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Hi,
I just recieved my Touch Pro 2 and brought it into US Cellular the other day.
Im interested in putting a faster and smoother, less memory using rom on the phone but will all my settings or programing US Cellular stay on the phone, if i change the roms?
Qeustion2. What are the radios? are they already in the rom or do i have to download new radios somewhere else?
Im pretty new to the smartphones, where this is my first one
Thanks.
Welcome Abroad! I too am a USCC dude. The TP2 is a great little phone. One of the problems that exist at this moment is many people are having major problems "Unlocking" the phone, which allows you to the "flash" the various custom roms, which replace the one that USCC put on the phone. The problems appear to be sporadic, and have to do with the fact that the unlocker program has issues, and is NOT very well supported. Never the less, if you can get the unlocker to work, the CDMA custom roms are plentiful and you should be able to try several of them out to find one you like more than the stock one. Begin by reading the unlocker thread, SEVERAL times to really grasp it (many users run into problems simply because they do not read!!) and you can find several YOUTUBE postings about how to flash a custom rom. Take a week or two to do this, ask questions about anything you don't understand, and somebody will help as best they can.
gjbnh said:
Welcome Abroad! I too am a USCC dude. The TP2 is a great little phone. One of the problems that exist at this moment is many people are having major problems "Unlocking" the phone, which allows you to the "flash" the various custom roms, which replace the one that USCC put on the phone. The problems appear to be sporadic, and have to do with the fact that the unlocker program has issues, and is NOT very well supported. Never the less, if you can get the unlocker to work, the CDMA custom roms are plentiful and you should be able to try several of them out to find one you like more than the stock one. Begin by reading the unlocker thread, SEVERAL times to really grasp it (many users run into problems simply because they do not read!!) and you can find several YOUTUBE postings about how to flash a custom rom. Take a week or two to do this, ask questions about anything you don't understand, and somebody will help as best they can.
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So i need to unlock the phone before i am able to load a new rom?
thanks!
i have got a samsung omnia7 and was thinking about using the sammy rainbow custom rom, what are the pro's and cons doing this?
atm i have interop unlocked it but as i am still under warranty was curious of the effects.
advice would be grateful
It varies heavily ROM to ROM. However, there are a few common things.
Advantages:
More device control. With the policy system disabled, you can modify almost anything.
More homebrew apps, and more powerful ones (things like bazaar).
Native homebrew apps and ported WinMo apps.
Install XAPs directly (such as from IE), instead of using a PC.
If you find a bug, you can directly talk to the devs about fixing it (or possibly fix it yourself).
You may get updates before your carrier would provide them normally.
Disadvantages:
Higher risk of bugs since the ROMs get a lot less testing than official ones.
Updates may come later because you have to wait for a custom packaging of the update.
Not all custom ROMs are updatable; you might need to replace it with a new version which means you'll lose all your data.
Turning off the policy system increases your risk of malware if you arent' careful what you install.
Custom ROMs may have malware built in (not saying any of them do, but it's a risk).
Currently, I'd suggest waiting a little while to see where the Samsung ROM scene goes, what bugs are found and how quickly they're fixed, what features are available and how useful they are. However, it's pretty much always possible to go back to a stock ROM (unless you somehow really badly mess up your phone) so if you want to experiment or be an early adopter, go ahead. Otherwise, I think it'll be pretty clear what ROMs are good and where the custom ROM scene is going (support- and feature-wise) within a month or so.
so i would be safer to wait and see what the dev of the roms is going to do in the case of bugs.
thanks
That's my take. Note that I'm a dev working very hard on hacks that works with stock ROMs though - somebody who spends their time developing custom ROMs may well give completley different advice. There are certainly lots of advantages to going with custom ROMs, even at this relatively early point (it helps that a lot of the experience from HTC custom WP7 ROMs carries over to Samsung ROMs as well).
it seems as though the custom roms for omnia 7 are coming on leaps and bounds, what with MIRO's ROM http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1499102
there seems to be very little on the way of bugs with his atm so i think i will give that one a shot. i know i am new at this but if you don't ask then you never find out things right
thanks for your advice and input....much appreciated
So someone please explain to me how This Is possible. I was under the belief in my understanding of android that this is a BIG NO NO. I do realize and I may not fully understand the similarities and differences between the different versions of the SGS3 but I would think that because of the Radio being different among all of the carriers that Kernels would be totally different as well. I will reference the Fascinate and the Mesmerize for example. Pretty much the same phone but completely different as far as anything and everything development wise. So what it boils down is this
1. Can we flash kernels designed for the At&t, Sprint, or T-Mobile versions of our phone.
2.What versions of the SGS3 can we SAFELY flash Kernels from.
3.How is this possible given the differences in the different phones.(Question for my sake cause I am really curious and hope i can get a good explanation regarding this)
Aali1011 said:
So someone please explain to me how This Is possible. I was under the belief in my understanding of android that this is a BIG NO NO. I do realize and I may not fully understand the similarities and differences between the different versions of the SGS3 but I would think that because of the Radio being different among all of the carriers that Kernels would be totally different as well. I will reference the Fascinate and the Mesmerize for example. Pretty much the same phone but completely different as far as anything and everything development wise. So what it boils down is this
1. Can we flash kernels designed for the At&t, Sprint, or T-Mobile versions of our phone.
2.What versions of the SGS3 can we SAFELY flash Kernels from.
3.How is this possible given the differences in the different phones.(Question for my sake cause I am really curious and hope i can get a good explanation regarding this)
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There have been some successful instances of sprint kernels being flashed that I've seen, but it is never a great idea to flash kernels not specifically designed for your phone. btw. there are some pretty good kernels available for vzw now
It's a pretty bad idea. There is a very small chance it could work but more than likely it won't boot
arrogantS3 said:
There have been some successful instances of sprint kernels being flashed that I've seen, but it is never a great idea to flash kernels not specifically designed for your phone. btw. there are some pretty good kernels available for vzw now
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And i figured as much. I am just REALLY surprised it worked and I just kinda wanna know why it worked. The technical reasons to be honest. But to play it safe i will just stick with those kernels that have been made for the Verizon version thus far. I am still hesitant using the Sprint Kernel even knowing it works.
Neverendingxsin said:
It's a pretty bad idea. There is a very small chance it could work but more than likely it won't boot
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And based of of you saying this and me knowing this is why i ask lol. Cause like arrogant says there have been successful flashes of the Sprint Kernel. Again idk everything there is about Android but i wonder if it possible due to the fact our unlocked bootloader is partially sprint or something along those lines. That is why i was hoping someone would see this and chime in with a technical explanation and then either a go for it, no, or tread with caution. When the phone was being released there was talks of a rom kitchen being established between the carriers and i was hoping that this was a part of that. Meaning that someone who Devs for the AT&T version of the SGS3 can have their rom or kernel ported to Sprint version and then the Verizon and T-Mobile variants. Idk if the kitchen is still a possibility or in the works but it would be cool to see it kernel wise considering most are running AOSP based roms.
I tried to flash att one two days ago, can not turn wifi on....
So, not recommended
Aali1011 said:
And based of of you saying this and me knowing this is why i ask lol. Cause like arrogant says there have been successful flashes of the Sprint Kernel. Again idk everything there is about Android but i wonder if it possible due to the fact our unlocked bootloader is partially sprint or something along those lines. That is why i was hoping someone would see this and chime in with a technical explanation and then either a go for it, no, or tread with caution. When the phone was being released there was talks of a rom kitchen being established between the carriers and i was hoping that this was a part of that. Meaning that someone who Devs for the AT&T version of the SGS3 can have their rom or kernel ported to Sprint version and then the Verizon and T-Mobile variants. Idk if the kitchen is still a possibility or in the works but it would be cool to see it kernel wise considering most are running AOSP based roms.
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Some kernels could very well work, same as some stock themes for sprint will work with stock roms on verizon (jellybomb domination being one of them) the issue is that some things could be carried over that may not play nice with our phones and vice versa. While it may run perfectly fine, there's a greater risk that it could break something.
I have yet to run an AOSP rom because of the IMEI issues, so i can't really comment on that, but i know if i was going to flash another carriers kernel i would make sure to make a backup first.
I've rooted several Samsung phones now, and one way which seems to work fine for me is
1) Go to samsung-updates.com and download a stock rom from there (having to deal with some crappy file downloading site like rapidgator or terafile)
2) Find the xda forum thread on how to root the device in question, and download a rooted rom from there (again having to deal with one of these slow ad-filled downloading sites)
3) Come back several hours later when everything has eventually downloaded, and use e.g. odin to flash the rom and finish the job.
I've done this a few times now (rooting and unrooting), and am beginning to wonder several things:
First, where are these stock roms coming from? A non-rooted Samsung phone straight out the box has a non-rooted stock rom on it -- but is there no easy way to dump the stock rom onto a computer (thus saving me the bother of having to download a stock rom when I already have a stock rom)?
Second, how are those rooted roms actually being built? Typically all I want is a stock rom with the superSU app or whatever. One thing I'm particularly confused by is that there are usually loads and loads of stock roms available for a given phone model, depending on which country and provider you want. And yet there is often only one rooted rom. How come the rooted rom doesn't care which country I'm in and which provider I have, whereas stock roms seem to care?
Google supply the android source code for free, right? Can I compile this code myself to make a stock rom somehow? Or a rooted rom? Is this what people are doing?
Third, why do I have to deal with all these crappy free download sites? If someone started some kickstarter to get funds to run a site which kept a copy of all these roms then so many people's lives would be much better, right? Why has this not happened?
Y
yannick.12 said:
I've rooted several Samsung phones now, and one way which seems to work fine for me is
1) Go to samsung-updates.com and download a stock rom from there (having to deal with some crappy file downloading site like rapidgator or terafile)
2) Find the xda forum thread on how to root the device in question, and download a rooted rom from there (again having to deal with one of these slow ad-filled downloading sites)
3) Come back several hours later when everything has eventually downloaded, and use e.g. odin to flash the rom and finish the job.
I've done this a few times now (rooting and unrooting), and am beginning to wonder several things:
First, where are these stock roms coming from? A non-rooted Samsung phone straight out the box has a non-rooted stock rom on it -- but is there no easy way to dump the stock rom onto a computer (thus saving me the bother of having to download a stock rom when I already have a stock rom)?
Second, how are those rooted roms actually being built? Typically all I want is a stock rom with the superSU app or whatever. One thing I'm particularly confused by is that there are usually loads and loads of stock roms available for a given phone model, depending on which country and provider you want. And yet there is often only one rooted rom. How come the rooted rom doesn't care which country I'm in and which provider I have, whereas stock roms seem to care?
Google supply the android source code for free, right? Can I compile this code myself to make a stock rom somehow? Or a rooted rom? Is this what people are doing?
Third, why do I have to deal with all these crappy free download sites? If someone started some kickstarter to get funds to run a site which kept a copy of all these roms then so many people's lives would be much better, right? Why has this not happened?
Y
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Okay, first of all the answers to these questions are easy to find on the forums and the web.
However I will answer them as well.
Stock ROM's come from various locations, usually the ones like the ROMs on SAM-Mobile come from OTA updates or Kies updates which have been extracted/edited to work via Odin. Other stock ROMs come from software "dumped" (extracted) from the phone.
Rooted ROMs don't care as they are usually un-necesary and only for conveniance due to most stock ROMs being able to be rooted easily. Stock ROMs however come in varierties from carriers to countries as they include other features or specific boot languages that would link the phone to its packaging and service provider
Yes you can dump the ROM from your phone to your PC, guides to do this can be found here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1771347
Yes you could compile your own code from the Google AOSP however this would be time consuming and could potentially brick your device, most devs of ROMs include drivers created by the actual makers of the device which again is time consuming and requires testing multiple times with risk of bricking and is only for the experianced
Finally, these "Crappy" download sites provide a means of payment for people. Although your opinion on them is that they should use a kickstarter fund many would not pay into it therefore they would loose money. Some may disagree since stock ROMs technicly aren't their work but thats another discussion.
yannick.12 said:
I've rooted several Samsung phones now, and one way which seems to work fine for me is
1) Go to samsung-updates.com and download a stock rom from there (having to deal with some crappy file downloading site like rapidgator or terafile)
2) Find the xda forum thread on how to root the device in question, and download a rooted rom from there (again having to deal with one of these slow ad-filled downloading sites)
3) Come back several hours later when everything has eventually downloaded, and use e.g. odin to flash the rom and finish the job.
I've done this a few times now (rooting and unrooting), and am beginning to wonder several things:
First, where are these stock roms coming from? A non-rooted Samsung phone straight out the box has a non-rooted stock rom on it -- but is there no easy way to dump the stock rom onto a computer (thus saving me the bother of having to download a stock rom when I already have a stock rom)?
Second, how are those rooted roms actually being built? Typically all I want is a stock rom with the superSU app or whatever. One thing I'm particularly confused by is that there are usually loads and loads of stock roms available for a given phone model, depending on which country and provider you want. And yet there is often only one rooted rom. How come the rooted rom doesn't care which country I'm in and which provider I have, whereas stock roms seem to care?
Google supply the android source code for free, right? Can I compile this code myself to make a stock rom somehow? Or a rooted rom? Is this what people are doing?
Third, why do I have to deal with all these crappy free download sites? If someone started some kickstarter to get funds to run a site which kept a copy of all these roms then so many people's lives would be much better, right? Why has this not happened?
Y
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1. stock roms are released by the manufacturer, or leaked to us by someone who works there. generally speaking, no you cant dump the phone then use that to re-flash stock.
2. not sure why you would flash a rooted rom instead of just rooting by itself if that's all you want.
there are many stock roms because they are region and carrier specific.
you need to get a more popular device, then you will have more custom roms to choose from.
custom roms don't contain all the partitions like a stock one does, that's why they can be used on multiple regions. what i mean is, custom roms don't contain things like the modem/radios (and other files) that are specific to your region and will cause your phone to not work or not work properly if you change them.
yes you can compile and build your own roms, but it is very much not easy, that's why everyone isnt doing it.
3. be grateful you can get a hold of the files at all when you need them, because they are not available for all phones. also, only some of the sites used suk, just depends on where the person decides to put them, and i agree, i dont understand why they use this crappy sites when better ones are available.
the reason there hasnt been a site made to store all of these files (actually there are a rare few but only for some devices) is because most people now a days wont pony up the money to support it. we are in the "entitlement" era of android. what i mean by that is, it is becoming more common that users think and act like that community owes them these files, roms, mods, etc and all the hard work it takes to make them. they have little respect for all this work and time put forth. they wont even take a half a second to click the thanks button, that should tell you something right there.
so they sure a s**t arent going to donate to keep a file repository running. yes some would but most wont, and this sort of site would use a ton of bandwidth, which would be very expensive just to host. not to mention the time and effort it would take to keep it up and running with the most current files.
Thanks both of you for the comments and responses. Below is some background which doesn't have any more questions, but is an attempt to explain why I was asking (i.e. moaning!) in the first place.
Rooting -- what I've realised is that I feel really uneasy about the whole process. It seems to rely heavily on trust, for example. Let me explain what I'm comparing it with. 15 years ago (before I had kids) I was a unix hacker and I would download linux source code from a reputable place and compile it myself on various PCs. These sites (containing the linux source code) would be reasonable professional sites with no ads and probably things like md5sums to check your download and so on, the source code would be plainly visible so you could look through it yourself, and the forums associated with them would be professionally run and contributors would clearly be educated people. I've only recently moved into the rooting roms business, basically spurred on by my kids (aged 14 and 12) who are becoming interested in how much they can get out of their android devices, and basically I'm quite surprised about how in comparison it seems like much more of an "amateur set-up". A lot of it is based on "here is a file, download it, trust me, it's fine, but you can't check this". This is fine for my kids, who just use their phones as game tools, but far less fine for me, because I use my phone to manage my finances, my work emails, my childcare, and a lot of other stuff where it's really important that nothing goes wrong [and this is why my main phone is not rooted.] There seems to be far less documentation, and what there is is spread around widely, there are plenty of threads which are dead/out of date and contains links to wildly out-of-date versions of things and so on. xda is absolutely great, once you find the great bits, but it also contains a huge sprawling mess of noise. TechMinerUK suggests (and I'm sure they are right) that one can find all the answers to the questions I'm asking on the forums and on the web. But in a well-organized scenario there would be some clean "front page" which contains a well-signposted FAQ about rooting, a FAQ about roms etc etc, rather than having to google around for everything. Of course I did google for information before I posted the questions above -- I had several more questions in fact, and google answered some of them and I posted the rest. Perhaps the key difference is the following -- 15 years ago a generic college student was only just beginning to hear about the internet and probably had no access to it in their own home, and the people setting up websites were professionals, who probably worked in computer science departments at universities. Nowadays the people rooting their phones might well be college kids with no salaries (yet), or maybe even schoolkids, so everything is perhaps being run on a more "hobby" basis. bweN diorD suggests that people aren't going to pay a little for convenient access to stuff like roms and perhaps this hits the nail on the head -- my demographic (middle-aged waged people) wouldn't think twice about donating a little to support a cause they want to see succeed -- but on the other hand I couldn't see my kids donating to support anything, because they have no income themselves. Perhaps basically the reason all these files end up on these dubious file-sharing websites is that the average wage of the contributor to this game is far less than the average wage of the people writing the linux source code 15 years ago.
That's just some background as to where the questions came from. Thanks again for the answers, and I will keep googling, if that's the way that it's supposed to work now,
Y
yannick.12 said:
That's just some background as to where the questions came from. Thanks again for the answers, and I will keep googling, if that's the way that it's supposed to work now,
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well, the people who have at least some respect for the forum and people who help here try searching first.
you can always come and ask questions, but in my opinion, you are viewed differently if you at least put some effort into finding the answers first.
but i know the information is spread all over creation and some times difficult to find or know what is safe. that's why im here, to lend some guidance where i can, from experience.
one thing you don't want to do is, hesitate to ask a question and do something you don't understand. this frequently leads to jacked up devices.
This is probably a stupid question - if so - just ignore it - no need to flame me. I think I am asking more for wishful thinking than for any other reason. So, having said that - What sort of compatibility is there with the P900 Wifi unit with roms that are made for WiFi - (like ATT for example)
I know it doesn't have a modem - but modem files are not normally included in ROMS anyway - can we flash Roms that were made for LTE Pro 12.2 devices? Anyone have any direct experience doing it and like, which roms would you suggest?
I am just hoping for a bit more variety and would like to try other roms if there is a good chance that it will work with out bricking the device.
thoughts?
If you peruse the development forum you'll notice that there's only a couple of ROMs for anything other than P900 so it's not like you're missing out on anything major from the LTE device development side. I'd steer clear; it's always a best practice to not try to mix/match ROMs from different devices. Keep in mind that the differences go beyond just modem vs. no modem, there's also different processors so who knows what driver compatibility issues may arise when trying to mix.
muzzy996 said:
If you peruse the development forum you'll notice that there's only a couple of ROMs for anything other than P900 so it's not like you're missing out on anything major from the LTE device development side. I'd steer clear; it's always a best practice to not try to mix/match ROMs from different devices. Keep in mind that the differences go beyond just modem vs. no modem, there's also different processors so who knows what driver compatibility issues may arise when trying to mix.
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I figured as much - and Yes, I know that most of the roms are for the P900 - I guess I am mostly hoping for more variety - for such an incredible device, it is s shame that there isn't more development. Thanks for your input, it is appreciated.