[HD2 General] Snarksneeze:
Tips and Tricks

Format and Content of this post may change, depending on how I feel and what I learn along the way (respectively).

SD Card Care:

I would recommend you to always reformat your microSD card before installing or re-installing Android on it. This is the same as doing a Task 29 on your phone before installing a new ROM.

I don't know much about Android, but I've been using Linux on my personal computers at home for over 10 years. Android seems to continually read and write data to the SD card while the system is running. If it is in "write" mode and you change something on the card or reset the phone, it can damage your SD card. So far, I have managed to get through this by reformatting my card, but you can easily wipe the card by removing the battery or hitting the reset button instead of using "Power Off" via the Android menu.

Never attach your phone to the PC and activate "Turn on USB storage". When I say, "Never", I really mean, "If you ever, ever do this, your children will despise you." Writing to the card while Android is in "write" mode will cause data that is being written by Android to be misplaced and this is a very bad thing.

Do not use the "transfer to sd card" option that some of the apps may offer. For the same reason as the last tip, it will really screw your card up.

Android was not meant to run on external card like your microSD card. Some geniuses here on xda have managed to trick it into doing so, but it will never be safe. Some day the devs may actually manage to hack into the phone's NAND memory and then we can have real Android ROMs running without an SD card, but until then we have to use this system. You do risk ruining your card, but I feel that it is worth the risk :D

Stability:

Just after running HaRET, hit the back arrow key. This will cause your buttons to light up momentarily. I'm not sure exactly why, but this seems to help the battery drain issue a lot.

The current crop of Froyo (Android 2.2) builds all seem to cause issues with our phone's hardware. Specifically, the screen is often unresponsive, sometimes never waking up after being turned off and necessitating a hard reset or battery pull.

Bluetooth works, but you may have to cycle the service by hitting "Bluetooth" in a call twice, once to turn it off and then again to turn it back on. I have had to do this several times, particularly after a hard reset.

I find that a task killer is particularly helpful. I found a free one called "Advanced Task Killer Free" in the market and it works just fine for my needs. When I need to turn off the screen, I run the killer and wait a few seconds before hitting the End Call button. Using this method, I have reduced the non-responsive screen issues somewhat.

Another trick I have learned is to turn off the lock screen. Even the simple slider seemed to cause issues, so I found "No Lock", a free app in the market that, when activated, will turn off the lock screen. If you keep your phone in your pocket (bad idea, you're gonna scratch or break it!), this is not a solution you will be able to tolerate after a few butt-dials.

Some people over on the Leo forums report that turning off the Live Wallpaper helped with the non-responsive screen issues. I haven't really tried this because I really, really like the wallpaper interaction. Of course, since my issues haven't totally gone away, I gave that a shot, but it didn't seem to help.

I switched ROMs, trying to find a WinMo ROM that was lighter but still up-to-date and every call I made with the phone thereafter caused the "robot voice" (some call it the "android voice"). I am now flashing a new ROM that I found on the T-Mobile USA HTC HD2 ROM Development forum that said "Android" in the title. The chef claims it is "Android Safe" and so I've flashed it, but left the Android installation alone. The "robot voice" is definitely gone, so that's awesome. Not sure what else may have improved, but at least I can make phone calls :D

I've noticed a trend over on the Leo forums to shy away from "Best WinMo ROM for Hosting Android". Not sure why this is, but I will carry that trend on until I am better informed. That being said, I have flashed three different ROMs to my phone and only one has actually produced a stabilizing effect on my Android. You can find it in the T-Mobile USD HTC HD2 ROM Development forum, just search for "Android" ;)

Apps:

Having trouble getting your apps to install? Try going into Settings - SD Card and "Unmount" your card and then try the install again. This worked for me when installing Angry Birds and Pocket Legends (two very awesome games).

"No Lock": This app disables the default sliding-lock screen. I had some issues early on with the screen locking up as I tried to turn it on. This has helped tremendously.

"Advanced Task Killer": Although cnet says this is rarely needed, they are not running Android from the SD card as we are :D You will need some sort of task killer because your phone can't handle the RAM drain every day activity brings.

"SlideIT Keyboard": Replacement for Swype. I've used Swype for so long that I consider this app a poor replacement, though you might disagree. It's better than nothing!

More to come!