• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Root Considering Rooting - Need Guidance!

B

bupolo

Android Enthusiast
So I've had my phone for a little over a year now and I'm strongly considering rooting in light of ICS coming out and the news that the Evo won't be officially getting it, either full version or something cut down like the Gingerbread we got. I'm mostly doing this: (1) for a change; and (2) to get performance improvements. But I had a few questions:

(1) How much benefit will I see from doing this? I know I can get a big bump in internal storage space because of loading more onto the SD card, partitioning, and getting rid of the bloat ware, but what about performance and battery life? For whatever reason over the past couple weeks I've noticed a bit more lag and a decrease in battery life. I think the battery issue may be related to Widgetlocker, though I did update it, and I digress . . .

(2) Which rom should I use? Keep in mind I'll be switching over to whatever ICS rom comes out when it does, in fact, come out.

(3) Should I get a new SD card before I root? I have the 8gb, Class 4 Sandisk that came with my phone. I don't have a ton of songs (I use Google Music) or movies (none, in fact) on my phone, so I still have a lot of space on my little 8GB. Price is not particularly an issue, but I've seen some other threads that say a class 10 is basically a waste, and that a class 6 shows only a bit of improvement. If I saw substantial improvement in camera speed that alone would be worth it to me.

(4) Any mistakes that people can suggest I avoid? I've very concerned about "bricking" my phone, though I'm still researching what that means and how to avoid it/undo it if it occurs.

Thanks a million guys!
 
bupolo said:
So I've had my phone for a little over a year now and I'm strongly considering rooting in light of ICS coming out and the news that the Evo won't be officially getting it, either full version or something cut down like the Gingerbread we got. I'm mostly doing this: (1) for a change; and (2) to get performance improvements. But I had a few questions:

(1) How much benefit will I see from doing this? I know I can get a big bump in internal storage space because of loading more onto the SD card, partitioning, and getting rid of the bloat ware, but what about performance and battery life? For whatever reason over the past couple weeks I've noticed a bit more lag and a decrease in battery life. I think the battery issue may be related to Widgetlocker, though I did update it, and I digress . . .

(2) Which rom should I use? Keep in mind I'll be switching over to whatever ICS rom comes out when it does, in fact, come out.

(3) Should I get a new SD card before I root? I have the 8gb, Class 4 Sandisk that came with my phone. I don't have a ton of songs (I use Google Music) or movies (none, in fact) on my phone, so I still have a lot of space on my little 8GB. Price is not particularly an issue, but I've seen some other threads that say a class 10 is basically a waste, and that a class 6 shows only a bit of improvement. If I saw substantial improvement in camera speed that alone would be worth it to me.

(4) Any mistakes that people can suggest I avoid? I've very concerned about "bricking" my phone, though I'm still researching what that means and how to avoid it/undo it if it occurs.

Thanks a million guys!
Click to expand...

1) Most custom ROMs are very trimmed down and as a result are much speedier than the stock roms. Also, rooting enables you to install custom kernels which will greatly increase your battery life over your non-rooted battery life (my max so far has been 2 days on the stock battery).

2) For newly rooted people I always suggest mikG. Is it fast, stable, has a hacked wifi hotspot, and generally will give you a good base that you can explore other ROMs from later if you decide.

3) I have a class 10 card, and I'd say it was definately worth it. Read/write speeds are great and I have it partitioned so that even with having tons of apps and things installed I still have over 200mb of freespace on the phone itself. However, this is not required and you can get a new card at any point.

4) Rooting is a pretty straightforward easy process. You will want to know your H-Boot before you start. Pull your battery, put it back in, and hold down power+volume down to get you to the bootloader screen. If your 2.10 or below read the rooting for dummies guide, if your 2.15 or 2.16 read the rooding for dummies guide gingerbread edition. Everything you need is is those guides.
 
Rxpert is correct as always :)

Don't worry about bricking your phone. You really have to try to brick it to accomplish this feat, its really a rare occurance.

Read the rooting for dummies gingerbread edition at the top of the forum. Then once you are done, read it again. :D
Any spots you're unsure of, ask in this thread. We won't bite, we're here to help. ;)

Rooting that phone will release the caged beast within! :D
 
once you are rooted a whole new world will open up to you. you will now be able to unleash the full potential of your evo by doing so. you will not be restricted to what htc and sprint says you can only do on your phone. roms and kernels can really make your phone fly and last longer in battery life. we have now sense 2.1, sense 3.0, and now sense 3.5. they are way better then the lowly sense 1.0 that comes with a stock evo. and like you said hopefully soon we will have ics on our phones. so like everyone has said please read the:http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all...ooting-dummies-guide-gingerbread-edition.html from head to toe before attempting to root. and please feel free to ask any questions you have.
 
Rxpert83 said:
1) Most custom ROMs are very trimmed down and as a result are much speedier than the stock roms. Also, rooting enables you to install custom kernels which will greatly increase your battery life over your non-rooted battery life (my max so far has been 2 days on the stock battery).

2) For newly rooted people I always suggest mikG. Is it fast, stable, has a hacked wifi hotspot, and generally will give you a good base that you can explore other ROMs from later if you decide.

3) I have a class 10 card, and I'd say it was definately worth it. Read/write speeds are great and I have it partitioned so that even with having tons of apps and things installed I still have over 200mb of freespace on the phone itself. However, this is not required and you can get a new card at any point.

4) Rooting is a pretty straightforward easy process. You will want to know your H-Boot before you start. Pull your battery, put it back in, and hold down power+volume down to get you to the bootloader screen. If your 2.10 or below read the rooting for dummies guide, if your 2.15 or 2.16 read the rooding for dummies guide gingerbread edition. Everything you need is is those guides.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I had 2 quick questions about the SD card. First, which one did you purchase? Also, I had read a few comments from people on this board that the Evo could not read/write fast enough to take advantage of a class 10 over a class 6, were they wrong?

Also, from start to finish, assuming I'm going to have to take my time, how long do you think it will take to go from turning off my phone as is to making a call with the rooted phone?

THANKS GUYS! This is exciting.
 
I have never heard of such a thing. I have no problems getting the read/write speeds that define a class 10 card.

Fairly certain this is the one I have:

Amazon.com: Patriot Signature 16 GB Class 10 MicroSDHC Flash Memory Card (PSF16GMCSDHC10): Electronics


The actual process of getting root only takes about 10-15 minutes and you will still have the stock rom but with root access. Flashing your first custom ROM can take a little time beacause your not used to the process. After you have the process of flashing down it takes about 10 minutes to flash a ROM an get the phone booted.


Read the rooting for gingerbread guide, follow it step by step, and it wont lead you astray
 
Rxpert83 said:
Fairly certain this is the one I have:
Amazon.com: Patriot Signature 16 GB Class 10 MicroSDHC Flash Memory Card (PSF16GMCSDHC10): Electronics
Click to expand...

Thank you! Ok, so you think 1-2 hours except for letting my phone reboot is a good estimation?

Also, with the card, I read the reviews and a few people are suggesting they had a lot of problems with this card, do you think that's a byproduct of them doing something wrong? Or if I want to ensure a properly working card I should buy a more expensive one?

Also . . . Happy Thanksgiving! :)
 
bupolo said:
Thank you! Ok, so you think 1-2 hours except for letting my phone reboot is a good estimation?

Also, with the card, I read the reviews and a few people are suggesting they had a lot of problems with this card, do you think that's a byproduct of them doing something wrong? Or if I want to ensure a properly working card I should buy a more expensive one?

Also . . . Happy Thanksgiving! :)
Click to expand...

i have this card for almost a year now, with absolutely zero issues.

here is a thread on it:http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all-things-root/413571-sharin-love-16gb-class-10-card-25-a.html.

i do not trust what people comment on very much. a lot of people like me who are pleased with the product usually do not post reviews. however, if your are not happy about the product, you are more motivated to post a review. so that is up to you on making the decision. it is a really great deal on the card right now.

1-2 hours is a good amount of time to allow yourself to get your phone rooted.
 
bupolo said:
Thank you! Ok, so you think 1-2 hours except for letting my phone reboot is a good estimation?

Also, with the card, I read the reviews and a few people are suggesting they had a lot of problems with this card, do you think that's a byproduct of them doing something wrong? Or if I want to ensure a properly working card I should buy a more expensive one?

Also . . . Happy Thanksgiving! :)
Click to expand...

I just did mine last weekend...very cool, its like having a new phone again, and I havent even done a ROM yet! just rooted apps, you'll like it for sure
 
RCope48 said:
I just did mine last weekend...very cool, its like having a new phone again, and I havent even done a ROM yet! just rooted apps, you'll like it for sure
Click to expand...

Do you mean you rooted and were able to delete the apps you didn't want? Sorry, I was reading over the GB rooting guide and seeing all the things I had to backup and couldn't find my exchange phone password and got scared and pussed out.

Since you just rooted and didn't flash a rom how long did that take? Did you just root and then delete the programs you didn't want and reinstall all your previous programs? How much of the improvement in the phone do you think came from rooting versus just doing a factory reset?

Thanks again everyone, I'm fairly computer savvy but I'm still nervous about this :)
 
bupolo said:
Did you just root and then delete the programs you didn't want and reinstall all your previous programs?
Click to expand...

if you root but stay with the stock rooted rom you can "freeze" the apps that you don't want with titanium backup... unfortunately you cannot delete them, they are still on your phone but are totally inactive... custom rom's usually have all the stock "bloat ware" removed entirely freeing up space...
 
Keep reading and asking questions until your comfortable. We'll answer any questions and help you when you're ready.
I rooted my evo after about 2 weeks, it wasn't hard. I'm a highway construction worker, if I can figure this stuff out somewhat, ANYONE can! :D
Seriously ask as Many questions as it takes. ;)
 
Also, through the actual process of rooting you wont lose anything that is currently on your phone. Getting S-OFF and a custom recovery just allows you to have certain privileges that you didnt have on the phone before. Untill you flash a new ROM (you dont even have to) you will still have the stock ROM with your phone set up the exact same way it is now, with just a new superuser app and the ability to use all the cool root-only apps
 
Rxpert83 said:
Also, through the actual process of rooting you wont lose anything that is currently on your phone. Getting S-OFF and a custom recovery just allows you to have certain privileges that you didnt have on the phone before. Untill you flash a new ROM (you dont even have to) you will still have the stock ROM with your phone set up the exact same way it is now, with just a new superuser app and the ability to use all the cool root-only apps
Click to expand...

Rxpert is correct here. The only thing I think he should have mentioned is to make sure you do a Nandroid.

(If you follow the guide you will make one.)

Nandroid is an Image of The Parts of the Phone (Boot) (Data) (System) (ETC...) An image is a "Clone" of those Area's A exact Duplicate.

Backups Such as Titanium Backup and MyBackup - Make Copies of Data parts of a ROM such as App's and App Data.
(**Please Note: Titanium Backup is much more than a backup program)
 
argedion said:
Rxpert is correct here. The only thing I think he should have mentioned is to make sure you do a Nandroid.

(If you follow the guide you will make one.)

Nandroid is an Image of The Parts of the Phone (Boot) (Data) (System) (ETC...) An image is a "Clone" of those Area's A exact Duplicate.

Backups Such as Titanium Backup and MyBackup - Make Copies of Data parts of a ROM such as App's and App Data.
(**Please Note: Titanium Backup is much more than a backup program)
Click to expand...

I'm doing this right now. Should I do a Nandroid BEFORE I get S-Off?
 
Ok, so I'm rooted now!! Woo hoo!! Now what do you guys recommend? Can I start redownloading all of my apps, or do I need to flash a rom now first?

Also, if I'm going to flash a rom, do I need to download things like WidgetLocker or Launcher Pro (I've been using both)?
 
bupolo said:
Ok, so I'm rooted now!! Woo hoo!! Now what do you guys recommend? Can I start redownloading all of my apps, or do I need to flash a rom now first?

Also, if I'm going to flash a rom, do I need to download things like WidgetLocker or Launcher Pro (I've been using both)?
Click to expand...

congrats on getting your root on. now it is time to get your flash on:D

well as far as your apps go that is up to you. i would at least make a nandroid backup if you have not done so already. do you plan on staying on the stock rom for very long? if so then yes that is fine. if not then i would flash a custom rom like mikg then get everything setup. and do not forget to make a nandroid backup, once you have everything setup as you like.

and no you do not need those launchers unless you want them. you will need them if you flash an aosp rom. sense roms have the sense launcher. but again that is up to you.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom