How To Gain Back The Root You Lost While Updating Android 3.1 On Your Motorola XOOM 3G Or Wi-Fi

The Android 3.1 update that’s been rolling out to Motorola XOOM contains quite a few improvements like better stability, resizable widgets, and an extended app switcher. However, the update does not contain root. It gets lost every time the update occurs. So, here are we with the procedure to root back your Android device post the update.

Note: This procedure is tested and working on the Mortorola XOOM Wi-Fi. It will not work on the 3G Xoom.

Warning: The procedure may damage or permanently destroy your device. Perform this procedure at your own risk.

The procedure must be performed after unlocking your Xoom to acquire root access.

Download:

WiFi_RootTool_3.1.zip

Summary:

• Pushes Superuser, su, and other root files. Sets correct permissions to enable functioning root
• Flashes bigrushdog modified stock 3.1 boot.img (kernel) to enable external SD card storage (in /sdcard/external)
• Prevents system from over-writing custom recovery
• Enables USB OTG

Assumptions:

• Unlocked your Xoom
• Downloaded the WiFi_RootTool_3.1.zip
• Downloaded a recent ClockworkMod recovery image to your PC
• Installed a physical SDCard in your Xoom
• Configured the Android SDK on your PC, with adb functioning properly
• Downloaded fastboot and have it functioning properly

Procedure:

Step 1: Prepare your SD Card

Using an SD Card reader, move XOOM_RootTool_3.1.zip file from your PC to the root of your SD Card. Now, install the SD Card into your Xoom. Alternately, mount the SD Card via Xoom in recovery after you boot into recovery in step 3 by selecting 'mounts and storage > mount USB storage'.

Step 2: Flash ClockworkMod recovery.img

• Connect USB cable from your PC to Xoom. Ensure USB Debugging is activated in the Application settings menu.
• Open command prompt> Navigate to the adb folder> Change 'XXXXXX-XXXX' in code to match filename

Code:

adb reboot bootloader

fastboot flash recovery recovery-solarnz-XXXXXX-XXXX.img

fastboot reboot

Step 3: "Catch the boot" to boot into recovery

As soon as you send the 'fastboot reboot' command in the previous step, your device will reboot. You have to boot into recovery instantly else your Xoom will reflash the stock recovery over the custom recovery.

• When you see the Motorola logo appear, wait for 3 seconds.
• Tap the Volume Down button > "Android Recovery" appears> Now tap the Volume Up button to boot into recovery.
• When attempting to "catch the boot" it says 'Starting Fastboot protocol support' then hit Volume Down too soon. Hold Vol UP + Power to reboot and try again.

Step 4: Flash WiFi_RootTool_3.1.zip

In ClockworkMod Recovery, select "install zip from sdcard"> Select "choose zip from sdcard"> Select "WiFi_RootTool_3.1.zip" > Select "Yes - Install WiFi_RootTool_3.1.zip"> Select "Reboot System Now"

That’s it! Enjoy your rooted devices.

How to increase Motorola Xoom battery life

How to increase Motorola Xoom battery life

If you are looking to improve the battery life on your Motorola Xoom. Though this tablet comes with the 25 Wh of battery strength it only lasts for about 336 hours of stand-by time or can last up to a talk time of up to 9 hours on paper or even can last for up to 80 hours if you are playing the music. So, let’s check out the ways with which you can easily save on your battery life which will eventually lead to an increased battery life.

As you all know that the Motorola Xoom comes with an all new Honeycomb 3.0. Here are some fast tips

Select a shorter backlight duration.
Lower the display brightness.
Use the AC adapter to charge your device whenever possible.
Turn Bluetooth off when not in use.
Turn Wi-Fi off when not in use.
Certain applications may be drawing excessive battery power. If you are experiencing shorter battery life after downloading an application try uninstalling the application.
Close any third party applications running in the background.

Use Battery Manager Smart Application

There are so many things and parameters depending on which you will see a fluctuation on the battery performance but since there are many things we will not recommend you to do every single thing which is near to impossible as after all you need to use the Motorola Xoom tablet.

If your Motorola Xoom comes packed with the battery manager which almost comes with almost all Motorola products, to access the same you will have to press the “Menu” key and need to tap on the “Settings” after which you will have to tap on the “Battery manager”. After this now the battery manager will be opening up after which you will see that there are three different modes in the battery saving options which are “Performance Mode”, “Smart Mode” and the “Battery Saver Mode”.

Performance Mode – In the performance mode, the features like data time out as well as the auto brightness functions are turned off so that the battery is saved and the performance is not hindered by these features. Please note that if you haven’t changed the settings before, then this remains the default option for the battery management.

Smart Mode – In the smart mode, basically the things like the data timeout as well as the auto brightness are kept ON with a set of variable settings and also users can define what other parameters

Battery Saver Mode – In the battery saver mode, this one saves the battery to the maximum and which optimizes the battery in such a way that it will maximize the battery performance by reducing the battery use. You can also choose to change the default brightness which is set in this mode by default.

Use applications wisely:

Rather than using all the applications all at once, you can use applications one by one as the applications which are there in the stand by too eats up the battery. Also, in the world of applications in Android many of us tend to use the applications which assist in killing the tasks and application but it’s really not recommended to use such applications like the task killers as since such applications are on and search for the applications which are active, it eats up the battery continuously and instead of reducing the battery usage by closing down the applications it increases the battery usage in whole. Also, if you are using the social networking applications then the frequency of updates should no be set as lower or else it will continously refresh or use the data service for fetching the updates, so choose the manual updation of the updates to save on the battery life.

Turn off the biggest battery drainers

Do you know what are the parameters which constitutes the biggest battery drainers? No, then the biggest battery drainers are GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, Wi Fi and also the 3G. You always have to make sure that these are used very wisely or else these will constantly eat up the battery power which could lead to some serious battery drain. To manage these network settings you can change from HOME > MENU > Settings > Wireless & Networks from where you can easily manage the important settings.

Wall Papers:

Since Motorola Xoom is a 7 inched screen, you need to optimize the wallpaper which you will be setting as lot will depend on this as the wallpaper battery drain constitutes to a whopping 19% of the total battery drain which Xoom encounters with. We would love to see lot of vivid and differentially looking wallpapers on Xoom but sorry to say that with the use of darker as well as the moving wallpapers the battery drain will be at the maximum, so always prefer to set and use lighter looking wallpapers. With the use of lighter wallpapers phone tends to use higher battery life as to make it visible it needs to burn higher pixels which need to be made to glow while the darker screens tends to not to burn the pixels which in turn saves the battery life. So, always use darker wall papers preferably black. Again, by using darker wallpapers you can save on the battery life by a fair amount of percentage which can be as high as 7% on your total battery power.

Use Power Widget

With the use of power widget you can easily save on the battery life easily as all the hot listed things which consume the battery are presented right ast the home screen in the form of widget. You can easily control 5 biggest battery drainers right on a single widget. The 5 things which are available for control in this widget are Wi Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, Sync and also the brightness

So, just by following the above tips for the battery saving, you can easily save the battery life by good amount of par and also more importantly you can easily increase the battery performance in the long run.

For more about Motorola Xoom read this articles:

Motorola Xoom Review

Tips for extending Motorola Xoom battery life

Motorola Xoom Accessories

How-To Regain Android 3.1 Update On Your Motorola XOOM 3G Or Wi-Fi

The Android 3.1 update has been rolling out to Motorola XOOMs all week and contains quite a few improvements like better stability, extended app switcher and resizable widgets. However, the update does not contain root. So here, we are with instructions to regain the root on your 3.1 XOOM.

WARNING: Following this procedure may damage or permanently destroy your device. This procedure is provided with NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Perform this procedure at your own risk.

Objectives:

Step 1: Pushes Superuser, su, and other root files. Sets correct permissions to enable functioning root

Step 2: Flashes bigrushdog modified stock 3.1 boot.img (kernel) to enable external storage

Step 3: Prevents system from over-writing custom recovery

Assumptions:

Step 1: Downloaded the XOOM_RootTool_3.1.zip

Step 2: Downloaded a recent ClockworkMod recovery image: ClockworkMod Recovery (make sure to download the .img, not the .zip)

Step 3: Installed a physical SDCard in your Xoom (required for ClockworkMod Recovery updates) and have it functioning properly

Step 4: Configured the Android SDK on your PC, with adb functioning properly

Step 5: Downloaded fastboot and have it functioning properly (usually alongside adb in platform-tools)

For more information head to the xda post. Do let us know how helpful we were in the comments box below.