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Help Buying a used Razr, need root advise! Please!

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xGhost09

Lurker
Alright this is my very first post on androidforums, so I apologize if this is not the correct forum for this question. I am looking at buying a used Droid razr. I have two people offering me one. One of them is stock, the other is rooted. The rooted wants $50 more. He is using it now and says it runs perfectly. He only rooted it to remove bloatware and to get free tethering. He says he doesn't use any custom roms or anything. So my question is, how risky is it buying a rooted phone? I have never rooted a phone yet, and Have been happy with my androids for the most part. the main problem I have been having lately, however, is battery life. the guy selling the rooted razr says that after he rooted it, it almost doubled his battery life. Can rooting do that this easily? Is it worth $50 to buy the rooted phone? Or is it just risky? I had a friend who rooted his phone once, and his phone ended up loosing performance (crashed, was slow network speeds). I dont want that to happen to me. I want longer battery life and increased performance, but is it worth the risk of buying a rooted phone from a stranger and the extra $50? Need help today because I am suppose to be meeting them later.

Thanks for any advice!
 
xGhost09 said:
Alright this is my very first post on androidforums, so I apologize if this is not the correct forum for this question. I am looking at buying a used Droid razr. I have two people offering me one. One of them is stock, the other is rooted. The rooted wants $50 more. He is using it now and says it runs perfectly. He only rooted it to remove bloatware and to get free tethering. He says he doesn't use any custom roms or anything. So my question is, how risky is it buying a rooted phone? I have never rooted a phone yet, and Have been happy with my androids for the most part. the main problem I have been having lately, however, is battery life. the guy selling the rooted razr says that after he rooted it, it almost doubled his battery life. Can rooting do that this easily? Is it worth $50 to buy the rooted phone? Or is it just risky? I had a friend who rooted his phone once, and his phone ended up loosing performance (crashed, was slow network speeds). I dont want that to happen to me. I want longer battery life and increased performance, but is it worth the risk of buying a rooted phone from a stranger and the extra $50? Need help today because I am suppose to be meeting them later.

Thanks for any advice!
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well as long as you can see it working, that is, if the phone is not soft bricked, you can go for the rooted phone...but wait a sec, if battery life is the only thing you are looking for, there are apps that promise a better battery life like the juice defender...If it were me, i would go for the stock one because, hey this is an android phone we are talking it about, it is almost like open hard ware and open software, you can do whatever you wanna do with it. So my strong suggestion is to go for the stock one cuz you can root it later if you want and there are apps that can freeze bloatware even without rooting. And just rooting the phone (and yes, making a few modifications) does not add 50 extra bucks to the bill....but no matter what, make sure everything works fine in either case before getting the beast :D:D:D:D
 
First of all welcome to AF. Glad you stopped by. Congrats on post #1



if it were me i'd buy the cheaper unrooted one then root it if i wanted to.
 
thanks for the warm welcoming guys! :) I have used this website frequently for questions and troubleshooting, but never have made an account and posted anything.... looks like I have found a new hobby :P.

I was leaning toward the non stock one, however, he said that it was dropped and one of the corners is slightly scuffed (not a big deal) while the rooted one says his is in mint condition, not a scratch on it, always cased.

obviously I am going to inspect each phone and run the esn before I purchase anything, but my inner self-conscious is killing me about that scuff for some reason :P

Thanks for the timely response btw! I really appreciate it guys. Also, dont ics updates remove root capabilities?
 
narayanan9190 said:
well as long as you can see it working, that is, if the phone is not soft bricked, you can go for the rooted phone...but wait a sec, if battery life is the only thing you are looking for, there are apps that promise a better battery life like the juice defender...If it were me, i would go for the stock one because, hey this is an android phone we are talking it about, it is almost like open hard ware and open software, you can do whatever you wanna do with it. So my strong suggestion is to go for the stock one cuz you can root it later if you want and there are apps that can freeze bloatware even without rooting. And just rooting the phone (and yes, making a few modifications) does not add 50 extra bucks to the bill....but no matter what, make sure everything works fine in either case before getting the beast :D:D:D:D
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somebody once told me that apps like those are a joke and usually do nothing if not use more juice than stock.... apparently I need to do some research on them.
 
our pleasure mate :)
you can root it back i guess when ya update to ICS...but if you are anywhere near asia, dont expect ics update for atleast a few more months..and if you are going for the leaked ics version, then you should be rooted to install it..
first things first, get the phone and enjoy(??!!) the stock for a while, and then go to all things root in the sticky threads, which will tell ya everything about rooting and bringing it back...
 
xGhost09 said:
somebody once told me that apps like those are a joke and usually do nothing if not use more juice than stock.... apparently I need to do some research on them.
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I use them and i do see some changes in the life and death of razr :P but you have smart actions, which will help ya extending battery too...but juice defender, i have mixed opinions about it. anyway it does the job :)
 
trophynuts said:
yeah ICS will break root if you choose to accept the official OTA.
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True and false.
Based on the leak, you will lose root but there is an app (Voodoo Ota Keeper) that lets you "save" your root access and regain it after the update.

I third the motion...50 bucks to root and freeze apps is ridiculous.
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Fourthed. If you can power of the phone, and charge it you can root. And it will take less time to root then it takes for the phone to fully power on.
http://www.droidforums.net/forum/droid-razr-hacks/198379-updated-droid-razr-utility-windows.html
 
well i thought I would just give you all an update to what happened. after inspecting both phones, I went with the rooted one. the non rooted one was not in near as good of shape. It was older, scratched and dropped, not cased or protected at all, and just didn't make me feel special when I held it :P. The rooted one is in mint condition. It looks brand new, came with original box, manual, and cords. And I talked the rooted guy down $50 to match the other guys. So far I love the phone, and I am also loving being rooted!! It really does give you so much more control over your phone. thanks for the advice guys, I really appreciate it!
 
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