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Root How do I make this phone awesome?

Spaghadeity

Spaghadeity

Newbie
So, bit of backstory.

Last time I had a phone was over two years ago and it was an LG Cosmos II. This is the first smartphone I've owned period, and while alot of stuff was common sense, and rooting it was easy thanks to bg4m3r's guide and the work of a lot of other people, I'm generally ignorant about most of Android. I just found out today that due to the way android manages ram, task killers are snake oil.

So what I wanna ask you guys is how to make this phone awesome. What can I tweak, what can I install, what can I do to get all I can get out of this phone.

I've got a bunch of free time over the next few days, during which I'll be messing with this phone a lot.

First step is to decide between CM12 and z5 stock, so if anyone has an opinion on that I'd love to hear it. After that I need to fix my service, and then I can get to modding.

So bring to me your tips, tricks, and tweaks. I'd like to learn from those who went before me.
 
I'm using stock zv5 for 3 reasons. CM12 isn't available yet, CM11 still has some things broken that I need, since we don't have any custom kernels or anything yet, there isn't much you can do with CM that you can't do on stock. CM just has the stuff built in already. That's just my reasoning, do as you wish. :)

Apps I use:
Quallcomm Battery Guru - not that we need better battery life, but this also helps mange background data usage.
AirDroid - not a root app, but awesome if you need to manage files between your phone and computer
SDfix, if you haven't already - changes the permissions to let third party apps write to the SD card.
Xposed Framework - modding framework for UI and other tweaks
GravityBox - Xposed module, UI tweaks (dl in Xposed app)
G3 Tweaksbox - Xposed module, UI tweaks (dl from Play Store)
Downloads2SD - Xposed module, redirects stock save locations to wherever you want (dl in Xposed app)
link2sd - app manager, lets you completely move apps off the phone to a secondary partition on your SD card, great for uninstalling system apps, and converting apps between system and user apps.
FasterGPS - fixed some GPS issues I was having, improved performance too
dodol launcher - just the launcher I am currently using. Holo Launcher HD is good too.

The reason I have 2 similar UI tweak modules is that they seem to be coded slightly differently. Some things work in one but not the other, or one has different versions of a given tweak. There's also G2 Tweaksbox which does things that the other 2 don't seem to work for.
 
What do the two UI tweaks do?

And what exactly is a launcher, I'm not entirely clear on that.

AirDroid sounds like it's similar to dropbox, what's the advantage?

Also, what app should I use to backup all my appdata+apps since I have root? I know there's another thread about it but that's for a guy without root so I figure I can do something more powerful. I figure Titanium Backup is the best idea but I'm having trouble figuring out how to use it.

Thanks a lot for your help, bg4m3r.
 
Here's the description for GravityBox...there's a lot of stuff.
All three do the same stuff, just differently.

Launcher...you're probably calling it the homescreen

Dropbox is cloud storage. AirDroid is direct phone to computer connection access via WiFi. It also allows you to reply to texts and answer the phone through the computer. You can take sreenshots, record the screen (although it's a little laggy), extract and install apps, etc. Here's a screenshot of the web interface (it has a Windows client too): (I made the window little to make the screenshot smaller)
upload_2015-1-26_9-54-4.png


I think Titanium Backup is the most popular. I need to look into it...the app I have (Ultimate Backup) seems to have some issues with putting stuff back correctly. It would be nice if link2sd had a backup option...that's like the one thing it doesn't do, lol.
 
Looks like I'll have to figure out how to use it.

Probably a question for the root guide, but if I'm using link2sd with a ext4 partition on my sd card, do I need to wipe that partition clean, or reformat the entire card when I change to z5 stock?
 
Spaghadeity said:
Looks like I'll have to figure out how to use it.

Probably a question for the root guide, but if I'm using link2sd with a ext4 partition on my sd card, do I need to wipe that partition clean, or reformat the entire card when I change to z5 stock?
Click to expand...
I didn't have to...the only issue I had was I had to unlink my apps before updating. It was causing many weird issues when I tried to update with apps linked to the SD card.
 
I don't have a definite answer on that one. Android is a whole other story when it comes to virus protection. I don't have one, although I have in the past, and I've never had an issue. Being rooted makes you slightly more vulnerable, but as long as you're careful and pay attention to what you're installing, you'll be fine. In my experience, they've been more annoying than anything, having fits about that ad supported game you installed saying it's malicious adware or something. This is almost debated as much as whether system cleaners are needed. A firewall might be more useful, or not...here's some articles...

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/do-you-need-antivirus-on-android/
http://atechjourney.com/do-you-need-a-firewall-for-android-device.html/
http://www.androidauthority.com/best-antivirus-android-apps-269696/
 
If you play a lot of games OBB2SD (Xposed module...) Is a god send... Frees a TON of space in the system/internal SD partition(s). Some programs do similar things, but I use this specific program because of the minimal footprint.

Also install Greenify. A much needed thing (for many things on almost any Android phone).

Also if you are into clean and very precise audio, use Viper4Android. Also, if you feel the need to increase the wattage/speaker volumes (headset/on board speaker), PM me and I'll tell you how to increase those. My Volt is louder than any phone I've come across yet, including the two speaker Samsung's/LG/HTC phones.

Also, if you wanna go over the top crazy with battery life, install Amplify as well as Qualcomm manager... But that's only if you're trying to get every drop out of it.
 
Do you know if OBB2SD plays nice with link2sd?

EDIT: NVM... Just looked at it and it doesn't use the second partition like l2sd, and unpaid l2sd doesn't move obb files, so there shouldn't be an issue.
 
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bg4m3r said:
Do you know if OBB2SD plays nice with link2sd?

EDIT: NVM... Just looked at it and it doesn't use the second partition like l2sd, and unpaid l2sd doesn't move obb files, so there shouldn't be an issue.
Click to expand...

Paid version of link2sd doesn't move obb files either. The author has talked about adding that capability, but hasn't done it.
 
If anyone tries out obb2sd, here's a tip... I moved the obb for one of my games and the save for that game was lost. I figured out that because the obb was on the SD, I had to copy the game data over as well, and of course, you'll need the SDfix installed so the game can continue to write the data in the new location.
 
Spaghadeity said:
Er, to be more clear, what is the thing that each one can do that the other two can't do?
Click to expand...
G2 is the only one that can change the quick settings. I'm using G3 to change the status bar icons to ATTs set, and GravityBox to hide the status bar clock and alarm icon, enable full rotation and lock screen rotation, reorient the volume keys and enable the advanced power menu (this works in G3 too, but I like the GB version better).

They have many more functions, but this is all I'm using them for. Many of the functions work in both, or all 3, it's just a matter of which version you like. You really just need to play with them. From what I've seen, G3 is the most robust, but GB might be more compatible. I don't actually use G2, but neither of the other 2 work for the quick settings for me.
 
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