Which route should I take (rooting)

[Ghostnotes]

Ever sicne t-mobile updated my s2 to ICS I have had nothing but problems. Battery life cut in half,memory usage has doubled, more bloatware....etc.
So now i have decided to root it. Problem is as with a lot of other people, there is an information overload when it comes to the subject.
So my questions are:

1. Is there a way to root it in which i can still keep ICS but am able to remove the bloatware
2. If not, what will i have to give up....WIFI,GPS,maps??


I really like the overall feel of ICS but the bloatware and all of the crap running in the background makes it just about useless.


Thanks.

 

[Sicily1918]

Welp, first off, I would strongly advice you to factory-reset the phone... many upgraders (myself included) reported no problems going to ICS, but the truth of the matter is that there's always some junk left behind after any upgrade -- sometimes it does nothing, sometimes it's really bad. Even when using Fedora, I wouldn't upgrade more than twice before wiping the system and starting fresh, and ICS is quite different than GB.

To answer your questions:
1. Yes
2. See #1

I would recommend a wipe, first, though:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/t-...031-how-do-factory-reset-ics.html#post1862187
And once you're back up with nothing but your email account and your WiFi (effectively a first-time power-up of the device), then:

If you wanna root the phone but keep T-Mo's software (I did), go here:
How to Root ICS/GB on T-Mobile Galaxy S2 SGH-T989! | Galaxy S2 Root

It's absolutely the simplest way to root the phone, and the instructions are top-notch.

Edit: If you want to get the full benefits of rooting, you'll want to pay for the SuperSU app key ($2.50 or so?) and def. pay for Titanium Backup ($6.39 or some odd price like that). Titanium will let you move whole apps over from ROM to user-space, which you can then delete (I dumped half the T-Mo, Samsung, and Google stuff (like Movies, Listen, and Books), as well as incorporate upgrades into the ROM space (e.g., Google Maps) instead of having the app reside half in ROM and half in App space.

 

[Ghostnotes]

Thanks for the info...exactly what i needed.

I backed up all of the apps i could to my sd card and the rest of my settings etc. on kies.

After i root it will the backup on kies work still...contacts,network settings. Also will the apps i saved to my sd card load or will i still have to re download them again?

 

[Ghostnotes]

Ok it's rooted i downloaded titanium and super user.

I see super user but i do not see titanium backup anywhere on my phone....does it run in the background ??


Edit:

Just for the heck of it i downloaded the free version AFTER i down loaded the paid version and it opened up with the pro.So i guess you have to d/l the free version first then upgrade to pro??

 

[Sicily1918]

Ok it's rooted i downloaded titanium and super user.

I see super user but i do not see titanium backup anywhere on my phone....does it run in the background ??


Edit:

Just for the heck of it i downloaded the free version AFTER i down loaded the paid version and it opened up with the pro.So i guess you have to d/l the free version first then upgrade to pro??

Yeah, forgot to mention that -- many of the root utils have an unlock 'app' but you need the free version first/also.

 

[beetyeyes101]

simple and great info. thank you for this thread.

 

[DrLouie]

If you wanna root the phone but keep T-Mo's software (I did), go here:
How to Root ICS/GB on T-Mobile Galaxy S2 SGH-T989! | Galaxy S2 Root

That is the exact page I followed as well. It was easy and I was happy to root and keep Tmo's software. I use MyBackup Pro instead of Titanium Backup to freeze and remove carrier software.

 

[Minnetonka4me]

Edit: If you want to get the full benefits of rooting, you'll want to pay for the SuperSU app key ($2.50 or so?) and def. pay for Titanium Backup ($6.39 or some odd price like that). Titanium will let you move whole apps over from ROM to user-space, which you can then delete (I dumped half the T-Mo, Samsung, and Google stuff (like Movies, Listen, and Books), as well as incorporate upgrades into the ROM space (e.g., Google Maps) instead of having the app reside half in ROM and half in App space.

I appreciate all the info above and everything went smooth.

Now...I think I understand, but wanted to confirm how to do what you are describing. The main function of me rooting was to wipe out all the bloatware. At this point all I did was freeze the T-mo crap.

What is the most effective way to use the backup? I was thinking I would use a empty SD card and backup everything, then deleting all the preloaded crap I never use.

I am using 4.0.4 ICS official...might goto something unofficial now that I have rooted. Pretty obvious I am pretty green in this area...and I really dont have hours of freetime to figure out issues all the time. Opposed to what others have said I have had hardly any lag issues I just wanted to make my phone as streamline as possible and try to kill alot of the resource draining crap. I could def use a few more hours of battery life...it would be nice to make it all day and only have to plug it in at night.

 

[pinatiger]

Yeah titanium is a life saver. I paid for it to support dev. Also supersu.

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