Re: [ACS][ROM] Phoenix ROM 0.2 & 0.3 RC
Will this delete the things I already have on my phone?
It depends what you mean by "delete my things". Flashing PhoeniX 0.2 will wipe out your apps and settings, but not anything stored on your SD card, like music & photos.
You can solve this problem by backing up your phone with the free app, Titanium Backup. Titanium Backup lets you do a batch backup of all your apps, user data, & settings, to your SD card. Then after you flash PhoeniX 0.2, you can reinstall Titanium Backup from the Play Store, and then makeTitanium Backup restore your apps, data, & account settings.
But you can only run Titanium Backup if you're rooted. So you'd have to figure out how to get rooted, and I'm not sure if there's a very easy way to do that.
THIS thread has instructions, but it's a bit technical. Some Android phones have pretty easy one-click root methods, but I don't think the Replenish does. The PhoeniX ROM itself is rooted (and there's a rooted version of the otherwise stock EK18 ROM on Firehak's webpage, but if you install (a.k.a. "flash") one of those ROMs, you'll wipe out your data (except for the stuff on your SD card). If you're using any of Sprint's apps, like SprintTV, NASCAR, or SprintFootball, you'd need to back those up (using Titanium Backup) from a rooted version of a stock Sprint ROM, because Phoenix doesn't have them, and you won't be able to install them (from the Play Store or from an APK file) unless you've backed them up using something like Titanium Backup. (You can reinstall other apps from the Play Store or from a saved APK file, but not the aforementioned Sprint apps that carry copyrighted media content.)
Also I'm not tech savvy at all so would you also explain to me the pros of rooting my phone besides more storage?
Rooting basically gives you administrator privileges on your phone rather than the guest privileges that you currently have. If you're familiar with Windows, it's analogous to having an administrator account or a guest account. Rooting lets you use certain root-required apps, like hotspot apps or Titanium Backup, and enables additional functionality in certain other no-root-required apps, like ES File Explorer.
But when you ask about the benefits of "rooting", I think you're really asking about the benefits of
flashing a custom ROM, like PhoeniX 0.2. Phoenix 0.2 improves performance and frees up memory by removing Sprint's bloatware, including the incessant, annoying SprintZone notifcations/ads. Phoenix also supports a faster EXT4 file system. If you install PhoeniX, you can (and should) download
DMRLook's custom kernel and his free CPU-speed governor app, called Cruise Control which let you "overclock", and set up your phone so that it automatically uses less power (low CPU frequency) when idle but gives you higher than normal performance for strenuous tasks like watching videos or playing games (though at the expense of power consumption). The bottom line is that the combination of Phoenix and DRMLooks kernel will give you more memory, higher performance, and probably better battery life.
It may be worth noting (for your future reference) that some custom-ROM developers for other models of phones add features to the phone and/or upgrade the OS to newer versions (like Ice Cream Sandwich), but Phoenix 0.2 is basically a leaner, cleaned-up version of the stock ROM.
You didn't ask about this, but I'm going to toss it out since I think it will help your understanding of the process. The instructions on Firehak's website have you download a zipped package to your PC that you'll need to unzip with a program like (free) 7-Zip. The package essentially includes three things.
1) There's a program, called "Odin" that you run on your PC which lets you load stuff into your phone via USB (not just onto the SD card). To use Odin with your phone, you need to have the proper USB drivers installed for your phone, but Windows should install those automatically. If not, they're on the Samsung website..
2) There are a couple files that flash the Clockwork Mod "CWM" custom recovery onto your phone (using Odin). A custom recovery is a utility that you run when the phone boots up (by pressing a combination of keys at startup), and it lets you (among other things) install custom ROMs & kernels which you have placed on your SD card. (FYI: For the Replenish, that aforementioned combination of keys is holding the space-key + p during boot until the Samsung screen appears. It can be finnicky so you may have to do it a few times.)
3) There's the PhoeniX 0.2 ROM zip file. You put the Phoenix 0.2 zip file onto the top level of your SD card, boot into CWM recovery and then use CWM to install the PhoeniX 0.2 zip file. You'd also use CWM to install DRMLook's kernel. (FYI: When using CWM, you use the up/down volume keys to navigate up/down, you use the back key to go back, and you use the settings key (if I remember correctly) to select.
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