Database Users

Should i modify it?

Hi, i'm a little bit scared about modifying it. Is there a real big difference in performance between the stock rom and a custom with a kernel at stock frequencies? And i've seen a lot of methods about unlocking/rooting it, but i am scared if i brick it... Is there a 100% safe method to unlock and root it? And i've heard about a problem with the buggy stock recovery, will i have this problem if i flash cwm?
Sorry for the huge number of questions and for my bad english
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

Personally I found that there is not a great deal of difference between stock ROM and many of the custom ROMs out there. For me it is more to do with having the freedom to get tore into the tablet.
There is never a 100% guarantee that yo won't mess up when rooting and installing custom software, however the vast majority of users on here have managed to do it safely with the tools available.
If you are going down the path of rooting and customs, may I suggest you give the team EOS ROM a try coupled with Franco kernel. They work together like a dream. Also paranoid android ROM for something different . Though I found it to be a little slow for my liking.
Finally clemsyns elite kernel if you want crazy performance, but it does eat the battery
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

Rooting is quite painless and reasonably safe if you follow the directions closely. The one click rooting methods, elsewhere in this forum...work well.
Myself, I prefer the stock rom. The custom roms might offer better performance, but can be buggy at times. although. I do switch back and forth to try them out. Remember, these roms
are all works in progress, so do not be surprised if something does not work the way you think
it should.

Thanks for the answers. I'm thinking about only rooting it. Will i receive the ota for a new update?
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

As long as you keep the stock recovery you can keep doing ota updates
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

In my experience, OTA never worked to well.. but there are ways around it, for example... backing up your apps, then load a fresh updated factory image. then just restore your apps..
Titanium backup is one such app, but there are others .

So far no matter what I try I cant brick it oh I can get it stuck but theres always a way to fix it. And like some others here I have tried I believe every ROM out there. Not one really stands out "different" for ME then any other. Nexus root toolkit is by far the easiest to use for me. If your into battery life so far Stock wins hands down.

Unlocking and rooting the Nexus is really simple and pretty much foolproof. I'll admit there isn't that much of a difference between stock and custom ROMs because the N7 with JB is already a beast. I just like custom ROMs because you have the ability to make it faster if you want to (I have my CPU over clocked by 500 MHz and my GPU over clocked by 300 MHz thanks to clemsyn's elite kernel) the only reasons why I wanted to put a custom ROM on this was because I missed the 3 in 1 shutdown menu and the ability to remove the notification shae toggles, other than that I don't mess with much because JB is already buttery smooth. Gone are the days when you have to root, OC and install custom ROMs just to get good performance out of your device like I had to do with the OG droid.

I would definitely at least root the device for the time being. Aside from some customization options in a few custom ROMs I actually really enjoy stock on my N7... I would also take a look at ... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1905961 once you have it all ready to go... I found it made an improvement to my Wifi and GPS by a fair bit, no custom rom needed.

Kernel repacking?

my old phone was the HTC One X and I remember having to repack the kernel for the rom I was using
1) is it the same here with the Nexus 4 after rooting/unlocking? any automatic repackers out there?
Also,
2) do I still need to "fastboot flash boot boot.img" everytime I flash a new rom
PS pretty excited about getting back into the android scene. my nexus 4 is coming in tomorrow.

From what I know I never had to repack any kernel on my nexus phones. All you need to do is run the unlock command once through fast boot and you can flash whatever you like. This phone is made so you can run what you like without jumping through hoops like the branded phones.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

can anyone second that?

once the bootloader is unlocked, and have a custom recovery installed, you can flash any nexus 4 kernel you want(compatible kernel). you dont have to repack anything.

Thanks simms22
is flashing the boot.img required after flashing a rom?

misterpho06 said:
Thanks simms22
is flashing the boot.img required after flashing a rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if thats the kernel that you are flashing. theres only one that i can think of that requires flashing the boot.img, all the others are flashable via the recovery. but, to answer the question, after every rom flash, youll have to reflash your custom kernel, as the rom will overwrite the kernel that you are running.

misterpho06 said:
Thanks simms22
is flashing the boot.img required after flashing a rom?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Coming from a One X myself, I can confirm that you don't need to go hunting for a repacked ramdisk for use with your kernel of choice.
As the Nexus is fully unlocked, (not some half-arsed partial unlock that was the case with the One X), all the kernels can be flashed directly within recovery
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

THANK YOU for your responses guys.
any opinion on the best rom/kernel available right now for the nexus4?
I would really like the features of AOKP and cyanogenmod but hates little bugs.
Probably might stick with stock rom but maybe a franco kernel for now??

rasbean jelly rom, trinity kernel. stock rom is good too. but theres no best, theres whats best for your needs. experiment with a few different roms/kernels, find what you and your device likes best

[Q] Nexus 4 Custom Kernel Help

Hi, I am a recent iPhone convert thanks to the Nexus 4. So obviously I am new to rooting, custom ROMS, and custom kernels. I am currently rooted and am running a recent CM 10.1 nightly. However, battery life isn't all that great.
A friend of mine told me that a custom kernel can drastically improve battery life without hurting performance. So here I am hoping that someone can help me. Can anyone recommend a good kernel that will improve battery life without hurting speed?
Also, what are the steps for installing a custom kernel? What about going back to stock in case I have to send my phone in for an RMA or something like that? Is that easy to do?
Thanks in advance for the help!

Try Franco or Harsh or trinity .
Custom kernels are more about under clocking a few things here and there to get best balance between performance and battery life thats and some tweaks which are generally inbuilt .
But tbh not all phone's are same what works for me and few others might not fetch u the same results, i've experienced this over my previous nexus device .
Some combo of ROM/kernel might work for u and not so well for other's i would say try out all the main stream kernels and some more if your'e feeling epxerimental give each kernel 2 to 5 days and see which u like the best.
Personally i've had good results with harsh kernel and franco and trinity .

berz said:
Try Franco or Harsh or trinity .
Custom kernels are more about under clocking a few things here and there to get best balance between performance and battery life thats and some tweaks which are generally inbuilt .
But tbh not all phone's are same what works for me and few others might not fetch u the same results, i've experienced this over my previous nexus device .
Some combo of ROM/kernel might work for u and not so well for other's i would say try out all the main stream kernels and some more if your'e feeling epxerimental give each kernel 2 to 5 days and see which u like the best.
Personally i've had good results with harsh kernel and franco and trinity .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Do you have one that you would suggest for a first time newbie? Also, what is the process for installing it and potentially uninstalling it back to stock?

Everything is easy to do. AS LONG AS YOU READ FIRST before doing anything You can start by reading the guides found here in the Nexus 4 General thread.
So far, the best for both performance and battery for me is Trinity kernel.
By the way, to install a custom kernel:
1. Install proper drivers for nexus 4 in your pc.
2. Unlock your bootloader.
3. Install custom recovery like CWM or TWRP Recovery
4. Start flashing your choice of kernels!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

wtfshouldidonow said:
Everything is easy to do. AS LONG AS YOU READ FIRST before doing anything You can start by reading the guides found here in the Nexus 4 General thread.
So far, the best for both performance and battery for me is Trinity kernel.
By the way, to install a custom kernel:
1. Install proper drivers for nexus 4 in your pc.
2. Unlock your bootloader.
3. Install custom recovery like CWM or TWRP Recovery
4. Start flashing your choice of kernels!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice! I am currently using CWM and have an unlocked boot loader. Is it as simple as downloading a zip, going into recovery, and installing the zip from "sd card"? If so, where can I find the zip for trinity? And how can I go back to stock in case something goes wrong?

There are post on xda and you could Google it. Just download it on your nexus and flash it
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda app-developers app

strausd said:
Thanks for the advice! I am currently using CWM and have an unlocked boot loader. Is it as simple as downloading a zip, going into recovery, and installing the zip from "sd card"? If so, where can I find the zip for trinity? And how can I go back to stock in case something goes wrong?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you want to be always safe and sure, then BEFORE flashing anything, go to CWM, choose backup and restore, then choose backup. That is called a nandroid backup. It might take a long time depending on how much apps you have. After the nandroid backup takes place, then you're free to flash the zip for trinity that you've downloaded.
I also suggest that you do backups often and delete old ones (you can delete old backups in the "backups and restore" part of CWM). So that incase anything goes wrong when you flash something, just go back to recovery mode, then restore your latest backup and you can undo your wrongs
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

wtfshouldidonow said:
If you want to be always safe and sure, then BEFORE flashing anything, go to CWM, choose backup and restore, then choose backup. That is called a nandroid backup. It might take a long time depending on how much apps you have. After the nandroid backup takes place, then you're free to flash the zip for trinity that you've downloaded.
I also suggest that you do backups often and delete old ones (you can delete old backups in the "backups and restore" part of CWM). So that incase anything goes wrong when you flash something, just go back to recovery mode, then restore your latest backup and you can undo your wrongs
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So nandroid backups also backup the kernel?

strausd said:
So nandroid backups also backup the kernel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bump. i also need to know the answer to this question.
EDIT: nvm found my answer, it backups the kernel too.
admins can delete this

imeem said:
bump. i also need to know the answer to this question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
nandroid backs up everything. it basically takes a snapshot of the state your device is in when you back it up, then restored your phone to exactly how it was before the backup.

Coming from HTC One S (and a whole lot of HTC family before that) and not having to deal with S-Off dilemma is a whole new free world for me (you can say i am institutionalized).
If I want to flash a rom and not the kernel included in it, can I just remove the boot.img file from the rom's zip and flash it? Or is that not a good idea?

justthefacts said:
Coming from HTC One S (and a whole lot of HTC family before that) and not having to deal with S-Off dilemma is a whole new free world for me (you can say i am institutionalized).
If I want to flash a rom and not the kernel included in it, can I just remove the boot.img file from the rom's zip and flash it? Or is that not a good idea?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
no. you need to flash the whole zip. without a kernel, your device is an expensive brick. the kernel control pretty much everything and connects the hardware to the software. you can always flash another kernel after flashing the rom zip.

simms22 said:
no. you need to flash the whole zip. without a kernel, your device is an expensive brick. the kernel control pretty much everything and connects the hardware to the software. you can always flash another kernel after flashing the rom zip.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the reply.
Are all kernels pretty much compatible with all roms?

justthefacts said:
Thanks for the reply.
Are all kernels pretty much compatible with all roms?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all nexus 4 kernels are compatible with all nexus 4 roms. if you flash a non nexus 4 kernel onto your nexus, you will most likely brick it.

Sounds great. This will be my first Nexus experience. Love this forum already. A very mature crowd.

[Q] How safe is it to flash cm10 on the Nexus 4?

Hello, im new on xda, and i really want to make a thread.
I currently have a 16GB Nexus 4 and im not sure about have safe it is to flash a new rom and kernel, and do i need to take a backup/recovery of the stock rom and kernel? (Sorry for my English, im from Denmark)
And if i decide to install fx. cyanogenmod 10 on my Nexus 4 which Kernel is the best to install?
(Im really noob to rooting and that kind of things )
Hope you will answer my question.

FR4NS3N said:
Hello, im new on xda, and i really want to make a thread.
I currently have a 16GB Nexus 4 and im not sure about have safe it is to flash a new rom and kernel, and do i need to take a backup/recovery of the stock rom and kernel? (Sorry for my English, im from Denmark)
And if i decide to install fx. cyanogenmod 10 on my Nexus 4 which Kernel is the best to install?
(Im really noob to rooting and that kind of things )
Hope you will answer my question.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should always backup before flashing.
The kernel you use is up to you. People who ask which is the best tend to have their threads locked.

It is safe.
First you will have to unlock your bootloader. And then flash a recovery.
Backup your current rom.
Wipe.
Flash.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app

Very safe.
If you are new to flashing and custom android in general I recommend sticking to the kernel whatever ROM you choose comes with. The more complex you make things the more chances you can make a mistake; for example, there are several people who have bricked their Nexus 4s by flashing kernels for the N7 etc. Also, depending on the kernel, you may introduce the possibility for instability or worse, cause damage to your phone. Do lots of research before playing with any custom kernels and make sure you are flashing the correct kernel for your device (mako).
As far as CM10.1 Nightlies go, they are extremely stable and can have minor bugs occasionally when new features are introduced. Stick to one of the M builds if you want to play it safe. Stable builds of CM10.1 have not yet arrived for any devices, but I have a feeling we're not too far off.

Been flashing CM nightlies everytime I charge my phone and haven't run into any issues yet. The ROM itself feels just as smooth as stock with the added bonus of extra features and customization. I think it's perfectly safe as long as you don't accidentally flash something meant for another device

Custom ROMs worth it?

Hi.
Had my N7 since launch and I've been a happy camper. But recently I've seen that it can lag a bit from time to time.
So I'm thinking of rooting and putting on a custom ROM. But do they really offer greater performance doing everyday tasks like surfing the net and stuff like that? I'm not a gamer so don't need extra performance in that area. I just want a bit more snappiness.
So is it worth it?
P.S. I already have the adb drivers on my PC for my Nexus S so will I need to install them again for the Nexus 7?
Also, what is the best root method?
Cheers.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using xda app-developers app

You can find rooting guides throughout the forum, it is very easy. All you need to do is unlock the bootloader, flash a recovery and then flash su from recovery.
Custom ROMs don't necessarily improve performance (although they can); the main gain will be features and tweaks. If you only care about performance, you might be fine staying on stock with a custom kernel.
I'm thinking you will need new drivers. I think it's easiest to get them from the Asus support site.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium