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Root Benefits of rooting LG P500

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obsidianwings

Well-Known Member
Never had an android before, let alone rooted one, so just wondering what benefits I would find, performance or otherwise.
Whats the difference with all the different ROMs (which I understand I would need to put on once rooted?)? Just a basic rundown, not expecting anyone to write an essay for me, I will look into it more if I decide to do it :)

What are the risks of bricking the phone? I really really can't afford another one so it is something I have to keep in mind.

If theres anything you think i'm completely overlooking please let me know :)
 
first thing if u r satisfied with device n dont want to take any risk stay where u r.

rooting advantages
1. more performance
2. overclockable
3. internal memory is only 200mb , u can use sd external as internal memory
4. new custom roms (ics 4.0 unofficial etc )
5. unwanted stock apps can be removed
6. more battery back up than stock rom
7. backup of all data from recovery
8. u can customize any rom (bootanimation, fonts,ui etc)
9. when installing new roms etc u can backup apps etc

rooting disadvantages
1. u r warranty will be void
2. risk of bricking your phone if u dont follow instructions correctly


idont remember alll these are some of adv n disadv
I suggest if u want to root , then go for it untill u r device is in warranty period. If at all u go wrong somewhere n brick u r phone, make ur phone completely dead n give to service center they cannot make out.
 
Thanks for the replies.
Mostly I want to do it for performance reasons, and to remove standard apps on the phone that I have no use for. I guess overclocking would be a good idea to?
Whats the difference when using SD card memory as internal memory? Right now using an 8gb class 6 card and pretty happy with the way its working.
Whats the best ROM, in your opinion?
As I said I really can't afford a new one if I brick it, but I am good at following instructions LOL whats the chance of bricking it following instructions carefully?
Off to read other threads now in case it helps.
Thanks :D
 
By best ROM I mean both perfomance and looks but also stability, once i've got it going I don't want to be dealing with problems all the time.
Do I even need a ROM or can I just run 2.3.3 rooted? Will probably do ROM anyway, just looking at options.

Would I lose any apps or saves when succesfully rooted?

ETA: Never mind I see it says to back up using titanium backup, so I would do that, that would include saves as well right? Also looking at the clcokworkmod recovery it says I also need, that also does backups, so could I not just use clockworkmod and forget about titanium backup or is titianium backup better?
Have decided not to overclock if I do root, don't know enough about what I am doing so will just take the improved performance without overclocking.
 
One last question, titanium backup and clockworkmodrecover both only backup the phone once already rooted, obviously needs doing before a ROM is put on, however how do I do a full backup of the phone and everything on it before I start rooting, both for safetys sake, and for in case I need to put it back to normal for warranty purposes.
 
Gingerbreak.apk will not mess up your phone in any way. It sometimes takes a few tries(you must reboot your phone on each failed attempt), but it will not mess up your phone. It is the safest and easiest method there is. If after 12 minutes it hasn't rebooted your phone then pull the battery and try again(this counts as a reboot).

The next step is the most important: Installing/flashing a custom recovery and making a complete backup of your system/ROM in said recovery(this is called a nandroid backup). This backup is stored in a folder on the uSD card called clockworkmod. In a folder called backup.
If you ever need to format/delete the uSD card first backup everything to a folder on your PC.

If you ever want/need to restore a nandroid, when it's done installing you will have everything right were you left it. Like you never left the ROM in the first place.

Never restore any system apps or data from Titanium Backup. You can restore any app that's not installed with the ROM. You can restore all of the app data. Titanium Backup is needed to restore your apps when going from one ROM to another. You have to wipe data and format system (as well as a few other things) before installing a new ROM, which means you will lose all you apps on your system unless backed up on the sd card with Titanium Backup.

Look at the sticky's ^ for more info on what's compatible with what.

I don't know if ROMTools will work on your phone, check in the root sticky's. Again, I know Gingerbreak.apk will not harm your phone, it's what you can do to your phone after it's rooted that gives most people their problems. Make sure you make a nandroid. If you have a custom recovery with a nandroid on both a PC and your uSD card, you can undo anything you mess up.

If it will work then use the Shell root option in ROMTools to install a recovery(shell root is a temp root that goes away when you reboot the phone. Then make a nandroid. Then do a permanent root.

Save the nandroid of your stock ROM in case you ever need to return back to stock.

You need to install a custom ROM to get the best performance out of your phone.
 
Thanks andy, I have been reading through all the stickys this morning but still have a bit to go, but your post was really helpful.
I feel alot more confident now. I have 2.3.3 gingerbread on my phone am I reight in understand I need to downgrade to 2.2 froyo before I can use gingerbreak?
Do you have a personal recommendation for best custom rom?

I already have a full back up of my SD card on my computer, but will do another once rooted.

I am not sure I understand everything you are saying about titanium and the difference between backups on that and clockworkmod, however I will probably get it when i've finished reading the stickys. Will make sure I cover all bases and backup on both anyway lol.

Just to clarify, once rooted I need to install clockworkmod and titanium backup. Make a nandroid backup with clockworkmod. Then I need to back up with titanium backup before I flash a custom ROM, to I can restore all of my apps and apps data onto the new ROM?
I need to make a nandroid backup of both stock ROM in case I need to return to stock, and a nandroid backup of whatever custom ROM I decide when I first flash it in case anything goes wrong later I suppose?
I hadn't read anything about Romtools yet, but will look into it.

Thanks for your patience/help :)
 
Also if I do have to go back to froyo to use gingerbreak, does that mean I have to use ROMs meant for old baseband, but if I root using something else straight from gingerbread I use ROMs meant for new baseband? Or am I misunderstanding what baseband means?
 
Reading more about gingerbreak seems I may have got the wrong end of the stick previously. I am going to try root using gingerbreak now and will back up using clockworkmod and titanium backup, i'm not even going to think about ROMs until i'm done, don't want to over complicate things in my head which I think is what I have been doing.
 
Trying to do it now with gingerbreak 1.2, but it keeps saying "Not sure what happened here. Either the exploit failed or the reboot failed. Please reboot manually and see if you have superuser!" when I reboot manually I don't have superuser.
I am going to keep trying, but any advice?
 
You can use an app called "Fast Uninstaller & installer" it can be used for non rooted users to backup their app .apk's to the uSD card before you try to root, it's in the market. You can only restore one app at a time, but Titanium (which has a batch restore option) requires that you are rooted before you can use it.

The other thing I like about Fast Uninstaller is it save's all app .apk's to your uSD card. Everyone, even the old ones that were replaced by an update.
This means if you get an update that acts badly, you can easily revert back to the good .apk
It will not back up your app data though.

Once you rooted, Then make a nandroid in the custom recovery. Then backup you apps with Titanium Backup and select a twice weekly backup schedule so it will back up your app data(what level you reached in a game, what settings in another, any info you put into a note pad,etc.). Then go in and delete the old info every now and then. Just before you decide to flash a ROM then run a batch backup so the saved app data will be up to date.

As far as over thinking, that's normal. When I was new, I was so far out of anybody's league when it came to over thinking I still can't be touched.

As far as ROM for your phone I can't say. Device specific info for your phone is not solid enough in my memory to give a valid response.
 
Make sure you have USB debugging enabled in applications/development. Make sure you reboot at every failed attempt.
 
Thanks its all making a lot of sense now.
I have been doing but still not working. Google suggests I may need to use a different program with 2.3.3
 
Let me read up in the sticky to see what it say's. I'm pretty root savvy now and should be able to tell what the best method for rooting your phone is.
 
I appreciate that, have been looking at different options but nervous all over again since you reassured me gingerbreak wouldn't brick the phone, not sure what else is 100% safe to try.
 
It would appear that ROM Manager is out of the Question. Have you gotten the phone Rooted yet? What is the Baseband version of your phone? This can be found in: menu/settings/about phone. Let me know and we will go from there. I have 5 pages up with all the info you need. Just need your Baseband version.
 
Sorry, I had to go out. I have windows 7 so will give this a shot tonight. Would you say that rooting this way is just as safe as the gingerbreak way? As in no risk with the actual rooting, just with what you may do afterwards?
 
If done exactly as the guide points out then there shouldn't be any problem. In reading the guide and extracting the files It doesn't even look like you need the ADB installer. It wont hurt to have it in case you need to run ADB shell commands latter though.
 
Thanks I really appreciate the help, will let you know when I have it working :D hope to get it rooted tonight and the i'll start looking into ROMs on monday.
Am I right in assuming since I am running 2.3.3 I will need to use a rom for new basebands? Or is baseband completely different?
 
One last question before i try, the drivers in the link, do I install that to the computer, or is there a way to install it to the phone?
ETA: Also, it says to backup everything with astro file manager before you hard reset, presumably so you can restore if anything goes wrong, but after hard reset wouldn't it all be gone? Or does it back up to SD (would that be unaffected?) or computer?
 
The Drivers are so you can communicate/give shell commands with/to the phone through the PC and need to be installed on the PC. Shoot me a PM when you get ready to tackle this. Just click on my name and choose "Send a private message"
 
Thats cool thats what I thought, I clicked to install to the computer then clicked run but it didn't seem to do anything much, it probably just installed quick with no fuss or something though. I've already done the backup with astro, although one app wouldn't backup, no biggie I can get that again. I am looking at doing this in approximately three hours when the kids are in bed, we are in different time zones so don't know what time it will be there but will send you a PM anyway, no worries if you are not on or anything :)
 
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