[Q] T-Mobile G2x Advice?

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I currently have a super-old Blackberry 8900 that I use as a cellphone. I also have a jailbroken iPod Touch 4G.

I am very familiar with jailbreaking Apple products, and am fairly competent at all things electronic, but I have never owned a Android before. I am looking at upgrading my Blackberry to a T-Mobile G2x, but I had a few questions:

1) What is the best way to root a droid, specifically the G2x? Are there differences, advantages, disadvantages of different methods, or do they all lead me to the same place?

2) For jailbroken Apple products, there is Cydia. Is there anything similar for Android?

3) Is there a difference between a jailbroken iPhone and a rooted Android? Are they functionally similar and are simply two different words for the same outcome, or are they completely different?

4) I would like to create a hotspot using the Android, without necessarily going through T-Mobile. I would like to tether my laptop and iPod Touch to the G2x. What is the best way of accomplishing this?

5) Is there anything else that you think I need to know before I begin the process of transitioning to Android? Anything that I should expect, keep an eye on, etc?

Thanks!

1) What is the best way to root a droid, specifically the G2x? Are there differences, advantages, disadvantages of different methods, or do they all lead me to the same place?

Best way to root is to use the superoneclick method. It's beyond easy, it's literally downloading the program, and clicking root. Here is the link.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1039985


2) For jailbroken Apple products, there is Cydia. Is there anything similar for Android?

I've never heard of Cydia, but I'm assuming you are asking can you download pirated games/programs? The answer is yes, there are MANY sites you can find on the web, though I'm against pirated games/apps.

3) Is there a difference between a jailbroken iPhone and a rooted Android? Are they functionally similar and are simply two different words for the same outcome, or are they completely different?

Never had an Iphone, so not exactly sure the exact def of jailbroken. Rooting an Android phone will basically give you superuser ability to change anything on the phone you want. It's similar to logging into Windows as an Administrator. It allows you to customize things you normally wouldn't be able to. Benefits are removing bloatware, installing custom roms, removing ads, etc.

4) I would like to create a hotspot using the Android, without necessarily going through T-Mobile. I would like to tether my laptop and iPod Touch to the G2x. What is the best way of accomplishing this?

Yes, there is a way to do this, I just haven't done this. A simple search will pull this up.

5) Is there anything else that you think I need to know before I begin the process of transitioning to Android? Anything that I should expect, keep an eye on, etc?

Once you get all your programs downloaded, I would def invest in Titanium Backup Pro. It will allow you to save all your programs, and if you have to reload a rom, you can just click a button and have all your programs restored. Also, read up on making a "nandroid". This basically will backup your entire rom/programs so if you screw something up, you can restore everything back to the way they were. Do a lot of reading on NVflash. If you plan on putting custom roms on here (which you will def want to), this is the best method to install clockwork. Link is here

http://forum.xda-developers.com/show....php?t=1054492

Hope this helps

Thanks![/QUOTE]

Jailbreaking allows the iPhone to install 3rd party apps besides the app store. Android can do this out the box.

Rooting allows apps that need root access to your phone like overclocking and writing to the system partition. Hope that helps.

Sent From from my G2X

Originally Posted by domike1

I currently have a super-old Blackberry 8900 that I use as a cellphone. I also have a jailbroken iPod Touch 4G.

I am very familiar with jailbreaking Apple products, and am fairly competent at all things electronic, but I have never owned a Android before. I am looking at upgrading my Blackberry to a T-Mobile G2x, but I had a few questions:

1) What is the best way to root a droid, specifically the G2x? Are there differences, advantages, disadvantages of different methods, or do they all lead me to the same place?

2) For jailbroken Apple products, there is Cydia. Is there anything similar for Android?

3) Is there a difference between a jailbroken iPhone and a rooted Android? Are they functionally similar and are simply two different words for the same outcome, or are they completely different?

4) I would like to create a hotspot using the Android, without necessarily going through T-Mobile. I would like to tether my laptop and iPod Touch to the G2x. What is the best way of accomplishing this?

5) Is there anything else that you think I need to know before I begin the process of transitioning to Android? Anything that I should expect, keep an eye on, etc?

Thanks!

You don't need a Jailbreak because Android is capable of doing those things out of the box without the need for jailbreaking.

The only thing you may need is Root Access (top level access) to do some modifications but most of the stuff you won't. Android is free to customize without 3rd party hacks.

Jailbroken and Root basically are the same thing but not really. You HAVE to jailbreak your iFone to install Cydia, which installs 3rd party apps which some can customize your icons and other stupid stuff.

Android doesn't need to be rooted to accomplish this. There are only a few apps that need Root access like Titanium Backup and Rom Manager, as they need access to core-level files. You don't need root to change the launcher, icons, wallpaper, browsers, etc. You really only need Root if you plan on flashing custom roms.

Rooting is pretty easy. There are multiple ways of doing it but the easiest is to just connect the phone and run a Root app (Similar to Jailbreaking methods). There are other ways but that is the easiest. Nothing changes once you root. It isn't like you'll find a new "special" market or something on your desktop. Again, root is just user-level logon that has access to core-level files that only a handful of apps require.

You can tether out of the box by simply going into Wireless settings and enabling it. Either USB tether or just a WiFi Hotspot (what I use).

Wow, that was all really helpful. Thanks!