Rooted Android vs jailbroken iPhone

[thameera]

I've heard that a rooted android is more powerful than a jailbroken iphone.
Is this true? How does a rooted android differ from a jailbroken iphone?

 

[9to5cynic]

I would say it is true, but that's just my opinion. I don't really know all of what you can do with jailbroken iphones, but I did JB my ipod touch... I just wanted the latest firmware (which apple was denying me for some reason).

With my evo, it was to remove some bloat the sprint threw in. When you first root, you instantly have higher level access to the phone, you can now run more powerful system leveled apps. And you can install customized software (ROMS) onto it.

Look at a Sense rom compared to MIUI.... DANG! That right there is why I think rooted android > jailbroken iphone.

Spoiler

Now, there could be these types of apps for iphone if jailbroken, but I know they exist on android.
There are a lot of networking applications, and a lot of network security applications. Wireshark, a cookie/session hijacker, and an anti-session hijacking tool. Not to mention the ssh clients, terminal, wireless network analyzer, ... the list goes on. And I really think that is the strength of android.
I think in the past in order to even change your wallpaper image on iphone... it required a jailbreak. Voiding the warranty to just change the wallpaper. Insane.

 

[dan330]

1.. this is an android forum... you going to get some expected answers..

2.. i dont know much about apple... but I hate them

3.. jb iphones only get you more access.. but not total access like android. you can replace anything and everything on android.

4.. i think there are old threads that have covered the ios vs android...

 

[Dark Jedi]

That's not entirely true. As there is many android phones that has a locked down boot loader that can't be unlocked so your limited on what you can do with the phone. Plus there are some phones you can't even root as they are to pitiful or hard to unlock. So with android its based on what phone you're talking about.

My bolt can run circles around a jail broken iPhone of what it can do. Sorry even with iPhone being jail broken you are still way limited on what you can do to the phone. I just see people with jail broken phones looking to get access to paid apps free.


I jb my iPod touch and saw nothing spectacular with it compared to rooting my moto Droid. When I jb my touch it was anticlimactic. My Droid I was like holy ..... Well you get the point.

 

[ajdroidx]

When I had an iPad, I jail broke it. Only thing I did was change the screen. It was like, "big deal" I did not see much of a use of jail breaking the device. I jail broke my apple tv2 and installed. XBMC. Guess what? I still don't see the point of doing it. I think I did it just to say I did

My Xoom is rooted and sure enough, I am running an ICS rom on the thing. With out root / locked boot loader I would still be waiting for an update to make the tablet fairly usable. Same with my Galaxy Nexus. Though I have yet to put a Rom on my Nexus

 

[Covart]

That's not entirely true. As there is many android phones that has a locked down boot loader that can't be unlocked so your limited on what you can do with the phone. Plus there are some phones you can't even root as they are to pitiful or hard to unlock. So with android its based on what phone you're talking about.

My bolt can run circles around a jail broken iPhone of what it can do. Sorry even with iPhone being jail broken you are still way limited on what you can do to the phone. I just see people with jail broken phones looking to get access to paid apps free.


I jb my iPod touch and saw nothing spectacular with it compared to rooting my moto Droid. When I jb my touch it was anticlimactic. My Droid I was like holy ..... Well you get the point.

I'm curious to know what exactly you can do rooted that a jailbroken iphone can't? Alter icons, add widgets, manipulate the screen, hide anything, create special notifications, have the phone speak your email, texts, etc, turn by turn navigation, change the UI via Dreamboard to look like Android, Windows 8 or iOS and do it within 2 clicks and in a few seconds, download free apps via (should you wish to do that), overclock, access the entire file system and alter anything, and so on...

Trying to figure out what makes rooting so much better? Is there something special you can do that I didn't list above?

 

[9to5cynic]

^ wireshark?

I don't know the full scope of what you can on a jailbroken iDevice, but I do know that my evo is vastly different, not only in appearance but in function than when it was not rooted.

 

[Covart]

^ wireshark?

I don't know the full scope of what you can on a jailbroken iDevice, but I do know that my evo is vastly different, not only in appearance but in function than when it was not rooted.

But isn't that due to the manufacturer's UI, compared to loading a vanilla Android rom? Since there is no added UI layer on iphones, there is little physical difference between jb and non-jb, until you start modding, that is.

 

[9to5cynic]

True, but you could make the argument that modded iphones are just a different UI... When you first root your device, it doesn't change anything except you now have higher access (superuser).

Still, I don't really know the entire contents of the Cydia store, so I can't really say what exists as far as JB iphone apps go.

 

[Hrethgir]

I had a jailbroken iPhone 3Gs before I got my Droid X. I can say that my DX was able to do everything stock that I had to jailbreak my 3Gs to get it to do, and even then, when I did an update, it took forever to get it back to the way it was before, sometimes a couple of days. Never rooted my DX, never felt the need since it does everything I want it to do already.

 

[gallandof]

with the iPhone jailbreaking allows you to theme the phone similar to how ADW has themes. In that same department with droid your theme isn't just a skin its a full system theme and persists all through out.

Also with iOS you can overclock but you are limited to the stock kernel, with android you can change the kernel with a higher speed, lower speed, lower voltage levels, higher voltage levels etc...

ios you have to jailbreak just to install apps outside of the app-store

 

[Covart]

with the iPhone jailbreaking allows you to theme the phone similar to how ADW has themes. In that same department with droid your theme isn't just a skin its a full system theme and persists all through out.

Also with iOS you can overclock but you are limited to the stock kernel, with android you can change the kernel with a higher speed, lower speed, lower voltage levels, higher voltage levels etc...

ios you have to jailbreak just to install apps outside of the app-store

Correct. I jailbreak to give me the freedom to customize like Android, but with the Apple OS, which is my personal preference. Although I will be putting CM9 onto my Touchpad so I can play with ICS, which I haven't had a chance to do yet.

 

[Thats]

One thing that people don't know about root permissions with an iPhone (Jailbroken) is that your browser has root permissions to your entire system. In Android if you ALLOW the Browser to have root permissions, the permissions will still stay only for the Browser, so say a hacker messes with your iPhone, you're hose, he has 100% access to your phone. Android, not so much, he just has a few root permissions that are native to your browser.

 

[Covart]

One thing that people don't know about root permissions with an iPhone (Jailbroken) is that your browser has root permissions to your entire system. In Android if you ALLOW the Browser to have root permissions, the permissions will still stay only for the Browser, so say a hacker messes with your iPhone, you're hose, he has 100% access to your phone. Android, not so much, he just has a few root permissions that are native to your browser.

I believe this is only true if you leave the root password as Alpine.

 

[Thats]

I believe this is only true if you leave the root password as Alpine.

That's correct,but most people who I talk to don't change it. I try to help them, but noone believes me when I say I know how to jailbreak their phone and root Android phones.

 

[Covart]

That's correct,but most people who I talk to don't change it. I try to help them, but noone believes me when I say I know how to jailbreak their phone and root Android phones.

??? Why wouldn't they believe you? It's not rocket science. Loading CM9 (Ice Cream Sandwich) onto the Touchpad is probably the most complicated "rooting' out there, and even then 10 year old kids figure it out.

And yeah, a lot of people are lazy and don't bother to take 3 minutes out of their life to change the root password. Since I occassionally using open wifi networks, there is no way in hell I would leave my root password as Alpine.

 

[9to5cynic]

^
alpine2 kidding. Yeah, and jumping on their device as root, I'm sure no harm can come form that.

 

[Covart]

^
alpine2 kidding. Yeah, and jumping on their device as root, I'm sure no harm can come form that.

How did you know my password?

 

[Thats]

??? Why wouldn't they believe you? It's not rocket science. Loading CM9 (Ice Cream Sandwich) onto the Touchpad is probably the most complicated "rooting' out there, and even then 10 year old kids figure it out.

And yeah, a lot of people are lazy and don't bother to take 3 minutes out of their life to change the root password. Since I occassionally using open wifi networks, there is no way in hell I would leave my root password as Alpine.

Because I own an Android phone, I don't know anything about their "amazing" iPhone. Needless to say, I'm not a huge fan of these people who own them, but I think the technology is great (I love technology, mainly Android )

 

[Bob Maxey]

3.. jb iphones only get you more access.. but not total access like android. you can replace anything and everything on android.

I think you are wrong. I do have total access. I think if you do a side by side comparison, you will find that you can do everything you need to do; change everything you want to change on a Jailbroken iDevice.

Can you please cite a few examples?

 

[Bob Maxey]

I would say it is true, but that's just my opinion. I don't really know all of what you can do with jailbroken iphones, but I did JB my ipod touch... I just wanted the latest firmware (which apple was denying me for some reason).

With my evo, it was to remove some bloat the sprint threw in. When you first root, you instantly have higher level access to the phone, you can now run more powerful system leveled apps. And you can install customized software (ROMS) onto it.

Look at a Sense rom compared to MIUI.... DANG! That right there is why I think rooted android > jailbroken iphone.

Spoiler

Now, there could be these types of apps for iphone if jailbroken, but I know they exist on android.
There are a lot of networking applications, and a lot of network security applications. Wireshark, a cookie/session hijacker, and an anti-session hijacking tool. Not to mention the ssh clients, terminal, wireless network analyzer, ... the list goes on. And I really think that is the strength of android.
I think in the past in order to even change your wallpaper image on iphone... it required a jailbreak. Voiding the warranty to just change the wallpaper. Insane.

One thing I have noticed is not every cool ROM works on every Android device. So to say MIUI is cooler (or not cooler) than a Sense ROM although perhaps correct, it might not apply to everyone. Corrections are welcome, naturally.

I use bROM and some of the cool features it installs will not work on my device. I am told by the SW to use a ROM that supports my device. So the cool crap the developer promised me in a ROM developed specifically for my Triumph, are non-functional. Other things installed when I installed bROM are not free. The best analogy I have is the bROM devs install Bloatware.

 

[Bob Maxey]

with the iPhone jailbreaking allows you to theme the phone similar to how ADW has themes. In that same department with droid your theme isn't just a skin its a full system theme and persists all through out.

Also with iOS you can overclock but you are limited to the stock kernel, with android you can change the kernel with a higher speed, lower speed, lower voltage levels, higher voltage levels etc...

ios you have to jailbreak just to install apps outside of the app-store

but how many people need to change the stock kernel? I am sure only a few compared to the whole really care about that. Certainly, most Jailbreakers likely do not care.

So what does diddling the kernel give you? Really, I am asking. And perhaps Apple being Apple would go after kernel developers. I know if Android were not open source, you would likely be able to do far less than you/we can do now.

 

[9to5cynic]

One thing I have noticed is not every cool ROM works on every Android device. So to say MIUI is cooler (or not cooler) than a Sense ROM although perhaps correct, it might not apply to everyone. Corrections are welcome, naturally.

I use bROM and some of the cool features it installs will not work on my device. I am told by the SW to use a ROM that supports my device. So the cool crap the developer promised me in a ROM developed specifically for my Triumph, are non-functional. Other things installed when I installed bROM are not free. The best analogy I have is the bROM devs install Bloatware.

And that's a good point. A lot of the roms I try out require partitioning of the SD card, which isn't really anything too complex, but I only have the stock card which isn't of a high enough class to really provide any benefits (so I've read).
You'd think that the dev would strip out those features when making it for the Triumph....

 

[9to5cynic]

So what does diddling the kernel give you? Really, I am asking.

At least with the evo, it allows you over and under clock the CPU with setCPU. There also were SBC kernels that charge the battery differently.

Besides that, it seems that (with the evo at least) each physical device acts differently with each rom/kernel set up, so finding a working combo can really get rid of lag and errors. That being said, I usually am pretty content with the kernel included in the rom, and only change it if I have issues.

 

[Bob Maxey]

And that's a good point. A lot of the roms I try out require partitioning of the SD card, which isn't really anything too complex, but I only have the stock card which isn't of a high enough class to really provide any benefits (so I've read).
You'd think that the dev would strip out those features when making it for the Triumph....

I was amazed to find that some features that looked good on the web site, either did not work or required payment.

Granted, I can delete the apps that I do not want or cannot use, but still . . . not sure why the posts describing these ROMS do not mention some features might be crippled. Why include stuff that does not work on the device?

One app I deleted said I had to change my ROM to a version that supported the software interface. Something called "Linpack For Android" required that I pay for the upgraded version to both remove the ads and to use all features. The Netflix application never ran; always an FC. Quadrant did not provide access to all features until I pay for it and Launcher was also a paid application. Something called "Spare Parts" is already duplicated with free and paid applications. Titanium Backup is free, but not free if I want to use Dropbox. Not even Launcher is free.

About all I seem to get is the ability to change my clock speed and a very nice looking color scheme . . . I like the grey, black and green. Perhaps I can change the theme, but that is easily done with other launchers and last time I looked, there were more than fifty home replacements and launchers on the market.

I know I can DL apps to change clock speed and do other things these ROMS claim to do and I know upfront if the app is paid or free or ad supported. I can delete Android Overclock in a few moments. I must spend far more time reverting to my stock ROM when I decide I want to use some applications that bROM will not apparently run.

For the record, I have nothing against bROM. Just wondering why ROM makers use so much hype and perhaps misleading crap to promote something I do not need them for because I already have those features covered.

Now, granted, I am not a ROM expert. I am slightly above average and never a fool. These amazing ROMS are advertised as being able to do all sorts of things with all kinds of great features. Seems to me that before one praises ROM developers, they might consider that some features they advertise might be either not usable on their device or require payment to use all features.