Desire without Sense -- best rom?

Goodshape · 12-08-2010 12:11pm #1

I've started using Launcer Pro instead of the sense home screens and have already found replacements for the HTC widgets I was using. So now I'm thinking I might just drop the sense altogether from my next choice of ROM.

Is anyone running Desire without Sense? Is there any particular rom(s) that are worth trying?

Will there be...
Improvement in battery life?
Improvement in speed?
Different home screens and lock screens.. that's fine.
Will contacts still sync with Facebook in the same way?

Any other changes that I might not be expecting? I've never really used Android without Sense so not entirely sure how deep the integration goes. Don't know what's Sense and what's not.

Danke schön!

theteal · 12-08-2010 1:17pm

I'm using psychosis for a couple of days now, just upgraded to 3.0. It's super fast, everything seems to work - I don't know about battery life yet as I still haven't fully given up my hero yet (lots to transfer and no time to do it). Psychosis comes in several clean and HTC versions too

Now if I could just get rid of the stupid O2 boot screen I'd be super content

osnola ibax · 12-08-2010 6:45pm

I'm using defrost 2.6a. Its really smooth, the keyboard is better, has loads of settings and options and seems to be very frugel on Battery life. I think, after trying several, I've finally found the best Rom for me.

The lack of sense makes it that little bit faster and smoother as well. I'm also using launcher pro. My set up has a quadrant score of 1500 with 1000mhz

Its also vital to download setCPU. I'm underclocking, currently, to 850 MHz and 250 in standby. Its making a huge difference to battery. Its the perfect android for me, I think.

opus · 13-08-2010 7:02am

I was tempted to try a non-sense ROM but from reading about them it looks like none have the FM radio working which is a deal-breaker for me. Can anyone confirm?

elderlemon · 13-08-2010 9:13am

Same here. There is a guy(s) on the XDA Nexus forum that's working on it. Its almost working but not quite. It does however need an FM kernel which not all will have. I live in hope as this is the one thing stopping me changing.

opus wrote: »

I was tempted to try a non-sense ROM but from reading about them it looks like none have the FM radio working which is a deal-breaker for me. Can anyone confirm?

Mr Bloat · 13-08-2010 9:59am

The FM radio never worked that well for me when I used a sense ROM, I always got a crap reception so it didn't impact me that the non sense ROMs didn't have it working.

I have been using OpenDesire for a while now, besides a couple of weeks I broke from it to try out the official HTC Sense ROM. I find it's great, it's built to be a nice clean ROM so it doesn't have too many bells and whistles attached to it but this makes it very fast and leaves plenty of free space on the device for whatever you want to throw at it yourself.

antodeco · 13-08-2010 12:01pm

Im using LeeDroid 1.8. Im just thinking. would it be possible to delete sense off it completely?

Goodshape · 13-08-2010 12:04pm

I tend to forget I even have a radio on here so that shouldn't bother me.

Might give defrost a try this weekend.

antodeco · 13-08-2010 12:28pm

osnola ivax wrote: »

Its also vital to download setCPU. I'm underclocking, currently, to 850 MHz and 250 in standby. Its making a huge difference to battery. Its the perfect android for me, I think.

I have SetCPU, yet the widget doesnt change the Mhz value. When I go into it, I have the slider set lower, but it doesnt seem to be taking affect. Do I need to do anything to "activate" it?

osnola ibax · 13-08-2010 2:35pm

setCPU seems to work well for me. I have set on boot ticked and ondemand selected. I have it underclocked to 844 max and 245 min. I also have a profile set on it to choke it to 245 when the screen is off.

The browser with defrost is not great. Occasionally it doesn't load pages. It doesn't seem to want to download any files. I'm using Opera Mini a good bot at the moment.

I may have overestimated the battery though. Mine has been unplugged for 14 hrs 37 mins and I'm down to 47% with fairly moderate usage. So you may be talking about 28 hrs with moderate usage. Not bad I suppose. I was surprised though to see the battery fall by 14% after 8 hours standby overnight.

Goodshape · 13-08-2010 4:55pm

Hmm, a dodgy browser doesn't sound too good!

Have just installed Defrost anyway. Haven't really had the time to dig into it yet though.

Some instant pros -- lock screen, dialer and contacts, calendar all look better imo.

Cons -- doesn't sync and link Facebook contacts in the same way. Also the 'Voice Search' app is pre-installed at version 1.6 and won't let me update to the new 2.0 version.

Mostly though, it seems pretty much the same. Which isn't a huge surprise I guess. Will stick with it a while at the least and see if I start to miss any of the Sense bits. If I start having trouble with the browser though, I'll be switching back or to a different ROM.

Goodshape · 13-08-2010 5:13pm

Oh, ha! Just my luck...

The ROM was updated about an hour after I downloaded it today, with the new voice search amongst other things. Heh.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=690477

// edit.. handy enough. OTA update via the Defrost Settings app.

Keith186 · 13-08-2010 5:49pm

I'm on open desire 3.05, its not bad.
Its quick and the battery is marginally better than stock eclair I had before.
One thing that annoys me is that you can't copy and paste from the browser.
Anyone know if this is the case for all android froyos, like is it just on the sense froyos?

Also had a couple more force closes on some programs when it was rare to have them before.

Think I'll change to another one soon.

osnola ibax · 13-08-2010 9:00pm

Yeah the browser is dodgy enough. Can't zoom on boards either and can't copy and paste. Neophyte has a froyo lock screen and customises sense just enough to make it more attractive. Also has anyone used the camera on stock. Froyo, not great either.

Think ill go back to neophyte

osnola ibax · 16-08-2010 7:28pm

OK, I've gone back to neophyte. It has sense but a very customized version with an expresso bar that's quite nice. Don't use it anyway, but I might go back cause he's done a nice job on the clock aswell.

Most impressive though is the battery. I have been unplugged now for 32 hours and still have 20% left. I never got past 18 hours on eclair. I am a fairly heavy user.

theteal · 16-08-2010 7:40pm

32 hour battery, shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit, that's impressive. i haven't actually fully tested mine yet but i do know it's nowhere close to that on a normal work day - i'd say i'd get about 15 hours

i'm running psychosis 3.1 HTC LP - it's just so quick that i don't want to change it - i might try using the overclock to see if i can help the battery

osnola ibax · 16-08-2010 8:06pm

Yeah, can't really recommend this Rom highly enough. Neophyte 1.7.1, though I think its getting an upgrade tonight. Stable and reliable aswell. As I say I'm slightly underclocking, anymore though and it runs noticeably slower. Also have a screen off profile set to 245 mhz.

Must also mention that I had it on airplane mode for about 8 hours last night. Gonna let the battery completely run out and see exactly how much I get.

Desire without Sense -- best rom?

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