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Over the past year or so, HTC devices have become notoriously more difficult to root/mod/S-Off than the devices of yesteryear. When one series of devices gets cracked, the next generation released by HTC has historically been drastically more difficult to crack.

HTC, keeping up with its recent pattern of speedy source release, has dropped official ICS kernel source code for a heaping handful of devices, perhaps most notably the One V, a member of HTC's new One line which hasn't yet debuted in many countries.

Just under a week after starting the Sensation's Ice Cream Sandwich Rollout, HTC has dropped the ICS kernel source for the Sensation, Sensation XE, and Vivid, much to the delight of their respective development communities. This news follows hot on the heels of Samsung's Galaxy SII kernel source drop, and seems to suggest a promising pattern among the two manufacturers of maintaining punctuality in releasing source.

Users from abroad with the HTC Sensation better start hitting that 'Check update' button - according to this thread on the XDA forums, the Ice Cream Sandwich OTA update just started rolling out.

Just days after hearing about the leaked release of Android 4.0.4 for the Nexus 4G, French mobile phone company SFR has not only announced (Google Translate) which devices will be getting ICS in the coming months, it has also confirmed the existence of Android 4.0.5.

The Sensation is one of HTC's most popular handsets overseas, and despite being launched nearly a year ago (May 19,2011), the company just announced a new "Ice White" version. While there are no differences in hardware, the outside will obviously be white (à la Amaze 4G). More importantly, though: it will launch on March 1, and run Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) out of the gate.

While we've already seen a leaked version of TouchWiz running on top of ICS, a new leak shows us what HTC is doing with Android 4.0. I know you're all anxious to see what it's all about, so let's just get that out of the way first:

HTC's UK Facebook page was updated last night with information regarding just which HTC handsets would be in the "first wave" of phones to receive an update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in early 2012. While the post was made on HTC's UK Facebook, the list contains a number of US-only devices. Those handsets are asterisked to indicate US-only availability (the Rezound, EVO Design, and Amaze). The others on the list include the Sensation (plus XL and XE versions), the Vivid, and the EVO 3D. Those phones are not asterisked, indicating the ICS update will be making its way to the European versions of those phones around the same time frame as well.

It looks like the touchscreen isn't the only piece of hardware on the Sensation that works when it wants to. Posted today on XDA-Developers, Sensation owner zmfl recounted his experience with the audio signal coming and going on his phone, and having received confirmation of the issue from other members there, enterprisingly figured out the cause of the problem and its solution.

Originally Posted October 12th.

If you've been considering making the jump over to T-Mo and aren't interested in the power-packed Amaze 4G, then there's a good chance you've been eyeing the Sensation 4G. If this scenario sounds familiar, then Best Buy's website is the place to be, as you can get the Sensation 4G for nary a dime.

HTC acknowledged the vulnerability in some of its devices that Android Police together with Trevor Eckhart posted Saturday night. The privilege escalation vulnerability currently allows a potentially malicious app that uses only the INTERNET permission to connect to HTC's HtcLoggers service and get access to data far exceeding its access rights. This data includes call history, the list of user accounts, including email addresses, SMS data, system logs, GPS data, and more.

Everyone's favorite stock AOSP ROM, CyanogenMod, has officially made its way to the HTC Evo 3D and Sensation. This is the first build to show up for either device, but according to the respective XDA threads, is stable enough for everyday use.

Shortly after the HTC Sensation was released, we covered a seemingly random issue with the touchscreen. Not all Sensation owners experienced this issue, and it's still relatively unknown what the exact cause of the problem is.

Earlier this week, the OTA update to Android 2.3.4 finally began rolling out to HTC Sensations around Europe. Our unit received the update yesterday, and quite by accident we discovered that - besides being able to make voice/video calls in GTalk - we also had a new ability to take screenshots untethered from a computer.

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:

Earlier this month HTC released details about their roll-out plans for its bootloader unlock process and the devices that would be supported. Today, in answer to some of the questions posed by HTC’s Facebook fans, HTC released an update on how the bootloader unlocking process will actually work and why HTC’s newest phones are still shipping with a locked bootloader.

Since the beginning of time, there has been but one rule among men: release GPL source code on time. For those who choose to ignore this rule, terrible things ensue; most of which are so horrific, I dare not speak the details. The code has always been upheld by the law, but one foul beast has found a way to circumvent the system and hold the source for weeks, even months, too long: HTC.

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