HTC hasn’t had the greatest year if one were to look by the financials, but if I were to pick an Android OEM that made the greatest strides in 2012, I would undoubtedly give it to them. They have made several right steps, including cutting their losses with the disaster that was Beats and refocusing their products along the One line.
However, what stands out for me is the rethink on what Sense is meant to do. While Samsung was busy adding ripple-effect lockscreens to their own custom skin, HTC decided to reduce the bloat and focus on speed with their Sense 4.0. And, if this post on Geeksaber is to be believed, they have doubled down yet again on Sense 4.1. A ROM based on their yet-to-be-released skin for the international version of the HTC One X has made it’s way to XDA-Developers, and having given it a shot, Geeksaber has a lot of good things to say about it. The highlight? A 5900+ score on Quadrant.
Here’s their summary on the changes Sense 4.1 brings:
Sense 4.1 RUU has been leaked (version number 2.15.401.5) , and after some testing, we found the following fixes:
- Live wallpaper lag has been fixed
- There’s a dedicated button in the Camera app to switch between Front/Backward facing cameras. (earlier you’d have to go into the menu for that.)
- A dedicated button to switch tabs in the browser. (You’d have to go into the menu for that, too)
- Complete removal of all 3D-Effects in the launcher leading to a completely lag-free experience.
- Probably the most important- Rebased on Android 4.0.4
- Added ability to remap the recent apps button/ Long-press recent apps/ Long-press Home as Menu. (yes, it removes the Virtual menu bar) under Settings->Display, Gestures and Buttons
- New, blazing fast kernel. We mean it. It scored a pretty impressive 59oo+ in Quadrant benchmark (compared to 5100+ on Sense 4)
- Wifi-dropping/ Icon showing weak signal Fixes.
- Better Battery life- 5 Hour+ Screen-on time as compared to a measly 3 Hour+ on Sense 4.
If anyone else has tried the ROM, do share your experience with us in the comments.