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Dell's Stage UI headed to Streak, also unofficially works on EVO 4G (video)
The first time the words "Stage UI" passed our lips, they were in relation to the Dell Thunder leak, but now we're hearing that Dell's custom Android user interface will actually appear alongside Android 2.2 when the update finally arrives on the five-inch Streak. We've just learned that's going to happen this winter in Japan when the Streak launches on SoftBank at the very least, as both are advertised for early December there, but we expect we'll see the updated OS even sooner in the US and Europe for obvious reasons. What's more, an unofficial build of Froyo that leaked out for the Streak last month has since been found to have Stage UI on board. StreakSmart's got a video of a custom ROM running a series of Dell-specific widgets on the Streak, and sister site Good and Evo managed to trick the very same software to run on a rooted HTC EVO 4G. You can see examples of both on video after the break, but here's the basic idea behind the UI -- giant panes of contacts, apps and shortcuts that fill an entire screen each, but leave your app drawer accessible at a swipe. If you're feeling daring, you can try the ROM for yourself at our more coverage link. Just be careful flashing that new baseband, eh? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Custom Droid X ROMs starting to break loose, eFuse be damned
Despite Motorola's best intentions to the contrary, the Droid X has been making steady progress toward viable custom ROMs, first with root access, then with a recovery method... and now, at long last, we're starting to get the first few glimpses at legit cooked firmware. The two options we're seeing so far are Sapphire -- originally designed for the Droid of old -- and a so-called "FlyX" ROM from longtime contributor Birdman. In both cases, the benefits of eschewing Motorola's standard builds are pretty obvious: you get Froyo, root, and a host of apps and capabilities preferred by the superuser crowd like surcharge-free mobile hotspot access. The process is a little involved to get these bad boys installed at this point, but with time, we're willing to bet it becomes a pretty painless endeavor. Follow the break for a quick video of Sapphire booting into stock Froyo on the X -- a tantalizing sight, indeed. [Thanks, Clift]
Koush's Droid X Recovery paves the way for ROMs to come
The Droid X got rooted just about a month ago, but still users are unable to run their own custom ROMs -- something seen as a basic right amongst the Android community. Now those chaps are a good bit closer to getting there thanks to a new recovery mechanism posted by Koush. What's taking so long? The security mechanisms on the Droid X are said to be "a real bitch" and, to circumvent them, Koush had to hijack a logging process that runs at boot-up. This process runs in place of that, allowing a user to restore their phone to a previous backup generated before trying to do something wild and crazy. What does this mean? ROM runners now have a means of safely retreating if they find themselves cornered (or bricked), allowing them to try more daring assaults more often, and meaning we could be only days away from Droid X users being allowed to fully express themselves.
Nexus One now a step closer to FM radio support, thanks to modified kernel
As you may or may not be already aware, the Nexus One and HTC Desire have the same Broadcom chip. Seems trivial at cursory glance until you realize the Desire has a FM radio app, which should ergo be just as feasible on the Google-branded device. Cut to xda-developers' intersectRaven, who's released a custom N1 kernel that theoretically brings life to the FM receptor. It's available to download, but as for when you'll get a chance to really use this yourself, that's entirely up to the custom ROM developers updating their respective wares. For his part, Paul O'Brien said today he's already got it working on an upcoming Froyo Sense build for the device -- hang tight, folks, it's coming. [Thanks, John]
Motorola Milestone gets close to custom ROMs -- even without an unlocked bootloader
Motorola Milestone owners still haven't managed to get the phone's bootloader unlocked, making custom Android ROMs (Froyo, for example) a whole heck of a lot more difficult -- but not impossible. It seems that the community is getting close to successfully employing a "kexec" solution, meaning a new kernel would be executed on top of the stock one without rebooting -- and from there, fully customized builds are basically a shoo-in. Motorola doesn't seem to be budging on a proper bootloader unlock, so it's good to see everyone involved is coming up on a workable alternative. [Thanks, Chris T.]
Samsung i8910 HD runs 62 apps at once, multitaskers bow their heads
While iPhone 3G owners and would-be Windows Phone 7 buyers sit in the corner, quietly weeping over their lack of true multitasking, webOS and Symbian continue to point and laugh. In mid-January, a Palm Pre Plus was seen cackling with joy over its rivals' misfortune even as the device staggered under the weight of 50 simultaneous applications, and less than a week later, a Samsung Omnia HD performed the very same feat, despite having only half the Pre Plus' RAM (i.e. 256MB) to work with. Now, in what we can only interpret as a large middle finger and "come here" gesture to all who aspire to the cell phone multitasking heavyweight title, we have a video of the i8910 running no less than sixty-two applications thanks to a custom ROM by HyperX. Watch in stunned silence as a finger scrolls through them, right after the break.
