Android Hacking
Revision as of 11:36, 5 June 2013 by Acesabe (talk | contribs) (→Rooting your device to enable full control and install all those useful apps that require it)
Intro
Android devices are fast becoming one of the most popular devices around. They range from smartphones, to tablets, TV-on-a-stick to laptops.
Getting the most out of one of these however might involve a nice bit of hackery!!
Terms of reference
Flash? brick? ROM? Kang? WTF?! Explanation of terms:
- ROM - Read-Only-Memory, the install code (firmware) usually in compressed .zip or .img form this is what you replace your original firmware with
- Root - Basically gain administrative privileges but also the 'physical' root of the file-system directory tree (in *nix)
- Flash - The process of installing firmware, 'flashing'
- Bootloader - The small bit of code that tells device what system to boot, often locked to original system
- Firmware - The operating system installed with specific hardware drivers for the relevant device in question
- Recovery - A hidden system partition containing tools to recover,restore,backup the system
- CWM - ClockworkMod Recovery, the CyanogenMod backup and restore tool, an alternative recovery system
- Nandroid (backup) - The poorly names method of making a backup of your complete device system done from CWM
- brick/un-brick - one of the risks is 'bricking' your device, literally making it no more use than a brick!
- CyanogenMod - A popular (most popular) third party Android alternatives
- AOSP - Android Open Source Program
- AOKP - Android Open Kang Program
- ADB - Android Debug Bridge, part of the Android SDK, useful for interfacing with your Android device from a computer
- XDA-developers - The most popular phone (and more) discussion forum
- Kang/er - cheat/thief, someone who takes someone else’s work and presents it as their own work.
Rooting your device
Why root?
To enable full control and install all those useful apps that require it