Related
Got a Vibrant yesterday to "try out" the android world for the first time. Must say I'm impressed by the phones performance out of the box even with all the bloatware and crap on it. I've been a windows mobile guy for quite some time now, so the people that know both platforms well, know they are two completely different monsters. My two options were the hd2 (since i know the WM world pretty well) or learn a whole new platform with the vibrant.
I like it so far, but also miss some of the things from WM (or rather miss knowing my phone well). I guess i just have to start from zero and get acquainted with it first.
Any suggestions on getting the bare down scoop of the platform and such as far as learning it from the ground up? The sticky explains how to do these things, but I need something more basic...I just wanna become proficient in the android world as I am in the WM world starting from zero.
Its hard to say where to start, the best thing about android is the customization. Playing with phone is the only way you are gonna learn, I have been an android owner since day one and am still learning new things everyday. If there is something I don't know I simply come here since this is the best android community on the web. Hope you enjoy IMO the best android phone on the market.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Yeah, really not that much to help with...everything seems pretty intuitive to me. When in doubt, long press or press menu.
My first questions were always like:
Sweet I have Avatar on here, what else Can I put on?
Oh damn, there's only a 2GB Card, and if I remove it, I lose Avatar.
WTF is amazon kindle for? I don't need this? How can I remove Bloats?
That's where I started off, you're most likely going to want to root it. Search the forums around. There's some great stickies to follow by and just go with that.
Can't wait for CM? Learn to make your own APP to have fun with ;p
phragg said:
My first questions were always like:
Sweet I have Avatar on here, what else Can I put on?
Oh damn, there's only a 2GB Card, and if I remove it, I lose Avatar.
WTF is amazon kindle for? I don't need this? How can I remove Bloats?
That's where I started off, you're most likely going to want to root it. Search the forums around. There's some great stickies to follow by and just go with that.
Can't wait for CM? Learn to make your own APP to have fun with ;p
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, kindle isn't that bad considering you can get a ton of free books for it.
Sent from my Galaxy S using the XDA App
phragg said:
My first questions were always like:
Sweet I have Avatar on here, what else Can I put on?
Oh damn, there's only a 2GB Card, and if I remove it, I lose Avatar.
WTF is amazon kindle for? I don't need this? How can I remove Bloats?
That's where I started off, you're most likely going to want to root it. Search the forums around. There's some great stickies to follow by and just go with that.
Can't wait for CM? Learn to make your own APP to have fun with ;p
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, you could always copy Avatar onto a larger card and then go wild! That's what I did, it will play lots of 720p mkv's that you might have laying around no problem!
Long press and menu are your friends. Other than that look here on xda and use the search function. The stickies typically have the most current info.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
phragg said:
My first questions were always like:
Sweet I have Avatar on here, what else Can I put on?
Oh damn, there's only a 2GB Card, and if I remove it, I lose Avatar.
WTF is amazon kindle for? I don't need this? How can I remove Bloats?
That's where I started off, you're most likely going to want to root it. Search the forums around. There's some great stickies to follow by and just go with that.
Can't wait for CM? Learn to make your own APP to have fun with ;p
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what is CM?
I am a programmer by profession. Maybe I could look into the world of android programming too while im at it
phragg said:
My first questions were always like:
Sweet I have Avatar on here, what else Can I put on?
Oh damn, there's only a 2GB Card, and if I remove it, I lose Avatar.
WTF is amazon kindle for? I don't need this? How can I remove Bloats?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't have those questions. I mean the first thing i did was move avatar to my 16gb msdhc into it and go wild with my music, photo, and videos...which I'm amazed how good of sound/video quality i get on this.
I thought more of like where do how do I view flash websites, how do i stream live .pls live music streams, or smaller things like hiding apps from the notification area at the top left when they are running, or resizing certain widgets, removing some of the applications that came with the phone from t mobile, mapping buttons to do different things based on holding them down or tapping a certain amount of times, things like that that aren't explained in the user manual. Or even like right now, I'm trying to make a call and it says: "Call not sent"...well? whyyyyyyyyy? so many questions!
I don't know, I guess all this is just part of the familiarization process and will sooner or later find them out whether by experience or hunting down resources why certain behaviors and actions happen.
speoples20 said:
Long press and menu are your friends. Other than that look here on xda and use the search function. The stickies typically have the most current info.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what is long press?
^ you should read the sticky. A lot of the things you mentioned, are addressed in the sticky.
Also, flash is only on Android 2.2, which we do not have yet.
achild said:
Got a Vibrant yesterday to "try out" the android world for the first time. Must say I'm impressed by the phones performance out of the box even with all the bloatware and crap on it. I've been a windows mobile guy for quite some time now, so the people that know both platforms well, know they are two completely different monsters. My two options were the hd2 (since i know the WM world pretty well) or learn a whole new platform with the vibrant.
I like it so far, but also miss some of the things from WM (or rather miss knowing my phone well). I guess i just have to start from zero and get acquainted with it first.
Any suggestions on getting the bare down scoop of the platform and such as far as learning it from the ground up? The sticky explains how to do these things, but I need something more basic...I just wanna become proficient in the android world as I am in the WM world starting from zero.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Congrats on your new phone. Let us know how your GPS works, since that seems to be a hot issue. you can test using google maps, google navigation and GPS Test downloadable from the Android Market.
SamsungGalaxySVibrant said:
Congrats on your new phone. Let us know how your GPS works, since that seems to be a hot issue. you can test using google maps, google navigation and GPS Test downloadable from the Android Market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha that seems to be a problem with any gps enabled phone nowadays. Happened with the fuze and after months and months of tweaking and tweaking we got a hang of it. I tried the GPS yesterday on my way home from work yesterday and did not get a lock, i went ahead and downloaded gps test today to see if that will unlock it before using the gps software. We shall see! Thanks for the heads up tho!
edit: I guess gps test on android works differently than on WM. On WM it scans through your COM ports and gets a fix for you to then use your gps navigation software.
achild said:
what is CM?
I am a programmer by profession. Maybe I could look into the world of android programming too while im at it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
please do!
we could always use more programmers.
achild said:
what is long press?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Instead of tapping on something you hold your finger down for a few seconds. A menu will pop up giving you options like copy and paste.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
If your phone won't play a video format, try RockPlayer
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I would recommend the market as the first place to go. Just start searching and downloading apps and play with your phone. You'll get accustomed to it very quickly!
Droidicus said:
I would recommend the market as the first place to go. Just start searching and downloading apps and pay with your phone. You'll get accustomed to it very quickly!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah thats what ive been doing. Thats another thing that amazes me about android, soooo many apps, and they are all centralized into one easy, convenient location. In wm you would find a few in the marketplace, and the rest u had to hunt down either on the forum or the web. This is slowly growing on me
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Coming from WM myself, (and just recently and very reticently turned over my beloved Wizard to my mom) the fun and unfun I have with Android:
Apps are so dratted cheap. Have at it.
Cloud connectivity. I use Picasa all the time now. It took me a while to get used to Google contacts, especially first name alphabetization, but I like it now.
You might want to look at subscribing to CompanionLink. It reliably syncs everything Outlook with your Google account (thus your phone).
Almost nothing was built into Android 1.0. Not much was added through 1.5. Some stuff has been added since, like Facebook sync, but custom ROMs don't add stuff. There's an app for everything. There has to be.
The app drawer is a hassle. I use FolderOrganizer (and ADW Launcher) to quell my addiction to organization beyond alphabetical.
It's fun to watch a few things catch up with WinMo and hear all the Android users brag about how great it is. Like app-specific auto-rotation. There's an app for it out now, but it actually costs something you'll think about, and it eats a hunk of RAM. They're just getting into animated GIFs. Lists and their apps aren't anywhere near ListPro, but they almost all have some way to sync to the cloud.
Office documents created on a PC don't always work with the Office apps that are out there. Don't bother with DocumentsToGo, but Sheadspreet is good (you have to convert first) and I'm trying OfficeSuite, and it seems the best. 30-day trial, $15. It's still not WinMo, though.
For those things you don't sync with the cloud, you can't just throw stuff in your My Documents Folder and rely on that backup. DropBox is a good app/service, and GoogleDocs is your friend. Most apps back up thier specific data to your SD, but on this phone, it's on the internal SD. You have to manually handle your backups, or do Nandroid backups (another worthwhile Google).
You have to install an app to install apps not from Market. Instead of exes their apks.
There's no Total Commander. I like Root Explorer. Astro is feature-filled. There are a million file explorers, and every one of them will have its advocates.
Flashing ROMs is tons easier, but you have to root first.
The Android world moves a lot faster. If you're off the forums for a week you'll feel like you've been in a coma for months. On the flip side, if you're waiting for something to get developed, waiting a few days feel like eternity.
Android devs work harder for a lot less, or no money; it's truly inspiring.
Before you go buying the first app that does what you want, check Market for more that do the same thing. I've found that there's a free alternative to almost everything. The paid versions/apps are more luxurious in one way or another, usually, but a little research can save you a bunch of regret.
Widgets suck RAM. Before you know it you've got 25 and you're wondering why your Home screen is lagging. Phones are finite. Even these.
CM is CyanogenMod. Google it, it's worth it. They started on XDA and it got out of control, so they have their own site now, although the threads still hanging on XDA re CM are a much more interesting read. It seems to be the most popular set of ROMS for a variety of devices. I follow and flash them (the ROMs, that is. I dont want the devs to hate me).
Double entendres are rampant. It's Google.
Once you get your apps organized, you'll be surprised at how smoothly your phone useage goes. Frankly, it's just more fun, and much cheaper, to play with.
SamsungGalaxySVibrant said:
Congrats on your new phone. Let us know how your GPS works, since that seems to be a hot issue. you can test using google maps, google navigation and GPS Test downloadable from the Android Market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tested it. Google maps got no lock. However, gps test gave me 3 satellites, when I held it in front, under the windshiels it jumped to five satellites, but it wasn't enough for google maps to lock or get my location.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Hi everyone...
Im looking for suggestions on how to customize my stock vibrant and try all col things with this powerful phone... So far I have launcher pro and a beautiful widgets... And some games like need for speed shift demo... Anything else cool and exciting I can try or download on my phone w/o rooting it? Or screwing up ota uodates in the future?... Like changing tmob boot up screen or any suggestions at alll...
Thanx
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
In the settings you can change the "font style." (New fonts can be downloaded for a buck.) It can have a significant effect on how things appear. Some suggestions from the tips thread are Helvetica Nue, Soho Gothic, Frutiger and Felbridge. I'm digging Helvetica a lot.
Thanx for suggestion.. I forgot to mention I downloaded a few flip fonts I love how it changes the look of the phone.. Any other suggestions? Or performance boosters?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
you can not change the boot logo (or shutdown) if you are not rooted. If you are rooted, you still get OTA, but once installed it will unroot the phone
No problem do this
Fancy Widgets
Pure Messenger/ Grid Calendar and an Agenda app... (can't remember the name)
I am running Agenda Widget and liking it ok so far. I am always looking for a better one.
Launcher Pro or ADW, Beautiful Widgets, change the font style.
Here is a link to a thread with a plethora of Flip Fonts to choose from. Just download the .apk. locate and install on your device. Go into settings and change the font, restart and there you go
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=748916
Don't mean to pick on the op but I'm curious why people don't want to root.
I did the day it was possible and haven't looked back. So many things you can do to customize all reversible if you have to. Just don't try doing really crazy stuff unless you know what your doing but most things in the stick under the root section are easy and awesome.
Anyway I'd love to understand why people don't just do it.
Battery usage with percentage would be really nice.
drhonk said:
Battery usage with percentage would be really nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One more awesome thing to do with root. I don't get why you wouldn't.
joshthewaster said:
One more awesome thing to do with root. I don't get why you wouldn't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't get why people who don't root their phones go on XDA. XDA is a place for rooting and ROM development. Not a user-friendly website for non-rooters. But yeah definitely root, you can customize a lot more. Customize the notifications bar, I don't really big the light gray and blue 3G icon
I've gone from a few different Nokias, to a Motorola Razor, to a Blackberry Pearl and now finally to a Samsung Vibrant. I'm pretty good with computers and software so I know I could get rooting/recovery/flashing down, but this is my first time with a mobile device I could hack.
Whenever I do research on the topic I find multiple threads with multiple ways to root. The whole directions/concept just isn't crystal clear with me yet, despite how much I've read. And, there's always posts at the end of each thread by users with unanswered issues/problems.
I guess, I'm just taking the slow cautious route, enjoying stock android eclair for a while. I do have the itch, but no apps or issues with my phone have pushed me beyond curiosity and into the experimental, so to speak.
What is the top main reason you have for rooting your vibrant?
Edit: to point out, I know I could've "hacked" my previous phones, but not the way you can with an Android phone, you know what I mean...
trunkstar1 said:
I've gone from a few different Nokias, to a Motorola Razor, to a Blackberry Pearl and now finally to a Samsung Vibrant. I'm pretty good with computers and software so I know I could get rooting/recovery/flashing down, but this is my first time with a mobile device I could hack.
Whenever I do research on the topic I find multiple threads with multiple ways to root. The whole directions/concept just isn't crystal clear with me yet, despite how much I've read. And, there's always posts at the end of each thread by users with unanswered issues/problems.
I guess, I'm just taking the slow cautious route, enjoying stock android eclair for a while. I do have the itch, but no apps or issues with my phone have pushed me beyond curiosity and into the experimental, so to speak.
What is the top main reason you have for rooting your vibrant?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
- Allows access to applications that require root access (e.g. Titanium Backup, SetCPU, AdFree (not suggested since it helps developers), metamorph, etc)
- When you root, you have the ability to flash a custom recovery that allows custom ROMs. This allows nandroid backups, restores, and more.
- Remove bloatware that comes with the phone (this one DEFINITELY)
- Screenshots
See, I get confused. All I've read about recovery was people talking about "booting into recovery. The only thing I thought you flashed were the custom ROMs. And, I thought you only needed the backups and restores so you could get back to an unrooted state in case you needed warrantee work, or messed up your phone somehow.
What are the major bloatware items on the stock t-mobile vibrant?
trunkstar1 said:
See, I get confused. All I've read about recovery was people talking about "booting into recovery. The only thing I thought you flashed were the custom ROMs. And, I thought you only needed the backups and restores so you could get back to an unrooted state in case you needed warrantee work, or messed up your phone somehow.
What are the major bloatware items on the stock t-mobile vibrant?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Account & Settings on the App Drawer
Gogo
Amazon Kindle
TeleNav
T-Mobile Voicemail
MobiTV
Memo
AudioPostcard
(and many more)
... oh yeah and with root (and installed clockwork recovery) you can apply the Captivate camera which its interface is easier to apply different scenes.
And no.. you can restore non-root with Odin and nandroid backup (JAC's thread has a unrooted backup online). But yeah you do backups before you apply hacks to your phone incase anything happens
drhonk said:
Battery usage with percentage would be really nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get the app called Battery Status Pro. That gives you what you want.
zephiK said:
Account & Settings on the App Drawer
Gogo
Amazon Kindle
TeleNav
T-Mobile Voicemail
MobiTV
Memo
AudioPostcard
(and many more)
... oh yeah and with root (and installed clockwork recovery) you can apply the Captivate camera which its interface is easier to apply different scenes.
And no.. you can restore non-root with Odin and nandroid backup (JAC's thread has a unrooted backup online). But yeah you do backups before you apply hacks to your phone incase anything happens
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Trying to figure out how to remove bloatware was THE reason I found xda and rooted. I had no idea what I was doing but it is ULTRA easy. Download update zip-boot to recovery-apply-enjoy. That got me discovering all the other awesome things I can do.
You will always see people who have problems with anything in the threads. This is why you make backups. Once you have those you can do a lot more with a lot more confidence knowing that if you make a mistake you can correct it - mostly. And you can unroot if you have to.
drhonk said:
Battery usage with percentage would be really nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. Love having it.
Come on guys lets talk about stuff you can do for non rooters please. I did root my phone but I took it to far and bricked it. I'm not doing it again and I know that xda forums lean more to rooting then not. I thought a thread that talked about non rooted phones was a great idea but its been taken over. So I'm bringing it back.
There are a lot of good lockscreen apps to look at for changing your lockscreen. I've used some of them just haven settled on one yet. So no need to root just have fun with it the way it is.
spacecasespiff said:
Come on guys lets talk about stuff you can do for non rooters please. I did root my phone but I took it to far and bricked it. I'm not doing it again and I know that xda forums lean more to rooting then not. I thought a thread that talked about non rooted phones was a great idea but its been taken over. So I'm bringing it back.
There are a lot of good lockscreen apps to look at for changing your lockscreen. I've used some of them just haven settled on one yet. So no need to root just have fun with it the way it is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanx for staying on topic... no offense to others... where do i find different lock screens?
**UPDATED 12/20/2010**
Hey all Droid Eris owners, just wrote a lengthy post on my blog about improving performance, stability, and battery life on the Droid Eris on my blog at:
http://jonsuh.com/2010/09/make-your-droid-eris-faster-smoother-and-increase-battery-life-how-to/
I included tutorials on:
Rooting
FroyoEris
SetCPU
AutoKiller
LauncherPro
GPS Status
Dialer One
Wireless Tether
Gingerbread Keyboard *Added 12/20/2010*
Battery recalibration for extended battery life
Upgrading radio (July 2010 2.42.01.04.27)
Upgrading Kernel (CFS v5)
Tweak your settings (Window transitions, VM heap size, Launcher Pro)
Well known bugs (Market Fix, Camera bug, 3D gallery bug)
Please be so kind to donate
If this article helped you at all, please be so kind as to donate! I'm not here to get rich, just to help. A lot of research, testing, and time went into writing these articles. Click here to DONATE
Unroot Your Droid Eris
http://jonsuh.com/2010/09/unroot-your-droid-eris-how-to/
I referenced a lot of posts and resources here on this forum, and wanted to see and get your help on the content of the article and to see if the tips I provided are good, and if there are better or more things I can add.
I feel the people here at XDA know best how to make the Eris like it should!
All and any help you can provide would be great!
jsuh said:
Hey all Droid Eris owners, just wrote a lengthy post on my blog about improving performance, stability, and battery life on the Droid Eris on my blog at:
http://jonsuh.com/2010/09/make-your-droid-eris-faster-smoother-and-increase-battery-life-how-to/
I included tutorials on:
Rooting
FroyoEris
SetCPU
AutoKiller
LauncherPro
GPS Status
Upgrading radio (July 2010 2.42.01.04.27)
Upgrading Kernel (CFS v4)
I referenced a lot of posts and resources here on this forum, and wanted to see and get your help on the content of the article and to see if the tips I provided are good, and if there are better or more things I can add.
I feel the people here at XDA know best how to make the Eris like it should!
All and any help you can provide would be great!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
also cover
the cyanogen mod performance settings
spare parts widow and transition speed tweeks
bubble apk senor calibration for rotation
a cache cleaner (if you want)
easy root tools like
titanium back for root up (paid version is highly recommended dont waste your time with the free)
root explorer a must have app
wireless tether for root
all i can think of right now
I actually don't like Autokiller for making the phone fast.
Most people use 4-5 apps on their phone 90% of the time.
When re-opening those apps (even the dialer) due to them being killed from memory (thanks, autokiller), it takes longer than if they were still in memory.
My experiences with autokiller say, if a ROM has aggressive settings when you get it, download autokiller just to set them back to normal.
I hate to say that to make friends' Eris's faster (since I have gotten a dozen or more friends to buy this phone), I pretty much put xtrSense on there (or whatever fastest ROM I like is out there), and move on with life.
Some things as simple as optimized .png files in the .apks and simple overclocking make the phone noticably smoother and faster, and are very worthwhile.
This is a great tutorial page though.
You are a boon to the Android community. You are noble to help share your wealth of information with others, especially those who are new to the community. Thank you for your service, good sir. +1
I agree with what he said about autokiller.
You may want to mention that setcpu's widget has caused a lot of problems for people so it should be removed if they start noticing lag.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=763857&highlight=build.prop
^ Smoother scrolling.
You can also change your wifi scanning time by editing this line to 90:
wifi.supplicant_scan_interval = 90
You can put that up to 130 as well. It should save a bit of battery when wifi is turned on.
Thanks for all the input. I only put the suggestions on the page that I have personally dealt with; I rarely ever suggest something personally unless I've tested it personally myself.
What I'll do is run through the things I've missed and the ones I'm not so familiar with, I'll test and see before I do a write up on them. Thanks though; I really do appreciate the help and input. Any more suggestions/comments are more than welcome!
For me it was having a brightness widget handy, turning my Calender and Contacts sync on about once a week and watching my 3G. I used to run Autokiller but it closed that pig called HTC browser to many times on me while I was switching back in forth between apps.
Edit: Actually now that I think about it, I just bought a car charger and called it a day lol
i have a sprint htc hero running CM6 [which is a VERY similar phone to the droid eris for those that dont know] and my GPS was all messed up, but following the GPS section of your guide fixed it for me! thanks!!!!!!!
pkopalek said:
I actually don't like Autokiller for making the phone fast.
Most people use 4-5 apps on their phone 90% of the time.
When re-opening those apps (even the dialer) due to them being killed from memory (thanks, autokiller), it takes longer than if they were still in memory.
My experiences with autokiller say, if a ROM has aggressive settings when you get it, download autokiller just to set them back to normal.
I hate to say that to make friends' Eris's faster (since I have gotten a dozen or more friends to buy this phone), I pretty much put xtrSense on there (or whatever fastest ROM I like is out there), and move on with life.
Some things as simple as optimized .png files in the .apks and simple overclocking make the phone noticably smoother and faster, and are very worthwhile.
This is a great tutorial page though.
You are a boon to the Android community. You are noble to help share your wealth of information with others, especially those who are new to the community. Thank you for your service, good sir. +1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Took your consideration on the AutoKiller and since it seems to be more of a preference, I put a disclaimer saying what it will do and to set the settings lower if one wants.
Thanks again for your input; it's my pleasure to share the little that I know from experience.
djxstream said:
i have a sprint htc hero running CM6 [which is a VERY similar phone to the droid eris for those that dont know] and my GPS was all messed up, but following the GPS section of your guide fixed it for me! thanks!!!!!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey, I'm glad it helped! It was frustrating to me too to wait 3-7 minutes for my stupid GPS to lock in place. It's been a great help to me
I really like your post.
I already knew most of the tips, but I can see how this would be very helpful to most. And you wrote it up wonderfully.
Just added "Dialer One" to the list of the custom apps I recommend. Truly a great app to get away from the default Dialer that I absolutely HATE!
You may want to post an alternative location for SetCPU (market link, barcode) so some people can pay for the app and not get it for free. I believe the dev wants to drive traffic to his paid market app to support him. Not suggesting you remove the free location on the XDA, but help a guy out.
no I dont work for that dev, just saying, give him a 50/50 chance to make some cash for his hard work that everyone takes for granted.
otherwise great blog post.
Dialer One
So far your advice has been spot on. I just flashed my phone with KaosFroyo and am doing all of your suggested changes. I am total agreement that Dialer One is a much better dialer. I made the mistake of using Titanium Backup to uninstall the default dialer. Next thing I knew my phone could not make calls. Is there any way to make the default on screen phone button use Dialer One?
Nice guide. Keep up the good work
Sent from my HTC Droid Eris with CyanogenTazz 5.0 OC'd 787Mhz.
Great guide! Thanks for taking the time to put all this together. It should help a lot of people.
Sent from my KaosFroyoEris using XDA App
I have only one suggestion, as I did not see this on your blog.
You need to have a disclaimer somewhere in that post, preferably at the top of the post, disavowing any liability on your part if someone bricks their phone following your guide.
You also should repeat and STRESS that warning in your radio section. Flashing a radio may be easy with flashable zips, but it is also the easiest way to brick a phone. If that MD5 is off and the person doesn't know it or if their phone screws up somehow during the flash process, it will be dead. You should also probably state that if their radio is working fine, there is absolutely no need to flash a new one.
Other than that, I thought it was a pretty nice guide.
Thanks to everyone that took the time to review the read! In the next couple of days, I should be adding a couple more tips; been so swamped this past wk haven't had much time to do anything.
markdmac said:
So far your advice has been spot on. I just flashed my phone with KaosFroyo and am doing all of your suggested changes. I am total agreement that Dialer One is a much better dialer. I made the mistake of using Titanium Backup to uninstall the default dialer. Next thing I knew my phone could not make calls. Is there any way to make the default on screen phone button use Dialer One?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I'm not sure if you use ADW or LauncherPro. If you use LauncherPro, I know the dock icons (last row) can be customized. Just long press one of the icons (probably the phone icon in your case) > Change shortcut > Applications > Dialer One. That's what I did.
suppliesidejesus said:
I have only one suggestion, as I did not see this on your blog.
You need to have a disclaimer somewhere in that post, preferably at the top of the post, disavowing any liability on your part if someone bricks their phone following your guide.
You also should repeat and STRESS that warning in your radio section. Flashing a radio may be easy with flashable zips, but it is also the easiest way to brick a phone. If that MD5 is off and the person doesn't know it or if their phone screws up somehow during the flash process, it will be dead. You should also probably state that if their radio is working fine, there is absolutely no need to flash a new one.
Other than that, I thought it was a pretty nice guide.
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I do have a section under "Root is vital" that has a disclaimer, but maybe I will take the time and create it's own section. I'll add and put the disclaimers up as soon as I can, thanks
Made additions and updates on 9/17/2010
CFSv5
Battery recalibration
Warnings
More updates to come (as I can find the time to do so!)
You may want to mention the Collin Battery Tweak, but personally I would skip it. It's for more advanced users and you should really only do it once you're comfortable with the phone.
I really like your guide... Kinda wish it was out when i started messing with my eris in march lol.. but i think a good add-on to the guide would be a apps section.. i see a couple of people are recommending some apps and stuff like dialer one and titanium.. If you throw a app section in with a little info on what they do, im sure the people using the guide would love it.. its just a recommendation keep up the work
Used your site along with this one and some irc and now my wife's phone is twice as fast as before, it's sweet...thanks
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
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
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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Click to collapse
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.
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?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.