Root The state of Sense ROM development - Why I am going AOSP

[ral]

A member ask me which Sense ROM I recommend. It was really hard to answer. The state of DHD ICS ROM development is dismal these days.

If you like AOSP/AOKP, you have two pretty good stable ROM choices:

1. aospX
2. Ice Cold Sandwich

If you are a flashaholic want to be on the cutting edge (and willing to have a few ups and downs along the way), you have JellyTime.

There are other AOSP/AOKP ROM's but these three alone meet every need.

With Sense development it is rather dismal. The most established development team still working on the DHD is probably Virtuous. But there last release for the DHD was Virtuous Infinity 1.33 back in August 2012. They seem to be concentrating more these days on building themes for the HTC One X and One S which are available on Google Play. A Sense 4.1 version is supposed to be in the works. Virtuous though has a history of abandoning a lot of its DHD projects.

You also have the Venom Team and torxx. TrickDroid (by torxx) is now discontinued and replaced by ViperDHD. TrickDroid Development was focused on adding more and more features and tweaks. Some basic issues were never resolved. Now it is replaced by ViperDHD which offers an amazing number of tweaks, but the ROM is plagued by some issues you already had on Virtuous Infinity three months ago. Same issues you would see in the last version of TrickDroid (scaling, battery life) or Virtuous (laggy) and has been pulled from XDA for now.

Its like we are moving horizontally here, just changing the Sense version number.

Sabsa Prime follows a similar route to TrickDoid/Venom development. Focus is on adding features than on basic stability. Install the latest 8.5 and you might be missing a dialer, some widgets., have no WiFi or other issues. Still, this one might be a good bet.

Blackout ICS, has released version 3.1.1, but only because finishing work on 3.2.0 is taking longer than expected. 3.2.0 will be the last version. 3.1.1 is hit or miss. Voice call quality is good for some users and bad for others. If voice call quality is bad, there is no fix. WiFi Hotspot is also not working. The Dev has hinted that the same issue might still be around with version 3.2.0 which will be the last. I don't know when this will be done. QD2DC, the lead developer of the Blackout Team is actually working on ViperDHD's interface. All this makes me feel like This together with the long delay since the 3.2.0 Beta tests makes you feel like the Team is loosing interest on the DHD.

Some basic decisions on ROM development are questionable, like the use of the Performance governor (runs full speed all the time with screen on or off, and only slows down when in deep sleep). This ROM can work well, but change the governor to smartassV2. This was an issue back with 3.0.0. After your flash the ROM, change the governor. Two versions later, it still has the same governor.

The other Sense ROM's... well development is slow, to the point you are wondering if they are dead.

So between Teams that focus on new features, which attract users who are willing to live with issues provided their phone looks like a HTC One X or a One S, and Teams which appear to be loosing interests, Sense ROM development for the DHD is in a dismal state.

In sum, while I love Sense, it would seem these days if a newbie asked me what ROM to flash, I would recommend aospX, JellyTime or Ice Cold Sandwich in that order.

existz of aospX has said that he will be getting a new Nexus phone after the DHD. He wan'ts to focus on building functionality rather than spending time and energy simply getting things stable and working.

I am starting to feel the same way. A Nexus will be my next phone too. Time to say goodbye to Sense.

In the future, with a HTC phone. You can expect the same thing. HTC to abandon ROM development and not give support to ROM Developers. This will again result in the absence of stable Sense ROM's. So why waste time with Sense?

These days, the best Sense ROM's are still based on Gingerbread.

 

[Ewoedo]

So you arw going to aospX?

 

[ral]

Sooner or later for sure. Maybe,keep Blackout 3.1.1/3.2.0 and enjoy Sense a bit longer. This is my last Sense phone so I may want to enjoy Sense while it is there.

Or maybe migrate to AOSP/AOKP now since that is what my next phone will be running.

Lets just say I am disappointed in official DHD Sense Development (HTC has stopped for the DHD). Unofficial ICS Sense Development looked so promising two-three months ago. Now I realized, well it is not going to result in a replacement for what should have been the last DHD stock ROM.

 

[davo26]

could it be that the DHD is just getting 'old' now and people are moving onto newer phones so less interest? my wife has the one s, which looks a cracking phone. i compare mine to hers and i just think im contract free, my screens bigger than hers, im rooted so can tailor my phone how i like it, so theres no reason to change. but we're moving on all the time. i remember rooting my old desire ad thinking ill keep this for ages. til i saw the DHD

i havent looked, but are the rooting forums for one x and s full of new roms and development all the time as theyre current?

have we become retro? :-D

 

[PopTarantula]

That's a fairly brutal yet honest & comprehensive assessment of the state of things in DHDland you have written, robin. I guess most if the hype re: keeping DHD alive was born in the back of getting official ICS (plus kernel 3.0). When HTC pulled that it kicked everyone in the nuts, especially the devs. From then on, it was like asking a mechanic to rebuild your car engine with a spoon & some sticky tape. Without the correct tools & parts it was simply down to who had more perseverance.

When you get devs arguing the toss over open source VS intellectual property, it's never going to end well. Fundamental flaws will remain unresolved while minor cosmetic problems will be reworked endlessly, & although Sense 3+ roms may well work better than HTC could ever have imagined possible, each will always have at least 1 unfixed major bug depending on device ported from.

So I too will shortly be changing handset.. not sure if Nexus 4 or SGS3 yet, & my DHD will then go back to stock and live it's retirement as a dedicated Sky Go compatible/mp3 player/bedside e-reader/etc..

Gingerbread with Sense 3.0... just as HTC intended..

 

[ral]

When you get devs arguing the toss over open source VS intellectual property, it's never going to end well.

You hit the nail on the head. I was disappointed that some Dev's used parts of other ROM's without proper attribution. At the same time I think attribution is all that should be required, and not permission, at least for that part of the code which leads to basic functionality. Tweaks, fine they can be "proprietary" if the Dev wants them to be.

There was an issue two months back about a camera app. The Dev who had the working camera has not released anything in some time, while an active Developer had continously been plagued by camera issues.

Now we have another similar issue it appears. You will have two teams resizing Sense 4.1 Rosie's. Wasted of time. They could share one Rosie.
When HTC was taking care of essentials and each Dev was building something on top of that. Now you have multiple Dev's going the same job.

The advantage of AOKP is they have CM to work from.

A little bit of cooperation and we could have better ROM's maybe.

 

[ral]

could it be that the DHD is just getting 'old' now and people are moving onto newer phones so less interest?

Yes you are correct about that. But look at it in another way. If you got a Nexus S instead, you would be twiddling your thumbs waiting for an official 4.2.

After official updates stop, you can always count on the Cyanogenmod team.

 

[HoboHorse]

Thanks for the summary on Sense ROMs Ral, very helpful. I was hoping to get a Jellybean with Sense ROM to try at some point in the future but it doesn't sound like it will happen...

 

[ral]

Once a Jelly Bean ROM comes out for the HTC One S, you will likely see one ported to the DHD. The bad part is not that you won't get a taste of the latest, but that older projects are likely to be 90% done.

 

[dvhttn]

could it be that the DHD is just getting 'old' now and people are moving onto newer phones so less interest? my wife has the one s, which looks a cracking phone. i compare mine to hers and i just think im contract free, my screens bigger than hers, im rooted so can tailor my phone how i like it, so theres no reason to change. but we're moving on all the time. i remember rooting my old desire ad thinking ill keep this for ages. til i saw the DHD

i havent looked, but are the rooting forums for one x and s full of new roms and development all the time as theyre current?

have we become retro? :-D

Nail and head I think.

Personally I run Pacman's JB ROM and am very pleased with it. The only issue I've found is that switching BT on sets the phone into 'vibrate' mode so sound is off. Annoying rather than a deal breaker.

Still waiting for the 64GB S3 to turn up in good ol' Blighty ....

Dave

 

[PopTarantula]

could it be that the DHD is just getting 'old' now and people are moving onto newer phones so less interest? my wife has the one s, which looks a cracking phone. i compare mine to hers and i just think im contract free, my screens bigger than hers, im rooted so can tailor my phone how i like it, so theres no reason to change. but we're moving on all the time. i remember rooting my old desire ad thinking ill keep this for ages. til i saw the DHD

i havent looked, but are the rooting forums for one x and s full of new roms and development all the time as theyre current?

have we become retro? :-D

Dunno if 'getting old' is the right phrase.. DHD can still hold it's own against most current models, and 'moving onto' is more like 'being forced onto' due to lack of manufacturer support. After all, it was HTC who declared ICS4DHD offered a bad user experience & pulled the update, thus giving Devs nothing to work with.

TBH, OneX & OneS dev forums are just as busy as DHD used to be, as those lovely HTC fanboys had to do something once DHD reached critical mass

 

[ral]

'moving onto' is more like 'being forced onto' due to lack of manufacturer support.

Linux does pretty well without manufacturer support. I rooted because HTC cancelled the DHD update. I have used Linux to revive old abandoned hardware, so it seemed like a good solution for Android phones. Been using Linux for long time now, and Android is Open Source, so I was expecting the same kind of thing. Watching the Dev's work, well, this is not the way Linux Distro's work.

The Cyanogenmod Team. That is Open Source at its best.

 

[Mehta23]

I understand Ral. It's ok. It's ok.
;-)
But how can you forget Android Revolution HD?
Sense 3 and ported Sense 3.5.

I had it as my first rom and it was pretty good apart from the rare bug.

 

[Ewoedo]

Turns out my time on the DHD is very short lived.
Found out (I wasn't meant to but I have my ways) that a certain someone is getting me a N4 for Xmas

 

[Mehta23]

You (blank).

£50 allowance this Xmas as going on holiday counts towards it apparently.

 

[ral]

I understand Ral. It's ok. It's ok.
;-)
But how can you forget Android Revolution HD?
Sense 3 and ported Sense 3.5.

I had it as my first rom and it was pretty good apart from the rare bug.

Actually, sometimes I wonder if I would not be better off back with that ROM.

Turns out my time on the DHD is very short lived.
Found out (I wasn't meant to but I have my ways) that a certain someone is getting me a N4 for Xmas

That's going to be so cool. Well, the DHD is officially two years old this month. I guess most if us will be moving on in the next few months.

 

[davo26]

Actually, sometimes I wonder if I would not be better off back with that ROM.

thats one of my few nandroids that id still go back to

That's going to be so cool. Well, the DHD is officially two years old this month. I guess most if us will be moving on in the next few months.

yeah, much as i love my DHD and see no reason to change it, ive always got one eye on newer phones to compare them. as of yet mine still wins :-D

btw...... whats so good about the N4? why are we talking about this instead of one x or x+? curious to know how it compares, and why knowledgeable chaps like yourselves are considering it over the one, which seems the natural progression

 

[ral]

A quad core Krait is a good reason. But it is more the other reality. A Nexus phone will get updates faster and longer than an HTC phone. Rooting a phone and going to custom ROM's won't solve the lack of manufacturer support.

ROM development does better at improving official ROM's rather than porting over ROM's from other devices.

When it comes to porting ROM's, AOKP developers can count on support from the Cyanogenmod Team. Sense ROM developers, well it is the wild, wild West.

The Nexus S will probably see until Android 4.2 at least. This is a late 2010/early 2011 model.

I doubt the Sensation, Desire Service and Incredible S released later will see Jelly Bean officially.

Basically, I am peeved by what had been going on the DHD Sense ROM development as of late. If not Sense, why HTC?

Now, if they could cooperate more...

 

[Ewoedo]

I'm Liking the N4 as I prefer AOSP/AOKP, as Ral said really great support for updates etc and it has specs to match the Galaxy S3 for a cheaper price. I also find it more visually appealing than the S3 and again I would prefer pure android out of the box.

Lack of LTE doesn't effect me since I am in Australia so the only real downside is no remove able battery and no SD support. Although 8Gb is enough for my usage let alone 16gb, so for my particular needs no remove able battery is the only downside.


Sorry if this is a bit long.

 

[PopTarantula]

....so the only real downside is no remove able battery.....
..... no remove able battery is the only downside

as the man on the interweb said.. 2 screws.. boom!

not as easy as our DHD but so long as it doesn't invalidate warranty by cracking it open then no SD expansion is the only real issue with Nexus, which makes it better than current HTC (One series etc.. with integrated unit) & has the upside of being de-sensed/bloat-free as standard too.

 

[Ewoedo]

Nice! Well then it looks like the N4 is the perfect phone for me

I'm really excited =P

 

[ral]

Well am running AospX preparing for an N4/AOSP future. Will need your help to find more nice widgets. When I run Sense I have five nicely laid out home screens. On aospX, I used three (Tasks by Team Tasks on the left, AOSP agenda widget on the right, sexy girl, front and center).

 

[ral]

It looks like Blackout ROM development may have stopped for now. Life happens.

 

[CDPlant]

That's going to be so cool. Well, the DHD is officially two years old this month. I guess most if us will be moving on in the next few months.

Wow I can't believe it's been two years. It was one of the most powerful phones at the time and it's crazy to think how much technology improves over a relatively small amount of time. But despite its age I imagine there will still be a fair amount of development for it in the coming months. I know there won't be any new official versions of software but people can always improve on the ones that are there already

In a strange way I sort of miss the Gingerbread days. Maybe i'm just being nostalgic but I was always so excited for new CM builds or moving from 2.3.3 to 2.3.5 p) and ICS just never really cut it for me. I'm sure now there are some more stable versions but I don't have the phone anymore to try them out

In the future, with a HTC phone. You can expect the same thing. HTC to abandon ROM development and not give support to ROM Developers. This will again result in the absence of stable Sense ROM's. So why waste time with Sense?

There is an big hoo-ha going on for the Galaxy S3 as Samsung won't release any source code needed to get AOSP ROMs working, and probably never will despite it being a flagship device. It's kinda funny how the DHD has more stable AOSP ROMs than the GS3; there is so much broken on CM10 that it's not even worth giving it a try.

If you want pure Android (that works fully) then the Nexus seems like the only choice!

 

[ral]

The ironic part is that if you put together all the Sense ROM's, the only bug should be non-working keyboard buttons. What is broken in one Sense ICS ROM is working in another.