Does rooting the 7+ buy me anything? Lose me anything?

[MikeLip]

I am interested in rooting the 7+, but have never rooted anything before in my life. I would like to clear off some of the junk Samsung loaded it with, but I'm not sure that 1) it would be much of a gain and 2) that I wouldn't screw up something, like gaining access to the ICS release supposedly coming, the ability to get apps from Play, or other weirdness. Has anyone done it, and have you have any problems? What about the ICS thing? I have ICS on my Asus and it's great. I'd love it on the 7+

 

[chrisrotolo]

this is my quick opinion on rooting.. having rooted every iPhone and Android I owned, which is quite a few, approx a dozen or so.

Root gives you ("superuser")access to just about every file on your device. The reason you cant see/change these files when you get your phone or tab out of the box is for your own safety. If you do not know what a certain file is or does and you were to change it, on purpose or accident, your device may not work either partially or not turn on, function properly, etc.

So as long as you dont open a file manager an alter anything in your /root directory, the only other way to screw up your tab+ would be to install something that was not meant specifically for your tab, usually installing a .apk or .zip file in recovery

Switching gears, on the other hand if you take time to research and read, there are many more benefits from rooting, Increased functionality of your device. Including installing 1000's of .apks you previously could not. A few quick ones I can think of are: hiding the status bar, apps to flash custom themes, firmwares, and recovery modes, installing apps not from the play store, increasing device performance and removing unwanted stock apps. ClockWork Mod Recovery, another useful tool, allows you to make full backups of your device, should anything go wrong, you can usually restore to an earlier time. Think system restore for windows only better. You will still be able to get all play store apps like before. You will also be able to get the latest updates including ICS. however after installing these it is almost certain your root will be gone. No worries, as with android, a new method will usually be available in a matter of days or less.

If you plan on Rooting. Wait. Read up and familiarize yourself with recoveries, nandroid backups, flashing your device and what to do if something goes wrong.

Remember rooting will void any warranties. But there are usually easy ways to unroot and flash back to stock, as well as wipe any traces of hacking , if you need to.

And there is always a ton of help online, just read first, and read a lot. Then ask for help nicely, not panicking! like --> OMG somethings wrong! I flashed this like you guys said, and my tabs not doing XYZ, I hate everybody and myself! now what am I going to do? Somebody help me NAO!!
no one likes that. and nobody is responsible for "supporting" your device except for you. the more you explain your problem's issues; the better people can help.

I cant tell you how manny times Ive "soft-bricked" my androids, (soft-bricked meaning unable to boot-up/turn-on, function proper), nearly a hundred or more, a majority of the time, I was full aware of the gamble in the first place, the others?..ahh... mis-calculations,yeah. Ive been able to successfully recovery them all in short amount of time.

Same with iphones, though revocery on those often took a bit longer die to itunes restoring,etc. I think I had one iPhone 4 I partially recovered, but had to return it becuase it wouldnt power on or charge. Genius bar exchanged it and I walked away with a new one. (lucky)

Enjoy. Cheers.