[ROM][ZTE Skate - Android 2.3.5] H3 Blues (Official Dolby Audio)

[Guest omegavesko]

Wow, that Swype theme looks nice. Almost identical to the 4.0+ keyboard, even.

I think a lot of OEMs make Swype/T9 white by default. My mate's Motorola Defy+ comes with a white Swype as well.

[Guest H3ROS]

I've never really bothered using Link2SD or scripts to link applications to a second partition, so I'm curious about something.

INT2EXT+ mounts /sd-ext to /data, but Link2SD allows you to select which applications you either want to go to your second partition or move via Android's standard SD-card installation feature. So in my opinion Link2SD is superior, yet I've seen a few of the Spanish ROM's use scripts instead. So the simple question here is why? There's no speed difference, and they both ultimately end up doing the same thing, but Link2SD gives you much more information and control at the cost of 913 KB of space.

I'm asking because depending on the information given to me I'll either use a script or continue to use Link2SD for my next ROM.

Edited May 10, 2013 by H3ROS

[Guest Franck Black]

I agree with you... always use Link2SD... but many people want to int2ext, nitroglass, etc...

Link2SD is much higher and allows you to have control over the app...

[Guest omegavesko]

In my experience, Link2SD always ends up running out of space first. I have no idea why, I've never looked into why - but both flashable scripts and simple2ext last far longer without filling up the storage than Link2SD does, in my experience.

Of course there's the tradeoff of not being able to control individual apps, but I honestly don't think most people care about that.

Edited May 10, 2013 by omegavesko

[Guest H3ROS]

With Link2SD I know I would keep the core system applications on my phone and only link any games or stuff that I don't use all that often to the SD card. The reason for that is so that the SD card doesn't degrade as much as it would via a script that ends up redirecting all applications. So the result is that you may run out of space quicker, if that wasn't a bug in an older version of Link2SD, but you've got much more control and your SD card will last longer as it's making less read and writes.

[Guest omegavesko]

With Link2SD I know I would keep the core system applications on my phone and only link any games or stuff that I don't use all that often to the SD card. The reason for that is so that the SD card doesn't degrade as much as it would via a script that ends up redirecting all applications. So the result is that you may run out of space quicker, if that wasn't a bug in an older version of Link2SD, but you've got much more control and your SD card will last longer as it's making less read and writes.

What do you mean by 'core system applications'? I'm not aware of any app/script that links /system/app/ to the SD card. That would just be silly.

[Guest Franck Black]

I install max 25-30 app... but many people installed 40-60-80-120 app...

everyone has needs...

[Guest H3ROS]

I've seen one before that takes I think it's the /data/ folder contents, moves it to SD and then links it back. That did indeed seem silly to me too.

With a script that moves the applications you install to the second partition you'd still probably end up with more read and writes, especially if a few of them applications were designed to run as a service or you simply used some of them often. So for example a keyboard application, imo messenger, IM+ and Skype would all be better placed on the devices memory than an SD cards partition.

Unrelated to anything going on here, but I just come across a thread at HTCMania to do with SmartassH3 and Ondemand.

http://www.htcmania....ad.php?t=526924

I guess they're unaware that SmartassH3 won't ramp up too high when it's not needed, unlike Ondemand that will jump right up to 787 MHz or whatever you've overclocked to. SmartassH3's scaling is much more efficient as you'll see if you load up your CPU settings and view the stats. Also you can watch a HQ YouTube video with less CPU, so you're going to save battery. So I guess all of them who posted on there saying they use ondemand are using it as a force of habit. People don't like change.

Edited May 11, 2013 by H3ROS

[Guest Redstarr1]

About languages, Skate was sold in Belgium and Germany as well. You've already covered French, but Dutch and German would be welcome as well I think. If you don't have too many languages already.

[Guest H3ROS]

I added Slovak the other day, and I may add some more once I've got the ROM finished and I know how much free space I've got to work with. I did earn some space back today though after ditching all Gingerbread and custom ringtones and going all Jelly Bean.

I have a love/hate thing for the ROM I'm working on. I love the way it looks, but I always find something else that needs adjusting or fixing. That then takes me a few hours, days or weeks as I'm pushed for free time. And I'm not awesome at designing things in software like Photoshop, so sometimes I'll spend ages just getting an icon or two to look right, even though you may never see them icons if you don't go into a specific menu or use a specific application.

My current progress goes something like this:

Launcher = 100%

OS theme = 95%

Camera = 99%

Clock = 99%

Email = 0% (I don't use the email app, so it's left until last)

Browser = 90%

Messaging = 100%

File Explorer = 99%

Phone/Contacts = 90%

Sound Recorder = 99%

Talk = 99%

Music = 100%

Gallery = 100%

Basically anything that's 99% is an icon or an xml value I need to change. Anything at 90% is a few icons I need to change and maybe a tweak here and there. And the 95% for the OS theme is because that's pretty much perfect, but I find myself going back and making very minor adjustments every so often.

I don't want people to get too hyped for the ROM as all it is at the end of the day is a new Gingerbread ROM that looks pretty and is fast. It won't have buttery smooth animations like Jelly Bean as that's impossible on Gingerbread, but it will be the fastest Gingerbread ROM. So if you're someone who likes bleeding edge and lots of customization options then it may not be for you. If, however, you just want a pretty ROM that's fast, is great for gaming and has everything working then you'll be happy. And to give you some idea of what options you can expect, they're all already in H3 Blues. And I may in fact remove the equalizer as I've honestly never used it as I find that Dolby does a much better job and that has it's own equalizer options anyway.

[Guest WiiSky70]

I added Slovak the other day, and I may add some more once I've got the ROM finished and I know how much free space I've got to work with. I did earn some space back today though after ditching all Gingerbread and custom ringtones and going all Jelly Bean.

I have a love/hate thing for the ROM I'm working on. I love the way it looks, but I always find something else that needs adjusting or fixing. That then takes me a few hours, days or weeks as I'm pushed for free time. And I'm not awesome at designing things in software like Photoshop, so sometimes I'll spend ages just getting an icon or two to look right, even though you may never see them icons if you don't go into a specific menu or use a specific application.

My current progress goes something like this:

Launcher = 100%

OS theme = 95%

Camera = 99%

Clock = 99%

Email = 0% (I don't use the email app, so it's left until last)

Browser = 90%

Messaging = 100%

File Explorer = 99%

Phone/Contacts = 90%

Sound Recorder = 99%

Talk = 99%

Music = 100%

Gallery = 100%

Basically anything that's 99% is an icon or an xml value I need to change. Anything at 90% is a few icons I need to change and maybe a tweak here and there. And the 95% for the OS theme is because that's pretty much perfect, but I find myself going back and making very minor adjustments every so often.

I don't want people to get too hyped for the ROM as all it is at the end of the day is a new Gingerbread ROM that looks pretty and is fast. It won't have buttery smooth animations like Jelly Bean as that's impossible on Gingerbread, but it will be the fastest Gingerbread ROM. So if you're someone who likes bleeding edge and lots of customization options then it may not be for you. If, however, you just want a pretty ROM that's fast, is great for gaming and has everything working then you'll be happy. And to give you some idea of what options you can expect, they're all already in H3 Blues. And I may in fact remove the equalizer as I've honestly never used it as I find that Dolby does a much better job and that has it's own equalizer options anyway.

The problem isn't the ROM itself , is that you get people too hyped for it . Be like Samsung when they're about to release their next big thing...

[Guest H3ROS]

How would I get people too hyped for it if all I've done is show some screenshots so that I could get feedback? Yes, the feedbacks been rather positive, but it's the people who are then saying they can't wait, even though I've made it clear multiple times that I'm pushed for time and don't work on this daily. And I know I've said things like it's the fastest stock Gingerbread ROM, but isn't that to be expected after all of the time I've put into it.

[Guest WiiSky70]

How would I get people too hyped for it if all I've done is show some screenshots so that I could get feedback? Yes, the feedbacks been rather positive, but it's the people who are then saying they can't wait, even though I've made it clear multiple times that I'm pushed for time and don't work on this daily. And I know I've said things like it's the fastest stock Gingerbread ROM, but isn't that to be expected after all of the time I've put into it.

Remember themarkoface ? And it's update for Skatie called Inovative Creations ? Well remember the fiasco and war when he sad about his ROM being the "fastest stock Gingerbread ROM" ?

Stuff happens .... In some way bad stuff happens. If you know what i mean.....

Edited May 11, 2013 by WiiSky70

[Guest H3ROS]

The thing there is I called him out on some stuff and then he brought up benchmarks, to which I said his aren't accurate as he's also including his SD Card score.

All gingerbread ROM's should score about the same, but the system UI can still "feel" faster. And that's what I'm saying. With how I've set everything up scrolling is fast and smooth, the launcher is fast and I've made things such as image viewing much faster by adjusting some things. Package that together and although it may score not much better than H3 Blues in benchmarks it will still feel faster to you. And that I guarantee.

[Guest WiiSky70]

The thing there is I called him out on some stuff and then he brought up benchmarks, to which I said his aren't accurate as he's also including his SD Card score.

All gingerbread ROM's should score about the same, but the system UI can still "feel" faster. And that's what I'm saying. With how I've set everything up scrolling is fast and smooth, the launcher is fast and I've made things such as image viewing much faster by adjusting some things. Package that together and although it may score not much better than H3 Blues in benchmarks it will still feel faster to you. And that I guarantee.

It must have a Quality Seal on it right :D ?

[Guest H3ROS]

Well, I do have my own quality guide that I try to stick to. I mean, if you think about it I created H3 Blues in a much shorter time as I had more free time to put into it. I also didn't have to design anything in a specific way, where as with this new ROM I'm forced to make everything look holo themed. So if you look at something as simple as the lockscreen you'll see I've put a lot of work into that. However, the messaging application is different to Jelly Bean's, yet I've themed it in such a way that looks natural. Then if you look at the keyboard I could of easily used a themed version of the standard Gingerbread keyboard, but instead I've found an OEM version of Swype and have made that look as close as possible to Jelly Beans. That adds not just beauty but functionality, and that to me is important.

I want to push myself to do more, yet I also want to take a relaxed approach as this probably will be my final ROM for the Skate.

[Guest Redstarr1]

Well, I do have my own quality guide that I try to stick to. I mean, if you think about it I created H3 Blues in a much shorter time as I had more free time to put into it. I also didn't have to design anything in a specific way, where as with this new ROM I'm forced to make everything look holo themed. So if you look at something as simple as the lockscreen you'll see I've put a lot of work into that. However, the messaging application is different to Jelly Bean's, yet I've themed it in such a way that looks natural. Then if you look at the keyboard I could of easily used a themed version of the standard Gingerbread keyboard, but instead I've found an OEM version of Swype and have made that look as close as possible to Jelly Beans. That adds not just beauty but functionality, and that to me is important.

I want to push myself to do more, yet I also want to take a relaxed approach as this probably will be my final ROM for the Skate.

I recognize that perfectionism from my own work, I don't want others to see any of my development either unless it's 100% finished (Labview applications that is, nothing Android related). But that can be a very paralyzing attitude, you can never discover all bugs by beta testing on your own. I once lost weeks of work because of issues like that. Even if you'd reach that point where you're satisfied and you release, 100 people will use it in 99 ways that you didn't foresee. Some bugs will still be there, some icon forgotten, etc. Users at this forum know that roms are never finished, in fact they seem to even crave updates (even if a rom is "perfect", like CM10.1 supporting nearly everything possible of the original and still people want more). Just know that people here would be fine with having an unfinished version to play around with while you finish the rest.

I don't want to push you to release an unfinished version of your work, you take all the time you need. It's a hobby anyway, you do this for yourself in the first place.

EDIT: I also have a suggestion about the e-mail app. Since you don't use it, maybe you could just include an existing app and save yourself the effort? Not warez but a free one and ask the dev. There's a Google+ group for Holo apps: https://plus.google.com/communities/112110996671697454680, since you aim for a Holo look in your rom.

I thought this mail app looks quite Holo: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.maildroid&feature=md. It's not exactly the ICS/JB app, but frankly Google doesn't even comply to Holo in a lot of their own apps. So if you want continuity, better a non-Google Holo app than a Google app that doesn't even follow their own guidelines, right?

Edited May 11, 2013 by Redstarr1

[Guest H3ROS]

I agree that testing on your own can make it much harder to discover all bugs, but I'm using H3 Blues as my base ROM so all major bugs have been addressed already. So for me it's just a matter of making things look right, and that can be difficult and very time consuming. What I do end up doing though is getting it to the point where I'm happy to show off parts of it to people and then I'll ask for opinions, especially for things like the messaging application as that's different to Jelly Beans.

The main reason I've not released the ROM in it's current state is because I don't have the time to work on issues people may report. So if they say some icons are wrong then they may expect me to fix them pretty quickly, but I won't be able to. So at the moment while nobody but me has the ROM there's less pressure and I can work on it at my own speed.

I was thinking about replacing the email application by the way, but noticed that MailDroid has adverts. Every other email application looks a little dated too, so I'll probably end up modifying the stock one. Thanks for the suggestion though, it's appreciated.

Edited May 11, 2013 by H3ROS

[Guest Redstarr1]

I agree that testing on your own can make it much harder to discover all bugs, but I'm using H3 Blues as my base ROM so all major bugs have been addressed already. So for me it's just a matter of making things look right, and that can be difficult and very time consuming. What I do end up doing though is getting it to the point where I'm happy to show off parts of it to people and then I'll ask for opinions, especially for things like the messaging application as that's different to Jelly Beans.

The main reason I've not released the ROM in it's current state is because I don't have the time to work on issues people may report. So if they say some icons are wrong then they may expect me to fix them pretty quickly, but I won't be able to. So at the moment while nobody but me has the ROM there's less pressure and I can work on it at my own speed.

I was thinking about replacing the email application by the way, but noticed that MailDroid has adverts. Every other email application looks a little dated too, so I'll probably end up modifying the stock one. Thanks for the suggestion though, it's appreciated.

I only looked at some screenies of MailDroid, you're right, it's ad-supported. Too bad. I was already wondering what the difference was with the paid (and hugely expensive) version. I use Gmail myself, so I don't know of any other mail apps aside from K9 mail (I installed that one on my girlfriend's phone), but that is one of the worst looking apps .. ever.

[Guest H3ROS]

Agreed. I'm a gmail guy myself so never bother touching the other email applications. Many of them seem to receive updates, but none of them seem to want to take the risk and change the UI. It's a shame.

[Guest Paun21]

H3ROS can u make fm radio whit rds?

[Guest H3ROS]

The current radio should have working RDS if you want to get stuff like the channel name. Having said that though the MIUI radio mod found in H3 Blues and some other ROM's isn't all that great and seems kind of buggy. It has a lot of junk code, adjusting the radio volume seems to be out of place as it's not done via the hardware buttons and it doesn't seem to always list the station information.

Does anyone know if the stock ROM's radio supports RDS?

Also a question more targeted towards the devs, but has anyone noticed that with clockworkmod v4.0.1.4 it can't seem to write to data/data/ ? I've seen other updater scripts that are able to format data and then write to data/data, so it seems possible.

Update: I created a solution for the problem :)

Edited May 14, 2013 by H3ROS

[Guest kidbetin]

eagerly awaiting.....

just want a working flash annd camera with JB Ui,

Thanks for the upcoming update

[Guest poludeli_kaktus]

Nice & smooth. I like it. Is possible vibrate in dialer?

[Guest H3ROS]

You mean when pressing numbers? I don't think so.

There's options there to enable haptic feedback, and vibrate is set to always, but it doesn't actually do anything for the keys. I'm not sure if that's a bug as the dialer was taken from CM7 or if it's the intended behaviour and something else is supposed to vibrate. I'll look into it shortly either way :)