Top 10 Reasons To Root Your Android Phone

People say there are always two classes of technology

users; those who take and use technology the way it is

brought to them, no questions or complaints, while

others who want to indulge deep into the very

essence of what’ s being offered, and want to

empower themselves with everything to take the

maximum out of that technology. This rule of thumb

holds true for mobile phones as well. The power user

crowd has always been different from the average.

If you want to skip the details and get straight to the

rooting process, feel free to head over to our guide on

how to root your Android phone or tablet device .

Back from the old Windows Mobile ROM cooking

days, people have been questioning limitations of

every device and finding workarounds. When iPhone

was launched back in 2007, the power user (a.k .a

hackers and geeks) side of the users quickly realized

the true potential the device held, and the cruel

software limitations that Apple had sealed it with.

What became ‘Jailbreaking’ on iPhone was quickly

translated to other platforms as well, and when the

world saw the first Android back in 2008, the same

concept got adapted there too.

Android, despite being open source, still did not give a

user complete control over the device. This laid basis

for many potential abilities remaining dormant, and

subsequently Android devices began to get ‘rooted’ .

Now this begets the question, why root? With so

many Android-based handsets out there now, this

question has become even more important.

Rooting essentially means gaining root-level access to

your device. Those who have used Linux OS will easily

understand, but for users like me who have been loyal

to Microsoft’s operating system all their lives, this

means that by rooting your device you get complete

control over what should remain in the device and

what not. Rooting means you are the master and in

control, not to mention the fun of it.

Hence, here’s a list of my top 10 reasons (in no

particular order) that I consider worthy of rooting

your device for.

Performance Update

There are just too many flavors of Android in the

market, with every OEM or carrier adding their own

personalization and customization to devices. While

they may appeal to some, they do not let the device

take full advantage of what the hardware is capable

of. With root access, you can actually tweak the OS to

behave entirely differently, and with infamous

developers like Cyanogen working on custom ROMs

and mods, people have actually reported

performance boosts. Take the G1 for example. The

device never got 2.1 officially, but thanks to

Cyanogonmod G1 owners can not only the tastiness

of Eclair but also report much better performance

than the stock ROMs.

Hardware/Software Interaction

Most Android devices come with hardware that is

fairly heavily capable, yet the OS limits them and

becomes the bottleneck. By rooting, you actually

remove the bottleneck and hence can take full

advantage of your beloved Android. For example,

overclocking a device’s CPU is fairly simple and rather

safe thanks to many third-party apps, yet the OS does

not allow it natively, and hence overclocking can only

be done with a rooted phone. Or suppose you want to

use your mobile’s LED as flashlight (HTC Desire,

anyone?) but cannot because HTC won’t allow it?

Rooting will allow you to bypass this limitation!

APPS2Sd

One of the most talked-about feature (or

disadvantage) of any Android device is the limitation

where you can install applications only in the phone’s

internal memory and not the SD card. While Google

may reason that SD cards are slower in general and

cannot run apps as effectively as internal memory,

fact of the matter is that most Android devices do not

come with massive internal storage spaces, and hence

greatly limit the number of applications that can be

installed at a time. With rooted devices, you can use

Apps2 SD, which will copy ALL your applications to a

ext2 /3/4 formatted SD card an will also store future

builds in card. Freedom to choose!

Unavailable Features

When Google brought forth the Nexus One, one of

the aesthetically pleasing features was Live

Wallpapers. Unfortunately, most of the Android

phones vary so greatly, that despite the hardware

being compatible with Live Wallpapers, the software

won’t allow them to run. My Samsung Galaxy Spica is

a perfect example. The handset’s hardware can easily

handle Live Wallpapers, yet Samsung chose to

exclude it. Thanks to rooting, you can have them on

your device as long as hardware allows.

EXTRA APPLICATIONS

Folks at XDA- Developers have created a wonderful

application, SetCPU, which allows easy overclocking

of various Android CPUs. However, due to the

permissions required for such level of operation, a

superuser access is necessary, and that can come

only from a root access. This is just one example. The

internet is flooded with many such applications that

remain useless unless you have rooted your phone.

Multitouch

If you have ever typed on an iPhone, you would

always remember the smooth, fast typing action that

you achieve on that amazing keyboard. Or if you can

recall that pinch-zoom actions. These are the products

of a multitouch screen.

While most Androids can deal with multitouch, various

manufacturers have decided to omit it in their

devices. This is not always because the hardware is

incapable, but because the software does not let it

happen. This becomes even more irritating when you

see that HTC Hero had multitouch input support back

from the Android 1.6 days, but more modern more

powerful 2.1 devices never got it (again, my Spica).

Thanks to rooting, it has become possible to get

multitouch input in various devices, most notably the

G1.

WIFI AND Bluetooth Tethering

After having rooted your device, you can also use WiFi

or Bluetooth tether to share your cellular data

connection with your laptop or PC. The application

works with ad hoc connections and will get you up

and running online on your laptop in no time.

Similarly, tethering can also be achieved over a

Bluetooth connection. You may check out the app in

question here , but remember, rooted- phones only!

Better Keyboard

I have expressed before and I will say again; I do not

dislike the Android keyboard. However, it just isn’t

enough. HTC, with their SenseUI, brought to their

devices the revered HTC IME keyboard which had

predictive text input, and made typing a breeze. Since

it was an HTC only keyboard, people with phones

from other manufacturers were left blindfolded.

Again, the root-developer community ported the

keyboard for all platforms, making possible for all

rooted phones to take advantage of the better input

method.

APPS From other builds

Almost every build of Android OS differs from others

when it comes to default apps. G1 hasn’t got the

same stuff as myTouch 3G; Nexus One differs from

HTC Desire. What’s more, these applications from one

build cannot be ported to another. Hence you are

stuck in more than one ways. However, with custom

ROMs, the developers usually gather the best of the

lot in one complete package, that would leave a user

satisfied, not craving. And to get these custom ROMs

running on your phone, you need root.

Because you can!

I am serious, I consider this a reason. You have a

powerful, capable device that you have paid for. You

should have the right to modify or change it in any

way you like. The device is your property, and you

would naturally want to see it working at its

maximum potential. Hence the point of rooting.

With the latest Froyo announcement at Google’ s 2010

I/O conference, most of these reasons may become

useless. But Froyo will not be pushed for all devices,

at least not immediately. While it will aim to reduce

the fragmentation in Android division, until it

happens, a rooted device is the only option you have.

Last, please do remember that rooting voids your

warranty. Although you can always go back to a stock

version of the OS, it is risky business, hence proceed

with caution.

Start rooting

Now that you have learned all about what rooting is

and why you should root your phone, head over to

our guide on how to root your Android phone or

tablet device and start rooting!

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