Senior Citizen SmartPhone Newb.

[NinerBikes]

So I got sucked in to buying this thing called Galaxy S2 by the damn ATT guy, cause he let me grandfather in my cell phone minutes and rollover. It is a phone, right? Been talking to the younger crowd, about how you can customize the Android on the phone, hack it, unlock it, root it, put some 4.0 version of Icecream on it instead of Gingerbread.


Scary, what does it all mean? I just want to sometime be able to tether it to my laptop when I can't get a wireless AP without ATT raping me some more on billing. Oh, and what is a widget versus an Application?

is the US version by ATT an i9000 version? Did ATT lock it?

 

[olbriar]

A widget is like an active shortcut to the app. Welcome to Android Forums. Rooting is not for everyone but if you are interested, we do have an area with instructions for rooting your device. The instructions are very device specific and there are a number of different S2 phones. You will want to follow the link for your phone/carrier to be in the right area. Once there, you will see a link to join the root area and it's instructions and options. Here is a the list of S2 phones for you to choose from.
Samsung Galaxy S2 (AT&T) - Android Forums (For AT&T)
Samsung Galaxy S2 (T-Mobile) - Android Forums (For T-Mobile)
Samsung Epic 4G Touch - Android Forums (For Sprint)
Samsung Galaxy S2 (International) - Android Forums (For International)
Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket - Android Forums
Samsung Galaxy S2 Skyrocket HD - Android Forums
Best of luck to you and thanks for using these forums.

 

[NinerBikes]

It's all good... several years back, a guy I ride mountain bikes with who worked for ATT sold me a locked BB Curve 8310. I ended up learning how to wipe that phone and got some good Vodafone operating system on it months before ATT came out with their own version which had even more limitations on the phone than the version I had. Even removed the irritating carrier logo at start up!

I'm by no means smart about these devices, or flashing, software, etc... just found that to get it to do what I want, I have to learn how to root the phone so I can have super admin powers, then figure out what I need to get it to rarely serve as a tethering device for a laptop. I can't type worth doodely on a smart phone, I'm all thumbs. Old school, wiping, to me, is something I do to my butt in the morning! Going on 54 this year, and you can't sit still or stop learning, ever!

 

[zflamewing]

Welcome to AF! Olbriar's got the links section covered so I'll not rehash that. It's great to see people stopping in and saying hello. I hope your time here is insightful and helpful for you. Thanks for dropping by with a hello, and enjoy your stay.

 

[Rush]

Thanks for being a part of an awesome community. Enjoy the facilities.

 

[NinerBikes]

It is awesome, this site... a great resource. Plant a seed on what you can do with an Android O/S, how you can customize it, and how the carriers manipulate it into locked down stuff for increased revenue streams from the clueless, is just plain gouging, and wrong. Certainly not the way Samsung designed this smartphone to operate from the get go... leave it to the carriers to dumb it down.

Of course, it just creates opportunities for BB's like this. Oh, and how does tapatalk work? I see it on all kinds of BB's, seems it's something the owner or moderators put on the BB, but I have to get something for my smartphone to make it work?

Phone is an ATT i777 Samsung Galaxy S II.