HTC Espresso Gets Sense UI Updates [VIDEO]

by Rob Jackson on December 28th, 2009 at 2:39 pm

If the HTC Espresso ROM is any indication, HTC is still hard at work on their Sense UI to improve every minor detail they can imagine. The below video is done by an Android modder who put the Espresso ROM on an HTC Hero and gave it for a twhirl. What changes/updates can you notice?

A few of the obvious additions:

  • The bottom app launcher pane has the dialer on the left and contacts on the right of the typical “arrow” that you swipe up to see all applications.
  • Top status notification pane has “Recent” which displays recently used applications
  • Application icons themselves are now placed on squares with rounded corners making them look more like “buttons” than icons.

I like the dialer/contacts but I think the “Recent” would be more appropriate when the app launcher was pulled up rather than status updates. As for the square icons – that’ll be a matter of preference but I’m not dead set on one or the other – they both look nice if you ask me.

[Thanks to all who sent this in!]

  • Jonathan

    wow. I hate the new application icons. They looks disgusting. Reminds me of the blackbery storm.

    Why did they make the application icons look like buttons? It looks too cluttered.

  • Jonathan

    Oh I also noticed that it seems to be a little more responsive (i have the sprint hero). So thats nice.

    Looks like the switched the language from English to German. Not sure thats going to fly with non-german speakers. I’ll still upgrade though.

  • Jonathan

    My previous comment was supposed to be sarcastic but the sarcasm tags must have been removed ;)

  • Enea

    noooo…. i don’t like this….
    vanilla is still better!

  • Jon

    They actually ruined it! The original looked so much more stylish – this just looks like they tried to add gloss to everything and round every edge… the application icons look terrible in my opinion.

    I really hope they don’t make this change to the Hero as well, otherwise I might be forced to avoid the improvements in 2.1 too…

  • http://blog.3dbloke.com 3dBloke

    Don’t like the buttonized icons… awful! Spoils the clean look that is so attractive on Hero. Certainly hope this is user configurable.

  • ami

    did you notice this one has got only 5 homescreens, so it myt be somebody’s own custom created or edited rom.

  • wingtip

    The camera work ruins this vid. Don’t post such awful work.

  • dhil

    The question is what happened to the cute and useful slider bar to let you know what home screen you are on. I don’t like the bubble, but I may deal with it. Also notice the notification shade isn’t translucent anymore either.

  • Z-Liberator

    When is my 2.01 update? Hell I want 2.1!
    HTC Hero

  • jae

    Don’t like it.I’ll stick with my 2.1 hero eclair

  • parker

    can you take a few pictures with that 2.1 hero eclair for us jae? ;)

  • cwrig

    3 Words:

    TABLE AND TRIPOD

    Ive got to go throw up now.

  • kurry

    OMG its hideous.the rounded edges look so artificial and the translucent white looks like bird poo, or cheap paint… man what garbage.

  • Gabe

    I was under the impression that the new 2.1 was going to have a different bar at the bottom and introduce the “card” style used by he WEBOS from Palm…

  • syphon

    This look is horrible. I hope that 2.1 for the Hero does not look like this. I can live with everything else except the the button look. It will look WAY to cluttered. Hopefully if they have the button icons, you have an option to turn off button icons. ICK!

  • asqwerth

    Yes, ICK is indeed the word. The square bubbles just make the app tray look congested. The black background in the current Sense UI (for 1.5) gives a more proportionate sense of space around each icon.

  • ari-free

    proprietary custom UI’s must die and I guess those icons are part of the plan

  • frox

    Its swedish and not german as #2 says :P.

  • lina

    T-mobile is getting some really nice handsets, hd2, n900, bold 9700 etc. They really offer some great stuff and where they have 3g its solid. I wish other companies verizon and att would get these super nice handsets/
    Once a ROM leaks out, the floodgates are opened. Welcome to the wonderful world of HTC bootloaders, my friends. Espresso details: http://bit.ly/htc-espresso-details



Phandroid Newsletter

Get weekly news recaps, access to exclusive contests and giveaways, invites to beta applications, promotions/coupons and more!

We respect your privacy. We'll never share your Email address and you can always unsubscribe.