Don't know how to work this thing!

[NotTechSavvy]

I just bought a HTC Desire from somebody on campus and I found out that they rooted it. I don't know what the benefits of having it rooted are. Is there an application where I can get all free stuff kinda like Installous on the ipod? I'm also having trouble downloading some apps in the market like angry birds.

 

[BabyBlues]

Welcome to AF!

You shouldn't be having problems downloading any apps from the market - unless they are not compatible with your phone in general.

The benefit of being rooted is that you can take things off the phone if you don't want them. BUT make sure you always have a back up ready in case something breaks.

Here's the link to the HTC Desire Threads. Lots of good info around for you.

 

[NotTechSavvy]

Thanks, and the guy before me removed a lot of stuff including the contacts backup app. Anyway I could get that back? and are there any cool wallpapers I can get through rooting? Also, is there something that lets you get apps kinda like installous?

 

[BabyBlues]

I have no idea what Installous is so I can't answer you.

The contacts issue should be able to be resolved through gmail - even if you don't use gmail for anything but market and contacts I have found it to be a lifesaver.
My advice would be to try to find someone to help you get a stock ROM on it so that all of the basics are there.

As far as wallpapers - you're not really locked into much with or without root. And a lot of things for android are already free.

 

[NotTechSavvy]

Okay, thank you. Installous is something to get all the free apps from the app store on ipod when you jailbreak your ipod. I also have ROM Manager and I don't know what that is so if you could help me with that it'd be really appreciated.

 

[BabyBlues]

ROM manager will enable you to make your backups. You can install ROM's from it too but be careful - sometimes it's glitchy to do it that way. If you go into ROM manager you should see the option to Backup Current ROM - before you make changes on your phone I'd recommend making a backup...ALWAYS. Lol. And then check to make sure it's there. It will be on your SD card in a folder named ClockwordMod.

 

[NotTechSavvy]

So that will back up everything on my phone? And like before making what kind of changes?

 

[Casual Pete]

If you're using the original Desire please read this regarding rom manager.

You're better off doing it via Clockworkmod.

 

[BabyBlues]

It will back it up in order to do a full restore of an entire system.

Because you're rooted you have the ability to remove programs that normally would have to stay on the phone. Whatever crap your carrier has decided they need to have on the phone but you either hate or won't ever use. The problem is that some things are attached to other programs and you don't know it until you take it away. When that happens you then restore the backup and start again. Lol.

 

[sitlet]

If you just got the phone and want everything back to stock, assuming you are still on a stock rom, just do a factory reset, that will restore everything that the previous owner may have removed. If you are not on a stock rom, you could flash a rooted stock rom. Either way, you will still be rooted.

 

[NotTechSavvy]

okay, i did a factory reset and the contacts backup thing isn't on there

 

[Casual Pete]

If the contacts app was a system app it's probably been removed using something like root explorer,in which case you would have to try and find the apk from somewhere. Factory reset wouldn't restore that as it would have been removed from the rom.

If it wasn't a system app it will probably be available from the market.

 

[NotTechSavvy]

Also, is there any way to delete multiple contacts at once?

 

[NotTechSavvy]

Oh, and am I able to get the cool looking HTC clock?

 

[sitlet]

Oh, and am I able to get the cool looking HTC clock?

That's a widget. If you dont have it now, again you probably dont have a stock rom, and you would need to flash one to get it back