Root Should I REALLY root my phone?

[KingRichh]

I'm new to this forum, obviously, but you guys always have great answers
and have definitely helped make some decisions regarding my new phone.

So I guess you're the ones to ask, is it REALLY worth it to root the Evo?

I'm asking that way because I had my Samsung Moment rooted back before I got this phone.
And even with all the great new apps I could use and all the little bonuses that come with rooting,
I ran into more problems with that phone as far as functionality after the root.

Not to mention I didn't see any really significant changes in the battery usage,
even with Setcpu.

I'm just not convinced it's worth the hassle.

 

[JunBringer]

It's very much worth it. I see a drastic difference using SetCPU plus you have no limits to what you can do with your phone. Trust me, go for it!

 

[dan330]

hi and welecome to af...

i am sorry.. you are they only one to answer that...
if on the moment.. you did not see the benefit... then you know your answer!


I myself... had my Hero rooted... and romed..and overclocked... and it was more than worth it.

I had to root my new EVO.. and did it after 2 days after getting it.. wanted to play with it bone stock..
Stock was great.. no issues..
but I wanted tething option: usb and wifi.
making custom changes... to different parts of the UI.

yes... there are some issues with some ROMs...
but they are the ones that push the limits..
you can use something that is less aggressive in performance and you should not see any problems.

The best ROM that I have found that gives you benifits but dont push the limits... try "Sprint Lover" rom.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

Only you can decide if it's worth it to root. For me 100% yes worth it to root. I root for wireless tether and screenshots. If you don't care about that, custom ROMs, backups, then no, it's not worth it to root, for you.

 

[sas7561]

I decided to use z4root (tethering). Its a temporary root and serves me just fine. Tinkered with unrevoked and decided to use something temporary. Apps from the market seem to work better with a stock OS and when a new update is available, there will be no need to re-flash due to update compatibility issues.

 

[Ivansandroid]

I pondered this question many times before I decided but now that I have (unrevoked) I love it. Gives you a lot more freedom with app than what you had before. The biggest gain is the free wifi tether app for root users. Works great (ps3 online with no problem). Plus who cares, way overhyped. Plus with unrevoked you can unroot, but you wont. I becomes complicated when you decide to start changing the rom which I havent stock is perfect.

 

[dan330]

which wifi tether app are you using???

I can not get it to work with PS3... because it is an "ad-hoc" network that you are creating... and PS3 dont work with that.

 

[hortstu]

yes

 

[bvbull200]

OP. In my honest opinion, if you have to ask the question, then I would say no. If you are asking, it means 1 of 2 things, if not a combination of both.

1. You aren't comfortable with the procedure.
2. You don't see an inherent value in what rooting does for you.

Both of those things are perfectly acceptable reasons to not root your phone. What I would suggest is to keep reading this sub-forum and when/if you do change your stance on those 2 points, then go ahead and take the plunge. I was vaguely interested in rooting for a while, but I fell in to both of those categories. After some research and familiarizing myself with everything discussed in this sub-forum and XDA, I decided it was worth it and I'm certainly glad that I did.

which wifi tether app are you using???

I can not get it to work with PS3... because it is an "ad-hoc" network that you are creating... and PS3 dont work with that.

I am using the app called "Wireless Tether" and have no issues with playing on the PS3. I downloaded it from the market.

 

[cyaiphone]

Go for it! I had my phone stock for 5 months and just rooted a few days ago! You will like it! I'm still learning so i haven't had a chance to unleash the beast but i will get there.

 

[aburgthing]

My best response to this question would be how much time do you have to devote to reading and learning about your phone, the rooting process, the risks and what you can do afterwards? The Evo is actually a powerhouse device however it's true potential is locked down as a failsafe so that it's environment stays safe and the user doesn't have access to things that can mess it up. That said, it is important to be able to devote some time to reading and learning as much as possible before taking that plunge. This forum is a good starting point, but XDA developers forum gets in depth about the process. There you will learn the good, the bad and the ugly. Warning though, the forum itself is not for the faint of heart; read and search before you ask questions. Once you are comfortable with all the techno babble, and take the plunge, you will be able to unlock the true potential of the phone and tweak, update, theme etc. to your hearts content. I'm currently running a kernel that trickle charges your phone so that it stays at 100% hours after you take it off the charger and gives unreal battery life. A different ROM (User interface) that completely re-themes the phone and makes it run much better. Wireless tether is a given. You can make backups (like restore points) so if you don't like one ROM you can switch and be just like you left it screen set up and all through recovery.

So the quick answer to this question, if you have the time to devote to reading and learning, the experience will be well worth the time you invested. Conversely, I have converted several friends to the Evo collective and they refuse to root. Yet they marvel at what I have done to my phone. They are not tech inclined, if you are then go for it.

 

[KingRichh]

hi and welecome to af...

i am sorry.. you are they only one to answer that...
if on the moment.. you did not see the benefit... then you know your answer!


I myself... had my Hero rooted... and romed..and overclocked... and it was more than worth it.

I had to root my new EVO.. and did it after 2 days after getting it.. wanted to play with it bone stock..
Stock was great.. no issues..
but I wanted tething option: usb and wifi.
making custom changes... to different parts of the UI.

yes... there are some issues with some ROMs...
but they are the ones that push the limits..
you can use something that is less aggressive in performance and you should not see any problems.

The best ROM that I have found that gives you benifits but dont push the limits... try "Sprint Lover" rom.

Awesome, if I decide to root that'll be the first rom I flash

 

[KingRichh]

I pondered this question many times before I decided but now that I have (unrevoked) I love it. Gives you a lot more freedom with app than what you had before. The biggest gain is the free wifi tether app for root users. Works great (ps3 online with no problem). Plus who cares, way overhyped. Plus with unrevoked you can unroot, but you wont. I becomes complicated when you decide to start changing the rom which I havent stock is perfect.

I think an option to be able to unroot is something I would want,
since I'm so on the fence about it

 

[KingRichh]

My best response to this question would be how much time do you have to devote to reading and learning about your phone, the rooting process, the risks and what you can do afterwards? The Evo is actually a powerhouse device however it's true potential is locked down as a failsafe so that it's environment stays safe and the user doesn't have access to things that can mess it up. That said, it is important to be able to devote some time to reading and learning as much as possible before taking that plunge. This forum is a good starting point, but XDA developers forum gets in depth about the process. There you will learn the good, the bad and the ugly. Warning though, the forum itself is not for the faint of heart; read and search before you ask questions. Once you are comfortable with all the techno babble, and take the plunge, you will be able to unlock the true potential of the phone and tweak, update, theme etc. to your hearts content. I'm currently running a kernel that trickle charges your phone so that it stays at 100% hours after you take it off the charger and gives unreal battery life. A different ROM (User interface) that completely re-themes the phone and makes it run much better. Wireless tether is a given. You can make backups (like restore points) so if you don't like one ROM you can switch and be just like you left it screen set up and all through recovery.

So the quick answer to this question, if you have the time to devote to reading and learning, the experience will be well worth the time you invested. Conversely, I have converted several friends to the Evo collective and they refuse to root. Yet they marvel at what I have done to my phone. They are not tech inclined, if you are then go for it.

I appreciate the response, I'm definitely gonna read up on it a bit more before I decide.
Those of you that have rooted seem pretty happy with your outcomes, so I'm gonna have to try it out.

And I have to admit, that Kernel you're talking about is what really caught my attention.
How does it work?

 

[aburgthing]

I appreciate the response, I'm definitely gonna read up on it a bit more before I decide.
Those of you that have rooted seem pretty happy with your outcomes, so I'm gonna have to try it out.

And I have to admit, that Kernel you're talking about is what really caught my attention.
How does it work?

The Evo charges to 100% but unless you take it off the charger immediately, it begins to discharge while still plugged in. If you look at the battery, it will say 100% but suddenly plunge into the 90s or even eighties with minimal use. That's because the charger stopped charging at 100 and won't kick on again until it gets below 95%. The system is still running while its sleep and the phone is actually discharging. The SBC kernel (built with the Netarchy's/Toastmod kernel which has always been a fantastic kernel) allows for the phone to trickle charge when it gets to full thus keeping the battery topped off. All the specifics are beyond my technical level but it just works. The kernel itself is excellent on battery use along with a good ROM that sips battery (plug for Myn's Warm 2.2) and you realize much improved battery life over the stock setup.

 

[dan330]

Full charging solutions like that is bad for battery in the long run..battery life is shorten.

There are good reasons why manufactures are doing it this way.

 

[Drew5150]

if you haven't already noticed there are a lot more devs,roms and kernels out for the evo when compared to your moment. and probably more help support off the forums.

if you do decide to root, stick to stock like roms or roms suggested on this forum.

check out aamikan's work. stock like rom re-engineered by removing the additional languages.
[BASE ROM] - [12/18/2010] - ReEngineered 3.70.651.1 - A Faster HTC Sense ROM - xda-developers
and
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=883026

 

[aburgthing]

Full charging solutions like that is bad for battery in the long run..battery life is shorten.

There are good reasons why manufactures are doing it this way.

Not to argue but will defer to the developers explanation below. Anyway I have two spares for $10.00 I'm not worried about it. It is endorsed by some pretty heavy weight developers and I waited for their blessing before proceeding with it.

Will this damage my battery?
This charging method doesnt damage the batteries at all. It shouldnt. Because our batteries dont even charge up to 4.2V without the tweak. They charge up to 4.2V the first charge, then drop all the way down to 4.08V or something and then does these weird short burst chargers to 4.1-4.125V. Thats why there's the rapid drop in the morning. Because your voltage is actually at 4.125V and that's not 100%. So with this tweak, the charger keeps charging until you're at 4.2V (or the maximum voltage your battery can get to) and then it trickle chargers while at that voltage. The charger itself never turns off. Thats not a bad thing. Because as you reach your actual voltage, the mA decreases. Which is why our phones will never be damaged. You ever want to know why its really easy to charge from 50-80% but the charge from 90-100% seems to take so long? Its because from 50% the mA going into the phone is in the 600's. Once it reaches 90%, the mA is around 150 and once it reaches 95% you're looking at 90mA. The phone when absolutely idle uses anywhere from 60-120mA, even when on the charger. So charging from 90% to 100% takes longer becaus the mA going into the phone isnt always higher than the mA you're losing. This is the same with charging past 100%. As you leave the phone on the charger with this tweak, you're mA will decrease from 50mA all the way down to 2mA overnight. But on the charger you're losing about 30-60mA already, so you'll never overcharge the battery, in best case scenarios, you'll just maintain the voltage of 4.2 or around 4.2V.

 

[dan330]

I am no battery expert...
but the little I do know.. or think I know..

battery at full charge.. for long periods.. and constantly filling it to top... does more wear and tear on that battery.

I would have to believe the manufactures.. and why they designed the charger to only reach 100% then let it drop to 95% and let it hover there. If there was no damage to stay at 100%.. then they could easily, let the charger feed power and keep it at 100%.

some is some extra reading for you:
Your Smartphone’s Battery Gauge is Lying to You (and it’s not such a bad thing) | Android Phone Fans

but as you say.. $10 batteries do make that a mute point.
I have extra $10 batteries too.

 

[JB in AZ]

I am no battery expert...
but the little I do know.. or think I know..

battery at full charge.. for long periods.. and constantly filling it to top... does more wear and tear on that battery.

I would have to believe the manufactures.. and why they designed the charger to only reach 100% then let it drop to 95% and let it hover there. If there was no damage to stay at 100%.. then they could easily, let the charger feed power and keep it at 100%.

some is some extra reading for you:
Your Smartphone’s Battery Gauge is Lying to You (and it’s not such a bad thing) | Android Phone Fans

but as you say.. $10 batteries do make that a mute point.
I have extra $10 batteries too.

dan330, I agree with what you are saying...as a parallel comparison...I own a Camry Hybrid. The batteries are guaranteed by Toyota for 100,000 miles or 10 years, and in some states, even more. These are VERY expensive batteries, and Toyota does not want to have to replace many of them. Hence, they rarely let their Hybrid batteries charge to 100%, nor do they let them often get below about 20%. This is how they get such long life out of the batteries. Granted, at $10 a pop, the EVO battery is significantly cheaper than the Hybrid car batteries... but constantly charging it to, and maintaining it at 100%, will shorten the lifesapn of the battery.

With all due rsespect to the developers, they are great at making roms and kernels that we all are greatful for, but they may not be battery experts.

(sorry for off topic post! )