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August 18, 2012 By: jerdog
We recently told you about the CyanogenMod team beginning work on CM10. Now, a significant milestone has been reached: CM10 Nightlies have appeared for select devices. For those who aren’t familiar, a nightly build is an automatic build incorporating the latest changes in CM source for a device. Yesterday, CyanogenMod released the list of those devices that would be getting the first round of nightlies:
# The US SGS3 variants (AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint)
# The Galaxy Nexus variants
# The Nexus S varaints
# The Nexus 7
# The Transformer and Transformer Prime
# The SGS1 variants (Vibrant, Captivate, International, and i9000b)
# The SGS2 i9100g
# P3 and P5 tablets
That list will grow as other devices become ready and receive the blessing from their maintainers to begin nightlies. Be sure to keep your eyes open for when your device joins the list.
Update: We’ve received various reports from XDA Forum Member Scotto70 and others that the Nexus 7 build is currently nonfunctional. So if you’ve got a N7, we recommend that you hold off for the time being!
August 1, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
Having a corrupt IMEI can be a real pain. It seems to happen randomly to flashaholics, and having the radio go down on a cell phone really defeats the purpose of owning a cell phone. Thankfully it is not problem that is overly common. Unfortunately, it does still happen. For AT&T Samsung Galaxy S III users, and in some cases users of the other US Galaxy S III variants, there are not one, but two ways to prevent this problem. There is now a tool that will back up your IMEI without much difficulty and a manual guide for those who prefer to dive into the nitty gritty.
The tool was developed by XDA Forum Member <:GeeK:>, while the manual method was written by XDA Senior Member Peoplearmy with some credited help from others. Both methods eventually perform the same task, which is backing up and restoring your IMEI, and each has its set of pros and cons. Without a doubt, the manual way is more involved. However, it actually supports all 4 US variants, although it hasn’t had to be tested on the Sprint version yet. The tool involves a much shorter and more simple—root free—process. Both methods also have tutorials on how to get your IMEI back if it is already corrupt. Between the two, they address every conceivable IMEI concern for the US Galaxy S III variants.
For more information, check out either the tool thread or the guide thread.
August 1, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
Gaining root on the US Galaxy S III variants isn’t that difficult, with the possible exception of the Verizon variant. However, the typical root method uses Odin, which means two things. The first is tripping the flash counter, and the second is a garish yellow triangle. Well, for the T-Mobile/Wind/Moblicity Samsung Galaxy S III, root and custom recovery is now achievable without affecting the counter or getting that horrible yellow triangle.
As expected, the method does require a bit more than the standard rooting method. The guide, written by XDA Senior Member mrRobinson actually still uses Odin but doesn’t trip the flash counter. What’s more interesting, it only uses a single file from a rooted stock system image called root66. Sadly, this means that users have to download the entire half a GB system image in order to get it.
Aside from that, the process is pretty simple. Download the rooted system image, extract the root66 tar file, flash it over Odin with Auto Restart and F Time Reset checked. This will root the device. After that, mrRobinson links to a thread that will help users install a custom recovery so that the counter still doesn’t get tripped.
For the full method and download links, check out the original thread.
July 21, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
One of the files you often have to deal with when learning to theme is SystemUI.apk. Inside, you find a number of things that themers often play with such as the notification drop down, status bar, and icons. Modifying files can give users a good insight into how Android works, and thus help them become familiar with the files that make our devices run.
Thanks to XDA Recognized Developer freeza, there is now a set of tutorials to help get users get more familiar with editing SystemUI.apk on US variants of the Samsung Galaxy S III. The tutorial is actually comprised of a number of smaller tutorials including:
Custom notification pulldown background:
Remove battery full notification:
How to decompile troublesome ICS apks on the GS3:
How to remove Quick settings toggle text or hide Quick Settinsg toggle:
How to change carrier label:
With more likely on the way, this is an excellent start for beginners to become more acquainted with the inner workings of the OS, as well as some of the tools used to modify these files. Plus, who doesn’t like custom notification drop down backgrounds?
To learn more, head over to the original thread.
July 17, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
Jelly Bean has been flying around the forums at speeds approachable only by certain science fiction spaceships. With numerous ports ranging from SDK ports to unofficial CM10 ports and source-built AOSP ROMs, XDA has not been short on Jelly Bean since its debut. There’s even been talk of official CyanogenMod 10 being readied for release. For the US variants of the Samsung Galaxy S III, official preview builds are now available.
How official are these builds, one might ask? Well, the big man himself, XDA Recognized Developer cyanogen posted CyanogenMod 10 for the AT&T and T-Mobile versions himself. Heading up the Sprint version is XDA Recognized Developer noobnl.
Although the versions are 100% official, they are still considered preview builds, which means that there are some issues. The AT&T and T-Mobile versions seem to have the same issues, as posted by cyanogen:
* Overlay for UI (extra butter)- We’re waiting on CodeAurora to publish, UI is a little janky.
* Camera preview turns green during animations and may crash.
* Audio sometimes dies completely
* All the things.
The Sprint version has many of the same issues, posted by noobnl:
* Overlay for UI (extra butter)- We’re waiting on CodeAurora to publish, UI is a little janky.
* Camera preview turns green during animations and may crash.
* MMS downloading doesn’t work but sending & retrieving does work, use a 3rd party SMS/MMS app that can download them.
* All the things.
As CM10 gets more complete—and as more features are merged from CM9—users can expect these ROMs to get really good within a respectable amount of time. Cyanogen has stated that he actually does use the T-Mobile version as his daily driver. So despite the errors, the ROMs appear to be stable enough for daily use. That said, there’s still a lot of work to be done.
For more details, download links, and more, click the links below.
June 27, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
It is inevitable for nearly all devices with heavy development that the occasional mistake is made and a device goes down. This is commonly referred to as bricking, and there are different kinds of bricks—soft and hard. While hard bricks are nearly impossible to fix without OEM support, soft bricks can usually be brought back. With the U.S. variants of the Galaxy S III, there’s already a soft bricking problem going around. Thankfully, there’s also a fix going around.
XDA Senior Moderator and Recognized Developer mskip has released a solution for users who accidentally soft bricked their devices trying to flash a GSM boot image. The devices are brand new, so there’s still a question of what works and what doesn’t, and flashing a GSM boot image is apparently one of those things that doesn’t work.
Each variant has their own files, but the process is identical. Users simply need to download their phone’s stock boot image and flash it via Odin. This should fix the issue and restore the phone to working status. It should be noted that these files are not factory tarballs wherein this won’t work if you need to restore to a stock, unrooted ROM. These fix only the GSM boot image brick issue. As stated, the process is identical but the files are different so be sure you pick up the file for your variant.
Those in need of unbricking should head to the Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile threads.
June 23, 2012 By: Joseph Hindy
With a device as popular as the Samsung Galaxy S III, achieving root on all variants is high priority. Now, all three U.S. carrierversions, the Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T Galaxy S III have been rooted.
With so many phones getting root all at once, there are quite a few XDA members responsible—XDA Senior Member howtomen for the AT&T version, XDA Forum Member cypher_zero for the Sprint and T-Mobile version, and XDA Forum Member dawgslayer69 for posting that the cypher_zero’s Sprint method is compatible with the T-Mobile variant. Cypher_zero’s method actually comes from XDA Recognized Developer noobnl‘s original root and recovery method for Sprint variant, just made a bit more digestible for new users.
The process is what has become the standard for rooting most Samsung devices. Users will be directed to use the latest version of Odin to flash a kernel and ClockworkMod Recovery onto the device, and then use ClockworkMod Recovery to flash root. The only difference is the files being used.
The AT&T method has it’s own files and is confirmed working. In a surprising twist, the Sprint and T-Mobile root methods are actually identical. Although there were initially some doubts, the method has been confirmed working. It may actually probably be possible to root the AT&T version with the Sprint / T-Mobile method as well, as it’s been reported that the kernel is universal between all three, but for now it’s safest to stick with the procedures that work.
Head over to the appropriate root thread to get started:
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