28 replies to this topic

[snapz54]

I was thinking this was gonna be a step in the right direction, but it feels like the O2 is a step back looking towards our seemingly sad future.  My old omnia had a fully functioning touchflo2d and the only things keeping it from tf3d was the lacking hardware and driver support.  The O2 was supposed to pick up where the omnia left off and take us to the future.  There was such a community with the i910, when you had a question someone would answer, even if it was only to say, "i don't know but maybe so and so might know"  

All the experts with any passion along these lines seem to have headed towards androids OPEN waters.  They are handed the keys to the kingdom with their new phones, while with the old omnia it was more like we had the lock and we had to make our own key.  I can't even start to understand how the cooks do what they do.  I doubt it's even worth me looking into without at least a crude understanding of programming basics.

Is there any hope for us? or are our phones destined to be the hollywood starlet of the phone world?  Devistatingly beautiful and full of potential while lacking any real content or development past the initial, "Hi my name is Omnia2, hehe!"

Let this be a topic of optimism, A topic to inspire hope in potential new recruits and a topic to bring out the dormant world class cooks inside some of you O2 owners out there...

Roll call, Who is here with their O2, Do you think you can eventually be a part of development? or ARE WE SCREWED?

Edited by snapz54, 27 February 2010 - 04:22 AM.

[snapz54]

snapz54, on Feb 27 2010, 04:21, said:

I was thinking this was gonna be a step in the right direction, but it feels like the O2 is a step back looking towards our seemingly sad future.  My old omnia had a fully functioning touchflo2d and the only things keeping it from tf3d was the lacking hardware and driver support.  The O2 was supposed to pick up where the omnia left off and take us to the future.  There was such a community with the i910, when you had a question someone would answer, even if it was only to say, "i don't know but maybe so and so might know"  

All the experts with any passion along these lines seem to have headed towards androids OPEN waters.  They are handed the keys to the kingdom with their new phones, while with the old omnia it was more like we had the lock and we had to make our own key.  I can't even start to understand how the cooks do what they do.  I doubt it's even worth me looking into without at least a crude understanding of programming basics.

Is there any hope for us? or are our phones destined to be the hollywood starlet of the phone world?  Devistatingly beautiful and full of potential while lacking any real content or development past the initial, "Hi my name is Omnia2, hehe!"

Let this be a topic of optimism, A topic to inspire hope in potential new recruits and a topic to bring out the dormant world class cooks inside some of you O2 owners out there...

Roll call, Who is here with their O2, Do you think you can eventually be a part of development? or ARE WE SCREWED?

81 views and no comments... this might answer itself?

[amdzero]

snapz54, on Feb 28 2010, 01:18, said:

81 views and no comments... this might answer itself?

I am here and I love my O2.  I am just in transition right now.  Its not about how many people who have the phone but rather how many people are willing to develop for it.  Right now I don't see a need to create 1000 versions of ROMS when they all come from pretty much the same version of windows mobile.  Yeah I know there are different comms, and kernels get updated every so often, but really what are you looking for in a phone?  How much customization do you want that you cannot find an app for?  When will you be satisfied with the phone you have and not long for another phone/feature?

Am I the only one who thinks like this?

[kdkinc]

amdzero, on Feb 28 2010, 07:46, said:

I am here and I love my O2.  I am just in transition right now.  Its not about how many people who have the phone but rather how many people are willing to develop for it.  Right now I don't see a need to create 1000 versions of ROMS when they all come from pretty much the same version of windows mobile.  Yeah I know there are different comms, and kernels get updated every so often, but really what are you looking for in a phone?  How much customization do you want that you cannot find an app for?  When will you be satisfied with the phone you have and not long for another phone/feature?

Am I the only one who thinks like this?

+1

I'll be getting my O2 tomorrow 3/1.
I had the i910 for just over a year and got "caught up" in the "flash" frenzy. BW & BGILL  AND   many more made the i910 a phone.
It's great to see Chefs like yourself have stepped forward to help out people like me that can't cook but can "flash".
I have been more than happy with Storm's M2D i910 rom but now I have to move on to a better (?) phone.
Looking forward to a new and better rom experience Once I can get rid of the Samsung 3D beach Ball UI.

[DirtySanchez]

kdkinc, on Feb 28 2010, 08:06, said:

+1

I'll be getting my O2 tomorrow 3/1.
I had the i910 for just over a year and got "caught up" in the "flash" frenzy. BW & BGILL  AND   many more made the i910 a phone.
It's great to see Chefs like yourself have stepped forward to help out people like me that can't cook but can "flash".
.I have been more than happy with Storm's M2D i910 rom but now I have to move on to a better (?) phone.
Looking forward to a new and better rom experience Once I can get rid of the Samsung 3D beach Ball UI.

well my 2 cents is the o2 is better than the o1 as for the 3d drivers well thats apart of harsware as for the winmo i have been useing winmo when the ipad was useing v5 i love the freedom that winmo gives an no other give so. threw all this new stuff im a win guy waiting on the hardware to make it shine

[snapz54]

amdzero, on Feb 28 2010, 12:46, said:

I am here and I love my O2.  I am just in transition right now.  Its not about how many people who have the phone but rather how many people are willing to develop for it.  Right now I don't see a need to create 1000 versions of ROMS when they all come from pretty much the same version of windows mobile.  Yeah I know there are different comms, and kernels get updated every so often, but really what are you looking for in a phone?  How much customization do you want that you cannot find an app for?  When will you be satisfied with the phone you have and not long for another phone/feature?

Am I the only one who thinks like this?

I do agree with what you say and you can even look back at some old i910 posts of me saying pretty much the same thing.  I'm am just hearing left and right that good people are leaving or passing over the O2.  As opposed to early omnia days with so much optimism and chatter even before we could use the GPS.  There was still a lot of buzz and always a community to come home too though.  We were one of the only games in town then though.  Omnia was up around the top of the class.  

While I don't want 40 different roms each adding one mb of ram I would like to see topics (at least placeholder topics) of people who are attempting the hard stuff?  
A rom with TF3D cooked in and functioning,
the obligatory android thread,
even TF2D if it's easy,
HD2 emulating sense 2.5 cooked in or cab working for our i920.  

and then little stuff that I could do on my original omnia I'm looking for in the O2.  using the camera flash as a flashlight(torchbutton), Midomi, SMS and Email samsung skinned apps.

I know this is a process, and it takes time, I think I just miss the chatter and the comfort that it brings.  It lets you feel that even if nothings happening yet, people are working towards it and thinking on  stuff.  

And all the respect in the world to you sir as one of our flagship chefs, It is amazing to me that you guys do what you do and I thank you for it.

[snapz54]

kdkinc, on Feb 28 2010, 16:06, said:

Once I can get rid of the Samsung 3D beach Ball UI.

some of the beach ball is pretty sexy... it will never really be practical but if anyone can use what samsung started and spin it into something useful it could be amazing.  the fluid coverflow esque scrolling in the music and videos tabs would kill if added onto say the music tab of TF3D.  It feels like a hog though and I'm sure it's sucking the life out of our poor O2 while working

[awarner]

amdzero, on Feb 28 2010, 12:46, said:

I am here and I love my O2.  I am just in transition right now.  Its not about how many people who have the phone but rather how many people are willing to develop for it.  Right now I don't see a need to create 1000 versions of ROMS when they all come from pretty much the same version of windows mobile.  Yeah I know there are different comms, and kernels get updated every so often, but really what are you looking for in a phone?  How much customization do you want that you cannot find an app for?  When will you be satisfied with the phone you have and not long for another phone/feature?

Am I the only one who thinks like this?

Nope I think exactly the same way. I've still got my bulk standard ROM from September last year, there are a few things Samsung have messed up on but nothing that the new ROMs have addressed for me. Touchwiz is the largest pile of .... ever created so I'm just thankful for SPB Mobileshell and the customisation of it. That's the only modification I have done and apart from that the phone does everything I need it to.

[Snow02]

snapz54, on Feb 28 2010, 19:45, said:

I do agree with what you say and you can even look back at some old i910 posts of me saying pretty much the same thing.  I'm am just hearing left and right that good people are leaving or passing over the O2.  As opposed to early omnia days with so much optimism and chatter even before we could use the GPS.  There was still a lot of buzz and always a community to come home too though.  We were one of the only games in town then though.  Omnia was up around the top of the class.  

While I don't want 40 different roms each adding one mb of ram I would like to see topics (at least placeholder topics) of people who are attempting the hard stuff?  
A rom with TF3D cooked in and functioning,
the obligatory android thread,
even TF2D if it's easy,
HD2 emulating sense 2.5 cooked in or cab working for our i920.  

and then little stuff that I could do on my original omnia I'm looking for in the O2.  using the camera flash as a flashlight(torchbutton), Midomi, SMS and Email samsung skinned apps.

I know this is a process, and it takes time, I think I just miss the chatter and the comfort that it brings.  It lets you feel that even if nothings happening yet, people are working towards it and thinking on  stuff.  

And all the respect in the world to you sir as one of our flagship chefs, It is amazing to me that you guys do what you do and I thank you for it.

For the flashlight, use Rapid's program. Works perfectly.
Midomi is in the cab's repository.
SMS skinning here.

[snapz54]

Snow02, on Mar 1 2010, 02:45, said:

For the flashlight, use Rapid's program. Works perfectly.
Midomi is in the cab's repository.
SMS skinning here.

I have seen the SMS skinning, I used it on the omnia and it's a good patch, I was just hoping for the native app
look around 2 minutes in to this video  

looking for that on the O2, why do you think they would even overlook it in the VZW version if the work is already done?  The video does mention a lag but my hope was:

1. we get the new UI which is a resource hog but intuitive and clean looking on the beautiful screen.
2. the phone is cracked open and we start cooking lite roms that free up storage and RAM
3. We use the new apps as the defaults and love them
4. ??????
5. Profit.

I must have overlooked the midomi cab, I'll go get that.

This is exactly what I was hoping for though, I didn't even know you guys/gals were around.  This thread alone and seeing people pop in and comment gives hope.  Thanks for the tips snow

[Snow02]

Most of what you're looking for has already been addressed. I've asked people who own i-8000's and many of them mention the lag in the sms skin, which is likely the reason it was removed. And it if lags like the picture viewer does, I'm not surprised at the complaints, and welcome the removal to be honest.

Yardi's ROM opened up plenty of free space. Unfortunately there's nothing that can really be done regarding the RAM issue. We have a huge improvement in available RAM over what we have stock, via tweaks and currently available ROMs. I constantly have 60+ free megs after a few days without a restart, and can run more apps at once than is practically necessary. So there's no limitation there. Would it be nice to have more? Sure. But you have to remember, the i-8000 was released well before the i920, and people have been looking into this type of stuff well before we even got our phones. I have yet to install anything that won't run on this phone due to it not having enough memory or it not being fast enough. So I personally have no complaints. Try to be pragmatic regarding any perceived limitations, and you'll be much more satisfied.

I've never cooked a ROM, and don't have the time to learn. And Yardi's ROM is exactly what I was looking for so I find no need anyways. But the tools are there to make your own ROM, so feel free to contribute, rather than bemoan the lack of contribution.

[snapz54]

Snow02, on Mar 1 2010, 08:40, said:

so feel free to contribute, rather than bemoan the lack of contribution.

I accompany all my "bemoaning" with the statement that I don't know how and probably could not even attempt to cook a rom.  I'm not complaining or blaming anyone, my conversation is only meant to stimulate the community into a line of discussion on the state of the device.  I've think we've done just that and hopefully this thread will help to ease some people because the voice of experience (you) has shared a bit of your wisdom on what I think will end up being common questions to newer users or upgraders from the O1.

thank you for taking the time snow

[Snow02]

snapz54, on Feb 28 2010, 22:06, said:

4. ??????
5. Profit.

South Park?

And if you want to add a little more snaz to the interface, I highly recommend tacchan's black or whiteblack themes.

Edited by Snow02, 01 March 2010 - 10:30 AM.

[amdzero]

snapz54, on Mar 1 2010, 08:56, said:

... I don't know how and probably could not even attempt to cook a rom.

You know to cook a rom is pretty easy.  Sure there is a learning curve but overall making a custom one that you like is nothing.  Here is a run down of what can be done and may help anyone in the future...

Go get the kitchen from Wozzer in radioheads thread.  (you have to look several pages in)

expand the zip file into a folder

You have 4 basic folders ROM, SYS, OEM, Tools
-The ROM is where the kernel is and handles the background of the OS
-The SYS is where the heart of the OS lies.  This is where Office, titanium, background images, marketplace, etc. reside
-OEM is the software for your specific phone.  There are multiple folders in there such as OEMdrivers for you phone.  This is where most customization can be made.  This is where you install apps or remove VZN, Samsung crapware.
-Tools is how the cooking and extraction can be done.  Don't even go into this folder unless you know what you are doing.  Porting SYS and XIP can be done with these tools

Outside of that there are a few files on the root extracted zip folder you created.

BuildROM.cmd is how you make a rom.  So basically if you extracted the zip and ran BuildROM.cmd, and clicked on the play button, then close when it says done, you just made a ROM.  Mostly stock as this is barely touched by wozzer.

So after that you could go into the OEM\OEMApps folder and start deleting things you don't want like some of the mp3, png, bmp files.  Anything that says VZN is fair game for termination as well.

After that you could add stuff to your rom by makeing a folder in OEM.  For instance you can go find a "package" for a rom and put the folder there or use "package-creator-v2.7.exe"  on a cab file to make a package.  If you make a package, you may have to play with the registry settings.  Those are usually located in the folder you create with a .rgu extention.

.rgu files are just text files that will hold the registry settings.  I use notepad++ to edit them directly.

After all you modifications you can then run BuildRom.cmd and press play.  As long as there are no errors (i.e. it says done at the bottom) you close it and let it run the tools in the background.  When the CMD prompt window closes you have a flashable rom.

Flashing a rom is discussed elsewhere but you just need "OCTANS_Downloader_v2.11.exe" and the installed drivers (easier for xp or vista than win7).  

After you load up octans click the PDA button find/select your flash file.  Then I click the check boxes marked "skip over waiting for booting completely" and "start downloading immediately"

click detect

After this turn off your phone and plug it into a USB port.  Make sure the phone is identified by windows properly (ie there isn't a yellow or red icon in devicemanager for your phone) and then it will do it's thing.

If you can flash your phone even if your ROM locks up your phone you can always rebuild your rom or go to someone else's rom and flash theirs.

I hope this helps you or anyone else looking to make a custom rom.  It sounds like a lot but if you have an hour of time, you can make your first cooked rom easily.

[Tony_vegas]

I know what your saying though, it's not a flood of roms your looking for, but its incentive to develop and people with the will and skill to try to make things work. porting apps and features and such. its not that its not happening, its that its happening slow and not often. there are chefs cooking good roms yardi4life,amdzero,wowwzer, aand such(if i didnt mention your name its because i'm rushing. I jst understand his feeling because i came from an htc device which all seem to have floods of developers drooling all over them, and most apps are ctereing for htc devices and their capabilities, and it seems like no question goes unanswered and nothing is impossible. maybe we are spoiled. maybe the device is the problem, why should we have to depend on independent developers to fix the issues of a stock smartphone? if we didnt have these people like chainfire and them? we would definately change our minds about what device we would purchase. these site forums are tthe only thing keeping windows mobile alive

[airreak]

Got my 02 and have to say I really like it, new ROMS should be coming soon.  Of course soon for me could be months  

Edited by airreak, 01 March 2010 - 09:31 PM.

[snapz54]

Tony_vegas, on Mar 1 2010, 15:21, said:

I know what your saying though, it's not a flood of roms your looking for, but its incentive to develop and people with the will and skill to try to make things work. porting apps and features and such. its not that its not happening, its that its happening slow and not often. there are chefs cooking good roms yardi4life,amdzero,wowwzer, aand such(if i didnt mention your name its because i'm rushing. I jst understand his feeling because i came from an htc device which all seem to have floods of developers drooling all over them, and most apps are ctereing for htc devices and their capabilities, and it seems like no question goes unanswered and nothing is impossible. maybe we are spoiled. maybe the device is the problem, why should we have to depend on independent developers to fix the issues of a stock smartphone? if we didnt have these people like chainfire and them? we would definately change our minds about what device we would purchase. these site forums are tthe only thing keeping windows mobile alive

well said.

and thank you very much for the rundown amdzero, you've certainly taken some of the stigma away.  I will attempt a rom when I have time, I'm just concerned that actually contributing or innovating won't be possible, that stuff goes right over my head.  I will do this though just to get a better understanding of what it is you guys have to put in for these roms.  Please please don't think for a second that I take any of this for granted also, you are great people that sacrifice your own time to make our devices truly live.  thank you for your hard work

[kdkinc]

airreak, on Mar 1 2010, 16:30, said:

Got my 02 and have to say I really like it, new ROMS should be coming soon.  Of course soon for me could be months  

+1
Yeaaahhh!!!

[bf71090]

I've noticed one question you asked was posted in the roms subforum even though it didn't really pertain to roms. I think you would better find answers if you posted in the correct forum.

Edited by bf71090, 01 March 2010 - 11:31 PM.

[kdkinc]

bf71090, on Mar 1 2010, 18:31, said:

I've noticed one question you asked was posted in the roms subforum even though it didn't really pertain to roms. I think you would better find answers if you posted in the correct forum.

sorry I thought that a Verizon update to a i920 rom seemed kind of rom related