Related
XDA did a little interview with Ricardo Cerqueira, the CM mantainer of our phone, as wel as the one who opened the first path for ICS on the o2x. He tells how he first got into developing android and joined CM, as well as how he became the mantainer of most LG devices. There are some trivia and interesting things for us to note, and I just thought that the interview should be posted on this section too as people might have missed it in the xda front page.
Thanks to MUSTANGTIM 49 for doing the review, and of course Ricardo Cerqueira for his awesome work mantaining our beloved phone, enjoy the read!
In Android, every device has its Kung Fu master and for
anything LG, this master is CyanogenMod developer
Ricardo Cerqueira , otherwise known as XDA Recognized
Developer aremcee and cm_arcee . I know this first hand as
I am a proud owner of the LG G2x, a device that was
Ricardo’s daily driver for some 10 months.
We recently had the chance to have some one-on-one
time with Ricardo. Here is your chance to meet the man
behind the myth.
XDA : How did you first get into Android development?
Ricardo: I got into Android out of… boredom. I’ve been
working in IT since the late 90s, and eventually got to a
position that implied more meetings and presentations
than doing actually fun stuff, so I needed something to
get my fix. Android was all the rage at the time (3-
something years ago), so it was an easy choice.
XDA : What was your first Android device?
Ricardo: My first Android device was… the emulator, I
seriously played around with it for months, actual
android hardware was harder to come by where I
live. My first actual physical device was from a small
spanish company named Geeksphone, the Geeksphone
One. Crappy little device even for its time, but an excellent
learning platform, and the company was incredibly
supportive.
XDA : You list Lisbon, Portugal as your home, have you
always lived there?
Ricardo: Tough question… Yes and no. Family is
portuguese, but migrated to Canada in the 70s. They
returned to Portugal when I was 5.
XDA : Who is the “real” Ricardo Cerqueira?
Ricardo: The real me is father of one, husband of another,
and I like to think “overall regular guy” when away from
a keyboard.
XDA : What are your hobbies?
Ricardo: CM is my main hobby. Outside that, strictly
non-tech stuff, mostly gardening
XDA : Let’s talk CyanogenMod, you’ve got to tell us, where’s
the secret ”Bat Cave”?
Ricardo: No secret bat-cave, not even a secret
handshake. There’s an IRC channel where all of us hang
out, and yeah, from almost all over the world, US, of
course. Canada, Argentina, UK, Portugal, Spain, France,
Germany…Australia and I’m sure I’m forgetting
people, not to mention the translators, every continent
and a huge number of countries are represented from
that direction.
XDA : How does one become a member of the fabled
CyanogenMod team?
Ricardo: CM grows mostly from external contributors
that end up joining the party; the most frequent case is
people contributing support for new devices, but there are
also cases of people who submit so much stuff we just end
up asking them if they want to do it from the inside.
XDA: What makes up the majority of your duties at
CyanogenMod?
Ricardo: I do a bit of everything for CM, from
maintaining devices to reviewing code submissions. A lot
can be said to describe it, but boring is something it is not
XDA : How long have you been with CyanogenMod?
Ricardo: Hmm… let me check, since oct 2010, 20 months,
give or take.
XDA : What is the love affair between you and LG?
Ricardo: I do mostly LG devices because of the 2X,
actually. I just had to buy that dual-core goodness,
bought it, got CM on it, and then happened to meet an LG
guy at a conference; after nagging him about some of the
most annoying issues I had found in it, I was surprised
when LG called back.
XDA : Really? How did that go?
Ricardo: We had a nice, long conversation about what
and who CM was, they asked how they could help, so I
just threw my xmas list at them… and got a bunch of
“OK”s in return. LG has provided us with almost every
device they did since then, mostly to me, as well as a feel-
free-to-ask support channel if necessary. It has worked
out pretty well so far.
XDA : What has been your toughest project to date?
Ricardo: Most challenging project in CM… The starDOPs
(p990/p999). There were so many little nuts to crack, so
many tiny incompatibilities, that it took much longer
than usual to get everything that mattered working. For
that same reason, it’s also been my favorite. I love puzzles
XDA : I remember the morning you released “self-kang1″ for
the P990/P999.
Ricardo: True. I regret that decision, though.
XDA : Why?
Ricardo: Because it opened a can of worms that can’t be
closed again. Getting it to work needed some very ugly
workarounds that directly go against Google’s
compatibility document for ICS. An app developer
targeting ICS as a minimal version for his apps has the
right to expect some functionality to be guaranteed on a
device that claims to be ICS, that wasn’t (and isn’t) true
for ICS builds with these hacks. That’s one the main
reasons CM9 does not officially include a bunch of devices
that are “working.”
XDA : Well, you said it yourself, they were and are “hacks”.
Ricardo: Yes, and some users understand that, but a lot
don’t, and they’ll submit error reports on those apps, or
they’ll rate it badly at the Play store. This is not a
hypothetical scenario, it has happened whether we like it
or not, asked for it or not, CM’s userbase is large enough
to matter, even if you don’t count derivatives. We have a
responsibility not to cause that kind of grief to app
developers and we did. With all the mostly bull**** talk
about fragmentation, we actively contributed to a break
in the platform, no matter how small. That’s not a good
thing :X People SHOULD know these builds contain
hacks, but you’ve surely realized by now that they don’t
Thank you Ricardo for this interview. Also, on behalf of XDA
and myself, thank you to the entire CyanogenMod team for
all your hours of work and dedication.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Original post: http://www.xda-developers.com/android/interview-with-cyanogenmod-developer-ricardo-cerqueira/
PS: Sorry if the format is a little bit messy, I'm posting this from a tablet. Will get things tidier when I get to a PC.
How can I miss this interview?
He answered it like a bloody genius!
Thanks for pointing out mate salam
Hey folks,
Long time user (and prior to that, long time lurker) on these forums - but today, I'm posting with a random, unusual request.
I'm trying to find Android fans in Los Angeles who may be available to help me with a little TV filming this coming Monday (26th June).
Long story short - my day job is as a TV reporter in Los Angeles.. I work for a global news channel called CGTN America (we broadcast out of Washington DC, Beijing and Nairobi to around about 1.2 billion homes worldwide.. including in the US on cable and satellite, though most of our viewers tend to come internationally)..
Since I'm a huge tech-head, I'm filming a story to go out later this week on ten years of the iPhone. But I want to make it different. What often happens with these stories is some networks get reporters who know nothing about technology to do them, and you end up with something that is just saying 'the iPhone is the most amazing device ever invented.'
Regardless of what side of the fence you sit on, it is an amazing device. And it did have a revolutionary impact. But there is so much to the story other than that.
One of the angles I really want to explore is the battle between iOS and Android. The way that the iPhone almost set the lines for a war. You see it on forums like this and XDA and Apple-related forums - people trying to outdo each other.. and people getting really irate as they nail their colors to the mast of their OS of choice.
I wondered if there may be some Android fans in the LA area who I could meet up with on Monday, if we can arrange a convenient time and we film a little sequence (details of which, I'm still to work out in my head) but talking about the iOS vs Android wars. This may be just Android users or it may an Android user and an iPhone user both debating what's best about their relevant OS.
It's still a germ of an idea. But I wanted to throw it out there and hope it gets seen over the weekend.
I'm gonna post this over on Android Central as well to try to maximize the number of people who see it and also on the Samsung Forum here. The reason for the double post is that in my experience, the real ire is often between Samsung and Apple fans (reflecting the companies, almost) and so there may be people in that board that this really appeals to..
Anyway, please do reply to me on here, or via DM, or via twitter @phillavelle.
Thanks for looking and have a great day!
Phil
Drop in, introduce yourself, post pictures, ask dumb questions, talk, tease, chill out.
In memory of the beloved RC, @simms22 .
We've needed a thread like this ever since everyone wanted to constantly complain and nitpick (iPhone this, jelly that, etc). Cool.
Yep.
Stressed out and back home after a day's work. Was looking for a thread like this and found none. Nexus forums have a lot of these. At least when I used to own Nexus.
So thought I'd go ahead and create one cos I know we've got a lot of users.
All the negativity around here made me second guess my purchase a little and didn't have a single problem with my phone ?
Great thread!
What roms are you guys using
TheDarkDefender said:
What roms are you guys using
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Staying stock for now. No need to root for me at the moment.
I'll probably jump on lineage for a bit when Android O is released.
Isn't android O released already?
sucilrimal said:
Isn't android O released already?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only preview build is out
TheDarkDefender said:
What roms are you guys using
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock for the foreseeable future. When I finally get to the point where I unlock, I'll probably be on an OOS based ROM. OOS is just so good. Plus it'll probably take awhile for aftermarket ROMs to get the dual camera working 100%.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
Should be getting my device today and I am excited. First OnePlus deviice. Hopefully no issues for me, fingers crossed. Used to be a heavy Android user, lately iPhone user. Making the decision to become a programmer has me interested in Android again and to learn java programming language. I will probably skin some things for this phone and maybe otthers if I pick up more Android phones, hell maybe build some roms in the near future.
bad night at work, mainly fixing others peoples f--- ups and sovling issues. I don't go back to work till Monday....... so fishing, gaming, messing with this phone (if no issues are found), birthday party, chilling with my daughters, school work, and swimming. Might be off work, but probably not much rest lol. :highfive:
enragedpaza said:
Should be getting my device today and I am excited. First OnePlus deviice. Hopefully no issues for me, fingers crossed. Used to be a heavy Android user, lately iPhone user. Making the decision to become a programmer has me interested in Android again and to learn java programming language. I will probably skin some things for this phone and maybe otthers if I pick up more Android phones, hell maybe build some roms in the near future.
bad night at work, mainly fixing others peoples f--- ups and sovling issues. I don't go back to work till Monday....... so fishing, gaming, messing with this phone (if no issues are found), birthday party, chilling with my daughters, school work, and swimming. Might be off work, but probably not much rest lol. :highfive:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice. I think you'll love the device.
Tip: Just don't bother with the negativity in the forum, the YouTube videos and news articles. Needless to say, I've seen people *****ing about the device every which way. This phone has been great for me, I've seen zero issues so far. I got it during the preorder sale.
This is my first oneplus device too. Oneplus has come a long distance from being "just another cheap Chinese phone", when I was skeptical about it, to creating a name in the smartphone industry.
I have been a Nexus fanatic since the nexus 4 but I don't think they are worth the price tag anymore.
I kinda started out like you, interested in Android, started off learning Java, building roms for the Nexus 4 ( I was on a team that built roms called Euphoria OS, now defunct). Then, as everyone lost interest, I shifted to making money out of coding skills. Built a couple of Android apps. Now I also do Python and JavaScript mainly. Its been a fun ride, never regretted my decision.
Moderator Information,
Thread closed, Off-Topic threads are against the device specific rules. For off-topic discussions, please see the off-topic section.
Not allowed in ANY section (and also not in signatures):
everything prohibited by above linked forum rules
specified or implied off-topic threads
Discussion of / Linking to work of developers that are banned from xda. If they are banned, so is their work.
political/religious statements of any kind
Hey all!
My real name is Brandon Miniman, and you might have seen me on YouTube back in the day in Pocketnow videos. I live outside of Philadelphia, PA, and live with my wife and three kids (two girls and a boy), plus my puggle dog Ava.
I've used phones since the days of Windows Mobile phones (long live the HTC HD2 and Moto Q!). I currently use a Galaxy S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 mini.
Today, I'm part of the core leadership team at XDA where I spend my time overseeing operations (which includes working with mods, portal writers, and our technical team). Lately, since the upgrade from vBulletin to XenForo, I've been spending a lot of time working on a plan to grow the XDA community and make it the best place in the world to talk about phones. It's a tall order, and it's a bit complicated, so if you have any ideas or want to help, I'm all ears. My title is "user experience admin" because I'm the go-to guy for making the experience better on the site for users. That also means you can yell at me if you don't like something
You can follow me on Twitter if you care to: @brandonminiman. My DM box is always open if you have any questions or concerns about the site, or if you just want to say hi
Cheers Brandon!
hi everyone, im new here.
XDA was best warm home for AOSP.
XDA I like this portal for AOSP.
Hi every body, average user of modded rom, I'm here becauseof some mistake ... as usual...
Okay, you welcome!
Hello there! General Kenobi
I am iXaidyiu. I have been a member of the XDA forum for 6 years now, I have actually heard of the forum even longer until I have taken action, keep calm and mod my Xperia Go. Not long after I have started modding, rooting my Go its USB port started to malfunction and I have to get a new phone, which lands me on the Xperia Z and subsequently the Xperia Z2. During the time of using my Xperia Z's, it was the best phone I've ever had. both in real life and on this forum. It's the time I have really stepped up in the community in providing tips and tricks on modding, battery saving or even seldom known actions with the community. Even to this date half a decade later since I first started using the phone, I would still actively reach out to look for any problems I can solve in the sub-forum and even the XDA as a whole. However, as phone's security has strengthened drastically in the past few years and Google and OEMs started really cramping much of the features I want, like power-saving stuff, into the OS, the need, and frankly also the ability or the push, to mod my phone become less and less. With the introduction of SafetyNet and banking apps started to follow, it has dealt a great blow to my modding interest and I have since retreated much of my interest in looking for ways to mod as most of my previous doings require me to break the Net which I don't feel safe in doing so.
Now although I have not been participating as much when compared to the previous years, I am still keen on resolving others, especially new-comers, on their queries about using their phone, tips and tricks, though not in the too technical genres.
All in all, it's a pleasure that I have made the right choice in 2012 to go for the Xperia Mini Pro instead of the iPhone whatever and that's had led me to this place whereas I can share with others just how much our phone potentials are and what a community XDA has been, to share the love of modding and making the most out of our phones!
Very cool iXaidyiu ! I'm waiting on a phone device that doubles as a drone!
iXaidyiu said:
Hello there! General Kenobi
I am iXaidyiu. I have been a member of the XDA forum for 6 years now, I have actually heard of the forum even longer until I have taken action, keep calm and mod my Xperia Go. Not long after I have started modding, rooting my Go its USB port started to malfunction and I have to get a new phone, which lands me on the Xperia Z and subsequently the Xperia Z2. During the time of using my Xperia Z's, it was the best phone I've ever had. both in real life and on this forum. It's the time I have really stepped up in the community in providing tips and tricks on modding, battery saving or even seldom known actions with the community. Even to this date half a decade later since I first started using the phone, I would still actively reach out to look for any problems I can solve in the sub-forum and even the XDA as a whole. However, as phone's security has strengthened drastically in the past few years and Google and OEMs started really cramping much of the features I want, like power-saving stuff, into the OS, the need, and frankly also the ability or the push, to mod my phone become less and less. With the introduction of SafetyNet and banking apps started to follow, it has dealt a great blow to my modding interest and I have since retreated much of my interest in looking for ways to mod as most of my previous doings require me to break the Net which I don't feel safe in doing so.
Now although I have not been participating as much when compared to the previous years, I am still keen on resolving others, especially new-comers, on their queries about using their phone, tips and tricks, though not in the too technical genres.
All in all, it's a pleasure that I have made the right choice in 2012 to go for the Xperia Mini Pro instead of the iPhone whatever and that's had led me to this place whereas I can share with others just how much our phone potentials are and what a community XDA has been, to share the love of modding and making the most out of our phones!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, a true OG! What forums do you mainly use these days?
svetius said:
Wow, a true OG! What forums do you mainly use these days?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I still use XDA as my main and only forum for all things Android, tho if u mean specific sub-forums I would be around S10 and Z2 forum, and occasionally even XZ and OP5T, too.