A [Triumphant] Rooting Survivor's Tale: I Rooted My Cherry Mobile Nova And Lived To Tell It!
Disclaimer: Before you attempt to do like I did, please read our post on ROOTING YOUR ANDROID: PROS CONS, CAVEAT EMPTOR.
I recently posted a full review of the Cherry Mobile Nova, and in there, I complained about how the internal storage had gotten cramped to “sheer frustration,” or “quiet defeat” proportions. I was puzzled why I had been able to retain only 8 downloaded apps:
- Android Assistant
- Battery Indicator
- ColorNote
- Opera Mini
- TM World Clock
- Trillian
- Viber
- YouVersion Bible
Seeing as I’m about to go on a trip back to my home city, and I will be subjected to an excruciating 3-hour ride, one way, I knew I needed something to fiddle with. Probably work out my budget, my expenses, play a game, transfer my contacts, things like those. I knew I needed space on my Cherry Mobile Nova, but given that I’ve loaned my 3G Router and given away my Globe Tattoo dongle to friends in Manila, I didn’t want to risk bricking my Cherry Mobile Nova, for fear that I may not be able to work because I rendered it out of commission.
Geekier Chick, whom I had approached a few weeks ago to ask for help regarding the Cherry Mobile Nova, had assured me in super certain, super confident terms, that if I’ve upgraded the phone using the official Software Update Tool from Cherry Mobile, I’ll be able to go through the Root-and-change-ROM process perfectly fine. I had approached her, because after reading the guide on her website, I realized that my Cherry Mobile Nova is not a good candidate for the standard process of rooting and modding.
Rather, a different process needs to be used.
Geekier Chick had issued several warnings that once you've updated your Cherry Mobile Nova to the official Cherry Mobile Nova Froyo release, it's not a good idea to follow the original process she posted. That one was meant for the Cherry Mobile Nova on Android 2.1.6, Eclair.
After giving my frustrations and my impending trip some thought, I realized I could no longer wait for the time when I’ve saved the money to buy another Android, as a safety net/backup in case things go awry. I had to root my Cherry Mobile Nova, and ASAP.
So I read through the docs that Geekier Chick gave me. And when I came up for air, I got more confused than ever. No offense to her source (another blog guide on rooting and modding), but dang. That’s one heady piece of work, that guide!
I’m a centrist, through and through: I’m geeky enough to work with blog template code, but I will stop short at programming from <html> to </html>. I’m strictly a middle-way kind of geek. I can and will be able to translate geeky stuff to the n00b, but I cannot swim through über-geekiness. Like programming. Or rooting terminologies. My brain just isn’t built for that.
So I asked Geekier Chick if I understood the guide right: I decided to follow her original guide, then go through the guide she gave me, using this file, which she also gave me.
Geekier Chick took pity on my clueless self and made this ROCKING AWESOME SUPER SIMPLE MY HEAD BURST GUIDE.
So in between washing dishes in preparation for Christmas dinner and Plants vs. Zombies and Facebooking and Plurking, I downloaded the ROM.
And fell asleep.
Then woke up to realize that my download had paused. So I redownloaded.
Then discovered that I couldn’t open the .nb0 file (that’s the OS/ROM file) that was uploaded on Uploading.com. I was getting an error every time I tried to unpack it. Either the server hates me for not upgrading to premium, 110MB is just not a happy filesize for Sun Broadband Wireless, or I’m just in seriously tough luck on Christmas morning.
I redownloaded the file twice to make sure that the work computer wasn’t just being an inconsiderate hunk of metal towards me. It wasn’t. It was the file host that was being an inconsiderate hunk of code. Or my 3G Broadband provider. Whichever, the .nb0 file just wasn’t cooperating.
Then I remembered that the other night I had already downloaded the Firetrap Lollipop, from the guys at Ubiquitense, whose guides I couldn’t understand (I’m really, really sorry).
I tried unpacking it. Awesome. Working, fully downloaded file. (Thank you. :D)
So I fired up the Software Update Tool, followed Geekier Chick’s instructions, and twiddled my mental fingers while I tried to journal while my phone was going through a Frankenstein-esque transformation.
According to the detailed log I kept, I started the process at 5:32 AM, after I finished backing up all my apps and data. The Software Update process ended at 5:34 AM. Two minutes!
But then the scary part came: it took too long to open at 5:36 AM. It seemed to stay on the part where the sparkly Android boot screen kept sparkling. Was this the part that I go, “ONOEZ,” slap my forehead and call the significant other and bawl my eyes out for killing the phone?!
I decided to play it cool and reboot the phone the classic way: take the battery out and just turn it on normally.
At 5:43 AM, after figuring out that the Android must be consolidating its bytes for the first-ever boot up (I conveniently recalled that new Androids take a while to boot up, presumably because it’s configuring data for the first time), I decided to wait out the sparkly Android splash screen.
And lo and behold – PORTUGUESE!!!
Just my luck. Why do Google products always keep forcing non-English language on me?!
After wading through the unfamiliar interface and finally bumping into the Language settings, I finally saw the phone’s menus in English. Sweet relief. Then I went back to the apps gallery and discovered that the labels were all still in Portuguese. I tried looking for the settings to change that, but I found none. So I decided to reboot, figuring that the phone needed one to update the language settings.
At 5:50 AM, I could finally confirm that the root and change of ROM was successful.
I tweaked the settings all up to 9:16 AM. Then in a reply to my deliriously happy thank-you emails, Geekier Chick pointed out that the Firetrap Lollipop is Android 2.2/Froyo.
Um, so I didn’t upgrade to Gingerbread (2.3) after all. I just rooted, wiped out and changed the flavor of Froyo I used.
Did I throw a fit and complain? No; I was too busy being happy about having a clean Internal Storage that I couldn’t care less.
Now that I’m on Root, I probably have some privileges that I need to find out. I keep talking about how Lifehacker is all agog about it, but actually, I’ve only just begun to explore what being a Superuser really means. I will be researching on what a Root user can do in the coming weeks, and I will play with my Cherry Mobile Nova to the max that time will allow.
If there’s anything I want to know first and foremost, it’s how to get rid of those stock apps I don’t use, like the generic Email app. Gmail suffices for me, thank you. I don’t even know if Superusers/Root users actually can uninstall those, but I’d be happy if the Root state would allow me to. I’ve been itching to delete the Email, GTalk and Latitude apps for so long, it’ll be a pleasure to finally see them deleted someday.
For now, I’m just happy to make the most out of this new OS. I will be reviewing apps again since the holiday fever is dying down, and I'd like to share more about apps, more than just gadgets themselves, so I predict that the installs/uninstalls will clog up my phone again.
I don’t mind. Geekier Chick directed me to where I can download custom Gingerbread ROMs, and I’m excited to change my ROM once more. At this point, though, having spent 3 hours and 44 minutes Rooting, Restoring and Customizing my Cherry Mobile Nova, I’m pooped from all that excitement. I’m content to wait for when this phone slows down considerably once more and I have the excuse to install a Gingerbread ROM on it.
Tomorrow, a review on what I thought about the OS I used, the Firetrap Lollipop, which is a Froyo distro.
REMEMBER: If you attempt to Root and mod your Android, you will VOID YOUR WARRANTY, and will RISK BRICKING YOUR PHONE. Even if you get inspired by our tales, please, ROOT AT YOUR OWN RISK.
For walkthroughs for the Cherry Mobile Nova, however, I recommend Geekier Chick, as she knows more on the matter than we do.
Enjoy living life on the edge! :D
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Photo Credits: AndroidGuys
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