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Root New to "rooting" and Droids

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x4words

Newbie
I just got my phone last week, and am not too sure about "rooting".

I just followed these instructions: Guide to Rooting Android 2.1 on a Motorola Droid | Droid Life: A Droid Community Blog


Now what did that give me? I know it "rooted" my phone.. and I can use stuff like the WiFi tehtering and all... but, the phone menus and stuff look exactly the same..
What is a "ROM" and how do I use it? I installed "ROM Manager".. but not sure exactly what a "ROM" is.. is it more of a new operating system, that completely wipes everything when I install it, or is it more of a "Theme", where the phone just looks different, but all my settings and apps are still there?
 
Rooting gives you root level access to the operating system on the phone. Since this OS is based upon Linux in many ways, you have ot be a Linux user to truly appreciate what root is.

There is no real analogy in Windows, but think of it as full-blown administrator access in Windows.

You can now manipulate any and all system-level files, even going so far as to remove those that you don't want anymore (corporate Email? AmazonMP3?), as well as changes the images used (think changing the color of a notification bar, or else changing the color of text) - all those activities associated with theming your phone.

Finally, root access is used by several popular applications on the market to accomplish various tasks - ROM Manager, Titanium Backup, Metamorph, and Root Explorer are commonly used examples of apps the require you to have root privileges (aka root access, or just root) in order to fully function.

Now as for what DOMs are - you mean ROMs.

I did a goo write up on what they are and the differences between them and themes in this post - check it out: http://androidforums.com/all-things-root-droid/146263-compatable-roms.html#post1346696
 
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