[Touch HD Windows Mobile ROM Development] abwyatt:
WM6.5 (21864) + M2.1 HTC Sense = absolutely flawless! IMHO :)

This is what I've been waiting for! Thanks NRGZ28 for delivering and achieving the almost impossible, an absolutely flawless ROM.

For one who does not like M2.5, NRGZ28's Photon is one of the very few ROMs that have cooked M2.1 HTC Sense with the latest WM6.5 builds. So I am really grateful for the effort (cooking multiple ROM versions) and I think the wait for 21864 (WM6.5 production ROM or close to) has been worthwhile. For all those who are looking for the ROM nirvana of a fast, stable, bug free ROM, I recommend you flash the 21 Oct (21864) build. This build has ironed out most of the problems even from the previous 2 good Photon ROMS (7 Oct and 17 Oct - 17 Oct had a broken FM radio). Forget the 19 Oct 23071 build - that was a disaster. Indeed, if you want my opinion on a trouble free ROM, stay away from any 23071 WM builds unless of course you want to experiment.

After a couple of days with the 21864-21 Oct-Photon I can confirm that everything you could want works and there are no unexpected quirks. For me the important functions include:

1. working MMS - uses the older Auto Connection Setup that installs the correct MMS access point (could never see the problem in the newer ROMS here since you could always edit the MMS access point if auto setup installed the wrong settings)

2. Facebook integration everywhere in ROM works (ie. contacts, album)

3. Fully functional HTC messaging that does not break anti-theft software like Remote Tracker (try it in M2.5 and see if you can get it to work ... i'll forever be your admirer if you can :D )

4. Good memory management (improvement on the 17 Oct Photon build) - unloading programs correctly. 53% memory after soft reset with a full Dusk skinned system and weather animation enabled Dusk background and loaded to the hilt with my own software - running Kaspersky AV, SPB Wireless Monitor server, and Showcase X Launcher in processes. Even tweaked my File System cache to allocate some memory for caching.

5. HTC Sense weather animation works well without lag.

6. Location works on WiFi (no need for a GPS fix - it can take a reading from Google Maps cell location fix if GPS is not available, ie. indoors) - the problem with it not working on Edge/GPRS/3G is a problem everyone (as far as I know) is having so please don't pin the blame on NRGZ28 for this one. Some opinion says it is cellular operator dependent - my readings say there is no definitive opinion on this just yet (pls update me on this one if someone knows).

7. The ROM skins flawlessly with the full Dusk suite of skins and wallpapers - see the attached screen capture of my Photon. Eeek, is that really a Photon under there?! :D

8. Good battery usage though I need more time to get a conclusive feel - so far it looks good. For all those that complain about battery usage, please read NRGZ28's advice to you (who reads this?), and I quote "I preconfigure a lot of things in my ROM, because when I flash it on my phone, I want it ready to go, how I'd want it. So, expect the backlight to be set at the maximum brightness, ... ". So please, if you feel your battery drain is excessive, go and learn the basics of how to control your WM6.X/HTC Sense battery usage, ie. go and find the settings for backlight, go and find the settings WiFi power, go and find the settings to turn off WiFi after x minutes when no network is available, go and find settings for SD/SIM card standby power (with WVGA Tweak), and so on (there are many more).

That reminds me of a point I have wanted to make so many times. IMHO everyone should go and learn the very basics of how to control the many and myriad settings of WM6.x and the HTC interface, and then go even deeper with tweaking programs like WVGA Tweak, before you begin to flash so that you know what is a bug and what is not a bug, and how to configure the ROM the way you want it if you don't like the way the chef has configured it. C'mon, we have HTC Blackstones and love to flash/customise because we are hobbyists/enthusiasts which is why we don't own iPhones (yeah, i know it is a bit of a swipe at iPhone clones :p ). But this means that we need to be a bit more knowledgeable than the average Joe Blow who doesn't flash since we need to dig deep down into WM6.x to find the settings we want to control (yeah we are all control freaks) that makes WM so much more fun than an iPhone. Read the forums, and read more; practice finding and changing the WM/HTC settings in your stock ROM until you know it by heart, and then go out and have fun flashing the wonderful ROMs our chefs are producing that are extending the functionality of our Blackstones beyond what HTC engineers ever envisaged originally for the Blackstone. OK, that is my 2 cents worth but it did me good to get it of my chest :p

Thanks again for this latest ROM NRGZ28.

PS. In case someone notices, bluetooth A2DP profile is now launching WMP instead of the HTC music player (since 17 Oct build). But this is a quirk/change (depending on how you see it - not a bug!) other ROMs have so it is not just a Photon thing. If you like WMP like me, then you won't mind this :D If you don't, I am sure someone is out there looking for a way to change it - read ;)