Rooting Tmobile Galaxy S Gingerbread 2.3.6 help, please

[WacoJohn]

edit:

THE OFFICIAL TUTORIAL IS LOCATED HERE:

http://www.galaxyforums.net/forum/off-topic-forum/5053-rooting-tutorial-here-posted-permission-t-mobile-galaxy-s-4g-gingerbread.html

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Model: SGH-T959V
Firmware: 2.3.6
Baseband: T959VUVKJ6
Kernel: 2.6.35.7-T959VUVKJ6-CL694230
Build Number: Gingerbread.VUVKJ6

Recently bought this TMOBILE Galaxy S. This is my first Smartphone. I am VERY new to 'all this'. My objective is to remove bloat. I have 'learned' that requires ROOTING. Been trying to find out (exactly) how to do that for a couple of weeks. I am hoping I am in the right place ... forgive if not.

Could someone point me to where I can get this done ... preferably .. something 'up to date'.

I should probably change my name to TerrifiedJohn .. as I have a bad feeling about doing this .. but the bloat has to go. I have read dozens of 'instructions', youtube videos, forum posts, ... and have the basic 'idea' . but so far have found nothing that I believe is the 'right stuff' for my phone. I am hoping I have found it here at this site.

Any and all help/advice is appreciated in advance. Terrified, but motivated.

EDIT: This should say Tmobile Galaxy S 4G

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[UltraDroid]

Welcome to Galaxy Forums! I'm not a tech, so I can't really help you on the rooting end, but we have an excellent group of guys known as the Rescue Squad who can walk you through it. Hang on for a bit, and one of them will swing by and give you a hand. You want to be careful though, after you're rooted, in removing apps which *you* consider to be bloatware. You're better off buying the paid version of Titanium Backup and using it's Freeze feature to freeze the app, rather than deleting it. Sometimes those apps are tied in with other apps that are needed to boot your phone. So proceed with caution.


-Mike

[WacoJohn]

Welcome to Galaxy Forums! I'm not a tech, so I can't really help you on the rooting end, but we have an excellent group of guys known as the Rescue Squad who can walk you through it. Hang on for a bit, and one of them will swing by and give you a hand.

Thank you Mike. The guys over at the DROID CHARGE FORUM sent me here. They really spoke highly of this forum

You want to be careful though, after you're rooted, in removing apps which *you* consider to be bloatware. You're better off buying the paid version of Titanium Backup and using it's Freeze feature to freeze the app, rather than deleting it. Sometimes those apps are tied in with other apps that are needed to boot your phone. So proceed with caution. -Mike

I am sure you are right about that .. and thanks for pointing it out. I am aware of that liability .. and will have to deal with it accordingly. I am sure there are SOME I can safely remove .. but I will be as certain as possible first. Not sure I know the difference between FREEZE and 'uninstall' .. but I will buy and install and read up on TITANIUM BACKUP.

This brings up a point .. and maybe too soon ... but in ROOTING my phone .. I am reading that can prevent uhhh upstream updates from SAMSUNG/TMOBILE(?) .. which sounds pretty ominous to me. Hence .. the term UNroot .. so if I understand . one would need to UNroot in order to get those types of updates(?)

I have a lot to learn .. even BEFORE ever rooting .. and I am not sure what I need to know or where to find it. Hopefully here in this forum. As for Titainium Backup . I think the phone COMES with some kind of back up .. but obviously Titanium is advisable .. or you would not have advised it. Just a teaspoon of more confusion for me. It would be nice to know I can UNroot AS WELL AS restore phone to orig condition .. but I have a feeling that either cannot be done or I need a degree in astrophysics to do it.

Anyway .. I am still convinced ROOTING will do something for me that I want to do. Does FREEZING regain storage space (I doubt it)? What about that issue?

Thanks immensely for the welcome and the comments.

[ronnie8890]

That has got to be the best post I have ever read from a unrooted user. If you hang in there our resident gs2 rs member will more than likely have a pretty solid answer for you. I wish I could help but its a phone I have not done any research on yet. By the way, welcome to the forum.

Edit~ I can say that freezing is the way to go with bloatware. In order to get system updates you will need those bloatware apps installed. Even if you unrooted the system still checks to see if they are there. If it didn't find them it will abort your upgrade.

Freezing them wont clear out storage space, but you should have plenty of space even with them frozen. If you manage to fill up your internal memory. We will all point at you and call you a hoarder :P I'm kidding about the calling you names........but we will make weird faces at you.

[WacoJohn]

That has got to be the best post I have ever read from a unrooted user. If you hang in there our resident gs2 rs member will more than likely have a pretty solid answer for you. I wish I could help but its a phone I have not done any research on yet. By the way, welcome to the forum.

Well, thank you too for a kind welcome. I can be patient, and am sure I will be treated very well here. So far, that is evident.

Edit~ I can say that freezing is the way to go with bloatware. In order to get system updates you will need those bloatware apps installed. Even if you unrooted the system still checks to see if they are there. If it didn't find them it will abort your upgrade.

Freezing them wont clear out storage space, but you should have plenty of space even with them frozen. If you manage to fill up your internal memory. We will all point at you and call you a hoarder :P I'm kidding about the calling you names........but we will make weird faces at you.

Wow .. GREAT ADVICE. I NEED that kind of insight and warning. THANK YOU. Interesting .. because now .. it would seem I don't even need to ROOT .. as I would (now) choose to FREEZE (whatever that means) rather than uninstall .. for exactly the reasons you state .. but I THINK (info overload) I have to BE rooted to buy/install Titanium. (Missed it by that much). Well, thank you for all that very important info .. and I will await the team and move forward.

EDIT:

Just found this (below) .. so I figure I want to simply 'just root' (at least initially) (learnin' more by the second)

There are two ways to root:

• The "custom ROM" way: you install a custom ROM made by people/developers from the Android community.
• The "just ROOT it" way: you keep your current ROM and "root" it by yourself. If you do that, it also allows you to save your stuff (eg: with Titanium Backup) before you switch to a custom ROM.

at Root & rooting your phones

[Mujibar]

Looks like you've been given some pretty sound advice thus far. So I'll just say welcome!! Happy to have you aboard!

[Ollie]

You must be rooted to use Titanium. You do not have user privileges to access system files protected by Google. Freezing is definitely the way to go. It denies the programs access to the system, but leaves them in place.

Don't hesitate to ask any questions.

[WacoJohn]

C

You must be rooted to use Titanium. You do not have user privileges to access system files protected by Google. Freezing is definitely the way to go. It denies the programs access to the system, but leaves them in place.

Here are two ways to root your phone:
[HOWTO] get into the Download Mode, Install CW Recovery & ROOT for newbies - xda-developers

And:
How to Root T-Mobile Galaxy S2! [SGH-T989] | Galaxy S2 Root

Don't hesitate to ask any questions.

Thank you, Ollie AND Mujibar. Assuming one is as 'good' as the other, I looked (only) at:

How to Root T-Mobile Galaxy S2! [SGH-T989] | Galaxy S2 Root

and at first glance, I think I can handle it. I am assuming this is not the 'custom ROM' approach. If you think this is the way to go, I will undertake it over the weekend .. and hope it goes well. I looked and looked .. and never ran across this link .. so THANK YOU immensely.

Any problems/questions .. I will be back. If it goes well, I will let everyone know.

EDIT: OOOPs .. Ollie .. it appears that BOTH links are for an S II. I have simply an S. Does it matter????

[Ollie]

Yes it makes a huge difference! Brb.

[Ollie]

Everything I see mentions laggfixes, voodoo, and using superone click.I have to do some more reading.

This is the Tmo Galaxy S 4G?