OnePlus One

Today my OnePlus One arrived. The expectation was enormous, and it hasn't disappointed me.

My OnePlus One (CM11 Flux Theme)

The OnePlus One unboxing was fun and showed how much design went into the packaging (unlike the Samsung Galaxy S5 one). The overall feel of the device, with its sandstone texture is lovely. The multiple OTA update experience was less pleasant, but the final result I am happy with.
I think I'll keep the CyanogenMod 11S ROM on it for now with the Flux Theme applied. I hope to get the AOSP ROM on it at some point to see how it fares compared to my Nexus 5.

My OnePlus One with its lovely black sandstone finish.

I don't currently have any invites to give out, but I'll be happy to share when I do.
Feel free to leave comments and/or questions, I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have in the Google Plus comments.

Jelly Bean on the Huawei G300

I've had a Huawei G300 since May 2012. I've recommended the handset to friends and family because it is excellent value for money and has a pretty good spec sheet. Since mid December 2012 I have been using Dazzozo's excellent CyanogenMod 10 port as the operating system on the device. While not perfect, it has been good enough to use the G300 as my Ingress device (yes, a device just for Ingress).

This morning I installed the January 14th update for CM10 by Dazzozo and was surprised by how much smoother and more responsive the G300 now is. In just one month there seems to have been a massive improvement. The MoDaCo community has come up with a masterpiece again.

If you have a Huawei G300 and want to take Jelly Bean for a spin, I recommend using this ROM. Thanks to Dazzozo and everyone involved in the development of this CyanogenMod ROM. Check it out here.

Ice Cream Sandwich Released [:-)], MoDaCo Down [:-(]!

As reported on The Verge, the Android Open Source code to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich has been released! This means that anyone can start playing about with the open source code and using it in custom ROMs and ripping out some of the Ice Cream Sandwich goodness, if they wish to...

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Has Been Released!

My first reaction when reading the news was "Quick! I need to get over to android.modaco.com and see if any of the clever people have ported Android 4.0 to the ZTE Skate/Orange Monte Carlo/BAP!". Sadly at the time of posting android.modaco.com is down. Hopefully it will be back up soon and porting will be underway.

MoDaCo Down! :-(

On Twitter I noticed a couple of interesting tweets from CyanogenMod, the leader/bacon lover of CyanogenMod fame: the first tweet reads as follows: "..and we're off. check back in 2 months :) #cm9 #ics" This means that the CyanogenMod community has already started working on CyanogenMod version 9 based on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. They may have it ready in a couple of months. Why not check the ETA with them... (that's just a joke. The first rule of CyanogenMod is to never ask for ETAs).

The second tweet "We're still going to get CM7.2 out the door while CM9 is being worked on." means that the  current version of CyanogenMod is not deprecated, there will still be one last hurrah for the Android 2.3.x Gingerbread based ROM.

[UPDATE] MoDaCo is back up and running. When I got back from work everything was where/how it was supposed to be.

As usual, feel free to leave comments and/or questions. Enjoy Android 4.0 if/when you get a taste of it!

MoDaCo Forums' Facelift

One of the online forums I use most is MoDaCo. MoDaCo is a forum where a lively and friendly community of people such as myself discuss, communicate and exchange information regarding mobile phones (mainly smart ones), tablet computers and their operating systems (both official and unofficial). Founded and run by Paul O'Brien, the MoDaCo Forums have just had a facelift.

Android @ MoDaCo's New Board Index.

The MoDaCo Forums' new cleaner inerface is in my opinion much cleaner and smoother than the older slightly clunky interface. The right panel is easier to navigate and search seems to be working better for me.

The HTC Desire New Board Index.

The best part of the general facelift Paul gave the MoDaCo forums in my opinion is the new mobile interface. I can now use the forum from my mobile devices more easily and using much less data than before. The mobile forums interface is optimised for touchscreen smartphones and is simple and clean.

Android @ MoDaCo's New Mobile Board Index

The New Mobile HTC Desire Board Index

Well done to Paul and all who were involved in the facelift of MoDaCo Forums. If you have never been on the MoDaCo Forums and are into mobile technology in general, why not spend some time there? The friendly and helpful MoDaCo community will be there to help you get started.

As usual, feel free to add comments and/or questions here. If my blog template is now fixed, you should also be able to Google +1 this post too.