Galaxy Note II user here, rooted, running CM, happy. This fall, I will be due a free or cheap handset upgrade. I've been loosely following the GN3, even though I will probably wait for the GN4, and reading about KNOX. Then I got to thinking, maybe if Samsung is so interested in putting up barriers to rooters, maybe I don't need to give them my money next time I upgrade handsets. I recall a few years back, HTC decided to stop locking it's bootloaders... Good news. but then I didn't follow through to see how that turned out.
So is there a way to list the companies and/or specific handsets that are "friendly" to rooting?
-peter
pcrussell50 said:
Galaxy Note II user here, rooted, running CM, happy. This fall, I will be due a free or cheap handset upgrade. I've been loosely following the GN3, even though I will probably wait for the GN4, and reading about KNOX. Then I got to thinking, maybe if Samsung is so interested in putting up barriers to rooters, maybe I don't need to give them my money next time I upgrade handsets. I recall a few years back, HTC decided to stop locking it's bootloaders... Good news. but then I didn't follow through to see how that turned out.
So is there a way to list the companies and/or specific handsets that are "friendly" to rooting?
-peter
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
its not all specifically Samsung's fault for the locked boot loaders, their devices have some of the best specs in android so why get rid of the option to opensource? its the carriers fault, like for AT&T for instance, all of the carrier variants of the Galaxy s3 had unlocked boot loader (i could be wrong) when the Galaxy s4 came out they like a few others decided to lock the boot loaders, why? i wanna say they Want people to tether lots and if we were to have a unlocked boot loader we could root it faster and get free tethering, they think they are losing money with all the flashaholics and root users. as for knox yeah its Samsung's fault and i think we all think its a big no no, there is a bounty (over $3000!) going on for it. its really disappointing that Samsung would act this way, Samsung's my hero and i hopped to work with them one day but since they are moving away from open source i think im gonna stick with someone else. as for a new company for phones you should probably go with HTC, LG is terrible, they only care for you if you buy their flagships and their UI is pretty much copying Samsung's.
I absolutely think it is the best phone currently in the market and all it needs is stock rom, to make it smoother faster and simpler.
Will it ever get stock android and how many are looking forward to it?
I wonder how many people are happy with TW and not bothered about custom roms or stock android?
I use Nova Launcher and very happy. Stock Android is dull as dishwater. I enjoy some of the Samsung apps. If you don't like them, disable them. Samsung won't ever provide stock. They'll have nothing to sell! Its not in their interest.
A S8+ with stock android would lose all of the features that make it a great phone. (ie. Edge apps, themes, bluetooth sound on 2 devices, IRIS Scanner, Gear VR, Samsung Pay)
Exactly. Giving the Galaxy S8 phones stock Android from Samsung itself would ruin the whole point of the Galaxy S8 phones. You would lose so many features that way that the Galaxy S8 / S8+ would just be a blinged out Pixel phone.
Ofc, having the ability to install a custom Stock Android version is always a nice idea to have for those who really want it. But having that as an option from Samsung directly is NOT a good idea.
EDIT: riz157, the UX / UI is not called TouchWiz anylonger. It's called Samsung Experience now on the Galaxy S8 phones. When Galaxy S6 and S7 phones got Android 7.0, they got the earlier Grace UX that was before Samsung Experience.
Just and FYI.......Bluetooth on two devices at the same time is a product of Bluetooth 5.0 not Samsung.
Used custom rom on my S7E, (AOSP - which sucked ass, no features, then I used SupermanROM and I sticked to that.
Now I got my S8+ and I'm pretty happy with Samsung experience, so I won't be doing anything at all, I'll keep my Knox: 0x0 for now.
Interesting looks like most people are quite happy with Samsung experience. Admittedly it's vastly improved from previous versions but still shows signs of delay lag etc.
Not as buttery smooth as stock android.
I personally don't use Samsung stock apps other then email app.
Bump up
I would love of the old GPE program came back. Then I'd be happy to spend $850 on a S8+ GPE. It's just WAY SMOOTHER and cleaner UI and always up to date. But Samsung makes the best hardware.
I love the S8+ and feel the Samsung features built into it help make it special. I always flash custom roms, but they keep many of the Samsung tools/TW tools I like. Having said that, I also like AOSP based roms and if the S7 Edge is any example, it won't be too long until we get some to play with on our S8+ phones sometime in the future. (it took about 8 months or close to a year before AOSP Roms were available on the S7 edge) - but considering how close the S7 is to the S8 - it may not take that long. Time will tell.
And NO I am not bothered - what is there to be bothered about?
I'm looking forward to more custom roms because it gives s8 more freedom and change the themes fonts etc easily without having to purchase from Samsung and be limited to their poor options.
Samsung are trying to be apple of android, want you to purchase from there store themes etc. So glad there's competition in android world otherwise we would be locked down to samsung and apple!!
Doubt it, and I am not bothered.
Personally I find the S8+ faster and mostly smoother than the Pixel I had before. Mainly because the Pixel lags to hell and back in apps like Instagram and Facebook whereas the Exynos S8+ doesn't.
Over time I am sure the S8+ will slow down but like PC's I will just "Format it" and it will back to being much faster and generally smoother than the Pixel (and less buggy than the pixel)
riz157 said:
I absolutely think it is the best phone currently in the market and all it needs is stock rom, to make it smoother faster and simpler.
Will it ever get stock android and how many are looking forward to it?
I wonder how many people are happy with TW and not bothered about custom roms or stock android?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, and no.
Sent from my SM-G955U using Tapatalk
Most people prefer TW, after using it for several weeks on my S8 plus I'm still not convinced.
I still would like stock and more custom Roma, at the moment there's not much choice which is a shame.
I certainly hope that changes in the coming weeks.
Not bothered at all. My personal opinion:
Want stock Android? Get a Pixel (or Nexus)
Want bleeding edge hardware? Get any flagship Android phone
The nice thing about Android is the individuality of each company brings. Samsung with its own Samsung UX for the S8 (not TouchWiz, not Grace UX), LG with their Full-Screen UX for the G6, Huawei with EMUI for their Mate 9 and P10, and so on.. They all put in their own features that would make their phones stand out. They all work quite well and I never had to install a launcher since my S6 Edge Plus. But still the option is there if you want/need to.
Has everybody forgotten that this happened once?
https://www.engadget.com/2013/07/06/samsung-galaxy-s-4-google-play-edition-review/
I would love to see a developer edition of this phone (aka stock android). I do like that TouchWiz isn't so smothering lately, but there are many aosp-isms that I miss.
My perfect phone would be a pixel that looked like an S8+ running stock Android. That would be one sexy piece of kit. I hope we can at least root and rom this puppy one day. I'm a dreamer...
samsung ui got better, but I'm using a moto z2 play now for half the price and......they understood perfectly what a manufacturer has to do. Moto has pretty much vanilla experience except of some apps, some add on funcionality, it's far more sexy than samsung. It's extremely speedier with half the price, it's a pain that samsung always bloat their software for no new functionalities (irid scanner? ahahahahah, samsung pay? ==> android pay, side apps? always the first thing I disable in samsung edges). It got better then natural ui on s4, yes, but that was a big ****, this is only a little and less smelly **** compared to stock experience....to me, obviously
This is dumb. If I wanted stock Android I wouldn't buy a Samsung.
You needing to take the time out of the day to write this is dumb lol
Really !!! Why do people buy Samsung Devices ?
Yes I own a Galaxy S7 and yes I know what board this is but
The phone provided to me by work and I am stuck with it
This is a work phone I can not debloat, root, do custom ROMs
So what do I have,
I have a device that will never see Android 8.1, hell even the S 9 is at 8.0 "You know the S 9 may get Android 9.0 in the summer of 2019 if they are lucky.
I will not hold my breath for even 8.0
Every second day it seems Samsung pushes on my device some "Samsung" bloat they think I want, I which I can never uninstall and if I try to disable it, it will turn back on.
They feel they have a great, interface..... Without Nova Launcher I will be lost.
Thank you for not having Bixby..... maybe Samsung will decide to push that piece of junk to the S7 but for now I am free
Really I hate the S7, the bloat, being locked down, the lack of updates but people still buy them ?
Why ?
Maybe a major market is Corporations that like locked down devices.
Yes the company says here is your S7 ..... enjoy.
I hate the Samsung S9 so much I may actually buy my own device for work "The Pixel", think I will wait for the Pixel 3 but then ..... to Samsung so long and thanks for the Bloat.
Because they are good at making commercials so they lie people. And people are stupid and buying every year the new Samsung. They don't give a damn about android, they just want the latest model from Samsung.
@andrei1412
Not really... Samsung is simply the best hardware manufacturer, best amoled display (always the brightest every year), best camera (yes other manufacurer are building nice ones too), really good build quality overall, Samsung theme store (to establish android vanilla look, who else is featureing this?). You don't need to debloat since you don't neeed to use the samsung apps. Debloating can lead to increased battery drain.
As they said above, usually the best hardware for droid phones at that point in time and the Samsung hype makes it same league as iPhone so anyone who dislikes Apple usually go Samsung if they don't go HTC, or moto. For me I have owned the majority of every galaxy s and these phones with custom roms always seemed to be the best droid phone on the market in terms of battery life and performance.
stuey25 said:
As they said above, usually the best hardware for droid phones at that point in time and the Samsung hype makes it same league as iPhone so anyone who dislikes Apple usually go Samsung if they don't go HTC, or moto. For me I have owned the majority of every galaxy s and these phones with custom roms always seemed to be the best droid phone on the market in terms of battery life and performance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What custom rom you think is the best for galaxy s7? And also it`s worth to root it and lose spay & other things that work only with knox? Thanks
cristiandiaconu6 said:
What custom rom you think is the best for galaxy s7? And also it`s worth to root it and lose spay & other things that work only with knox? Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Probably not worth it if you use those features, I think some of the roms can be ran with no root cause there based on stock and still use that stuff but I'm not sure about Knox. I've only had this s7 flat for a week and tried, bobcat rom, slim stable 2.0, and I'm on ultimate nougat now. I'm really liking ultimate nougats look with the theme,battery life so far, and the debloat.
These 3 seem stable but there's a ton of roms to choose from so you would have to test for yourself to determine your best and read/ sift through the threads and see what people are saying about the rom.
You can disable all bloat using a package disabler, which works without root. Android 8.0 is coming in 2 weeks, and I don't know why you even want 8.1 because there are almost no changes to talk about. Even 8.0's most notable feature PIP has been available in Samsung devices for a long time.
Your problems about rooting and custom ROMs are only because it's a work phone.
It looks like you didn't research any of your problems before coming to rant here :/
AstroDigital said:
Really !!! Why do people buy Samsung Devices ?
Yes I own a Galaxy S7 and yes I know what board this is but
The phone provided to me by work and I am stuck with it
This is a work phone I can not debloat, root, do custom ROMs
So what do I have,
I have a device that will never see Android 8.1, hell even the S 9 is at 8.0 "You know the S 9 may get Android 9.0 in the summer of 2019 if they are lucky.
I will not hold my breath for even 8.0
Every second day it seems Samsung pushes on my device some "Samsung" bloat they think I want, I which I can never uninstall and if I try to disable it, it will turn back on.
They feel they have a great, interface..... Without Nova Launcher I will be lost.
Thank you for not having Bixby..... maybe Samsung will decide to push that piece of junk to the S7 but for now I am free
Really I hate the S7, the bloat, being locked down, the lack of updates but people still buy them ?
Why ?
Maybe a major market is Corporations that like locked down devices.
Yes the company says here is your S7 ..... enjoy.
I hate the Samsung S9 so much I may actually buy my own device for work "The Pixel", think I will wait for the Pixel 3 but then ..... to Samsung so long and thanks for the Bloat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to build your own device.
Bcs Samsung is damn good in hardware software and build quality.
Now I'm texting this post with my 4th S7.
And my Past list is like below just read it and u can understand why we use Samsung devices.
1 galaxy Grand.
3 galaxy s7
1 galaxy s4
2 galaxy s5
2 galaxy note3
2 galaxy note4
1 galaxy note5
1 galaxy a6 edge 64gb
2 galaxy s6 64gb
1 galaxy a7 edge
4 galaxy s7
All this bcs of build quality
Awesome software
Awesome ui
And best resale value
And others for time pass is
3 Nexus 5
1 moto g4
1 mi 4i.
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
rahul1533 said:
Try to build your own device.
Bcs Samsung is damn good in hardware software and build quality.
Now I'm texting this post with my 4th S7.
And my Past list is like below just read it and u can understand why we use Samsung devices.
1 galaxy Grand.
3 galaxy s7
1 galaxy s4
2 galaxy s5
2 galaxy note3
2 galaxy note4
1 galaxy note5
1 galaxy a6 edge 64gb
2 galaxy s6 64gb
1 galaxy a7 edge
4 galaxy s7
All this bcs of build quality
Awesome software
Awesome ui
And best resale value
And others for time pass is
3 Nexus 5
1 moto g4
1 mi 4i.
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We (as a household) have a rather large number of Samsung devices - the S7 is, in fact, the first one that was NOT purchased deliberately (I got it as a gift) and replaced the far-older Galaxy Nexus (which I got from my mother). We also have two Galaxy tablets and four Samsung HDTVs (and two Samsung optical drives). Why all the Samsung hardware? Three words - bang for buck. Look at ALL the areas in which Samsung makes hardware (from Android to PC to appliances they have (and rather consistently) offered top-ten bang-for-buck - and not just in the US; if you do that, your products will sell. Are they perfect? No; however, who is? Even the folks that have DINGED Samsung admit that it is often due to issues with a specific Samsung product or a specific lack (in the case of the S7, it's about the locked bootloader). Still, is an unlocked bootloader that big a plus on the devices that compete with the S7 and up? How many of those devices have issues WORSE than those of the S7 and above - even with the locked bootloader (such as the Pixel and Pixel2)?
DarkerJava said:
You can disable all bloat using a package disabler, which works without root. Android 8.0 is coming in 2 weeks, and I don't know why you even want 8.1 because there are almost no changes to talk about. Even 8.0's most notable feature PIP has been available in Samsung devices for a long time.
Your problems about rooting and custom ROMs are only because it's a work phone.
It looks like you didn't research any of your problems before coming to rant here :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
8.0 Not in Canada and I do not know if Rogers ever plans on it. "Think I seen somewhere Summer 2018, oh sure"
BK Package Manager only disables and freezes, nothing that you can not do without buy it. "Can not uninstall and with only 5Gig left it would be good to get rid of some bloat"
DarkerJava said:
You can disable all bloat using a package disabler, which works without root. Android 8.0 is coming in 2 weeks, and I don't know why you even want 8.1 because there are almost no changes to talk about. Even 8.0's most notable feature PIP has been available in Samsung devices for a long time.
Your problems about rooting and custom ROMs are only because it's a work phone.
It looks like you didn't research any of your problems before coming to rant here :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 weeks ? They said summer.
Ah, if a phone ain't got the latest and greatest government tracking software I don't want it. So I'm gonna go to xda and post a "why do people buy" but talk about samdung bloat over all mighty Google. I hate I hate I hate. People should just buy Google devices cause I like them!!!! They push the only thing I care about, the .1's, and oh, you need to see what they do when they jump a full .0 again. Oh man
What 8.0/8.1 feature are you desperate for?
What other sub 5.3" phone has best amoled screen, top camera, large battery, top procecessor, wireless charging, ip68? Please tell me of this other phone
AstroDigital said:
8.0 Not in Canada and I do not know if Rogers ever plans on it. "Think I seen somewhere Summer 2018, oh sure"
BK Package Manager only disables and freezes, nothing that you can not do without buy it. "Can not uninstall and with only 5Gig left it would be good to get rid of some bloat"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm also in Canada and usually we get updates without delay after their release from Samsung. From what I've seen (on their OS upgrade schedule), they only announce the release dates for updates a couple of days before we actually get them. My source is another phone carrier in another country: http://www.guncelmiyiz.com/akilli-telefon .
For the bloatware, you can uninstall all updates and keep the stubs (which will remove most of the app), and then freeze the app using AdHell or SABS. Although there isn't much bloatware to start with on phones in Canada.
---------- Post added at 08:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:01 PM ----------
Soufiansky said:
2 weeks ? They said summer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.guncelmiyiz.com/akilli-telefon
DarkerJava said:
I'm also in Canada and usually we get updates without delay after their release from Samsung. From what I've seen (on their OS upgrade schedule), they only announce the release dates for updates a couple of days before we actually get them. My source is another phone carrier in another country: http://www.guncelmiyiz.com/akilli-telefon .
For the bloatware, you can uninstall all updates and keep the stubs (which will remove most of the app), and then freeze the app using AdHell or SABS. Although there isn't much bloatware to start with on phones in Canada.
---------- Post added at 08:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:01 PM ----------
http://www.guncelmiyiz.com/akilli-telefon
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not official. I would only trust samsung website,sammobile or some other known websites.
AstroDigital said:
Really !!! Why do people buy Samsung Devices ?
Yes I own a Galaxy S7 and yes I know what board this is but
The phone provided to me by work and I am stuck with it
This is a work phone I can not debloat, root, do custom ROMs
So what do I have,
I have a device that will never see Android 8.1, hell even the S 9 is at 8.0 "You know the S 9 may get Android 9.0 in the summer of 2019 if they are lucky.
I will not hold my breath for even 8.0
Every second day it seems Samsung pushes on my device some "Samsung" bloat they think I want, I which I can never uninstall and if I try to disable it, it will turn back on.
They feel they have a great, interface..... Without Nova Launcher I will be lost.
Thank you for not having Bixby..... maybe Samsung will decide to push that piece of junk to the S7 but for now I am free
Really I hate the S7, the bloat, being locked down, the lack of updates but people still buy them ?
Why ?
Maybe a major market is Corporations that like locked down devices.
Yes the company says here is your S7 ..... enjoy.
I hate the Samsung S9 so much I may actually buy my own device for work "The Pixel", think I will wait for the Pixel 3 but then ..... to Samsung so long and thanks for the Bloat.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is one of the most imbecile rant I read on XDA so far: the real question is why your company is giving you a phone you don't like and you should ask your company.
Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 10:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:16 PM ----------
vand3537 said:
What 8.0/8.1 feature are you desperate for?
What other sub 5.3" phone has best amoled screen, top camera, large battery, top procecessor, wireless charging, ip68? Please tell me of this other phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the feature he wants is when he is looking at Software Information and Android Version to see the Number 8.1. He can't name other feature because he doesn't know one.
Sent from my SM-N950F using Tapatalk
most imbecile rant I do not call people names maybe you should look in a mirror.
You know what I find imbecilic is Samsung fanboys, you claim you like Android yet you sign up with a company that does not give you a pure Android Experience.
You are so blind to Samsung you do not realize their hardware is not significantly better than from other manufacturers.
Amoled unless if you are and anal idiot, displays are subjective
Top Camera this is a S7 while the camera is good "it is not the best"
Large battery do you suppose other phone have significantly worse better live ?
Top processor many phones have newer generation processors, but like the "best" display the processor even on a 2 year old device runs everything fine.
Wireless Charging is at times convenient but not a deal maker you do know Wireless chargers are slower and not as efficient as chargers that some people have a hard time with figuring out. "Do some research look it up"
IP68 once again, you know out of the several dozen Android devices I purchased ....... not one ever got water damaged.
Out of all of these ......
I rather have Android as it is meet to be from the inventors non modified and non skinned
Hardware be damned
And yes I know what Google introduced in 8.1 https://www.xda-developers.com/android-8-1-oreo-developer-preview-features/
The Essential phone skipped Android 8.0 and when directly to 8.1
Samsung S9 and S9+ released with 8.0
Rogers at the time only had the Samsung S7, no other devices.
Flaming is not tolerated on XDA and any escalation in this thread will result in action against the users at fault and/or the thread being closed.
Hopefully this discussion can be a civil exchange of opinions from both Samsung haters and lovers alike. We must all accept that as human beings, each one of us is entitled to our opinion and/or preferences, regardless of whether they're seen as logical or not by others.
Keep it cool, dudes.
AstroDigital said:
most imbecile rant I do not call people names maybe you should look in a mirror.
You know what I find imbecilic is Samsung fanboys, you claim you like Android yet you sign up with a company that does not give you a pure Android Experience.
You are so blind to Samsung you do not realize their hardware is not significantly better than from other manufacturers.
Amoled unless if you are and anal idiot, displays are subjective
Top Camera this is a S7 while the camera is good "it is not the best"
Large battery do you suppose other phone have significantly worse better live ?
Top processor many phones have newer generation processors, but like the "best" display the processor even on a 2 year old device runs everything fine.
Wireless Charging is at times convenient but not a deal maker you do know Wireless chargers are slower and not as efficient as chargers that some people have a hard time with figuring out. "Do some research look it up"
IP68 once again, you know out of the several dozen Android devices I purchased ....... not one ever got water damaged.
Out of all of these ......
I rather have Android as it is meet to be from the inventors non modified and non skinned
Hardware be damned
And yes I know what Google introduced in 8.1 https://www.xda-developers.com/android-8-1-oreo-developer-preview-features/
The Essential phone skipped Android 8.0 and when directly to 8.1
Samsung S9 and S9+ released with 8.0
Rogers at the time only had the Samsung S7, no other devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They may not have significantly better hardware now, but it was still the best of its time. The camera was the best until the Pixel came out half a year later. There were no compromises with this phone, and as much as you try make hardware features not seem not as important, they make a difference when choosing between something like a iPhone 6s/7 and another device.
And now I ask, how is anything of what you've said detract from the Android experience? Samsung may add features to Android, but they don't ever take away. I can also fully reskin Touchwiz to look like stock with any theme I like using Substratum and Nova Launcher. I also don't know why Android 8.1 is so important to you, as everything is just a UI change.
You probably shouldn't have bought a 2 year old non-Google phone if you wanted to jerk off to having the latest UI from Google. Also, you should realize that many people don't care about simple UI changes or optical differences. Maybe if we were iOS users, we would care, but this is a forum for Android enthusiasts.
Don't call others fanboys or other silly names just because they have different expectations when they buy a device.
---------- Post added at 04:51 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:49 PM ----------
Soufiansky said:
It's not official. I would only trust samsung website,sammobile or some other known websites.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess we will see in 2 weeks. Again, when is the last time Samsung announced the specific date for an update well before it releases?
I did not start the name calling but when "coradux" called me an imbecile, who would not take it personally.
I own a S7 now, will likely be buying a Pixel XL 3 "or whatever it is called in October"
Some people like me want quick updates and pure Android, others do not care.
I really did not know what I hoped to prove from this post. I think it should be closed.
Greetings,
Greetings,
I own a Galaxy S7 and I just read that Samsung has dropped support for the phone. That means no more security updates, etc.
I like the phone and would prefer not to replace it; not to mention avoiding the cost and/or commitment associated with a new device. How vulnerable will the phone become if I keep using it as is?
Can I install a custom ROM and will it make much difference with ongoing updates? Bear with me please. I'm not that mobile savvy.
Is it practical to install a custom ROM (I am primarily concerned about security)? If yes, and I go to the Play Store after installing the custom OS, will I be able to install apps; or will the phone be seen as a fake?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Graham
Hi, you should check in your device forum Section which seems active for information, guides, support, etc.:
Samsung Galaxy S7
The Samsung Galaxy S7 was released at Mobile World Congress in February 2016. It features a 5.1" Quad HD Super AMOLED display, with an "always on" function, used to display a clock and notifications. Under the hood, the Galaxy S7 is powered by either a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 or Exynos 8890...
forum.xda-developers.com
Well I feel a bit...actually very...dumb. The article I read was a year old. I was looking at the specs on my phone and noticed a link to a story with a headline referencing S7 support. I read the article without checking the date. Guess I've been using the phone for a year since support ended So far, so good.
Sorry for the inconvenience.