Root Honesty about Rooting

[Dougfresh]

I have been wanting to root my Dinc since I got it in August. I feel completely confident that I can perform the procedure correctly. Here's the thing. I work in the medical field and I'm on call for surgery almost 24/7. So far service has been great, phone has been great. I have not dropped or missed any calls. If I miss even one call I will probably lose my job. So my question is, if you where in my situation where you could not afford to miss even one call. Would you still root your phone? Have you experienced any complications due to rooting, even if they were temporary?

Thanks

 

[sdrawkcab25]

Rooting will in itself will not effect whether or not you can receive calls text, browse internet etc, but gives you the power to effect it.
Rooting is just the equivalent of changing your account on windows from "limited" to "administrator". You don't lose or gain any data, you are just turning off the parental (verizon) controls.

So to answer your question: "With great power, comes great responsiblity."

And I've never had any issues because of having root that caused me to miss a single text or phone call.

 

[EarlyMon]

Rooting can take minutes to an hour, with backups, etc.

If you can't miss a call whatsoever in that interim, I'd avoid it.

What do people in your profession do if their battery dies or something or you need to get a new phone?

Tech is never 100% reliable - mostly, in most cases, but 100%?

And +1 to sdrawkcab25 for the most succinct yet clear overview of root I've read yet.

 

[PGP_Protector]

I have been wanting to root my Dinc since I got it in August. I feel completely confident that I can perform the procedure correctly. Here's the thing. I work in the medical field and I'm on call for surgery almost 24/7. So far service has been great, phone has been great. I have not dropped or missed any calls. If I miss even one call I will probably lose my job. So my question is, if you where in my situation where you could not afford to miss even one call. Would you still root your phone? Have you experienced any complications due to rooting, even if they were temporary?

Thanks

If I was in a job that required that I don't even miss a single call, I'd have the simplest phone available(Or a Pager).
Any Phone that runs via an OS, if the OS Crashes for whatever reason (and they all can crash) during that reboot cycle, your phone Will not work.

 

[Dougfresh]

Thank you for your quick responses. I can choose a time to root where my phone doesn't need to be available. My main concern is that by rooting I will be making my phone less reliable. Even slightly less reliable might have a huge impact in my situation. When I had an iPhone many people said JBing had no effect on dropped and missed calls. That was not my experience. Misses calls left and right. I was a nervous wreck. Luckily nothing bad happened. I reversed the JB. Without the JB the iPhone had problems, but with it they were exponential.

Can anyone else say they have not experienced one missed call because of rooting?

You can't let your phone die. Yes many people in my profession carry old candy bar Nokias and the such. But that's not the way I roll.

 

[Eusibius2]

In your case, there's essentially no difference from jailbreaking an iPhone or rooting a Droid. If you couldn't handle the pressure of JB your apple, then don't root your droid.

I think you answered your own question here. The earlier replies are about as honest as they come.

 

[offanairplane]

I have been wanting to root my Dinc since I got it in August. I feel completely confident that I can perform the procedure correctly. Here's the thing. I work in the medical field and I'm on call for surgery almost 24/7. So far service has been great, phone has been great. I have not dropped or missed any calls. If I miss even one call I will probably lose my job. So my question is, if you where in my situation where you could not afford to miss even one call. Would you still root your phone? Have you experienced any complications due to rooting, even if they were temporary?

Thanks

If I was in that situation, I would have a dumbphone with basic call/text features. Maybe a dumbphone and also a Galaxy or Xoom tab combination would work, if you really love using apps, and such. But if I needed a device strictly for phone calls, that I could really rely on and it needed to work every time, it would definitely not be a smartphone. Even stock smartphones can be buggy. Even the glorious iPhone can be buggy.

 

[euph_22]

Thank you for your quick responses. I can choose a time to root where my phone doesn't need to be available. My main concern is that by rooting I will be making my phone less reliable. Even slightly less reliable might have a huge impact in my situation. When I had an iPhone many people said JBing had no effect on dropped and missed calls. That was not my experience. Misses calls left and right. I was a nervous wreck. Luckily nothing bad happened. I reversed the JB. Without the JB the iPhone had problems, but with it they were exponential.

Can anyone else say they have not experienced one missed call because of rooting?

You can't let your phone die. Yes many people in my profession carry old candy bar Nokias and the such. But that's not the way I roll.

Rooting by itself will not change anything with the reliability. Just like there is no change in reliability of your computer when you sign into an administrator account. Once you complete the root process it should be working as good as new (by which I mean, if you check that your phone works you'll be good). However, what you do with it after you sign it might/will affect your reliability. What would you want to do with root?

 

[jayjay1122]

Thank you for your quick responses. I can choose a time to root where my phone doesn't need to be available. My main concern is that by rooting I will be making my phone less reliable. Even slightly less reliable might have a huge impact in my situation. When I had an iPhone many people said JBing had no effect on dropped and missed calls. That was not my experience. Misses calls left and right. I was a nervous wreck. Luckily nothing bad happened. I reversed the JB. Without the JB the iPhone had problems, but with it they were exponential.

Can anyone else say they have not experienced one missed call because of rooting?

You can't let your phone die. Yes many people in my profession carry old candy bar Nokias and the such. But that's not the way I roll.

I am in a similar work environment as you (granted I am not saving lives, just jobs) and I can tell you that my phone being rooted has never caused a problem with calls or texts or emails.

Now the flipside...sdrawkcab25 is absolutely spot on with his description of rooting and I will take it one step further and say this with ALL possible respect:

If you need to ask these questions and your phone is essential to your job and even the thought of it causing you issues enters your mind and makes you uncomfortable, you probably should not be rooting!

Sorry to sound non-committal!!

 

[euph_22]

If I was in that situation, I would have a dumbphone with basic call/text features. Maybe a dumbphone and also a Galaxy or Xoom tab combination would work, if you really love using apps, and such. But if I needed a device strictly for phone calls, that I could really rely on and it needed to work every time, it would definitely not be a smartphone. Even stock smartphones can be buggy. Even the glorious iPhone can be buggy.

I'd probably do the same. The incredible would work pretty good deactivated and running on wifi. Or if your on a family plan, you'd probably be able to add a line for a dumb phone for pretty cheap.

 

[EarlyMon]

In your case, there's essentially no difference from jailbreaking an iPhone or rooting a Droid. If you couldn't handle the pressure of JB your apple, then don't root your droid.

^This.

If you ever missed a call, no one would convince you it wasn't due to rooting - and you'd never forgive yourself.

I think in your case, this has to go under the rule: Don't fix it if it ain't broken.

 

[offanairplane]

Thank you for your quick responses. I can choose a time to root where my phone doesn't need to be available. My main concern is that by rooting I will be making my phone less reliable. Even slightly less reliable might have a huge impact in my situation. When I had an iPhone many people said JBing had no effect on dropped and missed calls. That was not my experience. Misses calls left and right. I was a nervous wreck. Luckily nothing bad happened. I reversed the JB. Without the JB the iPhone had problems, but with it they were exponential.

Can anyone else say they have not experienced one missed call because of rooting?

You can't let your phone die. Yes many people in my profession carry old candy bar Nokias and the such. But that's not the way I roll.

Why do you want to root, if you don't mind my asking?
Is it just to run certain apps which require root access?
Or is it to install a custom ROM?

Because, while it's true that rooting alone (if done properly) should not have any affect on the functionality of your phone, if that is all you do. Most people don't just root and leave it at that. What would be the point? They root so they can put a custom rom on the phone. And custom roms can be very buggy, and to be fair, some can be very stable. But I wouldn't gamble my job on a rom developed by somebody I don't even know. And like I said before, you can roll however you want to roll. But if you really need a phone to perform as a phone, there is no smartphone on the market that can compete with a good quality dumbphone.

This

Plus this

is a much more reliable combination than this.

 

[Dougfresh]

I want to root because it's fun. Custom roms, apps, wifi tethering. Due to peace of mind considerations and being very confident in my phone the way it is. You guys have convinced me to leave it as is. Thank You

 

[Ba'al]

I have a second phone on my account (Moto Barrage) that is super-reliable and has exceptional battery life. Back when I still was using a BlackBerry, I would forward calls from the BB to the Barrage before flashing a new OS so that if something bad happened along the way, my calls would still come straight through to the Barrage.

Between LauncherPro and other apps I really haven't felt the need to root my Inc to this point. I may give it a shot at some point just to see what everyone is talking about but yeah I personally wouldn't rely on a smartphone as a business-critical phone if I were in the OP's situation, and that's the one of the reasons I still keep the Barrage active (the other being I got tired of so many people having my personal number and calling at all hours of the day and night -- now I can just shut the work phone off!).

If I were in a situation where a missed call could be a career-ending event, I would get a second phone active on my account and give them my Google Voice number so that it would ring both phones when they call.

 

[EarlyMon]

^Excellent advice, really excellent!!!

 

[offanairplane]

If my job could fire me for missing a call, I would expect them to provide me a phone. And if it failed for some reason, it would be their problem.

That being said, I use my personal phone for company business all the time. But if I miss a call it's usually no big deal, as long as I return the call in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[noah way]

Thank you for your quick responses. I can choose a time to root where my phone doesn't need to be available. My main concern is that by rooting I will be making my phone less reliable. Even slightly less reliable might have a huge impact in my situation. When I had an iPhone many people said JBing had no effect on dropped and missed calls. That was not my experience. Misses calls left and right. I was a nervous wreck. Luckily nothing bad happened. I reversed the JB. Without the JB the iPhone had problems, but with it they were exponential.

Can anyone else say they have not experienced one missed call because of rooting?

You can't let your phone die. Yes many people in my profession carry old candy bar Nokias and the such. But that's not the way I roll.

There is a wide difference in the quality and reliability of ROMs. Read up before you jump in. They are for people who like to tinker. The benefits can be good - longer battery life, snappier performance, more control over the interface. Don't get the latest version of anything, get the tried and true, tweaked and proven version. For the Incredible I'd recommend SkyRaider 3.5

If the phone is absolutely critical to your well being get a backup. You don't need another account, just another phone you can activate on your existing account.

 

[stridr69]

Got a family plan with 700 shared minutes between 2 phones. Main phone is a Moto W755 flip. Play phone is my Dinc (rooted, Incredibly ReEngineered 2.2 ROM with Hey It's Lou #8 Kernel). That way I don't miss any calls, calling between phones is free, and I get what I want app wise. Beats playing cat-and-mouse with iPhone like I used to do with my jailbroken/unlocked iPhone 3G. No worries about OTA upgrades either-could care less about getting Gingerbread. Newer ROM's is what I want. Freedom is what I want. And I have it....won't ever get a fruit phone again!