After what feels like forever, we now have some beautiful Crystal Clear ROMs on our phones again! And this isn’t a baby update either. This is the official release for 5 devices: the OG Droid, Droid 2, Droid X, Droid Incredible, and even the HTC EVO. Talk about a lot of work from such a small team. I’ve had the privilege to be running Sapphire 2.0 for about 48 hours now and I am incredibly happy with this high performer.

Just a few months ago, Sapphire for the OG DROID was thee go to ROM of choice for most users. The reason being you can tell that a lot of time and energy was thrown into it and that is why it has most likely taken so long for the release. But alas, it’s great to have a developer stand by his work. If you’re new to the name, then just know that you can expect a few things when flashing their ROMs. Speed, stability, optimized performance, above par battery life, and a truly wonderful user support system based in their IRC channel #(cvpcs). You can find me in there trolling daily.

So take the time to flash one of these ROMs and I know if you love Vanilla Android at its finest, you will definitely find yourself smiling. And to the theme enthusiasts, don’t worry, themes are coming!

All releases can be found here: http://wiki.ccroms.net/ |  Change Log

Make sure to read and all the Wikis and info on each ROM before flashing.

http://www.ccroms.net/drupal/

A huge Droid-Life “You Rock” goes out to cvpcs and the all knowing Sniffle.

-Tim-o-tato

Tato’s Homescreen!

Hey everyone! Hope you’re all doing well this glorious Friday! What an amazing week here at Droid-Life! We’ve been running our Live Supprt IRC Channel, and now have our very own Droid Life Forum! It’s turning into an amazingly glorious place to be and I am completely honored to be here as a part of it. *Note: I always tear up when writing these*

So, this week we have an truly beautiful theme for Sapphire 1.0.0 for you; it’s called the Drop Theme by Pandroid. I’m sure most people here have heard of Dark Edge. Well imagine if Dark Edge had a “sexy cousin”. That is this theme. So, come on and take the plunge and give it a shot!

Downloads and install instructions after the jump…

Well…..Hello there lovely readers of Droid-Life! Boy, has it been busy around here! We got an IRC Channel, we got OTA’s, and even Manual Updates! Plus, you can expect it to get busier!

Time for a break and a nice lil’ sit down with one of my favorite peoples in the Android Community, Mr. CVPCS of the most righteous Sapphire ROM. You guys may know me for my non stop flashing of different ROM’s and themes, but if I had just one choice for a “backup” emergency ROM….it would be Sapphire. *sheds tear* It’s very good!

Anyways, enough of the emotional stuff. TechDeft and I had a great time chatting it up with CVPCS and are very excited to share this with you!

ENJOY!

_______________________________________________________________

Tim-o-tato: So, its great to chat with you as always CVPCS. For the people who might not recognize the handle, mind giving us your name and what it is you do?

Cvpcs: My name is Austen Dicken, and I am currently a software developer full time over the summer and full time student in the fall/winter/spring.

Tim-o-tato: What is  it you are currently in school for?

Cvpcs: Computer science and Mathematics (double major)

Tim-o-tato: From your work, I would say that’s just about right!

TechDeft: Is the development you mention just android or professional as well?

Talk about a busy day. We officially launched our IRC Channel which completely blew up and MrPicolas (Dr. Root) is still recovering in the Trauma Center at the local ER. We hope for a speedy recovery!

Today, I present Purple Passion by ‘roberj13′. I enjoy LOTS of his work! This theme has been ported to Sapphire 1.0.0 and runs incredibly well! Especially since the Sapphire team has built such a beautiful ROM.

Continue on to see Gallery and instructions!

The latest release from Sapphire busted onto the scene today as V1.0.0 for the Motorola Droid and as usual, remains one of the few ROMs out there truly built from source.  The quality of the work you’ll find from this team is as good as any out there and brings a smile to my face just talking about them.  (Touching right?)  So download this puppy now!

Built off of the latest source code, you will find 5 themes to choose from when flashing this including one with just a stock black bar.  Sapphire can be found for free in ROM Manager under “CVPCS” so we’ll just leave you to install from that.  I should also mention that you will have no problems with Pandora on this build.

For full release info on V1.0.0 visit the official Sapphire site here.

This post is long overdue and I deserve a slap on the wrist for not posting it sooner!

For those of you looking for a truly “built from source” ROM that is not based at all off of CyanogenMod, then you need to check out SAPPHIRE.  There are only a few developers out there who can actually say “from source” without getting castrated by the community and this is one of them.

While SAPPHIRE is still very new and currently has just a few themes (for those not loving stock), their builds will be something to pay attention to for a long time.  These releases are fast, incredibly stable and come packed with all the features you’ve come to expect from the Droid developer community.

Today’s release is their 0.7.0 Froyo build which as far as I can tell is based off of FRF84B and has been running flawlessy on my Droid for a full day now.

Give these guys a run ya’ll!

Download: sapphire-0.7.0-update.zip (alt link)

Instructions…

*For SPRecovery, simple rename to update.zip and install.

1.  Download the above file and drop on the root of your SD card.
2.  Open ROM Manager and choose “Install ROM from SD Card.”
3.  Scroll down and find sapphire-0.7.0-update.zip and tap on it.
4.  Check the box to make a backup of your current ROM.
5.  Skip “wipe data and cache” if coming from another Froyo build.
6.  Phone will reboot, install SAPPHIRE and you are done!

Full support including donate link at the SAPPHIRE website.

They are currently porting themes over to this 0.7.0 build, but you can find themes for their 0.6.2 build right now if you just can’t wait any longer.

Again, check these guys out, give them some Droid Life love and a big belated welcome to the community!

Cheers ‘Tato and ‘Picolas!