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Root Worth the hassle?

A

Alex3

Lurker
Hi guys/girls,

I would appreciate your input on this. I am currently using a non-smartphone and have been given a HTC Desire A8181 as a hand-me-down. As a newcomer to smartphones, I would like to try basic apps like (don't laugh!) Whatsapp and Tinder. Unfortunately, I cannot install them, which I read might be due to the severely outdated android version (2.2.2) on my phone. As I tried to work-through guides on 'flashing a ROM', it seemed to me most are outdated. The first step, rooting the device, has been a hassle so far as Revoked won't download and revolutionary.io seems to be non-existent.

Is it still possible to flash a ROM on my phone, or is it so outdated that finding functional tools to do this will cost me ages? Is there an up-to-date guide? To end on a positive note: I have no data on this phone nor does anyone give a crap if it turns into a brick, so I can experiment.
 
Try revolutionary.io again in a few days. I've know them to go temporarily offline before. That said, we are talking about an old tool for a phone that hasn't been made for a long time, so sooner or later the site will disappear completely.

Depending on precisely which version you have (not the "2.2.x" but the actual software build) Unrevoked may not work anyway. The thread titles for our guides tell you at what version this occurs.

There is always another way: the official HTC bootloader unlock programme. You can find instructions for this at HTCDev.com. The main reason we've never recommended it here is because Revolutionary is better: it gives you something called "S-Off", i.e. it bypasses the security on the internal storage completely. This allows you to make deeper changes such as repartitioning the storage (to give yourself more space - if you have a compatible ROM). If you use the HTCDev unlock however you will no longer have this option: the unlock involves flashing a special version of the HTC software, and Revolutionary will no longer work after that. But if you cannot get hold of Revolutionary then the official unlock does unlock the bootloader, and once that it done you can flash a custom recovery as described in the revolutionary guide here. And once you have a custom recovery you can back up your existing ROM and flash a new one. So yes, even if both of those sites are dead it is still possible.

If you want to use a newer ROM (I guess 4.x based) then you'll probably also have to partition the SD card to give yourself enough space to install any apps (and some require this even for the ROM). Read the requirements of the ROM carefully before installing. I personally recommend using GParted for partitioning, or the custom recovery (4Ext is better for partitioning than other Desire recoveries) - Minitool Partition Wizard is frankly crap for extfs partitions.

I'm afraid I'm not online much this week, so sorry if this isn't much more than "yes, it is possible, here are a few things to Google"! Most of the revolutionary guide still applies even if you use HTCdev to unlock the bootloader rather than Revolutionary to gain S-Off, but as I say I'd give them a day or three and see whether they come back before giving up on them.
 
Thanks a lot for your lengthy response! It helps me a lot, as now I know what to Google for :) I will give revolutionary.io a few more days, as it sounds like a more general and flexible solution than HTCdev unlock. I intend to install a 4.x based ROM, so will need to partition I guess.Will let you know how it goes!
 
I asked around in my friend circle and managed to get another hand-me-down that has the new Android. Really wanted to get that old HTC to work, but post-college it is just a bad investment of time for a person that is not so computer savvy. Thanks for the help here!
 
No worries :)

My old Desire still works as a backup phone, but I run an old 2.3 ROM on it still - I feel that that is what works best on that hardware. So if you need a current OS then a newer phone is probably a better solution.
 
I haven't visited here in what seems like ages, when I was into rooting a few friends and I uploaded a shedfull of stuff to a shared Dropbox for this very purpose, I know I still or should still have back ups of a lot of the stuff you'll need, if someone can give me file names I may be able to provide you with fresh links. That is, if your still interested?

My sister is using my old Desire as a daily driver, I used Titanium back up to freeze the Market and I disabled all data, she seems very happy with it still.
 
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