[Q] Need some questions answered :)

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Hey there, since yesterday I'm a proud owner of this nice phone with android and as I'm crazy about tweaking and stuff I want to get the best out of my phone.

Question 1.
What can I achieve by getting Android 2.1 on my phone?

Question 2.
Is it possible to make a decent backup/flash backup of the branded stuff that comes with my phone? If yes how could I achieve this?

Question 3.
If it's possible to safely backup (to be able to keep waranty intact somewhat) can I get the upgrade for 2.1 NOW? Because I still don't have it (slow ass T-Mobile doing it by serial number or something)

Question 4.
Rooting, is it a good idea? What can I achieve with rooting my device (I know it gives me root access but what can I do further if I have root access?)

Question 5.
If I ever brick my device, is it still possible to get the original firmware on it?

Those are my questions for now :0 Hope you people can help!

Originally Posted by jeffroiscool

Hey there, since yesterday I'm a proud owner of this nice phone with android and as I'm crazy about tweaking and stuff I want to get the best out of my phone.

Question 1.
What can I achieve by getting Android 2.1 on my phone?

Better performance, A little better theme than 1.6, better touch response, better battery life, access to Android 2.x only apps, somewhat improved bluetooth, live wallpaper and few more..

Question 2.
Is it possible to make a decent backup/flash backup of the branded stuff that comes with my phone? If yes how could I achieve this?
Root your phone and use titanium backup..

Question 3.
If it's possible to safely backup (to be able to keep waranty intact somewhat) can I get the upgrade for 2.1 NOW? Because I still don't have it (slow ass T-Mobile doing it by serial number or something)
You can back up normal data (and also apps from market in android 2.1) like contacts, messages, settings etc through Se back and restore utility.
For backing up system apps, or upgrading to 2.1 out of turn, you need to root your phone, that will theoretically void your warranty.

Question 4.
Rooting, is it a good idea? What can I achieve with rooting my device (I know it gives me root access but what can I do further if I have root access?)
Wonderful idea, only if you are familiar with system tweaking and somewhat familiar with linux. And you are willing to take risks.
for example -
a) You can simply install some very useful root only apps like titanium backup, root explorer, app2sd etc to manage your phone contents.
risk associated: very low to moderate

b) you can even change basic framework and theme of your phone, remove bloatware that comes with phone and use terminal emulator to have (almost) full fledged linux console. etc
risk associated: Moderate to High

c) When it comes out, you can even get custom roms on your phone
risk associated: Very high to Fatal

Question 5.
If I ever brick my device, is it still possible to get the original firmware on it?

Depends on how bad the phone is messed up, at the end all depends on your knowledge of using the right methods and right tools.
If you can get the phone to recognized by SEUS/PC Companian/Flash tool you can (hopefully) repair/reflash it with firmware.

Hope it helps..

Yeah it helps, I'm not afraid to toy with my new phone and I do have linux experience. The only thing I want to be sure of is if I can reset everything in case of a brick or something if I ever need to send the phone back to Sony

So if I use the sony ericsson updater my phone gets fully restored to their stuff? :P (Well not if I edit my serial-number to get 2.1 quickly so theoraticly they can always find out I fiddled with it I guess.

So what I'm actually planning to do is:

1. Have a backup ready for the thing above
2. Get Android 2.1
3. Root Android 2.1
4. Remove safe to remove Bloatware
5. Get a custom theme going. As I'm seeing so far the HTC Theme was ported somewhat? I definiatly want a good homescreen. How 1.6 is now sucks.
6. Have a method of EASILY organizing all my applications I'm going to install after doing the above.
7. Install apps
8. Customize to taste.

So to get 2.1 now I would need to edit that serial which I can do if I get rooted first which probably requires Exploid because SuperOneClick was 2.0+?

Rooting 2.1 is SuperOneClick thingy.

Removing safe stuff with Titanium Backup.

Get that theme and start tweaking.

Finding good homescreen/launcher tools.

Get my apps again (Appbrain ftw)

Originally Posted by jeffroiscool

So to get 2.1 now I would need to edit that serial which I can do if I get rooted first which probably requires Exploid because SuperOneClick was 2.0+?

Rooting 2.1 is SuperOneClick thingy.

Removing safe stuff with Titanium Backup.

Get that theme and start tweaking.

Finding good homescreen/launcher tools.

Get my apps again (Appbrain ftw)

Yeah, you can use generic product code, or generic build.prop you can even find generic FW with flashtool on this forum.



PS: for 1.6 rooting Exploid works wonders..

I'm currently on a rooted stock 2.1...06.

i can't seem to find the Google Maps in the market.
my maps' version is at 4.4, but it says on appbrain that the latest is 5.3.1 for all android versions...
http://www.appbrain.com/app/google-m...roid.apps.maps

how can i update this?

i already tried searching for it, but found nothing.
also could not find gtalk and gmail...

any ideas?

try different os

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Hey,
you can use different os like froyo final by owian or gingerbread 13, as your phone is already rooted. Try froyo u will really enjoy it, as i did ;)