I love me some AOSP ROMs! Especially when it came to my Sprint HTC Hero since that phone didn't have a lot of system space. HTC Sense just seemed to weight it down over time. Couple that with the fact that the device was left high and dry with only Android 2.1-update 1 and a now archaec version of sense. Due to this limitation, ports of AOSP-based ROMs had flooded their way onto countless Hero's so that many were able to rawk Froyo and even Gingerbread. Being able to rawk Froyo on my Hero was an awesome achievement for me. Besides, my G1 days had made me partial to a vanilla Android experience anyways so this was a win-win for me!
With that said, just because I tend to lean more towards AOSP ROMs, doesn't mean there aren't people out there that prefer HTC Sense based ROMs. In fact, I'm willing to bet the majority of HTC handset owners probably prefer HTC sense over a vanilla Android experience. Unfortunately, as I had mentioned earlier, since the Hero never officially got past Eclair (Android 2.1 update 1), most of the Sense ROM ports rawkin' Android 2.2 and above weren't as stable as I would've liked them to be on my Hero. That is... at least in my experience.
Now for those of you that still rawk this phone as their daily driver but are not fans of the vanilla Android experience, I'm assuming your choices are limited as to what ROM you could use on your phone. There's always Fresh ROM which I ran on my Hero for a long time due to its stability and customizability but again, that's still based off of the stock Eclair ROM. What if you want your Android OS to be relevant by today's standards?...
This brings me to WildHeroc RC2.2 by xda member flashinglights. Per the ROM thread on XDA, this is a, "Wildfire port started by SebastianFM which worked itself over to the HeroGSM to the Droid Eris and finally to our HeroC."
Now aside from this ROM rawkin' Android 2.3.3 & HTC Sense 2.1, it also appears to be pretty snappy considering the fact that it's running on a 1st gen Android device. (Gotta love the super Android Devs in the community!) They've removed a lot factory apps but for your convenience, once you've flashed this ROM the removed apps appear on your SDcard in a folder titled "Removed Apps". They even included the HTC file explorer for you to easily get to it..How thoughtful! Upon first boot, you'll notice the saucy Sense 3.0 lockscreen. After you unlock it for the first time, once you visit the lockscreen again, you'l also notice the 4 app shortcut icons that you can drag into the ring to go directly into that application from the lockscreen. Now I'm not going to discuss every feature on this ROM as I've always been a huge fan of "Why don't you just see for yourself".
**Please note - Since my Hero's no longer activated, I was unable to personally test the regular everyday phone functions (Phone Calls, text messages, data connectivity, etc). From what I read on the forum thread, however, this ROM should be stable enough to run as a daily driver. Regardless, I would suggest reading through the ROM's forum thread to ensure that this is really what you would like to flash.**
So here is my 2 part process on how to revitalize your old HTC Hero (CDMA) if you're already rooted with an unlocked bootloader. It's basically installing
First part is making sure that you're using the most updated version of ClockworkMod Recovery. The version of CWM that is installed using ROM Manager (v2.5.0.7) should work for this ROM, however, they don't work with most AOSP based Gingerbread ROMs due to the fact that the scripting used for those zip files have changed. Although the dev states CWM v2.5.0.7 is the preferred recovery, CWM v3.0.2.4 and CWM v4.0.1.5 worked perfecty for me both times I had flashed this ROM. Besides, if you want to flash an AOSP Gingerbread ROM later, you don't have to worry about having to flash a recovery later. You'll already be ahead of the game. If you want to try flashing the ROM without updating CWM recovery, feel free to do so, however, these are simply the steps that I took.
The second part is a tutorial on how to flash the ROM itself but that's enough talk. Let's do this...
**Please note: These tutorial are for educational purposes only. If for any reason you happen to turn your phone into an expensive paperweight by following these tutorials, it is your fault and your fault alone. I cannot, and will not, be held responsible for any misfortunes caused by you following these tutorials. You have been warned**
Part 1 - Update your version of Clockworkmod Recovery
Unofficial Clockworkmod Recovery v4.0.1.5 (Sprint HTC Hero)
The XDA thread for this recovery was orginally posted by by dastin1015: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1209527
This is a simple tutorial for installing the most updated Unnofficial Clockworkmod Recovery v4.0.1.5 fort he Sprint HTC Hero in the event that you're fully rooted (with s-off) but still running the stock Eclair Sense ROM for the Hero.
Luckily for us, the updated CWM recoveries for our CDMA Heros have been made into flashable zips created specifically so they can be flashed using the official CWM recovery v2.5.0.7 (Which uses the old scripting) for the CDMA Hero which what's installed when using ROM Manager. This works out well especially if you're running the official stock Hero ROM that just happens to be rooted with an unlocked bootloader. If it wasn't flashable through the old version of CWM recovery, you would then have to flash the recovery through fastboot which would mean you would have to first download the SDK if you didn't already have it. I figure some folks would probably rather not have to do all that. Anyway, let's get that recovery updated....
Step 1 - Download the custom recovery that you wish to use, from the link provided above, and save it to your desktop or anywhere you can easily get to it. Do not navigate away from the page though as you will need the MD5sum for that particular file so we can be sure that the download did not get corrupt.
**Please note: The one I used in this tutorial can be found in this specific post: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=16528423&postcount=16**
Step 2 - Connect your phone to your computer, mount the phone as a disk drive, and then transfer the recovery zip file you had previously downloaded onto the root of your sd card.
Step 3 - Unmount your phone from your computer first so it is safe to disconnect the USB, then from your phone by either setting your phone to "Charge Only" (Sense ROMs) or by pressing "unmount" (AOSP ROMs), and then finally, detach your USB cable from your computer and phone.
Step 4 - Download an app from the Market called "Android File Verifier"
Step 5 - Launch Android File Verifier, tap the "Select File" button, scroll down to the recovery zip file you had placed on the root of your sdcard, then tap on the menu option that reads "Calc MD-5 Checksum". Make sure the resulting code matches that of the MD-5 code corresponding with that file on the post where you had downloaded it from.
Step 6 - If all is correct, power down your phone. Then power it up again by holding down the "Home" key + "Power" key until you are taken to your current recovery image.
Step 7 - Once in recovery, using your trackball, navigate to "install zip from sdcard" and select it by pushing on the trackball, then navigate to "choose zip from sdcard" and select that as well.
Step 8 - You should now see a list of the content located on the root of your sd card. Navigate to the recovery zip file you plan on flashing and select it accordingly. CWM will want you to "Confirm install" so go ahead and choose "Yes - Install xxxxxxx.zip" and select it accordingly. From here, simply wait for the recovery to finish flashing the file.
Step 9 - Once completed, press the back button, then choose "reboot system now" from the main menu. Your phone should boot up normally. Once fully booted, go ahead and repeat step 6 to make sure your recovery flashed correctly. If it did, then congrats! You've successfully updated your recovery!
Part 2 - Install WildHeroc RC2.2
WildHeroc RC2.2
by flashinglights: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1197063
The steps described here is how I had flashed this ROM onto my Sprint HTC Hero. As usual, results may vary so remember to do your own research in case you run into any obstacles. This is what just happened to work for me. Enjoy!
Step 1 - Download WildHeroc RC2.2 by flashinglights from the following URL and place the zip file on your desktop or anyplace where you can easily find them
**Note - Do not close the download page as you will need to reference the MD5 code a little further down this tutorial**
**Note - (Optional) There are some MODS made specifically for this ROM which are listed on the second post of this thread. Go ahead and download whatever MODs you wish to add to this ROM now as well and place them in the same area as the ROM you had just downloaded**
Step 2 - Connect your phone to your computer, mount the phone as a disk drive. From there, transfer the ROM along with any of the MODs you also chose and place them on the root of your sdcard.
Step 3 - Unmount your phone from your computer first so it is safe to disconnect the USB, then from your phone by either setting your phone to "Charge Only" (Sense ROMs) or by pressing "unmount" (AOSP ROMs), and then finally, detach your USB cable from your computer and phone.
Step 4 - Download from the Android Market, install, and launch "Android File Verifier", tap the "Select File" button, scroll down to the wildheroc_RC2.2.zip file you had placed on the root of your sdcard, then tap on the menu option that reads "Calc MD-5 Checksum". Make sure the resulting code matches that of the corresponding MD-5 code listed on the download page.
Step 5 - If all is correct, power down your phone. Then power it up again by holding down the "Home" key + "Power" key until you are taken to your current recovery image.
Step 6 - Once in recovery, using your trackball, navigate to and select "backup and restore". From there choose backup and let it run it's course.
Step 7 - Once the backup has been completed, navigate and select "wipe data/factory reset", confirm the action, and let it finish fully. Once that's finished, navigate to and select "wipe cache", confirm the action, then let it finish fully. After that's completed, navigate to and select "advanced", then navigate to and select "wipe dalvik cache", confirm the action, then let it finish.
**Note - (Optional) I always do this step twice just to be safe.**
Step 8 - Hit the back arrow then navigate to and select "mounts and storage". From there, navigate to and select "format boot", confirm action, and let it finish fully. Do the same for "format data", "format cache", and "format system"
Step 9 - Now that you're phone's been fully wiped and formated, navigate to and select "install zip from sdcard", then navigate to and select "choose zip from sdcard".
Step 10 - You should now see a list of all the contents you have on the root of your sdcard. Navigate to and select the "wildheroc_RC2.2.zip" file, and it will ask you to "Confirm install". So confirm accordingly and let it finish flashing the ROM.
Step 11 - Once completed, press the back button, then choose "reboot system now" from the main menu. Your phone should boot up normally.
Step 12 - If you chose to flash any MODs, go back into recovery, and follow the same steps you took in order to flash the ROM but this time, do not choose any of the format options and only choose to wipe the "cache" and "dalvik cache" before flashing those particular mods.
From there you should have a fully working Android 2.3.3/Sense 2.1 ROM running on your 1st generation Sprint HTC Hero.
**EDIT** - After a couple of days to test out this ROM I did happen to notice some possible bugs with this ROM. You may receive android.process errors when your phone trys to sync with either the twitter app and/or the facebook app. I'm not an avid fan of Friendstream or Peep, however, it's possible that it may sync better than the actual facebook app or twitter app. Also, the camera may tend to lock up now and then. Some minor annoyances, however, still a dope ROM nevertheless, considering the fact that it's running on such an old device. **
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