Would you buy a phone that cant be rooted?

[turbosol16]

After following the G2 Rooting thread over at XDA would you buy a phone that could not be rooted? I was just wondering how many people would consider rooting a requirement when selecting which Android phone to purchase.

*I am not saying the G2 may never be able to obtain permanent root btw, just got me wondering.

 

[Demache]

After having a phone that has been rooted, yes, I would see rooting being a significant factor on what phone I would purchase.

 

[dan330]

there are many cool things that you can only do with root.

it may not be anything to you or something you dont need now. but I would want the option if I ever wanted to.

my phone HERO,,, is so much better with ROMs by Developers. I would have been soo mad and hate my HERO.. but with root, I love it!

 

[copestag]

I'll give the standard response that youre going to see 50 times in this thread:

after having 2 different rooted Android phones....... and seeing the difference..... among many other things just the simple ability to remove bloatware..... I absolutely would hate any phone I could not root

 

[wayrad]

But if you wait until a model is rooted you'll never have those couple of weeks of knowing you've got the latest and greatest phone.

Still, I think I'd only buy one if there was a reasonable expectation that a rooting method would come along fairly soon.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

I'll give the standard response that youre going to see 50 times in this thread:

after having 2 different rooted Android phones....... and seeing the difference..... among many other things just the simple ability to remove bloatware..... I absolutely would hate any phone I could not root

+1

Just like many that would not buy iPhones that can't be jailbroken, the same with Android phones.

 

[Bitbang3r]

No... way... in... HELL will I voluntarily buy a phone that can't be rooted or reflashed. I'll buy an imported ghetto-fabulous phone from China and limp along with EDGE on T-Mobile before I ever give up my ability to fully tweak and customize my phone's OS however I damn well please.

 

[03machme]

I have never rooted either of my android phones mainly because I don't think that I have the tech skills to do it with out messing something up but I will tell you that Prolog more than 75% of people with android phones will ever even know what rooting is. I would like to root my vibrant so I can install the lag fix and not have to wait for 2.2 but I don't want to mess something up. Always been a gear head not much of a techie.

 

[CyanideSuicide1]

I am pretty sure we have all bought a phone that can not be rooted before. I would probably not since I like the the idea of changing the way a phone is. Also the unrooted phones have alot better apps/features then phones that can not be rooted.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

..

 

[uzetaab]

I am pretty sure we have all bought a phone that can not be rooted before. I would probably not since I like the the idea of changing the way a phone is. Also the unrooted phones have alot better apps/features then phones that can not be rooted.

I think you mixed up a few words there somehow.

Personally, I doubt I will ever root my phone. My phone is far too precious to me to take the risk of bricking it & having to do without until I can afford to buy another.

By the time I do replace it, I wont care enough about the old phone to bother rooting it. I have an ipod touch sitting right in front of me that I've not used since I got my android. I could jailbreak it, but it'd only be for the sake of doing it. I wouldn't suddenly want to use it again, so, meh.

On the other hand, I do like knowing that it's an option if, for some reason, I decide that I need to take the risk & root anyway.

 

[GeorgeinLA]

I didn't even know what rooting was when I bought my phone!

 

[Kekkle]

I never rooted my phone. Didn't see any benefit to it.

So I wouldn't care.

 

[LoyalServant]

Personally, I doubt I will ever root my phone. My phone is far too precious to me to take the risk of bricking it & having to do without until I can afford to buy another.

Never bricked one.
It's actually REALLY HARD to brick them these days. (except a G1)

That being said... root is important to me.
It gives me this warm, fuzzy feeling.
Want to take a screenshot without lugging a laptop and the Android SDK? gotta have root....
The nexus one flashlight apps originally needed root to turn on the flash, this is no more with Froyo but tethering on these devices with it removed/crippled need root if you want to use the good ones.

I am not a hog, I don't use my phone to browse the internet all night and download torrents.
I use tethering here and there, but not enough to justify paying someone $30 or $60 for the capability.

Hence, root for me....
I hope they root the G2 - I like that phone and I live in a HSPA+ area

 

[chrlswltrs]

My answer would have been different a few months ago. I had a Droid and never rooted it. I bought my Droid X not caring about root. Now that I have rooted my X I have to root from now on. I love applying themes, doing screenshots, wireless tether, etc.

 

[takeshi]

I'll give the standard response that youre going to see 50 times in this thread:

after having 2 different rooted Android phones....... and seeing the difference..... among many other things just the simple ability to remove bloatware..... I absolutely would hate any phone I could not root

Well, here's certainly another instance of this very same response. That's exactly how I feel.

But if you wait until a model is rooted you'll never have those couple of weeks of knowing you've got the latest and greatest phone.

Doesn't do anything for me. The device needs to suit me much more than it needs to be the "latest and greatest". Nothing remains latest for very long so aiming to constantly have the latest is pointless to me. No device can be the greatest without root IMO anyway. IIRC some Android 1.5 and 1.6 devices were newer than my Droid but that doesn't mean that I'd want them more than my Droid either.

 

[andygu3]

I would never buy a phone I could not root, especially since I'm running Froyo/2.2 on a phone that was never going to see Froyo/2.2

 

[nitsuj17]

at this point to me a non-rooted version of a phone and the rooted version of 2 complete different things. the rooted version is using the full potential of the phone and not bogged down with carrier crapware and is so much more capable then what came in the box.

having had both the droid x and htc incredible and rooted both and dealt with 1 locked bootloader and 1 unlocked i would never buy another phone that can't be rooted and can't load custom roms/kernels.

 

[jroc]

Rooting isnt a requirement of mine.

Good reception is the main one for me. Battery life probably 2nd. And this is from a guy who got the Droid 1, and rooted it and had a custom ROM after about 2 weeks...lol

I look at rooting and custom ROMs as a luxury, not a requirement.

 

[snapper.fishes]

I am surprised that there's more no than yes.

 

[ntdb]

While I have yet to root my phone, it is indeed important to me.

Android IS an open operating system. When I buy a phone with an open operating system and top-notch hardware, I expect to be able to take advantage of the OS's open nature. Isn't it shifty if you're prevented from doing that, even if you never do?

Maintaining a good experience for consumers who don't care to modify their phones is one thing. Creating roadblocks for the rest is just paranoid.

 

[wayrad]

Are there any Android phones that the rooting community has found to be unrootable? Perhaps the question should be "Would you buy an Android model that hasn't been rooted *yet*?" I suspect many if not most of us have in fact done that at some time. It's a fairly safe bet that a rooting method will come along.

 

[GodFlow]

I've never rooted a phone before, but i'll give my opinion anyway.


In my experience, Not being able to root a phone isn't a deal breaker. I don't want to deal with the risk of bricking a phone, and then having to buy a new one or switch back to my formal just cause I wanted to make an "excellent" phone "omnipotent".

Perhaps i'll root my captivate once i get the thirst for something better.

 

[jroc]

I am surprised that there's more no than yes.

And u can subtract 1 from yes and add it to no. I voted going by the thread title, not the poll title...lol

Lesson learned..... So as of right now the poll should be:

14
21
6

 

[GatorDeb]

I had no idea you could root the phone when I bought the Hero. Got it in perfect shape like new on Craigslist for $100 because the guy got the Evo so that he had the wireless router, and he said even if I got it to work on the Hero by hacking it Sprint would be sending me enormous bills. And it was SO easy, jailbreaking the iPod Touch was a lot more involved.

Can make and receive unlimited calls for free using Google Voice and SIPgate, have the wireless router, can install to SD card, etc. I would NOT buy a phone that can't be rooted. It's not a how-cool it is thing, it's a how unbelievably useful the phone becomes thing.

Having said that, most Android phones will sooner or later be rooted And I honestly think I have as good a phone as the Evo. I figured the Evo will be $100 in a year on Craigslist and I just wanted something Android to get me started (have had it for a week). This fit the bill.

Oh and like someone said above.... I'm running Froyo 2.2 on a phone that's probably never going to officially get it I have a feeling the Hero is going to be supported in the rooting community for a long time and this allows me to take advantage of the new apps that come out that use the latest OS.