Would you root a family member's phone?

[UmyDinner]

I'm heading home for Thanksgiving and it just so happens my sis & cousin also have Fascinates. My sister complains of the tons of apps she doesn't need and I'm thinking she would prefer Google over Bing. Keep in mind both my sister and cousin are NOT the type to root their phones by themselves, but they are of the internet age and can follow tech directions over the phone pretty well.

Wondering if I should root both of their phones while I'm home for the holidays, weighing the options here...

Caveats:

• This will break Verizon's warranty, correct?
• If something happens that they can't fix I'm the person they call vs Verizon
• They aren't eligible for automatic updates direct from Verizon, Froyo and the like. Plus I keep hearing that V will allow users to select which search engine to use by default in their next big update (whenever that may be)

Pros:

• NO BING
• Longer battery life
• No bloatware

What do you say? I feel bad that they're stuck with Bing but it may not be worth the "risk" of lack of support

 

[namebrandon]

Not unless they lived with me.

Tell them to purchase LauncherPro to hide the apps, or Titanium Backup to freeze them. Then copy over and install that extendedsearch.apk so they can use the google widget with LauncherPro. Show them Opera Mini or DolphinHD as browser replacements, to avoid Bing redirect.

That's how I would help out.

 

[Cory Streater]

^^^ Ditto.

 

[voghan]

I've never rooted my wife's phone because if anything went wrong is never hear the end of it. I've tried convincing some friends to root their phones but I wouldn't do it for them.

 

[namebrandon]

I've never rooted my wife's phone because if anything went wrong is never hear the end of it.

Yep.. Sometimes I'll catch a look or two when I mess up MY phone.. No way I would ever mess with my wifes, unless specifically asked to.

 

[Froalskiner#WN]

Hornets nest...don't root their phones. Launcher pro and juicedefender. I am going to root my wifes Dinc when they get that working again but that's about it. Tech support for a remote computer sucks...just imagine doing it for a phone.

 

[vsp3c]

i was planning on rooting my dad's phone so he could have free wireless tethering... is there really enough risk to justify not rooting? :<

 

[Froalskiner#WN]

If you live with him...go for it...otherwise I would stay away...

Sent from my SCH-I500 using Tapatalk

 

[ragnarokx]

I rooted my brother's Fascinate because he wanted to de-Bing. He really liked the speed of the ROM/kernel I put on there and the AdFree app. I see him pretty frequently - if I didn't I probably wouldn't have done it.

 

[willyd]

Not unless they lived with me.

Tell them to purchase LauncherPro to hide the apps, or Titanium Backup to freeze them. Then copy over and install that extendedsearch.apk so they can use the google widget with LauncherPro. Show them Opera Mini or DolphinHD as browser replacements, to avoid Bing redirect.

That's how I would help out.

Whats the extendedsearch.apk file and how do we install it? Do we need LauncherPro or LauncherPro plus?