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Hi all,
I have been lurking around the forums for a while and I have gone from being totally oblivious to at least feeling as though I am somewhat android-literate now, although I still have a lot to learn. I finally took the plunge and rooted my phone last week without a hitch by using the guide here. Now I'm ready to tinker.
I'm currently running on the stock Vibrant updates...the last thing I did was the OTA GPS fix that came out maybe a month or two ago (which has worked great for me btw, no more issues with GPS). I'm trying to pick a new ROM, but I'm not familiar enough with them to pick one.
My wishlist:
-I'd like to move up to a 2.2 build
-go to a more vanilla Android (not TouchWiz)
-I'd prefer speed and stability over snazzy theming or custom animations
-I'd love to get rid of the long time to startup, and the annoying sound that goes with startup/shutdown
-At this point I'm not looking to overclock (one step at a time )
-I do like my Swype keyboard, and would like to keep it
-I plan to start using my phone in place of my iPod, so music friendliness would be a plus.
I'm not sure what other info would help narrow this down, but any suggestions? I'm loving the idea that my awesome phone could be even better.
Sounds like Eugene R2 with Swype added back (it doesn't come with it).
His io kernel helps. You would really benefit from voodoo though.
Thanks for the response. I'll give that a try. I may have to read up on voodoo because I have no idea what that is, but I think I'm fairly comfortable with how to put in a new ROM or kernel.
Thanks for your help! Any other suggestions (or just agreement with the first one) would be welcome.
Yeah, curious if others have another suggestion. Nero with voodoo us gold for me.
Here is voodoo:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=870480
Nero has it though, you just need to enable it (he has really good instructions In the nero v3 thread). Always remember to disable before you flash anything else though, or you'll have to use odin to get back to stock (my warning, seriously, worth it though)
Ext4 makes the Vibrant a new phone.
I would second that opinion on Eugenes GingerBread Clone R2 . Ive been running it and I cant say anything bad about it . IO kernel has great battery life as for swype I just pulled it from NeroV3 . If you want you can go to Q&A section and I have directions and the files need to get swype running . The title is "WHERE DO I GET SWYPE FOR EUGENES GINGERBREAD CLONE?" .
I really appreciate the help guys. I'm going to give the GingerBread Clone a run here in the next hour or so and see how it goes.
Any last advice for a first time ROM-flasher?
Make sure you are not hardware locked before you do anything .
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I just wanted to thank everybody again. I kind of fell off using forums for a while, but I thought it was worth coming back to give an update. I flashed the Gingerbread Clone ROM that night and have been using it since.
I love it! My battery lasts between 30-35 hours per charge most of the time as long as I'm not gaming on it. There was a little bit of an adjustment period for a couple things, but I'm definitely happy with it. No pulldown settings toggles was a change, and the non-Swype keyboard was too. I'd say I actually prefer the new keyboard because of the good autocomplete options within just a couple letters, and I never went back to Swype.
I don't know if I could even quantify all of the little differences, but overall it seems to be snappier with better battery life. Can't complain about that! Thanks to everybody who offered suggestions.
I said 30-35 hours, but I just looked at my phone and saw I'm currently at 2 days and 6.5 hours since my last charge. Haven't used my phone a ton the last couple days, so that gives an idea of how intense the battery life has been. I'm at 54 hours and I still have another couple left if the battery indicator is to be believed.
Well my work just got a bunch of iPhones and the CEO got one of the. He had the Samsung before so I got it as an upgrade over my crackberry.
Now I really want to install a custom rom/kernel on the phone but I am hesitating because its really not my phone and my work owns it.
What do you guys think should I stick with stock or should I root the phone and install a rom?
Stock. There's nothing like explaining to the boss how you f'd up company equipment.
I dont know if one should/should not install custom roms on a work phone, as I don't have one. But I can tell you that if you do decide to root and install one of the custom roms, it's not that hard to unroot and go back to stock later on when you need to return the phone. There are several threads here that will guide you through the process too.
jenisiz said:
Stock. There's nothing like explaining to the boss how you f'd up company equipment.
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Click to collapse
I guess your right I just hate being stuck on 2.1 when I know I can have a nice Froyo install. It's just so hard not to do because I have done it with all my other devices.
dsf767 said:
I guess your right I just hate being stuck on 2.1 when I know I can have a nice Froyo install. It's just so hard not to do because I have done it with all my other devices.
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Click to collapse
I hear you...but who's to say he won't ask for it out the blue someday?
Idk, at this point, the fascinate is practically impossible to brick. You also say you have experience rooting and customizing other phones, correct? I say go for it. The only reason I could see not to is due to security issues. Work passwords and etc.. I really don't know too much about all of that tho.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App
I have a rooted android work phone. All you have to do is read what ppl are saying about the roms and FOLLOW DIRECTIONS and youll be fine.
dsf767 said:
Well my work just got a bunch of iPhones and the CEO got one of the. He had the Samsung before so I got it as an upgrade over my crackberry.
Now I really want to install a custom rom/kernel on the phone but I am hesitating because its really not my phone and my work owns it.
What do you guys think should I stick with stock or should I root the phone and install a rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Used my fascinating voodoo powers
I seriously discourage doing anything to it. It's not yours for one, and (no disrespect to the devs ofcourse, their work is amazing) there really isnt anything spectacular for this phone at the moment due to samsung's failure to provide any source code. To be more specific... our kernels suck.
And oh yea this shouldve been in the Q&A section so be ready for ashasaur to move this thread. (hes really good at doing that )
Depends on your comfort level, and of course, your corporate policies.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA Premium App
I would say root your phone at the most. It's fairly easy to recover from just rooting, but flashing roms/kernels/modems is much more risky. At least with rooting, you could fairly easily freeze the bloat with TiBu and have a more functional phone. Thawing everything and un-rooting would have you a stock phone back fairly quickly, and you could also still receive OTA updates as well.
I say go for it if anything goes wrong all you have to do is odin back to stock it removes everything its as simple as plugging the phone in load the stock file and click start I've done this countless times
We pick our work cell phones specifically because of the potential customization we can do. I hate being stuck with some company's version of what they think will be useful to me in my job. I can Odin this phone back to stock/factory defaults in less than 5 minutes if need be, so customizing this phone and expanding its abilities, and recovering from those customizations quickly, were what attracted me to it.
Android is Android, whether it's Samsung's stock version or one of the dev's version of it. Your phone is still going to perform the same tasks you need it to for your job. As long as you are both competent with the technologies involved and confident in your ability to restore to stock, I don't see why you should hesitate from exploring the options that are out there, especially when Froyo source drops and we see an explosion of dev-created customizations/enhancements.
Really? If your asking for advice on whether to mess with a business owned phone, it makes me wonder are you the ceo's mail clerk?
SuperClean2.9.1vNitroDark
Personally for a work phone, I'd update it for better usage in my work.
Increasing battery life usage duration.
Less irritating buggy glitches.
Removing the idiotic TW/BING/VZW craps. (too many add-on hacks from google default causing reliability and dependability problems)
Adding Backup and Restore nandroid for possible failures and migrations.
I suggest DJ05 + SuperClean + Blaze v2.3.1R2.
Just to give you guys some background, I had a rooted Fascinate and I loved it, not to mention is was extremely fast. I like the stock TB but I feel like I could pull some better battery life with rooting and get rid of the bloat. However, while I was extremely familiar with rooting and flashing roms and kernels on the Fascinate (changed ROMS and kernels almost every week or two), I have never done it through ADB on the TB. Everyone seems to say they haven't needed to root their TB so they haven't, so I am getting mixed feedback on me. So...either persuade me to root or not to root...
Root or no?
Root it, manually, end of story.
If you don't like how it is, you can always go back to a completely stock, unrooted state.
g00s3y said:
Root it, manually, end of story.
If you don't like how it is, you can always go back to a completely stock, unrooted state.
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Click to collapse
thats what I am thinking. My fascinate was blazing fast with root I can't imagine how much faster this thing should be rooted
Ya man, why are you asking questions instead of rooting this very second!!
But anyway, jump on in.... The water is bamf
Do it. Just make sure all the files are in the same directory as ADB and follow the directions closely. Took me less than a half hour last night.
Sent from TBolt using XDA Premium App
Maybe this will make you feel better.....
I was 100% unfamiliar with rooting. I actually had never heard of it until buying the thunderbolt. I bought the phone just wanting something new and fast, as my old moto droid was basically unusably slow. I started reading threads online about battery life on the TB, because mine was sucking, and time and time again people talked about rooting to gain battery life. I called a good friend of mine who is a computer whiz, and he walked me through the process.
Four weeks later, my rooted Thunderbolt and me have been through 4 Roms (3, really, since the 4th was me going back to bamf remix), a number of kernels, and a whole lot of happiness.
Semi-Long story, I know, but i'm just giving you the winded speech, when really i coulda just said ROOT THAT PHONE!!!!!
So, what I would say to you is this. While i may be new to this whole rooting thing, i've always been a tech junkie. I'm incredibly obsessive about my gadgets running fast and efficient. I couldn't be happier that I rooted this phone, and I firmly believe any android device I purchase in the future I will root. I've gained battery life, speed, and customizability. I damn near brought my phone from useful to necessary. You won't regret rooting the TB.
My first rom was bamf remix 1.6.3. I followed that with twisted sense, then VirusROM TB, and now i'm back to bamf. I actually preferred VirusROM as a whole, but there were a couple issues that were dramatic enough for me to switch back to bamf. But i won't rant about that here. That's for another topic.
Root your phone. The TB just loves it.
(sorry for being so winded, i'm just excited about it all! =)
My last phone was the Incredible. Awesome phone even by todays standards. It was rooted. I didn't have this Tbolt long enough to kill the battery before rooting it so I can't speak to battery life gains. You only need ADB to root it. You don't need it to flash new ROMs or kernels or mods. Clockworkmod recovery does that for you. Plus, you'll find that the CPU in the Tbolt is possibly one of the most overclockable chips in history. I'm humming along at 1.42ghz with no problem and ramping it up to 1.6 or even 1.9 isn't at all unheard of. If there was ever a a Droid made for rooting, this phone is that phone.
I rooted my phone an hour after getting it from my local store. ADB is not hard to do (it was my first time too) you just need to follow the steps to the T. My Tbolt is opened up and having fun with all the new ROMs I'm putting on it. Loving it
ok, here i am... in the android world, after many years of winmo - and i must say wow, i was missing a lot! i just bought a thunderbolt as a replacement for my htc touch pro2 (which was running stock, only after i broke my old one and didnt take the time to re do it again)
what i could do on my tp2 was run hotspot app PROVIDED by HTC (not sure why or how that slipped through big red's net) but it was free, no tethering/hotspot fee needed.
i like my TB (but not the bloatware) and am currently refusing all updates till i make my mind up on rooting. right now - kernel 2.6.32.21.gb05544a dated march 1, 2011 and the software number is 1.13.605.7. my guess is that since i bought it from amazonwireless, big red hasnt updated it, and it sat on the shelf at amazon for a bit. either way, the hotspot app still works for free.
my questions:
1. if i continue to refuse, can i assume that one day i will wake up updated or find my phone automatically updating without my permission?
2. if i root (before this big scary update happens) will my phone automatically go back to a stock rom, only with superuser access where i can remove bloatware manually and install a wifi hotspot app, or will i have to flash to a rom?
i am familiar with flashing windows mobile phones, flashed my past 2 devices to the newest software (had my tp2 before 6.5 was released for that phone, so flashed to 6 before big red officially released it). but it didnt need constant 'attention' once it was flashed. i used to fool around with sat boxes that did need constant attention and monitoring and waiting for charlies next emp, then scrambling to reflash. that was a pain.
3. will my rooted TB need constant attention or will i be able to tootle around without a care, only flashing when someone releases a rom that i might want to try out or some big release <gingerbread> is ready for rooted phones?
thanks for your time!
PS: I have read that people cant use netflix app on TB - i downloaded it, and it works fine for me. i am stuck in 3g land until next winter, but i would think that 4g would rock... just FYI in case anyone cares.
good questions. i'd like to see these answered too
fxb141 said:
ok, here i am... in the android world, after many years of winmo - and i must say wow, i was missing a lot! i just bought a thunderbolt as a replacement for my htc touch pro2 (which was running stock, only after i broke my old one and didnt take the time to re do it again)
what i could do on my tp2 was run hotspot app PROVIDED by HTC (not sure why or how that slipped through big red's net) but it was free, no tethering/hotspot fee needed.
i like my TB (but not the bloatware) and am currently refusing all updates till i make my mind up on rooting. right now - kernel 2.6.32.21.gb05544a dated march 1, 2011 and the software number is 1.13.605.7. my guess is that since i bought it from amazonwireless, big red hasnt updated it, and it sat on the shelf at amazon for a bit. either way, the hotspot app still works for free.
my questions:
1. if i continue to refuse, can i assume that one day i will wake up updated or find my phone automatically updating without my permission?
2. if i root (before this big scary update happens) will my phone automatically go back to a stock rom, only with superuser access where i can remove bloatware manually and install a wifi hotspot app, or will i have to flash to a rom?
i am familiar with flashing windows mobile phones, flashed my past 2 devices to the newest software (had my tp2 before 6.5 was released for that phone, so flashed to 6 before big red officially released it). but it didnt need constant 'attention' once it was flashed. i used to fool around with sat boxes that did need constant attention and monitoring and waiting for charlies next emp, then scrambling to reflash. that was a pain.
3. will my rooted TB need constant attention or will i be able to tootle around without a care, only flashing when someone releases a rom that i might want to try out or some big release <gingerbread> is ready for rooted phones?
thanks for your time!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to the world of Android! We hope you enjoy your stay ^__^. While I don't have a TBolt myself, I think any user opinion is good. Phone's auto updating is rare, like extremely rare, but I have seen it on some of the lesser model phones. I don't think you need to worry about it though. The free hotspot app however may be noticed and tagged as a tether as big red gets their chubby fingers around the few apps they are missing.
To root or not to root, that is the question.....or is it! The answer is up to you. If your comfortable with it than root it! All rooting will do is give you superuser ability, and the ability to flash custom roms/kernels/mods. If you want to keep the stock rom, than all you need to do is flash and nothing more. Rooting your phone doesn't auto flash some random rom. Roms are typically not built with an auto updater, so you only need to reflash a rom if you want to change roms or update to the newest version. I would say I flash at least an image a day on my Dinc. Once your rooted, regardless of the rom, I would suggest downloading some backup software (Titanium Backup or it's like for TBolt) and of course a tethering app, whether you want wired or wireless is up to you. Once you root, you lose your connection to big red's update servers and so you never have to worry about an update that returns you to stock like you do with i<anything's>.
Happy flashing!
fxb141 said:
ok, here i am... in the android world, after many years of winmo - and i must say wow, i was missing a lot! i just bought a thunderbolt as a replacement for my htc touch pro2 (which was running stock, only after i broke my old one and didnt take the time to re do it again)
what i could do on my tp2 was run hotspot app PROVIDED by HTC (not sure why or how that slipped through big red's net) but it was free, no tethering/hotspot fee needed.
i like my TB (but not the bloatware) and am currently refusing all updates till i make my mind up on rooting. right now - kernel 2.6.32.21.gb05544a dated march 1, 2011 and the software number is 1.13.605.7. my guess is that since i bought it from amazonwireless, big red hasnt updated it, and it sat on the shelf at amazon for a bit. either way, the hotspot app still works for free.
my questions:
1. if i continue to refuse, can i assume that one day i will wake up updated or find my phone automatically updating without my permission?
2. if i root (before this big scary update happens) will my phone automatically go back to a stock rom, only with superuser access where i can remove bloatware manually and install a wifi hotspot app, or will i have to flash to a rom?
i am familiar with flashing windows mobile phones, flashed my past 2 devices to the newest software (had my tp2 before 6.5 was released for that phone, so flashed to 6 before big red officially released it). but it didnt need constant 'attention' once it was flashed. i used to fool around with sat boxes that did need constant attention and monitoring and waiting for charlies next emp, then scrambling to reflash. that was a pain.
3. will my rooted TB need constant attention or will i be able to tootle around without a care, only flashing when someone releases a rom that i might want to try out or some big release <gingerbread> is ready for rooted phones?
thanks for your time!
PS: I have read that people cant use netflix app on TB - i downloaded it, and it works fine for me. i am stuck in 3g land until next winter, but i would think that 4g would rock... just FYI in case anyone cares.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tbolt just got netflix last week for stock users.
Even if you are not going to flash a custom ROM right now, I would root.
Reason being that rooting requires you to flash old firmware so your phone gets wiped. Better to do it now, then that way you can use apps like Titanium backup.
fxb141 said:
ok, here i am... in the android world, after many years of winmo - and i must say wow, i was missing a lot! i just bought a thunderbolt as a replacement for my htc touch pro2 (which was running stock, only after i broke my old one and didnt take the time to re do it again)
what i could do on my tp2 was run hotspot app PROVIDED by HTC (not sure why or how that slipped through big red's net) but it was free, no tethering/hotspot fee needed.
i like my TB (but not the bloatware) and am currently refusing all updates till i make my mind up on rooting. right now - kernel 2.6.32.21.gb05544a dated march 1, 2011 and the software number is 1.13.605.7. my guess is that since i bought it from amazonwireless, big red hasnt updated it, and it sat on the shelf at amazon for a bit. either way, the hotspot app still works for free.
my questions:
1. if i continue to refuse, can i assume that one day i will wake up updated or find my phone automatically updating without my permission?
2. if i root (before this big scary update happens) will my phone automatically go back to a stock rom, only with superuser access where i can remove bloatware manually and install a wifi hotspot app, or will i have to flash to a rom?
i am familiar with flashing windows mobile phones, flashed my past 2 devices to the newest software (had my tp2 before 6.5 was released for that phone, so flashed to 6 before big red officially released it). but it didnt need constant 'attention' once it was flashed. i used to fool around with sat boxes that did need constant attention and monitoring and waiting for charlies next emp, then scrambling to reflash. that was a pain.
3. will my rooted TB need constant attention or will i be able to tootle around without a care, only flashing when someone releases a rom that i might want to try out or some big release <gingerbread> is ready for rooted phones?
thanks for your time!
PS: I have read that people cant use netflix app on TB - i downloaded it, and it works fine for me. i am stuck in 3g land until next winter, but i would think that 4g would rock... just FYI in case anyone cares.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but there are OTA's that can't be rooted.
What rooting your phone will do is install a new stock ROM which means it will wipe your whole phone. From there you can flash up to anything you want. Don't do rooting the lazy way. Use the ADB process and do it right. If you have a problem along the way, you'll be very glad you did it that way because you'd end up getting into ADB to fix any problem anyhow. Plus, jcase and other at andirc.net are very helpful.
If you root you will end up with whatever ROM is used during the root process. If you go to the development threads and to the stickied rooting instructions it will show you what RUU is used for the rooting process.
If you havent updated your phone you might even find that the ROM you get after rooting might be a newer version of the one you are using. If you want to stick with that ROM you can and just debloat it yourself or find another debloated ROM out there.
Once rooted you can use it similar to how you used your stock phone with no extra maintenance steps needed. If you start flashing nightlies or alpha/beta ROMs then you will start needing to monitor your phone for behavioral problems more.
There are no OTA's that cant be rooted. When an OTA comes out and you are rooted you should wait on flashing it as you would loose root if you did but in just a few days the dev's will create a rooted version to flash. Those OTA's will then be started to be used as the base for new ROMs.
Root! Root! Root!
As far as requiring tinkering as has been mentioned just rooting alone won't change a whole lot for your regular experience. The fun comes in trying out new ROMs. Some of the ROMs out there are very stable and once installed shouldn't need a whole lot of tinkering either (unless you get the FLASH habit that so many seem to develop and decide to flash a new one every day *wink*).
I rooted and installed Thundersense 1.5 onto mine, it's pretty nice. While I am running into some problems with bluetooth audio, having root capability means I can actually tinker with the phone's settings to try to fix issues instead of waiting forever for Verizon/HTC to push out another update that may or may not resolve whatever issue I have.
Not rooting is like driving around in a sports car with a parachute tied to the back.
Just do it.
When you root following Jcases method in the dev section you end up with a bone stock 1.13.605.7 with root. You might still get prompted for updates if you stay on the stock build but DO NOT ACCEPT if rooted. It will just cause problems and you might lose root or worse. I havent heard of Thunderbolts updating themselves but I have heard of Evos, I belive, that did. (according to users posts) So you never know but I belive something to do with Clockwork Mod Recovery(A custom recovery for android that you install after rooting.) will cause the update to fail anyway. As I understand it right now all OTAs can be rooted BUT the Gingerbread update will apparently close all known exploits to get root when it is released. There will always be rooted versions of the stock OTAs posted in the dev section you can flash if you want the newest updates and to be rooted. Of course there are lots of custom ROMs for the Thunderbolt to try out that are fast and stable. So I say root. It takes some reading and learning if you are new to it but its will worth it.
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt
rooted and reloaded software
Thanks all for your advice! I successfully rooted my TB and it only took a few minutes to reload my apps and get it into working order. netflix is jumpy now, but could be the connection - going to mess with that some. not a big loss anyway - more of a 'wow, thats cool' than useful.
appbrain and HTC Sync with outlook contacts worked great for quick 'restore'
another question though - i am trying to remove the bloat and things like vcast and vznav will not let me uninstall. what is the best way to do this? i know i am rooted - barnicle works and has superuser access.
also, any good cooked sense roms that someone can recommend? not looking for one that constantly needs attention, just some cool things like cpu under/over clocking ability, and if SOMEONE would get a ford sync app that i could use voice command to text over sync - that would rock too!
Synergy ROM is my ROM of choice. It's based on the newest GB leak for the Tbolt, and has Sense 2.1 with Sense 3.0 features, so I find it less laggy than full on Sense 3.0 ROMs, and Ziggy's kernel (included in the ROM) works great with no SetCPU needed. It's worth a try. You can find a link to the download in my sig.
Happy flashing!
that's awesome. i was think this very thing. I'm sold, I'm rooting.
orkillakilla said:
Synergy ROM is my ROM of choice. It's based on the newest GB leak for the Tbolt, and has Sense 2.1 with Sense 3.0 features, so I find it less laggy than full on Sense 3.0 ROMs, and Ziggy's kernel (included in the ROM) works great with no SetCPU needed. It's worth a try. You can find a link to the download in my sig.
Happy flashing!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I would probably try this ROM - Is there anything i would need to change on my stock everything, no updates, no frills TB - like, will i have to update the radio before flashing?
I must say, i love the synergy rom! it seems fast and really rocks! I did have to update my stock base version radio MR1 to MR2.5 so i had service. flashing went great. many kudos to each and every post i read with regard to rooting, flashing, radios and roms!!! yes, i am a lurker, but thanks all around!
fxb141 said:
I must say, i love the synergy rom! it seems fast and really rocks! I did have to update my stock base version radio MR1 to MR2.5 so i had service. flashing went great. many kudos to each and every post i read with regard to rooting, flashing, radios and roms!!! yes, i am a lurker, but thanks all around!
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Click to collapse
Glad everything worked out and that you are enjoying Synergy. Don't be afraid to try other ROMs though. I've flashed almost every rom out there and decided to keep synergy.
Sent from my HTC GingerBolt powered by the lastest Synergy ROM
Too many horror stories for me to root just yet. However I get multiple update demands from verizon every day which is driving me crazy, and today was the first time it actually tried to update itself without permission. I just happened to open my phone at work and saw it trying to download the update on its own. There was no way to cancel it either, I had to reboot the phone immediately to make it stop. It has yet to reappear, but we'll see what happens.
Rooting isn't worth it. Most of the ROM's out now are just plain awful (some people have no taste).
What are these horror stories you speak of?? I haven't heard of one person brick their phone rooting and that's the only horror story I can think of involving rooting. It's actually a pretty easy process if you just read up on what you are doing first.
As for the claim all the ROMs suck...well everyone if entitled to their opinion but there are Froyo sense and de-sensed ROMs, Gingerbread sense and de-sensed ROMs, and AOSP ROMs. You can have sense 2.1, 3.0, or no sense. Lots of themes to choose from if you want them. I don't see how that list is any different from any other HTC phone. That is not even including the fact that a lot of them greatly improve performance and batery life.
Sent from my HTC Thunderbolt
i am way out of my league with a rooted phone (vibrant). i have spent over 50 hours during this last week reading the questions, comments, guides and advice with the majority of that time reading root guides and whatnot (thank you s15274n for the noob guide to rooting ). i dont understand sh!t. my cousin rooted my phone and i watched and we flashed different roms, and i still dont understand anything really. i have backed up my phone, apps (both user and system )and folders too many times. i have so much crap on my internal sd and i dont know what i need and can delete, but its takin up a lot of memory.
in short, i would really like to go back to froyo where i liked many of the system apps such as the best camera i have used (CM7 stock camera didnt work and the camera apps were eh), and others (i know, pretty boring). SO, will unrooting, factory reseting and wiping data/caches/info allow me to kies download a 2.2... update to where my phone was 2 weeks ago? (sorry for being so long winded, but i figured the more specific, the easier it would be to answer)
Better learn how to, then. This is the easiest and best bet:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=954509
You don't need to unroot your phone or do a full Odin to get back to stock, or at least a stock feel.
My suggestion is to keep your phone rooted, but switch to a Touchwiz Custom ROM. That way you get all the fancy toys (****ty in my opinion, but whatever) that come with the stock Vibrant while also getting all the tweaks that have come from developers having over a year to play with their Galaxy S.
I would definitely keep your phone rooted in any case. The ability to easily backup apps and information in case the phone dies, ability to save battery with undervolting, or get more speed with overclocking, and all the other tweaks that only work when your phone is rooted will be missed when you go back to complete stock.