Help Rooting an S7?

[peterh337]

I am looking at this phone but will need to root it to copy over my S6 apps and their config.

Rooting the S6 was hard enough! Most of the methods on the web didn't work but I found one eventually.

 

[El Presidente]

I don't think root has been achieved yet and from what I've read, if you have the Snapdragon 820 version, root is going to be easier virtually impossible.

 

[peterh337]

That rules out my interest in this, because so much stuff is easier on a rooted device. Also I see they have downgraded the camera resolution (16 to 12) although the quality is reportedly a bit better.

I wonder why the processor affects the ease of rooting?

Reviews say that it will use the Snapdragon 820 in America and the Exynos 8890 in other regions, so Europe should be OK.

My plan would be to wait for the OS to be stable before rooting, because a rooted S6 blocks the OTA OS updates (all app updates work fine).

 

[El Presidente]

Apologies, it was a bootloader unlock, not root - http://www.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s7-bootloader-lock-explained-you-might-not-get-aosp-after-all/

The technical ins an outs are way over my head though!

I'm not sure of root status in the future tbh but if you don't get the Sd820 variant, it looks a little more hopeful.

Do you never use custom ROMs? Just root?

 

[peterh337]

Just root, AFAIK.

Rooting was done using these details
http://gs6.wonderhowto.com/how-to/root-almost-any-galaxy-s6-s6-edge-without-tripping-knox-0161912/
and had to be done twice.

 

[Brian706]

Oh Samsung.... Meanwhile I'll just keep enjoying root and timely updates on my Nexus. Don't get me wrong, I think the S7 is a beautiful device hardware wise, but you have to weigh what's most important to you in a device, and if that's rooting and/or updates, you can't beat a Nexus in that regard.

 

[peterh337]

I bought the S6 to get the best camera possible. The phone of course works and it does www and email

Before that I had the Nokia 808 whose camera remains unbeaten to date but I could no longer use it simply because the web browser (well both the Nokia one and Opera) became unusable for a number of websites which I need to use.

If, as reports suggest, the S7's camera is no better than the S6's camera (except in low light, which is not an issue in my main usage) then there is no point in changing the phone.

Additionally, I estimate wasting a couple of days of my life configuring any new phone as needed... restoring from google backup restores only certain common things. There isn't an IOS-type of backup and restore which "just works" seamlessly.

 

[Brian706]

There isn't an IOS-type of backup and restore which "just works" seamlessly.

Although I loathe iTunes, this is true... Well, unless you are rooted, of course.

 

[peterh337]

I hate IOS too (had an Iphone and have an Ipad).

Regards backup and restore a rooted S6, I have not successfuly got to the bottom of the required process.
Clearly the superb "Trueimage/Windows" HD-cloning process does not exist.

AFAICT, the following should work:
1) Restore google backup
2) Restore Titanium (apps+data) backup
3) Restore Nova Desktop backup

Is that correct?

I had some emails with Titanium but they were inconclusive (language difficulties).

If that is right, going say S6 to S7 should work too, even across different android versions.

 

[Brian706]

Yes you are correct there. Especially if you are using a custom launcher such as Nova, you can even restore your your home screen layout.

Technically you could restore system data with Titanium Backup but it's not recommended and will likely cause errors, especially on a new device. But if you only have to manually restore settings, it's not so bad.

Also, with a custom recovery, you can do full image backup/restore but I would probably avoid doing that on a new device. It's great for your same device, to restore a backup or if you got a replacement device, you could essentially clone it by restoring to the new device. But changing to a different device altogether, I would only restore the things you mentioned in your previous post.

 

[El Presidente]

Doesn't Samsung offer an iPhone like backup tool in KIES? Smart switch or something like that?

 

[peterh337]

Titanium offers:

1) Backup all user apps
2) Backup all system data
3) Backup all user apps + system data

I would have thought that 1) would be OK even to a different phone - no? AIUI, that will backup and restore the app's entire sandbox so e.g. a 3rd party (non google) pop3 email app will have its data restored.

2) and 3) are likely to cause many problems if changing a phone type or OS version e.g. going from say android v5 to v6. But that just means that the general phone config (even trivia like ringtones) is not portable v5 to v6, using any method. Apple have done that right in IOS, however.

I also have a program called My Backup Pro which offers
- Applications and Media
- Data
I am not sure what this does...

Re KIES, I cannot get KIES to detect my phone (a previous thread here a while ago). In fact I cannot usually get the phone to recognise anything on the end of an OTG cable. I have no idea why this is, but it does sometimes (very intermittently) work. So I use wifi for getting stuff on/off the phone. The T705 tablet works OK however, via USB.

I am amazed this is not documented anywhere.

 

[Brian706]

Yes, restoring user apps+data with Titanium is just fine between devices. You just wouldn't want to restore system data.

As for custom ringtones or anything else saved to the internal storage, I usually copy what I want from the internal storage to a PC and then transfer it to a new device.

Re KIES, I cannot get KIES to detect my phone (a previous thread here a while ago). In fact I cannot usually get the phone to recognise anything on the end of an OTG cable. I have no idea why this is, but it does sometimes (very intermittently) work. So I use wifi for getting stuff on/off the phone. The T705 tablet works OK however, via USB.

After a quick Google Search it looks as if Kies isn't compatible with the S6. You now need to use Samsung Smart Switch.

 

[chanchan05]

Doesn't SamsungSmart Switch transfer all data and compatible configurations between phones?

 

[peterh337]

For Smart Switch to transfer "everything" (IOS-style) between non-rooted devices they would need to have a signature based system where the data is encrypted with a key held in the destination device, etc. Has Android implemented such a thing?

"Kies isn't compatible with the S6"

That would explain a few things! Loads of people suggested I use KIES...

 

[chanchan05]

It's a Samsung thing. So they may gave implemented it themselves on top of Android. Smart Switch can even restore from iPhone backups. You can probably get better answers from themselves, or try it out and see if it works since your S6 is still with you anyway.

http://www.samsung.com/us/smart-switch/

Samsungs can do stuff that normally needs root if used with Samsung apps. SideSync for example can connect to a PC and show the phone screen and control it via mouse and keyboard on the PC. Normally this needs root for other phones and ADB framework.

 

[peterh337]

Many thanks for these great answers. I now understand it.

I will have a closer look at the S7 camera... reviews vary a lot as to whether it is any better.

 

[peterh337]

The Exynos S7 seems to be rooted now
http://www.phonearena.com/news/How-to-root-the-Samsung-Galaxy-S7-and-S7-edge-Exynos_id79321

 

[Part of the way]

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!

 

[Part of the way]

Hi all! So well I have galaxy s7 edge in united States. My phone carrier is verizon. I'm on prepaid plan and not post paid. I own own my phone. I'm not on any device plan with verizon. My phone is running Marshmallow 6.0.1. So my question is if I am able to update to 7.0 nougat? Will I then be able to root my phone? I Been trying and trying to root my phone with no avail? I found out like 3 days ago that it might be because the bootloader is locked on this phone? And so I called verizon. And they told me that they don't lock bootloaders on the phones. But here on android forum yesterday a few people told me that verizon may have lied? But then I found our that it isn't the phone carriers who lock the bootloaders? But it's actually the phone making company that locks the bootloaders for the carrier? In my case it would be samsung. So well first of all is the 7.0 nougat update even worth doing on s7 edge? And will the update allow me your unlock the bootloader therfore enabling me to root my phone? And well I know that with rooting a phone I could do many many things with the phone? But with me? The main reason I want to root my phone is to get rid of the bloatware crap on my phone that I will never use? In order to free up more memory on my phone? And I don't mean just disabling the bloatware apps I don't want to to use? I mean truly uninstalling or deleting the apps totally off of my phone? So if there is a way to do that without rooting the phone? That would also work for what I want to do? But all I know is with all of my trying and trying to get this bloatware crap off of my phone with no avail? Well it's pissing me off! Its bs having to go through all of this! So if anyone knows of any ways to give me advice as to how to accomplish this? Please let me know? Thanks! God bless you!