Help new to android, not new to modding

[ixcocoyxi]

hey all! i have recently purchased the HTC M8 a few days ago and to tell you the truth, I'm happy with the choice i made!

i was previously an iPhone user (4s) and i got bored of it. the debut of 6 made me lose interest in upgrading to that one. i have basically done everything i could possibly do to it (jailbreak) and it took so much to change so little. like having to sync every time i want to add/remove music or change the way something looks.

I've changed themes on the M8 a few times but it looks like I'm going to keep it looking stock for now. i had my 4s set up to look like an android and i didn't even know it so it was a fairly easy transition for me. I'm still learning the phone but i wouldn't mind learning about rooting and what-not. i have so many questions and I'm pretty sure they're noob questions. I'm not a stranger to forums. i know how to use the search function.

anywho, i just wanted to introduce myself as a new android member of the family!

 

[Hadron]

Welcome aboard

It's straightforward to root recent HTCs, and lots of mods available for the M8. If you want to learn more about that, just pop over to One M8 - All Things Root - Android Forums.

 

[ixcocoyxi]

nice! thanks for the info!

how possible is it to brick the phone?? does it happen often?

 

[chanchan05]

Lately no. There's lots of one-click methods already which eliminate chances of bricking. But most of it comes from stupidity of not reading carefully the instructions.

 

[Hadron]

If you mean actually brick it (i.e. completely unresponsive, need a jtag rig to have any hope of fixing it), that's very rare. Make sure any software you flash is actually intended for your phone model, and don't mess up the bootloader, and you'll be fine.

Of course you can more easily mess it up so that it won't boot (flash a new ROM without doing a reset first and there's a good chance of doing this), but that type of thing is fixable, often very easily, so doesn't really count as a brick.

There will be a sticky post in that section called "All Things Root Guide" which will collect all the information you need. My top tip is to take a full backup before modifying system software (a backup made using a custom recovery, aka a "nandroid" backup), then most things can be fixed very easily if they go wrong.

 

[ixcocoyxi]

I've been looking and i haven't stumbled upon a 1-click method for the at/t M8. I'm also trying to figure out how to backup the phone onto my computer to reload my contacts. lol!!

I've been watching videos on how to do it and it seems pretty straight-forward. I'm still trying to understand all this 'flashing roms' and doing that 'reset' first before flashing. and whatever S-ON/S-OFF means

 

[Hadron]

For rooting methods for the M8 the starting point is here: http://androidforums.com/one-m8-all-things-root/845182-htc-one-m8-root-thread.html. The general procedure for HTCs is unlock bootloader, flash a custom recovery (which must be one that was built for that specific phone model), then flash a small patch to root the phone (or, if you prefer, a custom ROM which will already be rooted). You can do a full backup using the custom recovery before rooting, which I would recommend.

If your contacts are stored as Google contacts they will already be backed-up to your GMail account. Otherwise the simplest way is to go into the contacts app and "export" them - that will save them as a vcard file, which you can then copy off the phone for safety. To restore, just "import".

Helium, an app from the Play Store, can do pretty comprehensive backups of an unrooted phone. Once rooted Titanium Backup is your friend.

Flashing ROMs means installing a new set of Android software and system apps. Some will be based on the HTC software but with extra options, some will be based on "pure" Android, without HTC sense. Since the system settings are usually incompatible between different ROMs it's safest to do a factory reset before changing.

And S-On/S-Off refers to an extra security flag that HTCs come with (extra because most manufacturers don't have this). Being S-On restricts some of the things you can do, e.g. even rooted you can't just delete a system app (part of the ROM) while running Android (though there are other ways), and it also restricts how you can update some of the lower-level firmware (you have to use the full official update packages, which will perform various checks before proceeding). On the plus side, those protections make it very hard to actually brick an S-On phone. If you are S-Off the phone has all of these security flags and verification steps disabled - gives you more options, but it will assume you know what you are doing and won't protect you from yourself. As you can see from the sidebar I prefer to be S-Off, but it's far from essential.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Hi there, ixcocoyxi. Welcome to Android Forums and the wonderful world of Android.

I've moved this to the M8 board so fellow owners will be more likely to see it. Definitely check out the All Things Root board for the M8 where you can share tips and tricks with others.

 

[Tlicious1020]

Welcome! I heard a 1 year old song on YouTube. I wanted that song but it wasn't in any music store. I found a site with the DJ's song on there and downloaded it with my cell phones chrome browser. My power amp music app found the song and added it to my collection and then added album art for me. You cannot beat that with a stick on an iPhone.