Database Info

[Q] So what is a ROM?

Hi, I am new to the world of smart phones and would like to learn more about them. I've been reading threads about people changing their ROMs and how it can affect future software updates.
I've done some searching w/ "what is a rom" and "stock rom" but the results are in techno-wiz-lingo that's right over my head.
I have two (pretty basic) questions regarding ROMs.
1. What is a rom?
and
2. If I use Titanium Backup (and install its corresponding busybox), does this change my ROM?
Sorry for the 4th-grader-noob questions. Thanks in advance!
Cheers,
John

We all were there sometime in past, so no problem.
1. A ROM is a part of a non-volatile non-"erasable" memory in phone that hold the operating system and main applications; you can compare it to a premade install of an operating system in a Desktop computer (for example: windows 7 and what manufacturer applications has installed), the difference is that you can't modifiy a ROM directly from inside the phone.
Now, smartphones comes also with premade install os the OS, that's called 'stock ROM', a ROM that come from the phone manufacturer; some people are able to extract ROMs from certain models and modify (kitchen) it, fixing bugs, adding new features, even upgrading main OS version, in short improving what came from the manufacturer that's called 'custom ROM' and that's what xda-developers is all about, in the several forums you will see sections where they talk about improving phone usability.
2. I have no much experience with Android but it seems that titanium backup can backup all your user data, so you can flash a custom ROM to your phone then restore you user data back to your phone, so you won't need to readd everything back at hand (usually when you flash a new ROM to your phone, everything is wiped out and the phone is left blank).
Hope that helps.

Thanks Drakh, that helps a lot! I did some more reading on wikipedia. Looks like I have a bit more to learn.

Thank you also Drakh. I have a lot to learn also.

[Q] Clean an Android phone's bloatware like a PC's?

When I get a new computer that's filled to the brim with bloatware, I put my cleaning gloves on and uninstall every thing on that machine until it's a clean-slate - looking like Windows was just installed.
I just got an Android phone and - surprise surprise! - it has bloatware packed in by Verizon!
Before I get ahead of myself, my device is a Droid RAZR (16GB) on the Verizon network running Android 2.3.6 using the latest OTA update of 6.12.181. (Uses CDMA, too.)
Now, when I get a new computer I do one of two things:
I manually un-install all the bloatware or
I install a clean copy of Windows.
On Android, option 1 doesn't work since the bloat is built into the device's ROM. My question is about option 2.
Now from the research I've done, a custom ROM is usually the work of a team who takes a clean Android ROM and builds on top of it, adding apps and themes.
I want to skip the middle man and just have a clean Android ROM to flash onto my device. No added applications by a team (or my carrier), just a blank slate that Google created to begin with. Sorta like installing a clean copy of Windows.
So: does anyone know where I can find this mythical ROM?

Both options you mentioned will require you to root your phone. And rooting your phone usually means that you void your warranty.
I don't think i have seen a vanilla Android ROM for the Razr, then again i haven't looked that hard.
So you have a couple of options.
1. Root your phone and manually remove the apps you don't want
2. Root your phone, install custom rom and remove the apps you don't want.
3. Root your phone, download the source code from source.android.com, compile and install.

Thanks for the heads up, I did a lot of research before this post and I have a rooted phone already. In fact, I've even installed a custom ROM but I'd much rather have a clean version of Android and build on that for myself.
I'm going to look into vanilla ROMs and if I can't find anything, I'll research into making my own ROM
Out of curiosity, why do you think that vanilla ROMs aren't as popular as modified ones? I'd imagine more people would be asking for just plain Android ROMs and installing whatever they wanted.

Vanilla ROMs aren't popular cause custom roms throw in stuff Google didn't give you.
Sent from my U8150 using XDA

[Q] Just Rooted My Phone: Where to go from here?

Hi,
I am new this this whole Samsung Galaxy S3 customization. Yesterday, I took the big risk of getting my phone bricked and successfully rooted my phone. Now, I am interested in installing some interesting ROMs and uninstall some uninteresting bloatware. However, I do not know where and how to start.
Just a quick note. I have followed [GUIDE] Root for Jelly Bean 4.1.1 or 4.1.2 OTA ***UPDATED 3/5*** to customize my phone, using ClockworkMod Touch Recovery 6.0.2.3 and MD5: 8C3DA18BD5DEF7E38E03DD147A0E10A1 for VRBMB1 (Jelly Bean 4.1.2). My phone's Model Number is SCH-I535, Android Version 4.1.2.
The first thing I want to do is to reformat my phone. By that, I mean improving the battery life, speed, and practically everything else related to those two things I just said. I have read somewhere that custom ROMs can improve battery life, as well as make everything in the phone move faster and smoother. A few ROMs have caught my attention, but I am unsure of which ROM to use. I have also noticed that you can change the battery preferences without the need of a ROM, but nevertheless, a custom ROM couldn't hurt. Plus, I really want to change the theme of my phone, specifically replacing them with [OMG][THEME] 03.21 - Ultimate OMG Theme - 35 Choices - Aroma - CleanROM/Stock.
So the first question is, which is the most preferred ROM to use for my phone? (Or better yet, do I even need a custom ROM?) So far, my main goal is to improve the speed and battery life. But I have noticed that you must factory reset your phone. That is a little discouraging as there are many personal things in my phone that I would love to keep. I do have Titanium Backup, however, I am unsure of how to use it. Is there a guide on how to use Titanium Backup? I am also concerned that a factory reset can and will clear everything in Titanium Backup as well. The next thing is, I am using Next Launcher by Go Developers. I really enjoy the launcher and would like to continue using it. Will I still be able to use the launcher in custom ROMs?
Thank you for your help!

Zarotu said:
Hi,
I am new this this whole Samsung Galaxy S3 customization. Yesterday, I took the big risk of getting my phone bricked and successfully rooted my phone. Now, I am interested in installing some interesting ROMs and uninstall some uninteresting bloatware. However, I do not know where and how to start.
Just a quick note. I have followed [GUIDE] Root for Jelly Bean 4.1.1 or 4.1.2 OTA ***UPDATED 3/5*** to customize my phone, using ClockworkMod Touch Recovery 6.0.2.3 and MD5: 8C3DA18BD5DEF7E38E03DD147A0E10A1 for VRBMB1 (Jelly Bean 4.1.2). My phone's Model Number is SCH-I535, Android Version 4.1.2.
The first thing I want to do is to reformat my phone. By that, I mean improving the battery life, speed, and practically everything else related to those two things I just said. I have read somewhere that custom ROMs can improve battery life, as well as make everything in the phone move faster and smoother. A few ROMs have caught my attention, but I am unsure of which ROM to use. I have also noticed that you can change the battery preferences without the need of a ROM, but nevertheless, a custom ROM couldn't hurt. Plus, I really want to change the theme of my phone, specifically replacing them with [OMG][THEME] 03.21 - Ultimate OMG Theme - 35 Choices - Aroma - CleanROM/Stock.
So the first question is, which is the most preferred ROM to use for my phone? (Or better yet, do I even need a custom ROM?) So far, my main goal is to improve the speed and battery life. But I have noticed that you must factory reset your phone. That is a little discouraging as there are many personal things in my phone that I would love to keep. I do have Titanium Backup, however, I am unsure of how to use it. Is there a guide on how to use Titanium Backup? I am also concerned that a factory reset can and will clear everything in Titanium Backup as well. The next thing is, I am using Next Launcher by Go Developers. I really enjoy the launcher and would like to continue using it. Will I still be able to use the launcher in custom ROMs?
Thank you for your help!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You don't have to flash a custom ROM to improve battery just a custom kernel. There are a lot of custom tweaks that the developers put in their ROMs to further improve the ROM some you can put yourself. As for the themes the stock ROM has to be deodexed in order for the themes to work. Lastly Next launcher is an app and the last time I checked all launcher apps work on rooted phones.

jmxc23 said:
You don't have to flash a custom ROM to improve battery just a custom kernel. There are a lot of custom tweaks that the developers put in their ROMs to further improve the ROM some you can put yourself. As for the themes the stock ROM has to be deodexed in order for the themes to work. Lastly Next launcher is an app and the last time I checked all launcher apps work on rooted phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the reply. Seeing how it is, where can I find custom kernels and/or a guide on how to install and use a custom kernel on my phone? I do not quite understand what you mean when "the stock ROM has to be deodexed in order for the themes to work." Lets say I am interested in one of those custom theme, does that mean I have to personally deodex the ROMs or can I just follow the instructions stated in the main thread? So far I do not have a custom ROM after rooting my phone. Everything is still the same since I did the last step, which was to flash the Jelly Bean Bootchain.
Edit: Is there a thread I can look at find to get more information on how to prepare my phone for theming and modding? Information such as deodexing my phone, and other preparation information. I can't seem to find a good thread.

Zarotu said:
Thank you for the reply. Seeing how it is, where can I find custom kernels and/or a guide on how to install and use a custom kernel on my phone? I do not quite understand what you mean when "the stock ROM has to be deodexed in order for the themes to work." Lets say I am interested in one of those custom theme, does that mean I have to personally deodex the ROMs or can I just follow the instructions stated in the main thread? So far I do not have a custom ROM after rooting my phone. Everything is still the same since I did the last step, which was to flash the Jelly Bean Bootchain.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the original android development is where you will find the kernels. Most of the kernel threads will provide links and the information you need. If you are planning on flashing KT747 kernel here is some additional information: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2144004

Whoa, hold up on the custom kernels and custom rom stuff.
1. You need to make a back up with either twrp or cwm. Next put your important files on your external sd including your efi. Idk if titanium backup allows you to store app back ups on the external sd or not but I assume it does (I use a diff app). You don't have to format your internal sd to flash a custom rom, you have to format the system partition.
Take a minute to make sure you have the prerequisites before moding your phone more. You cannot possibly want to be doing all this so soon especially if you just got into this yesterday.
2. Your still on a stock rom, which is odexed. If you want to customize your rom you need to be on a deodexed rom most of the time. This is a the simple abbreviated difference between odexed and deodexed.
3. Luke took on Vader, even though he was a new rookie padawan. He didnt have a good grip on what he was doing, and karma took his hand and slapped him in the face with irony for it. You might find yourself falling a deep hole of problems if you don't read up more on what you're doing. Do yourself a favor and stay on the god damn dagobah system awhile.

One final thing I have to say is do some research it will help you a lot.

Well, if you want the pure AOSP feel with a CM base, yet uber customization and tweakability I would go with paranoidkangdroid. It mixes CM as a base, with AOKP and ParanoidAndroid. This is what I use and I love it. Cleanrom is a touchwiz rom and I personally feel that while TW roms are stable and usually butter, they are all missing some aspects of customization. Link to the rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2186838. However that's my opinion. I prefer the clean stock google experience, others may not. Happy flashing
EDIT: before you go flash anything make sure you do the following: (in this order)
1. Root device
2. Unlock the bootloader
3. Install TWRP (or CWM, I like TWRP)
4. Make a backup of the current stock rom
5. Take all the things you want to save (pictures) and back them up to your computer.
6. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TRY TO INSTALL A ROM MADE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL, AT&T, NOTE2, etc. You will brick your phone. Stick to the Verizon variant thread and you should be fine. If getting the rom from another website, make sure it is made for SCH-I535 or D2VZW.

nrock2256 said:
Well, if you want the pure AOSP feel with a CM base, yet uber customization and tweakability I would go with paranoidkangdroid. It mixes CM as a base, with AOKP and ParanoidAndroid. This is what I use and I love it. Cleanrom is a touchwiz rom and I personally feel that while TW roms are stable and usually butter, they are all missing some aspects of customization. Link to the rom: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2186838. However that's my opinion. I prefer the clean stock google experience, others may not. Happy flashing
EDIT: before you go flash anything make sure you do the following: (in this order)
1. Root device
2. Unlock the bootloader
3. Install TWRP (or CWM, I like TWRP)
4. Make a backup of the current stock rom
5. Take all the things you want to save (pictures) and back them up to your computer.
6. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TRY TO INSTALL A ROM MADE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL, AT&T, NOTE2, etc. You will brick your phone. Stick to the Verizon variant thread and you should be fine. If getting the rom from another website, make sure it is made for SCH-I535 or D2VZW.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok he is a newbie in this so pretty much AOSP especially those are a little bit advance for him.

jmxc23 said:
Ok he is a newbie in this so pretty much AOSP especially those are a little bit advance for him.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha! Seeing how there is so much to know before I can get started on anything, I believe I will be needing to do more research. So first thing's first. If all I did was root my phone, using the clockwork recovery mod, what should be my next move? Where do I go from here? I have been searching, but have not yet found a guide. How do I backup my stuff in clockwork recovery mod? What do I do if I do not have an external SD card? Haha, I didn't think customizing your phone would be this difficult.
Thank you.

Zarotu said:
Haha! Seeing how there is so much to know before I can get started on anything, I believe I will be needing to do more research. So first thing's first. If all I did was root my phone, using the clockwork recovery mod, what should be my next move? Where do I go from here? I have been searching, but have not yet found a guide. How do I backup my stuff in clockwork recovery mod? What do I do if I do not have an external SD card? Haha, I didn't think customizing your phone would be this difficult.
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is more confusing than it is difficult.

Essentially your next move is preparing yourself incase you fail flashing a rom. You need to do the following:
1. Get a micro sdcard, atleast 16gb
2. Make a back up on the external sd you acquired in step 1 above. This can be done from cwm by selecting "Back up and restore" from the menu, followed by selecting the back up option that says back up to external sd.
3. Now download the rom you want on to your external sd card. Find out if the rom requires gapps or any other supplemental downloads and put them on the external sd as well.
4. Next, report back here for further instructions.
(I havent used cwm for a while so the instructions I gave there are from memory, double check on that)
Surge1223

Surge1223 said:
Essentially your next move is preparing yourself incase you fail flashing a rom. You need to do the following:
1. Get a micro sdcard, atleast 16gb
2. Make a back up on the external sd you acquired in step 1 above. This can be done from cwm by selecting "Back up and restore" from the menu, followed by selecting the back up option that says back up to external sd.
3. Now download the rom you want on to your external sd card. Find out if the rom requires gapps or any other supplemental downloads and put them on the external sd as well.
4. Next, report back here for further instructions.
(I havent used cwm for a while so the instructions I gave there are from memory, double check on that)
Surge1223
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay what if the person doesn't have the money as of now to purchase an sd card? Are there other ways to back up their data?

Sure you can back it up on your internal sd card, but generally you would only do that if you were very familiar with how your recovery works and know exactly what you were doing. Most of the time that means you've had previous experience with the rom your flashing and/or arent too woried about your stuff getting deleted. Usually its a good idea to keep a flashable zip of a deodexed stock rom, radio, recovery, bootchain, etc. In the internal if your doing that but since he's just starting out I wouldn't do that and I usually dont anyways. Its risky and not worth losing your stuff when you could just spend a couple bucks and get a external micro sd.
Surge1223

Surge1223 said:
Sure you can back it up on your internal sd card, but generally you would only do that if you were very familiar with how your recovery works and know exactly what you were doing. Most of the time that means you've had previous experience with the rom your flashing and/or arent too woried about your stuff getting deleted. Usually its a good idea to keep a flashable zip of a deodexed stock rom, radio, recovery, bootchain, etc. In the internal if your doing that but since he's just starting out I wouldn't do that and I usually dont anyways. Its risky and not worth losing your stuff when you could just spend a couple bucks and get a external micro sd.
Surge1223
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Micro SD price range from $5-$100 retail when not on sale and the retail price depends on the storage size. So if the person is hard on cash or has more important things to spend their money she/he might not be able to buy the micro sd with the couple of bucks that you said it cost. The reason I asked those questions is that not everyone has a couple of dollars to spare on a micro sd card so all possible ways to back up data should be mentioned not just what you or I think is the best thing to do. For instance I have my data backed up on my computer via external hard drive as well as Google drive, box and Dropbox. I also use Carbon instead of the titanium backup app that everyone suggests to use. So they can use their computer, cloud storage service, external hard drive, micro sd cards and apps to backup their data.

Its not a matter of whether its possible or not, I mean yeah you can also make a system image of your pc using DVD's instead of a portable hdd or flash drive. I can understand people may be short on cash, but if you have enough time and money to root your phone, pay for a data plan, subscribe to the internet, you can budget 5 dollars. Hell, you could even start using bing rewards to get yourself a 5$ Amazon credit.

All I am saying mainly is that there are more ways to back up your data besides micro sd cards and that all people new to rooting should know more then one way as something can go wrong your micro sd card so your data should be backed up in other ways to insure that you can restore your data.

I hear ya, I guess I just think because I learned my own how to use other methods I assumed that as people got more familiar with flashing roms, etc, that they'd learn eventually too. But hey to each his own. IMO, the external sd is the easiest, fastest, and most reliable way so in this case, I think we should leave well enough alone.
Surge1223

GUIDE SGS4 GSM vs CDMA, Unlocking, Rooting,Info on XDA, Flashing,4 noobs & beginners

GUIDE SGS4 GSM vs CDMA, Unlocking, Rooting,Info on XDA, Flashing,4 noobs & beginners
First off: if you find this useful, please hit the THANKS button, instead of posting thank you in the comments
Over the course of the past three months (and more specifically, over the past week), I'd like to think I've gone from complete noob to proficient android ROM flasher/ phone dude. However, it took many, many hours of searching for info scattered across this site and others, so I figured I'd give compiling all I've learned a shot, into one comprehensive thread that really covers all the stuff you need to learn from the ground up.
Will do so in the next couple 10 posts, topics being:
*Step (-1): What type of network/ phone technology does your phone use?
*Step (0): is your phone networked locked?
*Step (0.5): DECIDING YOU WANT TO ROOT YOUR DEVICE!/ Put a custom operating system on that thaaaang
*Step1: figure out what your device is- specific phone and model
*Step2: figure out how to root (gain root access to) your device looking at XDA forums
*Step3: Follow instructions, root device
*Step4: backup all your apps and app data
*Step5: Install a custom recovery either ClockWorkRecovery (CWR) or Team Win Recovery Project (TWRP), and do a nandroid backup!
*Step6: Choose which ROM or multiple ROMS you want to try out, and download the zipfile to your phone's internal memory or
*Step7: Step 7: flash the ROM and restore your apps!
NOTE: YOU TWEEK YOUR PHONE/ FOLLOW MY ADVICE AT YOUR OWN RISK
I just learned this stuff myself, so I thought now would be a good time to explain it, while I can still remember what if feels like to have no idea what I'm doing haha.
Before I go further, there are similar intro threads to this...for example, this one does a decent job of explaining that by modding your phone, you may void the warranty (although there are ways to restore your device to a state such that you can't tell you ever modded, it, like triangle away, etc.) http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1118120
I posted this here because a couple of these steps use the Galaxy S4 i9500 as an example...so if you have that phone this thread should be particularly helpful.

Step(-1): What type of network/ phone technology does your phone use?
If you are OUTSIDE the USA, 99% chance the answer to this question is GSM, meaning your phone number is attached to a little plastic sim card that you can put into/ out of your phone...you should check anyways though to be sure.
If you are in the US, you may have a phone which uses CDMA, a technology that does not use Sim cards (true if your carrier is Verizon or Sprint). Phones that JUST use CDMA are sort of "Hardwired" to their networks, making it much more of a hassle to switch carriers; plus, basically everywhere else in the world uses GSM, so if you plan on traveling outside the USA, you probably won't be able to use your phone abroad. If you have a fancy new smart phone, it may have the hardware to use both CDMA and GSM networks, (for example, all Iphones models 4s and above), so check your phone specs.
In the US, the major carriers that use GSM are ATT and Tmobile. I prefer getting phones from these guys, because I know I'll be able to relatively easily use my phone anywhere in the world, and easily switch between cheap, prepaid, contract free plans (like straight talk or ultramobile), which rent out the networks of major carriers like ATT and Tmobile.

Step(0): is your phone networked locked?
ans: This is mostly a non-issue to folks outside the US, or if you don't plan on switching your carrier, but if you plan on travelling abroad or switching your carrier, and have a CDMA phone, you have a tough road ahead that I cannot advise you on . I would suggest checking out this site and buying a slightly used android gsm phone (att or tmobile branded) http://swappa.com/ .
However, if you have a GSM phone you got in the US, your phone may be configured so that putting sim cards from different carriers in it won't give you any service (aka "locked" or "network locked"). Check by taking a friend's Sim card using a different network than you and popping it into your phone; if you have service/ can make and receive calls, the phone is NOT locked. There are probably more sophisticated ways of checking if your phone is network locked, but above is probably the most straightforward.
There are some methods of unlocking your phone for free, but if you have a newer phone it may not work. Plenty of online sites that sell you unlock codes for between $7-$25, and send the code over email either instantly or a day at most after you buy it. Definitely worth it in my opinion; one site I've used a bunch is http://www.cellunlocker.net/
NOTE: if you have your phone on a contract, you are still obligated to pay your carrier throughout the time of your contract, else you pay some cancellation fee. So be aware of that.

Step 0.5 DECIDING YOU WANT TO ROOT YOUR DEVICE!/ Put a custom operating system (ROM)
SO, now let's say you've network unlocked your awesome GSM android smartphone, and you want to travel with it to another country, like for example, India. Because you unlocked it, you can buy a cheap local Sim card and use it in your phone, fully enjoying mobile 4g data (well, more like 3.5G, using HSPA+, not so much 4G LTE in India yet, but I digress). OR, you can use a $45 a month prepaid plan where you get unlimted everything and have no contract, instead of paying $80 a month or some garbage. AWESOME!
However, let's say you got a Tmobile phone and want to use the phone's capability of being a portable wifi hotspot, broadcasting the mobile data it's getting to your computer...turns out you can't do that in India (or on cheap prepaid plans in US, for that matter). I discovered that since I was using a Tmobile branded phone, the Tmobile "stock" operating system of the phone won't let you use the wifi hotspot unless you have Tmobile's special "hotspot plan"...it also hard codes a bunch of shi**y bloatware apps on your phone that suck. Some BULLS**T, eh?
Luckily, there are plenty of free and easy ways to "root" (gain root acccess) to your phone (and plenty of resources telling you how to do so!), and install custom android operating systems on your phone, which
1.) don't have any stupid bloatware apps
2.) let you use all the hardware features of your phone regardless of carrier
The result is a more powerful phone that runs faster, uses less battery life, and is generally just way more badass. Probably the best resource for how to do all of this is the xda-developers forums (http://forum.xda-developers.com/ ) Very vibrant community, and lots of people will help...just follow the rules though, explained tongue and cheeck in the following video ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmvCpR45LKA ). The main site for xda-developers is www.xda-developers.com, they also do cool vides and stuff on what's up with phone stuff. HOWEVER, if you are not careful you can mess up your phone, so that it's about as good as a paperweight (called "bricking" your phone). So just read all the instructions before you do stuff, yeah?
The following is more or less the beginning steps I did to root and install a custom ROM on a friend's Galaxy S4, which is an international model and so not network locked. The same general process could be applied to your phone as well, but again--this is only a general guide--your phone can (and probably will) have it's own exceptions to the general process. LOOK THEM UP!

Steps 1,2,3: find device model, research how to gain root, ROOT!
Step1: figure out what your device is- specific phone and model
ans: for example, my friend's phone I am setting up for him is the Samsung Galaxy S4 model i9500
**************************************************
Step2: figure out how to root (gain root access to) your device
ans: Off all the devices on xda forums (http://forum.xda-developers.com/index.php?tab=top), found my device ( http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4) , found the proper forum (http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s4/help) , then searched in that specific forum to find the proper thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2419762 , see Q4
**************************************************
Step3: Follow instructions, root device
ans: Instructions are at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2292615
NOTE: You must have the proper USB drivers installed, meaning either installing the sdk (software developer kit) from google and getting adb (android debugging bridge) set up (this is the best way to do it, really, especially if you want to mess around with phones more...tutorial on how to setup adb here http://androidcentral.us/2013/08/how-to-install-android-adb-and-fastboot-on-windows/ ) . If you can already transfer music and stuff from your computer, it may work without adb. Be sure your USB cable is not too beat up, and if possible, is the one that came with the device.
adb is very useful for communicating between pretty much any android phone and your computer. You can use it to push files on the computer through the terminal interface, even if the phone's file system doesn't show up for whatever reason on the computer when you connect it via USB ( more on that here http://log.amitshah.net/2012/05/using-adb-to-copy-files-to-from-your-android-device/ ), and a cool little program to send files from your computer to the device in a slightly more straightforward way, if you already have adb installed (http://www.xda-developers.com/android/push-files-to-your-device-with-quick-adb-pusher/)
Also, make sure you have USB debugging enabled. It should be in the Develpors options, which you may have to "activate" to see...see here http://gs4.wonderhowto.com/how-to/enable-hidden-developer-options-your-samsung-galaxy-s4-0146687/
If you are rooting a samsung device, you will probably have to use a program called ODIN. Other android devices allow you to do root through a method called flashboot. In general there are tons of ways to root devices, just make sure the one you are using has been tested and you follow the instructions exactly.
CONGRATS! you are rooted. That's half the battle. Rooting the phone will add a "Super User" app of some kind, which will basically controll which apps have access to the internal files of the phone (located on the "root" of the phone's flash drive). Some apps that are very useful for flashing custom ROMS (like ROM manager) and backing up your apps and their associated data (like Titanium backup) require root access, so you'll need to have rooted your phone first, and then when you open those apps for the first time, tap "allow" when it asks about granting root access.
some cool apps can only be downloaded if your phone has Root, like this gameboy emulator: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.codlab.src.game&hl=en
and here are some good Root apps to have, apparently
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jX4ir9r84YA

Step4: backup all your apps and app data
When you do eventually install a custom ROM on onto your phone, it will start out with little to no apps. The best way to get up and running again as quick as possible is to back up all your apps and data with Titanium Backup (mentioned above), which requires root access. Here's a great video on How to use the free version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQWoWfTA88k ....the video makes a good point in that if you are backing up your apps for a new ROM you are about to flash, you should only backup the User apps. Backing up and restoring the system data as well might cause some problems in the new ROM
While you don't need to to buy the pro version, I would recommend it--7 bucks, but it allows you to restore all the apps you've backed up much faster by letting you back them up into a zip file that you'll later be able to flash on your phone. Very useful, more on that in a bit...video talking about that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRR5FONGJUA

Step5: Install a custom recovery either ClockWorkRecovery (CWR) or Team Win Recovery
By "custom recovery", i mean a custom version of the boot/ recovery interface, which lets you do a lot more with your device besides just restore it to factory settings. These custom recoveries will let you do a full backup of your device (often called a "nandroid backup"--this should be the first thing you do after you root your device!), as well as flash custom phone operating systems (ROMS) onto your phone; useful if you want to fully use all the hardware features of your phone, and not have the bloatware apps from the manufacurers hard-coded into your phone.
It's worth noting here that it's VERY important to install the correct version of CWR or TWRP. Usually to download CWR for your device, you can just download an app called ROM manager (again, after you've rooted your phone), which will recognize your device and then install the proper CWR version on it.
NOTE: If you have a more esoteric model of phone (like I do--the Samsung Galaxy S3 T999L, an LTE version of the S3 that came out in 2013, a while after the initial S3 launch), you may have to flash a custom recovery of a similar and more popular phone model to flash some custom ROMS (in my case, I had to flash the the Galaxy S3 model T999 version of CWR). For weird esoteric cases like this, it may be worth it to buy a useful app, ROMToolbox pro, which will let you flash a custom recovery for a userdefined device onto your phone in the paid version (it's like $5). Most times you shouldn't have to worry about this stuff, but just make sure you read any instrutions on XDA forums carefully before doing stuff.
As mentioned before, before messing around with your phone anymore, do a nandroid backup--super easy and essential if you make a mistake installing the wrong ROM or Recovery. Doing a nandroid backup will create a .zip file that contains a full "image" of your phone--all your data, apps, settings, a snapshot of your phone exactly the way it was when you took it. In creating this backup you can save it to your phone's micro SD card, or the phones internal memory. Regardless, always a good idea to save a copy on your computer too when you are done.
For the Samsung galaxy S4 i9500, looks like TWRP is the recovery to flash: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2361122

Step6: Choose which ROM or multiple ROMS you want to try out, and dl zipfile to phone
Now comes the fun part. Do some research on what custom ROM you'll want to try out. Some basic principles about ROMS:
Roms based on the Stock OS: These ROMS are based on the manufacturer firmware/ OS that the phone shipped with. So for Samsung devices, for example, these types of ROMS are Touchwiz based (because "TouchWiz" is the name Samsung has given to it's proprietary software that is responsible for a lot of the bell and whistle tricks you see in Galaxy S4 commercials, for example) These Roms are usually about 700 MB in size, and may still have some of the samsung apps installed if you do like to use them.
AOSP or AOKP ROMS:
AOSP (Android Open Source Project) ROMS are those that ship with "vanilla" android, meaning they don't have any manufacturer bloatware--they come with more or less the bare bones apps required to run the system. These ROMS will be much smaller, around 100-150 MB in size. The most popular of these is CyanogenMod, which is often referred to as just CM (for example, CM11.0.1 stands for CyanogenMod version 11.0.1). The guy who made clockworkrecovery, Koush (a legendary android developer of sorts, it seems), now works for the CyanogenMod development team ( think)
AOKP is the name of another popular AOSP based ROM. AOKP stands for Android Open Kang Project, Kanging being some jargon for stealing code and messing with it or something. Apparently it was used as a joke and then stuck, in the same sense that their mascot being a unicorn stuck (which I think is awesome haha).
IMPORTANT POINT ABOUT AOSP ROMS:
If you flash an AOSP Rom, the google play store will NOT be installed by default. In order to fix that, you'll need to flash another zip file containing the play store app as well as other basic google apps (gapps for short) as soon as you flash the Rom itself. You can find the proper gapps zips that go with the proper AOSP roms here: http://goo.im/gapps
There are couple apps that will let you download the ROM files directly to your interal storage from the app itself, like Rom Manager. However, to make sure you have the most up to date version of the ROM, you should visit the ROM's website directly.
Custom ROMS will often have a most recent stable build, and a most recent "nightly" build. The nightly builds may have some new experimental features, but may be a little buggy.

Step 7: flash the ROM and restore your apps!
So here's a pretty good short video walking through how to flash a ROM, although uses a different recovery interface besides CWR or TWRP : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxTwGwtUBbk ....this does a good job of explaining the basic idea, however--
A.)you get the zip file of the ROM you want to flash on your internal or removable SD card
B.) reboot into recovery mode (often by holding down the volume down key and power button at the same time when your power is off, but you should look up what it is for your specific device)
C.) do a Wipe or Factory Reset. THis should not wipe the data on your SD card or phone's Internal SD card
D.) Wipe the Cache or the Dalvik Cache, whatever it is called (though on TWRP, the wipe feature does both a factory reset and cache wipe at once)
E.) install from SD card the zip file containing the ROM you are going to flash
F.) If the Rom is an AOSP based ROM, install the zip file containing the proper package of google apps
G.) reboot system
Again, the above are just general steps. If you want to see someone flashing a ROM with the recovery you are using (and I would recommend CWR or TWRP), just search for it on Youtube.
Now, if you plan on restoring your apps by flashing a Titanium Backup zip file, you first want to reboot into the new ROM, and skip the part when it asks you if you want to restore your phone using your google account (you can do that later). Then reboot into recovery and flash the Titanium backup zip file. got this info here: http://www.s3forums.com/forum/galax...backup-pros-update-zip-restore-your-apps.html
And that's about it! let me know if I got anything wrong. If you do have questions, I'll try my best to answer them, but again, I've just learned all this stuff as well, so I may not know.

Rooting for the first time.

Hello everyone,
First let me start of by saying that I love this forum, I love the idea of it; having all android consumers' needs all grouped in one place I wish they were different websites as focused as this one. And I am thankful for every person in this pseudo system that helps everyday, make it a better version of what it is.
I've been considering rooting my device for months. Now, I finally have some time to get to it.
I saved up some questions while browsing the forums, I am hoping you could save 2 minutes to answer whatever question you think your best suited to answer. (I am patient )
1. If I freeze/ delete bloatware from my device, does it become aosp?
2. After downloading, can I download Aosp as my ROM or do I have to use a custom rom like Lineage, MIUI, etc ...?
3. When I Am using a ROM + an android launcher, do the ressources(Battery, memory, ...) used by both add up. What I am asking is it always better to use a rom without a launcher?
4. What are CAFs?
5. what exactly is CMW or TWRP?
6. If I already have greenify, do I need doze? or is it redundant? (stock rom is kitkat 4.4)
I'll be posting again, because, I don't want to brick my phone (SIGH!), untill then have a good day.

CWM and TWRP are custom recoveries that let you install zip files. Custom ROMs and other mods come in zip form so you need TWRP if you want to install anything like Roms.
What device are you planning on rooting?

Anarhy said:
Hello everyone,
First let me start of by saying that I love this forum, I love the idea of it; having all android consumers' needs all grouped in one place I wish they were different websites as focused as this one. And I am thankful for every person in this pseudo system that helps everyday, make it a better version of what it is.
I've been considering rooting my device for months. Now, I finally have some time to get to it.
I saved up some questions while browsing the forums, I am hoping you could save 2 minutes to answer whatever question you think your best suited to answer. (I am patient )
1. If I freeze/ delete bloatware from my device, does it become aosp?
2. After downloading, can I download Aosp as my ROM or do I have to use a custom rom like Lineage, MIUI, etc ...?
3. When I Am using a ROM + an android launcher, do the ressources(Battery, memory, ...) used by both add up. What I am asking is it always better to use a rom without a launcher?
4. What are CAFs?
5. what exactly is CMW or TWRP?
6. If I already have greenify, do I need doze? or is it redundant? (stock rom is kitkat 4.4)
I'll be posting again, because, I don't want to brick my phone (SIGH!), untill then have a good day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) no, if you freeze/remove bloatware it does not make AOSP.
2) The ROMs you use will depend on what(if anything) is available for your model number, there may be no custom ROMs or there may be up to 10 or 20 custom ROMs. It just depends on whether anyone has chosen to build ROMs and what type of ROM(s) they choose to build. This is all determined by the model number of your device.
3) Yes, everything that is installed, loaded and running will use battery. I don't exactly undrstand why or what you are asking this for.
4) http://openattitude.com/2016/01/18/android-6-custom-roms-aosp-vs-caf/
https://forum.xda-developers.com/google-nexus-5/help/caf-vs-caf-t3341502
5) CWM(ClockWorkMod) and TWRP(Team Win Recovery Project) are custom recoveries used to flash ROMs, make backups, restore backups, wipe the devices partitions, adb access and management, etc..
6) Greenify freezes apps and Doze puts the device in deep sleep so it's OK to use them together as long as it doesn't cause a conflict, it may depend on how you arrange each of their settings.
I DO NOT PROVIDE HELP IN PM, KEEP IT IN THE THREADS WHERE EVERYONE CAN SHARE