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Well, I have been an iphone user for the last few years and finally made the switch. I customize everything, so I'm use to using Cydia and Winterboard. I have no idea if there is anything comparable.
So, my question is... As a beginner on this platform, where do I even start looking besides here to find out what I can do with rooting my phone, creating themes, or custom apps and tweaks.
Like I said, I'm very new too this, and have no idea where to look. I've tried searching, but some of the terms i'm not familiar with yet. The nice thing that I can see right now, is the reason's I jailbroke my iphone, the S3 does already, or I have figured out an easy alternative.
Any help in the right direction would be great! So far, I'm really glad I got rid of the iphone
splxtreme said:
As a beginner on this platform, where do I even start looking besides here to find out what I can do with rooting my phone, creating themes, or custom apps and tweaks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
XDA is probably the best source, but there are certainly plenty of other xda-like sites out there. RootzWiki is probably the biggest, but it seems like a handful of new ones pop up every day.
On top of that, I'd say try the obvious... google it! If you google something like "what can i do with my rooted android phone" you'll find a lot of good suggestions (articles by tech sites, as well as forum threads from people who have asked the same questions as you). Keep in mind though, Android advances pretty fast, and all phones are a little different so not everything you find may be relevant anymore. Example: You may find something that says screenshots are a good reason to root... but that's a standard feature now in ICS, and Samsung phones could do it all along. So just keep that in mind... some things you may find may be out of date.
Hey welcome to android. I too made the switch over a year ago and that's when I became a member here. I spent the better part of that sifting through all this site has to offer. I started with the captivate when the rooms for it were at their prime and I have upgraded to the s3. I don't know all there is to know about this stuff but I have not wrecked my phones yet. So with all that said I would recommend getting yourself familiar by reading the stickies. They some very nice tutorials. Also if your not sure about something qna section is good. Once you get the hang of all this you will see exactly why android is true open source. Jailbreaking for me got boring but rooting and flashing roms is always interesting. This site also has very friendly developers that love doing this stuff so that's also a huge help. Last but not least don't be afraid to ask. It may mean the difference between an awesome phone and nice looking paper weight from Korea
Sent from my SGH-I747M using xda app-developers app
The great thing about Android is because you can do anything on it right out of the box compared to you having to jailbreak an iphone. Id suggest just going through different apps and what not in the app store and see what catches your eye
Honestly, I would recommend that you spend some serious time getting to know android and understanding all of the capabilities of your phone before you even consider rooting it (not to mention flashing a new ROM.
I am a long time Android user that has rooted and flashed many ROM's over the years, but the S3 is so good out of the box (imho) that I personally have no need or desire to even root it at this point. That may change in the future, but that's where I stand right now.
I guess my advice would be ... don't be in a huge hurry to start making massive changes to the device until you understand what you have. No need to risk killing that shiny new toy (yet).
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app
Welcome,
Another source to check out is YouTube.
You can finds videos on
How to Root, How to use Odin, How to Flash, How to use apps like Titanium Backup, Root Explorer, etc..
Also I made a reference guide in the S2 forum when I had it that explain some of the lingo around here.
Study it
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1394458
Powered by the SGSIII
Welcome. I think maybe figure out what you'd like to do that you haven't figured out yet and search on xda or even Google. Its possible you may not need to root to achieve it. I root only to restore app plus its data from one android phone to the next. Without root it only restores app so for example with games it won't restore where I left of in the other device.
Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
Hi all,
I have had my one for a while now and have been lurking around the forums for the most part. I have done S-OFF, Rooting, Recovery and many other tweaks. Now that 4.2.2 is hitting the rom scene for us I am wanting to dive into a rom but I am feeling a bit overwhelmed at the options.
Obviously the ROMS fall into 2 categories of sense and vanilla and there is obvious advantages to both sides. I want to try a more factory build so I have been considering flashing the recent dump of the GE One but there are some things like Pie control and custom DPI settings that I very much want to use and would like it if they were baked in rather than needed me to side load.
I am hoping that you all can give me some advice on some good 4.2 Vanilla roms to try out. Maybe Kang, Paranoid, CM... and I know there is a lot of other well known ROM makers around here with ROMS I do not recognize the names of (Carbon, Viper, Revolt). So if you have any recommendations I would love to hear them.
I am on the verge of the GE rom but going to wait for stock 4.2.2 then decide after if that helps
madasahat said:
I am on the verge of the GE rom but going to wait for stock 4.2.2 then decide after if that helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I wouldnt mind waiting but I dont mind flashing back and have been looking forward to trying out stock or AOSP on the one for a while just not sure where the various AOSP roms stand right now as far as ease of use, bugs, and general smoothness.
Just try out a few and see which ones you like
godutch said:
Just try out a few and see which ones you like
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This.
Once you've got the hang of flashing ROMs and using titanium backup to move your apps across them, you'll have no problem changing between ROMs regularly. Once you find something that works for you, stick with it for a while then see if anything else grabs your attention.
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 2
I am currently using ViperOne ROM, and love it. Its very smooth and offers a huge amount of customization options.
Aside from the above, I also can highly recommend Android Revolution HD, and TrickDroid. Both are very smooth, stable, and have large followings with great dev support right here on XDA. On a side note, Viper and TrickDroid do have close ties from a developer standpoint. Viper is the ROM intended to offer total customization, where as TrickDroid is a more stock ROM.
Either way, Ive tried a lot of ROMs on my One but the above three have really stood out to me.
Hope that helps you in some way. Were pretty lucky in that our device has a lot of excellent devs working with it. :victory:
We generally don't allow best ROM threads or ROM comparison threads because they are usually very subjective. Try them all and choose what you think is the best, not what others think is the best Thread closed.
Hi everyone, im new here although i have passed through these threads constantly. I decided to switch from Apple to Android. I had my iphone Jailbroken so its really normal for me to want the same with my samsung S4. However, im curious about the reality of rooting. What is rooting really? Why is there so many roms to choose from? What is the best Rom really? When i do rooting will i eliminate my data, If so is there a way to retrieve it without contacting my phone provider (Sprint)? This are question im most curious about, i apologies if they have been answered already. For sake of time, i'd like best if you responded me with an answer or something closes to it rather than an unnecessary remark. I appreciate everyones time and help, i wish you all a great Thank YOU
AndreeU17 said:
Hi everyone, im new here although i have passed through these threads constantly. I decided to switch from Apple to Android. I had my iphone Jailbroken so its really normal for me to want the same with my samsung S4. However, im curious about the reality of rooting. What is rooting really? Why is there so many roms to choose from? What is the best Rom really? When i do rooting will i eliminate my data, If so is there a way to retrieve it without contacting my phone provider (Sprint)? This are question im most curious about, i apologies if they have been answered already. For sake of time, i'd like best if you responded me with an answer or something closes to it rather than an unnecessary remark. I appreciate everyones time and help, i wish you all a great Thank YOU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting in itself is granting you full access to your phone - sort of like running administrator mode on a PC - and being able to change anything you want.
There actually aren't that many roms out for the Sprint S4 at the moment comparatively to others since it's still a pretty new device. But every rom brings something different to your device - different modifications, different things removed or kept from stock, unique features, Themes, and more. Every rom is different as people look and want different things, you should look through each and see what each offers and see what intices you the most.
What do you mean data? If you mean data reception, no. If you mean like apps and contacts, contacts and that stuff is restored when you log into your Google account. But you usually wipe all your apps when installing a new rom but you can make a backup of your apps using an app called titanium backup which you can restore when you reinstall the app after putting on a new rom (there are similar apps for sms restoring and call log restoring). But you don't need to worry about dealing with Sprint with any of that. Rooting is much more of an open experience than anything you'd get from jailbreaking an iPhone and dealing with apple.
And lastly, there are basically two types of overarching roms you will find here. Roms that are based of Touchwiz, which is the Samsung version of the android operating system (which includes all the Samsung specific features like air view and smart scroll etc as well as its general interface) - it's basically an overlay of Android with Samsungs touch.
And there are AOSP based roms (Android Open Source Project) which are roms based on stock Android without any phone manufacturers touch - for example Samsung has TouchWiz and HTC has Sense. It's what you'd find on pure Google phones like the Nexus.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app
inlineboy said:
Rooting in itself is granting you full access to your phone - sort of like running administrator mode on a PC - and being able to change anything you want.
There actually aren't that many roms out for the Sprint S4 at the moment comparatively to others since it's still a pretty new device. But every rom brings something different to your device - different modifications, different things removed or kept from stock, unique features, Themes, and more. Every rom is different as people look and want different things, you should look through each and see what each offers and see what intices you the most.
What do you mean data? If you mean data reception, no. If you mean like apps and contacts, contacts and that stuff is restored when you log into your Google account. But you usually wipe all your apps when installing a new rom but you can make a backup of your apps using an app called titanium backup which you can restore when you reinstall the app after putting on a new rom (there are similar apps for sms restoring and call log restoring). But you don't need to worry about dealing with Sprint with any of that. Rooting is much more of an open experience than anything you'd get from jailbreaking an iPhone and dealing with apple.
And lastly, there are basically two types of overarching roms you will find here. Roms that are based of Touchwiz, which is the Samsung version of the android operating system (which includes all the Samsung specific features like air view and smart scroll etc as well as its general interface) - it's basically an overlay of Android with Samsungs touch.
And there are AOSP based roms (Android Open Source Project) which are roms based on stock Android without any phone manufacturers touch - for example Samsung has TouchWiz and HTC has Sense. It's what you'd find on pure Google phones like the Nexus.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Understand it so much better I appreciate the effort in writing all this for me . So the only thing that I should pay attention in is to simply find which rom does what and what I need plus create a backup for all my stuff if not saved through googlw. I completetly understand but now I want your opinion. What rom are you runing on your phone?
AndreeU17 said:
Understand it so much better I appreciate the effort in writing all this for me . So the only thing that I should pay attention in is to simply find which rom does what and what I need plus create a backup for all my stuff if not saved through googlw. I completetly understand but now I want your opinion. What rom are you runing on your phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not a problem! Well that's what you should pay attention to when picking a rom. The actual process of preparing a rom is a little more complicated then that. You basically first need to root your phone (I recommend looking up Qbking77 on YouTube, he makes excellent video walk throughs), flash a custom recovery (you can read more up on this elsewhere since me explaining it won't do it justice, but it's basically a mode you put your phone it where you can make backups and restore roms with your setup as well as flash (basically install) new roms, and then putting on a new rom.
I recommend a Touchwiz rom definitely if your starting out. Three I would recommend for you are FreeGS4 which is basically the stock rom + a lot of handy modifications + the ability to delete the bloatware Samsung doesn't let you normally delete. ForceRom is essentially the same but with all the bloatware already removed. And lastly The Blue Kuban is the stock rom with removed bloat, lots of great modifications, the ability to pick install additional mods from within the rom, and is themed to be completely blue.
I would do FreeGS4 first as I know for sure there is also a video walk through on instslling it.
Sent from my SPH-L720 using xda app-developers app
AndreeU17 said:
Hi everyone, im new here although i have passed through these threads constantly. I decided to switch from Apple to Android. I had my iphone Jailbroken so its really normal for me to want the same with my samsung S4. However, im curious about the reality of rooting. What is rooting really? Why is there so many roms to choose from? What is the best Rom really? When i do rooting will i eliminate my data, If so is there a way to retrieve it without contacting my phone provider (Sprint)? This are question im most curious about, i apologies if they have been answered already. For sake of time, i'd like best if you responded me with an answer or something closes to it rather than an unnecessary remark. I appreciate everyones time and help, i wish you all a great Thank YOU
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google is your friend!!
We all know that Devs put a lot of effort and time on their project's. therefore their creation is often constantly changing.
I literally flash and test all the roms along with those major changes that Devs bring.
My current device is n910t.
I lke to note that i never sell my older devices, when i retire them i pass them down to friends and family. And before i do that, i make sure that the device has the most stable rom.
Devs put a lot of time and energy into this, and want to thank all of them for giving me something that i like and enjoy.
This is for users like myself, that consider this a passion or a hobby, and want to leave a quick and short opinion to what's best for them at the moment.
Hopefully that will help other users to make a quick decision on trying a rom without going to a thread and annoying the OP with questions like "how is battery life" or often directly or indirectly, comparing one OP's work with others in their own thread.
No matter how many roms i try, something that I love doing is to read all the threads and specially hearing the addicted flashaholics talk about anything, or the veterans with all their wise answers helping everybody
I know talking about roms in general in a single thread, is walking a fine line on the rules, in this forum. But, if we are educated enough, or at least try to be nice and respectful to each other, and specially to the devs and their work, we probably can keep this thread open and interesting, like it's meant to be.
I spend a lot of time testing touchwiz roms and lately aosp ones to.
If you asked me as far back as one week ago which one you think is the best and worth the daily driver for the moment, my answer would have been completely different than now.
I am unbiased, and that i guarantee, but i have to admit that sometimes i speek a little to soon, without meaning anything bad, but that eventually defeats being unbiased, so i do sound bad when that happens.
You have to realize that there is actually a way to say what you like about a rom, without offending others.
I am not going to give my review or my current opinion about the best rom right now, but with everyone else i will talk and discuss along the way.
Interesting thread. Let's hope no one gets butthurt.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Premium HD app
Temetka said:
Interesting thread. Let's hope no one gets butthurt.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Premium HD app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That would be cause a lot of them might of forgotten to take the midol this morning lol. People need to get a grip that people will like others better and may not like some things a dev does or how certain devs just blow you off when u have an issue. It not till everyone says the same that the devs says oh geez let me look into that. It sad what xda has come to but I give the op credit for stating his opinion.
Post the scores for each category. I think if you rate them on a bunch of categories and say which ones are best at which categories, it might be a good way to not make this thread be about the "best rom" otherwise it will be closed in no time.
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
From the Moderator
This thread will stay open as long as there is not comparison of best rom ....... otherwise it will get closed
If you are wandering about comments above, The OP has been modified and changed prior to this post.
All devs have personal preference and individual set of skill and time. Likewise, users with personal preference and time. Some get what is more stable, some get what they really want and find time to ask others, to fix and tweak, to make the rom more stable, customized. Sharing the end results with devs and users. In reality best rom I think is the one, oneself could make themselves. Each rom has pros and cons. Each user uses their device differently, so even pros and cons can shift from one user to the next. I myself find any kitkat roms more practical by design. A more efficient way to use the device visually, with features and settings more organized and faster to recognize icons visually rather reading the icons labels. Lollipop has some new unique features, seems faster and smoother performance wise, but on the most part priority seems to be the color of things. If we lived in a perfect world with no time, I wonder what the hybrid of kit Kat and lollipop would be, or if all devs were one team. I think the best rom would be to have all the possible features/customizations with on/off switches. But that would probably require a lot of time and memory space, to also not have one feature conflict with another. Interesting place. Appreciate all devs and users with useful information they share with others.
Right now i have a backup of pretty much all the roms out there. The one that i always have when i am working is poprock because of battery life and overall stability. At home i mostly have TeXoDUs because i love customizations and the looks of it. When driving or out with friends i have aosp CmRemix has been the go2 lately, love the speed and gets me out of TW world for a while
Went back to kitkat/Firekat with bioshock kernel. Ran tw lollipop since it's release and every rom had issues. Not any developers fault, just unfinished, unrefined product from Google. I had way too many issues with camera not focusing, unexplained heat, wake locks, crap battery life, signal problems with new modem, random app force closes, etc, etc.
Project Infinity
Stock LP. Haha!
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
I've tried many but always come back to firekat 13. Its the only ROM my phone seems to like & the only one that runs stable with no heat or persistent wakelocks.
davwman said:
Went back to kitkat/Firekat with bioshock kernel. Ran tw lollipop since it's release and every rom had issues. Not any developers fault, just unfinished, unrefined product from Google. I had way too many issues with camera not focusing, unexplained heat, wake locks, crap battery life, signal problems with new modem, random app force closes, etc, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe be a little more patient? ? Give it a chance, play around get yourself used to LP and you will realize that it's not so bad. If the problems that you described were persistent, there wouldn't been so many roms and users making the switch.
Android_Monsters said:
Project Infinity
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will give this a shot and report back. Have you tried other roms to? Or did you stick with this from beginning? By saying more about this rom, in my opinion you advertise the devs work, and there is nothing more the devs want. They don't sell their work, it is a gift for us, the good words and popularity of their rom is more valuable to them then anything else.
rile1564 said:
Stock LP. Haha!
Sent from my SM-N910T using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nothing wrong with that. And again i ask you why? Have you tried other roms and ran into issues?
I have a cell phone store, so I've tried them all.
I can tell you my personal path, however.
Firekat, cmremix, poprocks, project Infinity, Tekhd's rom.
I can tell you what we put on note 4s the most.
Poprocks and CmRemix.
I'll have to pm you a link to project Infinity cause it got pulled.
Pic 2
kabuk1 said:
I've tried many but always come back to firekat 13. Its the only ROM my phone seems to like & the only one that runs stable with no heat or persistent wakelocks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If i just wanted something decent and never look back, i would have done the same to. But the truth of the matter is that i love NEW even if that is something that is not perfect yet. I love CHANGE, i like being curious with every update out there, and love flashing.
Lol i remember myself when i first bought a computer and would spend countless hours on IRC or going for days exploring programs, downloading torrents, and shiitte load of viruses along with them. Factory reseting windows weekly, and repeating the same thing over and over.
now these days i have settled with wiping and flashing. To old for anything else
Android_Monsters said:
I have a cell phone store, so I've tried them all.
I can tell you my personal path, however.
Firekat, cmremix, poprocks, project Infinity, Tekhd's rom.
I can tell you what we put on note 4s the most.
Poprocks and CmRemix.
I'll have to pm you a link to project Infinity cause it got pulled.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice, thnx man!
Don't forget RAPTURE by ib4bested, that's rock solid to, and very fest with the most minimal bloatware than any other rom out there
And i can tell you right now, if TEKXodus was a little more organized, and what i mean by that is that if he had al the mods and themes in one place, something similar like Brians rom DynamicPop, where he has incorporated a settings icon with all his mods and tweaks (CM has that to) and had a little less unnecessary bloatware, made it more compact. That would be a dream rom with twice the user base. He is always there with a lot more work and updates than anybody else, his rom has the speed the battery life and the customization all in one.
Let me give an example.
When i flash his rom all i wanna see is the speed and the looks that he has right now. Everything else including samsung, google, tmobile, optional aps (bloatware) lmt all themes sound app, tweaks, themed sms, pull down notification tweaks, status bar etc, all into one single icon as a user choice mods. Thats a lot of work i know, but thats something that he certainly doesn't lack.
This way he would give every single person what they exactly want. With one stone he would kill countless birds ))
Again, I had an S5 and I can easily remove and add toggles. But can't find it on the 6P. I want to add NFC toggle. I'd rather not get an app. I do have "system UI tuner" activated and in there is something looks like a customization menu but I can't get it to actually work.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
E46M3 said:
Again, I had an S5 and I can easily remove and add toggles. But can't find it on the 6P. I want to add NFC toggle. I'd rather not get an app. I do have "system UI tuner" activated and in there is something looks like a customization menu but I can't get it to actually work.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Flash a custom rom and embrace the power of real customization.
Sent from my Nexus 6P, #WhiteUIsMustDie, #EndDarkAppOppression
micmars said:
Flash a custom rom and embrace the power of real customization.
Sent from my Nexus 6P, #WhiteUIsMustDie, #EndDarkAppOppression
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What's the point of getting the 6P if it needs to be rooted? I'm starting to think pure Android is maybe overrated.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
E46M3 said:
What's the point of getting the 6P if it needs to be rooted? I'm starting to think pure Android is maybe overrated.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, perhaps for you it is.
Where, pray tell, does it say that your device needs to be rooted? Did you think that buying a Nexus 6P would simply imbue your phone with whatever feature you decided Google should have, that Samsung did...and the dev community has provided for you, free of charge?
Why stop there? Why not ask for Blink feed? I mean, HTC has it, why didn't Google provide that?
You're on a site devoted to custom roms, rooting, and making more from the stock experience.
So what are the advantages of a pure Android experience? Let's see...
1. Almost all roms built from stock or AOSP will function flawlessly, sans crapware installed by Samsung, LG, HTC, whatever
2. Swiftly unlock, root, etc
3. Go back to stock and still get a better experience than bloated devices from other manufacturers with carrier branding.
You want the toggle, flash a rom. Try a rom like Cataclysm if you want a close-to-stock experience...but it's going to need root if you want those features.
Sent from my Nexus 6P, #WhiteUIsMustDie, #EndDarkAppOppression
micmars said:
Well, perhaps for you it is.
Where, pray tell, does it say that your device needs to be rooted? Did you think that buying a Nexus 6P would simply imbue your phone with whatever feature you decided Google should have, that Samsung did...and the dev community has provided for you, free of charge?
Why stop there? Why not ask for Blink feed? I mean, HTC has it, why didn't Google provide that?
You're on a site devoted to custom roms, rooting, and making more from the stock experience.
So what are the advantages of a pure Android experience? Let's see...
1. Almost all roms built from stock or AOSP will function flawlessly, sans crapware installed by Samsung, LG, HTC, whatever
2. Swiftly unlock, root, etc
3. Go back to stock and still get a better experience than bloated devices from other manufacturers with carrier branding.
You want the toggle, flash a rom. Try a rom like Cataclysm if you want a close-to-stock experience...but it's going to need root if you want those features.
Sent from my Nexus 6P, #WhiteUIsMustDie, #EndDarkAppOppression
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Obviously I don't want the unnecessary bloatware from Samsung but I get your point. I should flash a custom ROM to make it more customizable. TBH, I have never rooted my phones and maybe I'm a bit nervous about doing it. Maybe afraid of bricking it. What are some of the advantages of using a custom ROM? I guess I'm a noob in this regard. Thanks!
E46M3 said:
Obviously I don't want the unnecessary bloatware from Samsung but I get your point. I should flash a custom ROM to make it more customizable. TBH, I have never rooted my phones and maybe I'm a bit nervous about doing it. Maybe afraid of bricking it. What are some of the advantages of using a custom ROM? I guess I'm a noob in this regard. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excellent...yeah, you'd be surprised by the number of folks who have asked this question in their head and didn't have the temerity to simply ask...so good for you. Seriously...I lurked for a bit, and then hit a few of the noob friendly threads and just asked all kinds of crazy stuff. I'm one of those measure 10x, cut once types.
As to the benefits, if you chose to simply root your device and flash zero custom roms, it gives you these benefits...
1. Kill advertising in apps, on your browser, etc
2. The ability to use your device as a portable hotspot without getting into a hard limit from your cellphone provider (don't overdo it, but it's awesome)
3. The ability to put themes on your phone that don't have Google's horrible White UI...I mean, this phone has an amoled display that makes black look as deep black as you'll find, yet Google made all of these ugly white backgrounds. You may find yourself wanting to try all kinds of themes
4. The ability to backup your entire device exactly as it is now, without having to restore so of your apps, etc.
5. The ability to do things like clear all recents using an app like Chainfire offers in the play store, instead of swiping every dang one of them
6. The ability to own your device instead of being stuck with plain vanilla Google
I'm sure there's more, but that's a quick punch list, taking a minimalist perspective.
Sent from my Nexus 6P, #WhiteUIsMustDie, #EndDarkAppOppression
micmars said:
Excellent...yeah, you'd be surprised by the number of folks who have asked this question in their head and didn't have the temerity to simply ask...so good for you. Seriously...I lurked for a bit, and then hit a few of the noob friendly threads and just asked all kinds of crazy stuff. I'm one of those measure 10x, cut once types.
As to the benefits, if you chose to simply root your device and flash zero custom roms, it gives you these benefits...
1. Kill advertising in apps, on your browser, etc
2. The ability to use your device as a portable hotspot without getting into a hard limit from your cellphone provider (don't overdo it, but it's awesome)
3. The ability to put themes on your phone that don't have Google's horrible White UI...I mean, this phone has an amoled display that makes black look as deep black as you'll find, yet Google made all of these ugly white backgrounds. You may find yourself wanting to try all kinds of themes
4. The ability to backup your entire device exactly as it is now, without having to restore so of your apps, etc.
5. The ability to do things like clear all recents using an app like Chainfire offers in the play store, instead of swiping every dang one of them
6. The ability to own your device instead of being stuck with plain vanilla Google
I'm sure there's more, but that's a quick punch list, taking a minimalist perspective.
Sent from my Nexus 6P, #WhiteUIsMustDie, #EndDarkAppOppression
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In the interest of full disclosure, you should also be aware of the downsides to this stuff. The primary one being that it is very easy to make changes to the system partition that will prevent you from being able to successfully apply OTA updates. Once /system has been modified, you will have to either flash back to stock to accept the OTA or just flash the new build after downloading it from Google. There is also the risk that you will brick your phone, although that risk is VERY low if you can follow instructions. I personally find the benefits to vastly outweigh the drawbacks, but you should at least know that there are some drawbacks, namely the OTA thing. Once you flash a few times and get over the uneasiness of not knowing what you are doing, it is really quite easy and quick.
NPOA556 said:
In the interest of full disclosure, you should also be aware of the downsides to this stuff. The primary one being that it is very easy to make changes to the system partition that will prevent you from being able to successfully apply OTA updates. Once /system has been modified, you will have to either flash back to stock to accept the OTA or just flash the new build after downloading it from Google. There is also the risk that you will brick your phone, although that risk is VERY low if you can follow instructions. I personally find the benefits to vastly outweigh the drawbacks, but you should at least know that there are some drawbacks, namely the OTA thing. Once you flash a few times and get over the uneasiness of not knowing what you are doing, it is really quite easy and quick.
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Agreed, but to split hairs, that's in the interest of thoroughness, since that which you've written is included in the OP of every thread on these forums. Indeed, Google publishes instructions for exactly how to unlock and update your device on their own site.
I think that it's wise to aver that one should learn before doing, and that includes knowing the risks of rooting.
Sent from my Nexus 6P, #WhiteUIsMustDie, #EndDarkAppOppression
If you turn on developer options you can customize them a little but not a lot. Meaning adding 1 or 2 more options and disabling a few. Can also turn on battery level on the notification bar.
micmars said:
Excellent...yeah, you'd be surprised by the number of folks who have asked this question in their head and didn't have the temerity to simply ask...so good for you. Seriously...I lurked for a bit, and then hit a few of the noob friendly threads and just asked all kinds of crazy stuff. I'm one of those measure 10x, cut once types.
As to the benefits, if you chose to simply root your device and flash zero custom roms, it gives you these benefits...
1. Kill advertising in apps, on your browser, etc
2. The ability to use your device as a portable hotspot without getting into a hard limit from your cellphone provider (don't overdo it, but it's awesome)
3. The ability to put themes on your phone that don't have Google's horrible White UI...I mean, this phone has an amoled display that makes black look as deep black as you'll find, yet Google made all of these ugly white backgrounds. You may find yourself wanting to try all kinds of themes
4. The ability to backup your entire device exactly as it is now, without having to restore so of your apps, etc.
5. The ability to do things like clear all recents using an app like Chainfire offers in the play store, instead of swiping every dang one of them
6. The ability to own your device instead of being stuck with plain vanilla Google
I'm sure there's more, but that's a quick punch list, taking a minimalist perspective.
Sent from my Nexus 6P, #WhiteUIsMustDie, #EndDarkAppOppression
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I'm kinda confused, what's zero custom ROMS? meaning no ROMS? Or is that a name of a ROM? I thought rooting a phone means flashing a ROM.
NPOA556 said:
In the interest of full disclosure, you should also be aware of the downsides to this stuff. The primary one being that it is very easy to make changes to the system partition that will prevent you from being able to successfully apply OTA updates. Once /system has been modified, you will have to either flash back to stock to accept the OTA or just flash the new build after downloading it from Google. There is also the risk that you will brick your phone, although that risk is VERY low if you can follow instructions. I personally find the benefits to vastly outweigh the drawbacks, but you should at least know that there are some drawbacks, namely the OTA thing. Once you flash a few times and get over the uneasiness of not knowing what you are doing, it is really quite easy and quick.
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Thanks for the heads up!
tnerb123 said:
If you turn on developer options you can customize them a little but not a lot. Meaning adding 1 or 2 more options and disabling a few. Can also turn on battery level on the notification bar.
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I did that, and I tried to turn on and off features but it doesn't reflect in actual pulldown. No matter what I turn on or off, everything stays the same in the pulldown menu.
E46M3 said:
I'm kinda confused, what's zero custom ROMS? meaning no ROMS? Or is that a name of a ROM? I thought rooting a phone means flashing a ROM.
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Well, if you look in the Android Development section of these forums, you'll find stock, pre-rooted roms with almost zero features...just root added.
Or, you could just flash the SuperSU zip, and have a completely stock rom and still do all of those things I referenced.
So no, rooting doesn't necessitate you flashing a custom rom.
Some think that stock with root is the very best user experience.
Sent from my Nexus 6P, #WhiteUIsMustDie, #EndDarkAppOppression