Sprint HTC Hero, anything to root this phone left?

[yoseppi]

I have been looking through countless posts over and over trying to find a way to root my Hero. Was hoping to give it a new lease on life by removing the bloatware, and try to make it run better. Well it seems every frakkin' topic that gives advice or points to files to root the Hero is outdated. Basically all the programs pointed to in all the guides are no longer available, none of the software no longer seems supported, and it simply appears that the Hero has been completely abandoned.

When I first got the phone I intended on rooting it when still running the lame 1.5, but finally I was able to download an early release of 2.1, loaded it onto the phone, and was happy with the new features. I figured I would just root it later when I found the time. Well I work a lot, and never got the chance to just set down and mess with my phone again. Always figured I could just eventually download the latest files and load up a new rom someday devoid off all the stock garbage. Well low and behold 14 months later, it appears everyone has jumped ship on the Hero, and all support and software is gone. Damnit for me waiting so long.

Please tell me I'm wrong, I actually loved this phone, and know that main thing holding it back is the garbage bloatware slowing me down, but I simply can't find a supported program anymore to root this thing.

Everything out there seems to only care about the EVO, yeah I know it is great, but can't upgrade for 7 more months, so I've got to find at least one supported program that still works for the Hero.

Anyone know of ANY software that is still valid, and actually can be downloaded as of May 20th, 2011?

Thanks to anyone who still cares enough about the Hero to point me in the right direction, I'd love to be able to actually do something with this phone before it is utterly completely forgotten/abandoned.

Thanks,

-Joe

 

[DonB]

You are not looking to hard, there are many threads recently that we helped members root there phone, and you may want to post this thread in the

Sprint Hero - All Things Root
, see below



First time rooting.. need steps.

Time to root my Hero

Here is another great thread with all root info

Sticky: "Lots useful root info"

When you are ready and are done ready those thread, post in the

Sprint Hero - All Things Root
and we will walk you through the process.

This will give you an idea C&P from RB

None of it is done on your computer all you need is your phone.
1. Download z4root with your phone.
2. Once you have it downloaded go to the market and download a file manager(astro or es file explorer).
3. Open the file manager
4. Find the download folder in the file manager open it and select z4root
5. Then install it.
6. Goto to your apps and open z4root and choose permanent root(It will go through its thing and say rebooting. If it does not reboot simply power off and go to your apps and see if it installed the app superuser. If not run z4root again until it installs superuser)
7. Once you have super user go to the market and download rom manager
8. Open rom manager, allow superuser when prompted
9. The top of that app will be flash clockworkmod recovery, press it
10. Once it says it was successfully flashed, choose to reboot to recovery.
11. Once in recovery scroll down to backup/restore click the trackball
12.Now click backup, this will make a nandroid of your current setup ****very important*****
13. Now go back and reboot your phone and it will be just as you left it.
Now you are ready to flash a rom let me know when you get this far and we can help you get ready to do that.

 

[BTK-appl3killa]

Its good to see ur still helping out people root their phones, im surprised u havent upgraded yet, as for me im glad i went to the evo shift which just ported over the kingdom rom which i havent tried out yet but going to as soon as possible

 

[DonB]

I am waiting for the EVO 3D, in June

Its good to see ur still helping out people root their phones, im surprised u havent upgraded yet, as for me im glad i went to the evo shift which just ported over the kingdom rom which i havent tried out yet but going to as soon as possible

 

[BTK-appl3killa]

there's an hd coming out, hmm...i had only heard of the 3d one which is coming out soon too isn't it?

 

[DonB]

Sorry my bad meant 3D, edited

there's an hd coming out, hmm...i had only heard of the 3d one which is coming out soon too isn't it?

 

[LBPHeretic]

I am waiting for the EVO 3D, in June

A big +1 on waiting for the Sprint HTC EVO 3D for me as well. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Sprint will let me upgrade when it comes out because I lost my upgrade in April due to the Sprint Premier plan being shuffled around.

I hope that they will be able to unlock the bootloader, but I am pretty sure the hardware specifications alone will keep me happy for a little while. I have to have my rooting and custom ROMs eventually though.

 

[andygu3]

A big +1 on waiting for the Sprint HTC EVO 3D for me as well. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Sprint will let me upgrade when it comes out because I lost my upgrade in April due to the Sprint Premier plan being shuffled around.

I hope that they will be able to unlock the bootloader, but I am pretty sure the hardware specifications alone will keep me happy for a little while. I have to have my rooting and custom ROMs eventually though.

And going from CM7 to Sense 3.0, you will be surprised and amazed, lol Heck, you might not even miss AOSP roms

 

[DonB]

That's it rub it in and make us foam at the mouth waiting now, hope they do release in June as planned

And going from CM7 to Sense 3.0, you will be surprised and amazed, lol Heck, you might not even miss AOSP roms

 

[andygu3]

That's it rub it in and make us foam at the mouth waiting now, hope they do release in June as planned

Nope, just realizing how great HTC Sense can be Just hope, like LB said, bootloader will be unlocked and root will be found shortly after release!!

 

[DonB]

Yeppers read this, jail break here I come, Courtesy of Android Police:
Confirmed: EVO 3D

 

[LBPHeretic]

Yeppers read this, jail break here I come, Courtesy of Android Police:
Confirmed: EVO 3D’s Bootloader, Recovery, and Kernel Images All Locked Down

Hahaha! Wow, I was JUST going to post the very same article and you beat me to it!

It sort of looks like any chance of hacking is screwed with the Sprint HTC EVO 3D. That really blows and may force me to rethink my future handset options.

 

[330D]

Stupid HTC joining the ranks of Motorola. Nice hardware, Jerks. I won't own it. Might as well upgrade to the Nexus, now....

 

[BTK-appl3killa]

i just tried out the kingdom rom and sense 3.0 is flipping amazing dude....its still a beta so has a few bugs but seriously its an awesome rom, i can't wait till they work out the bugs

 

[DonB]

Don't jump ship just yet, HTC is feeling the pressure, check this out, Bootloader Protest - Facebook HTC - xda-developers

HTC has commented on the bootloader issue:
"Thanks so much for providing feedback, we hear your concerns. Your satisfaction is a top priority for us and we're working hard to ensure you have great experiences with our phones. We're reviewing the issue and our policy around bootloaders and will provide more information soon. Thank you for your interest, support and willingness to share your feedback."

Stupid HTC joining the ranks of Motorola. Nice hardware, Jerks. I won't own it. Might as well upgrade to the Nexus, now....

 

[rb312102]

I knew they would have to say something soon. Their facebook page was out of control. There was some major hate being spewed on there and rightly so.

 

[LBPHeretic]

Yeah. I just retweeted the response from HTC about the reviewing of the bootloader policy.

I really hope they take this type of negative reaction seriously. Their Facebook page is slithering with angry people protesting the cryptographically signed bootloader in the Sprint HTC EVO 3D.

 

[steam374]

A big +1 on waiting for the Sprint HTC EVO 3D for me as well. I am keeping my fingers crossed that Sprint will let me upgrade when it comes out because I lost my upgrade in April due to the Sprint Premier plan being shuffled around.

I hope that they will be able to unlock the bootloader, but I am pretty sure the hardware specifications alone will keep me happy for a little while. I have to have my rooting and custom ROMs eventually though.

Hey if you call sprint up I'm pretty sure you can get your upgrade back someone said it in a post on the Evo 3D forums...I''l find the link

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-3d/337382-any-us-eligible-upgrade.html (Post #45)

 

[steam374]

Hahaha! Wow, I was JUST going to post the very same article and you beat me to it!

It sort of looks like any chance of hacking is screwed with the Sprint HTC EVO 3D. That really blows and may force me to rethink my future handset options.

Haha don't worry about the boot loader as long as its not encrypted its all good as it says in this post : http://androidforums.com/evo-3d-all...ut-locked-bootloader-but-its-big-problem.html

 

[LBPHeretic]

Haha don't worry about the boot loader as long as its not encrypted its all good as it says in this post : http://androidforums.com/evo-3d-all...ut-locked-bootloader-but-its-big-problem.html

Dude, it IS encrypted. The bootloader is cryptographically signed with 256-bit encryption, and nigh onto impossible to crack via brute force.

I read that post earlier, in fact I am already subscribed to the Sprint HTC EVO 3D subforum, but his information was actually incorrect and deprecated if you read the original post again. He did fix the information in a new thread though. Right now, we have to wait and see if HTC will do anything about their encrypted bootloader policy. My guess is that they will do nothing and merely said they were reviewing it to placate the fires of Hell that were raining down upon their Facebook page. If they do not change it, the only other chance is if a pre-sale developer version of the bootloader gets leaked, which is a possibility. That would enable all of the fun things to occur like custom ROMs, for example.

 

[LBPHeretic]

Hey if you call sprint up I'm pretty sure you can get your upgrade back someone said it in a post on the Evo 3D forums...I''l find the link

http://androidforums.com/htc-evo-3d/337382-any-us-eligible-upgrade.html (Post #45)

Thank you. I will definitely give that a try when the need arises, which is soon hopefully.

My wife wants to switch to an Android handset as well and I am guessing Sprint is not going to allow an upgrade of two handsets. The part that stinks is that if I give her my Sprint HTC Hero, I think they will still charge the extra $10.00 on it per month even though right now we do not pay that on either handset.

 

[steam374]

Dude, it IS encrypted. The bootloader is cryptographically signed with 256-bit encryption, and nigh onto impossible to crack via brute force.

I read that post earlier, in fact I am already subscribed to the Sprint HTC EVO 3D subforum, but his information was actually incorrect and deprecated if you read the original post again. He did fix the information in a new thread though. Right now, we have to wait and see if HTC will do anything about their encrypted bootloader policy. My guess is that they will do nothing and merely said they were reviewing it to placate the fires of Hell that were raining down upon their Facebook page. If they do not change it, the only other chance is if a pre-sale developer version of the bootloader gets leaked, which is a possibility. That would enable all of the fun things to occur like custom ROMs, for example.

Wait wow!?! Wtf! Why would they encrypt their boot loader!?! I mean what are they thinking??

I bet you if they sell the phone encrypted the sales are gonna drop by quite a bit....

 

[LBPHeretic]

Wait wow!?! Wtf! Why would they encrypt their boot loader!?! I mean what are they thinking??

I bet you if they sell the phone encrypted the sales are gonna drop by quite a bit....

Sadly, probably not. The vast majority of people out there that buy smartphones, yes even Android smartphones, are not interested in rooting or flashing custom ROMs, so the sales will not be hurt that much.

We are the minority, though probably on an operating system basis, I would say Android probably has the biggest minority. They encrypt it for a couple reasons. One is warranty repairs. People screw up their handset by not researching and properly learning everything before rooting and flashing ROMs, and then send them back on warranty, which costs Sprint or HTC money. The second thing is the carriers do not like people using their handsets for wireless tethering though even a partial root can afford that, and PdaNet does not require rooting. I tend to disagree with the latter reason, but the carriers may still think its valid.

 

[steam374]

Sadly, probably not. The vast majority of people out there that buy smartphones, yes even Android smartphones, are not interested in rooting or flashing custom ROMs, so the sales will not be hurt that much.

We are the minority, though probably on an operating system basis, I would say Android probably has the biggest minority. They encrypt it for a couple reasons. One is warranty repairs. People screw up their handset by not researching and properly learning everything before rooting and flashing ROMs, and then send them back on warranty, which costs Sprint or HTC money. The second thing is the carriers do not like people using their handsets for wireless tethering though even a partial root can afford that, and PdaNet does not require rooting. I tend to disagree with the latter reason, but the carriers may still think its valid.

Yeah....well this is just bull..I still kinda wanna get this phone but then again I'm thinking about getting something else. I think I'm gonna wait after its released and see if they are able to gain root access and then ill think about my decision ...

 

[steam374]

How bout you what are you thinking?