[Q] A Few Questions About New Nexus 7

happy4ya · Jul 5, 2014

Sorry in advance as I'm sure these questions are added somewhere. Just looking to be pointed to some threads or other places with good info.

I just got a new 2013 N7 and it came with 4.3 build A# JWR66N.

Upon first run, there are a couple of system updates available that I am hesitant to install. I'm guessing they are to update it to the newest 4.4. Just wondering if I should do this or if it will cripple or lock anything else having to do with rooting or flashing custom ROM's

First thing I noticed is it looks just like the custom EOS 4.1.1 I flashed into my Xoom tablet a few years ago and coming from a Galaxy tab, there is no option to clear all recent apps (the Galaxy has a small garbage can symbol in the recent apps list that gets rid of everything with one touch). I was wondering if there is something like this for the N7 (either an app or a custom ROM that has it).

Also, I knew before buying it that OTG was crippled. My friend has one and said he rooted and used stickmount to get full OTG read-write access. Wondering if there is a better alternative (or if there is a custom ROM with this already fixed).

I have been seeing a lot of stuff about a N7 FLO. What is this and how do I know if I have it?

Last, I am definitely interested in unlocking/rooting/adding a custom ROM to it but looking for some good direction for this. I have been searching through these boards and my head is spinning from all the different info. Last time I rooted and flashed a custom rom was a few years ago with my Motorola Xoom and I did it all manually with ADB and some other stuff and it went smooth. It seems like everything written on here is made for people that already know what they are doing and although I have done it before, and have no problems following instructions, it's been a few years I am looking for a good link or links to some beginner guides so I can kinda go back to the beginning and refresh myself before going into this. I am also not opposed to using WUG's toolkit or similar but would still like to better understand doing things manually in case something goes wrong.

Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Aerowinder · Jul 5, 2014

happy4ya said:
Sorry in advance as I'm sure these questions are added somewhere. Just looking to be pointed to some threads or other places with good info.

I just got a new 2013 N7 and it came with 4.3 build A# JWR66N.

Upon first run, there are a couple of system updates available that I am hesitant to install. I'm guessing they are to update it to the newest 4.4. Just wondering if I should do this or if it will cripple or lock anything else having to do with rooting or flashing custom ROM's

First thing I noticed is it looks just like the custom EOS 4.1.1 I flashed into my Xoom tablet a few years ago and coming from a Galaxy tab, there is no option to clear all recent apps (the Galaxy has a small garbage can symbol in the recent apps list that gets rid of everything with one touch). I was wondering if there is something like this for the N7 (either an app or a custom ROM that has it).

Also, I knew before buying it that OTG was crippled. My friend has one and said he rooted and used stickmount to get full OTG read-write access. Wondering if there is a better alternative (or if there is a custom ROM with this already fixed).

I have been seeing a lot of stuff about a N7 FLO. What is this and how do I know if I have it?

Last, I am definitely interested in unlocking/rooting/adding a custom ROM to it but looking for some good direction for this. I have been searching through these boards and my head is spinning from all the different info. Last time I rooted and flashed a custom rom was a few years ago with my Motorola Xoom and I did it all manually with ADB and some other stuff and it went smooth. It seems like everything written on here is made for people that already know what they are doing and although I have done it before, and have no problems following instructions, it's been a few years I am looking for a good link or links to some beginner guides so I can kinda go back to the beginning and refresh myself before going into this. I am also not opposed to using WUG's toolkit or similar but would still like to better understand doing things manually in case something goes wrong.

Any info you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Do not use a toolkit. If there is one thing you take from this response, take that.

N7 2013 has two models, flo and deb. flo is the wifi version, deb is the LTE version.

Updating a Nexus device will not hinder your ability to root/unlock the bootloader. Other OEMs do this, and that's why I'm not using their devices anymore. Done with them.

Clear all recents button is removed on later Android versions. Custom ROMs or Xposed/GravityBox to get it back.

OTG/Stickmount issue: I believe that if you have a custom kernel that supports it, not an issue, don't need Stickmount. No experience in this area, however.

The stock look of a Google OS is standard AOSP. That's why the ROM you flashed on your Xoom looks very similar.

If you are new to Nexus devices, I would probably recommend using stock for a while. When you become tired of the absolute lack of customization, switch to SlimKat and use Banks' minimal gapps package. The gapps thread is in the N5 apps section, but works just the same on N7.

If you are going to unlock the bootloader anyhow, here is what you want to do to update to the newest version without the extra steps.

You need to install the drivers, get ADB+fastboot, and download the KTU84P factory image for your device. All links in signature. If you have the wifi model, razor, if you have the LTE model, razorg. razor=flo, razorg=deb.

You can find the fastboot tuts all over the internet, and it's too long to type. But basically, you want:

fastboot oem unlock (this will wipe your device, but only needs to be done one time)
fastboot reboot-bootloader
<you can run the flash-all.bat file that came with your fasctory image now>
after that's done, you'll want to go back into bootloader mode and flash TWRP (link in signature).
fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

That's a lot of information written with very poor coherence. If you need elaboration, just ask. But it has you pointed in the right direction.

happy4ya · Jul 5, 2014

Aerowinder said:
Do not use a toolkit. If there is one thing you take from this response, take that.

N7 2013 has two models, flo and deb. flo is the wifi version, deb is the LTE version.

Updating a Nexus device will not hinder your ability to root/unlock the bootloader. Other OEMs do this, and that's why I'm not using their devices anymore. Done with them.

Clear all recents button is removed on later Android versions. Custom ROMs or Xposed/GravityBox to get it back.

OTG/Stickmount issue: I believe that if you have a custom kernel that supports it, not an issue, don't need Stickmount. No experience in this area, however.

The stock look of a Google OS is standard AOSP. That's why the ROM you flashed on your Xoom looks very similar.

If you are new to Nexus devices, I would probably recommend using stock for a while. When you become tired of the absolute lack of customization, switch to SlimKat and use Banks' minimal gapps package. The gapps thread is in the N5 apps section, but works just the same on N7.

If you are going to unlock the bootloader anyhow, here is what you want to do to update to the newest version without the extra steps.

You need to install the drivers, get ADB+fastboot, and download the KTU84P factory image for your device. All links in signature. If you have the wifi model, razor, if you have the LTE model, razorg. razor=flo, razorg=deb.

You can find the fastboot tuts all over the internet, and it's too long to type. But basically, you want:

fastboot oem unlock (this will wipe your device, but only needs to be done one time)
fastboot reboot-bootloader
<you can run the flash-all.bat file that came with your fasctory image now>
after that's done, you'll want to go back into bootloader mode and flash TWRP (link in signature).
fastboot flash recovery twrp.img

That's a lot of information written with very poor coherence. If you need elaboration, just ask. But it has you pointed in the right direction.

Thanks for all the info. So I definitely have the FLO model.

I would like to use Titanium Backup for Root and a few other things that need root access so I definitely want to do this.

Also, being that this tablet has no micro SD, I definitely want to have read-write access with a USB drive. I've had this for almost a week already and I haven't loaded anything into it yet because I figured I'd be wiping it. I really don't want to mess with stock because of the lack of a few things. I really just can't stand having devices with restricted use. That's not what I paid for.

I never used Kit Kat before and not sure if I'll like it. Do you know if you can go back to 4.3? I know with some of the other devices (like my Galaxy S3 phone), once you update it OTA, they lock stuff up and you cannot roll back.

happy4ya · Jul 5, 2014

Also, does anyone have any idea on a completely new out of the box unit what is killing the battery so fast? On my galaxy 7 tab, it would last over a week in standby. This thing was dead in about a day and a half after I took it off the charger. and I charger it full a couple of times already. Or does battery life just suck on this tablet?

I did find a post somewhere that said to turn off google location and I just did that. We'll see if it does anything.

Aerowinder · Jul 5, 2014

happy4ya said:
Also, does anyone have any idea on a completely new out of the box unit what is killing the battery so fast? On my galaxy 7 tab, it would last over a week in standby. This thing was dead in about a day and a half after I took it off the charger. and I charger it full a couple of times already. Or does battery life just suck on this tablet?

I did find a post somewhere that said to turn off google location and I just did that. We'll see if it does anything.

You can roll back to 4.3. Google hasn't gone full Apple yet. But I strongly advise against doing so, as it's a large step backwards.

Understood on stock OS, agree no options anywhere. Slimkat+franco.kernel+banks gapps. You won't look back. Also in developer options, switch to ART. Dalvik sucks. If you're using Banks' minimal gapps, the lack of some syncing libs (for the AOSP calendar nobody uses) will cause random FCs until you reboot a second time. Nothing to worry about. Just grab the Google Calendar, or whatever calendar you use, from the play store and freeze the AOSP one with TiBu. Another FC you might see is gms.location. It should only happen once. Something with play services.

Once you are rooted, you can grab BetterBatteryStats to see what's killing your battery. On stock installs, it's mostly going to be location-based stuff keeping it awake. You already turned off reporting, but you also need to switch location mode to Device only.

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[Q] A Few Questions About New Nexus 7

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