The Android Discussion Thread

[Skater]

On a related note, I dropped my Galaxy S3 on the pavement outside the Emirates Stadium a couple of weeks ago and look how much of the phone had to be replaced!

 

[zeustrojanstark]

I just flashed my Galaxy Note N7000 to Cyanogen mod 4.2.2 nightely and now when i download playstore.apk its not opening.I am unable to sync my gmail contacts.Please help!

 

[BlitzBerg]

Did you flash gapps? If you have, then you should have play store installed. Also if you don't know much about how things work, avoid installing nightlys. They're WIPs.

 

[SaiSrini]

Until I get a Nexus phone, I am done with all the bloated versions of Android. Back to iOS right now (and the iPhone). The Android on Samsung's and others (except for the vanilla Android of the Nexus) SUCKS!! Too much of tweaks to do, and it takes an eternity to get an experience that you want. Had the Galaxy S3 and tried so many custom ROM's but always had some issue or the other. Then went back to the stock ROM, and that too had issues (never allowed me to call two people one after another in quick time).

iOS might not have as much options as Android, but its buttery smooth, reliable and easy.

 

[zeustrojanstark]

Did you flash gapps? If you have, then you should have play store installed. Also if you don't know much about how things work, avoid installing nightlys. They're WIPs.

Resolved now.I booted a wrong version of gapps.Now all are fine.Totally a new experience.

 

[AbhishekS]

Until I get a Nexus phone, I am done with all the bloated versions of Android. Back to iOS right now (and the iPhone). The Android on Samsung's and others (except for the vanilla Android of the Nexus) SUCKS!! Too much of tweaks to do, and it takes an eternity to get an experience that you want. Had the Galaxy S3 and tried so many custom ROM's but always had some issue or the other. Then went back to the stock ROM, and that too had issues (never allowed me to call two people one after another in quick time).

This is why I'm a Nexus guy!

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I booted a wrong version of gapps.Now all are fine.Totally a new experience.

I never knew one could boot gapps too!

 

[JG1995]

Awesome release.

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I have gingerbread on my new Samsung Galaxy Grand.

 

[zeustrojanstark]

This is why I'm a Nexus guy!

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I never knew one could boot gapps too!

You need to place that .zip in the sd card and install it and then reboot the phone.Maybe i said it in a line which looked wrong!

 

[BlitzBerg]

IMO, only Sony customizes Android very well. I simply love their Timescape user interface. As per looks, HTC Sense 5 kills that though. TouchWiz looks very very average. LG UI sucks big time.

If its only lags that irritate you, why not simply remove bloatware and hunt for tweaks? Also, do you use task killers? They eventually do nothing but force restart of the processes you killed, which instead takes up more RAM and slows down your system in the long run. Try force closing unwanted apps instead.

 

[Gurjot95]

I have gingerbread on my new Samsung Galaxy Grand.

That's sad because the last time I saw, Samsung shipped Galaxy Grand with jelly bean out of the box.

 

[Dipak]

Rooting an Android

Few of my friends have done it and they enjoy a lot of features like different fonts, better UI etc. I have done some research but still I'm in two minds. I own an HTC incredible S

My questions are:

1) Is it legal?
2) Is it worth all the risks (has someone tried it?
3) If I mess up, what is the way out?

 

[vaibhavtewatia]

I havn't tried. But yes, i won't suggest to root it in your warranty period though.
But then these days you can root as well as unroot simultaneously.
About the legality, never heard of anyone getting a stick on it.
But yes, you better do alot of research before trying even a 1 percent of it.
I own a HTC Desire X, and I will probably root it after the warranty period gets over.

 

[kashan123999]

From wiki (Not sure whether it is absolutely correct)

Legality
Australia
Rooting of any device is legal if the purpose is to run legal apps.
[edit]Europe
The Free Software Foundation Europe argues that it is legal to root or flash any device. According to the European Directive 1999/44/CE, replacing the original operating system with another does not void the statutory warranty that covers the hardware of the device for two years unless the seller can prove that the modification caused the defect.[18]
[edit]United States
On July 26, 2010, the United States Copyright Office announced a new exemption making it officially legal to root a device and run unauthorized third-party applications, as well as the ability to unlock any cell phone for use on multiple carriers.
On October 28, 2012, the US Copyright Office updated their exemption policies. The rooting of smartphones continues to be legal "where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of [lawfully obtained software] applications with computer programs on the telephone handset." However, the U.S. Copyright office refused to extend this exemption to tablets, arguing that the term "tablets" is broad and ill-defined, and an exemption to this class of devices could have unintended side effects.

 

[Gurjot95]

You can ask me whatever you want for Android because I have experienced in these things for some time. Rooting is indeed a great technique to do almost anything on your phone. You can overclock processor with required kernel, tweaks, performance, Custom ROM's, themes, modifications etc. It effectively makes your budget phone have all the features of high end phone without paying anything extra. For your question-

1. Different regions have it's own laws about jailbreaking (don't know about rooting an android but I guess the rules are same) and it's legal in most of the countries including India. You can read whole Wikipedia article on it.
2. Yes, absolutely!
3. Yes, unless your phone is Hard bricked, you can recover from anything by just flashing a new ROM. Most of the Custom ROM you'll find are w/o bootloaders so there is no issue of Hard bricking too.

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PS: Rooting will void your warranty, but you can always unroot at any time to get back. If you're living in India then forget it because they don't even care to check whether the phone is rooted or not. I once handed my phone to Samsung Service Center with CynagenMod install and they didn't even questioned me once

 

[BlitzBerg]

My questions are:

1) Is it legal?
2) Is it worth all the risks (has someone tried it?
3) If I mess up, what is the way out?

1) Yes. Rooting an Android phone is LEGAL worldwide, 'coz you aren't playing with the legal stuff by simply rooting a phone.
2) Yes. Majority of the users root their phone. The only disadvantage is you lose warranty.
3) Unless you misread/do not follow steps correclty, there's no way you are to have your phone bricked.(Hard Brick -> beyond recovery). Otherwise, you can simply flash it back to stock anytime.
Generally a hard brick happens only if you're short of battery charge/you have a faulty cable while flashing, or you overclock/play with the flash memory too much.
Quite unlikely for you to mess up rooting your phone.

And to the others, Rooting Android is not the same as Jailbreaking iOS.