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I am coming from WinMo to the Epic. I am noticing a lot of bloatware on this phone and am wondering if rooting it and installing a custom rom the only way to remove these programs? I mean there is a lot of literal crap on this device from Sprint. Any help would be appreciated, I read through all the forums I could think of and even went to the wiki and read.
You can use "one click root",then get a program called "sdx app remover".
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App
thank you very much
jonny4 said:
I am coming from WinMo to the Epic. I am noticing a lot of bloatware on this phone and am wondering if rooting it and installing a custom rom the only way to remove these programs? I mean there is a lot of literal crap on this device from Sprint. Any help would be appreciated, I read through all the forums I could think of and even went to the wiki and read.
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SDX app remover will work, but another option is to root, then download titanium backup from the market. I use the free version and it's great. Using this app, you can make backups of you apps and app data (1 at a time, in a batch, or even set overnight schedules). This comes in handy whether flashing roms, if a program gets corrupted, or even if you download an update to a program that doesn't work and want to restore the prior one. Also, if you go to the backup/restore tab, you can see all apps on the phone. If you press on the app, it brings up options, one of which is uninstall. If rooted, you can uninstall anything (just be careful).
Welcome to the epic.
I had the same thought with my heroc long ago. But the stock rom minus bloat still is garbage compared to even the worst custom rom. With this epic was never a question...custom rom 30 mins after I got it.
You can always Odin back to stock...but you never will
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I guess I am worried about messing something up, I only started putting custome rom's on My touch Diamond after I knew I was looking for a new phone in the last 3 months. Is there just a bsaic Android 2.2 rom for the Epic, so I could start from scratch with my apps?
I would recommend Bonsai, but they seem to be busy screwing themselves over. Let's just say its a great rom, but they are making some pretty dumb moves in the PR category.
BTW, if there was
literal crap on this device from Sprint
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then you should have contacted the health department.
so i am noticing some of these roms will root for me. I am looking at the bonsai thread, is it an all in one package. i am new to android rooting. i know on winmo i had to first unlock then run a ruu from my desktop.
You can use odin too load pre rooted roms. Which will give u cwm. Then u can change roms at your own discretion with out a pc. Look at the ratings and read the posts before u load a rom. Id also suggest bonsai 4.0 seems to the the most stable. And I have tried all of them.
Unless you do not care about pic msging and gps in which case definately check out cm7 aplha 3. Its androi 2.3 gingerbread .
one more question, if i don't like this how do i go back to stock rom, with winmo i just reflash old one.
maghig said:
BTW, if there was literal crap on this device from sprint then you should have contacted the health department.
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Click to collapse
Thank you for this. My keyboard thanks you for the mountain dew bath.
I have decided I actually like the Samsung ui but I can;t stand how many apps there are, I have 2 freakin Facebook apps because I can't remove the original and the newer one doesn't update the old one. So best thing to do is root and try and remove the stock apps I guess.
I already said this and no one answered. if something goes wrong, how do I go back to stock sprint rom? with winmo i just re run the rom package on my pc.
Just use ODIN. It's always right at the top of the Dev section.
thx, wanted to make sure that is the right thing, like i said i am a nOOb
I was in your shoes a month or so ago.
When I finally had enough time and bravery to mess around with the phone, I rooted and proceeded to brick my phone.
This bricking taught me a valuable lesson and its that the epic is very hard to permantly screw up. I also came from a winmo device before being hogtied and violated from palm and sprints marketin team but wounds healed and feelings of anger and sadness faded away when the epic decended from sprints hallowed halls. (Gg sprint marketing team on another successful campaign...)
Hope isn't lost and I would advise you to become used to your phone with the OTA updates (it should be at ec05) because unless you know what gains you are receiving from flashing a new rom, then it would be a pointless endevor.
Lurk more in the dev forums and play with your phone. If you have a question then ask and hopefully you will find a rom to fit your needs.
Sent from my Epic4g using the internet.
I was rushed and wanted to further clarify a little on what I posted above.
The epic you have now OP should be on 2.2.1 EC05 Froyo if it's not that way now. This is the current update pushed from sprint and I personally had no problems with it. The amount of bloat you see vs the bloat you can't (CIQ...and others *too lazy to google or search*) is a factor to consider while deciding if rooting and customs roms are for you.
I know you mentioned Touchwiz and like you, I enjoy it. Rooting and flashing a rom can remove this but many of the current roms offer a version with TW either as default or baked in. This shouldn't be of concern because you will not notice much difference between stock TW and that provided in a rom other than how "snappy" it is.
I also recommended lurking in the dev forums, and I meant that. I'll look at the first page of a thread such as the ACS rom thread in dev. After seeing what's offered, go to the last page and work backwards, noting any issues or problems people are having. Do understand that people are more likely to post a problem than give praise so do not let those post steer you away, but just use caution and take notice of what's recommended to fix it.
Although this may seem long winded, I feel that a majority of people similer to myself will either conclude that rooting is hard and not mess with it, or become lost in the ever changing acronyms, root utilities, and overall direction to successfully root their device.
What makes matters even worse is that some roms can be so complicated to install and troubleshoot that the information you need to continue isn't already clear enough to you to correctly ask a question or troublesoot. You will see this reflected in post where phones are reurned to the store after it fail to boot.
So to restate what I think would be your best option (and others who find themselves looking to root and flash custom roms), you should lurk and study the dev forums along with general. Make sure current version of froyo is on your device from the OTA update (EC05 is current and you can check by Settings/About Phone/ and scrolling down towards the bottom. Become knowledgeable about what your phone can do, then if you decide that a new rom will make for a richer experience, then follow guides handed down from the roms themselves to help make sure you successfully root and flash your phone.
It can be a headache but it's worth the pain when you finally finish.
Sent from my Epic4g using the internet.
jonny4 said:
thx, wanted to make sure that is the right thing, like i said i am a nOOb
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jonny4,
I,too, was in your shoes. I registered on this forum just to reply to your post.
I've had my Epic 4G for a little over a month and I've already tried several different kernels and ROMs. I've found that a good resource for learning how to flash your Epic is YouTube. There's a guy on there with the username "randyshear." He had an Epic 4G and made a ton of how-to vids about installing ClockworkMod Recovery, making Nandroid backups, and flashing various ROMs. Before my Epic 4G, I had never had an Android phone, so I was VERY new to the whole thing. Fortunately for us, the phone has been out for a while and many options exist. I recommend checking out randyshear's vids. He posts download links to all the ROMs he tries out. I've been using the Genocide 0.3a kernel that undervolts and overclocks the CPU to 1.2 GHz and I've flashed ViperROM Apocalypse 4.0.4 with EXT4. The phone has never been faster!
Make sure you get ClockworkMod on the phone and make a backup. Also, just to be safe, back up your microSD too. Trust me, once you get the hang of it, it's actually really fun to try out different ROMs to see how your phone responds. Good luck!
EDIT: I recently flashed my Epic with SyndicateROM Frozen 1.1.0 (EC05 Froyo) with the Twilight Zone kernel and I was completely blown away! FASTEST ROM/KERNEL COMBO I have seen yet!
here is basically what i hate. i just killed a bunch of apps and 3, Clock, amazon mp3, and qik video, that I have never used or setup are already running again. It is absolutely stupid that a program that has never been used or setup can run itself, reminds of me of spyware or malware, and because Samsung locks out removing of said apps it is annoying. I would be happy with the basic rom if all these extra apps weren't running or installed. I may try what the first person suggested. I know WinMo had a bunch of crap apps installed in the Sprint rom but at least those did not run on their own. I do appreciate everyones help, really and I guess if I plan on rooting I should probably do it within my return policy.
I am a noob, but I am starting to REALLY enjoy modding my phone. All I have done so far is root and put syndicate/genocide on, and now have a thread open for changing icons directly without theme pack.
I would like to learn more though, and really get a better understanding on what I am doing and some terms.
For example, if you look for a definition in google (at least for me I could not find any) for EC05, it really does not give you one. It tells you what the letter and numbers mean, but what is EC05 really, why cant you put certain ROMs on the epic that others use, etc.
The EPIC wiki has definitions for ROM, Odin, etc, but is there anything out there that talks about other things (EC05, CM7, why the epic can't use the Muiu, maybe how the android software works from apk files to this framework file I keep reading about but no nothing about).
So I am looking for an overall faq or wiki, something to really help me get going on the android software. Maybe a book?
Or is the info just scattered and I need to keep searching?
First thing is ROMs and Kernels are VERY Hardware specific. So since no 2 different phone models have exactly the same hardware the ROMs from one to the other are incompatible. EC05 is just a date code for the release of firmware and a specific modem. However different modems can be used on the firmware. Probably not the best way to label it then. As for one place to go to know all things Android including hardware...no idea. I don't know what docs are included with the sdk developer's package for Android but that may be one place to look. In the Themes forum, Dreamsforgotten has put together a nice how to on how to theme.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
lardo5150 said:
I am a noob, but I am starting to REALLY enjoy modding my phone. All I have done so far is root and put syndicate/genocide on, and now have a thread open for changing icons directly without theme pack.
I would like to learn more though, and really get a better understanding on what I am doing and some terms.
For example, if you look for a definition in google (at least for me I could not find any) for EC05, it really does not give you one. It tells you what the letter and numbers mean, but what is EC05 really, why cant you put certain ROMs on the epic that others use, etc.
The EPIC wiki has definitions for ROM, Odin, etc, but is there anything out there that talks about other things (EC05, CM7, why the epic can't use the Muiu, maybe how the android software works from apk files to this framework file I keep reading about but no nothing about).
So I am looking for an overall faq or wiki, something to really help me get going on the android software. Maybe a book?
Or is the info just scattered and I need to keep searching?
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Click to collapse
Most of those questions can be answered if you send the right pm to the right person. And ec05 like kennyglass said is a build number, other devices have ec05 versions while being completely different then ours.
Apk's related to framwork files I haven't a clue, just know that if you don't have the right framework (say touchwiz launcher on cm7) it will force close.
While we have a wiki, its outdated.
Also, like kennyglass said, kernels are very device specific. While you may pull off booting a kernel from a VERY similar device, (like our original nexus s ports) almost everything will be broken.
Guys, thanks for replying, I found what I was looking for (just took one more google search).
Thanks to both you guys though!
No problem, there is a great bunch of us here that love to help.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Are there any alternate spash screens out there? Or is it generally discouraged (not safe) on the Nexus? I was thinking of changing mine. I changed the one I had on my Droid Incredible and always loved that little personal touch. I was thinking of using this one but I wasn't sure about it being horizontal. I know several of the boot animations are horizontal though, so maybe it doesn't matter.
If you're talking about the bootanimation you can and its quite simple....just move bootanimation.zip to system/app using Root Explorer(or any file browser).
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
Nope. I'm talking about the very boring "Google" black screen that comes up just before the boot animation.
There was a lot of talk about changing the splash screen on these forums as well as on rootzwiki. No one seemed to have a clue of how to do it and it seems like everyone lost interest rather quick. lol. So as of right now it appears to be UN-changeable. I hope someone eventually figures it out though. I've tried digging through framework res files to find the images because I heard that's where they might be and I had no luck.
Well poop....
Kind of an old thread, but I figured I'd reply. I'm unsure exactly where it is located on the gnex, but it wouldn't be in the framework. the splash image loads before the phone boots. This would lead me to believe that it's stored on a partition (probably hidden, in or about the area of the bootloader or radios). There's a pay app on the market made for galaxy nexus devices (seems to be most versions) called Logo Me. If I fail to dig up the relevant information, I'll end up buying the apk, but it is indeed possible. I'm not beyond buying the app, I just haven't given up trying to figure out how to do it by hand, since I used to do it all the time on HTC phones.
moxlon69 said:
Kind of an old thread, but I figured I'd reply. I'm unsure exactly where it is located on the gnex, but it wouldn't be in the framework. the splash image loads before the phone boots. This would lead me to believe that it's stored on a partition (probably hidden, in or about the area of the bootloader or radios). There's a pay app on the market made for galaxy nexus devices (seems to be most versions) called Logo Me. If I fail to dig up the relevant information, I'll end up buying the apk, but it is indeed possible. I'm not beyond buying the app, I just haven't given up trying to figure out how to do it by hand, since I used to do it all the time on HTC phones.
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Im pretty sure I saw a thread on how to do it earlier today. Either here or in development, and it was a new thread.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA Premium HD app
Thats a really good way to hard brick your phone. Not worth the risk. Probably one of the few ways you actually could brick this phone.
There's an app called logo me in the play store. There's also a thread buried here in the themes and apps section about it. The app allows you to change the Google logo and the little locked/unlocked lock under it with just a push of a button. Its a paid app though, worth it depending how bad you want to change those images.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium
Has anyone else experienced app icons disappearing from folders? The icon remains visible in the app drawer but isn't visible in the home screen folder.
The real strange thing is the folder treats it as though it's still there. (There's a gap where it would be) If I try to add it to the folder again, then both show up.
I'm having the problem with one app (wifi analyzer) but had experienced it before with other apps.
Any ideas or feedback is appreciated.
I'm running stock and unrooted latest update for what it's worth.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Are you using the hide icons feature in the app drawer ??
I miss a few on occasion too. ..
Try this. ..
Enable all icons again. ..then wipe cache in the recovery. ..
Then reboot and hide apps again. .
It appears to be a stock bug. ...g
This is one of those bugs that sparked my curiosity to try different ROMs.
Is there any place to read up on known issues with i317? Samsung has really dropped the ball in regards to support on their website. This seems to be the main place to ask questions but I feel like I have quite a few, some are general and others are more android specific.
I think I may be having buyers remorse now. I'm reading and trying to figure out as much as I can but it feels like I've read every book in an encyclopedia set and while I've learned new things the general things still remain unanswered or unfound. I'm not sure if it's device specific, android specific, or an app gone awry.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Every device and OS has bugs,,,it's just part of the game...
The note 2 is a solid and good running device with great support (here on XDA)...and the Rom offering is excellent as well.
If you purchased the device new, and it has any type of severe glitch...you may want to consider a warranty replacement.
Mine has always performed very well on the stock firmware, and although the TW 4.1.2 version is a bit buggy, it still performs beyond my expectations when compared to the note 1...
No regrets here at all.....g
It's been pretty solid. I just get a bit reluctant to try anything beyond stock right now because there are those little things that seem to occur. I occasionally get a blue outlined box around app icons which has left me baffled because it's a rare thing but has happened a few times.
I'm not knocking the phone or its OS. It just seems tedious to find answers to questions. I am not comparing anything with my iphone experience, because it took years for me to become a go to guy with any issues with iOS or even the hardware. I just am finding it a bit more of a challenge to locate a good sgh-i317 based sort of a knowledge base. Do you by any chance know of any good information banks? Or perhaps I should ask where's a good place to start learning more in depth about it?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
The best reference for all things android is here. ..XDA
Do a search for XDA university. .
You'll find every topic, ranging from the beginning of Android. ..all the way up to full blown coding from source.
No better resource exists anywhere on the planet. ..g
Perfect! Seems like exactly what I have been digging around for. Thanks a million.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Always welcome. ...g
I thought it was just me getting random blue borders on widgets. It only started within the last 2 months, and the only possible change would be having adding perseus kernel.
Small enough to not care, frequent enough to make me say "wtf"
-----
I would love to help you, but help yourself first: ask a better question
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
The missing app icons is more of a problem for me. The blue border thing just makes me scratch my head.
Sadly if you anything aside from flipping through home screens it disappears. I've tried getting a screen capture of it and it disappears. It's almost like when you only single click something on a windows desktop. It's a rare occasional thing but drives me nuts wondering what it is or why it happens.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using xda app-developers app
Hello all. I will be returning to a newish epic soon...hella missed this phone. I've got tons of old files from a couple years ago but I assume there has been lots of goodness put together since my epic got trashed. I've read lots of forums, dowloaded some files, yadaya but If there is still anyone out there using or developing for the epic, can you please give me some direction. Best way to root, from what I assume will be a stock phone. (still odin v3+1.85?) Also and more to the point of my question, Roms? Best roms that actually have valid download links? Thank you for your time if anyone actually reads this
darkrelik696 said:
Hello all. I will be returning to a newish epic soon...hella missed this phone. I've got tons of old files from a couple years ago but I assume there has been lots of goodness put together since my epic got trashed. I've read lots of forums, dowloaded some files, yadaya but If there is still anyone out there using or developing for the epic, can you please give me some direction. Best way to root, from what I assume will be a stock phone. (still odin v3+1.85?) Also and more to the point of my question, Roms? Best roms that actually have valid download links? Thank you for your time if anyone actually reads this
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Click to collapse
I don't know how much advice I can give about what is "best", but I can tell you what I am still using on my "daily driver"...?
I try to keep up with the CM11 "Nightlies", and so right now I'm using the latest: cm-11-20150614-NIGHTLY-epicmtd.zip
The kernel (?) I'm using: notest-epicmtd-kk4-20140401-cma.zip
I make use of Link2SD app as far as juggling space for apps.
Somewhere along the way, the stock Android Messaging app just stopped working correctly for me (couldn't compose a new message - just greyed out - never could figure out what was wrong), so I've "Frozen" the stock Messaging app and installed the (almost identical) SoftCoil Messaging app.
The stock Android browser did not seem to perform very well for me, so I went looking for a "lighter footprint" browser - right now I am trying out the "UC Mini" browser, and so far so good (?) although I still don't rely on using the browser that much, so maybe I haven't done solid testing of it...
I'm not a super-whiz at this, but if there's anything I can answer to help, I'll try. Maybe you'll have some ideas or find out some things that are more up-to-date than what I'm doing...?
Glad to see I'm not the only one posting in this "Ghost Town" these days...
(Although to be honest, I did just get the letter from Sprint about the discontinuation of the WiMax network... so the months are ticking away as for how long I will stick with this, too... soon as I buy a new phone for my lady, I will probably inherit her Nexus 4 and finally say goodbye to the beloved Epic 4G...)
Thank you very much for taking the time to share that info with me. I just got my new Epic about 20 min ago and can't wait to get some CM goodness going. I really didn't expect a reply to this at all so thank you again. I'll post again if I come across something worth sharing.
Oh also give puffin browser a try, I use it on my Tab 2 and its pretty damn fast!
Arson Smith said:
I don't know how much advice I can give about what is "best", but I can tell you what I am still using on my "daily driver"...?
I try to keep up with the CM11 "Nightlies", and so right now I'm using the latest: cm-11-20150614-NIGHTLY-epicmtd.zip
The kernel (?) I'm using: notest-epicmtd-kk4-20140401-cma.zip
I make use of Link2SD app as far as juggling space for apps.
Somewhere along the way, the stock Android Messaging app just stopped working correctly for me (couldn't compose a new message - just greyed out - never could figure out what was wrong), so I've "Frozen" the stock Messaging app and installed the (almost identical) SoftCoil Messaging app.
The stock Android browser did not seem to perform very well for me, so I went looking for a "lighter footprint" browser - right now I am trying out the "UC Mini" browser, and so far so good (?) although I still don't rely on using the browser that much, so maybe I haven't done solid testing of it...
I'm not a super-whiz at this, but if there's anything I can answer to help, I'll try. Maybe you'll have some ideas or find out some things that are more up-to-date than what I'm doing...?
Glad to see I'm not the only one posting in this "Ghost Town" these days...
(Although to be honest, I did just get the letter from Sprint about the discontinuation of the WiMax network... so the months are ticking away as for how long I will stick with this, too... soon as I buy a new phone for my lady, I will probably inherit her Nexus 4 and finally say goodbye to the beloved Epic 4G...)
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Howdie!
I see you are one of the last people in this forum actively doing things. If I have an old Epic lying around that I want to use as a gaming only system--doesn't need any phone support, which is the most stable rom for that feature? I'm not looking to strip a carrier radio out or anything, just don't care if works or not, I plan to disable everything but wifi.
Suggestions--if you don't mind?
TIA