|
I was a fan (not a fanboy, mind you) of Android before it was even available on a smartphone. Just from the early descriptions by Google I know it'd eventually take over the smartphone market. Gartner reported that Android as an operating system grew 888.8% in 2010 and is now in the number two position worldwide.
Symbian OS is usually used on cheaper phones from Nokia, etc. The platform is also growing rapidly in its number of apps. But what to do after gloating over your shiny new toy? Optimize it, of course.
The first step is to root your smartphone (or jailbreak in the case of an iPhone). What does this mean? "The primary purpose of jailbreaking in the context of smartphones is to allow the phone to install and run third-party applications that haven’t been approved by Apple. Phones that are not jailbroken can only run applications obtained through Apple’s App Store."
"Rooting is a term used in reference to the Android operating system to describe a similar process. In both jailbreaking and rooting, you take administrative control over the operating system. However, the purpose of rooting is a little different than jailbreaking. Mobile phone carriers often place limitations on the phones they provide, and rooting lets you circumvent those limitations. One example is Wi-Fi hotspot capability, for which carriers charge up to $30 per month when you can do the same thing on a rooted phone with no extra fees using a free or low, one-time-cost app. Some carriers also don’t want you running apps like Skype to make phone calls instead of using expensive cellular voice minutes."
I pulled this description of rooting from this article. They also have a list of benefits. I'll highlight two for the Android:
- Rooting your Android phone can drastically improve its performance if you install a custom ROM that has been tweaked for performance. You can find apps that will overclock the phone’s processor, but you must have root in order to install them.
- For iPhone and Android phones, you’ll need to jailbreak or root the phone in order to run programs that let you turn the phone into a Wi-Fi hotspot so you can connect your laptop or an iPad to the Internet through its 3G or 4G network without paying an extra monthly fee to the carrier.
Sounds good, right...power to the people? But before we continue I must mention that jailbreaking or rooting the phone WILL void your warranty. A mistake may also "brick" your phone, making it useless. So consider yourself forewarned.
If you decide the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, there are a number of tools available to help you with jailbreak or root your phone.
You can use the redsn0w or the Spirit utility to jailbreak the iPhone 3G. JailbreakMe is another utility that has a new version for jailbreaking the iPhone 4. (Jailbreaking is becoming so popular that recently Apple blocked access to the JailbreakMe.com web site on their in-store Wi-Fi networks, but this did little to deter determined jailbreakers.) You can also watch a CNET video on how to jailbreak your iPhone or iPod Touch. (Here’s the link to jailbreakmatrix.com, which is referenced in the video.)
Apple released an update, iOS 4.0.2, to stop the jailbreak software from working, but there’s a way around it for the iPhone 3G.
Rooting your Android phone is a little more complicated, in part because there are so many Android models. But just these past couple months it's gotten much easier. Developer RyanZA has introduced his latest application – named Z4Root – which should make the rooting process brain-dead simple for anyone with an Android phone regardless of what phone they’re on. I have seen plenty of other one click rooting apps like SuperOneClick, Universal Androot etc. But with Z4root you won’t be needing a desktop application to root your device. The app is under going rigorous testing by many users. Unfortunately, it keeps getting removed from the Market so you may have to search for the latest version (click me for 1.3.0) (or download from ICE).
Installing Apps Not in the Market
First, on your phone go to Settings->Applications and enable "Unknown sources". Then go to Settings->Applications->Development and enable "USB debugging".
Next, copy the APK file to your Android’s memory card and insert the card into your phone. Download and install the appInstaller application from the Android Market. Once installed, the appInstaller will display the APK files on the memory card. Click and install your APK files.
Antivirus and Backup
First off, install antivirus and backup software. Why is this important on a phone? For example, one carrier last year fell victim to a four-day fake voice mail missed-call alert attack. Thousands of SMS messages went out looking like a standard message, except when the caller hit ‘reply’ and heard a dial tone. Not until the bill arrived home did people realise they were in fact calling a premium-rate satellite phone at US$4 per minute. Consumers who were hit by the attack refused to pay the carrier. To give you an idea of the impact of the attack, the mobile operator lost US$1m in revenue from that one attack.
By the end of 2010 I fully expect viruses to become a large problem on smartphones. Most smartphones are sold completely unprotected. No scanning of files. Worse, there are no scanning of web links and SMS texting attachments/codes. So expect outbreaks soon.
According to AdaptiveMobile there are four types of virus attacks on mobile devices that network operators and consumers need to be aware of going into 2011:
Advanced mobile malware: One of the most dangerous types of compound threats to emerge to date, the first occurrence of which was identified in October last year. Monitoring users’ access to banking sites, it harvests log-in details through a combination of routes. It is an evolution of existing PC spyware that has been redesigned specifically to record or forward conversations on smartphones.
Converged messaging spam: These are 411-type spam attacks that are on the rise globally, where users receive an SMS prompting a reply in response. In the most co-ordinated of such attacks, users also received a matching email from fraudsters further validating the scam.
IP reputation: A growing type of compound threat that is becoming increasingly problematic for operators – devices sending email spam over mobile networks. This results in mobile devices becoming infected with PC malware and severely impacts the IP reputation of the operator’s network.
Credit attacks: Threats that seek to trick or stealthily make the subscriber dial a premium-rate number. The compound nature is apparent in the parallel use of malware, SMS and voice calls to monetise the attacks.
None of the antivirus apps have been "field tested" to the extent I'd like but so far I can recommend AVG Antivirus. It comes with all scanning functionality for free as well as tools. The best is the ability to remotely control your phone if it's lost, lock the thief out, and find its location on google maps.
Second, find a backup application. I'd recommend Titanium Backup (requires rooting first to function). So when you drop your phone in the drink at least you're not set too far back.
Optimization
How to optimize your phone? Like mentioned earlier you can take riskier methods like overclocking your processor through Open Overclocker and modifying the ROM. Aside from the risks of physical damage to your phone, the gain in overclocking is mostly in people's heads.
The phone is RARELY CPU bottlenecked, and is usually I/O locked. What this means is that most lag or slowness in the phone is called by reading or writing data to/from memory, graphics, or SD card, and NOT by the processor being slow or maxed out. The exception would be if you're playing 3D games and whatnot.
But I would suggest UNDERclocking your CPU to extend battery life when only using it for basic functions. Then switch it back to normal speed when playing games or anything else requiring a faster CPU.
Really, the best way to optimize is to kills any unnecessary tasks and delete unused apps. Most carriers will pre-install apps that may run all the time and slow your phone down. For example, on my new Huawei Ascend from MetroPCS they stick me with "my extras", uno, virtual card, mobile banking, boingo wifi, moco space, free games, easy wifi, and pocket express. The Boingo app by itself sucks down almost 30MB of memory! Problem is, manually removing integrated apps has the potential for messing up the Android OS. So I highly suggest using Titanium Backup as it can "Freeze" the apps, essentially disabling the bloatware apps, but not removing them entirely. In the event something goes wrong you can just "defrost" them and put them back.
Finally, I would install an app like Advanced Task Killer. You can set a list of tasks that can be killed all at once with one button. Another major advantage is you can set it to automatically kill unnecessary tasks at certain times or when your screen is black. This will help your battery life as well as make your phone faster. Just be careful not to kill tasks related to the os or functionality you actually require (like your keyboard).
Switching Carriers
Now what if you want to take a smartphone and convert it to another carrier using CDMA? With GSM it's easy...you unlock the phone and then swap out SIM cards. But with CDMA phones you have to contact your new carrier and give them your phone's information and then modify the firmware using an application like CDMA Workshop.
Besides keeping your old phone there is another financial incentive to this method. On eBay and Craiglist you can find smartphones for cheap that have a "bad esn". The ESN is an unique number that marks each smartphone. What this usually means is that the phone is either stolen or the original owner has neglected to pay their bill to the phone carrier. But if a phone is marked as "bad esn" on eBay I kind of doubt it was stolen...that'd be like advertising "I'm a thief!"
Let me give an example. Let's say you're using MetroPCS like I am. But MetroPCS does not provide the best Android phones available. Someone with a new smartphone using Sprint decides to quit their service but does not want to pay their bill. That smartphone can no longer be activated with Sprint until the bill is paid, thus it has a "bad ESN". They sell the smartphone to me. I root it and use CDMA Workshop to set it up with MetroPCS.
Going Forward
My Huawei Ascend is actually an entry level Android. MetroPCS now has the Samsung Galaxy Indulge...but I'm looking forward to the Android 3.x smartphones. But you may say, isn't Android 3.0 designed for tablets and devices with larger screens than smartphones? True. But I'm waiting for someone to create a smartphone that can use Intel Wireless Display and bluetooth mouse and keyboard. See where I'm going with this? If I'm going to pay a couple hundred bucks I want a PC on my hip.
I'm actually new to the Android smartphone scene. While at work I had chance to play with blackberries, Windows Mobile, and iPhones. But until recently I could not afford to upgrade my own phones. So as I learn about these new doo-hickies I'll be sure to blog about anything I learn.
|
XRYSTAL 
