Root What is the difference between AOSP and Sense Roms?

[irvs101]

Hi all, can someone please explain to me the difference of AOSP roms and Sense Roms. I don't care about the sense UI particularly I just want an easy to use UI thats intuitive and I actually get to use the potential of my device. Having said that is there something I'm missing about the Sense UI, is there a massive advantage to it, I do use a few widgets, nothing necessary but I do find them convenient.

I suppose what I'm asking is in dot point form is:

-What's both types of roms advantages and disadvantages?
-People's opinions on roms they have used?

Sorry if I've made a new thread for a topic that's gone over and over it's just I couldn't find these answers anywhere. Thanks

James

 

[SUroot]

It's in the rooting faq in the sticky thread at the top of this forum. As with many forums, you always start with the sticky



I prefer aosp

 

[ardchoille]

Hi all, can someone please explain to me the difference of AOSP roms and Sense Roms. I don't care about the sense UI particularly I just want an easy to use UI thats intuitive and I actually get to use the potential of my device. Having said that is there something I'm missing about the Sense UI, is there a massive advantage to it, I do use a few widgets, nothing necessary but I do find them convenient.

I suppose what I'm asking is in dot point form is:

-What's both types of roms advantages and disadvantages?
-People's opinions on roms they have used?

Sorry if I've made a new thread for a topic that's gone over and over it's just I couldn't find these answers anywhere. Thanks

James

AOSP stands for Android Open Source Project and is what you would get if you bought a Nexus phone. This is software directly from Google and isn't skinned other than the theme Google uses in their code. The main advantage of an AOSP phone is that updates come faster because they come directly from Google and don't have to pass through a manufacturer first. another advantage is that the ROM is smaller being that it doesn't contain all of the skinned UI elements (theme, widgets, bloatware, etc.) that manufacturers throw in.

Sense is htc's skinned ROM. What happened here is htc took AOSP, skinned it to make a Sense ROM, added widgets and other apps that the carrier might think the user would like. The advantage is a better looking, in my opinion, UI than AOSP. The disadvantage is that htc must grab AOSP each time it's released by Google and skin it before sending it to your phone. That is if they want to do it at all. One of the problems here is that manufacturers don't have to mess with it at all. Motorola recently promised an upgrade to Cliq XT users and then found that their skin (called Blur) would be too difficult to implement so they changed their mind and told their users the Cliq XT wouldn't receive any further upgrades.

I prefer AOSP because it's faster and leaner than a manufacturer skinned ROM.

 

[SUroot]

AOSP stands for Android Open Source Project and is what you would get if you bought a Nexus phone. This is software directly from Google.

Sense is htc's skinned ROM. What happened here is htc took AOSP and skinned it to make a Sense ROM.

To the user it would seem like that but its massively more than skinning it.

 

[irvs101]

Yeah, I understand as much and thanks for the input, what I meant though is what's the specific differences and what are the advantages because as far as I can gather the Sense UI is bulky and slow comparatively, do all AOSP roms support widgets? If not do some? I just can't find definitive answers to these questions.

 

[ardchoille]

Yeah, I understand as much and thanks for the input, what I meant though is what's the specific differences and what are the advantages because as far as I can gather the Sense UI is bulky and slow comparatively, do all AOSP roms support widgets? If not do some? I just can't find definitive answers to these questions.

I think the closest you'll get to an AOSP ROM is CyanogenMod. Visit this page and see if your phone is supported. If it is supported, try CyanogenMod and see how you like it. I run it on my Evo 4G and love it.

 

[SUroot]

I think the closest you'll get to an AOSP ROM is CyanogenMod. Visit this page and see if your phone is supported. If it is supported, try CyanogenMod and see how you like it. I run it on my Evo 4G and love it.

Sorry, I dont mean to be on your case here but with the exception of miui, Cyanogen is the least pure aosp of all aosp Roms. Where cm and gingervillain are about 80% pure aosp, we have oxygen and redux at about 95% pure and devnull at about 99% pure


@op, if you read the sticky thread... there are various faqs and guides for you. Also is a link to the best HTC desire Rom repository known to man

 

[Rastaman-FB]

Yeah, I understand as much and thanks for the input, what I meant though is what's the specific differences and what are the advantages because as far as I can gather the Sense UI is bulky and slow comparatively, do all AOSP roms support widgets? If not do some? I just can't find definitive answers to these questions.

people cannot honestly answer that
what is one mans advantage is another mans disadvantage.
Its purely subjective and as such it is advised to back up your rom and test another till you find that sweet spot.

ive used many roms and each have had things i both loved and hated. im now settled on cm 7.0.3 light but im pretty sure ill move in a couple of months

 

[Hadron]

Yeah, I understand as much and thanks for the input, what I meant though is what's the specific differences and what are the advantages because as far as I can gather the Sense UI is bulky and slow comparatively, do all AOSP roms support widgets? If not do some? I just can't find definitive answers to these questions.

All AOSP ROMs support widgets - that's a general android feature. They can't use the HTC widgets, because those require the Sense launcher, which itself requires the rest of the Sense software framework, but there are alternatives available from the market.

That brings up another point: the main thing you interact with is a program called a launcher. This provides the homescreens the widgets live on and the app drawer. As well as the basic android launcher, or manufactures' ones like Sense, there are alternative launchers you can install from the market. The most popular are Go Launcher, Launcher Pro, ADW, but there are lightweight ones like Zeam or launchers which copy the Windows Phone 7 or Palm WebOS look. These often add features such as supporting widgets that scroll (for agendas, messages) or changing the number of homescreens. These can be run with any ROM in place of what comes with it.

Personally I also prefer AOSP.

 

[irvs101]

Thanks all, I'm going to try a AOSP rom, one more question, I've backed up my current rom, where does the img goto on my sd card so i can put it on my pc?

 

[Rastaman-FB]

usually clockworkmod/backups/
if its amonRA its nandroid/htxxxxxx/

 

[Rastaman-FB]

there is also HELauncher which mimics manufacturers launchers and is light weight and supports scrolling widgets

 

[Slug]

Arguing about "purity" of an AOSP-based ROM is an exercise in futility, as the whole point of "open source" is surely to allow developers to use the code as a basis for their own 'product'?

As Rastaman wisely suggested, it's all a matter of personal taste. The vanilla ROMs have the advantages of less resource footprint and almost infinite customisation thanks to third-party launchers, Home replacements, themes etc. With careful optimisation though a Sense-based ROM can still be pretty snappy too, so make that nandroid backup, dive in, and explore what's available. If you don't like one, restore your previous favourite and look for something else. Be warned though, it can become a bit of an obsession.... I've currently got six ROMs backed up on my Z, two of which are AOSP-based, three use Sense (one is the stock ROM) and another that uses the Acer Liquid UI.

 

[SUroot]

I've currently got six ROMs backed up on my Z, two of which are AOSP-based, three use Sense (one is the stock ROM)

I daren't even count mine

 

[ardchoille]

Be warned though, it can become a bit of an obsession....

You aint kidding! I'm already in need of a 12 step program.

 

[Usta]

My preference is also ASOP lightweight ROMs. I like my ROM to be small and light where I can put only the things I need. I've rooted to increase the performance of my phone and get more internal storage. ASOP ROMs allow me to achieve this.

 

[SUroot]

My preference is also ASOP lightweight ROMs. I like my ROM to be small and light where I can put only the things I need. I've rooted to increase the performance of my phone and get more internal storage. ASOP ROMs allow me to achieve this.

I concur. I cut my ROM down drastically. VPN, Text to speech, all the car stuff - I dont use. I'm not fussed about Cyanogen settings and the space they take up. I take one of the lightest roms and make it lighter. It suits me perfectly.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

I concur. I cut my ROM down drastically. VPN, Text to speech, all the car stuff - I dont use. I'm not fussed about Cyanogen settings and the space they take up. I take one of the lightest roms and make it lighter. It suits me perfectly.

the thing i missed most is the lockscreen of cyanogen. the fact i can control power amp with the volume rocker sold me. i cant just squeeze my pocket and the track has changed

i never found out how to merge that with devnul or redux or i might have done it

 

[SUroot]

Yes I would like volume to do something. I use widget locker but I dont like the poweramp widget on there so I have to unlock even just to turn up volume.

 

[Rastaman-FB]

well with widget locket you can turn up the volumes etc just cannot forward and back

with cyan/gv you hold volup/down to skip tracks and tap to change volume. it makes so much sense and should be stock android imo

 

[SUroot]

well with widget locket you can turn up the volumes etc just cannot forward and back

with cyan/gv you hold volup/down to skip tracks and tap to change volume. it makes so much sense and should be stock android imo

I'll have to check that as I have it set but with poweramp I hadn't noticed any volume change.

 

[ducky1979]

Is it ok to rename nandroid backups to represent the Rom its for? I've got about 6 currently and I know roughly which is which but it would be a hell of a lot easier if I could just call them gv 2.3, redux 1.2 etc,

 

[SUroot]

yep

 

[Rastaman-FB]

I'll have to check that as I have it set but with poweramp I hadn't noticed any volume change.

you have to enable volume controls in widget lockers options. for some strange reason its disabled by default

 

[SUroot]

I set mine historically. Its still set.