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Noob alert, I'm new here, and I'm new to smart phones, I had the HTC Touch Diamond but it was defective to the point where the only thing I could do on it was browse the web and make phone calls...
I'm not that advanced when it comes to this phone since I just picked it up 2 days ago...
Question 1
I've searched around and saw there was ways to put apps on the SD card, and I'm sure just like a computer you can't run the apps off the SD card (unless you can?)
Well my issue with that is I've tried Astro but I'm dumb and can't figure it out.
Question 2
What's the reason and advantages of "rooting" my phone?
Question 3
Battery life... Battery goes dead in the matter of hours, I took it off the charger and within 10-20 minutes it was down to 89% battery life.
I've installed an app killer to save on processing, and save battery.
Set it to CDMA
Krimlin said:
Noob alert, I'm new here, and I'm new to smart phones, I had the HTC Touch Diamond but it was defective to the point where the only thing I could do on it was browse the web and make phone calls...
I'm not that advanced when it comes to this phone since I just picked it up 2 days ago...
Question 1
I've searched around and saw there was ways to put apps on the SD card, and I'm sure just like a computer you can't run the apps off the SD card (unless you can?)
Well my issue with that is I've tried Astro but I'm dumb and can't figure it out.
Question 2
What's the reason and advantages of "rooting" my phone?
Question 3
Battery life... Battery goes dead in the matter of hours, I took it off the charger and within 10-20 minutes it was down to 89% battery life.
I've installed an app killer to save on processing, and save battery.
Set it to CDMA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Answer 1: as far as i know the only rom using apps 2 sd at the moment is Flipz, ive tried one or two others, but they werent using it and im not sure if you can just add it on top. So you CAN install apps and have them run off the SD card.
Answer 2: Reason, because you can. Advantage, many! There are a lot of GREAT developers on this forum who strive to make this phone what it should have been out of the box. Problems like battery issues, software glitches, addons, features, they do it all.
example:
Free wireless tether that sprint wants to charge you an additional 30 a month for. (its a big draw)
oh yeah and custom roms.
Answer 3: there are MANY threads on battery saving tips and the custom roms that are adding their own battery saving features.
there are a lot of threads that cover your questions, so just look around and READ EVERYTHING.
good luck.
Krimlin said:
Question 2
What's the reason and advantages of "rooting" my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am only three weeks into this phone, but this is what I gather....rooting your phone allows you to install apps that are not in the market. Some of these apps help you make your phone run better.
- Controlling the CPU - this is an option on an app (forget the name) where you can set the CPU speeds for when your screen is off or many other situations. the responses to that app seem to increase battery life hugely. this is my leading reason for why I 'might' root.
- Cleaning up bloatware - i HATE HATE HATE bloatware and had it off my winmo phone in about three weeks it took to learn how to flash. now i need to learn how to root so i can get rid of the dumb sprint tm'd stuff
- Adding better bits to your OS - (i think this is root and not nand) but you can find better bits for your phone, like a different keyboard or better radio or things like that would work for you better than stock. this way you can do the little tweaks you want.
Lastly you can put new ROMs on your phone. Lots of em already for this phone. So far the Evo seems to have camera issues on the roms...not sure yet which roms have it figured and which are still working on it. But you can try out different roms and see if you like em.
(Hopefully if I got any of that wrong...the experienced ones will correct...but that is what this noob has gathered so far.)
sablesurfer said:
rooting your phone allows you to install apps that are not in the market. Some of these apps help you make your phone run better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not true. You don't have to have your phone rooted to install apps that are not in the market. By default, this option is disabled. To get apps into your Android phone you just have to go into the settings and enable the ability to install apps not in the market. Simple and already in original ROMs.
Now, there are some apps that take advantage of ROOT and have some special feature, but you can still install them on your phone if you do not have ROOT, but you will not be able to use the app's special feature.
As with all apps, some make your phone run better and some make it worse. Caveat emptor.
So again I'm new to this, where do I go to get these cool apps and such, and anyone have any tips and tricks for rooting, some of this stuff is above my head.
I'm sorry guys, I'm a moderator for a car forum so I understand having a noob show up asking alot of dumb questions that should be common knowledge in your circles LOL.
lol,
There is a program called simpleroot over in the dev forum that makes rooting a snap, and I think there are even some video tutorials
...And almost all the apps you would want are on the market
figure out what version you have, menu->settings->about phone->software information->build number
and then go to the read about rooting that version in the developer section
Ok so I read through the rooting instructions made by toast, seems easy enough.
But I also saw that it wipes your phone, meaning?
Am I going to have to re enter all my contacts, download all my apps again, and change all my setting back to the way I like it?
Also after rooting my phone, I won't have to like re activate it to make calls right, and after rooting it when I turn the phone on again for use what will I find? Is it going to look like it did when I first pulled it out of the box?
There's alot of things I don't understand about rooting and if someone would point me in the right direction that would be awesome, I've tried looking but keep coming across discussion threads, and instructions, no real explaination of what it does to my phone and what I can use it for.
Yes it will wipe everything pretty much. You should sync your contacts with google though so you dont have to worry about reloading those. After you are rooted you can use one of those 'root apps' called Titanium Backup and that will let you backup and restore everything.
You will not need to reactivate your phone. After you flash it will basically look like it did when it first came out of the box. Until you flash a custom rom, then some things may be a bit different (maybe custom themes, removed apk's, things like that.
Awesome, thanks for the info. I appreciate the hospitality guys!
Rooting and the OTA
nenn said:
figure out what version you have, menu->settings->about phone->software information->build number
and then go to the read about rooting that version in the developer section
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I swapped my 1st EVO in a panic after running the 1st June 29 update. I now have a 0003 with .6 and would like to jump into the world of root. My qusetion is at this point should I do the OTA and then root or just root with the 1st toast method 1 and 2?
Also my laptop set up for dual boot so I can use either Ubuntu or win7. One over the other for diving in?
Thanks for any help.
Dano3 said:
I swapped my 1st EVO in a panic after running the 1st June 29 update. I now have a 0003 with .6 and would like to jump into the world of root. My qusetion is at this point should I do the OTA and then root or just root with the 1st toast method 1 and 2?
Also my laptop set up for dual boot so I can use either Ubuntu or win7. One over the other for diving in?
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to do your root as close to the lowest version you have, but it seems that people have gotten root even after the latest OTA update.
I don't think it matters in what OS you want to work in to root or mod your phone, but it tends to be a bit easier under Ubuntu. It was a pain in the ass to get the EVO recognized under Windows. The easy 1 click root is made to work under windows. I find that creating a kitchen (aka setup to make custom ROMs with apps/features added or removed) is easier in Linux. And doing development and building the OS from source is waaay easier under Ubuntu. I'm doing development, so it's a lot easier under Ubuntu.
Summary, somethings are easier in Windows and others easier in Ubuntu.
Check out this thread for a helpful battery tip:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=721156
Make sure you go into settings > wireless networks > mobile data settings and turn off always on mobile data.
This one of the most popular roms that focuses on battery saving:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=700649
MAKE SURE YOU SEARCH THE THREAD BEFORE ASKING QUESTIONS B/C SOMEONE WILL EAT YOUR FACE FOR ASKING A QUESTION THATS BEEN ASKED A MILLION TIMES
Antebios said:
This is not true. You don't have to have your phone rooted to install apps that are not in the market. By default, this option is disabled. To get apps into your Android phone you just have to go into the settings and enable the ability to install apps not in the market. Simple and already in original ROMs.
Now, there are some apps that take advantage of ROOT and have some special feature, but you can still install them on your phone if you do not have ROOT, but you will not be able to use the app's special feature.
As with all apps, some make your phone run better and some make it worse. Caveat emptor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AH, well then. That would be why I threw my thoughts out there...for correction if needed. But the SetCPU thing needs root right? And that is the one I think I definitely want.
Thanks JJ you've been a savior!
You guys here have been awesome and very informative on the irc. I'll still need some guidance but you guys have helped a lot and didn't give me hell for being a noob.
Thanks again!
The only reason why i would want to root my Xperia Arc is to clear the unwanted apps and hopefully it will run faster ( u guys call it bloatware if im not wrong) , should i take the risk?
Or are there any useful apps that can help to speed up my phone without rooting?
Edit : Oh And what are the Dos and Donts of rooting ? Like do download an app to backup certain stuff and dont do something or your phone might get bricked etc..
Thanks in advance!
Keep backups and read what you need to do before you do it.
There are some risks, but generally it is straight forward.
Just removing bloat makes a huge difference to the phone.
Sent from my LT15i using XDA App
using gingerbreak seemed to work pretty well for me and i have had no problems since - removed all the bloatware and much happier - just be careful you know what you are removing and also be aware that once you remove system apps you might not be able to update via OTA updates (I am not 100% sure of this, just from what I have read on here)
generally the benefits far outweigh the cons
I have just bought the PLAY (R800i, 2.3.4) from O2 in the UK after having a Sony Ericsson W995 for over 2 years. I've recently discovered this site and the possibilities for customisation seem endless!
I'm a blank slate when it comes to doing this sort of thing, especially when it comes to mobile devices (I never did get the courage to put Custom Firmware on my PSP.) But I have a shortlist of what I'd like to be able to do to my new phone :
-Increase Battery life
-Decrease booting up time from power off
-Get rid of some bloatware and free up phone memory
-Get 2 or 3 emulators with a fair few games on there
-GB: Pokemon
-PS1: Crash Bandicoots, Spyros, Final Fantasys
-N64: Mario Kart, Super Mario
-Be able to hold and use most of this stuff on my 32GB SD card
It may not seem like an awful lot, as I don't really want to risk bricking a rather expensive and mint condition phone. I know this can all be achieved, what I don't know is how, or more specifically: in which order.
So if there's anyone out there kind enough to help a noob I'd be very grateful to hear your advice Also if you think there's anything important or what you consider a must-have, I'm open to suggestions!
Hi!
I can give it a try and try to get you some easy tip how to go further with what you wanna do, here is some advices on apps:
-Increase Battery life
To do this, first root your device (Try search in the Xperia Play Development thread on how to get root.)
After you have rooted it, then you can use those apps for example:
No-frills CPU Control (changes the frequency of the cellphone, to the one you prefer, set it at a real low value to get longer batterylife, increase frequency manually when you wanna play for less lag )
And another app is:
Autokiller (Requires root as well, and you can find other apps who can help with improving batterylife as well.)
-Get rid of some bloatware and free up phone memory
Root your phone and get an app called "Root explorer", and then someone else can tell you the exact search-way to the path where you can delete the bloatware, and which bloatware are safe to remove and which you must have saved and such since I don't remember the path and the things around it.
And you can read more about what Root is in the link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1076720
And you can search for Xperia Play-compatible Emulators here on XDA in some Xperia Play-section as well cause it's not hard to find
Sorry for not being to too much help, but I hope I gave you some help on the way
razerblader said:
Hi!
I can give it a try and try to get you some easy tip how to go further with what you wanna do, here is some advices on apps:
-Increase Battery life
To do this, first root your device (Try search in the Xperia Play Development thread on how to get root.)
After you have rooted it, then you can use those apps for example:
No-frills CPU Control (changes the frequency of the cellphone, to the one you prefer, set it at a real low value to get longer batterylife, increase frequency manually when you wanna play for less lag )
And another app is:
Autokiller (Requires root as well, and you can find other apps who can help with improving batterylife as well.)
-Get rid of some bloatware and free up phone memory
Root your phone and get an app called "Root explorer", and then someone else can tell you the exact search-way to the path where you can delete the bloatware, and which bloatware are safe to remove and which you must have saved and such since I don't remember the path and the things around it.
And you can read more about what Root is in the link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1076720
And you can search for Xperia Play-compatible Emulators here on XDA in some Xperia Play-section as well cause it's not hard to find
Sorry for not being to too much help, but I hope I gave you some help on the way
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi, thanks for the reply
Aha I see, so Rooting is a necessity to be able to do anything? That's number 1 then
Then after that I'll check out the apps you mentioned and have a look for those emulators. One thing I noticed was that apparently it doesn't let you store much on the SD card itself, and the phone memory gets taken up quite quickly. I'm mainly thinking about the games that I've heard store a large chunk of their data on the phone and can't immediately be moved to the SD manually?
Rock-Shayde said:
Hi, thanks for the reply
Aha I see, so Rooting is a necessity to be able to do anything? That's number 1 then
Then after that I'll check out the apps you mentioned and have a look for those emulators. One thing I noticed was that apparently it doesn't let you store much on the SD card itself, and the phone memory gets taken up quite quickly. I'm mainly thinking about the games that I've heard store a large chunk of their data on the phone and can't immediately be moved to the SD manually?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root is the first thing you want. You can move every app when you have root with titanium backup. Your phone is all shiny and new, but in 2 months you wanna tweak it how you want. I suggest you get clockworkmod so you can make full backups in case something goes wrong. After that install the supercharger script and by the time you get bored, ICS is coming out.
Sent from my Xperia Play
Hi, I am a new user of this excellent phone.
I never root my phones (I know - I shouldn't even be here ), but like to tinker with settings a bit.
Anyway, I was just wondering when I go to SETTINGS--APPS--ALL I can see there is an option to 'Disable' on many of stock apps.
I presume, this can free some on the internal memory?
So my question is which of these stock apps can be safely disabled?
I would also appreciate an explanation of what this option actually does.
TIA and enjoy your phones, everybody.
Disabled app's aren't allowed to run in RAM but are still installed and take up internal storage waiting to be enabled again.
You can disable most things it will let you if not rooted. Anything really important to the system won't have a disable button but it's not enough for lots of people. Junk from operator can't be disabled on mine but some semi-useful stuff can... Better to root, remove what you want, unroot again if need be.
bangawasawa said:
Hi, I am a new user of this excellent phone.
I never root my phones (I know - I shouldn't even be here ), but like to tinker with settings a bit.
Anyway, I was just wondering when I go to SETTINGS--APPS--ALL I can see there is an option to 'Disable' on many of stock apps.
I presume, this can free some on the internal memory?
So my question is which of these stock apps can be safely disabled?
I would also appreciate an explanation of what this option actually does.
TIA and enjoy your phones, everybody.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've recently come into possession of practically new Xperia Play. And while I know it's specs are less than ideal nowadays, I figured there must be something that can be done to it in order to turn it into a relatively good console. So, I wanted to ask you all if this is possible. I've rooted and put on Custom ROMs on phones before, but never on something this... old?
To be clear, playing games is basically the one and only thing I want to do with this Xperia Play. If I can get to GBA emulation I'd be thrilled, but I can understand if something like that is impossible. Overall, I just wanted to ask you about your recommendations of Custom ROM and Kernel, which SD of which Class and Capacity should I get for it (because I know I'll have to use that in addition to making that SD internal storage somehow, I appreciate advice on that as well), and which consoles can I "reliable" emulate and play in it.
Thanks to everyone for your time.
hello, i just got one myself and from the research I have done it seems its more than capable of emulaiting GBA games. that being said the whole process of "jailbreaking" the device is still a little hazy for me. im trying to find the ost recent guide on how to do so but no real luck so far. iv rooted/jailbroken/modded several systems in my life time but never something like this.....hybrid.... to I consider it a hand held console or an android device (probably the later).
cant wait to have it up and running!!!
EDIT: apparently this is a taboo question. youre just meant to test them all and see which one fits you best... see...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2157425
SwisSwiss said:
hello, i just got one myself and from the research I have done it seems its more than capable of emulaiting GBA games. that being said the whole process of "jailbreaking" the device is still a little hazy for me. im trying to find the ost recent guide on how to do so but no real luck so far. iv rooted/jailbroken/modded several systems in my life time but never something like this.....hybrid.... to I consider it a hand held console or an android device (probably the later).
cant wait to have it up and running!!!
EDIT: apparently this is a taboo question. youre just meant to test them all and see which one fits you best... see...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2157425
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My recommendation is to follow that FAQ link and figure out how to unlock the bootloader, then root the phone. Then just use Root Explorer or some other app to delete unnecessary system apps to free up the internal storage. Don't bother with custom roms and kernels unless you really want to and feel comfortable with it, it just makes it more difficult to deal with. While the device is old, the emulators has improved, so it's not necessary to put custom rom to have a good experience.
The main problem with this phone is lack of internal storage. I recommend to not sign into Google account and not use the Playstore, by the time it updates Playstore and Google Play services, it takes up the entire's phone space (not that there's even enough space to do so) and slow down the entire phone. Just sideload apps.
For the Verizon model R800x, if I remember correctly you can't officially unlock the bootloader, but it run stock Android, instead of the skin version and is pretty light weight. I would just root and delete the bloatware apps. It's possible to install CWM recovery after rooting. I did remember using a third party kernel for R800x device, but I don't remember how I unlocked the bootloader if I did. I rather not care about it now because the R800i GSM version is much more recommended. I remembered the kernel and custom roms were unstable with the R800x, so except for rooting, I really don't think it's worth the time do go to such a depth with this device at this point.
eksasol said:
My recommendation is to follow that FAQ link and figure out how to unlock the bootloader, then root the phone. Then just use Root Explorer or some other app to delete unnecessary system apps to free up the internal storage. Don't bother with custom roms and kernels unless you really want to and feel comfortable with it, it just makes it more difficult to deal with. While the device is old, the emulators has improved, so it's not necessary to put custom rom to have a good experience.
The main problem with this phone is lack of internal storage. I recommend to not sign into Google account and not use the Playstore, by the time it updates Playstore and Google Play services, it takes up the entire's phone space (not that there's even enough space to do so) and slow down the entire phone. Just sideload apps.
For the Verizon model R800x, if I remember correctly you can't officially unlock the bootloader, but it run stock Android, instead of the skin version and is pretty light weight. I would just root and delete the bloatware apps. It's possible to install CWM recovery after rooting. I did remember using a third party kernel for R800x device, but I don't remember how I unlocked the bootloader if I did. I rather not care about it now because the R800i GSM version is much more recommended. I remembered the kernel and custom roms were unstable with the R800x, so except for rooting, I really don't think it's worth the time do go to such a depth with this device at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for the reply and insightful information ekasol. glad tzo hear i wont have to play around with custom roms, im not afraid of the idea but if i can keep it simple would be better. its an 800i so we should be clear too open the bootloader.
SwisSwiss said:
thank you for the reply and insightful information ekasol. glad tzo hear i wont have to play around with custom roms, im not afraid of the idea but if i can keep it simple would be better. its an 800i so we should be clear too open the bootloader.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you already managed to root the phone you're good to go, but if you haven't customize it too much, hold off for now. I'm making a comprehensive guide that will cover all the basics, tips, and useful apps that make this device run great. I saved a lot of firmware and files that are difficult to find anymore. Guide will be done soon, in one or two days.
edit: check here https://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-play/general/2020-guide-rooting-xperia-play-tips-t4041221
eksasol said:
If you already managed to root the phone you're good to go, but if you haven't customize it too much, hold off for now. I'm making a comprehensive guide that will cover all the basics, tips, and useful apps that make this device run great. I saved a lot of firmware and files that are difficult to find anymore. Guide will be done soon, in one or two days.
edit: check here https://forum.xda-developers.com/xperia-play/general/2020-guide-rooting-xperia-play-tips-t4041221
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
fantastic timming, getting the play in 2 days.