Planning on getting a D3, got a couple questions though

[NewD3]

So I'm planning on getting a D3 in a little over a week once I am eligible to upgrade, I have a couple questions though.

So the ratio of defective D3s to good D3s seems to be quite high. I've seen it recommended that you "put it through the wringer", this is my first smartphone so I don't know what apps/programs that would test the D3's hardware. Is there a golden standard for testing the hardware, or certain apps/programs are the best for finding out, so I can return it if there are problems.

Rooting: I am not really computer savvy, would it be worth it the next week to learn everything about rooting so I could root my phone? I am willing to put in the research, but I want to know if rooting is really worth it to get rid of the bloatware and give control (speed upgrade, batter life increase etc, worth the chance of bricking the device?). Also is there any better way of really understanding rooting than googling it, because that's what I'm planning on doing. If this is the wrong place to post this, if you want to redirect me to a better place that would be great!

Are there any good widgets for monitoring data usage? I tried looking on my gf's phone for one but I couldn't find anything (she has virgin mobile if by some chance they have different access to the market?).

Thanks a lot

 

[guidot]

Love my D3. You'll know if its a hardware issue right away.

There are a few guides here on how to root your phone and what it does.

I ALWAYS recommend reading about anything you are jumping into.

Sent from my Safestrapped, Rooted, ROM'd XT862

 

[cvhovey]

There are a few guides here on how to root your phone and what it does.

I ALWAYS recommend reading about anything you are jumping into.

Likewise, I'm getting a D3. And having come from rooted Droid, DX, Nook, and TBolt, I'll eventually want to root my D3 as well. The only issue I have with "reading" is that it can become an issue of what is currently applicable vs. stuff that's outdated vs. fans of different methods. So it looks like digging in to find out what's the skinny on CWR vs. Safestrap, verifying the correct rooting from latest VZW update (my D3 will be used that I'm buying from a VZW employee), RootKeeper vs. P3Droid's 'maintain root' for Moto phones (if there's a real difference), and all that other good stuff. In other words, whether the how to root method posted here from August still works, I'll have to figure out....and more.

Anyway, I'm excited to be getting back to Motorola again. The TBolt is nice ... but its not Motorola. The GNex sounds nice, but I don't want to pay retail, nor use up a renewal for what doesn't really seem to be ground-breaking hardware. Don't tie me down to a 2-year contract for ICS slapped on "yesterday's" Crapsung phone. When devs get ICS on the D3, then I'll be glad I picked up a used D3 in order to save my renewal for something Motorola comes out with that doesn't try to pull the i*hony non-removable battery wool over our eyes ... at least not until those batteries easily last a day+ on LTE.

 

[Shimmy549]

I've never (intentionally) put a phone through the wringer. Most phones have their known issues and, if you do a little research into that particular model, you should be able to figure out what those are pretty quickly. For example, I've read many complaints from people with Droid 3s that can't seem to get a lock on a GPS signal. If GPS functionality is a big deal to you (it isn't to me), make sure you test it out ASAP. I don't know if mine works, honestly. I never used it.

As for rooting, getting rid of carrier bloatware is sort of a thrill. Plus, there are tons of tweaks available to rooted phones. For a taste, just look through the Android Market (mostly under "Tools") and browse through the apps that require root. I have several phones that I've rooted and ROM'd and I have honestly never liked a single ROM that ever came out for Droids 2 or 3, but being rooted alone has some cool benefits.

I meticulously research everything I do because I have a tendency to overlook the obvious and make dumb mistakes. I have all sorts of forum pages bookmarked, both on my laptop and my phones. Apart from DroidForums, there are many other Android-centric forums out there. Google any Android topic you're interested in. Most of the results will take you to those forums.

A word of warning, though: I know from past experience that you should be VERY careful with the tutorials you find, whether they're rooting tutorials, hack tutorials or whatever. Just because someone knows what he's doing and understands the technical stuff, it doesn't mean that he's any good at explaining it. If you have questions or doubts, err on the side of caution and look for another tutorial or ask around the forums. It does get easier with experience, but many pros take for granted that everyone knows the vernacular and can fill in the blanks.

I'm lovin' my D3. I hope it works out for you

Sent from my DROID3 using DroidForums

 

[KeepItReal]

I would invest in 4g, even if its not available in your area. Skip on the Droid 3 and 3g. The Stratosphere is even less expensive, and has a beautiful Amoled screen! The keyboard us more LG like (nice). The only difference is the camera, but 5mp vs 8mp .... You need to go into store and take pictures and see the comparison. You may be shocked.

Sent from my ADR6350 using DroidForums

 

[NewD3]

Thanks for the helpful responses guys!

I have a couple more questions:

From what I thought was that if you rooted a phone you had to run a ROM after rooting, like as a skin or something, is that not the case? I tried looking this up but I have gotten nowhere.

What is the actual likelyhood of accidentally bricking the phone? From what I gathered there are kind of 3 main parts, and the phone won't brick unless I mess up all 3, is that the case?

When/if ICS comes to the D3 and a phone is rooted, can it receive the update? From what I've been hearing that rooted devices don't receive official updates automatically?

For keep it real- I will have wi-fi most of the time (college campus) so I won't have to much need for 4g, also battery life is a problem with that as well. My next phone will more likely be 4g, but I don't see enough benefit yet.

 

[Shimmy549]

No, you can have root without a ROM, you just can't have a ROM without root. I used a "simple" one-click root method to root my D3. It turned out to not be so simple because the Motorola drivers and the ADB drivers I downloaded/updated would not play nice with each other until I finally rebooted and relaunched everything in some kind of order. I have not ROM'd my D3. I have other ROM'd phones, though.

If I were you and I was a little unsure of myself, I'd start with a one-click root. You'll gain root access, at least. As for bricking your phone, it CAN happen, but there's usually a fix for whatever you did wrong. Also, the more rooting/modding/hacking you do, the easier it wil get and the less worried you'll be. Don't get too cocky, though. Even know-it-alls brick their phones.

If you use a simple root method, subsequent roots will be less stressful because you'll have the ability to make backups of your phone. You can make backups in recovery, but I won't hit you with all of that here. That's the most common way to restore your phone if something isn't working out. I also read that something called SafeStrap can boot your phone into recovery even if your phone is off and you can't reboot it. That's something else to look into.

As far as OTA updates, you can't do those if you're rooted without breaking root, UNLESS you have Safestrap (I think). Like I said, it'd be worth looking into.

Hope this all helps.



Sent from my DROID3 using DroidForums

 

[Shimmy549]

I just thought I'd add this:

You'll see plenty of stern warnings about the potential to brick your phone by rooting or by having root. As far as I can tell, those warnings are mostly aimed at the true idiots among us, the people who would gain root access and wildly delete files in the /system folder just to see what would happen. If you're a reasonably conscientious person, you're already ahead of the 8 ball.

But don't get too cocky.

Sent from my DROID3 using DroidForums

 

[guidot]

I just thought I'd add this:

You'll see plenty of stern warnings about the potential to brick your phone by rooting or by having root. As far as I can tell, those warnings are mostly aimed at the true idiots among us, the people who would gain root access and wildly delete files in the /system folder just to see what would happen. If you're a reasonably conscientious person, you're already ahead of the 8 ball.

But don't get too cocky.

Sent from my DROID3 using DroidForums

Correct here. I'd venture to say that the bricking doesn't come from the rooting, more from after the rooting...

 

[brad92]

I definitely recommend waiting atleast a few days before you root. My first DROIDX was utter garbage and even though I could have sbf'd it if I had rooted, it would have been another headache to deal with at the time.

Boot Manager

 

[Shimmy549]

I definitely recommend waiting atleast a few days before you root. My first DROIDX was utter garbage and even though I could have sbf'd it if I had rooted, it would have been another headache to deal with at the time.

Boot Manager

Yeah, use your phone for a few days, get a feel for it and make sure everything seems OK.

Sent from my DROID3 using DroidForums

 

[Fr33dom]

All good advice so far. I would add that you want to take time to know your phone before you run off and make lots of changes. Take more time than you think you'll need studying and understanding root (http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-hacks/632-what-root-means-stop-asking.html). Don't get caught-up in the frenzy. There are lots of terms and things to understand and if you aren't computer savvy to begin with, you can easily get lost in the details. Make absolutely sure you know how to revert to stock before you get started.

By then you should have high confidence in your phone's reliability.

 

[bdsullivan76]

The nice thing about most moto phones are the availability of sbf files, I thing they are around for the D3. Before doing any modifications be sure you know how to fix it before you break it. The most important thing to do is get everything you may need together so if you mess something up your not searching in a frenzy to find out how to fix it. The first time I "bricked" my phone I was up until 5a.m. trying to fix it and had to be at work at 7a.m. that was a long night.

Sent from my DROID2 GLOBAL using DroidForums

 

[nikolio]

Im coming from a d2g that I dropped in the river (ooops). I like it alot. Its fast and I love messing with roms and stuff. I love the keyboard. This is my third d3 tho. Be patient til u get a fully functional one if u need to be and im sure u will be happy. Rooting for me means being able to freeze all the crap bloatware and personalize my phone how I want.

Sent from my rooted safestrapped darkly droided d3.

 

[wooddale]

Got a friend that has a Droid3 They come stock with gingerbread. She only has 5 screens on launcher. My wife has a D2 with gingerbread update she has 7 screens I have always had launcher pro on my phones I dont even know how many screens I would have had but I think 7 Thanks