Blah, Blah, Blah...Random

I have been getting the same questions on Twitter and Google+ so rather than continue to answer each individually I will just ramble about some things here. First I'd like to thank each of you who are running my builds, reading through the positive comments makes all the time and effort worth it. For those who have donated, another HUGE thank you. Each and every donation makes being a busy college student that much easier. Did you realize you helped buy my text books?

Considering you are reading this post, it is safe to assume you are an Android fiend. Needless to say, Android 2.3.7 came out yesterday debuting on the Nexus S 4G. Many are under the assumption that some of these Gingerbread updates will not benefit every Android device. I can see where this confusion comes from considering the release notes given to the public do not go into detail and are written only for Google's Gingerbread flagship device, the Nexus S:

• 2.3.1 - updated Google Maps
• 2.3.2 - sms sent to wrong contact bug fix
• 2.3.3 - random reboot bug fix, additional NFC functionality, color adjustments
• 2.3.4 - Google Talk with video
• 2.3.5 - additional NFC support, improved WiMAX speed
• 2.3.6 - Voice Search bug fix
• 2.3.7 - addition of Google Wallet

I admit, before I began building ROMs from source, I would have probably assumed the same. With time comes knowledge and now I know otherwise. With each incremented version comes many, at times hundreds, of changes to Android. These changes may fix bugs, improve code, improve security, etc. Android source is being changed on a daily basis, not only by developers working for Google but also by users wanting to contribute to its "open source". So next time a Nexus device get's an update that increments the Android version, you too should be excited! 

At this point, some may have wondered what a "flagship" device is when I mentioned it earlier. These are devices that debut with the latest version of Android (no other devices have it at the time). For example the Motorola Droid (Eclair), HTC Nexus One (Froyo), Samsung Nexus S (Gingerbread), and the Motorola Xoom (Honeycomb). These devices also are always vanilla Android, meaning no skins such as MotoBlur, Sense UI, Touchwiz, etc. This being said, let's discuss what we know about the next Nexus device for certain. It will debut with IceCream Sandwich, will be vanilla Android, and will most likely come out late October. Now dismiss the rumors about a Nexus device having TouchWiz or any other skin; if the phone coming out on Verizon with IceCream Sandwich has a skin, it is not a Nexus!

Now that you know Android 2.3.7 will benefit your device, I am sure you are eager to head over to download.peteralfonso.com and get the latest nightly that will update your device to it. Unfortunately my builds have stopped since August 30th because Android source is no longer readily available to sync with. This is due to kernel.org (where Android source is hosted) being hacked. Google and those at kernel.org are hard at work trying to get things back up and running. As soon as this happens you can bet I will be just as excited as you for a new update and will be working on ROMs for all the devices I support.

For my friends with a Nexus S 4G, if you do not follow me on Twitter you probably did not see me release stock rooted Android 2.3.7 ROMs (deodexed and odexed) within an hour of the OTA update. You can find these ROMs as well as the new radio and OTA update files on download.peteralfonso.com/crespo4g

If you read this entire post you can probably understand why I didn't know what to title it.