To Root or Not to Root?

[bhameyedoc]

I recently found a good deal on a Verizon LG G3 on Swappa, so I decided to try it. I haven't received the phone yet, but I was wondering if I wanted to root it as soon as I get it. I am coming from a Droid MAXX which, with it's near stock Android, I never felt the need to root. I've rooted my previous phones (Galaxy Nexus and Incredible), so I am familiar with it.

What are your thoughts? Are there roms that provide a better experience than LG's? My main wants are good camera performance and good battery life.

Thanks.

 

[xocomaox]

If you are familiar with it, you'll want to root this thing right away. It is an AMAZING phone when rooted. Much better experience than stock LG, and battery life can be increased as well.

 

[tardus]

If you are familiar with it, you'll want to root this thing right away. It is an AMAZING phone when rooted. Much better experience than stock LG, and battery life can be increased as well.

Can battery life be increased while rooting and staying on the stock ROM? Please explain because I want to stay stock ROM and still have control over my phone by rooting.

Edit - I see apps like Better Battery Stats now require root Kitkat and higher.

 

[SactoKingsFan]

You can improve battery life using Amplify, Greenify and Wakelock detector.

Sent from my LG G2 running CM 12

 

[CliveEdinburgh]

If you are familiar with it, you'll want to root this thing right away. It is an AMAZING phone when rooted. Much better experience than stock LG, and battery life can be increased as well.

When I had my old iPhone I jailbroke it without hesitation. I don't feel the need to root my LG G3 . I can't see the pros.

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[ffejjj]

100% root

You don't even have to flash roms. Xposed will g give you a ton of customizations. My battery was running much better after tweaking

Posted via Android Central App

 

[xocomaox]

Can battery life be increased while rooting and staying on the stock ROM? Please explain because I want to stay stock ROM and still have control over my phone by rooting.

Edit - I see apps like Better Battery Stats now require root Kitkat and higher.

You can improve battery life using Amplify, Greenify and Wakelock detector.

 

[AndroidHabit]

You can improve battery life using Amplify, Greenify and Wakelock detector.

Sent from my LG G2 running CM 12

Simply using wakelock detector isn't going to do anything but point you in the direction of the problem.
Best thing to use to combat wakelocks is wakelock terminator.

 

[AndroidHabit]

When I had my old iPhone I jailbroke it without hesitation. I don't feel the need to root my LG G3 . I can't see the pros.

Posted via the Android Central App

Eh...you jailbroke your apple but don't see a pro to root an Android?
It's all pro.

 

[AndroidHabit]

Can battery life be increased while rooting and staying on the stock ROM? Please explain because I want to stay stock ROM and still have control over my phone by rooting.

Edit - I see apps like Better Battery Stats now require root Kitkat and higher.

I always use the stock ROM and being rooted always helps.

 

[SactoKingsFan]

Simply using wakelock detector isn't going to do anything but point you in the direction of the problem.
Best thing to use to combat wakelocks is wakelock terminator.

That's why I mentioned Amplify and Greenify.

Sent from my LG G2 running CM 12

 

[AndroidHabit]

That's why I mentioned Amplify and Greenify.

Sent from my LG G2 running CM 12

Greenify doesn't control wakelocks and Amplify is not as good as wakelock terminator.
Trust me I use all of them and test them well.

 

[LeoRex]

I'm one of the root zealots.... It opens up the phone to allow you to do anything you choose. Battery monitoring apps like GSAM, Wakelock Detector and BetterBattery Stats all require root from KitKat on (Google restricts battery statistics to system applications, so you'll need root to convert user apps to system apps).... Apps that ACTUALLY help save on power usage like Greenify and Amplify require root access to function fully. Root also allows you the flexibility to blow away any carrier-sourced pestilence. Automation apps like Tasker can work without root, but they allow much greater control if root is available. And that's not even delving into system modifications like Xposed or flashing custom ROMs....

You can root your phone and never actually use it. It won't introduce system instability, nor will it cause your battery to drain or apps to crash. You can do as much or as little as you want.

Still.. it comes at a cost. Rooting a phone, more often than not, will 'break' OTA updates. Most contain requirements checks that will see root access and kick out the upgrade, forcing you to either unroot the phone, flash back to a clean, stock state, or update the phone yourself via sideloading or custom recoveries.

I call it a red pill/blue pill.... if you choose root your phone, do yourself a favor and go the whole way down the rabbit hole.... yes, it might take a little reading and research, but its still better than the alternative (I need to make an app that superimposes the Verizon Wireless logo over the giant spider harvester things from the Matrix... heh)

 

[icu]

I agree with most people that there are some great advantages to rooting. However, as long as nothing is bothering you or if there's something you wish you could change that you cant - then stay stock for now. From past experience I knew there would be things I'd want to be able to do now and later that would require root so I went and grabbed it before an update made it harder or impossible.

For me currently my favorite bits are:
- Greenify with root access is a much more powerful tool and via Xposed has even more power via experimental features
- Xposed Module - G3 TweaksBox - so many great customization options that you'd find in custom ROMS - my favorite is being able to set the back buttons as shortcuts to any app I want. Tons of little UI customizations.
- Via a simple build.prop edit I can now use ANY app in Dual Window mode which like magic made it a useful feature I now can't live without.
- Xposed Module - YouTube AdAway - I'm sorry I'm a bad person
- Xposed Module - No Lock Home - great "trusted network" module that disables the lock screen at certain WAPs and MAC addresses and locations etc.
*Edit for Titanium Backup and Nandroid backups which always good to have on hand.

 

[bhameyedoc]

I notice that several of you stay with the stock rom. Are there any roms out there that you feel give a better experience than stock?

 

[Crashdamage]

Of course, rooting grants full administrator permissions to the user, rather than limited user permissions. The good is that this allows you to do basically anything to any files on the device. It allows full control of everything on the device. The bad is that it also means you have full permission to muck up anything on the device.

It also reduces the security of the phone somewhat. The #1 rule of Linux security is Never Run as Root unless necessary to perform administrative tasks.

I used to root every phone I had. But I no longer root my daily driver phone that I cannot do without. As hardware and software has improved the need to root has declined. Now I do not recommend rooting unless you have a specific need or just want to experiment on a spare device.

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.

 

[LeoRex]

As hardware and software has improved the need to root has declined. Now I do not recommend rooting unless you have a specific need or just want to experiment on a spare device.

Very much so. Not long ago, you needed to root to just clean up the rough spots and get functionality that would be usefull to most every user. As Android (and the phones) progressed, that percentage started to drop. To be honest, the only thing I use that NEEDS root to do what I need is Titanium Backup. The other root ops tend to be more me just fiddling with things (which I am want to do anyhow).

 

[icu]

Very much so. Not long ago, you needed to root to just clean up the rough spots and get functionality that would be usefull to most every user. As Android (and the phones) progressed, that percentage started to drop. To be honest, the only thing I use that NEEDS root to do what I need is Titanium Backup. The other root ops tend to be more me just fiddling with things (which I am want to do anyhow).

Yes, I agree that it's less necessary than ever nowadays. I forgot to mention TiBu as being a major reason to have root not to mention being able to make full Nandroid backups in case bad things happen.

I always liked trying new Linux distros on my old laptops so tinkering and trying new things is just part of the fun of my phone for me. However, I may never have got so into rooting if I didn't end up with a Samsung Fascinate - which came wtih BING! ... let that sink in ... BING! No Google. BING (and this is before Bing was even halfway decent) and the GPS was completely broken. Samsung and Verizon promised a fix to the GPS for month and months - and finally I just gave in and rooted - replaced Bing and fixed the GPS in an afternoon and then I discovered all the different ROMS you could try that ran so much smoother ... It's just nice to have control of your device - to be able to correct serious software or event hardware issues and be in control of your own software updates (which has improved lately as well).

 

[xocomaox]

I think rooting is necessary until there is a stock recovery option in place that allows you to restore full backups from external memory or usb. Because even non-rooted phones mess up. Why take the risk? In a way, rooting is less risky than being unrooted.

 

[Crashdamage]

Rooting is not necessary for easy, complete backup and restoration. I do extensive, complete backups without rooting.

All of our devices are configured not only to do backups, but to do much more. They automatically do multiple backups to multiple cloud locations and multiple local storage, and of the multiple accounts installed on each device. The backups are done immediately, in real time so that nothing can be lost. IOW for example when photo is taken it immediately is distributed to several locations.

They include backups of almost everything - contacts, calendars, photos, WiFi, apps, complete configuration of multiple email accounts in AquaMail, Nova Prime configuration and more. I can reload a phone pretty much as quick and easy as if I had a nandroid backup. But all the devices are stock, unrooted Nexus units.

I'm not concerned with backup of the OS itself, that's the easiest part to restore. I'm more concerned about compromising security by running as root.

Also, in using Android since v1.0 on a HTC G1 and going through a fair pile of devices since, I've done a lot of reinstalls because of buggy ROMs or my own stupidity. But I've never had to do a reinstall on a stock, unrooted device "because even non-rooted phones mess up". Not once. Maybe I've just been lucky, but...

Android since v1.0. Linux user since 2001.