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bandy

Lurker
So I've never used an iPhone or an Android phone. I have a work issued blackberry. I'm reading these forums to see what users are saying about their phones before I decide which to get and the take away it is that people root their Android phone. Now it appears to me that you can jailbreak an iphone as well, which puts the iphone in the same level as an Android phone in terms of open/closed systems (so I don't know why people go on about how closed the iphone is when they root their android, but maybe there is something i don't understand). I prefer not to root/jailbreak a phone, but might consider it. I have also read some posts where people say don't get a motorola if you want to root because they make it difficult or don't get a samsung if you care about getting timely updates. Ugh.

I want to know is there a phone that is better depending on whether you root or not and which do you suggest? In other words, which one do you think is best if you want to root and which is best if you don't want to root.
 
Your criteria are really too broad IMO. You must have other needs/wants to help narrow down the options? There's far more to selecting a smartphone than just "open/closed".

bandy said:
Now it appears to me that you can jailbreak an iphone as well, which puts the iphone in the same level as an Android phone in terms of open/closed systems (so I don't know why people go on about how closed the iphone is when they root their android, but maybe there is something i don't understand).
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Not exactly. "Open" refers to "open source". iOS is not open source.
 
Jail breaking the iPhone gives you permission to do things such as live wallpapers and side loading apps, things that Android can do without rooting. I'm sure it provides other benefits as well, but I can't name them.

Rooting Android gives you the ability to access the internal storage, install apps where root is required, install themes, change ROMs, etc.

The locked Motorola bootloader hasn't prevented anyone from obtaining root access.
 
pool_shark said:
The locked Motorola bootloader hasn't prevented anyone from obtaining root access.
Click to expand...

That's because when we say "root an Android," there's more to it than just enabling superuser access. The other part is unlocking the bootloader, replacing the factory recovery image with a custom one, all so we can flash custom kernels and ROMs. This is the aspect that is sorely lacking in iOS jailbreaking.

Motorola encrypted their bootloaders, making it impossible to unlock. So in that sense, a Motorola-rooted device is very much like a jailbroken iDevice. But in the Android world, it's considered severely nerfed.

Furthermore, iOS was designed to obfuscate its functions from a filesystem view. So even if you jailbreak and access the device via a terminal as root, you won't be able to make any sense of iOS files. For example, try managing your music or uninstalling an app. You won't know where to start because the associated files are renamed into cryptic strings, and they are scattered in several directories with no apparent logical manner.

In Android, the filesystem is used in a straightforward manner. No obfuscation. It becomes very clear that Android is wide open. And iOS is as closed as it can possibly be.
 
novox77 said:
That's because when we say "root an Android," there's more to it than just enabling superuser access. The other part is unlocking the bootloader, replacing the factory recovery image with a custom one, all so we can flash custom kernels and ROMs. This is the aspect that is sorely lacking in iOS jailbreaking.

Motorola encrypted their bootloaders, making it impossible to unlock. So in that sense, a Motorola-rooted device is very much like a jailbroken iDevice. But in the Android world, it's considered severely nerfed.

Furthermore, iOS was designed to obfuscate its functions from a filesystem view. So even if you jailbreak and access the device via a terminal as root, you won't be able to make any sense of iOS files. For example, try managing your music or uninstalling an app. You won't know where to start because the associated files are renamed into cryptic strings, and they are scattered in several directories with no apparent logical manner.

In Android, the filesystem is used in a straightforward manner. No obfuscation. It becomes very clear that Android is wide open. And iOS is as closed as it can possibly be.
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From the original post "I have also read some posts where people say don't get a motorola if you want to root because they make it difficult"

Rooting does mean gaining super user access. Changing ROMs and such are customizations beyond gaining root access, but rooting means just that, gaining super user access.
 
pool_shark said:
From the original post "I have also read some posts where people say don't get a motorola if you want to root because they make it difficult"

Rooting does mean gaining super user access. Changing ROMs and such are customizations beyond gaining root access, but rooting means just that, gaining super user access.
Click to expand...

Yes, technically speaking, rooting just means obtaining root access. but across these forums, if you look in any "All Things Root" subforum, you'll see the definition of rooting is much broader than in the strict sense.

There's widely accepted terminology of a "full root" vs. "half root," where the half root is simply the addition of su, and full root includes unlocking the bootloader.

And it's from the full-root perspective that the person whose sentence you bolded can understand what its meaning. People new to Android need to know there's more to rooting than what the strict definition of the word might imply.
 
I have an HTC Desire Z which I do not root. I am very happy with it. I don't know the first thing about rooting. I just want something that works mostly out of the box. For everything else, I want to be able to find apps and widgets for it. So far, I have been able to do practically anything I want with my unrooted phone.

My father-in-law has an iPhone which I had opportunities to use when he needs help with it. My impression of the iPhone is that the scrolling is a bit smoother due to the lack of multitasking. The home screen is simply an app launcher and everything you need to do must be done by opening an app. The interface looks and feels smoother, but I find my Android seems to have more functionality because Android has widgets where as iOS doesn't.

These are the main differences that I notice between Android and iOS.
 
A major difference between jailbreaking an iPhone and rooting an Android phone:

Jailbroken iPhone will NEVER get any update from Apple. And it is more subceptable to catching virus or getting hacked by malware.

On the other hand, a rooted Android can get the latest greatest update released by Google or by the Android community.

BIG difference. :)
 
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