5 Android Phones for Rooting and Modding
Although people prefer to buy smartphones with updated everything in place, if you are looking to try your hand at rooting or modding, there are some specific phones you could give a try. Although rooting isn’t as popular as it used to be, there’s still a huge community of modders involved in launching new ROMs. So, here are the top 5 android phones that you can root and modify and customize as per your choice.
5 Android Phones for Rooting and Modding
1. Google Pixel 3
Whether you are looking for the Pixel’s size or just in love with a dazzling camera, it’s great to have the OnePlus 6T that is even more cost-effective also. Google has made it amazingly simple to unlock Pixel 3’s bootloader. Also, there is a huge modding community to help you get the updated build of LineageOS or even set up an all-in-one flashing device.
From $799 at Google
2. Google Pixel 3a
The Pixel 3a has a solid OLED display, which is the most advanced available version of Android and it has been updated for the next three years. In case you are also looking for great camera quality, there is nothing that matches this phone.
Google’s product is extremely straightforward to unlock the bootloader and install custom ROMs.
You get only one power/storage option 4GB RAM and 64GB, costing $399 / £399 / AU$649. This price is almost half the price of the Pixel 3, which cost $799 (£739, AU$1,199) if you opt for having the 64GB storage model when it was released.
$399 at Amazon
3. OnePlus 7 Pro
The OnePlus 7 Pro is equipped with the latest internal hardware, has a great display notch, and has an improved in-display fingerprint sensor. The hardware that is under the hood makes it one of the fastest phones in the market right now, and it’s the best possible phone if you plan to tinker with custom ROMs.
The OnePlus 7 Pro features a 6.67-inch totally bezel-less display with 1,440 x 3,120 pixels of resolution. The fluid AMOLED display features a pixel density of 515 PPI, which adds extra sharpness to its display. With a Corning Gorilla Glass protection, this device gets stronger and offers a better and highly protected display.
This mobile has 48MP, 16MP, and 8MP triple rear cameras, which click great pictures. The front camera is equipped with a 16MP lens, using which you can get amazing quality selfie pictures and video calls.
Configuration and Battery
The OnePlus 7 Pro is packed with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chip and an octa-core processor with a clock speed of 2.84GHz. It has an Adreno 640 GPU that offers fabulous graphics. With a massive 6GB RAM, you can easily play games and multitask if you are an avid gamer and multi-tasker.
This mobile is equipped with a Li-ion battery with a capacity of 4,000mAh. It can offer a stronger and longer power backup and is also has a Warp charging technology, which is the fastest mechanism for charging devices.
Connectivity and Storage
This device comes with 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11, b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Mobile Hotspot, Bluetooth v5.0, GPS with A-GPS, Glonass, NFC, USB Type-C, etc., when it comes to the right connectivity.
The OnePlus 7 Pro features huge inbuilt storage i.e. 128GB. It is sufficient for any type of use when it comes to storage. That is the reason it does not have any external memory slot.
$637 at Amazon
4. Samsung Galaxy Note 10+
Samsung creates amazing phones, but it isn’t the fastest when it comes to updates. You can club that with a software skin that not everybody loves, and you will find a community dedicated to launching ROMs. Just do not forget to grab the Exynos variant as you won’t find the same community support for the Snapdragon model available in the U.S.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10 has been equipped with an octa-core processor having a clock speed of up to 2.73GHz and an Exynos 9 SoC, which can deliver excellent performance together. There is a Mali-G76 MP12 GPU that can handle the graphics of the device and the massive 8GB RAM that ensures there are no lag issues faced by the users.
Coming to the power supply, it has a Li-ion battery with a capacity of 3,500mAh. There are the Fast Charging v3.0 and a wireless charging feature, which can provide great relief to the users.
$808 at Amazon
5. Pocophone F1
The conceptual approach of Pocophone F1 is the same as the OnePlus 6. In this phone, you get great hardware along with an active community of people rolling out custom ROMs for the device.
The Poco F1 features a powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor with four cores clocked at 2.8GHz and the other four clocked at 1.8GHz. It has also been packed with a cooling system called ‘LiquidCool’ for this phone, where a copper chamber with vapour is used in it to release heat.
It has three RAM and storage variants 6GB RAM with 64GB storage, 6GB RAM with 128GB storage, and 8GB RAM with 256GB of storage. The Poco F1 also has a hybrid dual-SIM tray that is meant to expand storage if you need some more.
Although the POCO F1 is an old device, the established community keeps rolling out custom ROMs for the phone. The hardware of this mobile is going stronger in 2020, as you will find a two-day battery life out of this thing for some time. So it is easily said that POCO has already ante up its features as the set itself up as the brand for mobile enthusiasts, and the F1 is a fantastic device for modding.
$315 at Amazon
Synopsis
Rooting your phone gives the entire control of features and other aspects in your hand when you want to make your truly yours. You can install frameworks like Xposed, which give you more customization options and you can tweak your phone endlessly.
Rooting gives you the freedom to install frameworks like Xposed, where you get more personalized options and there are endless things that you customize on your mobile phone. Although mobile manufacturers have strengthened the security of their phones, searching out the models that let you root for extensive modification gets a little difficult today.
Still, there are phones you can buy as per your bill and do the customization as you want.
I would recommend the OnePlus 7 Pro, as it the best phone to start with as there’s already a wide selection of ROMs available for the device. But in case you are on a shoestring budget, the Google Pixel 3a is a good alternative as it is easy to unlock, and there’s a nice modding community for your help.