should/do i need a Rom - Droid 2 General

ok so i got my D2 on monday and i've just Rooted today got bootstrap installed
so next thing is do i need or should i use a custom Rom is there a reason to use a Rom on the D2..(came from a Eris rooted with celbfroyo)
i've already used titanium to remove some of the crap ware. from what ive seen
i wont need a custom Rom to OC.
so the questions is Why use a custom Rom on a D2

I run custom roms just because I don't like all the memory that motoblur sucks up. Before I flashed a rom some days my memory would go down to 89 now it rarely drops below 200. Even with roms where 'most' of blur was gone it would still get down to about 120 by the end of the day. Also I love what I'm learning from customizing my phone. Getting familiar with command line and beginning to learn programing.
It all boils down to what you want from your phone, if all you want is to get rid of bloatware and OC then don't worry about putting a different rom.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

Motoblur only uses 29MB of application storage and if you're not using the widgets it's using zero CPU resources. If you want to remove it or go to a vanilla Android ROM that's fine but let's quit acting like Motoblur is the massive crap it was when it was first released. On the DROID2 it's little more than annoying bloat.
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Then explain to me why with it removed I have so much more memory available? I didn't run any of it widgets. More than that I slowly lost available memory throughout the day til I was down to almost nothing.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

I believe we are getting off topic with this. If you want a stock feel for android, i would recommend the fission rom. It will have a snappier feel to it IMO. Really the call is yours and it is only an opinion of your own if you need it.

Related

Wtf!

I just got my droid 2 in the mail today and I'm disappointed, to say the least...first off I'm comin over from tmobile where I've had nearly every phone they have released over the last 2 years. The first thing I thought when I booted this droid 2 was how familiar evrything looked. Then I realized they put motoblur on it(boo!). So I feel like I'm using a moto cliq again...I thought that since this thing has a 1 ghz processor it would run a lot smoother than the cliq, but that has not been the case. It takes almost 10 seconds for the camera to open which is unacceptable. It hangs up doing the simplest things, such as opening and closing the app drawer. I planned on getting the droid x, but after reading several side by side comparisons, I decided on the 2. I hate to say this but I'm really thinking I made the wrong choice. I believe this to be a nice piece of hardware, just not right for me....
Anyone have any suggestions to make my experience better? I'm open to rooting but only if there is a 100% fully functional rom out there...my last tmobile phone is a vibrant and I don't know if you guys are aware of what's gone on over in those threads the last few days, but its been interesting to say the least
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I would have to say....take it back and get the fascinate
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
What happened? I heard ebait8 had a hoax, no clue what of. You guys got the official 2.2 leak. Bunch of threads got closed. What happened?
From a phone on an app
boborone said:
What happened? I heard ebait8 had a hoax, no clue what of. You guys got the official 2.2 leak. Bunch of threads got closed. What happened?
From a phone on an app
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Click to collapse
Hoax...not sure. But there was suddenly a fully functioning 2.2 rom. Its very nice. Working everything. Takes the vibrant to the next level...I wanted to get away from tmobile for a while and as SOON as I commited to verizon, BAM!! But I have 30 days to send this phone back. I probably will. I installed launcherpro and its very smooth, but I don't like to use a 3rd party app to make my phone work the way I think it should...my vibrant is a trooper...
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
There are a few great ROM's floating around here that are waaaaay better than stock. I'm running Fission (I really like it!) right now but There's a new one by Matt4542 coming soon that's supposed to be AOSP so check 'em out and flash a few and see if you like it with overclock before you take it back.
newk8600 said:
There are a few great ROM's floating around here that are waaaaay better than stock. I'm running Fission (I really like it!) right now but There's a new one by Matt4542 coming soon that's supposed to be AOSP so check 'em out and flash a few and see if you like it with overclock before you take it back.
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Sweet! I'm pretty sure that this thing would be a beast overclocked to 1.2! And I remember that its the dam blur launcher that lags, and its dumb! Does wireless tether work on this thing if you root? Without paying the 2o to verizon?...
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
Is the internal memory on this thing read only? When I hook up to my computer I can open the external and transfer files but only look at the internal...or am I missing something?
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mikeyinid said:
Is the internal memory on this thing read only? When I hook up to my computer I can open the external and transfer files but only look at the internal...or am I missing something?
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
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Um not sure I can't remember what it's like to not be rooted. lol.
I think you either need to be rooted or use ADB.
As for launcher's I've heard good things about LauncherPro but I use ADW. and Home switcher to set my choice to default (so the home soft key doesn't go back to stock.
You can wireless tether for free but as of yet the only infrastructure mode (as opposed to Ad-hoc) you can get is through the Verizon app but thankfully someone found out how to hack it. (check the Droid 2 Information Directory in Android Development for the D2)
Hey guys, so I rooted and bought one of those overclocking apps from the market. I know that quads and linpack mean nothin to some people, but I like to use them to gauge my own phones performance. I overclocked to 1.2 and my benchmark went from 865 ms to 675. My linpack is almost 17. But, my quads are down to 800! What the hell is that about? Are those overclock apps just crap?
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
*EDIT: I rebooted and ran a quad...1627! thats what im talkin about! and i didnt even flash a rom or a kernel. My issue now is the internal memory is still read only. How do i fix that? Can it be fixed?
mikeyinid said:
*EDIT: I rebooted and ran a quad...1627! thats what im talkin about! and i didnt even flash a rom or a kernel. My issue now is the internal memory is still read only. How do i fix that? Can it be fixed?
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Can you at least read data with apps such as Gallery and Astro File Manager? On my Droid Incredible I can copy pictures and ringtones from my computer directly to the internal memory (emmc), but with the Droid 2 I can only mount the SD Card. This is kinda annoying...I've been searching old threads but haven't found an answer.
I can move them between internal and external sd, but that's a freakin headache. On my vibrant when I mount sd to computer, I get two windows that open and I can transfer directly to internal from pc. I can't believe they (motorola) really give you 8 gigs for apps only. Everything is saved to external by default. Except apps.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
Are you serious??? Wow, I'm glad I decided to stay with the Dinc as my main phone. So do you use any particular app for moving stuff between internal and the SD card? Or you do it within an adb shell? I don't see the point of making the internal memory only available for apps...I would never need that many space for apps...I rather use it for music.
Androidnite said:
Are you serious??? Wow, I'm glad I decided to stay with the Dinc as my main phone. So do you use any particular app for moving stuff between internal and the SD card? Or you do it within an adb shell? I don't see the point of making the internal memory only available for apps...I would never need that many space for apps...I rather use it for music.
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I use root explorer personally. Just cus it gives me access to everything. I barely use 100mb for apps so I see no reason to have 8 gigs for apps.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App
Cool. I guess for now I'll just forget that I have internal memory in the phone. I'm looking into building my own AOSP ROM, so this is something definitely looking into fixing
Androidnite said:
Cool. I guess for now I'll just forget that I have internal memory in the phone. I'm looking into building my own AOSP ROM, so this is something definitely looking into fixing
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That would be awesome....so I overclocked to 1.45 this morning just to see what my battery life would be like and I notice no difference. Im not buyin this overclock app works as advertised. If my minimum is 400 mhz, there would be more battery used when the phone is sleep. That has been the case with every other phone at least.
Sent from my DROID2 using XDA App

Cm6 pros and cons?

I'm new, my evo is rooted tho but now I wanna install a rom. Isn't Cm6 probably the best? I want one that's not much different just smoother.. can someone give me some pros and cons and also a link to maybe a tutorial of how to download and install roms.
Does it delete anything to install a rom?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
There are a lot of opinions about this subject. There are some real pro's to CM6. The tricky thing for most people to understand is that Cyanogenmod is built from the ground up. So when you say you want something that isn't too different, this is going to probably be more unique than you were expecting.
Some great things about CM6 are hidden all throughout the settings, menus, and functions. For example, CM6 is alot cleaner. There aren't any processes that run in the background that you never installed. Whenever you use a stock rom, HTC and Sprint have a number of pre-installed items running. The result is that it is faster.
One huge advantage for me is that CM6 fixes the bluetooth in the phone. Which means that you can connect a Wiimote. This isn't possible with anything that is a variation of the stock rom. Which means only CM6 or other AOSP roms will be capable of supporting the Wiimote on the Evo.
The Cyanogen team has put more focus into things like the way the audio is processed. They use DSP managers to fine tune your audio.
There are some unique settings you can use as well. For example, by holding the back button, you kill whatever app is in the foreground. This eliminates the need for task killers, and lets you truly close an app when you want to.
The biggest pro for most people is that it is substantially faster. This makes games, and other resource heavy apps run smoother. If you use something like PSX4DROID (a playstation emulator), I would recommend this rom because you can use the Wii Controller, and the games will run smoother.
Overall, it's an engineering marvel, because it's built completely by open source developers. These are guys that all have day jobs and do this as a hobby, and in many ways, they do a better job than Google and HTC who have armies of full time developers. That's why they get so much support. Is because it's truly astounding what they do with their resources.
So this might be the blind leading the blind, but I'm a noob as well when it comes to ROM flashing stuff.. From what little you have mentioned CM6 isn't what you want. CM6 is very good but it is not SenseUI, by default it does not have swype, it does not do 4g, hdmi is not there and I'm sure there are other things... That being said, from what I have read, CM is very good for what it is...
If you want to stay relatively stock but with some tweaks, you likely want to look at Fresh or Myn.. do a search in the XDA evo-->android dev forum (actually usually the main thread for those 2 are on page 1 or 2)..
I have settled on Fresh because it uses the latest Sprint rom as its basis so you get most of the new stuff out of the box ie. swype.
Myn has a beta out there using the new rom, but I don't know where it is to download and I am not a good beta tester so I will just wait..
From a process perspective, I downloaded Rom manager from the Marketplace, flashed the latest Clockwork recovery and used the rom manager to download fresh and let it install it for me.. Be sure to check mark the clean everything checkbox in rom manager when it asks..
Hope that helps...
jc8081 said:
I'm new, my evo is rooted tho but now I wanna install a rom. Isn't Cm6 probably the best? I want one that's not much different just smoother.. can someone give me some pros and cons and also a link to maybe a tutorial of how to download and install roms.
Does it delete anything to install a rom?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think I'm gonna go with Cm6 just bc it seems like they have plenty of features. But what do u mean not hdmi? Like not even pictures and videos?
Also can someone give me a link to how to install them.. Thanks
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bradleyw801 already did a good job of the Pros, so I'll list the Cons of CM6 (there aren't many):
1. It's the hardest of the ROMs to flash. Reads laughable but to someone who is really new to this whole thing, it's true. Most ROMs you can just flash and tryout. CM6 you need to flash twice: once for CM itself and once for the Google Apps (it's pretty useless without the gapps). ROM Manager makes this pretty painless with a simple checkbox, so follow above advice, but still be aware you need GAPPS.
2. No 4G Support. Yet. That's the keyword, as there are a few devs on this very forum who are runningCM with 4G .... it's just in alpha stages.
3. No HDMI Support. Yet. Again keyword ... but less so. HDMI out is one of those things you hear about every so often but nothing ever surfaces from it. It's like Duke Nukem Forever.
4. For all the Sense bashing that some will do, HTC had some very nice widgets that most people miss when they go to CM. Most notable is the big clock widget. Now there are market apps that emulate it, but the only ones that do a good job of it cost money (beautiful widgets and fancy widgets pro). Be ready to look for apps to replace what came shipped with your EVO if there are some things you like and would rather not be without.
Hope that helps.
Ok now Cm6 doesn't sound great. I actually use my hdmi, are there any roms easy to flash.. i just want one that makes my phone smoother and also so unneeded apps don't run in the background?
Bc mine now is getting slow like when I open my messeges and are going from person to person it takes forever. Thanks again
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jc8081 said:
I'm new, my evo is rooted tho but now I wanna install a rom. Isn't Cm6 probably the best? I want one that's not much different just smoother.. can someone give me some pros and cons and also a link to maybe a tutorial of how to download and install roms.
Does it delete anything to install a rom?
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, now that you are rooted it would be a perfect time to get used to making backups and flashing.
You could try making a nand bacckup and flashing CM6(.1.2) and seeing how well it suits you. Like any (or most) ROMs there are themes and you can mess around with different things to make it more to your liking. CM6 is as stock Android as you can get. I don't necessarily dislike Sense, and some of the Sense widgets are really cool (and are for the most part replaceable) but in the end I like the feeling of just plain Android.
The lack of 4G and HDMI out is more of a personal user thing. I haven't missed my 4G and I've been using CM6 for my Evo for almost the whole damn time, since it was first released that is. HDMI never really interested me before, but full UI out is something else entirely. Before it was just hype to me.
CyanogenMod just feels right on the Evo. Best way to decide is to take the plunge and maybe set it up for a day. Restoring a backup is super simple. Take the necessary steps to flash successfully and check it out.
And as for things being deleted off the SD card; not sure if you mean everything or specific things. Things like SMS, call logs etc are not backed up but YOU can back them up in various manners. Some SMS backup apps or what have you which I've never tried. Call log I assume as well. Email and things like that, which are tied to your Google Account are backed up by "The Cloud" or whatever you want to say, and same goes for contacts if you've obviously synced them with your google account. Like, contacts under phone can be synced with google account that way the phone contacts aren't deleted, unless I have that last part wrong.
You can wipe the SD card completely, but that doesn't really happen when you wipe data, cache and dalvik. Just the important stuff so the ROM takes. Check it!
edit: didn't hit submit right away, late post as it seems your not really feeling it. you can remove bloat apps that you don't see fit in ROMs, things that someone might have not removed themselves (even then removed apps are usually available at your discretion) but not all apps can be removed. There are lists about that have "safe to remove apps" and the like.
try it for yourself, if it doesn't do what you need it to, flash another ROM. pretty much any AOSP based ROM has issues with wimax and HDMI but there are many strong ROM's to run, you will probably change it up from time to time and the hardest thing you will find is trying not to flash
You really should try out roms for yourself instead of listening to others. Some people like some things and others like others. I've run CM on 2 phones now (MyTouch Slide and G2) and it's been extremely stable, fast and just fantastic. If it had wimax and hdmi working i'd have it right now (I like watching hulu on my big screen while I eat ).
If you want something that has everything working, myn's warm twopointtwo rom works if you have the older Evo hardware (pre-0004). It's very nice and still runs sense or mikfroyo, which also has sense, but it supports the new evos.
If you want vanilla android and can wait for the wimax and hdmi, get CM, there's just no alternatives. If you can't wait, go to the dev section and look for the threads that start with [rom] and see if any of them suit you better.
Fwiw...I'm a total noob to the android scene. I'm fairly tech savvy, good in general with pc's, hacking tivo's, etc..nonetheless I was very hesitant to root and flash my evo. But, I took three plunge last night, first rooting, then performing a nand backup. I then uninstalled all the sprint apps successfully. I was fairly happy at this point.but I have been experiencing random reboots and sense crashes prior to rooting. So I took the plunge and flashed cm6.1 and gapps last night.
I have to say I wish I had to done this months ago, I love the look, feel,and performance of cm / stock android. I struggled with battery life before flashing, but there is a significant improvement in batt life since ive flashed. I also installed swype beta,as I had received an invite just prior to sprint including swype. Im bummed about the lack of 4g, but 4g is hit and miss in the south bay so I cant complain too much. Oh ya, wifi tether is an added bonus.
I say go for it. ;-)
Well the biggest con is that you can't use 4g or hdmi, which defeats the purpose of buying the evo and paying $10 fee for 4g. Not to mention the fact that stock android looks like a 3rd rate Linux distro from early 2000s.
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
so me running cm6 defeats the purpose of me owning my phone????
I dont live in a 4g area......4g is only really advantage when tethering to a laptop
Ok guys thanks for everything but i really need a link so i can figure out how to backup and flash and rom...
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jc8081 said:
Ok guys thanks for everything but i really need a link so i can figure out how to backup and flash and rom...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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Sure. First sticky at the top of the forum: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881747
The stickies are pretty comprehensive for the EVO. Pretty much anything you'll want to know will be there.
As for CM6. It's super fast. I love it. I don't mind being without 4G (at least when I'm not testing ) and HDMI (I use Twonky Media Server to stream pics and vids to my Xbox over wifi).
Both of these features are coming soon so if you decide to go with another ROM, just keep following CM for updates on these features. When they are done I don't see why you wouldn't use CM.
As for alternative roms... I know Myns is very popular.
Also, I'll note, you can always flash CM6 and play with it for a bit and then wipe and flash any other rom.
tl;dr - Read the sticky, try myns and follow CM progress.
You might want to take a look at MIUI. It's well designed (unlike Sense), is pretty fast (faster than Sense), and has a ton of extra features (like Sense). While it doesn't have WiMax right now the CM guys are close to getting it working; and since both are based on AOSP, it will be relatively easy to port to MIUI. I prefer CM but if I didn't have a iPhone (since MIUI tends to feel like a copy of it) I'd probably use MIUI.
If you can live without 4g then go for it. The battery life is great. I flashed a sense rom today and with in an hour I was flashing back to cm6.
Sent from CM6 using XDA App
Ok thanks now one last question I think... when I do nandroid backup does it save my apps? Bc i was watching a video it said u have to nandroid backup and apps with titanium I think...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
bottom line: try a few ROMs, each for a day, and stick with what you like. no substitute for trying it out yourself.
fine print: i'm a vintage user. I was running android on my Vogue before there was an android phone, when GPS would always place you in san fransisco (someone will know what that's all about - thanks dzo). anyways, having a rooted phone is about many things, but one of them is the ability to flash and try what you want.
if you've got a deal breaker, like 4g or HDMI out, sure that limits you now, but as posted before keep reading and trying new things as they come out. if you're lucky, you may yet become a flash-aholic.
i'm a sense guy; not for the launcher (off and on i'm running adw, lp, and sense home, depends on the month), but for the sense apps. I love the sense messaging app, that's the program I use most on my phone. I ran vanilla for a long time on my vogue, and I tried out CM6 for a day. it's just not me. and I never use 4G or HDMI. you won't know what fits you until you try, though.
to each their own. use what you like.
I use to be a die hard CM fan but now Im using MIUI. Both have a lot of nice features.
Titanium Backup will allow you to backup apps selectively and then reinstall them later. (you can do many other things as well) This is very useful, especially for apps that you can not easily obtain. (ie. not available in the app store) An example is any game from GameLoft or a beta that you may have. (like Swype before it was deployed) So after you switch to CM6 or whichever ROM you can then load these apps on to the new ROM.

Pulling hair out trying to decide what rom for girlfriend..

I have been snooping around and finally feel comfortable enough to root this phone. She gets off work here in a few hours and were gonna run to the store and pick it up. She sees me messing with my fascinate all the time, flashing this and that and wants me to customize her phone as well. Mainly she wants a Pink theme. I was planning on flashing a custom rom then grabbing a theme, but the development on this phone is out of control lol, you guys have so many more options. I want to keep the phone as stock as possible, and want to retain the blur aspects. She isn't going to be able to troubleshoot the phone on her own if I'm not with her and she has problems, so something very stable, and again, stock-ish.
Would I be better doing a manual deodex on her stock rom and flashing a theme ontop of that? Or are your themes rom specific?
stayin100 said:
I have been snooping around and finally feel comfortable enough to root this phone. She gets off work here in a few hours and were gonna run to the store and pick it up. She sees me messing with my fascinate all the time, flashing this and that and wants me to customize her phone as well. Mainly she wants a Pink theme. I was planning on flashing a custom rom then grabbing a theme, but the development on this phone is out of control lol, you guys have so many more options. I want to keep the phone as stock as possible, and want to retain the blur aspects. She isn't going to be able to troubleshoot the phone on her own if I'm not with her and she has problems, so something very stable, and again, stock-ish.
Would I be better doing a manual deodex on her stock rom and flashing a theme ontop of that? Or are your themes rom specific?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If something goes wrong and she is not able to trouble shoot it, things can get ugly pretty quick with a custom ROM and what not. Not that it happens all the time, not that it happens other then small bugs and quirks but I would be pissed if my phone was not propertly working and no one was around to fix it.
Themes are ROM specific for the X unless you go with a theme for stock ROM, which could be found here. Staying as close to stock, this would be your best bet. There are other icons and animations you can add with Ninjamorph and by placing files here and there and all it takes it being rooted.
I think a rooted, bloat free Droid X is almost just as quick as a custom ROM. You can add little icons packs, stock themes to really customize it. It would be as if you are running a custom ROM.
Thanks, if I can find a theme girlish enough for her I might just go with that.
If I root will she be able to receive ota updates? Im pretty sure after flashing custom roms she will no long be able to access the ota updates, but what about just plain ole rooted stock phones?
stayin100 said:
Thanks, if I can find a theme girlish enough for her I might just go with that.
If I root will she be able to receive ota updates? Im pretty sure after flashing custom roms she will no long be able to access the ota updates, but what about just plain ole rooted stock phones?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A rooted phone with no default apps removed will still get OTA updates, just will lose root
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
After playing with this thing, I think a more aosp style rom would be more up our ally. I just cant seem to be able to understand this blur stuff... Would you say the majority of people go focused or blurry? Just seems vey heavy and bloated
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Rubix 1.9.7 it is... I thought my fascinate was bloated, these things are pigs stock! Lol, thanks for the help, will be reading up more then hooking her up with a nice focused phone
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
stayin100 said:
Rubix 1.9.7 it is... I thought my fascinate was bloated, these things are pigs stock! Lol, thanks for the help, will be reading up more then hooking her up with a nice focused phone
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
Great rom! Built by drod2169. If your gf decides she likes some of the blur components he also built a "blurry" version with some blur in it.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
Yes, Rubix is a great rom but you might also want to consider Liberty 1.5. It is also a blurless rom and so far has been running great on my phone. I have tried several roms including rubix and always come back to liberty. It is by far more customizable than any other rom out there. There are also a couple of girly themes that I believe were just ported over.
I would also suggest Liberty 1.5
Primarily so you GF could load this theme:
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/li...theme-rockin-rainbows-liberty-has-landed.html
I put this on my Wife's D2 and she loves it.
She doesn't like that theme, but it is a very nicely done complete theme... Still leaning towards rubix, will research liberty more though.
stayin100 said:
She doesn't like that theme, but it is a very nicely done complete theme... Still leaning towards rubix, will research liberty more though.
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If not liberty then look at cobalt as well. Well buily from google source. And check out the crystal X theme for rubix by Bignadad... Very extensive and looka great
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App
I'm a big fan of liberty. Even if you don't like the stock theme, liberty has really the most intuitive theme system I've seen. Use liberty toolbox, go to themes, then literally look at the screenshot and tap install o. The one you want. No reboots, .zip files, anything. Super simple.
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA App

Just Purchased G2 need advice/tips

I'm new to the whole smartphone/android market. I just received a G2 and wanted to know how to fully take advantage of all the features. What do you guys recommend, what apps should I download, updates, etc.
Thanks
Take a look around, you'll find everything around here. One thing is don't feel pressured to root your phone. Especially with the ota update to gingerbread on it's way.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Nospin said:
Take a look around, you'll find everything around here. One thing is don't feel pressured to root your phone. Especially with the ota update to gingerbread on it's way.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will do what is the benefit of rooting a phone. Do you get apps for free similar to jailbreaking?
Alright so here we go!
For root you want This Guide with Gefree/Visionary Read it several times, get root.
Install Rom Manager, Flash Clockwork Mod with this.
Good launchers to try are: Launcher Pro, ADW.
Good Apps are: GPS Status, Quadrant Free, Set Cpu (paid), Juice Defender, Adgree, Juice Plotter, SeePu, Shootme (for screengrabs), Wifi Analyser (to see strength of various wifi networks), Barcode Scanner (for QR Codes among others), Speetest, and lastly AdFree. You also should consider getting the Busybox Installer and Titanium Backup so you can back your applications up when you inevitably....
...Install a custom rom. There are a ton of roms to choose from. All of them have various merits and downsides. Personally for the beginner I always suggest CM 6.1.1 to get familiar with the idea of custom roms as it is super stable and not a huge departure from stock Froyo. A good rule of thumb when flashing roms is to (after making a nandroid backup in clockwork mod, accessed by pwr+vol down) always do a full wipe of phone data and cache. So many rom installs are messed up by not fully wiping your phone prior. I always run two full wipes and two cache wipes.
Depending on how you like your interface, you can select a ton of different roms through Rom Manager or downloading them right out of our android dev section. As with all things, always do your research. Read the damn thread to find out any bugs. The devs here are not infallible and frankly, some of them do a darn shoddy job in throwing together whatever the hell it is they want to call a rom over the weekend while absolutely trashed on Milwaukee's Beast.
Prospective roms are:
Virtuous 2.1: A clean SenseUI rom that is very predictable in battery life and sense experience.
Virtuous G-Free: A stripped down Gingerbread rom built by the same gentleman as Virtuous.
Virtuous 3.0 Sense: A sense 3.0 port that hasn't been updated in a while. Who knows if it is any good.
Cyanogen Mod 6: A nice retooling of froyo 2.2.x, this rom is incredibly stable and has very good battery life with preshoots kernel.
Cyanogen Mod 7: This is a retooling of Gingerbread 2.3.x, not as stable in my experience, however I know this will get better. Okay battery life, 7.0.3 is not as **** as 7.0. Wait till the next major update of 7.1 drops before flashing this rom.
I cannot speak for any of the other roms out here. I only say that you should always do your research and make sure to do nandroid backups. If you brick your phone, that really sucks cause the g2 kicks all sorts of ass
Edit; ROOT ACCESS MEANS ADMIN ACCESS. ROOT DRIVE MEANS THE BASE DIRECTORY OF YOUR SD CARD. DON'T **** IT UP OKAY.
Pump Fake said:
Will do what is the benefit of rooting a phone. Do you get apps for free similar to jailbreaking?
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One of the biggest features is overclocking. TAKE YOUR TIME reading though. My Desire Z is on the way but I've spent the past two weeks scoping out ROMs, learning how to root and use ADB just so I can do all of that as soon as I get the phone. I would definitely root though, and as soon as the official gingerbread ROM comes, someone on XDA will make a rooted version of it. So you will essentially have stock gingerbread with the ability to overclock.
slapshot30 said:
One of the biggest features is overclocking. TAKE YOUR TIME reading though. My Desire Z is on the way but I've spent the past two weeks scoping out ROMs, learning how to root and use ADB just so I can do all of that as soon as I get the phone. I would definitely root though, and as soon as the official gingerbread ROM comes, someone on XDA will make a rooted version of it. So you will essentially have stock gingerbread with the ability to overclock.
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You are totally a good example for others
I believe you will be successfull in rooting your coming DZ
Grtz
slapshot30 said:
One of the biggest features is overclocking. TAKE YOUR TIME reading though. My Desire Z is on the way but I've spent the past two weeks scoping out ROMs, learning how to root and use ADB just so I can do all of that as soon as I get the phone. I would definitely root though, and as soon as the official gingerbread ROM comes, someone on XDA will make a rooted version of it. So you will essentially have stock gingerbread with the ability to overclock.
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Btw their already is a rooted version of the final gingerbread rom. Just thought i'd throw that out there.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA Premium App
IMO The best benefits to having a rooted device are
1) root-only apps like setcpu (but don't use this if the ROM/kernel has built-in cpu management), titanium backup (best backup app ever, hands down), themeing, etc
2) remove bloatware apps
3) custom ROM. think of it as a modified OS. they usually run faster, have little to no bloat, in most cases have better battery life, and have added functionality (cyanogenmod, especially)
without root, the best thing you can do is find great apps like home replacements aka launchers such as ADWLauncher (free version of the superior ADW Launcher EX), LauncherPro, etc
if you're new to Android you may not know that you can browse apps on your computer here https://market.android.com/ and whenever you click "install" it will automatically start downloading and installing on your phone!
a root method was mentioned previously, but I will have to recommend a different one considered to be the safest and most up to date by most.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wik...sion#Rooting_the_Vision_.28G2.2FDZ.29_and_DHD
the whole wiki is a very good read. if you do root, read it thoroughly (multiple times if necessary) and learn how to join #g2root on IRC to get real-time chat support with other xda members
So rooting helps me have a device that has much better performance. Sounds great to me, I'll look into it.
Is there anyway to get free apps etc? Don't ever want to pay haha.
Also what other tips do you guys have to take advantage of a smartphone?
Word of advice: the xda forums heavily frown upon those who promote or even mention pirated apps. These forums are powered by developers who put in their time and effort for average-joe users like us to use, free of charge! Donations are encouraged when possible. If you spent hundreds of hours writing an app and working out the bugs, I don't think you'd like it if someone downloaded your paid app for free. I didn't mean for this to sound like a lecture but just think about it, and if you're still interested you'll have to look elsewhere, as distributing pirated apps is against the xda forum rules.
Also if you're new to smartphones, you probably realized with added functionality such as facebook, twitter, gmail, and syncing of EVERYTHING possible, your battery life not as good as before you had a smartphone. In general keep account syncing/internet usage below unnecessary levels to save on battery life, among other things
silverwind said:
You are totally a good example for others
I believe you will be successfull in rooting your coming DZ
Grtz
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Thanks I regularly try to do that with new phones so I don't have to ask a bunch of dumb questions or brick my phone.
And to xsteven77x (my multi-quote isn't behaving at the moment), I was not aware that a final GB rooted ROM was out... I thought they were only test ones. Would you mind posting a link to that?
EDIT: Is this the ROM you're talking about? http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1074852
It was leaked so how are they sure it's the final one?
If your going to root your phone and put a rom on it, HTCCLAY super cm7 v1.9 is my favorite. its smooth, lots of customization, and already has the set cpu thing built into it and had a good adjustable lockscreen. not to mention u can just keep putting new themes form theme chooser on it when u get bored instead of flashing a whole new rom. one prob with it though. it has trouble connecting sd card to computer so if and when u want to remove it you are going to have to restore to a previous back up of another rom or stock and then reapply the new rom. best of luck.
ethanj93 said:
If your going to root your phone and put a rom on it, HTCCLAY super cm7 v1.9 is my favorite. its smooth, lots of customization, and already has the set cpu thing built into it and had a good adjustable lockscreen. not to mention u can just keep putting new themes form theme chooser on it when u get bored instead of flashing a whole new rom. one prob with it though. it has trouble connecting sd card to computer so if and when u want to remove it you are going to have to restore to a previous back up of another rom or stock and then reapply the new rom. best of luck.
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Highly recommend meXdroid V4.1 rom. Fast, eye candy galore, and constant developer support and updating.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
astriaos said:
Edit; ROOT ACCESS MEANS ADMIN ACCESS. ROOT DRIVE MEANS THE BASE DIRECTORY OF YOUR SD CARD. DON'T **** IT UP OKAY.
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This made me LMAO!
I like mexdroid rom, its combined with CM7 and it has a lot of customizations in it.
Sent from my HTC Vision using XDA App
I am recommending to watch Virtuous Unity if you want to have HTC Sense 3.0. It's still being updated and fixed up from all the bugs, but I think the rom will be really good after the devs work the kinks out.

OTA or Not?

My daughter has the EVO Shift. Have there been any problems with the new OTA Gingerbread update? Pro's and con's versus stock? I don't care to root her's because she doesn't really care. I like my rooted Evo4g though.
If you could careless about root then I would definitely say to take the ota update. What you'll get is an updated sense (which is pretty nice looking), new radios for wimax, and most importantly updated to gingerbread. I tried the rooted version of the new update and I like it but it doesn't really compare to custom roms so I didn't stick to it.
So basically stock 2.2 versus ota 2.3, I would say take the ota.
Some people, me included, are having problems after the update where every time you exit from an app you go to the white HTC and then it takes 10 seconds to refresh the home screen. This is very annoying. I called Sprint and there was two fixes. One to increase the size of my internal memory by clearing some files and moving apps to my SD card. The second fix was try sent me an OTA fix which was a fancy name for a refresh. All seems to be working now.
I am using the standard ROM
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA Premium App
Yeah I was having the same problem when sense would crash and all I would be doing is texting, so I went back to aosp for now
Sent from my PG06100 using Tapatalk
It works good the battery life it a tad better my 3g signal is almost double.if u dont need to be rooted go ahead and update u wont regret unlike me i regret it cus i liked all the rooted apps and etc.
Sent from my PG06100 using XDA App
issues
for me i have a lot of bugs in the rom. i found a lot of apps and the OS to lock up from time to time and not work properly. i end up rebooting the rom to get it to work again.
NO ROOT ACESSS on this rom so if your like me your stuck with a crappy rom until a fix comes out.
I'm quite happy with the update other than the lack of root. No problems at all. So, if root isn't important to you, i really see no reason to not update.

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