A Review Of The Firetrap Lollipop: An Android Froyo Distro
Yesterday, I posted the process of rooting and modding that I went through with my Cherry Mobile Nova Android. Now this is my review of the Firetrap Lollipop, a modification of the Android 2.2 Froyo.
The Android, just as a backtrack, is a custom OS built for mobile devices, but based on the Open Source code of Linux. Linux, on the other hand, is another OS from the Unix family of Operating Systems. The advantage of Linux over proprietary OS’ is the fact that it’s offered free and it’s perfectly legal to copy it, modify it to the developer’s purposes, and distribute it, whether for free or for a fee, after the customizations, of course. A whole industry has been built around creating a unique Linux distribution or “distro” and it’s been awesome to see how companies have innovated upon the original source code.
Andy Rubin, the developer/founder of the Android, took the Linux Source Code, modified it to suit mobile devices, pitched to then got absorbed by Google, and they offered up the Android, completely free and perfectly fine for phone OEMs to customize and use as their phones’ OS.
And that, Android Alliance Ph friends, is the reason why a Samsung Android will look slightly different from a Cherry Mobile, HTC, or Motorola Android. And that is also the reason why we have a whole slew of custom Android ROMs, customized for Android users, by other, geekier Android users.
Now, for my thoughts on Firetrap Lollipop, the distro I used for rooting and modding my Cherry Mobile Nova Android phone:
I thought it was a Gingerbread distro, so I was wondering why the Settings menu text were still on a monochromatic color scheme. The Samsung Galaxy Y’s rendition of Gingerbread had its menus on a more colorful theme and I didn’t like it. I was happy to see a Gingerbread that was monochromatic. But it’s a Froyo distro, so, bummer. And that explains why it’s monochromatic. When I finally change the OS again and this time to Gingerbread, I will let you know if the distro I used will be colorful. In the meantime, as far as I can tell from the official Gingerbread release page, the menus look like they’re supposed to be monochromatic. Therefore, Samsung has an awful sense of style for its Samsung Galaxy Y. Just sayin’.
The Firetrap Lollipop has one major difference from the Cherry Mobile Nova official release that bothers me: the App Gallery and how the user can navigate through it. In the original Cherry Mobile Nova interfaces I used, both on Éclair and then on Froyo, the navigation is vertical, much like the navigation on an iPod Touch or an iPhone. On the Firetrap Lollipop, the navigation is horizontal.
I hate the act of horizontal scrolling through the apps. I really prefer the iOS style, thank you. But the Android is working towards hedging Apple’s lawsuits, so I can’t blame the move to horizontal scrolling. It’s just very inconvenient. And Apple should stop suing people; they copied their OS from Xerox too, if you heard of it. When “karma” or divine retribution bites you on the butt, should you complain?
But I digress.
I missed the last wallpaper I used on my Cherry Mobile Nova on its official Froyo release. So I had to find a similar one. I still miss the old one I had. The Firetrap Lollipop came with ONLY ONE static wallpaper option, and it’s annoyingly boring and ugly. The original wallpaper is this gray wood-like background that’s a little too boring and drab for my taste:
It comes with the standard Android Live Wallpapers, however, but since I don’t use those to save my battery, that doesn’t make much of a difference to me.
Some of its functions work like Gingerbread, though. Back on Nova’s official Froyo, I wasn’t able to change the icons on the dock. Whatever it came with, stayed there. It was very annoying because I hate the stock browser, and I never really use it, but whenever I bumped onto the dock with my thumb, the stock browser always opened. It was annoying to keep killing or even force-killing the app. On the Firetrap Lollipop, you can customize the dock! So now I have Opera on the left side, the App Gallery launcher in the middle and the Android Assistant on the right. Completely convenient now.
The only complaint I have with the dock is that while I was customizing the dashboards, I kept managing to delete it so I had to keep adding a launcher action app from the long-press menu (it’s native, so I didn’t have to install it from the Android Market), in order to restore the Dock. A clunky kludge, but it worked. It was the disappearing act that annoyed me. When I got everything in place, the disappearing act stopped. Maybe it was all the long-pressing and bumping around that I was doing that kept making it disappear.
The icons are different. The dialer, for example, is in green. On the Cherry Mobile Froyo, it was in blue. The stock browser is also colored green, and again, on the official Cherry Mobile Froyo, the browser is blue. It came with QuickOffice instead of Docs to Go on the Cherry Mobile Nova’s Éclair version (there was no Docs app on the official Froyo update, or maybe I deleted it as soon as I fired up the OS that I didn’t notice). And there are admin apps that advanced users will be able to use: SetCPU, Terminal Emulator, and as a requisite for rooted phones, the Superuser app. There is also a Root Explorer, LinktoSD and RoadSync. I wish I took a detailed note of what apps came with the OS, but I was so excited to tweak it, I forgot to do so.
It came with the standard Google suite: Google Search, Gmail, GTalk, Youtube, Maps and Latitude. Someday, I will figure out how to get rid of GTalk, Google Search, and Latitude, unless I need it for Maps. For now, I’m still fine that they’re there, because I have around 46MB of space still left, even with all the new apps I’ve added.
One thing I noticed as I went through restoring and adding more apps to my suite was that the phone got really hot. But I guess that’s because I installed Advanced Task Manager alongside Android Assistant because its task killer is just more efficient. I had to uninstall it because my Android had considerably slowed down thanks to its presence. When I got rid of it, the Android got cooler and was faster.
It had the same 5 dashboards as I had on my Nova, unlike Samsung Galaxy Y’s 7 dashboards. I noticed some innovations, like a Reboot app, which I found convenient when the Power button wouldn’t call up the Shutdown dialogue. I use it more often now, and I find that it also helps keep the Power button from the usual wear and tear.
Lastly, I noticed some Camera customizations that I didn’t notice on the official Cherry Mobile Nova Froyo update. Maybe I just didn’t explore enough, but I recall trying to look for saturation settings and I didn’t find them there. On the Firetrap Lollipop, there are settings for Contrast, Brightness, Sharpness, Saturation, Anti Banding, Metering Mode, and even for having a grid or not. For those who know how to use these settings, I’m sure these will come in handy.
On the whole, I am satisfied with having been able to modify my Cherry Mobile Nova with the help of Geekier Chick and the guys who made these custom ROMs. More space has been opened up to me, and more functionality as well. I’m happy I made the plunge.
HOWEVER, as we keep saying, MOD AT YOUR OWN RISK. When you brick it, make sure you can fix it.
TIP: For those who love changing phones often, don’t sell your old Androids. Always keep a spare one with you, for modding, rooting and playing with. If you’re always asking but never taking the plunge (like I used to, until Christmas weekend), but you’re really, seriously itching to do so, maybe managing your risk by an iota more through using an “old” Android will help. In particular, choose an out-of-warranty unit, so that all you’ll need to do would be to take the phone to the knowledgeable cellphone technicians in your area, should you manage to brick the thing. That way, a CSR from a mobile phone manufacturer’s service center somewhere will have one less irate customer for the day.
Again, manage your risks, think about what you’re about to do, and when you do take the plunge and end up happy for it, congratulations!
Happy modding (or NOT modding)!
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Photo Credits: Ubiquitense
I suggest looking into ways of saving installed apps into your SD card as the topic of your next article. Take note that this is different from the official Froyo/Gingerbread functionality of saving apps to the FAT32 portion of your SD card, but rather creating an ext3 or ext4 partition on the card and transferring apps there.
ReplyDeleteSince app space was the reason why you rooted, I think you'd find that installing something like Link2SD or Apps2SD will be a big help to you.
You might also want to consider installing custom recovery apps like ClockworkMod, to allow you to make a full nandroid backup of your phone and flash other custom ROMs later.
Lastly, CyanogenMod7. Install it. Seriously. You'll never look at any ROM the same again.
Hi again, Unknown, sure, I think I'll look into your suggestions within January. :) I'll be taking a vacay leave until the New Year, so the articles lined up are the usual bubblegum centrist stuff. But you may find them mildly entertaining. :)
ReplyDeleteI do aim to find out how to make the most of my phone's rooted state, and Geekier Chick has already given me some suggestions on how to mod the phone further. :)
Will take note and figure out your suggestions, as well. :)
Have an awesome New Year! :D
hello Scribbler,
ReplyDeleteI just bought a cherry mobile Candy Chat, am a little disappointed as its not compatible with Skype and Viber and it has 170 RAM for app storage (thats what i get for going for a budget android) only although the specs said 512ROM/256RAM, but its okay for now since I was able to buy 8gig microSD from my savings buying this unit.
Anyway I just wanted to request/ask if you can teach me how to open up some more of that 512ROM/RAM so I can put some more productivity apps. I'd appreciate any tips/help you can extend me. Since rooting/jailbreak is a sensitive issue (Legal or otherwise) you can drop me an email at for.passage@yahoo.com
Thank you in advance... call me
LIving_on_a_budget :-)
Hi there, CyLopawn/Living_on_a_budget,
ReplyDelete170MB RAM *is* the standard for most low to mid-range phones in the market, especially with models released back in 2009 to 2010. In the case of Candy Chat, yes, I would have to say that you do get what you pay for, even if I have yet to try it.
If your Candy Chat is on Froyo (Android 2.2), how about installing Android Assistant and then moving your apps to SD Card?
Regarding rooting as a sensitive legal issue, it is only a warranty issue with the manufacturing brands, I believe, and ONLY when you break your phone. :) But as for legality, do remember that Google is a company that is all about providing free stuff so they can use their free stuff as a platform for advertising. Thus, the Android is a Open Platform, itself being built on top of another Open Platform, Linux, which means that having an Android phone will not be a legal breach. Jailbreaking, on the other hand, IS a legal breach, because of how Apple's ecosystem and app platform is built. :) Jailbreaking allows people to use PAID software for free. On the other hand, MOST Android apps are FREE, simply because of the aforementioned advertising paradigm.
Just making things clear. :)
If you've already added Android Assistant before and all your apps are on SD Card, there's really no other way to clean your data in the ROM part of the phone except to root it or take it back to Cherry Mobile for a fresh install of the Android OS, I believe. :(
Please, do join the Philippine Android Community on Facebook, as other users there may have the same phone and issue. :)
Good luck to you with your Cherry Mobile Candy Chat! :D
WOW! Thanks for the quick response and the clarification about ROOTING as a WARRANTY and not a legal issue since Google/android is an open source and that one can tweak as much as one can on the OS. Am more enlightened now about those particulars for that again I thank you.
ReplyDeleteNow for my issue on my Candy Chat, Yes it is on 2.2 Froyo and I've installed before your reply App2SD, moving all movable apps to the SD. Android Assistant is basically the same but has more OOOMMPH! :-) than App2SD and am gonna use Android assistant from now on. But with App2SD gone and Android assistant on my Candy Chat am still left with less than 80mb working memory and this phone is now practically crawling with it's processing, even when am just launching SMS app or Call Log app. To cut my ranting :-) short can you teach me how to ROOT this Candy or if you can't/won't can you show me to the right direction/site aside from going back to Cherry Mobile to do a fresh install.
Take me as padawan wise master, and Teach me how to use the power of the darkside (rooting) on this Candy Chat :-)
I am
Padawan Living_on_a_Budget..
Thanks for the quick response. Yup this candy chat is on 2.2 FROYO. I understand that ROOTING is a warranty issue as google/android is open source. Thanks for the tip in using Android Assistant, I've been using App2SD. I un-installed everything (along with the gmail/youtube/maps updates)leaving andriod assistant only. I ran ANDROID ASSISTANT it say ROM Used :48mb ROM unused :171mb RAM Used: 128mb Unused: 66 I feel cheated with this picture
ReplyDeleteI guess the only way to remedy this and to shorten my rants about this Candy Chat is ROOTING. Can you teach me the power of the darkside (root) Master, let me be your padawan and make this android awesome.... Thanks in advance...
living_on_a_budget
Um, I'd have to say that 171 MB is already HUGE. As I said in my previous comment, this ROM/available user space size is standard for low-end, midrange, and earlier-release Androids. The Samsung Galaxy Y actually has just 180MB of user-available internal memory upon first-time bootup. Check out its specs on the link there; just mouse over the phrase.
ReplyDeleteYou know, there's nothing to complain here, as this is pretty standard user-available space. You will get that on a Samsung Galaxy Y, a Cherry Mobile Nova (more powerful, more features), and even an LG Optimus ME and LG Optimus P500. :) If you really want a kickass Android, you would have to look at its ROM space, and those will cost you anywhere from 12,000 (Cherry Mobile Magnum HD) to Php 35,000 (Samsung Galaxy Note). The Cherry Mobile Magnum 2X is already a great buy at Php 15,999. Check out our Lineup of Cherry Mobile Androids so you can see what your affordable but awesome options are.
But back to your complaint of "just" 171MB of user-aveailable space: Welcome to the limited-ROM space world of entry-level to mid-range Androids. :D
Also, when it comes to rooting, I blundered my way through, but was given a great halogen lamp by Geekier Chick. She has welcomed requests for handholding, err, help, and that's how we became good friends.
When it comes to rooting, I'm no expert. I just had expert help. :)
Good luck, and you may find better help here: Philippine Android Community
The Samsung Galaxy Ace, HTC Wildfire S, HTC Chacha, and countless other Androids have the same limitations of just around 150 to 170MB of internal space. Please don't hate your Cherry Mobile Chat too much. It's actually an awesome buy at the price you got it for. :p
ReplyDeletethanks for this info. actually am not hating my candy chat anymore... am not even considering rooting anymore. Skype and Viber are so good product (used them on my iPod Touch 4g) that I was expecting that they can run also on ANY android phone..Anyway am passed the disappointment already and am happy with it na. now i can bring Two lines (Globe and Sun) with me because its a dual sim phone dati dalawa unit dala ko hahahaha...
ReplyDeleteThanks again Scribbler and thank for the Google plus add.... :-)
No prob, cyLopawn!
ReplyDeleteNext time, get an Android with fair specs. :D
"Fair" is:
256MB RAM/512MB up to 16GB ROM
600MHz QUALCOMM Processor
3G
Good enough is Samsung Galaxy Y at:
290MB RAM/180MB User-available ROM
3G
I guess that's why Viber and Skype won't work on your Candy Chat; it may have required 3G.
Thanks for your comments, cyLopawn! Please do keep coming back for more of our articles!
Hello again Scribbler, thanks for all the info about my android and your tip in my next purchase of an android phone
ReplyDelete"Fair" is:
256MB RAM/512MB up to 16GB ROM
600MHz QUALCOMM Processor
3G
I got a galaxy Y yesterday (yes its another budget droid) this one it can run Skype and Viber (I was holding my breath while i was installing them hahahah). One last question i have now is when you posted that a fair specs these should be present:
256MB RAM/512MB up to 16GB ROM
600mhz QUalcom
3g
Except for the 3G connectivity and Processor my Cherry Mobile Candy Ch@t claims to have these
Android 2.2
ROM 512Mb / RAM 256Mb
463mhz MediaTek Processor
No 3G, GPRS/EDGE only. My question now is when you say 256RAM how come the Candy Ch@t only let me use 170mb and the Galaxy Y 180mb? What happens with the rest of the RAM? What about the ROM what happens to all those unused MEMORY? A newbie questions I know, but am really curious what happen to all those wasted resources if i can't use them and since am not considering rooting anymore they are really WASTED right?