Fascinate Couple

[erik0002]

I have had my new Fascinate for about a month and finally after a month of my girlfriend "stealing" my phone to play jewels and Angry Birds she got her own.

Any tips for us new droid/smartphone/fascinate users? I have previously had a BB Curve, and I know my way around tech issues (I made my Dell Netbook 10v into a Hackintosh ), but what apps should I turn my interests to for this joint Fascinate Household? Any suggestions are appreciated.

Love the phone, love the forum everyone is knowledgeable and helpful on here!

And I am still on the teeter-totter about rooting my phone....

 

[SOTK]

There are lots of useful threads here in this forum. Most of them are stickies. My Fascinate has been rooted, I am using CWM, and running a ROM (JT Super Clean). I am also running a custom kernel which has helped out considerably with battery life. Jt's Super Clean Rom also helped out with battery life.

The cool thing about this phone (and I'm assuming all Droid phones) is that you can customize the crap out of them. You don't have to do everything I did. You could just root your phone and remove bloatware. It's up to you.

There are a ton of useful apps on the market. I use Astro File Manager, tweetcaster, doubletwist, Rom Manager, Tapatalk, and foursquare a lot. I must have at least 35 apps on my phone and use the majority of them. Some I've paid for like tapatalk, Docs to Go, and weather bug elite. So far, all the apps I've paid for have been well worth the money.

My advice to you is to spend some time reading through threads. This is how I've learned. I've asked a few questions here and there but most information I found by just reading. Good luck!

 

[thachizzle]

Loved the phone when I got it, it was crazy fast. But decided to root it and just add the stupid fast kernel and deleted the bloatware off the phone. Didn't change the ROM or anything, just changed the kernel and it only took about 20 minutes to read the instructions and do on phone.

Results were the phone was even faster than it was before. Wasn't any trouble to install and the instructions to root, install CWM & kernels, and to finally go back to stock was simple and easy to follow.

So I would say root away and enjoy some of the ROM's and kernels that are out there

 

[Sta11i0n]

Definitely the first thing I did with my Fascinate was root it to get rid of all the VZ bloat apps I'd never use and get Google working the way it should. From there I've played around with many different ROMS/Kernels/Launchers but have been very pleased with leaving the phone in a stock configuration. Honestly, the possibilities are endless with these things. I'd say root, make a clockwork recovery point, then go crazy. Very easy to go back if you find something you don't like or causes problems for you.


Since you came from the BB world, as did I, you may want to check out Kik Messenger. It's available on the market as a cross platform smart phone messenger. Very similar to BBM.

 

[erik0002]

Thanks Folks! All your input is super helpful. I am going to look into rooting tonight. I am going to take my time doing so, I DON'T want to brick my phone. That would be terrible. I think that I would basically root it for removal of the blotware and battery improvements.

Again thanks! Off to do some research.

 

[chaddymoff]

Less technical, but a tip I have offered to many friends who've come over to the Android side that they've told me was helpful: Long-press is the key to quick Android.

Long-pressing on many different things offers a menu of options and much Android magic. Enjoy!

 

[Sta11i0n]

Thanks Folks! All your input is super helpful. I am going to look into rooting tonight. I am going to take my time doing so, I DON'T want to brick my phone. That would be terrible. I think that I would basically root it for removal of the blotware and battery improvements.

Again thanks! Off to do some research.

I'd recommend using z4root. It's a one click root app available on the market. It is by far the simplest way to root these days. All you need to do is download it, run it, and then hit the button that says root. You'll be good to go in a matter of minutes. Just make sure you get the one from RyanZA on there. There's another one on the market that looks like a knockoff.

 

[namebrandon]

I have had my new Fascinate for about a month and finally after a month of my girlfriend "stealing" my phone to play jewels and Angry Birds....

I hear you there. I finally got out my old iPod touch, put Angry Birds on it, and gave it to my wife so she'd stop taking my phone.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

Definitely the first thing I did with my Fascinate was root it to get rid of all the VZ bloat apps I'd never use and get Google working the way it should. From there I've played around with many different ROMS/Kernels/Launchers but have been very pleased with leaving the phone in a stock configuration. Honestly, the possibilities are endless with these things. I'd say root, make a clockwork recovery point, then go crazy. Very easy to go back if you find something you don't like or causes problems for you.


Since you came from the BB world, as did I, you may want to check out Kik Messenger. It's available on the market as a cross platform smart phone messenger. Very similar to BBM.

Just keep in mind that as of now, anyone on BlackBerry who currently doesn't have Kik downloaded won't be able to get it for at least the time being. It was pulled from AppWorld

 

[erik0002]

I'd recommend using z4root. It's a one click root app available on the market. It is by far the simplest way to root these days. All you need to do is download it, run it, and then hit the button that says root. You'll be good to go in a matter of minutes. Just make sure you get the one from RyanZA on there. There's another one on the market that looks like a knockoff.

I am really close to trying this... if it works.... Is there a app out there that will copy everything off my phone before I root it? I wanna have a backup plan. then I will try RyanZA's app. And just to be sure it isn't going to reset itself when the phone re boots (on the fascinate).


And then if you have any suggestions on blotware removal that would be awesome!

Thanks.

 

[willenium_1217]

I am really close to trying this... if it works.... Is there a app out there that will copy everything off my phone before I root it? I wanna have a backup plan. then I will try RyanZA's app. And just to be sure it isn't going to reset itself when the phone re boots (on the fascinate).


And then if you have any suggestions on blotware removal that would be awesome!

Thanks.

I definately would like to hear about this too. I also have heard of superoneclick. If anyone could please tell me and Erik how to take care of this because i want to root my phone but I am too damn scared and want to make sure how to return to stock in case I screw something up and make sure that I can get Froyo and hopefully Gingerbread!

 

[Sta11i0n]

With z4root, you install the app, start it, and choose either temporary or permanent root. Temp just roots until you reboot your phone. If you choose permanent, and want to go back, just launch z4 again and there will then be an unroot option. Rooting alone does not change anything with the personal data on your phone. It just gains you access to system files. It's no different than granting administrative privileges on a PC. It will not reformat your system.

 

[Chris Kerrigan]

With z4root, you install the app, start it, and choose either temporary or permanent root. Temp just roots until you reboot your phone. If you choose permanent, and want to go back, just launch z4 again and there will then be an unroot option. Rooting alone does not change anything with the personal data on your phone. It just gains you access to system files. It's no different than granting administrative privileges on a PC. It will not reformat your system.

Keep in mind though that z4root has mysteriously vanished from the Market as of a couple weeks ago. Still no word on why or if/when it'll show up again.

 

[Sta11i0n]

Ah yes, I forgot about that. You can still find the apk on file share sites like 4shared.com. If you go this route, just download z4root.apk, copy it to your SD card, then with the phones file explorer navigate to the apk and select it. You will then be given an option to install it just like market apps. I keep a copy on my PC, along with a few other backup installers.