The Android rooting + flashing super guide
- Thread starter mrk
- Start date
Thank you. It certainly looks the part
Perhaps you should consider releasing it as a rom in its own right for lazy people like me who have fallen into the trap before of constantly flashing and customising their phones and then realised that they spend far more time faffing about with their phone then they do actually using it
Got an old G1 off a mate last night, since I lost my Desire 
, updated to 2.2!
Its awesome, bit slow. But I am used to a desire, so its going to be. But for how old the phone is, I am pretty wowed!
For anyone with a G1 lying about, get 2.2 put on it. Works a treat
, updated to 2.2!Its awesome, bit slow. But I am used to a desire, so its going to be. But for how old the phone is, I am pretty wowed!
For anyone with a G1 lying about, get 2.2 put on it. Works a treat
Wish I got around to messing about with my Desire before it left my company not being able to afford the expense of another Desire I've had to stick with a Wildfire, while I agree its nowhere near as nice as my Desire was it scratches my Android itch so its good.
Question being! I want to debrand this phone as its got a lot of 3 software on it, It seems the Wildfire custom scene is tinnnny in comparison to the Desire scene - for obvious reasons! I want it to be stock with no branding/branded bootscreens w/e. Anyone done this with a Wildfire? any help appreciated!
not being able to afford the expense of another Desire I've had to stick with a Wildfire, while I agree its nowhere near as nice as my Desire was it scratches my Android itch so its good. Question being! I want to debrand this phone as its got a lot of 3 software on it, It seems the Wildfire custom scene is tinnnny in comparison to the Desire scene - for obvious reasons! I want it to be stock with no branding/branded bootscreens w/e. Anyone done this with a Wildfire? any help appreciated!
Having finally managed to root my Desire (thanks Mekrel) and followed the guide through to the end (thanks Khaaan! and other contributors) I'm now running DeFroST 5.3a on my Desire. But I'm yet to see what all the fuss is about as the phone doesn't appear to be noticeably different than when running Froyo with LauncherPro.
Anyone able to help me with a few niggles?
1. I really don't like the lockscreen in DeFroST. It's somewhere between the smoothness of the HTC Sense one and the reassuring 'weight' of the iOS one but nowhere as good as either. Any alternatives?
2. Why does my screen stay on when plugged in to a charger? I thought there was an option to switch this on/off in Sense but I can't seem to find it in DeFroST. And where are all the other options like tethering, etc?
3. I don't seem to be able to get my data connection to work. As far as I can tell all the APNs are there and I'm running the recommended radio for DeFroST (if that makes a difference) but I can't connect on anything other than WiFi.
Anyone able to help me with a few niggles?
1. I really don't like the lockscreen in DeFroST. It's somewhere between the smoothness of the HTC Sense one and the reassuring 'weight' of the iOS one but nowhere as good as either. Any alternatives?
2. Why does my screen stay on when plugged in to a charger? I thought there was an option to switch this on/off in Sense but I can't seem to find it in DeFroST. And where are all the other options like tethering, etc?
3. I don't seem to be able to get my data connection to work. As far as I can tell all the APNs are there and I'm running the recommended radio for DeFroST (if that makes a difference) but I can't connect on anything other than WiFi.
Thinking of rooting my Desire when I get back to uni tomorrow.
Having problems with the stock rom, such as awful battery life. 100% to about 15% with a couple hours of use?! Internal memory getting full, and I get random lag when trying to open apps like the camera.
Having problems with the stock rom, such as awful battery life. 100% to about 15% with a couple hours of use?! Internal memory getting full, and I get random lag when trying to open apps like the camera.
I'm sorry but I can not possibly fathom why you would buy a Desire and run DeFrost or any other ASOP build on it. It's exactly the same as buying a computer with Windows 7 on it and installing XP or worse on it.
Google themselves have admitted that Android needs some serious polish to the UI which they're working on as part of the Gingerbread version of Android.
I've played with DeFrost and OpenDesire but they just don't offer the good user experience that Sense offers. They're very customisable, I'm not disagreeing with that but customisation is pointless if you're going to damage the software experience of the phone (which is what you're finding glitch).
HTC have done such a good job with Sense, which means that the UI side of things do not really need to be changed. As per all Smartphones, the battery life is the only thing that could do with an improvement over stock ROMs.
I recommend running this ROM: Teppic74's 2.10.405 ROM with add ons
Google themselves have admitted that Android needs some serious polish to the UI which they're working on as part of the Gingerbread version of Android.
I've played with DeFrost and OpenDesire but they just don't offer the good user experience that Sense offers. They're very customisable, I'm not disagreeing with that but customisation is pointless if you're going to damage the software experience of the phone (which is what you're finding glitch).
HTC have done such a good job with Sense, which means that the UI side of things do not really need to be changed. As per all Smartphones, the battery life is the only thing that could do with an improvement over stock ROMs.
I recommend running this ROM: Teppic74's 2.10.405 ROM with add ons
Depends on the Kernel they're using with the ROM, some are running richardtrips undervolted kernel for better batty life.
Some however, are stupidly running very overclocked versions which is just pointless as the Desire isn't slow as is.
Absolutely nothing wrong with Defrost. The bulk of SenseUI features are available via LauncherPro and since I (and many others) use that anyway it makes no difference whatsoever not using SenseUI ROM.
DeFRost has more built in features (as does OD), the DeFrost Updater app and the fact that it's Cyanogen based means it's more up to date than any other ROM and the kernels are bashed out hot off the press.
CM settings, OTA updating and some other tweaks are things you won't find on ROMs like LeeDroid (sense based).
For me that customisation and tweak potential > any SenseUI based ROM.
And then there's the camera tweaks, the camera in DeFrost is superb, I have shown this with videos in the Desire thread, near 30fps @ 720p and picture quality to match too.
DeFRost has more built in features (as does OD), the DeFrost Updater app and the fact that it's Cyanogen based means it's more up to date than any other ROM and the kernels are bashed out hot off the press.
CM settings, OTA updating and some other tweaks are things you won't find on ROMs like LeeDroid (sense based).
For me that customisation and tweak potential > any SenseUI based ROM.
And then there's the camera tweaks, the camera in DeFrost is superb, I have shown this with videos in the Desire thread, near 30fps @ 720p and picture quality to match too.
LauncherPro is only a launcher, installing LauncherPro will not give you the level of social integration that the Sense contact application does. It will only not give you the better email client that can set out of office, send meeting invites et al.
The Dialer in stock Android also looks like it was made by an amateur in Gimp portable!
If you're counting changing the colour of the Notification bar as a "feature" then you would be correct. However, being able to use full exchange features comes way above being able to change the colour of the notification bar for people who actually wish to use their phone in a work environment.
They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery, which speaks volumes for why LauncherPro widgets are pretty much identical to Sense's.
Not everyone uses Exchange but others have used full exchange on stock Android ROMs no problems.
Anyway, the dialler can be solved by using Dialer One which is a near mirror copy of SenseUI dialler, as for the social interaction, well Sense has it better there in the contacts app but there's no need for it and it's not as useful as the official Twitter and Facebook apps are so since they will most likely be installed anyway and they also tag into the Contacts app in stock Android anyway there's little to complain about.
I know what you're trying to point out and put across but I'm a long term Android user, I've used Stock and SenseUI enough to have made a safe decision on what ROM offers more scope.
There's a lot in SenseUI but it's also a lot bigger ROM wise and Stock Android via DeFrost, for example, gives those primary features of Sense without the bulk and takes the ROM from £130MB to just 90MB.
As for the dialler looking like an amateur made it, well I can't agree with that, it looks just perfectly fine and pleasing to the eye:
And finally, the Cyanogen Settings app built into DeFrost (and OD), it doesn't JUST allow changing of notification bar, it does way more (allows tweaking of application settings, performance, sound and user interface as well as adding further autobacklight tweaks and settings etc), seriously you're sounding more like those people who just use something once or for a few minutes before knocking it off as crap.
Anyway, the dialler can be solved by using Dialer One which is a near mirror copy of SenseUI dialler, as for the social interaction, well Sense has it better there in the contacts app but there's no need for it and it's not as useful as the official Twitter and Facebook apps are so since they will most likely be installed anyway and they also tag into the Contacts app in stock Android anyway there's little to complain about.
I know what you're trying to point out and put across but I'm a long term Android user, I've used Stock and SenseUI enough to have made a safe decision on what ROM offers more scope.
There's a lot in SenseUI but it's also a lot bigger ROM wise and Stock Android via DeFrost, for example, gives those primary features of Sense without the bulk and takes the ROM from £130MB to just 90MB.
As for the dialler looking like an amateur made it, well I can't agree with that, it looks just perfectly fine and pleasing to the eye:
And finally, the Cyanogen Settings app built into DeFrost (and OD), it doesn't JUST allow changing of notification bar, it does way more (allows tweaking of application settings, performance, sound and user interface as well as adding further autobacklight tweaks and settings etc), seriously you're sounding more like those people who just use something once or for a few minutes before knocking it off as crap.
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Don't get me wrong, I like LauncherPro and I have the plus version because I love the app drawer as it's smother and looks brilliant. However, running it on top of Sense at the cost of resource just for the launcher doesn't sit too well.
I know they tag into the stock contacts application, but what I like about Sense is if I say to someone at work "hey, look at this cute of of my niece", all I have to do is open my sisters contact card and click photos and all her albums are there.
I click the album and the photos are loaded into the gallery application without any need to go into the Facebook application or to the touch site.
Maybe it's because I came from an iPhone and was so used to the lovely polished UI and stock Android in that sense leaves me underwhelmed where SenseUI doesn't.
For me a perfect ROM would be Sense applications without the need for Sense's resources, with LauncherPro and HAVS voltages. There are ROMs out there such as Villian HD ROM that keep sense but take out the Rosie launcher, so maybe I should try those out once the camera works.
You can't ignore the new Sense on the DesireHD though
My reason for doing so was that I thought I didn't 'need' Sense. I'd been using LauncherPro with various additional Apps and figured I'd give DeFroST a whirl, but I really miss the aspects of Sense that weren't so obvious; the dialler, the lockscreen, etc.
I'm also finding DeFroST to be noticeably 'laggy' compared to my stock Desire with LauncherPro. Flicking between home screens isn't as slick as it was and my widgets keep failing to load.
That looks pretty interesting.
Is that what you're running?
Kind of, I'm running his base ROM and his AP2SD+ add on (you'll need a EXT3 partition on your SDCard though) but I have my own kernel I compiled that takes care of the power saving.
Great guide, was hoping you would do one.
I have rooted and decided to go for defrost for my first rom, I have followed your guide to the letter and re-booted, I'm now stuck with the fancy coloured cross on screen, have I messed up or do I need to pull the battery?
EDIT: Re flashed and all is good
I have rooted and decided to go for defrost for my first rom, I have followed your guide to the letter and re-booted, I'm now stuck with the fancy coloured cross on screen, have I messed up or do I need to pull the battery?
EDIT: Re flashed and all is good
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You've been tinkering with your own kernel? Hats off to you, sir.
Are you using the Radio linked to in the thread itself (32.44.00.32U_5.09.05.30_2) or one of your own choosing?
I've added greater undervolt, put in a new governor known as "smartass" that's basically an edited version of another governor.
I use 32.47.00.32U_5.10.05.23 and its associated RIL files.
Khaaan - The dialer buttons look like the pre-configured shape settings you get in PowerPoint. Also, what about T9 quick dial where you press the buttons corresponding to the letters you want and it short lists your contacts? You don't get that with stock Android.
You can tinker with CM settings all you like, but unless it can do the basics then it's still not as feature rich as Android with Sense. Also majority of these additions added to the CM kernel have been in Sense already.
Example, 720p, FM Radio, touch to focus, face detection and a lot of the browser settings.
I've played with DeFrost and OpenDesire a lot of times and I've given it plenty of chance but it's always left me feeling like I'm running a WIP/Alpha ROM on my phone.
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