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Root Why root?

zanthal

zanthal

Member
I just got my V a couple of days ago and I'm new to Android entirely.

The term 'root' as I understand is being used to mean taking control of the system files that run your phone by editing them.

I know that doing this will allow you to use different apps and delete the crap apps that come with the phone.

Other than that, why would someone want to do this?

I've done some of the initial reading and it sounds like a pain in the ass if you don't know exactly what you're doing, and the forum is riddled with folks who've had a lot of trouble.
 
Well to root your phone basically means to take "admin" control of your phone. Carriers and manufacturers like to block certain features of the phone such as the mobile wifi hotspot. Gaining admin or "root" access to your phone allows you to gain the features that are blocked.

Also with rooting your phone you can add custom ROMs. Custom ROMS can do many things to your phone. From overclocking the cpu, to an almost limitless options to customize your phone custom ROMs are probably the main reason people root.

Although rooting seems all great, there is some bad. For example your warranty is voided as soon as you root. Although there are ways to get your phone as close to "stock" as possible to fool the employees to think you didn't root it, we all know that is morally wrong :p. (Sarcasm<<). Anyways as well as the warranty being voided, there is also a chance of bricking (turning your phone into an expensive paperweight).

I think rooting is great. I have rooted my V and installed a custom ROM (aospCM7 gingerbread). Rooting is kind of tricky, but I guarantee you that with the amount of tutorials out there, even the most uneducated people could do it. I recommend searching for ROMtools if you want to root/install a custom rom onto your phone.

Hope this helped!
 
ajgates92 said:
Well to root your phone basically means to take "admin" control of your phone. Carriers and manufacturers like to block certain features of the phone such as the mobile wifi hotspot. Gaining admin or "root" access to your phone allows you to gain the features that are blocked.

Also with rooting your phone you can add custom ROMs. Custom ROMS can do many things to your phone. From overclocking the cpu, to an almost limitless options to customize your phone custom ROMs are probably the main reason people root.

Although rooting seems all great, there is some bad. For example your warranty is voided as soon as you root. Although there are ways to get your phone as close to "stock" as possible to fool the employees to think you didn't root it, we all know that is morally wrong :p. (Sarcasm<<). Anyways as well as the warranty being voided, there is also a chance of bricking (turning your phone into an expensive paperweight).

I think rooting is great. I have rooted my V and installed a custom ROM (aospCM7 gingerbread). Rooting is kind of tricky, but I guarantee you that with the amount of tutorials out there, even the most uneducated people could do it. I recommend searching for ROMtools if you want to root/install a custom rom onto your phone.

Hope this helped!
Click to expand...

Yes, thanks, I needed it to be broken down into layman's terms.
 
Well I have another question, root related.

The only reason why I would really need/want to risk rooting the V, is that I might have better ability to manage the battery drain. Just this afternoon it dropped from full charge to 90% in about an hour and a half, and that was mostly while being in standby with Bluetooth on (and a couple of short web searches) and other power draining settings turned off

Is rooting the phone a necessary part of significantly conserving battery life?
 
Necessary? No. However it is believed that the stock V battery drains faster than a custom ROM. This is what I have heard, so I am not totally sure on the actual facts on this.
 
You can root, and remain stock, and still save battery life by removing the bloatware like Where which constantly runs on the stock ROM. There is also a bug called the TWS bug (time witout service), which manifests itself by always showing you have exactly 50% TWS. This bug is worked around in the stock ROM by going into airplane mode for a few seconds, then quiting airplane mode. In most custom ROMs, this bug is fixed.

To learn more about rooting, and all the extras you can do when rooted, read this:
[Reference Guide] Optimus V Modding (READ THIS TO GET STARTED) - Android Forums
 
JerryScript said:
You can root, and remain stock, and still save battery life by removing the bloatware like Where which constantly runs on the stock ROM. There is also a bug called the TWS bug (time witout service), which manifests itself by always showing you have exactly 50% TWS. This bug is worked around in the stock ROM by going into airplane mode for a few seconds, then quiting airplane mode. In most custom ROMs, this bug is fixed.

To learn more about rooting, and all the extras you can do when rooted, read this:
[Reference Guide] Optimus V Modding (READ THIS TO GET STARTED) - Android Forums
Click to expand...

The TWS bug is fixed if you use a custom kernel on stock.
 
I found this app on one of the forums, not sure which one. I was running it when I was using Harmonia 1.2 before Leslieann added the TWS fix in version 1.3. Basically, it toggles airplane mode on boot so you don't have to remember to do it manually on every reboot. Worked like a charm and I never had any problems with it. It should work on any rom without the fix built in, including stock. Just download it and install using a file manager.
 

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