I have been reading this forum for some weeks now and wanted to thank you all for the great info here. I got my first Android phone (Vibrant) a few weeks ago.
I found out about rooting just yesterday. Since I really don't want to spend a lot of time troubleshooting the phone, I had a few questions to figure out whether I should root or not:
Will rooting my phone be overall worth it? Will I have to troubleshoot it a lot as a result? It works well now.
How will the updates work in the future? For example, I won't have to worry about Android 2.2 because it will be included in Cyanogen? Will my phone notify me when it's time to update?
This one is important: are there any instructions that tell me how to backup my current phone so that I can restore it to the original condition in case something happens?
Is Cyanogen accepted to be the best for rooting?
Will all my applications become uninstalled? Will anything else change besides my access level? I read some conflicting into on this.
Can you think of any disadvantages to rooting (other than possible voiding of warranty if you can't hide it)?
Do you guys have a list in this forum as to which applications are bloatware and should be removed (and are safe to remove)? I don't know anything about Android, so I have no idea
And finally, is there a thread/list where all the most important/useful applications that should be installed after rooting are listed? I know titanium backup is one. I couldn't understand what BusyBox does. So a list with explanations would be great.
I haven't liked the battery life of this phone and I am hoping that after removing all the bloatware from it that issue might be fixed as well. My phone starts with 160M+ memory. Even though I keep killing open applications, the performance keeps dropping over time until I can't get more memory beyond ~90M. This is when I have to shut down the phone and turn back on. Other than tethering, my main reason for rooting is 1.performance gain and 2.battery life extension.
Thanks for all the help. A lot of talented people on this forum.
There is no reason to not root this phone in my opinion. You can unroot it. You will get OTA updates using the stock ROM. Many of the recommended apps, guides, useful information is in the sticky at the top. Please read that, then ask any more detailed question you may have.
edit: when you root, there will be NO change to your apps/contacts/settings/etc.... you will reboot and be like "well, am I rooted?"... look for the superuser app in your app drawer, there? Good, you were successful.
Ok, you got an excellent thread there that pretty much answered all my questions! I will root my phone and get back here if I have any more questions, with a cleaned up list. Thanks.
will applying the RyanZA fix stop the OTA update?
A lot of people have this misconception that rooting means modifying their phone. Rooting by itself is not really modifying anything on your phone, all it does is give you super user privileges.
Think of your Mac or Windows PC, you have administrative accounts and you have user accounts. Admins can do anything, user accounts are typically limited.
When you have root access to your phone, you are the admin. You can access features that default account can't.
With that said, once you do have su you step into a whole new world with many different paths. You can can simply stay rooted and use apps that required root access and leave it at that.
Or you can dive into custom ROMs. This is where you step off the manufacturers intended path and follow community developed versions of the operating system.
Alternatively, in between those two extremes above you can do many things in between. You can stay with stock rom but have custom (modules or programs) APKs, or other modifications that change or expand on stock ROM.
Always keep in mind that once you choose to root, what happens to your device is your responsibility. Once again, your responsibility. If you are not willing to accept that, then stay non-rooted/stock and responsibility will be on Samsung to add/remove features, provide updates, fix bugs, etc.
Ok, so a few questions:
I bought Autostart and hid the system apps. Now what? I don't know what to disable from this list. There are applications, but they are listed under several categories. For example, "Application Removed." I have no idea what that category is for. Should I just worry about "After Startup"? Please elaborate.
You don't recommend AppKiller. Won't all those open applications just drain the battery? For example, if I have TeleNav open, how can I close it after I am done using it without AKiller?
There is an entire thread of various people posting various things, but I still would like to see just ONE combined list of all the "safe" bloatware to remove and "risky" ones. That thread did not help me at all since various people are reporting various things.
You recommend Root Explorer, which is kind of expensive. Is there any reason why I can't use the uninstall function of Titanium Backup? Is it any less thorough?
Where is the restart function?
How can I disable those annoying power down and power up sounds of the phone? Can this be done without lowering system volume?
Thanks!
Awesome, Glad to hear your root went well.
1. I bought Autostart and hid the system apps. Now what? I don't know what to disable from this list. There are applications, but they are listed under several categories. For example, "Application Removed." I have no idea what that category is for. Should I just worry about "After Startup"? Please elaborate.
I remove almost all non-system apps unless it is logical wht said app would need to function, aka, text received you would not want to block messanger/handcent..... if there is something you are questioning, just let me know.
2. You don't recommend AppKiller. Won't all those open applications just drain the battery? For example, if I have TeleNav open, how can I close it after I am done using it without AKiller?
Now that you have root, remove all of the bloatware and it will not be an issue. These run in the background and very likely are not using ANY of your resources.
3. There is an entire thread of various people posting various things, but I still would like to see just ONE combined list of all the "safe" bloatware to remove and "risky" ones. That thread did not help me at all since various people are reporting various things.
I used that thread because a lot of people posted the apps they removed. Almost all of them can be removed, if there is one you are questioning, let me know.
4. You recommend Root Explorer, which is kind of expensive. Is there any reason why I can't use the uninstall function of Titanium Backup? Is it any less thorough?
I mentioned in the sticky that I do not use TB. I know it allows you to remove apps, but Root Explorer does this and a lot more. For example..... #6
5. Where is the restart function?
Not sure I know what you mean? if you want a reboot option you can get Quick Boot from the market.
6. How can I disable those annoying power down and power up sounds of the phone? Can this be done without lowering system volume?
In the sticky I show where the files are located. With Root Explorer you can navigate to them and delete the files.
I agree with a lot on this thread. A master Guide for rooting/unrooting and usage should be made. The FAQ currently stickied is informative for the most part but it focuses on far too many things to be able to go into enough detail on each. Personally I would like a "All things root" guide or something sticked which is comprehensive and focuses JUST on that, with the most common root usage apps and things posted (including safe disabling or removal of bloat, backing up, flashing roms, etc.) so that people who have NO idea whatsoever and it is their first phone or something can just read that and feel at home. I may start working on one if no one else does it, we'll see.
}{Alienz}{ said:
so that people who have NO idea whatsoever and it is their first phone or something can just read that and feel at home.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd say that if someone has no idea what they are doing, the last thing they should be attempting is flashing firmware on their phone.
The layer of obscurity and technical difficulty associated with rooting/modding is of benefit in terms of preventing people from doing things they should not be doing without sufficient knowledge base.
There is plenty of info here and online in general to start someone off if they are interested in learning about this in general.
IMHO, creating a trail of bread crumbs for someone who doesn't know what they are doing is more likely to hurt them or community in general rather than help them.
In my experience rooting your could be fun and a nightmare, if not done properly and, you have of time on you're you could become a rom switching addict cyanogen is currently available for the vibrant you can still root, but you will be on stock vibrant rom.till samsung release the source code so no froyo.and the rumor is that they won't release the source code.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
s15274n said:
Awesome, Glad to hear your root went well.
1. I bought Autostart and hid the system apps. Now what? I don't know what to disable from this list. There are applications, but they are listed under several categories. For example, "Application Removed." I have no idea what that category is for. Should I just worry about "After Startup"? Please elaborate.
I remove almost all non-system apps unless it is logical wht said app would need to function, aka, text received you would not want to block messanger/handcent..... if there is something you are questioning, just let me know.
2. You don't recommend AppKiller. Won't all those open applications just drain the battery? For example, if I have TeleNav open, how can I close it after I am done using it without AKiller?
Now that you have root, remove all of the bloatware and it will not be an issue. These run in the background and very likely are not using ANY of your resources.
3. There is an entire thread of various people posting various things, but I still would like to see just ONE combined list of all the "safe" bloatware to remove and "risky" ones. That thread did not help me at all since various people are reporting various things.
I used that thread because a lot of people posted the apps they removed. Almost all of them can be removed, if there is one you are questioning, let me know.
4. You recommend Root Explorer, which is kind of expensive. Is there any reason why I can't use the uninstall function of Titanium Backup? Is it any less thorough?
I mentioned in the sticky that I do not use TB. I know it allows you to remove apps, but Root Explorer does this and a lot more. For example..... #6
5. Where is the restart function?
Not sure I know what you mean? if you want a reboot option you can get Quick Boot from the market.
6. How can I disable those annoying power down and power up sounds of the phone? Can this be done without lowering system volume?
In the sticky I show where the files are located. With Root Explorer you can navigate to them and delete the files.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. What I don't understand is that the category says "New Outgoing Call" and GVoice beneath it. So I should NOT disable it, right? Because it has nothing to do with startup? But if so, then almost every other category has nothing to do with startup either. It is only the first listing that says "After Startup" and it misses A LOT of applications that do start up, like TeleNav. I don't even see TeleNav anywhere in that list. Same is true for "Email," Gallery," "Voice Dialer," and a bunch of other apps that I don't want to start on startup. I don't see any way of killing these other than by ATKiller. Am I missing something here?
2. See the problem is this: right now I have Telenav and I use it sometimes. However, I don't want it to run just whenever. So if I don't want to uninstall it, isn't my only solution ATKiller? There are other programs like this. And I can't disable them from the Autostart menu either since they're not there (Filtered out System files).
3. That site does not list what each of the bloatware does. For example, I am not sure I want to remove Account and Sync because I might need it for my bills. Same thing with "MyFiles." I don't even know what "vvm" is.
4. I am not able to tether the phone. I already tried Barnacle and it said "Running..." after I disabled supplicant, used channel 6, and disable ad-hoc. Then I tried this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=739147&highlight=tether, but I am still not able to connect. My laptop detects the phone as "computer-to-computer network," but when I click connect, it keeps trying to connect and then doesn't. I am not sure where to go from here.
Thanks.
One more thing I still don't know: how are the updates going to work from now on? Whenever an Android update comes out, like 2.1update or Froyo, do I have to come here and do everything manually? Or is there a way from within the phone to find out with one click? I am assuming whatever update is available for the phone will also be available for custom download (otherwise I could unroot, update, reroot?).
Thanks.
By the way, I also agree about a complete guide. It's not that it will enable the clueless to mess up their phone, but rather the opposite - it will allow the clueless to become cluefull. Such a guide would be very helpful. Meanwhile I am having to jump from thread to thread and then to Google trying to find out about this or that. That's not to say that the guide available isn't very helpful already.
I've already contacted a few people about starting said guide. I have not got much feedback from people willing to help....
^ you've asked a lot man... I can try and answer some, but you need to keep doing some reading. I feel like I've offered up a lot as is.
Just b/c you have root, does not mean you will not receive the OTA updates. If Froyo is released, you can update from the phone, you will lose root though. Most of us, will wait for the developers to have a stock froyo + root that we can flash.
why use telenav? I am not familiar.. just curious why not use google nav?
autostarts, just b/c you have it set to not start an app on boot, does not mean when you click the icon to open it will cause an issue. Really not that big of a deal. If you notice an issue, just set the app back to enabled.
Do not use a task killer.
The thread I linked has plenty of information for what you can remove from the phone, with instructions.... same for the barnacle tether app. If you want, download Wireless Tether, google it... the source code is on google.
http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/downloads/list
androidaddict23 said:
In my experience rooting your could be fun and a nightmare, if not done properly and, you have of time on you're you could become a rom switching addict cyanogen is currently available for the vibrant you can still root, but you will be on stock vibrant rom.till samsung release the source code so no froyo.and the rumor is that they won't release the source code.
Sent from my Nexus One using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cyanogen is not yet available for the Vibrant. It will soon.
Froyo-cooked ROMS are already out for the Vibrant (alas with some bugs) so I don't think there's a reason to think Cyanogen won't be on Froyo.
Also: Never having done a root/rom flash does not make someone stupid or signify they should never try it. It just means they should READ some documentation and be technically up to the challenge before they do. I don't think having a clear guide on most of the process will hurt anyone who is coming into this but doesn't yet know all the details and steps of what to do.
Excelsius said:
Ok, you got an excellent thread there that pretty much answered all my questions! I will root my phone and get back here if I have any more questions, with a cleaned up list. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
glad the root went well for you. I am wanting to root my phone too, but not sure which root method is easiest and best.
Which root method did you use?
I had a mytouch rooted before the Vibrant, but they are way different and I dont want to screw up
s15274n said:
I've already contacted a few people about starting said guide. I have not got much feedback from people willing to help....
^ you've asked a lot man... I can try and answer some, but you need to keep doing some reading. I feel like I've offered up a lot as is.
Just b/c you have root, does not mean you will not receive the OTA updates. If Froyo is released, you can update from the phone, you will lose root though. Most of us, will wait for the developers to have a stock froyo + root that we can flash.
why use telenav? I am not familiar.. just curious why not use google nav?
autostarts, just b/c you have it set to not start an app on boot, does not mean when you click the icon to open it will cause an issue. Really not that big of a deal. If you notice an issue, just set the app back to enabled.
Do not use a task killer.
The thread I linked has plenty of information for what you can remove from the phone, with instructions.... same for the barnacle tether app. If you want, download Wireless Tether, google it... the source code is on google.
http://code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/downloads/list
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I appreciate all your answers. I don't mean to say that anyone else can't answer as well. I am still unclear on several things I asked and would appreciate if someone could chime in, at least about the exact procedures for using autostart and the reasoning behind not using the task killer. I am new to Android, but I am pretty good at computers, including building them. So when I am learning about doing this or that, I would like to know about the reasoning behind that. I am sure that all of the questions I ask here I can find out on my own, but I was hoping that I could utilize the purpose of the forum and learn something from the veterans rather than reinventing the wheel myself.
I am using Telenav because I have a one month free trial. I discovered Google Nav just yesterday. I just want to compare them myself, even though it is unlikely I will pay $10/month in either case. But remember that Telenav is just one of the applications causing issues.
Thanks for all the answers. Please don't feel pressured to answer all the things I might ask. If I don't get enough answers, I'll just do a quick thread search and if that's not fruitful, I'll create a specific thread for autostart usage.
androidaddict23 said:
till samsung release the source code so no froyo.and the rumor is that they won't release the source code.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't this illegal? I thought the whole point of Android was opensource and under the GPL License, they are required to post the full source code, right? Or I could just be way off base here.
kboater said:
glad the root went well for you. I am wanting to root my phone too, but not sure which root method is easiest and best.
Which root method did you use?
I had a mytouch rooted before the Vibrant, but they are way different and I dont want to screw up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used the first procedure recommended in the sticky: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7150299&postcount=1
I am not sure why it said that you have to restart several times. Here are some clarifications on the steps there that I think were not too clear:
1. When you connect your device, you need to pull down the message area, click on the USB, and only then you will see the option to MOUNT your phone. I had to experiment to figure this out.
2. The guide doesn't say, but if your USB debugging mode is on, I would disable it, just to be safe: Settings (this is that leftmost button on your phone when you're at your desktop)-->Applications-->Development-->USB debugging (uncheck). This might be unnecessary, but I did it just to be safe.
3. When you are copying the Update.zip file into your phone, make sure you check the size of the folder. It must be your internal storage - it will be 12GB+ and will have your system files. If you have trouble identifying this, simply remove your SD card!
4. When you are restarting the phone, make sure you press the volume button in the MIDDLE so that it is entirely pressed (up and down). While holding it, press and hold the power. Do not let go of the volume button until your enter the recovery menu.
Anyway, that's what I did and rooted from the first time without any issues.
t0phux said:
Isn't this illegal? I thought the whole point of Android was opensource and under the GPL License, they are required to post the full source code, right? Or I could just be way off base here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It could be that Samsung has modified the code for their own phones making the code their property, while the "regular" 2.2 (unmodified) would be available to everyone. I could be wrong, but I think this how it would work.
Excelsius said:
I used the first procedure recommended in the sticky: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=7150299&postcount=1
I am not sure why it said that you have to restart several times. Here are some clarifications on the steps there that I think were not too clear:
1. When you connect your device, you need to pull down the message area, click on the USB, and only then you will see the option to MOUNT your phone. I had to experiment to figure this out.
2. The guide doesn't say, but if your USB debugging mode is on, I would disable it, just to be safe: Settings (this is that leftmost button on your phone when you're at your desktop)-->Applications-->Development-->USB debugging (uncheck). This might be unnecessary, but I did it just to be safe.
3. When you are copying the Update.zip file into your phone, make sure you check the size of the folder. It must be your internal storage - it will be 12GB+ and will have your system files. If you have trouble identifying this, simply remove your SD card!
4. When you are restarting the phone, make sure you press the volume button in the MIDDLE so that it is entirely pressed (up and down). While holding it, press and hold the power. Do not let go of the volume button until your enter the recovery menu.
Anyway, that's what I did and rooted from the first time without any issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks
10 char
hello, i am new to the rooting scene and droid. i have the AT&T S4 and i would like to remove all this crap that AT&T loads on the phone. i would also like to know that if i root my S4 can i use my sdcard to install apps to since the default "8gb" might not be enough so i bought a 32gb sdcard. please advise, i don't even know if this is the purpose of rooting a phone or not, sorry it its a dumb question.
Thanks
Well you're not new to xda. This belongs in Q&A, not development.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
how do i move this to the correct area. i am not new to the forum new to droid. i many years ago i had a htc 6800 for verizon i used to "cook" roms for.
plwalsh88 said:
Well you're not new to xda. This belongs in Q&A, not development.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LilSnoop40 said:
how do i move this to the correct area. i am not new to the forum new to droid. i many years ago i had a htc 6800 for verizon i used to "cook" roms for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can click on the triangle in the upper right corner of the post, and report to a moderator for moving/maintenance. I already reported it for you.
Please read forum rules before posting
Questions and help issues go in Q&A
Thread moved
Thank you for your cooperation
Friendly Neighborhood Moderator
Development is only for developers to post work
LilSnoop40 said:
hello, i am new to the rooting scene and droid. i have the AT&T S4 and i would like to remove all this crap that AT&T loads on the phone. i would also like to know that if i root my S4 can i use my sdcard to install apps to since the default "8gb" might not be enough so i bought a 32gb sdcard. please advise, i don't even know if this is the purpose of rooting a phone or not, sorry it its a dumb question.
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems nobody has answered this, only moved your thread around. ^_^
In short, rooting just allows you to do things to your phone that normally would be against the manufacturer's/carrier's intent. One such example would be to remove carrier-added bloatware that is otherwise not removable. I personally use root for the following:
Titanium Backup Pro: This would let me backup my apps AND data for each app. Google does a decent job at backing up most my apps, but if I "sideload" an app (install from a different source other than the Play Store), I can back it up also. Plus Google doesn't always backup the DATA part of an app, which can be important for me (e.g. an authenticator, or RSA token for work). In addition, TiBu also allows you to easily "freeze" the bloatware, which prohibits it from running or showing up anywhere. This is usually a better option than completely uninstalling it, because it's usually much easier to recover from de-bloating the wrong bloat.
AdFree: An advertisement blocker. Typically Root is required to do this properly, as it modifies the "hosts" file on your android. In the end, it overrides your phone's DNS such that when an app or webpage requests data from a known advertising website, the phone will redirect the request to "nothing", and the ad will not show. Use with discretion - some people frown upon this because they "lose" revenue from the ads that are not shown. I won't comment further, fearing I'll start a verbal war here.
Greenify: Allows you to put certain apps to sleep while they are not being actively used. I use it for Facebook Messenger, because I've found that if this app is allowed to run in the background, it kills my battery. I leave Facebook running in the background, so that I'll still get notifications of new FB messages. Seems to work out for me well.
"Some Tethering Applications or Methods": Some of the better ways to tether/hotspot from your phone will require root. Again, I'll leave this one lie. Personally, I rarely use it, but I've been in a bind before without internet access, and I've needed to use it. I don't want to lose my unlimited data with AT&T, so I really have no choice to add a tethering plan anymore. Regardless, it's nice to know I have it available as an emergency option.
While I could recommend the root, I also have to warn you that this will effectively void your Warranty. There's ways (read through the forums here) to "hide" the root, by using SuperSU instead. But just be forewarned.
EDIT: Here's the link to the thread with the video - How to Root & Remove Unlock Icon & Unroot
First thing's first; learn correct terminology. The Galaxy S4 is certainly not a Droid phone. "Droid" is a term used by Verizon to attempt to label and unify their line of Android phones. "Android" is the name of Google's open-source mobile OS.
LilSnoop40, I got your private message, but I'm going to post some stuff here on this thread for everyone to see, just in case there are others that need some help with the rooting as well. Here goes:
The actual part of rooting your device is not too difficult using "Motochopper". The hardest part is just getting ADB setup and your phone recognized in ADB. For the Motochopper root and a basic outline of how to do the root, see this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2252248
Some recommendations:
- Be sure the phone is in USB Debugging mode. You'll have to enable the Developer options first. Let me know if you need help with this part. IT involves repeatedly clicking something in Settings to enable Dev options, and then there's just a checkbox to check after that to enable the debugging mode. This is "Step 3" in that thread I linked.
- Be sure you have the latest samsung drivers for your phone. There's a few threads around here that have JUST the drivers, and not the whole Samsung Kies software package (completely unnecessary!). If you can't find them, I'll see if I can search around and provide a link. This is "Step 2" of the thread.
- If you're in Debugging Mode, the drivers should also being installed for the "ADB device" - I forget the actual name of it, but it's a device on your computer that says something about ADB. This will only appear when you have the phone in debugging mode of course.
- super-important: When you run the root/hack/motochopper thing, you'll be prompted on your device to allow the ADB connection. It will say something about accepting a certificate or something like that. If you don't respond in 10 seconds, it will deny it, and the root will fail. This is "step 6" on the thread I linked.
Also, if you manage to do all this successfully, you'll see that the root was successful, and you'll have a new app on your phone: Superuser. This new app is what allows you to approve root access by other applications (more-or-less). A side-effect of having this app installed will be that the system will detect the presence of root, and when you boot your phone, it will show an open padlock and "custom". If you follow my basic instructions in this post, you can get rid of that.
Feel free to ask for any clarifications, etc. I'll try to be as helpful as possible.
First android phone I've owned since coming from years of iPhones, does the recent update that I downloaded affect the ability to root the device? I keep seeing people talking about versions but I don't see the numbers that they are saying so not sure what to look at, or if it matters at all? Will this work on any quadcore S4?
Skattered said:
First android phone I've owned since coming from years of iPhones, does the recent update that I downloaded affect the ability to root the device? I keep seeing people talking about versions but I don't see the numbers that they are saying so not sure what to look at, or if it matters at all? Will this work on any quadcore S4?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Short answer: No, the update won't affect your ability to root.
What carrier do you have? For the basic model number, you can read the label that's under your battery. The AT&T version, for example, will read: "SGH-I337". You can also get very specific information about your phone, the model number, build number, etc. bu doing the following: Go to Settings -> More... (The "Build number" is probably the numbers your looking for.)
If I'm not mistaken, the Motochopper root works on all I337 models?
Okay sweet, it is a 1337 (guess the signature tells me that too) and its on at&t
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk 2
Hi all,
I am part of an IT Client team and we are trying to prep for the deployment of the GS4. The S3 is our current standard and was received pretty well, but some of the features are overwhelming to our sales force. Is there any way that we can disable some of these features perhaps even automatically via ADB and a USB cable?
Also, we are wanting to have our company app preinstalled. Currently it resides in the marketplace but apparently some of our sales force don't understand the Play Store and that they actually have to go find the app and install it. Is there a way to automatically sideload our app? We were also discussing a launcher like launcherpro with an xml file included that contains default locations for icons, data, etc.
Has anyone tried this before? Please advise with ideas/suggestions. We don't want to flash a ROM generated by our company because that would require too much overhead on our part to manage because thousands of phones need to me maintained. We also don't want to root the NatureUI/Touchwiz stock rom that comes with the S4.
metroidnemesis13 said:
Hi all,
I am part of an IT Client team and we are trying to prep for the deployment of the GS4. The S3 is our current standard and was received pretty well, but some of the features are overwhelming to our sales force. Is there any way that we can disable some of these features perhaps even automatically via ADB and a USB cable?
Also, we are wanting to have our company app preinstalled. Currently it resides in the marketplace but apparently some of our sales force don't understand the Play Store and that they actually have to go find the app and install it. Is there a way to automatically sideload our app? We were also discussing a launcher like launcherpro with an xml file included that contains default locations for icons, data, etc.
Has anyone tried this before? Please advise with ideas/suggestions. We don't want to flash a ROM generated by our company because that would require too much overhead on our part to manage because thousands of phones need to me maintained. We also don't want to root the NatureUI/Touchwiz stock rom that comes with the S4.
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I'm not quite sure about disabling features on the stock ROM. I know there's an Easy mode that can be used for first time smartphone owners. As far as preloading your company app, you can write a script to do so. However, that requires you to manually enable developer mode and USB debugging on every single phone. I'm not sure how practical this is, considering you have so many phones. A better way might be to send a mass text message or email to each of the phones with the play store link to the app. Once again, considering the employees might be unfamiliar with the phone, a text would probably be the simple way to go. I would use side-loading as a way of installing your app in the event that someone had an issue with the text. I believe you'd run into the same issues with preinstalling LauncherPro and associated xml files. It doesn't seem there's a way you can properly deploy what you need to w/o going hands on on all units.
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Depending on what functionality you would like to disable, you can go to the App Manager heading in the Settings menu, and disable system apps you don't use. In terms of disabling parts of functionality in certain system apps, that probably wouldn't be possible on stock unrooted devices.
metroidnemesis13 said:
apparently some of our sales force don't understand the Play Store
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I'm not sure how to solve your problem. I was going to say once you are willing to ADB and USB debug you might as well cook up the ROM the way you want it and blast it on with Odin.
However, one thing to be concerned about is the OTA software updates that you probably want your users to be able to receive. If you mod the stock software (either with ADB or a modded ROM) in such a way to make the phone status 'Custom' your users won't be able to get updates and bug fixes from Samsung.
I would just try to hold their hand through getting the app installed (ie. email them a link to it when they get a phone so all they have to do is tap the link and hit install) and leave the rest of the phone alone.
Hello everyone,
I'm pretty new to this forum, I've been following some discussions and threads for about 3 to 4 weeks now, I wrote a mail to members privately, and this is now my first forum posting, opening a thread.
My mobile phone is of course a Samsung Galaxy Y Duos aka GT-S6102, which I have had for about three and a half years now and I'm pretty satisfied with the phone I must say.
I am not really a programmer (oh well, I played around with Pascal a few decades ago!), neither am I a developer – and I admire all the more the work done by some of you here –, and I been using Linux for over 10 years now and I know my ways around this operating system.
So when I got my first smartphone I quickly realised that there had to be a way for me to free my phone.
And with the beginning of the new year, I began to take action! Inspired by all extremely useful information I read on this site, I was able to
- root my phone,
- work with CWM (temporary version ), among other things make a nandroid backup,
- install a new kernel (iDuos),
- free space on the internal storage on my phone (thanks to Link2SD), etc...
And much of the software, the methods, the information, came from the pages of this site – so thanks again to all of the contributors!
But the reason that makes me post this message today is the frustration that I have, due to the fact that I was absolutely unable to install an application that I was very eager to test and use : Signal private messenger.
No matter what I tried, the app (3.9 and now 3.10) would not get installed on my phone!
I tried with Wi-Fi, with the data service of my phone service carrier, I tried with a second cellphone which is just the same as mine, I tried using Hideman VPN service, I even tried a version of Signal that did not come from the play store (of course I did not forget to tick "allow third-party applications") – all with no success!
I even got in touch with Open Whisper System (the only thing I haven't done so far is get in touch with Google) and exchanged several mails with Masha (well, perhaps my ability to communicate is not the best), but I did not get any answer to my last question – which is the reason why I am asking the same question to the readers of this thread (and users of Samsung Galaxy Y Duos aka GT-S6102) :
do you know if Open Whisper System's Signal Private Messenger is supposed to work with our cellular telephone?
Do you have it on your phones? Did you have trouble installing it?
Anyway thanks a lot for your answers! And if there is anything else you need to know about the configuration of my phone, please let me know.
ludo