Droid Hype

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!

The Seidio guys have been making quality cases and accessories for many phones in recent years, but it seems something isn’t right with their current Surface case for the LG G2x.

As you can see from the above picture, that corner mark was made by the inner edge of the Seidio Surface case. The case either needs to have it’s inner edges shaved slightly to prevent this from happening. This is just one corner, the other three corners have similar cosmetic blemishes now.

Is this a repeat of what happened with Evo users from last year? For the time being, I’m back to using my softer TPU case. A note has been sent into Seidio technical support, I’ll see what they have to say about this.

So from some insane crackflashing I did recently on my first G2x unit, I found out it suffered from some similar problems that my Droid Incredible experienced. On certain roms or kernels, it would just lock up the G2x on the initial boot screen. Not only that, it also heated up the CPU immensely in a short span of time.

Here’s what I attempted to flash that worked:

• Eaglesblood 1.0.4 Froyo and GB Rom
• Dark&Sinister 1.1 Froyo Rom
• Ultimate Rom Froyo Rom
• CM7 Nightlies Rom
• Trinity 15 ext3 and ext4 kernels for EB/DS Froyo

Missing from that list is Faux123′s AOSP and CM7 based rom and kernel. As much as I would have loved to use it, I just couldn’t. Now before someone points, laughs and cries user error, I’ve been doing this for quite a while. I know how this works and what needs to get done to make it work. I’ve done the wipes, I’ve done the nandroid restores back to ext3, I’ve done everything. The end result is always a locked up LG boot screen and a blazing hot backside.

So how did I fix it?

Simple, grabbed a new G2x unit and test it. Within 10 minutes, I had Faux’s AOSP rom and Cm7 based kernel loaded and booted. So did my G2x have the same kind of bad memory blocks causing problems? Who knows at this point, but what I do know is I’m now using one of the smoothest rom and kernel combinations for the G2x.

It looks like all the freezes, lock ups, reboots and hot batteries on the T-mobile G2x are caused by a bad batch of batteries? From this forum post on the T-mobile customer forums, many are reporting that getting a newer replacement battery has pretty much eliminated all the above mentioned issues. If you have swapped the entire phone numerous times, try swapping just the battery instead.

The EagleBlood 1.0.3 Revamped rom is probably one of the more popular custom roms for the T-mobile G2x. The only flaw with it is the failure of Swype to work. This is actually not the fault of the rom, but more of the fault of the rom it was built on which is the leaked Gingerbread (2.3.3) rom.

To fix this, flash the following zip like you would any custom rom via Clockworkmod recovery. This should correct the error message that pops up telling you that Swype is in limited functionality.

Swype fix for EagleBlood 1.0.3 Revamped

[Update] – This should work for all ROMs based on the Gingerbread leak for the G2x.

So from a few reports on XDA, there’s some discussion on whether or not removing a piece of protective plastic from the back of the G2x results in better reception. The plastic can either be blue-ish or black like the picture above. It’s located right above the bottom speakers after you remove the back cover of the G2x. There’s no warranty voiding since it’s just a protective piece of plastic like you see on a lot of electronics.

One thing I did notice that was better was wifi calling. My first phone call out via wifi did not break up like it normally did. I’ll try on various access points through out the day, but try this out and see if it does anything for you.

Following yesterdays post about rooting the T-mobile G2x, here comes Clockworkmod (CWM) recovery. @ChrisSoyars just posted a version of CWM on XDA. His steps are done on Linux, but since a majority of us are Windows users here’s how you’ll do it. There are external links here because a lot of this will probably change.

1. Download the  CWM Recovery version 3.1.0.1 with ext4 support. You can choose internal sdcard or external. The following steps are for external sdcard recovery.
2. Grab the nvflash utility and drivers over at MoDaCo.
3. Place the CWM recovery file from Step 1 into the same directory where you extracted nvflash to in step 2.
4. Remove the battery and then hold down both volume buttons and connect your USB cable to your computer.
5. Your computer will prompt you for drivers — navigate to the drivers you downloaded in step 2 and install them.
6. Once the drivers are installed, unplug the USB cable from your phone only.
7. Now once again, hold down both volume buttons but this time keep holding them down while plugging in your USB cable.
8. Open a command prompt (Start->Run->cmd) and navigate to the directory you extracted nvflash to and copy/paste the following: nvflash.exe –bct E1108_Hynix_512MB_H8TBR00U0MLR-0DM_300MHz_final_emmc_x8.bct –bl fastboot.bin –download 5 p999-ext4-ums-external-recovery.img
9. Your screen will show SW Upgrade and your command prompt will cycle through a bunch of nvflash operations. Once the flash is done, it will tell you so. Give it a few minutes after that and then unplug the USB cable.
10. Hold volume down and power when booting up to gain access to the CWM recovery. You can let go once you get past the LG boot screen. If you let go prematurely, it will drop you into the SW Upgrade screen. Use the volume buttons to navigate and the power button to select your options.

Tip: If you issue a nvflash command, you will need to unplug your USB cable and replug it every time or else the next nvflash command will not take. I’m not sure why this happens, but repeating a nvflash command back to back doesn’t seem to work.

[Update 04/28/2011] – Update the steps with better instructions and with the latest release of CWM recovery.

Note: The difference between doing the above and flashing CWM recovery via Rom Manager is that the above steps will allow you to use the volume down and power combination when booting up. If you do this via Rom Manager at this point, you won’t be able to access the recovery in that manner. This is important because if you end up boot looping and can’t boot up correctly, having volume down and power to access recovery will be your life saver.

[Update 05/25/2011] – Krylon360 has released a customized version of CWM that supports ext4 as well as ext3. Go grab it and then load the Trinity kernel for some added performance.

The T-mobile G2x is now available in stores as of today. Some people have already received it if ordered via online sales from a few days back. This thing is a pure beast of a phone, let’s root it.

I’m usually not too fond of one click root methods, but this really is the easiest way to do it on this brand new handset.

This assumes you have ADB already installed and working. The download links will require you to be a registered user on this site.

1. Download and install the LG drivers. LG has released the G2x drivers over at their site. Download and install those instead.
2. Enable USB debugging under Settings-Applications-Development on your G2x.
3. Download and run Super One Click (v1.8).
4. Hit the Root button and off you go.

[Update 4/22/2011] Added link to official LG drivers for the G2x.