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Have you been eyeing up that tasty HTC One Google Edition our American cousins have got their hands on? You know, the one that runs stock Android, rather than the HTC Sense bloatware us Brits have to put up with? Help could be at hand in the form of MoDaCo.Switch, Engadget reports.
It’s a ROM that lets you run both stock Android and HTC Sense side by side, so you can switch between them. I’ve embedded a video of it in action below, so you can see how it works.
Just open the app, and you can choose whether to run HTC Sense or stock Android. Every time you switch between the two, the phone will have to reboot, so it’s not as simple as something like the Samsung Ativ Q, which lets you run Windows 8 and Android side by side without having to restart.
All your data is shared between the two, though, so all your files will show up in both Sense and stock Android.
You’ll have to root your HTC One in order to run MoDaCo.Switch, which will invalidate your warranty. And running two operating systems will take up extra space, which rather misses the point of having stripped-back pure Android. But if you’re undecided as to whether Sense or stock Android would suit you best, and storage isn’t an issue, it could be worth a look.
Its creator Paul O’Brien is currently bug-fixing before he releases a beta version, which he promises is coming soon.
HTC has said it’s “examining the best way to support early adopters of the One”, hinting it might bring stock Android to any HTC One. Which would be quite a boon, as it’d save faffing with ROMs and invalidating your warranty, or having to buy a whole new blower.
The HTC One Google Edition is only available in the US at the moment, with no word on when (or if) it’ll reach these shores.
Would you like to run stock Android on your HTC One? Will you try MoDaCo.Switch? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook page.
