First time Android user, want to root.

[Rezorate]

So, I just left the iPhone family, and ditched my 4S for a Nexus 4. I've used the phone for about a day now and I'm really liking Android and its customization options, vs iOS. So, I want to root the phone, but have absolutely no idea where to start. I am familiar with jailbreaking and have jailbroken every iPhone I've been able to. I've heard that bricking on an Android phone is the end, and that if it happens you're screwed, and your beautiful phone is now a paper-weight. Is this true? What are the risks in rooting, and do they really outweigh the rewards? Thanks fam!

 

[Everene]

If you just left an iPhone... I'd recommend that you play with stock for a little bit longer.
As with the Risk vs. Reward... Rooting is SUPER SIMPLE with the Nexus 4 and -> almost <- impossible to mess up
on another note, Bricking a Nexus is also next to impossible...
If you're dead set on rooting and look up the benefits yourself and see something you like... Go For It!

Rooting: Take your time to read all the way through the instructions BEFORE starting,
then when you go to do it... read each section two more times before doing anything!

Above all... Take Your Time.

 

[davey11]

I'm sure you've seen the 2 stickies up at the top of the forum, right? The unlock and root tutorial that 2def has posted is an excellent resource.

Go for it, the nexus screams to get set free.

Also check this vid.

 

[2defmouze]

First define why you want to unlock and root.. It's not something you should do just for no reason, but if you have a reason then go for it. You cannot brick a Nexus device. As davey said, check my Factory Image Restore guide for info on how to fix any softbrick you may wind up with... And even that is hard to do if you are cautious and pay attention to what you're doing.


Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[donm527#IM]

newbie here too that's considering rooting...

while researching on the interweb, someone said that rooting may disable the ability of receiving OTA updates because google has the ability to tell if the phone is rooted before allowing the OTA update to go through... or something like that. can anyone confirm/deny that?

I dont really plan to use any custom roms but the idea of root access for some apps that require it like titanium backup or for doing full image backup sounds interesting. but i dont think i would want to do it at the cost of not being able to get OTA updates from google.

First define why you want to unlock and root.. It's not something you should do just for no reason, but if you have a reason then go for it. You cannot brick a Nexus device. As davey said, check my Factory Image Restore guide for info on how to fix any softbrick you may wind up with... And even that is hard to do if you are cautious and pay attention to what you're doing.


Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

[donm527#IM]

oops. just found my answer... read the guide from 2defmouze

newbie here too that's considering rooting...

while researching on the interweb, someone said that rooting may disable the ability of receiving OTA updates because google has the ability to tell if the phone is rooted before allowing the OTA update to go through... or something like that. can anyone confirm/deny that?

I dont really plan to use any custom roms but the idea of root access for some apps that require it like titanium backup or for doing full image backup sounds interesting. but i dont think i would want to do it at the cost of not being able to get OTA updates from google.

 

[greydarrah]

Whether you root or not, if you're thinking about it, you should go ahead and unlock your bootloader (using the instructions from 2def) now. The reason is because unlocking is going to completely wipe all data (including anything you've copied to the hard drive/sd card). It only happens the one time that you unlock your device. You can root the phone anytime thereafter. Rooting doesn't wipe anything.