yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[One (M8) General] DREWHAMM974:
Unless you have done the GPE conversion no matter what ROM you use keeps the same partition size. A ROM does not change partition size, it only puts its own files in those partitions. So as long as you have not done the GPE conversion flash the Sense ROM you want and get it set up how you like it. Then go into recovery, make a nandroid, factory reset/ wipe system, and then flash the GPE ROM of your choice. (Personally I am enjoying Sinless). Set it up how you like it as well and do a nandroid of it. Then you can restore back and forth between the two while using Titanium backup to keep your app data across both. If you install a new app just delete the old nandroid and make a new one before you restore back. It takes a little extra effort but until Multi-ROM is ported over its the only way if you enjoy both.
[One (M8) General] downwiththebanksters:
But could you have a GPE conversion (which for this thought experiment is a full RUU), and a stock ROM as Nandroids? I.e. two Nandroids that require, and thus restore, each individual partition table during the restore process?
[One (M8) General] DREWHAMM974:
It's hard enough to get back to sense after converting, so doing that would be almost impassible. Doing the conversion IMO, unless you completely despite Sense and will never ever use it, is not a smart move. Just flash a GPE ROM and be happy. Stay away from the conversion, it's more headache then it is worth.
[One (M8) General] downwiththebanksters:
Sorry I edited as you replied. I'm calling this a thought experiment. Is it possible do do this, but my curiosity mostly lies in the question of whether the Nandroid can write the partition tables?
[One (M8) General] Funkym0nkey:
Saw that youtube video. You can actually see the stutter on Sense version to be honest. Seen some of his older videos as well which were posted right here on XDA. I think the person making those videos himself is on XDA.

And those who are wondering what video it is here

[YOUTUBE]Hv7cVpV7YmI[/YOUTUBE]
[One (M8) General] Wildo6882:
Those of you who have switched from a Nexus 5 to the GPE M8, have you noticed any issues with the sound? I had the GPE M8 and returned it since some notifications would distort sometimes and you could hear distortion when turning up the volume. I returned it to see if this could get ironed out and went back to the Nexus 5, but miss the build quality and battery life of the M8.
[One (M8) General] Fraught:
Sorry for being a huge newbie, but how/from where do I access system/priv-app? Couldn't find it in ES.
[One (M8) General] zyon92:
Hi all,

On GPE, dual camera ect are not included i suppose ?
[One (M8) General] Funkym0nkey:
Duo camera functionality is implemented in GPE as well. (The things that really matter like UFocus and 3D effect).
[One (M8) General] AndroidInsanity:
Am I the only one who notices a difference in image quality between GPE and sense? GPE photos look softer to me.
[One (M8) General] Wildo6882:
No. You're 100% correct. The pictures on the GPE are not quite as good.
[One (M8) General] SolarTrans:
OK so what I found is that at first, in the gallery, the GPE photos do look soft. Then, once you open up the editor, they immediately look like they're double the resolution.

It's really weird, but it's immediately noticeable.
[One (M8) General] gtg465x:
The stock Android Gallery and Google Camera have always rendered photos at lower than the native resolution of the screen, making them look blurry. It's not a well known issue, but I swear, it's probably half the reason people think Nexus phones have such crappy cameras. I always use QuickPic as my gallery app, which shows photos at native resolution in their full glory. A must have for stock Android devices.
[One (M8) General] zyon92:
Thanks :)
[One (M8) General] KarimSalloum:
Hi,

I read the whole thread, very interesting. I'm currently debating going to a vanilla Android ROM.

I only have one question: what's the difference between a full conversion to GPe or flashing a GPe ROM? Am I missing something?

If it helps, I'm S-off and rooted.

Thank you!
[One (M8) General] Stephen:
Someone can correct me if I am wrong but, A full GPE conversion means you have changed everything CID MID hboot and recovey. This means if an official OTA comes out you can install the OTA directly.

Yes for the above you need to be s-off. From what I understand you can simply install a GPE rom with out the conversions but it would need to be a custom rom and you would not get the official updates.

Personally I buy a sense phone as I like sense. I have never seen the need to put a vanilla or GPE rom on my phone!
[One (M8) General] KarimSalloum:
I see, thanks! I think a ROM will be fine. No need for the conversion, just install updates via TWRP.

I think GPE/Vanilla Android is nicer because of the very basic nature of it, allowing for maximum customization. In the end, Sense is just a mod designed by HTC. I'd rather create my own mod :)

cheers!
[One (M8) General] tele_jas:
I've experienced the same thing on both HTC One phones (M7 and M8).

I just use the GPE or Nova launcher if I want it to look and work like GPE. I also can't live without the better camera and HTC One/Sense has the best music players on any phone I've owned. The rest I can live without, but those two are the deal breakers for me.
[One (M8) General] PunishedSnake:
How did you get 8hrs ost
[One (M8) General] SolarTrans:
Minimum brightness?
[One (M8) General] Funkym0nkey:
I regularly get 7+ hours with auto brightness and with nothing frozen or stopped. Everything from 3 mail accounts, twitter, Facebook, Google+, WhatsApp, hangouts online and syncing. Usage includes some music playback and light gaming as well.

So 8 hours with normal use does not surprise me at all on GPE. Specially if most of the time is spent on WiFi and not on 3g/LTE.

From my HTC ONE M8 GPE, in your face!
[One (M8) General] SolarTrans:
Yeah my M8 GPE keeps going for as long as I need it to!
[One (M8) General] PunishedSnake:
Been noticing massive battery life improvements over the sense version.

Second cycle so far.
[One (M8) General] vision89:
which version has better battery life?
[One (M8) General] HtcOneJon:
Personally, I can't believe any of the I get 7 / 8 hours etc etc posts in this thread, on sense and GPE as I do not believe, unless you are watching video on very low brightness that this is possible.

Now show GSAM battery monitor showing screen brightness and which apps are running etc, and maybe it'll be arguable, but on this battery 8 hours screen on isn't possible in ** NORMAL ** usage in my honest opinion.

Throw in gaming, and you'll get even less.

GPE is not magic.

I get 5 hours screen on.
[One (M8) General] vision89:
is your screen on better than sense?
[One (M8) General] Moostafa29:
Does the GPE version not have the widescreen front facing camera? I was using one of the more popular GPE ROMs here, and it was 4:3 aspect ratio. The front camera didn't look as clear on the GPE as it did on Sense either.
[One (M8) General] SolarTrans:
It has 16:9 in 3.7MP, and 4:3 in 4.9MP. Here's the settings menu for the front facing camera (the volume slider isn't obstructing any options):
[One (M8) General] Zahlgor:
Not sure if anything has changed with 4.4.3 but gpe was not quite as "snappy" as stock Sense on my t-mo m8. Most annoying was the app drawer, where it would take a sec or two for the icons to catch up to my scrolling. Also gpe benched noticeably lower in absolutely every bench i ran. For example I could not break 21.5k in Quadrant whereas with Sense it's at 25k. CF and antutu showed the same drops. Also noticed some chugging in games like the walking dead and x-com. Battery life is also better on sense and the last 15% lasts forever. Anyway, I've always preferred a pure android device but with this M8 i actually like sense. Cant say the same of the S5 i tried before this phone but i wont go there
[One (M8) General] SolarTrans:
Were you on Dalvik? Were you using the ROM, or a full conversion? I'm on ART with my GPE M8, and it's insanely fast. The app drawer loads instantly, too.
[One (M8) General] Funkym0nkey:
LoL.

Get off your high horse. Nobody has reasons or time to post photoshopped images or spend time creating false screenshots.

7 hours is easy. Just today I am already past 5 hours screen on time with more than 30% juice still left.

Lot of it is spent browsing web, reading and researching articles, checking other forums, checking and replying to mails etc. Some YouTube, 30 minutes of calls, some clash of clan action. All on auto brightness and without greenifying anything. Running ART.

These are not figment of our imagination. It is reality. And this is not the only phone that can do that.

So no, I won't doubt those who have said they can get 7+ hours screen on time.

If people wanted to post fake stuff, they can post 9 or 10 hour screen on time by posting video loop tests.

From my HTC ONE M8 GPE, in your face!
[One (M8) General] Zahlgor:
I did the full conversion and i was on dalvik for the most part. Art seemed to slow things down a lot in benches so I never really used it for more than a couple of days. I'm sure the apps are to blame since they were probably not optimized but seeing 15k in quadrant and 26k in antutu hurt lol.
[One (M8) General] vision89:
hey guys,

can anyone tell me how is the battery life on GPe in compare to sense?

thanks
[One (M8) General] SolarTrans:
It may hurt performance in benchmarks, but around the OS and in apps it helps a ton.

Trusting benchmark scores for real world usage is absolutely pointless. At this point, (partially because of manufacturer cheating), phone benchmarks are one the most worthless things to look at about a phone IMO.

Go on a forum/review and see what people say about how it feels to use. No high end phones these days are unusably slow.

---------- Post added at 02:38 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:36 PM ----------

Also, on battery life, cell signal can play a big part. I rarely have more than 2 bars of LTE indoors, and for whatever reason, my phone doesn't fall back to 3G when the connection is 1 bar (unlike my iPhone).

I'm on wifi inside, but the phone insists on keeping LTE active. It drains a good deal of battery because of this.

I assume I'm not the only one without perfect coverage everywhere, and that can be noticeably detrimental to your battery life.
[One (M8) General] daddioj:
just used auto brightness and my phone like i usually do. stock everything
[One (M8) General] HtcOneJon:
I said normal useage. And i've seen GSAM readings of 29 hours screen on.

As for your figures, sure, 5 hours, 6 hours, 7 hours etc is easily possible, but only on almost non existent brightness and watching a video.

My point stands, normal useage (not just watching a video) and brightness 9 hours etc is not possible.

Still havent seen anything in your post to prove your brightness settings, in fact, none to my knowledge.

Leave my horse alone lol. It just makes me sick all the boasts of battery life that just aren't possible
[One (M8) General] Funkym0nkey:
You have no point. You are dismissing all results without any credible theory to back up your claim that normal 7 hour screen on is not possible.

If you have used GPE or GPE converted unit, you will know that HTC is actually being very conservative about taking the brightness down. Only if the room is pitch black the brightness goes down to minimum. Otherwise Auto Brightness maintains relatively higher brightness than some of the phones I have used. I dont know about Sense as I have GPE device. I installed gsam yesterday (did not feel the need after using the phone to monitor my battery using gsam, but here it is for the sake of it.

Nothing out there can prove brightness. You are the one stubborn enough to dismiss whatever evidence is presented to here as well as battery life thread. For normal use without using video playback 7+ hours screen on time is very much possible. Specially if you use the right tools.

E.g. Talon for twitter uses much much less battery than official twitter app. It is better to browse certain forums or sites using chrome instead of Tapatalk or their apps which are many times badly coded.

Today being saturday which means less emails this is gsam battery life screenshots of the usage today with lot of time spent on chrome browsing. Still results are going to be little skewed.

It has nothing to do with video playback alone. Even Chrome and other apps are not using significant amount of battery on my GPE. Same with Neutron which uses miniscule battery compared to Google Music. And hence it is my default music player.

All this on WiFi and no GPS usage today which is why the battery life is even more insane. On weekdays, it is not that insane, but easily lasts close to and in excess of 7 hours screen time.

If you still want to keep believing all are lies, sure, live in that bubble.
[One (M8) General] Zahlgor:
Gave it a shot again with the latest 4.4.3 and it reminded me of something i guess i forgot when i tried it before. Signal and speed are absolutely horrific on GPe compared to stock. With stock t-mobile sense i get max signal even in my basement with zero drops, ever. On GPe even out in the open with four bars i have to keep switching the phone in and out of airplane mode so i can get things to move again. Not going to waste my time playing with radios either

Other than that 4.4.3 seems very nice on the phone but once again I'm going back to stock and I shall be staying there until my next phone. Probably wont upgrade again until 64bit hits

Thanks for the push to try it again tho:)
[One (M8) General] SolarTrans:
I would have to agree on signal. I have horrible reception on AT&T.

Glad you tried it though!
[One (M8) General] MistaBishi:
Reception is the same for me on Telstra in Australia, although I have to use the Telstra radio in order for it to work. GPE radio doesn't work on Telstra.
[One (M8) General] thebobmannh:
AT&T here, and see no difference in signal quality or call quality on GPE vs Sense. Can't even fathom why that would be true outside of user error.
[One (M8) General] SolarTrans:
It isn't really that bad, but the biggest problem is that the phone won't switch to HSPA+ when there's low LTE signal. Other than that, there are 4 signal bars instead of 5 on my iPhone, so it's hard to really tell.

It's an issue because I'm indoors often, and there's no LTE at my home or school (while there's full service outdoors).

So unfortunately, I'm often stuck with 1-0 bars of service while the phone refuses to switch to HSPA (which, when forced on, has max signal).

I'm not sure if there is a mod to fix it, but it is pretty annoying :P

I haven't flashed anything, and all radios are stock.
[One (M8) General] thebobmannh:
Comparing just number of bars, especially across platforms (iOS to Android), could not be more meaningless. The way different carriers, phones, and ROMs decide to interpret signal strength is all but arbitrary (see back when Apple first got LTE, and were forced to update iOS to "more accurately" reflect LTE signal strength, and then everyone thought the update made their reception worse, when all it did was change the number of bars they displayed).

If you're getting more dropped calls or noticably worse signal, that's one thing, but you can all but ignore the "number of bars" unless you're comparing it to itself. The radio / firmware is what negotiates with the tower, and the ROM just relays that information toyou in a human readable way. There should be no difference.
[One (M8) General] Spondronis:
On that note, I just today tested my m8 at 68/25mbit. Better yet, I have a baseline comparison to iOS. My friend and I both have Verizon and were sitting next to each other in my car during lunch. My phone was reporting 2/4 bars, and his was reporting 3/5 bars. I got the aforementioned 68/25, and he got 70/16. Please note I live near an AWS tower, these were the highest speeds either of us had ever seen.
[One (M8) General] Zahlgor:
How can there be user error in this? Everything else is perfect except for the annoying connection issues. When I pick up my phone after its been sitting for a while and the data icon is orange (in the drop down quick settings) and there is nothing moving how can i be to blame? Airplane mode on/off and its turned white and working again. Looking around the web it looks like not all models support all of the bands. The developer version least than the others.

Does setting LTE in GPe support auto fallback? These are the network options in each rom;

GPe: 2G, 3G, LTE (used)

Sense: WCDMA only, GSM only, GSM/WCDMA auto, GSM/WCDMA/LTE auto (used)

If it's something I am doing I would love to find a fix
[One (M8) General] SolarTrans:
I should have mentioned that it would barely send texts and mobile data barely worked. There was a noticeable difference in network performance between the two.

Also, 1-0 bars is bad no matter what OS you're on. 4/4 or 5/5 bars will almost always mean full service. I wasn't really comparing them between each other as much as in relativity. 3/5 bars on iOS would represent more than no service but less than full, and 0-1/4 bars on Android would represent close to none or very little service.
[One (M8) General] PunishedSnake:
For me gpe has been representing the signal bars properly vs sense according to dbm
[One (M8) General] Zeebz:
Same here. To be honest, the radio that comes with the GPE conversion is giving me better speeds than the AT&T radio was on stock sense.
[One (M8) General] lsv-1:
Is the GPE ever gonna get the photo editor update with the new UFocus improvements? Sad but the Google camera app will not ever be as functional as the Sense one.

:crying:
[One (M8) General] clockwork.satan:
I have to say, I've rooted my past three Android phones but I'm so impressed with Sense 6 on the M8 (and the complete lack of bloatware) that I don't have any inclination at the moment to unlock and root it. Beautiful phone, absolutely love it!
[One (M8) General] Long Cold Winter:
GPE is a bit smooth.

In Sense ROM Google+ has a glitchy and gerky scrolling. This doesn't happen on my nexus 5 or Z2, why?
[One (M8) General] Android The Greek:
As much as I love vanilla, the camera app performance is such a deal breaker. The camera is ok on sense but intolerable on gpe
[One (M8) General] PunishedSnake:
How so
[One (M8) General] Android The Greek:
It takes me one shot in auto on sense to take a decent picture. It takes 5 or 6 on gpe. Gpe has issues with speed of shot, lights effect on auto focus, subject movement blurs photo more, HDR is bad. I think the m8 is an awesome phone on sense, on gpe because of the camera I'd rather trade for a nexus or even a moto x.
[One (M8) General] Radixtrator:
I made pictures comparing the two and the GPE isn't that bad when you actually look at the pics in an Gallery app. And is it really worth sticking to sense just because of the camera?
[One (M8) General] Android The Greek:
The pictures on gpe are good. It just takes me 5 pictures and a three year old not moving to take them.

I switched to gpe three times. One on 4.4.2, and twice on 4.4.3 because I wanted to use gpe so bad. Each time a situation where I needed a good camera put me back on sense. And since I use the Att ruu.exe and not a ruu zip it's a pain going back.
[One (M8) General] Radixtrator:
Why are you converting? If you just flash the sinless ROM you don't need to change a thing
[One (M8) General] Android The Greek:
Because I like to run it GPE and Sense the way they were meant to as a full RUU instead of a Rom.
[One (M8) General] Radixtrator:
I don't think there's actually a difference but suit yourself:)
[One (M8) General] Android The Greek:
It may sound silly, but that's why I like the HTC. You can soff and run full firmware instead of roms.
[One (M8) General] lsv-1:
I agree with you, the other night I was taking some pictures at a bar in dark conditions and the camera focus never worked correctly, that really pissed me off, after touching the camera icon I had to wait too long for the picture to be actually taken.

:mad:
[One (M8) General] Android The Greek:
Yup.... Truly disappointed especially with 5.0 coming out soon. I'll probably go back to gpe for a day then back to senses
[One (M8) General] Moostafa29:
I had a Nexus 5 before this phone. That camera was BAD, even after the 4.4.2 update. When comparing that camera to the stock Google camera on the GPE version, the camera on the GPE version is still much better. It's also still pretty fast compared to a lot of other camera phones, but it's crap compared to the Sense camera. I really really want to stay on GPE, but I keep going back and fourth because the camera software is just so much better on Sense.
[One (M8) General] Android The Greek:
I thought the nexus 5 was better than the gpe
[One (M8) General] Moostafa29:
My personal experience is that it's not. My wife still has her N5, and she prefers to use my phone, in it's GPE or Sense state, to take photos of our kids. For us, the photos seem to come out with less blur and noise on the M8.
[One (M8) General] daddioj:
get over 7+ hours easy on GPE most i ever got was 8hrs and 32 min or something like that
[One (M8) General] md1008:
My experience is that Nexus 5 camera is better. I own both just too lazy to sell n5
[One (M8) General] Zorachus:
I can get 6h to 6.5h On Screen time daily. With a total of 24 hours battery use.

I am running a GPE ROM
[One (M8) General] robgo:
I much prefer the Sense UI. I like the clean minimalist look. The google look is a bit shoddy looking to me. On my 4g I get about 50mb download speeds.
[One (M8) General] thebobmannh:
Comments like this are what make me feel like I'm on crazy pills. I'd love to see a screenshot of an element of Sense you find to be "clean" and "minimalist" over the "Google UI."
[One (M8) General] robgo:
I've used the google android UI for so long. I've always felt it was a bit dodgy/cheap. I've used Android phones since the first moto droid came out and always felt things were lacking a bit. I've also used a Nokia Lumia and Iphone. The Iphone OS is nice but everything else about it is awful. I owned an Iphone 4 about 4 months before selling it off because I dislike proprietary apple nonsense. I also happened to really like the Windows 8 for phones UI. Not sure if I can make any concise comparison of the Sense UI and the google one but I just feel it's well made and I enjoy it. Adds an element of refinement.
[One (M8) General] The Government:
GPE is great for battery life but I can't say I'm the biggest fan of the stock camera.
[One (M8) General] MistaBishi:
Android L might change a few minds here about Sense or GPe, although HTC have promised ALL M7's and M8's will have Android L within 90 days of final code release. I wonder what Sense will look like due to the radical changes in the UI in L
[One (M8) General] @rbiter:
Huh? I got just shy of 5h sot today and that was downloading over 7gb of data, mostly apps from play store and data from drop box. Lots of installation time. And restoring sms 3 times. I am quite sure I will be seeing 4h + sot with ~40% or more often. My battery is not even broke in yet and not in my usual groove as I am still setting this phone up. Add in a custom kernel with uv and I think your comment becomes absurd.

sent from my HTC One M8 using hofo mobile app
[One (M8) General] Zahlgor:
Take back what i said before. Took me a while to figure it out but i traced my freezing/hiccups to a faulty sd card. Did the conversion again to 4.4.3 and manually applied the 4.4.4 ota. Now this phone is amazing! Crazy how much space I gained and how much less ram it uses. Absolutely never going back now:)