Anyone know if the S4 can tether without Rooting first?

[johnmcd348]

My wife is possibly interested in the S4 and we may preorder it from Sprint. She uses Foxfi on her Epic 4G to tether her tablets and such when at work and we use her phone when we're on the road to help keep our son entertained. I know I can't do it with my Note2 and I really don't want to root the phones.

 

[meyerweb#CB]

Well certainly it will, if you sign up for Sprint's tethering plan.

If you mean for free, using an app like Foxfi, it's unlikely. The G3 lost the ability to do this with Jellybean, and I'm sure Sprint will lock down the S4 as least as tightly.

 

[Raptor007]

Same on Verizon if you are on Share everything plan or have unlimited with a tethering option. AT&T you need to be on their 5GB for $50 plan but that is a small choice.

 

[lafester]

Guess the bigger question is what are your concerns with rooting?

 

[PoliticalTruth]

You guys have to pay to tether ?

Thats messed up.

Can you mobile hotspot ??? I use my GS2 as our internet while we are at the cottage all summer long ...

Don't know about the GS4 ... very angry at samsung for announcing and Octa core beast and delivering a POS OLD *** Processor ...

 

[gameworm]

Don't know about the GS4 ... very angry at samsung for announcing and Octa core beast and delivering a POS OLD *** Processor ...

What are you talking about? The Snapdragon 600 was released just this year.

 

[Raptor007]

The Snapdragon is supposed to be better on battery life than the so called Octo processor which really is just two quad core processors aimed and different tasks so really its NOT and 8 core processor.

 

[Jaycemiskel]

The Snapdragon is supposed to be better on battery life than the so called Octo processor which really is just two quad core processors aimed and different tasks so really its NOT and 8 core processor.

I've heard the opposite. That the octo has better battery life. That's the whole purpose of the other set of cores.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk HD

 

[meyerweb#CB]

The truth, I suspect, is that in normal use (i.e., running applications, not benchmarks) you won't be able to tell the difference in performance between the two versions of the phone.

 

[Raptor007]

I've heard the opposite. That the octo has better battery life. That's the whole purpose of the other set of cores.

Sent from my GT-N5110 using Tapatalk HD

Its possible, my recollection was based on a thread I had read where a user had hands on with an Octo core version. But who really knows, I plan on having a second battery anyways so I don't have to worry.

 

[johnmcd348]

I guess we'll probably just pay the tether charge when we need it as it's probably something we'd use 2-3 times a year instead of rooting and dealing with those headaches. I've known too many people who spend a lot of their time rooting and playing with different ROMs and bricking their phones that I really see no realistic usefulness long term for rooting. At least once a month, 1 of 4 people I know who like to change ROMs like they change their underwear have to return their phone for a refurb. We rely on our phones for work, me especially, and the idea of being without it is not an option. I work at a hospital and am part of the Trauma surgical team there and when I'm on call, I need to know my phones going to work and the only way that will happen is by using the tested and commercially supported OS.

 

[lafester]

You do know that you can root the stock rom and change nothing else right? no headaches and you get what you want.

I guess we'll probably just pay the tether charge when we need it as it's probably something we'd use 2-3 times a year instead of rooting and dealing with those headaches. I've known too many people who spend a lot of their time rooting and playing with different ROMs and bricking their phones that I really see no realistic usefulness long term for rooting. At least once a month, 1 of 4 people I know who like to change ROMs like they change their underwear have to return their phone for a refurb. We rely on our phones for work, me especially, and the idea of being without it is not an option. I work at a hospital and am part of the Trauma surgical team there and when I'm on call, I need to know my phones going to work and the only way that will happen is by using the tested and commercially supported OS.

 

[johnmcd348]

No, actually I didn't. What and how would you do something like that? How would rooting with the stock ROM help me get the other options I wanted? I would think, Rooting, stock, just gives me what's already on there and that's it. I thought I'd have to root with another ROM that has the features I want, if someone has made one.

Again, I'm pretty ignorant of this stuff so you would have to walk me through it and explain it. If it's that simple I might consider doing it with my Note 2. The last time I did anything close to that was when I installed hack drivers on my Axim x51v's to enhance the SD card memory limits.

 

[lafester]

Rooting allows the tether app to do what it needs to do in order to work properly. Yeah it can be easier to flash a rom that has the app built in but that is not necessary if you want to stay stock.
If you look around you might find a stock rom with nothing changed except tethering I don't know...

How to root and unroot:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...print-guide-how-root-unroot-sprint-note2.html

Good thread on Wifi tethering:
Working WIFI-Tether!! - xda-developers

Read through these and then ask your questions