[Thunderbolt Themes and Apps] PCTechNerd:
Hiya,

Like many others, I cannot stand the look/use of HTC Sense's overlay as a whole, i'm more of an AOSP/vanilla Android user.

The thunderbolt is a great device, but because it's the first dual signal LTE device, CM support for it is still being worked on (issues with the RIL), and because of that, the current CM build is still in an Alpha stage. Due to the alpha nature of it, I cannot use it for daily use (inherent issues with signal + phone not ringing), so I've stuck with a rooted version of the base rom, and I've slowly been working to get the "sense" feel out of it.

AFAIK, The major sense differences to AOSP can be broken up into 4 sections, namely the home launcher, lockscreen, contacts/phone, && calendar. Below I will detail what I did to my phone to get it back to as AOSP as possible.

Home Launcher

The home launcher is your one stop location for all the apps and widgets you have installed. Customization of this is just as much a part of you as it is your phone. The default Sense Launcher IMHO leaves a lot of customization to be desired, which is why I switched over to ADWLauncher (market link: http://goo.gl/KRwbS) by Anderweb. This is actually a modified (more frequently updated) version of the launcher that comes with Cyanogenmod. With this launcher, you can give yourself the AOSP look, but also have enough extras to choke a donkey. Also, if you also install ADW Notifier (market link: http://goo.gl/Q41HQ) you can get visual notification counts for common apps (and some uncommon ones too!).

Lockscreen

The lockscreen is the first screen you see when turning on your phone, and chances are it's the screen you will see more than any other. The sense lockscreen has little customization, but not much. That is why I use Widgetlocker (market link: http://goo.gl/CKCxg) by Teslacoil Software. Widgetlocker lets you customize your home screen with anything you want. Widgets, shortcuts, sliders, etc... You can make it look like the AOSP exactly, or your own custom idea. The main thing here is you can make it however you want, so if you're looking for the AOSP look, this can give it to you.

Phone/Contacts

This one was way more tricky then you would expect. It took awhile, but I finally found a way to replace the Sense Contacts/Dialer with the AOSP version (replace being a loose term). The thanks for this one goes to the XDA user Named NarkTwo, who figured out the process to get this to work. Your phone will need to be rooted, and you will need the ability to change a directory to read/write along with changing the permissions for a file. This can be done using an app like Root Explorer, or you can use ADB if you prefer. I will be giving the instructions for downloading via your phone and using Root Explorer:

1. Download the Contacts.apk file here: http://goo.gl/FwdEk

2. in root explorer, navigate to your Downloads folder.

3. Long click on the Contacts.apk file and select copy.

4. Navigate to the folder /system/app

5. Click the "Mount R/W" button at the top

6. Click the "Paste" button at the bottom

7. Long click the Contacts.apk file and select "Permissions"

8. Set the permissions as follows:

*For Owner, check Read && Write

*For Group, check Read

*For Others, check Read

9. Press the "Ok" button

10. Reboot your phone

Now once your phone reboots, you will have the AOSP dialer/contacts installed on your phone, along with the sense version. Now all you have to do is perform the actions you would normally do (like click on a contact or show the pop out contact bar) and select the AOSP contacts/dialer app as the default to use for said action.

Calendar

Still working on this one. I've found a few possible ways, and I will test them out. Once I've found a suitable way to get this on the phone and working properly, I'll update this thread.

Messaging

Coming Soon....

Browser

Coming Soon...

Clock

Coming Soon...