Best fixes/things to do to your Captivate?

[crydee]

So I'm still running complete stock on my captivate (day 1 phone). Only issue I have sometimes is lag, battery life, and of course the GPS problem.

There are so many suggestions and different things to do to the phone I can't really figure out what's the best and in what order. This is my first android phone.

I'm thinking I need to do these and in this order
1. Root
2. nandroid and titanium backup (backs up contacts/apps?)
3. upgrade firmware
4. This SRE thing here SRE 1.0 | (Root + OC 1.2GHz + LagFix + MobileAP + USB Tether + MORE EXTREME) - xda-developers ?

That sounds like I'll get the most performance upgrades and possibly have the GPS work somewhat.

I can't find anything about nandroid backup for the captivate? What does this do? Do upgrading firmwares or rooting get rid of your contacts? or apps?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[sremick]

Best thing to do?

Wait to see what the September fix from Samsung brings. And then Android 2.2 "Froyo" after (or maybe the same time, if they're feeling generous).

 

[mttfrog13]

Best thing to do?

Wait to see what the September fix from Samsung brings.

or just return it. My captivate has the lag problem but luckily the gps works. I have to exchange it because I am getting the random shutdown issue there is a thread about. I am considering returning it instead of exchanging it but I really don't know what other android phone I would get besides the galaxy s. Screen and processor wise, everything else is inferior. The only thing it really needs(at&t version at least) is camera flash and for the bugs to be fixed.

 

[mongstradamus]

IF Gps isn't an major concern for you and you can wait till sept for an possible froyo and gps fix then running SRE would be an option.

If GPS is an major concern and/or you dont have faith that samsung will will completely fix all the bugs then i would return it and wait it out

 

[thindery]

I'm thinking I need to do these and in this order
1. Root
2. nandroid and titanium backup (backs up contacts/apps?)
3. upgrade firmware
4. This SRE thing here SRE 1.0 | (Root + OC 1.2GHz + LagFix + MobileAP + USB Tether + MORE EXTREME) - xda-developers ?

It sounds like you have done some homework becase you have the order down.

You can use the one click root to root it and get titanium backup. I always backup all my apps and sys files(you will see this under the batch operations in titanium backup). Then after I get the phone reflashed with all the fixes I want I reinstall titanium and restore them from the "TitaniumBackup" folder on the sd card. I'm not sure what a nandroid backup actually is. I think it is making your own update.zip with tibu, but then i always got worried if it was backing up just apps and settings or my whole phone(old firmware and all). restoring via the tibu folder has sufficed for me.
NOTE: after you run sre it will remove the att bloatware. you can go inside the tibu folder on your card and delete the .apk files that are att bloat like yellowpages and att navigate, my memo/diary, etc. this way you don't reinstall the stuff again.

I would higly recommend booting into recovery mode via the android sdk. I had so much trouble doing the vol up/down power, plug cord unplug method. I finally looked up android sdk, studied posts for about 2 hours, and installed it. Now it is so much easier and will help in updates and mods to come.

You will be using odin to update the firmwares. I'd recommend jh2 or jh3. don't go with any of the international firmwares. While they work, they tend to have some more problems since they aren't really designed for our particular phone. the gain doesn't outweigh the hasstle in my opinion.

Lastly after you do the sre I would recommend:
[MOD]Fightspit's Super Circle Battery with % | version a, b, c & d | Evo Black Bar - xda-developers

this just gets you a functioning battery and a nice little taskbar. i opted for the evo black bar. the firespit battery mod is what you would do after applying the sre.

then you would apply the lag fixes via the sl4a app you will see on your phone.

newt, download tibu and restore via the tibu folder on your sd card. Not sure if it backsup contacts or not, i use google to sync so i always have everything in the cloud. will say it's restored my text messages and stuff though. highly likely it restores your contacts.

it may be a little scary doing it all but give everything sufficient time to work. if it is paused on a spot for a few minutes, it may be normal. if it has been paused for 15 minutes or so then something went wrong. all you have to do is reflash with odin and start all over.

the few people that have had problems are all outlined in xda on those threads so chances are you will find a solution. but i'm betting that you have done enough research that you will get through it without a hitch.

these phones really seem unbrickable from everything i've read.

good luck and remember it's a phone. after you do this all for the 1st time you are going to be like "damn, why didn't i do this a month ago?"

NOTE: for everything you install (i.e flashign jh2/jh3, sre, circle mod ) read the OP's install instructions for each one. Sounds simple, but they change every day or so. Just make sure you know what you are installing and the steps for each specific one.

One last thing for sre. It looks like you need to use odin TWICE. once for the jh2/jh3 and a second time for unehlpfuls 1.2 kernel(for overclocking). You will want to look through the sre thread for sure, but i just got an email about that(i'm subscribed to the thread perm.) This has changed in just 1 week when i last used super rooter.