To ROOT or not to ROOT....That is the question.

[Paul627g]

You have listed the major/common needs behind rooting.

Launcher can be changed without root... 3rd party launchers don't require root access.

Themes, this part goes way beyond what you can do with a stock device and 3rd party launcher options.

Tether, always a bonus!

Overclocking the processor to run faster for better gaming, extensive processor applications is great but at the same time a custom kernel will allow you to underclock & undervolt the device to a little less performance/speed when needed to equal better battery life

Custom ROMs in general offer lots of little goodies that you don't get with stock OS, there is way too many things to list here....

Probably the biggest feature many people like is having the ability to use Titanium Backup or MyBackup Root to make backup's of their device/apps/data just incase something ever does happen then can restore things.


Last but most important: Android Central does not endorse or tolerate the discussion or exchange of pirated applications such as hacked paid applications or applications not meant for your device that are offered only for "special offers/deals" included with a different device/carrier/bloatware.

 

[DallasFlier]

Custom ROMs in general offer lots of little goodies that you don't get with stock OS, there is way too many things to list here....

Continuing my learning process...

Is the ROM flash-able in-device vs. removing and replacing with a custom ROM chip?

 

[dmmarck]

Continuing my learning process...

Is the ROM flash-able in-device vs. removing and replacing with a custom ROM chip?

In device through a custom recovery.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Android Central Forums

 

[Tkbredx]

Thanks for the quick and useful responses.

I think I will probably do it. If its not to complicated. WebOS was pretty simple with the homebrewing. So I'm assuming since they are both based on Linux (right?) it should be just as easy right? And how often does someone get bricked and does it void your warranty?

And as for the pirated apps. Yeah I dont like them either because it takes away from the hardworking developers but I refuse to pay over $10 for an app. And I Didnt know about that rule. Sorry Paul.

 

[Paul627g]

Rooting will/should be very straight forward as it always has been with the Samsung line.. Bricks only happen when someone doesn't research the process fully and takes risks.. Not going to said the occasional "accidental or unknown" brick doesn't happen but those are rare, 99.9% of the time a brick is of user fault.

Void your warranty, yes rooting your device does void your warranty but once they have a restore to stock option available you can use that in the event you need to have your device serviced/sold/returned which then Samsung or said carrier will not have any evidence of you rooting the device.

 

[DallasFlier]

And as for the pirated apps. Yeah I dont like them either because it takes away from the hardworking developers but I refuse to pay over $10 for an app.

I don't like stolen cars either, but I refuse to pay over $20,000 for one, so I think I'll just go steal me a Porsche! Heck, that's good justification, isn't it? :-[

 

[Skunkape60]

Rooting will/should be very straight forward as it always has been with the Samsung line.. Bricks only happen when someone doesn't research the process fully and takes risks.. Not going to said the occasional "accidental or unknown" brick doesn't happen but those are rare, 99.9% of the time a brick is of user fault.

Hmmm.... And you told me I did everything right and it wasn't my fault...

How many did I brick?

You knew this was coming, didn't you?

_______________
Just Flash It !!!

 

[Tkbredx]

Thanks. I'll most likely wait a month. See what happens and how stable everything is, then bomb you guys with a million questions when I finally decide too root. You've all been very helpful

 

[jdclay3900]

I will definitely be rooting. I am completely new to android phones and recently was able to root my wife's kindle fire. The increased speed of the device and amount of applications I could use was pretty incredible. Being a noob though, the thing that was nice with the Kindle Fire was because there has been a couple months of development, the process was easy and only took me at most 25 minutes with just a few steps. I will root my AT&T s3 when the process has been broken down and made as easy as possible for the noobs.

 

[Tkbredx]

I don't like stolen cars either, but I refuse to pay over $20,000 for one, so I think I'll just go steal me a Porsche! Heck, that's good justification, isn't it? :-[

Lol Im not going down alone! *Points to everyone stealing data from carriers through illegal tethers*

 

[Paul627g]

Hmmm.... And you told me I did everything right and it wasn't my fault...

How many did I brick?

You knew this was coming, didn't you?

_______________
Just Flash It !!!

Your that .01 percent of the time I guess my friend...

Then again your a caveman so you always get a bad rap... LOL...

 

[deathpod]

Mine stayed unrooted for about 5 hours. Rooted to pull all my TitaniumBackup data down from Dropbox and now I'm right back to where I was on the NS4G.

Haven't looked into tethering or anything cause I just don't need it. I am looking forward to getting voodoo sound going again though.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Android Central Forums

 

[DallasFlier]

Lol Im not going down alone! *Points to everyone stealing data from carriers through illegal tethers*

"Hey, that guy there on the TV news stole a car, so I'm stealing one too!" Heck, I won't be going down alone!"

Advice: When you're trying to get out of a hole, first thing to do is to stop digging it deeper!

 

[dmmarck]

If it's anything like the Nexus (which it might be, but who knows) it should be damn near unbrickable. That's part of the solace one can take in owned a GNex--you really, really, really have to go out of your way to screw up.

 

[Trever-T]

Hey all, I have a noob question. I have just come to the Android world from iOS via our new Samsung Galaxy tablet, and have read all these rooting suggestions with curiosity and dread. I jailbroke my iPod Touch once and that went just fine, but over time I found it to be an ungodly nuisance - Every time it synched there would be some new update that would screw up the jailbreak completely, so I had to either never update or patch the OS, or constantly have to fiddle with the jailbreak. After about two months of this annoyance, I un-jailbroke it, put it back to its stock self, and never looked back.

So, my question is, is rooting an Android device going to produce the same experience? Will it mean I can no longer get standard OS updates? Am I going to be nagged constantly that there is a new patch available which I can't apply without upending my rooted system? And is it going to nuke my current screens layout/apps/themes?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

 

[dmmarck]

Hey all, I have a noob question. I have just come to the Android world from iOS via our new Samsung Galaxy tablet, and have read all these rooting suggestions with curiosity and dread. I jailbroke my iPod Touch once and that went just fine, but over time I found it to be an ungodly nuisance - Every time it synched there would be some new update that would screw up the jailbreak completely, so I had to either never update or patch the OS, or constantly have to fiddle with the jailbreak. After about two months of this annoyance, I un-jailbroke it, put it back to its stock self, and never looked back.

So, my question is, is rooting an Android device going to produce the same experience? Will it mean I can no longer get standard OS updates? Am I going to be nagged constantly that there is a new patch available which I can't apply without upending my rooted system? And is it going to nuke my current screens layout/apps/themes?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide!

The short answer? It depends. If you simply UNLOCK and ROOT your device, but do nothing to it--no custom rom, no custom recovery, etc.--you can still "take" the OTA. It WILL unroot you unless an app like RootKeeper is used.

If you have a custom rom, you will not get the update notification unless something truly crazy happens--so don't worry about that. The chances of that happening are close to the chances of an alien invasion, so it truly is a "non issue."

If you use a custom launcher--Nova, Apex, Go--it depends. When you UNLOCK, you erase everything--SDcard included--unless the SDcard is an external one (but still back it up, I haven't used one of those in ages). Therefore, when you unlock, your layouts, screens, etc. will be wiped. If you back it up to an SDcard and save that file, you can simply load that file after unlocking/rooting and it will restore your layouts. This is great for folks like me who "crack" flash; after market restore (i.e. when all of your apps get redownloaded after a factory wipe), it takes about 5 minutes to set everything up. Without having Nova there and the backup feature, it'd probably take a half an hour.

My advise is to unlock ASAP so you don't have to worry about wiping your SDcard or anything like that. If you have an external SDcard, well, I've sorta lost touch with that fine art, but it wouldn't hurt to back that up and simply drag the files over after unlocking if it in fact wipes it clean.

For a general discussion of rooting, flashing, etc., please see my Don't Panic guide (in my signature). It's for the Galaxy Nexus, but the concepts are generally applicable to most devices, particularly the SIII.

 

[Paul627g]

Just to add to what Advisor dmmarck said, in previous versions of the Samsung Galaxy S line when you obtain root and install a custom recovery which is used to flash or install custom ROMS, etc you don't wipe or erase the device or sdcard.

You should just as a precaution back up any important data on your sdcard or internal storage like pictures, video before doing the rooting process.

You can also use apps like SMS Backup and Restore from the Google Play Store to save your texts and restore them if needed.

Sent from my Nexus S 4G using Android Central Forums

 

[Skunkape60]

Another thing in addition to what was already said. If you load a custom rom and an ota update comes out, chances are the developers will have it incorporated into your rom within a day or two anyway. Don't let the fear of missing out on an ota stop you from having a great time with your android.



_____________________________
I ain't scared! Just Flash It !!!

 

[lostsoul565]

Being my first venture into the Android world after 7 years of BlackBerry usage, I'm going to just enjoy and learn the S3 in stock form for a while, but will be reading from the experts here and learning the hows of rooting as well as the capabilities it will bring me - so that down the road a bit I can make an intelligent decision.

i am with you on that buddy!!!! coming from ATT and Iphone for years i will wait till i see more people root and install new roms before i attempt to mess with rooting the sg3.

 

[Trever-T]

Thanks very much for the info, everyone! In particular, that big HOW-TO guide was very educational, if a bit overwhelming. I think that I am going to hold off for the time being, though. The one single app that I really want from the root advantages is AdBlock - Other than that, I haven't seen anything that really makes me want to take the risk. For better or for worse, it still sounds like a pretty complex process and the options are more than a bit bewildering, so better safe than sorry for me. (I also have to operate under the mantra of the self-employed, which is to say, "Is spending time fiddling with this going to be advantageous to me or could I better use that time making income?")

So, sitting tight for the moment, but I do appreciate the tips and have bookmarked everything for future reference if & when I decide I want to take the plunge. Thanks again!