Root Thinking of rooting and other roms.

[dandroid11]

All,

Im contimplating rooting and trying other roms on my a500 and have the following questions.

1: Once I root do I have to re-image for each update to a newer rom or is there an update option.

2: Will roms modded from other devices (Xoom etc) be able to utilise unique hardware in a500 (full USB port etc)

3: Once I use say 3.2 based rom can I go back to older roms or do I have to stick to the same version or a newer one.

D

 

[someguy43210]

3. If you want flash factory stock version, visit this thread. You can revert to older version.

2. As for other devices rom modded to work with Acer, generally you will get USB support. Hardware supports depends on the kernel version and modules you have installed as well.

I'm no expert, but make sure do not just flash any rom of a different device as it might brick your devices, especially if it mess up the partition table of your device (->trash). Unless someone modify it to make it compatible with your device and confirm it.

1. Whether a rom have update feature embedded you have to read description of it, some do have some features like that through third party app, usually they release newer version rom to flash through CWM. But you're asking a bit much from individuals who offer their work for free to provide that service compared to a corporation.

Rooting and installing CWM recovery to A500 is easy, search for Acer root and Acer recovery in the market. After that, check out Taboony rom and kernel.

 

[jerofld]

Only flash ROMs from other devices if the dev says that it is ok to flash it. In my opinion, these ROMs are generally unnecessary now that the Iconia has 3.2 support and the ROMs have updated to match it. That was the only reason why I flashed the XOOM for Acer ROM, was because it had 3.2 on it. I've gone back to a stock-based ROM since 3.2 was released.

The Acer Recovery app would probably provide you the updates you want to do, but you have to "donate" for that feature, I think. It's easy enough to do on your own using CWM. Clear Dalvik cache (in advanced), clear Cache in the normal menu, then install your updated ROM. Reboot. Shouldn't be any harder than that. Some devs will recommend a data wipe when updating, but it's generally not needed unless you run into problems. More problems are caused by not clearing Dalvik and cache partitions than wiping data.

If you have an Iconia A500, you can swap back and forth from 3.2 to 3.1 all day long. If you have an Iconia A501, I think you have to be concerned if 3.2 came with any new radios. From my experience with Android phones, once you update your radios to a newer version that is for a specific kernel and build of Android, you will get problems if you try to go back and don't flash the old radio. If there were no new radios (for 3G service), then there is no concern and you can go from 3.1 to 3.2 and back again with no worries.