Upgraded my HTC Incredible S to Nik ROM with Sense 4.1 Lite and Sense 5 visual

My 2 years old HTC Incredible S Android smartphone with official HTC ROM was last updated to Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich, ICS) with Sense UI 3.6 in July 2012. Since then, it didn't receive any new ROM update from HTC anymore.

Since its 2-years warranty period is now over, I upgraded it to a custom ROM called Nik Project X Rebirth v3.0 with Sense 4.1 Lite and some Sense 5 visual (a.k.a. Nik's ROM). This custom ROM for HTC Incredible S is also running on Android 4.0.4 but bring us the Sense 4.1 UI experience found in HTC One X and some Sense 5 visual found in HTC One (M7).

Although there are some other HTC Incredible S custom ROMs running on newer Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) or even Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean), but they don't include HTC Sense with the ROM.

If you are still using HTC Incredible S, you might probably also want to try out Nik's ROM because it brings new Sense experience as in HTC One series of smartphone, and it runs faster, smooter and more battery efficient than the stock HTC ICS ROM with Sense 3.6. This ROM will also upgrade your phone's filesystem to EXT4 too.

It really makes your HTC Incredible S remain fit and fun for use for quite some times.

In order to upgrade your HTC Incredible S to Nik's ROM, you need to get your phone rooted and S-Offed. There is a detail instruction in XDA developers forum to guide you through the process.

Click here to get the detail instruction to root and S-Off HTC Incredible S.

Note that you need to follow the instruction exactly, including flashing the CyanogenMod 7.2 ROM. This is because you might not be able to install Blackrose HBOOT with some other ROM.

At the end of the process, when you boot your phone by pressing Volume Down and Power key together, your screen should show the information as below.

Once you are done, you can proceed to download Nik's ROM, put it in your SD card, and flash it into your HTC Incredible S with ClockworkMod Recovery.

Click here to go to the download page of Nik Project X Rebirth v3.0 ROM.

After successfully upgraded to Nik's ROM, you can find the 4EXT Recovery Updater app in your app drawer. You can use it to replace your ClockworkMod Recovery with 4EXT Recovery Touch then.

Nik's ROM uses AROMA Installer for its installation. Along the process, you can customize your installation and choose whether to include or exclude the Sense UI, select the looks and feels of the icon style, battery icon, font, etc.

You can also exclude some of the "pre-install" apps that you don't want to install into your phone.

What are the new things and experience you can get in your HTC Incredible S after upgraded it to Nik's ROM? Well, here are a few of them...

The weather lock screen (among the available lock screens in Sense 4.1):

The home screen with Sense 4.1 looks and feels:

Press the phone's Power button, and you can see more options, including taking a screenshot:

The Quick Settings menu:

Now your HTC Incredible S can also have HTC Sense input with trace keyboard:

Long press the Home button to open this Recent Apps screen:

And you also get a faster, better, more feature rich Camera app with HDR, panaroma, show motion video, etc.

In addition, you can just swipe your finger from left to right (from Home button to Search button) to wake up your phone from sleep, and bring it to sleep mode by swiping your finger from right to left (from Search button to Home button). Therefore, you no longer need to use your phone's Power button as often as before.

Diagnose the HTC hardware function with HTC Function Test (*#*#3424#*#*)

The HTC Android smartphones including the new HTC Butterfly and the HTC One series come with a hidden diagnostic software that enables you to test on its parts and hardware.

Just go to the phone dialer and dial this sequent: *#*#3424#*#*

The HTC Function Test diagnostic software will be brought up.

The tests available are:

• Audio test
• Backlight test
• Bluetooth test
• Button test
• Charger test
• Flashlight test
• G-Sensor test
• Headset test
• LED test
• Light-sensor test
• Line drawing test
• P-sensor test
• SD card + camera test
• Vibrator test
• Wi-Fi test

You can tap on the "Select All" button and then the "Run" button to run all the tests above. If you are unable to see the "Run" button on your screen, just scroll down the screen. It is located at the bottom.

There are some more tests available after you tap on the "More" button:

• Battery test
• Device information
• Factory data reset
• AGPS test
• Hardware information
• Live call test
• Safe mode
• Software version
• Line drawing test (no time-limit)

This HTC Function Test is particularly useful when you want to buy a new or used HTC Android smartphone. You might want to make sure the phone is working perfectly before making your payment to the seller.

Are we heading towards a new secular bull market?

The investment sentiment has been gaining momentum recently, especially after the general election.

Some of my chartist friends who use technical analysis in their investment mentioned that the next secular bull market is now right in our doorstep.

If you search the Internet now for the keyword "secular bull market", you will find a handful of articles supporting this bullish view in the worldwide market. You can also easily find the long term DJIA chart similar to the one below in those articles.

Meanwhile, layman investors and other who don't rely much on technical analysis in their investment are also remembering the previous super bull run which started in 1983, 1993, and 2003. So, will the history repeat again in 2013?

To me, I am more than happy to see the next secular bull market formation right now and ride on the bull for the next couple of years (if our chartist friends are correct in their analysis and prediction now).

On the other hand, if the secular bull market delays and not happening in this year or next year, I will also not be disappointed, because you and me have already survive through the past 14 years of secular bear market, aren't we?

If the secular bull market come, it will be a great bonus to all of us in the stock market. If it hasn't come yet, then it is just life as normal.

What do you think?

Check how strong is your password and how long to hack it

Is your password easy or difficult to be hacked?

Intel has created a webpage to check how strong is your password and theoretically how long to hack it.

Check it out! Click here to go to the password checking webpage to grade your password.

If you are staying in USA, you can also enter the Password Win sweepstake there between 6 May 2013 to 26 May 2013. Prizes consist of 3 grand prizes (Intel Ultrabook worth US$999.99) and 30 first prizes  (McAfee All Access software worth US$99.99).

The password analysing algorithm is written in JavaScript and run on your own computer. You can inspect it with the "view source" function of your web browser. The password you type there would not be sent out to the Internet.

Live 13th Malaysian General Election (GE13) result reports

Today (5 May 2013) is the 13th Malaysian General Election (GE13) day.

The election poll has ended at 5pm, and the ballot counting is on-going now.

Which website do you go and check for the updated GE13 result reports?

I have chosen http://live.undi.info/ powered by Malaysiakini which page loading is fast, dashboard display is straightforward, and the reports are pretty in time.

It is a clone site of http://www.malaysiakini.com/ which the page loading is not as fast, probably due to more web traffic congestion.

The current parliament results are as below (click browser's refresh to update):