Android 3.1 Port - Acer Iconia A500

Has anyone tried porting the Android 3.1 system.img from the SDK to the A500 yet?

I want to say it was sp3dev that tried flashing the xoom 3.1 images and ended up bricking his tablet, so note sure if anyone has tried it again.

I'm thinking of having a gom but I only just got this tablet today. Is there a recovery ROM image that I can use to reflash the tablet in case of brickage?

dr1337 said:
I'm thinking of having a gom but I only just got this tablet today. Is there a recovery ROM image that I can use to reflash the tablet in case of brickage?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No recovery yet as the bootloader is still locked.
Acer will issue an official update in the next couple of weeks, so why risk it? There's no rush.

Bragging rights......jk
I actually would like a clean system.img without the Acer bloatware too.

You can use this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=14076075&postcount=2
to fully restore to stock US.

I recommend that 'how to' for recovering the tablet be placed in the HOW TO thread, and that thread be stickied.

dhruvmp said:
I want to say it was sp3dev that tried flashing the xoom 3.1 images and ended up bricking his tablet, so note sure if anyone has tried it again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
:facepalm:
Me? No, it was not me. Meh, i don't care for ****roid and the only thing i want to flash is a proper distro like ubuntu or fedora.

Would be interesting to see what the logcat dump produced to try and work out the incompatibilities.

FloatingFatMan said:
No recovery yet as the bootloader is still locked.
Acer will issue an official update in the next couple of weeks, so why risk it? There's no rush.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 on that...if acer sticks to a June time frame of getting 3.1 to us then it would be a better deal...thats just around the corner and there will be less bugs getting an update (at least i hope so) from the maufacturer then trying to port it from a different device. compared to the g-tab that i had...this thing runs pretty dam good with stock rooted Rom and bloatwate removed...once we get official 3.1 update with mouse and additional peripheral support...then thats gonna make that much sweeter.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App

One thing to think before
Same for me once I removed those crap apps from Acer.I guess Acer will never learn about putting their own apps to blingbling the whole tablet. I don't need slow beautiful tablet I need an overboosted one They build slow PCs, they build slow laptops, slow tablets and I guess slow mobiles phones too and once you make a clean instal on it, oooohhhhh wonder its works like a rocket ------->>>>>>>>>
I guess it s marketing ... selling slow things so that people buy a new one earlier.
And then the other trouble that I m expecting to come......
I m not sure about it but in some threads they telling that if some apps are missing on
our tablet update won't work.
Ok, we know how to revert back to original Acer tablet and do the update to remove again those crap apps again wth....????
Atleast it s not nessecary to hack Acer laptop and PC to instal windows again.
What we need is bootloader from Acer or from a Dev if Acer won't, updates are secondary.
I don t trust them since they could make updates to prevent installing custom roms like
Apple with their never ending we need to block jailbreaking attempts
So be careful about those updates........

3.1 original
I would wait for 3.1, the problems of getting it from another tab would not be worth it.
It should be here hopefully this week sometime!!!

It has been reported that if your device was EVER rooted you wont have access to Google movies on market...even after factory reset/flashing stock rom...fyi this was on xoom. Not sure how much truth there is to this, but I'm not chancing it.

gmpdmd said:
It has been reported that if your device was EVER rooted you wont have access to Google movies on market...even after factory reset/flashing stock rom...fyi this was on xoom. Not sure how much truth there is to this, but I'm not chancing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Being fearful is the safer option... but you really should think this through clearly. How would they know if your tablet has EVER been rooted? Do they store the information on their servers? If so, what about when someone buys your tablet second hand? Are they denied from the movie market forever? Is the tablet forever "poisoned"?
The above scenario is the only way they could know as all traces of being rooted can easily be removed from the tablet itself... that is the nature of having root after all; total control.
Again, if you are fearful or uncertain, do not do anything to your tablet. Please do not spread your fear amongst others though because someone will soon be quoting you and claiming that "they" can tell if your tablet has ever been rooted. As you have already said, " It has been reported that...". Reported by whom? There is no answer. Did they verify the mechanism that testifies that the tablet has EVER been rooted? There is no answer.
It is fine to ask a question but as soon as you say, "it has been reported", then you are spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Bad newbie. No cookie for you.

strikethree said:
Being fearful is the safer option... but you really should think this through clearly. How would they know if your tablet has EVER been rooted? Do they store the information on their servers? If so, what about when someone buys your tablet second hand? Are they denied from the movie market forever? Is the tablet forever "poisoned"?
The above scenario is the only way they could know as all traces of being rooted can easily be removed from the tablet itself... that is the nature of having root after all; total control.
Again, if you are fearful or uncertain, do not do anything to your tablet. Please do not spread your fear amongst others though because someone will soon be quoting you and claiming that "they" can tell if your tablet has ever been rooted. As you have already said, " It has been reported that...". Reported by whom? There is no answer. Did they verify the mechanism that testifies that the tablet has EVER been rooted? There is no answer.
It is fine to ask a question but as soon as you say, "it has been reported", then you are spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt. Bad newbie. No cookie for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Post is on Droid Life...what I consider a reputable source. I cant post links yet. Go to site and search for "xoom google movies" Its second post down. I'm no noob...rooted many phones and tabs...just new too posting here. Sorry I did not provide link initially

Since Google Movies is about the most expensive way of watching video currently available, I'm not at all concerned over their decision to block rooted devices.

I've wondered this before about cell phones and tablets. I figured it would be more of a carrier thing, wanting to keep everyone in check on device warranties. The capability is certainly there on a carrier based device to simply track the sw version (mods) and root status. I figured it would come up at some point when there was a compelling enough reason for someone to make decisions based on that info. Hopefully it will be limited to content providers, such as in this case. I don't know that there is a need for fear and panic, just more for us all to think about before rooting. I thought about this before rooting my first phone, but also decided that rooting was a better way to avoid bloatware, etc. Until they cut my service for rooting, I'll always seek a better experience on my phone or tablet. Apparently there has been no compelling business reason for them to do that as of yet. Movie licensing is understandable, I'm 100% behind copyright protections. Just one more consideration before rooting a tablet.
Sent from my Xoom using Tapatalk

Related

HP ZEEN 7"ANDROID TAB comes with printer c510a

Good day
Let me start with a little background info. I had an eris and now Dx since well before they were rooted. I follow the forums here daily as I am an admitted gadget junkie;-) Well anyway I thought I kept up with most of the upcoming tech news but this slipped right by me. Happened to see it while wondering aimlessly in bestbuy yesterday. Of course I bought it. You all prolly already know about this product but just in case you didn't I just wanted to let my favorite devs on the best forums in on it. Hopefully you're all due for a printer upgrade. In case you don't figure it out the 7" detachable touchscreen printer interface has android 2.1 on it already. I've already figured out how to put alot of my own apks on it but maybe you guys will have ideas I could try on it Really need some market action on this thing. So check it out and have a good day.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/product/printer/Photosmart/1/storefronts/CQ140A%23B1H
I agree with you on the fact that it needs the market on there, but this was released well over 2-3 months ago. A lot has been written about it that it MIGHT get 2.2 and/or more upgrades come 2011, but that was also right before HP bought Palm and committed to WebOS.
I haven't found much information at all on it? Mine is offering to update rite now but I'm holding off until I learn more about it. I want to root it of course. I've already tried androot Z4root and dmupdater with no luck. If anyone could guide me through dumping the right info off it maybe we could get a recovery. I have learned that it's manufactured by foxconn, same company that has manufactured every "i" device apple has ever put out. Anyway hope there's enough interest in the device for some development
Amen brother... I can't wait for someone to sink their teeth into this thing and open up the potential...
Partial Root
I managed to load z4 root successfully, and could then load on various other .apk's. No market though. Once all of the HP junk was removed, it performed quite well.
Debug?
What did this do to your printer? Were you able to develop/debug to the zeen? I can't get the ADB to recognize it.
hey guys im a new user to this damn zeen i have an evo, so i was trying to get the market on this thing but no luck, have you been able to pull it off yet??
Anyone know a good alternative market to use on this, or how to get the official?
try app brain and let me know how it goes!!
I've added a Dev Thread for this at http://eb-productions.proboards.com/index.cgi since barak now has this device....
you wont get adb due to it being turned off in the kernel.

[Q] Extracting APKs from 3.1 roms...possible?

Hey all,
I am not a dev, I just dabble. Anyone try extracting any of the apks from the 3.1 sdk or Xoom? I am not sure if the USB connectivity is modular like that, but that could be useful until Acer gets off its a**.
I know dc13 bricked after trying to flash the Xoom rom, but is what I ask even feasible?
This is not a bump, but I think this is a valid topic. Anyone get any real good looks at the apks included with 3.1 on the xoom or in the sdk? I don't own one anymore so I can't check it and I currently do not have access to my computers to try the sdk.
How easy is it to root a Xoom? is it as easy as it was for us? if that is the case, I could probably go to a best buy, root it, and then do a system dump to my dropbox...logoff and leave >_>
I don't know if it is that easy to root, but I really appreciate the reply and willingness.
No one I know owns a tablet apart from iPad or ipad2. I am actually the first of my friends to have an Android tablet and around school, all I see are apple products. The good thing is that the best buy is like 5 minutes from my university, so it's no hassle going in. Plus the staff there is nice, so they won't mind =P
Theres a real easy one click root available for the xoom. I've got mine rooted and overclocked to 1.6 ghz along with having the sdcard slot working and usb hosting enabled.
Update Alert...
dhruvmp said:
Hey all,
I am not a dev, I just dabble. Anyone try extracting any of the apks from the 3.1 sdk or Xoom? I am not sure if the USB connectivity is modular like that, but that could be useful until Acer gets off its a**.
I know dc13 bricked after trying to flash the Xoom rom, but is what I ask even feasible?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Endgadget report today that Acer will release Android 3.1 next month
So my advice is stop tinkering with OS and wait for the update.

[Q] Ugh no NVFlash, is there?

Has anyone been successful in booting into APX/NVFlash mode on this? I have one ordered and already have a little buyers remorse.. blobs and all that junk, its rather pathetic. No OC kernel either, eh? Coming from a 1.7ghz gtab, this might be unusable! Well, we'll see. Are there any custom branches of the asus source? Maybe we can get a few things working like gpu/cpu oc to t25 standards.
Currently nvflash is locked. Overclocked kernals are coming i've heard. Alot of the problems with really custom stuff is the lack of source code.
Woops lost my intended post.. was something to the tune of how nvflash has saved many gtabs from being bricked.. seriously, its a great tool. I'm sure its a Google thing, maybe one of their Honeycomb decrees. Probably thinking of how nvflash and Windows 8 would come into play..
Google is really getting on my nerves... they're starting to get the "we know better than you, so here" attitude that Apple has. Catch the diss on Microsoft, regarding their 'torture' of users by letting them manage things? Ugh. Google can't play the bash ms card, its ****ing old. Can't believe I bought another tegra tab.. who wants?
Blades said:
Woops lost my intended post.. was something to the tune of how nvflash has saved many gtabs from being bricked.. seriously, its a great tool. I'm sure its a Google thing, maybe one of their Honeycomb decrees. Probably thinking of how nvflash and Windows 8 would come into play..
Google is really getting on my nerves... they're starting to get the "we know better than you, so here" attitude that Apple has. Catch the diss on Microsoft, regarding their 'torture' of users by letting them manage things? Ugh. Google can't play the bash ms card, its ****ing old. Can't believe I bought another tegra tab.. who wants?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think its the company that makes the device that is blocking nvflash not google.
Blades said:
Woops lost my intended post.. was something to the tune of how nvflash has saved many gtabs from being bricked.. seriously, its a great tool. I'm sure its a Google thing, maybe one of their Honeycomb decrees. Probably thinking of how nvflash and Windows 8 would come into play..
Google is really getting on my nerves... they're starting to get the "we know better than you, so here" attitude that Apple has. Catch the diss on Microsoft, regarding their 'torture' of users by letting them manage things? Ugh. Google can't play the bash ms card, its ****ing old. Can't believe I bought another tegra tab.. who wants?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is your rant finished? Maybe you should have read up a little before purchasing this wonderful tablet. So you dont want a tegra tab huh? Whats left to choose from? Ipad? GL
husker91 said:
Is your rant finished? Maybe you should have read up a little before purchasing this wonderful tablet. So you dont want a tegra tab huh? Whats left to choose from? Ipad? GL
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I said I can't believe I bought another Tehran tab. Key word is another. Nvidia is starting to pull their antics with gb video decoding drivers for the harmony board. By antics, I mean what they've (and ATI) been doing with their linux video drivers - not supporting older hardware and not releasing source so consumers can create their own drivers for 'older' hardware - ie harmony based devices.
I might only have a use for an ipad as a dog toy/frisbee - I have a pitbull and a Dogo Argentino, itd be funny.
I was done with my rant.. but I suppose you prolonged it.
BTW: I did read up. I found no info on the issue of NVFlash. Have a Xoom, Gtab, and now one of these wonderful tablets. So far, the gtab is the most fun. Can the Asus get 4700 in quadrant? Do you see it ever being that fast? You're right about lack of alternatives, I suppose there is the Hardkernel odroids for someone like me, new device has a modular cpu board.
I'll be sure to at least try to get nvflash working. Does anyone have a bootloader they could post up? Usually viewing in a hex editor can give you a clue as to what the boot scenarios could be.
There's a thread over in development where several people tried to get nvflash going. Their opinions in the end were nvflash is locked and you need some sort of signed key to use it. Any nvflash commands tried, failed.
It may be possible that in the future asus may provide the key, but from their response to the people who bricked via the ota update (just having them rma the device), it doesn't seem like it.
You probably need a dev bootloader. This is based on the Ventana board, right? Another reason could be that the nvflash tool doesn't support ext* fs, but I doubt that. If Asus releases a tegra2 linux netbook, based on the same Ventana board, things could get better. Thanks for the heads up. I'll check out the development section
I know quadrant is pretty cool benchmarking tool but you might want to give this a try too. Grab a friend, load the same movie up on the Gtab and the Transformer, place both the devices three feet in front of you flat on a table and ask your friend which one is better.
I had to return my GTab when my girlfriend commented that having a tablet that can't actually be seen unless held at the right angle directly in front of you is rather useless.
The Transformer is a brand new tablet with an active, if somewhat still empty handed, community behind it. Out of the box though, using the default software, it's an entirely useable system that does exactly what I want it too (in my case quickly display photos, web browsing, youtubing and web surfing). I suspect three months from now it'll have some solid development work behind it since all of the alternatives have managed to overlook the importance of price point as well as innovation in their scheduled releases.
i just downloaded nvflash and just got my root was easy as pie rooted in literally in five minutes would have been 2 minutes but my computer is a bit slow let me know if you would like some links i got it to work

Talk with Acer tech rep

I managed to get hold of an acer tech representative from Sydney last night and thought I'd pass on the information I could extract from him.
I asked him about giving us an official update.zip that we can use to restore our devices with rather than using the Chinese version. He said he'd pass the feedback onto the upper management. Personally I think it would be in Acer's best interest to give us SOME way to restore our devices easily if things go bad.
As to the Kernel he said he'd have a look into it and admitted it should have been released by now. They have every intention of releasing it, it's just a matter of when. To be honest "when" should have been a month ago.
Bad news on the bootloader front, he sounded pretty certain that an unlocked bootloader was just not going to happen. So no help there from Acer.
He also said that the 7inch has been postponed due to focused effort on the current 10 inch, despite the claims it's hardware compatibility issues. Although I didn't actually see the 7inch turned on he just demoed the 7inch which was turned off
I will never understand this locked bootloader business. Even in a time where some manufacturers have flipped the blame onto the carriers for demanding that devices be locked down, it makes no sense for a WiFi-only device to be configured this way.
The more I read about these manufacturer-imposed restrictions, the more I want to return my A500. I'm still 7 days within my 14 day return window...
bcz Acer knows they are sucked at warranty. They don't want random people return this product bcz of faulty recovery flash
It took awhile, but we have one now
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1159443
~~~~~
UnicornKaz said:
It took awhile, but we have one now
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1159443
~~~~~
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You still need CWM unless I'm reading the posts there wrong. A true Acer provided update.zip should just allow you to push power+vol for recovery and do it's stuff. Great for the community to provide this. ****ty of Acer that WE'RE the ones doing it, not them.
Going forward, I will not buy any devices with a locked bootloader, ever. I don't buy EA games or Steam games either, despite missing some things I'd like to play. Looks like this will be another thing on that heap of crap I don't purchase.
muqali said:
You still need CWM unless I'm reading the posts there wrong. A true Acer provided update.zip should just allow you to push power+vol for recovery and do it's stuff. Great for the community to provide this. ****ty of Acer that WE'RE the ones doing it, not them.
Going forward, I will not buy any devices with a locked bootloader, ever. I don't buy EA games or Steam games either, despite missing some things I'd like to play. Looks like this will be another thing on that heap of crap I don't purchase.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you actually read the 1st post ??
It CAN be updated via Acer normal recovery !
BTW ... when we are currently have these things ( ROOTED, CWM, custom roms, Kernels ...etc )... what exactly is the actual benefit of an unlocked bootloader now ?
It used to be that we couldn't move forward without an unlocked bootloader..etc, but now that we can by leaps & bounds... what does it provide exactly ?

[Q] Do you lose anything by rooting?

I'm about to root my Nexus 10. Will I lose anything? Such as some Google Apps refusing to work like paid for movies or books or anything if it detects it's running on a rooted device?
Or do all Google and other apps still work fine?
Anything to watch out for? I'm considering Cyanogen, and will root with Mskip's tool.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2001868
Everything will work fine. All that I have ever found not working is my employer's software developed only for the employees. No mass produced app will give you any trouble.
Enjoy CM10!
Sent from my GT-N7100 or the Nexus 10, heaven knows.
Those who help noobs go to heaven. True story.
DroidBois said:
I'm about to root my Nexus 10. Will I lose anything? Such as some Google Apps refusing to work like paid for movies or books or anything if it detects it's running on a rooted device?
Or do all Google and other apps still work fine?
Anything to watch out for? I'm considering Cyanogen, and will root with Mskip's tool.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2001868
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You lose everything, including your home and first-born child.
In all seriousness, just about everything will work fine if you only root. Some custom ROMs do introduce incompatibility problems, but it's usually on a pretty small scale (an app here or there might not work if your ROM/kernel choice tweaks how the device handles graphics, for example). By and large, you should be fine, but be careful of certain content apps that will refuse to play on rooted devices.
SacGuru said:
Everything will work fine. All that I have ever found not working is my employer's software developed only for the employees. No mass produced app will give you any trouble.
Enjoy CM10!
Sent from my GT-N7100 or the Nexus 10, heaven knows.
Those who help noobs go to heaven. True story.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Come now, you know that's not entirely true. Many stuck-up content providers won't support rooted devices, and you'll also get the standard "unsupported device" claim if you're rooted or have an unlocked bootloader from apps like Google Wallet. By and large though, OP, you should be fine.
Rirere said:
You lose everything, including your home and first-born child.
In all seriousness, just about everything will work fine if you only root. Some custom ROMs do introduce incompatibility problems, but it's usually on a pretty small scale (an app here or there might not work if your ROM/kernel choice tweaks how the device handles graphics, for example). By and large, you should be fine, but be careful of certain content apps that will refuse to play on rooted devices.
Come now, you know that's not entirely true. Many stuck-up content providers won't support rooted devices, and you'll also get the standard "unsupported device" claim if you're rooted or have an unlocked bootloader from apps like Google Wallet. By and large though, OP, you should be fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are right, but I was responding to what the OP had asked. Movies from play will work just fine afaik. And yes, there would be some app developers who won't support modified devices (I've heard of some trouble with the Sky tv app), but then again on some devices there are ways to temporarily unroot to allow such apps to run.
Again, how the device handles graphics can be modified as well. I had trouble with the Naked Browser before I modified the dpi using an xposed framework module.
In simple terms, so as to not confuse things, I would say that the huge majority of apps would give him no problems, and he would be missing out a lot if he refuses to root his device in the fear of one or two apps not working.
Sent from my GT-N7100 or the Nexus 10, heaven knows.
Those who help noobs go to heaven. True story.
SacGuru said:
You are right, but I was responding to what the OP had asked. Movies from play will work just fine afaik. And yes, there would be some app developers who won't support modified devices (I've heard of some trouble with the Sky tv app), but then again on some devices there are ways to temporarily unroot to allow such apps to run.
Again, how the device handles graphics can be modified as well. I had trouble with the Naked Browser before I modified the dpi using an xposed framework module.
In simple terms, so as to not confuse things, I would say that the huge majority of apps would give him no problems, and he would be missing out a lot if he refuses to root his device in the fear of one or two apps not working.
Sent from my GT-N7100 or the Nexus 10, heaven knows.
Those who help noobs go to heaven. True story.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There's a fine line between "not confus[ing] things" though and glossing over very real issues. It's significantly better for a new user to go into rooting aware of potential problems than rush in and get screwed on something because they expected rooting to be a land of sunshine, rainbows, and daisies, and found it was actually one that also had blood and tears.
That's especially true when you start getting into things like XPosed modules, which, while simple are much more than a new user should really have to contend with. Full stock+rooted is probably the safest introduction because it's so comparatively trivial to revert if you blow yourself up.
Rirere said:
There's a fine line between "not confus[ing] things" though and glossing over very real issues. It's significantly better for a new user to go into rooting aware of potential problems than rush in and get screwed on something because they expected rooting to be a land of sunshine, rainbows, and daisies, and found it was actually one that also had blood and tears.
That's especially true when you start getting into things like XPosed modules, which, while simple are much more than a new user should really have to contend with. Full stock+rooted is probably the safest introduction because it's so comparatively trivial to revert if you blow yourself up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know people who went on to custom roms the day they rooted their phones. I myself used one within a fortnight of using my first android device. Rooting isn't exactly rocket science.
I would really like to know what percentage of apps you believe do not work on custom roms/rooted phones out of all apps in the world. Impossible though it might be to have an exact number, I have a slight suspicion you have a larger-than-what-could-be-true figure in your head. While at it, do mention some of the blood and tears you have had while using your device.
In all the time I have been using android devices, I have only once encountered an app which I couldn't run on my device, and I believe that was purely due to lack of effort on my part.
Again, many people turn on to modifying their devices only because they want to use a custom rom, as the OP already wants to. I have never seen a comment by an user who regrets rooting his device as an app isn't working. I have seen numerous from users who are disappointed with the capabilities of their unrooted devices.
Had you understood my second comment, you would have realized that not only had I agreed with what you had said, I had also, unlike you, actually mentioned a couple of apps which might have problems on a rooted device. Glossing over issues might be wrong, but complicating simple questions is worse, in my opinion.
Sent from my GT-N7100 or the Nexus 10, heaven knows.
Those who help noobs go to heaven. True story.
SacGuru said:
I know people who went on to custom roms the day they rooted their phones. I myself used one within a fortnight of using my first android device. Rooting isn't exactly rocket science.
I would really like to know what percentage of apps you believe do not work on custom roms/rooted phones out of all apps in the world. Impossible though it might be to have an exact number, I have a slight suspicion you have a larger-than-what-could-be-true figure in your head. While at it, do mention some of the blood and tears you have had while using your device.
In all the time I have been using android devices, I have only once encountered an app which I couldn't run on my device, and I believe that was purely due to lack of effort on my part.
Again, many people turn on to modifying their devices only because they want to use a custom rom, as the OP already wants to. I have never seen a comment by an user who regrets rooting his device as an app isn't working. I have seen numerous from users who are disappointed with the capabilities of their unrooted devices.
Had you understood my second comment, you would have realized that not only had I agreed with what you had said, I had also, unlike you, actually mentioned a couple of apps which might have problems on a rooted device. Glossing over issues might be wrong, but complicating simple questions is worse, in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're starting to get a little touchy there.
I've been rooted and flashing ROMs for several years now, so I'm hardly new to the field. Nor do I think that there's even a large portion of apps out there that have trouble on rooted devices-- because that is not the point. From an end-user perspective, it only takes the loss of one app or a misbehaving one to ruin the experience. A great day-to-day example is Foldersync-- while the app "runs" correctly, if it detects you have root privileges it will spam superuser requests to perform a better sync. If you deny the request, your sync may fail, and if you accept it, the app potentially causes a wakelock. Random behavior can be just as bad as an outright crash.
OP's interest with ROMs is also a point of greater concern than just root. You really don't have to look too far to see people having problems, especially if you every venture outside of Nexus-land. The last hulabaloo I saw over this was back in the HTC One forums because a popular AOSP ROM had a misconfigured graphics driver that caused a few games to fall over and die.
As far as blood, sweat, and tears, try a bootlooping Galaxy Player 4.0 with a wiped /efs that was essentially softbricked for about two months before I had a free six or seven hours to manually dd everything back into place. I've also had my share of bootloops on Nexus devices while experimenting, although with a little fastboot or adb knowledge it's not hard to get out of them.
I have seen plenty of people regret their root or flash. I don't think you quite remember how bad the first bootloop or problem can be if you have never messed with this stuff before. Fastboot and adb are pretty easy to learn to use, but when you're first starting and every black screen seems like the death knell, it's a different matter altogether. Yes, I saw your post, and I understood, but it's a lot better to play it safe, especially at first, then charge ahead unaware of the consequences. Don't tell me you haven't seen people whining in countless ROM threads because they've done something stupid, usually because they didn't know not to.
Bottom line: better to play it safe and know than not. The only point I made up top was that you have to be 100% aware that you're playing with fire before you get burned. That doesn't mean fire isn't useful or that it's scary, but it does mean you have to be careful.
Edit
SacGuru said:
The whole point of my second post was that there are alternatives - to roms, to mods, to apps, to hardware limitations. The availability of these alternatives is amongst the prime reasons we love android, you and I.
The Op is not asking us about Softbricks/bootlooping devices, or black screens. He is asking only about apps. As I said before, I haven't yet seen a comment from someone who wants to unroot his device just because a particular app does not work. It might be possible that with your experience you might have seen one or two, but as you mention yourselves, people sometimes tend to be stupid.
It's unfortunate that I sounded touchy to you. My only answer to the Op still remains that it would be highly unlikely for him to have trouble with apps, even though there could be apps which do not work on modded phones (as I did mention in my very first comment).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think we're reading the comment a little differently. This is why I brought up what I did.
I'm about to root my Nexus 10. Will I lose anything? Such as some Google Apps refusing to work like paid for movies or books or anything if it detects it's running on a rooted device?
Or do all Google and other apps still work fine?
Anything to watch out for? I'm considering Cyanogen, and will root with Mskip's tool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Based on the questions being asked, I think it's reasonable to assume OP doesn't know anything about rooting or ROMs, so I'm being a little more liberal in looking at this comment than I would be otherwise. As such, I'd rather err on giving them information a little outside the original scope than too little.
Rirere said:
You're starting to get a little touchy there.
I've been rooted and flashing ROMs for several years now, so I'm hardly new to the field. Nor do I think that there's even a large portion of apps out there that have trouble on rooted devices-- because that is not the point. From an end-user perspective, it only takes the loss of one app or a misbehaving one to ruin the experience. A great day-to-day example is Foldersync-- while the app "runs" correctly, if it detects you have root privileges it will spam superuser requests to perform a better sync. If you deny the request, your sync may fail, and if you accept it, the app potentially causes a wakelock. Random behavior can be just as bad as an outright crash.
OP's interest with ROMs is also a point of greater concern than just root. You really don't have to look too far to see people having problems, especially if you every venture outside of Nexus-land. The last hulabaloo I saw over this was back in the HTC One forums because a popular AOSP ROM had a misconfigured graphics driver that caused a few games to fall over and die.
As far as blood, sweat, and tears, try a bootlooping Galaxy Player 4.0 with a wiped /efs that was essentially softbricked for about two months before I had a free six or seven hours to manually dd everything back into place. I've also had my share of bootloops on Nexus devices while experimenting, although with a little fastboot or adb knowledge it's not hard to get out of them.
I have seen plenty of people regret their root or flash. I don't think you quite remember how bad the first bootloop or problem can be if you have never messed with this stuff before. Fastboot and adb are pretty easy to learn to use, but when you're first starting and every black screen seems like the death knell, it's a different matter altogether. Yes, I saw your post, and I understood, but it's a lot better to play it safe, especially at first, then charge ahead unaware of the consequences. Don't tell me you haven't seen people whining in countless ROM threads because they've done something stupid, usually because they didn't know not to.
Bottom line: better to play it safe and know than not. The only point I made up top was that you have to be 100% aware that you're playing with fire before you get burned. That doesn't mean fire isn't useful or that it's scary, but it does mean you have to be careful.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The whole point of my second post was that there are alternatives - to roms, to mods, to apps, to hardware limitations. The availability of these alternatives is amongst the prime reasons we love android, you and I.
The Op is not asking us about Softbricks/bootlooping devices, or black screens. He is asking only about apps. As I said before, I haven't yet seen a comment from someone who wants to unroot his device just because a particular app does not work. It might be possible that with your experience you might have seen one or two, but as you mention yourselves, people sometimes tend to be stupid.
It's unfortunate that I sounded touchy to you. My only answer to the Op still remains that it would be highly unlikely for him to have trouble with apps, even though there could be apps which do not work on modded phones (as I did mention in my very first comment). Somehow your answer seemed pretty similar to mine ('just about everything would be fine'), so I just wondered why you had to mention to me problems with apps like the google wallet which are easily fixed.
By now, I am sure both of us understand what the other is talking about. Also, the op has enough info to take a decision on his own. My only qualm is that the inclusion of some seemingly complex terminology might turn him off rooting his device
Sent from my GT-N7100 or the Nexus 10, heaven knows.
Those who help noobs go to heaven. True story.
Wow... I just love you guys so much... So much detailed analysis here..
I've rooted all my devices in the past and generally not had any issues if I use a mature solid tool and ROM, I've only had issues with more 'pioneering' ROM's and tools, but for good reason. So I try to stick to the stable well tested mature varieties like Cyanogen and well supported tools, generally where the developer gets some payment (as reward encourages good development).
I'm more concerned with anything like content apps so Google Books / Magazines / Movies / Zinio etc or any other apps that may kick a stink about running on a rooted device?
Spotify seems fine on a rooted device so far though (Nexus 4).
It may not be an issue for some, but I am one of the (possibly rare?) people who PAY for content - specifically reading material. And I have an extensive library so I don't want to lose that.
I'm not so concerned on the technical front as the Nexus should be fairly well community supported and understood mainstream devices and likely to have stable development and mature community support.
I have the mskip tool ready to go so I'm fine with that.
It's not a debate about rooting vs not. I always root because simple things like having a quick tile for WLAN AP can make a HUGE difference through the day as opposed to this retarded idea that people ENJOY diving deep through menu layers for simple on / off functions - it drives me completely and utterly insane over the course of a day. So I like to set up and streamline my device how I need it, and even have accurate time with root tools like ClockSync, or better security support to lock out spyware crap like FaceSpy and so on (if root helps) and also, being able to properly back up my phone.
Or employer mandated junk like Afaria that some companies mandate for BYOD-to-work devices, not that I have any idea what it's for as opposed to a trusted workable solution like Google Apps (I guess everyone has to make their own thing to put their own buggy bloated stamp on everything). Will that mandated junk still work?
The biggest problem I have still is this MTP *CRAP* which which I believe you can't work around? That's another story and Google should be shot for this.
But root vs not has little to do with that. I guess we're stuck with this MTP crap no matter what we do (thanks Google, you tools).
Thanks for the advice here though.
DroidBois said:
Wow... I just love you guys so much... So much detailed analysis here..
I've rooted all my devices in the past and generally not had any issues if I use a mature solid tool and ROM, I've only had issues with more 'pioneering' ROM's and tools, but for good reason. So I try to stick to the stable well tested mature varieties like Cyanogen and well supported tools, generally where the developer gets some payment (as reward encourages good development).
I'm more concerned with anything like content apps so Google Books / Magazines / Movies / Zinio etc or any other apps that may kick a stink about running on a rooted device?
Spotify seems fine on a rooted device so far though (Nexus 4).
It may not be an issue for some, but I am one of the (possibly rare?) people who PAY for content - specifically reading material. And I have an extensive library so I don't want to lose that.
I'm not so concerned on the technical front as the Nexus should be fairly well community supported and understood mainstream devices and likely to have stable development and mature community support.
I have the mskip tool ready to go so I'm fine with that.
It's not a debate about rooting vs not. I always root because simple things like having a quick tile for WLAN AP can make a HUGE difference through the day as opposed to this retarded idea that people ENJOY diving deep through menu layers for simple on / off functions - it drives me completely and utterly insane over the course of a day. So I like to set up and streamline my device how I need it, and even have accurate time with root tools like ClockSync, or better security support to lock out spyware crap like FaceSpy and so on (if root helps) and also, being able to properly back up my phone.
Or employer mandated junk like Afaria that some companies mandate for BYOD-to-work devices, not that I have any idea what it's for as opposed to a trusted workable solution like Google Apps (I guess everyone has to make their own thing to put their own buggy bloated stamp on everything). Will that mandated junk still work?
The biggest problem I have still is this MTP *CRAP* which which I believe you can't work around? That's another story and Google should be shot for this.
But root vs not has little to do with that. I guess we're stuck with this MTP crap no matter what we do (thanks Google, you tools).
Thanks for the advice here though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've not had any problems with Google Play services and root, although most of my books are sideloaded after ripping DRM off of Amazon purchases (I don't really believe in the idea of a "perpetual lease"). As someone who has spent time working on that "employer junk" for corporate use, it may annoy the living **** out of you as a rooted user, but from a corporate standpoint it's actually pretty damn important.
Now, as far as MTP goes, don't quote me on this, but I remember seeing a setting in DriveDroid a while back (it's an app that lets you mount an ISO on your computer by connecting your device) that would let you change your USB connection mode to something other than MTP/PTP. I dont' remember the acronym, unfortunately, but it was a lot more in line with the way a "standard" USB device would connect (with the attendant issues of not using FUSE).

Categories

Resources