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Ars Checks Out CyanogenMod's New Installer
Ars Technica runs through the pretty and simple (but Windows-only) installer that is one of the first big fruits of the newly commercialized CyanogenMod project, and finds it very worthwhile. However, and despite being far easier for ordinary mortals than the error-prone process of the old way to put on CyanogenMod, it's not perfect: reviewer Ron Amadeo ran into troubles using it on his Nexus 4, and cautions: "If CyanogenMod Inc. really wants to lower the barrier to entry, they next thing they need is a way for users to just as easily go back to the setup they had before installing CyanogenMod. Currently, the installer is a one-way street. If the user decides CyanogenMod isn't for them and wants to go back, they're stuck. Even worse, they could run into the situation I did, where CyanogenMod installs but everything is broken. I've done this enough that I know how to go back to stock, but for a novice, they would have been abandoned with a broken phone."
Slashdot has always been Thus.
It has always been a crows sourced link repository. It was never intended as a publisher of first record.
As for you seldom coming here, I see you posting every day on every story.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
So what happened to back up before upgrade. Can' t the installer backup, and then revert.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Has Netcraft confirmed it?
uh ... go ask your carrier for upgrade then .
waiting ..
waiting.
waiting.
Unlocked phones are becoming more available, and more carriers offer "bring-your-own-device" plans. So this should be offered as something you get installed by small phone retailers or, for more volume, bulk importers of phones and tablets. It's useful for people who don't want to be tied to Google or Apple online services.
Unlocked bootloader is not the same as network unlocked, unfortunately.
And considering the legislative environment, it may never be the same. Thankfully, unlocked phones (both network and bootloader) are becoming quite common - thanks, in part to google (and the nexus devices). Also, it's been "a thing" in europe for some time, I hear.
- Nec Impar Pluribus, or so I'm told.
uh ... go ask your carrier for upgrade then .
This is a fair point. CyanogenMod's strength is that it offers an upgrade path to a great many devices that have been abandoned by their manufacturers.The Samsung Galaxy Nexus, for instance hasn't seen an upgrade from my carrier in well over a year. CM also offers a clear way to de-googlify your phone, for those worried about Google's monitoring their activity. If you want the benefits of (say) Google maps and navigation, you have to consciously download and install the gapps.
I installed cm10.1 on a Samsung captivate today. Took it from its stock froyo build straight to ics in just 30 minutes. The instructions are more complicated than a one button upgrade but really the problem isn't that there is no way back. The problem is that people don't demand the same service for their purchase from the manufacturer.
I thought the target for Cyanogenmod was always those devices that have been abandoned by their manufacturers and giving them updates, be they security or functionality, in the case of the latter it usually means new APIs that newer programs take advantage of. Though with Google Play Services they are trying to eliminate this as being such a problem.
Nexus phones are supposed to be well-supported anyway - in fact aren't they the phone to get if you want updates? - so I'm not sure what the appeal of Cyanogenmod is for them unless you want to de-google it?
That really IS silly. I get so tired of greedy bastards who think that their "intellectual property" is worth quintillions of dollars. But - people DO need to eat, they need homes, some of them hope to raise kids, some like to have their own private transportation.
A company isn't evil just because it's "for profit". They may BECOME evil, in the pursuit of profits, but profits aren't evil.
Real life has a way of destroying idealist's dreams. Unless, of course, you are posting from some alternate dimension in which no one needs or wants profits. How does everyone eat over there? You should share your secrets with us!
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
You should talk to Steve Jobs about that. I'm sure the NSA can hook you up with a direct line - they know everyone else's business.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
Some issues with this. Take Sony Xperia phones for an example: the PC Companion will not automatically update a phone or reflash it back to stock if the bootloader is unlocked. To top it off, there is no official way to relock the bootloader once unlocked. To relock you have to download a 3rd party program called Flashtool which allows you to do this plus more. I wouldn't expect a normal user to find this out easily.
Customs roms aren't really about escaping Google, they are about escaping the lockdown carriers tend to put on their phones.
Unless, of course, you are posting from some alternate dimension in which no one needs or wants profits. How does everyone eat over there? You should share your secrets with us!
Its easy. When Mom stomps twice on the floor above his basement lair, it means dinner is ready.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Unlocked bootloader is not the same as network unlocked, unfortunately.
True, although Google is slowly repackaging Android such that you can update things without waiting for the
carriers, and as soon as they complete this process by kicking the radio and screen drivers outside the kernel
you will be able to do this easier.
(It was only desperation that got them into that mess of monolithic software loads in the first place. The damage
they had to do to linux while shoehorning it into Android was mostly in destroying Linux's hard won kernel packaging.)
Right now Cyanogenmod has to tiptoe around a bit to avoid pissing off the patent trolls that own the
radio drivers when they complete replace everything else, but attempt to leave your radios intact.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
Reflash your phone back to stock if needed.
Notably "back to stock" is not anywhere close to "back to the setup they had".
Losing all your data in the process is one hell of a change.
It has always been a crows sourced link repository.
Crow sourced. That does actually explain a lot...
For that matter, we can't expect normal users to spend a couple hours researching anything, even if they do understand search engines. Normal users expect to push a button or two, and get instant gratification.
which is the way it should be, justifying needlessly complex processes is stupid as is blaming the user for not wanting to spend hours researching shit like that.
Once upon a time CM bundled the common Google apps like Calendar, GMail, Market etc. Google came down hard on them, and CM were forced to put those apps into a separate package — they couldn't bundle them with the standard CM image anymore.
In short, CM is de-googlified by default because Google told them so.
"publicly traded"
That is unnecessary for some people. If your sole motive is profit, then maybe being publicly traded is a good thing. Small businesses, however, manage to keep on going, year after year, sometimes decade after decade, eking out a modest living for themselves, and their employees, and showing a modest profit. Such businesses often have no desire to compete on national or international markets.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
There is a difference between wages and profit.
Wages are necessary.
Breaking even is necessary.
Profit is a religious thing.
Oh, and you don't get to create artificial scarcity just to guarantee someone a viable business.
hey're the one to get if you want the latest released version quickiest after it has been released in conjunction with the corresponding nexus phone.
after that the updates can take time and after certain time stop completely.
The difference is that the manufacturer abandons the phone as soon as it's released; They take your money, they forget about you. CM update, from my experience with the Desire HD, for approx 18 months from release (Oct 2010 - May 2012) for consumer phones, including to Android versions which aren't fully supported by the device (4.0 on the Desire HD, 2.2 only when purchased). Dev phones, by their nature, are updated for longer and worked on more frequently.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Sorry, but that's just nonsense. Microsoft doesn't give you an entire functional open source OS while keeping back just a few proprietary apps.
Can you state exactly how AOSP is "crippled"? The version Google ships with their devices is exactly the same OS, only some of the apps are different proprietary versions. Like Linux or BSD or any open source OS it can run closed source apps.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
You're arguing that profit is one method of amassing the capital to start or expand a business under capitalism. This is not the same as arguing that profit is necessary.
To answer your question:
1) One might start up a business because they want a job and they want to be their own boss. That's why I did it;
2) To start up this business, I used savings from wages from working as a regular employee;
3) I've never needed a loan, 'cos I'm awesome, but if I did, I'd take it from my local credit union, which merely has to break even by setting interest rates to offset the cost of defaulters.
HTH!
> Rule #1 of mobile phones: never buy one from a telco. It is always more expensive and they add crap.
Unfortunately, if you're American and stuck with Verizon or Sprint for reasons of coverage or some other factor, you really don't have any other choice. Sprint won't activate non-Sprint phones, and a non-Verizon phone without Verizon's radio modem firmware operating on Verizon can't authenticate to EVDO, so your data speeds will max out at ~150kbps 1xRTT.
In theory, AT&T and T-Mobile are GSM... but if you care about LTE, they're both almost as carrier-locked as CDMA now. I know of exactly ONE phone (HTC One) that's even theoretically capable of doing LTE on BOTH AT&T and T-Mobile, and that's because it was built with the Renesas LTE chipset (now owned by Broadcom, originally developed by Nokia as an alternative to Qualcomm's stranglehold and licensing clusterfuck). So, sure, you can go out and buy an unlocked GSM phone to use on AT&T or T-Mobile, but unless it's an unlocked HTC One, it's not going to do LTE on either network.
Google "LTE lock-in" for lots of sad examples of how American carriers, with the active cooperation of their best buddy Qualcomm, managed to infect and corrupt an officially open standard into one that's as carrier-locked and de-facto proprietary as Sprint/Verizon CDMA.
Or you could buy a unlocked Nexus 5 directly from Google which supports LTE on AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint.
If all you've ever owned are Nexus devices, you probably won't see the point. Try using an AT&T Galaxy S3 sometime, and you'll quickly understand why CM is such a big deal.
I'm a programmer who paid $500 for a very expensive phone. For that price, I need it to be the perfect phone. In other words, to be able to make and receive calls and text messages without fail.
Then why did you buy a smart phone? That's what dumb phones are for. Why did you spend 10X the price on features you don't need?
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