To root 4g or not 4g... askn pros oppinions - Epic 4G Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I hope this is a resonable ?.... what is rooting, what's the benifits, should I or shouldn't I root my phone, and can u unroot? Simply can u explain to a intrested and user who likes to take it to maximum capeabilities.! Thnx 4 your input pros!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Reply
qbking77 made some awesome videos that explains most everything, but the simplest answer is to run applications that require root access such as wireless tether, titanium backup, and get full access to your system. Of course the next step is to put on custom rom's to get rid of sprint bloatware. Watch the videos and make your own call. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1009997

If you don't know why you should root, you probably shouldn't be. There's no shame in not rooting, but rooting just to root is pretty stupid.

063_XOBX said:
If you don't know why you should root, you probably shouldn't be. There's no shame in not rooting, but rooting just to root is pretty stupid.
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Click to collapse
I think his reason for asking is to avoid "rooting just to root"...
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA Premium App

There's a rooting WIKI stickied at the top of the Q&A section that explains a lot about rooting. See link below..this is a section of the wiki that I think can answer a lot of your questions.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=798067
Good luck and remember...don't go down this path if you're not willing to do a lot of reading and you're willing to deal with the possibility of turning your phone into a paperweight. The more you research you do the less likely that this will happen.

badmoment said:
I hope this is a resonable ?.... what is rooting, what's the benifits, should I or shouldn't I root my phone, and can u unroot? Simply can u explain to a intrested and user who likes to take it to maximum capeabilities.! Thnx 4 your input pros!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Rooting just to root can give you some nice backup options, but on stock I never personally found a need to restore anything. So that's not a huge reason to do it, and besides, MyBackup Pro can handle all your backup needs non-rooted.
Moving on, as mentioned higher up, one of the biggest reasons for rooting is for Wifi Tethering without using Sprint's Hotspot. You're paying for the data, it only seems right that you should be able to use that great power on other devices as well. That said, don't abuse it unnecessarily .
Many people will root simply to take advantage of theming options, changing the lockscreen appearance, pull-down menu, icons, launcher, startup/shutdown animations, and the appearance of system apps. That mentioned... you can remove annoying system apps that otherwise can't be removed.
Finally, but certainly the most exciting, rooting allows you to take advantage of the many custom roms floating around XDA! That is, it allows you to essentially replace the phones operating system with one of the many custom rebuilt versions, enabling new features, removing bloatware, increasing battery life and more than doubling performance speeds!
Personally, I do it for all of these reasons! Check out the links in my signature for my favorite modifications.

Good Reasons To Root:
Applications Like-
1.ADFREE-ZERO ADS In 90% Of apps
2.Wireless Tether/Wired Tether- Free Internet Sharing
3.Titanium Backup- Backup everything on a schedule at a time that u arent using your phone so u never lose apps or text messages, contacts and other important stuff
4. SDX Stock App Removal- Remove Outdated or Bloatware that you dont want.
5. Custom Roms/Kernals- Make it so u can have a more reliable faster phone and undervolt and overclock the kernal meaning- make you phone faster then its suppose to go and make it go slower to save battery, as well as NO Carrior IQ Adgent Service on some roms- meaning sprint cant track your personal info..
6. Custom Themes- Meaning custom pulldowns,custom menus , fonts and all that fun stuff
7. Mods: Including themes, Battery mods,Hulu mod, and way too many to keep track of.
BAD Reasons To Root:
1. If you dont read and know how to get back to a fresh state you could very possibly brick your phone or soft brick it.
2.Void Warranty-However if you know read up on ODIN, u can flash back to stock and they will never know
3. Thats all i got in my opinion for bad
If you want to root just make sure you read all instructions on how to and read about odin/titatanium backup/and nandroid backups as Those are life savers.
Hope this helps, dont forget to hit thanks or checkout dropbox if u find this info helpful
Have a nice day

dkechitkid said:
Good luck and remember...don't go down this path if you're not willing to do a lot of reading and you're willing to deal with the possibility of turning your phone into a paperweight. The more you research you do the less likely that this will happen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is why i dont root. Even though i've been here since October lol
Sent from my always stock, EC05 Epic 4G.

Always root at least to remove.bloatware
Sent from Snarf phone

I have to greatly compliment you on your informative and very professional reply. Thanx abunch. You answerd all i wanted to know without asking. I hope you respond again to my endless need to master this piece of technology. ROCK ON BRO!!
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

Related

EVO questions (Noob here)

Noob alert, I'm new here, and I'm new to smart phones, I had the HTC Touch Diamond but it was defective to the point where the only thing I could do on it was browse the web and make phone calls...
I'm not that advanced when it comes to this phone since I just picked it up 2 days ago...
Question 1
I've searched around and saw there was ways to put apps on the SD card, and I'm sure just like a computer you can't run the apps off the SD card (unless you can?)
Well my issue with that is I've tried Astro but I'm dumb and can't figure it out.
Question 2
What's the reason and advantages of "rooting" my phone?
Question 3
Battery life... Battery goes dead in the matter of hours, I took it off the charger and within 10-20 minutes it was down to 89% battery life.
I've installed an app killer to save on processing, and save battery.
Set it to CDMA
Krimlin said:
Noob alert, I'm new here, and I'm new to smart phones, I had the HTC Touch Diamond but it was defective to the point where the only thing I could do on it was browse the web and make phone calls...
I'm not that advanced when it comes to this phone since I just picked it up 2 days ago...
Question 1
I've searched around and saw there was ways to put apps on the SD card, and I'm sure just like a computer you can't run the apps off the SD card (unless you can?)
Well my issue with that is I've tried Astro but I'm dumb and can't figure it out.
Question 2
What's the reason and advantages of "rooting" my phone?
Question 3
Battery life... Battery goes dead in the matter of hours, I took it off the charger and within 10-20 minutes it was down to 89% battery life.
I've installed an app killer to save on processing, and save battery.
Set it to CDMA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Answer 1: as far as i know the only rom using apps 2 sd at the moment is Flipz, ive tried one or two others, but they werent using it and im not sure if you can just add it on top. So you CAN install apps and have them run off the SD card.
Answer 2: Reason, because you can. Advantage, many! There are a lot of GREAT developers on this forum who strive to make this phone what it should have been out of the box. Problems like battery issues, software glitches, addons, features, they do it all.
example:
Free wireless tether that sprint wants to charge you an additional 30 a month for. (its a big draw)
oh yeah and custom roms.
Answer 3: there are MANY threads on battery saving tips and the custom roms that are adding their own battery saving features.
there are a lot of threads that cover your questions, so just look around and READ EVERYTHING.
good luck.
Krimlin said:
Question 2
What's the reason and advantages of "rooting" my phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am only three weeks into this phone, but this is what I gather....rooting your phone allows you to install apps that are not in the market. Some of these apps help you make your phone run better.
- Controlling the CPU - this is an option on an app (forget the name) where you can set the CPU speeds for when your screen is off or many other situations. the responses to that app seem to increase battery life hugely. this is my leading reason for why I 'might' root.
- Cleaning up bloatware - i HATE HATE HATE bloatware and had it off my winmo phone in about three weeks it took to learn how to flash. now i need to learn how to root so i can get rid of the dumb sprint tm'd stuff
- Adding better bits to your OS - (i think this is root and not nand) but you can find better bits for your phone, like a different keyboard or better radio or things like that would work for you better than stock. this way you can do the little tweaks you want.
Lastly you can put new ROMs on your phone. Lots of em already for this phone. So far the Evo seems to have camera issues on the roms...not sure yet which roms have it figured and which are still working on it. But you can try out different roms and see if you like em.
(Hopefully if I got any of that wrong...the experienced ones will correct...but that is what this noob has gathered so far.)
sablesurfer said:
rooting your phone allows you to install apps that are not in the market. Some of these apps help you make your phone run better.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not true. You don't have to have your phone rooted to install apps that are not in the market. By default, this option is disabled. To get apps into your Android phone you just have to go into the settings and enable the ability to install apps not in the market. Simple and already in original ROMs.
Now, there are some apps that take advantage of ROOT and have some special feature, but you can still install them on your phone if you do not have ROOT, but you will not be able to use the app's special feature.
As with all apps, some make your phone run better and some make it worse. Caveat emptor.
So again I'm new to this, where do I go to get these cool apps and such, and anyone have any tips and tricks for rooting, some of this stuff is above my head.
I'm sorry guys, I'm a moderator for a car forum so I understand having a noob show up asking alot of dumb questions that should be common knowledge in your circles LOL.
lol,
There is a program called simpleroot over in the dev forum that makes rooting a snap, and I think there are even some video tutorials
...And almost all the apps you would want are on the market
figure out what version you have, menu->settings->about phone->software information->build number
and then go to the read about rooting that version in the developer section
Ok so I read through the rooting instructions made by toast, seems easy enough.
But I also saw that it wipes your phone, meaning?
Am I going to have to re enter all my contacts, download all my apps again, and change all my setting back to the way I like it?
Also after rooting my phone, I won't have to like re activate it to make calls right, and after rooting it when I turn the phone on again for use what will I find? Is it going to look like it did when I first pulled it out of the box?
There's alot of things I don't understand about rooting and if someone would point me in the right direction that would be awesome, I've tried looking but keep coming across discussion threads, and instructions, no real explaination of what it does to my phone and what I can use it for.
Yes it will wipe everything pretty much. You should sync your contacts with google though so you dont have to worry about reloading those. After you are rooted you can use one of those 'root apps' called Titanium Backup and that will let you backup and restore everything.
You will not need to reactivate your phone. After you flash it will basically look like it did when it first came out of the box. Until you flash a custom rom, then some things may be a bit different (maybe custom themes, removed apk's, things like that.
Awesome, thanks for the info. I appreciate the hospitality guys!
Rooting and the OTA
nenn said:
figure out what version you have, menu->settings->about phone->software information->build number
and then go to the read about rooting that version in the developer section
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I swapped my 1st EVO in a panic after running the 1st June 29 update. I now have a 0003 with .6 and would like to jump into the world of root. My qusetion is at this point should I do the OTA and then root or just root with the 1st toast method 1 and 2?
Also my laptop set up for dual boot so I can use either Ubuntu or win7. One over the other for diving in?
Thanks for any help.
Dano3 said:
I swapped my 1st EVO in a panic after running the 1st June 29 update. I now have a 0003 with .6 and would like to jump into the world of root. My qusetion is at this point should I do the OTA and then root or just root with the 1st toast method 1 and 2?
Also my laptop set up for dual boot so I can use either Ubuntu or win7. One over the other for diving in?
Thanks for any help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try to do your root as close to the lowest version you have, but it seems that people have gotten root even after the latest OTA update.
I don't think it matters in what OS you want to work in to root or mod your phone, but it tends to be a bit easier under Ubuntu. It was a pain in the ass to get the EVO recognized under Windows. The easy 1 click root is made to work under windows. I find that creating a kitchen (aka setup to make custom ROMs with apps/features added or removed) is easier in Linux. And doing development and building the OS from source is waaay easier under Ubuntu. I'm doing development, so it's a lot easier under Ubuntu.
Summary, somethings are easier in Windows and others easier in Ubuntu.
Check out this thread for a helpful battery tip:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=721156
Make sure you go into settings > wireless networks > mobile data settings and turn off always on mobile data.
This one of the most popular roms that focuses on battery saving:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=700649
MAKE SURE YOU SEARCH THE THREAD BEFORE ASKING QUESTIONS B/C SOMEONE WILL EAT YOUR FACE FOR ASKING A QUESTION THATS BEEN ASKED A MILLION TIMES
Antebios said:
This is not true. You don't have to have your phone rooted to install apps that are not in the market. By default, this option is disabled. To get apps into your Android phone you just have to go into the settings and enable the ability to install apps not in the market. Simple and already in original ROMs.
Now, there are some apps that take advantage of ROOT and have some special feature, but you can still install them on your phone if you do not have ROOT, but you will not be able to use the app's special feature.
As with all apps, some make your phone run better and some make it worse. Caveat emptor.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AH, well then. That would be why I threw my thoughts out there...for correction if needed. But the SetCPU thing needs root right? And that is the one I think I definitely want.
Thanks JJ you've been a savior!
You guys here have been awesome and very informative on the irc. I'll still need some guidance but you guys have helped a lot and didn't give me hell for being a noob.
Thanks again!

Quick question..

I'm new 2 the rooting and the Android itself.. I got the 2.2 on my EVO like most ppl have via update, I'm kinda skeptical of rooting it still.. I guess my question is, is it worth rooting it and what changes on the device itself?
Any information would and will be extremely appreciated..
Thanx in advance...
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Good day to you.
First off. welcome. second, as its your FIRST post I hope you wont get flamed too hard because there are many many threads that cover the pros/cons of rooting.
I suggest next time you have a question, take a minute to use the search function (and post in the right forum! questions go in Q&A).
A few quick pros of rooting.
Free wireless tether (sharing your phones internet connection with a laptop or other wifi enabled device)
The ability to flash custom ROMs, these are the operating systems of the phone, they're all built off of (for the most part) stock htc/sprint images, but there are plenty and many options, find one that suits your needs and try it out.
Custom kernels, they are the set of drivers and the "brain" of your phone, want it overclocked? get a custom kernel, want it undervolted (Save battery) get a custom kernel. many options to choose from
Custom Boot screens.
Root only applications, titanium backup (backs up stuff, i dont use it so i cant elaborate), shootme (screenshot program) and others im sure.
Hope this clears up some stuff, welcome, use the search (really im just trying to help ya here) and have fun!
Round of applause for nenn. While I agree with your first few sentences, there aren't many "nice guys" on this site and especially on the Evo boards. People tend to forget that this phone is relatively new and has attracted many new people to the world of Android (like myself) who know nothing about anything.
OP: A few things you can do with root that nenn did not mention:
1) You can read/write from your SD card.
2) You can remove all the garbage that your phone came loaded with from Sprint and HTC (like Sprint Nascar and Peep).
3) With Titanium back-up, it allows you to transfer all user apps to the SD card keeping your phones internal memory clean, you can back up and restore all apps and system data, and you can use it to uninstall apps you don't want as mentioned in point #2.
4) Custom kernels also remove the 30 fps cap on our phones (I get 52 fps average with my set up).
5) You can use other root-only programs like ROM Manager which lets you flash files onto your phone easily via a custom recovery. Also, you can back up several ROM's and switch from one to the other, or go back to a previous working ROM if you flash something on your phone that doesn't sit well with it.
If everything that we have mentioned means nothing to you, then just enjoy your phone as it is. It is a great device and you can get plenty of use out if without rooting it.
*bow* thanks for the kind words rudegraw, its not a day from hell at work so im in a chipper mood for the most part, yesterday, i woulda ripped this yougin to shreads so i posted very little, lol.
rugedraw said:
1) You can read/write from your SD card.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
eh? what do you mean? thats worded very oddly.
Thanx to the both of ya.. I do luv the phone the way it is and specially since yesterday I turned on the 4G and it actually came on, you can pretty much assume my excitement lol.. But I'll read up on the pros/cons of rooting before I make any decision as to root my Evo..
Thanx again..
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
nenn said:
*bow* thanks for the kind words rudegraw, its not a day from hell at work so im in a chipper mood for the most part, yesterday, i woulda ripped this yougin to shreads so i posted very little, lol.
eh? what do you mean? thats worded very oddly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd rather not get into details about this on the thread. I worded it this way on purpose. PM me and I'd be more than happy to explain what I meant.
Rooting 2.2
I am rooting for the first time and I'm stuck now. I am in the section where you enter the commands into the cmd command box.
I just entered the ./rageagainstthecage-arm5.bin
and it says that it not found but when I entered it earlier it worke just fine, can anyone help me plz
rugedraw said:
Round of applause for nenn. While I agree with your first few sentences, there aren't many "nice guys" on this site and especially on the Evo boards. People tend to forget that this phone is relatively new and has attracted many new people to the world of Android (like myself) who know nothing about anything.
OP: A few things you can do with root that nenn did not mention:
1) You can read/write from your SD card.
2) You can remove all the garbage that your phone came loaded with from Sprint and HTC (like Sprint Nascar and Peep).
3) With Titanium back-up, it allows you to transfer all user apps to the SD card keeping your phones internal memory clean, you can back up and restore all apps and system data, and you can use it to uninstall apps you don't want as mentioned in point #2.
4) Custom kernels also remove the 30 fps cap on our phones (I get 52 fps average with my set up).
5) You can use other root-only programs like ROM Manager which lets you flash files onto your phone easily via a custom recovery. Also, you can back up several ROM's and switch from one to the other, or go back to a previous working ROM if you flash something on your phone that doesn't sit well with it.
If everything that we have mentioned means nothing to you, then just enjoy your phone as it is. It is a great device and you can get plenty of use out if without rooting it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Recording at 720p, is it any better with 52 fps?

Why should I root?

Okay, this may be a bit of a noobish thread, but rooting is a thing I don't have much experience or knowledge in. I've been using an M8 for a few months and I'm just trying to figure out how to make it a more personal experience. I have downloaded Tasker but I still need to look at guides and FAQ's on it before I start playing with it. Back to the thread title, why should I root? I know I can play with ROM's, kernels, and what not when I root. But I'm still unfamiliar with what I'm actually doing when I do that. I'm not 100% sold on changing the ROM on my M8 because I was watching a video for Cyanogen on an M8 and you lose the double tap to unlock functionality and the video stated that most ROM's will lose that functionality. I happen to use it quite often so I'm a bit leery of letting it go. So more specifically my question is, what can do I with rooting? What do different kernels do? What can I do with rooting if I don't change the ROM or kernel? I'm hoping I can find out if rooting is something I want to do or not with my phone. Any help is greatly appreciated.
If you root, you can use tasker... For starters. ?
No one can answer this. Except you. If there are things you want to do that require root, then root. If not, don't. Not much else to say on it really.
KJ said:
If you root, you can use tasker... For starters. ?
No one can answer this. Except you. If there are things you want to do that require root, then root. If not, don't. Not much else to say on it really.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's pretty much exactly why I want to know what all I can do with rooting and what those things actually do. So I can decide if rooting is something I want to do.
adaway is the major reason why i root, and xposed.
Well there is only so much you can do on a device without making changes to its system. Kinda like a computer, Windows & Linux. How many things can you install and/or change without Administrator Privileges / Super User?
Heck these days you need Administrator privileges for updates on some games. Almost anything cool will HAVE to make some changes to the system in order to work properly.
Xposed Framework
Titanium Backup
Root explorer - <Name already says it all.
Six axis controller - You need root in order to connect your PS3 remote to your phone in order to play games with a controller.
Tasker - Like mentioned before.
Ad block Plus - Who really wants to look at ads the whole day?
Greenify - To hibernate all those excessive apps and save up some battery juice.
Better Batter Stats / GSAM with Root Companion - Get some detailed info on your what drains your battery(Wake locks etc)
WiFi Tethering - Pay for it through Carrier or Free with root?
Has the writing to external issue been fixed with latest android phones? If not you'll probably need Root to make changes to the permissions in order to write to external SD card.
The questions really isn't right... It's not "Why should I root? " it's "Why shouldn't I root? " Like I mentioned above you can't really do anything to the device if you don't have the permission/authority to do so and some of the best stuff out there needs to make changes to the system. When last did you install an awesome program on your computer without having to grant it administrative privileges
That list I gave is small one in a huge list of cool things you can install and/or do if you're rooted.
Then of course next it'll be... Why should I go with S-OFF
Completely stock - Human - you only do what they want you to do.
Rooted - Demi-God - you make your own choices on what you want and what you don't.
S-OFF - God Mode. Enough said.
Being able to disable data at the firewall for everything except those apps that actually need Internet access is a godsend if you don't have a large data plan. I use DroidWall, but Android Firewall is coming along as well.
Then, add in Adaway, being able to completely remove CarrierIQ, and disable unnecessary services, it's more a question of why wouldn't you root? However, I'm a bit of a control freak when it comes to my phones.
Thanks for the replies guys, I've got some things to look into now. Is there an easy to understand guide anyone can link to help me better understand what I can do with rooting? Knowing certain apps/tasks and what not is great for looking into, but I would like to gain a better understanding of what all rooting is capable of so I can come up with ideas of my own to try. I still really have no idea what different kernels do, and reading descriptions doesn't help me much right now with my limited understanding. Thanks again guys.
I think most of the benefits of rooting have already been stated, but what about the trade-offs?
Well, there are simply no trade offs unless you use an app that won't work with root, like Barclays Bank UK. Unless you use any app that won't work with root...
About double tap to unlock, you will only lose it if you use any aosp Rom, you will still have it if you use a stock based rom like ARHD or Venom
metllicamilitia said:
Thanks for the replies guys, I've got some things to look into now. Is there an easy to understand guide anyone can link to help me better understand what I can do with rooting? Knowing certain apps/tasks and what not is great for looking into, but I would like to gain a better understanding of what all rooting is capable of so I can come up with ideas of my own to try. I still really have no idea what different kernels do, and reading descriptions doesn't help me much right now with my limited understanding. Thanks again guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A pretty comprehensive guide and explanations of everything for the M8 that you want to know before rooting/modding/flashing/etc. :good:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=52484527
metllicamilitia said:
Thanks for the replies guys, I've got some things to look into now. Is there an easy to understand guide anyone can link to help me better understand what I can do with rooting? Knowing certain apps/tasks and what not is great for looking into, but I would like to gain a better understanding of what all rooting is capable of so I can come up with ideas of my own to try. I still really have no idea what different kernels do, and reading descriptions doesn't help me much right now with my limited understanding. Thanks again guys.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here are some helpful videos on how to root, unlock bootloader, gain s-off, and receive ota updates while rooted. All these videos helped me and will help you too .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkGyPgONJaI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N88nHyCktW0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPPT5J8xG6w
Personally I wouldn't bother rooting unless you have a specific must have or must not have problem with the M8.
Every phone i've had now i've rooted, unlocked etc, and I always go back to the same thought, why did I bother.
Personally I think it just has you wiping and reinstalling all the time and not getting on with things. Flashaholic I think is the term lol.
I also think my M8 functioned better stock. Smoother and with better battery life.
Personal opinion though. When I get my Z3, i'll be leaving it stock, ready for the M9 lol.
HtcOneJon said:
Personally I wouldn't bother rooting unless you have a specific must have or must not have problem with the M8.
Every phone i've had now i've rooted, unlocked etc, and I always go back to the same thought, why did I bother.
Personally I think it just has you wiping and reinstalling all the time and not getting on with things. Flashaholic I think is the term lol.
I also think my M8 functioned better stock. Smoother and with better battery life.
Personal opinion though. When I get my Z3, i'll be leaving it stock, ready for the M9 lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm actually still running stock right now, and taking OTA updates. I just refuse to give up my control of iptables and the HOSTS file. If there was a non-root way to setup these things, I would probably not bother either. On my last phone, a Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, I rarely messed with the OS once I get everything setup the way I wanted it. It was running stock firmware the whole time, just with DroidWall and Adaway running on it.
The only thing I did that deviated from that was backing up applications and restoring on new devices. For example, I wanted to preserve my progress in Alchemy, so I backed it up with Titanium Backup, moved the Tibkp file to my new phone, and restored the data. No having to manually redo everything
IOW, root doesn't have to mean "total makeover".

[Q] We have root? Great! What can it do?

Guys, please. The point of my thread is NOT whether the root claim is a lie or not. I am asking some questions about what can be done with it regardless, so please, if anyone knows inform me, but don't post guessing games of whether it is real or not.
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So the Note 4 is actually my first device I've owned where I didn't have an unlocked bootloader. Because of this, I'm not sure whether all the modifications I've made to my past devices were enabled because I had an unlocked bootloader.
The only thing I know we can't do is install custom roms.
So... that leaves me with a question. What kinds of things can we do with just root?
On top of that, I have some specific questions (Might think of more later) :
Will root let us be able to install the auto-brightness control that the international version of the Note 4 has? If you don't know, you're able to adjust how low or high the auto brightness stages will go without turning off auto brightness on that version. It's so much nicer than having to turn off auto, adjust to where you want, and then remember to turn auto back on when you leave that environment.
Can we remap the capacitive multitask button to be a menu button instead? And to remap long-pressing that button to be the new multitask?
Thanks!
There's safe strap which allows us to have custom roms.
droidx2.3.3 said:
There's safe strap which allows us to have custom roms.
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Click to collapse
did they get a safestrap to work?
I'm assuming that they will. I suppose I should have worded my post different.
So it should have said, if we get safe strap we will be able to have custom roms.
It's not quiet the same as a unlocked bootloader though.
We have root?
what proof?
Well regardless of whether we have custom roms through some other means, I'd personally most interested in those 2 questions I stated. That's honestly the things I want most with root at the moment.
Where is root?
Root has not been proven yet. Patience. Everyone is jumping the gun here.
Guys, please. The point of my thread is NOT whether the root claim is a lie or not. I am asking some questions about what can be done with it regardless, so please, if anyone knows inform me, but don't post guessing games of whether it is real or not.
Hobox10 said:
Guys, please. The point of my thread is NOT whether the root claim is a lie or not. I am asking some questions about what can be done with it regardless, so please, if anyone knows inform me, but don't post guessing games of whether it is real or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My main and only real reason for wanting root is for Ad Block ESPECIALLY in youtube. I hate those commercials... You can install Ad Block without root (as I just did) but it just doesn't seem to work as well as it did with my last rooted device... Although I'm not sure if this is the app devs getting more creative with how they get ads through or possibly even a Lollipop things...
The other main reason was so Rocket Player could delete podcasts I had already listened too.. That was resolved with the Lollipop update so I am good to go there...
Some really like Root for Titanium backup to back up ALL app data and settings... This was handy for me back when I was flashing ROMS all the time but without that capability I don't see myself having much of a need for that since the games I play store the data in the Android folder which I don't need root to copy/backup
Another great thing that has come about the last year or so is Xposed modules.. These give you just about ANY customization you could possibly want but of course in order to use them you will also need root..... There is a great app that pulls the commercials from Youtube which I will be checking out if Root is actually here... As I said before I hate hate the ads... Not that I don't buy FULL versions of some of the apps if I find them useful because I do... But with things like Chrome and Youtube I really miss the option of them being disabled... Yes I know Firefox has this built in but I like y Chrome for the ability to send pages from my PC to my phone with the click of a button....
I find that the Note 4 with the help of Apex PRO has helped me gain many of the features I once wanted Root and the ability to flash things for... So now I am just looking for the ability to kill some ads....
There are also a few apps I would delete or freeze with Titanium Backup once we had that option... Turning them off is nice but I want the space back...
dr12volt1338 said:
My main and only real reason for wanting root is for Ad Block ESPECIALLY in youtube. I hate those commercials... You can install Ad Block without root (as I just did) but it just doesn't seem to work as well as it did with my last rooted device... Although I'm not sure if this is the app devs getting more creative with how they get ads through or possibly even a Lollipop things...
The other main reason was so Rocket Player could delete podcasts I had already listened too.. That was resolved with the Lollipop update so I am good to go there...
Some really like Root for Titanium backup to back up ALL app data and settings... This was handy for me back when I was flashing ROMS all the time but without that capability I don't see myself having much of a need for that since the games I play store the data in the Android folder which I don't need root to copy/backup
Another great thing that has come about the last year or so is Xposed modules.. These give you just about ANY customization you could possibly want but of course in order to use them you will also need root..... There is a great app that pulls the commercials from Youtube which I will be checking out if Root is actually here... As I said before I hate hate the ads... Not that I don't buy FULL versions of some of the apps if I find them useful because I do... But with things like Chrome and Youtube I really miss the option of them being disabled... Yes I know Firefox has this built in but I like y Chrome for the ability to send pages from my PC to my phone with the click of a button....
I find that the Note 4 with the help of Apex PRO has helped me gain many of the features I once wanted Root and the ability to flash things for... So now I am just looking for the ability to kill some ads....
There are also a few apps I would delete or freeze with Titanium Backup once we had that option... Turning them off is nice but I want the space back...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm with you on the adblock and it's one of the things I've been looking forward too also. The ads mobile gets is ridiculous, I'm fine with them on most websites on the computer but the mobile versions really kill some things.
Xposed is an interesting topic to me, I've never had any experience with it since I've never really needed it. It will be fun to see what they do. Thanks for the info.
root
Do you know if they release their root tool now? If they do, where is it?
52yt said:
Do you know if they release their root tool now? If they do, where is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The tool is not out. He's asking what can be done with root.
I want to delete all bloatware, install multi window for all apps, adblock, mxtube downloader, and xposed for 4.4.4
Sent from my SM-N915V
2swizzle said:
The tool is not out. He's asking what can be done with root.
I want to delete all bloatware, install multi window for all apps, adblock, mxtube downloader, and xposed for 4.4.4
Sent from my SM-N915V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good point I forgot about being able to add multi window for non supported apps... It would be really nice for Tapatalk to support it
Ooh multi-window on almost any app sounds awesome!
you can remove pre-loaded carrier apps that cause sluggish instability. improve battery life, and speed up application start times.
Mw-pen app enabler, ive been using since i got this phone. Let's you add apps to multi window. Should work for non system apps. It's worked for me. been my solution until we get root, if we do.
djnikkofb said:
you can remove pre-loaded carrier apps that cause sluggish instability. improve battery life, and speed up application start times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just an fyi: You can disable bloatware without having root by using @gatesjunior's Debloater utility. Here's the link http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2998294
2swizzle said:
The tool is not out. He's asking what can be done with root.
I want to delete all bloatware, install multi window for all apps, adblock, mxtube downloader, and xposed for 4.4.4
Sent from my SM-N915V
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Daciple said:
Mw-pen app enabler, ive been using since i got this phone. Let's you add apps to multi window. Should work for non system apps. It's worked for me. been my solution until we get root, if we do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had no idea that existed or was possible without root. Great find!

To root or not to root

I've had my Pixel 2 XL for 2 weeks now and am very impressed with all of the customizations. Quick question: is it worth it to root it? My bootloader is unlocked, BTW. What are some additional benefits it I choose to root it?
t4duzan said:
I've had my Pixel 2 XL for 2 weeks now and am very impressed with all of the customizations. Quick question: is it worth it to root it? My bootloader is unlocked, BTW. What are some additional benefits it I choose to root it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "worth it" part is up to you. What is it you want to achieve? If you want to....
Flash custom roms and kernels..
Use add blocking and themes..
Install sound mods...
Or just customize the crap outa it.....then yes.
However, a word of caution, do your research into flashing procedures, and become very familiar with fastboot just in case something goes wrong, and you need to recover your device.
Also, if you use certain banking apps, they may not work if your rooted. If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask. There are bunches of helpful people on XDA that are happy to help you. :good:
Badger50 said:
The "worth it" part is up to you. What is it you want to achieve? If you want to....
Flash custom roms and kernels..
Use add blocking and themes..
Install sound mods...
Or just customize the crap outa it.....then yes.
However, a word of caution, do your research into flashing procedures, and become very familiar with fastboot just in case something goes wrong, and you need to recover your device.
Also, if you use certain banking apps, they may not work if your rooted. If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask. There are bunches of helpful people on XDA that are happy to help you. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the advice and info Badger50. I think I'll do as you recommend and research it for awhile.
Also insurance apps detect root also and some games
Magisk is a great app for hiding root from these apps most of the time.
If you want to keep up to date on the monthly Google updates it can be a bit of a pain as you have to replace your boot image and kernel and even then can have issues with the way pixel handles the rom.
But with that said it's good to at least do it learn a bit about what goes into it see if it is good for you.
Good to have a backup phone and or know your restore procedures.
Pretty hard to brick a phone with the pixel phones.
Just have to follow some steps exactly the way they tell you.
I stay stock now because of the updates some times it takes me a day to get time to fix the phone to accept the update and work properly and I like having accu battery have history from start of the phone
Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk
Taimen_#1
Without a doubt, hands down, currently I need Root. If the device has no solution then it's the last one I would pick. Currently I'm running Havoc with Magisk 18. I have the viper/Dolby sound benefits with my favorite Sony features & apps. Also I'm running lawnchair w/ quickswitch module. All in all I guess you could say I have a problem. Every since I learned I could update to KitKat instead of being stuck on stock gingerbread I've been rooting. Thanks:good:
If you have a warranty (sounds like you bought it used) or you have have insurance they will be void if you are unable to restore to stock.
That's why I don't root.
Just something to be aware of.
One of the best and ultimate reasons to root is to be able to take a nandroid backup that's better than any non-rooted backup method! It will literally backup and remember everything (due to all of this residing in the /data partition)! Your homescreen, settings, app and its data,down to every little thing!
Being able to move the clock back to the right, modify so it's better on battery life and cpu quickness, enjoy extra features in apps, and many other "tweaks" are secondary but very enjoyable and satisfactory...
it's an interesting question to me, because this is the first phone that I have decided not to bother rooting. It is also my first pixel/Nexus which I think is part of the reason. In the past getting rid of bloat and many of the controlling aspects from carriers was important to me. With the pixel, there is very little of that. Plus it just works, I'm not working around issues.
maybe I'm getting old, but to me the phone is now something I want to use not something I want to play with. When I root the phone, I have to keep up with security updates and I'm usually also fixing and patching things from trying different mods. So far the pure Android experience from Google has proven reasonably reliable and stable, and it just doesn't seem worth the hassle anymore. I will continue to buy phones I can root, how's that may change at some point.
Right now, my opinion is, for me, there is no need to root
I haven't unlocked my bootloader or rooted since the first pixel. I use adguard premium and YouTube vanced. Currently, absolutely no need for root anymore. Just my two cents.
simplepinoi177 said:
One of the best and ultimate reasons to root is to be able to take a nandroid backup that's better than any non-rooted backup method! It will literally backup and remember everything (due to all of this residing in the /data partition)! Your homescreen, settings, app and its data,down to every little thing!
Being able to move the clock back to the right, modify so it's better on battery life and cpu quickness, enjoy extra features in apps, and many other "tweaks" are secondary but very enjoyable and satisfactory...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything related to apps and app data. Anything on the internal sdcard, not so much.
Sent from my [device_name] using XDA-Developers Legacy app

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