Need an extra $2,000? True-blue Android fans who own the LG G4 are pitching their resources together to find someone who can root the LG smartphone running on Verizon and AT&T's networks.
A group of some 50 or so G4 users have come together and raised more than $2,000 in bounty for the person who comes up with a way to unlock the bootloader. They have also raised a separate $1,400 for the person who can find a root and custom recovery method. The group announced the bounties on the XDA forums.
Anyone who thinks they can do what the group is asking for—and it is definitely not a task anyone can just do—will have to show proof that his method works by posting screenshots and step-by-step instructions that the group can follow. Also, they will need to have to wait for at least one member of the group to do the same method and confirm that it actually works before they can claim their bounty.
Claiming will be done by sending a personal message to each one of the G4 owners who donated and receiving the sums of their donations piece by piece until the entire bounty is collected.
And just a reminder for those planning to introduce a workaround such as Loki, the group wants a full unlocking, exploiting or patching of build number LMY47D, or Android 5.1 Lollipop, on the G4, not half-baked workarounds.
Carriers customarily lock Android devices and prevent their customers from rooting the smartphones to keep them roped in to their ecosystems, but there are many advantages to rooting an Android handset, not the least of which is that a rooted handset can truly become the customer's own.
For instance, a rooted smartphone means its owner can flash a custom Android version that truly fits their preferences. They can flash a pure Android version such as those running on the Nexus phones, or they can install the latest Android version even if the carrier has not made it available to its customers just yet.
Users can also flash custom kernels for under-the-hood adjustments that can possibly add extra features, boost battery life and improve the phone's overall performance. Rooting also helps them get rid of the bloatware that carriers typically put in their smartphones and install apps and add other features that the carriers may otherwise deem "incompatible."
Photo: Kārlis Dambrāns | Flickr
