Root ROM - which one should I get?

[Red_Avatar]

I usually never install custom ROMs because I prefer to not tempt faith too much but with bluetooth on the stock ROM being too heavily crippled (to a point where external bluetooth keyboards & gamepads simply won't work) I have no choice but to move to a custom ROM.

I'm pretty confused about them, though, because they're so badly documented (you get a list of features but it's a lot harder to find a comparison list with the stock ROM).

Basically what I want is this:

- Blue tooth support for the Wiimote and similar such devices (bluetooth keyboard)

- full support for Google software: Google maps, callendar, etc.

- a similar phone menu - I love how everything ties together, how contacts work, etc.

I'm not sure what HTC Sense adds to the Android phone - and it's hard to find a list as well to compare standard Android with HTC Sense so I'm not sure what I'd be missing out on.

So basically, can someone help me out? Maybe give me a link? Advice? (just please no "use ROM X, I use it and like it" stuff without giving info on the things above).

 

[williamj1]

I can't comment on all the things above like wii mote support etc, but I can say this. If you are moving from sense, you are going to have to make sacrifices. If you use all their widgets, contact linking and so on the only real root to go down is a customised sense rom like leedroid.

Otherwise, you get stock roms, which are just basic android with customisations on top, and then finally completely different Roms like Miui which combine all the above.

Personally, I use eMiui (xda-developers - View Single Post - [rom]MIUI 1.1.28 Stability, Memory optimizations and more ). It combines a lot of features from sense, and stock and puts them together into one nice package. It has lots of nice neat touches like like the ability to change the LED colour, themes support or the power bar widget all built right into the rom. It works like a dream, and looks the part too. The other thing about it is that there are hundreds of themes built for it, so you can simply click apply to change the look completelySure, some of these can be done in sense, but it's a hassle and they never work as seamlessly and flawlessly. The only thing it really lacks is that is doesn't have an app drawer. It works like an iphone, with the apps spread across homescreens, but this can be fixed by adding a launcher.

So you are after something completely different try eMiui. It is like a combination of ios, sense and stock and its damn awesome. All the customisation you could ever want, built right into the rom. It takes a lot of neat things out of sense too. For example just as in sense, if you want to call "jack" instead of having to scroll through contacts, you just type jack on the call keyboard and it finds the number. It if's facebook contact linking, you can do this now with any app as facebook will sync contact photos and so on from their own app. Google apps are all supported, and most come preinstalled. This isn't the case for many roms. However the best thing I can suggest is you just look around, see what you like and then try them out. I have tried maybe 10+ roms, and its only now i'm settling down with ones I like. If you take a nandroid, then you can just jump back to sense whenever you like, apps settings homescreens intact as if you had never gone if you don't like other Roms. I also put some of my eMiui screenshots are below.

(Click here to see the rest of my homescreens ---> http://androidforums.com/2093629-post3020.html

Otherwise, the only other things you can try are variations of stock or sense. Personally, I find stock weird having used sense for a while. It feels like it's just missing stuff. But likewise, I get bored of stock, and find it limiting. Hope this helps

 

[Red_Avatar]

It looks interesting but the Bluetooth profile thing is crucial - unless it supports bluetooth SID devices, I won't use it since this is the reason I want to make the jump anyway. I would like to be able to use an external keyboard combined with the Office apps because I often need to take notes quickly and those keyboards are easy to pocket along with the Desire (unlike notebooks).

I bought the Desire mainly to be a mobile retro gaming device, however. It runs UAE to play Amiga games but without the lack of wiimote/keyboard support, it's pretty pointless right now.

 

[SUroot]

I can't comment on all the things above like wii mote support etc, but I can say this. If you are moving from sense, you are going to have to make sacrifices. If you use all their widgets, contact linking and so on the only real root to go down is a customised sense rom like leedroid or defrost.

Wait, DeFroST is not sense. Its AOSP (Android Open Source Project) i.e, its vanilla.

Defrost does support Wiimote connections and as with all AOSP roms, it also supports contact linking.

OK, you cannot use HTC sense widgets (which I personally feel are really buggy) or apps, but in most cases the vanilla apps substitue fine (or better) but they are perhaps not as glossy.

There are plenty of 3rd party widgets available to replace the sense ones too.

The thing with AOSP is that you're better off with a custom launcher like laucnher pro. Its more customisable. Before going down the AOSP route (if 2.2 is what you want, DeFroST 6.1 is a good room), try launcherpro on your htc sense rom first for a while, to get used to it.

 

[williamj1]

Wait, DeFroST is not sense. Its AOSP (Android Open Source Project) i.e, its vanilla.

Defrost does support Wiimote connections and as with all AOSP roms, it also supports contact linking.

OK, you cannot use HTC sense widgets (which I personally feel are really buggy) or apps, but in most cases the vanilla apps substitue fine (or better) but they are perhaps not as glossy.

There are plenty of 3rd party widgets available to replace the sense ones too.

The thing with AOSP is that you're better off with a custom launcher like laucnher pro. Its more customisable. Before going down the AOSP route (if 2.2 is what you want, DeFroST 6.1 is a good room), try launcherpro on your htc sense rom first for a while, to get used to it.

Sorry thought defrost was :/

+1 on installing launcher pro for a while to test. That's what I did before I first moved from sense.

But, I don't agree with you on the htc widgets front. Things like the favourite people widget, or the clock are no where near as good in 3rd party form. Take unlock weather animations.... you can only do this with beautiful widgets, and it is nowhere near as nice or seamless. It pops up over every app and I have to tap to get rid of it. If it's raining its nice, but if its anything else its crap. 1 lone cloud flying across my screen? Not like sense where the whole thing becomes slightly cloudy and then dissapears quickly so as not to frustrate. My favourite widget was the htc notes one. There is nothing on the market that is anywhere near as nice looking, intuitive, quick and easy as the htc sense one. Also, you say you can contact link on defrost? I haven't seen this in any Rom but sense, and it's something I miss from sense like linking "jack home" and "jack mobile", as well as syncing their facebook photo's, birthdays and so on

Here is the link to defrost - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=690477

SuRoot... I heard defrost 6.1(a) was a bit unstable at the moment though?

 

[Red_Avatar]

Oh I had no idea you could "test" using a launcher. Are there any drawbacks to using such launcher indefinitely? Since I would only need the new rom for note taking and playing games, I wouldn't need to have it active except during those times.

 

[williamj1]

Oh I had no idea you could "test" using a launcher. Are there any drawbacks to using such launcher indefinitely? Since I would only need the new rom for note taking and playing games, I wouldn't need to have it active except during those times.

I don' think you understand...

You can't have two roms active at once. What makes htc phones different from a nexus one for example is that it has a launcher named htc sense on top of stock android. You are talking about using a different rom like defrost, which doesn't have sense at all. We are saying in order to "test" what a stock rom (without sense) is like, download launcher pro from the market. Installing this launcher won't give you SID bluetooth support, you have to change to change rom to do that. This purely allows you to see what the phone will be like without sense. This is just like applying a skin / theme to something...

Make sense?

For example...

Sense Launcher -

Launcher Pro (What you would use on non-sense roms)

 

[Red_Avatar]

I don' think you understand...

You can't have two roms active at once. What makes htc phones different from a nexus one for example is that it has a launcher named htc sense on top of stock android. You are talking about using a different rom like defrost, which doesn't have sense at all. We are saying in order to "test" what a stock rom (without sense) is like, download launcher pro from the market. Installing this launcher won't give you SID bluetooth support, you have to change to change rom to do that. This purely allows you to see what the phone will be like without sense. This is just like applying a skin / theme to something...

Make sense?

For example...

Sense Launcher -



Launcher Pro (What you would use on non-sense roms)

Aaaah - that sounds like a good idea. I'm not too demanding and far prefer features that are useful over fluff and most of HTC Sense seems fluff. It's nice to show off with, but if I had to pick between enjoying my Desire more with more features, and fluff to boast about, I'd go with having more features.

The weather thing I might miss purely because i got so used to seeing it.

Question: are there other advantages to removing Sense? And wouldn't just getting the stock Android OS (or a ROM that is close) be the best move then?

 

[SUroot]

6.1 a has an LED issue. This is why I recommend 6.1. Defrost 6.1 is the best 2.2 rom in my opinion. To edit contacts and link, Edit contact>Menu>join. You can link to other contacts no matter what type.

I understand your reasons for disagreeing on the HTC widgets etc.

I dont use animations for weather, I prefer not to animate things as they use more power so cant comment there.

I never liked that HTC clock anyway.

As for "People", buggy contacts pictures and memory leak. Friendstream is nice, but I love pure messenger on a transparant BG

 

[williamj1]

Aaaah - that sounds like a good idea. I'm not too demanding and far prefer features that are useful over fluff and most of HTC Sense seems fluff. It's nice to show off with, but if I had to pick between enjoying my Desire more with more features, and fluff to boast about, I'd go with having more features.

The weather thing I might miss purely because i got so used to seeing it.

Question: are there other advantages to removing Sense? And wouldn't just getting the stock Android OS (or a ROM that is close) be the best move then?

I don't think the stock android one has bluetooth SID built in either. That's why I think SuRoot recommended a customised stock rom such as defrost. The advantages are just more customisation, more choice. Remember sense is still stock android, just with a skin on top. So if anything, the advantages go the other way. But if you can cope without their "fluff" its a great move. Just remember, nandroid and then whatever happens, love or hate you can always go back.

6.1 a has an LED issue. This is why I recommend 6.1. Defrost 6.1 is the best 2.2 rom in my opinion. To edit contacts and link, Edit contact>Menu>join. You can link to other contacts no matter what type.

I understand your reasons for disagreeing on the HTC widgets etc.

I dont use animations for weather, I prefer not to animate things as they use more power so cant comment there.

I never liked that HTC clock anyway.

As for "People", buggy contacts pictures and memory leak. Friendstream is nice, but I love pure messenger on a transparant BG

I'm miui through and through atm. Love every bit of it, especially the themes I quite liked oxygen 7 gingerbread, but I just felt it wasn't as finished as miui. Things like the power bar widgets just didn't look as nice

BTW, I loved the sense clock. Whilst searching for the launcher pro image above, I came across this.

^^ Launcher pro and the official sense clock? Gimme gimme How is this possible?

 

[SUroot]

I know there used to be a widget that looked very similar to the sense clock and was removed for these r5easons. Maybe it is that?!

 

[williamj1]

I know there used to be a widget that looked very similar to the sense clock and was removed for these r5easons. Maybe it is that?!

I think it used to be fancy widget? Hmm ill do some digging!

 

[Rastaman-FB]

my post got deleted?
is that because i mentioned b e a u t i f u l widgets?

i said "i think its an old version of the above"

 

[Red_Avatar]

my post got deleted?
is that because i mentioned b e a u t i f u l widgets?

i said "i think its an old version of the above"

It looks good - I think I'll check that out, even if you have to pay for it. There doesn't seem to be a single clock on the market that looks decent with proper weather display otherwise.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

i had it, they soon get boring, would rather minimalist ones now

 

[williamj1]

Yeh there are tons of versions similar. Fancy widget and Beautiful Widgets being the main two.

I'm also quite a fan of these new BW ones.... (stock android btw Red_Avatar)

[SKIN | Beautiful Widget] - Gingerbread, Cyanogen, Flipdown & More! - xda-developers

Anyone know where I might look for an old version of fancy widget?

 

[williamj1]

Oh and Red_Avatar I meant to post this earlier. If you want an idea of what you can do with launcher pro, cool third party widgets clocks etc look here...

http://www.dropbox.com/gallery/15394707/1/Android Stuff/Inspiration?h=3bfae7



.

 

[Red_Avatar]

*data overflow*

If only I knew for sure Miui supported bluetooth properly - I do like the look of it. Then I can have a go at trying to get the good parts of Sense back with apps.

 

[williamj1]

*data overflow*

If only I knew for sure Miui supported bluetooth properly - I do like the look of it. Then I can have a go at trying to get the good parts of Sense back with apps.

I don't have a clue what this bluetooth SID thing is. If I understood, I could do some research, or even check in bluetooth settings in the rom, ask on the forums etc? So what is it im looking for / to know?

 

[Rastaman-FB]

Neither do I but miui is aosp based and the devs are excellent so I would imagine it does.
What's the harm in backing up current rom, doing a wipe, flashing miui and seeing if its what you need. If not just restore nandroid

 

[Red_Avatar]

I don't have a clue what this bluetooth SID thing is. If I understood, I could do some research, or even check in bluetooth settings in the rom, ask on the forums etc? So what is it im looking for / to know?

I meant HID - SID is a music chip . HID, from what I've read, is used by many two-way Bluetooth devices like keyboards, gamepads, etc. You need profiles to get them to work and it seems HTC didn't bother licensing them so HID is not available on any HTC phone meaning no keyboard, gamepad or whatever such input method will ever work. Other brands of Android phones have no such problems and I heard a custom ROM might circumvent this problem, which is why I want to use a custom ROM

 

[williamj1]

Neither do I but miui is aosp based and the devs are excellent so I would imagine it does.
What's the harm in backing up current rom, doing a wipe, flashing miui and seeing if its what you need. If not just restore nandroid

Yup - I don't see any reason why it wouldn't? As I and Rasta said, if you do a nandroid you can just flash back to sense with everything as you left it, no need to reinstall apps etc.

If you do want to give Miui a go, this is the link. However there are a ton of different roms from all over the world. Probably one of the highest regarded and most commonly used is the one I use. Link below.

xda-developers - View Single Post - [rom]MIUI 1.1.28 Stability, Memory optimizations and more

Note: You need to make an ext partition if you don't already have on your sd card before you flash this ROM, as it uses A2SD giving you way more storage

Also, if you want to see themes and so on, here is the proper Miui thread.

[rom]MIUI 1.1.28 Stability, Memory optimizations and more - xda-developers

If you do decide to go ahead, NANDROID! and also, remember to backup apps + data with something like titanium backup or mybackup root.


Give us a shout if you want help flashing etc

EDIT:

MEGA NEWS! IT CAN BE ADDED TO MIUI!

(Bluetooth HID for MIUI - xda-developers)

 

[Red_Avatar]

I probably will need help. I'm pretty good at doing things but not when there's so many gaps and assumptions made. Stuff like:

Boot into clockworks recovery and do a full cleanup (i always do data/factory reset - dalvik - ext+ format)

... is pretty headache inducing - you need to look up everything and the net is full of useless posts.

 

[williamj1]

I probably will need help. I'm pretty good at doing things but not when there's so many gaps and assumptions made. Stuff like:




... is pretty headache inducing - you need to look up everything and the net is full of useless posts.

Boot into clockworks means turn off the phone, boot into the normal recovery bit (hold volume down + power) until the white screen, then wait a minute, scroll down to recovery and select. A cleanup means deleting everything.

But before you do any of this, backup apps + data + anything you need using titaniumbackup or mybackup root. Then download rom manager and partition the sd card. Only having done all this should you do what the post said.

My Noob's guide to rooting might help with bits of this... (link in sig).

 

[SUroot]

Also read my faqs