From the Nexus 4 to the Droid 3...

[MinDev]

Unfortunately, in the area I'm moving, AT&T and T-Mo don't work so I've been forced to switch to Verizon or Alltel. I picked up a Droid 3 with standard accessories and an additional car dock for $60 today and will probably be using this for a while. Of course, I've gone spilled off of some things with the Nexus, so my question is, is there a way to at least make my Droid run as smooth as my Nexus? Any other tips?

 

[themib]

not going to run as smooth...
but at least root and rom it
links to files and how to in my list
sd_shadow's [Collection] of Links for: Droid 3 (XT862)

I'm running steel droid 5.6

 

[MinDev]

Okay thanks. I'll look at this as soon as time permits. One of my biggest concerns about rooting is usually when I read through the info put out there on xda and other sites, I don't quite understand it and the whole thing seems rather difficult. Is there not a simple way to do this?

 

[themib]

no the droid 3 has a locked bootloader

 

[MinDev]

Okay, well I've been reading around a bit. Is it true that the ICS rom messes up the Droid's camera?

 

[doogald]

I haven't used Steel Droid in a long time, but I do believe that the camera works in 5.6. It's only the AOSP ROMs (CyanogenMod, AOKP) from Hashcode, using the kexec kernel in Safestrap, that don't have working cameras.

If you want a really decent Gingerbread ROM, Minimoto is very good. Stock rooted that you've debloated is almost as good, though.

 

[MinDev]

Can't believe I successfully rooted! First time ever and it was pretty painless using motofail. Soooo yes, now I am wondering about what is the best rom to use. I understand that minimoto runs gingerbread... unfortunate but I do want a fluid experience overall. Can anyone point me in the right direction as to how to flash a rom and if minimoto is truly the best for the droid 3. Coming from jellybean 4.3 I'm a bit used to a certain experience I guess...

 

[themib]

what rom is best is depends on too many things
if you don't need the camera, or good battery some of the cm10/jellybean roms were not too bad.
I like and use steel droid 5.6, but camera is a little slow, no loss in pic quality
you may find minimoto lacking futures

to flash roms you need a bootstrap, most roms are made for safestrap
there are links to safetrap and a how to video, in my list
sd_shadow's [Collection] of Links for: Droid 3 (XT862)

if you want to try stock for a while, it will run better and better battery life if you freeze to bloatware, just read the safe to remove list first, or you will find your self having to flash the firmware with rsd lite

 

[doogald]

Let's start with this: you will want the Safestrap bootstrapper/recovery to install ROMs and keep your stock experience untouched, in case something gets messed up.

Two things to note: Safestrap creates virtual copies of some of the partitions used by your phone and mounts those rather than the actual partitions used by stock. In order to do this, it creates something called slots in internal storage on the phone. Each slot carves out about 2-3 GB of storage, depending on how large you make the /data partition of the slot. Knowing this, it's probably a good idea if you are using Safestrap to use an external SD card and change the camera app to store photos on external SD rather than internal storage. If you need help with that, just say so.

Anyway, to install Safestrap, you need to allow third party installs in settings->applications. Download the latest Safestrap (3.05, I believe) from the site of the developer of Safestrap, Hashcode, which you'll find here: Goo.im Downloads - Browsing safestrap

Put that on internal storage or external SD on your phone. Use a file manager app to navigate to where it is stored (there is an app called Files I think that will do this.) Tap on the .apk file; it will prompt you to install it, and let it go ahead.

Run Safestrap. Tap the button that says install recovery. At some point the SU app will ask you to allow superuser access to the Safestrap app. After recovery is installed, restart the phone.

If you see the very obvious Safestrap start screen, prompting you to press menu to start recovery or search to continue booting, then Safestrap is installed. Go ahead and press search and start the phone and I'll let you know what to do next.

 

[MinDev]

Okay, thanks! Im hoping to start working on this tonight

 

[doogald]

Ok, and one more thing (I was going to post this as well, and forgot...)

To debloat the stock OS, the best thing is to run Pete Souza's debloat script. It was designed for an earlier release of the D3 OS than the current 5.7.906, but it still will successfully debloat the phone pretty well. There is a companion script that lets you reverse the changes, on the chance that you're interested in such at thing.

This thread at xda-developers.com has the script: [Script] Safe bloat removal script (50+ apps) [UPDATED 9/1/2011] - xda-developers

• Download the second zip file (DROID_3_remove_bloat_5_6_890.zip).
• Unzip it. It will create two files with a .sh extension
• Copy those files to your phone. They can be in a folder
• Download the app Script Manager to your phone: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=os.tools.scriptmanager
• Start the SManager app. Browse to the location of the DROID_3_remove_bloat_5_6_890.sh file and tap it
• A screen will pop up. There is a selection that says "SU" at the top (Fav, SU, Boot, Net, etc.) Make sure that it is selected (green) then hit "Run"
• Answer the questions. Read them carefully. For example, it asks if you want to keep Motorola's home/launcher. If you say no, and you don't have a replacement launcher like ADW or Go Launcher, the phone will not run after boot.

When the script completes it will restart the phone and you will have the stuff you wanted removed disabled until you run the restore script.

 

[MinDev]

Downloading safestrap now. Are you saying to hook the phone to the computer and to move the safestrap folder to the external sd? Do I open the zip? I would need it broken down as I've never done this before.

 

[MinDev]

Or wait am I downloading safestrap directly to the phone vs to the computer like I did with the initial root?

 

[doogald]

Downloading safestrap now. Are you saying to hook the phone to the computer and to move the safestrap folder to the external sd? Do I open the zip? I would need it broken down as I've never done this before.

Or wait am I downloading safestrap directly to the phone vs to the computer like I did with the initial root?

You can do it either way - download to the computer and copy it to the phone, or download to the phone. You can put it in either the external SD card or the internal storage.

You do not unzip the file - it's an android application package file, so a .apk file. Once you have it on the phone, from the phone, make sure that you allowed third party app installs, as I mentioned above. Run the Files application. Navigate to the file and tap it. It will ask if you want to install it; go ahead and let it install. Then follow the directions I listed above (start Safestrap, install recovery, restart the phone, verify that the Safestrap interrupts the boot process, which it will for 10 seconds if you do not press menu or search. Don't press menu yet - press search.)

By the way, as you can see from my profile, I am from Massachusetts. In a few hours I will be watching a baseball game so probably won't reply until tomorrow. I hope you don't mind...

 

[MinDev]

No, I didn't mind. I've been trying to work on this between work and other projects, so I will, more than likely start again tomorrow, beginning with the last instructions you gave and try to move on from there. Another thing im not fond of - this downgrade of tapatalk doesn't alert me to any responses like tapatalk pro 4 ( I believe that's what I had on the Nexus - the one that is incompatible with the Droid...)

 

[themib]

tapatalk 4 requires android 4.0 (ics) or higher.

 

[MinDev]

Um...yes, I know that. I was just venting.

 

[MinDev]

Okay I installed safestrap but it doesn't prompt me to run it and when it goes into safestrap it waits on a black screen for awhile and then says Sorry! The application Safestrap (process.com.hashcode.droid3safestrap)has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again. I've tried it a few times. What could be the problem?

 

[MinDev]

Okay, Safestrap is installed and I've done installed recovery. Now I'm at the point of restarting the phone. What do I do next?

 

[themib]

backup stock rom, if you are going to freeze or remove stock apps

 

[MinDev]

I'm not sure if safestrap interrupted the boot process, but it did seem as if it was stuck on a black screen for awhile before it completely started up. And the battery seemed instantly have drained. I'm not sure what to do now as I don't want to mess up anything. It's charging and I'm just waiting on the next set up directions I suppose.

 

[MinDev]

themib back up stock rom? I don't know how to do that.

 

[themib]

How to install and use safe strap 3.05 on the droid 3

 

[themib]

you should have seen a screen like this

 

[MinDev]

I looked away for a few seconds, is it possible it did it then? When I looked back down, because it seemed to be taking awhile, it was a black screen and I got nervous, but it booted as normal after a few seconds of that. Do I need to repeat the process to make sure recovery has been installed properly or...?