Thanks man, I think I'll pull to trigger tomorrow on the phone and then I'll start playing around.
I don't really play games on my phone or do anything really intensive. Mostly email, browsing, reading, and light apps. So the max battery life tweak sound good to me. ------- Brian Weeden Secure World Foundation +1 202 683-8534 On Aug 3, 2013, at 20:45, Naushad Zulfiqar <[email protected]> wrote: > I agree with your assessment. HTC has better hardware (physical) and > software (sense 5) vs Samsung (Plastic and Touchwiz). Samsung is too > cartoony and weird looking for me. Regarding the hardware button, I also > agree, hardware button is pretty bad to use and I don't like it. That > said, the HTC ONE is a capacitive button and also set up the wrong way (not > following android guidelines). There is some weirdness going on with HTC > also, such as hitting home twice for the task manager and other keypresses > to get Google Now. > > I've owned several high end phones over the years, and for some reason, I > still prefer the on screen keys that the Nexus 4 provides. Along with the > MOTO X and some other models. > > About OTA, some custom roms do offer OTA, but their OTA can be half baked > or really well done. But in either way, you download the full package and > then upon accepting the OTA it automatically goes into recovery and flashes > it or you flash it manually. Thankfully the process is not too painful and > the OTA's don't come too often, maybe once a couple of weeks or in some > cases once a month. > > One more thing, with android you never change the bootloader, just the > recovery and ROM. Speaking of recoveries there are mainly 2 out there. > CWM (Clockwork) and TWRP. TWRP is more graphical and supports the Open > Recovery Script that a lot of ROMS use to automate stuff like flashing the > ROM, then modem, then something else, then wiping dalvik cache and other > stuff, so that's why I recommended TWRP (Team Win Recovery Project). > > With either recovery it's advisable to first do a nandroid backup from > within the recovery. This is akin to creating an ISO image of your phone, > so if you flash to a newer version of a ROM or to a different ROM and don't > like it, you can always "re-image" your phone back to it's previous state > including all preferences and wallpapers that you have set. It's a true > image. > > Also read up on Titanium Backup. That app is worth it's digital weight in > gold!! I use it regularly and almost every day. It can do some freakishly > amazing stuff!! > > In the end, if none of this custom ROM malarkey makes you happy, it's also > very easy to revert back to stock and continue using it that way. > > For a vanilla experience with some bells and whistles over stock, try > Cyanogenmod. It's compiled from the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) and > has some really nifty features built in that I wish were in stock android. > In fact a lot of stuff in stock comes from Cyanogen. These guys are at > the leading edge of Android Development. > > But there are some caveats with Cyanogen (www.get.cm) Stable builds for > the S4 and One don't exist, and you would have to run nightlies. That can > also mean flashing every night. Thankfully there is a free app called > Cyandelta on the play store that downloads only the delta's and flashes > that, so instead of a 180 MB download every day, it's around 5-6 megs. But > then again, if a particular build of the nightly is working fine, then > there is no real reason to upgrade. But you know me, I like to inflict > hurt on myself :) > > Hope that's not too overwhelming. It may seem as such, but once you > understand the basics, flashing ROMS and Kernels is really fun and you can > really tailor your device to your particular usage needs. Like I said, I > value battery life, so I flashed the ROM and Kernel that gave the best > battery life for me. But at the same time, when I wanted to play games I > wanted full performance. Hence I chose Carbon Rom and Matri1x Kernel. > > I'll do some general research on the HTC one and will provide some > suggestions on which Kernel and/or ROM you should start off with. Speaking > of which, the best path in the beginning is to stick to a customized stock > ROM. That's where they take the stock rom and tweak it to remove excessive > bloat, add new features and tweak the speed. You get the stock look and > feel but with generally better performance and features. > > Till next time, take care! > > > > On Sun, Aug 4, 2013 at 3:02 AM, Brian Weeden <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Thanks, this is good stuff. >> >> I've been going back and forth about S4 or One, and I could probably live >> with either. The one thing that sort of annoyed me about the S4 was that >> it still has a hardware menu button, despite that going away in Android. >> Plus the Samsung software is just horrible. While I could probably live >> with the default HTC software, no way I could deal with the Samsung crap. >> >> Part of what I'm struggling with is being overwhelmed with options. Unlike >> iOS where you get one bootloader, one recovery, and one ROM there's a ton >> of options out there for Android. However, I have gotten really used to >> OTA updates and a good backup/recovery if something goes wrong. Do any of >> the options you suggest offer OTA? Does going such a customized route make >> recovery any harder? What about backing up your device? >> >> >> >> --------- >> Brian >> >> >> >> On Sat, Aug 3, 2013 at 6:01 PM, Naushad Zulfiqar <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Hey there Brian. >>> >>> First off good choice on the phone. In my opinion and after using both >>> phones I do say that the One is better than the S4. That said, the >> Verizon >>> versions info is sparse at best. I found info on most other carriers >>> except verizon. Anyway, that link you had seems okay. >>> >>> The basic premise for HTC phones is as follows. >>> >>> 1. Unlock Bootloader (do this as soon as you get your phone because if >>> you unlock the bootloader you basically end up deleting all user data on >> it >>> and returning it to factory settings) >>> 2. Once the bootloader is unlocked you need to flash a custom recovery >> on >>> it. Having a custom recovery will allow you to basically flash any file >>> into the OS. >>> 3. I recommend TWRP for the recovery. I find it the best. >>> 4. Also download superuser (like supersu or others) from the web and >>> download it. >>> 5. Once you flash the recovery and copy the supersu onto the phone; >>> 6. You would boot into TWRP and flash supersu from there. >>> >>> That's it your phone is rooted with a custom recovery. From there you >> can >>> do anything you want. >>> >>> Now regarding stock Android...............I think you will be losing a >> lot. >>> There are a lot of camera optimizations on these devices that you would >>> lose if you went that route. I would suggest doing the following. >>> >>> 1. Put the custom recovery and root the device. >>> 2. Keep the stock rom >>> 3. Use a launcher such as APEX or NOVA (I use APEX) and you will then >> have >>> a pure vanilla android homescreen experience, but still retain the >>> optimizations that HTC did for the camera and speakers and other things. >>> >>> If you insist to have vanilla android on it then if I'm not mistaken then >>> the Google Edition HTC One ROM does work flawlessly on the HTC One. >>> >>> There are no major caveats to doing a custom rom. Make sure that you >> check >>> out custom kernels also, they really really really improve the >> performance >>> of the phone. >>> >>> Just for info I'm using a Nexus 4 with Carbon ROM and Matr1x Kernel with >>> GPU Overclock. I'm getting similar performance to the S4 with all day >>> battery life. What's not to like!! The new MOTO X looks good to me >> also, >>> despite it being called a mid range device, I would have to disagree. >>> People are becoming spec whores and in the end there is no benefit to >>> having all that power when the apps don't need it and the battery life >>> suffers. For me, if I was in the US right now, the MOTO X would be near >> or >>> on the top of my list. One more thing, do consider getting a nexus 4, >>> they are cheap as chips and still a very viable phone and a powerhouse. >>> Otherwise wait till November for the Nexus 5. >>> >>> Oh and one more thing...... >>> >>> XDA Developers website and forums are your best friend. Repeat after >>> me....... XDA Developers is awesome!! >>> >>> LOL! >>> >>> Good luck and welcome to the world of Android. >>> >>> >>> On Sat, Aug 3, 2013 at 7:42 PM, Brian Weeden <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>>> I'm switching from iOS to Android in the next week or so. I want an >> HTC >>>> One with just stock Android on it. Only real option for good coverage >>>> where I need it is Verizon, and with them I would get charged the same >>>> price whether I had a subsidized phone or not. So, my plan is to get a >>>> new, subsidized HTC One and then root it to put stock Android on it. >>> This >>>> guide seems to be just what I need: >> http://www.cultofandroid.com/26527/rooting-the-htc-one-the-right-way-how-to/#BPoyTdi0vV0cqaz0.99 >>>> >>>> >>>> I'm wondering if there are any gotchas I'm going to run across. Like, >>> would >>>> the fact that the phone is locked to a carrier (because it's under >>>> contract) prevent me from rooting it? >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> --------- >>>> Brian >>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Sat, Aug 3, 2013 at 12:38 PM, Naushad Zulfiqar <[email protected]> >>>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Yeah I do it all the time. >>>>> >>>>> What do you need. >>>>> On Aug 3, 2013 7:34 PM, "Brian Weeden" <[email protected]> >> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Anyone on here have experience with putting custom mods on Android >>>>> phones? >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> --------- >>>>>> Brian >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Best Regards, >>> >>> >>> Zulfiqar Naushad > > > > -- > Best Regards, > > > Zulfiqar Naushad
