HTC Desire experience - Custom ROM

A day after rooting, I've taken another step forward in modding my Android device. I went ahead and installed a custom ROM (ie, LeeDrOiD).

I went through all this trouble with rooting and flashing my device; and for what? Just these 3 tiny reasons:

1. Battery indicator showing 1% increments - This feature should be standard on all devices. Without rooting, I would have to install a separate app to achieve similar functionality. I use to use Battery Indicator which shows the battery reading in the taskbar. But it's in addition to the default indicator; it doesn't replace it.

2. Access to paid apps in the Android Market - When I decided that I wanted access to paid apps, I didn't actually have something in mind I want to purchase. I just wanted the option to do so. The HTC Desire already has most of the apps I ever need preinstalled. For most of everything else, there are free selections readily available on the Android Market. To date, I've purchased just 3 Android apps.

Beautiful Widgets: I bought this several months ago when I was in NY and I had access to paid apps (legitimately). I use this only sometimes. I switch to this when I use alternative launchers which doesn't include HTC Sense widgets.

Documents-To-Go: Sure, it's expensive at US$9.99. But this is definitely worth it if you want to do any office document editing on-the-go. I bought this a day after I bought my phone. Thankfully, you don't need access to paid Android apps to buy it. You just download the free version off the Android Market and then pay at DataViz's site to get a registration code.

Fruit Ninja: First app I purchased after rooting and using Market Enabler. Just a silly casual game. It's cheap and fun! 

3. Ability to install all apps to microSD - I find this to be a bit overrated. I find the internal memory capacity just fine for my use. After installing all the apps I need, I find myself still with about 20-30MB free. But I see how this can become a problem for some who needs a ton of apps. Now with all my apps moved over to the microSD, I have about 90-100MB free. But I now have to seriously consider getting a larger capacity card because my 8GB card is about 70% full with all my media and apps.

Can't say anything else about the custom ROM. It's suppose to perform better but I can't really tell from day-to-day use. But performance was never really an issue on stock ROM. Apart from the above 3 items, I just need stability. As long is it doesn't crash on me, it's fine.

Finally rooted my HTC Desire

Back in my Windows Mobile days, I would be flashing new ROMs every other week or so. But ever since the switch the Android, I've not tinkered too much with my phone anymore. Mostly, it's because the device works just fine right out-of-the-box. That's not something you can say about Window Mobile devices...

Anyway, I've finally decided to root my device. It's not because I want to flash custom ROMs. It's just because I want to access the Android Market for paid apps. Currently, Hong Kong is not in the list of countries that Google has approved for paid apps. Using unrEVOked, the entire process was a breeze. It took about 10 minutes (8 of those minutes were for waiting for the downloads and reboots). There was very little user input required...

I then installed Market Enabler and voila. Done. I can now finally purchase apps from the Android Market.

This seems to be something that everyone must do. It's just too easy. It doesn't hard reset your device, so all your data is intact. There's really no reason why not to do it.

Over the next few weeks, I'll finally look into custom ROMS...

New and improved HTC Sense

1. Recent apps now appear in the notification shade. Seems a bit redundant to me when you can get to the same list by holding the Home button.

2. Maps. Offline mapping. Just brilliant.

3. HTC Sense in landscape. Meh. I think I'm in the minority for not feeling excited about this. Sure, it makes sense to have your homescreen in landscape mode if you're using a qwerty slider. But for those of us who uses a slab device, this is just meh...

4. Changes in the Mail application. I hope they changed more than just adding a "compose mail" button when viewing the inbox. currently, the HTC Mail application is not bad so, I'm eager to see what improvements they can manage.

5. Fast boot up. Videos are all over showing how the Desire Z and Desire HD boot up in just several seconds. I have my doubts on this. Seems to me that the devices are just waking from a deep stand-by state. I'd like to see the battery pulled and reseated before booting up to see if it's the real deal.

6. Changes in Camera application. The current HTC Camera application is very basic. I hope the revised version has more tools (ie, templates, stitching, continuous shots, etc).

7. Status updates in caller ID. Meh, this was available since the release of the Wildfire and was included in the official Froyo update for the HTC Desire.

8. Changes in customization. You can now rearrange entire screens which is nice.

9. HTCSense.com. This appears to be HTC's cloud-based service. Seems interesting. I hope this service will be free. Allows you to:
Remotely ring your phone.
Remotely lock and wipe your stolen/lost phone.
Backup data (contacts, call history, messages, etc)
Sharing and editing multimedia. Not sure how this is going to work.

See here for some screenshots.

Thoughts on 2010 iPods

Ah, September. Another refresh of Apple's iPod line-up. Does anyone still use one of these things? Back when it wasn't standard for phones to include a music player, I had an iPod Nano. A couple years back, I wanted to try out iOS so I got a 2nd-gen iPod Touch. Now, my Nano is used by my mom. My iPod Touch stays at home where it only gets used sparingly for games.

iPod Touch

Made for people who want to use iOS but don't want an iPhone. But there are a couple of things Apple left out which is understandable since they probably don't want it cut into their iPhone sales. It doesn't use the new industrial design of the iPhone4. It still has a curved shiny back just like the previous gen iPod Touch. While it has a rear camera capable of capture HD video, it's not a 5MP shooter like on the iPhone4. It captures stills only at 960x720. While I've shown a distaste to the iOS as a smartphone platform, I think it's perfectly fine for a digital music player.

iPod Nano

This is essentially an iPod Shuffle with a touchscreen and up to 16GB of storage. This one seems the most interesting to me. Would be great as a running device. It seems to also have Nike+ built-in. I wonder if Apple would finally decide to give up on using their proprietary dock connector. It just seems very out-of-place on such a small device. Micro or mini USB would have made much more sense.

iPod Shuffle

I never understood the Shuffle lineup. I didn't think it made sense to use a music player without a display right from the start, so there's no way one of these things was going to appeal to me. Then last year, they removed all the buttons from the device and touted it as a feature! This year, they put the buttons back. To me, seems identical to the Shuffle 2 generations ago. It's just very archaic; 2GB storage and no display? Just doesn't make much sense to choose this over the iPod Nano.

I really wonder just how far Apple is willing the push the limits on the design of the iPod Touch and the iPhone. I honestly think that they've hit a wall. I'm not talking about software here. Here are the hardware designs that Apple seems to just refuse to change about those 2 products even though it's evident that they are restricting usage behavior.

3.5" screen
Compared to competitors, this is just too small. Considering the amount of wasted space on the bezel, this is just not acceptable.

Lack of hardware buttons.
On the iPod Touch, you have buttons for standby, volume rockers, and home. The same applies to the iPhone except it also has a switch for toggling between mute and ringer. Seems like they're trying to do too much with too little buttons. You have to use the home button for everything. There's so much space on either side of the home button that it just seems odd not to put more buttons there...

Dock connector
Everyone got the memo about microUSB except Apple...

Non-removable battery
This is just not smart and I can't believe people still put up with it. I can accept a non-removable battery for my music player but definitely not for my smartphone.