Root Basic question from newbie - What Is ROOTING and Why should I do it

[jcaswell]

I have an HTC Desire HT (my first Android) and I have seen some comments on Rooting. I really do not know what that is, and I have done some searches, may of which talk about rooting, but non exlain what the benefits are.

Can anyone help with this, or point me to where I can get some help

 

[arlrb]

Gives you greater access & control to OS functions. Lets you install apps that aren't approved. Gives apps greater control of the OS. All sorts of jiggery-pokery really, such as removing ads from free apps, removing stock apps that don't normally have an uninstall option (amazon etc).
& that's why they don't like it & it voids your warranty, as you can do stuff that they didn't design or intend it to do (over clocking the CPU, memory settings etc).

With rooting, you can even put a completely different OS onto a phone that it was never intended for, such as Froyo onto the HTC HD2 (a windows 6.5 phone).

Rooting, albeit developed by some really talented guys, isn't tested to the same degree as an official OS version or update. No Guaranties!

My DHD is performing well at the mo, & there aren't many things i want to do that i can't already. Look hard enough & there's probably an approved app for whatever you want to do anyhow.

Unless you're into muckin' about with this sort of thing, or have a spare phone you can chance bricking, or hate your phone as it is, i wouldn't bother.

...Oh yeah, or if you have loads of spare time!

 

[RED_]

What are the best apps out there for rooted phones? The only reason I would ever root the phone is for more apps, I have no plans to overclock/underclock or flash any ROMs onto the device.

Is there really any point in rooting at all considering the market is full of apps as it is?

 

[Fio]

Well if you root your phone you can install applications illegally as well (i.e. install applications you would have to pay for free).

I'm personally against that, but I'm tempted to do it since Android Market doesn't work in Croatia (we can only download and install free apps, paid ones are unavailable).

 

[samuelchua]

I thought of jumping on android bandwagon too ass the DHD looks awesome. Heard from my friends that you have to root the phone in order to install all apps onto the sd card, is that true? They told me froyo does support installing apps into sd card but NOT all apps are supported.

The dhd has a miserable 1.5gb of internal space to install as compared to ios 16gb/32gb so I seriously thought of rooting after I have got mine dhd.

 

[jboze]

I thought the same before getting my DHD, but 1.5g is honestly plenty. Lots of apps allow you to install to the memory card nowadays and the trend should only continue.

 

[EddyOS]

1.5GB is MORE than enough to install apps, you'd have to have a lot of pointless apps installed to get to the limit. And the space is purely for apps/data related to apps - everything else defaults to the SD card (photos/videos, etc.) so you won't have to worry

 

[EddyOS]

What are the best apps out there for rooted phones? The only reason I would ever root the phone is for more apps, I have no plans to overclock/underclock or flash any ROMs onto the device.

Is there really any point in rooting at all considering the market is full of apps as it is?

Going by your statement there is no need to root as the phone will do all you want it to do out the box. Rooting is really just for people who just HAVE to have full control over something - it's not all that tbh

 

[redrox2110]

Personally, my main reason for rooting is to remove stock apps that I don't want or won't use (there also seems to be a lot of app duplication between stock Android and HTC Sense).

Like to hear from anyone out there whether they feel this reason alone is worth the effort/risk?

Thanks!

 

[fatjames]

Personally, my main reason for rooting is to remove stock apps that I don't want or won't use (there also seems to be a lot of app duplication between stock Android and HTC Sense).

Like to hear from anyone out there whether they feel this reason alone is worth the effort/risk?

Thanks!

I think it's well worth the risk. Install Visionary, remove the bloatware, uninstall Visionary, done.
Visionary temp root seems to be very stable, and easy to remove. I've not had any problems yet. Once I removed all the bloatware all the lagging I had disapeared, and also my bat lasts a wee bit longer because there is less running as standard (although, you can sort that without rooting)

One of the main selling points for Android, over lets say Ios is that you have control over your device. You're meant to be able to customise your handset. Without rooting, i'd still have Amazon mp3, Peep, tweet, or whatever that shit is called clogging up my HTC. To me, that seems to go against the point of it all..

 

[redrox2110]

I think it's well worth the risk. Install Visionary, remove the bloatware, uninstall Visionary, done.
Visionary temp root seems to be very stable, and easy to remove. I've not had any problems yet. Once I removed all the bloatware all the lagging I had disapeared, and also my bat lasts a wee bit longer because there is less running as standard (although, you can sort that without rooting)

One of the main selling points for Android, over lets say Ios is that you have control over your device. You're meant to be able to customise your handset. Without rooting, i'd still have Amazon mp3, Peep, tweet, or whatever that shit is called clogging up my HTC. To me, that seems to go against the point of it all..

Couldn't agree more, fatjames

 

[jcaswell]

OK - having got SU rughts, how do I uninstall the unwanted apps? I can't seem to find a way to do it

 

[The Hoff]

jcaswell, please refer to this link. It's a nice guide on the removal of apps

How To Delete Stock Android 2.2 Apps From Android Phone | Jaxov

Just be careful what you remove, certain applications have dependencies on applications that you wouldn't think logical - either take a full backup first, or make doubly sure (by way of Google) that it's OK to remove the app.

Enjoy!

 

[redrox2110]

I found these instructions very useful as well - and for a noob, it seems to be a "safer" way to delete unwanted apps...

http://androidforums.com/desire-hd-all-things-root/215779-temp-root-titanium-backup.html

 

[THE ANDROID]

How would I revert back to a stock DHD OTB?

 

[stevecb]

Really helpful stuff on this thread. I have dhd on orange and it's chock full of bloatware. This is a new word for me as I'm new to adroid and smartphones. But.. the whole reason I wanted to go android is that I didn't want to be tied to a monopoly as in apple. Anyway my question is this; if I temproot with visionary will the bits of crap that I get rid of reappear on reboot and if I do get rid of stuff will it stop me from updating official firmware updates? Sorry that was two questions...
Cheers guys, Great forum.

 

[stevecb]

Oh, and on the issue of battery life, i found that 'battery saver' works pretty well as long as you remember to go to it after you've done anything on your phone and kill all selected apps...
I know this is prob the wrong thread for that but battery life is a massive issue on the dhd...

 

[est1984]

Whats the differences between a rooting and a rom?

Is it possible to install Garmin XT if I rooted?

 

[jcaswell]

Thanks for all your help thus far - I have loaded Visionary and run it. used Titanium Backupto freeze and then delate my unwanted apps. I then deleted Visionary, but as far as I can find out I still have SU rights and thus, I think, am rooted.

How do I 'unroot' myself - when I used Visionary I thought that I only set myself up as temporary, and I have rebooted.

 

[dntnvme]

Where can one find these programs to remove these unwanted program. I tried the first one by downloading terminal eliminator but it kept saying access denied... So where can I find the temp root program and get this unnecessary stuff gone... Thanks in advance

 

[jcaswell]

Dear dntnvme

If you look back through this thread there is lots of help about this - I used Visionalry and Titanium. You will have to load Visionary from somewhere other than the Market, however

 

[dntnvme]

Ok, I have both programs now, but I can't seem to get any unwanted programs removed. It keeps saying read only file systems... I get all the way to typing the command in to remove a file and I get no go... Help please!!!!!!!