Back in the old days...

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Things were much more peaceful around here before we got so gosh-darned popular. Becoming the go-to place for mobile hacking, I suppose, has that effect on forums. We've gone from a rag-tag bunch of legacy Windows Mobile enthusiasts to a lean, mean, and sometimes green group of Android hackers. While our members, moderators, administrators, developers, and posting styles have certainly changed; we have remained focused on only one thing--mobile hacking and development.

But for now, let's take a step back and remember what XDA was like back in 2003, when Windows Mobile was still cutting edge and the O2 XDA was only a few months old. Back then, fights never broke out and people generally respected their fellow forum members. At the time, we weren't just a place for users to come and get a "Kewl bit of kit." Rather we were focused on the joys of development instead of solely caring about the end product. We specialized in development, not troubleshooting. For better or for worse, however, the explosion of Android brought a sea of new people to XDA, many coming from more diverse walks of life than we could have ever imagined. This has lead to some inevitable butting of heads. Who could have imagined how things would change in the 7 years and three months from this posting date to when I became a registered member on these forums. This isn't to say that we won't try our hardest to help you out if you're having a hard time installing a ROM, kernel, mod or theme. However, we need to make sure that this in no way hinders development.

Luckily, there's nothing saying that we can't (and won't) bring back the same ethos we had in the early development days. As our master-in-chief Svetius recently stated, there will be some changes in the coming months meant to bring us back to a more development-focused environment. I think this is exactly what we need. For better or for worse, XDA has changed quite significantly throughout the ages. However, one thing remains true: We are all here in the pursuit of mobile hackery. XDA for life! Actually, no. XDA IS life!

Now, all of you disrespectful newbies, get off my lawn before I get angry.

PS. Lawn joke kanged (without permission) from Jimmy.

I agree. I wonder if many of the people who are demanding that we be a technical support forum realize what our address is. We are xda-DEVELOPERS.com not xda-troubleshooters.com. So our main focus is Development for our phones. If someone shows effort, respect and we have time we may answer a troubleshooting question. However, please note that typing such a request in all Caps, poorly constructed sentences, or repeatedly will only serve to make you look like a fool. Then, instead of getting help, you will get ridiculed. So please realize that we owe you nothing. Unless you have developed something and shared it with the community, then we owe you our gratitude and respect. I know that if you treat me with respect I will give you mine.

Ahh, the days of the Qtek9100 were good. Faria, Bepe, pof...man what a crew! I'll write more later, but wow, what a time to reflect!

Many, many moons ago a group of individuals got together to see about developing fun stuff for their phones and come up with was of hacking them just for the fun of it…..great times, those were (in Yoda’s voice).
There were only a handful of devices that were actually worth a crap when it came to productivity and reliability.
One of them was my Sony Ericsson T610 which offered an array of features only seen on SiFi novels (I know I’m exaggerating but anywho..). Just imagine…Bluetooth and IR receiver in one device It was unheard of!!

Back then there were no kanging fights between developers. The biggest problem we had was to Hard SPL the Wallaby
I also remember having to rig a cable in order to download my first ROM in to my HP iPAQ 500 and Android was something that I had only seen in black and white movies where invaders would try and destroy humanity! Those were the days!

Those were the days and sadly they seem to be gone. Now days is more about who kangs who, trying to destroy noobs and attempting to make XDA into some kind of satiric, disgusting and unruly place when in all reality this was is and needs to remain a place where great minds get together to exchange ideas and create apps, mods and hacks that make our devices more powerful and efficient than any manufacturer cold ever do.

As we go back in time lets try and imagine a website where solidarity and comradery exist, where one can feel free to ask a simple question with out someone else popping out a meme mocking them while trying to flame them in ways that only the Spanish inquisition could do!!

Mates and fellow Mods….this is not the XDA that was envision back in those days….but is not too late…It’s “NEVER” to late to correct our ways and make XDA the best forum in the world!!

A great man once said, and I quote: “all I wanna do is a zoom zoom and a boom boom” and you know what….he was right!! I just want to zoom, zoom and a boom, boom also.

Cheers and may the force be with you……..

M_T_M

Wooooo Hooo i got space, just what i needed

Many moons ago purchased an Orange SPV C500 and on searching how to make the device better "PIMPED" XDA a place for people with common interests, many friends met along the way, mind you that was the days of WM where people appreciated what they where provided........... Now every minor with a gun got a smartphone welcome to the present a place where people seem to think they have a view they can shout out and be verbal against many outstanding members of the community!!! Think i preferred just dealing with SPAM.

To be edited @ sometime brain logs on!

M_T_M just noticed u start same

!I HAZ DONE BRICKED MY BRICK!

!ZOMG! PLZ HELP DIS FOOL!

Originally Posted by overground

!I HAZ DONE BRICKED MY BRICK!

!ZOMG! PLZ HELP DIS FOOL!

You, my good friend, win at XDA and teh internatz.

Post good memories you have about your beginnings on this site...we want to hear them

My first time here

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I first came to XDA after getting my first PDA as a gift. It was a (HTC made) HP iPAQ 1945. It was my first time using a WM device ever. I was wowed by the ability to take any of my documents with me and to be able to beam them wirelessly via infrared or BT. It wasn't long before the interface left me waning more, however. I searched around and found some decent themes on XDA. This was around late 2004 or early 2005 as I recall.

I began reading up on all the cool mods and tweaks that this site had to offer for the platform. I came in every now and then for a while until I finally registered for an account in March of 2005. About a year after that, I ended up replacing my old bar phone with another iPAQ, this time, the cellular service-enabled HP iPAQ hw6945.

It had everything I wanted. It had a decent processor, a small amount of user upgradable RAM (if you have decent soldering skills), an amazing keyboard, and several other wireless services like cellular, WiFi, BT, and GPS. The downsides to the phone were it's enormous girth and its relatively crappy screen. It was a rather large, square 3" screen sporting a terrible 240x240 resolution. Even now, I still play with it every now and then and wish HTC/HP had gone with a nicer 480x480 screen.

I kept this device for several years, since, back then, you didn't HAVE to upgrade your phone every year to keep up with the times. WM devices were good for the consumer in that they were long lasting. It wasn't until 2010, almost four years later, that I finally got a Rhodium to replace my iPAQ. I simply fell in love with the keyboard, as nearly all Rhodium owners will tell you. I then came back to XDA to learn more about it. I decided to change my username for the third time and make it something less specific to the device I had at the time. That's how I came about with this name.

My Rhodium was plagued by problems of software that was not properly designed to run on such a low powered device. It ended up being pretty slow after a while, and HTC Messaging client didn't help much either. I went from my iPAQ, which booted completely in just under 15 seconds, to my Rhodium, which took a whopping 150 seconds (2.5 minutes) to boot into a usable state. I know there were several mitigating factors to attribute this with, but it was still a PITA.

I finally decided to flash my first custom ROM after reading about it for a couple of weeks. I picked NRGZ28's Energy ROM in the regular Energy flavor. I did that a few times, and soon realized that I was developing ORD. I played around with all of his different themes. I learned how to properly backup my device, and restore it. I learned how much I had fallen in love with the GTX theme. I even found the perfect radio for me in my area. It was a wonderful time for me.

The best part was that now I could actually assist users here on this site. Before then, I didn't have the knowledge to assist in much. Now, I had my business and education to propel me into this service along with the valuable information I gained from this site. I continued showing others "the light" for a while, and finally decided to give the Leo a try after having to replace my Rhodium so often do to sliding keyboard issues.

I use my Leo almost everyday now. The horse power is plenty enough to keep it moving in this increasingly hardware driven market. It runs nearly a dozen different operating systems. It blazes through most of the computing tasks I give it, and doesn't even blink at any program or app I throw its way. However, it isn't without flaws. The sound quality is severely lacking, as is the call quality. A lack of keyboard hurts, but Swype is a decent compromise. The battery life is nowhere near the two days I used to get from my Rhodium, but it gets me through the day, at least. I've just learned to always have a spare battery on hand, just in case.

That's my story here. What's yours?

I first came to XDA trying to root my Epic. Since then I have abused the firmware in any way I can trying to learn how things are done. I've had my epic since January and since then I have rooted, installed custom ROMs/Kernels and even Linux Ubuntu/Backtrack on my phone. This may very well be the best website ever.