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General Custom Rom Question

5fdprox

5fdprox

Well-Known Member
Hey all,Ive been rooting and installing the amazing roms from the amazing devs on my phones ive owned throughout the last 8 years.. I bought my daughter and I a Galaxy s7 edge, split second decision.. Now after hearing root is rough at best, and the bootloader is locked im sad lol....so my question is this, i need a phone that could be new or an older one that i dont necessarily need to have a cell network on that has ALOT of custom roms, to play around with, variety.. Im teaching my curious 9 year old daughter how to root and custom rom.. Thanks!
 
Basically any Nexus device, 5 ,5X, 6, 6P. Motorola's that are not carrier branded, older Samsung devices like the S3, except for the Verizon branded i535.
If you find a device that you like, look for the model number at XDA and see what custom development is available for it before you buy.
Good place to pick up a second hand device to use and play around with is Swappa
https://swappa.com
 
  1. Hi all! I just got a galaxy s7 edge like a month ago. And I bought the phone outright from a friend for get this! $300! I know that was a great deal for that phone! But he is a good friend! So I'm not on a device plan. Now my phone carrier plan is prepaid verizon plan. So I'm with verizon. So since I fully own the phone. It's my phone. So I should be able to do what I want with my phone? So I want to root it. I'm fully aware of the risks of rooting a phone? And that it voids the warranty. But first of all? There are some factory apps on my phone that I want to uninstall? I don't care if samsung wants them to stay on the phone? I own the phone! Samsung don't own my phone. I do! So I tried and tried and tried to root my phone over the last few days? With no avail? Then I find out that I have to unlock the bootloader? And well I have to say that this is bs! Why is samsung like this? When I own this phone? So I would appreciate it if anyone here could give me advice on how to accomplishing rooting my phone? Now also I don't have a pc? But I may be able to use a friend's pc to root my phone? But I would prefer not to have to use a pc to root my phone? Thanks! God bless you all!
 
Is there a thread in the forum you've not posted this to today? ;)

Seriously, it's off-topic here. The original poster was asking what phones are good for rooting. You are are asking for help with one that isn't. That's a different question, and hijacking someone else's thread with a different question is considered impolite in a forum (as is bombing many threads with the same question). Not telling off, just letting you know.
 
Hadron said:
Is there a thread in the forum you've not posted this to today? ;)

Seriously, it's off-topic here. The original poster was asking what phones are good for rooting. You are are asking for help with one that isn't. That's a different question, and hijacking someone else's thread with a different question is considered impolite in a forum (as is bombing many threads with the same question). Not telling off, just letting you know.
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Thanks for getting back to me! And well I called verizon. And they told me that verizon don't lock the bootloaders on the phones used on their network. So I figured the locked bootloader is a Samsung thing? And concerning using a pc? I probably would be able to use a friend's pc to unlock my phone? But from things I'm reading online? It's quite challenging to find an apk. To unlock bootloader and/or to root a s7? Plus I'm not sure if the bootloader is even locked on this phone? I don't know where to look on the phone to see if it's locked or unlocked? I do know that the os is marshmallow 6.0.1. So do you know where to look to see if the bootloader is locked? Thanks!
 
I'm not a Samsung expert, so am not the person to advise on how to root an S7. I don't think you'll be able to do it without a PC though.

As for bootloader locking, Verizon are the least root-friendly (but most bloatware-loving) carrier in the US, and have had locked bootloaders on all of their phones for years. So the person who told you they don't lock the bootloader was either (a) hiding behind semantics (Verizon don't lock it, they just tell the manufacturer to supply phones with locked bootloaders), (b) ignorant or (c) lying. I'd like to think it was (b).
 
Hadron said:
I'm not a Samsung expert, so am not the person to advise on how to root an S7. I don't think you'll be able to do it without a PC though.

As for bootloader locking, Verizon are the least root-friendly (but most bloatware-loving) carrier in the US, and have had locked bootloaders on all of their phones for years. So the person who told you they don't lock the bootloader was either (a) hiding behind semantics (Verizon don't lock it, they just tell the manufacturer to supply phones with locked bootloaders), (b) ignorant or (c) lying. I'd like to think it was (b).
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O really? Wow! Ok. Well yea cell phone carriers are like that. I know. And you know what? It's bs!!!!! Because if a person owns a product? And product? They should be able to do whatever they want with that product? So yea it's bs! Thanks!
 
Part of the way said:
O really? Wow! Ok. Well yea cell phone carriers are like that. I know. And you know what? It's bs!!!!! Because if a person owns a product? And product? They should be able to do whatever they want with that product? So yea it's bs! Thanks!
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Yeh, you own the the phone, it's your property OK, but you do not own the firmware that's installed on it (unless you install a custom ROM) , and carriers like Verizon like to ensure it stays that way.
 
mikedt said:
Yeh, you own the the phone, it's your property OK, but you do not own the firmware that's installed on it (unless you install a custom ROM) , and carriers like Verizon like to ensure it stays that way.
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So what if I want to get rid of the firmware and do install a custom rom? Can't I do that?
 
Part of the way said:
So what if I want to get rid of the firmware and do install a custom rom? Can't I do that?
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And ok, I don't own the firmware? What's that got to do with rooting a phone? The firmware is still the firmware? And yes I assume when you root a phone you can mod the firmware? But what is it that's wrong with doing that? And not only that? If a person owns a pc with Microsoft os? Microsoft don't have an issue with if anyone mods the os? Do they? So what's the difference between a pc and a phone?
 
And also. I'm a gamer. And take the video game (elder scrolls skyrim) for instance? I played ps3 version. But people who had the pc version? Millions of people moded that game in all kinds of ways? And did Bethesda game company have a fit about it? No they didnt. And shoot a few months ago they released a version of skyrim for ps4. And what Bethesda did was encorporate all of the best mods into the new skyrim game. And it is an even better product!
 
Part of the way said:
And ok, I don't own the firmware? What's that got to do with rooting a phone? The firmware is still the firmware? And yes I assume when you root a phone you can mod the firmware? But what is it that's wrong with doing that? And not only that? If a person owns a pc with Microsoft os? Microsoft don't have an issue with if anyone mods the os? Do they? So what's the difference between a pc and a phone?
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Exactly... But Google is slowly instructing OEMs to make phones un-rootable. Yesterday, I asked those guys at Samsung why they are my making newer phones harder to root. Their reply was "android already has whatever it takes, rooting has many disadvantages, like people would uninstall our useful pre-installed apps saying that they're bloatware. And by the way, Google is making security patches stronger, there's nothing we could do".
 
Part of the way said:
And ok, I don't own the firmware? What's that got to do with rooting a phone? The firmware is still the firmware? And yes I assume when you root a phone you can mod the firmware?
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Basically rooting allows you to take complete control of the firmware, modifying, removing bloat, including bricking the device, rather than Verizon or Samsung deciding what happens with it.

Part of the way said:
But what is it that's wrong with doing that? And not only that? If a person owns a pc with Microsoft os? Microsoft don't have an issue with if anyone mods the os? Do they? So what's the difference between a pc and a phone?
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Some manufacturers allow you to do exactly that with smart-phones, e.g. OnePlus, Meizu, Xiaomi, etc, however these are all Chinese devices and are incompatible with Verizon, Sprint, etc. I believe with Verizon you can only use what they supply or are BYOD approved.

Samsung used to be very friendly and nice for customising, modifying, etc, but not now.
 
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Sharath Chandra said:
Exactly... But Google is slowly instructing OEMs to make phones un-rootable. Yesterday, I asked those guys at Samsung why they are my making newer phones harder to root. Their reply was "android already has whatever it takes, rooting has many disadvantages, like people would uninstall our useful pre-installed apps saying that they're bloatware. And by the way, Google is making security patches stronger, there's nothing we could do".
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You know what? It's got nothing to do with Samsung loosing any money? They are a multi billion dollar compamy! And it's got to do with them wanting to exert control over people? That's what it is! And it's bs!
 
mikedt said:
Basically rooting allows you to take complete control of the firmware, modifying, removing bloat, including bricking the device, rather than Verizon or Samsung deciding what happens with it.



Some manufacturers allow you to do exactly that with smart-phones, e.g. OnePlus, Meizu, Xiaomi, etc, however these are all Chinese devices and are incompatible with Verizon, Sprint, etc. I believe with Verizon you can only use what they supply or are BYOD approved.

Samsung used to be very friendly and nice for customising, modifying, etc, but not now.
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Google used to be root-friendly with Nexus. I don't know about pixel. Is it easy-to-root?
 
Sharath Chandra said:
Google used to be root-friendly with Nexus. I don't know about pixel. Is it easy-to-root?
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And you know what? I know that it's debatable on what is actually the best phone? But the s7 and s7 edge are definately 2 of the top best phones money can buy right now? And if a person could mod it to make it even better? Why not? But then samsung and they want control. It gives them a sense of power over people? Its just messed up.
 
Part of the way said:
And you know what? I know that it's debatable on what is actually the best phone? But the s7 and s7 edge are definately 2 of the top best phones money can buy right now? And if a person could mod it to make it even better? Why not? But then samsung and they want control. It gives them a sense of power over people? Its just messed up.
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For me, the phone with the best features is not the top device out there! I consider the phone which has more ROMs as the best. That's why I've been sticking onto my S3 since 2012. It's great to have such an old device run Lineage OS 14.1.
 
Sharath Chandra said:
For me, the phone with the best features is not the top device out there! I consider the phone which has more ROMs as the best. That's why I've been sticking onto my S3 since 2012. It's great to have such an old device run Lineage OS 14.1.
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Yea I get your point. And your right to an extent? Because some of the quality of a phone is the hardware? Especially when it comes to how hd the screen is? And the s7 does have a good screen clarity and quality? Plus when it comes to memory expansion? Some phones do have an SD port and some don't? I know that yes people can use cloud storage? But for one? People hack cloud storages at times? And yes there are some extremely secure clouds? But they can get quite expensive? Plus a person could get like a 200 gig sd card? And for 200gigs of cloud storage? That would be quite expensive!
 
Part of the way said:
Yea I get your point. And your right to an extent? Because some of the quality of a phone is the hardware? Especially when it comes to how hd the screen is? And the s7 does have a good screen clarity and quality? Plus when it comes to memory expansion? Some phones do have an SD port and some don't? I know that yes people can use cloud storage? But for one? People hack cloud storages at times? And yes there are some extremely secure clouds? But they can get quite expensive? Plus a person could get like a 200 gig sd card? And for 200gigs of cloud storage? That would be quite expensive!
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So with like the new iPhone 7? It is a nice phone! But it don't have expandable memory? So your sort of stuck?
 
Part of the way said:
Yea I get your point. And your right to an extent? Because some of the quality of a phone is the hardware? Especially when it comes to how hd the screen is? And the s7 does have a good screen clarity and quality? Plus when it comes to memory expansion? Some phones do have an SD port and some don't? I know that yes people can use cloud storage? But for one? People hack cloud storages at times? And yes there are some extremely secure clouds? But they can get quite expensive? Plus a person could get like a 200 gig sd card? And for 200gigs of cloud storage? That would be quite expensive!
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Well, it depends....
 
Part of the way said:
Yea I get your point. And your right to an extent? Because some of the quality of a phone is the hardware? Especially when it comes to how hd the screen is? And the s7 does have a good screen clarity and quality? Plus when it comes to memory expansion? Some phones do have an SD port and some don't? I know that yes people can use cloud storage? But for one? People hack cloud storages at times? And yes there are some extremely secure clouds? But they can get quite expensive? Plus a person could get like a 200 gig sd card? And for 200gigs of cloud storage? That would be quite expensive!
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Everyone has different opinions, I just want new features to the core OS, not hardware...
 
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