Root Moved from Sense to CM7, few questions

[DarkMeister]

Been using a Sense ROM for the 6 months I have had the phone and just took the leap to CM7. Already flashed the gapps pack, so I have the market and such. Liking the speed difference, but just trying to get used to the "Vanilla-ness" of the ROM and have a few questions.

1. I know how the ADW launcher works, but can you flash APK's like sense to change individual things? (battery display, ICS clock/wallpapers, etc) Instead of completely changing the whole theme.

2. Where is the best place to look for any CM7 mods? Been looking through EVO 4G Themes and Apps - xda-developers, but I didn't know if there was a place more centralized to ONLY show CM7 themes and such.

Probably dumb questions, just new to an AOSP ROM. You guys rock and I figured someone here would know

Thanks!
Dark

 

[gamblor01]

1. I know how the ADW launcher works, but can you flash APK's like sense to change individual things? (battery display, ICS clock/wallpapers, etc) Instead of completely changing the whole theme.

Absolutely, but these types of changes are generally very ROM-specific, so you do not want to flash mods from other ROMs to your CM7 phone. It will have to be built specifically for that ROM. For example, the battery icons are in framework-res.apk if I remember correctly (at least on the Sense ROMs I have messed with like MikG). There are XML files that have to be tweaked to tell it which icon to display at which percentage level, as well as the actual images themselves. This .apk file controls much more than just those battery icons though, so flashing one from another ROM will at the very least change other icons besides the battery icons. Most likely it would just wreak havoc though and possibly screw up the entire notifications bar. That's why you always backup before flashing anything though.

2. Where is the best place to look for any CM7 mods? Been looking through EVO 4G Themes and Apps - xda-developers, but I didn't know if there was a place more centralized to ONLY show CM7 themes and such.

I haven't messed with CM7...I had so many little issues with it that I have given up for now. You probably want to start with the CM forums though:

CyanogenMod Forum




By the way, I highly recommend ditching ADW for Go Launcher EX. It is fantastic, and is highly customizable. You can even customize one particular icon for an app on your home screen (or in Go launcher's dock). Or you can install a theme and change every icon at once. You can also change animations and so on -- it's unreal how awesome it is! I use a few Sense widgets though so I had to find replacements for them in the market (which wasn't too hard):

- Fancy Widgets to replace the clock/weather widget. Works like a champ -- tap the weather to see the extended forecast, tap the hours to enter in the alarm clocks settings, and tap the minutes to get into the widget settings (you can change themes, transparency, etc.).

- Android Pro Widgets has a calendar widget that is very similar to the Sense calendar. It also works like a champ. If you want to see events from Facebook you can export your FB calendar to your Google calendar. This is a decent post I found. It's essentially the same steps I took when I tried it:

How to Export Facebook Events to Google Calendar

- Elixir2 (and the corresponding Elixir2 widgets) for the 4G/Wifi/Bluetooth/GPS toggle switches. I preferred mine on the home screen instead of being in the notification tray so I disabled that in CM7 and just used Elixir. I added a 5th widget to it too -- so I could toggle between normal/vibrate/silent ringer.



I also think the default Android dialer sucks so you can check out Go Contacts Ex. It has a dialer that functions much like Sense. Also, the default Android keyboard is terrible so I would recommend you check out Smart Keyboard or SwiftkeyX. I prefer smart keyboard myself but either one can be highly customized to meet your needs.

 

[DarkMeister]

Wow, thank you so much. Very informative.

I was already thinking about ditching ADW as I keep having random force closes with it anyway. Will get the Go Launcher EX as it sounds exactly like something I am looking for, a way to just change one or two things here within a theme without flashing a completely different one just for one feature.

Really like Elixir2. Been running it for a while, but didn't know you could make widgets with it (mainly used it to see what was running in my sense ROM draining my battery ). Have to dig a little deeper into it lol

Its a bit of a learning curve, but overall I am liking it better than sense.

Thanks again, you helped out a ton!

Dark

 

[gamblor01]

Wow, thank you so much. Very informative.

I was already thinking about ditching ADW as I keep having random force closes with it anyway. Will get the Go Launcher EX as it sounds exactly like something I am looking for, a way to just change one or two things here within a theme without flashing a completely different one just for one feature.

Really like Elixir2. Been running it for a while, but didn't know you could make widgets with it (mainly used it to see what was running in my sense ROM draining my battery ). Have to dig a little deeper into it lol

Its a bit of a learning curve, but overall I am liking it better than sense.

Thanks again, you helped out a ton!

Dark

No problem! Just to let you know, Elixir2 widgets is a totally separate app that you will need to download from the market. It relies on Elixir2 though so you have to download both. To save space they recommend that you move Elixir2 to your sd card (but the widget must remain installed in the phone's memory to function properly however).

Also, Go launcher will only theme stuff on your home screen. Everything in the notification bar would have to be done by obtaining a new apk. Typically this is done by flashing it in recovery, but if you know what you're doing then you can build and sign the apk yourself, and then just use adb to install it. For example, this is what I did when I swapped out my battery images. After tweaking the XML files and changing the image files I just built the new apk, signed it, and then ran this in adb:

# adb shell stop
# adb push framework-res.apk /system/framework
# adb shell start

Again -- always nandroid backup before changing anything like that though.

 

[MizzouBrent]

Absolutely, but these types of changes are generally very ROM-specific, so you do not want to flash mods from other ROMs to your CM7 phone. It will have to be built specifically for that ROM. For example, the battery icons are in framework-res.apk if I remember correctly (at least on the Sense ROMs I have messed with like MikG). There are XML files that have to be tweaked to tell it which icon to display at which percentage level, as well as the actual images themselves. This .apk file controls much more than just those battery icons though, so flashing one from another ROM will at the very least change other icons besides the battery icons. Most likely it would just wreak havoc though and possibly screw up the entire notifications bar. That's why you always backup before flashing anything though.




I haven't messed with CM7...I had so many little issues with it that I have given up for now. You probably want to start with the CM forums though:

CyanogenMod Forum




By the way, I highly recommend ditching ADW for Go Launcher EX. It is fantastic, and is highly customizable. You can even customize one particular icon for an app on your home screen (or in Go launcher's dock). Or you can install a theme and change every icon at once. You can also change animations and so on -- it's unreal how awesome it is! I use a few Sense widgets though so I had to find replacements for them in the market (which wasn't too hard):

- Fancy Widgets to replace the clock/weather widget. Works like a champ -- tap the weather to see the extended forecast, tap the hours to enter in the alarm clocks settings, and tap the minutes to get into the widget settings (you can change themes, transparency, etc.).

- Android Pro Widgets has a calendar widget that is very similar to the Sense calendar. It also works like a champ. If you want to see events from Facebook you can export your FB calendar to your Google calendar. This is a decent post I found. It's essentially the same steps I took when I tried it:

How to Export Facebook Events to Google Calendar

- Elixir2 (and the corresponding Elixir2 widgets) for the 4G/Wifi/Bluetooth/GPS toggle switches. I preferred mine on the home screen instead of being in the notification tray so I disabled that in CM7 and just used Elixir. I added a 5th widget to it too -- so I could toggle between normal/vibrate/silent ringer.



I also think the default Android dialer sucks so you can check out Go Contacts Ex. It has a dialer that functions much like Sense. Also, the default Android keyboard is terrible so I would recommend you check out Smart Keyboard or SwiftkeyX. I prefer smart keyboard myself but either one can be highly customized to meet your needs.

I agree with basically everything written here. It's like I wrote it or something. I would add a couple things. The gowidgets that work with go launcher are pretty cool and I would highly recommend them. Also CM7 Jass theme chooser so you can download themes and change them quickly and easily without nand restoring. Just go on the market and search for CM7 themes and you can find a bunch of free ones.

 

[gamblor01]

Also CM7 Jass theme chooser so you can download themes and change them quickly and easily without nand restoring. Just go on the market and search for CM7 themes and you can find a bunch of free ones.

Thanks...I forgot to mention that. The themes will also change some of the icons, but the icon theme settings in GO Launcher seem to override the CM7 theme anyway. I saw that some of the themes in the market even explicitly state that they are only for modding the notification bar too, though not many appeared to be this specific.


I reinstalled CM7 (this time the stock version, not the ICS themed one) and have been configuring it. I have almost everything working how I want it. The only issues I am running into still are:

1. Some of my Facebook contacts are missing photos in the dialer/contacts screens (this is an issue with the default dialer as well as GO dialer). It seems hit or miss and I can't figure out why it doesn't work even though I have set the FB app to sync with my existing contacts. The contacts missing photos are both in my google contacts as well as friends on FB. It's a little strange and it happens for people with an exact matching name in FB and my google contacts. It is not for nick names (see next item, which is also an issue). I have tried resyncing contacts for both google and FB but it doesn't seem to help.


2. In Sense I am able to link custom FB profiles with certain names. An example of this would be that my mom is stored as "Mom" in my google contacts instead of her first/last name. For this reason her Facebook info isn't pulled into the contact info on my phone. In a Sense ROM I can edit her contact info and then configure a custom link, where I select her FB profile so that it pulls in the appropriate data. Is there any way to accomplish this in CM7/GO contacts? I tried putting in her full name and then adding "Mom" to the nick name field. After that I synced google and FB contacts but it didn't seem to change anything.


3. I haven't configured voicemail yet. MizzouBrent, you said in the other thread:

And to use google voice and integrate with your sprint number can be a pain in my opinion because it will start routing your texts through google voice but you can change the setting in the app to forward notifications as text messages. What I prefer is to get a separate google voice number and use Sprint's conditional call forwarding to send all phone calls to your google voice mailbox. This sounds complicated but it only takes a couple minutes and you only have to do it one time. I've never had any voicemail issues when flashing from rom to rom.

Can you provide some further steps on how to accomplish this? Is the conditional call forwarding something that I need to sign into sprint.com to configure? Also, there are options in CM7 for configuring voicemail so do I enter in my google voice number there instead of my Sprint number? Some clarification on the steps required in google voice/Sprint/CM7 would be greatly appreciated -- and hopefully help out many others!

 

[gamblor01]

One other thing I forgot to mention, there are some folks that have modded the default HTC keyboard and you can install it in CM7. I downloaded from the first link on this thread (see the link for High Resolution v27 for Android 2.2/Froyo):

[MOD] HTC_IME v27 by Jonasl: New Thread! - xda-developers


Just extract the .zip file and install the 2 apk files. It works great! I really like that you can assign custom gestures, just like the previous 2 keyboards I mentioned. My only complaint is that it doesn't have the arrow keys on it. This is something that you can enable in Smart keyboard however. However, my only problem with Smart keyboard is that it places the toggle button for letters/numbers on the left side of the space bar instead of right (which is the location in HTC_IME.apk). This just throws me off because I'm so used to having it on the right side. Maybe I'll put that in as a feature request to them and buy their keyboard if they implement it for me.

I don't know...I just grew accustomed to the default HTC_IME keyboard so without arrow keys the letter keys are larger and my muscle memory isn't precise any longer, which causes me to have lots of typos. I find it tedious to drag the little cursor around to get to a spot I want to edit too. I personally think the arrow keys help to navigate to an exact location but use whatever works for you. I have thrown out 3 possible options that I believe are all considerably better than the default keyboard...

 

[takirb]

1. Some of my Facebook contacts are missing photos in the dialer/contacts screens (this is an issue with the default dialer as well as GO dialer). It seems hit or miss and I can't figure out why it doesn't work even though I have set the FB app to sync with my existing contacts. The contacts missing photos are both in my google contacts as well as friends on FB. It's a little strange and it happens for people with an exact matching name in FB and my google contacts. It is not for nick names (see next item, which is also an issue). I have tried resyncing contacts for both google and FB but it doesn't seem to help.

I hate that issue with AOSP ROM's. Only way i've found to get my contacts' pics sync'd with FB is using SyncMyPix from the market. I set it to sync once a week, and it works. If the name in your contact list isn't the same as on their FB though, i'm not sure how to get that linked. In Sense you'd just link the 2 contacts, but I don't see a way of doing that in AOSP, and haven't looked to see if there's a manual option in SyncMyPix yet.

 

[takirb]

One other thing I forgot to mention, there are some folks that have modded the default HTC keyboard and you can install it in CM7. I downloaded from the first link on this thread (see the link for High Resolution v27 for Android 2.2/Froyo):

[MOD] HTC_IME v27 by Jonasl: New Thread! - xda-developers

I've tried this keyboard. It did work, and no FC's like some of the other Sense KB's on AOSP. Only problem i had was that it wasn't multitouch. This caused me to have a few more typos, and forced me to type a tad slower. To test multitouch - while holding down one key, press another. If it allows you to, it's multitouch, if not, it isn't. Most keyboards these days are multitouch, which will help a good bit in type speed as you don't have to fully let go of one key to select the next. Just my $.02, i have it as a backup in case Better Keyboard screws up.

 

[MizzouBrent]

To link your facebook contacts on an AOSP rom, go into contacts and long press. Select "edit contact". Then once it loads the edit screen, press menu and select "join". It will pull up a list and you can then join your regular contact to the corresponding facebook account. It's kind of a pain, but you only have to do it once. I've noticed that it's most common with people that have their maiden name on FB included in their name, but they might not appear that way in your phone. I also have a couple issues with people who I set up as google contacts before getting my Evo. But that step should allow you to link them together. No other apps are necessary.

For the Google voice setup, it's a two part process.

Go to voice.google.com and get a google voice account set up. Be sure that you do NOT choose to integrate your current phone number to Gvoice....you want to choose an all new number. I forget the exact steps, but it only takes a couple of minutes to set it up.

So once you get your google voice number set up, you want to utilize Sprint's conditional call forwarding feature. It's free. It will forward calls from your sprint number to your google number if you don't answer the call. This is the list of codes, so you can choose whatever one you want. I think I just did *28 since your phone would never really show as "busy" anyway. If you enter the code, it should prompt you for what number you'd like to forward to, and just enter your google voice number. Now you're good to go.

Make sure in the app that you log out (if you're already using it) and log in again. Follow the instructions carefully, there are a couple steps you can skip if you're not using the full integration.

 

[takirb]

To link your facebook contacts on an AOSP rom, go into contacts and long press. Select "edit contact". Then once it loads the edit screen, press menu and select "join". It will pull up a list and you can then join your regular contact to the corresponding facebook account. It's kind of a pain, but you only have to do it once. I've noticed that it's most common with people that have their maiden name on FB included in their name, but they might not appear that way in your phone. I also have a couple issues with people who I set up as google contacts before getting my Evo. But that step should allow you to link them together. No other apps are necessary.

That's the method used in Sense, but i haven't found the "join" option on AOSP ROM's. I'll look again, as i'm about to flash MIUI again so i'll try that right off the bat.

 

[takirb]

That's the method used in Sense, but i haven't found the "join" option on AOSP ROM's. I'll look again, as i'm about to flash MIUI again so i'll try that right off the bat.

Worky worky on MIUI, thanks!

 

[gamblor01]

To link your facebook contacts on an AOSP rom, go into contacts and long press. Select "edit contact". Then once it loads the edit screen, press menu and select "join". It will pull up a list and you can then join your regular contact to the corresponding facebook account.

D'oh! I didn't even think about hitting menu once I was editing a contact. I'll restore CM7 and give that a shot. I'm still not even sure that I'm going to use CM7 ultimately, but this is great info to have!

So once you get your google voice number set up, you want to utilize Sprint's conditional call forwarding feature. It's free. It will forward calls from your sprint number to your google number if you don't answer the call. This is the list of codes, so you can choose whatever one you want. I think I just did *28 since your phone would never really show as "busy" anyway. If you enter the code, it should prompt you for what number you'd like to forward to, and just enter your google voice number. Now you're good to go.

Yeah I already have a separate GV number so I'm set there. I don't see a list of codes (maybe you forgot to link to it) but I did some google searches and found the info. You're right about *28. Looks like this conditional forwarding is free, though unconditional forwarding costs money (unless you have the simply everything plan). Here is info for others on how to enable/disable conditional call forwarding from your Sprint phone:

*28 + Area Code + 7-Digit-Number to activate

*38 to de-activate



So if I want to forward to the number 123-456-7890 when my phone line is busy or not answered, then simply open the dialer and enter in *281234567890. You can enter *38 to turn it off.

This link here has info on what the codes mean. Hopefully it's still accurate:

Sprint Community: Help! How do you set up call forwarding...

 

[MizzouBrent]

Crap yes I had the link and got so wrapped up in typing that I forgot to post it.

 

[MizzouBrent]

D'oh! I didn't even think about hitting menu once I was editing a contact. I'll restore CM7 and give that a shot. I'm still not even sure that I'm going to use CM7 ultimately, but this is great info to have!




Yeah I already have a separate GV number so I'm set there. I don't see a list of codes (maybe you forgot to link to it) but I did some google searches and found the info. You're right about *28. Looks like this conditional forwarding is free, though unconditional forwarding costs money (unless you have the simply everything plan). Here is info for others on how to enable/disable conditional call forwarding from your Sprint phone:

*28 + Area Code + 7-Digit-Number to activate

*38 to de-activate



So if I want to forward to the number 123-456-7890 when my phone line is busy or not answered, then simply open the dialer and enter in *281234567890. You can enter *38 to turn it off.

This link here has info on what the codes mean. Hopefully it's still accurate:

Sprint Community: Help! How do you set up call forwarding...

And yes that's all correct.