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Root [Verizon] List of Gains and Losses When Rooting LG G2

S

smg65

Member
I received my Verizon LG G2 last Friday. So far, I think it's great. The battery lasts forever. The camera seems great. Not one hiccup so far... everything is working as designed. However, I do appreciate those with some consternation about the bloatware and some of the software details.

I'm coming from the original Droid Incredible. I've been eligible for an upgrade forever! However, our rooted, bare bones Droids (with CM7) have been infallible and have never let us down. The only reasons for switching was compatibility issues with a newer app, and my failing eyesight! I needed a bigger screen.

OK... thanks for listening to my "prequel". Now.. for those of you still awake: I have no fear of rooting. I've rooted phones a few times. I've looked around the Internet regarding rooting the LG G2 and do know a little about it so far. However, is there a concise list I can find that lists what might be gained, and what is lost? I know the knock on feature might be lost. But what about the stock camera app, and other things? Also, what are your opinions on the most stable ROM available? Of course, I'll continue to search for these answers. But I remember all the great help I received here when I rooted my first Droid, so I thought I'd ask!

Thanks in advance!

Steve
 
Knock on/off still work great for me. I just stayed on the stock rom and flashed a mod or two and used Xposed for a few more tweaks. So basically what I have are 4 navigation buttons, WiFi tether and some hidden status bar icons and a % style battery indicator. That's about all I care to have I guess. I've checked out the roms and nothing excites me.
 
There is no real "loss" when rooting, only a gain, all features are kept the only difference is you now have read/write access to the system directories, which opens the door to various modifications to the device not otherwise possible, like Xposed framework as iowabowtech mentioned.

If there is a drawback, it comes when a new OTA is released, as many times an OTA fill fail completely if the file system has been modified, or root access will be lost. So if you actually remove some of the Verizon bloatware, any future OTA updates may fail.

Remember that there are a couple methods to returning the G2 to a bone stock configuration, so even if things go bad, there is little chance of permanently bricking or damaging the device, since Download mode and the LG Flash tool work in an environment that is very difficult to "break". Returning the device to a stock configuration with this method also removes any indication that the phone was ever modified.

Personally, I rooted and installed TWRP and within 24 hours just flashed a custom ROM and I couldn't be happier. After some research it was quite simple and I am currently running Beanstalk KitKat ROM and do not miss any features... the only thing missing is full screen knock-off, I can still knock-off but have to do it in the status bar since doing it anywhere else is a launcher thing and I am running Nova Launcher.

As far as "most stable" ROM, that is kind of hard to say, there are so many ROMs available for the G2 that picking a best or most stable is almost impossible since it all depends what you want to get out of it. There are a good 40-50 ROMs available, maybe more, my recommendation would be to go to XDA's LG G2 portal and look in LG G2 Development, LG G2 Development (Verizon), and LG G2 Original Development and look at the ROMs that have the most replies, they are usually the most active ROMs and tend to be more bug-free (or any bugs are handled quicker) and more stable. Just read and try out stuff, switching ROMs on this device is very easy... but I will give you two pointers that many threads do not touch on, first, do NOT wipe your internal storage area, this is where ROMs are stored that you download, since at this time there isn't much of a simple way to get a ROM zip on the internal storage if there is no OS (TWRP does not have a USB mount for this device) there are ways but involve using sideload or other fastboot commands to push files to the system, and second, don't use the "format" option when wiping in TWRP or CWM, go into it's settings and set it to use "rm -f" instead of format, it could save you headaches in the future
 
I rooted for the G2 Xposed module so I could center the clock... Then the flashing ads in some apps annoyed me so I installed AdAway... Then...
 
Thanks all! Your input is much appreciated! I'll be taking my time regarding rooting and ROMs. This phone is so different than the Droid, I'm still in the process of getting used to a more "modern" device. I want to be acquainted with the stock features and performance before I decide on a ROM. Meanwhile... back at the ranch... I've been using the phone a lot and the battery has 61 hours on this charge and it is at 25%!

Thanks again.... :-)

Steve
 
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