Suggestions for custom rom makers/stock rom mods.

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Hello everyone,

As it seems that I really like writing a lot (in English especially) and writing guides (my job requires a lot of standards), I thought of creating a guide for devs/custom rom makers/stock rom modifiers.

This guide is not something that I want to impose, these are just suggestions and I will also include some known issues around here. So, let's begin.


1. Bootanimation
This can be selected as you wish. Any bootanimation other than the standard one should be fine. Or, if you want, you can provide more animations and a short guide on how to change bootanimation.zip and where.

2. Lock Screen
Removing the HTC Lockscreen will lead to the default android Gingerbread one. Now this one's buggy. Like hell. For example, pull the right slider (the one with the sound control) to change the profile to vibrations. Now you can see that the slider is hanging from the top, pointing to bottom (can be fixed with a phone restart).
Example:

3. Missing caller screen when phone is locked
If you have the default lockscreen you will notice that there is no incoming call screen displayed when the phone is locked (that or I removed too much stuff). Keep this in mind.

4. Icons/Notifications
Even though the default Gingercroissant (too much bread:P) looks black, if you pull the status bar (taskbar) you will notice that it turns back to white-grey (the default HTC Sense/ChaCha) one. Keep this in mind when adding icons/notifications. (picking white icons will render them barely visible)

5. Applications
Most devs/modders prefer to add their most liked applications and integrate them into the ROM (so that you cannot uninstall them from Settings -> Applications -> Manage Applications) :P which kinda sucks since not everyone uses/likes the same stuff (it's called "taste"). Basically I am suggestion to add only SuperUser and let the users install their own apps (Titanium, Messenger, GPS, etc.). For example I have my own Titanium Backup.apk (it's personalized) which I want to install - cannot be installed if Titanium is already present though.

6. Google Sync
Some of us like to have the Google account synchronized with the GMail server and I would suggest leaving the Google Contacts Sync and Calendar Sync in the rom (they can be removed later). It's easier to remove than to search the internet and add them separately.

7. Bloatware
News, Weather, Mirror, Stocks, News&Weather (Yes, 3 different applications for the same stuff), HTC Likes, HTC Hub, Downloads, Facebook, Peep, Tweeter, GTalk.. There are more, of course (for example I have also removed Live wallpaper stuff since I don't use Live wallpapers, skin picker, skin scanner, profile widget, ringtone widget, and more) and it should be taken into consideration this question: how much is really enough?

8. Link2SD and ext-partitions
Well, since custom roms do allow the use of ext and Link2SD I suggest using them as much as possible.


I do hope that this could help some of you (or mocked by others) but any feedback is welcomed.

Excellent suggestions! I'd also like to keep the HTC Sense widgets, as I find them quite useful. HTC Likes & HTC Hub can be removed, as they don't provide much use. Cheers.

Applications bundled with a rom can still be easily uninstalled, provided that the rom maker knows how to, and puts the apks inside an /data folder. Mounting and extraction is similar to that of the /system partition. The profit of this is the uninstallability (nice word, huh?) Of the added apks, the downside is of course that a data wipe will remove these applications. Ideal would be a /system rom base update.zip, and an applications.zip containing all the added applications the developer likes, to be extracted into /data. Just sharing my thoughts..

Originally Posted by Alex C.

2. Lock Screen
Removing the HTC Lockscreen will lead to the default android Gingerbread one. Now this one's buggy. Like hell. For example, pull the right slider (the one with the sound control) to change the profile to vibrations. Now you can see that the slider is hanging from the top, pointing to bottom (can be fixed with a phone restart).
Example:

3. Missing caller screen when phone is locked
If you have the default lockscreen you will notice that there is no incoming call screen displayed when the phone is locked (that or I removed too much stuff). Keep this in mind.

i have been customizing my rom based on the stock, but this was one of the irritating parts. finally, i have decided to use the original htclockscreen.

to change the icons in the lockscreen, you don't need to have rosie installed. all you need is simply to add setting.xml in /data/data/com.htc.lockscreen/shared_prefs. (i did it in init.d)

the format of setting.xml is as follow:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8' standalone='yes' ?>
<map>
<boolean name="customized" value="true" />
<string name="shortcut1">#Intent;action=android.intent.action.MAIN;category=android.intent.category.LAUNCHER;component=com.android.htcdialer/.Dialer;end</string>
<string name="shortcut2">#Intent;action=android.intent.action.MAIN;category=android.intent.category.LAUNCHER;component=com.google.android.gm/.ConversationListActivityGmail;end</string>
<string name="shortcut3">#Intent;action=android.intent.action.MAIN;category=android.intent.category.LAUNCHER;component=com.android.camera/.CameraEntry;end</string>
<string name="shortcut4">#Intent;action=android.intent.action.MAIN;category=android.intent.category.LAUNCHER;component=com.handcent.nextsms/com.handcent.sms.ui.ConversationExList;end</string>
</map>

Originally Posted by qtotter

i have been customizing my rom based on the stock, but this was one of the irritating parts. finally, i have decided to use the original htclockscreen.

You mean Stock lock screen on CWM???, can you shows us how?

regarding your chacha rom

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Originally Posted by ajeevlal

You mean Stock lock screen on CWM???, can you shows us how?

hi ajeev, i am sorry i am posting this here... but i really need your help in fixing some problems with ZaSa_4chacha_GB1.57_v2.0... i am currently using it... the best rom... but i am having some issues i wanted to report....

1. Power off is not working properly
2. if charging turned off phone, then the phone gets stuck and needs to remove battery to start.
3. my '@' sign has been moved to '~' button and dollar has changed to pound

i tried to fix keyboard layout issue but couldnt get my CID to match the ones stated in other posts

in any case i am loving the rom thank you

Originally Posted by jd_dpgc

1. Power off is not working properly
2. if charging turned off phone, then the phone gets stuck and needs to remove battery to start.
3. my '@' sign has been moved to '~' button and dollar has changed to pound

What do you mean by 1. ?

For 2. get the latest CWM, it's a recovery issue and has been fixed.

rom makers should not remove Gtalk, It is Incredibly hard to restore it once removed. and all just to save a few KB of space...

Originally Posted by jd_dpgc

1. Power off is not working properly
2. if charging turned off phone, then the phone gets stuck and needs to remove battery to start.
3. my '@' sign has been moved to '~' button and dollar has changed to pound

i tried to fix keyboard layout issue but couldnt get my CID to match the ones stated in other posts

Thanks for trying my custom rom.....
1) what do you mean by this? does your power off button not showing the power options? if yes, you need to press and hold the button for 2 to 3 sec for the power option menu to show up
2) As alex stated, you need to flash the latest CWM recovery
3) what CID you have? what did you changed.

And did anyone know how to move this post to the original ZASA thread?

I've done the same thing you are doing over here and, beside Link2SD removing the Sense UI and things, i've removed even the default E-Mail client, News, Meteo, HTC Clock Widget, Facebook, Peep, Latitude, Messages Widget, Inform HTC, Meteo Widget, Music Widget, HTC Sense, Street View, Home Suggestions, HtcTrendsWidget, Photo Widget, Meteo Sync Provider for HTC, Ringtone Widget, Animated Wallpaper Selector, Sense Plugin Manager, HTC Meteo Wallpaper, HTC HubSync Provider, HTC Report Agent, HTC CheckIn Service.

Instead i've installed:

Kingsoft Office
Facebook for Android (From the PlayStore)
GoLauncher EX (i had an unlock bug, but i still see the volume button as you; i will change the lockscreen)
K-9 Mail
GoClock Widget
Quadrant Standar
* Winamp
Link2SD
Battery Indicator
Terminal Emulator (thinking about change it)
SuperUser



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*Thinking about removing "Music"


The reason for doing this is as simple as "You don't use it, you don't need it" and battery life ( IMPROVED! ).

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I'm having problems with the fB button, but i will fix it with the .apk that let's you choose what for to use it. I don't really need a fB button. Trying to make it sync the mails atm.

BTW, it was pretty hard to get it rooted and CWM installed. But i've done it!
If anyone needs help, pm me.

p.s. Keep the stock ROM, it's way better than everything atm.

p.s.s. i've used for work for 2 days so far and it's doing his job very well. F* BB&WP7 )