Sense doesn't do anything for me except waste my time. The second day I had this new phone I put ADW Launcher on it and I've been a happy camper ever since. I've got it set up so all I have to do is touch the flip-screen dots in the lower corners or give the screen a flick and BAM, instant screen change! Very satisfying!
Also, ADW lets me set up 5 rows of icons on each screen, which is perfect on the size screen we have now. Being limited to 4 rows just feels like an awful waste of screen space.
So now I've got a screaming machine all set up like I like it! The only thing I don't have yet is root!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So with a 1000 word essay on why you hate sense you go and buy a phone with the latest version of sense on it and then you come on a forum and bash it when you knew before you bought it you were going to hate it . People like you aggravate the **** out of me
Some extra things on Sense I like that isn't the widgets or animations. Pure functional things it brings to the table that I really like:
-Quiet Ring on pickup
-Pocket mode where it increases ringtone volume when in your pocket
-Flip the phone face down to activate speaker phone
-I like the Dialer but that's more cosmetics. I do like the dial by name function from the dialer.
-I won't use a ROM unless it has the power controls in the notification window and the newer Sense builds have this (Still prefer Cyanogenmod's implementation though).
-I know some people hate it but I like the facebook linking in the contacts
That's what I can think off of the top of my head. I don't use most of the widgets (I use Fancy Widget instead of the weather clock), though I do really like the people/contact widgets.
Sense 3.0 is way too bloated. HTC needs to take lessons from Samsung (YES, SAMSUNG) and dial it back about 10 notches.
Sense is awesome because:
1. Best phone dialer and contact management
2. Best integration with social networks
3. Best keyboard and amazing auto correction
4. Awesome notification bar with quick access to apps and system settings
5. Best UI for music player with easy streaming to any wireless or Bluetooth capable device
6. Best text selection and copy paste ability. Highlight a word or paragraph in the browser and it will give you a definition, translation, YouTube results, Wikipedia results and more.
7. By far the most useful and integrated widgets of any android UI. Sure there are replacements in the market but they don't work as well as the sense widgets
8. Best gallery app that let's you wirelessly print your pictures to your printer. Also let's you edit your pictures and add effects and it has auto enhance feature that works really well.
9. Awesome browser with great rss integration
10. It's pretty
Sent from my PG86100 using XDA Premium App
So I'm curious about looks vs. functionality
Each one of my little drawings here satisfy both.
First off, I apologize for being a retard and using cam scanner to make these images sideways (although they were right side up originally).
Seeing as I can't attach images directly from my phone onto this site, I had to email them to myself, download them and then re attach.
Also another retard thing, I made a home button (app) thing on both of them even though there is a physical one on the phone itself.
Have a look
Also clarify with me which is which (theme or ROM).
How hard is it to design/engineer this and actually have everything function properly?
Theme/ROM 1
Them/ROM
it looks like you want to pull the whole status bar to the bottom of your phone. i didnt think you could just move that stuff around. a Dev would would be able to give u a yes or no.
im leaning more towards a theme than a Rom. but you can only theme what the Rom has. and NO rom has that, that i know of. so its like a combination of both.
Those drawings appear to be a significant layout overhaul, a la Sense and Touchwiz
It would either be:
1) a full-blown ROM
2) A replacement for a number of system apps (but could be an add-on), at the very least the launcher and probably the lockscreen
More than just basic theming, that's for sure.
Well it certainly gives the phone a neater, "in my opinion more efficient" functionality.
The one with the radial app dial, that spins, (you guys probably could tell that already) can fit either 7 or 8 apps.
When you press the home button the phone app automatically aligns directly above the said home button (non physical assuming there are 7 apps not 8).
The apps that go on the radial thing-a-ma-jig are your primary apps.
However since that non-physical home button is not needed, then the phone would be in the center or perhaps you'd like the browser.
In any case whichever app you use most extensively (ie #1).
I certainly cannot do any of the ROM creating but I was hoping to spark interest with the ones who are able to do so with ease.
The one with the triangle side bars (next image) these have 1-3 icons on them, when you tap that icon the first time a box will come up over lapping everything else in the background (or with slight opacity) and that gives you more detail rather than just an icon.
I think it would be neat as hell if this was done.
So is it like, theme = aesthetics ; rom = function
In this case I'd like to do both.
Also the capability to assign any app in that 7-8 slot (radial) would also be nice.
Perhaps done through the command prompt.
This is a feature I picked up from a blackberry (ability to assign any icon to a specific design/theme).
Thanks for the interest, I'm going to try and fix the orientation.
Some of what you're looking to do (the home-dial concept) may be doable without any ROM development at all - after all, plenty of launchers are installable as apps and what you're describing there is a launcher concept.
Notification bar moving could be a lot harder though.
FYI I'm a kernel guy not an app developer, so I can't help you much other than say that I'm fairly certain one of the features you want to implement can be done as a launcher app for any ROM.
Alright alright, we're sifting through sonething here.
I have very little knowledge od 'kernel' 'launchable' 'rom' as far as developing them goes. Are there tutorials ? (search bar probably)
Thanks for your contributions
What about color (borders keys etc)
Nice drawings man
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using xda premium
Hey thanks DevilDogAK
It's one thing to draw the idea by hand but to actually create it with code...
That's where the tires hit the road one might say.
I need to do some reading to get an idea of what I have to accomplish.
Thanks for the interest, as always it starts with a dream
I'll let you guys know whats up when I actually get to the point of dev
But team work goes a long way (hint hint hint)
sweet... great concept imo, & hey, cyanogen started with just a concept. wish i knew more to help you out, but we're with you in spirit nice drawings too lol
from Sams inFuse... inFused GB
About the launcher comment, does having two mean more computing power needed to run the first and second launcher or can I just do one primary launcher?
If I can just move things around, what about putting some notification components under the wheel? Components such as the wifi toggle and the data image or perhaps the data and battery.
Anyone smart enough to do that probably isn't dicking around on XDA. You never know though.
Well... I'm here
Haha just kidding, I do wish somebody with some experience knowledge (ie developer of Serendipity etc... ) a man can dream... a man can dream.