Droid Hype

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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Here’s a quick tip on how to look up a saved wifi password on your Android handset. Let’s say you need to flash a new rom but you don’t have a password written down for a wifi access point you frequently use. Use any file explorer on your Android handset and navigate to the /data/wifi directory and view the bcm_supp.conf file. This is just a basic text file that contains all your wifi access points and passwords that you’ve used previously.

Make a backup of it or simply write down the password you need, enjoy!

For some HTC Evo 3d users with HBOOT version at 1.5, flashing custom kernels is pretty much impossible with your standard recovery install. Due to updating the HBOOT to 1.5, you are forced to use HTC”s bootloader unlock method which opens up custom rom installs, but locks down the any boot partition modification. In layman’s terms, this prohibits all kernel installs.

However, there is a way to get around this. The below steps will assume you have ADB and Fastboot tools installed and ready to go. If you do not, please download it at the bottom of this post. This also assumes you know a little on how to use ADB and can follow basic command line directions.

I used the below method to flash Android Revolution successfully on a CDMA Evo 3d with HBOOT 1.5 — rom and kernel.

Note: this should be fairly painless, but problems always have a chance of occuring. You are on your own if you brick your device.

1. Set up ADB/Fastboot tools and make sure the command adb devices shows your device. If this is your first time, grab and install the fastboot drivers from here.
2. Ensure your Evo 3d is on HBOOT 1.5 (volume down + power from a powered off phone) and has been unlocked via HTC’s unlock method.
3. Time to flash your desired recovery. I prefer TWRP, which can be downloaded below. Place this recovery.img within the directory that ADB and fastboot tools reside in.
4. Boot your phone into the bootloader (volume down + power).
5. Select fastboot.
6. Connect your USB and issue the command fastboot flash recovery recovery.img. This will flash the TWRP recovery onto your phone. Do not reboot or exit out of the fastboot screen.
7. We will now fastboot into the recovery instead of using the two finger salute. HTC will give write permissions thru the recovery to write to the boot partition via fastboot. Issue the command fastboot boot recovery.img. This will boot your Evo 3D into the TWRP recovery.
8. With your favorite rom or kernel on your sdcard, you can now successfully flash them thru TWRP.

  Android ADB and Fastboot tools (13.2 MiB, 80 hits)
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  TWRP Recovery for CDMA Evo 3D (4.9 MiB, 39 hits)
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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.

The folks at My Droid World just got the Flash 10.2 apk that is supposed to be released on the 18th of March. This will work on the Xoom tablet and just about all popular Android phones. I’ve loaded it on my G2 running CM7 and it works as expected.

Download your local copy below.

Flash 10.2 apk (registered users only)