I think I'm ready to root, but have a few questions before I do.
Background
I've had my S2 (i777) since March - bought it with 2.3.4, and am still there today. I bought my wife's S2 in April with 2.3.6, had terrible battery experience, and rolled her S2 back to 2.3.4 via the instructions on galaxys2root by zedomax (I think I rooted on 2.3.6 and then unrooted back to 2.3.4 - but it's been so long I don't remember for sure). I've read enough horror stories about carrier/manufacturer upgrades that I've stayed away from them - and today both phones are unrooted at 2.3.4, kernel 2.6.35.7.
I have a Nexus7 tablet with JB and a Toshiba Thrive with HC (stayed away from Toshiba's ICS after reading bad reports). But I just rooted the Thrive (it was very easy) and installed an ICS custom ROM - and all seems to be working well. So I think I'm ready to root our phones and install a JB custom ROM.
Questions
1) Can someone point me to the current/best/safest method to root? Should I use zedomax's instructions since it will install CWM (I used CWM during the Thrive root, so I'm at least familiar with it)?
2) If I flash a JB ROM and eventually want to unroot myself back to 2.3.4, can I? Would I just need to make a Nandroid backup of 2.3.4 immediately after I root that I could flash back to, and then unroot via zedomax's instructions?
3) I'm a little unclear on backups via Nandroid vs Titanium. Which should I be doing - both, why? Which backup would I use to flash back to 2.3.4? For the Thrive I made backups via both methods (Nandroid and TB) - when I rooted and was still on HC and immediately after I installed ICS.
4) When flashing a new ROM, how do I get all of my apps and maybe settings on the new ROM? Is this where Nandroid or TB come into play - or should I use an App Backup/Restore app (I've used an App before when needing to do a Factory reset).
5) This may be a subjective question, but what is the "best" JB ROM to try first? It looks like there are half a dozen on XDA.
One other note - XDA kind of scares me. There's lots of technical talk and doesn't appear to be a ton of kindness/patience for noobs. I think most conversation there is geared towards devs, not people like me that might need step by step instruction.
Thanks for any help.
Background
I've had my S2 (i777) since March - bought it with 2.3.4, and am still there today. I bought my wife's S2 in April with 2.3.6, had terrible battery experience, and rolled her S2 back to 2.3.4 via the instructions on galaxys2root by zedomax (I think I rooted on 2.3.6 and then unrooted back to 2.3.4 - but it's been so long I don't remember for sure). I've read enough horror stories about carrier/manufacturer upgrades that I've stayed away from them - and today both phones are unrooted at 2.3.4, kernel 2.6.35.7.
I have a Nexus7 tablet with JB and a Toshiba Thrive with HC (stayed away from Toshiba's ICS after reading bad reports). But I just rooted the Thrive (it was very easy) and installed an ICS custom ROM - and all seems to be working well. So I think I'm ready to root our phones and install a JB custom ROM.
Questions
1) Can someone point me to the current/best/safest method to root? Should I use zedomax's instructions since it will install CWM (I used CWM during the Thrive root, so I'm at least familiar with it)?
2) If I flash a JB ROM and eventually want to unroot myself back to 2.3.4, can I? Would I just need to make a Nandroid backup of 2.3.4 immediately after I root that I could flash back to, and then unroot via zedomax's instructions?
3) I'm a little unclear on backups via Nandroid vs Titanium. Which should I be doing - both, why? Which backup would I use to flash back to 2.3.4? For the Thrive I made backups via both methods (Nandroid and TB) - when I rooted and was still on HC and immediately after I installed ICS.
4) When flashing a new ROM, how do I get all of my apps and maybe settings on the new ROM? Is this where Nandroid or TB come into play - or should I use an App Backup/Restore app (I've used an App before when needing to do a Factory reset).
5) This may be a subjective question, but what is the "best" JB ROM to try first? It looks like there are half a dozen on XDA.
One other note - XDA kind of scares me. There's lots of technical talk and doesn't appear to be a ton of kindness/patience for noobs. I think most conversation there is geared towards devs, not people like me that might need step by step instruction.
Thanks for any help.