Root access update

Well sometimes it is good to be stubborn, I tried the superboot again. I got the same result and messages but this time I have gained root access.

Not sure exactly what changed, looked the same and nothing I did was different but this is great.
Read my previous post for the full run down.

<======= REPOST OF PREVIOUS POST, I PUT IT IN THE WRONG BLOG======>


Ok so I have been home a few weeks now and decided to unlock my phone and get root access. This is quite a long post, but it is the sequence I followed and I have an unlocked bootloader....no root though.

Just over two years ago I did the same thing to my Nexus One, this time it was much easier to unlock the bootloader. Last time I gave up and booted into windows and used the tools there, it was my impatience coming through.

This time I was determined that I wouldn't use windows, two reasons. One I don't have any windows partitions to boot into on my various computers, so I would have to borrow my partners win7 laptop, which is worse then using my own back up win install. And two, the documentation seemed to be much better this time around, so I was fairly confident that even as an advanced amateur I would be able to succeed.

There are a few things that you need first on linux, I'm running Linux Mint 12, if you want to root your phone from your linux install.

• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get install ia32-libs

Then you will need to get the android debug bridge (ADB) software, this is part of the SDK most forums and tutorials I have read on the net suggest installing the whole thing, this can take a long time depending on your connection speed.

To get the ADB software you will need to grab the SDK install from the official website this will come down as a .tgz archive. Extract it to a useful file, mine is in /home/adam/Programs/AndroidSDK.

The easiest way to get what you need for this is just install the "android sdk tools" and the "android sdk platform tools", that is all and it will only take a few minutes to install.

Once you have gotten this far you are most of the way there, connect your phone to your computer, go to the developer options and tick the "usb debugging" icon. Open a terminal and run:

• lsusb

You should see an entry that looks something like this:

• Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0bb4:0cec High Tech Computer Corp. 

The "0bb4" identifies HTC, other manufacturers have different numbers, and the "0cec" is the device identifier, so all One S phones should have the same number, there may be differences for different versions of the phone, I'm not sure.

Next navigate to the {path}/platform-tools/ folder in your terminal. Then make sure that ADB can see your device by running:

• ./adb devices

The output should look something like this:

• List of devices attached 
• "A serial number"

If not try running the command as root:

• sudo ./adb devices

Next reboot your phone to the bootloader by powering it off then holding the volume down button when you turn it back on. Select the fastboot option, there should be a red area on the screen this should show "fastboot", and "fastboot usb" when plugged into your computer.

If your phone shows "fastboot usb", in your terminal run:

• sudo ./fastboot devices

The output will look something like this:

• "A serial number" fastboot

If you have gotten this far you are about 80% of the way to unlocking your bootloader. You will need to head over to HTCdev to get your unlock code. But to speed you along, run:

• sudo ./fastboot oem get_identifier_token

The generated token is used to get you your unlock code. You are going to have to sign up which is annoying, but this is the easiest / safest way to unlock your bootloader.

Once unlocked when in bootloader mode, it will show unlocked.

Now using the superboot method it is supposed to be really easy to install permanent root on your phone, this has not worked for me. This is the forum post I followed at XDA I had the success message after running the two commands as root (sudo) in my terminal, but alas no root.

This happened on my Nexus One, since I already had the bootloader unlocked I installed CM6 at the time which already has root built in.

This is what I plan to do with my One S, not sure what system I am going to use since there isn't an official CM for the One S yet. But I will keep updating this blog with my progress.

HTC One S Battery Life

Ok I have had my new HTC One S for 9 days now, so I have been using it quite extensively. Between playing games, my current favourite is Temple Run, I finished all the current stuff for angry birds space which is also very cool.

So on to battery life, I am used to charging my phone nightly, the Nexus One wasn't particularly good on battery life. Over all I have been quite impressed with the battery life, I missed charging it one night and it lasted through the next day till about 7pm. My usage pattern is fairly heavy, with lots of stuff going on. Emails, games a little bit of video and a blog post or two when I was testing out the swype beta (very very big improvement over the standard keyboard).

I'm sure that once updates come out for the phone battery life will improve some more. I am happy with my purchase, sense 4 is not really my cup of tea, but it is very polished.

So I got an HTC One S

I have had my new phone for a week now.over all it is really nice. The hardware is really good, I love the feel of it.

Having the bigger screen is great, it is super clear and bright compared to my old nexus one.

On the software side it is a bit of a learning curve coming from Cyanogenmod 7 to sense 4. Sense isn't bad, but I'm used to the more open nature of CM. My brother had the nexus S, android 4 is really nice and I want something close to that. I also feel that sense of slowing the phone down, the animations are nice but I always prefer function over form.

Once there is an official Cyanogenmod port for the One S I will install it, this phone is a bit new for that yet. I really like that HTC makes unlocking the bootloader quite easy. Just go to www.HTCdev.com and follow the instructions.

I also just got the Swype beta, out is absolutely awesome. It makes typing on my phone fast and easy, I have typed this whole post on my phone, I would never have done this with the standard keyboard.when Swype comes out of beta I will buy it. The link below will take you to the Swype website, follow the instructions to install it.

http://www.swype.com/get-swype/how-do-i-get-swype/

Galaxy Note

I had a few minutes with the Samsung Galaxy Note today (5.3" screen). I was surprised by how "small" it felt in my pocket. I guess it was because I expected it to be massive and unwieldy, where I was hoping the HTC One X would feel small. It didn't, it felt not much bigger then the HTC One S, I guess perception plays a big roll in how we experience things.

Would I buy one? The prices have dropped since the SGSIII came out. Probably not, it is certainly a phone you need to use a bluetooth headset with, you look like a tool holding something that big to your ear. It is still super huge in the hand, and is the perfect phone for those that consume a lot of media on their phone.

The screen is very nice, the little stylus is kinda cool but gets old quite quickly.

I do wonder what size the Note 2 will be, if the screen will grow like the Galaxy phone did.

Am I asking too much from phone manufacturers?

I have been watching the press and tech sites quite closely since the SGS III release, the numbers being stated (benchmarks) for the SGS III vs HTC One X vs HTC One S are all very impressive.

Fans and haters alike would have you believe that either the SGS III kills the One X or visa versa, turns out that in different ways both are best. Surprisingly the One S with the Snapdragon S4 does very well in some of the reviews even coming out on top in a few. This will make for some interesting devices come the S4 Quad which is slated for release sometime in Q4 2012.

I have read most of the reviews (Engadget has a good one) that are available on the net and discounting the obviously biased ones, the new Exynos Quad is a fine chip powering its way through the benchmarks giving some seriously impressive numbers (supercomputers passed 150MFLOPS in about 1975-76).

Super computer speeds (10^8 = 100MFLOPS) (thanks Wikipedia)

From the various reviews, it looks like the Mali400 GPU in the SGSIII isn't really a match for the Tegra 3, but the Exynos is a better CPU. There is a lot to like about the SGSIII but not more so then the One X.

I feel the main thing holding back the SGSIII is the stupid TouchWiz 4 skin. HTC Sense 4 is no longer the bloated pig that the older versions were, it is much closer to stock android (why the manufacturers don't just ship stock is beyond me). TouchWiz is clunky and old looking where Sense looks sleek and polished. 

Well that and the fact that it is f-ing huge, these are supposed to be portable 

computers, and not in the way that a laptop is portable, but a pocketable computer.

I want a hybrid of the SGSIII and the One X in the form factor of the One S, and this is probably asking too much. Maybe when the Snapdragon S4 Quad arrives. I want the microSD slot from the SGSIII but the proper ICS buttons from the One X/S. I want the user replacable battery from the SGSIII (or bigger) and the forward looking UI from the One X/S, or better yet stock android. I want the IPS screen from the One X at 1280 x 720 but in the size of the One S but it should be Gorilla Glass 2 like the SGSIII.  Both phones have 1GB of RAM, this is probably enough, but by year end I expect to see phones coming out with 2GB.

HTC One X - too big

So I went down to the local Vodafone shop to have a look at the HTC One X.

Where I was pleasantly surprised with the One S because it felt smaller in the pocket then the Nexus One, where it has a 4.3" vs 3.7" screen. The One X felt huge in the pocket.

The 4.7" screen of the One X means it isn't particularly "pocketable", I like the bigger screen while I'm using it but when carrying the phone in a pocket it is important that it fits comfortably.

This leaves me wondering, is someone going to make a quad core version of a One S size phone. I have said before that I want a top spec phone, just not a massive slate in my pocket.

I can imagine the SGS III will be similar in size and feel to the One X, the SGS III having a 4.8" screen will probably feel even bigger.

Useful data visualisation

Here is a good link to some useful data on ExtremeTech it really shows some good comparisons between phones.

Also I have had some more time with the HTC One S, comparing it directly  my current Nexus One. If anything it feels smaller in the pocket the the Nexus One. Even though the dimensions are bigger, it is thinner and "disrupts" the pocket less.

I am going to take some time soon to go to the local vodafone shop and play around with the HTC One X it is significantly bigger then the One S and I expect that no matter how thin it is it wont feel the same size in the pocket as the Nexus One.

Now that I have had a really good play with the HTC One S I am happier about going up to a bigger screen size, as long as the phone is thinner. I would not have expected this.

Just a note, I was testing this in my hip pocket on my jeans. Walked around a bit.