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Galaxy Nexus Superboot Allows Quick & Easy Root

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Half the purpose of rooting your phone is to remove carrier bloatware and install the most updated OS versions that wouldn’t otherwise be supported on your phone. But with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, a Google Experience Phone without bloatware and the ONLY phone running Android 4.0 ICS, is there a need to “root”? Sure… and Paul from MoDaCo is helping you do that with his simple Superboot method.

It’s hardly “rooting” since Google ships the devices to knowingly allow root access, but first-time rooters might breathe a sigh of relief they don’t need to go to great lengths to get the job done. This doesn’t change anything though: you could still very easily break your phone and anything you do to your phone is at YOUR OWN RISK. We are in no way responsible.

However if you succeed, rooting will allow you deeper access to the OS for things like backing up apps/games/settings, altering application and system icons/themes/designs, overclocking and tweaking system resources, and more. For those who like to tinker, I suggest you visit our Galaxy Nexus Root Forums for more!

Rob Jackson
I'm an Android and Tech lover, but first and foremost I consider myself a creative thinker and entrepreneurial spirit with a passion for ideas of all sizes. I'm a sports lover who cheers for the Orange (College), Ravens (NFL), (Orioles), and Yankees (long story). I live in Baltimore and wear it on my sleeve, with an Under Armour logo. I also love traveling... where do you want to go?

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23 Comments

  1. a good reason to root the galaxy nexus on verizon will be to enable tethering over your data plan without the $30 / month charge yes?

    1. Yes. But that’s a good reason to root any phone.

      1. yeah, at least with the original nexus one on t-mobile they didn’t pull that tethering surcharge crap

  2. The LTE version does come with carrier crapware courtesy of Verizon.

    1. Oh, yeah, My Verizon and VZW Backup Assistant, major crapware.  Those are actually arguably useful applications.  I keep My Verizon handy on my phone, because it’s useful.  And besides, you can freeze them with the new ICS feature if you really don’t want them.  Sheesh, it’s not like they put Bing on there or anything.  :P

      1. STFU. Dont give them the idea. Bing is a horrible horrible thing. Right up there with AIDS, Black Plague , and BlueWaffle.

      2. I do have My Verizon on my Droid right now. It is great for as soon as I get the email about my bill I can just pay it seconds later right from my phone. The Backup Assistant though I could do without.

      3. Yea, but VZ Navigator is definitely crapware that atleast in the past has ran in the background unless you root.

        1. True, but where do you read that VZ Navigator is pre-installed on the Galaxy Nexus?  Unless you have leaked information that nobody else has, you haven’t.  Therefore, I fail to find relevance in your comment.

      4. The point is it’s permanently there. Some users don’t use it (me) and would like to have it removed. If you do use it, download it from the market, not that hard to do…

        1. I partially agree with you, but I would argue the “permanently” part due to ICS’s ability to disable and hide apps.  If you do that, then yes, they make take a MB of two of space, but zero system resources, and with 32 GB of space, I don’t think you’re hurting too much.

          Don’t get me wrong, I don’t like that Verizon can’t help but preinstall a couple of their apps, but at least they’re useful, they don’t cause any trouble, and most importantly, they don’t try to sell you Verizon services or other stuff you don’t want or need.  Now, if they had actually tried to stuff Bing or VZ Navigator on it, then I would definitely be on your side, but in this case, it’s honestly not that big of a deal, and simply not worth getting bent out of shape over.

          1. It’s an issue of principle for nearly everyone that is complaining. Yeah, we can do all those things you mentioned, and it’s not the end of the world, but we shouldn’t HAVE TO on a device that is supposed to be pure vanilla ICS goodness.

  3. No, the carriers have a way of telling when a phone is tethered now even if you use circumvention measures to hide it.

    1. yeah, I found an article about that here:

      http://www.droid-life.com/2011/05/31/verizon-begins-blocking-wireless-tether-asks-that-you-purchase-a-plan/

      but I wonder if there’s any workaround?  it’s really annoying, especially now that YOU PAY PER GIGABYTE that they would differentiate tethered vs mobile bandwidth.

    2. This is only half the story… Yes, carriers can most likely tell now – however, and my theory is only based on anecdotal reporting, if you’re a heavy data user, you’ll get called out – but for only occasional use, and usually when you stay within your quota, you won’t hear anything… which has been my experience. YMMV, and there’s still risk involved – but the short answer is that yes – rooting gets you tethering… whether your carrier will bust you or not is random at best.

      1. I actually think verizon’s new non-unlimited pay per gb is reasonable – or would be if they didn’t charge differently for tethering.  If I’m paying for 4gb of bandwidth, what do they care what I use it for?  Totally illogical unless you consider they can get away with it and make more money for a while.

        1. Anything other than unlimited is unreasonable. Especially with download speeds as fast as they are now. Increase speed, decrease download limit. Completely illogical.

          1. I guess I’d rather pay less for an amount I’m likely to use, then pay more when I use more rather than pay a lot more for “unlimited”.  With higher bandwidth, the actual limit of “unlimited” would be maxLTErate * seconds in a month = 8Mbs * 2629743 = 20 Terabytes per month.  Do you want to pay for “unlimited” when you usually only use 4GB just to subsidize some college kid streaming HD porn 24/7?  

            My ideal plan:
            – per GB data usage, no “plans” that charge more, or make you try to guess how much you are going to use
            – no crippling of built in tethering ability of android just to sell it back to me as a “feature” – just let me use the damn bandwidth I paid for
            – have the rate be such that I average no more than about $20 per month on data; some months I might use more (tethering a lot on a road trip), some months I might use barely any (on wifi at home most of the time).

          2. Considering the unlimited plan used to be $30, yes I would rather go with unlimited. I would have no problem if the OPTION was still availabe. You can have your $20, and those that want their $30 unlimited can have that too.

          3. lordofthereef, I think the point is that “unlimited” never really was unlimited, it was a marketing term banking on the fact that most people couldn’t or wouldn’t really use that much bandwidth.   Verizon can’t afford to give us 20TB of bandwidth for $30, or probably even $80, so it’s better that they just tell us what they want to charge us per GB and be done with it.

        2. The main reason they charge extra for tethering is most people won’t go to the full 2GB on a phone but with their lap top they will. basically they make you pay for a data plan that short of a “power” user, you won’t come near with the phone.

      2. PDANet. Comes with a “Hide tether usage” option. Works for me…er…if I were using it.

  4. I’d love to root it. If I had it. …..sad :'(

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