Related
Hey guys. Just got this phone yesterday. Rooted and unlocked the bootloader last night. Love the phone! I wake up this morning to an OTA update request. I haven't installed any recovery yet. I'm on a 926 and the phone is running 4.1.2.... Honestly, I haven't figured out how to install a recovery yet. I don't want to brick this thing on day 2. I've done quite a bit of stuff and I realize now I need to get more educated before I screw something up. Heck I haven't even taken the time to understand the difference between the 925 and 926. So will it hurt anything taking the OTA?
It's not worth it to take it. Better off going with a custom rom.
Sent from my PACMAN MATRIX HD MAXX
So I guess I need to work on installing a custom recovery.. Just curious, what is wrong with the OTA update?
jeph0r3 said:
So I guess I need to work on installing a custom recovery.. Just curious, what is wrong with the OTA update?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The OTA disables the hack that allows you to unlock the bootloader, but from everything I read if you have already unlocked the bootloader then you have nothing to worry about. It is still recommended to use a root keeper before taking the OTA update. The big advantage of the OTA is update radio drivers (better GPS, etc.)
OK, so, I'm rooted, unlocked, have rootkeeper installed and enabled, made a backup. If I take the OTA, can I get back to where I am now with my phone. I looked at each of the roms and they look OK.. Kinda happy with stock right now...
jeph0r3 said:
OK, so, I'm rooted, unlocked, have rootkeeper installed and enabled, made a backup. If I take the OTA, can I get back to where I am now with my phone. I looked at each of the roms and they look OK.. Kinda happy with stock right now...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The stock is surprisingly okay from Motorola (once you freeze the Verizon bloatware), but I really enjoy having 4.2.2 (dashclock widget alone makes it worth the upgrade), customizable lockscreen (I was using WidgetLocker but it's never as smooth as built in), and the phablet UI with the quick settings panel. Have I tempted you enough to try a ROM? Also, stock icons and not the ugly Moto icons!
bananapeapod said:
The stock is surprisingly okay from Motorola (once you freeze the Verizon bloatware), but I really enjoy having 4.2.2 (dashclock widget alone makes it worth the upgrade), customizable lockscreen (I was using WidgetLocker but it's never as smooth as built in), and the phablet UI with the quick settings panel. Have I tempted you enough to try a ROM? Also, stock icons and not the ugly Moto icons!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
care to save me some time and let me know which is your favorite ROM so far? I'll end up trying a few just curious
jeph0r3 said:
care to save me some time and let me know which is your favorite ROM so far? I'll end up trying a few just curious
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've really only spent time with CM10.1 and have been very happy... a friend of mine has been going through the ROMs and he was excited about AOKP but now he's switching to Liquid can't remember why, some problems. From what I understand the CM ROM is likely to become official and that would be great so you can get the advantages of a fairly large eco system and constant development. Feel free to play around and try a ROM with halo (Pacman, Xenon, and some others seem to have it integrated) it looks really cool, but I'm not sure I would use it all the time.
@jeph0r3
So on Sunday, I made the mistake of "checking" to see if there was software update. There was. I did not want to update the phone, because I knew there was a good chance there was a root and unlock method out there for the current software version and wanted to investigate further. My only option was to "download now" or "download later" 12 hours.
12 hours came and went and I did not have the option to stop it. So I put it in WiFi mode and connected it to one of my WAPs that doesn't have internet access, which put a stop to the download. I did find a root/unlock method and went forward with it. Then the next question, what will happen when the download completes?
After rooting/unlocking the phone, I let the download complete, hoping that I didn't have to apply it. I got the option to postpone it once, but then it basically forced me. BegrudgingIy, I let it go before I could figure out a suitable root-keeper. Let me know what you use if you take the OTA and manage to keep root.
When it came back up after applying the patch, it seems I no longer have root access, but at least I have an unlocked bootloader so I can push ROMs if I want. I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before Dan Rosenberg figures out a way around the new OTA patches. He has a reputation around here of being a Android ninja!
Can you get a custom recovery installed? You could flash a super user zip then.
Sent from my PACMAN MATRIX HD MAXX
erikoink said:
@jeph0r3
So on Sunday, I made the mistake of "checking" to see if there was software update. There was. I did not want to update the phone, because I knew there was a good chance there was a root and unlock method out there for the current software version and wanted to investigate further. My only option was to "download now" or "download later" 12 hours.
12 hours came and went and I did not have the option to stop it. So I put it in WiFi mode and connected it to one of my WAPs that doesn't have internet access, which put a stop to the download. I did find a root/unlock method and went forward with it. Then the next question, what will happen when the download completes?
After rooting/unlocking the phone, I let the download complete, hoping that I didn't have to apply it. I got the option to postpone it once, but then it basically forced me. BegrudgingIy, I let it go before I could figure out a suitable root-keeper. Let me know what you use if you take the OTA and manage to keep root.
When it came back up after applying the patch, it seems I no longer have root access, but at least I have an unlocked bootloader so I can push ROMs if I want. I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before Dan Rosenberg figures out a way around the new OTA patches. He has a reputation around here of being a Android ninja!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you flash a custom recovery through fastboot, you can then flash a super user zip using the custom recovery. No need to wait for a hack to the ota.
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using xda premium
With an unlocked boot loader you have a lot of options, way to get the update from applying!
The craziest thing is that I'm really enjoying stock on the moto. Guys I have run every rom in the business. I've had the OG, the Droid X, NeXuS and a Razr, and now finally the RAZR HD.. I must say, I have had no lag, great connection and I've yet to find anything the phone has let me down on... I'm confused as to why this phone hasn't taken off!.. Have I forgotten to mention tha ti has an unlocked bootloader? Whats the deal?? I have not taken the OTA but I have gotten a message about it every 12 hours.. I know there is a way you can RSD back to the stock if you want it erikoink..
I may take the OTA.. If its better than this Stock Rom.. I'd be crazy not to
How do you like it erikoink????
I took the update without unrooting and used voodoo to restore it. I also had to install superuser then uninstalled it and supersu worked as normal.
No big changes with the update. The messages app doesn't display an incorrect unread message count which is nice.
I was a crack flasher with the gnex. But like you said, the phone just works. The only reason I unlocked my bootloader and rooted was to tinker with display resolution for an atrix lapdock.
I also don't know why the phone hasn't taken off. The lack of cases is irritating but I deal with it.
Been using my phone since March. Only important thing to remember is to restart the phone every few days or it looses some of its snap.
I decided to install "one power guard" but it's not really making that big of a difference. At first I was able to make it 2 days between charges and get almost 7 hours of screen on time. Now I can go a day and a half. I only have used a car charger three times and ALWAYS use the stock charger. Too risky.
This phone basically performs like my galaxy nexus but gets great battery life. I might get the note 3 in September but only if my battery life worsens.
Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX HD
jeph0r3 said:
I've had the OG, the Droid X, NeXuS and a Razr, and now finally the RAZR HD..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
jfriend33 said:
Been using my phone since March...
I might get the note 3 in September but only if my battery life worsens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you guys afford to upgrade so often?! Do you have family plans and steal upgrades?
bananapeapod said:
How do you guys afford to upgrade so often?! Do you have family plans and steal upgrades?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I actually have been lucky on my upgrades. I had the Original Droid, I flashed sooooo many roms on it that it started getting buggy. Found a Droid X for 200 and snatched it up.. When my contract was up for the Orig Droid, I got the NeXus.. The volume on it was so bad that I couldn't stand it, so I went back to Verizon and traded it in on the Rezound. It was an AWESOME phone.. It has/had some GREAT devs.. I then found a Droid RAZR HD on craigslist because I will not upgrade and lose my unlimited data.. If I lose my unlimited on Verizon, it will be because they make me. I will then go to another provider as I am really pissed with VZW about this...
I freaking love this RAZR HD.. Might be my favorite phone so far.. Not sure why it doesn't have more Developers and ports....
bananapeapod said:
How do you guys afford to upgrade so often?! Do you have family plans and steal upgrades?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, 2 smartphones with grandfathered unlimited data, and 3 feature phones. Why on earth people with a similar setup would blow an upgrade on a feature phone is beyond me.
I'm sure this won't go on forever though.
My razr maxx hd was purchased at full retail but was then reimbursed because my phone at the time was damaged and did not have a comparable replacement available.
I find it completely hysterical that verizons new upgrade payment plan called edge is only for share everything plans. BS!
Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX HD
jfriend33 said:
Yes, 2 smartphones with grandfathered unlimited data, and 3 feature phones. Why on earth people with a similar setup would blow an upgrade on a feature phone is beyond me.
I'm sure this won't go on forever though.
My razr maxx hd was purchased at full retail but was then reimbursed because my phone at the time was damaged and did not have a comparable replacement available.
I find it completely hysterical that verizons new upgrade payment plan called edge is only for share everything plans. BS!
Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Verizon loves you.
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 4 Beta
mentose457 said:
Verizon loves you.
Sent from my DROID RAZR HD using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's a love hate relationship. Verizon is very inconsistent with their CS. If I ever have a problem I basically prep myself to make 5 calls.
Sent from my DROID RAZR MAXX HD
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 have an S3 right now, that has an unlocked bootloader, and is rooted. I'm getting tired of the S3, and would like to get an upgrade. The S5 is totally locked down, so that's not an option, since I want an unlocked bootloader. From what I've read, I can unlock and root the M8, but will I be happy with the phone coming from a Samsung?
lennie paz said:
I have an S3 right now, that has an unlocked bootloader, and is rooted. I'm getting tired of the S3, and would like to get an upgrade. The S5 is totally locked down, so that's not an option, since I want an unlocked bootloader. From what I've read, I can unlock and root the M8, but will I be happy with the phone coming from a Samsung?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I love the M8, but there is a root method for the S5.
http://m.ibtimes.com/geohot-towelroot-exploit-roots-galaxy-s5-devices-att-verizon-1602368
brholt6 said:
I love the M8, but there is a root method for the S5.
http://m.ibtimes.com/geohot-towelroot-exploit-roots-galaxy-s5-devices-att-verizon-1602368
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Root yes, unlocked bootloader, no.
lennie paz said:
Root yes, unlocked bootloader, no.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep, thats why I only mentioned root. I didn't know if you were aware that you could at least get root access. That would make me assume they're looking for another exploit, though. Anyways, the M8 is a great phone. Sense is a lot less cartoonish than Touchwiz in my opinion.
lennie paz said:
I have an S3 right now, that has an unlocked bootloader, and is rooted. I'm getting tired of the S3, and would like to get an upgrade. The S5 is totally locked down, so that's not an option, since I want an unlocked bootloader. From what I've read, I can unlock and root the M8, but will I be happy with the phone coming from a Samsung?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's quite a change coming from TouchWiz to Sense at first, you might even at the first look of it think you made a mistake as I thought I did but I ended up loving mine after using it for an hour. First time I played a song with this phone my mind was blown and it was sold to me LOL, absolutely stunning! & if you don't like Sense you can just flash an AOSP ROM which is as far as I know, normal non themed Android. I highly expect you to like it after a bit of use though, I tried an AOSP ROM few days ago and couldn't stand the lack of double tap to wake or some of the other Sense features I had gotten used to and came to love. But yeah anyways I came from an S4 and switched because the bootloader was locked and I'm very satisfied with my M8, maybe just because my bootloader was once locked for an eternity but still, great phone and one hell of a blast!
S1L3nTShaDoWz said:
It's quite a change coming from TouchWiz to Sense at first, you might even at the first look of it think you made a mistake as I thought I did but I ended up loving mine after using it for an hour. First time I played a song with this phone my mind was blown and it was sold to me LOL, absolutely stunning! & if you don't like Sense you can just flash an AOSP ROM which is as far as I know, normal non themed Android. I highly expect you to like it after a bit of use though, I tried an AOSP ROM few days ago and couldn't stand the lack of double tap to wake or some of the other Sense features I had gotten used to and came to love. But yeah anyways I came from an S4 and switched because the bootloader was locked and I'm very satisfied with my M8, maybe just because my bootloader was once locked for an eternity but still, great phone and one hell of a blast!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a Droid Incredible 2 back in the day, and I was fine with Sense, so that shouldn't be an issue. I thought I had an upgrade available, but one if my kids must have used it. Our next upgrade isn't until Nov, so I guess I have to wait.
I just did the swap today. Not going to look back to Samsung for a while. This phone is sweet!
My girlfriend has the S5 and I have the M8. They are both great phones and there are things about the S5 I wished the M8 had but I am more than happy with my M8. I don't like the touchwiz UI. That's for sure.
Sent from my HTC6525LVW using XDA Free mobile app
I came from the S3. I do not like Samsung, but the S3 was okay. It just had a bad radio. Samsung only let US Cellular upgrade so many, and US Cellular basically decided which accounts they could afford to lose, and replaced those accounts' S3s. Mine was one they decided they could lose. And they did. Now I have an M8.
First thing you're gonna notice, it's a taller phone. The screen is not noticeably bigger, but the body is taller. The speakers, front camera, and the HTC vanity bar all add to the height. No Home button in front (this isn't a second-rate iPhone clone, LOL) and the Power button is on the TOP. Yeah, have fun with that if you don't have large hands.
Second, it's slippery. Metal comes with a price, and your phone sliding out of your hand is your price. Once you've wooed all your friends with your shiny new metal phone, put a case on it. Or at least a wrap. You WILL need a case if you want to use a FlyGrip with it. Not many do but I do, so I thought I'd point that out. I like the kickstand aspect. My M8 is standing next to my keyboard. Looks amazing on my desk. Also holding it with the FlyGrip (which should be positioned below the HTC logo, and above the bottom strip—no more Verizon 4G LTE logo!) the top button is easier to hit.
No more removable battery. You can break the connection to the battery by holding all three buttons (Volume up, volume down, and power) for 10-15 seconds. I've had to do this a few times.
The M8 can be rooted, but there are extra steps. HTC uses a feature called S-On to protect the bootloader (HBOOT). So you need to temp root (via an app called weaksauce), gain S-Off, flash a recovery, flash SuperSU, then remove weaksauce. Don't follow my instructions; instead look for the thread on it. And on top of all that HTC locks the system directory. The stock/rooted ROM takes care of that for you, but it can be an annoyance. Like you can't use AdAway because it wants to write to system, and AdAway won't mount system as r/w. One solution I have found is, install Xposed, and that mounts system as r/w. When Xposed wants to reboot, switch to AdAway and let it do its thing. It will succeed. THEN reboot. But only the stock ROM you root yourself has this problem. There's a stock rooted ROM that has this dealt with. And then there's CleanROM which I haven't tried yet, but it's basically, as I understand it, the stock/rooted ROM but with a lot of the crap taken out.
TouchWiz is... okay, "If you can't say something nice don't say anything at all." So I will just say it is not a nice OS. Sense is very elegant, but limited. BlinkFeed is cool if you like the news feed thing. I personally don't. I'd rather just go to the sites I read in my browser. I don't need a feed built into my launcher. But at this point, I actually prefer Sense to the AOSP-alike ROMs. Sense works. The AOSP-alike ROMs, at this point... don't. They have various issues that you may or may not want to live with. But I'm not knocking any developer—I am sure they are all working hard to give you the best experience. Just keep in mind that this is a 3-month old device. Right now everything is wild, wild west in terms of development. The best ROMs are Sense-based because that's what's stable. That said, we do have a GPE (Google Play Edition) port and that's what I'm running now. I opted for stock everything in the Aroma installer and it's not 100% stock (the original is made by a team called SkyDragon, and they put some of their branding in it) but for the most part it's turned my M8 into a Nexus phone. And stock Android is really cool. But it's not without its faults. For example it handed over the audio from Poweramp to a call, but when the call was done, it crashed and I needed to three-finger-salute it back to life. That's not uncommon.
I think the Galaxy S3 was more stable on the software side, but then again I did not own one until ~11 months after release. And then waited a month to get into custom ROMs. When this phone's development community gets strong, I think we'll have it real, real good.
Oh, and about the speakers, yes they are as awesome as you think, but they won't blow your mind like a car stereo or boom box. Maybe a $30 Walmart CD player. But for a phone, that's impressive. Just my opinion, but polyphonic ringtones still sound the best. Search Zedge for "8 bit" and see what comes up. I have the Game of Thrones intro rendered in MIDI for my ringtone. There are two I've heard. I'm using the good one. For my wife, I'm using a MIDI render of the Shingeki no Kyojin (Attack on Titan) theme. It's really good. Sounds amazing with these speakers. But I'm old school, I think a ringtone should be a ringtone and not a part of a song. I don't think any small speakers have the range to appreciate music. But maybe I'm just a snob. I want to watch a movie on mine, and see what that is like.
Anyway, the S3 is a 2 year old phone now. If you get good signal on yours, you don't really need to trade up. It runs KitKat just fine. It's gonna get L, at least unofficially if not officially. But if you want the new shiny, in my opinion the M8 is the best Android smartphone on the market right now. The 3GB G3 might beat it, but I think that QHD screen will work against it in terms of battery life. The M8, by the way, has excellent battery life.
So..just before I pull the trigger on the m8. Would you guys say I'd be making a wise choice staying with Verizon if they'll give me the 6gb deal for coming off unlimited data. I don't need unlimited. WiFi is fine for me. It's either that deal or I jump ship and try another carrier with a nexus 5. I'm leaning towards the m8. Is there a chance that Verizon will lock it down like they did the s3? I have had the s3 since released and its unlocked and everything but my power button is wonky now. Opinions please!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
silver04v said:
So..just before I pull the trigger on the m8. Would you guys say I'd be making a wise choice staying with Verizon if they'll give me the 6gb deal for coming off unlimited data. I don't need unlimited. WiFi is fine for me. It's either that deal or I jump ship and try another carrier with a nexus 5. I'm leaning towards the m8. Is there a chance that Verizon will lock it down like they did the s3? I have had the s3 since released and its unlocked and everything but my power button is wonky now. Opinions please!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually I think the Firewater exploit was fixed on the newer M8's...not sure but I think so? Ask around and confirm whether I'm right or wrong before you buy it though. Got that information from 2 separate places and multiple people who have brand new ones saying it's not working.
S1L3nTShaDoWz said:
Actually I think the Firewater exploit was fixed on the newer M8's...not sure but I think so? Ask around and confirm whether I'm right or wrong before you buy it though. Got that information from 2 separate places and multiple people who have brand new ones saying it's not working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might be right. I got my red one a week and a half ago and was able to use weaksauce and firewater. It's on the latest firmware too. I haven't updated it at all.
Edit: I'm on hboot version 3.16 which should have been what the phone came on.
So what does that mean exactly? I wouldn't be able to unlock it or root?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
silver04v said:
So what does that mean exactly? I wouldn't be able to unlock it or root?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be able to. S-off, unlock and root.
brholt6 said:
You should be able to. S-off, unlock and root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so confused now. haha at first he said I might not be able to cause of a new boot loader. but you're saying I should be ok? I seen there's a new thing called sunshine?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
silver04v said:
so confused now. haha at first he said I might not be able to cause of a new boot loader. but you're saying I should be ok? I seen there's a new thing called sunshine?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I just got mine a week an a half ago. I used Weaksauce and Firewater to s-off and unlock. I don't see why it wouldn't work for you unless there's a new hboot I don't know about. But one from Verizon probably wouldn't be updated
Ok. Think I'm going for it. Looks like there's a purchasable apk sunshine for soff on the new one if I'm reading right..idk this will be my first HTC device. Its a bit different than im used to.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 02:57 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:56 AM ----------
brholt6 said:
I just got mine a week an a half ago. I used Weaksauce and Firewater to s-off and unlock. I don't see why it wouldn't work for you unless there's a new hboot I don't know about. But one from Verizon probably wouldn't be updated
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
how can I know if it has the boot loader that is unlockable with the weak sauce and firewater?
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
silver04v said:
So..just before I pull the trigger on the m8. Would you guys say I'd be making a wise choice staying with Verizon if they'll give me the 6gb deal for coming off unlimited data. I don't need unlimited. WiFi is fine for me. It's either that deal or I jump ship and try another carrier with a nexus 5. I'm leaning towards the m8. Is there a chance that Verizon will lock it down like they did the s3? I have had the s3 since released and its unlocked and everything but my power button is wonky now. Opinions please!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the s3 since the day it came out and loved it. I decided to switch mainly for the updated modem. It made a huge difference I went from getting on average 15 down and 10 up to averaging 35 ish down and 20 ish up it changes day to day but never goes below 25 now. Outside of metropolis il close to were I live I hit 58 down and 32 up. The pping however didn't change and it holds at 70 most days for that reason alone it was worth it for me to make the switch. Granted I live in a low population area so that makes a big difference. The buttons take a lot of getting used to. I do like the double tap to wake up it makes up for having to hit the top of the phone to wake the screen. I don't really care for the BlinkFeed myself but I have nothing go wrong with it. My battery life lasts about 12 hours but I am always on my phone if I'm not on my phone I have my hotspot on for my laptop. As for upgrading with Verizon I skipped it all together and just bought the phone outright to keep my unlimited contract. It is well worth doing in my opinion. But like I said I use my phone a lot and there has been moths that I go over 6 gigs. Over all I like the m8 a lot better than the gs3. After a week of having it you get used to the button layout....Although I still have problems trying to hit the spacebar and hitting the home button instead.
I'm a little conflicted with this as I actually like the v20. Who else is going to be returning the phone if we can't get a root method? I've tried to consider keeping it, even without, but I absolutely hate ads.
For those in the know, how is it looking? What are the prospects? I've kept up with the dev threads and I'm not sure how to judge this. I'm new to the LG dev scene.
codman2728 said:
I'm a little conflicted with this as I actually like the v20. Who else is going to be returning the phone if we can't get a root method? I've tried to consider keeping it, even without, but I absolutely hate ads.
For those in the know, how is it looking? What are the prospects? I've kept up with the dev threads and I'm not sure how to judge this. I'm new to the LG dev scene.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with you bro....
Thanks
netgar said:
I'm with you bro....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's even worse is that if there is something discovered it seems it will be very close or after the return period in my case. But I guess those are the cards!
the phone hasn't even been officially released yet. honestly you just need to relax a little. we know the bootloader can be unlocked on the t-mobile variant. so hopefully root will soon follow. but seriously you just need to give the devs some time to spend some time with the phone. with that being said even if they aren't able to get root i am still keeping my v20. i love it. way better than when i had the note 7
probablecauzdnb said:
the phone hasn't even been officially released yet. honestly you just need to relax a little. we know the bootloader can be unlocked on the t-mobile variant. so hopefully root will soon follow. but seriously you just need to give the devs some time to spend some time with the phone. with that being said even if they aren't able to get root i am still keeping my v20. i love it. way better than when i had the note 7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not worked up. They have all the time in the world to work on it, no rush. I'm the one who is rushed. And I don't expect them to go any faster than they can. I'd be just fine in going back to my Note 5, but I'd rather not if I don't have to. It's nice to have a change. If I could help the devs I would.
Even if it doesnt get rooted, i will keep it, at least for 8 month or more. On ther other hand, i truly hope they manage to root not only Tmobile's variant (I own the tmobile's variant), but also at least 3 or 4 of the other variants. That way we can have more devs interested and joining the LG V20 Wagon . When a device's bootloader is unlocked only for 1 variant and locked for the others and if root is not achieved in the locked variants, then there are significantly less development on the phone, since only the variant able to be rooted will be truely open for developments, and the other devs in other variants would say "Meh" i skip it.
I would love root as well, I've been rooting my phones since the HTC 3G slide days. And along the way I've accumulated many apps that are a must have for me. That said, I think the features and functionality of this phone outweighs those must have apps. I could 'enjoy' this phone without root.
As far as if root with for sure be coming to this device? That's anyone's guess, it could take as long as a few months to acquire a real solution to root. There is also the development aspect of this to consider as well. While we will have people devoted to getting root and attempting to make ROM's/mods, Android N is brand new.
It's a toss up if we'll see root, than it's a question of how much development we'll see once a root solution has been found. So basically one need to ask themselves if attaining root solution is really necessary in keeping this phone. I personally see stock LG very pleasant to play with.
joseguillen1994 said:
Even if it doesnt get rooted, i will keep it, at least for 8 month or more. On ther other hand, i truly hope they manage to root not only Tmobile's variant (I own the tmobile's variant), but also at least 3 or 4 of the other variants. That way we can have more devs interested and joining the LG V20 Wagon . When a device's bootloader is unlocked only for 1 variant and locked for the others and if root is not achieved in the locked variants, then there are significantly less development on the phone, since only the variant able to be rooted will be truely open for developments, and the other devs in other variants would say "Meh" i skip it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I agree, I would love to see an unlocked bootloader for all carriers. That is the primary reason I am with Tmobile. I can't stand being deprived simple filesystem access to my own device. But in this case, I'd be just fine with just root if the devs don't jump on board. I mean I love flashing custom roms, but this stock rom is great (for once). I just want adaway!!!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the Pixel has been rooted yet either. And since there are only two devices out now that have shipped with both Nougat, and the duplicated system partition for background updates, there remains quite of but of work to get SuperSU working.
aaldiar said:
I would love root as well, I've been rooting my phones since the HTC 3G slide days. And along the way I've accumulated many apps that are a must have for me. That said, I think the features and functionality of this phone outweighs those must have apps. I could 'enjoy' this phone without root.
As far as if root with for sure be coming to this device? That's anyone's guess, it could take as long as a few months to acquire a real solution to root. There is also the development aspect of this to consider as well. While we will have people devoted to getting root and attempting to make ROM's/mods, Android N is brand new.
It's a toss up if we'll see root, than it's a question of how much development we'll see once a root solution has been found. So basically one need to ask themselves if attaining root solution is really necessary in keeping this phone. I personally see stock LG very pleasant to play with.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm a little later than that. I think my first root was the HTC Evo. I agree that for once the stock experience here is pretty satisfying. I could deal with it, if I could only get rid of all those ads. I just can't do it. Pop ups and junk everywhere throughout the whole OS. I haven't seen an ad is so long I'm a little shell shocked.
I expected it to be a toss up with Android N. I knew this might happen, but we always hope for the best.
codman2728 said:
I agree, I would love to see an unlocked bootloader for all carriers. That is the primary reason I am with Tmobile. I can't stand being deprived simple filesystem access to my own device. But in this case, I'd be just fine with just root if the devs don't jump on board. I mean I love flashing custom roms, but this stock rom is great (for once). I just want adaway!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Heck yeah!! I need adaway! And slim pie, and greenify, and TITANIUM BACKUP (GOD! ) , and a couple of things more. also, i would love for lg to create many themes and then they can keep updating them and make them compatible with future devices so that it doesnt stop just in few months. Also to add more options to the second screen such as display notifications entirely one by one. I wonder if LG has a page to send suggestions and feeback . I would make LG V20 the greatest device ever LOL!
NotATreoFan said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the Pixel has been rooted yet either. And since there are only two devices out now that have shipped with both Nougat, and the duplicated system partition for background updates, there remains quite of but of work to get SuperSU working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
These are the days I wish I was an Android dev. This is the kind of challenge in programming that is usually fun. Brand new territory.
codman2728 said:
I'm a little conflicted with this as I actually like the v20. Who else is going to be returning the phone if we can't get a root method? I've tried to consider keeping it, even without, but I absolutely hate ads.
For those in the know, how is it looking? What are the prospects? I've kept up with the dev threads and I'm not sure how to judge this. I'm new to the LG dev scene.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What are you going to get if this isn't able to be rooted? The options are few.
joseguillen1994 said:
Heck yeah!! I need adaway! And slim pie, and greenify, and TITANIUM BACKUP (GOD! ) , and a couple of things more. also, i would love for lg to create many themes and then they can keep updating them and make them compatible with future devices so that it doesnt stop just in few months. Also to add more options to the second screen such as display notifications entirely one by one. I wonder if LG has a page to send suggestions and feeback . I would make LG V20 the greatest device ever LOL!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah Titanium Backup would have been extremely helpful! I find that I didn't install half the backed up apps though, so that's something. I guess I didn't need a lot of that junk. LOL I'm usually first in on Viper4Android as well, but for once I don't think that it is a necessity. I haven't even played with themes yet. Thanks for reminding me. Second screen is surprisingly useful. I love flipping through songs on spotify with the screen off. I also love how you can see the full notification text there sometimes, instead of it being broken up line by line. I do find myself trying to pull down the drawer from there though, even when the phone is in landscape!
douger1957 said:
What are you going to get if this isn't able to be rooted? The options are few.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll probably just crawl back to my Note 5. The s-pen gets stuck sometimes, and the charge port is wonky, but it's like an old friend. The dev community for it seems to have dried up a bit though. But I'm ok using a solid daily driver rom with adaway and viper4android on that phone. I don't need to be a flashaholic anymore.
codman2728 said:
Yeah Titanium Backup would have been extremely helpful! I find that I didn't install half the backed up apps though, so that's something. I guess I didn't need a lot of that junk. LOL I'm usually first in on Viper4Android as well, but for once I don't think that it is a necessity. I haven't even played with themes yet. Thanks for reminding me. Second screen is surprisingly useful. I love flipping through songs on spotify with the screen off. I also love how you can see the full notification text there sometimes, instead of it being broken up line by line. I do find myself trying to pull down the drawer from there though, even when the phone is in landscape!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I couldnt install about 15 apps that required root, now i only have 35 apps (my apps, the others are system apps) Which is why my battery drain seems reasonable LOL i mean, im surprissed it last more than a day given the fact that many of my apps are constantly synchronizing and i leave gps on and do some camera shots and videos, and also am constantly turning it on and off to see notifications and all that, and play music. Today i did all that. And my battery is in 68% . I bet greenify could make it even better. BUT I NEED ADAWAY! Everytime i go to Chrome and go to some website that has many ads and pop-ups it annoys me that much. Im about to download another browser, I think firefox has the ability of addons in android . Also, there are some apps with ads too.
joseguillen1994 said:
I couldnt install about 15 apps that required root, now i only have 35 apps (my apps, the others are system apps) Which is why my battery drain seems reasonable LOL i mean, im surprissed it last more than a day given the fact that many of my apps are constantly synchronizing and i leave gps on and do some camera shots and videos, and also am constantly turning it on and off to see notifications and all that, and play music. Today i did all that. And my battery is in 68% . I bet greenify could make it even better. BUT I NEED ADAWAY! Everytime i go to Chrome and go to some website that has many ads and pop-ups it annoys me that much. Im about to download another browser, I think firefox has the ability of addons in android . Also, there are some apps with ads too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using Firefox now myself. It does support several ad blocking addons and seems to work pretty well.
NotATreoFan said:
I'm using Firefox now myself. It does support several ad blocking addons and seems to work pretty well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for confirming that. The sad part is that i cannot import all my information from chrome to mozilla. But well.. As a temporary measure, it is great! :good:
joseguillen1994 said:
I couldnt install about 15 apps that required root, now i only have 35 apps (my apps, the others are system apps) Which is why my battery drain seems reasonable LOL i mean, im surprissed it last more than a day given the fact that many of my apps are constantly synchronizing and i leave gps on and do some camera shots and videos, and also am constantly turning it on and off to see notifications and all that, and play music. Today i did all that. And my battery is in 68% . I bet greenify could make it even better. BUT I NEED ADAWAY! Everytime i go to Chrome and go to some website that has many ads and pop-ups it annoys me that much. Im about to download another browser, I think firefox has the ability of addons in android . Also, there are some apps with ads too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want to count. But with more than a dozen albums downloaded from Spotify, all my apps and media, my storage space is great with the stock 64GB and no SD. It's kind of mind blowing. Same here with the battery as well. I've been using it all day, listening to music, surfing the web, texting, youtube, etc. I'm still at 72 percent. It beats the Note 5 for sure.
NotATreoFan said:
I'm using Firefox now myself. It does support several ad blocking addons and seems to work pretty well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With not being able to block them system wide I'll have to start looking into things like this more. I love Firefox. It's all I use on PC. Great suggestion. Thanks!
I originally used the Dirty Santa routine on my Verizon VS995, so it remained on VS99513A for a couple of years. Had all manner of issues over time - apps "failing to respond", YouTube not displaying video but rather black screens, green-screen crashes, etc. Finally had enough and used the LGUP process to return to stock and unroot, of course. I probably (assuming, anyway) could have gone right to the latest Oreo firmware with LGUP, but decided to go to the stock version of VS99513A and then just do the many system updates to get current.
It's now happily sitting on Oreo, and knock on wood it's like having a new phone! It's so much smoother, YouTube is working, lol, battery life is an order of magnitude better and it's working like a phone should work. No one knows the future, of course, but today, I'm happy.
Just passing this along, but I've gone from being ready to trash this thing to being able to enjoy it again without worrying about having to dump some $$$ into something else.
I had originally rooted to get around the Verizon mobile-hotspot check, but I have an unlimited plan that includes it anyway, now, so that's no longer an issue.
Possible placebo effect...
A clean stock unrooted firmware may run smoother than a few custom roms, but not smoother than a rooted version of the exact same rom.
I wouldn't give up on root, even if the best ever unrootable phone was given to me for free (Ad-blocking being the primary reason)
Prowler_gr said:
Possible placebo effect...
A clean stock unrooted firmware may run smoother than a few custom roms, but not smoother than a rooted version of the exact same rom.
I wouldn't give up on root, even if the best ever unrootable phone was given to me for free (Ad-blocking being the primary reason)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Blokada DNS changer. Also working without root. All problems gone. :good: for me the main reason for root is to prevent screen retention. The sucked soooo hart. If there would be an option without root I would also go with an unrooted stock fw.
Prowler_gr said:
Possible placebo effect...
A clean stock unrooted firmware may run smoother than a few custom roms, but not smoother than a rooted version of the exact same rom.
I wouldn't give up on root, even if the best ever unrootable phone was given to me for free (Ad-blocking being the primary reason)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not even a close comparison in my case. Admittedly I'm on Oreo now and not the original Nougat the phone came with (and was rooted with), but it's literally a night and day difference. It wasn't just performance - it was extreme instability, apps that wouldn't work or would constantly go into "not responding" mode, green screens, battery life that was awful to the point where it nearly always needed to be connected to a charger, etc. I'd tap on an app or a function in an app before, and I'd literally have to wait and wait for something to happen at times.
Now? Lightning fast and smooth operation, stability where there was none before, etc. And, as stated, for what I really needed root before (bypassing vendor check for mobile hotspot), it's no longer an issue due to the phone plan I'm on.
I'm not knocking rooting, so don't misunderstand. But for my experience with this phone, going back to stock where I could actually update the version of the OS, as well, has made all the difference in the world for my user experience. YMMV.
Interesting... I haven't tried stock Oreo yet but in every time I flash a new stock rom the phone runs great for 6 months then starts lagging.
oooh meee TOOO! me! meeeee!
Heyitsrick said:
I originally used the Dirty Santa routine on my Verizon VS995, so it remained on VS99513A for a couple of years. Had all manner of issues over time - apps "failing to respond", YouTube not displaying video but rather black screens, green-screen crashes, etc. Finally had enough and used the LGUP process to return to stock and unroot, of course. I probably (assuming, anyway) could have gone right to the latest Oreo firmware with LGUP, but decided to go to the stock version of VS99513A and then just do the many system updates to get current.
It's now happily sitting on Oreo, and knock on wood it's like having a new phone! It's so much smoother, YouTube is working, lol, battery life is an order of magnitude better and it's working like a phone should work. No one knows the future, of course, but today, I'm happy.
Just passing this along, but I've gone from being ready to trash this thing to being able to enjoy it again without worrying about having to dump some $$$ into something else.
I had originally rooted to get around the Verizon mobile-hotspot check, but I have an unlimited plan that includes it anyway, now, so that's no longer an issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Between the GIGANTIC pain in the ass that it was to root this phone (I have a VS995 rooted and on 13a ever since) and all the problems that rooting has caused I'd be ready to undo it all anyway. But due to some problem with internal storage* that started a couple weeks ago, I was fed-up and factory reset the phone. When it boots normally, a check in "about" shows the software status as "modified" but root checker says its not rooted, superSU can't find root (I installed it from play store).. Tried to update via the "system updates" in settings (could not get it to show developer options either).
* The storage issue: I have 50 gigs internal (or something similar) and I get a message that the storage is full and some apps may not work. Not possible, but I humored it and uninstalled everything, cleared cache, downloads cleared, etc ... still showing +/-1 gb free space avail. Factory reset, appears stock, but free space STILL less than 1 GB.
Regretted rooting this phone almost immediately since I still couldn't get rid of certain apps, I had to deal with the camera issues, etc... The only thing positive about it was that my work was unable to install their MDM crap (Mobile Iron shielding Gsuite etc). But anyway, it doesn't look like I'll be able to update the system - I tried it and now it boots to twrp, or boots regularly and then loops around to twrp again. I'm looking for the easiest way to get the phone working (with the persistent problem of internalstorage being full for no reason fixed) and at least reasonably updated. Don't care if it's rooted or not really.
Do you or does anyone have a link to a "play by play" for whatever might work? Its been too long since I rooted it for me to remember the nuances of the procedure so its safe to say that I don't really understand how Android works all that well, so instructions like, "flash xxx 3.2 then flash back to 2 then fastboot and load yer ROM but don't forget the dalvik blah blah" won't work... I'm looking for the idiot's version with hand-holding and everything.
Interesting analysis................ I mainly rooted my older phones due to the need for the mobile hotspot without paying VZ extra charges. However, now that I have the VS995, I was able to download and use the Foxfi app (I paid for the Pro upgrade license) so this left me thinking, do I really need to root my V20 at all? In the past, you couldn't run apps that ran many WIFI tools and other tech'y things, but it seems much of that has changed. I don't run custom ROMs so maybe I don't need to root. Would be glad to hear rebuttals on the subject
I received a new VS995 last week and I flash h910 to get FM radio. I could not be happier as I'm on OREO and the device is working perfectly without any issue whatsoever and with latest mk2000 kernel (2.2 beta) general interface performance is working very well - as it should. Hotspot needed a little workaround bit it wasn't too difficult. I wouldn't dream of going back to stock!
https://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=79939652&postcount=269
I know it's not straight to bootloader unlock and root this phone but it's worth the trouble. I hope my new fone will last and last untill manufactures change mind about removable batter and horrible new aspect ratio! No thanks V30 !
You're right.
There's no good reason to root the v20. Even rooted you can't do things that other phones can do, like enabling monitor mode on the Wi-Fi. Nor have I been able to get an external Wi-Fi adapter to work on it.
0per said:
There's no good reason to root the v20. Even rooted you can't do things that other phones can do, like enabling monitor mode on the Wi-Fi. Nor have I been able to get an external Wi-Fi adapter to work on it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
YOU ARE WRONG.
AD BLOCK Yeah they have rootless ad block but they work like ****
screen burn fixes. hows the ghosting?
titanium backup still best option for absolutely all apps getting backed up.
Sorry i have run root too long i cant live without it anymore.
is this happening to just verizon version of LG V20? anyone?
is this happening to just verizon version of LG V20? anyone?