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Which phone, and can I restore from old phone

T

Term

Newbie
Hi Guys,

been due an upgrade for a while,

trouble is, I currently have a HTC Desire HD, rooted and customized exactly how I like it :)

I looked at the following phones

Sony Xperia Z
HTC One
Samsung Galaxy S4



The HTC One, just feels like a downgrade in terms of the menus etc, and I hate that you cant remove the endlessly updating social feed thing.

The Xperia looks a decent phone, but wondered if anyone has any opinions either way ?

The Samsung looks to be a good option too, but I dont really like the external design.



I tend to use my phone for gaming, internet, camera and txting.


Thoughts and opinions appreciated.


Also, how easy/hard would it be to root each of the 3 phones, and how easy/hard would it be to re-instate all my current games (30+) on the new phone from my old, as I dont want to loose my scores etc.


thanks as always guys,
 
If you don't like a feature of the HTC One, then I'd put it out of consideration. That's only if you don't want to flash a custom ROM. Maybe flash a Touchwiz ROM on the HTC One? :p
Edit: Forgot about launchers. Silly me :o

I've heard the Xperia Z is a decent phone. I don't know how the dev community is with the phone however.

I'd say all 3 phones are easy to root seeing how they are the phone's flagship for this year. I will say that the HTC One and Galaxy S4's dev community will probably be larger than the Xperia Z, just because Sony isn't marketed in the US very well.
As for reinstalling your game data, you can use titanium backup and copy & paste the backup files from your old phone to your new. Or try this app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quintstoffers.DataSync&hl=en

If you want to see people's opinions on the One vs S4, check this thread out:
http://androidforums.com/device-carrier-comparisons/716179-help-s4-htc-one.html
 
Well once rooted you can transfer and install Titanium backups (works for most apps most of the time in my experience). Or if your DHD is running an ICS or JB ROM you could try a Helium backup, which doesn't require the new phone to be rooted. I transferred a few game progress files that way from my old Desire to my One recently (had to load a JB ROM to make the backup first ;)).

You lose Blinkfeed on the One if you use a 3rd party launcher, so if it annoys you that's not a problem. I've not rooted mine yet (prefer to give it a week or so to make sure there are no issues, though that time's nearly up ;)) but as there are now 2 S-Off methods for that phone it can't be that hard - the HTCDev way is easy enough anyway.
 
hmm, just cant make up my mind lol

If I could get the HTC to have better menus etc, maybe see if there is Leedroid for the HTC?
I like the menus on the galaxy, but the actual phone isn't as nice imo
 
think the menus and interface is very basic, 3x4 or 4x4 icons on a black background etc, its boring and basic compared to some of the others, and certainly not as good as I have at the moment.
 
fair enough, I am still learning about this type of thing, not very confident about rooting etc,
 
Term said:
think the menus and interface is very basic, 3x4 or 4x4 icons on a black background etc, its boring and basic compared to some of the others, and certainly not as good as I have at the moment.
Click to expand...
That's the app drawer, not the launcher. It's just like any other app drawer except when you first open it the clock is at the top, which I suppose does make it look more like a homescreen. :)

Sense 5 gives you their blinkfeed page plus up to 4 conventional homepages. And as has been said, you can just choose a different launcher from the Play Store if you prefer (I'm running Apex Pro at the moment).
 
i c
I wish I could have a good play with one to see how close I can get it to being how I like it.
Have you rooted yours Hadron ?
 
Well I opted for the HTC One, and glad I did, I can get it totally how I like it with a new launcher. Now I just need to find a company to root it, and I can reinstate all my old games !! :)
 
I rooted my DHD, but it was using AAHK,

Rooting the HTC One seems a lot more manual and far harder, so I'd be more than willing to pay someone to do it, as I dont want to loose 40+ games.
But I need to find someone in the north of England to do it, do you know anyone?
 
As long as you haven't accepted the 4.2.2 update it's really easy to do with no data loss using revone. Not a "one click", but download one file, push it to the phone, send a couple of commands via adb and you are S-Off and bootloader unlocked. Then use a custom recovery to flash one file and you're rooted.

If you are on 4.2.2 it requires following a few instructions from HTC to unlock the bootloader, but that will wipe the phone, so backup first.

The guide sounds a lot when you first read it, but that's partly because Scotty has tried to cover everything, including all of the options, rather than just sketch it out. Try reading again with the idea that there are basically 3 steps: unlock bootloader, install a custom recovery, use that to root, and maybe it will seem clearer.

BTW do you need root to keep the game data? If the DHD is on 4 or higher you could try backing up with Helium and restoring on the One.
 
Term said:
I rooted my DHD, but it was using AAHK,

Rooting the HTC One seems a lot more manual and far harder, so I'd be more than willing to pay someone to do it, as I dont want to loose 40+ games.
But I need to find someone in the north of England to do it, do you know anyone?
Click to expand...

Scotland good? Funky (a member here) said his dream job was to root phones for a living. Lol. He's from there.
 
Hadron said:
As long as you haven't accepted the 4.2.2 update it's really easy to do with no data loss using revone. Not a "one click", but download one file, push it to the phone, send a couple of commands via adb and you are S-Off and bootloader unlocked. Then use a custom recovery to flash one file and you're rooted.

If you are on 4.2.2 it requires following a few instructions from HTC to unlock the bootloader, but that will wipe the phone, so backup first.

The guide sounds a lot when you first read it, but that's partly because Scotty has tried to cover everything, including all of the options, rather than just sketch it out. Try reading again with the idea that there are basically 3 steps: unlock bootloader, install a custom recovery, use that to root, and maybe it will seem clearer.

BTW do you need root to keep the game data? If the DHD is on 4 or higher you could try backing up with Helium and restoring on the One.
Click to expand...


Yeh, I tried Helium, but the DHD cant run it, presume its not 4.2.2 ?
:(
 
Term said:
how hard is it to get it so its 4 or higher ?
Click to expand...
What's it currently running?

If it isn't already, there will be custom ROMs that are. Of course if you need to change ROM you'll have to back up, wipe, install the ROM and restore your data - straightforward if you've done it a few times before, a touch more daunting the first time. Don't try it until you are sure you understand the procedure, and make sure you take a backup from recovery (a nandroid backup) as well as a Titanium backup before starting.
 
think it'd be easier rooting my one, then just using titanium,
just need to get someone to do it, or grow a pair and attempt it myself
 
Hadron said:
As long as you haven't accepted the 4.2.2 update it's really easy to do with no data loss using revone. Not a "one click", but download one file, push it to the phone, send a couple of commands via adb and you are S-Off and bootloader unlocked. Then use a custom recovery to flash one file and you're rooted.
Click to expand...

I watched this

How to Gain S-OFF on the HTC One with Revone - YouTube

and he says my phone needs to be rooted before using revone ?

totally confused now.... :(

argh I'm dying to get my phone up and running and I feel further away now then ever :(
 
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