The Galaxy Note 3 is one hell of a device, with serious horsepower and utilities galore. It’s a pretty decent device, as we discovered in our review. Samsung have added a lot of apps and utilities to the device but, without root they may as well mean nothing to some users. Sure, for the majority of Android users, root access isn’t needed but, those that are now used to having Superuser rights on their device, will want to keep them – no matter what device they’re using. So, when it was found out that rooting the Galaxy Note 3 would trip a security flag within Samsung’s KNOX security suite, which would then void your warranty, root users were unhappy. Now though, there’s a new root method that doesn’t trip KNOX’s security measures.
Root de La Vega – named after AT&T’s Mobility CEO, Ralph de La Vega – is a new root method that XDA users designgears and Chainfire have concocted together. To get around KNOX, this method pre-roots official firmware for numerous versions of the device. This way, KNOX doesn’t suspect anything and you still get root access, allowing you to use apps and utilities that require root access. It should be noted that unless you know what root access is about, or you can’t really think of a reason why you’d need it, it’s perhaps best to sit this one out. Designgears and Chainfire have got to great lengths to get this root method up and running and they’ve got some great documentation in the forums, too.
Which version of the Galaxy Note 3 depends on where you want to look for detailed instructions to root your Note 3. Only versions running the Snapdragon 800 are supported at the moment. For those in Europe or with an unlocked device, you can look here, info for AT&T users is here, with Verizon users needing to head here. Meanwhile, T-Mobile and Sprint users should be able to find what they need here.
It’s disappointing that Samsung’s KNOX suite is standing in the way of rooting, something that has been going on for years. The vast majority of those looking to root understand the “dangers” and are in fact probably at far less risk than your average user. Nevertheless, designgears, Chainfire and everyone else that helped has now given Note 3 users a much-needed helping hand.