ROM Building: The Basics Part I - Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III

ROM Building: The Basics Part I - Sprint Samsung Galaxy S III

Ever wanted to customize your own rom?
I mean really customize it the way you wanted?
I came across this question as I got my phone, well technically before I even had it my hands, I wanted my phone to be set to a certain expectation. I got it and I was impressed that the Sprint S3 I had was faster than my previous Photon 4g. But did it do what I wanted exactly?
Boot Sounds: how can I restart my phone and try a new rom with such nonsense?
Boot Animation: pathetic
Touch Sounds: Ploink sounded like a stall at a restroom
Touch unlock: An Okay button seriously get over it Android
The list can go on forever. The point is there are many things you can do. I mean have you seen the amazing developers here. I was inspired to try it myself after watching these guys just chug along and keep making their roms better and better. To be honest, we wouldnt be here if we were curious and wanted to contribute(without expecting anything). I find the general forums to have so much information and so many questions that could be answered by making a tutorial of the basics for the Sprint S3. I mention this phone specific because well as you start diving into it, some of the code we may enter on this tutorial will in fact not work for other phones or vice versa. I suppose this is a teach a man to fish situation(as opposed to giving fishes)
Lets begin and by all means if this is in the wrong forum please let me know, I will get it over to the correct area asap.
So you want a starting point, a place to start. well you can do article after article forum search and so forth but lets start fresh:
We will need a rom to begin with, grab those from this amazing guy's thread. Freeza is boss, a great contributor, he is very knowlegable and I havent even talked to the guy. But we are for information so I digress no more.
You got the link open do you? The choice now comes what do you download? Odexed, Deodexed, kernel, firmware AHHHH so much info, start slow and break down what in the world you want to do. Do you want to theme your rom and make it look Wicked like our badass team Team Wicked's rom of blue goodness? seriously its sexy. Do you want to just take out bloatware and keep it clean stock without junk and some mods guess what, this is the best place to choose those options.
Odexed rom: Think of it as android caching a program so it can load up faster, its supposed to serve as a time boost during first boot and "supposed" to be faster than DeOdex but I have found they are about the same. Odex is a little trick as the way Android makes the cache file is with, you guessed it, an additional .ODEX file. This file is like a sneak peak into the file so Android can load it "faster". This is also a problem when you want to make major modifications to your phone's color and the sort. This where we get to DeOdex
DeOdexed rom: This is the best choice for working with a rom. It removes the .ODEX file from the rom and keeps your files editable with much more ease. Seriously I tried both and OMG was it easier to use DeOdexed after a while I realized theming any of this SUCKED. I mean here I did all this artwork change and I see this ODEX file. And crash when I loaded. It becomes a simple goal if you need to perform tasks like modifying pictures and themes, any apk in the rom and even the java files.
Kernel: I am not a professor on this topic, I know this much, the kernel is basically a really smart piece of software that tells how your hardware how to act. It is critical to make sure the kernel you select goes with what you need to do. Wrong kernel can tell the hardware to something funky. I have from experience chosen the MD4(4/24/13) Kernel optimized that will be used for the sake of this tutorial but by all means master the easy stuff I am going through before you want to launch Satellites into space to save Black Mesa.
The firmware: A common misconception is that the firmare/modem/baseband should be always modified to the latest one from the manufacturer. This might not necessarily be true. Remember, a new update to this might enhance your signal or ruin it. And with Sprint have spotty network in 99 percent of America (cough cough oops too harsh?) Remember the MD4 is the latest release for official sprint software, the MD4 does represent the date of the release. It is coded ingeniously of course.
So as we modify the software from now on, you must settle on the best option for your needs.
Of course, as I mentioned, I am going to use the DeOdex version of the official software. Of course DeOdexed and then some stuff was added by our awesome Developer Freeza means that it has some good stuff we will need later like rooted automatically with some busybox and Super user installed already.
So you downloaded the zip file. This zip file is just a container for this rom. Like a bucket that holds all the software for your rom.
I would say the best way to get started is to get the tools of the trade.
Notepad++: I mean seriously, who even uses windows notepad anymore( me before I started modifying roms ). This software will make it much easier to work with the various code. I am SHOCKED that it is still free. Mad props to them.
The Android SDK: This lumpy software contains many tools we will need for advanced users. I think the modifications we will need to do here can go without this but remember it is a software development kit that contains critical tools for our android phones. And its free
BakSmali and Smali: I call them the brothers. I also remember that BakSmali will decompile software while Smali will recompile software more on that later. This software is free but very complex, we will have to break it down like a fraction to fully utilize customization and true development.
APKTOOL: sure there is a bunch of "tools" we can get, you dont need that stuff or even a kitchen but you can use this and get a way with it.
7-Zip and WinRar, alright you can use either but I love both, one is free and one is "free", of course use 7-zip for its free of use terms. I got Winrar after the trial kept nagging me to call me a sellout I don't care MOM!
And surprisingly that's all you need to edit the files.
Of course, you will also need things like Photoshop, Sound Forge, Firefox because IE is just wrong,
But these are not necessary to really get the modifications of sounds and pictures and research going: You can use:
Paint.net: This tool is free to use image editing software. It can do wonders on the fly and for free but remember Photoshop is better come on it's not even a debate but for free, I am not arguing.
Audacity: Okay its not Soundforge, Cooledit 2000 for those that remember it, or even Sound recorder for windows but it will get the job done and is free.
Notice the theme here, you can make a rom customize it for free. This is truly amazing for a platform that is Android. While you get this software post some comments below to show me whether or not this is too basic for the majority of help seekers or if I should keep going. After all I learned so much from XDA and the infamous "Google" whatever that is....I am sure we can learn together and make this thread something we can have everyone refer to the basics while letting them be creative.
of course by law, this is education purposes only, dont brick your phone use it as an expensive paperweight and then blame anyone but yourself. Everyone in the threads do them to reduce liability, i guess we are all here to help, but getting sued over shenanagins is not what any of these hard working developers want especially since, like most of the software mentioned here, do it for free. Donate to all you care for and see fit, we have some modding to do team, and I think this will be fun and we can definately burden the forums with more intelligent questions by simply reading through this tutorial and part II

Very good info. Thank you for providing this.
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Sprint Galaxy S3
Need Help? PM
Hit the "Thanks" button if I helped!

Please keep going, Thank you.

Ahhh...Pt1 was too easy..LOL. Just J/K yes! Part2 please:thumbup:
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

Great stuff! Let's keep it going!
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda app-developers app

I would love to learn how to make roms! Keep it going please!
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 4

Thanks
Thanks Guys,
As long as this helps/inspires someone than at least I can give the same chance that this place gave me, always a great community. Except for the...the flame wars but those were so 2005.

Great post... I've often wondered where to start on a ROM and just surfing the Web for info can be conflicting and confusing. I like the straight forward how to approach. Now on to part 2, I may actually give this a shot eventually.
Sent from my SPH-L710 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2

This is a great idea/post. I have been curious where to begin on creating and customizing roms. Having a definitive source will be excellent. Keep it coming!!
Sent from space.

Related

How could I replace the Phone/contacts? Give instructions, get $40

[Congrats, the hater made me raise the price from $20, to $40] - Goal is to replace Sense dialer with stock dialer/calllog/contacts from an AOSP 2.1 rom.
I hate SenseUI. Not Really, but the way the dialer/contacts work, is just one of my biggest problems with Sense.
So, when I get this phone, my only reason to root, is if I can replace my default phone/contacts APK.
I haven't used a Sense rom on any phone for over an hour, simply because I can NOT stand the dialer/call log and such.
Any suggestions? Please?
Im familiar with ADB, and will have no problems/regrets/worries about rooting, as I treat my phones like a first born, and dont let them get near harm.
But if there is no real hope for me replacing the Call Log/ Dialer/ Contacts part, with the style from 2.1 N1, I might as well go get my deposit back.
Anyone? First person with step for steps gets $40 donated/paypal'd/ whatever works for you
thanks for not flaming, im sure others will be pleased if this information is made simple-and-clear.

docsparks said:
I hate SenseUI. Not Really, but the way the dialer/contacts work, is just one of my biggest problems with Sense.
So, when I get this phone, my only reason to root, is if I can replace my default phone/contacts APK.
I haven't used a Sense rom on any phone for over an hour, simply because I can NOT stand the dialer/call log and such.
Any suggestions? Please?
Im familiar with ADB, and will have no problems/regrets/worries about rooting, as I treat my phones like a first born, and dont let them get near harm.
But if there is no real hope for me replacing the Call Log/ Dialer/ Contacts part, with the style from 2.1 N1, I might as well go get my deposit back.
Anyone? First person with step for steps gets $10 donated/paypal'd/ whatever works for you
thanks for not flaming, im sure others will be pleased if this information is made simple-and-clear.
--
Kinda curious if LauncherPro will function correctly aswell, but i can atleast live with the Sense Launcher/drawer, but would be way happier knowing in advance that I could run some form.. Helix1/2, LauncherPro, ADW, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well first off you gotta root it first, after that i'm not sure.
Edit: i'm retarded, gotta read the title of stuff before I post.

Ha. I woke up to the sweet sound of my email sound on my N1, hoping someone responded, read it.. came to the computer, to see you corrected yourself, and I dont have to be bitter.
Yes. I will root, as long as I know I can do this.
Thanks again though. .
..4 more hours.. till Tmobile can suck it.

docsparks said:
Ha. I woke up to the sweet sound of my email sound on my N1, hoping someone responded, read it.. came to the computer, to see you corrected yourself, and I dont have to be bitter.
Yes. I will root, as long as I know I can do this.
Thanks again though. .
..4 more hours.. till Tmobile can suck it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry your best bet is to wait till the cusom roms start coming out, senseUI stuff will go away real fast then. But I agree with you, i'm not a fan of it either.

The problem with Sense UI is the deepness of how it is built into the system. Technically you could push an ASOP .apk of Contacts, but you would more than likely still default back to the Sense version anyway.
Your best bet is waiting on a full ASOP or ASOP-esque build that will remove Sense for the most part. $10 dollars please!

Come on.. there isnt a way I cant also have my contacts/phone dialer/call log as a seperate APK and not over-write the sense stuff? like just have both installed on my phone?
On modaco fourms a while back, in a sense rom they said that was an option, i cant find the original thread for the life of me right now..

kyleblakepeters said:
Technically you could push an ASOP .apk of Contacts, but you would more than likely still default back to the Sense version anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I said it.

I still have not found an acceptable solution to this.
Im intending on giving this a full week, before I just return my phone.
I dont mind so much, if it doesnt straight up REPLACE my standard call/contacts/call log, if I can include the stock APK from AOSP 2.1, that runs coexsistant with the current setup, that will be fine.
Someone? Anyone? ill raise the price to $20 if someone can find me an acceptable solution.
Is it not possible for this to just turn into a simple app, like Dialer One basically remade the Sense dialer/contact lists into an app?

every single person that doesnt have htc smart dialer wants it, and you that have it wants to get rid of it, htc dialer > android dialer, sorry but you're truly being a big baby, just return the phone someone will make better use of it.

aLdaRiS said:
every single person that doesnt have htc smart dialer wants it, and you that have it wants to get rid of it, htc dialer > android dialer, sorry but you're truly being a big baby, just return the phone someone will make better use of it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ha, you sirrrr are out $20
You do realize, what Im asking isnt too far fetched.. considering this is a forum based off of doing things to the phone that were never originally intended for it right?
You just mad you dont have one? Who knows.
We dont need you, or your god damned negativity.
**** it. $40 on the table.

I already got my evo and don't need your chump change, I had a mytouch3g and a nexus one and always wanted to have the HTC smart dialer and now that I have it , I see a retard trying to get it off his phone, anyway on topic just wait till they root and release an eclair build or a froyo build.
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Sent from my HTC Evo via the XDA Tapatalk App

Really man just wait there will be roms where you can choose which dialer or contacts you want
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Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App

You , aldi, arent seeing the point here. So go play somewhere else
Stop wasting my ****ing time. You obviously dont know what is and isnt possible, and its that whole "oh just wait until its out" type of mentality that doesnt motivate anyone, to make things happen.
Please, jump out of this thread, and **** yourself.

Then do something about it get the phone apk from the nexus one dump and try to push it to the evo be creative you're just a retard trying to get things handed to you I don't see why a dev trying to get froyo on our device would stop doing that so just one guy could get Android dialer on his evo, you're just plain stupid really.
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Sent from my HTC Evo via the XDA Tapatalk App

Dude if I had time, I would, otherwise I wouldnt be offering money to people.
Devs that are working on Froyo, im not asking them to do anything different.
but there sure as hell are enough people on here, that have a better understanding of android coding than I currently do, and obviously im not the only person with an interest in this.
Please, im not intending to make this thread a argument between you and me.
Get something to say to me? Then message it, stop cluttering this ****.
I know $40 isnt even an hours worth a work when compared to the price I charge people for IT work, or hardware diagnostics.
If there has to be a higher price to make it happen, ill be paying it, Not you, and everyone else will benefit.
So stop crying about me wanting to put money into the hands of somebody that may need, or want the cash flow.

It's not the giving away money that bothers me its just the fact that you want to dumb down your phone that I cannot comprehend anyway good luck but like they said sense seems pretty deep into the OS so it might not be such an easy task
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Sent from my HTC Evo via the XDA Tapatalk App

Here's an UNTESTED thought:
I downloaded another Rom from the Hero forums that should have the AOSP dialer and yanked the phone.apk file from the v2.5.3 download (it should be attached below, there's a newer one up there too if you want to try that instead)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=663366
The idea is that if you install it and then press the phone button, it should prompt you for which dialer you want to use and if you select "Contacts", it should drop you into the AOSP dialer. You might need the "contact.apk" file as well on further research...but no harm in trying, right? If it fails, just uninstall and it should drop you back to normal.
If it works, I nominate the money goes to toast and/or flipz...because I love toast and flipz's work since my hero days.

HINT: NO SYSTEM RW ROOT AT THIS TIME, meaning until we get that you cant replace any of the system apps.
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Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App

Worth mentioning, is that I did pull the Contacts.apk, contactsstorage.apk, and Phone.apk, directly off my N1,
and while I tried to install all of them, in the end it doesn't allow it to happen.
this was a common knowledge move to me, as I assumed this wasn't going to work, before mrono and thecodemonk posted it.
I had to leave for the redbull air races before I could post that i tried directly that, to no avail.
but, the lack of System RW root, was the type of explanation i was looking for, as to why it didn't work.
thanks again, when we further this, Ill spread $ to the right directions, if not put some towards the proper Dev's now anyway.

If you root using toasts method and have rw permissions in recovery. Try this while in recovery
adb remount
adb push Phone.apk /system/app
Try a few different phone apks from nexus or cdma hero darchdroid or any other 2.1 AOSP rom.
Sometimes just installing apps wont work. And it should ask you to replace the htcdialer when pressing the phone icon. You dont have to have rw while in android for this to happen. Its something included in all android phones. Just like if you install a launcher from the market, you dont have rw permissions but it will still ask you if you want to switch launchers when you press home. If it doesnt ask then try to go to Setting>applications>manage apps> htcdialer and then see if you can select "clear default"
EDIT: im going to post an aosp phone.apk from an htc rom that that someone put together.
Try this View attachment Phone.apk

[Q] Antivirus, Rooting, and Gingerbread questions

First of all, let me apologize for being very ignorant about most of the stuff on here, even though I am very interested. I have looked and can not find a definitive answer, although I believe I should have antivirus, I have no idea what to use. I have Norton Systemworks on my PC. I also want to root my phone to be able to get rid of some of the factory installed garbage on it. I have been told that it is not wise to delete some of the installed apps because android uses parts of some to make others work. Is there anyway to do a total recovery image of my stock phone so if I totally screw it up, I can fall back on it? I think so, based on what I have read here---but honestly, I got a headache yesterday reading on here and trying to learn. I am not a super-techy guy, I just want my phone to do what I want it to, and none of the extra crap that I don't want. And lastly, should I wait to root my phone until Gingerbread comes out, or will it really matter? While I do know what a rom does and is, I do not understand kernels or most of the other things on here, so i actually need 'hand-holding' through some of this. Thank you for your help...anything you can tell me will help out.

hey man. i am willing to help you thorugh this entire thing. pm me for any more questions, but here is a start. it seems you have a baisic computer working knowledge, so this wont be too hard. first, a kernel is the scripts that let the hardware communicate with the software. the nice thing about this is it can easily be modified and built upon. a few devs have added scripts and stuff to the stock kernels to make them much more powerful and battery efficiant.
this recovery image you are talking about wont fix you phone if you screw it, but it will take you back in time to when you made the backup. you can also unroot to take off any mods you have applied. always remember to MAKE A NAND BACKUP WHENEVER YOU DO ANYTHING WITH YOUR PHONE THAT COULD REMOTELY BE CONSICERED A MODIFICATION. otherwise, you can end up with a very expensive paperweight.
there are partitions on the phone's memory. there are things like userdata and cache, but there are three main ones that we will mess with: system, recovery, and hboot. system is the rom of the phone. it is the software. it si obvious why this would be altered: to get better, more efficiant, or cooler software. then, we have the recovery. this is a factory tool for resetting and manual updating. this is packed with security, but there is no security that keeps us from changing the recovery. get where i'm going? if we change the recovery to one that has been heavily cracked and maybe built from scratch by a very talented dev (i reccomend amonra's recovery) then we can make the phone believe it is being updated when we are really modifying it.
the hboot is a developmental factory partition that is used for total firmware updates and google/android development. removing the security from this is the first stage in rooting.
i would highly reccomend rooting, and would be happy to 'hold your hand' along the way. i hope this helps and does not just confuse you more.
dk

oh, almost forgot. dont wait for gingerbread. the devs will make some roms that will include gingerbread packed in. i actually reccomend you root before gingerbread so you dont have to wait for a root method for that.
lookout antivirus can be found in the market.

Guys no offense. My galaxy doesn't even have froyo so I have no room to talk but I wouldn't get to worried about gingerbread yet. LOL it hasn't even been officially announced
Sent from my SCH-I500-Fascinate using XDA App

ksizzle9 said:
Guys no offense. My galaxy doesn't even have froyo so I have no room to talk but I wouldn't get to worried about gingerbread yet. LOL it hasn't even been officially announced
Sent from my SCH-I500-Fascinate using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed. cyanogen will probably port it in about january or february. long time, no need to wait.

dkdude36 said:
hey man. i am willing to help you thorugh this entire thing. pm me for any more questions, but here is a start. it seems you have a baisic computer working knowledge, so this wont be too hard. first, a kernel is the scripts that let the hardware communicate with the software. the nice thing about this is it can easily be modified and built upon. a few devs have added scripts and stuff to the stock kernels to make them much more powerful and battery efficiant.
this recovery image you are talking about wont fix you phone if you screw it, but it will take you back in time to when you made the backup. you can also unroot to take off any mods you have applied. always remember to MAKE A NAND BACKUP WHENEVER YOU DO ANYTHING WITH YOUR PHONE THAT COULD REMOTELY BE CONSICERED A MODIFICATION. otherwise, you can end up with a very expensive paperweight.
there are partitions on the phone's memory. there are things like userdata and cache, but there are three main ones that we will mess with: system, recovery, and hboot. system is the rom of the phone. it is the software. it si obvious why this would be altered: to get better, more efficiant, or cooler software. then, we have the recovery. this is a factory tool for resetting and manual updating. this is packed with security, but there is no security that keeps us from changing the recovery. get where i'm going? if we change the recovery to one that has been heavily cracked and maybe built from scratch by a very talented dev (i reccomend amonra's recovery) then we can make the phone believe it is being updated when we are really modifying it.
the hboot is a developmental factory partition that is used for total firmware updates and google/android development. removing the security from this is the first stage in rooting.
i would highly reccomend rooting, and would be happy to 'hold your hand' along the way. i hope this helps and does not just confuse you more.
dk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like mhoodie, I, too, am a newbie in need of hand-holding. How do I make a nand backup? My EVO is rooted 2.1 with XDA- WiFi Tether, no 147.651.~.~. How to upgrade to Froyo and maintain root? How can a friend with brand new Evo root and load XDA- WiFi Tether? AFTER these I'd like to know how to flash a ROM. You can communicate with me through this forum or [email protected] or 908-251-3532. Of course I'll contact you any way you like.
Dsims6465

sounds good. i would love to help. i have finals coming up, so i might be a bit busy the next few days, but i will try to help as much as possible. gtalk seems like the way to do it.
these forums helped me when i was a noob, so i'm trying to help out now. next on to do list: pay back for all the roms. (i wish)

mhoodie said:
First of all, let me apologize for being very ignorant about most of the stuff on here, even though I am very interested. I have looked and can not find a definitive answer, although I believe I should have antivirus, I have no idea what to use. I have Norton Systemworks on my PC. I also want to root my phone to be able to get rid of some of the factory installed garbage on it. I have been told that it is not wise to delete some of the installed apps because android uses parts of some to make others work. Is there anyway to do a total recovery image of my stock phone so if I totally screw it up, I can fall back on it? I think so, based on what I have read here---but honestly, I got a headache yesterday reading on here and trying to learn. I am not a super-techy guy, I just want my phone to do what I want it to, and none of the extra crap that I don't want. And lastly, should I wait to root my phone until Gingerbread comes out, or will it really matter? While I do know what a rom does and is, I do not understand kernels or most of the other things on here, so i actually need 'hand-holding' through some of this. Thank you for your help...anything you can tell me will help out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wouldn't worry about using an anti-virus on android, they're pretty much useless and will do nothing but eat up your battery. Once you root you can install a custom recovery that you have to reboot the phone in and that can create backups of all your partitions. Those are called nandroids and are basically a snap shot of how your phone is set up at that moment. You must be rooted to do any of this though.

Ok, just because I do not quite understand....why is it that I do not need antivirus on my Evo since I surf the web, download apps, and open emails.....on a PC, the same things without protection against virus, trojans, etc... will get my pc and life screwed in a very short time? And, by 'screw my phone up', I mean if I delete something that I need.....can I just go back---also, is there anywhere a list of the apps that android uses to run other things. Specifically, I want to get rid of the exchange mail, amazon mp3,qik, peep, friendstream, nascar, stocks, news, news and weather. I have no need for these apps, and as most of you know for whatever reason, evo will run them whenever it wants.

i have no idea about antiviruses, but you can delete anything that is either a widget or an app in your launcher. everything else is proceed with caution.

definitely root...antivirus is a personal thing...I do use lookout and its free in the market.
after you root...I suggest using titanium backup to uninstall most if not all of those apps you mentioned.
you could also go the custom ROM route...most ROMs out there already have most of those apps removed already.

mhoodie said:
Ok, just because I do not quite understand....why is it that I do not need antivirus on my Evo since I surf the web, download apps, and open emails.....on a PC, the same things without protection against virus, trojans, etc... will get my pc and life screwed in a very short time? And, by 'screw my phone up', I mean if I delete something that I need.....can I just go back---also, is there anywhere a list of the apps that android uses to run other things. Specifically, I want to get rid of the exchange mail, amazon mp3,qik, peep, friendstream, nascar, stocks, news, news and weather. I have no need for these apps, and as most of you know for whatever reason, evo will run them whenever it wants.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Antiviruses being useless, so far, on android is just my opinion. If you feel better having one then by all means go for it.
There is a thread around here somewhere that has a list of all the apps you can safely delete, I don't have a link to it atm but you should be able to find it with a quick search.

Imo root now, nothing is holding us back with unrevoked forever, as for bloatware, have you tried flashing a rom? VirusRom Anthrax B4 is my poisen, and its bloat free¡

mhoodie said:
Ok, just because I do not quite understand....why is it that I do not need antivirus on my Evo since I surf the web, download apps, and open emails.....on a PC, the same things without protection against virus, trojans, etc... will get my pc and life screwed in a very short time? And, by 'screw my phone up', I mean if I delete something that I need.....can I just go back---also, is there anywhere a list of the apps that android uses to run other things. Specifically, I want to get rid of the exchange mail, amazon mp3,qik, peep, friendstream, nascar, stocks, news, news and weather. I have no need for these apps, and as most of you know for whatever reason, evo will run them whenever it wants.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me, personally, I never have and never will use antivirus programs on my computer. As long as you are knowledgeable, you shouldn't ever get viruses or anything. You just have to know what you are doing.

always willing to help
im no genius but i have been messing with rooting and android since the tmobile g1 and i had to learn all on my own. what everyone is telling u makes absolute sence but the main thing to stress is tell your friend to not update using sprints update firmware because all they do is patch the loophole to gain root access. dont wait for gbread. jump on team douche and cyanogen and enjoy the real power of android and the evo. any quetions [email protected]

Ok, so does it matter what procedure I use to root or do they all do basically the same thing, and then differences begin when I start changing the kernels and Rom around? I am going to try to root in a couple of weeks. Maybe next saturday, and I want to get as much understanding as I can before I jump in. I am sure once I play around with this for a bit I will have no problem, but I am very much a hands-on learner and its hard for me to learn something that is new to me just by reading, especially when most of what I am reading makes very little sense to me. So, thanks to everyone for their patience and help!

Myn's WarmTwopointTwo
Hi there. I was in the same boat as you are. I learned all by trail and error and by reading forum after forum. There is a ton of info out there and it can be a little too much and there are a lot of contradicting statements... I just rooted about 3 weeks ago using unrevoked3. It's the easiest way to root your phone and the safest, at least I believe that. There are other ways, but it include using the command line and things like that. With unrevoked its a very simple user friendly, 3 step process. I would highly recommend rooting your phone, once you do you will never look back. It bring out the full potential in the EVO. The best thing I like about it is I can get about double the battery life of the stock version. Check this ROM out - although it is the only one I tried I am so in love with it, I have absolutely no urge to try another ROM. Here is the second release of this ROM - the third one is in beta testing, which I am doing right now and it is 100% amazing. In order to become a beta tester, all you have to do is donate, or wait until this friday when the final version is released - FOR FREE! Here is the link for the release #2: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=793471#. You can read the thread if you have any questions about it - I know there are 600+ pages. Check out the first page and all the features that are included in this ROM. All the bloatware you speak of are not installed with this ROM. You have the option to install them. Then the other thing is the kernel. With the release 3 of WarmTwoPointTwo it comes with an HTC kernel, which I found to actually be the best out there for this ROM. I have been getting about 29 hours with moderate use with a single charge on the battery!! Pretty good huh? Please let me know if you have any more questions....You can send me a private message if you wish...I'm here to help you. Everyone on this site has been great with helping me and it seems they are willing to help anyone. I hope this helps. Oh you I just remembered you might wait until saturday to root. If you do that, I would def. recommend release #3, but if I were you I would not wait that long!

Here's a screen shot of just my home screen. Notice how much you can customize EVERYTHING. I will post more screen shots when I get time tomorrow.

I am getting ready to root my phone and when I connected to the pc, it was the first time. Drivers installed except for ADB. Is this something that I should skip, or do I need to get a driver from htc for this?

adb is very neccesary. it is obtainable from android's dev page. sorry no link (ipad) just google android go to dev section and hit download sdk.

New to Samsung Epic and just have a question or 2

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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.
Click to expand...
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
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
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.

[Q] Looking for overall FAQ or multiple ones

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?
Click to expand...
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

[Q] Wiped it all

In an attempt to set a factory reset and have an ICS backup ROM after trying to eliminate small bugs from the JB flash (Jelly Belly w/ the fix), I erased everything by formatting data, system, and cache. The bugs were on my side of things, which is why I was trying to build from scratch.
I made the fatal error of formatting all of the above info before I had pushed Liquid's JB, and when it was time to flash the file, I had nothing.....Now, I have my buddy helping me trying to rebuild this from scratch...
I am an idiot and had no attention span today and had the same feeling that you have when you watch yourself lock your keys in your car (unless you are the dbag that doesn't feel it is "necessary to have a car in London." -Shaun of the Dead)
I joke that I was going to send my phone to Koush and give him a challenge....but he is too busy.
Any suggestions are wanted.
Right now, it appears that I have problems with the drivers. Remember, the only functional part of the phone is the bootloader and recovery mode. Cannot access USB debugging etc. b/c I can't boot the phone past the google unlock screen
Here is what I/we have done:
changed batteries
tried to load the google 4.0.2 image
load JB, ICS roms and anything stock that my friend has backed up
Reinstall the drivers
reinstall the su.zip
cheers
GN Verizon
No Rom
No Kernel
No Radios
No Nothin

Do you have adb? Have you tried to go back to stock following this http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1529058

Affirmative on the ADB. Working on trying to push through drivers and everything else right now. The problem is that ADB does not see the device

You don't use ADB to flash images. Use the bootloader and fastboot on your computer.
Follow efrants guide on how to flash back to stock. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1626895
You should be back up and running.

Thanks for the clarification. Like I said, I had a safety net installed, but realized it was too late to save it before I wiped everything.
On a side not, I agree with your rant about toolkits and how they allow users who do not know what is really going on to play around with their devices, (users like me). I do not think that this is a bad thing though. I guess you have to ask the developers how they feel about the increased numbers of users and the support given through purchasing apps and their ROMS and Kernels. I am trying to learn how to manually build this stuff, but I never have rooted before, and if you had the ability to flash awesome new ROMS and Kernels that allowed for easy customization on your G1, could you honestly say that you wouldn't flash them the easy way while trying to learn the ropes? This is a function of an advancing technology. There will always be the pioneers who taught themselves from day 1 and are a little upset with those of us who come in and make it mainstream and cause a lot of problems and frustration. There is a learning curve, and the noobs/people-who-suck-at-this make it frustrating for those who have been in the game for a long time. But without a mainstream audience, there would not be the development that you are seeing today.
So I thank you for your patience and help. I am in the same spot you were in when you were teaching yourself on the G1, the only difference is that I have many more options and tools to use, so why shouldn't I use them?

hairfarmer said:
Thanks for the clarification. Like I said, I had a safety net installed, but realized it was too late to save it before I wiped everything.
On a side not, I agree with your rant about toolkits and how they allow users who do not know what is really going on to play around with their devices, (users like me). I do not think that this is a bad thing though. I guess you have to ask the developers how they feel about the increased numbers of users and the support given through purchasing apps and their ROMS and Kernels. I am trying to learn how to manually build this stuff, but I never have rooted before, and if you had the ability to flash awesome new ROMS and Kernels that allowed for easy customization on your G1, could you honestly say that you wouldn't flash them the easy way while trying to learn the ropes? This is a function of an advancing technology. There will always be the pioneers who taught themselves from day 1 and are a little upset with those of us who come in and make it mainstream and cause a lot of problems and frustration. There is a learning curve, and the noobs/people-who-suck-at-this make it frustrating for those who have been in the game for a long time. But without a mainstream audience, there would not be the development that you are seeing today.
So I thank you for your patience and help. I am in the same spot you were in when you were teaching yourself on the G1, the only difference is that I have many more options and tools to use, so why shouldn't I use them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your comment. I reiterated a few times in that thread that I don't think toolkits are necessarily bad. I was just stating the problems they may cause. They do serve a purpose.
Many people in this forum get stuck and make panic threads giving no information about how they messed up their phone. Which doesn't leave people who are here to help much to work with. The frustration with that led me to make that post.
Your thread asking for help was an informative one and I have no problem trying to help someone like your self. You did it the right way.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

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