As one of HTC’s flagship Android smartphones, the HTC One X is reputed to be fast. But, how fast is fast? You won’t really know until you’ve pushed your device to its limits and experienced first-hand just how fast the HTC One X. With the AOKP custom ROM released by the TripNDroid Mobile Engineering team, you just might get such first-hand experience of blazing speed.
In addition to noticeably faster loading speeds and less lag, the AOKP ROM offers users a completely stock Android experience, with none of those built-in custom manufacturer UIs and other bloatware that sacrifice utility and performance for appearance. A wide host of customization options is the cherry on top of this delight, as users can personalize their devices to their heart’s content.
Most of the phone’s features work, including calls, SMS, data connection, GPS, Bluetooth (and tethering), Wi-Fi, hardware acceleration, audio, and microphone for recording. Apart from those, the AOKP ROM features a few more highlights:
- Menu key has been remapped to to show recent taks.
- Long-pressing on the Home key pulls up your recent apps.
- GApps (Google Apps) are distributed separately and must be installed separately.
As with most apps still under development, the AOKP ROM is not without bugs and hiccups here and there, even more so because it’s a custom ROM in its early stages. But, developer TripNRaVeR is hard at work in trying to resolve these issues. If you’re a more cautious hacker, scroll through the known issues list below to see if getting the AOKP custom ROM rolling matches your risk appetite:
- Camera
- Wi-Fi hotspot
- Hardware video decoding
- Longer time to connect to mobile data network (This issue has been observed only after the phone is rebooted or after flashing the ROM)
Convinced that the benefits will outweigh the risks? Read on for our easy step-by-step guide to get the AOKP ROM running on your HTC One X.
Warning
- The instructions in this guide are intended for use with the HTC One X. Applying these instructions on another device or model may produce undesired outcomes.
- The information in this guide is provided for instructional and educational purposes only. There is no guarantee that these instructions will work under your specific and unique circumstances.
- Use these instructions at your own risk. We shall not hold any responsibility or liability for whatever happens to you or your device arising from your use of the info in this guide.
- Read and understand the whole guide first before actually performing the instructions.
Requirements
- An HTC One X with unlocked bootloader and ClockworkMod Recovery installed
- A Windows PC
- USB drivers for the phone installed on the PC
- Download and install HTC Sync to your computer. This will install the required USB drivers to your computer. Make sure to close HTC Sync before following the procedures below.
- Disable system tools such as anti-virus software, firewall programs, and HTC Sync to avoid any interruption throughout the entire procedure.
- Backup all personal data on your phone to make sure you have a copy of your personal data (e.g., contacts, SMS, MMS, Internet settings, Wi-Fi passwords, and the like) in case the procedure in this guide erases such data.
- Charge your phone’s battery to 70% or more.
- Download the following files to your PC:
- Google Apps (gapps-ics-20120429-signed.zip, md5sum: 7c524e1e078164f681e0aa6753180b2c).
- Fastboot Package (Fastboot.zip, 404.46 kB).
- AOKP ROM (aokp_endeavoru-ota-eng.noeri.zip, 122.57 MB).
Instructions
- Copy aokp_endeavoru-ota-eng.noeri.zip and gapps-ics-20120429-signed.zip to the root of your phone’s SD card.
- Extract the boot.img file (found inside the AOKP ROM ZIP file) to your computer.
- Extract the contents of Fastboot.zip into a folder on your computer. You will then get a folder named “Fastboot“ with 4 files inside.
- Copy the extracted boot.img file into the Fastboot folder you just extracted on your computer. There will now be 5 files inside the Fastboot folder.
- Switch off your phone.
- Reboot your HTC One X into Bootloader Mode. You can do that by pressing and holding the Volume Down key and Power button.
- NOTE: Once in Bootloader Mode, use the Volume keys to navigate and the Power button to select an option.
- From the bootloader menu, select Fastboot to boot into Fastboot Mode.
- Connect your HTC One X to the computer via USB cable. The bootloader screen should say “FASTBOOT USB.”
- Open a command prompt on your computer and change directory to where the Fastboot folder is located.
- NOTE: For Windows 7 users, you can easily open a command prompt from within a selected folder. Go to the selected folder and press Shift and right mouse button in any vacant part in the folder. A menu will appear. Click Open Command Window Here. A command prompt window will appear with the location of the selected folder.
- To check if your phone has successfully connected to the computer, type the command
fastboot devices and press the Enter key. Your phone’s serial number will appear on the command window. If it doesn’t appear, make sure you have installed the USB drivers on your computer.
- Flash the kernel by entering the command:
fastboot flash boot boot.img
- After the kernel is flashed, you’ll see a confirmation OKAY message on the command prompt.
- Disconnect your phone from the computer.
- Select HBOOT on your phone to go back to the main bootloader menu.
- Select Recovery to boot into Recovery Mode.
- Select Install ZIP From SD Card > Choose ZIP From SD Card and select aokp_endeavoru-ota-eng.noeri.zip. Confirm the action on the next screen to begin flashing the ROM to your mobile phone.
- Once installation is complete, flash the gapps-ics-20120429-signed.zip in the same manner as in steps 16.
- After the installation process, go back to the main menu and select Reboot System Now to restart your phone.
Congratulations! You have successfully installed the AOKP ROM on your HTC One X. Experience just how fast your Android device can be when pushed to its limits.
