Root Countdown to Root

[lawlibanc]

Hi, long-time lurker with some questions!

I'm planning on replacing my Eris sometime after Christmas. I was never brave enough to root my phone before since I didn't want to pay to replace it if I bricked it. But I want to try & root the Eris & convert it into a play device for my son after I get my new phone.

In preparation, I have some questions/observations that I want to run by the community to make sure I'm not overlooking anything.

1) Since I'm not trading my phone in, does it matter if its rooted when I go to buy my new phone?

2) According to the Universal Root thread, everything I need to root can be downloaded directly through my Eris. If I forget to download an app or file before my new device is activated, I can still download these items on the Eris as long as I have wi-fi access. Correct?

3) Rooting allows you to disable/uninstall bloatware. If I wanted to, could I disable/uninstall the Google Market app? I ask because I want to make sure my child doesn't accidently download $50 worth of apps without my approval. Is it possible to reinstall the Market app after it is removed?

4) I only need to worry about bypassing the cellphone activation if I ever do a factory reset of my phone.

5) I haven't decided if I want to try flashing a rom yet. But I can do this at anytime after I root the phone. Correct?

6) Do I need to back up the data on my SD card?

Is there anything else that I need to consider before I take my first steps into the great unknown?

I appreciate the help!

 

[doogald]

1) Since I'm not trading my phone in, does it matter if its rooted when I go to buy my new phone?

No. My Eris was rooted when I bought my new phone. I eve showed them my phone at the store - they had no clue, nor did they care, that it was rooted.

2) According to the Universal Root thread, everything I need to root can be downloaded directly through my Eris. If I forget to download an app or file before my new device is activated, I can still download these items on the Eris as long as I have wi-fi access. Correct?

That sounds right, yes. At the very least, you can tether the phone to a computer and copy files over, or buy an inexpensive SD card USB adapter to copy files over as well.

3) Rooting allows you to disable/uninstall bloatware. If I wanted to, could I disable/uninstall the Google Market app? I ask because I want to make sure my child doesn't accidently download $50 worth of apps without my approval. Is it possible to reinstall the Market app after it is removed?

I strongly suggest that you install the app Titanium Backup, which has a feature called "freezing" - the app remains on the phone but is invisible to Android. This way, if you freeze an app and the phone stops working, you can unfreeze it and get things back to normal.

However, read up on Nandroid backups as well - this will help you restore an image of the phone as it was when you ran the backup.

4) I only need to worry about bypassing the cellphone activation if I ever do a factory reset of my phone.

I think that there is a way around this, but every time that I start my inactivated Eris it prompts me to activate. I just press home and it never asks again.

5) I haven't decided if I want to try flashing a rom yet. But I can do this at anytime after I root the phone. Correct?

Yes. Incidentally, the phone is easily unrootable.

6) Do I need to back up the data on my SD card?

You shouldn't need to, but it never hurts. The rooting process does not delete anything from the SD card, however.

Is there anything else that I need to consider before I take my first steps into the great unknown?

Make sure that you use one of the procedures listed on this site. Do not root using instructions from unlockr.com, for example.

Rooting procedures:

http://androidforums.com/eris-all-things-root/127861-universal-eris-root-dummies.html (read this even if you do not root using this method, as the info in post number 4 tells you how to install a new custom ROM.)

I just wrote this the other day for the 1-click root app: http://androidforums.com/eris-all-things-root/465802-there-one-click-root.html#post3671567

 

[metlcat]

I strongly suggest that you install the app Titanium Backup, which has a feature called "freezing" - the app remains on the phone but is invisible to Android. This way, if you freeze an app and the phone stops working, you can unfreeze it and get things back to normal.

However, read up on Nandroid backups as well - this will help you restore an image of the phone as it was when you ran the backup.

Definitely install Titanium, but instead of freezing the market app, you can use an app like App Lock Free to require a PIN before the market can be opened.

 

[elwray]

My sister upgraded from an Eris to an Incredible a while back, so her "old" Eris was just sitting around the house for a while (hardly used for more than 3 months...).

I also have an Incredible, rooted and played with many ROMs and customizations so I was familiar with the idea of rooting. Decided yesterday to root the Eris just to play around with it, figuring if I bricked it no big deal since nobody was using it.

I followed the Eris Rooting for Dummies that doogald linked to above - this phone was considerably easier to root than my Incredible, and that's saying something because the Incredible is quite easy to root!

Doing everything from the phone was great. The phone is not activated on VZW, so I just used WiFi with no problems. And unrooting appears to be as simple as just flashing a stock non-rooted ROM.

When you first start up the "clean" phone and it prompts activation, the only way I was able to bypass it was as follows:

Proceed to the activation call screen (don't worry, it won't activate it since you won't actually follow through with the call process), and when it dials out press the MENU softkey. Then press the HOME softkey and it will bring you to the homescreen. You might have to wait a moment for it to load the homescreen icons/dock/widgets/etc, but once it does you can open the notification bar and end the activation call. And bingo, you're phone is completely usable without being on the VZW network at all.

As far as the market locking goes, if your child is old enough perhaps set up his/her own gmail account to use on the phone? Could get emails when on WiFi, and if there is no credit card linked to that Google Checkout account, could only download free apps?

 

[lawlibanc]

Thanks for the tips!

I was bored at work today, so I went ahead and rooted following the Universal Eris Root for Dummies thread. When I tried using Titanium Backup, it said that I wasn't rooted.

I started the phone in HBoot, and it showed I was still S-ON. So did I screw something up, or do I need to flash a rom to achieve S-OFF?

 

[elwray]

Strange ... I just realized that I am S-ON as well, and I'm running some 3rd party ROMs. Weird... I guess you can flash new ROMs to this device as long as you have a different recovery.

 

[lawlibanc]

I think I found the answer to my question further in the Universal Root thread. Apparently, you only gain root using that method when you flash a rooted ROM. Since I stopped after making my recovery file, I didn't achieve a full root.

 

[doogald]

Thanks for the tips!

I was bored at work today, so I went ahead and rooted following the Universal Eris Root for Dummies thread. When I tried using Titanium Backup, it said that I wasn't rooted.

I started the phone in HBoot, and it showed I was still S-ON. So did I screw something up, or do I need to flash a rom to achieve S-OFF?

No, you did not screw anything up. S-OFF is not required for root. It's nice to have, but you can flash ROMs with the S-ON HBOOT.