A few questions... asked by a noob

[Emilybreanna]

Ok, So I just recently traded in my Crackberry for a Hero. Between my old Tour and my Ipod touch, I'm pretty much a whiz at both of the operating systems.. However, I know NOTHING about Android lol.. So i have a few questions/problems..

1. My weather will not update on its own. I keep having to go in and refresh it even though I have the option set to update automatically.. Should I just download another weather app and be done with it or is there a way to fix this?

2.I downloaded Handcent and I LOVE it but.. on the notification settings there is an option to change the LED light color and it does not work.. Is there a way to fix this?

3.What does rooting my hero mean? Is it similar to unlocking or jailbreaking?

4. Is there a way to save text messages? Like an app or maybe an option I can't find?

Well thats about it (for now).. Any other tips, comments, or cool apps to download would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

[Th3Cap3]

Howdy and congrats on your Hero I do not know all the answers to your questions but I will answer what I can (I am fairly new to the Android scene as well).

1. The stock weather widget can be configured to update every hour and up, the options will be right below the "automatically download data" option, I usually just refresh it when I look at it since I don't look at it that often.

2. I think the LED color selection only works on the Droid, I could never get it to work for the Hero (If I am wrong, please tell us both how to do it

3. Rooting is basically the same as jailbreaking an iphone, it gives you root access on the phone to add and remove whatever files you want. Its like running your computer with an admin account, you have full reign.

4. I am sure there is an app that will save your text, do a search in the market, lots of good apps there.

If you want to root your phone, there is an awesome tutorial on the forums here, it goes from beginning to the end, it doesn't quite cover flashing a new ROM to your phone, but it covers the hardest part I just recently rooted and flashed my Hero this past weekend, took about an hour for me to learn and actually do it. If you have any questions about it, you can PM me and I will help the best I can, you can also post here on the forums, lots of knowledgeable people here. Try the forum search before you ask though, your question may have already been answered and it will save you time in waiting for a reply Best of luck to you and enjoy your new phone.

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

Ok, So I just recently traded in my Crackberry for a Hero. Between my old Tour and my Ipod touch, I'm pretty much a whiz at both of the operating systems.. However, I know NOTHING about Android lol.. So i have a few questions/problems..

1. My weather will not update on its own. I keep having to go in and refresh it even though I have the option set to update automatically.. Should I just download another weather app and be done with it or is there a way to fix this?

2.I downloaded Handcent and I LOVE it but.. on the notification settings there is an option to change the LED light color and it does not work.. Is there a way to fix this?

3.What does rooting my hero mean? Is it similar to unlocking or jailbreaking?

4. Is there a way to save text messages? Like an app or maybe an option I can't find?

Well thats about it (for now).. Any other tips, comments, or cool apps to download would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

1. Typically it updates about 5 minutes after entering a new area. Not sure why yours may be doing this, but have heard of the issue. Don't know what the fix is.
2. No, unfortunately, the hero is probably the on android device with just green and orange LED's
3. Kinda, it allows you to do several things like installing a custom ROM, using apps that neet root access which is otherwise denied (like wifi tethering, clearing cache at the press of a button and taking screen shots from the phone)
4. I believe there are, but I don't know any myself.

 

[Th3Cap3]

And rufflez saves the day (whispers)he knows a lot more about all this then I do

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

Welcome aboard

You're gonna love the hero coming from the Tour. It does have it's quirks though.

1. Mine did that too. My wife's never did. That irk'd me enough start digging into the OS until I got it fixed lol. You can try making sure you toggle location services off/back on once a day. The only real fix involves hacking the phone.

2. Not on the Hero. Apps only get to control the green led, the amber and red colors can't be used.

3. Rooting IS jailbreaking. It's more though, you can have complete control - including the ability to screw things up. Read a bit in the hacking forums, we've done some great stuff with the Hero if you think you wanna fool with it.

4. SMS Backup on the market (free) backs SMS messages to your gmail account.
SMS Backup & Restore (free) backs them up to your sd card.

 

[pjwatson104]

SMS backup

A good program to get that will also back up your sms is Wavesecure. It is not only a program to protect your phone if it is lost or stolen, it allows you to locate it, track the changes, sync photos and messages. I believe MyLookout does the same thing as well (it also lets you send a text to your phone that will turn the volume up and emit a siren so you can find it in your house/car or whatnot if you lost it).

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

A good program to get that will also back up your sms is Wavesecure. It is not only a program to protect your phone if it is lost or stolen, it allows you to locate it, track the changes, sync photos and messages. I believe MyLookout does the same thing as well (it also lets you send a text to your phone that will turn the volume up and emit a siren so you can find it in your house/car or whatnot if you lost it).

Warning, there are foreign text charges with this program if you ever need to. Just FYI. There are GPS tracking apps that hide and can be turned on via text

 

[GolpherZX]

Thanks gbhil for the backup note!

Also - if you are looking into rooting, I do recommend as well the how to in the hacking portion of this forum (remember hacking isn't supposed to be a negative, it just means digging into the technology).

If you are going to be doing that the best (and only website I know of besides here) is xda-developers.com, specifically forums.xda-developers.com to get to the custom stuff. From there my "shortcut" approach to getting in the forum is to search on the terms "CDMA Hero".

 

[Emilybreanna]

Thanks everyone! Th3Cap3, how do I configure it to update every hour?

Also, as far as rooting goes, I think i'm gonna try it.. We'll see how it goes.. lol

 

[Kcarpenter]

Thanks everyone! Th3Cap3, how do I configure it to update every hour?

Also, as far as rooting goes, I think i'm gonna try it.. We'll see how it goes.. lol

Tap on the weather part of the widget. Click Menu. Tap Settings > Update Frequency. Select Every Hour.

 

[Emilybreanna]

Mine does not have that option.. it just says update automatically.and temperature scale..

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

Hmmm, I think that might be because we are looking at 2.1
Ive pretty much forgotten about the 1.5 settings, but if there is a sync and accounts menu, try in there. There may be a weather sync option (its there in 2.1, too).

 

[etho201]

3. Rooting is basically the same as jailbreaking an iphone, it gives you root access on the phone to add and remove whatever files you want. Its like running your computer with an admin account, you have full reign.

I don't have an Android phone yet but I am interested. If that is exactly what rooting is then that's the best description I've ever heard. I was worried that it altered the code or required homebrew controller apps. Giving admin permission really helps make sense of the process and if it is the case, that would be preferred. Are you able to switch your phone back to stock after rooting it and clean up the tracks so as not to void any warranties? Thanks!

 

[beezy]

I don't have an Android phone yet but I am interested. If that is exactly what rooting is then that's the best description I've ever heard. I was worried that it altered the code or required homebrew controller apps. Giving admin permission really helps make sense of the process and if it is the case, that would be preferred. Are you able to switch your phone back to stock after rooting it and clean up the tracks so as not to void any warranties? Thanks!

Yeah if you run the RUU it takes you back to stock,with no trace of rooting.

 

[Kcarpenter]

I don't have an Android phone yet but I am interested. If that is exactly what rooting is then that's the best description I've ever heard. I was worried that it altered the code or required homebrew controller apps. Giving admin permission really helps make sense of the process and if it is the case, that would be preferred. Are you able to switch your phone back to stock after rooting it and clean up the tracks so as not to void any warranties? Thanks!

1. Some people have expeiernced issues with running RUU after flashing Radio updates and 2.1 updates. - Though it seems most people have gotten these fixed, be warned if could happen.

2. If you are going to buy a Hero, it would be wise to get one soon before the 2.1 update officialy hits. If the phone has 2.1 from the factory, you may never be able to root it - we just don't know yet. We likely will have a root for it, but it may take a lot of time. I think the Eris guys went 6 months on trying to find an exploit.

 

[rockdawg]

Yeah if you run the RUU it takes you back to stock,with no trace of rooting.

I'm no expert, but from what I've read that isn't true. From what i understand, rooting will unlock the bootloader and, at this time, there is no way to re-lock it. So while you can get your phone back to stock, someone would still be able to tell that it's been rooted. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong in this.