ROOTING your smart phone?

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  Aug 16, 2015 6:42 PM GMT

  My Samsung NOTE 3, bricked on me this past week....It was a REAL pain in the ass! Had to do a factory reset on the phone and lost many pics, apps, documents, contacts, etc...but at least I have a backup of the system from a few months back...so I am rebuilding everything.
  As I have gone through this process, my oldest son tells me to "root my phone" and get a lot of the proprietary BS apps off the phone to reduce "potential interference" and open up more space and better granularity of app control on my phone...and to not be required by Verizon to have some of these apps....
  
  I was just curious if anyone has any experiences with ROOTING your phone...and what some pro's and con's may be, BEFORE I take the plunge.
  Thanks.

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  Aug 16, 2015 7:37 PM GMT

  its like if you dont know what it is, you most likely dont really need it.
  Good bonding activity with your son tho.
  
  most people dont use much of the Android functionality.
  
  locks you into your current software revision as a rooted phone will possibly most likely not upgrade?
  

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  Aug 16, 2015 11:18 PM GMT

  I used to use the Sprint/HTC Evo for an mp3 player (it had no sim card so no phone service).
  
  I rooted it and installed Cyanogenmod (an Android variant). Unfortunately I didn't save an image of the currently installed system so there was no going back, which I definitely ended up wanting to do because Cyanogenmod wasn't as nice as the stock Android OS that came with the phone. Syncing of email and the calendar was hit or miss and there were other things that bothered me. After installing Cyanogenmod I had to go through some song and dance in order to install the usual google apps; gmail, calendar, etc.; they aren't part of Android but are available for downloading and installing.
  
  Rooting and installing an Android variant like Cyanogenmod is definitely not for the faint of heart or the non-geek, even though many Android web sites make it sound like it's a piece of cake.
  
  The Cyanogenmod that was available for my phone was built with an older version of Cyanogenmod and Android so I didn't get any advantage there. And that version of Cyanogenmod wasn't being updated any more since it was an older phone.
  
  Your phone is 2 years old so I wouldn't expect much as far as being able to get a newer android for it. Given that your phone is 2 years old I'd continue with the current stock Samsung Android that it came with and think about replacing it when/if it starts exhibiting other problems, or it just seems dated and old.

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  Aug 17, 2015 4:03 AM GMT

  Surprises me how many people don't backup their pics to the cloud. Dropbox, google photos, Flickr.. So many free choices.
  
  In regards, to rooting.. It's overrated. Sure Samsung phones come with a lot of bloat, but they also come with useful apps/functions. First of all, if you root your phone, you're going to lose all the nifty camera functions that Samsung added. The stock Android camera app is very basic. The only reason I use it is for Photosphere, and that's not that often. Other than that, I use the built-in Sony camera app.
  
  To help reduce the bloat, you can actually disable apps/services that you don't use. Just go to Settings > Apps and disable the apps you don't need.
  
  You probably won't be able to disable the Verizon apps. But oh well. Blame Verizon.

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  Aug 17, 2015 12:02 PM GMT

  From my experience with a Galaxy S2 and S4
  
  Pros of rooting: allows crapware to be deleted or frozen, including the carrier's app that prevents tethering.
  
  Cons: Some things won't work on a modified phone, like Google Wallet. Phone can no longer get factory OS updates (and I've been too chickenshit to install a different Android ROM on my phone.)

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  Aug 18, 2015 7:03 PM GMT

  Q9342221 saidMy cell phone broke just this morning, email won't work, tried deleting excess files, etc. etc. and all it does is rings and takes calls. It was only $29, metro pcs. I'll have to look into this rooting process of old programs that are never used.
  Any recoommendations on THIS phone below as I want a tablet sized phone so I can view gay apps with larger photos, and also type on the screen for email - 7" Screen - Blu Studio Phablet (hate that word)
  - $120
  http://www.amazon.com/BLU-Studio-Unlocked-Cellphone-Grey/dp/B00PKM1QBA
  

  
  Look at the customer reviews on that Blu on Amazon; 39% are 5 star but 25% are 1 star; that's a significant percentage of 1 star votes. Compare that with, for example, the Asus phone:
  
  http://tinyurl.com/pt22s2p
  
  Not the size you want but much better customer review average.

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  Aug 18, 2015 7:12 PM GMT

  Also look at the density of the screen; that Blu is a very low density screen; 170 ppi pixel density.
  
  http://www.gsmarena.com/blu_studio_7_0-6838.php
  
  There's a reason a phone with a big screen like that is cheap; it's a cheaply made phone.
  
  I had a phone with a screen density like that and it sucked; the pixelization was very obvious and annoying. Nudes and porn on a smaller screen with high density will look better.

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  Aug 19, 2015 3:52 AM GMT

  Not sure why people care so much about Blu phones. They have a lot of features, and they're cheap. But based on the reviews from various sites, they're unreliable.
  
  If you want an inexpensive phone with almost stock Android experience, get the Motorola G. I have a first generation model as a backup phone and it's great. It's very snappy. Camera kinda sucks. But I don't mind since it's not my main phone.
  
  The new model coming out soon looks really good too. Improved camera and performance. And still very affordable, when purchased at unlocked prices.

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• AMoonHawk
  
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  Aug 19, 2015 5:22 AM GMT

  Buy a Google phone ... from Google ... they build the software for Android ... I know, I know .... you want the latest and greatest and Google phones are basic

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  Aug 19, 2015 11:32 AM GMT

  I rooted an HTC Evo 3D long time ago. I regret that decision. It wasn't as pleasant as people dished it up to be.
  
  Ever since then I don't jailbreak or root any type of electronics.

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