what is rooting?

[rseifer]

Root doesn't unlock your phone for other carriers. It gives you super user access aka SU. It will allow you to flash custom ROMs and themes. Some apps require root to work properly.

Thanks. I'm a newb, with my first smartphone, and rooted it yesterday with considerable help from a friend. I now have an app on the top page, titled superuser (SU), but I'm not entirely certain where I go from here. SU says "no apps" and I'm not clear how I get it (SU) to manage my unwanted apps. Thanks in advance for your reply.

 

[Deleted User]

Basically superuser is almost like UAC in Windows. An app tjat requires root will prompt you to give it super user access. You can deny it if not sure but if you allow it then appears in that list as an app you have approved. You then get a message when it obtains SU access again. You are rooted tho if you see the super user app

 

[grammabonnie]

At&t Galaxy Note (unlocked)
Model # Samsung sgh-I717
Android version 4.1.2
Baseband I717 UCMD3
Kernel 3.0.31-1117019
Build JZO 54K.I717UCMD
Using T-Mobile $30 per mo unlimited text and web with 100 min talk. online only plan

(This was in response to post #78)


This last paragraph says it all for me. I really appreciate you all taking your time to explain this to us noobies. To somewhat paraphrase your advise: Don't root your phone unless you a. know what you are doing b. have an older phone to "practice" on c. love stressful situations or d. are rich enough to replace it (in which case you could hire someone to do it for you), because for the average person the manufacturer has already tweaked the phone to function at its best and has most of us locked out so we don't accidentally delete a key operation, bricking it in the process. I have decided to take your advise and NOT try to fix my unbroken phone. Again, thanks.

 

[funkylogik]

Yup. If it aint broke, dont fix it my phone wasnt "broken" but the way it performed really wasnt doing justice to the hardware so i "had" to "fix" it

 

[ocnbrze]

At&t Galaxy Note (unlocked)
Model # Samsung sgh-I717
Android version 4.1.2
Baseband I717 UCMD3
Kernel 3.0.31-1117019
Build JZO 54K.I717UCMD
Using T-Mobile $30 per mo unlimited text and web with 100 min talk. online only plan

(This was in response to post #78)


This last paragraph says it all for me. I really appreciate you all taking your time to explain this to us noobies. To somewhat paraphrase your advise: Don't root your phone unless you a. know what you are doing b. have an older phone to "practice" on c. love stressful situations or d. are rich enough to replace it (in which case you could hire someone to do it for you), because for the average person the manufacturer has already tweaked the phone to function at its best and has most of us locked out so we don't accidentally delete a key operation, bricking it in the process. I have decided to take your advise and NOT try to fix my unbroken phone. Again, thanks.

well rooting does take some knowledge, but that is why you have us here at AF

IMO the phones that are given to us by the manufacturer or carrier are not necessarily locked down to its fullest. the original htc evo 4g was a beast of a phone, but sprint and htc added so much crap to it, it actually was slow. however, there was/is a great dev community that was able to unleash the power of the htc evo......i mean they gave us:
1. hdmi mirroring
2. custom kernels that gave us better battery life and performance
3. awesome custom roms.....i mean we have ICS and JB and they were never released officially for the evo.
4. cm7 gave use a new bluetooth stack that will work with the wii remote

there is more to the list, but you get the point.

rooting really showed just how amazing that phone was and still is. and it showed me how advantageous rooting is. no matter what i will always look to root my phone.

now i understand that rooting is not for everyone, but it is really hard to brick a phone........so it is up to you.

 

[Becca Redman]

Thanks for the info. I was thinking of rooting my Android cuz I had only heard positive things, now I guess I should rethink it and do alot more research.

 

[nickdalzell]

I used to root to make up for shortcomings in earlier versions of Android, or to upgrade a device that's no longer supported by its OEM to the latest version of Android. that's becoming more and more rare as i buy newer flagships. my Galaxy Note 3 is the last device i rooted, and only because i wanted the new S5 TouchWiz, while its stock software still reminded me of my Galaxy S3.