Root why should or shouldn't i root my droid?

[detti]

New user wanting to know why I should or shouldn't root my new Droid

 

[detti]

Any help? ?

 

[teschoen]

My advice. If you have to ask you shouldn't.

 

[detti]

Just was wondering what the benefits were. Please and thanks

 

[teschoen]

it is an access level, and can allow you to do all sorts of stuff.. including but not limited to deleting or modifying files that can brick your phone. I would search this forum to read about this further, and if you are daunted by the instructions I would not think about it further.

 

[phaze3131]

New user wanting to know why I should or shouldn't root my new Droid

Good question, I am not totally sure on all that can be done but I know people can take screen shots of their screen with a rooted phone.

Beyond that I dunno.

 

[magnus]

it is an access level, and can allow you to do all sorts of stuff.. including but not limited to deleting or modifying files that can brick your phone. I would search this forum to read about this further, and if you are daunted by the instructions I would not think about it further.

+1

I personally have not rooted because aside from having 2.1...which I keep hearing is buggy. (A few users may not have any problems.....but I feel the general consensus is that is that while an excellent port over....it is still buggy)

Besides some of the best parts/apps of 2.1 are available in 2.0.1 anyways. Can't post links....you'll have to search this and other forums. Sorry

btw......Welcome!!!

 

[RobStemen]

My advice. If you have to ask you shouldn't.

+1 to that. If you have to ask, I wouldn't. However if you do some research and learn something about it I would, because I couldn't be happier I did.

 

[rumdood]

Disclaimer: I haven't rooted my Droid.

As near as I can tell, the biggest advantages to rooting are the ability to load custom ROMs (e.g. ROMs with 2.1 or the Milestone ROM which enabled multitouch in some of the default apps) and/or remove pre-installed apps that you don't want on the phone. You can also do things like modify data files for certain apps (I move in bartending/cocktail circles and have been told there are "good" data files for the cocktail apps out there if you're rooted).

The disadvantage is that you might brick your phone.

I'm not worried about bricking, but I haven't seen anything compelling to make me root, yet. I'm sure something will come up eventually, but for now I'm happy with the level of customization I can achieve with the default 2.0.1 install and a bunch of apps.

My friends who own iPhones all say that they jailbreak their iphones to make them more customizable, and - well - my phone already is.

That's just my $.02.

 

[DroidJnkie]

I have rooted my Droid, and I

 

[Redflea]

I finally got bitten by the bug and rooted...the two main benefits I was seeking are:

- Load custom ROMs (like loading a new OS on your computer) taking advantage of hacks and updates that aren't available to the general public yet. I haven't done this yet, the 2.1 ROMs aren't sounding as refined as I'd like, but now that Google is going to release the 2.1 OS "in a few days" from what I've read related to the Google Nexus One phone release, I'm expecting better things to happen...
- Load individual apps pulled from other releases (e.g, load the 2.1 home screen on a 2.01 Droid), though many of these eventually get converted by the dev community to installable APKs that you can install like any app without rooting

What I have now that I like the best is the stock 2.01 home screen with 5 screens...one of the devs tweaked it to allow five screens. It's only available for rooted phones (at this point). I tried all the 3rd party home screen replacements and all of them eventually led to problems/lag/issues, so I'm really happy a five-screen stock 2.01 home screen is available.

Rooting is easy, but you have to read a little and make sure you get what they are telling you to do.

Adding apps is easy, but also dangerous in the sense that you might hose your system...recovery options are generally available however, so the bricking risk is less than it would seem.

If you are moderately technical, like fussing w/your gadgets, and don't want to wait for the "real" releases of new software updates, rooting may be for you.

If you panic easily, aren't good at following instructions, aren't detail oriented, you might want to skip it and rely on any installable APKs that are created...that gets you some of the goodies w/minimal effort/risk.

 

[detti]

Thanks everyone for your knowledge on this. I really was looking for that WOW factor that would make me do this. Maybe someone could give me their pitch on why I should do this

 

[jmccarthy14]

Theres no wow, yet. I was going to wait until a full sense rom, but it just gives you more control over your phone. Like someone else was saying, custom notification bars and graphics, custom boot images (though this may be possible stock now), removing/disabling apps not used like corp mail etc that auto-launch themselves, and even when you install the apks made for unrooted phones it still leaves you with 2 versions of gallery or clock etc, but with root you can make it the only (and backup the old) etc.

It just gives you More of everything, and when the good rom Finally does come out, you will be able to load it up in minutes.

Also there is no disadvantage to doing it, and most people that can both read and type can do it without a hitch. There is nothing technical involved at all. You open your command prompt and type exactly what they say. You don't even have to know what mount is.

And once you've done the image recovery step, nothing you do from then on (software wise, not dropping it) to your phone can ruin it, you can always restore to a working version. So relax, and try it if you want. It won't cost you anything but 15 minutes, and if you ever want to return it and are paranoid, maybe 10 minutes putting it back to original.

 

[detti]

@jmccarthy. Thanks a lot. Will this give me the ability to add new home screens free?

 

[Redflea]

@jmccarthy. Thanks a lot. Will this give me the ability to add new home screens free?

If you added the tweaked 2.01 launcher w/five screens, or the 2.1 launcher (which also has five screens), then yes.

But you can also do that by installing free home replacement apps like Home++ or Launcher+, and I think Pandahome is also free. All of them allow for more home screens.

Adding additional home screens is probably not enough of a reason to root by itself.

The basic question is - are you a tweaker? Do you like to fidget with and customize your technology toys? Because rooting and then installing stuff brings some improvements in options and capabilities, but also some potential down-sides as you are moving towards the bleeding edge in some cases, might get your phone in weird states that could take a while for you to figure out/recover from, etc.

 

[cpetku]

I rooted so I could see the 2.1 features. Better UI but not really worth some of the hassles. I've swapped between stock and 2.1 many times and eventually settled on 2.0.1 with some 2.1 apps for stability reasons. No Gotta have features which would make me recommend you root.

 

[riffdex]

Theres no wow, yet. I was going to wait until a full sense rom, but it just gives you more control over your phone. Like someone else was saying, custom notification bars and graphics, custom boot images (though this may be possible stock now), removing/disabling apps not used like corp mail etc that auto-launch themselves, and even when you install the apks made for unrooted phones it still leaves you with 2 versions of gallery or clock etc, but with root you can make it the only (and backup the old) etc.

It just gives you More of everything, and when the good rom Finally does come out, you will be able to load it up in minutes.

Also there is no disadvantage to doing it, and most people that can both read and type can do it without a hitch. There is nothing technical involved at all. You open your command prompt and type exactly what they say. You don't even have to know what mount is.

And once you've done the image recovery step, nothing you do from then on (software wise, not dropping it) to your phone can ruin it, you can always restore to a working version. So relax, and try it if you want. It won't cost you anything but 15 minutes, and if you ever want to return it and are paranoid, maybe 10 minutes putting it back to original.

I'll take "voided warranty" for 200. It is simply because of that con that I've decided not to root my Droid at this time. Right now, the limited benefits of rooting are outweighed (for me) by the voiding of my warranty. I would just hate to break my phone and try to send it in for a replacement, only to find that they observed the edited firmware and are now refusing to replace it.

To OP: If you ask me, I think you ought to stay legit for now at least. There is not much benefit in rooting yet (the simple fact is the stock Droid can do a lot of things other phones would have to be hacked to do) and voiding warranty might be a big enough con to discourage you.

 

[Xritam]

I'll take "voided warranty" for 200. It is simply because of that con that I've decided not to root my Droid at this time. Right now, the limited benefits of rooting are outweighed (for me) by the voiding of my warranty. I would just hate to break my phone and try to send it in for a replacement, only to find that they observed the edited firmware and are now refusing to replace it.

To OP: If you ask me, I think you ought to stay legit for now at least. There is not much benefit in rooting yet (the simple fact is the stock Droid can do a lot of things other phones would have to be hacked to do) and voiding warranty might be a big enough con to discourage you.

yes and you can take all of 5 min to unroot it and no one will know. what are you talking about there is not much benefit you can change anything its a unlocked phone, tether, customize, optimize, overclock, ect.

to op: root exploit will be fixed in 2.1 so do it soon and block ota.

 

[riffdex]

yes and you can take all of 5 min to unroot it and no one will know. what are you talking about there is not much benefit you can change anything its a unlocked phone, tether, customize, optimize, overclock, ect.

to op: root exploit will be fixed in 2.1 so do it soon and block ota.

Not if it has been dropped and won't even function. If the phone still worked properly then why would I be sending it in to get a replacement? And I mean exactly what I said, there is not much benefit to rooting the Droid as of now, ESPECIALLY compared to the benefits of jailbreaking other phones. The simple fact is that many of things that people usually have to jailbreak to be able to do on their phones, is possible on a stock Droid.

 

[shademar]

to op: root exploit will be fixed in 2.1 so do it soon and block ota.

This possibility, combined with the ease of unrooting, was why I decided to take the plunge around the time of the rumored update. In the long run, the community devs seem to be way more on the ball than any company in keeping things up to date and optimized so even if there wasn't an immediate need, I wanted to make sure to keep the option. Thought I'd dip a toe in, so to speak.

Then, I figured I should install sprecovery so I could do a full backup. At that moment, I realized how ridiculously painless installing/uninstalling custom roms has already been made by our friendly neighborhood modders. So I tried a shiny new overclocked rom, with which I have been very pleased. So much for dipping a toe in to keep my options open...

That being said, I understand and accept that there's risk involved, and I'm generally one who likes to get hands-on with my gadgetry.

 

[Trident]

Rooted my Moto Droid. Decent knowlege of Android code and Linux. Ended up bricking my phone. Luckly, I was able to talk Assurion into replacing it. The next day I had a BRAND new Droid in the mail. I consider my self very lucky. The point being, rooting is simply not worth the trouble unless you have advanced knowlege of Android as well as Linux.