custom ROM

Aug

HTC Bootloader Unlock Portal Open - European Sensation Now Unlockable

It seems HTC has made good on its commitment to begin unlocking the bootloaders of its recently released handsets, starting with the European version of the HTC Sensation. You can find the instructions at HTC's developer portal, here. (You may need to log in). Also, here are the scary things you'll have to disclaim before beginning:

So, as long as you realize that your warranty will/might be voided all or in part, get cracking. HTC's instructions are several pages long, and pretty in-depth. You'll have to get the Android Device Bridge (ADB) up and running, as well as ...

Jul

BootManager Allows You To Install Up To 5 ROMs On One Device, Flashaholics Rejoice

Posted by John Thompson in Applications, Droid (Sholes), EVO 4G (Supersonic), Mods, News, Thunderbolt (Mecha)

Not content to wait for manufacturers to get in to shape and update our phones to the latest and greatest versions of Android, most of us here at Android Police have had a brush with a number of custom ROMs in the past.

Whether it's the latest version of Cyanogen or a more obscure mod, there is always a ROM floating around on my phone, and until now I've always had to uninstall one before installing the other. Fortunately, that's about to change thanks to a new application on the Market called BootManager.

This article deals with a couple of

...

Jul

HTC: EVO 3D, Sensation 4G (And Global) Bootloader Unlock Will Roll Out In August - Sort Of

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Dev, EVO 3D (Shooter), HTC, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid)

HTC has finally laid out a timetable for the release of software updates on phones that will allow the unlocking of device bootloaders. It sounds like HTC will be utilizing a system similar to Sony - which uses a web-based tool as part of the unlock process. Why? HTC states that while the OTA software update allowing unlocking will start rolling out in August, the actually ability to unlock phones won't be ready until early September. So, at the earliest, your EVO 3D or Sensation 4G will be unlockable in about 2 months.

Unfortunately, there's another caveat: HTC hasn't exactly ...

Jul

[Updated: Windows Download Is Back] New AlphaRevX Beta 2 (Full Unlock, S-OFF, Root, Recovery) Now Supports Droid Incredible 2, Desire S

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Desire S (Saga), HTC, Incredible 2 (Vivow), Mods, News

The geniuses behind the AlphaRevX unlocker, which a few weeks ago made rooting, recovery, and custom ROMs possible on the Droid Incredible S, Desire (CDMA and GSM), Wildfire, and Aria just released an updated beta v2, with support for Droid Incredible 2 (aka vivow, the Verizon CDMA version) and Desire S (aka saga).

Incredible 2 owners, it's the day you've been waiting for, which now makes these possible: Exclusive Download + Video: Root-Friendly Flashable Gingerbread Update For HTC Droid Incredible 2 [Leak], [Video] DROID Incredible 2 Bootloader Unlocked [S-OFF] By AlphaRev Team - no more teasing!

Update ...

Jul

Incredible 2 Joins The CyanogenMod 7 Nightly Club

Posted by David Ruddock in Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, Incredible 2 (Vivow), Mods, News

Get it while it's hot, kids - the DROID Incredible 2 is officially merged into CyanogenMod, and the nightly builds are now being pumped out (direct link here). These nightly builds may contain bugs, dragons, and other potentially annoying/broken things - so flash at your own risk. Your Dinc2 will also need to be fully unlocked, meaning you'll have to use the AlphaRevX Beta 2 software, which you can learn about in this post. And you'll need a custom recovery, which you can find here. So, you do need to do some work before you can get your CyanogenMod ...

Jul

New In CyanogenMod 7: Support For Native Screenshots, Touch-To-Focus Camera, Droid Incredible 2

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in HTC, Incredible 2 (Vivow), Mods, News

The team behind the most popular custom Android ROM on the planet, CyanogenMod, is not planning to take a break even for the national holiday (happy Independence Day, everyone!), giving us a number of new reasons to praise their product over and over again.

Wondering what CyanogenMod already brings to the table? Check out 13 Ways CyanogenMod 7 Makes My Android Phone Feel Future-Proof [Deep Review].

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

Rooting Explained + Top 5 Benefits Of Rooting
Top Android

...

Jun

Virgin Mobile Doesn't Approve Of Rooting Or Custom ROMs, Even If It Does Like Vanilla Android

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Carriers, News, Virgin Mobile

Remember how we ran that story last week about Virgin Mobile laying the smackdown on manufacturer UI overlays? We liked that. But Virgin Mobile wants the Android community to know that they shouldn't consider the prepaid carrier a safe haven for illicit activities like rooting or custom ROMs - not that that's any different from all the other carriers. Here's what Virgin had to say:

"We do not endorse in any way end users using a non-officially tested operating system nor do we approve of 'rooting' devices. This constitutes a violation of our terms of service and puts our network

...

May

[Updated] CyanogenMod Adds Support For Revoking App Permissions

Posted by Matt Demers in Dev, Mods, News

Last Updated: May 25th, 2011

Back in March we reported on a proposed patch to CyanogenMod that would allow users to deny apps access to certain permissions while retaining the connection to others. This lets users install applications they are interested in, while remaining mindful of their privacy.

Update: Indeed, the "faking data" patches did not make it into CM and probably never will - thanks to all who posted the correction, including the patch author. See this commit for more info.

Denying permissions unfortunately has a nasty side effect - they will cause applications that don't handle the situation correctly to force close. ...

May

[Update: T-Mobile Sensation 4G Too] Bummer - Latest HTC Sensation System Dump Reveals Signed Bootloader, Custom ROM Support Is In Danger

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in HTC, Mods, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid)

HTC is continuing to release devices with signed locked bootloaders, as we found out today after taking a look at the latest HTC Sensation system dump. The upcoming HTC Sensation is one of the most powerful and desirable devices coming up, alongside the Galaxy S2, but while the latter's bootloader is unlocked, the one in the Sensation is protected via HTC's private key.

Unless we get really lucky, this means no custom kernels on the device (i.e. no custom ROMs) or recovery (i.e. no Clockwork, RA, or nandroid). Lady Luck was hovering around when we got our hands on ...

Apr

CyanogenMod 7.0 Final Is Here With Support For More Than Two Dozen Devices

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Dev, Mods, News

CyanogenMod, or simply CM, is hands down the largest and the most widely used Android custom ROM family on the planet, with support for 30 devices, both tablets and phones, from hundreds of developers all over the world. Over the past 4 months, these developers have been sweating day and night upgrading CM6's Froyo codebase to Gingerbread, and today CM7 is finally fully baked.

Most CM 7.0 mirrors are already up (with the rest going up shortly), so if you are anxious to try out the version for your device, head over to the CyanogenMod Stable Downloads page and download ...