Related
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
After perusing the forums for a while I'm considering loading a new ROM/Kernel. Maybe I'm to much of a noob to know but I can't find a thread that lays out the structure of Android. The stuff I can find assumes that I am already on intimate terms with this stuff, but I'm not.
I flashed CWM 3.1.0.1 which allowed me to clear caches and reset the battery gauge which has really helped. In trying to go further I'd like to piece the structure of the system together so I know where I am in the bigger scheme of things. I rely on the Epic for work. I can't afford to go down the wrong path and find myself in a far away town relying on a hotel internet connection to get back up off the ground. The picture I have is this:
Root lets me do the things I have mentioned before. Namely clear caches, backup my phone, reset battery meter, run some utilities to aid in device management. Similar to root or SU on *nix systems.
ROM drives the hardware and basic user interface, seems to me to be equivalent to the boot ROM and some lower level of OS functionality
Kernel is the actual software that runs on the device. This would be some OS and phone system overlay and the basic applications that show up in your applications folder. This provides your Sprint connection, network interface and the like
Applications are the other things that you actually run on the phone like games, social media programs GPS etc. Some come wrapped with a kernel, or they could be pick and choose.
I'm a bit fuzzy on where the ROM leaves off and the Kernel begins, maybe someone can clarify this.
Which leaves me here:
I see stuff that makes flashing new kernels and ROMs sound as if they are a magic elixir. I see posts that make it sound as if its a playground for folks who are hobbyists. Some posts talk about things that don't work any more with this flash or that. Where is the list of stuff that works and does not work for various mods?
My needs are very basic.
I need a reliable phone.
I need reliable Google mail & calendar (there are a few advantages to outsourcing corporate email to google).
Usable but not mission critical texting and GPS.
Better battery life.
This phone is for business. I do not need: social media, games, gadgets, widgets, toys.
Any light you can shed on the subject to help a brother out is appreciated.
Root = Elevated privilege access.
Kernel = The software that drives the phone.
Rom = The files on the phone's storage.
Apps = Also files on the phone's storage.
Root gives you the ability to do things the phone manufacturer did not intend for you to be able to do. (Think limited user account on Windows/Linux).
The Kernel is like the "engine" of the phone, w/o it the phone does nothing.
The Rom is the files on the phone, some are used by the kernel in order to make the phone work.
Apps... you know what these are. =]
The kernel controls the device, it has the drivers for hardware to make that hardware work.
The kernel is a Linux kernel built specifically for the device (phone) it will be run on.
The Rom is a collection of files to be installed onto the phone.
The Rom contains the operating system (the part that makes it an "android").
A Rom also includes apps, might include a theme (modifications to images, colors), and possibly numerous other modifications to the "stock" files.
The "stock" files, or a "stock" Rom, is what we are given by Sprint.
The different custom Roms you see available here on XDA are basically the stock files, modified by someone to their liking.
Some include a theme to give a custom look, most include modifications to make things "better" (ie hacked Sprint Hotspot, the 6 or 8 Lockscreen mod, etc).
There are many other aspects at play here, and much more that could be said about each item you listed, but the above is a generalized rundown.
Android runs on top of Linux, so the more familiar you are with Linux the better off you will be.
Do yourself a favor and take the time to read as much as you can, Google is your best friend.
=]
[GUIDE | READ ME | DISCONTINUED-28/06/12 ] A Newbie Guide for your Galaxy Tab 7.7 ▓░░
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Do terms like ‘Android ROM’ confuse you? Is your understanding of ‘flashing’ limited to acts of exhibitionism? Do you feel left out or clueless when your friends talk about flashing the latest custom ROM to their Android device ? here is a guide for you to make your life easier
Hey guys, this is a guide which will help many people (new users).
The Very Beginning!
Android is an Operating System (OS), like Windows or OSX to your computer or iOS [1] to the iPad and iPhone. It controls how the phone reacts to your inputs, what's displayed on the screen and when. Many would argue, the OS is the most important factor of any mobile device. Whether or not you agree, it certainly has a massive impact on user experience, hopefully at the end of this, you'll be able to make up your own mind.
Note-
Red color means -> its important !!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understanding ROM’s and Builds
A ROM is essentially a custom version of Android. Each tweaks, combines, or optimizes Android to offer something standard versions lack. Within ROM’s, you have what are known as builds (basic branches of Android code) that offer certain features and characteristics.
Think of it as a crude metaphor for Microsoft Windows. There’s XP, Vista, and Windows 7. All three are Windows operating systems and can typically run the same programs, but there are major differences between them. Within each OS, there’s further distinction between Vista Home, Vista Pro, and Vista Ultimate. Likewise, one ROM can spawn multiple versions. For instance, there are several flavors of Drake’s Hero ROM..
Be advised that some ROM’s require a wipe (erases all information stored on your phone) before or after installation. This is done when you enter the recovery mode and perform a “factory data reset.”
What is Firmware?
The read-only operating systems that we just discussed above are also called ‘firmware’, as they stay firmly in place without modification access to the users of the device. Modification of firmware is still however possible, just not under normal usage. Many devices require specialized hardware to be used for the purpose while other devices have the storage set as read-only through software protection only, which can be removed or overridden without the need for any specialized hardware, just by using software written for the purpose, often but not always requiring connection to a computer.
Thus, the terms ‘operating system’ and ‘firmware’ both refer to the same thing and can be used interchangeably when applied to such devices.
Flashing
The ROM memory used in smartphones and tablets etc. is often same as flash memory found in SD cards and USB flash drives, simply optimized for better speed and performance while running the operating system. As explained above, it is read-only under normal usage and requires a special procedure for any modifications to be made to its contents. The procedure of modifying or replacing the contents of such flash memory is known as flashing. Thus, in layman’s terms, flashing is essentially the same as installing or modifying the firmware of a device that is stored on its protected flash memory.
2 – Mobile Operating Systems
ROM as the Operating System
When it comes to smartphones and tablets, the term ROM is used to refer to the firmware stored in the internal memory of the device, rather than the internal memory itself. It can also refer to a file prepared for the purpose of replacing this firmware with another version of using a special method.
Thus, when you are told by someone to download a ROM, they are referring to the file that contains the firmware in a format ready to be installed to your phone to replace it’s existing firmware. Similarly, when asked what ROM is your phone running or when told by someone their phone is running a particular ROM, they are again talking about the particular variant of the firmware.
Types of ROMs->
Unlike most desktop operating systems, mobile operating systems can be found in installable format in multiple forms, which can be categorized as follows.
A)Truly Stock ROMs / firmware:
This is the operating system in its default form, without any modifications made to it except for any device-specific support required to run it on the particular device. Truly stock firmware provides the standard user experience of the operating system without any cosmetic or functional changes made.
B)Manufacturer or Carrier branded Stock ROM / Firmware:
This type of firmware has had enhancements added over the default operating system by the device manufacturer or the mobile service carrier. This often includes interface enhancements, proprietary applications and in most cases, restrictions intended to limit the use of the device with a specific carrier or region. There are often further restrictions preventing installation of firmware not released by the carrier or manufacturer.
C)Custom ROM / firmware:
Independent developers who like to customize their devices beyond the standard options provided often tend to release the fruits of their labor for the rest to enjoy, in form of custom ROMs.
3 – Stock Vs. Custom ROMs
Both stock and custom ROMs have their merits and demerits and choosing between the two requires careful consideration. In this section, we are going to make a comparison between the two types of ROMs to help you make the right choice. Let us begin by taking a look at their advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Stock ROMs
Stock firmware is the result of a lot of research and testing done by the operating system vendor, the device manufacturer and/or the mobile service carrier. Therefore, it carries several advantages:-
1>It is usually quite stable upon release.
2>Almost all bugs are patched during the extensive beta testing before release.
3>It carries the official support by the firmware vendor, device manufacturer and the mobile service carrier.
4>Updates are pushed automatically to the device by the carrier.
Along with its advantages, stock firmware also carries its disadvantages and these include:
1>Updates aren’t frequent, as development is done mostly by corporations who have to follow a scheduled release cycle.
2>Providing feedback to the manufacturer in case of any issues is either impossible, unwelcome (often with Apple devices), or a long, tedious process.
3>Similarly, getting official support can be a hassle as well, involving a tedious process.
4>If the device manufacturer and operating system developer are different (as is the case with Android and Windows Phone 7), any updates released by thekoperating system vendor need to be edited by the device manufacturer or mobile carrier to add compatibility and additional software before release. Hence, some devices get updates delayed by months.
5>Updates are often released first in the United States, leaving the rest of the world waiting. (A world does happen to exist beyond the United States, we’ve confirmed it ourselves!)
6>Worse still, when manufacturers choose to no longer release official updates for their older devi#es in favor of newer ones, their users are essentially stuck with old versions of the operating system. This case is evident with many Android devices barely a year and a half old.
Advantages & Disadvantages of Custom ROMs-
Custom ROMs are as good or as bad as the effort put into them by their developers. Key advantages of custom ROMs are:
1)First and foremost, choice! There are thousands of custom ROMs out there for a range of devices, each offering a diverse set of features not found in the stock ROM.
2)Update frequency – custom ROMs are often under active development and newer releases of the core operating system are incorporated in them way before updated official ROMs are released.
3)Providing feedback is as easy as leaving a message on the development forum for the ROM in question.
Getting support with your issues at the forums is similarly easy, as not only the main developers themselves but also other experienced users of the ROM from the community are glad to help you with your issues and in the process, improve the ROM for everyone.
4)Custom ROMs usually have all the extra restrictions removed
5)Performance enhancements and optimizations found in many custom ROMs can make them much faster than stock ROMs ,enabling users to get the most out of their devices.
5)Overclocking options are built into some custom ROMs, further speeding up the devices.
6)Undervolting options found in some ROMs on the other hand result in improved battery life.
7)Old phones with little internal memory can benefit most from custom ROMs that allow them to use the external SD card memory for the apps exactly the way they would use the internal memory.
So with all these advantages, there should be no reason to stick with the stock ROM, right? Not necessarily! Like all things in life, custom ROMs come with their disadvantages as well:
1)Due to the lack of extensive testing prior to release, many custom ROMs can be buggy in the beginning and installing a ROM with missing or corrupt critical files can even brick your phone.
2)Several custom ROMs that are ports of ROMs from other phones can have missing functionality that hasn’t been made to work on your phone with the ROM yet.
Installing a custom ROM usually involves wiping your phone to factory settings, so you lose your data and start from scratch. Fortunately, Android’s built-in contact syncing along with apps offering message, call log and app backup/restore make this process easier, letting you retain your data.
The installation process can be cumbersome and requires you to root your phone and often circumvent its security features to allow for custom ROM installation in the first place.
Installing a custom ROM will in most cases void your phone’s warranty, though often the process is reversible, meaning you can turn your phone back to stock as long as it isn’t bricked.
Choosing the Right Custom ROM
With several custom ROMs available for most Android devices, choosing the right one isn’t always easy. The question of ‘which is the best ROM for _____ phone / tablet’ is as often frowned-upon at the forums as it is asked, since there is no universal answer for it. One ROM may be the best for me while another might suit you better. The only solution is to read a lot, go through the feature list, read user response and if required, ask the developer questions at the forum page for the ROM. Attempt to install the ROM only after you are fairly satisfied that doing so will not harm your device to the extent you can’t fix.
Nandroid BACKUPA Nandroid Backup is a backup file of your current ROM and its settings, you can do it manually using Clockwork Mod Recovery, it's fairly intuitive so you shouldn't have too much issue figuring these steps out.*IMPORTANT*
RISKS OF ROOTINGWhen a root exploit is initially found, it may or may not be stable. What this means is that it may not work reliably, or worse, it may cause a permanent failure of the phone, preventing it from booting up. A responsible phone hacker will therefore test the exploit extensively across many phones and modify the exploit as needed to make it stable. When the exploit has been proven to work safely and reliably, it is released to the public. However, this does not guarantee that the exploit will work with every single phone that it targets. The person or team that releases the exploit will make it clear that the exploit is "use at your own risk." Each person considering rooting their phone needs to understand this risk and decide whether it's worth proceeding or not.
Once the exploit has removed the NAND protection, the risk of permanently damaging your phone becomes very, very low. That's not to say that you can't get yourself into a bind, but with a little bit of know-how, rarely does a bad situation mean a bricked phone. If you haven't guessed already, a bricked phone is a phone that shares the qualities of a brick: it can look rectangular and do nothing.
As a preemptive safety measure, the custom recovery program installed as part of the root exploit contains a very useful tool called a NANDroid backup/restore. This utility backs up your internal memory and essentially is a save-state. No matter how you change your phone in the future, you can always bring your phone back to the state it was in at the time of the backup. It is highly recommended to make a NANDroid backup before flashing anything.
Knowledge is power here. If you've read this far, you already have a really good foundation into the Android rooting world. For more excellent infor-ation, I recommend reading this post: Quick INTRO TO ROOTING for those new to rooting, which will give you a broader vocabulary of root-related terminology. The more information you gather, the more you will realize that the risks of rooting are very low, while the rewards are very high.
And don't hesitate to use these forums to ask questions and seek clarifications. The rooting community is strong, and there are tons of people eager to help. Today's newbies are tomorrow's experts. Good luck in your endeavor%r1
The Android Family Tree
Android has a come a long was since its birth in 2008, however we're not here to fire into its history specifically, but what its history might mean for you! Android has been released in incremental versions. Each phone may differ in what version it has installed, usually the vendor decides what version it will choose, and develops Android into a specific ROM [2] for the device. To find out what version of Android your device is, navigate to the settings menu and select 'about phone', under 'Android version' there will be three numbers, the first two, will tell you what release you're running. There are currently 5 flavours of Android for phones, these are;
1.5 - Cupcake
One thing you'll learn, Android has quirky names! This version of android is likely the most basic version you'll meet, very few handsets still selling have this version. If you have a handset with version 1.5, you're limited in a big way! There are many features missing that means 1.5 just can't support many of the applications offered up in the market!
1.6 - Donut
Donut offered a few improvements over Cupcake; Voice search, turn-by-turn navigation and an improved market to name a few! It's still missing a few features that don't allow the more advanced apps to run. So don't be suprised if you're missing a few from the market.
2.0/2.1 - Eclair
Google picked up their game with the move to 2.1, it is arguably the largest and most important update Google made. Most applications will work on 2.1! It also included support for Microsoft exchange (if you don't know what this is, you don't need it) increased speed, smoothness, and improved the user interface immensely.
2.2 - Froyo
Currently the largest version in use, you're with a masses here and perhaps will find comfort in it. a few performance tweaks, faster browsing and the ability to run Adobe Flash 10.1 is among the few things you can do over your 2.1 bretheren.
2.3/2.4 - Gingerbread
Updated UI, higher resolution screens, VoIP calls, improved keyboard, introduced NFC to the world, faster performance, and a better battery life are among the benefits over your older bretheren. This released also improved voice-to-text engine input, copy and paste, audio effects, and enabled simultaneous multiple camera support.
4.0 - Ice Cream Sandwich
Ok huuuge update here, haven't played on it yet but this is shaping up to be the biggest update since 2.1, if not ever! Combining Gingerbread and Honeycomb, this is loooking a very mature and slick version of Android. Massive UI overhaul; hardware acceleration, no physical/permanent buttons, new Roboto font, Honeycomb task manager, new screen layouts, easily customisable folders, widget app drawer and a customisable launcher. Other improvements include new contacts or 'people' app, further improved copy and paste, further improved keyboard, visual voicemail with improved functionality, improved gestures, new lock screen, integrated screenshot capture, facial recognition unlocking, Android Beam utilising NFC, and awesome 3g data management software!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Power saving tips:
Dont use a live theme
Use a dark wallpaper
Turn off wi-fi & bluetooth when not in use
Stop friendstream, facebook & peep updating every 5mins. Set mine to manual.
Set email app to manual
Set screen brightness to auto or 40% (lower if you can put up with it).
How does one flash a kernel?
The process is a simple as flashing a ROM, put the .zip on ur sdcard, go into recovery,wipe cache,dalvik-cache, install .zip from sdcard, reboot phone and ur done.
How to Flash A Custom ROM-
Download a ROM of your choice from the All Things Root section (The Forum you are in) You can find direct links to each of them in the All Things Root Guide that is stickied at the top of this forum.
1- Once downloaded, its recommended to download it from your computer and place it on your phone, put it on the root of your internal or external sd cards. Root meaning not in a folder.
2- Reboot into recovery using Quick Reboot.
3- Using your volume keys to scroll and your power key to select, scroll down tand select "Wipe data/Factory Reset" then scroll to "Yes" and select.
4- Scroll down and select "Wipe Cache Partition" and then select "Yes"
5- Scroll down and select "Advanced" and select "Wipe Dalvik Cache" and then select "Yes" then scroll down and select "Go Back"
6- Sroll down and select "mounts and storage" then scroll down and select ONLY these 3 listed, "format data" and then select "Yes", then scroll down and select "format cache" and then select "Yes", then scroll down and select "format system" and then select "Yes". Then scroll down to and select "Go Back"
7- Then scroll down to "Install Zip From Sd", if you put the ROM on your external SD card select "choose zip from SD". If you put it on your internal scroll down and select 'choose zip from internal". Then after you selected one of those depended on where you put the ROM, scroll down and select the ROM and then Select "Yes".
Let it run and do its thing and once it says its done, select "reboot system now" and enjoy
How To Flash A Theme-
Download a theme of your choice from the All Things Root section (The Forum you are in) You can find direct links to each of them in the All Things Root Guide that is stickied at the top of this forum.
1- Once downloaded, its recommended to download it from your computer and place it on your phone, put it on the root of your internal or external sd cards. Root meaning not in a folder.
2- Reboot into recovery using Quick Reboot.
3- Using your volume keys to scroll and power button to select, scroll down and select "wipe cache partition" and then select "Yes"
4- Scroll down to and select "Advanced" and then select "Wipe Dalvik Cache"
5- Then scroll down and select "Go Back"
6- Then scroll down to "Install Zip From Sd", if you put the theme on your external SD card select "choose zip from SD". If you put it on your internal scroll down and select 'choose zip from internal". Then after you selected one of those depended on where you put the theme, scroll down and select the theme and then Select "Yes".
Let it run and do its thing and once it says its done, select "reboot system now" and enjoy
You can find stock firmwares here -sampro.pl
sammobile
Important (Read it carefully) -> Forum & Marketplace Rules & announcements
Some other guides by some great developers-
> [ROM&GUIDE] Official Firmwares SGT 7.7 P6800 + P6810 Download By xenix96
>[GUIDE] Root By Jade Eyed Wolf
> [Guide] Full Tutorial To Install Custom ROM [GT-P6800] BY haidharbbc
Useful posts -
> [FAQ] Com-on Issues with the P6800 and their Solutions (where available) By Theory
>Welcome To the Galaxy Tab 7.7 Forum -Please Read Before Posting- by original_ganjaman
>[REF] Partitions P6800 + P6810 By Chainfire
> Simple ways to speed up your tablet!!
HONYCOMB FULL PREVIEW USER GUIDE *IMPORTANT*
I will update it ,when there is a need.
--->I will add more. If I ever miss anything please send me a private message
That should be enough to get you started.
CHANGELOG-
UPDATE - 22/04/12 MAJOR UPDATE !! lot of information added!!!!
UPDATE -02/05/12 Android Terms,Slang & Definition added to guide see post #3 !!
UPDATE - 28/06/12-Due to fact, i dont own this tab anymore, there will be no updates.sorry!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope this guide helps you.......
Thanks..........
Please comment if you have any problems, or want to share anything.
Please give an REVIEW ,it means a lot to me.Thank you.
-------------------*Important Tips*---------------------
--- Important Tips ---
[1]THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS THE *BEST* ROM OR *BEST* TWEAKS
-everything that has *best* in it's name is mainly made by questioner's preference.
[2] STOP ASKING FOR ETA'S....Stop asking when will it be released or when will that be released.its silly you know. IT WILL COME WHEN ITS READY GET IT ?
[3]OK this will be quite simple. If it says DEVS ONLY leave it alone. Don't comment unnecessary trash and ask for ETA's.
It's unstable so don't go making a thread in general section asking if it's stable or not.ok ?
[4]RESPECT THE DEVELOPERS*IMPORTANT*
[5] Read or search before posting anything! GOOGLE is your best friend!
https://www.google.com (use me)
SEARCH SEARCH SEARCH SEARCH BEFORE DOING SOMETHING !!!!!
I hope i am clear.....
[6] Stop posting and posting the same stuff over and over and over again! If it says in the ROM description that ""This" is not working" Dont keep on asking is "this" working? or something like that.
[7] Post in the proper section. You will get more help if you do this.
For example... don't start a question thread in developers forum just because you think it's more active than general section. EVERYTHING HAS IT'S PURPOSE
[8] If a bug has been reported once,then THATS ENOUGH REPORTING < Read once more,enough said
[9] LOOK,READ AND THEN ONLY POST,If there is something you want to post,then look at thread,read the whole thread and then ONLY post.
Credits - DooAce ,prawesome
Android Terms,Slang & Definitions*Important* + How to Increase Battery Life !
PART #1
Android Terms,Slang & Definitions
Apps2SD:A method of storing applications and cache on the device's microSD card.
ADB:Android Debug Bridge (adb) is a versatile command line tool that lets you communicate with an emulator instance or connected Android-powered device. It is a client-server program that includes three components:
•A client, which runs on your development machine. You can invoke a client from a shell by issuing an adb command. Other Android tools such as the ADT plugin and DDMS also create adb clients.
•A server, which runs as a background process on your development machine. The server manages communication between the client and the adb daemon running on an emulator or device.
•A daemon, which runs as a background process on each emulator or device instance.
AMOLED:Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode. Basically, a very colorful, bright, display found in some smartphones.
APK:Android application package file. Each Android application is compiled and packaged in a single file that includes all of the application's code (.dex files), resources, assets, and manifest file. The application package file can have any name but must use the .apk extension. For example: myExampleAppname.apk. For convenience, an application package file is often referred to as an ".apk".
Alpha:The alpha phase of the release life cycle is the first phase to begin software testing (alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, used as the number 1). In this phase, developers generally test the software using white box techniques. Additional validation is then performed using black box or gray box techniques, by another testing team. Moving to black box testing inside the organization is known as alpha release.[1]
Alpha software can be unstable and could cause crashes or data loss. The exception to this is when the alpha is available publicly (such as a pre-order bonus), in which developers normally push for stability so that their testers can test properly. External availability of alpha software is uncommon in proprietary software. However, open source software, in particular, often have publicly available alpha versions, often distributed as the raw source code of the software.
The alpha phase usually ends with a feature freeze, indicating that no more features will be added to the software. At this time, the software is said to be a feature complete.
Boot Animation:Boot animation is a term for a graphical representation of the boot process of the operating system.
Boot animation can be a simple visualisation of the scrolling boot messages in the console, but it can also present graphics or some combinations of both.
Unlike splash screens, boot screen or boot animation is not necessarily designed for marketing purposes, but can be to enhance the experience of the user as eye candy, or provide the user with messages (with an added advantage of color coding facility) to diagnose the state of the system.
Bootloader:This small program's only job is to load other data and programs which are then executed from RAM.Often, multiple-stage boot loaders are used, during which several programs of increasing complexity load one after the other in a process of chain loading.
Bootloop:When your system recycles over and over without entering the main OS.
Beta: is the software development phase following alpha. It generally begins when the software is feature complete. Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, as well as speed/performance issues. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release and this is typically the first time that the software is available outside of the organization that developed it.
The users of a beta version are called beta testers. They are usually customers or prospective customers of the organization that develops the software, willing to test the software without charge, often receiving the final software free of charge or for a reduced price.
Beta version software is often useful for demonstrations and previews within an organization and to prospective customers. Some developers refer to this stage as a preview, prototype, technical preview (TP), or early access.
Some software is kept in perpetual beta—where new features and functionality is continually added to the software without establishing a firm "final" release.
CPU:It stands for Central Processing Unit and handles all the complex mathematical formulas necessary to do everyday things like surfing the Internet.
Cache:A component that transparently stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster. The data that is stored within a cache might be values that have been computed earlier or duplicates of original values that are stored elsewhere. If requested data is contained in the cache (cache hit), this request can be served by simply reading the cache, which is comparatively faster. Otherwise (cache miss), the data has to be recomputed or fetched from its original storage location, which is comparatively slower. Hence, the greater the number of requests that can be served from the cache, the faster the overall system performance becomes.
CDMA:Mobile phone standards called cdmaOne, CDMA2000 (the 3G evolution of cdmaOne) and WCDMA (the 3G standard used by GSM carriers), which are often referred to as simply CDMA, and use CDMA as an underlying channel access method.
CIQ:Carrier IQ. A piece of preinstalled software that runs with elevated access in the background of portable devices by default and records everything. Potentially can be exploited to steal information.
Dual Core:A dual core processor is a central processing unit (CPU) that has two separate cores on the same die, each with its own cache. It essentially is two microprocessors in one. This type of CPU is widely available from many manufacturers. Other types of multi-core processors also have been developed, including quad-core processors with four cores each, hexa-core processors with six, octa-core processors with eight and many-core processors with an even larger number of cores.
Dalvik:The Android platform's virtual machine. The Dalvik VM is an interpreter-only virtual machine that executes files in the Dalvik Executable (.dex) format, a format that is optimized for efficient storage and memory-mappable execution.
Dalvik Cache:Writable cache that contains the optimized bytecode of all apk files (apps) on your Android device. Having the information in it's own cache makes applications load faster and perform better.
EXT2:The ext2 or second extended filesystem is a file system for the Linux kernel. It was initially designed by Rémy Card as a replacement for the extended file system (ext).
ext2 was the default filesystem in several Linux distributions, including Debian and Red Hat Linux, until supplanted more recently by ext3, which is almost completely compatible with ext2 and is a journaling file system. ext2 is still the filesystem of choice for flash-based storage media (such as SD cards, and USB flash drives) since its lack of a journal minimizes the number of writes and flash devices have only a limited number of write cycles. Recent kernels, however, support a journal-less mode of ext4, which would offer the same benefit along with a number of ext4-specific benefits.
EXT3:Third extended filesystem, is a journaled file system that is commonly used by the Linux kernel. It is the default file system for many popular Linux distributions, including Debian. Stephen Tweedie first revealed that he was working on extending ext2 in Journaling the Linux ext2fs Filesystem in a 1998 paper and later in a February 1999 kernel mailing list posting, and the filesystem was merged with the mainline Linux kernel in November 2001 from 2.4.15 onward.Its main advantage over ext2 is journaling, which improves reliability and eliminates the need to check the file system after an unclean shutdown. Its successor is ext4.
EXT4:It was born as a series of backward compatible extensions to ext3, many of them originally developed by Cluster File Systems for the Lustre file system between 2003 and 2006, meant to extend storage limits and add other performance improvements.However, other Linux kernel developers opposed accepting extensions to ext3 for stability reasons,and proposed to fork the source code of ext3, rename it as ext4, and do all the development there, without affecting the current ext3 users. This proposal was accepted, and on 28 June 2006, Theodore Ts'o, the ext3 maintainer, announced the new plan of development for ext4.
FC/FC's:Short for "force close," meaning an app that has crashed.
Fastboot:A diagnostic protocol used primarily to modify the flash filesystem in Android smartphones from another computer over a USB connection. It is part of the Android Debug Bridge library.
Utilizing the Fastboot protocol requires that the device be started in a boot loader or Second Program Loader mode in which only the most basic hardware initialization is performed. After enabling the protocol on the device itself it will accept any command sent to it over USB via a command line. Some of most commonly used fastboot commands include:
•flash - Overwrites a partition in flash with a binary image stored on the host computer.
•erase - Erases a partition in flash.
•reboot - Reboots the device into the either the main operating system or the system recovery partition.
•devices - Displays a list of all devices (with Serial #) connected to the host computer.
Flashing:The ROM memory used in smartphones and tablets etc. is often same as flash memory found in SD cards and USB flash drives, simply optimized for better speed and performance while running the operating system.
Hotspot:A spot that offers Internet access over a wireless local area network through the use of a router connected to a link to an Internet service provider. Hotspots typically use Wi-Fi technology.You can connect wifi campatible devices to it.
HDMI:High-Definition Multimedia Interface) is a compact audio/video interface for transmitting encrypted uncompressed digital data.It is a digital alternative to consumer analog standards, such as radio frequency (RF) coaxial cable, composite video, S-Video, SCART, component video, D-Terminal, or VGA (also called D-sub or DE-15F). HDMI connects digital audio/video sources (such as set-top boxes, DVD players, HD DVD players, Blu-ray Disc players, AVCHD camcorders, personal computers (PCs), video game consoles (such as the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360), AV receivers, tablet computers, and mobile phones) to compatible digital audio devices, computer monitors, video projectors, and digital televisions.
JIT:The Just-in-Time Compiler. Released with Android 2.2, it's a method of greatly speeding up apps in Android on the software side.
Kang:Someone writes a code,someone else modifies the code to make their own release,its concidered a kang release.
Kernel:A kernel is a layer of code that allows the OS and applications to interface with your phone's hardware. The degree in which you can access your phone's hardware features depends on the quality of code in the kernel. The homebrew (rooting) community for HTC has made several kernel code improvements that give us additional features from our hardware that the stock kernel does not. When you flash a custom ROM, you automatically get a kernel. But you can also flash a standalone kernel ROM on top of the existing one, effectively overwriting it. These days, the difference in custom kernels is less about new features and more about alternate configurations. Choosing a custom kernel is basically choosing one that works best with your ROM.
Launcher:Collectively, the part of the Android user interface on home screens that lets you launch apps, make phone calls, etc. Is built in to Android, or can be purchased in the Android Market.
LCD Density:Pixel density is a measurement of the resolution of devices in various contexts; typically computer displays, image scanners, and digital camera image sensors.
First of all you need to understand that the Android User Interface uses something called a "display independent pixel" or a "dip" (yes, it's confusing because the density settings are in "dots per inch" or "dpi" which are considered the same as "ppi" or "pixels per inch" as well).
The default LCD Density setting on Android is 160 dpi. As far as the operating system is concerned 1 dip @ 160 dpi = 1 screen pixel. It doesn't mean that's actually true, but you've gotta start somewhere. In my opinion it would have been a lot nicer if they'd chosen 100 dpi because then it would be an easy percentage thing, but they didn't so we're stuck with this formula.
Mod:The act of modifying a piece of hardware or software or anything else for that matter, to perform a function not originally conceived or intended by the designer.
Nightly:A build that is performed at the end of each day of development. If you use a continuous integration server, it will generally be configured to build the code and run the unit tests on every check in. At the end of each day you may want to run more extensive tests, regression test and integration tests for example, which take too long to run on each check in and these would be triggered after the nightly build. If you have a full continuously delivery pipeline the nightly build may also be used to deploy the built code to environments for user testing.
Open GL:An open source 3D graphics library used in many devices, including Android devices.
Open & Closed Beta:Developers release either a closed beta or an open beta; closed beta versions are released to a select group of individuals for a user test and are invitation only, while open betas are from a larger group to the general public and anyone interested. The testers report any bugs that they find, and sometimes suggest additional features they think should be available in the final version.
Overclock:To increase the speed of your CPU.
Partition:The phone's internal memory (not the SD card) is solid-state (flash) memory, AKA NAND. It can be partitioned much like a normal hard drive can be partitioned. The bootloader exists in its own partition. Recovery is another partition; radio, system, cache, etc are all partitions.
Here are the standard partitions on an Android phone:
/misc - not sure what this is for.
/boot - bootloader, kernel
/recovery - holds the recovery program (either clockworkmod or RA recovery for a rooted Evo)
/system - operating system goes here: Android, Sense, boot animation, Sprint crapware, busybox, etc
/cache - cached data from OS usage
/data - user applications, data, settings, etc.
The below partitions are not android-specific. They are tied to the hardware of the phone, but the kernel may have code allowing Android to interact with said hardware.
/radio - the phone's radio firmware, controls cellular, data, GPS, bluetooth.
/wimax - firmware for Sprint's flavor of 4G, WiMax.
PRL:The Preferred Roaming List, basically a way of telling your phone which towers to connect to first.
RUU:a complete software package released by HTC, it can contain many things they are trying to update. Radio, ROM, bootloader, etc... Installing an ruu is like installing an image on a hard drive it wipes the phone and installs the image. It will wipe everything data and all so if you install one be prepared.
Radios:On the HTC side of things,the radios persist of:
•WiFi, which operates at 2.4-5ghz depending on what channel it's running
•Cellular/3G, which carries voice and data
•4G/WiMAX, which only carries data
•GPS, which is receive-only
•Bluetooth, which talks to WiiMotes and headsets
Flashing a radio means updating the code that controls the phones way of sending and recieving a signal.
Root:The first level of a folder.
SBC:(the ability to charge your battery beyond the default safe limit). The concept is similar to overclocking a processor: you're overriding the safety limits established to achieve additional performance. The benefit here is that you may gain more use of your battery per charge. The drawback is that you can damage the battery and significantly reduce its longevity. Some kernels claim they are using a safe technique to prevent battery damage. Just be aware of the potential risks.
Sideloading:It means installing applications without using the official Android Market.
Splash Screen:A splash screen is an image that appears while android is loading.Splash screens cover the entire screen or simply a rectangle near the center of the screen. The splash screens of operating systems and some applications that expect to be run full-screen usually cover the entire screen.
Superuser/SU:On many computer operating systems, the superuser is a special user account used for system administration. Depending on the operating system, the actual name of this account might be: root, administrator or supervisor.
Normal work on such a system is done using ordinary user accounts, and because these do not have the ability to make system-wide changes any viruses and other malware - or simple user errors - do not have the ability to adversly affect a whole system. In organizations, administrative privileges are often reserved for authorized experienced individuals.
Script:The Scripting Layer for Android (abridged as SL4A, and previously named Android Scripting Environment or ASE) is a library that allows the creation and running of scripts written in various scripting languages directly on Android devices. SL4A is designed for developers and is still alpha quality software.
These scripts have access to many of the APIs available to normal Java Android applications, but with a simplified interface. Scripts can be run interactively in a terminal, in the background, or via Locale.
SDK:(SDK or "devkit") is typically a set of software development tools that allows for the creation of applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.
Stock:This is the operating system in its default form, without any modifications made to it except for any device-specific support required to run it on the particular device.
S-On:Security on,means no acces to the phones operating system.
S-Off:Security was exploited,now have access to the operating system.
Tethering:Means sharing the Internet connection of an Internet-capable mobile phone with other devices. This sharing can be offered over a wireless LAN (Wi-Fi), Bluetooth, or by physical connection using a cable. In the case of tethering over wireless LAN, the feature may be branded as a mobile hotspot.The Internet-connected mobile phone acts as a portable router when providing tethering services to others.
USB:Stands for Universal Serial Bus. Is a method of connecting devices to a computer. Most smartphones now use microUSB cables to charge and sync.
Updater Script:When Android devices install updates via 'update.zip' files using recovery mode they have to perform a wide range of functions on files and permissions. Instead of using a minimal shell such as {b,d,c}sh the Android designers decided to create a small functional language that can be extended by device manufacturers if necessary. Since the Android "Donut" release (v1.6) the scripting language is called Edify and is defined primarily in the bootable/recovery/{edify,edifyscripting,updater} directories of the Android source-code tree.
Wireless N:Wireless N technology increases wireless internet connection. Wireless 'N' routers also work with Wireless 'G' and 'B' wireless adapters.
WiiMax:(Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is a communication technology for wirelessly delivering high-speed Internet service to large geographical areas.
YAFFS:Yaffs1 is the first version of this file system and works on NAND chips that have 512 byte pages + 16 byte spare (OOB;Out-Of-Band) areas.[clarification needed] These older chips also generally allow 2 or 3 write cycles per page,which YAFFS takes advantage of - i.e. dirty pages are marked by writing to a specific spare area byte.
Newer NAND flash chips have larger pages, 2048 bytes + 64 bytes spare areas, and stricter write requirements.Each page within an erase block (128 kilobytes) must be written to in sequential order, and each page must be written only once.YAFFS2 was designed to accommodate these newer chips.YAFFS2 is based on the YAFFS1 source code,with the major difference being that internal structures are not fixed to assume 512 byte sizing,and a block sequence number is placed on each written page. In this way older pages can be logically overwritten without violating the "write once" rule.[clarification needed]
YAFFS is a robust log-structured file system that holds data integrity as a high priority.A secondary YAFFS goal is high performance.YAFFS will typically outperform most alternatives.It is also designed to be portable and has been used on Linux, WinCE, pSOS, eCos,ThreadX and various special-purpose OSes.A variant 'YAFFS/Direct' is used in situations where there is no OS, embedded OSes and bootloaders: it has the same core filesystem but simpler interfacing to the OS and NAND flash hardware.
Zipalign: An archive alignment tool introduced first time with 1.6 Android SDK (software development kit). It optimizes the way an Android application package (APK) is packaged. Doing so enables the Android operating system to interact with the application more efficiently, and hence has the potential to make the application and overall the whole system much faster. Execution time is minimized for zipaligned applications, resulting is lesser amount of RAM consumption when running the APK.
CREDITS-Diablo67
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PART #2How to increase battery of Your Tab !
While many of us, and our readers, are seasoned vets of the Android ecosystem, there are many that are just starting out. After spending the last hour looking for something to cover that was extreme, I had an idea. That idea is what you are seeing here. A newbie friendly series of posts that will outline various topics from the simple, to the more complex. Not always about some new root tool, some new device or some insane kernel. More focused on basic daily operations, things that can improve upon the newest users experience to the Android ecosystem.
In today’s newbie guide we are going to outline a few battery saver tips and tricks that can help extend the life of your battery.
Tip #1 - As much as we all love the look of live wallpapers, they suck battery. Sticking to a static, or regular picture, will help out. Alternatively, the best option for many devices is using a true black png image. This is particularly helpful on AMOLED based screens, as color pixels use power where as black does not. Click the link to head to a black png, long press on it and save it. Then apply it as your wallpaper. If you can set it as a lockscreen wallpaper too that would be a good idea.
Tip #2 – Cut back on the widgets. While widgets are pretty, fun and often times useful, over doing it can hurt you long-term. Not just in battery performance, but even device performance. For instance, using Beautiful Widgets, you can get the date, time and weather in one widget versus running three different ones. If you can’t live with out them, then at least adjust the settings for when they update. Instead of polling the weather every time you turn your screen on, set it to every 4 or 8 hours. Most widgets will also let you set them to only pol manually. While it might be a slight inconvenience, pulling data for updates uses power and it uses your data plan.Similar rules apply to apps like Hootsuit, Facebook and so on.
Tip #3 – Screen brightness can dramatically affect your overall battery life. Many devices have an auto brightness setting that will use your light sensor to adjust the brightness according to the current lighting conditions. It is recommended that you leave that turned on. I have found that while it is nice, I prefer to have manual control of my brightness. If you spend a great deal of time indoors, the lowest brightness setting is enough to see your screen and use your phone. While the next statement might seem to contradict the widget tip, not all widgets consume power. Most Android version have a ‘power control’ widget which gives you quick access to WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, Sync and brightness. If your device doesn’t have one, you can locate single button widgets that offer the brightness control, such as this one. I personally keep it to the lowest setting and if I need more light, just tap the brightness button to make it brighter when I need it.
Tip #4 - This one is simple and easy. Keep Wi-Fi and GPS off unless you actually need them. Both are easily controlled with the power control widget ro any other number of apps to keep you from having to go through the settings all the time. Heck, many newer devices even have those in the notification drop down bar now.
Tip #5 – When traveling or staying in an area that has no reception, turn of the devices radios. Sounds silly right? But if you are somewhere that gets no service at all, your device is going to be constantly searching for service and your battery is going to drain like crazy. The easiest and most universal way to turn of your radios is to put the device in ‘airplane mode.’ That is generally under Menu > Settings > Wireless and Networks. Although some UI’s have it in a different location and there are also apps and widgets that can accommodate this function. This also works out well in an office environment where Wi-Fi might be present but cell service is non existent. You might need to toggle the Wi-Fi back on for data use, but your phone won’t be searching for cell connection the whole day either.
Tip #6 – Adjust your screen off time. Many of us seasoned vets just hit the power button when we are done on our phone to turn of the screen. While it is rare, some devices don’t have that option. Setting the screen off time to the lowest amount of time will help ensure your phone’s screen goes off in case you forget. Believe me, I have seen people set their phone down with the screen on for hours and wonder why their battery dies so quickly. This can be accessed via Menu > Settings > Display. Depending on your current device, it might be screen off timer or sleep. Maybe others, not sure.
Tip #7 – This tip has a few various parts. First, running your battery through a few charge cycles is always a good idea. This means fully charging the device, then running it until it powers off. While it is off, plug in and charge it to 100%. Then repeat the process at least twice, but three times is a good idea. Sadly, the batteries the manufacturers use, aren’t always of the highest quality. Bummer huh.
Tip #8 – Watch for ‘rogue’ apps. By that we mean, if you have recently installed an application and you have noticed that your battery life has also recently gotten worse, you may have a rogue app running. This is usually pretty easy to find by checking Menu > Settings > Battery. You can usually see what apps are sucking juice. If you locate one, you can kill that process to stop it from eating battery, or if it is an app you hardly use simply uninstall it.
Tip #9 – Final tip for this post. Your launcher. Yes, your current launcher might be the culprit as well and you may not even know it. The fantabulous Sense UI found on HTC devices, TouchWiz found on Samsung devices and MotoBlur found on Motorola devices can also attribute to battery brain. Often times switching to a new launcher such as Go Launcher EX, ADW Launcher EX or countless other launchers can provide not only a boost in battery performance, but also a boost in your devices speed. Not to mention the added benefit of fun UI elements, themes and tweaks.
While there are plenty of other tips and tricks that I am sure our readers will add to the comments, these are 9 that can really make a difference in your daily consumption. Give them a try if you haven’t already done so and give it a couple of days. Nothing happens over night.
CREDITS-> Stormy Beach.
Good guide for the noobs
Thread updated - Major update - 22/04/12
Please comment if you have any problems, or want to share anything.
Please give an REVIEW ,it means a lot to me.Thank you.
Great job. I'm sure it'll help newbies a lot. Too bad that there is still not much in the development section to put your guide to work. Hopefully that'll come soon.
Marand55 said:
Great job. I'm sure it'll help newbies a lot. Too bad that there is still not much in the development section to put your guide to work. Hopefully that'll come soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes , you are right... there is not much in the development section ,it can be due to since its new tablet . hope it gets better.
Thanks for putting all this together... haven't read through it all yet as I think it probably covers a lot of what I know and have learnt since I joined the Android world last year, but I will bookmark it so I can point friends this way if they leave the iPhone flock.
Ruxin said:
Thanks for putting all this together... haven't read through it all yet as I think it probably covers a lot of what I know and have learnt since I joined the Android world last year, but I will bookmark it so I can point friends this way if they leave the iPhone flock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you
This is a fantastic guide not only for someone new to the p6800/p6810, but anyone new to the Android ecosystem in general. Thank you for clearing a lot up for me!
JemaKnight said:
This is a fantastic guide not only for someone new to the p6800/p6810, but anyone new to the Android ecosystem in general. Thank you for clearing a lot up for me!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your welcome ;-)
Great information. I wish I had it to look at when I first started playing around with rooting my Nook Color! This is a good thread to keep handy when a real novice gets the bug. Thanks.
GUIDE UPDATED -2/05/12"Android Terms,Slang & Definitions" added SEE post #3
Thanks for using the siggy!
And thanks again for the effort on piling things up!
billy_overheat said:
Thanks for using the siggy!
And thanks again for the effort on piling things up!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your welcome !
Thumbs Upz! This is amust read and priority post before u go to other topics.
Help
Great Post!
Please I know I am most likely in the wrong area or post, I have had a Desire HD before and been down the road of rooting and flashing roms on it, I now own a Galaxy tab 7.7 and feel as if this is all new for me again. unfortunately I am in South Africa and had bought my tablet online, I was not told it would be a Arabic region tablet. Could I please ask who to speak to or ask for help on roms, I have the build number (HTJ85B P6800JPKL4) and want to know what roms will work and what not to use on this.
Please, I know you guys have better things to worry about but your advise or help would be gladly appreciated
Thank you in advance!
evil_penguin said:
Tip #1 - As much as we all love the look of live wallpapers, they suck battery. Sticking to a static, or regular picture, will help out. Alternatively, the best option for many devices is using a true black png image. This is particularly helpful on AMOLED based screens, as color pixels use power where as black does not. Click the link to head to a black png, long press on it and save it. Then apply it as your wallpaper. If you can set it as a lockscreen wallpaper too that would be a good idea.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does anybody have a link to the png? I have misplaced mine, and I miss it. There doesn't seem to be a link here anywhere. thx.
Thanks
Thanks, really helpfull covers many things I was wondering about
thx
very helpful
Hi, a new guy here!
I recently became a happy owner of 32Gb wi-fi only N7. I’m familiar with software dev (windows developer for 20 years with some work on unix) and customization/modding/flashing process (mostly for satellite receivers). However this is my first tablet and my first Android device so I could use some help
I successfully unlocked, rooted and installed custom recovery on my N7. I would like to get to a bare bones state of the N7 and then slowly add new features/programs to it when it becomes necessary for me. So I would like to remove all non essential parts that were preinstalled on my N7.
I was under impression that I could uninstall programs using N7 UI after device gets rooted. However it seems that for majority of the apps I still only have an option to disable.
I shelled into N7 and looked around. It seems that all (majority?) of the apps are in /system/apps folder. Can I simply remove the apps and their files from that folder? Does this folder only contain user apps or does it also have system apps that are essential for N7 to function? Is there a chance to brick it by removing something (everything?) from that folder?
I searched on a forum for a list of apps that are safe to remove. I thought it would exist since it seems to be something many of us would be interested in doing. I didn’t find the list. If there is such a thing and someone could direct me there, it would be great!
Given that I can remove apps by deleting them from that folder safely, I still have a question what each app does and how important it is. Is safe to assume that any app that has a wheel with a drive belt on it as an icon in apps screen on N7 is system app and has to stay?
I have two keyboard app installed – one is Android keyboard and one is ASUS keyboard. Judging by the name 2 of these are essential since Android is the OS and ASUS is the manufacturer. But do I really need two of them?
If there is a resource/thread that discussed something similar, please let know. I look forward to learn from anyone on this forum!
_Diver said:
Hi, a new guy here!
I recently became a happy owner of 32Gb wi-fi only N7. I’m familiar with software dev (windows developer for 20 years with some work on unix) and customization/modding/flashing process (mostly for satellite receivers). However this is my first tablet and my first Android device so I could use some help
I successfully unlocked, rooted and installed custom recovery on my N7. I would like to get to a bare bones state of the N7 and then slowly add new features/programs to it when it becomes necessary for me. So I would like to remove all non essential parts that were preinstalled on my N7.
I was under impression that I could uninstall programs using N7 UI after device gets rooted. However it seems that for majority of the apps I still only have an option to disable.
I shelled into N7 and looked around. It seems that all (majority?) of the apps are in /system/apps folder. Can I simply remove the apps and their files from that folder? Does this folder only contain user apps or does it also have system apps that are essential for N7 to function? Is there a chance to brick it by removing something (everything?) from that folder?
I searched on a forum for a list of apps that are safe to remove. I thought it would exist since it seems to be something many of us would be interested in doing. I didn’t find the list. If there is such a thing and someone could direct me there, it would be great!
Given that I can remove apps by deleting them from that folder safely, I still have a question what each app does and how important it is. Is safe to assume that any app that has a wheel with a drive belt on it as an icon in apps screen on N7 is system app and has to stay?
I have two keyboard app installed – one is Android keyboard and one is ASUS keyboard. Judging by the name 2 of these are essential since Android is the OS and ASUS is the manufacturer. But do I really need two of them?
If there is a resource/thread that discussed something similar, please let know. I look forward to learn from anyone on this forum!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't have the energy right now to address every app one at a time, but I'll nudge you in the right direction. That should help you start tinkering.
The Nexus 7 is very popular in this community because it's intentionally more open, and less bloated, than much of the competition.
That being said, sure there are apps you could uninstall if you decide to. Some of the custom ROM's will have probably already have done this for you, but may create little unexpected quirks here and there.
The first thing you'll want to do is backing everything up thoroughly. I would use Titanium Pro (you'll see it referred to as Tibu a lot), to backup all apps and settings. Then I would use the Google Nexus 7 toolkit (found in the forums here) to do a backup, as well as make a nandroid backup.
Ok, so you're ready to tinker. Well, if you bought Titanium Pro from the app store, you've already got all you really need. First, use titanium to freeze an app you don't feel you need, and don't think is required. Re-boot, go about your daily routine, and see if all is ok. Continue on in this manner. Once you've frozen everything you're interested in, and made sure all is well, you can probably go ahead and uninstall them through Tibu. Freezing them should generally make them not start up anyways, so unless the tiny amount of space they take up is a concern, that's really all you generally need to do *.
* Ok, sometimes you have to fully uninstall things you don't want, but this should get you plenty to tinker with for now.
bladebarrier,
Thanks for your response. I understand the approach you suggested – disabling apps one at a time and then when they all disabled and device is working to my liking for a while I could uninstall them.
However, I’m somewhat frustrated with a sheer number of apps that I have out of the box and I can’t find a good description of what they do. For example:
Mobile Network Configuration
Google Partner Setup
Google Services Framework
Searching online doesn’t yield definitive answers if it’s something I need or will N7 work without them. I have google play store and google play services installed – does store app require services? Reading a bit about it doesn’t make it seem so, but I’m not 100% sure. So I was wondering if there is a list of apps that are required for N7 well being and that cannot be removed no matter what.
For example, Black Viper has an excellent example of what I’m looking for but for windows nt services: (can't post a link)
This page explain what each service is, what it does and if it’s safe to disable it depending on configuration you’re seeking – minimal set, typical, out of box of experimental. I would love to find something like that for N7 system apps
I installed CWM recovery when I rooted and as far as I can understand I does NAND backups. I plan on moving the backup file from the device to my desktop and keeping it there for safety reason.
The Tibu process that you described, as far as I understand (and I might be wrong here) is basically equivalent of disabling the apps using native N7 setting app, rebooting, using it for a while and then removing .apk and .odex (or simply app_name.*) files from system/apps folder. Tibu just makes it easier. Did I get that right?
And it’s still removing one app/widget at the time. I’d like to clean it out completely first and start from that point. So Tibu will probably not help me there. So my main Q is still out there – can I brick it by removing everything from system/app? Are there only user apps there or essential system apps as well? With CWM back up file on hand will I be able to recover if my experiment goes bad?
> * Ok, sometimes you have to fully uninstall things you don't want, but this should get you plenty to tinker with for now.
One of the reasons I want to have them removed is to clean up the list of apps I have on N7. Right now I have 5 pages of apps and I have little idea what they do and if I need them – I had Korean keyboard installed for example.
As I mentioned I’m a newb in this area, so maybe my approach is a bit dumb, so please be patient with me
_Diver said:
bladebarrier,
Thanks for your response. I understand the approach you suggested – disabling apps one at a time and then when they all disabled and device is working to my liking for a while I could uninstall them.
However, I’m somewhat frustrated with a sheer number of apps that I have out of the box and I can’t find a good description of what they do. For example:
Mobile Network Configuration
Google Partner Setup
Google Services Framework
Searching online doesn’t yield definitive answers if it’s something I need or will N7 work without them. I have google play store and google play services installed – does store app require services? Reading a bit about it doesn’t make it seem so, but I’m not 100% sure. So I was wondering if there is a list of apps that are required for N7 well being and that cannot be removed no matter what.
For example, Black Viper has an excellent example of what I’m looking for but for windows nt services: (can't post a link)
This page explain what each service is, what it does and if it’s safe to disable it depending on configuration you’re seeking – minimal set, typical, out of box of experimental. I would love to find something like that for N7 system apps
I installed CWM recovery when I rooted and as far as I can understand I does NAND backups. I plan on moving the backup file from the device to my desktop and keeping it there for safety reason.
The Tibu process that you described, as far as I understand (and I might be wrong here) is basically equivalent of disabling the apps using native N7 setting app, rebooting, using it for a while and then removing .apk and .odex (or simply app_name.*) files from system/apps folder. Tibu just makes it easier. Did I get that right?
And it’s still removing one app/widget at the time. I’d like to clean it out completely first and start from that point. So Tibu will probably not help me there. So my main Q is still out there – can I brick it by removing everything from system/app? Are there only user apps there or essential system apps as well? With CWM back up file on hand will I be able to recover if my experiment goes bad?
> * Ok, sometimes you have to fully uninstall things you don't want, but this should get you plenty to tinker with for now.
One of the reasons I want to have them removed is to clean up the list of apps I have on N7. Right now I have 5 pages of apps and I have little idea what they do and if I need them – I had Korean keyboard installed for example.
As I mentioned I’m a newb in this area, so maybe my approach is a bit dumb, so please be patient with me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Removing Google framework services is a big no-no. To be honest, the easiest way to accomplish what you want is installing a custom ROM like CyanogenMod, especially since you've done all the prep work for such a thing.
Once you install any official CM build it is as close to app-less as you can get on a modular OS like this.
littleemp said:
Removing Google framework services is a big no-no. To be honest, the easiest way to accomplish what you want is installing a custom ROM like CyanogenMod, especially since you've done all the prep work for such a thing.
Once you install any official CM build it is as close to app-less as you can get on a modular OS like this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's what i suspected! i thought that google framework would be something essential, but there is not much easily available information there to arrive at that conclusion
since i'm new to this, i thought i should stay away from any rom flashing until i get a bit more familiar with a device, terminology and stuff like that. i'm looking at the "[ROM] CyanogenMod 10.1 [OFFICIAL]" thread and i'm not sure about half of the terms - GAPPS, PSA, Nightlies i do know what ROM is, I do know what kernel is, virtual machine, etc. But it's applied to the platform that I have little experience with, so it makes me a little bit uneasy
_Diver said:
bladebarrier,
Thanks for your response. I understand the approach you suggested – disabling apps one at a time and then when they all disabled and device is working to my liking for a while I could uninstall them.
However, I’m somewhat frustrated with a sheer number of apps that I have out of the box and I can’t find a good description of what they do. For example:
Mobile Network Configuration
Google Partner Setup
Google Services Framework
Searching online doesn’t yield definitive answers if it’s something I need or will N7 work without them. I have google play store and google play services installed – does store app require services? Reading a bit about it doesn’t make it seem so, but I’m not 100% sure. So I was wondering if there is a list of apps that are required for N7 well being and that cannot be removed no matter what.
For example, Black Viper has an excellent example of what I’m looking for but for windows nt services: (can't post a link)
This page explain what each service is, what it does and if it’s safe to disable it depending on configuration you’re seeking – minimal set, typical, out of box of experimental. I would love to find something like that for N7 system apps
I installed CWM recovery when I rooted and as far as I can understand I does NAND backups. I plan on moving the backup file from the device to my desktop and keeping it there for safety reason.
The Tibu process that you described, as far as I understand (and I might be wrong here) is basically equivalent of disabling the apps using native N7 setting app, rebooting, using it for a while and then removing .apk and .odex (or simply app_name.*) files from system/apps folder. Tibu just makes it easier. Did I get that right?
And it’s still removing one app/widget at the time. I’d like to clean it out completely first and start from that point. So Tibu will probably not help me there. So my main Q is still out there – can I brick it by removing everything from system/app? Are there only user apps there or essential system apps as well? With CWM back up file on hand will I be able to recover if my experiment goes bad?
> * Ok, sometimes you have to fully uninstall things you don't want, but this should get you plenty to tinker with for now.
One of the reasons I want to have them removed is to clean up the list of apps I have on N7. Right now I have 5 pages of apps and I have little idea what they do and if I need them – I had Korean keyboard installed for example.
As I mentioned I’m a newb in this area, so maybe my approach is a bit dumb, so please be patient with me
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tibu requires root access, in order to perform what we're discussing. I'm relatively new to JB, but I can't imagine any stock settings replicating its capabilities.
As far as a whole bunch of apps being in your list, that's sort of the way Android works. Think of it like "superfetch", or whatever that term was in Windows Vista. Basically, two things happen when you boot. Android looks at a list of apps that are designed to start on boot, and also apps that it expects you may want to run in the future. Both of these are designed to make the device run smoother overall, and it will kill apps if extra ram is required and they are not in use. Certain Android apps require themselves to run at all times. Some of these are apps like Tasker (if you're using tasker profiles), some of these are system apps that make the device function, some of these are apps that maintain widgets or background monitoring (weather apps, gmail, calendar).
Now, there are two ways to go about sorting what is bloat, and what is there because Android decided to load it. You can install an app called Autostarts, that will give an insight into apps that start up when certain criteria are met. You can also use it to stop those apps from queuing up at those trigger points. This is another root required app, and while I purchased it long ago, may have a free version as well. It's time consuming to use, and not perfect, which is why Tibu is better for flat out locking down unwanted apps.
Back to my initial thoughts though, you will see apps in your system list that you haven't touched since boot, because Android tries to anticipate your needs. People used to use "task killers" to close the apps, and came to realize that unless one is causing a real problem, it's just going to go back into the cached app list again anyways, thus reducing battery life when it has to load it over and over again. "Task killer" is a dirty word around XDA, unless you're using it to close an app that doesn't just go into the background like a good little app should.
Basically, you're going to start playing whack-a-mole if you want your list to remain as small as possible, at all times, and yet still actually use the device for anything interesting. You can reduce it, via various methods, and if this were a device from say "insert-name" brand, and was loaded with bloat apps, by all means you should clean those out. However, I think you'll find that while google does install things that aren't needed, or even used by everyone, it's mostly not a big issue.
Check out Better Battery Stats, in the XDA forums. It's an app that shows a pretty good picture of what is actually going on when you're not looking, and can provide data on how to improve your performance. It's probably a better way to start delving into what processes are actually being used, and which ones are just basically harmless. You'll also learn a good bit about how Android works from the Dev's explanations of many of the processes.
---------- Post added at 08:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:32 PM ----------
_Diver said:
that's what i suspected! i thought that google framework would be something essential, but there is not much easily available information there to arrive at that conclusion
since i'm new to this, i thought i should stay away from any rom flashing until i get a bit more familiar with a device, terminology and stuff like that. i'm looking at the "[ROM] CyanogenMod 10.1 [OFFICIAL]" thread and i'm not sure about half of the terms - GAPPS, PSA, Nightlies i do know what ROM is, I do know what kernel is, virtual machine, etc. But it's applied to the platform that I have little experience with, so it makes me a little bit uneasy
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Make sure whichever ROM you use, if you decide to, supports your HSPA+ model. There is a separate development section in the Nexus 7 forums, for those of us that have the HSPA+ version. We are the minority, as the Nexus 7 was initially released as a wifi only tablet.
bladebarrier said:
Tibu requires root access, in order to perform what we're discussing. I'm relatively new to JB, but I can't imagine any stock settings replicating its capabilities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i do have SU privileges, so what i was talking about was disabling an app thru N7 setting screen and then when i deem the app ok to remove, going to adb shell and removing the actual file.
i just did this:
mount -o remount rw /system
rm iWnnIME_Kbd_White.apk
rm iWnnIME.apk
and it removed the japanese keyboard. however when i go back to app screen under settings, i still see it but now it has a grey icon with a SD symbols in the corner. so it appears it recognizes that the app is gone, but it's still referenced in the list. i pushed the files back using NRT and it all back to the way it was. so looks like my idea of cleaning the list by removing the apk might not fly.
and now I wonder how Tibu uninstalls the apps.
bladebarrier said:
People used to use "task killers" to close the apps, and came to realize that unless one is causing a real problem, it's just going to go back into the cached app list again anyways, thus reducing battery life when it has to load it over and over again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand the notion of apps being in the cache and being removed when more RAM is needed, however the purist in me just doesn't want the junk apps to be there in first place However there is a lot of validity to these of your words:
bladebarrier said:
Basically, you're going to start playing whack-a-mole if you want your list to remain as small as possible, at all times, and yet still actually use the device for anything interesting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My wife got Kindle Fire HD recently and she's been using it happily. While I was thinking why would anyone want a closed up system (well, more closed up system then Nexus), she's been using it and I've been frustrated with my N7 so i might just let it go and enjoy the japanese and korean keyboards anyway
bladebarrier said:
Make sure whichever ROM you use, if you decide to, supports your HSPA+ model.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i'm wifi only
ngshniq every
i think i found what i was after: http wiki.cyanogenmod.org/wiki/barebones (url modified since i still can't post urls). this wiki page has the list of app with a short description and if it's safe to remove. it also has additional information that explains why i still saw the reference to the app in the list when apk file was deleted:
looks like i need to pay attention to 2 additional files:
/data/system/packages.xml
/data/system/packages.list
i bet I would find a reference to the apps in these and i would need to remove it in order to have the app disappear from the app list. i'll play around a bit more and report back
One thing, could you explain your reasoning behind wanting to delete everything but the essentials? Do you have a particular goal in mind or is it because of your windows background? Because if so, you should know that android operates very differently when compared to windows, and such, the requirements to keep your device working in tip top shape vary greatly.
In my opinion, with your current limited knowledge of each process/app inner workings, what you're trying to do surefire way to break something beyond repair and needing to use a factory image to get back to zero. A custom ROM will be much safer and yield the exact same results that you're looking for. (Eventually, once you understand what each thing does, then this manual approach could satisfy your needs)
Note: GApps are the basic Google apps to flash on top of the barebones system. Gmail, Play store, and the framework.
Nightlies are experimental builds compiled nightly by a bot with the latest CyanogenMod code available.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD
My goal was to simplify my approach to N7 by removing anything that I don’t need now and slowly adding all necessary components as I get familiar with it. But it seems at this point that this approach is a bit more complicated as thought it would be.
So I think I would leave it alone for now and revisit this later
_Diver said:
My goal was to simplify my approach to N7 by removing anything that I don’t need now and slowly adding all necessary components as I get familiar with it. But it seems at this point that this approach is a bit more complicated as thought it would be.
So I think I would leave it alone for now and revisit this later
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what you've done manually, you're clearly far ahead of a new user when it comes to understanding linux/unix.
If you want to lock down parts of what google implements, purely to keep it minimalistic, I would agree with the above poster. Go for one of the popular ROM options that are available, like CM, and work your way backwards. The Nexus 7 only has as much bloat as you allow it to have via the settings. This is another reason why Better Battery Stats is an excellent way to make sure your device isn't draining battery, yet isn't locked down. The other day I noticed an app that kept fetching my position, even though the case was closed (magnetic sleep mode). It turned out I forgot to disable the tracking in google maps (why it was defaulted to ON, I have no idea). BBS showed me what was running during the sleep phase, and I fixed it when I woke up the next morning after wondering why my battery dropped.
The Kindle Fire is a great option, because it doesn't require any of this fussing about. My woman loves hers. LOVES IT. Personally, I like to tinker a bit, and I'm too invested in Android apps to not have access to the play store. The Nexus 7, is for people like what you find here. We like to tinker, and make everything custom. At the same time, you could spend all day trying to figure out why EntriesRefresh_wakelock is your highest partial wakelock count, at 60seconds per 7 hours, or you can find that you just went 7 hours and only used 6% of the battery, even though you've been connected to wifi, texting, emailing, and checking the weather and news, the whole time. Not bad, honestly.
The biggest investment you can do for your Nexus, is probably getting a case that magnetically puts it to rest when you close it. After that, learn about the settings that drain battery in the background. Then, get Tasker and play around that (it's like programming, without the need to learn the code). After that, go to a custom ROM, or dig out Tibu, and basically start customizing which apps you will use. If that doesn't pass the time long enough, you can literally make your own ROM and put together exactly what you want. Whether the performance will be that much better or not, and whether you'll spend most of your day trying to look for coding errors, is up to you. I don't have the patience to code, but you're a coder, so what is broccoli to me, may be bacon to you.
Hey there, the best and brightest!
I have an after market android unit in my 2015 LC200 Sahara.
It replaces all factory manual climate controls and other functions with touch based apps.
The ROM is absolutely horrid! can't rearrange apps on shortcuts, camera mode blocks all input (without the option to close it), in call menu displays over anything thats open including navigation!
Sound only works on left channel, some built in settings can be adjusted up but not back down again!
I NEED to modify this thing to be reasonably useful for the $1400 I paid for it (16" tablet).
Is there any way to extract the ROM, decomplie it, make the changes I need and then repackage it and reflash?
Noob_sferatu said:
Hey there, the best and brightest!
I have an after market android unit in my 2015 LC200 Sahara.
It replaces all factory manual climate controls and other functions with touch based apps.
The ROM is absolutely horrid! can't rearrange apps on shortcuts, camera mode blocks all input (without the option to close it), in call menu displays over anything thats open including navigation!
Sound only works on left channel, some built in settings can be adjusted up but not back down again!
I NEED to modify this thing to be reasonably useful for the $1400 I paid for it (16" tablet).
Is there any way to extract the ROM, decomplie it, make the changes I need and then repackage it and reflash?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the MCU RL78.bin file that was used to upgrade the MCU, which as far as I understand is the key to modding the functions.
I have never decompiled any of these, and frankly don't know where to begin.
Can anyone help decompile it into something useful?
Noob_sferatu said:
I have the MCU RL78.bin file that was used to upgrade the MCU, which as far as I understand is the key to modding the functions.
I have never decompiled any of these, and frankly don't know where to begin.
Can anyone help decompile it into something useful?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MCU compilation will not give you anything. If I understand correctly, your radio is connected to the car via CAN BUS and therefore you need to resolve the issue with the CAN BUS adapter. Either you need to purchase a CAN BUS adapter specifically for your car, just for its configuration, or you need to look for the CAN BUS adapter firmware for your car for such a complete set. The difference in adapter firmware for certain configurations of the same car model can lead to malfunctions. The problems you described are very similar to the incorrect CAN BUS adapter firmware.