What are the Pros and Cons of rooting the Nexus 7?

Storm_y0

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I just bought my Nexus 7, and I was wondering if i should root it or not. I've read numerous topics about rooting, but I don't really understand the pros about it. If you guys can answer these questions it would be very helpful.
Question: Does rooting make all apps Free?
Question: Does rooting allow access to "secret" apps?
Question: What does "flashing" mean and what is the purpose?
Question: If i do root my Nexus 7 will i need to back it up?
Question: What does it mean to have a "bricked" tablet?
Question: What are some possible cons of rooting?
Question: What are some more pros of rooting?
Please try to explain in simplest terms and thanks for your time.
-Storm_y0
 

2defmouze

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I just bought my Nexus 7, and I was wondering if i should root it or not. I've read numerous topics about rooting, but I don't really understand the pros about it. If you guys can answer these questions it would be very helpful.
Question: Does rooting make all apps Free?
No, not at all, and we wouldn't encourage stealing apps anyways.
Question: Does rooting allow access to "secret" apps?
No.
Question: What does "flashing" mean and what is the purpose?
Flashing = Installing, basically.
Question: If i do root my Nexus 7 will i need to back it up?
When you first unlock the bootloader everything will be wiped, sd too. You need to unlock to root though.
Question: What does it mean to have a "bricked" tablet?
If you screw something up flashing or messing with system files with your root access, you could potentially softbrick your tablet. As a Nexus, it's basically impossible to truly "brick" it. A softbrick can happen and is easily fixable, following my guide to restore the factory images.
Question: What are some possible cons of rooting?
Nothing I can think of, lol.
Question: What are some more pros of rooting?
Ad-blocking, flashing custom ROMs, being able to control the kernel and overclock if you want, using something like Root Explorer to access and edit files on your sdcard that might otherwise be hard to get to..
Please try to explain in simplest terms and thanks for your time.
-Storm_y0

I also strongly recommend reading the Kraken Guide: http://forums.androidcentral.com/ne...se-kraken-rooting-hacking-your-nexus-7-a.html
It will answer many of your questions more completely as well.
 
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HAAS599

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no

no

I use the word "flashing" when I am describing the act of installing a new kernel or ROM or anything via .zip in Recovery or Fastboot mode. Its purpose is to install or execute what you want to install or execute.

depends on your method of rooting.

rendered the device that was once working properly into a useless paperweight by doing something yourself that caused the device to no longer respond to any input whatsoever.

The ability to brick your device

The abilty to brick your device;) Having full control of your device is something a lot of people enjoy. Also the ability to use apps that require root on the Play Store is a big pro.
 

2defmouze

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Thanks for the help and are ROMs like the operating systems ex: jellybelly, honeycomb?

A ROM is a customized version of the OS, in this case Jellybean. ROMs add new functionality that you don't find in the stock system. Some popular ones with a lot of customizations and features include CM10 and AOKP. There are also ROMs designed to be a mostly stock experience with more minor improvements, such as Pete's Bugless Beast.
 

Storm_y0

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A ROM is a customized version of the OS, in this case Jellybean. ROMs add new functionality that you don't find in the stock system. Some popular ones with a lot of customizations and features include CM10 and AOKP. There are also ROMs designed to be a mostly stock experience with more minor improvements, such as Pete's Bugless Beast.

So what is CM10 and AOKP, also what excatly do they do, if you can simple terms
Thanks
 

ExTheGod

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Im about to root mine. Ive always said just like others when you have to ask all these questions rooting might now be for you.
 

digitalslacker

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Please explain what type of features.
Thanks

I could explain some of them but I would miss a ton. You can check out their sites and look at the feature sets.
CyanogenMod | Android Community Rom based on Ice Cream Sandwich
AOKP | News

Most of the features you see in ROMs like AKOP and CM really relate to a more granular control of configuration options above what you see in AOSP (or stock) based ROMs. Or they have slightly different implementation of stock features.

For example you might see additional ways to configure the notifications bar or more home screen options. I haven't used CM10 at all yet and I haven't used AKOP on the N7, just the Gnex and TFP but the source is the same and there is at least some feature parity between devices. You might also see a different stock music app than you do on a Nexus device that's stock.

The best way to think about custom ROMs is like you think about the OEM's versions of Android (HTC Sense, Samsung TouchWiz etc). They are the same. Modified source (AOSP or Android Open Source Project) with a different feature set. ROM "A" might be almost identical to stock with some tweaks and built by one dev on his own while ROM "B" might be be built by a team of devs all supporting multiple devices as a hobby with feature parity between them. Then ROM "C" could be built by a team of paid devs for an OEM and might be (almost) completely closed sourced with a ton of features not available in stock at all.

But the bottom line is that if you want to make an informed decision about which ROM to use you'll really need to start installing them. It's more about personal preference than anything. I'm not a fan of AOKP or CM because I want my ROM to be as stock as possible. I think features add bloat. There's nothing wrong with things like CM or AKOP but I just don't prefer them. I'm a fan of Bugless. Beast personally.

I hope that helps. You seem to be looking for easy answers but there aren't really any. "Rooting" has become this magical thing that you do to your phone/tablet to make it better by popular culture. But it does nothing for your device except give you the access to do more if you know how and want to go down that path.

Your best bet is to read the a fore mentioned guides. Many smart people have taken the time to lay it all out. The Kraken guide is particularly good. Then, after you've done your homework, take the plunge and install something.
 
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digitalslacker

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Just one thing... if you recently bought it, rooting your nexus removes your warranty permanently and you can no longer return the device.

You can just relock it and restore it. While technically that's true, I've never heard of them caring...

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2
 

2defmouze

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You can just relock it and restore it. While technically that's true, I've never heard of them caring...

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

This. Never heard of anyone losing a warranty claim if they did a factory image restore and relocked the bootloader.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2