Changing ROM For HTC Desire

[Phil Conners]

On XDA Developers there's a whole list of 3rd party ROM's for HTC Desire. I wonder if anyone have experience with changing their ROM? Which one is a good ROM? I don't care about HTC Sense, I don't think it offers me anything I need. My biggest problem is that although I have a 16GB SIM in the phone it keeps telling me I am running out of memory - and I don't actually have that many apps installed. Have already gone through and deleted any unessential apps. My Desire is already updated to latest official HTC ROM and all apps that can be moved to SIM has been moved, so I'm looking for another ROM that has a better memory management system than the standard HTC ROM.

[lomatopo]

I have an Android smartphone, and have flashed custom ROMs several times, am currently on a 2.2 ROM called ParagonRC6. Flashing a custom ROM is a long and complicated process, with back-up and restoration of data/apps taking the most amount of time. It is also a potentially dangerous activity as it is possible to render the phone un-bootable.

You seem to be suffering from an internal memory issue, using up all of your 576 MB rather than your uSD card. It seems like this is a common complaint with this model.

Maybe look for a solution that does not involve a new ROM? Do you have Android 2.2?

If you do decide to go the custom ROM route you really have to read through the various threads to get a feel for the relative strengths and weaknesses of each ROM.

[Tywais]

You seem to be suffering from an internal memory issue, using up all of your 576 MB rather than your uSD card. It seems like this is a common complaint with this model.

Agreed, it's the internal memory that is coming up short. I also have an HTC Desire with Froyo 2.2 and a 16GB SD. 2.2 allows moving some apps to the SD card. The first thing I did when I updated to 2.2 was to do just that. The app has to be written to support running from SD card. The move to SD feature will show if it can or can not be moved.

[Phil Conners]

Yes, it's updated with the latest official HTC rom and updates. I have about 90 apps on it. It may sound a lot but it really isn't, I've already gone through my apps several times to see if there was anything I could delete. Everything that can be moved to SD has been moved.

On XDA developers someone mentioned something about having to create a ext3 partition on the SD for the move to SD to actually work. I never did that, just enabled it when it became an option in Android 2.2.

Yes I know I should read through each tread for each ROM ... but it's usually a 50 page tread for each ROM with most of the content being "great work", "I've installed it too", "you're the man", "thanks man" and other stuff that just makes it take forever to get to the important bits.

[lomatopo]

Yes I know I should read through each tread for each ROM ... but it's usually a 50 page tread for each ROM with most of the content being "great work", "I've installed it too", "you're the man", "thanks man" and other stuff that just makes it take forever to get to the important bits.

Believe me, I understand. However it is a potentially huge decision so I would feel uncomfortable trusting one or two random recommendations. Obviously you want to choose a ROM which will address your current memory issue, yet provide you with the same experience you have now. And you don't want to introduce new problems. Also you want to look for a relatively stable ROM, perhaps one that many people have downloaded. The first ROM I tried, Serendipity 5.x, was installed (downloaded) by more than 50,000 people in just 10 days, on my model, so I was relatively comfortable flashing that ROM.

With 90 apps installed you might consider taking the first simple step of rooting your phone, and then backing up your user apps+data using Titanium Backup (I recommend the Pro version for $5.99), and moving that file to your PC.

HTC Desire Root Guide

Are you able to connect your phone to your PC? That is to say, have you installed the required OS drivers so that your phone can be mounted? This is typically the first step down the rooting, flashing path.

Maybe check out a few youtube videos? They are invaluable IMO.

Edited March 13, 2011 by lomatopo

[Phil Conners]

Believe me, I understand. However it is a potentially huge decision so I would feel uncomfortable trusting one or two random recommendations. Obviously you want to choose a ROM which will address your current memory issue, yet provide you with the same experience you have now. And you don't want to introduce new problems. Also you want to look for a relatively stable ROM, perhaps one that many people have downloaded. The first ROM I tried, Serendipity 5.x, was installed (downloaded) by more than 50,000 people in just 10 days, on my model, so I was relatively comfortable flashing that ROM.

With 90 apps installed you might consider taking the first simple step of rooting your phone, and then backing up your user apps+data using Titanium Backup (I recommend the Pro version for $5.99), and moving that file to your PC.

HTC Desire Root Guide

Are you able to connect your phone to your PC? That is to say, have you installed the required OS drivers so that your phone can be mounted? This is typically the first step down the rooting, flashing path.

Maybe check out a few youtube videos? They are invaluable IMO.

Well I wasn't going to make a final decision based on that, it would just be a good starting point, clearing out those ROM's that are not stable or complete. Many ROMS seems to have many things not working. I'd also be looking for a ROM without Sense as I don't feel it ads anything I need - in fact I have for a long time used LauncherPro - and inteface that replace Sense. Then I wouldn't mind going through details for the remaining few ROMS.

Actually AppBrain remembers which apps you have installed so if you reset your phone you just go back to AppBrain and tell it to reinstall all your apps. Free.

I am able to connect my phone to my PC and browse the content of it. I've not been able to use the phone to connect to the Internet this way. Not sure if that's important. I think I'd need to install some HTC software for that to work but I haven't needed it so far.

Thanks for the link to the guide, I'll check it out.

[Phatcharanan]

I use a ROM called MoDoCo R8. Very stable......never crashed.

There is a download page on XDA for this ROM where you can 'tick' boxes for services and apps that you initially want to install. My boot up time used to be 1 min 54-55 seconds on Sense.........now its 35-38 seconds.........although I only run with 3 screens.

Edited March 15, 2011 by Phatcharanan

[Darrel]

Flashing a custom ROM is a long and complicated process, with back-up and restoration of data/apps taking the most amount of time.

Maybe this depends on your phone. Flashing my Blade is a doddle. Took me about 30 minutes from beginning to end for the first flash using just 4 bits of free software. Subsequent flashes now take about 5 minutes and require only a few clicks. I'm running 2.3 vey nicely at the moment.

Yes, you can damage your phone if you get it wrong but you have to be a bit of a prat (or very unlucky) to get it wrong on a Blade. YMMV

[Darrel]

I have about 90 apps on it. It may sound a lot but it really isn't, I've already gone through my apps several times to see if there was anything I could delete. Everything that can be moved to SD has been moved.

90 is quite a lot. I have about 30 installed and my internal memory shows 218Mb total with 107Mb free.

You can see how much memory your individual apps are using from the application manager and this will also show what proportion of the memory is on the card or on the phone. Once you have moved an app to the card there isnt much else you can do and I dont see how flashing another ROM is going to change things much. I suspect that you just have one or two apps that are not using the memory effectively. Perhaps they are storing some data on the phone?

[Phil Conners]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. My main problem and reason for wanting to try another ROM is the lack of available internal memory, but if, as suggested, the problem is down to the relative small internal memory of the Desire I guess I'll just have to live with it for now.

[lomatopo]

It seems like this is an issue many encounter with the HTC Desire. Further, some of the custom ROMs tout "[ROM] StarBurst Froyo HTC 2.29.405 [9 Mar] Stable Data2SD | Unlimited memory | Stock". So you may well be able to address your memory performance issues with a custom ROM.

From a "memory management" thread on Android Forums...

"I used to get the "low space" warning all the time... so I rooted, got a 16Gb SD card, partitioned it (1Gb ext partition) and installed a custom ROM (with ap2sd) I now have over 80 user installed apps and 70Mb of my internal memory left.. you only get 148Mb for aps (stock)"

Flashing a custom ROM is a very lengthy and complex task, Anyone would be a prat to suggest otherwise, more so for a newbie like the OP. But you can find some videos on youtube which will walk you through the process. For me, backing up and restoring all user apps and data, via Titanium Backup, and backing up and restoring all my user data (pictures, videos, music, contacts, call records, calendar, SMSes, etc.) takes quite a bit of time, at least 60 minutes. Unlocking, rooting, flashing to stock, master clear, factory reset, rerooting, adding ROM Manager, flashing CMR, the actual ROM, then restoring everything can take quite a while. But I've only done it twice.

[Darrel]

Flashing a custom ROM is a very lengthy and complex task, Anyone would be a prat to suggest otherwise, more so for a newbie like the OP. But you can find some videos on youtube which will walk you through the process. For me, backing up and restoring all user apps and data, via Titanium Backup, and backing up and restoring all my user data (pictures, videos, music, contacts, call records, calendar, SMSes, etc.) takes quite a bit of time, at least 60 minutes. Unlocking, rooting, flashing to stock, master clear, factory reset, rerooting, adding ROM Manager, flashing CMR, the actual ROM, then restoring everything can take quite a while. But I've only done it twice.

Your phone must be harder than mine. I flash mine every single day at the moment as Cyanogen are putting out nightly builds of 2.3

It does not take more than 5 minutes and I only need to wipe the cache and reboot. In fact downloading the ROM takes far longer than flashing it. (Thank you Maxnet.)

The first flash did require unlocking (5 mins on the web) rooting (5 minutes with Androot), installing Clockwork recovery, full wipe/reset , flash the ROM and then the reinstallation of my apps and data but that didnt take long at all. ROM manager is not required and most of my data like contacts etc just reload themselves from the Google account. No need to backup or restore any music or pictures at all as that part of the SDcard isnt touched when flashing.

YMMV

[Darrel]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. My main problem and reason for wanting to try another ROM is the lack of available internal memory, but if, as suggested, the problem is down to the relative small internal memory of the Desire I guess I'll just have to live with it for now.

Are you certain that you dont have a rogue app that is storing data in the phone?

[Phil Conners]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. My main problem and reason for wanting to try another ROM is the lack of available internal memory, but if, as suggested, the problem is down to the relative small internal memory of the Desire I guess I'll just have to live with it for now.

Are you certain that you dont have a rogue app that is storing data in the phone?

No, I'm not certain. Any easy way to check?

[lomatopo]

I flash mine every single day at the moment as Cyanogen are putting out nightly builds of 2.3

YMMV

Yikes. My mileage definitely varies. I spend my day using my smartphone, and not flashing it. Clearly your usage patterns are outside the norm. I've only flashed my phone twice, and am quite happy with the current ROM. I can't imagine waiting every single day for that moment when a new version drops? But everyone has different requirements. I suspect the OP has no desire to flash their phone daily? Anyway, good luck to the OP.

[Darrel]

No, I'm not certain. Any easy way to check?

From the settings: applications control panel you can look at the individual apps and see what the memory usage is for the app and for its data. It also shows what proportion is on the card or on the phone. So you should be able to see which apps are filling your phone up the most.

This assumes that your Android phone shows the same info that mine does, but I dont see why it shouldnt.

[Darrel]

Yikes. My mileage definitely varies. I spend my day using my smartphone, and not flashing it. Clearly your usage patterns are outside the norm. I've only flashed my phone twice, and am quite happy with the current ROM. I can't imagine waiting every single day for that moment when a new version drops?

Hmm.

I flash my Blade every day because at the moment people are working on a new release of the firmware that turns a good phone into a great phone. It takes me 5 minutes to do and is of interest to me as each release brings new features (and less bugs!), for free. When the firmware development is finished then I will flash the final release version and that will be an end to it. There are many Blade users who have only flashed earlier releases and are now waiting for the final 2.3

That's a valid choice also. That's the nice thing about my phone: it offers a lot of options for very little outlay.

If my phone wasnt being developed to the same extent then obviously I would only flash it once or twice until I had a ROM that I liked.

[Phil Conners]

No, I'm not certain. Any easy way to check?

From the settings: applications control panel you can look at the individual apps and see what the memory usage is for the app and for its data. It also shows what proportion is on the card or on the phone. So you should be able to see which apps are filling your phone up the most.

This assumes that your Android phone shows the same info that mine does, but I dont see why it shouldnt.

Ah, like that. Yes nothing unusual shown. The largest app is Google Maps at 10MB, Dolphin Browser HD, VPlayer, Faceboook and Gmail each around 5MB, etc. All already moved to SD.

[Phatcharanan]

Ah, like that. Yes nothing unusual shown. The largest app is Google Maps at 10MB, Dolphin Browser HD, VPlayer, Faceboook and Gmail each around 5MB, etc. All already moved to SD.

Your Google Maps shows 10MB? I have the latest version (5.2.1) and mine only takes up 5.6MB

Have a look at Miren Browser too......very fast and only 2.4 MB.

I also tried VPlayer but went with QQ Player. Again, plays all formats but is very 'lightweight'.

Edited March 19, 2011 by Phatcharanan

[lomatopo]

Yikes. My mileage definitely varies. I spend my day using my smartphone, and not flashing it. Clearly your usage patterns are outside the norm. I've only flashed my phone twice, and am quite happy with the current ROM. I can't imagine waiting every single day for that moment when a new version drops?

Hmm.

I flash my Blade every day because at the moment people are working on a new release of the firmware that turns a good phone into a great phone. It takes me 5 minutes to do and is of interest to me as each release brings new features (and less bugs!), for free. When the firmware development is finished then I will flash the final release version and that will be an end to it. There are many Blade users who have only flashed earlier releases and are now waiting for the final 2.3

That's a valid choice also. That's the nice thing about my phone: it offers a lot of options for very little outlay.

If my phone wasnt being developed to the same extent then obviously I would only flash it once or twice until I had a ROM that I liked.

OK, I just reviewed all 3 pages of the ZTE Blade CyanogenMod-7 thread and see that you have now rev. 18, with nightly drops. Looking through the history it does seem like there are a lot of problems that they seem to be working through. You seem to enjoy it but I think many would find it a bit frustrating to have to flash their phone every day? In reviewing the 511 page CyanogenMod7 thread for my phone it seems like there have been 8 releases. I would only recommend a stable ROM, especially for a new user.

What new features, Android 2.3 or otherwise, do you get with this ROM? I realize that your phone only has an official Android 2.1 release so you have no choice but to flash a custom ROM if you need 2.2 features. Most phones have a 2.2 upgrade already available, with 2.3 planned.

The thread for my ROM/phone Paragon RC6 has 355,430 views with 4,402 replies across 441 pages! And it is not the most popular of the 30+ ROMs available for my phone. It was released on Feb. 22, 2011 with no subsequent updates, so no need for nightly flashes.

For the OP I might recommend a 2.2-based ROM. This one looks pretty decent --> http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=916417

[Tywais]

Your Google Maps shows 10MB? I have the latest version (5.2.1) and mine only takes up 5.6MB

Have a look at Miren Browser too......very fast and only 2.4 MB.

I also tried VPlayer but went with QQ Player. Again, plays all formats but is very 'lightweight'.

Google Maps on my desire, 5.2.0, shows 10.72MB - 9.36 App/1.36 Data. Strange, just decided to update it to 5.2.1 and is only 5.6MB now. More compression now?

Google Earth - 22.45MB

I use ArcMedia for media player 6MB.

[Phil Conners]

I just updated Google Maps to 5.21 too but Android still reports that it uses 10.something MB.

[Tywais]

I just updated Google Maps to 5.21 too but Android still reports that it uses 10.something MB.

I spoke too soon. Appears the download was 5.6MB but on installing decompressed to 10+ MB. Makes sense now.

[Darrel]

OK, I just reviewed all 3 pages of the ZTE Blade CyanogenMod-7 thread and see that you have now rev. 18, with nightly drops. Looking through the history it does seem like there are a lot of problems that they seem to be working through. You seem to enjoy it but I think many would find it a bit frustrating to have to flash their phone every day?

What new features, Android 2.3 or otherwise, do you get with this ROM? I realize that your phone only has an official Android 2.1 release so you have no choice but to flash a custom ROM if you need 2.2 features. Most phones have a 2.2 upgrade already available, with 2.3 planned.

Build 26 is the current one. This is a new ROM being worked on daily (nightly!). There are hardly any bugs left at all now and I would expect it to go final quite soon. Until then of course it would be silly for a total newbie to use this ROM and as you mention there are various other 2.2 builds that would suit. (That said, I find the current nightlies of 2.3 to be more stable than the stable 2.2s, and I cant personally think of anything in the build I'm using that would stop me from using it permanently. It works really well and is so much nicer to use than the original Orange branded 2.1)

The main advantage of 2.3 is the speed increase and general prettyness of the OS, which does seem to be more robust also.

There is ongoing talk of an official 2.2 being released for the Blade. I dont think there will ever be an official 2.3 for the Blade as ZTE are set to release newer products soon.

The Modaco Blade forum has a lot of information about the various ROMs and other questions, and the site orangesanfrancisco.co.uk has information in a more readable format. All in all most people consider this phone to be comparable with phones costing several times more, which for under GBP100 cant be bad.

[Phil Conners]

Just a quick update.

Last night I finally got around to changing my ROM - and it was actually surprisingly easy. The biggest problem was some undisclosed drivers that were required on my PC in order to get some HBOOT thing to work. Once they were installed it was basically a 3 step process completely explained to death by a large number of poor howto's.

I picked Oxygen 2.1.2, a "ROM that focus on speed, battery life and stability, clean and hack-free" based on Android Gingerbread. Cool, just like getting a new phone

The bad news is that the AppBrain Sync that promise to restore all your apps after a crash/factory reset didn't work. Anyway, probably a good opportunity to reassess my app collection .

[THAIPHUKET]

Interesting read but confusing for a novice like me. As can be seen from my other post I am in the prozess of buying a HTC Desire Z.

(Because of the qwert keyboard)

Should I rather look at something else?

[Phil Conners]

I've replied in your "HTC Desire Z" thread....

[THAIPHUKET]

Sorry again for lack of clarity. This post talks about upgrading the ROM capacity for HTC Desire. My assumption therefore is that the problem excists for any Desire model including the Z which I am contemplating to buy.

I have no idea how much Rom I will be needing, rather not too much but one never knows.Therefore my question =Do you still recommend a Desire smartphone ?

[Phil Conners]

Changing the "ROM" (actually the phone firmware) does not noticeably change the amount of RAM available on the phone.

I don't think the HTC Desire and Desire Z share much other than the name. The Z has a slower CPU but more memory. They seem to have the same screen. It is my understanding that the first units made had AMOLED screens but later the manufacturer of the screens (Samsung) needed all the capacity for their own Android phones so later units now have standard LCD screens.

I've never liked HTC's version of Android (and Sense) much, preferring the clean Google version you get on phones like the Nexus S (made by Samsung), but now with the new firmware on the Desire I personally don't find the added cost of the Nexus S justified - but this of course assumes you are willing and able to go ahead and change the phone firmware.

If you want an Android phone with a hardware keyboard you have very little choice, I think there are only 5 or so Android phones with hardware keyboard: LG Axis and Ally, Motorola Droid and Charm, and then of course the Desire Z.

BTW it is a good idea to check phones out "in hand" before buying. A friend of mine recently was checking out some mobile phones and told me that both the Motorola Charm and Nexus S felt really "plasticy", something I would never have guessed judging by pictures.

[Phil Conners]

I take that back. I had the chance to play with a Nexus S today and it is actually a very nice piece of equipment. I don't know if it's worth the about 4K more than an HTC Desire, that will be up to the individual to decide. Specs are almost the same except the Nexus S appears to have more memory, but it looks nicer IMO.