Steve Adams

I have a GSM hero, I want to root my phone to install apps2sd, and be able to use a sim card from an american carrier when Im state side...

what is the best way to do this?

im running 2.1 now, and im loving my phone, but I really want to be able to load my apps on my sd....

thanks for help, advice etc...I don't want to upgrade to a different droid OS, i love sense UI, and the benifits I get from it, just want to load my apps 2 sd...

Xyro

The only way to do this is to switch to custom firmware (as the stock roms aren't capable of it). That's not particularly hard to do though.

If that sounds like something you want to do, would you want to stick with 2.1 like you have now, or switch to 2.2? (2.2 is a bit faster, but you would lose HTC Sense and go to plain vanilla android).

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daveybaby

FYI: unlocking your phone so that it can use other carriers SIMs is a completely separate issue from rooting / installing a custom ROM.

Rooting will NOT help you use an american SIM, you need to get an unlock code from somewhere (i.e. from your carrier, or some dodgy website).

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Xyro

I should add, it sounds like you think a custom rom has to be massively different to what you have now. In actual fact you could upgrade to a custom rom that's almost indistinguishable from what you have now (expect for apps2sd).

Sorry if I've misunderstood the above quote though. I won't labour the point any more

Steve Adams

Do you think that there will be a 2.2 Rom with sense in the future?

As I said I want sense UI, and ap2sd. However I get it will do for my phone. the guy at TELUS said he will unlock my phone. I'm just waiting for warranty to expire.

Xyro

There are a few already, but they aren't that brilliant. At the moment the only way to get 2.2 with sense is to port it from a different phone, which isn't the best way to do things. (The 2.2 ROMs without sense are build from the 2.2 source code, which makes them more stable than ports).

So really, it doesn't seem the 2.2 + sense ROMs will ever be perfect

geolemon

I'm looking to explore basically this same option myself.

I have one G1 with cyanogen 6.1.0 (a very good 2.2 ROM). I certainly wouldn't discourage you from doing that, but it's definitely different from Sense.

I just picked up a Rogers Magic, unlocked so I can use it on AT&T and get 3G (which I can't using a T-mobile phone like the G1).
I've rooted it, and I've upgraded it using HTC's own upgrade tool to their 2.1 with Sense. It's really good, and I want to live with it for a while, if nothing else but to check it out.

And really - it's good. You really can't get the same experience with a custom ROM, particularly Cyanogen - he was threatened by HTC, and so we'll never (you can quote me on that) see a Cyanogen+Sense. It's very slick how some of the custom widgets are tied to the stock apps, how the stock apps aren't Google's stock apps, and how they are all integrated with one another. I've used BeautifulWidgets, and even they were threatened by HTC - they may look similar, but don't incorporate all the under-the-covers integration points. Sense isn't bad, unlike TouchWiz or MotoBlur.

But at any rate...

I also want to basically install just Apps2SD functionality, without replacing the ROM.

I'm pretty sure this could be done ala carte - I don't recall which Cyanogen build I had prior to 5.0.8 on my G1, but I think 5.0.8 that was the first one that had Apps2SD natively integrated into it. Prior to that, you *had* to install it separately.

Note that Apps2SD has evolved over time: Apps2SD - CyanogenMod Wiki
What was originally called Apps2SD is now called "Apps2Ext".
Apps2SD now refers to a tweaked version of Google's own native Apps2SD.

I'm going to explore whether the original (Apps2Ext) can be installed ala carte, personally. I've installed a good recovery using this guide, which was a bit easier than rooting the old fashioned way. That recovery provides some SD partitioning tools - partitioning is required for Apps2Ext. Clockworkmod recovery has partitioning tools too.

I'm looking for feedback - has anyone done this? Installed Apps2SD (Apps2Ext) on a rooted phone - either as an ala-carte upgrade, or just using a non-Cyanogen ROM?

geolemon

Here's a copy of the historical article (when the older versions were still out), just prior to the replacement of the article with the history of Apps2SD [which I linked in my last post]:
Apps2SD - CyanogenMod Wiki

Xyro

Speaking strictly in terms of the Hero, every custom ROM under the sun (cyanogen based or not) has supported apps2ext.

I have heard people say in the past that getting apps2ext running on official Hero firmware is either very difficult or impossible (I forget which). And personally I've never heard of anyone doing it.

I'm not saying it can't be done, because I'm not 100% sure, but I have never come across it.

Steve Adams

Keep us informed on your progress.

I love sense and my hero. I only want the storage.

geolemon

That's actually almost cruel, lol...
It's not a custom ROM, this is the stock HTC Sense ROM.
...and, it's Android 2.1, where Apps2SD wasn't natively included in Android (meaning, from Google) until 2.2.

I'm not aware of any custom ROMs that are actually built on the HTC Sense ROM. I know both Cyanogen and the creator of Beautiful Widgets were approached and threatened by HTC for infringement, so I'm skeptical there are any real legit ones out there.

Thoughts?

Slug

The MoDaCo ROMs, by Paul O'Brien, are optimised and reworked Sense ROMs which include Apps2SD (using an EXT partition). Iirc the same is true for VillainROM 12.... Xyro, help an old man's memory here!

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Xyro

Sorry, by non-cyanogen ROM I thought you were asking about non-cyanogen custom ROMs (since cyanogens aren't the only ones). Sorry for the misunderstanding

If your phone comes with HTC Sense (like the Hero), then HTC don't have a problem with people distributing Sense custom ROMs for it. (They don't want cyanogen doing it because their work goes onto phones that shouldn't have HTC Sense). So people just customise the official firmwares and redistribute them as they wish.