How to increase performance & memory of your Replenish and make it a nice phone.

[tryin2function]

is there any way to reject users of my hotspot via foxfi? i wanna disconnect people that know my password. cause any more than 2 connections overheats my battery, especially while charging...

yes i have an app for that...it works well on all phones ive used it on so should with this one as well...heres a link
https://www.box.com/s/6fm0vsnnes53z9uakt6y

 

[Little Darwin]

On your fast SD card, create two partions; an EXT4 file-system partition for your apps & app-data, and a FAT32 file-system partition for your photos, music, etc. (Your FAT32 partion will be accessible from your PC. Your EXT4 partition will only be accessible to your phone's operating system.) You can use a free PC tool like Mini Tool Partition Wizard to partition and format your SD card. Per the cache-limitation caveat mentioned in the previous paragraph, a 512MB EXT4 partition should be more than big enough (especially for the Link2SD method because you'll also still have access to your phone's 160MB of internal memory for a total of 672MB). Anything more than 512MB would likely be unusable as a practical matter, but you could create a larger EXT4 partition (say 1GB) if you like

First off, thanks for the great guide. I am now rooted and running PhoeniX 0.2 and have es File Explorer set up as root. I have also loaded the custom kernel, but have not overclocked yet.

My main issue that led to starting this process was the ability to load more apps, and that is where I hit a problem. I bought a 32GB class 10 microsdhc card, and I am using the Mini-Tool partition wizard, but I have so far been unable to create 2 partitions in a way that works with my phone. What I have tried:

With the microsdhc card in the phone, and mounted to the PC as USB storage... All attempts have been to use everything for FAT32 except for the 1024MB I plan to use for ext4.

1) Shrink the FAT32 partition... Mini-Tool would not let me create a partition in the free space.
2) Delete the working partition, and create 2 partitions (one FAT32 and one ext4)
a) Both as primary partitions
b) Both as logical partitions

I am placing the FAT32 first, as the software tells me that otherwise Windows won't recognize the drive when mounted. Other than the issues mentioned (FAT first and unable to add partition after shrinking), I see no errors or other problems from the PC software.

In all cases, when I dismount from the PC I am told that the storage is bad, and I have to format, at which time it takes up the whole drive with FAT32 and then works fine.

Does anyone have suggestions on what I might be missing for partitioning in a way that works with the phone?

 

[Little Darwin]

In case anyone else has similar issues, I discovered the following.

I found a site that indicated the proper configuration is Primary FAT32, and logical ext4. After thinking about it, this makes perfect sense, I must have been tired last night.

However, I also found another solution, and since I am not at my computer, I used CWM to create the second partition. (Remember, if you have any data on the existing partition, back it up first).

The extra partition created by CWM is ext3, but that should do just fine. So far, I can confirm that the fat32 is mounted properly, and Link2SD is seeing the ext3 partition. So, it looks like success.

 

[Little Darwin]

I saw somewhere else that both partitions should be primary (possibly in the link2sd tutorial... so I still don't know what was wrong with my partitioning, but I don't care...

Additional info. Link2SD is indeed working as expected with the ext3 partition. I loaded setcpu from Google Play, a paid program that I already owned from an earlier phone. So now I am overclocked, and also reduce the cpu speed when idle. I have loaded several apps that I like (I could never lad them all together on this phone before) and am on the way to being much more pleased with the phone. It isn't an Optimus G by any means, but it is a reasonable entry level Android phone.

Thanks again for posting great instructions.

 

[Little Darwin]

Well, after a couple of days, I have mixed feelings.

Positives:

1) I have far more apps than I ever had on my Replenish

2) I still have room for plenty more.

Negatives (minor):

1) Battery life may have diminished. I need to explore...
a) Possible issues with overclocking/throttling
b) Maybe some app in the background
c) Different underclocking methods

2) The phone seems more sluggish to launch apps. This could well be related to having more apps to manage... or something in the background

I don't think I downloaded any apps that should be causing lags, but I will be looking around.

Also, I was only able to overclock to 692 mhz, anything higher crashed during the stress test in SetCPU.

Overall, even if I don't resolve the minor issues, I am happy with the better phone I have now.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

LittleDarwin:

I guess it's too late now, but when using MiniTool Partition Wizard, you should insert the SD card into the PC's card reader (or an external card reader). Both the FAT32 & EXT4 partitions should be "primary". In my original post there is a link to a step-by-step guide for using the MiniTool Partition Wizard.

As you discovered, you can also use CWM to create an EXT3 partition (in phone), but I prefer the MiniTool Partition Wizard method to create a (slightly superior) EXT4 partition. (Then again, all of my PCs have SD card readers.)

Battery life should not be adversely affected by the Phoenix 0.2 or Link2SD. Most likely, your battery life is being affected by your overclocking app's governor and/or other apps. (Or maybe because you're having too much fun using more apps! ) I use NoFrillsCPU for my overclocking app, with the SmartAss v2 governor (@787/245 MHz & "Noop") applied at boot time. It's possible that apps might launch a bit slower with Link2SD on a class 10 microSD card, but I haven't noticed it-- perhaps because of my boosted clock speed. I suspect that something else is going on with your setup and that Phoenix & Link2SD aren't the cause of any problems.

 

[Little Darwin]

That was my suspicion. I need to dig in and see what I have loaded that may be hogging resources.

If I ever have to do a reset, I will probably partition with the MiniTool Partition Wizard to get ext4... for now, I am good. I thought that a card mounted via an Android device would be the same as one mounted in a dedicated reader as far as partitioning and formatting, but now I know better.

 

[itoikenza]

does this work on a replenish?

 

[Little Darwin]

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/50488782/[Originals]/MicroUsbToFemaleUsb.JPG does this work on a replenish?

If your talking about rooting, and the subsequent improvements, then yes. It works for my Samsung Replenish. Mine is on Sprint, I am not sure about other carriers (if they exist).

 

[itoikenza]

no, you misunderstood. i meant does

the item i showed work when plugged into a replenish. in case you can't see image, it's a micro usb to female usb cable, for usb host functionality, i know a non-rooted replenish doesn't work for this. but i am rooted on phoenix 0.2.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

Micro USB is an industry standard. All micro-USB cables with micro-USB devices, including the Replenish.

But that has nothing to do with this thread, so you should post such questions on a new, separate thread.

 

[Johnius]

Thanks! I had the smallest amount of trouble getting PhoeniX on my phone, but I'm really excited about all the extra space and performance improvements!

 

[itoikenza]

so... i got MiniTool Partition Wizard Home Edition. now how do i go about and create an ext4 & fat32. i made the ext4 first but it didn't even ask what size i wanted it to be. it just made it a 500mb. am i screwed in that i have to erase the ext4 after it's done formatting and make the fat32 first? or can i make another partition via minitool? or format the remaining 14.34gb in windows xp. and make sure it's primary in minitool afterwards. by the way i have a fast 16gb micro sd. forgot the class. cause i can't see it now. it's in the process of making the ext4...

edit: also does it matter if both partitions are not set as active?


nevermind: it's done, but one thing. i thought i'd have 600+mb of installing space shown on the internal meter. but it just shows 58mb free. which is, i freed up alot, from 22mb before Link2SD. Am i missing something here?

 

[anon(538593)]

^ Link2SD doesn't increase the amount of internal storage, it just moves parts of the applications installed in the internal memory to the SD card. So with Link2SD you're still using your internal storage, just less of it.

 

[RazzMaTazz]

Android's built-in "internal meter" doesn't show the additional storage space created with Link2SD. To see that, open Link2SD, hit the physical menu button and select "Storage info". There you can see:
1) Your phone's internal storage space (and how much you've used).
2) Your new "SD Card 2nd Partition" (and how much you've used).

Every time that you install an app you'll use some of the phone's internal storage. If you link an app using Link2SD, some (not all) of that app will be moved to your SD-card partition.

E.g. On my Optimus S, Link2SD shows that I've used 115MB/165MB of my internal storage so I have 50MB of internal storage free. (Android's built-in meter shows 50MB free.) But Link2SD also shows that I've used 219MB/789MB of my SD-card's EXT4 partition. Therefore I'm using (115MB + 219MB=) 334MB, which is about twice as much memory as the phone originally had internally. (I don't have all of my apps linked.)

 

[itoikenza]

RazzMaTazz is there an aternate to foxfi that can create a wep secured signal or simply "wpa-psk (TKIP)", For my psp which doesn't work with foxfi's wpa2...

 

[RazzMaTazz]

No. I don't know. I couldn't even get FoxFi to work. I'm still looking for any kind of Hotspot software for the Replenish.