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Hey guys I have been reading through this forum and I think I get most stuff now. There is only one thing confusing me, when talking about bootloaders and unlocking them, everyone says its irreversible and you loose warranty and drm keys.
My question is, why? Can't we just backup it with CWM or similar? Can't we just make a backup when we receive the device from factory and then if we need warranty for something can't we just flash back and put everything original, including bootloader and stuff?
Thank you
shamelessly dumping to first page
Your warranty is never truly lost. Just remember, if they can't turn it on, they don't know it was rooted.
lowandbehold said:
Your warranty is never truly lost. Just remember, if they can't turn it on, they don't know it was rooted.
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thank you, but my curiosity extends to the technical level, not just in the practical sense
gtype said:
thank you, but my curiosity extends to the technical level, not just in the practical sense
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Ok, well the technical answer is once you unlock it, it can't be locked. Recovery does not back up your bootloader. A better alternative is flashing a different bootloader. There are some phones where the engineering bootloader used by OEM devs is available, so you can always go back to the stock bootloader.
EDIT: Actually now that I think about it, you can make a backup. I honestly have not dealt much with Samsung phones, so I am not sure if it is the same. But when you first root an HTC you take an initial image, which you store on your SD card or computer and you use it to unroot. When you unroot using that method it sets your bootloader back to factory. Also when you use a factory image, such as a PDxx.img and flash that through hboot, it gives you a stock bootloader as well.
lowandbehold said:
Ok, well the technical answer is once you unlock it, it can't be locked. Recovery does not back up your bootloader. A better alternative is flashing a different bootloader. There are some phones where the engineering bootloader used by OEM devs is available, so you can always go back to the stock bootloader.
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isnt the bootloader in the boot partition?
gtype said:
isnt the bootloader in the boot partition?
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Yes, the bootloader and the kernel are in the boot partition.
lowandbehold said:
Yes, the bootloader and the kernel are in the boot partition.
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sorry if I'm being thick, but since the bootloader is part of the partition, what stops me from backuping all the partitions, unlock the bootloader, and then after some time flash the original dumped stuff?
gtype said:
sorry if I'm being thick, but since the bootloader is part of the partition, what stops me from backuping all the partitions, unlock the bootloader, and then after some time flash the original dumped stuff?
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Hey, you can try it. That is a very sensitive partition to mess with. The main issue is, how many times have you flashed a ROM and for some reason it just doesnt flash right and you get a boot loop? Easy fix, wipe everything, reflash, good to go. If you flash the bootloader and reboot your phone and something went wrong with the flash...you have a hard brick. No coming back, period. So, experiment wisely. It is the same thing with flashing through terminal. If you get 1 space, 1 character wrong in the command line...hard brick.
actually I don't own a smartphone yet, but I'm going to soon. Since I'm well versed in Linux I was checking out the Android OS in general and that question popped up in my mind and I just couldn't find any info about it. Does that make kernel flashing dangerous too, since it's in the same partition as the bootloader?
gtype said:
actually I don't own a smartphone yet, but I'm going to soon. Since I'm well versed in Linux I was checking out the Android OS in general and that question popped up in my mind and I just couldn't find any info about it. Does that make kernel flashing dangerous too, since it's in the same partition as the bootloader?
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No, kernel flashing is fine. A bad flash just ends in a bootloop, no big deal. Bootloaders and radios..those are the ones you have to be careful with.
lowandbehold said:
No, kernel flashing is fine. A bad flash just ends in a bootloop, no big deal. Bootloaders and radios..those are the ones you have to be careful with.
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Alright, thank you very much.
Actually, it just struck me, why is it dangerous if it doesn't flash properly, the recovery partition is separate and you can make the device boot from it right?
gtype said:
Alright, thank you very much.
Actually, it just struck me, why is it dangerous if it doesn't flash properly, the recovery partition is separate and you can make the device boot from it right?
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I am assuming you could if you have one backed up. But when a bootloader doesn't flash right and you get a brick, you can't even get into recovery. Most of the time the phone won't even power on. Because booting into recovery requires the bootloader.
lowandbehold said:
I am assuming you could if you have one backed up. But when a bootloader doesn't flash right and you get a brick, you can't even get into recovery. Most of the time the phone won't even power on. Because booting into recovery requires the bootloader.
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I see. Thanks a lot for your time
gtype said:
I see. Thanks a lot for your time
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Hey, no problem. Just sitting here on the front end of my 12 hour shift..nothing better to do!
lowandbehold said:
Hey, no problem. Just sitting here on the front end of my 12 hour shift..nothing better to do!
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New question, if you are still around. What exactly is a locked bootloader? Is it just a bool in the bootloader code? Where are the DRM keys and why are they lost?
gtype said:
New question, if you are still around. What exactly is a locked bootloader? Is it just a bool in the bootloader code? Where are the DRM keys and why are they lost?
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It depends on the device. A bootloader is usually unlocked by an unlock.bin for that device. I'm not an expert on bootloaders though...
dmeadows013 said:
It depends on the device. A bootloader is usually unlocked by an unlock.bin for that device. I'm not an expert on bootloaders though...
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I was talking physically, like are the keys in the bootloader, is S_OFF etc bool variables etc. I guess I'll try to dig it up somewhere. thanks
gtype said:
New question, if you are still around. What exactly is a locked bootloader? Is it just a bool in the bootloader code? Where are the DRM keys and why are they lost?
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A locked bootloader doesn't allow you to change key parts of the system such as a kernel. So you can still root your phone, but all of the custom ROM's have to use the stock kernel. So if you are on a gingerbread stock ROM, you can't run Ice cream sandwich because you can't change kernels. The DRM keys are what is used to encrypt the bootloader, so if you unlock the bootloader the keys are lost.
I need to return my phone and ive used the guide to reset my flash counter with triangle away (which was never tripped, just did it for piece of mind), then i used odin and used the stock kernel and stock image to reinstall back to stock. Everything passed but when i boot my phone up right under the samsung logo it still says custom with the unlock logo. How do i get rid of this so i can return my phone back to verizon?
EDIT***** So i re-rooted then installed ez-unlocker and locked the bootloader again. Then reinstalled stock image through odin and all is well now
shortguy088 said:
I need to return my phone and ive used the guide to reset my flash counter with triangle away (which was never tripped, just did it for piece of mind), then i used odin and used the stock kernel and stock image to reinstall back to stock. Everything passed but when i boot my phone up right under the samsung logo it still says custom with the unlock logo. How do i get rid of this so i can return my phone back to verizon?
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Try locking your bootloader with Ez-Unlock in the play store.
fr8cture said:
Try locking your bootloader with Ez-Unlock in the play store.
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My phones not rooted so i cant use the app.
I thought using Odin with the stock rom/kernel automatically locks the bootloader?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Jarredw said:
I thought using Odin with the stock rom/kernel automatically locks the bootloader?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
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I thought so as well but when I restarted my phone it still said custom. I tried to factory wipe data after I reflashed stock and still didn't work. So I dont know what happened
Tap'n
Wish i could help but i have no idea. I guess your gonna have to try your luck.
techgov8 said:
I thought so as well but when I restarted my phone it still said custom. I tried to factory wipe data after I reflashed stock and still didn't work. So I dont know what happened
Tap'n
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that means your bootloader is indeed locked...look around on the forums a bit! When the custom unlock screen is gone then your unlocked. I believe there is a guide in the dev section that explains this. :angel:
droidstyle said:
that means your bootloader is indeed locked...look around on the forums a bit! When the custom unlock screen is gone then your unlocked. I believe there is a guide in the dev section that explains this. :angel:
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Well when you first boot up a brand new phone it doesn't have the custom on the samsung screen and that's locked
Tap'n
Need to get rid of custom Samsung bootloader screen
techgov8 said:
Well when you first boot up a brand new phone it doesn't have the custom on the samsung screen and that's locked
Tap'n
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. I've tried all the guides and their bot working for me on my galaxy s4 d or s anyone know where I can find a step by step guide I'm a noon on rooting
garygnobriga said:
. I've tried all the guides and their bot working for me on my galaxy s4 d or s anyone know where I can find a step by step guide I'm a noon on rooting
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Wait hold up if you have an s4 why are you on the S3 forums? I am assuming you have at&t , T-Mobile or Sprint go to those threads as it makes much more sense to do that.
Hi, I'm just about to root root my N5. I had already 2 htc phones and i rooted them without problems. But now I'd like to know whether there is something I have to pay attention about more than on other phone or is the Nexus 5 in general a "easy to root" phone which doesn't brick often? And I'd also like to know whether the warranty restores when gettin the phone back to stock?
Nothing is harder to brick than a Nexus.
There is a flash counter that can be reset if you need to warranty the device.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Nexus is easy-street to root compared so other devices. Very hard to brick it unless you load a rom that is not compatible, obviously.
When you go back to stock you can re-lock the bootloader and as the above guy said reset the flash counter.
Hope this helps.
estallings15 said:
Nothing is harder to brick than a Nexus.
There is a flash counter that can be reset if you need to warranty the device.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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mistahseller said:
Nexus is easy-street to root compared so other devices. Very hard to brick it unless you load a rom that is not compatible, obviously.
When you go back to stock you can re-lock the bootloader and as the above guy said reset the flash counter.
Hope this helps.
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Thanks Guys for the quick replies! Helps me a lot! Do you know whether the bootloader status shows "locked" or "relocked" then ?
sGollSv said:
Thanks Guys for the quick replies! Helps me a lot! Do you know whether the bootloader status shows "locked" or "relocked" then ?
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There is an image of a padlock on the splash screen and also the lock status is listed in the bootloader. They change when you lock or unlock it. It's a simple fastboot command. This isn't an HTC. This is a Nexus. Whole different ball of wax.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
estallings15 said:
There is an image of a padlock on the splash screen and also the lock status is listed in the bootloader. They change when you lock or unlock it. It's a simple fastboot command. This isn't an HTC. This is a Nexus. Whole different ball of wax.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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So they won't recognize if I did already unlocked it ?
sGollSv said:
So they won't recognize if I did already unlocked it ?
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Reset the tamper flag and relock and no one will know the difference. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=47156064
jd1639 said:
Reset the tamper flag and relock and no one will know the difference. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=47156064
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Ok thank you, I'm gonna root it now
jd1639 said:
Reset the tamper flag and relock and no one will know the difference. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=47156064
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What he said.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
after unlocking make sure to boot the phone fully once before attempting to install a custom recovery or whatever.
meangreenie said:
after unlocking make sure to boot the phone fully once before attempting to install a custom recovery or whatever.
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and also to restart the bootloader, I remember I had something go awry when I loaded twrp but it was being goofy before I could go into it and that is the solution
OK.. here we go.. I bought my VERIZON M8 the day it was released. I came to this site, after having successfully put the viper Timon my DNA. Not exactly.new to this but I'm in a bit of a mess. I have tampered above unlocked on my bootloader screen and when I boot into the ROM I am using... A message flashes at the bottom saying for development use only and other legal stuff from HTC. What steps can I take to remove those? I have permanent s-off and weaksauce still installed. Is there a toolkit like for the m7 or am I missing something? Help is appreciated.
Joeymaz73 said:
OK.. here we go.. I bought my VERIZON M8 the day it was released. I came to this site, after having successfully put the viper Timon my DNA. Not exactly.new to this but I'm in a bit of a mess. I have tampered above unlocked on my bootloader screen and when I boot into the ROM I am using... A message flashes at the bottom saying for development use only and other legal stuff from HTC. What steps can I take to remove those? I have permanent s-off and weaksauce still installed. Is there a toolkit like for the m7 or am I missing something? Help is appreciated.
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I see a message about "Development use only for HTC" or whatever when booting into the bootloader (or recovery...or both...I can't remember), but it doesn't affect anything. Is that what you're referring to? Also, remove Weaksauce like the S-Off instructions told you to do.
And what exactly is this "mess" you're in? If a message flashes across your screen and then your phone finishes booting into the ROM, that doesn't exactly sound like a mess to me...
sfreemanoh said:
I see a message about "Development use only for HTC" or whatever when booting into the bootloader (or recovery...or both...I can't remember), but it doesn't affect anything. Is that what you're referring to? Also, remove Weaksauce like the S-Off instructions told you to do.
And what exactly is this "mess" you're in? If a message flashes across your screen and then your phone finishes booting into the ROM, that doesn't exactly sound like a mess to me...
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I guess I'm just ocd. I dont like seeing those messages if i dont have to.I had originally. Removed weaksauce.. but put it back on when the permanent. Root didn't take effect properly. Is everyone seeing tampered? If not I'd prefer to be able to get rid of it as well.
Joeymaz73 said:
I guess I'm just ocd. I dont like seeing those messages if i dont have to.I had originally. Removed weaksauce.. but put it back on when the permanent. Root didn't take effect properly. Is everyone seeing tampered? If not I'd prefer to be able to get rid of it as well.
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If flashing the superuser zip didn't work correctly for you, that's an issue you should probably look into...
Like I said, I don't see it say "tampered", I just see the "This build is for development purposes only" message when I boot into recovery. You're sure you see it when booting normally into the ROM itself?
sfreemanoh said:
If flashing the superuser zip didn't work correctly for you, that's an issue you should probably look into...
Like I said, I don't see it say "tampered", I just see the "This build is for development purposes only" message when I boot into recovery. You're sure you see it when booting normally into the ROM itself?
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go here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2709976
kwkw480 said:
go here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2709976
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Yeah, but unless if he also flashed a custom boot.img (or a ROM that has a custom boot.img included), or is actually booting into recovery when he sees it, he shouldn't be seeing it when he boots into the ROM itself.
Edit: I just misread the OP, apparently he may be using a custom ROM, I didn't notice that before.
sfreemanoh said:
Yeah, but unless if he also flashed a custom boot.img (or a ROM that has a custom boot.img included), or is actually booting into recovery when he sees it, he shouldn't be seeing it when he boots into the ROM itself.
Edit: I just misread the OP, apparently he may be using a custom ROM, I didn't notice that before.
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Sorry Guys, I should have told you which ROM I had flashed to.. SKYFALL★| |►1.12.605.11◄|4.4.2|VZW||ODEX/DEODEX||►1.2◄|April.10. I'll follow the directions pointed to in the thread above when I get home.. Still leaves me with "tampered" when I boot into recovery or bootloader.
kwkw480 said:
go here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2709976
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Ok.. That zip file, for the red letters worked great. thank you..
after a bunch of searching.. I found this..http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2708565
thanks for everyone's help. I appreciate everything you do.
Or you can go here where there are a variety of options including making your phone look like it is still s-on
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2710503
Thanks for that tool page. I love learning new things about these phones. 20 years I've just been a PC guy.. learning how to do some of this can be tricky. Thank goodness for this forum and the people on it.
So I have always rooted my phones in the past.
I rooted my Samsung Galaxy S2 because well, it needed KitKat and Samsung is lame...
Now I am faced with the decision to root or not to root. My N5 is awesome it has Full support and is the raw experience I want, rooting would let me have a little more fun in the way of mods and tweaks, but all the problems everyone seems to be having is kinda putting me off so I guess I just need help.
Also there is a difference between unlocking boot loader and rooting, does the unlocking void warranty?
All guides and info threads are linked in my signature and will answer almost all your questions
I'm not sure of all these "problems" you're referring to. Basically, idiots have the most problems. Normal people don't really have any
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk < Yes, I want you to know that I'm using a mobile client
rootSU said:
Basically, idiots have the most problems. Normal people don't really have any
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this. i have been rooted since day one and have ZERO problems.
I think this: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=54746284&postcount=8
Applies here too, what do you think, @rootSU?
Right. Root doesn't modify files that can cause an issue assuming you're doing it right. I'd highly recommend NOT using a toolkit and rooting yourself and unlocking the bootloader yourself, it assures nothing goes wrong and you get some experience.
rootSU's guide are a treasure trove of information, take a looksie.
unlocking the bootloader lets you flash a custom recovery to flash things, it has nothing to do with root. you can flash any roms or kernels you want, without root. all root does is give you permission to change system files. and you would flash the root zip in your new recovery once you unlock the bootloader.
simms22 said:
unlocking the bootloader lets you flash a custom recovery to flash things, it has nothing to do with root. you can flash any roms or kernels you want, without root. all root does is give you permission to change system files. and you would flash the root zip in your new recovery once you unlock the bootloader.
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So would unlocking the boot loader void the warranty?
Spectrys said:
So would unlocking the boot loader void the warranty?
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depending on who you bought it from, yes and no. but anyways, you can lock the bootloader after as well, easily. generally, google will still except warrenty if the bootloader is unlocked for any hardware issue. other companies will void the warrenty, including LG. but again, it can be relocked
simms22 said:
depending on who you bought it from, yes and no. but anyways, you can lock the bootloader after as well, easily. generally, google will still except warrenty if the bootloader is unlocked for any hardware issue. other companies will void the warrenty, including LG. but again, it can be relocked
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So would unlocking allow me to do things like mods, such as rings and boot screens?
Sorry kinda new to boot loaders.
Spectrys said:
So would unlocking allow me to do things like mods, such as rings and boot screens?
Sorry kinda new to boot loaders.
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yup. anything that needs to be flashed will go through your custom recovery, which needs an unlocked boitloader to get flashed onto your device. then youll use that recovery to flash things, and make backups.
Spectrys said:
So would unlocking allow me to do things like mods, such as rings and boot screens?
Sorry kinda new to boot loaders.
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Unlocking the bootloader is a requirement in order to use a custom recovery. And most mods are installed by flashable zips in recovery. So yes kind of required.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
Awesome! You guys are great I am going to unlock later today or tomorrow.
Now next question the ota updates will I be able to install those if I keep stock with an unlocked boot loader?
Spectrys said:
Awesome! You guys are great I am going to unlock later today or tomorrow.
Now next question the ota updates will I be able to install those if I keep stock with an unlocked boot loader?
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If you click the link in my signature, theres a thread about ota. All guides and info is there. Every question you've asked today is answered there
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk < Yes, I want you to know that I'm using a mobile client
Pretty sure you told me that earlier, thanks.
Looking at it now.
Spectrys said:
Pretty sure you told me that earlier, thanks.
Looking at it now.
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Yepp. Loads of good stuff there
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk < Yes, I want you to know that I'm using a mobile client
sure
root is best thing to do . just root and install custom kernel
MohamedHusseinMohamed said:
root is best thing to do . just root and install custom kernel
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you do not need root to install custom kernels
all you need root for is to change system files. well, that's all root does, is give you permission.
Spectrys said:
So I have always rooted my phones in the past.
I rooted my Samsung Galaxy S2 because well, it needed KitKat and Samsung is lame...
Now I am faced with the decision to root or not to root. My N5 is awesome it has Full support and is the raw experience I want, rooting would let me have a little more fun in the way of mods and tweaks, but all the problems everyone seems to be having is kinda putting me off so I guess I just need help.
Also there is a difference between unlocking boot loader and rooting, does the unlocking void warranty?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You have to unlock the boot loader in order to root. Personally at this time I would not root because of android L around the corner. With rooting, you can longer receive ota's. Yes it fun to tweak but if I were in your position I wouldn't....
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
dec1153 said:
With rooting, you can longer receive ota's.
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Not true. You can receive OTA's if rooted (read the OTA help-desk thread) However, what's the big deal about OTA's?
1) You can get a rooted rom flashed based on the latest build BEFORE you get the OTA
2) Much less to go wrong that way than with OTA.
I think too many people put too much importance in OTA updates. Its a poor method of delivery and not even quick
rootSU said:
Not true. You can receive OTA's if rooted (read the OTA help-desk thread) However, what's the big deal about OTA's?
1) You can get a rooted rom flashed based on the latest build BEFORE you get the OTA
2) Much less to go wrong that way than with OTA.
I think too many people put too much importance in OTA updates. Its a poor method of delivery and not even quick
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Click to collapse
Personally, I think that if you don't know how to update manually and are completely reliant on OTAs, then you shouldn't have root access in the first place because you don't know what you're doing.