Looking to get an Android phone sometime soon.
"Rooted HTC Thunderbolt: VirusROM Airborne(Fully desensed), Ziggy 5.3.11 kernel daily running at OC'd to 1.3, Darkhorse custom theme with GOLauncher." Whats all this mean? You've got a hacked kernel on it? What r the advantages?
Nice. Thanks for the tips.
I see the Bolt is one of the few LTE phones for Verizon. I'd be interested in using it as a hotspot to give my laptop internet access.
Are you concerned that it's only a single core processor? I also note in the reviews that people tend to complain about the battery life as well... If you were to get another smart phone now, would you still choose the Bolt?
I've got an HTC Wildfire ("Buzz"). Out of the box it's awful: it's painfully slow. I rooted it, tried several custom ROMs on it and installed a custom kernel.
Thanks to the custom kernel, the CPU is now running at 691 MHz instead of the default 528 MHz. Together with a different CPU scheduler ("interactive"), the phone is finally usable.
I tried a few different versions of CyanogenMOD, and although they have a few advantages, they really lack in usability. I think HTC Sense is a necessity for Android based phones: I'd like my phone to be easy to use out of the box, I don't want to install third party apps just to make a phone call comfortably.
All in all, the Android philosophy sounds very nice: a smartphone you can customize to your needs. After 8 months with such a phone, I found that a closed source device with a well thought of interface is a lot more practical than a custom one.
Sense SUCKS. Ive totally removed every aspect of sense. 1. Its a HUGE hog on battery and 2. its just fugly, and not to mention, Imo, the wildfire is just a horrid phone to begin with and there was never any hope for it. lol.
Romming isnt so much about making phone calls comfortably, as much as it is to make it your OWN. he problem Ive seen with Cynogen is that it reminds me of Windows. Its never finished. Ive been looking at running it, but I just cant bring myself to it with all of the bugs.
I agree the Wildfire is an awful phone. That said, Sense does make Android a lot more usable. The default dialer in Cyanogen/Android is just pathetic. And the same goes for the texting application.
I know these can all be switched to better (often paid) apps, but I don't want to spend days testing every different dialer on the market. And even if I did find the magic dialer for me, integrating it into the ROM requires some tweaking here and there: if you just install the app, you'll still run into the classic dialer every now and then.
I'm considering buying a "real" Android phone, one with a decent CPU and resolution but I don't think that will automatically make the software any better. The Samsung Galaxy S II looks promising: Samsung don't try to prevent you from installing a custom ROM at all, you're just on your own when you do. Which is an approach I like.
Bottom line: read reviews and reserve free time before you buy an Android phone.
Also, even if i sign an unl data plan before they move to tiered pricing, in two years when i have to re-up with verizon again, wont i be switched to a tiered plan if thats all they have? Or i guess i could be on a month to month plan, but then how do i upgrade my phone?
McLabia, I am intrigued by your ideas and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Does it have GPS and all that good stuff? I like the map feature of my iphone. What else can your superphone do? Sounds like theres not much it can't do...
Droid X, Liberated(Running Liberty 2.01 ROM), OC'd to 1.22GHz, ADW Launcher EX. I don't know what I would do without this phone now that I have it. Not to mention where I live tethering my phone is my only form of internet. So for now Verizon is giving me 6-10GB of data a month through my phone.
I love my X sooo much. Sooo much available for it(rooted that is). I have a homie with a HTC EVO 4G and I like mine better. But with that said he wont let me root his. He is scared.
I agree with you about the doucheness, I have Wireless Tether for Root so like you said....FUCK VERIZON. But they are the only cell phone provider that work where I live. All my friends and family hate coming to my house because none of them get reception. I hate giving Verizon props but I have to for coverage at my place. I love ADW. I used to have another launcher but I couldn't buy the paid version due to technical difficulties.
SS's?
Alright, i'm starting to get more of an idea of what this is all about.
I'm leaning towards the TB superphone route a la Mclabia. Sounds like this phone will do everything i want it to do and then some. The contract renewal and wirefly tips are also very good to know.
So ive been searching for when VZ will put tiered data plans in this summer, and rumor has it it might not be till late june or july, when the iphone 5 is announced? Anyone have any more concrete news on this, or is it like a Reservoir seeds drop, you'll only know when it's announced?
Yeah, I was sucked in by the Apple hype, but im looking to expand my horizons. Although i am somewhat interested in what the iphone 5 will be like...
All I really need my smartphone for is: web surfing (android will play flash, so thats not a problem), email (can have 2 accounts on the TB, but if I root it can i have more email accounts?), GPS mapping, music (40gb of storage), text and talk of course, the wifi tethering (again, not an issue if i root the phone), and uh.... that's about it? I dont use a bunch of apps like a lot of people, but it's nice that they're available if i need something specific....