Root Help Removing Bloatware

[kv36]

Hello Experts,

I have an urge to root my phone to remove the bloatware, I have read through all the rooting guides there is lot of good information on how to root and things that you can do after rooting, I kinda like the sense UI and hoping to keep it that way, all I want to do is remove the crap that's on there.
I am planning to use z4root to temp root and uninstall the bloatware
my questions are
1) can I still get the OTA updates? or is the bloatware required to get he OTA updates?
2) If I backup the bloatware apps using Titanium, can they be restored later to make it stock?
3) Do I need to do anything else to remove these apps.
I could not find these answers anyway, please don't shoot me for asking these questions.

Thanks

 

[frenchy714]

Hello Experts,

I have an urge to root my phone to remove the bloatware, I have read through all the rooting guides there is lot of good information on how to root and things that you can do after rooting, I kinda like the sense UI and hoping to keep it that way, all I want to do is remove the crap that's on there.
I am planning to use z4root to temp root and uninstall the bloatware
my questions are
1) can I still get the OTA updates? or is the bloatware required to get he OTA updates?
2) If I backup the bloatware apps using Titanium, can they be restored later to make it stock?
3) Do I need to do anything else to remove these apps.
I could not find these answers anyway, please don't shoot me for asking these questions.

Thanks

1. Yes, you can still receive the OTA updates BUT it's not recommended because you'll lose root and have to wait for another exploit to obtain root again. With each and every OTA it seems to be getting harder and harder for a safe exploit to quickly surface.

2. In short, yes. Titanium Backup can backup data, settings, apps, etc.

3. No, you don't need anything else to remove bloatware, however, it is recommended you freeze bloatware rather than remove it altogether. If you remove the wrong things, your phone may react negatively and get buggy. Make sure you only freeze bloatware on this list.

Rooting For Dummies + Extras

Check out section 2 of the "After Rooting" section of the read, and if you haven't read this already, I suggest you do. Hope this helps.

 

[akazabam]

You need to root with a method that unlocks nand (i.e. gives you S-OFF). Z4root is a soft root method. If you remove the bloatware, then reboot, it will be right back where it was. You must root with either unrevoked or, if you have an older phone, the universal autoroot quick method (using the eng bootloader).

Once that is done, you won't be able to accept OTA updates with a custom recovery. See the Rooting for Dummies guide that frenchy linked to for how to get all the updates you need without accepting the OTA (section 6 under "After Rooting").

Other than that, if you intend to just remove the bloatware using something like root explorer (rather than freezing it with titanium backup) it's safer to just rename whatever you want to whatever.bak rather than deleting it. That way, you just rename it if you want it back. Don't rely on titanium to do it for you. You can also move it to the /sdcard if you like. Keep in mind that this stuff is in the /system partition. You're not going to give yourself any extra space by actually deleting it.