new here, need help modding LG optimus V

[jrodder86]

Hey everyone,

New to the site.

First off let me say, I have a little bit of experience with jailbreaking iphones.....but beyond that I get confused because there are so many options for so many different things and I find more dead ends in searching than i do "sure facts" and I would just like some good (up to date) info on this subject so I know as much as possible before going any further.

I have an LG optimus V that I have had since about march of 2011.

I tried searching jailbreaking tips on the phone but from what i gather for android its considered rooting?.

anyhow, I have a few specific things I would like to improve/fix/change and I am hoping maybe there are some options out there that rooting can solve.

first being.... BATTERY LIFE.....my battery life is horrible, I have tried removing or closing apps,keeping wifi turned off,gps off and so on.

second being..... the phone tends to be very slow in processing things (certain games more so...like angry birds for example)

and third being..... I recently moved and don't get that great of service (but im within a good coverage zone) and I was hoping there was a way to boost signal coverage.

also when I jailbroke my old iphone I had an option in my phone to switch carriers with the click of a button ( switch from t-mobile,to att,to centennial ect...ect...) is there anything like that available ? (would come in handy for when signal strength is weak and I have the option to switch to a carrier with a stronger signal strength.

And also.....(don't get mad at me here LOL....just curious) but is there any way to put a iphone style theme on my phone to give it the iphone look and feel?

I basically am interested in all info on how/what to do to mod my phone, (step by step info is a plus)....and any info anyone has on what all exactly the benefits are from doing so,what modding possibilities there is/cool features become available....ect....ect...

sorry for being a "noob" about this and I am sorry if there are other posts like mine out there...but I have been searching and have had trouble finding all the info I am looking for so i figured I would make a post and get some consolidated information on all of this.

Thanks in advance everyone for the help!

 

[watskyhotsky]

1. "rooting" is allowing any app the ability to run as administrator, to have privelidges normal apps dont get. like for a tethering app, its to use the wifi and 3G hardware in a way that wasnt originally intended.

once you HAVE whats known as "root" you can do things like change the ROM, which is the entire android installation. becuase having root allows you to overwrite protected parts of the phones memory.

best thing to do is root with Gingerbreak, install Superuser (from the market) and instal busybox (search in the market)

then install rom manager and flash the recovery. its CWM 3.2.0.1 if I remember. DO NOT use this app to do ANYTHING ELSE

next go here

https://github.com/inferiorhumanorgans/android_device_lge_thunderc/wiki/Binary go to the section for Optimus V, and download BACKside, (its the most updated and supported rom.)

this rom is gingerbread 2.3.7 mixed with cyanogenmod, when you load it, its almost a 100% stock gingerbread build, except in the main menu you will find a setting called "cyanogenmod settings" in here are awesome amazing options you wont see in any stock rom.


also, gingerbread allows apps and games to run faster, you can overclock the cpu from 600mhz to 806 (higher options are there, but i wouldnt reccomend them) that should allow angry birds to play a lot better. it did for me.

as for actually FLASHING the rom, i can explain it but i dont have the time right now. hopefully another helpful member of the forum will provide that info.


as for looking like an iPhone, the closest your going to get is "MIUI ADW" launcher, it has iphone icons and a 4 icon customizable dock. nothing else will look like iphone, menus, apps, etc, will look like android.

the only rom that looks like iphone is genuine MIUI, which isnt made for this phone. Im running it on my Triumph with "Ultimate iPhone Theme" and I swear ive never seen as good a clone of an iphone. looks like the retina display too on the triumphs screen, nice and clear you wont get anywhere close to this on the V though


edit* for signal strength, you want to flash a new PRL, it MIGHT or MIGHT NOT help. prl tells phone which towers to connect to. and in the case of virgin mobile, you can ONLY connect to sprint towers. you wont be able to connect to anyone elses, no matter what. thats just how it works

 

[MasterTec]

Sounds like you need to get rid of your Optimus V and get an iPhone. You want the best of both worlds - battery life *AND* performance. You can't have both - at least without purchasing a bigger battery.

While the OV is a great little phone you have to keep in mind that it's also a $100 phone. I'm not convinced you're going to be happy with any solution we'd be willing to give here.

If you look around you'll find information on how to root your phone and load different roms on to it. Personally I use the IHO rom which upgrades it to gingerbread. I can squeeze almost three days into one charge if I use the phone very lightly but with moderate to heavy usage it's still a nightly charge. Rumors are floating around that an ICS mod is in the works but that may still be a few months away.

There are plenty of tips around here as to how to extend battery life and there are also ways to overclock your phone to increase performance (but at the cost of battery life). There is also a modification that will let your VM phone use ALL sprint towers that may improve your signal strength.

Just keep in mind that while it's a great little phone it is NOT an iPhone so don't expect it to ever become one. As far as my needs go this phone exceeds every one of them at a great price so I have no room to complain but it simply may not be able to perform to your standards in which case new hardware may be the only way you'll ever be happy.

Do a search for "gingerbreak" and read the how-to mod posts here and you'll find all the information you need.

 

[jrodder86]

1. "rooting" is allowing any app the ability to run as administrator, to have privelidges normal apps dont get. like for a tethering app, its to use the wifi and 3G hardware in a way that wasnt originally intended.

once you HAVE whats known as "root" you can do things like change the ROM, which is the entire android installation. becuase having root allows you to overwrite protected parts of the phones memory.

best thing to do is root with Gingerbreak, install Superuser (from the market) and instal busybox (search in the market)

then install rom manager and flash the recovery. its CWM 3.2.0.1 if I remember. DO NOT use this app to do ANYTHING ELSE

next go here

https://github.com/inferiorhumanorgans/android_device_lge_thunderc/wiki/Binary go to the section for Optimus V, and download BACKside, (its the most updated and supported rom.)

this rom is gingerbread 2.3.7 mixed with cyanogenmod, when you load it, its almost a 100% stock gingerbread build, except in the main menu you will find a setting called "cyanogenmod settings" in here are awesome amazing options you wont see in any stock rom.


also, gingerbread allows apps and games to run faster, you can overclock the cpu from 600mhz to 806 (higher options are there, but i wouldnt reccomend them) that should allow angry birds to play a lot better. it did for me.

as for actually FLASHING the rom, i can explain it but i dont have the time right now. hopefully another helpful member of the forum will provide that info.


as for looking like an iPhone, the closest your going to get is "MIUI ADW" launcher, it has iphone icons and a 4 icon customizable dock. nothing else will look like iphone, menus, apps, etc, will look like android.

the only rom that looks like iphone is genuine MIUI, which isnt made for this phone. Im running it on my Triumph with "Ultimate iPhone Theme" and I swear ive never seen as good a clone of an iphone. looks like the retina display too on the triumphs screen, nice and clear you wont get anywhere close to this on the V though


edit* for signal strength, you want to flash a new PRL, it MIGHT or MIGHT NOT help. prl tells phone which towers to connect to. and in the case of virgin mobile, you can ONLY connect to sprint towers. you wont be able to connect to anyone elses, no matter what. thats just how it works

Thanks for the tips.....Ill look into what you have mentioned.

 

[jrodder86]

Sounds like you need to get rid of your Optimus V and get an iPhone. You want the best of both worlds - battery life *AND* performance. You can't have both - at least without purchasing a bigger battery.

While the OV is a great little phone you have to keep in mind that it's also a $100 phone. I'm not convinced you're going to be happy with any solution we'd be willing to give here.

If you look around you'll find information on how to root your phone and load different roms on to it. Personally I use the IHO rom which upgrades it to gingerbread. I can squeeze almost three days into one charge if I use the phone very lightly but with moderate to heavy usage it's still a nightly charge. Rumors are floating around that an ICS mod is in the works but that may still be a few months away.

There are plenty of tips around here as to how to extend battery life and there are also ways to overclock your phone to increase performance (but at the cost of battery life). There is also a modification that will let your VM phone use ALL sprint towers that may improve your signal strength.

Just keep in mind that while it's a great little phone it is NOT an iPhone so don't expect it to ever become one. As far as my needs go this phone exceeds every one of them at a great price so I have no room to complain but it simply may not be able to perform to your standards in which case new hardware may be the only way you'll ever be happy.

Do a search for "gingerbreak" and read the how-to mod posts here and you'll find all the information you need.

I did do ALOT of searching....but like I previously stated...it was all to confusing because the info I was getting was out dated,ran off in so many different directions it was hard to understand what all applied to me and did not....ect...ect.... which is the reason I created this thread, to get answers to all the questions I personally had in one consolidated thread.

and I never said I was looking for it to transform into an iphone lol....I mentioned I use to have an iphone and that I jailbroke it and I was curious as to if there was anything that could be done to simulate the iphone look and feel. I understand that my current phone is not top of the line and I cant expect for it to do all the same things a $500.00 phone for example may do.

BUT for what the phone is, it has served me very well in the almost years time I have owned it. I just would like to see if I could get a little bit more "umph" out of it and tweak it a little to better suit my needs.

Thanks for the info though .

The program you mentioned that utilizes the sprint towers sounds interesting. Any info/link on that by chance?

 

[jrodder86]

If someone could post any links to what I might be needing I would really appreciate it...the gingerbreak for example.

I tried looking for it but wasnt sure which one i need as there are different versions and for different phones ect.

if it helps, my phone is a virgin mobile LG optimus V , model number- VM670 , Android version 2.2.1 , kernel version 2.6.32.9

sorry again guys for the "noob talk" but this portion of phone modding is new to me and its better to ask questions now prior to diving in head first rather than waiting until after I "try" to do it without knowing exactly what I am doing and possibly messing something up.

all info is appreciated ,thanks

 

[Spiral_ouT#AC]

Check out this thread. It should have all the info you need to root and install a custom ROM, and is specifically for our Optimus V's, so no need to worry about compatibility.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/op...-how-simplified-root-recovery-custom-rom.html

If any of the instructions don't make sense to you, post back with where you're stuck and one of us will help.

 

[Ronin Wolf]

first being.... BATTERY LIFE.....my battery life is horrible, I have tried removing or closing apps,keeping wifi turned off,gps off and so on.

Its actually better to leave wifi on when you are around a steady connection.

Plus, IHO (Inferior Human Organs) ROMs have much improved battery life over stock, so simply flashing a good ROM will help. As watskyhotsky said, BACKside is a great ROM. JerryScript is constantly updating/improving it. (His latest build is only 4 days old.)

also when I jailbroke my old iphone I had an option in my phone to switch carriers with the click of a button ( switch from t-mobile,to att,to centennial ect...ect...) is there anything like that available ? (would come in handy for when signal strength is weak and I have the option to switch to a carrier with a stronger signal strength.

Virgin Mobile does not allow roaming, so I highly doubt this will ever be a feature, unless Virgin makes some roaming deals with the other carriers.

I would just like some good (up to date) info on this subject so I know as much as possible before going any further.

I was worried about this too, but the stickied links are actually up to date. (They edit the op when things change).

That being said, this is probably the easiest method. Full disclosure I have only used it to flash a recovery. But reading the thread leads me to believe you can do everything you need to from that app. (Flashing the recovery roots it supposedly).

It takes more work to mod Android phones than the iPhone because you are dealing with tons of phones vs just one. But its worth it to thoroughly research it first, because you could brick your phone if your not careful.

Honestly it's pretty hard to actually brick it, but it is pretty easy to bork it. (bricking means that it is permanently dead and nothing you can do will fix it. Borking it means that something went wrong, but there are ways to fix almost anything that goes wrong. Just follow the directions to the letter and you should be fine.

 

[jdcnosse]

How to edit your PRL to use the Sprint towers (at least I used this one):

[HOWTO] Change PRL on Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V (5/06/2011) - xda-developers

Here's a reference thread filled with different mods, ROMs, etc for your info: http://forums.androidcentral.com/op...guide-optimus-v-modding-read-get-started.html

Also, it's not only because Virgin Mobile doesn't do roaming, but unlike AT&T and T-Mobile (who use GSM), Verizon and Sprint (Sprint, Nextel, Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile) use CDMA, which if I recall correctly tie the phone to their network, and it's pretty hard to change that (you have to modify the ESN etc etc and it's complicated lol)

The PRL mod is as close as you can get to that. Of course if you don't have any Sprint coverage near you, it won't help you. But if you do, it could help you because of how Sprint limits the towers used by Virgin Mobile.

 

[lance1955]

This is the version you need 1.20APK

[App] [26.04.2011][v1.2] GingerBreak APK (root for GingerBread) - xda-developers

Took me two tries. I rebooted phone and right then did the gingerbreak. Rooted in about 30 seconds.

 

[linzoill]

I recomend you permanently root and you flash Harmonia 1.7.
Great internal space....cpu can overclock at mid 700 and its stable. Plus I got Flash ...yes....Adobe flash working on my Optimus V. Super fast...snappy...and the BEST (in battery life!!). The battery life is easy over 3X longer. You wont go wrong and you will see how cheap they made our Optimus V stock. Harmonia quite the best....

Sent from my VM670 using Tapatalk

 

[androidalais]

Hey everyone,

New to the site.

First off let me say, I have a little bit of experience with jailbreaking iphones.....but beyond that I get confused because there are so many options for so many different things and I find more dead ends in searching than i do "sure facts" and I would just like some good (up to date) info on this subject so I know as much as possible before going any further.

I have an LG optimus V that I have had since about march of 2011.

I tried searching jailbreaking tips on the phone but from what i gather for android its considered rooting?.

anyhow, I have a few specific things I would like to improve/fix/change and I am hoping maybe there are some options out there that rooting can solve.

first being.... BATTERY LIFE.....my battery life is horrible, I have tried removing or closing apps,keeping wifi turned off,gps off and so on.

second being..... the phone tends to be very slow in processing things (certain games more so...like angry birds for example)

and third being..... I recently moved and don't get that great of service (but im within a good coverage zone) and I was hoping there was a way to boost signal coverage.

also when I jailbroke my old iphone I had an option in my phone to switch carriers with the click of a button ( switch from t-mobile,to att,to centennial ect...ect...) is there anything like that available ? (would come in handy for when signal strength is weak and I have the option to switch to a carrier with a stronger signal strength.

And also.....(don't get mad at me here LOL....just curious) but is there any way to put a iphone style theme on my phone to give it the iphone look and feel?

I basically am interested in all info on how/what to do to mod my phone, (step by step info is a plus)....and any info anyone has on what all exactly the benefits are from doing so,what modding possibilities there is/cool features become available....ect....ect...

sorry for being a "noob" about this and I am sorry if there are other posts like mine out there...but I have been searching and have had trouble finding all the info I am looking for so i figured I would make a post and get some consolidated information on all of this.

Thanks in advance everyone for the help!

If you want an iphone themed rom use joyfully optimus. it has most of the iphone theming with some exceptions. But whatever you do DON'T USE ROM MANAGER FOR ANYTHING!!! find the image of the recovery or rom you want to use and put it in a zip file (if its not already in one and rename the file with a .zip after the title) and flash it the good old fashion way. Every time i have used rom manager it has screwed me over.

 

[zedorda]

This thread is a year old why you resurrecting dead threads?

 

[androidalais]

Didnt realize it was a dead thread

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Android Central Forums

 

[A-android-B]

Ain't dead till she's archived lol, but seriously old threads have been getting people into trouble with wrong drivers and such

come to the dark side