Thursday, October 4, 2012

Updating Phone to CyanogenMod

This tutorial is going to show you how to update CyanogenMod

Step 1: Download these prerequisite files to your phone
  1. Look for your phone model on the Devices list.
    http://download.cyanogenmod.org/
  2. Choose between Stable Version or Nightly Version.
    - Stable Version might not contain the latest updates, but it is the most recent stable version with minimal bugs in the Operating System.
    - Nightly Version literally has a new update every night, hence the name "night-ly". The purpose of these are to sync with the latest code written to date, which might include new features, new bugs, or fixed bugs. These are not recommended for the average user.
  3. Download the Google Apps for your Android Version. (CM11 aka Android version 4.4 KitKat needs Gapps compatible with it.)
Step 2: Make a backup of your current Operating System
  1. Press and hold the Power button on phone, press "reboot", and click on the "recovery" option, then hit ok. Your phone should now restart into a recovery.
  2. Click "Back Up/Restore" Option and use Volume Keys/Power Button to navigate. 
  3. Click Back Up. Keep this Back Up in case you accidentally mess up the installation.
Step 3: Factory Reset (This is recommended if coming from a stock based ROM, or from another Android Version 4.3->4.4)
  1. In the main ClockworkMod menu, select wipe data/factory reset. (This will not delete music/pictures/videos/files you have saved on your SD card, both internal and external)
  2. Optional Step (This will delete all data on your phone): You can wipe both External and Internal SD cards which will wipe pictures, music, and anything else on your phone. This option is recommended if you notice your phone has a lot of junk files on your SD cards. It will free all your memory again which will increase this speed of your phone if both your storage spaces were full.
Step 4: Installing the Update
  1. In the main ClockworkMod menu, select install zip from sdcard and navigate to the folder you downloaded your CM11 zip and Gapps zip.
  2. You need to flash the file named "cm-11....."
    - If you get Status(7) error, you need to either update the kernel, or the recovery on your phone and retry.
  3. Once this is finished installing, go back and install the other file called "g-apps" (This will install the Google Play services)
  4. Once this next step has finished, reboot your phone. Enjoy your updated Android Phone!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Reddit Freebies

I've recently discovered a new subreddit called  /r/freebies. It has a lot of giveaway items that websites sample out.