Database Develop

Were you an Android user before the NOOK?

Just curious how many people here are new to Android?
I've noticed that there are Nook users who seem to be new to the forum. So, I am assuming that those new to NOOK are getting their first taste at Android or just never tinkered with your Android phones.
Myself, I've been with Android since the G1 and was using an Iphone 3gs prior to making the switch. Currently I have a HD2/Android, my wife has a Vibrant/ Eugene's Gingerbread and my daughter has a G1/Sparks Mod.
What about U?

I switched from iPhone to an Evo last summer, and sold my iPad around the same time (Apple's handling of the iPhone 4 antenna-gate turned me off to their company). I haven't looked back - Android is much more for me than Apple was, and the NookColor is a phenomenal tablet for me.

I never had apple products but got to play with them as I knew many people who did have it. They make a great product.
I am coming from an HTC Incredible, which is awesome. Personality wise. Android is right for me just as a PC is right for me over a MAC. for the price, this Nook Color experience can't be beat and the rooting and customizing is an awesome hobby!

NC is my first Android device. I did a fair amount of hacking with my DirecTivo which is also a Linux based hardware device.
Homer

Original Droid which I have had for a year... though it seems like longer (which made for some fun at my expense in another thread, lol.)
Android-x86 in some virtual machines and tested on a netbook and on a dual-core Atom system.
Now my phone is upgraded to a Droid 2 Global as well...
Still have the original Droid though, and loather to part with it.

iPhone owner here (jailbroken, of course).
After initial awe wore off, I didn't like my iPhone much anymore for its limitations, but after jailbreaking it and customizing it to my liking, I like it again. Always looked at Android devices with envy though. NC is my first, and I loved learning about ADB, rooting. I love Market and that I can sideload off-Market apps by just dropping them in Dropbox.

This is my first android as well. I've had the last three iPhones and loved them. But I consider them a communication device. The tablet arena had to be android for me so that I can integrate it into my job as an engineer. So far its been great! !!!!!!
get zooted with nook color

I'm new to android. Using a 3GS for my phone.

I am not new to Android. I have had the HTC Eris, LG Ally and currently I have the Moto Droid, which I love. So I am not new to Android and I have the original Nook which is rooted as well.

I am an NC owner because i was an android owner. Before this this, i had my droid incredible, and i loved the experience. Reading about what could be done with the NC, it was an easy choice to ask for it as a gift. I love this thing, and am more pleased with it than i thought i would be actually.

Learned how to root my HD2 a few months ago, and LOVE android! Coming from a blackberry, WM was driving me crazy. Blech!
I'd been drooling over my daughter's ipad, but when I learned about the NC, and the PRICE, well, gave myself a fun Christmas present. So much better than the ipad!

I've been an android user for about 10 months now. I also have a HTC Google Nexus One that is running CyanogenMod 6.1.1.

New to Android but did a lot of tinkering with my Tilt(Kaiser) and Touch Pro2 before I got my iPhone.

This is my first Android Device. Using it, I've actually decided that aside from the apps, Android was made for this screen size.
webOS is my OS of choice though.

I've had a slew of different Android phones from the G1 to the myTouch 3G. I currently have an HD2 that I've messed around with Android on. But my main phone ( and the phone that I always come back to ) is my iPhone 4...
I owned an iPad but sold it due to never using it, but when I saw the Nook color could be basically a fully functional Android tablet for $250 and it was much easier to hold than the iPad I had to buy one...
So far I'm very happy. I can't wait for full custom ROM's to become the norm...

I've had a Hero for quite some time, which I rooted and have flashed many roms to. I've been very happy with it, and was equally happy when I found out that I could root my book. Lovin' android.
Sent from my rooted Nook Color with XDA app

NC is the first Android device i offically own. But i've been a phone hacker (WM and iOS) for three years. My husband is an android guy so i hopped on the bandwagon and love it.
Sent from my XDA app on my Nook Color

I'm fairly new to Android, but sadly a Backflip was my first.
I started device tweaking back in palmpilot days as a kid, got an iTouch, thought it was okay, but then got the Backflip, loved the hardware, but the software wasn't worth it.
after that I got a captivate for free, and now my brand new nookColor (already rooted) might be getting 2.2 before my phone does. xD Happy day!
I owned the original nook, and the nookColor is a different beast all together, and is a nice cheap alternative to the Galaxy tab and iPads. and it seems to be bringing in new blood to the dev community.

wendellc said:
Just curious how many people here are new to Android?
I've noticed that there are Nook users who seem to be new to the forum. So, I am assuming that those new to NOOK are getting their first taste at Android or just never tinkered with your Android phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
New to Android yes, my last phones were the Wing/Tilt, all Rom-afied, an i <3'ed WM6.
I had figured since Android was google-ie it would be (no offense to Devs) *****ie, like no Emus for copyright reasons an so forth and thats what i used my phones for
After the phones died an seeing the ugly new WM i went to tablets for a Micro-mobile device an saw i had to settle for Android or pay 400+ for underpowered Windows.
After coming up on google voice, an app that takes away from cell phone companies, i looked into Android more and saw how Linux-ie-free-ranged it was and got the NC for Christmas.
The NC specs probably make it beastly-er (an help most stuff not work) but i fix PC so enjoy that helps it feel Linuxie an doesnt make me think of Mac stuff which i figured was googles intentions.

adunofaiur said:
This is my first Android Device. Using it, I've actually decided that aside from the apps, Android was made for this screen size.
webOS is my OS of choice though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A big x2 here
webOS is so much easier to navigate, but Adroid on a big screen is fantastic.

Android isn't the same what it used to be and it's boring modding it now.

Hey All!
I've been a user at xda since 2009 (I lost my old account's password). And I was deeply in love with it and all the people.
MY EXCITING XDA EXPERIENCE-
1) Galaxy Y
I got here when I bought my first Android device Samsung Galaxy Y (S3560)*(Totoro) in 2010 when I was 11 and in 8th grade. It has Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread. But I wasn't happy as most games like Temple Run and Subway Surfers didn't run on it due to it being Armv6.
And somehow, I found a youtube video which linked to xda where it explained if I rooted and upgraded my device, it would've got m running all my favorite apps! I was happy and then I learnt upgrading and all. I never knew that there was a fake ICS Update with build.prop modded on it and believed it to be original
It wasn't easy. I ended up bricking my device and crying all night unable to fix it. My dad took it to Samsung and they repaired it and warned me never to do this again or it will get spoiled forever. I got **** scared and never touched it for another 6 months until curiosity struck me when I got a notification of an ICS Mod (I still didn't read the log and thought it to be real). And I ended up bricking it again. I was so scared. Later I found out Odin. Yup. Odin was literally an angel that saved my life and boom! I had my original device back! I tried thrice and then got the ICS mod! It looked so cool that I used to stare at my phone for days without doing anything. Later I installed an unstable CM9 which was original but didn't have Bluetooth, WiFi, Mobile Network, Brightness, Sound, and Playstore working. It was useless. I got to know that Broadcomm didn't release the drivers and needed large donation to do so. I never got to know about it.
I ended up trying hard to install GTA, etc on it but everything failed.
2) Blackberry Playbook
Now this wasn't on xda I believe when I got it. My father bought it as a gift in 8th grade. It had almost nothing except NFS Undercover. I heard that you could install Android on BB Playbook by rooting it and all once it has OS ver. 2.0.4 or 2.0.6. But I already upgraded it to 2.1.x. Now I felt like breaking my head because there was no going back.
3) MOTO G (XT1033) (Falcon)
This was my first google device and I was so happy to get it because it was super mod friendly. I got it after my 10th board exams in 2014 and I loved it through and through. Suddenly upgrading from 2.3.6 (Galaxy Y) to 4.4.4 with a bigger screen and armv7 processor was heaven! I enjoyed it a lot and loved it! It was like a treasure for me. I had to slap myself 4 times when it came to me through Flipkart online shipment. And I installed tons of mods on it. i loved it. Especially the android 5.0 part.
4) MOTO G4 Plus (XT1064) (I dont even know it's developer name)
I got it when I completed my 12th grade
Now comes the boring part. The phone was capable of multitasking, etc but it was still boring. This is the only device that I haven't unlocked the bootloader yet. Why?
NOW COMES MY POINT ABOUT ANDROID BECOMING BORING -
The phone Moto G4 had everything I needed. 32 GB, great camera, great RAM, great processor and only 208.30$. Great deal. It's still with me and I'm in College B. Tech. 1st year doing Electrical Engineering. But I've lost the excitement of modding and rooting. Have I grown up? Newer versions of Android do not interest me. I remember waking up till midnight 3 to watch the unveiling of android 5.0! Loved it but now it's all done. BORED!
Maybe because we have everything that we need in android.
And I do not know what more can be added to android to make it interesting. CyanogenMod used to excite me with its features but I don't feel like I need them now. Everything seems so changed.
Do you guys think it i common to feel like this? Or I'm a special snowflake who is a boring person....

Dude even I have left flashing ROMs. I have HTC Desire. Even I feel that rooting, modding, theming android is waste of time. I am not happy with stock ROM, but now I also dont want to go back and start the flashing game and install CM. Got tired of this. I have also lost interest in Android versions. They nowadays are pretty much same eg: Lolipop=Marshmallow=Nougat (90% are same).

Mr.KM said:
Dude even I have left flashing ROMs. I have HTC Desire. Even I feel that rooting, modding, theming android is waste of time. I am not happy with stock ROM, but now I also dont want to go back and start the flashing game and install CM. Got tired of this. I have also lost interest in Android versions. They nowadays are pretty much same eg: Lolipop=Marshmallow=Nougat (90% are same).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So did ICS = JB = KK.
You cannot expect radical changes in open source software such Android or Linux distros . They need some time to settle in. Although the UI is pretty much the same with different versions of Android, under-the-hood, the features are pretty exciting :laugh: . I used to have a mindset that Lollipop == Marshmallow, but the native Google API support for Fingerprint was darn exciting. before Android M, OEMs used to have their own APIs for fingerprint support, but when Google introduced the FP API, you can now authenticate purchases using your FP rather than entering that darn password. You just need to save your FP once and it used to work everywhere. The Doze feature in Android M was awesome, although it can be achieved in L using apps, it was a big reason for me to uninstall 'Boosting apps' from my friend's phone. Now the doze feature got even better in android N.
The reason why '90% of the code are the same' is because it is an Open source and is an update, not a complete rewrite of the code.
That '90%' is the 'Android part' and the remaining '10%' is the 'update part'.
Fun fact: Human gene is 98% similar to Gorilla gene. That 2% difference makes us humans .

T.Ru said:
So did ICS = JB = KK.
You cannot expect radical changes in open source software such Android or Linux distros . They need some time to settle in. Although the UI is pretty much the same with different versions of Android, under-the-hood, the features are pretty exciting :laugh: . I used to have a mindset that Lollipop == Marshmallow, but the native Google API support for Fingerprint was darn exciting. before Android M, OEMs used to have their own APIs for fingerprint support, but when Google introduced the FP API, you can now authenticate purchases using your FP rather than entering that darn password. You just need to save your FP once and it used to work everywhere. The Doze feature in Android M was awesome, although it can be achieved in L using apps, it was a big reason for me to uninstall 'Boosting apps' from my friend's phone. Now the doze feature got even better in android N.
The reason why '90% of the code are the same' is because it is an Open source and is an update, not a complete rewrite of the code.
That '90%' is the 'Android part' and the remaining '10%' is the 'update part'.
Fun fact: Human gene is 98% similar to Gorilla gene. That 2% difference makes us humans .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That made a lot of sense though! But I don't give a damn about FP and wallet (I've never done online purchases). I feel my interest towards games going down as I'm growing up as well.( It's so boring to grow up )
Anyways, I hope Google changes the UI in the next update. Never felt so bored. And most of the CM themes are pretty old and not innovative. You'll get bored after 2 days of installing themes and will want to revert back.
I really do hope Google changes the UI. I'm desperate for some new UI now. Not 1 or 2 apps but the whole thing like it was from KK to Lollipop and GB to ICS! Yummy!

[email protected] said:
That made a lot of sense though! But I don't give a damn about FP and wallet (I've never done online purchases). I feel my interest towards games going down as I'm growing up as well.( It's so boring to grow up )
Anyways, I hope Google changes the UI in the next update. Never felt so bored. And most of the CM themes are pretty old and not innovative. You'll get bored after 2 days of installing themes and will want to revert back.
I really do hope Google changes the UI. I'm desperate for some new UI now. Not 1 or 2 apps but the whole thing like it was from KK to Lollipop and GB to ICS! Yummy!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can feel you, the urge, passion or whatever-you-call-it for modding have definitely come down. I don't know if it is because of the age or is modding is becoming easier and easier. Back then was the days of CWM and CM10 while Paranoid Android was for the elite devices. Now you can find modding easier than ever, everything is just a few clicks away. You can find each and every ROMs for each and every device, which made the whole fun of modding only for the end results rather than the sheer fun of the process of modding.
I remember when I got my first Android device, a tablet with Allwinner A13 chipset with a single core processor and 512 MB RAM. Before I got that tablet I was using Nokia N70 and Nokia E71, both based on Symbian S60 OS. I learned a lot about 'hacking the phone' (it's just like rooting but allows you to install apps not signed by Nokia) app signature, app installation and modifying the system partition. So when I got my tablet, modding it came to me naturally. It was a device totally off the RADAR of android devices, but fortunately, it came with a pure AOSP version of Android without any manufacturer modifications in it which made it a tad bit easier for me to mod that tablet. I discovered rooting, apps to bypass in-app purchase called as 'Freedom' (Lucky patcher got this feature long after freedom was released), Xposed modules and Game guardian. All these mods and apps let me enjoy my device without getting bored. But it was not enough for me, then I came to know about custom ROMs, there is no custom ROM available for my device, I did vague searches on Google and got links to some 5 ROMs made specifically for my chipset (not my device). I tried all of 'em but they had a lot of bugs etc. So I went back to the stock firmware by doing a fastboot flash. At the same time I also discovered ADB, I still remember when my little brother entered the wrong pattern more than 40 times, and when there was no other way, I used ADB to disable screen lock and factory reset my device. I did the same for two of my friends.
And that's how I came to learn a lot about Android.
BTW,
Now look at any kind of Android modding, there is some kind of 'one-tap' app available. Take, for example, Enabling Google Assistant on non-pixel devices, you have to edit your build.prop manually but there are 5+ apps available on Play store that does the same thing. There is no hard work involved, and the end result will always be underwhelming unless you yourself mod your system.
One of the best thread I came across recently was enabling Pixel's Round icons on other 7.1 devices. It requires you to decompile and recompile your framework.res file. Now that's what I call as real modding. Although the result is minor and can be easily achieved by installing a third party app and applying a custom icon pack, the sheer feeling of accomplishment you get by modding is just unparallel.
And one last thing,
The best modification you do for your phone is getting back the new features of the new Android version in your current Android version.
A thousand thanks to Xposed and N-ify
Thanks for reading till the end, signing off -Thiru

T.Ru said:
I can feel you, the urge, passion or whatever-you-call-it for modding have definitely come down. I don't know if it is because of the age or is modding is becoming easier and easier. Back then was the days of CWM and CM10 while Paranoid Android was for the elite devices. Now you can find modding easier than ever, everything is just a few clicks away. You can find each and every ROMs for each and every device, which made the whole fun of modding only for the end results rather than the sheer fun of the process of modding.
I remember when I got my first Android device, a tablet with Allwinner A13 chipset with a single core processor and 512 MB RAM. Before I got that tablet I was using Nokia N70 and Nokia E71, both based on Symbian S60 OS. I learned a lot about 'hacking the phone' (it's just like rooting but allows you to install apps not signed by Nokia) app signature, app installation and modifying the system partition. So when I got my tablet, modding it came to me naturally. It was a device totally off the RADAR of android devices, but fortunately, it came with a pure AOSP version of Android without any manufacturer modifications in it which made it a tad bit easier for me to mod that tablet. I discovered rooting, apps to bypass in-app purchase called as 'Freedom' (Lucky patcher got this feature long after freedom was released), Xposed modules and Game guardian. All these mods and apps let me enjoy my device without getting bored. But it was not enough for me, then I came to know about custom ROMs, there is no custom ROM available for my device, I did vague searches on Google and got links to some 5 ROMs made specifically for my chipset (not my device). I tried all of 'em but they had a lot of bugs etc. So I went back to the stock firmware by doing a fastboot flash. At the same time I also discovered ADB, I still remember when my little brother entered the wrong pattern more than 40 times, and when there was no other way, I used ADB to disable screen lock and factory reset my device. I did the same for two of my friends.
And that's how I came to learn a lot about Android.
BTW,
Now look at any kind of Android modding, there is some kind of 'one-tap' app available. Take, for example, Enabling Google Assistant on non-pixel devices, you have to edit your build.prop manually but there are 5+ apps available on Play store that does the same thing. There is no hard work involved, and the end result will always be underwhelming unless you yourself mod your system.
One of the best thread I came across recently was enabling Pixel's Round icons on other 7.1 devices. It requires you to decompile and recompile your framework.res file. Now that's what I call as real modding. Although the result is minor and can be easily achieved by installing a third party app and applying a custom icon pack, the sheer feeling of accomplishment you get by modding is just unparallel.
And one last thing,
The best modification you do for your phone is getting back the new features of the new Android version in your current Android version.
A thousand thanks to Xposed and N-ify
Thanks for reading till the end, signing off -Thiru
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mate, you've got an excellent point. Modding is not modding anymore. It's one touch and boom! You get CyanogenMod. It used to be fun to try and use CWM and get the result but now.... It's too easy. That's what's made it boring. Also, I'll try a few mods later. You actually motivated me! Thanks.
-Yash

It got so boring. Now as an adult I just want something that works. Ip7
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi there,

I am a musician from Germany, have been all Sailfish for years. That phone broke just months, before I'll get my new one, so I bought a used galaxy s8. For the first time I was on a branded phone, before the Sailfish device it were Nokia devices (N8 with Symbian and Lumina 1020 on WP).
Horrified, how many things Google asked me about and Samsung and so on, I trie to find a solution for this device. It will be my sons first own smartphone, so I want to prepare it to be reasonable "degoogled". On the other hand, he mostly likes camera-features, so I'll stick to modified stock-rom.
This is a worthwhile learning experience for me, because next I'll get a PlanetComputers Astro. Wich is a dual boot device with nice keyboard wich will mostly run on Android. So I hope to get used to the Android world before my next phone comes.
So I'll be not much of help, but I am great in asking stupid questions...
See you.

About me

Hey y'all,and thank y'all for welcoming me. I'm Philip, a 52 yr old tinkerer. I've been reading post and using help guides from XDA for yrs, just never signed up. The info on here is top of the line and more trustworthy than anywhere else. I bricked my girlfriends Galaxy tab and a couple other devices some yrs back and just recently recovered the tab with help from y'all and a laptop from my neighbor. I admit I like the easy way out and diligently to get some of this done via ota files but I had it done in no time with the laptop and Samsung Kies. She currently has a new scepter 8 qlink tab which is the worst performing device I ever touched and I've been reading some discussions on here about maybe rooting it and flashing an update or custom ROM. Aside from the scepter 8 we have C5_Stratus Elite from True Connect that operates fairly decent but either the phone or android 11 won allow display over other apps even if you enable it in developer mode. I think I read somewhere that flashing to android 12 might fix it. It's not a super big deal but I have a few apps that require it but not allowed due to low end hardware. Anyway that's my story for now. Y'all have a good day.

Hello from a noob who's into phone deGoogling

Hello good people of XDA.
Over the past few months an interest in flashing custom ROMs onto smartphones turned into a hobby of refurbishing and deGoogling phones. Mostly Motorola models.
I've used this forum a few times when looking up information on a phone I'm trying to flash. Right now my favorite is LineageOS but I've been meaning to try out some others.
Motorola phones are my favorite because so many of their models seem to be moddable. The LG v20 I picked up has a too recent version of android to try rolling back for a firmware flash, so when I have some extra cash I plan on buying an unused one from a chinese vendor and hoping it has the old android version 7.
My favorite phones are ones with IR blasters. Mostly because of how much you can control anything with a remote using your phone, I really don't understand why this feature isn't more common, but I suspect it's because of how mischievous they can be if misused.
Personally I don't have much IT experience professionally, I just recently got a CompTIA A+ certificate and am looking for my first helpdeks job to get into the field, but I'm really interested in getting into computer security. As of right now my big fascination is trying to remove as much of Google and as much tracking from a smartphone as possible while keeping app functionality.
Mobile development is something I never really thought I'd get into but I've found is extremely interesting to me. Hope I can contribute as the time comes

zennok said:
Hello good people of XDA.
Over the past few months an interest in flashing custom ROMs onto smartphones turned into a hobby of refurbishing and deGoogling phones. Mostly Motorola models.
I've used this forum a few times when looking up information on a phone I'm trying to flash. Right now my favorite is LineageOS but I've been meaning to try out some others.
Motorola phones are my favorite because so many of their models seem to be moddable. The LG v20 I picked up has a too recent version of android to try rolling back for a firmware flash, so when I have some extra cash I plan on buying an unused one from a chinese vendor and hoping it has the old android version 7.
My favorite phones are ones with IR blasters. Mostly because of how much you can control anything with a remote using your phone, I really don't understand why this feature isn't more common, but I suspect it's because of how mischievous they can be if misused.
Personally I don't have much IT experience professionally, I just recently got a CompTIA A+ certificate and am looking for my first helpdeks job to get into the field, but I'm really interested in getting into computer security. As of right now my big fascination is trying to remove as much of Google and as much tracking from a smartphone as possible while keeping app functionality.
Mobile development is something I never really thought I'd get into but I've found is extremely interesting to me. Hope I can contribute as the time comes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice intro, welcome to XDA!