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I have been reading the Moto G Threads since shortly after I bought the phone and have even made the odd input. But today I am wondering just how many users actually root and custom rom? I imagine that in reality it is a tiny percentage of Moto G users. Yet I notice in these threads that while it seems to be a source of pride to some, it also brings many problems and quirks because a significant number of threads talk about custom ROM problems. Myself, I do use Custom Roms but generally start using only after the manufacturer has stopped supporting/upgrading. I have done this on several Nexus devices and a couple of Samsung's. For me a custom Rom is only used as a tool to keep firmware up to date for a longer period. With regards to the Moto G, the manufacture is still upgrading. So why bother romming? I decided to Root only and use Xposed tools and Greenify, to tweak things and Titanium to backup. Maybe, when Moto G stops the support, and, providing I still have the phone I might change the ROM. But if it ain't broke why waste time on it, its just a phone after all. But quite a nice one, although admittedly I'm drooling at the $299 OnePlus one right now!
I would like to use either a ROM or Xposed, but I want to keep my warranty for now.
This is the first of many Android phones that i haven't rooted or messed about with.
Why ??? Because its the first phone that i have been entirely happy with.
I don't have any issues at all .
That's not to say that i wont one day though.
Hi all,
I am enamored by the Pixel 2 for the camera, general size and clean android experience. I am coming from a Moto X (2013) DE, which I have been using for almost three years with no complaints. I am on Verizon GFUDP, am unlocked, rooted and using Xposed framework. I use the phone for tethering quite often. I don't generally use custom ROMs,; once I am setup and got everything running nice, I stop playing around with the phone and just use it.
That said, I am ready to upgrade and still want an unlockable, rootable device, which has a really good camera and will allow me to tether at will. My thought is to purchase the Pixel 2 through Google. I see that there has been some bumpiness in the road to root success, and I am wondering if this device will eventually (if it's already not) become stable enough to do what I want without a lot of fooling with it, or fear of accidentally "bricking", or other issues down the road.
So in the big picture, do you feel that the Pixel 2 can be set up, forgotten about, and just used, as I describe above, or do you think that the device will need to be tweaked on a regular basis? If so, do you have any recommendations of devices which better fit the parameters listed above?
Thanks in advance!
amajamar said:
Hi all,
I am enamored by the Pixel 2 for the camera, general size and clean android experience. I am coming from a Moto X (2013) DE, which I have been using for almost three years with no complaints. I am on Verizon GFUDP, am unlocked, rooted and using Xposed framework. I use the phone for tethering quite often. I don't generally use custom ROMs,; once I am setup and got everything running nice, I stop playing around with the phone and just use it.
That said, I am ready to upgrade and still want an unlockable, rootable device, which has a really good camera and will allow me to tether at will. My thought is to purchase the Pixel 2 through Google. I see that there has been some bumpiness in the road to root success, and I am wondering if this device will eventually (if it's already not) become stable enough to do what I want without a lot of fooling with it, or fear of accidentally "bricking", or other issues down the road.
So in the big picture, do you feel that the Pixel 2 can be set up, forgotten about, and just used, as I describe above, or do you think that the device will need to be tweaked on a regular basis? If so, do you have any recommendations of devices which better fit the parameters listed above?
Thanks in advance!
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Click to collapse
It should be good in the long run. In my personal experience after using a lot of ROM's/kernels/mods since 2011 I would say the max your needs would come to is getting a custom kernel. With no disrespect to the developers who have worked on providing great roms throughout the years, google has really developed 8.0/8.1 into a completely viable solution that till now has not got me to even consider rooting the device to get some custom features on it.
flunk03 said:
It should be good in the long run. In my personal experience after using a lot of ROM's/kernels/mods since 2011 I would say the max your needs would come to is getting a custom kernel. With no disrespect to the developers who have worked on providing great roms throughout the years, google has really developed 8.0/8.1 into a completely viable solution that till now has not got me to even consider rooting the device to get some custom features on it.
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As I said, as long as I can get the tethering function, I am pretty much good to go. Do I need a custom kernel for that?
amajamar said:
As I said, as long as I can get the tethering function, I am pretty much good to go. Do I need a custom kernel for that?
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Click to collapse
Afaik just rooting and getting an app designed for that should be fine I guess. It's not something I know since we don't have that issue with carriers on that front
amajamar said:
As I said, as long as I can get the tethering function, I am pretty much good to go. Do I need a custom kernel for that?
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As far as I'm aware you can achieve this with Magisk root and a Magisk module.
Buy Pixel 2, unlock bootloader before you set up the phone (get the factory reset out of the way), then just use it as-is indefinitely until you find you need something that only root can provide. If that's the case, then install Magisk, and keep on rolling.
I wonder why after roughly 3 years Still no one showing interest in developing a custom rom for our first grade phone? Before they claimed that it is on pause because no has the kernel source code, but now we have access to the official source code and yet no one developed a brand new custom rom for Nokia phone.
Please if anyone could help write a comment below.
to be honest, at this point i simply dont care whatever is happening in this community. If you have knowledge of building a custom rom then why not giving it a go?
i simply dont possess the knowledge at the same time i am also not complaining.
Ok, so first: Nokia 8 launched in September 2017. According to my calculator, thats roughly one and a half year since it came out. Not three.
Then, regarding kernel sources: The official kernel sources for our phone are from the Oreo 8.0 release. It's possible to use older kernels for newer ROMs, but it is really not recommended. And I am not even speaking of the fact that those official kernel sources still require edits to even work. There is no support from Nokia / HMD for development on this phone. Even their unlocker app doesn't work on the majority of versions and completely broke after 2 security patches.
I would be suprised if you can find any developer who is willing to spend their time fighting the stuff that gets thrown between our feet. (broken kernel source, not being able to temporary boot images and having to flash them instead, no working kernel sources from hmd, no reliable bootloader unlock, no official rescue tool etc. etc.) And usually, developers make things because their either need them themselves, or for the joy of creating something and sharing it with people who appreciate it. And when you can port a ROM, you can make the edits you want for yourself with Magisk, so reason 1 is already not applicable.
And as hard as it might sound, this community is by no means large enough to justify porting a ROM you dont need and risking your device stability / userdata in the process.
So the TL;DR; is probably: Either do it yourself, or expect it to never actually happen, as harsh as it sounds, sadly.
THMSP said:
Ok, so first: Nokia 8 launched in September 2017. According to my calculator, thats roughly one and a half year since it came out. Not three.
Then, regarding kernel sources: The official kernel sources for our phone are from the Oreo 8.0 release. It's possible to use older kernels for newer ROMs, but it is really not recommended. And I am not even speaking of the fact that those official kernel sources still require edits to even work. There is no support from Nokia / HMD for development on this phone. Even their unlocker app doesn't work on the majority of versions and completely broke after 2 security patches.
I would be suprised if you can find any developer who is willing to spend their time fighting the stuff that gets thrown between our feet. (broken kernel source, not being able to temporary boot images and having to flash them instead, no working kernel sources from hmd, no reliable bootloader unlock, no official rescue tool etc. etc.) And usually, developers make things because their either need them themselves, or for the joy of creating something and sharing it with people who appreciate it. And when you can port a ROM, you can make the edits you want for yourself with Magisk, so reason 1 is already not applicable.
And as hard as it might sound, this community is by no means large enough to justify porting a ROM you dont need and risking your device stability / userdata in the process.
So the TL;DR; is probably: Either do it yourself, or expect it to never actually happen, as harsh as it sounds, sadly.
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I can't agree with you more, I was just wondered how this newly released phone still has no custom rom while my LG G3 still after those years received many from lots of developers.
So sad to see our beloved NOKIA has no juice to compete in this race.
error748 said:
I can't agree with you more, I was just wondered how this newly released phone still has no custom rom while my LG G3 still after those years received many from lots of developers.
So sad to see our beloved NOKIA has no juice to compete in this race.
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We all found out the hard way what Nokia was about by being early adopters. To me they are only interested in pushing their next device and Android One is making that easier for them. So much so the 8 is long since off their radar. It was an 'OK' phone for the money, but there's better now and it's them I'll be looking to this year.
At this point its best to just modify the current stock rom yourself by debloating it, installing kernel tweking modules via magisk, installing themes via substratum and customizing the interface using GravityBox and Xposed Edge. Thats the closest we will come to having a custom rom experience. Ive accepted that no developer will bother with this phone given all the devices that have come out since its release.
Its a lesson learnt. I love this phone but I will never buy another Nokia phone ever again. Im currently saving up for a Xiaomi phone and will use this Nokia 8 as a secondary phone in due time.
MDV106 said:
At this point its best to just modify the current stock rom yourself by debloating it, installing kernel tweking modules via magisk, installing themes via substratum and customizing the interface using GravityBox and Xposed Edge. Thats the closest we will come to having a custom rom experience. Ive accepted that no developer will bother with this phone given all the devices that have come out since its release.
Its a lesson learnt. I love this phone but I will never buy another Nokia phone ever again. Im currently saving up for a Xiaomi phone and will use this Nokia 8 as a secondary phone in due time.
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Poco or 1+ here
MDV106 said:
At this point its best to just modify the current stock rom yourself by debloating it, installing kernel tweking modules via magisk, installing themes via substratum and customizing the interface using GravityBox and Xposed Edge. Thats the closest we will come to having a custom rom experience. Ive accepted that no developer will bother with this phone given all the devices that have come out since its release.
Its a lesson learnt. I love this phone but I will never buy another Nokia phone ever again. Im currently saving up for a Xiaomi phone and will use this Nokia 8 as a secondary phone in due time.
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Click to collapse
Me too, my next phone would be OnePlus 6T or Oppo.
Never ever ever go around nokia phones again
I was just checking out various customs threads & twitters and saw that DU had added Bonito to its official page as well as a screenshot on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/_DirtyUnicorns_/status/1129623484567621633?s=20
Im really hoping the dev community takes off for these devices like the old nexus days.
Wickidmasshole said:
I was just checking out various customs threads & twitters and saw that DU had added Bonito to its official page as well as a screenshot on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/_DirtyUnicorns_/status/1129623484567621633?s=20
Im really hoping the dev community takes off for these devices like the old nexus days.
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Click to collapse
I have mixed feelings. I rooted all 45 different Android phones I owned prior to my last 3 (essential, OnePlus 6, and more pixel 3A). I feel like these days there are way fewer reasons to use custom roms. Base Android has gotten really good, stock roms (for companies like OnePlus and essential) are stable and add lots of useful features, and the good manufacturers are doing updates multiple times a month anyways. We don't see crazy innovation like we did back in old paranoid Android days with projects like Halo and pie controls. And a lot of the real kernel developers like sultanxda moved on to other non-Android projects. It's a shame, but it helped push Google and it's partners into making better software. God knows how many features Google copied from custom roms. Kind of makes you wonder where we'll go from here now that roms are less of a necessity.
Yeah, I was on Android from day one and had been flashing the old windows phone before that. I've stopped installing roms on the last few phones however because I perceive them as worse than the stock software. I came here from a 6T which had a fair few ROMs but none that had the fingerprint sensor working correctly. I want that fingerprint sensor. There are other things but that's the idea, I used to see roms as a proposition where I gave up a few things but gained more than I lost. Now I don't see myself gaining much of anything that I'm not getting with a quick trip into Magisk with everything still working, but I do see things like that lost fingerprint sensor. It's kind of sad to me in a way because it was a bit like a hobby.
xxBrun0xx said:
I have mixed feelings. I rooted all 45 different Android phones I owned prior to my last 3 (essential, OnePlus 6, and more pixel 3A). I feel like these days there are way fewer reasons to use custom roms. Base Android has gotten really good, stock roms (for companies like OnePlus and essential) are stable and add lots of useful features, and the good manufacturers are doing updates multiple times a month anyways. We don't see crazy innovation like we did back in old paranoid Android days with projects like Halo and pie controls. And a lot of the real kernel developers like sultanxda moved on to other non-Android projects. It's a shame, but it helped push Google and it's partners into making better software. God knows how many features Google copied from custom roms. Kind of makes you wonder where we'll go from here now that roms are less of a necessity.
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I agree with you. I haven't rooted my past 4 (6, 6p, pixel xl, pixel 2 xl) probably bc they all ran "pure Google."
I do also have a note 9 att variant and I wanted to root and install custom on that device the 2nd day in.
But to have options is always a good thing. Keep it up devs!!!
Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using
I can't get excited because I tried to figure out what features this rom has that would entice me to get into unlocking/etc and I can't find any sort of place where they actually tell you why you should install their mod. Their website still lists g+, to give an idea of how good their user communication is.
Is there any way I can get hotspot to work without having to use a custom rom
With magisk and Xposed, ROMs just aren't as necessary to me as they used to be, especially now that Google has made a good bit of functionality Pixel-only that isn't always replicated as well in ROMs.
There are still plenty of folks looking forward to them though, so this is definitely good news!
I stopped using custom roms when Marshmallow came out.
But I still use EX for the kernel..
Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using Tapatalk
jmcandrews83 said:
Is there any way I can get hotspot to work without having to use a custom rom
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Click to collapse
Yes, there's a build prop mod that pretty well known and works on any phone. Unfortunately you need an unlocked bootloader and root so no OTAs and you'll have to keep magisk updated to keep safety net working (it gets updated pretty often)
Heck I dont know why anyone would not want a custom rom. More options and features. Yeah stock has gone far these days but I will always welcome more development.
I can totally understand why people feel there isn't a need for root access or custom ROMs anymore. Stock has certainly improved a lot. I find it useful for a few things, though:
Limiting battery charge to 80% so it prolongs the life of my battery. It's important in a world where you can no longer change batteries with ease.
Swapping my back button on the nav bar to the right side
De-Googling my phone, i.e. installing LineageOS without GApps.
Hold on just a sec, for my part I didn't say anything about root, that's a must have for me. I also didn't say that I don't welcome the development, just that it probably wont be for me. Despite that I'm always glad to see it happen whether it is applicable to my use case or not. I certainly didn't mean to imply or say that ROM development is bad, I apologize if that was the connotation people got from my posts.
krabman said:
Hold on just a sec, for my part I didn't say anything about root, that's a must have for me. I also didn't say that I don't welcome the development, just that it probably wont be for me. Despite that I'm always glad to see it happen whether it is applicable to my use case or not. I certainly didn't mean to imply or say that ROM development is bad, I apologize if that was the connotation people got from my posts.
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Hey, there! If you're replying to me, I'm sorry if I mislsed you. I didn't quote anyone because I was just referring to the general discussion from everyone.
Archangel said:
Heck I dont know why anyone would not want a custom rom. More options and features. Yeah stock has gone far these days but I will always welcome more development.
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Same here bro ...i love more options and features cuz then it feels like i have 3 different phones in 1 lmao
Stock is getting better but still a little boring for me
I just hope this isnt another one of those Pixel XL things where all of the development goes to the XL and nothing comes to the regular Pixel 3a
Looks like they released a release candidate.
http://download.dirtyunicorns.com/?device=bonito
Wickidmasshole said:
I was just checking out various customs threads & twitters and saw that DU had added Bonito to its official page as well as a screenshot on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/_DirtyUnicorns_/status/1129623484567621633?s=20
Im really hoping the dev community takes off for these devices like the old nexus days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would think that would be the case - especially given the massive availability in North America alone. (I had a Galaxy Nexus and ran DU on it starting with Marshmallow and through Nougat - DU on a Pixel 3a XL would be - literally - Old Home Week and a good thing.) The ONLY reason I'm not running DU *now* is that I left the GNex for the Galaxy S7 Snapdragon - and not long after, the GNex croaked - it's now a paperweight.
If anything, the Pixel could be bigger than the Nexus line *ever* got to be - here is why:
1. First off, it can go to any carrier in North America - it's not restricted to Verizon Wireless.
2. Wide retail availablility - online my foot! I don't HATE online - I just prefer retail for things like phones (and that is despite being in the front yard of Amazon HQ2). And that is just the availability end.
3. Sane pricing - even, if not especially, in retail. ($479USD - as I stated before, that is the 3a XL - *half* the price of the S10e.) The S10e is pricier than the Note 9 - which is bad enough; to have the 3a XL undercut the same S10e by that much? Why would - or should- I buy an S10e? (And I don't hate the S10e - before the 3a and 3a XL came along, I was seriously considering the S10e, and I had actually seen it in retail and gotten some hands-on time with one - I haven't been able to do that with the 3a XL yet.)
Archangel said:
I just hope this isnt another one of those Pixel XL things where all of the development goes to the XL and nothing comes to the regular Pixel 3a
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The XL has been Google's AOSP build target with all the Pixels including 3a.
lazycow said:
The XL has been Google's AOSP build target with all the Pixels including 3a.
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So, I should return my 3a and get an XL for the dev support, you think?
jmtjr278 said:
So, I should return my 3a and get an XL for the dev support, you think?
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I suspect the XL will get more support. But I don't know enough about either device to be sure how development will progress.
I ask this question because I see a very little activity on a ROMs forum, I didn't check other ones.
For example my previous phone, Mi A1 (Android One) has an official builds for most ROM, even my wife's Mi A3 has much better activity. I had bought Pixel because I'm a Google fanboy and its cheapest Pixel available.
My own answer: people with less budget just buy Android One phones (like Mi A* line), people who want Pixel buy a full phone, like Pixel 3 (without a) or 4.
I suspect for a few reasons:
1. It isn't needed as the phone runs the latest version of android anyway.
2. Many people buy a Pixel series phone because that's exactly what they want - the latest version of android without skins or bloatware.
Yea, there isn't much of a need for ROMs on pixels. Took me 6 months to get to the point I was missing AOSiP and decided to build for it lol.
Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using XDA Labs
yurikoles said:
I ask this question because I see a very little activity on a ROMs forum, I didn't check other ones.
For example my previous phone, Mi A1 (Android One) has an official builds for most ROM, even my wife's Mi A3 has much better activity. I had bought Pixel because I'm a Google fanboy and its cheapest Pixel available.
My own answer: people with less budget just buy Android One phones (like Mi A* line), people who want Pixel buy a full phone, like Pixel 3 (without a) or 4.
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Before the Pixel 3a and the Pixel OG, I had a LG G3 and the Galaxy S3. Always used custom ROMS. Haven't used a custom ROM for either Pixel. No need.
Ok, I got it, thanks
I think pixel popularity will take off when TWRP is able to be installed. I admit I have been spoiled by TWRP and the ease with which ROMs can be flashed and most importantly backups can be made.
alliance1975 said:
I think pixel popularity will take off when TWRP is able to be installed. I admit I have been spoiled by TWRP and the ease with which ROMs can be flashed and most importantly backups can be made.
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Ohh, how I miss nandroids!
good thread and yeah i think we're getting to the "post-mortem" point re: ROMs (Skittles9823’ AOSiP notwithstanding). i went from the samsung galaxy s3 -> xperia z3 -> xperia xz1c -> pixel 3a, and each one has been a big step down in terms of ROM availability (i was spoiled with the galaxy s3, in hindsight). i really did think the 3a would be a ROM bonanza but i also agree with the general vibe that stock android is so, so much better than it was 5 years ago that it's harder and harder to find things worth "fixing".
c_tho said:
good thread and yeah i think we're getting to the "post-mortem" point re: ROMs (Skittles9823’ AOSiP notwithstanding). i went from the samsung galaxy s3 -> xperia z3 -> xperia xz1c -> pixel 3a, and each one has been a big step down in terms of ROM availability (i was spoiled with the galaxy s3, in hindsight). i really did think the 3a would be a ROM bonanza but i also agree with the general vibe that stock android is so, so much better than it was 5 years ago that it's harder and harder to find things worth "fixing".
Click to expand...
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The only AOSP 10 ROM I have run on my Pixel 3a (Havoc 3.1) fixed one thing compared to stock - Voice over WiFi/Voice over LTE - and that is so low-margin that it often goes unaddressed; basically, there's a lot less broke with either stock OR AOSP; result, what is there to "fix"? TWRP itself is needed much less because - even going back as far as Android 8, the OS backs itself up regularly, by default, and without the end user doing anything. (With Samsung Experience (the predecessor to OneUI), I noticed it in the Samsung Members app; it's been retained in OneUI in the same place. It's by default in Android 9 + going forward; it still is in both Android 10 and the 11 Developer Preview - basically, the scutwork is going away. I haven't needed to root at all
with 10; who would have thought that? (In fact, among those of you that still run Magisk on 10, do you REALLY need to root to do what needs (in your opinion) doing? Or are you simply used to having to?
PGHammer said:
I haven't needed to root at all
with 10; who would have thought that? (In fact, among those of you that still run Magisk on 10, do you REALLY need to root to do what needs (in your opinion) doing? Or are you simply used to having to?
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Yea. I absolutely need to root to do what I need. QuickSwitch is a must for me, custom kernels which provide wireguard at the kernel level, substratum for uniform dark mode (although stock theming is good now, but for apps that don't have a dark mode yet, substratum is needed), Active Edge customisation is also super convenient.
Thats pretty much the necessary stuff for me, the rest is mainly just custom fonts and liking to have complete control over my device. Also the fact that I'm a module developer so tinkering with this stuff is fun for me :laugh:
Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using XDA Labs
The comments suggest everyone has their own set of musts and wants for their devices. Stock Android provides the musts for me as well as some wants. But I will continue to read the forums.
alliance1975 said:
I think pixel popularity will take off when TWRP is able to be installed. I admit I have been spoiled by TWRP and the ease with which ROMs can be flashed and most importantly backups can be made.
Click to expand...
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SketchyStunts said:
Ohh, how I miss nandroids!
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Click to collapse
Not sure if we really need nandroids: you can easily backup and restore apps and their data even without TWRP and generally we have factory images / installation bundles available for our device. So there is not really a need for TWRP ... in addition I doubt that TWRP for Android 10+ will be available soon.
Skittles9823 said:
Yea. I absolutely need to root to do what I need. QuickSwitch is a must for me, custom kernels which provide wireguard at the kernel level, substratum for uniform dark mode (although stock theming is good now, but for apps that don't have a dark mode yet, substratum is needed), Active Edge customisation is also super convenient.
Thats pretty much the necessary stuff for me, the rest is mainly just custom fonts and liking to have complete control over my device. Also the fact that I'm a module developer so tinkering with this stuff is fun for me :laugh:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I ask because how many folks need to go there? If anything, it has become fewer; more Anidroid users, but fewer follks needing to root because the need to root has dropped because the core is more capable than it used to be. You have said it yourself; some of why you root is out of convenience; not typical of most folks, is it?
PGHammer said:
I ask because how many folks need to go there? If anything, it has become fewer; more Anidroid users, but fewer follks needing to root because the need to root has dropped because the core is more capable than it used to be. You have said it yourself; some of why you root is out of convenience; not typical of most folks, is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, the need is definitely dwindling. I feel like there will will always be some amount of people doing it though.
Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using XDA Labs
Skittles9823 said:
Yea, the need is definitely dwindling. I feel like there will will always be some amount of people doing it though.
Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using XDA Labs
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Stipulated.
Thing is, the A-series Pixel addresses a market that even the Nexus ignored; smartphones that run stock that you don't have to fiddle with. (While the Galaxy Nexus came close, you still had to do some fiddling even with them; the A-series Pixel you just run, pretty much. While there are low-end smartphones - even lower-end than the A-series Pixel - that CLAIM to be as good; they have not proven themselves - not even compared to the Pixel 3a. So we are talking proven software, proven hardware, and at sane pricing. The Converse All-Star (Chuck Taylor) of smartphones. (I'm not THAT old; however, I heard of them - in my case, it was the Nike Air Strike Force as opposed to the pricier Air Jordans. I still have them.)
PGHammer said:
The Converse All-Star (Chuck Taylor) of smartphones.
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Click to collapse
relatable, as someone who replaces his broken chucks with a new pair of chucks about every four years
I came over from the V30, which has an incredibly active community, even nearly 3 years after launch.
The reason I switched to Pixel? I was honestly tired of the time it took to try to turn my V30 into a Pixel. With everything from Pixel Experience (and other AOSP ROMs), to hacks to try to get the Q gestures on Pie, to third party ports of GCam, to people downloading and installing Digital Wellbeing, Google Phone, etc, etc, I finally realized that what I really wanted was a Pixel. So I bought one. And now I have no need to modify it.
I think people pick the 3a line precisely because they don't want to have to hack anything. The users are far more like iPhone users than like Android users. They want nice pictures of kids, and a phone that just works without much effort.
AndDiSa said:
Not sure if we really need nandroids: you can easily backup and restore apps and their data even without TWRP and generally we have factory images / installation bundles available for our device. So there is not really a need for TWRP ... in addition I doubt that TWRP for Android 10+ will be available soon.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are Nandroids required? No. But the ability to make a full backup of your current ROM so that you can try out a new ROM or develop on a real phone and go right back to square one in the time it takes to flash the backup is certainly beneficial. It makes a huge difference and certainly more people would be willing to experiment on their daily driver phone if it was available. The idea of having to flash factory and then wait for Google to restore all my apps and data makes me cringe.
I for one have decided NOT to try some of the ROMs, etc that are available for this exact reason.
sic0048 said:
Are Nandroids required? No. But the ability to make a full backup of your current ROM so that you can try out a new ROM or develop on a real phone and go right back to square one in the time it takes to flash the backup is certainly beneficial. It makes a huge difference and certainly more people would be willing to experiment on their daily driver phone if it was available. The idea of having to flash factory and then wait for Google to restore all my apps and data makes me cringe.
I for one have decided NOT to try some of the ROMs, etc that are available for this exact reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Backing up is easy without twrp. Sure it's no twrp backup, but it's fine.
You can use adb-sync to synchronise the files in internal storage with a folder in your PC and vice-versa. That along with a swift backup of all your apps, app data, etc essentially allows for a complete 100% reliable backup that only takes about 20 mins to backup/restore give or take depending on the speed of the drive it's backing up/restoring to.
Sent from my Pixel 3a XL using XDA Labs
@sic0048
I was not referring to Google's restore mechanism, but to have a local copy on an external device which can be restored if needed.
@Skittles9823
There is also my android-backup-project which is still in an early stage but as a POC it's working quite well. I am just analyzing whether there is a chance to prepare e.g. a zip which can be flashed back by standard recovery / fastboot. Probably this is not so easy thinking at generic android devices but for the Pixel ones I expect that it can be more easy.