Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The HTC Desire HD - Aging Gracefully Part 1


The HTC Desire HD, released in November 2010 is now thirty months old. 

The hardware itself has aged surprisingly well. With what used to be a massive 4.3-inch display it does not look too small in todays world of 4.7 to 5-inch Android smartphones. With a user replaceable battery, a few dollars spend on Amazon can score you a new battery. But you problem is going to be the software. The last official update for this phone was released at the end of 2011, with the phone being updated to Android 2.3.5 with HTC Sense 3.0. Android 2.3.5 is really looking old these days. 


The solution, root the phone and install a third party operating system. You have a very nice Sense 3.6, Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) ROM from Team Blackout, or if you are having HTC One X envy, you can install a Sense 4.1, Android 4.0.4 ROM from Team Venom. Me, I am having some serious Nexus 4 envy, so I opted to go with a Android 4.2.2 ROM. Yup, Google's latest and greatest. 

When it comes to Android 4.2.2, you have over half a dozen options. After looking at my options, I decided to use Mustaavalkosta's Desire HD port of CyanogenMod 10.1.  

Rooting. Rooting the HTC Desire HD was pretty easy before with attn1 Advance Ace Hack Kit. Unfortunately, that service is no available. You will have to do it through a more difficult route, but the gents at the Android Forums will be very happy to help you out:


Okay, that all for now. In the next part of this article, I will show you what all this effort brings.

Part 2 of this post is at this link.

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