Yet another iPhone refugee asking about rooting

[Kalzenith]

Hey guys, so i purchased a Samsung Galaxy S2X yesterday, it was just released in canada a few days ago. My goal is to install custom themes, and enable taking screenshots, but i dont have ANY idea what i am doing when it comes to rooting or installing themes. Is there a specific procedure for rooting for each model of phone, or is it a rather general procedure that blankets all android devices?

Would anyone be generous enough to direct me to a step by step guide to rooting for dummies? Or would anyone be willing to write one?

Thanks in advance.

 

[jerofld]

Galaxy S2 (International) - All Things Root - Android Forums

There's a sticky at the top that will guide you through it.

 

[Kalzenith]

Wow that was quick, thank you very much, i just have 2 more questions though.

First: are you sure that the galaxy s2x is the same thing as the galaxy s2 international? (ive just never heard it called that before)

Second: ive found some very simple rooting instructions thanks to you, but is there any way to "factory reset" my phone if things go sideways?

 

[Mada]

Wikipedia:

International mostly means something (a company, language or organization) that involves more than one country. The term international as a word means involvement of, interaction between or encompassing more than one nation, or generally beyond national boundaries. For example, international law, which is applied by more than one country over the world, and international language which is a language spoken by residents of more than one country.

You should be able to do a factory reset. I have the Samsung Galaxy S (first generation) and it's under Menu>Setting>Privacy. If it's not under privacy or you don't have a privacy selection, look around the other choices and see if you can find it. If you have someone like "Phone Settings" it might be under there.

 

[chanchan05]

1. No need to root to get custom themes for your phone. You just need the right widgets and apps and icon packs and launcher.
2. No need to root also to get screen shots. For Galaxy S2, just hold power and home at the same time and it will do a screen shot.

 

[Yeahha]

First: are you sure that the galaxy s2x is the same thing as the galaxy s2 international? (ive just never heard it called that before)

Yes, unless you purchased the pone from one of the US carriers it is set up that way here on AF

Second: ive found some very simple rooting instructions thanks to you, but is there any way to "factory reset" my phone if things go sideways?

If you root you should be able to unroot if you need to, doing a factory reset if you rom is not returning your phone to how it was stock but wiping your /data partition on the internal memory. If you choose to root then returning to a non root status is a different process but I believe it is possible on all phones.

 

[Slug]

are you sure that the galaxy s2x is the same thing as the galaxy s2 international? (ive just never heard it called that before)

The "International" moniker isn't an official designation, but something we added here on AF to differentiate the original GSM version sold outside the US from the carrier-specific variants marketed by AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. Each has subtle but important differences so it made sense to create specific sections. Looks like we now have to decide whether the S2X is yet another variation on the same theme, or a renaming of an existing one.

 

[jerofld]

The "International" moniker isn't an official designation, but something we added here on AF to differentiate the original GSM version sold outside the US from the carrier-specific variants marketed by AT&T, Sprint and Verizon. Each has subtle but important differences so it made sense to create specific sections. Looks like we now have to decide whether the S2X is yet another variation on the same theme, or a renaming of an existing one.

OMG, you guys are slacking!!! There's only like 20 different GS2 variants now, sheesh!

 

[lilotimz]

I think the GS2X is from Telux and is a close relative of the Tmobile version (if not the same) with the qualcomm cpu.

 

[Kalzenith]

1. No need to root to get custom themes for your phone. You just need the right widgets and apps and icon packs and launcher.

yeah i figured this out. Im using ADW launcher, im not hapy with the fact that i cant make folders to organize my app list, but i like it more than the default launcher. Ive also found themes for it, but i cant figure out how to apply them.

2. No need to root also to get screen shots. For Galaxy S2, just hold power and home at the same time and it will do a screen shot.

You just blew my mind. I found out that i could use an app to take screenshots without root, but i didnt know there was something built into the OS. Thank you.


Thanks everyone, from what ive learned, i dont know if i have enough reasons to bother to root, ive cofigured my phone almost entirely to my liking now. The only thing left that is bothering me is my lockscreen sometimes seems to forget to appear. It shows the default lockscreen and then the custom one pops up a second late.

 

[novox77]

Re: folder creation under ADW: if you're talking about the apps in your app drawer, the best you can do is label them under categories. Then you can display by category. Not quite the same, but it does solve the problem of hiding the icons you rarely or never use.

If you mean folders on the homescreen, ADW most definitely can do this, so I assume you were referring to the former use-case.

 

[chanchan05]

yeah i figured this out. Im using ADW launcher, im not hapy with the fact that i cant make folders to organize my app list, but i like it more than the default launcher. Ive also found themes for it, but i cant figure out how to apply them.

Go Launcher can do folders in the app drawer, but what I did was use 15 icons on a scrollable dock at the bottom of the screen, and make folders for the apps there. I usually dont bother opening the app drawer anymore.