Galaxy SIII Root Worth it?

[rprimmel]

I have a Samsung Galaxy SIII with Android version 4.1.2 on Verizon. I have jailbroken iPods before but i do not know much about rooting an Android. If someone can answer some questions for me that would be great.

1. What are the chances of me bricking my phone and how can I avoid doing so?
2. If I restore to factory settings/unroot would it re-activate my warranty?
3. Can I still update the Android OS even with a rooted phone?
4. What is the legal status of rooting?
5. Do you need to be careful to avoid bricking?
6. Will I lose all my data if I root?
7. Which website should I use to Root?
8. Can rooting give my phone a virus?

Most Importantly:
SHOULD I DO IT / IS IT WORTH THE RISK?

 

[girolez]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

This is a big subject and I suggest that you register in the S3 forum and post your very clear question again in the "all things root" sub forum

I will give my brief answers:

1 Low chance so long as you research the subject of rooting well BEFORE you do anything. There is lots of information on the XDA forums (google it)

2 If you restore fully to factory settings and unroot and clean up Samsung would not know it was ever rooted, so yes.

3 Yes. I have updated my stock android OS while rooted, but not by using the OTA or Kies Samsung methods. There is a program called odin which can do this. The software for updates becomes freely available very shortly after Samsung releases it. Sammobile.com lists available softwares.

4 I'm not sure having read many opinions. I think it does not invalidate your warranty on a physical piece of equipment, but it may be hard to get past the staff on the front line and its hardly worth legal action for a phone

5 Yes - see 1 above. Be sure of what you are doing before doing it - then it will very likely go well.

6 No. Rooting affects nothing. The next step is to install a custom recovery. The NEXT step is backup everything and do a "nandroid" backup (like a disk image) before installing any updated or custom ROM

7 mskips rooting toolkit http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2052779

8 No. Running a rooted phone can theoretically make it more vulnerable, but those who root their phones and understand the processes do not usually fall victim to the methods used to introduce viruses.

Whether its worth the "risk" depends on why you want to root. Check out the apps available when rooted plus the pros/cons of custom roms before you do it.

I like:
Titanium backup
Tasker
Button Savior
Gravity Screen
ES file explorer (with root access)
Folder Mount
I have not used a custom ROM (yet) on this phone (Note2) but did so on my old HTC desire and vastly improved it.

Hope this helps and hope you join the forum community

Roger