Database Users

What to expect after rooting?

I have a relatively new Aria that I have been considering rooting. Several reasons.
1. Not impressed with the onboard memory and would like to delete bloatware such as Peep, AT&T Maps/Navigator/Hot Spots, Footprints, Friend Stream, IM, Latitude, and a few others. A few of those apps keep showing up in my ATK list, so I'd like to just get rid of them, as I have no intent to use them...why let them wreck my RAM?
2. Speed. I've read enough forum posts to believe that my device will run selected apps faster. Make it so.
3. Use MicroSD card for apps. Hate to be limited to the internal capacity. I expect to partition the new SD card, 1GB dedicated to apps. New card likely to be 8GB.
Here are the questions...
1. I'll be getting a new SD card before the rooting begins. How important is the whole Class 2/4/6 thing. Is Class 4 good enough?
2. If I simply swap out the SD card with a new one before the root, what would I lose besides the photos, movies, music that I have manually transferred to the existing SD card?
3. How do I go about backing up the phone for restoration if the rooting thing doesn't work out?
4. What apps/functionality will I find in the phone after the rooting?
5. Is there a list of apps/files that should not be deleted after the rooting?
6. What is all this "flasing ROM" talk about? How do I chose what I should be flashing? What are the differences and does my device model matter in this decision?

I saw your post in the android forums also and will try to help you out. I can't help you much with your questions about just rooting it, as I switched to a CM6 ROM right after I rooted mine. I am also new the the Aria/hacking world and have only had my Aria for 4-5 days. With that said, I'll help with what I can. If anyone sees my n00b mistakes, please correct me.
1. For an Aria a class 4 MicroSD will be plenty. From what I've read, the classes only relate to write speed and not read speed. Class 4 writes at 4MB/s Class 6 at 6MB/s. I believe this means you would just have to wait a little longer for the files to write to the card. Also, read speed is always faster than write speed. I've also read that the speed rating is not universal. Some companies list their Class rating as their read speed instead of write speed. I've read that Kingston is one of the ones that actually list it as write speed. With this knowledge, I decided to buy a 8gb class 4 MicroSD from Kingston.
2. Before you root, I would format the new MicroSD card and move everything from the old one onto the new one.
I'm getting tired... it's nearly 2am and I can't answer your last questions without researching into all of it. I'll quickly type up what I can answer though.
3. When I rooted my phone, I was walked through using the Ubuntu LiveCD in the IRC. I think I made a backup using Clockwork Recovery, but I'm not totally sure if this program comes on the phone or if I put it there. I've read about unrooting some phone, but know little about it. I do suggest using the Ubuntu LiveCD method for rooting though. It definitely was simple. I also suggest going into the IRC if you are unsure of anything in the rooting process. They are really helpful there even though they don't have to be. Here's a link to the Ubuntu LiveCD root method. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=741824
4. Like I said, I switched to the CM6 ROM right after rooting so I am not familiar with a stock Aria that's just been rooted. I am pretty sure that it doesn't install any apps and just gives you superuser access to modify the programming.
5. Don't uninstall anything that you aren't sure of unless you make a nandroid backup in Clockwork first. I don't believe it's that simple to just go in there and delete important files anyway. I know that on CM6 I had to access the adb to delete some things. I won't get further into that.
6. A ROM is sorta an emulator. Think how people play Nintendo games on their computers. The ROM emulates a Nintendo system on your computer, so a ROM for your phone emulates another operating system on your phone. (in this case Android 2.2 would being emulated on your phone) You don't have to install a new ROM after you root your phone. You can if you want, but you don't have to. As far as what version to install... I do not know the exact differences in each ROM. I am running CM6 Liberty A012 and don't have problems with it. The different builds of CM6 just fix bugs, I believe. I don't think they are 'theme specific', for lack of a better term, meaning that one isn't better than the other for gps use or whatever. Finally, as long as you have an HTC Aria, your device will work for any mod listed in this Aria forum.
Hopefully I didn't confuse you more and hopefully I didn't give the vets of this forum more work to fix my mistakes. I also hope that what I wrote is at least a little better than letting it go unanswered, as I assume you are as impatient for information as I am.

Anthony1s, your post is spot on except for a bit of confusion on what the term "ROM" really means. You basically have the idea right except that it really has nothing to do with emulation. You aren't emulating an operating system on your phone; you are running it natively!
The "ROM" (in terms of how it applies to an Android phone) is basically the main operating system and a collection of apps necessary for the phone to function. When you "flash" a ROM, you are replacing what is currently on the phone with a new version of the operating system. That's all you really need to know as far as Android ROMs are concerned.
For the Aria, there aren't a ton of options yet on which ROM to use. The Liberated ROMs by attn1 are created by taking the default ROM that comes with the phone and making minor adjustments -- namely, deleting a few built-in apps that most people don't want and removing boot up sounds. If you use this ROM, your phone will appear to function virtually unchanged from the way it comes out of the box. Everything will look the same, it will still have Sense UI on Android 2.1 (Eclair), etc. If the only thing you want is to remove some of the "bloatware" apps, I suggest using one of the Liberated ROMs instead of trying to delete the apps manually. It's a lot simpler this way.
There's also the CM6 Froyo ROM. You can read the thread on it to see all the differences, but it uses Android 2.2 (Froyo) with the default Android UI (not Sense UI). Also, if you install this, you have to do a complete reset on the phone to clear all settings/etc., which is not necessary with Liberated. The CM6 ROM is still in an early development stage which means there are probably some bugs that you will encounter although it may not be anything too significant, whereas the Liberated ROM seems to have almost everything working correctly. The main advantage of this build is the fact that it uses Froyo which has some speed improvements for apps among other new features.
Hopefully that answers all your questions.

Thanks Drumist. I got a question that I've had on my mind for two days. I've read that the Nexus One gets more MFLOPS because froyo 2.2 uses a JIT compiler. Does the CM6 ROM use a JIT compiler or is that something we have to wait for in the official release? I don't mean to hijack, but your knowledge reminded me of my question.

Yes, the CM6 ROM has the JIT compiler. It's one of the reasons the benchmarks for the Aria on CM6 are almost double that of the stock rom. You can actually turn it off as well if you hit Menu > Cyanogen Mod Settings > Performance Settings.

Quick Questions before I take the plundge!

Hey guys,
Yesterday I got my 3 button download mode working, so now I'm ready to use a new rom, just have a quick question or 2.
Basically I think I have made my mind up on what ROM to use - I'm going to use Darkys steel ROM - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=814091
So first question is - is this a good ROM to start with? From what I can tell it seems like a fairly simple install process, and has quite a lot of features, so I'm thinking this will suit me well.
Now I understand that this will wipe all my apps, second question is, will all my purchases be available for download still (cause these are saved on my gmail account, right? )
Lastly, also related to apps, is I only have 2 things I want to save from my current phone, that is I want to save my contacts, and I want to save my messages. If I flash with the above ROM, will kies not be able to restore these for me? If so, is there another way to backup and restore these settings before I start flashing?
I think thats all, I'm still at work, so I can't start just yet, but when I get home I'll get started on my android customization journey!
Also a quick thanks to all the contributors to this forum, you guys do amazing work, appreciate it.

Darky's is a great ROM to start with, however the lagfix corrupted my internal SD card and i ended up just getting a new phone because of it. I would assume this is highly unlikely, and possibly due to error on my part, but keep it in mind nonetheless. (EDIT: I could be completely wrong about this, I used other ROMS and flashed different firmwares so its unfair to target this ROM specifically, its just what I happened to be using when my phone screwed up, it might have been unreleted) Yes, you will be able to redownload your purchases, and as for saving your contacts and messges, can you save them onto your SIM card?
Good luck!

I was in a similiar situation not that long ago, and decided to try Darky's ROM as my first ever. His instructions really were incredibly easy to follow, and I did not have any real issues. in fact it took less than 30 minutes to download it all and get it working. overall, couldn't recommend it more (though I haven't tried any other ROMs).
MyBackUp Pro is what I used to back up all my data on my phone (missed calls, settings, etc). Its a paid up, but it's not expensive and I found it worth the money. it also backs up alot of your apps. It will back up your contacts, but Android actually has an export contacts feature to back them up. look in your options in your address book and you will find it.

Excellent, that pretty much covers my questions then! Just got back from work, so I'll give darkys ROM a go and post back! Really interested to see how this turns out

Why Voodoo???

We get this question in IRC a lot. Why voodoo? Convince me that I need voodoo! Make up my mind!
First, understand that nobody has any business making up your mind, and those that are doing it for you, aren't doing you a favor. Second, realize that if you need your mind made up, you truly don't understand voodoo.
So, I will attempt to do a small Q and A here to help sort some of you folks who seem to think they need to be coerced.
Q: What is voodoo?
A: Voodoo is a system file conversion from RFS to EXT4. RFS, while fine for reading operations, is not for writing. So, when something write intensive...writes...the phone slows down. Wayyyy down. Sometimes even pauses. By using EXT4, it helps alleviate this issue.
Now, most operations on a phone device will be read operations. Write operations do happen, but only for certain types of apps, such as rss readers, news readers, browsers, heavy emailing, and sms with large lists. These are just some examples.
Now, does that mean that it will speed up said application? Maybe?. If said application is writing to the SD card instead of the internal data partition, then what YOU need is a faster SD card to see a performance increase. So do some research!
Q: Can voodoo mess me up and break my phone if something goes wrong?
A: Yes! Yes, yes yes! Be prepared to fix it and know how before installing. Read all about voodoo, then read some more!
Q: Make my mind up for me! Do I want voodoo?
A: If you need to ask this, the answer is no.
*credit to pete*

*coughKeevercough*

great post adryn...way too many people are misinformed about voodoo and think its something akin to overclock.
also way too many people who root and mod their phone dont take the time really understand what they are doing and have no idea how to recover their phone when they run into the inevitable issues that arise.

[Q] Overall Suggestions

Hey, so this is my first post here and I'm looking forward to learning more about my phone and it's capabilities here. So far I've read through the forums multiple times and have seen a lot of different suggestions and information.
I've gotten a little confused, so I'm asking for some peoples' opinions on what route I should take to rooting my phone.
Basically, I have an HTC Evo running on android 2.2.
My baseband info is 2.15.00.11.19, and my software is 3.70.xxx.x
At the moment I just want to be able to root my phone so I can force roam and use the free wifi tethering.
I might run a custom rom if I need to, because I've heard that you can upgrade your radios, making 3g faster.
How should I go about rooting my phone and installing these roms if I choose to install them? I've read horror stories about people losing their rsa/wimax keys and being screwed for life. Do nandroid backups back these up as well, or would I need to do something special? The wimax/rsa keys are my main concern about rooting, because I would very much like to use 4G on my phone when I have the option to.
I've been recommended to try out one of the CM7 nightly builds by a friend and I know that it currently doesn't have 4G, at the moment, my area doesn't have 4G and I figure it by the time I get it, CM will have wimax support. If I did upgrade to a CM7 build though, would I be in danger of losing my RSA/wimax keys due to wimax not currently being supported by CM7, or are they kept in tact even though wimax isn't supported.
Thanks in advance for the help,
I'm kind of new here, so every bit helps

root with unrevoked, you will be fine.
use RA recovery to backup your wimax partition then save that in multiple places, dropbox, safes, every hard drive you own, email it to yourself etc, then you can use any recovery
cwm recovery backs up wimax now too but I'm biased to RA fwiw
cm7 nightlies have 4g now btw, upgrade to them when you feel like change, you dont need to change your rom if you dont want to
flashing a rom won't make you lose your keys, but keep the backup safe anyways
flashing is only hard the first few times then you get comfortable, dont become an addict like me, dont worry about ruining your phone, think happy thoughts

thanks for the advice. One question though, do nandroid backups keep wimax/rsa keys?
So instead of backing up the wimax/rsa individually, could I just do a nandroid backup and keep everything nice and safe as one big file?
If this is possible, is there a certain way that you have to do it?

Scripted said:
thanks for the advice. One question though, do nandroid backups keep wimax/rsa keys?
So instead of backing up the wimax/rsa individually, could I just do a nandroid backup and keep everything nice and safe as one big file?
If this is possible, is there a certain way that you have to do it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With Amon Ra you can choose what your backups include. Wimax is one of the options. Most people just back it up once and save a copy somewhere off the phone rather than choosing to back it up every time. Not sure about clockwork, never used it.

You already have the latest radios. You can't upgrade any further or get more speed out of them.
Here is another recommendation for using unevoked to un root. It works flawlessly.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

So I am a newbie to the HTC EVO and Android, but I have flashed WM ROM's on the HTC Touch Pro and even the HTC 6700 Brick. I've read all 184 pages of posts of xHausx [ROOT] ~~~ HTC EVO - Universal Auto Root ~~~ v2.3 (works with all version)(2/13/11), ok so I skimmed some of the log files, but I did watch the youtube video three times.
So I decided to notify that developer I was about to run his script and list the various hardware and software versions and thank him for all his work, but this site REQUIRES 10 posts (no matter how inane those 10 post might be) as long as you wait 5 minutes between posts. I understand that you want to cut down on repeat questions, but surely there must be a better way to check for a minimum level of competence. Perhaps a quiz, where certain answers are in the various FAQ's.
All the current policy does is to encourage posting (10 to be exact) regardless of the quality of the content, the very behavior it is designed to reduce!
7 more posts left.
7 posts left.

[Q] Scrolling or touchscreen issues?

Hi all,
Been on the forums awhile for my HTC EVO 4G, so I know the routine I've searched this forum as well as others but had difficulty finding the answers I was looking for. I purchased an A500 on Friday and was hoping that I had quite the bargain, but was surprised at the problems that the device has had right out of the box with regards to scrolling and touchscreen responsiveness. Here's the breakdown.
Problem: It seems that anytime I need to scroll the interface, whether it's in the Browser (stock, Firefox, Dolphin all had the same problem), in drop-down dialog boxes, or even in Gallery or main home screen, scrolling is inconsistent at best, and at worst, completely unresponsive. However, in the case of Facebook or Browser, when the behavior begins, if I put the tablet to sleep and immediately bring it back up, scrolling works just as I would want/expect it to.
Caveats: There is an app that I have used, called "Fluid Monkey", that is basically just a fluid physics simulator (free on the Market). Similar scrolling gestures does NOT have inconsistent behavior, the screen and interface are very responsive, so to me it implies it's not a hardware issue.
Steps Taken So Far: I've successfully rooted the device, installed Thor's CWM, backed up the stock rom, and installed Icylicious, as it seemed to be one that was very obviously supported by CWM (I didn't want to go too far in modding it should I need to return it for a refund). While it does seem that there is a bit better overall performance, I am still experiencing the same interface issues. I have also tried the three touch sensitivity settings, but haven't noticed a difference. I have also found the following things to try:
Using V6 Supercharger Script (supposedly supports ALL devices);
A particular tweak to framework.jar that requires the use of baksmali
I guess the short of it is, has anyone else experienced this same problem right out of the box? Is there a simple fix for this? I really like the device, but it was the last one in stock (clearance as well), so I don't want to take it back if I can fix it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!!

I've had this problem before. The short answer is, it's probably a background process eating up CPU. Best idea to solve it is to do a clean install of your ROM (optimally one with as much as possible crap removed/deactivated, lightspeed is the extreme in that direction -- it is pretty much bare metal, though other custom ROMs are pretty good in that matter also and give a bit more user comfort), then install your apps, one at a time (or restore with TB), run the app, then see if the problem is there.
Another thing you can try is using one of the ICS custom ROMs (they won't screw up your bootloader, the original leak will) and see whether forced HW acceleration can do you any good...

Thanks haag... I had done the clean install of Icylicious (the ICS rom) last night after a full backup/wipe. Even during the first set-up process of setting up the time zone, it took me five minutes to get the drop-down to scroll up to my proper timezone. This was before any extra apps were installed!
Despite my initial assessment, I am starting to feel that the device is unfortunately doomed on the hardware side. I hope there's more suggestions I can try today, otherwise it's going back to the store.

I've seen many people here who are quite savvy with this little device, and I really don't want to return it if I can resolve the issue, but I'm running out of ideas... does anyone have any other ideas I can try, or is it an unfortunate lost cause?

Try Flexreaper R11 you won't be disappointed. Sounds like you are on an older version of ICS that had alot of touchscreen problems. You want to make sure you are on 1.031 or newer version of the leaked ICS roms.

wrathx said:
I've seen many people here who are quite savvy with this little device, and I really don't want to return it if I can resolve the issue, but I'm running out of ideas... does anyone have any other ideas I can try, or is it an unfortunate lost cause?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I Would probably advise flashing a 3.2.1 rom, like Honeylicous. I believe he has all the garbage pulled out. This will give you a good base idea if there is a defect with the tab.
In your case, before you go messing around installing any more of the ICS BETA roms, think about it for a minute. Because you'll need to flash bootloaders appropriate to the rom on a couple of them. And this will just be more headache when you discover you indeed have a hardware issue, and have to go back to stock to return it. Remember that the ICS builds, are all Beta.
Try Honeylicous, or any of the 3.2.x roms without a whole lot of mods to them. Make sure you do your wipes and formats properly, then check for the defects. You want to make sure all traces are removed from the previous rom.
There are actually some stock rooted roms available.

I appreciate the suggestions! That was one of the reasons I chose Icylicious, it seemed to have fewer steps and requirements to install and mess with. I may try and backup my current set-up and load up Honeylicious and see if that helps.
Again, thanks all... I hope I don't have to reply further in this thread

wrathx said:
I appreciate the suggestions! That was one of the reasons I chose Icylicious, it seemed to have fewer steps and requirements to install and mess with. I may try and backup my current set-up and load up Honeylicious and see if that helps.
Again, thanks all... I hope I don't have to reply further in this thread
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No Problem!
Just make sure you follow all the instructions as far as wipes and formats. And... make sure you have a good recovery backup.