You know, I’m a tinkerer at heart. I love to change and alternate my gadgets at will. Part of that is why I’m attracted to Android. It’s so easy to change the UI and environment to literally anything I want. The Android underground hacking/ROM/developer scene is exploding, signaling that now is a great time to be an Android user. HTC however, has shown that they utterly fail to understand just what makes hardcore Android loyalists…loyal.
A new website dubbed Shipped-Roms.com is barely a month old, but is gaining tons of attention for (1) having the claimed “world’s largest amount” of shipped HTC roms and (2) getting a fresh C&D from HTC themselves. Apparently, HTC is putting up a stink because of all the “intellectual artwork” that Shipped-Roms is apparently stealing/using illegitimately.
Apparently HTC thinks that fighting a very helpful, vocal, and useful community that actually makes their hardware better is a good idea. Yeah, about that — continue on…
Why would you want to pick up a copy of and install BlackBerry Application Suite on your Windows Mobile device? Well, if you wanted to give RIM’s BlackBerry OS a try without jumping fully on board, this would be a way to do so. It’s been quite awhile since the Application Suite was shown off on camera — many months to be exact. At that time, RIM themselves mentioned that both BES and BIS versions were coming. See as how this leak is an unofficial release, the lack of a “complete” package isn’t too surprising.
If you’re feeling lucky, head on over to xda-forums to score yourself a copy of the Application Suite.
As you wait to for page to load, there’s a few things you should know. Namely, this leaked version is the BES version meaning you’ll have to have access to a BES server or else it won’t work. Period. Second, the OS that you’re emulating is of the 4.5 era (according to BerryReivew) — hardly new or exciting anymore. While I don’t necessarily discredit BerryReview’s claims, if the image displayed on the image above — which was pulled from BerryReview — is the ApplicationSuite, it looks more like 4.6+ to me as no 4.5 devices had the newer BB Precision theme. It could be a special skin for 4.5 and the Application Suite though. In the end, BlackBerries are BerryReview’s thing. So more likely than not I’m in the wrong. Anyone care to chime in and set me straight?
So far a few WinMo users have chimed in saying they got the App Suite up and running on a Windows Mobile 6.5.x ROM and all was well except not having access to a BES server. Even for users not on 6.5, you should be pretty well off regardless. Let us know how it goes.
Looking at the title, I make a pretty big assumption. From the get go I’m basically calling out Motorola for whippin’ up a nice in-house fail whale of their own. But a fail whale to what? Android. The Motorola DROID was and still is the best Android device (hell, the best phone period) to come from Moto in a long, long time. So how are they failing?
The US variant of the Moto Sholes is the Verizon DROID. For the last several months, I’ve been monitoring AllDroid, the DROID forums in particular, as it has begun filling up with some truly amazing stuff that will make you say “Android 2.1 what?” The whole beauty of Android is it’s open nature that allows devs and 3rd parties to tweak the OS ’til their hearts content.
The Eurpean Sholes (Milestone) is a very different story. Quoting Steve Jobs: “It’s a bag of hurt”. You see, the US Moto Droid doesn’t check for signed packages (in this case, ROMs) which is why it’s so easy to play around with the DROID’s digital code book. The European Milestone does check for authentic signatures however. The biggest hurdle is the bootimage on the Milestone being not all that eager to 3rd parties tampering with it’s code.
In reality, the Milestone isn’t completely void of any after market baking. There’s some program and slight performance tweaks here and there. But taking a quick trip through the dev forums for both the DROID and Milestone show two very different stories. The DROID dev forums are full of no less than 5 different custom ROM’s currently being developed. The Milestone — zero.
Why the cold shoulder for European Motorola Sholes/Milestone users? Your guess is as good as mine. According to the Motorola copy/paste PR/CS response on an official Facebook topic featuring this very same problem seems to point to Motorola basically not caring about dev channels. I mean, when you get a reponse as cookie cutter as:
Hi, everyone!
Thanks for your feedback on customs ROMs – here is where we stand:
It is Motorola’s policy that customised ROMS are not supported on our products, as it may void the warranty on a consumer device or violate the copyright on the applications that we and or others have created. If you are a developer interested in manually updating the device with custom system images, please refer to the official Android developer guidelines at http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/device.html. If you’d like access to other tools and resources for Android development, or would like to apply to be a part of our MOTODEV App Accelerator Program, please visit http://developer.motorola.com.
We hope this addresses the questions and comments you’ve raised – post here if you have any additional feedback and we’ll do our best to respond to you all!
Thanks,
Motorola Europe
….you know you’re pretty much the least of their cares.
Pretty disappointing. Looking at the responses on that Facebook topic, while not too lengthy yet, has users sharing the same basic feelings — disgust and disappointment with numerous “my Milestone’s going on eBay” talk. I hope Motorola reverses course quick. Alienating the people that due the messy clean up work for you isn’t the smartest of ideas to choose from.
It just goes to show you — the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Sure they (European Milestone users) received multi-touch and pinch-to-zoom functionality out of the box, but they also got a digitally signed hot mess. Which would you choose? Me? I’m perfectly happy with my rooted DROID running the Milestone factory apps. You?
Smartphones are inching closer and closer to replacing computers in our daily routine. Some would argue this or claim to still prefer a bigger monitor and such. For that, I’d say ok, at the very least, smartphones are starting to encroach on netbook territory. There, happy?
Emulators are a geeks best friend. They allow us to play games/ROMs of our favorite games on devices that the console manufacturers/developers won’t allow us to or are too ill equipped to support the necessary changes. As far as smartphone emulators, the field is still in it’s infancy more or less due to smartphones only becoming of age within the last couple of years. For WinMo/HTC HD2 users, mobile gaming via ROMs just became a bit more interesting.
The FPSECE emulator works and works well on HTC’s current flagship HD2. Naturally, an emulator that is popular and has a loyal following that it’s built up over the last couple of years means actual games should be fairly robust. And so it is. As the video below shows, Tekken 3 — which is a graphically demanding game for the PS One and mobile devices — runs pretty darn smooth.
Word has it that a few recent updates to FPSECE even allow for Bluetooth controllers to pair up giving you full touchscreen and physical gaming. I don’t know about you, but touchscreen gaming still has a long way to go before it will get me to bury the controller.
If I had an HD2, I would be playing this right now. Instead, I’m telling you to go enjoy it while I sit here with my loved keyboard doing what it is that I do best…
Feelin’ like getting some retro mobile gaming in while you wait for whatever it is you’re waiting for? This Portable “game-in-a-game” system that appeared over at BenHeck’s Forums is a prime example of what geeks such as us are all about. Before you even begin to whip out your wallet, perhaps you’d like to know a tad more, hmm?
Forget looking for the latest in gaming tech inside this little working wonder. Instead, some “generic Chinese media player” is the life blood that makes this geeky creation live. With other features including a 2.8 LCD and 4GB storage means even a do-it-yourself kind of person should be able to pull it off on their own relatively cheaply. But of course, it would be so much more enjoyable to simply hit “buy now” and not have to deal with the actual construction of such a toy. If you’re having trouble justifying a purchase, explain to the wife that you can hook it up to the big screen and play just as you and your parents played games back in the day. That’ll warm her up for sure…
While the last couple days have been full of Android home brew drama centering around Cyanogen and the smackdown Google’s law department were set to hurl at him, it appears as if we can all breathe a sigh of relief. While the worst case scenario had Cyanogen completely shut down, we can all be thankful that he and Google came to a rather peaceful though ultimately ridiculous solution — from here on out, Cyanogen mods will be bare bones. Users of said ROM’s will be able to talk, text, etc. on your Android/Cyanogen device, but to get the true bread and butter apps such as Gmail, any type of syncing, and so on will require a previous backup with a device that featured authentic Google Experience apps. Super. So, besides bad press what did Google accomplish here kiddies? Absolutely nothing. Oh wait…bad press. That’s it. In all reality, while Google has a right to protect their services and apps, the way they went about it was slightly less than nice. Don’t you think? Let’s try not to let it happen again okay?
The ever increasingly powerful gaming consoles such as the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 have given gamers the ability of near photorealistic games that truly place you in the action. Some games are so graphically intense and beautiful, you may have to at times pinch yourself to make sure you really aren’t in the game. Games have come quite a ways from their humble days not so long ago when the bleeding edge of gaming was measured in bits. While modern games and all of the graphical eye candy are sure a treat to feast on, sometimes you just want to blow an evening controlling a character made out of a couple dozen blocks. Retro games, firing up the ‘ol *insert classic gaming system here*, and reliving your youth can bring back a part of your childhood that to many is a welcome vacation from the everyday realities we face. What if you could take all of that retro goodness in your pocket? Not just one system. But all of them?
One of the bonus of advancements in gaming hasn’t been the visual side only. Shrinking components means smaller systems, more energy efficiency, and unique designs. What if you could take just about any classic game from any classic system and play it, on the go, on a unit roughly the size of an old game boy? Yes…you can. The GP2X Wiz is your all-in-one retro gaming geek toy from heaven above. Games from the likes of Atari ST, Commodore 64, NES, SNES, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, NeoGeo, Flash Games and so much more. No matter how much you pinch yourself, you aren’t going to “wake up” because this is reality.
What better way to spend a relaxing Saturday than to have some new leaked ROM’s to play with. If you happen to be following the whole Windows Mobile 6.5 story, you’ll know that it has a history of revealing itself. Today is no different and a new build, build #21169, has been leaked for the whole world to see and play with. What’s better is that this newest build includes a new version of IE Mobile 6! Finally, some better looks and functionality! If you are twitching in anticipation, control yourself long enough to stop by PPC Geeks and pick up your copy. As always, install at your own risk as you run the possibility of turning your precious device into an AT&T Quickfire….Pictures of the latest leak inside.
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You know, I’m a tinkerer at heart. I love to change and alternate my gadgets at will. Part of that is why I’m attracted to Android. It’s so easy to change the UI and environment to literally anything I want. The Android underground hacking/ROM/developer scene is exploding, signaling that now is a great time to be an Android user. HTC however, has shown that they utterly fail to understand just what makes hardcore Android loyalists…loyal. 
