Guest post by InfoWorld’s Serdar Yegulalp provides an in-depth tutorial on how he rooted and upgraded his Motorola Cliq XT, one of many Android phones made infamous for not receiving further Android updates beyond 1.5. ‘It turned out to be quite an odyssey, with twists and turns I describe here in order to help those who wish to embark on a similar journey,’ Yegulalp writes. ‘Was it worth the trouble? Yes, in the sense that learning how to jailbreak your own phone is a valuable skill, and I got much more functionality out of the Cliq, when I was expecting to simply junk it. ‘
Cliq and Cliq XT actually made it to 2.1.
Running cyanogenmod 7.1rc on my cliq as we speak. Runs fairly well.
Cliq on stock 2.1 was not very usable. Way too much lag in common tasks.
There is a ‘dark side’ to rooting and playing the custom rom game on Android, and that is if you want to get rid of the vendor bloatware and install an AOSP (vanilla) rom, a lot of them aren’t exactly stable. Initially, when a new version of Android is released by Google, and hackers start working on an AOSP rom, a lot of stuff doesn’t work on the early builds, such as wifi and camera. Eventually though, they manage to smooth out most of the rough edges, but not all of them. For example, I waited months to get a stable AOSP Froyo rom for my Android phone, and even then, the LED notification light doesn’t work right. (Some people would respond to this by saying, ‘Well, just get a Google dev phone’, which would require me to go with a carrier in the US where I would have to stand in the middle of the street to get a decent signal, so that is NOT an acceptable solution.)
I know there is an entire sub-culture that really gets off on this stuff – people who spend their nights combing Android forums and trying out all the latest custom roms, seeing what features don’t work and trying to find a lower voltage kernel to compensate for the shitty battery life on their phones, and that’s all good. I think that 10 years ago, I would’ve really gotten off to this kind of thing. But now, well… guess I’m just getting too old for it anymore.
For this reason, I’m seriously debating on whether my next phone will be an iPhone. I’m no fan of Apple, but it would be nice to have a phone where I could get timely updates from the actual manufacturer of the phone, instead of having to rely on hackers doing it in their spare time. Since Apple will be making the iPhone PC free in the next iOS release, along with fixing the crappy notification system, it’s going to make the decision that much tougher.
I’m anxiously awaiting more information on ice cream sandwich and the proclamation by Google that Android phone manufacturers will have to issue ‘timely’ updates (whatever that means) for 18 months after the phone is released. I just hope they release more details before the iPhone5 comes out, or some of us could be jumping ship. I’m also hoping that with the next gen Android phones, some vendors will consider releasing some vanilla phones on Verizon, instead of always f**king them up with their horrible addons.
+1 Very true, exactly the same feelings here. At some point age gets to you and the thought of spending 3h hacking my phone to run the latest software becomes nonsense. I mean, I do email, calendar, look at prices on the web when stood in stores, make some calls and play angry birds (occasionally). I just want to plug the thing into the computer and have it automagically sync everything in the background without me needing to look at it or deal with it. I have both android (personal) and iphone (work). I guess I’m getting lazy and ensnared by the fruit but iphone wins out for all these reasons.
WorknMan, I feel the same. I own a Motorola Milestone (1st gen) running 2.2.2 thanks to a brazilian hacker (ShadowModBR). I love the android ecosystem, but I will consider another android phone only after this issue is solved.
It’s a tradeof. Today you are frustrated by your Android phone, tomorrow you will be frustrated by your iPhone, because they both suck in their own way. The grass is always greener on the other side. If you don’t want to compromise, get yourself a N9 when it’s available.
I’m all for people rooting their own hardware, but this reasoning seems like scraping the barrel for excuses.
I got a Google Nexus One that has always run great and continues to receive updates. What is so difficult about getting a Phone which is on the top of the list as far as devices supported directly by google?
I live in Spain and was able to get the phone through Vodafone, so you don^A't have to buy it from the US.
Getting a supported phone also sends a clear messages to the carriers as to what phones people prefer.
Well, there is one obstacle that can get in the way – money. I had a limited budget when it came to buying a phone. The Nexus S was beyond that budget. But it’s not that big of a deal for me, I like to tinker. And you’re right, the Nexus S can be bought everywhere in Europe. It also has a really sleek design, it’s a great choice for a phone.
Well, first of all I’m not going to pay full price for a phone, so I’ll get a subsidized one when I have to renew my contract every two years. I’ve waited for the Nexus S for 6 months or more. My old phone was literally falling to pieces. Vodafone kept postponing the introduction of Nexus S into their offer, so I had to settle for a Galaxy S (which has OK updates for now, but probably no more in the future as the S2 made its way onto the market).
So really, sometimes it’s not a matter of choice because it’s plain ridiculous to wait for a phone for 6-12 month until the operators get off their fat asses.
Besides money, the carrier. Europe doesn’t have this problem, but in the US the Nexus would have to be on AT&T (or T-mobile, now bought by AT&T), whereas Verizon, who runs an entirely different network built on different tech, has much better coverage (at least on the east coast where I live). Since I tend to travel out in the middle of nowhere, getting a signal > timely updates.
“Getting a supported phone, one ~3x more expensive than fairly solid & inexpensive mass Android devices (which already offer most of the benefits, not a mere 1/3), also sends a clear messages to the carriers as to what phones people prefer.” (emphasis mine)
Hm, no, I think people don’t prefer that (maybe even refusing on principle to pay 200% more for 20% more). Particularly when something so inexpensive as LG P500 also got Gingerbread (granted, it most likely won’t go further; but 2.x line will probably remain a standard for quite a while, and when the time for the next one will really come, not only there will likely be a worthy successor to P500 / ZTE Blade / etc. …I suspect most Nexus One owners will be also upgrading by then)
Overall, it seems smartphones might hit “good enough” much faster than PCs did (hopefully it will also mean top devices – or devices from only one manufacturer… – won’t be so overrepresented in the official supported lists of things (distros?) like Cyanogenmod)
I have a Motorola i1, which came with Android 1.5, and which I bought because it was the only Android phone available for Boost Mobile (Sprint’s pay-as-you-go division). It also (as far as I know) happens to be the only Android phone with iDEN (push-to-talk) functionality, which Boost/Sprint integrated into the standard Android build. I don’t care even a little bit about iDEN, since I never, ever, use it, nor is there any possibility that I will in the future. But because of it, none of the ROM-making groups have even tried to support upgrading the i1 to a more recent Android version, as far as I have seen.
Caveat emptor, I guess. On the plus side, this is my first smartphone, so I don’t really know what I’m missing out on.
Quite a lot actually. I was in a similar situation as you, with nearly the same phone as in the article (Motorola Cliq). The official 2.1 update allowed me to run apps like Amazon Kindle and such, but it was slow and buggy, and ate the battery in half a day. I tried CyanogenMod and it worked great for the most part, but the phone’s hardware just couldn’t really handle the load overall. But, the fact that I was able to run 2.x-only apps more than made up for it. It’s not quite Windows 95 vs Windows 7, but it is a drastic difference.
Since you are already on one of Sprint’s prepaid arms, you may want to consider moving over to Virgin Mobile, where you can get a 2.1 or 2.2 device for under $200, and you will probably be able to port your number with no problem. You’ll have the same coverage since it’s the same carrier really, and you’ll probably pay less too. I considered them when the ATT/Tmo merger was announced, but I think I will stick it out with Tmo and see if it’s still decent after March 2012.
OR Since he’s already with boost mobile he could get the Samsung Galaxy Prevail or get another android phone on Boost mobile. I have an Evo on Boost.
Well, I made the suggestion based on two thoughts: One, he had indicated that he didn’t use or even want the iDEN-only PTT feature, which is the only real reason to have Boost/Nextel over vanilla Sprint/Virgin. Two, Virgin offers a $25/month unlimited data/text plan with 300 peak voice minutes, which is half of Boost’s normal plan. Granted, Boost will allow you to “shrink” that monthly fee with timely payments, but the floor is $35/month.
I really don’t understand the huge price difference either, considering both companies are Sprint holdings. I suppose it’s the added PTT functionality on Boost’s side, but I don’t see that being worth so much more money. If you rely on PTT that much, it would make more sense to just go with a postpaid plan.
Anyway, you’re right: He could just stick with Boost and buy a new phone. He just sounded unimpressed with them to begin with.
Edited 2011-07-20 10:07 UTC
I am unimpressed with them. But when I was in the market, Boost was the best of a bad lot, and were the least expensive for my usage pattern: since I’m almost always right by a landline, I don’t even use the phone functionality on my cell enough to make a recurring charge of the kind anybody was offering worthwhile—I just put $25 on it every 7–10 weeks.