Android Rooting/Flashing Basics Explained as Easy as A-B-C.

Android Rooting/Flashing Basics Explained as Easy as A-B-C.


So you're reading this because you finally gathered the courage to "modify" your phone. Maybe you thought that forfeiting your warranty wasn't so bad anyway, or maybe it's over anyways. 
**NOTE: Most of these "modification" processes are reversible, so you can always claim back your warranty should something goes awry.

Going back,  you're probably wanting to do something off-limits to your phone that's why you're wanting to root it, or perhaps you're just plain bored and just want to unlock your little friend's full potential. Then you're in the right place! All those technical terms would be explained very easily your dog would be rooting his Android too.

First, let's define "rooting". 
--It's basically the process of "unshackling" your phone. Manufacturers by default put limits on how phones are modified because of the risk involved. Now it's your turn to remove those restrictions and to customize your phones in anyway you want (at your own risk of course). It's basically the same as "Jailbreaking" as on iPhones, except that Jailbreaking is more associated with pirated games and "Rooting" on Android is more on UI/performance modifications. 

**NOTE: Android has these "apk" files same as "exe" on Windows that act as installers for applications. You can install these on your Android phone (legit copy or not) right away even if you're not rooted. Just have to enable a checkbox on the Settings part of your phone. (Security>Allow installation from unknown sources).

ST- Ericsson Novathor U8500 Benchmarks

I know many of you are excited to see how the STE Novathor U8500 chipset packed inside the new Xperia U, Xperia Sola, and Xperia P performs compared to its dual- core competitions. The STE Novathor U8500 consists of a dual- core ARMv9 1 GHz processor together with a Mali 400MP GPU, and yes, that's the same GPU used on the Samsung Galaxy S II.

Xperia Sola

Xperia P and Xperia U

There are still no benchmarks or any proper hands- on review of the said handsets and the wait has just been extended with the announcement of the delay of the shipment of the Xperia U and Xperia P (Xperia Sola might take a bit longer to be released). The release was pushed back to May 27 instead of May 7. That is a lifetime especially that HTC has already released their new One series.

Fortunately, the Xperia NXT series (except the Xperia S) aren't the only ones sporting the new Novathor U8500 chipset. Samsung's new Galaxy S Advance also sports the U8500 and reviews can already be found on that handset.

Grabbing some benchmark screenshots from GSMarena (Thanks!), we can see how the STE Novathor U8500 fares against the competition. 

Here the Galaxy S Advance (STE Novathor U8500) is pitted against the Galaxy S II (Exynos 4210) and the Galaxy R (Nvidia Tegra 2).

HTML5 and JavaScript performance

JavaScript performance

Processor Calculation Speeds (The newer architecture of the Exynos became obvious here)

CPU performance

Basing from these, the Novathor U8500 really does put on a match. It even beats the venerable Exynos in browser and Javascript performance, and doesn't lose that much in terms of CPU performance. Same might be implied for the GPU used which is Mali 400 MP which might perform the same (if not better) than what the Galaxy S II has to bring. This is good news, especially in terms of bang-for-the-buck performance you're getting with Xperia U and Xperia Sola with news of the Xperia U retailing for as low as 13,990 Philippine pesos or Rs.17,500. 

So aside from software implementations, and I know Sony won't be letting its customers down with poor software optimizations, we can be assured that the upcoming Xperia NXT series (apart from the Xperia S) will perform beyond expectations especially for the price they ask for. Even the dead- cheap Xperia U can outperform the similarly priced HTC One V (1 GHz single core, Adreno 205 GPU) with a few quirks such as the lack of a MicroSD slot which can be bypassed by using USB-on-the-go anyway. 

So there you go, we hope that these new Xperia handsets will be released earlier for them not to be a step late again in the smartphone world. Leave your comments. If you have any questions, just ask away!

AMD releases E450 and Llano successors

AMD has announced that it has released its Trinity chips (successor of the Llano) and the Brazos 2.0 (successors of the hugely popular E-450 chips) and that they are already shipping them to ODMs which means that these chips might already be inside your favorite laptop brands that might be shipping to your local stores give a month or two. So any of you that are targeting to buy a Fusion- based laptop, better wait for these chips to come along as they will bring as much as 20% better CPU performance and as much as 30% improvement in terms of graphics.

This is also big news to the fans of the Atom- beater E450 APU. The successor is rumored to be called as E2- 1800 and will also sport a beefier Radeon HD 7340 (523MHz-680MHz) as an improvement to the older HD 6320 which already did admirably especially when compared to its Intel counterparts. The CPU is said to clock its two cores at 1.7 GHz which is a small improvement of the 1.65 GHz of the E450. Other welcome improvements also include USB 3.0 support.