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[Q] New Sidekick/Android user with Root/Roms questions ;-)

Hello everyone.
Recently ordered a Samsung Sidekick 4G and reading on the forums
I noticed people saying that this device lags a lot, has random FCs, etc. and
that they way of getting "rid" of this was by rooting and installing
custom roms. As you might have figured by my low post count, I'm
a newbie with regards to Android phones or Android in general. So
I have a couple of questions.
I know where to look if I want to take the chance and do this
by following this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1275116
(thank God and moderators for stickies!-- making life easier )
But I would like to know:
1) What are the advantages of having Sidekick custom roms (apart
from the usual root access and what not). Is the stock Rom that bad?
Does it have lots of bloat slowing the phone?
2) Has anyone tried the different Roms out there and can I have
an assessment of what they do/offer? (i.e. which one you think
is the best with regards to battery life, bundle of sw, etc for
a newb). Basically their strenghts and weaknesses as I wouldn't want
to lose something important such as network services (i.e. 3G, WiFi, etc.)
And yes, I know that I can try them for myself, but I haven't
even received the phone and I'm scared sh!+less of rooting
don't want to think about repeating the process of the link
above to keep trying different Roms... so I will rely on your
experiences.
3) Since I wont be receiving OTA updates with or without a custom
Rom (I don't have t-mobile, it's an unlocked phone...), do
custom Roms already have stuff from OTA updates??
4) If Android 2.3 update is released for the Sidekick, will it
be available as a "custom" rom? Is that how it works for people
that don't get OTA updates?
5) If I decide to stick with stock Rom, could I still "root"
the phone and play with overclocking and all that jazz?
Finally,
6) What's the meaning of life?!?!?
Hope you can help me with these questions if you can.
And if you don't want to help me... then ... I'll be sad...
for a couple of minutes! ;-)
BTW I also ordered an LG Optimus Quantum just to also try the Windows
OS and compare between both, Android and Windows experiences
(I come from Symbian... Nokia FTW!!! ;-))
Thanks!

to question 4 it will be incorporated to the customs roms no doubt
to question 2 i have used gingerclone v2, lighting rom v2 , touchmiuiwiz, and glorious i like glorious the most so far and dislike lighting v2 the most gingerclone and touchmiui is the same rom different themes
to question 5 you can still root it and overclock it
to question 1 you get d can get better battery life, less bloatware, better signal,
to question 3 on the ota we used kg2 which was an ota as a mix with kd1

that was harsh xtreme .

saying i disliked the rom the most when basically i used 3 roms? thats not being harsh

IMO any rom developed by ayoteddy is worth checking out. Also always be sure to fully read each rom thread's first post; everything you need to know should be there.
And personally I wouldn't flash any rom or attempt to root until you're comfortable using adb commands (I've soft bricked a couple of phones myself and that's no fun at all).
There's a bunch of good youtube tutorials outlining everything from rooting to flashing custom roms. Good luck with everything and welcome to the sk4g family!
Sent from my SGH-T839 using XDA App

It was not harsh. lol. it's his opinion.

I have used gcv2 and glorius i loved the first but the later is def. Better, u can root without a custom rom. And dont fret about flashing a rom, this is my first phone that iv flashed, rooted etc. And yes after a week or so the stock launcher started lagging. Although i only got fc's on zeam
Sent from my SGH-T839 using xda premium

Thanks for the responses so far!
And I'll definitely stick with the stock settings but if I begin to experience bugs or lags, I'll definitely look into this! Now I have to check why the heck I'm only getting EDGE!! WTF?!! lol
Thanks.

go to wireless ettings and swtich from gsm to gs/wcda mode

I FAILED!!! :-(
I think I'm going to have to resell this phone on eBay...
I just noticed WHY it wont connect in 3G... T-Mobile phones seem to be "configured" to use the 1700 band but my service provider does 3G like AT&T and I think they use 1900...
Oh well... back to my second option... the Sony Ericsson Xperia Mini Pro...
Thanks guys!

gelocks said:
But I would like to know:
1) What are the advantages of having Sidekick custom roms (apart
from the usual root access and what not). Is the stock Rom that bad?
Does it have lots of bloat slowing the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
with a custom ROM battery usage decreases in some cases and it also allows for more customization of your phone. Like in some ROMs you can change your transition effects, dock settings, and menu settings. It allows you to pick how you want your phone to look. For most people that got the OTA update their phone got really bad with freezes and force closes, you'd have to reboot your phone every day. In the end if you don't like a ROM you can always switch back.
2) Has anyone tried the different Roms out there and can I have
an assessment of what they do/offer? (i.e. which one you think
is the best with regards to battery life, bundle of sw, etc for
a newb). Basically their strenghts and weaknesses as I wouldn't want
to lose something important such as network services (i.e. 3G, WiFi, etc.)
And yes, I know that I can try them for myself, but I haven't
even received the phone and I'm scared sh!+less of rooting
don't want to think about repeating the process of the link
above to keep trying different Roms... so I will rely on your
experiences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've tried a few and at the moment i'm using glorious overdose by ayoteddy and sduvick. This ROM is very smooth and very nice but doesn't allow for as much customization as touchMUI or GingerClone. TouchMui allows you to customize the behaviors of your phone like menu, transitions, etc. through launcherpro which comes with the ROM, BUT it wants you to buy launcherPro when you try to do certain functions. Now i'm a newby too, barely rooted and flashed my phone a few weeks ago, as well as somebody that works with me. I've also experienced alot less forceclose issues with glorious overdose.
3) Since I wont be receiving OTA updates with or without a custom
Rom (I don't have t-mobile, it's an unlocked phone...), do
custom Roms already have stuff from OTA updates??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There aren't really that many OTA updates but from what i've seen the devs here get stuff before it's actually released, such as KJ2, which we havent officially recieved yet. The one OTA update that happened actually made the phone run like crap, excuse my language.
4) If Android 2.3 update is released for the Sidekick, will it
be available as a "custom" rom? Is that how it works for people
that don't get OTA updates?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Somebody will probably post a version of it on the forums and devs will most likely use it as soon as they get their hands on it, IF there's still deving going on for this phone at that time.
5) If I decide to stick with stock Rom, could I still "root"
the phone and play with overclocking and all that jazz?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes you can, I did that before i actually flashed my phone. root is a different thing than flashing a custom ROM to your phone.
Finally,
6) What's the meaning of life?!?!?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
according to wikipedia, The meaning of life constitutes a philosophical question concerning the purpose and significance of life or existence in general.

6 the purpose of life is to find the answer to that question yourself...

Hi :)

Hey Guys,
Just wanted to extend a hello to you all . I just got a mytouch 4g, and cant wait to get a custom rom on this thing... stock makes me sad. Just wondering, are there any tips or tricks you guys would offer a n00b to this phone? (im experience rooting and everything else on other phones...)
Cheers guys!
Trevor

rockr4Christ said:
Hey Guys,
Just wanted to extend a hello to you all . I just got a mytouch 4g, and cant wait to get a custom rom on this thing... stock makes me sad. Just wondering, are there any tips or tricks you guys would offer a n00b to this phone? (im experience rooting and everything else on other phones...)
Cheers guys!
Trevor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Take a look at my newbie guide. Even if you are experienced with #su access. It hits on topics specific to this phone.
and welcome to XDA.

rockr4Christ said:
Hey Guys,
Just wanted to extend a hello to you all . I just got a mytouch 4g, and cant wait to get a custom rom on this thing... stock makes me sad. Just wondering, are there any tips or tricks you guys would offer a n00b to this phone? (im experience rooting and everything else on other phones...)
Cheers guys!
Trevor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi welcome to XDA-Developers, your guides and resources to phone related and much more.. enjoy..ooh the search button can help alot *tip*

I just rooted my phone 2 days ago for the first time from stock gingerbread to cm7.
The ingredients for a successful root/flash:
-Read Read Read. Read the materials associated with your tools, your handset, and the commands needed to make this a successful mod. Read through the tutorials available, go through the different methods and then judge which is right for you, taking into account prep, tools, and your available knowledge. Some are easy, others will usually have a disclaimer regarding difficulty. Don't be discouraged, there's a ton of stuff to get associated with. I jumped balls first and went straight for downgrade, s-off and engineering bootloader (this bootloader may save you later, I suggest you really look into it).
-Understand how to use your tools for the job. You'll see adb, android sdk, fre3vo, gfree and a few other tools of the trade to the task you wish to accomplish. Learn them, learn the commands and the syntax. Inputting commands through the command prompt can seem a little scary considering the potential for disaster but time, patience and perserverance. When in doubt....READ MORE.
-No shortcuts! Learn everything to start, taking the easy way is fast and well....easy. But you won't get the exposure to the tools, commands, or environment you'll be working in. I went through the whole long process of setting up the android sdk just to know what I was getting into. You'll be happy when you hit a problem like getting kicked out of adb shell and knowing what command to enter to jump right back in...
-Follow the directions to a tee. No deviation, improvisation, or imagination. It's the difference between a good mod and an expensive paperweight. When in doubt, search the forums for your answer (and google), if you can't find something specific to your question then ask away.
Good luck and enjoy, you can't imagine how many goodies are waiting for you on this side of the fence.

welcome to the Glacier forums!
after succeeding root access and s-off, there MANY different roms out there. my person favorites would be Sense based roms, more specifically Sense 3.5, and even more specific, RCMix3D by capy. that ROM makes the MT4G BEAST!!

rockr4Christ said:
Hey Guys,
Just wanted to extend a hello to you all . I just got a mytouch 4g, and cant wait to get a custom rom on this thing... stock makes me sad. Just wondering, are there any tips or tricks you guys would offer a n00b to this phone? (im experience rooting and everything else on other phones...)
Cheers guys!
Trevor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey welcome! One bit of advise I can offer is that when you are done fideling with sense...you should really check out the AOSP based Roms. Personally I really dig Faux123's gingerbread nexus rom. Great battery life and performance its cyanogen based so you get all.the tweaks but I find Faux's is.less glitchy. Message me if.you want and ill explain why sense looks nice but runs awful ha
Sent from my HTC Glacier using xda premium

ICS in mytouch 4g
I have been using mytouch 4g from one year. I rooted my device last week using cynogenmod wiki procedure. From last week I am experimenting with ICS: Creamed Glacier, currently in version 4.0. Wifi issues are fixed. ROM is great.

new to forum and android

hi guys, as tittle newby! dont know much about custom roms and what the phone is capable off doing! im running a htc one s on o2, great phone have had some reception issues apart from that i would like to learn more about what these phones are capable off doing and what would be the advantage off a custom rom!? thanks in advance

Welcome and have some fun.. Lots of great information in these threads.

hellopips said:
hi guys, as tittle newby! dont know much about custom roms and what the phone is capable off doing! im running a htc one s on o2, great phone have had some reception issues apart from that i would like to learn more about what these phones are capable off doing and what would be the advantage off a custom rom!? thanks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey mate, welcome to the forums, there's lots to find here
Firstly, seeing as you're new to Android, it can be a bit overwhelming at times to get the most out of your phone. Start small, basic functions, then dive into the Google Play store for awesome apps to make your phone better (even without custom ROMs). To to find what the phone is capable of, just spend some time fiddling around with all the features, try every setting and the like to see what it does!
Here's a general rule: If you're happy with the way your phone is behaving now and the thought of flashing customs ROMs scares you, stock is good
However, being on the bleeding edge can have advantages:
--Installing custom ROMs can give you features that are not yet available via official channels
--Custom ROMs give an even greater amount of control ability on your phone and give you the ability to do things like changing the boot screen on your phone, and many many others.
--They allow you to run things that weren't designed to run on your phone or allow you to overclock your processor for maximum speed (at your own risk of course)
--Often they allow you to remove bloatware and useless apps that you couldn't remove before.
The list is endless. If you want a custom ROM though, you'll need to ROOT. Thats what XDA is all about
If you're keen, there's great info on everything One S related on the Wiki:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/HTC_One_S

nice one:good: now i have a new Q lol what is rooting :silly:
i like the phone its quick and smooth and dare i say seems better than the s3 my opinion,
my only let down is the signal others on other phones same network are getting better reception than me is there anything i can do to improve signal strength, sorry for overload off q's.

No problem Rooting is when you run an exploit on your device that gives you "root" access to the Android file system to do administrative tasks, install apps without the Store, tweak your phone and more. Here's a good explanantion from Wikipedia:
Rooting is often performed with the goal of overcoming limitations that carriers and hardware manufacturers put on some devices, resulting in the ability to alter or replace system applications and settings, run specialized apps that require administrator-level permissions, or perform other operations that are otherwise inaccessible to a normal Android user
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha the CPU indeed is better in day-to-day tasks then the Exynos in the GS3 (except of course gaming) the benchmarks show that uh yeah I've experienced that too, some people say try toggling Settings>Mobile Network>Network Mode>GSM only/WCDMA only but the GSM only restricts data speeds to EGDE.
Is this the problem? : http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1616350&highlight=mobile+network+signal+issue

ive not tried turning phone on and off, i just find when i go rc racing every 1 has good 3g or H so there able to use browser, weres if im lucky i mite get E or G ill try the settings you sent us and see what happens

signal
cheers for the heads up, i tried it but didnt do much to improve! oh well. im now looking into rooting and custom roms, as from what ive read it can help speed up the phones performance but im not very clue up on the best way to do it or what rom to use is a numpty guide available step by step on how and what to use. cheers

hellopips said:
cheers for the heads up, i tried it but didnt do much to improve! oh well. im now looking into rooting and custom roms, as from what ive read it can help speed up the phones performance but im not very clue up on the best way to do it or what rom to use is a numpty guide available step by step on how and what to use. cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I recommend thoroughly reading on it first, and knowing what to do if something goes wrong etc. Also, rooting may void your warranty, just to inform you beforehand.

usaff22 said:
I recommend thoroughly reading on it first, and knowing what to do if something goes wrong etc. Also, rooting may void your warranty, just to inform you beforehand.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
cheers buddy been reading up on it just cant find a good step by step easy to follow tutorial for beginners.

[Q] Will a new ROM be all I ever dreamed of....?

Hi all! I'm a noob to the site and a noob to smartphone modifications, so please forgive me for my questions and concerns. I've used forums for years on many topics and found the knowledge base to be incredible, so I hope you guys will help me out, too.
So, while my Skyrocket has generally worked very well for the past 2+ years, I have always felt it's not living up to its potential. I've read numerous threads on many forums to see what my fellow Rocketeers were doing. I think I've come to the conclusion that flashing a new ROM is the way to go, but I am a bit wary since I've never done this nor know anyone who has. My thinking goes along the same lines as my experience with computers... If you buy a Dell, HP, etc., you get the garbage that the manufacturer bundles in along with Windows. If you wipe the HD and install your own clean copy of Windows, you can usually get better performance without all that other stuff. Hence, the idea for a new ROM for the phone.
A few things have me wondering, though... There seem to be more ROMs available than flavors of Linux! I know choice will end up being a personal thing. My goal is really simple... I just want a clean OS that is stable, efficient, and runs the basic functions I am accustomed to. So, I am not looking to experiment or push the envelope. I want a phone that doesn't crash at the worst possible time, and one that can actually make phone calls! I assume that I will still be able to use the Google Play store to download apps (after installing the plugin thingy). My phone is from AT&T and is unlocked. Will it say unlocked after flashing a new ROM? Will Visual Voicemail still work? I occasionally use FoxFi to create a mobile hotspot. Will I still be able to use it? Or do other ROMs already have this feature unlocked (or bypassed)? I use apps on my phone mostly for email (Yahho/Gmail), calendar, FB, Instagram, YouTube, taking photos/video, viewing forums, and the like, besides making phone calls. In other words, what should I expect from a new ROM? How will things be different? I'm really trying to gauge if this is a worthwhile endeavor for me.
Sorry for the long post. I appreciate your opinions and experience.

It's always worthwhile.
The Skyrocket, to me, was always a case of OEM software that limited its potential. If you really sit down and tweak it, custom ROM, new governor, overclock, it's a beast of a phone that can still keep pace today. You'll have to balance performance with battery life--overclocking and switching to a more aggressive governor doesn't do you any favors there, and some ROMs are better about battery life than others. It's a great phone with a lot of life left, though, much more so than the vanilla S2 because the Rocket has LTE capability.
To hit your other questions, any app that is available on the Play Store will work. If a ROM needs a second gapps flash to get the Play Store (along with everything else Google ships) back, that will be made available and is a very easy install. I've never unlocked a phone, but I don't believe that a new ROM would lose that. Wait for someone else to reply, but I'd be shocked if it did. As far as what you want, there's a ROM to suit any desires. Most ROMs are pretty basic and look and feel like you'd expect a Skyrocket to. Some are designed to feel a little more like iOS, some are designed to be stripped-down (and faster as a result), and some are based on stock firmware and very closely replicate the original experience. It's up to you to read through the dev forum for the Rocket and pick the experience that's best for you.
As far as how difficult it is, spend a couple hours reading about flashing, how it works and why it works. Once you have that basic understanding of it and can follow a few simple instructions that are pretty universal across ROMs, you're set.

Well, I'm giving this a try tonight. Fingers crossed!

One piece of advice: when you pick a new rom from "Android development" read the WHOLE thread associated with that rom, with special attention the the first couple of pages. Make sure you understand the process and any potential pitfalls.
First rom I tried I spent probably six hours reading. It was worth it.

Success!!! I now have the latest CandyKat running! It ended up being not too bad at all. Now I need to figure out how things are different from the AT&T Jelly Bean this replaces.
Thanks for the advice and thanks to everyone who contributes to the site,

I have Kandykat. It seems to be a good solid rom. The Google Now launcher is buggy though. I changed to Nova launcher. Other than that it's been fine.

Thanks for the tips, Chris. I've been using Launcher3. What's the difference between these launchers? Everything seems to be running fine on my rocket now. Any tips on increasing battery life? Any tips on some nice customization?

Google Now launcher seems to have the annoying habit of forgetting the screen setup (app positioning) during reboot. Launcher 3 also exhibited the same problem. Launchers are a matter of taste, but Nova launcher seems solid and looks right to me. YMMV. It's easy to try a few.

Just purchased a factory unlocked verizon HTC M8 for a friend

Hey guys, as the title says I just purchased an unlocked HTC M8.. My friend's carrier is t-mobile in case anyone was wondering. My question is what is the best way to clean up all this crap that verizon does to the phone to make it as pure as possible. I am extremely unfamiliar with the android world but I am comfortable with rooting/flashing doing whatever needs to be done to clean up this phone and make it a nice experience all while being stable. There are so many ROMs out there but I truly do not know where to start, I don't want anything fancy or custom, unless those are the only options I have.

Sounds like you need a stock-based Rom like Scott's cleanrom although there are others. It's pretty much the stock experience but with most all bloat removed, pre-rooted, and just a few things added in. Excellent place to start.

I am in now way trying to discourage you or be negative, but if you don't have a good grasp on the android custom ROM world, I would suggest taking back the phone or trade it for an actual T-Mobile phone.
Rooting and unlocking(s-off), and then having to rip and/ replace stuff out of the ROM for another carrier is not for the faint of heart if your not knowledgeable. But hey, if you are smart and understand computers and phones, I'm sure you could read up and be able to do it. Would be happy to help or guide you in the right direction if you need it.