Benefit/Drawback of Launcher/Rooting One?

[the mozz]

So I have been reading review after review....blah blah blah...and ended up in a debate with a friend today. We were discussing the benefits/drawbacks of the GS4/One. Without going into detail, as I think both are great phones really, my question is regarding a different aspect...what are the repercussions of rooting and ROM'ing or running a launcher on today's phones (read GS4, One).

I have grown to prefer CM with Go Launcher to either the Sense on my HTC Incredible, or the stock touchwiz on a GS2 (my current hold me over phone.)

Would it be totally useless to root and ROM a One or GS4? Both would essentially end up the same phone, e.g. each running CM10.1 with go launcher, and the only difference would be the hardware right? This seems to be the catch 22 of having substantial manufacturer differentiation. In order to take advantage of the differentiation (HTC Zoe's, blinkfeed;Samsung multi-window,hand waving) you need to use their software 100%. And if we are going to root and lose the "special" features anyway we are really just doing the PC thing: buy the hardware because they all run the same software. Are CM10, or AOKP different on different phones as far as looks or functionality? (not compared to each other but CM on GS2 versus GS3 kinda thing.)

I know Phil has used a launcher on the One and mentioned blinkfeed is still there. Does that mean if I use go launcher it won't override blinkfeed? What is lost on touchwiz?

I wonder if any ROMs will incorporate the special features from HTC and Samsung. Does anyone with a Note2 that is rooted know if you lose all the "Samsung" features if it is rooted with AOKP or CM10.1? And what are the chances the stock software on the GS4 or One are so good it will be preferrable. UGH.

Why cant HTC just make the One as a Nexus?! wouldn't that make life easy!

 

[Paul627g]

Your question about do AOKP/CM look different on different devices? NO. Normally they keep everything almost identical provided the hardware allows it.

Using a 3rd party launcher like Go Launcher or Nova, etc. doesn't require root.

Its up to the ROM developer if they want to leave the access/usability of such OEM specialized apps & features. In most cases these days it appears they leave the most popular/device selling perk type apps/features in tact with options to disable them which normally you don't get with stock.

 

[the mozz]

I know the launchers don't require root...but on the HTC Incredible for instance, you lose the Sense widgets entirely, and many of the "sense interactions" between apps if I remember correctly, if you use golauncher or launcherpro etc. I was wondering if there were any features that would be lost be using a launcher on a One or GS4.

Thanks for the info about the ROMs. I wasn't aware that they left any "stock" functionality. Though that could be because I have only used them on limited devices. (I loved my launch day Incredible but it couldn't handle much anymore. lol.)

It seems like if I could do golauncher to get new homescreen functionality and app drawer look/feel, that may be the only things I would want to change about the One.

 

[Paul627g]

Yeah let me clarify that a bit. Independent ROM devs seem to like leaving the option available to use the OEM special apps but the big guns like CM or AOKP still strip their ROMs down in most cases.

 

[adriandb]

As the One will be my first experience with Android I'm going to give it a go with the stock ROM. Though, based on the above post, it seems that it would be possible to have a ROM with native Android OS with some of the cool, HTC One specific functionality line Zoes. That could be interesting.