Can you point me in the right direction? I'm confused...

[mattyyey]

Firstly HELLO!

This is my first post on this or any other android forum. I am really eager to learn all about my brand new T-mobile G2 touch phone! I got the phone because I heard it was an open source (of some type or another) OS, also I had previously used my brothers G1 and really liked it. So many of my friends have IPhones but i didnt wanna follow the crowd plus with the android i knew there would be more free apps.

I've had my phone about 2 weeks now, got a fair few apps on it, deleted a few, set the lock screen and wallpapers and so on... I have also downloaded and installed the android SDK, even thou I do not know Java, I only know VB and C++ and I have watched the official developer videos on youtube about it. Anyways I want to start learning and creating themes for my phone, even tho i still have alot to learn If at any point I say anything thats wrong please correct me, i wanna know...

So after looking around abit (before and after buying the phone) I read a little about a rooted phone... I do not fully understand this so I'm gona ask a newb question..

Whats the advantage of rooting (i presume that means running as admin so to speak, since its based on the linux kernal) the phone? Does the SDK not give full access to the firmware? can you not edit the firmware without rooting it? what cnt the SDK do?

Next really since I'm not too interested in changing the firmware, How do I theme it?!?! I want to be able to change ALL the colours and change fonts and the icons of all my apps and so on. I have hacked my PSP before and created a .CTF theme (basically a edited copy of the firmware files) so hopefully I can handle this...

if its easier for you just post links to the reliant information, but alot of what I was reading was for all android phone or all about the G1.

Thanks alot in advance,

Mattyyey

[dcheng11]

wow, you know c++ and are a noob in the android world? haha, i'm not entirely familiar with c++, but i've heard from friends that it's pretty complicated.

what phone do you have? g2 in the uk is the hero, but in the states, it's the mytouch.

[mattyyey]

like I said I have the T-Mobile G2 Touch also known as The HTC Hero...

I know C++ from programming the PSP, and learnt Vb ages ago. is anyone going to answer my questions? or shall I just keep searching...

I know I'm a newb atm, but I will change that fast once i find a good forum to guide me...

EDIT:Ok not really got time to search this properally, but i found out that I need RC7 or lower for rooting but what does rooting give me the ability to do? (please dnt just say run things as root) Also when I went to check what build I had it says, "2.3.110.26 CL#69351 release keys" theres not RC rating at all....

my main question is, since it appears themes are basically updates that change sections of the firmware (just like with the psp) what files contain what? how'd I edit them? can make live wallpapers without rooting it? can I change the notification bar colours n stuff? fonts? and so on.... preferably without hacking it (aka rooting it or whatever)

[Evmo]

I rooted my phone for the novelty of it but now I could never go back. There are several ways to do it but I found THIS WAY to be the easiest, took me less than an hour. The main benefit for most people is that you can flash feature rich custom ROMs that amongst other things allow the CPU to run at its full potential and also allow you to tether your phone to your laptop giving you decent internet everywhere there's 3g (and internet suitable for email and basic browsing everywhere with edge and 2g service). Features like apps to the SD card are also really handy and make root worth it.

I have cyanogens latest 1.6 ROM on my phone and it runs just as snappy as an Iphone now.

I used to have an app called Ahome (or something like that) that would let you overlay themes without root.

[mattyyey]

I rooted my phone for the novelty of it but now I could never go back. There are several ways to do it but I found THIS WAY to be the easiest, took me less than an hour.

I used to have an app called Ahome (or something like that) that would let you overlay themes without root.

Thats why I want to know if I could create (full) themes without rooting it, but apparently not... We'll see if i root it or not...

Are there any other home application replacements? can i edit the notification bar within the theme for AHome? can i use live wallpaper? all without rooting?

I have heard of cyanogens several times being a custom ROM but from what i understand i loose most of my widgets if i do that? same goes with replacing the home app?

[dcheng11]

Thats why I want to know if I could create (full) themes without rooting it, but apparently not... We'll see if i root it or not...

Are there any other home application replacements? can i edit the notification bar within the theme for AHome? can i use live wallpaper? all without rooting?

I have heard of cyanogens several times being a custom ROM but from what i understand i loose most of my widgets if i do that? same goes with replacing the home app?

i'm almost positive you need to root to apply full themes. rooting is without a doubt the best thing i've done to my phone (g1), and i highly recommend it, especially since you already have a background in modding other devices.

home replacement apps just let you change really basic things like new icon sets, new launchers, etc. i wouldn't really recommend any, since sense ui really trounces all of them. as for live wallpapers, those are downloadable. i haven't been able to find any in the market, but i always somehow have trouble finding apps, so meh. you can try to search for some.

cyanogen is the most stable rom, however it's for g1's and mytouch's only. since i'm a g1 user, there's a whole bunch of roms and such to try out, which unfortunately won't be a luxury for you. i remember finding a sense/espresso rom on xda if you're interested (espresso is sense ui updated to android 2.1).

[*susan*]

I just wanted to drop in and welcome you to our forums. We are the absolute best site for Android information. I am sure some of our great staff and members will be able to answer all your questions. It just tends to be a bit quiet here on Sunday afternoons.

[mattyyey]

Ok so I've been researching and thinking...

For what I want the phone for there is NO point in rooting it other than themes. granted tethering might come in useful ONE day but i really do doubt it. I have my PSP, Windows Vista and XP themes to one of my full themes. you could almost call them scenes as when i change my pc, I change the psp to the same theme. Like atm I have LCARS (startrek) for all my programs, windows itself and EVEN MY PSP! anyways it would be nice if I could continue to do this with my phone, but as for functionality, i dont need anymore.

Anyways, I want to be able to change ALL the colours and change fonts and the icons of all my apps and so on, that includes the notification bar and the phone/all programs/add buttons. anything i can F*ing see basically! the menus don't matter as much as long as the main "home" screen looks and kinda works like LCARS (or my "DOS" theme - its just totally basic).

I'm willing to root my phone for that, esp since i can always restore a stock ROM... anyways I NEED TO KNOW, are we at the point of being able to do that with custom roms? without using an alternative home app... Alot of the theme guides i read didnt really cover much other than icons and stuff like that, the notification bar n stuff isnt covered...

[mattyyey]

I'm guessing since no-one has answered, my research is correct. You know **** about editing the sense UI, and creating a themes is simply icons wallpapers n sounds... imo thats crap! So unless I'm wrong, you have A LOT TO DO! I mean with my PSP I can edit just about anything!


So unless that happens I will not be rooting my phone just sticking with stock...

EDIT:sorry seems abit harsh after reading it back...

[cmbarry1]

I'm guessing since no-one has answered, my research is correct. You know **** about editing the sense UI, and creating a themes is simply icons wallpapers n sounds... imo thats crap! So unless I'm wrong, you hav A LOT TO DO! I mean with my pep I can edit just about anything!


So unless that happens I will not be rooting my phone just sticking with stock l...

You really need to hit the XDA developers forum for these types of things were more of an all around help forum