I would really appreciate some help with a project that I am hoping to start soon. I would REALLY like to get Sense launcher (Rosie) working on a non-HTC phone, specifically the ZTE Force 4g. I am asking for help from Droid Incredible 4g devs, because of the similarity of the platforms.
Both phones are MSM8690, both LTE, both 1GB ram, both are stock ICS 4.0.3.
What I don't know is how well this might go. That's where I need your expertise!
You see, I am sort of an HTC junkie. My last 4 phones were HTC's and I am very used to the Sense UI. There is not a whole lot of development going on for my phone (you can check it out on androidforums.com in the ZTE Force 4G - All Things Root forum).. Basically there is a CM10 port which lacks bluetooth and wifi capability, the stock rom, a rooted debloated stock rom (DroidForce, which is nice btw, and what I plan to use for a base). Also, a JB rom which is so new that pretty much nothing works. The Kernel sources for my phone JUST got released, and many are using the matrix kernel ported from the Avid. I feel that it would be good to add a little variety for ZTE Force users, and if I can bring together a Sense modded ROM for the community it would be nice.
Yes, I know that Sense is not often ported to other platforms due to the difficulty, and this thread will hopefully help me assess the doability of the project.
My first question, for those of you in the know, is what is the kernel version of the first stock rom on Droid Incredible 4g? If it is 3.0.8 then that is another thing that these phones share in common.
My first Sense related question is also about the kernel. Are there dependencies (modules, whatever) in the HTC kernel that are required for sense to work? I have read that there may be but have not seen this confirmed.
Next question would be about the screen resolution. The Force 4g is 480x800 while Incredible 4G is 540x960, both are 4". If this did theoretically make it to the point of testing, will the launcher screens and icons scale automatically, or will each graphic have to be resized? If resized, how complicated would that get?
Aside from the possibility of kernel dependencies, the next most important question is, "What exactly do I need?" This is where I would probably need the most help from you guys. If this is even possible to attempt, I don't know which frameworks I would need to add, what apks and files to rip from the Incredible 4g rom. All of the very detailed stuff which I know some of you guys know, I will need to learn.
I know probably most of you might possibly think that this idea is dumb and just say "Buy an HTC", but because of budgetary constraints I could not get a 4g HTC and use it on my carrier (Boost btw). I have the HTC Evo design 4G and it was on Boost but it's WiMax and we all know that is a dead duck.
So is anyone willing to give me some answers to the questions above? If there is a possibility of this working (any version of Sense would be fine) then I would greatly appreciate some guidance! I'd really rather not go the route of another launcher skinned like sense. That seems lame to me. Plus, I dig a challenge!
Thanks for taking the time to read and I thank you in advance for any responses!
Cheers!
-SimStim
Guess I'll just dive into this on my own..
Wish me luck?
Related
Hey guys,a couple of days ago(or was it yesterday?) I stumbled upon this article at Phonearena,which pretty much states that HTC is making Sense open source.First of all,I personally believe it's very nice of HTC to respect developers with their latest actions.But I chose to jump ship for Samsung's better hardware(My f*@%@$ng GS2 isn't here yet ).
So,my question to you guys is,could this help things for porting Sense to the SGS2?I think it would help very very much.The time and effort needed will probably be dramatically reduced,so more devs may choose to make Sense ports for other devices.UNLESS it only has to do with modifying Sense and cannot help us.
And I beg you guys,do not flame me.I just prefer Sense over TouchWiz or Vanilla Android.Don't tell me I should have gone for an HTC device if I wanted Sense,that's not this community's spirit.
Thanks in advance!
I highly doubt they are "opening" sense. To me it looks like they are making it easier to develop sense specific apps (3d api and magic pen api). So no help in porting sense.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
tolis626 said:
Hey guys,a couple of days ago(or was it yesterday?) I stumbled upon this article at Phonearena,which pretty much states that HTC is making Sense open source.First of all,I personally believe it's very nice of HTC to respect developers with their latest actions.But I chose to jump ship for Samsung's better hardware(My f*@%@$ng GS2 isn't here yet ).
So,my question to you guys is,could this help things for porting Sense to the SGS2?I think it would help very very much.The time and effort needed will probably be dramatically reduced,so more devs may choose to make Sense ports for other devices.UNLESS it only has to do with modifying Sense and cannot help us.
And I beg you guys,do not flame me.I just prefer Sense over TouchWiz or Vanilla Android.Don't tell me I should have gone for an HTC device if I wanted Sense,that's not this community's spirit.
Thanks in advance!
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Click to collapse
They're opening it up, not making it open! Very different. They're going to give access to certain APIs to help better integrate with 3rd party applications. But they're not going to give their delicious, fattening and buttery (and not to mention ONLY) creation to keep people on HTC .
I honestly think it's a lot of eye candy, give me a good widget any day
Oh...So I suppose it won't help in any way?
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
They are just opening it up so developers can write apps for their bloatware ui.
It will help developers/companies to make applications/widgets/whatever that run on Sense.
They are not making the source code of Sense available.
Sad... I also hoped this will help to port over Sense...
XOOM got ICS port right now, with everything working well (except face unlock, but hey...)
does that mean anything for us Flyer/View-owners? is it possible to port it to our tablet?
would love ics on the flyer
EDIT: Link: http://www.xda-developers.com/android/highly-functioning-cm9-kang-released-for-the-xoom/
what does it mean to us? That the xoom got an ics port, nothing more or less.
Different hardware types and kernels mean xoom with ics is meaningless to us.
My guess is he was asking if there was a way to port it and mod it to work. What we really need to hope for of CM9.x to arrive that will support the Flyer/Evo View.
Snow_fox said:
what does it mean to us? That the xoom got an ics port, nothing more or less.
Different hardware types and kernels mean xoom with ics is meaningless to us.
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hahha somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or are you always this negative? haha relax
im not stupid, i know that its a diffrent tablet, but this kinds of ports are being done almost daily.
as this fella mentioned, i was thinking of a mod, to get it to work.
He's not being grouchy, just straight forward. You cannot port a ROM complied for a completely different family of hardware and get it to function in any conceivable fashion. You'd be better off with a SDK build of ICS which would possibly boot if you hacked in a boot image, but none of the HTC specific hardware like camera, BT or video would function. There are already efforts underway to build ICS ROMs. Since ICS is built on top of HC, we have most of the pieces to build a vanilla ROM (no HTC Sense). Once HTC comes out with a working HTC device ICS ROM on hardware that is similar to the Flyer (yes some of their phones use similar hardware) that will be the port we want for ICS /Sense Roms.
I would love to have ICS on this device. Considering how much dev interest the blowout sales have generated I think its possible. But I am not going to how my breathe. I have a galaxy nexus but my evo view is still my primary device due to its pen and large screen. My wishlist for the next iteration of this device is: lighter, ICS, sprint 4g LTE in that exact order
Hopefully the fire sales have pushed HTC to keep going.
psijac said:
I would love to have ICS on this device. Considering how much dev interest the blowout sales have generated I think its possible. But I am not going to how my breathe. I have a galaxy nexus but my evo view is still my primary device due to its pen and large screen. My wishlist for the next iteration of this device is: lighter, ICS, sprint 4g LTE in that exact order
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Click to collapse
Reading about ICS on Prime on engadget has made me interested in ICS as well.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/10/hands-on-with-ice-cream-sandwich-on-asus-transformer-prime/
DigitalMD said:
He's not being grouchy, just straight forward. You cannot port a ROM complied for a completely different family of hardware and get it to function in any conceivable fashion. You'd be better off with a SDK build of ICS which would possibly boot if you hacked in a boot image, but none of the HTC specific hardware like camera, BT or video would function. There are already efforts underway to build ICS ROMs. Since ICS is built on top of HC, we have most of the pieces to build a vanilla ROM (no HTC Sense). Once HTC comes out with a working HTC device ICS ROM on hardware that is similar to the Flyer (yes some of their phones use similar hardware) that will be the port we want for ICS /Sense Roms.
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Click to collapse
yeah i know, but since ive seen others with ics, that made me a bit inpaitient
htc sensation got the ics leaked, and maybe someone can start by playing with that one.
and i dont really care if its manilla or sense, both will do good dont think flyer/view will be getting any ICS official soon, since HC just was released.
if i seemed grouchy, it may be because I am a comp sci major with aspirations of being a software engineer. I view the question as either yes or no and then explain the logic why not. No intentions of rudeness, but I tend to assume I'm talking to ppl with similar backgrounds... At least on the net anyway.
Wooow...okey then...my bad! I should know better..
Sent from my PG41200 using XDA App
We are keeping an eye on the HTC Sensation leak. Right now there are 2 or 3 pages of things that don't work and of course its a different radio and HBOOT. So its a ways out from being useful as a port other than a novelty. By that I mean you might get something to boot, but none of the hardware functions like camera and touch screen would work.
May want to wait for something more stable to port..sounds more like a way to brick a flyer than a novelty.
How much difference is there between sensation and flyer? Also is the radio relevant for the WiFi flyer.
I keep forgetting the are 3g versions of the flyer.
DigitalMD said:
We are keeping an eye on the HTC Sensation leak. Right now there are 2 or 3 pages of things that don't work and of course its a different radio and HBOOT. So its a ways out from being useful as a port other than a novelty. By that I mean you might get something to boot, but none of the hardware functions like camera and touch screen would work.
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Click to collapse
ok, sounds good though!
whats the chances of a HC/ICS mix then, do you know? i mean, using what might be working in ICS (the best of it) combined with the useabilities of the HC.
*modding is not my area, as you might understand by now*
loni90 said:
ok, sounds good though!
whats the chances of a HC/ICS mix then, do you know? i mean, using what might be working in ICS (the best of it) combined with the useabilities of the HC.
*modding is not my area, as you might understand by now*
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Snow_fox said:
May want to wait for something more stable to port..sounds more like a way to brick a flyer than a novelty.
How much difference is there between sensation and flyer? Also is the radio relevant for the WiFi flyer.
I keep forgetting the are 3g versions of the flyer.
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Click to collapse
1. ICS is built on top of HC so we already have most of the ICS GUI. Google is already moving some of the ICS features into individual apps like the updated Google Search.
2. Radio is always relevant because it controls GPS, Wifi , and BT in addition to 3g.
Hi everyone! I am considering getting the LTEVO (my top choice) for my first phone, henceforth my first android (I've used iOS on my iPod touch). I had some questions which I'm hoping you guys can answer:
1) When taking 1080p video, does the camera autofocus during the shoot?
2) My dad's HTC TouchPro2 has Sense and it's a resource hog and very sluggish. I know the Evo has a top-notch processor, but do you guys ever find Sense to be troublesome, lagging, or freezing?
3) I've read around here and found out there is a multitasking issue with Sense. Is the only [non-official] way to fix this by installing a rom?
4) Related to above question: is there a rom that has stock ICS?
5) When one flashes (i believe this is the right word?) a different rom, is it possible to return to the stock HTC evo software?
6) Do you guys know any good deals to buy this phone ?
The other phone im considering is the Nexus since it should get updates quickly; however, it seems the Sprint version still has yet to officially update to JB...
I am sorry if these questions have been asked before...I have yet to try a Evo hands on (I plan to go to the Sprint store and do so if my parents agree to buy it) so these might be very n00bie...
007math said:
Hi everyone! I am considering getting the LTEVO (my top choice) for my first phone, henceforth my first android (I've used iOS on my iPod touch). I had some questions which I'm hoping you guys can answer:
1) When taking 1080p video, does the camera autofocus during the shoot?
2) My dad's HTC TouchPro2 has Sense and it's a resource hog and very sluggish. I know the Evo has a top-notch processor, but do you guys ever find Sense to be troublesome, lagging, or freezing?
3) I've read around here and found out there is a multitasking issue with Sense. Is the only [non-official] way to fix this by installing a rom?
4) Related to above question: is there a rom that has stock ICS?
5) When one flashes (i believe this is the right word?) a different rom, is it possible to return to the stock HTC evo software?
6) Do you guys know any good deals to buy this phone ?
The other phone im considering is the Nexus since it should get updates quickly; however, it seems the Sprint version still has yet to officially update to JB...
I am sorry if these questions have been asked before...I have yet to try a Evo hands on (I plan to go to the Sprint store and do so if my parents agree to buy it) so these might be very n00bie...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are all good questions. I would suggest test driving the LTEVO and Samsung g3 so you can get a good feel for both. Now, I with that said, there are stock ICS rooted ROMs here, and I happen to run one myself. I personally love sense, and but if you find you don't you will find ways on XDA to turn sense off and there are also senseless ROMs.
There is a camera mod here that I'm running that makes the already amazing photos and videos even more amazing.
About the Nexus, yes it will always get updates first, but compare hardware specs to the LTEVO and also, understand that sometimes it is good to get updates and patches second, so you can read about all the issues that the Nexus owners have after taking the updates, and including Jelly Bean. This is the senior enterprise software architect in me talking.
You can return to stock with the latest RUU for the LTEVO nicknamed Jewel, and I would check out Amazon and Best Buy out for deals... I hear they just knocked $100 off the price.
HTH!
~ Mike
Sent From My S-OFFed, R00ted, 100% Tricked-Out HTC Evo 4G LTE via XDA Premium!
I was just curious as if someone had a knowledge of the ice roms and their differences, things working or not working, I have and still am reading and researching to find the best or most stable Rom.. any help would be appreciated...
you should specify cdma or gsm
however you also need to consider it's all about perspective
currently im using viper rom for sense 4.0 (cdma)
however i like the senseless rom - SOS M - it's clean, it's fast, it's sense base without the sense bs
flacraker said:
I was just curious as if someone had a knowledge of the ice roms and their differences, things working or not working, I have and still am reading and researching to find the best or most stable Rom.. any help would be appreciated...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That information is in the first post of each rom thread. We are not going to list all the roms and their features for you. That's your job to find out.
johnnyboi1994 said:
you should specify cdma or gsm
however you also need to consider it's all about perspective
currently im using viper rom for sense 4.0 (cdma)
however i like the senseless rom - SOS M - it's clean, it's fast, it's sense base without the sense bs
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry I'm CDMA, have tried a lot of them I also like sos m, I'm curious as if any of the roms mess with signal strength some I've used put up great bars, and some seem to not get past a couple bars not sure weather its my phone or the roms, I have a do read a lot and all of the post, I just thought it be a good idea as a comparing guide that's all.. but I'm hboot 1.4 s-off, with the updated firm wear, I guess I was st asking more of what you guys like and is stable for a good daily driver.. didn't mean to offend anyone.
No I don't think you offended anyone, as there are alot of noobs on xda and after awhile you kind of get sick of the silly questions, that's all. Anyways roms are personal thing, some dudes like blondes, some like redheads(me), every rom has it's advantages and disadvantages , some work better on some peoples phones than others for many different reasons, I find a rom that I like and stay with it. Kernels is where it's at now, that makes a difference, my opinion
sent on my Evil Evo running the so called developers kernel
Yes I have seen the many repetitive questions, and its hard to read threw all of them, I've gotten to the point of were I'm pretty confident about roms witch I tend to change like underwear lol until I find one that works pretty good for what I need, I've started reading all about the kernels and what they do, but not sure if I'm ready to mess with those yet... So being my second phone in the evdo line witch I really miss my EVO 4g, am torn between the galaxy s3 n the new EVO LTE, I heard the Samsung is more developer friendly, but guess I gotta take a spin on them to see, I've noticed there's not a lot of love for the 3d... But thanks for the point in direction....
Just look through all the crap find a couple of good developers follow there work and you good to go
sent on my Evil Evo running the so called developers kernel
Ok I hope this is the appropriate section for this.
I am due for upgrade soon and have had my share of iOS and since the last time I used an Android device, HTC Eris & HTC Incredible there have been leaps and bounds of improvements made and I really like what I see.
My question is this. I am with Verizon and understand they like to do things their way which tends to make things either less desirable or all jacked up. Is there a way to flash a stock GS4 Rom the way Samsung intended it to be before Verizon got their hands on it and made it work the way they want it? I just want to be able to take advantage of some features or options that the Big Red V disabled or modified.
Thank you for your time on this post as well as all the time spent working on all these great "aftermarket" features you give us to play with.
CJBullitt said:
Ok I hope this is the appropriate section for this.
I am due for upgrade soon and have had my share of iOS and since the last time I used an Android device, HTC Eris & HTC Incredible there have been leaps and bounds of improvements made and I really like what I see.
My question is this. I am with Verizon and understand they like to do things their way which tends to make things either less desirable or all jacked up. Is there a way to flash a stock GS4 Rom the way Samsung intended it to be before Verizon got their hands on it and made it work the way they want it? I just want to be able to take advantage of some features or options that the Big Red V disabled or modified.
Thank you for your time on this post as well as all the time spent working on all these great "aftermarket" features you give us to play with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
Just a tip for the future.
You should always read the stickies at the top of a forum.
Moved to Verizon s4 Q&A
Towle
XDA Moderator