This is more of a public bookmark than anything else. I have been trying several different ROMs, but each on seems slow and laggy. I am not sure if am doing something wrong or if the HD2 is nearing the end of its life.
As always, the best place to find the most recent ROMs is: android.hd2roms.com
Here are the ROMS that I was looking at:
This is my first delve into cooking my own ROM for HD2. I am not at a point where I can give step-by-step directions, but I wanted to post some of the things that I figured out so far.
I have heard a lot about the Android Kitchen, so I thought I would try it. It was an easy install. I just had to download the zip file from Git Hub and extract it into a directory:
To launch it, I go to that directory in a terminal…
… and run the ./menu command. That brings up the Kitchen menu.
I started with the Paranoid Android – AOKP – Sourcery ROM. I simply downloaded it, and placed it in the
Then, on the menu, I chose option 1 to create the working folder.
When it was done, it created this working directory:
Just to make a small easy change, I decided to add an app to the ROM. I have been using the Wifi Tether program, and I decided to bake that into the ROM. It was as easy as placing it into the working folder under data/app.
This worked fine, but for some reason, the wireless tethering won’t work on my ROM. The app works fine, but when it tethers, it gets an error. That’s an issue for troubleshooting another day.
I found some instructions that suggested using the apktool program to update the background. But, rather than that, I just used the File Roller to extract and replace the files in the apk file.
I found the framework-res.apk file inside the system/framework folder in the working directory. I opened the file with file-roller and I went to the /res/drawable-hdpi folder. There I extracted the default_wallpaper.jpg.
I simply edited the image with Gimp and replaced it in the apk file.
This worked great at first. Then, my old wallpaper mysteriously reappeared. I assume that was from Google’s syncing my phone to previous setups.
I unzipped my Titanium backup of Chrome to the System directory.
This made Chrome show up in the list, but it failed to run. I ended up moving it to the /data/app folder of the ROM, and that fixed the problem. Chrome was installed by default.
Note: I did the same thing with Swype. I found it also had to go in the /data/app folder.
The ROM that I started with has the Nova Launcher in it. I did a little reading up on launchers, and I decided to try to the Go Launcher EX.
First, I removed the Nova Launcher. I deleted the NovaLauncher.apk file:
I tried to download the Go Launcher from their website, but it mostly sent me to the market. Instead, I installed it from the Market. Then, I pulled it off the phone with adb.
adb pull /data/app/com.gau.go.launcherex-1.apk adb pull /data/app/com.gau.go.launcherex.gowidget.weatherwidget-1.apk
I simply removed the NovaLauncher.apk from the /system/app folder. Then, I added these two apk files in its place. That gave me the Go launcher.
I tried that out for a bit, but then I decided to go back to Trebuchet. So, I swapped the two Go apk files with Trebuchet.apk from another CM10 ROM.
After all this, I built the ROM from the kitchen. I just used option #99.
Then, I picked option#1, the interactive mode. Then, I took the defaults. It creates the zip file in the output zip folder.
I had a problem with the ROM flashing. I think that it has to do with the “if” statements in the update script. The kitchen didn’t translate it correctly. So, I replaced the update script with the original script from the original ROM.
Later, I went back into it and found that I could remove the if, else, and end-if lines from the update-script in the working folder. This takes out the feature that autodetects CLK vs. MagLdr. But, it flashes on my phone fine. I can figure that out later.
On my latest ROM download, I found that Chrome wouldn’t work for some reason. It said that it wasn’t compatible with my phone, but that really confused me. I’ve had it running on my phone with no problem in the past.
I still haven’t gotten it to work. If you know what I am doing wrong, please point it out. Or, you might find a tip that will help you out. In any regard, I can’t promise any answers.
I can’t forget to mention the HD2 ROM site that lists all of the ROMs out there: HTC HD2 Android Roms/Builds.
A long time ago, I wrote about a an app called MySword. Well, I have gotten to the point that I use that program exclusively for my Bible on my phone. Let me walk you through how I use it, and please let me know if you have any suggestions.
You can install it from here:
Android Market: MySword from Riversoft Information System
Here are some of the advantages of using my phone like this over a regular Bible:
So, here’s what I do. On one of my screens, I put the MySword on my desktop with BuzzOff. (The BuzzOff allows me to turn the ringer off easily.)
The first thing you will want to do is get all of the Modules that you want to use. First, open the menu and choose the more option:
On the more menu, you can choose to Download Modules:
From the Download Modules Screen, you can get the different modules that you want:
Another thing that took me a bit to figure out was how to get rid of the Strongs numbers. I finally determined that you can switch them on and off by changing between KJV and KVJ Lite:
Looking up versions works fine. I like the way Virtue Bible works where you can see all of Bible Books at one time, but this works. Maybe I could recommend that as a new feature — different verse selection options. Here’s what the verse selector looks like:
When I take notes, I use the Journal:
There are different types of Journals, and I am using the “My Church Notes”.
Here’s the New button and Edit button for creating notes:
The one issue I found is that I can’t view a verse while editing the notes. So, when the pastor makes reference to a verse, I have to Save the notes, go the passage, then go back and edit again. So, there’s another feature request.
I still need to figure out how to:
All in all, I really like the program, and I would recommend it as a Bible program for anyone.
This is a nice Christmas present: the camera now somewhat works on Tytung’s ICS Rom.
Here’s a screenshot just after I took a picture:
The preview doesn’t work. As you can see, it is just black. You can see the tiny thumbnail of the Christmas tree picture that I took though. When I select the thumbnail, it comes up like this:
Unfortunately, the phone keeps rebooting with the Camera application. I still not exactly sure what causes it. I tried to capture a log, but the app/phone wouldn’t cooperate. EdJones88 posted a work around to keep it from rebooting, but it is kind of impractical as far as I am concerned.
You can checkout my list of ICS Roms and watch as the ROM developers get things working.
I read on Engadget that Swipe was having some troubles on Android 4.0/Ice Cream Sandwich. Of course, they are talking about the Galaxy Nexus, and I am running it on my HD2, so maybe that is why it is different. Here’s what it looks like:
I installed the Swype from their beta website. If you want to get your own you can head here:
Here’s a few more screenshots:
And here’s the actual settings for Swype.
I have seen a flurry of activity on the XDA Forums for development of Ice Cream Sandwich/Android 4.0. So, I wanted to create my own little list of ROM threads.
Here’s a list of what I have found so far:
If you want to watch the fun with me, check out this list of ROMS:
Note: I found an article on Engadget that suggests that we need to wait until January for ICS on Cyanogen.
On a side note, Engadget pointed out that my old phone (the G1) now has ICS, too! ICS is getting around!
Thanks to TyTung, I now have Ice Cream Sandwich / Android 4.0 running on my phone!
You can view his work here:
Several days ago, I flashed my HD2 with the HotMod ROM by Hannes HD2. So, here’s my experience.
The ROM works very well for the most part. These are the issues that I have had with it so far:
Important: These are just my installation notes. There is no warranty with them intended, nor are they really instructions for installing a ROM. They are just meant to supplement what others have already written. Maybe they will provide a good starting place, but please be sure to read through the links.
First, I followed the cLK from Dummies instructions.
Step 1: HardSPL. I already had HardSPL 2.08, so I skipped this step. You can see what version you have by starting with your phone off. Then, hold the volume down button while you turn your phone on.
If you need to install HSPL, visit this thread.
Step 2: Task 29.
I wasn’t sure if I needed to do this since I have already done it once, but I went ahead and did it again. I visited this thread for instructions, but I downloaded it from this thread.
Basically, I prepared the phone by turning it on with the Volume Down key. I plugged the phone into the USB port. Then, I had to run (from Windows unfortunately) the .exe program included with the zip file. I had dusted off an old copy of Windows Vista, and to make it work, I had to right click on the program and choose to run it as administrator.
Step 3: Install the Radio.
I downloaded Leo_RADIO_2.15.50.14** from here. Again, I held the Volume Down key as the phone booted, and connected it to the USB. Finally, I ran CustomRUU.exe.
Step 4: Run the HotMod CustomRUU.exe
I downloaded the HotMod utilities v0.1 [cLK 1.4.0.1 +partition layout + CWM 4.0.1.4].zip file and extracted it to a directory in Windows. Then, I held the Volume Down button while the phone booted. Finally, I ran the CustomRUU.exe in what I extraced from the zip.
Note: for reference, I extracted the zip file into c:\temp\hd2, so all paths will be relative to that.
Step 5: Installed Google USB Drivers
When the “Found New Hardware” dialog displayed, I chose “Locate and install driver software”. Then, I had to choose “I don’t have the disc. Show me other options”, and “Browse my comptuer for driver software (advanced)”.
For the software location, I chose: “C:\Temp\hd2\HotMod utilities v0.1 [cLK 1.4.0.1 +partition layout + CWM 4.0.1.4]\google-usb_driver”.
The install did take quite a while, but when it was done, I finally got: “Android ADB Interface device installed correctly”. Finally, I had to reboot before the driver seemed to work.
Step 6: Flashed the Recovery
I opened command prompt (cmd.exe). Then, I had to change to the zip directory — First, “cd \temp\hd2”, and then, cd “HotMod utilities v0.1 [cLK 1.4.0.1 +partition layout + CWM 4.0.1.4]”
To do this, the ROM includes a utility called FastBoot. You can read more up on it here. So, I typed:
fastboot flash recovery recovery_leo4014.img
Unfortunately, the recovery that came with HotMod didn’t work for me. Instead I downloaded recovery_4.0.1.4_leo_CWR.zip from here.
Note: you can use the command “fastboot reboot” to reboot the phone when your done.
Step 7: Copied the ROM to the SD Card
I copied the ROM to the SD Card by booting into recovery on the phone. That is holding the Power Button/Hang up button while the phone boots. Then, I used the menu option “mounts and storage” > “mount USB storage”.
At that point, I could access the phone as a drive, and I copied the HotMod_v0.4.zip file to the root directory of the SD card.
Step 8: Flashed the ROM
Again, in the recovery, I used the following menu: “install zip from sdcard” > “choose zip from sdcard”.
Next, it asks for the zip file to flash. I chose the “HotMod_v0.4.zip” that I copied previously. And, it asks for confirmation … “Yes – Install HotMod_v0.4.zip”.