Database Info

Where do these builds come from?

Im slightly confused where they come from? could anyone clear this up for me?

Are you asking where the original Operating System came from?
If so, it's from Microsoft, who provides it to HTC for their devices, who in turn provides it to their customers - usually cellular service providers, who in turn "taylor" it to their requirements for their version of HTC phones - note that sometimes HTC will do the "tayloring" for the cellular service provider device.
Your sig indicates that you're running an ENERGY ROM ... fine ROM. The creator of that ROM will typically take a "stock" ROM image and improve upon it. Some improvements typically include removing resource intensive applications that a cellular service provider placed on the device, adding more recent versions of an application, addressing deficiencies that HTC and/or the cellular provider could not address for various reasons (release date, R&D cost, etc.)
If you're looking for more specifics, post your question in the ROM thread specific to the ROM you are using; a fellow XDA member may be able to further provide insight
HTH,

7boo said:
Im slightly confused where they come from? could anyone clear this up for me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Going along with your avatar, I think basically some spook from htc or att or wherever just uploads the newer builds on 4shared or a similar site, then leaks out the link to his/her connections.

What new devices are coming to Verizon?

While I know that Verizon come out and blatantly said they don't care about bleeding edge devices. Their focus is strictly network performance however I was wondering what new devices if any are coming down the road for Verizon.
Thanks
Focused...

Google!
http://solsie.com/2008/06/verizon-upcoming-device-line-up/
http://solsie.com/2009/08/verizon-wireless-upcoming-devices/

Thank you ... I did a search but came up with nothing. Perhaps I didn't know proper phrasing...

the TP2 just was released by verizon...see the rhodium section for info & details on it!

Kies Software

Hi, does anyone know a link or where to download the Kies software? I've tried the US, UK and Australian Samsung Support pages download links and the link is dead and has been for the last 2 days. Samsung support was totally clueless and could not give me a direct link when I tried them. I'm thinking that maybe it's possible to just torrent it if I could find it, but I was hoping maybe someone here would know. My experience with Samsung so far is not getting off to a very good start.

even google can find it with ease... but i'm on a good mood... sooo here... a spoonful of samsung kies.... one of the lamest program i have ever use... hehehe....
http://www.samsung.com/my/support/usefulsoftware/KIES/JSP

Thanks, I had googled it, but it kept bringing up old versions of the program. Little did I know (I should have been able to figure it out) that when one downloads the old version it auto-updates to the newest version. That being said, I thought iTUnes was bloated and slow, yet compared to Kies it's great. It's also insane that a company the size of Samsung can't keep links up to date and working on a program that their literature tells you to download. It's this type of ineptitude compared to the generally easy Apple experience that has relegated Android tablets to being used only by uber geeks for the most part. Heck, all Amazon had to do with the Fire was make it somewhat user friendly and it outsold all other Android tablets combined in one quarter.

[US VARIANTS] Need Opinions on a Web Page

Hi everyone,
I maintain a firmware archive for all Nexus and "Google Experience" devices from the OG Droid up through present day. Now that I'm a GS4 owner, I've decided to start archiving Galaxy S4 firmware for US variants on my site as well. As I'm not as familiar with Samsung naming conventions and terminology as I am with Google ROMs, I was hoping some of you Samsung software junkies out there could take a look at my pages to make sure I'm using all my terminology correctly.
Here is a sample Nexus firmware page: http://www.randomphantasmagoria.com/firmware/nexus-7.
Here is my new Galaxy S4 page: http://www.randomphantasmagoria.com/firmware/galaxy-s4.
Make sure to click through to the detail pages.
My rule for the firmware archives are that I do not deal with unofficial stuff whatsoever. I don't do leaked ROMs or anything of the like. I only archive whatever was officially released to the general public, both shipping on new devices and OTA updates. The idea is to be able to follow the strict official release chain from launch to end-of-life. Also, all firmware is indexed on the site by the official firmware name in build.prop.
As you can see, right now I only have a page up for the AT&T I337 variant (the one I own). Right now, I'm displaying the Android version, build, PDA, CSC, links to the ODIN packages and links to the OTA updates if available. Are there any other pieces of info you think I should show on those detail pages? Also, I'm showing the OTA updates as "<new> from <old>" which is how Google names its OTA files. I know that Samsung sometimes does "<old> to <new>" (especially in the yakju(xx) OTA files for the Galaxy Nexus). Which one do you guys think I should go with?
Any feedback you guys could provide would be greatly appreciated. Once I've settled on a final layout, I'll create pages for Sprint, Verizon, T-Mobile, and US Cellular. I'll also add pages for Cricket and C Spire when those devices actually launch. Why am I only doing US devices? Because there are a lot of international device variants and each one of them can have a ton of different firmware variants depending on the country in which it was purchased. It's way too much for one man to manage. Managing 7 US variants will be enough work as it is. haha
So anyway, click around and please provide feedback.
Thank you!

Which Vendors Reliably Issue Firmware Updates

I'm shopping for a device to do App development on. It doesn't matter whether it's a phone or a tablet. But I do care about getting new firmware updates within a reasonable time after Google issues a new version.
I expect most vendors only support the latest firmware in totally new models. What I want is to load firmware on an old device, rather than having to purchase a new device.

Perhaps the parent comment should have been in the device suggestion thread. Please forgive my noobness.