So YouWaited instead of Rooting. -You were expecting what?

[Psychokitty]

I see a LOT of disappointment with the 2.2 push; Problems with battery charge longevity, quirks, and especially general "It ain't all it's cracked up to be"ness...
Well what did you all think was gonna happen?
Some of you refuse to root, and I just don't get the reasoning. Because I run a custom ROM, it's easy for me to understand the frustration many of you have after waiting for a very (very) bland update while developers have been offering unbelievably cutomizable ROMs that look and feel like SuperROMs by comparison.
This is history repeating itself in our little cybersphere here. Just look at the same titles regarding the 2.1 update. Same disappointments, same broken anticipations.
Surely by now most of you that have not rooted have to see that rooting itself has been proved to be safe. Installing ROMs or even just themes to accentuate the stocker is VERY satisfying, both to accomplish (even though it really is not as hard and scary as it initially seems) and as a finished result.
It may be dauntingly intimidating at first, but once you do it, it's fantastic. You don't have to keep up with the Jones' here. There's no reason you have to keep flashing the latest & greatest ROM. Even a very basic early release ROM will have more to offer you as an end user than the stock update.

emverham did such a great, simple to follow write up. http://androidforums.com/all-things-root-droid/150660-howto-my-guide-rooting-romming-beginner.html

I'm not a ROM whore by any means. I've done some hacking in the past on other phones and Canon cameras (mostly just following instructions) but I was still concerned about bricking my new phone. I don't flash a lot of new stuff every time something is released. I love technogadgets, and my Droid is my bestest toy ever, lol, so I would never suggest anyone risk detriment to their own. But for less than five bucks you can upgrade your phone to total kick-assness!

Anyway, I've seen a few "2.2 is killing my battery, *$%#!" posts, so I figure I would even suggest rooting if only to allow you to install SetCPU, the CPU clocking app. It's harmless because without installing a special kernel your CPU won't over clock, but SetCPU will allow it to underclock when the phone is just relaxing. This greatly improves battery life.

 

[GideonX]

Agreed. I don't think I ever ran a stock ROM since I've had this phone. Absolutely zero problems so far.

 

[Sparky977]

Honestly, the biggest thing keeping me from rooting is the warranty and insurance. If something goes wrong with my phone, I have to be able to easily take it back and exchange it. And considering I've never had a phone NOT go bad eventually, I just don't feel like tempting fate. Yet. It sure is tempting though...

 

[3devious]

Sparky977, the guys who root figured out a way to put it completely back to stock before you take it in when it has a problem, so if that is the only thing stopping you, you may as well go for it. You don't have to worry that somehow "they're gonna know!"

I'm still waiting. The thing is that I know. When it is out of warranty, I won't feel like I am cheating them somehow when the phone has problems. I'm actually happy with the update. I got my app 2 SD and now, I can hang up on people by pressing the power button. My battery has always sucked, I can't imagine it getting worse and if it got worse, I'd try to get them to fix it.

I didn't want for much anyway. When my warranty runs out it will be tinker time but for now, I'm happy.

 

[Sparky977]

Ok, I gave in. After reading through emverham's post, the bug to root took over. Right now, I'm waiting for my Droid to finish its first backup using Rom Manager, then on to some Liquid Frozen Yogurt.

 

[shadowdude777]

Honestly, the biggest thing keeping me from rooting is the warranty and insurance. If something goes wrong with my phone, I have to be able to easily take it back and exchange it. And considering I've never had a phone NOT go bad eventually, I just don't feel like tempting fate. Yet. It sure is tempting though...

It's called RSD Lite. You can always flash back to a stock image of 2.0.1 or 2.1, and then upgrade to 2.2, and Verizon will be none the wiser. And if you think this is morally wrong, it isn't because rooting doesn't present a single danger in any way, shape, or form. I repeat, nobody has ever damaged their phone in any way by rooting.

I would have upgraded to a better phone (namely the Droid X) if I had to run the laggy, unrooted form of Android. But with root access, I can say with confidence that I will keep this phone until the end of my two year contract. Keeping your Droid at stock is truly a travesty, especially because this is by far the easiest-to-root phone out there, and it has an enormous dev team.

 

[Thornfullessrose]

Exactly what i was thinking! It's like you have a choice of two frozen yogurts and they are both free. One is just a average size bowl of frozen yogurt, while the other is in a huge bowl with sprinkles, choco and strawberry syrup, roasted marshmallows, vanilla wafer sticking out the side, mini hershey kisses and a cherry on top. Which would you take?

(Mmmmmm... Please excuse me while i go to the icecream parlor)

 

[RandolphNY]

I guess its all trust and understanding. I use to have a lot of computer comfort, but over the years, the systems have grown faster than I could keep up with.

I also assume that most Rooters are hands on all day techies. We need those to make sure these are staying fresh.

Thank you for you rooters, but I am sticking to what is provided by the market....which sometimes is scary also

 

[razorclose]

I got my Droid a couple of weeks ago since my Eris died for good. I played with it on 2.1.1 for a couple of days since I had no access to my computer, had great battery life and it ran pretty smooth. When I got home, I immediately rooted, made a nandroid backup, installed the 2.2 update, hated it, nandroid restored, flashed CM RC1, put on Chevy's ULV1.0, OC'd to 800mHz, and have even better battery life and performance than I did stock.
Just my 2 cents, and thumbs-up for rooting

 

[shadowdude777]

Exactly what i was thinking! It's like you have a choice of two frozen yogurts and they are both free. One is just a average size bowl of frozen yogurt, while the other is in a huge bowl with sprinkles, choco and strawberry syrup, roasted marshmallows, vanilla wafer sticking out the side, mini hershey kisses and a cherry on top. Which would you take?

(Mmmmmm... Please excuse me while i go to the icecream parlor)

Much like the inevitable addiction to flashing custom ROMs after rooting, the much tastier and larger frozen yogurt is also much less healthy.

Once you root, you realize that your phone used to be a brick and now it's actually awesome. And you say to yourself "well hell, maybe it can get even BETTER!" And hence you start to dabble in the dark arts.

 

[The_Chief]

I also assume that most Rooters are hands on all day techies.

You assumption isn't founded. I'm a 48-year old Navy veteran who was as daunted by rooting as you are now, and certainly not some tech-savvy kid who can code Linux in their sleep. I had never hacked or rooted anything before this.

I can tell you that, after rooting and ROMming, I have not only never looked back; I cannot imagine a stock Droid anymore and my nearly 10-month old phone can capably compete with anything out there right now.

It's easier than you think, it'll be over before you know it, and it's worth every bead of sweat that might form on your brow while you do it!

As far as "cheating" Verizon out of something because I rooted the phone: I OWN THIS DEVICE and I should be able to do what I will with it.

If, for some reason, I DO have to return it for warranty service, then I will unroot and they will see the phone as they expect to see it. Then I'll root & ROM all over again.

 

[gndmepyon]

Or it could just be that I'm happy with the phone. It's the best phone I've ever had. I'm running FRG01. I have no issues with the phone being slow, none of the problems I've seen listed on the forums.

When FRG22 comes out and if it causes issues then I may consider root and ROM but for now I'm completely happy with my Droid.

Also there isn't a ROM out there that people haven't found bugs or issues with. At least any issues that come up with a stock image are Fully Supported by the Manufacturer (including replacing the phone). Whereas every ROM Dev tells you it's not their problem if your phone ends up screwed up.

Just my .02. Take or leave it your choice.

 

[shadowdude777]

Or it could just be that I'm happy with the phone. It's the best phone I've ever had. I'm running FRG01. I have no issues with the phone being slow, none of the problems I've seen listed on the forums.

When FRG22 comes out and if it causes issues then I may consider root and ROM but for now I'm completely happy with my Droid.

Also there isn't a ROM out there that people haven't found bugs or issues with. At least any issues that come up with a stock image are Fully Supported by the Manufacturer (including replacing the phone). Whereas every ROM Dev tells you it's not their problem if your phone ends up screwed up.

Just my .02. Take or leave it your choice.

Your argument couldn't be further from the truth. The "manufacturer" might be responsible for problems with a stock image but that doesn't mean they'll do anything about it for months on end. Would you rather have to wait months for an update from 2.1 to 2.2 or go install CyanogenMod and get updates from AOSP as they are added, whenever CyanogenMod is updated (much, MUCH more frequently than the stock image gets updated). And every serious ROM dev out there provides excellent support. I have never heard of Koush, Cyanogen, Pete, ChevyNo1, or JRummy denying anyone help. Motorola and Verizon might be able to be assholes to the community, but in an open development community like the rooted Droid one, when you're an asshole, you quickly fall into obscurity in favor of better devs (see: blackdroid ).

 

[GideonX]

Or it could just be that I'm happy with the phone. It's the best phone I've ever had. I'm running FRG01. I have no issues with the phone being slow, none of the problems I've seen listed on the forums.

When FRG22 comes out and if it causes issues then I may consider root and ROM but for now I'm completely happy with my Droid.

Also there isn't a ROM out there that people haven't found bugs or issues with. At least any issues that come up with a stock image are Fully Supported by the Manufacturer (including replacing the phone). Whereas every ROM Dev tells you it's not their problem if your phone ends up screwed up.

Just my .02. Take or leave it your choice.

Can't go with you on this one. And I'm sure a few rom devs would strongly disagree as well.

Take for example the Pandora streaming problem with Stagefright introduced with Froyo 2.2. ChevyNo1 has the fixed Stagefright included in SS4.7 for your streaming pleasure. Time it took to get this fix from SS 4.6 to 4.7? Two weeks.

You don't get that kind of support from the manufacturer, period.

 

[Sparky977]

I guess its all trust and understanding. I use to have a lot of computer comfort, but over the years, the systems have grown faster than I could keep up with.

I also assume that most Rooters are hands on all day techies. We need those to make sure these are staying fresh.

Thank you for you rooters, but I am sticking to what is provided by the market....which sometimes is scary also

I'm most definitely not an all day techie. I'm a woodworker who likes fun toys. Seriously, if you can read Emverhams post on rooting, you can root. Its really that easy.

 

[opuntia2]

Most folks couldn't care less about rooting their phone or wishing that VZ would hurry up and push the update already, actually the majority of D1 owners folks don't even know what rooting is.

BTW, I know of a few folks (myself included) that have gotten the update and have had zero problems. I would bet that that's the case with most Droid owners.

 

[Psychokitty]

Hey, this isn't an argument. Most Droid owners have never bothered to look up a Droid forum on the Internet. Why would you, unless you were a serious enthusiast, were having problems or just needed clarification on instructions (-or lack of...) provided by Motorola. I only know 4 other Droid owners, and they never even knew about rooting. They feel they couldn't be happier with their phones, so as long as they feel that way, what's the difference?
If you're happy with it the way it is then why would you want to root it? My opening post was directed specifically towards those folks who are not happy for any one of a variety of reasons that I've read about, that's all. I simply wanted to assure some of those frustrated members that rooting will fix those issues, and that it is not as scary or difficult as it once was.

 

[smacky]

Hey, this isn't an argument. Most Droid owners have never bothered to look up a Droid forum on the Internet. Why would you, unless you were a serious enthusiast, were having problems or just needed clarification on instructions (-or lack of...) provided by Motorola. I only know 4 other Droid owners, and they never even knew about rooting. They feel they couldn't be happier with their phones, so as long as they feel that way, what's the difference?
If you're happy with it the way it is then why would you want to root it? My opening post was directed specifically towards those folks who are not happy for any one of a variety of reasons that I've read about, that's all. I simply wanted to assure some of those frustrated members that rooting will fix those issues, and that it is not as scary or difficult as it once was.

Well, some people are looking for another option to fix their broken phones other than rooting and I can understand that. Those issues shouldn't be there on a stock ROM to begin with. All these bugs and battery issues, you would think that VZW would have caught these issues during field-testing.

If the phone is just not "fast enough" which seems different from it simply not being fast at all, then you can root. But when the issues shouldn't be there to begin with, then it's hard to justify going through the extra steps to root your device and void the warranty.

 

[roothorick]

Sparky977, the guys who root figured out a way to put it completely back to stock before you take it in when it has a problem, so if that is the only thing stopping you, you may as well go for it. You don't have to worry that somehow "they're gonna know!"

You're making the assumption that in the event of a warranty or insurance covered failure, the device will still be functional enough to reach the recovery bootloader. If you're rooted, and something happens to a mission-critical component like the CPU or battery controller, you're gonna be stuck with sending the phone in as-is and praying they don't peek at the NAND. Not a gamble I'm willing to make.

 

[muab]

I have never rooted or hacked anything. I really like my Droid, although 2.2 is causing some issues for me (wifi..grrr...) and I really like my technology to work well with the minimum amount of screwing around. I really don't get off on spending 4 hours dicking around with settings, routers, servers, kernels or really anything technological. I like it just to work.

I have been running smartphones since about the time the name "smartphone" was first coined (early adopter of the Treo 650, several Treos and an iPhone) and have never felt the slightest need to hack, crack, hijack, root, or radically modify anything.

But...I have to say I am tempted and the arguments are getting more and more persuasive to me.
Here is my rationale that is pushing me toward joining the dark side and rooting my Droid:

1. I am enduring poor battery life on my Droid that I would like to improve

2. Since 2.2 I cannot use wifi at home because Froyo is freaking out about my 802.11N router and I cannot change the router.

3. I have never been interested in rooting a phone because the idea of bricking any of my lovely smartphones was about as appealing as donating one of my testicles to science...rooting a Droid is very low risk so this would be the perfect time to try the kool aid and see if it really is all that special.

4. The Droid would be perfect if I could only fix a couple of things...I think rooting may fix those couple of things.

5. Unrooting the Droid appears to be quite simple, so I can try the kool aid without permanently joining the religion.

So why haven't I done it yet...?

Because I am lazy maybe...or something along those lines I guess.

Thanks for the all the excellent and respectful points expressed in this thread.

 

[Psychokitty]

Well, some people are looking for another option to fix their broken phones other than rooting and I can understand that. Those issues shouldn't be there on a stock ROM to begin with. All these bugs and battery issues, you would think that VZW would have caught these issues during field-testing.

If the phone is just not "fast enough" which seems different from it simply not being fast at all, then you can root. But when the issues shouldn't be there to begin with, then it's hard to justify going through the extra steps to root your device and void the warranty.

I can understand that, and do sympathize. But if the 2.2 update has issues, good luck with getting Verizon to change the update, -especially when it doesn't seem like everyone is having problems. And good luck getting a replacement Droid, too.
If your Droid sucks with the new update and you're expecting Verizon to fix the ROM within the next 4 months just because Droid warranties will start expiring, you're setting yourself up for more disappointment. If your refusing to root just because you "shouldn't have to", then your denying yourself your Droid's full potential out of spite.
The only two really solid reasons not to root that I can't disagree with so far is the fear of voiding warranty by having your Droid get broken while it has a foreign ROM on it, and not having the patience or simply not wanting to spend the time doing it. ("Cause I don't want to." can't be argued with! lol)

Like I say, I didn't expect this should turn into a heated debate. Everybody knows an end-user ROM is going to be far more exciting and perform better than the stock one. That's the whole point of it.

 

[Lomallin]

My two cents, I have seen the benefits of rooting. I have not experienced the true fun of ROMs. The main reason I have just sat back and waited? I installed SPRecovery without root access just so I can backup my phone, and then, because of some wierd quirk where my SPRecovery install did not mesh with the OTA update, I ended up having to flash back to a base 2.1 image, update, and then re-install everything for a total time spent of between 3 and 6 hours.

Root is great, however I also recommend that if you step into the pool of Root, you have to jump in all the way with a ROM or else you will need to be ready to spend a couple hours to stay current with Root without a ROM.

I think most of your compainers you see Psychokitty are mainly people who saw 2.2 as an update that would give them pseudo-ROM power/effect with their phones. When they get the update and it is not quite all that and then you also get some wierd quirks on the phone, people just are not happy. This is not all the updates fault, it is also the people themselves who need to keep in mind they share some of the blame.

Some of these quirks people are facing are actual update flaws, but I also believe that a good potion are also just general computer problems. We live in a life where we just install stuff on our computers. From Google/Yahoo toolbars to little wingdings on our desktops. This has continued to our smartphones as well. The minority are able to go back and look at what is on the system and figure out (sometimes hit or miss) what app they need to live without. They are the ones others look at with jealousy because their phones work so much better

Also, another minority are the troubleshooters. What I mean is these people will see a problem and start poking things to try to resolve it. Hopefully they use logic and think about it first, else you can cause some major problems. For example, my phone would not save pictures. It kept on freezing repeatedly after it snapped the picture. After clearing the data on the camera app (a whole gargantuan 4 kb), suddenly it now is working fine. No clue what those 4kb were, but this problem started after the 2.2 update.


Oh bah, I just realized how long that post was - anyone still reading, thanks for your attention and sorry I started rambling. It's one of those mornings.

 

[shadowdude777]

You're making the assumption that in the event of a warranty or insurance covered failure, the device will still be functional enough to reach the recovery bootloader. If you're rooted, and something happens to a mission-critical component like the CPU or battery controller, you're gonna be stuck with sending the phone in as-is and praying they don't peek at the NAND. Not a gamble I'm willing to make.

They'd probably just immediately dump it in the "to be refurbed" bin and send you a refurbed unit. Then maybe they'll figure out later that the phone was rooted if they decide to check out the NAND during the refurbishment process and make sure it's in working order. So what? I seriously doubt Verizon is going to go through the trouble of demanding that you send your new phone back and send you back your broken one.

I don't think we've ever had a case of someone not being able to get into the bootloader (short of it being dropped about 30 stories. I remember that story. Except that most certainly is NOT covered by insurance). Even when people haven't been able to get into Android and when they haven't been able to get into the recovery partition, they've always been able to get to the bootloader.

 

[gnath9]

Great Thread !!!

I think some folks are dissapointed with the 2.2 update because they have been reading all of us "Rooted users" discussing our custom roms loaded up with kernels and overclocked etc ... and thier expectations were high

Sorry to say this folks but .... Froyo from Moto does not come with sprinkles

Its threads like this that motivate people on the fence about rooting to jump in. And we will all be more than willing to help if you stumble somewhere along the way. So if you want to jump ... dont worry we will catch you

 

[Amrov]

What is keeping me from rooting, aside from the fear of screwing up my phone, is getting pulled into the time-suck vortex of a bazillion choices and not having a clue where to begin.

Now, who would like to take a noobie under their wing and help me save some time by giving their opinion on, say, top 5 things I should do once rooted (and things to avoid would also be helpful)? As in -- choose between say, these 2 ROMs, download this great root-only app (wifi tether is my top choice right now), etc.? Or is there already a thread like this? I'm looking for something concise, not "go check out the root forum, there's 200 threads with 5000 opinions on what to do and not do." Brain overload! I need "Rooting for Dummies."

I guess another option is to go back to the home screen thread and PM someone who has a really cool screen shot and see if they'll tell me what they did...