It looks like the Hero is actually really about to get the 2.1 update.... maybe?
However it also looks like it's about to become out of date again as Android 2.2 (Froyo) is about to be launched. So there is some argument for abandoning the HTC update path and striking out into the wild lands of Custom ROM's and rooted phones.
Basically it seems that Android 1.5 had a big hole (possibly put there on purpose by the Android Devs's) that allows a user to get root access to their phone via a very simple process. Once done this allows for the even simpler process of installing different ROM's (ROM being a tweaked, improved version of the stock Android operating system). These ROM's often come with lots of new features as well as many tweaks that make the phones run faster and cleaner. Also most ROM's still include all the Google Apps as well as the HTC Sense UI.
One of the main reasons for rooting a Hero is to get access to an application called A2SD. This allows you to install applications directly to the SD card and not to the pretty limited built in ROM. If you check you probably have at most 120MB of available ROM. As soon as you start adding applications you can see that disappear at an alarming rate. The top 3D Android Racing Game uses 20MB of space as an example. Not far short of 25% of your space for a single app :blink:
The process for rooting a Hero is simplicity itself. You download a recovery image, the best being Amon Ra 1.6.2 (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=561124). Copy it onto your SD card. Make sure you have a file browser app on the phone. Linda File manager and Astro File Manager are two of the best and completely free. In the file manager browse to the Amon Ra zip file on the SD card. Click it and select run. Follow the prompts and you have root. It's that simple.
Now if you hold down the 'home' key when you boot the phone you will go into the new boot-loader and can install new custom ROM's to your hearts content.
An excellent guide can be found here and has a video tutorial as well.
How to Root your HTC Hero in one click (http://theunlockr.com/2009/08/27/how-to-root-your-htc-hero-in-one-click/)
To install a new ROM from the same site.
How to flash a new ROM onto your HTC Hero (http://theunlockr.com/2009/08/27/how-to-load-a-custom-rom-on-your-htc-hero/)
As to which ROM to use there are several to choose from.
The most stable is probably MoDaCo's 1.5 (http://hero-roms.blogspot.com/2010/01/modaco-32-beta-5-with-online-kitchen.html) custom ROM. It stays with the standard ROM for the Hero but very heavily mods it. You get a new kernel, lots of performance tweaks, several new applications plus A2SD is built in. This immediately allows you to format an SD card and install your applications to it.
There are several great 2.1 Hero ROM's that are now so good they can easily be used as a day to day ROM. Tale a look at Villian ROM 5.5 (http://hero-roms.blogspot.com/2010/05/villainrom-550.html) and BeHero 1.2 (http://hero-roms.blogspot.com/2010/05/behero-v12.html). BeHero also does a version 1.3 (http://hero-roms.blogspot.com/2010/03/behero-132.html) but I've never tried it.
A big list of ROMS can be found Here (http://hero-roms.blogspot.com/)
A couple of things to note:
1. MoDaCo's ROM is taken from the official HTC release and tweaked. This means the ROM was designed to work for the Hero from the start. Therefore it's completely stable. However the Android 2.1 ROM's for the Hero were all ported from other phones such as the Droid and the Nexus One. Therefore they do not run cleanly on the Hero 'out of the box'. The custom ROM developers had to work with the code to get it to play nice on the HTC Hero. This means that it's not uncommon for some of the new features such as the 3D gallery app to be a bit flakey. Personally I have tended to go with the modified stock ROM's i.e. I stuck with MoDaCo's Android 1.5 on the Hero.
2. This process works on the HTC Hero 1.5 stock phone. If you upgrade it to the official HTC 2.1 Android when it finally gets released you will loose root and all that this offers. It's uncertain how long it will take for someone to get root again. If they can get root it will probably require a lot more work by the user to root their phone than is currently the case. I know this well, as rooting the Desire is a much harder process than it is on the Hero. So if you do decide to go down this path think hard before you accept any official updates, either downloaded or OTA.
It goes without saying that you do this at your own risk and I'm not making any recommendations that you try this... blah blah blah. Have fun
Excellent post, Smilo. :thumb:
Just to clarify ... Do you lose any data when you root a Hero?
Quote from: OldBloke;309514Excellent post, Smilo. :thumb:
:withstupid:
Delan has given me many hints about rooting and custom ROMs, but I'm kind of slow when it comes to getting started with this, having such a nice post might help me even more :rolleyes:
Nice summary :thumbsup:
Quote from: OldBloke;309514Excellent post, Smilo. :thumb:
Just to clarify ... Do you lose any data when you root a Hero?
You probably don't have to wipe the phone just to get 'root access' although installing a new ROM requires a complete wipe. Likewise installing A2SD will format your SD card as well. However once you have root using a root required app like Titanium Back-up makes reinstalling everything pretty simple.
Thanks Smilo.
Rooted mine just now and it's not a brick, so I guess it worked :P
Currently installing the BeHero 1.2, if it pans out nicely I'll try the 1.3 as the changelog entries make it look pretty nice.
Gave this a try today on my brother's old Hero.
Got recovery image installed no probs.
Tried MoCaDo's ROM first. Maybe I did something wrong, but it got stuck in a boot-hang-reboot cycle. At this point I thought I had buggered my phone.
Tried installing BeHero 1.2, worked a treat. Looks greats and seems much more responsive, even though it's running Android 2.1. :yahoo:
Most failures are down to not wiping the phone before flashing a new ROM. Even the ones that say you don't have to probably should be wiped. Also if you do a nandroid back-up it's very easy to revert back to it if you have problems. Just bear in mind that the back-up goes onto the SD card so do't do what I did and format the card and loose the back-up :sideways:
If I root my Hero will I still be able to load the official HTC 2.1 build?
To the best of my knowledge yes. In fact some of the ROM sites are warning NOT to load it as it removes the 'root' from your phone and makes it very much more complicated to re-root it. The advice is to wait for the pre-rooted ROMs to come out a few days after the official release.
I've taken the plunge and installed the Legendary 1.3.5 ROM (http://htcpedia.com/_rom_sense_stable_legendary_htc_legend_wwe_port_pm_gmt_c608731cef3f3b533/soft/htc-hero-rom.html?page=1). So far so good. :)