Root New N5 questions

[KutuluKid]

Hi everyone. My new N5 ships Tuesday. It's the 16Gb Red model.
I had a small problem with a N4 from Amazon -see here- http://androidforums.com/nexus-4/857885-no-ota-update.html
So now I wanted to know if anyone could help me understand some of the different ROMs available and differences between them. I have been rooting since gingerbread and have flashed more than one device with different roms. Hoping for suggestions on a good stable Rom. This is a daily driver device for me so stability is the most important feature for me. I am also interested in the idea of a new kernel but have no experience there. I know this may seem like alot for one post but I am trying to plan ahead for when the phone arrives. I have found it is easier to do this with a new phone to avoid setting up a device twice. Thanks in advance to everyone.

 

[scary alien]

Welcome to the N5, KutuluKid!

I read your N4 thread--pretty wild and glad you got things sorted in there :thumbup:.

Can't help you out w/info re. various ROMs since I'm usually busy working on my apps instead . But I would say that rooted running stock (like I do) is solid and stable for me since my N5 is also my daily driver.

You could also play around with Xposed and get some of your tweaking and features from that route without flashing a new ROM.

Best of luck!

 

[xdrc45]

Hi everyone. My new N5 ships Tuesday. It's the 16Gb Red model.
I had a small problem with a N4 from Amazon -see here- http://androidforums.com/nexus-4/857885-no-ota-update.html
So now I wanted to know if anyone could help me understand some of the different ROMs available and differences between them. I have been rooting since gingerbread and have flashed more than one device with different roms. Hoping for suggestions on a good stable Rom. This is a daily driver device for me so stability is the most important feature for me. I am also interested in the idea of a new kernel but have no experience there. I know this may seem like alot for one post but I am trying to plan ahead for when the phone arrives. I have found it is easier to do this with a new phone to avoid setting up a device twice. Thanks in advance to everyone.

Hey what's up KutuluKid!
Wow... Yeah that was quite the experience with that N4! Glad it worked out for you though!
Congrats and welcome to the N5 club! There really are a ton of great custom ROM's and kernels for the the N5 and choosing one can be quite time consuming.
The thing that it's really going to come down to is personal preference and what is it exactly that you are looking for in a ROM? Features, UI and etc.....
I personally use Dirty Unicorns, with Franco kernel as my DD, for stability, features, battery life, customization and performance. I've tried a few different ROM's and kernels on the N5 now and by far DU has been the best for me and my top favorite... Plus it just gets better and better with each update! :thumbup:

Some good, stable and popular ROM's that you might want to look at are -
Dirty Unicorns
PA
Mahdi
OmniRom
Carbon
CM

Kernels -
Franco
ElementalX
Linaro
Code Blue

Without getting to deatailed. The biggest difference between ROM's are what their base build is or the base source that the ROM was built on... AOSP ROM non AOSP to CM based ROM's and the Kernel compatibility with that ROM. AOSP ROM's would use AOSP kernel , while CM ROM's use a CAF kernel.
Kernel's can have a huge impact on how the ROM runs on the device and can increase performance, battery life, add additional features and tweaks.
The key here is to find a custom ROM that suits you and your needs, then add in a custom kernel that will make that perfect match for you and your N5 will fly!

Since you're planning on flashing a custom ROM/kernel... I would recommend that the first thing you do is unlock the bootloader, since this will commpletly wipe your device.
Then flash a custom recovery like, TWRP/CWM or Philz CWM based recovery and then root your N5 with the SuperSU.zip.
Then get the device setup and perform a stock/rooted nandroid backup and a separate EFS backup. Save both of those backups on the device and save them to somewhere safe off of the device like a PC or hard drive, for like an emergency situation.
So you have some choices and options to make, as far as a custom ROM, kernel and a recovery to install.
I also use TWRP recovery because of the features, built in EFS backup, OTG support, charging in recovery and etc....

Take a look at Rxpert83's Excellent Rooting Guide here - http://androidforums.com/nexus-5-all-things-root/790362-nexus-5-rooting-guide.html

After that then you'll be ready to flash a ROM and/or kernel of your choice and have some fun playing around and experimenting with your N5!

The other thing is if you want to try a ROM... Then try it! Just make sure that you have a current nandroid backup before hand and then flash the ROM, test it out and see if it's a fit for you or not... If not, then just restore your nandroid backup and it's like nothing even happened.
ROM's and kernels for the N5 are at your finger tips and they are all just a nandroid away from trying any of them out!


Hope this help and gets you started off in the right direction.
If you have any specific questions or need any help getting your N5 rooted or flashed just let me know!

 

[KutuluKid]

Ok. Everyone says to backup your data before unlocking bootloader to root because it will wipe all data. Can someone point me (link?) to the right way to do this? You do this before or after unlocking/root?

 

[Incakola]

Ok. Everyone says to backup your data before unlocking bootloader to root because it will wipe all data. Can someone point me (link?) to the right way to do this? You do this before or after unlocking/root?

You need a USB cable and a PC to get everything that you backed up out of the phone. Helium by clockworkmod may help (can backup to the cloud or create backup files in internal storage) but I've never tried it. Copy all the folders inside internal storage or pick the ones you know that are relevant and save them on your PC.

 

[xdrc45]

Ok. Everyone says to backup your data before unlocking bootloader to root because it will wipe all data. Can someone point me (link?) to the right way to do this? You do this before or after unlocking/root?

Ok, Since your planning on flashing a custom ROM the best thing to do is... Unlock the bootloader, (which wipes the device) then install a custom recovery and then root it using the SuperSU.zip.
The thing is you have to set your phone up (not a full device setup) to a certain point to allow you to access the phone settings, so that you can install the PC drivers for USB debugging, MTP, PTP mode, adb and fastboot
Once you have the drivers for the phone installed on the PC, then you can unlock the bootloader, flash a recovery and root it.
After that then you will want to set the phone up all the way and then create a stock/rooted nandroid and EFS backup. This will give you a fresh stock ROM starting point.

Then you will be ready to flash custom ROM.

 

[KutuluKid]

OK. I got it. I am thinking I might stay Vanilla for a while, but I really am thankful to everyone for their help.

 

[Ranhead]

Staying Vanilla is a great idea. After 9 months I'm still Vanilla . Also Scary's thoughts on Xposed are very sound. If you look into Xposed with Gravity Box, you can customize ALL sorts of things.

Remember one thing ...... HAVE FUN!!!

 

[xdrc45]

Staying Vanilla is a great idea. After 9 months I'm still Vanilla . Also Scary's thoughts on Xposed are very sound. If you look into Xposed with Gravity Box, you can customize ALL sorts of things.

Remember one thing ...... HAVE FUN!!!

Nothing wrong with that... I stayed stock vanilla for the first month or so that I had my N5.

That's what its all about though.... Having FUN!!

 

[thisISjoel]

OK. I got it. I am thinking I might stay Vanilla for a while, but I really am thankful to everyone for their help.

I stayed Vanilla for a while but as soon as I first flashed DU I was like "why didn't I do this day one!?!?" I have had my Nexus 5 for about 5 months and my experience using it has constantly been improving in that time and that is pretty much 100% the result of the awesome DU devs making improvements to their rom!

 

[xdrc45]

I stayed Vanilla for a while but as soon as I first flashed DU I was like "why didn't I do this day one!?!?" I have had my Nexus 5 for about 5 months and my experience using it has constantly been improving in that time and that is pretty much 100% the result of the awesome DU devs making improvements to their rom!

I have to agree with you there Joel... I absolutely love DU! After I finally flashed it I was like "Why did I wait so long, I should have done this sooner!" and yes, DU just gets better and better with each release! :thumbup:

Although I did flash L yesterday just to try it out again and it is pretty cool and it actually works and runs pretty darn good, especially with the Code Blue kernel!
I'll probably be back on DU tomorrow though.

Really can't wait for an official release of L and for DU to be updated to it... That'll be Saweet!!! arty:

 

[rhray]

I would only make one suggestion. Even if you want to stay vanilla, you can do so but it is highly recommended you Unlock the Bootloader for your N5 as soon as possible. The faster you unlock, the less data you have to backup in the first place. And once unlocked, you will have already prepared your phone for the future, when you in fact might take the step of rooting or flashing new ROMS/kernels.

It's the very first thing I did with my n5 and I didn't root the thing until after about 5 months of use

 

[KutuluKid]

I really should have done it out of the box, but I was without a phone for a week. I will have to wait until I get some free time.

 

[gale65]

I would only make one suggestion. Even if you want to stay vanilla, you can do so but it is highly recommended you Unlock the Bootloader for your N5 as soon as possible. The faster you unlock, the less data you have to backup in the first place. And once unlocked, you will have already prepared your phone for the future, when you in fact might take the step of rooting or flashing new ROMS/kernels.

It's the very first thing I did with my n5 and I didn't root the thing until after about 5 months of use

That's what I did only I went one step further and I rooted it using cf auto root and kept the stock rom. I had nothing to back up. It was perfect. Then when it was time to flash DU it was easier to do a good backup since I was already rooted.

 

[thisISjoel]

I have to agree with you there Joel... I absolutely love DU! After I finally flashed it I was like "Why did I wait so long, I should have done this sooner!" and yes, DU just gets better and better with each release! :thumbup:

Although I did flash L yesterday just to try it out again and it is pretty cool and it actually works and runs pretty darn good, especially with the Code Blue kernel!
I'll probably be back on DU tomorrow though.

Really can't wait for an official release of L and for DU to be updated to it... That'll be Saweet!!! arty:

Yeah, I ran the L developer preview very briefly but I was disappointed that all the material theme stuff wasn't there and I missed my dirty tweaks!

Android L DU will be THE SHIT!

Also, whoever decided the stock lcd density for the N5 should be 480 needs their head read! 420 on DU is so sexy! One of the things that bugged me on L was how huge everything was! I had to get an app to allow me to edit it, I couldn't deal!