[Joe113]

I LOVEE my GSIII. I love Android and all the customizable options that come with it, especially running Nova Launcher (Prime) to go alog with it the customizations seem endless! Now that being said, what are the benefits (and downfalls as well?) of rooting my device? I've always wanted to root, but I feel as if you have to be really smart about it and I am not and I do not wanna mess up my phone and have to spend $700 to get a new one. I someone could break down the aspects of rooting that'd be awesome. I've had my phone since July 4th and have wanted to root but not really have found a reason to lol. Thanks to all posts!

[Skunkape60]

Cons...

1. Getting OTA Updates are a pain.
2. Returning to stock before taking phone into Sprint.

Pros...

1. Nandroid Backups
2. Themes
3. MODs
4. WiFi Tether
5. More control over how your phone looks and runs.
6. ROMs

Roms or Stock???

Some of the benefits of custom ROMs are:

1. They get updated more often and are usually more up to date than stock.
2. Improved performance and efficiency
3. Improved Battery life
4. Removal of bloatware
5. Custom themes and user interfaces
6. They're just plain cool !

Some drawbacks of custom ROMs are:

1. Installing custom ROMs generally involves having to perform a clean wipe. So be sure to back up often (Titanium Backup, My backup Pro to name a few) and NEVER forget your Nandroid (CWM Recovery Back up)
2. Custom ROMs may have bugs that cause your device to have issues
3. Voids the Manufacturer Warranty (just like rooting)! (You can always go back to stock unrooted state prior to turning phone in for warranty work)

[Joe113]

Cons...

1. Getting OTA Updates are a pain.
2. Returning to stock before taking phone into Sprint.

Pros...

1. Nandroid Backups
2. Themes
3. MODs
4. WiFi Tether
5. More control over how your phone looks and runs.
6. ROMs

Roms or Stock???

Some of the benefits of custom ROMs are:

1. They get updated more often and are usually more up to date than stock.
2. Improved performance and efficiency
3. Improved Battery life
4. Removal of bloatware
5. Custom themes and user interfaces
6. They're just plain cool !

Some drawbacks of custom ROMs are:

1. Installing custom ROMs generally involves having to perform a clean wipe. So be sure to back up often (Titanium Backup, My backup Pro to name a few) and NEVER forget your Nandroid (CWM Recovery Back up)
2. Custom ROMs may have bugs that cause your device to have issues
3. Voids the Manufacturer Warranty (just like rooting)! (You can always go back to stock unrooted state prior to turning phone in for warranty work)

OTA updates were my main concerns of rooting. With 4.1.2 coming soon and 4.2 coming in (probably) around March-April, what extra steps do I have to do? Or if I just wanna manually put them on my SD card like I did for JB...

[Skunkape60]

OTA updates were my main concerns of rooting. With 4.1.2 coming soon and 4.2 coming in (probably) around March-April, what extra steps do I have to do? Or if I just wanna manually put them on my SD card like I did for JB...

Imo... worrying about updates is the worst reason there is not to root. Do you realize when jellybean first came out for this phone. There were 3 methods for the rooted users to update a good 12 hours before the update zip was posted for the non rooted members. And it's been like that with every update that has been released for this phone.

[Joe113]

Imo... worrying about updates is the worst reason there is not to root. Do you realize when jellybean first came out for this phone. There were 3 methods for the rooted users to update a good 12 hours before the update zip was posted for the non rooted members. And it's been like that with every update that has been released for this phone.

Awesome!!! Do I have to take any (hard) extra steps though to do em? And also problems like THIS are what I'm worried about bc I have ZERO/ZILCH/NADA knowledge about rooting and all the stuff to go along with it lol, I'm afraid that my phone will be hard bricked bc of my stupidity/lack of knowledge...

[meyerweb]

Awesome!!! Do I have to take any (hard) extra steps though to do em? And also problems like THIS are what I'm worried about bc I have ZERO/ZILCH/NADA knowledge about rooting and all the stuff to go along with it lol, I'm afraid that my phone will be hard bricked bc of my stupidity/lack of knowledge...

Assuming you have a SPRINT Galaxy III, just follow Skunkape's instructions, here: [GUIDE] UPDATED: How to Root Your Sprint Galaxy S3

and you should have no problems. Just READ the instructions CAREFULLY so you don't miss a step. This is about the easiest root process ever. I'd suggest reading the entire thread, so you see what mistakes other people made, and will know not to make them yourself. Even when people make mistakes, there's always been a way to recover. Just note that this is for SPRINT GS3s only, and don't try it on a phone from another carrier.

All that said, rooting your phone entails more risk than not rooting your phone. Why do you want to root? What do you expect to gain? I rooted primarily to be able to tether my tablet (which I do only very rarely, but it's handy on occasion), and to be able to do thorough backups with Titanium Backup Pro.

[mcasas]

this was the easiest phone to root ever. took 10 min once i had the drivers install properly

[GiantJay]

Look up qbking77 on YouTube he has a video for pretty much every ROM and how to root.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

[GiantJay]

Also rooting does not void your warranty and you can always unroot and go back to stock. Check out this video for a explanation.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk 2

[Joe113]

Of course I have the Sprint GS3, why else would I be posting here... cmon now lol. But I wanna gain better battery life and more customization out of this.

What are the benefits of "custom ROMs" and what does it do??

[meyerweb]

Of course I have the Sprint GS3, why else would I be posting here... cmon now lol. But I wanna gain better battery life and more customization out of this.

You'd be surprised how many people have bricked their phones by installing a ROM or following a process designed for a different carrier's phone. So don't be insulted; be grateful we care enough to make sure you're in the right place.

Here's a thread on one ROM. It may give you an idea of what you can do by changing ROMs.

http://forums.androidcentral.com/spr...icial-rom.html

Others can tell you more, but it will let you completely change the look of your phone, remove apps you don't want and include in the ROM (rather than in user memory) applications you do use. Many provide capabilities or features that the stock ROMs don't, and incorporate new releases of Android sooner than your carrier will.

OTOH, many of these custom ROMs include lots of bugs, and certain features of your phone may not work, or work reliably. They are rarely tested as thoroughly as your carrier's updates. OTOH, bugs are usually identified and fixed more quickly than with the official carrier's software.

OTOH,

[qyakub]

I am going to hijack your thread Joe, hope you don't mind.

When I root the phone , I basically swipe the whole data off of my phone? ( not the ext SD card). or is it just the ROM part where it swipes the whole memory of my phone ?

[DoesItMatter]

If there is an update, you're better off flashing a pre-rooted stock rom instead of updating your existing rom, rooted or not.

I've upgraded many phones, OTA, web downloads, dirty flashes, etc.

Unless you have a fresh stock phone, the updates almost never work 100%, inevitably some setting will get thrown off, or the rom will slowly degrade in performance.

Much better to fresh flash a new stock / pre-rooted / custom rom and reload all your apps.

Yes, its more work, but I've never had a phone act up when doing fresh installs.

[Skunkape60]

I am going to hijack your thread Joe, hope you don't mind.

When I root the phone , I basically swipe the whole data off of my phone? ( not the ext SD card). or is it just the ROM part where it swipes the whole memory of my phone ?

My method of rooting well not wipe any data from either internal or external storage. It will also not wipe your apps. A matter of fact it won't wipe nothing.

[GiantJay]

Pretty much rooting is unlocking the possibilities and full capabilities of your phone or device. You can get very deep into the rabbit hole if you want. You can flash ROMs, change modems, use custom kernels, custom prl's etc. You can pretty much change whatever you want once you root. First thing I suggest is read a lot about what you are about to do and follow the precise instructions from the op of whatever you are going to try. A very helpful source for us is qbking77 on YouTube. He has a video for pretty much everything.

This message brought to you by my AOKP'd up SPH-L710 aka GS3

[Super Dave426]

My method of rooting well not wipe any data from either internal or external storage. It will also not wipe your apps. A matter of fact it won't wipe nothing.

This was a major concern of mine, I didn't want to loose my apps or data. I just received my tagsfordriod nfc tiles and rooting allows me to use nfc to close a lot of apps with a touch and I also want to tether my daughter's new Nexus 7 when we go out, so I guess it's time to root.

[GiantJay]

This was a major concern of mine, I didn't want to loose my apps or data. I just received my tagsfordriod nfc tiles and rooting allows me to use nfc to close a lot of apps with a touch and I also want to tether my daughter's new Nexus 7 when we go out, so I guess it's time to root.

Getting a paid service for free aka stealing is also a reason to root for some.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Joe113]

This may sound stupid to some of you who know a lot about phones but like I said, I do not at all.. That being said, WTF is "Kernel (Android OS)" and why is it keeping my phone awake for THREE HOURS AND 15MIN!!!??? Is that JellyBean 4.1.1 or is it something else? Thanks guys lol -___-

[meyerweb]

Kernel (Android OS) is the basic core of the Android OS. Any time you're using your phone to actually do work, you're accessing the kernel. Screen writes, radio access, storage reads or writes, all use the kernel.

Android A to Z: What is a kernel? | Android Central

When you say 3 hrs 15 minutes, over what time period? Mine says 12 hours, but that's cumulative since the last reboot which was more than a week ago. If yours is 3 hours today, and you haven't used your phone at all, that might be a problem. But if you use your phone, you're going to see the kernel being used.

[detachc]

I have deleted a map with foto's and the only way to retrieve them is by rooting my samsung galaxy s3 so the ums becomes available for foto recoverie. But i am a nuub when it comes to these kind of things and i am scared that i wil brick my phone.
Is there another way to get to the ums without rooting my phone ?

Help Please !!!!!!

[Super Dave426]

I have deleted a map with foto's and the only way to retrieve them is by rooting my samsung galaxy s3 so the ums becomes available for foto recoverie. But i am a nuub when it comes to these kind of things and i am scared that i wil brick my phone.
Is there another way to get to the ums without rooting my phone ?

Help Please !!!!!!

I rooted my phone and I have no experience with Android OS at all. I just followed the instructions in the first post it was easy.

[detachc]

Can some one tell me if there is a difference between a samsung galaxy sprint s3 and the Samsung galaxy s3 gt i9300 ?
Can i stil root the gt i9300 the same way as the sprint ?

[Skunkape60]

Can some one tell me if there is a difference between a samsung galaxy sprint s3 and the Samsung galaxy s3 gt i9300 ?
Can i stil root the gt i9300 the same way as the sprint ?

Yes there is a big difference... No you can't use the files in the guide here on the Sprint forum. While the method should work the files are different.