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Root Why you shouldn't root your phone

bzzzzz

Well-Known Member
Dec 27, 2009
154
2
uk
There are quite a few threads waxing lyrical about the advantages of rooting your phone, I haven't heard too many people saying why you shouldn't do it.

Are there any good reasons to not root your phone?
Has anyone got any horror stories of rooting their phone and having heaps of trouble. I'd be interested to find out.

My instinct is that by rooting your phone your essentially giving yourself admin permission on your phone. Whilst useful, I suspect that this comes with security risks. I've heard that some jailbroken iphones managed to pick up viruses.
 
I`d say biggest reason not to, is that even though the dev for most roms know what their doing i`m sure theirs small parts of coding,that only htc know about, which may look like nothing to most dev but make a huge differance to performance and experience, and with the new 2.1 i`d say htc will be making huge changes from the standard to get it running perfect for that phone, plus i`m pretty sure HTC and the rest do a hell of alot more beta testing in a proffesional environment, than the dev`s
soley as they have more money
 
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i`m sure theirs small parts of coding,that only htc know about, which may look like nothing to most dev but make a huge differance to performance and experience

In my experience custom ROMs are a mixed bag in terms of performance. Some aren't really stable enough to use normaly, like a few of the 2.1 + sense ones I've tried. But on the other hand, some ROMs can out perform HTC's version. MoDaCo 3.1 for example, is a much smoother experience than the stock ROM.
 
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Here's a question to anyone knowledgable about such things: i am meaning to root my phone at some point and install a custom ROM (probably modaco). I'm wondering if i should do it now, i.e. before the official 2.1 is released, in case HTC have closed whatever loopholes allow the phone to be rooted.

How likely/feasible is this? Are there ways to root that HTC *cant* block, or are cleverer people than me just going to have to find new ways in (as they invariably and rapidly do for the iphone after each firmware update)?
 
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How likely/feasible is this? Are there ways to root that HTC *cant* block, or are cleverer people than me just going to have to find new ways in (as they invariably and rapidly do for the iphone after each firmware update)?
Paul from MoDaCo has suggested that you should not install 2.1 when it does appear for just this reason - Google may well have closed the loopholes which allow root access in 1.5. I am sure that someone will find a way to get root access eventually, but it may take a while.
 
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It is worth noting there is a clear distinction between rooting and running a custom ROM.

Rooting enables you to get access to parts of the system you didn't before, so you can install apps the require root access (ShootMe for screenshots, Titanium Backup for backing up apps).

Running a custom ROM requires root access, but involves completely removing the software on your phone and replacing it with a totally custom version of the software, not endorsed by HTC or Google.
 
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It is worth noting there is a clear distinction between rooting and running a custom ROM.

Rooting enables you to get access to parts of the system you didn't before, so you can install apps the require root access (ShootMe for screenshots, Titanium Backup for backing up apps).

Running a custom ROM requires root access, but involves completely removing the software on your phone and replacing it with a totally custom version of the software, not endorsed by HTC or Google.
Just what I said earlier!
 
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Paul from MoDaCo has suggested that you should not install 2.1 when it does appear for just this reason - Google may well have closed the loopholes which allow root access in 1.5. I am sure that someone will find a way to get root access eventually, but it may take a while.
I've always been amazed at this - seems to fly in the face of something being open-source:(
 
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Paul from MoDaCo has suggested that you should not install 2.1 when it does appear for just this reason - Google may well have closed the loopholes which allow root access in 1.5. I am sure that someone will find a way to get root access eventually, but it may take a while.
Ah, ok, thanks. Hopefully a MoDaCo based on 2.1 will be out soon after the official release, which will maintain root access.

Hmmm... maybe this has spurred me into action. Might do a bit of rooting this weekend (fnarrr).
 
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I guess the main thing to worry about is whether your phone is branded to high hell by your provider. If that's the case and it needs a repair they might get suspect as to why certain things are missing.

I find that most of the time though (well in the UK anyways) they are just sending out HTC Hero's with the odd shortcut up on the home screen that can be deleted without suspicion and no horrible obstructive changes like i've seen with many symbian phones.

Rooting and custom roms are definately the way to go though, your never look back. Really does improve them, for a start it makes them snappier and give you more freedom to toy with your phone.
 
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Getting back on topic, why not root?

. you have no compelling reason to. saying you're rooted doesn't impress us.
. you don't like the risk of bricking. It can happen.
. you like to call the provider for problems.

that being said, mine is rooted and updated and I don't want to go back to crippleware. But I don't casually suggest everyone do it.
 
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Rooting had a very small chance of bricking the phone and anyway rooting will allow apps like wifi tether to work and will also allow custom roms to be installed, these together should overpower the reasons not to.

The only real reason a person wouldn't root is because they were scared because it would void their guarantee

BTW - Wifi Tether for root users is an awesome app.
 
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if your phone was stolen and it was rooted could your network still render the phone useless

Yup, as the IEMI number remains the same and that's what is blocked to prevent use on the network.

The only real reason a person wouldn't root is because they were scared because it would void their guarantee

Or because they have no need of any additional functionality gained from rooting. Or they're not interested in third-party ROMs. Or they simply can't be bothered with the hassle. There's no rule that says one has to root. ;)
 
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would love to root but if your phone was stolen and it was rooted could your network still render the phone useless , just got phone stolen once and network blocked phone , i would not like to get stolen and have some scum bag still using the phone cos i rooted it
If you've rooted it and installed something like the MoDaCo ROM, which has wavesecure embedded in it then you can lock down the phone remotely yourself. And track its location. And back up your data from it. And erase your data from it.

Obviously you can install wavesecure without rooting, but installing a custom ROM with it built in means that it cant be removed even with a factory reset. Point being, rooting can give you more security, not less.
 
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ll void your warranty ::)

This is the main reason I'm holding my self back from not rooting my phone.

Arguably not - however that would only be if you returned it rooted. It is a simple matter to reverse the process.

Is there a way Sprint can determine if the phone was rooted and it was reverse to original stock ROM?

pbp
 
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Is there a way Sprint can determine if the phone was rooted and it was reverse to original stock ROM?

pbp

To my knowledge no and most likely if there was a way, I don't believe 99% of the store employees would know how to find out. I know Sprint uses a 3rd party to insure their phones with, so I doubt the store employee would really care as long as when you took it in for service/replacement it appeared as though it was the original ROM.
 
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MrClean, thanks for answer the my question!!!!. I don't have any issue with the phone just the battery life is kind of weak imho. I charge every day before going to sleep 11PM, by morning it is already down to 90 and sometimes around 80ish. Not sure if that normal for battery. This is the main reason I want to see if rooting my phone would be good to gain more battery life.
 
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MrClean, thanks for answer the my question!!!!. I don't have any issue with the phone just the battery life is kind of weak imho. I charge every day before going to sleep 11PM, by morning it is already down to 90 and sometimes around 80ish. Not sure if that normal for battery. This is the main reason I want to see if rooting my phone would be good to gain more battery life.
I wouldn't bet on that - battery life is dependent on the amount of tasks your phone is performing - internet access, etc.

You probably need an extended battery
 
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