Database Users

brought a desire z nam, some questions

Hey guys,
I broought a desire z nam (Bell mobility branded) over the holidays. This is my first android device, so after a month of using it, I finally feel like I have my bearings for the platform (I'm coming from symbian). However, I have a few questions:
When I brought the phone, it came unlocked (I'm using it on AT&T's network in the US. Does this mean the phone has already been rooted? Is there an easy way I can check on this?
Since I am using the phone on at&t network, how will updates work for me? Is it possible for me to get any OTA updates? Or am I restricted to custom roms for updates? I am a little hesitant to use custom roms, as I need this phone to be reliable above all else, and I keep hearing about how unstable some of those roms can be.
What exactly is Cyberon Voice Commander? I always see it hogging a huge amount of memory in my running apps, and I'm wondering if its one of the base apps included with android. Searching around, it seems that it is used for speech to text, so if I remove it, will voice seach and voice actions no longer work?
Speaking of running apps, is it normal to have 50+ apps running at the same time? This phone boots with a ton of apps already running, and a lot of them seem like system processes. The phone does feel sluggish at time; however, this being my first and only android device, I don't really have a good reference to whether this is normal or not.
The touchscreen seems off. It always tends to register touches slighty above or below where my finger hits (super annoying when you're trying to select something on a list) is there any way to calibrate the screen?
On the subject of screens, is there a way to activate the screen other than pressing the power button? That button is a bit hard to reach for me, especially with 1 hhand operation
Htcsense.com doesn't seem to be working for me. It can't locate my phone, making the phone ring doesn't do anything, and I don't see the menu bar up top. Anyone know what's up with it?
And finally, I'm trying to find a good chinese handwriting input method; the phone comes with pinyin and wubihua input methods on the default htc keyboard, but no handwriting reconginition. The only app I found on the market for it is terrrible at picking up my strokes (HanWriting IME), can anyone recommend anything for it?
Thanks a bunch

I have the same device running on ATT as well.
The phone does not come 'rooted' even if it is an unlocked version. Root allows you to write to the 'OS Partition' on the phone memory in addition to other things. To check if you have root, you need to boot into the recovery mode of the phone. The first line in recovery will read either S-OFF (root obtained) or S-ON (no root). I suggest reading up on 'GFREE' and using that method to obtain root. Visionary is also an option, but doesn't appear to be as 'safe' as GFREE.
As far as I know, we are on our own for OTA updates. I have been using Custom ROMs on my device since about day 3 of owning it and it was the best decision I have made. I currently run CyanogenMod 6.1 and it runs great. Much better than stock. It is VERY stable and I haven't had any issues, everything is working. They are currently developing CyanogenMod 7 (Android 2.3) but it not officially released as stable version yet.
I am not familiar with that Voice Commander app. Check Google.
I don't have 50+ apps running but do have quite a few. Froyo 2.2 (shipped on phone with HTC Sense Skin) is designed to automatically shut down applications that are not being used so they do not eat up system resources. I didn't use stock for long, so I can't say how it performs but I have no lag issues with Cyanogen.
I do recall a 'calibration' option on Stock, but again I didn't use it for long and can't remember where it was.
In Cyanogen mod you can wake up the screen by pressing the track pad. Search in the Themes and Apps section of the Desire Z/G2 forum and there is an application you can install that does the same thing. I think its called Trackpad Wake.
Sorry never used HTCsense.com or any chinese writing apps. For the writing app, you can check the Android Themes/Applications thread from the main forum page. There are lots of other apps discussed there that are no in the Desire Z forum.
Welcome to Android!

Some good answer in the post above. Just to add some additional info:
The Vision Wiki describes how to verify root
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/index.php?title=HTC_Vision
But your phone is likely not rooted. When you buy a phone unlocked, that usually means SIM unlocked, so you can use other SIM cards besides Bell. Cell phone dealers usually just have ways to get the SIM unlock codes for phones, same as the paid SIM unlock services you find on eBay and other places.
All ROMs have bugs, including the "official" ones. In my experience, the custom ROMs usually are more stable and less bugs than the official ones they are based on. In any case, I wouldn't worry too much about OTA updates. If you want to flash an official ROM, they get posted on here faster then you would get them OTA.
I just checked, and I have exactly 50 apps running on my Bell Desire Z (running on AT&T like you). I wouldn't worry about it. As mentioned in the previous reply, Android is designed to keep processes open in the background until the memory is needed, then it kills idle processes as needed.
I've never used a Symbian phone. But the Desire Z is one of the fastest Android phones currently on the market. It gets bogged down a bit by the Sense UI in some conditions (especially if you have lots of widgets loaded). But this is minor, and I have found the performance to be very good overall. If you want some more speed, you can root and overclock the CPU. Overclocking to 1 GHz does not even increase voltage to the CPU, so the effect on battery life and risk is minimal.
HTCSense.com is still a work in progress, unfortunately. The features not working is normal, its not just you.
Cyberon Voice Commander is bloatware pre-installed by Bell. Its supposed to allow you to command the phone (with your voice, obviously) without having to touch the screen to perform certain functions (call or find a contact, play a song, etc.). But its pretty useless, and pure crap, IMO. Even when it recognizes your command, it will often still require touch input to make the selection, which completely defeats the purpose! Its faster to just access the functions the normal way.
Bloatware is part of the ROM, and therefore not completely straightforward to remove. All methods require the phone be rooted, AFAIK. The following thread has a method (using Titanium Backup) to remove most of the bloat.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=831584
I've also found a paid app ($1.99) on the market called Absolute System Root Tool removes the bloatware successfully
As mentioned, there is a hack to make the trackpad button wake the phone. But I couldn't tell if the feature could be removed or turned off, so I haven't tried it yet, personally.

Aha, a fellow Symbian convert! Welcome to the greatest phone ever - like an N97 that doesn't suck. I used to run Symbian-Guru.com - please feel free to PM me with *any* questions, I still love to help folks.
I would *highly* suggest you root your phone, if for no other reason than to dump the bloatware that comes with it and be able to take screenshots and that sort of thing. You may also want to look at the Virtuous ROM - it's a port of the Desire Z ROM that has some extras built-in. I've been using it on my G2 pretty much since I got it and it's fan-freakin-tastic. I easily get 12-15hrs of battery life, and that's with normal usage. It also has trackpad wake built right in - it's awesome.
Most of your other questions were answered above. In any case, welcome to XDA, and to Android.

Thanks for the replies. I'm loving the phone so far; just there's a lot of quirks in android that I'm not used to. That's to be expected with any transition to a different os, so I'm sure ill adapt.
you mentioned offical roms are also posted there as well; will flashing those roms require S-OFF? I might be in the minority, but I actually like senseUI. The only thing I wish I could change would be replacing the customization button on the dock with a browser shortcut. I've tried adw and launcherpro, but everytime I end up missing the htc widgets and going back to sense.
Ill probably start looking into some custom roms. I'm really holding out for the offical 2.3 update though. Ill also have to find a way to revert to the original rom should I not like the new one. I can't seem to find a copy of the original rom from bell to download anywhere; so is titanium backup my only option? Finally if I flash in a new rom, (offical or custom) will I lose my carrier unlock?
Thanks

Before you flash any different ROM you should do what is called a "nandroid" backup of your current ROM via Clockwork Recovery/ROM Manager (which you can install once you have root and S-OFF).
No, flashing a different ROM will not lose your SIM unlock.
If you have SuperCID from gfree, then you will be able to flash different official ROMs, not just the Bell one.
Sent from my HTC Desire Z

makken85 said:
Thanks for the replies.
Thanks
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Please hit the "thanks" button on the responses that were helpful to you. So those of use that took the time to answer can increase their thanks meters!
You're not completely alone. I like Sense also! FYI, the Virtuous ROM recommended by orange bandit is a custom one built on the Sense UI. Although I'm probably going to wait until a Gingerbread Sense ROM myself.

makken85 said:
Thanks for the replies. I'm loving the phone so far; just there's a lot of quirks in android that I'm not used to. That's to be expected with any transition to a different os, so I'm sure ill adapt.
you mentioned offical roms are also posted there as well; will flashing those roms require S-OFF? I might be in the minority, but I actually like senseUI. The only thing I wish I could change would be replacing the customization button on the dock with a browser shortcut. I've tried adw and launcherpro, but everytime I end up missing the htc widgets and going back to sense.
Ill probably start looking into some custom roms. I'm really holding out for the offical 2.3 update though. Ill also have to find a way to revert to the original rom should I not like the new one. I can't seem to find a copy of the original rom from bell to download anywhere; so is titanium backup my only option? Finally if I flash in a new rom, (offical or custom) will I lose my carrier unlock?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Virtuous ROM is basically the same as what you're running now, but fully rooted with some improvements here and there (trackpad wake, a bit of overclocking, etc).
There is a Rosie hack to be able to replace the right dock button with whatever you want, here's the link: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=876464
I did it on my Virtuous ROM, works great, though I couldn't stand the simplicity of Sense and went back to LauncherPro, myself.

[Q] So, I'm getting a Tab 10.1...

I'm getting a Tab 10.1 and was wondering a few things:
-If I don't like the Samsung apps(for example, the TW launcher), can I install the apks from a Xoom sys dump?
-If I wanted to install an app that has no tablet version yet (say through an apk) would it blow up to 10.1 inch size?
-And also, how easy is it to get back to stock after a complete ****up, brick and everything (that's on of the reasons the Moto Milestone is still my primary phone)
Thanks 4 the help guys, any answers are appreciated a lot.
Ev

I'm not sure about the Xoom apks, but I've seen that people have been able to successfully run the ASUS Transformer apks on other tablets.
As far as the apps goes, I think there are two ways they are handled:
A) They are tablet compatible, and will take up the whole screen like a tablet app. You may end up with a lot of blank space as they will retain the same layout (and icon size) as the phone version, but in all in all very useful.
B) Some apps aren't tablet compatible yet. This open in a tiny window on your screen (the rest of the screen is black) about the same size they would on your phone.
I think it's fairly trivial to update apps so they handled in way A, but I've come across one or two apps that haven't been updated yet.

Thank you!
Thanks for the answers, that clears up a few things.
I'm still going to have to trawl the forums for a way to get back to stock if all else fails, but u answered all my other questions, so thanks again!!
tr4z

I have quite a few non tablet apps currently running on my tab.
Many of them take up the entire screen with no issues.
The only way I can tell they aren't official tablet apps is the location of the menu button.
Apps optimized for the tablet will have the menu button in the upper right corner, while non official apps will have them at the bottom.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk

all apps will scale to full screen if you turn off compatibility mode. I'm told that some apps will crash if you disable compatibility mode but I have never experienced this.

Hey man , as far as things go with recovering .. the root is a fairly easy process , and you can recover with Odin like Galaxy S phones .. I havent HAD to do it yet , but using it was part of how i rooted . And i have a Galaxy S Fascinate , and Odin can recover ANYTHING as far as it is concerned , I cant imagine it being much different on the 10.1 tab . At least im hoping not , as that factored into my decision in buying one .
Im working on some new optimized apps and a theme now .. hopefully we can get them up here on xda when completed .

Some Questions on Tab 4 7.0 SM-T237P

Greetings everyone.
I recently acquired a preowned Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 7.0 SM-T237P For a really good price off ebay. I have used Kingroot to root it and have installed have managed to install Phillz Clockwork Mod 6 touch. What I want to know If there are any custom roms that allow the colors of the settings and other menus or at least have the background of the menus be black and the text white. Is there a module that does this on Xposed Framework? Also what version of the GAPPS do I need and how do I install them. I also want to get all Sprint and Samsung apps off as I'm on AT&T and dont care about the 3g features. The reason behind the need for color mod is I am visually impaired and have trouble seeing anything on a bright background. I all ready know about the negative color feature in settings, the problem with that it inverts colors on everything. This tablet is going be used for gaming and videos mostly so thats all I'm interested in. I don't particularly care about what version of Android I have as long as it runs the apps and I can use wifi and bluetooth. Any help I can get would be greatly appreciated.

Can you link me to philz recovery you used? And you got permanent root with kingroot? Thanks

System UI tuner

Is there a way to turn the system UI tuner on or did Samsung remove this:fingers-crossed:
It was a big feature of M I was looking forward too. ONe of the main reasons I rooted was to clean up the status bar. IM guessing its just not there but it would be nice if someone finds it. I cant find information anywhere else.

The information I'm finding everywhere else is that everyone else is looking for it, too.
Apparently HTC acknowledged removing it from the Marshmallow updates for the M8 and M9 (sorry, I don't have a link to an official statement), so I suspect Samsung did the same. I'm not thrilled.

*removed* i see what you mean now

I'm considering buying a G6 but want to ask some existing G6 owners a few questions

Yesterday, I found some time to try a retail demo G6 and compared to the Galaxy S6, however, the demo G6 I tried wasn't connected to Wi-Fi, so I couldn't test some things. out. Click "click to show content" below for my findings (taken from my Instagram post that I had copied before posting, since Instagram decided to screw up the formatting).
To prevent spam on the XDA forums, ALL new users prevented from posting outside links in their messages. After approximately 10 posts, you will be able to post outside links. Thank you for understanding!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
(Go to my Instagram account via a link on my XDA profile and find the original photo there)
(I have a few questions for any of you who own a LG G6 or other LG phone running their version of Android 7.0 so expand the description if you want to see those questions)
I found a demo LG G6, and decided to try it out, to find out that...
LG actually uses the Google emoji from stock Android!!! Yes!!!!!
Unlike that Sam-suck Galaxy S8 that uses their crappy and hard to read emoji that I absolutely hate.
I also found that LG's version of Android also has custom font support. Hopefully it's actually using FlipFont, because if that's the case, I could load my custom Comic Neue font package that I have on my Galaxy Tab A and use that.
(Does LG's Android use FlipFont or another font system where I can easily create a custom font package to use there?)
LG's Android also has custom theme support, so hopefully there's a theme that can make it look like stock Android 7.0, but sadly, the demo G6 I tried wasn't connected to WiFi. I already know LG's custom launcher has 2 versions, one with an app drawer and one without.
(Is there a theme for LG phones that can make it look like stock Android?)
Another thing I didn't notice in reviews on YouTube is that the power button is combined with the fingerprint sensor. Nice!!
Plus, LG's Android does have user changeable DPI settings. Hopefully that setting doesn't only affect LG apps.
One thing I forgot to check is if LG's Android has a blue light filter, which CyanogenMod does have.
(Does LG's version of Android have some kind of blue light filter or "night mode"?)
Even then, I'm probably not gonna upgrade my phone this year, because I had already gone through so much trouble trying to sign back in to all my apps after transferring to the Galaxy Tab A WiFi+cellular, unless there is an Android app (that does not require root) that can actually preserve app data so I would be able to continue right where I left off after switching to a new phone.
With that, I am considering getting a G6 (in silver or black, 64GB) (either that, or I might wait for either the G7 or whatever the next OnePlus will be called) but want to ask some questions, mainly pertaining to the software experience, which is my main deciding factor when it comes to buying an Android device.
Anyway, just open the spoiler thing above if you don't understand why I'm asking the following questions.
Does LG's Android use FlipFont or another font system where I can easily create a custom font package to use there?
Is there a theme for LG phones that can make it look like stock Android?
Does LG's version of Android have some kind of blue light filter or "night mode"?

kbhasi said:
Yesterday, I found some time to try a retail demo G6 and compared to the Galaxy S6, however, the demo G6 I tried wasn't connected to Wi-Fi, so I couldn't test some things. out. Click "click to show content" below for my findings (taken from my Instagram post that I had copied before posting, since Instagram decided to screw up the formatting).
(Go to my Instagram account via a link on my XDA profile and find the original photo there)
(I have a few questions for any of you who own a LG G6 or other LG phone running their version of Android 7.0 so expand the description if you want to see those questions)
I found a demo LG G6, and decided to try it out, to find out that...
LG actually uses the Google emoji from stock Android!!! Yes!!!!!
Unlike that Sam-suck Galaxy S8 that uses their crappy and hard to read emoji that I absolutely hate.
I also found that LG's version of Android also has custom font support. Hopefully it's actually using FlipFont, because if that's the case, I could load my custom Comic Neue font package that I have on my Galaxy Tab A and use that.
(Does LG's Android use FlipFont or another font system where I can easily create a custom font package to use there?)
LG's Android also has custom theme support, so hopefully there's a theme that can make it look like stock Android 7.0, but sadly, the demo G6 I tried wasn't connected to WiFi. I already know LG's custom launcher has 2 versions, one with an app drawer and one without.
(Is there a theme for LG phones that can make it look like stock Android?)
Another thing I didn't notice in reviews on YouTube is that the power button is combined with the fingerprint sensor. Nice!!
Plus, LG's Android does have user changeable DPI settings. Hopefully that setting doesn't only affect LG apps.
One thing I forgot to check is if LG's Android has a blue light filter, which CyanogenMod does have.
(Does LG's version of Android have some kind of blue light filter or "night mode"?)
Even then, I'm probably not gonna upgrade my phone this year, because I had already gone through so much trouble trying to sign back in to all my apps after transferring to the Galaxy Tab A WiFi+cellular, unless there is an Android app (that does not require root) that can actually preserve app data so I would be able to continue right where I left off after switching to a new phone.
With that, I am considering getting a G6 (in silver or black, 64GB) (either that, or I might wait for either the G7 or whatever the next OnePlus will be called) but want to ask some questions, mainly pertaining to the software experience, which is my main deciding factor when it comes to buying an Android device.
Anyway, just open the spoiler thing above if you don't understand why I'm asking the following questions.
Does LG's Android use FlipFont or another font system where I can easily create a custom font package to use there?
Is there a theme for LG phones that can make it look like stock Android?
Does LG's version of Android have some kind of blue light filter or "night mode"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1: No idea
2: kind of, but apparently the text color in the settings is tied to to the one in the notification shade so you tend to get both of them either with a dark or a light color. Check the themes forum.
2: Yes

Obscure Reference said:
1: No idea
2: kind of, but apparently the text color in the settings is tied to to the one in the notification shade so you tend to get both of them either with a dark or a light color. Check the themes forum.
2: Yes
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried, but I couldn't find it.
Closest I found was a "Pixel" theme, but I think I might be able to combine that with Nova Launcher + one of those stock Android icon packs for 3rd party launchers + Google Gboard + a bunch of stock Android apps that Google has uploaded to the Play Store, to get as close to stock Android as possible, or I might wait for LineageOS or another custom rom with the stock Android UI to be released for the G6.
(I do like using Nova Launcher Prime because one of the things it allows me to do is to hide a number of the Samsung apps and bloatware on my Galaxy Tab A, plus I can hide the app drawer behind a double tap gesture)

kbhasi said:
I tried, but I couldn't find it.
Closest I found was a "Pixel" theme, but I think I might be able to combine that with Nova Launcher + one of those stock Android icon packs for 3rd party launchers + Google Gboard + a bunch of stock Android apps that Google has uploaded to the Play Store, to get as close to stock Android as possible, or I might wait for LineageOS or another custom rom with the stock Android UI to be released for the G6.
(I do like using Nova Launcher Prime because one of the things it allows me to do is to hide a number of the Samsung apps and bloatware on my Galaxy Tab A, plus I can hide the app drawer behind a double tap gesture)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can actually hide apps in the stock launchers too.