• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Can I Replace HTC Sense with the Standard Android UI?

I have looked there, and xda is my next stop, but I would like to ditch Sense and use the standard Android UI. Does anyone know if this is possible? I am not talking about flashing the ROM but rather stopping Sense and loading the normal UI. I am not having any real problems with the Sense UI per se but from playing with other Android devices I think I prefer the normal interface.
 
I don't believe that's possible. At a minimum it would require flashing the ROM, and to my knowledge, no custom ROMs have been built for any of the CDMA versions.

It defeats the purpose of having a Hero, don't you think?

I would just exchange the phone for a different Android phone with standard UI. I don't know if Sprint has any other Android phones yet.

I don't think it defeats the purpose at all. I got the phone because it's Android not because it has the Sense UI, I am a Sprint customer and love their service, and to get the hell off of WinMo. Sprint has the Samsung Android coming out on Nov 1 but I also don't want a sliding keyboard.

I am a nerd and play with my devices heavily heck I run Linux on my iPod just because I can (I use the regular OS to listen to music). I flashed my Touch Pro almost weekly for a while and not to try and get better performance but just because I liked trying new ROMs. So I expect I'll flash this one when the ROMs start coming out. But I doubt it will take flashing the ROMs to disable the Sense UI. It may take rooting the phone in order to stop it from auto-starting but that's quite the same as flashing.

I guess I will just have to drum my fingers on my desk until someone releases a ROM or roots this thing before I can do my thing. ;)
 
Upvote 0
I guess I will just have to drum my fingers on my desk until someone releases a ROM or roots this thing before I can do my thing. ;)
The root is going the be the one thing you need. 1.6 would be easy enough to get your hands on, and since it supports CDMA there should be much of an issue there.

IMO, going to vanilla android is a step backward. You go back to the standard 3 screens instead of 7. The polish of Sense is what will keep me from buying the Moment more than anything else.
 
Upvote 0
The root is going the be the one thing you need. 1.6 would be easy enough to get your hands on, and since it supports CDMA there should be much of an issue there.

IMO, going to vanilla android is a step backward. You go back to the standard 3 screens instead of 7. The polish of Sense is what will keep me from buying the Moment more than anything else.

I may well jump right back to Sense without any hesitation. I never know what I am going to do ;) I just like my options. Of course I also have to fully working desktops (KDE and Gnome) and decide what to login to based on my mood since they both do everything I need. Did I happen to mention I have ADOS (Attention Deficit Ohhhh Shiny....)
 
Upvote 0
I may well jump right back to Sense without any hesitation. I never know what I am going to do ;) I just like my options. Of course I also have to fully working desktops (KDE and Gnome) and decide what to login to based on my mood since they both do everything I need. Did I happen to mention I have ADOS (Attention Deficit Ohhhh Shiny....)
HA. Love it.
 
Upvote 0
I would like to ditch Sense and use the standard Android UI. Does anyone know if this is possible? I am not talking about flashing the ROM but rather stopping Sense and loading the normal UI.

Easy-peasy.

Menu - Settings - Applications - Manage applications
Select TouchFLO/HTC Sense (previous/current names)
Click "clear default"
Press HOME
When menu appears select "use as defaults" then choose Home.
Sorted!
 
Upvote 0
SWEET!! TY.

I have Googled this all morning. Not that I plan on leaving it disabled, but I just wanted to check it out without it. Thanks again! :D

Easy-peasy.

Menu - Settings - Applications - Manage applications
Select TouchFLO/HTC Sense (previous/current names)
Click "clear default"
Press HOME
When menu appears select "use as defaults" then choose Home.
Sorted!
 
Upvote 0
If you have the paid version of Lock 2.0 installed (free version might work too but I haven't tried it), set the HTC Sense UI as the default home in it, and then when you're at the lock screen, if you "slide to unlock" normally, it will take you to the HTC Sense UI home. But, if you hit Menu from the lock screen, and then hit the "home screen" button, it'll pull up the default android home.

It's like the best of both worlds.
 
Upvote 0
While there is somewhat of a speed difference I ended up liking Sense better that the standard UI. So it's sense for the time being. I think if I had gotten used to the standard UI first I may have kept that but Sense has some "neato" factor to it and I do use different scenes. What I want is a Locale plugin to change scenes... But I digress. Thanks for the instructions they work exactly as stated and I was able to play for a while before becoming bored of the standard UI.
 
Upvote 0
The Sense UI is really nice but their might be some customers that want the standard look and feel of the original Android Home Screen. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide how to do so:

1. Press MENU button.
2. Press Settings.
3. Press Applications.
4. Press Manage Applications.
5. Press the MENU button
6. Press FILTER and select ALL
7. Wait for the OS to compute application usage.
8. Scroll down the list until you see HTC Sense and select it to go to the Application Info page.
9. Press the Clear Defaults button.
10. Press the HOME button. You will be prompted to select which app to compete the action with. Select Home and chose to make
this the default action.

Now that you are back at the standard Android Home screen, what are the ramifications? There are now four fewer home panels on which to add widgets and shortcuts. The HTC widgets are no longer available, but the HTC customized apps like People and Messages are still available. The Facebook integration into the contacts is still there, also. The only real change is the home screen and HTC widgets. Interestingly, the original Android wallpapers are now available for use on your new Home! These wallpapers are hidden when selecting a wallpaper for the Sense home.

What if you want to go back to Sense? Follow the steps outlined above until Step 6 where you will select Home and then clear it’s defaults. Then on step 10 selcet HTC SENSE then set as default

Tested and confirmed working
 
Upvote 0
Thanks! The instructions worked perfectly. I'm using stock Android today. There doesn't seem to be as much of a performance boost as I thought there would be. Maybe a little snappier -- maybe -- but not enough to clearly justify disabling SenseUI as the default Home.
Update: Went back to using Sense. The plain vanilla Android UI is just too plain, and I couldn't find any performance gain from not using Sense.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones