When the HTC Thunderbolt was first released we talked a lot about rooting it, but once some custom ROMs starting popping up, we sort of backed off until we heard from readers on their favorites.  We were also waiting to see which ROMs were popping up as the most popular and with the most support before we started pimpin’ any of them.  Well, it’s time we start pinging some of our brave rooted and ROM’d readers to see which Thunderbolt ROM is fulfilling their needs.  Is it Das BAMF?  Liquid Thundersense?  Let us know!

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Somewhere on the internet you heard that Motorola was hoping to get an official build of Gingerbread (Android 2.3) for the DROIDX signed off on by Verizon today…oh that’s right, you heard it right here from us.  And according to our homie P3Droid, Verizon has done just that, meaning we are days away from seeing the build made available to our phones.  So how do you get your phone to a state where it can receive the update?  Well, a method has been provided that doesn’t include flashing an SBF back to Froyo.

A new build (4.5.595) has been made available and will apparently allow you to accept the update when it arrives.  I know that some of you just got done flashing 4.5.591, but P3 assures us that you need to jump up to .595 in order to get the official build which should be 4.5.596.  And if you are running either of the other two leaks (.573 or .588) then you’ll need to update to 4.5.595 as well.  Make sense?

Download:  Full Stock – No Root | Full Odexed | Full Deodexed

Update:  If you want to receive the official update, you’ll need to be on the “Full Stock – No Root” version.

Instructions:

1.  Drop the file on your SD card.
2.  Boot into recovery using the Bootstrap.
3.  Install the zip through Clockwork Recovery.
4.  Enjoy version 4.5.595 of GB.

Full support can be found at MyDroidWorld.

Another version of Gingerbread (Android 2.3) has been released for the DROIDX, this time as version 4.5.591.   We’re being told that if you are running one of the other 2 leaks, you can install this right over the top assuming you haven’t modified anything.  If you kept it completely stock but with root, then you should have no problems flashing this.  If you have modified anything, you’ll need to return your phone to a stock state or you will more than likely run into issues.

*Rooted users only.  If you need to root, use GingerBreak.

*If you lose root afterwards, use GingerBreak to re-root.

*Nandroids back to Froyo will no longer work after updating.  SBF still will.

*Only change made was to the build.prop to show all apps in market.

Downloads:

Deodexed Apps + Odexed Framework| Fully Deodexed | Fully Odexed

1.  Drop whichever file you choose from above onto your SD card.
2.  Boot into recovery using Bootstrap. (Still using D2 Boostrap.)
3.  Flash as you would any other .zip file.

Full support can be found at My Droid World.

Cheers Brian!

If Sense 2.0 on the HTC Thunderbolt is not your cup of Android tea, then prepare yourselves for stock goodness with CyanogenMod 7.  A pre-alpha build started to make the rounds over the weekend and while it has a handful of expected issues, most brave testers are enjoying the heck out of it.  Again, this is pre-alpha, but it’s looking like we’ll be adding the Tbolt to the list of CM devices that we throw coverage at.

Who’s been testing it already?  Would love to hear your thoughts.  

If you grabbed that semi-official DROIDX  Gingerbread build 4.5.588 from a few weeks back and didn’t wait for the steps to update with root, you are now in luck.  XDA member chainfire has released an app called GingerBreak that worked flawlessly on my non-rooted DX the first time.  The app is actually based off of an exploit found by the Android Exploid Crew.

Download:  GingerBreak-v1.1.0.apk Update:  Here is version 1.2.

Instructions:

1.  Turn on USB Debugging on your phone.
2.  Download and install the app from above.
3.  Open it and hit the “Root device” button.
4.  Your phone will reboot when it’s finished, with root access.

To make sure you have the latest version of GingerBreak and to read up on possible bugs including random SD card formats, you’ll want to watch this XDA thread.

Cheers Evan!

Just two weeks in after the official release of CM7 and we’ve got an update that fixes some of the bugs you may have encountered.  It also is the first official “stable” version of 7.0 that we’ve seen for the original DROID.  Nice work guys.  Now, if only everyone in this business would act this fast on bug fixes…

Downloads:  DROID | Incredible

Changelog.

Cheers Keith and blackcatroad!

Mr. JCase whom you may know from Team AndIRC, dropped a new RUU for the HTC Thunderbolt this morning, one that is potentially an OTA update which could be here any day.  He’s tweaked it just enough so that you will keep root if you flash this, but know that you will indeed lose all of your apps and other user data.  This definitely wipes everything.  Luckily, we all should be using the mighty Titanium Backup at this point, so wiping isn’t a worry.

So what does this new update fix?  Some things that have troubled many of you:

• GPS Location Services
• LTE/3G Transitions
• Audio Recording
• Video Playback
• Proximity Sensor drain
• SQLite API

Update:  The full RUU for non-rooted users is on the way…stay tuned.

Update 2:  Non-rooted users:  Full RUU download for non-rooted users.  Download Link

Rooted users:  Download Link (MD5SUM:  53e78863b7cc829261b4c6e1b984c200)

*Rename to PG05IMG.zip, drop it on SD card, flash in HBOOT.

Full support can be found at this XDA thread.  Full RUU thread.