Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Monday, May 17, 2010

NexBeast V1.0.1 Release

Forums are down for now, will have more info on the forum when it is back up again. For now, check the changelog to the right of this post. You can find the file here:

NexBeast V1.0.1

Also, the modified kernels are here:

Modified Kernels

Friday, April 9, 2010

NexTheme ESE81 R2 ROM Available

Here's a video overview of the ROM (whoops, sorry it's a little cut off):



The primary features are:
  • Based on ESE81, the official 2.1 update
  • Overclockable to 1GHz (defaults to 600MHz)
  • Wired and wireless tethering
  • Themed with NexTheme (credits to Manup456)
  • Comes with themed HTC keyboard
And much more...

Find the thread at AndroidForums here, and the actual file here.

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Droid 2.1 OTA Update Has Arrived! Instructions to Manually Update!

Hey!!

Even though only 10000 people were supposed to get this file today, it's been traced back to its source (Google!) and made available to anyone who wants to download it!

Follow the guide I posted here:

http://androidforums.com/motorola-droid/58133-how-force-motorola-droid-2-1-ota-update-ese81.html

Sunday, March 21, 2010

ZeusDroid Desire ROM Preview Released!

This is a very, very early preview of ZeusDroid's Desire ROM. It cannot receive calls while 3G data is on, nor is there BT. Some apps aren't working in landscape, and there are some graphical glitches. However, it is a very good proof of concept, and Sense is up and running on Moto Droid.

If you want to give it a shot, you can find the nandroid backup here:

http://alldroid.org/threads/16407-Desire-build-11-X1-release


Tuesday, March 16, 2010

2.1 OTA Update Finally Coming 3/18 ?!

Looks like the ESE53 leak that's been floating around for a while now is the official OTA update that Droid users should be receiving starting March 18th. Verizon will be following the same strategy as before, releasing the update to a set number of people per day, though this time it is much higher ~250,000 a day. That means the latest anyone should get it is the 22nd (there are a little over 1m Droids in use)

Here's the post over at Engadget, with a link to the actual Verizon page detailing the update.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/16/verizon-posts-android-2-1-upgrade-details-for-droid/

The features include:

-Live Wallpapers
-Multitouch Goodness (Browser, Gallery, Maps)
-2.1 Optimizations
-More

But exclude:

-3D app drawer
-5 Screens

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Android 2.1 ERE25 Based ROM Galore!

Here's the quick summary. ERE25 was the build of the 2.1 OTA update that was supposed to be released in January for the Droid. It was pulled since there were still some "vulnerabilities" in it (holes that could lead to root).

Well, now, many devs have build cooked ROMs with this 2.1 build as the base. The advantages are numerous, since this was specifically optimized for the Droid. Advantages of ERE25 based ROMs are:
  • Native Multitouch across Browser, Gallery, and Maps (the official MT browser is fast!)
  • Working autobrightness, keyboard backlight, LED notifications
  • Improved battery life
  • Improved stability
  • Droid specific optimizations?

There are currently 3 devs with ERE25 based ROMs:

Pete's Bugless Beast

ChevyNo1's Simply Stunning

BlackDroid's Ultimate


If you've been waiting to root or switch from an old reliable 2.0.1 based ROM, now is the time!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Google Earth Available in Market!

Finally, the Google Earth app that was demonstrated at the N1 launch event is now available on the Android marketplace.

It runs OK on the Droid, though it is a major memory hog. Go ahead and give it a try in the market.

Here's a screenshot:


Sunday, February 21, 2010

DroidMod is here!

The team formerly known as Sholes.info has been through some turbulence, but its primary members are still intact and still hard at work developing some of the best ROMs for Droid!

You can get their app 'DMUpdater' at their webpage.

It is an all in one tool that will root your Droid for you, install SPRecovery, and install their cooked ROM, which offers many features such as overclocking, wifi tethering, and live wallpapers.

Go check them out!

Friday, February 19, 2010

A little demo video of live wallpapers

An Exciting Few Days Ahead of Us

Well, looks like Pete over at Alldroid has gotten his hands on a leaked version of the Droid 2.1 OTA update, and it's been posted for all the devs to use. So hopefully, we'll be seeing some nice 2.1 based cooked ROMs soon.
For now, Xeudoxus has gotten live wallpapers running on 2.0.1, so that should quench our thirst for a bit!

The link is here

Here's a screen capture (running the Nexus live wallpaper):





Monday, February 8, 2010

Android 2.1 coming to Droid This Week!!

Well, it's official. According to Moto's Facebook profile, the 2.1 update will indeed start being pushed out this week. It will bring multitouch goodness to the browser and gallery, as well as install Goggles.

What is won't bring are the 3D app tray and live wallpapers of the Nexus One's 2.1. No reason being provided for that decision as of now.

Still, read all about it here.

UPDATE: Moto 'jumped the gun'. Still waiting...

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Nexus Multitouch Update Features now available for Droid

We know we got a good developer community when all the features of the Nexus One's recent OTA update are already being released for the Droid, while there are Nexus owners still waiting to get their updates!

They have been built in to the latest ROMs from Sholes.info and Pete. Links can be found over at my ROMs page. While the multitouch browser has been around for a while courtesy of the Motorola Milestone (Euro Droid), we now have it available in Google Maps and the new 2.1 3D Gallery. There used to be a little bug with the multitouch maps that broke the Maps API, meaning any other app that drew upon Maps would cause it to force close, but it looks like Pete's got that fixed with his latest release.

Also, being the genius that he is, Pete's released an update.zip for any 2.0.1 ROM that's not his to enable the multitouch updates (in Browser, Maps, and Gallery). Note, you need to be rooted to install this update.zip (it's not signed). You can find it here.

My Little Blogging Experiment

Well, I've never done this before, but it seems that people are finding my guides pretty helpful, so I decided to make this site to perhaps consolidate all my (future) work together, in a handy location.

As for now, I'm lurking around at a few forums, primarily at AndroidForums and AllDroid, but somewhat at DroidForums as well.

My primary focus will be on the Motorola Droid, with the ins and outs of rooting and its benefits. I hope to have some guides written up in the near future, with updates on the latest ROMS and their benefits, as well as step by step instructions on how to get them up and running on your devices.

But as Android is open source and running on a multitude of devices, some of the stuff I'm covering will be pertinent to other devices as well. In fact, my one claim to fame was actually concerning the Nexus One, which is a pretty nice device.

So hopefully, I'll have some new material up soon. In the meanwhile, here are some links to satiate your needs.

-How to root your Droid (from AllDroid)

-How to root your Nexus One (from XDA Devs)

-How to flash SPRecovery and custom ROMs (from Sholes.info)

-How to force update your Nexus One (my guide @ AndroidForums)