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Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

7 recommendations

Hall

MVM

What is 'rooting' (your Android phone)

The term "root" comes from the Unix world, which the Android OS is based on, specifically, the Linux OS. A user with this level of access or permission is also known as "superuser". Basically, they can do anything and everything ! In the Windows world, it's similar to having "Administrator" access.

Rooting your phone provides you the ability to gain full control of your phone's hardware and software. For instance, does your wireless carrier install applications that you don't like or have no use for and want to remove ? Without root, you have to live with it. With root, you can delete the app(s). Want to make your phone run faster, i.e. overclock the CPU ? with root, you can do that; without, it runs at the speed the manufacturer decides. Of course, the possibilities of what you can do are endless.

A few things to remember:
•Rooting your phone is probably against your carrier's terms of use and likely voids your warranty*.
•If you are happy with your phone, LEAVE IT ALONE. That said, if there's little things that you don't like or wish worked differently, you might look into rooting.
•Not all phones can be rooted. This often simply comes down to the popularity of the phone -- fewer users probably means fewer people ("devs") who are interested in working on/with that model.

* As long as your phone doesn't 'die' completely, you can generally return it to 'stock' so when you do return it, no one knows it's been rooted (without digging deeper).

This explanation is by no means all-inclusive. Corrections are welcome.

Alpha Phoenix
Premium Member
join:2001-06-15
Brooklyn, NY

Alpha Phoenix

Premium Member

Great explanation.
expat42451
join:2003-06-20
100350

expat42451 to Hall

Member

to Hall
Excellent post !!
vegasmach1
join:2004-11-26
Las Vegas, NV

vegasmach1

Member

Agree great post. I have 2-Android Samsung phones an Epic 4G and Epic 4G Touch. I have rooted both and it transformed the phones to a new level. Do your research first before jumpng into this. Do it wrong and you have a $200 paper weight. A resource I use is xda-developers.com. Find your make/model of your phone and read as much as you can. If you want to take the risk (small) it can be quite enjoyable.
OZO
Premium Member
join:2003-01-17

OZO to Hall

Premium Member

to Hall
1. What is S-ON/S-OFF and how it's related to the rooting?
2. If it's related, what should go first?
3. Does rooting requires replacing fastboot (HBOOT) code?
4. How rooting could be completely reversed?
Thank you in advance!

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall

MVM

1) S-ON and S-OFF are related to the bootloader and, I believe, whether or not it will allow un-signed (digitally signed by either the phone manufacturer or the wireless carrier) files to be loaded. I've never dug into it, but I'm guessing "S" equals "signature". In order to load un-signed files, you need S-OFF.

2) You have to turn off signature-checking before being able to load the applicable software, so gaining S-OFF first is req'd.

3) Yes (not replacing though, just modifying).

4) Yes, in most cases.

You can have S-OFF and not root your phone, by the way.
KimBeth
join:2012-01-23
785001

KimBeth to Hall

Member

to Hall
Great post. Thank You
rblizz
join:2001-12-16
North Richland Hills, TX

rblizz to Hall

Member

to Hall
said by Hall:

Rooting your phone provides you the ability to gain full control of your phone's hardware and software. For instance, does your wireless carrier install applications that you don't like or have no use for and want to remove ? Without root, you have to live with it. With root, you can delete the app(s).

Getting rid of Sprint's apps is the only reason I rooted my Motorola XPRT. I could have lived with most of them (even though they were always running and taking up memory) but one called "DNLA" kept coming up and wanting me to connect to my "media." Annoying as... heck. I didn't delete these Sprint apps, instead I installed App Quarantine, which "freezes" bloatware. The advantage is, if a new updates comes out for your phone, you can "thaw" all those annoying applications and (in theory, at least) the update will work without issue because it sees what it wants to see on your phone. Then you just refreeze the apps and you're good to go. Whether it actually works I can't tell as I haven't had to upgrade since rooting. There may never be another major update for the XPRT (which is fine with me).

Hayward0
K A R - 1 2 0 C
Premium Member
join:2000-07-13
Key West, FL

Hayward0 to Hall

Premium Member

to Hall
Well once again be a first, providing a root utility and saying you are still under warranty giving it all away.

And not for the TF101, just the new generation.

But yes first manufacturer I have ever seen give away a rooting App and your own risk and still under warraty period installation ends it, and at least form their root you can't go back or get further updates.

But still no other manufacturer has so openly done this.

Hall
MVM
join:2000-04-28
Germantown, OH

Hall

MVM

No idea what you're talking about.... You post in the wrong place ?

Alpha Phoenix
Premium Member
join:2001-06-15
Brooklyn, NY

Alpha Phoenix

Premium Member

LMAO!!!!!!

mromero
Premium Member
join:2000-12-07
Fullerton, CA

1 recommendation

mromero

Premium Member

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· =g-all-u
24396176 (banned)
join:2012-05-24
Milpitas, CA

24396176 (banned) to Hall

Member

to Hall
well Root is a folder in android OS system..what is inside your mind

ctceo
Premium Member
join:2001-04-26
South Bend, IN

ctceo to Hall

Premium Member

to Hall
Looking for information pertaining to the Samsung Galaxy Prevail. I'd like to root so that I may squeeze a bit more space out of it as the onboard memory is kinda tiny. I'd like to use something like link2SD, but cant unless phone is rooted. Rooting an iPhone or reflashing my sylvania 7" with android was far simpler than with a modern Android phone. Any good toots that anyone may know about would be great to peruse.

Anav
Sarcastic Llama? Naw, Just Acerbic
Premium Member
join:2001-07-16
Dartmouth, NS

Anav to Hall

Premium Member

to Hall
My understanding is that if your simply providing access to the root directory (now have admin rights) to the current firmware this in no way can void a warranty. Now if you replace the ROM load with a different one, a deeper step often done after plain routing then yes I can see that voiding a warranty.
DarkSithPro (banned)
join:2005-02-12
Tempe, AZ

1 edit

DarkSithPro (banned) to Hall

Member

to Hall
Hall, what are the security risks of rooting your phone? I have heard reports of peoples android devices getting infected with malware after they downloaded programs that aren't in the Google play store. Also can you tell me about the dangers of malware such as gingermaster/rootsmart? Isn't it dangerous to be a super user, and also dangerous for programs to exploit the OS for root access?