latest
After a brief (read: 1-day) hiatus, popular ROM management app ROM Manager has returned to the Play Store. It was originally removed for violation of Google Play's Developer Program Policies, specifically the subsection regarding in-app purchases. Koush, the developer of ROM Manager, had long included a PayPal upgrade option inside of the app, a feature which doesn't jive with Google's policy that apps on the Play Store must use the Play Store billing service exclusively for in-app sales.
Google removed the extremely popular app ROM Manager from the Play Store today for violation of the Google Play Developer Program Policies, specifically the subsection regarding in-app purchases, which requires developers to use Google's in-app billing system.
If you're a frequent ROM flasher, then you already know the tools of the trade – ROM Manager, ClockworkMod Recovery, TWRP, Goo Manager, etc. – but now it's time to add another to the list: ROM Installer from JRummy. If you're not familiar with Rummy, he's been putting out top-notch apps for root users since the OG Droid days. He's responsible for killer tools like ROM Toolbox and Root Browser, among many others.
The Team Win Recovery Project (stylized "TWRP") is an alternative recovery software for various Android phones and tablets. TWRP tends to focus on newer, more interesting features, as opposed to the more established ClockworkMod recovery. A few TWRP fans have created a support app for users of the custom recovery and posted Alpha information to the XDA Developers forum, allowing users to install new ROMs, backup, restore, and wipe their device from within Android. In layman's terms: it's ROM Manager for TWRP.
Update: Over the course of the evening, ROM Manager was updated yet again, to version 5.5.2.0 - this time adding support for the TWRP recovery, which is undoubtedly a feature many users have been wanting for some time. Just update ROM Manager in the Play Store and you'll have it.
Earlier this month, we took a look at famed Android developer Koushik "Koush" Dutta's newest app: Carbon. Having absolutely nothing to do with the heavily belated Twitter app of the same name, this Carbon is a backup tool for apps and app data. So, how's it different than Titanium Backup? It doesn't require root. To put it mildly, this is something that Android users have longed for since, well, always.
One thing that's always bothered me about making nandroid backups is having to keep them stored on my phone – and with the limited storage of the Nexus 4, this rings even more true. Thus, it's not uncommon for me to end up transferring backups to my PC in case I should need them again. Thanks to a new feature implemented into ROM Manager 5.5.0.8, that process just got a lot easier.
Wow, big day for root things on the Nexus 4 and 10, eh? First off, official ClockworkMod Recovery is now available for the pair, either directly from the CWM site or through ROM Manager, which was also updated today to support Android 4.2. While the latter can handle flashing the updated recovery, Koush himself advised users to flash via fastboot to avoid any potential issues with the process.
Getting CyanogenMod builds onto an Android device has always been easy as pie, but who is going to say no to yet another, even simpler method? While redesigning the CyanogenMod Downloads page, the CM team recently added a really subtle ability to send downloads straight from the web right into ROM Manager - all with just one click, a-la Chrome to phone or Amazon's 1-click purchasing.
Koushik Dutta, the author of ClockworkMod recovery, has released versions of the touch-enabled CWM Touch recovery over the weekend for both the original ASUS Transformer TF101 and the Transformer Prime TF201. The two devices join an already extensive list of phones with Touch recovery support - in fact, they seem to be the first tablets to support it in CWM's history.
If you want to install the ClockworkMod Touch recovery on your Android device, there are currently two ways of doing so:
The work to bring touch-enabled recoveries to all supported ClockworkMod devices continues, and since the last update a couple of days ago, the following devices now have ClockworkMod Touch available:
If you were to throw ROM Manager, MetaMorph, Titanium Backup, and SetCPU into a blender with a dash of steroids, then the result would most definitely be ROM Toolbox from JRummy. Clearly this is a root only app, and it is probably the most beastly one that I've ever laid eyes on. All of the features encompassed by ROM Toolkit will blow your mind, just take a look at the feature list, taken directly from the Market listing:
If there's one thing that most rooted users love to do, it's flash their devices. While ROM Manager has always made flashing new ROMs particularly easy, what about new kernels? ROM Manager does support kernel flashing, but it's pretty basic compared to the app's other features. That's all about to change though, because XDA member Shinzul along with TeamWin have been working on a ROM Manager-esque app for kernels, appropriately named Universal Kernel Manager.
This article is aimed at rooted Android users using ROM Manager - if you are one of them, you should definitely consider looking into it; otherwise move right along, as this info will not apply to you. To see what ROM Manager can do for you, check out our guides here:
The long-awaited first beta (release candidate) of CyanogenMod 6 is available for download on the HTC Nexus One, Dream, and Magic devices as of 10:15PST this evening. While Cyanogen’s site is experiencing some seriously debilitating traffic, we’ve managed to get links to all the downloads for those of you eagerly awaiting a taste of what CyanogenMod 6 will bring to your phone. Additionally, Cyanogen has said it will be available via ROM Manager very shortly.