Should you wipe a new phone and install a new rom?

[kyrax12]

Couldn't carriers have installed spyware/malware onto the devices? It is like whenever you buy a new computer you would always install a fresh OS into it right?

 

[richierich1212]

AT&T devices these days come with locked bootloaders which makes it almost impossible to install new ROMs. Spyware/Malware scare? Not so much. Bloatware infestation? Hard to remove.

 

[lxskllr]

Root is a requirement. New rom? I don't know. Phones are inherently spy devices, and you won't get away from that, even with a fully libre rom(which is as rare as unicorns, and still has caveats). Most roms are proprietary, so I'm not sure trading one master for another makes a lot sense.

You need to accept you're being spied on, and mitigate it as best you can. That can be done well enough with root, and you'll retain the special sauce that works well with your phone's hardware.

Mobile devices are irritating and restrictive. People willingly give up their rights for trivial convenience, and companies willingly take them. I was constrained to using Sprint due to a company account. If I were choosing on my own, I'd pick a service/phone that gave the most freedom in use. None that I'm aware of are great, but some are better than others. Sprint's on the better side of the scale, but I don't know if they're the best.

 

[cmdrdredd]

T-Mobile has some sort of app that reads if you are rooted and gives a warning about it. They don't monitor it but I assume they could eventually write that in to the app so it sends the info to their warranty department so if you ever have a claim they can deny you based on that (no chance to wipe and unroot). However, you can always turn that check off and when you load a new rom, don't install their app. I noticed this on my old GS5 that I rooted without a new rom.

 

[jhu]

AT&T devices these days come with locked bootloaders which makes it almost impossible to install new ROMs. Spyware/Malware scare? Not so much. Bloatware infestation? Hard to remove.

HTC phones can be bootloader unlocked at htcdev.com. I'm running CM12.1 on an AT&T HtC One M8 right now.

Some Motorola phones can also be bootloader unlocked on Motorola's website.