I decided to have a go at installing a custom ICS ROM onto my HTC Sensation ... and wow do all the "instructions" on the various websites suck! :-(

They all seem to cross reference each other for little bits of the puzzle, are full of broken links and you have to skim through 76000 (no that is not a typo!) posts to be sure you've got the latest version of whatever bit of software you need.

Maybe I should dumb down and get an iPhone ?

Still I gave it a go!

So now my Telecom XT HTC Sensation is running the Revolution HD flavour of ICS and is now reporting itself as a 1.8Ghz dual core!!!!  Yikes!  (maybe I'll pick the other custom kernel next time ... since guess what .. the docs suck and don't say anything about which kernel turns your phone into a portable nuclear event!)

So if anyone would like to repeat what I did, I can sum the instructions up into :

1)  Go to http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1098849 and pick the ROM you like the sound of (I picked the "Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) + Sense UI 3.6 + Beats Audio (HTC stable)"
2)  Go to http://revolutionary.io/ and pick up the Windows or Linux tool to S-OFF your phone .. actually the instructions here are not to bad
   -  HBOOT info can be obtained by powering off the phone fully (battery pulled then replaced), then hold volume down and power button till you see a strange new menu with the HBOOT info.
3)  On Windows uninstall anything HTC sync/drive related and then download/install these HTC fastboot drivers
4)  Run the Revolutionary tool from the command line, follow the prompts and plug in your phone (enable HTC Sync mode) and again read and follow the screen
   -  When it asks if you want to install the Clockworkmod say No.
5)  After it's done all it's stuff, boot into the volume down+power menu again and you should now be S-OFF
6)  Next You are going to need "fastboot" from the Android SDK you can get it by installing the SDK : http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html ... again follow the million or so prompts and you'll be done.
7)  Once you have fastboot we get SuperCID your phone (so you can install any region ROM and not ones locked to the Telecom CID (TELNZ001), to do this enable fastbot on the phone by holding down volume down + power after a cold boot (battery out), use the volume controls to choose "fastboot" and press the power button .. then connect the USB cable to the phone (it'll change to "fastboot usb")
8)  Go to where "fastboot" is installed on your computer and enter "fastboot oem writecid 11111111"
9) Now we'll put in a better recovery tool into the phone (4Ext) go to http://vi8.info/HTC-Sensation/Non-Stock-Recovery/ and download "4Ext-Recovery-Touch-1.0.0.5-RC5", put that PG58IMG.ZIP file onto the root of your SD card, put it in the phone and boot into the volume down+power menu .. it'll see the file, load it and ask if you want to flash it .. say yes and do what it says.
10)  Next Shutdown the phone, pull the memory card out and go here to download the new firmware files (not the ROM, this is firmware for the radios and whatnot) go here : and get it http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1412618  I used "Firmware from 3.33.401.6 & 3.33.401.106 RUU", save the PG58IMG.ZIP" file to the root of your SD card, put it in the phone and boot into the volume down+power menu .. it'll see the file, load it and ask if you want to flash it .. say yes and do what it says.
11)  Next is to wipe out all the rubbish from the phone, get "SuperWipe" from here : http://goo.gl/7gfUK  put it on the SD card, boot into the volume down+power menu, then select "Recovery" as the option .. 4Ext will spend a while starting up, but you can then chose to "install zip from sdcard" .. do that and select the super wipe zip file ... follow the prompts etc.
12)  And finally now onto the ROM!  Take the ROM you chose back up in step 1, copy it to the SDcard, boot into the volume down+power menu, then select "Recovery" as the option .. 4Ext will spend a while starting up, but you can then chose to "install zip from sdcard" .. do that and select the super wipe zip file ... follow the prompts (and make a guess as to some of the answers because the docs sure as hell don't help!) etc.
13) Another reboot and you should be good to go and have an ICS Sensation that's overclocked to buggery have pretty graphics and be rooted.


Simple wasn't it ... bah!

Needless to say I'm not responsible if you brick your phone or you cat catches fire after you following this "guide" .. I did it from memory after I'd done mine and I think it's about right.

And now I'm off to bed ... cause my phone was in a bricked state for a few hours till I sussed out the junkie instructions and now I'm tired.