On Sunday I took the jump and rooted my Droid phone. "Rooting" a smartphone gets you administrative access to the device, which in turn allows you to do some neat things like
- Make a backup image of the ROM's filesystem to the SD card.
- Run applications that allow you to do things not enabled by default, such as turning your phone into a WiFi hotspot.
- Run alternative ROMs.
To root the Droid, I followed the instructions found
here. One of the first things I did after rooting was to install
ROM Manager, and make a backup of my existing setup to my SD card. I then installed the
Astro File Manager and had it make a backup of all the apps I had installed. With that done I went into ROM Manager and used it to download and install the
Bugless Beast ROM. Per the instructions I allowed it to wipe the data cache, which also has the effect of removing all the apps you've installed. One feature of Bugless Beast that I like is that it will automatically restore your applications from some backup formats, including Astro File Manager's.
I've been running Bugless Beast now for a couple days and so far, so good. By default it overclocks the Droid's CPU to 800 MHz. This made the phone feel a bit warm so I set it back to the standard 600 MHz. At some point I may try
CyanogenMod or other ROMs.
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2 comments:
+1 on cyanogenmod, I'm running it on my G1 developer phone.
Android's still not as Linux-y as my Nokia N810 but in general it is more useful.
A couple weeks ago I replaced Bugless Beast -- which had become rather buggy -- with Cyanogenmod. It runs much more smoothly although I still experience the occasional slowdown. I'm currently debating whether I want to spring for a new phone. I've been eligible for an upgrade since last October but I've been holding off. Might be time to spring for an HTC Thunderbolt.
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