Hey! With all the scares of IMEI loss and all that, I don't feel the need to flash any custom roms. I was wondering if there are any mods for a stock rooted rom that can be applied? to give the feel of a custom rom without actually flashing any?
Good question and smart thinking. I have been extremely cautious with how I go about flashing things on this AMAZING device. So far I have flashed nothing! I can't find a single flaw that would make me want to flash a custom rom and risk losing funtionality. I have owned many smartphones and this is the first one that had me content with STOCK. We know that flashing enhances functionality when hard working devs come up with custom roms,kernels and mods, but come on?, how many devices have left you content with stock until more is learned about the device?
Not sure if you could get Google wallet by modding a stock rom. Tethering is possible
Sent from my GS3
Yes Google wallet can be had on the stock Rom with just root and a build prop edit, then install the modded Apk it's a sticky somewhere in these forums. And just installing a new launcher can allow you to change the look of a lot of the phone.. I for one flashed a bunch and still have my imei but maybe I'm just lucky.
divine1250 said:
Good question and smart thinking. I have been extremely cautious with how I go about flashing things on this AMAZING device. So far I have flashed nothing! I can't find a single flaw that would make me want to flash a custom rom and risk losing funtionality. I have owned many smartphones and this is the first one that had me content with STOCK. We know that flashing enhances functionality when hard working devs come up with custom roms,kernels and mods, but come on?, how many devices have left you content with stock until more is learned about the device?
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I flashed AOPK and couldnt be without my full working camera and phone. Functionality and especially the camera is important to me. I rooted mine though and installed the cwm recovery and flashed faux123 kernel. I love it. This is the first android phone I own and havent gone flash crazy with it.
Sent from my SGSIII with the XDA Premium App
the reason I have rooted all my other phones has mainly been to get the tether feature working, but FoxFi worked on my Note and is working on my S3...LauncherPro got rid of the TouchWiz, FoxFi took care of the tethering, not much left that it can't do stock...
I have been watching the threads and have nearly pulled the trigger a couple times, but I just can't think of any reason that I absolutely HAVE to root this one...
Besides.... supposedly we can expect a Jellybean update in the next month or two, if rumor's are correct.
elementaldragon said:
Besides.... supposedly we can expect a Jellybean update in the next month or two, if rumor's are correct.
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I was absolutely shocked when the rumors turned out to be true about the Note getting the ICS update as early as it did...I was expecting ATT to drag that out for months or not release it at all...maybe since Samsung has gotten to be such a powerhouse and Apple is losing ground almost daily, we might finally start seeing some love....
Hey guys, is rooting really worth it on this phone. I mean just look at all the threads of this issue and that issue after somebody roots. I mean for me the phone is awesome as it is with exception to it's poor SPARK speeds. But that can't be fixed by rooting. I have yet to see any real gain posted by anyone other than removal of Sprint bloatware which is much less than any other carrier. So really is the gain worth the hardship and potential issues this phone seems to have after rooting?
All I see is this phone has X issue and then next line is always the same I rooted or I installed Y ROM. It seems to me that Samsung has done something to make this phone unreliable/unstable once the Factory integrity has been compromised either through rooting or ROM replacement. I did root mine using CF auto root before seeing all these issue posted. I can say now after rooting that I as well am seeing little bugs with touch screen response, as well as other little bugs it did not have before rooting. So this just strengthens my hunch about Samsung somehow making this device less stable once it is compromised.
I don't think I am going to fool with it any further. I don't want to become one of the many help I rooted and my phone won't boot post popping up around here lately.
You dont have to install ROMs to better your device, you can root stock odexed and it will be fine.
It unlocks more capabilities the phone cant do when its pure stock, such as Freezing wake locking apps that drain battery, or enabling etc mods that make the device better under certain circumstances.
You will run into issues whether rooted or not.
Is it worth it? Depends on user opinions. Does it have more problems than usual, Sure from time to time.
The peoples reviews of custom roms are there for a reason. There are things that are fixable and others that cant be fixed or modified upon.
Its more about exploring the full capabilities your device can do when it is rooted.
How far this device has come is massively huge because of the help brought from the community and devs.
You will typically find best performance and reliability with stock android with very few modifications. I use to flash a lot of roms/kernels on my Epic 4G and 4G touch and wouldn't call either of them reliable. I stay with mostly stock roms with my GS4, just Knox removed and everything is real stable.
Solarenemy68 said:
Hey guys, is rooting really worth it on this phone. I mean just look at all the threads of this issue and that issue after somebody roots. I mean for me the phone is awesome as it is with exception to it's poor SPARK speeds. But that can't be fixed by rooting. I have yet to see any real gain posted by anyone other than removal of Sprint bloatware which is much less than any other carrier. So really is the gain worth the hardship and potential issues this phone seems to have after rooting?
All I see is this phone has X issue and then next line is always the same I rooted or I installed Y ROM. It seems to me that Samsung has done something to make this phone unreliable/unstable once the Factory integrity has been compromised either through rooting or ROM replacement. I did root mine using CF auto root before seeing all these issue posted. I can say now after rooting that I as well am seeing little bugs with touch screen response, as well as other little bugs it did not have before rooting. So this just strengthens my hunch about Samsung somehow making this device less stable once it is compromised.
I don't think I am going to fool with it any further. I don't want to become one of the many help I rooted and my phone won't boot post popping up around here lately.
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I have both rooted and unrooted, stock roms and custom roms on a few devices at home. Does JUST ROOTING cause any additional problems? No. Its essentially like installing any other apk. Where majority of the bugs and problems come in is user error and custom roms. Don't get those confused as they typically are. Most "I rooted any my phone isn't booting" posts are from people that do things improperly. Or sometimes things just don't stick and you have to try again. CF Autoroot didn't work the very first time I flashed it on my wifes device (last night) after I had used it more times than I can count on my own since 1 week after device launch. I flashed it again, worked great. She didn't like stock, so I flashed my own custom rom on her device.
Custom Roms come with their own bugs if they aren't just simply stripped stock. Want less chances of bugs? Use the completely debloated and no-knoxed ones. They just make things simple by removing both carrier bloat and added items (can also be buggy themselves). Also keep in mind that the software shipped isn't always bug free . We saw some big changes to the actual code from NIE to NK2, we aren't 100% sure why they changed things in some places but I'm not an expert there at all. Ever wonder why Tmobile or verizon may have a feature thats actually turn off or locked on our device? It could be buggy for a specific carrier and the carrier just decided they wouldn't include it for their customers.
Samsung perposely sabatoging our devices because they are rooted...... eh they did have nexus devices at one point in time. So I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say this isn't the case. You may have just experienced bad results. I don't go a device without rooting, if not only to remove carrier bloat. MY last 3 devices I did not even let sprint reps boot before I took it home and rooted (literal first boot is rooted stock) I have been to the sprint techs LESS than when I had stock devices. This also allows certain users to fix their own problems themselves, and not leave device issues in the hands of carrier techs who by default will generally do a software reset and send you out the door.
Pros vs cons of rooting? Completely down to each specific user.
Yes rooting is absolutely worth it. For hotspot tethering, and Xposed. But you do need to add a fix to Xposed if you do decide to install it on this device.
Sent from my SM-N910P using XDA Free mobile app
beezar said:
Yes rooting is absolutely worth it. For hotspot tethering, and Xposed. But you do need to add a fix to Xposed if you do decide to install it on this device.
Sent from my SM-N910P using XDA Free mobile app
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If you have hotspot tethering included in your plan like I do why would you need to root to have it? Unless you are trying to get it for free?
Solarenemy68 said:
If you have hotspot tethering included in your plan like I do why would you need to root to have it? Unless you are trying to get it for free?
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reguardless if you pay for it or not, it limits the amount of devices you can connect/tether to. Who's to say I only want to tether 4-5 devices? What If I'm traveling and have 6 devices?
If you don't like rooting, this certainly isn't the place to try and shun it. If you are looking to be convinced to root again? Still the wrong place. You root because you want to, or you want to do something that you can't without root. Plain and simple. Rooting is essentially controlling your own device while you OWN IT. Not owning a device someone else has complete control over.
millerboy3 said:
reguardless if you pay for it or not, it limits the amount of devices you can connect/tether to. Who's to say I only want to tether 4-5 devices? What If I'm traveling and have 6 devices?
If you don't like rooting, this certainly isn't the place to try and shun it. If you are looking to be convinced to root again? Still the wrong place. You root because you want to, or you want to do something that you can't without root. Plain and simple. Rooting is essentially controlling your own device while you OWN IT. Not owning a device someone else has complete control over.
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I root everything I own that can be rooted. My question has about the N4 as it seems like I said it has more issues after a root then it did before and that seems fishy. The way Sprint and Samsung are handling the poor data speeds is already a screw job when they are both aware it is a real problem. Add to that the more mods you do to the phone the more unstable it gets that just seems shady. I was not asking to root or not to root so much as I was asking is THIS device worth the trouble?
Solarenemy68 said:
I root everything I own that can be rooted. My question has about the N4 as it seems like I said it has more issues after a root then it did before and that seems fishy. The way Sprint and Samsung are handling the poor data speeds is already a screw job when they are both aware it is a real problem. Add to that the more mods you do to the phone the more unstable it gets that just seems shady. I was not asking to root or not to root so much as I was asking is THIS device worth the trouble?
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Seems you aren't running the right rom. I haven't had any major instabilities.
It's not the rooting that causes the problems, its what they do after they root.
Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk
Solarenemy68 said:
I root everything I own that can be rooted. My question has about the N4 as it seems like I said it has more issues after a root then it did before and that seems fishy. The way Sprint and Samsung are handling the poor data speeds is already a screw job when they are both aware it is a real problem. Add to that the more mods you do to the phone the more unstable it gets that just seems shady. I was not asking to root or not to root so much as I was asking is THIS device worth the trouble?
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Click to collapse
As we all have said before, its user opinionated and what they do regarding with root in general.
I go with rooting because of extra battery saving features such as Greenify + Xposed, Underclocking GPU and CPU. To top that off, force lower dpi resolution and tablet mode on specific apps to see more on the screen. Modifying files such as build.prop and user key controls for enhanced performance, and like everyone, changing Sounds and boot anims, moving apps from user to system to help with stability etc.
If its unstable doing certain things well thats the bummer downside to the Apps or devices capabilities. But as long as you can get more out of the device ( which you can! ) with all the freedom of not being locked to user specific controls. It makes it better!
Thats how i feel.
I mean you can root the device and just install twrp and just keep it like that just until something catches your eye. I personally say if you rooted your previous devices. You should root the note 4. I am rooted and I am just plain stock cause I almost bricked my device. So I am going to wait until 5.0 gets to our phones before I flash anymore roms but until then I'm going to be completely stock.
Root your phone immediately.
Root your phone immediately. My god, what are you thinking going around unrooted?
Oh, you want details?
Open the hidden stuff if you want details.
Just kidding. I too suffered from doubts and waited several months before popping my phones warranty cherry.
Root is nice, even on the Note 4. But:
If you don't need root for anything special and you are perfectly happy with stock without root, DON'T ROOT!
If you need superuser authority (titanium backup?), if you want to disable Exchange Security so you can have work email but still use the fingerprint scanner, or you just like having better/different looks than stock in some way not achievable without root, ROOT.
That advice is general and applies to all phones. If you don't need/want it, why ask?
I can vouch that rooting the Note 4, installing custom Recovery and operating the custom ROMs is the similar to any other Samsung phone of recent vintage both in manner and difficultly (e.g. S3, S4, S5). (not the same though so do your research)
I have nothing against any ROM but, from personal experience, the ROMs from Pongoface and co work extremely well and look really nice. Make sure to wipe data and let them have 10 minutes or so to settle after first boot.
Those are:
[PORT] BoBCaTROM
and
[Port] Sprint Xnote (The time to settle was important on this one for me. Else, I got forced closes, not sure
Everything is stable on my phone after rooting and a LOT of Xposed mods. It just makes my phone much better.
If you have rooted all your other phones, then really why are you asking this question? You already know the benefits and risks of rooting so there is no need for us to tell you what to do.
Sent from my SM-N910P using XDA Free mobile app
Solarenemy68 said:
I root everything I own that can be rooted. My question has about the N4 as it seems like I said it has more issues after a root then it did before and that seems fishy. The way Sprint and Samsung are handling the poor data speeds is already a screw job when they are both aware it is a real problem. Add to that the more mods you do to the phone the more unstable it gets that just seems shady. I was not asking to root or not to root so much as I was asking is THIS device worth the trouble?
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False. False. False. What's shady is the lack of knowledge on behalf of a user which these issues are caused by. There is no "shady" business going on that would cause instability issues upon rooting your device. Instead of a carrier or Samsung playing shenanigans with it's customers by introducing bugs and instability issues if a user roots their device, it would be more logical for Sprint and Samsung to simply lock down the bootloader and take measures to prevent root in the first place... such as all the Verizon and AT&T customers who are still crying about not having root. If you want to believe otherwise that's up to you.
As already mentioned by millerboy3, rooting doesn't cause the instability issues you or anybody else might be having. The more mods you do the more unstable the rom??? That's just plain and simple ignorance my friend. Yes it could be true that a rom might be "buggy" but if a rom is well planned and time taken to ensure everything is right, then there will not be stability issues. There are roms out there with tons of mods that are 10 times more stable and faster than the stock rom. I happen to have a rom that fits that criteria along with a few other people. With that said, I do agree with you on the fact that the Note 4 is perfectly awesome straight out of the box without the need to root it. This is the first phone I've owned that I really don't feel the need to change anything because everything works great stock. There are a few mods that I find are well worth the effort and definitely worth rooting the phone for.
tx_dbs_tx said:
False. False. False. What's shady is the lack of knowledge on behalf of a user which these issues are caused by. There is no "shady" business going on that would cause instability issues upon rooting your device. Instead of a carrier or Samsung playing shenanigans with it's customers by introducing bugs and instability issues if a user roots their device, it would be more logical for Sprint and Samsung to simply lock down the bootloader and take measures to prevent root in the first place... such as all the Verizon and AT&T customers who are still crying about not having root. If you want to believe otherwise that's up to you.
As already mentioned by millerboy3, rooting doesn't cause the instability issues you or anybody else might be having. The more mods you do the more unstable the rom??? That's just plain and simple ignorance my friend. Yes it could be true that a rom might be "buggy" but if a rom is well planned and time taken to ensure everything is right, then there will not be stability issues. There are roms out there with tons of mods that are 10 times more stable and faster than the stock rom. I happen to have a rom that fits that criteria along with a few other people. With that said, I do agree with you on the fact that the Note 4 is perfectly awesome straight out of the box without the need to root it. This is the first phone I've owned that I really don't feel the need to change anything because everything works great stock. There are a few mods that I find are well worth the effort and definitely worth rooting the phone for.
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He said it much better than I.
i'll also throw a vote in for rooting. i've come to consider AdAway & Xposed as must-haves, which both require root.
The N4 was the first phone I considered not rooting, it was that good straight away. However, then I remembered why I rooted, besides custom ROM's, and it was 2 (now 3) main reasons.
1- AdFree: After seeing ads all over a bunch of my favorite apps, I remembered I didn't have AdFree installed, which requires root. This is my biggest quality of use reason, if you've ever went to tap something in an app only to have a ninja ad come out of nowhere right as your finger hit the screen and redirect you to a website or the app store, you know what I mean.
2- TWRP + Titanium Backup - The ability to backup ALL my apps and settings to a separate SD card was huge, plus all the other features of TB.
3 - Lastly, I found Xposed: I'd never used before, but now, I couldn't imagine not having it. It's allowed me to tweak things that irritated me, like color schemes on the contacts and dialer screens, without the worry of installing custom ROM's or RW editing mods.
Just my feedback, your requirements may differ.
Sent from my SM-N910P using XDA Free mobile app
Newbie, who wants to have better use of ExtsdCard
I am looking into rooting, for the first time. After an update to my, prior, S4, I couldn't edit my ebooks, about 700, delete photos, several thousand, or remove duplicates, on my extsdcard. I just got a new Note 4, and a 128G extsdcard. If there is anyway to restore my control of the sdcard that I paid for, other than rooting, please tell me. Otherwise, Android and Samsung are forcing me to root. Am I wrong??
Thank you very much,
Randy "Pugmeister"
Pugmeister said:
I am looking into rooting, for the first time. After an update to my, prior, S4, I couldn't edit my ebooks, about 700, delete photos, several thousand, or remove duplicates, on my extsdcard. I just got a new Note 4, and a 128G extsdcard. If there is anyway to restore my control of the sdcard that I paid for, other than rooting, please tell me. Otherwise, Android and Samsung are forcing me to root. Am I wrong??
Thank you very much,
Randy "Pugmeister"
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I'm a little fuzzy on what your saying. Are you saying that you can't edit or delete the contents of your external SD card in the note 4? If so, that's not a problem root could solve, as you should have full control over everything on the external card. Rooting would allow you access to edit the main android system files on the internal storage.
Sent from my SM-N910P using XDA Free mobile app
I've been running stock for the few months I've had this phone but keep wondering if flashing a custom rom is worth the effort? Is there one that's the best?
acheney1990 said:
I've been running stock for the few months I've had this phone but keep wondering if flashing a custom rom is worth the effort? Is there one that's the best?
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Yes it is and no there's not. It's all down to personal preference and only you know what you like best.
It depends on your preference. Ever since safetynet, custom roms have been a nightmare with security issues or being up to date with making it pass.
Also, having a Google device, you'll be giving up running the latest software updates as you would have to wait for when the developer has the time to integrate it.
Android has matured much since it's induction and the use of EZ Root for a one-click root as it now has ways to customize it in a functional matter in ways that you needed a custom rom for.
If you enjoy changing colors or themes and are willing to sacrifice security and some functionality, then you have your answer.
To me honestly, it's no longer worth it. Having to scour the forums every time there's a bug, troubleshooting issues, or for updates takes way too much time that I no longer have. I just want a phone that does eveything I need to simplify my everyday life, not make it complicated. Don't care for red, blue, green status bars or settings app, or having a custom boot animation for a device that never needs a reset. Function over form for me.
acheney1990 said:
I've been running stock for the few months I've had this phone but keep wondering if flashing a custom rom is worth the effort? Is there one that's the best?
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I've flashed most all of the popular ones, and while I like most of the features they offer, I have settled on plain ol stock + root with some substratum themes to darken things up. I don't think it's particularly difficult to flash a custom rom now that I've pretty much got the A/B partition thing figured out, but I like to update my device the day a new factory image comes out, then just flash twrp and root again, and I'm up to date in about 20 minutes time with no data loss. But it's like P70shooter said...it's really up to your personal preference, and what your looking for :good:
I haven't flashed any ROMS recently, but it's because of the reasons mentioned before. They don't offer enough benefit over stock + rooted to be worth losing GPay and monthly updates. Root access basically let's you tweak any part of the phone to your liking anyway.
I think ROM developers realize this and it's contributing to a scarcity of quality ROMs anyway.
I've thought about this also. But Stock is so good on this Phone. That just Rooting to use Edge Sense to change squeeze actions and TWRP, black Bootmation. I'm good. Plus installing custom ROMS isnt easy with the A B partion stuff. Stock + Root:good:
G
p70shooter said:
Yes it is and no there's not. It's all down to personal preference and only you know what you like best.
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P70shooter, are u the maker of the screwd ROM on angler?
AquariOS had been Rock solid for me, and I know @Badger50 would agree. I get his position about the updates process though so your best bet in my opinion is to try one and see what your own opinion is. The squeeze thing is missing from custom roms, so if you dig that you might miss it. I'm still on Feb. Update and might just hang here for the summer unless I get bored. Lol again I would at least try one before you decide...
shooterlgk said:
P70shooter, are u the maker of the screwd ROM on angler?
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That's not me I'm afraid. I use to be the maintainer for Candy on angler but now I'm just a tester and thread bouncer for AquariOS.
I've tried most the ROMs available and I find stock with gravity box is the perfect combo for me
rickysidhu_ said:
I've tried most the ROMs available and I find stock with gravity box is the perfect combo for me
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Absolutely agree
I like Stock rooted and Custom Roms! Now if only we had Dual boot... A=Stock B=Custom
galaxys said:
I like Stock rooted and Custom Roms! Now if only we had Dual boot... A=Stock B=Custom
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That my friend would be the "Bees Knees" :good:
Not worth it anymore. Haven't unlocked bootloader or did anything since the first pixel release.
I've tried most of the custom roms as well. Most of them have some nice touches that I use. However, the one thing missing for the last several months on all custom roms is verizon wifi calling. You should try them out yourself and decide.
I used to run Gravity Box when I had xposed installed on a previous device, but from what I understand, it's not possible to use xposed and pass safety net....is that still true?
skaforey said:
I used to run Gravity Box when I had xposed installed on a previous device, but from what I understand, it's not possible to use xposed and pass safety net....is that still true?
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That's right
I've been a big time custom ROM user, flashed them as often as I could on previous phones. Stock+root+xposed does every single thing I need on the p2xl though.
has anyone noticed that display quality seems better on custom roms?
specifically Carbon rom vs Stock for me.
screen looks more bright and clear.
It really depends on your usage. I used to flash custom roms on all of my devices, primarily for themes and debloating. Up until the Nexus 6, it was well worth it. However, with Google's monthly security patches, maintaining a custom ROM is a lot more work. If you use custom themes, expect to have to disable themes every time there are app or rom updates, then reapply. With a busy work schedule, it simply became too much of a hassle and to be honest, stock ROMs have gotten a lot smoother.