Droid Hype

My latest gaming addiction has been the NBA Jam release on Android. It was recently on sale for 99 cents so I couldn’t resist. The updated graphics and zany gameplay makes it just as fun as the original.

There are just two quirks that I really wish this game didn’t have. The first small annoyance is that it always checks for updates on start. So if you are not connected to a cell tower or on wifi, it pretty much stops.

The second more serious issue is the inability for it to function at anything but the default 48dpi navigation bar icon sizes on the Ice Cream Sandwich and Jelly Bean OS releases. So if you have a custom rom and you plan to make or flash edits that shrink or modify the size of the navbar, NBA Jam will crash back to your homescreen or give you an ambiguous 5002 error code.

As always, make a nandroid before you do any kind of editing. You may never know what app your mods will break until it’s too late.

Although the Nexus S has been available on the market now for over a year, it’s actually a bit confusing for first time users to unlock and root the device. Give it a try, do a search and try and find the right adb and fastboot drivers for Windows 7 64-bit. I’m willing to bet it’s not as easy as everyone claims it to be. For some reason, fastboot drivers give 64-bit users a world of trouble in terms of acquiring and installing.

Since I went back to using my Nexus S on T-Mobile, I decided to post a quick how-to on getting this done.

Download the following zips before beginning:

  Android ADB and Fastboot tools (13.2 MiB, 80 hits)
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  Nexus S 9020T Drivers and Touch Recovery (15.1 MiB, 14 hits)
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Since I have the I-9020T model for T-Mobile, this guide will support only that version. This most likely will not work for the I-9023 LCD version or the D720 (Sprint 4g version), however, it should work for the I-9020A (ATT version).

Let’s begin…

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There’s pretty much zero options at the moment if you are looking for an extended battery for your T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy SII (SGS2 T989). You can of course grab a cheapie fake 3500mAh battery on ebay, but are you really getting 3500mAh? Is that battery safe to use? And of course, does it come with NFC within the battery?

The last question may be important to some since Google Wallet and other apps are bringing out NFC options. The stock SGS2 battery carries 1850mAh of power, which in most instances is a decent amount and should last you all day. Of course, usage patterns will affect the hours of battery time so if you see anyone mentioning they are getting days on on charge, take it with a grain of salt.

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While we all wait for some Jug love (custom rom) on the new KL1 base for the T-Mobile Galaxy SII, I whipped up these mods to hold myself over. You’ll need Whitehawkx’s 2011-12-14 Stock KL1 deodexed/rooted rom for these to work. I have no idea if this will work on anything else, feel free to try, just make backups please.

Instructions:

1) Flash via CWM (root required)
2) Enable some or all animations under display settings if you want CRT

Volume wake – http://www.multiupload.com/EOG35CESLJ
Volume wake removal – http://www.multiupload.com/LWBUG08DEM
CRT Animation – http://www.multiupload.com/CEFHNXG0V7
CRT Animation / Batt % – http://www.multiupload.com/TMU3JDK0J9

One of my favorite roms on the Sensation 4G is Bulletproof 1.4, based on Sense 3.0. It has the right mix of tweaks and mods to make it smooth and quick in the heavily populated world of S4G roms. However, one thing that was missing from the rom is the ability to wake the phone via the volume buttons. The version based on Sense 3.5 has it, but not on this Sense 3.0 version. So like any rom junkie, I ended up messing around with the android.policy.jar file and manage to smali/baksmali edit the file needed to make this happen.

For your enjoyment, download the zip below (log in first) and flash it via your recovery. Cache wipe isn’t necessary but it won’t hurt.

There is no guarantee that this will work with any other rom. It’s also highly suggested that you back up your /system/framework/android.policy.jar file or just run a nandroid on your existing rom. This was done entirely on a stock BP 1.4 environment and has been tested on this rom specifically.

  Volume Wake for Bulletproof 1.4 Rom (284.9 KiB, 3 hits)
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PS: If you have another rom you’d like this mod done on, I can run the edit for you. Just let me know what rom and what Sense version etc.

There’s a new radio just ripped from the RUU of the new Sensation XE. What’s great is that this radio works perfectly fine on the regular TMOUS Sensation 4G. Whether or not it has any added benefit has yet to be seen since it is so new. However, from initial speed tests it seems it’s slightly better or on par with previous releases.

The radio should show as 10.58.9035.00P_10.15.9035.02_2 under your phone settings on your S4G. Please head over to this XDA thread to download the latest release. Please confirm the md5sum before flashing! If it does not match, please re-download again or else you risk bricking your phone. You can check md5 via the adb shell or any free md5sum checker program.

To flash, all you need to do is place the downloaded PG58IMG.zip file at the root of your sdcard. Then reboot into your bootloader and it will prompt you to update it.

After the radio is done flashing, proceed to reboot the phone. You will most likely get stuck at the white HTC screen. Don’t worry, it’s easily fixable.

With adb, issue the command adb reboot recovery while on that white HTC screen. This is assuming you have adb tools installed and your phone is connected to your computer. If you do not have adb install, download the attached zip below that contains all you need for adb.

Once you are in recovery (Clockworkmod in my case), wipe cache, then go to advanced and wipe dalvik. Now reboot your phone and you should get past the white HTC screen now. You can also delete the zip file that you placed on your sdcard earlier or move it for safe storage somewhere else. It is best not to leave it sitting on your sdcard.

  Android ADB and Fastboot tools (13.2 MiB, 80 hits)
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A lot of custom rom users on the Sensation 4G have noticed screen of death occurrences and reboots/lockups. A developer on XDA has dug deep and found that the HTC RUU (Rom Upgrade Utility) and OTA (Over The Air) updates differ in that a rpm image located on the RUU is not present on the OTA release. By not flashing this rpm image to the correct partition, the odd problems people have been facing with custom roms have been creeping up. From initial reports, it seems this is working for the people who have flashed the rpm.img file correctly.

I’ve actually never had the screen of death issue, but I prefer to have the correct rpm flashed anyway.

The link to the XDA thread contains a bootloader zip that reflashes your recovery and bootloader as well as the rpm.img in question. I prefer to flash the rpm file via fastboot USB since I don’t need to update or fuss with my recovery and whatnot. I also find it safer to do it via fastboot instead of a bootloader flash file.

If you already have the Android SDK installed and working, the fastboot tool is located in the tools directory. If you don’t have the SDK installed, download the zip below which contains the drivers you will need as well as the adb and fastboot executables for Windows. There is no need to install the entire SDK if all you want to use are the adb and fastboot tools.

** Flashing anything is your responsibility. What works for others may not work for you. Although this has worked fine for me, I am not responsible for what you may possibly do to your device.

1. Download the ADB/Fastboot zip located in this post. You will need to be a registered user to download any files from DH.
2. Open a command prompt to where you unzip’d the adb/fastboot file you just downloaded.
3. Install the HTC drivers if you do not have that already.
4. Disable fastboot under Settings->Power and then power down.
5. Hold down volume – and then hit the power button.
6. You are now in the bootloader (white) screen. Select fastboot from the options and hit the power button.
7. Connect your USB cable from your phone to your computer.
8. The fastboot banner should change to fastboot usb. If you don’t see this, stop and check your driver install.
9. Download the rpm.img zip attached to this post and place it in the same directory as where you unzip’d the adb/fastboot zip. The md5sum for this file when unzip’d is 59a52ec272c0dbdaf262f1f32e543b4c. If your md5 does not match, DO NOT FLASH. Please redownload and try again.
10. Issue the command “fastboot devices” and make sure your device shows up.
11. If it does, issue the command “fastboot flash rpm rpm.img“. This should take all of 5 seconds to flash over to your handset.
12. Once it flashes and you get the OK, unplug the USB cable and reboot the device via the menu and your power button.
13. Enjoy and be free of the screen of death.

  Android ADB and Fastboot tools (13.2 MiB, 80 hits)
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  Sensation 4G rpm.img file (57.5 KiB, 19 hits)
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I just started developing this odd creaking noise near the bottom and sides of my S4G. Even with a Seidio Active case wrapped around it, the creaking can be felt and heard when hitting the bottom buttons.

The fix is pretty easy. You just need to decrease the amount of movement the back cover has.

I had some .010 mil fiber (fish) paper laying around so I cut a small square that covers the sim card and microsd card area. You can probably use something else, but hey, why not use some insulated paper if you have it.

Lay the paper on top of the area and then slowly place the back cover back on. No holes are in that area above the sim and microsd, so no worries there. You should see an immediate improvement.

Over the weekend, the T-Mobile HTC Sensation 4G was “cracked” and to everyone’s delight s-off (security off) was achieved. This basically allows for custom kernals and roms to be installed via, you guessed it, a custom recovery.

Here’s how to do it.

1. Power off your phone and then press volume down and the power button. A white screen (bootloader) will appear. Please note down the h-boot version your Sensation is running. Also note that you have s-on listed at the top of this white screen.
2. Reboot and let the OS load completely.
3. Download the Revolutionary application from revolutionary.io. You will be prompted to enter some information including a serial key and the information from your bootloader screen in the earlier step. Keep this page open!
4. Read the short description of what Revolutionary is on their wiki.
5. Download and install the correct HTC drivers from their wiki.
6. Extract and run the Revolutionary.exe file as administrator (assuming you are on Windows 7).
7. Plug your phone into your computer. The Revolutionary application should now detect your phone and will provide you with a unique serial key. Copy this serial key down by right clicking, selecting mark, then right clicking again.
8. Go back to the Revolutionary.io website and enter in your serial key. You will be provided with a unqiue beta key. Copy this beta key and enter/paste it into the Revolutionary application.
9. Your phone will be temp rooted and it will reboot into another white screen, which will be the fastboot screen.
10. Let the application perform some tasks and it will reboot the white screen at least once. On the second load, you should see Revolutionary on the first line and s-off will be shown on the second line.
11. The application will now ask if you wish to flash a custom clockworkmod recovery. By all means select yes. If you do not get this option, do not worry and just follow the steps in the next section.
12. Now if you were prompted for recovery flashing, let it finish and then load the root zip found on the Revolutionary wiki. This will perma-root your device if you are on the stock rom.
13. The last step is to find a rom to try. At the moment, InsertCoin and Virtuous Sensation seem to have the most development. These roms work on T-Mobile US Sensation 4Gs, so wifi calling is included. The kernals have been OC’d as well, nice touch.

Flashing Clockworkmod recovery manually

In case the Revolutionary application did not prompt you for recovery flash, here’s how to do it manually. You must have adb installed and working.

Hold down volume – and power and boot into your bootlooader. Select fastboot and then plug your USB cable in. The screen should say fastboot USB now.

1. Download this CWM 4.0.1.4 recovery image for the Sensation (Pyramid).
2. Open up a command prompt to your tools directory of adb.
3. Issue the command: fastboot flash recovery cwm-4.0.1.4-pyramid-fixed.img
4. It should show two lines saying sending and successfully flashed.
5. Power down and then hold volume – and power. Selection recovery from the menu and you should be greeted with a blue CWM menu.

*Update* – Clockworkmod recovery 4.0.1.5 is now available via Rom Manager. Download the app from the market and hit the recovery flash option and you are good to go!

The official LG Gingerbread update is finally out for the LG/T-Mobile G2x! You will need to grab the LG Mobile Software updater. Please note that this will break any root access you already have.

So in typical DroidHype fashion, here is a link to grab a ClockworkMod flashable pre-rooted zip of the new 2.3.3 update.

Good job LG and T-Mobile for finally pushing this out!

Via [XDA]

*Update* – this appears to be LG’s release and not an official T-Mobile release. Once T-Mobile finalizes their testing, this will get signed and the over-the-air (OTA) will be sent out. Either way, this is good in LG’s eyes which means it should be good for most!

*Update* – LG’s release is indeed the same as the T-Mobile release. Flash away folks!