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a little help please

spikeithard

Android Expert
Hey all. Im an 'intermediate' android user. But I am still stupid when it comes to terms.

What are roms? launchers? themes? flashing? etc.

I have rooted my phone and I have titanium back up and super user. So as you can see im not a total Newbie.

But im always lost on what roms are and stuff like that. or something like desktop visualizer or launcher pro. right now I have stock theme but some cool widgets and all that on it.

Im looking at getting different icon packs so I will need to understand the basics of how to change your desktop theme.

if you can post an easy to follow for dummies terminology guide that would be great.
 
Hey man. I can help a bit with themes and what not. LauncherPro is one of the best tools you can use to create a new look for your device. It gives you the ability to add homescreens, multiple docks, hide the notifications bar and more. There are other alternatives to it, Go Launcher for instance.

I recently redid my theme. I used the http://androidforums.com/android-themes/199936-android-phone-7-theme.html as my new look. Check out the Android Desktop Themes thread to see what perks you interest. It is a great place to start.

Let me know if I can give you any more assistance.
 
Hey all. Im an 'intermediate' android user. But I am still stupid when it comes to terms.

What are roms? launchers? themes? flashing? etc.

I have rooted my phone and I have titanium back up and super user. So as you can see im not a total Newbie.

But im always lost on what roms are and stuff like that. or something like desktop visualizer or launcher pro. right now I have stock theme but some cool widgets and all that on it.

Im looking at getting different icon packs so I will need to understand the basics of how to change your desktop theme.

if you can post an easy to follow for dummies terminology guide that would be great.

A ROM is essentially like your operating system, Android is a ROM then there are the different versions of it, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 (just went with the newest versions) then there are the custom ROMs, where its altered from the stock ROM, custom ROMs vary as far as what is different from the original ROM, different kernels, lagfixes, apps etc....

LP is the interface you use, changes the look of the dock and allows customization of the "theme" of your layout

Desktop Visualizer is for adding customized widgets to your screens

Flashing is changing your ROM, if you want to do this dont screw it up since you can brick your phone (make sure you are installing the proper ROM for your phone.... like myself I stupidly put on a custom ROM for my Vibrant..... too bad it was a US version of the Vibrant which isnt the same as the Canadian variant, I should have payed more attention to the version I was installing :D) If you wanted to try out a new ROM, Id recommend Clock Work Mod makes it a lot easier and less painful

PS make sure you can get into download and recovery with your button combo for your phone before you even consider flashing a ROM, CWM does this already but if you mess something up and need to do it manually and cant, well then prepare for a brick :)
 
yes I have Xrecovery. I cant believe i was able to put that on myself! but then I tried to put on eminence and something didnt work right. It said something like D5 batch error. so i restored it and it all went back to factory new phone. that took me a good hour or so getting it pretty again. i did save all my apps with backup pro. but i lost some contact #s and texts.

so really the only hard time im having is the next step. I have a pretty tricked out phone but its still stock 'rom'. regular looking icons and such, im getting envious of all the people with custom roms and I cant figure it all out.


when you say ......

'PS make sure you can get into download and recovery with your button combo for your phone before you even consider flashing a ROM, CWM does this already but if you mess something up and need to do it manually and cant, well then prepare for a brick :)'

does that mean having xrecovery on your phone??
 
yes I have Xrecovery. I cant believe i was able to put that on myself! but then I tried to put on eminence and something didnt work right. It said something like D5 batch error. so i restored it and it all went back to factory new phone. that took me a good hour or so getting it pretty again. i did save all my apps with backup pro. but i lost some contact #s and texts.

so really the only hard time im having is the next step. I have a pretty tricked out phone but its still stock 'rom'. regular looking icons and such, im getting envious of all the people with custom roms and I cant figure it all out.


when you say ......

'PS make sure you can get into download and recovery with your button combo for your phone before you even consider flashing a ROM, CWM does this already but if you mess something up and need to do it manually and cant, well then prepare for a brick :)'

does that mean having xrecovery on your phone??

Just did a quick read on xrecovery and yes I believe thats it for your phone, from what I read apparently X10s dont have reboot recovery/download built in to the bootloader natively (weird)

From what you are saying I assume you just want to change the "look" of the phone as far as widgets, icons, backgrounds etc.. if so then that is easy and you dont need to install a custom ROM for that

Download LP (or another launcher of your choice) download Desktop Visualizer and with those 2 apps you can then customize it the way you want, then add what ever other widgets you want.... clock widgets, calender widgets, weather widgets......
 
sorry LP is again?? and if I get a new launcher, it wont delete anything but my desktop apps and widgets?

im not sure what that guy was trying to get me to do. He had me put on xrecovery first then try and install eminence after but it got jammed and wiped everything off my phone minus what i had saved on my SD card (but last save i did was mid november so i retained a good amount but lost about 5-7 contacts that i got since november).
 
sorry LP is again?? and if I get a new launcher, it wont delete anything but my desktop apps and widgets?

im not sure what that guy was trying to get me to do. He had me put on xrecovery first then try and install eminence after but it got jammed and wiped everything off my phone minus what i had saved on my SD card (but last save i did was mid november so i retained a good amount but lost about 5-7 contacts that i got since november).

LP is Launcher Pro
 
thanks but is it better to market download it or DL it on my laptop then transfer to SD card?

and.. last question...

Download LP (or another launcher of your choice) download Desktop Visualizer and with those 2 apps you can then customize it the way you want, then add what ever other widgets you want.... clock widgets, calender widgets, weather widgets......

so DL both LP and DV? then open LP first then DV? a tad more instruction would be sweet please on this part. before I start playing around with fire ;) lol

found it! :)

now.. what about that dektop vis??? i have the LP down pat so far


edit. from what i read I market Dl'ed LP. switched over... looks nice... but only 3 screens. hmm gota play around with it and try and get 5 again
 
There you go, best thing to do now is to mess around with the settings to see what everything does and all the options, you cant screw the phone up that way
 
hey, the only thiing im curious about is: how do you get it so when you press home button it doesnt show all your home screens on one page? ( i have 4 screens so when i press home while on the 3rd screen, it shows 4 screen tabs to choose from). I want it to just go back to the home page like a stock phone would.

and what are the columns and rows? under homescreen settings?
 
hey, the only thiing im curious about is: how do you get it so when you press home button it doesnt show all your home screens on one page? ( i have 4 screens so when i press home while on the 3rd screen, it shows 4 screen tabs to choose from). I want it to just go back to the home page like a stock phone would.

and what are the columns and rows? under homescreen settings?

To get it to go back to your main home screen.... Go into Lp Preferences, Then into Behavior Settings And change the Home Key action to do nothing and check the box to have Home Key to Default Screen.

Rows = How many icons or widgets you can have from Top to Bottom..
Columns = how many icons or widgets you can have from Left to Right.

So if you have 4 rows by 4 columns you can only fit 4 icons across the top of the screen. If you change the columns to 5 you could fit 5 across. 4 Columns mean that you can only fit 4 icons top to bottom. If you change it to 5 you can fit 5 and so on. Hope this helps
 
Hey all. Im an 'intermediate' android user. But I am still stupid when it comes to terms.

What are roms? launchers? themes? flashing? etc.

I have rooted my phone and I have titanium back up and super user. So as you can see im not a total Newbie.

Can I just ask... why did you root your phone?

It seems to me that a lot of what you are looking to do does not require root access.
 
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