Comprehensive Android Phone/MODs/ROMs Thread

[Pabst]

I just tried it out. No problems with me. Have you checked the droid x forums?

[Neuro]

wtb froyo for galaxy s

Not 2.2, but if you just want your phone to run faster, look into Voodoo Lag Fix on XDA forums, or project-voodoo.org. Replaces the (rather laggy) RFS file system that Samsung used with the much faster EXT4. Not sure which version of the Galaxy S you use, but if it's the Captivate, Vibrant, or I900, it'll work.

[Julian]

so I just rooted my phone, and trying to do stuff, but I'm confused as hell

I rooted just fine, trying to install the clockwordmod flasher thing, it refuses to work, i boot up into normal recovery.

I decide to do some stuff, I unroot, and then I rebooted.... into the clockword recovery, wat? Rerooted, and I can't access it anymore. I'm confused, think I'll just stop messing with it now

when it loads into recovery it says

--install from package
finding update package
opening update package
verifying update package
e:failed to verify whole-file signature
e:signature verification failed
installation aborted

[Neuro]

I believe you got the Epic, right? Which Rom Manager did you get? The one from the market isn't updated to work with it yet as far as I know. May want to ask for support in this thread on XDA, as issues will be specific for your device.

[Julian]

Yes, that's the thread that I was trying to follow.

[Chun Liroy]

So after reading up on it a bit, I'm confused by what a ROM is exactly... Does it replace Froyo in a sense, or does it replace the UI? Or if anyone could just explain it... that would be tons of help.

[Omnipotent]

This update keeps pissing me off, my gallery is 10x slower than normal, and everytime I text someone and just lock right after. When they text me again and I go to unlock, my phone goes to landscape mode and puts me at the beginning of our texting convo so I have to scroll down everytime.

[Doombear]

Essentially, ROMS are custom OS's as far as Droids are concerned. They are pretty much entire OS replacements. Some are Froyo or Sense based, others are not so much. Mods like Cyanogen are built from scratch. They change the way your phone looks and feels as well as runs of course, some come with certain replacements for stock Apps, some come with their own kernels for overclocking, etc.

I am still reading up on some of the more popular ROMS over on XDA, like Cyanogen and Vanilla.

[Chun Liroy]

So it would pretty much replace froyo and make the update irrelevant or does it still matter? I was mainly looking at buglessbeast.

[Doombear]

I would hate to speculate and be wrong SL, since I have the Incredible and don't really wander too much outside of its forum on XDA. Looking at this though : Buglessbeast ROM Topic I get the impression that it is a pretty basic/vanilla OS with a lot of apps added. Seems pretty straightforward, but I would take a look at that topic if you haven't already. Does NOT seem FROYO based, but again that could be down to my lack of knowledge just yet. I am quite new... had my Incredible for 6 days, it has been rooted for 2. =)

[Neuro]

Was typing up something based off the link provided above, but I think Silentleroy has a Motorola phone, not the EVO? A ROM is going to overwrite whatever is on the phone, so if it's Eclair based, you'll go back to that. Usually best to backup your apps with Titanium Backup, and also make a backup of your current ROM before trying stuff.

[BerenTebogo]

Okay, keeping in mind I'm phenomenally retarded with technology, I've now rooted my droid and installed cryogenmod + google apps so I can use marketplace and etc. Thing is though, now that I /should/ have complete control over my phone and the ability to delete applications at a whim (fuck you twitter get the fuck off of my fucking phone) it appears that I cannot.

I don't really understand why I can't delete this shit? Any suggestions? I want 90% of the stuff that comes with google apps off my phone, all I really wanted was marketplace

[Korietsu]

Settings > Application Settings, wait while list populates > Select Twitter > Uninstall.

[BerenTebogo]

It's greyed out for everything I want to delete

[Isawa]

Might not be the right place to ask, but does anyone have any experience with the HTC Aria? I've been looking to upgrade phones but keep my service with AT&T and that is one of the three phones available. Would appreciate any feedback :3

[Neuro]

@Sath, try downloading Titanium Backup, go to the Backup/Restore tab, and see if you can delete from there.

@Isawa, I had the Aria for a bit before I exchanged for the Captivate. It was a decent phone, ran pretty fast for not having a 1ghz processor like a lot of the new phones coming out. Only downside is the smaller screen. Cyanogen 6.0 is available already, and they're working on 6.1. So, decent, not superpowerful, small screen. I've heard that some people have had problems with battery life, but I didn't notice it. Expect to charge it every night regardless.

Edit: Thought of one other downside. Aria won't ever have Flash 10.1, due to device limitations, and certain 3d games (like those from Gameloft) won't run. This wasn't a huge deal to me, but it may be to you. Least it's GPS works, unless the Captivates.

[Julian]

Somehow got clockwork working (woo), so I decided to try out some custom roms.

I tried out "AOSP Magic" which some people were comparing to CM, so I figured it would be good, but after messing a bit with it, idk if I like it much, idk. I guess the good thing is, I can try whatever I want now? :D

But, one thing that I'm a bit confused about, when I flashed this new rom, shouldn't all of my apps have been deleted, so I would have to use titanium backup to get them back? They're all still there, which leads me to believe I may have done something wrong >.>

[Neuro]

Some ROMs don't overwrite the /data section where apps are stored. Most of the TouchWiz crap is stored in /system/app. You can make sure the ROM is on there by going to Settings > About Phone and checking the Build Version.

[Julian]

Oh it's definitely working, I guess.

I don't think I really like the plain android, this is what happens when my first android used touchwiz and all that stuff on top of it.

Anyway, since I now have "full control" over my phone, a few things that I would like, but don't know how, or if it would be possible, etc, anyway:

How would I go about getting a custom lock screen of sorts? I would like something that's integrated with a music player, so I can pause/stop/next/etc songs without unlocking the phone. Something kinda like how the itouch does it, I assume this should be possible?

And, can I change the size of the icons on the home screens, so that I can fit more stuff on there? I'm pretty sure I've seen screenshots with smaller icons.

I think those two are the main things that I would really like to do with my phone right now.

[Neuro]

I'm not sure how it is with Epic 4G, but the stock TouchWiz lock screen already has the music player integrated on it. If you're wanting to stick with AOSP, there is a widget called WidgetLocker that would let you control the music player from whichever lock screen you use. I've not tested it personally (downloading right now) but it's supposed to work. It's not free on the market, if you don't sideload apps.

The smaller icons are probably due to either; ADW.Launcher (allows you to add more columns/rows on the homescreen), or a theme that makes the icons look smaller. There's also an app called LCD Density that lets you change the resolution of the phone, which would make everything look smaller. Some apps don't scale and look bad, but there's a setting to fix that.

Edit: Ok, so WidgetLocker should work for you. If your music player of choice has a widget that allows you to control the music player, you can just add it to your lock screen. If it doesn't, you can pull the Notification Bar down while on the lock screen and use the music controls there.