Newb
New Droid user here, recently switched from iCrappyPhone, to the Droid 2 Global. I must say, even with the stock ROM I am impressed with the usability of this phone and I look forward to getting to know all the ins and outs of this phone, and I am already looking to add a new ROM. I'm not a computer illiterate person, therefore I picked up on this phone quickly and haven't had any problems. However, I do need some help in just getting the new ROM's installed, and some of the pro's and con's of the ROM's for my phone. I guess most of that is found in the forums, but some quick advice from you guys out there that have done the trial and error with the different ROM's I'd appreciate your input. Glad I found this site. As a start, what are the things people fix right away with their Droids?
Welcome to D2G World! We have been left out in the cold somewhat as far as ROM's that are useable on this phone. But here is what the majority seem to have done.
Rooting- gaining root access to files that Moto has locked you out of. Also allows installing another ROM. Use z4Root as it is pretty much a one click root app.
Freezing Bloatware- This is stopping some of the apps Moto has running automatically that suck the life out of your battery. Most folks start by installing a root app manager. They swear by Titanium Plus @ $5 or so, but I use AnTek App Mgr for free. There are lists on here that tell which apps you can live without unless you chose to use them every day. A good start is the sticky entitled My Battery Life Writeup in the D2G forum- look at the top. He tells you what he has frozen that doesn't affect the running of the phone.
CPU Manager- this is an app that controls the speed of the CPU to save battery life. If you will go to the aforementioned sticky, he also has some great profiles listed to use in SetCPU. Do these profiles and freeze the bloat, and your battery life should increase significantly.
You can stop at this (or any other point) if you like. This will make your phone speed up and last longer. But if you want to go with a ROM there are 2 choices.
First, install Koush's Bootstrap Recovery app. This opens the phone up and allows another ROM to be installed, plus it makes great backups of your phone at any point you choose to make one.
Fission 2.4.3 is the only full-functioning ROM available for the D2G. It installs fairly clean, speeds the phone up exponentially (seems like!), and has themes that you can use to make it have different looks.
There is one other option- you can install Liberty, and use Team Get R Done's ROMmer tool on top of it. Your sensors won't work, like tilt/landscape and such. Some folks don't mind that and love this setup. Go to Team GRD's section in D2G ROMs for all the info on that.
Another thing you can do, even if not rooted, is use a different home launcher. You can customize your dock, you number of screens, theme like crazy, and some other stuff. You might want to start there just to try it out before you root and rom.
All of these steps come with a learning curve. Not so easy the first time around without having seen it first. But this is a great community for help! Read the stickys, search the forums, and ask questions like you did here. Remember that lots of info is personal preference, and opinions vary quite often on here.
Good luck!
