Ok, so...I need tons of smart phone people help.
Here's my problem:
Got a droid X that has major issues. bad signal, unreliable, unstable, freezes, constant battery pulls, eats battery ( got an extended battery dies in about 5 hrs of use), camara/recorder don't work correctly, can't read files, etc etc etc.
What I want to do( correct me if there's a better way)
I want to format the phone, root it, install a rom/theme that'll make it run smoother/faster and save power
my worry is that if your phone is really running as poorly as you say it is that it might actually be a hardware issue, and no matter what ROM you install it will not fix your problem...
im going to give my God's honest opinion...and others may disagree with me...my approach is going to be longer, and more time consuming...but its going to eliminate more variables from the equation...
The phone is currently updated to 2.3.340, my question is:
Should I just ask for a replacement phone??? ( will be my 4th)
should I wait to do the gingerbread update? then do the rooting/rom/theme?
I don't know much about the roms/themes ( how do you choose 1?)
most people are very quick to say "just root and flash a ROM...it removes all the 'bloat,' it will fix your problems."
I completely disagree with this approach as it is potentially avoiding the real problem...While I agree that these phones really can run much better with a custom ROM (i was SHOCKED at how well my phone could actually run when i first installed ApeX 1.4)...but they can also be amazing phones in completely stock form...the types of problems you're experience are NOT caused by bloatware...there is an underlying problem (whether it is hardware or software related we will hope to find out)...
My friend has an evo 4g, and he's got this cool feature where he closes his fingers on the home screen and it shows him all of his pages minimuzed so he can just click on one instead of swiping left or right like we do to view our pages- i'd like that for me, thats about the only "cool" thing that i can think of wanting from a rom/theme as far as looks go. I would like sharper/smoother looking icons/widgits?
as for the "screen preview" feature...that is a part of Sense UI which is the overlay that HTC puts on Android (Moto uses "Blur")...
this can be accomplished on your X in two ways....
1. Install Gingerbread...its built into the Droid X version of GB
2. Install a third party launcher (no need for root). Your best choices here are Launcher Pro (what i run), ADW, and Go Launcher....all three are great and will accomplish what you're looking for...
as for the icons/widgets...the icons can be accomplished very easily using one of the above mentioned Launchers as well...
as for the widgets...this is where i think Launcher Pro has the leg up on the other two...its widgets are second to none and themeable from the market..
I am open to suggestions/ advice
I will read up more about the roms/themes and try to get better informed, but so far, i've just gotten more confused with all of the different ways of roming and theming and rooting and abbreviations and updates that everyone talks about...
ok...this is where im probably going to get people who disagree with me...and will advise you to just root away and get all the bloat off your phone...i want to find out what is wrong with your phone from the get go...your phone should run fine, and complete its basic functions without locking up regardless of how much bloat you have installed...
im sure you've already been through the "factory reset" game already...but i would ask you to do it one more time...
- boot into stock recovery
- with phone off hold down home button and press the power button to turn phone on...you will see a triangle with an "!" in it and the Android guy...press the search key (magnifying glass)...you're then going to do a data wipe/factory reset...
- Then you're going to go to this site on your computer
Droid X SBF
- On the right you're going to see where it says RSD Lite 4.9...you're going to download and install this program...this is the program that Motorola uses to flash and install Android on our phones...
- then below that you're going to download the proper USB drivers
- Then on the right you're going to download the file under where it says "Current SBF File" (if that download goes really slow go
HERE and download the bottom file...
what you are now going to have on your computer is the complete Operating System for your Droid X...and the program RSD Lite is going to wipe your phone (not your SDcard, just the phone) COMPLETELY CLEAN...and reinstall Android completely fresh...your phone will literally be in the same state as when it left the factory...
we will talk about the instructions for actually using RSDLite to do the flash if you decide to take my advice and do things this way...
im honestly not going to respond to your other post...simply because the other stuff you asked should be tackled AFTER making sure your phone has a correctly functioning stock operating system...
all of the things that you have told us you want your phone to do (run smoother, look better, screen previews, use less battery, etc) can be accomplished on stock 2.2.1 Froyo (with the help of a third party launcher) so i would like to take you that route...and once we have your phone running right...then we can talk about ROMS and Themes..
yes, much better, im just stumped on tryin to figure out how to get more than 3 objects on there, cause i usually have phone, market, text messages, and web
now all i got is phone, web, and text, and i want the 4th one but i cannot figure out how
can't do more than the 4 icons (3 custom, and app drawer) that is how the GingerBlur Dock is setup...but i do have a custom dock background that i use with Launcher Pro that i made to look like the GingerBlur dock so that i could have the look but with 5 icons...
looks like this...
i could send you the image file...