Jazziette

ROOTING YOUR PHONE IS A WONDERFUL WAY TO MAKE IT MORE FUN AND WORK BETTER!

Sidenote: *After you have rooted your phone you may want to also perform the following procedure for an even better experience with your Huawei Ascend.

[ How To Install The Icarus MOD ]

WARNING: There is no advantage to rooting your phone unless you want to customize your phone using apps which require root or you want to improve the performance of your phone by removing unnecessary stock apps (bloatware) that came with your phone that you cannot uninstall otherwise or you want to add some that will only work on rooted phones. If you do not follow the instructions exactly as they are outlined you can cause your phone to malfunction or even not work at all. If you have any doubts about your ability to do this PLEASE STOP NOW!

Also - due to difficulties that some users have when restoring with Titanium Backup, it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you purchase the PAID FOR version of Titanium Backup and FREEZE the apps you want to remove rather than uninstall them. This is VERY important for those who are not technically savvy!!!

From the creator of this thread: I KNOW the following procedure works! But if you break your phone in the process, please do not blame me. Do this at your own risk!

ROOTING GUIDE:

CAVEAT: This will void your warranty!

1. First, enable USB Debugging on your phone.
(You can enable USB Debugging by opening Settings on your phone, selecting Applications, then Development, make sure the USB Debugging option has a bright checkmark beside it, a faded checkmark generally means it is disabled.)

2. Using your phone's browser go here and download the file Z4Root for 2.1 or GingerBreak for 2.2.

3. Save it to your phone.

4. If the download is unsuccessful, download the free app: Dolphin Mini Browser and try that. It should work.

5. If you don't see the app after it is installed, go to file manager in the app drawer and go to your sd card icon and go to the dolphin browser mini folder. You will find it there.

6. Open up z4root and when it asks for permissions, be sure to click on 'allow'.

7. Then do a PERMANENT root. You can always unroot later.

8. After you start the process your phone will turn off. This way you know it is working. When it turns back on it will be rooted. You can check to be sure by opening up z4root again and it will give you the option to: reroot

9. You have now finished rooting!

The Steps Hereafter Are On How To Delete Bloatware and Overclocking

IMPORTANT: Backup and FREEZE!!! Do not Uninstall!!!


Due to difficulties that some users have when restoring with Titanium Backup, it is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED that you purchase the PAID FOR version of Titanium Backup and FREEZE the apps you want to remove rather than uninstall them. This is VERY important for those who are not technically savvy!!!

PLEASE READ! IMPORTANT:

It is also highly recommended that you backup ALL System Apps and Data before you go any further, using Titanium Backup. (The Freeze option is only available on the Pro Ti-B/U). Once you have them all backed up, restore them all by clicking on back/up and restore tab and select batch and then select 'restore all missing apps and data'. After you have done this you are ready to proceed with either freezing or uninstalling the system apps that are safe to do so. Be sure to reboot after you restore before proceeding.

IMPORTANT: Before using Titanium Backup (nicknamed: Titu) please read this post by UBRocked (moderator here)! If you don't understand it you may want to think twice about uninstalling your STOCK APPS with it.

Also, here is a video tutorial further explaining how to use Titanium Backup:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cryu8bFXLJQ&feature=player_embedded#at=51

Backup and Restore using Titanium Backup (Attribute: UBRocked)

1. Download Titanium Backup Pro from the Market.

2. Open it and be sure to give it permissions by clicking on Allow.

3. Tap the tab in the middle that says Backup/Restore:

4. Back up any apps you want to FREEZE first. VERY IMPORTANT!

5. Follow the directions in the link above to backup and remove stock apps before you continue.

6. You can FREEZE just about any stock app that came with your phone that you do not use except the browsers, with Mobile Web being an exception. Also do NOT remov ANYTHING named google (e.g: google talk) In addition, especially for MetroPCS users, do not uninstall any of your stock email apps as it can create problems.

(See the second and third posts below this one for a complete list of things you can and cannot FREEZE, depending on who your carrier is: Cricket or MetroPCS.)

7. Next, download SetCPU or CPU Boost from the Market and reset your CPU to 600 Mhz.

That's it!

Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

~ Jazz

CAVEAT: This will void your warranty!

(However, you can always unroot it! )

Last edited by Scur; December 30th, 2011 at 07:43 AM. Reason: added gingerbreak link

joser116

This is a list of safe things to remove fom your Cricket Huawei Ascend:
IMPORTANT: Do not delete anything with the word Google in it!!
1) UNO
2) Midnight Bowling 2
3) Documents 2 Go
4) MyAccount
5) Storefront (Market does the same thing)
6) Mobile Web (the one with the K over it)
7) Poynt
8) Swype
9) Photobucket
10) Youtube
11) Canvas (Warning: This is your home screen. ONLY delete if you ALREADY have a home replacement app like Launcher Pro or ADW.Launcher)Note: After Canvas is uninstalled, restart the phone because you will get force closes.

Last edited by joser116; January 31st, 2011 at 11:46 PM.

Jazziette

Uninstalling Stock Apps if your phone is with MetroPCS

*IMPORTANT: Backup everything you are going to uninstall before you uninstall it!

Attribution: BURNER

Safe to delete:

Boingo
Uno
Pocket Express
Youtube
Docs to Go
Free Games
Loopt
Mocospace
Mobile Banking
Mobile IM
Virtual Card

DO NOT DELETE:

Mailmetro
Navigation
Easy Wifi
Metro Appstore
Nothing thats by google (VERY IMPORTANT!)
Google Mail
Gmail
Metro Mail

Last edited by Jazziette; January 12th, 2011 at 12:00 AM.

joser116

Lol thanks! Ur awesome

Jazziette

Thanks! I know!

We've really come a long way from our "locked thread"! LOL

QWEST

awesome just a lil advice maybe?? I would put the caveat at the top before anything lol just because I know there are a lot of people like me who dont read first and they just follow instructions and then when they are done and see the bottom the have doubts and might be p.o.'ed also I would add a link to another tutorial on how to enable usb debugging just so you wont get many future replies as to how its done. I'm sorry if I seem like a thread snob but i dont mean any harm :-p great job btw very useful

Jazziette

Very good idea! Thanks so much for the suggestion.

QWEST

no problem keep up the great work!

adriana27

Hi there! I have a few questions. I have a Huawei Ascend from MetroPCS and I live in Boston. Rooting your phone has something to do with the area you live?? I went to MetroPcs and asked about rooting to the "manager" of the store...he knew 0... The only thing the girl from the counter told me was that maybe the rooting was only for Florida cuz they have been there for 17 years...If this make any sense!!!
Since I am new to this I just want to make sure that I am not messing up my phone by rooting it . Also would I loose the app that I have already download?
Thanks!!

Jazziette

Hi! Rooting your phone is not anything that one just has to do. Your phone will work perfectly well for you without rooting it.

However, there are some advantages to rooting which is why many of us do it.

This is a good article on why to root:

Why you should root your Android

The Metro store would discourage you from rooting (if they knew about it) just because it does void your warranty. I don't care about this as I plan to buy the new Huawei IDEOS X5 or X6 as soon as Cricket gets them in mid-2011.

But after rooting the phone, it improves the performance and makes it run more smoothly and a little faster. The Ascend tends to lag, due to a lack of HP.

When you can remove unwanted apps (commonly referred to as Bloatware) it frees up your phone to run faster.

You can't remove stock apps (those that came with your phone) unless it has been rooted.

If you have any doubts I wouldn't do it until I had read more and felt more comfortable with performing these actions. But if you do and you have problems, there are those of us here who will be happy to help you.

MetroPCS will not be able to help you.

One thing you can do without rooting (if you haven't doen this already) is to get a new launcher from The Market. I recommend LauncherPro Plus. It will make you think you have a new phone!

As for the apps you have downloaded. It won't do anything to them. If you are concerned you can download Titanium Backup first and back them up.

I hope this helps! Good luck whatever your decision!

QWEST

I am using Go Launcher and it is pretty sweet i like the integrated task killer lol but one quick question what settings do you recommend having on SetCPU

Jazziette

I have mine set to 600 Mhz and just left the minimum at what it had 'on demand'.

Yeah...I hear GO Launcher is nice too!

KOLIO

I followed the STEP BY STEP ROOTING guide,my phone appears to operate quicker & smoother.Removed most of the cricKrud-ware,also removed GoogleTalk,probably shouldn't have,but it doesn't appear to have done any harm.Can I re-install Google talk,if needed to,for possible 2.2 update.

Jazziette

Congrats KOLIO!!! Thanks for sharing your results here.

As for Google Talk I'm happy to hear you're not having probs because of deleting it. Did you backup first? I haven't had the experience yet of uninstalling something I thought I might want but I don't think it's going to be a problem for you.

Someone here is working now on a Clockwork Recovery for the Ascend and it should be ready soon. Then you can just use that to go get the ROM manager from the Market and you can reinstall it that way if you need it. Maybe Joser will know more about it when he gets back online. Cheers!!!

KOLIO

Yes,backed-up everything first.Currently using CPU Boost,it was updated yesterday,now it gives you more than 2 choices of CPU Boost,along with separate screen on/off settings,to allow for less battery consumption.Pretty nice for a free app!

NY11725

That is really odd honestly, well, maybe not, did you uninstall gtalkservice or only gtalk itself? Because gtalkservice and gtalkprovider are the ones that will start throwing you force close errors, and stop you from getting emails and using the market.

KOLIO

Un-installed Google Talkprovider,Google Talkservice,& Talk.As I stated earlier,I probably shouldn't have,but @I'm not experiencing any problems so far.If I do,I will post so that no one else will make the same mistake.

NY11725

I have no idea how you are still able to use market, and get emails after deleting those. You are very very lucky my friend

KOLIO

Just downloaded Juice Defender from the market 5 min. ago and installed,no problems to report.

NY11725

Sweet, I love JD. I believe the free version is set up to check for emails and stuff every 30 min while the screen is off. You will notice when the screen if off for a minute or two and you make it turn on, while on the lock screen, you will notice you don't see 1X, or 3G next to your signal bars. Once you unlock, your 1X or 3G will come back, that is how it works with the data. When the screen is off, it turns off the data, and then turns it on for 1m every 30 min to check for emails and stuff, its amazing how much battery life you safe from just that alone. I LOVE IT

Jazziette

NY....I think that KOLIO has Cricket as his carrier. Even though the MetroPCS Ascend and Cricket Ascend are both made by Huawei, they are not the identical phone in that they are programmed differently by the carriers.

That could explain why KOLIO could delete google talk, etc. and not have any probs and yet I have seen MetroPCS users do the same and it backfired on them.

That's my best guess!

NY11725

Did not think of that, that could be it.

KOLIO

As I stated earlier,I probably should have NOT un-installed Gtalkservice,Gtalkprovider,or Talk.No ill results so far,I have no explaination for that,just fortunate.
We all do these things at our own risk,so if someones phone goes up in flames,just consider it to be a relatively inexpensive lesson.With that said,I thought I read something from Jazziette or Joser116 a day or two ago stating it's ok to remove Googletalk.If not,then my apologies,please.Please reply.
Yes,I am with Cricket.

Jazziette

No, we have actually stressed not to remove anything that was named google.

But I'm thinking that the way I worded the instructions up above on what not to remove and what you can remove could perhaps have confused you so I'm going to reword it for clarification purposes.

Thanks so much for bringing this to my attention!

KOLIO

I misread your earlier conversation,you said do not remove anything Google(Google Talk is an example).I misread "as an example" to be "as an exception".MY MISTAKE! Chalk that one up to insomnia & lack of ATTENTION TO DETAIL. Again,my apologies & THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN for all of your help.

Jazziette

I'm always happy to help someone as nice as you are!

KOLIO

While I got you on-line,just wanted to talk about Launcher Pro(free version). It was nice thr 1st 3 weeks of use,now(even before rooting),it has a LOT of lag,slow to respond,icons slow to appear at times.Was this your experience & do you recommend upgrading to the paid version?

NY11725

I do not encounter any of that with LP, weird

Jazziette

There have been some recent issues with the developer of LP. It made some longtime users really mad and they have vowed never to use LP again because of the way he caused the free version to expire and it created some horrible problems for a lot of users.

I began to use LP when this first started to happen and uninstalled it after one day because it seemed unstable to me. Then a few days later I decided to give it a second chance and purchased the pro version. I love it and I've never had a problem since. But I would be worried if I had the free version.

Hope that helps! I think that Federico (the developer) has probably learned his lesson but he definitely wants the users to BUY it and so he may have something in the free version that is slower just to make you go pro.

If you don't want to pro you might try GO launcher. I hear it's very good too but I haven't tried it. And to me a launcher is an important feature that needs to be dependable. Whichever route you go I'd opt for the Pro after you decide you like it.

On second thought..in lieu of what happened. Even if you want to keep LP I would uninstall the version you have and go back to the market and get the new updated one. That's probably what's causing you grief. But I still would eventually go pro if you like it.

Last edited by Jazziette; January 11th, 2011 at 12:06 AM.

Jazziette

How long have you had it, NY?

NY11725

Since I came back home with the refurb, and re-rooted. So, since Saturday, but I have not got any kind of expiration notices, or noticed any kind of lag using it. It's much better than the default launcher

Jazziette

Then you got the new updated free version, after the ruckus occurred with the old one.

There is a very long topic about it somewhere in the Android forum and people are hopping mad over it.

LauncherPro has been one of the most popular apps on the market and many felt absolutely betrayed by what happened.

I didn't have that much emotion invested in it so I stayed with LP+.

KOLIO

I will be putting some $ in my Cricket acct. tomorrow to purchase LP upgrade & a couple of other apps (A better task killer) ,I've tried lots of them(all free),some are better than others,but nothing that stands out over the rest.I like the Automatic Task killer,but it doesn't list all user apps,namely LP,even though it is clearly listed in my app library.
This may explain a lot of other problems people have with apps that work well and all of a sudden they don't.
I feel like now I have a "new" phone,thanks to your help.This phone should hold me over for a long time( in phone years,that is).Would like to see Cricket come out with something like the Blackberry Torch in Android,or like the Droid Pro. I had a Motorola QA30 HINT prior to getting the Ascend,I like the form & the physical keyboard,but it was a high-end dumb phone at best.After that,I vowed to never pay full price for ANY phone again.
I know I sound like I'm gushing,but anyway,THANK YOU ocne again JAZZIETTE!,you're as cool as the other side of the pillow.

Jazziette

LOL!!! Thanks so much KOLIO!!! That's the first time I've ever been told that! I take it as a supreme compliment.

Jazziette

Payton....please post here what step you are stuck on.

wpayton

Im stuck on step 8. My phone shut down & restarted now I can't find zroot to check option to reroot.

Jazziette

There you are. Thank you very much! One sec and I will begin to help you. Just wanted to let you know I'm here.

Jazziette

Okay. Let's go over this again. You were able to download Zroot and you saw it and you opened it and clicked on permanent and then it shut down and restarted?

wpayton

I am stuck on step 8. I can not find zroot after the phone restarted. Where do I look for it.

wpayton

Yes that is correct!

Jazziette

Open File Manager and click on the SD icon and look for it there.

it will be top right.

Jazziette

Payton...be sure to click allow each time it asks you so that you give it permissions.

Jazziette

Okay...it is probably rooted then. You just need to find it and open it up. If it is rooted it will give you the option to re-root. You don't need to do that. Just close it up once you have made sure you are rooted. And then proceed to the next steps to remove bloatware etc.

wpayton

Thank you! I found it. So yeah I'm done!

Jazziette

Great! Good work!

Now....follow the rest of the steps and whatever you do PLEASE do not delete anything you shouldn't.

Tell me what carrier you have and I will give you a list of things you can safely uninstall and things you shouldn't.

Metro or Cricket?

wpayton

Cricket. And I have already done all the steps. This is a bunch of crap.you have to pay for the cpu download & then want download. I wouldn't advice anybody to do this!

Robbdoe1

DL Overclock Widget from the App store. It is free and got me to the full 600Mhz the processor is capable of. I went from 528Mhz to 600Mhz and it is faster. Plus it is a tiny program. Remember to allow permissions.

Robb

Jazziette

I'm glad you were able to complete all the steps. What message do you get when you try to download SetCPU?

503droid

Well after poking around here yesterday I took the plunge and rooted my phone. I know NOTHING about these things but was able to do it all in about 5 minutes. It was so painless....I read the instructions above twice and went for it.

I have added Titanium and removed my bloatware per the above instructions and overclocked via CPUTuner. Everything is going well so far (knock on wood) My next adventure is rooting ( ) through the apps and adding some to mess around with. I am still on the hunt for the best audio player. I tried PowerAmp but didn't like the controls.....something about those knobs wasn't right for me. I am an audiophile and quite particular about my audio so figuring out these crappy volume levels from this thing are very high on my "to do" list.

adriana27

Wow this sounds great! I a going to try the LauncherPro Plus, first and I will probably root my phone after that... I don't know why I am scared..