Database Users

I'm new to this rooting business, couple of questions.

First and foremost, I don't really need my Hero to do anything it doesn't already do. It's just, I'm very picky about aesthetics and I'm not a fan of the way the icons look on the stock ROM.
By the way I'm in the US with Sprint.
1. Do I have to root my Hero to change the theme/icons?
2. If I root my Hero can my phone become vulnerable to hackers? (Read this somewhere ... Had to do with SSH or something)
3. Will I be able to get rid of all the bundled apps like Nascar and NFL without rooting my Hero?
Thanks in advance.

Before you get all excited about rooting your phone, keep in mind, HTC should be releasing the Android 2.x early next year (as per online rumors ). If you really must have root access, tethering, or the removal of stock apps, then rooting is the way to go. The first and most important thing you must do is to install a recovery image (like RA-heroc-v1.5.2) and back up your current ROM via Nand.
1. there are some apps (at home) in the marketplace that'll allow you to change the theme and icons without rooting your phone.
2. Unless your phone is constantly connected to something like telnet (highly unlikely), you shouldn't get hacked. If you're worried, just turn off your 3G and leave your phone offline when not in use.
3. To get rid of Sprint apps, your phone will have to be rooted.
Btw, I have a GSM Hero, so there are numerous differences on what you'll get/not get on your CDMA Hero.
Go to the CDMA section and read, read, read. Don't take shortcuts, you need to be 100% sure of what you're about to do. Remember, there is a possibility that you can brick your expensive phone.
Also, read the What Can I Do With Root - INFO.

Didn't really get the telnet reference. I just want to know ... Does rooting the Hero make it easier for people to maliciously obtain personal info from the device?
If so ... Is there a step in the rooting process that prevents this? If i recall correctly, jailbroken iPhones became vulnerable to said exploits. Why would it be any different with the Hero?

i dont think so.. if you dont pay attention to the apps you download then you might get fooled.. you know.. you download a game and it asks to be allowed to view your contacts..

akin_t said:
If so ... Is there a step in the rooting process that prevents this? If i recall correctly, jailbroken iPhones became vulnerable to said exploits. Why would it be any different with the Hero?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
why would it be different? these security mechanisms were not implemented just for fun...
nevertheless you can also execute malicious apps without root. in fact i'd think that there are more approaches out there that don't need root, as they have the broader "audience".
but honestly: if you don't know what you are doing don't do it. it seems to me that you don't have a clue what rooting means, so IMHO you should read up on that topic a little more. this is not meant to sound condescending or anything, this is just a warning that you most likely will crash a few times if you dive into it head first.

Very, very true.
Don't risk making that phone of yours an expensive piece of paper-weight.
There's already loads of threads that explain the rooting process and benefits throughout this forum.

kendong2 said:
why would it be different? these security mechanisms were not implemented just for fun...
nevertheless you can also execute malicious apps without root. in fact i'd think that there are more approaches out there that don't need root, as they have the broader "audience".
but honestly: if you don't know what you are doing don't do it. it seems to me that you don't have a clue what rooting means, so IMHO you should read up on that topic a little more. this is not meant to sound condescending or anything, this is just a warning that you most likely will crash a few times if you dive into it head first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh I know what it means now, matter of fact I rooted it the other night. Read up on it and still don't understand why HTC/Sprint would deny users access to the root folder but yeah, not a problem for me anymore.

To root or not to root?

I know most people are gonna tell me I should root my phone, but just hear me out really quickly...
I just got my Samsung Vibrant and I truly love the phone. It's a huge upgrade from my G1 in pretty much every way I can think of. I had my G1 rooted since like the second week I had it. I started off with JesusFreke's ROMs and then made my way to Cyanogen's ROMs with a few others that I tried here and there. I tried a bunch of different themes and I used quite a few root apps. I know my way around the rooted Android scene (or at least the rooted G1 scene) pretty well, but I'm not entirely sure if I want to root my Vibrant and here's why:
I'm afraid of voiding my warranty.
There's not really anything that I want to do with the phone that it can't already do (for example, it has plenty of space for apps without the need for A2SD).
I don't want to risk losing things like my text messages over and over again from switching to different ROMs (this happened to me quite a bit with my G1).
My G1's battery and overall performance were much much worse than my friends' G1s which were not rooted. I don't want this happening with my Vibrant.
Some people will think that these reasons are either unimportant or nonexistent, but I disagree. Again, before people start saying "these are the risks of rooting, deal with it or leave," I want to stress that I'm not a newbie at this.
Anyway, the main reason that I DO want to root the phone, regardless of the fact that I told myself I wouldn't, is because of all this junkware that T-Mobile preinstalled the phone. I didn't know the phone came with this crap (like GoGo, TeleNav GPS, Slacker, etc.). We all know that you can't remove this stuff without rooting...I've counted 11 apps that I want to remove from the phone because they're effectively advertisements and I don't want them. So before I make a decision, I'd like to ask some questions...
Would you root the phone if you were ME?
Is it possible to root the Vibrant, remove the apps, and then unroot it, thus leaving the apps gone?
If not ^^, then is it possible to root the Vibrant and keep the stock ROM? I really don't want any custom ROMs...I just want to remove the junkware.
I'm sorry if similar questions have been asked before, but I feel like my specific needs and concerns probably aren't shared by most of the XDA community so I created my own post...
Thanks,
Gerard

actually I think what most are going to say is search the forum... There are several threads on the topic.
You don't have to add any roms if you're rooted. Yes you can remove the bloatware with root. Yes its easy to take your phone out of root, but with the bloatware missing its not hard to see that you have had root at one point.

I actually did root my phone just to remove the junkware....and then used titanium backup to remove what I didn't want....it took me 3 mins to root compared to the 15 mins it took for my nexus....i say its worth it....you can't even tell its rooted so I'm pretty sure the warehouse will never catch it if a exchange is ever needed.....you ll personally make up ur mind as soon as u see the cyanogen 2.2 rom come out hopefully that will be soon....I SAY GO FOR IT
Sent from my Samsung™ Vibrant using XDA App

I'm not bothering to root while I can still return the phone (1st 30 days) and not all the HW issues are know. Once a decent custom ROM is available I'll start looking into rooting, customer recovery, etc. The only thing I'm missing a bit from not being rooted is my Wifi tethering...

Thanks for the replies, guys (and/or girl(s) it looks like lol). I'm glad I wasn't destroyed by people telling me to search the forums...
I'll probably end up doing root sooner or later with very few modifications (if any). I'll wait it out a bit, though. My questions have been answered.
Thanks again!
Gerard

[Q] Intro and a uple ??s

Hi people,
I am a noob as far as Android goes, but I am pretty good at PC stuff. I run a 3D CAD department and I've been the "unofficial" tech guy at every job I've had in the last 10 years.
That being said, I just got the HTC Hero from Sprint last weekend, Android 2.1, update 1. I have always wanted to play with Linux but have never really had the time. So, this is my first encounter with Android or Linux.
So ..... , as much as I'd love to root the phone, I'm afraid to brick it. Is there any way to get rid of all the bloatware without rooting my phone? Also, what are the chances of bricking the phone? I've read a couple "how to root" articles on the net and it doesn't seem like it would be that hard, but I LOVE this phone so far (other than battery life) and I honestly can't afford to go buy a new one at full price if I end up killing my phone.
Another question; I've seen a few people in other posts who have the HTC Hero and say they're running 2.2. How is this done? Is this something else that I would need to root the phone to accomplish?
Also, I just ordered an 8GB microSD card. My laptop has a card slot, so I'm figuring I can put the new card in the slot, connect my phone via USB, and copy everything on the phone to the new 8GB card, then just swapping the cards.
Am I correct thinking this should be as simple as it sounds, or is there more involved?
I appreciate you taking the time to read my post, and I look forward to reading/posting here on a regular basis.
Thanks,
Eric Mortenson

Hey, welcome to XDA!
It is VERY HARD to brick this phone, so don't worry....about the only way we've seen that is by flashing a GSM radio to it, so just don't do that and you'll be fine trying anything else.
There are a couple rooting methods here, and there won't be any problems at all as long as you follow the instructions. It's not as daunting as it may first seem. You do have to root to get rid of bloatware, it can't be done without rooting. I recommend this guide: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=694572 although there are 'one-click' and 'universal' methods out there too.
The ones running Android 2.2 are doing it through a custom ROM called Cyanogenmod. Check out the Development section to find it. It doesn't have the HTC Sense UI though, so it will look and feel different than your stock 2.1. But lots of people here are using it and loving it. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=755795
And yes, you should just be able to swap out the SD cards with no problems.

chromiumleaf
Thanks for the quick and helpful reply. It is greatly appreciated.
I think I am going to try to root my phone. Pre-installed "bloatware" on PCs is one of my biggest pet peeves. So, the biggest reason I have right now for rooting my phone is to get rid of the stuff I don't want/need/use.
I will probably leave the 2.1 on the phone because I love the phone so far and if as you say, it will look and feel different. Maybe I'll keep digging through the site and change my mind later. Thanks for the "heads up".
Please do me one favor, and I hate to sound ignorant (I did say earlier I was new at this), but what does "flashing a GSM radio to it" mean, and is it something I could do my mistake?
Sorry, tried doing a search so I wouldn't have to bother you but I'm just not sure.
Thanks again.
Eric

Eric_1966_FXE said:
...what does "flashing a GSM radio to it" mean, and is it something I could do my mistake?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To "flash" some code means to burn it into your phone's read-only memory. A number of things can be flashed to your phone's memory, including the radio operating code, high-level operating system code, and "kernel" (system "core") code.
What the poster meant by "flashing a GSM radio" is "downloading the code that operates the phone's radio". Our Sprint Hero phones have what is called CDMA radio hardware, while European Hero phones have GSM radio hardware. The two different radios are not compatible with each other's operating code. So if you ever download ("flash") the wrong radio code (GSM code) into your CDMA phone, that will render your radio inoperative, which will effectively brick your phone.
With that in mind, just read carefully any information relating to any system code you're considering flashing to your phone, and make SURE it's for a CDMA phone, and you'll be fine.

I loved sense and was all against even trying an aosp rom( vanilla/ stock android), but once I flashed CM6 and found beautiful widgets and launcher pro plus and dialer one I haven't looked back. The speed of my phone and the overall appearance is far better than Sense UI. Rooting the 2.1 is far easier than it was when I got mine. You had to download and type in a whole bunch of crap, now its as easy as installing an app and running it.

Thanks
Thank you to all three of you for your quick (and more importantly useful) answers.
You guys are awesome.

Go for it
I have 4 Hero's here at my home on a family plan,and mine is the only one running CM6-RC1 and they are all jealous. Every one that has a Hero at work or a different Android running 2.1 that has seen mine including a few Evo users loves the way mine looks and how fast it is. I thought in the beginning I wouldn't want to loose Sense and feared I would brick my phone as well,but these guys here are great and are a very supportive Hero community and walked me through the process. It is a lot easier now with the universal 1 click method than before,so that was what I did. The nice thing is if you do everything correctly,you can revert right back to you stock phone if you ever have to take it in for service.
Taking your time and researching all of this pretty good before deciding what to do is a good thing,but I can honestly say, there is so much more you can do once you unlock your phone than just downloading apps and bloat ware...you can actually make it work and do what you want it to do.
The chiefs here at XDA are working hard to bring us stable working Roms for everyday use,and I tip my hat to all of them and I certainly am loving how my Hero is now compared to what it was when it was stock.The RC-1 build I am running is awesome and (knock wood) haven't crashed 1x with it where I needed to do anything nor have I had any shutdowns or unexpected forced closed programs that were installed correctly.
So I say... Don't be afraid and just go for it.. you can still have it similar to what it is now,or you can see what aosp is all about like many here have and try it.That's the beauty of Rooting...YOU have the choice of what is on your phone..not someone else.
Good Luck
Mac

Thanks Mac
And Thank you to all who responded.
Like I said in my intro, I am a tech geek when it comes to PCs but this is my first venture into this kind of forum.
You have all been extremely helpful and have made me feel welcome.
I only hope that I can return the favor at some point to others on XDA.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday weekend.
Thanks again,
Eric

S-off and rooting software, can it be trusted

Hi, I just wondered if all the people who use the software made by complete strangers to root there phones are concerned about the safety of the programs they use.
As most phones being rooted are Android, which I think is based on linux, can it not also install some kind of unwanted code to infect you phones software. I read somewhere that some custom roms contained viruses etc.
I would like to know what you think and learn more about how the software works and if this is actually true, thanks.

Ive flashed every rom here in the last few weeks
Still have my google account and My phone
Also nothing important on my phone - if you run a multinational company? maybe think twice
If someone has hacked me ,i make sure they have hacked the most boring person on the planet.
So i feel completely safe flashing
I cant control or guess at your level of paranoia though - so you will or you wont flash random roms to your phone

Not my paranioa, just read some things about phones that run android and that some custom roms can contain viruses, it was more like they were blaming these roms for all the viruses that infect android phones.
Thanks for your reply.

ricky20 said:
Hi, I just wondered if all the people who use the software made by complete strangers to root there phones are concerned about the safety of the programs they use.
As most phones being rooted are Android, which I think is based on linux, can it not also install some kind of unwanted code to infect you phones software. I read somewhere that some custom roms contained viruses etc.
I would like to know what you think and learn more about how the software works and if this is actually true, thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do u mean by that. This kind of thread is already created. This is not a debatable thing.
There are great developers here who sacrifice their free time and work to bring awesome things to us. And it is up to u whether to trust them or not. I completely trust them. The ones u adressed complete strangers are really great great people here.
And i believe xda and market are completely genuine things. I never worry about that. Even if some non-functional thing is introduced here, it will be removed immediately ASAP. And lastly, it is up to u.
[IMO, android phone without xda and market = nothing]
morbosity said:
If someone has hacked me ,i make sure they have hacked the most boring person on the planet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL....

Answering to the OP: you should be much more worried about what manufacturer did to your phone and its software. Manufacturer knows both of these very well and would probably plant something hard to detect, if it were to happen. Of course, the software would have much more power over the device than any virus produced by third party, like being able to brick the device.
As for your concern of lack of trustworthiness - these people are doing the hacks for long time. They are hackers, not crackers. Hackers create and mod, crackers destroy and vandalize. Do not confuse the terms, they mean opposite things. Hackers are the people who power this forum, crackers would get kicked out as soon as detected. No reason for concern. Just stick to open source ROMs and you will be safe.

One more thing if u cant believe developers then i think u must not use any cellphones as blaming developers or hackers here is equal to blaming a manufacturer who have complete control over their device. They can steal your information without informing you and send it to server of their own.
I too 100% trust developers here. It depends on u to trust or not. Android is an open source software or OS. So, u can too build your own ROM and try it. Make sure u've knowledge on this else u'll surely brick ur phone forever. So, the last option is to trust developers here!

I am not referring to any developers on this site and apologize for any offence caused, I am new to this and have just bought my first smart phone. I read an article about viruses being spread on the android market and it continued to explain how this happens but also mentioned that people using custom roms were also at risk.
I feel you've answered my question from your replies, I was always going to try custom roms but HTC's update installed a new locked boot loader. I was just curious what people thought about the methods used to gain root control, I was just trying to learn more about the whole issue. I think the people who do this sort of thing are very clever and intelligent people and admire there dedication and hard work.
Obviously you very passionate about this kind of thing and I agree entirely that manufacturers and carriers can put far worse things on my phone, thanks for your replies.

No one can say what happens when u download something from unknown xyzxyzxyzxyz.com
Only thing I can say is go with the trusted sites, where even if the so called viruses are introduced, they will be removed ASAP. That's all from my side.

Custom ROM viruses are only potentially possible and as far as I know, Cyanogenmod already fixed this. It had something to do with the encryption keys used incorrectly if I remember right.

[Q] How to identify a "clean" HD2

Hello HD2 forum
I am planning on purchasing a HD2 second hand, to ultimately dual boot windows phone 7 and ICS.
I am buying it from a local trade in store for good prices and warranty, ideally i would like to power it on in store before the purchase to check its clean and ready for me to follow the tutorials available.
Other than identifying that the phone is still running windows mobile, is there any other way for me to check that the phone has not previously been messed with? Something in the settings? Maybe i should check for a secondary mode with certain key combination on boot?
Thanks a lot!

You kinda need to define what you mean by "clean"...I assume you mean stock (and never been modded, but these are 2 different things totally unrelated to each other, more to that in a minute).
IMO the best thing you could do would be to read up on the flashing process. This will tell you what to look for, if you're looking for a stock never-been-modded phone.
But back to your question...the first major sign I'd look for would be HSPL. I'm not going to go into detail about how to find out if it's installed. You'll have to do your own homework. Read every 'how to' and 'newb' (or noob) guide on xda. XDA is an awesome site and the dev's here write awesome documentation. Do them the favor of reading it. I mean, I don't know what you're an expert on but it might get on your nerves if I ask you simple questions about that topic cause I'm too lazy to do the research myself. The research is easy, the reference material is all contained here in various forums, depending on what you want to do. I show my appreciation for that by taking advantage of it, and don't forget to thank the dev's if something is especially helpful...they like that.
As far as checking to ensure that it's still running WinMo...that's gonna be about as effective and informative (about the phone being virgin-stock) as whether or not it's raining that day or not. What's that got to do with anything? Exactly. Nothing. My HD2 is running (at the moment) a WinMo 6.5 build. But it's been flashed more than a hundred times. My daily software is an SD Android build. Before I flashed my HD2 for the first time, I probably spent about 30 hours just reading about the process and trying to understand the process of what I was going to be doing (while reading, I usually had video tutorials playing on my 2nd monitor...I'd give up the reading when it got interesting). So that's it, really...read read read. It's not fail safe. I can't tell you how many times I waited on pins and needles to find out if I had ****-canned my new €400 phone. If you have a heart condition, you just shouldn't ride this ride. ;-)
I just got a SGS2, cause I prefer Android to WinMo. WinMo's a full time job, as is flashing. Something was always not performing the way I wanted it to (efficiency or performance etc), which was why I started flashing, but it gets to be like a drug. Nothing's ever good enough, cause you wind up wanting the best. I'd flash a ROM and install all my **** (manually, one cad file at a time) and then flash a different one and have to reinstall everything again. It was even worse if I had set up my homescreens, and folders the way I wanted them...to that end, I'd highly recommend that you also research mass-installer programs. I can't think of the name of it right now, but you pack all of your cad's in one folder and this program installs all of them (which means like 65% typically, cause invariably about 1/3 will fail for one reason or another).
Even still, looking for HSPL (which is required to flash anything on the HD2) is not very indicative as to whether or not it's been previously modded. When I got my phone it was virgin/stock, of that I'm sure. I bought it from a person, and the person was not capable of performing such tasks (he wasn't so technically inclined). But in your case, you're going to have no idea. It is not only possible but also very easy to return the phone to stock by removing HSPL leaving virtually no trace of it having ever been modded (I say virtually, cause I don't THINK that it can be traced when HSPL has been removed, but I'm not a dev and not a guru). So even the absence of HSPL doesn't even really tell you that it's never been modded, it only says that if it was- then the modder was smart enough to cover his tracks.
Basically, I don't think there's an answer to your question. There are clues that say YES THIS PHONE HAS BEEN MODDED. But there's no definitive sign to look for that say THIS PHONE HAS NEVER BEEN MODDED, and you dunno if someone's gonna lie to you. But I am inviting you to prove me wrong, read the documentation and get back to me.
Good luck flashing, don't **** it up though. You'll be pissed if you brick your ****, which is easy to do. Hell, it's probably a thousand times safer to buy a phone with HSPL installed, then you can flash all you want with no risk. The main risk, is ****ing something up in the HSPL installation process, but there are ways to minimize the risk...which all amount to: read, read, read.
And if you decide you'd be interested in previously modded HD2 (with HSPL already installed), let me know, make me an offer. Mine's just a wifi media device at the moment and I'll probably be marketing it in the near future regardless. It currently has HSPL, and I haven't decided to remove it before sale or not. I saw one on Amazon last week that was at a premium price, cause the seller had Android running on it. It's a great phone if you like WinMo, but I find Android to be much less 'high maintenance' and I used to be a huge WinMo fan (I'm a 10 year WinMo user, if you can believe that!).
Regardless, this is getting long. Those are my 2pence. Be easy.
[EDIT] Hell, if you were closer I'd let you borrow mine for a few weeks to see if you like the phone. I'm a nice guy like that.

There is no way of knowning to be honest, unless you go into bootloader and you see the firmare on it has been tinkered, ( i.e. Hspl, radio, rom ) and depending if it is a eu or tmous version. good luck tho!