Good day!
I recently upgraded my phone, and I want to hold onto my old device and use it as a media player, mainly for listening to podcasts. The phone is an HTC One M8 from Verizon.
I have been searching the forums and I believe I'm ready to root the device and install a custom ROM. I mainly want to get rid of the Verizon/HTC bloatware and strip the phone down to just what's needed to play podcasts and perhaps audiobooks from the library and such. I will do all of this over WiFi. Basically, I'm wanting an Android version of the iPod Touch.
My question is, how do I search for a ROM that doesn't treat the device as a phone? I've tried searching for the term "media", but that gets me way more than I need, with all kinds of bells and whistles for turning the phone into a multimedia device.
Thank you very much for your time, and for creating this newbie-friendly forum. I really appreciate all the work that xda does.
Hi !
Your request looks kinda unique here on xda , basically the developers are focused on improving and expanding the device`s functionality rather than reducing and eliminating it
I can say that there is no rom closer to your request but what you can do is some modifications by yourself
- block all radios by turning on the airplane mode
- remove the google account
- from settings/apps you can disable any unwanted application and re-enable it at anytime
Alternatively you can root the device and install Titanium backup which helps you to go deeply and freeze more apps or to flash an AOSP rom for your device and along with minimal gapps to reduce the bloatware , also using Titanium Backup
https://forum.xda-developers.com/htc-one-m8/orig-development
Good luck !
Related
I am in the process of researching the best way to take my old 3g slide and build a very light bootable ROM from CM source for mp3/media, wifi & apps only. I figured instead of trying to figure this out on my own maybe I could open this thread for discussion.
The idea is to take a CM supported device and tweak it into a mp3 player with wifi and the apps market but remove/disable all phone related activity to preserve battery and have the phone look, feel and function as a media device and not as a phone. This ROM should have no phone.apk, should not have an active radio...but preserve wifi, media playback and the app market.
The UI should look like an MP3 Player!
I have a few ideas on how to achieve this but I wonder if I am making harder than need be. I would really like to hear unique/fresh ideas, potential problems and general advice from the community. I will keep this post up to date with ideas and status and eventually it will serve as a guide.
So lets here it;
How you would go about doing this?
What can be removed?
What needs to stay?
etc....?
Ashamed there have been no replies. This is something I have been looking for, for a while.
Hello,
I've had my S4 for a little over a year and have been pretty happy with it. I came from using an iPhone for a few years before. With the upgrade in Kit Kat and not being able to easily access folders has been very frustrating and I wanted more control on my phone (turn on/off GPS for example and other things Tasker is blocked from doing). My understanding is that rooting would fix those issues. However I'm a little scared as how to proceed.
Here are some of my questions/concerns:
Will I get better performance from my phone (assuming I have all the same sort of settings)?
Are there apps that will not work on a rooted phone?
Which is an appropriate ROM to choose? (Stock Android, CyanogenMod, etc.)
Is there a way to backup an entire image (data and everything) of what I have now on my Samsung so I can restore it if I really mess up. I am thinking this would be similar in Windows, where I can make a disk image to be able to restore the entire OS and all the data.
What is the best way to reload apps I currently use (and have paid for) back onto the rooted device? Do I just make a list on paper and then go one-by-one and re-install them?
Will rooting effect my access to the Google Play Store?
How badly can I brick my phone? Can I get it to a point that it is completely restoreable? That is assuming I didn't do anything outside of following instructions and didn't connect it to my car battery
Will I be able to access my S4 like a drive or is that a hardware issue?
Is TouchWiz really that lousy?
Fortunately there is a lot of information out there, but it is overwhelming. Besides this site, are there other ones you recommend reading?
Thank you for the help.
Hello to all. I am new to the form and new to smartphones. I just retired my old Motorola flip phone and bought a used Samsung Galaxy S4 SGH-I537 with Lollipop 5.0.1 installed. I am 68 years young, enjoy learning and dislike companies that watch my every move and dictate what is installed on devices that I own. I build (assemble parts) my own computers and consider myself "handy" around computers but will stop shout of "tech-savvy".
I have been searching and learning and right now I am on overload with all the info / knowledge I have been reading. To the best of my knowledge this phone, mainly because of Lollipop is not root able at this time. At least not with automated software which I would prefer. Now my question which after searching I did not find an answer. Is there a PC installed software that allows control of this phone. I want to safely remove bloat ware, pack up and other related maintenance duties.
I have read, on this forum and others about all the apps I can install on the phone like SD Maid, Titanium, Root Explorer and so many more. I am reluctant to install all of those for two reasons. I am installing a bunch of apps to cleanup my phone, not sure if that makes sense, second, working with a small screen and small keyboard seems like a recipe for mistakes / disaster.
So, is there a PC application available (paid is fine) or not? I am running Windows 7 64
Thank you all.
Mike
hammyj said:
Hello to all. I am new to the form and new to smartphones. I just retired my old Motorola flip phone and bought a used Samsung Galaxy S4 SGH-I537 with Lollipop 5.0.1 installed. I am 68 years young, enjoy learning and dislike companies that watch my every move and dictate what is installed on devices that I own. I build (assemble parts) my own computers and consider myself "handy" around computers but will stop shout of "tech-savvy".
I have been searching and learning and right now I am on overload with all the info / knowledge I have been reading. To the best of my knowledge this phone, mainly because of Lollipop is not root able at this time. At least not with automated software which I would prefer. Now my question which after searching I did not find an answer. Is there a PC installed software that allows control of this phone. I want to safely remove bloat ware, pack up and other related maintenance duties.
I have read, on this forum and others about all the apps I can install on the phone like SD Maid, Titanium, Root Explorer and so many more. I am reluctant to install all of those for two reasons. I am installing a bunch of apps to cleanup my phone, not sure if that makes sense, second, working with a small screen and small keyboard seems like a recipe for mistakes / disaster.
So, is there a PC application available (paid is fine) or not? I am running Windows 7 64
Thank you all.
Mike
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sir..
First of all if you want to remove ur bloatware..etc then Root is must....
U can search the forum how to root ur device.. U will definitely find a way...
And the second thing if you want to control your device via pc... Like handling calls,msgs,data transfer...
Then Airdroid is the best option for you...
Hope this helps...
IF I HELPED U THEN HIT THE THANKS BUTTON
Hey guys, Kyuubi10 back for another guide
Today I want to tackle the open ocean of options one has once they are finally rooted.
If you still don't know what rooting is, this guide probably isn't for you...But if you feel intrigued feel free to check this link out:
http://lifehacker.com/5789397/the-always-up-to-date-guide-to-rooting-any-android-phone
Many of you are unsure whether to root or not, since you don't yet understand the endless possibilities available to rooted devices. Most guides which I have found online only cover the options on the surface, I will try to go into deeper detail.
Meanwhile some of you have already rooted your phones on the promise of great things but find yourself stuck for ideas, and you start feeling that rooting is a bit useless. This is due to lack of information available for non-rooted folk, prior to actually rooting.
Note:
Just unlocking your bootloader, or flashing a custom recovery isn't rooting. But usually a custom recovery is required before rooting.
Hopefully you already know these, but if not here is a link to some terminology you may need to fully understand this guide:
http://www.talkandroid.com/guides/beginner/android-rom-and-rooting-dictionary-for-beginners/
So... You have successfully unlocked your bootloader, flashed a custom recovery and have rooted your device. What now? Where to start?
Finding Sources:
The first stop once you have rooted is to find sources of information about what is available to you and your device.
This is where the first complication arises, since each device is different, each device has a different rooting method, different mods, themes, ROMs and Kernels available to it. So there is NOT a universal way to root, nor software universally available to any rooted device. You have to find guides, and indexes of things made specifically for your own device.
If you have made it to this guide, you are on the right path. This website currently is the biggest hub for all things root, for any device. If you use the search option on the top right corner, you will have a really high chance of finding a thread dedicated to your own device. With all the information and software you may need, or want, specifically catered to your device.
This, along with all the available ROOT enabled apps within Google Play Store, will be the main source of ROOT software for you.
Why are you rooting?
Now you have a lot of options available to you. Where do you begin? This depends on what is your own personal reason for rooting.
The main four are: To improve battery, performance and to add themes and features which would be otherwise unavailable. (e.g. Double tap to wake.)
Improving battery AND improving performance may seem to be a contradiction, as improving performance may make battery suffer, while improving battery life may make performance suffer.
While focusing completely on one will definitely make the other suffer, if you focus on efficiency instead it's very much possible to improve both battery life AND performance TOGETHER!
There a multiple ways to improve efficiency of a device, and I will enter into more detail soon.
The other options are adding themes and features.
There may be themes which are only available to rooted devices, themes which would change values which you usually would not have access to while being unrooted. Such themes can be added as mods, or skins. Flashed from custom recovery or added by an app which writes directly to /system folder. Things which require root.
Mods on the other hand modify the visual design of existing things on the phone like widgets, such as clock widget. Theme mods are not usually reliant on ROOT, but they often need to be flashed through custom recovery, something which you will already have if you are rooted.
Features are a bit more complex than themes, but follows the same idea. They can be added through root apps, or flashed through custom recovery. Most features will require ROOT permissions, since most useful features perform actions which are not usually allowed without root. These include but are not limited to changing an apps way of functioning, or making a system change to give a ROM a feature it did not previously have.
All of these will be available to you through both XDA and/or Play Store. The limit is your imagination, all you need to do is think of something you want and use the available search boxes to find that which you want for you own device.
The most common way of adding all of it together are mod packs, frameworks, custom ROMs, custom Kernels etc...
But since there are such a wide variety of choices available, the ones you choose will be highly dependent on the original reason you have for rooting your device.
If you want to focus on performance and battery, you will choose a ROM with a lot of optimizations, and a custom Kernel instead of one with a lot of themes and features. While you will choose a ROM with few optimizations but loads of themes and features if you are looking more to the visual design experience, while ignoring the kernel, which doesn't affect visuals.
Once you know what your aim for rooting is feel free to begin flashing, installing and experimenting with a variety of software.
You may hear a lot about the risks of rooting, bricking your device, soft-brick or hard-brick, glitches from beta software etc....
But my advice is, don't worry about the risk....make a NANDROID BACKUP, and flash away.
If anything goes wrong, just go back in recovery and restore your last stable nandroid. This way you can flash without worrying about all the risks. And if something does go wrong, and you struggle to get into recovery, just leave an SOS post right here on XDA, on the thread for your device and the community will be more than happy to help you get back on your feet. This will always be a learning experience...don't let fright stop you from enjoying the rooted life!
The essentials:
Here are my recommendations for the most common and essential things which you should have/flash/install once you are rooted.
1) Begin by making a nandroid backup.
2) Find a custom ROM with the features you like. I personally recommend to focus on theming options when choosing a ROM, since you can use other methods to improve battery and performance.
3) Find a custom Kernel with great features to improve battery and performance. You should learn to adjust and fine-tune kernel settings to your liking, to find the ideal balance between battery and performance for your liking and your device.
3.a) This is my Comprehensive Guide to Kernels. It will have most of what you need in order to learn how to adjust kernel settings.
4) Install BusyBox - What is BusyBox?
5) Flash Xposed Framework and Install the apk - This is only a framework, which facilitates and makes available multiple mods to both add features, themes and mods to improve performance and battery.
6) Flash Viper4Audio - The best audio mod available for Rooted devices. Recently for lollipop and marshmallow it seems that you need a Kernel with SELinux set to permissive.
7) Find and download an Adblock apk - Note: While it is awful to surf the net while being annoyed by intrusive ads, it is also not nice to stop content developers from from receiving the money they deserve through these ads, for content which the provide freely. Therefore please check the option to allow acceptable ads. So that non-intrusive ads are allowed to show up, so developers can continue providing their content freely.
From the Play Store:
8) Greenify - This will help both battery and performance by hibernating apps which keep awake even after manually force closing them. Thus allowing you to control how many apps are truly running at the same time and utilizing RAM. This app also has an Xposed module which adds boosted functionality.
9) Any ROOT file explorer - This will allow you to access ROOT directories of your device. This will be useful for multiple reasons, trust me
10) Tasker - If you are a fan of automation, this is your holy grail. With this you will be able to automate anything on your device.
11) Seeder - I am unable to explain what this app does. It's own description within the Play Store is perfect and very clear! Go check it out. It will improve performance when actively using the device.
12) SD Maid - This is a swiss army knife for Rooted devices. Those of you familiar with CCleaner, will know some of the things this app does. It cleans system and app caches, it cleans leftover files after uninstalling apps. It is also able to toggle autostart, delete system apps, freeze/disable apps and much much more!
Hope this has helped you get started on your Rooted adventure, and given you more aim of where you can go from here.
If you still haven't rooted your device, I hope this guide could help you seal your decision, and ease your fears. :silly:
If this was a helpful guide, I would be grateful if you could press the thanks button.:good::good: And feel free to comment with any questions or mentioning anything I may have forgotten, or your own opinions for the essentials things to do once you are rooted.
Hi,
I'm currently programming an app for a hospital as a bachelorsproject. Now I've discussed with my mentor about the fact we want the devices to be used only as pupose for the app I'm making, apps we preinstall and future apps that are made for the personel thats using them.
Currently I'm working with a Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016) running android 6.0.1 without it being rooted.
So what do you guys suggest with this I've done some reading along how to root whats possible and seen some guides for my device on how to root it.
What I want to do is actually have like a stock android so no samsung bloatware and microsoft apps etc, even chrome doesn't need to be installed as they don't need acces to browsing. And then pre install specific apps like my app, the one from the hospital itself, future apps and others we specifically need.
Also I'm new to android in general so can I create like a nurse user, and a IT-desk user so the IT desk user can log on the tablet and install an app, while the nurse doesn't even have acces to settings maybe.
Would love to hear what you guys think along what to do, and maybe some general steps like root it, flash a stock rom, create your (2)users, and install apps.
Tommyboy500 said:
Hi,
I'm currently programming an app for a hospital as a bachelorsproject. Now I've discussed with my mentor about the fact we want the devices to be used only as pupose for the app I'm making, apps we preinstall and future apps that are made for the personel thats using them.
Currently I'm working with a Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2016) running android 6.0.1 without it being rooted.
So what do you guys suggest with this I've done some reading along how to root whats possible and seen some guides for my device on how to root it.
What I want to do is actually have like a stock android so no samsung bloatware and microsoft apps etc, even chrome doesn't need to be installed as they don't need acces to browsing. And then pre install specific apps like my app, the one from the hospital itself, future apps and others we specifically need.
Also I'm new to android in general so can I create like a nurse user, and a IT-desk user so the IT desk user can log on the tablet and install an app, while the nurse doesn't even have acces to settings maybe.
Would love to hear what you guys think along what to do, and maybe some general steps like root it, flash a stock rom, create your (2)users, and install apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could build an AOSP ROM for that model number with only the apps and features you choose, it would require AOSP source code and your stock source code.
Then, yes, android natively supports setting up user profiles, with root access you can set it so that the "nurse user" profile can only use the device and an "admin user" would have exclusive permissions to make whatever changes are needed. You can set it so that the "nurse user" would not be able to install new apps, wouldn't be able to browse the web or even set it so they could browse if needed but would be limited in what they can access on the web, and you'd be able to set it so they would be locked out of all settings.
What you want is very possible, the most difficult part would be compiling the ROM if you go that route, you may not need or want to though because with root, you can strip down the existing stock firmware to remove the extras you don't want or need.
Mind you, there would be some details and specifics to deal with that would require trial and error along the way, obviously.