Samsung pushed out a new software update today in the United Kingdom (UK) for the Sammy Galaxy S5 g900F smartphone. It’s the first batch of Android 5.0 Lollipop installments for the region on that device. The build number coming from the same is XXU1BOA3. Now, so long as you have already installed the software update on your phone, you can open it up away from the default factory restrictions by applying the following guide.

It’s true that Lollipop comes with many great features including the all new material design UI and app drawer, Android Beam, Android RunTime, Flappy Bird Easter Egg knock-off, tap and go NFC payments, battery saving mode, camera updates, smoother ROM and more. Be that as it may, you still can get, more out of the phone by unlocking the internals and installing custom ROMs or custom firmware. Furthermore, you can a heap of extra rooted applications available from Google Play.

Galaxy S5

Though, before you can get stuck into all of that, you must first apply the guide which is gaining root access. Lets run through a list of the essentials which you will need to complete the steps.

Details of Note

  • Backup your contacts, messages, call logs, SMs texts, MMS messages, photos, videos and songs by using the built-in backup function from your Galaxy S5. Alternatively you can download one of the third-party application from Google Play. We recommend Helium for Android to lots of people.
  • You can use Samsung Kies to sync the phone to your Google account. Likewise, you may use Kies to install the up to date USB drivers.
  • Those of you not working through Samsung Kies will have to download the USB drivers from third-party links or by visiting the official Sammy website if you don’t already have the latest.
  • You may test of the current drivers are working on your device by retrieving the phone pictures from the computer with the phone plugged into the computer via USB cable.
  • Only apply the following if you are using the G900F variant of the smartphone. Check the model number any time by navigating to the Settings followed by About Device.
  • You should reserve at least 50% battery power before starting the steps. We give that estimate based on the battery capacity and the age of the device. However, if you think yours needs more, you should charge it accordingly.
  • You can rely on USb charging for most of the steps as we are connecting to a computer.
  • You must have a Windows PC. It won’t work on Apple Max or Linux computers.

How to root the Samsung Galaxy S5 on XXU1BOA3 Android 5.0 Lollipop

  1. Download the rooting file from here.
  2. Download Odin 3.09 here.
  3. Extract both files to the desktop.
  4. Run the Odin application on the computer.
  5. Boot the phone in download mode.
  6. Connect the device to the computer using the USB cable.
  7. Wait for Odin to change the ID: COM port colors.
  8. Wait for the “added” message.
  9. You should have two boxes ticked which are Auto Reboot and F reset Time.
  10. Leave all other default settings for the app.
  11. Click the AP button and upload the CF-Root file.
  12. Click the start button to begin the flashing.

Several things: you can boot the device in custom recovery mode after installing ClockworkMod or team Win’s TWRP recovery. From there you can perform a factory reset. That reset is how to get out of trouble in future if you find a shaky ROM that you want to abort. If you wish to go completely back to stock Android with the Samsung bloatware you can flash official firmware files using the Odin app, or try a number of apps available from the Google Play Store. Our pick is the Root and Unroot Pro app.

Remember to take a Nandroid backup from inside recovery mode before you install a custom ROM. You can download the Online Nandroid backup app from Google Play for staying online.