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So why did YOU root?

I've never rooted my phone but this tread, and a few others, are tempting me to. I would want to get a cheap practice phone first though just to become more familiar with the general process :)
 
kate said:
I would want to get a cheap practice phone first though just to become more familiar with the general process :)
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The process differs greatly from phone to phone, so even if you buy a cheapo phone to see what it involves, the chances are the way it's done for your proper handset will differ.

Save yourself a bit of cash and just thoroughly read whatever the process is for your current device. :)
 
I rooted when I heard the Desire HD wasn't gonna get sense 3.0. 6 months later and Orange began rolling it out :p
 
boyo1991 said:
If theres a great enough reason to root, I may in the future. So far I've found very interesting replies! Most, however, do not apply to me or are in the "can already do.." catagory.
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Though more of a device specific reason, one excellent reason to root a Nexus 4 is to undo the software lock on the LTE radio so that you can use LTE on T-Mobile or any other carrier that uses Band 4 LTE. :D
 
jhawkkw said:
Though more of a device specific reason, one excellent reason to root a Nexus 4 is to undo the software lock on the LTE radio so that you can use LTE on T-Mobile or any other carrier that uses Band 4 LTE. :D
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That's a cool one even though device specific ;)

Of course virgin mobile won't accept any ESN not on their network so I couldn't do that lol
 
mikedt said:
What browser are you using, Google Chrome? And I assume by "PC", you don't mean Chromebook? Do you have a Google Cloud account? If you were using IE, Firefox, Safari or Opera, they shouldn't try to send stuff off to Google's cloud storage instead of saving to your local HDD. Although I've used Chrome myself, but it's never tried to save to Google's cloud services, mainly because it's blocked and censored, unless using a VPN.
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Internet explorer, mostly because I also cannot get Firefox to work on this laptop (another cyber mystery) though it works perfectly on my other laptop. The only thing I use chrome for on my computer is to chromecast Netflix or you tube to my TV.
 
For years i wonder whether or not should i root.

Then since recently...I took the plunge and root this bad boy {htc evo 4g lte}. And I'm glad i did.

The fun part is moving from one ROM to another. I get bored easily with every new device i have, so rooting fills that empty void. :)
 
So's i can do this:

Deleting the status bar and theming it out the wazoo:







Can't wrap my finger around it but iOS 7 looks better on Android than on iPhone
 
The first device I rooted was the Cricket ZTE X500, and I rooted so I could get tether capability. It was (is) a crappy phone, runs 2.3 gingerbread, and overall served me faithfully for over a year but is now retired. The second device I rooted was my Amazon Kindle Fire, and I rooted so I could flash CM on it and make it think it was a nexus, I really didn't want to go with the amazon app store as almost everything costs money (or did a year ago) and there wasn't a whole lot of free stuff. There were a few things, but nothing compared to the play store. The third device I rooted was, and is, my Sprint Samsung Galaxy Victory 4G LTE, which I have overclocked to 1.83ghz over the stock 1.2 and runs a benchmark higher then the s3 by about 1000 points on AnTuTu benchmark. I did this so I could run the higher end 3d games with less lag and better quality, and it works like a charm.

I did have a bad experience rooting with the victory, but it was user error due to not enough research, and it ended up in an unfixable bricking. Not even the store could perform an over-the-wire reset, which can fix many things that go wrong with a device if it is software related. After further research I was able to successfully root and flash my victory, no problem. I also rooted my GF's Droid Razr HD just for the fun of it :D

Another reason I root is to have complete control of everything that wants root access that did not already come on the phone with the access. I want to know what on my device has more control then I do, and be able to remove that control if I so desire. Same reason I keep ODIN and Kies installed and do backups. I want to be in control, not the manufacturer of my phone. Not the carrier of my phone. And of course, not my girlfriend xD
 
I too haven't rooted but it appears that the latest CyanogenMod has the ability to turn back on USB storage as an option when you hook up with your PC. That's pretty tempting seeing as I probably won't be getting a new PC any time soon. I'm still running XP at work and Vista at home.
 
Hadron said:
You joke, but things change. I hated Sense 1. I'm using Sense 5 happily. I skipped the versions inbetween. But I've seen people who liked Sense 3 or 4 but dislike 5. Different strokes...
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Yes I only kid, thankfully you caught onto that lol. Yeah I guess sence isn't terrible, I just don't like their launchers. Easy fix for me :p
 
EarlyMon said:
I wouldn't own any pc without having admin access.

That goes for Windows, OS X, Linux and Android.
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This is most likely one of my favorite reasons right now.

And I agree with it. But I think of myself as an administrator of my device, just not a root user. I know that sounds different, but its true. We control our devices without root, but at the same time we don't.

This is a really good reason to gain permissions.
 
When I got my first android phone, I rooted because I wanted to run a custom ROM. Now with every phone I get, the first thing I do is root it.
 
Gota say i first rooted to get a version of android that wasnt officially available to me and to tweak the kerner for higher performance.

Some custom roms are being delivered unrooted by default now (look at CM) So i wonder if the question should be
"WHY STAY ROOTED?" ?
Mine right now is for the Xposed Framework and the modules it offers as well as Titanium Backup because im a bit flashy lately but id bet a lot of people would happily lose root once flashing a rom?
 
To up my tower priority, on VM access overload class was set to 9, looked on my stepdad's sprint and his is 3. Rooting, using MSL reader and EPST let me change it, among other things. VM wouldn't give me msl code n Radio Shack wouldn't help either. That was original reason, now having experienced all the benefits, my reasons for doing it in future are endless. Basically, I can use the phone the way I want
 
I rooted cause i wanted to install Linux for my droid, and why i wanted, i needed it because of my job. It helps me lot.
 
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