Honeycomb gets ever closer to the HTC EVO View 4G
Big news this Labor Day weekend for users of the HTC EVO View 4G: an unofficial Honeycomb beta ROM from HTC has been leaked for the View's sister tablet, the HTC Flyer. Developer PaulOBrien has been hard at work turning the RUU into a flashable ROM, which means that Honeycomb should also be very close by for the EVO View, as well.
The major hurdle that developers are trying to overcome involves the new ROM's incompatibility with older HBOOTs, causing the tablet to get stuck at the HTC screen after turning on. However, developer Globatron has been able to get Honeycomb successfully booted on the Flyer and posted the above screenshots as proof.
Globatron's first impressions of Honeycomb on the Flyer include the following observations:
The Good
- It works
- Pen interaction works everywhere for typing/buttons etc.
- Much more compatibility in the market.
- More widgets
- Seems to be pretty smooth, no real lag.
- The ROM is pre-rooted, it's a developer build.
The Bad
- The buttons on the bezel are gone, with the exception of the pen action button.
- The HC toolbar steals a lot more screen space than the GB notification bar.
- Everything is landscape optimized. Some screens are clipped in portrait. Market is landscape only.
- Phone support does not seem to work for now. Not tested much but cannot hear any incoming audio on the flyer.
- Lots of FCs in various apps from the market (none from the ROM itself so far)
Globatron has posted installation instructions for the 32GB 3G Flyer here, although he previously warned that "it is not a nice solution and requires permanently voiding warranty." Apparently, a new bootloader must be flashed, which must subsequently be unlocked using HTC's official method (even though the Flyer is not yet an officially supported device).
In any case, this means that Honeycomb for the EVO View can't be far off!
