Root questions (from a noob)

[Chillidog66]

I do not have the phone yet I'm not sure whether to get this phone or the Samsung galaxy s3. Does anyone know if you root the phone if you can remove the menu button that pops up on-screen on some apps and if you can do it without unlocking the phone. And also can you use a free wifi hot spot on the phone (with root) without sprint charging you. And what are the downsides of rooting the phone? Thanks!

 

[Chillidog66]

Oh and if you root it does it void your warranty?

 

[Zhara]

Idk what you mean about the menu button in apps, but yes you can tether for free and Sprint shouldn't know, unless you do it nonstop, in which case they might get suspicious. Hasn't happened to me though. And yes, rooting voids your warranty.

 

[Chillidog66]

This is what i mean. View the picture that I attached. Thanks.

 

[Chillidog66]

Oh and does it have to be unlocked to use the wifi hotspot and does it have to be unlocked to remove the menu button.

 

[kbp08tls]

This is what i mean. View the picture that I attached. Thanks.

The infamous 3-dot button that takes the place of menu in non-ICS optimzed apps. Yes, there are a number of ROMs and flashable mods that get rid of that. It's typically bundled with a button re-map that remaps recent apps to long-press home, and menu to the recent apps button.

I don't know of a way to do it without unlocking. You are going to have to root, unlock, flash a custom recovery, and flash any mods or ROMs via recovery.

You may be able to dig out how to do the mods yourself over at XDA. I'm sure it involves modification of a few system files. I don't know how complicated it would be to do.

Wifi hotspot - unlock not required.

 

[Chillidog66]

Does anybody know if you can put a free wifi hot spot on the galaxy s3? Thanks!