Hasta La Gadget!

It seems that the HTC HD2, despite being released about 4 years ago, is refusing to fade into obscurity. We had heard how the handset had managed to receive the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update, and now it looks like the HTC HD2 will also be on the receiving end of the Android 4.4 KitKat update, which is admittedly pretty impressive for such an old device! This port is courtesy of XDA Senior Member, chautruongthinh who managed to port the latest build of Android onto the device. However as expected, not everything is working yet and there are still some issues with the port that needs ironing out, so don’t expect to use this as a daily driver just yet.

As it stands mobile data, broken WiFi, broken SD card, and some graphical glitches are just some of the many issues plaguing the build at the moment, although the basics do work meaning that if you still have your HTC HD2 lying around and wanted to experiment, perhaps learn how to root or flash custom ROMs, we suppose now is as good a time as any to start practicing! We guess it’s not too surprising that Android 4.4 KitKat has managed to make its way onto the HD2. After all the purpose of KitKat was meant to support lower-end Android devices, particularly those which do not sport 1-2GB of RAM. In any case if any of our readers have tried this out, let us know in the comments below on how it is working out for you!

Android 4.4 KitKat Ported Onto HTC HD2 original content from Ubergizmo.

One of the most-hacked smartphones in the history of the mobile universe, the HTC HD2, is continuing to get its guts spun as Windows RT (tablet Windows 8) gets pushed to it with full-screen metro-style apps! This hack is a continuation of a project being run by @CotullaCode as mentioned a few weeks ago right here on SlashGear. This smartphone originally ran Windows Phone 6.5 and has since been hacked to run Android, Windows Phone 7, MeeGo, and even oddities such as First PlayStation Emulator for Windows CE.

This newest push for the expansion of excellence in the HTC HD2 has revealed the Windows UI (aka originally known as metro) version of Internet Explorer to be taking right around 6 seconds to start up. It’s also being re-realized that this user interface isn’t all that different from what Windows Phone 8 is, showing massive buttons and essentially the same text blocks all around regardless of the app. At the moment this 480 x 800 interface is functional on a base level with some limited amount of apps being able to be opened and worked with by the creator (again, Ctll), as an exercise in the power of cross-loading.

What this entire process represents is a show of convergence in our modern technologically advanced age. One computer is never more different from another than it is from a piece of electronics without a bit of silicon onboard. One piece of software can be ported from one machine to another one way or another, just so long as the person making it happen is willing to dedicate time, effort, and sweat enough to make it happen. With the HTC HD2 we’ve got a beacon of fun and entertainment as much as we have a singular device from which all hacks come.

Have a peek at the timeline below for more news from the past few years surrounding this HTC device and get pumped up about the future for Windows Phone as well. There’s also an HTC event coming up on the 19th in February you really should be watching out for – we’ll be there with bells on, you can bet! Keep your eye on @CotullaCode as well for more hot hacking action.

HTC HD2 Windows RT hack brings metro apps to WVGA is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve seen the HTC HD2 running essentially every mobile operating system from its birth till now, but nothing could have prepared us for this: hackers have ported in Windows RT! This operating system is meant to be a sort of half-way point between full-on desktop mode and mobile for the Windows tablet universe hoping to join in on the Windows 8 fun – it’s creators certainly never intended it to be worked with on a smartphone. But there it is, on the HTC HD2, no less, the most-hacked smartphone of all time, without a doubt.

What we’re seeing here is a set of users, both CotullaCode and StroughtonSmith, working together to bring this tablet-loving OS to the smartphone. This user interface is made for much larger devices and certainly wont be widely used by smartphone hackers, thus exercise thusly made real for the fun of it – or for the challenge of it, of course. You’ll see int he gallery below a set of shots of the OS working on the old HTC Windows Mobile device, with the name “LEO computer” simple to see.

At the moment we’re not being told how it was done, but our friendly source assures us that “it was helped by the EFI implementation he wrote for WP8.” This of course refers to the Windows Phone 8 hacking of the HTC HD2 from earlier this year – just near the end of November 2012, that is. You’ll see this and a collection of other HTC HD2 ports in the timeline near the end of this post.

Meanwhile you’ll want to know that this hack is not for the faint of heart, nor is it for the public. At the moment, the creators have no intent of sharing their precise method nor an instructions manual for the meek. You’ll just have to close your eyes and imagine the possibilities.

– Thanks for the tip, Steve!

Windows RT ported to HTC HD2 is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

There’s a golden rule for the HTC HD2: if there’s a new mobile OS, the HD2 must get a port. It’s practically a law of nature, then, that Evervolv at the XDA-Developers forums has produced a pre-alpha port of Android 4.1 for the originally Windows Mobile-based legend. More components are working than not despite the extremely early state, with the camera, Google Now and web browser being the remaining bugaboos. We’re still warned that the experimental firmware isn’t meant for day-to-day use, but there’s every intention of making the release stable — good news for anyone who’s eager to avoid a flash-in-the-pan ROM. If that happens, the HD2 will have had nearly as many lives as a cat.

Filed under: Cellphones

HTC HD2 gets unofficial Android 4.1 Jelly Bean port, becomes the Phone That Would Not Die originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 23:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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