In the world of technology, there are two types of users. One user is satisfied with the way their device came to them from the manufacturer and has no intention of changing a thing. The second user, however, is the technology geek who wants to either disassemble the hardware or assess the software programming of the device in order to see what makes it tick. For these users, the Android devices can pose an obstacle since one must first gain “root” access before any changes to the software that came with the device can be made. Therefore, it’s often said that people from the latter camp “root” their device. Such a “rooted” device can then be further manipulated per that user’s will.
Why do companies attempt to lock users out of their devices’ software? Money, of course, is the major reason. So how does the consumer get around the obstacles designed by these companies in their attempt to force the consumer to use their technicians and applications? To answer this, let me provide you with a brief history. The first company that attempted to limit the amount of control afforded to the user was Apple with the introduction of its original iPhone. However, this only proved to be challenge to the geeks and hackers who quickly discovered a way around Apple’s safety measures. It was here that these enterprising folks invented a technique known as ‘jailbreaking’ to gain access to the iPhone’s hidden files. With this method, the geeks were able to gain access to what otherwise would have been prohibited by Apple. Of course, this led to the same method being used by other geeks to access the files on their own Android phones and tablets so that they could orchestrate them to their own wants and needs. This in turn led to the term “root,” used by Linux users, which basically means to get to the bottom of things or, in this case, to decode the programming used that prevented them from gaining access to the software that ran the entire system.
Those who have rooted their Android phones and tablets claim the following benefits:
- Increase of performance: Most OEMs add their own touches by including useless applications that bring little value to the system. My personal Android phone from T-Mobile came with a boatload of junk and gunk that cannot be removed.
- Applications install in phone memory only: Since installing a 16 GB SD card on my phone, I use an application called APPS2SD, which tries to install applications onto the card. Unfortunately, I found that only a few of my applications had been successfully transferred to the SD card. The others automatically downloaded to my phone’s memory, taking up valuable space. You can avoid this problem by rooting your phone, which will then allow you to move all of your application over to the SD card, thus freeing up your system.
- Overclock that CPU: All of us want the maximum performance that our installed central processing units can pump out. However, in an attempt to improve system performance and speed things up, Android programming attempts to prevent the overclocking of the CPU. If barriers are a challenge and not a major hurdle to you, however, here is another place where rooting your Android phone or tablet will allow you do what you want. In other words, once rooted, you can eliminate this preventative programming and thus speed up your processor.
- Easier tethering: After rooting, proponents of rooted devices claim that it is easier to tether an Android phone or Android tablet to a cell phone. I would imagine that each carrier and each Android device is different, but I have personally (and without issue) used FoxFi and PdaNet 3.50 to tether everything from my PC, Amazon Kindle Fire, Apple iPad, Asus Transformer, Nexus 7, and other Android-powered devices to my phone. It should be noted that tethering is no longer an option on the newest Android OS.
Of course, these are just a few of the advantages you can experience when rooting your Android phone or tablet. However, every day brings more challenges and reasons to root your device. For example, in the case of the new Nexus 7, Google does not allow access to USB storage devices; however, once you have rooted your device, you will be able to access this additional storage.
On the flip side of rooting, however, you may also wish to consider:
- There is the possibility, however slight, that you could potentially “brick” (which is essentially what your device will become) your Android phone or tablet.
- You must follow directions exactly.
- Deviating from procedures can have unwanted results.
- While unlikely, especially if a piece of hardware fails, you could void your warranty.
So is rooting worth it?
I don’t know. I do know that the procedure didn’t work for me when I went to root my Nexus 7 Android-powered tablet using the Nexus Root Toolkit. It sounded easy enough, but I was stopped short when I discovered that the build number (JR003D) for my Nexus 7 was not listed. Since my only reason for even thinking about doing a root was so that I could access a USB stick for added storage and a movie or two, I didn’t find it worth the time to pursue it any further.
So, I guess this means that I personally believe the decision over whether to root your personal Android phone or tablet or not is yours and yours alone. If you have chosen to root an Android device, please let us know why you chose to do so and what the results were.
Comments, as always, are welcome.
Source: Redmond Pie
Source: Nexus Root Toolkit
CC licensed Flickr photo above shared by LJRMIKE
I went to root my Droid Razr a few months ago, before I got Icecream Sandwich, and I was gonna use a root kit, but the one I had would always come back as “File Path Not Found”, so I gave up… I can see why other people do it, but I guess for guys like me, there’s no real need for it…. yet…
IMHO, it’s worth it to root. Search for “EternityProject EasyRootICS”, you’ll find a simple 1-click root script for the razr on the XDA forums. Just remember to unzip all of the files you download to your PC before running the script or it won’t work.
Two-thumbs up
Just use build number JRO03C and make sure you follow instructions. Make sure you unlock before you root. Not too difficult and with stick mount you’ve just got more storage
Thanks for the response. I thought this build number would work.
I choose to root my HTC EVO 4g to remove bloat software I never use. Also, to tether my phone to my MacBook Pro. I already pay for data, so why should I have to pay an additional $30/month for something I already paid for.?.?
you are right in what you have said. i was only thinking this the other day but i think i will now dig a little deeper
[...] 02. Aug, 2012 0 Comments In the world of technology, there are two types of users. A user is satisfied with the way his team came to them by the manufacturer and does not intend to change anything. The second user, however, is the technology geek who wants to remove the hardware or software to evaluate the programming [...] The message should you root your Android phone or Tablet? first appeared in Lockergnome. LockerGnome [...]
One of the disadvantages of rooting, is that a malicious root app is potentially way more dangerous than a malicious “normal” app. However, using an app like Superuser (which usually is included with custom ROMs) will provide a layer of protection by notifying you whenever an app requests elevated privileges. You can then either allow or deny the request, much like you would allow or deny a connection on a Windows firewall program.
Rooting isn’t for everyone, and all devices seem to have different instructions for rooting. However, those interested would benefit by looking up their devices on XDA-developers, and reading all the sticky posts.
Excellent advice.
I’ve rooted both Samsung Galaxy S3 (after 10 failed attempts, nice…) and Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, because those two devices came with TouchWiz which slows down A LOT the device…
Does root worth it? I’m not sure, because there’s (almost) NO stock ROM such as what you can find on Google’s devices (Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7, etc.).
Every ROM you’ll find for your device is a minimum tweaked, a minimum changed from AOSP (Android Open Source Project = pure stock ROM), so most of the time, you end up replacing a bloatware-filled ROM by a bloatware-filled ROM…
You also enter the buggish world, since this is community-driven. People driving those ROM don’t owe you ANYTHING and don’t have any duty if your device is broken or buggy.
The only good ROM I know is CyanogenMod, and the actual latest stable ROM runs Android Gingerbread so… (and don’t come and tell me CM9 is stable, it’s not)
That is some good information there, thanx. I do look in on the periphery of Android “Jailbreakers” – Personally I just dont understand the device that much, I’ve tried to work with is but the interface confuses me. Also, the On Screen Keyboard is hard to use for me. I’ve had iphones for 2 years, first an original iPhone then the 4. I’ve jailbroken them all, but once you get that done (for me it was aBsinthe 2.04, took me three attempts, but it left me with an Untethered Jailbreak)-But from the moment Cydia appears, the world is at your fingertips. I have my device hooked in to all my Macs and even PCs. So, Android does not have a main App like Cydia where you can search through the modifications? Sounds like this is what the root community needs. Thanx again.
actually Cyanogenmod was playing with that idea to create and maintain a google play for root app equivalent. i’m not sure how far that got or if its still under development. It wasn’t released with cyanogenmod 10. It would be useful. and also as far as the keyboard. as an android user, its the same feeling for me using a iOS keyboard.
I understand – We start using things and get used to them. I was used to the actual feel of the buttons on my Treo, it was very hard to change to the iOS On Screen Keyboard and I still don’t like the fact that I can’t feel the buttons. Most typists type by touch, not by sight. Thanx.
For me the root is a must have, specially for the “Ads block applications” that block most of site o app publicity even malicious sites, and in android is the best way to keep safe..
Even ine advantage of this is a increase in battery life on my phones and tablets.
Definitely worth it, depending on how bad off you are with the stock configuration – the control and additional functionality are well worth it, although some risk is there, too. I’m glad I took it.
And why shouldn’t we? Isn’t it part of the fun – I think you lose some of the value and fun of having a device if you just plod along as you’re *supposed* to.
I think it’s creative, fun, teaches you a lot about the device, and maximizes the device’s value to you. I can see refraining if it’s a work device, otherwise it’s fair game.
My son root my HTC Thunderbolt & it is way better than before. A question I have is “Can I still do updates from HTC when they are available?” Thanks
I thought that Nexus 7 was running the newest Android App Jelly Bean. Why In the article did Ron say he has tethered to a Nexus 7 and then further on he says that you can’t tether to the newest Android OS. Maybe I’m missing something.
When Android was my main phone, I rooted my Eris. The main reason being all of the bloatware. I could tell the junk that was pre-loaded was dominating my ram and I wasn’t using any of those apps. So rooting was my only option. The other reason was that they pretty much dropped support for that model instantly, so to get the latest OS I had to flash a modified OS version. The one possible downside was that as soon as I flashed the new rom on my phone mobile flash was gone, though it made no difference to me as I never used flash to begin with.
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