Develop Bugs

[Q] Boot loop problem

Hi, I have a few questions I hope you can help me with?
My wife has a galaxy nexus, stock and unrooted. It is only around 6 weeks old and last week it started crashing, turning off then getting stuck in a boot loop just displaying the starting colours. I understand this is a known problem, she has software version 4.0.2 and it says her phone is up to date.
I "fixed" her phone once with a factory reset however this time she is away with work till Friday and now has no use of her phone or contractual minuets or data ect.
To make things worst she was planning on using the sat nav and wireless tethering to her laptop. It is the second time this has happened and she has lost all faith in her phone. She can maybe upgrade the software by downloading the 4.0.4 software but she/I don't see why she should have too. She just wants a phones that does what it says on the tin without needing to mod or mess around with it.
My questions are...
Is this problem enough for her to exchange the phone for another phone all together, she fancies a One X. Has anyone here managed to exchange the phone for this reason?
If not will updating the software to 4.0.4 fix the issue for sure? She really needs a reliable phone. Maybe it will be best to send it back under the warranty but we are afraid she will get another GNex with the same issue.
Any advice will be much appreciated
Sorry for the long post and thanks for reading,
Oliver

I would just try updating it and then wipe it. If that doesn't fix the issue it's most likely a hardware issue and I would warranty the phone.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Hey there,
Well first I would suggest calming down and not reverting to hardware issues just yet, Bootloops are pretty common, especially when using phones which were meant for the (a bit) more advanced user, it's advantage is also it's flaw, being a modding monster that it is..
And this is by no means a flame - but I wouldn't want my wife to have a GN for that exact same reason, yes - she knows about flashing roms and stuff, but she needs a reliable phone, that will work and do what she needs it to do and nothing more, as opposed to me, I like to mess around a bit with my phones (also not that much, I plan to stay stock with my GN).
To your question, I don't have any experience with RMA's but it maybe worth a try.
You also mentioned she fancies the one-x.. that means she wasn't really keen on buying the GN in the first place (I believe).. and also - and don't take this the wrong way - I think she\you don't really know what the GN is all about, this isn't a phone for everybody, I mean - it is, but it's a shame to see it fall into hands that do not appreciate it for what it is, think of it as a nice new Ferrari, sure - it'll get your wife to work But she is not going to the Nurborgring to time her laps with it.. she'll complain that once in a while the clutch is too sensitive and that she cannot count on the car to take her to work every day, and that she really fancies the new Volkswagen beetle... you get my drift
Also - I believe that flashing to the 4.0.4 will sort the bootloops, which usually has everything to do with the kenrel.
Best of luck!
p.s. All of the above is said in a humoristic way!

omricn said:
Hey there,
Well first I would suggest calming down and not reverting to hardware issues just yet, Bootloops are pretty common, especially when using phones which were meant for the (a bit) more advanced user, it's advantage is also it's flaw, being a modding monster that it is..
And this is by no means a flame - but I wouldn't want my wife to have a GN for that exact same reason, yes - she knows about flashing roms and stuff, but she needs a reliable phone, that will work and do what she needs it to do and nothing more, as opposed to me, I like to mess around a bit with my phones (also not that much, I plan to stay stock with my GN).
To your question, I don't have any experience with RMA's but it maybe worth a try.
You also mentioned she fancies the one-x.. that means she wasn't really keen on buying the GN in the first place (I believe).. and also - and don't take this the wrong way - I think she\you don't really know what the GN is all about, this isn't a phone for everybody, I mean - it is, but it's a shame to see it fall into hands that do not appreciate it for what it is, think of it as a nice new Ferrari, sure - it'll get your wife to work But she is not going to the Nurborgring to time her laps with it.. she'll complain that once in a while the clutch is too sensitive and that she cannot count on the car to take her to work every day, and that she really fancies the new Volkswagen beetle... you get my drift
Also - I believe that flashing to the 4.0.4 will sort the bootloops, which usually has everything to do with the kenrel.
Best of luck!
p.s. All of the above is said in a humoristic way!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your post.
My wife wanted to upgrade her htc desire to a faster phone with bigger screen, she loves android and Google products and the Google nexus seemed like the best choice at the time (b4 the one X was released) she loved the phone till now.
The phone has twice randomly gone into a boot loop and twice we managed to get it working again both times within the week. This has caused her to lose faith in the phone. I guess the update should fix the issue but it doesn't seem to be available on her phone just yet.
A basic phone would not be enough 4 my wife, as I said in my first post she uses it to connect her laptop to the Internet and as a satnav. Also she watches youtube videos (720p screen is handy here) and for facebook.
We never had any such issues with our desires. When my wife returns home we will update her phone via pc if it doesn't void warranty (I'm sure it won't ) and hopefully the issue will be fixed for good.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Sounds like our wives can get along my wify loves her htc desire hd! and to be honest, in my opinion in many ways it's much better than the sensation I had (stock).
And by what you described, if I was your wife (lol ) I'd also go for the GN.. I trust you know how to upgrade to 4.0.4, if you need any help just say so and I'll be more than happy to help
Also - from what I know upgrading will not void you warranty, you can simply lock the bootloader once you're done upgrading if you wish.
I really wish the bootloops will stop and that you wife will continue to enjoy her GN!

Hi again
I unlocked, rooted and installed Android Revelution HD 3.0.0 (based on 4.0.4) by mike1986 on her phone.
She is happy with her phone again.
Now it's rooted she likes the extra apps she can now install like AdFree.
I have a quick noob question though..
After installing the new rom her phone it said their is an update available. I understand that she should NOT accept over the air updates now she has a custom rom, and is that right?
Cheers, Oliver
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Hey Oliver, sorry.. seems I didn't get subscription notifications on your reply...
anyway, she "can" download the update, but it will not install, it will simply give an error upon installation, the reason is the original files that the update needs to update are not there anymore, or they are but have changed, so it will just give an installation error.. that's the only downside to having a custom rom. me personally - I like mine stock at the moment

Just a quick update, I rooted, s- offed and install Arhd rom on my wife's gnex.
She says her phone is running faster/smoother than ever and has not restarted since. It's running great and she is happy again
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

[Q] Is there a genuine, legitimate reason to root

I've had my E4GT for about 2 or 3 weeks now, I received the OTA update to FI27 last week, and overall I'm pretty happy with it (I was happy before the update though, but to be honest because I only had the phone a few days I haven't noticed a difference ).
I rooted my last phone, which was a Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V, but that was because Virgin loaded it with a bunch of bloatware and there was a very good ROM that removed all of it, improved battery life, etc etc.
But with this phone, I don't find I have any issues with battery life, I have plenty of space on my phone with way more apps installed than I had on the Optimus, it runs smoothly, and the only complaint I have is that my LED notification light isn't working correctly, which I know can be fixed with an app.
So, to all the people that have rooted and know what else this phone can do, is there a good reason other than "you can install lots of different custom roms" that I should root my phone? What else will I be able to do with it? What benefits will I see? Installing different ROMs doesn't mean much to me. Even though I did that on my old phone, there was a real reason to do it: I could install more than 4 apps on it (and I kept that same ROM on it the entire time). I don't have that issue with this phone, so why should I?
Thanks

I personally consider customization, removing bloatware, and tweaking to your own liking genuine and legitimate reasons. You also have Ad blocking & WiFi tether though.

You shouldn't if you are happy with it.
I rooted for those reasons..
-Tired of stock look. Install new roms.
-Use apps needing root like titaniun backup.
-Get rid of stock apps.
I didnt root for almost 2 months. I was eager to try ics leaks before ota so I eventually rooted.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

someguyatx said:
I personally consider customization, removing bloatware, and tweaking to your own liking genuine and legitimate reasons. You also have Ad blocking & WiFi tether though.
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Click to collapse
Well this is what I don't really understand. What sort of customization and tweaking can be done to the phone? What are the effects of it?
BluesRulez said:
You shouldn't if you are happy with it.
I rooted for those reasons..
-Tired of stock look. Install new roms.
-Use apps needing root like titaniun backup.
-Get rid of stock apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't you really only need Titanium Backup if you are gonna be rooting though? The bloatware I can deal with as the phone hasn't (yet) told me that I don't have enough space to stop me from installing new apps.

mewikime said:
I've had my E4GT for about 2 or 3 weeks now, I received the OTA update to FI27 last week, and overall I'm pretty happy with it (I was happy before the update though, but to be honest because I only had the phone a few days I haven't noticed a difference ).
I rooted my last phone, which was a Virgin Mobile LG Optimus V, but that was because Virgin loaded it with a bunch of bloatware and there was a very good ROM that removed all of it, improved battery life, etc etc.
But with this phone, I don't find I have any issues with battery life, I have plenty of space on my phone with way more apps installed than I had on the Optimus, it runs smoothly, and the only complaint I have is that my LED notification light isn't working correctly, which I know can be fixed with an app.
So, to all the people that have rooted and know what else this phone can do, is there a good reason other than "you can install lots of different custom roms" that I should root my phone? What else will I be able to do with it? What benefits will I see? Installing different ROMs doesn't mean much to me. Even though I did that on my old phone, there was a real reason to do it: I could install more than 4 apps on it (and I kept that same ROM on it the entire time). I don't have that issue with this phone, so why should I?
Thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no reason for you to root. You are happy that's good.
XDA's 4,697,117+ Members are just nuts. We're unhappy with our stuff and insist on making it less useful to us.
Nothing to see here....
Seriously if you need to ask and don't want to investigate for yourself then rooting and certainly these forums are not for you.

I root because
- Hate Touchwiz look
- Customization
- Themes
- Battery Saving options
- AOSP (AOKP)
- JELLYBEAN
- Better reception and data

You may be happy with bloat. I do not want battery resources going to apps I will never open. I like battery life. I like optimization. I like customization. If you don't see a need then don't do it. But if your phone ever drowns don't complain that you lost all your game data or texts and stuff. With titanium backup I can even set a schedule to back up those items for me at whatever time to my sd card. So if my phone drowns I pop my as card into my new phone and its all there. Also make nandroids when I receive my replacement its like my phone never died. Its all exactly how I had it.
sent from my BAD A$$ Epic touch

I run stock 90% of the time.
My main reason to root at least after FF18
-Tethering
-Tethering nothing more
I said after FF18 because on Gingerbread there's no need to root for tethering thanks to FoxFi but since ICS, Sprint block it and they are working on a new version for ICS when they found a way again I'm back to Stock.

Do what you want!
That is what is most important.
If there was any legitimate reason, it would be because you want to.
Otherwise you are just following what someone else says. Of course, there are very good reasons for both. The one thing I am told a lot by people on the other end of the phone conversation consistently, is that there seems to be feedback and they hear themselves a lot(- since I started Modding). What do I care, I hear everyone just fine. But I do care. I use my phone for work a lot. NOW, someone else is going to post after this that you can play with modems and what not to clear this up... which is true. And also you can reflash and do this & do that. What if the person using the phone just wants simplicity.... stay stock! Do not pass go. It takes tweeking, fine adjustments, research and ROM updates(The almighty Search box on XDA is awesome) and time to figure some of this stuff out. And ALSO it doesn't hurt to have an interest in android, Apps, ROMs and so on and so on.

Sometimes either the manufacturer or the carrier sends out updates that just don't work well. I like having the ability to keep it working properly, not working the way Sprint thinks is best for me.
You have only had your phone for a month. I have had mine for about a year, and others here have had it longer. If you are trying to convince us not to root, you should spend your time on the Sprint message boards instead of here.

Your happy that's what matters. Your choice
Sent from my HTCEVOV4G using Xparent SkyBlue Tapatalk 2

It comes down to personal choice. Android is customizable right out of the box. It is even more so once you root and get under the hood.

Agreed with all that say it's your choice. Also your habits are very important. One of the reasons why I love Android is that I can literally change my software whenever I want. I was running AOKP 2 days ago, M'ICS the day after. Now today I'm on stock rooted FI27.
Honestly though, this phone is really good out of the box. I had the LG Optimus V for over a year as well, and the only way to get that phone to perform was to root it and put a custom ROM on it. It was actually a great phone for being low end. I had said that when I upgraded to this phone that I wouldn't root it, but that didn't last long. Really though, you can easily get the performance you're looking for on this phone without rooting it.

I rooted for UV/OC ability.
And I really didn't like touchwiz, but I accidentally found that it comes stock with both the ICS launcher and TW launchers, so that was a plus.
I'm on a stock rom running agat's source 6.5 kernel. Runs great. Only thing better would be if I could find an optimized stock rom (much like Sprint Lovers on the OG Evo 4G.)

I'm rooted because I like to tell my devices what to do.
I guess rooting might make more sense if you've ever been an administrator or if you've ever ran any Linux machine.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

Tethering and titanium backup. There is no way to truly backup data without root and on something as accident prone as a smartphone that's a necessity.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using Tapatalk 2

mewikime said:
Don't you really only need Titanium Backup if you are gonna be rooting though? The bloatware I can deal with as the phone hasn't (yet) told me that I don't have enough space to stop me from installing new apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can't reliably backup say your angry bird progress without TiBu or the like and being rooted. Sure for this specific series of apps there have been applications made to back up the save progress but they have proven often at times to be unreliable.
Maybe your favorite app gets pulled from the market, lets say flash. Too bad you didn't back up the APK. Of course for flash you can download the apk from adobe still so not a great example but you get the idea.
But overall something like Titanium Backup comes in handy if you ever need to format the phone. Like say the OTA to ICS, problems for unrooted users were easily solved by a factory reset (except for that brick bug triggered by factory reset...). Nice to be able to restore all your user apps with all their settings and save data.
I rooted so I could use a PS3 controller back on gingerbread. As time goes on many things that required root like taking screenshots have become officially available in Android or OEM firmware. Question is you want to be able to do completely normal and reasonable things up to a couple years ahead of Google catching up? Surely if someone locked down your windows PC so you couldn't do things you take for granted you would wish for root access.

I waited about 5 months before I finally rooted my phone. My old phone was rooted and I liked CM7 and MIUI but with stock ICS on this phone I was getting amazing battery life and I was using GO Launcher and it looked great. The only thing I hated was the black status bar and it could only be changed if it was rooted.
There are a lot of roms for our phone but I really missed the CM7 rom I had on the old optimus S. It supported status bar transparency and I could change the color of the status bar and status bar text. It looks like no rom for our phone has that feature. Right now I'm on MIUI which has a great looking UI but battery life isn't nearly as good as the unrooted FH13. I get the best battery life with CM9 which is still a lot less than before when it wasn't rooted. My phone used to last around 60 hours with very light use and now I could only get around 48 hours with CM9 and maybe 30 hours with MIUI. But I'm still happy with it since I get tons of beautiful themes and new features and I like to try new roms and it keeps me busy lol.

Rooting allows you to have full control of the device whether its software or hardware. I agree that this phone is just fine stock. It just works and its fast.
Reasons why I'm rooted
Titanium backup, roam control, extended toggles, root explorer to push custom themed apps to /system/app. When rooted you can do almost anything with your phone that comes to your mind. There's a pic of the super super handy extended toggles that I can't live with out.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda app-developers app

leaderbuilder said:
There is no reason for you to root. You are happy that's good.
XDA's 4,697,117+ Members are just nuts. We're unhappy with our stuff and insist on making it less useful to us.
Nothing to see here....
Seriously if you need to ask and don't want to investigate for yourself then rooting and certainly these forums are not for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
byrdcfmma said:
You have only had your phone for a month. I have had mine for about a year, and others here have had it longer. If you are trying to convince us not to root, you should spend your time on the Sprint message boards instead of here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wasn't trying to imply that anyone who has rooted this phone is nuts, you shouldn't have done it, and that it's less useful. I was asking what are some specific advantages to rooting, how does rooting make it more useful, as at the moment I have had no issues with the operation of the phone, but I don't know the full extent of what it can do when rooted, and I thought that these forums would be the place to get such answers from experienced rooted users who have had their phones for a year and know more than I do. I should have worded my initial question differently to explain that better.
hrffd said:
I root because
- Better reception and data
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is interesting to know. At home I get 1 bar of reception if I'm lucky, dropped calls, and no 3G data. I had to ask Sprint for an Airave. When I leave my street but am still in the general neighbourhood I get no service again. Is reception improved by root-only apps or certain ROMs?
patrao_n said:
You may be happy with bloat. I do not want battery resources going to apps I will never open. ... But if your phone ever drowns don't complain that you lost all your game data or texts and stuff. With titanium backup I can even set a schedule to back up those items for me at whatever time to my sd card. So if my phone drowns I pop my as card into my new phone and its all there. Also make nandroids when I receive my replacement its like my phone never died. Its all exactly how I had it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for telling me that. It's not that I'm happy with them, I just haven't yet had my phone tell me I can't install a new app. When that happens no doubt I wouldn't be pleased. I assumed that because I hadn't opened the bloatware apps that they weren't using battery resources so it's good to know that they do, and that this is a good reason for rooting and removing them. Your reasons for using Titanium backup were something I hadn't thought of as well.
Omar04 said:
I run stock 90% of the time.
My main reason to root at least after FF18
-Tethering
-Tethering nothing more
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, good to know. As I said, I've had the phone a couple of weeks and only now with a lower workload have I really had time to sit and contemplate what to do with my phone, and look into what it does and what it can do. I have the paid EasyTether app but I haven't used it on this phone yet. I also saw that it comes preloaded with Sprint Hotspot app.. I take it then that EasyTether won't work on this phone with current stock setup?
mjs2011 said:
Agreed with all that say it's your choice. Also your habits are very important. One of the reasons why I love Android is that I can literally change my software whenever I want. I was running AOKP 2 days ago, M'ICS the day after. Now today I'm on stock rooted FI27.
Honestly though, this phone is really good out of the box. I had the LG Optimus V for over a year as well, and the only way to get that phone to perform was to root it and put a custom ROM on it. It was actually a great phone for being low end. I had said that when I upgraded to this phone that I wouldn't root it, but that didn't last long. Really though, you can easily get the performance you're looking for on this phone without rooting it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think if I did root, I'd do what I did with the OV and stick with the same ROM for a good time. Again, not to insult those that do (see above reply), but I don't think I'd have the balls to run different roms on a daily basis in fear of bricking it and also because once I've found something I'm happy with I'm usually okay not to look any further!
Mattix724 said:
I'm rooted because I like to tell my devices what to do.
I guess rooting might make more sense if you've ever been an administrator or if you've ever ran any Linux machine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, no. No Linux experience here except for a tiny bit of stuff on my seedbox, installing 7zip and using Putty to unzip iso's and stuff.
I'm going to spend the next couple of days reading the various forums, looking at what ROMs are available, what they do, etc etc, checking out what apps that require root access I'm missing out on.. one has piqued my interest already: Root Call Blocker. But I use my phone to make calls, make texts, check emails, surf the web a bit, and let the kids play a few games on it. So this is why I was wondering if there were any other benefits for me to do this.

Should i root or not

Proud new owner of HOX was using GS3 before and HATED every moment of using that piece of crap! So far im in love with my HOX but since im running stock ICS i do suffer some performance issues time to time, So therefor i need your opinion should i root my one x and install custom JB rom or should i wait for the official OTA from htc, My main reason for rooting is like a said to flash JB other than that i can live without rooting my one x so should i root or wait for the OTA.

Use your phone for a while first, there have been a couple of issues that have turned up a little while into ownership so best ensure you don't have them first.
Then, once your happy you won't have issues, it's up to you whether to root or not, personally I always root for better control and backup ability.

Could you elaborate more into what kind of issues?

jb ota is right around the corner if your phone is not branded...
just wait till you get it and decide after if you still feel the need to root.

Will the gaming performance improve with jb cuz rite now when i play gta 3 it lags like crazy! i cant even imagine playing gta vice city which should be coming out in few weeks.

Astonrynlds said:
Will the gaming performance improve with jb cuz rite now when i play gta 3 it lags like crazy! i cant even imagine playing gta vice city which should be coming out in few weeks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
if it comes better optimized its smoother, but yeah rooting it will give a better performance and battery savings

Don't root your phone it will void warranty with htc ,wait at least a couple of months to see if any of the hox issues that may or may not shows up ( WiFi ,screen issues.hotness) on your phone
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

Agree with #2, #4 and #7

Not just yet, wait to see if another root method comes that won't void warranty or at least until your phone settles in n you know it has no problems, mine after 2 months speaker gave up and headphone jack stopped working so had to send it off was so pleased I hadn't voided my warranty
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

If you like gaming you must root as there is a gaming boost app made by hamdir and mwilky that improve the gaming a lot and there are kernel with oc GPU that help but sadly these are just for a ICS.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda app-developers app

atrako1973 said:
Don't root your phone it will void warranty with htc ,wait at least a couple of months to see if any of the hox issues that may or may not shows up ( WiFi ,screen issues.hotness) on your phone
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
^^^ Not necessarily true, a lot of the time HTC repair center's will turn a blind eye to the phone if it's rooted as a lot of users have verified now, read the threads.
---
@ OP- I'd stay stock for a while mate, as said here before, OTA's are just around the corner, if, after that you still feel curious just root it and install ARHD, that way you'll still have the stock experience and it won't be too much of a culture shock for you.
AND Then if you still feel curious flash customer kernels and mods etc...
Baby steps bro...
You can use my thread (check my sig) to root the phone, then stop there once rooted and then use this JB Flasher Tool to make getting onto JB easier for you.

Thanks alot guys! Since OTA is just around the corner figure i'd wait for that. But as far as issues goes so none whatsoever infact the battery is been surprisingly been on par with s3 or iphone 4s.

Do non-sense roms have the same aggressive memory management that the stock rom has? I'm going to wait for the JB update, but if it still kills apps quickly like stock ICS does, I might go with a custom ROM.
It's REALLY annoying when I open a 3rd (gasp!) app, and when I pop back to the first, it has to completely reload. Mostly annoying when that app is a browser page.

tush said:
Do non-sense roms have the same aggressive memory management that the stock rom has? I'm going to wait for the JB update, but if it still kills apps quickly like stock ICS does, I might go with a custom ROM.
It's REALLY annoying when I open a 3rd (gasp!) app, and when I pop back to the first, it has to completely reload. Mostly annoying when that app is a browser page.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That'll always happen with multitasking, HTC muffed up the multitasking so it isn't what I'd call 'true' multitasking. It'll mostly need to reload the app.
I think Hamdir wrote a good thread on how to counter that with some script changes, try asking him?
I don't think the aggressive memory management is down to HTC Sense per se I think it's an Android thing? Again that'd need verification.

Root can be handy to have. The most obvious use is backup, if you want to make sure your app data (for those apps that still insist on using phone storage for data/savegames) and settings are covered. But I've personally had a few "needs root" things pop up now.
It's worth at least unlocking the bootloader sooner rather than later in case you ever do decide you want root, because when you do the unlock it wipes your phone. Better to go through re-setting it up early rather than having to wipe it later when you have loads of stuff on it.
On the other hand it voids warranty, and they can tell even if you re-lock the device as it will permanently say "re-locked". If you have a hardware fault you can probably pull some sort of consumer protection law thing on them, but you need to be aware that they'll probably fight it tooth and nail and claim that your warranty is "Void. Period." People's experiences are well documented in the warranty thread.
My approach was to wait a month and not get too settled-in with my data/apps/etc during that month. A really high percentage of hardware faults with any device or machine show up within the first month* so after that I felt comfortable enough to take the plunge.
* (The month thing is known as the breaking-in period... I work for an electronics manufacturer and one thing they offer is doing the break-in testing in-house before even shipping to the customer. At a fairly high price of course)

Noup. If u ask about it, u shouldnt root hox.
Stay away from rooting things.
Yes bro... Why not?
SkyDragon Sense Rom V1

Well,
if you agree that you may loose warranty, let me tell you why I always root my phones..
- to delete all crappy applications (stock, soundhound, carriers app...)
- to be able to install some cleaning app which needs root (game cheats, ad cleaners ...)
- to change Roms and find the one I need (in fact I change every week )
- many, many others usefull things...
By the way, i already return old phones to sellers, they were repaired, even with unlocked bootloaders & root. Maybe I was lucky

Mihmoh said:
Well,
if you agree that you may loose warranty, let me tell you why I always root my phones..
- to delete all crappy applications (stock, soundhound, carriers app...)
- to be able to install some cleaning app which needs root (game cheats, ad cleaners ...)
- to change Roms and find the one I need (in fact I change every week )
- many, many others usefull things...
By the way, i already return old phones to sellers, they were repaired, even with unlocked bootloaders & root. Maybe I was lucky
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I totally agree with you. I just hate those crappy apps. It's like buying a notebook full of bloatware and not being able to remove it! I'm sure that is not cool LOL. Besides that, I think Titanium Backup Pro is a must, and it only works on rooted phones.

To ROOT or not to ROOT, that's the question.... :laugh:
davidflam said:
I totally agree with you. I just hate those crappy apps. It's like buying a notebook full of bloatware and not being able to remove it! I'm sure that is not cool LOL. Besides that, I think Titanium Backup Pro is a must, and it only works on rooted phones.
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davidflam said:
I totally agree with you. I just hate those crappy apps. It's like buying a notebook full of bloatware and not being able to remove it! I'm sure that is not cool LOL. Besides that, I think Titanium Backup Pro is a must, and it only works on rooted phones.
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Yes, Titanium Backup is The Must.
My Favorites are, as said below, Titanium (pro) , Nova Launcher (with root), Lucky Patcher, and of course Adfree.
Usually, as soon as I get a new phone (having 3 now : DHD, Sensation, One X... Nexus 4 coming) or Tablet (Xoom wifi MZ604, Nexus 7) , I root it after having unlocked it.
I can't stand having some lags & freez screens on devices.
So should you root ?
Maybe you should see with some friends of yours or some relatives that owns some rooted HOX. Of course, before unlocking and footing your device, make sure your device is working good, have no problems.

Should I update?

Should I update from where im at? I haven't updated my phone since I took it out of the box. All I did was root to install wanam expose, xposed installer and region lock away. What do you guys recommend? What's the easier way to update without installing a custom recovery.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app

Yes and use my guide here... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=54787998

soulja4187 said:
Should I update from where im at? I haven't updated my phone since I took it out of the box. All I did was root to install wanam expose, xposed installer and region lock away. What do you guys recommend? What's the easier way to update without installing a custom recovery.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app
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No i wouldnt stay on jellybean too many problems with kitkat.

The only "problem" i can come up right away is apps using extSDcard issue... which is already solved if root. What other problems are there?

effortless said:
Yes and use my guide here... http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=54787998
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Thanks i updated to NF9 using your method, i then rerooted my phone. Lot faster than before. Thank you very much
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app

Sure there are other problems, in my case I can't get the battery usage under control. I'm rooted and freeze whole bunch of stuff, more so than under Jelly Bean and it's still not what it used to be. I even did full factory reset, which is a huge pain all by itself (car BT pairing took 3 days alone, it wouldn't auto connect, lost few games progress despite restoring from backup, needed to restore AC3 again etc.) and still battery usage is much higher now than before. I really see no improvement whatsoever, oh wait I see that new volte message sometimes popping up, big deal, I can make phone calls just the same as before . Did I mention I lost region unlock? Not sure about SIM lock, I know it got unlocked with region, but now, after update probably locked again. To be fair Effortless method worked great, but for me it was all downhill afterwords and I'm not sure I would upgrade knowing what I know now. Maybe my experience is isolated and due to something particular I did or not do, but the old saying "don't fix it if it ain't broken" rings in my ear over and over again.

pete4k said:
Sure there are other problems, in my case I can't get the battery usage under control. I'm rooted and freeze whole bunch of stuff, more so than under Jelly Bean and it's still not what it used to be. I even did full factory reset, which is a huge pain all by itself (car BT pairing took 3 days alone, it wouldn't auto connect, lost few games progress despite restoring from backup, needed to restore AC3 again etc.) and still battery usage is much higher now than before. I really see no improvement whatsoever, oh wait I see that new volte message sometimes popping up, big deal, I can make phone calls just the same as before . Did I mention I lost region unlock? Not sure about SIM lock, I know it got unlocked with region, but now, after update probably locked again. To be fair Effortless method worked great, but for me it was all downhill afterwords and I'm not sure I would upgrade knowing what I know now. Maybe my experience is isolated and due to something particular I did or not do, but the old saying "don't fix it if it ain't broken" rings in my ear over and over again.
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If your having issues you might want to try reflash. I didn't loose any apps or games, my car bt connected the same, remember that now your phone uses volte which could be a cause for more battery drain so why don't you try turn it off after reflashing. My only complaint is that while your on a voltle call you can conference as many calls you want but don't have the option to drop a specific line so only option is to end all call. I just went to volte settings and changed it to do not use volte and now i got back my conference call button back when on multiple calls.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app

soulja4187 said:
If your having issues you might want to try reflash. I didn't loose any apps or games, my car bt connected the same, remember that now your phone uses volte which could be a cause for more battery drain so why don't you try turn it off after reflashing. My only complaint is that while your on a voltle call you can conference as many calls you want but don't have the option to drop a specific line so only option is to end all call. I just went to volte settings and changed it to do not use volte and now i got back my conference call button back when on multiple calls.
Sent from my SM-N900T using XDA Free mobile app
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Thanks for ideas, but It's not volte, when home i"m always on wifi and for example just last night lost 20% charge overnight, wakelock shows nothing, the only time I had anything like that on JB was when I switched off wifi power save in secret menu long time ago when troubleshooting wifi calling. BT first wouldn't connect at all, then connected, but wouldn't reconnect again next day, finally on third day it held. I think I read somebody was claiming SD card fix breaks BT, or something like that, but now finally seems to be working. I'll probably freeze/disable everything at some point and then start enabling few apps at the time, to see when it starts blowing battery again, but this will take forever.. Update itself went fine, I even verified firmware's checksums, like first time ever and I have no reboots, no crashes, no freezing. Actually let me check that stupid wifi save mode, maybe it turned itself off.

pete4k said:
Sure there are other problems, in my case I can't get the battery usage under control. I'm rooted and freeze whole bunch of stuff, more so than under Jelly Bean and it's still not what it used to be. I even did full factory reset, which is a huge pain all by itself (car BT pairing took 3 days alone, it wouldn't auto connect, lost few games progress despite restoring from backup, needed to restore AC3 again etc.) and still battery usage is much higher now than before. I really see no improvement whatsoever, oh wait I see that new volte message sometimes popping up, big deal, I can make phone calls just the same as before . Did I mention I lost region unlock? Not sure about SIM lock, I know it got unlocked with region, but now, after update probably locked again. To be fair Effortless method worked great, but for me it was all downhill afterwords and I'm not sure I would upgrade knowing what I know now. Maybe my experience is isolated and due to something particular I did or not do, but the old saying "don't fix it if it ain't broken" rings in my ear over and over again.
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Ok first of all the reason why I'm responding is purely to try and help, and I know some people can be sensitive to criticism so I just wanted to clarify that my intentions are not to flame you. With that being said I know that I don't "know" so I'm only basing this from your post, but you seem to be extremely negative about the entire process in general. I also understand that it may be overwhelming for people who aren't technically "in to" rooting or even customizing their phones, which is why I often consider rooting to be a double edged sword for a lot of people.
This is why basically imo it's a complete waste for someone to "pay" someone else to root or customize their phone for them (I'm definitely not implying that's what you did or anything just to clarify), because it's not in the least bit a one time thing where once it's done it'll just be smooth sailing from there on out. It takes a huge amount of upkeep and dedication to get and enjoy the most out of what rooting and customizing has to offer, and for some people the trade off just isn't worth the overall amount of work which involved with it. It always just depends on the person, how they use and how much they use their phones, the amount of work they are willing to put into it, and what exactly they expect to get out of it, to determine if it's even worth the process to begin with.
As far as what you were talking about with wiping the phone, having to set everything up again, and losing some of your game data, it kinda sounds like that was along the lines of a traumatic experience for you especially when compared to others who might actually go through that same process 10 or more times a day and really enjoy it.
Also as far as your battery life goes there's so many different variables that can determine whether you'll have killer battery life or struggle to make it through the day kinda battery life, but the beauty of root and the ability to customize is that you never have to just settle for one or the other. One thing I'd strongly suggest is to look into different Kernels depending on which rom you're on, because it's amazing how much difference the right kernel for your device alone can make with battery. Every single device is different in it's own tolerances and even if you pull 2 of the same phones that are back to back off of the assembly line, one might work better with a specific kernel/rom combination than another, one could have better stock battery life than the other, and so on. So I always try to take others experiences with certain Kernels or Roms kind of lightly, because that doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to have the same results with my specific device.
Another to keep in mind is that whenever you flash a new rom, kernel, or even flash a new ota, it'll always take at least 3 or 4 days before the kernel will fully settle in and start to show the "true" battery life and performance that you can expect. So if you flash a new rom or kernel and then decide after just one day that the battery life sucks or that the performance isn't what you were expecting and then flash something else, you literally have no idea how that rom or kernel would've truly performed because it didn't even have enough time to settle in. For example I flashed a kernel one time and for the first 3 days the battery life was 10 times worse than what I was getting, and then half way through the 3rd day I started to notice it getting better and better until it wound up literally being the best battery life I had ever had at that point. So if I would've said screw it and automatically decided it was going to be terrible based on what it did at first, I would've screwed myself out of the best battery life I'd ever had up until then. It just takes a lot of patients and I'm not saying this is what you did at all, but I think a lot of people simply don't wait long enough to actually see the "true results" before deciding something is good or bad.
Anyway I waited awhile before doing the update as well because my phone was running almost exactly how I liked it, and when I finally did do the update I wasn't getting the same results at first which can always be discouraging. I'm glad now that I did do the update though because it took some tinkering with but now it's running even better than it was before. Good luck with your phone though and I guess my point is that you don't have to settle for anything if you don't want to, that's the beauty of being able to do all of this on the first place!
Sent from a modified ColecoVision

Thanks for the advice, but to clarify things: there are many posts on this forums and T-mobile forum complaining about poor battery life after updating to KK, so I'm not alone. It's been close to 2 months since I updated and I still can't get my phone to run as efficiently as it was, so I'm frustrated since nothing shows up in wakelock or any other program I tried. One time I can loose 20% overnight, other time 2%, never had anything like that before. I have no idea what are you talking about people paying for rooting their phone, so I just leave it at that. I have few games that have many levels, where you can't go to next level before finishing the lower one, I backed up all programs and data with Titanium and some games didn't restore properly, even with multiple tries leaving me at level one, no big deal since I'm not hardcore gamer, but things like that do happen. As far as updates in general go, I had a lot of bad experiences, once I even lost my desktop computer after updating manufacturer released faulty BIOS and had to buy video card to fix it, even recent Apple's ios 8.01 update was faulty and they had to release update to update, next day, so things not always go as planned. I do not see any visible benefits in KK, all I see is broken SD card access, gone per apps permission settings, patched up root exploit (thank you towelroot for new one, which is already patched in the latest release BTW) and in my case poor battery life, so I'm not impressed and not quiet sure it was worth for me to update. I felt OP should have been warned, that there are some people having some issues after the update. Maybe because I like my Note3 a lot and want it to be perfect, this battery issue annoys me more than it should, but it seems the harder I try, the worst it gets.

Rooting and installing new ROM is like a minefield now

The last phone I had was a Galaxy S2 and rooting and installing a new ROM was quite simple. They even had directions+tools to revert back to stock... What's the deal now?
What is dm-verity and how do I figure out if the ROM I want to install has it.. disabled? enabled?
I have no more warranty so I'm not worried about triggering knox.
This latest update has basically fried my battery... the battery discharges in about 3-4 hours using youtube red with airplane mode enabled, and the battery is also quite warm (at least 100 degrees F!)
I just want to be able to disable/enable services I want.
I'm on SM-G925T on 6.0.1/G925TUVS4EPH2, specifically. How do I find compatible ROMs and roots? I don't want to brick anything.
I understand this is a long shot since I see so many other posts with no replies but, I'm kind of desperate. I'm actually worried my phone might explode because of how warm it gets now.

I just got the phone about two days ago, did all the 8000 updates via OTA (phone came with 5.0.2) and landed on the 6.01 EPH2 that you're on and my battery life has been absolutely horrible as well. I'm thinking about returning the phone over it. Idk what to do.

xy34 said:
The last phone I had was a Galaxy S2 and rooting and installing a new ROM was quite simple. They even had directions+tools to revert back to stock... What's the deal now?
What is dm-verity and how do I figure out if the ROM I want to install has it.. disabled? enabled?
I have no more warranty so I'm not worried about triggering knox.
This latest update has basically fried my battery... the battery discharges in about 3-4 hours using youtube red with airplane mode enabled, and the battery is also quite warm (at least 100 degrees F!)
I just want to be able to disable/enable services I want.
I'm on SM-G925T on 6.0.1/G925TUVS4EPH2, specifically. How do I find compatible ROMs and roots? I don't want to brick anything.
I understand this is a long shot since I see so many other posts with no replies but, I'm kind of desperate. I'm actually worried my phone might explode because of how warm it gets now.
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Thus device has been horrile for me too...
I have been trying to find folks who could actually communicate and help a little too..
Had a galaxy 3 in 2010 and a s4 in 2014, both were easy... bootloop, flash again.. not much risks..
Here we cant even remove the batteries and a lot of rhinfs that can make it stuck....
I do have root and twrp recovery btw..
If you want help getting those, just install telegram and search for user DSN .
I can help faster there and also link up to a few rom threads where people are quite active incase for help

I've been modding and ROMing for what seems like almost 10 years, the ROM development on this phone is horrible, I blame Samsung for this, too many variants, had the S6 on 4 networks and S6 edge on 4 networks, Hopefully Google makes a really nice new phone or I'm going to the other side.

I guess it's starting to make more sense now. Samsung obviously tried to squash custom build efforts by releasing so many different variants. It's a bit reassuring that people are having the same problems as I am...
To the person who just got the phone - RETURN IT!
Ironically, after I did a lot of browsing on this site during my morning commute, the phone started behaving better. It's still slow (not in my OP but it's definitely freezing whereas this wasn't an issue before) but the battery life is back to normal-ish levels and it hasn't warmed up on me. Maybe just keep browsing this site? LOL
Thanks, Samsung... I used to love the Galaxy line but this is some real Apple-esque **** (y'know, the whole updating the phone before the next generation gets released and having it run slow as **** thing.) Just Google the issue and there's lots of claims. I remember reading a reddit post where an Apple employee or cell phone repair store employee was saying that he'd have an influx of customers just before a new phone release.
It's all speculation but I wouldn't be surprised. They (Samsung) just did it after S7 got released. Too bad I'm stuck paying $30/month for this phone for the next two years. Never should have updated! It was perfect before all this.

That was me. Return it for what though? There's not much else in the price range that I was able to put down for a down payment that tmobile offers.....I put 276 down and the phone cost 499 total. The G5 is also 499 but I see nothing but complaints about it.......the S7 and S7 Edge they wanted close to 450 down and I just couldn't afford that so I went with the S6 Edge. What else is there?

carnivalrejectq said:
That was me. Return it for what though? There's not much else in the price range that I was able to put down for a down payment that tmobile offers.....I put 276 down and the phone cost 499 total. The G5 is also 499 but I see nothing but complaints about it.......the S7 and S7 Edge they wanted close to 450 down and I just couldn't afford that so I went with the S6 Edge. What else is there?
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Look into the LG G4, maybe. Same era as the S6 but it's got a removable battery and external storage and I think it's easier to install custom software and root, but hopefully you won't need to if it runs well. Do your own research, yknow! Don't blindly follow anyone's advice, obviously. Let me know what you decide.