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    Basic Android Terminology & Lingo

    Basic Android Terminology & Lingo

    .apk or APK's: An .apk file extension denotes an Android Package (APK) file, an .apk file can be opened and inspected using common archive tools

    adb: Android Debug Bridge, a versatile tool lets you manage the state of an emulator instance or Android-powered device

    ADK: Android Development Kit, What people use to develop anything for the droid such as ROM's

    Boot Loader: State in which the droid can be flashed from RSD with an appropriate .sdk file that reprograms the phone into a specific ROM or update. This is typically a last resort when the recovery screen cannot be reached to make a much simpler and less risky solution

    Boot Loop: simply means something is preventing the phone from completing it's boot cycle and is stuck between the boot animation and the unlock screen, creating a looped animation. This is often fixed by either reloading a Nandroid, or Reflashing a rom from the Boot Loader.

    Brick or Bricked: Jargon for a completely unrecoverable device. Most mistakes can these days be rectified so bricking your device is hard but not impossible.

    Bug or Software Bug: an Error or flaw in software that produces a failure or unexpected/unwanted result. Typically created from incorrect code, this is why some ROMs are better and smoother running than others because certain developers have taken the time to input "perfect" code

    Busybox: BusyBox is a single multicall binary that packages the functionality of most widely used standard Unix tools, BusyBox provides a fairly complete environment for any small or embedded system.

    ClockworkMod: A recovery program that is often used to apply updates, ROMs, or create a back up or restore a backup file

    De-odex: Apk files have respective odexes that devs use to supposedly save space. Deodexing means you convert it back to a .dex file and put it back inside the apk. This allows you to easily replace files (not having to worry about odexes), but the main point was to deodex services.jar so that you can change all text to different colors (such as the clock color to white) and to deodex services.jar, you need to deodex everything.

    Dev. or Developer: An individual that creates, or alters a file in such a manner as to advance the program

    Flash or Flash Memory: a program technology that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed

    Kernel: The kernel is the OS at its most basic format and acts as the bridge between Android and the phones hardware. It looks after things like voltages, power consumption, WiFi Strength (to a certain degree), CPU speed and the scheduler (see above). It's also one of the first things the bootloader kicks in to life after your handset is switched on. A decent kernel can make a massive difference to performance and battery life

    Nandroid or Nandroid Backup: A file typically created in the custom recovery program, such as clockworkmod or TWRP Recovery, that is a carbon copy of whatever state your phone is in before a drastic change is made. the file then can be moved onto or off of the SD card for later use in case something should go wrong in the ROM or Update, or a Boot Loop occurs

    Radio: The Radio controls all external communication, WiFi, Phone Calls, 3G, GPS, Bluetooth etc. Your current radio is listed under the baseband version in the About Phone section in settings. Most ROMs devs will recommend a Radio to work with their ROM. Failure to match a radio can result in poor battery life, weak signal, no WiFi etc. However, it's dependant on each phone/ROM

    ROM: Read Only Memory, a program used to make changes to anything from the look of the home screen, to icons to custom boot animation

    Root: Common word associated with giving a user "super user" access to their phones programming and other various aspects that would normally not be possible, also known as "Jailbroken" for iPhone's

    Recovery Images: the piece of software used to install a custom ROM on your phone, flash themes, kernels or other scripts etc. You can install ClockworkMod or Twrp via ROM Manager or push it manually via ADB Commands. If you're new, I'd recommend using ROM Manager as it's a 1 click, job done type deal. The recovery image is loaded either via ROM Manager or by powering on your handset whilst holding Volume down and selecting Recovery in the bootloader

    Stock: Simply means an unaltered state, such as when you first purchase your phone from Verizon, or when you do a factory reset.

    SU: "Super user", or root permissions

    Theme: A set of icons, backgrounds and app trays that change the aesthetics of the overall look of the droid and its applications

    TWRP: A recovery program that is often used to apply updates, ROMs, or create a back up or restore a backup file
    Last edited by alanjg007; 04-02-2014 at 01:13 PM.
    "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." -- H.L. Mencken

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