Man, this is a solution in search of a problem. Or, as the page notes, a joke. But, because geeks are geeks, it's a working implementation of a joke.

And, going for the triple...

If I want to root a device, obviously I backup first. But when I go to the Cyanogen Mod page on rooting the G2 (since that's what I'm considering installing), its first recommendation for a backup application is Titanium. Which only runs on rooted devices.

Then it suggests Astro. Which I have, and I've used to backup my phone, but I'm leery of thinking it's a sufficient backup, just because I don't trust that bit of the entry anymore because of the Titanium mislead. Is Astro able to do a sufficient backup?

Gris, what do you use for backup before you root? Anyone? Bueller?

I didn't - I rooted my phone about 3 days after I got it, so I didn't have much to back up. Getting access to Titanium was one of the main reasons I rooted, actually. There is no easy way to back up without root - app developers don't want you to be able to easily back up, I think, since many of them provide "exporting" as one of the premium features in the non-free versions! The fact that this couldn't be easily done astonished me - I hate iTunes, but at least syncing an iPhone with it backs up everything.

This page has good info: [link] Unfortunately, the main takeaway is "you can back up a lot of things, but not app data unless the program has it built in."

Oh, great. I was right not to trust the Cyanogen mod page, apparently. Astro is *not* the simple solution it appears to be. Automatic updating from the Market is important to me.

What's confusing is that some stuff is in the cloud, and I just can't work out precisely what. But, then again, if I'm doing an OS replacement, it is a lot to ask the apps to just magically reappear in the same state as before--I don't ask it of a PC, so why am I getting irritable about not doing it on a phone? Oh, right, because I have a gazillion more apps I'm growing dependent on on my phone than applications I feel I need on my Mac by this point. Hmmph.

Basically, the only stuff in the Google cloud is some stuff like WiFi passwords and all of your normal Google stuff. You'll have to go app-by-app to figure out how to save app data - concentrate on the ones that require a lot of setup to get the way you want, obviously.

Once you get root, Titanium really is amazing. It will easily backup and restore all your apps and their data, including launchers. I'm using MIUI now, with its default launcher, so I have to re-organize my homescreen on the occasions I do a full-wipe update, but I kind of enjoy that. And there's probably a way to back that up too, that I just haven't bothered to find.

Basically, the only stuff in the Google cloud is some stuff like WiFi passwords and all of your normal Google stuff

Well, that's the magic of 2011--multiple clouds. Many of my apps I'm sharing data across platforms, or could be but I'm not exploiting that. So more than just Google is backed up, but there's just so much there...insert sound of tiny violins in poignant harmony.

I can already see that Locale will be a mighty pain, but I'm still considering redoing the automation with Tasker.

What is the attraction of MIUI for you? I've been reading up on it, and I don't see why it's so mad popular. Is it function or form or both that appeals to you?

(shrug) Form, mostly. I like the themes and the general look of its default launcher, though I miss the app drawer (I just file most apps in a folder called Other on my second page, to simulate it). I think I get pretty much the same battery life, etc, I would get with CyanogenMod. If I was used to ADW or LauncherPro and was going to use that on top of the default, I'd probably use CyanogenMod, since it's a little more popular and well-supported in the US.

I do like the way the quick-access settings-toggles work on MIUI. I don't know if those exist on CyanogenMod. I wish that I could dismiss notifications individually on MIUI like you can on Cyanogenmod.

quick-access settings-toggles

Ooh, please do tell...

I don't know what I'd accept in exchange for an app drawer. Can you load another launcher on top of MIUI and get a drawer back, or is that intrinsic?

I wish that I could dismiss notifications individually on MIUI like you can on Cyanogenmod.

Do you mean individual notifications like for one email out of many?

It was really hard to find somewhere to start reading about MIUI. It was all so opaque. I get that it's not driven by an English language team, but still. I'm not sure I'd ever start there--was it your first Android root? First Android phone? The Cyanogen page is still a bit confusing, but it's about what I figure you're in for with getting funky with Android, and funky is part of the reason a lot of geeks go with Android anyway. And the opacity is part of the reason a lot of borderline people go with iOS. I mean, why not just use something where there's one clear primary source of information?

I have seen some people say they go MIUI because it looks like iOS but has Android customisability. Was that part of it for you, or other things about the look? I have also seen customised MIUI screens that...man, they barely even look like a phone, they're so out of the world.

The miui.us page isn't bad.

You can see a screenshot of the MIUI quick-settings toggles if you google image search "MIUI toggles", or just click this: [link] It's essentially a tab on your notifications page that lets you easily change up to 12 settings. The colors are not set in stone (I hate the orange, and finding a theme to let me escape it was one of my first MIUI tasks).

You absolutely can run another launcher on top of MIUI that will have an app drawer. ADW.Launcher and LauncherPro both work great and will give you your app drawers back. But you lose some of the pretty of MIUI - one of the coolest things about MIUI is how many icon themes there are, with custom icons for hundreds of popular apps. I'm pretty sure those icons won't show up except in the default launcher.

Actually, I just checked, and the custom icons appear in ADW.Launcher too! I may go back to ADW now! Neat.

The MIUI lockscreens are pretty amazing and beautiful as well, though I'm a fan of WidgetLocker's functionality and went back to it pretty quickly after installing MIUI.

My first root was essentially the stock rom for my phone, only rooted. I only decided to play with other roms when HTC Sense started to grate on me. You're right that there really isn't a single place to find information on MIUI, etc, but I think that's just because they have no real need to market, per se. They're not selling anything, so they don't hire anybody to sell it.

Oh, by single notifications, I meant that if you've got notifications from several applications, Cyanogenmod lets you swipe just one of them to make it disappear without clearing all of them. Like if I have a "new email" notification, I might want to actually check the e-mail right now, but I might want the notification to go away without clearing my "It's your turn in Scrabble" notification. In Cyanogenmod, swipe the e-mail, it disappears, the scrabble stays. MIUI is like stock android - clear all, launch the app, or leave it are your only choices.