Root Explanation.

[DreadAlert]

Hey guys.

I'll be getting my first android phone in a couple of days - the T-Mobile G2 Touch, a.k.a HTC Hero.

I've been hearing about all this "rooting" and "ROMs" and how you should have the latest build and all this. Is it necessary?

Could somebody explain? Is rooting illegal like jailbreaking your iPhone or is it something completely different?

Thanks.
-DreadAlert-

 

[Xyro]

Rooting your phone/using a custom ROM isn't illegal, nor is jailbreaking for that matter. Yes jailbreaking does allow you to install pirated apps, but there are many perfectly legal reasons to jailbreak. The only thing it would impact is your warranty, but you can undo it all by reinstalling the official firmware

Rooting means gaining 'root access' on the phone, and basically allows you to do tweak the phone more than you could otherwise. There are tones of apps that make use of root access, but some that I have installed are an overclocking app, an app backup/restore app, screenshot app and so on.

ROMs are the firmware of the phone, and using custom ROMs gives you the ability to switch to different versions of android. For instance, you could install android 2.1 which hasn't been officially released yet. Or maybe you don't like HTC's interface and want to go to plain stock android.

That's not to say you need to do any of this to enjoy the phone of course.

 

[DreadAlert]

Hrm - Okay. Thanks.

I'm getting it on contract, with Insurance. Would rooting affect insurance?

Also - does Warranty really matter if I have insurance?
Another thing: I heard that you can only install apps onto the phones internal memory of like.. 500mb or something. Is that true? And when you root, can you install onto memory card instead?

 

[Xyro]

Yeah, there is limited space for apps, although the amount you fit it there varies. I got maybe 80 or so on the official firmware. If you root and enable something called app2sd you can assign say 500mb for apps. (Which really is plenty, most apps aren't that big).

I don't really know about the insurance issue. But I'm sure there are plenty of people round here who have theirs insured and would know more.

 

[LABRAT]

on a side note.. the apps to sd card thing isnt all its cracked up to be..sure the apps store themselfs on your sd card but it seems to me that the dalvik cache ( the bit that stores all the info required to run an app) is still stored on the phones memory..

this takes up a fair chunk of space, its possible to run the dalvik cache from sd as well but i really wouldnt recomend it.. flash memory (like your sd card) is very slow compaired to phone memory.. and your phone will slow to a shocking degree..

i see this as one of the main limitations of the hero... lack of internal memory.. and there isnt any way round it...

 

[Xyro]

Admittedly, I've been running the dalvik cache off the SD card pretty much as long as I've had apps2sd, but I've never seen any noticeable difference.

 

[Drazil]

I just got around to moving my dalvik to sd over the weekend and I too have not noticed any slowdown in speed. Class 6 should be as fast as the phone's internal memory.

As an aside, if you haven't gotten the phone yet, maybe you should consider getting a newer model instead of the Hero. 2 years is a long time to wait for another new phone and Hero is already feeling it's age.

As to the warranty/insurance issue... warranty only covers manufacturing defects. Insurance will cover additional things, like if you dropped the phone in the toilet. Most insurance policy will say you can't tamper with the phone (i.e. rooting etc). You would have to take steps to cover your tracks before you hand in your phone for a claim.

 

[DreadAlert]

I'll be fine with the hero, with a class 6 memory card it'll all run smooth and I'm not a heavy user or anything, just a regular teenager so I won't be rooting it.

I'll be fine.