Should I root?

[callofduty4]

Hey everybody, I have had my Droid Incredible since June, and have been thinking about rooting for a few weeks now.

I simply want to know the top 5 thing you get from rooting that you dont have from a stock incredible.

I was reading earlier that you can get the new sense ROM, this is definitely a plus.

Also, Is there an easy way to un-root without having to wipe all my data and is there a chance of bricking my phone?

Thank you!

 

[bkorver]

Top 5 things you don't get with stock

1)WiFi Teather
2)Titanium Backup
3)Root Explorer
4)Custom ROMs
5)Custom Kernels

Easy way to unroot, yes. Without wiping all your data... That's what Titanium Backup is for. As with any kind of tom foolery with electronic devices, there is always a chance of something going wrong... But if you have read about how to root at all, you have seen somewhere to do a nandroid backup immediately. Um, don't skip that step and you can't do anything to your phone you can't recover from. (unless you start messing with the radio)

 

[sonar_chris]

Top 5 things you don't get with stock

1)WiFi Teather
2)Titanium Backup
3)Root Explorer
4)Custom ROMs
5)Custom Kernels

Yea, what he said

 

[318sugarhill]

Had my Dinc since June as well. Considered rooting for awhile as well. Can it be done with a Mac? I have access to a pc, but very difficult to install new programs on in as it is a work computer and IT locks it down pretty tight. I use only macbooks and an imac at home. Tried to read as much as I can about rooting, but I want the simplest easiest way. Also, how to you get these roms and kernels once you are rooted? Are they on the forums? One more thing, how to I be sure to NOT touch the radio, since you say thats the easiest way to brick it?

 

[bkorver]

There are many good threads on how to root with mac. It's actually easier than windows, if you can believe it. As far as ROMs go, there are several threads on this forum in the hacking section that have links. Also xda has a whole section on custom ROMs. The easiest way is to get ROM manager from the market. Just make sure when you install a ROM you backup and wipe. Kernels are similar to installing a ROM. These can also be installed with ROM manager. Stay away from downloading and installing radios unless you have read, read, and read some more and feel confident you won't bork it up...

 

[dharr18]

Top 5 things you don't get with stock

1)WiFi Teather
2)Titanium Backup
3)Root Explorer
4)Custom ROMs
5)Custom Kernels

Easy way to unroot, yes. Without wiping all your data... That's what Titanium Backup is for. As with any kind of tom foolery with electronic devices, there is always a chance of something going wrong... But if you have read about how to root at all, you have seen somewhere to do a nandroid backup immediately. Um, don't skip that step and you can't do anything to your phone you can't recover from. (unless you start messing with the radio)

+1

Also, you will contract a sickness, a fundamental need to try every rom on the boards. Your social life will revolve around your phone and you will forget to eat on some nights.

Outside of that, if you have to ask if you should, you probably shouldn't. Rooting is totally your decision.

One other nice feature of rooting, the ability to actually have a VPN that connects to Cisco VPNs.

 

[kebabdylan]

more on cisco vpn please???

As for rooting... Throttling cpu is up there.

 

[bkorver]

Click Here

Hope this helps...

 

[dharr18]

What he ^ said. One thing to remember, you need to run a kernel with tun.ko included. Any king or hydra kernel works well. I have also used the ziggy/zippy kernel, still testing that one out. I have heard it works with Adrynalyne's kernel as well but I have not tested his kernel yet.

 

[dharr18]

One other note, Titanium backup only works for root. So you will lose data if you unroot unless you use something like Astro to backup your applications but I am not sure if that backs up app data as well.

As for personal data, keep that on your SD card and you should be safe.

 

[Brett]

rooting your device opens too many doors to just list 5 good things about it. Customization alone is a great thing about rooting. over-clocking and deleting the bloat-ware apps is great too.

please do your research if you do plan on rooting. i am sure you have been told this and read it all over the place but i do want to re-state it in this thread. Rooting does void your warranty. You can potentially reverse this so that verizon has no idea but you could also brick your device. please take precaution before taking this leap.

i am sorry to be the buzz kill but with everybody talking about all of the positive things about rooting, you need to also look at what bad things may come from it as well.

if you decide to root your device, good luck. it will open your eyes to what your device can really do without the restrictions that come with stock.

if you have any questions, the good members of this forum are always willing to lend a helping hand.

 

[318sugarhill]

I posted a month ago about considering rooting my Dinc. I'm here to report that I have Rooted, and No my phone is not bricked. I have to say it is the best decision. I'd like to know more about backing up with Astro, so if I ever Un-root it, I can save my data. I haven't messed around with Rom's yet. I tried Skyraider, but I had every single app force close, and I haven't had the time to research the problem, but with a nandroid backup, I was able to get the stock Rom back up in no time.

My biggest reason for Rooting is the battery. I had read an early thread about deleting the battery stats file through the Clockworkmod recovery. Well I can tell you I no longer need to bump charge after doing this, and the battery lasts as long as it used to with a bump charge. I only charge my phone with the power off over night, and it has been great. Just make sure you fully charge the battery before deleting the battery stats.

For those that haven't seen that thread, here are the directions.

Fully charge the battery with the phone off. Bump charge to capacity. With a full charge, Reboot into recovery and under advanced, click delete battery stats. When you click it will take you to a menu with a bunch of No's and one Yes. Scroll down and click the yes. Then reboot. Once you have rebooted, run the battery down UNTIL THE PHONE TURNS ITSELF OFF. Don't turn off at 5% or when it says running low. Let the phone shut itself off. For me, it took the battery down to 1%. Then fully charge with the power off. No bump charge. That should be all you need.

 

[JTEastwood]

Rooting your phone is a horrible addiction that I encourage anyone to do. I change my rom more often than my underwear, well close to anyway. There is nothing like the customization options you can do to your phone. Root, live, love and drink beer. Life doesn't get much better.

 

[firemanjoe]

Guys, have been reading a lot, and finally gave in and rooted tonight using enrevoked3.

I have a couple questions;

What is a nandroid back up? I saw on a video that it was a option in the clockwork mod? But I can't find it.

I ran a back up in clock workmod tonight as soon as I rooted, what else do I need to do? Just trying to not lose anything if I make some serious mistake along the way.

Also, what's titanium back up? Do I need it?

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[JTEastwood]

If you ran the backup through clock work than that was a nandroid backup. Titanium is an essential tool for backing up all your data and apps so when you swap roms you don't lose all your stuff. You just restore your widgets.

 

[doc 7]

+1 for above

 

[firemanjoe]

JT,

Thanks for the info! Not the best with this stuff, just don't have the time to study it all, so I'm trying to make sure I don't make some major mistake! I found Titanium back up today, just trying to figure it out, keeps asking me about running Busybox, what is that??

Thanks again guys

 

[JTEastwood]

JT,

Thanks for the info! Not the best with this stuff, just don't have the time to study it all, so I'm trying to make sure I don't make some major mistake! I found Titanium back up today, just trying to figure it out, keeps asking me about running Busybox, what is that??

Thanks again guys

No problem, we have all been there. When you load TB and it says something about needing busybox, hit the problems button on the bottom. That will let you download the latest working busybox and then it should work fine.

Then hit the menu button, then batch, then what you want to backup. i usually do RUN Backup all user apps and system data

Good luck