Lots of root questions

radicchio

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I have been trying to wrap my mind around rooting a phone, as it might be an option in the future. Once a phone is rooted, does that just mean you have access to files and are able to do certain things with your phone that you couldn't do before (i.e., make a full backup of your phone and/or copy apps to the SD card)? Otherwise, does it appear pretty much like it was before rooting?

I am planning to buy a Note 3 shortly, but I'm concerned about reports that it is not possible to revert to stock after rooting because no one has the file that will return the phone to stock condition for AT&T yet. If that is the case, then I definitely will wait until my warranty has expired to even consider rooting.

Nevertheless, I'd like to start learning a bit more about rooting a phone so that I would be more knowledgeable if I ever want to do so. I have read that rooting and installing a custom ROM are separate things. I've also read that it is not necessary to install any ROM after rooting. If I rooted the Note 3 but didn't install a ROM, would I have Samsung TouchWiz as the operating system? Would I just be able to install Nova Prime and some other apps to replace the Samsung TouchWiz interface? Also, do you have to use apps that are designed for rooted phones only, or can I use some of the apps that I was using with the stock phone if I wanted to?

Sorry for the basic questions, but I have been reading a lot here and at XDA and realize that I need some education on the basics if I'm going to really understand what I'm reading.
 

cpaight

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As you said, rooting gives you access to files and permissions you normally couldn't access. If you just root your phone, it will work just like before as long as you don't make any changes....apps, launchers, etc will all still work the same. Adding a custom ROM is like changing your whole operating system (although many are designed to act like stock Android).

Here's some good places to start:
Rooting your Android | Android Central
AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 3 - XDA Forum
 

radicchio

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Thanks---I'll read those. I probably won't even consider rooting until the warranty period is over, but that will give me time to try to understand the process better.

I have read where some people frequently flash new ROMs. Is that something that mostly would appeal to people who are developers or programmers? How do you know what the advantages of various ROMS are? Do they add any extra functionality to the phone? Would I be just as well off not flashing a ROM and just customizing my phone with launchers and other apps?
 

aandrew610

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You can hold off on flashing roms at first. Xposed framework allows a Ton of customization. And nova launcher is another good option to use along side Xposed

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk
 

cpaight

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I have read where some people frequently flash new ROMs. Is that something that mostly would appeal to people who are developers or programmers? How do you know what the advantages of various ROMS are? Do they add any extra functionality to the phone? Would I be just as well off not flashing a ROM and just customizing my phone with launchers and other apps?

ROMs can add a ton of functionality and customization into your phone. Most have their own forum threads or even websites showcasing what they have to offer. Cyanogen Mod, one of the most stable and well known ROMs, has a program where you just download a file, plug in your phone and it does all the rest.

That being said, you can take a quick look around these forums and see countless "HELP, I tried to flash a ROM and bricked my phone" posts. There's alot that you can do screw up your device. I would suggest trying out launchers and apps first....you may find you have no need to root to get what you want. Also, take a look at mycolorscreen.com for some ideas on all the ways you can theme and customize your phone.
 

radicchio

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Thanks. That is what I was hoping you would say. I have been looking at a lot of mycolorscreen's youtube presentations and have found them to be very helpful. I have some very specific ideas, based on what I've learned so far, about how I want to set up my Note 3, so adding someone else's ROM could end up just being superfluous. I think my needs are fairly straightforward and simple but, knowing how I work, I prefer to set it up myself to suit my working style.
 
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Root is the best thing that someone must do with android phones.. its not just a matter of files.. you can overclock your cpu for better performance or even underclock it for better battery life.. if you like games and like to cheat, root makes it all easier by using apps like game killer ..
 

salmanahmad

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Just please don't flash the bootloader, radio, ROM or kernel of any other device. It will brick your device.

Other than that, rooting should be fine. But always look carefully for what you are flashing and if it's for your specific device.

I would also recommend against using rooting toolkits.
 

radicchio

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I do think I will eventually root the phone, if it is possible. However, as a practical matter, I will most likely wait until the warranty period has passed. So thanks for the tips. One question at this moment---what is a rooting toolkit?
 

salmanahmad

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I do think I will eventually root the phone, if it is possible. However, as a practical matter, I will most likely wait until the warranty period has passed. So thanks for the tips. One question at this moment---what is a rooting toolkit?

I've not used them a whole lot but I did use it root a Note 3, the toolkit makes it much easier to root however if you don't know what you are doing, you could end up bricking the device.

If you want to root, use the safer method via ADB and command prompt, it's a bit more difficult but much safer.

IMO rooting isn't necessary right now, I have a Nexus 5 with very similar specifications to the Note 3, since we are getting official updates for a long time, there is no use of rooting ATM, I'm going to wait until Nexus 5 stops getting updates and that's when I'll root.

Android has evolved a whole lot and if your device has the latest version, I see no reason to root.

I rooted my Nexus 5 on day one when I got it, which was a month ago, but went back to Stock shortly afterwards and reset the tamper flag and locked the bootloader.

I'm no expert but I can offer a decent amount of help if you ever want to know about rooting and stuff.
 

radicchio

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Thanks! Stick around for the next year or two, and I may need that assistance with rooting. Not only do I want to wait because of the warranty issues, but I want to see how things work out with the stock version before jumping into rooting. As you noted, I may find I don't really want/need to do so.
 

radicchio

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By the way, is Towelroot a toolkit? I was under the impression, from what I've read so far, that at present, Towelroot is the only way to root an AT&T Note 3. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn I'm wrong. There is so much information out there---some old, some very new---and sometimes it's hard to tell what the situation is currently.
 

salmanahmad

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By the way, is Towelroot a toolkit? I was under the impression, from what I've read so far, that at present, Towelroot is the only way to root an AT&T Note 3. Of course, I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn I'm wrong. There is so much information out there---some old, some very new---and sometimes it's hard to tell what the situation is currently.

TowelRoot seems to be a rooting toolkit.

Since manually unlocking the boot loader and rooting via ADB is a bit harder, the only other method I recommend is using Cyanogenmod Installer.

Cyanogenmod Installer automatically unlocks the boot loader, roots and loads Cyanogenmod on the phone, I've not heard anyone bricking their devices by it a d it's very easy.
 

Rukbat

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TowelRoot is an app that uses a hole in Linux to gain temporary root (which the rooting function needs to root the phone). If I'm correct, 4.4.4 is patched against it, and the only current way to root 4.4.4 blows Knox and voids the warranty.

And, as hcane said, you can't flash a ROM on an AT&T or Verizon Note 3 unless it's a modification of the stock ROM. The bootloader is locked, so the ROM has to be signed (and getting the data to sign a ROM makes getting the combination to Fort Knox look like "just google it").

Rooting the phone gives you administrative access - that's it. You can move files to the SD card without root. Running apps from the SD card is up to the way the app was written - most of them don't run very well from the SD card - and don't save much space. (And rooting has nothing to do with it, unless the app you're running from the 9.25GB free in internal storage. And I have a few dupe apps - a few texting apps, a few email apps, a few launchers. If I cleaned the phone up, more than half of it would be free. With no apps running from the SD card.

It's not normally necessary to root to install a ROM (although almost all ROMs are rooted) and it's certainly not necessary to install a ROM to root.

The operating system of an Android phone - any Android phone - is Linux. Android runs on top of that. TouchWiz is the Samsung launcher. Rooting won't change any of that. (Although you might want to try a few other launchers - I always use Nova and have for a long time. I can't stand TouchWiz. OTOH, my wife loves it and hates Nova.)

Once you root the phone, you can use apps that need root. Apps that don't need root won't even know that the phone is needed. All rooting does is allow an app to run under su, which runs the app as if the app's owner is root. An app that doesn't try to run under su - IOW, all the apps on your phone now - doesn't call su, so it has no idea that the phone is rooted. (The other changes are that busybox is installed, to replace a lot of commands that Google leaves out of Linux, and SuperSU or some other superuser app. [Normally, in Linux, when you run su, you're asked for the root password. The superuser performs that function - it allows you to allow or disallow an app to use su - so if a virus tries to run as root, you can say no.) The problem is that a lot of rooting apps change other files, and leave garbage behind. TowelRoot seems to be pretty clean. Another benefit is that it's an Android app, you don't need a computer to root the phone.

You might also want to install Safestrap once you've rooted the phone. Then you can try out different ROMS without overwriting the stock ROM. (And if a ROM flashes badly and leaves the phone bootlooping or hanging, you can just reboot and boot into the stock ROM. Saved my bacon once, when I flashed a file I shouldn't have. Without Safestrap I'd have had to run Odin and reflashed the whole phone - which is a boring afternoon. With safestrap it was a boring 2 minutes.)

"Unrooting" the phone, if you want to (actually, restoring a stock ROM) is simple - see N900AUCUCNC2 ODIN Files - Post #136 - XDA Forums (and you'll need Odin - version 3.09 matches the names of the files, so it's easier to use, and you can find it almost everywhere.) That will give you a phone that AT&T or Samsung will work on under warranty - it's the stock 4.4.2 ROM.
 

jointintell

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I rooted for the first time a month ago. It was a steep learning curve especially when I bootlooped. I had visions of having to buy a cheap Nokia feature just to stay contactable. I sorted it more by luck than judgement. Rooting is easy but the pitfalls are many if you're a noobie so a recovery backup is essential.

The irony is that now I'm comfortable with the processes and can swap custom roms at will I've reverted to using stock. Roms throw all the bells and whistles at you in the form of settings, most of which I'd never use, a bit like the bloatware in stock. So my choice was to stay with stock and manually delete the bloat with Titanium and Helium. As for the settings and tweaks, Xposed Installer has everything you need.

Rooting was great cos it's opens up a world of customization you wouldn't normally have access to. It also teaches you about your phone. It's hazardous but if you stay methodical and maintain a backup it can be great fun.
 

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