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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.
WiFi Hotspot Without Root!
The lure of turning your phone into a wifi hotspot has called to many of us. The idea of being able to share our phones internet connection with any wifi enabled device seems too good to be true. Sure, we can do it by ordering that from our wireless carrier, but who want’s to shell out $30 or $40 a month?! Till now the only way around that was to root your phone which, depending on what version of Android you’re running, could be a slightly tricky proposition.
A new app that has shown up on the market promises to make the whole process easier and without having to root your phone. It’s called One Click USB Wifi Tether (I know…it’s a catchy title). You can find it at the link below…
The app is primarily a widget for your home screen. Once installed, simply long press on any of your home screens where you have some empty space. Select Widgets and then scroll down the list until you find the app. Once selected, a box with two buttons will appear on your desktop. The button on the right will activate the USB tethering if you have your device connected to a laptop or computer via USB. The button on the right will activate your wifi hotspot which is useful for sharing your internet with non-usb devices (like an iPad, for example). There have been reports that this app has been having problems working on Verizon phones since they are blocking the use of unauthorized wifi hotspot apps, even on rooted phones.
It’s a simple and elegant app that now lets more users harness one of the best features built into Android. And all this can be yours for only $1.99!
Head over to the market and pick it up and drop a comment below and let us know how it works out on your device and carrier.
Root HTC Evo 4G Running Gingerbread 2.3
The guys at AndroidAuthority.com have posted a great tutorial on rooting your HTC Evo 4G running Gingerbread (aka Android 2.3). This process is just slightly more involved than the simple rooting methods in the past like Z4Root but is also one of the only ways so far to do it. They have made a great tutorial video they posted on YouTube and we have had confirmation from one of our readers that this method does work and at least for them, did not result in “bricking” the phone. Here’s the video to check out and head over to AndroidAuthority.com for more details and lots of other great Android info.
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.
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.
Free Android Apps!!
UPDATE: Due to Applanet being down for an extended period of time, we have added a link to another app similar to Applanet but with better availability called BlackMarket Alpha. Check it out here…
Yes, you read that right. We are now going to get into the meat and potatoes of the seedy underside of the Android app world…free apps!
There are several ways of getting free apps, so we’re going to start with one of the more complete ways. An app called Applanet.
Before we can get into that, we have to get our phone ready. From the home screen, press the menu button and then select Options.
The Unknown Sources Menu
On the next menu, select Applications. Here, you should see an option that says Unknown Sources. Make sure this is checked. By default, your Android phone is setup to only allow you to download apps from the Android Market. They do this to make sure someone doesn’t try to install malicious apps that may damage your phone.
Now you’re ready to download Applanet and start downloading free apps. There are several ways to do this. First off, you can visit the applanet website…
There you will have several options of downloading the file either to your computer or straight to your phone if you’re visiting from your phones web browser.
Or, if you are like me and you’re just too lazy to go to another site…just hit the link below from your phone’s browser and you should start a download of the file.
You should see a download start on your phone. Once the download is complete, select the file and you should be prompted to install it, similar to any other app from the market. Go through the regular steps, install the file and you’re ready to go.
Applanet
You will immediately notice that Applanet is designed to look and behave just like the Android Market. There are categories and listings of free and paid apps. Find the apps you want, hit download, and enjoy.
Disclaimer: Why would someone download free apps? This is intended to be used to test drive apps. If you find an app you like, we STRONGLY recommend taking the time to buy the regular app on the market to help support the developers. They work hard to get the apps to you and without our support, who would be left to make apps?
Drop a comment below if this did or did not work for you. Applanet is a little finicky and often times their network is down, leaving you with just a blank screen when you launch it. Have patience with it and feel free to visit their site for more detailed info and technical help.
HackMondo 