Reader ROM Picks: Sprint Lover’s for HTC EVO 4G
Reader ROM Picks is a regular series that showcases G&E readers’ favorite HTC EVO custom ROMs.
This ROM pick was sent in by MildlyDisturbed.
Have you ever wondered what a world would be like in which your HTC EVO 4G shipped with a fully-functioning copy of Sense, unwanted applications could be deleted, and that tethering app you were promised in the documentation actually worked as advertised?
Well, trying to imagine that involves trying to imagine Sprint not cashing in on everything they possibly can, and that’s just a bit too far-fetched. So instead, we’ll look at a ROM that delivers on the carrier’s attempts, Sprint Lover’s ROM developed and maintained by chris1683.
Sprint Lover’s is based on the most recent HTC software build (version 3.70.651.1) and features working WiFi tether (yes, you can use your 4G wirelessly), wired 3G tether, and ability to uninstall most Sprint bloatware without resorting to root exploit methods. After a fresh install, there’s ~350MB free of internal storage, which means you’re much further away from the annoying low space warnings.
Sprint Lover’s is, for the mass of it, a reactionary work. Sprint pushes something out, chris1683 cooks something up. It is a finished ROM, with development happening only when warranted. Flashaholics will not like this ROM because it can be months between versions, and there are not a lot of new and fascinating bits being added to it daily. When new over-the-air updates come out, they’re incorporated and available. As 100+ megs of native apps are updated, they’re cooked into the ROM and released.
Above what Sprint offers in Sense, Sprint Lover’s has the SD card read speed fix built in, 1% increment battery notification, animated sync icons, drop-down power controls, color notification icons, multi-option power menu (reboot, quick boot, recovery, etc.), quiet boot sound, and custom animation.
Sprint Lover’s also comes with a stable kernel. It doesn’t do overclocking, HDMI, or anything all that impressive, but it runs solidly. The ROM works fine with most Sense-compliant kernels, but I’m sure some will run into a combo that does not play nicely. It’s compatible with Netarchy’s 4.3.4 CFS HDMIWin kernel, and for my phone that’s what works best (your mileage will vary).
Sprint Lover’s is what should have shipped with the EVO 3G: it’s clean, polished, fully functional.
It does not offer some of the more interesting mods in the ROM development world such as a new Bluetooth stack (you can’t connect a Wii controller on this) nor does it have what is required for Darktremor’s Apps2SD support (not to be confused with apps2sd). But what it does have is stability, speed, reliability, and a platform you can come back to with ease.
Sprint Lover’s is what I generally use to ease people into the rooting world. It’s like when Dorothy’s house landed and she first opened the door and stepped into Oz. Not a huge difference, but one you note right away. Once they’re ready for the flying monkeys and melting witches, I’ll set them on CM7.
Sprint Lover’s comes in a couple of packages: the standalone and the all-in-one. If this is your first dalliance with this ROM, you probably want the all-in-one. It contains updated WiMax, PRI, and NV radios and will set your system up from scratch right. The standalone package does not include the radios and can be used as an upgrade between versions. In some cases it can be used to go from other ROMs, but you might end up with some funkiness that nobody will be able to predict.
Download:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=7KD2V3EV (all-in-one)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QD7L5L97 (standalone)
Discussion: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=830153
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Reader ROM Picks is a regular series that showcases G&E readers’ favorite HTC EVO custom ROMs.
