Rooted Android Devices

[LwnmwnMan2]

I figure rather than keep talking about this subject in the iPhone 4 questions.... subject that I hijacked (my own thread btw) that I would start a new thread for those that are interested in turning their Android phones for more than what they were designed for.

For those that aren't following the other thread, I had bought a new truck with Uconnect (Chrysler's OEM bluetooth). My Droid X worked fine in my '06 Dodge w/Uconnect, but it wouldn't work in the '11 Dodge Ram. I could stream music with it, but phone calls were literally impossible, as it would just shut down my phone.

Anyways, after some googling, I came across a thread where a guy had installed a new ROM on his rooted Droid. He used Apex 1.3, and now he could use his bluetooth.

Well, the other night I was staying up, waiting for snow (make sure I didn't have to plow) and I got to messing around with rooting my phone. Basically (in simple terms) you download a couple of programs to your phone which set up a shell on your phone. Then you wipe everything clean and install a new ROM onto your phone.

I had to use Apex 1.4.1, I could not find a link anywhere on the web for 1.3.

After some messing around that night, and 1/2 of the next day off and on, I got the new ROM installed, all of my data restored and WA-LA!! I am now able to make and receive Bluetooth phone calls in my truck, along with streaming music through the stereo AND the steering wheel radio controls will control my Droid, even with no wires attached.

Once your phone is rooted, then you can mess around with it further. I downloaded an 'overclock' app, I believe it was "Droid Overclock" and changed the speed at which my processor runs at.

I increased it up to just over 2x's the original speed and holy cow was the phone fast. I have to mess around with it some more though, I drained my battery in about 20 minutes. Obviously I have some more changes to do.

You can also underclock your phone, so you save battery life. There are guys that are claiming 1.5-2'x the OEM speed of the phone, with 30 hours of battery life.

So, for those that didn't know this existed, now you have one more thing in life to worry about.

For those that are into this sort of thing, you have anything else to share???

[Valv]

Have you tried SetCpu for overclocking ? I believe it's more customizeable (is that a word ?).

I used it on my HD2 and Nexus One and was very happy with it, not much more drain than the standard usage.

Also check Quadrant Standard as benchmark app.

[LwnmwnMan2]

I'm switching to SetCPU as I type this. Hopefully it'll be a little more user friendly than the overclock program I was using.

[LwnmwnMan2]

I tried the SetCPU, then went back to Droid Overclocking.

I have it set at 1.35 ghz, ultra low voltage.

On the Quadrant Standard I'm at 1746.

My battery temp hovers just below 100 degrees.

[Valv]

Geez, you've got me fired up to try messing with it again.

I went and updated my wife's HD2, set the new bootloader, downloaded the ROM and bang.......wiped it off clean .

I lost all her stuff, messages, text, etc. Tried to recover but nothing.

It took me 1 hour of tries, and finally gave up, reloaded from scratch.

I am in the doghouse for a while...

[LwnmwnMan2]

No doubt, that's why as long as the wife is happy with her Incredible, it stays stock.

[Shack]

Is over-clocking a by-product or added to achieve greater processing speeds? Needed for certain apps? If you are not running 3D real time gaming is there a benefit to going over the designed specs?

[Shack]

Valve it sounds cliche' but you need to backup before you ROM. Always want to get back to point A just encase point B,C,D fail.

[LwnmwnMan2]

The biggest benefit I get from overclocking.....

I can bounce between programs faster.

Now, obviously it's not like coming from a 386 computer to my new media desktop I bought in January.

It's more or less just cool to go to your buddies and say "watch this" as they try to do the same on their phones.

I suppose if you were doing alot of video watching, or playing graphic intense games it would help as well.

The biggest thing I notice is the improved battery life with change how little the phone operates while you're not using it.

[Valv]

Valve it sounds cliche' but you need to backup before you ROM. Always want to get back to point A just encase point B,C,D fail.

No sh...t, I knew it from the start, but I've got too impatient.

I just finished reloading everything, including games and apps she probably never uses/used, and she still won't talk to me.....

I assume it didn't help much when I loaded a Gingerbread ROM that looks like my old Nexus, and asked her: " Honey do you like this one ? ".

I guess, I'll head for McDonalds for supper.

I set it up now with backup from bootloader in SD and NAND, also I used Titanium Backup. I think I have it under control now (maybe).

[headcheese]

check out xda developers lots of info on there.

[pureinsanity]

check out xda developers lots of info on there.

+1 these guys are amazing.

Shack the over clock is beneficial for people who don't reboot their phone much. If you go a few days with out a reboot your phone can slow way down, even with a task killer. I try to reboot/pull battery every couple days.

If you don't reboot much it can be pretty slow opening programs or all the apps

[itchmesir]

just remember... your phone is void the minute you perform any sort of rooting or change the rom on your phone.. even under protection plans.. they will not accept the insurance claim if its something you thought you could do via watching a youtube video

so make sure you know what you are doing before you end up with a $200+ paper weight

[pureinsanity]

as long as you can flash it back to a stock rom they would never know. I always had the stock rom so if i needed to take it in I could flash it back.

[headcheese]

just remember... your phone is void the minute you perform any sort of rooting or change the rom on your phone.. even under protection plans.. they will not accept the insurance claim if its something you thought you could do via watching a youtube video

so make sure you know what you are doing before you end up with a $200+ paper weight

most people with these fancy phones probably have insurance which covers lost/accidental damage. if i drop it down the ice hole it would be pretty hard to tell if it has been modded.

[pureinsanity]

most people with these fancy phones probably have insurance which covers lost/accidental damage. if i drop it down the ice hole it would be pretty hard to tell if it has been modded.

If you drop it down the ice hole the insurance doesn't cover it unless they changed their policies. Most the time water damage isn't covered under insurance.

[CAMAN]

But loss is....

[LwnmwnMan2]

I've claimed losses on phones that went down the hole, both ice fishing AND toilet (don't ask).

Neither was an issue. You have to remember that by the time you pay your $6-7.99 / month, and then the $89-99 deduct. on top of it, you're basically paying for a phone every 2 years.

If you have it set up right, and you're going to run insurance, then you basically have to claim a phone / year, and then have it last until your upgrade is available again. If you're not going to claim, then you might as well not run insurance, as every two years you would have paid for an upgrade anyways.

Usually insurance will only cover the first loss, however I was able to get them to cover a second loss on the same phone once.

Yes, I'm hard on phones.

I didn't much care if I bricked my phone, as it wasn't doing what I wanted to do when I rooted it.

If the root wouldn't have worked, I was fully prepared to switch to an iPhone at May, as they would have worked.

As it turns out, I had no idea what I was doing, and everything works. However, I've noticed today after using the interwebs HARDCORE for about 3 hours, I drained the battery down. I'll have to make a preset for when I'm searching much to slow the clock down again.

[deadeye]

Glad to see that panned out for you rooting your phone. I was just about to do that to my droid when I saw the thunderbolt come out and got it instead. I think I am gonna wait a couple months before I try that on my new phone but I am glad to see there is success with doing that.

I agree with what you said about insurance. Usually by that one year mark a smartphone is just about shot in my hands so something will come up that I need to make a claim. It's not intentional but I put stuff through its paces and its just worn out.

[LwnmwnMan2]

I've concluded that I definately cannot run at 1.35 ghz and still search the web for any length of time.

I was doing it again today, about 45 minutes, and it drained the battery very quick, and the battery temp was as high as 137 degrees, which is quite warm against your cheek if you get a call in the middle of surfing.

[itchmesir]

the HTC EVO Shift runs waaaay hot.. i couldn't imagine how hot it would run overclocked.. probably would fry itself

[pureinsanity]

overclocking is never good unless you are very confident in what you are doing.

[mhines]

Rooted OG Droid here........I use SetCPU for overclock, works great! I have tried Cyogen Mod ROM, but didn't notice any huge difference, over stock. Now that I'm rooted i can use my phone as a mobile hotspot, and a few other great apps. I've had this phone since it came out in and couldn't be happier.

[LwnmwnMan2]

Well, as of yesterday, my bluetooth quit working with Uconnect again.

I did nothing to the phone, performed no updates.

About 2 pm yesterday, my phone decided it would no longer work with my bluetooth.

So, now I have to decide if I'm going to tear into the phone again, look for another ROM that may help me out (will have to wait for a rain day), forget using the bluetooth (especially now that I don't listen to the radio in the truck as much, as I'm not plowing 24-50 hours at a time) or "upgrade" my phone to an iPhone, as those are listed in Uconnect's chart as compatible.

[upnorth]

Not sure if you have done this yet, but remove the battery to do a complete power down and try it again.