First Windows Phone 7.8 custom ROM lands at XDA Forums for the HD7

File this under shocking, but wonder hacker Dotcompt has gone ahead an managed to port over Windows Phone 7.8 (early build) from a Nokia phone to a the venerable HTC HD7.

The ROM is now live and ready to be downloaded though like all ROMs, there are some caveats and things to pay attention too, including the fact that this has not yet been widely tested. For the most part, it looks like you just get a new Start screen but it's too early to tell.

WP Central

Dotcompt’s notes on the release are quite specific and if you are willing to flash your HD7 for the new OS, it should be quite a wild ride:

  • OS Version: 7.10.8835.35
  • ONLY FOR HTC HD7 (I will try to port it to other devices as soon as I have some free time)
  • Available languages: only English
  • You can now have the the new Windows Phone 8 Start Screen.
  • I did not test it properly, I was in a hurry to share with you guys.
  • For sure, it is still a Microsoft Beta Build so some thing may not work, specially in none Nokia Devices.
  • The Rom was dumped from a Nokia device and is based on Tango 12180, because it won't boot if we use WP 7.8 kernel.dll and probably most 3d party apps from Marketplace might crash.
  • The Rom is almost untouched, this means it is not full unlocked or rooted and homebrew apps will not work (for now). It has only a few Deepshining customizations.
  • You can always flash back a WP7.5 Rom if you wish.

Of course we’re not sure if its more astonishing that Dotcompt managed to get his hands on WP7.8 (which is most likely unfinished) or that he went so far as to port it over to the HD7.

For those wanting this on other Windows Phone, we’re sure that it is just a matter of time before other ‘chefs’ pick up and do just that.

Source: XDA Forums; Also see Jaxbot's take from Windows Phone Hacker here.

Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.