How to get started with th droid 2 global?

[monks700]

Hi everyone,
Today I will be receiving a D2G and am very excited about it. I know that i want to root it (z4root correct?) and I'll be putting Wi-Fi tethering on it as well as removing the bloatware. My question to you all is what do you recommend i do on top of that to get the most out of my phone and how? Should I flash it etc. Also I will use this thread to chronicle my experiences with it so anyone looking to get one or just getting started with one will have a good reference. Also a bit of background, I am quite competent with computers and the terminal (I spend all of my non browsing time using it), I mainly run Linux, and i know java, C(and variants) and Ruby.

Thanks Guys

 

[spaz33g]

Welcome to the forums. My advice to you would be, make sure that when you remove the bloatware that you have a method of reinstalling it. The two best methods would be either changing its extension from apk to bak using root explorer or freezing them with titanium backup. Hey effectively do the sane thing and give you a method of restoring them when its time for an update, and this is crucial because lack of bloatware will cause future firmware updates to fail. In addition to addressing the bloatware issue I would also suggest flashing a new rom. Currently only fission is available for the global but I know some people are working on porting more roms, and this should help you get some better performance out of the phone. And yes z4root will work to root you.

tappin and a talkin

 

[mrmattch3w]

I highly reccomend installing fission. As you will discover, the battery life on the d2g is more or less terrible. I found little to no improvements after doing all the prescribed methods to increase battery life rooted and unrooted.

I can say after having fission for a week I no longer worry about my battery dying on me throughout the day. I was only getting 4-6 hours tops when I was running the stick rom

Fission rom by angdroid and his team turned my phone into a beast

Sent From D2G W/ Fission

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

Welcome to the forum!! Hope you enjoy your stay.

Battery Life

Here's my tips:

1. (Doesn’t apply to all phones) Go to settings/wireless & networks/mobile networks/Enable always-on data. Uncheck always on data. Your phone will still receive email, text, & phone calls as before as well as internet usage but your battery will last a lot longer.

2. Emails: I don't know what email app you use, but try this. It saves battery power and in some cases emails arrive quicker. This scheme will have you using only the Gmail app on the phone for all email accounts whether they are pop3 accounts or Gmail. Go to the Google Gmail inbox on your computer and log into the Gmail account. On the top right of the screen is an option called Settings. In there is an option to have the Gmail program poll your regular, non-Gmail accounts (From the inbox; Settings/Accounts & Import/ Check mail using POP3). Provide the email address and the password. The Google Gmail program will then poll your other accounts on a frequency from 1-5 minutes and push the email immediately to your phone. The polling frequency is determined by each account's activity - more emails = faster polling. This saves battery power because on the android OS pop3 accounts are polled at a frequency of 1-30 minutes and that really eats battery. Because the phone goes and checks those accounts for mail whether there is mail there or not.

3. If you are using Live Wall Papers, stop!

4. Use wifi any time it is available. It uses a lot less power than 3G and it is much faster.

5. If there are widgets that automatically update (facebook, weather, etc.) change their update frequency in their settings menu. Set them to 30mins or 1 hour.

6. Oh, almost forgot, get the extended battery from Verizon.

7. Turn off the GPS unless you are actually using it. There are some background apps that can burn a lot of power via a live gps.

8. The Power Control Widget is a good tool for easily turning on and off some of these features (gps, wifi, screen brightness, etc.).

9. From the home screen do the following: menu/settings/About Phone/Battery Use. This graph will show the 10 biggest power users on the phone. It should always be Screen as the top user and the android os, android system, phone standby and phone idle should be the other top users. If there is an app listed you should determine if it’s an app you actually use a lot or do you have a rogue app that needs to be uninstalled.

10. Get Screebl. It will turn your phone off anytime you are not actively using it.

11. If you have either a task killer or an anti-virus app installed, you should uninstall.

12. Go to data>system>and delete batterystats.bin after you've charged your phone to 100%. This will help with battery meter accuracy.

13. D2G - go in to settings, wireless and networks, mobile network and change the network type from global to CDMA only. The d2g is locked out from using the local GSM networks in the US. You don't need global radio turned on in the US just overseas. Go into Settings > Wireless & Networks > Mobile Networks > Network Mode > and turn off the default setting of Global and turn on CDMA. This assumes you are in the US.

 

[monks700]

Prep Work

First of thank you guys for the tips, I'll be trying them out soon.
My phone isn't here yet (called FedEx they said the snow is making them run a little slower but my device will be here before the end of the day). To bide the time I have been downloading things that I expect I will need and researching how to move ahead.

First off I downloaded z4root located in this tutorial.
Next I downloaded koush's recovery bootstrap from the bottom of this page.
Thirdly I read this forum post, these instruction, and downloaded Fission Rom Manager from the bottom(ish) of the second link in this step.
Next I downloaded the sbf and RSDlite from this thread.

Hope someone finds this helpful and if anyone wants to point me to a download I'm missing I would be appreciative.

P.S If anyone would like my d2g download folder PM me and I'll see what the best way to get it to you is

 

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

Check out appbrain.com. It's a website/app that lets you browse the android market from your computer. If you set up an account, then you can find apps you like online, and push them to your phone for one click sync. It's quite handy. That way you can be looking for apps before your phone gets here. I use Quick Settings, SetCPU, google skymap, ulysse gizmos, ringdroid, shootme, bubble, titanium backup, wifi file explorer pro, phonalyzr, app2sd, TeslaLED, and battery indicator pro. And then there's games, and useless stuff.... Welcome to your new addiction haha.

 

[tony_g]

@BayouFlyFisher,

I wholeheartedly agree with almost all your recommendations, but I wonder why #12 is on your list--does removing it actually improve battery life? How does it affect the battery meter accuracy?

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

@BayouFlyFisher,

I wholeheartedly agree with almost all your recommendations, but I wonder why #12 is on your list--does removing it actually improve battery life? How does it affect the battery meter accuracy?

I think it just improves accuracy of the battery meter. You charge up to 100% and then delete the file and that forces it to use the current reading as 100%.

 

[tony_g]

I see. Maybe a better way to deactivate it is to rename it by adding a suffix, like .bak, in case it is needed later...

 

[BayouFlyFisher]

I see. Maybe a better way to deactivate it is to rename it by adding a suffix, like .bak, in case it is needed later...

Not really necessary as it's basically just a log file. The system will create a new one.

 

[NiceGuysFinishLast]

I see. Maybe a better way to deactivate it is to rename it by adding a suffix, like .bak, in case it is needed later...

Not really necessary as it's basically just a log file. The system will create a new one.

Yeah, it's like clearing the cache for the gallery app. The system just writes a new one when it needs it.

 

[TJConnery]

Fission and FRM

I have been looking for a thread like this! I just went through the nearly identical exercise with my D2G this weekend (only difference is that I used Droid 2 Bootstrap). I have also installed Laucher Pro Plus and for now will use that as my launcher.

I assume that you used FRM to install Fission. I learned the hard way that there are actually backup and restore functions for LPP (and Circle Launcher) that eliminate the chore of rebuilding your screens/widgets each time you backup/flash an add on or patch from FRM.

If you use FRM, how do you know, other than by trial and error, which bits of Fission that you want to install? Their website is not very well documented abd the descriptions on the app are brief.

I am mostly trying to get the add-on that has the D2G Media Gallery with the advanced photo editing features as on the stock D2G. I have installed a couple media add-ons, but I can't seem to find the right one. I now have the 3D Gallery (cool iris style) like the D1, which has mysteriously disappeared from the Market.

Feel free to PM

 

[monks700]

Update

Heres the latest:
I got the phone in the mail and screamed like a little girl out of excitement (this step is required).
I didn't know the billing password at first so I touched all four corners clockwise starting with the top left to bypass setup (and I figured I wouldn't be using stock much longer so I thought it was fine).
When I got the billing password I called *228 and followed the directions.
Installed z4root and rooted
Used kouch's bootstrap to run custom recovery and then made a nandroid backup.
Copied over Fission ROM manager
Connected to Wi-Fi
Downloaded Fission using the ROM manager
Installed Fission with wipe data and cache
Set Up google account once Fission booted
Exploring Fission

Any questions on a specific step are welcome

 

[bombadil]

Heres the latest:
I got the phone in the mail and screamed like a little girl out of excitement (this step is required).
I didn't know the billing password at first so I touched all four corners clockwise starting with the top left to bypass setup (and I figured I wouldn't be using stock much longer so I thought it was fine).
When I got the billing password I called *228 and followed the directions.
Installed z4root and rooted
Used kouch's bootstrap to run custom recovery and then made a nandroid backup.
Copied over Fission ROM manager
Connected to Wi-Fi
Downloaded Fission using the ROM manager
Installed Fission with wipe data and cache
Set Up google account once Fission booted
Exploring Fission

Any questions on a specific step are welcome

Thanks for this thread! I just got mine today too, and am doing the same thing as you. I'm still waiting for the fission install to complete. How long did it take? It's been about 5 minutes and its still at the "ClockworkMod Recovery v2.5.0.8" screen. "reboot_system_now" is highlighted. I think its hung up, but thought I'd ask here before I go fooling around with it.

Thanks!

 

[bombadil]

crap, I just watched this video DarkOnion's House of Pain Blog Archive Tutorial: Installing Fission via FRM and after the reboot it just hangs at this screen, it didn't do what the phone in the video did. uh oh.