AA app forces upgrade to newer Android version - what to do?
#16




Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Somewhere in Florida
Posts: 2,889
Add one more to the list of people who thought a physical keyboard was a must-have, and now thinks they're a waste of time. I went through some pretty crappy phones to keep a physical keyboard, only to find that about two weeks after I switched to a touch-screen keyboard only, there was no going back.
#17
Original Poster




Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: BSL
Programs: AA (EXP); among others :)
Posts: 2,663
follow-up to this:
rooting the phone and installing a custom ROM (liquidsmooth) on it was really not that painful at all. The thing now runs Android 4.4.2. I basically followed this guide.
It's even faster than before (no wonder, since all the Motorola bloatware is gone) and the battery seems to last longer. There's a few bugs, though - it's not as stable as it used to be with the stock Motorola software but hangs every now and then (once or twice a day, especially when in GSM mode). And the camera doesn't work anymore.
But all in all, this proved to be a cheap and fairly easy way of extending the life of the device another year or three. This is my travel phone, and does not get heavily used - just voice calls, SMS, a few travel apps and some minimal internet browsing and google maps navigating for ~$8 a month in fees.
rooting the phone and installing a custom ROM (liquidsmooth) on it was really not that painful at all. The thing now runs Android 4.4.2. I basically followed this guide.
It's even faster than before (no wonder, since all the Motorola bloatware is gone) and the battery seems to last longer. There's a few bugs, though - it's not as stable as it used to be with the stock Motorola software but hangs every now and then (once or twice a day, especially when in GSM mode). And the camera doesn't work anymore.
But all in all, this proved to be a cheap and fairly easy way of extending the life of the device another year or three. This is my travel phone, and does not get heavily used - just voice calls, SMS, a few travel apps and some minimal internet browsing and google maps navigating for ~$8 a month in fees.

