AddictiveTips » Zayed Rehman

All-In-One Hack ToolKit For HTC One X, One S, Vivid, Rezound, myTouch 4G Slide & Amaze 4G

Zayed Rehman — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:00:03 +0000

Tool kits for Android devices are a blessing literally. With the abilities to perform multiple functions from one app and mostly via a convenient one click method. XDA-Developers recognized member hasoon2000 has been hard at work developing a toolkit for the latest HTC devices out there, but best of all, he has released versions of the toolkit that are particular to the device at hand. The tool kit covers the recent HTC One X, One S, Vivid, Rezound and the likes of myTouch 4G Slide and the Amaze 4G as well. The tool kit lets you not only root the device, install a custom recovery, flash a custom kernel, but brings with a few very useful extra commands as well. We talk more about it, and how you can use this tool, in detail after the break.

The best thing about this toolkit, is the fact that it caters to the most novice users – notice the step by step instructions and scripts laid out in the root procedure – and for advanced users as well, who want to flash a custom kernel to the device, boot into bootloaders or remove bloatware from the device.

The kernels, or the recoveries contained in the tool kit vary for the respective devices of course and as you can see, the above screenshot is that of the toolkit for the HTC Rezound. The toolkit will download the drivers to help you get started without worrying about installing the right USB drivers.

The Toolkit also contains some of the very useful XDA-Links incase you’d like to learn more about what you’re about to do, or find something new or cool for your device. Want to install an APK? Well there are alternative software out there, but heck, why not use a tool you already have in place. The toolkit brings in an APK installer as well, and to top it off, it not only installs, but backs up any installed apps as well. Even hotter, is the ability to all this in batch. More so, you can rename APK files, restore backed up data, or install apps to SD card.

So if you deem this powerful tool kit useful for your device, head over to the forum thread for your device from the links below.

HTC Sensation Camera Mod Ported To HTC Vivid, Improves Photo & Video Quality

Zayed Rehman — Thu, 10 May 2012 10:45:50 +0000

The HTC Vivid boasts an 8MP AF camera with the ability to record videos at 1080p. However it’s Android, and with that label comes the urge to increasingly push a device to its limit. Camera Mods are not really a new concept and have been around for quite a while now. However, as the camera sensors and over all technology crept to astonishing heights, it is only fair that all that potent hardware is used at its maximum potential. Something like this happened for the HTC Sensation a while back, where the device could record full HD videos at 40mbps! Stuff like 0 compression on JPG images (photos taken), experimental addition of ISO 1250 mode and more were part of the deal. In short, huge improvement in the video and photo quality overall was achieved. Well guess what? The HTC Vivid just got all that! In fact, XDA-Developers forum member zacgoesrawr has simply ported the mod for the Sensation onto the Vivid. So if you’re hungry for some uber camera improvement on your HTC Vivid, read on after the break.

The mod is available for the Inquisition ROM and for all Sense 3.6 based ROMs. It is important to not that this is currently a project that is not entirely complete and zacgoesrawr is currently working on it to add more stuff. So what do you get with this mod?

Uncapped JPEG File size resulting in great photo quality.
Uncapped Video, recording 40MBPS.
The experimental ISO 1250 mode.

You may need to have a Class 6 or higher SD card in your device, to avoid any problems. So let’s get down to how you can install this mod on your Vivid!

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device gets bricked or damaged in any other way due to this method.

Requirements:

A rooted HTC Vivid with custom recovery installed. See our guide on all in one toolkit for HTC Vivid here, to root your device and install a custom recovery.
Camera Mod for Inquisition ROM | Sense 3.6 ROMs.

Instructions:

To begin, download the mod depending on your ROM and copy it to the root of your SD card.
Boot the device into recovery and make a Nandroid backup.
Navigate to install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard and select the mod file.
Once the mod is flashed, simply reboot your device.

For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at XDA-Developers.

AT&T HTC One X Gets One Click Root

Zayed Rehman — Thu, 10 May 2012 09:03:26 +0000

The HTC One X from AT&T has been rooted! Earlier we covered a rooting guide for the retail version of the HTC One X here, but the AT&T branded model was no where released back then. However, thanks to the efforts of XDA-Developers forum member kennethpenn, not only do AT&T users have the ability to root their device in a one click fashion, but users on Rogers and other networks as well. Even better, this method will work for Windows, Linux and Mac.

So what will this do? It will root the One X, install Busybox and the SuperSU application as well for rights management. If you’re wondering why you need to root your device, you can see our guide on the top 10 reasons to root your Android device, here. So without further talk, let’s just get our hand dirty and get on with some good old rooting!

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device gets bricked or damaged in any other way due to this method.

Requirements:

Instructions:

To begin, download the root package and extract the contents.
Enable USB Debugging on the One X by navigating to Settings > Developer Options.
Now depending on the OS you’re on, run root.bat for Windows | root-linux.sh for Linux | root-mac.sh for Mac, and the automated script will root your device.

The device will reboot a few times and once it finally boots up, it will be rooted! For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at XDA-Developers.

Additionally click here to see our guide on the top 15 apps to install after rooting your Android device.

Metal Sniffer: Metal Detector That Exports Readings In CSV [Android]

Zayed Rehman — Wed, 09 May 2012 10:02:50 +0000

I remember the time the HTC G1 came out, and with it, a metal detector app. To be honest, I initially thought it was a gimmick and more of en entertainment app rather than an actually utility, but as it is, the thing actually worked! Since then, the Android Market, now renamed to Google Play, has been flooded with tons of metal detector apps that offer quite a lot of different functions, but if you talk about free ones, most out there are ad-supported, which can be a nuisance at times (although for free, one shouldn’t complain). Metal Sniffer is just another metal detector app, there, I said it. However, the app brings in what most don’t, and that is a Holo themed interface that blends in nicely with the ICS UI – for those of you running Ice Cream Sandwich on your Android device – and best of all, the app is entirely ad-free. More on the app and how well it actually fares in what it does, after the break.

As in the case of every other metal detector app, Metal Sniffer uses the magnetometer/compass in your device to detect nearby electromagnetic fields. To start off, Sniffer actually does work, and it actually looks good as well. The app displays not only the X, Y & Z components of the field, but plots a live graph as well in the form of a history chart. Not too sure about what magnetic fields are and how the app works? Tap the help button at the bottom to read all about it. The readings range from low to high, and while the color of the value changes as it increases, a critical reading will vibrate your device. Do note that the presence of TV’s and Monitors or huge speakers nearby will interfere with the readings.

According to the developer, depending on your phone’s sensor, the app can detect metals up to 15cm away, and apparently can be used to detect electrical wiring inside the walls as well, that is, if your walls are wooden, of course. The app let’s you define the sensor speed from a choice of 4. Readings can be read in three units; Microtesla (uT), Milligauss (mG) & Gamma (Y). The alarm trigger can also be customized to go off at a certain reading, but must be in Microtesla (uT).

One of the sweetest things that this app does, is that it allows you to export the data as a CSV file, so you can read it later on your computer. Below you can see how the data is presented in the CSV format in MS Excel. The graph, although not generated automatically, but can be plotted easily.

Metal Sniffer is available in Google Play Store for free, and will work on Android versions 2.3 (Gingerbread) and above.

Download Metal Sniffer

[Giveaway] Defense zone HD Is A Stunning, Challenging 2D Tower Defense Game For iPhone & iPad

Zayed Rehman — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:58:39 +0000

Tower defense games never get old. With an abundant choice of such time-wasters available for iOS devices, there are a few that manage to stand out from the rest and demand respect. Defense zone HD comes as a fresh breeze for the tower defense genre, with a very simple gameplay and controls that one grows to understand in a few minutes. With graphics and animations worth awing at, and destruction satisfaction at its best, Defense zone will keep you occupied for hours as it begins challenging your strategies moving through the levels. The difficulty, unless you play with the it set to Easy, will mess with your head, enough to make you want to strangle someone. More about the game after the break.

Note: Defense zone HD has a price tag of $2.99 on the App Store. We’re giving away five promo codes for the game to 5 lucky readers, details for which can be found at the end of this post.

What’s the concept? Well, there’s no storyline here, so you will have to make one up in your head if you badly need that (World War 3, maybe?). Usual maps, coupled with defense turrets that can be upgraded, are all that matters.

The game has 10 maps in total, taking you from the desert to the ice caps and volcanoes. With each level, the enemy waves increase as well, not to mention the amount and difficulty. The graphics, as can be seen, while not exactly high resolution, are in fact pretty nifty, and you won’t be disappointed.

The basic Gatling Gun, Rocket Turret (air defense), Liquid Nitrogen, Lightning Bolt, Flame Thrower and Mortar are the turrets of choice. Most of these will be locked once you start, but as you progress through the levels, newer turrets will be unlocked. For every enemy you kill, you gain credit, and with that credit, you can buy and place the turrets on the prescribed areas on the map. More so, you have the option to upgrade your turrets – something you won’t be able to survive without. Turrets can be assigned to attack the weakest targets, nearest, or strongest. A word of advice, the Liquid Nitrogen turret in use with a Flame Thrower turret is not a smart idea, as both of their effects will be nullified, exactly as you would expect in the real world.

Once you place or tap a turret, you will see two highlighted radiuses. The smaller one is the area the turret covers when placed, and the larger, of course, is its range. Upgrading will increase that, along with firepower and rate of fire. Tapping a turret also reveals a panel to the right side, where you can sell the turret, upgrade it, and assign its attack orders. The same panel also states a turrets current firepower and range, as well as the advantage that you will gain by upgrading it. In a hurry? Press the Fast Forward button next to the Configuration button in the bottom panel for a 2x increase in the simulation speed. In the event that you get tired – considering the last level lasts for 40 waves – you can always Save & Exit.

Download Defense zone HD

Read Defense zone HD Lite For for Android Review

Giveaway: We’re giving away 5 promo codes for the full version of this game. The giveaway will last for 24 hours. Participation is simple. Follow @addtips on Twitter, tweet/retweet the giveaway and in the comments below, provide a link to your tweet. Alternatively, you may comment on our Facebook or Google+ page, where the comment should preferably be under the shared post and not on the page itself. Our editors will pick the five winners randomly.

Update: Giveaway has been closed and promo codes have been sent to the winners. If you entered for the giveaway, please check your Facebook messages, Twitter direct messages and/or Google+ feed.

Download & Install ICS Based MIUI ROM For HTC One X

Zayed Rehman — Thu, 03 May 2012 06:46:33 +0000

The HTC One X, get’s MIUI! The best, deserves the best and with the splendid screen size the One X comes with, MIUI – an already aesthetically perfect ROM – is bound to make some noise. For those of you wondering if this is the real deal, well no. The ROM is a Beta version that was put up on XDA-Developers earlier on but was taken down. This, is that exact beta. Of course a few things in it have been changed, thanks to the efforts of Leventc over at MIUI Android. Installation isn’t exactly the typical procedure you come across for flashing custom ROMs, but it’s not the hardest either. Read on for more on the ROM, and how to install it on your One X.

If you’re wondering what MIUI ROMs are all about, click here to see our comprehensive guide on the official MIUI ROM, and whilst that is meant for the Gingerbread based ROM, not a lot has changed with ICS. You still have the themes and those beautiful high res. icons.

Coming back to the ROM at hand, the ROM is said to be working perfectly fine for the device, and if you’re wondering about the changes implemented by Leventc, here they are. Chinese files have been replaced with English ones.

Permission Manager ROOT Permission has been fixed.
Lockscreen is English.
MIUI Metro icons have been added and set as default.
AROMA installer added.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device gets bricked or damaged in any other way due to this method.

Requirements:

A rooted HTC One X. For instructions on rooting your One X, click here.
ADB installed. Learn more about ADB and how you to install it on your system, here.
ClockworkMod recovery installed. Go here for instructions on flashing ClockworkMod recovery to the One X.
MIUI for HTC One X.

Instructions:

To begin, download the ROM from the link above an extract the contents.
Find boot.img from the extracted contents and copy the file to the folder where fastboot.exe is in the Android SDK.
Copy the ROM (in the zip format) and Google Apps package to the root of your SD card.
Boot the device into fastboot mode ( I trust you know how to do that considering you rooted your device) and connect it to the computer.
Open command prompt or a terminal and navigate to the location of fastboot.exe and enter the following command:
```
fastboot flash boot boot.img
```
Once flashed, boot into recovery and navigate to install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard and select the ROM.
Once the ROM have been flashed, simply reboot your device.
Once rebooted, change language and reboot again.
You can now choose HTC Sense input as default input from Language & Input method.

[via miuiandroid]

ICS Based CM9 ROM Out For The HTC One X

Zayed Rehman — Wed, 02 May 2012 11:50:26 +0000

The HTC One X gets CyanogenMod 9 ROM! One of the best Android phones out there right now, the device just got one of the best ROMs a Android phone could ask for. The Quad Core powered One X, is ready to take on the AOSP world of ICS ROMs thanks to the efforts of the TripNDroid Mobile Engineering Team over at Modaco. As in the case of almost every other CM9 ROM available for various Android handsets out there, this release for the One X is an experimental build as well. However, the ROM is pretty much good to go as a daily driver given the stuff that is already working fine. For further details about what’s working and what is not, and for instructions on how to install this ROM on your One X, read on after the break!

Yes, the ROM has no Sense built into it, it is a completely open source project. What is working you ask?

Mobile network (data, calls, sms etc.)
GPS
Bluetooth
Bluetooth tethering
Wifi
Hardware video decoder
Hardware acceleration (2D/3D)
Audio
MIC (recording)
Camera

That said, Wi-Fi hotspot and Mobile Data will give you issues. According to the developers, “Mobile data will take a lot of time to correctly connect, there’s not much you can do about it just wait until it correctly connects. I’m investigating this issue currently. When it is connected is stable, it will not disconnect this happens only after a reboot or after initial setup.”

Images courtesy of the developers

A soft menu key has need implemented in the system which will be available once an application that uses it, is launched. The ROM is as close to stock CM9 as possible but the developers have compiled a file manager as well for the users convenience.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device gets bricked or damaged in any other way due to this method.

Requirements:

A rooted HTC One X. For instructions on rooting your One X, click here.
ADB installed. Learn more about ADB and how you to install it on your system, here.
ClockworkMod recovery installed. Go here for instructions on flashing ClockworkMod recovery to the One X.
CM9 for HTC One X.
Google Apps.

Instructions:

To begin, download the ROM from the link above an extract the contents.
Find boot.img from the extracted contents and copy the file to the folder where fastboot.exe is in the Android SDK.
Copy the ROM (in the zip format) and Google Apps package to the root of your SD card.
Boot the device into fastboot mode ( I trust you know how to do that considering you rooted your device) and connect it to the computer.
Open command prompt or a terminal and navigate to the location of fastboot.exeand enter the following command:
```
fastboot flash boot boot.img
```
Once flashed, boot into recovery and navigate to install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard and select the ROM.
Do the same for Google Apps
Once the ROM and Google Apps have been flashed, simply reboot your device.

That’s it! CM9 should now boot up on your One X in no time! For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at MoDaCo.

Clean/Remove Junk Files On iPhone With iCleaner [Cydia]

Zayed Rehman — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:00:50 +0000

A huge Android fan, I do admire iOS for its fluidity and app loading and exit times. Android on the other hand has been improving at an accelerated pace but is subject to slowing down on accumulation of junk files, like most computer OS as well. iOS however is believed to be resistant to such issues, but that’s how we perceive it and to be blunt, we take the speed and fluidity for granted (but why not?). iOS does keep caches and temporary files that become redundant over time and do nothing but slow your device down while taking up precious space. Well not enough for you to notice, but it always bugs me when something useless takes up space in my phone. iCleaner is to iOS what CCleaner is to Windows and Mac OS X – that is, to clean up junk files. Read on after the break to learn more about this app available for free on the Cydia store.

iCleaner is pretty straight forward to use once it’s installed. Running the app, you will be prompted with whether to clean certain types of junk files or not, one prompt after another. The app is designed to remove the following types of files:

Safari cache, cookies and history.
Application caches, cookies, temporary files, snapshots.
Log files and crash reports.
System cache files and databases.
System temporary files.

The app also removes in depth data from apps such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter etc. thereby decreasing loading times of these apps and increasing overall performance. Once you have all the junk on your device deleted, you will be asked to respring the device. So do that in order to confirm the removal and well, avoid any mishaps. The app has aesthetics that make it look like a proper app rather than some run of the mill app. Even better, it gets the job done rightly and quickly, without creating errors or stuff.

You can find this app in Cydia in the Bigboss repo for free.

Get ICS Tablet UI Mod For Samsung Epic 4G Touch

Zayed Rehman — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:01:10 +0000

We already have ICS running on the Epic 4G Touch, but there’s nothing quite like the UI of an ICS tablet. You might have seen this before on the Galaxy Nexus and it certainly did look sweet running on that huge screen. Now the Epic 4G Touch may not be as huge as the Galaxy Nexus, but a 4.3” Super AMOLED screen will not disappoint either. The tablet mod is only meant for ICS based AOSP ROMs such as CM9 and AOKP and comes in from XDA-Developers forum member Xylograph. If you already have such a ROM setup on your device, you simply need to flash the mod over the existing ROM, however, you will need to take care of a few more things before proceeding with that. Read on after the break, to learn more about the mod and how you can have it running on your Epic 4G Touch.

Below you can see a few screenshots of the mod, running over an AOSP ROM. (Click on the image for a larger preview.)

Images courtesy of the developers

Before I list down the requirements and the instructions, it is important you understand that if you’re flashing the Mod over CM9 or AOKP build 33 without doing a complete wipe, you may experience FC’s or other errors. Hence, it is advised you do that before you proceed with the installation. The guide will assume that you already have CM9 or AOKP running on your device.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device bricks or any other damage occurs due to this method.

Requirements:

ODIN installed.
Samsung USB drivers for 32-bit Windows | 64-bit Windows.
Tablet UI Mod for CM9 | AOKP b34 | AOKP b32.
Hacked Google Play app.
EL26 Stock CWM Kernel.

Instructions:

To begin, download the mod according to your build and copy it to the root of your SD card.
Put the phone in Download mode and run ODIN.
Make sure Re-partition is unchecked, and click on PDA to select the kernel (TAR) you had downloaded.
Connect the phone to the PC via USB and once ODIN shows the device as connected, hit the Start button.
Once the kernel is flashed, the device will reboot so hold the Power and Volume Up button together to boot into recovery mode.
Wipe data/factory reset, wipe cache and wipe dalvik cache.
Navigate to install zip from sd card > choose zip from sd card and select the Tablet UI mod.
Once the mod is installed reboot the device.
Download ROM Toolbox from Google Play and use it to set the LCD density to 128, and reboot the device again.

The mod should now be working on your phone, but we have missed out Google Play and it’s tablet UI. Be advised that this hacked Google Play is originally meant for the Galaxy Nexus so it may, or may not work. For that purpose, download the Hacked Google Play app rename it to Vending.apk. Using root explorer or ES File Explorer navigate to /system/app and set Read/Write permission within that directory. Rename the original vending.apk to Vending.bak and check the permissions. Replace the original with the hacked one and set the permissions as noted with the original app. Reboot and you’ll be all done.

For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at XDA-Developers.

Create Flow Charts, Network Diagrams, Circuits & More With Dia

Zayed Rehman — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:30:28 +0000

Ever found yourself required to make flowcharts, network diagrams, circuit sketches and more at work or for studies? Dia is a strong and very powerful application meant for all such occasions. Presentations are a particularly powerful tool to communicate your ideas, and at times, plain old text is just boring. So, for those of you who have a tough time creating diagrams in MS Power Point or MS Word, Dia will make it much easier for you to convey your ideas, with an elaborate set of preset tools that are custom made for a plethora of subjects. Packed in a tiny 19mb to 30mb package (varying with the OS), the application’s interface – as boring and dull as it might seem – is actually very intuitive, with stuff like copy, cut, paste, delete, dragging, skewing all coming naturally as they would in most popular software. Even better, a portable version of the app is also available. Read on after the break to learn more.

The app starts off with a neatly laid out interface, with the tools you need to get started located in the left panel, just like most drawing and editing software. With different line presets available, you either choose to go with them and manipulate later to create shapes, or you can simply choose from the presets of shapes available.

There’s more than meets the eye when it comes to these shapes. Click where it says Flowcharts in the screenshot above, to open up an extensive list of sheets available. From circuits to Cisco network diagrams, the list is enough to accommodate diagrams of most sorts, as can be glimpsed in the screenshot below.

The properties of the objects inserted can be easily accessed by simply double clicking them, or by the rather-obvious Right click > Properties method. The screenshot below shows us the properties of the text inserted; however, doing the same for objects brings up options like line color, width, style, and more importantly, the fill color.

Concluding with saving your project, the application will preserve your work as a .dia file. However, you can save your file with numerous extensions by navigating to File > Export and selecting the format that you want to save your work in. Common image export formats include BMP, JPG, TIFF, PNG, and loads more.

Dia is a cross-platform tool with packages available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, and comes in both installable and portable flavors. Testing was performed on Windows 7 Ultimate, 64-bit edition.

Download Dia for Windows | Linux | Mac

DoomRecovery Brings Touch Based Custom Recovery For Sony Xperia S

Zayed Rehman — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 06:00:00 +0000

The Xperia S gets a touch based custom recovery, called DoomRecovery, based on the famous ClockworkMod Touch recovery, thanks to the efforts of renowned XDA-Developers forum member and developer DooMLoRD. Credit also goes to Napstar from Team UtterChaos for adding in the touch capabilities to the recovery, Frosty666 for the vibration triggers, FreeXperia Team (Bin4ry & jerpelea) and of course, Koush.The recovery is based on the sources from the CWM 5.0.2.x but quite a few changes have been made to bring you the DoomRecovery including some really cool aesthetics. Read on after the break for a preview of the recovery running on the Xperia S and a tutorial on how to get this recovery running on your Xperia S.

The recovery, for now, is a part of the DoomKernel, so yes, if you want this recovery, you will have to install the kernel. You can read all about what the custom kernel has to offer over at this forum thread at XDA-Developers. If you’re wondering if you really need a custom recovery, click here to learn what is ClockworkMod recovery and how to use it.

Image courtesy of the developers.

The recovery, displays the current time and money battery level as you enter it, displays file size and MD5 sum when selecting update.zip, contains swipe gestures, haptic feedback and a lot more.

Here are the known bugs for now, according to the developers:

All backups are done get time stamp of year 1970, don’t know why this happens but I am trying to sort it out some how.
The recovery sometimes hangs – just press the power button and it will restart recovery without rebooting the device.
There are some graphical glitches.
Backups created with v01 recovery might give errors while restoring using v02 recovery. Click here for a work around.

Below you can see a video of the recovery on action on an Xperia Play, which will give you an idea of how the recovery will work on your device. Video courtesy of the developers.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device gets bricked or damaged in any other way due to this method.

Requirements:

Unlocked bootloader. Click here to see our guide on how to unlock the bootloader on Sony Xperia S.
Rooted Xperia S. Click here to see our guide on rooting the Xperia S.
FreeXperia Recovery.
Fastboot package with USB drivers.
DoomKernel v03.

Instructions:

To begin, download the fastboot package and extract the contents. If you just unlocked your bootloader, you would already have the drivers properly installed and the package extracted.
Copy the FreeXperia recovery image to the fastboot folder in the package you extracted.
Download the DoomKernel and copy the zip file to the root of your phone’s SD card.
Put your device in fastboot mode and run command prompt.
Within commandprompt, navigate to the location of the FreeXperia Recovery image and enter the following command:
```
fastboot flash boot recovery-nozomi.img
```
Now when the phone boots into recovery, flash the DoomKernel zip package you copied to the device earlier on via the FreeXperia recovery.

Reboot the device and make sure you can boot into the OS. Then try to reboot the device into recovery mode and if all that works, the DoomRecovery has been properly setup on your Xperia S. For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at XDA-Developers.

10 Best File Explorer Apps For Android

Zayed Rehman — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:00:17 +0000

One of the sweetest advantages I find in Android over iOS and WP7, is the ability to use an Android device as a USB mass storage medium without any strings attached, and with that, the ability to go through all these contents right on your mobile phone or tablet. Delete, copy, move, rename are all very powerful options that otherwise, are way more restricted on an iPhone and a WP7 device. Not surprisingly, the Android market is flooded with file management apps, and a new user is left bewildered with the choices at their disposal. Which one would you pick if you were new to Android and why? It is to answer this question we have grouped together, what we believe, are the 10 most brilliant file explorers for Android out there today.

Root Explorer

Easily the most popular and most needed app out there today. This app, despite being a paid one, appeals through it’s core functions, that are to access system files on an Android device and gives you read/write access within those folders as well. To say the least, any Android device that has root access, deserves to be running Root Explorer, for you will find yourself in need of it almost every time.

Download Root Explorer

File Expert

The UI on this app is extremely user-friendly, and the app will see all your file exploring needs satisfied. Accessing your files is a given, but the app lets you connect to cloud storage services such as Dropbox, Baidu Cloud, Box.net and a few others, access FTP servers, share content over Bluetooth, Web and more as well. To add some eye-candy, the UI can be overhauled with some themes as well. You can get this app for free of the Play Store; however, if you want root access for system files, you will have to purchase the Pro version.

Download File Expert

ES File Explorer

Boasting what is easily one of the finest user interfaces an Android file explorer can offer, ES File Explorer has a plethora of features to offer, including root access, for free. Access files over LAN, FTP, Bluetooth, Internet (box.net, Dropbox & Sugarsync), manage your apps or use it as a task manager, you name it, ES has got it! Oh, on a side note, you can theme up a few things in the UI as well.

Download ES File Explorer

MIUI File Explorer

When I first used the MIUI ROM on my Desire HD, the one thing that really caught my attention – apart from iPhone like UI – was the inclusion of a native File Explorer. With a very well and neatly laid out interface, the app can filter content based on music, videos, zip files, pictures etc. Moreover, you can also access content over FTP, which is set up in a single tap and you’re good to go. Earlier only available for MIUI ROMs (bundled with them), the app has now been released for the public owing to the popularity it received. MIUI File Explorer is a to the point, simple, no-nonsense file explorer app for Android. Click here to read our detailed review on MIUI File Explorer.

Download MIUI File Explorer

Read full review

File Manager ES

Dual-pane, you say? File Manager ES takes that concept a step further, letting you open as many different file browser panels on a single screen as required. You can move files from one directory to another by simply dragging and dropping them on the desired directory. Much like a history function, the app lets you bookmark important directories that you navigate through often. It supports swipe gestures to help you navigate through the various file explorer panels easily. To add icing to the cake, the app gives you root access to complete system files as well, for free! Click here to read our review on File Manager ES.

Download File Manager ES

Read full review

FileSlick

FileSlick is yet another file explorer app that uses swipe gestures as part of its navigation functions in and out of folders, as well as boasting some pretty slick aesthetics. The app goes on to offer some complex functions as well, such as toggling read/write permissions for various mount points, modifying user permissions for root mode and Server Message Block (SMB). With a lot more to offer than the points made here, click here to see our review of FileSlick for Android.

Download File Slick

Read full review

Total Commander

Not released to the Play Store even after all this while, the app certainly deserves some attention. Sporting Dual Panes, “file selection in Total Commander is even easier. Tap on the icon/thumbnail of a file to select it. You can select multiple files at once in this manner. To open a file, just click on its filename.” The app supports a built in text editor, along with the ability to handle encrypted ZIP and RAR archives. For more on this app, click here to read our full review.

Download Total Commander

Read full review

Ghost Commander

They say, Total Commander got it’s que from Ghost Commander, and well, all we know is that Ghost Commander was the first on the scene with a dual pane for exploring files. In addition to the features offered by Total Commander, you have thumbnail views, favorite folders and a built in text editor. That said, the UI isn’t exactly the most pleasing we’ve seen so far.

Download Ghost Commander

Super Manager

One of the most comprehensive file managers out there, and well, to be honest, it’s more than just a file manager. It is a Task Manager, APK Manager, App protector, File Manager, Backup & Restore tool, Auto Scheduler, all built into one package. Super Manager allows you access to root level files as well, and lets you extract APKs from installed apps and much much more. You have to actually try this app out to understand the plethora of functions it offers.

Download Super Manager

Android Commander

Aptly titled as a Swiss knife for Android devices in our review, Android Commander is a lot more than your average file explorer. With a desktop client for interfacing with your Android device (of course, you’ll want root access), Android Commander is your one stop shop for exploring all the the content in your device, installing apps straight from the PC, installing and copying stuff into root level folders and a lot more. With well laid out graphics and information, the application is actually much easier to use than what it may appear from reading this. Our comprehensive review of Android Commander is linked above.

Download Android Commander

Read full review

This concludes our list of what we believe to be some of the most important and effective file explorer apps out there for the Android devices.

Honorary Mention: ASTRO File Manager

Oh wait, we missed out ASTRO File Manager! One of the oldest file manager apps out there, the app is still kicking and has some awesome features out there to offer. App backup, built in image viewer, text editor, download manager etc. This is an honorary mention for a true veteran! The app has pretty much those functions to offer that most other File Explorers offer as well, and this by no means suggests that Astro File Manager fails in comparison to those apps. Alongside an SMB and Bluetooth plugin to add OBEX FTP support for browsing devices and sending/receiving files using Bluetooth networking, the app goes on to offer a totally free ASTRO Backup, a cloud service of its own.

Download ASTRO File Manager

Do you have a favorite? Did we miss out on an app you’re crazy about, and feel we should have featured here? Do share your thoughts and suggestions with us in the comments section below.

How To Easily Root Sony Xperia S On Gingerbread

Zayed Rehman — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:55:47 +0000

The Xperia S, with it’s 342ppi pixel density, a 12mp camera packed in a beautifully crafted body, and upgradable to Android 4.0 ICS, certainly deserves to be rooted and it isn’t surprising that the device got rooted pretty quickly. This comes in from XDA-Developers forum member Bin4ry, who has uploaded custom firmware images for Xperia S running the 63 firmware or the 67. Not exactly the most convenient and preferred method of rooting, but this is all that is available for now at least. The good thing about this root, is that you don’t really need to do much in terms of commands or moving around files.

All that needs to be done is to download the custom firmware and flash it to the Xperia S via fast boot. Still wondering why you should be rooting your device in the first place? Click here to see our guide on the top 10 reasons to root your android device.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device gets bricked or damaged in any other way due to this method.

Requirements:

Unlocked bootloader on the Xperia S. Click here to see our guide on unlocking the bootloader on the Xperia S. (This guide will assume that you also have the drivers properly installed on your PC, considering you just unlocked your device.)
Fastboot installed. (If you have unlocked your device, you will have the fastboot package as well.)
Download image for 63 Firmware | For 67 firmware (1Gb Partition size).

Instructions:

To begin, download the image for your firmware and copy it to the fastboot folder in the fastboot package you extracted while unlocking the bootloader on your device.
That done, put your phone in fastboot mode and open command prompt.
In command prompt, navigate to the location where you copied the image to, and enter the following command:

fastboot flash system system_xps_prerooted_63fw.img

All done! Reboot your device now, and upon reboot, you should have root access. For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at XDA-Developers.

How To Unlock Bootloader On Sony Xperia S

Zayed Rehman — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:14:18 +0000

The Xperia S, with all that it boasts, has ben moving ahead quite fast in terms of development for the device by Android fanatics. In case of the Xperia S, the only way you can actually manage to install a custom ROM, or for that matter root your device, is to have an unlocked bootloader. Renowned XDA-Developers forum member and developer DoomLoRD has come up with a guide that takes most of its essence from lollylost100’s guide for unlocking the bootloader on an Xperia Arc. So what we now have, is the official way of unlocking the bootloader on the Xperia S.

Before we move on with this, please be warned that unlokcing the bootloader will wipe the /data partition of your device, so you will lose all your stored data and settings. However, the SD Card will not be wiped. Oh and DRM keys will be lost forever as well.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device gets bricked or damaged in any other way due to this method.

Requirements:

Fastboot package with USB drivers.
Get the IMEI code by typing in *#06# in the phone dialer. Note the numbers only, not the dashes.

Instructions:

To begin, extract the contents of the fastboot package.
Put your phone in fastboot mode. (Power down your phone and keeping the Volume Up button pressed, connect the USB cable to PC to trigger FASTBOOT mode.)
Windows will now start the driver installation, so point the installation to the extracted folder.
Once the drivers are installed, simply unplug the cable.
Now go to: http://unlockbootloader.sonymobile.com/
In your phone, access the service menu by entering *#*#7378423#*#* in the dialer > Service info > Configuration > Rooting Status. If Bootloader unlock allowed says Yes, then you’re good to go. If No, this will not work for you.
On the website you just opened, hit Start Unlocking the Bootloader at the bottom of the page.
Again, scroll to the bottom of the page and click Continue. When you get the are you sure prompt, click yes I’m sure.
Accept the leagal terms.
You will now get a Create Unlock Request page, so enter your IMEI (sometimes the last digit needs to be removed for this to work), name and email address.
You will now receive your unique unlock key shown on the screen, so save it.
Open command prompt and navigate to the fastboot folder in the package we extracted earlier on.
Connect your phone in fastboot mode to the PC and enter the following commands in command prompt:

fastboot.exe -i 0x0fce getvar version

If the value returned is 0.5, it means the phone is correctly connected.

fastboot.exe -i 0x0fce oem unlock 0xKEY

Replace KEY, with the key you had just saved.

That is it! Your Xperia S should now be unlocked. For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at XDA-Developers.

CamSpeed: Test Focus & Shutter Speed Of Your Android Or WP7 Device’s Camera

Zayed Rehman — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 11:45:05 +0000

Easily one of the best camera benchmarks for Android and WP7 out there today, CamSpeed is not your average benchmark app highlighting the time it takes from pressing the shutter button to capturing an image. The apps measures variables such as Focus Time, Shutter Time and JPEG available. With mobile phone cameras catching up fast with digital cameras, with the pixels per shot and quality of sensors increasing year by year, the competition between the phones is heating up as well, and it always helps to try and roughly figure out how fast the camera on a device is. Comparisons are always fun; benchmarks, even more. And where most users gauge cameras by their results alone, others might want to take comparisons a step further, which is where CamSpeed comes in handy.

I talked about a few variables earlier on, so incase you didn’t quite get what those variables were, focus time, as its name suggests, is the time it takes for a phone to focus on the object or scene that the camera is pointed at. Capture or shutter time is the time from the tapping of the capture button to the moment the image has been captured. Capture Image or JPEG available is the time from capture to the moment when the resulting photo is available (saved to local storage).

The app is quite simple to use. Once you start it up, simply hit the Start Test button to capture an image and thereby get your benchmark result. Do note that the benchmark results will vary according to object distance to lighting conditions. If you want multiple results, simply hit the Test x10 button to initiate 10 quick tests. The results will be published online as well if you allow the app to do so, but more importantly, you can see how your own results will be displayed once the benchmark is complete.

Additionally, you can set the resolution along with whether to enable or disable focus during the benchmark, in the settings menu. We tested the app on a Galaxy S II and the Nokia Lumia. The results are shown in the screenshots above.

Download CamSpeed for Android

Download CamSpeed for WP7

Flash ClockworkMod Touch Or Stock Recovery With One Click On Optimus 3D

Zayed Rehman — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 09:45:17 +0000

Custom recovery for a rooted Android device should not be an option, but at times, the procedure involved puts off most users who try and do without a recovery installed. The Optimus 3D is not exactly a new phone on the market, but certainly one of the most popular Android devices out there. For that said device, recovery installation never really came easy, or if it did, you never got the option of 3 recoveries in one package. Yup, thanks to the efforts of XDA-Developers forum member Paki0402 the device gets a recovery toolkit containing the option to flash ClockworkMod recovery, ClockworkdMod Touch recovery and if things get really out of control, the stock LG recovery. Read on for more on how you can use this app for your Optimus 3D.

If you have no idea what custom recoveries can do for you, click here to see our guide on what is ClockworkMod recovery and how to use it.

So if you wish to proceed with flashing a recovery on your Optimus 3D, let’s get on with some flashing!

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device gets bricked or damaged in any other way due to this method.

Requirements:

A rooted Optimus 3D. Click here to see how to root the Optimus 3D.
ADB Installed. Click here to see our guide on what is ADB and how to install it.
Optimus 3D Recovery Toolkit.

Instructions:

To begin, download the recovery toolkit from the link above and extract the contents.
Connect the device to your PC and make sure USB Debugging is enabled.
Run the toolkit, and you’ll be faced with 3 options; to flash the stock recovery, ClockworkMod recovery or the ClockworkMod Touch recovery.
Simply hit the recovery you want to install and let the tool work its magic.

For updates and queries, related to this tool, head over to the forum thread at XDA-Developers.

Unlock AT&T iPhone 4S Without Losing Jailbreak Using SAM

Zayed Rehman — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:18:22 +0000

You can now unlock your AT&T iPhone 4S without having to lose your jailbreak, thanks to SAM (Subscriber Artificial Module). Right now, this is the only working method for unlocking a jailbroken iPhone 4S on AT&T, so do not bother trying it out with jailbreaking tools, such as redsn0w. SAM basically allows you to activate your iPhone using legitimate certificates generated through iTunes. Read on after the jump to understand how SAM works and how you can use it to unlock your iPhone 4S in no time!

As explained in an earlier article on fixing iMessage/FaceTime & Push Notifications On Hacktivated iPhone 4/3GS, “iTunes activates your new iPhone using your official (supported) carrier’s IMSI, taken from the SIM card. When you hacktivate the device for use with unofficial carrier, this process is bypassed by running a daemon constantly in the background, fooling iTunes into believing that the device is already activated. While there are numerous methods and tools available for hacktivation, SAM, a free package on Cydia, spoofs a fake IMSI, making iTunes believe that the device is running on an official carrier’s SIM, thus making the program generate legitimate activation certificates.”

Now that you understand what you’re dealing with, let’s get on with unlocking your iPhone 4S. Stating the obvious, you will need to contact AT&T and inform them of your request to unlock your device, and only then should you proceed with the instructions below to unlock your iPhone 4S.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device bricks or damaged in any other way due to this method.

Instructions:

To begin, head over to the Cydia Store and add the following repo to the sources: http://repo.bingner.com
From that repo, install SAM and go back to the Settings app.
Hit the deactivate iPhonebutton and then connect it to iTunes.
iTunes will now activate your iPhone and will unlock it in an official way.

That’s it! You’re good to go with an unlocked iPhone 4S! Those with non jailbroken devices can simply tap reset all content and settings and continue to connect the device with iTunes to activate the phone and unlock it.

[via JBU]

Bypass Locked Bootloader On Motorola Droid RAZR With Kexec

Zayed Rehman — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:15:22 +0000

The Droid RAZR gets an unlocked bootloader! Well not exactly, but if I am to sum up the achievement of XDA-Developers forum members kholk and embeem, I can tell you that the locked bootloader on the Droid RAZR is not going to stop you from flashing stuff like custom kernels anymore. The rumored project was named Kexec and had been in the works for a while now. What the developers have managed to do, is come up with a way to bypass the bootloader signature checks on the device, thereby totally ignoring the existence of an otherwise locked bootloader. Given the attempts to pressurize Motorola into providing unlocked bootloaders for their devices, like petitions and reaching out via social media, nothing has changed at all at Motorola’s end. So Kexec right now – for the Droid RAZR and its users – is a huge deal. We tell you more about it, and how you can get it up and running on your Droid RAZR, after the break.

First thing first, you need to know that this is still a work in progress and while significant ground has been made, there are a few known issues as well. According to kholk:

“(1) CPU1 doesn’t come up. (2) It fails on (some?) CDMA Droid RAZRs.”

So far the package has been tested on:

651.167.19.XT910.Retail.en.FR
651.167.26.XT910.Retail.en.EU
65.1.40.XT910.MERetail.en.06
651.73.250.XT910.Brasil.en.BR
65.1.40.XT910.AsiaRetail.en.03
65.3.106.XT910S.SKT.en.KR

So let’s move on to the installation and correcting a few problems that may or may not arise as a consequence.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device bricks or damaged in any other way due to this method.

Requirements:

A rooted Motorola Droid RAZR with a custom recovery installed. Click here for our guide on rooting the Droid RAZR and installing a custom recovery.
Terminal Emulator installed from the Market.
Download Kexec.

Instructions:

To begin, copy the package to your device’s internal memory or ext SD card.
Boot into bootstrap recovery and install the package via the recovery.
Once installed, reboot into the OS.
Open up the terminal emulator and enter the following commands:

su

sh /system/bypassme/bypassme.sh

Done! Wait for 10 seconds and the phone will vibrate and apparently freeze. Give it a minute as the phone is jumping over to the new kernel. Incase it’s still frozen, press the Volume down key and the Power button together for a hard shutdown, and try again.

Incase the device has slowed down really bad, install an app like SetCPU or CPU Master and change the governor from ‘mot_hotplug’ to ‘ondemand’. Moreover, incase something isn’t working, remove anything set to automatically run at boot, especially apps like SetCPU and CPU Master.

For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at XDA-Developers.

Lost Phones & Personal Information: Precautions & Recovery [Guide]

Zayed Rehman — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 14:21:20 +0000

Things were a lot simpler and safer back when the mobile phone technology was new, and in use by only a few people. Then came the SMS, which was then followed by making internet access available on these mobile handsets. Today, over 45% of the world’s population is covered by a 3G mobile network, while countries, such as Norway, Sweden, Ukraine and the United States are already moving to 4G networks. Over 90% of the worlds population is covered by 2G networks, supporting GPRS and EDGE. Point being, with the rise in demand and supply of smartphones, and with these devices slowly becoming affordable as well, more and more people are increasingly connecting to the internet everyday and communicating very sensitive information at times. With this need, and at times, the urge to stay connected, our mobile phones today carry more than just our phonebook and texts.

Lost mobile phones back when monochrome LCD screens were a huge hit, may have caused the owners’ heart to break, but being seriously concerned about the contents in the phone that a finder will get hold of in the mobile phone, is a concept that has only recently sprung up. Today, we take the features and capabilities of our phone for granted, without thinking twice about the serious issues that content lost to someone else, can pose. Pictures, memos, videos, bookmarks, passwords etc. are just a rough sketch of what your mobile phone can reveal about you.

Smartphones are bundled with security options, existent in the OS itself, such as Android, iOS, Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7, but a lot of us are either reluctant to use those, or do not fear the worse. I’ve lost a few mobile phones, and every time I wished I had put up passwords and stuff. My SGS II lies with no security enabled on it right now. Humans are inquisitive, and I will not blame someone, who finds a fancy phone lying around, for wanting to go through it even if it is returned to the owner or the police. People will want to look at your pictures, your emails, passwords and more. Why? Because they can, and you let them.

If you really want to connect the dots, your location check-ins via Foursquare, Latitude, Facebook etc, and your contacts in the phone, coupled with photographs, are a stalkers’ paradise. Email accounts and Social Networking profiles can give that person a deeper access than the phone originally could have. A nasty tweet (if you’re big on twitter) can pretty much ruin your fan following, regardless of any tweets about you losing your phone later. Your phone carries your entire social life in it, and you just handed it over to an unknown person, just because you were too lazy to take some precautionary measures.

Ways to protect your phone & information.

At the least, set a lock on your phone, be it a security pin or a pattern lock, or be it a pin lock upon a reboot. These are things that come natively to most smartphones, and the average user should be easily able to set these up.

I could go on telling you to not to set apps like Facebook or Twitter clients to remember passwords, but that would become a serious pain sooner or later, and totally ruin your experience of a phone. Both Android and iOS have a plethora of tools that can lock individual apps and processes for you and while at it, do more than just password-protect them. Be sure to set the password limit to 10 attempts, whereby all data on the device will be erased after 10 wrong attempts.

As mentioned earlier, internet connectivity may have plunged our data into one tiny device, but that connectivity can help you recover your phone as well in case you lose it, provided your GPS was enabled before you lost your phone. There’s always the classical triangulation of cell tower signals, but you can’t do that, and chances are, not many companies will do that for you either. Besides, out goes the SIM and you don’t know what carrier the phone just jumped to. So, the best practice to observe whenever you lose a cellphone is to report the loss to the police, make copies of the paperwork, and inform your service provider by giving them the phone receipts and the police report you just filed. They may be able to help you out when the phone is activated by someone else. Ultimately, it can all come down to the IMEI number, which you can add to the global Missing Phones database and maybe, just maybe, once your phone is activated, you may be contacted. There are local websites as well, catering to a specific region or city.

Now, we discuss what you can do by taking matters into your own hand, and if, by luck, the person holding onto your phone is a lesser geek than you are.

Cylay is Cydia app, so yes, you need to have a jailbroken iPhone for this. The app, apart from the obvious tracking features, lets you remotely lock the device, backup your data, and even wipe it. You can remotely activate audible alerts, just in case the phone is in nearby vicinity as well. The app, however, considering the features it offers, is a paid one. For more information on the app, head over to the official Cylay webpage.

Find My iPhone is a feature native to iOS 5 and comes as a part of the whole iCloud service. While a lot of people are actually put off by the existence of iCloud, Find My iPhone is actually one impressive feature you get for free. This feature locates your phone on a map for you, remotely locks and wipes your data, and some anoyingly loud alarms can also be set. Read more about this feature as a part of our detailed review of the features of iCloud for iOS 5.

Plan B for Android, may confuse you a bit if you install it without reading what I’m about to tell you. This is the only phone finder app out there that you can load onto your device after losing it. Simply install the app from the Play Store to your account, and if your device isn’t already connected to the internet, as soon as it does, it will install on the device and determine the location of your device via GSM signals, GPRS or GPS, and you will get an email on your Gmail account as soon as the device determines the location of the device. Send “Locate” as a text message on your number to start the process once again. Do consider the fact that once you receive an email, so will your device that is already configured with that account.

Download Plan B

Read full review

Where’s My Droid is another free app that can be useful for the less alarming situations, as well. If you’ve misplaced your device, you can send a text to the device, which will trigger an increase in the Ringer volume to the fullest so you can hear the device ringing. However, the more important tracking abilities do come along as well, and all that needs to be done is to send a text message to the device, and once a location is determined, you will receive the coordinates on a map in your email address.

Download Where’s My Droid

If you know of any better solutions or tips regarding this prevalent issue, do let us know in comments section below!

Revert To Stock & Fix Soft Brick On Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G

Zayed Rehman — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:00:16 +0000

Since the rooting and ClockworkMod installation guides for the the Blaze 4G came out, it is inevitable that a few of us were a little too excited and in the process of rooting or installing ClockworkMod recovery, messed up somewhere to end up with a soft bricked phone. However, user’s need not be dismayed over this fact, as the device is still recoverable and you can get back to your stock factory settings in no time, thanks to k0nane, the guy who is responsible for bringing us the root procedure in the first place. As long as you can access download mode, this guide should jus be what you were looking for. So for those of you with a Blaze 4G hanging in limbo, read on after the break to learn and attempt to bring your phone back to life.

The process will involve using ODIN, so make sure you have access to a Windows PC. If you have access to a Windows PC, let’s get our hands dirty!

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device bricks or any other damage occurs due to this method.

Requirements:

ODIN installed on your PC. Download ODIN.
Samsung USB drivers for Windows 32bit | 64bit.
PIT file.
Stock firmware (TAR). (Mirror)

Instructions:

To begin, download the PIT file and TAR firmware on your PC.
Put your phone in Download mode. (Power of the device, and now hold down the Volume up, Volume down and power button.
Start ODIN and make sure all other options except for Auto Reboot are unchecked.
Click PDA and select the stock firmware (TAR).
Click PIT and select the PIT file you downloaded.
Connect the phone to the PC via the USB cable and once the device shows up connected in ODIN, hit the Start button.
Once the firmware flashing is completed, the device will automatically reboot, so once it does, close ODIN and remove the USB cable.

That’s it! Your device should now be alive and kicking, but of course, you will not have root access or a custom recovery or anything. You are back to how the phone came in the box! For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at XDA-Developers.

Install Official ClockworkMod Touch Recovery On HTC One X And One S

Zayed Rehman — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 09:19:39 +0000

The HTC One X (GSM) and One S get ClockworkMod Touch recovery! This touch based recovery from Koush has been released for quite a while, for a handful of Android devices, but has just made it’s way onto the newly released HTC One X and the One S just after the device was released over a week back. The touch recovery is a serious improvement over the older ClockworkMod recovery and gives the user a very intuitive way of using the recovery. You can always install it via ROM Manager by paying a meager $1.99, but if for some reason you don’t want to do that, there’s always the manual, and cheaper method. We take a look at how you can manually install the recovery on your HTC One X and One S, after the break.

For those of you, who are completely oblivious to the concept of a custom recovery and what it has to offer, should see our guide on what is ClockworkMod recovery and how to use it on Android. Now that you understand what purpose custom recoveries serve, let’s get down to flashing the recovery on the One X and One S.

Before we proceed with this, you should know, that for now, you will be unable to mount the device in USB Mass Storage mode while in recovery, the device won’t charge (skeptic) and you can’t flash the downloaded recovery via ROM Manager.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device bricks or any other damage occurs due to this method.

Requirements:

A rooted HTC One X or One S. See our guide on rooting the HTC One X here, and for rooting the HTC One S here.
ClockworkMod Touch recovery for HTC One X | HTC One S.
Interim ClockworkMod Touch recovery by paulobrien and flashable ClockworkMod Touch recovery by Koush for the HTC One S. (This should be used incase flashing via fastboot fails.)
ADB installed. See our guide on what is ADB and how to install it.

Instructions:

To begin, download the recovery image for your device from the link above and copy it to the platform tools folder in the Android SDK you have.
Rename the file to, recovery-touch for your convenience.
Boot into the bootloader mode by holding down the Volume Down key and pressing the Power key. Once in bootloader mode, select fastboot using the volume keys to navigate and the power button to select.
Connect your phone to the computer, and open up command prompt or terminal and enter the following command to check if the device is connected and recognized:
```
fastboot devices
```
If a device is listed, you’re good to go.
Using terminal or the command prompt, Navigate to the location where fastboot.exeis and enter the following command:
```
fastboot flash recovery recovery-touch.img

fastboot reboot
```
That’s it! your phone should reboot now and the ClockworkMod Touch recovery has been installed on your device. Try booting into the recovery by entering the bootlaoder and selecting Recovery from the menu.

Incase the recovery does not flash via fastboot for the HTC One S, you should install the Interim recovery by paulobrien using steps 2 to 5. That done, boot into recovery as mentioned above and flash the flashable ClockworkMod Touch recovery by Koush.

For updates and queries, head over to the One X or One S forum thread at XDA-Developers.

How To Root HTC One S On Android 4.0 ICS

Zayed Rehman — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 07:58:05 +0000

HTC One S has now been rooted thanks to XDA-Developers forum member paulobrien. The One S can be said to be the younger brother to the HTC One X, with still specs impressive enough to challenge most modern day Android devices. The best part, you get to run Ice Cream Sandwich on a handsomely large 4.3” Super AMOLED screen. Like the rooting guide we covered earlier for the HTC One X, the rooting procedure is more or less the same, using the superboot image which is basically a modified boot.img.

According to paulobrien:

“The superboot image is also ‘insecure’, allowing you to use ‘adb remount’ as well as having full ADB root access to your device until such time as you reboot after running this process (it’s a non permanent ADB root as it’s a ‘fastboot boot’ and not a ‘fastboot flash’ but it IS a permanent root in all other regards!).”

The rooting procedure will work through Windows, Linux and Mac as well. Now that you understand what you’re dealing with, here’s how you can root the One X.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device bricks or any other damage occurs due to this method.

Requirements:

HTC One S with an unlocked bootloader. You can do this at the HTCDev website.
Superboot.

Instructions:

To begin, download the Superboot package from the link above and extract the contents.
Put your device into bootloader mode by turning off the phone first, and then powering it on as you keep the Volume down key pressed.
Connect the device to the computer via USB.
If you’re on Windows, simply run install-superboot-windows.bat.
For Mac, open a terminal, navigate to the extracted contents and enter the following commands:
```
chmod +x install-superboot-mac.sh

./install-superboot-mac.sh
```
For Linux, open a terminal, navigate to the extracted contents and enter the following commands:

chmod +x install-superboot-linux.sh

./install-superboot-linux.sh

For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at XDA-Developers.

Root Samsung Galaxy Blaze 4G & Install ClockworkMod Recovery [How To]

Zayed Rehman — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:54:14 +0000

The Blaze 4G from T-Mobile gets rooted! Released in January 2012, let’s just say it was about time. Thanks to the efforts of XDA-Developers forum member k0nane you can now root your device in no time at all through ODIN (more on that later), but that’s not all. Renowned developer shabbypenguin has also managed to make the ClockworkMod Recovery 5.5.0.4 available for the Blaze 4G as well, paving the way for custom ROMs and and kernels to be soon made available. So if you had been using the Blaze 4G for a while now and had lost all hope concerning root access, you have it now!

Both rooting, and installation of ClockworkMod recovery will be relying on flashing files via ODIN. So no more talk, let’s get our hands dirty.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device gets bricked or damaged in any way due to this method.

Requirements:

ODIN installed on your PC. Download ODIN.
Rooted kernel. (Mirror)
ClockworkMod recovery. (Mirror)
PIT file.
Samsung USB drivers for Windows 32bit | 64bit.

Instructions:

To begin, download the rooted kernel, ClockworkMod recovery, and the PIT file on your PC.
Put your phone in Download mode. (Power of the device, and now hold down the Volume up, Volume down and power button.
Start ODIN and make sure all other options except for Auto Reboot are unchecked.
Click PDA and select the rooted kernel (TAR).
Click PIT and select the PIT file you downloaded.
Connect the phone to the PC via the USB cable and once the device shows up connected in ODIN, hit the Start button.
Once the phone reboots, it should be rooted. Power it off and unplug it from the PC.
Put the device in Download mode again, and re-run ODIN.
Click PDA and select the ClockworkMod recovery (TAR).
Click PIT and select the PIT file.
Connect the phone to the PC via the USB cable and once the device shows up connected in ODIN, hit the Start button.
Once the phone reboots, close ODIN and unplug the phone from your PC.

That is it! Your device should now be rooted, and have ClockworkMod recovery installed as well. For updates and queries, head over to the rooting thread | ClockworkMod recovery thread at XDA-Developers.

Install Boot Animations On Android With One Click [How To]

Zayed Rehman — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:29:12 +0000

Boot animation was truly revolutionized with the launch of Android based mobile devices. One of the first things you see when you turn the device on, a true Android fanatic will never take the boot animation part lightly. It’s like the build up in progressive trance lifting you up as the beat kicks in, or for that matter the OS boots up. Bootanimation Manager by D4rKn3sSyS over at XDA-Developers is just the app enthusiasts were looking for to manage their boot animations on an Android device, without getting into the whole ADB mess. Well, still using the ADB framework of course, the application executes all those commands through a simple and easy to use GUI. There are always the boot animations one can flash through a custom recovery to get the desired boot animation, but that’s not universal and you have to do it manually at times. We take a look at the ease and convenience Bootanimation Manager offers, after the break!

Let’s start of by saying, you need a rooted Android device to pull this off, otherwise this application will simply not work for you. After you’ve downloaded your desired boot animation, you can preview it by simply dragging the file and dropping it into the application window.

Additionally, you can also backup the current boot animation that is set up on your device, and that is something very important if you were only experimenting, and were fond of the one you failed to backup. However, the primary purpose this function can serve is to allow you to extract a few awesome boot animations from a friends device. Once you’re done backing up, drop a file into the window and hit the Push button to copy the file to all the right places – which otherwise, you’d be doing manually.

The developer plans to include a couple of new features in the future such as Buils bootanimations from PNG Sequence, Build Bootanimations from GIF, Resize bootnaimations and Get bootnaimation default size from current bootanimation on phone.

To use this tool, you will need to have Java installed, or the tool just wont run. You can download Java from here. Also, make sure USB Debugging is enabled in Settings > Applications > Development on Froyo or Gingerbread. Incase of ICS, USB Debugging can be found in Settings > Developer Options. More so, make sure your device driver is properly installed.

For downloads, updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at XDA-Developers.

You may also want to see our comprehensive guide on how to change, customize & create android boot animation.

Kirara: Portable Video Encoder With Comprehensive Editing Features

Zayed Rehman — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:58:01 +0000

Here we have yet-another video encoder titled Kirara Encoder. This application supports majority of the popular media formats, be it video or audio, and sports a very user friendly UI, which is instrumental in letting the user access all the advanced functions as well. Best of all, the application is a portable one for Windows, bringing you a tad bit more than just any other video encoder. Screenshots and more on the features after the break.

To begin, simply hit the Add button to select a a video file you want to encode, or drag and drop a file onto the window. You can add multiple files to create a queue of files to be converted.

That done, time to select the encoding format. You can do that by hitting the Preset button, as seen in the screenshot above, to select formats that are tailor made for specific devices, such as Android, iPhone, iPad, Blu-ray etc. However, before you begin the encoding, you can also edit your videos as well. Yea, didn’t see that one coming, did you?

The editor, like the encoder itself, is actually very simple to use, with playback powered by MPlayer.

However, if you really want to get into it and customize the encoding type, hit the Settings button to select the Output Type, Codec, Bitrate, Video Filters, Audio Codecs etc.

Once you’re done piecing all you want together, be it the settings or editing, simply hit the start button to hear the CPU fan churn up, especially on laptops. The time it took to encode a video sized 80MB with a length of about 20 minutes was actually quite quick. You can also set the priority level as well, even while the encoding is going on.

Before you jump to any conclusion, let us! Do not forget to check out the Preferences menu that houses settings for the MPlayer running the previews, encoder aesthetics (that is the window above) and the more serious settings including specifying Multithreading, H.264 AVC Auto Detect.

Oh yes, the conclusion! While the editing tool at hand is certainly a big plus point for Kirara Encoder, it posses no comparison to the much older and much popular Handbrake application in terms of speed, where the latter is much quicker. The application can be run from Windows XP to Windows 8, so no need to worry about compatibility issues.

Download Kirara Encoder

[via ghacks]

Wavosaur: Powerful Portable Audio Editor With 3D Spectrum Analysis

Zayed Rehman — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:22:32 +0000

If you feel the name “Wavosaur” sounds like a wannabe dinosaur, you wouldn’t be entirely wrong. However, Wavosaur is an immensely feature rich audio editor meant for the serious. What do I mean by serious? The plethora of features this editor brings to the table are meant for users well versed with audio editing, for tasks that involve more than just trimming, looping or adding fade in/outs to the audio file. While the editor retains the more common editing functions such as cut, copy, paste, paste mix, paste replace/insert, paste to new file, trim/crop, delete, undo for casual users, there’s way much more to explore here. Screenshots and some important salient features of the application after the break.

To start off, simply drag and drop the file into the editor’s window. The editor supports wav, aif, aiff, ogg vorbis, raw binary, au/snd, ADPCM Dialogic vox, Akai S1000 sample, Amiga 8svx & 16svx and wavpack. The interface, while not exactly the most brilliant one out there, is easy enough to get used to. The toolbars are modular in nature and can be moved around and function buttons can be added to the interface as well.

You can see the various tools that the editor has to offer from the screenshot below. Most, of course, will not make sense to the more casual us er – including me – but the 3D Spectrum Analysis, Input Oscilloscope and Output Oscilloscope are features worth commending.

The editor also features a sonogram for the current audio output as well as seen in the screenshot below. Other than that, you have detailed statistics as well, giving you the RMS power, min & max value per channel and more.

You also get synthesis features such as the waveform generator, frequency impulse train and frequency sweep. Talking about details, you can zoom in to the wave form down to the last millisecond.

Wavosaur can also be controlled via commands triggered by an external MIDI controller, such as play, stop, record, rewind, toggle windows, go to markers, go to start, and control volume output. Now would be the right time to tell you that that Wavosaur is completely portable, sitting at a tiny 560kb, and will not make any changes to the Windows registry. The application also supports custom skins as well which can be downloaded from the official webpage here. For a complete list of features, head over to Wavosaur.com. The application works on all 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows, including Windows 8.

Download Wavosaur

Spending Viewer: Track Expenses, Manage Monthly Budget & Multiple Accounts

Zayed Rehman — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:47:38 +0000

Managing your personal finances these days is not exactly a walk in the park, as you find yourself all beat up trying to remember a transaction you may or may not have made yet. There’s simply too much to go around for us to keep track of, without either your bank doing the job for you, or you writing it all down. We have covered plenty of personal finance managers earlier, with Personal Finances Pro being the latest. However, as brilliant as the application is, it sets you back a hefty $19.74. This is where Spending Viewer comes in, with a plethora of features, all for free. Well, not entirely, as the free version lets you manage up to two accounts only. Purchase the app for $6, and you can track multiple accounts, as well as free lifetime upgrades.

Let’s be honest, if you’re going to start comparing this application with Personal Finances Pro, it’ll be a tad bit unfair. Spending Viewer may not boast the nicest UI, or fancy pie charts, but for an average PC user, it sports all the relevant features that allow you to keep track of, and view, your incomes and expenditures filtered by categories, payees, accounts and dates. Thus, you can pin point exactly where you’re financially gaining or leaking.

Start of by creating an account, from a bank account, cash account, credit account, loan account and, investment account.

Once an account is added, simply click it to open up a transactions page for the said account. This, is where you enter or delete the transactions that you have made or will make. Do note that the app will treat all transactions as expense on your behalf if you do not check the Income box while filling up the transaction form. Plenty of categories to choose from, so choose one, enter the amount and save.

You can also upload already saved transactions in .qif format as well.

Once you have some transactions in your account, hit the Reports tab on the top and you will see a window similar to the one below. Here you can view your financial health by various categories, such as time based, payees, budget etc.. Further more, you can also filter the reports as well if you wish.

You entire monthly budget report is well laid out, and you can view that by hitting the View By Budget link in Reports.

Below is a video courtesy of the developer, that walks you through the features of Spending Viewer.

Spending Viewer works on all versions of Windows XP. Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.

Download Spending Viewer for Windows

How To Transform Windows 7 & Windows 8 Into Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion

Zayed Rehman — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 12:02:23 +0000

Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion skin pack hits Windows 7 and Windows 8 Consumer Preview shortly after the preview version of the OS was released a few days back. Earlier, we had covered skin packs for Windows 7, and more recently, Windows 8 as well, but as Mac OS X Mountain Lion gets ready to take on the computing world by storm, user and fans will have to wait it out. However, if you’re using Windows 7 / 8 and want a taste of Mountain Lion’s aesthetics, this skin pack will do it for you in no time. The skin pack will automatically install a few 3rd party apps as well in order to mimic the Mountain Lion UI and experience. Screenshots and brief guide on how to install it, after the break.

Note: Please bear in mind that such transformation packs are difficult to uninstall and a system restore point will not revert the changes. Before installing the Mac OS X Mountain Lion Skin Pack, make sure that you backup your computer to revert the changes (if required). Moreover, make sure that UAC (User Account Control) is disabled.

What to do? Simply run the .exe file, and if you agree the terms and conditions, make sure to check Custom Installation and uncheck setting Babylon as your default search provider and homepage. No need to be alarmed or anything, the skin pack is actually ad-supported.

Hitting next, you will be prompted to select the files you want to install, including the extra 3rd party apps. It is recommended, for the best experience, that you let all the elements install.

Once the Skin Pack is installed, simply reboot your PC for the changes to take effect. Once you do, the screenshot below shows you what the new interface will look like. Using XWidgets, XLaunchpad, Rocket Dock etc., the transformation is very fine indeed. The developer has included Aero themes as well, which can be accessed from the Personalization menu as normally done in Windows 7.

Below is the developers screenshot of the Skin Pack installed on Windows 8 Consumer Preview.

Download Mountain Lion Skin Pack for Windows 7

Download Mountain Lion Skin Pack for Windows 8

How To Root HTC One X On Android 4.0 ICS

Zayed Rehman — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 08:48:48 +0000

The HTC One X gets rooted, even before being released. We’ve seen devices getting rooted in no time at all earlier, but rooting a device before the official release in down right wicked. The One X is shaping up to be HTC’s flagship device, running the NVIDIA Tegra 3 chipset and sporting the second generation of SLCD with an HD resolution at 1280 x 720 on a 4.7” screen. Best of all, the device will be running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The root for this monster of a device comes in from PaulOBrien over at Modaco, who has released a modified boot.img called Superboot for the device. More on it and how you can root your HTC One X, after the break.

According to PaulOBrien:

“Superboot is a boot.img that when booted, will root your device the first time you boot (installing su and the superuser APK). No need to flash any partitions, no need to mess around with ADB, no messing with the contents of your data partition, no overwriting the shipped ROM on your device, just boot the boot image using the instructions below and you’re done!”

The important thing to realize here is that:

Now that you understand what you’re dealing with, here’s how you can root the One X.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device bricks or any other damage occurs due to this method.

Requirements:

HTC One X with an unlocked bootloader. You can do this at the HTCDev website.
Superboot.

Instructions:

To begin, download the Superboot package from the link above and extract the contents.
Put your device into bootloader mode by turning off the phone first, and then powering it on as you keep the Volume down key pressed.
Connect the device to the computer via USB.
If you’re on Windows, simply run install-superboot-windows.bat.
For Mac, open a terminal, navigate to the extracted contents and enter the following commands:
```
chmod +x install-superboot-mac.sh

./install-superboot-mac.sh
```
For Linux, open a terminal, navigate to the extracted contents and enter the following commands:

chmod +x install-superboot-linux.sh

./install-superboot-linux.sh

For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at Android@Modaco.

Install Custom ClockworkMod Recovery Touch On AT&T Galaxy S II Skyrocket

Zayed Rehman — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:01:13 +0000

ClockworkMod Recovery touch is already available for the AT&T Galaxy S II, but the Skyrocket is yet to find itself getting the touch goodness. Since Koush released his touch based ClockworkMod recovery onto a handful of devices, porting the recovery onto devices that are yet to get the touch based recovery, is all the rage right now. Guess what, XDA-Developers forum member sk8erwitskil has managed to port and already ported recovery by gweedo767 to the Skyrocket, but in doing so, has tweaked up it up a notch as well. We’ll show you what those changes are, along with how you can install this recovery on your device as well.

Here are the changes that this custom recovery brings to the scene:\

It’s totally open source.
Brings in swipe gestures such as swiping to the left or right and up or down.
Slightly different UI settings.
There are soft keys on the bottom of the screen for navigation.
You also get 2 different options for the font.

Here’s a video of the recovery in action on the Skyrocket, courtesy of sk8erwitskil.

Like what you see? There are quite a few ways to get this recovery on your device working. There’s ODIN, and there’s flashing the recovery straight from the emulator. We’ll show you how to do this via the Terminal Emulator since you will not have to get into the whole drivers ordeal, and also because it’s just 2 commands.

However, before we proceed, we advise that you take the Recovery for a test drive through a temporary install. We’ll show you how.

Disclaimer: Please attempt this guide at your own risk. AddictiveTips won’t be responsible in case your device bricks or any other damage occurs due to this method.

Requirements:

A rooted AT&T Galaxy S II Skyrocket. See our guide on rooting the Skyrocket.
ClockworkMod recovery installed. Install via ROM Manager. (Required for installing the Touch based recovery temporarily. If you intend to install the recovery for good, there’s no need for this.)
Recovery zip file. (For testing.)
Recovery image. (For a complete flash.)
Terminal Emulator installed.

Instructions:

Test Run

To begin, download the recovery zip file from the link above and copy it to the root of your SD card.
Boot into recovery and navigate to install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard and select the recovery zip file.
Once the recovery is flashed, it will not replace the existing recovery but will be running over it. Once you reboot, you will be back to the original recovery.

Installing the Recovery

To begin, download the recovery image file and copy it to the root of your SD card.
Run the terminal emulator and enter the following commands:

$ su 

# dd if=/sdcard/recovery.img of=/dev/block/mmcblk0p22 bs=4096

That’s it! Try to boot into recovery to confirm that the installation was successful. For updates and queries, head over to the forum thread at XDA-Developers.

AddictiveTips » Zayed Rehman

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[via ghacks]

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