

Normalize Android: Turning off HTC Sense UI on the HTC EVO 4G, Incredible, etc. - benhedrington
http://www.buildcontext.com/blog/2010/05/23/turning-off-htc-sense-ui-senseui-htc-evo-4g-incredible-android-phones/

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dhess
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
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
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
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
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.

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noelchurchill
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
"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
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.

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jkincaid
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'.

~~~
bazookaaa
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
you should try out sense, many people consider it an improvement over stock
android.

~~~
bazookaaa
I have, and I hate it. Here is a good article I share the same thoughts with:
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1330600>

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dannyr
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
While not likely to happen, a dual-boot system would be ideal.

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grandalf
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.

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buster
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
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
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.

