Google Android users clubhouse

[garyinhere]

In my opinion, rooting is done so you have full control over what is on your phone. Remove crap you don't use and stuff

The term rooting is new to me... I am just starting to learn about the droids... I just loaded some songs and pics on my phone and did notice a slow down. I also put a movie on it and it won't play for some reason? I have the Milestone X with the latest updates. Is there a basic outline of what you can do to the phone and the effects of the changes? My concern is that I will brick the phone which is one day old and be f*cked.

Edit: also what are some of the essential apps that you guys can't live without and please explain what they do if it isn't obvious.

 

[Thrackan]

The term rooting is new to me... I am just starting to learn about the droids... I just loaded some songs and pics on my phone and did notice a slow down. I also put a movie on it and it won't play for some reason? I have the Milestone X with the latest updates. Is there a basic outline of what you can do to the phone and the effects of the changes? My concern is that I will brick the phone which is one day old and be f*cked.

Edit: also what are some of the essential apps that you guys can't live without and please explain what they do if it isn't obvious.

Well, Rooting is basically (if you know Linux) gaining "root" access (or in Windows terms, Administrator rights) on your phone.
All phones come with preinstalled software, and much of it you're probably never going to use. With root access, those things can be deleted.

I'm not familiar with the Droid X, though for lots of Android phones, there are surefire ways of unlocking them. UnrEVOked for the HTC Desire was an absolute walk in the park

About the movies: that might be a codec/player problem. Try some other players from the Market like MoboPlayer (that plays a lot for me).

As I have noticed, Apps are very much up to personal preference.
I would mark Flash as essential, if only to improve browsing compatibility.
I use Google Maps Navigation as my primary way of navigating, and besides that I have the Facebook app, plus some games. The rest is as clean as possible.

 

[human_error]

Not bad brandon, not bad at all. Quite smooth.

@human

Let me know your thoughts after a couple days. Im interested.

Ok so I've only had the phone for a few hours, so these are my first impressions.

• Dat screen
• Very fast and smooth
• Browser is very fast (no flash until December though)
• Plays 720p files fine, except 1 4.1 high profile mkv with the default player. Will try with 3rd party players later.
• Faster than my asus transformer - which is a honeycomb with tegra 2 tablet
• Call quality is excellent
• It's a tad lighter than my nexus one
• It's a tad thinner than my nexus one
• Feels about the same as a Galaxy S2 size wise
• Face unlock is brilliant. Really. I love this.
• Android feels very grown up now. It's all intuitive and smooth. I have only seen stutter once, which was on the home screens with a very complex live wallpaper (using an openGl renderer to render a 3D background). Less complex live wallpapers allow the phone to be super smooth again.
• Keyboard is much easier for typing with.
• Tons of developer options for any devs out there - seriously I've never seen so many options (CPU usage overlay, highlight areas where the screen updates are the best 2 options for me).

This is the first android phone I've ever seen/used where I know I can go up to my non-techie iPhone using friends and they will think it is as good as, if not better than an iPhone.

If anyone wants me to test anything let me know and I'll get back to you.

**EDIT**

Ok so I have got a big problem now. If you are on a GSM network using the 900mhz band it seems there is an issue which can causes the volume button to go a bit mental. This means that the phone acts as if the volume button is held down(and/or up) if you accidentally touch (not press) the volume buttons. It isn't every time you touch the button, but the majority. Not sure if this can be fixed in software or if a hardware change is needed but in the UK O2 and vodafone use the 850/900mhz band for slow 2G signals, and this is a widespread issue (there's a thread on XDA reporting the issue). Samsung will have to fix this, and there is already speculation that a little tin foil in the battery compartment fixes it.

Fortunately I live in a 3G area so I only see the issue if I force it to use the 2G 900mhz frequencies (until I go out to the countryside, when suddenly it's 2G everywhere).

 

[JrRacinFan]

What's your thoughts on battery life so far?

@gary

If you know linux, root is just that , gives you superuser access and allows tweaking of anything on the phone.

 

[human_error]

What's your thoughts on battery life so far?

Only just unplugged it, so afraid I can't say just yet. I'll post back in a few hours once I've got a better feel for it (although as it's a Lithium battery it will take a few cycles to reach peak performance).

One thing I will say - if I have concerns about the battery there's a ton of OS level options to limit the usage of the phone such as limiting the number of background threads (you can even tell it to kill all apps once you leave them).

**EDIT**

I've found a significant issue. See my above post for more info.

**EDIT 2**

Battery life looks to be ~10 hours of solid usage (downloading and playing videos constantly for 2 hours has used ~20% battery, so 10% an hour) so isn't too bad. If it were in my pocket and not in front of me it will last me all day on a charge (just like my nexus one).

 

[garyinhere]

I understand what it can do, but once you dump the bloatware I don't see much to do with it since I don't want to OC my phone? Any more tips for apps.

 

[JrRacinFan]

Any more tips for apps.

Amazon Appstore, Handcent SMS(If you don't like the stock SMS Inbox), iHeartRadio, Orb Live, GasBuddy & Facebook(if that's your thing).

 

[InnocentCriminal]

Android Comic Viewer for those that like reading comics on their phone.

 

[JrRacinFan]

@gary

Another use would be modifying your build.prop, you can gain quite a few tweaks and battery life there. Including using GPU over CPU for UI, SD card boosts, and optimizing TCP stack. Editing minfree values, to allow better memory management IE no slowdown/lag, no launcher redraws. Can get a swap partition running as well.

 

[garyinhere]

@gary

Another use would be modifying your build.prop, you can gain quite a few tweaks and battery life there. Including using GPU over CPU for UI, SD card boosts, and optimizing TCP stack. Editing minfree values, to allow better memory management IE no slowdown/lag, no launcher redraws. Can get a swap partition running as well.

Your saying after it's rooted? I'm having a hard time finding how to even root it. it's a motorola milestone x. & yes I've tried google lol plus once it's rooted will that affect the app store?& this may sound really dumb but if you root it wouldn't not buying apps be part of it?

 

[Athlon2K15]

most of the good apps are free gary. sometimes rooting does affect the app store but there is a fix for it most of the time.Motorola milestone X same as droid X on verizon now google it

and then....

GingerBreak 1.2

 

[garyinhere]

and then I don't know how to tell you I love you

 

[n-ster]

Any opinions on the HTC Rezound vs Google Nexus?

 

[DanishDevil]

I have been looking for a LONG time for a direct comparison of these two phones.

I decided that since VZW is taking their SWEET TIME to announce a release date for the Galaxy Nexus, I bought the HTC Rezound today, and will pay $35 to swap to a Galaxy Nexus if it comes out before the end of the year and I like it. Their holiday return policy is in effect, and any phone purchased now through something like the end of the year (online or in a VZW corporate store) can be returned/exchanged through January 15th.

I will be posting impressions of the Rezound on here for anybody who wants them. Feel free to ask any questions as well.

Here are some quick impressions so far: The phone is stinking FAST. Sense 3.5 is a tad on the flashy side, the headphones are retartedly bass-heavy (probably great if you're into rap/R&B/etc. but not if you're the kinda guy who has two Senheisser cans). The screen is the most gorgeous non-OLED screen I've ever seen (really wish it was AMOLED). That's about it for now

 

[n-ster]

I have been looking for a LONG time for a direct comparison of these two phones.

I decided that since VZW is taking their SWEET TIME to announce a release date for the Galaxy Nexus, I bought the HTC Rezound today, and will pay $35 to swap to a Galaxy Nexus if it comes out before the end of the year and I like it. Their holiday return policy is in effect, and any phone purchased now through something like the end of the year (online or in a VZW corporate store) can be returned/exchanged through January 15th.

I will be posting impressions of the Rezound on here for anybody who wants them. Feel free to ask any questions as well.

Here are some quick impressions so far: The phone is stinking FAST. Sense 3.5 is a tad on the flashy side, the headphones are retartedly bass-heavy (probably great if you're into rap/R&B/etc. but not if you're the kinda guy who has two Senheisser cans). The screen is the most gorgeous non-OLED screen I've ever seen (really wish it was AMOLED). That's about it for now

Screen is what interests me most... Compared to say, a Galaxy SII, how is the screen? sunlight performance? Go as much in depth as possible on that side It does have the highest number of subpixels, subpixel density AND pixel density. Unless the SII HD comes out soon, the HTC Rezound seems pretty damn good

and I listen to a little Rap and mostly R&B so the headphones aren't that much of a problem

 

[Thrackan]

most of the good apps are free gary. sometimes rooting does affect the app store but there is a fix for it most of the time.Motorola milestone X same as droid X on verizon now google it

and then....

GingerBreak 1.2

There are distinct differences between Motorola Droids and Milestones, I would NOT use a tool for one on the other. Though that might be different for the X, I would certainly look it up first

Also gary: http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=687

xda is THE place for phone hackers and developers.

 

[DanishDevil]

Screen is what interests me most... Compared to say, a Galaxy SII, how is the screen? sunlight performance? Go as much in depth as possible on that side It does have the highest number of subpixels, subpixel density AND pixel density. Unless the SII HD comes out soon, the HTC Rezound seems pretty damn good

and I listen to a little Rap and mostly R&B so the headphones aren't that much of a problem

Unfortunately, I haven't seen a GSII before. Compared to my Incredible, I miss the deep blacks of the AMOLED (the TFT LCD is no slouch, but obviously can't compare to AMOLED) and I will have to comment on the sunlight performance later.

 

[n-ster]

Unfortunately, I haven't seen a GSII before. Compared to my Incredible, I miss the deep blacks of the AMOLED (the TFT LCD is no slouch, but obviously can't compare to AMOLED) and I will have to comment on the sunlight performance later.

How about the colors? Is the AMOLED really superior there too?

 

[DanishDevil]

I'll have to comment on that a little later. Time for bed for me

I think under low brightness, AMOLED can get a little washed out compared to TFT LCD, but under brighter conditions it looks better.

 

[twilyth]

I just got an Optimus V from Virgin. There weren't a lot of choices. There were about 3 phones I think that cost more, but I checked the reviews on phonescoop and each had it's set of problems. the V seemed like the most reliable with good signal strength.

So I spent the better part of a day reading the manual and getting pretty comfortable with the OS (Android 2.2 I think).

I'd like to get deeper into this but need to go at my own pace. So here are a couple questions. Can I root this phone safely. Can I do a full backup that will reliably restore if I bork it? Basically, where should I start?

I like the phone the way it is but there were a couple things I wanted to tweak and couldn't see a way.

 

[Thrackan]

I just got an Optimus V from Virgin. There weren't a lot of choices. There were about 3 phones I think that cost more, but I checked the reviews on phonescoop and each had it's set of problems. the V seemed like the most reliable with good signal strength.

So I spent the better part of a day reading the manual and getting pretty comfortable with the OS (Android 2.2 I think).

I'd like to get deeper into this but need to go at my own pace. So here are a couple questions. Can I root this phone safely. Can I do a full backup that will reliably restore if I bork it? Basically, where should I start?

I like the phone the way it is but there were a couple things I wanted to tweak and couldn't see a way.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=836

This would be your starting point for information.

There should be a sticky there about how to root if possible. Also, full backups can be made after root is achieved using Nandroid or whatever the root unlockers prefer to put in your bootloader.

 

[human_error]

Battery life update on my Galaxy Nexus.

It seems to last about as long as my Nexus One did. I gave it quite a bit of usage at work today, and where I work signal is very poor so most of the time it's hunting for reception so that kills battery life. It lasted 13 hours from when I left home to when I had 15% left and as I said that's with poor reception and heavy usage, so not bad.

It should last all day with no problems if in an area with signal...

 

[erocker]

I'll have to comment on that a little later. Time for bed for me

I think under low brightness, AMOLED can get a little washed out compared to TFT LCD, but under brighter conditions it looks better.

I'm on 2.3.4 with my Droid Incredible. Do you know of a good guide for rooting this phone with 2.3.4?

 

[garyinhere]

I'm on 2.3.4 with my Droid Incredible. Do you know of a good guide for rooting this phone with 2.3.4?

Here is the Incredible forum from the same site I was sent to... It's prob in there somewhere I didn't have time to look... Really good site from what I've read so far
http://forum.xda-developers.com/forumdisplay.php?f=635

 

[DanishDevil]

I used unrevoked3 to unlock my incredible. It was pretty simple.