Reading through this I saw some very good points about what rooting can get you. But I never saw the particular reason I decided to root my Ally, and I think it is one that a lot of those unfamiliar with rooting a phone will likely run into at some point if they like to install apps. That is, what to do when you keep getting "low memory space" messages, but you want to KEEP all the apps you have installed? I had to go through my apps several times and keep tossing the stuff I 'wanted' but wanted 'less' than something else I had. I got tired of waiting for the Froyo 2.2 update to give us the ability to run apps from the SD card, which puts an end to that problem. So I quickly found out that rooting the Ally lets me do exactly that.
Looking back on things from where I am today, they put a really TINY amount of usable application memory in the LG Ally. It may seem like plenty when first deciding to buy the phone, but it fills up fast when you start getting apps like some of those I use which take 12-15MB each.
So, the answer is - I did it to be able to move my apps to the SD card. Initially I thought I would have as much space as I want on the SD card for apps. But I learned along the way that (for now at least) I am again hitting a limit of 512MB on the SD card for apps, using the tools I used to get rooted and install the utility called "A2SD" that allows me to have the phone's apps moved from internal memory to the SD card. It might be different for those using more manual methods of rooting. But still, that is a FAR cry from the 76MB LG gave me when the phone is not rooted. I won't be filling 512MB any time soon.
There is a lot of info on forums like this one about root and the things it allows you to do. Some of what I read along the way is, as I often find on forums, looking to be "old data" and has been replaced by newer ways to do things. But no one usually goes back and updates those early posts. So it can get confusing, trying to read enough to figure out what root is all about. In a nutshell it is opening the same access in the Android OS as "administrator" gives you in a Windows OS, and perhaps even more.
Fortunately, we have good folks like Dots here, who was VERY helpful in my getting my Ally rooted!! The chat room he mentioned is like this forum on time-shifted steroids.
Someone always seems to be there to answer questions right away. It was a huge help to me, mostly coming from Dots himself. ( I don't think he ever sleeps
).
If you are the kind of person who looks at the device in hand and thinks (gee, if only it could......) then rooting is how you can often open those possibilities (in so far as the device's ultimate physical imitations). But the way these phones are stock out of the box is only a fraction of what they can do according to what I have read so far.
I was apprehensive about it. But looking back on it now, and knowing I can 'undo' it if I want, it was actually pretty easy, and very satisfying once accomplished!
Zoandroid