Sense 5.5 Android 4.3 makes it to S-OFF HTC EVO 4G LTE
So if you’ve been on the fence on updating to Sense 5 Android 4.3 on your HTC EVO 4G LTE, the pot got a little sweeter yesterday as developer chubbzlou released a Sense 5.5 ROM for devices on Captain_Throwback’s 4.3 prerelease firmware.
While you don’t actually have to install Captain_Throwback’s ROM, the steps to update are the same: Backup contents of internal SD card since it’s getting wiped, install new firmware, install new recovery, install ROM, flash SuperSU in recovery.
In case you’re wondering what’s different between the Android 4.3/Sense 5 update that’s being released in a few years as an RUU downloadable update from HTC (from what I’m reading it doesn’t sound like it’ll ever be an OTA) and chubbzlou’s Sense 5.5, the following appear to be the changelog based on this 5.0 to 5.5 comparison:
- Blinkfeed – the prerelease shows no indication of Blinkfeed even though it was released in 5.0
- Option to compose Google+ posts in Blinkfeed
- Better Blinkfeed search, options to read later
- Blinkfeed RSS support
- New camera and galleries
- New music player
- Quick settings
- Scribble app
- Better looking recent apps
If you’re interested in trying it, be aware the firmware update wipes your internal SD card (one of the reasons the next Android update for the EVO 4G LTE doesn’t look like it’s going to be an OTA), meaning all your data on your internal storage is gone. The camera stores your pictures there by default, so make sure you back everything up.
Also make absolutely sure you’re comfortable with going to Android 4.3. It’s pretty much a one-way ticket unless you want to jump through a series of hoops involving flashing old firmware, RUUing back, etc. You have to be S-OFF, you’ll require a computer handy if anything goes wrong, and it’s a pain if it does.
But if everything works out, you’ve got a wicked fast near top-of-the-software-line phone that’s had new life breathed into it and probably no more out of storage errors. Have fun, and if you flash it let us know how it works for you.
[xda-developers]
