you seem to be the man (i would guess maybe a woman i dont know lol)ive had the vibrant a couple weeks and for the first time after driving to downtown detroit experienced the gps isssues everyone talks about,maybe its time to "root" although im not quite sure still what that is. does it make your phone more responsive,help with the gps or in general make the vibrant a better device? I also hear alot of talk about kernals,what are they and what do they do? hope my questions arent to basic or asked in the wrong way or forum thanks in advance.
Rooting won't do anything for the GPS I'm afraid. Rooting in and of itself does nothing more than grant "superuser" permissions for the operating systems, essentially meaning one can manipulate the system without any restrictions. It's what you can do once you have those permissions that makes rooting desirable.
You may have noticed that you can't delete the bloatware from your phone? That's because those apps are incorporated into the OS in such a way that regular user permissions don't allow for their removal. When one has root, with its expanded permissions, it becomes possible to delete these apps.
Rooting allows for the use of apps like Titanium Backup, arguably the best backup program for Android. It can backup and delete apps that otherwise would be untouchable. Titanium is great for getting rid of the bloatware on your phone.
ROM Manager is another incredibly useful app that allows you to make complete system-state backups of the phone and can be used for flashing custom ROM's, updating kernels and making other modifications.
The kernel is the most core part of the operating system, upon which everything else functions. It's the controller, as it were, of the most basic functions of the OS and hardware. For example, it controls the CPU; there are custom kernels for undervolting and overclocking the CPU, allowing for increased battery life and performance. Not being a dev or engineer, that's about technical as I can get on that one!
Many, but not all, custom ROM's have custom kernels. A perfect example is the relatively new Bionix, of which I'm an avid user (
[ROM] Bionix 1.5 - JI5 Build w/New JI6 Modem *10/02/10* - xda-developers). You'll notice in build 1.4 of Bionix, you have a choice of the stock kernel, or kernels that will allow for overclocking and a lag fix.
It's possible to just install a custom kernel and not a full blown ROM. I'm using JAC's kernel. See this thread:
[KERNEL] JAC XMOD OC/UV w/Voodoo and w/Colorfix [CFQ] CWM/Stock/ODIN V1.1 10/02/10 - Page 31 - xda-developers
You don't necessarily need root to install some modifications, but you'd have to use ODIN instead of ROM Manager. For instance, it's possible to update the phone's modem to JI6, the most current one, to significantly improve the phone's signal reception and GPS.
This is a good resource for anyone with a Vibrant:
[REF]***Vibrant Directory (Bible)***(10/2/2010) - xda-developers
I suggest you do a good amount of reading before embarking on any modifications beyond simply rooting. The only reason I know anything is from reading and trying things out for myself. Less than 3 months ago I'd never even picked up an Android phone, and I'm hardly an expert. The
real experts are the ones that write ROM's.
And I am of the male persuasion, in case anyone cares.