[AT&T, Rogers HTC One X, Telstra One XL] denversc:
Ever wonder what a Rosie is? Ever wonder if someone is slaying a snapdragon? Ever wonder why someone would want to desense a ROM? If you're like me, your first few weeks parusing the forums for your shiny new HTC One X was frought with strange words and terms that make you wonder if they're talking about an Android device or a Disney movie. But even after those first few weeks, you finally feel comfortable with the vernacular, and wouldn't you know it but a new word comes up!

The purpose of this thread is to capture the definitions of words and terms that come up frequently in discussions of ROMs and MODs specifically for the HTC One X/XL. General terms like "RUU" and "TWRC" will not normally be defined here, unless there is something specific or innate to the HTC One XL. The idea is that when questions about these terms come up in discussions that one need only reply with a link to this thread. Please reply to this thread to suggest terms for inclusion or point out corrections and omissions in the definitions themselves. However, please do not use this thread to ask questions... start a new thread in the Q&A forum for that, optionally linking back to this thread.

3-Button Mod See "Button Remap"

ADB Acronym for "Android Debug Bridge"

Advanced Power Menu A mod that adds additional options to the menu that displays by pressing-and-holding the power key. Additional options include "Screenshot" and "Recovery" (in the menu that displays after selecting "Reboot").

Android Debug Bridge The command used to perform developer-style operations on an Android device from a PC. The "adb" command is included as part of the Android SDK and allows one to perform actions like installing applications, copying files, gathering logs, and running arbitrary shell commands. Communication occurs via the USB cable, or possibly via Wi-Fi, if enabled on your ROM.

Android Open Kang Project Often abbreviated "AOKP", the name of a custom AOSP-based ROM distribution. AOKP officially supports many different devices, but (at the time of writing) only unofficially supports the HTC One XL. AOKP and Cyanogenmod are two of the more popular AOSP-based ROMs. The official AOKP web site is http://aokp.co and the xda-developers thread about the HTC One X port is http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1751134.

Android Open Source Project The publicly-released open source code of the Android OS released by Google at http://source.android.com. The acronym "AOSP" is commonly used.

AOSP Acronym for "Android Open Source Project". Often it is used as an adjective to refer to the version of a given application taken from the Android Open Source Project as opposed to a vendor-modified version (eg. AOSP lock screen). It can also refer to the basis of a ROM; for example Cyanogenmod9 is "AOSP-based" whereas CleanROM is "HTC Sense-based".

AOKP Acronym for "Android Open Kang Project" (suggested by theking_13)

APM Acronym for "Advanced Power Menu"

Aroma Installer A ROM installer that runs on an Android device from Recovery. The installer provides an improved user experience by presenting install-time options to the user in a friendly, touch-based UI. Custom ROMs can use Aroma to allow the user to select customizations like using the AOSP keyboard, installing certain user-space applications, and overlocking the CPU. See http://www.xda-developers.com/android/touch-and-customizable-rom-installer-aroma

Bootloader The first thing that "runs" when the device is powered on. The bootloader is responsible for starting the OS, which by default is (of course) Android but can also be recovery. When the bootloader is "locked" it first checks that the OS is signed by HTC and refuses to boot if the signature validation fails. Since custom ROMs are by definition not signed by HTC, a locked bootloader will refuse to boot a custom ROM. You need to unlock your bootloader using the steps at http://htcdev.com before loading any custom ROMs. (suggested by kleeman7)

Button Remap Refers to re-assigning the functions of the 3 capacitive LED keys on the bottom of the device. Stock HTC has Back, Home, and Recent Tasks keys. Many custom ROMs re-assign the keys so that pressing-and-hold the Back key will kill the application, pressing the Recent Tasks key will actually bring up the menu, and pressing-and-holding the Home key will bring up the Recent Tasks.

ClockWorkMod Often abbreviated "CWM", a custom recovery that can be installed on the HTC One XL. Although hotly debated, it tends to be less favoured than its main competitor, TeamWin Recovery Project (TWRP), for the HTC One XL because CWM was "not ported correctly". See http://xdaforums.com/wiki/ClockworkMod_Recovery for general information about CWM.

CWM Acronym for "ClockWorkMod"

Endeavoru Code name for the "International" variant of the HTC One X, that uses the nVidia Tegra3 SoC. Do

not

attempt to flash a ROM for the endeavoru device, such as "Revolution HD", onto an evita (North American One X), as it will not work and has a high chance of permanently bricking the device (eg. here, here). Antonym: Evita.

Evita Code name for the "North American" variant of the HTC One X, that uses the Snapdragon S4 SoC, often referred to as the "XL" (instead of just the "X"). Carriers such as AT&T and TMobile (United States), Rogers (Canada), and Telstra (Australia) use this variant, while the rest of the world uses the Endeavoru. Antonym: Endeavoru.

Fastboot A protocol used to update the flash filesystem in Android devices from a host over USB. It allows flashing of unsigned partition images (1). The "fastboot" command is an executable command that is included as part of the Android SDK. The most common commands used are "fastboot oem unlock" to unlock the bootloader and "fastboot flash boot boot.img" to flash a boot image to the boot partition.

FC Acronym for "Force Close". This refers to the dialog that displays when and application crashes and is killed by the Android OS. Often it is used as a verb (eg. "The phone FC'd on me").

GSM Patch A mod that fixes a common radio issue with HTC One X custom ROMs (please post if you have a link and/or more details)

Hot Reboot An option available in the Advanced Power Menu. It reboots the device directly to the boot animation. It is less "drastic" than performing a normal, full reboot, which is effectively powering the device off then back on. As a result, a hot reboot brings the device back to the home screen more quickly than a full reboot, but is less thorough. (thanks to wongSlam for some of this info)

HOX Acronym for "HTC One X"

hoXl Acronym for "HTC One XL" (suggested by freakboy13)

HQ Camera A modified version of the stock HTC Camera application that captures higher-quality images and videos. This is done by reducing the amount of compression applied to the captured media. The file sizes of images and videos are larger when captured with the HQ Camera but are of higher quality. The HQ Camera APK replaces the stock camera's APK in the /system folder; the HQ and non-HQ camera cannot coexist. (related: "Sense Camera") (see http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1533238 for details)

LTE Backdoor A special key sequence when entered into the phone will take you into a phone settings screen, allowing configuring which network technologies are used. This screen is often referred to when one is having difficulty achieving LTE, to make sure that LTE is actually enabled. In order to get to this screen, go into the phone and type: *#*#4636#*#*

Multitasking MOD A MOD for Sense-based ROMs that adjusts the background process killing policy. Stock HTC software aggressively kills background applications, presumably to conserve battery, and is "operating normally" according to HTC (6). The drawback of this policy is that apps tend to "restart" frequently after switching to other apps then switching back. There are MODs that adjust the policy called "Multitasking v1", which is less aggressive, and "Multitasking v2", which is less aggressive still. See Multitasking Mod *v2* - Improve Multitasking Performance for more information.

Odex The process of optimizing the dex bytecode of an Android application's APK file. Each APK file is actually a ZIP file that contains a file named "classes.dex", which contains all of the compiled Java bytecode. This "dex" file may be run through a tool to optimize it for the device, producing an "odex" file. A "dex" file is more flexible than its "odex" counterpart, as odex files cannot be used with other ROMs or even on other devices with different hardware configurations. See Odex files deodexing and zipalign explained and (How-To) Re-Odex a Rom for more information.

Nandroid Informal term referring to a complete backup of a device (typically captured while booted into recovery) that allows restoring the device to that exact state at a later point in time, especially if flashing a ROM fails.

Radio Interface Layer Often abbreviated "RIL", a stack of two components: a RIL Daemon and a Vendor RIL. The RIL Daemon talks to the telephony services and dispatches "solicited commands" to the Vendor RIL. The Vendor RIL is specific to a particular radio implementation, and dispatches "unsolicited commands" up to the RIL Daemon. (5). Basically, the RIL is the software library through which the Android OS communicates with the phone's cellular radio and modem hardware. The RIL libraries are located in /system/lib/*ril* on an Android device.

Recovery Recovery is in many ways an alternate operating system for Android phones that allows performing low-level operations outside of the Android OS, such as installing ROMs, backing up files, and wiping filesystems. To enter Recovery on the HTC One XL, reboot your phone and hold the volume down key; then scroll to "Recovery" using the volume keys and press the power key to select it.

RIL Acronym for "Radio Interface Layer" (suggested by kleeman7)

ROM Upgrade Utility Commonly abbreviated "RUU", a software package provided by manufacturers and/or carriers that runs on a PC and loads a stock ROM onto a device via USB cable. It is commonly used to restore a device back to a supported configuration before selling it or returning it on warranty. For an excellent guide on loading RUUs, see "Update your phone via RUU in Linux/Mac" by JeepFreak at http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1668156

Rosie The internal codename used by HTC for the Sense launcher application. This term tends to be used frequently when discussing the HTC launcher and app drawer.

RUU Acronym for "ROM Upgrade Utility"

S-OFF Short for "Security Off", specifically referring to the security that protects the low-level partition table of the device. All devices come "S-ON" which prevents flashing ROMs that are not signed by HTC, unless you have followed the steps to unlock your bootloader. To check if your device is S-ON or S-OFF boot into the bootloader and look at the top of the screen (where you might see "unlocked" and "tampered") and around there you will also see either "S-ON" or "S-OFF". As of the time of writing (Aug 17, 2012) achieving S-OFF is currently not possible. If/when S-OFF is achieved, it will fully unlock the device, making full development possible. S-OFF is different from rooting but related to unlocking the bootloader. See S-OFF explained - by a Developer for an excellent explanation of S-OFF and (WIP)(DEV) S-Off to track the work going into achieving S-OFF.

S4 See "Snapdragon"

Sense The UI customizations of stock Android done by HTC and shipped in the stock images of HTC devices. This includes the launcher, calendar, app drawer, several widgets, and a framework that can be leveraged by third-party applications.

Sense Camera The camera application that is included in the stock HTC Sense OS factory-installed on HTC devices, marketed by HTC as "ImageSense". The Sense camera includes features like VideoPic, Instant Capture, Continuous Shooting, HDR, and SmartFlash. Many, if not all, of these features are not (as of July 2012) available in AOSP-based ROMs because the Sense camera is deeply integrated into the Sense framework and proprietary camera drivers. For a fantastic explanation of this issue, see "PSA: The Sense Camera and AOSP-based ROMs" by rohan32 at http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1780038. Also, see http://www.htc.com/www/htc-sense/camera for details. (related: "HQ Camera")

Snapdragon "A family of mobile system on chips (SoC) by Qualcomm. Qualcomm considers Snapdragon a "platform" for use in smartphones, tablets, and smartbook devices." (2) This is the SoC used in the North American (a.k.a. "evita") variant of the HTC One X. This is in contrast to the Tegra3, which is used on the International variant.

SuperCID A hack that changes the Carrier ID ("CID") of the HTC One X from the carrier-specific ID (eg. "ROGER001" for Rogers) to the generic carrier, 11111111. This allows installing RUUs from other carriers that would otherwise fail due to the CID mismatch. AT&T devices actually require SuperCID before the bootloader can be unlocked. [4] (suggested by kleeman7)

TeamWin Recovery Project Often abbreviated "TWRP", a custom recovery that can be installed on the HTC One XL. Although hotly debated, it tends to be reported to be more stable than its main competitor, ClockWorkMod (CWM) for the HTC One XL because CWM was "not ported correctly".

Tegra3 "A system on a chip (SoC) series developed by Nvidia for mobile devices such as smartphones, personal digital assistants, and mobile Internet devices." (3) This is the SoC used in the International (a.k.a. "endeavoru") variant of the HTC One X. This is in contrast to the Snapdragon, which is used on the North American variant.

TWRP Acronym for "TeamWin Recovery Project"

XL Informal name to refer to the North American variant of the HTC One X.

Bibliography:

1. "[Newbie Guide] adb/fastboot/bootloader/android 101" http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=619153

2. "Snapdragon (system on chip)" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snapdragon_(system_on_chip)

3. "Tegra" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegra3#Tegra_3

4. "[HOW TO] How to do virtually everything to your ONE X ..." http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1678308

5. "Radio Interface Layer" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Interface_Layer

6. "HTC: One X multitasking is 'operating normally,' but tweaked for Sense" http://www.theverge.com/2012/5/16/3024854/htc-one-x-multitasking-operating-sense

Change Log:

1.2 - Sept 28, 2012

added LTE Backdoor

1.1 - Aug 17, 2012

added a note to "Endeavoru" that flashing an endeavoru ROM onto an evita device will never work and has a high risk of bricking it.

added "Multitasking MOD", "Odex", and "S-OFF"

added link to the development thread of "HQ Camera"

1.0 - July 19, 2012

Initial Version