Rooting your smart phone

Science & Technology Information Technology, Gaming, Machines, Gadgets
1

Please tell me pros and cons of it.

Also, there are some aaps like Facebook and Twitter on my Xperia Neo V that I would like to move to my SD card, but can’t. Any suggestions?

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

The pros of rooting your Android phone:

  • Rooting frees your Android phone from the clutches of the mobile carrier where you got your phone from, unless you got it unlocked. If that’s the case, rooting frees your phone from the restrictions of the Android OS.
  • Rooting allows you to install “unofficial” and advanced versions of the Android OS. Generally, Android OS are carried over-the-air by Google and selected carriers to their Android-released devices. And this usually takes awhile to happen. Luckily, there are developers who make this updates available and the only way you can install them is to root your phone.
  • Rooting allows you to uninstall stock apps which are most of the time useless and were pre-installed by the manufacturer or your carrier
  • Rooting allows you take screenshots of your phone. It is so easy to take screenshots on the iPhone, but it will take rooting for Android phone users to do this.
  • Rooting allows you to back up your phone’s system to an SD card so that you can try out custom ROMs and revert back to your old system
  • Rooting allows you to move apps to an SD card instead of cramping your phone’s internal storage.
  • Rooting allows you to use custom operating systems that will render your Android phones more useful.
  • Rooting lets you overclock your phone’s kernel, making it performs faster than it was intended to perform by the manufacturer.
  • Rooting lets you fully personalize and customize your phone’s interface with cool themes, wallpapers, widgets and more.

The cons of rooting your Android Phone:

  • Rooting might void your phone’s warranty.
  • Rooting can cause your phone to act abnormally, especially if not done properly.
  • Rooting renders your phone unqualified to receive OS updates through OTA. So you will be on your own to look out for valid sources. The good news is that, your phone is probably running the latest OS after you have rooted it.
  • You’ll be spending more time with your phone since rooting entails constant updates and all.
  • Rooting may make your phone perform faster but there are downsides to it specifically running too hot to the point of overheating your device.

Please do note that rooting your phone voids your warranty and the process is risky even in a streamlined form. There is still a chance that you can brick your phone, so be sure about which “rooting” guide you select to follow.

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

hmm good question. I would like to know as well. Those who have rooted their phones please do tell.

4

Re: Rooting your smart phone

Besides what NightVision copy/pasted (:)) the biggest thing is it provides me with super-user access. First thing I install is my DroidWall firewall, which lets me block network access to whatever I want. Rooting may void warranty but there are stock versions of the OS that you can flash on which brings your phone back to how it was when you bought it.

Android (without root) allows you to install all kinds of apps, eighter through the Google Play store, Amazon AppStore or via side loading where you download the .APK file and run it thru an Explorer like utility. Rooting just enbles extending the OS, removing bloatware that manufacturer and carriers load on, and making sure things on your phone are behaving exactly how you want it to.

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

^^ Noting down new lingo and Googling for meanings:

  • .apk = android application package
  • bloatware = software that has way too many features and requires a lot of RAM and space

So now this may be totally off topic but how does one remove bloatware? Isn't it built in and required for the app to run smoothly?

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

Why bring Lord Ram into this discussion?

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

No, you didn't.

( killed one more thread, that is).

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

I dunno what u be saying :(

Anyway, I think I'm ready to root. I had a visionary dream about it last night.

9

Re: Rooting your smart phone

I be having too much time in my hands is all. Pay no attention. Got me trolling hat on.

10

I would also root. Purely remove the crap manufacturers and network decide to put on the phone!

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

OK So looks like u and I are ready to root our respective mobile devices. Or have you done that already?

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

:D:

I'm trying to get more involved :)

Slowly

:)

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

You're not off-topic, you're on exactly the next step in the progression. How one removes bloatware is to root and install a firmware that has taken this out. CyanogenMod (CM) does a very good job of giving you the raw, Android experience. These days (with Samsung's TouchWiz) there are some items that I actually really like that I'm missing with CM. BlazerRom is a pretty cleaned up version of the Samsung ROM, which is what I was mostly using.

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

OK, so here is what I need to do:

  1. Make niyaat to root (how many nafl u recommend :bummer:?)
  2. Take a long deep breath.
  3. Then u install this CM Rom dude. So the stock Rom goes bye bye. Of course you’ve backed up so if you don’t like the rooted final, you can switch back.
  4. Follow instructions (I know videos are available for that)
  5. Then you install all ur apps, etc.

So then my next question is, with the new rooted phone you’ve got, what stock features do you miss?

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

Good luck with rooting peoplaan:k:
dont forget to backup your stock ROM.

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

The palm swipe to get the screenshot being one. Stock camera app etc. But then there are ways around it.

Press and hold the power and instead of shutdown and reboot it gives you a whole bunch of other options, including screenshot. There are tons of camera apps including this new Google camera app (version 4.2) that's been released that I'm using (pictures after the break). Other apps i use include firewall, an add blocking app, Titanium backup (just for this app its worth it to root). The security app Cerberus can go into hiding etc etc.
A lot of these apps don't need CyanogenMod (CM) they just need root access (and super user permissions).

In short more pros than cons for rooting.

17

Re: Rooting your smart phone

^^ I see.

I've been visiting the Google Play Store after reading up reviews on certain apps that come highly recommended by online tech websites, etc... but most such apps seem to require root. And knowing that rooting ur phone doesn't mean destroying it or that it isn't an irreversible process makes amateurs like me more relaxed about this whole process.

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

There is misconception here, rooting doesn't mean a new ROM or completely different interface, it just gives you the super user privilege. I am running the stock rom, nothing fancy on a rooted device, because some of my applications need root access. And to install custom ROMs, you need to unlock the bootloader, rooting and unlocking bootloader are two different things.

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Re: Rooting your smart phone

I think we should do a rooting-101 thread for the S3 for now. Anyone interested?