Database Users

[Q] Complete Android Noobie...

Hey Guys!
I just got my first android device (switched over from iPhone 3g) and I LOVE IT!
With that said, now to business! I read a lot about rooting the Evo, and other android devices, and I must say, I am quite lost in the lingo. I looked through a bunch of threads, and there are a bunch of tutorials about rooting the device in many different ways. And, after reading a lot of them, I found out about unrevoked, but I am not quite sure what it does. I gather it is a one step rooting program, but if that is the case, what is PC36IMG.zip needed for if unrevoked already roots the device in one click?
Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.

Arm0 said:
Hey Guys!
I just got my first android device (switched over from iPhone 3g) and I LOVE IT!
With that said, now to business! I read a lot about rooting the Evo, and other android devices, and I must say, I am quite lost in the lingo. I looked through a bunch of threads, and there are a bunch of tutorials about rooting the device in many different ways. And, after reading a lot of them, I found out about unrevoked, but I am not quite sure what it does. I gather it is a one step rooting program, but if that is the case, what is PC36IMG.zip needed for if unrevoked already roots the device in one click?
Any clarification would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok so rooting removes the protected recovery on the phone. a recovery lets you restore/factory reset and install updates manually. with the non protected recovery, you can make the phone think it is being manually updated, but really you are modifying it to your hearts content. read up on roms. i reccomend flashing the ava froyo v7. very good. have fun with your newly rooted device!!!! just tell me if you need more info.
btw, this should be in questions and answers

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place, and thanks for the respond. Figured, can't go wrong with General!
So, if i just root it without running a custom recovery, can I still run tethering apps and the screen shot app?

Basically the root gets you access deeper in the phones files than you previously had. You also gain a new set of permissions (superuser permissions) with the process so that your phone allows you to do more, similar to the iphone jailbreak.
You will need a custom recovery. The updates that sprint/htc usually send out over the air (OTA) can't be used anymore because you will lose your root, so you have to apply them manually through recovery instead. This is just one reason, but the custom recovery is a necessity. It can look complicated, especially the way it reads on the forums, but it is very simple once you have it in your hands.
After rereading your post, you may be referring to a custom rom, not recovery. You do not have to use a custom rom, you can just use stock with root access and superuser permissions and be good to go for wifi tether & screen shots

So, from what I gather, we use unrevoked to unlock the phone and get more privileges, and the custom recovery is used to not lose root privileges after Sprint or HTC puts out new updates to the devices?

essentially, you got it. The recovery is used for lots of different things, like adding themes, changing kernels, custom roms, backups, ect.
There are also methods besides unrevoked to gain root. It all depends on the type of person you are, if you want root and don't want to think about it, use one of the one click methods. If you want to learn a little check out regaw_leinad's root thread and the videos that are in the OP and you will get root and you will know how it happened when your done.
My recommendation is to choose your method of root and do it and stick with the stock rooted rom for a bit. Read the forums, mostly the OPs on the different custom roms and the kernel threads and you will start to get an idea of what you want from your rooted phone. After a week or two of hanging out on the forums, you will know what you want and you will have enough grasp to go for it. Read OPs thoroughly and follow directions to the T and you will not have any problems.

[Q] advice what to do on new tab?

considering this is my 1st android, what should i do with the tab? step by step
lurking in this forum, i definitely want to root and be able upgrade firmware or to do anything in my tab
but what should i prepare? in the noob root for beginner, there's only explanation about rooting
can i save the original rom? what app to use? do i need to back up 1st? using what?
and can i upgrade the stock firmware to the jk1 without flashing it 1st to jj4? (since from what i read jj4 is full flash and jk1 is not, logically the stock firmware must be full flash also)
many thanks to those who can explain it in beginner's language
or maybe a couple of links would help
i already got the tutorial for the rooting process, so basically, what i need to do before rooting is what i need so i wont lose anything precious

I'd just start using it. Get some apps installed, see what you need/want/like to do with it, and if something you need/want/like to do is prevented by not having root access, then root it.
I'd say for the majority of Android users, there really is not much need to root, since Android lets you do so much right out of the box, unlike the competition that requires "jailbreaking" (God I hate that term) just to do simple **** like customizing.
Same goes with firmware. Unless you really enjoy the process of flashing and all that's associated with it, there's not always a clear need to do so. The only time I recommend somebody flash custom/leaked firmware for more than the fun-factor is if there's a problem in the current firmware that can only be fixed by flashing.
That said, this is XDA, which is all about custom ROMs and rooting and extracting more from a device than what the manufacturer shipped it with. Have at it.

jailbreaking lol, yeah, hate that
well something that bugs me is about the mobile browser view that some ppl actually advising rooting to be able to do that
hmm, what about what to do 1st if i actually want to root? any advice what to do and what app to use?

rooting on the Galaxy Tab is extremely simple:
1) Open the Market
2) Install and run 'z4root'
3) Hit the 'root' button' and wait
That's it.
Once you're done with that, one of the first things I'd suggest is to get AdFree installed and updated. It'll quite successfully block all those annoying ads.

i know about z4root, what i need to know is what i should do before rooting, like backing up the stock OS or data or app or anything like that, so i wouldnt regret having rooted my tab in case i flashed it with newest firmware like jk1

Rooting doesn't prevent flashing, or do any harm by itself, and when you flash, you wipe/reset the root.

oh, i see
so basically it just void my warranty and give me administator authorities like in windows?
thanks then

If you have to return your tab for any reason just reflash stock rom from whatever cell provider you got it from and the root is gone thus no breaking of the warranty

Yep, I rooted with z4root the other day. Was a piece of cake, although 1st attempt required a restart before it got going. 1st thing to install after that is Adblock.
Perfect.
Oh yeah, after that I installed titanium backup to get rid of the crappy gallery and replace it with the modded gallery 3rd form hi res zooming.
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

What modded gallery are you talking about? I'd like to change the gallery because I hate the stock one!

[Q] Awaiting first Android phone, DHD, a little baffled!

First off, Hi! Decided to remove myself from Apple's clutches and become a Droid user and the device that swayed me, the Desire HD (just waiting for the stock now from Orange!). Admittedly, Apple have relaxed App approval but I would not use the iPhone without the Jailbreak community and Developers, opens up the device a little for tinkering but the whole Unlock, preserve baseband, Apple update, Jailbreak tools release game has taken it's toll but if honest, it's the personalization for MY DEVICE which is moving me to Android as well as the fiddle ability. Not a fault of the DEV's who work tirelessly and need much applause, time to change and can always return!
So onto some questions, I'm coming on late so please forgive these queries, I've read what I can over the last couple of months!
No doubt I'll be playing with the phone in it's standard guise for a while BUT the time will come when I want to progress further and start ROMing. I'm aware of Visionary by the way, what it can do but the actual facts and what I'll see once complete is where I get lost
Can I restore the phone to factory if temp or perm rooted?
After a month of stock usage (photo's SMS email contacts, usual stuff), how would I get this stuff back if, after rooting (temp or perm) I want to go back to factory or remain rooted i.e different custom ROM?
If I root, do I have to setup everything again? Hard resetting the DHD if using temp root returns the factory ROM? If prem root is applied, how do you return to factory? Where is the factory ROM stored?
I'm not having a go but most of the guides explain the process, think I'm just missing the 'what it actually does?' in Android for Dummies speak. Long as I can backup, restore (yes, I'm used to iTunes taking care of this), apply custom ROM with Sense (requires perm root?), go back if needs be, I'll be a little happier.
No abuse please, I've been Jailbreaking iPhones since their inception so totally up to speed...this is all new and it's the same olde, once fiddled I'll probably laugh at asking! I have bookmarks spread across multiple sites for the DHD, great community and can't wait to get started!!
Cheers
-Chris

Veitchc said:
First off, Hi! Decided to remove myself from Apple's clutches and become a Droid user and the device that swayed me, the Desire HD (just waiting for the stock now from Orange!). Admittedly, Apple have relaxed App approval but I would not use the iPhone without the Jailbreak community and Developers, opens up the device a little for tinkering but the whole Unlock, preserve baseband, Apple update, Jailbreak tools release game has taken it's toll but if honest, it's the personalization for MY DEVICE which is moving me to Android as well as the fiddle ability. Not a fault of the DEV's who work tirelessly and need much applause, time to change and can always return!
So onto some questions, I'm coming on late so please forgive these queries, I've read what I can over the last couple of months!
No doubt I'll be playing with the phone in it's standard guise for a while BUT the time will come when I want to progress further and start ROMing. I'm aware of Visionary by the way, what it can do but the actual facts and what I'll see once complete is where I get lost
Can I restore the phone to factory if temp or perm rooted?
After a month of stock usage (photo's SMS email contacts, usual stuff), how would I get this stuff back if, after rooting (temp or perm) I want to go back to factory or remain rooted i.e different custom ROM?
If I root, do I have to setup everything again? Hard resetting the DHD if using temp root returns the factory ROM? If prem root is applied, how do you return to factory? Where is the factory ROM stored?
I'm not having a go but most of the guides explain the process, think I'm just missing the 'what it actually does?' in Android for Dummies speak. Long as I can backup, restore (yes, I'm used to iTunes taking care of this), apply custom ROM with Sense (requires perm root?), go back if needs be, I'll be a little happier.
No abuse please, I've been Jailbreaking iPhones since their inception so totally up to speed...this is all new and it's the same olde, once fiddled I'll probably laugh at asking! I have bookmarks spread across multiple sites for the DHD, great community and can't wait to get started!!
Cheers
-Chris
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an option to unroot in visionary so you dont lose anything..
Rooting alone will not let you flash custom roms or kernels..
You will need
Perm Root
S 0ff
Android sdk - adb/ fastboot
Clockwork Recovery
Now you can easily flash roms and kernels..
The difference from stock is laughable...really...Im using leedroids mod and an overclocked kernel of 1.5ghz..
Quadrant scores of 3000
Linpack 52.149
Neocore 58.7
Crazy scores...my DHD is flying !

rixsta said:
There is an option to unroot in visionary so you dont lose anything..
Rooting alone will not let you flash custom roms or kernels..
You will need
Perm Root
S 0ff
Android sdk - adb/ fastboot
Clockwork Recovery
Now you can easily flash roms and kernels..
The difference from stock is laughable...really...Im using leedroids mod and an overclocked kernel of 1.5ghz..
Quadrant scores of 3000
Linpack 52.149
Neocore 58.7
Crazy scores...my DHD is flying !
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Surely these figures mean nothing without stock to compare with?

ghostofcain said:
Surely these figures mean nothing without stock to compare with?
Anyhow back to question, I would personally recommend installing Titanium backup (requires root) with this you can backup all your apps and data which could be re-installed after hard reset, with certain proviso's
Restoring data may cause problems (especially if swapping to radically different roms)
Certain apps may be firmware specific i.e only work with 2.2.1 not 2.2.x
Whilst using stock firmware avoid any new OTA upgrades, as similar to iOS upgrades they may close off exploits used for obtaining root, also you cannot currently easily downgrade the OS or hBoot so you cannot restore the original OS if you have upgraded from it.
Personally I use ADW launcher, instead of stock (or SENSE) which allows you to backup your desktop configuration and Prefernces, Titanium backup to restore apps and data and sms backup to restore my SMS's, so after flashing a new ROM I restore the apps with data via Titanium then restore the settings with ADW which give me the look back and then restore the SMS's and I'm good to go!
TBH if you can find your way around jailbraking and unlocking an iphone (which from my experience with the Wifes Iphone can be very convoluted) flashing android ROM's is a piece of cake once the original root has been achieved, especially as you don't need to re-root (=Jailbreak) after each OS upgrade provided you stick with custom ROM's
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didnt put stock because all you need to do is look at the quadrant thread...and I cant remember my stock ones ...i think 2300 give or take.
If you install a custom rom you wont be able to install OTA updates anyway..
The Devs always puts updates in their custom roms so its not a problem.
Titanium is good for backups if you do a format using recovery unless you flash over the stock rom then you will keep them.
Flashing a rom is a piece of cake...its what you need to do to be able to flash a rom thats the hard part unless you know what your doing.

Veitchc said:
No doubt I'll be playing with the phone in it's standard guise for a while BUT the time will come when I want to progress further and start ROMing. I'm aware of Visionary by the way, what it can do but the actual facts and what I'll see once complete is where I get lost
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a huge change is what you'll see, Visionary will tell you root is achieved but thats about it, but it's what you can do that matters
Veitchc said:
Can I restore the phone to factory if temp or perm rooted?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, Visionary has an unroot option, which should put you back to square one, and provided you first produce a nandroid backup, essentially a snapshot of the system as is, when recovery is installed you can always put your ROM back to standard as well
Veitchc said:
After a month of stock usage (photo's SMS email contacts, usual stuff), how would I get this stuff back if, after rooting (temp or perm) I want to go back to factory or remain rooted i.e different custom ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
again Nandroid is your friend
Veitchc said:
If I root, do I have to setup everything again?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More than likely, although titanium backup maybe be able to restore your settings and google can also back up stuff for you
Veitchc said:
Hard resetting the DHD if using temp root returns the factory ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if Visionary is not set to attain root on boot yes
Veitchc said:
If prem root is applied, how do you return to factory?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unboot with Visionary as long as hBoot has not been flashed
Veitchc said:
Where is the factory ROM stored?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if you do a NANDROID backup its on your SDcard, if not its been wiped by your custom ROM
Veitchc said:
Long as I can backup, restore (yes, I'm used to iTunes taking care of this), apply custom ROM with Sense (requires perm root?), go back if needs be, I'll be a little happier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nandroid again
Veitchc said:
No abuse please, I've been Jailbreaking iPhones since their inception so totally up to speed...this is all new and it's the same olde, once fiddled I'll probably laugh at asking! I have bookmarks spread across multiple sites for the DHD, great community and can't wait to get started!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as youve read up, no sensible question will be scorned, well not by most of us anyway, we (with notable exceptions who where born to greatness) where all noobs once, so get on an enjoy the freedom that android brings should be a breathe of fresh air after apple

uber n00b needs advice.

hello, i'm new here, new to androids as well, actually new to phone hacks in general. Ive jailbroken and unlocked iphones before (my wife has a 3gs 4.2.1 unlocked using with tmobile). but i have no XP with android,.... i'm thinking, rooting is like jailbreaking? i dunno really.. halp! please just give me the basics. like once I ummm, jailbreak my MT4G (hehe got the abbreviation from these forums) how can I modify it with like free apps and such, and the cool themes i see everybody showing off. please halp, please

rooting doesnt give free apps (or at least it didnt when i had a g1) your able to flash a new rom to your phone when you gain root, you can take off some bloatware that comes with certain phones, tweak settings and make stuff more customizable
it is like jailbreaking but i dont think android is against rooting like apple is against jailbreaking

thanks for the reply, so once I root it, can I apply some of the themes and apps mentioned on these forums? I saw a thread regarding apps for rooted devices. Is there a different "app store" once I root my device?

im just getting back to android after having the hd2 for 4 months and a lot may have changed
but when i rooted the g1 there was apps that were labeled as only use if you have root access, so yes there are (were) certain apps that could only be used if you have root but it was the same app store, i remember the cyanogenmod app and it would update the theme with the click of a button
and yeah after root you could do the roms that are in those threads

VDubLife said:
thanks for the reply, so once I root it, can I apply some of the themes and apps mentioned on these forums? I saw a thread regarding apps for rooted devices. Is there a different "app store" once I root my device?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only 1 market for apps. Some apps are for rooted devices, some (most) are not. The main difference between a rooted device is that you will be able too have full access of you're phone and flash roms. But if you have no clue what you're doing you can cause some serious damage to your phone (brick).
Sent from my HTC Glacier

yup just be very careful when flashing new roms and themes. dont flash anything until you make a nandroid backup too. i have a very simple saying when doin anything to your own phone: "if it feels wrong, it is wrong" and if you have any questions when doing something always ask for help. because most likely someone on here has already made a mistake that you might be doin and save you alot of headaches lol once you gain root access, everything is cake

Please post questions in Q&A section.

mftek said:
The main difference between a rooted device is that you will be able too have full access of you're phone and flash roms. But if you have no clue what you're doing you can cause some serious damage to your phone (brick).
Sent from my HTC Glacier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to clarify, rooting your phone alone does not give you the capability to make Nandroid backups and/or flash ROMs. Rooting gives you root access to otherwise locked down system folders. Making backups and flashing ROMs require the presence of a custom recovery image (like Clockwork recovery).
To the OP; READ, READ, READ! Read as much as you can (and search) before attempting to root your phone. There's a lot of info in these forums that will get you through but you HAVE TO READ and have good confidence in what you're doing. Once you're ready, root, then flash Clockwork recovery, then install Titanium Backup. Use Titanium to make backups of your apps (including system apps). Use Clockwork to make a (Nandroid) backup of the phone's internal drive chip. Once that's done you can move on to flashing ROMs with the ability to get things back to normal if something doesn't work right. Good luck!

Great advice folks, thanks so much. I am permarooted with s=off! w00t, already made a nandroid backup using clockwork... so time to have some fun! Please help with the following questions:
1.) Are there any directories of all ROMs available for our phone?
2.) Will all droid ROMs work? or are they phone specific?
3.) Do I need to keep USB Debugging on?
4.) Do I need to keep the files on my SD card after I've already installed them? (ie: root folder [the one from the rooting guided], and application .apk files)
Thanks! great forum

[Q] Droid 2, Roms & activations

You guys must be tired of people asking the same over and over, and to be honest that is because information is so scattered newcomers often get confused.
But Anyways.
I've got myself a motorila Droid 2 a few days ago, poking around internet i found about rooting and roms and all that stuff, however I've got a question that's yet to be answered!
I'm currently residing in Mexico, my Droid 2 is unlocked and activated on a mexican carrier, however on the guides I've red so far it says that one of the requirements for installing custom ROM's one must wipe all data from the phone and return to factory settings, this means i will have to pay AGAIN to get it unlocked and activated?
As i said before, information is scattered, and is not always accuarate.
Somewhere on the net i also found a post that states customs ROM's come unlocked... whats with that?
And one last question.
What will happen if i only root my phone, no custom rom added? will this be harmful in any way? could i be able to overclock and get rid of the annoying verizon apps or do i forcefully need to install a custom ROM?
Thanks for all answers in advance.

Rooting itself would not harm your device, however rooting allows you to do pretty much anything on the device. So, in other words, rooting wont hurt it, however what it allows you to do CAN hurt it.
As far as the roms being unlocked, as far as I have read, all roms are unlocked. However I could be mistaken. But there is an easy way to find out for sure: give it a try. What I would do first root the device and install the Clockwork Recovery Mod and then boot into recovery and make a backup. This way you can restore the phone back exactly as it was when you backed it up (using the restore option), as if you never made any changes. Then I would go ahead and install whatever rom you wanted to try out, and see if everything works as intended. If you dont like it, or it doesnt allow you to access the network, etc then all you need to do is boot back to recovery and restore your backup and when it's done you'll phone will be back to it's old self.
Links:
Root: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=782556 (This is the process I used)
Clockwork: http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/how-to-install-clockwork-recovery-to-your-android-phone/
Not sure how experienced you are - or aren't - so if you have any deeper questions about the process or need more detailed instructions just let me know.
EDIT: Oops, I completely skipped some of your questions. With just rooting you can uninstall SOME of the preloaded crap, however there is allot of the preloaded applications and such that you cant uninstall without crippling your phones functionality. My originally plan when I first rooted my device was just to remove the bloatware. However after I saw just how much there was I couldn't remove I decided to jump to a custom ROM. Just to give you an example, I have the Fission ROM installed on my device, and it's packaged filed were about 70ish mb, while the packaged files to restore it back to stock/factory was nearly 300mb. And yes, rooting alone would allow you to overclock your phone.