Ok, so the woman just got an Epic 4g...

**Effenhimer** · 02-27-2011, 10:18 PM

I am an OG Droid user, so I've been very lucky on the rooting/ROM side of things... My Wife just got rid of her dieing Pre, and upgraded to an Epic 4g, and it's pretty awesome if I do say so. BUT...

I have NO idea how to judge what a good rom on one of these could do to her phone. I know moving up to 2.2 would be a boost, (I'm stuck with Gingerbread...

) But what ROMs have come out that would be beneficial to a first time Android user, with a brand new 4g phone with a 1/2gb of ram!! (So jealous!)

And any suggestions for an easy root method would be cool too...

Thanks in advance everyone!

**Paul627g** · 02-27-2011, 10:32 PM

Thats great first of all. Another Epic user.

Anyways if shes going to update to Froyo EB13 (official release) then at this point its so new that all the ROMs you find are going to be pretty simple and close to stock form with some minor mods or themes. If she is going to stay on Eclair DI18 then there are some older but stable ROMs to play with there also.

Many users are still using the leaked Froyo DK28 now until thing become more stable and worked out with the official Froyo EB13 release which has also been stopped due to some bugs in the release which Sammy/Sprint is addressing.

For a list of Froyo EB13 ROMs go here.
[Index] Froyo EB13 ROMs, Kernels, Themes, & Other Mods [Updated 2/26]

For older DK28 ROMs check this section of the forum most of them are now located on the 2nd page of this section. They will be marked in the change logs or features as DK28 Froyo based.

As far as rooting is concerned the methods between Eclair/Froyo are pretty much the same. More on that below.

[Root] Samsung Epic 4G Official Froyo EB13 w/Optional EXT4

[FAQ] Q & A on Rooting/ROMs/Methods

I know its alot to look threw but give it a look over it will make sense if you take the time to read threw it all .. Feel free to ask and post questions in the threads pertaining to the question.

Hope this helps!

**Effenhimer** · 02-27-2011, 10:38 PM

Thanks, thats awesome, quick question though... I keep seeing this EXT 4. What is that all about?...

EDIT: Just saw all the info in the rooting thread about ext4...

**Effenhimer** · 02-27-2011, 11:15 PM

So its been installing the usb drivers for 20 minutes... It that normal? Seems like an awful long time for a driver install...

**tomy2001** · 02-27-2011, 11:33 PM

Originally Posted by Effenhimer

So its been installing the usb drivers for 20 minutes... It that normal? Seems like an awful long time for a driver install...

Before you download the usb drivers you should have checked if you computer has 32 bit or 64bit. I recalled that it did not take me 20 minutes to download the usb drivers in my pc.

Have a great day

**Effenhimer** · 02-28-2011, 12:03 AM

I have x64... Now for some reason, the phone won't pop up in my PC when I flip on usb storage... WTF?

EDIT: Ugh, its installing MORE drivers... Not complete yet...

**Effenhimer** · 02-28-2011, 12:43 AM

Whoot! Root process complete!!

**Effenhimer** · 02-28-2011, 12:51 AM

Ok, next question...

Does ROM manager have some roms for it?? I've been using rom manager for months now, but before I DL the paid version onto her phone, is there anything worth it on there?... Will I need to get EXT4 running first?...

Again, thanks everyone!!

EDIT: it says I have to install CWMR first, and then gives me an error message, do I need an earlier version than 2.5.1.4 if I don't have ext4 on it?...

EDIT2: Just saw the CWMR installation thread.... It talks about said problem...

**ragnarokx** · 02-28-2011, 12:59 AM

Zero ROMs currently on ROM Manager for the Epic.

Use Part 1 to get Clockwork.

I would stay away from ROM Manager all together - will give you more problems than benefits.

**Effenhimer** · 02-28-2011, 01:34 AM

Ah, thanks... Just doing a backup ATM... Any suggestions on a Rom? Should I just setup ext4 and be done with it?... Says I have CWMR v2.5.1.0 on the phone...

**Paul627g** · 02-28-2011, 06:53 AM

Depends, which OS is the phone running? Eclair/leaked Froyo or official Froyo? I'm going to assume you went the route of official Froyo and like I mentioned before at this point things are simple still on official Froyo. Most of the ROMs are only a few days old and have little to moderate mods so they aren't very far off from stock.

**tomy2001** · 02-28-2011, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by Effenhimer

Whoot! Root process complete!!

Congratulation

**Effenhimer** · 02-28-2011, 10:07 AM

Yeah, DL'ed the MAC zip, ran it in recovery. Then went the oneclick route and threw CWM on it, now just trying to figure out what rom/kernel to put on, the thing really doesn't get very good battery life, (with a CONSTANT data user) does it? I wanna change that for her, as much as I can anyway...

Also, looking for hotspot access... Not sure if Sprint makes you pay for said service like VZW does...

**Paul627g** · 02-28-2011, 10:35 AM

Originally Posted by Effenhimer

Yeah, DL'ed the MAC zip, ran it in recovery. Then went the oneclick route and threw CWM on it, now just trying to figure out what rom/kernel to put on, the thing really doesn't get very good battery life, (with a CONSTANT data user) does it? I wanna change that for her, as much as I can anyway...

Also, looking for hotspot access... Not sure if Sprint makes you pay for said service like VZW does...

You can flash your ROM of choice then for a kernel you can go here [Kernel] Genocide 1.2GHz Froyo DK28/EB13 RFS/EXT4 and flash this kernel. Follow the devs instructions and you can utilize the undervolt which will definately help battery life. Then whenever she wants to crank it up for some more juice its also capable of 200 mhz overclocking. Just make a backup in CWM using the backup feature so you have something to restore for whatever reason before you flash the kernel.

The hotspot, you don't want to pay for Sprint.. So go here
[How To] Wireless Tethering for Root Users

Your giving her one nice setup!

**Effenhimer** · 02-28-2011, 11:06 AM

Awesome! You really don't know how much I appreciate all the help!!

**Effenhimer** · 02-28-2011, 11:43 AM

Ok, going with Supernova rom... Comes with the kernel that was suggested, and I'm changing the mms theme and dialer theme... Wish me luck!

**Effenhimer** · 02-28-2011, 01:28 PM

Well, now that I got that new rom working, my pc won't accept the phone in usb storage mode, like the drivers are no good for it anymore... It freezes my explorer and I have to restart to get it running again... And I haven't even gotten to put any extras on her phone yet.

And is it normal for the Market to NOT restore the apps automatically?...

Frustrated...

**Paul627g** · 02-28-2011, 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by Effenhimer

Well, now that I got that new rom working, my pc won't accept the phone in usb storage mode, like the drivers are no good for it anymore... It freezes my explorer and I have to restart to get it running again... And I haven't even gotten to put any extras on her phone yet.

And is it normal for the Market to NOT restore the apps automatically?...

Frustrated...

Not sure what is causing your computer to not recognize the phone. Try uninstalling and reinstalling the drivers (I know big pain in the ****).

Market apps not auto restoring has been an unsolved issue with Froyo EB13 and custom ROMs. We had this feature on the leaked version of Froyo DK28.

Everyone has been using Titanium or MyBackup to save and restore apps/data while this feature is resolved.

**dllb** · 02-28-2011, 03:25 PM

Don't you think it would be better to let your wife like the phone before you start jerking it around? LOL

I mean, it's nice you want to do things for her, but stock seems to work out ok for most people.

I find small steps are better then jumping into the deep end of the pool. Might be good to step back and think about it a bit.

It's hard enough to find out how to use all the features of 2.1 or 2.2 without a bunch of extra stuff going on.

Just a suggestion.

Let her use some of it, see what she can't do that the stock doesn't do then start adding stuff.

It can be pretty overwhelming to have a million icons on a phone.

**Effenhimer** · 02-28-2011, 03:44 PM

Nice thing about root... She could actually watch her battery go down yesterday, things like media hub and that kind of stuff that would run, get turned off, and then start up again in the background were killing her bat. Now, not happening. The bat has only gone down about 10% since I got it going for her, and she's been on her forums, DL'ing market apps again, (I lost them all thinking the market would just reinstall them and not doing a back up, no big deal since she hadn't really DL'ed too many yet) making a few calls and all this over about 3 hours... Yesterday before the root, 3 hours same use = 50% or more gone. She wasn't happy with her purchase at first, but now she's loving it, and I haven't even given her her purple mms UI, or her custom dialer she picked out...

**Paul627g** · 02-28-2011, 03:49 PM

Originally Posted by Effenhimer

Nice thing about root... She could actually watch her battery go down yesterday, things like media hub and that kind of stuff that would run, get turned off, and then start up again in the background were killing her bat. Now, not happening. The bat has only gone down about 10% since I got it going for her, and she's been on her forums, DL'ing market apps again, (I lost them all thinking the market would just reinstall them and not doing a back up, no big deal since she hadn't really DL'ed too many yet) making a few calls and all this over about 3 hours... Yesterday before the root, 3 hours same use = 50% or more gone. She wasn't happy with her purchase at first, but now she's loving it, and I haven't even given her her purple mms UI, or her custom dialer she picked out...

Good glad to here she's enjoying her phone. Now you go back to your Droid and leave the nice new toy to her.. LOL.. :P

**Effenhimer** · 02-28-2011, 04:05 PM

Well, she still wants her custom colors for mms and the dialer, I may just end up pulling the sd card, dropping them on there, (been running virus scans and ad-aware making sure I'm not infected with something clogging up my ports)... Truelly, I can't WAIT to go back to my super easy Droid, but its so tweaked and randomly perfect, theres not a lot to do to it until Pete gets the next BuglessBeast running with 2.3!

Does the galaxy s 2.3 leak mean that once its picked through, there will be some ASOP 2.3 roms coming? Or is it a phone specific update?... Just wondering...

**Paul627g** · 02-28-2011, 04:29 PM

At the rate things are moving I wouldn't rule out seeing Gingerbread running on the Epic some time in the near future.... We know its capable of it, just a matter of Sammy doing it or the devs porting it whichever happens first.

**Effenhimer** · 02-28-2011, 05:54 PM

Almost forgot to get the wireless tether going... Big decision maker for buying this phone.

Have tried both suggested ways, nothing... I posted in the "how to" thread about it...

**ragnarokx** · 02-28-2011, 06:06 PM

Per forum rules, please only post your question/comment in one thread. If this thread is going to be used for cross-posting, I'll go ahead and close it to direct posts to the appropriate threads. Thanks