Hello all very long time lurker but am here now for some help. So a few questions and description of what i wish to achieve.
I have a POS iPod touch 4th gen that I have had 2 and half years or something and really want to replace. Also have an Xperia X10 and shortly will have an LG Optimus 2X. The X10 will function for phone duties until the Xperia TX become available in Australia.
Back the the O2X though. Now turning an android phone into a Portable Media Player (PMP) is something I have been wanting to do for a while now. Naturally though this brings up a few things that will not be needed.
For the music front end I will be using Player Pro and Pics and videos will primarily be held and viewed in QuickPic.
The phone will still need to retain wifi and bluetooth capabilities, however I want to fully disable all other forms of connectivity as I will have no need of it and will not be using a sim in the phone as this will be dedicated to music, movies and pics. So does anyone know the best way gor me to go about that?
I will also have a hell of a lot of unused and unwanted apps. I would love to be able to really strip the phone back and free up as much space as possible. Now in the past I have been able to uninstall pre-installed apps from my X10. I am just unsure how to go about it on the O2X. Does anyone know how I would go about completely removing the phone, contacts, calander, stock music, stock gallery and other assorted apps?
I would also need to be using a kernel with the voodoo sound mods for the wolfson DAC. Now I was wondering if there was any recommendations there?
Finally I would also like a recommendation of the most stable ICS based ROM to go with the voodoo kernel. I would like the ROM to also include a modifiable set of notification bar widgets so I can easily turn on and of things like wifi, bluetooth, gps, airaplane mode and adjust brightness. Anyone know of anything that would fit the bill?
Must also come with a working camera app (does not need to has video recording working or panorama just basic camera duties please). Any other suggestions that you may think of feel free to post them.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and hope some of you can help me out here on my project to make an Android PMP out of a great little Android Phone.
Stoner
Note to mods: hope I am posting in the right section, feel free to move it if I am not.
Since connectivity is already built in into the android OS, you can't disable it, but I think keeping your phone in airplane mode all the time should do the trick. Anyway, taking out the sim card already disables all connectivity that involves telecommunications.
If you want to remove system apps, you have to root your phone first. The forum already has so many guides on rooting. Then all you have to do is use any root file manager, go into system/app and delete the apps there. Not everything can be deleted though, some are crucial for the functioning of the phone.
The other way is to download a rom, open the zip and delete everything you don't need that's under system/app and install it. No guarantees that your phone will boot up though, if you happen to hit an app that is crucial for the rom to work. Then you can flash the rom and it's done.
There are many kernels that use voodoo, just find one that fits any rom of your choice.
Finally: ICS roms still have some bugs, seeing that you are going to use it as a PMP, I recommend not upgrading to ICS or later until roms made from LG's sources start popping out. I hear that CM10 (that runs on jellybean) will be released shortly after LG releases their ICS update.
Almost all roms have a camera app, no worries there!
TL;DR Install any rom you'd like that seems to fit the bill. Root your phone, open the particular rom's zip file and remove apps you don't need that are in system/app, flash it to your phone (with recovery mode of course). Flash kernel to your liking.
Looks like LG is no better than Sony when it comes to OS Updates haha
shall look at stock based Rome for now then. Try and find a JB skinned one if possible.
Then play trial and error with what apps I can remove before flashing and which I have to leave and possibly just freeze. New it was something simple but its been a while. I hope I can remove all the basic apps that make it function like a phone otherwise I guess I will make do with freezing and hiding them. Love removing all clutter possible.
Will be waiting to see if CM10 can come along much less buggy than all the CM9 and ICS ROMs that I have looked at. Silly LG hampering the development of ROMs because there isn't an official ICS update to work off and its late 2012 already. Hoping for some good news though with what I have read about SK and them getting ICS.
After living with many different cooked roms on my Tilt and Inspire, I've observed that none of them are without their bugs and quirks. Most notably I've found that some cooked ROMs tend to suffer from performance issues after a while, others are just flat out buggy.
I'm wondering if, rather than flashing a new ROM if it might not be just as effective to root, freeze the bloatware apps that I don't want and take a Nandroid backup if I need to restore to 'stock'. Can anyone comment on whether freezing unwanted apps will help with system performance (i.e. freeing up operating memory)?
Bump.
Nobody can comment on the Pros and Cons of freezing or uninstalling with TiBU rather than flashing a ROM specifically where bloatware is concerned?
The magic with TB is you can freeze an application and let you evaluate the impact on your device. If all is good and you don't encounter any kind of bad effects, then it is safe to say you can remove it.
Otherwise, if the impact is negative on your phone you can simply “defrost” the frozen application and everything should regain normality.
TB is, honestly, the very first application every flash addict should buy. It was one of the very first I bought years ago, and it is probably the one I am using the most frequently.
Lucky Thirteen said:
The magic with TB is you can freeze an application and let you evaluate the impact on your device. If all is good and you don't encounter any kind of bad effects, then it is safe to say you can remove it.
Otherwise, if the impact is negative on your phone you can simply “defrost” the frozen application and everything should regain normality.
TB is, honestly, the very first application every flash addict should buy. It was one of the very first I bought years ago, and it is probably the one I am using the most frequently.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh, yeah. I'm a flashaholic. Or, at least I was with my Inspire. I totally rely on TiBU and ROM Manager. They were some of the best app licenses I've bought. But I've learned some things about custom ROMs over that time which suggest I want to live in OEM Stock for the time being.
What I'm trying to understand is whether or not there's a performance benefit to uninstalling bloatware applications. IOW, does it free up system resources to help the phone run faster, or is it dedicated space for storage and not accessible by the system for cache or other benefits.
On that subject, is it possible to create my own 'cooked' rom by uninstalling the stuff I don't want (like the AT&T Bloatware, SoundHound, Polaris Office, and so on) and replace them with apps that I prefer like Documents2Go, SugarSync and other stuff that I'd rather have in the ROM?
I guess I'm just not understanding how the Android ecosphere works in terms of system partitions, where the ROM is located, what happens when we flash a ROM and if I can achieve the same thing on my own without having to learn how to use the 'kitchen' to roll my own worrying about deodexing and all that other fancy-dancy tech stuff.
Hi folks,
<rant>
I am running a N7100 with no Samsung apps, using OmniROM (4.4.2). My first smartwatch was a sony using a pretty slim manager, that didn't require any separate app store or anything funky. Now I got that gear watch for xmas and I am pretty annoyed as it took me some time to figure out that the GearManager is pretty much bound to samsung libraries and stuff (and an APK in /system/apps/ )
</rant>
Now the big question: Is there any way to get notifications and stuff running without installing tons of software on the phone?
I'm not sure about the other phones, but with the note 3, the current gear manager can let you push any notification that would normally show in the task bar, to show up on the gear. I think there are some issues with secure emails, but most should work without anything else other than gear manager.
Now I say I'm not sure about other phones besides the note 3, because they were all added to the compatibility list later, and not sure if there could be something that's not been ironed out yet.
If your wanting notifications without gear manager though, your out of luck without some serious modifying, if it's even possible at all.
Sent from my SM-N900W8 using xda app-developers app
I'm running one of the CM 11 nightlies with no Samsung bloatware at all on my phone, alas it's an unsupported Galaxy Nexus.
After fiddling with the individual Gear apps and Gear Manager, I'm able to get contacts, call logs (and incoming call notifications), TripIt and a few other tidbits working, but not much else.
Gear Manager seemingly works fine on my phone (sans a few crucial items like weather), but even after selecting additional notifications like Hangouts and Gmail, they don't show up on the phone.
Even with all of the provider apks installed and the phone / watch being paired, there's still a lot of missing functionality. My guess is that a lot of that Samsung "bloatware" handles a lot of this functionality, and (at least for now) it's baked into the OS and is required if you want full use of the Gear.
aviguera said:
Even with all of the provider apks installed and the phone / watch being paired, there's still a lot of missing functionality. My guess is that a lot of that Samsung "bloatware" handles a lot of this functionality, and (at least for now) it's baked into the OS and is required if you want full use of the Gear.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... and that's maybe one of the reasons for the stock firmware of samsung being a memory hog, slowing down the devices by eating much too much RAM.
Looks like there's no clean solution in sight...
cb5264 said:
... and that's maybe one of the reasons for the stock firmware of samsung being a memory hog, slowing down the devices by eating much too much RAM.
Looks like there's no clean solution in sight...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes there is use a bloat cleaner script, heaps available.. or simply delete the apps you dont use like I do. :good:
I got a new wifi S2, installed the permissive kernel and rooted it. I installed TWRP and made a backup. Now I've got an uninstall app and I've removed a few things; primarily Knox and the security logger so that it quits whining at me. I have a strong desire to never ever use the cloud, create a Samsung account, or a Google account. I really just want to load some books onto it and DLNA some music and videos.
So I want to get rid of all the stuff that I'll never be able to use but it's not clear to me how to identify all that. I'm a long time Unix guy but not at all an android guy. If something prompts me to create an account I know I want to uninstall it, but damned if I can figure out how to identify what to uninstall from what icon I touched.
I've found bloatware lists but they're all somewhat old and not for the S2, so it's not clear to me if I should trust them. I'd like to avoid trial and error "uninstall and reinstall if something doesn't work" or the even more dreaded "uninstall and find out six months later that something doesn't work". Can anyone point me at a good list of what I can remove, or where I can figure out how to determine that for myself? Thanks.
Better start freezen apps instead of uninstalling them. I use titanium backup for that, but you can use whatever you like. Just be carefull freezing or uninstalling OS related apps, you can end in a bootloop, but you always have the odin flash method to reflash your system back to normal. Just don't play around with partitions or /dev .
Right now I using my tablet unrooted and untouched, so I can't be more specific which apps you can freeze without problems.
He doesn't need odin as he has a twrp backup.
I take it you are using System App Remover (root) to uninstall system apps? If so you are pretty safe as they are backed up and can be restored any time if something goes wrong.
Also are you aware without a Google account you will lose part of the functionality of an Android device?
Samsungs account you can do without. All that stuff related to it can be deleted, but don't advise removing any of the Google core services from the stock rom.
If you really want a GAPPless rom then you're better off with a non stock custom rom like CM or AOSP.
Not much in that area of development at the moment, but there are a couple of members working on it.
ashyx said:
He doesn't need odin as he has a twrp backup.
I take it you are using System App Remover (root) to uninstall system apps? If so you are pretty safe as they are backed up and can be restored any time if something goes wrong.
Also are you aware without a Google account you will lose part of the functionality of an Android device?
Samsungs account you can do without. All that stuff related to it can be deleted, but don't advise removing any of the Google core services from the stock rom.
If you really want a GAPPless rom then you're better off with a non stock custom rom like CM or AOSP.
Not much in that area of development at the moment, but there are a couple of members working on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, thanks. If I lose functionality to avoid Google watching over my shoulder I'm all for it. I'm old and probably overprotective of what's my business and not theirs. In truth, I bought the S2 because I have a collection of chess book pdf's and djvu's that I want to be able to read while I'm sitting at my chess board. I got the 9.7 inch S2 because the old eyes aren't what they used to be. Anything I can do beyond that is icing on the cake.
I do have the app remover, and I've removed the stuff that was obvious to me (like the Microsoft Office stubs). But there are still lots of things that bring up a prompt for an account when I run them and it's not clear to me how to figure out what app to remove to get rid of that particular thing. On Linux I could use rpm -q to figure out what rpm contained a file I want to remove and I'd be good to go. I've tried googling some of the app names but the "descriptions" I end up finding are particularly unenlightening. And since this is definitely not my area of expertise I don't really want to operate in "let's remove this and see what happens" even if I can reinstall the app from its backup. I've been doing software development and sysadmin for more than 35 years now and that just doesn't seem like the way to approach this.
I was looking at CM, which seems like it might be what I'm looking for, but it's still in alpha and my skill level is probably not up to coping with that so I'm back with the problem of how to decide what to get rid of.
Hi,
I like to know if there's a way to back up the phone without root, if something went wrong, like errors and so. By backup I mean back up all the settings, wallpapers, themes, like the backup we can make with recovery.
Thank you for the help.
soilentgreen said:
Hi,
I like to know if there's a way to back up the phone without root, if something went wrong, like errors and so. By backup I mean back up all the settings, wallpapers, themes, like the backup we can make with recovery.
Thank you for the help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah comes with samsung backup.
Nick216ohio said:
Yeah comes with samsung backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And this is the only way?
soilentgreen said:
And this is the only way?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is but this seems like the best so far. This is coming from a person who was die hard titanium backup fan. Actually surprised how well it works.
Nick216ohio said:
There is but this seems like the best so far. This is coming from a person who was die hard titanium backup fan. Actually surprised how well it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you share the second best backup?
Thank you.
Also, what is the best order to use Google restore and / or Samsung restore? I used the Samsung cloud Backup for a restore and was rather disappointed ?
So, what is best practice to prepare for a hard reset and restore? I do it this way:
- make backups in all apps that support it, like nova launcher prime, nine email and so on
- do a Samsung Backup
After hard reset, I follow the process and restore when offered, Google and Samsung. However, afaics, no app data is coming back.
Am I holding it wrong? ?
soilentgreen said:
Can you share the second best backup?
Thank you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 2nd options being other apps from play store. I haven't tried those on this phone. If you're rooted definitely titanium backup.
corwin_amber said:
Also, what is the best order to use Google restore and / or Samsung restore? I used the Samsung cloud Backup for a restore and was rather disappointed ?
So, what is best practice to prepare for a hard reset and restore? I do it this way:
- make backups in all apps that support it, like nova launcher prime, nine email and so on
- do a Samsung Backup
After hard reset, I follow the process and restore when offered, Google and Samsung. However, afaics, no app data is coming back.
Am I holding it wrong? ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What disappointed you? No app data coming back is normal. Just like when you do a titanium backup restore. It's adviced to restore with no app data. Because when you do tend to get a lot of issues. Your just getting apps back.
Nick216ohio said:
The 2nd options being other apps from play store. I haven't tried those on this phone. If you're rooted definitely titanium backup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not rooted and looking apps from play store.
I would appreciate it if someone could recommend good apps.
Good topic .
For some reason my restoring process is always messed up when I use the Samsung smart switch. Since it restores via smartswitch and then Google restores also.
Moving forward should one have Google back restore enabled and also use smartswitch as well or is it safe to assume smartswitch on its own is adequate?
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
@Nick216ohio Ok, I see. I am just comparing to iOS and even Windows phone / mobile restore. iOS / iCloud restore is brilliant, WP / WM restore depended on App support.
What is the situation like with Android, can apps support app data restore via Google restore?
This whole topic is a little unclear to me, is there a resource where it is explained?
Thanks ?
corwin_amber said:
@Nick216ohio Ok, I see. I am just comparing to iOS and even Windows phone / mobile restore. iOS / iCloud restore is brilliant, WP / WM restore depended on App support.
What is the situation like with Android, can apps support app data restore via Google restore?
This whole topic is a little unclear to me, is there a resource where it is explained?
Thanks ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can restore data, but like I said before causes issues. Like force closes, apps not working right, etc. Wish we could restore data without issues. Just google and you will get clear answer. I am to lazy to explain. Apple does some things better and same with android. They both got +/- overall.
But here's some good news for all of us>
http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/1...ow-restore-backed-data-initial-setup-process/
corwin_amber said:
@Nick216ohio Ok, I see. I am just comparing to iOS and even Windows phone / mobile restore. iOS / iCloud restore is brilliant, WP / WM restore depended on App support.
What is the situation like with Android, can apps support app data restore via Google restore?
This whole topic is a little unclear to me, is there a resource where it is explained?
Thanks [emoji847]
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Apple backup and restore is eons ahead of Android backup and restore.
I'm an Android fanboi BTW.
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
I rooted last week and so tried to prepare as much as I could for the factory reset step. I don't use Google or Samsung backup for apps, I prefer things local to me (I am too used to TiBu coming from a rooted Note 3).
I backed up the apps that allow an export of setting/content as previously mentioned in this thread (so like Nine email, Signal Messenger etc), I also used Helium backup which stated it backed up most of my apps & data and then I copied all of internal SD to an external one.
I was disappointed with Helium, it restored all apps and data "successfully" however it didn't actually appear to have done anything. After some googling I manually installed the apps it backed up and then proceeded to restore the data...this actually works for some of the apps but I was left with quite a lot that it did not. I ended up cutting my losses and starting fresh with those apps.
I am now rooted and back onto TiBu which is fine until I need to change to a phone that isn't rooted. I have limited experience with anything Apple but from the sounds of it they do a pretty good job at restoring apps and data but I wouldn't be able to cope with how tight the control is on their devices (which is one element that I expect helps with having a more reliable backup solution).
kaos_king said:
I rooted last week and so tried to prepare as much as I could for the factory reset step. I don't use Google or Samsung backup for apps, I prefer things local to me (I am too used to TiBu coming from a rooted Note 3).
I backed up the apps that allow an export of setting/content as previously mentioned in this thread (so like Nine email, Signal Messenger etc), I also used Helium backup which stated it backed up most of my apps & data and then I copied all of internal SD to an external one.
I was disappointed with Helium, it restored all apps and data "successfully" however it didn't actually appear to have done anything. After some googling I manually installed the apps it backed up and then proceeded to restore the data...this actually works for some of the apps but I was left with quite a lot that it did not. I ended up cutting my losses and starting fresh with those apps.
I am now rooted and back onto TiBu which is fine until I need to change to a phone that isn't rooted. I have limited experience with anything Apple but from the sounds of it they do a pretty good job at restoring apps and data but I wouldn't be able to cope with how tight the control is on their devices (which is one element that I expect helps with having a more reliable backup solution).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This story reminds me a bit of my own.
I'm an Apple AND Android user and just recently got a lot more into using both for the given areas where they excel...
Well, fun fact is that I'm considering going with a Note 9 when it launches and I want to try my luck in staying unrooted there, certainly staying on stock ROM (because I would like to use the SPen to its full extent and many things that Samsung does incorporate into their ROM attract me... Please don't shoot. )
Either way, upon researching backing up Android rooted or not rooted I found out it's an absolute crap shoot on this side of the fence and it'd be incredibly hilarious if it wasn't so sad.
I also doubt Google has any big incentive to fix it, they'd much rather fix cloud backups gluing you to their ecosystem. Pulling a good old Apple. :silly:
The fact is, as far as I found out, please correct me if I'm wrong, the issue is mostly that app developers must flag their apps as allowing to be backed up/not flag it's disallowed. (I read that not setting the flag is treated like a default no, but that's up to the version of the ROM/base Android, this may differ. I do not know)
Apparently, plenty enough apps use that liberty and whilst there is such a flag in iOS as well it's limited to stuff like login credentials afaik.
The general problem here I think is that the history of personal computers and smartphones is not only diagonally aligned chronologically, but also many technologies in smartphones matured as they had become a mass medium for practically the - excuse the blunt wording - dumbest of users. That and the general philosophy of SMART phones (read: it does a lot, but it's easy, it does things for you) and the approachability aspect.
My personal opinion is that this whole mess complicated backups needlessly and could be solved, but I don't want to get overly technical right now at 10pm.
Glassed Silver said:
This story reminds me a bit of my own.
I'm an Apple AND Android user and just recently got a lot more into using both for the given areas where they excel...
Well, fun fact is that I'm considering going with a Note 9 when it launches and I want to try my luck in staying unrooted there, certainly staying on stock ROM (because I would like to use the SPen to its full extent and many things that Samsung does incorporate into their ROM attract me... Please don't shoot. )
Either way, upon researching backing up Android rooted or not rooted I found out it's an absolute crap shoot on this side of the fence and it'd be incredibly hilarious if it wasn't so sad.
I also doubt Google has any big incentive to fix it, they'd much rather fix cloud backups gluing you to their ecosystem. Pulling a good old Apple. :silly:
The fact is, as far as I found out, please correct me if I'm wrong, the issue is mostly that app developers must flag their apps as allowing to be backed up/not flag it's disallowed. (I read that not setting the flag is treated like a default no, but that's up to the version of the ROM/base Android, this may differ. I do not know)
Apparently, plenty enough apps use that liberty and whilst there is such a flag in iOS as well it's limited to stuff like login credentials afaik.
The general problem here I think is that the history of personal computers and smartphones is not only diagonally aligned chronologically, but also many technologies in smartphones matured as they had become a mass medium for practically the - excuse the blunt wording - dumbest of users. That and the general philosophy of SMART phones (read: it does a lot, but it's easy, it does things for you) and the approachability aspect.
My personal opinion is that this whole mess complicated backups needlessly and could be solved, but I don't want to get overly technical right now at 22pm.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep , just thank God for smartswitch. Before that it was even worse!
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
there could be possibly another way, try the cloning apps, like App Cloner, they modify apps before cloning them, and one option is to make the app store its data outside the system directories, in the internal storage, thus your able to save the apps data easily, but i have not fully tired and there are other limitations and enabling too many clone options = random crashes and bugs.
it depends on how important app data backup is for you.
limitations are, every time app updates versions, you must reclone if you need the updates, apps may not work properly.
there are heaps of cool tweaks you can do and i always clone apps that i know I won't need to update much.
Limeybastard said:
Yep , just thank God for smartswitch. Before that it was even worse!
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Worse? Didn't Kies backup apps at all?
Also, is Smart Switch at least better than any other solution that isn't Titanium Backup? I guess another way to wird this question is:
How is Smart Switch different than other solutions? (also, does it use adb or is it proprietary Samsung technology because Samsung customized the ROM to begin with)
COULD it become better?
I'm really interested in getting the next Note phone, but damn having to root just to get proper backups irks me.
Afaik Samsung doesn't like to service rooted devices, pulling an Apple here, but that may be wrong or outdated info?
Also you apparently lose Knox/Secure Folder?
Does rooting on Samsung's flagships require a custom kernel like you need with Sony's Xperia (currently rocking an Xperia X and the rooting procedure is a joke)
sonhy said:
there could be possibly another way, try the cloning apps, like App Cloner, they modify apps before cloning them, and one option is to make the app store its data outside the system directories, in the internal storage, thus your able to save the apps data easily, but i have not fully tired and there are other limitations and enabling too many clone options = random crashes and bugs.
it depends on how important app data backup is for you.
limitations are, every time app updates versions, you must reclone if you need the updates, apps may not work properly.
there are heaps of cool tweaks you can do and i always clone apps that i know I won't need to update much.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Way too much fussing about.
Guess the ball is in Samsung's court, but they seem to agree with the stance that a developer should be able to disallow me to rule against my freedom to do with my personal data as I please. Boo...