Was thinking about rooting my s4, so I was wondering a couple of things. Can you actually get 5.0 on an s4 right now (they already have it available to get online if I'm not mistaken), and how much will verizion (i have no other choice unfortunately) bitch at me for rooting my phone (Ive disabled knox which I have heard causes some issues, but what else)? Any help would be appreciated.
EDIT: Also, will I have any issues with the back and menu buttons, as well as the home buttons as stock android isn't designed to use buttons like those on the s4? If so, is there any certain app/ custom rom that would fix it?
It will probably take some time, usually months, before a brand new release of Android will become available for older phones, whether officially (if at all, especially with Samsung), or a community developed ROM. But, if you're feeling particularly adventurous, I'm sure there are nightlies out, which are, in all likelihood, HIGHLY UNSTABLE, so expect to run into bugs and have features missing entirely. But if you're looking for something stable, you're going to have to play the waiting game.
As for the physical and capacitive navigation buttons, I have no problems running with it running both SlimKat and Cyanogenmod on my Galaxy Note II, both of which are AOSP (Android Open Source Project), meaning they are based on *Google's* "stock" Android (with added features, obviously). They are currently running on Android version 4.4.4.
I'd keep an eye out for Cyanogenmod 12. That's the version that's going to be based on Android L 5.x code. I haven't heard anything about CM 12 yet, so it's still weeks away. Since CM is the largest, most popular ROM, they are likely going to be the first to release a usable, stable, "unofficial" version of Android L on the new and popular devices, and slowly but surely, start porting to older, but also popular devices, such as the S4.
Yeah i did some more looking at cyanogenmod, so ill probably go with 11 until the first stable build of 12 comes out hopefully in december (with the "final" version to release in jan or feb).