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Root Root Facts

Android 17 said:
I've read before that rooting also opens you up to new potential dangers in the forms of viruses, and the like.

Is there any truth to this? Have there actually been any cases involving such things?

It seems to me that with the way smartphones are going, such as receiving full adobe flash updates and being able to browse the web with less limits than it past, it's inevitable that such issues will begin to pop up.
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I suppose it would open you up to more potential dangers, but I don't think it's that likely. I've been running Windows Mobile for years and installed plenty of apps without an issue. I don't think I've ever read about someone getting a virus on WM and you essentially run as a superuser on it.

Just be careful about what you install just like you would on your computer and you should be fine.
 
Besides flashing ROMs can anyone give examples of things to do to the phone once rooted? One thing I want is for home screens and other Sense stuff to rotate when the phone is in landscape. Also 360 degree rotation. Should be able to do that right? Overclocking? And would it be worth it? What else can I do after gaining root access?
 
effluent said:
Besides flashing ROMs can anyone give examples of things to do to the phone once rooted? One thing I want is for home screens and other Sense stuff to rotate when the phone is in landscape. Also 360 degree rotation. Should be able to do that right? Overclocking? And would it be worth it? What else can I do after gaining root access?
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Overclocking, wired/wireless tethering, changing the boot animation, use alot of backup apps, use softkey instead of swipe to unlock screen, install firewall, mount all system partitions as read/write instead of read-only, install ad blocking apps (adfree), install memory management apps (autokiller), etc
 
Does "rooting" a device also unlock it from the provider? Coming from a BB this rooting thing is new to me.
 
suprmallet said:
Yeah, jailbreaking an iPhone is much, much easier and less risky than rooting an Android phone.
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Great. If you are trying to make newbies nervous about rooting, you are doing a good job so far. ;)

So what makes rooting so much more risky than jailbreaking? Any pitfalls we need to be particularly aware of?
 
nycbhh said:
Great. If you are trying to make newbies nervous about rooting, you are doing a good job so far. ;)

So what makes rooting so much more risky than jailbreaking? Any pitfalls we need to be particularly aware of?
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I'm playing it up a bit for the sake of dramatics, but at this point, jailbreaking an iPhone takes no more than 15 minutes. It took me 5 minutes to jailbreak my iPad. Rooting my Droid, on the other hand, took me over an hour (to be fair, it also took me over an hour to jailbreak and unlock my 1st gen iPhone back when that came out), and while I never thought I was in danger of bricking my phone, you need to find a good detailed guide, otherwise there is a risk of it.

So no, it's not impossible and it's not something you need a professional to do, but read up on the guides before you do it, especially if you're new to Android.
 
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