We all know -- getting the user feedback is essential, but it's hard. At least I find it so.
For example, judging from data gathered from random Android app and game samples, on average:
about 10-20% of all users that have downloaded the app, have actually reviewed the app,
about 10% of those that reviewed the app also leave a comment (making the number of comments approximately 1-2% of all downloads),
about 1% of users communicate via in-app channels,
about 1% of users respond to social posts.
As I mentioned already, this is based on a random sample and the rather small sample size (10) may be biased by statistical error. Nevertheless, it "feels" right
Now, let's say that your user base is wide enough to get the accurate feedback about your product, but only if you could motivate more users to respond to Rate and Leave Feedback requests... but let's leave that for a separate discussion.
What I wanted to ask you all is:
Which questions would you ask your users if you knew they will answer truthfully?
Think survey!
Think user satisfaction!
Think best loved feature!
Don't think girl's/boy's phone numbers!
In the end, I'll try to compile the result in a single survey separated in categories (and based on the popularity of suggested questions) for the community to use.
Let's start asking
<placeholder>
Starter
To get us going, here're some example questions (courtesy of zoomearng.com):
What Features Can You Not Live Without? – Asking people what features they must have on your upcoming product is a great way to find out what is in the highest demand. In short, this online survey question shows you, overall, what features you cannot leave out.
What Is the Most You Would Pay? – Understanding your potential customer’s price range can help you better understand what you can realistically afford to include, and exclude, to hit those price points.
What Did You Like Best About Our Old Product? – If you had an older version of a product and are updating it, finding out what features your customers liked best. Use this online survey question to find out what you should not change in future versions of your product.
What Other Brands Would You Consider? – This online survey question helps you quickly locate and understand your possible competition. Knowing what you’re up against will help you better gauge where your energies should be focused for your product.
What Else Should We Know? – Let your online survey respondents have the floor. This question gives them the opportunity to sound off about things maybe your online survey questions missed. Find out all you forgot to ask about with this question.
One thing that I was not sure how to proceed is the personall, demographic questions. How deep to go and what are the limits?
I believe that the answer to this is in type of survey, but also in giving the user the possibility to opt-out or to make those questions non-mandatory.
What's the safe zone with demographic questions?
I think you can safely ask for:
Country
Age
Occupation
Service Provider(if any, or if necessary)
Another question that can be considered is "Do you primarily use this app for business or personal use?" Obviously only certain apps would use this.
Just a suggestion, but since a lot of questions could vary between apps(like between recreational or utility apps) maybe if you made a tool that allowed app developers to customize and then compile a survey which can then be added to their app with minimal effort it would be awesome. That way developers could ask more app specific questions alongside the more general ones you mentioned above. The hardest thing about that would probably be making it compile into a universal format that can be copy pasted into any apps code, but I'm sure it's not too hard. If the tool automatically created the proper classes along with each survey then it literally could be copy pasted into whatever part of the app the dev wants it in.
Just my 2 cents.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA
Good suggestions, AlanB412.
The Country and Service provider are quite well covered by Play Store statistics (though, should be considered in case app is not published on Google).
Other "personal" stuff, I compiled into one (multiple choice) question for the survey I'm creating for m-parking:
Please tell us something about yourself. Check all that apply.
• Female
• Male
• Younger than 30 years
• 30 years or older
• In school
• Employed
• Unemployed
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The details of occupation, like industry and field of work, deserve a dedicated question, if needed, of course.
Ideally, the availability of questions should be dependent on previously made choices (e.g. occupation industry should be asked only if employment status "employed" or "self-employed" were previously selected). That kind of branching should make the survey more engaging as opposed to presenting the user with irrelevant questions.
The idea about the "tool" for developers sounds interesting.
How I'm looking at is a library project that has many out-of-the-box available questions, but that allows also for customizations and works dynamically with any question specified in standard strings dedicated resources.
The tricky part is actually not the inclusion of such Survey-library in apps or its dynamic handling of question-answer configuration. It's in (collecting) the reports part. For that to work seamlessly out-of-the-box, a third party "cloud" reporting service should be available -- to collect and provide access to reports.
News from the Portal of XDA.
http://www.xda-developers.com/annou...addition-to-sharing-policy-on-xda-developers/
Posted August 22, 2012 at 6:00 pm by egzthunder1
We are going to deviate a bit from our regularly scheduled programming to let you know about an upcoming change in the rules in the XDA forums. As time has gone by, our site has grown by leaps and bounds from what it was a couple of years ago. With a membership base of over 4.5 million registered users and an average of 35-40 thousand people active at any given time, we need to ensure that this place can offer the best possible environment for all people, both experienced developers and people who come here looking to learn about mobile devices. Because of this reason, the rules of our site need to be amended from time to time to accommodate the needs and wants of such a large user base, but without losing our principles and forgetting what XDA was founded on in the first place.
Just a bit of background: XDA was a website founded by hackers and developers for hackers and developers. People coming here shared one common goal, which was to get more and more out of their expensive toys and they did so by reverse engineering, creating new code to expand the device’s capabilities, and doing things with hardware that most people cannot do (mainly due to lack of knowledge or technical ability). The site prospered to what it is today because these very same people knew that their collective ideas and efforts would yield more results if they collaborated by sharing what they knew with others. More often than not, this resulted in fantastic feats such as the original XDA online kitchen, the very first port of WM5 to the mythical HTC Blue Angel, and many more accomplishments that are stored in the depths of XDA’s forums.
XDA-Developers has always been a place for sharing knowledge. People spend countless hours on their projects and give back to the community in several different forms, either by releasing the complete work to the community, or by sharing its source and methods by which the work was conceived. The latter allows others to pick up the work and tweak it to improve it (think of the Linux kernel for this to make sense). XDA’s own foundation is much like that as well. However, often times, this concept of the sharing of knowledge gets confused with the concept of sharing everything. If you frequent our site, you will have undoubtedly come across a few threads were discussions about sharing are on going. Essentially, some people demand for work to be released or even think that they can take as they please without following rules already present on our site. Likewise, people sharing their work sometimes have rather bizarre ways of doing so, which has a bad tendency to develop in what we like to call “dev wars”.
We (administrators and moderators of this site) truly believe that intellectual property (IP) is a very important part of what is done on xda-developers. As such, we cannot and will not support any kind of action which forces a developer to share their work with others if the developer does not wish to do so. A developer of anything has rights over their work and as such he/she can choose to do with it as he/she pleases (give it away, share the source, burn it, give it to an orphanage, or eat it for breakfast). We support whatever decision is taken by its developer. Having said that, over the years people have found what can only be categorized as a loophole in our current sharing policy, and thus people are forced to do things in exchange for permissions to use certain pieces of work by others.
After a long deliberation with the entire moderator and administrator staff, we are implementing the following addition to our sharing rule (Rule 12) – revisions are in bold:
12. Using the work of others.
If you are developing something that is based on the work of another Member, you MUST first seek their permission, and you must give credit to the member whose work you used. If a dispute occurs about who developed / created a piece of work, first try to settle the matter by private message and NOT in open forum. If this fails then you may contact a moderator with clear evidence that the work was created by you.
Convincing evidence will result in copied work being removed. If there is no clear evidence you created the work then in the spirit of sharing all work will remain posted on the forums.
As an addition, developers have the right to hold exclusivity over their work for as long as it is deemed necessary by the dev or freely share it. However, if the work is claimed as exclusive, it must remain as such. No selective sharing will be allowed (ie allowing certain people to use it and not others). Should the dev decide to start sharing the work with others, the work automatically becomes fair game for all to use.
In regards to permissions, same rules remain for this but if permission was already given, unless there is a very valid reason, it cannot be revoked (same applies to major updates on the work). Under that same premise, permissions cannot be denied unless the work is exclusive or under severe circumstances.
In plain English: If you want to keep your work exclusive, go for it. However, if you are going to share your work, do it fairly.
These rules apply to all software posted on XDA (including but not limited to ROMs, RUUs, apps, games, kernels, themes, icons, etc) unless that software comes with a license that waives these rules.
The problem with the aforementioned permissions is that the rule never really stated anything regarding continuity or longevity of said permission. On top of that, selective sharing creates a massive problem on our site as it tends to give place to kanging (unauthorized copying and/or redistribution of work), fights between devs (so called “dev wars”), and tons of time wasted on investigations, which normally involves a large number of people from our staff. This needed to stop as it was reaching critical mass and high levels of anxiety were generated for no apparent reason on something that should be a hobby.
So, if you are a developer on this site and would like to keep your work as something exclusive, we encourage you to do it. If you would like to freely give it out so that others can use it and make it better, we encourage you to do it as well. However, we will no longer accept claims from anyone who picks and chooses who gets what. As stated in the rule, you either share or keep, but if you do share, do it fairly. Favoritism has created a great divide in our site and our community and it is only hurting development as a whole. People focus more on pointing fingers than they do on trying to create original work.
Permissions should still be sought as a matter of common courtesy, much like the original rule stipulated. However, unless a valid reason is provided, a simple “no, you cannot have it” will not suffice, especially if the work is being shared with others and permissions are denied out of spite.
Lets all work towards a new, rejuvenated XDA that is based on the core principles placed by the site’s founding fathers. Sharing of knowledge is what brought many of us together on this site and we should strive as a community to keep it that way. Please share your thoughts on this.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
XDA-Developers Administration Team
Hey guys and girls, I've created this thread as a means to help out new members of our corner of the community, or XDA as a whole.
I've posted this in the hopes that it'll make a new users journey here begin nice and smoothly. Once you read this thread, you'll know the basics of how things run around this site, where to make sure you post in the correct section and how to avoid the people who will try to troll and flame you.
My aim is that after reading this, you'll have gained an advantage by reading and understanding this guide.
However, this guide isn't only for the new members of this sub-forum. This is for anyone who reads this, whether you're a new member, a senior member, a recognized contributor etc, as a lot of the "veteran" members seem to have lost their way, as of late. I hope that this will help transform you from a noob into a new user and that you'll give back to this community even part of the mass that you learn.
One thing you should remind yourself is that we were all noobs at some point. Maybe some weren't when they started XDA, but I guarantee you that they were at one point. But just because you're a noob on XDA, there's still no excuse for not following the Forum Rules.
The most important thing you'll need to do to get along well around here, is to search. If you have any kind of problem, first of all you should search. If you can't find anything, then you should try using different keywords to help you find your answer. If you find a similar thread then you can post your question in there instead. If however, your question hasn't been asked before and there's nothing around which is similar then you can post your question, but make sure you post it in the Q&A forum. QUESTIONS DO NOT BELONG IN GENERAL OR THE DEVELOPMENT FORUMS
Before diving right in, let me overview the rules set by xda:
*Search Before Posting, Behave In A Nice And Friendly Manner, Make Sure You Make Your Titles And Threads Clear To Other Users, Use The English Language, Post A Message Only Once (Do Not Multi-Post), Do Not Post Warez(I'll explain what this means later) , Do Not Spam (again, more explanation to come regarding this) , No Requests For Donations (If People Want To Donate, They Will), Do Not Use Copyrighted Materials Or Anything That Does NOT Belong To You, Be Helpful To Others, Using The Work Of Others MUST Be Approved, Do NOT Create More Than One User Account, and Keep On Topic In Threads And With Your Posts.
For a full list and explanation of the rules of this site, please view the FORUM RULES.
---Getting Started (With The Basics)---
I figure that if you're reading this, you're already a registered member and have read the Forum Rules above. Below I'm going to recap the most important rules briefly, so they will be imprinted into your mind a bit more.
1) Search, Read, Post
As I've already mentioned in this thread and as you'll hear a lot of times, searching and reading before you post is the most important thing you need to do around here. The first thing you should be reading when in this forum is the stickied threads. Those threads have been stuck to the top of the forum because they contain the must have information you'll need to learn everything you need to. Don't get mistaken and think that those threads are there for no reason. That's not the case. If you read them, should you have any of problems you'll be able to easily know how to solve it. Searching before you post is just as important as reading because if you search for your answer then you probably won't even need to post your question. This will save you time and save others time from needing to help you Even if there's not a thread for your problem, if there's a thread which is similar then post in there instead. Doing so will help to keep our forum as clean and tidy as possible, meaning it's easier for all of us to find the answers we need.
Of course, we are all here to help each other out but if you haven't tried to help yourself then why would others waste their time trying to help you? So do the searching and reading as mentioned, once you've done that you'll know exactly where to post to get the best answer for your problem.
2) Posting Protocol:
Over your time on XDA you'll either find yourself lurking (not posting a lot), or you'll find yourself making the most out of this site and posting quite a lot. However, you shouldn't be posting a load of rubbish simply to get your post count up. This is especially true for new members who have less than 10 posts and want to post in a development thread. Please take note of the Post count limit in developmental fora and remember that if you need something posted in a development thread then you can make use of the following thread -I Will Post Your Question In A Dev Thread IF.... That thread will allow you to get your question posted without getting in trouble for spamming.
Another must have when posting is to give as much information as possible. If, for example, your device has started rebooting itself randomly and you decide to ask why it's happening, you need to give all information possible. This means you should include what device you have, which ROM you are using, which kernel you are using, what you did just before the problem occurred, what you have done to try and fix it etc... The more information you can give, the better help others will be able to provide you with.
3) Don't BUMP Your Posts
Whenever you make a post on this site, whether it's a question, a general post or even a response to someone else, don't be impatient. You need to give people time to think about what you've posted and then respond to it. Also remember that the person may not be in the same part of the world as you, so just because it's morning for you it could be nighttime for someone else. Don't be in such a hurry that you BUMP (Bring Up My Post) your own post in an attempt to get a quicker response. Doing that can make people feel less inclined to help you because they feel forced and pressured into doing so. People will respond to you, you just need to give it time. The quickest way for you to know that someone has responded to you is to subscribe to the thread. This way, you'll receive an email notification as soon as someone replies.
4) Showing Appreciation Via The Thanks Button:
There's one feature of XDA which you'll all be aware of. That is indeed the Thanks button/meter. This was implemented into XDA a while back in an attempt to cut down on users making posts simply saying "Thanks". Also, if a post has thanks on it, you know it has been a useful post for others and you may be able to get some use from it aswell. Please be sure to utilize this feature. If you ask a question and somebody gives you the correct answer, click the thanks button on their post. Even if somebody doesn't have the right answer but has been trying to help you solve your problem, give them a thank because they've used there own time to help you when they could've just ignored your post. As you'll be able to see, underneath everyone's avatar is the Thanks meter. This allows you to see at a glance that this user has been really helpful with there answers. It's by no means a perfect system as some users (myself included) will use the button if I find a post funny or if I agree with someone's post. Because of that, it doesn't always indicate a users status or stature on XDA. It's a potentially wildly inaccurate measure of a members ability to answer your question correctly.
It is always best to hit that button though because it's good to feel appreciated. If you feel the need to actually post "Thank you" then follow it up with a click of that button aswell. Once you start helping out others by answering their questions and you receive a Thank from it, it may make you feel that your work/effort is truly being appreciated and that your time is being valued.
In order to be able to give another user Thanks, you must have one post. The best place to gain your first post is by using The "Say Hi" Thread and introducing yourself to XDA. You're limited to give 8 thanks per day and if you're using them right, you should use them all everyday.
Below is a breakdown of how many thanks you need to have for the bar on the Thanks Meter to increase.
Getting Thanks: You will see that everyone here has a "Thanks Meter" above their avatar. Here are the thanks counts needed to get to the next bar:
1st bar - 26
2nd bar - 51
3rd bar - 101
4th bar - 201
5th bar - 501 (There's a a bug here, never gets to 5 bars)
6th bar - 1001
7th bar - 2001
8th bar - 5001
9th bar - 8001
Maxed! - 10000
5) Trolls And Flamers:
Trolls and flamers are a part of this community, whether we like it or not. I'll briefly explain them below in case you aren't aware of what I mean.
Trolls - Trolls are basically members who will attempt to make "fun" of you or something you post. But it's only a bit of fun. It's not meant to be serious and is not meant to be aggressive or upset you in any way. If someone tries to 'troll' you when you make a post and you don't like it, then be sure you don't respond to them. Leave them to it and they'll go elsewhere.
Flamers - Flamers are essentially more extreme trolls. They will make fun out of you but will take it too far and attack you. If you asked a question, which they felt was dumb, then they will have a go at you for being "so stupid" and "being a noob".
While some of you may have a sense of humour, others won't so you need to be careful about what you post. As posted above, the best option is generally to ignore any posts of that kind, as they can escalate quickly and you could find yourself getting in trouble aswell for responding in such a manner. If, however, you feel you can't ignore what's being said or you feel that someone has been overly aggressive and attacking, you can report the post to any of our moderators and they will look into it and take the appropriate action.
6) Warning About The Warez:
As you'll know by looking at the name of this site - xda-developers - you'll know that this site was primarily based around developers of modifications, apps, ROMs etc. That means that this site is based around their work and contributions, which they have spent a lot of time and work in making and may require that a payment be made for their work. That being said, it's against the rules to post anything which avoids paying for the software. There's zero tolerance in regards to people posting such things or even asking about it. Out of all of the rules, this is definitely the most important and you will probably be infracted or banned if you post about it anywhere on this site.
If you keep stealing a developers work then the developer is not making money from it which could mean that they can't keep releasing more work. This then affects all of us just because you were too selfish to pay for it.
7) Admission To The Development Section:
A load of new users seem to want to jump in head first and want access to post in the development section. The reality is, YOU CAN'T! This isn't to try and make you feel inferior to anyone else or to stop new users coming to this site. The reason is to stop a hell of a lot of spam and to stop people simply posting "Thanks" and thus making the development threads look like a mess. We want all parts of XDA to look as nice and tidy as possible so the same goes for the development sections. You will need to make 10 constructive posts before you're allowed access to the development fora. If you're unsure of how to get to 10 posts properly, then you should try helping out some people who have questions or queries in your devices forum and you'll soon find that your posts will climb quickly. If it is extremely urgent that you post in a development thread but don't have time to get to 10 posts, then you can either use the following thread - I Will Post Your Question In The Dev Thread IF... - or you can PM the developer and explain the problem to them. *NOTE* Only PM one of the developers if you've looked all through the thread and what you're reporting hasn't been mentioned before Here's a summarization of the 10 post rule by Fallen Spartan: "The 10 post rule was put in place to make new users think, and hopefully contribute and help others by making useful posts rather than the usual crap like "thanks", "kewl" etc or ask questions which have been asked countless times before. They still have access to dev forums, just cannot post in them. Its not a massive restriction and to provide 10 useful/helpful posts is not hard."
8) User Title's Explained:
You'll see that every member has a "title" under their avatar. If you've seen these and wondered how to get them, then read the following passage from juzz86: "I'll sum it up for you (or try, anyway!) There are Junior Members, Members, Senior Members first. These make up the vast majority of XDAs userbase. Recognised Contributors are nominated by other users and/or Mods/Developers. They are recognised for their contributions which are not specifically Development, such as detailed guides, one-click utilities and other tools/mods. Recognised Themers are also nominated by users/Mods/Developers, for their work themeing custom ROMs and providing standalone themes for flashing. Recognised Developers are nominated and approved by the Developer Committee, for their work in Development whether it be ROMs, Root methods, bootloader unlocks etc. Elite Recognised Developers are again assessed by the Developer Committee, and are deemed to have gone above-and-beyond in providing knowledge/hacks/tools/apps/ROMs for the XDA community. Forum Moderators are appointed by the Moderator Committee, after submitting an application (see the 'sticky' at the top of this forum - currently applications are not open). They are the first-line of keeping the forums tidy, friendly and orderly. Senior Moderators are the next step up the ladder, providing site-wide support for Forum Mods and looking after the nitty-gritty issues, as well as areas of XDA not policed by FSMs, such as the Marketplace. Administrators are next. There are several Admins - each look after a specific part of XDA such as the Portal, the Members and the User Experience of XDA as a whole. At the top is Mike Channon, who is overall Forum Administrator. Other titles you may come across:
Moderator Committee - sits on the Mod Committee Developer Committee - as above, but for Developer Committee XDA News writer - publishes articles for the Portal (front page) Retired xxxx - have since officially 'left' their XDA position
Hopefully that clears most of them up for you. Contrary to what a lot of people expect, the thanks-meter does not figure at all in determining a users tag."
0 to 29 posts - Member
30 to 99 posts - Junior Member
100 + posts - Senior Member
9) Helpful Links:
Forum Rules
Postcount limit in developmental fora
Guide To Getting A Moderators Help
XDA New User Guide
Index of ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries& Guides
[SOLA]Index of ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries & Guides
[ACRO S] Index of ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries & Guides
[GO]Index of ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries & Guides
Index of ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries & Guides
[P]Index of ROMs, Kernels, Recoveries & Guides
CREDITS: Apex_Strider for the permission to base this in his thread.
E.Cadro for letting me post this thread here.
---Welcome To The 2012 Xperia Community---
Well I'm glad we've got all of that covered I'll bet you are aswell
Now I'll take this moment to welcome you to our community, so welcome Come and join us and help us make this forum as good as it can be.
If you've paid attention to what's been said in this thread and actually apply it to your time here, you'll never be a noob. Instead, what you'll be is a New User (which sounds much nicer).
With all the knowledge you gain from around XDA, you'll definitely be able to help other people out and feel the satisfaction when you have been able to help someone finally solve their problem.
This is how you can give back to the community. I urge you all to stick around and have fun, learn a hell of a lot and get to know people.
I look forward to speaking/interacting with you all
Should you have any problems, questions, concerns or just fancy a chat feel free to Private Message me at any point and I'll be glad to help you out
Time To Let You Know Who The Standout Members Of Our Community Are!
I'll be listing our Forum Specific Moderators, Developers, Recognized Contributors and the most helpful members across this forum.
Xperia Moderators:
'cooleagle'
E.Cadro
Xperia Developers:
This Is Currently A Work In Progress. If Someone Could Possibly Get A List To Me, That Would Be Great.
Xperia Recognized Contributors:
This Is Currently A Work In Progress. If Someone Could Possibly Get A List To Me, That Would Be Great.
Xperia Most Helpful Members:
This Is Currently A Work In Progress. If Someone Could Possibly Get A List To Me, That Would Be Great.
And, just in case, here in the video of the rules of xda developers site. Doesn't hurt to watch it more than the obligatory first time for your registration process. Enjoy xda, and I welcome you to our community!
I hope this guide helps you make your experience on XDA a better one. I'll be glad if you click the Thanks button, instead of saying Thanks, but I'll be even more glad if you take this guide to heart and actually follow what it says. Doing so will help make your time here easier and more comfortable for everyone involved.
Thank you for reading, and happy forum'ing! :good:
Around these forums you're likely to hear some terminology or lingo which you're not familiar with. Check out this list of Android Terms, Slang & Definitions by Diablo67.
I'm going to post some of the more relevant definitions below, but if you see a term you're not sure about but it's not in this thread then check out the above thread by Diablo67.
So here we go…
ADK: Android Development Kit, What people use to develop anything for the droid such as ROM's
AOSP: Short for Android Open Source Project, and when the term is used in ROM descriptions, it usually indicates that the ROM in question is based on the Android source code provided by Google itself, and not on some other ROM project or a company’s firmware.
Baseband: In communications and signal processing, the baseband describes signals and systems whose range of the frequencies measured from close to 0 hertz to a cut-off frequency, a maximum bandwidth or highest signal frequency; it is sometimes used to describe frequencies starting close to zero
Boot Loader: Executes code before any operating system is launched. On Android devices, the bootloader is usually locked because manufacturers want you to use the version of Android they’ve provided. With a locked bootloader on Android phones, custom ROMs cannot be flashed.
Boot Loop: simply means something is preventing the phone from completing it's boot cycle and is stuck between the boot animation and the unlock screen, creating a looped animation. This is often fixed by either reloading a Nandroid, or Reflashing a rom from the Boot Loader.
Brick or Bricked: Jargon for a completely unrecoverable device, (no more than a brick or paperweight).
Bug or Software Bug: an Error or flaw in software that produces a failure or unexpected/unwanted result. Typically created from incorrect code, this is why some ROMs are better and smoother running than others because certain developers have taken the time to input "perfect" code
ClockworkMod or CWM: A recovery program that is often used to apply updates, ROMs, or create a back up or restore a backup file
Dalvik: is the cryptic name of the virtual machine (VM) in Android, and it’s the basis for running apps (with the .apk filename extension) on the platform. Before Android apps are launched, they’re converted into the compact Dalvik Executable (.dex) format, which is designed to be suitable for systems that are constrained in terms of memory and processor speed. Dalvik was originally written by Dan Bornstein, who named it after the fishing village of Dalvík in Eyjafjörður, Iceland, where some of his ancestors lived.
Dalvik Cache: Simply put it is the cache used by Dalvik, and it’s the result of Dalvik doing optimizations of running apps. Some Android ROMs allow you to move the Dalvik cache to your SD card, in order to free up internal storage.
De-odex: Apk files have respective odexes that devs use to supposedly save space. Deodexing means you convert it back to a .dex file and put it back inside the apk. This allows you to easily replace files (not having to worry about odexes), but the main point was to deodex services.jar so that you can change all text to different colors (such as the clock color to white) and to deodex services.jar, you need to deodex everything.
What the heck does it mean, exactly? Well, it’s probably the hardest term to explain in this rooting dictionary...
When a ROM has been deodexed, it means that its apps have been prepared so they can be modified. Deodexed ROMs feature apps that have been repackaged in a certain way. Android applications (.apk's) contain .odex files that devs supposedly use to save space. These .odex files are extracted from the application packages and put in the /system/ folder on your phone, to speed up boot processes and to allow parts of applications to be preloaded.
However, this makes hacking and modifying those apps difficult because parts of the apps have been extracted to another location. Deodexing means that all pieces of an application package are put back together into one file, and it makes sure that a modified .apk won’t conflict with some separate odexed parts located somewhere else. Developers of custom ROMs choose to deodex their ROM packages, since it lets them modify various .APKs, and it also makes theming possible after the ROMs have been installed.
Dev. or Developer: An individual that creates, or alters a file in such a manner as to advance the program
Ext2/3/4: This refers to partitions on your SD card. They’re extended file systems for Linux that can be used by Android, usually in order to preserve internal storage space. Many custom Android ROMs require that you have an Ext2, Ext3 or Ext4 partition on your memory card. Ext2 is the oldest type of extended file system, and Ext4 is the newest.
Firmware: A phone’s firmware is basically its operating system. A “firmware update” means that the operating system, the software that controls the phone, is updated. “Stock firmware” means that the firmware is unmodified: it’s the version of the operating system the phone’s manufacturer delivers.
Flash or Flash Memory: To flash a custom ROM, or a firmware, simply means that you install it. So, flashing is the process of installing a new version of the Android operating system, or just parts of it, like such as the radio and/or kernel. Flashing new ROMs is done via the Recovery Mode, usually with ClockworkMod Recovery.
Kernel: Central component of most operating systems: it’s a bridge between applications and the actual data processing done at the hardware level. Android kernels are often customized, optimized and modified for different purposes, such as over-clocking the processor or extending the battery life. Custom ROMs usually include a new kernel.
NanDroid or Nandroid Backup: Anyone with root access make a complete system backup. It lets you create a backup of every piece of information on your phone, and it can be restored later whenever you want. NANDroid backups are usually performed before flashing a new ROM, in case anything goes wrong with an update or when flashing, or if you want to return to your previous setup later. NANDroid backups are created from the Recovery Mode often found with CWM.
Odexed: See Deodexed
Radio: It’s the radio on your phone that handles communication, the radio that sends and receives voice and data. Flashing (installing) a new radio can improve your reception, and bring other benefits.
Root: Common word associated with giving a user "super user" access to their phones programming and other various aspects that would normaly not be possible, also known as "Jailbroken" for iPhones.
OS: Operating system, e.g. Windows, Mac, Ubuntu...and Android.
Overclocking: Speeding up the CPU past the factory presets to achieve a faster and more responsive device
ROM: Read Only Memory, a program used to make changes to anything from the look of the home screen, to icons to custom boot animation
SetCPU: This is a popular application for overclocking or underclocking your phone’s processor, making it faster or slower. It may require a special kernel in order to work.
Stock:Simply means an unaltered state, such as when you first purchase your phone from Verizon, or when you do a factory reset to "go back to stock."
SU or Superuser: When you root your Android phone, you will get superuser access. The superuser or root user is sort of a special user account for system administration.
Terminal or Terminal Emulator: An app that lets users access Android’s built-in Linux command line shell. It’s useful for programmers and for those with root access. There are some Roms that have built in theme and/or tools that are accessed from Terminal.
Theme: A set of icons, backgrounds and app trays that change the aesthetics of the overall look of the droid and its applications
Underclocking: Slowing down the CPU mainly to limit battery usage
.apk or APK's: An .apk file extension denotes an Android Package (APK) file, an .apk file can be opened and inspected using common archive tools
.tar: Similar to a zip file, a tar file archives multiple files into one file
Reserved.
I've now filled in a couple of the reserve slots and will leave it at that for now.
Please be sure to let me know if you have any queries, concerns or requests regarding this thread.
Thanks
Bumped
Sent from my Nocturnalized One XL using Forum Runner
Bumping up
I've added links to an index of ROMs, kernels etc. for each device into the OP.
As always, if I've made any mistakes throughout this thread or you think there's something missing, please be sure to let me know
"My badboy megazord whip's got more features than iOS5"
This is a very good and informative thread. There should be something like this in every forum, but then it might become repetitive.
Sent from my LT15a using xda-developers app
might wanna change
OS: Operating system, I.E. Windows, Mac, Ubuntu...and Android.
to
OS: Operating system, eg. Windows, Mac, Ubuntu...and Android.
although grammatically vorrectt
theres bound to be someone thnking the I.E. is for internet explorer
-PiLoT- said:
might wanna change
OS: Operating system, I.E. Windows, Mac, Ubuntu...and Android.
to
OS: Operating system, eg. Windows, Mac, Ubuntu...and Android.
although grammatically vorrectt
theres bound to be someone thnking the I.E. is for internet explorer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hadn't thought about it that way.
Changed
Read all the new terminologies
Where do I post a question, in the general section? ( sorry if I missed it in reading in post )
XPERIA U
Stock ICS 4.0.4
Rooted
drsanket_xperia_u said:
Read all the new terminologies
Where do I post a question, in the general section? ( sorry if I missed it in reading in post )
XPERIA U
Stock ICS 4.0.4
Rooted
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Questions go in the Q&A section. Hence the name Question & Answer
Must have noticed that
Thanx
Bumping up :thumbup:
KidCarter93 said:
Bumping up :thumbup:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that was a nice introduction...:good:
im still at first one