Hi, all! I've got a CDMA, Verizon razr, android version 2.3.6. I will be using a 64 bit Windows 7 pc to root. After much searching and reading first, I find myself a bit confused as to how I go about getting my razr rooted and all customized the way I want.
I successfully rooted my old droid X, and flashed Jrummy's Liberty rom onto it, loved it. I've decided to stick with GB, rather than going to ICS prior to rooting. These are the things I hope to be able to do with my rooted razr:
Use free wifi tether
Change that annoyingly long boot animation
Remove/freeze bloatware apps, like Blockbuster, NFL, etc.
Use Android Overclock, or a similar app
Change the theme of my razr to something spiffy-looking
Cosmetic tweaks such as changing the phone's font, changing the application icons, the battery indicator icon, and being able to assign different colors to the led notification light, such as green for new email, or blue for a missed phone call.
Nothing too fancy or advanced, really. I know I should backup the phone first, then root. Is there a certain method of rooting that would be ideal for me? Also, can I flash a rom after rooting, to change my phone's theme to something cooler than stock? Any recommendations for rooting, or roms?
Any advice is greatly appreciated. I have no problem taking the time to search the forum for the answers first, as per the rules, I'm just kinda stuck, and could use a pointer in the right direction to get me started! Again, much thanks to everyone here at XDA Developers!
-Liz
Related
I have had my Eris since launch and have never modified the phone in anyway. Well i figured i would try the one click root your eris and it ended up working. I now have wifi teethering and set cpu. What else can you do. How do you get apptoSD? Can you get Flash 10.1 to work? What is a recovery image? These are all questions i am trying to find and cant get answered HELP!!!!!
There are so many advantages to rooting that I lose track sometimes lol. Obviously you know the overclocking and tethering. Also being able to back up all your data and apps is handy(check out Titanium Backup, MybackupPro, or Sprite). Root Explorer is a great app that allows you to view, install, move, copy, make zip files, etc anything internal and external memory. Autokiller is a settings tweak for the Android memory management system. There are a couple of nice launchers like ADW and LauncherPro - they used to be root only and I've been rooted long enough to not keep up with nonrooted stuff so you might already be familiar with them... But the biggest thing is being able to flash custom roms. Now you can run the newest OS that Verizon didn't care to let us have: Froyo. I believe you should have recovery already. To test this, you can turn off your phone and then to boot into recovery, hold down the volume UP button and then hit power "End" and you should be presented with a black and green screen with a few options. I would recommend doing a Nandroid back up first. This saves your phone to the state it is in at the moment. Then if you flash a new rom that you don't like or doesn't work for you, you can just reboot into recovery, flash your back up and be right back where you were. Apps 2 SD is handled differently between 2.1 and 2.2 roms. 2.1 you need to repartition your card to have an Ext and in Froyo it is built in. There are plenty of other things to do, like Metamorph which allows you to theme different parts of the rom and icons so you can customize the way it looks infinitely. As far as Flash, it does work on somethings (and only on some roms, I believe) but generally, will make your phone laggy since it is a strain for our phones to run it. There is so much more, but you probably won't need to worry about that till you get to playing around with the different roms and run into other things. If you need more help, hit me up on your Talk app using my screen name @ gmail.com Hope this helps.
I rooted and flashed xtrSense and man the battery life is worlds of difference, plus the responsiveness is amazing too.
Just got a shiny new Fascinate, and about to start customizing it. I would like to remove most of the large collection of cr*pware that came pre-installed, bing included. Is it possible to install superuser and uninstall this stuff without risking bricking the device?
I'm a relative Android newb, and I'd rather not dabble in custom roms as this is an employer provided phone and I'm not comfortable blasting a new firmware on it yet.
Also, if I succeed in removing the aforementioned software, can / will it be restored by resetting the device to defaults, if that's even possible? Or will I need to root the thing in order to install backup software?
Lastly, if I want to use a keyboard other than swype or the default android, do I need to move the .apk to the /system/apps folder like I did on my Nook?
Yes, you can simply root your device and not install a custom ROM. Yes, you will have to root in order to de-bloat, so be aware, although it is very simple.
Rooting walkthrough: (very painless)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=948722
Once rooted, download Titanium Backup from the Android market and de-bloat to your heart's content.
You might want to consider downloading ROM Manager (from market) and making a full backup of your rooted phone (called a Nandroid backup)
Keyboard: you can search the market for alternate keyboards (easiest method) or use adb push to /system/app if there is one you really want to use.
Cool, thanks for the response!
I'd already rooted, which would have been completely painless if I were running winblows. Nevertheless, after getting adb functional on Ubuntu it was relatively simple.
I've removed all the 'stuff' I don't want, any idea how to reassign the search button so it isn't pointing to bing also?
With Titanium and ROM Manager, would I need CWR or some other alternative boot app installed to restore this?
Also, I see lots of references to odin which is apparently needed for flashing over USB in the event I decide to take the plunge and dabble in custom roms. Anyone know if there's an equivalent for linux / osx? It astounds me that an android dev community such as this seems to be so windows centric...
for linux and mac use Heimdall, an odin clone.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
If you're still running EB01, then Bing search is hard coded. However, many custom ROMS remove this. I'm currently using SuperClean 2.9 and have both google search and google voice search (long press search button) set as my default.
A definitive list of Fascinate ROMS can be found here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1013312
To restore, I would definitely use CWR, as it is the recovery method used by ROM Manager. This is done either within ROM Manager (Backup/Restore) or by booting directly into CWM. Just make sure ,with a Fascinate, you only use CWR version 2.5.x.x, since version 3.0 doesn't currently play nice with the older amend type scripting.
It downloaded EA28 right after activation - I believe it said this is a corporate contract build, which is part of why I'm reluctant to burn a custom rom.
Outside of the bing search and the speakerphone being too loud, I really have no qualms with the phone at this early stage.
Thanks for the info about CWR and such - I've been lurking here for months and find the more I read the more confused I get.
Best not to go tinkering with corporate property- no sense in losing your job over a phone.
The speakerphone volume should be adjustable via the volume rocker on the side while activated.
Yes, there is a lot of knowledge available here, lol. Just remember, everybody here started somewhere.
Funny nick btw...
artvandelay440 said:
Best not to go tinkering with corporate property- no sense in losing your job over a phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not worried about that - they wouldn't fire me over a phone, I'm the guy that keeps their accounting system up at five nines. I just don't want to have to schmooze the office manager to get me a replacement if I brick it after less than a week. I'll let the new wear off a little first.
artvandelay440 said:
The speakerphone volume should be adjustable via the volume rocker on the side while activated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, but at it's lowest setting it's still loud enough to be heard 30 ft away. Not a huge issue.
Ok, last question and I'll start spending a little more time searching, I promise. What's the deal with wifi on these things? Can / will they go through the wifi to get to the cloud? It doesn't appear that mine is doing this when I'm at home where 3g is very hit-and-miss. Are there any settings to tweak? Or is wifi just there for the DLNA server and tethering? I guess i was a bit spoiled by my blackberry in that this functionality (wifi handover) worked very well on the curve.
I haven't noticed any issues with wifi and cloud applications (dropbox, evernote, etc)
If you just mean internet connectivity in general sucks on wifi, perhaps it is more a router/ISP issue and less of the phone. Might do you some good to download a wifi analyzer to your phone (market) and make sure your dB strength is adequate, as well as make sure your router is broadcasting on the least congested channel. Have you tried connecting on a different wifi network? (work, restaurant)
Already have my AP set to the channel with the best noise floor. So I don't think it's an RF issue - all my other wifi devices (two laptops, two Nook tablets, and formerly my blackberry 8320) all work as well as could be expected with the same AP configuration.
I guess what I'm wanting to know is if there's a way to setup the IP/PPP stack on the phone to default to wifi for data. I guess I need to delve into the innards of their network config to find this out. Just thought there might be a GUI config menu somewhere that I was missing.
I'm not worried about that - they wouldn't fire me over a phone, I'm the guy that keeps their accounting system up at five nines. I just don't want to have to schmooze the office manager to get me a replacement if I brick it after less than a week. I'll let the new wear off a little first.
Brick a Fascinate? Don't think its Possible, I have done just about every stupid thing you can think of to mine, including flashing Darky's 9.3 rom for the I9000 on it by accident. As long as I can get it into DL mode, odin or heimdall can fix my stupidity.
Hi guys..
Sorry for wasting your time again..
Got a few question, jsut flashed my phone to gingerbread stock verizon..
I would actually want to ask what can i do to my phone after i root it?. i mean what will be the changes, cause i really can't understand the advantages of being rooted. they said there will be more options.
but what are those option?.. you mean i can download more apps in android market?.. am i right?..
also i have a question about the place where can we download full version apps games, i was informed about blackmart.. is that safe?..
also about the droidwall, someone told me if i rooted my phone, i can get that, and it seems to be very usefull to what she said..
Thankyou for responding to my question.
appreciate it so much..
also wants to confirm if verizon fascinate really doesn't have front camera cause im having hard time using the yahoo messenger video call only black screen
More Power Guys!!!
Rooting gives you the ability to modify your file systems, install custom roms, as well as apps that could not normally be installed on your phone. There is no front facing camera on your phone. You really need to ditch the gingerbread you ate using noe and follow the guide to get any of the android 4.0 roms that are on the site. You will understand why rooting is so nice when you are able to use one of those roms. You can install droidwall once you are rooted. If you are looking for free apps on the internet other than the play market, try using Google, it really works.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk
Rooting will allow you to do more to and with your phone than was intended. First and foremost for me it was being able to remove Verizon bloatware. You can install Custom Roms either Gingerbread or ICS, make tweaks to the phone that will make it run more effective and efficient. Either way, if you are going to root, the next thing you should learn about is making a Nandroid backup. This way you can always go back to where you were when you first started and then do it all over again to your liking. Have fun.
I too wanted to get rid of the bloatware. By putting on a ROM like Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4) on my phone I don't feel the need to upgrade. The developer activity is very good on this phone so the performance of the roms is great.
Well, I kind of know what I'm in for. Been following this forum for about a month now and reading all the stuff on the recent roms. Basically I'm experiencing all the problems that Ohmster has stated he looks for when testing a new rom: tap and wait delays, random reboots, reboots to fix super lag, things not responding at all, are the main ones. Also get the "insufficient storage" when updating apps, besides the running out of disk space warning. Also issues with tethering. I've been using FoxFi, but somethings it won't work if I've recently turned it off (WiFi or Bluetooth) without waiting a while or a reboot. I would've switched to a new phone right now, but I like having an SD card, and any phone out there that I've seen with one, has a smaller battery. Why I'm still sticking with this. Anyway, the plan:
Root using the method outlined on CM's website (with computer) or without as shown in this thread no computer thread. Is one method better then the other?
Install latest Version of Safestrap (3.75 i think) and Ti Backup
And back up like crazy
Now comes the part where I could use a little advise. In investigating ROMs, I was mainly leaning towards LiquidSmooth or CM11 (yes, sticking with KitKat). I think I've settled with CM11 mainly due to the wealth of information on it, and the excellent work Ohmster has done with his guide on optimization. I just want something that is going to work, and be reliable, but I'm open to ideas and willing to hear suggestions.
Apps?
I know rooting allows you to do some great things. I'll definitely be using Ti Backup, Gapps(pa-gapps) and Greenify, but not sure if there are other things that would be advisable to install. I've looked at a few "must have on Rooted" phone lists, but they all seem to be a little different. For example:
SuperUser or SuperSU
Root Explorer (I've always used Astro File manager. Does RE do more then that?)
Busybox
rom explorer
Thanks to anyone for the assistance.
dtiger
I personally prefer Liquid Smooth and AOKP over CM, as I like my led to blink with the screen ON.
As for the file manager, I also love Astro. Using a very old version. But it doesn't give you root access. I love Solid Explorer, as you can view and move apps easily thanks to their dual screen in landscape mode. I have tried most of them at one time or another..
OK, I've been searching all night both here and on Google, and my eyes are starting to blur.. I may be searching the wrong phrase I don't know.. But here's the deal.. I'm using a Note 2 that I got used for an awesome price ($25). It works like it's brand new and so far I'm loving it! I'm on the stock 4.3 mj9 firmware, rooted with saferoot, running safestrap 3.72 (twrp 2.7.0.0). I don't have the funds to send it to Texas for the bootloader unlock, so I'm testing out other touchwiz ROMs in slot 1. I'm not new to the process of rooting and flashing, so I'm not concerned on that account..
But what has got me flummoxed at the moment is the irritating clock that comes stock.. Granted I used cm10 through 12 on my Droid RAZR for years before I got the Note so I got used to a few things and don't like change.. So my question here is, is there any way at all to install a status bar/notification clock that has the same functionality as the cm deskclock? Or even the same look? Right now I have a shortcut to the stock clock on my homescreen but that feels like a clunky workaround solution to me.. I pulled the deskclock.apk from the cm12 that's on the RAZR and sent it to my Note, but when I move it to system\app and install it, it says something like Clock has failed.. I installed it, and deleted every instance of the apk from internal memory but still have it on my SD card in hopes somebody will be able to explain it to me..
Also, is there any way to install a flashlight/torch tile to the notification panel?
Am I out of luck? Am I better off using widgets on the homescreen? Should I install a custom ROM? Any ideas and suggestions are appreciated.. So are ROM suggestions.. I know Dev on this phone has kinda halted due to the bootloader lock, but it's still an awesome device with a lot of power and potential!
Thanks in advance XDA!
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Free mobile app
Also the phone is just being used as a WiFi device, so if there are any compatible ROMs out there that don't have the phone and messaging software I'd like to take a look at those.. Maybe I should just learn how to build my own ROM..
Sent from my SCH-I605 using XDA Free mobile app