To root or not to root...

[FCO2011]

Hey guys, I'm really on the fence about rooting, and other than root apps and custom roms what other benefits are there to be had from rooting? I really can't decide whether to root or not, and I know I can go back to Stock if I so choose.

PS, i know there are threads explaining the benefits and drawbacks, but I need more opinions.

Thanks All!

 

[plemelin]

Unless you plan on using custom ROMs or loading root only apps what is the reason for rooting. There was a great article on the main page about rooting. I rooted mine for some of the apps like autostarts and the likes. I am not sure I would root again if I was to start over. OTA updates can't be installed in the traditional sense when rooted.

 

[zero neck]

You would want to root for heightened customization options, romming, increased performance or battery life (thru kernels mainly), to get rid of sense or get the new sense 2.0, or to use root-enabled only apps such as wireless tether.

It's not that difficult to learn but you have to do your homework to root and modify your device safely.

For me what it comes down to mostly is, do you want to tinker?

 

[Wanda]

If your not sure at this point, it's probably best that you don't. The main benefit of course being custom ROM's, kernals and the like but you'll want to be sure before you do it as you'll be voiding your warranty in the process. For me its not that big a deal, I've had it since launch day, what am I going to do, take it back?

Rooting also satisfies an in-explainable need in some of us to just tweak the damn thing, make it better, make it ours. It's like a guy who adds custom headers and other mods to his car...would the original manufacturer ever service under a warranty, no. Would someone who is willing and wanting to install such a mod really care, probably not.

At this point, ("end of life" for the Inc as far as Verizon is concerned) there are loads of ROMs that have virtually every bug worked out of them that are fairly similar to stock but with some enhancements like no bloatware and tweaks to the UI that make it more efficient. You can have a phone that is very familiar to you but is better than stock cause its not loaded down with garbage you wouldn't use and/or you can stick to stock and just remove (with some knowledge of what to remove and what to leave alone) what you don't want. Then there are ROMs that include new feature like the new Sense 2.0, and ROMs that are plain vanilla but are Gingerbread based and thus more advanced than Froyo just without HTC's sense UI.

It's all about options and all about what you want to do. I've got friends with iPhones that are perfectly content to have ONE ringtone to choose from for their email and would never consider jailbreaking, or friends that have Inc's that love sense, love Froyo, are happy waiting for Verizon to debug/test Android 2.3 and would never think about voiding their warranty just to gain, what they would classify as minor enhancements.

To me, the answer was easy, it's my phone, I'll do as I please. I'm not using it with mal-intent like tethering stuff on the sly, I'm just customizing my phone to what I want with out Verizon or HTC's consent...hey I paid for it, what's it to 'em right?

Long and winding response but just figure out what you want out of your phone and go from there.

edit: If your worried about OTA updates and one starts rolling out you would like to opt into after you've rooted there are a couple very good guides on how to un-root.

 

[FCO2011]

Thanks for the responses so far guys.

Before I got my Incredible I used my ipod touch heavily, I jailbroke it for a while but ultimately un-jailbroke it because it drained my battery like no other. But the reason I bring this up is because I originally jailbroke because I was curious; what was the hype, i'll only find out if i do it, what so good about doing it, etc. and now these are mostly the feelings I'm having about rooting.

I heard rumors of an official Gingerbread OTA for the Incredible hope those are true.

I also really like tinkering and customizing any type of thing that allows me to customize. (computer, netbook, old phone, ipod touch, etc.)

I may root try it out for a few days and either unroot if I determine I don't need it...yet or will keep it.

Keep the opinions flowing!

 

[Wanda]

I may root try it out for a few days and either unroot if I determine I don't need it...yet or will keep it.

Keep the opinions flowing!

Why do you need more opinions? Seems to me you've got it figured out.

 

[FCO2011]

Why do you need more opinions? Seems to me you've got it figured out.

Haha, you got me there. I was in a rush, didn't think that one through. Though If I want to unroot I'd have to start ground up again right? There would be no way to backup my phone's state before rooting then using that after I unroot right? That's my only concern of unrooting.

Thanks all for the contributions.

 

[ssethv]

I was on the Fence TOO please read

I was on the fence too... But I am SOOOO glad I did root... I cant imagine still using stock sense (which wasn't to bad, but NOT basic android the only Straight UP android phone is the Nexus)... Now I am running CM7; it gingerbread 2.3.3 with some extra goodies and to top it off its STABLE! again... you have def come to the right place for all of your questions though... this is the best and most respectful and helpful forum site on Android out there. Possibilities are endless.... get rid of your crappy bloatware thats taking up extra space on your phone, get a free wireless tether im just saying, I am glad I did and I quarantee that anyone you ask would say the same thing.....

HERE ARE SOME SERIOUS WORDS OF WISDOM: if you decide to Root. you MUST read, read, read, and read some more; then after that, research and read even more on ROMS and MODs. one thing that is very frusterating is people that don't read through a whole thread first to see if the answer is there to a question they may have.... I have litteraly seen someone ask a question that was already asked AND ANSWERED on the page before... now to me that is really lazy (all they had to do was go one page back and look)... I am just trying to give you some noob advice... we all started at the bottom and we all learned from trial, error, and great help from good peeps in this place... I can def vouch for Wanda, ZeroNeck and PvilleComp; any advice they give to u will be reliable and you can count on them *and me too.

if you root, first get clockworkmod *free version app, Root explorer or SuperManager (free). and Titanium App *free version.... these are absolute must have apps for any rooted phone user... they will save your life... YOU HAVE COME TO THE RIGHT PLACE IF YOU SO CHOOSE TO ROOT.

If you don't want to root you can always DL a custom home launcher and cutomize your phone too.... I use ADW EX and another very popular one is called Launcher Pro (get the paid one too for all the best stuff), another must have non-root app is astro file explorer app.

You have def come to the right place, thats for sure... and Tapatalk app allows you to keep in constant contact with these forums and other sites forums on your phone... I cant live with out it sorry for the rambling... I could talk for ever Here is a shot of my HomeScreen and my Splash screen of a Rooted Phone customized ADW EX icons ... good luck and keep us posted

HOMESCREEN

Splash Screen

 

[zero neck]

Thanks for the responses so far guys.

Before I got my Incredible I used my ipod touch heavily, I jailbroke it for a while but ultimately un-jailbroke it because it drained my battery like no other. But the reason I bring this up is because I originally jailbroke because I was curious; what was the hype, i'll only find out if i do it, what so good about doing it, etc. and now these are mostly the feelings I'm having about rooting.

I heard rumors of an official Gingerbread OTA for the Incredible hope those are true.

I also really like tinkering and customizing any type of thing that allows me to customize. (computer, netbook, old phone, ipod touch, etc.)

I may root try it out for a few days and either unroot if I determine I don't need it...yet or will keep it.

Keep the opinions flowing!

If you like to mess around with things you are going to want root access. The only problem with rooting is using roms that are unstable, but once you know the ropes then unstable roms are nothing to worry about, anyway. And since it's the droid incredible, things are pretty stable bc most issues have been hammered out by now. I just remembered the day after i rooted things were going haywire with some rom, and i lost all my messages and other stuff, so i had to find ways to back things up correctly. It's trial and error, but with enough reading and some help you will be fine. and you can always unroot if you like. I sold a droid incredible about a month ago and i unrooted, put s-on, and did a factory reset and the phone was like new. And it only took like ten minutes.

 

[menschmaschine5]

Your battery life issue with jailbreaking won't necessarily happen. If you root, you can tweak the phone to give you better battery life (remove some bloat, remove sense, underclock the phone, or all 3). There are some ROMs that I found drank the battery like no other, but I use Cyanogenmod 7 now, and I have much better battery life than I ever did on the stock ROM.

 

[Lee_Bo]

I would recommend reading this article and then deciding.

 

[FCO2011]

Well it's pretty much official now that the Droid Incredible is getting Gingerbread, so it looks like I won't be rooting for a while.

Thanks all!

 

[zero neck]

Well it's pretty much official now that the Droid Incredible is getting Gingerbread, so it looks like I won't be rooting for a while.

Thanks all!

Cool hope you get the update soon!

 

[FCO2011]

Yeah, article is on the main page of AC, they gave a rough window of "summer" as to when the update will be pushed.

 

[Lee_Bo]

I'm going to have a hard time giving up CM7 for the official VZW 2.3.

 

[ssethv]

I'm going to have a hard time giving up CM7 for the official VZW 2.3.

Same here dude... I would rather keep CM7 than get the 'official' GB OTA... CM7 is gingerbread with extra goodies built right in to it... it doesn't get better...

 

[Lee_Bo]

FCO2011, it's like this. When I buy a new laptop from Dell, the first thing I do when I get it is remove and format the hard drive, then install the OS of my choice with whatever extra software I want, not all the preloaded crap Dell puts on their machines. Same thing with my Incredible. It's mine and I want to be able to use it to it's fullest potential without all the VZW bloatware crap bogging it down. I rooted mine so I could freeze/uninstall the VZW craptastic software. Yes, I also use wireless tether on occasion with Charter's service sucks. But even if you are not rooted there are apps in the market to connect your pc to your phone, so to me the argument about using wireless tether is null and void.

 

[ngc457]

I have rooted my phone and am glad I did. First and foremost I am a geek and love to learn and tinker with stuff. Reading about rooting and the act of rooting was a great learning process for me. Rooting allowed me to gain more knowledge how my phone works.

Another advantage is I have not had any of the not enough app space messages since rooting. There are some cache cleaning programs that help with clearing cache and do a better job when rooted. Also you can used root explorer to monitor data/data to monitor true app space.

You get to backup your phone completely and make an image similar to norton ghost. This will allow you to go back to previous setups. This process is a good learning experience on how to recover your phone if it is messed up.

Get to try out different roms which is fun for the geek in us. I flash a lot of roms and have tried out many. My experience though is most are not as polished as the stock rom. Cyanogen has issues with my top button not turning on the phone, camera not as complete as stock, no hd video, no TV out and I do a lot of powerpoint presentations with my phone. With Skyraider I had some issues with drive not working. My computer would not see my phone and I had to reboot my phone. In short 3rd party roms are not as polished, as stable or as complete as the stock rom. I use the stock rom day to day with bloatware removed and keep a back up of that current. I play with other roms in my free time.

Read lots before you root you can brick a phone. It is hard to do but can be done. I am on my second dinc because I bricked my first while trying to unroot. It was an slcd and I flashed the wrong unroot rom on it and had a blank screen. I took it back to verizon and played dumb and they gave me another phone on the spot no questions asked. I later learned my phone was not really brinked and I could have recovered it. I did not read carefully and I learned my lesson. My second phone I waited 3 months before rooting because I was scared, but I read a lot and there have been many improvements with slcd dinc for rooting and clockwork recovery that it was a breath and well worth it. My inner geek got the best of me and I could not live with an unrooted phone.

 

[technomom]

You really want to know what you are doing before you root. Having said that, I will never go back to stock on this phone. With Cyanogen my phone is faster, more responsive and my battery lasts longer. With the vzw stock, my phone was always heating up. I never have that problem anymore. I'm so adamant about using a rooted phone that when my contract is up, I plan to shop only among phones that can be rooted. Manufacturers that dont allows me to customize my phone will not get my business, even if that means I have to hold on to my Incredible for a few years more.

 

[davidnc]

I'm going to have a hard time giving up CM7 for the official VZW 2.3.

Im not going to , its wouldnt be worth it to give up CM7 for a non-rooted official vzw2.3