I have no problem with answering questions or clearing up noob confusion. I'm just pointing out that you won't get a lot of replies from people that are unaware if you quickly jump on each person's comments. You just tend to shut them down before they even bother posting.
learning about the rooting lifestyle
While we're on the topic, I would hazard to throw out that comments like this aren't helping you convince noobs about the real benefits of rooting. Some people don't look to have their "lifestyle" wrapped around a consumer electronics gadget.
This may seem pedantic, but anyone that starts investigating what rooting may be about, be it here or (God forbid) XDA-Dev, quickly gets it thrown in their face about how ?it?s a Life Style? or the other one you used up above about how, ??You gain complete control of your device.?
What?s that even mean?
To a person that is just wondering about the real world advantages that rooting their email and web surfing gadget can do for them? This kind of talk just turns them off.
Anyway, I would respond to that question by giving them some real world examples. Such as:
1) Rooting will void your warranty. However, this is a morality issue more than a technical issue as it is 99% likely that if a problem occurs, you will be able to return it to stock such that the person approving your warranty will not be able to know. As for the merits of the morality, that comes down to you. If all you do is root the device to run a couple of apps with SU permission and the speaker goes out after a month, most people would say there?s no issue with unrooting and submitting for warranty. However, if you root and install a new kernel/rom that jacks up the processor clock, then want to warranty it because the CPU gets borked, that is a different issue.
2) Rooting is pretty easy. It will literally take you longer to find the right thread in the forum to find the download link than it will take you to root the device.
3) Rooting allows you to install programs that wouldn?t be allowed without root. These are basically the same as installing apps normally, but they need special permissions so they need root. You?re not really changing anything to the system, you?re just installing apps. Think of it as installing a program that needs ?administrator access? in windows. A few examples that may or may not be interesting to you:
- Sixaxis controller ? with root you can use your PS3 controller wirelessly to play games. You can buy other Bluetooth controllers on the market that will work without root, but If you have a DSIII controller already, root can get it working wirelessly for about a buck and a half.
- Ti Backup ? you can backup the files and data from your programs automatically. If you ever need to re-install a program *and* the data you had with it, this can be useful. Most likely though, if you don?t dink around with changing programs a lot, you probably don?t need to be too bothered about this.
- Adfree Android ? You can install an app that will block a lot of the common ads that populate webpages. This makes web browsing quicker and more pleasant. It?s probably one of the most valued results of rooting for ?average? gadget users.
- Flash ? With root you can get your N7 to support flash in a more elegant way than you can without root. You can still get flash working without rooting, but most people seem to agree that the options available once you root are better for this.
- USB host support ? you will be able to support plugging flash drives into the USB port. Like flash, you can do this without root, but most people are of the opinion that having root access allows for more elegant options when accessing USB connections.
There are other apps that need root, and can do other things that aren?t possible without root. I?m sure a search on the play store with the term ?root? will turn up further info.
4) Finally, if you want to spend time with rooting as a hobby in itself, you can go hog wild and ?you can gain complete control of your device.?
Namely, you can install complete new ROMs that will change the basic layout of the system. The gadget will still do all the same things the old one did, it will just move stuff around, change up the menus, etc.
You can also make changes to ?backroom? stuff like change the speed the gadget runs at, permanently disable some functions that you don?t care about, etc. Most likely for someone just looking to actually *use* the device as the consumer electronics gadget it was marketed as, these are irrelevant and can safely be ignored (as much as that comment might likely infuriate the ?lifestyle? rooters.)
-Suntan