I, like many others, am tired of waiting for HTC to update the software on my phone. The new Android apps I read about in the news are starting to require Android 2.1 or higher and I’m stuck on version 1.5. At least, I was stuck. I tried out a few ROMs and can recommend the VillainSlide ROM on the HTC Hero. It has the most responsive interface and apart from a slightly annoying application listing screen and home screen icons is visually very appealing too. Here’s the steps I took to install the ROM. It will hopefully save you a few searches.
There is a great guide for installing a custom ROM on the XDA Developer’s forum. I didn’t need the GoldCard method so my install was fairly straightforward. Follow steps PRE and 1-3 and you’re running a new version!
Here’s the SlideVillainROM so you don’t have to find that either.
The first boot after an install takes forever and a day and the SMS recovery isn’t the fastest in the world either. You’ll need to re-download apps from the marketplace too but all your contact data is safe in the Google cloud.
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