rom - 11/15 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Feb

[Updated] CyanogenMod 7 RC1 Now Available For 17 Android Devices

Posted by David Ruddock in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Warning: This article contains information about flashing custom ROMs to your phone. If you're at all new to this, give our complete guide to custom ROM flashing a read.

Well folks, the day has finally come: the Gingerbread-based CyanogenMod 7 Release Candidates have landed for 17 Android devices. These "RCs" are suitable, generally speaking, for everyday use and have been road-tested enough that TeamDouche feels they're almost ready for prime time. Hit the links for the individual threads, which contain instructions and download mirrors:

Happy flashing, and be sure to read the instructions if this is your first go.

Feb

Half-Baked Port Of Cyanogen Mod 7 Hits Galaxy Tab - Why This Is Hurting Android

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Development, Editorials

There's been exciting news floating around the blogosphere today of a "working" beta of CyanogenMod 7 for the Galaxy Tab being released. Just one caveat - it isn't really CyanogenMod 7.

Before I go onward with this rant, I want to make it crystal clear that I have nothing personally against the developer who ported CyanogenMod 7 to the Galaxy Tab, people like him (or her, of course) are part of the reason I love Android. But they're also part of the reason I have become increasingly frustrated with the custom ROM community's professionalism and ethical standards at large. Let me explain.

Feb

New Official Froyo ROM (DL30) For Samsung Fascinate Leaked Completely Unchanged - Bloatware And All

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Fascinate, Froyo 2.2, News, Samsung, Verizon Wireless

We have some somewhat good news for Fascinate owners: a new, official, very final-looking Froyo build DL30 for the Samsung Fascinate has been leaked, and it's been released completely unmolested (short of pre-rooting it). Even the bloatware has been left intact.

Obviously, the silver lining here is that we can see that Samsung and Verizon are making progress, and this could be a sign that the update is closer to being ready to roll out. (Then again, that could just be naïve optimism.) On the flip side, the only people who will find this immediately useful are the ones who are rooted, and those people are probably already running a custom Froyo ROM already (and likely one without the bloat).

Jan

Motorola Working On A Developer-Friendly "Bootloader Solution" After YouTube Comment Debacle

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Development, Motorola, News

Oh, boy... what a mess this is. Earlier this week, a Motorola employee with access to the company's official YouTube account replied to a (now deleted) comment about their locked bootloaders with "if you want to do custom roms, then buy elsewhere, we’ll continue with our strategy that is working thanks." Issues about eFuse aside, that's a pretty poor thing to say from a customer service perspective. Apparently, Motorola recognized that fact after somebody posted on their Facebook page they'd be taking that advice:

Does this mean they're doing away with eFuse? Maybe... maybe not. But at least we know they're exploring the possibility, and that a more modder-friendly Moto isn't completely out of the question.

Jan

CyanogenMod 7: Return Of The Nightlies (Now With 100% More Gingerbread)

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Boy, do we ever have some fantastic news for the AOSP ROM-loving crowd: CyanogenMod nightlies are finally back, meaning the first official CM7 builds are rolling out as I type this. Sure, they're probably moderately buggy (although generally, CM nightlies are still pretty good), and yeah, they may be missing some features - but let's be frank: it'll still probably be one of the most solid Gingerbread builds around, regardless of what device you're using.

At the time of this writing, only the myTouch Slide, original Droid, and Nexus One builds have been compiled and are ready for mass consumption.

Dec

Android, Evolved - MIUI Beta #5 Coming December 31st. If You've Never Witnessed MIUI, This Is The One To See [VIDEO]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, News, Videos

The MIUI custom ROM has pushed the limits of creativity and customizability ever since it was unleashed a few months ago by Chinese developers, seemingly out of nowhere. At times, you can't even recognize that this is actually Android, which, I suppose, is actually a compliment to Android itself. If it didn't resemble the iPhone UI so much at times, I would have probably enjoyed it a lot more, but nevertheless, it's incredible to see what a smart group of talented people can come up with when they put their minds together.

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics.

Dec

Fresh ROM v3.5 For EVO 4G Is Out With The Newest OTA, Radio, WiMAX, PRI And Improved Battery Life

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Sprint

It's no secret that my EVO 4G runs a custom ROM called Fresh - it is one of the best EVO ROMs, free of bloatware and full of tweaks that make it fast and efficient, while keeping stability rock solid. The developer, flipz, is very good - he's responsive to Sprint OTA updates and bug reports and usually sorts out any issues in a matter of days.

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

Due to the recent EVO OTA (3.70.651.1), flipz just released the newest version of the ROM, currently 3.5.0.1, also containing the latest HTC kernel, which is said to do wonders to the battery life.

Dec

Android Devs To Manufacturers and Carriers: It's Not Rooting, It's Openness

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials, News

The Android dev team has generally been assumed to have a passive stance on rooting and unlocking Android devices. That is, do it if you want - we won't stop you. And there's certainly evidence abound supporting this - Google's Nexus One could be unlocked via a simple ADB (Android Device Bridge) command: fastboot oem unlock. The same is true of the Nexus S.

Of course, it only makes sense - Google doesn't want to put any unnecessary barriers between Android developers and the open source OS, especially on developer phones.

But a new post on the official Android Developers Blog shows that team Android is a little more concerned with how their operating system is being used than some of us may have previously assumed.

Dec

CyanogenMod Rolls Out 6.1.1 For HTC EVO 4G, Nexus One, T-Mobile G2, And MyTouch Slide

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, News

Is it that time already? It was just 11 days ago that CM6.1 was dropped, and the team has already released 6.1.1. As this is a minor update, the changes aren't anything revelatory, but an update is an update, right?

6.1.1

Common: Add rotary lockscreen - Kmobs/cvpcs

Common: Updated translations - (everyone)

Common: Push update notificatiosn - Chris Soyars

Common: Fix camera sounds - CAF/Cyanogen/mtwebster

N1/DS/Supersonic: Kernel performance tweaks and fixes (various)

N1: Update build fingerprint

Vision: Fix MMS over WiFi calling - Zinx

Vision: Add console=null to kernel command line - Adam Tygart

Vision: Kernel to 2.6.32.27 and some performance tweaks

Droid: FRG83D fingerprint, translations, camera, torch fixes

At the moment, the new revision has only been released for four devices: The EVO 4G, Nexus One, T-Mobile G2, and MyTouch Slide.

Dec

CyanogenMod 6.1 Comes To The Dell Streak, Gives Us An Idea Of What 5-Inch Tabletphones Should Be

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Dell, Development, Froyo 2.2, News, Streak

Froyo for AT&T's version of the Dell Streak has certainly been long in the making - and it looks like it AT&T still isn't ready to release it - but users who simply can't wait any longer now have an option, albeit an unofficial one.

CyanogenMod 6.1 Alpha has just been ported over to the 5-inch tabletphone, and while the experience is said to be imperfect as it stands, WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G, and hardware acceleration are reportedly all in working order. Despite some minor issues, perhaps what you'll find at the download link below is also what the device should have with way back when in August...