Droid X gurus - what are the "must do/have" things?

[Rumblur]

ok, I got the X. I'd like to root it, because I want to enable the wifi hotspot without Verizon being involved. I also prefer having control over my stuff, and pretty much hate Verizon's crippling and/or forcing crapware down my (our) throats).

Soooo... being this was used phone, do I need to do a factory reset? Will that mess up the activation? There were a lot of apps (some free, some purchased) on the phone when I got it, when I activated it, the OTA programming wiped everything out - all the apps, gone! WTF?

What needs to go, and be replaced by 3rd party stuff?

On my old WinMo (Omnia) phone, I loaded Spb Shell and a 3rd party GUI that was a copy of Sense UI. I gotta say, I like the clock and weather of the Sense. Is there any way to get that on the X?

Any / all info, tips or particulars for maxing out the X are appreciated.

 

[brad92]

First off, you need to root. What version of Android are you on?

I definitely recommend rooting and installing a custom ROM. Motorola Gingerbread is 2.3.3, CM7 is 2.3.4 and will be 2.3.5 tomorrow.

SSX v2.0

 

[Rumblur]

system version says 2.3.340.MB810.Verizon.en.US
Android version is 2.2.1

which ROM do you recommend and why?

 

[brad92]

system version says 2.3.340.MB810.Verizon.en.US
Android version is 2.2.1

which ROM do you recommend and why?

Awesome! Do not take the OTA update. You will have to sbf right back to where you are now.

What are you trying to get out of your device? I would go to a Gingerbread ROM if you want better battery life and most stable. Or if you want the baddest thing out there, go with CM7 or CM7 based ROMs. The battery life isn't the best, but they are really fast and highly customizable.

My favorite Gingerbread ROM is Apex. It is the most stable ROM I have used. It is also very fast with great battery life. Only issue is Bluetooth volume, it can't be changed during a call or it disconnects

My favorite CM7 based ROM would have to be Simply Stunning. I am about to go back to CM7 though tomorrow so I can have 2.3.5.

Here is the program to root:

http://www.mediafire.com/?83ybo2c1c2a33ad

SSX v2.0

 

[Rumblur]

The version numbers I gave you is what it has as of right now. I didnt have a choice in the matter as far as the OTA update. How do I disable or refuse future OTA's? and what's a SBF?

OK, I will download and run the z4root. What's next? Im not interested in supreme battery life, if I can get a day out of it I'm happy. I'd rather have fast, powerful, etc. Sounds like the CM7 may be the way to go.

 

[brad92]

The version numbers I gave you is what it has as of right now. I didnt have a choice in the matter as far as the OTA update. How do I disable or refuse future OTA's? and what's a SBF?

OK, I will download and run the z4root. What's next? Im not interested in supreme battery life, if I can get a day out of it I'm happy. I'd rather have fast, powerful, etc. Sounds like the CM7 may be the way to go.

If you get on a custom ROM like CM7, you don't have to worry about the update. If you stay on the stock one, you can get an app freezer and freeze the blurupdater.apk app.

You will need to use Z4 to root and then install this:
Droid 2 Bootstrap to install the files needed
http://www.mediafire.com/?36we9h8bslejtwk

Here is the link for the latest CM7 files:
Download and place on your SD Card.
http://download.cyanogenmod.com/?device=cdma_shadow

Here is the Gapps for CM7 so you can use the market:

http://goo-inside.me/gapps/

Here is the camera/camcorder/torch fix:

http://rootzwiki.com/showthread.php?1347-All-In-One-Fix-Zip-for-CM4DX

Steps:

Root Using Z4.
Download and install Droid 2 Bootstrap
Download the latest CM7 Nightly
Download the Gapps
Download the all in one fix
Make sure all these are on your SD Card

Use bootstrap by pressing bootstrap recovery, then reboot recovery.

Use the volume buttons to hightlight options and the camera button to press ok.

Wipe data, cache and go to advanced and wipe dalvik cache.

Then go to install zip from SD Card. Then go to choose zip from SD card. Find the CM7 ROM file and install it. Then find the Gapps and the all in one fix. After those are installed, go to the main menu and select reboot.

Your phone is now running CM7!

SSX v2.0

 

[Rumblur]

Thanks for all that!

I downloaded this CM7 - cm_shadow_full-42.zip
I downloaded this Gapps - gapps-gb-20110114-signed.zip

Were those right? I chose the newest upload dates. Wasnt sure which to get, there were a bunch to choose from.

I hate to ask an even dumber question that those I've already asked, but what do I click on to wipe the data, cache? and where is the dalvik cache? All I found was a factory reset button. I have nothing on this phone yet, so I can wipe the SD card too.

 

[brad92]

Download this Gapps file:
http://goo-inside.me/gapps/gapps-gb-20110613-signed.zip

Make sure you get the camera fix downloaded also. Put everything on your SD Card.

With the Droid 2 bootstrap, use the volume keys to highlight data wipe/factory data reset and press the camera button to say ok. Do the same thing for wipe cache.

Dalvik Cache is under advanced, which is the last option on the main screen. Select advanced and then choose wipe dalvik cache.

After that, install the files. Make sure you install the CM7 ROM first, then the Gapps and camera fix.

CM74DX

 

[Rumblur]

I semi-goofed, I extracted all the zips, so now I'm re DL'ing them. When it says delete all user data - is that going to wipe out my phone number and I'll have to reprogram it, or is it just crap like text messages etc?

 

[brad92]

I semi-goofed, I extracted all the zips, so now I'm re DL'ing them. When it says delete all user data - is that going to wipe out my phone number and I'll have to reprogram it, or is it just crap like text messages etc?

Its all your non system apps and texts and stuff. Your phone number and everything important will be there, including what is saved on your SD card.

Download Titanium Backup from the market and backup the apps you want to. Or you can redownload them from the market.

CM74DX

 

[Rumblur]

Thanks to you, I have CM7 loaded and working fine! Many thanks! Soooo.... now that I've tried this ROM, any others to check out? Would the steps be the same?

 

[jfriend33]

How the heck r u gonna handle enabling the wifi hotspot with your low amount of data?! Brave brave man!

Anyway I am astonished you went from omnia to cm7 that is pretty awesome! I too recently took the cyanogenmod plunge last month!

I like using rom manager to switch between roms...

I still am new to the rom stuff. I laughed when I had to sbf back to an older firmware (I did the leaked GB back the end of march then the new one with root) to get something faster. I now have some understanding that its built differently.

Haha must be like losing 98 pounds of fat and gaining 40 of muscle going from that omnia to a cm7 droid x!

Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums

 

[brad92]

Thanks to you, I have CM7 loaded and working fine! Many thanks! Soooo.... now that I've tried this ROM, any others to check out? Would the steps be the same?

You can try SSX and Liquid. They are based off CM7 with tweaks.

GB leak based ROMs are slower and annoying to me. I flashed back today and immediately came back to CM7.

CM74DX

 

[Rumblur]

The wifi hack thing - I need it for work, most of my business is PC repair and when I'm onsite I sometimes need a hotspot to test with. I dont plan on moving a lot of data. PagePlus is coming out with a large data program soon anyway. So, if you have any input on the wifi hack, I'm all ears!

The CM7 is well done, havent had a crash yet and it has LOTS of controls and usability. Where can I see screen caps or feature comparisons between the ROMS?

Here's something that's going to shock you guys though - I think the Omnia / WinMo as I had it set up, was a better package than the Droid. The Droid offers more horsepower and graphics capability, but the WinMo apps are a ton better than the Droid offerings.... most notably, the photo editor (I was using Resco Photo Manager) and media player (I was using Core Player). The editor and players I've found for droid so far, are weak on tools and features.

I will start a seperate thread on "what the droid needs to not suck so much" or something.

 

[jfriend33]

Wifi tether is here:

code.google.com/p/android-wifi-tether/downloads/list

Choose the top one, beta 2. After installing accept root permissions, go to settings, change device profile to droid x cdma, and enable wifi encryption. Then hit back, and press the huge button to start and have your computer scan for networks.

For comparisons of roms, I like youtube sometimes, or here in the forums under roms then a specific one you might see a screen cap.

Photo editing:

I prefer photofunia (neat photoshop effects), or picsay or picplz. Some of those even have dropbox support.

What types of editing were you wanting specifically?

The camera on cm7 is not as great as the stock one. In my opinion pictures end up less clear and sometimes have a blue tint. I will research to see if the original camera can be installed. The gallery in cm7 I believe is from samsung but its much better than motorolas.

Media player:

Pretty controversial issue with android. Lots of people aren't satisfied with stock media players period and constantly degrade the device when comparing to an iphone. Not sure what exactly you like in a media player. If you want your music sync'ed between your computer and phone and don't want to pay, I highly reccomed winamp. Pretty basic player but the sync works flawlessly but only over wifi (laptop must be on same network).

If you want your music synced away from your computer, most will tell you to use double twist and pay 5 bucks for the air sync app (let's you sync over wifi and 3g). I tried double twist and was not that impressed. I actually like the amazon mp3 player. Your music is stored in the cloud which can be downloaded to your device or just played over the air. 5 gigs free storage, but when I bought an album for 99 cents I was given 15 free addtl gigs.

As far as a well rounded media player, I always liked the Motorola Connected Music player. Decent widget for homescreen and has youtube, shoutcast streaming radio, and lyrics built in.

You can find the link to download here : forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1163752

I will start a seperate thread on "what the droid needs to not suck so much" or something.

Aww come on man don't be mean! You're coming from a pretty old device and just gotta stay calm and get adjusted! Some things you mention I can appreciate, as my first smartphone was a motorola q9c running winmo 6.1. This is a big change and its going to take some time...

Go download NESoid or NSESoid and some roms and play mario kart on your phone! (Or n64oid which I hear isn't too shabby!)


Sent from my DROID2 using DroidForums