More speed
One key thing that custom ROMs provide
(beyond root access) is the ability to overclock tablets and phones. This isn’t
quite the same as on a desktop PC, so you don’t get the same level of control.
The minimum and maximum clock speeds are set via the firmware, so if additional
speeds aren’t made available this way no overclocking tool with root access is
going to be able to help you out. For devices that have a version of CyanogenMod,
this comes with overclocking features built in and most custom OS builds will
provide suitable overclocking frequencies. Normal Android overclocking apps
will still work alongside this, and some provide better power management
features.
Once you’re within CyanogenMod, select
“Settings CyanogenMod settings> Performance > CPU settings” You’ll find
maximum and minimum values; it’s usually best to keep the minimum at the lowest
available setting, but you can ramp up the max value as you like. For the
Archos the current build only supports the standard maximum stock speed of
1GHz, but the basic Archos 70 only runs at 800MHz, with an optional Turbo mode,
so bumping the maximum speed to 1GHz is a speed gain. The Archos can certainly
be overclocked - the alternative Uruk Droid ROM offers a 1.2GHz upper setting
that can provide a 25 per cent increase in gaming benchmarks and a 50 per cent
increase in raw CPU speed.
The final Governors setting provides
you with a range of performance models: Conservative ramps up slowly and down
faster, Performance ramps up very quickly and down slowly, Ondemand is a binary
switch between the Max and Min settings, while SmartAss tries to maximise
battery by minimising the CPU speed when the screen is off. Remember that as
these arc portable devices, using overclocking them will be detrimental to the
batter life of the device. Conversely using underclocking or more aggressive
power-saving governors could increase the battery life of your device.
After it picked up poor WebOS, HP never
thought it would be treated like this, with Tux the penguin shoving it to one
side
Bye bye baby
Custom ROMs certainly aren’t for
everyone - they can he too unstable, provide too little battery life, eat into
your precious device storage or be just too fiddly. Thankfully, in almost all
cases a custom ROM can be completely removed from the device in question,
usually without too much hassle. The Archos has a pseudo-approved system
removal, which is a breeze to use. Just enter the Recovery mode via the
start-up power combination, select ‘Developer mode’ and choose ‘Uninsta11 That
half-baked, armature- developed OS will never blight your beautiful tablet
again.
However, it’s not as simple as that.
You may remember that we said the main storage, user or media partition is
generally shared between the original OS and your custom OS. This means that if
you fire tip a file browser, you’ll find debris left behind by the second OS.
This will usually include anything you copied to the root of the device,
folders for apps that had root access, a data folder and an Android folder.
You’ll probably want to do a little digital dusting and remove these. At this
point the device is set hack more or less to its original state.
If that sounds too easy, contrast it
to the original HP TouchPad CyanogenMod alpha removal process, which required
you to manually remove and resize the internal partitions from a terminal. Not
difficult, but far from the laid-back touch experience we’ve come to expect.
The newer HP Touchpad process was reduced to running an uninstall command from
a PC, which automates the whole removal process. That’s usually as complex as
it gets.
Bricked
If you’re more of a perfectionist, or
possibly the obsessive-compulsive type, you may want to opt for the complete
wipe option. This neatly ties in with device recovery, which is important
because things can genuinely go wrong. Besides user errors like choosing the
wrong OS or file to flash, we’ve seen corrupt downloads send things screwy and
misinterpret instructions.
The processes we’re outlining here are
generally very safe, as we’re not flashing over the original firmware. Besides
that, most devices provide a low-level recovery option that lets you re-flash
the tablet’s original firmware, resetting everything completely, but also losing
all data at the same time. The benefit is that you start with a clean slate and
your original tablet. The manufacturer will provide the original firmware anti
instructions on how to flash the device. For the Archos it’s done via the
Recovery mode, and requires the original AOS firmware file from the Archos
website.
A hard reset - usually completed by
holding down the power and home buttons for 10 seconds - will often fix a
seemingly bricked device. Unless you’re flashing over the original firmware, it’s
hard to completely destroy a device and it’s very wise to test new software out
the way we’re advocating here, on the internal general storage.
Combining access to the Market with an
up to date OS, and throwing in a few tweaks with the likes of ADW or GO
Launcher EX will transform a cheap tablet into a faster, more flexible and far
slicker looking device. Indeed, we felt the newer 2.3.7 build of Android on the
Archos was far snappier than the original 2.2, benefiting from potential
optimisations. If you have a dual-core device you can look forward to
multi-threaded optimisations in ICS Android 4.0 releases this year.
A
Even old Windows Mobile phones can enjoy an Android upgrade
