6 ms·

Normalize Android: Turning off HTC Sense UI on the HTC EVO 4G, Incredible, etc.

27 points by benhedrington 16y ago

jkincaid 16y ago
This only gets you part of the way there. Icons, some menu options, the built-in browser, and I believe even the keyboard are still 'Sense-ified'.
- benhedrington 16y ago
  You are right this is about the home interface but to me that is one of the bigger disruptions. I will see what else we can switch off.
- dannyr 16y ago
  I'm surprised nobody in the hacking community has figured out a way to completely replace the HTC Sense/Motoblur/Samsung TouchWiz UI to the default Android UI.
  - nailer 16y ago
    They have - there are ROMs to do that, I've used them on my Hero. They're not very popular though as most people prefer Sense to stock Android.
    - dannyr 16y ago
      When you applied these ROMs, can you easily upgrade to any Android version?
      - nailer 16y ago
        Any version to which there's a ROM avaiable, yes. There's a 2.2 Froyo ROM coming out in the next couple of weeks that's been demonstrated on YouTube.
- bazookaaa 16y ago
  Seriously? Thank you for letting me know; I was going to get an Evo on the 4th but not after learning this. I'm glad I didn't find this out after purchasing.
  - dustingetz 16y ago
    you should try out sense, many people consider it an improvement over stock android.
    - bazookaaa 16y ago
      I have, and I hate it. Here is a good article I share the same thoughts with: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1330600 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1330600
noelchurchill 16y ago
Is the fractioning of Android a problem? A person has to go through a fairly non-intuitive process to turn of sense, requiring a guide to figure it out. It will not occur to most people that this is even an option. The new phone sounds pretty amazing, but is it a problem that people are going to have to relearn how to use their phone? I'm speaking from an average consumer point of view, not us hacker geeks here on HN. Most people are not as adaptable to new technology as the audience is here. Apple is now lagging in terms of features, but the user experience is consistent across devices. I know when I buy my new iPhone next month, the transition process will be seamless. Nothing will have to be re-figured out or relearned. I will know exactly how to do everything I need to do. This quality user experience is hard to quantify on a feature list, but I believe is very valuable nonetheless.
- confuzatron 16y ago
  "Nothing will have to be re-figured out or relearned." Phew, sounds like the iPhone must be hard to learn to use; a lot of investment? Every time I buy a new make of phone I need to learn how that make (and sometimes model) works. I just suck it up in the knowledge that learning is part of life. I've only used one Android phone (with Sense UI) so I can't comment on how different it is from vanilla Android. But I managed to pick it up fairly quickly, to the extent that the differences from iPhone OS that initially annoyed me, I started to prefer in a few days.
  - glhaynes 16y ago
    It's not necessarily a matter of it being hard in a "I can't figure out how to do this!" way, but just in the amount of cognitive effort that's required to learn how to do things a new way. Including unlearning the muscle memory of doing them the old way. So it's a matter of comfort and ease, things that are especially important on such personal devices.
dannyr 16y ago
What would be awesome is to be able to revert your UI from HTC Sense to the stock Android that is easily upgradeable to new versions of Android. I got the Evo and I'm not keeping it mainly because I won't get the latest and greatest version of Android right away.
- waterlesscloud 16y ago
  While not likely to happen, a dual-boot system would be ideal.
dhess 16y ago
I got an Evo at I/O and I'm new to Android. Is there any way to install a stock Google Android distribution on this phone? So far my impression is that the UI is awful, but I'm not sure how much of it is due to "HTC Sense" and how much is just Android. I don't particularly care about losing the ability to upgrade from one version of Android to the next; a wipe is fine.
- stanleydrew 16y ago
  I've been using Android phones since December 2008 and I also hate HTC's Sense UI. Let me tell you that the standard Android UI is much much better. I'm also looking for a way to completely kill the existing os and do a clean install of vanila Android, but I haven't found anything yet.
  - dhess 16y ago
    Hmm, the freedom to hack the phone without jumping through hoops was, for me, one of the major attractions of Android over the iPhone. An effective vendor OS lock-in makes Android a lot less appealing to me, especially when the usability of the vendor OS is markedly worse than iPhone OS.
    - stanleydrew 16y ago
      Indeed, it is disappointing that carriers are doing this. I suppose Google has the power to stop them if it wishes, but that might require a rewriting of the Android license agreement. I don't know, I'm not an expert on this stuff. I currently have four Android phones, but I only really use my N1 since Sense is basically unusable compared to standard Android in my opinion. If only the UI were configurable, I might use all four.
      - CountSessine 16y ago
        Google could rewrite the android license agreement, but that would make the platform less appealing. HTC would stay in the game but it's questionable whether the slackers like Sony Ericsson would. The awful truth about Android is that while Apple and Google know software, none of the people Google is partnering with, handset makers or telecoms, do. None of them understand what it takes to make high-quality, defect free software, or what 3rd party developers need from a platform, or what end-users expect from software. I can tell you that having sold to and consulted for them, and having family members who've worked for them, the telecoms are particularly clueless about these things. Hence we have them selling new smartphone with Android 1.5, in spite of the damage this does to the android development world.
buster 16y ago
I really don't get why people don't like the Sense UI? I've had the G1 and now the N1, but i think the Sense UI i've tested on the G1 with some Hero-ROM was awesome.. it just was far too slow for the G1.
- jsz0 16y ago
  There are lots of little things I dislike: -- The icons are confusing. They all look the same. After 6 months of using the HTC Hero I still have to just guess what most icons do -- The media player is terrible (doesn't play video, does a poor job showing music, very slow if you happen to have more than a few albums) -- To search your contacts in the dialer app you have to type the name using a T9 keyboard. This is ridiculous. -- The contacts app is very slow. Could be the hardware but it takes at least 15 seconds to show my contacts and scrolling is not smooth. Unfortunately these instructions did not work on my HTC Hero. It just relaunches Sense when I hit home.
  - dlib 16y ago
    Have to agree with you, what I don't get from a UI perspective is the plus sign on the bottom bar of your homescreen. It's there to add icons/apps to your homescreens but how often is that going to happen that you need a button for the purpose all of the time. Long-touching an app or blank space gives you the same options. It's just a waste of space. Alternate UI's should be optional,if only for faster OS upgrades.
- pkulak 16y ago
  I just think that Froyo has taken care of the last problems that Sense used to solve. I used to like Sense for the browser multi-touch and the phone icon at the bottom of the home screen at all times. That's no longer an issue, so what's the point? Plus, the stock Android keyboard doesn't look like a Christmas tree
grandalf 16y ago
It puzzles me why phone vendors would invest money into writing and maintaining a layer of marketing-heavy UI when most people would probably be perfectly happy with standard Android. This was a great and useful tip.

27 points by benhedrington 16y ago

This only gets you part of the way there. Icons, some menu options, the built-in browser, and I believe even the keyboard are still 'Sense-ified'.

benhedrington 16y ago
You are right this is about the home interface but to me that is one of the bigger disruptions. I will see what else we can switch off.
dannyr 16y ago
I'm surprised nobody in the hacking community has figured out a way to completely replace the HTC Sense/Motoblur/Samsung TouchWiz UI to the default Android UI.
- nailer 16y ago
  They have - there are ROMs to do that, I've used them on my Hero. They're not very popular though as most people prefer Sense to stock Android.
  - dannyr 16y ago
    When you applied these ROMs, can you easily upgrade to any Android version?
    - nailer 16y ago
      Any version to which there's a ROM avaiable, yes. There's a 2.2 Froyo ROM coming out in the next couple of weeks that's been demonstrated on YouTube.
bazookaaa 16y ago
Seriously? Thank you for letting me know; I was going to get an Evo on the 4th but not after learning this. I'm glad I didn't find this out after purchasing.
- dustingetz 16y ago
  you should try out sense, many people consider it an improvement over stock android.
  - bazookaaa 16y ago
    I have, and I hate it. Here is a good article I share the same thoughts with: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1330600 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1330600

noelchurchill 16y ago

Is the fractioning of Android a problem? A person has to go through a fairly non-intuitive process to turn of sense, requiring a guide to figure it out. It will not occur to most people that this is even an option. The new phone sounds pretty amazing, but is it a problem that people are going to have to relearn how to use their phone? I'm speaking from an average consumer point of view, not us hacker geeks here on HN. Most people are not as adaptable to new technology as the audience is here. Apple is now lagging in terms of features, but the user experience is consistent across devices. I know when I buy my new iPhone next month, the transition process will be seamless. Nothing will have to be re-figured out or relearned. I will know exactly how to do everything I need to do. This quality user experience is hard to quantify on a feature list, but I believe is very valuable nonetheless.

confuzatron 16y ago
"Nothing will have to be re-figured out or relearned." Phew, sounds like the iPhone must be hard to learn to use; a lot of investment? Every time I buy a new make of phone I need to learn how that make (and sometimes model) works. I just suck it up in the knowledge that learning is part of life. I've only used one Android phone (with Sense UI) so I can't comment on how different it is from vanilla Android. But I managed to pick it up fairly quickly, to the extent that the differences from iPhone OS that initially annoyed me, I started to prefer in a few days.
- glhaynes 16y ago
  It's not necessarily a matter of it being hard in a "I can't figure out how to do this!" way, but just in the amount of cognitive effort that's required to learn how to do things a new way. Including unlearning the muscle memory of doing them the old way. So it's a matter of comfort and ease, things that are especially important on such personal devices.

dannyr 16y ago

What would be awesome is to be able to revert your UI from HTC Sense to the stock Android that is easily upgradeable to new versions of Android. I got the Evo and I'm not keeping it mainly because I won't get the latest and greatest version of Android right away.

waterlesscloud 16y ago
While not likely to happen, a dual-boot system would be ideal.

dhess 16y ago

I got an Evo at I/O and I'm new to Android. Is there any way to install a stock Google Android distribution on this phone? So far my impression is that the UI is awful, but I'm not sure how much of it is due to "HTC Sense" and how much is just Android. I don't particularly care about losing the ability to upgrade from one version of Android to the next; a wipe is fine.

stanleydrew 16y ago
I've been using Android phones since December 2008 and I also hate HTC's Sense UI. Let me tell you that the standard Android UI is much much better. I'm also looking for a way to completely kill the existing os and do a clean install of vanila Android, but I haven't found anything yet.
- dhess 16y ago
  Hmm, the freedom to hack the phone without jumping through hoops was, for me, one of the major attractions of Android over the iPhone. An effective vendor OS lock-in makes Android a lot less appealing to me, especially when the usability of the vendor OS is markedly worse than iPhone OS.
  - stanleydrew 16y ago
    Indeed, it is disappointing that carriers are doing this. I suppose Google has the power to stop them if it wishes, but that might require a rewriting of the Android license agreement. I don't know, I'm not an expert on this stuff. I currently have four Android phones, but I only really use my N1 since Sense is basically unusable compared to standard Android in my opinion. If only the UI were configurable, I might use all four.
    - CountSessine 16y ago
      Google could rewrite the android license agreement, but that would make the platform less appealing. HTC would stay in the game but it's questionable whether the slackers like Sony Ericsson would. The awful truth about Android is that while Apple and Google know software, none of the people Google is partnering with, handset makers or telecoms, do. None of them understand what it takes to make high-quality, defect free software, or what 3rd party developers need from a platform, or what end-users expect from software. I can tell you that having sold to and consulted for them, and having family members who've worked for them, the telecoms are particularly clueless about these things. Hence we have them selling new smartphone with Android 1.5, in spite of the damage this does to the android development world.

buster 16y ago

I really don't get why people don't like the Sense UI? I've had the G1 and now the N1, but i think the Sense UI i've tested on the G1 with some Hero-ROM was awesome.. it just was far too slow for the G1.

jsz0 16y ago
There are lots of little things I dislike: -- The icons are confusing. They all look the same. After 6 months of using the HTC Hero I still have to just guess what most icons do -- The media player is terrible (doesn't play video, does a poor job showing music, very slow if you happen to have more than a few albums) -- To search your contacts in the dialer app you have to type the name using a T9 keyboard. This is ridiculous. -- The contacts app is very slow. Could be the hardware but it takes at least 15 seconds to show my contacts and scrolling is not smooth. Unfortunately these instructions did not work on my HTC Hero. It just relaunches Sense when I hit home.
- dlib 16y ago
  Have to agree with you, what I don't get from a UI perspective is the plus sign on the bottom bar of your homescreen. It's there to add icons/apps to your homescreens but how often is that going to happen that you need a button for the purpose all of the time. Long-touching an app or blank space gives you the same options. It's just a waste of space. Alternate UI's should be optional,if only for faster OS upgrades.
pkulak 16y ago
I just think that Froyo has taken care of the last problems that Sense used to solve. I used to like Sense for the browser multi-touch and the phone icon at the bottom of the home screen at all times. That's no longer an issue, so what's the point? Plus, the stock Android keyboard doesn't look like a Christmas tree

grandalf 16y ago

It puzzles me why phone vendors would invest money into writing and maintaining a layer of marketing-heavy UI when most people would probably be perfectly happy with standard Android. This was a great and useful tip.