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soo my current phone right now is a Samsung stratosphere, well i have been having some big problems with it and well verizon said since i'm a long time and good customer (never ever been late on my bill) they said he will upgrade me to the droid 4 for 50$ without renewing my contract.
i am kinda new to the whole motorola stuff as i have allways had samsung android phones (i had a Motorola Backflip but i sold it 2 months later to get the Samsung captivate so i never got the chance to root it or anything) i noticed these phones have locked bootloaders and is just all pretty much on lock down compared to Samsung phones is that true?
does the droid 4 have root? and does it have custom roms? can you edit Boot animations on this phone with only root? does this phone officially have ICS?
i will be getting my Droid 4 tomorrow morning in the mail and very excited i have not done anything cool with phones since i had my Epic 4G as the stratosphere had no one working on it and only had root and that was that
First off, welcome to the D4! It really is a wonderful piece of hardware. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Now, to answer some of your questions.
1. Yes, the D4 has a locked bootloader. What does this mean? It means we are stuck with the kernel that Moto gives us. It does make it a bit more difficult of the devs but other than that, it’s really not THAT big of a deal. Of course I might not be saying that if I was the one developing ROMs for this thing.
2. The D4 does have root. The Droid 4 Utility makes it a piece of cake. Look for the “Droid 4 Utility Updated” thread in the dev section.
3. The phone does not officially have ICS. Not yet anyways. We have had 4 or 5 ICS leaks from Moto that run really really well so it can’t be far off. I am currently running the .213 ICS leak myself and it has been flawless for me.
4. We do have a few custom ROMs. There a couple of GB based ROMs that run off the stock GB kernel. Those are Eclipse and Arctic. I ran Eclipse for quite a while. Very nice. There is also CM9, AOKP, and Gummy ICS ROMs that run off the stock GB kernel. Your mileage may vary with these as they are a bit buggy from running off an older kernel. We now also have CM9 and AOKP ROMs based off the ICS kernel from the Moto ICS leaks. These are really early builds but I have been running the CM9 build for a few days now and it is surprisingly stable for how new it is.
5. I am not sure about changing boot animations. It seems I have seen somewhere, someone saying that using ROM Toolbox to change the boot animation sent them into a bootloop and they had to restore a backup. Not sure on that though. Haven’t tried it myself.
ok well from the looks of it i wanna go straight to ICS!
how would i go about doing that from Stock non root? i saw the one click root for GB and looks easy but how about ICS with root?
if i do flash the ICS leak and when the official ICS comes out will it brink my phone if i upgrade from ICS leak to ICS official?
it just seems for right now i wanna just have ICS with root and play with custom roms later when the official ICS comes out.
Since you will be going straight from stock the process will be really easy. Just download the latest ICS leak .zip file (currently .213) and stick it on your external sd card. Boot into stock recovery (hold power + volume up + volume down and select recovery), when you get to the little android guy in a box, hit volume up + volume down, then select the option to install from sd card, select the .zip file, let it do its thing and like magic, you’re on the latest Moto ICS leak. Then use the Droid 4 Utility update by jsnweitzel to root.
If you flash the ICS leak you will have to jump though a couple of hoops to get back on the OTA when it finally comes out. The OTA won’t brick your phone, it just won’t install. But there is a thoroughly tested way of jumping from leak to leak that should work to jump to the OTA and be back on the official upgrade path. This functionality is also built into jsnweitzel’s tool.
ok i went to http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...leak-kernel-crc-droid-4-build-6-16-213-a.html to download the .213 ICS update but it list 3 things
CRC file,Kernel,Leak
do i need to download the kernel or CRC file as well? or just the Leak file
icebear8 said:
ok i went to http://www.droidforums.net/forum/dr...leak-kernel-crc-droid-4-build-6-16-213-a.html to download the .213 ICS update but it list 3 things
CRC file,Kernel,Leak
which one do i download and put into the SD card and flash?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All you will need is the leak as long as you have an external sd card. The kernel is only needed for people jumping from one leak to another and I believe the crc file is for those who do not have a external sd card installed.
ok i see i got that stuff downloaded
now about the Droid 4 utility
i downloaded the tool, but under the number 2 part it says to download the GB 219 fastboot files do i need those as well? i tried downloading them but it seems both links are down
also in that droid 4 utility walkthrough it says to download the kernel for
"2. Get the matching Kernel 6.16.213 (boot.img) here: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0Byw...1J0VFBCY1NBM2M
Unzip this folder and copy the boot.img to the "files" folder of the tool. It must be named "ICSFIX" for the tool to work."
also one more thing how does motorola phones do Backups? is there a CWM to backup my phone in case of a brick?
You will need the GB .219 fastboot files eventually to jump from the leak to the OTA (unless .213 ends up BEING the OTA). But you don’t need them right now since you will already be on unmodified stock GB.
You also do not need the kernel since you are on stock GB. You only need the kernel if you are going from one leak to another.
ok sounds good,
also one more thing how does motorola phones do Backups? is there a CWM to backup my phone in case of a brick?
icebear8 said:
ok sounds good,
also one more thing how does motorola phones do Backups? is there a CWM to backup my phone in case of a brick?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right now we have safestrap recovery. You should find the thread in the dev section. Since you will be on ICS you will want the 2.0 version meant for ICS. You can use this to make a backup as well as to boot into a "safe" system to install ROMs without screwing up you stock "unsafe" system.
i saw the droid razor is getting the ICS update as well, since we have pretty much the same phone are the updates suppose to come out at the same time? are the ICS leaks the same as the Maxx?
Unfortunately no. Moto has stated the D4 will get an ICS update in Q3. With the frequency and quality of the leaks I have to guess that that it will be sooner rather than later but who knows.
Sent from my XT894 using Tapatalk 2
icebear8 said:
ok well from the looks of it i wanna go straight to ICS!
how would i go about doing that from Stock non root? i saw the one click root for GB and looks easy but how about ICS with root?
if i do flash the ICS leak and when the official ICS comes out will it brink my phone if i upgrade from ICS leak to ICS official?
it just seems for right now i wanna just have ICS with root and play with custom roms later when the official ICS comes out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My office just got rid of BB and handed out D4's as replacements and the first thing I did with mine was to install the 213 ICS leak and am NOW happy with the device. Have not rooted it yet, that will happen in the next day or so.
well at first the Rep was not gonna let me have the droid 4 and said that most likely his boss wont give it out because the stratosphere is a cheaper phone (the phones he was gonna give me were the LG lucid,Droid charge,Pantech breakout.
but i told the guy i need a keyboard and that was the only reason why i got the strat for, so the guy said he would try to talk down with his manger and well he comes back and tells me he had good news and his manger said yes to the droid 4 as long as i paid something for it (i said $50) and he said that was fine
but he said he would send me a new backplate along with it but no charger (i got my old one but it is really ****ty and falling apart so i gotta order a OEM from Ebay tonight)
i tried using the search but could not find my question but do we have a list of apps that can be safely debloated from this phone on ICS? i like to have my phone free from Verizons crap along with un needed stuff that just waste battery
^^Also looking for a list of things we can remove to debloat all the [email protected] from verizon (can't even use it anyway since i am in canada!)
First off, unfortunately, most of the bloatware cannot be removed without causing problems. A lot of what moto and VZ builds into these things are interdependent on each other. Plus, the OTA updates look to make sure you still have that crap on your phone before it will update. So, unless you can long press on the app in the app drawer and it gives you an option to uninstall, it's best not to. There are some apps that can safely be uninstalled like, the golf and NFL games. The rest you are better off freezing with a program like Titanium Backup. I haven't seen a list on XDA but there is a good list on DF here: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-4-hacks/198081-bloatware-apps-safe-remove-droid-4-a.html that are safe to freeze. This list was started based on stock GB but most, if not all, should apply to ICS as well. I used it to freeze a bunch of stuff on the .213 ICS leak with no problems.
kwyrt said:
First off, unfortunately, most of the bloatware cannot be removed without causing problems. A lot of what moto and VZ builds into these things are interdependent on each other. Plus, the OTA updates look to make sure you still have that crap on your phone before it will update. So, unless you can long press on the app in the app drawer and it gives you an option to uninstall, it's best not to. There are some apps that can safely be uninstalled like, the golf and NFL games. The rest you are better off freezing with a program like Titanium Backup. I haven't seen a list on XDA but there is a good list on DF here: http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-4-hacks/198081-bloatware-apps-safe-remove-droid-4-a.html that are safe to freeze. This list was started based on stock GB but most, if not all, should apply to ICS as well. I used it to freeze a bunch of stuff on the .213 ICS leak with no problems.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep in mind that you can now "disable" applications natively in ICS. keep in mind that if you updated any of the apps the updates must be uninstalled first. Just go to apps / all apps select the app/bloat you want to disable and select, you guess it, disable.
Never mind i think it was a bad download
question i got my phone charged to 100% my last from goes by 100% to 99,98,97 etc etc but i see on this phone after about 15mins it went from 100% to 90% and then 80 over time does this phone go by 10s?
Hi -
I'm not really a newbie, but I'm a lurker, so I'm forced to post here for now. I spent some time yesterday flashing JB roms (after my CM9 bit the dust following a nandroid backup). After initial success with HellyBean, I was led into temptation by SlimBean/Semaphore and decided to give it a try. So, I followed all of the instructions, not even installing the extras and had no real trouble booting the system. But I had enormous lag to the point where the phone was not really usable. While using Titanium Backup to restore my apps and data (which took over an hour -- on HB it takes about 15 minutes), the Market process kept crashing in the background. Calls to su were taking an inordinate amount of time, causing apps like AdAway to timeout. And so on.
I wiped and installed twice, so I don't think it was a fluke, and I applied the 2.0.1 update, as well.
Anyway, I went back to HellyBean and everything is zippy again. I prefer the SlimBean idea and aesthetic, but it was not usable on my particular phone (GT-I9000 GSM / XJVT modem). Not sure if anyone else has had a similar problem and knows the solution. If anyone from the dev forum sees this and wants to link to it so that the ROM dev is aware, that would be great. Thanks.
sm72
sockmonkey72 said:
Hi -
I'm not really a newbie, but I'm a lurker, so I'm forced to post here for now. I spent some time yesterday flashing JB roms (after my CM9 bit the dust following a nandroid backup). After initial success with HellyBean, I was led into temptation by SlimBean/Semaphore and decided to give it a try. So, I followed all of the instructions, not even installing the extras and had no real trouble booting the system. But I had enormous lag to the point where the phone was not really usable. While using Titanium Backup to restore my apps and data (which took over an hour -- on HB it takes about 15 minutes), the Market process kept crashing in the background. Calls to su were taking an inordinate amount of time, causing apps like AdAway to timeout. And so on.
I wiped and installed twice, so I don't think it was a fluke, and I applied the 2.0.1 update, as well.
Anyway, I went back to HellyBean and everything is zippy again. I prefer the SlimBean idea and aesthetic, but it was not usable on my particular phone (GT-I9000 GSM / XJVT modem). Not sure if anyone else has had a similar problem and knows the solution. If anyone from the dev forum sees this and wants to link to it so that the ROM dev is aware, that would be great. Thanks.
sm72
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So, as this forum is called Q&A, let me answer my own question, and possibly help some other poor sucker with the same problem. The problem is apparently my S-NAND speed, and for reasons apparently mysterious to everyone who talks about it, some (older) SGS have either slower or broken S-NAND memory. And for some reason that I don't understand, kernels which use /datadata (like the Helly Bean kernel) allow those of us with this particular S-NAND configuration to use ROMs in a reasonably lagless fashion.
So, as I understand it, I should:
- re-wipe and install Slim Bean
- boot into recovery and flash the HB kernel
- enjoy Slim Bean without horrible UI lag
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks.
sm72
sockmonkey72 said:
So, as this forum is called Q&A, let me answer my own question, and possibly help some other poor sucker with the same problem. The problem is apparently my S-NAND speed, and for reasons apparently mysterious to everyone who talks about it, some (older) SGS have either slower or broken S-NAND memory. And for some reason that I don't understand, kernels which use /datadata (like the Helly Bean kernel) allow those of us with this particular S-NAND configuration to use ROMs in a reasonably lagless fashion.
So, as I understand it, I should:
- re-wipe and install Slim Bean
- boot into recovery and flash the HB kernel
- enjoy Slim Bean without horrible UI lag
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Thanks.
sm72
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Basically, the JB devil kernel uses the faster /datadata partition.
If you're worried about low storage space install the Datafix app in the Play Store.
I've been lurking on these forums a bit - trying to nerve myself up to install Jellybean. I'm a complete noob. (some Linux experience, curious about Android) Here's what I've picked up. (All measured relative to stock Froyo.) (And I like to fiddle, but I also love my Captivate-so I'm a bit nervous about this...)
Good stuff:
1. Jellybean is great, everything works. Helly Bean/Devil is probably a bit more stable than Cyanogenmod 10 right now. Phone, WIFI, Camera, Movie, Apps all work at the moment. ICS and Gingerbread were all appreciably laggy.
Iffy Stuff:
1. The GPS on anything but stock Froyo may behave a bit better, or not, as the Captivate GPS has hardware issues in addition to possible problems with stock Froyo.
Bad stuff
1. Encryption Unsuccessful: Jellybean is likely to share the 'Encryption Unsuccessful' bug with ICS on the Captivate. For some reason, ICS seems to handle SD access a bit differently than Froyo and this occasionally permanently borks the internal SD. It may occasionally bork an external SD, but that seems fixable so far. Someday, someone may figure out a fix, but don't count on it. For now, any Captive running ICS or later should expect to eventually lose the internal SD permanently.
2. IMEI: Something in the latest installs may result in replacement of my IMEI with a generic one. This will result in AT&T temporarily blocking my phone. This may be related to some custom roms and possibly some apps borking up the efs folder after something in the more recent Cyanogenmods sets the efs folder as R/W.
3. Bootloaders: If I bork up bootloader flashing, I can end up hard-bricked.
4. Sleep of death: Custom ROMs may aggravate a 'sleep of death' issue on older Captivates. Fortunately, I checked and my Captivate doesn't have this issue.
I'm wondering if the following sketch is workable and if I've left anything major out:
1. Backup phone thoroughly. Test backups.
2. Remove SIM card (or stay at home, AT&T simply doesn't pick up here anyways-)
3. Print out and follow one of the sensible guides for upgrading to Helly Bean/Devil Kernel. Use Heimdell - and - after the first time I flash new bootloaders - stop flashing new bootloaders. If I do hardbrick, I can most likely do a bit of soldering to do the unbrickable mod for recovery.
4. Disable access to internal storage and run from partitioned 64 GB external SD card chosen for fast R/W in small blocks (4k).
5. Check IMEI and fix access permissions to efs folder.
So, assuming that the above isn't completely idiotic...
1. How comparable (in terms of speed and stability) should I expect this setup to be? I'm particularly worried about running from a SD card. Most earlier recommendations have been to run from 16 GB SD cards, but I'd kind of like the extra storage. People who bork their internal SD cards seem to end up switching phones even after getting the external setup working and I'm wondering if external access is just unreasonably slow. Also, would 64 GB sizes result in ridiculous boot times or some sort of size limit?
2. Also, is Jellybean inherently laggy on a Captivate - or should it be comparable in responsiveness to Froyo?
3. If I do someday successfully bork my external SD card with an Encryption Unsuccessful message -what sort of information would be useful for me to provide?
4. I should expect a modest increase in setup time when flashing new roms (editing mounting information), but not that many other problems?
I would say you are over-thinking it.
Go here and follow the install instructions --> http://slimroms.nfye.eu/
No guts, no glory.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda app-developers app
Yeah I would agree that you're over thinking it. But there's nothing wrong with that. I remember being equally cautious and skeptical about flashing once, but luckily I had a knowledgeable friend to help me quite a bit.
You said you're on stock Froyo? Make sure you root, I don't think I saw that in any of your steps.
Honestly, if you follow the instructions to most ROMS you'll be fine. No need to worry so much. Especially once you do it once, you'll be MUCH more comfortable with flashing in the future. Maybe even watch a few youtube videos of people doing it! That always helps me. I'm more of a visual learner though.
But you're right, you do need to have a backup of your EFS folder, and taking your sim out would be best As far as performance vs froyo. Phenomenal. I've never had my cappy run this smooth, and you can thank project butter for that. Android lag is virtually gone
I was super nervous about rooting and going CM but it is the best decision you will ever make thats for sure. It has increased my phones speed enourmously and made it like a new phone, I would never run a phone on stock firware now lol. Why dont you just go with CM9 stabel release to start if you are nervous. My gf is still on CM9 and it is miles ahead of stock and essentially bug free
Slim ICS & Helly Bean
Yeah I would not go straight to Jelly Bean... try out ICS.
I have been using Slim ICS v4.2 as a daily driver for about a month now, no issues so far. Thank God, the Encryption Unsuccessful issue has not hit me yet. It seems to be random, so be careful. There are guides out there to get the phone running again, but those are for ICS. Not sure if they would work on JB.
Ice Cream Sandwich is much faster than stock 2.3.5 Gingerbread, don't know about 2.2 though. Though it does depend on what ROM you're using. I think the most popular ones are Slim, Team Nyx (ICSSGS?), CM9 and of course AOKP and MIUI (WeUI?). Jelly Bean ROMs include Helly Bean, Slim Bean, ParanoidAndroid, and CM10 nightlies (just off the top of my head, feel free to add to this guys).
I have not tried Jelly Bean yet as I am a bit apprehensive as well. I heard that Jelly Bean removes the datadata partition, and that screws things up going back to GB/ICS? Or maybe it screws up restoring Nandroids? Not sure. I mean, if I don't like Helly Bean, I want to comfortably be able to go back to Slim ICS. I think I will try a Jelly Bean ROM eventually but I may go back to ICS if it's slow/buggy/laggy. The developer of Helly Bean is DerTeufel, I know he's an amazing dev and more knowledgeable at this stuff than I will ever be, but I had a horrible experience using his Devil kernel with Slim ICS. Random reboots whenever I tried doing something "heavy" (like scrolling fast in browser). Semaphore kernel was better but it broke Maps and video playback. So I re-flashed the ROM and it's all good again.
And I like to fiddle, but I also love my Captivate-so I'm a bit nervous about this...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, same here, I just got it this year (2012) so I'll probably have it for a long time! Android has come so far though, it makes me jealous, and I want the latest Thank God this phone has gotten awesome support from developers, maybe we'll have Android 4.2 and - who knows? - a 5.0 ROM or two Maybe I should learn developing so I can make it myself.
__________________________________________
Edit:
run from partitioned 64 GB external SD card
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm, I thought Captivate only supports 32 GB? Maybe a custom ROM will support 64?
Just about any ROM in the development forum is going to be SO MUCH better than stock froyo.
I have enjoyed using slim ics and slim Bean. Both great roms..
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda app-developers app
curiousgeo said:
So, assuming that the above isn't completely idiotic...
1. How comparable (in terms of speed and stability) should I expect this setup to be? I'm particularly worried about running from a SD card. Most earlier recommendations have been to run from 16 GB SD cards, but I'd kind of like the extra storage. People who bork their internal SD cards seem to end up switching phones even after getting the external setup working and I'm wondering if external access is just unreasonably slow. Also, would 64 GB sizes result in ridiculous boot times or some sort of size limit?
2. Also, is Jellybean inherently laggy on a Captivate - or should it be comparable in responsiveness to Froyo?
3. If I do someday successfully bork my external SD card with an Encryption Unsuccessful message -what sort of information would be useful for me to provide?
4. I should expect a modest increase in setup time when flashing new roms (editing mounting information), but not that many other problems?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the phone's internal memory is FINE. Just the internal SDcard is messed up. Since the system partition, and other OS files are in the internal memory, you should be fine with booting and speed. All that's messed up are the /data and /sdcard partitions.
Thanks to you all :good::good::good:- particularly the guy who mentioned that a 64 Gb card wouldn't work. (I'm not sure it wouldn't - since some threads sounded like they were able to get one working...but...realistically...I'm not close to filling up storage anyways.)
Rooting went smooth (One Click Root), backups are pretty smooth-still need to test them. (Titanium, Pro version, not because I need it...just the developer obviously put in a lot of work...) A 32 GB microSD card is on order - Sandisk ULT Class 10 - seems to have excellent noncontiguous read/write speeds. By the way, Amazon had much, much better prices than the local Best Buy.
Y'know, some people are pretty aggressive - that's great. Other people...read every thread on XDA regarding the encryption unsuccessful bug before rooting their phones. Yes. Sigh. It would have been more cost-effective to buy a new phone. I did learn a few things though.
I'm confused. For Captivates, I thought the OS was typically stored on the internal SD card? And the Encryption Unsuccessful Fixes I've seen amount to partitioning the external card, installing a rom on the external card, and modifying vold.fstab. Um...maybe I'll just install a file explorer and have a look. Need to pick a good one - want exploration and chmod. There doesn't seem to be an explicit guide to running Helly Bean from an external card, (unless my search foo fails me), so I'll need to figure something out.
Attached is a screenshot of several different folders in Root Browser. You can see all the different partitions.
The guy who made the guide for the Encryption Unsuccessful issue mentioned,
Your partitions for /data and /sdcard are no longer accessible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So I guess that means everything else is fine? And I think you install the ROM from the external SD card, not on it.
Well I have been running helly bean with/Devil kernel and it is a bit laggy at frist, but it's all about getting the tweaks right in the devil configuration set-up. I would definitely suggest going through ICS, and not go straight to helly bean/ devil kernel. I would suggest doc's ICS V12, and get comfortable using that particular Rom with the icey glitch kernel before moving on to helly bean/ Devil kernel.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda premium
May i ask how did you tweak the Devil kernel and what are your settings? When I installed helly bean i found it lags quite a bit (even with lagfree governor), so i returned to cm9 (which is virtually lag free)
Sent from my SGH-I897 using xda app-developers app
I have had my Bionic for a while now and have been thinking about rooting it. I finally got the ICS update but have been using GO Launcher too much to even notice it. Anyway, like I said, I want to root my phone. I am current on all updates. For some reason it's running at a tenth of it's memory tho not much is running that I can see. This leads me to believe there's things running in the background that I can not see. I am reluctant to get rid of all my apps, but I also don't want anything that's eating all my resources either. I kinda want to start new but kinda don't. I guess I just don't like letting go of anything.
I know this is selfish of me, but I am hoping that this thread will stay clean of others chiming in asking about their issues. I just don't want the thread to lose focus since this is about what I hope to get from my phone.
Ok, so here are my questions or favors to ask:
Since my phone is fully updated, do I need to do some other updated steps for rooting my phone or is rooting always the same no matter the build or version?
When I go to root my phone, I back up everything first and then I get it back, right?
I read somewhere that it's possible to brick the phone. What precautions should I take to avoid that?
Can I get all the benefits of a rooted phone without a ROM?
Are ROMs really that awesome that I should get one, or three?
I am interested in a ROM after some posts and pages I read. I was attracted to CM at first but so is everyone else probably at first. Does CM even work on the Bionic? And if it does, does everything work like the camera and Bluetooth?
As I said earlier, I use GO Launcher. One of the things I really like about it is the folders I can make in the App Drawer. Now CM is based off of ADW Launcher, but no options to make folders in the app drawer? Is it possible in any way if I choose CM as my main ROM?
Is CM overrated? Liberty and Eclipse look nice too. I also read a little, very little, about AOKP. Any suggestions? I want to get rid of a lot of extra processes and bloatware but I don't want to lose some of the apps pre-installed like Google Maps and Navigation, etc. Unless there are other, much better replacements that anyone knows of.
I know most of this is personal preference but I am hoping to find a comprehensive way at figuring out what's best for me.
I had more questions but I will wait and ask more as the thread continues.
Oh, I don't really need answers in step by step unless I ask. A simple link would suffice unless it's not covered anywhere.
Thanks for reading this, I hope I am not frustrating anyone as I am sure similar posts have been made.
You're basically asking to have this entire forum summarized into one post...
Spend some time reading, then ask smaller, more concise questions.
Not trying to sound like a ****, but i could spend an hour answering all of that. Half of those questions could be answered with some reading of the ROM specific threads.
Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2
Ok, I know that SOME of the questions are answered somewhere else. The thing is that after I read one thread only to find it unsolved, I read others that are are 50 pages long going nowhere as well. I haven't seen anything about my phone being fully updated and I am not going any further until I know for sure from someone like a DEV that I can.
Some of these questions are yes/no questions, which wouldn't take long at all to answer, maybe even less time it takes to write a complaint about my post. I certainly don't expect one person to write for an hour on every topic I asked about. I thought it would be a collective effort.
I guess I will take this slowly.
Since my Droid Bionic is updated to the current versions, do I need to do this differently than others have used in the past to root this phone?
Where is the best method to do this?
Before I start, I have to backup everything, right? If so, what's the best way to go about backing up everything?
I read somewhere that there are 3 things you should do to make sure you avoid bricking. I have since lost it. Does anybody know a surefire way to do this.
Please be gentle.
CycoPuppet said:
Ok, I know that SOME of the questions are answered somewhere else. The thing is that after I read one thread only to find it unsolved, I read others that are are 50 pages long going nowhere as well. I haven't seen anything about my phone being fully updated and I am not going any further until I know for sure from someone like a DEV that I can.
Some of these questions are yes/no questions, which wouldn't take long at all to answer, maybe even less time it takes to write a complaint about my post. I certainly don't expect one person to write for an hour on every topic I asked about. I thought it would be a collective effort.
I guess I will take this slowly.
Since my Droid Bionic is updated to the current versions, do I need to do this differently than others have used in the past to root this phone?
Where is the best method to do this?
Before I start, I have to backup everything, right? If so, what's the best way to go about backing up everything?
I read somewhere that there are 3 things you should do to make sure you avoid bricking. I have since lost it. Does anybody know a surefire way to do this.
Please be gentle.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1st question . No, your phone is not special since it is updated what worked for others will work for you.
2nd follow this link and the instructions to the letter http://www.droidrzr.com/index.php/topic/4026-samurihls-house-of-bionic/
3rd . Since you are stock. I would suggest using Verizon's back up services. TiBu requires root. IMHO I wouldn't bother because Google automatically backs up contacts and most roms require you to do a full data wipe.
There is no magic formula to keep from bricking your phone. Just follow directions and if you can't tolerate the risk don't do it.
From my EVOLVED bionic
Obsidian_soul said:
1st question . No, your phone is not special since it is updated what worked for others will work for you.
2nd follow this link and the instructions to the letter Can not post links
3rd . Since you are stock. I would suggest using Verizon's back up services. TiBu requires root. IMHO I wouldn't bother because Google automatically backs up contacts and most roms require you to do a full data wipe.
There is no magic formula to keep from bricking your phone. Just follow directions and if you can't tolerate the risk don't do it.
From my EVOLVED bionic
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That link no longer works
Also I found an article named "Learn How-To Root, Custom Recovery, Backup, And De-Bloat Your DROID BIONIC" while searching around for ROM ideas and such. Anyway, after reading this, it almost seems as if I don't need to do factory reset. Is this ok?
CycoPuppet said:
That link no longer works
Also I found an article named "Learn How-To Root, Custom Recovery, Backup, And De-Bloat Your DROID BIONIC" while searching around for ROM ideas and such. Anyway, after reading this, it almost seems as if I don't need to do factory reset. Is this ok?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just last week I started with a stock ICS Bionic and followed this guide to root: http://droidbionicroot.com/droid-bionic-root/how-to-root-ics-on-droid-bionic-and-motorola-android/
That went very well. I wanted to try out JB 4.2.2, so I installed SafeStrap and an official CM 10.1 nightly. The net result was that I had a very unstable phone until I did a factory reset . As of this writing, however, it's behaving extremely well. YMMV.
Ratamacue said:
Just last week I started with a stock ICS Bionic and followed this guide to root: Can not post links
That went very well. I wanted to try out JB 4.2.2, so I installed SafeStrap and an official CM 10.1 nightly. The net result was that I had a very unstable phone until I did a factory reset . As of this writing, however, it's behaving extremely well. YMMV.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, so you flashed the ROM, didn't work so well, then you did a factory reset. Doesn't a factory reset wipe the phone? If that's the case, doesn't it wipe out the ROM?
Oh one more thing. Following this link, does this wipe the data from my phone? Anything I should back up before doing this? Should I do any updates before flashing CM 10?
CycoPuppet said:
Ok, so you flashed the ROM, didn't work so well, then you did a factory reset. Doesn't a factory reset wipe the phone? If that's the case, doesn't it wipe out the ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, a factory data reset doesn't wipe the ROM, but it does require running the initial setup (as if you were setting up a brand new phone).
CycoPuppet said:
...one more thing. Following this link, does this wipe the data from my phone? Anything I should back up before doing this? Should I do any updates before flashing CM 10?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You definitely want to back up everything you're not willing to lose. I ran a backup the very first thing after installing SafeStrap, and it was a good thing because with all my messing around I managed to bork my stock ROM to the point that it wouldn't boot. Fortunately, all I had to do was restore it from a backup.
My phone on CM 10.1 had enough issues with freezing and crashing that I decided this morning to try a different ROM. So far, I've had really good results with Icarus HD (a custom ICS ROM). I really don't know if my experience with CM 10.1 was typical.
OK, so I want to root. Now does rooting wipe any data? Regarding Safestrap, I install that first before rooting?
Rooting doesn't wipe any data. Root first, then install SafeStrap.
Okay, I will be rooting and installing safestrap when I get home for work today. I will still have more questions I am sure. I do have a few before I actually start rooting or right after.
I know safestrap makes a backup/recovory, but is it full recovery only or can I recover portions, like say my Dolphin browser with the settings and bookmarks?
I read that when making a backup of stock ROM, use sdcard, I'm sure that means external but when flashing a ROM, will that wipe data from the external card?
When setting up slots for multi booting ROMs, gernally how much storage do they need?
If I have two different ROMs, does it act like user accounts in Windows, would I have to download the same app on each ROM or do both ROMs have access?
Can one ROM have stuff I don't want the other ROM to have visible?
CycoPuppet said:
I know safestrap makes a backup/recovory, but is it full recovery only or can I recover portions, like say my Dolphin browser with the settings and bookmarks?
I read that when making a backup of stock ROM, use sdcard, I'm sure that means external but when flashing a ROM, will that wipe data from the external card?
When setting up slots for multi booting ROMs, gernally how much storage do they need?
If I have two different ROMs, does it act like user accounts in Windows, would I have to download the same app on each ROM or do both ROMs have access?
Can one ROM have stuff I don't want the other ROM to have visible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. SafeStrap is full recovery only. Use Titanium Backup for backing up apps and data.
2. Flashing a ROM won't do anything to your external SD card.
3. When you set up ROM slots, you'll be asked how much room you'd like to allocate for data. The choices are 1, 2, or 3 GB. I started off allocating 3 GB to the stock ROM slot and was never able to load more than 3 separate ROMs before I ran out of room. I'd start with just using 1 GB for data.
4. Each ROM is an island. You have to download the apps separately (unless when you go through the initial setup you tell the system to restore apps and settings from the Google servers.)
Cool. I rooted and got safestrap but it's version 3.05 and not 3.11. Some ROM I was interested in said must have 3.11, which I am assuming that's the newest one so far. I did watch a tutorial about getting the current version, so no question there.
So the ROMs are separate islands and during flashing they can be in slots allocated up to 3GB. Does that mean that's the only amount of storage I can have when running that ROM? Say I like taking lots of photos and didn't save them to my external card, could I essentially run out of space or is the storage allocation just for the ROM itself and any updates it may have?
Sorry about these series of questions, just want to make sure I am doing it correctly in case I might make a mistake for future's sake.
The storage allocation is for the ROM, apps, and data that haven't been assigned to the external SD card. You can definitely run out of space if you load several ROMs and don't save any of your data to the external SD card.
Also, keep in mind that when VZW sends the OTA update to 4.1 next week, the only way to keep root is to root in ICS and use Voodoo OTA Rootkeeper to protect root before you take the OTA. If you flash the system image, you will lose root, and there is no known working root exploit for the Bionic JB release.
Lost Root
Hey, I used Voodoo before flashing the 4.1 update, but forgot to update the binary beforehand, and therefore lost root. Anyone have any luck yet with an exploit for the OTA?
And there's no working FXZ before this now, correct? This software is now the earliest version I can FXZ to?
auglove3rd said:
Hey, I used Voodoo before flashing the 4.1 update, but forgot to update the binary beforehand, and therefore lost root. Anyone have any luck yet with an exploit for the OTA?
And there's no working FXZ before this now, correct? This software is now the earliest version I can FXZ to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not root exploit yet for bionic JB. And if you try to FXZ back to an earlier version, you will brick your phone.
OK, so I rooted, got safestrap tho still not updated to 3.11, got TBU (free), got Voodoo. I had to race the clock today cuz it was updating android, or at least downloading the update. The root process I used gave me SuperSU and didn't tell me the version for the SU binaries. I searched around and all I could find was info on SuperUser in regards to backing up root. I uninstalled SuperSU, kinda. I just told it to use a different SU cuz when I used SuperUser and updated the binaries, SuperSU wanted to update them, then I opened SuperUser and the binaries reverted back. I was worried so I just told SuperSU to use a different SU. Was that ok? I didn't update to JB yet. Has there been luck with the Bionic using voodoo and keeping root after the JB update?
All this back and forth means I'm making a full image backup, then trying various ROMs. I've tried CM10.1, too many issues (no car dock, trouble installing lots of apps, no speakerphone). Next is... Whizzed Bean?
EDIT: Seems Speakerphone issue was fixed in the 0420 nightly. Will have to try it again.
AND I copied all the backups to my PC, so I can restore them at will (provided the phone still boots, that is... )
If I can't find a JB ROM I like I guess I can do HouseofBionic reflash (which did NOT cause me to lose data, as I upgraded to ICS that way) then allow the JB OTA to go through.
*sigh*... So much bull**** in these updates.
Hope someone sees my question above. I still haven't updated to JB yet. Once I do I will be flashing ROMs. I am interested in CM, Liquid Smooth, Icarus Hd and Wizzed Bean or Synergy (executioner ) Both WB and Synergy look indentical. What is the differences.
CycoPuppet said:
Hope someone sees my question above. I still haven't updated to JB yet. Once I do I will be flashing ROMs. I am interested in CM, Liquid Smooth, Icarus Hd and Wizzed Bean or Synergy (executioner ) Both WB and Synergy look indentical. What is the differences.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WB is a fork of CNA (codename Android) 4.1 JB (which is itself based on AOSP)
while Synergy is a fork of the standard Moto ICS (.246).
Yes, they look identical because they both used the Samsung UI elements.
Hi guys, I have done research on this but seem to get very different responses, I wanted to flash my cappy to Cyanogenmon 10.1 nightly (jellybean 4.2.2) but now I'm not sure, I've flashed it for testing for an hour before going back to stock, the problems I had is that boot times seemed to be a LOT longer and after I restored my messages with Titanium Backup the messaging app force closed as soon as I open a conversation. I also met a guy when buying resistors (to make a jig lol) and he said that when he had cyanogenmod his battery went down twice as fast and his apps started force closing (but I don't know when that was and if the mod is more stable now).
So, I really need some advise and want to know the pros and cons of the mod, also would be nice to know how I can backup and restore my messages without FC's, also how can I get the samsung apps that came with the phone to cyanogen mod (and would restoring data from a nandroid backup restore all my apps?).
Thanks in advance,
Nik
You have many more options, not only CM10.1 (still in experimental stage) and stock. What firmware you'll chose is your personal preference. Take a look at Captivate Android Development section. Notice how many downloads most popular ROMs have. Do you think those thousands of people fight every day with stability issues and FC? Me personally, I'll never go back to stock. After trying many different ROMs I found what I'm looking for and my phone is now faster (including boot time), stable (I don't remember last FC) and can do way more compared to stock. My battery life with JB is actually better than stock GB. And yes, you can have Samsung apps. For me this bloatware was one of the first things to remove after rooting stock GB. My very first ROM to flash was CM10 stable. Never had any issues with it. Most of the problems are user created (corrupted flash files, incorrect flash sequence, missed reset/format steps, incorrect system data restore from previous Android versions, etc). And you don't need a jig to enter download mode. I never had one, had my phone soft bricked twice, flashed it countless times with Odin and through CWM... and it's still alive. Read carefully all the tutorials and troubleshooting guides.
Val D. said:
You have many more options, not only CM10.1 (still in experimental stage) and stock. What firmware you'll chose is your personal preference. Take a look at Captivate Android Development section. Notice how many downloads most popular ROMs have. Do you think those thousands of people fight every day with stability issues and FC? Me personally, I'll never go back to stock. After trying many different ROMs I found what I'm looking for and my phone is now faster (including boot time), stable (I don't remember last FC) and can do way more compared to stock. My battery life with JB is actually better than stock GB. And yes, you can have Samsung apps. For me this bloatware was one of the first things to remove after rooting stock GB. My very first ROM to flash was CM10 stable. Never had any issues with it. Most of the problems are user created (corrupted flash files, incorrect flash sequence, missed reset/format steps, incorrect system data restore from previous Android versions, etc). And you don't need a jig to enter download mode. I never had one, had my phone soft bricked twice, flashed it countless times with Odin and through CWM... and it's still alive. Read carefully all the tutorials and troubleshooting guides.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
WOW Thanks for such a detailed reply, the reason I needed a jig is that odin froze during flashing and I got bricked (the brick screen didn't work as download mode in this case). I'll have a look at other ROMs, may I ask what ROM you went with at the end?
Thanks,
Nik
10.1 is fine and stable. messaging is a system app, so don't try to restore it, but restoring only the data should work.
after flashing, you can expect the rom to have a long boot the first time, and to be pretty laggy for as long as 10 minutes. later boots will be quicker. I also use an app, system tuner, to prevent a number of apps from loading at startup.
I stayed with cm10.1, after trying a few other roms. for me cm10.1 is fav.
nosurlife said:
I'll have a look at other ROMs, may I ask what ROM you went with at the end?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but it's gonna cost you $10 per every flash/testing I did for you. And the total is a lot of money... :laugh:
Read your PM -> Info what I use + links where to find it on XDA. But again, first read carefully all tutorials and flash instructions.
laughingT said:
10.1 is fine and stable. messaging is a system app, so don't try to restore it, but restoring only the data should work.
after flashing, you can expect the rom to have a long boot the first time, and to be pretty laggy for as long as 10 minutes. later boots will be quicker. I also use an app, system tuner, to prevent a number of apps from loading at startup.
I stayed with cm10.1, after trying a few other roms. for me cm10.1 is fav.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'll look into it.
Val D. said:
Yes, but it's gonna cost you $10 per every flash/testing I did for you. And the total is a lot of money... :laugh:
Read your PM -> Info what I use + links where to find it on XDA. But again, first read carefully all tutorials and flash instructions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I could spam the thanks button multiple times haha, I'll go check out the ROMs, so there's no way to keep my txts?
And is there any difference in RAM usage between stock and other ROMs?
Thanks,
Nik
nosurlife said:
Thanks, I'll look into it.
I wish I could spam the thanks button multiple times haha, I'll go check out the ROMs, so there's no way to keep my txts?
And is there any difference in RAM usage between stock and other ROMs?
Thanks,
Nik
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can backup your texts with a app like Titanium Backup.
BWolf56 said:
You can backup your texts with a app like Titanium Backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did that but now the messaging app has the conversations when I open it but when I try to open a conversation it FCs,
What can I do now?
nosurlife said:
I did that but now the messaging app has the conversations when I open it but when I try to open a conversation it FCs,
What can I do now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok fixed it, did a reset and restored with SMS Backup & Restore now no FCs.
Thanks to everyone I am now happily running Slim Bean release 3 (4.2.2).
CyanogenMod 10.1 taking more RAM
BWolf56 said:
You can backup your texts with a app like Titanium Backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I have flashed my cappy with CM 10.1 Nightly(JB 4.2.2), but now it seems this is using more RAM. already in captivate we have only 512 MB RAM and it uses about 322 MB of it. Is there any solution for this ?? or will flashing some other rom will help ?
mangaicaptivate said:
Hi,
I have flashed my cappy with CM 10.1 Nightly(JB 4.2.2), but now it seems this is using more RAM. already in captivate we have only 512 MB RAM and it uses about 322 MB of it. Is there any solution for this ?? or will flashing some other rom will help ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's normal.
As long as your phone runs fast and smooth, don't worry about your RAM. Also, if you have bunch of apps running in the background, stopping them will lower your RAM consumption.
BWolf56 said:
That's normal.
As long as your phone runs fast and smooth, don't worry about your RAM. Also, if you have bunch of apps running in the background, stopping them will lower your RAM consumption.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aww I was going to say that haha, the main thing to watch is CPU as RAM is managed differently on android from a PC.
Another thing I noticed is that having a lot of widgets can cause a bit of lag too.
RE: RAM usage
mangaicaptivate said:
I have flashed my cappy with CM 10.1 Nightly(JB 4.2.2), but now it seems this is using more RAM. already in captivate we have only 512 MB RAM and it uses about 322 MB of it. Is there any solution for this ?? or will flashing some other rom will help ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As laughingT suggested, try an app like System Tuner to try to get startup apps under control. Greenify is another app to try before jumping ROMs. You can also go into Settings->Apps and Disable apps you do not use (personally I disable Gmail among others, seems to help battery life too). Additionally, alternate kernels may give you more usable RAM.
Edit: oops, missed the second page of posts... great responses to this question already
Just to confirm - uninstall/freeze apps you don't use (careful with system apps, some are required for the OS to run properly) but don't install any memory managers or task killers, especially auto task killers. They will only make things worse (slow). Android with full memory runs faster and smoother. Also, don't clear app cache for no reason.
After I bought the phone in 2010, it took me 6 months to build up the nerve to root. Then 2 weeks after that to start flashing.
I went back to stock GB rom at one point and gave up - from my experience,GB is the least stable of the Android versions, bloats the easiest and is overall a lousy system. It;s the armpit of Android, really.
At one point last summer I gave up on Captivate and started using an old iPhone gifted from a friend. At that point the Cappy has 3 hour batter life, nothing worked, and absolutely nothing worked stably - I thought Android was done for, but I was wrong. After about 3 months with the iPhone, I woke up the Cappy, took her back to stock (and I am talking Eclair here) and then forward to CM10. I never looked back. I am currently on yesterday's nightly CM10.1. CM10 Stable was buttery smooth and with no problems at all, but now I am hungry for the new features, so I update the CM10.1 builds about once a week.
This is not to say other builds are not as good. CM is the ROM that revived my Cappy. I am happy with it, it works and is consistently developed with high quality control. I have no reason to switch. But there are many other fantastic-looking roms out there. The Experia roms, the PAC man roms .. they seem to have unique feature sets and stable code.
What I am saying, is that DO NOT stick to stock. And although CM is a great choice, there are many, many options out there .
PS: I have soft-bricked my phone a lot of times. After the first couple times, you will a) learn the value of backing up your data before doing anything, and b) you will have all the files/programs on your computer to revive your phone with a few well-rehearsed steps. (having a backup phone also does not hurt - for a long time I carried the iPhone with me - worried the cappy would crap out on me. I finally stopped worrying)
Best of luck.
dozyaustin said:
After I bought the phone in 2010, it took me 6 months to build up the nerve to root. Then 2 weeks after that to start flashing.
I went back to stock GB rom at one point and gave up - from my experience,GB is the least stable of the Android versions, bloats the easiest and is overall a lousy system. It;s the armpit of Android, really.
At one point last summer I gave up on Captivate and started using an old iPhone gifted from a friend. At that point the Cappy has 3 hour batter life, nothing worked, and absolutely nothing worked stably - I thought Android was done for, but I was wrong. After about 3 months with the iPhone, I woke up the Cappy, took her back to stock (and I am talking Eclair here) and then forward to CM10. I never looked back. I am currently on yesterday's nightly CM10.1. CM10 Stable was buttery smooth and with no problems at all, but now I am hungry for the new features, so I update the CM10.1 builds about once a week.
This is not to say other builds are not as good. CM is the ROM that revived my Cappy. I am happy with it, it works and is consistently developed with high quality control. I have no reason to switch. But there are many other fantastic-looking roms out there. The Experia roms, the PAC man roms .. they seem to have unique feature sets and stable code.
What I am saying, is that DO NOT stick to stock. And although CM is a great choice, there are many, many options out there .
PS: I have soft-bricked my phone a lot of times. After the first couple times, you will a) learn the value of backing up your data before doing anything, and b) you will have all the files/programs on your computer to revive your phone with a few well-rehearsed steps. (having a backup phone also does not hurt - for a long time I carried the iPhone with me - worried the cappy would crap out on me. I finally stopped worrying)
Best of luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, I'm never going back to stock I'm running slim bean (based on CM) android 4.2.2 and really enjoying all the features, the phone is so much smoother and looks much more professional then GB (no offense google lol).
Thanks,
Nik