09
Apr
pantechburst

[Exclusive] Pantech Burst Rooted, And The Process Is Stupid-Easy

Posted by in Burst, Exclusives, News
Last Updated: June 5th, 2012

At CES this year, Pantech announced the Burst, its first smartphone to run on AT&T's LTE network. At a measly fifty bones with a two-year contract, its 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage give this little device quite a bang for the buck.

As such, quite a few people may be temped to scoop this little guy up, but there's one major drawback for many users: lack of developer support. It's no secret that some Android devices are much more supported than others by the development community, and a not-yet-rooted Android device is very unappealing to many people.

18
Mar
thumb

[Update: Free Version Now Available] New App: Quickly Get Info About The Status Of A Phone's ESN With PocketESN

Posted by in Applications, News

When buying used phones off of eBay, Craigslist, or the like, a primary concern of anyone purchasing CDMA devices (Verizon, Sprint, Boost Mobile, Virgin Mobile, etc.) is the status of the phone's ESN (electronic serial number). If a device's ESN is registered as "banned" on its carrier because it has been listed as stolen or is attached to an unpaid account, then that phone cannot be activated on said carrier. Thus, the phone is either useless or has to be activated on a pre-paid carrier, which is generally not all that desirable and drastically decreases a device's worth.

Update: JCase has now released a free version of PocketESN.

30
Dec
taco-c-

[Exclusive] TacoRoot By Justin Case And Reid Holland: A New Temporary Root Exploit For All HTC Devices

Posted by in Development, Exclusives, HTC, News
Last Updated: June 5th, 2012

Our own Justin Case has been collaborating with Reid Holland (erishasnobattery) on TacoRoot – a tool that should root just about any HTC smartphone – for some time now, and with the recent additions to HTC’s official unlocking tool, they’ve decided to release it.

At the moment, it’s quite gnarly – it’s only a temporary root for now, and there are various issues with it (see below). That said, it’s incredibly useful for downgrading phones like the myTouch 4G, which can’t be unlocked or rooted with the most recent version of their software. Besides, who could say no to a universal HTC root tool?

23
Dec
ZE8M3

[Exclusive] How To Easily Root The Amazon Kindle, Regardless Of Its Software Version

Posted by in Amazon, Development, Exclusives, Kindle Fire, News
Last Updated: June 5th, 2012

Update: Justin has repackaged the Kindle Fire root app apk, removing encryption and open sourcing the file.

Update: BurritoRoot may not work on version 6.0 firmware. If you're having trouble, update your firmware and try again.

On the historic date of December 20th, 2011, Amazon pushed out software version 6.2.1 to its Kindle Fire. The update was fairly minor -- its main additions had to do with improved scrolling and WiFi passwords -- but it brought about one devastating change: it broke all previous methods of root.

Seeing the issue, our own Justin Case got right to work; and after a night's worth of coding, with a group of fellow devs helping him through the testing process (namely, Vashypooh, Trevor Eckhart, and IOMoster), he developed a new method to root the Kindle Fire -- a method that works not only on software 6.2.1, but on all currently known versions of the Fire's OS (future updates make break this).

30
Apr
charge

[Instructions] How To Root The Verizon Samsung Droid Charge

Posted by in Charge (i510), Development, News, Samsung, Tips & Tutorials, Verizon Wireless
Last Updated: May 7th, 2011

Neither z4root nor SuperOneClick is currently working on the Charge (though I'm sure someone will come up with a one-click method soon enough), but guess what - Gingerbreak sure does. Follow these instructions, and you should have root and full /system unlock on your Droid Charge in a few minutes. Credit goes to the Exploid Crew and unnamed testers.

No custom recovery, such as ClockworkMod or RA, is available yet, but it is surely going to arrive very soon.

Pros

  • Permanent root
  • Read/write access to /system
  • The bootloader is factory unlocked, so no additional fiddling is required
  • All Droid Charges survived testing
  • No data wipe is needed

Cons

  • Voids warranty
  • Could brick your phone if you aren't careful

charge

Android Police and Team AndIRC disclaim all liability for any harm that may befall your device, including, but not limited to: bricked phones, voided manufacturer warranties, exploding batteries, etc.

18
Mar
tbolt root

[Exclusive] How To Root The HTC Thunderbolt - Instructions By Team AndIRC (V1.02 2011/03/18)

Posted by in Development, Exclusives, HTC, News, Thunderbolt (Mecha), Verizon Wireless
Last Updated: June 5th, 2012

Update: This method is outdated - please refer to this guide instead.

Jamezelle, jcase (that's me), and all of AndIRC (i.e. everyone - AndIRC is an open dev group), the same folks who rooted the pre-production Thunderbolt in February, proudly present:

A Very Dirty HTC Thunderbolt Root V1.02 2011/03/18

Pros

  • Root with read/write access to /system
  • Ability to downgrade and flash any RUU (i.e. signed firmware)

Cons

  • No custom recovery [yet]
  • No custom kernels [yet]
  • The root procedure currently requires flashing a slightly older version of the firmware (RUU_Mecha_VERIZON_WWE_1.05.605.0_Radio_1.07.00.0108r_NV_8K_1.38_9K_1.54_release_166255), which could potentially have more bugs. Right now, we cannot confirm whether LTE/battery bugs are present in this version or not.