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January 10, 2013 By: Haroon Q. Raja
A few months back, we talked about how a team of developers at XDA lead by XDA Forum Member arbylaw had contacted Broadcom to ask for proprietary drivers for the GPU used in Samsung Galaxy Y in order to build ROMS for the device with full hardware accelerated graphics support. In response to the request, Broadcom had promised to aid the developers and work with them in reaching a solution. After three and a half months, Broadcom has released the EGL drivers for the device, making it possible to take full advantage of the device’s BCM2763 VideoCore IV GPU in custom ROMs and kernels.
This news is yet another milestone reached by the developer community, after a few previous positive responses from other hardware manufacturers. After years of alienating themselves from the enthusiasts, these companies are finally learning it’s a win-win for both if we cooperate.
The Samsung Galaxy Y is an immensely popular device in parts of the developing world such as India, Pakistan, and Indonesia, where the smartphone market is growing at an exponential rate. As an end user, the release of these drivers will mean fully working Android 2.3.7 Gingerbread ROMs (such as CyanogenMod 7.2) that should provide the millions using these phones a better end-user experience. If you are interested in learning more, there is a discussion in the original thread.
December 25, 2012 By: Haroon Q. Raja
The bloatware that comes preinstalled on many of our devices can be a major pain. On most computers, it can easily be removed by simply uninstalling it. On smartphones however, it’s usually a whole different story. It’s bundled in the form of system apps that can’t be uninstalled directly using the standard uninstall procedure.
While you can still remove the bloat using a root access file manager if you have rooted your device, those with unrooted phones are often left out of luck. XDA Forum Member broadways has come to the rescue with a recovery-flashable zip file that removes bloatware from the stock Android recovery.
Originally developed for the Samsung Galaxy Y, the method used by this recovery script is fairly standard, and should work on some other devices as well. Although the file (may or) may not run from the stock recovery of other devices, it should definitely be a go from any custom recovery. The tutorial explains in detail how you can edit the script to specifically add the names of the apps you want removed, and remove entries of those from the script that you want to keep.
You can find the complete instructions and the download link in the forum thread.
October 30, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
Some of the greatest true innovations came about so people could be more lazy. Of course, not everything that is spawned by laziness is on the list. However, laziness has always been a good motivator to finding an easier, faster way of doing something.
There is now a tool for Samsung Galaxy Y users that helps those who are lazy. The tool is called System App Installer, and it was released by XDA Senior Member hmahadi98. It’s a useful tool for lazy people who don’t want to move an app to /system and go through the process of setting permissions. As hmahadi98 explains:
Are u lazy to move app in system/app/ and set permission?? And convert user app 2 system app and most of them don’t work??
Then u should try this app..
This app is very useful for me,it install any app in system…
In addition to installing apps to /system, the tool also comes with a built in file manager that serves as the UI. It’s important to note that some apps simply won’t work as system apps, and some will refuse to install. Those that do work can be moved by this app. A little kicker is that you don’t need to reboot once you’re done. Just use the tool and start using the app.
For more details, check out the original thread.
September 17, 2012 By: Haroon Q. Raja
While not too famous in North America and Europe, the Samsung Galaxy Y (Young) GT-S5360 is immensely popular in emerging smartphone markets like India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, and several other Asian and African countries. As with every popular Android device, it attracts a lot of developer interest here at XDA, with several custom ROMs, kernels and mods available. However, due to lack of access to proprietary drivers for its Broadcom BCM21553 CPU and BCM2763 VideoCore IV GPU, full kernel level support for custom ROMs like CM 7.2 isn’t yet possible on the device.
Lately, several XDA Forum Members lead by arbylaw have been contacting Broadcom to release proprietary GPU drivers for the device to make a fully functional CM 7.2 port possible. It started with communication with Broadcom support agents, who initially denied the device having the said GPU and further added that “it is unlikely this is something we will release.”. This lead to forum members filing a petition, spreading the word via the #prayforBroadcom hashtag on twitter, and getting more of the community members to contact Broadcom directly regarding the issue.
Finally, there was a response from Broadcom in what could hopefully become a happy ending to this whole scenario. Arbylaw was contacted by Nick Lambourne from Broadcom’s Android porting department, who offered to start an open dialogue with the community on a public forum to find out their needs and work with the engineering team at Broadcom to see how to resolve this request. While the binaries have not yet been released, this is certainly a step in the right direction.
We have seen several such petitions before for many devices and in many cases, the responses were positive. Let’s hope the same can be said about this one soon. You can head over to the discussion thread to keep up with the updates and read the full story, including all the email correspondence that took place between arbylaw and Broadcom representatives.
August 10, 2012 By: Haroon Q. Raja
Want to easily root your Samsung Galaxy Y GT-S5360 without having to go through any complicated procedures or use your PC? Rooted it already, but looking for a way to unroot for warranty reasons without having to flash a stock ROM? Multi Root Installer is a single tool that lets you do all that, and it comes with the option to choose between SuperUser and SuperSU when acquiring root as well.
Brought to you by XDA Recognized Contributor manoranjan2050, Multi Root Installer comes with the latest versions of the su binary, SuperUser and SuperSU apps, BusyBox, SQLite and SSH. It’s a GUI app that once installed, runs on your phone and does the rooting/unrooting for you in a step-by-step wizard interface.
Want to give it a go? You can get started by visiting the application thread.
May 29, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
One of the worst things on certain budget-friendly smartphones is not having quite enough RAM. This normally isn’t a big deal for many users who use their phone for the practical purposes of calling people, sending texts, and checking email. However for people who do a lot more with their devices such as gaming and heavy app usage, the shortage of RAM may be a bit more limiting. Running out of RAM can cause a lot of problems such as app crashes and large-scale lag.
While you would have a hard time physically soldering on more RAM, users of the Samsung Galaxy Y can enable a swap file and partition thanks to a method written up by XDA Senior Member CarlDeanCatabay. This is similar to the pagefile used in windows, and while it isn’t nearly as fast as RAM, it may help certain apps that require a bit more breathing room.
The method is a little complicated, and requires you to repartition your SD Card. This method will also potentially lower the lifespan of your SD Card due to the higher number of write cycles. As the process is pretty general, it’s not impossible to port this method to other devices by simply modifying the required files to work with them.
For additional information, visit the original thread.
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