Hello all. I'm new and need some help.

[Canadroid]

Rooting is not something you have to do to customize your phone, and in fact stock Android is all about doing just that. Rooting is often more about what goes on behind the shiny.

This is good advice. My wife's non-rooted D2 looks far more customized than my own rooted device.

Forget whatever the VZW reps tell you as far as rooting! There seems to be a lot of confusion over it; at the top of the pyramid they see it as voiding your warranty, etc.

It's not bad. BUT. There is basically some speculation now that big carriers are going to start painting it as such, more aggressively. Tethering may or may not be the primary driver behind it...

So I would wait on a one-clicker root and go read up on the pros and cons of rooting. There are many free or cheap apps for you to experiment with--check some more out!

[vkw619]

Rooting is not something you have to do to customize your phone, and in fact stock Android is all about doing just that. Rooting is often more about what goes on behind the shiny.

This is good advice. My wife's non-rooted D2 looks far more customized than my own rooted device.

Forget whatever the VZW reps tell you as far as rooting! There seems to be a lot of confusion over it; at the top of the pyramid they see it as voiding your warranty, etc.

It's not bad. BUT. There is basically some speculation now that big carriers are going to start painting it as such, more aggressively. Tethering may or may not be the primary driver behind it...

So I would wait on a one-clicker root and go read up on the pros and cons of rooting. There are many free or cheap apps for you to experiment with--check some more out!

Is customization something that I would need a bunch of apps for? Or should just a new launcher and some themes be enough in order to get something high quality yet still run smoothly? I am afraid if I go through and get all of this stuff I will lose performance?

In Ex Launcher is it possible for the app drawer to scroll up and down and not side to side? Just another little question.

[Canadroid]

Is customization something that I would need a bunch of apps for? Or should just a new launcher and some themes be enough in order to get something high quality yet still run smoothly? I am afraid if I go through and get all of this stuff I will lose performance?

In Ex Launcher is it possible for the app drawer to scroll up and down and not side to side? Just another little question.

IIRC she does not use any custom launcher apps; I do heckle her about always having too many apps in the drawer, but for all that I don't notice much of a performance lag compared to my D2. The only thing she has had issues with is texting replacement/addon stuff like ChompSMS...

[vkw619]

Is customization something that I would need a bunch of apps for? Or should just a new launcher and some themes be enough in order to get something high quality yet still run smoothly? I am afraid if I go through and get all of this stuff I will lose performance?

In Ex Launcher is it possible for the app drawer to scroll up and down and not side to side? Just another little question.

IIRC she does not use any custom launcher apps; I do heckle her about always having too many apps in the drawer, but for all that I don't notice much of a performance lag compared to my D2. The only thing she has had issues with is texting replacement/addon stuff like ChompSMS...

I personally use the stock SMS app and I text constantly (I'm a teenager what else am I going to do to communicate? xD) and I know Ex Launcher has a texting app. Is it normally recommended to stick with the stock app for things like that? This is just an opinion question. Because it seems that in order to switch apps itd be pretty complicated Dx

[Canadroid]

I personally use the stock SMS app and I text constantly (I'm a teenager what else am I going to do to communicate? xD) and I know Ex Launcher has a texting app. Is it normally recommended to stick with the stock app for things like that? This is just an opinion question. Because it seems that in order to switch apps itd be pretty complicated Dx

Personally, I'm a bit of a minimalist and shy away from replacing my stock SMS or anything similar unless it's REALLY cumbersome in the OEM form.

Not used Ex Launcher myself so can't offer any advice on it.

[vkw619]

I personally use the stock SMS app and I text constantly (I'm a teenager what else am I going to do to communicate? xD) and I know Ex Launcher has a texting app. Is it normally recommended to stick with the stock app for things like that? This is just an opinion question. Because it seems that in order to switch apps itd be pretty complicated Dx

Personally, I'm a bit of a minimalist and shy away from replacing my stock SMS or anything similar unless it's REALLY cumbersome in the OEM form.

Not used Ex Launcher myself so can't offer any advice on it.

Do you use Launcher Pro?

I find it very hard to customize. That and it lacks widgets and you have to purchase to get more. And from what I can tell (besides themes) Ex is completely free.