So here's some more info for those curious:
INRE the question about custom kernels, it seems other users are able to install and run the kernels which support various features such as swipe to unlock, HTC logo button usage etc. I will not testify that it's working, I'll say others have.
Paul O'Brien pushed out the "ota" to Switch Beta 10 a couple of days ago. I was actually impressed with the update method. I was prompted similarly to a carrier update and began downloading it. After it was downloaded and I pushed the button to commence, the phone booted into recovery and flashed the new rom for me, doing nothing extra. The phone rebooted itself into Sense and I was able to boot into GPe with no problems. All of my apps were just as I left them, and everything worked as expected with the exception of Google Now on the GPe side. GPe crashes upon any voice command which makes it unusable. This isn't a big issue with me, as I don't really care to use the GPe side.
While we're talking about the GPe side, I don't care to use it. Honestly, it's fascinating to me that I'm seeing a day OEM software is pretty awesome. The other phones I've had over the years have ALWAYS needed modification to make them usable. Sense 5 may not be perfect or even good to everyone, but for me it's really really well done. Throw on a launcher and don't worry about it. I never felt a need to rom the phone. The only reason I did was to test this Beta and give my thoughts and impressions. I may very well ruu it back to stock when I'm satisfied I've seen all there is to see here.
This sort of thing is for people who want to have their cake and eat it too. If you prefer stock, but want to have the awesome camera stuff available when you need it, this is for you. If not, there's really no need to bother. Outside of wanting things like the above posters have mentioned, there is no reason at all to rom the phone. No changes in 4.2 or 4.3 are big enough for me personally to want to bother with. I'm perfectly happy having a great looking and feeling device, awesome camera features, Beats Audio, the amazing display and all the other cool stuff I love about my HTC One. Nothing in the GPe side really interests me aside from the cyan icons in the status bar, and really that's just me being picky.
All of that said, I obviously spend the vast majority of my time on the Sense side. Now with Google Now broken, I'll spend all of my time there. There may be a fix for this, by the way. I just don't care enough to find it. When 4.3 releases for the US models of the phone I'm going to put it back to stock and get the update for it.
Honestly, the biggest surprise with Switch is that I love my phone just the way it came. I'm not bashing Mr. O'Brien or his work. It's certainly for a certain contingent of people and I'm sure they're really happy with the product he's created. I'm happy with it for what it is. There's just no need for this in my life, and that's OK, because I'm entitled to like what I like just as much as anyone else is.
If I come up with anything else to comment on or anyone has questions still, fire away. I'll be around, that's for sure.
What did you think of the live event and Jimmy Fallon?
This might be my favorite foldable phone.
PreOrders May Be Live
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