Would it be possible....

[Guest deksman2]

... to modify existing Gingerbread ROM's so the gpu handles 2d drawing of the UI, scrolling, browsing, etc.?

Would the CM7 team be able to do this for example?

The hardware in the Blade is more than capable... and 'activating HW acceleration' only seems to affect games, not the 2d UI. browsing/zooming/pinch...

[Guest k0zmic]

Probably when they get the kernel source from ZTE.

[Guest deksman2]

Ok... how likely/probable is that to occur... and more importantly, when?

Also, if I'm not mistaken, the upcoming version of Android for Smartphones is called 'Ice cream Sandwich' that essentially bridges both Gingerbread integration for smartphones and Honeycomb aspect for tablets into one (turning it into a version that can be used on both - and I'm hoping it will involve some improvements as well).

Furthermore, Honeycomb is supposed to sport hardware accelerated UI (2D stuff such as menu scrolling, browsing, zooming, pinching, etc...), am I correct?

Is this feature to see the light of day in Ice Cream Sandwich too?

Right now I'm more concerned about 2d interface being handled by the gpu (which at the moment sits dormant) - that would also drop the consumption of power if I'm not mistaken given the gpus are much more efficient at those tasks than cpu's.

[Guest Maxsas360]

Well Cyanogen mod is based of Official Android source codes, so they can modify any part they want, so it is possible. But as deksman2 said Android Ice Cream Sandwich will support it and I dont think CM team will touch HW accelerated UI until it's released

[Guest k0zmic]

Ok... how likely/probable is that to occur... and more importantly, when?

It should happen soon, I think ZTE stated it would be before September.

Yeah, it is Ice Cream Sandwich, I'd expect it to incorporate the improvements made in Honeycomb but I can't be sure.

[Guest deksman2]

Heh... with Android/Google, I wouldn't exactly hold my breath in regards to HW accelerated UI (2D).

While they have said that Ice Cream Sandwich will in effect bridge/incorporate things from both Gingerbread and Honeycomb, true HW accelerated 2D - UI, browsing, etc. (such as the one mentioned in Honeycomb) is still unknown (Google in one of the older interviews practically said that true HW acceleration is of no consequence to them).

Which is why I would definitely want to see the CM7 team and others who do customized ROM's to tackle true HW acceleration.