Trying new custom launcher

Decided to investigate and try other ICS compatible custom launchers, especially those which allows to modify app drawer.

Tried first Nova Launcher, which seems quite similar than Andromadus' stock launcher (Trebutchet) but it has feature which allows to modify app drawer. The most essential for me was possibility to hide app icons.

In my opinion Andromadus Audacity b3 ICS rom includes several stock apps' which ain't so necessary, e.g. Dev Tools, Movie Studio, Search, Latitude, Places, Speech Recorder, Talk and News and Weather.

Some of you might see earlier mentioned apps highly necessary but according to my personal needs I wanted to hide those app icons from app drawer.

To adjust app drawer, Nova Launcher Prime version was required to download and install. Price was quite small in Google Play-store but still I decided to get apk file via Google.

Screenshots from Andromadus

This post consists of three screenshots from today's view of my Desire Z. 

Starting from left, first picture introduces view of my simplified homescreen, Android 4 basic wallpaper instead of live wallpaper saves battery duration. Not much but it's a good start!

Middle picture shows my app drawer, which also introduces part of my application collection (in alphabetical order). It's possible to recognize that moving in app drawer happens vertically (mentioned in earlier post).

Third and the last picture shows basic information of my current Andromadus Audacity B2 ROM.

LauncherPro custom launcher for ICS

Now mainly all needed applications are re-installed and new ROM has been in use for couple of days now. I can honestly stay in my earlier opinion, that Andromadus Audacity ICS ROM runs quite smooth even it's still in beta stage. Few times stock launcher has crashed but it has been recovered automatically in same second.

Andromadus includes Trebutchet launcher which seems to be quite stable (excluding earlier mentioned crashes) but it doesn't consist one of my favourite functions, which is possibility to hide icons in app drawer. There's no confirmation that earlier mentioned function would exist in next build of Trebutcher launcher. Who knows if that happens and then I'll return back to stock launcher.

That's why I had to return to LauncherPro custom launcher, which I had been using in earlier CM7 GB ROM. Only personally noticeable visual difference between Trebutchet and LauncherPro is following: user needs to scroll applications horizontally in Trebutchet but vertically in LauncherPro.

Same version of LauncherPro (0.8.6) seems to be compatible with Android 4 as well. I downloaded free version from Google Play store and Plus extension from Applanet. Main reason why I needed Plus extension was that it allows to adjust widget icons. In my case it would mean adjusting stock email widget and Gmail widget to largest position in home screen.

Ps. next post should finally consider about battery duration in new ICS ROM.

ICS rom deving part 2

Being lazy wasn't smart idea this time, if you start to think what I might mean with this expression don't hesitate to read my earlier post about cache/dalvik cache wipe vs full wipe battle.

After some testing I noticed that several applications weren't working properly so I had to return to CWM for full wipe. At least I was enough smart to create Excel list from my current apps in CM7.

After my Excel list was done, I could count around 45 installed apps in my DZ. Did quick checkout which needs to transfer to new ROM, luckily could shrink list a bit, mainly it was about dropping out ICS based theme and launcher applications. Those purpose were to make my previous GB based ROM look like ICS (Android 4). Also other not needed applications weren't replaced in new ROM.

So how I operated now - in nutshell:

1. Full wipe with CWM
2. Flashed audacity_b2 rom
3. Flashed newest ICS gapps
4. Flashed V6 Supercharger
5. Flashed stock OC Daemon
6. Flashed Enhanced Keymaps r3

After restarting phone first time I fixed permissions in CWM just in case.

Now I've already installed most of needed apps, recovered SMSs' via SMS Backup & Restore, recovered Contacts from vcard and syncronized Gmail and Mail for Exchange accounts.

ICS rom testing

Finally decided to try newest widely used ICS rom from Andromadus. Current build is Beta 2 which seems to be average developed build when considered it's still in beta stage.

Before flashing it I was running newer Kang's build (410) of CM7 with ILWT 1.8.0 kernel. Of course I took backup with Nandroid to be sure that I've stable base to return if needed.

I decided to try to flash Andromadus B2 just with wiping cache and dalvik cache instead of full wipe. In case of full wipe I've to install of applications from scratch. That's why I decided try to avoid full wipe.

Now I'm running earlier mentioned ICS rom and trying to get familiar with it as purpose to make conclusion if it's enough stable and working in daily use (when compared to GB based CM7). Also I should recognize possible need for full wipe.

For getting more information about Andromadus rom, download links and following up-to-date deving discussion, proceed here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1349864

More thoughts will be posted soon as I've figured out more about this ICS rom.

Ps. also some comments and statistics about my newest purchase, Mugen Extended Battery 1800mAh coming soon!

Finally ordered Mugen Power 1800mAh Extended battery for Desire Z

Finally decided to order extended battery to my Desire Z. My current, stock battery is 1300mAh and it lasts between 2 and 2½ days depending from daily use. According to both batteries technical specifications, 500mAh increase in Mugen is approx. 38% and if it's fully convertable to battery duration, current 2 to 2½ days duration could increase to 2½ to 3½ days.

Now I've to wait that my shipping arrives and I could benchmark new battery.

Official Cyanogenmod 7 Nightlies are back

After using unofficial Kang's CM 7 Nightly builds noticed that CM released new official CM 7 Nightly build for Desire Z. "Update-cm-7-20120226-NIGHTLY-vision-signed.zip" was released February 26th 2012. Flashed it without full wipe (cache and dalvik cache) and it runs smoothly. It came with the latest CM stock kernel: 2.6.35.14-cyanogenmod.

March 25th I noticed that new ILWT kernel for CM7 was released. Newest 1.8.0 version has following modifications when compared to newest CM7 stock kernel:

• Added frequencies 576MHz, 902MHz, 1017MHz, 1507MHz, 1574MHz
• Removed frequencies 1497MHz, 1516MHz
• Slightly undervolted
• Exposed VDD levels to userspace, so that voltages for all frequencies can be modded at any time
• Added SIO scheduler and made it default
• Enabled swap support

About the battery duration, had between 2 and 2½ days duration (depending from use) with newest official CM7 Nightly build (with stock kernel), next I've to flash newest ILWT kernel to manage which one is better when compared battery duration.