yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] krips2003:
Atleast for me even 32GB with no sdcard is a big issue. Regarding 25GB storage from dropbox, we'll I already have 50GB storage with Box that too its free. I like to put all my music, movies, pictures/videos from camera on sdcard. This gives me liberty of completely wiping the internal storage when I start loading custom roms. This way I save those 'holy ****' moments when we get excited with a newly released roms from our beloved developer and in that excitement, just to be safe of not encountering any kind of 'fc', we do factory reset and while it's doing its formating, suddenly a light bulb lit up in your brain and the first word that comes to your mind is, 'holy ****' what just happened!? :confused::mad::(:banghead:
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] mgd76:
I also hope this isn't a trend. I know I will NEVER buy a phone without those two features...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] Simba501:
+1! I love the galaxy nexus but no expandable memory was a deal breaker. I may get one as a side device though.

Sent from my Galaxy S II (i777)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] erick161:
Exactly my feelings. I really hope Samsung isn't silly and follows that path. Their phones are plenty thin enough. Add some thickness if it means i get to keep my battery and microSD. Those where two big reasons i switched to android (and customization as well)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] Aeltar:
I plan on upgrading to the GS3, or possibly the next Nexus device. I came from an EVO 4g, and with ICS it is still perfectly serviceable. By then I'm sure the GS2 will be on Jelly Bean, and in similar status.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] :
as long this phone keeps its exynos, there is no other set up that can beat, Exynos is just... top of the line.

I really think that Samsung is headed the Motorola way, extremely thin, but no removable battery and if it going that way, Micro sim might seems like the new thing for the SGSIII.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] Skv012a:
Well ATT seldom gets any decent phones, so un-massacred S2 was a miracle haven't seen in years. As far as HTC, I'll pass on horrid battery life and azz-backwards ways to flash those things.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] Felix2402:
Exactly. All my friends have htc phones and its like every time I'm with them their phones are always dying.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] dli7319:
too bad the note doesn't have a 1.4 ghz exynos like the euro one
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] erick161:
It can be argued that they have the most solid lineup right now IMO. The only thing lacking would be a droid RAZR like phone.

And the fact i still have my unlimited rocks.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] wildkarrde21:
Sorry to burst your bubbles, but the AT&T version of the One X is only going to have 16GB. That's teetering on deal-breaker for me. You can always buy the international version, but then you lose LTE.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] :
LTE shouldn't really be a concern in this time. why? well see, AT&T's LTE network isnt really a network yet. Its is there, but it is spotty as ****. I would pick up a LTE phone when the network is big enough.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] erick161:
I have complete LTE coverage in Tampa and all surrounding counties. So for me, its very much a network. Just wish it could be turned off
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] :
its spotty, at thsi point it is really not worth it unless you have available to you, at the pace att is going with their LTE network the LTE phones people buy right now will be outdated by the time LTE gets to them, so really, it is pointless.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] erick161:
Pointless to you...but not to MILLIONS that LTE is available too...just in Tampa bay area alone. Not including all the other cities.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] :
okay okay, everyone go get LTE phones because the network is huge! and it currently available to everyone :D

you know! no gaps big ass gaps or anything! :D
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] evostevo1:
Lmao
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] ymcmbforever:
I personally after having

Atrix 2

Skyrocket

Iphone 4s

Lg nitro hd

Htc rezound

Still think that the gs2 is the best phone
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] mattdm:
You're not getting the point. LTE is a big deal to some people, those who happen to live in one of the big cities that has it. We all agree that it shouldn't be a deciding factor to some people, but you're saying it shouldn't be a deciding factor to anyone? That's ridiculous. Why should everyone ignore LTE because some people aren't covered?

Personally, I'm not in an LTE coverage area, so I'm not worried about getting an LTE phone. But if I was in a coverage area...it would certainly be a consideration.

Samsung just needs to make their next gen Exynos line support LTE...then everyone's happy. :)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] :
k.

As for Samsung, it better get its **** together. lol.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] mattdm:
It seems to me like Samsung has its **** together. With the S2 still wildly popular, the Note taking off faster than anyone predicted, and the S3 on the horizon...Samsung is the king of the hill in the mobile industry right now. Well, not counting Apple.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] kristikaty:
That map must be an old one because my city of Baton Rouge is currently shown as "coming soon." I was told it would be this summer here. Ultimately, I did decide against the Skyrocket because the Exynos processor is just better. Is LTE really that big of a deal? The guy in the AT&T store told me that it is just a step above 4G and since we actually do not have 4G in Baton Rouge yet (but will this summer when we get LTE), for us, just having 4G will be quite an improvement.... And that LTE is just a step above the 4G.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] Simba501:
LTE is more than just a step above HSPA. It's significantly improved. Go find an LTE speedtest thread lol. HOWEVER, being in the early stages means that they're dealing with the headaches of any new product. I've read numerous threads of AT&T's recent LTE devices about data issues and inconsistency. I personally wouldn't get an LTE device for the same reason ICS is not my daily OS; It's not polished yet. As with anything, some people experience issues, some don't but I've seen enough reports for me to stay away from it. I tend to avoid products in their infancy.

Sent from my Galaxy S II (i777)
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] asdfuogh:
Well, for me, the places where I will be (school and home) have LTE, but I decided against the Skyrocket. I mean, in the cities that have LTE, there is good wifi, so what's the point? Also, I'm pretty sure that map is "to be constructed" not the existing network.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] erick161:
Jesus, thank you! Someone who actually comprehends. It definitely wasn't the deciding factor for me getting the note...however from here forward the will HAVE to have LTE, period.

Huge step above. I see anywhere from 20-30mbs download and about 10mbs upload. On my atrix with hspa+ i was seeing 2-4 down and 1-2 up...
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] twiggums:
Maybe it's just me, but I don't see the NEED for 20+ mbps download speeds on my phone. Sure it's cool, but it really just means a music/video stream will load faster. Not like downloading humongous files over the cell network is worthwhile with a limit to my unlimited data. I see it as more of a perk vs a requirement. Just my thoughts.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] erick161:
No, its not a need. But it is an awesome perk. It actually means everything will load faster including normal webpages, not just music and video. I honestly just wish i could switch to hspa+ manually because i don't always need the LTE speed and would like to control battery drain.
[AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777] vivek90:
I have this phone, this is the most expensive phone i have ever owned and one of the best in features and usability.

And im from INDIA, i purchased the US version bcoz i didn't like the international version and the touch keys are awesome. :D
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] sb0:
I currently have an Infuse. Since I need the phone for work I would like to get another phone to use for development. Is there any phone that is recommended more than others that I could get for the $50 to $100 range. I plan do develop everything from custom roms kernels to apps.

I am on ATT but wouldnt mind unlocking another gsm phone if possible.

My research shows Samsung is best to develop on. Would it be worth getting an HTC to understand the variances in the different environments?
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] david.degraw54:
Desire HD / Inspire 4g

If you're in the US, the Inspire is available for $0.01 online
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] sb0:
Thanks for answering. If there are any other phones to seriously consider I would like to know.
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] xT4Z1N4TRx:
I had the exact same idea as this, I knew it would work well, I just couldn't be arsed to do it

Well done man, so many people would find this helpful, this should be sticked in the development forum!
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] crestofawave:
Very nice, you should PM a mod to sticky this.
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] PJ.C:
well done, but how can i boot to the normal system? and when i want to boot to this system, should i do this again?
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] nickeedoo:
Could this be used to have tons of free ram? Boot from the SD card and not have anything installed in the ROM of the phone? As in, format all the phone's partitions (everything under "/" ) and have, say, 368mb of ram? That'd be sick nasty.
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] ngh55:
Can this be ported to be used with EVO 4G?
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] silverton:
Do a nandroid backup and find out ;)
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] steviewevie:
Nice guide !

That bit should be "Volume Down" instead of "Power Down" :)

Sent from my Desire Z running CM7.
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] catherall:
Booting to phone system: Just power on your phone.

Just boot your mobile phone as usual (power on your phone) and you are in your Android system as installed in /system partition. update.zip does not install anything permanently, it just uses init from a modified kernel, mounts partitions from SD card and boots CyanogenMod 7.1 :o

When you want to boot again from SD card you have to go into Recovery and "install" update.zip to boot. :cool:

Best regards,

Catherall
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] catherall:
Do not use /system ROM as ram

First, I do not recommend to use the ROM as ram. Some emmc might get stuck in "read only" mode when used that way :eek:

When you need more "RAM" for system you could use a swap partition or file.

However, with booting from SD card you can have a system partition with more than say 368MB. If you want to use that on a full working phone I recommend to use the app "BootManager" from Google Play. They have done a good job to boot from SD card on phones with working ROM partitions.

In fact I used their applications have 9 different ROMs on my phone installed (8 on SD card) ready to boot when ever I want. :rolleyes:

Best regards,

Catherall
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] cjward23:
Sorry about that Catherall. @nickeedoo this is for people with phones that have the dreaded EMMC issue. If your phone works there is no advantage or performance gains when using this method.
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] catherall:
Porting to another HTC phone

Yes, this should be possible within an hour when I have somebody to test it together with me. :D

When you have a phone where you want to port the software then just come over to the freenode IRC channel G2ROOT and we will do it together. Then we can also make a posting on the according XDA section. :cool:

Web interface: http://webchat.freenode.net - channel #G2ROOT

Best regards, Catherall
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] crestofawave:
I'm also going to express my apologies and I hope this wasn't taken seriously / in an offensive way.

But yeah, it's for people who have issues with their eMMC chip's.
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] nickeedoo:
Lol at the picture. Alright, I'm not totally sure how all this works yet, so this is me learning!
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] crestofawave:
I don't have much grasp of how this works, but I'll put my little linux knowledge to best use.

So...recovery shares the same build blocks of a full-fledged linux operating system, like Android. It has it's own kernel, ramdisk, yadda yadda. "chroot" is a unix (also a linux) command that changes the apparent root directory for a given process. This is very useful for a number of cases, like testing an app in a virtualized environment which in other cases would have been sub-optimal, or for compatibility. As such, in our case the "given process" is the Android system itself. You basically change the root directory of the linux system (recovery) and then initialize Android on top of it.

If anyone knows more about how this works, then please do tell as I'm quite interested myself!
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] catherall:
How it works

You pretty got the picture. The script update.zip uses the underlying kernel to chroot the new Android system. This is "simply" done by calling init (the starting point of the Android system) in the kernel files of the new booting system, which are contained in update.zip. They mount all partitions from SD card and boot the system.

Furthermore all interfering processes from recovery are set on hold using

kill -STOP <process id>

Otherwise recovery would respond on key strokes and block the screen. ;)
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] crestofawave:
@catherall I sent a sticky request for this thread. Might be a good idea if you do as well. :P
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] ngh55:
I like that idea, I'm going to #g2root tomorrow to see if the newest cm nightly can be ported for this.

EVO-4G powered by FherraZ-Mod
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] catherall:
Booting when only HBOOT is at your disposal

Hello everybody,

I am

preparing a guide

for people that

only can boot into HBOOT to boot a full Android system from SD card.

:eek:

Remark:

Version 1 is available at http://www.thinkthinkdo.com/trac/project1/wiki/boot_sdcard.

This will work for the HTC Desire Z / G2 when an Engineering HBOOT is installed.

Without Engineering HBOOT you cannot use fastboot boot boot.img which is necessary to boot. :rolleyes:

Best regard,

Catherall
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] rirozizo:
link... PLEASE... my recovery can't even mount the sdcard... so maybe this guide can fix it
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] demichel:
This is great!!! But some problems, wifi doesn't work and can't seem to import contacts from SIM card, doesn't recognize them
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] xxmorph3u5xx:
Hey catherall.

I was just thinking when reading your thread in the desire S section..i don't have a fried emmc but it might help you or someone else develop a permanent fix for this issue.

If you can boot the phone from the sdcard via this "temp fix" which is brilliant btw (hats off to you)..i guess that you could try to do this natively.

Bear with me as i am no expert in android or any other programming development but i do have a technical inclination.

To my understanding the emmc holds these partitions: /system; /data; /cache

Also, the partition layout is dictated by the HBOOT (am i right?).

Thus, if HBOOT is functional after frying the emmc can't the hboot be reprogrammed so as to allocate the /system; /data; /cache to the sdcard thus natively run them on the sd and by this fixing the current issues? I'm thinking yes because if the rom is installed with the mentioned partitions being on the sd it will not try to access the emmc thus no failures, issues, kernel oops or panics.

Keep in mind that i'm not properly educated in this domain of expertise and what i wrote might just be a huge load of *$#& and that what i said is purely a principle based on what i understand about the android platform.. no idea how to code or reprogram HBOOT so i might be wrong.
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] Nipqer:
Cool idea but not possible.

HTC will never give us the source for hboot, so modifying it is quite risky, and would result in bricks if you got even the slightest thing wrong.

And if the emmc is truly fried, you wouldn't be able to flash a new hboot anyway.

-Nipqer
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] fr3akBut:
Thanks for this! My dead DesireZ is now working!

For those with wifi issues, it doesn't work via flashing update.zip, but it does work using the fastboot method! :)

I had to copy boot.img into /android-sdk/platform-tools for the fastboot boot boot.img to work though.

Now to try and get ICS booting! :)
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] misbehave:
Thanks Catherall!!! I love you!!!

I've just retrieved my semi-bricked G2 by following your guide .

Thank you once again.

I have another question for you, hope you can help me with.

My G2 now has CyanogenMod 7.1 and I notice there is a Rom Manager app there.

If I want to flash another room into this phone now, do I run it from that app?
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] demichel:
Tried this, but i'm getting the following error message:

downloading 'boot.img'

OKAY [0.467s]

booting...

FAILED (remote: not allowed)

finished. total time: 0.478s

What am I doing wrong?

Edit: Think I don't have

ENG

HBOOT.. Can i still get it onto my bricked desire?

or is there another way to get wifi working?
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] fr3akBut:
Yeah, you need eng hboot for fastboot method to work. Never found another way of getting wifi working... i think it's broken as it uses the kernel that's loaded by 4ext / cwm, whereas the fastboot method loads the cm7 kernel.

Give the hboot a try, at worst you'll brick your bricked phone!

I've never managed to get any ics to boot via this method... anyone else succeeded?
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] raza1:
Can you explain step by step how to do that, so where to download eng hboot and where to put it.

Till this far I managed to run my (with fried emmc chip) phone but I cannot use wifi, Google Play login/create account. I CAN create a Gmail account on my phone so Agenda and contacts returns on my phone.

Also time and date is set to default when booting with update.zip.
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] demichel:
Tried it for hours, you can't install eng hboot with fried emmc...

You can put it on sd-card for installation, this way you get further in the install process compared to using adb.

But still, the last step is impossible... you need to put it in a folder which isn't accessible anymore :(

No wifi i'm afraid...
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] chleoj:
same here, got a fried emmc, use catheral's method, and the only apps that is working is calling and messaging...should replace emmc chip or the whole board to fix it :crying:
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] kbeezie:
LoL I'm still laughing over this post, considering that no matter your hboot, etc your total ram is never going to 'increase' as RAM has nothing to do with the /system /data or /cache partition.

By the way this guide seems like it could be useful for Dianostic purposes.

Ever thought about picking out some nice apps and a very light-barebone android OS that you could maybe have apps that could check/repair/etc the emmc and so forth?
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] kbeezie:
By the way I decided to try this boot-from-sd out on my G2 using 4EXT Touch Recovery 1.0.0.5 RC5.

Well it... sorta works. Note the graphical glitch in video below:

[YOUTUBE]DDF0SxeBY6M[/YOUTUBE]

And course can't shutdown, so had to pop the battery.

My guess is the progress animation in 4EXT Touch Recovery interferes with the system's UI/boot.

The Recovery kernel (uname -r) is simply : 2.6.35.10
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] rirozizo:
that's because it's running from the recovery, so the recovery is still running while CM is booting and running. so yeah 4EXT's animation will interfere... maybe if someone had a fried eMMC chip, he'd be ready to flash CWM to fix his phone. but since we (you Kbeezie and I) don't have that problem, i personally won't bother switching to CWM for that.

———————————————————

i didn't mean to mock you or to offend you in any kind of way
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] kbeezie:
Got it working on 4EXT (latest Touch):

As @Madmaxx82_xda (creator of 4EXT) said in his guide in another thread using the API can tell the user interface to halt using the following.

ui_print("4ext: disable_scrn_update");

So I unpacked the update.zip, and edited the updater-script into :

package_extract_file("busybox", "/tmp/busybox");
package_extract_file("busybox", "/sbin/busybox");
package_extract_file("su", "/tmp/su");

package_extract_dir("boot.img-ramdisk", "/tmp/boot.img-ramdisk");

set_perm(0, 0, 0755, "/tmp/busybox");
set_perm(0, 0, 0755, "/sbin/busybox");
set_perm(0, 0, 0755, "/tmp/su");

set_perm_recursive(0, 0, 0755, 0755, "/tmp/boot.img-ramdisk");

ui_print("4ext: disable_scrn_update");

# RUN SYSTEM STARTER SCRIPT:

package_extract_file("startsystem.sh", "/tmp/startsystem.sh");
set_perm(0, 0, 0755, "/tmp/startsystem.sh");

run_program("/tmp/startsystem.sh");

show_progress(0.100000, 0);

Inserted Right before it actually goes to run the system.

I noticed you can't actually 'shutdown' or reboot the phone, so battery pull is necessary (can't unmount the SD card if the system is running off of it). I haven't tested it a whole lot, but data works, but wifi does not (using the 26.13.04.19 radio is probably why, I'll probably have to figure out how to patch his CM7.1 with the 26.13.04.19 ril/so files into the img files).

Normally you would use ui_print("4ext: enable_scrn_update"); to turn the UI back on when done with the script, but the way catherall wrote the update zip, it wasn't designed to 'quit' so to speak.

Video of it working here on 4EXT Touch Recovery 1.0.0.5 RC5:

[YOUTUBE]ilJ3ROQc-9A[/YOUTUBE]

With the data working, could be a sort of 'tethered' backup mode to keep your phone functional until you can figure something out.
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] fr3akBut:
You can also roll back to an earlier version of 4EXT (can't find the version at the moment), and that works fine using the update.zip method. :)
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] kbeezie:
:P Yea would prefer not to 'roll back' to anything especially if it's called Obsolete in the installer. But hey least figured out how to get it to work. Now if I can just grab a light gingerbread rom with support for the 26.13.04.19 radio already in it, and see if I can simply replace the *.img files in the Bootmanager folder and get that to boot off with wifi support.
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] kbeezie:
I'm guessing the wifi doesn't work due to the kernel version conflict:

<3>[ 459.736175] bcm4329: version magic '2.6.35.14-cyanogenmod-g8090e84-dirty preempt mod_unload ARMv7 ' should be '2.6.35.10 preempt mod_unload ARMv7

Though I did manually patch the 26.13.04.19 radio ril/so files onto the system image so the data on that side working rather well.

If I knew how to compile roms etc, I would probably just make a super light GB AOSP with the same kernel version the recovery is using.
[G2 and Desire Z Android Development] rirozizo:
for the kernel conflict, CWM has that kernel, so it won't make much problems.

as for the roms, you've got potential to be a good dev here :D

i myself have tried to compile roms, it worked, but i didn't make something special, that's why i didn't share it here at xda :)

i encourage everyone to make the first move into compiling and porting roms

———————————————————

i didn't mean to mock you or to offend you in any kind of way