yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] drblow:
Now, I am definately interested in exploring new homescreen options, so further posts in this thread in which users share great widget setups (or what have you)seems like a good way to turn it into something positive, and not just a lolflamewar. ;)

I am totally new to android - never used it before on a native device, and just trying it out on my HD2 coz I can. So I'm not 100% familiar with all the options - the reason I am defending sense roms is mostly because the HTC widgets look bloody nice, the rss widget shows a list of stories that can be scrolled, the twitter widget just looks nice, so does the people widget, the sms widget ... you get the idea.

I have messed about with launcherpro after reading so much about how sense is slow etc, and found no real difference in speed (maybe it is better on a native device/will be better when HD2 android is fully functional) and I couldn't find any good widgets that matched the htc sense ones in terms of functionality or eye-candy.

If you can recommend options I am all ears. :)

How about posting a screenshot to convince me?
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] s20:
I voted no.

I actually like most of what sence does, the only deal breaker for me is the contacts/dialer screens.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] DarkStone1337:
Was there really a need for this thread? Everyone has a choice if they want to use HTC Sense or not. No-one is forcing anyone to use a specific interface :p
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] trueside:
Sense maybe good for pure android phones like desire or Nexus one but not good for us!

It needs a lot of memory but we haven't enought memory right now. I think if we want to see full speed sense we have to wait for NAND flash versions of android builds.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] rmsa786:
Why not have all ROMs with Sense and whoever doesn't like it can turn it off and vice versa?
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] ckumar1017:
yes for sense
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] dddrko:
You can turn off only the desktop screen and slow widgets, not all. The worst part stays: contacts and messages application, facebook for sense and peep, witch are pretty nice looking, but less useful that the ones from Froyo. To be honest, HTC keyboard and phone application are the very good

btw, "NO" is raised to 29,8%
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
POLL will help HD2 users choose ROMS with SENSE or With out SENSE.

What most people like and why.

Keep the POLLS COMING?
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] TezukaK61:
It won't matter if the Sense builds get hit with a cease and desist from HTC for using their proprietary property.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Thiago Fialho:
Yes yes yes yes
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] DarkStone1337:
People don't need a poll to decide what rom they want to use...
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
More than 400 HD2 users have POLLED so far

This POLL is a reference point for uses and developers
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] slo_mo:
I don't mind not having sense on my device. Sense is a must for WinMo, but for

Android I don't think so. Android is pretty much very user friendly and good looking too.

Anyways for me this poll is not important, we all know if HTC permits, and the Chefs here starts cooking, they will give us all the flavors for our android ROMs

__
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Blue Ice K4:
In my opinion the usefull thing of sense are the custom widgets like sms, email and news reader. I miss only them in my darkstone froyo build...
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] smithvilly:
Yes

Ofcoz i think most ppl love sense, without sense that smart phone is Useless...
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
Most People do because they have never used 2.2 without SENSE please start using it you will love it.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Barett89:
YES

Sense is the best UI for mobile phones i got in touch with so far,

and Android without sense is really not hot to be honest.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
What if it's SENSE on IPHONE will you like it. (NO)

It is the same thing 2.2 is a full system you don’t need sense to complete it
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
About 30% NO SENSE

About 30% NO SENSE
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] KelArth:
SENSE YES but selectible (on/off)
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] lucian777:
sense makes no sense
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
Great People think alike thats what i say and HTC should stop doing this SENSE and let GOOGLE do its job
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
when SENSE is cooked its every were so on off doesnt help
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] kerman19:
I agree, Sense with Windows Mobile made Windows Mobile better, Android doesn't need sense, it's fine on its own. It also reminds me of Windows Mobile too much, and that I don't like!

The keyboard is really annoying, it takes up so much more screen space!

Also, I'm only looking for a stock 2.2 ROM that is reliable, which is what I have with LeoFroyo1.0, the features that are not working currently do not really bother me at all, and I think the priorities of the Dev's was right on the money.

Phil
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] hegemytouch:
depends

sense id nice if the rom is stable but as of now the non sense roms are more stable thays why im sticking with that build for right now...
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Iryngael:
At this time i prefer using senseless roms because sense seems to use too much memory.

I'm very satisfied with the classic Android interface (using dan1j3l froyo v1)
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] bangsters:
Sense-less question

OK I like Sense, but not the desktop/home. I mean I like the dialer, keyboard and contacts compared to stock android. But for the home I prefer LauncherPro because of the taskbar at the bottom, it's more customizable.

Now my question is, is it slower if I have sense, but disable it in home since i'm using launcher pro, as compared to using a froyo/desire build without sense and straight to launcherpro?

Are there any disadvantages performance/speed wise by doing this approach?? I tried doing using the senseless build but cannot find a comparable keyboard (htc with the directional arrows) and dialer.

any suggestion would be nice.

Oh i'm using xtarantula's build without sense and it flies... now installing matt's build with sense based on darkstone's froyo.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] DD9200:
Difficult Question

I love the Widgets that come with Sense on Android, they're a lot nicer and more functional than stock ones but the rest of Sense sucks!
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
when sense is cooked it’s there you can’t just turn it off only thing that you will turn off is the home screen and it will be slow no need to use sense at guys get use to 2.2 and you will love it so many free widgets you will never go back to sense at all let me remind you it’s not WM its android 2.2.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
I agree and that’s the only thing i love and i miss them in stock 2.2 but the sense

Keyboard (Who says that HTC keyboard is nice come on guys stock keyboard it’s the best please start using it)

Stock 2.2 contacts photos and music apps fantastic and fast.

(Use the gallery app and music app in stock and you will never use sense again)
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Crash95:
i think is better : yes
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
that is correct i am with you
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] raffozz:
QUOTE!

I think it is better without sense...
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
Now you are talking sense lol.......

No Sense No Sense No sense .............
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] OrionBG:
With Sense With Sense With Sense With Sense With Sense :P
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
Must See video ------ Android Demo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY3U2GXhz44&NR=1

Google I/O 2010 - Keynote Day 2 Android Demo - Full Length
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
WORLD FASTEST Browser

WORLD FASTEST Browser froyo 2.2
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] qzmufu:
I like the keyboard and that Friendsfeed thing. I really, really dislike the shiny look ... I prefer matte UIs
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
No Sence is Now Above 30%

HD2 Users Need awareness guys Android 2.2 is a gr8 os better then iphone.

Android 2.3 the new one comming in Q4 this year.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] apotheosis347:
IMO

i just like the way it looks, and i dont like the way the other looks, so . . . +1 with sense:):rolleyes:
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
But it’s fast without sense and takes less memory you can open more apps and it will still be faster.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] dustinest:
First i thought- no sense. But As I tried Froyo build without sense I found disturbing feature. There is no groups tag. Myself I use groups frequently to ease up contact search but the filter was "behind the corner". Sense makes that easier. So I vote "YES" or it would be possible to switch on and off..
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] sea_man:
I voted sense.. because this i buy a HTC and not other brand !
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
HTC are phone manufacturers and they use to make all windows based smart phones.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Corporation

Sense as a frontend on windows phones is very good because a windows phone has rubbish frontend so sense makes it easy to use.

Android 2.2 is a complete mobile phone OS like iPhone you don’t need another frontend to it
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] dkwolf:
voted for Sense but its not like vanilla Android is bad. No matter what build there is ppl are different :)
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] shahzads:
When it comes to usability stock 2.2 is more usable and when sense is cooked on it locks all it's usability and outstanding performance
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] fi3ry_icy:
most people here who took the poll are hd2 users.

and in the case of most hd2 users, the win mo has made us pretty dependant on sense..

i myself struggled for a while and in the end decided that i am better of using a sense build then to try and get use to using a "sense-less" build for froyo..
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] jaidedfocus:
I prefer Sense but I'll use whats most efficient at the time...
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] hellraiser-rh:
SENSE +1

nice looking and easy to use frontend.

:p

Yes, Sense is very performance-hungry on WM and Android but

i love it (and it's HTC Widgets).
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] KillerDid:
I like sense.

But i like vanilla froyo too.

I voted YES for one thing only : FM radio.

While FM radio is not available without sense, I have to use a sense build.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] spimonkey34:
Sense for me (obviously). I like the widgets I can't get with vanilla and my wife can easily use the phone as well.

When memory is increased in kernel we will likely see a performance increase with sense.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] reorx24:
Sense for me. I first tried the Sense version, then darkstones vanilla android release, then went back to Sense. I love Sense's RSS and SMS widgets. Havent seen third party widgets that match these two's beauty and functionality.

In a perfect world, we can run vanilla android for speed, and use Sense Widgets for eye candy and useability
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] anniehero:
I just want the actual htc flip clock you get with sense back, as well as the weather animations from whatever came stock on the hd2.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] jtcin2u:
I prefer a combination of both...HTC SENSE wallpapers & widgets. The rest, stock android is better.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Tung_meister:
the only reason i'd want a sense build is due to the fact that i'd rather use the htc apps - dialer, contacts etc.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] unforseenenemy:
If we could get friendstream widget working as a widget with launcher pro that'd be perfect...i love and want sense in a rom for that one widget!
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] ntikas:
For me it's better with sence but the most thinh i care is the os to work great!!!
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] HectiQ:
Sense rocks. :-) fb contacts bday in calendar eg.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Graffoid:
Surely Sense is a must ! Everything you need is a lot easier to reach and it's pretty. We all like pretty things surely?
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Graffoid:
You've just made for HTC Sense by referencing iPhone OS !

HTC Sense is an excellent overlay & improves 2.2 Android.

IPhone OS 4 is trying to be as pretty as Sense but will never be as Apple are bland.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] hoss_n2:
also sense is slower but it is much more functional , android is useless without sense
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] DennisCSUF:
Let people choose if they want Sense then more power to them same for the other half. Me personality I hate Sense love it on Windows Mobile hate it on Android. One of the big advantages on Android is having widgets and yet here comes HTC with their watermelon size Widgets that are ugly as hell & take the entire screen lol (yes u can remove them I'm aware of that) not to mention HTC Sense dialer/contacts just blows.

But hey whatever floats your boat.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Graffoid:
You forgot the very important, all conquering Windows Phone 7 that's coming soon. I bet it fails to impress and they scrap it.

Android with sense is supposed to be slower than stock Android but I can't notice.

HTC SENSE IS AWESOME
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] AceCooper0506:
For me, my HD2 without Sense just... doesn't make sense. =)
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] aagrollmus:
mmh i could go with stock looking android if i could download HTC's weather and clock widget... i really REAAAALLY like em
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] stalkerrus:
I would say there is no need in Sense on android
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] kxdaorbit:
Sense is what sets HTC apart from the rest, even much vaunted IPhone UI. It is awesome in so many ways, it just makes sense.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] teosnew:
HTC sense does it for me and is very well organised. I am fan of it and apparently if nothing will come up I shall stick to it.

Yes from me.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Shawn_230:
I like the HTC Sense widgets, but for everything else I think I prefer the vanilla Android.

I used HTC Sense for a few weeks and it all seemed well and good, but not that I'm on vanilla Froyo I see I like everything a lot better... prefer the stock keyboard, prefer the white notifications, prefer the stock camera, prefer the stock lockscreen (though he music controls on the HTC lockscreen are handy).

Overall I think stock performs better too... Froyo with HTC Sense seemed fast enough, but I can't even wrap my head around how snappy everything feels with vanilla Android. Sense might not actually slow down benchmarks and decrease framerates, but normal usage feels slightly sluggish compared to vanilla Android IMO.

Also, I was dismayed to find the HTC browser is different than stock and kind of sucks. Froyo's browser seems a bit faster and it loads up some HTML5 stuff that HTC's browser misses.

Finally, I found the overlapping of some Sense stuff annoying... like having two separate gallery apps and Android asking me which to use every time I click a photo.

Obviously it's cool to run Sense on the HD2, it even has the "with HTC Sense" text on the back of the phone. But I used to think people who said Sense was only needed because WM was so ugly and unusable were just WM haters, but in the world of Android I can kind of see the redundancy caused by Sense... eye candy is nice but I'm not sure it does anything to increase productivity or even entertainment value of your device.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Jalaluddin:
yes without sense , its no fun using Android or WM
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] hoss_n2:
The only issue with sense is the app drawer it is not smoth and lags, has any one noticed that it has lag at the end of app list every thing wotks fine with me on sense
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Shawn_230:
I'm the same way, the only thing I really like about Sense in Android is the clock/weather widget.

I've done some research and while not as spiffy as Sense, Beautiful Widgets seems to do the job with the right themes. Check it out if you're interested in moving past HTC Sense. :)
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] MvP77:
Same here when i run sense roms, i also remove most sense apps.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] MvP77:
there are tons of widgets on the market that copy it. Weather and Toggle settings, beautiful widgets are the 2 most populer. Fancy widget is also very good, but was removed from the market because htc asked for it to be removed. Im sure there is an apk for it floating around though.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] FreakyFerret:
(My comment on another thread)

I just tried a Sense build. I like how the HTC Sense email client has some options basic Android doesn't (move item to folder). I like how you can browse the Company Directory with Sense (Android lacks this feature, not even an app for it). I like how Sense has "Scenes" even though you can't delete the ones you don't want or even alter them at all.

Which brings me to my complaint about Sense, the way it takes away control from you. I tried to uninstall the "Flashlight" utility since it doesn't work. It won't let me. I tried to change the big "Phone" button on the dock since I have a hardware key for this. It won't let me. I tried to use the Android Calendar instead of the Sense one. It won't let me. I tried to use the Android email client instead of the Sense one (I know I said it had more features, not my point). It won't let me.

HTC Sense brings a lot of nice features to Android. Some of them actually needed. But, I keep finding myself saying, it won't let me. It won't let me! This is the one reason I HATE Sense. It takes away some of my choices. By giving me 10 more choices with their software, they should not take away 100 other choices! Truly frustrating.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] LordDeath:
The Android builds without HTC Sense seem to have a big limitation related to their MS Exchange usability:

The "Stock-Android" builds on my HD2 I tried until now can only sync up to 30 days of my Exchange account (This means also only 30 days for the calender). But with HTC Sense builds I can sync my whole Exchange data with the device.

So IF this better Exchange client is a part of the HTC Sense suite, then I can only vote for YES to HTC Sense. With the normal Exchange client Android has no chance to replace my beloved Windows Mobile. :)
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] FreakyFerret:
I have Exchange account too which is vital for work. It also has a web-app to access it. If I really need, I can use that for missing parts. But I get your point. :)
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] malias4:
i prefer stock android without sense..
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] FreakyFerret:
And to be clear, I'm fine with people making roms with Sense. I don't like Sense, some people do. They deserve what they want as much as I do. Luckily my two favorite chefs have builds with and without Sense. :) They're making all of the people happ all of the time. :D Go DarkStone and Mattc!
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] mattfmartin:
I switch up all the time. Both are awesome
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Showtime7:
I use HTC Sense with Froyo but it's my first android rom on the HD2 and I've been considering trying a stock Android build. I like some parts of sense, but other things irritate me and I find myself wishing I could disable certain parts of it. I would like to disable HTC's lockscreen, and their app drawer, and some of the excess widgets that I never use, but I can't. Then again if I switch I may end up missing HTC apps like mail, messaging, and widgets like friend stream and music. Not only does HTC make everything uniform and beautiful, but they also add in some much needed features. I have seen beautiful looking themes without Sense, I just don't know if I want to go through the trouble putting them together when Sense has a sexy look right from first boot.

But anyway I think this is a good thread for people looking for opinions on the pros and cons of using Sense and vice versa. It may have leaned me towards giving no sense a try, and I've read a lot of useful information here. I don't think this thread should be aimed at swaying chefs to develop one or the other more, so I think the poll should be closed on this thread but leave the discussion open. Everyone should have the option to use what they want and not what the "majority" wants, including chefs.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] MvP77:
To remove the HTC lockscreen and use stock lock screen use a root file explorer and delete HTClockscreen from system/app. Then reboot. Works for other HTC things you wanna delete, just be carful. Something's require others to work.

My main reason for using sense is HTC copy and paste. 10x better than stock copy and paste. But no matter how much HTC stuff I remove I always go back to stock mainly cyanogen mod because of its constant development and many tweaks.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] corlygunnz:
I love sense, I'm ask about looks.....
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] KenshinBHX:
I'm using Sense build from the very beginning. At some point I'm kinda bore the black notification bar. So I decide to try Sense-less build (nexusLeo) and then I'm shock by the difficult to sync Facebook contact to Android Contact (in Sense build it is very simple though)

So, Yes, I vote for Sense build (or another build which can sync contact much easier than stock Android)
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] Showtime7:
Thanks for the tip, worked like a charm! :)
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] ravitheleo:
Sense Sucks
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] stijlie:
sense!

I love how sence integrates social sites with contacts! besides that it is really great in a business environment with a great agenda and email display! just love it! (for me it is the reason to go with the mattc build)
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] ferdaus:
Because we're all here using HD2 from HTC, I believe Sense gave us an alternative if not the best UI as compared to other Android phones. A unique HTC personality and distinction, better than having those iphone fanboys annoy everyone else for copying their interface and looks.
[HD2 Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting and Genera] :
+1

to choose between both is great or have the ability to turn on / off !