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Why wouldn't somebody want to root their phone? I just don't understand why. I mean maybe they're worried about warranties or wanting to return the phone, but that's all I can think of. Does anybody know why people are so scared to root? My friend just refused to let me root his phone because he thinks I'm "breaking" it.
Lay out the advantages of having a rooted device and an unrooted device. Try not to mention returning a phone or warranty issues, because that isn't totally relevant to my argument with my friend (he is NOT turning in his phone anytime soon ). Right so I'm just curious. I can't imagine having an Android phone and it NOT being rooted.
Pros:
POWER (so much power)
BLN/BLD/Voodoo/Touchwake/OC/UV
Custom Kernels
Custom ROMs
Proper terminal/busybox
Adblock
ClockSync (these android phones have appalling timekeeping)
General customisation (build.prop, icons)
And of course wifikill (this links back to POWER)
etc etc
Cons:
Warranty, though hardware should be under warranty anyway as long as it has nothing to do with software malfunction (power button, usb port, etc).
Damn windows drivers
Maybe if it requires a lot of work and they do not appreciate customization or control. Perfect iPhone user if you ask me.
My brother in law had a Droid X and you had to jump through 15 hoops to root it and flash custom ROMs. He has a Galaxy Nexus now and has no desire to unlock and root it. :screwy:
My coworker has a Xoom and a Bionic and has not rooted either. Then he was complaining how long it was taking for the OTA ICS to be rolled out.
Nick N said:
Maybe if it requires a lot of work and they do not appreciate customization or control. Perfect iPhone user if you ask me.
My brother in law had a Droid X and you had to jump through 15 hoops to root it and flash custom ROMs. He has a Galaxy Nexus now and has no desire to unlock and root it. :screwy:
My coworker has a Xoom and a Bionic and has not rooted either. Then he was complaining how long it was taking for the OTA ICS to be rolled out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.......
for Nexus series , unlock and root is absolutely required , because they are google's sons and pure blood of Android , with Nexuses you can do all kinda things
Nexuses are for people like us who is DEV or likes flash ROM over and over and over ...
okay , i 'm sorry that off the subject.
but , honestly , for crazy users like we are do need it , because lots thing we do daily needs root access
but for a normal user , that kinda people who doesn't know much things about flash ROM or something , it's kinda not need to be rooted...
root or not , it depends on your usage.
for the people who only use phone to talk to SMS to Gmail and to browser webpage, what roots for ???
qtwrk said:
.......
for Nexus series , unlock and root is absolutely required , because they are google's sons and pure blood of Android , with Nexuses you can do all kinda things
Nexuses are for people like us who is DEV or likes flash ROM over and over and over ...
okay , i 'm sorry that off the subject.
but , honestly , for crazy users like we are do need it , because lots thing we do daily needs root access
but for a normal user , that kinda people who doesn't know much things about flash ROM or something , it's kinda not need to be rooted...
root or not , it depends on your usage.
for the people who only use phone to talk to SMS to Gmail and to browser webpage, what roots for ???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So you're arguing that unrooted is simplicity from what I gathered in that text lol ? I don't know. I'm still not convinced. I believe it is better to root. If you root you will finally be able to get that "one" thing your phone is missing. Ever single person in this world has had a moment where they say "I wish my phone could..." ... well it can if they root it
Nexus S - AOSP+ Neapolitan flavors 3.0, Glados kernel 2.8
For my friend, his reason not rooting is because he's really lazy. And the possibility of his phone bricking is too worry some for him to root especially when he doesn't really need to.
When I was deciding not to root or not was because of the warranty. I just realized I could lock it again and return it for warranty if anything
Well, how should I suppose to say this. The only reason I buy Android phone is because it could be rooted. And this is where all the fun is!!!
You'll only brick it if you're are "smart" enough not to read what the ROM or whatever you're using supports your phone. Warranty issues are not includes for just such reason lol. If somebody can give me 3 point how rooting is better I will praise you and my friend. So fair stock:0 rooted:a heavy amount
Nexus S - AOSP+ Neapolitan flavors 3.0, Glados kernel 2.8
I am always worried of the EFS folder
BTW : would that folder be at risk if the device is rooted ? and would rooted devices are at more risk that some app would screw an original one ?
Because most people only care about 3 things
1) Can it make calls
2) Can it send SMS/MMS
3) Can I browse the web
If a phone matches that criteria most are good to go
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
I am not a dev, nor am I a programmer. The most I can do is follow instructions and edit simple things like font style and color in XMLs. I don't dare flashing bleeding edge stuff, so I always read reviews and go with something other people have tried first.
Still, I think that for an Android phone, rooting is much better than not rooting if you want to get the most out of your money. The performance and battery life can be improved, depending on the phone model, one can get a mild improvement (like with Nexus S) or dramatic change that makes you feel as if your phone gets a new life. Some people may not be inclined to backup often or spend time read up on XDA, but if they have a friend/relative who likes those stuff, it would be nice to have that friend/relative pick a stable setup and put those in (and set periodic auto backup for apps/messages). When others are whining "updates where? I have waited for MONTHS for GB/ICS", custom ROM users are already enjoying the new features.
Warranty still applies as long as you have the card. I've fixed the power button of my under-warranty LG Optimus One and they got it done with no questions asked. I know someone who had their Nexus S bricked due to wrong flashing and they still get to claim warranty.
If a person only uses their phone for calls, text and the occasional browsing, buying an Android phone is probably a waste of money.
Hey budday...
To answer the initial question as to why some one, but in this case I do not want to root is out of fear bricking my phone. Also I've found it fairly easy to customize without ..but in this case if you can lay out an easily read diagram or some sh!t then maybe people(me) will be more compelled to. Or for your sake make your argument a better one !
Especially with this ridiculously delayed OTA for my nexus ..and with no indication as to why! ? That's what I really wanna know!
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Maybe they want to leave it stock to not deal with the headache. Most ppl root just to tether for free and thats it.
Sent from my MIUI.us Sensation 4G using XDA App
..
My work place is gey. In order to access the Corporate Exchange server using the Good for Enterprise app, my phone has to be unrooted. The Good app sees that I have superuser binary on my phone and won't allow access. I can't use my phone without it rooted, I'll go nuts. So I ditched Good, and my phone stays rooted. Why are Corporations afraid of rooted phones?
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
..
Election Day said:
Try calling someone's customer support and explain any problem you are having in full detail. They will still treat you like a complete idiot that does not have a clue what he/she is talking about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL, i know what you're saying. but they don't do that to insult you or imply you don't know anything. They don't know who you are or how much you know. It is simply the best way to approach a problem. If a user said they did something, how do you really know? (e.g. user says they rebooted the computer. but what they did was log out and log back in)
Anyways, there are different reasons why someone might not wanna root. If they don't wanna hear it then stop pushing. who doesn't hate that religious guy insisting you go to his church? when you keep pushing people to root you are that guy.
..
fergie716 said:
Because most people only care about 3 things
1) Can it make calls
2) Can it send SMS/MMS
3) Can I browse the web
If a phone matches that criteria most are good to go
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any finished (decent) ROM does that better and it does ALOT MORE
Nexus S - AOSP+ Neapolitan flavors 3.0, Glados kernel 2.8
As a new Nexus S user who is yet to root, it is something I am planning on doing, but the shear number of ROMs and kernel's is very daunting, and it seems I'm going to have to set aside a fair few hours when I finally decide to do it. I'm sure once it's done I'll be hooked, it's just the initial jump that's delaying it for me.
Due to the huge number of people involved in Nexus S development (and this is not a bad thing by any means!) I am finding it difficult to find a suitable starting point.
I just received an OTA update for My Galaxy S4 SGH-I337. My phone seized up and I had to take it into Best Buy in order to get the firmware re-installed so my phone would actually work! That was blissful... So now I am now running Android 4.4.2 KitKat! YAY! But not really.
When I got this phone, it was loaded with Android 4.3 Firmware, and for the first time in my life, I have not been able to Root my phone. I looked through all the methods out there, but none of them worked. Some people claim this one and that one, but for me, I couldn't get it to do a darn thing. Well, no big deal, it's not like I really need to root my phone.
Except that you do. YOU NEED TO ROOT YOUR AT&T PHONES!
I noticed that the OS on this 32g model uses an unprecedented 7g of space!!! That's aside from the apps that come with the phone that I will never use. Leaving me with only 21g of space on my phone, which claims to be a 32g model. Again, this is not a big deal, right? You can throw an SD card in there if you need more space...
FINE
Now comes the issue of the AT&T and Samsung Exclusive Applications that are loaded on to the phone when you get it, and ARE IRREMOVABLE! These apps are here to stay. It doesn't matter if you don't use them, or like them, or want your disc space back, screw you AT&T customer, you HAVE to have these apps.
The sickening part about all of this is the mandatory obligation you are put under when getting your new phone. No one tells you that AT&T is going to shove all of this crap down your throat. And it wouldn't be so bad if these apps were removable... it wouldn't be so bad if you could root your phone an remove them yourself... it wouldn't be so bad if you could a custom firmware on the device you just dropped $700 on... I mean, it is your phone, isn't it?
But Samsung & AT&T have gone so far out of their way locking this device down to a point where it is next to impossible to unlock and do anything with!!! Is it really that big of a problem? Someone always seems to find a way around it eventually, so why do it?
Regardless, It looks like I should have bought the Nexus 5, that way my OS wouldn't take up 7g of my 32g of space, and I wouldn't have a bunch of bloatware filling up my phone. I'd love to hear that someone has found a way to root this new NB1 baseband, and allow for custom firmware installation, because I'd like to take this phone back to AT&T and shove it down their throat.
Shibblet said:
I just received an OTA update for My Galaxy S4 SGH-I337. My phone seized up and I had to take it into Best Buy in order to get the firmware re-installed so my phone would actually work! That was blissful... So now I am now running Android 4.4.2 KitKat! YAY! But not really.
When I got this phone, it was loaded with Android 4.3 Firmware, and for the first time in my life, I have not been able to Root my phone. I looked through all the methods out there, but none of them worked. Some people claim this one and that one, but for me, I couldn't get it to do a darn thing. Well, no big deal, it's not like I really need to root my phone.
Except that you do. YOU NEED TO ROOT YOUR AT&T PHONES!
I noticed that the OS on this 32g model uses an unprecedented 7g of space!!! That's aside from the apps that come with the phone that I will never use. Leaving me with only 21g of space on my phone, which claims to be a 32g model. Again, this is not a big deal, right? You can throw an SD card in there if you need more space...
FINE
Now comes the issue of the AT&T and Samsung Exclusive Applications that are loaded on to the phone when you get it, and ARE IRREMOVABLE! These apps are here to stay. It doesn't matter if you don't use them, or like them, or want your disc space back, screw you AT&T customer, you HAVE to have these apps.
The sickening part about all of this is the mandatory obligation you are put under when getting your new phone. No one tells you that AT&T is going to shove all of this crap down your throat. And it wouldn't be so bad if these apps were removable... it wouldn't be so bad if you could root your phone an remove them yourself... it wouldn't be so bad if you could a custom firmware on the device you just dropped $700 on... I mean, it is your phone, isn't it?
But Samsung & AT&T have gone so far out of their way locking this device down to a point where it is next to impossible to unlock and do anything with!!! Is it really that big of a problem? Someone always seems to find a way around it eventually, so why do it?
Regardless, It looks like I should have bought the Nexus 5, that way my OS wouldn't take up 7g of my 32g of space, and I wouldn't have a bunch of bloatware filling up my phone. I'd love to hear that someone has found a way to root this new NB1 baseband, and allow for custom firmware installation, because I'd like to take this phone back to AT&T and shove it down their throat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Switch carrier, or be grateful that you have this powerful smartphone. xD
Moderator Edit - Profanity Removed , that is well known. But the majority of AT&T clients don't know what root is, even, and locking bootloaders is business oriented.
"Oh, you want an unlocked bootloader? Why not get our Google edition S4?"
I'm from Bulgaria, and a friend of mine was on a student brigade in USA, and he got an S4, which I bought from him.
Little did I know it was from AT&T...
I am running Kitkat on it right now.
Bootloader locked, no root yet.
But root will be found, and in time the devs are gonna come up with some really sick ROMs.
Be patient, and when the devs do their magic, don't forget to thank them.
sirobelec said:
Switch carrier, or be grateful that you have this powerful smartphone. xD
Moderator Edit - Profanity Removed
"Oh, you want an unlocked bootloader? Why not get our Google edition S4?"
I'm from Bulgaria, and a friend of mine was on a student brigade in USA, and he got an S4, which I bought from him.
Little did I know it was from AT&T...
I am running Kitkat on it right now.
Bootloader locked, no root yet.
But root will be found, and in time the devs are gonna come up with some really sick ROMs.
Be patient, and when the devs do their magic, don't forget to thank them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's an absolute.
I was running a GS2, with ShoStock3 on it. That rom worked great, stable, smooth, no issues. My son is using that phone now, and he still has had no problems running it.
I guess my biggest problem with AT&T is what they do to a perfectly good piece of hardware. Add all their little apps to it, lock the bootloader, lock the carrier, and bloat the OS to 7 times it's original size (Not an exaggeration). I guess I'm a minimalist. The OS doesn't need to be any larger than it has to. AOSP Roms prove that. 500meg footprint instead of 7gigs!
BTW, the newest upgrade put Beats Music on my phone, and I can't remove it.
Shibblet said:
That's an absolute.
I was running a GS2, with ShoStock3 on it. That rom worked great, stable, smooth, no issues. My son is using that phone now, and he still has had no problems running it.
I guess my biggest problem with AT&T is what they do to a perfectly good piece of hardware. Add all their little apps to it, lock the bootloader, lock the carrier, and bloat the OS to 7 times it's original size (Not an exaggeration). I guess I'm a minimalist. The OS doesn't need to be any larger than it has to. AOSP Roms prove that. 500meg footprint instead of 7gigs!
BTW, the newest upgrade put Beats Music on my phone, and I can't remove it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good sir, can you tell me why AT&T have clients at all? Their devices and fees cheap?
sirobelec said:
Good sir, can you tell me why AT&T have clients at all? Their devices and fees cheap?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Their coverage area in Alaska is great. Their customer service and prices are good too. There are not a lot of options for service in the area that I am in, so I tend to go with AT&T, because when I do go out of state, I have usage where I go with no roaming fees and the like. We do not have T-Mobile or Verizon available in Alaska, unless you sign up out of state.
Could be worse. They could put the entire beats audio apk on the phone instead of it just taking up 8k since it links to the play store. While I do agree the os is over bloated at least we can disable apps we don't use and speed it up some.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Tapatalk
1. you can disable any at&t and most Samsung bloat app via the app manager.
2. all bloat combined adds up to a few hundred megabytes, barely making a dent. its the features that differentiate the s4 from lesser devices that take up this extra space. motion controls, smart screen, air controls... these are what take up the space.
3. who keeps data on the device anyway? devices break, devices brick, etc... SD cards are fairly robust and can be removed in the event of a failed device. my music, photos, downloads, etc is on my 32 GB SD card. cloud sync'd data is on internal to save space on the card but that's stored elsewhere anyway.
I love root for one very simple reason: AdAway. I used to just flash new roms immediately upon getting a phone but vanilla is boring. OE stuff is getting pretty good. I used to automatically install Titanium backup and freeze everything that way but the app manager allows us to do this now.
Actually, can we have a thread, for example this one, for general ranting, complaining, hate and such (NONE of it towards fellow xda members)?
I mean, ranting over stuff we can't do much about. AT&T politics, bloatware, etc. Call it stress relief.
And rehab sessions for flashaholics who updated to this locked Kitkat, but now their booze is taken away.
Shibblet said:
I just received an OTA update for My Galaxy S4 SGH-I337. My phone seized up and I had to take it into Best Buy in order to get the firmware re-installed so my phone would actually work! That was blissful... So now I am now running Android 4.4.2 KitKat! YAY! But not really.
When I got this phone, it was loaded with Android 4.3 Firmware, and for the first time in my life, I have not been able to Root my phone. I looked through all the methods out there, but none of them worked. Some people claim this one and that one, but for me, I couldn't get it to do a darn thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you mean you were also unable to root 4.3 mk2? I have rooted.a dozen or so mk2 devices for people with safe root.
If you meant kit kat. Then it was just released be patient.
Bloat ware can be removed once the root is obtained.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I feel your pain......
CAG-man said:
Did you mean you were also unable to root 4.3 mk2? I have rooted.a dozen or so mk2 devices for people with safe root.
If you meant kit kat. Then it was just released be patient.
Bloat ware can be removed once the root is obtained.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is a safe root method for 4.3. It's the same as the method for Verizon. My 4.3 S4 is rooted right now. However, I'll only have this thing for about another week. I am fed up with Samsung and AT&T. I still have AT&T grandfathered unlimited data, and that's the only reason I'm still with them. This is my first Android phone and it is FAR from the open experience I expected coming from iPhone (jailbroken of course). Jailbreak was easier than initially rooting this model S4. Then I learned of the locked bootloader.........Knox was the final straw. Samsung can keep their forced security BS. I ordered a 32 GB Nexus 5 yesterday and am jumping off the Samsung ship. Love the hardware, hate that I can do anything I would like to with my device. And no offense to Devs working on it, but I've never waited as long for an iPhone jailbreak to happen on iOS as the bootloader unlock on this thing is taking for somebody to figure out. I'm not sure if it will happen, so I'm not going to worry about it. From here on out, it's only unlocked open phones for me. If I'm up for contract renewal, I'll get the most popular phone at the time from my carrier, sell it, and buy a Nexus/ Google Play Edition device. Camera maybe better on S4, but that's not my primary use anyway. Nexus 5 camera is good enough for me. And I don't have to buy additional parts to get Qi wireless charging.
I think Samsung wants to move to Tizen eventually anyway........so they have full control of EVERYTHING......just like Apple. Not for me.
- Jeremy
Shibblet said:
I just received an OTA update for My Galaxy S4 SGH-I337. My phone seized up and I had to take it into Best Buy in order to get the firmware re-installed so my phone would actually work! That was blissful... So now I am now running Android 4.4.2 KitKat! YAY! But not really.
When I got this phone, it was loaded with Android 4.3 Firmware, and for the first time in my life, I have not been able to Root my phone. I looked through all the methods out there, but none of them worked. Some people claim this one and that one, but for me, I couldn't get it to do a darn thing. Well, no big deal, it's not like I really need to root my phone.
Except that you do. YOU NEED TO ROOT YOUR AT&T PHONES!
I noticed that the OS on this 32g model uses an unprecedented 7g of space!!! That's aside from the apps that come with the phone that I will never use. Leaving me with only 21g of space on my phone, which claims to be a 32g model. Again, this is not a big deal, right? You can throw an SD card in there if you need more space...
FINE
Now comes the issue of the AT&T and Samsung Exclusive Applications that are loaded on to the phone when you get it, and ARE IRREMOVABLE! These apps are here to stay. It doesn't matter if you don't use them, or like them, or want your disc space back, screw you AT&T customer, you HAVE to have these apps.
The sickening part about all of this is the mandatory obligation you are put under when getting your new phone. No one tells you that AT&T is going to shove all of this crap down your throat. And it wouldn't be so bad if these apps were removable... it wouldn't be so bad if you could root your phone an remove them yourself... it wouldn't be so bad if you could a custom firmware on the device you just dropped $700 on... I mean, it is your phone, isn't it?
But Samsung & AT&T have gone so far out of their way locking this device down to a point where it is next to impossible to unlock and do anything with!!! Is it really that big of a problem? Someone always seems to find a way around it eventually, so why do it?
Regardless, It looks like I should have bought the Nexus 5, that way my OS wouldn't take up 7g of my 32g of space, and I wouldn't have a bunch of bloatware filling up my phone. I'd love to hear that someone has found a way to root this new NB1 baseband, and allow for custom firmware installation, because I'd like to take this phone back to AT&T and shove it down their throat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even when we do get to root the phone, you will not be able to reclaim any of that space.
Sorry.
It's not the OS...
joeybear23 said:
Even when we do get to root the phone, you will not be able to reclaim any of that space.
Sorry.
It's not the OS...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's lame... but can you explain why? Is this area set aside as a cache or something?
Also, I have searched for the answer, but I can't figure out why they would go through the trouble of locking the bootloader and kernel down with a chastity belt. Any idea why they did that too? I'm just a firm believer that "rooters gonna root" regardless of how difficult they make it.
It just makes me think of things in terms of games like Oblivion and Skyrim where the developers don't really care how many mods people make for their game, they don't lock it down and keep people from doing it.
Shibblet said:
That's lame... but can you explain why? Is this area set aside as a cache or something?
Also, I have searched for the answer, but I can't figure out why they would go through the trouble of locking the bootloader and kernel down with a chastity belt. Any idea why they did that too? I'm just a firm believer that "rooters gonna root" regardless of how difficult they make it.
It just makes me think of things in terms of games like Oblivion and Skyrim where the developers don't really care how many mods people make for their game, they don't lock it down and keep people from doing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The space is locked down for use by the ROM, and it is just written that way for the device, and devs have not been able to unlock it.
As for locking the bootloader, I am sure ATT is sick of eating up the expense of replacing phones as "defective" due to user ignorance. People brick phones left and right and then turn it back over to ATT and have to give a new phone in exchange. ATT can certainly repair them and reflash them, however they can only then be sold as refurbished units which hits them financially, not to mention the man-hours needed for reflashing them. Each device maybe takes a few minutes, but multiply that by thousands of returned devices and it is a compelling case for keeping future users from doing the same.
I have rooted every Android i've owned, so don't get me wrong... but if I break the thing I wouldn't be one of those trying to make ATT pay for it.
"As of 7 June 2013, the 2000th Aventador, an Aventador LP 700-4 with Nero Nemesis (black) body colour, was built and destined for the United States owner Thaddeus Arroyo, Chief Intelligence Officer of AT&T."
- via Wikipedia.
sirobelec said:
Switch carrier
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just a heads up on this note..
It appears that the Galaxy S5 will have a locked bootloader not just on Verizon (the original basturds) and AT&T (the follow-up basturds), but also T-Mobile now (the new basturds).
Supposedly, only Sprint will have the "unlocked bootloader". Though they will likely still have KNOX.
So if anyone wants an S5 and AOSP, they need to go with Sprint or wait and pay full price for the Google Play Edition.
I am accustomed to using and working within the generic android environment. I generally like it. I am pretty much exclusively a Samsung guy but I just recently got my wife a G3. I have read all the things about how I can make my phone lightning quick without all the bloatware and I can be entitled to all the event driven programming that stock android allows me but I have to say, I 90% like what I get out of the box. Sure, there are little annoyances that come up but mostly what I want to gain is the 10%. I don't want to reinvent the wheel and put in a new launcher and then have to get accustomed to a whole new way of doing things. Or worse, my camera might not work as well etc.
I am mostly sold. I don't care about voided warranties. I am going to drop $800 on a Note 4 in the coming weeks when it finally rolls out and frankly I would like to really access the power of that processor and ram (whether it is 3 or 4 gigs - only Samsung knows right now). A big part of my buying the phone is the compatibility with the SPen. I am a business man so it would negate me buying it, to root it and then see the SPen go bye bye. In short, this phone is to be a simple tool for my business but I am afraid of what I am about to get.
Let me go back a bit. Last week, I bought my wife a G3. Another top of the line phone. I bought it and am considering the note 4 for the same reason, they can do split screens. I thought I might be able to do limitedly with the phone on the go what I do with my laptop, drag and drop from email to email, files. The note 4 is going to be a powerful phone but who knows if we are there yet. Regardless, from these forums and around the net, it seem the technology is there. So what is there to do? I like the bulk of Samsung's programming but it really angered me when I started toying with the LG G3 and I discovered that I could not open all apps in their duel mode. I mean what the H E double hockeysticks! How does LG know what I would find valuable to have open at once?
So, I am committed to the Note 4 because I know I will get top of the line. I am assuming that I am going to be restricted from using the phone like I want, like the LG and will be faced with: to root or not to root. What I am saying is, can I root the phone and still keep all the stuff I like? yes I know one of you nifty busy-bodies have not even gotten your hands on the phone yet to discover how to mess with it and get by knoks etc but do you feel my pain and understand my quandary?
It is not that I am afraid to root. I am adventurous at heart but I need to make money. I am a business man. I don't make money by the hour but by the opportunity. When I see something that can help me be productive, I try to implement it into my way of doing things. I like tinkering like you guys. I appreciate you but I only have limit time to do these things, otherwise they become distractions. So I don't have hours to figure out why my main camera is now only taking selfies on the face of the phone instead or why the SPen doesn't work. I want what I want but the move needs to make sense to me.
So the basic question is: if I go down this path (with any phone) can I root and still have touchwiz experience, for instance just so I can mess with the phone ever so slightly? A side question would be - am I going to find many disadvantages for the right of having full control of my phone such as having to update the phone or having bugs? I guess, the simple short question is: Do the challenges outweigh the benefits?
I have currently an old S2 that is working. I am using a galaxy LTE awaiting, the note 4. But, I assume I am going to get pretty angry when I find that an $800+ phone won't what a hack can make it do. I just don't want to lose everything else for the sake of one entitlement. So, I can practice seeing what it is like doing these things with my S2 or even my recent LTE. I just have not seen anyone bring this up. People go on about the romance of blanking out a phone for total freedom but they don't tell me much about how close the new launchers are going to be to what I am used to.
Thanks, community for all that you develop. You are cool. I only wish I had countless hours to mess around with this stuff but money has to be made. Believe me, I am looking for any excuse to have a "lightning fast" phone or to do some funky things like you guys do, but give me the war stories. Tell me if I have to decide to compromise. Recommend a launcher maybe. Yes I know the Note can't even be developed yet but it will someday. Anyway, thanks.
I'm not sure you understand exactly what root does. Root gives you "root" level access, aka Superuser, aka Administrator access. Think of Android like a computer in a public library. Lots of things (settings, certain programs, certain directories mainly) are locked down and inaccessible by people who don't have the password or an admin account, because they don't want people messing around with them. Android is the same way. Many (most?) people think of smartphones as just that - phones. They don't think of it as a computer, even though that's exactly what it is, in every aspect of the word. Without restrictions, it would be very, very easy for the average user to completely screw up their phone.
And that is why Android comes with these restrictions (which carriers exploit to install unremovable apps). Rooting your phone removes many of these restrictions, which is also why rooting typically voids your warranty. You might want to root to get rid of useless bloatware like NFL Mobile or Verizon Navigation or Samsung's browser because you only use Chrome. But it's just as easy to (accidentally or stupidly) delete a core Android program, and now your phone is stuck in a crash loop and you've got a $700 battery powered paper weight.
That said, root gives you Superuser access. And that's it. Root doesn't change anything, for better or worse.
It's what you do with that access that matters. Freezing/deleting bloatware that would otherwise be constantly running in the background can improve your phone's performance. You can install the Xposed framework to clear up your notification panel and status bar, add functionality to your buttons, and port features from other brands to work on yours. Tasker is a very powerful (and very confusing) app that you can use to make your phone do things automatically depending on where you are, when it is, etc. You can block ads within games and browsers. You can do back-ups of your apps and data and share them between devices, or when moving from and old phone to a new one. With root sometimes you can bypass restrictions imposed by the carrier because they want to milk you for more money (like wifi hotspot).
I'm also not certain you understand what a launcher is. The launcher is merely the interface. Homescreens, app drawer, dock, icons, etc. I honestly don't know what a 3rd party launcher like Nova, Apex, or Go does to S-Pen functionality on the Note series. But it's merely a different interface, which can be disabled or uninstalled without issue.
What you might be thinking of is the ROM itself. ROM is a bit of a misnomer (meaning Read Only Memory, like a CD_ROM or DVD-ROM), but in the Android world, the ROM is what we have taken to call the operating system. For example, a TouchWiz ROM is heavily modified, and very different than the ROM of a Nexus, which is 100% "stock" Android. Then you have custom ROMs like Cyanogenmod. Installing a different ROM on your Note 4 will absolutely kill your S-Pen functionality, unless it's based on the stock N4 ROM (for example, stock, but debloated, streamlined, and tweaked a bit) and retains those features that Samsung built into it.
With a launcher you can make one phone's homescreen and app drawer look like another's. But when you go into the settings, they'll look different, because that's the ROM, not the launcher you're looking at.
One thing to nota bene is that Samsung has become increasingly restrictive about root and unlocked bootloaders. An unlocked bootloader is required to flash a different ROM (although running different ROMs in Safestrap is usually still possible). Samsung flagships from AT&T and Verizon are notoriously restricted. Google "towelroot" to find out just how restrictive they're getting. Of the "big 4" US carriers, T-Mobile is undoubtedly the least restrictive. With AT&T and T-Mo you also have the option to buy an "unlocked" device, but you won't get the pay-over-time benefits of a subsidy or payment plan. "Unlocked" refers to carrier compatibility, not the bootloader (although carrier unlocked phones are typically easier to unlock the bootloader). But if you subsidize a phone from VZW or AT&T, particularly one from the Samsung Note or Galaxy S line, it's entirely possible that root might never be achieved, or might take a long time. We're talking about rooting a phone that isn't even out yet, and we have no idea what kind of "security" measures are in store.
Root is a powerful tool, but the most powerful tool for your phone other than root is knowledge. Read, read, read, read, ask some questions, and read and read. Find some "for dummies" guides and read those. Watch some youtube videos. The problem with XDA, if there is one, is that stuff like this doesn't have a learning "curve" so much as a learning "sheer cliff made of buttered ice". Lots of acronyms, jargon, technical terms, and other gibberish. Grab some coffee or Red Bull, and start learning.
Seems like every phone has problems and Android itself has endless problems. The Nexus 6P has an LTE bug where you can't receive calls and it hasn't been fixed in months. The OnePlus forums are full of people hating their phones and the latest OTA for Marshmallow bricks some of their phones. I don't know what to buy. There are lots of complaints about the S7 here also. I am coming from BlackBerry and was totally satisfied but there is no way to live in the modern world without an Android phone or iPhone it seems.
Is the S7 still worth buying, all else considered equal?
I guess main problem is Android 6.
Further, you have to worry about Samsung knox, locked bootloader, etc. when you want to root.
But, the device itself is great. Just use another launcher and you will be happy (at least, I am... except for worrying that root may be gone due to updates on day)
Oh, also, I disabled all updates, so no security updates aer installed. That might be a problem too...
I am not sure I want to root. This will be my first Android phone. I need it for work and travelling and it has to work. I know the device itself is great and I really want one. I just don't know if I missed something since now that the phone has been out for a while people are complaining as much about this phone as every other phone
I don't know anything about launchers or Android or anything. How can I get started learning after I buy a phone? Thank you.
midnightrider said:
I am not sure I want to root. This will be my first Android phone. I need it for work and travelling and it has to work. I know the device itself is great and I really want one. I just don't know if I missed something since now that the phone has been out for a while people are complaining as much about this phone as every other phone
I don't know anything about launchers or Android or anything. How can I get started learning after I buy a phone? Thank you.
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If you don't know anything about root, android, whatsoever, you won't have to worry. Just buy the thing and it'll work. That's enough for the average crowd. The non average are reading/posting on xda They want to know the ins and outs of their device. They want control of their device without being restricted by anything or anyone.
Bright.Light said:
If you don't know anything about root, android, whatsoever, you won't have to worry. Just buy the thing and it'll work. That's enough for the average crowd. The non average are reading/posting on xda They want to know the ins and outs of their device. They want control of their device without being restricted by anything or anyone.
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Oh I respect that completely. I am a developer and I have played around with phones in the old days, had a hacked Nokia with custom startup etc. As far as this device goes at this point I am too busy with other things and don't expect to play around with it. There is only so much time in a day!
I know you guys are the experts which is why I am asking. As far as Android itself goes, I hate it. It has a worse security track record than Windows and the quality is worse too! They just found the whole disk encryption with Qualcomm chips is broken[1][2][3]. It's one gigantic embarassment after the next with Android.
I want something that's going to work as well as possible given the crappy software environment it has to work with. If it wasn't for you brave guys breaking your phones the rest of us wouldn't have access to anything nearly as good as we have now! Thanks!
[1] https://bits-please.blogspot.com/2016/06/extracting-qualcomms-keymaster-keys.html
[2] http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-crack-android-encryption-on-millions-of-smartphones/
[3] https://lwn.net/Articles/693115/
Always remember people never go online to write compliments. I personally love this phone. There is also a google+ community where you will get some honest feedback. Most people in that community will be honest about their experience as well as here.
Sent from my SM-G930F using XDA-Developers mobile app
midnightrider said:
Oh I respect that completely. I am a developer and I have played around with phones in the old days, had a hacked Nokia with custom startup etc. As far as this device goes at this point I am too busy with other things and don't expect to play around with it. There is only so much time in a day!
I know you guys are the experts which is why I am asking. As far as Android itself goes, I hate it. It has a worse security track record than Windows and the quality is worse too! They just found the whole disk encryption with Qualcomm chips is broken[1][2][3]. It's one gigantic embarassment after the next with Android.
I want something that's going to work as well as possible given the crappy software environment it has to work with. If it wasn't for you brave guys breaking your phones the rest of us wouldn't have access to anything nearly as good as we have now! Thanks!
[1] https://bits-please.blogspot.com/2016/06/extracting-qualcomms-keymaster-keys.html
[2] http://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-crack-android-encryption-on-millions-of-smartphones/
[3] https://lwn.net/Articles/693115/
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Exploits are found all the time on ios,Windows and a android, basically if it's a system built by humans there's almost always going to be some type of flaw somewhere. As much as this is pretty big one the chances of it actually affecting you are probably nil. I would get the device and enjoy it for what it is, rather than worrying over this and that.
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
seedubya said:
Always remember people never go online to write compliments.
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I don't think that's true. There are more fanboys for Samsung phones than people willing to bash something they spent 800 bucks on.
I saw some scary threads here like the one on broken rear camera lenses. The replacements are on ebay by the millions already. I don't understand how companies can put out faulty products and charge so much for them. But silly me, I ordered one yesterday. It hasn't shipped yet. But I'll be unhappy if it has problems. It's supposed to be the best you can get. What else is there?
Hopefully not a complete threadjack
So I am currently running a rooted S4 and am thinking it's time to upgrade. And don't hate me for asking this: Now that we have root available for the S7, is this the phone to get or should I hold out to see what the next Nexus phone actually is? Would like to keep the SD card port that doesn't seem to appear in any of the nexus rumors. Am worried that now the root method is out, it'll be patched before the Nexus release and my choice becomes moot. Thanks.
Im_Gumby said:
So I am currently running a rooted S4 and am thinking it's time to upgrade. And don't hate me for asking this: Now that we have root available for the S7, is this the phone to get or should I hold out to see what the next Nexus phone actually is? Would like to keep the SD card port that doesn't seem to appear in any of the nexus rumors. Am worried that now the root method is out, it'll be patched before the Nexus release and my choice becomes moot. Thanks.
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If I could choose, then I would get a device with 128Gb memory without SD card.
Why? Because google f*cked up Android with SD cards. They just don't get it that we want control over the media on the SD card!
But, I like this S7 because of the camera, display and weather proof (let's try to be careful and don't drop the phone in the toilet please...)
I haven't had to root anything since the Evo 4g I used to have and its been shoved in a backpack with an extended battery for the past 2 years. I had several G1's, several old school Nexus devices and 3 or 4 Captivates. Couple of HTC devices thron in for good measure too.
I work for AppleCare and have had an iphone for the past 3 years but its gotten to the point where they are basically, blah. Just...nothing special about them. Long story short, i traded a 6 plus for my new S7 and couldn't be happier.
Questions: How afr out of the loop am I? I've used Odin but it was new when I stopped flashing.
-Is there anyting to gain from flashing/rooting besides debloating?? That was the main reason several years ago, that and trying to OC the processors. Hell, with quad cores and 4 gigs, who needs to OC anymore?? lol
Anyway, hope that makes sense and I look forward to being an active member once again.
thegreatkazoo said:
I haven't had to root anything since the Evo 4g I used to have and its been shoved in a backpack with an extended battery for the past 2 years. I had several G1's, several old school Nexus devices and 3 or 4 Captivates. Couple of HTC devices thron in for good measure too.
I work for AppleCare and have had an iphone for the past 3 years but its gotten to the point where they are basically, blah. Just...nothing special about them. Long story short, i traded a 6 plus for my new S7 and couldn't be happier.
Questions: How afr out of the loop am I? I've used Odin but it was new when I stopped flashing.
-Is there anyting to gain from flashing/rooting besides debloating?? That was the main reason several years ago, that and trying to OC the processors. Hell, with quad cores and 4 gigs, who needs to OC anymore?? lol
Anyway, hope that makes sense and I look forward to being an active member once again.
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First off let me say welcome back to the awesome side
As to what you're missing, it really depends on what you need from your device. While most of the features you'd need root to obtain are now a part of stock android, there are still a few things missing like ad blocking, or an awesome sound mod like v4a. And even then, some root apps/mods don't play nicely with Touchwiz.
My advice is to browse though the s7 forums and see if anything entices you that's worth rooting for.
Freewander10 said:
First off let me say welcome back to the awesome side
As to what you're missing, it really depends on what you need from your device. While most of the features you'd need root to obtain are now a part of stock android, there are still a few things missing like ad blocking, or an awesome sound mod like v4a. And even then, some root apps/mods don't play nicely with Touchwiz.
My advice is to browse though the s7 forums and see if anything entices you that's worth rooting for.
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its good to be back. mt wife still has her 6 plus but she's swapping it tomorrow for an s8. shes hella excited.
i remember tethering being a huge driver for rooting becuase carriers didnt see the usage. I have 14 gigs of hot spot that doesn't use my actual cell data so i don't guess i need to root. lol
I would love get all the crap off and go vanilla Nougat but i doubt its possible at this time. Thats about all i would want. pure google.
thegreatkazoo said:
its good to be back. mt wife still has her 6 plus but she's swapping it tomorrow for an s8. shes hella excited.
i remember tethering being a huge driver for rooting becuase carriers didnt see the usage. I have 14 gigs of hot spot that doesn't use my actual cell data so i don't guess i need to root. lol
I would love get all the crap off and go vanilla Nougat but i doubt its possible at this time. Thats about all i would want. pure google.
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I believe the s7 forums have a decent amount of stable AOSP ROMs. I've not been over there in a while but you can take a look.
Vanilla android is very possible to obtain. But you might need to get your hands a bit dirty. As you're probably aware how tightly Samsung has been locking down "their" devices as of late.
Freewander10 said:
I believe the s7 forums have a decent amount of stable AOSP ROMs. I've not been over there in a while but you can take a look.
Vanilla android is very possible to obtain. But you might need to get your hands a bit dirty. As you're probably aware how tightly Samsung has been locking down "their" devices as of late.
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oh yea. I've kept up with all the news about locking bootloaders and what not. wish they would just put vanilla on them and just sell the phone for what it is, a phone. i don't mind getting dirty to be honest.
i remember when the capivates first came out they were supposed to be unbrickable. come to find out, they could be bricked, but a guy on here made a rig with a diode in a usb csble and it unbricked it. that was some cool stuff. lol
thegreatkazoo said:
oh yea. I've kept up with all the news about locking bootloaders and what not. wish they would just put vanilla on them and just sell the phone for what it is, a phone. i don't mind getting dirty to be honest.
i remember when the capivates first came out they were supposed to be unbrickable. come to find out, they could be bricked, but a guy on here made a rig with a diode in a usb csble and it unbricked it. that was some cool stuff. lol
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I hear TW isn't as bad as it was once. But I guess that's subjective. I do agree with you though. And stock android would just fly on Samsung's hardware.
Those were the days.
The users here on xda have always found a way. Whether it be unlocking a device's BL, rooting it, unbricking it, or even bricking it
They've done it all.
Freewander10 said:
I hear TW isn't as bad as it was once. But I guess that's subjective. I do agree with you though. And stock android would just fly on Samsung's hardware.
Those were the days.
The users here on xda have always found a way. Whether it be unlocking a device's BL, rooting it, unbricking it, or even bricking it
They've done it all.
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Click to collapse
i honestly love this phone.
its quick, great camera, expandable storage and looks awesome. I've got a 128 gig sd card in right now but ill be picking up another card so this one can go back in my laptop.
i have never minded touchwiz but its came a long way. a long long way.
one thing i would love to do, since i tether so much, is to have a tether option on the home screen(like a little switch) instead of having to go into settings-connections-tether in order to turn it on.
thegreatkazoo said:
i honestly love this phone.
its quick, great camera, expandable storage and looks awesome. I've got a 128 gig sd card in right now but ill be picking up another card so this one can go back in my laptop.
i have never minded touchwiz but its came a long way. a long long way.
one thing i would love to do, since i tether so much, is to have a tether option on the home screen(like a little switch) instead of having to go into settings-connections-tether in order to turn it on.
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I'm actually planning on getting one myself. Further down in the year though. The device is absolutely beautiful.
Most of the toggles/widgets on the playstore are dated. So they might not support newer versions of android. Especially the heavily modded TW. This app looks fairly recent though. So give it a shot
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.painless.pc
Freewander10 said:
I'm actually planning on getting one myself. Further down in the year though. The device is absolutely beautiful.
Most of the toggles/widgets on the playstore are dated. So they might not support newer versions of android. Especially the heavily modded TW. This app looks fairly recent though. So give it a shot
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.painless.pc
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i just want to be able to flip a switch and turn on tethering. lol
no more, no less.