Phone finally working great!

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After a bit of work, I finally got my phone working the way I want. I basically tried to get the phone as clean as possible and removed the Motorola bloat.

- Phone no longer reboots itself.. at all.
- 20+ hours of battery is the norm, despite a good amount of use
- Very stable and responsive

Please note: I have the extended battery and use Launcher Pro. Freezing certain apps will stop the Motorola widgets, home screen, and apps from working properly.

1. Flashed the TBH SBF on to phone

2. Formatted SD card

3. Wiped the cache and partition

4. Rooted phone with z4 root

5. Installed Titanium Backup and froze apps

Apps frozen:

3G Mobile Hotspot 2.2.1
Amazon MP3
Backup Assistant 1.0
Backup Assistant 2.2.1
Battery Manager 1.1
City ID 1.0.30
com.motorola.photowidget 2.2.1
Files 2.2.1
Global Unplug 1.0
Help Center 2.2.1
InPocket 2.2.1
MediaShare 1.0.0
Messages 2.2.1
Messaging 2.2.1
News 2.2.1
NFS Shift 1.0
Print to Retail 1.0
Quick Contact 2.2.1
Skype mobile 1.0.0.2
Social Messaging 2.2.1
Social Messaging Service 2.2.1
Social Networking 2.2.1
Social Sharing 2.2.1
Social Status 2.2.1
Sticky Note 2.2.1
Sync Service 1.5.7
Task Manager 1.0
Toggle Widgets 2.2.1
Universal Inbox 2.2.1
Voice Commands
Voicemail 1.1
VZ Navigator
Weather 2.2.1
Yahoo Contacts 2.2.1


I really hate the fact this was all necessary. The original Droid was a great device, because it did not contain any bloatware. I've learned my lesson and will only buy Android devices without it, such as the Nexus series of phones. At least in the meantime, I can use a properly functioning device again.

Thanks a lot for your post mate, it is really helpful.

Were you able to update your phone to the latest version? Did you have any issues updating ?

Thanks.

Even though I haven't had too many problems so far, I went in and froze everything on your list. I have gotten an occasional auto-reboot, so maybe this will help.

Can you explain what this is?
1. Flashed the TBH SBF on to phone

Thanks!

@elmemyself: Yes, the phone updated just fine.

@MrWilliams2: If your phone is rebooting by itself, try switching it back to Global if you currently have it set to CDMA. I never changed it to CDMA since wiping everything and I haven't had a single reboot in almost a week now.

TBH is Team Black Hat.. they are the ones that first released a valid SBF. The SBF is basically an image that will restore your phone back to it's factory settings. All of your current programs and settings will still be intact after you install the SBF because those reside in the cache and partition. You can choose to "wipe" them by booting your phone into Recovery Mode. I went this route to get my phone as clean as possible and so far it's paying off.

To get into Recovery Mode, turn off your phone. Hold 'R' and 'M' keys and turn on the phone. After the '!' comes up, press '@'. Follow the directions on screen.

One last note.. after you format SD card and wipe cache / partition, your phone is essentially factory reset. I highly recommend you turn Wifi on, if it isn't already. After entering my Google account settings, it automatically downloaded my Wifi settings and connected to my router. It then proceeded to download every app I had on my phone previously. If you aren't connected via WiFi, it will take a lot longer for your phone to re-download all those apps.

Good luck!

Thanks for this great information!

I've been holding off rooting my Pro (after using my rooted OG Droid for the past year), but will be rooting soon with the help of the info you've provided...

Sent from my DROID PRO using XDA App

A few questions

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MANY thanks eus107709 for your wonderful guide! I'm sure MANY of us appreciate it and will be following it.

I have a few questions:

1) Why do we have to use the SBF at all? Why not just 'factory reset' the phone using the android/menu/settings option?

2) If we use the SBF, I hear we have to re-activate phone with Verizon. Is this true? I'm in the UK and don't have a verizon account (phone is unlocked). Will I be able to bypass activation?

3) How can I clear the micro-sd card of all my settings to start fresh? Will that also wipe any pictures and music I have on it?

4) By using this method, how (or will I) be able to upgrade the OS with future OS upgrades from Motorola and/or Verizon?

5) not directly related - as we know the phone is radio locked to verizon and unable to use with AT&T / T-Mobile in America. Is it possible to get it radio unlocked to use other bands? The reason I ask is: will I get better 'signal' / reception if I do this? I work in Central London often, where signal is top in the country, but often my 'H' radio bar only shows 2 out of 4. I expect it to be 4 being in London, or at the very least 3, but it never goes above 2 really. Could this be related to the 'locked radio'? I've seen this but can't find much info/feedback yet: see twitter and 'droidbandunlock'

Sorry for all the long-winded questions. Thanks in advance eus107709

I'll try to answer to the best of my knowledge, but I'm afraid I'm not qualified to comment on them all.

1) Why do we have to use the SBF at all? Why not just 'factory reset' the phone using the android/menu/settings option?


Many of us have rooted our phones and removed stock applications that we believe hinder the performance of the device. This prevents us from applying the system update provided by Motorola. I think, but am not positive, that "factory resetting" the phone via the menu options merely clears the cache but doesn't restore the removed apps.

2) If we use the SBF, I hear we have to re-activate phone with Verizon. Is this true? I'm in the UK and don't have a verizon account (phone is unlocked). Will I be able to bypass activation?

If you bought your phone in the United States, through Verizon, I'm pretty sure you need to call them to SIM unlock your phone to be used on a different carrier. They are generally willing to comply with your request if you're a customer in good standing or if you've purchased the phone at full retail value. I believe you generally only have to do this once, but maybe someone more experienced at this can confirm.

3) How can I clear the micro-sd card of all my settings to start fresh? Will that also wipe any pictures and music I have on it?

You can clear the micro-SD card by going to Settings -> SD Card -> Unmount SD card (takes a few seconds) -> Format SD Card.

The applications store program data and settings in the SD card which I like to clear when starting fresh. Uninstalled software often leaves residual data that will continue living on unless you manually delete them. It likely will never affect you, but I know this in the back of my mind and it bugs the hell out of me. I also worry about configuration files leftover from previous installations that will affect my newly installed ones (of the same program). The likelyhood of that being a problem is also very small, but ya never know and I like reducing the chances of things going wrong.

4) By using this method, how (or will I) be able to upgrade the OS with future OS upgrades from Motorola and/or Verizon?

Yes. The TBH SBF is a copy of the software on your phone as it was from Motorola. Rooting your phone by this method is not permanent and can be undone. Freezing the apps is also temporary and can be undone by "unfreezing". Bottom line: You aren't making any permanent changes to your phone. The SBF is a safety net, so even if we made drastic changes to our phone, we can install the SBF to start clean again. I'm more than willing to install new ROMs for our phone as they come out, but as of right now it's not an absolute necessity.

5) not directly related - as we know the phone is radio locked to verizon and unable to use with AT&T / T-Mobile in America. Is it possible to get it radio unlocked to use other bands? The reason I ask is: will I get better 'signal' / reception if I do this? I work in Central London often, where signal is top in the country, but often my 'H' radio bar only shows 2 out of 4. I expect it to be 4 being in London, or at the very least 3, but it never goes above 2 really. Could this be related to the 'locked radio'? I've seen this but can't find much info/feedback yet: see twitter and 'droidbandunlock'

I'm fairly certain "unlocking the radio" will not improve your reception in the UK, but I don't really know enough about how they are blocking US carriers.

Hope things are a little bit more clear!

need to z4 root

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i need to z4 root
please take a link fo me

Thanks very much for your response my friend!

I appreciate your help on all things regardless of your background and experience.

Activating vs unlocking - phone is factory and/or verizon unlocked and that is permanent. Activating is different from unlocking where we register our phone with verizon. I thought I saw someone say using sbf requires re-activation, and that they were able to bypass it somehow.

I will probably backup my pics and music etc on my PC before formatting the sd card.

Btw, do you notice the battery life increase after freezing all the unnecessary software?

Please also share any other experiences you've had since cleaning up your phone.

Thanks again my friend.

Sent from my DROID PRO using XDA App

You're welcome, I'm glad to help!

Updating the SBF or factory resetting your phone will surely require activation, but that is easily done. Most of the time, your phone will automatically prompt you to activate which is denoted by a "ACTIVATE NOW" button. Otherwise, just dial *228. It usually doesn't take more than 10 seconds and is completely automated.

My battery life was never horrendous, BUT it wasn't consistent. There were times when my battery would seemingly drain leaving me with only 9-10 hours of usage. Please keep in mind that no matter what you remove, battery life will still not be amazing. It's a smartphone after-all, and if you're like me who is constantly making use of it, you're not going to go 2 days without a recharge.

There is a very good chance that if you've never used the Droid 1, Nexus, or G1 you may not consider it "useless software". Personally, I like using Android the way Google designed it. When I switch Android phones, I don't want to be switching between "Blur" (motorola), "Sense" (HTC), and whatever Samsung calls their UI overlay and apps.

Right now, it's the closest I can get the phone to the way Google intended. In terms of functionality, you will not notice anything much different. I highly recommend using either Launcher Pro or ADW Launcher. IMO, both are better than the Motorola home screen launcher and even Google's default.

I hope that in between the time you're tweaking the phone you get to actually enjoy it, because it is still a great experience