Database Users

Should I root my new N4

I recently bought a Nexus 4 and have a few questions about whether or not I should root.
Firstly, I'm not new to this. I have in the past rooted 4 android devices including a Gal-nexus. Nevertheless I have concerns.
1. Does performance suffer with custom Roms/kernels? I have found my N4 very responsive but in the past I felt like some speed and fluidity was lost when I flashed new Roms. Is that still the case?
2. A follow on from 1; What's the best Rom?
3. Are there any benefits to rooting specific to the N4 that I otherwise wouldn't know about?
4. Are there any other reason why I should/ should not root that you know?

hyperdude111 said:
I recently bought a Nexus 4 and have a few questions about whether or not I should root.
Firstly, I'm not new to this. I have in the past rooted 4 android devices including a Gal-nexus. Nevertheless I have concerns.
1. Does performance suffer with custom Roms/kernels? I have found my N4 very responsive but in the past I felt like some speed and fluidity was lost when I flashed new Roms. Is that still the case?
2. A follow on from 1; What's the best Rom?
3. Are there any benefits to rooting specific to the N4 that I otherwise wouldn't know about?
4. Are there any other reason why I should/ should not root that you know?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see how anyone could possibly answer your questions. Performance varies from ROM to ROM, but generally building a ROM that makes performance suffer doesn't regularly become popular. The best ROM is an often asked question, and it gets the same answer every time. You need to try them out and see for yourself. People may offer their opinions, but that's it. You may like something in one ROM which I don't etc. There are benefits to rooting, as a few popular apps require root permissions (Titanium backup i.e). I always root my phones, and I've never regretted doing it.

1. Does performance suffer with custom Roms/kernels? I have found my N4 very responsive but in the past I felt like some speed and fluidity was lost when I flashed new Roms. Is that still the case?
Flash a custom rom if you'd like. Honestly, there's nothing wrong with vanilla android 4.2.2, but it's missing a few things I like having...like expanded power menu and the theme engine
2. A follow on from 1; What's the best Rom?
for me it's paranoid. It looks VERY professional, IMHO, and it offers everything I want in a rom, including an aosp base, rather than CM, which has become a little too trendy for me
3. Are there any benefits to rooting specific to the N4 that I otherwise wouldn't know about?
accessing any functions that would need modding to run from anywhere but the /data directory just like always
4. Are there any other reason why I should/ should not root that you know?
the first thing I did when I unboxed mine (after playing with the stock rom for 20 minutes) was run the bootloader unlock command, then flash cwm so I could run a custom rom I'm probably the wrong person to ask if you're apprehensive about using a custom rom, because I'm always for rooting and customizing

If you want to root it do it at your own risk..btw I haven't rooted mine yet

20vakaris00 said:
If you want to root it do it at your own risk..btw I haven't rooted mine yet
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for sharing this vital and lifechanging information
@OP:
I would use the phone for a few weeks to get familiar with it, read up in the meantime about the rom`s, kernel`s, mods that are available and fastboot and adb . After that you can realy compare and see the benefits and/or downsides between stock and custom.

As long as you have done the research and understand the risks of rooting your device(and you have stated you do) I would. The whole reason I bought this device is because I knew development would be off the chain.....and it is. Good luck whichever you decide and flash safely.

hyperdude111 said:
I recently bought a Nexus 4 and have a few questions about whether or not I should root.
Firstly, I'm not new to this. I have in the past rooted 4 android devices including a Gal-nexus. Nevertheless I have concerns.
1. Does performance suffer with custom Roms/kernels? I have found my N4 very responsive but in the past I felt like some speed and fluidity was lost when I flashed new Roms. Is that still the case?
2. A follow on from 1; What's the best Rom?
3. Are there any benefits to rooting specific to the N4 that I otherwise wouldn't know about?
4. Are there any other reason why I should/ should not root that you know?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Honestly I've been rooted I've tried like 5 roms (top roms like cm, Xenon, xylon, liquid smooth, etc) but I feel like stock is smoother and faster... I root for performance and customization but there's no improvement in performance for me (unless overclocked) so I guess I'm going back to stock rooted
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

iNeedICS said:
Honestly I've been rooted I've tried like 5 roms (top roms like cm, Xenon, xylon, liquid smooth, etc) but I feel like stock is smoother and faster... I root for performance and customization but there's no improvement in performance for me (unless overclocked) so I guess I'm going back to stock rooted
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Roms don`t make phones faster, kernels make them faster

i recommend you to root your N4 you will not have any drop downs in performance

gee2012 said:
Roms don`t make phones faster, kernels make them faster
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
It depends of a certain point of view... What do youy mean by "faster" (I don't ask this to you particularly ), yes a kernel helps but a rom well optimized can do your phone "faster" without any custom kernel.
After all it depends of what do you mean, faster, smoother, etc... is subjective. A combo kernel / rom optimized is the best and I think that just a kernel can't do only the stuff all the time (flash a bloated rom with a ton of scripts and build.prop tweaks as a "fastest and smoother rom", flash a "good" kernel -> the kernel will not help you even with overclocking or anything else).
You can have a good kernel with some good settings but you can broke all this stuff with a "bad" rom... So it's 50 / 50 - rom / kernel.
It's not only the kernel that makes a phone "faster"...
It's like in a car, it's not only the motor that does everything (I mean that does a faster car), there is also the Cx, the tyres, the fuel, etc...

If you do not have a reason to root, don't do it then.

cipsaz said:
If you do not have a reason to root, don't do it then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good remark.

I rooted mine and flashed Faux mainline kernel with stock 4.2.2 and i noticed a huge improvement in battery life and performance. :good:

My reasons for rooting before I even put my SIM card in:
1. It wipes the phone so best to do it first.
2. Titanium Backup to restore transfer apps/data from my Nexus One.
3. Install Greenify
4. Install AdAway
5. Load Franco kernel which doesn't require root but his kernel app does
I knew going in that I wasn't going to load a custom ROM for a long time (if at all). I don't see how it could get much smoother than stock

There is no "Best" ROM. It's all on personal preference. I personally think PA is the best rom, and have stuck by it ever since getting my N4. You might think another rom is best, so just try all the ones that seem interesting to you, and find out what's best for you.

If you just got your nexus 4 enjoy it stock for a while. It works pretty good! Take your time to read. Welcome aboard!
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda premium

I'm on stock right now and it's blazing I mean I might root again and try a kernel with mpdecision enabled and that could make a big difference but we'll see I mean I like stock for now there's not much bloat except for like currents, earth, book, and stuff which is just Google play stuff I'm glad I don't have all that tmobile bloat lol
Sent from Squishy's N⁴!

Yeah Im kind a questioning the point in rooting to. I had rooted and installed RasBean rom with Trinity on my Galaxy Nexus and it was great, but one of the main reasons i rooted was to get stickmount to work for usb memory stick support. As this isnt there yet for the N4 then im failing to see the point... plus once i start flashing roms and taking backups with clockworkmod that eats into available phone space..
im sure i'll be tempted eventually but right now im getting decent battery life, good performance and my screen colours are good enough for me.. so i am on the fence..

will rooting and flashing these custom kernels/roms resolve the wifi instability issue?? thanks!

In my opinion, if You are asking this (and these) question (s) then You definitely should not root your device. It's natural for me to root it 5 minutes after unboxing my new device, but I know why am I doing this. If you asking other people whether You should do it or not then You dont need it

[Q] Holding back on to 4.3... Worth it?

Hello all.
I've been holding on to JellyBean 4.3 (XXUEMKF version) for a while, as I have heard of countless things going badly on KitKat, as well as a lot of functions going away... However I really would like to experience immersive view and the speed optimizations. I'm assuming that since it's been a while the firmwares should start to be stable enough for me to try out.
I've searched the forums and Google for drawback on the upgrade however this was rather fruitless...
I do NOT use app2SD so I do not care for the loss of this functionality.
I rely on Xposed framework and it's modules for a few customizations, so if this or it's modules don't work.. KK is a definate no no.
I would appreciate if it could be rooted.
I have also noticed many apps on the PlayStore have a KitKat version.... Does this mean that I will have to find alternatives to most of my apps? Are the binaries that different from 4.3?
Should I upgrade or hold back for a bit longer? I'm assuming that a knox-safe way of rooting will never happen, but if there is the slightest of chances of it happening I may hold back for a bit...

Just upgrade. There is really no point in delaying it imo. I believe you can root without tripping knox, but you have to browse the forum a bit, i've seen threads about it.

Upgrade to go! Its not much different from 4.3.. Im rocking 4.4.2 and I dont experience bugs/force closes all the time, despite rumors and complaints of people (most likely people with heavy tweaking/theming to their phone). To be fair, i only get random errors like once a week, nothing major. Im using Goldeneye rom. The dev is good and friendly. Now my phone is bug-less and fast! You should try it.
Best of luck!

Thank you so much for your feedback guys
xarfrost: I do actually have a lot of customization with XPosed...
AllowLongSMS 1.0
App Settings 1.8
BootManager 2.0.5
Burnt Toast 1.1
Dimensions Editor 1.1
Disable Location Consent 1.2
Greenify 2.2
Network Speed Indicator 0.9
Receivied SMSes' Sent Times in Details 1.1
Statusbar Scroll to Top 1.1
Swap Volume Keys 0.5
Wanam Xposed 2.9.4
YouTube AdAway 1.8.1
Not to mention BusyBox...
I've also heard Adobe Flash no longer works unless I use Dolphin... And I'm far too loyal to Firefox.
Do you still think it's safe?

I need your experience

After being aware that the knox e-fuse on my note 3 is irreversible I am unsure whether I should flash a custom rom or not.
Here I present my reasons for the sake of understanding and validating through your experience if you may share thankfully:
1. I have used nobloat app & root to freeze/disable most stock bloatware.
2. I am not experiencing any lag in real world experience. So I wonder if the speed increase of the custom roms is real or just placebo effect.
3. There is still hope that Samsung will release the 4.4.4 Android for Note 3 as it already did for the Sprint version. Seems to be very soon.
4. I believe the resale value of the note 3 will decrease if I triggered knox and void warranty.
5. I can't spot the touch wiz services in the processes and not sure if it's taking too much ram or its the Android operating system itself that is consuming.
And finally every flashing instruction out there put a lot of warnings and lack of responsibility if the phone is bricked and there isn't even one rom where the forum users don't complain about lack of functionalities so I become unsure whether I should trust the users or they're just noobs who don't comply to the instructions properly.
So I need some advice to end this confusion, are the custom roms worth losing spen functionality along with all samsung features and triggering knox?

iamarto said:
After being aware that the knox e-fuse on my note 3 is irreversible I am unsure whether I should flash a custom rom or not.
Here I present my reasons for the sake of understanding and validating through your experience if you may share thankfully:
1. I have used nobloat app & root to freeze/disable most stock bloatware.
2. I am not experiencing any lag in real world experience. So I wonder if the speed increase of the custom roms is real or just placebo effect.
3. There is still hope that Samsung will release the 4.4.4 Android for Note 3 as it already did for the Sprint version. Seems to be very soon.
4. I believe the resale value of the note 3 will decrease if I triggered knox and void warranty.
5. I can't spot the touch wiz services in the processes and not sure if it's taking too much ram or its the Android operating system itself that is consuming.
And finally every flashing instruction out there put a lot of warnings and lack of responsibility if the phone is bricked and there isn't even one rom where the forum users don't complain about lack of functionalities so I become unsure whether I should trust the users or they're just noobs who don't comply to the instructions properly.
So I need some advice to end this confusion, are the custom roms worth losing spen functionality along with all samsung features and triggering knox?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello.
for me it is down to personal preferences. Some people, like me, hate the bloated touchwiz and the lack of customization and sometimes the occsional laggs turns me off. With custom rom, you may get a better performance if you know how to tweak your setting, plus you have tons of customization ( esp with CM, AOSP roms etc), but you have to sacrifice the s-pen features. If you rarely use your s-pen, it should not be a problem, right? Nevertheless, there are many roms out there with s-pen features still intact, like the tweaked touchwiz rom, S5 port etc. so really it is down to your preferences. I personally dont mind the knox status, as many general consumer wouldnt know about it either if we're going to sell our device to them. Just flash stock rom and everything should be okay.
and oh about flashing, just follow the instructions provided slowly and carefully, in time, it will be a walk in the park for you, lol. :silly:
there are many good people here, even if you are to mess up, there will be help and solutions, most of the time.:fingers-crossed:

iamarto said:
After being aware that the knox e-fuse on my note 3 is irreversible I am unsure whether I should flash a custom rom or not.
Here I present my reasons for the sake of understanding and validating through your experience if you may share thankfully:
1. I have used nobloat app & root to freeze/disable most stock bloatware.
2. I am not experiencing any lag in real world experience. So I wonder if the speed increase of the custom roms is real or just placebo effect.
3. There is still hope that Samsung will release the 4.4.4 Android for Note 3 as it already did for the Sprint version. Seems to be very soon.
4. I believe the resale value of the note 3 will decrease if I triggered knox and void warranty.
5. I can't spot the touch wiz services in the processes and not sure if it's taking too much ram or its the Android operating system itself that is consuming.
And finally every flashing instruction out there put a lot of warnings and lack of responsibility if the phone is bricked and there isn't even one rom where the forum users don't complain about lack of functionalities so I become unsure whether I should trust the users or they're just noobs who don't comply to the instructions properly.
So I need some advice to end this confusion, are the custom roms worth losing spen functionality along with all samsung features and triggering knox?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A) I believe some custom ROMs are still based on Samsung ROMs, in those you might retain pen and so on, but basically those are 100% what you can also achieve yourself with root, the right programs and the right configuration
B) In my (limited, but still) side-by-side experience the Samsung-stock-based ROMs correctly debloated and configured do not appear in any way less snappy than any custom ROM (running the same programs installed), and the Samsung-based kernels have always shown (much) better battery life. The key part here is however is "correctly debloated and configured"!

will root ever be possible without tripping knox?

I know there was that "pingpong" root or whatever for early build software.... but what about people who got their s6 edge+ with 5.1.1 at standard?
I will be returning this phone if i cannot root. I cannot do without xposed, gmd gesture, viper4android, greenify, amplify.... especially considering the battery life on this phone isn't great in the first place.
Coming from a Z3 the difference in battery life is making it hard to switch to a Samsung device...
Would downgrading via Odin, rooting via pingpong, then updating via a custom recovery work without tripping knox?
If you have managed to root without tripping knox please share your experiences!
I'm not so bothered about losing knox but I'm concerned about the decrease in value this would cause on a brand new phone i just got.
Any ideas?

Dont think its possible to downgrade from 5.1.1 even with odin, I'm in the same boat as you, It's only when you have a unrooted phone that you realise how much a difference rooting makes i'm so tempted to just void the warranty

deeman said:
Dont think its possible to downgrade from 5.1.1 even with odin, I'm in the same boat as you, It's only when you have a unrooted phone that you realise how much a difference rooting makes i'm so tempted to just void the warranty
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
All the small UI tweaks i get from root and especially the battery life tweaks are hard to live without (not to mention the absence of v4a)
I don't get why OEM's are making it harder to mod our devices... first Sony with the DRM keys and now Samsung with Knox
I don't care about Samsung pay or even the warranty, its the decrease in value if i decide to sell that's stopping me flashing a custom kernel.
Kinda makes me wish i had got the nexus 6p....

rm83855 said:
All the small UI tweaks i get from root and especially the battery life tweaks are hard to live without (not to mention the absence of v4a)
I don't get why OEM's are making it harder to mod our devices... first Sony with the DRM keys and now Samsung with Knox
I don't care about Samsung pay or even the warranty, its the decrease in value if i decide to sell that's stopping me flashing a custom kernel.
Kinda makes me wish i had got the nexus 6p....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which tweaks are best for battery ?
Sent from my SM-G928C using Tapatalk

newstar said:
Which tweaks are best for battery ?
Sent from my SM-G928C using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had a decent setup with Amplify and Greenify.... but that was on my Z3.
I suppose doze on Marshmallow should improve battery life soon!

Is it really worth root and use custom roms?

I'm thinking in root my device but I have some doubt about it and I want to hear your opinion. All my old devices i've rooted because of performance, memory, vga improvements, but in my S8 i'm worried about root and loose the guarantee. Those custom rooms really makes difference in performance, battery e the others stuffs? Worth the risk?
Thanks!!
PS.:sorry for bad english

I haven't yet, but I'm also on a snapdragon variant where it would mean losing 20% of my battery. If I had an exynos I'm sure I would. For custom roms, depends what you're looking for. They can add a lot of features and functionality.
P.s. - your english is great

for me (where I live there is just the exynos variant) it is totally worth it. All android devices i owned so far had all custom roms on it - for me it is more of a customisation thing, rather than an extreme performance increase - at least on the s8 because it IS already pretty fast and snappy. Sure here and there a bit faster and maybe with increasing the animation speed even more (at least for the eye). But what I love is just that I can make anything look like I want to. And other things like a stereo speaker mod puts the cherry on top of the cake.

for me the answer is YES it is worth it. the customisation and performance on a custom rom is so much better than stock. add to that dual speaker mod and the camera mod and i am 100% glad i rooted.

NO ,In the end, stock is always the best. you have guarantee. and s8 is good and fast enough. custom Rom always bugs bugs bugs

you can make arguments both ways, I recently rooted my S8 (Exynos) after having it for 3 months, I had no issues with it stock but did like the idea of installing the camera mod, speaker mod etc and the ability to debloat (not just freeze) bloat apps. So I'm enjoying it but I enjoyed while it was stock too. I you enjoy tweaking your phone then for sure its worth it, if not, the S8 is awesome stock too.

Glad of read all those answers. I have Exynos variant and I'm asking this just because my cellphone have some "issues" that are bothering me, like battery drain(main issue for me), volume of the speaker, BT Audio really sucks and a lot of other little things. My guarantee ends in March 2018 so I'm thinking about it now.
If anyone have another opinion, please, share with us!

I have always rooted my HTC phones but after i got the S8 i didn't cos it's fast enough without root, and with root the pay apps don't work here in DK.

Nope . Dont root or change rom of your phone . If you are facing issues like battery drain then reset your phone or change firmware like install different region stock pda .
I am using adshell which force me to make and use samsung developer account , so i have root kind of access of adshell for 3 months using Knox key which is so awesome . I can disable all the bloat also now using adshell.

if you are curious about custom roms you can just root and stay on the stock rom. There are already a bunch of apps like substratum to theme and customize the stock rom the way you like it. And you can also flash camera/stereo speaker mod

thiagomed said:
Glad of read all those answers. I have Exynos variant and I'm asking this just because my cellphone have some "issues" that are bothering me, like battery drain(main issue for me), volume of the speaker, BT Audio really sucks and a lot of other little things. My guarantee ends in March 2018 so I'm thinking about it now.
If anyone have another opinion, please, share with us!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just wanted to mention, that your BT Audio Issues won´t be fixed with a custom ROM, since they are usually using the Stock Samsung Bluetooth Stack. Speakervolume and batterylife can be better with Custom ROMS and Mods.
I´m curious, what BT issues are you experiencing? I´m using BT Headphones almost everyday and I´m happy with it.

FloM94 said:
if you are curious about custom roms you can just root and stay on the stock rom. There are already a bunch of apps like substratum to theme and customize the stock rom the way you like it. And you can also flash camera/stereo speaker mod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
On the Exynos version, the root loses 20% of the battery?
I want to root and stay on the stock rom
What is the easiest way?
Thank you very much if you answer

MHN.1515 said:
On the Exynos version, the root loses 20% of the battery?
I want to root and stay on the stock rom
What is the easiest way?
Thank you very much if you answer
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont experienced any kind of battery loss after rooting. Pretty much the same, if not better (with renovate ice custom rom).
Rooting alone does nothing with your battery consumption - you just have more permissions on your filesystem. And when you change the look of your UI with substratum for example, there is also not more battery drain because you just change (mostly image) files - nothing thats runs in the background. Correct me if I am wrong.
And with mods like Camera/speaker mod you will also dont notice any significant change (maybe 2% less a day).
Here is how you root your exynos s8:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8/how-to/how-to-youtube-video-root-magisk-t3687845

Marvinho+ said:
Just wanted to mention, that your BT Audio Issues won´t be fixed with a custom ROM, since they are usually using the Stock Samsung Bluetooth Stack. Speakervolume and batterylife can be better with Custom ROMS and Mods.
I´m curious, what BT issues are you experiencing? I´m using BT Headphones almost everyday and I´m happy with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for reply. Is not an issue, is more like and desapointment because volume of music in BT or even in headphones its low to me. Iphone of my girlfriend have a better amplification and quality I guess.
But ok, you guys have encourage me, I'll root my phone and install a custom ROM. What is the best ROM for you? Battery life, performance and sound/camera?

I am going to go for yes. I have the international model for rooting.
What do I gain:
Slightly better battery life
Slightly better camera performance
Better sound performance
One-stop disabling of unused OEM apps
Custom clock and battery icons (I cannot tell you how much, after 5 years of seeing 5:00, I do not want to see 5:00pm or 17:00 on my status bar).
Taste of other Samsung roms (like S8 on S7, N8 on S8, S9 on S8).
Titanium Backups of apps
T-mobile US VOLTE support on international phone.
What do I lose:
Full warranty support
Certain banking or credit card apps
Automated updates

I´m using Batman ROM since the first release and it´s just awesome. Never had any Bugs (even after dirtyflashing updates) and the batterylife is just great.
BTW i´m currently using the google Camera port parallel to the Samsung camera and I´m surprised how good it is in comparison, just as a little tipp

First phone I have not rooted as I'm able to achieve a lot of customization without root. Yes there are some die-hard features I would love but rooting this phone vs not makes me more lean towards the not. One of the reason is loosing the guarantee and the other is loosing Samsung Pay. Once you trip the knox, the device is not eligible for Samsung Pay, even if you unroot it. Then again, if I were in a country without Samsung pay I probably would care less about tripping knox.

thiagomed said:
Thanks for reply. Is not an issue, is more like and desapointment because volume of music in BT or even in headphones its low to me. Iphone of my girlfriend have a better amplification and quality I guess.
But ok, you guys have encourage me, I'll root my phone and install a custom ROM. What is the best ROM for you? Battery life, performance and sound/camera?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S8 stock audio quality is atrocious. I could never go back to a stock audio stack now. I use sauron+v4a+Atmos (axon 7 version). The Atmos is not used all the time (rarely these days) but the other two are used constantly

Arju said:
First phone I have not rooted as I'm able to achieve a lot of customization without root. Yes there are some die-hard features I would love but rooting this phone vs not makes me more lean towards the not. One of the reason is loosing the guarantee and the other is loosing Samsung Pay. Once you trip the knox, the device is not eligible for Samsung Pay, even if you unroot it. Then again, if I were in a country without Samsung pay I probably would care less about tripping knox.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi friend. How're you?

Bat stock Rom and Batman rom are brilliant!