To root or not to root... 2.2 OTA that is.

[Bravozero]

I've been using Android devices since the original Droid came out, but I've never been brave enough to root any of my phones. I love my Droid X, and would like to explore more into the "heart and soul" of Android a bit more. What can I do with a rooted phone and what's available on the Droid X? One thing's for sure, I need to get rid of the crapware VZW installed.

Another thing... since there won't be any new OS' coming out soon, if they were to release and update, say 2.2.1, would a rooted phone be able to accept it or would I have to reinstall the crapware and unroot the phone?

 

[Bond32]

Tons of these threads, but imo the best reasons are:

Adfree
Wireless Tether
DroCap2

 

[terpitude71]

and to answer your question, yes, a rooted phone will still receive an ota update, it will just lose root in the process

 

[Brett]

here is a thread in the hacking section of the forum. it describes a lot of the benefits and drawbacks to rooting a device.

http://forum.androidcentral.com/hacking/24796-rooting-faqs-please-post-all-related-questions-concerns-about-rooting-here.html

personally i enjoy being rooted because there are a lot of things you remove (ex. the extra verizon apps that aren't needed and things of that nature). it gives more memory by doing this and it also helps to keep the clutter to a minimum. Also theming is pretty sick with all of the interesting themes that all these devs are putting out.

as for future OTA's, most roms out now will potentially block any OTA updates which is good if you want to maintain root access. there is usually an official update.zip file that is released before or shortly after of the official update is pushed out to devices. the original droid's updates seemed to leak like wild fire.

 

[Bravozero]

Thanks folks, after seeing all of the cool things you can do with Android I think I might give it a shot. Sorry for the n00bness.

as for future OTA's, most roms out now will potentially block any OTA updates which is good if you want to maintain root access. there is usually an official update.zip file that is released before or shortly after of the official update is pushed out to devices. the original droid's updates seemed to leak like wild fire.

Question... with the "update.zip" files, can you still install those while rooted, and maintain root access? I'd like to keep my phone customized but at the same time install any official updates or patches that may come along.

 

[Brett]

As long as the the rom has root access. It will usually say it on the site you download it from.