If you've gotten a Nexus and haven't rooted/Rom'd...

[jeff_k]

Don't return your phone yet!!

I loved this phone when I got it except for one problem: the stock version was getting 4-6 hours of battery life on the extended battery! I was seriously thinking this wasn't the phone for me.

After rooting and flashing Codename 1.4.0, the battery life shot up - and now with Franco's kernel, by dinnertime I still have 75% battery life left.

What I don't get is - you'd think that the carriers and manufacturers would know well enough how important battery life is, but it's the hackers that get it right!

So - if you are deliberating about taking the plunge to rooting / flashing a ROM and haven't yet, don't bad-mouth the phone.

 

[veloslave#AC]

I was definitely unhappy with the phone... wasn't going anywhere because the hardware was right and I knew the fixes would come.

Indeed!

I have the ROM mentioned in my sig... pretty much vanilla 4.0.4 and am using RocketDialer and NovaLauncher... Complete different phone... this thing rocks, I am completely satisfied with the small exception that Verision doesn't have its act together on LTE yet.

I agree on hanging in there... as soon as Verizon gets the update out and tightens things up on LTE this thing will be smoking!

 

[SuperChargedJ]

Don't return your phone yet!!

I loved this phone when I got it except for one problem: the stock version was getting 4-6 hours of battery life on the extended battery! I was seriously thinking this wasn't the phone for me.

After rooting and flashing Codename 1.4.0, the battery life shot up - and now with Franco's kernel, by dinnertime I still have 75% battery life left.

What I don't get is - you'd think that the carriers and manufacturers would know well enough how important battery life is, but it's the hackers that get it right!

So - if you are deliberating about taking the plunge to rooting / flashing a ROM and haven't yet, don't bad-mouth the phone.

I definitely agree that rooting your phone would greatly improve its overall performance. Especially with the GN. Once the source for 4.0.4 gets released we should have some amazing ROMs in the future. Not to mention that Jellybean is also coming.

 

[tony bag o donuts]

for me, unrooting my dbm went from -101 to -73....same spot...back on stock 4.0.2 until the replacement arrives.

 

[jeff_k]

for me, unrooting my dbm went from -101 to -73....same spot...back on stock 4.0.2 until the replacement arrives.

Dude... -73 is a MUCH stronger signal level than -101! That is a great reason to root! Not sure why you are complaining.

 

[jbomb11]

Don't return your phone yet!!

I loved this phone when I got it except for one problem: the stock version was getting 4-6 hours of battery life on the extended battery! I was seriously thinking this wasn't the phone for me.

After rooting and flashing Codename 1.4.0, the battery life shot up - and now with Franco's kernel, by dinnertime I still have 75% battery life left.

What I don't get is - you'd think that the carriers and manufacturers would know well enough how important battery life is, but it's the hackers that get it right!

So - if you are deliberating about taking the plunge to rooting / flashing a ROM and haven't yet, don't bad-mouth the phone.

Can you pm me a step by step guide to do what you did? Or post it in here?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[tony bag o donuts]

Dude... -73 is a MUCH stronger signal level than -101! That is a great reason to root! Not sure why you are complaining.

Yeah I know.
I wasn't complaining.
Just posting my info is all.

Didn't matter, signal still went from -73 to 120 to 93 to 101 within 2 miles.

I work about 1-3 miles from the Lehigh Valley Tower and am only getting -101 and 2 bars 4g outside my office.

Go figure...that was when rooted. Stock is slightly better.
I may just unlock the bootloader with the replacement since I convinced them to send me a new sim as well. Wait a week, then root.

 

[dmmarck]

Yeah I know.
I wasn't complaining.
Just posting my info is all.

Didn't matter, signal still went from -73 to 120 to 93 to 101 within 2 miles.

I work about 1-3 miles from the Lehigh Valley Tower and am only getting -101 and 2 bars 4g outside my office.

Go figure...that was when rooted. Stock is slightly better.
I may just unlock the bootloader with the replacement since I convinced them to send me a new sim as well. Wait a week, then root.

This occurred without a rom--just the act of unlocking, rooting, and installing Superuser? I don't think there's any correlation to be honest, unless you had a rom or new radios. Very odd though.

 

[tony bag o donuts]

no.
I had codename 1.1- 1.4 and the 4.04 radios when I was rooted.

 

[dmmarck]

no.
I had codename 1.1- 1.4 and the 4.04 radios when I was rooted.

Very interesting indeed.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Xparent Cyan Tapatalk

 

[jeff_k]

Can you pm me a step by step guide to do what you did? Or post it in here?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

The guys here have made it very easy - much easier than what I did on my fascinate.
On my PC, I downloaded and installed Wug's Galaxy Nexus root toolkit (from the sticky). I don't have the menu in front of me, but in the thread it gives you step-by-step instructions - you get the drivers installed on your PC properly first (very good debugging they include if things don't work the first time). You then unlock and then root.
You can then go on market to download the ROM Manager (per their instructions) and install CWR (clockwork recovery), which allows you to reboot into a menu for flashing ROMs.

Next, you go to the sticky for the Codename 1.4.0 ROM also here, and download both the ROM and the Google Apps files (they end with .zip). Once you have downloaded them to your PC, connect your phone to your PC via USB cable, share files, and just copy those 2 zip files to the root folder of your card.

Next, boot into recovery (press both vol up, vol down and the power switch at the same time).
Some folks recommend wiping cache and advanced... clear dalvik cache, but I didn't.
In the menu, select install zip file (not sure of the exact wording), and find the ROM file and flash it. Then flash the Gapps file.
Reboot and you should be good to go.
If you don't leave the bootup screen (it happened to me once), I had to pull the battery and reboot into CWR and do a factory reset, which interestingly solved the problem without getting rid of the new ROM and kernel.

For installing franco's kernel, the simplest way is to download his paid app off the market, he has everything automated and you can also get his nightly kernel updates if you want. You can flash the kernel right over the Codename kernel without consequence.

There are tweaks that you can do to save more battery life, but with the franco kernel set at its default settings, it gives amazing battery life. Just one tweak I would recommend for sure: enable hotplug in his app, it turns off one of the CPUs when your screen is off. That makes a big difference.

Hopefully this is complete - I am writing from memory. Someone can correct any of the steps or make them clearer. Everything I have posted can be found elsewhere in these threads.

Regarding the variable signal levels, you might want to try the latest leaked radios (I found them on the xda-developers forum), which you can get as a zip file and flash the same way as the ROMs.

Cheers, Jeff

 

[jeff_k]

One other quick note: using Wug's Nexus root toolkit, you can revert back to stock from the menu (I had to do this because my first Nexus radio was screwed up and kept on shutting down). After I rooted, I just went into that toolkit and reverted everything back before I returned to Verizon to exchange the phone.
Like I said, the guys here have made it very easy!
Jeff

 

[pool_shark]

Don't return your phone yet!!

I loved this phone when I got it except for one problem: the stock version was getting 4-6 hours of battery life on the extended battery! I was seriously thinking this wasn't the phone for me.

After rooting and flashing Codename 1.4.0, the battery life shot up - and now with Franco's kernel, by dinnertime I still have 75% battery life left.

What I don't get is - you'd think that the carriers and manufacturers would know well enough how important battery life is, but it's the hackers that get it right!

So - if you are deliberating about taking the plunge to rooting / flashing a ROM and haven't yet, don't bad-mouth the phone.

Don't bad mouth a device that doesn't work properly out of the box if you're not willing to root and ROM?
Seriously?
Haha.

 

[jeff_k]

[/B]

Don't bad mouth a device that doesn't work properly out of the box if you're not willing to root and ROM?
Seriously?
Haha.

Seems crazy, doesn't it?
But I maintain, the phone is awesome - the carriers (at least Verizon) just don't have a respectable ROM and kernel. Badmouth them instead would be my suggestion.

While I was buying the phone, the Verizon rep was there - she was complaining that she has to keep her Nexus plugged in all the time. Shame she can't root and ROM...

 

[scarryman04]

While I was buying the phone, the Verizon rep was there - she was complaining that she has to keep her Nexus plugged in all the time. Shame she can't root and ROM...

Why couldn't she? My buddy is a rep and he rooted/ROM'd his GN...then put it back to stock because the speaker went out and got a replacement.

I mean I thought when you pay for something that means its yours...you don't buy a PC and get told you can't change the version of windows

I think this locking down business is BS...but just my 2?

 

[jbomb11]

If I used codename 1.5 do I just need to download that and not the two separate zip files like with 1.4?

 

[scarryman04]

If I used codename 1.5 do I just need to download that and not the two separate zip files like with 1.4?

I would recommend downloading and flashing the latest Gapps just in case

 

[jbomb11]

What is everyone's preferred from/radio? I'm running codename 1.5 with Franco's latest stable kernel. How do I add themes?

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

 

[scarryman04]

I just flashed AOKP M4 yesterday and loving it so far with the .4 radios...as for themes you have to find ones for that specific ROM and flash them just like you would a ROM without the data wipe, you can wipe cache and dalvik if u feel like it...I always do just to keep things cleared out

 

[jeff_k]

It seems that the radios that people like best vary a lot. All of the radios I have tried have worked just fine. You can flash any of the radios with any of the ROMs/kernels. The easiest way, if you have been using CWR to flash zip files, is to get the zip versions of the radios and flash them in CWR.