Related
Update: The ebay seller took my money, lied about sending the phone which I wanted in time for christmas as a present, then when nothing arrived on the day claimed (24th dec) i contacted them to be told they "tried" to email me to say it had a fault when packing it and will give a refund, for which I am still waiting.
Long story short, I have given up now on wanting to buy a Hero, I was cautious about the seller to start, and they have now ruined my mood over christmas.
Hey Welcome to Android...
Hero's don't need to be HardSPL'd, once you learn to 'Flashrecover/One Click Root' you can just store multiple ROM's on your SD card, wipe and flash whenever it suits you
Hopefully your Hero comes with a Stock ROM so there is no need to Goldcard bypass it!
Amon-Ra is just a recovery image for when you enter recovery mode after rooting... There are many more to choose from and you will learn all about these after rooting.
Rooting is useful for tethering, themes, storing applications to SD card and (most importantly for me being on t-mobile) getting updates before they are officially released!
The resolution is extremely clear and I'm sure you will be pleased with it
Regards
Thanks
OGC313 said:
Hey Welcome to Android...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks
Hero's don't need to be HardSPL'd, once you learn to 'Flashrecover/One Click Root' you can just store multiple ROM's on your SD card, wipe and flash whenever it suits you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds good, where do I look for a tutorial and the files to get started with this? I'd like to have a thorough read before hte phone gets here so i won't hastily do as my friend did and brick his phone by not reading the instructions first.
Hopefully your Hero comes with a Stock ROM so there is no need to Goldcard bypass it!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From what I can tell, it's a HTC generic Hero with no modifications made, so it should be stock ROM. What does this mean to me and what is Goldcard? I noticed a site where you have to go to get some code using CID? Means nothing to me really.
Amon-Ra is just a recovery image for when you enter recovery mode after rooting... There are many more to choose from and you will learn all about these after rooting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I saw a video of this or something similar, it's some what of a recovery menu with various recovery options as well as the abilility to install modifications or some sort from zip files?!.
Rooting is useful for tethering, themes, storing applications to SD card and (most importantly for me being on t-mobile) getting updates before they are officially released!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious, on a phone designed for user customizability, why has it been made so difficult for us to flash custom user modifications?
The resolution is extremely clear and I'm sure you will be pleased with it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good enough for me, not like I intend on playing videos or games on this thing.
Thanks
http://theunlockr.com/2009/08/27/how-to-root-your-htc-hero-in-one-click/
- Thats probably the easiest tutorial for Flashrec.
If your Hero is Generic it should be fine and you won't need to create a Goldcard, you can just root straight away. In short a goldcard is editing your SD card to reverse the CID (Customer Identification) code so any RUU/ROM can be installed onto the phone. This is a hardcore method to root and only needs to be done for phones on certain carriers e.g. t-mobile, some Asian carriers.
Yea the recovery menu varies depending on what recovery image you are using (the most popular being Cyanogen, Amon-RA and Modaco). All ROM's are installed as a .zip file, but using the above site will make that clearer, its all simple enough.
http://theunlockr.com/2009/08/27/how-to-load-a-custom-rom-on-your-htc-hero/
- A tutorial on how to install ROM's after rooting.
There were problems with Cyanogen's custom ROM as he was using Google apps that were only supposed to be used on 'with Google' phones. Maybe for reasons like this rooting has become so difficult?
Regards
OGC313 said:
http://theunlockr.com/2009/08/27/how-to-root-your-htc-hero-in-one-click/
- Thats probably the easiest tutorial for Flashrec.
If your Hero is Generic it should be fine and you won't need to create a Goldcard, you can just root straight away. In short a goldcard is editing your SD card to reverse the CID (Customer Identification) code so any RUU/ROM can be installed onto the phone. This is a hardcore method to root and only needs to be done for phones on certain carriers e.g. t-mobile, some Asian carriers.
Yea the recovery menu varies depending on what recovery image you are using (the most popular being Cyanogen, Amon-RA and Modaco). All ROM's are installed as a .zip file, but using the above site will make that clearer, its all simple enough.
http://theunlockr.com/2009/08/27/how-to-load-a-custom-rom-on-your-htc-hero/
- A tutorial on how to install ROM's after rooting.
There were problems with Cyanogen's custom ROM as he was using Google apps that were only supposed to be used on 'with Google' phones. Maybe for reasons like this rooting has become so difficult?
Regards
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, well hopefully it's not anything like that, I'm slightly concerned because the seller claims the phone is black, but in the picture it doesn't seem to have T-mobile written, across the top, and as far as I'm aware black is exclusive to them. I am hoping it's actually brown and hence no branding, but either way doesn't matter as long as it's unbranded.
As for recovery images, I noticed the One-click rooting uses a specific recovery menu, it's that the one I'm recommended to use or should I switch?
As for ROMs, I'm happy to stick either with stock ROM and make some personal modifications, or I have heard good things about the MoDaCo ROM, although I'm concerned with one small post there, that BT OBEX is planned for a future release, does that mean the current version doesn't have BT OBEX, so I can't send files? I rely on this feature regularly.
As for "comes with Google" I thought all Android phones were "comes with Google", I guess I was mistaken here.
To be honest the recovery image used makes no difference, its just a preference of how you'd prefer the recovery menu to look... I'm currently using the Amon-RA, running the Modaco 3.0 ROM and it does the job for me. I think the video tutorial on unlockr is showing an older recorvery image than the one it suggests you use.
The Modaco ROM currently doesn't support BT as the Hero doesn't have the components needed until the 2.1 Eclair/Flan release. You could always try and flash the 2.1 ROM which isn't fully optimised yet and see if any applications work on that?
http://htcpedia.com/forum/showthread.php?p=30418&posted=1#post30418 - 2.1 ROM
Not all Android phones are Google branded, I think its only the G1/Dream and Magic/my Touch, the ones with the Google logo on the back. This is why HTC were able to intergrate Sense UI onto their phone.
OGC313 said:
To be honest the recovery image used makes no difference, its just a preference of how you'd prefer the recovery menu to look... I'm currently using the Amon-RA, running the Modaco 3.0 ROM and it does the job for me. I think the video tutorial on unlockr is showing an older recorvery image than the one it suggests you use.
The Modaco ROM currently doesn't support BT as the Hero doesn't have the components needed until the 2.1 Eclair/Flan release. You could always try and flash the 2.1 ROM which isn't fully optimised yet and see if any applications work on that?
http://htcpedia.com/forum/showthread.php?p=30418&posted=1#post30418 - 2.1 ROM
Not all Android phones are Google branded, I think its only the G1/Dream and Magic/my Touch, the ones with the Google logo on the back. This is why HTC were able to intergrate Sense UI onto their phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, so I take it this is based on an unreleased BETA version? Kinda like the winMo6.5 we were flashing on the Xperia. I guess I will stick with the official ROM for now then.
Is there still some customising that can be done if I root my phone and keep the stock ROM? I require bluetooth regularly for sending V-Cards and files so I can't do without it for the sake of customizability.
If you decide to root, you may aswell flash the Mocado 3.0 ROM which is much faster and less laggy.
No version of the Hero currently supports bluetooth file transfer, unless it works on the 2.1 ROM. Even the stock does not support it, wasn't this mentioned in the specs. when you bought the phone? The 2.1 update which will give the Hero bluetooth support isn't scheduled for release until 1Q/H 2010. Sorry to disappoint
OGC313 said:
If you decide to root, you may aswell flash the Mocado 3.0 ROM which is much faster and less laggy.
No version of the Hero currently supports bluetooth file transfer, unless it works on the 2.1 ROM. Even the stock does not support it, wasn't this mentioned in the specs. when you bought the phone? The 2.1 update which will give the Hero bluetooth support isn't scheduled for release until 1Q/H 2010. Sorry to disappoint
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yikes, that is a major let down, something I didn't think possible from anyone but Apple. This means I'm going to have to carry a second phone which is irritating and part of my reason for switching.
In this case, I suppose there really is no reason not to switch to the MoDaCo ROM.
So, when I root, I noticed two methods, one is a pack on the pc with some batch files and recovery images. Should I use this method, or downloaded the latest Amon-Ra and use FlashRec, I noticed Amon-Ra builds of v1.5.1 which is much higher than the ones given in the tutorials.
Yea but at least support is on its way where as Apple aren't even considering it.
For the easiest method the files you'll need to download are:
Flashrec
Amon-RA Recovery image
Modaco 3.0 ROM
Latest Radio (ends in .26)
Basically put all these files into the root of your SD card, and install Flashrec using a file manager found in the market (I find Astro the best).
Open up Flashrec once its installed and click Back-up recovery image, it will then say 'Working do not interupt'.
Once that is done, type the name of the recovery image in the empty box ( I think Amon-RA's is something like /sdcard/Recovery-RA-HERO-v1.2.3.img) and then click Flash new recovery image.
Turn off your phone and reboot into recovery mode by hold down the HOME and POWER buttons, which will then bring up the recovery menu which you have seen before.
Scroll down to nandroid back-up and click that so if anyone goes wrong you can restore everything. Once done click Wipe Date/ Factory Reset and wate for that to finish.
Then scroll up to install .zip file (Not install update.zip) and click the Radio file. This should be relatively quick.
Once that is finished click on install .zip file again and click the Modaco ROM, which should take a far bit longer to install. Scroll to the top of the menu and reboot system.
If it seems to take a while to reboot do not worry!
OGC313 said:
Yea but at least support is on its way where as Apple aren't even considering it.
For the easiest method the files you'll need to download are:
Flashrec
Amon-RA Recovery image
Modaco 3.0 ROM
Latest Radio (ends in .26)
Basically put all these files into the root of your SD card, and install Flashrec using a file manager found in the market (I find Astro the best).
Open up Flashrec once its installed and click Back-up recovery image, it will then say 'Working do not interupt'.
Once that is done, type the name of the recovery image in the empty box ( I think Amon-RA's is something like /sdcard/Recovery-RA-HERO-v1.2.3.img) and then click Flash new recovery image.
Turn off your phone and reboot into recovery mode by hold down the HOME and POWER buttons, which will then bring up the recovery menu which you have seen before.
Scroll down to nandroid back-up and click that so if anyone goes wrong you can restore everything. Once done click Wipe Date/ Factory Reset and wate for that to finish.
Then scroll up to install .zip file (Not install update.zip) and click the Radio file. This should be relatively quick.
Once that is finished click on install .zip file again and click the Modaco ROM, which should take a far bit longer to install. Scroll to the top of the menu and reboot system.
If it seems to take a while to reboot do not worry!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds simple enough, just one questions, I found this version of Amon-Ra's Recovery v1.5.2, should I use this instead since it's later?
alias_neo said:
Sounds simple enough, just one questions, I found this version of Amon-Ra's Recovery v1.5.2, should I use this instead since it's later?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, always use the newest version from the official thread here.
kendong2 said:
yes, always use the newest version from the official thread here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, got that downloaded now, so I'm good to go. Now just to sit patiently twiddling my thumbs until my Hero arrives.
Anything I can do in the meantime? Hero related I mean.
One question, as an Engineer myself, I'm curious why HTC has has made this device not only with so little ROM, but also not able to install apps to the SD card by standard(assumption based on the A2SD hack I am assuming enables something that couldn't be done before), is it not a given that we might want to install over the ROMs capacity worth of apps?
I'm just feeling a little disappointed at the moment considering all that Android was supposed to be, I followed it's progress intently as an Engineer and a curious gadgeteer, it seems things are being made a little more difficult than they should be (perhaps by HTC?) in order for us to have the customisability we desire for our OS, which, given the ability we should, technically be able to re-write from the ground up.
Someone tell me I'm wrong, and the worst I'll have to deal with for hte time being is having no BT OBEX. (I have come from an N95->iPhone->Xperia, and a rocky road it was.)
Thanks, for all the help so far guys, it is appreciated.
alias_neo said:
Thanks, got that downloaded now, so I'm good to go. Now just to sit patiently twiddling my thumbs until my Hero arrives.
Anything I can do in the meantime? Hero related I mean.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
read these forums but i guess you know/did that already.
alias_neo said:
One question, as an Engineer myself, I'm curious why HTC has has made this device not only with so little ROM, but also not able to install apps to the SD card by standard(assumption based on the A2SD hack I am assuming enables something that couldn't be done before), is it not a given that we might want to install over the ROMs capacity worth of apps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, for example it will most probably give you errors and problems when you eject the sdcard while the phone is powered up... what i would complain about is why the hell does such a phone only have 512mb of flash of flash memory? flash memory is as cheap as sand, just put some 8gb in there and nobody would have a problem. make it 10$ cheaper, who cares when you can write "8GB!" on the box?
alias_neo said:
I'm just feeling a little disappointed at the moment considering all that Android was supposed to be, I followed it's progress intently as an Engineer and a curious gadgeteer, it seems things are being made a little more difficult than they should be (perhaps by HTC?) in order for us to have the customisability we desire for our OS, which, given the ability we should, technically be able to re-write from the ground up.
Someone tell me I'm wrong, and the worst I'll have to deal with for hte time being is having no BT OBEX. (I have come from an N95->iPhone->Xperia, and a rocky road it was.)
Thanks, for all the help so far guys, it is appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well in fact it seems to be harder to customize the hero, but that is mainly due to its htc sense ui. if you want the fullblown modding phone you should get a g1, at least that is how i see it. just have a look at the g1 threads, they're flooded with roms and themes. tbh i don't miss it, i like when i have the feeling that i know all my options. then i take the best (in this case mcr), mod it to my needs and then use it. imho the hero is a way cooler device than the g1, i find it ugly and bulky. thought this about the hero too, until the day i had my coworker's in my hands, at that point it was only a matter of time until i could extend my contract and get the hero
Well
Well, my getting a Hero is a funny story, I had my Xperia which I was happy with along with the custom ROMs running TouchFlo until one day I was in the Phones4U shop talking to them and they mentioned that the Satio had been recalled.
So, being the good friend I am, I went to my friend who wasn't at all happy with the Satio and told him he could swap it for something else because it's recalled.
My friend of course asks what I would recommend, and having been a WinMo user, I knew he wasn't the type to want to customize a device in that way, I mentioned HTC and android, so he had a look, we weighed up each one briefly and I basically said go for the Hero, I'v heard a lot of good things about it.
So, lo and behold, the next day he turns up with a Hero, which I then get to hold for the first time and am amazed.
Being the gadgeteer I am, it just would not do for a friend not even interested in gadgets to have the phone I now want!
So, I got myself one, and am now waiting impatiently for the ebay seller to deliver it.
Personally, I would never have considered the G1, it was ugly, and the specs were horrible, and the keyboard slide method wasn't nice at all.
When I first saw it, I was thinking, smaller, soft keyboard, slightly better camera and what not, and i'll buy it, and here we have it, the Hero.
As for customization, I'm not hugely bothered, as long as I can theme the thing myself.
The main thing that is non-stock I'm interested in are tethering by USB or Wifi to my 3G connection, other than that and theming, I can't think of anything off the top of my head I would need to do, only a phone that doesn't do everything it should, needs customizing so much as my Xperia did.
you will be happy with the hero
even theming is doable, though not in a few clicks. i tried, had a proof-of-concept and then it got too complicated for my unpatient being...
kendong2 said:
you will be happy with the hero
even theming is doable, though not in a few clicks. i tried, had a proof-of-concept and then it got too complicated for my unpatient being...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I used to theme for the iPhone, which included SSHing to the phone, downloading .artwork files, unpacking, converting the PNGs, editing, repacking and uploading again followed by a reset.
Assuming it's not too much more difficult than that, I should have no problem theming, on the plus side, I'm a perfectionist and a minimalist, so in terms of the graphics, the editing in Photoshop shouldn't be too great, and my skills are adequate anyway.
I'm very anti-clutter and anti-glass and anything of the like as can be seen from one of my old iphone themes here.
My main focus usually is on retaining functionality while being able to clearly see the wallpapers unhindered.
Although in the iPhone case, my removal of the slide to unlock bar at the bottom was for pure novelty and was done to purposely hinder unlocking the device.
alias_neo said:
Well, I used to theme for the iPhone, which included SSHing to the phone, downloading .artwork files, unpacking, converting the PNGs, editing, repacking and uploading again followed by a reset.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
add a little signing and you have the process for the hero though i prefer using adb and the usb cable. never actually hacked an iphone (my friends who own one are all wusses ), but i would think it is even easier on the hero.
kendong2 said:
add a little signing and you have the process for the hero though i prefer using adb and the usb cable. never actually hacked an iphone (my friends who own one are all wusses ), but i would think it is even easier on the hero.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, from what I can find through searching, I assume ADB to be the Android Debug Bridge?
Something to do with the development mode connection of the phone, does this not connect the SD card to USB though rather than the Internal?
And how difficult is the signing process for the files, I have no problems with command prompts as a programmer.
Whats up all? I used to be a old school windows mobile flasher back in the tilt/fuze/tilt2 days. I was flashing 1-3 Roms a week
Ive had the iPhone 3gs, Nexus One, iPhone 4, HD7 and now im back to android on the Atrix.
Just asking a few questions hopefully you all can clear it up.
1. When i root the device does it delete all my already install apps/contacts etc or will everything stay the same?
2. Is it worth rooting? I really havent had any trouble with battery life or the phone as it is, plus i plan on updating to 2.3 when *if ever* they release the update. And from my understanding you have to flash back to stock to do that.
3. What benefits can you gain from rooting the atrix compared to just stock?
Thanks all!
Honestly there's not a huge advantage to rooting right this minute, but that will likely change.
Most people root in order to allow them to install third party *gasp* 'non AT&T approved apps, but you can actually do that without rooting suposedly, though I've never tried it.
You don't need root to be able to set up a wifi tether either, there's already a procedure posted for that.
The main reason to root is the ability to customize, and really its all about installing custom ROMs. With this phone having a signed bootloader there's no guarantee that this will ever be possible on this phone, although I'd put my money on someone figuring it out.
Unless you have a specific reason or need to root you can probably wait it out until custom ROMs are around and then do it.
Also, you need root access to install Titanium Backup, which is a very handy app.
Thanks for the reply!
So as for rooting will that delete all my current data? I know back when i flashed ROMS for WM it would pretty much delete everything. But jailbreaking on the iPhone was fairily easy as it didnt touch any of my apps/pics/messages
anyone?
7boo said:
Thanks for the reply!
So as for rooting will that delete all my current data? I know back when i flashed ROMS for WM it would pretty much delete everything. But jailbreaking on the iPhone was fairily easy as it didnt touch any of my apps/pics/messages
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting shouldn't change anything. It should only change a few things in /system, but that won't affect your data. When installing a new ROM, it's generally recommend that you go through a full deletion, but rooting your phone won't alter your data.
To put it in perspective, you already had root in WM, so there's no real equivalent to that there. When flashing, WM didn't differentiate between OS and user partitions, so you would always lose everything. Android does differentiate, but differences can frequently cause problems, so it's generally recommended that you wipe after installing a different ROM (re-flashing the same ROM should always be okay).
thanks man thats what i was looking for
Hey guys
I´m new here at xda-developers and I have a lot of questions about the atrix and android.
I just bought the atrix and this is my first android smartphone. I´ve SIM unlocked it and rooted it using SuperOneClick.
I´ve read the Q & A thread and it was quite enlightening.
But I still have many questions regarding both the atrix and android:
1. A few days ago, my atrix downloaded the new Motorola atrix updates. If I install this update, will I lose my root permission? Is this update the so called OTA? The update number is 4.1.57.
2. Could you guys give me some tips about how to save more battery life etc?
3. Some apps keep popping even after I killed them with the task killer. Some of them are useless for me. Is there any way to block them? And what about Motorola bloatware? I hate that blur stuff…
4. What does these abbreviations mean? OTA, SBF, ATT, CWM.
5. I want to install gingerBlur on my device, but on those tutorials there is always a mentioning about a OTA 1.8.7 that I gotta backup. Where do I find it?
6. If I install gingerBlur, this custom ROM will consume more or less memory from my device? Sometimes I feel some "lag" on some apps...
7. Could u tell me some must have games for atrix? I already have angry birds, battleheart, 3ktd… I really like tower defense games.
Thank you very much and sorry for so many questions. Oh…and sorry about my English.
Thanks again
1. Yes..you will lose root if you upgrade. You can still however attain root afterwards using some of the methods found in the Development forum. I'm surprised SuperOneClick worked for you tbh..
As for your other questions..OTA means Over The Air (regarding updates etc)..SBF is a term regarding system files (something lime that ) ATT means At&t (the carrier)..CWM is Clockwork Mod which is a recovery tool.
Gingerblur would consume less memory..as it has removed alot of the factory bloat that would've come with the device. This would probably most definately help with any "lag" you might be experiencing.
There are many threads on how to conserve battery life. A simple search will yield you lots of results (google ftw)
For games..most of it is personal preference. There is a new Pinball HD specifically designed for the Tegra 2 chip..as well as a new jetski game that looks pretty sick. Pocketlegends is also a cool game if you like MMO style games (think World of Warcraft).
Rickroller said:
1. Yes..you will lose root if you upgrade. You can still however attain root afterwards using some of the methods found in the Development forum. I'm surprised SuperOneClick worked for you tbh..
As for your other questions..OTA means Over The Air (regarding updates etc)..SBF is a term regarding system files (something lime that ) ATT means At&t (the carrier)..CWM is Clockwork Mod which is a recovery tool.
Gingerblur would consume less memory..as it has removed alot of the factory bloat that would've come with the device. This would probably most definately help with any "lag" you might be experiencing.
There are many threads on how to conserve battery life. A simple search will yield you lots of results (google ftw)
For games..most of it is personal preference. There is a new Pinball HD specifically designed for the Tegra 2 chip..as well as a new jetski game that looks pretty sick. Pocketlegends is also a cool game if you like MMO style games (think World of Warcraft).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much Rick
About the battery life I already did some google search before, but always the same thing. I thought that I could find anything different here
I rooted my device with SuperOneClick it worked pretty well. Is it an old tool to root the atrix? Is there a new one? In the superOneClick, it can use psneuter and Gingerbreak....well...it worked for me
So OTA is those updates that keep popping for me I want to install gingerBlur, so i gotta update to 1.5.7 and then 1.8.(something) or I can install it right away?
If I want to reset my settings to default factory, will I need that OTA??
ty
Rubb said:
Hey guys
I´m new here at xda-developers and I have a lot of questions about the atrix and android.
I just bought the atrix and this is my first android smartphone. I´ve SIM unlocked it and rooted it using SuperOneClick.
I´ve read the Q & A thread and it was quite enlightening.
But I still have many questions regarding both the atrix and android:
1. A few days ago, my atrix downloaded the new Motorola atrix updates. If I install this update, will I lose my root permission? Is this update the so called OTA? The update number is 4.1.57.
2. Could you guys give me some tips about how to save more battery life etc?
3. Some apps keep popping even after I killed them with the task killer. Some of them are useless for me. Is there any way to block them? And what about Motorola bloatware? I hate that blur stuff…
4. What does these abbreviations mean? OTA, SBF, ATT, CWM.
5. I want to install gingerBlur on my device, but on those tutorials there is always a mentioning about a OTA 1.8.7 that I gotta backup. Where do I find it?
6. If I install gingerBlur, this custom ROM will consume more or less memory from my device? Sometimes I feel some "lag" on some apps...
7. Could u tell me some must have games for atrix? I already have angry birds, battleheart, 3ktd… I really like tower defense games.
Thank you very much and sorry for so many questions. Oh…and sorry about my English.
Thanks again
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Thats one of the OTA updates, but not the most recent. You will loose your root with any OTA update, but so far you can always get it back using Gingerbreak.
2)Turn off bluetooth, wifi, data, gps, etc. if your not using them. I have everything but wifi turned off at all times unless I"m using one of them and I have between 40-60% at the end of the day. Also, either have your brightness turned down or use auto brightness. Manually setting it high will drain the battery faster when the screen is on.
3)Dont use task killers. Android does not work like Windows, and those applications are not slowing anything down or eating your battery. By killing them your interfering with Android's internal memory management. Unfortunately the motoblur stuff cant be fully disabled, but parts of it can be hidden with the existing psudoroms like Gingerblur.
4)OTA, SBF, ATT, CWM. - OTA is Over The Air (update). Any official motorola update that gets pushed is an OTA. SBF - not sure what it stands for, but its the file format for Motorola's updates. Usually you can download one on a computer and flash it over USB if you arent getting it over the air, and they can be used as a last resort if you brick your phone. ATT - AT&T, the carrier for the Atrix in the United States. Some roms and tweeks are only compatible with AT&T model phones. CWM - ClockworkMod, software that allows for the installation of roms. CWM is device specific, so only use an Atrix CWM on the Atrix.
5) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1063618
6) Either the same or slightly less. So far roms are little more than themes because of the locked bootloader. I say slightly less because some, like Gingerblur, remove SOME of the bloatware.
7) As I dont really play games much, I'm unable to answer this. Sorry.
Hope that helps
Jotokun said:
1) Thats one of the OTA updates, but not the most recent. You will loose your root with any OTA update, but so far you can always get it back using Gingerbreak.
2)Turn off bluetooth, wifi, data, gps, etc. if your not using them. I have everything but wifi turned off at all times unless I"m using one of them and I have between 40-60% at the end of the day. Also, either have your brightness turned down or use auto brightness. Manually setting it high will drain the battery faster when the screen is on.
3)Dont use task killers. Android does not work like Windows, and those applications are not slowing anything down or eating your battery. By killing them your interfering with Android's internal memory management. Unfortunately the motoblur stuff cant be fully disabled, but parts of it can be hidden with the existing psudoroms like Gingerblur.
4)OTA, SBF, ATT, CWM. - OTA is Over The Air (update). Any official motorola update that gets pushed is an OTA. SBF - not sure what it stands for, but its the file format for Motorola's updates. Usually you can download one on a computer and flash it over USB if you arent getting it over the air, and they can be used as a last resort if you brick your phone. ATT - AT&T, the carrier for the Atrix in the United States. Some roms and tweeks are only compatible with AT&T model phones. CWM - ClockworkMod, software that allows for the installation of roms. CWM is device specific, so only use an Atrix CWM on the Atrix.
5) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1063618
6) Either the same or slightly less. So far roms are little more than themes because of the locked bootloader. I say slightly less because some, like Gingerblur, remove SOME of the bloatware.
7) As I dont really play games much, I'm unable to answer this. Sorry.
Hope that helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yay! thank you very much
I´m not lost anymore Now I´m confident enough to try installing gingerblur
ty ^^
Another thing...
what should I do if something goes wrong when I install gingerBlur? I´ve read that I gotta flash sbf 1.8.3. Does it mean that I gotta install the update 1.8.3 to make the atrix stock default?
How do I do that?
I'm not trying to sound ignorant, but if all of this it's so confusing I would highly recommend not messing with it unless you're confident you can fix things if they go wrong. Which at this state you are not.
With that said... An SBF is not an update file as mentioned, it is a full system restore image. Not sure what it stands for... Maybe System Backup File???
If something goes wrong you can use an sbf to restore the phone to the factory default of the sbf version number.
Before installing gingerblur you want to be sure you are on the latest version of atrix software, then run gingerbreak to root. Then install CWM to get custom recovery and flash gingerblur from your sd card in CWM. all of this is explained in the development section.
lostinbeta said:
I'm not trying to sound ignorant, but if all of this it's so confusing I would highly recommend not messing with it unless you're confident you can fix things if they go wrong. Which at this state you are not.
With that said... An SBF is not an update file as mentioned, it is a full system restore image. Not sure what it stands for... Maybe System Backup File???
If something goes wrong you can use an sbf to restore the phone to the factory default of the sbf version number.
Before installing gingerblur you want to be sure you are on the latest version of atrix software, then run gingerbreak to root. Then install CWM to get custom recovery and flash gingerblur from your sd card in CWM. all of this is explained in the development section.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey lostinbeta, u didn´t sound ignorant at all
I didn´t install the gingerblur yet as I´m trying to learn what I should do in case something goes wrong
That's where you would check the thread in the dev section about flashing an sbf file to restore back to factory default. You will have to make sure an sbf is available for your phone though. So like I'm with at&t so I can only flash the sbf for the at&t atrix otherwise I will lose functionality of my phone. Or possibly brick it, im not sure
lostinbeta said:
That's where you would check the thread in the dev section about flashing an sbf file to restore back to factory default. You will have to make sure an sbf is available for your phone though. So like I'm with at&t so I can only flash the sbf for the at&t atrix otherwise I will lose functionality of my phone. Or possibly brick it, im not sure
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My atrix is from AT&T so I guess the sbf commonly available is from AT&T. I will make sure that the sbf I will use is definitely the one from AT&T.
I will check the thread about restoring the atrix to factory default
Thanks a lot
EDIT: not ROM related...can I use mp3 sounds as SMS alert sound and can I use different mp3 sound for my contacts?
I´m looking for it as I write this but no success
ty
Reading through this thread, if you can't follow all the instructions fed to you on a silver spoon, and can't/won't/don't read all the appropriate information in the many threads which tell you how to do everything you are trying/want to do, then you either need to keep your phone stock, or go trade it for an iPhone!
Not trying to be a ****, but next you will want someone to change your daiper/nappy!
Mp3s as SMS tones I'm not sure. I think you can with an SMS replacement app like chomp. I've really never tried as I've had no need to since my phone is on silent 95% of the day because of work.
Individual mp3s for contacts you just have to edit your contact and choose ' more details' and it's towards the bottom. You can use ringdroid to make custom cuts or just put the file in the ringtones folder under 'sdcard' not 'sdcard-ext'.
CaelanT said:
Reading through this thread, if you can't follow all the instructions fed to you on a silver spoon, and can't/won't/don't read all the appropriate information in the many threads which tell you how to do everything you are trying/want to do, then you either need to keep your phone stock, or go trade it for an iPhone!
Not trying to be a ****, but next you will want someone to change your daiper/nappy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rofl... Sorry this is amusing and true.
I don't mind helping, I'm not really much help anywhere else on this forum as I still just have basic knowledge about this stuff.
I will pay someone to do it for me. Thanks.
Get a boy toy to do it for you
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App
NATTIE212 said:
I will pay someone to do it for me. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you simply read a few instructions around here, you could do it in about ten minutes (including time reading) or less by yourself. It's so simple when you know what to do.
andrew.cambridge said:
Get a boy toy to do it for you
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Funny! Made my morning.
Great idea to get a boy toy to do it for me, but I am married and he has no clue what to do on a computer
I actually do NOT know very much about what I am wanting to do, either but I have spent probably close to 100+ hours reading forums from various sites in the last few months trying to figure this out myself. I'm one of those that if I want something done I like to try to do it myself first! I have had a lot of fun trying to root, but now I am just getting very frustrated. Mainly I am getting aggravated that every time I try to download ANYTHING it almost always is a bad site or has viruses. Grrr.
For starters, which version of Android do you have installed? Go to Menu > Settings > About phone > Android version. (Is this an AT&T phone?)
Second, do you want to only root the phone but keep your current ROM and settings? Or are you wanting to install a custom ROM?
I am running version 2.1 with At&t and I am interested in using a new ROM, although, I will admit that I don't know anything about this or how to do it or which ROM I would even use.
NATTIE212 said:
I am running version 2.1 with At&t and I am interested in using a new ROM, although, I will admit that I don't know anything about this or how to do it or which ROM I would even use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.unrevoked.com/#aria is a one-click root solution for Arias running 2.1. It will also install Clockwork Recovery, which is used to flash new ROMs. Seriously, it couldn't be easier.
Others might suggest you upgrade to 2.2, then use http://revolutionary.io/ to S-OFF the phone & install Clockwork. It's also a one-click solution, pretty easy to do but you do need to upgrade to the official 2.2 before you do it.
Either way you pick, it's really super easy, and you'll be amazed at just how much your Aria can do when it's set free. Mine just seems to get faster and more responsive with every update.
STaria said:
Others might suggest you upgrade to 2.2, then use http://revolutionary.io/ to S-OFF the phone & install Clockwork.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just did that yesterday (I didn't have any choice as my phone came with android 2.2.2 and hboot 1.02 with S-ON) and evrythign went smothly, BUT clockwork that came with it did not work for me (I wanted to do a fullback before going further). I did follow the instructions on http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1159237 CWM 2.5 and install su and that worked great.
I would recommend getting 2.2 over 2.1 since I beleive it gives you the option to move apps to SD card among other cool things (important since Aria has such limited ROM. After root, I used Titanium backup to remove all the ATT bloatware I wasn't using and went form ~6mb of free space, to 45mb, and stoped bunch of process that I didn't use from running.
Not sure what custom ROM I would want at this point... My wife HTC Incredible has option to install out any apps outside of market, and wish mine had this (evern though it is rooted, I don't see that settings)
alain_HTC said:
My wife HTC Incredible has option to install out any apps outside of market, and wish mine had this (evern though it is rooted, I don't see that settings)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you're otherwise happy with the AT&T 2.2.2 ROM, you might want to try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=970272. It's just a modified version of the AT&T 2.2.2 ROM. A few notable features are
it allows you to install apps outside of the market
AT&T bloatware has been removed
the annoying "AT&T" text that shows up on top of the notification bar when you press Home or unlock the phone has been removed
already has root (su)
Besides that, it's basically the stock experience.
This was how I rooted mine.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1159237
I would suggest updating to 2.2 then running root.
This link (above) also has ClockWorkRecoveryMod, Which allows for easy
ROM changes. You can also backup and restore to previous ROMs if you do not
like the one you are using.
NATTIE212 said:
I will pay someone to do it for me. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll do it for ya.
Sent from my HTC Aria using XDA Premium App
45Mb is still less... By using the Dark Tremer App2SD (if ur SD card class 4 or above) you should be have at least 120MB...
alain_HTC said:
After root, I used Titanium backup to remove all the ATT bloatware I wasn't using and went form ~6mb of free space, to 45mb, and stoped bunch of process that I didn't use from running.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
drumist said:
If you're otherwise happy with the AT&T 2.2.2 ROM, you might want to try this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=970272.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, drumist! I will give it a try (now that I have CW recovery backup to default and to my modified one without ATT bloatware).
WithAria said:
45Mb is still less... By using the Dark Tremer App2SD (if ur SD card class 4 or above) you should be have at least 120MB...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I recently read about app2sd, so I may give it a try if I run out. Originally 6mb left, I though I better clean up bloat to install stuff I actually want..
search and download SuperOneClick 1.8, this is the only way it worked for my aria
NATTIE212 said:
I actually do NOT know very much about what I am wanting to do, either but I have spent probably close to 100+ hours reading forums from various sites in the last few months trying to figure this out myself. I'm one of those that if I want something done I like to try to do it myself first! I have had a lot of fun trying to root, but now I am just getting very frustrated. Mainly I am getting aggravated that every time I try to download ANYTHING it almost always is a bad site or has viruses. Grrr.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They are correct - I updated to 2.2.2 then used revolutionary, added clockworkmod, and updated to the 2.2 liberated rom without having a clue about what I was doing.
Now I have more ram, overclocked processor, rooted phone, wifi tether - without any trouble. Thanks to all at XDA.
NATTIE212 said:
I will pay someone to do it for me. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would certainly root your phone in exchange for payment. You pay all shipping charges to send the phone to me, plus $40 for the actual root process. I'll even pay for return shipping.
NATTIE212 said:
I will pay someone to do it for me. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you get it rooted yet? There's no need to pay for that with all the people on here that can help.
Sent from my Liberty using Tapatalk
Aria S-OFF Succeeds, but CMR fails with UnRevoked and Revolutionary
No root. No recovery. No love.
I have a GSM Aria which I bought in Taiwan. I was getting ready to buy the XTC Clip to S-OFF my Aria with HBOOT 1.02, but I did another search and found Revolutionary. Yay! Thanks to the community for that.
Revolutionary throws no errors, but exits immediately after
Do you want to download (Internet connection required) and flash ClockworkMod Recovery? [Y/n] y
It appears nothing was downloaded. Rebooting the phone into HBOOT shows "Revolutionary!" implying that it worked, but choosing "recovery" leaves me with the normal HTC recovery -- no backup options or anything.
Userspace attempts to install ClockworkMod fail because I don't have root. Universal Androot fails to install root even though I have S-OFF.
I'm a little stuck and any advice would be helpful. This is going to be my first CM7 installation, and I'm not willing to do it without a backup.
Thanks in advance.
Daeng
p.s. all work done from an Ubuntu 11.04 machine, but I have access to Win7 if needed.
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what things are or how they work together so I'm gonna try and build a post to explain some things. If i get any of this wrong, feel free to call me out and I'll correct it. I can generally be relied upon to make mistakes.
First let's start with the various things that you're gonna be hearing about or messing with on your phone.
Hboot or bootloader
This is pretty much the lowest level thing you're gonna mess with. This is what makes the phone boot up, and where you can flash all sorts of things like new hboots, kernels, and whole roms depending on how they are packaged. You can get here by either powering off your phone then powering on with volume down + power, or by selecting "reboot to bootloader" in most custom roms. If you've entered your hboot from a powered off state, you'll start in hboot, also known as the bootloader. The bootloader is where you will load ph98img.zip files, factory reset, boot to recovery, or enter fastboot. Fastboot is the section of the bootloader that will allow you to run fastboot commands from your PC/mac/whatever to load things like boot images, recovery images, return your phone to an s-on state, etc. It's a very powerful interface. From here you have menu options which will allow you to reboot, power off, or return to the bootloader.
If you've entered hboot from the adb reboot bootloader command or your custom rom, you will start in fastboot, and can enter the bootloader from here.
When entering the bootloader using either method, the first thing the phone will do is look for a PH98IMG.zip file. If it finds one, it will want to install it. You'll have the option of installing it, or rebooting. That's it. This is why you want to get rid of the ph98img.zip files from the root of your sd card once you've used them - if you pooch your rom, you're not getting into recovery or fastboot until you remove that file. If you can't boot your phone, you better hope you have another SD card or a micro sd card reader kicking around somewhere. You can boot into fastboot by powering off the phone, then powering it on by holding power and volume down keys at the same time.
A word of warning - this is one of the few places you can actually "brick" your phone. Don't mess around with installing hboots unless you are absolutely certain that you a) have a need and b) have an md5 checksum of the file and have verified that checksum on your own gear. Generally speaking, the only time you need to flash the hboot is when you are upgrading in some way, for example when going from GB to ICS.
Quick note - when people refer to the "SD card patch" they are referring to a patch that allows you to use the GB firmware with ICS roms. This is largely unneeded at this time, since the main purpose was for folks who wanted to run ICS roms without upgrading their hboot - there's no going backward with hboot unless you have s-off.
Radio files
this is how your phone works with the radio. you can brick your phone here, too, so always check md5 before installing, and ask yourself if you really need to be installing it. new radio versions are generally given the credit for things like increased signal strength, faster 3g/4g, better power consumption, etc. these are often paired with a kernel, as well.
Recovery
This is a software layer that you can flash to your phone that allows you to boot the phone into a utility state where you can install roms, flash things like patches or modifications, backup your rom/kernel, etc. When people refer to a nandroid backup, they are referring to a backup made here. It's a snapshot of your phone that lets you mess with things and restore back to that point in time should you screw something up. You pretty much can't brick your phone at this level - it's all just files and filesystems. You can also mount your SD card to reader mode for connection to a computer, do a factory reset of data, and a few other fun things like root your rom here. You should only root your rom if it is a stock rom that has not been rooted yet. Rooting a rooted rom will usually unroot your root so you don't have root.
There are a couple of different recoveries. The rezound community seems to use primarily amon-ra, which is what i use, but there is also clockwork recovery as well. Recovery is usually installed by booting your phone into fastboot and running the "fastboot flash recovery <recovery file>" command. Recovery can also be installed via the flash_image binary found in the RomManager package (ex: flash_image recovery amonra.img). This eliminates the need for fastboot altogether. Just need a terminal, root, and the flash_image binary.
Kernel
This is basically the primary component of an OS. The kernel is where a lot of the functionality of the phone are made or broken. the setting that prevents use of setcpu to change the way the CPU is governed is here. The thing that prevents bluetooth from working right on sense 4 roms? Kernel. Everyone is waiting eagerly for the ICS kernel source to be released so custom kernels can be made that resolve these issues and more. You can flash a kernel via recovery if you've done s-off to your phone, or via a ph98img.zip file in the bootloader. With s-off, kernels can also be backed up in recovery. The kernel is often given much of the credit or blame for the performance of your phone, overheating, etc.
Roms
Your phone's OS, sometimes incorrectly referred to as firmware. It's not - the firmware is the stuff we've already covered that can brick your phone. Think of your phone more as a tiny computer, with the rom being the distribution that you're using. This is pretty apt since it's basically linux, and just like linux, the actual OS is just files and partitions. Because the radio interface layer requires sense, the bulk of our roms are all based on sense roms, and all the functional ones are. Developers modify them to add features, remove bloat or sense components, or take sense roms from other phones and adapt them for our own. You install a rom through recovery.
Never claim to have "bricked" your phone when installing a rom. You can't, and doing so only points out that you don't really know how your phone works. This is embarrassing and best avoided when possible so jerks like me do not tell you what a n00b you are, and to go read threads like this one. Since you're here, we can assume that you've bothered to research things before asking stupid questions, so bravo! In all seriousness, you can no more brick your phone by messing up the rom than you'd brick your PC by screwing up your windows install. You can always start again from the beginning and reinstall. You might lose apps and settings, but this is the nature of the beast. Always nandroid before messing about, and you'll be fine. Nandroid is covered further later on.
RUUs
Strictly speaking, the things that we refer to as RUUs aren't. Everyone calls them that anyway, and I don't see it going away anytime soon. Technically, however, an RUU is HTC's Rom Updater Utility, and it's an executable that gets run on your PC, not something you load to SD card and flash in your bootloader. That said, RUU has come to mean factory signed software/firmware packages that are released by the manufacturer or leaked. They come in the form of a ph98img.zip file that can install pretty much anything - hboot, radio, kernel, rom, etc. What is installed varies from package to package.
Installing an ruu can only be accomplished on a phone that is currently not in an htc dev unlocked state, or a phone that has s-off. when installing one of these that includes an hboot, you'll need to reinstall recovery as well - installing a new hboot via RUU will always require this as the custom recovery is overwritten with the stock recovery.
If your phone has not yet had the s-off procedure done and you intend to do so, make sure the RUU you are about to install does not break the s-off exploit. Doing so will lock you into that RUU until the dev updates the exploit to work with the new hboot (if included in the RUU) or another RUU is released.
HTCdev
This is the method HTC gives us to unlock our phones. it allows us to install recoveries and roms, but not a lot else. you cannot downgrade your hboot or radio files with this, for example. you can install kernels via ph98img.zip file, but not through recovery. basically, it's HTC's way of letting us mess with our phones but without (hopefully) giving us enough control to brick them. this is considered better than nothing, but much less than ideal since you still don't have total control over what your phone does and how. doing this does essentially void your warranty, though to date there have been no confirmed reports of this affecting a return via either warranty or insurance.
With your phone in a stock state, you can apply only factory signed RUUs. Roms and kernels are closed to you, and you can move only forward with your radio and hboot, never backward.
With your phone in an HTCdev unlocked state, you can apply unsigned RUUs that contain a boot, system, and recovery image - all components must be present.
To get your phone into this state, visit HTCdev.com.
S-Off
This sets your security flag on the phone to off.Stock, your phone comes with this flag set to on. Our s-off method does it at the radio layer, and at this time is thought to be irreversible by update. It isn't, though - it's just unlikely because there are legitimate s-off phones out there. Still, it's always a good idea to wait to see if that shiny new RUU is gonna make your phone boring again before you install it. To be safe, wait for an RUU that has the hboot removed and just applies kernel, radio, and system files. You can turn it back on with fastboot should you wish, however. Htcdev unlocking, a bit of wire or a paperclip, and a decent set of timing is required for this. In my opinion it is best to do this once you are sure your phone does not have problems that require a warranty return, but it should be done before upgrading to new, untested OTAs/RUUs. There's always the chance that HTC will block the exploit that gives us this, at which point you're stuck until the devs figure out another way or someone comes up with some crazy method like the evo 3d guys. Many are nervous about this process, and for good reason. While the devs have done everything they can to make this bulletproof, it is best to enter into this mod with as much knowledge as possible, just like any other mod. It's also best to be relaxed, have an internet connection other than your phone, and not have anywhere you have to be right away in case things go like you don't expect. Should things go wrong, don't freak out. Ask questions. Many "bricked" phones have been restored with simple application of knowledge.
Things s-off does: Allows you to flash kernels from recovery, allows you to flash any hboot and radio you want. Lets you install any "ruu" you want with any combination of boot image, system, and recovery, rather than the entire package. Makes rom installation easier on devs due to kernel installation in recovery.
Many have scoffed at s-off, claiming it does nothing that unlocking doesn't do already. This isn't really the case, as we've all seen how important the ability to downgrade firmware and radios can be. Personally, I think of a phone with s-on in much the same way I think of eating steak through a trash bag. If you have the option not to, what the hell are you doing?
Things s-off does not do: magically turn your phone into an open platform to which devs will instantly flock to give you the aosp roms you believe yourself entitled to. What will do that? Glad you asked.
RIL - radio interface layer
Basically, the RIL is a driver for the radio - it lets the radio interface with the software running on the phone. This is a new problem that effects 4g phones. It sucks. Basically, your manufacturers (also verizon, but you can assume they don't want you to do anything other than pay them.) don't want you touching their precious radio chipset with your grubby little paws. We don't have source code, and they're not talking. Of course we already have software on our phone that has the RIL stuff we need, right? Yes... sort of. For any sense roms we want to use. This is why we don't have aosp. For aosp, one of three things needs to happen:
1) Manufacturers grow a soul and give us source in the form of a leak or they go mad and just release it. This is pretty much as likely as Verizon deciding that they are doing away with early termination fees.
2) Someone reverse engineers our RIL and makes their own RIL software. This is as likely as my wife developing new roms for her Incredible 2. The one she blames for her school's ****ty email server and wants to trade in for an iphone.
3) Someone develops an interim layer that translates aosp to sense and back again. This was done on the thunderbolt, but it was wonky. Certain individuals are confident that this will be easier done on ICS and are working on it. Some AOSP action would be pretty damn awesome, but don't expect it, demand it, or hold your breath for it. It's hard, and is going to require a very intense combination of skill, knowledge, and tenacity.
Now i know what you're thinking - the Nexus is a CDMA 4g phone and they can do whatever the hell they want. Do they have an open RIL? The answer is no. They have an aosp (Android Open Source Project) RIL though, which amounts to basically the same thing. If it is any consolation they can't have sense roms as a result. Those poor bastards, right? This is why many are torn between the Nexus and the Rezound. The Nexus is open and a dev's paradise - CM9, AOKP, MIUI, ****ty roms that some kid slapped a godawful theme on - it's all there. The Rezound has better radios, better screen, and better build quality (subjective) but no aosp. If you're reading this you've already chosen or had the choice made for you by verizon's $50 sale.
Fast Boot
But Derek, you say, you already talked about fastboot in the bootloader section. We get it. Nay nay. This is fast boot. Note the space. Basically, HTC roms include a tech that puts the phone into a hibernation state rather than powering off. You'll find it in the power menu. When this box is checked, your phone will go from powered off to your home screen in a very short period of time - 15 seconds on my phone, vs the normal 45 second boot time. If you pull the battery, you will have a normal boot time. Personally, I could take or leave this feature. I almost never shut my phone off, and when I do, I want it to actually shut off because i'm shutting it down because I need a cold boot. It's up to you how useful this feature is to you.
Perflock, CPU Frequency, and Governers
Many people have had poor experiences running the ICS leaks due to the CPU maxing out. The stock HTC kernel uses perflock, which constantly resets the frequency and scaling of your CPU. This means that the use of programs like setcpu or system tuner to change the min/max frequencies or governer of your CPU will cause it to essentially run in a state where it is either using the max frequency, or the minimum, without scaling up and down according to need. Some CPU monitoring apps will cause a similar reaction. The best way to avoid all this unpleasantness and get the best battery life out of your phone is to simply leave it be and let it do it's thing, because quite frankly you can't stop it anyway. If you absolutely must see what your CPU is doing, I have had good results with CPU Monitor by Coconuts. I still don't recommend keeping this active full time as I suspect it still impacts performance and battery life, but many do without any obvious adverse results. As a side note, the HTC kernel uses the On Demand governer, which steps up the CPU frequency quickly when needed and scales it back down slowly. Clearly, HTC's focus was on performance rather than battery life, here. Once kernel source for ICS is released, devs can build custom kernels which do not include perflock, and add other nice features as well like full power usb charging. Once this occurs, we will be free to use setcpu to scale our CPUs up or down to our hearts content and use whatever governer we like. Until then the best advice is simply to leave it alone.
I will be updating this and adding to it constantly. I'm not an expert, just an average user who is trying to put some useful info in the same place. Please shoot me a PM with suggestions/things I got wrong and I will update this post and credit you.
Contributors who have helped make this more accurate
scotty1223, esheesle
Section for General Education Type Things
Titanium Backup
Quite possibly the most useful software you will use on your rooted android device. Well worth buying. This software will allow you to backup pretty much everything on your phone to your sd-card, dropbox, box account, etc. It even lets you pull data from nandroid backups. This is the best way I know of to backup your apps and restore them when switching to a new rom. Not only do you not need to go digging through the my apps section of the play store to reinstall every damn app, you can restore with the data from the time of the backup. That means config for a lot of apps, game saves, etc. Note that most SMS apps and launchers will require you to use the backup included in their software, as Ti Backup doesn't grab these things. Forgot to backup your apps and data but made a nandroid backup? No problem. It can read your nandroid backup and pull those things right out of it.
It can also screw up your rom install to the point where you might as well factory reset, if you use it wrong. Basically, you never ever want to use it for anything other than apps you've installed from the app store and their data. Restoring system apps, unless you know what you're doing, is a bad idea. Restoring system data, no matter how tempting, is an even worse idea. It's very likely to screw you up. There are circumstances in which it may not do so, but if you are reading this and this is new info, you don't know them. Stay away. Most devs will outright tell you not to use it with their rom since people will inevitably ignore the warnings and do it anyway. It makes switching roms an absolute breeze though - I can switch roms and have my software setup exactly how it was before in less time than it takes to download a rom from Android Police. Granted, that's a good hour, but you get what I'm saying. It's a huge time saver. Backup your user apps and data, but touch system apps or data at your own peril.
What to do if you think you're bricked
Step 1: Chill out and slow down. Seriously. Unless your phone isn't doing anything at all when powered up, it's probably recoverable. Double check your MD5 sums before pushing things like hboots and radios, and you should be OK. If you've screwed up the s-off process, make a post describing exactly what you've done and how, then wait for responses. Do not demand them. You can also join #juopunutbear on freenode, where the devs hang out. They're not always right there, but I've seen them help dozens of people out of some sticky places, and they'll help you if they can. They really know their stuff.
For general Rezound problems, you can join #rezound on andirc.net. There's usually some knowledgable guys hanging out there, willing to help. Remember, the very best thing you can do is take the time to gather enough knowledge to be confident that the steps you are going to take to fix the phone are the right ones, and why. Flipping out about your "bricked" phone and throwing anything you can at it is much more likely to make things worse, and annoy the people trying to help you. For example, if you are s-on and in a state where you need to reinstall a stock RUU package, you only have as many chances to get it right as there are newer RUUs than what is on your phone already. If you don't know enough about things to know what is wrong and why, you're not terribly likely to know the best way to fix it. Keep calm and carry on.
What will installing this ______ do to my phone? What do I need to do to install them?
Now that we have s-off and all these new ICS leaks, we've all gotten a bit flash happy. This has led many to ask what they can install, how, and what needs to be done. I'll try and address as much of this as I can by talking about the different states your phone might be in.
Totally stock - You have only one choice. You can install the full RUU, or not. That means you're getting whatever radio, hboot, kernel, and rom come with that RUU. Once you've installed that RUU, you can't install anything but a newer RUU after that. Remember that with RUUs, you need to reboot twice - there are two installation steps in hboot that require a reboot in between. Note that some RUUs will wipe your SD card. Nice of them, isn't it?
HTCDev unlocked - You can install kernels via hboot, a custom recovery via fastboot or hboot if packaged, and custom roms. If you want to install new radio files or an hboot, then you'll want to make a nandroid backup in recovery, relock your phone, and install the RUU via hboot. You cannot install the RUU without relocking first. You can then unlock your phone via HTCdev again, flash recovery, and restore from your nandroid backup. Like a totally stock phone, you can only go forward with hboot and radios, never backward. You have more options than the stock guys, but are still limited. But you also can't brick your phone. Again, some RUUs will wipe your SD card.
S-off - You can do anything you want. Flash any radio or hboot you want. Flash any kernel you like. If a new RUU comes out and you want to try it, just install it. You'll need to reinstall recovery, but that's it. Want to use the new leak's radio and kernel but not the rom itself? Flash 'em. But for the love of god, check the MD5 checksum before you flash. Apps like root explorer will let you see the MD5 of a file right from your phone's SD card. Flashing a bad radio or hboot can brick your phone. With great power comes great responsibility. Flashing hboot, kernels, and radio files do not require you to factory reset your device, nor will they do so. It is advisable to clear your cache and dalvik cache in recovery after installing a new kernel, but that will not affect the data on your device.
So let's say you've got s-off, and you're running a rom you like, but you want that new radio, hboot, and kernel. First, don't touch the hboot unless you have a reason to. That's a risk that you don't need to take most of the time. To flash the radio, find someone who has extracted the radio and repackaged it into a PH98IMG.zip that contains just the radio. Copy it to your SD card, check the MD5, and flash via hboot. To install the kernel, either grab it from someone who has packaged it, or pull the boot.img from the RUU zip. Check your md5, boot your phone to fastboot, and run:
fastboot flash boot <path to boot.img file>
You need fastboot on your PC, of course. Also, bear in mind that with a new kernel on an older rom, you may need to apply patches to make everything work properly, like wifi. Devs will generally release these patches and post them. Simply copy them to your SD card and install in recovery.
Where are all these files?
The Dev section. Go in there, and poke around. It doesn't take long after a leak is released to see that leak taken apart, rooted, deodexed, stripped of its kernel and radio files, etc. Read what people are saying, and asking. Generally, the first post will be updated to have everything you need, but the thread may have what you're looking for as well. What you don't want to do is ask where things are when the same question has been asked several times over already, often three pages back. Sometimes things can be hard to find, but it's good to make the effort. The community will be better for it.
What's a rooted rom? Deodexed? Busybox? Zipalign?
Rooted is fairly self explanatory. It's the process of packaging a superuser app with a rom that will allow you to operate your phone with root access. You'll need this for the good stuff like removing bloat, installing most wireless tethering apps, ad blockers, titanium backup, etc. Verizon wishes you wouldn't do this, so you know it's awesome.
Deodexing basically removes an optimization, called odexing, that basically takes bits of an apk and puts them elsewhere for optimization purposes. Deodexing packages everything back into the apk so you can use different apks without fear of conflicting code, etc. This is what makes a lot of mods possible.
Busybox provides several stripped down versions of unix tools in a single package. A lot of things like titanium backup depend on this. Generally when someone roots a rom they also busybox it.
A zipaligned rom is a rom that has had its application packages optimized for quick access by aligning them on 4 byte boundaries. This allows android to access resources without having to explicitly read them. You don't necessarily need to understand this one - just think of it as being optimized.
Contributions are appreciated and will be credited in the main post. In the interest of keeping this thread clean without a million different versions of the OP, please edit your post down to a basic "suggestions added" or something similar once I've noted your additions. That way things stay readable and don't confuse the readers. Ideally, a PM would be best, leaving the comments free for questions and the like. My goal is to jam as much knowledge in this thread as I can, and I'll continue working on it as I see new questions that commonly pop up.
tspderek said:
I literally meant the phrase "suggestions sent." i would prefer PMs or cleaned up posts after suggestions are included in the original post for cleanliness' sake and to keep down redundant info.
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so,in other words,youd like your posts,followed by no posts,or "thanks" posts,with no real discussion.
my only issue with that,is simply any of us are capable of sending suggestions that are not correct,or that are correct but an opinion. are you filtering somehow what you add? or just adding everything everyone sends?
its your thread,ill accept your request,but i personally would like to see everyones personal contributions and how you incorporate them.
readers should be smart enuff to seperate the first 3 information posts from the rest of the discussions. my 2 cents
I literally meant the phrase "suggestions sent." i would prefer PMs or cleaned up posts after suggestions are included in the original post for cleanliness' sake and to keep down redundant info.
..
Khayos said:
Suggestion: Sticky! (then delete me)
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it's been sticky since about an hour after it was written last night...
Thank you for writing this. It should be a requirement to read this before someone can post again.
Thanks for this! I was just thinking that this is getting REALLY confusing...I appreciate the Primer!
tspderek said:
There seems to be a lot of confusion about what things are or how they work together so I'm gonna try and build a post to explain some things. ...
<snip>
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I had been contemplating a post to ask questions that this addresses; for myself, it is very timely as well as very helpful.
I've seen terms in the forum used interchangeably that really are not, and this helps clarify that. Consistent use of terminology could go a long way to help with the abundance of questions and misunderstandings that exist.
Again, many thanks.
Nice post. Thanks!
I was waiting for the OTA to go official before even thinking about s-off but now you got me thinkin' about it.
If the OTA is good but I just want it de-oxed and de-bloated should I bother with S-Off?
My Dinc was so easy with UnRevoked, wish this one was as easy as that!
my personal feeling is that i like my phone to have s-off, so i can use the radio that works best for me and have full control of my phone. if i've already voided the warranty with htcdev, then why not? it's not a difficult process if you research and prepare everything ahead of time. know the steps, have your tools ready, and you'll be fine. took me one try on my phone.
it's really up to you, though. it's your phone. there is a risk of bricking that isn't there with htcdev. it's low unless you make poor decisions or skip steps, but it does exist - that's what s-off does. it opens the door for you to help or hurt yourself.
Very Useful
This is very well written. I wish I had this when I started my journey with Android. This is my first post btw. Iv been doing this for about 6 months now and hate that i cant post in Developement section. But i appreciate the time it took to make this. Very nice!
Edit.. Second post. Fogot about the first one
Sweet, will be following this closely! Thanks for posting!
Thanks for posting this it helped clear a lot of things up for me. This is my first smartphone and so I'm still learning about this stuff. I think some people forget that not everyone understands all of the jargon. I'm learning more and more about what I can do everyday and this has certainly helped.
Installing RUU
tspderek said:
Installing an ruu can only be accomplished on a phone that is currently not in an htc dev unlocked state, or a phone that has s-off. when installing one of these that includes an hboot, you'll need to reinstall recovery as well - installing a new hboot via RUU will always require this as the custom recovery is overwritten with the stock recovery.
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tspderek said:
With your phone in a stock state, you can apply only factory signed RUUs. Roms and kernels are closed to you, and you can move only forward with your radio and hboot, never backward.
With your phone in an HTCdev unlocked state, you can apply unsigned RUUs that contain a boot, system, and recovery image - all components must be present.
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I'm confused. I am S-ON (scared of brick), bootloader unlocked, and running CleanROM Pro 4.3. I want to update to the newest firmware and then the newest version of CleanROM. Do I have to re-lock my bootloader in order to install ICS firmware? I'm looking at the 3.14.605.5 Ice Cream Sandwich ZIP RUU (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1365654). How do I go about installing that?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
pumpkinsoftruth said:
I'm confused. I am S-ON (scared of brick), bootloader unlocked, and running CleanROM Pro 4.3. I want to update to the newest firmware and then the newest version of CleanROM. Do I have to re-lock my bootloader in order to install ICS firmware? I'm looking at the 3.14.605.5 Ice Cream Sandwich ZIP RUU (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1365654). How do I go about installing that?
Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
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yes, you need to lock it back up then apply the ruu.
or, take the path of awesome, and s-off that bad boy. what i'd actually do is install the latest leak RUU, s-off from that platform, then install amon-ra and whatever rom you want. that way your bootloader will already be upgraded, and your radio files. as new leaks come out you'll be able to apply radio files and kernels independently.
tspderek said:
yes, you need to lock it back up then apply the ruu.
or, take the path of awesome, and s-off that bad boy. what i'd actually do is install the latest leak RUU, s-off from that platform, then install amon-ra and whatever rom you want. that way your bootloader will already be upgraded, and your radio files. as new leaks come out you'll be able to apply radio files and kernels independently.
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Ok, so...
1. Re-lock Bootloader
2. Install latest RUU
3. Unlock Bootloader and Root
4. S-OFF
5. Install Amon-RA
6. Install ROM
Sounds simple enough. Thanks.
Ok so I've taken your advice and removed setcpu and installed the one recommended in the post however is there any way to also monitor battery temp that won't interfere with things the same way setcpu does?
Sent from my ADR6425LVW using XDA
pumpkinsoftruth said:
Ok, so...
1. Re-lock Bootloader
2. Install latest RUU
3. Unlock Bootloader and Root
4. S-OFF
5. Install Amon-RA
6. Install ROM
Sounds simple enough. Thanks.
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Step 4.5, install the patched hboot they offer you!