Saturday, January 21, 2012

What's next after rooting your galaxy tab 7 (P1000) ?

Warning: I do not held any resposibility if this article has damage/bricked your device. Android version that are currently running in this article is Gingerbread 2.3.3.

I can flash a custom rom if I want to but I find the time it takes is just too exhausting and not to mention there is a possibility of bricking my tab. So, I better not go there until I have a backup android device. Furthermore, some of the custom roms are not 100% working and there are some compatibility issue with certain apps. Anyway, to cut down all these inconvenience (a.k.a I'm lazy), I find it much better if I can improve my current stock rom as much as possible after rooting it. Let's get started.

1.Titanium Backup
This wonderful app allows backup apps with data. So, if something goes wrong on your tab at least you can restore the app + data back to its original form. Another plus point about this backup is that you can remove apps/games temporary if you run out of space (e.g. backup all angry birds apps and uninstall. Install other games. Remove other games after finished and restore angry birds.)

2. Remove bloatware
Using the Titanium Backup, I found I can remove system apps. Please be caution on the apps you're about to remove. Below are the apps that I have removed and the tab still able to boot into homescreen. They are found hogging in the memory and not used; or they are just there not doing any good.

-Built-in English dictionary and Ebook (Alternative Colordict and Kobo works much better)
-Daily Briefing (Not using this apps but I found it was running in memory)
-Date, time or weather widget (I got beautiful widget from market)
-Home screen tips (Unused widget)
-AccuWeather Clock (Unused widget)
-Y!Finance Clock (Unused widget)
-Calendar Clock (Unused widget)
-Allshare (I'm using Linux most of the time and allshare does not support Linux desktop app)
-ThinkFree Office (Kingsoft office free from Market works better)
-Pulse
-Social hub
-Feeds and Updates

-AdService (It can be removed without root)
-Samsung Push Service (It can be removed without root)

3. ES Task Manager (Free)
There are many tools come with this small app. It consists of Task Manager, Cache Cleaner, Startup Manger and Power Optimizer. The tools that requires root access is the Startup Manager, which is very handy to disable some of the unnecessary startup service such as Skype. I find there is no reason why Skype has to be initiate very time i restart my tab and therefore it was disabled. After that, rebooting to homescreen become very snappy.

4. Autokiller Memory Optimizer Pro (optional, paid apps)
Better memory management. There are pre-define preset and currently I'm using the optimum preset. This app comes with a restart widget, that allows you to have a quick restart (not reboot) on the galaxy tab.

5. Voodoo Control Plus (optional, paid apps)
This app is for the hifi quality sound output. If you're a music lover, this is a must to install after rooting the device. Works best with Poweramp music player.

5.1 Change the stock phone to a better earphone
Like Shure SE215.

6. SwitchPro Widget (optional, paid apps)
This app will put all the shortcut at homescreen included the root require restart button. It comes very handy with shortcut for air plane mode, wifi and  mobile data on/off switch.

7. Install Cyanogenmod 9.1 (optional, no root required)
Link Cyanogenmod 9.1 for Galaxy Tab p1000 review

Avoid
1. One Click Lag Fix. There have been reported problems on this app that caused the tab unable to boot for Gingerbread. If you really want the lagfix, I suggest flash it with custom roms that comes with this feature.

Summary
After removing the bloatware, the memory seems to have more space after reboot and startup becomes much faster. Beside that I only used web version of facebook because I do not need constant update from them. Facebook apps also runs in memory waiting stuff to happen which I find it pointless. (You may want to keep it if you're uploading a lot of photos and check-in),