Related
I'm a pretty big noob when it comes to custom roms (done plenty of tweaks and hacks to the stock ones though). Anyhow, everyone's trying to convince to me to ditch stock altogether and a few have recommended that I try ROMKitchen.org.
Would anyone be so kind as to post a tutorial on what the best choices would be for a captivate in the US ? I'm sure the other noobs here will appreciated it too.
Specifically, I need help with choosing the:
Base ROM (what are the differences or advantages to one over the other)
CSC (I believe JH7 is the US country code, right?)
Kernel (same question as the Base ROM)
Modem (is there a specific one if I'm on AT&T or if that doesn't matter then what are the differences between them)
Apps (which version do I choose for the Swype Keyboard)
And if there's anything else from the other categories that you guys think I should include, I'll gladly take your suggestions. Thanks a lot!
All of the default settings in the kitchen are fine to use, for the theme though you should stick with the stock js5 theme, i ran into a boot loop bug a while ago not sure if it was fixed with non-stock themes.
@peachpuff
Thanks. Regarding swype, the default choice is to NOT install it. Do you have any idea which version I'm supposed to choose: JPA, JPO, JPU, or JPY? I try researching these things as much as possible before I post but I'm not finding a clear answer.
Couldn't I just save a copy the swype apk from my current installation and install it on the new rom? If so, do I need to copy over the corresponding odex file too or will that get created during the installation?
Credit to vs2 who discovered this.
This is not flashing a custom ROM, but rather flashing another official Garmin ROM onto your phone from another country.
Try this at your own risk. Consider yourself warned.
This is reportedly working fine on the A50 (Garminfone) & A10.
I found this posted over at Howard Forums by "vs2".
I wiped my T-Mobile Garminfone and put A50 firmware for Canada's Videotron on it. It works fine and does not have the "offers" etc. that bloated up the T-Mo version. Traffic works just fine too. I now have French rather than Spanish on it.
You may need an unlock code. I did after I did a Master Clear. But if I did not do the master clear, I was fine...
vs2 said:
Instructions: (worked for me)
1. Have two micro SD cards
2. On one put the same update file that is already on your phone.
2. On the other put the new firmware you want to update to.
3. With phone off practise taking phone cover off/on and removing SD card.
4. Turn phone on with SD card that had existing firmware update on. Update notice will show and ask if you want to update - say yes, then it should say update is the same as already on your phone do you still want to update, don't accept or decline. Now quickly pull off cover and exchange SD cards and put cover back on. You may get a message about battery cover - go ok. Then the same 'do you want to update' message should appear - go ok.(you may need to pull down the yellow exclamation from the top to accept the update if the window does not show) Be patient and wait your screen will show 'verifing' then reboot and could be a black screen for 10-15 minutes. (try it with out a Master Clear first, your apps will still be registered and you may not require an unlock code!) as your old settings/apps will still be on phone. It may be ok to leave them on??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interested? Here's a few links to the .update files.
Some countries have packaged them inside an .exe file (OPTUS for Australia). I used WinRar to extract them from the .exe and followed the procedure above.
http://www.garminasus.com/fr_CA/support/nuvifone-a50-software-updates.html French Canadian adds French to the languages and removes Spanish.
http://www.garminasus.com/da_DK/support/upgrade/open-a50.html OPEN market. Denmark. .exe file.
http://www.garminasus.com/da_DK/support/upgrade/telenor-a50.html telenor Denmark. Also an .exe.
http://www.garminasus.com/da_DK/support/upgrade/telia-a50.html telia Denmark. .exe file.
http://www.garminasus.com/en_AU/support/nuvifone-a50-software-updates.html an .exe for OPT in Australia
http://www.garminasus.com/en_AU/support/software/Optus-A50-Eclair-SW-Upgrade-Instructions.pdf
http://www.garminasus.com/zh_HK/support/nuvifone-A50-software-updates.html Hong Kong updates.
http://www.garminasus.com/en_MY/support/documentation/a50/A50-V5074-MYS-update.zip Mylasia update.
http://www.garminasus.com/en_MY/support/documentation/a50/A50_FW_update_and_master_clear.pdf instructions
See vs2's posts on/about page 12 of this thread: http://www.howardforums.com/showthread.php/1638376-Garmin-Nuvifone-A50-Navigating-to-T-Mobile/page12
i lost my t-mobile sim
I lost my t-mobile sim
so i will be using a Universal sim of my friend to upgrade it
then i will have 2 return the universal sim
so my question is can i open this phone without a sim ! !
And my country doesnt have this update n T-mobile sim is not available here
Plzz let me know
the details . . .
addition to Spazmogen:
when device reboots, plug in charger
Looking for a specific ROM .update file for A10
Spazmogen said:
Credit to vs2 who discovered this.
This is not flashing a custom ROM, but rather flashing another official Garmin ROM onto your phone from another country.
Try this at your own risk. Consider yourself warned.
This is reportedly working fine on the A50 (Garminfone) & A10.
I found this posted over at Howard Forums by "vs2".
I wiped my T-Mobile Garminfone and put A50 firmware for Canada's Videotron on it. It works fine and does not have the "offers" etc. that bloated up the T-Mo version. Traffic works just fine too. I now have French rather than Spanish on it.
You may need an unlock code. I did after I did a Master Clear. But if I did not do the master clear, I was fine...
Interested? Here's a few links to the .update files.
-------
Hello,
I don't know if this thread is still alive or if anyone is listening, but I'll try anyway...
I need to reflash my Garmin A10 ROM back to "out of the box" state. But I have been unable to find the proper .update file I need.
My A10 model was manufactured for European Open market with Android 2.1, European maps and all languages incl French.
Among the files you mention above, none would suit my device...The one I could possibly use would be the DK_Open market (Denmark); hoping it contains all the other European language options. But it seems to be for the A50 device; so I have some hesitation as to flashing it on my A10 model. Are both models so close in hardware features that this would work ?
Otherwise, the original ROM I need is this one :
A10:2.1-update 1/ERE27/A10-V5.071-user-20101027EUOM
If anyone has this .update or knows where I can get it, I would be so happy !
Seems it has been removed from all Garmin Support/download sites, as I was able to find all the ones you mention above, but not this particular update...Possibly it was not available for download because A10 models sold in Europe that were not Open market, could then be "jailbroken" and therefore accept any SIMM and telephony operator...My guess anyway.
But also possibly this ROM was downloadable for some time and perhaps someone would still have a copy of it...
Thank you very much if someone can help,
gtournier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.garminasus.com/da_DK/support/upgrade/open-a10.html
Please note this is a rewrite and cleanup of first post. Original firstpost is in post#3.
Here I publish the ROM's I make for the MT6575 based Lenovo Dual SIM phone
The current and advised ROM is A750_ROW_S114_cybermaus_ICS_V3.1 described in post#2 below
This is the original A750 thread, but as not everyone can post in developer threads, I also have a publicly available new Q&A thread.
I advise you post your question here (if a more advanced and development specific A750 question) or in the Q&A question.
I am not going to be policing, so you can post where you like, but I invite everyone to use this new thread for any Q&A, and this thread for ROM releases and deep development talk only. Please understand I do not know everything, so using the Q&A thread is better then PM'ing me, as that way maybe others know the answer too.
Also, I am moving file hosting to Dev-Host. So if you encounter a dead link to a ROM file, do look here in my Dev-Host folder.
ICS IceCream Sandwich
Starting 2012/09/12 I have a second flavor of ICS ROM for the A750
ICS V1 ~ V1.3 are based on the original Lenovo A750 ROM's Most people tried them, but went on to APKHOT because of multilang. There was a V2, but never released
ICS V3 and onward is based on the Lenovo P700 ROM, see below
ICS V1 series
It is a update.zip type update. If you already got S306, and rooted/gapps'ed it yourself, you could stick to that, this is the same, with some minor extra cleanup.
'Normal' cleanup actions:
- Prevented update from overwriting Recovery
- Added root (Chainfire) & gapps (CM9 120429) & Maps & Streetview
- Cleaned Chinese & SmsReg
- Replace talking Unicom bootup with silent butterfly
- Set to US/en & added MoreLocale2
- Added MobileUncle 2.0.9
Instructions for A750_S306_120530_cybermaus_ICS_V1:
Assuming you have the custom recovery. If not, flash the recovery from my 4-shared using the flash tool.
- Put S306 V1 zip file on SD card (do not unzip)
- Also put S306 V1.3 zip file on the SD card (do not unzip)
- Boot into Recovery
- First apply V1, then apply V1.3
- Potentially, clear userdata and cache, especially if you come from any S14x GB
- Reboot, and wait for it to complete.
BTW: It should probably be noted that while I packaged V1.2 and V1.3, it was again bgcngm who we have to thank for knowing how to solve the location problems.
If you already lost recovery due to the S306 OTA update, reinstall it using the flash method from first post.
Please always respond if you tested it, even if you did not like it.
Oh, and if you do like it, press the thanks button of course.
ICS V3 series
For a long time I guessed the P700 is similar to the A750, but why bother. Until I recently heard it has a multilingual ROW (Rest Of World 海外版) version!
So I took the leap, and transplanted the A750 kernel into the P700 ROM (needed because the screen driver is different), and installed it on my A750.
It works pretty well. I did not need to fix location services or gapps (though I did put the newest in there). Also did I not need to clean up any Chinese apps. And the Calender is Chinese free, and the Dialer free of Chinese city names. So I barely had to do anything. Also GAPPS TTS was in there, though I still cannot find the settings menu.
But alas, the only 'multilang' in the ROW was Vietnamese. I guess "Rest Of World" is pretty limited.
Also, for those of you that liked it, the Security App (Anti-Virus, and limit permissions per App, so sort of a firewall) is also missing. I may put it back in later, but I want to run vanilla for a while to test stability.
But it is still nice and clean, and all programs a month newer. And Chinese out of the browser/email-setup/calender/dialer. Oh, and for all of you that went to APKHOT because of the newer SIM taskbar icons: It also has the newer icons. For an ongoing list of findings in post #585
So for those of you that want to try: A750_ROW_S113_cybermaus_ICS_V3 based on P700_ROW_S113_120801.
Assuming you have the custom recovery. If not, flash the recovery from my 4-shared using the flash tool.
A750_ROW_S114_cybermaus_ICS_V3.1
Based on factory ROM P700_ROW_S114_120903, and located in my Dev_host. Similar to V3, but newer, and a few extra tweaks.
Summery of changes:
- Same as on V3, and additionally:
- Whatever Lenovo fixed in their S114 (there is a unconfirmed suggestion that it may be signal strength related)
- Different (better?) call-log and Caller-ID behavior, see post #3 below
- Prepared busybox (you need to run script /system/xbin/installbusybox as root if you want it)
- Added a tweak so USB-Debug notification is no longer shown
- Added a tweak so Wifi works on all 14 international channels (rather than only the 11 US ones, may be undone if you set a different locale)
- Kept the original S306 radio firmware (baseband). They had the same timestamp as the P700 one anyway.
Instructions:
This is a update.zip type ROM. If you are on any ICS ROM, you do not need to flash V3 first, you can directly flash V3.1"
- Put ROW_S114 zip on SD card
- Boot into recovery
- Apply zip file
- Reboot, and wait for it to complete.
- If you came from a domestic Chinese ROM, clean data for calender, notes, desktop and if possible contacts, using these utilities. Or if you do not mind, wipe all data from recovery.
=================
BTW: Due to new forum rules, resulting in a large number of people that cannot post into developer threads and that subsequently PM me, I open op a new Q&A thread.
I am not going to be policing, so you can post where you like, but I invite everyone to use this new thread for any Q&A, and this thread for ROM releases and deep development talk only.
Consequently, if you PM'ed me, look for your reply in this new thread
Thanks
====================
PS: do drop me a reply if you use or tried it! Or press the 'thanks' button.
HELP, I lost my IMEI ! / Caller ID
Please note the content below was originally in post#1. I cleanup Post#1 a little, to make it clearer to new users.
=================
Hi All
My second Lenovo A750 ROM release: A750_S148_120428_cybermaus_V1
Edit: For ICS rom check the 2nd post.
Fixed toward V0
- Different GAPPS, resulting in
- More stable Play Store with less unlisted apps
- WiFi based Location services (from for example Places) working (GPS did work in V0)
- NANP (US style) numbering formating removed from phone
- Replaced Unicom talking bootup animation with silent Lenove butterfly
- Added 'new phone Setup' program
Still to improve (if you know how, on a MT6573/MT6575, let me know!)
- Caller ID lookup in Contacts should ignore IDD prefixes
- SMS app trips over hyphens and brackets in stored numbers
- Arabic/Hebrew RTL fix not applied yet.
- Remove 'new phone Setup' program again?
This is a simple and clean ROM, not too much done, essentially just the factory S148 ROM (A750_S148_120428) rooted, cleansed from Chinese and with Google Play Store and other GAPPS.
So it is mostly clean. It does not even have the Skype/YouTube/Flash apps, as I believe such apps change too often to be in the system portion. I upload the ones I got from Etowalk separately, in folder Etotalk_apk, you can install yourself.
Specific changes:
- Rooted the phone
- Set to boot in US-english
- Added MoreLocale for extra languages
- Removed Chinese apps, incl Chinese keyboard
- Removed SmsReg.apk
- Left Lenovo Security (anti-malware) intact
- Added Google framework
- Added modded Play Store 3.x.16-mod from XDA
- Added MobileUncle toolbox V2.0.9
- Added CWMR Touch / 593zn.com recovery image
Most images are unmodified from stock S148, even boot.img is unmodified. Only system.img was really changed, you could flash only that.
You will also need the flash tool and USB driver. For example tool SP_Flash_tool_v3.1208.01 and driver USB_VCOM_Driver. The flashing is the
typical Mediatek MT6573/MT6575 based flashing sequence as shown by bgcngm, the undisputed champion of Mediatek ROMS.
Which reminds me: Thanks to bgcngm for his help, and to jazzor for his help
Instructions:
By default, the ROM will not overwrite USERDATA. If you want a clean slate, first extract empty.userdata.rar. Also do this if you get "weird" behaviour after flashing, like Play Store not starting, your old setting may be incompatible with the new ROM
By default, the ROM will not overwrite FAT (the internal SD card). If you like an empty internal SD card, extract empty.fat.rar before flashing.
By default, the ROM will clean out CACHE. If for some reason you feel CACHE should not be cleared, deselect the CACHE from flashing.
IMPORTANT: If you want to play it safe, it may be wise to backup your phone's IMEI file before you flash or reset to factory defaults. See here for help on backup or restoring IMEI
IMPORTANT: If you are trying this ROM on another model phone, which I STRONGLY advise AGAINST, then do NOT flash the first two (preloader and dsp_bl) as you will may not be able to flash it back afterward and thus brick your phone. Someone tried it against an ZP100 and bricked his phone.
Download A750_S148_120428_cybermaus_V1
I will also upload the driver, flash utility and official ROM's there.
Enjoy
May 11, 2012
cybermaus
------------------------------------
Caller ID bug
Caller ID on the on the A750, on the P700 ROW, and I suspect in general on the Lenovo phones.
The lenovo ROW (=Rest Of World) based ROM are much more international then the other Lenovo ROMs. I cannot be sure about the other china brands, but Lenovo in ROMs intended for the local China market, 'update' the phone to nicely recognise chinese cities. I am sure China locals will be pleased with this service. I do not know if/how this applies on phones which are already more international like the multilingual Zopo's and Thl's out there.
In doing so, Lenovo seems to break the normal caller ID function. Not only do you get to see Chinese city names for non-Chinese numbers, but also in some cases it does not resolve an incoming call to your phone book. This seem to be especially true if the incoming call is in local format (no +CC) and the phone book is in international format (with +CC)
The ROW based ROMs work much nicer. No Chinese city names for non Chinese numbers. Also, it finds correct country names. So far, I was called by unknown numbers from California, UK, London, Russia, Romania, Saudi, Yemen and Jordan, and it all correctly resolved them. For California and London even to greater detail then the country. It only shows this for unknown numbers, for known ones it shows the contact name.
Indeed Caller ID seems to work correctly for local vs international format. So if the incoming is formatted without +CC, but leading 0, and the phone book is +CC, it finds it.
And it seems to nicely format all phones according to the desired national formatting. So +1 XXX-XXX-XXXX for US, but +966 X XXX XXXX SA fixed and +966 XX XXX XXXX for SA mobile. And +31 XX XXXXXXX for NL fixed and +31 XXX XXXXXX for NL mobile.Very nice
HOWEVER: The caller-ID lookup now seems 'whitespace-sensitive'. I had a contact number stored as +966 XXX XXXXXX, and he did not find it. But when I changed it to +966 XX XXX XXXX it did find it. Similar for number that had "(XXX)" brackets in it, as was common in NL in the past.
This may or may not be a problem, because if you touch your phone book entry in the edit mode, it will automatically change +966 XXX XXXXXX to +966 XX XXX XXXX. Symilar if you sync through Google. But as I sync with outlook using Android-Sync, many are stored like +CC (XXX) XXXXXXX
So, Caller ID is 'different'. But better? For most people probably yes. But may depend on your situation.
EDIT: I found the whitespace was actually due to me not clearing data. Everything seemed find, but the caller ID was a resulting problem. You need to clear contacts, so it reindexes the phone numbers, and then Caller ID is perfect. Even ignores () brackets. You can clear contacts many ways, but I made a patch for it.
Links to other A750 ROMS and other useful information:
EDIT: I have not kept this list updated. Search this thread for other ROMS, especially Smileyvvv's APKHOT seems popular
Original A750 ROMs: (S14x=GB; S30x=ICS)
A750_S148_120428 - Chinese/English - No root - No play store
A750-S305-120514 - Chinese/English - No root - No play store
A750_S306_120530 Original full S306 (no OTA, flash package)
Please note that all *official* ROMs come with password bbs.lenovomobile.com. If the password is missing, someone did something to the ROM. Also, there are 'root' images availible that only flash boot.img. These work by overwriting system.img *on every restart*. Creative, and I used it myself for a while, but currently I feel the method described below is a better method.
Other modified ROMs (GB):
S750 S143 Etotalk Multilang
A750_S148_120428_RUS by Anton_vrn V1.3 (true Russian translation!)
BM's Hebrew fixed
BaderMQ's multilang+Arabic fix
(please note none of these are really multilang, just multi-locale, which means system apps will remain English, but third party apps can be set to other languages, similar to my ROM's, I simply do not make the claim. Anton is the only one who actually translated the ROM, but to only one new language)
Other modified ROMs (ICS)
My ROM in sepo of course
lenovo750-4.0.3_Anton_vrn_v3.01(true multilang?? Hints that it contains: ar-de-es-fa-fr-in-it-nl-pt-ru-th-tr-vi-zh, but based on S305)
Etotalk S306 multilang_by_Dean : It exists, but I do not know an internet location to download it from.
How to root a ROM yourself:
- Flash the CWMR Recovery partition (the recovery only, not the root&recovery one)
- Reboot into recovery (poweroff - Press/hold Power for 2 secs, then also Up/Down)
- Apply this root update
- Use RootExplorer to remove any Vending* or Phonesky* from /system/app
- Apply the correct GB or ICS GAPPS package, from bottom page here, or its mirror here.
- If a ICS rom, even though not from me, you may still want to apply my ICS V1.3 update, especially if you have location or market compatibility issues.
Caller ID
Hy I have a Lenovo A750 and all my contacts in the address book are saved in international format ex.: +44 78......, and when somebody calls me the number that shows up on the display is 0 78....., as local format.
Unfortunately the phone doesn't recognise it as being saved in my address book and it show's me "078 .... is calling" instead of "Ben is calling".
How could I fix this?
Please help me, or at least give me directions.
Thank you
Its one of the more important (of not most important) issues, and it has focus of myself and more experienced people. It's listed above as "Caller-ID to Contact mapping should ignore IDD prefixes." But alas, afaik, at this moment, no solution exists.
Keep an eye on this thread, and/or this one. Rest assured that as soon as we know how, it will be fixed.
Edit: Caller ID bug is less prominent in ICS ROM's
And in any case, using this, you can work around it.
COOL
You have done great job man thank you. I was using etotaks v 2.0 rom but it kind of sucked so i decided to try yours and its all good. I like the net traffic, battery saving and LeSecurity and they come only with the lenovos rom. I will look foreward for future releases. Great Job.
Reagards.
RTL
Hi,
Are you planning to update your rom?
i was searching for a Lenovo A750 rom that support Arabic - Hebrw RTL.
There is a methods out there but its only for deodex Roms,and your rom odex.
anyway to convert odex to deodex?
Thanks
There is already a Arabic & Hebrew RTL version for A750 out there. Not my me, but by someone more experienced, though A750 is not his focus.
I am playing with my ROM, and while it is not on the top of my list, once I get round to updating it I was thinking of copying his RTL fix to my ROM also. In the mean time, try the other one, and tell me how it works in relation to the issues I still have on the to-do list.
Thanks
I downloaded the rom from that topic , it failed to install . it give me an error msg when i try to flash it thru CWM.
I manage to convert the lenovo A750 Roms to odex using crcstudio_1.2.0.0
now i'll try to apply the fix manually.
Well, you can always try to use the recovery I am using. It seems to work well for Bruno's ROM's.
I have never even attempted to put CWM on these Mediatek based phones. Nor have I heard of anyone else (other than you). Are you able to flash anything with it? I was assuming there was a reason people were not using CWM on Mediatek.
I advise you to put Recovery ROM from here, flash it using this method. And then use that to apply the zip based ROM's.
I am working to update my ROM with Hebrew also (actually, working on other stuff, but will try to also put that in), but be aware, it will also be a 'flash-utility' ROM.
Edit: ROM V1 is coming tomorrow, but no RTL, sorry. I was able to fix the location service and Play Store is now not blocking so many apps.
I already did try CWMR ... But when i ever try to flash BM Rom it shows an error.
And by the way .. I already used CWM to flash other roms on my A750 and its working.
so what i did:
I extract BM Rom and merge it with other chinese rom S148 and build new rom.
It works.. i can read/write Arabic . and for browser/gmail i install the Brightidea's app from the market. it fix the Arabic problem.
New V1 upload in first post.
Spanish from etotalk?
There are any possibility to get the spanish traduction from the etotalk rom?
Thank you
I'm using new ROM since last night.
I made a complete flash (userdata, sd...).
Now there are less Chinese applications, is good.
Good work, Thank you.
Quick question
Hi cybermaus
sorry for the noobie question but I didn't own a smartphone since windows mobile. I expect a A750 and it might come unrooted. Do I have to root it before installing the rom or is this done automatically in the flushing process? Thank you.
newbie_vlc said:
There are any possibility to get the spanish traduction from the etotalk rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check if the Spanish selection is part of the 'MoreLocale2' app. If not already there, add it as a custom locale.
Edit: If you meant: can I take Etotalk ROM and transplant its Spanish into my ROM, then that is already done! Neither Etotalk nor myself actually translate anything, we both just added the free public app MoreLocale2, which has most translations in it. Using MoreLocale2, the phone becomes 'reasonably' translated, though there may remain some English parts.
cliviu said:
Hi cybermaus
sorry for the noobie question but I didn't own a smartphone since windows mobile. I expect a A750 and it might come unrooted. Do I have to root it before installing the rom or is this done automatically in the flushing process? Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This flash is using bootloader method, not recovery, and it will not need root. Upon flash, it will apply root automatically. Use the flash sequence as linked in the first post.
It is strange the size is only 157 mb. I will give it a try
Yes, V0 accidentally had two copies of the rom image inside the rar. It did not hurt, but it bloated the package a bit. The 157GB (164 981 710 bytes) is correct
Good to see you are paying attention though
Remove the Unicom bootup animation
I landed on this page when I was looking for help to remove the Unicom talking bootup animation/sound and remove all Chinese apps from my phone (A750) that I recently picked up.
But I have never done this and I am no developer but can you please help me with a list of procedure that I can follow to use this A750_S148_120428_cybermaus_V1?
If someone has skype or share their phone number I can call to seek help.
Email: [email protected]
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
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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
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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.
Hello, as the title says, I un-rooted my phone a few days ago... I used KingRoot, and I also used the Un-Root option on their windows app when I un-rooted my phone. I also used Root Checker App and the Terminal Emulator App from Google Play to verify, the results showed that my phone is no longer rooted.
Note: I'm also very newbie and most of the time, very clueless when it comes to these Android Rooting business, so I would appreciate it as well if the answers will be newbie friendly, and I apologize as well if I'm asking to be spoonfed for the solutions; I only have very limited time, and me hunting for answers in google resulted in hours of wasted time, except on me being able to learn just the meaning of a very few terminologies, too few to be considered significant I think.
~~(Might be helpful) Details:
-The model is: Samsung Galaxy Core Duos GT-I8262, and is running the Android Jelly Bean (Android Version 4.1.2)
-For a more detailed firmware/rom info (after dialing *#1234#):
AP: I8262XXAMG6
CP (Baseband Version): I8262DXAMH1
CDC: I8262OLBBMH2
Kernel Version:
3.4.0-1322246-user
[email protected] #1
SMP PREEMPT Mon Jul 22 17:26:39
KST 2013
~~Situation:
Now the thing is, the app I am using no longer allows phones who are rooted, so I un-rooted my phone, and to begin with, I haven't really done anything with my phone being rooted, since back then I was trying to fit my games on my external SD card by installing apps which requires root... but everything I tried with my limited time didn't work even with root, so I did not bother to do anything root-related (like installing certain UI modification and such). The only thing that got installed on my phone is this KingRoot app (which I prevented from installing any other app that it offered), and is since then removed.
Now, I un-rooted my phone using the Windows App that KingRoot provided, and I even used Root Checker app from Google Play and even checked my root status using the Terminal Emulator; results are all cleared, my phone is no longer rooted.
But when I run this app, it still gives me an error code that the devs themselves provided... an error code that indicates that my phone is either Rooted, is a China Phone, or other problems.
For the first two problems; Rooted or China Phone; I'm supposed to be cleared of this, and my phone is a Samsung bought from an official dealer...
As for the third problem: one of my friends who uses the same app told me that my problem might lie on my ROM not being a "Global" one... from the Firmware info I provided, I can see an area code called 'DX' (which should stand for Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and I am in the Philippines right now).
~~Problems:
There comes a whole lot of new problems, but first, to sum up my whole problem:
--What should I do with my phone to change its ROM or Firmware (what should I change between these two to begin with?) so that it becomes "Global" and would finally allow me to run this App (a Game), WHILE at the same time, still allows me to use my Sim Card in the country I am in right now and still being able to keep all my data intact (assuming Flashing a ROM would erase my phone's data particularly in the internal storage)?
Specific Problems:
-With my limited time, I only am able to find tutorials that allows one to flash a ROM using a Rooted Device... should I root my phone again and do the flashing then remove the root? And before that... really, what in the world should I do? (Refers to my question above on my problem summary), like, how should I flash this ROM while my device is unrooted, what should I do? (I'm really sorry for this question, but I hope someone will help me on this...)
-I am having dilemmas with backing up my data in my phone, such as my notes on the built-in Memo App, and my research said I have to use Titanium Backup... which requires a rooted device to work... can I just use this "Backup and Reset" from my phone's Settings and would still allow me retrieve my notes on my Memo App as well as my contacts and Text Messages intact after I flashed this "Global" ROM?
-I cannot seem to find a ROM that is "Global"(?) for my Smartphone Model and Android Version whenever I search google... can anyone of you who are knowledgeable enough provide me with such? Searching for it using google is not giving me any exact answers...
-I have read during my research earlier that when I flashed a ROM that is not in my country, my Sim Card would fail to work? Then what should I do to make this phone have this "Global" ROM/Firmware which will allow me to run this App, while at the same time, still allows me to use my Sim Card in this country without any problems?
-To begin with, from the data I provided:
AP: I8262XXAMG6
CP (Baseband Version): I8262DXAMH1
I see from the AP the area code 'XX' which denotes that it's Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, right? Then isn't my phone "Global" already? I'm very, VERY confused...
---
These are all the questions I have in my mind right now. I hope someone would help me with my problems, and clarify necessary things from my problem. If someone could also direct me to a tutorial of sorts, on flashing a "Global" rom that would enable me to run this App, while still making my phone's data intact and still allows me to use my Sim Card for communication purposes here in the Philippines, would greatly be appreciated as well.
Thank you all in advance, sorry for the long post too, I tried giving all the details I could and asking all the questions I could that might help pinpoint the problem as well as might help in providing me a solution that would work to fix my problem.