Hero Rooting - Brick?

Wiskid · Dec 31, 2009

I'm sorry if something similar to this has been posted before, but I couldn't find anything.

A little background information about me. This is my first Android phone. I have never hacked or rooted a phone before. I do, however, have a degree in Information Technology - Networking. So I am familiar with the functions of electronics, etc.

I am thinking about rooting my Sprint Hero for the speed benefits which I have read about (bigger swap file, apps on SD card, etc... Are there any other benefits which I may not know about?) BUT, I have a few concerns. Also, can anyone give a beginners guide to moving the swap file and apps?

1. Is there a risk of bricking the phone? If so, how do I avoid it?

2. In the event of a bricking the phone, is it possible to revert or do you need to go to the sprint store and pay for a new one?

3. In the process of rooting, do I lose contacts, settings, current apps, etc?

Whew, sorry for the long post... That's all that I can think of at the moment. If anyone else has any other concerns, or answers to potential concerns, please post them.

Thanks in advance!

nick325i · Dec 31, 2009

1. Is there a risk of bricking the phone? If so, how do I avoid it?

Always. Follow all directions to a T and never assume you know what is suppose to happen or what to do next. Read the directions.

2. In the event of a bricking the phone, is it possible to revert or do you need to go to the sprint store and pay for a new one?

Do you have the total equipment protection? If so its easier to exchange and just play dumb. They will not know you bricked it at the store. You just say something like, "It won't turn on" or "I don't know what happened but it won't work". I had to do this more than once with my alst WinMo phone.
If you don't have the equipment protection you'd need to be in your 30 day window or whatnot.
If you are out of any protection or 30 window if you yell loud enough and talk about switching carriers they sometimes "make stuff happen".

3. In the process of rooting, do I lose contacts, settings, current apps, etc?
You lose nothing until you load a custom rom if you choose to do so and even some of the custom roms do not wipe your data.

Cheers!

nck4857 · Dec 31, 2009

I was wondering the same thing. I understand that when (and if) I root my phone that rooting it alone wont change anything. It looks like there are tons of ROM's out there, how do I find one that would be suite me?

Can I root my phone and just delete some of the stock apps and install the SD App program, without doing adding a new ROM and all that stuff?

I'm probably going to wait til 2.1 comes out and not risk screwing my phone up before then, but if I do root my phone, would I have to unroot it before installing 2.1 whenever it comes out

Thanks and sorry if I'm asking dumb questions...

viciouz · Dec 31, 2009

is the 30day policy also true for Best Buy? because I bought the phone from them... or would i still go back to the sprint store.

nick325i · Dec 31, 2009

nck4857 said:
I was wondering the same thing. I understand that when (and if) I root my phone that rooting it alone wont change anything. It looks like there are tons of ROM's out there, how do I find one that would be suite me?

Can I root my phone and just delete some of the stock apps and install the SD App program, without doing adding a new ROM and all that stuff?

I'm probably going to wait til 2.1 comes out and not risk screwing my phone up before then, but if I do root my phone, would I have to unroot it before installing 2.1 whenever it comes out

Thanks and sorry if I'm asking dumb questions...

You can root your phone and just delete some of the stock apps. That is exactly what I did before loading fresh rom.

If you did root, before you could install any update from Sprint you'd have to load the stock 1.29RUU. Please don't ask where to get that because if you look over at XDA you'll find it.

viciouz said:
is the 30day policy also true for Best Buy? because I bought the phone from them... or would i still go back to the sprint store.

You would have to take it to best buy, unless you have the Total Equipment Protection through sprint.

Wiskid · Dec 31, 2009

nick325i:

Thank you very much for your reply. I do have the total equipment protection, but there is still a 100 dollar fee to get a new one -- much cheaper than the 600 dollar new phone haha. I'm glad to hear your answer to number 3. That was my major concern. I don't think I'd ever load a foreign ROM on my phone, so I'd be fine there.

nck4857:

I'm also going to wait for 2.1 to come out, I think. I feel the same way -- I feel like I'm asking dumb questions. But it's just me being cautious with an expensive phone.

Does anyone have a guide for moving (or creating) the swap file after rooting?

nck4857 · Dec 31, 2009

Yeah i'm gonna wait for 2.1 (unless it takes forever) and try to learn more about this stuff before I start experimenting........ Thanks for the help guys..!

acp · Dec 31, 2009

If the phone wont turn on, isn't that a manufacturer defect?

Crickett · Dec 31, 2009

Wiskid said:
nick325i:

Thank you very much for your reply. I do have the total equipment protection, but there is still a 100 dollar fee to get a new one -- much cheaper than the 600 dollar new phone haha. I'm glad to hear your answer to number 3. That was my major concern. I don't think I'd ever load a foreign ROM on my phone, so I'd be fine there.

nck4857:

I'm also going to wait for 2.1 to come out, I think. I feel the same way -- I feel like I'm asking dumb questions. But it's just me being cautious with an expensive phone.

Does anyone have a guide for moving (or creating) the swap file after rooting?

I agree with a previous poster. If your phone doesn't turn on and you bring it to the store, they will probably order you a new one without charging you the insurance deductible. I'd urge people to really understand what they're buying with the TEP. It isn't JUST the insurance replacement program. You are also purchasing Equipment Service and Repair. http://www.nextel.com/en/services/service_repair/in_store_service.shtml

nick325i · Dec 31, 2009

I've never paid a dime to get a phone replaced through sprint. That includes the 4 touch pro's before my hero.

Dr.Smith · Dec 31, 2009

I was scared to root. I've jailbroken my ipod and bricked a treo just doing a update. Before rooting yesterday I read threads on the different methods of rooting at the various android forums and watched rooting videos on youtube. I figured out that the one click method was the easiest rooting method and lets you pick your rom of choice. So do your homework read, learn and watch how to root. My phone is the fastest it ever been, i got rid of a lot of the sprint junk apps. and i can store apps 2 sd. Make up your mind. To root or not to root.

viciouz · Dec 31, 2009

So just to get things straight... I can root the phone... delete stuff... make it faster... and then restore it back to the original OS and keep all the desired effects?

Also can it be done on a mac?

mysticmead · Jan 1, 2010

not exactly.. you either root or you don't.. once rooted you can remove apps, but in order to unroot you have to flash back to the factory 1.29RUU that will restore everything including the stuff you removed.

Dr.Smith · Jan 1, 2010

mysticmead said:
not exactly.. you either root or you don't.. once rooted you can remove apps, but in order to unroot you have to flash back to the factory 1.29RUU that will restore everything including the stuff you removed.

I couldn't have said it better.

nck4857 · Jan 1, 2010

Well I drank a couple Crown and Cokes tonight and ended up rooting my phone.. I got the backup saved on my computer.. Trying to figure out what I want to do now!!! What exactly is that nandroid backup thing I created, is that a backup of my phone before I rooted it, or is it a backup from the factory??

doeboy · Jan 2, 2010

The nandroid is a backup after you have rooted your phone. So just in case you add/change a rom or do something you didn't like, which I have, then you just run nandroid restore and then you will be back where you started from right after the root. Fresh 1.1 I updated to yesterday looks awesome and was a big speed and overall appearance improvement from fresh 1.0 and also stock!!

nck4857 · Jan 2, 2010

Ok, I've been reading everywhere about the Fresh ROM's.. I deleted all the unnecessary apps off my phone and it seems to be running pretty quickly now.. I can just go ahead and install the Fresh 1.1 now? It basically keeps all my settings and just changes the appearance and adds/deletes some programs to make things run quicker, right?

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