On 27/11/2019 21:27, Theo wrote:
wrote:
On 26/11/2019 17:23, Reentrant wrote:
On 26/11/2019 15:39, wrote:
I've had a Galaxy Note 4 for many years and am still happy with it,
except that something is making it run s l o o w l y. I plan to make a
note of everything I use and then nuke it back to factory settings and
reinstall the Apps I want, but this is also an opportunity to root it.
Rooting a phone is new to me so I have no idea how easy or risky it
is, which ROM to use, and whether the benefits outweigh the hassle.
All opinions and experiences gratefully received.

Why do you want to root it?

You can root the existing Touchwiz (Android 6) install:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2oOvf5tOCY

but of itself it doesn't change very much, it just means you can run some
apps that require root. It also makes your phone more vulnerable if you
give root to apps you don't trust.

XDA is a good place to start.
https://forum.xda-developers.com/note-4

Thanks. I had a look there but felt like I'd entered another reality.
I'm an ex-IT guy but I don't want to learn a new vernacular and spend
days or weeks fiddling; I just want the thing to work so I can get on
with the more important things in life.

If you're into custom ROMs these work reasonably well on my Note 4:
https://forum.xda-developers.com/not...-16-0-t3900807
(I most recently tried the 2019-10-17 build - there are definitely better
and worse builds - read the end of the thread for what people recommend)
https://forum.xda-developers.com/not...7-0-0-t3899186
(2019-04-24 build)

and this video gives the procedu
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQoHApohbDk

(with a different ROM, but that's just flashing a different downloaded .zip file)

The main annoying bit is installing TWRP which you only do once, once that's
done it's fairly simple to flash a new ROM from an SD card.

Be aware that generally it's a good idea to wipe data before reflashing, so
you might have to reload apps etc. There are backup apps like
TitaniumBackup and Migrate to help with that.

It's probably better not to do it to your daily driver unless you have
another phone you can use if you mess up. Generally, a full wipe and
reinstall fixes most issues, but no good if you miss that urgent call while
doing so.

Theo

I'm considering whether it's worth the time/pain/risk of rooting because
I've read that it allows the bloat-ware to be removed and that some ROMs
are faster than the standard Samsung ROM - but I'm in the difficult
situation of not knowing what I don't know about the subject. The more I
delve, the more I'm tempted not to bother.