Tell me why I should Root my EVO

[EVOtravis]

I understand the process of rooting my EVO, but I'm still somewhat unsure why I would want to do this.

What are the advantages, pro's, con's of rooting? What things will a rooted phone do that an unrooted phone can't?

 

[sailrace]

The main benefit is for the ability to do things with ROM's that you can't do without root.

Flashing custom ROM's that some great chef's have put togehter can make the phone much more customizable and user friendly. It can get rid of the Sprint bloatware programs that no one uses. It allows access to the system files for programs that wouldn't have access.

most importantly, to me, it allows the use of WIFI tether.

Some of the ROMs out there really do a great job of maximizing the performance of the phone. I use Fresh 0.3, and the phone is so much faster, programs start quicker, screens change is snappier. Just all around better performance with no real negative that I can determine so far.

 

[jadoe05]

The only cons that I can think of is you have to unroot before taking it to Sprint.

The pros are numerous, and there are threads out there about them, so I will mention some.

the number one pro is the ability to install custom roms

There are some apps that require root access.

You need to root to do some advanced theme changes to Android

Rooting will allow for backups of your phone.

As I said there are more but this what I will leave you with for now.

at the end of the day its totally up to you and some peoples minds can't be changed, but if you are really into making the phone you own I suggest rooting and learning about the things you can do to/for your phone.

HTC EVO FTW!!!!

 

[EVOtravis]

great stuff guys, thanks. what's the best source for a noob to start learning how to flash custom roms?

is the best way to root....to use unrevoked w/ overclock widget?

 

[Dreamliner]

Geek For Me – Sprint Evo 4g & CDMA Hero

 

[sag7392]

I understand the process of rooting my EVO, but I'm still somewhat unsure why I would want to do this.

What are the advantages, pro's, con's of rooting? What things will a rooted phone do that an unrooted phone can't?

Rooting and flashing custom ROM's is something I'm on the fence with as well. I'm not afraid, just uneducated. Thankfully, there is plenty of help available.

I've coming from the Blackberry world and I didn't hesitate to try leaked, official, or even hybrid O/S's. It's just stepping into the Android world, will cause me to rethink the approach. It really doesn't seem that difficult either.

So I'm thinking of waiting until after 2.2 is released and then getting crazy. That should give me enough time to educate myself fully, without a higher chance of bricking my baby on the first go round.

But I certainly appreciate the help and peer support with this O/S...I'm an Android loving fool !

 

[Drugs Delaney]

The only cons that I can think of is you have to unroot before taking it to Sprint.

Can you expand this point? This is where I'm unclear.

Does rootiing the phone void the warranty?

Does it effect my sprint insurance coverage at all?

I know with other things that I rooted (PSP), the warranty was killed the second I hacked it.

Thanks!

 

[kencrudup]

I won't root 'cause so far, all the ROMs have caveats; there's always something that doesn't work (or work completely).

Are there EVO ROMs that are feature-complete out there?

BTW, unused Sprint apps don't do anything much worth worrying about if they're not being used. I never did get the "remove the bloatware" crowd, esp on these phones- we have plenty of space.

 

[hitekalex]

I won't root 'cause so far, all the ROMs have caveats; there's always something that doesn't work (or work completely).

Are there EVO ROMs that are feature-complete out there?

Fresh 0.3 is pretty flawless. It's basically the stock Sprint ROM minus the bloat.

BTW, unused Sprint apps don't do anything much worth worrying about if they're not being used. I never did get the "remove the bloatware" crowd

Not completely true.. Get Task Manager and look at your running apps - you will see miscellaneous Sprint crap (like Sprint NFL) running in the background. They are taking up some of your phone resources for no reason whatsoever. I also get sick just looking at all the useless app icons in my launcher. So I like the idea of a clean and fresh EVO, which you won't achieve without root.

 

[kencrudup]

Thanks about the ROM, but are there any improvements in Fresh 0.3 except removal of the Sprint stuff?

Just 'cause you can see a process via "ps" (or a Taskmanager, etc.) doesn't mean it's doing anything other than sitting harmlessly in memory and not getting any CPU (just like many Android-system built-ins, but nobody complains about them).

 

[jadoe05]

The only cons that I can think of is you have to unroot before taking it to Sprint.

Can you expand this point? This is where I'm unclear.

Does rootiing the phone void the warranty?

Does it effect my sprint insurance coverage at all?

I know with other things that I rooted (PSP), the warranty was killed the second I hacked it.

Thanks!

To answer your question. Yes it does void the warranty. I struggled with that point all the way back when I was hacking my HTC mogul.

The things that let me get over it are that if anything goes wrong with my phone software wise I can fix it or come to the forums and get help. The second thing is with Android you can easily unroot your phone in case you absolutely have to go to Sprint.

Thanks about the ROM, but are there any improvements in Fresh 0.3 except removal of the Sprint stuff?

Just 'cause you can see a process via "ps" (or a Taskmanager, etc.) doesn't mean it's doing anything other than sitting harmlessly in memory and not getting any CPU (just like many Android-system built-ins, but nobody complains about them).

That works both ways my friend. Just because it looks like it is just stock minus Sprint crApps doesn't mean that that is it. It has been customized to make the phone faster and have better battery life.

HTC EVO FTW!!!!

 

[hitekalex]

Thanks about the ROM, but are there any improvements in Fresh 0.3 except removal of the Sprint stuff?

Yes, it includes a number of performance and battery optimizations (like PNG compression in APKs). As a result, your EVO will be more responsive and the battery will last longer.

Just 'cause you can see a process via "ps" (or a Taskmanager, etc.) doesn't mean it's doing anything other than sitting harmlessly in memory and not getting any CPU (just like many Android-system built-ins, but nobody complains about them).

Idle apps that load on startup still consume memory resources (even if they don't actively consume CPU cycles). Again, why should I have Sprint NFL or Amazon MP3 Store apps sitting in the background? I have zero use for them, and they have no business being on my phone.

 

[drksilenc]

Fresh 0.3 is pretty flawless. It's basically the stock Sprint ROM minus the bloat.



Not completely true.. Get Task Manager and look at your running apps - you will see miscellaneous Sprint crap (like Sprint NFL) running in the background. They are taking up some of your phone resources for no reason whatsoever. I also get sick just looking at all the useless app icons in my launcher. So I like the idea of a clean and fresh EVO, which you won't achieve without root.

they arnt actually running. there sitting in memory que which can be freed up at any time by the os itself thats the problem with task killers is there not needed

 

[RyboCollier]

I rooted my phone last night and so far Im not impressed. My main issue with Fresh is that the SD card issue is back and there is no fix (from what I've read). If I'm wrong will someone point me in the right direction but as it stands right now I havent been able to find any updates to run with fresh.

 

[jadoe05]

I rooted my phone last night and so far Im not impressed. My main issue with Fresh is that the SD card issue is back and there is no fix (from what I've read). If I'm wrong will someone point me in the right direction but as it stands right now I havent been able to find any updates to run with fresh.

Could you be a little more specific? What is this SD card issue? I am running fresh and I have had no problems yet.

Second you said your main issue. What other issues are you having?

Third remember that fresh is just one of the custom roms that you can try, I like it the best but, to each his/her own.

Lastly, remember that installing custom roms isn't the only reason to root ;-)

HTC EVO FTW!!!!

 

[RyboCollier]

Could you be a little more specific? What is this SD card issue? I am running fresh and I have had no problems yet.

HTC EVO FTW!!!!

Sure, no problem! I rooted my phone using the unrevoked method last night(followed the rooting for idiots thread in the root sub forum) and I installed Fresh 0.1d. I didn't have time to continue the root and eventually install Fresh 0.3.

The SD card issue I'm referring to is the very same issue that stock Evos were experiencing at launch right before HTC released the OTA update to correct it. Throughout the day my phone will/will not see the SD card. If I reboot the phone it will fix it temporarily and then it will go right back to the same problem.

I'm not sure what the issue is, I have a hunch that it might be because I'm running 0.1 and not the latest version of Fresh but I havent been able to have anyone confirm this for me.

Edit: I didnt have this issue prior to rooting the phone because I installed the update.

 

[jadoe05]

Sure, no problem! I rooted my phone using the unrevoked method last night(followed the rooting for idiots thread in the root sub forum) and I installed Fresh 0.1d. I didn't have time to continue the root and eventually install Fresh 0.3.

This might be your issue right here. Idk if the latest version of unrevoked is out. On top of that I don't know what the changes are. That being said, I could be way off base so I apologize in advance.

If the unrevoked that you used is the older version, then it was not the right one to use. In order to run fresh properly, you must have your phone fully rooted via the toast method which means rooted and nand unlock. Also if you are coming from any Rom other than fresh(which includes you) you must wipe data and dalvik cache. Go over to the forum at xda and check out the rooting process from toast and check out how to install fresh. Hope I helped.

HTC EVO FTW!!!!

 

[RyboCollier]

This might be your issue right here. Idk if the latest version of unrevoked is out. On top of that I don't know what the changes are. That being said, I could be way off base so I apologize in advance.

If the unrevoked that you used is the older version, then it was not the right one to use. In order to run fresh properly, you must have your phone fully rooted via the toast method which means rooted and nand unlock. Also if you are coming from any Rom other than fresh(which includes you) you must wipe data and dalvik cache. Go over to the forum at xda and check out the rooting process from toast and check out how to install fresh. Hope I helped.

HTC EVO FTW!!!!

I would think that I used the latest version of the unrevoked method because I rooted last night. I know that I have fresh version 0.1 installed right now because when I started my phone it played the "Fresh" sound. It even shows it under my phone information. I havent unlocked NAND yet and I was going to do that today once I got home to get 0.3 installed.

 

[jadoe05]

Ok maybe I didn't see that you had .1 of fresh. For that I will say thats definitely part of your problem. There are reasons for updates and there were several issues with .1.

As far as unrevoked, I am sure you have the latest as of last night, but I thought I saw an update of unrevoked this afternoon. And even still I'm not sure if it allows you to attain full root.

Given this new info I understand more why you have issues, but my recommendation is still the same. Start over with the toast method of full root and removal of nand protection. Then wipe data and dalvik (just to be safe). Then install .3.

HTC EVO FTW!!!!

 

[EarlyMon]

they arnt actually running. there sitting in memory que which can be freed up at any time by the os itself thats the problem with task killers is there not needed

OK. I'm an Evo owner, fully rooted.

That stuff that loads up in the background and gets well-managed anyway?

Yes, true on my old Moment.

The Evo - different story.

The Android resource manager is said, in some forums, to not be terribly effective with the higher speed phones, and my experience confirms that.

Pulling up nothing more than SystemPanelLite, I've watched those harmless apps wake up, spike CPU speed (yeah - the Snapdragon is a variable speed CPU, so when it has more to do, it runs faster (woot! gives appearance of nothing in the background costing you anything)) but that means it's drawing more power. Oh - that larger memory - yeah, let's leave all the bloat hanging around in there. And how about some of them *seem* to want to phone home any chance they get?

Without Automatic Task Cleaner Pro (don't use ATK)(*) and Startup Cleaner 2.0, my memory consumption was something over 70% at full startup, 90% by the end of a half day. After those, at bootup, memory consumption was just over 50%, and would rise up to 70%.

And at that point, my battery life improved greatly.

Rooted, with the bloat removed, I don't worry about any of that - and performance is great.

And because I like to be conservative, I do thing in stages.

I'm running the stock unrooted ROM, same look and feel as before. Maybe I'll go to Fresh, maybe I'll try something else. I can take my time now.

Here are the foolproof instructions I followed (with links for stock rom or Fresh):

[TUTORIAL] IDIOT-PROOF Root Guide! NAND Unlock and ADB Update!! - xda-developers

Two caveats:

1. After this, you'll be at rev xxx.1 - and your phone may want to try an OTA update to xxx.6 - don't do that. Instead, go to post 202 on page 11 or 12 and follow the instructions for the download/update to that.

2. If you go with the stock rom, they don't tell you that you can use Titanium Backup to also backup your desktop - and if you have 7 spaces worth of customizations to your look and feel, you want that. Do it right after your user app backup instruction (do not back up all apps - just user, btw). Instructions here:

Possible to backup yout HTC Sense "Scene" - xda-developers

Now - much of the info I've pointed at will point at the sites already referenced here. So, I'm not disputing the other advice. I'm simply suggesting that the Idiot's Guide is the one that worked for me.

Be patient. Follow instructions to the exact letter. You will succeed.

While I'm on about battery life, here is EarlyMon's condensed simple list of things to do about that:

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g...ow-what-causing-battery-drain.html#post993457

(*) Footnote - the reasons that I support ATCPro, not ATK -

1. No funny stuff, things force closing, when using ATCPro

2. Uses way less battery than ATK - can be set to simply kill apps when screen sleeps - less agressive than ATK that way.

3. Gentler, more conservative, but very effective in my experience. Here's my thread on that with a bit of advice on apps to assassinate - and actually consider just removing when rooted:

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-4g/102336-real-app-startup-control.html

I am not Mr. Android Expert, nor as experienced as others - but this is what worked for me, firsthand idiot, successfully - nothing more.

 

[EarlyMon]

Sure, no problem! I rooted my phone using the unrevoked method last night(followed the rooting for idiots thread in the root sub forum) and I installed Fresh 0.1d. I didn't have time to continue the root and eventually install Fresh 0.3.....

Others are covering Fresh, I just have one question.

When you went to the idiot's thread in the root sub-forum - if you're talking about the one at the top of these pages, you did note to follow the big green link at the top taking you to the xda forum - the one I've just pointed to above, yes? Because he ran out of space here and those instructions are in no way complete.

I know - I'm such an idiot I didn't do that the first time. No success, only thought I was fully rooted. No NAND, no radio update, etc, etc.

Just making sure, Robo, just making sure.

 

[EarlyMon]

Given this new info I understand more why you have issues, but my recommendation is still the same. Start over with the toast method of full root and removal of nand protection. Then wipe data and dalvik (just to be safe). Then install .3.

Just so no one thinks I'm giving different advice - the xda idiot instructions are the graphical version of toast's method - use whichever suits your skill set.

(I've been doing unix since 1983, and I still went with the toast/TheBiles idiot guide. )

 

[jadoe05]

Right which is why I don't understand why he was using unrevoked. If you use "short cuts" or mix the two you may get some bad results.

HTC EVO FTW!!!!

 

[EarlyMon]

Right which is why I don't understand why he was using unrevoked. If you use "short cuts" or mix the two you may get some bad results.

I was back and forth on the whole idea of rooting until I got my Evo.

So, as a newbie to Android rooting this month, I started seeing lots of posts about how it simple it was - and that made me suspicious because I didn't see all of the instructions aligning.

Then, I found (firsthand, by running dog-housed) that the two different adb packages - evo-recovery and the straight one from Android dev - have different adb servers. That sort of thing made me nervous, so I decided to follow the instructions in this forum.

I even thought I'd read the warning at the top.

But - when you're nervous about bricking your phone and you're the diligent type - easy to over-constrain and mis-read.

I didn't get that the big, green letters were a web link - they were totally non-standard.

So, as a (very!) old hand at code, including systems code, I waltzed right in - and promptly followed the wrong path.

It was easy for me to screw up, it must be easy for other newbies to screw up.

Unlike similar situations, rooting instructions for Android don't flow to one place - they're copied and not up to date all over the place.

Unless I've missed it, no one presents a functional diagram of the modular architectural components, numbered, and says, "this set of steps will impact part 1 of the diagram...." - etc.

It all seems rote, with interruptions in the middle of the process to then suggest the latest and greatest rom, courtesy of a post edit. That should be squarely decided upon ahead of time.

I am in no way knocking the VERY FINE volunteers who've worked their butts off to make my life better, believe me.

I'm just saying that I understand how a newbie gets lost.

I think the things I did wrong were my fault, to be sure.

So, I'm trying to think of these ideas to improve the process for the next newbie like me.

 

[kencrudup]

The Android resource manager is said, in some forums, to not be terribly effective with the higher speed phones, and my experience confirms that.

Eh? The "ondemand" governor couldn't care less what underlying userspace is running (be it Android, your desktop machine, or a server box), and only cares about overall CPU load. Plus, nothing about CPU frequency factors into garbage collection nor process time-slice (other than more run-time can be done for a given execution period).

Cite, with real data?