Third Item to Improve Motorola Defy XT (Republic Wireless) Performance

I have never been a fan of unnecessarily hacking any operating system. The Android system may, well, be the first OS that I would suggest performs better with a few end-user tweaks.

Primarily for FCC regulatory reasons, cell phones are locked down so that we do not go about changing the operating system in ways that might cause others harm. This can, also, limit how crazy our modifications can get. In the Android world, when we decide to open up the OS for further changes, that process is called “rooting”. On the Motorola Defy XT, this is a very simple process and one that seems to have very little negative impact.

Following this link will allow you to download the easiest rooting app for this phone: http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/01/28/exclusive-one-click-root-for-the-republic-wireless-motorola-defy-xt-single-and-dual-band-with-the-newest-ota-1_65k_1027-or-older/ . Please read the post to know how to do the process and what dangers might exist. I had no issues with it at all and the whole process took seconds.

Why root this phone? I did it for two primary reasons: 1) it allows me to more finitely control the processor speed and, therefore, the battery power consumption and 2) the Defy has somewhat limited internal storage which can be mitigated with the use of an app that uses a part of the SD card as internal storage. Both of these ideas I will explore further in a future post.

*Full disclosure: I had nothing to do with the programming of the required rooting app and will not be held liable if something happens to your phone. Also, do not worry, Republic Wireless knows that some people root their phones and they are fine with that.

Second Item to Improve Motorola Defy XT (Republic Wireless) Performance

No operating system is totally safe from malware attacks, but some have a broader risk exposure than others. A sure-fire way to have an operating system become popular with hackers who want to have a little fun is for the operating system to gain popularity with “normal” people. The Android operating system has certainly reached that point. According to one study (http://thenextweb.com/google/2012/10/25/in-one-year-android-malware-up-580-23-of-the-top-500-on-google-play-deemed-high-risk/), the number of Android apps that contain malware rose 580% last year. With this in mind, it is wise to consider software for your phone that will help mitigate the risk.

I chose to use avast! Mobile Security on my Republic Wireless phone for a few reasons. First, it is free. Second, it is lightweight and only causes a very small impact on total system performance; most performance penalty is when downloading/installing software. Lastly, in a relatively recent study (http://www.droid-life.com/2012/03/07/over-40-anti-virus-apps-tested-only-7-have-malware-detection-rate-of-over-90/), avast! Mobile Security was able to detect the most malware risks of any scanner available on the Play Store today. Oh, and another cool feature is that avast! Mobile Security can help you find your phone if you misplace it or someone helps themselves to it.

Free version: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.avast.android.mobilesecurity

*Full disclosure: I have no affiliation with AVAST Software and only offer this as a recommendation that is based on much research and experimentation on my part.