I came from a palm pre where all you had to know was the Konami code and Preware and you are good to go. Coming to Android I hoped it would be similarly easy, especially after choosing a Nexus device. This was not the case. It might be because things move slower on the Palm platform and I was around from the very beginning, but I found my initial leap into Android hacking very difficult. After google-ing a lot of terms, watching some youtube videos, and a lot of small steps, I am finally running CyanogenMod7 and loving it.
First, I want to do a quick overview of a few of the things CM7 allows that arent available in stock Android. There are A LOT of options. I want to stress that the things I point out are not everything that is available. There is just too much to list.
*More options on lock screen, like different swipe control, gestures that will take you to a specific app, battery level always on (instead of only when charging), much more
*Power widget in the notification pane. Also, you can add more things to the power widget like a pause/play button for any music or audio app, wifi hotspot, plus all that stock offers. There are about 15 options. NOTE:4G widget is there, but doesnt work right now.
*more options in top info bar. I changed the battery icon to a percent, Now an icon appears when a headphone is plugged in, many more options
*Can change all of the apps in the bottom of the homepage. (where phone, app launcher, browser are now. Can also make more, up to 8 I believe...I have 5.
*Can change homescreen animation. I have cube. It moves like it is a cube being turned.
I dont like the fact that I cant have the stock app drawer animation. I love the stock animation and I want it back. But its not a deal breaker. There are too many options to sit here and list every one. It is very nice and fun to play around with.
Ok, the meat and potatoes. My tutorial advises you to purchase 2 apps. ROM Manager and Titanium Backup.
Rooting
Rooting makes it so you can access files that are not available to you under the stock settings. I read a good analogy so I will repeat it. It is like being a guest vs administrator on a computer. As a guest (unrooted), you can use the basic items on the computer, but not everything. The administrator (rooted) on the other hand, can access all of the files. Being rooted allows you to access all of the files on your phone. Be careful though. Being able to access and change these files means you ar less protected from damaging things if you dont pay attention to what you are doing.
The method I used to root is ShabbyPenguin's One-click root method.ShabyPenguin's One-click root method..
It is very easy. Follow that link and watch the video on the first post if you have any questions.
Nandroid/backups
Now that you are rooted, you want to back up all of your info before you begin tweaking. A nandroid backup reminds me of a webOS doctor. It's like making your own personal webOS doctor. If you dont know what that is, basically is is an image of your current phone OS. If you mess something up while flashing a new ROM or anything else, you can use the Nandroid backup to get you right back to where you were at when you made the nandroid.
1. ClockworkMod Recovery is already installed on your device via Shabbypenguin's one-click root method, but it makes things easier if you download ROM Manager from the Market and use that going forward. Open ROM Manager. Tap "flash ClockworkMod Recovery" at the very top. Even though you have ClockworkMod installed already, ROM Manager won't recognize it, so it forces you to install CWM Recovery via the app.
Let that go through and install. Now reboot the phone (turn off, then back on).
Now just open ROM Manager and go down to the section labeled "Backup and Restore" and tap on "Backup current ROM." Congratulations! You now have a Nandroid backup of your stock, rooted ROM. It will take a few minutes to back up everything. Before going any further, plug your phone into your PC, enable USB drive, and copy that file over to your hard drive on your PC. It will be on the SD card, in the "clockworkmod\backup" folder. It should be labeled with the date you made it.
I highly engourage you to watch this video on ROM Manager. That is what I did and it made me feel very good about it.
2. Now for your precious apps. Titanium Backup. If you have been reading anything about rooting, you will see this app mentioned. For previous webOS users, this app is like Save/Restore. It will backup all of your apps and data, then it can restore them after you flash a new ROM. It brings your apps exactly to where they were before flashed. Open Titanium Backup (paid version). On the first page, tap your menu button. This brings up a 6 grid at the bottom. Tap "Batch." The batch you want to run is called "Backup all user apps." Click on the word Run next to that choice. It will now run through all of your apps backing them up one by one. You can also back up system data at the same time, but if you ever flash a new ROM and restore system data you can mess up your ROM. Stick with backup/restore user apps.
Now, after a ROM flash or any device wipe, you can Open Titanium Backup, tap menu, tap batch, then tap "Restore all apps with data." this will restore all of your apps, plus the data that was stored in the app. Any games will start from the exact spot. Podcast players will have all of your podcast back...ETC.
Here is a helpful video tutorial on this same info
Flashing a ROM
Flashing a ROM is actually incredibly easy using ROM Manager. A ROM is like a zip file of everything else you want to flash. It holds the kernel, the OS, the radio. Everything you need to be up and running after flashing. If you haven't already, watch this video for a quick tutorial on flashing ROMs. It is a concise, but incredibly helpful walkthrough.
Flashing other stuff
Once you have flashed a ROM, you will no doubt start hearing about Netarchy kernels and different radios. You can now flash these kernels over any ROM you are running. How nice is that, right? You just download the file onto your SD card. Open ROM Manager, and use "Install ROM from SD Card." But instead of choosing a ROM, you choose the kernel you just downloaded. Look around ROM Manager, there are alot of extra things you can flash.
Just for clarification. As long as you are rooted, you can flash pretty much anything. You can flash a Kernel on any ROM. This will install the Kernel on whatever ROM you had running. But flashing a new ROM will flash everything...OS, Kernel, radio.
Please give me feedback on anything that is confusing or unclear. Good Luck.
First, I want to do a quick overview of a few of the things CM7 allows that arent available in stock Android. There are A LOT of options. I want to stress that the things I point out are not everything that is available. There is just too much to list.
*More options on lock screen, like different swipe control, gestures that will take you to a specific app, battery level always on (instead of only when charging), much more
*Power widget in the notification pane. Also, you can add more things to the power widget like a pause/play button for any music or audio app, wifi hotspot, plus all that stock offers. There are about 15 options. NOTE:4G widget is there, but doesnt work right now.
*more options in top info bar. I changed the battery icon to a percent, Now an icon appears when a headphone is plugged in, many more options
*Can change all of the apps in the bottom of the homepage. (where phone, app launcher, browser are now. Can also make more, up to 8 I believe...I have 5.
*Can change homescreen animation. I have cube. It moves like it is a cube being turned.
I dont like the fact that I cant have the stock app drawer animation. I love the stock animation and I want it back. But its not a deal breaker. There are too many options to sit here and list every one. It is very nice and fun to play around with.
Ok, the meat and potatoes. My tutorial advises you to purchase 2 apps. ROM Manager and Titanium Backup.
Rooting
Rooting makes it so you can access files that are not available to you under the stock settings. I read a good analogy so I will repeat it. It is like being a guest vs administrator on a computer. As a guest (unrooted), you can use the basic items on the computer, but not everything. The administrator (rooted) on the other hand, can access all of the files. Being rooted allows you to access all of the files on your phone. Be careful though. Being able to access and change these files means you ar less protected from damaging things if you dont pay attention to what you are doing.
The method I used to root is ShabbyPenguin's One-click root method.ShabyPenguin's One-click root method..
It is very easy. Follow that link and watch the video on the first post if you have any questions.
Nandroid/backups
Now that you are rooted, you want to back up all of your info before you begin tweaking. A nandroid backup reminds me of a webOS doctor. It's like making your own personal webOS doctor. If you dont know what that is, basically is is an image of your current phone OS. If you mess something up while flashing a new ROM or anything else, you can use the Nandroid backup to get you right back to where you were at when you made the nandroid.
1. ClockworkMod Recovery is already installed on your device via Shabbypenguin's one-click root method, but it makes things easier if you download ROM Manager from the Market and use that going forward. Open ROM Manager. Tap "flash ClockworkMod Recovery" at the very top. Even though you have ClockworkMod installed already, ROM Manager won't recognize it, so it forces you to install CWM Recovery via the app.
Let that go through and install. Now reboot the phone (turn off, then back on).
Now just open ROM Manager and go down to the section labeled "Backup and Restore" and tap on "Backup current ROM." Congratulations! You now have a Nandroid backup of your stock, rooted ROM. It will take a few minutes to back up everything. Before going any further, plug your phone into your PC, enable USB drive, and copy that file over to your hard drive on your PC. It will be on the SD card, in the "clockworkmod\backup" folder. It should be labeled with the date you made it.
I highly engourage you to watch this video on ROM Manager. That is what I did and it made me feel very good about it.
2. Now for your precious apps. Titanium Backup. If you have been reading anything about rooting, you will see this app mentioned. For previous webOS users, this app is like Save/Restore. It will backup all of your apps and data, then it can restore them after you flash a new ROM. It brings your apps exactly to where they were before flashed. Open Titanium Backup (paid version). On the first page, tap your menu button. This brings up a 6 grid at the bottom. Tap "Batch." The batch you want to run is called "Backup all user apps." Click on the word Run next to that choice. It will now run through all of your apps backing them up one by one. You can also back up system data at the same time, but if you ever flash a new ROM and restore system data you can mess up your ROM. Stick with backup/restore user apps.
Now, after a ROM flash or any device wipe, you can Open Titanium Backup, tap menu, tap batch, then tap "Restore all apps with data." this will restore all of your apps, plus the data that was stored in the app. Any games will start from the exact spot. Podcast players will have all of your podcast back...ETC.
Here is a helpful video tutorial on this same info
Flashing a ROM
Flashing a ROM is actually incredibly easy using ROM Manager. A ROM is like a zip file of everything else you want to flash. It holds the kernel, the OS, the radio. Everything you need to be up and running after flashing. If you haven't already, watch this video for a quick tutorial on flashing ROMs. It is a concise, but incredibly helpful walkthrough.
Flashing other stuff
Once you have flashed a ROM, you will no doubt start hearing about Netarchy kernels and different radios. You can now flash these kernels over any ROM you are running. How nice is that, right? You just download the file onto your SD card. Open ROM Manager, and use "Install ROM from SD Card." But instead of choosing a ROM, you choose the kernel you just downloaded. Look around ROM Manager, there are alot of extra things you can flash.
Just for clarification. As long as you are rooted, you can flash pretty much anything. You can flash a Kernel on any ROM. This will install the Kernel on whatever ROM you had running. But flashing a new ROM will flash everything...OS, Kernel, radio.
Please give me feedback on anything that is confusing or unclear. Good Luck.
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