Root Would you root a corporate Phone?

[marblejay]

So it's a corporate phone and syncs to outlook. What are my risks if I root? Do I have to find out some kind of info regarding the account before I do anything or will the back up info and restore instructions get everything operating so I don't have to make a big deal about it to the powers that be?

 

[JrzDroid]

All you need is the gmail account/password and email/password that is synced to outlook.
If all you wanna do is root to remove bloatware then your pretty safe. The danger starts when you start flashing roms BUT only if you don't follow directions. So come to the world of root. But do your research first. For a good clean first rom, I recommend apex or fission. Simple and solid

 

[marblejay]

I'm afraid I'll start and then want to get cool themes and stuff...like what else would/could I do if I rooted? Why is this so intriguing to me?
Will someone do it for me?

 

[mlclm]

Rooting isn't something that can be done remotely and you really should understand what it actually does before you mess around with it. It doesn't magically make your phone incredibly awesome or incredibly broken. It's similar to simply customizing your PC; you don't have to go crazy with custom-built themes and overclocking, but that option is there. There's also potential to royally mess it up and force you to spend several hours fixing it to an out-of-the-box state. Click around on some forums to get a feel for the dev community and what you actually can do with this phone, then make a decision.

With that being said, when you're comfortable with flashing ROMs and backups, there would be little to no risk rooting a company phone. You could easily have a backup with a stock blur/android for work then a ROM customized to your liking for any other time. It would actually be pretty similar to the profiles that come with the Droid Pro.

 

[marblejay]

I just like making it sweet..i'm the one the IT department gives admin rights to because I tweak a bit on my PC.
Been doing a LOT of reading...just so I'm clear...I need bootstrap AND titanium back up, correct?

 

[Outlaw71]

First of all, did your place of employment give you this device? If so, have you checked their guidelines about such an undertaking? Rooting voids the factory warranty, therefore my guess is that they wouldn't want you to root it. Now, I'm certainly not trying to be an old lady about it, heck I don't understand all the fuss personally, if you're an IT guy then once you dive into it, it should all come lite second nature to you.

I just wouldn't want to see you get in trouble at work for what could be considered 'vandalism' by those powers that be if they aren't down with the whole rooting thing.

 

[sund0wn]

I just like making it sweet..i'm the one the IT department gives admin rights to because I tweak a bit on my PC.
Been doing a LOT of reading...just so I'm clear...I need bootstrap AND titanium back up, correct?

you dont NEED them. as in, you dont need them for superuser permissions to function, but we all highly recommend you get both of them. they are both extremely functional, and VERY useful. and, you need bootstrap to complete a lot of functions.

 

[Napalm]

First of all, did your place of employment give you this device? If so, have you checked their guidelines about such an undertaking? Rooting voids the factory warranty, therefore my guess is that they wouldn't want you to root it. Now, I'm certainly not trying to be an old lady about it, heck I don't understand all the fuss personally, if you're an IT guy then once you dive into it, it should all come lite second nature to you.

I just wouldn't want to see you get in trouble at work for what could be considered 'vandalism' by those powers that be if they aren't down with the whole rooting thing.

Huge Plus one to these statements.

You might have contract warranties and the like with your corporate account. Might be better off leaving it stock. Now I would probably push the boundary with Z4root, and get that. Root, use bootstrap and make a backup.

Then delete some bloat but rock the stock rom. Thus it will look and act stock if you have to get into support issues with others in the company. (might be important) Z4 will also unroot your device if you ever need it to. Supposedly, I've never tried it.

Deleting the bloat speeds up the device, really. If you just have to rom, like was said early back up early and often. Keep the backup files.

Otherwise that warranty and contract thing might cause some problems. I know when I had my corporate devices (all blackberries BTW) I had issues with what I could put on them and what they would support with them. Due to our contracts with AT&T. Legal issues get tricky.

 

[Deleted User]

As said above, I would recommend a casual conversation with your IT guys before doing anything.

I spent a while contracting for a lot of businesses and some places are totally cool with tinkering, while others took the hard-line approach that this was not your phone, this was their phone, and if you did anything other than use it for its intended purposes, you were in trouble.

This is why I have my own phone and pay my own phone bill. I don't want it to be their property.

 

[dhoffman1421]

As said above, I would recommend a casual conversation with your IT guys before doing anything.

I spent a while contracting for a lot of businesses and some places are totally cool with tinkering, while others took the hard-line approach that this was not your phone, this was their phone, and if you did anything other than use it for its intended purposes, you were in trouble.

This is why I have my own phone and pay my own phone bill. I don't want it to be their property.

+1 and why I have a BB for work. The DX is mine!

 

[marblejay]

I know I should check first. It was late last night so I knew I'd be better off doing nothing right away. I'm pretty sure the one phone tech doesn't know about rooting but my IT guy does. I'll just mention it.

Napalm, when you say "rock the stock rom" are you saying just reduce the bloat but don't add all the special rom's that i'm reading about? that might make a lot of sense.

Also, with boot strap, does that mean I can 'go back in time' to make it like it was?

 

[Outlaw71]

If you won't get into trouble for rooting it, then I say root it and go with an all out custom ROM. I removed all the bloat I could and my device wasn't nearly as fast as it is now running GummyJAR. I'm talking this is night and day performance difference. The devs are awesome, they know what the hell they are doing, and their custom ROMs kick the shit out of Motorola's lame attempt. Your device will be just as fast, and then some as any iPhone, Blackberry, HTC device, Samsung.... any of them. The DX flat out flies on a custom ROM. I just started experimenting about a month ago and now I'm scratching my head in wonder why I waited so long... why I wasted to much time.

But if you aren't aloud to root it, then I'd say it's not worth your job to do so. What I would suggest in that case is asking them if they would let you buy your own device so you could do with it as you wish, and just let them pick up the monthly bill (p.s. tell them the monthly bill will be cheaper because you'll be able to wifi tether for free, etc...).

If they don't go for that, then just deal with a stock device I suppose.

 

[dhoffman1421]

You also maybe able to buy your own through there corporate contract that might be cheaper than the msrp Verizon offers to the public.

 

[Napalm]

I know I should check first. It was late last night so I knew I'd be better off doing nothing right away. I'm pretty sure the one phone tech doesn't know about rooting but my IT guy does. I'll just mention it.

Napalm, when you say "rock the stock rom" are you saying just reduce the bloat but don't add all the special rom's that i'm reading about? that might make a lot of sense.

Also, with boot strap, does that mean I can 'go back in time' to make it like it was?

Yes that is exactly what I meant. other ROMS's don't exactly work the same way. Granted its the same OS. So think of this as the safest route that still technically voids the warranty.

If you won't get into trouble for rooting it, then I say root it and go with an all out custom ROM. I removed all the bloat I could and my device wasn't nearly as fast as it is now running GummyJAR. I'm talking this is night and day performance difference. The devs are awesome, they know what the hell they are doing, and their custom ROMs kick the shit out of Motorola's lame attempt. Your device will be just as fast, and then some as any iPhone, Blackberry, HTC device, Samsung.... any of them. The DX flat out flies on a custom ROM. I just started experimenting about a month ago and now I'm scratching my head in wonder why I waited so long... why I wasted to much time.

But if you aren't aloud to root it, then I'd say it's not worth your job to do so. What I would suggest in that case is asking them if they would let you buy your own device so you could do with it as you wish, and just let them pick up the monthly bill (p.s. tell them the monthly bill will be cheaper because you'll be able to wifi tether for free, etc...).

If they don't go for that, then just deal with a stock device I suppose.

While I agree here (hence why I ROM my device too) I found running a less bloated stock device worked really well for me. increased battery life too.

However, look at your company cell phone policy as has been stated here more than once. I don't mean ask someone (unless you fully trust them), I mean read it yourself. There might be legal implications of using a personal phone for company business. (think corporate espionage and the like). I know my company will not allow it to see corporate e-mail systems or calendars. For those very reasons.

This is also why we use Blackberries only. I fortunately don't have nor desire a company device anymore. Its like being freed from Jail, sort of

 

[Outlaw71]

No worries Napalm, I'm not arguing with you in anyway. I'm only giving advice from my perspective. I honestly feel my device was one of the lemons. As in it was fairly buggy when I got it, and doesn't seem to jive with blur what-so-ever. It wasn't until I started running ROMs with pretty much all blur removed that my phone settled down and started to really blow my hair back. It's a night and day difference... but I wouldn't say it's like that on everyone elses DX.

I've seen many people exclaim how awesome their DX was right out of the box without rooting, ROMing, removing bloat or any of those things. Mine just wasn't one of those devices. Mine took a lot of work to get the kinks all ironed out of it. I too saw a lot of improvement after removing the bloat, but it wasn't nearly as big of an improvement as taking all the blur out of it.

So my advice is for him or anyone else who has major lag issue's and wants to clear that up. But if you're one of the lucky ones who got a phone that flies without having to do so, then more power to ya. Wish mine would have been this fast since day one.

 

[Napalm]

Yeah just like the random overclocking results.

I'm convinced some phones have 1.2ghz processors that are underclocked

 

[Outlaw71]

My phone only goes to 1.2, if I try 1.3 or 1.35 it will random reboot a few times per day. If I try 1.4 it turtles immediately.

Still I'm lucky I suppose. There were some that couldn't even get 1.1 going. That would really stink.

 

[Deleted User]

Yeah just like the random overclocking results.

I'm convinced some phones have 1.2ghz processors that are underclocked

That's completely normal in the processor world. Computer CPUs do the same thing - some will run great at 50% or higher overclocks, some won't. With computers, you end up with more voltage options and cooling options so it's a little less restrictive.

 

[michaelkahl]

I work IT, and would be pretty annoyed if a "company issued" phone had been rooted. I'd refuse support to the device.
If it was a user purchased device on a stipend, then I'd be more forgiving. Honestly, if work issued you the device you have no business using it outside the company's acceptable use policy. If you want to root it then get your own device.
A casual conversation before doing anything would go a long way. Just find the right person in IT to strike up a conversation with, and don't come there acting like a total tool. IT guys can sniff it a mile away.

 

[Outlaw71]

I work IT, and would be pretty annoyed if a "company issued" phone had been rooted. I'd refuse support to the device.
If it was a user purchased device on a stipend, then I'd be more forgiving. Honestly, if work issued you the device you have no business using it outside the company's acceptable use policy. If you want to root it then get your own device.
A casual conversation before doing anything would go a long way. Just find the right person in IT to strike up a conversation with, and don't come there acting like a total tool. IT guys can sniff it a mile away.

I know that sort of came off sounding a bit stiff, but I don't think he meant it that way. I'd say that was a very honest answer given by someone who knows the lay of the land. Giving you straight forward advice. So if I were in your shoes, I think this is excellent advice to follow.

 

[marblejay]

I know that sort of came off sounding a bit stiff, but I don't think he meant it that way. I'd say that was a very honest answer given by someone who knows the lay of the land. Giving you straight forward advice. So if I were in your shoes, I think this is excellent advice to follow.

Not stiff at all...I know how annoying people like me can be to the company IT folks. I had my own incredible and wanted to get on the corporate plan. I love my new DroidX and am grateful to have it. I've done the walk of shame to the IT department after contracting a Trojan while on some quest for magical improvements on my PC so I totally get it. I've clarified what I can and can't do to my PC and will talk to the same person about the Droid. It's fine on stock too.

Thanks for all the input. Frankly some of this discussion is way over my head.

 

[Outlaw71]

Not to worry, I can still remember when I first signed up on this forum back in August... I thought the people in here were speaking Chinese. I was too scared to root my device let alone flash a ROM or theme and all that business.

Five months later and I can follow most conversations going on in here. I'm still not up on modding framework, writing scripts, and I'm a million miles away from ever knowing how to develop an actual ROM or a theme. But everything else is very familiar.

Being a computer guy, you will pick it up easy buddy.... easy!

 

[michaelkahl]

I apologize if I came out sounding rude or mean. I'm simply jaded by some of our users lol. I was just imagining one of our internal customers coming to me because they bricked their phone and then trying to tell me that it's my responsibility to fix it. This scenario hasn't happened yet, thankfully. However I have seen the, "I let my kid play with my work laptop on facebook and now it has a trojan." scenario play out. This scenario usually ends with, "BTW I used my flash drive in all your classroom PC's, is that ok?" Sometimes they even bring in personal computers thinking that we are a benefit to them.
Anyway, best way to bring it up with your IT folks is to just get in a phone conversation with them. What I mean is get a "dork" session going.

 

[marblejay]

I apologize if I came out sounding rude or mean. I'm simply jaded by some of our users lol. I was just imagining one of our internal customers coming to me because they bricked their phone and then trying to tell me that it's my responsibility to fix it. This scenario hasn't happened yet, thankfully. However I have seen the, "I let my kid play with my work laptop on facebook and now it has a trojan." scenario play out. This scenario usually ends with, "BTW I used my flash drive in all your classroom PC's, is that ok?" Sometimes they even bring in personal computers thinking that we are a benefit to them.
Anyway, best way to bring it up with your IT folks is to just get in a phone conversation with them. What I mean is get a "dork" session going.

Didn't sound rude or mean at all michael. I totally get it. Just trying to get my 'moment' to ask my phone guru at work

 

[Raw Dodge]

I guess it would depend on company policy and how well you know your boss...the answer that pops into my head without knowing the above is absolutely not....especially if it in any way posed a risk to your employment....if its there phone,and they are paying for it....leave it be in warrantiable condition...