To Root or Not to Root?

[Ben#AC]

Is it safe to root your phone? I'd love to have vanilla android on an evo but wonder how safe this is. Have many questions. Please refer me to any good resources for answers:

1. How do we rest assured that these un-official versions of Android don't have viruses in them?

2. Are the developers just getting the source for Android from google and building it with no customizations?

3. Are phone or carrier specific customizations needed or is it just a straight build of google's code?

4. Are there instructions for building from the google source and deploying?

5. Can you go back to the factory installed os if you have trouble with the custom os?

6. Is there a way of confirming the safety of a custom rom?

7. Will we get immediate os updates directly from google after installing the first time?

8. Could I loose out on valuable htc android customizations like maybe some hacks to make the battery last longer that are specific to the phone?

Thanks for any answers or opinions you might have.

 

[Rudementry]

Is it safe to root your phone? I'd love to have vanilla android on an evo but wonder how safe this is. Have many questions. Please refer me to any good resources for answers:

Uhh, I know this isn't exactly answering your question, but I'm almost entirely sure vanilla means nonhacked. As in, plain vanilla. For example, in Super Smash Bros Brawl, there is "Vanilla Brawl." This what you get when you put the disc in the wii and start playing. There is also lots of hacked versions attainable through the homebrew channel, such as Brawl+, Brawl-, Balanced Brawl, and Project M. When you wonder how safe having vanilla android on your Evo is, well I'm going to assume its very safe because thats how it came.

 

[poko2121]

Also wondering

I was also curious about most of the questions listed in the OP. Can someone help answering them

Thanks

 

[korp#IM]

Is it safe to root your phone? I'd love to have vanilla android on an evo but wonder how safe this is. Have many questions. Please refer me to any good resources for answers:

1. How do we rest assured that these un-official versions of Android don't have viruses in them? Can't really be ... I guess just faith lol. Let other people try first and then if they don't complain it's fine.

2. Are the developers just getting the source for Android from google and building it with no customizations? They get the source and adjust it as needed. Some add/remove things that they feel are or aren't needed.

3. Are phone or carrier specific customizations needed or is it just a straight build of google's code? They are based on the phone model itself ... not really the carrier .... so make sure you are using things created for THAT PHONE.

4. Are there instructions for building from the google source and deploying? Probably somewhere .... I seem to remember seeing directions for building Droid roms.

5. Can you go back to the factory installed os if you have trouble with the custom os? Yes, but the only time you will want to most likely is if you have to get the phone serviced. If you can root it then you will have zero problems following the instructions to unroot it.

6. Is there a way of confirming the safety of a custom rom? Try it and if it doesn't work, restore your backup that you created right before you loaded the rom. Also read bug reports in the threads of the rom.

7. Will we get immediate os updates directly from google after installing the first time? OTA updates are blocked when you install a custom rom. That means if you want to update to official you are going to have to remove the rom first so you can receive the updates.

8. Could I loose out on valuable htc android customizations like maybe some hacks to make the battery last longer that are specific to the phone? Honestly, on HTC you will want root but custom roms will not beat the sense ui. There are roms out there to allow us non htc phone owners to use sense ui because it really is a fantastic setup.

Thanks for any answers or opinions you might have.

Rooting your phone does void your warranty so you know. Once you unroot the phone and set it back to factory it will restore the warranty though and you MUST UNROOT the phone if you want to get the phone serviced.

Also, don't root until you look up information and videos so you feel comfortable with doing so. If you do brick the phone you will have a new paperweight and will be unable to restore the phone in a working condition .... but in Android it's almost impossible to brick it but the possibility does exist.

 

[barakisbrown]

I was worried about rooting my Hero until I read the threads in the hero under hacks and now i have a working 2.1 that was release a month before the Sprint official release and all I will never go back..err..until Sept when I get my EVO for contract price..

 

[whitenack]

Does a "rooted" phone still keep all the UI features (if you want them)? It doesn't wipe off all the preloaded stuff automatically, correct? You have that option, but you can still keep what you want?

 

[GenericMessage]

Does a "rooted" phone still keep all the UI features (if you want them)? It doesn't wipe off all the preloaded stuff automatically, correct? You have that option, but you can still keep what you want?

Rooting just gives you super user access. When you change the appearance and all that stuff is when you're putting on custom ROMS.



Rooting=doesn't change the phone other than "unlocking" or "jailbreaking" it for you.


ROMS= the neat little shells you put on to make it look neat and do neat things.



You don't need to root to disable Sense UI

 

[whitenack]

Rooting just gives you super user access. When you change the appearance and all that stuff is when you're putting on custom ROMS.



Rooting=doesn't change the phone other than "unlocking" or "jailbreaking" it for you.


ROMS= the neat little shells you put on to make it look neat and do neat things.



You don't need to root to disable Sense UI

Thanks. So, if I wanted to do something, like, re-enable sideloading on an AT&T-hindered android (if one ever comes along that is worth getting), I could root the phone, re-enable sideloading, and nothing else would be affected? Everything else would still/look work the same? What about removing all the AT&T bloatware? Same thing?

 

[GenericMessage]

Thanks. So, if I wanted to do something, like, re-enable sideloading on an AT&T-hindered android (if one ever comes along that is worth getting), I could root the phone, re-enable sideloading, and nothing else would be affected? Everything else would still/look work the same? What about removing all the AT&T bloatware? Same thing?

Kinda sorta ya.


Thats part of the ROMS

 

[whitenack]

Kinda sorta ya.


Thats part of the ROMS

What is part of the ROMS? The sideloading option?

 

[GenericMessage]

What is part of the ROMS? The sideloading option?

that and everything

 

[whitenack]

that and everything

ooooooh kay. So, is it the rooting, or the ROMS?

 

[GenericMessage]

ooooooh kay. So, is it the rooting, or the ROMS?

The ROMS