I installed CM7 when it was at RC1 for the DROID (still buggy, but still good for everyday use) and I originally flashed my phone by doing a factory reset of the device (removes everything) and then installing the ROM. This gave me an endless boot screen.  What I had to do to fix this was not only do a factory reset, but wipe the cache partition AND the Dalvik cache partition.  This was easy with the ClockworkMod and it was also nearly 100% risk free since I had a complete Nandroid backup.  After wiping the two it booted successfully!

I noticed that in Android 2.3 Google will restore all of your previously purchased and downloaded apps if you want it to automatically on a new device (only the app itself, not the data..like game save data).  This is great, but I already decided to use MyBackup Root for this, mainly because I wanted to have my stuff there with all of the data.  So i just told the phone not to download everything and I’ll just restore everything from my backup.  What this left me with was broken installed apps with no way to update them because the Market links were all hosed.  This sucked, now what was I supposed to do?  I decided to flash again and allow Google to push the apps to my phone.  This process took some time but everything was downloaded for the most part; unfortunately, I didn’t have my app data, so all of my game data and all of my settings were gone…I check MyBackup and sure enough I was able to restore data only!  I did that and bingo, everything worked again with all of my old data!  A few apps needed to be reinstalled or needed their data wiped (Google maps and Facebook I think) but for the most part everything worked just as it was supposed to.

Choose which to restore? Yay!

So now that I had my apps on my phone, I was nearing happiness with my hacked DROID.  I say nearing because I was still having many issues with other things.  I won’t go into every little one but I will talk about the two that almost made me decide to go back to stock.

LED Notifications

The one thing I love about Android phones is the LED notifications.  A simple little LED in the corner of my phone blinks different colors for certain things (texts, emails, etc) so I don’t need to turn the screen on, or unlock my phone to see what I missed or see what that beep was from…I can just look at the color of the LED.  Funny thing happened after installing, it stopped working.  I would look down and nothing would be blinking but when I unlocked my phone I’d notice an e-mail that I missed!  What was going on here?  I looked in the settings and found that CM has basically rewritten the notification system and you can customize colors and blink rate from it if you so desired, but instead it broke the damn thing.  This wouldn’t fly with me, I was about to go back to stock because one of my favorite features was broken…then I found the forums.  I searched the issue on the forums and found a lot of people with the same issue, on different phones even!  Reading through many of the posts they all usually came around to the same solution, un-check everything in the LED settings then check them again then hit “Reset all LED notifications” and reboot. And it worked!  I had my LED back and working and now it was even better because I can change the settings for every program and even change the colors and blink rate for them, pretty neat.

Change color and rate for LED notifications

Missing Messages

Now that my LED notifications worked I was happy that I could look down and see if I missed any emails or (more importantly) text messages…but strangely I felt that I was receiving less messages.  I went an entire day without a text message, which is very odd for me actually.  I looked at my phone, no blinking LED, I unlocked the phone, no notification in the menu, I opened the messaging app and boom, new texts, some as old as a day!  What the hell was going on with this?  I’m missing text messages now?  This used to happen with my EnV Touch, never my DROID!  I tried resetting my notifications for the app, and it would work for a while after I opened the app.  I figured, okay, it’s fixed, but then it would stop later on in the day.  I was getting very frustrated with this now and was again thinking about going back to stock.  I hit the forums again and found one post about the issue with one simple solution:

The solution! Check that box!

Once I checked that, never missed another message.  It locks the message app in the memory so it’s always running.  Sure it uses up memory, but my messages are more important to me than the amount of apps I can run at one time.

Side note: But why does the DROID do this with CM7?  The DROID has 256MB RAM, this was a lot when the phone came out and with 2.1 it was fine.  Once 2.2 was released memory was becoming a problem for the phone.  The phone had trouble even keeping the Home app in memory; if you ran a program that was memory hungry and went back to the home screen you’d have to wait for it to redraw because Android’s memory management would kill it.  So in CM7 you can see the two check boxes for home and messaging, this stoped the redrawing(relaunching) and the missing messages…but it took some memory away of course which means you can only do so much multitasking before apps start getting killed.  Android 2.3.3 uses more memory, and the DROID just doesn’t have that much…so CM7 also allows asset purging to free up RAM as well as compucache (memory compression).  These use a little CPU but allow you to multitask fairly well;  it’s nowhere near as good as other newer phones, but it works.

There were some other small odds and ends that I had fixed by tweaking settings and installing updates but I thought that these two were really the most damming for me.  I managed to fix them with help from other nerds at the CyanogenMod Forums who were running into similar issues and there are some I managed to fix by trial and error.  Now, he ROM still has it’s occasional reboots and hiccups (not very often) and they usually happen with two programs; Google Maps and the Camera app, but these crashes happen less and less with each update.

CM7 is now out of RC and was released as Gold…but not for the DROID yet.  It still is very much a work in progress, but the progress is going very quickly, and I really like the direction it’s heading.  They’ve managed to give DROID users Android 2.3 even after Motorola decided it “wouldn’t work” on the phone.  Well, it is working (for the most part) and I’m fairly happy with it.  It has really allowed me to use my phone a bit longer than I was expecting.  I’m probably going to wait until August to upgrade my phone instead of going for the Thunderbolt, but time may change that.  What I do know is that my phone still works well and I will get more time out of it because of the ROMS.

So when Froyo (Android 2.2) came out the DROID got it down the line and that’s when the DROID started to show it’s age; extremely slow…a big drop in performance.  So I decided to root it to get a little more millage out of it before my upgrade.  Mind you, I was waiting for the Thunderbolt to come out to replace it…but decided against upgrading for the time…another story I suppose.  I decided to use SuperOneClick to root my phone, and damn it was simple.  Literally one click and it was done…but what can I do with this root?  Well, first thing was overclocking to see if I can get some more speed.  I overclocked it to 800MHz and really didn’t notice much of a difference besides the fact that I could now have a wireless hot-spot…oh and I could take screen shots now (why doesn’t Android have this functionality built in? Seriously!).

Hey look, I need to ROOT to take a screen shot!

So I decided to take it a step further.  My buddy was telling me about CyanogenMod and how he loved it on his MyTouch and basically brought life back into it.  So I said “Why the hell not?”  Not only does it add a lot of functionality, it will give me Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread)…something the original DROIDs won’t ever see normally.  I backed-up my apps and text messages phone using MyBackup Root then flashed my recovery ROM to ClockworkMod which allows me to install firmware from the SD card and allows me to backup my entire phone to an image just in case anything goes wrong.  After the backup with MyBackup Root I rebooted into recovery mode and backed-up the entire phone using the Nandroid backup (in the recovery) then started to flash CyanogenMod 7 on my phone..this meant I had to do a complete wipe of the phone which is always scary but with the backup I should be cool!

Wiped the phone, flashed the ROM, and booted the phone. It worked! I had the Release Candidate (at the time it was RC1) of CyanogenMod 7 on my phone!

I had some issues with CM7 at first and some issues with getting my apps back (which I’ll talk about in Part 2) but after some initial bumps I was up running as smooth as I could be on a release candidate.  I had some reboots and some programs would crash but reinstalling them from scratch helped for the most part.

After a few updates it became more and more stable.  I am now running RC4 with a new ultra-low voltage kernel (which allows me to overclock to 1GHz and uses less battery power than the stock kernel). which gives me good battery life, pretty good performance, and all around a pretty good experience.

Android 2.3.3 and 1.1GHz!

So if you’re looking to get some more time from your old DROID this seems like a great way to do it.  It’s not up there with the new phones, but it does give your device a nice little jolt until you decide to retire it.

In Part 2 I’ll talk about installing all of the apps from backup and troubleshooting the many issues I had with memory issues and how they were resolved.

Hi, remember me?

Finally in 2004 or so we got fed up with Cingular’s shitty service (me being in NY for school also made this easier as we needed some method of communication) and the lack of minutes, etc., I decided to drop my grandmothers Cingular plan (she got it for us) and pay for my own Verizon Wireless family plan.  It cost a bit more, but we got nice new LG vx4500s, 700 minutes, and a MUCH better network. It was a big step.  That was 5 1/2 years ago and after 5 different phones I’m still with Big Red.  I have come to upgrade many things with my plan and demand much more from them, but not much else has changed.

My phones with verizon

There is a progression of my Verizon phones.  “But you said 5, that’s only 3!” You’re right, and I’m sure you knew I wasn’t going to write about my cell phones since 2002 without a reason, right?

Right.

In September I was eligible for a new phone on my “new every two” offer.  Psyched, I took to the interwebs and researched phones that I would love to have vibrate in my pocket when people decided to call me.  I looked far and wide, and read review after review of phones.  I went to the store and used the many phones offered, and used friends’ phones as benchmarking.  I came to 2 conclusions while doing this:

1. I wanted a phone with a touch screen. I don’t know why, I think it’s the “new thing” but I wanted a touch screen dammit.
2. I wanted a full QWERTY keyboard. I do a shit-ton of texting now, and this became mandatory now. I didn’t know if a software keyboard would be alright for me, so I wanted a REAL keyboard.

With those in mind I nixed my previous idea of obtaining the LG Dare (a rather pretty touch screen phone, but NO keyboard) and instead opted for the new LG touch screen phone, the LG enV Touch (vx1100). I used the voyager for a little while from a friend, and I kinda liked it.  When I started to test out the enV Touch I wanted it badly.  It was everything I needed, beautiful screen, nice tactile keyboard, and even an HTML browser; which came in handy when I opted to get the unlimited data plan for it.

After using the phone for about a month I started noticing weird issues where the phone would turn itself off randomly, or reset to default screens or just not receive calls (it wouldn’t ring, it would just say I had a missed call). Verizon told me it was defective and sent me a new phone, free of charge of course, since it was still within 30 days from purchase.  The second phone was even worse!  It was to the point where I didn’t get ANY phone calls on it for days, and I would only text because that was truly the ONLY reliable means to contact me.  Mind you, when the phone worked it was actually a great phone and texting device. But I got fed up and called Verizon about it.

Fuck you enV Touch

Now here is the side note, during my time owning the phone, Verizon came out with the DROID, Motorola’s Android-based smart phone.  Reading reviews and playing with the system, I really really wanted this phone. I’ve become increasing interested in getting all of these mobile applications and using my phone for other things besides texting, calling, and occasionally searching Google for a place to eat. The issue was that I couldn’t upgrade because I just did, but if you have proper cause (which I’ll explain in a minute) you can get an early upgrade for your device without any penalty. I had to figure out a way to make my shitty phone turn into a DROID, and quickly.

I called Verizon and stated my issues about the phone.  I informed the woman that this was my second one in 2 months, and I do not want just a refurb that is going to end up doing the same damn thing.  I informed her that I have actually read reviews on THEIR OWN WEBSITE about people returning their phones 5 times in 3 months and still having the same issue. So I tell her I want a different phone, no bullshit.  Finally she tells me, “This falls under our 2 in 90 rule [or some shit].  If you return a phone 2 times the next time you return it you get a choice of a different phone from a matrix.”

Woah. Wat?

Apparently some phones can only allow you to get some other phones when you exchange them.  Usually these “matrix phones” are refurb or pre-used pieces of shit or other phones “similar” to the current one (like the LG Chocolate Touch).  I say “No, I want to choose my own phone like I was upgrading.” I inform the woman of my current status with them; I’m up-to-date on my payments, never missed a payment in 5 years, etc. After being on hold for a few moments the woman comes back and tells me that because of my continued loyalty to them they will give me a phone exchange for ANY phone they have at the store! All I have to do is pay the price difference of the phones and renew my 2-year contract.  Fine. Signed, sealed, done!

I arrive at my store and to my amazement, it’s not a phone exchange (meaning I’d have to give my enV touch back in exchange for the DROID) it’s an early upgrade.  I keep my enV Touch (which is not really a plus, but whatever) and get the DROID at the upgrade price.  After paying my $300 + taxes I walk out of the store with the DROID.

DROID, bitches!

Review of the DROID (Kinda)

So after having the phone for a bit now I’ve come to really love this phone more and more. Just a quick review (because this really isn’t a review blog) should suffice.

The screen on this phone is BEAUTIFUL.  It’s huge, bright, responsive, and just amazing. The Android interface is actually very intuitive and easy to work with.  The apps for it are pretty good; I wish some of them were a bit more refined with some things (the facebook app sometimes loads the browser for some things, which I think is a bit weird, but that’s not the phone’s fault, it’s the app).

It comes with a pre-installed 16GB microSD card.  This is enough space for plenty of apps and music and if you need more go buy a 32GB card! I love that it uses microSD as storage instead of non-removable internal storage.

It’s one of the few android phones with a real keyboard.  The keyboard is very flat, so it’s a bit tough to get used to typing on, but it functions very nicely.  Even when not using the real keyboard the virtual one is surprisingly responsive and easy to type on, much better than the one on the enV Touch.

One thing that surprised me was it’s feel. Yeah, the feeling of the phone.  What do I mean? It doesn’t feel like a piece of plastic that’s going to fall apart in your hand if you squeeze it. It’s heavy, sturdy, and just really solidly build.  You could probably bludgeon someone to death with it, that’s how it feels.

Its also a very quick phone.  Apps are pretty fast to load, websites load nicely (over wifi and Verizon’s network).  It doesn’t feel laggy that much at all.

I know there are a lot more things to talk about with this phone, but I’m not going to go into it too much.  I’m sure I’ll blog more about how much this thing kicks ass, and how much I prefer AndroidOS to the iPhone’s OS, but that’s going to be for later.

So, fuck the iPhone and AT&T, give me my DROID!