those with rooted GNEX

[T2urtle]

I've came from a long line of ROOTED (mytouch3g, nexus one, nexus S, incredible S) phones and the Galaxy nexus being the first i haven't rooted yet because i haven't had the need. Seems they added all the stuff i actually wanted, like flashlight apps, screenshot, music player on lockscreen. Overall speed and battery life is good.

So i've had the phone for like 4-5 months and now part of me wants to root and run other roms agains. I normally do CM whatever they are on or go with the popular guys. I dont like MIUI, or much of the SENSEUI stuff. Just plain ASOP type with tweaks.

Anything solid in terms of ROM improvements to make me jump over to ROOT the phone? I kinda liked not constantly checking to see if there is an update to my rom and just enjoying the phone but it also now bores me.

 

[ponyo]

I'm rooted but stock. I have no desire to run custom ROMs. Root doesn't mean you have to run custom ROMs. I rooted so I could change the build to Yakju and now Takju. And to run Stickmount. It's also nice to be able to access the root directory to access /cache for manually flashing official updates instead of waiting.

 

[wirednuts]

yeah the only reason i run custom roms is for cpu overclocks and to get jellybean on my sensation that never had an official jb release (and wont). otherwise, if the stock roms do what you need then just root it and go with it.

 

[T2urtle]

Does stickmount make it like the old androids. Like plug into computer and its a USB flash drive not the silly "media device or camera" option.

 

[ockky]

Currently I'm running AOKP which i like alot. However, they have yet to release a 4.2 build. That said, the best thing rooting has allowed me to do is rename the phone so that i can bypass Verizon and install GWallet from the play store.

 

[s44]

Rooting on Verizon is basically mandatory to get Wallet. I also like the extra integration you get with root for Nova and Cerberus.

I know some ROMs have volume tweaks, if that bothers you. Otherwise...

 

[Dulanic]

I like a lot of the little tweaks and settings provided to me so I do replace my ROM also now that I have a GNEX (temporary for LTE on Sprint). I run the Jellybro ROM as it seems super smooth, even more so than stock.

 

[sjwaste]

I don't understand why you wouldn't unlock and root, even if you wanted to run the stock firmware. There are useful apps that benefit from root. Off the top of my head, I've used Titanium Backup, APN Backup & Restore, Lightflow, ES File Explorer, and a few others just in the past week. I realize the first two are most useful if you're switching roms, but also useful for backing up in the event of a bad mod flash.

I'm on the N4, but I wanted a circle battery gauge mod, and some changes to the settings tiles - no need for a completely different rom, but a mod on XDA handled it. Unfortunately, there were some issues with an odd background on the clock, so I wanted to restore - only possible with root, AFAIK, since I had to restore SystemUI.apk.

I don't really see the downside in rooting unless you're out there looking for malware specifically targeting it. Even then, you need to grant root access when the app requests it. Nothing is silently elevating privileges unless you've granted that app access in the past.

 

[T2urtle]

Light flow looks interesting.

Maybe I shall root. What's the most convenient quickest way of rooting on a mac? Never tried rooted on a macbook only done on PC.

 

[zsdersw]

What GNex do you have? Verizon or GSM/International?

My favorite ROM is BlackBean AOKP, but it's been discontinued because the creator has moved on to the Nexus 4.

 

[Anubis]

running AOKP JB MS1 on mine and im happy, i do it for reasons others have stated. backups/security. also tethering, more onscreen/lock controlls ect

 

[sjwaste]

Light flow looks interesting.

Maybe I shall root. What's the most convenient quickest way of rooting on a mac? Never tried rooted on a macbook only done on PC.

For the GNex, I'm not sure since I haven't owned one. I'd start by checking the XDA forums, specifically the Galaxy Nexus subforum.

Is your nexus unlocked? If not, I believe unlocking does wipe the device completely (including SD if applicable), which sucks if you have a bunch of stuff you don't want to lose.

 

[Sheep]

Is your nexus unlocked? If not, I believe unlocking does wipe the device completely (including SD if applicable), which sucks if you have a bunch of stuff you don't want to lose.

Confirmed. Unlike flashing a new ROM or kernel, unlocking wipes EVERYTHING from your device including internal storage. Make sure to plan accordingly and backup everything you want to save prior to unlocking it.

 

[Eug]

I don't understand why you wouldn't unlock and root, even if you wanted to run the stock firmware. There are useful apps that benefit from root. Off the top of my head, I've used Titanium Backup, APN Backup & Restore, Lightflow, ES File Explorer, and a few others just in the past week. I realize the first two are most useful if you're switching roms, but also useful for backing up in the event of a bad mod flash.

Waste of time for most people, myself included.

ES File Explorer doesn't require root anyway, unless you want to go mucking about in the system files.

And does Lightflow require root? It doesn't say so in the description.

 

[bonkers325]

there is no reason to root any nexus device unless you want to tinker with it. it runs fine out of the box.

that said, most people will buy a nexus device because they are well supported devices that can be easily tinkered with.

 

[Eug]

most people will buy a nexus device because they are well supported devices, and the nexus phones may not be carrier locked

t,ftfy

 

[T2urtle]

there is no reason to root any nexus device unless you want to tinker with it. it runs fine out of the box.

that said, most people will buy a nexus device because they are well supported devices that can be easily tinkered with.

Pretty much exactly why Ive tried to stick with the nexus lines. Then past phones I needed to because it lacked a lot of addons but now its loaded with everything I need. I'll go over xda to see if there are easy methods.

 

[sjwaste]

Waste of time for most people, myself included.

ES File Explorer doesn't require root anyway, unless you want to go mucking about in the system files.

And does Lightflow require root? It doesn't say so in the description.

DroidWall - Firewall (block the data hogging apps, or kill internet connectivity for apps that shouldn't have it anyway)

CallMaster - Block calls

Stickmount - if your device doesn't have an SD slot

Any of the backup apps - you'll know when you need it, even if you don't use custom ROMs

Tethering apps

LBE Privacy Guard or PDroid - block specific permissions for specific apps

LightFlow for notification LED control - it's listed in my SuperSU whitelist, so it's requested root. off the top of my head, I cant remember what features require root, but some do.

Custom recoveries for easy backup and restore.

Beyond that, if you want to flash some simple mods that tweak the UI, there are many for the stock firmware. Change the battery icon, add tiles to the android 4.2 quick toggle pulldown, change short/long press actions on the setting tiles (the default config sucks), shrink the soft keys, etc. I think most users would find that to their liking, its just that most don't even know that those options exist, they just deal with the annoyances in the UI rather than find ways to change it.

But I'm still stuck on why you wouldn't root and unlock right out of the box just to have those capabilities if you want them later, without having to wipe.

 

[cl-scott]

For me, I'd consider it worth rooting just to be able to replace the stock kernel with something like LeanKernel. Something that is stipped down and doesn't have a bunch of useless battery sucking garbage running. The one thing that really holds the GNex back is the battery life.

But I also liked some of the little things that was done in CM10/AOKP. Like unlinking ringer and notification volumes after Google tied them together in 4.0.3 IIRC, the notification toggles are handy, being able to customize the location and function of the softkeys is cool (like making long-pressing the back button kill an app). None of these things are strictly necessary of course, but they're nice to have IMO.

 

[Eug]

Stickmount - if your device doesn't have an SD slot

I found Stickmount kind of flaky on my Nexus 7. Once in a while it would stop automounting, so I'd have to mount manually. Irritating. Once I found Nexus Media Importer, for my usage Stickmount became superfluous.

Plus it's moot with Google's flagship phones now. Stickmount doesn't support the Nexus 4, and the Razr HD/Maxx HD support microSD.

Any of the backup apps - you'll know when you need it, even if you don't use custom ROMs

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Custom recoveries for easy backup and restore.

This I can understand, although I don't particularly like Titanium Backup. Personally I think it's bizarre Google doesn't have a fully automatic backup solution and upgrader.

I think that represents a major fail in 2012.

Tethering apps

Well, in Canada, tethering is already the norm with various carriers. With my carrier, any plan with 1 GB or more includes tethering by default, at no extra cost.

Beyond that, if you want to flash some simple mods that tweak the UI, there are many for the stock firmware. Change the battery icon, add tiles to the android 4.2 quick toggle pulldown, change short/long press actions on the setting tiles (the default config sucks), shrink the soft keys, etc. I think most users would find that to their liking, its just that most don't even know that those options exist, they just deal with the annoyances in the UI rather than find ways to change it.

But I'm still stuck on why you wouldn't root and unlock right out of the box just to have those capabilities if you want them later, without having to wipe.

Like I said, it's a waste of time and effort for most people. Furthermore, it's not supported, and is higher risk to the integrity of the OS install.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Anubis]

there is no reason to root any nexus device unless you want to tinker with it. it runs fine out of the box.

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long press volume to skip to the next track

/thread

 

[T2urtle]

I just borrowed a windows laptop, rooted and running catalsym ROM right now. Nothing great, a little freeze up. Going to try another one soon.

Loving the new tile option in the drop box.

I'm a GSM GNex for the few that asked.