Installing Cyanogenmod
I love Android, almost as much as my co-Authors love their Apple’s and iOS’s but unless you have a phone or a tablet which is running pure, unadulterated Android then you aren’t getting the full experience but rather a heavily watered down version, just look at how dire the Android tablet market is.
I own a HTC Desire which I got under a contract from Vodafone and whilst it has performed admirably I have been rather disappointed with the experience over all. Nothing to do with the phone itself or the Android platform but mainly due to Vodafone’s insistence that I have installed – at all times – their proprietary apps like Facebook and Twitter. If there was a means for me to be able to remove said apps altogether so that I can run the official apps without having two services running concurrently then I probably would not have looked into the rooting path that I have subsequently took.
Following a recent conversation I had with Paul over a bevvy or two he reignited my interest in the rooting of Android devices as he was/is planning on rooting and installing Cyanogenmod on my sisters Legend. Couple this with the crashes I was getting under the default OS I decided that enough was enough.
What is Rooting?
Beating at the heart of Android is Linux. This means that in order to be able to perform tasks which you otherwise would not be able to, such as flashing a new firmware onto the phone you must have Root access. This is very much like running an application as Administrator on a Windows PC, so before you can do anything else you must do this first.
Is Rooting Illegal?
In the UK it is legal and in 2010 the U.S Copyright Office made an exemption which allows users to root their devices and run third-party applications or after market firmware as well as be able to unlock a phone from it’s carrier (unlocking a SIM-locked Vodafone to work on Orange for example).
As a result HTC and Motorola are now supplying pre-unlocked Bootloaders to let people do this without having to unlock it before hand, if you are fortunate enough to be in this camp then you can go directly to the Cyanogenmod installation instructions.
Will it void my Warranty?
Yes, although it does depend on the device and the person you speak to. According to a reliable source I have within O2, rooted devices aren’t their problem but an issue for the manufacturer to resolve.
But your carrier may argue they you have changed the software on the phone and therefore if you did “brick” the device it’s your own fault and you would still be liable to charges for replacing the phone and stay locked into your contract.
Can Rooting be reversed?
Yes, but to be fair you won’t need to concern yourself with updates from your provider as they take ages to release them. I had a Motorola Defy (again Vodafone) and it was running Android 2.0 Ecliar which – at the time – was months out of date as Froyo was live, so the Open Source community is usually faster at releasing updates and patches.
Why should I root?
Other than being able to install custom Firmware you regain full control over your phone. You can perform backups of both the phone memory and the SD card so if you make any changes to it, you can do so safely in the knowledge that you can restore your device to as it was.
Also, how many times do you get the annoying message that Disk space is low? In order to move apps to the SD card to free space up the developer of that application would need to specify that it can be moved and not all are. You can move most apps to the SD card thus freeing up space when running a custom firmware, however certain apps run better on the phone than on the SD card.
How secure is my phone after Rooting?
As you are allowing greater access to the Android kernel, it is theoretical that malicious software could intrude on the phone and damage the software. But the same can also be said with an unrooted phone running poorly programmed or malicious apps installed from the Market.
If a programme tries to get Administrator status then you are given an alert in which you can allow or deny the app. In my opinion the option to allow or deny actually makes it safer as you are in control.
You also need to remember that whilst Android is Linux based there is far less malware in the wild that can work effectively, unlike Windows. Whilst this doesn’t mean that no software cannot harm your device, you are statistically less likely to encounter such malware than you would on your Desktop PC.
It’s a sorry sign of the times when your phone is probably more secure than a PC!
Remember
As a precaution you should backup your phones contents so either download a backup app from the Market or if you don’t need that level of protection please sync your contacts with your Google mail account.
What is Cyanogenmod?
Cyanogenmod is an after market firmware which replaces the phones stock Operating System (and carrier provided software) with more streamlined and reliable software. In doing this you are probably more secure than using Carrier provided Android because as already mentioned they are slow in releasing updates.
However you can still use your existing sim card and use the phone network as normal.
How-to: Root
Before we begin we need several pieces of software. The first is a specific driver called Hboot which can be downloaded here, this is a driver which facilitates communication between your Phone and PC whilst the phone is in the boot menu.
- Start by powering off the phone and then turning it on whilst holding down both the Power button and the Volume down button on the volume rocker.
- Plug the phone into the PC via a USB.
- You should see a message on the screen saying HBoot USB Plug
- On the PC open the Device Manager and expand the Other devices option and you should see Android 1.0.
- Right click on Android 1.0 and click Update Driver Software. From the next screen, select Browse my computer for driver software and browse to where you extracted the drivers, and select the Android USB Driver folder, click Next, then OK.
- You PC should install the driver like any device and when it’s done you should be given a confirmation message.
- Now, boot the phone like normal and go into Settings > Applications > Development and enable USB Debugging, disconnect the phone for now.
- Next visit unrevoked.com and select your phone and download the software to a location on your computer.
- Finally right click the unrevoked programme and run it as Administrator and then plug the phone back in, accept the warning that pops up. Unrevoked should then state “Waiting for device” and after finding it, it should begin rooting.
The time it takes to unlock the phone varies depending on the speed of your computer, USB cable and of course what phone you’re using but once this process has completed Unrevoked should report that it was successful. Now comes the fun part!
How-to: Installing Cyanogenmod
You need to visit the Cyanogenmod website and download the release suitable for your phone, you can download the experimental nightly builds which may (or may not) be stable but for the Desire GSM the current stable build is 7.1.0.
This will download a file called update.zip to your computer, it is important that you don’t rename this file as it needs to be copied to your phone.
- If you haven’t done so already, reconnect the phone to the computer and copy update.zip to the root of the SDCard.
- Power off the phone and disconnect from the computer.
- Hold down the Power button and the Volume down rocker on the side of the phone and if you’ve done it correct the phone will power on and boot into Clockwork recovery, which looks like this:
It is important that you don’t touch anything else on this screen unless you absolutely have to!
- Using the Volume button to navigate the menu go to the second option, apply SDCard:update.zip and push the confirm button (on the Desire it is the middle button between Menu and the back button at the bottom of the phone).
- You will then be presented with a list of options in which you have to confirm that you want to apply the update, the only item you can select is near the bottom which is Yes, the rest are No, so scroll down and select it.
- Now just leave the phone to work it’s magic.
- Once it’s done reboot the phone (if it doesn’t do it for you) and leave it to boot up.
You’re now running Cyanogenmod! Just follow the initial setup screen and resync your contacts, re-install your apps and you’re sorted.
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