Rooted Android - You really don't need to do this anymore

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Rooted Android - You really don't need to do this anymore

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sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Nice, glad it finally worked!

# ¿ Sep 3, 2014 14:35

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 12:21

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Teeter posted:

Sorry I wasn't clear, but I'd like to do it without root if possible. I don't see a reason to mess with the Nexus or gently caress around with rooting anymore. It's really just data for aCar that I'm missing out on so it's not the end of the world to lose a year's worth of data but it would be nice if I could restore it.

Restoring app data with Titanium Backup is really nice to be able to do, though. Helium might or might not be able to work, but it will likely take as long or longer to do it without root via Helium than to root your Nexus 5, restore the backups, then unroot and relock the bootloader, which is guaranteed to work. It is really, really simple, and there are no downsides as it is 100% reversible.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2014 16:32

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Ableist Kinkshamer posted:

I really want to root my Kyocera Brigadier to disable the useless bloatware- it comes with a ton and it doesn't allow you to disable most of it. I think my phone would work fine without all the useless Amazon apps, but somehow it disagrees. Only problem is, looking around online it seems no one has figured out how to root it yet. Is there a guide somewhere for rooting a phone "from scratch" i.e. how to do it yourself without using some "one click" program?

To add, in general you cannot "do it yourself" from scratch. Someone has to have found a root exploit. If your phone isn't popular or is extra locked down, it's possible that never happens. Such exploits can also be closed via updates from the manufacturer.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2014 21:23

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Ableist Kinkshamer posted:

Maybe I enjoy having a phone that won't break if I look at it the wrong way? Thanks for the non-help though, I'll remember not to bother coming here next time I have a question.

He's not really being unhelpful. Something like a Galaxy S5 in an otter box will be just as rugged, will get lots more support from Samsung and the community if you do decide to root, and will also just be a better phone.

# ¿ Sep 8, 2014 22:19

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Syrinxx posted:

Is there any way at all to move apps and their data to an external SD in 4.4.x? I'm no linux pro but it seems like a simple move and symlink would work fine, but there don't seem to be any apps that do this.

I have a stock rooted Z2 and I just want to move comiXology to the SD card so I can download all my stuff. Honestly I don't even see what the point of having an SD slot is on your device after Kit Kat, this is really irritating.

The official way of doing this would be for comixology to store the media on the SD card, just like how the camera or a music app would do. Is there an option in the app? When you buy comics through it, does it let you select whether to download to internal storage or SD card?

# ¿ Oct 2, 2014 04:51

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Kaizoku posted:

It's about two decades, yeah, but it's the kind of thing that people would want to have on hand in full when they're first reading through it, just trying to show you don't need to be a phone-file hoarding weirdo to start taking real amounts of space is all. Especially if the app saves to device memory, that's a huge file to put up with just cause the app has shoddy code.

Use a better app? I'd imagine there are a million comic apps on Android, surely one has the proper method for saving to SD on KitKat.

# ¿ Oct 2, 2014 21:43

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Syrinxx posted:

I realize that being a pedantic pure-Android apologist is your thing but it's loving retarded that I can't control where my poo poo goes in Kit Kat when rooted. Even more annoying is the fact that the function used to be right there, you could just click the "Move to SD card" button that was an integrated part of Android.

DemonMage posted:

It has nothing to do with being an apologist. The app developer could easily write to their app specific storage on the SD card, but they're choosing not to. Not letting apps randomly throw files around on your system that persist after removal is a good thing. Comixology updated their app about a week ago, they've had months to fix this issue, so if you still can't download comics to SD that's on them. Bitch at them, not the thread or Google.

Yup, this. It's really simple. Comixology can use your SD card exactly like you want, the developers just haven't done so. This would be like bitching at Apple that an iPad app was never updated with retina assets.

# ¿ Oct 3, 2014 03:02

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

wolrah posted:

I remember when the Evo 4G was first getting CM7 it took months to get GPS working properly and the workaround was something like this. Boot to stock, reset AGPS, and it would work for some indeterminate amount of time.

Anyone know enough about the Android GPS subsystem to explain why this happens when on the PC side of things GPSes are basically universal devices that show up as a serial port and output a standard data format (NMEA)? Has Qualcomm gone out of their way to make their GPS chips insane?

What seems more likely, Qualcomm making their chips insane or android ROM developers being incompetent?

# ¿ Oct 25, 2014 14:39

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Guillermus posted:

It could be other situation, where asus hosed up TF101 and 201s so they never got gps to work properly and then some guy makes it work with a custom rom

Not that that can't happen, but when the solution is "reboot out of our rom and back into the working stock rom and the feature works perfectly!!!", I think it's unlikely

# ¿ Oct 25, 2014 15:30

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Vlad the Retailer posted:

I've got a Samsung Xcover 2 (GT-S7710), which for some reason only has 1 gb of internal storage, and a strange partition setup that doesn't allow moving apps to the SD card. This isn't ideal.

This blog entry suggests that the way to go is to flash a "deodexed" and pre-rooted ROM, and use Mounts2SD with a properly formatted SD card. Is the advice here correct, or is there a way to fix the SD storage issues without doing that?

Not sure. But lol at the Cyanogenmod talk at that page:

that link posted:

*** UPDATE September 14, 2014: I did not get my Samsung Xcover 2 to recognize the SIM card with any of the CyanogenMod versions 10.1, 10.2 or 11. I also tried the OmniROM but it did not recognize the SIM card either. Some people have reported that their Xcover 2 works fine with the CyanogenMod. The only way I could get it to recognize the SIM card was to use a pre-rooted Samsung ROM that enabled me to change the default installation location to the SD card. Read about the method below. ***

# ¿ Oct 25, 2014 23:03

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Isaac Asimov posted:

I agree.

XDA.jpg is a picture of the largest trash island in the Pacific ocean.

I'll post again, although this thread is the forgotten shoebox of obsolete trinkets in the closet of a room used for storage: What can I do? Can T-mobile just flash it back to stock somehow if I can't fix it?

Why would T-Mobile touch the phone after you've voided the warranty? Hopefully someone helpful will come by, but you're basically on your own + guidance from here and xda. As far as I can recall, Samsung phones should be completely fixable if you can get it into download mode, get it seen in Odin, and have the stock flashable image thing.

# ¿ Oct 28, 2014 04:32

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Doomsday Jesus posted:

Ok, hold on. I'll make some money appear out if thin air.

Returning it is almost like making money appear out of thin air, haha. I don't remember exactly how each of the Kindle Fire generations differs and don't know what yours cost, but I'd prefer a used or refurb Nexus 7 2013 (16GB) from eBay or wherever for ~$120-140 over any of the Kindle Fires if the Fire cost any more than like $50-60. Better display, better software, better apps, faster, etc etc. I know that isn't being too helpful, but I wanted to say slightly more than just "get a different tablet" while still having that as the basic message

The bonus is that if you do want to do the whole root/ROM runaround, there's literally nothing better than a Nexus to use.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2014 21:59

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Doomsday Jesus posted:

It is the first generation HD 7" screen model I bought when they first came out.

As the owner of a Nook HD+ (from 2012), I feel your pain. This step-by-step guide thread and this thread with videos and both look quite useful. You should be able to follow the guide exactly, I think, and the rest of that thread should have common problems/questions and their solutions. The videos are likely out of date and don't directly apply anymore, but the general process should still be similar so they can help you see what to expect. Shouldn't be too hard.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2014 22:54

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Doomsday Jesus posted:

Go gently caress yourself!

Thanks for the help everyone else.

Haha, r0ck0 was joking and making fun of me and nimper, he was trying to help from the beginning. Serves him right for not immediately making GBS threads on anyone that buys a non-Nexus.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2014 23:12

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Gozinbulx posted:

So its not normal that Aroma (or whatever its called) be stuck on 1% formatting /system for several minutes while flashing a ROM, right?

Gah. What do I do.

What is Aroma? What device? What rom? Probably let it sit longer.

# ¿ Nov 6, 2014 18:54

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

tjones posted:

I don't janitor my phone
[...]
The only thing I do is turn on GPS/wifi/data when I need it, or have Tasker do it automatically for me most of the time.

To be fair, this is like exactly what people mean when they say janitoring your phone. Throw in manually clearing RAM and flashing CM nightlies and you'd be doing it all. To give you some perspective, on any modern phone you shouldn't have any problems leaving wifi, data, and GPS always on, you just don't need to do that. If anything, you could be causing problems with apps that may not gracefully handle running on a dumbphone and being unable to ping data or GPS when they try to. E: Ha, just reread your post up there. Yeah, you would probably get better battery life if you kept stuff like data on, let your apps behave how they expect to be able to behave, and didn't have something like Greenify constantly running.

I also don't really get the condescension, but it's just something you shouldn't worry about or bother yourself to monitor. If you're trying to save battery at work where you get no signal or something, sure, makes sense, but if you're constantly turning off all these services when you're not actively using them, you're being a little silly.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2014 17:36

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Lblitzer posted:

what

Get a Google Play Edition phone then, or a Nexus, or an import. The Doogee DG550 sounds right up your alley.

Doogee DG550 Smartphone Highlight:
- 5.5 inch IPS, 1280*720 pixel display
- Android 4.2.9

Yeah, get this

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 22:28

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Lblitzer posted:

I don't really get what you want out of an Android phone if you aren't even impressed with a Nexus. Maybe you should just get a Windows Phone or iPhone since those don't get coated with manufacturer crap.

I played with the Doogee for a few days. Was pretty snappy, decent battery life and the screen was pretty great. It's just... Doogee.

Haha, wait, you weren't joking???

# ¿ Dec 8, 2014 22:52

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Luceo posted:

Someone does different things with their phone than I do! They must be a fat smelly nerd!

Luceo posted:

Perhaps the average person doesn't need to, but they never did. If you want complete control of a device you own, like I do for any computer of mine, then yes, it's required.

lol

# ¿ Dec 9, 2014 02:54

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Luceo posted:

Quality post, there. We are in the rooted Android thread.

FWIW, I was laughing because rooting your phone does not necessarily make you a smelly nerd goonsay, but then you said "If you want complete control of a device you own, like I do for any computer of mine, then yes, it's required.", which is an incredibly smelly nerd goonsay

# ¿ Dec 9, 2014 03:54

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Luceo posted:

If you want an AOSP-like experience on a non-Nexus device, a rom is required. I don't like TouchWiz/Sense/Blur so a custom rom is my only way to get AOSP.

I guess I expected the root thread to be a bit more friendly to the idea. Stupid me.

To try to be helpful, go pick up a Moto phone, there's no such thing as blur anymore, and they have a stock Android experience (plus things like active notifications). There are also GPE devices, so you can have your Samsung or HTC or Sony without having to worry about loving with them to get stock Android. There are more ways than ever before to have stock Android on your phone without having to flash a rom!

# ¿ Dec 9, 2014 04:15

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

nimper posted:

It's entirely possible to install Linux on a phone but dear God why would you ever want to?

Luceo posted:

Perhaps the average person doesn't need to, but they never did. If you want complete control of a device you own, like I do for any computer of mine, then yes, it's required.

# ¿ Dec 10, 2014 02:25

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Citizen Tayne posted:

This is how you arrive at downloading torrents on your telephone.

If you're going to watch your animes on your phone, why go through the hassle of torrenting them on your PC when you could download them straight to your phone?

# ¿ Dec 10, 2014 18:07

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

redeyes posted:

I signed up for Verizon unlimited data back when they did that and will never change my plan. So I am totally stuck using rooted whatever so I can tether and use my loving data.

Using a pre-rooted used Note II right now which is a really great phone. My problem is that it seems that new Samsung devices are so locked down that they are unrootable. Even my new Galaxy Tab S 10.5 tablet has this garbage called KNOX and voids my warranty if I root.

Honestly this is the end of my android if this continues. These are not computers anymore they are appliances. Very disappointing.

FlyingCheese posted:

Stop buying Samsung. Pretty simple really.

Yeah, this for one. Pretty sure unlocking a dev/pure edition Moto X bootloader does not void the warranty. Also, what are you going to switch to from Android?

# ¿ Dec 14, 2014 21:25

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

redeyes posted:

Well lets see what my Note II has that nothing else has..

1. loving great audio mods (voodoo sound!), negates the need for a DAC.
2. Wifi Tethering, unlimited, I signed up for it, I want to use it
3. OLED display, sorry this is the only type of display I will use anymore, this is why I bought the Tab S 10.5

Its pathetic I cant get this functionality out of any phone that isn't rooted. Having said that, I recognize this is the end of my root experience so I bought an Android DAC (Sabre mini-dac) and a FIIO headphone amp. They do work great except on my wifes brand new HTC ONE M8 with loving BOOMSOUND which is stupid enough to kick in when my DAC is in use rendering it horrible sounding. Great..The HTC ONE M8 has a poo poo camera. Its bad enough to ruin the phone for people that need a camera.

Frankly Samsung has the best screens, at least so far. My Tab S has the best screen I have EVER seen on ANY device ever. OLED FTW.

Im not bitching as much as trying to figure out an upgrade path that doesn't seem to exist.

Also rooting gets you SAMBA which makes the phone or tablet show up on my Windows network like any other computer and I love this feature.. ROOT ONLY!

Moto uses AMOLED and are easy to unlock the bootloader and root. Nexus 6 obviously too. You're raging against restrictions that don't exist.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2014 21:35

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Guillermus posted:

It might not be the best thread to ask, but why phones don't work with different carriers on North America? In Europe you can buy a phone from Germany and if it's unlocked can work perfectly in Spain with any carrier out of the box.

There are technical reasons (different networks use different technology, not all phones have the proper radios for all networks) and policy reasons (when a phone includes the radios to work on multiple carriers, the carrier you buy it from can SIM lock the phone; they don't want you to be able to take it to another carrier and so they just block you from doing so).

# ¿ Dec 14, 2014 22:02

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

xtal posted:

I bought an old Galaxy Nexus and flashed the latest Cyanogen on it. When I booted into it I didn't get a phone signal. I downloaded the stock image from Google and reverted to that and I still don't get a phone signal. Can somebody tell me where to start debugging this? There's nothing interesting in logcat and I've already tried like five different radios.

Did you get the right radio/rom for the version of the Galaxy Nexus you purchased? Was the phone reported stolen sometime and the IMEI is blacklisted?

# ¿ Dec 14, 2014 23:23

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

redeyes posted:

Yeah well, he is an unhelpful dick to me, so gently caress him.

As for the Tizen comment, I have used it on Samsungs new camera and it is not only fast but seems nice. But nevermind that, SPERGLORD AUTSTITC GOON LOL

You've talked about using custom roms with lots of modifications and community support, yet don't want to get another Samsung phone because they've started making them more locked down (though IIRC this is often Verizon's doing, too). Do you think Samsung's own OS, Tizen, which has no users, will be more customizable and more supported and more open than their Android phones? Might as well get a Palm Pre, there would probably be more modding available for it and not any worse prospects for future support either.

sourdough fucked around with this message at 02:26 on Dec 15, 2014

# ¿ Dec 15, 2014 02:24

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Did you install the Android SDK and the drivers that came with that?

# ¿ Dec 20, 2014 05:31

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

LeftistMuslimObama posted:

In the US it's a legal requirement that phones have an audible shutter sound that can't be disabled, or at least it was a couple of years ago. It is annoying though, because my dog automatically stops doing whatever cute thing he was doing the moment he hears camera sounds. I've had to resort to using Snapchat to take all my dog pix.

Definitely isn't true anymore. Nexus 5 on vibrate/silent = no shutter sound.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2014 17:02

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

r0ck0 posted:

My nexus 5 doesn't have a shutter sound even when its not on vibrate, I didn't remove it either.

Hah, could be, my phone basically never leaves vibrate

# ¿ Dec 31, 2014 17:24

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

RandomPauI posted:

I get the feeling the more money I throw at trying to make the Nook into something else the less money I'll have for its replacement. I don't want to throw it away, but I'm not sure who'd want it either.

Sell it on eBay for $70-90.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2015 12:00

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

monster on a stick posted:

I've known plenty of elderly people who would be pleased as punch to have an e-reader, and even the old Nook has served them just fine. I've even known regular folks who like the older readers because they can bring them on a trip, get good battery life, and not worry about losing it because it would be cheap to replace. Or who want to give their kids something.

The Nook HD+ is not an e-reader, it is a tablet like the Kindle Fires. It doesn't get any better battery life than any other tablet and isn't as cheap to replace as something like a Nook Simple Touch.

# ¿ Jan 7, 2015 13:29

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

RandomPauI posted:

I think it'd just made the change over by the time I got it, but I remember getting annoying error messages about conflicting apps, updates, etc. Uninstalling the offending apps didn't seem to fix things. It was as if the nook was re-installing the nook versions of the apps without my permission. I'd heard rooting it would allow a person to grant superuser access to the tablet, enable ram swaps, etc. If nothing else rooting it took care of the error messages.

Edit: Here's an example of the app issues. I had the nook version of the twitter app installed by default. I wanted to use the regular android version of it, so I installed it. This caused error messages to pop up about having multiple versions of the same app installed. I didn't want the nook version so I uninstalled it. But whenever it came time to update apps the nook version would be reinstalled and the error messages would pop up again.

The best you can make it is to install Cyanogenmod on the internal storage, but you'll still have a slow, stuttery, low-ish ram tablet. The screen is great, but that's all it has going for it.

# ¿ Jan 8, 2015 03:38

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

hooah posted:

How can I figure out why my phone sometimes won't wake up or is maybe turning itself off? I'm not exactly sure which is happening since the battery graph shows a big gap (like it's been off) , but I have to hold the power button for a while, let go, then hold it for a few seconds, then I get the boot animation (like I'm hard resetting it). Rooted Nexus 4 running stock 5.0.2.

Look up "Nexus sleep of death." I think turning off "ok google" detection from any screen fixed it for my wife's phone, but I don't remember exactly. Also probably don't use 5.0.2 since its release was halted and isn't available from the factory image page anymore.

# ¿ Jan 12, 2015 00:21

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Tunga posted:

5.0.2 was never released for anything other than the Nexus 7 2012 (Wi-Fi) and the factory image is still there.

Then he probably shouldn't be using it on a Nexus 4, yeah?

# ¿ Jan 12, 2015 02:52

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Deathlove posted:

I've googled a bit and found a bunch of articles from 2012, but is there a ROM (probably for Galaxy S4, but I'm willing to buy cheap phones to try this with) that just basically turns a phone into a personal media player? It'd be way chiller for me to link my kids to my Google Play Music account than to keep downloading and having to sync their Sansas whenever they want something new.

Turn off cell network? What exactly do you want it to do that would be different from a phone without cell service?

# ¿ Jan 30, 2015 19:03

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

Sir Gladu posted:

I've been trying to root my Moto G XT1032 with no success : trying to unlock Bootloader, I just get stuck at "waiting for device" after typing "fastboot oem get_unlock_data".
Downloaded Fastboot and the Android developer bundle, went into USB debug mode, tried to see if my USB drivers are up to date, changed usb port, I'm stumped.

Any help would be appreciated.

Gotta be your drivers *I think. I don't have any specific help except it'll be annoying and just try anything you find.

# ¿ Feb 20, 2015 03:23

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

30.5 Days posted:

Hi, the OP of this thread is 5 years old, made by a banned poster, and full of broken links. How do I root my phone?

Search "xda Samsung root" and start downloading and flashing stuff. What could go wrong?

# ¿ May 3, 2015 14:06

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 12:21

sourdough: Apr 30, 2012

I said come in! posted:

I thought a supreme court decision made it so software developers couldn't do this? There was a big deal over Apple and the jailbreak hack for iOS that ended up going to court and if I remember correctly that was basically the outcome, was the courts told Apple they can't prevent people from doing this sort of thing to their phones.

Are you thinking of network unlocking? That went to court, but has nothing to do with rooting.

# ¿ May 3, 2015 14:39

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > Rooted Android - You really don't need to do this anymore

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