The Windows Mobile-powered HTC HD2 keeps getting hacked with Android. We’d previously seen HTC’s big-screened HD2 running Android 2.1 OS and Ubuntu, and now we’ve got some HTC Sense and Froyo lovin’ on the Windows Mobile device.
It’s taken some time to get here with the HD2. Many people just entertained the thought of Android on the device when developers were trying to get it to work, with little success. The Android development landscape has changed since then, as developers have been hard at work optimizing Android OS for the HD2. Development on the smartphone has come far enough that devs have managed to port Android 2.2 Froyo OS to the HD2. From the looks of the two videos, Froyo seems to perform much better without Sense. Sense is more of a heavy-weight UI, whereas stock Froyo keeps the homescreen nice and light.
Sense worked pretty well, but most things took just a bit longer to execute. The one thing that didn’t seem to be working perfectly was the phone. Go figure. The speaker is turned on while dialing a call, and a nice little piece of text pops up over the video, saying, “No audio in this version.” That’s kind of a big deal, isn’t? Eh, who uses a phone as a phone nowadays anyway? If people did, Apple probably wouldn’t have sold so many iPhone 4 units – zing!
Froyo on the HTC HD2 seems to be a little more snappy, but it’s not your everyday stock Froyo. By the looks of the black notification bar, and the obvious use of ADW.Launcher, it’s likely a modified Froyo ROM. That’s not to say what we’re looking at here isn’t Froyo – we just thought we’d let you know you’re not crazy when you see some inconsistencies in the demos.
The videos are a bit long, drawn out, and somewhat boring, but it’s just to give you a real tour of Android on the device, and points for that.
So, Android on the HD2 is now reality, but I’m wondering if it will be possible to just have Android replace Windows Mobile all together, and not have to use Haret in order to boot into Linux. If the HD2 won’t be upgraded to Windows Phone 7, might as well give it an OS with some substance, right?
Check out the videos below!
[Via: Engadget]