Unusual Android OS Question

[timm9]

Please excuse me if this has already been addressed or answered. I did search (not to mention visiting this site daily) but did not see the results I was looking for.

My carrier is a small but customer oriented CDMA based provider in northern California called Golden State Cellular. Due to their size, they are not able to provide updates, etc. for their Win Mobile smart phones. Our current smart phones are generic

 

[Tangent]

Based on this thread, it looks like maybe Verizon could be the best bet for a compatible phone. It looks like Golden State is working with Verizon attempting to get them to allow data roaming between their two networks, so it seems logical to me that that's an indication they use the same frequencies. I don't know if rooting is required or even helpful for what you want to do, I'm just pretty sure the phone needs to be unlocked from the specific carrier it was sold by. If you bought the phone outright that shouldn't be a problem. Another quick search turned up this page on unlocking a Droid from Verizon...

 

[timm9]

Thank you for the response! You are correct (the first link is actually my blog) about our local provider and Verizon working towards data roaming which has been in the works for over two years. Does anyone know if there is a way to root a Verizon phone while avoiding the Verizon 'add ons' in the OS leaving only the basic android OS?

Thanks again!

Tim

 

[Tangent]

.... Does anyone know if there is a way to root a Verizon phone while avoiding the Verizon 'add ons' in the OS leaving only the basic android OS? ...

What you're describing is covered by flashing a new rom to the phone, and I believe rooting is the first step towards doing that. There are several developers with their own versions of roms available depending on the model phone you have. Most (if not all) of them strip out the bloatware that the carrier adds on. With the recent release of 2.2, that vanilla rom is also available to flash to most android phones. Your best bet would be to browse the subforums for the specific model phone you want/have, Android Developers, and All Things Root if it includes your model.

 

[timm9]

Thank you again! I'm headed to the to the subfolders to get a better understanding/education.