Are there really zero custom ROM's for this phone yet ? - Google Pixel 2 XL Questions & Answers

I'm not directing this at the great developers here, but I'm more confused or wondering what's up ? This phone is Google's flagship stock Nexus device, THE developer phone. The Pixel 2 was released two months ago, and there's not one custom ROM yet. I find that shocking and asking what happened ?
I've owned most Nexus phones in the past, and by two months in there'd be a ton of ROM's available.
Again I'm not trying to be an ass asking this question I'm not looking for ETA I'm more very confused or am I missing something why development doesn't seem to be happening like in past Nexus phones?
Or is there another forum outside of XDA these ROM's are on that I'm not aware of ???

A few roms are coming to this phone. It's just slower because of the dual partition stuff. Think DU and Pure Nexus are planned.

You must also remember the pricetag on this device, not everyone is going to jump on this device right away, but like the above comment said, there are ROMs in the works.

A lot of devs weren't building because we didn't have a stable TWRP.
Looks like one just dropped

All of what's already been said here.. plus.. this phone is so darn stable and amazing bone stock that it's unbelievable. I have had every single Nexus/pixel and HTC device since I don't know when and there was always some reason why you badly needed root and a custom rom.... But with this... It's so good I haven't even unlocked the bootloader yet! Kudos to Google for sure!

OnePlus has screwed it up for everyone when it comes to custom ROMs, the phone is half the price of top flagships and just as good so thats where most of your development is

Agreed that OnePlus has sucked away a lot of developers, if not the majority of them. OnePlus 5 / 5t is almost half the price of the Pixel 2 XL, plus it seems even easier to developer for. I mean go in the OnePlus 5t forum and look at the development, phone hasn't been out one month yet, and it has a bunch of ROM's and Kernels.
But I prefer the direct from Google updates and long term support by Google, plus the extra features on the Pixel 2 over the OPO, and am happy with my purchase, but I am concerned that there is not even one single ROM released for the Pixel 2 after two months.

mackentosh said:
OnePlus has screwed it up for everyone when it comes to custom ROMs, the phone is half the price of top flagships and just as good so thats where most of your development is
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Ya but dat pixel camera and timely updates....
Beats OnePlus every time

LineageOS is in the works: https://review.lineageos.org/#/q/project:LineageOS/android_device_google_wahoo

MishaalRahman said:
LineageOS is in the works: https://review.lineageos.org/#/q/project:LineageOS/android_device_google_wahoo
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Good find, looking forward to try this out when it's ready.

Related

Any chance for a sense 6 port?

As the title says, any chance for a sense 6 port to our beloved G2? I just read the nexus 5. Has a port in alpha stage. Here's to a longshot.
Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk
We only got 3 dev's and two of 'em are in jail so I say chances are 1 in 1,000,000.
...so yes I'm saying you gotta a chance.
seriously though it is very obvious that we have a severe shortage of dev's working on the Sprint G2. The ones we do have are top notch but they are extremely busy just trying to get ZVC roms built. This phone will drive a dev bat crap crazy with all its security hold ups.
On the phones I had in the past there was always at least ten different dev's or dev teams releasing roms based on stock and of then course countless aosp stuff going on and then there were always the one or two mad scientist devs that always wanted to stand out from the crowd and these guys would bring in all the crazy ports.
Of course a few years ago each carrier only had one or two phones anyone would really want to bother with. Now look at things, there are at least 4 main stream Android phones at Sprint alone if not more and its diluting the dev pool. Sure most of the ones I use to follow went to the HTC One but then a lot of them also went to the S4 or note. Then some went to Nexus and on and on. 3 years ago they were ALL on the EVO OG and you bet if it could be ported it was ported to that phone. Oooohhh those were the days... but I digress.
The sad truth is the only way this phone will see more dev's is if current owners learn to dev for it. Any veteran dev would already be deving this phone if they were ever going to.
Yeah, silly me keeps picking phones that don't get support. My wanting to carry a different handset than what most have segregates me. Heh. Oh well. Glad we have what we have. To be honest these days this phone in stock form does most all i want.
Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk
sin-cal said:
Yeah, silly me keeps picking phones that don't get support. My wanting to carry a different handset than what most have segregates me. Heh. Oh well. Glad we have what we have. To be honest these days this phone in stock form does most all i want.
Sent from my LG-LS980 using Tapatalk
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The blinkfeed zip made for nexus 5 works on the g2. I am running it now. Its a bit buggy and i cant get some of the widgets to work. Its seems to be a mix of sense and lg home. http://nexus5.wonderhowto.com/how-to...xus-5-0154211/
Its WIP so facebook not working yet in blinkfeed
check this link out for newer versions http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2696399
barleysoda said:
We only got 3 dev's and two of 'em are in jail so I say chances are 1 in 1,000,000.
...so yes I'm saying you gotta a chance.
seriously though it is very obvious that we have a severe shortage of dev's working on the Sprint G2. The ones we do have are top notch but they are extremely busy just trying to get ZVC roms built. This phone will drive a dev bat crap crazy with all its security hold ups.
On the phones I had in the past there was always at least ten different dev's or dev teams releasing roms based on stock and of then course countless aosp stuff going on and then there were always the one or two mad scientist devs that always wanted to stand out from the crowd and these guys would bring in all the crazy ports.
Of course a few years ago each carrier only had one or two phones anyone would really want to bother with. Now look at things, there are at least 4 main stream Android phones at Sprint alone if not more and its diluting the dev pool. Sure most of the ones I use to follow went to the HTC One but then a lot of them also went to the S4 or note. Then some went to Nexus and on and on. 3 years ago they were ALL on the EVO OG and you bet if it could be ported it was ported to that phone. Oooohhh those were the days... but I digress.
The sad truth is the only way this phone will see more dev's is if current owners learn to dev for it. Any veteran dev would already be deving this phone if they were ever going to.
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I'd be more than happy to develop for the LS980, if it weren't so farking easy to manage an unrecoverable brick. I bought it because my expectations were that of someone who thought they were getting a nexus 5 with a better battery and display since they're made by the same manufacturer and share the same internals. Had I known that they were going to lock out one of the most basic dev features, indeed even a part of the official software development kit (fastboot) then I'd deal with crappy battery life and gotten a nexus 5. I tend to stay away from nexus phones because they're developer phones...sounds backwards, I know...developer avoids a dev phone? But, let's face it, dev phones lack the real kick and features of actual consumer phones, so I try to pick a phone that walks the line between being easy to develop on while still making an excellent PHONE.
Excellent phone, LG nailed. However, they really screwed the pooch on developer functions. That's why there are so few devs. A lot of them moved on to the m8 or got a real n5 once they realized what they had gotten themselves into. So, yeah...The ones that stick it out have my undying respect because they're effing SAINTS. I don't have the patience for the brick cycle myself.

[Q] Is the ascend p6 development slowly dying or what?

Good people,
This is a bit unusual for me, that the p6 forum will be so quite. There was time where I'll be so confused as to which rom to try and was changing them like my under wear .
Lately it's so quite it makes me wonder . I just so hope that we aren't left in the dark and that someone out the is developing smoothing good underground :fingers-crossed:
Hayeni said:
Good people,
This is a bit unusual for me, that the p6 forum will be so quite. There was time where I'll be so confused as to which rom to try and was changing them like my under wear .
Lately it's so quite it makes me wonder . I just so hope that we aren't left in the dark and that someone out the is developing smoothing good underground :fingers-crossed:
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Click to collapse
It's very simple, our phone is getting old, and Huawei did a good job to make it slow,buggy and made developing very hard.
Huawei showed us, that they didn't care much about their customers, they waited very long to release sourcecodes, didn't improve the kernel usw. They only cared about there Ui, which is, in my opinion, the crappiest thing ever done.
We had 2 developers, who made real roms from source, but to do this they needed to use old binaries from huawei, which made it impossible to make "real" custom roms, which cpuld be officially. I don't want to say that these Roms were bad. They were really good for the sources we had. But Bugs'n Errors could mostly only be fixed with dirty hacks and workarounds .
Now our Phone has ended its livespan it's almost 2 Years old.
The dev's weren't really able to go on in development, because there was no way to get LP working on our device and every sourcecode like Carbon,CM etc upgraded their rom to Lollipop. So there will be no fixed, no updates for a KK-based rom.
I have not really looked at the new sources and can't say that we can not build LP with those, but to make a rom, like our last Custom Roms were done. I mean with using precompiled binaries, like the other Roms did, there is no way to build LP without an official LP-Rom from Huawei ... and I don't belive that this will come .. I mean ... Huawei doesn't care about this phone anymore .. it has the P7/p6s and even never ones.
Ps.: Also I want to say that our phone is really bad build, .. i have my 2nd screen in my p6, the first had a subpixelerror .. so I send it in, it took Huawei 8 weeks to repair the screen ... now a year later, I have exactly the same error in exactly the same position ... It looks Like I'll be buying a new phone in near future ... the google ara looks great
raolleel said:
It's very simple, our phone is getting old, and Huawei did a good job to make it slow,buggy and made developing very hard.
Huawei showed us, that they didn't care much about their customers, they waited very long to release sourcecodes, didn't improve the kernel usw. They only cared about there Ui, which is, in my opinion, the crappiest thing ever done.
We had 2 developers, who made real roms from source, but to do this they needed to use old binaries from huawei, which made it impossible to make "real" custom roms, which cpuld be officially. I don't want to say that these Roms were bad. They were really good for the sources we had. But Bugs'n Errors could mostly only be fixed with dirty hacks and workarounds .
Now our Phone has ended its livespan it's almost 2 Years old.
The dev's weren't really able to go on in development, because there was no way to get LP working on our device and every sourcecode like Carbon,CM etc upgraded their rom to Lollipop. So there will be no fixed, no updates for a KK-based rom.
I have not really looked at the new sources and can't say that we can not build LP with those, but to make a rom, like our last Custom Roms were done. I mean with using precompiled binaries, like the other Roms did, there is no way to build LP without an official LP-Rom from Huawei ... and I don't belive that this will come .. I mean ... Huawei doesn't care about this phone anymore .. it has the P7/p6s and even never ones.
Ps.: Also I want to say that our phone is really bad build, .. i have my 2nd screen in my p6, the first had a subpixelerror .. so I send it in, it took Huawei 8 weeks to repair the screen ... now a year later, I have exactly the same error in exactly the same position ... It looks Like I'll be buying a new phone in near future ... the google ara looks great
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Thank you for the detailed reply and I guess you're correct by saying it is time to upgrade . Which device do you prefer, as there's plenty of good android devices out there?
Hayeni said:
Thank you for the detailed reply and I guess you're correct by saying it is time to upgrade . Which device do you prefer, as there's plenty of good android devices out there?
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I'm waiting for "project ara" from google, but I quess many other phones are very good on the market ... eg. google nexus 6 or 5, also samsung devices have a very good community with many devs and roms, but I don't like their build-quality and also their price-policy, ... there are many things I hate about samsung
I agree with everything said above! The P6 was a great idea, at the time it was the highest spec phone for the price (in the uk). In the months after i bought my P6 however, new high spec - low price phones were brought out (nexus 5, oneplus one) that were just better than the p6. I don't mind EMUI, but I can see how some would dislike it. I dislike the lack of support that Huawei gives, and I will definitely not be buying a Huawei phone again.
Don't know about you guys, but I'm waiting for the OnePlus 2! Hopefully they will keep the price down
raolleel said:
I'm waiting for "project ara" from google, but I quess many other phones are very good on the market ... eg. google nexus 6 or 5, also samsung devices have a very good community with many devs and roms, but I don't like their build-quality and also their price-policy, ... there are many things I hate about samsung
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Mmh Project Ara is nice but I'm still hoping for vsenn.com they din't really showed anything until now but they promise very good stuff
I'm going maybe for Sailfish OS, I like the idea of the OS and the mentality of the company (Sooo much communtity listening).
Sadly I come less and less often here, only to find... nothing new. The Ascend P6 is a great phone... and HAD potential, which was not used. I am also looking forward to the end of my contract (November) and choosing something else. Most likely it won't be Huawei again.
Because my Phone broke after i dropped it and because I thought the develeopment was dying i switched to xperia z2.
Hayeni said:
Thank you for the detailed reply and I guess you're correct by saying it is time to upgrade . Which device do you prefer, as there's plenty of good android devices out there?
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Wait for the P8
Sent from my HUAWEI P7-L10 using XDA Premium HD app
Or HTC One M9
Agreed
It really has gone quiet. Perhaps we can ask XDA to add some tumbleweed animations to the P6 page.
I tend to agree with the first post, the P6 was ok but never quite good enough. I have multiple devices and the P6 has now been relegated to bottom of the list
rodjordan said:
It really has gone quiet. Perhaps we can ask XDA to add some tumbleweed animations to the P6 page.
I tend to agree with the first post, the P6 was ok but never quite good enough. I have multiple devices and the P6 has now been relegated to bottom of the list
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Hello my fellow guys, just want to let you know that I've got myself the beast Sony Xperia Z2 and am so delighted. Now just patiently waiting for the Lollipop update.
I really liked the P6 actually. Great specs, amazing design and really really cheap. I kind of liked EMUI too. Its sad to see its development die out and I do wish Huawei people were more involved.
I will be sticking to my P6 at least until google ARA comes out.
Hayeni said:
Hello my fellow guys, just want to let you know that I've got myself the beast Sony Xperia Z2 and am so delighted. Now just patiently waiting for the Lollipop update.
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I went with Samsung on many occasions but recently I switched to Sony and I have to say I am very happy. I bought the Z1 Compact, high quality hardware and software and timely updates. I also bought the massive Z Ultra because the price recently dropped to bargain level.
The hardware manufacturers underestimate the value in keeping the phone updated in good time.
In my opinion, a user with a phone with regular quality updates is likely to stay with that brand.

How customizable is this phone?

Hello guys!
I had experiences with several brands. I gave up Samsung due to the Knox Counter and Sony due to the DRM keys. The best experience so far I had with my late Nexus 5! How easy is to customize the HTC 10? I never had HTC's before. Regarding ease of customization, bootloader unlock and warranty how does it go? I am about to return an Axon 7 and maybe exchange it with a 10.
Thanks in advance!
gibawatts said:
Hello guys!
I had experiences with several brands. I gave up Samsung due to the Knox Counter and Sony due to the DRM keys. The best experience so far I had with my late Nexus 5! How easy is to customize the HTC 10? I never had HTC's before. Regarding ease of customization, bootloader unlock and warranty how does it go? I am about to return an Axon 7 and maybe exchange it with a 10.
Thanks in advance!
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Assuming you have the Verizon model....Once you use Sunshine to S-Off this phone the world is your oyster. Great/robust dev community and help/support/guides to assist you through anything you want to do with your phone.
The combination of the above and that HTC makes what I think are the most gorgeous looking and well built phones...it's been a win win for me since my Thunderbolt lol
gibawatts said:
Hello guys!
I had experiences with several brands. I gave up Samsung due to the Knox Counter and Sony due to the DRM keys. The best experience so far I had with my late Nexus 5! How easy is to customize the HTC 10? I never had HTC's before. Regarding ease of customization, bootloader unlock and warranty how does it go? I am about to return an Axon 7 and maybe exchange it with a 10.
Thanks in advance!
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Click to collapse
I've had a huge amount of devices, ( look at my sig and you'll see) and I've always come back to HTC, reason being is that they offer something a little different, but what's more they always have the most talented developers and the oldest serving, on XDA, Villain rom, etc, they always come up with the goods.
Not to mention that the root, unlocking of the bootloader and s-off (if you s-off) is reversible. Samsung is not, as it has an efuse chip as does the nexus too AFAIK.
There literally isn't anything you can't change on this device and with pretty much any other htc device, if you've had a htc before and gone on to something else, Sony or Sammy are good examples, you'll always be looking back over the fence, and when a new HTC comes out you'll just hate your current device, eg: I got rid of a six month old nexus 6P for this 10
Just unlock the bootloader, s-off if you must or want to, I believe that you can flash firmwares easier with it switched off, it's £20 so not great but it always works, install a custom recovery and flash away.
In terms of roms, Venom probably offers the most comprehensive list of tweaks and mods but LeeDroid is equally as good and as customizable, perhaps not with the length of venom tweaks but still great. Other roms I can guess are similar and when CM is completely fixed, well start seeing CM, AOSP and similar roms heading for us too.
In short, the answer to your question is a huge yes, I don't think I'll ever get another Samsung or Sony again, nothing wrong with them, they're just not for me and I'll miss HTC if I do.
Stripped, themed, ghostpeppered, and running like a bat out of hell....
.
bakemcbride21 said:
Great/robust dev community and help/support/guides to assist you through anything you want to do with your phone.
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I hope I can piggy-back off of this thread just a bit.
When you refer to the developer community for HTC, are you referring particularly to here on XDA-Developers, or in general everywhere? I'm thinking of getting an HTC 10, but I'm wondering the best/simplest way to keep it going with Android updates well past HTC's stated support period. I haven't done anything with my HTC Incredible S, but I'm looking to be a bit more proactive with my next phone. What are some of the more stable ROMs that you--or anyone else, for that matter--would recommend to keep this phone continually updated for years to come? Longevity is important to me.
SlowRain said:
I hope I can piggy-back off of this thread just a bit.
When you refer to the developer community for HTC, are you referring particularly to here on XDA-Developers, or in general everywhere? I'm thinking of getting an HTC 10, but I'm wondering the best/simplest way to keep it going with Android updates well past HTC's stated support period. I haven't done anything with my HTC Incredible S, but I'm looking to be a bit more proactive with my next phone. What are some of the more stable ROMs that you--or anyone else, for that matter--would recommend to keep this phone continually updated for years to come? Longevity is important to me.
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Long time Samsung user here. I got my US unlocked HTC 10 a few months ago. Best phone I ever had. Would not even consider an S7 in comparison.
The two primary Sense-based Roms for the 10 are Viper and LeeDroid. I've tried both and prefer Viper. I think that would be your long-term solution. Get an unlocked 10 if you can afford to for maximum flexibility and choice of service providers. Unlock the bootloader, S-Off, and flash Viper. You can't go wrong in my opinion.
BTW, this is just a general discussion thread. Each Rom, Kernel, recovery, etc etc have their own dedicated threads where you'll find in-depth info.
Aurelius99 said:
The two primary Sense-based Roms for the 10 are Viper and LeeDroid.
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Are there any inherent advantages of a Sense-based ROM in terms of stability or ease of installation? Sorry for such a pedestrian question, but is there anything as simple as good ol' Nexus-style vanilla Android, or is that something that's even too easy to be asking about?
Thanks guys, still considering the 10. Now I am between the 10, 6P and Pixel XL. The painful fact is that I am currently with no phone. When I went to return the Axon, there were no 10s in stock at the store. The wait for the Pixel is just killing me! And to worsen things a bit, I just ran into a 128 GB Nexus 6P. I am a real sucker for OLED screens you, know? That is why I still didn't buy the 10.
SlowRain said:
Are there any inherent advantages of a Sense-based ROM in terms of stability or ease of installation? Sorry for such a pedestrian question, but is there anything as simple as good ol' Nexus-style vanilla Android, or is that something that's even too easy to be asking about?
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Gawd, I could never go back to stock. Most people want a custom Rom firstly to get rid of all the bloatware installed by their service providers. Apps you'll never use, sitting there taking up space and even running in the background. Then there is the customizing you can do to set up your phone just how you want it. However, HTC has promised us that they will be providing us with a Rom upgrade to Android 7 in a couple of months and that Rom may be nice as-is. Bottom line - if you want maximum control over your 10, go custom. If stock meets your needs stay with that.
Aurelius99 said:
Gawd, I could never go back to stock. Most people want a custom Rom firstly to get rid of all the bloatware installed by their service providers. Apps you'll never use, sitting there taking up space and even running in the background. Then there is the customizing you can do to set up your phone just how you want it. However, HTC has promised us that they will be providing us with a Rom upgrade to Android 7 in a couple of months and that Rom may be nice as-is. Bottom line - if you want maximum control over your 10, go custom. If stock meets your needs stay with that.
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I'm sorry, I may not have been clear. I was asking about a Sense-based ROM vs. stock Android (not stock Sense). I'd like it as simple, stripped down, and Nexus-like as possible, but I don't know how much tinkering each modder does with their various ROMs. I also want a ROM from a modder who will support it down the road for several Android versions, but I seem to have an answer to that question already. What I don't understand yet is the likelihood of stock/vanilla Android running smoothly on the HTC 10. Is that what's being called AOSP, or is that something else entirely?
(For what it's worth, I'd be getting the international version, called the M10h, I believe.)
SlowRain said:
I'm sorry, I may not have been clear. I was asking about a Sense-based ROM vs. stock Android (not stock Sense). I'd like it as simple, stripped down, and Nexus-like as possible, but I don't know how much tinkering each modder does with their various ROMs. I also want a ROM from a modder who will support it down the road for several Android versions, but I seem to have an answer to that question already. What I don't understand yet is the likelihood of stock/vanilla Android running smoothly on the HTC 10. Is that what's being called AOSP, or is that something else entirely?
(For what it's worth, I'd be getting the international version, called the M10h, I believe.)
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AOSP is the Android Open Source Project. Yes, this is sometimes referred to as the "stock" Rom. Google provides the code base for the stock Rom. Various developers use this code base and then add their own code enhancements to produce an extended version of the stock Rom. Most custom Roms are Cyanogenmod-based. This is the company that has put their particular twist on the stock Rom. A Sense-based Rom is yet another enhanced version of the stock Rom. Both use the same AOSP code base and customize it in various ways and for various phones.
Some people actually do prefer the more standard stock Rom for various reasons. It is simpler and typically more robust for dealing with the limited and specific tasks it was designed for. A good custom Rom can be just as robust as stock in every way, but also allows the user to do much more with the phone. It can be overclocked to run much faster, have better audio, a highly customizable user interface, and so on.
Viper, on the Sense-based side, and Resurrection Remix on the Cyanogenmod-based side are both better than the stock Rom in my view and people using those Roms get many more updates to their Roms via the developers than stock Rom users do. Some developers are still producing custom Roms for the Samsung SII -- a very old phone that Samsung dropped support for years ago.
Check this out for the HTC 10:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-10/development/rom-21-02-viper10-1-0-0-tweaks-hub-t3379151
Aurelius99 said:
A Sense-based Rom is yet another enhanced version of the stock Rom. Both use the same AOSP code base and customize it in various ways and for various phones.
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Can I assume a Sense-based ROM will have a better chance of everything working properly (ie. camera, NFC, audio, etc.) since it's starting off with something further down the fork in AOSP designed specifically for the HTC 10? Or am I misunderstanding how ROMs work?
SlowRain said:
Can I assume a Sense-based ROM will have a better chance of everything working properly (ie. camera, NFC, audio, etc.) since it's starting off with something further down the fork in AOSP designed specifically for the HTC 10? Or am I misunderstanding how ROMs work?
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Haha, you're really doing your research.
Yes, a sense based ROM is less likely to have bugs, however bugs are usually listed in the OP of every rom thread. A matured AOSP ROM won't have anything broken, but things may not work as well or as intended by HTC.
I think sense based is the way to go with this device, lots of good features HTC has developed that work well with the phone like the camera application and blinkfeed. Not to mention the polished look of the phone in general and the underrated theme store, it just works well together. You'd lose all of that with AOSP, not so much key features not working.
BadUsername said:
Haha, you're really doing your research.
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Yes. It's my most annoying characteristic, according to my wife. Now I just have to find a developer who keeps things simple & stable, and who will support it until 2021.
Thanks for your replies. And I apologize to gibawatts for hijacking this thread a bit. I hope it was still useful for you, too.
Did you guys decide?
It's still $150 off, which assisted me in my decision to go from the Nexus 5 to the htc 10 (and a nice, even doubling for us OCD types).
My short answer: the htc 10 is ever-so-slightly less customisable than the Nexus 5; I've installed everything on it that I had on the Nexus (SuperSU, Xposed, Gravitybox, Xprivacy, AdAway, etc.). N-ify works on it.
My only "issue" so far is that GravityBox can't remove the Calculator and Extreme Power Saver quicktile htc put there..real fine points here. (I've only had the thing 2 days, so there may be more but no show-stoppers for a purist like me). Sense 8 is more like an alternative launcher than an overhaul like TouchWiz or old versions of Sense. Wife likes it (coming from her N5/NovaLauncher) and I'm giving it a whirl.
Manual firmware updates would be the only caveat AFAICT but that is still better than what I had with N5: OTAs broke and I just never installed them due to lack of interest...not a habit I want to carry with me, however. My point being that the Nexus 5 was actually more of a hassle to me to update than what this seems like it would be (though I've not tested it yet but there's much discussion on the procedure here).
Wife is attached to OLED (SIII had a wonderful display) but she likes the htc 10 display and did not like the N5 display.
I love the feedback you guys got/gave here. This here is a model XDA thread.
I would just like to add that HTC's Sense ROM is quite bare-boned compared to other non-Nexus OEMs. Compared to the Axon, it'll look almost like a Nexus device.
Everyone else pretty much covered the other important things. I'd like to point out that CM/AOSP/Vanilla ROMs for the HTC 10 are still a bit down the road and they still need quite a bit of work, so when you get it, expect to either stay with Sense, or Sense-based custom ROMs for at least the next few months. No complaints on that from my side. Even if you do eventually flash CM/AOSP/Vanilla ROMs, I'll wager that you'll end up downloading some of HTC's apps, like Camera, Gallery, and Music. They blow away vanilla Android apps and 3rd party alternatives.
samisax said:
Compared to the Axon,...
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Click to collapse
ZTE being mod-hostile turned me off to them; they have to establish a solid history of unlock/mod-friendliness for me to even look at them. (No, a press release stating that they would, in the future, answer questions from CyanogenMod folks to develop their ROM doesn't win me over in any way whatsoever.)
I surmised that the OnePlus 3 was too customised to be considered a Nexus spiritual successor (it was the phone I wanted to like/buy). Really, they only need to make good hardware and just use already-made AOSP and spend dev time getting drivers and such primo to have a winner (and with lower overhead) rather than trying to reinvent the wheel that nobody will want. It's like they're trying to sorta be Nexus and sorta be Sense/TouchWiz/et al but is there really a market for that? Is there really no market for Nexus? (I dunno...the Pixel thing has me befuddled and the no-more-Nexus thing has me ferhoodled.)
So, yeah, I'm liking the htc 10, which, being both funny and sad, I didn't even look at. My wife mentioned it and the $150 off, so we took a look and got'em. (I was still soured by my Evo 3D experience that led me to use then-Best Buy's 30-day return policy)
One more tid-bit I neglected to mention earlier: I'm glad I got the unlocked/dev version...no issue getting official RUUs all official-like, officially. I don't ever want to deal with "carrier" stuff.
P.S. Good to know about the camera, gallery, and music apps. Those are important to my wife (I'm happy with those being "functional" but also happy to just have the same software between us..easier to maintain and to answer her questions).

ROMs and future development

This by no means is a thread for arguing or whatever.
Im so used to seeing a sticky thread with information detailed about the development of the phone. While I've seen threads on magisk and twrp can anyone give a brief summary as of what the status is of getting to the point where we can build ROMs and other stuff.
Thanks!
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Jon.StatiK said:
This by no means is a thread for arguing or whatever.
Im so used to seeing a sticky thread with information detailed about the development of the phone. While I've seen threads on magisk and twrp can anyone give a brief summary as of what the status is of getting to the point where we can build ROMs and other stuff.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not much development yet since it's relatively new. It's not likely to have a whole lot of development for the following reasons.
1. It's expensive.
2. It has duel boot partitions.
3. Android 8.0 code has become more complex, requiring a lot more time that developers probably don't want to spend a lot of time on, I don't blame them.
4. Android software has matured quite a bit that custom roms and tweaks aren't needed as much as they used to be.
5. There are other phones out there that aren't as expensive and much more Dev friendly.OP series for example.
6. Phone manufacturers are locking them down more. Samsung for example.
7. It's expensive.
8. That's my 2 pennies worth
Well for one TWRP is only in beta.
Thanks for the reply. I'm still weighing the option to root but right now I'm not sure it's worth it. Until better support comes out and more devs take it up I think it's best to wait.
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Jon.StatiK said:
Thanks for the reply. I'm still weighing the option to root but right now I'm not sure it's worth it. Until better support comes out and more devs take it up I think it's best to wait.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now root is working just fine, as are the custom kernels. I definitely love the ability to use TiBu, AdAway, and custom kernel tweaks :good:
dontbeweakvato said:
Well for one TWRP is only in beta.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually twrp has been out of beta for almost 2 weeks (since Dec 1st), but the thread hasn't been updated. That's a perfect example of how much attention is being paid to this phone's development.
The lack of development has been extremely frustrating since that's the main reason I bought this phone, considering most other major brands development has slowed significantly over the last 2 years or so. Looks like I'm gonna jump ship to the OP5T shortly.
I am very shocked at the lack of ROM development for the brand new next gen Nexus phone, I mean Pixel. The phone has been out close to two months now, and this is very sad to see, and isn't good for the long term for this phone. This is not aimed at the developers, just the current state of most phones having locked bootloaders, and the glory days of ROM'ing Android like a crack addict being behind us. But this being a stock Android "developer freindly" phone, this really says a lot with so little development, just depressing.
When I bought my Nexus 6P when it was announced, by month 2, development was crazy and all sort of ROM's, Kernels, and Tweaks. The good old Nexus days looks to be a thing of the past now, and the Pixel is not a Nexus.
Oh well, at least it's not as bad as the Jailbreak scene, which is all but over
juggz143 said:
Actually twrp has been out of beta for almost 2 weeks (since Dec 1st), but the thread hasn't been updated. That's a perfect example of how much attention is being paid to this phone's development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Huh?
https://twrp.me/google/googlepixel2xl.html
Support Status: Beta
rank78 said:
Huh?
https://twrp.me/google/googlepixel2xl.html
Support Status: Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL since that's what we're doing
TWRP officially supports Pixel 2(XL by extension) since 3.2.0
https://www.xda-developers.com/twrp-3-2-0-released-android-8-0-oreo-zips/
I'm running it now!
ALSO if you click on the downlinks on the page YOU PROVIDED you would see a download link for twrp 3.2.0 official.
You stopped one click short my guy!
juggz143 said:
ALSO if you click on the downlinks on the page YOU PROVIDED you would see a download link for twrp 3.2.0 official.
You stopped one click short my guy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why would I try to download when the page doesn't show a new release?
Also, the TWRP thread says NOT to use 3.2
It's because 3.2.0.0 isn't running 100%. Devs are working on it. Flashing the zip gets you stuck, big time.
You know what.... You guys are totally right, I'm an idiot... I apologize!
I forgot I flashed 3.2.0 -> it didnt work -> I flashed 3.1.1 right back without even thinking lol

Do we have TWRP yet?

Sorry for wasting space here, everyone. I was just wondering if the 3a XL has TWRP yet. I just ordered one and the first thing I do on a new device is install TWRP and root.
Thanks
You can root, but no TWRP yet. The 3 and 3 XL took just about a month. Shouldn't be too long now.
Troy owned a 3XL making it a sure thing for sooner rather than later. Someone with the knowledge could have made it within a fairly short time period since the work is already partially done over in flagship land:; An example would be the OP7, it already has TWRP, a half dozen ROMs, a couple kernals. I'm not saying it isn't coming to this device, it probably is given time. You do have to have someone working on it though or it never happens. Flar2 for instance has a 3aXL and thanks to him we have his kernal. This is how it works, the benefits of these various ROMs, TWRP, kernals, come from a fairly small pool of developers and if one or more of them does not pick up the gauntlet you've got handy tips on these pages but not much else.
Lets us hope that a few of them have seen the value in these devices...
Pixel 3a and XL will have TWRP.
Even the $100 Android phones have TWRP.
It is a matter of when, my guess would be within the next two weeks from now.
Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk
I keep trying to make time to sit down and do an unofficial TWRP, but Everytime I do, something comes up. It's kinda killing me ...
Sc4ryB3ar said:
I keep trying to make time to sit down and do an unofficial TWRP, but Everytime I do, something comes up. It's kinda killing me ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Seems like LOS will come for 3a(XL), so I bet we will see a twrp build soon.
Out of curiosity, because I come from a Samsung: what are the main differences between Pixel's stock firmware and LOS?
As far as I know LOS have a kind of dark mode already enabled (coming to stock with Q) and some privacy option added?
Is there anything more than this?
crian said:
Seems like LOS will come for 3a(XL), so I bet we will see a twrp build soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of curiosity, what makes you say it seems like we'll get LOS for the 3a(XL)? It would be a 100% buy for me if that were the case, just wasn't sure if a notable dev has picked one up and mentioned planning to do so or something and I've missed it, thanks!
Skidoo03 said:
Out of curiosity, what makes you say it seems like we'll get LOS for the 3a(XL)? It would be a 100% buy for me if that were the case, just wasn't sure if a notable dev has picked one up and mentioned planning to do so or something and I've missed it, thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just take a look at their GitHub
https://github.com/LineageOS/android_kernel_google_bonito
https://github.com/LineageOS/android_device_google_bonito
crian said:
Seems like LOS will come for 3a(XL), so I bet we will see a twrp build soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
crian said:
Just take a look at their GitHub
https://github.com/LineageOS/android_kernel_google_bonito
https://github.com/LineageOS/android_device_google_bonito
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! Didn't even think to check that, was thinking they seemed to be good devices for LOS but hadn't heard anything yet so now I'm hopeful.
I'm really happy when the custom roms come out
What I was trying to say gents is that this device doesn't appear to be all that popular to me. Right now there are 627 threads open on the OP7 section compared to 62 here and that phone came out after. I'm BTW not counting the advertising section called reviews which will typically have 30, 40, 50 threads for every device.. I have never seen a less active device section on this forum than this one and I go back to before android started and have had all the Nexus devices except one, all the Galaxy S and Note devices accept 2 and I'm not going to list all the rest of the random devices I've had because you get the idea. I'm not sure what this phone is doing in terms of sales volume but I am sure that if they are being sold they are not being sold to enthusiast like us because if they were those owners would be here. I think some of you folks are kidding yourselves about the amount of development that is going to go on here. This is one of those cases where I would like nothing better than to be wrong but I'm not seeing any crow eating in my future.
I certainly hope your wrong but, I am afraid as you are that this device,,,,albeit a great one,,,,isnt getting the attention by devs. I know it is still too soon to tell and all that. But, if you go off past popular devices, and how fast development sprang up since it was released, this one seems lagging. Lets hope the future is bright for this device and dev support.
krabman said:
What I was trying to say gents is that this device doesn't appear to be all that popular to me. Right now there are 627 threads open on the OP7 section compared to 62 here and that phone came out after. I'm BTW not counting the advertising section called reviews which will typically have 30, 40, 50 threads for every device.. I have never seen a less active device section on this forum than this one and I go back to before android started and have had all the Nexus devices except one, all the Galaxy S and Note devices accept 2 and I'm not going to list all the rest of the random devices I've had because you get the idea. I'm not sure what this phone is doing in terms of sales volume but I am sure that if they are being sold they are not being sold to enthusiast like us because if they were those owners would be here. I think some of you folks are kidding yourselves about the amount of development that is going to go on here. This is one of those cases where I would like nothing better than to be wrong but I'm not seeing any crow eating in my future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
krabman said:
What I was trying to say gents is that this device doesn't appear to be all that popular to me. Right now there are 627 threads open on the OP7 section compared to 62 here and that phone came out after. I'm BTW not counting the advertising section called reviews which will typically have 30, 40, 50 threads for every device.. I have never seen a less active device section on this forum than this one and I go back to before android started and have had all the Nexus devices except one, all the Galaxy S and Note devices accept 2 and I'm not going to list all the rest of the random devices I've had because you get the idea. I'm not sure what this phone is doing in terms of sales volume but I am sure that if they are being sold they are not being sold to enthusiast like us because if they were those owners would be here. I think some of you folks are kidding yourselves about the amount of development that is going to go on here. This is one of those cases where I would like nothing better than to be wrong but I'm not seeing any crow eating in my future.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I bought the not xl version- I get the same vibe you're picking up. I think it's selling, but probably not to many enthusiasts as other phones. Maybe people are buying it because they actually went to use it as a phone? I think after the nexus line crashed, I think people have looked elsewhere for development phones. I don't have a one plus phone, but they seem to release kernels and factory images, which helps development. I'm sure google will do the same.
In other news, I've built aosp and los for sargo. Full disclosure- I haven't flashed anything yet, I haven't even opened the box; so I can't say how well the ROMs run. I'm sure bonito will build just fine too. aosp just needed the drivers/binaries from the website. For los, I used the extract files script and the stock images. The point is that we seen to have ROM support already, but maybe just low interest from the modding community.
Could it be the forums aren't hopping specifically *because* there's so little dev at this point?
I'd expect it to be light when TWRP isn't even around yet. I would expect it to pick up quite a bit once TWRP drops, though.
PhoenixPath said:
Could it be the forums aren't hopping specifically *because* there's so little dev at this point?
I'd expect it to be light when TWRP isn't even around yet. I would expect it to pick up quite a bit once TWRP drops, though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do wish the forums were consolidated for the two devices. Then it would seem busier . I think there would be a bit of synergy since the two devices share so much. Sorry for the OT. I'll dust off my twrp repos and see if I can cook something up.
I was surprised they didn't combine them and just have two different development sub-sections, I've been on other devices where they did that and it seemed to work well. As to the lack of TWRP or other development I don't really think that's it although it's certainly a contributor. IMO you would have many more people asking general questions as you can see everywhere else, there are a lot of people who come to XDA but don't root. It really appears the either the phone isn't in too many hands or those hands belong to those pesky non phone people.
Actually...
Senaxo said:
I'm really happy when the custom roms come out
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dirty Unicorns has an RC out for bonito (3a XL) dated 23 May - you can grab it now. (According to IDM, it is 1.197 GB large.)
Nothing new on the TWRP front for bonito - official or otherwise.
Many of the phones out there seem to have come from a T-Mobile trade-in offer that made the devices nearly free after credits. Problem is that for most of these devices, they'll be carrier locked and in turn bootloader locked for a while. Users have resigned themselves to unrooted optimizations until these locks are gone. Hopefully development will mirror all four of the 3rd gen devices as they pretty similar.
Sargo's top of my list right now for a phone upgrade (my S4 got me thru so many years), but without TWRP and LOS I just can't bring myself to buy it.
Never done any work on android before (besides flashing of course), but I'll throw my hat in the ring and try to get a TWRP build together this weekend.
Mind if I DM ya @gee one when I inevitably get stuck somewhere?

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