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Root Help! Update Android 2.1 for Freedompop

W

Wibble_wobble

Newbie
Hello.
Please bear in mind this is my first smartphone so I have little understanding of the jargon, let alone technicalities.

I recently bought an Evo 4G and signed up to Freedompop. However, Android 2.1 only has the old "Market," not "Google play," so I cannot download the Freedompop messaging app.

As I cannot upgrade the Android, seems to me I need to root the phone and download a ROM. Can someone recommend the best ROM and give me a simple breakdown of what to do?

I want to use the phone for a bit of talk and messaging, but particularly to Skype Europe and use Whatsapp....so I would like to keep use of the front camera if possible.

Also, if I use a ROM, will I be able to download other cool apps I might want easily? Obviously, at this point I don't really know what apps I might want or find useful as I've never used any of them.

Thanks :)
 
Wibble_wobble said:
Hello.
Please bear in mind this is my first smartphone so I have little understanding of the jargon, let alone technicalities.

I recently bought an Evo 4G and signed up to Freedompop. However, Android 2.1 only has the old "Market," not "Google play," so I cannot download the Freedompop messaging app.

As I cannot upgrade the Android, seems to me I need to root the phone and download a ROM. Can someone recommend the best ROM and give me a simple breakdown of what to do?

I want to use the phone for a bit of talk and messaging, but particularly to Skype Europe and use Whatsapp....so I would like to keep use of the front camera if possible.

Also, if I use a ROM, will I be able to download other cool apps I might want easily? Obviously, at this point I don't really know what apps I might want or find useful as I've never used any of them.

Thanks :)
Click to expand...
weclome to AF!!!!!!!!!

here is a guide to rooting, once it is rooted then we can get into roms and such.

http://androidforums.com/evo-4g-all...-rooting-gingerbread-2-3-5-dummies-guide.html
 
Thank you for the welcome, ocnbrze (oceanbreeze?) :)

So you think it's the right idea to root? I'll read this tonight and get stuck in tmw morning.

I couldn't complete your initial check. In settings>apps there is no fastboot listed....

Thank you for your time.
 
Wibble_wobble said:
Thank you for the welcome, ocnbrze (oceanbreeze?) :)

So you think it's the right idea to root? I'll read this tonight and get stuck in tmw morning.

I couldn't complete your initial check. In settings>apps there is no fastboot listed....

Thank you for your time.
Click to expand...

what is your current software version?......the fastboot setting might be under power(i think).

and if you can get into the bootloader, let us know what you have.
 
In "about phone" it says the Firmware is 2.1-update1. The "software number" is 1.47.651.1

I am not sure what you mean by "under power" as I can't find mention of that....Do you mean power off then press and hold power+vol down anyway?
 
Wibble_wobble said:
In "about phone" it says the Firmware is 2.1-update1. The "software number" is 1.47.651.1

I am not sure what you mean by "under power" as I can't find mention of that....Do you mean power off then press and hold power+vol down anyway?
Click to expand...

well with gingerbread(which is what the phone officially has) fastboot was intriduced making it harder to power the phone off completely. there should be a setting for fastboot to be unchecked.

anyways the easiest way actually is to just pull the battery out and then back in.....then press and hold power+vol down. this will get you to the bootloader.

report back what your hboot version from the screen.
 
OK, great, that's progress. I'm too tired to get into rooting now so I'll look at that link in the morning. Thanks so much for your help. I really appreciate it :)
 
Morning!

OK, Pre-rooting Step1: When I try "Menu > Setting > SD & Phone Storage > Factory Data Reset" there is no factory reset option here...????

Was able to complete all other steps...have formatted SD card. We have never downloaded HTC software onto here so that shouldn't be an issue.

Just two questions: Is it recommended I download then uninstall HTC Sync on computer now, or should I not bother unless I need it?

Second, just to be clear, for the rooting phase I am downloading unrevoked to the computer, not the phone, and then connecting the phone by the cable, right?

I may as well factory reset if possible so I'll wait for advice about that before doing the rooting.

Thanks :)
 
Have gone ahead and rooted. In "final step" Unrevoked has been saying "waiting for reboot" for over 10 mins. Anyone know how long it takes to root/how long I should leave this?
 
Well, I manually stopped unrevoked and the phone is now S-off. Does that mean it's properly rooted or do I need to check something else? When I look in device manager it now says Android Phone>Android Composite ADB Interface
 
S-off is what you want......you will need a custom recovery.......the first guide I linked you to had instructions on how to get a custom recovery installed........after that then you can flash any roms that you like......

not sure on how they will play being on freedom pop though.

Just make a nandroid backup, once you get a custom recovery.
 
Hmmm. This doesn't look good.
Tried the manuel recovery in option1: Device recovery, but after selcting "recovery" the device seems jammed on a black screen with a small phone image with a red arrow/triangle over it.
 
Wibble_wobble said:
Hmmm. This doesn't look good.
Tried the manuel recovery in option1: Device recovery, but after selcting "recovery" the device seems jammed on a black screen with a small phone image with a red arrow/triangle over it.
Click to expand...
sorry forgot to mention that all three methods have the same instructions for getting recovery.

that means you do not have recovery.....so something went wrong......i have found that the fastboot method to be the easiest....but you need adb setup first.....which is the beginning of the htc method.
 
Tried the HTCdev method, but when I type "get_identifier_token" into command prompt I get "<bootloader> [ERR] command error !!!"

I'm going to try and get Clockwork 3 on it....

Thanks for sticking with me so far :D
 
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