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Is it worth it to get a nexus device if you aren't going to root it?

divinebovine said:
Of course we could bring it out of analogies and into reality. If it worked as great as you say then I probably wouldn't care. In fact, the reality is as follows:

On a 20 year old desktop computer with a fraction of the RAM and CPU power of my phone, as long as I have a large enough hard drive, I can install thousands of programs, run one at a time, and it will run fine.

On my low-spec Android phone with hundreds of times as much RAM and CPU power, I can install a few dozen apps (small ones!) before it starts to run like crap. Argue all you want about the behavior of those apps but the OS should be in charge, especially when you consider how sandboxed apps are in Android. They are allowed to occupy RAM and may even use CPU cycles merely because they're installed, regardless of whether I run them or not.

Don't worry, I'm not making a case for task killers. I'm just kvetching about the concept.
Click to expand...

Before we take this any further ... do you want to take this any further? We are derailing the OPs thread a little with this. I can move this to a new thread if anyone would like, or we can let it die here. :)
 
lunatic59 said:
Before we take this any further ... do you want to take this any further? We are derailing the OPs thread a little with this. I can move this to a new thread if anyone would like, or we can let it die here. :)
Click to expand...

I've kvetched enough for now, gotten it off my chest sufficiently...we can now resume your regularly scheduled programming. ;)
 
with my Galaxy S3 RAM isn't an issue despite 200+ apps installed and a few dozen running minimized (ones i use often and i just hit 'home' instead of 'back')

However with the ancient Galaxy Precedent with 256MB of RAM, those few dozen kept fighting for their place in memory. let's say together they occupy 84% of the memory. that isn't a problem, until app A wants to consume the memory which app B is using. so Android kills one of them, but app A or B restart and once again chew through the memory causing the same issue. Android tries to kill a larger app to stop the fight. unfortunately, that app ends up being my launcher. instant lag, redraw, three or four App Not Responding dialogs, etc.

and, let's not forget, if Android cannot free enough for those apps to use, it just reboots the phone. i went through logcats and found tons of 'low RAM, no more background processes' and tons of those were thrown before the phone auto-rebooted and showed kernel panic--out of memory errors.

so, yes, Android CAN run out of memory. especially if you're using an older product as if it were a flagship. for that purpose i rooted to overcome such problems by editing some of the memory management, minfree, VM Heap sizes, etc. i was able to get satisfactory performance--with root. i was able to max out the CPU if i needed more speed. i just cannot see why i'd ever need to do either of those from a Nexus. that was all root gave me.
 
I rooted my Nook but that is the most recent. Again, to unlock features that aren't accessible or working around a problem, basically my two reasons to root. I have always wanted an e-ink Android tablet.
 
I bought my Nexus because I don't want to root.
I'm coming from a Samsung Captivate that was loaded down with bloatware from AT&T and Samsung to the point it was really slow. My N4 has none of that and it works beautifully.
 
Sure. Like my Nexii, it doesn't need RAM hacks or over clocking, and has more than enough internal storage to make an sd-ext moot.
 
Thats what i thought lol and il admit, my s3 was the longest ive kept a phone stock but eventually its gona happen lol, especially on such a hackable dev supported device :beer:
 
Find a suitable replacement for Svoice (which I honestly love myself) and some of the other TouchWiz stuff I actually use and maybe. I just don't want to lose it and reinstall 200 plus apps and games. Also as stated there is no benefit I'd get from rooting it. I also like my quick access to Verizon's account info. I'd lose that also in a custom ROM
 
nickdalzell said:
Find a suitable replacement for Svoice (which I honestly love myself) and some of the other TouchWiz stuff I actually use and maybe. I just don't want to lose it and reinstall 200 plus apps and games. Also as stated there is no benefit I'd get from rooting it. I also like my quick access to Verizon's account info. I'd lose that also in a custom ROM
Click to expand...

There's not much S-voice does that isn't done by Google now, and I find Google now to be loads better. S-anything is one of the first things I uninstall. Its just bloat.

Root isn't for everyone, and of you're happy with what ya got keep on keepin on :thumbup:


But let's try to steer this ship back towards the harbor. ;) Is it worth buying a nexus without rooting it?

I see a few different possible meanings to the question.
1) is it worth it without root
2) is it worth it without custom ROM

My nexus 7 (2012) is rooted running stock 4.3. I used to run custom Roms on it but honestly I don't know if I'll go back. This stock 4.3 update is so smooth and fluid. Sure, there are some bells and whistles missing, but I'm not too concerned with that on a tablet.

I will root every device I own because the available root only apps are so powerful, but custom roms aren't a requirement for me. Nice to have as an option, but not required. ;)

Anywho, even if you aren't planning on rooting, I'd still unlock the boot loader as soon as you get it. That way if you decide to root down the road you won't lose data.
 
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