The BIG 2.1 Thread

[CRPercodani]

Fade, you get reboots? I have to say I haven't had a single reboot since I flashed the first release of it like a week or 2 ago....whenever he released it. I was actually the first person to flash it (besides greek and whoever he was working with) and it has been good o me since day 1. Maybe I'm not a super heavy user like some others are, I do about 10-15 calls, 100+ gtalk messages, 90 minutes or so of pandora streaming over BT in my car, sometimes a few videos (in 720), a decent amount of web browsing and gmail, some navigiation, and some other things mixed in, oh and I have 4 and a half homescreens full.

 

[Mrwirez]

I'm getting pretty fed up with all the stereotypical blanketed Anti-American posts that run rampant on the Internet. Do you know me? Do you live in my country? Do you subscribe to American ideals that you yourself may not even be aware of? Quit applying the stereotypes of other countries to the boards. This is a technology forum people, not a place for you to spout what you think you know about other nationalities.

*EDIT* I see you are living in Ohio. None the less, my sentiments stand. At the very least you are helping to further propetuate stereotypes about Americans when you yourself are one. Way to go.

Cleveland ...The Mistake by the Lake...

Sincerely,
Steelers Nation

Lol, just kidding. I had to throw in that famous Cleveland Browns metaphor.. after getting yer butt chewed out by deftdrummer.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

 

[Kirch21]

if i flash 2.1 will i lose everything on my phone? and how do i do a backup?

 

[CRPercodani]

When you flash sprecovery you will be able to use nandroid which backs up everything.

 

[Kirch21]

When you flash sprecovery you will be able to use nandroid which backs up everything.

i am sorry i am an android beginer as of now. could you direct me somewhere or just give me the steps i need to go through to make it safe for me to flash 2.1? thanks!

 

[CRPercodani]

HOW TO ROOT
1. Download the droid-super_user.zip file from: download/file.php?id=659 by Zinx Verituse Do not extract.
2. Rename the file to "update"
3. Plug your Droid into your computer via USB. On the Droid go to the Notifications bar and select "USB Connected" then press "Mount"
4. Once the device is mounted, the SD card will show as a removable device on your computer
5. Put the "update" file into your SD Card
6. Unmount the device from your computer, and turn the Droid off.
7. Hold down the "X" key on the physical keyboard and while doing so press the power button. Hold both of them down until you see a Triangle with an !.
8. Press the Vol+ and the Camera button together until you get a menu.
9. Using the D-pad on the physical keyboard, select the option to update with the update.zip file.
10. This should take a little bit. Once it's done select the option to reboot the phone.

FLASH BUSY BOX AND RECOVERY
1. Download download/file.php?id=809 by crotalusfreak [ctrl+click] and unzip it, now copy the folder named Tools to the root of your sdcard.
2. Next install the DroidRootHelper.apk to your phone.
3. Now run DroidRootHelper
4. Mount system
5. Rename recovery
6. Install busybox
7. Install flash image
8. Flash SirPsycoS's .12.0 recovery
9. Reboot recovery

ANDROID SDK
1. Download Android SDK | Android Developers and install it.
2. Download http://www.4shared.com/file/176972457/7 ... river.html and put the folder into android sdk
3. Take android sdk folder to C: and rename it android [makes life easier]
4. Plug in your phone to the comp
5. On your phone, go to Settings -> Applications -> Development -> check USB Debugging
6. On your computer, after the new hardware has been found: go to Device Manager -> find the Motorola A855 (towards the bottom, which should have a yellow exclamation point) -> Update driver -> Browse for driver -> Let me pick -> Computer -> Have disk -> Browse -> C:\android\tools\usb_driver
7. Go to command prompt
8. Type cd C:\android\tools then press enter
9. Type adb shell then press enter
10. You now have access to adb shell

ANDROID 2.1
1. Make a NANDROID back up by rebooting your phone into recovery and going to the NANDROID subfolder
2. Take everything inside and make a backup folder on your comp
3. Download http://www.mediafire.com/file/yguzz11m2 ... 9-1559.zip by Greek35T
4. Unzip this file
5. Use everything inside to replace the NANDROID back up in your sd
6. Boot phone into recovery, leave it plugged into your comp
7. Open command prompt on your comp
8. Type cd C:\android\tools and press enter
9. Type adb shell and press enter
10. format DATA: and press enter
11. format SYSTEM: and press enter
12. format CACHE: and press enter
13. Run NANDROID restore on phone
14. Reboot and enjoy


-Credit to PeDe7 from alldroid for that.

 

[Kirch21]

thanks! i need to do all those steps first or go straight to 2.1?

 

[CRPercodani]

If your rooted you can skip that, but you need to do everything after it if you haven't already.

 

[Fadelight]

Fade, you get reboots? I have to say I haven't had a single reboot since I flashed the first release of it like a week or 2 ago....whenever he released it. I was actually the first person to flash it (besides greek and whoever he was working with) and it has been good o me since day 1. Maybe I'm not a super heavy user like some others are, I do about 10-15 calls, 100+ gtalk messages, 90 minutes or so of pandora streaming over BT in my car, sometimes a few videos (in 720), a decent amount of web browsing and gmail, some navigiation, and some other things mixed in, oh and I have 4 and a half homescreens full.

I average MAYBE 17 minutes of talk time on my phone every month. My texts are well in excess of 800/month. I stream Pandora about 5 hours a night, use GPS Tracker (Instamapper) any time I leave the house for anything, surf youtube occasionally to show friends movie trailers and things like that.

My reboots always come in the same way, but they always catch me off guard so I can't backtrack and figure out why. Every once in a while I hit the button for the app menu on my home screen, it lights up and then just sits there for about 15 seconds before rebooting. I'm usually doing other stuff just before it happens, but like I said... it catches me off guard every time, so I can't really backtrack.

 

[CRPercodani]

I wonder if you have any apps running that might be causing it? If you find a way to replicate it let me know.

 

[Droid212]

Hey everyone!

I am a Mac user and I noticed that in the instructions, it is written for the command line in Windows. Can anyone tell me how I would do this on a Mac?

Also, the link in the following line does not work and when I control click and download, I get a .php file and I don't believe that is supposed to be the file. this line "1. Download download/file.php?id=809 by crotalusfreak [ctrl+click] and unzip it, now copy the folder named Tools to the root of your sdcard."

Also, I will be able to restore all my data after installing the ROM, right? Lastly, (sorry for all the questions if the answers are obvious), but does the GPS, backlights and all the things that didn't work in the first ROM work in the ROM that CRPercodani reposted?

Thanks so much!

 

[andrew53517]

I just want to know if 2.1 is or is NOT coming in Jan. Then this thread will come to great use. If it is then no root for me.-even though I did it on my G1.

 

[Droid212]

I just want to know if 2.1 is or is NOT coming in Jan. Then this thread will come to great use. If it is then no root for me.-even though I did it on my G1.

I've heard that it is not coming in January, but shortly thereafter as in early to mid February.

 

[nateo200]

I find it more and more entertaining at the people who seem to think more fancy UI effects make the product better. Maybe its because I'm a developer and prefer functionality over looks (and I don't own anything apple). I just know when you add more glittery effects, you sacrafice performance.

I find it funny too. Without that mind set of consumers I'm sure apple products would fail miserably and windows mobile products would be all the new rave. Of course regular consumers don't care about being able to do crazy things on there phone like oh idk tether for $30 less a month, create a virtual wireless router, or maybe something simple like sending MMS's out of the box not 2.5 years later. Maybe its just me and you but I find android not the prettiest but miles more functional that iPhone OS. Android seams to be a medium between Win mobile and iphone OS but in a totally awesome way.

 

[Fadelight]

I find it funny too. Without that mind set of consumers I'm sure apple products would fail miserably and windows mobile products would be all the new rave.

Meh... Windows Mobile is quite slow and often times crappy. I have a scanner that I use for work and it is WinMo based. UGH. A good friend of mine also has a phone that is WinMo, and it receives the same reaction. I think Linux-based systems would be the in thing.

And apple wouldn't lose its entire client base without the GUI. They still have some good products. the iPod, for example. I love the fact that I can store my entire music collection on such a small device and take it with me everywhere I go. I have three cars, and all of them have stereos with iPod control. I have yet to see another decent mp3 player that stores 160gb of music.

The iPod touch, on the other hand, is exactly what you were describing. It is still an iPod, but the amount of storage (the main selling point for me) was chopped down to nothing in order to give it a touch screen and some flash. Complete waste, in my opinion.

 

[dustinpn]

Is the place to change your default home located in the same area in 2.1? I can't seem to find it in Manage Applications anymore.

 

[Robobandit]

I was unable to format my cache.. it said the memory was corrupt and stopped the operation. It seems to be running ok, I do have a weird issue from time to time where my left and right swipes aren't recognized, but rebooting the phone fixes that.

Anyone else run into the same thing?

 

[Del]

Yes, it is a silly reason. Do you realize how easy it is to fix that?

Well sor-RY for being new to the whole root/mod thing. This is even my first phone, so be nice.


...also I feel the need to specify that when I say I know that it's a silly reason that implies that I would prefer other people not point the fact out or agree with the statement.

 

[Fadelight]

Well sor-RY for being new to the whole root/mod thing. This is even my first phone, so be nice.


...also I feel the need to specify that when I say I know that it's a silly reason that implies that I would prefer other people not point the fact out or agree with the statement.

heh I think you took my post a bit too literal. It was meant as a joke. I know that was why you said what you did... and that is why I jumped on it. Sorry if I offended you. I know I need to tone the sarcasm down a bit on the internet. Some things just don't translate well into typing.

But yea, it is still very easy to fix... as I explained.

 

[Kirch21]

Well i officialy flashed to 2.1! Awesome but i think i am gonna flash back for the time being.

THINGS I LOVED:
1. Live wallpapers! Simply AMAZING!
2. The new gallery. This is so nice! It is so smooth and clean!
3. The app launcher is something else! Extremely smooth and eye pleasing!
4. The new weather/news widget is very clean along with the app it comes with
5. Obviously the extra pages are nice too

THINGS I DISLIKED (Just for the time being of course )
1. As i knew it would be, it is extremely glitchy at times but more than i thought it would be.
2. The homescreen freezes quite a bit.
3. The video wallpapers arent very stable as of now they crash alot.(im not complaining i wasnt expecting anything special, just trying to help people decide if they should or not.
4. Backlight on keyboard not working. I didnt realize how much i used it until it was gone.
5. My contacts wouldnt sync to facebook with pictures and what not.
6. KILLED THE BATTERY

All in all i am extremly glad i did it. I got to see the new features and since im an android noob i learned alot about nandroids and flashing and all sorts of things in the process.

For now the bad outweigh the goods for me but i will definatly reflash in the future when there is a more stable release.

If you dig the features over some minor issue i woiuld go for it, but for me, i just like my phone to run good and android 2.0.1 has pleanty of awesome feature for the time being.

Hope this helps some of you decide!

 

[anderson.mcdaniel]

I'm running 2.1 and noticed something weird yesterday. The phone as having trouble with the contact name of conversations in the default SMS app.

For example, I'd get a text from my dad, it would show up in notifications as "Dad." When I click on the notification, it opens the messaging app, and the proper conversation, but labeled as another contact other than "Dad".

Anyone else had this? I tried replying, and it replies to the proper contact, just labels it wrong. Also, it only happens when I go from the notification to the app, if I backout to show all conversations in the messaging app, everything's fixed.

Not a real big deal, just threw me off a little last night

 

[Fadelight]

I'm running 2.1 and noticed something weird yesterday. The phone as having trouble with the contact name of conversations in the default SMS app.

For example, I'd get a text from my dad, it would show up in notifications as "Dad." When I click on the notification, it opens the messaging app, and the proper conversation, but labeled as another contact other than "Dad".

Anyone else had this? I tried replying, and it replies to the proper contact, just labels it wrong. Also, it only happens when I go from the notification to the app, if I backout to show all conversations in the messaging app, everything's fixed.

Not a real big deal, just threw me off a little last night

Actually, that isn't just 2.1. That has been a known glitch ever since 2.0 and the Droid first came out. It usually happens when you are trying to have multiple sms conversations at the same time. It used to irritate me, but now I'm pretty used to it. I just delete the thread after one of my texts to them, and when they send the next one everything is fine again.

It is definitely an odd coincidence that you have only had it happen with 2.1, though. hm.

 

[anderson.mcdaniel]

Actually, that isn't just 2.1. That has been a known glitch ever since 2.0 and the Droid first came out. It usually happens when you are trying to have multiple sms conversations at the same time. It used to irritate me, but now I'm pretty used to it. I just delete the thread after one of my texts to them, and when they send the next one everything is fine again.

It is definitely an odd coincidence that you have only had it happen with 2.1, though. hm.

Probably only happened in 2.1 because I moved to 2.1 pretty quickly after getting the phone. Scared me though, the first time it happened, I had hit send before I realized the name was different. Thank God it was just a labelling thing.

 

[CRPercodani]

Well i officialy flashed to 2.1! Awesome but i think i am gonna flash back for the time being.

THINGS I LOVED:
1. Live wallpapers! Simply AMAZING!
2. The new gallery. This is so nice! It is so smooth and clean!
3. The app launcher is something else! Extremely smooth and eye pleasing!
4. The new weather/news widget is very clean along with the app it comes with
5. Obviously the extra pages are nice too

THINGS I DISLIKED (Just for the time being of course )
1. As i knew it would be, it is extremely glitchy at times but more than i thought it would be.
2. The homescreen freezes quite a bit.
3. The video wallpapers arent very stable as of now they crash alot.(im not complaining i wasnt expecting anything special, just trying to help people decide if they should or not.
4. Backlight on keyboard not working. I didnt realize how much i used it until it was gone.
5. My contacts wouldnt sync to facebook with pictures and what not.
6. KILLED THE BATTERY

All in all i am extremly glad i did it. I got to see the new features and since im an android noob i learned alot about nandroids and flashing and all sorts of things in the process.

For now the bad outweigh the goods for me but i will definatly reflash in the future when there is a more stable release.

If you dig the features over some minor issue i woiuld go for it, but for me, i just like my phone to run good and android 2.0.1 has pleanty of awesome feature for the time being.

Hope this helps some of you decide!

First of all I'm glad you got it working, and you DEFINITELY have learned a lot of stuff that will help you out a lot in the future, a lot of people want to give up when they see how much work is needed so it is nice to know someone who was a admitted Android newbie took the time to graduate to a sophmore.

Now about the problems I highlighted in bold.

Glitchy how? Of course some things are a tad slower but overall I find 2.1 to be much faster then 2.0.1 or 2.0 and besides the landscape homescreen glitches I haven't ran into anything really.

How exactly was the homescreen freezing? Was it totally frozen or did it just lag behind for a few seconds? Do you use a lot of 3rd party widgets? Did you come from landscape mode to portrait when it happened, or come from a app?

The kayboard backlight should work fine if you have the fix installed, or if you used r4, personally I use the first release and just add on any fixes I need. What release did you use? I have the first one if you want to try it because from my experience it is the best build yet. Also the keyboard backlight is light sensitive, so if your in a room with decent lighting it won't light up, a easy way to check is to go in a dark area and see if it comes on, if not then either you don't have the fix installed or something else is wrong.

The battery went quicker? Hmmmm, did you turn off auo brightness and adjust it down to about 20-30%? I know one of the releases had a problem where the backlight stayed on 100% so obviously that will kill the battery very quickly. I don't notice any difference in battery life at all, except when using animated wallpapers but I ended removing them because they aren't worth the battery drain and resource hogging to me.

I think you used release 4, if you have the time and want to I would highly suggest you try flashing release 1 and just add on the keyboard fix and paid apps in market fix (if you need it), I have release 1 on my 4shared account, here is a link 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download Greek35T2.1r1.zip

 

[Spaniard85]

Hey fellas. I've been reading a bit on 2.1, and I think I want to put it on my Droid. From what I've seen though, I haven't really been able to tell if you can use a Mac to root and flash to get to 2.1. Any help? I'd love to show the other employees at my Verizon store the new Android Hotness, lol.