[General Topics] saperkus:
Long story. Want it short or the whole thing?

>> Hell, I’m not too busy. Let’s read it all.

Right. I remember, that I was newer interested in *basic* features which phones had. I was just interesting to find "other way" to use the phone. Changing for free logos/ring-tones/enabling hidden features (e.g. Network Monitor) in monochrome Nokia phones, testing GPRS/IrDA, using build in memory on Siemens phones back in early 2000'. Currently this sounds silly, but back then, this was something new and you needed a RS-232 cable to be able to do most of this, not to mention to get software without access to the Internet. After it, there was 'Color, Polyphonic and Camera' revolution. Everyone wanted it (or they were saying, that you need it?), even if it was sluggish, unstable and less functional at the begging. My first "colour" phone was Nokia N70. I remember this was the time, when I learned word "branding". I got ugly Orange widget, which only function was probably to froze the phone (literally). You could disable it only temporary - after reboot was loaded again. Debranding was only way to get rid of it. As always, my usage was "different" than manual describes. Today, we can share PC internet access with phone - it's "standard" feature. Back then you need Gnubox app on Symbian and m-Router on Windows or wrote your own dund script on Linux - checked them both, was working... more or less, In any case, it was useful, when packet data wasn't cheap. Years past, phone got old and change was desired. Well, I got HTC, not Desire, but Rose. It was probably the most user unfriendly phone, which I ever had. Phone was never updated to Windows Phone 6.5. HTC HD2 had it, so why I couldn't have it? "Uncle" Google don't bite, so why not to ask him? This lead me to [MENTION=592660]frauhottelmann[/MENTION] WP6.5 port. But first, I had to do "Hard Something" thing (HSPL) and you need to register to download app for this. In that way, I "joined" XDA. Hell, at first I was fighting with myself - "you need to create another useless account on some foreign forum". Hell, created it, got what need, left and never intended to back. Android then was something "not mature", in my eyes. Many friends got Android phones - HTC Wildfire, HTC Desire and others, but I was waiting and observing. The breaking point was i9000 and year later i9100 release. Then I started slowly looking for "modern" mobile.

i9001 was the choice, branded one. I thought this couldn't be worse that Orange approach on N70. Well, it was bad, even worse than you thought. Brand was prepared on Android 2.3.3 with battery drain issue included. MNO didn't intended to update SW, so service centre should install stock OS right...? Nope. Not a chance. I bought new phone and service told me, they can't flash not-branded software and many other lies about why they can't do it (and "buy flagship phone" between words). It wasn't hard to find Odin and required packages, so I took care of it myself. Well, Samsung didn't wasted the time, fixed drain, but broke WIFI and downgraded Camcorder audio quality, due to "expired codec license". Solution? Buy flagship phone. You can guess I was feed up by their lies. I just bought a phone yet, I wanted to throw it out the window. Even Rose never pissed me off so much. Updates wasn't the only issue of this phone - included widgets were as useless as Orange widget from N70 (froze not included). Honestly, I always liked widgets from SGS2, which can't be installed on i9001, due to "missing dependences". I started to wondering, if I made a right choice, to buy this mobile? Information about no upgrade to ICS made it even worse. It can't be helped, I thought, time to do research and find a way to make the device more appealing for me... And that's how I began lurking on XDA. At first I tried to learn "how" Android was build. As Linux user, I known thing or two, so I was looking for differences. There were many topics at time (late 2011) describing recovery, download, partition layouts and other things. I learned about tweaks and customization. [MENTION=4354408]broodplank1337[/MENTION]'s broodROM was the ROM, which I had used at that time. I started to learn about AOSP and CM7, but almost everyone said, it's impossible to port it. Months passed and nothing really changed. Everyone was looking at i9000 and their working ports. Many people start to say "it's time to move", others already moved. I kinda lost all interest, until something happened. [MENTION=3044346]arco68[/MENTION] did thing impossible and "destroyed the system". First CM9 port was available - buggy with missing features, but that wasn't matter. I felt something, something which I never felt before on this forums... a "flow", which I wanted to be part with. This was the time, when I stopped lurking and really joined the community. I was always good at testing and finding issues, so I learned about logcat and dsmeg. Getting ten posts was something hard for non-English speaking lurker, but I managed (well, this whole post is a test for me - how much better my English got :) ). With other members, we were testing CM9 and sharing our findings. [MENTION=3044346]arco68[/MENTION] didn't own the phone - he had similar one - Galaxy Wonder, so our job was to test new releases. At that time, I stopped thinking about not working features - it wasn't relevant. I always liked SGS2 widgets, so I thought, why don't make them work with CM9? Job was too easy - there was one silly line in Manifest - after removal, worked like a charm. At some point, I also helped [MENTION=1269485]oisis[/MENTION] with his AOKP port. However, new challenge stood before us - Camera. Changes in ICS API were really deal breaking. We couldn't count on Samsung, well we couldn't count on them at the first place anyway. New driver was out of question, so wrapper was the only way. [MENTION=4577537]texten[/MENTION] started a research thread, to help [MENTION=3044346]arco68[/MENTION] with the challenge. [MENTION=3044346]arco68[/MENTION] didn't gave us big hopes, due to limited time which he had and phone which he didn't own. He tried, so we also tried to help him as much as we can. It turned out, that one of HTC's wrappers looks compatible, but required a lot of adjusting to get it work. After many weeks of unsuccessful tests we lost hope, one member said, that his friend have a "working" camera. It can't be, how he did that? It turns out, he used Galaxy's Wonder libs on i9001 (similar thread was on their forums) and it worked. Well, that was unexpected, even [MENTION=3044346]arco68[/MENTION] was impressed by this finding. Forums thrilled and feeling of doing something impossible was giving us wings. Not long after, a not know before member - [MENTION=2142976]ivendor[/MENTION] said, that he will try to fix camera. Unfortunately, his phone got stolen... Before I even read this information, many members donated him, so he was able to buy new phone. :) Not long after, everything was fixed and fully working CM9 was released. What happened after, I can't say in details, since I sold my device and bought HTC Sensation. Too soon I must say - true miracles happened after it. i9001 had every possible Android version starting from 2.3.3 to 5.1.1 (I believe this story isn't finished). They started with 2.3 kernel, then developed 3.0 and finally 3.4. Seeing things like this is a prime example what XDA is. There are as many goals/ideas as many members are on forums, but when we work together and share our little free time which we have - we can reach impossible. Knowledge from XDA helped me at University - especially when apps developing was involved.

Not long before graduation, I bought HTC Sensation (branding not included). I wanted simply to use the phone, no more playing with ROMs - HTC will take care of updates... You couldn't be more wrong. After 4.0.3, HTC just stopped informing about JB update - "we have many phones, which will get a update", but they forgot to say "Sensation not included". So I once again went back and started to read about things, what HTC customized in their phones. HBOOT, locked bootloader, S-OFF, Sense... Another new things to learn. I went with bootloader unlock and looked for ROM to install. Team Venom's ViperS was the choice. Once again I was able to see differences between manufacturer "impossible" and "what community can do". Sense 4.0 looked really stunning, totally different from TouchWiz and CM. Playing with working ROM was boring, so I researched S-OFF thing (flash-o-holic thing, eh?). As I got already 4.0.3, wire-trick was necessary to achieve it. After it, the first thing which I did, was (if I remember correctly) downgrade phone to 2.3.3 and see how Sense 3.0 worked. Radio, RIL and other tweaks was also checked. There were CM10 ports at that time, so Jelly Bean was on my reach, but... This wasn't HTC without Sense on it. I thought, they ported full ROM with Sense 4.0, then Android 4.1.1 will be no problem... Wrong again. HTC removed all necessary audio and camera libs from SW - you have to write them yourselves. But then one user [MENTION=2212152]SebastianFM[/MENTION] accepted the challenge and managed to create missing libs. Android 4.1 port was possible, but that wasn't the end. [MENTION=2212152]SebastianFM[/MENTION] was part of Team Venom, so once again impossible become possible - M7 Sense 5.0 port for HTC Sensation. Something as stunning for me as CM9 port for i9001. Once again I felt "a flow" and wanted to join. I noticed that ports missed a Dock app. Thanks to my previous work from i9001 I managed to port (more or less) dock app from One X. I also helped [MENTION=2212152]SebastianFM[/MENTION] at some point regarding one feature, but this was nothing, compared to all work which he done. In meantime I got a job. A job which complies with my studies and mobile phones.

With the job, I got my work phone - Sony Xperia S. At first, I didn't played much with it, just call/SMS stuff. Well, this was interesting, as everyone else used Samsung or Apple - nothing else. One day, one of colleagues asked me: "Do you like your phone?" "Sure, it's really nice." - I said. "Strange" - he said with all seriousness - "nobody wanted it". Not long after, many of my colleagues started to consult with me, what phone they should buy. Upgrading company phones, verifying faulty units, before sending for repairs, trying to get data from phone in case of "lost match" LCD screen VS ground... But anyway, with L26i, I learned that some companies have strange Android approach... Recovery-less. Moreover I noticed that not-customized phone, feels "strangely bad" in hands. After official release of 4.1.2 I was looking for proper SW for phone, but it took a while. CM and AOSP based ROMs was out of my reach, due to bootloader unlocking and some DRM key, which will be lost in process... Well, I could do TA dump, but that didn't felt right, as I didn't own this phone. So I was looking for Xperia based ROM. I didn't look for a tweaked one, I was hoping for Xperia Z port or something looking like it. This time I learned about possibility of framework porting and as long as I don't touch kernel, I can flash whatever I want. At first I used .200 ROM and rooted it using [MENTION=2784807]DooMLoRD[/MENTION] method. Finally I used ROM based on .200 with Xperia Z ported framework, but I can't remember who made it...

As for my private phone, I went with Nexus this time - LG Nexus 4. This was new approach, totally different... unbloated experience. Once again I found CyanogenMOD, started to learn history behind of it and CM stopped being "ROM what Samsung couldn't do" in my eyes. The thing which I learned from this phone was to properly set ADB and fastboot on PC/Laptops. Moreover device was more useful in my job than Pyramid, especially on AOSP. I also found other ROMs, visually different - MIUI. This was refreshing - something eye-candy, like Gingerbread was. At this point I noticed what "style" I like - not ascetic Holo/Materal, but older one. So I played themes all the way - T-Mobile theme engine helped with that. Can't say much more about this device - it was working splendid, so I thought no change is need, but my carrier's free unlimited LTE plans on new SIM-Only contracts were tempting...

My work phone - Xperia aged, especially battery, so I started to talk about phone "upgrade". As I really don't like 'Samsung' logo on my phone, I asked about competitor - HTC ONE M7. Honestly, I barely got it, as operator want some absurd price for it. There is funny story with this phone - I got branded phone, but it was a little bugged - it couldn't receive MMS, just won't. I thought - no issue, who use them anyway? The same day my colleague send me MMS with critical issue about one of our devices - big thanks for operator, as it sent me a link to website, where I could read it. Next working day I returned phone and asked to install WWE ROM, due to critical bug. Well, service centre did it, by installing ARHD and unlocking bootloader... That was just an unexpected invitation for me. ;) Nothing much happened with this phone... Except one thing - Lollipop update. Bootloader and Radio don't update itself. So S-OFF was need. Thankfully service didn't updated HBOOT - it was 1.54, so Firewater did the job. Currently Team Venom's ROM is flashed.

With my new contract and unlimited LTE plan, Nexus 4 felt really limited, so I bought younger brother - Nexus 5, which I own currently. I really liked this phone until Lollipop update, which I feel is a steep back - rushed, unpolished with critical issues and maternal design. Yes, I know, you can't make everyone happy around this world, but hey, that's why XDA is right? ;) So, currently I am using MIUIv6.

Were it'll take me? Hard to tell. Future is always uncertain, you newer know, what you will need tomorrow.

>> Give me the short version.

Who was your biggest influence, in the way of Android?

Samsung and my MNO - without buggy and branded phone, I probably would newer start this journey. :)

[MENTION=3044346]arco68[/MENTION] - seriously, without his CM9 port, I probably newer want to learn anything about Android and non-Stock ROMs,

All members from i9001 (12/2011 - 08/2012) for creating great "flow" which make believe, that we can make impossible -> possible.

CyanogenMOD team - without their work, CM9 would never happened.

[MENTION=2212152]SebastianFM[/MENTION] - for his work on Sense 4+ kernel,

Team Venom's ViperS team - for creating Sense 5 port and starting similar "flow" on Pyramid forums.

What are you doing now, since XDA-Developers and Android have opened your eyes to new opportunities?

I got a job, where I can use my learned knowledge. It's really small part of my responsibilities, but ability to 'play' with many different devices is really nice. :)

When did you decide, "it's time to make a go of this"

Well, I never decided about it. :) *It* just always finds me, not the other way. :) Whole story covers it.

Where do you feel Android can take you?

Hard to tell. Future is always uncertain, you newer know, what you will need tomorrow.

For the "die hard" in the crowd. Can you recall a time without XDA? (must put thinking cap on)

Yes, it was similar as is now. There were big companies as are now. They were producing flagship phones as they are now. Modding was possible as is now. Just our possibilities and manufacturers names changed.