Customization of FF OS - Firefox OS General

Is there going to be some 3rd party developers working on the OS to produce custom ROMs, kernels and things like that? Only thing holding me back is the lack of customization in the OS, I thought that it would have a lot more by default. I know that the OS can't do much on the specs its running like widgets and stuff. But the main features I want are things like overclocking, including the GPU possibly. I just want the customization that is available in even the standard android, ability to disable and uninstall built in apps amongst other things.
So if there are developers that are going to be working on stuff like this for Firefox OS, please post here so I know whether or not its worth getting a ZTE One.

I purchased the ZTE Open, and was one of the first few to purchase. Ill be looking into custom builds when it arrives and seeing what we can do with the source. I am sure others will be looking at doing the same as well. Lets hope we can get a forum open for the device if enough people ask for it.

I almost ordered it a couple of hours ago from the eBay store, but after playing around with the stock Firefox OS emulator, its not enough for me to warrant it, even with the ridiculously low price. And my original aim of getting the device was to be able to truly open up a phones software without worrying about breaking my expensive device. Lets hope there are a lot more people who want some stuff for this phone.
Also the Alcatel firefox phone has pretty much identical internals so any kind of ROMs or kernels can be ported with little work.

I plan to use the phone as a temp waiting for a new device to be released on T-mobile, preferable a newer Nexus phone. Would have gotten a N4, but I figured a refresh will be coming around shortly. So this gives me some time to mess around with Mozilla's offerings for a while and get a taste. If it messes up, I can fall back to my S3.

Cool, I'll still be using my Lumia 920 as my main phone but this will be kept as a backup, and I will hopefully be upgrading as well, probably to one of the new phablets being released this year

Related

General rant

I'm an intermediate (Windows) PC user and slightly more technically inclined than most of my friends and family. I bought the Dream because of it's tight integration with GMail and the promise of untold useful apps. I have some awesome apps such as 4 Timers, My Tracks, Wireless Tether, which are useful in my everyday life, and they were all free (although I donate to developers when i think its justified).
My Dream is a vastly better phone in many ways than my last (Nokia N85) and at first I enjoyed flashing new roms and the ability to change my phone in different ways.
I'm currently running Cyanogen 4.0.2 which is a great rom, but to get the most out of it and actually have a sweet running phone it seems almost required to keep up with the changes on the Dream Dev forum, read hundreds of posts, learn how to install scripts and tweek settings, add ext partitions on your sdcard for swap files, know what compcache is, etc etc.
I realise that the devs are doing everything they can to give us the best performance from our phones, and i am very grateful and applaud it. I just wish it was a little easier to keep my phone being the best it can be.
What I am really getting at is that the Dream has its obvious hardware limitations (lack of RAM and rubbish battery life being the most obvious) and I'm kind of getting to the point where I want a new phone that doesn't require so much work.
None of the recent Android phones that I have heard about offer a full 5 row qwerty keyboard. That's what i want, along with perhaps a flash on the camera and a battery that lasts a couple of days with moderate use.
I will not jump ship and go elsewhere, as I love Android, but i think a manufacturer would clean up if they released a phone with the above specs and perhaps 512mb RAM - I know i would buy it in a second, and at any price within reason.
Anyone else feel this way?
setspeed said:
I'm an intermediate (Windows) PC user and slightly more technically inclined than most of my friends and family. I bought the Dream because of it's tight integration with GMail and the promise of untold useful apps. I have some awesome apps such as 4 Timers, My Tracks, Wireless Tether, which are useful in my everyday life, and they were all free (although I donate to developers when i think its justified).
My Dream is a vastly better phone in many ways than my last (Nokia N85) and at first I enjoyed flashing new roms and the ability to change my phone in different ways.
I'm currently running Cyanogen 4.0.2 which is a great rom, but to get the most out of it and actually have a sweet running phone it seems almost required to keep up with the changes on the Dream Dev forum, read hundreds of posts, learn how to install scripts and tweek settings, add ext partitions on your sdcard for swap files, know what compcache is, etc etc.
I realise that the devs are doing everything they can to give us the best performance from our phones, and i am very grateful and applaud it. I just wish it was a little easier to keep my phone being the best it can be.
What I am really getting at is that the Dream has its obvious hardware limitations (lack of RAM and rubbish battery life being the most obvious) and I'm kind of getting to the point where I want a new phone that doesn't require so much work.
None of the recent Android phones that I have heard about offer a full 5 row qwerty keyboard. That's what i want, along with perhaps a flash on the camera and a battery that lasts a couple of days with moderate use.
I will not jump ship and go elsewhere, as I love Android, but i think a manufacturer would clean up if they released a phone with the above specs and perhaps 512mb RAM - I know i would buy it in a second, and at any price within reason.
Anyone else feel this way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can always just load a rom that is stable and one you like and leave it. Your not forced to always update. If you always want the newest and greatest then you have to update, we all knew that when we started doing this.
The unfortunate thing is that ALL roms i've tried have problems with them - things that dont work, bugs introduced when things are changed. And the devs fix some of the probs in the next release, but then new bugs become apparent.
I know this is the nature of development, and I understand this is only way devs can work to push things forward. But it means living with bugs or upgrading the rom to the next version.
I've not found a rom that has the stabililty/simplicity i really want to just use the phone, and not have to mess around with it all the time, or get annoyed because it wont keep programs like the browser running when you change to do something else, or put up with not being able to rely on the phone for its core function of making and receiving calls and lagging left right & centre.
I think that Android's true requirements are beyond the Dream's hardware - and much as devs try, they will never get past that fact, they will just find progressively better workarounds which "sort of" do the job.
If I were you I would go with an older build instead of a newer one that still has bugs. I'm still on Cyanogens 3.9.5 and have no problems with it at all, no bugs or nothing and happy with it. There is also old dude's builds that I use to be on a long time ago that was stable with no bugs also. But of course since those are older builds it might be hard to find, but if your wanting to take a step back and go to something stable and no bugs let me know I still got all roms on my pc at home.
I am running cyan 4.02 and have no problems whatsoever from it, you really don't have to stay on top off it at all times since you are more technical than most as you say, you can turn around and read the first post and the change log and have a good idea of what is going on. You might have a problem with the costant devolpment but I find it great that people are taking the time to get the android platform better than it was in the beginning, don't be suprised if people from google are on here taking ideas and hard work to make the general source better. The better android gets will only get better with more devolpment, remember the magic and hero just came out still basiclly running the same base as we are. Oh and some of us just got into new contracts and just got their phones and don't want to run out and buy a new phone just cause it has better specs, I want my phone to live up to it's upmost performance possibe by these work arounds so that the next android phone that I get will be 100 times better and more efficent on that hardware
supremeteam:
I think you're right - I've just restored my cyanogen 3.6.5 backup and I forgot how decent it is, using swapper it does respond quite well. To be fair, the only reason i upgraded past 3.6.5 was because I was always having a problem with the HTC_IME - it would never stay on "phone keypad" rather than "qwerty", and it also interfered with my physical keyboard by turning on the "enable prediction for qwerty keyboard" option. Other than that I never had any problems with it. This problem is a BIG annoyance though...
Oh - and the fact that the phone rings (silently) about 3 times before anything is shown on the screen or a ringtone is heard. Forgot about that one...
Also, I'd just like to add that I am in no way bashing cyanogen - i have found his roms to be the best/fastest/most stable out all i have tried, hence why i am using them. I have used a few other roms that were just a joke, with force closes all over the place, and much more serious bugs/errors than i have mentioned here.
Overall, for me, i think cyanogen is the best dev out there, consistently pushing the boundaries of performance, and regularly updating his rom. That much is obvious from the popularity of his roms' threads.
update withdraw
I agree with you that cyanogen is a great devolper but so are jac and drizzy and those other guys that are putting a ton of work into hero, maybe soon we will have a good working rosie but in the mean time I could rant how those are buggy and lag a lot, but even with a cupcake rom you have to break a few eggs to make an olmet and that are the bugs that we are gonna have to live with, truthfully I am addicted like a drug addict to all the constant update from cyan to see what is next to come, just the fact the I have been on 4.02 for a couple days is making me go through update withdraw, I flash a hero rom just for the hell of it just to see the progress, it was on my phone for maybe a whole 10 minutes before I booted my nandroid backup of 4.02
gridlock32404 said:
I am running cyan 4.02 and have no problems whatsoever from it, you really don't have to stay on top off it at all times since you are more technical than most as you say, you can turn around and read the first post and the change log and have a good idea of what is going on. You might have a problem with the costant devolpment but I find it great that people are taking the time to get the android platform better than it was in the beginning, don't be suprised if people from google are on here taking ideas and hard work to make the general source better. The better android gets will only get better with more devolpment, remember the magic and hero just came out still basiclly running the same base as we are. Oh and some of us just got into new contracts and just got their phones and don't want to run out and buy a new phone just cause it has better specs, I want my phone to live up to it's upmost performance possibe by these work arounds so that the next android phone that I get will be 100 times better and more efficent on that hardware
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do appreciate what you're saying - that i want to have my cake and eat it! I suppose that's true in some respects. I can honestly say that my Dream is the best phone I've ever had, and the efforts the devs make to push the envelope are just amazing! Their knowledge and skills are something special - and to do it all for the love of it (and of course the respect of the community!) is definitely to be applauded.
I do also hope that google devs do read these forums, and incorporate the work into the official roms! I think they should pay the devs on xda, as they clearly do a lot of work that google ought to have done!
I hope that google does donate to these devs because they have done an amazing job with what they have to work with, I just wish I understood programming better and had the patience for it, I think my phone is better than my computer now, wait anything is better the my computer right now since I burned out my power supply. By far this is the best phone I have ever owned and now I am a android lifer because of the devs. When I first got my phone, it was worthless to me before I rooted it, good thing I found xda back when I had my wing so I knew right where to go and by the end of the first day I had it, it was already rooted
If google pays the devs or give them jobs then we will have to wait long time for our update and cool stuff, they need to just donate lots of money to them so they keep hooking us up first at xda and not the general masses all at once, I don't think they could handle the general awesomeness
setspeed said:
I'm an intermediate (Windows) PC user and slightly more technically inclined than most of my friends and family. I bought the Dream because of it's tight integration with GMail and the promise of untold useful apps. I have some awesome apps such as 4 Timers, My Tracks, Wireless Tether, which are useful in my everyday life, and they were all free (although I donate to developers when i think its justified).
My Dream is a vastly better phone in many ways than my last (Nokia N85) and at first I enjoyed flashing new roms and the ability to change my phone in different ways.
I'm currently running Cyanogen 4.0.2 which is a great rom, but to get the most out of it and actually have a sweet running phone it seems almost required to keep up with the changes on the Dream Dev forum, read hundreds of posts, learn how to install scripts and tweek settings, add ext partitions on your sdcard for swap files, know what compcache is, etc etc.
I realise that the devs are doing everything they can to give us the best performance from our phones, and i am very grateful and applaud it. I just wish it was a little easier to keep my phone being the best it can be.
What I am really getting at is that the Dream has its obvious hardware limitations (lack of RAM and rubbish battery life being the most obvious) and I'm kind of getting to the point where I want a new phone that doesn't require so much work.
None of the recent Android phones that I have heard about offer a full 5 row qwerty keyboard. That's what i want, along with perhaps a flash on the camera and a battery that lasts a couple of days with moderate use.
I will not jump ship and go elsewhere, as I love Android, but i think a manufacturer would clean up if they released a phone with the above specs and perhaps 512mb RAM - I know i would buy it in a second, and at any price within reason.
Anyone else feel this way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its like you read my mind

The state of Android homebrew.

When the G1 came out it was the only Android powered device so modding it worked for everybody. And it was just one brand, HTC, so this forum was a one stop destination for modding our phone.
However, things have changed, now there are multiple phone with incompatible hardware from different manufacturers. Now a custom rom made for the G1, won't work on a DROID for example and vise versa. This complicates things quite a bit.
Right now Cyanogen mods are the best thing for our G1 and maybe the best thing for Android as a whole. I'm used to the build in tether capability and apps to SD and compcace and the other perks of a modded rom. But if I wanted to upgrade my phone, I would lose it all.
There are no Cyanogen mod for anything other than G1 and myTouch phones as far as I know and if I were to upgrade to DROID, I would lose root, lose tether, lose apps to SD, lose everything about my phone that makes it my phone.
Everything I wrote may not be facts, I don't really know what goes on at other forums, but I know that we don't have roms build to run on the DROID and we don't have them built to run on the HERO hardware, it's all for G1 and myTouch, and it seems to me that if I don't ha.ve on of those phones, I lose everything.
I do understand that this forum is for HTC devices which DROID and a few other's are not which is why I don't see homebrew for them. Is there a another website similar to this that supports all Android hardware?
These are thoughts that have been running through my head lately. If I am totally wrong here, please let me know.
I would say check out websites such as androidcommunity.com, androidandme.com, phandroid.com. The developers might not be on there but you can probably find links to where there are custom roms for the phones.
And you are right about different phones having different development oppurtunities. I thought about this today and realized that the next android phone I get not only has to be what I want but also be a popular phone that will attract developers such as cyan, maxisma, jac, manup and everyone else. My best guess and hope is that it will be a snapdragon android handset, hopefully for T-Mobile USA.
What we'll end up having to do is pick our phones based on it's community support and what kind of home brew is available for it.
The reason I love the G1 is the fact that it's rooted and has a large community. This phone is the best on the market, all things considered, because the rooted OS allows so much.
If and when the Droid is rooted, when a GSM version is released, and when it has T-Mo's 3G bands, I will move to it. But all those may not happen for another year or more. If you haven't played with a Droid yet, do so. Incredible speed and the best screen I have ever seen on a phone. Till then, G1 all the way.
The man is right, we have a problem on the dev side.
I think though, once 2.0 gets standard, we'll only need root for a few things like tethering and setting the CPU clock. Really cyanogen's only advantage is optimization, but once 2.0 and snapdragon rolls around, who cares? We'll always want to tinker, but it won't eclipse getting the phone you want.
The big problems right now are that the market isn't getting what it needs. Nothing compares to the HTC widgets, yet instead of cloning them on the market, we try and run a ROM that doesn't even work on our phones! We still don't have BT in Hero and it may just never happen.
2.0 will be what we need as a base, but the market needs our help now.
I'd contest the cyanogen are the best rom's.. maybe for someoen who wants to flash an upgrade every 3 days.. but for the majority of users.. Dwang is the way to go. Lengthy discussion about this, is over here..
alec.baldwin said:
I'd contest the cyanogen are the best rom's.. maybe for someoen who wants to flash an upgrade every 3 days.. but for the majority of users.. Dwang is the way to go. Lengthy discussion about this, is over here..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but this thread is not about who has the best rom.
The point is, when you get a new Android phone, your rom of choice won't be available for it. So what do you do?
alec.baldwin said:
I'd contest the cyanogen are the best rom's.. maybe for someoen who wants to flash an upgrade every 3 days.. but for the majority of users.. Dwang is the way to go. Lengthy discussion about this, is over here..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we all get it already, YOU are dwang's biggest fan
But, to stay on topic. My G1 is the first HTC device I've ever owned and I've only discovered XDA since I've had it, and I think that because of the community involvement here and the custom roms that have come out, I will definitely lean towards another HTC phone when I look for my next upgrade, and it will definately be an android phone.
Also another thing to look at is the availability of the phones that are out to actual dev's. Unless people are donating phones, I doubt everyone can just run out and pick up all the latest devices, and network restrictions/preferences that come along with them.
I think the easiest solution is as follows:
1. Find the dev you like best.
2. Find the phone you like best.
3. Buy phone you like best.
4. Buy/Create a donate link to get said dev the same phone.
Assuming said dev doesnt turn around and craigslist the phone you bought him/her, you have (hopefully) ensured said dev will migrate and develop on your favorite hardware.
Not the best solution but probably the most reliable.
alec.baldwin said:
I'd contest the cyanogen are the best rom's.. maybe for someoen who wants to flash an upgrade every 3 days.. but for the majority of users.. Dwang is the way to go. Lengthy discussion about this, is over here..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seriously dude, are you going to diss me in every thread? What do you even contribute to this community? I've not received any patches or even logs of the "problems" you claim.
cyanogen said:
Seriously dude, are you going to diss me in every thread? What do you even contribute to this community? I've not received any patches or even logs of the "problems" you claim.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For real.
Alec, you're like the little annoying brother that no one wants to be around.
Grow up, let your balls drop, and enjoy your phone, your life, and whatever rom you want.
But, you don't have to go around dissing well-respected devs.
The Droid hasn't been out long enough for a community to gather around it. Many of the Android big names are waiting to get GSM versions before tinkering.
Also, remember that the HTC Dream was in circulation well before it launched last year. The Android development phone is identical to the Dream, with the only difference being some swish art on the back cover. The hardware and software were free-flowing long before it landed in our hands. In contrast, the Droid was a much more secretive launch; we've only just got Eclair source code, and the SDK was kept under wraps by a non-disclosure agreement (probably to conceal the nuclear bomb that is Google Maps Navigation).
I find the cracking of the Droid to be inevitable. The poor thing is going to be broken just as much as our Dreams were. Just give it time.
As for ROMs being available over a span of phones, I'm not sure that's even a good idea. Android variants like XROM, cyanogenmod, The Dude's ROM, yadda yadda... they're all about maximising the capabilities of the Dream. Not the Droid, the Dream. Adding in features that the hardware can support, changing CPU frequencies, Apps2SD, all that jazz. Droid ROMs will be built around adding in core features, like Apps2SD, and whatever else the Droid has tucked away. Likewise, speed optimisations may not be portable between phones, as what gives the Dream a boost may hinder the Droid.
For me, features of a ROM are not the best part of homebrew Android builds. The best part is being able to upgrade your phone outside of the carrier's say-so. If T-mobile have no plans to push Eclair to Dreams, I will install it myself. I am not tied down by the say-so of a room full of suits three thousand miles away. If T-mobile don't include an app that I like, such as the IM app or the Amazon MP3 store (which T-mobile UK don't), I can get ROMs with them myself. If a carrier would rather I didn't tether without paying for my bandwidth twice, I can do it anyway, so long as I'm not an idiot.
You may have guessed that I have a very dim view of cell carriers.
With root, we are free to do as we like. This is the real killer feature of homebrew, and the Droid will benefit from it too.
Anyway...
dwang said:
I want to acknowledge cyanogen, daproy, cyrowski, loccy, and alla for their contributions to the android community.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems dwang himself has a much higher opinion of the man than a certain other someone.
AthlonBoy said:
The Droid hasn't been out long enough for a community to gather around it. Many of the Android big names are waiting to get GSM versions before tinkering.
Also, remember that the HTC Dream was in circulation well before it launched last year. The Android development phone is identical to the Dream, with the only difference being some swish art on the back cover. The hardware and software were free-flowing long before it landed in our hands. In contrast, the Droid was a much more secretive launch; we've only just got Eclair source code, and the SDK was kept under wraps by a non-disclosure agreement (probably to conceal the nuclear bomb that is Google Maps Navigation).
I find the cracking of the Droid to be inevitable. The poor thing is going to be broken just as much as our Dreams were. Just give it time.
As for ROMs being available over a span of phones, I'm not sure that's even a good idea. Android variants like XROM, cyanogenmod, The Dude's ROM, yadda yadda... they're all about maximising the capabilities of the Dream. Not the Droid, the Dream. Adding in features that the hardware can support, changing CPU frequencies, Apps2SD, all that jazz. Droid ROMs will be built around adding in core features, like Apps2SD, and whatever else the Droid has tucked away. Likewise, speed optimisations may not be portable between phones, as what gives the Dream a boost may hinder the Droid.
For me, features of a ROM are not the best part of homebrew Android builds. The best part is being able to upgrade your phone outside of the carrier's say-so. If T-mobile have no plans to push Eclair to Dreams, I will install it myself. I am not tied down by the say-so of a room full of suits three thousand miles away. If T-mobile don't include an app that I like, such as the IM app or the Amazon MP3 store (which T-mobile UK don't), I can get ROMs with them myself. If a carrier would rather I didn't tether without paying for my bandwidth twice, I can do it anyway, so long as I'm not an idiot.
You may have guessed that I have a very dim view of cell carriers.
With root, we are free to do as we like. This is the real killer feature of homebrew, and the Droid will benefit from it too.
Anyway...
It seems dwang himself has a much higher opinion of the man than a certain other someone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You seem to have almost got my point but not quite. Of coarse DOID doesn't need Cyanogen MOD specifically. But would you buy an Android phone if there weren't a mod that lets it do the things that we are used to and have only become available by modding? Apps to SD, tethering, themeing?
Sure DROID might get all these things though a custom rom but we won't see it on this website. The problem is that things will get too spread out and hard to find with all these new hardware options.
What would be nice is a rom that works on nearly every Android device that just adds root access to the phone and some basic universal packages like A2SD and tethering etc. That way you can buy any Android device you want and still have these basic privileges.
Do you think something like that would be possible?
Pinesal said:
You seem to have almost got my point but not quite. Of coarse DOID doesn't need Cyanogen MOD specifically. But would you buy an Android phone if there weren't a mod that lets it do the things that we are used to and have only become available by modding? Apps to SD, tethering, themeing?
Sure DROID might get all these things though a custom rom but we won't see it on this website. The problem is that things will get too spread out and hard to find with all these new hardware options.
What would be nice is a rom that works on nearly every Android device that just adds root access to the phone and some basic universal packages like A2SD and tethering etc. That way you can buy any Android device you want and still have these basic privileges.
Do you think something like that would be possible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Beats me, man. I'm not a developer. But I think it's unlikely.
For the DROID (and other/future android phones) is Apps2SD really necessary? The only reason why we need it on our phones is because of the pathetic amount of internal space the G1 has, the same goes for Swap Partitions etc.
As long as people buy the phone there is always going to be someone who is smart enough to work on rooting it IMO. And even without root what do you really lose? The only things I think I would really miss are Wireless Tether and Bluetooth File Transfer (Which I THINK is in 2.0 anyway).
I'm not buying a new phone until it's rooted and Cyanogen has it too.
My biggest requirement for any android phone..and any cell phone in general is the keyboard. I bought the G1 because of the keyboard and lucked out with the high number of developers available for it. I didn't find this place for several months during the time when the grandfather of the G1 mod program was still active =) JF!. I enjoyed all the modding and updating because I personally feel that the phone is, well mine. And I should be able to do what ever I want with it. I had picked up the V3C Razer because it could play MP3's. I get it home and then discover that the Verizon Nazi's completely locked down that feature so you where forced to use their service at an additional cost. Of course the motorola dev/repair/store software allowed us to get in a enable the various features that Verizon required to be locked. I also love the Aps2sd. No matter what phone you have, the internal memory will never be enough. And with the Cliq supporting 32gig sd cards, a full keyboard, and NOT verizon was enough for me. I'm patient and confident it will be rooted eventually. If not, I still have my G1 and I still do Cyanogen updates and play around with it. And when my contract is up with Tmob(renewed for the Cliq), I'll see who has the next most popular rooted phone with a keyboard and switch over. I just really hate people telling me how to use a device I own. Its like going to McDonalds and having them dictate what condiments to put on my BigMac and Fries, and then telling me I can only eat it a certain way and which hand to use. If Cyanogen was down with the Cliq, or interested in it. I may be willing to ship him my phone to see what he can come up with.
As far as a universal O/S for all phones, isn't that just the core Android software with specific drivers provided by each manufacturer and custom UI? There should be a way to make 1 O/S for all android phones, then have update packs with the drivers and UI enhancements and add-ons for each android phone released? Not sure of the SPL locks though. Thats a bit beyond me. But i wouldn't think it would be to hard to run Cyanogen on the Cliq or droid provided the correct drivers and such where bundled with it. Kind of like slipstreaming a service pack into a bootleg Windows OS . Each phone eventually has to release the source code which contains the drivers for that phone. Thats how we get the Cliq's OS onto the G1, should work the other way around too. Sounds easy, but Cyanogen's Rom should run on my Cliq, provided the drivers are slipstreamed into it for the Cliq...right? Only problem is root.. :/ hehehe
and there he flames again...alec.baldwin, no one has the problems you have with cyanogen's latest. actually, lets delve into this...what exactly are your "problems" with 4.2.5? PLEASE, answer this question so cyanogen can dutifully fix the "problems" you are having.
You might check out some of the Q/A threads to first learn how to properly flash cyanogen's ROM. It is slightly different than Dwang's because Cyanogen uses the legal method. In fact, check out www.cyanogenmod.com and you might find a ton of useful info on getting cm to work on your phone.
Best of Luck,
njuncos
P.S. Cyanogen, mad props on once again reaching over a million thread views on your latest. Now you own 3 of the top 4 most viewed threads of all time in Dream Android Development!

Already thinking of ditching HD2

The hd2 is probably by far one of the most perfect windows mobile phones out there, I've had soo many before it and they were rubbish in terms of performance.
but, the quirkiest problems are really destroying my joy with this phone. I can't seem to get all the apps to work with multiple languages. I can't seem to get a decent battery life when I'm travelling, now I have an extra battery and a heavy Duracell battery pack.
Great camera, yet it's still having the same problems I've had since the beginning of wm phones (slow with low light conditions) and no 720p video recording. There are no decent applications for the life of me. (I've been ruined by that from the iphone)
I hate how WM7 looks, with no skinning allowed, I'm pretty positive I don't want colored boxes to be my home screen. Also the fact that it's receiving less and less support from developers everyday, it simply isn't catching up to anyone anytime soon. (I have the feeling it's going to be delayed, because of the kin disaster)
I'm thinking I'll be selling this phone in approximately 2 months. I'll sell it here if anyone would like it.
Thinking of getting the new Galaxy S series phone, best hardware around with a mature (but not ancient) operating system.
Note: I'm currently in the middle east thats why it seems I've posted this early, it's 3:45pm over here.
ehhhhh,,,, everyone wants something different in a phone. Personally I thought the tmo roms were rubish. I loaded some custom roms and like almost all my problems went away immediately. Not sure about other languages because I'm pretty stupid and can't even speak 1 properly. Support I wouldn't worry about. Yes many people are jumping ship and going to android development but we still have some of the best guys still working with WM. Also a reason we don't have the devs staying with wm is many of the programs are final and work perfect. Why make a 28th wm music player? Android is great and all but I don't see it as great as everyone says. Yes its fast and optimized but its almost a cross between WM and iOS. After every thing I heard about android I was quite surprised when my friends got them and had them locking up and glitching as much if not more then a wimo phone. I almost bought one till my coworker bought an incredible and basically killed his battery in 2 hours listening to pandora, then had to pull the battery after he checked his tweets. I also feel once WP7 comes out it will renew interest in coding for WM. I feel we will see the same stuff we saw in vista and XP where the coders took the best features of Vista and added them to the stable XP OS. I'm hoping we will get the cool WP7 roms and they can whip out the spatula's and blenders and get to work on a frankenstien super os.
The ROMs have saved this phone, but as an Android fanatic, the apps, and ease of discovery/installation of apps has ruined me.
I've got my phone posted and I'm hunting for someone with a Nexus One thats willing to trade with me adding some cash.
I'm not giving this phone away because hardware wise HD2>>>>>>>iphone/nexus one, etc. But if I can't get Android soon I'll be dropping this phone.
But thanks for all the help guys! Its because of this phones quirky issues I discovered this site! lol
4theU said:
The ROMs have saved this phone, but as an Android fanatic, the apps, and ease of discovery/installation of apps has ruined me.
I've got my phone posted and I'm hunting for someone with a Nexus One thats willing to trade with me adding some cash.
I'm not giving this phone away because hardware wise HD2>>>>>>>iphone/nexus one, etc. But if I can't get Android soon I'll be dropping this phone.
But thanks for all the help guys! Its because of this phones quirky issues I discovered this site! lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you know there are android roms out there for the hd2 right? granted, they BARELY WORK, but in a couple of months, we may be looking at a full blown army of HD2's running android
maxpower097 said:
ehhhhh,,,, everyone wants something different in a phone. Support I wouldn't worry about. Yes many people are jumping ship and going to android development but we still have some of the best guys still working with WM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I want a better phone, that's definitely what everybody wants. Not a half-a$$ed phone that goes for the same price as a phone that has god-like script that allows unlimited multitasking with no loss of battery or memory
I feel WMP7 is following the suit of the iphone, having a very limited way to customize, and having people to jailbreak it if they want the full potential of the phone, chasing update after update and looking for compatibility and cracks... that's why i left the iphone... (I had 2g but my family has a 3g and a 3gs)
I feel the android is king right now because it allows enough customization for developers to mess around with, and has great functionality out of the box without having to chase down problems.
Our family consists of 4 HD2s, and 2 iphones. I regret purchasing the hd2s since they have brought me more trouble than ever, my mother asking me about navigation while my brother and father require language packs THAT DOESN'T WORK.
maxpower097 said:
Also a reason we don't have the devs staying with wm is many of the programs are final and work perfect. Why make a 28th wm music player?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, wm6.5 for example, no decent games, no decent applications MADE FOR IT SPECIFICALLY. Before, I thought backwards compatibility is a positive, I'm quickly realizing that it's the worst negative. Companies are getting lazy by creating something thats made for a wm2003 but compatible up to WM 6.5.... how is that even possible? At least upgrade the graphics for newer phones.
HTC is even embarrassed by wm6.5, they skinned everything from top to bottom.
HD2 was dead on arrival in my book, it packs a punch in hardware, yet it will be obsolete within months.
I'm sorry if I sound like I'm trying to burn anyone here, I really appreciate the work everyone has done. I donated money and time testing, commenting and helping.
Metallic-Force said:
I want a better phone, that's definitely what everybody wants. Not a half-a$$ed phone that goes for the same price as a phone that has god-like script that allows unlimited multitasking with no loss of battery or memory
I feel WMP7 is following the suit of the iphone, having a very limited way to customize, and having people to jailbreak it if they want the full potential of the phone, chasing update after update and looking for compatibility and cracks... that's why i left the iphone... (I had 2g but my family has a 3g and a 3gs)
I feel the android is king right now because it allows enough customization for developers to mess around with, and has great functionality out of the box without having to chase down problems.
Our family consists of 4 HD2s, and 2 iphones. I regret purchasing the hd2s since they have brought me more trouble than ever, my mother asking me about navigation while my brother and father require language packs THAT DOESN'T WORK.
Well, wm6.5 for example, no decent games, no decent applications MADE FOR IT SPECIFICALLY. Before, I thought backwards compatibility is a positive, I'm quickly realizing that it's the worst negative. Companies are getting lazy by creating something thats made for a wm2003 but compatible up to WM 6.5.... how is that even possible? At least upgrade the graphics for newer phones.
HTC is even embarrassed by wm6.5, they skinned everything from top to bottom.
HD2 was dead on arrival in my book, it packs a punch in hardware, yet it will be obsolete within months.
I'm sorry if I sound like I'm trying to burn anyone here, I really appreciate the work everyone has done. I donated money and time testing, commenting and helping.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Using custom ROMs, the hd2 is superior to the iphone 3gs or Droid in my experience. i have only used those two other phones to compare.
crisisinthecity said:
Using custom ROMs, the hd2 is superior to the iphone 3gs or Droid in my experience. i have only used those two other phones to compare.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I agree the phone is superior, the apps/ or lack of apps for this phone and its ****ty OS are going to be the death of it.
Even with the custom ROMs, I still have quirks like dropping 3G coverage, text messages coming in out of order, apps crashing, occasional restart (admittedly rare with the custom ROMs)
I have spent HOURS just to get this phone to do what it should do out of the box. And now that its finally working great, I discover it was pretty much in vain because I can't even fill cookie's home tabs with apps that I want and would use.
I think it really just comes down to WM is not as user friendly as Android or iphone. They have basically taken the computer out of the phone and made it super easy for anyone to install anything. I don't know what you guys are talking about with android phones and battery life. All the android phones I've seen running HD2 specs kill the battery in half the time of the HD2. I see it everyday at work when I'm the only one with a phone at the end of the shift. Now about your 3G issues that sounds like your carrier or location issues. I'm rock solid (H) 24/7 365. Take into account how android going to be when they get upwards of 500 phones on the market and glitches and bugs. WM runs on thousands of phones with minimal bugs. Android from what I've seen has about the same amount of bugs but with many fewer phones. iPhones do tend to be less or non glitchy because they only support 4 phones, much like their PC's. I think if you take the time to properly hook your HD2 up and learn a bit more about these new gen phones you'll be happy. You need to search out WM apps, but there are literally tons of them out there to do anything you could imagine.Most of these new inovation droid and iOS are claiming to invent have been on WM for ages. Please please please try out Kumars rom, experiment with a couple different tmo radio's for your area, and keep track of what is setting of your bugs. Usually you just need to change one program or setting and it fixes itself.
Going on like 16 days without a reboot! Yeeehaw. My tab slider does have a touch of lag though now but I'm gonnna hold out and see how long I can run it without a reboot.
One more thing, people with preformance issues have found replacing the SD card with a fast one works wonders. I haven't tried it yet but I am gonna toss a 8giger I have lying around in it to check it out.
4theU said:
While I agree the phone is superior, the apps/ or lack of apps for this phone and its ****ty OS are going to be the death of it.
Even with the custom ROMs, I still have quirks like dropping 3G coverage, text messages coming in out of order, apps crashing, occasional restart (admittedly rare with the custom ROMs)
I have spent HOURS just to get this phone to do what it should do out of the box. And now that its finally working great, I discover it was pretty much in vain because I can't even fill cookie's home tabs with apps that I want and would use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How many apps do you want? How many apps do you need?
I have about 500 apps in my WinMo download folder and about 50 on my phone, don't use a third of them ...
Shear number of apps do not make them better .. Now I am not bashing the Android, it is a good platform, but the "Appstore" argument is so Iphone-ish.
I am not going to try and "Talk You Into", keeping your HD2 it is your phone you need a phone you can use, if the HD2 is not for you then it is not, BUT it is not a ****ty OS, that might be your opinion, but for the people that use WinMo on a daily basis and want the power of and flexibility of the WinMo OS it works great for them.
Android, simple interface, great, fast , fairly stable, locked down, big brother back door, MUST have gmail account to activate the phone, so that "Big Brother" can access your phone remotely.
WinMo, More complicated interface more like a portable PC than a Phone, customizable right down to the OS by the user, no external account needed, no "big brother" install apps you want and not have them removed, as of June 2010 Microsoft still has a 90.18 market share of PC's, so WinMo is directly compatible with 90.18% of the PC's in the market.
watcher64 said:
How many apps do you want? How many apps do you need?
I have about 500 apps in my WinMo download folder and about 50 on my phone, don't use a third of them ...
Shear number of apps do not make them better .. Now I am not bashing the Android, it is a good platform, but the "Appstore" argument is so Iphone-ish.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apps like "fring", yeah we have that app... from 2005. Tt doesn't have video conferencing... that's a major feature missing.
It's as simple as that, we have the same apps, but they are outdated and lack many features that we'rent possible before.
How is the "appstore" argument so "Iphone-ish" thats the worst argument I ever heard. It's soo much more superior than what we have now.
You sound like a person that steals applications more than he buys... 500 apps, yeah and you bought them? I highly doubt you bought 5. App stores are a godsend for developers, they make a decent amount of money and it protects their investments, encouraging them to create more applications. That's why the app store is so successful. You're only complaining since you've barely bought any apps for the PC or your PPC, so you find the app store "iphone-ish" w.e that means.
I admit I'm being too harsh for no reason, and I also admit I don't usually buy them, but for decent applications I do happily purchase.
These are the only decent applications I use often, but I wish there was more, and I wish the prices were more reasonable, 30$ for an app? are you serious? The prices for the ppc applications are overblown. Spending over 100$ on applications on a phone is a little ridiculous. I haven't spent that amount on applications for my laptop.
- Handy Safe Pro (bought it twice, for different phones)
- SPB Traveller
- SPB TV
- SPB Backup (Fantastic application)
- SPB Wallet (Waste of time and money)
- Office Mobile (Hell no I didn't buy it, can't believe they actually started charging for it)
watcher64 said:
Android, simple interface, great, fast , fairly stable, locked down, big brother back door, MUST have gmail account to activate the phone, so that "Big Brother" can access your phone remotely.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's another poor argument, "Big Brother" or google is already pretty much in your life. Why do you think the google advertisements are all about websites related to what you search for or websites you visited in the past.
watcher64 said:
WinMo, More complicated interface more like a portable PC than a Phone, customizable right down to the OS by the user, no external account needed, no "big brother" install apps you want and not have them removed, as of June 2010 Microsoft still has a 90.18 market share of PC's, so WinMo is directly compatible with 90.18% of the PC's in the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Has anyone complained about "google remotely removing apps" I'm sure google has other reasons why it has that capability, apple and palm have it too... and guess what? wmp7 is going to have it as well. The future is less and less private, this is something we will have to deal with, it's not some evil conspiracy.
Google is compatible with 100% of the computers since it doesn't even need one, so what are you getting at?
sell it, buy android phone
/thread
So....
How much do you want for your crappy phone? Let me know. I might know of someone you can pwn it off on. they would love you long time.
2 months and it's theirs
maxpower097 said:
I'm pretty stupid and can't even speak 1 properly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love how some people hate the HD2 and others love it. It's funny to hear people's stories, because it seems almost random, the chances of you having an HD2 that works flawlessly or doesn't work at all...
I came from the rooted G1 and I love this phone. Rooting android and flashing custom ROM's became nothing but a headache for me. My phone would never work right and every time I flashed a new ROM (with dozens of "flashed ROM, it's FLYING, fastest ever!!!" replies in the threads getting me all hyped up) phone would run smoothly for maybe a day but after that nothing but hang's, random reboots, f/c's, etc...
With my HD2, it's been the opposite: OS runs smoothly, I can pretty much do what I want (except for stable flash support in Opera, for some reason that still alludes people...none of those opera builds with flash support ran as well as stock opera and fixoperaflash is all buggy..very irritating) and I don't have to continually reboot or wipe the phone.
Yet I read people's comments that talk about how the phone is virtually a big paperweight right out of the box...go figure...
tresanus said:
sell it, buy android phone
/thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, since my stock HD2 has had none of the problems this person mentioned and has actually been a very good phone why sell it? Obviously, there is a variable here that is not common with all HD2's, so why give up so easily?
Wait till you get your new one, use the stock 2.13 and see how that goes. If you still can't stand it, then try cooked ROM, and if you still can't stomach the site of that 4.3" screen, then go ahead and sell it...
Mod Edit: Post removed read the rules and follow them, take this as a warning
Metallic-Force said:
I want a better phone, that's definitely what everybody wants. Not a half-a$$ed phone that goes for the same price as a phone that has god-like script that allows unlimited multitasking with no loss of battery or memory....Well, wm6.5 for example, no decent games, no decent applications MADE FOR IT SPECIFICALLY. Before, I thought backwards compatibility is a positive, I'm quickly realizing that it's the worst negative. Companies are getting lazy by creating something thats made for a wm2003 but compatible up to WM 6.5.... how is that even possible? At least upgrade the graphics for newer phones.
HTC is even embarrassed by wm6.5, they skinned everything from top to bottom.
HD2 was dead on arrival in my book, it packs a punch in hardware, yet it will be obsolete within months.
I'm sorry if I sound like I'm trying to burn anyone here, I really appreciate the work everyone has done. I donated money and time testing, commenting and helping.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can definitely agree with Metallic-Force on most of his arguments. Even though this phone can do just about anything and everything, and even though it can run smoothly with custom ROMS, and even though it has awesome hardware......I just still can't look past the fact that the apps for this phone looks like absolute crap. Not only are there limited apps made for the HD2 specifically, but most of the apps that we can get for this phone (via marketplace, omarket, or warez) looks like the sh*tiest graphics I've ever seen on a mobile phone. I wish HTC would skin all the apps available for this phone as well as they did for the OS. I'm not even talking about the "crazy 3d" games that rock on this phone (cause I don't care for them), I'm talking about simple apps or games like Pandora or Moorhun. Microsoft or HTC needs to invest more money into the devolopers if they have to to make this OS more appealing app-wise. That way we can all finally say how great it is to own a WM phone.
OK, done venting.
Stable Android.
See post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=729495
I don't see whee you guys are getting android phones are so bullet proof. Everyone I've seen has reset problems and lock up problems. Thats just gonna keep getting worse as they release new phone after new phone. Personally on wimo I can't live without.
1. PSX emulator,
2. Core Player,
3. Mortplayer
4. Hava Player
5. PDF reader
6. Wifi Router
7. GPS weather Radar
and lots more. When iphone or android can run a 2gb divx with AAC audio without charging $20 for an app call me. Till then its wimo.
lol... I'm going be receiving my hd2 this week, and your ditching it. It's funny, but android isn't that awesome the people make it out to be. That's why I'm going back to windows mobile ( windows phone).
Anyway, good luck.

Customizing vs. N1

So I may jump ship from the N1 to the Vibrant. On the N1, in less than ten minutes I can run a nandroid backup, flash a new kernel, new radio and a new rom. In another 3-4 minutes, I can switch back. I've literally switched kernels >3 times/day before. How much different will things be on the Vibrant? Is it harder to do these things? Is there as much risk?
Thanks
right now no one knows, there is no custom kernels, custom recovery, custom roms, etc
There are custom roms and you can easily root the device...but it will obviously take some time to reach N1's customization...
I've had my G1(I know, not the N1) since day 1, and I've been flashing roms since day one. The only reason I flashed roms was because I felt the G1 was lacking in a lot of things. Now that I have the Vibrant, I feel like there's no need to flash a different rom. It's already pretty fast, and I actually like the touchwiz UI. The UI doesnt completely take over the Android interface, it's more like adding extra little features.
ultra spikey said:
I've had my G1(I know, not the N1) since day 1, and I've been flashing roms since day one. The only reason I flashed roms was because I felt the G1 was lacking in a lot of things. Now that I have the Vibrant, I feel like there's no need to flash a different rom. It's already pretty fast, and I actually like the touchwiz UI. The UI doesnt completely take over the Android interface, it's more like adding extra little features.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly, plus the Black/Blue color scheme is far better looking to me over stock Android. TouchWiz is not like Sense or previous generations of the skin and that's a good thing.
Ill second that. I am really enjoying my touch wiz interface and I didn't think I would. That being said I miss my app drawer that slid up from the bottom.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I don't know much about flashing to different ROMs yet, but I can give you an overview of the TouchWiz experience from my viewpoint.
Coming from an iPhone, I really like TouchWiz 3.0. And believe me when I tell you: that was their goal with the UI. It screams Apple, in layout and function. But of course, it ultimately feels a bit like an imitation in some areas. I feel like they rushed TouchWiz 3.0 out of the door.
The Clocks and Alarms app is much better than the iPhone's, which is something I was not at all expecting. It's really quite nice. The calendar app is about on par, in terms of layout. The upper hand is that this syncs OTA with Google's cloud services. The music player is very 'iPod-like', but is ultimately a rush job (embedded album art does not work very often and so forth).
All things considered, it's a really nice UI for Android.
That said, there are some really basic functions which did not make the transition from stock Android. For example: you cannot fully edit contacts in the 'Contacts' app. You cannot delete them, you cannot add custom ringtones. Coming from the iPhone, where I had meticulously completed the profiles of every contact with an obscene amount of info and custom ringtones, this is annoying.
There are a few 'little things' like that, which really matter to me. And this has kind of soured the experience for me, making me second-guess my decision. To be honest, I'm still sort of on the fence over this of the N1 as my iPhone replacement.
The grey area for me is in Android 3.0's release. Google has stated that they're going to overhaul the UI. The idea is that they want to make it more user-friendly, to make the use of custom skins less prevalent. Well, I'm all for this. Trouble is: will these handset manufacturers adopt it, considering their vested interests in their custom experiences?
Samsung's UI is definitely my favorite out of Sense, MotoBlur and the lot. But I'd be lying if I said that I didn't wish for a Nexus One for the security of owning the only unlocked stock device.
Hope that helps...
Give it some time and stock Android will be on the Vibrant. Thats the great thing about Android and Xda.
Yeah, I really love the idea of xda and the amount of support that all of these devices receive from the community. Of course, the trouble is: if you root for a custom rom - even if it's stock Android - the N1 is the only solution for getting OTA updates regularly. With stock Android on the Galaxy S, you're going to have to re-flash every time the ROM is updated. Not the end of the world, but definitely irritating.
Running a JB/Unlocked iPhone, I'm used to dealing with work-arounds, and waiting for hacks. That's the price I paid for using a non-carrier phone. I couldn't accept the automatic updates from Apple, and this became a mild annoyance (reinstalling everything and so forth). But when you decide to 'play nice' and own a carrier-specific phone, you kind of want the experience of timely OTA, non-hacking-related updates that simply update your device, without first wiping it clean.
Know what I mean?
I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep my Galaxy S, or buy an N1 while there's still time (the 'rumors'? of the N1's touchscreen issues are really all that held me back). But either way, I hope that all devices have some way to experience the latest and greatest from Google.
The touchscreen is bad on that phone especially when it comes to multitouch. I'm sure you've already seen the videos comparing the two touchpads and the Vibrant's touchscreen is SO accurate... multitouch included.
Jon C said:
Yeah, I really love the idea of xda and the amount of support that all of these devices receive from the community. Of course, the trouble is: if you root for a custom rom - even if it's stock Android - the N1 is the only solution for getting OTA updates regularly. With stock Android on the Galaxy S, you're going to have to re-flash every time the ROM is updated. Not the end of the world, but definitely irritating.
Running a JB/Unlocked iPhone, I'm used to dealing with work-arounds, and waiting for hacks. That's the price I paid for using a non-carrier phone. I couldn't accept the automatic updates from Apple, and this became a mild annoyance (reinstalling everything and so forth). But when you decide to 'play nice' and own a carrier-specific phone, you kind of want the experience of timely OTA, non-hacking-related updates that simply update your device, without first wiping it clean.
Know what I mean?
I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep my Galaxy S, or buy an N1 while there's still time (the 'rumors'? of the N1's touchscreen issues are really all that held me back). But either way, I hope that all devices have some way to experience the latest and greatest from Google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While its a little early to be 100% yet but Android hacking is a lot different than iphone hacking. The iphone is a closed system and you have to wait till its broken open to update. Android is already open when its released. As for OTAs if Cyanogen supports the Vibrant then there is an app to download and install new updates. Typically if you stay with the same developer, like Cyanogen, then you don't have to wipe when there are updates.
After froyo 2.2 all my touch screen problems was gone.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
So untrue after froyo 2.2 those problems was fix the nexus one is a awsome phone.and I believe the same for the vibrant.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Can you do me the world's biggest favor?
Would you make some YouTube videos, showing the multitouch tests of your N1? I so, so, so, would love to own one, but I have zero tolerance for faulty hardware. I've been researching this stuff since the N1 launch, and it's the only thing holding me back from purchasing that device.
'Multitouch Vis Test' is probably the easiest way, but if you can think of others to test with, that would be great.
Jon C said:
The music player is very 'iPod-like', but is ultimately a rush job (embedded album art does not work very often and so forth).
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't used my iPod Nano 4th Gen in some time, I find that the N1 is handling my music needs just fine. But if I had a nickel for every time album art was hosed on my iPod Nano I would not have a mortgage anymore...
hah2110 said:
So I may jump ship from the N1 to the Vibrant. On the N1, in less than ten minutes I can run a nandroid backup, flash a new kernel, new radio and a new rom. In another 3-4 minutes, I can switch back. I've literally switched kernels >3 times/day before. How much different will things be on the Vibrant? Is it harder to do these things? Is there as much risk?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
First you must know that the process is completely different. For right now most roms are installed through the Odin process. This process completely wipes all of the information on the phone (including apps and settings) and then installs the new rom. So you will have to backup your apps and settings every time you change roms (Titanium backup would work but it's not always fool proof). Second all roms are going to be based off of Samsung code. That means no Sense roms, no stock roms (well you can get the stock launcher but your dialer and notification bar will always be touchwized), and no froyo until Samsung releases there own version. This has been true so far with all previous Samsung phones and looking at the development with the I9000 it seems to hold true for the Galaxy S. All this does put you at less risk of bricking your phone but it does mean you also have less chance of serious customization. Also with limited source code for the I9000 (there are some drivers that are not source code but actually compiled) it's very difficult to just plop roms on from other sources.
psychoace said:
First you must know that the process is completely different. For right now most roms are installed through the Odin process. This process completely wipes all of the information on the phone (including apps and settings) and then installs the new rom. So you will have to backup your apps and settings every time you change roms (Titanium backup would work but it's not always fool proof). Second all roms are going to be based off of Samsung code. That means no Sense roms, no stock roms (well you can get the stock launcher but your dialer and notification bar will always be touchwized), and no froyo until Samsung releases there own version. This has been true so far with all previous Samsung phones and looking at the development with the I9000 it seems to hold true for the Galaxy S. All this does put you at less risk of bricking your phone but it does mean you also have less chance of serious customization. Also with limited source code for the I9000 (there are some drivers that are not source code but actually compiled) it's very difficult to just plop roms on from other sources.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why can't CM do his thing?
cm is trying to port cyanogen to the vibrant. in fact ive read that the vibrant and the droid x are his 2 top priorities so it will come soon enough. and once he gets it done we will probibly see a bunch of roms based of cyanogen
blazewit said:
cm is trying to port cyanogen to the vibrant. in fact ive read that the vibrant and the droid x are his 2 top priorities so it will come soon enough. and once he gets it done we will probibly see a bunch of roms based of cyanogen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have yet to see any information confirming any of that. First on his twitter he only seems to be working on the Evo right now. Second I doubt he would work on the Droid x until it's rooted (which most likely will be never). Last I have seen only a small pattern of talk about someone in conversation with Cyanogen about allowing a Galaxy branch of the CM code for use with the Galaxy S. Problem is this doesn't solve the issue of not having source code for a few drivers. This does not even attack the issue of getting the rom onto the phone. So don't hold your breath for any of that.
yea your right it was just one site claiming that cm is working on the vibrant,from what i can tell gothdroid and a bunch of other g1/dream devs are working right now for custom recovery and porting cm6 and froyo asop

[Q] What Happened to this phone?

Let's be honest to ourselves here guys, out beloved Moto X Style was officially released in September which means this phone has now been out for at least 3 months and while all the effort that has since been put in this devices by key developers and people from day 1 up till now is very much appreciated and will continue to be appreciated, the development of this device compared to most flagships has been slow motion.
I am just trying to understand what the hell went wrong with this phone that made it end up with such super slow motion development, as when I originally bought the device I was thinking this phone would be at least in the top 20 most active phones on XDA development wise.
It had so much going for it, easy root, easy unlockable bootloader, a pretty much almost complete stock version of android, kernel sources released and motorolas good track record of updating their flagship phones in a timely manner and good hardware to accompany the great bloatware free stock software and a cheap price compared to some other flagships from other companies such as Samsung and Sony
With all this in mind I thought developers would flock to this device and we would have a massive development forum with loads of options between custom roms, mods, themes and other tweaks etc
But this is far from the case and I know the Nexus 6P being released probably had something to do with it, Still this should have been at least in top 20
At first I thought when Android 6.0 MM will be released development will increase then we needed the kernel sources as that was apparently not enough, then we had kernel sources but apart from 1 or 2 roms showing up being in alpha stages nothings changed too much.
This is such a disappointment to say the least.
If only I could understand why this is happening maybe something could be done to fix this or increase the development of this phone, I dont know maybe get some developers from the nexus 6p forums on here some how ...
Any ideas why this has happened and if anything can be done to increase development?
IS THERE ANY WAY WE AS A COMMUNITY CAN GET MORE DEVELOPERS TO WORK ON THIS DEVICE?
djsynth said:
If only I could understand why this is happening maybe something could be done to fix this or increase the development of this phone, I dont know maybe get some developers from the nexus 6p forums on here some how ...
Any ideas why this has happened and if anything can be done to increase development?
IS THERE ANY WAY WE AS A COMMUNITY CAN GET MORE DEVELOPERS TO WORK ON THIS DEVICE?
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Click to collapse
I think it's due to a combination of factors, such as :
1) The popularity of the phone/ manufacturer. These figures show Lenovo/Motorloa in 5th place for sales, having a 3.7% market share in Q3 2015
2) The OS (Android) has improved a lot over recent years, to the extent where a lot of people (like me) are happy to stay with stock
3) With phones getting more expensive, more people are put off from unlocking their bootloader due to warranty issues
4) I'm no longer convinced about the benefits of custom ROMs - seems a lot of the time they break more things than they fix. Maybe a lot of other people now think the same.
5) Some apps, for example ones for mobile banking or subscrition TV & Video, will not work with a rooted phone.
In the past I've had various phones from various manufacturers, and I'd say if you get your kicks from installing custom ROMs, then buy a Nexus.
When i had the one plus one there were so many roms that was a brain storm... I prefer some and reliable roms than a plethora where you get confused!!!
2) The OS (Android) has improved a lot over recent years, to the extent where a lot of people (like me) are happy to stay with stock
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Click to collapse
4) I'm no longer convinced about the benefits of custom ROMs - seems a lot of the time they break more things than they fix. Maybe a lot of other people now think the same.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
IMO you hit the nail on the head. I love this phone. I had the MXPE 2014 as well, was not a fan. Also owned the original, Loved it.
This MXPE has been great in imo, the lack of development has not been disappointing to me. The stock rom is really pretty good, there are minor tweaks that can be done but most can do these on their own.
I used to be a flash-aholic, but like @GretaLewd has stated...custom roms tend to break things. I'm more in favor of kernel development. But how many different kernels can you have? One way or another they'll be the same.
I also own a Nexus 6P, but my MXPE is my go to device.
I see users complaining about this phone constantly, I really don't think it matters what phone you put in the hands of those users...they would still find fault and complain.
Motorola and Lenovo did good by this device, I just hope they keep up with incrementals for a while.
Isn't the 64bit cpu reason because it takes more work to get cm/aosp roms?
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
Good thread. Would love to hear more thoughts
Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk
Ordered the device today. Hope slow development doesn't disappoint me on this device, as others have stated...
I have been using this device for 2 months now. I am happy with it an didn't face a single issue. I can do a little bit tweaking myself using Xposed.
So far the slow development doesn't bother me.
Only buy a device for what it can do out of the box, not what you hope it will be able to do with additional modding and development... Nothing else is guaranteed!
As it stands I'm very happy with my rooted stock Style, not need for custom roms.
chrisund123 said:
Only buy a device for what it can do out of the box, not what you hope it will be able to do with additional modding and development... Nothing else is guaranteed!
As it stands I'm very happy with my rooted stock Style, not need for custom roms.
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Click to collapse
That's a good way to approach Android phones I suppose but I believe
it's still nice to buy a phone that's great out of the box and good development wise, usually flagships tend to have good development and then the mid range and low end phones tend to get smaller developments but I guess there's an exception to everything.
patt2k said:
Isn't the 64bit cpu reason because it takes more work to get cm/aosp roms?
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I doubt that's the reason since 64 Bit has been the standard since Lollipop and pretty much all the flagships have a 64bit cpu since the beggining of 2015 but that doesn't stop other development forums from flourishing.
GretaLewd said:
I think it's due to a combination of factors, such as :
1) The popularity of the phone/ manufacturer. These figures show Lenovo/Motorloa in 5th place for sales, having a 3.7% market share in Q3 2015
2) The OS (Android) has improved a lot over recent years, to the extent where a lot of people (like me) are happy to stay with stock
3) With phones getting more expensive, more people are put off from unlocking their bootloader due to warranty issues
4) I'm no longer convinced about the benefits of custom ROMs - seems a lot of the time they break more things than they fix. Maybe a lot of other people now think the same.
5) Some apps, for example ones for mobile banking or subscrition TV & Video, will not work with a rooted phone.
In the past I've had various phones from various manufacturers, and I'd say if you get your kicks from installing custom ROMs, then buy a Nexus.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for your break down on your thoughts of the subject and I must admit you've mention some very valid points here especially Point 1,2 and 5 but I think out of all of these its Point 1 and 2 that are the most significant, I suppose Motorola have a really small market share explains the lack of adoption between developers when comparing to some of the more prominent manufacturers such as samsung.
and The Android Stock OS has improved significantly within the past couple of years adding some new features that previously people had to root their phones to acomplish such as full app permission controls and backing up app data which google does for you now.
You need to follow development before buying a device these days. i.e. always wait at least 1-2 months. If you follow the development forums you would get an idea if developers are interested in said device or not. I for one, bought it right after I found out that AICP (CM12) rom was being developed. I was interested in running CM13 instead of other AOSP variations. And before I got the device the first (almost daily driver) builds were already uploaded.
Once cm is solid quite a few roms will pop up. Won't be long now.
Official MM has only been out for our phone for a little over a month. give it some time it may pick up. either way it's still an awesome phone out the box... and as stated above, once CM13 is stable im sure we'll see some of the other custom ROMs that are based off it.
GretaLewd said:
2) The OS (Android) has improved a lot over recent years, to the extent where a lot of people (like me) are happy to stay with stock
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Click to collapse
This is a great point, but I'd like to add that this is especially applicable to our MXPE. We're really close to stock as it is, so there's little motivation to go ROM to debloat like there is on Samsung, LG, and similar phones. On the flip side, we have a lot of really neat features (active display, approach, accelerator gestures, voice controls) that we would lose if we went ROM.
For me, these two points combine, leaving me with little motivation to ROM my phone, especially since I can could get most of the advantages of CyanogenMod with something like GravityBox, which will allow me to keep the Motorola features (I'm currently unrooted because of the warranty, but I'll be rooted in the future for sure) . Of course, these are my own personal opinions, but I suspect that they reflect at least some of the mindset of this community.
I agree with others, that custom roms are often more trouble than they're worth. The only reason to use them these days is if your device isn't going to be updated to the latest version of Android.
Ever since moto introduced 99% stock android + moto display, roms have been entirely unnecessary for me. I used to rom my phones to gain greater flexibility + customizability. Now that I have stock android + Xposed, I doubt I will ever flash another custom rom again.
I'm still waiting for custom super roms that will make this device best in the market. Why can we have a rom with 1080p display, tweak kernel with better control for heating issue for overall battery life and speed?
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The biggest issue is that developers don't support devices they don't own. With the launch of the nexus 6 (not the 6p) most developers got it and had no need to update to a y newer devices.
Also to the comment that all flag ships are 64 bit this is not the case. If you look the most popular devices as far as developers are concerned are non 64 bit.
Also as android matures you will see less and less roms. As it will be come harder. There are very few real development teams. Most are just kitchen sink roms. A base with tons of cherry picks and a new name. Nothing even worth looking at twice. But more developers are closing up the source of their projects because of these types of roms.
To be honest most users have no point in flashing roms. Only those that like the development side of it will continue to mod roms and flash things.

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