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[Q] For pity's sake, all I want is Android

Yes, I am a complete noob. With a new HTC Sensation my very first contact with Android, a couple of days ago. And bloodshot eyes from hours and hours and hours and hours of reading through endless conversations about custom ROMS and S-OFF flags and temporary roots and so on, all of which has taught me that I can permanently root my phone with "Revolutionary" if I want to, but which still hasn't told me whether this would achieve anything beyond voiding my warranty.
All I want to do is get rid of HTC's "Sense". I just want plain, ordinary, vanilla Android on my phone. In my ignorance I thought this would be easy once the phone was rooted; but the more I've read about the procedures involved in rooting this thing, the more concerned I've become that I can't see any evidence of a follow-up procedure for wiping HTC's modifications and installing a "clean" Android. This "CyanogenMod" ROM so many of you seem to be waiting for doesn't look like stock Android to me: it looks like another bunch of modifications to replace HTC's. Am I missing something here? Is vanilla Android achievable via root simply by uninstalling "Sense"? From what I've read it looks more like I need to install Gingerbread from scratch, but if this is so, where is it?!
I loathe unnecessary bloatware (and run Slackware largely for that reason), but at least HTC's "Sense" seems polished and relatively bug-free. I don't particularly like it, but it works. If rooting my phone is only going to enable me to replace it with someone else's buggier and less polished bloatware, I'm not sure that it's worth it. After all these hours I think I've finally compiled a list of steps that will, if I follow them, leave me with a rooted HTC Sensation. Is there, somewhere, a guide to installing plain vanilla Android once this has been done? If not, is there any good reason why I shouldn't just learn to love "Sense" and keep my warranty intact?

Cyanogen mod is basically stock android with more features such as the cpu over clocking, different lock screen styles, adw launcher, etc. If you want the aosp launcher then you can download go launcher and turn on the 3d app drawer or get the gb luancher. If your looking for a bone stock gingerbread rom I don't know if that exists outside of the nexus forums, but Cyanogen is better then bone stock aosp anyways.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G

CM7 is close to AOSP but your right it has some added features, NOTHING like sense though basically its AOSP with a few added features like theme chooser lock screen button music control (when your phone is screen off with music playing you can change the track by holding volume up, pause with camera button) CM7 is basically AOSP a side from those types of mods. As of right now there is no offical "vinilla" android roms for the sensation.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1098849
This rom has a "sense-less" version but it is still a "sense" ROM and kernal just with the sense bloat ripped out and replaced with Gingerbread 3D launcher.
Basically you have to be patient CM7 is coming shortly and I am sure once it lands people will strip it of the CM7 goodies and make a vinilla ROM out of it. As for rooting its what gives you the ability to flash different ROMS and remove sense and bloat ect. So you must root to do anything you want to do. The rooting procedure for the Sensation is MUCH easier then root for the G2/MyTouch 4G aside from entering a Beta key and flashing SU after Revolutionary does its deal its basically a one click precuder. Where as with the MyTouch it was a lot of code entering in Terminal and stuff it sucked!
The long short of it is ROOT, WAIT, FLASH (AOSP OR CM7) ENJOY! Waiting though is the ulimate KEY!

If you can't wait for a little while, download ADW launcher from the market. It will give you a stock feel over Sense. It won't replace it, but it will make you feel better for the time being.
Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using XDA App

New to Sensation HELP!

Hi guys,
going to get a HTC Sensation today, played with it in a store and its basic functions appeal to me more than Galaxy S2.
Ok the S2 had that extra bit of "snappiness" about, the Sensation felt heavier both in physical weight and response
Anyway, couple of questions:
- can i remove any of the 7 homescreens?
- any guaranteed way to increase the snappiness/response on stock ROM?
- can i remove any apps i don't need (used system app remover on my old SGS1)?
THanks!

1. No. You can use a different launcher
2. Yes, custom ROMs and/or overclock
3. Yes, but you need root
¤Violets are red,
Roses are blue,
Wait, what?¤

In short: yes to all of the above.
You would mainly resort to install custom ROMs.
The first ROM I tried was Senseless 2.5 and the phone visibly flies. YMMV. Feel free to browse around!
Even if you don't want custom ROMs, you can still just root and remove the apps yourself (read a bit before removing apps that may break Sense)
edit: Sorry, misread the first question. As idavid_ said, to edit the homescreens just use a different launcher. If you want it to be fast and customizable, try ADW.Launcher

thanks for the replies!
senseless certainly seems quick probably because it doesn't have....sense?
but sense 3.0 is one of the main reasons i got the HTC and i would like to keep and use it...i'm not a fan of quadrant benchmarks and dont really care about numbers but if i can make the phone a bit quicker what ROM do you recommend?
i usually look first at the ROMs that have most replies/views and that seems to be Revolution HD...which theoretically means it has the largest user base right?
last but not least i'm waiting for it to charge above 35% so i can install the 2.3.4 OTA update...maybe that's a bit snappier than 2.3.3 it came with...
oh couple of things:
-can i just update weather without having to use location services all the time?
-the HTC unlock site seems to list the Sensation as supported for bootloader unlock...should i do it? would this make rooting & installing custom ROMs easier?
- does any of the custom ROMs include the new "enhanced" camera apk&profiles that allow up to 40mbps bitrates?

zerozoneice said:
thanks for the replies!
senseless certainly seems quick probably because it doesn't have....sense?
but sense 3.0 is one of the main reasons i got the HTC and i would like to keep and use it...i'm not a fan of quadrant benchmarks and dont really care about numbers but if i can make the phone a bit quicker what ROM do you recommend?
i usually look first at the ROMs that have most replies/views and that seems to be Revolution HD...which theoretically means it has the largest user base right?
last but not least i'm waiting for it to charge above 35% so i can install the 2.3.4 OTA update...maybe that's a bit snappier than 2.3.3 it came with...
oh couple of things:
-can i just update weather without having to use location services all the time?
-the HTC unlock site seems to list the Sensation as supported for bootloader unlock...should i do it? would this make rooting & installing custom ROMs easier?
- does any of the custom ROMs include the new "enhanced" camera apk&profiles that allow up to 40mbps bitrates?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2.3.4 update is definitely faster than 2.3.3, so do it.
And answers:
1. Unless your city is on the list, then no
2. You have to unlock the bootloader if you want custom ROM. However, do it with Revolutionary (revolutionary.io). That way HTC won't know that you unlocked it and won't void warranty because you can reverse it (read the sticky in development)
3. Not sure about that, but you can get it in any ROM if you install/flash it
¤Violets are red,
Roses are blue,
Wait, what?
I have no idea what I'm saying,
But you lost the game¤

thanks man, will try more tomorrow!
got the 2.3.4 OTA, it feels a bit faster already...
also screenshot function now seems to work, it didn't before in 2.3.3
one thing i noticed after using it for couple of hours: it will really warm my pockets in winter!!!!
let's see how the battery is doing after a couple of charges....by the way, is a factory reset needed after installing 2.3.4 OTA?

[Q] Why did you install a custom ROM on your phone?

I'm curious to know why people actually spend the time on their phones and risk bricking and voiding the warranty on their phone to install the latest stable or beta ROM for their device. Is it because the stock ROM doesn't let you do your daily tasks? Or is it slow? Or is it buggy in some way?
For example, I have a HTC Desire. The reason why I installed custom roms was that I bought it second-hand with Oxygen (gingerbread 2.3.4) already pre-installed. It had some bugs as it was a beta version, but overall it was pretty good.
I then found Cyanogenmod 7.1, where I was able to get around the major issue of apps filling the tiny internal memory using scripts to put entire apps on the SD card. I was stoked, and it ran really well with no major issues. It felt like a new phone.
However, I just got my dad a HTC Desire HD, and it has the stock Sense 3.0 on there (Gingerbread 2.3.5). I was going to install Cyanogenmod, but now I'm wondering if it's truly worth the effort for a basic user.
So why do YOU install a custom ROM?

I install custom ROM's, Radios, Kernals, etc for one simple reason......
every Android phone that I have ever had the pleasure of tinkering with, works better when rooted and ROMmed. It truly gives you the customization that makes you feel like the phone belongs to and was built for YOU!!!

I have ics on all my phones
Sent from my HTC Vision using xda premium

Simply to remove all the bloatware and removing sense. I love the pure android ICS experience. Also my phone flys faster without sense
Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using XDA

johnnyb15613 said:
I install custom ROM's, Radios, Kernals, etc for one simple reason......
every Android phone that I have ever had the pleasure of tinkering with, works better when rooted and ROMmed. It truly gives you the customization that makes you feel like the phone belongs to and was built for YOU!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you know for sure? I'm the same, I just flash it without thinking, like I did with my new Samsung Galaxy S2 just a few days ago (ICS, woo!). I was just about the flash this HTC Desire HD and I thought hey... who knows, maybe stock ROMs are pretty good? Or are they generally rubbish?

Well, my D1 ran stock for two months before it got pimped, so I gave it a very thorough chance! My wifes Eris ran stock for four months until she was ready to throw it off a wall, so it got its fair chance too! Then she moved to a D2G, which ran exceptionally well out of the box, I was kind of upset that she didnt like her experience. It did however, run a lot smoother once root and Liberty was added! And now for our GNex's........I ran stock ICS for two weeks and I must truly say, this device doesn't need root or anything else to kick ass, it just does! However, the developer support is just too incredible, and when you add ICSourcery to a GNex, you'll know why it must be rooted and running that ROM!!!

To get rid of crap I didn't need.
$1 gets you a reply

well i have a GN, so bricking or wrecking it is low on the list, its so easy to root, unlock, flash. I love stock ICS, but I do like the extra features I get with CM9.

AOKP on my transformer prime? Dem features.
Sent from my tf9001 with XDA XD.

The main reason I rooted my phone and through a rom in there is to get the portable wifi for my tablet.

Reason: to learn more about Android phones, and to get rid of bloatware.

make my defy better than 2.1
make my defy fast and have the new software as moto wont do this for us!
still no full hwa but still better than stuck with 2.1
oh and get rid of 2.1 motoblur.... it was crap. the new one rocks but i cant put it on the defy.
BUT if i had an htc or just a sgs2 ics or other ultra super powered phone i would just root change launcher and stay stock!(unless cm9 it waay better like it is now)
in short i want minimalistic beautifull smooth android experience! most importantly fast!(iphone is smooth,not always, but sloooow)
defy running ics latest cm9

because roms are a whole world, it's not just performance or bugs, is the option to change to customize toggles, positions, color, overclock and every little part of you phone...
for example, the resurrection remix or any AOKP let you put calendar events on lockscreen, show wheather in a special panel in the statusbar, hide your battery icon and put a line to measure it, you can even put a navigation bar like nexus
... it's not just cool and waaaaaaay better than stock rom, it is although handy

To get rid of the bloat-ware on the stock firmware!

There is tons of reason to update to a custom ROM. The big deal for me was getting rid of the bloat, also having more features with CM7.

So I could have stock aosp OR sense 3.5. I like both, especially on the thunderbolt (similar to the HD) nothing seems to slow these phones down.
Sent from my ADR6400L

There are many reasons. For example, the phone looks, feels and works like i want.
And one more reason is, that the original software is not so perfect as the most users want.

Overflowing options. Change everything down to the boot image.And speed,and BATTERY TWEAKS!!!!
Sent from my $99 phone using Gingerbread 2.3.7 cause it's root

The reason why i'm using a custom rom is the phones OS feel more smooth and stable and all the bloatware from HTC,Samsung etc. were removed so the performance is much better

Please use the Q&A Forum for questions &
Read the Forum Rules Ref Posting
Moving to Q&A

New to HTC One X Android platform, former iphone user

Hey guys i decided to switch to the HTC One X after having an iPhone for about 4 years! and man i absolutely love it, theres so much to do with it its almost over whelming. Im here asking any good tips and tricks about android and the one x itself i could expand knowledge about. what awesome apps are there i should download and tweaks to make on my phone, thanks much appreciated!

These 2 threads would be a good start if you want the full potential out of the phone.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1644167
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1672284

What is exactly do those mean to be rooted and what can I do
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

I don't want this to come off harsh but try this.
http://bit.ly/IHZCgj
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

Reply
I just made the switch from an iPhone too a couple weeks ago. Took about a couple days to get used to the HTC One X, but it definitely is a great example of a top of the line Android Phone.
Just to help you along, ROOTING is like jailbreaking the Android so you can install custom ROMS on it. So instead of installing all the cydia packages (I'm hoping that you actually jailbroke your iphone before), you can install entirely new modified versions of the OS that may usually make the phone better than the stock OS that HTC provided.
The forum section under ATT HTC ONE X ANDROID DEVELOPMENT is probably going to be your best bet. I can't post link right now, but look at the HTC ONE X Resource Compilation rollup at the top, really helpful. You should also look up a couple of the One-click root guides to root your phone, then install a recovery mod. The recovery mod allows you to BACKUP your ENTIRE phone, which is actually really useful, so as long as you can access the recovery mode, you can restore any mistakes you made on your phone, or if you want to try out new ROMS without losing your original system.
Hopefully that'll get you started in the right direction.

You'll love aokp instead of sense, I personally loved sense because I had never tried vanilla android but you can't go back after removing sense. After rooting and unlocking, aokp is the way to go.

wongSlam said:
Just to help you along, ROOTING is like jailbreaking the Android so you can install custom ROMS on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not exactly. Rooting just gives you access permissions to the otherwise protected system files. You need root and bootloader unlock in order to flash custom ROMs. With root alone, you can do some mods and use some apps that require root, but not flash ROMs.

phatedd said:
Hey guys i decided to switch to the HTC One X after having an iPhone for about 4 years! and man i absolutely love it, theres so much to do with it its almost over whelming. Im here asking any good tips and tricks about android and the one x itself i could expand knowledge about. what awesome apps are there i should download and tweaks to make on my phone, thanks much appreciated!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you jailbroken on your iPhone(s)? If so, you find things pretty easy to pick up. If not, take it slow. This is a dev site with access to some tools that can screw up your phone if you're not careful. If all you want are market apps and tweaks, this is not the place for you.
If you're looking to make significant changes in your phone's software, you should start by doing a lot of reading in the development thread. There are also plenty of "What is Rooting and What Can I Do With It" blog posts out there in Google-land.
One thing I can tell you as an experienced iOS jailbreaker, jailbreaking and rooting/unlocking share some elements but there are also some important diferences. With jailbreaking, you do it once and then you're good until Apple releases a new update to iOS. Modding/tweaking is generally just a matter of downloading stuff from Cydia. It's definitely a lot more idiot-proof than the Android environment.
Modding an Android phone can involve making some much deeper changes in the software than is typically possible with jailbroken iOS (unless you're a dev). There is really no iOS analog to custom ROMs on Android. These phones are tough to hard brick, but you can easily render your phone inoperative without some heavy help to fix it.
Bottom line: read up before you start doing anything, don't make any changes unless you understand what you're changing, and don't do anything you don't know how to undo.

redpoint73 said:
Not exactly. Rooting just gives you access permissions to the otherwise protected system files. You need root and bootloader unlock in order to flash custom ROMs. With root alone, you can do some mods and use some apps that require root, but not flash ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ah thanks for the correction! I did both at the same time so it just logged into my brain as rooting. While we're talking about switching from iPhones, I read that several android apps have the same functionality as BiteSMS. I loved the ability to send texts from your lockscreen, is there a specific messaging app that allows you to do that on an Android? GoSMS or Chomp or something?

atticusmas said:
You'll love aokp instead of sense, I personally loved sense because I had never tried vanilla android but you can't go back after removing sense. After rooting and unlocking, aokp is the way to go.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AOKP is the way to go if you want to experience stock Android, but for your phone to remain fully functional stick to a Sense based ROM like CleanROM 4.1 SE.
AOKP still has the silly multitouch bug so games will suck and its using the terrible AOSP camera because the Sense camera wont ever work in AOKP without the proper sense frameworks and ImageSense drivers.
If you don't play games and dont care about the camera, then AOKP is a great alternative to Sense.
---------- Post added at 03:30 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:29 PM ----------
redpoint73 said:
Not exactly. Rooting just gives you access permissions to the otherwise protected system files. You need root and bootloader unlock in order to flash custom ROMs. With root alone, you can do some mods and use some apps that require root, but not flash ROMs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In addition to the Rooting & Bootloader unlock you should also flash a custom recovery package like TWRP to handle all the modding you're bound to do now.

which ones are the root advantages on pixel 2?.

Hey guys.
I have my pixel 2 for 2 months now, came from a Samsung galaxy S8. My whole life I used Samsung since the S2 and I always had the need to root it for cleaner roms, faster kernels and such. This one is the first phone that I don't even feel the need to do root, however I see a lot of people rooting it so I'm wondering which are the advantages? Because there's almost no custom roms for it and custom kernels. I don't think people would root their phones only because of few apps that would work better with root for some more features.
So my question is... There's noticable advantage to root the pixel 2 ? Like on Samsung for faster ROMs, better battery life and performance and so on?
Thanks for your feedback.

Personally, I rooted my Pixel 2 for using Flash kernel and AdAway. If I wasn't so picky about ad blocking, I would not have rooted.
I find that it's a damn good phone and unless you have a very specific need for root, I don't think it's worth it.

It's not for a "few apps that would work better with root for some more features", it's for some apps that can't doi their job at all without root. (And for some of us, coming from Unix/Linux, running Linux [which is the OS that Android runs on] without su is like rowing with one oar. It's just not right.)
Even if I didn't have any apps installed that needed root, the phone still has the ability to elevate the user just in case I need it. (And things like pulling your contacts off the database file they're on, or saving the data of some app that's stored in /data/data/<somewhere> [or recovering a deleted file] are just "go do it", not "you can't get there from here".)

Ad blocking, changing the squeeze actions, change emojis to look normal, and viper 4 Android audio tweaks