Nexus One gets a custom ROM
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted January 8th 2010 6:23PM
posted January 8th 2010 6:23PM
It's been but a week since the gang at Modaco rooted the Nexus One -- and what do we have here? A quick visit to the self-same forums today has revealed that the handset has a new custom ROM. Based on the 22607 release (in case you're curious), this bad boy sports many new and exciting features, including the Nano 2.09 text editor, wireless tether, Titanium Backup, Busybox 1.15.3, and more. Feelin' adventurous? Hit the source link to give it a go. And make sure you drop us a line and let us know how it goes. (You don't think we're going to be the first to try it, do you?)[Thanks, Jules]
Awesome. In XDA-developers we trust.
@DestrictoEnse
yes yes...i dont know how i would honestly live w/out xda. the work that is done w/ android and winmo devices is really top notch.
and on a side note, johnny rocket below showed how fast the nexus one is in terms of rendering pages, in two different reviews. and its really a sad state that engadget has gotten to. i've seen a lot of other nexus one reviews showing their browser speeds compared to the iphone, and other phones, and i have NEVER seen anything where it performed as slowly as the engadget review. not even close. on most pages the N1 wins. how the nexus one loaded engadget so slow...i guess we'll never know. but as far as their overall review, well i think its a continuation of a trend we've seen when reviewing non apple phones. basically they hate them, often for intangible and nonsensical reasons. (another prime example is joshua's HD2 review, hating the wm6.5 start menu, when its basically the same exact thing as the iphones app pages). of course the staff could care less, but i doubt if i'll ever bother to read another engadget phone review because of the someone skewed opinions. i guess its back to cnet. =(
@simbadogg Well at least it's not gizmodo. I made a comment today about them being bias and said "I just want to know if Steve gives you a check personally or does it come from Apple" don't you know, these fu@*kers banned me!!
@simbadogg
That's exactly the way I felt when I received my Nexus and pointed my browser to engadget.com and didn't get the same result.
Very sad indeed.
@DestrictoEnse
actually, you're right. as bad as engadget has gotten w/ phones, gizmodo is 10x worse when it comes to the iphone, then again, anything apple related. like, i joking made a comparison between engadget and fox news, kinda slanting their news. the giz has no media comparison, they only think i could liken them to would be mmm....the gestapo? italy under mussolini? maybe russia under stalin. trying to straight brainwash people. i remember they had an article, "the best alternatives to every apple product". that's seriously a joke of a blog, only time i ever go there now is to check dealzmodo
@simbadogg
LIfehacker can be quite interesting too, even if all of the software articles are disproportionately slanted towards Macs.
Quite interesting.
Wait till Cyanogen get's his ROM out. It will blow this out of the water.
This is not a complete costum rom, just an update to the original vanilla (stock) rom. Google has yet to drop the 2.1 source so it's not possible :P
The Nexus One has been better than my wildest dreams. Best phone I've ever had.
Can't wait to try these custom ROMs out.
@Yoyodyne I completely agree and I don't think many people know that the main chassis of the phone is Aluminum and not plastic. I wish people would figure out its Metal. I think they're purposely trying to find things wrong with the phone just bacause they're angry that it doesn't have their 3G band on it, to the point of making up false information and trying to spread it.
ANyways its a FANTASTIC phone and the experience on it is INCREDIBLE! So glad I purchased it definitely worth the 529, now I can also use my intact upgrade for the HD2 when it comes out in spring. = D
@SParklingCYaNide Thanks. That's a huge selling point for me - no more crappy plastic phones if I can help it.
They need to get multitouch working on it
@ManoloDF Cyan already said in twitter he's got "Multitouch action"
@Lubing The Tube
In that case, I'm Excited
will do this over the weekend. main thing i need is the LED flashlight and tethering to work on this phone.
Engadget's "review" was a HOAX (remember, it was posted before the phone was even officially available for purchase anyway).
Check out some REAL comparisons:
http://www.youtube.com/v/tuVyExV8SYo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuVyExV8SYo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErsBnBgwYzg
Needless to say:
A) Josh obviously sabotaged the N1 / Droid somehow, or doesn't know what he's doing. No phone loads webpages that slow, not even a G1. It should be obvious he did something wrong.
B) Why test only a SINGLE website? Seriously?
C) The N1 *IS* faster than the iPhone, as these videos clearly show, and dozens others will soon show as well.
Just wanted to clear that up.
@Johnny Rockets
Cool story bro.
@Johnny Rockets
Yep, another pathetic example of fanboy 'journalism'.
Even my hardcore iPhone owning friends are amazed at how fast the Nexus One is compared to their phones.
@Johnny Rockets The Engadget review really was crap, you're right. In fact, the iPhone loaded up an iPhone optimized version of their webpage. You can see the banner as clear as day in the video at one point it says "Engadget for iPhone" very prominently.
@ustna
yes, it is a cool story. because it shows how iphone biased engadget is.
@Johnny Rockets Yea it really is quite annoying how much Joshua fancies the iPhone over everything else. He needs to get off his knee's and stop blowing Apple.
@Johnny Rockets
As a Droid owner and frequent Engadget.com user I have to say the video was pretty on point with how long it takes to load. Its verrrrry depressing. I want google to improve the browser experience so I like to be completely honest. I am shocked that the iPhone 3GS loaded that fast.... but hey if its not broke it doesn't need fixing and the droid/android browser could use some fixing.
@simbadogg
Well as bad as the Engadget review was...My Nexus One acts nothing like they said it would the New York Times one was much worse.
Android fanboys need to relax. I read that review and still bought it. Not having multitouch in the default Google apps sucks. What 3rd party software has it other than dolphin?
@uansari1
That was just an advertisement for their app... everyone wants to talk about fanboys, I see a lot of them here ;)
@bonsai
See the thing is Bonsai, I actually bought the phone. I went to the video and ran the test right along side it. It was no where near the same speed not even in the same ball park. OK 1 strike what about how choppy it was in the video. My phone scrolls a lot more smoothly than that.
What we saw in the video is not representative of the product. There for not a good review. I don't know about the Droid I don't use it. Maybe someone gave Joshua a bad phone alright but the review lacks many other things.
Is this phone a super phone no it isn't it has its issues but the NYTimes and Engadget reviews read more like paid Apple advertisements then not. If they weren't wrong they didn't mention something like the Noise cancellation microphone that blocks out street noise(my parents can finally hear me on the phone when walking home from work past Union Square).
In short lacking or wrong or neutral does not make a good review. Regardless of intent.
Here's another test:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blr7OtefrHM
Clears the cache right before the test.
>>> CLEAR PROOF
@bonsai
There are lots of Google AND Apple fanboys here but I think most people (on both sides) are agreeing that Engadget's review was crap. It wasn't much of a review first of all (they barely highlighted any features and capitalized on the negatives), the internet test was completely bogus because as proven by multiple tests and from first hand experience, people have established that the Nexus One is MUCH faster than what was displayed in their "review." I was able to play with one today and I can vouch that it really is quite awesome.
It's a much better phone than what Engadget gave it credit for and that can be seen in many other reviews around the net. I don't know if I would go so far as to say Apple paid Engadget (or NYTimes) out, but I could attribute it to either,
1) bias
or 2) they were given a pre-production model (after all the phone hadn't been released officially yet) and there were still some features that were not finalized yet. I'm leaning more towards the latter.
@sfox8
It was all a set up. The first thing that every Nexus One owner does is cruise on over to Engadget to load it up. Engadget is probably the most viewed web page by the N1 by a long shot.
@Johnny Rockets The Nexus One is a faster processing phone and I'd expect it given that the processor is over 60% higher clocked. There were valid points in the review though and in the ones you posted, some of which include:
jittery scrolling on the Nexus and no animation bounce to let you know you're at the top or bottom
no pinch zoom, which I use all the time when browsing
no animation rotating the phone, minor point but it's a nice addition
text auto-correct isn't as good
hard time getting the buttons to respond like the home button
copy/paste is much harder than on the iphone
The 3GS, the Nexus One and the latest Pre incarnation are all awesome phones and all have their strengths:
iphone started this whole thing off (don't anyone start with the Prada bullshit, you know what I'm talking about), is brilliantly designed and the fact it's taken 3 years to get anything close in such a competitive market is damn well awesome so people need to show some respect and stop hating because of any prejudice they have about the company making it.
the Pre brought along multi-tasking in a very nice intuitive way, also has a great design. Was hampered by some quality issues but they seem to be fixed and it's becoming a solid product with decent apps.
the Nexus One brings Android to a powerhouse of a phone. All open and very powerful. It is lacking in the areas above but it's the closest competitor to the iphone with a large and growing app store. But it still doesn't wipe the floor with it in a way that buying one over an iphone is a clear choice and it's competing with a 6 month old product.
In summary, we know Engadget is a bit biased but people (including Engadget) need to remember there are at least 3 awesome phones now, not just one.
Wireless tether? Yuck. As 'neat' as that is, I prefer USB tethering any day. The phone doesn't drain the battery faster than it can charge and doesn't get so hot.
@wemblers
actually the phone is hottest while is charging.
@wemblers I think you miss the point. Wireless tethering has a number of advantages.
1. I don't carry a cable with me everywhere I go.
2. It doesn't require any configuration. I can easily get somebody else's laptop online if I need to.
3. It's great for when you just need to get online real quick.
4. I can put my phone in its cradle charging and then wander around with my laptop with no phone hanging off of it, and it's not running down the battery on my laptop either.
Meh.. I don't plan on messing with mine until we can get that EU multi-touch stock browser. Dolphin and xScope aren't cutting it.
What's the point of custom ROM if it has no multitouch?
@TareG
I know, I base my mobile phone purchasing solely on multi touch.
@XTer
Sorry, thought you meant phone, not ROM. Once the European version comes out, I'm sure someone will make a ROM with multi touch.
@TareG I've used multi-touch on the iPhone maybe a handful of times, I won't lose sleep over it on the N1.
I really want to root my Nexus One but I really don't want to void my warranty (which thic clearly does).
Decisions, decisions...
@phobic99
Just do it, you won't regret it.
Interesting....
Wireless Tether!? WTF....this alone makes me want it even more.
not going to Root for a while till we see how good the nexus is built. Dont want it to die and i already voided the warranty lol
can they get the fm transmitter working on this custom rom??
and i love this phone.
i'm not even bothered by only using egde on it.
okay flashed sucess. one problem now is when i set wallpapers they become blurry and pixelated.