Database Users

[Q] Is it worth rooting my T-Mobile G2

I came from the Verizon HTC Dinc, 2 years later the Verizon Gnex. Now im on T-mobile and went with the G2. As you can see there has always been a huge variety of dev support for my past 2 phones. Now the T-mobile G2, not so much.
Anyone with the same version of my phone rooted? Are there some soild roms out there better than stock? I dont wanna lose out on battery life and have heaps of bugs. I just want a solid Rom where its awesome battery , performance and maybe some new tricks.
I dont wanna wait another basically 4 months for 4.4 damn you LG!

I think its worth rooting just to kill some of the bloat that T-Mobile puts on there, Carrier IQ was the first thing I removed. I also changed my DPI. But like you I don't want to wait 4 months for 4.4, but still running stock until they stabilize a little bit more.

xzero425x said:
I came from the Verizon HTC Dinc, 2 years later the Verizon Gnex. Now im on T-mobile and went with the G2. As you can see there has always been a huge variety of dev support for my past 2 phones. Now the T-mobile G2, not so much.
Anyone with the same version of my phone rooted? Are there some soild roms out there better than stock? I dont wanna lose out on battery life and have heaps of bugs. I just want a solid Rom where its awesome battery , performance and maybe some new tricks.
I dont wanna wait another basically 4 months for 4.4 damn you LG!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But be careful. A lot of users have got stuck with the last OTA when they were rooted.

gln003 said:
But be careful. A lot of users have got stuck with the last OTA when they were rooted.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean?
LG G2 VS980 (VZW)

xzero425x said:
I came from the Verizon HTC Dinc, 2 years later the Verizon Gnex. Now im on T-mobile and went with the G2. As you can see there has always been a huge variety of dev support for my past 2 phones. Now the T-mobile G2, not so much.
Anyone with the same version of my phone rooted? Are there some soild roms out there better than stock? I dont wanna lose out on battery life and have heaps of bugs. I just want a solid Rom where its awesome battery , performance and maybe some new tricks.
I dont wanna wait another basically 4 months for 4.4 damn you LG!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I came from a VZW GNex as well and now have the T-Mo G2. I rooted mainly so I can use some apps I have that require root. I'm not rooted right now because I ended up bricking my phone while fiddling with the dpi, had to unbrick it, and in doing so, updated my ROM to d80110g instead of d80110c that came with the phone. I don't believe it's OTA yet, but might be soon. ioroot doesn't support 10g yet and I don't want to go through the long unbricking process again. Aside from wanting to use some apps, haven't really felt the need to root. Phone is plenty fast and if you want to experience 4.4, install the Google Experience Launcher. You'll get the swipe right for Google Now and hotword detection on the homescreens. It does cause mediaserver to stay awake, so you might experience shorter battery life. It may not be as fast as an actual 4.4 ROM, but I really don't know how much faster this phone needs to get.

Note 3 at the end of 2015, worth buying?

Hi guys,
Yesterday I hard bricked my GS4 trying to update it to marshmellow. The repair will cost $40 and this is after I spent $110 replacing the digitizer. I decided to give up on that device (It was getting a bit beat up anyway).
Walmart is currently selling the ATT version for $250. I bought it but now I am wondering if it is still worth the value now (late 2015). The S4 was starting to show its age especially with the bloatware which is why I was attempting to upgrade the OS. What better place to ask this than a forum full of tech geeks like me who have actually used the device!
So, what do you guys say? Is it worth it now to buy as a daily driver? What do you guys think of the cost? How is the custom rom community? I saw that Samsung EOLed it at 5.0 but what are the chances custom roms will keep going for a few more versions? I have just started to browse this section of xda. The S4 was a hassle especially if people accidentally upgraded it to Lollipop. I know I followed the directions to a T but I still go the hard brick so I am hesitant to attempt to mess around with a Samsung device again.
If anyone has experience with the S4, how is the experience compared to it?
Sorry if this stuff was recently asked, I just quickly browsed the front page of this section

I just got rid of s4 for note 3 also (got mine used £100) note is fantastic but I think you should read read and re read before jumping in. How did you hard brick s4 can you enter bootloader or recovery. As for note 3 I'm running phonesis 5.1.1 as primary and marshmallow test build as secondary rom.
Just get rooted and get a good backup (including efs) and you will be fine

I just really hated the bloatware on the s4 and I thought it really slowed the phone down. My S4 is completely unresponsive, When I plug it into my comp it reads it as an unknown qualcomm device. Do you feel like you could use the note 3 as a daily device for another year?

Yes most definitely nice speed boost from s4 2gb to 3gb makes everything that bit smoother. Stick note5 port on it

Well I don't know which version of S4 you had, but I had the Exynos version and believe me when I say this the software was diabolical, I don't rememeber what version of Android it was, probably KitKat 4.4.2, in any case there was no support for that phone, and had to sell it. Then that hatred of TouchWiz continued in me, and I moved to M7, then sold it in less than couple of months, then bought Moto X 2013, which I literally enjoyed for first two three months, until I realised how pathetic the display was, so sold it and then bought Note 3 last year November, and believe me when I say this, I absolutely love this phone. KitKat was excellent, and despite what people say about ofiicial Lollipop 5.0, I love it too, I don't find any bugs at all! Just wished Xposed was as good as it was on KK. Anyway, for me this phone is performing excellently on 5.0, and especially with Shinto kernel, super smooth.
So if you are not hell-bent with Marshmallow, can live with 5.0 TouchWiz LP, then yes, go on. I believe even with this iteration of Android this phone can run smooth for at least another 5-6 months. Then there are custom ROMs like you said. CM13 is already there, Android 6.0 and all that, I will never touch it, but you know if its your cup of tea, its there. There are Note 5 5.1.1 ports are there as well. Also there are two or three very good to great kernels out there. So I believe if you can live with a decent enough speced phone, then go on, but practically no, I don't think one should get a Note 3 at the end of 2015, especially when Note 4 is really cheap nowadays, and even Note 5 is becoming cheaper gradually, though I am not a fan of it.
I will probably keep using this phone until S7 is announced, then I will have glimpse whether Samsung will bring back user removable battery and IR blaster or not, and I will make my decision accordingly.

Should I buy the Nexus 6p?

Hi everyone, I own a Nexus 5 and, while I like it a lot, I think it's time to get a new phone. I was going to buy the Nexus 5X but the recent bootloop problem with Android 7 made me change my mind and now I'm considering getting either the Nexus 6p or the Galaxy S6. I would prefer the 6p due to stock Android and timely updates but after checking the forums here I noticed a lot of cases of bootloops and bricked devices.
I can get the Nexus 6p for $350 and the Galaxy S6 for $300.
So, what do you think? Should I buy the 6p or get the GS6? Thanks in advance.
PS: Please don't recommend newer devices. They're very expensive where I live.

Definitely the 6p over the GS6...I got the device about a month ago. I unlocked the bootloader, rooted and now I'm on WETA 8.4 Nougat. I spent a lot of time on Resurrection and AICP (MM)...I haven't had any issues with a bricked device or bootloops. There is an issue with the latest recovery though. I'm not sure if it has been fixed. It had something to do with EFS backup/restore and I believe it affected TWRP 3.0.2-2 and 3.0.2-3. I was using -0 for a while til I upgraded to using Nougat ROMs. I haven't had a single issue...I'm also not dumb enough to try something if I don't fully understand the risks. V4A has a new look, Resurrection (MM) includes a new CMTE version I wasnt familiar with coming from a HTC M8...The dev community here is helpful. A lot of the devs are moving on to Nougat, so development is somewhat stalled. It will pop back up hot in a few weeks once Nougat gains more traction. I can't speak for the GS6 community because i don't own a GS6. I'm not even sure if Nougat is available to the GS6. I'd imagine it is though...You know the Nexus Marlin is coming out though? I won't be getting the Marlin anytime soon. I am more than happy enough with the 6P
Edit: you probably popped into the general and troubleshooting threads and saw a bunch of those, "help my device is in bootloop,etc". I'm not sure what their problems are, but i haven't had a single issue when updating to Nougat. I fastboot flashed the factory images to Nougat from MM. If you have problems using ADB check out Squabbi's thread. He made a program that will flash the OTAs, unlock your bootloader, and root your device. You literally have to run the program and let it do it's job. I can try to help as much as I can, but I'm having to catch up myself, so I'm limited. When I made the move from the M8 to the Nexus. There were a lot of changes, so it seemed all new to me. I still don't know a lot about PHH or Magisk v6. It seems to me like a number of people are going to a systemless root approach. It doesn't matter to me regardless, but I do not know the benefits of having systemless root either. Xposed hasn't been updated to Nougat and I have no idea if rovo89 will be doing that or not.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I would love to get the Marlin or Sailfish but as I said, new phones are very expensive where I live. I can get the Nexus 6P for $350 and the GS6 for $300.

I had to include more in that first comment. Ultimately it is your decision. Both phones are great...I'd even recommend the One Plus Three. It has a snapdragon 820 instead of the 810 the 6p has. I do not know which is better though. It's also slightly cheaper too.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

I'll probably wait for more replies before I decide. I also need to check a Nexus 6p IRL to see if it fits comfortably in my hand, if not I'll probably get the Galaxy S6.

So I had the same dilemma a month ago (and I'm glad it's past now lol). Same two devices (was also looking at 5X) and around the same prices.
GS6 more powerful and cheaper.
N6P: stock, timely updated and easily to modify.
I chose the N6P for these reasons, as I'm also not a heavy-games player.
Regarding the screen I was also a bit shocked at the start but wow what a nice wide screen. While I still have to sometimes hold it with 2 hands for a few tasks, I am not regretting the wide screen.
Last rom I have tried is weta, everything works but considering moving back to stock/rooted because stock is really of good quality/battery wise.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app

I'm buying an 6p and giving my s6 to my dad. I hate the s6. It's so hard to hold it and it has so much bloat ware. Also the phone got slower after using it for 2 months.

I have bought 6p two days ago after LG G4.
Never ever buy a non-Nexus device in the future.

predek said:
I have bought 6p two days ago after LG G4.
Never ever buy a non-Nexus device in the future.
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Click to collapse
You won't be able to buy a Nexus in the future either

neo905 said:
You won't be able to buy a Nexus in the future either
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Click to collapse
Ahahahah!! You are right mate!
So I'll stay with 6P till the end of my day!
Anyway.. Love my new Nexus!

I ended up buying the 6P, it's an amazing phone. It is a little big but I have managed to use it without any problem. One last question, I'm not considering rooting it or flashing a custom ROM, if I check the "OEM unlock" option in "Developer settings" will I be able to unlock the bootloader later in case it gets soft bricked or should I unlock the bootloader now?

ivanosky said:
I ended up buying the 6P, it's an amazing phone. It is a little big but I have managed to use it without any problem. One last question, I'm not considering rooting it or flashing a custom ROM, if I check the "OEM unlock" option in "Developer settings" will I be able to unlock the bootloader later in case it gets soft bricked or should I unlock the bootloader now?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to unlock the bootloader as soon as I get a phone, just because it wipes the phone and it's always a pain to them get all your stuff back! It's really simple to unlock, so if you haven't got much on your phone still, I'd recommend doing it sooner rather than later

gman88667733 said:
I tend to unlock the bootloader as soon as I get a phone, just because it wipes the phone and it's always a pain to them get all your stuff back! It's really simple to unlock, so if you haven't got much on your phone still, I'd recommend doing it sooner rather than later
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THIS. This a thousand times. Coming from a Note 3 which I didn't unlock (settled for root and Xposed and that was it), I didn't know about the wipe after unlock. I ended up wasting a full day of customization once I discovered that I needed to unlock it.

Got mine three weeks ago. Loving it.
So far all I have is an excellent impression from my device.

Upgrade to the S7 or not...

So I currently have a Galaxy S5 and have had it for just over 2 years now and while it still works great, I am thinking of upgrading and the S7 seems to be the ticket, except for the whole locked bootloader thing. It has been the main thing that has kept me from getting this phone. I know it has been rooted but I was wondering, would some of you still get the S7 even with the whole locked bootloader issue so long as you could root it?
Just having a hard time deciding if I should upgrade or not.
Thanks for any info, advice, input.

Hippie459MN said:
So I currently have a Galaxy S5 and have had it for just over 2 years now and while it still works great, I am thinking of upgrading and the S7 seems to be the ticket, except for the whole locked bootloader thing. It has been the main thing that has kept me from getting this phone. I know it has been rooted but I was wondering, would some of you still get the S7 even with the whole locked bootloader issue so long as you could root it?
Just having a hard time deciding if I should upgrade or not.
Thanks for any info, advice, input.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had the S7 since launch, had an LG G3 for about a year and a Note II for 2 years prior. Note II was great for rooting and trying ROMs, G3 was ok too. I was a flash a flashaholic till I got this phone. The root process doesn't seem super stable but I haven't really looked at it in awhile and I am at a point where I just need the phone to work well and it does. The camera is phenomenal, I can block ads on the Samsung browser, and I can disable 90% of the bloat I don't want and this thing is a beast. The battery life is decent but that all depends on usage and I'm a heavy user. I don't think you can go wrong with an S7 if you just want to use it.
If you absolutely have to be able to root and unlock the bootloader to get performance and do things like run xposed, I think there are better choices. I do believe the HTC 10 has really good developer support and is unlockable with similar specs. Personally that would probably be my choice right now and I'm sure the price is going to come down.
Hope that helps.

Thank you. Yes, I have been looking at the HTC also and having been a fan in the past I was leaning towards it but I also love my S5 and my mom has an S7 and I really like it and I love the wireless charging. Yes, I do run xposed so that would be a must for me. Decisions... lol

Debating the S7, coming from S8 and S5.

Well I figured it was time to upgrade finally from my S5. Got the new S8.... and now my hand/thumb has to do yoga each time I want to pull the notifications bar down.... and I'm unsuccessful the majority of the time. The S8 is really just TOO tall and narrow.... The other issue I had with the S8 was the aspect ratio, wtf is up with 18.5 by 9 aspect ratio? All my videos and apps have black bars now!
These 2 issues, (phone too tall/narrow & aspect ratio) are why I'm debating going with the S7. I just got some hands on with it in the store and it feels a lot easier to get to that notification panel since the screen doesn't go all the way to the top. It's also a tad bit wider making it feel more sturdier. I have to say, I do not like the direction phones are going if they are going to be this tall and narrow to where you need TWO hands.
Anyway, coming to this forum I'm very glad to see the S7 community is thriving and root access appears to be very easy and there are a lot of dev support, including my favorite S5 rom, Stranglite. WOOOHOOO.
Does anyone know if there is suppose to be a new LG, Moto, or HTC around the corner I should wait for instead of going with the S7? I'm going to give the S8 a week to try, before turning it in for my S5 or the S7, so we'll see.

Considering I have know idea of any new flagship phones coming out I would go with the s7. It is a solid phone with no real drawbacks except the locked bootloader. That's why I recommend that you go with the G930F since I see that the bootloader will be unlocked anytime soon on the Us models.
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Theroose said:
It is a solid phone with no real drawbacks except the locked bootloader. That's why I recommend that you go with the G930F since I see that the bootloader will be unlocked anytime soon on the Us models.
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As long as it can be rooted and I can flash roms, I'm okay with it. Thought the bootloaded needed to be unlocked for that to happen, guess not. I see a bunch of roms and root guides for the S7 in the dev forums below.

DFA1 said:
As long as it can be rooted and I can flash roms, I'm okay with it. Thought the bootloaded needed to be unlocked for that to happen, guess not. I see a bunch of roms and root guides for the S7 in the dev forums below.
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Click to collapse
Well I wouldn't call them full fledged ROMs considering they are just slightly modified stock firmware with some minor tweaks, but nothing compared to an actual custom Rom. There is also no custom recovery
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk
---------- Post added at 12:10 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:08 AM ----------
Trust me get the international version. I regret my decision of getting the Verizon model on launch. It's been over a year and still no unlocked bootloader. Words can not explain my frustration.
Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

You couldn't pay me enough to get the S8 for the reasons you quoted.
That being said...
There isn't a lot of custom ROM development for the S7 but don't let the fact that the ROMs available aren't full blown ROMs hold you back.
Stang5litre's​ ROM is highly customizable and has a ton of options. That and using FlashFire there isn't much you can't do with it. Granted, an unlocked bootloader would be great but it hasn't happened yet and it doesn't look good.
Another alternative for your S8, if you use Nova Launcher you can set a gesture (swipe down) to bring your notifications down but it will only work from the main screens of the phone.
Sent from a galaxy far far away

gadget! said:
Another alternative for your S8, if you use Nova Launcher you can set a gesture (swipe down) to bring your notifications down but it will only work from the main screens of the phone.
Sent from a galaxy far far away
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Click to collapse
Hey now! That might work. I've purchased Nova a while ago, just hadn't used it in a long time. Still would have an issue with reaching the buttons once the notification bar is pulled down.
I am scared all future phones are going this tall/narrow way

My opinion probably isn't popular. If it were me, I would still get the s7 but I would not root it. I think the way the phone behaves with the fixes etc rooted make the device worse than stock. I've had this phone for coming up on a year and a half and second to my Sony z3v this is one of the best smoothest and fastest experiences I have had on a stock device. Just get the cheapest sim unlocked one you can get and flash the 930U firmware, and it can be used on every US carrier.

JediDru said:
My opinion probably isn't popular. If it were me, I would still get the s7 but I would not root it. I think the way the phone behaves with the fixes etc rooted make the device worse than stock. I've had this phone for coming up on a year and a half and second to my Sony z3v this is one of the best smoothest and fastest experiences I have had on a stock device. Just get the cheapest sim unlocked one you can get and flash the 930U firmware, and it can be used on every US carrier.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My only downside to rooting is not being able to use android pay. The free apps, game trainers, and wifi teether make rooting worth it for me.
I'm not worried about unlocked carrier phones, Verizon had the best coverage here in the US. Now if the unlocked works overseas I'd be game, but aren't these phones all global anyway?
Sent from my SM-G950U using XDA-Developers Legacy app

I haven't rooted either. It just doesn't get anything extra for me, but I do miss using TiBu though. But, with most phones these days, they come with excellent backup software that backs up the data/settings of the apps so I can easily restore if I have to wipe the phone for any reason.

Went with S7 flat. So much happier with its design and form factor. I can use one hand to for everything again.
The S8 infinity screen is a waste, especially since 99% of people use cases that negate the infinity look/feature .
Sent from my SM-G930V using XDA-Developers Legacy app

SM-G930 series vs. S8
DFA1 said:
As long as it can be rooted and I can flash roms, I'm okay with it. Thought the bootloaded needed to be unlocked for that to happen, guess not. I see a bunch of roms and root guides for the S7 in the dev forums below.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unlocking the S7 series does not require root (this is especially true of the NA Snapdragon models) as there is actually a firmware switch right in the phone for this (OEM Unlock); once I unlocked via this switch, I started using U firmware (my particular phone is the unique-to-VZW gold SM-G930V model; however, it is running the May 17 SM-G930U firmware for the Tracfone S7; I switched to this firmware because I'm considering taking this S7 to Tracfone to replace my GNex which is there now). Rooting the phone is a separate process from unlocking it. The fact that the two ARE separate is what has driven folks buggy - we got used to having to do them at the same time. While you must have an unlocked phone to root it, you can unlock an S7 a lot easier than rooting it.