BEFORE
Before the mod, the stock Inspire was plenty loaded with useful features and widgets. I had a pretty decent newsfeed. Market shares occupied another page. Social media feed in another. It was a typical HTC Sense suite and it was indeed useful. The camera apk (extension for Android app) was far better than the default camera that you would get on a default installation of Android. Overall, the HTC features were very useful. The rest of the phone was occupied by what AT&T put out and all the restrictions that came with it. A lot of pre-installed "bloatware" occupied the memory usage and that ultimately led to a overall lower battery time. Even when I had Advance Task Killer with a kill frequency at highest, it would not prevent those apps from opening up and keep running even while the phone was in sleep. You can say that this is the bad part of any Android device. Open source leaves the opportunity for developers to create programs that constantly push data even when you set it up to not do that. Not only did that drain battery life, it also used data from your monthly data supply, so the potential of some dumbass downloading a program that was a malicious data logger is rather high.
Many of these bloatware were programs that tracked your overall data usage by logging more data and sending it to AT&T (redundancy ftw!). They (along with Verizon and T-Mobile) also lay restrictions that come online should you pass a certain limit in your data usage, or a timeframe of how much data was used within an hour or two. Incoming usage is sent to the nodes and it waters your connection. They can get away with this because data speeds are never constant. Measuring your speed depends on region, time, signal, and strength, and it is always averaged out (You should be averaging it out).
Another thing that AT&T did was restrict the antenna on this device and it's other 4G counterpart, the Moto Atrix 4G. As I stated in my prior rant, AT&T uses a signal standard called HSPA+. It is a pre-4G standard that is suppose to have speeds of up to 84Mbit/s download and 22Mbit/s upload. Both speeds miss the actual 4G standard and as of now, no city in the country can achieve those speeds. No HSPA+ antenna in the world has gone no higher than 30Mbit/s. Currently, AT&T is slowly turning these signals on around the country, and while some phones have that signal, they still cant achieve those speeds. A much bigger issue was that the upload portion of the antenna was extremely limited. You need the upload function so the phone can push information back to the node at a reasonable speed. They're used to send the request for the website you asked for on your browser, or the data used for VOIP (Skype). The slower it is, the lower the response time from the node. This problem was essentially fixed recently, but the network was still hindered by the antennas as well as the bloatware.
Overall, the Inspire was looking rather grim. It was just a matter of time before I had enough of this crap.
The Inspire pre-root. Android 2.2 w/HTC Sense
THE PROCESS
Before you Android owners go crazy about the prospects of taking your phone from The Man, you have to know that I am NOT going to list the instructions down. I am also not going to leave any links as to where I found the required tools. This is not a matter of legal issues. It's principles. I done the research myself. Google is your friend. Another reason is because unlike the uniform iPhone, Android devices come in many different shapes and sizes. The methods can and will be different. Be mindful on what you're searching for.
Legal issues are not your problem unless you're the software savvy and you want to write your own version of the Android app. You have to be aware that while the Android OS is considered open source, the tools that would typically come with an Android installation is not. In particular, the Google apps that come with all Android devices to include the Android Market. You MUST NOT have the Google APK suite pre-installed into the OS that you're making. You have to get that suite separately, and many sites have them properly packaged in a zip file (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). Don't worry, it's free. Other than that, Rooting does not fall under the DCMA or any copyright laws. In other words, IT'S LEGAL!
Rooting takes a little effort. Don't worry too much though. It doesn't require you to type lines upon lines of code, but you're certainly going to do more steps than Jailbreaking an iPhone. The funny part is that both OS's use the same UNIX terminal structure so it should be the same in a way. Long story short: It's just not. Effort is required. Be aware of that. Just know that nowadays, the process gets easier over time because users have the time to compile everything you need to make your root experience as painless as possible. It's just a matter of you actually reading the instructions. You also need to check if the instruction, and apps used is up to date. Afterall, you do risk bricking your phone. Don't be careless. Lastly, I can imagine that Linux, and Mac users would have an overall easier time rooting their devices because they all share the same Terminal system. Regardless, whether you're using Linux, OS X, or Windows, be mindful that depending on your phone, you may need to know some command prompts (i.e. C:/blahblahblah/ or sh blah blah blah).
END RESULT
Rooted Inspire with CyanogenMod 7.
Initial impressions of this rooted device was simply....WOW! haha Not really, but I was surprised. It is much more responsive in every aspect. As soon as I got the Google Suite installed, all the contacts I had prior to the Root was restored, and I got most of the apps that I constantly used back. The biggest improvement was the signal algorithm. One thing that AT&T did originally, was give false signal types on the top bar. Usually, it would say H+, E (for EDGE..2G), or nothing. Now it gives a H, 3G (because a lot of the signal strength in Hawaii is still the older HSUPA/HSDPA 3G signal.), E, or nothing, and it tells me exactly when I have those kinds of signals. The best part of this is that my data rate is no longer hindered and held back by AT&T! My overall speed has improved 10 fold. It is actually functioning more like a high end 3G/Pre-4G device.
New setup...Me gusta!
NOTABLE FEATURES
Cyanogen brought in some cosmetic features present on only certain types of phones. The ADWLauncher controls screen layout, general behavior, User Interface, and overall theme of the device. It comes with a defauly Cyanogen theme, but you can download nearly 2000 other themes on the Android Market. I currently am using an Android 3.0 theme.
Hardware settings brings out the very best of this phone (and all other rooted phones). Hitting the Wireless Settings, and you have tethering options which are absent on a number of other android devices (but are becoming more available). I won't say the more interesting aspects of their tethering variant, but it's sure to not upset you or your deep pockets. One note about tethering, tethering uses your data plan, and actual computers use a lot of data. Be aware of you limits. Another thing is that your phone sucks the life out of your battery at an elevated rate. I high suggest that you only use tethering only if you have to, or when the carriers stop being homos about it. Other notable settings that weren't on the stock OS is an option to only use 2G networks (which saves batteries), and the ability to actually choose multiple networks (which depends on the type of phone you have and the type of SIM).
Cyanogen also included a set of their own options such as application control to prevent apps of your choosing to force push data out of you phone, display and orientation/gyro control, input behavior, interface tweaks, performance (like overclocking), sound, and system.
Other nice functionality is the fact that the force close option of apps actually work now and there are no signs of any AT&T related bloatware
Battery/speed FIELD TESTING
On the stock OS, if I am heavily using the phone, I drain over 75% of the battery in about 3 hours. Sometimes, it gets to nearly nothing in that amount of time. I field tested the Rooted Inspire without any additional tweeks. In fact, I did much more than the usual amount of time, inputting notes for my VA club and calender dates while pushing that data to my Google account. I was also field testing the functionality of the Google+ app, so I was on the internet and pushing more data than usual. At the end of the day, the phones battery was at 41% (look at above pic. Upper left corner.). While you still need to charge your phone daily, the overall battery life is obviously better however, it's by no means on par with the iPhone 4's battery cycle (which is 14 hours, but been known to achieve 37 hours of active time).
Data speed is a major improvement. I even had consistent speed in areas where I know I lose data signal. The speed to battery life ratio is uncanny for an Android mobile that is in constant use.
WHAT'S USE ARE PROS WITHOUT CONS?
There are a few, as well as suspicions that a like mind would muster in their brain. A minor con is the lack of ability to reinstall the HTC APKs. Sense is a very powerful tool, and I personally welcomed the features it had. This also included the custom camera APK which made use of touch focus. The standard camera app is nowhere near as powerful as the stock app. Another con is just the simple fact that the Android OS is a natural battery hog. Yeah, my battery life improved quite a bit, and I am happy about it, but it's really the nature of the beast when it comes to Android. It's a drawback in the open-source field because you can't regulate it. On the Apple side, apps are pre-screened before they show up on the App Store. They look for apps that constantly push data, or force-opens without the ability to consent among other things that could circumvent Apples admin rights. While we have multiple alternative Markets to choose from, apps aren't screened for that purpose, and the battery life suffers for it. Like a bittorent file, you have to read the comments people leave before hitting that download button.
I do have a suspicion about the current radio being used. I cannot confirm until we know without a doubt that HSPA+ is in place and turned on in this state, but I have a suspicion that the radio can only achieve HSDPA and below. Of course, there have been rumors that HSPA+ is functioning in Pearl City, so unless I make my way over there, this will change.
OVERALL
With the data improvement, battery life, and improved functionality, I now feel like I have an actual smartphone that's NOT an iPhone. Don't be a Steve Jobs dickrider. They're usually the loudest too. Besides, I think my iPod Touch and iPad is as far as I'll go in the iOS department...and I definitely don't need a 3G iPad or anything like that anymore since my phone became a router. Oh and these stats speak for themself:
haha O RLY?
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