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Setup for my Daughter

B

bhavlo

Member
I just activated an Eris for my daughter, it used to be my wifes but she didn't like it much. I did a factory reset and then activated and got everything working in the normal Verizon way. She is "The TEXT Queen" and uses her phone for lots of things and I am afraid from past experience that the Eris might not be able to keep up with her lack usage demand. The Eris probably isn't the best phone for her but it is all I have until I can get her an upgrade in a couple months.

I am hoping with your help I can improve it's performance so I would like to know what is the best setup I can do to optimize it for her?

I have never rooted before but have been reading lots about it. I see other threads about optimizing the battery life, over clocking it to be more responsive and even different ROM's to use. It can all get a little over whelming.

I would really appreciate a simple newbie's guide to setting it up for her.
- Should I root?
- If so, which method of rooting is the latest and easiest?
- If it is rooted can she accidentally do something that is really going to screw it up and how do I avoid that issue?
- What bloat wear can I get rid of that will free up resources?
- What ROM would be best?
- What optimizations can be made so it performs the best for her?

Thanks in advance for any guidance!
 
1. Rooting does make the phone run better, but I'll leave it up to you to decide.

2. http://androidforums.com/eris-all-t...is-app-apk-no-pcs-no-scripts-needed-easy.html

That'll take care of your rooting.

3.Anything can be screwed up, but it's hard to mess this phone up permanently. Often things can be fixed by simply doing a system wipe and dalvik wipe though followed by reflashing.

To do this just boot into recovery, go to wipe, and you'll see both options there. Periodic NAND backups don't hurt either.

4. List of applications that are safe to remove [Archive] - xda-developers list of apps safe to remove. I'd invest in and app called "Root Explorer" so you don't have to mess around with adb to get rid of apps. With root explorer you can cut them out and paste them to the sd card so you have a backup as well.

5. Different ROMS for different people, personally I'd go with xtrSense or xtrRom if you want 2.1 . If you're looking for Froyo (2.2) I use CELB 3.9 at the moment.

6. For optimizations we'll get into that once you've chosen a ROM

Edit: Oh yeah. 2.2 has a text message clean up built into the stock MMS app which I'd highly suggest doing since the Eris tends to lag after getting so many messages and freezes up when you try to delete a long thread. You can set how many messages to allow per thread before it starts deleting the oldest message.

If you go towards a 2.1 ROM or stay stock Message Cleanup is a good app to have. It lets you delete by age, total message count, or thread message count. Unpaid makes you do it manually, paid lets you set it to auto clean up (I think that's the difference between the paid and unpaid, it's been a while)
 
If she texts a lot, I think that rooting is a great idea. I hesitate to recommend rooting for everyone - there is that issue that it technically voids your warranty - but a person who messages a lot on a stock Eris will be in for a lagging phone after a short while.

I can't add much to Lenny's great post, except that if she does a lot of MMS messages as well as regular texting, xtrROM or xtrSENSE may be the best bets (the first if you know that you will not use the Sense launcher, the latter if you will - or, actually, even if you will not.) The ROMs that are close to stock seem to handle MMS messaging best.

I use CELB about 75% of the time, xtrSENSE otherwise, and I love them both. These days I am actually leaning more toward xtrSENSE, as it leaves you far more internal memory for apps and data. xtrSENSE is very stable, and the developer still updates it occasionally to improve it.

I guess that everybody is different, but if you stay stock or go with xtrSENSE or xtrROM, I find Peep, Teeter, Stocks, Footprints, and Amazon MP3 Store useless and all can be removed safely. Some people like Peep, but there are several better Twitter clients for Android, if you use your phone for Twitter.

Good luck and feel free to keep asking questions.
 
True, 2.1 MMS does run a bit smoother and doesn't suffer from the little bug in Froyo MMS where if you pick a thread while they're still refreshing it'll select the wrong thread on rare occasion.

I think CELB is more suited for customization (via CyanogenMod).

For her everyday use I'd have to agree with Doogald and suggest one of the xtr ROMs.
 
Lenny and Doogald covered nicely - 1 click root & xtrSense (for a more 'stock feel) or xtrROM.

The only thing I might add is a mention of the app Delete Old Messages, which she can get from the market. Rooted or not I suspect she's going to need this app. Unless she's very good about 'housekeeping' on the Eris and keeps her messages cleaned up, eventually the phone is going to slow down because of too many messages cluttering up the memory. To prevent that from happening, or to help fix the problem if it does, this is the app to have.
 
Will Rooting or installing a custom ROM clear everything on the phone such that I have to reload/reinstall stuff?
 
If you use the 1-click root method nothing is deleted from your phone until you flash a new ROM. When you flash a new ROM (every time, with a few exceptions not worth mentioning at this point) you'll lose all apps and settings, so you do need to set up your phone again.

It takes me about an hour from start to finish to flash a new ROM, that includes the time it takes to do two different backups that I always do before flashing the ROM, and resetting everything so the phone looks like I feel it should.
 
Differences between two 2.1 ROM, or two 2.2 ROMs, are very minor. The difference between a 2.1 ROM and a 2.2 ROM are larger, but still a good bit short of earth shattering. :)
That said, I tend to stay with 2.2 ROMs because I like certain functions and controls that they have that aren't in 2.1 ROMs. While all the differences are relatively minor, you may find one that has something that's important to you (or your daughter) which will make you prefer one ROM (or version) over another.
 
2.2 give you a bit of extra customization thanks to Cyanogen and many 2.2 ROM devs implementing the latest CM source code into their ROM's.

It does take a bit of extra time and a little know how (not much, but a little) to get 2.2 set up the way you like it.

For her I'd lean towards xtrSense. It's an pretty quick 2.1 ROM, lots of space for apps. Just make sure you get one of the text message cleaners or you'll see a big slow down and you'll end up having to do a full wipe to fix it.
 
Ok I think I am ready to root my daughters eris now but I have another question. In the past couple days I rooted my droid x, did a full backup and loaded a rom. I did that as a learning experience before I try the eris. My question is do I do everything the same except the root procedure? Do I use rom manager, do I use titanium backup, is there a bootstrap app for the eris?

If everything is the same it should be no sweat but I would really appreciate understanding the differences so I don't do something stupid.
 
bhavlo said:
Ok I think I am ready to root my daughters eris now but I have another question. In the past couple days I rooted my droid x, did a full backup and loaded a rom. I did that as a learning experience before I try the eris. My question is do I do everything the same except the root procedure? Do I use rom manager, do I use titanium backup, is there a bootstrap app for the eris?

If everything is the same it should be no sweat but I would really appreciate understanding the differences so I don't do something stupid.
Click to expand...
Its not exactly the same. There is no bootstrap app for the Eris because its unnecessary. When you root it, you will actually flash Clockwork recovery to the phone, and to get to it, all you need to do is hold Power/End and Volume Up while its booting until you enter Clockwork Recovery. The Eris does not have a encrypted bootloader like the Droid X so its a bit easier. Titanium Backup is the same, and I've never used a ROM manager on my Eris. But I suppose you can if you want.

But for the most part, its pretty similar.
 
Ok, I did it but with mixed results. I had success installing xtrSense however I went a little further because I hoped to give her better performance.

I found this link
Make Your Droid Eris Faster & Smoother, and Increase Battery Life! Updated 12/20 | JonSuh.com
and followed it but couldn't get KaosFroyo to work. I tried both version 3.6 and 3.9 but both would load but there were no apps on the home screen at all. I feel lucky to have been able to restore my xtrSense backup. If anyone has thoughts on what I was doing wrong I would greatly appreciate it.

EDIT: I just tried CELB 3.9 and it did the same thing, loaded but no apps appear on the home screen.
 
bhavlo said:
EDIT: I just tried CELB 3.9 and it did the same thing, loaded but no apps appear on the home screen.
Click to expand...

CELB requires that you download and flash the Google apps package. So, to install CELB:

- download CELB and the Google apps .zip files, and copy to the SD card
- restart in Recovery
- [optional] Nandroid backup
- Wipe menu, wipe data/factory reset
- Flash menu, flash CELB
- Flash menu, flash Google apps
- restart the phone
 
doogald said:
CELB requires that you download and flash the Google apps package. So, to install CELB:

- download CELB and the Google apps .zip files, and copy to the SD card
- restart in Recovery
- [optional] Nandroid backup
- Wipe menu, wipe data/factory reset
- Flash menu, flash CELB
- Flash menu, flash Google apps
- restart the phone
Click to expand...
Where do I get Google apps .zip file for the Eris?
 
My vote would be for rooting her Eris, installing Froshedyo v10, and setting the CPUBoost settings to 710/400 on and 520/256 with screen off (I don't remember the exact numbers, but it's a menu select). Follow that up with a battery recalibration.

I went with xtrRom for a while, but the Froyo text prediction is a thousand times better, and the Gingerbread keyboard is even better than that. Coupled with the battery savings, it would be pretty beneficial for a heavy texter. Froyo speed and stability is on par now with any of the 2.1 roms, including xtr.
 
This is all going to take you a lot of time. My suggestion is to cash in your eris on verizon for $132 as described elsewhere on this forum, and to buy your daughter a $50 no-contract texting phone on ebay.

I say this as the generally satisfied owner of a rooted eris, but also the father of teenagers.
 
jae_63 said:
This is all going to take you a lot of time. My suggestion is to cash in your eris on verizon for $132 as described elsewhere on this forum, and to buy your daughter a $50 no-contract texting phone on ebay.

I say this as the generally satisfied owner of a rooted eris, but also the father of teenagers.
Click to expand...

I would agree with this. Why does a teenager need a phone with data? My 15 year old has an Eris because my husband bought me one last Christmas on the BOGO deal and gave the other to her. He was trying to save money by not buying her a new phone. I would have much rather payed the $50 last year for a decent texting phone than pay $30/month for 2 years for data she doesn't need or use. (She does use the web, but always has wifi access).
 
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