Question: Rooting older Nexus phone?

crumbworks · August 23, 2013

I have a Nexus S. I can't afford a new phone in the near future (now unemployed) and ever since it upgraded to ICS (and then to JB), it has been so slow -- the 1 GHz CPU w/ 512 MB RAM simply can't handle ICS/JB... and when I say slow, I mean painful -- from when I launch Chrome, it's at least 90 seconds until I can use the browser. It takes 30 seconds after I load the texting app until it converts phone numbers into names and becomes responsive enough to use. This is with a single-digit number of apps installed, and only one widget (3D Digital Weather Clock). Even clicking a text box, it's 6 or 7 seconds until the keyboard pops up.

The notion:

My brother says I'll be able to breathe some new life out of this thing by rooting it with a custom ROM. I have my SMS and call logs backed up and can easily re-download all my apps from the Play Store, so I don't care about losing anything. I just never really 'cared' about the rooting potential.

The question:

Is he right? Do you think there would be any reason for me to put something like Cyanogenmod on this thing, or is it simply too weak a processor (with too little RAM) to actually get anywhere with it?

Thanks for your input!

-Chris