New User

[macgiobuin]

I am a recent addict...just got my phone in November and am still trying to learn everything about it and maximize its use. Any useful tips/hints/advice are welcome. I plan to scour this site as often as I am able. I never thought I would own a device that could outsmart me....

 

[macgiobuin]

What is "rooting" and why is it needed/wanted?

 

[Martimus]

Welcome to the Android Forums!

Rooting, in essance, is providing yourself super user (aka privileged user) access access to the phone. Having this level of access is important to those looking to replace the default ROM image on the phone with a custom ROM... or to install apps that require a higher than normal level of privilege.

 

[macgiobuin]

Oh. I'm guessing then that there are pros and cons to this, and that there are instructions listed somewhere on this site. It sounds like rooting may not be completely "allowed" by the phone manufacturers/providers. What is a ROM image? (Did I mention that I am new to smart phones?)

 

[macgiobuin]

Oops....just saw that I'm not supposed to ask questions on this thread....will move them to another. Sorry.

 

[Martimus]

You are correct that some carriers/manufacturers don't like people tinkering with phones. Custom ROM's are custom firmware images for the phone. So if you have a phone that has four or five pre-installed apps from the carrier, you could (theoretically) install a custom ROM on the phone which gives you a similar look and feel to the version of Android already on your phone but without the pre-installed apps. Or... you could load a custom ROM on the phone with the newest and greatest version of Android even though your phone may not be slated to get this version.

A custom ROM, in this context, is similar basically just the firmware containing the operating system. In that sense it would be similar to loading Windows 7 on a computer instead of Windows XP.