Rooting or Flashing first?

Question

I bought a Lenovo A806 Smartphone (apparently also known as Golden Warrior) from Hong Kong. Despite being bought from the Chinese market it has Google Play Store installed but it also has Mobomarket and other apps I'd rather not have which cannot be removed with normal deletion methods. I have been told they're probably within the root system.

I am a relative newbie and have discovered a variety of sites and programs which provide both rooting and mod options including Kingroot and Needrom. However I'm reluctant to just steam ahead without gaining approval from someone who knows about this stuff :-)

So my questions are,

1. Is there a list of available rooting programs/software anywhere on the web?

2. Does an unrooted phone always have to be rooted before mods can be flashed? Or can I install a new ROM which roots at the same time?

The phone runs 4.4.2. I have a build number if needed.

Many thanks for any advice.

Answer 1

Towelroot is one of the easiest roots out there. Install the app on the phone (make sure installing from unknown sources is enabled in settings → security), press the only button in the app and you should be rooted.

You can (and should) then install a root manager app like SuperSU to stop any random app being able to get root access.

Answer 2

A majority, if not all, of mods provide root access out of the box. The most popular one of them is CyanogenMod (or "CM" for short), which strives to provide a clean Android experience while also offering new features. Unfortunately though, CM doesn't support your device. It seems like the closest you can get to it is A806 AOSP. In order to install that, you need the TWRP recovery, which may also come in handy later on.

One thing to remember is that you should always make backups when installing things from within the recovery. In case things go wrong, you can always restore the backup and try again.