0xfeedface Tech musings and rants

Some have said that running custom ROMs on the Droid X would be unlikely if not impossible. This last week has proven that theory false, proving once again that history repeats itself and all it takes is time. Thanks to the leaked Froyo image, custom ROMs have been popping up.

I very much dislike the MotoBLUR UI. I have come to realize that the stock Android UI is both powerful and simple. A new custom ROM, called Tranquility, has been released. I'm really excited for the Android hacking community, especially as it pertains to removing custom UIs on devices that have been locked down tight. I give props to all involved.

I'll likely give it a try this weekend.

Android 2.2 (Froyo) leaked this morning. The site which hosts the leak, MyDroidWorld, came under immediate DDoS as soon as the leak was published. MyDroidWorld is back up and stable. I installed Froyo on my Droid X within just a few hours of the leak.

I had previously rooted my Droid X and removed some of the bloatware. I tried flashing the update.zip. It failed because CityID wasn't installed. Grrrr. I had to find the SBF (the original firmware that Verizon techs use when restoring your phone to its factory state) and flash it with a pirated copy of Motorola's flashing software. After restoring my phone to its factory state, the Froyo update worked. The radio failed to update, but I haven't had any issues, yet.

The phone is significantly and noticeably faster. The MotoBLUR UI that I hate so much has been toned down to a usable level. I dislike that the bloatware apps are installed again. Flash 10.1 is installed now. That'll be the first thing I remove.

Overall, I'm happy for this leak. I would recommend applying the leaked Froyo image to everyone who owns a Droid X. I'm excited for the real release of Froyo for the Droid X and the many improvements Motorola and Verizon will have for this phone in the years to come.

UPDATE: I posted an image of the failed radio update here.

I bought the Droid X. It's the largest phone I've ever purchased. It feels weird being back on Verizon. I started out with a dumbphone on Verizon three years ago then I went to AT&T for the iPhone 3G and finally ended up at T-Mobile with the Nexus One. T-Mobile doesn't have the best coverage so I wanted another carrier for trips and vacations. Verizon's network sure has changed (for the better, of course) in these last three years.

The phone itself is nice. I miss the trackball the G1, MyTouch 3G, and Nexus One all have and all of which I've owned. The screen size is perfect for reading material larger than Wordpress blogs. The size of the screen, though, can be a bit uncomfortable at times--like when playing solitaire. I'm used to using one hand with my Android devices, and the Droid X occasionally requires two hands.

I've found that I can bypass the Grooveshark wifi-only restriction for certain songs if I use Froyo's built-in wireless tether on my Nexus One to tether my Droid X. Unfortunately, Grooveshark isn't the most stable of apps and can poop out if there's any packet loss (which sadly happens frequently on T-Mobile's network in my area).

I'm not a fan at all of the Motoblur UI. I quickly installed ADW Launcher from the Market and got the familiar mostly stock UI I love.

Over all, I think the Droid X is a great Android phone. I'll be buying an HDMI cable for it shortly. It might launch me into the gaming scene. I haven't tested 720p recording or playback, yet. I'm sure I'll enjoy it just like I enjoy the rest of the phone. This phone is worth its weight in money.

I updated my Nexus One to the official Froyo FRF85B release a few days ago. I love the improvements Google and others have made to Android. One of my favorite features is WiFi tether. I have a mobile WiFi hotspot where ever I go. Everything is very noticeably faster on Froyo. I'm really impressed at how everything comes together in a unified manner.

I frequently bike to work. On my way, I listen to Pandora to make the twenty-mile journey bearable. I noticed that when I bike parallel and nearly underneath power lines, all data services die. My phone still shows full 3G bars, but all data synchronization stops. Pandora stops playing, email stops syncing, etc. I bike underneath power lines for around six of the twenty miles, a pretty significant portion to be without data services.

This problem didn't occur on Eclair. I tested on both Eclair and Froyo using both a bluetooth headset and regular 3.5mm headphones. No issue on Eclair with either headset, but it was an issue on Froyo with both headsets. My guess is that the Froyo radio is much more sensitive to interference than Eclair.

I contacted Google's Nexus One tech support. They've escalated the issue to the engineering department. I'll let you guys know what happens. Here is a thread I created on the Nexus One support forums about the issue.

HP announced yesterday that they will acquire Palm for $1.2 billion. Palm has been a leader in handheld consumer electronics for many successful years. With the transition from PDAs to smartphones, Palm has had to reinvent its business strategy. The iPhone craze changed the landscape of consumer electronics. Palm entered the smartphone market too late with its Palm Pre and Palm Pre Plus line. Those I know who own a Palm Pre are very happy with WebOS, Palm's smartphone OS.

By the time WebOS was released, Android and iPhone were already way ahead in features and capabilities. Android and iPhone still provides a better smartphone experience than WebOS.

It's still unclear what HP intends to do with Palm's technologies. I hope that HP will convert the WebOS lineup to Android and opensource WebOS. Neither of those will probably happen, but it's what I'd like to see.

CyanogenMod is a popular custom firmware written by a dude that goes by the name of Cyanogen for certain Android-powered devices. He works hard to produce a great product with few bugs and many enhancements. All the Android devices I've owned have run CyanogenMod at some point of time. My Nexus One currently runs CyanogenMod.

Ultimate Droid is another custom firmware for Verizon's Droid. The beauty of opensource is the ability to incorporate other's work into your work. The issue at stake is that the administrators of Ultimate Droid ripped Cyanogen's firmware without giving Cyanogen proper credit. Ultimate Droid is claiming completely original work. Cyanogen approached Ultimate Droid on their forums. The forum administrators quickly deleted Cyanogen's posts and banned him from the forums.

I love the concept of opensource. I love being able to see the inner workings of programs and fix bugs myself. I love being able to mod software to do what I want it to do without resorting to nasty hacks. What gets me is ripping code without giving credit. I admit to using other's code in my projects (both professional and hobby), but I always give credits where they're due. It's common courtesy. Not giving credit will land you in the same trouble Ultimate Droid is running into now. They're losing their userbase and potential users simply because they stole code.

Props to Cyanogen for creating an awesome firmware and calling others out on stealing his hard work.

I bought a Nook this week from Barnes and Noble. I love that it's powered by Android. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm an Android fan. This is the first time I've seen first-person the e-ink technology. It's amazing! My mind gets tripped out every time I look at it. My mind knows it's looking at a digital device, but it's tricked into thinking it's real ink on real paper.

The device overall seems a bit sluggish. Both 3G and WiFi are unreliable and often randomly failing. While the Nook contains an awesome display that is extremely easy on the eyes and a simple interface, the Nook falls short of providing a completely comfortable eReading experience. When I click the next-page button, I have to wait a few seconds to make sure the click registered.

Even with the mentioned shortcomings, I still love having an eReader. I'm somewhat happy with my purchase and I suspect I'll be even happier in the Fall when I go back to school. If I can get all my textbooks on my Nook, I'll be one happy customer. I'm sure that I would have been even more disappointed with the Kindle.

I own a rooted MyTouch 3G and a Nexus One. I promised myself that I would keep my Nexus One unrooted. Well, I broke that promise last week and I couldn't be happier. It runs so much faster now--and it already was plenty fast. Tethering is awesome on it. I can listen to Pandora while tethering at work, developing at normal pace. I was lucky to keep my IRC connections alive while running a SQL query at work with my MyTouch 3G. I'm plenty happy now that it's rooted.

Verizon's CDMA Nexus One is supposed to be released on 23 Mar 2010. HTC has been sued by Apple for twenty patent infringements. I wonder if this lawsuit will affect the release and future sale of the Nexus One. We all know that this lawsuit is not about HTC, but it's about the exhilarating OS and framework by Google that's poised to outsell and pass Apple this year: Android.

The following is an excerpt of what I said in a Buzz conversation a friend and I are having about Windows Mobile 7:

I just saw a few WinMo 7 pics and I think what I saw was really, extremely ugly. Granted, when I switched from iPhone to Android, I thought Android's interface was a bit on the ugly side and I love Android's UI now. Maybe I'll have to wait till my diehard Microsoft fanboi coworkers update their phones to WinMo 7 to really judge it. After having had my Nexus One for a few days, though, I gotta say that Android has now surpassed iPhone OS's capabilities and now delivers a better OS and framework. Given that Microsoft has been behind the game for over a year now, Microsoft is going to have to work hard to bring their OS up to speed with Android's.
You did point out that Microsoft has a major marketshare in smartphones and I agree with that. However, Android's growth has been climbing; soon Android sales will outperform iPhone sales--growth trends have been pointing this way for six months now. With a larger userbase, Google will ramp up its even now rapid development of Android. With the Nexus One being directly supported by Google, Google will roll out OTA updates with new Android versions fast to its proud Nexus One userbase. Android will eventually win the war unless either Microsoft or Apple open their technologies like Google has done with Android.
Openness is key here. Being able to switch carriers--and even phones--while all your data, apps, etc. all come over painlessly and automagically is where Android wins. Besides, the Nexus One will probably come to AT&T 3G either later this year or early next.
Overall, WinMo 7 might be a decent start for Microsoft to re-enter into the smartphone wars, but Android is where it's at. I predict that a good percentage of WinMo users will switch to Android this year, even with Microsoft now trying to hit mobile technologies harder. I'm curious, too, if WinMo 7 integrates with the Zune marketplace and what the average Zune marketplace user thinks about DRM and vendor-lockin.
I haven't held a WinMo 7 device, yet, but expect to soon. My somewhat-biased opinion might change given time. ;)

Note: Android growth table available here (opens in new window).

I've hit my first goal of the year. I paid off my car today. I'm waiting for the new title to come in the mail. I'm way freaking stoked. My car is now officially mine. I can use it and abuse it as I please. Now to save for two weeks to get the Nexus One as a celebration present. I recently watched a video that Phil did on his YouTube channel called Like Totally Awesome about the Nexus One and I am so freaking excited. I might start doing Android development once I get it. Looks like Android 2.1 not only is a serious competitor to iPhone OS, but it might have surpassed it in features and functionality.