Android Users: Why don't you root?

[sentinelsx]

it was my understanding that they will unlock your boot-loader if requested.....

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Please do so....we could use your help unlocking boot loaders....

If i have time sure i don't mind. Right now i am playing around with android SDK to learn to make apps though.

I was replying to viskon about how it is the same thing everywhere. All i need is learn to do something and then i can mess with it. However, just because I am not doing it doesn't mean it is not "mine".

 

[Prototypical]

I work in an IT department....we don't want everyday people to have access to root or local admin on their machines because....well they make changes and it leads to additional support calls. Then the user is complaining because their workstation/phone/tablet doesn't work they way it used to......
Company products are set with restrictions for a reason....some are security related. Some are for sake of standardization and ongoing support.
Plus you should not be rooting company work products. That should just be for personal equipment.

Edit:
I have a Toyota Tundra 4x4. First thing I did was lift it and put bigger tires on it. I take it off road and the factory setup would not cut it. So to make it meet my needs I customized it....it did not void the warranty. Now I enjoy my truck so much more than if i just left it stock.......
Edit #2
If i could order my phone customized the way I want....that would be awesome! Plus do you have a case on your phone? Why? I did not come that way. If the manufacturer wanted a case on the phone it would come that way......

I completely agree on the IT issue... I DON'T root my phone (or JB for my current situation) for that very reason... But the OP's original point was, "why don't you do it? It's awesome!" I don't root/JB because I don't really want to piss off my IT department and/or get fired for violating my organization's data security policies. My interest in doing it or not doing it is irrelevant.

To your point about the truck - I'm a car enthusiast too. I DO modify my cars, but I do so at my own risk. My manufacturer isn't as forgiving with modifications so I could lose my warranty for a number of reasons. Even still, I don't do any major mods because I choose my base platform carefully. I see a lot of guys in our online community changing bumpers, skirts, wheels, interiors, EVERYTHING. If the car sucked that much to start with, why buy it in the first place?

I don't have a case on my phone, no. I keep one for odd situations but 95% of the time it is exactly as it purchased it... because one of the reasons I chose the phone I have is because I like the look and feel of it. If the phone was ugly enough to make me want to cover it up, I'd find another phone.

 

[sentinelsx]

Or just buy a Nexus

I would say something, but it will anger bmac4.

Anyhow, the nexus is not worth to me, and owning the nexus doesn't necessarily mean I will mess around with it

 

[jamezr]

Or just buy a Nexus

great point!

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I completely agree on the IT issue... I DON'T root my phone (or JB for my current situation) for that very reason... But the OP's original point was, "why don't you do it? It's awesome!" I don't root/JB because I don't really want to piss off my IT department and/or get fired for violating my organization's data security policies. My interest in doing it or not doing it is irrelevant.

To your point about the truck - I'm a car enthusiast too. I DO modify my cars, but I do so at my own risk. My manufacturer isn't as forgiving with modifications so I could lose my warranty for a number of reasons. Even still, I don't do any major mods because I choose my base platform carefully. I see a lot of guys in our online community changing bumpers, skirts, wheels, interiors, EVERYTHING. If the car sucked that much to start with, why buy it in the first place?

I don't have a case on my phone, no. I keep one for odd situations but 95% of the time it is exactly as it purchased it... because one of the reasons I chose the phone I have is because I like the look and feel of it. If the phone was ugly enough to make me want to cover it up, I'd find another phone.

I agree with you on the online car/truck forums...... I have some friends that take it to the extreme. But then...that is their choice and great for them. I never put a case on my phones either. I like them just the way they are...but I also like to get additional performance or options from roms as well. In the end everyone has their unique style and preferences. It is what keeps the world from being so boring.....

 

[MegamanX]

Ironically you said that and he got a 'DeathChill' running down his back

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Personally,

I think if you have to root your phone to make it better / perform as it should then the manufacturer has failed me. A device should work as it is, and it shouldn't require a massive learning curve, lots of roms and software, a PC or convoluted mac route, terminal commands, or the voiding of my warranty to make it do so.....

Just going to point out that rooting is over rated and not needed.
iPhone gains a lot more over stock being jail broken than Android gains by being rooted.

Unlocking the boot loader is different than rooting. Hell you can unlock the boot loader with out rooting. Just you do not see someone who has an unlock boot loader and not rooted happen very often.

As for rooting most people if you ask them why they did it you will really find only a handful of answers than really need root.

My android phone is rooted. There are 2 big reasons why I rooted my phone, First it was to install adblocking software. 2 it is to allow free tethering as like hell am i giving up my unlimited data plan.

Out side of that I have no real reason to use it. I have not used it to remove anything from the device or edit anything yet.

Just going to point that out.

 

[Stuntman06]

There is only one thing that I would like to be able to do that requires rooting. That is the ability to switch keyboards automatically when I switch between landscape and portrait. I find that SwiftKey is the best keyboard for typing in landscape and Swype is the best keyboard for typing in portrait. Right now I just switch manually. Maybe if I get fed up with having to do it manually, I will root my phone.

 

[Dontazemebro]

It's definitely worth it. I use keyboard manager all the time.

 

[Djlild7hina]

Personally I bought the international version of the s3 so I wouldn't have to deal with bloatware and all that stuff. Plus I have no idea where to begin if I do so I'm content with stock.

 

[hexonxonx]

I don't have a need to. My Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 do everything I need them to.

The only reason I JB my 4S is because I can't block calls. Until Apple ever allows complete call blocking, I JB my iPhones.

 

[dkersten]

I just rooted my Nexus 4. Had problems trying to root my S3 previously. I'm excited to fully utilize apps such as tasker. Will look into ROM's but right now I'm happy

 

[jamezr]

Just going to point out that rooting is over rated and not needed.
iPhone gains a lot more over stock being jail broken than Android gains by being rooted.

Unlocking the boot loader is different than rooting. Hell you can unlock the boot loader with out rooting. Just you do not see someone who has an unlock boot loader and not rooted happen very often.

As for rooting most people if you ask them why they did it you will really find only a handful of answers than really need root.

My android phone is rooted. There are 2 big reasons why I rooted my phone, First it was to install adblocking software. 2 it is to allow free tethering as like hell am i giving up my unlimited data plan.

Out side of that I have no real reason to use it. I have not used it to remove anything from the device or edit anything yet.

Just going to point that out.

Those are great uses cases for you. Everyone has different reasons and use cases. But just to clarify a few things.
1) If you want admin access to your Android phone you will have to root it.
2) If you want admin access to your iPhone you will have to JailBreak it.
3) If you want to flash custom roms then you will have to unlock the bootloader. Not very easy to do unless the manufacturer provides the unlock keys. Or the Dev community finds a hack that allows the bootloader to be unlocked through other means.

 

[MegamanX]

Those are great uses cases for you. Everyone has different reasons and use cases. But just to clarify a few things.
1) If you want admin access to your Android phone you will have to root it.
2) If you want admin access to your iPhone you will have to JailBreak it.
3) If you want to flash custom roms then you will have to unlock the bootloader. Not very easy to do unless the manufacturer provides the unlock keys. Or the Dev community finds a hack that allows the bootloader to be unlocked through other means.

All is true.

But my use cases tend to be the more norm than the exception.

There are now multiple backup programs out there that work like the iPhone's where the backup is made connected to the computer. The one dumping to the SD card from the phone requires root and I have used that one and it is by far better than how the iPhone system works as it can be done with out being connected to a computer and dumped locally to the device.

 

[jamezr]

All is true.

But my use cases tend to be the more norm than the exception.

There are now multiple backup programs out there that work like the iPhone's where the backup is made connected to the computer. The one dumping to the SD card from the phone requires root and I have used that one and it is by far better than how the iPhone system works as it can be done with out being connected to a computer and dumped locally to the device.

Rom Manager works great after you have root. You don't have to flash roms but it will create a image of what your phone looked like at any given time. Then you can restore to that point anytime you want or need to. Titanium BackUp does somewhat the same except it can back up all of your apps to the SD card. Then you can restore those apps (with the app data) anytime you like. The beauty of having it on the SD card is you can replace the phone and still restore the apps with data by inserting the SD card. Both apps require root.....

 

[durant35]

One question I have always been curious about is why Android users, who are aware that it exists, don't root their devices? The benefits, far outweighing any downsides there may be, are huge and it greatly enhances the Android experience.

For me, I won't buy a device if the bootloader is completely locked down, no root exploit exists, or if there isn't a ROM available to my liking. Sounds like my kind of device is a Nexus, eh? Not really. I've never been into the Nexus phones much simply because they are not made by Google. At this point, I expect Google to start designing and creating their own devices, like with the Chromebook Pixel. I don't understand why they haven't taken this step forward yet.

So tell me, why don't you root or flash ROMs? Are you scared something may happen?

I rooted, installed and ran Cyanogenmod 10 running 4.2.2 on my Note 2 just last week. Used it for 3 days. What happened? My battery life turned to crap, signal went to non existent in places I always had signal, data would drop and I would have to reset my phone, the camera software was terrible and I lost all ability to use some of the TouchWiz features I enjoy. To top it all off, my phone was not noticeably faster, returned to stock a few days ago and all is well again. I've rooted before in the past with similar results. I don't see any benefits from it, far more negatives in fact.

 

[jamezr]

I rooted, installed and ran Cyanogenmod 10 running 4.2.2 on my Note 2 just last week. Used it for 3 days. What happened? My battery life turned to crap, signal went to non existent in places I always had signal, data would drop and I would have to reset my phone, the camera software was terrible and I lost all ability to use some of the TouchWiz features I enjoy. To top it all off, my phone was not noticeably faster, returned to stock a few days ago and all is well again. I've rooted before in the past with similar results. I don't see any benefits from it, far more negatives in fact.

one rom does not make or breaking the whole thing.......Try a different rom. Read what others are experiencing about the rom first. Do some homework before flashing.......try other roms for your phone.

 

[durant35]

one rom does not make or breaking the whole thing.......Try a different rom. Read what others are experiencing about the rom first. Do some homework before flashing.......try other roms for your phone.

I have, hence my sentence "I have rooted before in the past with similar results". Been early to flash builds where GPS or camera or LTE or other important things didnt run right or not at all and then have to boot back. Then you always run the risk of bricking your phone or not being able to fast boot back. Its far more trouble than its worth.

 

[KentuckyHouse]

I rooted, installed and ran Cyanogenmod 10 running 4.2.2 on my Note 2 just last week. Used it for 3 days. What happened? My battery life turned to crap, signal went to non existent in places I always had signal, data would drop and I would have to reset my phone, the camera software was terrible and I lost all ability to use some of the TouchWiz features I enjoy. To top it all off, my phone was not noticeably faster, returned to stock a few days ago and all is well again. I've rooted before in the past with similar results. I don't see any benefits from it, far more negatives in fact.

I don't disagree with you that there can be negatives involved, and while I understand you've rooted and installed custom ROMs before, it's hard to understand why you'd go with the most cutting-edge ROM when you decided to try it on your N2. Of course there are issues with CyanogenMod...it's a COMPLETELY different ROM from the stock ROM. You're making the phone do things it was never designed to do, so bugs should be expected.

Now, if you want the very best experience on the N2 (that's a stock look/feel without all the bloat), try CleanROM ACE. You get all the bells and whistles of stock TouchWiz without any of the bloatware. Best of all...everything works just as it does on the stock ROM.

I will say that I've settled into using stock custom ROMs now. I find that they run the best with the least amount of bugs. Once upon a time, I'd try all the Paranoid Android-type ROMs with all those amazing choices of what you could do to the phone, but in the end, function wins out over form for me.

Basically, the only reason I root anymore is to install ad blocking software and remove bloatware. Oh, and Titanium Backup...man, do I love that app!

 

[Stuntman06]

There is only one thing that I would like to be able to do that requires rooting. That is the ability to switch keyboards automatically when I switch between landscape and portrait. I find that SwiftKey is the best keyboard for typing in landscape and Swype is the best keyboard for typing in portrait. Right now I just switch manually. Maybe if I get fed up with having to do it manually, I will root my phone.

Well, I got fed up. Rooted my phone last night and installed Keyboard Manager.

 

[TacticalDesire]

I have no real need to.

 

[otismotive77]

Because they are capable to fill my needs 100% without rooting?

agreed, they are able to fulfill my needs without rooting.
rooting voids the phone's warranty and there's also a risk that your smartphone may turn into a "brick".

 

[SlCKB0Y]

"Root isn't that insecure?"

It's only as insecure as those apps which you grant root access to.

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rooting voids the phone's warranty

It doesn't in my country. In my country they would have to prove that the damage to the phone was directly attributable to it being rooted...

 

[TheMTtakeover]

Never had any reason too.

 

[Mochi Hana]

I haven't felt the need to, like a few others on this thread.

 

[Stooby Mcdoobie]

My company doesn't allow jailbroken/rooted phones to receive company email. If I did root, I'd have to carry around two phones - one of them a BlackBerry (yuck!).

 

[mib1800]

I just can't think of any must-have functionalities that are added once you root. (unlike jailbreaking in iOS).