HTC One S – CM10 Jellybean

2012 was a long year; I was very busy and didn’t get too much time to mess around with my phone. I was stuck on CM10 20120815 for a long time, this is because I didn’t take the time to read the forums. I always just grabbed the latest nightly and tried to install it.

 Check out the full story at: absolutely.geek.nz

Loving backup and restore!!!

One problem with the HTC One S and any other phone without a removable SD card is that it is more difficult to recover your phone from terminal meddling.

Today I tried to install the unofficial CM 10 20120801 from the ClockworkMod website, I read a bit about this ROM from around the web and one issue that people are having is that the phone wont boot sometimes, well this is exactly what happened to me.

I tried to install the new image from the GUI first, then from recovery but it led to the same unbooting state, luckily I choose to backup the current ROM before the install, so I was able to use the awesome backup/restore function to go back to a state like nothing had happened.

This is a little life lesson when working with anything, not just slightly experimental phone builds....ALWAYS MAKE A BACKUP and if at all possible automate this.....how much was that last weeks worth of work worth to you? (Doc, Spreadsheet, CAD, Program......) how much work would be required to recreate it if your computer died?

For all my (and my Boss's) work data I have an automated backup just using SyncToy and a scheduled task! It is pretty basic, but it works well and it has saved out bacon once or twice already. There are much better solutions but it works for us.

Why unlock and root your phone?

A friend of mine asked me "what's the advantages vs disadvantages of even unlocking an Android phone system? You can build apps with tools. Configure the interioir as standard???"

For me the first reason to unlock and root my phone is to have full control over my own devices. It allows me to install a completely new version of android as I did with my Nexus One, I ended up with Cyanogenmod 7.1, which expands the capabilities of the phone significantly over the stock system. And it makes you feel more like a owner rather then just a user.

The second reason is the ability to have a complete backup of my current working system, if this is the only reason that you want root access then it is worth it. I use ROM Manager by Clockwork Mod, to backup my system and load new ROM's in an easy manner. The backups produced include all your data and system partitions, so if you nuke your phone by installing a dodgy app or getting a bad virus (not many around yet). You can restore your phone to a known good state, rather then back to factory default.

The third reason is some apps require root access to install and use. I'm looking forward to ubuntu for android, I hope once the research phase is finished that anyone can install it, not just those running "approved" phones.

The fourth reason is you get a much better understanding of your device when you unlock your device (assuming you do it yourself), doing a little research and understand how some of the underlying technology works.

So I got an HTC One S

I have had my new phone for a week now.over all it is really nice. The hardware is really good, I love the feel of it.

Having the bigger screen is great, it is super clear and bright compared to my old nexus one.

On the software side it is a bit of a learning curve coming from Cyanogenmod 7 to sense 4. Sense isn't bad, but I'm used to the more open nature of CM. My brother had the nexus S, android 4 is really nice and I want something close to that. I also feel that sense of slowing the phone down, the animations are nice but I always prefer function over form.

Once there is an official Cyanogenmod port for the One S I will install it, this phone is a bit new for that yet. I really like that HTC makes unlocking the bootloader quite easy. Just go to www.HTCdev.com and follow the instructions.

I also just got the Swype beta, out is absolutely awesome. It makes typing on my phone fast and easy, I have typed this whole post on my phone, I would never have done this with the standard keyboard.when Swype comes out of beta I will buy it. The link below will take you to the Swype website, follow the instructions to install it.

http://www.swype.com/get-swype/how-do-i-get-swype/

Am I asking too much from phone manufacturers?

I have been watching the press and tech sites quite closely since the SGS III release, the numbers being stated (benchmarks) for the SGS III vs HTC One X vs HTC One S are all very impressive.

Fans and haters alike would have you believe that either the SGS III kills the One X or visa versa, turns out that in different ways both are best. Surprisingly the One S with the Snapdragon S4 does very well in some of the reviews even coming out on top in a few. This will make for some interesting devices come the S4 Quad which is slated for release sometime in Q4 2012.

I have read most of the reviews (Engadget has a good one) that are available on the net and discounting the obviously biased ones, the new Exynos Quad is a fine chip powering its way through the benchmarks giving some seriously impressive numbers (supercomputers passed 150MFLOPS in about 1975-76).

Super computer speeds (10^8 = 100MFLOPS) (thanks Wikipedia)

From the various reviews, it looks like the Mali400 GPU in the SGSIII isn't really a match for the Tegra 3, but the Exynos is a better CPU. There is a lot to like about the SGSIII but not more so then the One X.

I feel the main thing holding back the SGSIII is the stupid TouchWiz 4 skin. HTC Sense 4 is no longer the bloated pig that the older versions were, it is much closer to stock android (why the manufacturers don't just ship stock is beyond me). TouchWiz is clunky and old looking where Sense looks sleek and polished. 

Well that and the fact that it is f-ing huge, these are supposed to be portable 

computers, and not in the way that a laptop is portable, but a pocketable computer.

I want a hybrid of the SGSIII and the One X in the form factor of the One S, and this is probably asking too much. Maybe when the Snapdragon S4 Quad arrives. I want the microSD slot from the SGSIII but the proper ICS buttons from the One X/S. I want the user replacable battery from the SGSIII (or bigger) and the forward looking UI from the One X/S, or better yet stock android. I want the IPS screen from the One X at 1280 x 720 but in the size of the One S but it should be Gorilla Glass 2 like the SGSIII.  Both phones have 1GB of RAM, this is probably enough, but by year end I expect to see phones coming out with 2GB.