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To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade
Taking a moment away from the more typical “tutorial” type articles, we’re going to spend a minute and address a common question most people ask…”should I upgrade my devices’ operating system?” With iOS 5 hitting Apple devices recently and Android 4.0 (i.e. Ice Cream Sandwich) coming soon, this question is more relevant than ever.
The question always comes up…should I get the lastest version of my phones operating system (iOS, Android, Windows Phone 7, Blackberry OS, etc). There is no simple answer but let’s look at a few questions to ask yourself before you make this decision. First off, take a look at what the features are that you’re getting in the upgrade. Often times the upgrades are marginal or impact aspects of the device that are irrelevant to you based on your usage. In those cases, no big worries in not getting the upgrade.
The next question is…at what cost will I get the upgrade. By this we mean what negative aspects are there in upgrading. Again, this depends on the type of user you are. If you’re someone that likes to tweak and mess with your phone (jailbreaking your iOS device or rooting your Droid) then you probably don’t want the latest version. Typically, new versions are released to block users from doing things that the mother ship frowns upon. For example, when the jailbreak method for the iPad 2 was finally released by hacker Comex, Apple immediately released an update to the operating system to block the jailbreak. They added virutally nothing else other than the block and because it came out so quickly following the release of the jailbreak, the majority of iPad 2 users were left with an (as of yet) un-jailbreakable device.
The same holds true for Android. While Google says it doesn’t take as active a role in trying to block rooting as Apple does against jailbreakers, new versions of Android are typically not compatible with current root method. This means you have to wait until an enterprising hacker or software developer comes up with a new method and sometimes those new methods aren’t quite as simple as the older ways. This also holds true for certain apps that, for example, allow you to turn a rooted device into a wifi hotspot. These features may be disabled on a newer version.
It’s always nice to have the latest and greatest and sometimes the upgrades genuinely do warrant the drawbacks or sacrifices one must make. All we suggest is to not take the idea of an upgrade as always being just that. Quite often an upgrade is nothing but a downgrade.
Free Android Apps with Aptoide
Not to sound like a broken record, but here’s yet another way to get FREE APPS FOR YOUR ANDROID!
To start off, here’s a little background info. Apps are stored in a place called a repository. A repository is a type of library or bank where these apps are stored and by using a particular app, you can access these libraries and download directly to your phone. The official Android Market itself is a type of repository. Just like the Blackmarket Alpha app we had mentioned before, Aptoide is another app repository full of appy goodness.
Aptoid is available on the regular Android Market so follow the link below on your Android powered device and download the Aptoide Installer.
Click Here for Aptoide Installer From Android Market
Get the Installer and run it and you’ll get the Aptoide app on your phone. Aptoid itself is a program that reads repositories, so now we need to tell it where the repositories are. We will start off by doing it the automated way and downloading another app from the Android Market that works with Aptoide to add the repositories. Click on the link below for the Aptoide Repos app.
Click Here for Aptoide Repos App from Android Market
Now we’re going to run the Aptoid Repos app and it’s going to automatically add a list of repositories (or repos). Let it do it’s thing and then run Aptoide. The first time you run it (and periodically from now on) the app will ask you if you want it to update it’s list of apps from the listed repositories. Click yes and let it re-populate the list. Once this is done, you can click on Games, Applications or Others to take you to the
Press Manage Repos to add repositories
corresponding lists of apps. You can also press the menu button and use the search option to find a particular app among the thousands listed.
The power of Aptoide lies in the ability to manually add any new repositories that they don’t list automatically through the Aptoide Repos app. To do this, click on the menu button from the main page, then click on Manage Repo. This takes you to the list of repositories you already have. To add a new one, click on the menu button, then click New Repository. This brings up a new box with a field for the website address. Enter the address and press Add. For our example, type http://repo.blackdroid.net and click Add. You will now see the new repository listed. When you go back to the Aptoide main screen by pressing the back key, it will again ask you if you want to update your list of apps based on this new repository. Let it update and you’re good to go.
Depending on what repos are automatically added, here are a couple must have for more free apps…
http://blackmarket.bazaarandroid.com
Adding a new Repo
Aptoide is also great because it lists what apps that you have already downloaded have updates available so you’re always running the latest and greatest version of your apps.
Hopefully this works for you. Drop a comment below if you know of any other noteworthy repositories that are floating around out there and happy downloading!
Free Android Apps from Blackmarket Alpha
For those of you looking for a way to fill the void left by the downfall of Applanet, fear not. Blackmarket Alpha is looking to fill the gap. While not as elegant in design as Applanet, it is proving to be much more reliable…that is to say it works, which is more than Applanet can say. Click on the link to get the file straight to your phone…
Click Here for Blackmarket Alpha
The app is simple enough to use. When you run it the first time you will see tabs for “Applications,” “Games,” and “Installed.” The first two take you to more categories in their respective areas. The apps are all listed alphabetically so the search tools are a little limited. There is the option to also search for a particular app by name which is useful.
As always, remember that the point of these types of apps are to try BEFORE YOU BUY! Always do whatever you can to support app developers by buying apps you like. Let app makers make a living at it so we can sit back and enjoy more app goodness.
Free iOS Apps With Installous
One of the first questions anyone asks after jailbreaking is “Where da free apps at?!” Granted, some people may ask the same question in a more grammatically correct manner.
Once you are jailbroken, the process of being able to install free apps is fairly painless. First off, we have to address the issue of why someone would do this. The purpose of this hack is to be able to download apps for free to try out before you buy (emphasis being on “BEFORE YOU BUY”). If you find an app that you like, you should always, always, ALWAYS download the paid app from the App Store to support the app makers.
Step 1: Begin by going into Cydia (which you should have once you jailbreak your iOS device).
Click on Cydia
Step 2: Once inside Cydia, click on Sources on the bottom row of buttons
Click on Sources
Step 3: This screen shows the app repositories you currently have. (A repository is basically a big bank full of apps.) We want to add a new repository so click on the Edit button on the top right corner. On the next screen click on the Add button on the top right corner.
Step 4: Now we are going to tell the program where to find the new repository. Type the following into the search box, exactly as it appears so that your search box has only this text: http://cydia.hackulo.us
Once you have done that click on Add Source.
You’ll see this next screen as everything is installed.
The install screen
Step 5: Now your list of app repositories will have a new option…Hackulous. Click on it.
Step 6: Once inside the Hackullous app, click on the Install button on the top right corner.
Click Install
Step 7: Click Confirm on the next screen to finalize the installation
Click Confirm
Step 8: Once the installation is complete, you will see the Installous icon on your screen. Just tap this to launch your new Installous app store.
Tap on Installous App
Once you’re inside Installous, you can see the categories of apps listed on the left. There is also a Search button on the top bar to search for specific apps.
The Installous App
Installous is run and maintained by regular people that are working hard to bring you a great and easy way to try apps before you buy. As a result of the grass roots basis of the program, it can be frequently out of service due to high traffic. Always be patient when using things like this and understand that people are working hard to bring you this. If you want to help out, you can always make a donation to those dedicated few bringing you these great services. Just go to http://hackulo.us/ for more details on the app and to donate.
If you get this to work drop a comment below and let us know what device and version you ran it on. And remember… if you find an app you like, spend a few bucks to buy the real version from the App Store. Keep app makers cranking out quality apps.
JailBreakMe.com
The worlds easiest and most elegant jail break tool is back. Comex has released the much anticipated JailBreakMe.com update recently and so far there are a lot of happy Apple fanboys around the world. The biggest feature of this update was the inclusion of the iPad 2, which up until this point was un-jailbreakable (yup, that’s totally a word). Now even the owners of Apple’s latest and greatest tablet can partake in the Cydia goodness.
So how does it work? On your iOS device’s browser, just go to JailBreakMe.com. From there you will see a screen that has a single button. Click it and you are jail broken. It literally could not be any simpler or cleaner than that. So far reports are that this will work on all current iOS devices but that probably won’t be the case for long as Apple usually makes it a point to crash the Jail Break party whenever it can.
And remember, jailbreaking will void your warranty but it is NOT ILLEGAL! And if you ever want to go back, you can just undo the whole processs by using iTunes to revert back and fully wiping your device. Just remember to back everything up before you do.
If the jailbreak worked for you, drop a comment below and tell us what device you did it on.
Another Way To Root
OK, so let’s say you tried the Z4Root method of rooting your Android phone but for whatever reason it didn’t work. No worries…we have another way.
It’s another app called VISIONary+ and this one is not (at the time of this writing) available from the Android Market. Follow this link from your phone to go to the downoad…
Once you have it downloaded, go through the standard steps and install it. Before you run the app, though, go into your phones settings by hitting the Menu button while on the Home Screen. Select Settings and then Applications. Click on Development and make sure USB Debugging is checked. VISIONary+ won’t work if USB Debugging is not checked on.
VISIONary+ Menu
Now you can launch VISIONary+ and you will see a screen with several options. Like Z4Root, we have the options to run this in temproot or permanent root. With this app, to be on the safe side, we’re first just going to run a temp root. If you prefer, you can check the first check box (Temproot on boot) so that the program will automatically run the temproot everytime you turn the phone on. Don’t worry about selecting “Run Visionary.sh after root,” as that is just a way to run a script after you have rooted. Since we’re not doing any scripting, we won’t worry about that. Leave the rest of the settings alone and hit the Temproot Now button. You should now see the Visionary logo for a few seconds and you will just let the app do it’s thing.
Once it’s done you should be able to find the Superuser App in your App drawer. Now you are temporarily rooted (meaning that you’re rooted until you reboot your device). If that went well, you can now run a Permanent Root by
During the Rooting process
running Visionary again and pressing the Permanent Root button.
If at anytime you don’t want your device to be rooted, there is the Unroot button at the bottom of the screen as a way out.
Hopefully this works for you and if it does, drop a comment below and let me know what phone you performed the root on. If it didn’t work, let me know and we’ll figure out if there are different settings for your particular phone or version of Android. Happy Rooting!
Increase Your Droid’s Speed
Note: This is for Rooted phones only
These days phones are coming with faster and more powerful processors, many of them in the 1Ghz range and some phones are even packing powerful dual core chips. What most people don’t know is that phone of yours is actually not running at full speed. Most manufacturers lower the speed of the phone in order to conserver battery power or to make sure that the chips don’t burn out prematurely or overheat. Fear not…for those speed freaks out there there is a way to increase your phones CPU speed. You can also set your phone to lower the cpu speed when you’re not using it to save battery life.
Start off by downloading SetCPU from the Android Market. You can also search for it on Applanet if you have already downloaded that from our previous post. When you run the program the first time you will get the usual Superuser permission screen. Just press Allow and you’re in.
Main screen for SetCPU
The main screen shows 2 sliders, one labeled Max and one labeled Min. Just as the names imply, one sets your phones Maximum speed and the other sets your phones Minimum speed. What this means is that if you’re phones not doing anything, it will be running at the slower speed and conserving battery. When you start running applications or doing anything on it, it’ll kick it up to the Max speed. If you’re more interested in conserving battery power, you can lower both these sliders. If you want the most speed you can get, set them both to the highest setting, but just be aware that it’s going to kill your battery life. Also, I’ve found that if you lower the speed too much (below 300Mhz) your phone becomes so slow it’s pretty much unusable. The settings in the picture are what I typically run my phone at. You can also select an option from the drop down menu and further customize the settings as the names describe.
Creating Profiles
For those wanting to get a little more advanced, you can also set certain rules for your phone from the Profiles tab. For example, you can tell it that if it’s on the charger just always keep both at Max since you’re not worried about battery life. Or, if your battery falls below a certain percentage lower the speed to conserve your CPU.
Adjusting the Profiles
To set this up, just click over to the Profiles tab and then press Add Profile. On the next screen, select the parameter you want to adjust. Once you have that parameter set, you can will see it on the list with a checkbox. Just check or uncheck the box if you want your phone to run that setting. If this seems over your head for now, don’t worry about. It’s just another layer to the program that you can play with as you get more comfortable with it.
There are several versions of these types of programs out there but this is the one that I have always had a lot of success with. A friend recently showed me another program inspired by this with a more simple interface. Once I’ve had a chance to test that out I’ll post a review of that one as well for people that may feel a little overwhelmed with SetCPU.
On a final note, you will hear people talking about “Overclocking” their devices. This means that you can run your 1Ghz phone at 1.2Ghz or even 1.3Ghz. This involves flashing custom ROMS and custom kernals onto your phone. At this point that’s a little advanced for us but if enough people are interested I will start discussing those topics in future entries.
More Free Apps!
Since everybody loves free apps, here’s another way to get some free Android goodness into your phone.
There’s a website called 4Shared.com that is a general online file repository, which is a fancy way for saying a place where people can upload files online and leave them for others to download. It consists of all kinds of files, but we’ll be focusing on the Android apps.
From your phone’s web browser, go to 4Shared.com. You will be presented with a basic search bar. Here you’re going to type the name of the file you’re looking for, but you have to be very particular about how you type it. Android apps all end with the extension “.apk” so you have to type the filename followed by the “.apk” extension. For example, if you were going
4Shared Home Page
to look for Z4Root you would type z4root.apk (don’t worry about capitalization).
Sometimes you still won’t get a hit on the file which means you’ll have to try some different variations on the filename. Typically, this means putting an underscore ( _ ) in between some of the words in the title. So for example, if angrybirds.apk didn’t come up, I would try angry_birds.apk. Since 4Shared.com is just a big warehouse of apps, it can’t really interpret what you’re looking for as well as if you were searching in the Android Market. This just means you have to have a little creativity in trying out file names. Of course, if nothing is working, it could also simply mean that that file has not been uploaded to the site.
Search Results
When you find a file you’re looking for, you may find a whole list of files that have been uploaded. Usually they will have a number near the name indicating the version of the app. Typically, it would be beneficial to download whichever one appears to be the latest app. Just keep in mind that if you download the file and it doesn’t seem to work right, you may be better off uninstalling it and going back and downloading an older version. Sometimes different versions were originally intended for different models of phones or different versions of Android. Also, when selecting a particular file, you an also see the number of times it’s been downloaded. I’ve found that the versions with the higher number of downloads are usually a safer bet.
Waiting for Download Link to Appear
After you click on the file you’re looking for, the next screen will show a message saying “Your Download will be ready in 20 seconds” and have a count down timer. Sometimes that countdown can be up to 320 seconds. They only do this to slow you down so that you will buy a paid membership to the site and be able to download without waiting. Once that countdown ends, a link will appear. Click on it and your download should begin.
One of the benefits to using a site like 4Shared.com is that you can find apps that aren’t in the Android Market. For example, Z4root is not (at the time of this article) on the Android Market so the only place you will find is in file sharing sites such as this.
As is the case anytime you’re installing apps that did not come from the Android market, make sure you have some kind of spyware and malware security installed on your phone because you never know what you’re really getting.
I’m Rooted…Now What?
OK, so hopefully you may be rooted by now. If not, no worries…we’ll have more ways to root coming soon.
The first question people ask are what apps are good to get once you have your phone rooted. That’s hard to answer because it just depends on what you want to do with your phone. I’m going to mention a few apps here that are popular and good to start off with. You can also go to the Android Market and just do a search for Root and you’ll find listings of apps that require root access. Let’s start with one of the most popular apps…
Wi-Fi Tether (Click to Download): One of the first things people want to do with their rooted is phone is to add the capability to turn your phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot without having to pay your wireless carrier a monthly fee. The best way is with the free Wi-Fi Tether app. There are other apps on the market that will do the same thing, but for a free app I haven’t found many that do it better. Notice: Tethering uses a lot of data so make sure you have an Unlimited Data plan or you could get hit with some major overage charges from your wireless carrier!
The Home Screen for Wi-fi Tether
Once you’ve downloaded the app from that link I just provided, go through the regular install. You will get prompted for Superuser permissions the first time you run it. Just press Allow and you’re good to go. What you’ll see right off the bat is a giant Wi-Fi icon that says press to tether. Press it and you’re tethering…it’s that easy.
However, I do recommend you adjust a couple settings first. From the main screen in the Wi-Fi Tether app, press the menu button, and then press settings. At the top of the list is the Enable Wifi Encryption checkbox. Make sure this is checked otherwise anyone can jump onto your wifi and slow you down. Then go down and press Change Passphrase. Pick a new passphrase (password) that will be required everytime someone wants to log onto this particular wifi hotspot. The other option you may or may not want to change is the Change SSID option. This just allows you to change the name that appears as the hotspot. By default it’s AndroidTether but you can change it if you want something custom.
I would generally leave the rest of the settings alone unless you know what you’re doing. Occasionally this program can be a little “buggy” and require you to try to connect a few times before it works. That’s normal, just be patient.
If this worked for you, please leave a comment below and tell me what phone you tried it on. If it didn’t work, let me know in the comments and we’ll see if we can’t get you all figured out. Happy Tethering!
Let’s Get Rooting
Before we begin learning how to actually root an Android phone, it’s important to remember that all phones are different and because of that, some of these methods may work for you and some may not. Some phones are easier to root and others are a pain. I’m going to try to share several different ways so hopefully one of them will work for you.
The first we are going to look at is a very simple method using a program called Z4Root. The interface is extremely simple and straightforward and it usually has a pretty high success rate for most phones.
At the time of this post, Z4Root was not available on the Android Market so I’m providing a direct link for the download…
Click here —> Z4Root
Before you hit the link, make sure you have your unknown sources box checked to allow non-android market apps to be installed. (For help, see this post about setting up to allow Unknown Sources)
Now you have the file downloaded and installed. When you launch the app for the first time you will see 2 buttons…Temp Root and Permanent Root. Temp root will root your phone until you turn it off and turn it back on again, at which time the root will be wiped out. Permanent root will keep it rooted regardless of turning your phone on or off. Don’t be scared of this, though, because even if you do permanent root you will then have a very easy way to unroot later if you want (we will cover that later).
The screens before and after you root your phone
So now you’ll press Permanent Root and you will see a spinning wheel and some text at the bottom of the screen telling you what it’s doing. If all goes well, your phone will probably be like this for a few minutes and then it will reboot by itself.
Now we’re going to check to see if the root worked. Pull up your App Drawer and scroll down until you should see something called Superuser. This is an app that basically acts as a guardian protecting your phone from giving up root access to programs that you don’t want to have that access. It’s a security feature and its a good thing it’s there.
The permission box that pops up when you run a rooted app for the first time
From now, all your regular apps will run completely the same as they did before. The first time you run a new program that does ask for permission to access your root folder, a box will pop up from the Superuser app asking if you want to allow it. There will also be a check box that will remember your selection so you only have to do this the first time. Just click Allow and you’re good to go.
Now let’s say you want to remove the root for whatever reason. Just launch Z4Root again and now you see an Unroot button. Press it, let your phone do it’s thing similar to when you rooted it, and that’s it. You’re unrooted. Easy, huh?
There you go…You’re rooted and now ready to run all kinds of cool apps. If this didn’t work for you, don’t worry. I’m going to have more posts in the future with other methods of rooting and hopefully one of them will do the trick. If this did work for you, please leave a comment below mentioning that it worked and what kind of phone you did this on.
HackMondo 