Taypotts Blog

Top 10 Reasons to Root Your Droid (Finished)

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Written by Taypotts | 05 March 2010

Hey everyone! Just wanted to let you all know that I've been working really hard on my Droid to get it just where I want it. I'm going to be shooting a video very soon on the top 10 reasons why you should root your Droid. It's going to have a lot of great stuff, so keep checking back!

 

Disclaimer: If you Root your Droid it will void your warranty with Motorola. I, nor the Calebnance team are held responsible for you wanting to make your Droid awesome by Rooting it, only to have it bricked. Enjoy!

 

Update:

I've had time to compose my thoughts, and figure out exactly what I want to say. I do plan on doing a video soon, but I figured I would give you a taste of what's coming soon. Here are my top 10 reasons to root your Droid, based on my personal experience.

10. Cachemate

This is a great app for clearing up that unwanted cache on your phone. Having the ability to clear your cache can help some apps or even your phone run faster and smoother. The newest version will allow you to clear you market seach history. This was the best thing for me. I just have a pet peeve when I can see everything that I have searched for, that I will never need again.

9. Terminal Emulator

With this app you can push, move, or do basically anything from a command prompt form. As long as you know what you are doing, you can really see how this app comes in handy. (You can use this app without root, but it's basically like having the keys to a Porsche that you don't have)

8. AdFree

Seeing ads while you are browsing is never fun, especially when you are on your beloved Droid. With the AdFree app you no longer have to worry about that. Not only does it take away all those pesky adds, but it does help to load your pages faster, which is always a plus in my book.

7. Boot Animation/Gscript

I love having the ability to have a phone that is fully mine from start to finish, literally. Now, you can change your boot animation without root, but believe me is a PAIN to do. Having root, along with Gscript or a file explorer, will cut off some of the work load you have to do. With Gscript you can simply type in the correct command, and then just launch it.

6. Root Explorer

This is another app for rooted phones only. This app will allow you fully explore your phone without the use of a computer. You can do anything from backing up your apps, to changing fille names for certain hacks or mods. This great app will allow you to keep modding your phone even on the go.

5. Wireless Tether

Every been out with your computer, but didn't have a WiFi around to check us out? This free app will solve that problem in a second. You can use your phone as a mobile hotspot to get online on the go. It may not be the fastest connection, but when you are in a pinch I don't think it really matters. Now before you get worried that someone else might mistake your wireless broadcast as an open network, don't! This app allows you to make a secure connection, setting up your own password, so you get the best speeds possible.

Time for the top 4 reasons to root your Droid everyone!

4. Metamorph

When the guys over at Google were designing the look of the UI for the Droid I know they were all thinking of us, and how we wanted it to look right? Wrong! Don't get me wrong, I think it looks great as it is, but I always like to have things look they way I want them too. Metamorph allows you to do this completly. It can be anything from changing the notification panel, to making your browser icon look like Firefox. Metamorph is very simple to use as well, just download the theme you want to use, move to your SD Card, and select it within the app.

3. Overclock

We all know the Droid is snappy out of the box, but then again we all like to speed things up just a bit. With root access you can do that. The Droid is 550 Mhz stock, but with the ability to overclock it can easily go up to 1.2 Ghz! Speeding up your phone may cause some heat issues, but when you are flying through apps, who cares right?

2. Nandroid (sprecovery/clockwork)

Ever made a mistake on your computer only to be breathing a sigh of relief when you find out you had a system restore point created not too long ago? Sprecovery gives you that same sigh of relief with your Droid with the ability to create nandroid backups. You can use these to restore after a new hack didn't go quite as planned. I've been stuck in a boot loop before, but thanks to sprecovery I was out of it in no time. It will also allow you to apply updates to roms, kernels (for overclocking), and simple patches.

Now time for the number 1 reason to root your Droid... Drum roll please.... I said Drum Roll PLEASE.... Screw it... here we go

1. ROM Use

Roms will basically take everything I have stated above and roll it into one big goodie bag. ROMs can combine a number of things such as: pinch to zoom browsers/gallerys, themes, overclocking, ported apps, and many more. ROMs change the way your whole phone operates, and it's always for the better! I know we all were bummed when 2.1 didn't come in January like we had all hoped, but thanks to some devs like Chevy and Pete, we now have a very official (and stable) build. Roms will even give you those live wallpapers, and 5 screens you have seen around, but could never quite figure out how to do. Right now I am running Bugless Beast V0.6 ESE53 Build, this is the most official, stable build I have used, but there are a few others out that may work for you better. The ability to use a ROM was the main reason I rooted. I no longer had to do all the work to get the live wallpapers, or figuring out how to overclock my Droid, and I think you would all agree when you think about it.

Well, there is my list, and I'm sticking to it. Follow me on twitter here and tell me what made you root your Droid.

 

Motorola Backflip Pre-Order

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Written by Taypotts | 22 February 2010

The time has finally come for At&t to finally get its first Android powered device, the Motorola Backflip. Most of you may know, all other major carriers have jumped on the Android wagon leaving At&t in the dust. The Moto Backflip is available to pre-order for a mere $50 from Best Buy Mobile. That money down will make sure you get your hands on one when they release in March. The price is said to be around $100 without a mail-in rebate, making it $199 with a $100 mail-in rebate from the At&t store. Make sure you go pre-order yours today!

 

Update:

AT&T Motorola Backflip - First AT&T Android Device

*       Launch = Sunday, March 7

*       Anticipated price - $99.99 new and upgrade

Phone highlights

*  Reverse flip form factor with QWERTY keyboard and touch panel behind the screen for navigation

*  MOTOBLUR technology - Motorola's exclusive social networking user interface which seamlessly connects accounts across contacts and provides integrated threads and widgets. Runs on Android operating system.

*  3.1-inch high resolution touch screen display with 5MP camera, and compatibility with AT&T's new 7.2MB HSPA data network.

 

 

GameBoid - How To

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Written by Girth | 19 November 2009

I've done a video on the Gameboy Advance Emulator App (Gameboid) in action on the Motorola Droid, and a lot of people have been asking questions about how to use it, or how to get it to work. Well, here is a nice step-by-step on how to get everything working. Make sure you follow me on twitter here. Also make sure you check out my youtube channel here. So here we go: (IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE A VIDEO ON THIS FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER AND LET ME KNOW THERE! THANKS!

 

Directions

- First thing we need to clear up is what is the difference between the Free (lite) version and the Paid (full) version. The lite version does not allow you to save states in the game. Let's say you are at a point in the game and need to go do something else, well you won't be able to save where you are in the game. The full version will allow you to save and only cost $3.99, so show some support for the ones that put this app together.

-The first thing you need to do is download Gameboid from the market place. You can scan the QR code at the bottom of this page or you can just search for Gameboid in the Android Market App.

- Next you need to download the BIOS File here. After you download the BIOS file you need to put the file on your SD Card's root directory (not in a folder, just on the card). This will allow you to play games, and without this file it will just keep saying you don't have the BIOS file. When you launch Gameboid it will ask you to locate the BIOS file.

- Next you need to find some ROMS. This is where it gets a little bit legal sensitive. It IS ILLEGAL TO DOWNLOAD GAMES THAT YOU DO NOT OWN! They are backups of games, so if you don't own the game, don't download it. Some good sites to look at are: http://coolroms.com or http://doperoms.com

- Now that you got your roms downloaded just unzip them, create a folder on your SD Card for the games, and put them in there.

- Launch GameBoid, and you will see a screen that says no rom loaded, press menu for more options. Hit the menu button and then hit open, locate your games, and just click on one.

Options and Key Set Up

There are some options to look out for. If you have a keyboard I would set up WAZD for the d-pad controls and KL for B & A buttons. The R and U for Left and Right triggers. Delete and Enter for Select and Start buttons.

You can set the screen to Scale (keep aspect ratio) to fill the screen. Hope this helps everyone out! Here is the QR Code to scan

 

Sprint HTC Hero

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Written by Girth | 12 October 2009

Specs:

- 3.2" Touchscreen

- Micro SD Slot (comes with 2 Gb)

- Full HTML Browser with Flash and multi-touch

- 5.0 Mp Camera (autofocus, but no flash)

- Resolution: 320 X 480

- Mp3 Playback with custom ringtones

- EV-DO Rev A support

- Wi-Fi Support (802.11b/g)

- 1500 mAh Battery (really good)

 

Quick Look:

The HTC Hero is Sprint's first Android based phone. Android is trully a great operating system to have. It offers great, full web surfing and thousands of apps to choose from. The capacitve screen really makes everything finger friendly and really nice to look at. The colors really stand out and you can still see the screen at crazy angles. The multi-touch on this phone does take a little bit getting used to and is not always the best, but it did get the job done. The phone does have 7 custom screens, with HTC's Sense UI that you can use to add widgets or just have your apps displayed. It truely is a nice, sleek looking phone.

 

Design:

Taking a look at the phone you will see a couple things that stand out. The camera is a 5.0 Mp with autofocus, but with no flash. The speaker is hidden around the edge of the camera. This is used for music, youtube, videos, or speakerphone. Even though it is hidden, it still gives out some really clear sound. The Hero does offer a nice touch sreen and a trackball to use for surfing the web or can be used just to navigate through the phone. There are six buttons on the front of the phone including: send, end/lock, menu, home, search, and a back button. The search can be used for quick Google searches or in certain apps like youtube.

 

Features:

Along with HTC's innovation and the Android OS this phone is packed with tons of features. Android offers about 10,000 apps, and full HTML web surfing. The Hero really takes some nice leaps with the intergration of Facebook and your google account. You can log into Facebook in the album section and take a look at any of your own or friend's pictures. There are tons of widgets that you can use to truely make the phone yours depending on your taste. If you want to have a full page for your Twitter, you can. If you want one page for pictures, that can be done too. This phone is truely yours to use for whatever you want. The texting input does take some getting used to, but when you get it, you get it. Overall this phone is great for anyone that loves being able to do everything all in one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Samsung Instinct HD

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Written by Girth | 24 September 2009

Specs:

- 3.2" Touchscreen

- Micro SD Slot (Comes with 4 gb in the box)

- HTML Web Browsing with Opera

- 5.0 Mp Camera with Flash

- Ability to play and record HD video

- Resolution: 320 X 480

- Mp3 Playback

- EV-DO Rev A Support

- Wi-Fi Support

Quick Look:

Making it's way to Sprint's Instinct family comes the new Instinct HD. At first look there really doesn't seem to be much difference in the new comer, but a closer look will prove to be different. They have added some nice and yet suttle changes this time around. One change is that when scrolling in the options menu there is a little scroll bar showing you where you are. They have also added applications built in on the "Fun" page like: Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, and Myspace. The Instinct HD is also going to launch with Opera 9.5 has the web browser of choice, which is not a bad choice at all. The Instinct HD is going to launch at Best Buy Mobile starting September 25 with a $199 instant savings price tag.

Design:

There have been pictures of this phone going around that make it look like a huge, fat, bulky phone. After holding it, I can say those pictures should be taken off right now. The phone itself is not heavy or big by any means. It is actually the same length as the Instinct s30, but just a tiny bit wider. The buttons are still flush on the front of the phone just like the two Instincts before it. There is one thing about the body of this phone that makes it stand out from its family members, and that is it's HDMI output.

Features:

That's right this phone supports an HDMI output to a Hi-Def Tv, hence the name Instinct HD. That is not the only reason for it's name as it has a 5 Mp camera with LED flash, and auto focus. This phone has the abilty to play and record videos in 480p HD, but play in 720p on the TV. This phone is going to change the way you record from your phone. There are some other things that are going to make this phone worth the price tag that is going to be on it. Some newer features are Wi-Fi support along with Visual Voicemail. These two things alone should make you want this phone for your own. One of the things I wish was better on this phone is the touch screen calibration. If anyone has had an Instinct in the past you know what I'm talking about, and if not, it means they could of made the touch screen better. All in all this is a great phone that is definately ahead of the curve for other phones, and I would recommend it.

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