To Root or not to Root?

ebrown126

Well-known member
Sep 11, 2010
149
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This is going to be my first Android phone coming from a blackberry tour.

I've been reading the forums and listening to the podcasts now for a while and I bought and used my girlfriends Dinc, so I'm not a total noob.

So if I love Sense as much as i do, is there a reason to root the phone?
I know there are some advantages like free tethering, better speeds, custom Roms, etc., but is rooting and voiding the warranty worth the risk especially with a new device and new technology (lte)?

Thanks and good luck on Thursday!
 

fatboy97

Well-known member
Aug 10, 2010
4,820
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I was a Bold 9700 user prior to my first HTC Android device... I like Sense... I've heard others say they do not... worked great for me and have not found the need to root mine... nor do I think I will when I purchase my new TB on Thursday.
 

flashpiti

Well-known member
Feb 23, 2011
367
40
0
I like sense a lot and never rooted my DINC for the 8 months I had it. I'll only root the TB if I can't get the free wifi tether trick to work ala the DINC. I'm not interested in ROMS.
 

upz3

Well-known member
Jan 29, 2011
401
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Really depends how you like the device. Towards the end of its shelf life to get through the last 6-8 months on a 2 year contract, you might want to root it then.

For the Eris, after a month (or at least until 2.1) you pretty much needed to root it regardless if you wanted to or not.
 

ISUVetMed

Well-known member
Jan 31, 2011
45
4
0
The thing about rooting is that it can very easily be done. If you have never rooted before or are on the fence about it let people who know what they are doing work out the bugs. I have an OG droid and rooted it with the 1st crowd right when it came out. It was a lot more complicated and in depth but I learned a LOT about the process and everything that comes with it. Now there are 1 click root applications, many of which also have a 1 click unroot. If anything ever went wrong, unroot and take it in or send it back. I will root mine right away, I probably wont run custom roms until there is a reason to. I love sense and that in itself will be a new rom for me. I want the free tethering, custom kernels, and most of all TAKE OFF VZW BLOATWARE!

TL;DR- Yes root it, you dont have to install a custom rom if you like sense but at least you have the benefit of root.
 
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Solson

Member
Feb 4, 2011
16
1
0
I rooted my Evo to get rid of the bloatware and have been happy. No more Blockbuster app !
 

elemerica

Well-known member
Jan 11, 2011
75
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Will definitely be rooting once available. Nandroid backups and the ability to remove whatever garbage I don't want mostly. If a good ROM comes along, great!
 

bkorver

Well-known member
Mar 17, 2010
809
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One thing to keep in mind, if you don't want to put a custom rom on, you don't have to. But rooting gives you access to certain apps that need root, and allow you to do a complete Nandroid backup, backing up literally every single file on your phone. If anything happens, you don't have to factory reset to get it back to a working condition. Just flash your latest backup...
 
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rigorx

Well-known member
Jan 7, 2011
236
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For a user new to Android, I'd recommend getting used to your device, the OS, and HTC's Sense UI for a little while. This may take you a day, or a month.

I don't think rooting is quite a necessity as it once was if you're wanting to customize. Lots of great options out there now like LauncherPro, ADW, Go, that will let you customize toolbars / docks like you used to only be able to with root.

Like others have said, root can be nice to run custom ROMS that have had all the bloat-ware removed, and other perks such as free tethering, overclocking, and nand system backups / restores.

My little Eris was my first smartphone ever, and I am glad that I rooted it in the end. Gave my device lots more life due to custom ROMS that had improved operating speed, better battery management, etc.
 

AmousmosesMW

Well-known member
Feb 14, 2011
181
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OK. So forgive me, but I am the newbiest of newbies when it comes to Android phones....

So if you root your phone and something goes wrong with the phone during the warranty period, you cannot take it in for warranty work?

What about insurance on the phone? Does the same thing hold true or will the insurance cover repair/replace?
 

rigorx

Well-known member
Jan 7, 2011
236
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OK. So forgive me, but I am the newbiest of newbies when it comes to Android phones....

So if you root your phone and something goes wrong with the phone during the warranty period, you cannot take it in for warranty work?

What about insurance on the phone? Does the same thing hold true or will the insurance cover repair/replace?

Assume if you root, you've voided any/all warranties. Generally however, after the phone has been rooted for a while and a community of devs grows behind it, there are ways to un-root, if need be.
 
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Rhyyker

Well-known member
Mar 1, 2011
58
5
0
definitely will root, too many of the apps i use constantly need root to work, plus i can't wait to run that wifi tether with the 4g. and of course taking out the bloatware is awesome.
 

krazy

Well-known member
Mar 15, 2011
129
6
0
I'm a newbie so sorry for the dumb questions. Do you generally need wireless access to root a phone? When I get the thunderbolt I'd like to practice rooting a phone with my original droid. Is this possible? I realize that each phone gets rooted differently but I guess it'd make more more comfortable with the process if I know that I can do it on the original droid before I got messing with my new $700 phone.
 

zero neck

The Ever-Living
Jan 13, 2011
3,127
1,386
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I'm a newbie so sorry for the dumb questions. Do you generally need wireless access to root a phone? When I get the thunderbolt I'd like to practice rooting a phone with my original droid. Is this possible? I realize that each phone gets rooted differently but I guess it'd make more more comfortable with the process if I know that I can do it on the original droid before I got messing with my new $700 phone.

you need a computer and the usb chord but not necessarily wifi

and it might b e helpful to root your droid just to get a feel for the ropes before rooting your tbolt, practice makes perfect
 

menji

Well-known member
Jan 21, 2011
160
12
0
cant u just delete the apps without rooting the phone? or not with stock ones?

I think those apps are permanently stuck in phone. no way of just deleting them. I def am not going to root anytime soon. I would just like to get accustomed with Android first, and then we'll see how it goes.
 

zero neck

The Ever-Living
Jan 13, 2011
3,127
1,386
0
you need root access to delete the bloat apps that come built into the phone, so you can freeze, rename, move them somewhere else, or delete them altogether.
 

Effenhimer

Well-known member
Feb 20, 2011
281
17
0
The first thing I did when I rooted my Droid was get rid of a bunch of crap, and make my battery last longer. And then the first thing I did when I rooted my wifes Epic was get rid of the CRAP!! And made her battery last 2X longer... All the random apps that run in the background that I NEVER use are my main reason for rooting. My Droid, (which has been discontinued via VZW, hardware and software) is running Pete's stock 2.3.3 Gingerbread, I didn't really need a custom rom, even though I liked a few of them a lot, because I like the Vanilla theme. ADWex doesn't hurt it either... ;)
 

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